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harmony among the divergent interests and various classes which compose the State. It is with such ends in view that We see men of emin nce meeting together for discussion, for the promotion of united action, and for practical work. Others, again, strive to unite working people of various kinds into associations, help them with their advice and their means, and enable them to obtain honest and profitable work. The Bishops, on their part, bestow their ready goodwill and support ; and with their approval and guidance many members of the clergy, both secular and regular. labour assiduo isly on behalf of the spiritual and mental interests of the members of Associations. And there are not wanting Catholies possessed of affluence, who hav», as it were, cast iu their lot with the wage-earners, and who have spent large sums in founding and widely spreading Benefit and Insurance Societies, by means of which the working man may without difficulty acquire by his labour not only many present advantages, but also the certainty of honourable support in time to come. How much this multiplied and earnest activity has benefited the community at large is too well known to require Us to dwell upon it We find in it the grounds of the most cheering hope for the future ; provided that the Associations We have described continue to grow and spread, and are well and wisely administered. Let the State watch over these Nocieties of citizens united together in the exercise of their right; but let it not thrust itself into their peculiar concerns and their organisation ; for things move and live by the soul within them, and they may be killed by the grasp of a hand from without.

In order that au Association may be carried on with unity of purpose and harmony of action, its organisation and government must be firm and wise. All such Societies, being free to exist, have the further right to adopt sach rules and organisation as

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may best conduce to the attainment of their objects. We do not deem it possible to enter into definite details on the subject of organisation: this must depend on national character, on practice and ex perience, on the nature and scope of the work to be done, on the magnitude of the various trades and employments, and on other circumstances of fact and of time—all of which must be carefully weighed.

Speaking summarily, we may lay it down as a general and perpetual law, that Workmen’s Associations should be so organised and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to better his condition to ‘he utmost in body, mind, and property. It is clear that they must pay special and principal attention to piety and morality, and that their internal discipline must be directed precisely by these considerations ; otherwise they entirely lose their special character, and come to he very little better than those societies which take no account of Religion at all. What advantage can it be to a Workman to obtain by means of a Society all that he requires, and to endanger his soul for want of spiritual food ? What doth it profit aman if he gain the whole world and suffer the t ss of his own soul: ? This, as Our Lord teaches, is the note or character that distinguishes the Christian from the heathen After all these things do the heathens seek. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you’. Let our Associations, then, look first and before all to God, let religious instructon have therein a fo:emost place, each one being carefully taught what is his duty to God, what to believe, what to hope for, and how to work out his salvation ‘

I St. Matthew xvi. 26.

2 St. Matthew vi. 32, 33.

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and let all be warned and fortified with especial solicitude against wrong opinions and false teaching. Let the working man be urged and led to the worship of God, to the earnest practice of religion, and, among other things, to the sanctification of Sundays and festivais. Let him learn to reverence and love Holy Church, the common Mother of us all; and so to obey the precepts and to frequent the Sacraments of the Church, those Sacraments being the means ordained by God for obtaining forgiveness of sin and for leading a holy life.

The fondations of the organisation being laid in Religion, We next go on to determine the relations of the members one to another, in order that they may live together in concord and go on prosperously and successfully The offices and charges of the Society should be distributed for the good of the Society itself, and in such manner that difference in degree or position should not interfere with unanimity and good-will. Office-bearers should be appointed with prudence and discretion, and each one’s charge should be carefully marked out; thus no member will suffer wrong. Let the common funds be administered with the strictest honesty, in such way that a member receive assistance in proportion to his necessities. The rights and duties of employers should be the subject of careful consiaeration as compared with the rights and duties of the employed. If it should happen that either a master or a workman deemed himself injured, nothing would be more desirable than that there should be a committee composed of honest and capable men of the Association

5, whose duty it should be, by the laws of the Association, to decide the dispute. Among the purposes of a Society should be to try to arrange for a continuous supply of work at all times and seasons ; and to create a fund from which the members may be helped in their necessities, not only in cases of

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ace’ lent, but also in sickness, old age, and misfortune.

