[165] Letter as printed in Otto Mesi, p. 413, and now (but also in French) in Eight Months at Rome, p. 277.
[166] Friedberg, p. 287.
[167] The author of Reform in Head and Members says (p. 156): "The theological lecture-rooms of the Sorbonne are empty, and the fame and splendour of France in theological science, in which she once took so high a place, have been extinguished, since the clergy began to receive their education—that is, as much education as was indispensable—in the smaller episcopal seminaries, and their theological training in the greater ones. There is no theological science at all in France now." He supports this broad assertion by details given by Bouix, a well-known Ultramontane writer.
[168] Stimmen, N.F., vi. p. 57.
[169] Letter to the Duke of Norfolk.
Diplomatic Feeling and Fencing in Rome, November 1869—Cross Policies on Separation of Church and State—Ollivier, Favre, De Banneville—Doctrines of French Statesmen ridiculed at Rome—Specimens of the Utterances approved at Court—Forecasts of War between France and Prussia—Growing Strength of the Movement in France for Universities Canonically Instituted.
Those who arrived in the autumn months in Rome, perhaps with the hope of preventing the dreaded proposals from being brought forward, or with the intention, if they could not succeed in that, of organizing an opposition to them, found to their surprise that the tone of the Curia was very gentle. The Cardinals and Monsignori, for their part, really did not care about infallibility. Indeed, the subject might have been passed over in silence had not such false rumours as to the designs of Rome been set afloat. Lord Acton names Cardinals Antonelli, Berardi, and De Luca, and also Bishop Fessler, the Secretary of the Council, as declaring that the utterances of the Civiltá were not to be relied upon, and that if the idea of proposing infallibility had been entertained, it was given up. He also quotes a letter written home by a bishop, afterwards known among the Opposition, saying that there was no ground for the idea that in Rome they meant to make infallibility a dogma. That seemed to be an imagination, spread abroad with no good design. Still, after the agitation which had taken place the Council could hardly pass the matter over in silence. The Holy See would not curb the zeal of the bishops if they resolved to give effect to their persuasion, but would not itself take the initiative. But if anything was done, it would be some moderate measure, that would satisfy all, and give no pretext of a party triumph.