CARDINAL \VISEMAN
44 1
of our stating the facts on which charges so definite and so formidable have been founded. In doing so, we shall endeavour both to exhibit the true sequence of events, and to explain the origin of the Cardinal's misapprehen- sion; and in this \vay we shall reply to the charges made against us. But we must first explicitly declare, as we have already implied, that in the Cardinal's support and approbation of our work we should recognise an aid more valuable to the cause \ve are engaged in than the utmost support which could be afforded to us by any other person; and that \ve cannot consider the terms he has used respecting us other- wise than as a misfortune to be profoundly regretted, and a blo\v \vhich might seriously impair our power to do service to religion. A Catholic Review which is deprived of the coun- tenance of the ecclesiastical authorities is placed in an abnormal position. A germ of distrust is planted in the ground where the good seed should grow; the support which the suspected organ endeavours to lend to the Church is repudiated by the ecclesiastical rulers; and its influence in Protestant society, as an expositor of Catholic ideas, is in danger of being destroyed, because its exposi- tion of them may be declared unsound and unfair, even when it represents them most faithfully and defends them most successfully. The most devoted efforts of its con- ductors are liable to be misconstrued, and perversely turned either against the Church or against the Review itself; its best works are infected with the suspicion with which it is regarded, and its merits become almost more perilous than its faults. These considerations could not have been overlooked by the Cardinal when he resolved to take a step which threatened to paralyse one of the few organs of Catholic opinion in England. Yet he took that step. If an enemy had done this, it would have been enough to vindicate ourselves, and to leave the burden of an unjust accusation to be borne by its author. But since it has been done by an ecclesiastical superior, with entire fore-
