The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-14 00:00:00

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(REUTER'S EX .PRESS.)
PARIS, Feb. 12.

The Me'morialDiplomatique of to-day says :—" We
learn from Rome that notwithstanding the painful
surprise with which the Holy Father heard of the
publication of the Emperor Maximilian's letter to
his Minister of Justice, under date of Dec. 25, his
Holiness manifests a most earnest desire to stifle
the conflict in its germ. The most positive assur-
ances are said to have been given to his Mexican
Majesty that the Pope intends neither to weaken
nor withdraw any of the promises given to the Em-
peror Maximilian respecting the disposition of the
Court of Rometo make concessions compatible with
the interests of the Church in the definitive settle-
ment of the ecclesiastical affairs of the new empire.
It was in the sense that Mgr. Meglia was about to
be instructed to furnish the most formal explana-
tions to the Mexican Government. But at the
same time the Court of Rome would represent
to the Mexican Government the impossibility
of deviating from the general and constant rules in
accordance with which all concordats are concluded
between the Holy See and foreign Governments.
These conventions do not belong to the category of
ordinary diplomatic acts, for, in concordats, the
Pope stipulates not as a temporal prince, but as the
supreme chief of the Church and therepresentative of
Catholicism. The Holy Father is therefore obliged,
in the negotiations which precede and accompany the
conclusion of concordats, to gather round him the
enlightenment of the members of the Sacred College,
and to refer the most essential points thereof to
'examination by special congregations, in order that
not a single clause may infringe the dogmas of the
Church. It is for this reason that concordats are
negotiated either directly with Rome, or indirectly
through a cardinal, who acts in this ca se as the legate
of the Pope. Thus the celebrated concordat signed
in 1801 with France necessitated the mission to Paris
of the Cardinal Secretary Consalvi, although the
preliminary negotiations had been opened by Mgr.
Spina, assisted by the profound theologian, the Rev.
Father CaseLli. In the same manner when Rome was
about to conclude a concordat with Austria, Cardi-
nal Viale Prela, although preconised since March 7,
1853, remained at Vienna in his quality of Aposto-
lical Nuncio until after the concordat had been de-
finitively signed. Consequently, according to inva-
riable custom, a nuncio raisedto the dignity of cardi-
nal ceases, ipso facto, to represent the Holy See in any
other quality than that of legate. Even the legates of
the Pope have no power to sign a concordat until it has
been referred to Rome, and authorisation has been
received to accept the arrangements agreed upon. It
follows that Mgr. Meglia, on his departure for
Mexico, had only power fo open negotiations on the
basis of the promises made to the Emperor Maxi-
milian ; but he was not even authorised to draw up
the draft of a concordat presented to him by the
Mexican Court. In other words, our correspon-
dent is of opinion that the dispute which has arisen
between the Holy See and the Emperor Maximilian
originated solely from a question of form and not a
question of principles, which, in his opinion, will
greatly facilitate the re-establishment of a good un-
derstanding between the two Governments. How-
ever that may be, it is certain that the recall of
Mgr. Meglia is not so imminent as has been stated
by some journals, considering that the Court of
Rome, before coming to any- decision, intends to
rely on the well-known devotion of the Emperor
Maximiliat for a proper reception by his Majesty
of the explanations about to be furnished by the
Court of Rome."