We plorers, and in their supporters. Still, if Catholicity was not the only motive, it was in most cases a prominent motive, and in nearly all put forward as the chief motive. But we must not be required to place much confidence in the Catholic motives of such sovereigns as Ferdinand of Aragon and Henry the Seventh of England, cold-hearted and selfish, both as men and monarchs. The third and last proposition is proved very much as Mr. McGee proves most of his propositions. There is no doubt that no class of the American population were more devoted, or contributed more in proportion to their numbers and means, to the independence of the United States, than the Catholics, but they could have had no marked influence on the result. Whether the French alliance was so essential to the establishment of our independence as Mr. McGee supposes may be doubted, but that alliance was not prompted by Catholicity or entered into for a Catholic purpose. owe it rather to Philosophic France than to Catholic France. Religion had nothing to do with it. France was governed in it by her own views of state policy. She wished to avenge herself on Great Britain, weaken the power of a rival, establish a controlling influence in the new republic, and secure to herself the chief benefits of its commerce. There were nominal Catholics who sought service in our armies, or volunteered to serve in them, but they were moved by motives which may influence a Protestant as well as a Catholic, and the less we say of their Catholicity the better. We do not think the interests of Catholicity here or elsewhere require us to adopt a line of argument that would include Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, Condorcet, and the whole tribe of French infidels, among Catholics. For ourselves we are not disposed to dwell much on the Catholic character of the French subsidies. We cannot make much out of it, if we try. Arguments like Mr. McGee's weigh much more with his friends than with the great body of our non-Catholic countrymen. The undeniable fact is, this country, as to the dominant sentiment of the people, is more decidedly antiCatholic than any other civilized country of the globe. By the Constitution and laws Catholics are placed, it is true, on a footing of perfect equality with the rest; but if that sentiment is strong enough to destroy that equality, and to deny in regard to Catholics the religious liberty which Americans have heretofore boasted as their chief glory, nothing we can say of the services rendered to the country in past or present times by Catholics will have any effect, or if any, the reverse of what we wish. The stronger we show our claims to be, the more shall we influence the anti-Catholic sentiment against us. Nevertheless, Mr. McGee's book, so far as devoted to illustrating and proving the three propositions, must be interesting and instructive to Catholics. The book is in general well written, some passages are beautifully and eloquently written, and no man who has a heart can read them without deep emotion. The appendix will be found to be valuable, and the account of the blessed Catharine Yegahkouita highly edifying. The Two Discourses added on the relations of Ireland and America contain much that is true and important, but there are some things in them which we wish had either been omitted, or differently expressed. a 4. The Catholic Singing-Book, containing the Elements of Music, Progressive Lessons, and Exercises for Singing Schools, Mass by F. F. Schmid, the Vespers, and other Pieces for the Use of Choirs. By A. WERNER, Organist of the Cathedral in Boston. Boston: Donahoe. 1853. PP. 96. THE title-page which we have cited describes accurately the design and contents of this book. It is not primarily a choir-book; it is chiefly intended for singing-schools, as a book for learners. As far as we are able to judge, it is admirably adapted to its purpose. We need not say one word in commendation of the author, one of the best musicians and most successful teachers of music, especially church music, in the country. His taste in church music is correct, and his zeal to improve our choirs is worthy of the devout Catholic. His little publication is modest and unpretending, but it is the very book that was needed for our singing-schools, and we doubt not that it will be approved by all our singing-masters, and put into the hands of all their pupils. If used according to the clear and simple directions of the author, in our schools generally, we shall soon find a very great change in our choirs, and find, what we do not now always find, their performances a help to devotion. 5. Oramaika. An Indian Story. New York: Dunigan and Brother. 1854. 18mo. pp. 366. THIS is a very pleasantly told story, and adds another interesting little work to our Catholic library. It is said to be adopted from the French, though of what French publication we are not told, and we are unable to say. The scene is laid, as near as we can make out the author's geography, in the western part of this State, somewhere in the neighborhood of Springfield, and the characters are Indians, Father O'Leary, a missionary priest, and a whole batch of our stern old Puritans. Several passages in the book remind us of Cooper's Wept of the Wiston Wish. The story and the scene do not very well accord, and the success with which Father O'Leary converts the Puritans surpasses anything recorded in history, and may well be envied by our faithful and hard-working priests of the present day. The book, however, is a good book, and though we do not believe that so many of our Puritan ancestors were actually converted, yet we are sure they might have been, and it was sad for them as well as for us that they were not. We look forward to the time, also, when the conversions of Massachusetts men recorded in Oramaika will not seem an improbable fiction to a resident of the old Bay State. Unhappily, never did our people seem further from the door of the Church than now; but "when things are at worst, they sometimes mend." We commend Oramaika to all our young friends. 6. Ida May. A Story of Things Actual and Possible. By MARY Boston: Phillips, Sampson, & Co. 1854. 12mo. LANGDON. pp. 478. IDA MAY Comes out as a rival to Uncle Tom's Cabin. It will not have the sale of that popular work, but it will produce a deeper impression on thoughtful minds, and do far more to damage the institution of slavery. The feeble part of the work is that which relates to the disposition of the slaves in case of their liberation. 