CATHOLIC  SOCIALISTS.

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cellor.  These  two  sections,  labouring  side  by  side,  enemies
when  they  contend  for  their  cohorts  of  working  men,  but  allies
when  they  lead  them  to  the  poll,  are  both  rapidly  gaining
ground.  With  the  democrats,  no  understanding  can  be
thought  of  ;  their  hostility  is  absolute.  But  with  the  Catholics,
an  accord  is  not  impossible,  by  means  of  concessions  on  both
sides.  As  Bismarck  has  very  justly  remarked,  in  politics,  the
do  ut  des  is  always  concealed  at  the  bottom  of  every  compromise; ­
  only  the  policy  of  Rome  has  never  failed  to  exact
much  and  to  yield  very  little;  while  Prince  Bismarck  is  not
in  the  habit  of  treating  on  this  footing.
It  is  difficult  to  utter  an  impartial  judgment  on  this  extraordinary ­
  movement  that  we  have  endeavoured  to  describe.
It  would,  I  believe,  be  unjust  to  assert  that  the  commiseration
for  the  lot  of  the  labourers  and  the  socialistic  ideas  expressed
by  the  clergy  are  only  a  comedy  enacted  with  the  object  of
gaining  power.  A  charitable  priest  must  be  sincerely  touched
with  the  evils  which  the  working  classes  suffer  in  the  crowded
industrial  centres.  If  he  has  read  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,
he  will  mark  with  indignation  how  little  their  precepts  serve
as  a  guide-  amid  the  facts  of  modem  life.  With  the  ideal  of
Christian  charity  in  his  heart,  what  must  he  think  of  the
economic  world,  ruled,  as  it  is,  by  this  hard  law  of  competition
which  is  no  other  than  the  animal  struggle  for  existence?
From  the  pulpit,  the  good  pastor  must  say  to  us,  “  Treat  thy
brother  as  thyself.”  But  the  manufacturer  replies  to  him  “  If
I  do  not  reduce  the  cost  of  production  and  wages  to  the  lowest
point,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  sell  either  in  the  home  or  the
foreign  market,  and  we  shall  all  lose  our  livelihood.”
No  doubt  Bishop  Ketteler  has  been  touched  with  the
grace  of  Socialism  through  reading  Lassalle,  as  Prince  Bismarck
was  by  listening  to  his  words.  But  yet,  when  we  see  the  vast
masses  of  these  innumerable  associations  guided  and  inspired
with  a  view  to  the  poll,  and  the  clergy  unhesitatingly  allying
themselves  to  these  Democrats  who  have  sworn,  against
Christianity,  a  Hannibal’s  oath,  we  can  no  longer  believe  that
this  whole  campaign,  so  skilfully  planned,  has  no  other  inspiration ­
  than  love  for  one’s  neighbour  and  no  other  aim  than