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some observations upon the general subject, as bearing upon their special application to ourselves.
It is familiar to all that the Vatican Decrees are intended to be the conclusion of many ages of agitation and strife in the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries the contest has been waged between the Ultramontanes and their opponents. It found expression in the contradictory acts of previous Ecumenical Councils; it produced most serious schisms; and it developed itself even in the extraordinary rivalry of co-existent Popes. Considering the attitude always maintained by France in the struggle, no one would have expected, to witness in our day, the apparent triumph in that great country of the advocates of supreme ecclesiastical Roman authority. Louis IX, better known as Saint-Louis, was perhaps the first, certainly the most distinguished, King of France who determinedly opposed the Papal aggression upon the Episcopate and Crown of France, and upheld what have since been known as the Gallican Liberties, and in the long train of Sovereigns who succeeded him, no sign of surrender of these highly prized rights had been given.
What may have led to the present outward submission of the Episcopal and Civil Authorities of France to the Vatican Decrees, and their consequences, can only be conjectured. But that the termination of the conflict was approached with feelings of the utmost apprehension by many great and good men of the Catholic faith is well known, and was even abundantly shown at the Vatican Council itself. But among the many prayers for wiser counsels, I have met with none more solemn than that mournful appeal from Count Montalembert, in his letter to Dr. Von Dollinger, of 7th November, 1869, written shortly before his death.
Count Montalembert has such a world-wide fame
