present dimensions if there had been a majority among the Conservative party who would have expressed in clear, unmistakable words that our Evangelium, threatened as our future salvation appears to be by the Pope,-I am speaking now as an Evangelical Christian,-is of greater value and of more importance to us than a momentary political opposition against the Government. I will not point out these gentlemen by name, but I accuse them of having preferred politics to the Gospel. The acknowledgment of the Gospel was wanted, and I heartily thank the gentleman who spoke before me that he has acknowledged it in such eloquent words. It has filled me with great joy, and it will be a bridge. for me to resume my old connection with the Conservative party, the dissolution of which has not been brought about without great pain to me. I cannot consider the man as my ally who subordinates the Gospel to politics. What is then, in fact, the Church? The Roman Catholic Church is the Pope, and if you want to speak of the rights of the Roman Catholic Church, you cannot explain them better than by saying the rights of the Pope. Before the Vatican decree the Roman Catholic congregation had at least some rights; now it is nothing but a stone in the pavement upon which the Church is built, but it has nothing to say in reference to the construction of the Church itself. Formerly we might believe that at least the Bishops, the Prussian Bishops as Prussian subjects, would represent for us the rights of the Roman Catholic Church and of the congregations. But at the present time the Bishops are mere prefects of the Pope; he may put himself in their places, he can displace every one of them. We have seen, gentlemen, that the Bishops have given up their own personal convictions, at the command of the Pope. The Bishops have not even the right to entertain an opinion different from the Pope's. A soldier in rank and file, when ordered right wheel,' enjoys at least the privilege of being permitted to think that the order may be foolish, but a Bishop is not even allowed that privilege at the present moment. If we believe the theories of the Pope, we have forfeited our future salvation. But this infallible Pope cannot rightly be considered as the successor of the Apostle. Peter the Apostle was not infallible; he committed sins, and afterwards acknowledged repentance for them; but of the last-mentioned quality of Saint Peter the present Pope has not yet shown any appreciation."

Another ecclesiastical measure carried through both Houses this Session was one for repealing Articles 15, 16, and 18 of the Constitution. The first of these clauses related to the independent administration of ecclesiastical affairs, another to the unimpeded intercourse between religious associations and their superiors; the other clauses abolished the system by which appointments to clerical offices required the confirmation of the Government. It was obvious that neither of these clauses could be worked in harmony with the spirit of Bismarckian legislation. The Bill provided also that the legal position in the state of the

Evangelical and Catholic Churches and other religious societies should be regulated in conformity with the new laws.

Speaking in the Lower House, during the discussion of this Bill, Prince Bismarck declared that the Government were loth to proceed to a modification of the Constitution, but that it was impossible for them to escape from the necessity of so doing.

"If the present condition of things," he said, "had arisen in 1851, we should hardly have embodied such provisions in the Constitution. At that time we thought we possessed guarantees that the Catholic citizens and Catholic Bishops would never forget their obedience to the State and their duties as subjects. This state of things has changed since the Vatican Council." Here the Centre party showed signs of commotion. "Since that Council," he continued, "the Pope is the Catholic Church, he stands at the head of a compact party, has a well-organized semi-official press, and an army of obedient priests, and has overspun us with a net of congregations; in short, no one possesses so great an influence as this Italian prelate. Even if he were a native, this power would be serious; but in this case it is a foreign monarch who possesses it, who, if he had the power to carry out in Prussia the programme he has solemnly proclaimed, would have to begin by destroying the majority of Prussians. Our fellow countrymen would either have to forswear their faith at once or would risk losing all they possessed. We cannot concede to one who wields such forces the power that has hitherto been afforded him by the Constitution; we must limit it. We cannot ask for peace before we have clearly defined the position of those to whom in moments of ill-advised and badly rewarded confidence we have granted only too many rights. This confidence has caused breaches in the strong bulwark of the State. When they have been filled up we shall be able to conclude peace with the Centre party and with the more moderate Catholic Church. In a sheltered position of defence we shall be able to feel secure, and leave the aggressive more to education in the schools than to politics. Then shall we regain that peace in the midst of which we have lived in Prussia for centuries."

