PROTESTANT.PR. CT.ROMAN CATHOLIC.PR. CT.Brandenburg12Austria (Upper and Lower)29.3Hanover9.6Bohemia16.3Pomerania10Baden16.2Prussia6.7Bavaria22.5Saxony15.9Carinthia11.7Würtemberg16.4Carniola45Moravia15.1Posen6.8Rhineland3.4Salzburg29.6Styria30.6Trieste, Gorz, etc.9.9Tyrol and Vorarlberg6Average11.7Average18.6
We repeat, the question as put by theNew Englanderitself is not aboutGermanprovinces, but of the Protestant and Roman Catholic provinces of Prussia and Austria. Moreover, the table as it stands is grossly untrue. The rate of illegitimacy of the province of Prussia is 9 instead of 6.7, which materially alters the general average.
The averages of the table are falsely given as,
Protestant11.7Catholic18.6
The true averages found by balancing the populations and the rates, according to the rules of arithmetic, are:
Protestant12Catholic16.9
Besides these grave blunders, theNew Englander, professing to give a statement of theGermanprovinces by takingGermany, "province by province," has omitted many German provinces, which omission very materially affects the result. We take the liberty of putting them in to show how "economical" of truth theNew Englanderhas been.
Provinces omitted for which returns were given.
PROTESTANT.PR. CT.CATHOLIC.PR. CT.Saxon Prussia10Austrian Silesia13.8Brunswick18.9Mecklenburg-Schwerin20.7Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach15.6Saxe Altenburg16.9Hesse17.2Bremen7.2
We shall now proceed to do what theNew Englanderprofessed to do, but merely shifting the question, has not done, namely, compare the Catholic and Protestant provinces of Protestant Prussia and Roman Catholic Austria, province by province, as they existed previous to the last war, to correspond to the comparison of the cities of these countries which were contained within these limits. Milan, as well as Lemburg and Zara, are put down among the Austrian cities. We shall give the corresponding provinces:
Illegitimacy in Prussian and Austrian Provinces.
PROTESTANT.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.PR. CT.Brandenburg2.6212Pomerania1.4410Prussia3.019Saxony (province)2.04109.1110.2
CATHOLIC.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.PR. CT.Austria (Upper and Lower)2.4729.3Bohemia5.1116.3Carinthia.3445Carniola.4711.7Moravia1.9915.1Posen1.526.8Rhineland3.353.4Austrian Silesia.4913.8Salzburg.1529.6Styria1.0930.6Trieste, etc..569.9Tyrol.886Hungary10.686Galicia5.108Dalmatia.445Croatia.955.5Lombardy and Venice5.555.141.1410.3
We have thus shown, by a mathematical demonstration, that the words which theNew Englanderfound convenient to put in our mouths, though we really said nothing of the kind, that "if the returns of the provinces were brought into the account, they would more than redress the balance of the cities," are sufficiently made good. We are glad he "proceeded to put our proposition to experiment," and we caution him when he makes any more experiments of this kind to reflect that, whatever may be the judgment of an uncritical public prepared to take his statements without examination, his artifices, misstatements, and false conclusions are sure to be detected by any well-informed reader who will take the trouble of examining them. The result of the comparison of the Protestant and Roman Catholic provinces of Austria and Prussia sums up in this fashion:
False Average of the New Englander.Protestant11.7Catholic18.6
True Average.Protestant10.2Catholic10.3
We have thus finished this part of our task, strictly confining ourselves to the provinces in question; but as it seems more complete to add the other German provinces on both sides, of which returns are given, we do so with the following result:
Provinces already given.
PR. CT.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.Protestant10.29.11Würtemberg16.41.75Smaller German States[16]14.86.4012.517.26
PR. CT.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.Catholic10.341.14Bavaria22.54.81Baden16.21.4311.747.38
We dismiss theNew Englanderfrom the examination of provinces with the conviction that he ought now to become a wiser if not a better man.
2dly. TheNew Englandergives us another division of his work, entitled thus, "3.Comparison of mixed populations," the object of which seems to be two-fold: 1st, To show the wonderful effect of a little Protestant salt in a mass of Catholic corruption; and 2dly, to push up the rate of Catholic Austria to a high figure by excluding the best half of it, and thus to come out with flying colors in the grand tabular statement of all the European countries. He commences with the following round but very novel statement: "The empire of Austria includes a population of 31,655,746; of these, 21,082,801 or two thirds, are non-Romanists, belonging to the Protestant church or Greek Church."
