DE PRESSENSÉ ON MEN' AND PARTir.S. 177 



of ron!=rienrc, in ail countries, antl proscribe thcni ut ono solitary 

 point in the universe. Thus the instinct of self-preservation ren- 

 dered it more perepicacious and loj^ical than those pious kni^^hts of 

 Catholic liberalism, who, buminj^ with incompatible ardors, do- 

 voted themselves at once to the temporal power of the Pope and 

 to liberty. It was inevitable but that this misunderstanding; 

 should be speedily cleared up, and nothing tended more to pre- 

 cipitate an open rupture between the parties, than the grand liberal 

 manifestation that took place at the Catholic congress of ^lalines, 

 in August, 18G3. It was the former disciple of Lamennais, ^[. de 

 ^Montalembcrt, who took the initiative, with accents which strik- 

 ingly recalled that fiery old man, the editor of the Avenir. Every- 

 body ought to read, entire, his two speeches of August 21 and 23, 

 18G3. They were afterward printed as a pamphlet, and are a 

 splendidly eloquent summary of all the principles of liberal Catholi- 

 cism without forgetting its inconsistencies. In these impassioned 

 harangues, Montalembert reclaims his share in the estate be- 

 queathed by Cavour, and develops anew the ftimous motto, "A free 

 Church in a free State." He starts, to be sure, with making his 

 disclaimers. He calls that illustrious minister who was the 

 founder of Italian unity, a great criminal. He labors with no 

 small trouble to show how his ideas of the perfect independence 

 of the church are capable of being reconciled with the Roman 

 theocracy, and how (to use the standard phrase) the two powers 

 have to be united at Rome, in order that they may be separated 

 everywhere else. But all these concessions, which he makes with 

 perfect sincerity, only give the stronger emphasis to his energetic 

 enforcement of the claims of liberty. He declares boldly that he 

 has no tears for past institutions — that the church must resolutely 

 turn its back upon the old order of things, and fall in, 103'ally, 

 with the great liberties of modern times — the li1)ert)^ of universal 

 suffrage, of association, of the press, and of worship. In order to 

 clear up all misunderstanding, the great orator devotes his whole 

 speech to this last liberty. Let him speak for himself ^Ye shall 

 see, a little further on, what importance this passage has in iho 

 histor}' of contemporar}'- Catholicism : 



