GERMANY. 



327 



mnnes to establish undenominational instead 

 of denominational public schools, and forbade 

 the students of Catholic theology from attend- 

 ing the Collegium Germanicum, in Rome, 

 which is conducted by the Jesuits. The bish- 

 ops of Bavaria held a conference at Eichstadt, 

 and in a joint pastoral letter warned the Cath- 

 olics to send their children to undenomina- 

 tional schools. 



A correspondence, the importance of which 

 was duly appreciated by all parties, took place 

 in August and September between the Pope 

 and the Emperor. (For the letter of the Pope, 

 of August 9th, tee ROMAN CATHOLIC CHTBCH.) 

 The answer of the Emperor is dated Septem- 

 ber 3d, and runs as follows : 



I am glad that your Holiness has, as in former 

 times, done me the honor to write to me. I rejoice 

 the more at this, since an opportunity is thereby af- 

 forded me of correcting errors which, as appears 

 from the contents of the letter of your Holiness of 

 the 7th of August, must have occurred in the com- 

 munication you have received relative to German 

 affairs. If the reports made to your Holiness re- 

 specting German Questions only stated the truth, it 

 would not be possible for your Holiness to entertain 

 the supposition that my Government enters upon a 

 path which I do not approve. According to the con- 

 stitution of my States, such a case cannot happen, 

 since the laws and government measures in Prussia 

 require my consent as sovereign. To my deep sor- 

 row, a portion of my Catholic subjects have organ- 

 ized for the past two years a political party, which 

 endeavors to disturb, by intrigues hostile to tho 

 state, the religious peace which has existed in Prus- 

 sia for centuries. Leading Catholic priests have, 

 unfortunately, not only approved this movement, 

 but joined in it to the extent of open revolt against 

 existing laws. It will not have escaped the obser- 

 vation of your Holiness that similar indications man- 

 ifest themselves at the present time In several Euro- 

 pean and some transatlantic States. It is not my 

 minion to investigate the causes by which the clergy 

 and the faithful of one of the Christian denomina- 

 tions can be induced actively to assist the enemies 

 of all law, but it certainly is my mission to protect 

 internal peace and preserve the authority of the laws 

 in the States whose government has been intrusted 

 to me by God. I am conscious that I owe, hereafter, 

 an aocount of the accomplishment of this my kingly 

 duty. I shall maintain order and law in my States 

 against all attacks as long as God gives me the 

 power. I am in duty bound to do it as a Christian 

 monarch, even when, to my sorrow, I have to fulfill 

 this royal duty against servants of a church which, I 

 suppose, acknowledges, no less than tho Evangelical 

 Church, that the commandment of obedience to sec- 

 ular authority is an emanation of the revealed will of 

 God. Many of the priests in Prussia, subject to 

 your Holiness, disown, to my regret, the Christian 

 doctrine, in this respect, and place my Government 

 under the necessity supported by the great majority 

 of my loyal Catholic and Evangelical subjects of ex- 

 torting obedience to the law by worldly means. 1 

 willingly entertain the hope that your Holiness, upon 

 being informed of the true position of affairs, will 

 use your authority to put an end to the agitation car- 

 ried on amid deplorable distortion of the truth and 

 abuse of priestly authority. The religion ofjosus 

 Christ has, as I attest to your Holiness before God, 

 nothing to do with these intrigues, any more than 

 his truth, to whose banner, invoked by your Holi- 

 ness, I unreservedly subscribe. There is one more 

 expression in the letter of your Holiness which I 

 cannot pass over without contradiction, although it 

 is not based upon the previous information, but 

 upon the belief of your Holiness namely, that ex- 



pression that every one that has received baptism 

 belongs to tho Pope. The Evangelical creed which, 

 as must be known to your Holiness, I, like my an- 

 cestors and the majority of ray subjects, profess, 

 does not permit us to accept, in our relations to God, 

 any other mediator than our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 The difference of belief does not prevent me from 

 living in peace with those who do not share mine, 

 and offering your Holiness the expression of my 

 personal devotion and esteem. 



The correspondence was published by the 

 Prussian Government on October 14th, on the 

 eve of the elections for the Prussian Diet ; but 

 it did not have the expected effect of weaken- 

 ing the strength of the Catholic party, whose 

 candidates, on the contrary, obtained a most 

 extraordinary success. 



Among the works undertaken by Germany 

 for strengthening the western frontier is the 

 establishment of a flotilla of iron-clad gun- 

 boats on the Rhine. The nucleus of this 

 flotilla consists of four French gunboats, which 

 were captured in the second battle of Orleans, 

 and were stationed at Mayence last year. 

 Two others, which are now being built by the 

 Weser Ship-building Company, are to be ready 

 next spring. The strength of the flotilla is to 

 be gradually raised to twelve boats, and they 

 will draw only five feet of water, so as to be 

 used on the Moselle as far as Tliionville and 

 other affluents of the Rhine. They cannot at 

 present go on the Rhine any farther than 

 Rastatt, but it is proposed to deepen the bed 

 of the river so as to make it navigable for these 

 gunboats as far as Strasburg, or even Breisnch. 

 They will be covered with iron plates an inch 

 thick, and armed with two short fifteen centi- 

 metre guns. Similar gunboats have been 

 established by Austria and Turkey on the 

 Danube, and others are being constructed by 

 the Dutch, Russian, and Italian Governments. 



On September 16th the Emperor was visited 

 in Berlin by King Victor Emmanuel, who was 

 received by the population of Berlin and by 

 the liberal press of Germany with marks of 

 enthusiastic sympathy. On the other hand, 

 tho telegrams describing his reception in 

 Gel-many called forth in the large cities of 

 Italy numerous demonstrations in favor of the 

 closest alliance between Germany and Italy 

 against common enemies, and chiefly against 

 France, which was believed to threaten the 

 unity of Italy by favoring the restoration of 

 the temporal power of the Pope, and the unity 

 of Germany, by widening the breach between 

 the German Catholics and the imperial Gov- 

 ernment of Germany. In October, the Em- 

 peror of Germany paid a visit to the World's 

 Exhibition in Vienna, when he likewise met 

 with an enthusiastic reception. 



Public opinion in the new Reichsland Alsace- 

 Lorraine remained in sympathy with France 

 and in favor of a reannexation thereto, on 

 the first favorable opportunity. In opposi- 

 tion to the ultra-French party, which uncon- 

 ditionally rejected any approach toward Ger- 

 many, there was, however, formed an "Alsa- 

 tian party," which, while admitting that it 



