on both sides had been defined seems uncertain, but it was surmised that the Chancellor still persisted in his opinion that the Church must at last give in, and that then, but not till then, a revision of the legislation might follow. He subsequently remarked, in the easy tone which he was fond of adopting at his parliamentary soirées, that: "Had Cardinal Franchi been alive, the Roman Curia would have given in by this time; consequently, Franchi's death was much to be regretted." This, of course, would not have been the case; any one possessing but a limited acquaintance with the institutions of the Catholic Church knows well that even with the strongest disposition to compliance, she can abandon neither her constitution nor her doctrines. The mind of the Pope was manifested in his letter of the 27th of August to the new Cardinal Secretary of State, when he announced that "negotiations of a friendly nature, and from which he hoped for a happy result, had been opened with Prussia." "It is not our aim," continued the Pope, " to arrange merely a spiritual truce which should leave open the way to future conflicts, but so to remove obstacles as to lead to the conclusion of a real and lasting peace."

The confidence of the Catholics of Prussia in the Holy Father was unbounded; they much questioned, however, whether the heads of the Prussian administration would be prepared to restore to the Church a portion even of her former liberty. To clear up this point, at the opening of the new session of the Landtag, Windthorst brought forward a motion for the restoration of Articles 15, 16, and 18 of the Constitution. Before, however, the motion could be discussed, a very decided announcement was made by Falk on the 11th of December, 1878, that a change in the legislation of the State was not to be thought of. He declared that

Neither now, nor at any future time, could this concession on the part of the Government be acceded. Once for all, let it be understood that the retention of these laws was an absolute necessity to the peace and welfare of the State. The Government will, therefore, maintain this position, until sufficient guarantees be forthcoming from the other side that peace will be conceded as well as demanded.

To this rough speech, Windthorst replied:

After what we have just heard from the lips of the Minister, it seems to me that the announcement of amicable intentions on the part of the Government, is an empty phrase. With the May Laws as they stand at present, peace is impossible. The Minister has just pronounced it to be his irrevocable decision to abide by these laws; I must, therefore, affirm, to my great regret, that the peace which we so ardently desire, is a long way off.

The proceedings of the Government confirmed the mistrust here expressed. The few nuns suffered to remain in Prussia were now ordered to quit the country. In vain did Windthorst, with the majority in the Landtag, conjure the Government in these words: "Prove to us that you wish for peace; prove it, by granting to these poor women the protection of the law; by allowing them to earn their daily bread in their own country; to live and die in their own country;" neither Bismarck, nor Falk, nor the parties in league with the Government were capable of any sentiment of mercy when dealing with women who had devoted their lives to the service of the Catholic Church. At the same time, legal proceedings were conducted against a large number of the clergy for transgression of the May Laws; whilst, in the official "Reichsanzeiger," there appeared a warrant for the apprehension of Cardinal Count Ledochowski, formerly Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen," who, for contempt of the Ecclesiastical Court, had been condemned to a fine of 15,000 marks, or to two years' imprisonment. The Catholic population complained loudly that opportunities of frequenting the means of grace, and hearing the Word of God, were being more and more circumscribed from day to day; but their remonstrances fell upon deaf ears. Moreover, the clergy were still excluded from the schools; could their flocks be blamed for refusing to give any heed to the professions of friendly intentions on the part of the Government? Nothing further was heard of Falk's retirement from office; it seemed, indeed, as if the defeat of the Catholic parties in Belgium and France had given to the Cabinet at Berlin fresh courage to resist the claims of the Church. On the other hand, the Emperor personally continued to lay particular stress upon the necessity of religious education. In 1850, as Prince of Prussia, he had openly declared that: "He considered the ultimate cause of the corruption which prevailed both in public and private life throughout the Grand Duchy of Baden, to be the alienation of the schools from the Church." Now, after thirty years' experience—an experience by no means without its tinge of bitterness he continued to insist upon his former conclusion. By religiously-minded and Conservative Protestants, this conviction of the Emperor was used as a means of getting rid of the half-believing element in their Church government. They were careful, also, to lose no opportunity of pointing out the difference of opinion on this matter between the Emperor and the Minister of Public Instruction.

At the same time, the influence of Conservatism made itself felt in the regions of political economy and finance. It was considered a favourable omen that, together with the Conservative party, the Centre seemed determined to support the financial

policy of the Imperial Chancellor against the Liberals, who were almost without exception in favour of free-trade. If Liberalism could be thrust from its position of supremacy in one point only, an entire and universal change of policy might be witnessed.

Meanwhile, every available means were employed by the Pope, in order, as he himself expressed it," to obtain for the noble people of Germany the benefits of a lasting peace, together with the preservation of the rights of the Church." The sorrow and anxiety of his paternal heart were manifested in his Letter to the Archbishop of Cologne, on Christmas Eve, 1878: "Nunquam poterit cor nostrum quiescere, donec ingenti cum animarum jacturâ pastores ecclesiæ damnatos vel exules conspiciamus, sacerdotale ministerium nexibus omnis generis implicitum, religiosas sodalitates piasque congregationes disjectas, et juventutis institutionem, ne clericis quidem exceptis, ab episcopali auctoritate et vigilantia subductam." That the one aim and object of the Holy Father was the salvation of souls could not have been more explicitly demonstrated than by the above words. The origin of the evils here so bitterly deplored, was to be found entirely in those laws, the revision or repeal of which was the manifest object of the Pope's Christmas Letter.