7. History of the Catholic Missions the United States, 1829 - 1854. New York: Dunigan and Brother. among the Indian Tribes of It is not easy to persuade one's self that this most interesting and eloquently written volume is by the author of the Prize Essay on Catholic Literature in the United States, which appeared in The Metropolitan at the beginning of last year. That Essay was weak and ill-tempered, betraying a petty spite against a writer who has deserved well of the friends of Catholic literature in this country, as well as great want of knowledge of his subject. It gave us a very unfavorable opinion of the author. But this volume, which we have received at too late a moment to read through, and at which we have only glanced, appears to us to be a work of solid merit, and to entitle the author to an honorable rank among our historical writers. Its subject is one of deep and thrilling interest, and the author seems to have caught its spirit, and to have depicted it in a style and language not wholly unworthy of it. The book is a valuable contribution to our literature, and will be read with interest and gratitude by every Catholic in the United States who can read our mother tongue. 8. The Hundred Boston Orators appointed by the Municipal Authorities and other Public Bodies, from 1770 to 1852; compris. ing Historical Gleanings, illustrating the Principles and Progress of Republican Institutions. By JAMES SPEAR LORING. Third Edition, with an improved Index of Names. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 1854. 8vo. THIS work is not an account of a hundred orators, natives of this city, but a collection of extracts from their Speeches and Orations, together with biographical sketches of a hundred different orators who have given orations before the citizens of Boston. It is a very interesting work, and we may find in it matter for some remarks hereafter. 9. The Prophet of the Ruined Abbey, a Glance of the Future of Ireland: A Narrative founded on the Ancient "Prophecies of Culmkill," and other Predictions and Popular Traditions among the Irish. By the Author of "The Cross and Shamrock." New York: Dunigan and Brother. 1855. 12mo. pp. 293. WE have read this new work by the author of The Cross and Shamrock. It is in the author's best style. We learn from it that Catholicity is "the oldest Christian creed in Christendom," and that Napoleon the Third, to whom the work is dedicated, is the expected conqueror of England, and liberator of Ireland. But seriously, though the author is undisciplined as a writer, and neither very profound nor very accurate as a thinker, his work possesses considerable merit. Its story is disjointed, and in parts highly improbable; but it contains passages that every reader must admire for their rare beauty and genuine pathos. The author's descriptive powers are far above mediocrity, and some of his characters, as O'Mara and Darby Anglum, for instance, are well drawn, and sustained. That of Captain O'Donnell is not bad. But the author succeeds better with his peasants than with his gentlemen, and with his soldiers than with his saints. He describes with more sympathy and unction the feats of the wild Rapperee than the pious exercises of Father O'Donnell. Father O'Donnell is, of course, a saint, but whether he owes his canonization to his love of God or to his love of country is somewhat doubtful. The author professes to be an O'Connellite, but he writes with the spirit of a Young Irelander, and though he is bitter against the heroes of Slieb na Man, he has a hard struggle to reconcile himself to those Irish priests who preach to their people loyalty to the government, obedience to the laws, and resignation and patience under their wrongs. He hates Red-Republicanism, but he loves war, and feels a real pleasure when his Rapperee brings down a couple of Orangemen at a single shot. Whether the author's patriotism is always wise or not, it certainly is intense, and he seems to have discovered a fifth cardinal virtue, namely, hatred of the Saxon. We have no wish to palliate the conduct of England towards Ireland. It admits of no palliation. The wrongs she has inflicted upon the Irish no passion or imagination can exaggerate, and yet we cannot see any justice in anathematizing the whole Anglo-Saxon race. The worst enemies of Ireland described in the author's own book are Irish, not Saxon. We can see no good likely to result from efforts to influence the Irish in this country with hatred to the Anglo-Saxon race. It will not better their condition here, or render them more able to serve their countrymen at home. It seems to us very possible to love and esteem the Irish without hating everybody else. Indeed, we doubt if our religion allows us to hate races any more than individuals. to see. The author in his Preface has some allusions which we are sorry He does great injustice to those whom he designates as "a few fickle-minded spirits," "not numerous nor respectable enough to form a school of philosophy." The passage in our Review on which he no doubt founds his charge against them has no such meaning as he through his morbid jealousy extracts from it. It says not one word against the study of Irish history, Irish antiquities and traditions; it does not tell the Irish that they should forget or neglect them; it does not depreciate their value in themselves considered; it only says, that it is of no use urging them as an argument to remove the prejudices which it is alleged the American people have against the Irish, for the world judges a people by what it is and can do here and now, not by what it once was or once did. We did not pretend that in this the world is right; we only contended that it does and will so judge. We did not say a word against those things which are so dear to the Irishman, and which have a deep interest for every genuine scholar; we only said, that insisting on them was not the most effectual way of combating the prejudices against the Irish in this country, prejudices, by the way, which we do not and never did share. The whole amount of our passage about Tara's halls was not to find fault with the love of the Irish for their national antiquities, history, or traditions, but to question the practical value of the logic of Thomas Mooney, Esq., in urging upon his countrymen to make a present of his History of Ireland to their Yankee friends, as the best way of removing their prejudices against the Irish. Morbid jealousy finds proofs of guilt in the unconscious expressions of innocence. |