ght revolve, like so many satellites, around his
throne in France. Napoleon makes two demands on the venerable Pontiff:
First--That he dissolve the marriage which had been contracted between the
Emperor's brother, Jerome, and Miss Patterson, of Baltimore. His
ostensible reason for having the marriage dissolved was because Miss
Patterson was a Protestant, but his real motive was to secure a royal
bride for his brother instead of an American lady. Second--That he close
his ports against the commerce of England, with which nation Napoleon was
then at war, and make common cause with the Emperor against his enemies.
The Pope rejected both demands. He told the Emperor that the Church held
all marriages performed by her as indissoluble, even when one of the
parties was not a Catholic; and that, as the common father of Christendom,
he could close his port against no Christian power. For refusing to comply
with this second demand the Pope was arrested and sent into exile, where
he lingered for years.

At this very moment the old conflict between the Church and despotic
governments is raging fiercely throughout Europe. The scene enacted by
John and Herod is today reproduced in almost every kingdom of the old
world. It is the old fight between brute force and the God-given rights of
conscience.

In Russia we see the Bishop of Plock exiled for life from his See to
Siberia. His only offence is his refusal to acknowledge that the Emperor
Alexander is the head of the Christian Church.

If we pass over into Italy we see religious men and women driven from
their homes; their houses and libraries confiscated--libraries which pious
and learned men had been collecting and consulting for ages. The only
crime of those religious is that they have not the power to resist brute
force.

Cross the Alps into France and there you will see that many-headed
monster, the Commune, assassinating the Archbishop of Paris and his
clergy, solely because he and they were the representatives of law and
order.

In the Republic of Switzerland Bishop Mermillod is expelled from Geneva
without the slightest charge adduced against his character as a citizen
and a Christian Prelate. Faithful clergymen are deprived by the government
of their parochial rights and renegade Priests are intruded in their
place. The shepherd is driven away and wolves lay waste the fold.

Go to Prussia; what do you behold there? A Prime Minister flushed with his
recent victories ove