The population of the empire of Austria is really divided as follows:
Catholic26,728,020All others7,703,976
by which specimen we may form agood judgment of the general accuracy of theNew Englander.
He goes on, "In nine of the Austrian provinces the population is almost exclusively Roman Catholic. In seven, the Roman Catholics are, on an average, in a minority of 46 per cent." He proves these assertions by a table of
Mixed Provinces.
ROMANISTS.ILLEGITIMATE.Hungary52per cent.6per cent.Galicia44"8"Bukowina9"9"Dalmatia81"5"Militärgrenze42"1.4"Croatia, etc.82"5.5"Transylvania11"7"Average46"6"
accompanied by the following remark: "This falling of the rate of illegitimacy from twenty-one to six, when the proportion of Romanists to the population falls off from ninety-seven to forty-six, indicates the salutary effect of Protestant Christianity, not only on its own followers, but also on the working of Romanism itself." But suppose the population does not fall off from ninety-seven to forty-six per cent, and that in most of these provinces, and where the rate of illegitimacy is the lowest, there are no Protestants at all, and a small proportion in the rest; what is shown, then, unless it be the ignorance and bad faith of theNew Englander, which professes to be the "recognized exponent of those viewsof religious lifewhich have given character to New England, and its essays to be among the best fruits of thought and opinion which the education given at Yale is adapted to foster"? Alas! Messrs. Editors, you have unceremoniously dropped nearly 4,000,000 of Roman Catholics from your computation. Are you not aware that the United Greeks are Roman Catholics? If you are not, we beg leave to enlighten you, and correct the table you have so ostentatiously paraded before the public:
Catholics.Protestants.Jews & Schismatic Greeks.POP. IN THOUS'DS.PR CT.POP. IN THOUS'DS.PR CT.POP. IN THOUS'DS.PR CT.Hungary596561234924144915Galicia4150903114499Bukowina4310none038190Dalmatia33881none07719Militärgrenze4544320258755Croatia, etc.72185none013015Transylvania775405102763733Total12,44665291015376020
The "salutary effect of Protestant Christianity in" Galicia, Bukowina, Dalmatia, Militärgrenze, Croatia, etc., is wonderful, and indeed little short of miraculous, considering how exceedingly small the quantity of it is. If the presence of one per cent of Protestants can so ameliorate the condition of things in Galicia, what a land of heavenly purity Connecticut must be! But we arouse ourselves to finish our task, or we shall become entirely absorbed in these sublime reflections.
TheNew Englander's"experiment" with mixed populations is an entire failure. We will give a much more reliable table, to show the influence of the Catholic and Protestant religion among people of the same race, and living together in the same communities, and under the same laws. The census of illegitimacy has been taken in Prussia according to the religious faith of the people.
Illegitimacy in Prussia.
AMONG PROTESTANTS.AMONG CATHOLICS.Pop. in thous'ds.pr. ct.Pop. in thous'ds.pr. ct.Brandenburg250912.05668.40Silesia170412.03175610.07Saxony190310.351306.05Pomerania140110.35159.31Prussia21379.678157.45Posen5027.069506.82Westphalia7404.189073.35Rhineland8263.3524943.67Total11,72210.0171236.4
We take our leave of the "comparison of mixed populations." If theNew Englanderis satisfied with our treatment of the subject, we are sure we are with his; for it enables us to put this matter once more before an enlightened public, leaving them to form their own opinions about it.
We now come to theNew Englander'sfinal division of the subject: "4. Comparison of nations."
Here is the grand extinguisher of all Catholic pretensions. The whole question is to be put in a nut-shell in the following table, and that according to the very criterion proposed byThe Catholic World.
New-Englander's Table of Illegitimacy in European Countries.
PROTESTANT.PR. CT.CATHOLIC.PR. CT.Denmark11Baden16.2England, Scotland, and Wales6.7Bavaria22.5Holland4Belgium7.2Prussia, including Saxony & Hanover8.3France7.5Sweden, with Norway9.6German Austria18.1Switzerland5.5? Italy (defective)5.1Würtemberg16.4? Spain (defective)5.5Average8.8Average11.7Or rejecting Italy and Spain14.5
What strikes us first of all is the richness of these averages. DearNew Englander, you will be the death of us with your averages. Not that we shall literally be killed off by them; but when we think of the "best fruits" of the scholarship of Yale College producing such averages, by adding up a lot of rates of all sorts of countries, big and little, and dividing the sum by the number of countries, the idea is absurd enough to kill any one with laughter. Exuberance of fancy has evidently exercised an unfavorable influence on the mathematical ability of the author of this article, and neutralized the effect of the excellent mathematical course given at Yale College.
