The Papal Allocution Against Freemasonry.

" like HOMEK , must , we suppose , nod sometimes , and tlw Secret Consistory " must , one would think , have gone to sloop , and this Allocution must " have been delivered and have been listened to in a dream . " We have , in short , often had occasion to remark , that - the Papacy is " either greatly above or greatly below the level of common sense . In

" the present instance , we have not much hesitation in deciding in " Avhich category the Papal Allocution is to be placed . We can only " explain such an uncalled for burst of Pontifical Avrath on the sup" position that tho Pope is profoundly ignorant of all the circumstances " of modern life and soeietj ^ . In Italy , indeed , whore the excessive

" jealousy of the Church tends to invest even tho most innocent com" binations of men Avith a political meaning , it is possible that even " Freemasonry may assume some distinct character of antagonism to the " Papal pretensions . But the POPE can think it worth this violent AUo" cution only proves how completely lie is in the dark as to the real

in" fluences which are actuating men ' s minds . It is not Freemasonry nor any " other Secret Society , which has withdrawn from Catholicism so much of " the intelligence of Italy and of Europe , and has robbed the Papacy of its " ancient possessions . It is simply that general advance of free thought " and of personal liberty Avhich has exposed at once the unfounded character " of tho Papal claims and the injurious nature of their assumptions . Ridiculous ,

" in some respects , as are such exhibitions , it is impossible not to feel a " certain melancholy when we behold the Papacy thus fighting in the air . " In former days it at least knew in Avhat direction to strike , and its blows " were as Avell aimed as they were vigorously delivered . At the present day " it appears to have lost at once its sagacity and vigour . It is blind to its " real danger , and its language is as impotent in its A'iolence as its HOAVS

" are feeble and misplaced . It lives in a irorld of four centuries ago , and " judges alike of men and of events by a mediaeval standard . If the POPE " could but leaA'e the Vatican for awhile , and place himself in one of the ' ¦ ' real centres of modern life , in London or Paris , or even in Florence , he " would discover at once that he had been living , writing , and speaking " entirely in tho clouds . Such associations as the Freemasons may have

" been formidable a feAV centuries ago , but they are now of about as much " importance to tho course of civil and religious life as any other of tho " now extinct associations of the Middle Ages . With a similar blindness " to his real position , the POPE is said to be firmly convinced that the " French troops Avill never be Avithdrawn from Rome , and he obstinately

" refuses , therefore , to come to terms Avith the only Government which , " when that inevitable event takes place , can afford him any effectual pro" tection . He and his Church resemble nothing so much as the cit y to " which they cling . A new world has grown tip all around them , and they " remain the venerable but decaying monuments of an ancient but noiy