Journal of a Tour in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Greece

Front matter

i ■ . ' (... U.« Authtii J) __G_l_l§Al!_ISliXl- FROM THE SOUTH It JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN EGYPT, PALESTINE, SYRIA, AND GREECE: WITH NOTES, AND AN SJppenotx on Ecclesiastical Subjects. BY JAMES LAIRD PATTERSON, M.A. " Lætatus sum in his quæ dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus. Stantes erant pedes nostri : in atriis tuis, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, quæ ædificatur ut civitas : cujus participatio ejus in idipsum." PsALMT'S rXXT. LONDON : C. DOLMAN, 61, NEW BOND STREET: And 22, PATERNOSTER ROW. M.DCCCLII. DEDICATION. TO MY MOTHER.

Preface

. Another tour in the East, published by an un known author, when the subject has been so often and so successfully handled by several writers of eminence, seems to demand a sort of apology for its appearance. The desire of doing some good in my generation will perhaps hardly excuse, now-a-days, such a " rushing into print" ; yet in truth I am actuated I believe, mainly, if not solely, by that motive. The visitors to the East, who have recently put forth ingenious and brilliant accounts of their travels, have been mostly such as thought they were doing a service to society, by throwing a certain air of intelligent contempt over the sacred places of Palestine. It is pretty nearly agreed among such writers and their numerous readers, that the less they say about those sites which owe their

PREFACE.

. VI celebrity to a dogma tacitly withdrawn from the creed of modern " philosophical" Protestants, the better service will they render to the advance of intellect, and the more quietly will mankind drop a belief now so nearly exploded among them as is that in the Incarnation. With the honourable exception of some recent works in French and German, modern literature hardly presents the record of a tour to the East which was undertaken, not in the spirit of scepticism, but in that of faith. When, indeed, I began the journey I have here recorded, I was a Protestant, but one of the school called " Puseyites", whose characteristic it is to maintain Catholic belief, on ultra-Protestant principles. I had been brought up to think most Catholic dogmas false, but the pressing needs of human nature, and the deductions of reason, equally induced me to throw off a system which recognized both, but satisfied neither.

The profound neces sities of the human spirit compel assent to the august mystery of the Incarnation, and the laws of thought forbid those who think at all to allow it to lie as a mere historic fact, unapplied and inap plicable to these necessities. Yet such a fact has it become (where it is held at all) among Protestants !

PREFACE.

. VII It was, then, to escape from so impossible a state of spirit and mind as that through which, in one direction or another, the thinking Chris tianity of England is now working its way; to draw near to this great infructuous truth, and haply to vivify a chilled and frozen being in the rays of a far-off sun, that I set out for Jerusalem. The universal Church of God was indeed ever present at the very doors ; but I knew it not. An inexorable national tradition, and the teaching of men better and wiser than myself, veiled and disguised the sacred entrance, and so I fled from Her accents whose invitation I was in truth seeking. My hope, in the then state of my belief, was, that I should find support for the " high-Church" views in the religious state of the East. Never was there a more signal mistake.

The attitude of the Anglican Esta blishment towards the Church is indeed paralleled to a certain extent by the schismatic bodies of the East; but, while they for the most part utterly reject the Anglican claims, they themselves afford the best examples of those sins for which she remains cut off from the Catholic Church. In the mirror thus held up, I saw, what birth and educa tion had disguised to me in my own communion —

PREFACE.

. VIII the essentially abnormal and maimed condition of local and national Christianity. Thus, at length, at the birthplace of Christianity, and the cradle of its Lord, I discovered that for which I was seeking ; for the maze of diverse roads leads but to one true centre. My journal, there fore, is, as it were, an Ariadne's thread ; perchance it may lead some one at least a part of the entangled way. But further, Catholics may wish to read a Catholic's account of the holy places, and of the state of the Church in the East, and for them I offer my slender contribution to the torrent of modern literature. In spite of many drawbacks, both are topics of consolation. The sects have, indeed, wrested many sacred sites from the dearly-bought pro tection which for centuries the Catholic Church extended to them, and the state of the Eastern Catholics is often not all that we could desire: but yet there is room for hope, and sanguine ex pectation, on both heads.

