The Berlin Government seems to have made up its mind
that, in ecclesiastical matters, war to the knife with Roman Catholics is the safest rule, for it has .even prosecuted some Westphalian ladies for presenting an address,—no doubt much more loyal to their Church than to their civil Government, —to their Bishop ; and after an ap- peal from the District Court, the sentence has been affirmed by the Court of Second Instance ; the Countess Nessekode Reichenstein has been condemned to pays fine of 200 thalers, — £30,—or to six weeks' imprisonment ; and each of the other thirty ladies has been condemned to a fine or imprisonment of half the magnitude. This is flying at very small game indeed. Surely, even granting for the sake of argument the policy of the Falck laws, they should be used to crush, and not to irritate. Mulcting good women of their pocket-money as a punishment for their ecclesiastical enthu- siasm, can hardly carry dismay ; and if not, it must feed the sacred flame.
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