Year: 1878

| neeo naroiy repeat tnem. In Novem Der last


left England in obedience to an iutimatiou
| OF the will Of our Holy Father Plus TX, OF
great and blessed memory, little foreseeipg


that my absence would be protraoted to nearly
| elk month. l owe my thanks to those W who


overruled my intention of returning to Eng
| land in December last. To them / owe the
| happiness of having been constantly by the


side OF our Holy Father during the last weeks
| OF his eventful lie, and of receiving bis last


benediction in the hour of his death. No one
| can have watched the eagerness with which


the edversaries of the Catholic Church and OF
| the holy Bee awaited the departure of Plus
TX without a consciousness that the vacancy


OF the Holy See might have been full of vast
| and world wide dangers. / need not dwell on


th them In detail All men who can reflect on


the circumstances of such q moment must sec
| that 1t was vital to the peace of the Church


st mat the vacancy Of the Holy See should be


hiled as soon as posaible, and that the election
| OF the future Pontif should not only be abso.
iutely free but visibly free, and that it's free
dom should be beyond all don bt in the miods Of
the faithful, and all dispute on the part of our


adversaries. To accomplish this nothiag less


than 8 Divine protection, Divine Providence
and Divine assistance could suffice. The
calm and united deliberations Of the Sacred
tion of Leo XIII. manifestly show that the
Divine Presence and assistance were with His
Church In that supreme moment of its trial.
The world without amused itself with describ.
ing the deliberations of the Sacred College
and the election of the Pontiff in the Parlia.
mentary dialect of "groups" z" and " sections"
and parties led one day by such q Cardinal,
the Conolave, the unanimity of the protest in
defence of the rights of the Holy See, and the
almost unexamPled rspidity of the election
all foundation for these daily and elaborate
misstatements. For plain men these three
facts are enough, for others nothing else will
sofhoe. Your kindness in this address has
given me an occasion whioh, though desired
it, should not have thought it fitting for me
to make. As you have made it gladly take
1t. mean the fitting opportunity of speak.
ing, SO far as the sacred obligation under
which am permitted, of the share had in
these great events. You have expressed your |
regret that, as you say, "persstent and ridicu
my words and actions, and that by |
some of our OVID countrymen. l learned day |
by day, for the fl ret time from the italian pa.
pers, and periodically from the Eoglsh CORES
pondents in Rome to our leading journals, the
oouneels had given, the parties was lead
ing, the number of my supporters, the vehem-
enoe of my language, and the isolation in
left me at last. No readers Of this contempo-
rary history were more amused with it thau
my colleagues themselves who daily condoled
duty to the Sacred College on my part to say,
and think you have right to know all that
1 can make known, without infraction of my
oath. For If at such a moment, and in pres
ence OF such events and under such response
bilities, and surrounded by such an assem- bly,,
the highest and most august on earth, had 80
far forgotten myself as to act, to speak, even
tor q moment, as both you and have learned
from the newspapers, you would have had a
Just right to be ashamed of me, and should
have been in conscience bound to be more pro-
foundly ashamed Of myself violate no obli-
CATION in making the two following statements
fret, that no proposition of mine was ever SO
much as contested by my colleagues; second
y, that have had the happiness to be always
united to the majority, may say all but un-
animity, of the Sacred College. Ileave you to
apply these two tests to the minute and conf
while was compelled by duty to be silent. 1
will not for a moment believe that the Eng
glishmen who retailed what they heard in
Rome reported these absurdities with any per-
,onal ill-will, but if they had exercised q
keener discernment their English common
sense would have saved them from misrepre-
'entations. which You justly have called ridi-
culous. Having said this much will add no
more, but will only thank you from my heart
towards me, holding as you remind me the
highest and the heaviest responsibility among
you. value your words all the more because


kn 3w that your number, not small indeed in
tselt, represents many, and those numerous,
associations of our laity. Iearpestly pray that
Sod may bind us still more closely together, and
hat He will poor out upon you and upon your :
ZONES, and upon all whom you represent the .
abundance of His grace, and will grant to me
His help that may lay ont the health and
trength which He has been pleased to restore
. me in q more effeotual service of His Church 6
or the years that may remain. And now, as q
n my last audience received authority from .
be Sovereign Pontif Lao Kill, to convey his
blessing to all in England give to you in his :
anne and in pledge of his psternal care for ;
England the Apostolicsl Benediction.