It now became quite evident that the plans of Bismarck must require a reversal of his former policy. Accordingly, in 1880, a beginning was made by a slight modification of the obnoxious laws. The Government thereby yielded its claim to the right of deposing ecclesiastics; in 1881, it recognized the vicars-general who had been appointed through ecclesiastical channels to administer the dioceses of Paderborn, Osnabrück and Breslau; nor were these prelates required to take the oath of blind obedience to obnoxious laws. The bishoprics of Fulda and of Treves had been filled by papal appointment, the former receiving as its incumbent, Mgr. Kopp, and the latter, Mgr. Korum; strange to say, the Chancellor recognized both prelates.
These victories of the Catholics, slight in themselves, were powerful as evidencing the direction of governmental policies. The reversion, however, of Bismarck, was not so quickly followed by the creatures whom he had placed in the Chambers, and whose hostility to Catholic interests continued as violent and bitter as ever. "Let us be patient for one or two years," cried Bennigsen, the leader of the Liberals, "and we shall see the fruits of our glorious policy; we shall have conquered the Pope." In two years, 1882, the Pope remained unconquered, while in Germany the Catholic party increased in numbers and in power.
On May 31, 1883, new concessions were made to the Catholics. Provision was made for the pardoning of deposed bishops, the legal formalities required by candidates for ecclesiastical offices could be dispensed with at the option of the Minister of Worship, the State examinations of ecclesiastical students were set aside. Still the May Laws remained upon the statute books, and against them the Centre party, under the leadership of Windthorst, continued to protest even though advised to show some leniency by Mgr. Galimberti. The firmness of the great leader was rewarded. The affair of the Caroline Islands, disputed between Germany and Spain, gave Bismarck an opportunity of approaching the Holy See with better grace than before. Accordingly the Chancellor arranged that the Holy Father, Leo XIII., should be invited to arbitrate between the contending nations. The Sovereign Pontiff could not help being happily impressed by this diplomatic action on the part of the two powers, which thereby recognized the Holy Father as a temporal sovereign despite the Piedmontese occupation of Rome.
The successful result of the papal arbitration opened up new avenues whereby reconciliation might be effected in Germany. The Sees of Cologne and Fribourg were at once filled, and Mgr. Kopp, Bishop of Fulda, was offered a seat in the Upper House of Prussia. In return for the many evidences of good feeling thus betrayed by the Government, Cardinal Ledochowski, who knew himself to be a persona non grata to the Prussian State, resigned his diocese of Posen, which was immediately filled by a new incumbent, Mgr. Dinder. On May 21, 1886, the theological schools were re-established as they had been before the beginning of the Kulturkampf. The High Court instituted for the adjudging of ecclesiastical affairs was suppressed, and the Sovereign Pontiff was hitherto to be recognized as the superior judge in such matters. The elections of February, 1887, increased the numbers of the Centre party, and Bismarck, thereupon, deemed the time fitting to end once for all the supreme trial of the Kulturkampf. Certain modifications of the May Laws were placed in the hands of the Centre; some were accepted, others rejected. The concessions, however, were of such a nature that they might be in a way accepted, inasmuch as they gave promise of other and larger benefits. Through that diplomatic farsightedness which ever distinguished the great Pope Leo XIII., affairs were gradually assuming a condition satisfactory to the Catholics of Germany, although Windthorst and the Centre Party still claimed many concessions due in ordinary justice. The peace finally concluded, the Holy Father conferred upon the Chancellor the Order of Christ. It was a complimentary decoration that if it did not win the real convictions of Bismarck, at least served to silence any open hostility on his part for the future. The May Laws were finally revised in the Reichstag and abolished. Thenceforth cordial relations were established between the Pope and the Emperor William II. The Catholics of Germany began to taste the fruits of peace; today they have become a power in the country.
CHAPTER VI.
The Third Republic.
The Second Empire, especially during its last ten years, had proven itself no less hostile and treacherous to the Church than had many of its predecessors. This was evident most of all in the unworthy treatment of the Holy See during its trying conflict with the revolutionists of Italy. France had encouraged the spoliation of the Papal States by the forces of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel, and in 1870 it was forced to abandon Rome to the Italian Unionists. Before this last act had been consummated, however, a revolution broke out in France, September 4, 1870, and overturned the imperial Government.