The year 1879 brought to the Catholics of Prussia no alleviation of their via dolorosa. The words addressed by Leo XIII. on the 6th of May to Count Thau-Hohenstein were sorrowful ones, and seemed almost like a complaint :-"It was our duty," said the Pope, "to do everything in our power, compatible with the rights of the Church, to put an end to the unhappy position of affairs in Germany. We will not rest until this object be attained, or, until we have proved to all that, if reconciliation be impossible, the fault rests not with the Apostolic See." This declaration on the part of the Holy Father met with a grateful response from every Catholic heart.

By the Chancellor, however, negotiations were carried on in a dilatory spirit. The salvation of souls was nothing to him; his all-engrossing object was the aggrandizement of Prussia, according to his ideas of greatness. At the close of the first six months of the year, however, he was obliged to deprive himself of the co-operation of Falk, the reaction which had taken place amongst the "Orthodox" Protestants making it impossible for that Minister to remain longer in office. Accordingly, on the 30th of June, he again sent in his resignation. Devoted to the interests of Bismarck, and led by the infidel spirit of Liberalism, he had ruthlessly carried on the work of destruction with regard to all that Catholics hold dear and sacred. His successor found the pathway of office strewn with ruins, which were a terrible witness to the subversive activity of Falk. Herr von Puttkamer, however,

accepted the portfolio of the Minister of Public Worship and Instruction with, apparently, a light heart. Perhaps he rested his assurance of success upon the probability that the day was at hand when the Chancellor would take a final leave of Liberalism. Herr von Bennigsen's announcement, in the session of the Diet of the 9th of July, that the Liberals were not prepared to support Prince Bismarck's proposed financial policy, was the signal for an immediate rupture between the Chancellor and his former friends. With respect to the Kulturkampf, Bismarck declared that he had entered upon that conflict in the interest of the Fatherland, but that "he never intended it to be a lasting institution of the German Empire; if he could now find ways and means of reconciling conflicting principles, he should deem it his duty to do so." A glance at the past history of the Chancellor was sufficient to warrant the conclusion that he was just the man to hold out his hand again to the Liberals with whom he had that moment quarrelled, should the allies whom he desired hold themselves aloof. There are, however, matters affecting the interests of Prussia, as well as those of Germany, with regard to which the Centre feels itself bound in conscience to deny its assistance to the Imperial Chancellor. The Catholic deputies consider themselves bound, for instance, to resist any further restriction of civil liberty; they cannot consent to the augmentation of the military budget, nor to the yet further extension of military duty. Bismarck's dilatoriness in conducting negotiations with Monsignore Jacobini, Nuncio at the Court of Vienna, may, perhaps, be traced to his anxiety to know the intended attitude of the Centre in the Reichstag with reference to fresh projects of taxation, and the renewal of the grant for the septennial military budget. The leaders of the Catholic party were well aware that their perseverance in maintaining an attitude of opposition might frustrate negotiations of an amicable nature. They feel bound, however, to stand by the principles for which they have contended for upwards of ten years, at the cost of repeated self-renunciation and constant sacrifice. At the moment when they shall receive from the Pope the intimation that his efforts have been crowned with success, the Catholics of Prussia will accept his decision with the readiness and respect with which, always and under all circumstances, they have submitted to the decrees of the Holy See. On the other hand, they will be ready, with unabated courage, to return to the combat, should the Pope be compelled to announce the failure of his earnest wishes and endeavours to bring about a good understanding with the Emperor. Meanwhile, strong in their union with each other, Catholics quietly and confidently await the future, neither coming to the front with unbecoming impetuosity, nor allowing themselves to

be lulled to a false repose. The alleviations offered by the Minister, Puttkamer, in carrying out the legislation, Catholics thankfully accept, remembering at the same time that the supreme aim of their efforts and endeavours is, not simply the mild enforcement of the laws of the Kulturkampf, but their entire abrogation. They pray that God will enlighten both the Pope and the Emperor, and make them of one mind in arriving at decisions which shall tend to the glory of God, and the restoration of peace to the Church. They turn with joy to the memory of Catholic Ireland, and recall the fidelity and incomparable self-sacrifice with which she fought for her faith and her freedom. Filled with the noble enthusiasm with which the Church inspires her faithful children, the Catholics of Germany call to mind the words spoken by O'Connell to his own people in an hour of heaviness and sorrow: "So surely as the sun will rise to-morrow morning, so surely will Ireland win her rights again! She would not touch one golden circlet of the crown, for it is not the crown that weighs heavily upon her. All that Ireland asks is, that the party opposed to her be no longer upheld and encouraged, and that Government will act in behalf of, and not against, the people of Ireland." The faithful in Germany look forward, as did O'Connell, to the hour of victory; they await the day when their leaders also shall proclaim that the Church has recovered her rights and her liberty. Already they seem to hear in their behalf the words of the great Liberator to his countrymen: "You have triumphed, because the voice which has pleaded for your country was first lifted up in prayer to God for her. Now shall the songs of liberty and peace resound through our fields, and be wafted over our green hills and valleys; now shall our mountains re-echo the glad voices of their rushing torrents, proclaiming that the Church, our true native land, is free."

ART. VII. MIRACLES AND MEDICAL SCIENCE. 1. Annales de Notre Dame de Lourdes. Tomes I., II., III. Lourdes: B. Pujo.

2. Notre Dame de Lourdes. HENRI LASSERE. 5me Edition. 1873.

IT

is not surprising that medical science is sceptical as to miracles, especially as to miracles of healing. So many extravagant cures are ascribed to so many extravagant remedies; marvels apparently so great issue often, on research, in such natural explanation; so powerful do we find the effects of imagina