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intelligence was meant. Again, in the Gladstone controversy it is almost painful to read the efforts of Dr. Newman to reconcile the obvious meaning of language with the demands of his naturally subtle and yet robust intelligence. His chapter on "Conscience" is a most remarkable proof of the difficulty in which he found himself, and from which he at last escapes by the declaration that finally even the Dogmas of Infallibility and Obedience must yield to the supreme dictate of Conscience. Even Cardinal Manning, knowing the temper of the court of public opinion before which he was pleading, equally finds it necessary to disclaim the extreme latitude to which the wording of the Vatican Decrees may be extended. But the positions taken by Mr. Gladstone appear to my mind wholly uninjured, and his charge fully sustained by historic references, that the present attitude of Rome is incompatible with Civil Allegiance and Civil Liberty.
While, however, the controversial discussions have produced, what may be termed apologetic disclaimers from the Roman Theologians, we find full effect attempted to be given at this moment in Spain, to the most ultra doctrines of the Syllabus and the Dogmatic Decrees—and, in fact, their strict observance insisted upon in every country where the Civil power is controlled by the Hierarchical. It is eminently suggestive of the light in which our Quebec rulers are regarded to observe the very different ground occupied by the Roman Catholic Church in this Province, from that taken in Ontario and the Maritime Provinces.
The contradictory attitude of the Church of Rome in different countries, and at this moment even in the Dominion, can only be explained by the extraordinary elasticity with which it adapts itself to surrounding circumstances. Wherever it reigns supreme, and con-