The Turkish government is now truly liberal in its toleration of Ca tholics, and we are recovering our rights at Jeru salem and elsewhere ; while the anxious care of the Holy See, in maintaining and superintending

PREFACE.

. IX the venerable rites of the East, as it ever has done, yearly draws into the one fold, hundreds and thousands of those so long estranged from it in belief and discipHne. It is painful to an Englishman to have to record what he sees of the influence of his country in the East ; but I console myself with the reflection, that the policy which produces such evil results is not that of my country at large, but of one who, however able he may be as a minister, has not really the confidence of the nation. I profess no indifference to criticism ; but, at the same time, I have stated enough to shew that I do not look earnestly for applause. If some few reap benefit from the brief history of a mind's not aimless contact with the wonderful and strange eastern lands, my end is gained, and I shall be content.

In what follows, the reader will find, for the most part, the record of my own observations ; but in the Appendix I have further used other authorities. In so doing, I have been careful to weigh and balance testimonies ; and, as a rule, I have not made statements concerning any parties or bodies merely on their own testimony. My ac- X

PREFACE.

. counts of the various sects have been compiled (so far as they are not the result of personal know ledge) from the notices of others, beside their own writers. It would be tedious to enumerate the authors thus used, and I therefore, once for all, make the acknowledgment of having used many, and that largely. This work may appear too slight to call for the usual formal statement ; yet, as it contains opinions on religious matters, I am unwilling that it should go forth Avithout an intimation that every word of it, and every thought conveyed in it, is submitted without reservation to the authority of the Church. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Germany, Trieste, and the Adriatic. Cologne, 2 ; Dresden, its Churches and Gallery, 3 ; The Church in Austria, 5 ; Neisse, 8 ; Pius Verein, or Church Union, 9 ; Reverential Demeanour at home and abroad, 16; Austrian Silesia — Vienna, 21; Trieste, 22; The Adriatic, Coasting Vessels in distress, 23 ; Pola, 24 ; Roman Amphitheatre and Temples, 24 ; Corsola and Melida, 25 ; Conversation on the state of the Greek Church, 27 ; Corfu, 28 ; Church of S. Spiridion, 29 ; Ithaca, 30 ; Candia, 30.

Chapter II

Arrival in Egypt. Alexandria, 31 ; Eastern Sights and Sounds, 31 ; Turkish Bath, 32 ; " Pompey's Pillar", 33 ; Mohammedanism, 34 ; Franciscan Convent, 36; Political Parties in Egypt, 37; Catacombs in the Desert, 38 ; Roman Pottery, 39 ; Egyptian Music, 40 ; Mahmudie Canal, 41 ; The Nile, 42 ; Grand Cairo, 43 ; Nile Boat, 44; Streets of Cairo, 44; Mosque, 45; Joseph's House, 49; Mehemet Ali's Palace, 50; Old Cairo, 51; The Pyramids, 54 ; Tombs of the Caliphs, 60 ; Ibrahim Pacha's Tomb, 62 ; The Petrified Wood, 63. CONTENTS.

Chapter III

The Nile. The Dahabieh, or Nile Boat, 66 ; Young Hippotamus, 66 ; Marriage Procession, 67; Navigation of the Nile, 68 ; Accuracy of Herodotus, 70 ; Hill of the Birds, 70 ; Convent of Sitti Miriam el Adra, 71 ; Brick Wall of Sesostris, 71 ; Thoughts on the Greek Schism, 72 ; Egyptian Bread, 78 ; Crocodiles, 79 ; Siout, 80 ; Excavated Tombs, 80 ; Temple of Anybis, 81 ; Coptic Bishop, Clergy, and Convent, 82; Anecdote of Circassian Slaves, 84 ; Achmim, 84 ; Girgeh, 84 ; Kasr-e-Syad, 84; Local Superstitions, 8*5; Thebes, 86; Temples of Goorneh, 86 ; Remeseum, 88 ; Ahmed Pasha, 88 ; Karnak and Luxor, 95 ; Ptolemaic Temple at Esneh, 96 ; Modes of Irrigation in Upper and Lower Egypt, 98 ; Island of Elephantine, 99 ; First Cataract, 100 ; Philæ, 101 ; Nubia, 104; Zodiacal Light, 104; The Idolatry ofthe Israelites, and the Religion of Ancient Egypt, 106.

