| Show BELIG bellg ioos IOaS IN m BEL glum GIUM I 1 I 1 a I 1 A correspondent of the london times writing june 5 concerning aa ai A religious row in that ilysa s 1 1 I 1 F 41 A peaceful town of about 00 0 1 inhabitants threatening some some thing very like civil strife the alle I 1 newspapers on both sides aspea sneak speak lk constantly of a possible s guefre guerre civile because a school boy does nob not cap to the tho hosti rosti it sounds absurd indeed but as T r scarcely need point out its very absurdity is the strongest proof how deep the danger lies bo so slight a spark could not be mischievous if there were not a mass of ble matter already at hand hu andl u given your barrel of gunpowder you may blow up a holise house as easily if not so comfortably with a lighted pipe as with the most elaborate fuse this antwerp flash in the pan is only one of many recent indications that the quarrel between the liberal the and clerical party is assuming very perilous proportions and the newspapers scarcely exaggerate when they talk of bf the possibility of civil war there dave have been similar si m ilar liar disturbances di ees ces ili lii i n various parts of the country at brussels liege ghent ithe the burgomaster of the town 1 was attacked and roughly treated by y the mob though the only severe injuries inflicted were on his hat the only blood I 1 believe shed in the fray may be seen on the door of the Athen athenaeum veurn seum where it has k ably struck awe into some innocent hearts as clear irrefragable proof of a fierce hand to hand struggle the wife of tile the concierge who first pointed it out to me was evidently under this impression but I 1 afterwards learned that it lad had lad been left there by tho the tipsy hero of the I 1 knife juire and rosary who had cut his own flu fingers gers she had evidently been a good deal seared scared by the nig nights lits tumult and declared that r she had fully made up her mind to be then and there assassinated if the mob once crossed the threshold but had all the same been heartt heartily ly amused in the midst of her fright by the way in which the champion of the Ultra montanes while protes ting knife in hand band that he was for religion enforced his hig protect by kr vo volleys s of the most blasphemous oath oaths it is perhaps only right to say that the clerical party disown T h him not notwithstanding with it anding his courageous championship of their cause commenting edi edl editor torl tori ally aily upon the aclair appears t to 0 scent a coming life and dd death it t h struggle between cacholi catholicism f elsm cism and the various forms of protestantism religious and secular in europe that paper says it if is quite useless asit as ib i la s quite beside the fhe question for tho the advocates of rilo modern dern roman catholicism to dwell upon their lle jie peaceable deable deabie disposition and upon their loyalty to established authorities the issue lies much deeper and it is a matter quite independent of technical interpretations of doctrine whether 2 on the whole roman ca catholic c principles as represented in recent papal utterances are or are not inconsistent with the tenor of modern development the popo pope himself sel sei says they are and those who disagree with him in his own church speedily find themselves out of place in hi their communion the antagonism owing toaloa to a long iong succession of causes has been gr gradually coming to a head and noir within a few years of the centen nary of the french revolution the two forces seem definitely recognizing their ineradicable animosity and disposed to enter on a final struggle fol fot existence it seems that the liberal party whether in germany or elsewhere on the continent are now absorbed in the conviction which ch as a matter of fact cannot ibe the be doubted that they are confronted id modern roman catholicism witha false and mischievous ch superstition and that there is no fair field for tho the best tonden tendencies eieg cleg of modern life so long as it prevails the roman boman catholics on the other hand are possessed especially in the more ignorant classes with a passionate conviction to thu the contrary and these two convictions are every eveny day becoming more sharply defined it is probably the most urgent question of european andre appears under various disguises in very every threatened disturbance 1 I 1 |
