To make the vote of the Liberals still more secure,
Prince Bismarck has published his letters to his Ambassador at Rome, Prince Reuss, and the latter's report of conversations with Cardinal Jacobini. The drift of these papers shows that the Papacy is not content with the new Bills, which leave the Catholic Church at the mercy of the secular power; and that Prince Bismarck will not recede, because he says the Papacy is fighting the Government through the Central Party in the German Parliament. They profess to submit humbly to the Pope, yet vote for allowing the anti-Socialist laws to drop. This point is repeated again and again, until the reader is compelled to believe that Prince Bismarck's policy is really this :—He thinks the vote of the Centre necessary, and intends to get it by threatening the Catholic Church with persecution whenever they vote against him, such vote being, assumes the Chancellor, proof positive that the Vatican is waging war with the German State. A more cynical policy was never propounded, and it may be doubted if it can succeed. Prince Bismarck believes that the Catholic constituencies, im- patient of an inconvenient contest, will compel the Centre to yield ; but he does not comprehend how completely the pride of Catholicism, when it is believed at all, reaches to the lowest class. The peasants will no more yield than the hierarchy.
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