In the further course of the debate Prince Bismarck refuted the assertion of an Ultramontane orator that he had endeavoured to make peace with the Pope. He added:

"Years ago I described the formation of the Centre party to Cardinal Antonelli as a danger. The Cardinal, who at that time was not so much under the influence of the Jesuits, disapproved of the party of the Centre being constituted. The latter sent an envoy to Rome, and brought a charge against the Cardinal. This charge was listened to with a favourable ear by the Pope. I hope that at some future time we shall have a pacific Pope again, and that I shall find an Antonelli willing to assist in strengthening peace."

And two more Bills yet, vitally affecting Ultramontane in

terests, were proposed and carried during the sitting of the Prussian Diet. The one decreed that members belonging to the sect of the old Catholics, forming themselves into a separate congregation in any Catholic parish, should be permitted to hold their services in the Catholic church of that parish, and to have a proportionate share of the church lands and funds allotted to them. The other Bill struck no less a blow than the abolition of conventual establishments, either summarily, or after a brief interval of delay.

As soon as the Third Reading of the first of these Bills-for the administration of Catholic Church property in Prussia-had been carried in the Lower House of the Diet by 228 votes against 82, Dr. Falck, the Minister of Public Worship, introduced the measure for the suppression of religious Orders. In this Bill it was enacted that all religious orders and societies of the Catholic Church having the character of Orders, should be excluded from Prussian territory, and the establishment of branches of the same be prohibited; that existing branches should not be allowed to receive new members, and should be dissolved within six months; that associations engaged in education might have the period within which they were to be dissolved extended to four years. It provided that the orders devoting themselves to the care of the sick should continue to exist, but should be liable to be dissolved at any moment by Royal Ordinance. By another clause the associations which continue in existence are subjected to State supervision. Clause 4 provides that the property of dissolved religious Orders shall not be confiscated, but be temporarily administered by the State.

The "motives" of the new law, as given in the statement appended to it, are very elaborate, and contain some very curious statistical data. In 1855 the number of persons in convents and religious establishments (males and females) in Prussia consisted only of 913, whereas now their number exceeds 8,795. Of these 1,032 are men and 7,763 women. The statement further contends that these religious corporations and societies are not necessary organizations of the Roman Catholic Church, as most of them have not been known during the first thousand years of that Church's existence. Finally, the "motives " justify the new law, by showing that the members of these religious societies become mere passive instruments in the hands of their superiors, who thereby are empowered to destroy the basis of society, of the State, of the family, and of individual property.

It was said that the Convents' Bill experienced a great many changes on its way from Berlin to Wiesbaden, where it was signed by the Emperor in his quality as King, previous to its presentation before the Prussian Diet.

In the first place, it was conceded that the period for the dissolution of religious establishments devoting themselves to the education and training of youth might be extended by the Minister of Worship to four years instead of two years, as the Ministerial

draft of the Bill had first prescribed. Further, by the King's special order a paragraph was added, that the establishments of Orders which devote themselves exclusively to the care of the sick should continue in existence, but that they might be at any time dissolved by a Royal Ordinance. It was generally believed that this section owed its origin to the Empress, who had pointed out to the Emperor the great services rendered during the last war by the Sisters of Mercy to the wounded soldiers. According to the original Ministerial draft of the Bill these establishments were to have been dissolved within four years. But the most important change was to be found in the fourth clause of the Bill. The Council of Ministers proposed to confiscate the property of the dissolved Orders; but the King would not approve of this severe measure, and the State authorities are merely temporarily" charged with its management and preservation. They are, however, not responsible to Parliament, and their accounts will be only subject to a revision of the Upper Audit Chamber (Ober Rechnungskammer). No other kind of responsibility or production of accounts will exist.

