the religious prospects of Italy, unless the Church lays aside its animosity to the State; but the priesthood cannot adopt a new policy without the consent of the superior clergy, and the dignitaries of the Church cannot act in opposition to the Pope. "It is impossible," in Passaglia's words, "for the bishops "to show good-will towards the State "and kingdom of Italy, unless the "Roman Pontiff should lay aside his "hostility, and grant at last to the "Italian nation the peace they desire so " ardently."

The real obstacle, then, to any conciliation between Italy and the Church of Rome is the Pope, and the Pope is only an obstacle because the evil advisers, who dictate his policy, hinder him from yielding to his natural instincts. For

the sake of the Church, then, as well as of Italy, the ruling party in Rome, the "Curia Romana," must be overthrown, or at any rate, their policy must be relinquished. This is the pith of Passaglia's pamphlet; of any reform in religious doctrines there is no question; there is little hint, even, of any change being desirable in the organization of the Church. If the Pope would reconcile himself with Italy, and, acknowledging the necessity of yielding to accomplished facts, resign the shadow of temporal power he still possesses, the demands of Passaglia's reform cry would be more than satisfied.

A similar movement to that, which Passaglia and Liverani have inaugurated, has been going on for some time amongst the lower clergy. For obvious reasons, the inferior Italian country priesthood have little interest in, or care for, the grandeur of Papal Rome; while their sympathies with national feelings are stronger than those found amongst the higher members of the Church. The one thing which keeps them, in Upper Italy, at any rate, from giving in their full adherence to the new régime, is the fear of the displeasure of their spiritual superiors. Still the sense of the danger by which they are threatened personally, from loss of influence with their flocks,

the Government. Even in Naples, the movement has made progress. When the fears of the Neapolitan priesthood became awakened at the favour shown by Garibaldi to men of the Gavazzi stamp, an association was formed, called the Società Clericale di Mutuo Soccorso, the object of which was to reunite the clergy with the people. Their programme, which I have before me, expressed clearly enough the nature of the reform they proposed to carry out. The following are extracts from it:

"In the shock of so many discordant "and conflicting elements, in which Italy, seeking to realize in her poli"tical condition the ideal of so many

ages, is now involved, the clergy, to "whom the spiritual leadership of the "people has been entrusted, cannot and "should not remain indifferent spec

tators, out of regard for the three"fold interests of their country, their "religion, and their order.

"The clergy is unfortunately divided "into two factions. . . . The one fac"tion, through ignorance or ill-will, con"founds the spiritual with the temporal, "and bestows its malediction, not only on Italy, but on the men and the "institutions which tend to turn Italian unity into a reality. The latter fac"tion, less powerful in numbers, has "learnt in exile and in prison, to over"estimate, perhaps, the blessings of the liberty granted to us by God, and of "our national independence, and is "thus led to confound the questions of "eternity with those of time, to re

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nounce the Divine for the human, the "Gospel for its ministers, and the "Pope of Catholicism for the Pope"king.

"The people, unable to raise them"selves from the tangible to the ideal, "scandalized at the obstinacy with "which temporal interests are upheld "at the expense of spiritual ones, and "seduced by the fallacious sophistries "of men of extreme views, end by "repudiating the priesthood utterly, as "the opponents of all political reform, "and do not even allow the clergy

"state of society, as holding tenets incompatible with its existence.

"What, then, at the present hour, is "the position of the clergy with respect "to the nation and the Government of "Italy? The former accuses them of

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complicity with her tyrants, the latter "considers them an obstacle to the "political unity demanded by the in"exorable logic of events. What will "be the inevitable result? The clergy, "hated by, because opposed to, the "Government, will remain isolated and "excluded from civil rights, and the "bond-slave of Government in the exe"cution of their sacred ministry."

"The object then of this association "is to keep from the errors of either "extreme faction, and to occupy the "middle path, the only logical one, be"cause it is based on the evangelical "precept, Render unto Cæsar the things "which are Cæsar's, and to God the "things which are God's."

"In political matters it recognises "Italy one and indivisible, with Victor "Emmanuel as its constitutional sove

reign. In religious matters it rests

upon the Catholicism established by "St. Peter in Rome, and founded on "the corner-stone of Christ."

It may be questioned how far the promoters of this anti-Roman movement fully perceive what would be the result of their endeavours, if successful. There is nothing gained by defending a good cause with bad arguments, and the arguments against the temporal power of the Papacy are strong enough, without relying on the very weak one, that its destruction would not affect the condition of the Papacy. When the Pope ceases to be a temporal prince, and when Rome ceases to be the head-quarters of the Catholic Church, and becomes a secular capital, it is possible that the Papacy may gain in spiritual power. It is equally possible also, that the Papacy may lose spiritually as well as temporally. There is much to be said for either theory; which is the true one, the event alone can show. The Italian reformers do not look beyond the imme

doomed in their judgment. The first object therefore of all well-wishers to the Church, is, as they hold, to induce the Papacy to accept the inevitable change with as much dignity and as little loss of influence as possible. What results the change may bring hereafter, it is idle now to speculate on.

These Passaglia reforms-to call them by the name of their most distinguished advocate-will probably appear a very small and unsatisfactory matter, not only to ardent Protestants, but to persons who would wish to see the question of national religion in Italy entered upon seriously. At present, however, this movement is, in my judgment, as much as can be hoped for. It may or may not be desirable that the whole of Italy should embrace our Protestantism; but, humanly speaking, there is not the slightest probability of such an event occurring, and, therefore, there is no good in discussing its advantages or evils. In Italy itself there are not the materials for a reformation. Iron must be hot before it can be bent; and so there must exist some strong religious feeling in a nation, before you can get it to change one faith for another. On the educated Italian mind religion seems to have lost its hold. One faith is, in their eyes, very like another; their own may, very possibly, not be the best, but it serves their purpose, and is the one they are used to; and there is no object gained by changing. This sort of belief seems to me, roughly speaking, to be the habitual state of the Italian mind on the subject of religion. Of course there are many and important exceptions; but the rule in Italy is to find men professing a kind of sceptical indifference about all religious questions.

