been assembled at the centre of authority will carry back with them a consciousness of power which will spread through the whole Catholic unity; and this consciousness of unity is strength. It is the one thing which the world cannot give, nor imitate. God alone is its Author; and it makes His Church fearless and invincible.
(2.) And this must powerfully vindicate the liberty of the Church in all its spiritual action. Since the year 1862, and especially since the Allocution of September 1865, men have come more clearly to understand that the question of the temporal power is not one of a few provinces and towns, much less of a royal title or of a royal revenue. It is the condition by which Divine Providence has secured the liberty of the person and of the office of the Vicar of Christ, and of his supreme and independent direction of all civil powers in matters which fall within the Divine law. In proportion as the Church is conscious of its unity, it will make itself felt on the public opinion of every country. So long as the Church is kept apart by the jealousies of governments and nations, it remains unconscious of the vast strength which arises from the unity of co-operation. Despots hate popes, and love patriarchs; for popes are sovereigns, and inflexible; patriarchs may become courtiers, and dependents. In this is seen the difference between the highest power which is only of ecclesiastical creation, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The 'Non possumus' of S. Peter is absolute. Frederick the Great of Prussia, with the keen in-