Chapter IV

Voyage down the Nile. A Storm on the Nile, 109; Temples of Abou-Simbel, 110; Ptolemaic Temple at Hierosycaminon, 110; Kalabsche, 111 ; Descent of the First Cataract, 114; Second Visit to Philæ, 115; The People of Nubia, 116; Quarries of Syene, 116; Thebes, 117; Temple - Palace at Medinet Habou, 117; The Remeseum, 118 ; Paintings and Sculptures in the Tombs of the Asaseef, 121; Negadeh, 129; Dendera, 132; A "Tractarian" Dilemma, 137; The White Monastery, 139; Antinoe, 144; Grottoes of Dayr-e-Nachl, and of Beni Hassan, 145; Memphis, 154; Pyramid of Mycerinus, 156. CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter V

Journey across the Desert. Return to Cairo, 162; News from Home, 162; Mohammedan Tomb, 167; Dr. Abbott's Museum, 168; Early Pointed Architecture, 169; Matarieh and Heliopolis, 171; Camel Riding, 174; The Desert, 175; El Arish, 180; Ruins of Raphia, 184; Gaza, 184; Valley and Church of Abou Gosh, 187; Arrival at Jerusalem, 189.

CHAPTER VL

Jerusalem. Entrance into the Holy City, 191 ; Franciscan Convent, 192 ; Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 192 ; The Stone of Unction, 193; The Sepulchre, 194; Column of Flagellation, 194; Calvary, 196; Traditions concerning the Holy Places, 198; Via Dolorosa, 199; Gethsemane, 201; Tomb of Our Lady, 202; The Writer is received into the Church, 208 ; Easter at Jerusalem, 210; Bethlehem, 215; Cave of S. Jerome, 216; Valley of Ben-Hinnom, 217 ; Jericho, 221 ; Jordan and the Dead Sea, 222 ; S. Saba, 223 ; Valley of Ajalon, 225 ; Cave of Adullam, 229 ; Esau's Tomb, 230 ; Hebron, 231 ; Cave of Macphelam, 231 ; Pools of Solomon, 232 ; Valley of Terebinthus, 237.

Chapter VII

Jerusalem and the Country about it. The Greek Schismatics, 239 ; Their Profanation of the Holy Sepulchre, 241 ; The Country round Jerusalem, 245 ; Bethany, 246; Tomb of Lazarus, 246; Convent of S. Cross, 247; Mount of Olives, 248; Stations of the' Via Dolorosa, 248; CONTENTS. Bethlehem, 250; Catholic Eastern Rites, 250; S. John's of the Desert, 253 ; Prophecy of S. Malachi, 253 ; The Greeks and the Cupola of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 257 The Future of Protestantism, 260 ; Preparations for leaving the Holy City, 264.

Chapter VIII

Carmel and Tabor. First Day's Journey towards Nazareth, 267; Bethel, 268; Sichem, 269 ; Samaritan Synagogue on Mount Gerizim, 269 ; Ancient Manuscript, 270 ; Sebaste, 270 ; Plain of Esdraelon, 271 ; Hermon and Tabor, 272 ; Nazareth, 272 ; Saphura, 274 ; S. Jean d'Acre, 275 ; Bay of Acre, 276 ; River Kishon, 277 ; Carmel, 278; The Druses, 280; Place of Elias' Sacrifice, 281 ; Giaffa, 282; The Mount of Precipitation, 282; Tabor, 283; Cana, 286; Tiberias, 288; Safet, 289; Panias, 290; Place of S. Paul's Conversion, 292 ; Damascus, 293.

