theological manipulation as the filling of a train from Paddington. Again, we hear on May 17, that 'Cardinal Bilio, the Prefect of the Deputation for Dogma, and author of the Syllabus, has passed over to the opposition.' When the Holy Father heard of this defection 'he was seized with faintness,' and told the Cardinal 'to go on a tour for the benefit of his health.' The 'Times' at last confessed: 'To find out the truth of what is going on … is difficult beyond conception.' … 'Every day, even every hour, brings up its story, … which, in nine cases out of ten, will prove an ingenious hoax.' Therefore nine-tenths of these histories are labelled 'hoaxes.' The 'Times' adds: 'To pick one's way amidst these snares, without becoming the victims of delusions, is what no man can feel quite sure of.' A warning of which I hope the readers of newspapers will fully avail themselves.
The 'Standard,' wiser than its fellows, said in February: 'It is a thousand pities that English correspondents should childishly swallow cock-and-bull stories of what never did and never could have occurred in the Council, and thus damage their own reputation for accuracy, as well as inferentially that of their colleagues.'
Another journal damaged something more than its reputation for accuracy, when, after having announced that the Roman Clergy, that is, the Parish Priests of Rome, had, all but eight, declined to petition in favour of the definition, it was again and again called upon to publish the fact that the Roman Clergy unanimously petitioned for the definition, in a form
