A letter from the Pope to the Emperor of Austria
which we mentioned last week has been officially declared to be a forgery. It seems certain, however, that the Pope has found some means of influencing the Kaiser, for he has not yet signed the Civil Mar- riage Bill, and it is reported hesitates to break so completely with Rome. He is inclined to wait for that revision of the Concordat which the Papacy can never grant, and may at the eleventh hour recede from his new position as constitutional sovereign. If he does, the last chance of reconciliation between the Hapsburgs and the people will pass away, but it is scarcely possible that he should exhibit such vacillation. It would have been far easier to stir up the Upper House to throw out the Bill. It is more pro- bable that the Emperor is perplexed by pressure from within his own family, and is striving to gain time.
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