With such materials, there is little prospect of a national religious movement. The commencement of reformation must come from the priesthood. And the first symptoms of the coming reform are, I think, to be found in the cry for the reform of the Court of Rome raised by Passaglia and his fellowagitators.

"state of society, as holding tenets "incompatible with its existence.

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What, then, at the present hour, is "the position of the clergy with respect "to the nation and the Government of Italy? The former accuses them of "complicity with her tyrants, the latter "considers them an obstacle to the "political unity demanded by the in"exorable logic of events. What will "be the inevitable result? The clergy, "hated by, because opposed to, the "Government, will remain isolated and "excluded from civil rights, and the "bond-slave of Government in the exe"cution of their sacred ministry."

"The object then of this association "is to keep from the errors of either "extreme faction, and to occupy the "middle path, the only logical one, be"cause it is based on the evangelical

upon the Catholicism established by "St. Peter in Rome, and founded on "the corner-stone of Christ."

It may be questioned how far the promoters of this anti-Roman movement fully perceive what would be the result of their endeavours, if successful. There is nothing gained by defending a good cause with bad arguments, and the arguments against the temporal power of the Papacy are strong enough, without relying on the very weak one, that its destruction would not affect the condition of the Papacy. When the Pope ceases to be a temporal prince, and when Rome ceases to be the head-quarters of the Catholic Church, and becomes a secular capital, it is possible that the Papacy may gain in spiritual power. It is equally possible also, that the Papacy may lose spiritually as well as temporally. There is much to be said for either theory; which is the true one, the event alone can show. The Italian reformers do not look beyond the imme

doomed in their judgment. The first object therefore of all well-wishers to the Church, is, as they hold, to induce the Papacy to accept the inevitable change with as much dignity and as little loss of influence as possible. What results the change may bring hereafter, it is idle now to speculate on.

These Passaglia reforms-to call them by the name of their most distinguished advocate-will probably appear a very small and unsatisfactory matter, not only to ardent Protestants, but to persons who would wish to see the question of national religion in Italy entered upon seriously. At present, however, this movement is, in my judgment, as much as can be hoped for. It may or may not be desirable that the whole of Italy should embrace our Protestantism; but, humanly speaking, there is not the slightest probability of such an event occurring, and, therefore, there is no good in discussing its advantages or evils. In Italy itself there are not the materials for a reformation. Iron must be hot before it can be bent; and so there must exist some strong religious feeling in a nation, before you can get it to change one faith for another. On the educated Italian mind religion seems to have lost its hold. One faith is, in their eyes, very like another; their own may, very possibly, not be the best, but it serves their purpose, and is the one they are used to; and there is no object gained by changing. This sort of belief seems to me, roughly speaking, to be the habitual state of the Italian mind on the subject of religion. Of course there are many and important exceptions; but the rule in Italy is to find men professing a kind of sceptical indifference about all religious questions.

With such materials, there is little prospect of a national religious movement. The commencement of reformation must come from the priesthood. And the first symptoms of the coming reform are, I think, to be found in the cry for the reform of the Court of Rome raised by Passaglia and his fellowagitators.

As soon as astronomy had learnt to know its position, it began to suspect that this earth, with its sun, and moon, and planets, and comets--the whole solar system-is but a speck in the vast firmament of the heavens. The more men worked and thought, the stronger grew the conviction that Sirius, the little twinkling star, must be a sun, immensely brighter than our own. For they had tried in vain to find out his distance. In vain! The distance always came out infinite. The measuring line placed in the hand of man shrank into nothingness in respect to the whereabouts of the nearest of those little orbs, and astronomy retired abashed. Do you ask me what is the measuring line which man has in his hand to apply to the stars? I shall tell you that it is no small matter as men count smallness. It is two hundred millions of miles-a line long enough, you would think; yet this line actually shrank into nothingness so absolute, that,' half a century ago, it seemed as hopeful to mount to the stars as to compass their distance with so puny a line. But the thing has been done at last, and triumphantly done. We know the distance of a few of the nearest stars now, pretty accurately, at any rate. And I propose to endeavour to convey an idea of how this knowledge has been attained.

Well, then, to begin at the beginning, the first line to which all others are referred, the primary unit, is the yardmeasure, by which ladies' dresses are

measured-nothing more nor less. It does not concern us to enquire what that yard-measure is. Suffice it that the legislature provide means to prevent its fluctuation from year to year, or from century to century. Now, the yard can readily be multiplied to a considerable extent for example, into a chain of twenty-two yards-and with this chain a line of three or four miles can be measured on the earth's surface. The yard is thus expanded into miles. It is no easy matter, certainly, to measure a few miles on the surface of the earth; but it is possible, and has been done. An extension of this process would, of course, measure a very long line; but this is not necessary. Having once got over a few miles, the yard-measure, and the steel-chain, and all similar appliances are discarded, and the measured line itself is assumed as a new measuring-rod. True, it cannot be carried about from place to place. Mahomet cannot go to the mountain; so the mountain must be brought to Mahomet. This is done by making direction serve as the evidence of distance. If you measure off on the paper a line a foot long, and take a point somewhere over the centre of it, you will see how the angles of direction from the ends of the line depend on its distance from the line. So, conversely, if a church-steeple, or some other prominent object, be visible from both ends of the line measured on the earth's surface, its distance from either of them, can be determined at once, by means of