The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

;ASSASSINATION AND CONCUBINAGE.4G1hand to his poignarcrs hilt ;or if he decline himself to shedblood, he knows that for a paltry sum he can hirea villainto undertake the deed. The facilities provided by theChurch of Rome for enabling men to escape the futurepunishment of such crimes, is a main cause of their dreadfulprevalence. So sensible was Napoleon of this, that heshut out the shriving priest from the condemned criminal.And we find Lord Brougham stating in his place in Parliament,*that the same course was adopted by theof Wellesley in his colonialMarquisgovernment, and that this judiciousvigour was followed bv a marked diminution in thecommission of crimes. On the same occasion do we findthe leading members of their Lordships' house tracing thenoon-day murders and the midnight outrages, of so unhappyfrequency in the sister island, to priestly influences,more especially to the confessional and altar- denunciationsand out of doors we find the Times journal, in less courtlyphrase, branding the apostolic clergy of Rome as " surplicedruffians.''''-f-The state of morality as regards the marriage vow is alsomuch more lax in Roman Catholic countries. Lifidelitiesare far from being unfrequent ; concubinage is common.In a table recently compiled and widely published, of the"morality of great cities," the two cities that stood loweston the list, as being the least moral in Europe, werethe capitals of its two principal Roman Catholic countries.* 20th December 1847.f The proportion of crime in England to population is only 1 in 75S.In Scotland it is but 1 in 800. Tiie Ireland of Drs Cullen, M'llale, andtheir allies, stands at 1 in 300. And let the remarkable fact not be overlooked,that whilst the whole number convicted of offences in the sixProtestant counties of the north,—Antrim, Down, Londonderry, TyroneFermanagh, and Armagh,—with a population of 1,700,000 persons, onlyamounted to 2038, the single Roman Catholic county of Tipperary, with apopulation not exceeding 436,000, furnished a list of criminals extendingto 2124.(« Morning Herald," April 10, 1S51.)