WAH. lui 



dom — an empire peaceful in its nature, since it is not 

 propagated by the swoi-d, l)u( whicli puts on its ^var- 

 rior's armor whenever it is needful to defend itself 

 against its enemies. The Son of man is the Prince of 

 jieace ; but yet, as the prophets beheld liim, there went 

 forth from Ix'tween his teeth a two-edged sword. 



[It is this material sword which God has not committed to the 

 peacetul liands of the chiefs of his Church, l)ut \vhicli he has 

 iatrustcd to the civil powers — empires or republics. The only 

 mission of this sword is to defend riq;hteousness against violent 

 aggression. Father Hyacinthe inquires wlu^ it is spoken of as 

 a sword with two edges.] 



It is because there are two sorts of attack npon Chris- 

 tian civilization — two forms of barbarism which menace 

 it from without and from within. 



Every unjust aggression on the frontiers of a nation 

 is an act of barbarism. The nation, then, in the per- 

 son of those who represent and govern it, must have 

 power to draw the sword and smite the barbarian. 

 The rights of individuals may sometimes stand defence- 

 less under the oppression of the strong, and then it is 

 that there remains for justice its sublimest triumph — 

 martyrdom. Xot so with the rights of States. For 

 them it would not be moral heroism, it would be a crime 

 as well as a disgrace, to turn the left cheek when smit- 

 ten on the right. A great Italian patriot has said : 

 " Independence is to nations what modesty is to women. 

 What are all the other virtues worth, when this is 

 wanting ?''* 



Within, there is another form of barbarism. Xot 

 that of the nation. The nation has no need to be de- 



* Cesar Balbo, " Les Espérances de ritalie." 