During the debate on this law, Dr. Falck, the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, spoke as follows, his object being to prove the political hostility of the Pope to his country, and to show that the Prussian measures were only taken in self-defence against a priest leagued with Austria and France for the overthrow of Germany:

"You all know Herr Von Buss, the eminent member of the Carlsruhe Legislative Assembly and the German Parliament. This gentleman, who has held a leading position in the German Ultramontane Party for a generation or more, in 1851 (after Prussia had yielded to Austria in the unity question) delivered a speech at a Catholic meeting in Baden. In this speech, as quoted by Wolfgang Menzel in his History of Modern Jesuitism,' Herr Von Buss uttered these memorable words: - The pacific issue of the Austro-Prussian difficulties is a great blow to the Catholic Church. If our great Radetzky had pushed his army to Berlin, the chief tower of Protestantism would have fallen, and the Pope have been restored to authority in the Prussian capital, whence he might have brought all Protestants back to the bosom of the Catholic Church. Do not be astonished at what I tell you. In Würtemberg alone, there are only fifty Protestant clergymen ready to recognize the supremacy of the Pope if allowed to retain their wives. In endeavouring to defeat Prussia our primary intention was to force Protestantism to submit to the Pop While Protestantism exists be assured we shall never succeed in reviving the Roman Catholic Empire of the German nations The Holy Roman Empire of the German nation must be re-established, and all the Hungarians, Poles, Croats, Slovakians, and Slovenians of Austria must be included in it. Such an Empire, containing 70,000,000 of inhabitants, with the Hapsburg

dynasty upon the Throne, will protect the Triple Crown of the Pope and again make the Pontifical chair the supreme legislator of Europe. This time Prince Schwartzenberg, the Austrian Premier, has not the resolution to carry out his grand idea. But the Church never rests on her oars, and with her powerful machinery indefatigably at work we shall yet compass our end and destroy Prussia and Protestantism together. We shall send pecuniary assistance to the few Roman Catholics living in the north-eastern provinces of Prussia to enable them to become pioneers in the great work. We shall organize a network of Catholic societies in the Protestant provinces of Prussia, and strengthening the action of these societies by as many new monasteries as we can establish, we shall deprive the House of Hohenzollern of their Catholic possessions, so disgracefully united to the Brandenburg Marches, and render that dynasty innocuous.' The programme laid down in this speech has been but too fully carried out. In less than thirty years monks and nuns in Prussia have increased from 1,200 to 8,000. Their influence in the elementary schools, in which they have since been permitted to teach, is notorious; but it is quite as prejudicial in these numerous boarding-schools for young ladies, kept or visited by them. We all have heard of the bigotry of the sex in France, but I can assure you that German Catholic gentlemen have frequently told me they would assume a more independent attitude in the ecclesiastical controversy of the day were they not compelled to spare the feelings of their wives and daughters.'

These observations were confirmed by other members, who asserted that thirty years ago, when priests and monks were first allowed to exercise their present authority over schools, Ultramontanism did not exist. One of the Catholic speakers, in reply to these arguments, called Bismarck the only Sovereign in Prussia, and the Liberal party his willing slaves, while another, after owning that the German Empire was no safe home for himself and his co-religionists, wound up with the outburst of the Latin poet-

"Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor."

The Prussian Diet closed on the 5th of June, after a very energetic Session. Besides the Ecclesiastical Bills, it passed a couple of Statutes introducing an important innovation into the constitution and government of the country. The foundation for this legislation had been laid in 1872, when the first district organisation scheme for the Six Provinces of East Prussia was passed. The present measures were intended to carry out in those provinces the system of local self-administration then inaugurated. Prince Bismarck was not at first himself in favour of the measure. He was unwilling to give up the Bureaucratic system which had worked well for his purposes; but when convinced of the necessity for the change, he threw himself into it without reserve, and backed up the Liberals of the Government who were urging it on.