Year: 1873

Wuu6Im duu Ouo 1Opcs


The following two letters recentl


passed between the emperor of Gel


many and the pope:


VATICAN, August, 1S73.-Your maj


esty: Measures which have bee


adopted by your maiesty's government


for some time past, all aim more ant


more at the destruction of catholicism


When seriously ponder over the cause


which may have led to these very hare


means, confess am unable to discove


any reasons for such a course. On tn,


other hand, I am informed that you


majesty does not countenance the pro


ceedings of your government, and doe


not approve the harshness of the meas


ures adopted against the catholic reli
| gion. If, then, it be true that you


majesty does not approve thereof, anC


letters which your August majesty ha'


addressed to me formerly, might suffi


GENTLY demonstrate that You cannot ap


prove that which is now occurring; if


l say, your majesty does not approve
of your government continuing in the


path it has chosen of further extending
its vigorous measures against the re
ligion of Jesus Christ, whereby the lat


ter is most injuriously affected, vii
your majesty, then, not become con
vinced that these measures have no Other
effect than that of undermining yOul
maiesty's own throne? I speak with
frankness, for my banner is truth.
speak in order to fulfill one of my du-
ties, which consists in telling the truth
to all, even to those who are not Cath
olics, for every one Who has been bap-
tized belongs in some way, which TO
define more precisely would be here out
of place-belongs, I say, to the pope.
1 cherish the conviction that your mai
esty will receive my observations with
your usual goodness and will adopt
measures necessary in the present case.
While offering to your most gracious
majesty the expression of my devotion
and esteem, pray God that he may
enfold your majesty and myself in one
and the same bond of mercy. Pro.


The emperor replied:


BERLIN, September, 1871 am glad
your holiness has, as in former times,
done me the honor to write to me. l
rejoice more at this since an opportu-
nifty is thereby afforded me of correct
ing errors which, as appears from the
VI 1CObCI vi JOuA hOAAhCSS
of the 7th of August, must have oc-
Cured in communications you have re-
ceived relating to German affairs. If
reports which are made to your holiness
respecting German questions, only sta
ted the truth, it would net be possible
for you to entertain the supposition that
my government enters upon the path
which do not approve. According to
the constitution of my states, such a
case cannot happen, since laws and gov
ernment measures it. Prussia requires
my consent as sovereign. To my deep
sorrow a portion of my Catholic sub
jects have organized for the past two
years a political party which endeavors
to disturb, by intrigues hostile to the
state, the religious peace which has ex-
listed in Prussia for centuries. Leading
Catholic priests have unfortunately not
only approved this movement, but
Joined in it to the extent of open revolt
against existing laws. 1t will not have
escaped the observation af your hOli-
ness that similar indications manifest
themselves at the present time in seve-
raj European and in some transatlantic
states. It is not my mission to inves-
tigate the causes by which the clergy
and the faithful of one christian de-
nomination can be induced to assist
the enemies of all law in the states
whose government has been entrusted
to me by God. l am conscious that L
own hereafter an account of the accom-
plishment of this, by kingly duty. I
shall maintain order and law in my
states against all attacks as long as God
gives me power, am in duty bound
to do it as a christian monarch, even
when to my sorrow / have to fulfill
this royal duty against servants of the
church which I suppose acknowledges,
NO less than the evangelical church,
that commandment of obedience to Sc
cular authority is an emanation of the
revealed will of God. Many of the
priests in Prussia, subject to your holi-
ness, disow1, to my regret, christian
doctrine in this respect My govern
ment under necessity is supported by
great majority of my royal catholic
and evangelical subjects of extorting
obedience to law by worldly means. 1
willingly entertain the hope that your
holiness, upon being informed of the
true position of affairs, will use your
authority to put an end to the agitation
carried on. Amid the deplorable dis
tortion of truth and abuse of priestly
authority the religion of Jesus Christ
has, as I attest to your holiness, before
God nothing to do with these intrigues,
more than has truth, whose banner is
invoked by your holiness, Iunreservedly
subscribe. There is one more expression
in the letter of your holiness which I can
not pass over without contradiction, al
though it is not based on previous in
formation, namely, the expression that
every one that has received baptism be-
longs to the pope. The evangelical
creed which, as must be known to your
holiness, I, like my ancestors and the
majority of my subjects, profess, does
not permit us to accept in our relation
to God any other mediator than our
Lord Jesus Christ. Difference of be-
lief does not prevent me from living in
peace with those who do not share mine,
and Offering your holiness the express
sion of my personal devotion and
esteem, WILLIAM.