Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume VIII, Number 8, 20 February 1869 — The New Era. [ARTICLE]

The New Era.

Timc roils smoothlv, and evenis easi!y fii \htmse)ves inlo thc\r ūestineā p)nces. There js a inarvellous po\ver •>!'assimj)nlion in th£ human iuinil hy whieh inciilcrits the mosi startling, changes the inost revolutionary. >urh os we shoul(l shrink from the contem■ plnlion ot, l>ecoine, when thev have actuaīlj eaken plaee, natur.il nnd fainilinr, nnd, in a very ticne,ceosse tocreatenny scnsatiot». lt it onlv in this way thnt vve ean explain thc little impression whieh the events of thc pist few yenrf< make upon us. We use the \vords ~d emocratic 14 revolutionary,' ) and such phrases, as portending somethtng that wouUl k*, »f it were to occur, very serious nnd alarming, involving a change in the whole face of societyj and yet we donot see that we are now, and for some time pnst have been, living through a stnte of things ns revulutionatv, or tending in a direction as dcmocratk\ as anything that has occurred since the cra of the Reformation. lt requires an cfi'ort to renli2e the thought how mueh and how decisively the fuce of the world has t>cen changed within the last eight or ten years. We are living in a state of society and among a cias£ of insti(utions altogether di(lcrcnt from an epoeh so mueh of yestertlay as the days of the Crimean \Var; and yct cvcnts have been so gnidunl, and we have so rcadily adapted ourse!ves to the changes thry produce, that we are o!most inclined tc ofTirm thnt things were always as we now «vitnc?s thcm. It cannot be good for howcver, to settle down intothis slothful h.ib< it of taking changes as they eome. It is well that we shoukl, from time to lime, survcy their full cxtent, estimatc theirtruebear< ings, and cndeavour from thern to forecusi thc future; (or ot course the importance lies not so niueh in what they are in themselves in thc ctVect they are likety to have on those institutions that yet remain. Every rbange has a loosening and disintegrating cflect upon thosc thing« it le«ves unaltered, at»d Tcndcrs thcm morc exposed to the next shock. We live in an era of revolutions, and though we have already experienced many shocks of the polilieal earthquake, we have no reason to believe that the explosions, eithcr in number or \n urgency, have spent thcir forcc. Why did the Emperor ofthe Frencb inter« lcrc in the «ftairs of luly ? What cause had he to declare war against Austria on her behalf? Various answers, more or less piausible, may be given to this question; but •li we bare aeen appear to us to assign motivea inadeqoate to the occasion, andtoleave roora for a devout iraaginntioo to recognise the direct interference of that Divine Hand m whose control the hearts of kings are but a s the rirers of waters, and who, when thc (uloeaa of time has eom*. gires the itnpelling po«rer that 1 e»6s lo the destined change. tt hy no meana ukes away from the power of that tmagination that the issue of the war, a» wt shouid sav, so wantonly provokcd sbooid bave so thoroughly outgone the views aod <limppoiutcd the calcu(ntions of »ts prime m*ver. If Louis Napoleon could have fore* *ema tha( tbe threads of evenU were so soon paas out of hU> hami*, and that he would bc rcduccd to<hecotulition of a puppet where he *fptred to pull thc tuay bt

; ?ure lhat Austria wo«!d have heid her posi. i tion across the Aip> un<]aestioned 10 thi* rery , hour. The matchle>s craft of Cavour, and ,the riDdeniiDded ralour oi Uanhahii. were equaiiy too mueh for him ; and ltaly. whieh he w»shed to see a i>undle of provinces. beeame a nation. And before tnen had doae wonderiog at the transforraation, the quarfel { of Austria and Pruisia over their spoil ofth<? £ibe provinc€s is?=ued in the sev?n days' campaigD, and the disappearancc of Austria from Venetia, and, what was still more\vonderful, from Germany ; while Prussia,to the funher chagrin of France, suddenly occupied the position of a neighbour and a rival, eontrolling and wielding tbe whole military and poiitical force of torty iniliions of people. , And, lastly—for in this hurried summary of evcnts we merely glance at fact3 whieh our . readers will realise for themselves—when these changes had, us it seemed, wholly spent their force, and ail had proved powerless to inake any impre»sion upon Spain, the most backward of European countries, suddenly, in a time of profound peaee, the Penin. sula awoke from her lethargj'; the monarchy of centuries disappears like a vision of the night; and, while we write, her most influ- : ential citizens are unahle to make up their ' minds what the nature of her new Govemment shall be. These are the political cl\anges ; av\d if that wete Ml, it would be _ adinitted they are enough to justify the utmost importance being attached to them, as ; ushering in a newera ior European sovereign- ' ty. But they are not all. Startling as the | political changes have been. thev are ourrivalled by the eccle.siastical events that have accompanied them. Every change that lias l)een accomplished has been a blo\v to Kome. Of Prussia, to be sure, this ean hardly be affirmed, lor Prussia was already a Protestant state; and yet it is si;?nificant that, »atnid all these convulsions, Protestant Prussia is the only state that eomes nggrandised out of the struggle. But in all the other countries the victory of the people has been 1 the defeat of the priests. !t \vas in vain . that, often at the eleventh hour, the Romish ' ecclesiastics were \villing to bless the revolution they sa\v to be inevitable; in vain that here and there the ignorant ral»ble, stiinulated by priest(y denu(>ciations, eame forward to protest ogaiust the deadly heresy of freedom of opinion ; every\vhere the educated andenlightened leaders have signalised their * etnancipation frorn political bonduge byshat--1 tering the priestly ynke. The path\vay of 1 the European Kevolution is studded with 1 torn concordats, secularised convents aiul 1 tnooas!eries, acts for the validity of civil raarriage, for secuiar education, for freedom of \vorship. The priest has shared the dethronement of the despot. It is not simply a politicalpotentate thathasbeen discro\vned; the principle of authority itself hos rcceived a rude shake, and institutions must commend themselves by their inherent utility rather than by their prescriptive right. All that men have been accustomed to revere is disappearing, and they know not where to look for guidance. We ean all of us understand ; now something of the meaning of those grand ! words of our Lord : u Immediately after the , tribulation cf those days shall the sun be darliened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be , shaken." Oh ! when shall the sequel of thnt prophecy be fulfilled ; when shall the true guuling star shine forth, the sign of the Son of i\lan in heaven ?"