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every-where in a condition of steadily progressing decay. intelligent travelers of modern times show a remarkable agreement with regard to this point. H. von Maltzahn, who visited, in the disguise of a Mohammedan pilgrim, all the Mohammedan countries from Timbuctu to Mecca, and the Hungarian Vambery, who in the same disguise traveled from Teheran to Samarcand; Henry Barth, who penetrated into Central Africa as far as Timbuctu, and Palgrave, who in 1862 visited Central and Eastern Arabia, and in particular the Empire of the Wahabites, all bear witness to this decay of the Islam. The Baron of Maltzahn, in his book of the "Pilgrimage to Mecca," which he joined in 1860, under the name of Sidi Abd'er Rahman ben Mohammed es Skikdi, says, "The Islam has long been undermined, but now it appears to be on the eve of a general collapse; all that formerly constituted its glory-science, scholarship, art, industry-has long left it; its political power has become a laughing-stock, its commerce has been reduced to zero; one thing only seems to stay for a time the impending collapse-religious fanaticism. A remarkable instance of this decline of Mohammedanism is shown in the decrease of the population of the large cities. Thus Bagdad, which at the time of the Khalifate had two million inhabitants, has now only one hundred thousand; the population of Basra has been reduced from two hundred thousand to eighty thousand; that of Aleppo from two hundred thousand to ninety thousand; that of Samarcand from one hundred and eighty thousand to twenty thousand; that of Katsena, which in the seventeenth century was the first city of Central Soudan, from one hundred thousand to eight thousand. Even the population of the holy city of Mecca, the most licentious city of the East, has been reduced from one hundred thousand to forty-five thousand.

The only country of the Mohammedan world which, during the last twenty years, has made real and important progress, is Egypt; but its progress is clearly traceable to the influence of Christian countries. Most of the rulers of the house of Mehemet Ali have shown their appreciation of the superiority of the civilization of foreign Christian countries, and made earnest effort to elevate Egypt to a level with it. All the sons of the present Khedive have received a European education; one has been instructed in Paris, a second one in England, and a third one is to enter the Prussian army. Industrial departments have been created, as in the constitutional monarchies of Europe, and a Council of State has been created to advise the Khedive in all the important affairs of the State. The most influential among the Egyptian ministers, and for many years the chief adviser of the Khedive, is an Armenian Christian, Nubar Pasha. Even an assembly of deputies meets annually since 1866, which, as it is officially expressed, is to control the administration and to fix the budget. Sweeping reforms have, in particular, been effected in the department of public education. Since 1868 public schools have been established by the Government in all the important places of the country. They numbered in 1870 about four thousand pupils, who received from the Government not only gratuitous instruction, but their

entire support, inclusive of clothing. These schools embrace both the primary and the secondary instruction. The former embraced Arabic reading and writing, arithmetic, drawing, French, or, according to the location of the place, some other foreign languages. From the elementary school the pupils pass into the preparatory department of the secondary school. The course lasts three years, and embraces the study of the Arabic, Turkish, French, and English languages; mathematics, drawing, history, and geography. After completing this preparatory course the pupil enters one of the special schools which are to finish his education for the service of the State. These special schools are: 1. The Polytechnical School, the course of which lasts four years. As in France, its pupils are permitted to choose between the civil and the military career. In the former case the pupil enters for two years the School of Administration, and afterward the service of the State; in the latter case he enters the

Military Academy of the Abbassieh at Cairo. The Polytechnical School had, in 1871, seventy-one pupils. 2. The Law School. The students study the law of the Islam, especially that of Egypt, which is now in the course of a radical transformation, and also the Roman law and the present laws of the European countries. 3. The Philological School. 4. The School of Arts and Industry, founded at Balak by Mehemet Ali, and greatly perfected by Ismail Pasha. 5. The Medical School, with which is connected a School of Midwifery, the only one which exists in the East. 6. The Naval School in Alexandria. Quite recently the Egyptian Government has called the celebrated German Orientalist, H. Brugsch of Göttingen, to Cairo, in order to organize there an Academy for Archæology, and in particular Egyptological studies.