Chapter IX

Lebanon. Damascus, 294 ; Murder of a Christian by the Jews, 296 ; Place of S. Paul's Escape, 298 ; Barrada, 299 ; Baalbek, 300 ; Mass of the Greek Rite, 307 ; Metualik Village, 309 ; Mount Lebanon, 310; The Cedars, 311; People of Lebanon, 313; Duman, 313 ; Visit to the Maronite Patriarch, 315 ; Legend of S. Marina, 316 ; Mass of the Maronite Rite, 319 ; Convent of Kanubin, 320 ; Mar- Antonius, 321 ; Eden, 322 ; Tripoli, 323 ; Djenin, 325 ;. Beyruth, 326 ; Bigfayeh, 329. CONTENTS. XV

Chapter X

The Levant, Greece, and Venice. Bigfayeh, 330 ; Illumination in honour of the Assumption, 332 ; the Arab tribe of Spas, 332 ; Beyruth, 334 ; Rhodes, 335 ; Murder of an English Traveller at Makri, 336 ; Quarantine, 338 ; Conversation with an Armenian, 339 ; Smyrna, 339 ; Burnabat, 342 ; SyTa, 344 ; the old Town and Cathedral, 345 ; Church of the Jesuits, 345 ; Character of the Greek Islanders, 348 ; Athens, 349 ; Marathon, 352 ; the Piræus, 354 ; Tomb of Themistocles, 354 ; the Parthenon, 355 ; Temples of Jupiter Olympius and of Theseus, 356 ; the Acropolis, 357 ; Eleusis, 358 ; Salamis, 358 ; Politics of Greece, 360 ; Nauplia, 364 ; Tiryns and Argos, 365 ; Tomb of Agamemnon, 367 ; Mycenæ, 367; Corinth, 368; Patras, 370; Corfu, 371; Catholic British Soldiers, 372; Trieste, 374; Venice, 375; the Manfrini Gallery, 378 ; Notice of Cardinal Pole, 380 ; Padua, 382 ; Verona, 383 ; Conclusion, 384.

Appendix

. No. I. The Catholics of the East. The Maronites, 387; the Greeks, 390; the Syrians, 394; the Armenians, 396 ; the Chaldeans, 400 ; the Coptic Catholics, 402 ; the Abyssinians, 403 ; the Latins, 404. No. II. The Separatist, or Schismatic Christians or the East, 422. The Greek Communion, 425 ; the Armenians, 440 ; the Jacobites or Syrian Monophysites, 444 ; the Copts and Abyssinians, or African Monophysites, 445; the Nestorians, 447; the Protestants, 450. CONTENTS. XVI No. III. On the Holy Places of Palestine, 457. No. IV. Indulgences attached to Places in the Holy Land, 462. List of Dioceses in the Fifth Century, 471 ; Extract from Bingham and Thomassinus, 471 ; Certificate of Pilgrimage, 472 ; Speech of Marshal de la Tour in the Senate of Turin, 473 ; On Gothic Architecture, 477 ; References to the Plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 479.

ILLUSTRATIONS. Jerusalem ..... Frontispiece Great Hall — Temple of Karnak . . .96 Island of Philœ . . . . .100 Mosque of E' Tayloon . . . .168 Mecherab in the Mosque of E' Tayloon . .170 Plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre . . 480 Wood-cut, Hieroglyphic, Name of King of Judah . 128 Plan of Ruins at Baalbek . . 302 ERRATA. P. 171, insert at the end of note, " Vide app. IV, P." — 212, first line of note, for Argyll, read " Argyle." — 253, line 20, for Pastor peregrinus, read " Peregrinus Apostolicus." — 306, — 29, — Pocock, read " Pococke." — 401, — 29, — Straughelo, read " Stranghelo." JOURNAL OF A TOUR,

