The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-18 00:00:00

1. HE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1870.

CATHOLIC PRELATES ON THE
INFALLIBILITY DOGMA.
Archbishop Manning has again referred to the Roman
question. Preaching on the feast of Edward the Con-
fessor, after having glanced at the leading points in that
monarch's career and the principal features in his cha-
racter, the Archbishop passed on to speak of some recent
events. He urged that Rome is not properly to be con-
sidered the capital of any country, but as the capital of
the whole Christian world. The light was destined to
shine upon all, and not upon one nation only. A sacri-
legious robbery had lately been perpetrated, and
a king who held his kingdom, not from man, but
from God, had been deposed by man. A noble
band of men were ready to continue to do battle for the
Holy Father, but he had forbidden them. The preacher
then drew a picture of the occasion on which the Pope
blessed those troops on parting with them. He told the
congregation that a protest was being signed throughout
Great Britain, and, no doubt, a similar step would be
taken elsewhere against the spoliation of the Pope. There
was also united prayer even by the youngest. He then
spoke of the falling off in religious sentiment in England
since the time when the Catholic Church held sway,
and said that a nation tending towards a forgetful-
ness of Christianity could not be considered safe.
At Birmingham Bishop Ullathorne said : No one
entered the Council without being struck with the
august dignity of the assembly, and with the ease, free-
dom, and brotherly effection, and the united spirit of
peace and harmony that pervaded it from beginning to end.
To that description there was not a single exception. It
was perfectly true that now and then one of the speakers
might be called to order, because it was impossible in the
ardour of debate that some speaker should not exceed the
rules laid down ; but in almost every case the sense
of the Council was expressed before the president ruled
any speaker out of order. If he should put his own
impression into words, he should say that the Council
combined the freedom of the House of Commons with the
dignity of the House of Lords, and the charity, meek-
ness, and patience of the ecclesiastical character.
The Bishop proceeded to explain the. action of the
Council and its Committees, and then addressed him-
self to an explanation of the doctrine of infal-
libility, and the manner in which the decree had
originated. In the first place the decree of infallibility
was not brought into the Council by the Holy See. The
Holy See had no act in bringing it in. Further, he
maintained that at first there was not even the idea of
bringing it into the Council. The great scheme of twelve
chapters, embodying the whole doctrine of the Church, had
been prepossessed, and although in it there were chapters
expressly dwelling upon the supremacy of the Sovereign
Pontiff, there was not a a word about infallibility.
Nevertheless, from the beginning of the Council it became
obvious that the far greater part of the bishops assembled
were anxious to have the question brought forward and
definitively settled, and as time went on this
desire grew stronger and stronger. The Scriptural
texts urged in support of the dogma of Infallibility
were enumerated. Either they must have one Pope,
whom God had made infallible, or they must have what
was the Protestant alternative, every man infallible
by virtue of his own judgment; they must have a Pope
made by God, or millions of Popes made by themselves.
On the final vote in the Council eighty-eight bishops staid
away ; but this, Bishop Ullathorne contended, was because
they desired that some modifications should be added to
the decree, and they hoped that the Pope himself would
add these before promulgating the doctrine. These
non-assenting bishops were not opposed to the doctrine it-
self. The rev. prelate entered into an elaborate defence
of the dogma, which he urged was not that of absolute in-
fallibility, for the Pope was not declared infallible as an
individual, but solely when he spoke ex cathedra. It was
as absurd to argue that the Pope was sinless, or always
infallible, as it would be to say that a judge making an
after-dinner speech was laying down the law of the land,
or that the Queen when she addressed a subject in a private
capacity was making laws for the realm.

THE VAR.

THE BAT LIE OF ORLEANS.

The special correspondent of the Daily News writing
from Tours October 12, says :—" At about four I reached
Beaugency. Here I heard bad news, and saw consterna-
tion written on many faces. The French were said to
have been repulsed. But it was only on reach-
ing Meung that I became aware of the full
extent of the disaster. I pushed on to Orleans
and entered the suburbs. Over the town columns
of smoke were rising, and occasional shoots of flame
told that the town was on fire. Here are the details
of the day's fighting. I did not see it, but I saw the
results of it. Early in the morning the Prussians attacked
the French, and, thanks to a formidable artillery and their
superiority of numbers, beat them steadily back towards
the town, till at length the retreat took the form of a
flight. There had arrived early in the morning some re-
inforcements, the cannon was roaring outside the town a
few miles off, and yet these troops remained the whole
morning in town ; the officers said they had no orders, and
went to the café, where they played at cards or break-
fasted. The men roamed about the town or lay asleep,
or drunk, along the streets. As soon as the flying
army began to pass, however, these men hastened to join
the torrent ; they tossed their guns away, or broke them,
and the whole army passed through t'he town and crossed
the bridge over the Loire. The Mobiles, however, stood
out much longer, and much better than the line, and kept
ou firing when all the regulars had quitted the field of
action. The Foreign Legion fought very bravely, and
were almost entirely destroyed ; but those who fought the
best of all, and held the entrance of the town, were the
Pontifical Zouaves. They have immortalised themselves
in that battle. The inhabitants were divided. A few
wished to have the town- defended against the entrance
of the enemy ; but the greater number entreated
that no defence should be offered. Nevertheless, a barri-
cade was being wade at the entrance of the faubourg
opposed to the enemy, and this was defended by Pon-
tificals, Foreign Legion, and some National Guards. It
was this resistance which no doubt made the
Prussians throw shells upon the town. The railway
station was in flames, as well as some houses in the prin-
cipal street, the Rue Barmier. People were wounded
in the middle of the streets by the bursting of the projec-
tiles, as well as by rifle-balls which were whizzing very
freely through the thoroughfares. However, the town
was quite empty of all the regular troops when the
firing ceased. Every one who could command the use
of a conveyance of any kind was hurrying away, and
the appearance of things told me it was hopeless and use-
less to try and stop in Orleans or any part of the country
between that au d Blois, so we turned back and made for
Beaugency, where ,we thought we might stop. In
passing through Meung, I saw a sight which I shall never
forget. The peasants were beside themselves, some
with alarm, others with rage. Women were wringing their
hands, and being sent off to some safer place, while the
men were preparing to hold out against the enemy, or
disperse in the fields and fire at them in isolated parties.
No plan was yet made. ;The drum was beating
'La Generale,' that awful and well-known of the old
revolutionary tunes, the bells were sounding the tocsin.
All this in the -dark night, for it was now late, and the
moon had not risen yet. Thanks to the constant passing
of the carriages from Orleans, mine went through this
excited multitude without question."