The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

""""422 THE FAITH OF OCR FATHERS.employment of Catholics practical Catholics-Catholics who go to Confession. I maintain, therefore,that Confession, far from being an incentive to sin,as our adversaries have the hardihood to affirm, is amost powerful check on the depravity of men, and amost effectual preventive of their criminal excesses,But is it true that crimes, especially murder andillegitimacy, are more prevalent in Catholic thanin Protestant countries? I utterly deny the assertion, and also appeal to statistics in support of thedenial. Whence do our opponents derive theirinformation ? Forsooth, from Rev. M. HobartSeymour sabsolutely unreliable compilations, the false statements of which have been again and again refuted.Nights among Romanists," and likeRev. Mr. Seymour gives the following list of thenumber of murders in England, France, and Ireland :Ireland19 homicides to the million of inhabitants.France 31England 4The reader of the above might well draw back inastonishment, and exclaim, Truly moral atmosphereof !England But how do these statements compare with the official records which I submit tothe unprejudiced reader ? Recent returns from the"Hand- Book" for Prance, ml "Thorn s OfficialDirectory for England and Ireland, 1869,"are aafollows :