Chapter I. Germany, Styria, And The Adriatic

COLOGNE DRESDEN : ITS CHURCH AND GALLERY THE CHURCH IN AUSTRIA NEISSE PIUS VEREIN, OR CHURCH UNION REVERENTIAL DEMEANOUR AT HOME AND ABROAD AUSTRIAN SILESIA VIENNA TRIESTE THE ADRIATIC COASTING VESSEL IN DISTRESS POLA ROMAN AMPHITHE ATRE AND TEMPLES CORSOLA AND MELIDA CONVERSA TION ON THE STATE OF THE GREEK CHURCH CORFU CHURCH OF S. SPIRIDION ITHACA CANDIA. Dresden. Sunday, October 21, 1849. Here I write the first lines of what I purpose to be the journal of a year's wanderings. Perhaps there is a certain fitness in here beginning an account of what I am half afraid to dub a " pilgrimage"; where a long track (of some twelve years) in the mo mentous journey of life, is summoned to review by the sight of scenes at the beginning of that time as familiar to me as are now the venerable courts and stately fanes of my own university, but since become like the faces of absent friends in the hurried portraiture of a dream.

One has scarcely time in the bustle of departure to " realize his position". The many minutiæ of preparation, B COLOGNE. and the modes of travelling now-a-days, render it difficult to feel as one can imagine the pilgrims to the Holy Land did of old. Yet, perhaps, with staff in hand, and pilgrim's shells on hat and gown, in ap proved mediæval fashion, they had less of sentiment than we; and I am fain to hope that Jerusalem may cure one of that tendency among other and graver faults. Not that I expect to be desillusione, as some have been, by the present meannesses and degradations of the Holy Land ; but that there, if any where, should be learnt the lesson of quiet and every-day duty, ungilded by over -enthusiasm and untarnished by the impatience of its necessary re action. The usual amount of steam by day and night, by sea and land, brought us hither last night.

Ostend looked as lively as usual, the old Belgian cities as picturesque and clean; but Cologne received us no longer with its far-visible crane, mounted on the stunted tower of the great Dom. Since two years ago the dingy crane has disappeared, and the works have made great progress. We went to the capitular mass at nine, and were ushered by the good-natured, shabby beadle into the choir. The singers were few, and the organ too loud and too showily played. The tone of Cologne cathedral is disagreeable to me. It has become a great show place for non - Catholics, and one is beset by impertinent valets-de-place. The beadle said he could do nothing with them single-handed, and the chapter cannot afford him assistants. Then the works seem done in a national and archæological DRESDEN. way. The nave is almost as bare and unreligious as that of an English cathedral, and the worshippers seem out of place among the hurrying groups of Protestant gazers.

All this is hardly made up for by the glories of the structure, which begin to reveal themselves now that the nave and transept are (temporarily) roofed in, and the walls of the clerestories, etc., rise apace. S. Mary Capitoli, S. Andreas, and the Holy Apostles' churches fully occupied the rest of our day tdl nightfall. Of these S. Gereon is the most interesting ; but S. Martin, so dirty with the constant crowd of worshippers, mostly of low degree, was a delight after the stately dilettante air of the cathedral. At S. Gereon rest the bones of that saint, of his companion, S. Gre gorius, and many other martyrs. Besides the wholesome thoughts which such relics naturally breed, the thrilling knowledge that their resurrec tion to eternal life is certain, and that the souls which animated them are now with the Saints be fore God, seems to put heaven so tangibly before one.

This morning (Sunday) we went to high mass at the Hos Kirche, where all remains as I remember it of old. The king and royal family looked out of their tribune, the choir sang Mozart, and the Pro testant public came in to see and hear and stroll about, just as they did twelve years ago : the only change was in myself, and I felt inclined to regard the mass as one for my defunct individuality of 1839, and so, as Wordsworth says, " follow still" the " funeral" of my boyhood. In the afternoon we drove to the beautiful Plauensche Grund, and r, .v DRESDEN GALLERY. then went to vespers. The congregation is large and devout, but there seems a certain rigidity about Catholics, in countries where they are mixed or surrounded (as here) with Protestants, which is unedifying. For instance, there is too much pre cision in changes of posture by all at once, and in coming and going.

