DÖLLINGER ON THE TEMPORAL POWER 3 13
intelligible to every reasonable Protestant, that the freedom of the Church imperatively rèquires that, in order to protect the Pope from the perils which menace him, particularly in our age, he should possess a sovereignty not merely nominal, and that his right to his dominions is as good as that of all other legitimate sovereigns. In point of fact, this expression of opinion, which occurs even in the garbled reports of the lectures, leaves all those questions on which it is possible for serious and dis- passionate men to be divided entirely open. It does not determine \vhether there was any excuse for the disaffec- tion of the Papal subjects; whether the security afforded by a more extensive dominion is greater than the increased difficulty of administration' under the conditions inherited from the French occupation; whether an organised system of tribute or domains might be sufficient, in conjunction \vith a more restricted territory; whether the actual loss of power is or is not likely to improve a misfortune for religion. The storm of applause with which these words, simply expressing that in which all agree, were received, must have suggested to the speaker that his countrymen in general are unprepared to believe that one, who has no other aspiration in his life and his works than the advancement of the Catholic religion, can speak without a reverent awe of the temporal government, or can \vitness without dismay its impending fall. They must have persuaded themselves that not only the details, but the substance of his lectures had been entirely mis- reported, and that his views were as free from novelty as destitute of offence. I t is hard to believe that such persons will be able to reconcile themselves to the fearless and straightforward spirit in which the first of Church historians discusses the history of his own age. Another consideration, almost equally significant with the attitude of the great mass of Catholics, is the silence of the minority who agree with Döllinger. Those earnest Catholics who, in their Italian patriotism, insist on the .possibility of reconciling the liberty of the Holy See with the establishment of an ideal unity, Passaglia, Tosti, the
