it is to be feared that some of the guardians of that sacred
treasure are inclined to imitate the dreamy lethargy that led to
such disastrous results in France.

[Side note: Europe]

Look at Europe to-day seething with socialism and anarchy, its
huge standing armies scarcely able to hold these worse than
barbarian hordes in check. Out of what dark womb have these
monsters crept? A corrupt Press. The devil found men whose lives
were filled with pain and want; he came breathing through the
Press telling them to distrust God, and to make war upon society.
The Reformation, the Revolution, the social anarchy of to-day are
the direct offspring of a licentious Press. Permit a nation's
mind to be poisoned, and that nation's heart must rot. _Nihil
volitum nisi cognitum_.

[Side note: Fifty years ago]

In proof of this we need not look outside our own shores. Fifty
years ago the priests of Ireland often had recourse to rough
methods with the people. Even the aid of the "blackthorn" was
occasionally invoked as an effective instrument for securing
correction or impressing conviction. Yet, on the morrow, all was
forgotten; and the people would die for the man who punished
them. Let the priest of to-day but thwart the grand-children of
that generation, even in a small matter, and mark their rancour.
How bitter! how relentless! The Catholic spirit of half a century
ago was not operated on by the literature of a nation that is
daily losing even the veneer of Christianity.