LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE SITUATION AT ROME.—II.
[FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
Rome, December 18, 1869. I THINK I shall not be saying what any truthful partizan of the Vatican would deny, in affirming that things in the Council have not been progressing in the sense it had been confidently antici- pated in that quarter they would progress. That an opposition party, properly so called, not merely a bishop here and there, but a definite combination of prelates acting together to an end, has revealed itself in the Council, is now a fact too patent not to be admitted even by devoted Infallibilists of the purest water. That this opposing party should succeed in its aims is, indeed, still pro- nounced quite out of the question ; but when one remembers how, a few days ago, the very notion of there being anything like a serious following to the Bishop of Orleans' lead was ridiculed in the Ultramontane circles of Rome, I cannot help considering it a very significant fact to hear, as I have from the most Ultramontane of lips, the admission that there is an actual opposition party in the Council, and that it has proved strong enough to obstruct and retard the programme previously announced with singular confi- dence. Whatever else may happen, I believe it is now confessed that the original idea of getting the dogma pushed through so as to be proclaimed on the 6th of January has had to be dropped, and that the state of business will necessitate postponement to a later date of this achievement. And postponement has from the beginning been the especial tactics of the opposition party. It is true that the intention of achieving the definition so early, and in this manner, has been very explicitly denied; but I am driven to the conviction, by testimony obtained here on the spot, that it was cunningly concerted to obtain through a well-prepared stroke of hand the acclamation of the dogma, and in spite of the contra- diction given by the Tablet, I am unable not to believe that Arch- bishop Manning had entered into engagements to lead the van in this move. It is now clear that there can be no such surprise as was planned, and that the dogma will, at all events, not be carried without a distinct stand having been made against its promulga- tion in the Council, though its being decreed cannot be matter of doubt, should this be dependent on the bare fact of a majority.
The two capital incidents of the week have been the sudden departure of Cardinal Matthieu for France, and the election of the twenty-four members for the Congregation to report. on Dogmatic matters. I am loth to make myself the medium for circulating any stories as to the perfect authenticity of which I am not in a condition to speak positively. Therefore, I cannot affirm with certainty what may be the true cause for the Cardinal's abrupt departure. In circles connected with the French Embassy it is stated that the prelate is gone to France only on family and diocesan business, and that he will be back before the next solemn session. This declaration is accepted with great doubt in other circles, where it is affirmed that the Cardinal's journey is virtually something very like a flight, prompted by his deep dissatisfaction at the temper of the men who constitute the ruling coterie in Rome. The Cardinal is said not to be remarkable for vigour of character, but he certainly did connect himself with the opposition here rather prominently, for one of the conferences was held at his house. It seems difficult to assume that diocesan affairs of sufficient urgency could have arisen in the short interval since he left his see, to make it necessary for the Cardinal, at the advanced age of seventy odd years, to hurry off quite suddenly during the [storms of the winter season, just after having come expressly for the Council, and one cannot wonder that so strange a proceeding should have given rise to much curious speculation. The other incident offers less scope for imagination, and presents some valuable and positive facts. The election for this Congre- gation constitutes the first actual contest between the rival parties. It was the earnest effort of the opposition to secure the choice of men who might represent something more than the mere echo of the wishes of the Jesuits. The preliminary canvas for the election was carried on with much activity. The bishops of each nation- ality met to confer amongst themselves as to those who should be put forward as its representatives in the Congregation, the understanding being that this special selection once agreed upon in the circle, it should be accepted by the bishops of other countries. If this arrangement had been observed, there would have been at least a fair representation of the opinions of the majority in each national family of the Church. This has, however, not been the case. The French Bishops, for in- stance, met in two distinct assemblies in the houses of
two prelates of distinction, and there drew up a list of names which would have represented the different shades of opinion in the French Episcopate. I am not in possession of the names of the men who have been already elected, but I can affirm that the result of the balloting shows the original under- standing not to have been observed, and that the Congregation is constituted of prelates who are entirely of one way of thinking, and that, the way approved of by the Jesuits. In short, it is a packed Committee committed beforehand to one particular view in regard to the dogma. It is curious, as illustrative of the peculiar influences at the disposal of the Vatican for neutralizing the active elements in the Church, td take note of the means through which it is believed that the legitimate wishes of the working episcopate were set aside. The Propaganda, at the head of which, as Prefect, is Cardinal Barnabo, a prelate notorious for his bullying and even ferocious humour (as some of the most eminent English Roman Catholics have had experience), has dependent on it the Bishops in partilms. This phantom episcopate, without country or relations, except the Propaganda, is, with a few individual exceptions, a phalanx of pawns quite in the hands of the Prefect. It numbers nearly two hundred and fifty members in the Council—a body which, added to the Spaniards, who also act to a man with the Court of Rome, of itself secures close on half the Council. At all events, it would appear positive that the truculent Prefect of the Propaganda made his pasteboard episcopate go in a body for a list of candidates in the Jesuit interest, and that the list has come out victorious from the ballot.
All this will hardly seem to you indicative of opposition pro- gress, and yet I can only say that the defeat is not looked upon as serious. Measured by mere numbers, as forces must be in an election, the opposition must confessedly be overborne. What it reckons on obtaining is such a respectable array of protesting prelates as would arrest the Ultramontane party from proceeding out of fear of the consequences that must overtake the Church in the event of a violent attempt to impose a doctrine openly controverted by Catholics of such high standing and dignity in their community. A very grave fact has, however, occurred, which promises to make no small noise in the world. A Papal Bull of a very secret nature has been distributed amongst the Bishops, which is described as being nothing less than a formal excommunication of all the principles of modern society. All the monstrous pretentious of the most overbearing of Popes are said to be vindicated in this extraordinary document. I have no doubt as to the correctness of this statement. The authority on which I have it is such as to put it beyond dispute. The Bull is the reassertion of the Syllabus, in so far as it treats of the relations between Church and State practically. I am told that the declaration of the irreconcilable temper of the Vatican has affected many bishops most disagreeably who otherwise would have been glad to find an excuse for going with the Pope. I am aware of the too general want of backbone in these Bishops to be over sanguine of their holding their ground gallantly ; but from what I hear, I am really inclined to infer that the present dose offered them has been generally found too much to take without resistance. Nor would it be intelligible if this were otherwise, for I apprehend that the tenor of this Bull, if accepted and sought to be acted on, would put every French bishop in direct antagonism with the law. Neither the Bishop of Orleans nor the Archbishop of Paris will be disposed to acquiesce in the promulgation of so outrageous an anachronism as the fulmination of major excom- munication against whoever harbours a heretic. Yet this is what positively Pius IX. thinks it incumbent on him to decree, and what he really fancies it possible to make the Roman Catholic
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