Monday. We have had a long morning in the gallery. A few pictures, and only a few, I remembered. Rather a lesson as to being anxious to see many fine things, for I passed day after day here once. I think the Madonna of San Sisto is the finest of Raffaelle's conceptions. The B. Virgin, a face to cast down one's eyes before, — our Lord, less lofty than we Enghsh dream of perhaps, but so full of love and thought, and the Ahnung of suf fering to come — like those noble Vandycks of King Charles, of which there is one here. Raffaelle was no saint, but he had faith, and some love too, or he could not have painted as he did. One of the most gratuitous of popular assumptions among " the rehgious world" chez nous, seems to me to be, that faith cannot exist without consistent action. Scripture, the doctrine of the Catholic Church, and human daily experience, contradict it.

How strangely vulgar tradition interferes with man's development and appreciation of truth and beauty : even in art Protestantism enslaves and binds the soul and intellect. In its horror of " superstition", it cuts off the spirit from the power of entertaining the loftiest and most poetical of ideals. If a Pro testant soars, it is in spite of his religion ; if Raffaelle BRESLAU. 5 falls short in anything, it is because he does not act up to his faith. What might not that pencil have achieved, had he not filtered his ideal through the channel of his vices ! Had he united with his technical skill the holiness of Fra Angelico,he might have opened heaven to our eyes. G *. Nov. 6 th. We have been here twelve days. We left Dresden the 23rd of October, took the railroad to Breslau, and then posted hither on a visit to .

On All Saints I went to mass here, and was much struck with the crowds of people who thronged the church all the morning. All this part of Silesia is reputed religious, and the appearance certainly bears this out. We are here just within the Austrian frontier, and the habits of the people have been uninterruptedly Catholic. Every turn in the road, and hill top, and village place or street, is hallowed by a cross or crucifix, and the custom is to salute them. The greeting to one another too is, " Praised be Jesus Christ ": to which the answer is, " For ever and ever. Amen". B called the other day and proposed we should go to-morrow to a sort of gathering of the clergy, at Neisse, the Prussian fortified frontier town, which I hope to do. We talked about variations of Catholic ritual, apropos of those in the French dioceses, which they are about to relinquish in 1850.

He regretted this in an antiquarian point of view, which made me suggest that the old ritual might still be used on some days, — such as the patron saints' of the diocese, etc., which I under stand has been thought of. Certainly, to Catholics BRESLATJ. travelling, variations are very inconvenient. To-day our German master, an Augustinian priest from Styria, gave me some account of Church matters in Austria apropos of the Neisse Church meeting to which we go to-morrow. He said there were stdl among the bishops and higher clergy some favourers of Joseph II's " Church and State" views and laws, a system similar to that established with such dis astrous consequences in France by Louis XIV, in 1680. It remains in force still, though evidently about to be done away with.* He said one great evil of this system was, that the bishops were chiefly nominated from among those who had made them selve useful in the semi-political capacity of eccle siastical jurists.

Though the Pope has an absolute veto on all such nominations, the persons thus ap pointed are usually not such as can be rejected for any definite fault or defect ; yet they are often * Since this was written, the event here anticipated has taken place. The emperor, by edict of May 1850, has annulled the Josephine laws, and relinquished the concordat, wrung by that sovereign from the Supreme Pontiff (Pius VI), on which they depended. It remains for Sardinia, the only so-called liberal state in Italy, to endeavour in 1851, by imprisonment and exile, to coerce the heads of the Church in her dominions, and erect a tyranny over conscience, which despotic Austria has willingly relinquished, and which republican France has, to her honour, I trust for ever abrogated. A speech on the subject of the relation between Church and State, delivered by an illustrious member of the Sardinian senate (Field Marshal Count De la Tour) in May last, in defence of the threatened liberty of conscience seems to me so much to the point, that I venture to reproduce an abstract of it in the Appendix.

