The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-04-23
OaarsA 90 ssate In Rsrepe-Ths Late
War and Its Consequences.

W0I anu 1ts GWUScQucuNvS.
A variety Of circumstances, such as the
Dollingcr manifesto, the D5ilinger excommu-
nication and The movements now going on In
the Austrian Rcichsrath--which last point In
a very especial manner to the future relations
| Of Church and State-renders it pertinent 10
| look at the Church and State question In
| Europe, and to that question particularly as
| il has been affected by the recent war.
Toward the close of last summer the Euro
mean States system seemed solid; and, al
| tbouoh there were many doubters, there were
also many thinking persons willing to believe
| that the equilibrium, whether looked at from
an ecclesiastical or political standpoint, could
not soon or easily be disturbed. The Ecu
menical Council was sitting in Rome; the
syllabus and the dogma of infallibility were
themes of universal discussion; the French
troops were in Rome, powerfully pro-
tecting from all danger the Holy
Father, his College Of Cardinals and
the numerous ecclesiastlcs who from
all lands were taking part in the proceedings of
what then seemed to be the most important of
all the Councils of the Church; the Church
and State question had received serious
blow in Great Britain by the disestab-
lishment OF the Irish Church Won Beust,
in Austria, was exercising a potent in
fuence in favor Of religious and political
for Rome; Spain was struggling toward a
higher form of life but all over the feeling
prevailed that the permanent peace of Europe
centred in Napoleon, and that so long as
France looked to him with confidence and he
did not rashly rush into a foreign war things
progress, of course, advancing, but not
violently.
Suddenly the general situation Is changed.
Europe is surprised. Diplomacy is caught
mapping where it was supposed to be awake,
and awake where it was supposed to be nap
ping. The throne of Isabella, which had been
begging all around in vain-England refusing,
Portugal refusing, Austria refusing, Italy re-
fusing-is to be occupied by Prince of the
House of Hohenzollern. The knowledge of
this fact fell like thunderbolt on Europe,
and even across three thousand miles of ocean
we felt the shock. France took fright. Napo-
leon knew not well how to act. He had been
suffering since 1866 from the attacks of the
the ''reds, from the attacks of the legitimists,
and most heavily of all from the attacks of NJ
Theirs, who represented the moderate cause,
which was identified with the House of
Orleans. Most of our readers remember the
interval between the autumn of 1866 and the
c,,&,,v IS Ia Al
empire often trembled in the balance; the
Emperor and the friends of the empire were
often put to their wits end abuse came from
all quarters, to the effect that the prestige of
the House of Bonaparte was gone, that Napo-
Icon was growing old, that his friends were
using him to his own hurt and to the injury
of France, that Bismarck was fooling him,
that, sooner or later, France must suffer from
the inane policy which allowed Prussia to
crush Austria at Sadowa without securing as
an equivalent the long-coveted Rhine bounda-
ries; and although the French empire still
bulked before the world as great Power, it
was felt by many that rashness might bring
ruin. The Hohenzollern affair in Spain pro-
voked the rashness, the rashness was COM
mltted, ana the ruin followed.
1t was not necessary for Napoleon to pro-
claim war against Prussia for an offence so
trifing. 1t was the less necessary when Prus-
STA, yielding to pressure, withdrew the name
OF the Prince Leopold. But war was pro-
claimed, and how wondrous have been the
consequences! The French armies we're with
drawn from Rome; the Ecumenical Council,
after having in a mysterious way accom- plshed
it's purpose, was dispersed; the bishops
sought their focks and made conciliatory
addresses, some of them speaking consistently
and some of them speaking inconsistency;
the Pope and his advisers in Rome have been
fighting with fate the Catholicism of Italy
meanwhile revealing itself by the occupation
of the Holy City and the destruc-
ton of the temporal power, and the
Catholicism of Spain finding expression
in the election to the throne of Charles
w. of the son of Victor Emmanuel, the one
monarch of the times who has been con.rivng
to get on comfortably under the major excom-
munication. 1t is not our business to-day
to consider the political disasters or the politi-
cal blessings of the war. Our attention is
confined to the war in its religious aspect,
and especially to its bearings on Church aud
State. 1t is safe, we think, to say that the
war has told on religion and in favor of reli-
gious liberty. The French empire was the
main pillar of the temporal power. With the
fall Of the empire most certainly came the fall
of the temporal power; and it is not unrea-
sonable, we think, to say that whatever be
the future of the Papacy, whether its head
quarters are to be in Rome, in Malta, in Sar-
DINA, in Fulda or in New York. and however
under its new condition it is to prosper the
temporal power, in its ancient sense, can