We find in the table Italy and Spain marked with a note of interrogation, as much as to say, "What business have you here with such low averages? You ought to look a great deal worse than that, being such black and benighted Romanist countries as you are." And after them the word "defective" in brackets. No doubt the best of reasons will be given for this. Let us see. "The returns for Italy and Spain are utterly defective and untrustworthy. Assuming the ordinary birth-rate, the returns show that in Italymore than one fourthof the births fail to be registered." Why does not theNew Englandergive the figures, that we may judge for ourselves? What he has not done we will do for him:
Births in Italy.
1863881,3421864859,6631865878,952Average873,319
The population of Italy is 24,231,860, and the birth-rate of Europe, according to theNew Englander, is 1 to 28. Dividing the number of the population by 28, we get 865,608. The number of actual birthsexceedsthe number expected, instead of beingdefective by "more than a fourth."As the reason alleged proves to be utterly false, we shall strike off the marks of interrogation from Italy, and leave out the "defective" in the brackets.
In like manner, the returns for Spain are treated. "As for Spain, its census returns, if quoted at all among statistics, are quoted at even a larger discount than its financial securities. The sum of the Spanish censuses for the last forty years has been up and down after the following zigzag fashion:
"182813,698,029183712,222,872184212,054,000184612,164,000185010,942,000186116,000,000186415,752,807"
Not having found our friend of theNew Englandervery precise heretofore in his figures, we did not exactly take them on trust this time, but looked in our "Handbuch," and found the following
Table of Censuses in Spain.
182211,661,865183211,158,264184612,162,872185715,464,340186015,673,536
which does not exhibit any great "zigzag" propensity.
The following table of births does not show any mark of being either untrustworthy or defective, but is uncommonly complete and steady:
LEGITIMATE.ILLEGITIMATE.1858516,11830,0401859525,24331,0801860541,23132,2221861577,48434,1251862573,64633,4161863565,14432,9971864586,99334,4581865581,68633,227
So much for the romancing of theNew Englander, which we might appropriately designate as building "castles in Spain."
We beg our readers' pardon for these long lists of figures, but they are really necessary for the correct understanding of the matter. As to Austria, we shall take the liberty to bring down her figure from 18.1 to 11.1; not that it would make so very much difference in the general average of the nations, except in the clap-trap mode of calculation adopted by theNew Englander, but because justice, as we have amply shown, demands it.
We shall now present a true table of the European countries, slightly modifying some of the rates, to correspond to later and better information, and inserting all the omitted countries of which returns are given:
Table of Illegitimacy in European Countries.
PROTESTANT.PR. CT.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.Denmark[17]112.73England and Wales6.520.07Scotland10.13.06Holland43.53Prussia8.618.94Sweden and Norway9.65.81Switzerland5.52.51Würtemberg16.41.75Other German States[18]14.86.40Average8.764.80
CATHOLIC.PR. CT.POPULATION IN MILLIONS.Baden16.21.43Bavaria22.54.81Belgium7.24.98France7.238.07Austria11.134.98Italy5.124.23Spain5.515.67Average8.4124.17
TheNew Englanderhas been quite hard on us for classing Holland and Switzerland, in which there are very large Catholic minorities, as mixed countries, and remanded them with an air of injured innocence forthwith into the Protestant column, where it will be observed they present an uncommonly good appearance, being the lowest on the list. We have shown by documentary evidence that in Prussia in 1864, when there was a Catholic minority of thirty-eight per cent, the rate of illegitimacy was brought down by it from 10 to 8.46, or, in other words, if all the Catholics could be removed at once out of the land, the rate of Prussia would stand 10, whereas it appears now 8.6. For this reason we thought fit to make some distinction, lest there should be any strutting around in borrowed plumes, and to form a table of mixed countries. We shall, therefore, carefully avoiding any further wounding of the delicate susceptibilities of theNew Englander, append a table, making allowances for the minorities on both sides, comingjust as near to the exact truth as it is possible:
Table of Illegitimacy, including Majorities and Minorities.
