r a greater reason, the religious knows
less of this temptation; and the better Catholic and religious he is,
the farther removed he is from possible revolt against, or even
disrespect of, authority.

Against but one Order of all those repressed can the charge of
insubordination be brought with any show of truth. The Assumptionists
made the mistake of thinking that they could with impunity criticise
the doings of the Government, just as it is done in Paris every day by
the boulevard press. It is generally conceded that, considering the
well-known attitude of the Government towards the order, this was a
highly imprudent course for a religious paper to pursue. But their
right to do so is founded on the privilege of free speech. It takes
very little to find abuse of free speech in the utterances of the
clergy or religious in France. They are safe only when they are silent.
If there were less docility and more defiance in their attitude, if the
French Catholics relied less on God and more on man for redress, they
would receive more justice than they have been receiving.

The punishment meted out to the religious for their insubordination has
had, we are told, a doleful effect on the temporal power of the Pope,
an interesting patch of which has been broken up by the new French law.
It is a mystery to us how this law can affect the temporal power of the
Pope any more than the political status of Timbuctoo. It is passably
difficult to make an impression on what has ceased to exist these
thirty years. We thought the temporal power was dead. This bit of news
has been dinned into our ears until we have come to believe. No
conference, synod or council is considered by our dissenting friends
without a good strong sermon on this topic. Strange that it should
resurrect just in time to lose "an interesting patch" of itself! This
is cruelty. Why not respect the grave? We recommend the perusal of the
obituary of the temporal power written in Italian politics since the
year 1870. We believe the tomb is carefully guarded.

CHAPTER XLIV.
THE VOW OF CHASTITY.

RELIGIOUS are sometimes called celibates. Now, a celibate, one of the
bachelor persuasion, is a person who considers himself or herself good
enough company in this life, and chooses single blessedness in
preference to the not unmixed joys of wedlock. This alone is sufficient
to make one a celibate, and nothing more is required. Religious do not
wed; but, specifically, that is