Two communities exist, in which, say, an equal amount of unchastity occurs. In one, religion restrains from the commission of further crime, and there is much illegitimacy apparent; in the other, criminal abortion destroys all the evidence, and though horribly corrupt in comparison, the appearance is all the other way. Some such comparison might be made between Paris and Boston; with what truth, each one can determine for himself, And there is another reason which adds force to what has been said. In Catholic countries, foundling hospitals, established for the very purpose of saving infant life, exist everywhere, Knowing that the temptation to conceal one's shame will, in many cases, be too strong to be resisted, and thus one crime be added to another, the impulse of Christian charity has caused the founding of these hospitals, so that the infant, instead of being killed, may be provided for, and the mother have a chance to repent, without being for ever marked with the brand of shame. Scarcely any such exist among Protestants. To set up, then, illegitimacy as the best criterion of the morals of a community, is a palpable injustice to Catholics.
But let us, nevertheless, follow Mr. Seymour on his own chosen ground, He thinks the Catholic country people may, in the absence of peculiar temptations, be as good as the Protestant; and that the state of great cities will show more the influence of religion on the morals of the people, We think the opposite; for in great cities there are immense masses of degraded people, who abandon the practice of religion, never go to church, and for whom the Protestant church, at least, would be apt to disclaim all responsibility. The country people are within the knowledge and the voice of the preacher or the priest, and religion exercises its proper influence upon them.
He selects London, on the Protestant side, as the largest city in the world, the richest, and where there are "the most numerous, the strongest, and the most varied temptations;" and, of course, where there should naturally be the most vice and crime. But facts contradict theory. The percentage of illegitimate births in London is 4.2, while that for all England and Wales is 6.5, and in the country districts, where the "numerous, strong, and varied temptations" are wanting, it varies from 9 to over 11. [Footnote 26]
[Footnote 26: Statistical Journal, 1862.]
London is compared with Paris, Brussels, Munich, and Vienna; and the rates are given as follows:
Proportion Of Illegitimate Births.
| In Paris | Roman Catholic | thirty-three per cent |
| In Brussels | Roman Catholic | thirty-five per cent |
| In Munich | Roman Catholic | forty-eight per cent |
| In Vienna | Roman Catholic | fifty-one per cent |
| In London | Protestant | four per cent |
and then, to show that this fearful disproportion exists not only in the capital cities, but also in other smaller ones, we have another table:
| Protestant England. | R. C. Austria | |||
| Bristol and Clifton | 4 per ct. | Troppau | 26 per ct. | |
| Bradford | 8 per ct. | Zara | 30 per ct. | |
| Birmingham | 6 per ct. | Innspruck | 22 per ct. | |
| Brighton | 7 per ct. | Laybach | 38 per ct. | |
| Cheltenham | 7 per ct. | Brunn | 42 per ct. | |
| Exeter | 8 per ct. | Linz | 46 per ct. | |
| Liverpool | 6 per ct. | Prague | 47 per ct. | |
| Manchester | 7 per ct. | Lemberg | 47 per ct. | |
| Plymouth | 5 per ct. | Klagenfort | 56 per ct. | |
| Portsea | 5 per ct. | Gratz | 65 per ct. |