Such rules and regulations, if obeyed willingly by all, will sufficiently ensure the well-being of poor people; whilst such Mutual Associations amoug Catholics are certain to be productive, in no small degree, of prosperity to the State. It is not rash to conjecture the future from the past. Age gives way to age, but the events of one century are wonderfully like those of another; for they are directed by the Providence of God, Who over-rules the course of history in accordance with His purposes in creating the race of man. We are told that it was cast as a reproach on the Christians of the early ages of the Church, that the greater number of them had to live by begging or by labour. Yet, destitnte as they were of wealth and influence, they ended by winning over to their side the favour of the rich and the goodwill of the powerful. They showed themselves industrious, laborious, and peaceful, men of justice and, above all. men of brotherly love. In the presence of such a life and such an example, prejudice disappeared, the tongue of malevolence was silenced and the lying traditions of ancient superstition yielded little by little to Christian truth.

At this moment the condition ol the working population is the question of the hour; and nothing can be of higher interest to all classes of the State than that it should be rightly and reasonably decided. But it will ^e easy for Christian working men to decide it aright if they form Associations, choose wise guides, and follow the same path which with so much advantage to themselves and the commonwealth was trod by their fathers before them. Prejudice, it is true, is mighty, and so is the love of money; but if the sense of what is just and right be not destroyed by depravity of heart, their fellowcitizens are sure to be won over to a kindly feeling

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towards men whom they see to be so industrious and so modest, who so uninistakably prefer honesty to luere, and the sacredness of duty to all other considerations.

And another great advantage would result from the state ol things We are describing; there would be so much more hope and possibility of recalling to a sense of their duty those working men who have either given up their faith altogether, or whose lives are at variance with its precepts. These men, in most cases, feel that they have been fooled by empty promises and deceived by false appearances. They

cannot but perceive that their grasping employers too often treat them with the greatest inhumanity and hardly care for them beyond the profit their labour brings; and if they belong to an Association, it is probably one in which there exists, in place of charity and love, that intestine strife which always accompanies unresigned and irreligious poverty. Broken in spirit and worn down in body, how many of them would gladly free themselves from this galling slavery! But human respect, or the dread of st: irvation, makes them afraid to take the step. To such as these, Catholic Associations are of incalculable service. helping them out of their difficulties, inviting them io comp: mionship, and receiving the repentant to a shelter in which they may securely trust.

We have now laid before you, Venerable Brethren who are the persons, and what are the means by Which this most difficult question must be solved. Every one must put his hand to the work which falis to his share, and that at once and immediately, lest the evil which is already so great may by delay become absolutely beyond remedy. Those who rule the State must use the law and the institutions of the country; masters and rich men must remember their duty ; the poor, whose interests are at stake

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must make every lawful and proper effort; and since Religion alone, as We said at the beginning, can destroy the evil at its root, all men must be persuaded that the primary thing needful is to return to real Christianity, in the absence of which all the plans and devices of the wisest will be of little avail.

As tar as regards the Church, its assistance will never be wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may, and it will intervene with the greater effect in proportion as its liberty of action is the more unfettered ; let this be carefully noted by those whose office it is to provide for the public welfare. Every

minister of holy Religion must throw into the conflict all the energy of “his mind and all the strength ol his endurance ; with your authority Venerable Brethren, and by your example, they must never cease to urge upon all men of every class, upon the high as well as the lowly, the Gospel doctrines of Christian life ; by every meansin their power they must strive for the good of the people; and above all they must earnestly cherish in themselves, and ivy to arouse in others, Charity, the mistress and queen of virtues. For the happy results we all long for must be chiefly brought about by the plenteous outpouring of Charity ; of that true Christian Charity Which is the fulfilling of the whole Gospel law, which is always ready to sacrifice itself for others’ sake, and which is man’s surest antidote against worldly pride and immoderate love of self; that Charity, whose office is described and whose Godlike features are drawn by the Apostle St. Paul in these words: Charity is patient, is kind . . . seeketh wot her Dn... . uere adil things . . —.— encurerh a things.

On each one of you, Venerable Brethren, and on your Clergy and people, as an earnest of God's

t Corinthians xviii, 4 —7.