CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Pope, the Kings, and the People. By William Arthur. Vols. I. and IL (William Mullan.)—We have here a minute and laborious history of the movements which led to the famous Vatican Council, as well as of the Council itself. The author begins with the Syllabus, and shows how it was meant to reconstruct society on an improved typo, as the late Pontiff thought. In opposition to Cardinal Manning's "True Story," he maintains that the Council did not arrive at its ulti- mate result under genuine and legitimate influences, and that, in fact, the whole affair was due to something like a conspiracy on the part of a limited section of the Roman Church. He says that as he went on with the study of the question, he became more and more convinced that it was one of pure politics rather than of religion or theology. His two octavo volumes, which extend to nearly 1,000 pages, will, we suspect, be found rather tedious by the average reader, of whom it can hardly be expected that he will feel a very keen interest in the various intricate manceuvres which prepared the way for the promulgation of the dogma of Papal Infallibility. Nor is the author's style by any means attractive ; it is, for the most part, very cumbrous, and often obscure. He is most anxious to impress on his readers a conviction of the dangerous designs of Rome, which aim, he contends, at nothing less than a total reconstruction of society, on the basis of a priestly absolutism. Accordingly, be has shared no pains or labour to prove, as far as he can, the dis- honesty with which he holds that these designs have of late years been carried out. In his last chapter he sums up his views on the whole subject, and while he prognosticates a dark future for Catholic countries, he expresses his decided belief that England will never throw away the blessings and advantages which she won in the great struggle of the sixteenth century. She will never, he is confident, let her ancient throne depend for its support on the creatures of an Italian priest, or suffer the education of her people to be under Jesuit tutelage.
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