d Italy." He can resist evil, and resist unto
blood, as so many of his sainted predecessors have done. But when there is
question of accepting it, his only word must be, as it has always been,
_non possumus_. What would men say, if He, who is the Head of the Church,
and the chief guardian of the truth confided to Her keeping, could be
brought by the threats or caresses of ephemeral worldly Powers, _to call
good evil, and evil good_!

ITALY--CRIME.

Religion, when persecuted in any country, fails not to wreak vengeance on
the persecuting power. In such countries, virtue, generally, respect for
law, order and authority, as well as public security, rapidly diminish,
and the State discovers, although too late, that, in aiming at the Church,
it has struck against itself a deadly blow.

Since the inauguration of the much vaunted _Kulturkampf_, socialism has
increased to such a degree in Germany as to appal even Chancellor
Bismarck, whilst Italy, at the same time that it closed its convents and
Catholic colleges, was obliged to multiply not only its military barracks,
but also its prisons. In no part of Italian territory have these
preventives of crime, if, indeed, they may be so-called, proved
sufficient. So rapid has been the increase of crime, that, according to
official statistics, in the Province of Rome alone, seven thousand two
hundred and ninety-three cases were ascertained and brought before the
tribunals, in 1874. This is just double what appeared in the criminal
courts under the Pontifical government. In the whole kingdom there were
eighty-four thousand prisoners, or criminals under restraint. This is
thirty-five thousand more than in France, the general population of which
is greater by one-third, and four times more than in Great Britain, the
population of which is about the same as that of united Italy. This state
of crime is not surprising when it is considered that the rulers
themselves have never ceased to set the example of the most unscrupulous
and merciless theft and robbery. The new civil code, besides, appears to
have had no other object in view than to obliterate all idea of right, and
to legitimatize all robberies, past, present and future, in the
unfortunate kingdom of Italy. Article seven hundred and ten of this code
declares, plainly, _that property is acquired by possession_.

At Rome, barristers, judges, and even the most revolutionary journalists
are assassinated by private vengeance, in broad