or significant.[1] In Rome itself, a different view was taken; and the veiled prophets behind the throne, by whom the Latin Church is governed, brought about its condemnation as blasphemous, without perusal, from the lips of the Holy Father.[2] The object, probably, was at once to prevent or neutralise avowals of sympathy from Roman Catholic quarters. It may have been with a like aim that a number of Prelates at once entered, though by no means with one voice, into the lists. At length the great name of Dr. Newman was announced, and he too has replied to me, and explained himself, in a work to which I shall presently refer. Even apart from the spolia opima of this transcendent champion, I do not undervalue the ability, accomplishments, and discipline of that division of the Roman Army, which confronts our Church and nation. Besides its supply from indigenous sources, it has been strangely but very largely recruited from the ranks of the English Church, and her breasts have, for thirty years, been pierced mainly by the children whom they had fed.
In these replies, of which the large majority adopt without reserve the Ultramontane hypothesis, it is most commonly alleged that I have insulted the Roman Catholics of these kingdoms. Dr. Newman, averse to the use of harsh words, still announces (p. 3) that "heavy
- ↑ For example: "The various organs of the press, with the shrewd political sense for which they are conspicuous, without any possible collusion, extinguished its political import in a single morning." — Bishop Vaughan's 'Pastoral Letter,' p. 5.
- ↑ The declaration of non avenu, which, after a brief interval, followed the announcement of the condemnation, appeared upon some subsequent discussion to be negatived by the evidence. But such declarations are, I conceive, well understood in Rome to depend, like an English "not at home," upon convenience.
