In the meantime Prince Bismarck has been absurdly accused by
some of the Roman Catholic party in America of a wish to strike at Christianity itself through the Roman Catholic Church, and has replied to the American correspondent who has informed him of this silly charge with a vehemence some- what in excess of the Chancellor's usual calm strength :—" There is not even the possibility of a misunderstanding being alleged as an excuse for the lie. In my opinion, the phrase imputed to me, that I intend to crush Rome in order to crush Chris- tianity, is enough to betray the source and purpose of the invention. That my convictions and my belief are the reverse of what this fable puts into my mouth, is not doubted in Germany. In America,' too, people will, I trust, say to themselves, that if a man were impious enough to enter- tain such thoughts, he would hardly be stupid enough to avow them." That is all quite true. Prince Bismarck's letters show not only a German warmth of Lutheran orthodoxy, but in :certain directions a leaning even to pietism,. Still it is certain that a great. deal of the enthusiaem whieh his eeclesiastical legislation has excited is due to the extreme sceptics who detest all religions equally. And a statesman who avails himself of the help, which such enthusiasm gives him, should not; • be too much incensedat the unmerited reproaches to which it also exposes him..
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