PR. CT.PROT. POP. IN MILL'S.CATH. POP. IN MILL'S.Holland4.02.011.23Italy5.1.3323.90Spain5.5.1215.55Switzerland5.51.481.02Catholics in Prussia6.5—7.20England and Wales6.519.001.20France7.2.7734.93Belgium7.2.024.97Sweden and Norway9.65.81—Protestants in Prussia10.011.74—Scotland10.13.00.16Denmark112.73—Austria11.13.4526.73German States14.85.88.52Würtemberg16.41.20.53Mean Protestants8.357.54117.94Mean Catholics7.4
To sum up, we have for our final result:
New Englander's Averages.
Protestant8.8Catholic11.7;or, omitting Italy and Spain 14.5
True Averages.
Protestant8.3Catholic7.4
Here we are glad to end the general investigation, and to show that, if we are not very much better than our neighbors, we are not any worse, and are not to be hounded down with the cry of vice and immorality by a set of Pharisees who are constantly lauding their own superiority, and thanking God they are so much better than we poor Catholics.
We must notice, before we conclude, some minor points of theNew Englander'sreply toThe Catholic World. He insists that it is highly improbable that any of the foundlings received into the hospital at Rome come from the provinces, and says we have not adduced a particle of proof to the contrary. Well, as far as the readers of theNew Englanderare concerned, what is the use of adducing any proof?—for that very Christian journal takes no notice of any refutations of its statements, nor concedes any point, however strongly proved, but is solely occupied in showing, by fair means or foul, our "total depravity," as if the very life and breath of the Protestant religion depended on maintaining a deep and bitter hatred and contempt of Catholics. To our own readers, we do not think it worth while to adduce any particular proof of a self-evident proposition. If there be a foundling hospital, receiving infants left at its door, it requires no proof that it will serve the adjacent country as well as the city. We have documentary evidence to prove this point; but theNew Englandercontains so many errors which require our attention, that we have not space for so trivial a matter. We would like, however, to ask our friend of theNew Englanderwhether he believes any of thethree thousandinfants received in the foundling hospital of Amsterdam come from the country.
2d.The New Englandersays, "But where do the infants come from that are received in the multitudes ofcountrynunneries that abound throughout the rural districts, and commonly have each itscrèche, or cradle, in which the child of shame may be dropped in secret with a ring of the bell, and left?"
It is time enough to answer this question when any proof of its truth is brought forward; but we can assure our friend that if any infants are so received, they all find their way to the hospital in short order.
3d. We find the following unique and highly gentlemanly insinuation in theNew Englander:
"'TheCivilta Cattolicasays, "This proportion of 28.3 of legitimate births for every one thousand of the population speaks very well for a capital city." And so it does; it shows, what we have always understood them to be, that the Romans are as virtuous and moral as any people of the world.' ThusThe Catholic World; to which it might safely add, that it shows that the separationof an enormous mass of the most vigorous part of the people under vows of celibacy and continence does not necessarily check the multiplication of the population."
"'TheCivilta Cattolicasays, "This proportion of 28.3 of legitimate births for every one thousand of the population speaks very well for a capital city." And so it does; it shows, what we have always understood them to be, that the Romans are as virtuous and moral as any people of the world.' ThusThe Catholic World; to which it might safely add, that it shows that the separationof an enormous mass of the most vigorous part of the people under vows of celibacy and continence does not necessarily check the multiplication of the population."
Weakness in arithmetic and a prurient imagination have, no doubt, given rise to the above elegant extract; but we rebut it by informing our friend of theNew Englanderthat there is a difference between 28.3 to the thousand and 1 to 28.3. Had he noticed this difference, he would not have digged this pit for himself. The figures prove nothing more than his own ignorance, putting the most charitable construction on it.
We must give a specimen of theNew Englander'sidea of fairness in controversy:
"In hisEvenings with the Romanists, Mr. Seymour, anticipating thetu quoqueretort of the Roman Catholics, said, 'If any man will name the worst of the Protestant countries, I care not which, I will name a Roman Catholic country still worse.' In this way, he proceeded to compare, in 1854, Saxony with Carinthia and sundry other regions on either side, whereuponThe Catholic Worldhas a violent outbreak of mingled indignation and erudition at the extreme trickiness of comparing Styria, Upper and Lower Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Trieste, which are not countries at all, but simply the German provinces of the Austrian Empire, and Bavaria, with countries so different and wide apart as Norway, Sweden, Saxony, Hanover, and Würtemburg; the regions in question seem to have been selected for their approximate equality in population."
