(To THE EDITOR OF THE 4 SPEcIATOp.."] SIR,—It is in no
spirit of antagonism, but merely in one of cool attention to national interests, that I would desire readers of the Spectator to take careful note of your summary of M. Waldeck-Rousaeau's speech (January 26th, p. 127) with reference to the underhand manceuvres of certain religious Orders. Of course we know what form of religion it is to which the French Minister alludes. It is to that form which would absorb all other forms,—to attain which end it holds that all means are justifiable; it is to that vast organisation which has received more actual tolerance in England than in any other country, yet which itself has filled the pages of history with the records of its own intolerance. It is to that Church which chooses the very moment when all other Churches and faiths are publicly honouring the great pro- tectress of their religious liberties,—to stand aloof in a manner which can only be called insolent. The Jews have often been reproached for arrogant exclusiveness. Yet their public testimony of respect to our mutual ruler was ample, noble, and pathetically sincere. Public rites were performed in this supreme memorial of her by the most exclusive religious aristocracies of the East, and by that Greek Church whose tradition is older and sounder than the mere continuity of hardy self-assertion which is the tradition of Rome. Last winter we had an evidence of this Romish Church's real and permanent atti- tude towards us, when its recognised organ, La Croix, did not scruple to ally itself with Socialists, atheists—even with such as Rochefort—in its fierce effort to inflame the Fiench nation to invade and destroy us. Therefore do I consider it mere common prudence for Englishmen as well as Frenchmen to take M. Waldeck-Rousseau's words to heart, for in them lies a warning which we should heed, in simple defence of that mental liberty which our ancestors won so hardly for us,
[We publish one letter on each side, but cannot continue this correspondence further.—En. Spectator.]
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