political order of the great French people which is at variance with the intellectual and moral system of the Catholic Church.
In touching on this point, so dear to that illustrious nation, as hereafter in touching once more on another subject, relating to the history of 1682, I shall refrain as far as possible from using language of my own, lest unconsciously I should do, what a French writer has lately, unreasonably I think, and without cause imputed to me; that is, in any way wound ever so lightly the dignity of France. I shall in both cases use the words of devoted and distinguished sons of that great people. The Prince de Broglie, in treating of the variance between the Church and modern society, which is so sedulously preached by those who desire to exclude the Church from the political order, says that the Catholic Church has stood in relations with civil society these eighteen hundred years in all lands: 'from Constantine to Charlemagne, from Charlemagne to Charles V., from Charles V. to Louis XIV., from Louis XIV. to 1789.' 'Why, then, should there be one only date, 1789, when this spirit of adaptation in Christianity has failed, and one only society which is bound to divorce Christianity on account of incompatibility of temper? … In reflecting on this singular fact, which is the great problem of our times, I can only find one cause to assign, namely, the abstract and philosophical character which society in France, by the organ of its legislators since 1789, has always affected to give to the principles on which it is constituted.' 'France,' he adds, 'is the only nation