All these reforms are making wide breaches into the walls by which Mohammedan fanaticism has so long tried to isolate itself from the remainder of the world. Sill more is this the case with the construction of the Canal of Suez, which opens to the civilization of the Christian countries a new and wide road to the intellects and minds of the Egyptian Mohammedans, which, it is believed, no obstruction will ever be able again to block up. The results of this contact between Egypt and Christian Europe and America are already apparent. The fanatical customs which the Mohammedans, like those of other countries, used to indulge in with regard to Christians, begin to disappear one by one. The growth of some of the Egyptian cities is marvelous. Alexandria, which, at the close of the eighteenth century, had only six thousand, in 1820 only fifteen thousand inhabitants, has now over two hundred thousand. The rule of the Khedive has been extended far southward into Central Africa and on the coasts of the Red Sea, and it appears to be highly probable that his ambitious scheme of building up a vast civilized African Empire has good prospects of being realized.

ART. X.-FOREIGN LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

GERMANY.

A GERMAN theologian, Hermann L. Strack, announces in a pamphlet recently published that he will devote himself to the study of the present so-called Masoretic text of our Hebrew Old Testament. (Prolegomena critica in Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum quibus agitur I. de codicibus et de perditis et adhuc extantibus II. de textu Bibliorum Hebraicorum qualis Talmuditarum temporibus fuerit. Leips., 1873.) This is a work which will require immense labor, and the learned theologians of Germany are glad that a young enthusiast has been found who does not shrink from it. The pamphlet, which is, at the same time, the first installment of the researches of the author, is dedicated to Professor Delitzsch, well known as one of the foremost scholars of German Lutheran theology.

Prof. Hilgenfeld, of Jena, has published the first critical edition of the old Latin translation of Hermae Pastor, one of the earliest literary productions of the Christian Church. (Hermae Pastor, Veterem Latinam interpretationem codicibus ed. Leips., 1873.) It is regarded as a very valuable aid to the right understanding of a book to which the early Church assigned a place among the works of the Apostolic Fathers.

Of the History of the Times of the New Testament, by Prof. Hausrath, of Heidelberg, the third volume has been published. (Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte. Heidelberg, 1878.) It contains the time of the Martyrs and the post-Apostolic Age.

One of the standard works of the Lutheran literature of Germany, the "Apologetic Essays on the Fundamental Truths of Christianity," by Professor Luthardt in Leipsic,) Apologetische Beiträge, etc. Leips., 1873,) has appeared in an eighth edition.

An important work (Der Jesuites Orders nach seiner Verfassung und Doctrin, Wirksamkeit und Geschichte charakterisirt. Berlin, 1873) on the Jesuits has been published by Professor Huber of Munich, one of the leaders of the Old Catholic movement. The literature on the Jesuits is already immense, and the mere collection of the titles of the books fills several volumes, but the subject is far from being exhausted. Even a good history of the Order remains yet to be written. The work of Cretineau Joly (six volumes) contains all that the friends of the Order can supply, but a similar work from the stand-point of impartial history does not yet exist. The new work of Professor Huber is generally considered as the most thorough and truthful review of the famous Order and its work which has thus far appeared, though it does not pretend to be a complete history. From the great activity which Professor Huber displays in organizing the resistance of Catholic Germany to the doctrine of papal infallibility, and in bringing about the expulsion of the Jesuits from the country, many have expected from the title of the book a passionate attack upon the Order. This expectation is disappointed, for Huber's book is a calm, truly scientific account, based

