Year: 1869

seemed to indicate. Whether the Archbishop
Of Canterbury has made any reply has
not yet been made public. Indeed
we have no reason to believe that the
bishops of the Eastern Rite, as Plus the Ninth
rather contemptuously named. them or the re-
representatives. of the Protestant churches, will
prove themselves Catholic enough to accept
the invitation and take the places that may be
provided for them in the forthcoming Council.
One of our latest cable dispatches from Rome
informs us that the Pope has just invited
the sovereigns to send ecclesiastics to repre-
sent them in the approaching Council. This
shows that his Holiness has not abandoned
the hope Of having council very general in
its character, and encouraged and sanctioned
by the pomp and power Of the secular arm.
There can be no doubt that France and Austria
and all other Catholic monarchies of Europe
will comply with the invitation and send their
representatives. Russia, of course, will send
none; nor will Great Britain, nor Holland, nor
Denmark, nor Sweden; but there is very good
reason for believing that Prussia is anxious to
take her place. The King Of Prussia now rules
over large Catholic population, and II King
William does send representative or repre-
sentatives, as the case may require, he will
only be acting in harmony with his past policy
and with his present interests. Bismarck,
we may rest assured, will take good care
that nothing be done to give cause Of offence
to the Catholic population Of South Germany.
But what about the New World? What about
the sovereign people? The Emperor of Brazil
win be represented. Why not President
Grant and President Juarez and the rest Of
them? The committee of arrangements will,
no doubt, attend to all this.


1t will not be wonderful if some little trouble
is experienced in apportioning to each nation
its proper representative rights. There is the
question Of place and there is the question Of
numbers. 1t may be difficult to give to each
nation its proper place and to determine which
nation shall have only one and which nation
shall have more than one representative. In
the days of the Holy Roman Empire the En-
peror, of course, had the first place. But the
Holy Roman Empire is no more, and since it
ceased to exist there has been no General
Council. Austria will, no doubt, claim that
place. The Caesar is no longer the head of
Germany; and, as the ambition of Napoleon
is quite equal to the situation, we shall not be
surprised if the heir of his uncle takes the
premier position in the Ecumenical Council of
1869. This is one of the many interesting
questions which gather around the show.
AS, however, it will be the last semi
religious, semi-secular farce of the kind,
the issues will be Of comparatively little
Importance.


What the Council intends to do is of course
as yet hidden mystery. Whether the mys-
terry viii ever. be revealed, or whether the
revelation will be Of any service to humanity
is another question. Many important ques-
tions require to be settled. The Church
wants to know what it should and what it
should not believe. 1t wants, for example,
some authoritative and final declaration in
regard to the Immaculate Conception. 1t is
equally concerned about the Pope's infalli-
bility. Then there is the old question about
the divine rights Of monarchs-a question
which is receiving almost every year fresh and
rather startling illustrations. We want this
Council to speak QUITO speak out manfnlly;
aud as the infallibility Of Ecumencal Councils is
a dogma OF the Church, there is no reason
why the humble and the simple minded should
not henceforward have their pathway made
smooth and easy before them. In these times
what we want above everything else is an
authoritative voice. If that voice comes not
directly from above, it must come through the
Church. The approaching Ecumenical Council
is for the Church a grand opportunity. We
await the result with patience.


THE KING OF SPAN.--By special cable tele-
gram from London we learn thai Spain Is to
obtain king in the person OF Louis de
Orleans, due de Montpensier, vino will arrive
in Madrid within a fortnight and assume the
royalty voted by the existing authorities. The
due de Montpensier is Bourbon, the fifth
child of the late King Louis Philippe, Of
France. The Spanish vote limits his term Of
tenure Of Office to eighteen years, the exact
period during which his father swayed the des-
TIMES Of the French people.


WHIPPING THEM IN.-The republican sup
porters in the House Of General Butler for
the absolute repeal of the Tenure Of OfIice
law have the constitution, the rights Of the
President, the rights of the House and the
will Of the people on their side, and they have
the issue In their hands, with the democrats
to back them. Let these republican repeal
ers, therefore, hold fast to their position and
avoid party caucus on the subject IL they
would be free men. II they go into a caucus
they go to be whipped into the party traces
and to become slaves to the majority Of the
caucus. We have had enough Of the sinking
Of independent thought and action in these
party caucuses, and this is good time for
putting an end to this miserable sort OF
despotism.