"In hisEvenings with the Romanists, Mr. Seymour, anticipating thetu quoqueretort of the Roman Catholics, said, 'If any man will name the worst of the Protestant countries, I care not which, I will name a Roman Catholic country still worse.' In this way, he proceeded to compare, in 1854, Saxony with Carinthia and sundry other regions on either side, whereuponThe Catholic Worldhas a violent outbreak of mingled indignation and erudition at the extreme trickiness of comparing Styria, Upper and Lower Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Trieste, which are not countries at all, but simply the German provinces of the Austrian Empire, and Bavaria, with countries so different and wide apart as Norway, Sweden, Saxony, Hanover, and Würtemburg; the regions in question seem to have been selected for their approximate equality in population."
Well, as probably most people have not heard of thecountriesof Carinthia, Styria, etc., we confess we were "erudite" enough to know and to point out that they were slices of Austria carved for the occasion, and we were a little indignant at the carving operation.
"Show me a badProtestant countrywhere you please, and I will show you aRoman Catholic country still worse." Hence, we have, according to Mr. Seymour:
PROTESTANT COUNTRIES.ROMAN CATHOLIC COUNTRIES.Norway,Austria,Sweden,Austria,Saxony,Austria,Denmark,Austria,Hanover,Austria,
We suppose this is all fair enough; but we cannot see it, our moral vision being so infirm.
"But these regions seem to have been selected for their approximate equality in population." So it seems, and our friend, Mr. S., hasmade it seemso in this fashion: "We compare Protestant Norway with 1,194,610, and Roman Catholic Styria (Austria) with 1,006,971. Again, we compare Protestant Sweden with 2,983,144, and Roman Catholic Upper and Lower (Austria) with 2,244,363." All very good; but now let us go on: "We compare Protestant Saxonywith its population, and Roman Catholic Carinthiawith its population. And we compare Hanoverwith its Protestant population, and Salzburgwith its Roman Catholic population." "'Of course these countries are selectedfor their approximate equality in population.'" In order that our readers may see how muchequalitythere is in the populations of these countries, we give the following
Table of Populations.
PROTESTANT.CATHOLIC.Saxony2,343,994Carinthia342,469Hanover1,923,492Salzburg147,191
Saxony is only seven times greater than Carinthia. Hanover only twelve times greater than Salzburg. Very excellent is Mr. Seymour in "anticipating thetu quoqueof the Roman Catholics."
We now desire to call the attention of our readers to one very remarkable phenomenon of the statistics. In Protestant England the cities have a lower rate of illegitimacy than the country, while in France the case is reversed, the countries are low andthe cities high. The following table will show this:
Rates of Illegitimacy in City and Country Districts of England.
CITY.PR. CT.COUNTRY.PR. CT.London4.2Nottingham8.9Liverpool4.9York, N. R.8.9Birmingham4.7Salop9.8Manchester6.7Westmoreland9.7Sheffield5.8Norfolk10.7Leeds6.4Cumberland11.4The rate for all England is 6.5.
In France.
Rate in all France7.2Rate in cities11.4Rate in the country4.4
From this we draw the conclusion that for Protestants city life is decidedly the best, and it will be the duty of ministers to crowd as many of their flocks as possible out of the polluted air of the country into the moral atmosphere of the cities, and in England to endeavor to concentrate them particularly in the very virtuous communities of London and Liverpool. But we are sorry the gospel trumpet gives such a feeble sound in the country districts, and we hope some of the city clergy will geta callto go into these benighted districts, (abjuring the brown-stone fronts and high salaries,) and bring them back at least to the level of the city population, where there areso many and varied temptations, and such surprising purity. Our Catholic people seem to flourish better in the country, and we sincerely hope that those who come over from Europe will get farms out West, instead of settling down in New-York or other cities. We did have an idea that the influence of religion was best exerted in the country, where the pastor knows each one of his flock, and would rather have compared the country people in Protestant lands with the country people in Catholic lands, to test the influence of religion upon them; but as theNew Englanderseems to think the comparison is best made in the cities, we leave every reflective person to form his own judgment. If theNew Englanderis right, we fear our Lord was wrong in asking us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation;" but Protestants should rather pray, "Lead us into temptation," because it is precisely in temptation they are most virtuous.
We did not intend to say a single word on the subject of murders, etc., because we have not any complete statistics on the subject, and because we do not like the labor of hunting them up, just at present; but as this thing is paraded before us like a red rag before a bull, we will just make one dash at it, and, giving it a blow sufficient to dispatch it, leave the rest of the matter until we find it convenient to take it up. Mr. Seymour gave the following items in his book: