382 



GERMANY. 



your Holiness's letter of April 17th, I regret, 

 however, to see that you deem it impossible to 

 fulfill the hope uttered in my father's com- 

 munication of March 24th, that you will rec- 

 ommend to the servants of the Church to 

 obey the laws of the land. No Prussian sover- 

 eign will be able to comply with the demand 

 put forward in your letter of April 17th, that 

 the charter and laws of Prussia be modified in 

 accordance with the exigencies of the statutes 

 of your Church. The independence of the 

 kingdom would be impaired by making its 

 legislation dependent upon the consent of a 

 foreign power. To preserve this independence 

 is a duty I owe to my ancestors and my coun- 

 try ; but, though I can not hope to reconcile 

 opposite principles, whose antagonism has been 

 more severely felt in Germany than anywhere 

 else for a period exceeding one thousand years, 

 I am willing to treat the difficulties resulting 

 to both parties from this hereditary conflict in 

 a pacific and conciliatory spirit, in harmony 

 with my Christian convictions. Presuming 

 your Holiness to be actuated by the like dis- 

 position, I shall not abandon the hope that, 

 although principles may clash, the conciliatory 

 sentiments of both parties will open to Prussia 

 a road to peace, a road which has never been 

 closed against other states." This letter was 

 countersigned by Prince Bismarck. 



CATHEDRA!, AT MENTZ. 



f 



Monsignor Maaella, the Papal Nuncio at 

 Munich, visited Prince Bismarck at Kissingen 

 in the latter part of July, when several inter- 

 views took place with reference to the estab- 

 lishment of a modus vivendi between the Ro- 



man Catholic Church and the German Govern- 

 ment. The precise character of the negotia- 

 tions is known only from report, as no official 

 statement has been published concerning them, 

 and the coloring of the reports differs accord- 

 ing as they come from Rome or from Berlin. 

 The first report, from Rome, mentioned as the 

 basis of the propositions discussed : the re- 

 establishment of the convention existing be- 

 fore the rupture ; an amnesty for all offenses 

 against the ecclesiastical laws in Prussia ; the 

 return of the bishops and priests expelled 

 since 1872 to their parishes; appointments to 

 churches and other ecclesiastical offices to be 

 made according to the rules in force before 

 the rupture ; all questions relative to the in- 

 terpretation to be given to the laws that have 

 been promulgated to be reserved for future 

 settlement. The statement was made at the 

 same time from the German side, that Prince 

 Bismarck had expressly insisted upon all the 

 Prussian laws being maintained, and had con- 

 sented to allow only that the construction and 

 interpretation to be put upon them should be 

 subject to an understanding being arrived at 

 with the Papal Court. A few days afterward 

 an article published in the " Provincial Corre- 

 spondence " of Berlin gave a denial to all alle- 

 gations that the German Government had been 

 unfaithful to the principles which it had hither- 

 to proclaimed in its conception of its task and 

 duty in regard to ecclesiastical policy. Prince 

 Bismarck's action, it said, in entering upon 

 preparatory negotiations with a view to a first 

 step being possibly taken toward paving the 

 way to a compromise on a practical founda- 

 tion, was in complete harmony with the whole 

 of the views he had hitherto expressed of the 

 duty of the Government in church questions. 

 Whether and how far his sincere endeavor 

 would lead to the attainment of the object 

 aimed at was a question which did not depend 

 on him alone. It was stated in September 

 that the Vatican had proposed to the German 

 Government to adopt toward the Roman Cath- 

 olic clergy who had been deprived of their 

 livings or imprisoned for violating the May 

 laws the same course as had been recently fol- 

 lowed by the Grand Council of the canton of 

 Bern, namely, to allow the priests simply to 

 return to their benefices. Several of the Ger- 

 man bishops were summoned to Rome to re- 

 port to the Vatican on the position of the 

 Church in their dioceses with regard to the 

 state laws ; and some of the bishops who had 

 been expelled by the Prussian Government 

 were also called there, in order that their fu- 

 ture position might be determined. About 

 the same time a letter which the Pope had 

 addressed to Cardinal Nina on the 21st of Au- 

 gust, explaining the policy of the Holy See, 

 was published at Rome. After referring to 

 the steps which he had taken on his elevation 

 to the pontificate to put hijnself in accord with 

 the various European states, the Pope, speak- 

 ing cf the negotiations with Germany, said 