on a very extensive and thorough study of all the important sources. It is very far from sustaining all the charges which in the course of time have been made against the Order and found general circulation. The "Monita Secreta," which, after all that eminent Protestant historians, like Ranke, have said on the subject, are still often quoted as a work of the Jesuits, are declared by Huber to be a satire on the Order. It is shown that the notorious principle, "The aim sanctifies the means," which appears to be irrevocably fastened upon the Jesuits, appears only in a few books published by Jesuits, though it was often enough applied by them in practice. Of the famous work of the Spanish Jesuit Mariana, which is generally quoted in support of the charge that the Jesuits taught the doctrine of regicide, Huber says that it has been less read than condemned. He also admits that the policy of Portuguese, Spanish, and French statesmen who expelled the Order about the middle of the sixteenth century cannot be fully approved. He recognizes the zeal and the success of the Jesuits in their foreign missions, and their exertions in behalf of education and science. After thus having, as an impartial historian, stated all that can be said in praise of the Order or in refutation of false charges, his final summing up of the whole case, and his opinion of the work of the Jesuits in general, and of their influence upon the Catholic world, is all the more impressive. He finds that the services which this Order rendered to the Popes gradually inspired it with a feeling of arrogance; that, impelled by this arrogance, they aimed at the highest power in the Church, and endeavored to force their peculiar theological opinions upon the whole Church, to make the Pope dependent upon their Order, to overthrow all that has survived of the ancient constitution of the Church, and to crush all schools of theology which refused to accept their peculiar theories. It disfigured and falsified the ancient creed of the Church, corrupted theological ethics, and in consequence exercised a baneful influence upon society; it defended papal absolutism and a mechanical centralization; it promoted the darkest and most absurd superstition, and reduced the Church to a state of lethargy which will make reformatory movements within the Church impossible.

ITALY.

THE rich literature on the Vatican Council will receive an important addition by the publication of a work which may be regarded as its official history. Pius IX. has appointed an Italian priest, Cecconi, as the historian of the Council, and gives him permission to use the archives of Rome to that end. The work is to consist of several volumes; the first part, which has been published at the beginning of the present year, embraces only the preparations to the Council. Although the work is intended to be an apology, and although, therefore, many of its statements will be received with mistrust, it contains a number of facts which were as yet unknown, and also publishes many of the official documents relating to the Council for the first time. We learn from this work that Pius IX. on Dec. 6, 1864, that is to say immediately before the publication of the

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Syllabus, informed several cardinals who were assembled in the Vatican at a meeting of the congregation of the rites, under the seal of the strictest secrecy, that the idea of convoking an Ecumenical Council had occupied him for some time. All the cardinals present were requested to communicate their opinion to the Pope in writing. Twenty-one responded to this invitation. Two spoke against the convocation of a Council; one could not make up his mind whether he was for or against; four considered the present time inopportune, the others regarded the convocation of the Council as necessary. Among the objections raised against the Council was the fear that parties might arise in the Council, and some bishops might call for an untimely enlargement of the episcopal functions. With regard to the subjects to be brought before the Council only two cardinals mentioned the Infallibility of the Pope. At the beginning of March, 1865, the Pope appointed a particular “Directing Congregation" for the convocation of the Council, consisting of five cardinals, whose number was subsequently increased to eight. This Congregation discussed, among others, the question "Whether and in what manner the College of Cardinals should be consulted before the bull of convocation was issued," and it decided that the sacred college should be consulted in whatever manner the Pope saw fit to do it. During the next following years the College of Cardinals was not consulted at all. On May 17, 1868, the Directing Congregation resolved to propose to the Pope to hear the opinion of the College of Cardinals on the time when the Council should be opened, but on the other hand to leave the drawing up of the bull of convocation entirely to the Directing Congregation, and not to allow any discussion on it in the consistory, (meeting of all the cardinals,) "as the time was pressing, and as this course of action was authorized by the present custom, according to which the more prompt business way of the Congregation had taken the place of the discussions of the consistory." Accordingly the Pope, on July 22, 1868, only asked the cardinals assembled in consistory the question whether they agreed that the bull convoking the Council on Dec. 8, 1869, should be issued on June 29. All the twenty-seven cardinals who were present answered "Placet," and the bull of convocation was signed by all the cardinals present in Rome. In April, 1865, thirty-six bishops of the Latin rite, in February, 1866, a few oriental bishops, in March, 1866, a few bishops of the Greek rite, in Austria, had been notified, under the seal of the most profound secrecy, of the project of convoking a Council, and they had been invited to indicate what subjects appeared to them appropriate for the work of the Council. Of the Latin bishops, three expressed doubts with regard to the opportuneness of convoking an Ecumenical Council; "some" mentioned Papal Infallibility as one of the truths the Council ought to promulgate. As a subject specially worthy of the attention of the Council, the bishops designated the relation between Church and State. They considered it necessary to take in hand again the decree on the princes which the Council of Trent was induced by the kings of that time and their advisers not to publish, and

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