Ord Macaulay once wrote The experiences of twelve hundred eventful years, the and patient care of forty generations of statesmen, have improved that policy (the human policy of the Roman Catholic Church) to such perfection that, among the contrivances which have been devised for deceiving and oppressing mankind, it occupies the highest place. With this expression of opinion before us, no excuse is needed to bring the Holy Roman Church under review from the moral and religious point of view.