It has not hitherto been published. NEISSE. quite unfit, in one or more particulars, for that office. Lately, however, the veto has been used in the instance of the bishop of Satmar, who was nominated for the primacy of Hungary by Louis Batthyany, and in other cases. In the case of the bishop of Satmar, the objection was purely on political grounds, I believe. The bishop of Fiinfkirchen was appointed in his stead. The recent political events promise the emancipation of the Church from state control, and lately the bishops assembled to concert measures for this end, without the formal sanction of the emperor stipu lated in the Josephine concordat. The Govern ment, however, heard of it in time to send them invitations, so as to save the precedent. Joseph II, and each of his successors, have been desirous to give up a system so injurious to the cause of reli gion as, with the example of France before their eyes, they could not but see it was ; but the voice of their convictions was only heard on the death bed, where sovereigns too often hear and realize truth for the first time, — Joseph, and Leopold, and Francis, each besought his successor in vain to remedy the evils they had created or sanctioned.

The curse of state religion is indifferentism, one which neither imperial edicts nor acts of Parlia ment can medicate. Nov. 7. We started at six for Neisse in an open carriage, and got there by half-past ten. After breakfast, etc., we went to call on B 's friend, Herr S — , priest, and director of the gymnasium. We found him entertaining a party of members of NEISSE. the assembly we were come to attend, at dinner. Herr S (a kindly-mannered and merry person, reminding one of dear P. L ) made us sit down and drmk some very innocent Rhine wine with his guests. One of these was Dr. W of Breslau, who is evidently the mainspring of this associa tion. He told B (in Latin, as B does not speak German) all about the object and constitu tion of tins, and its kindred Societies or Vereins ; but a good Alsatian doctor, next to whom I was sitting (who was even more puzzled than I was myself by the tractarian theory of Church unity which I was expounding and defending to him) would not allow me to hear the whole of what he said.

I gathered, however, from him and Herr S that these Pius Vereins, or Church Unions, have since last year spread throughout Germany. They began in the Prussian Rhine provinces last year, and the first general annual meeting was held at Mayence. The object of these associations is agitation, in aU lawful and Christian ways, for the emancipation of the Roman Catholic Church from state usurpations in Germany. They have mapped out the country in provinces, according to its civil divisions, placing in the chief city of each the seat of a president, secretaries, etc., for a central union : these meet yearly, either in their city, or in some other place within the province where a Kreiss (departmental) Union is established. These de partments again, have similar but more frequent meetings. The present was the annual meeting of the Provincial Verein of Prussian Silesia, under NE1SSE. the presidency of Dr. W , and the vice-presi dency of Herr S , president of the local Kreiss Union.

At it, therefore, were present deputies from all the other departmental unions of the whole province, and also those forming the local union and representing the villages and towns within its department or kreiss. The new Prus sian constitution allows these assemblies, and their objects and means being obvious and definite, I think one may hope real advantage from them ; which is more than I can say I do from simdar attempts among us. We went first to the hall of assembly, and heard some discussion on the machinery of the Vereins, whence I gathered part of what I have written above. There appeared to be about two hundred and fifty deputies present. The president kept them in great order, and spoke several times with great force and eloquence. The general tendency of his remarks was to check over organization (the national tendency here), and leave things as much as possible to the discretion of leaders.

I thought, if they were aU like himself, the result would doubtless be admirable. He seemed, though young, to be a learned man, and swayed the assembly al most as one man. In the evening we attended the meeting of the Neisse Kreiss Verein, to which, with the deputies of the province, we were invited. It was held in a large hall, highly and appropri ately decorated, and fitted with a platform for the speakers, presidential chair, etc. There seemed to be in the densely crowded room at least two thou- NE1SSE. sand people (clergy and laity) of all classes, and the galleries were filled with the " softer sex". The proceedings commenced with a hymn, sung very well, in parts, by a choir of thirty or forty. The president then caUed on Herr S , as presi dent of the Neisse Verein, to open the proceedings with a speech, which he accordingly did.