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506
ESSAYS ON LIBERTY
hampered the Federal Government of Northern Germany. For its Catholic subjects) and ultimately in view of the rivalry with France) to retain the friendship of the papacy is a fixed lnaxim at Berlin. Count Bismarck laid do\vn the rule that Prussia should display no definjte purpose in a cause \vhich was not her own) but should studiously keep abreast of the North German bishops. Those bishops neither invoked) nor by their conduct invited, the co-operation of the State; and its influence would have been banished from the Council but for the minister \vho represented it in Rome. The vicissitudes of a General Council are so far removed frolD the normal experience of statesmen that they could not well be studied or acted upon from a distance. A government that strictly controlled and dictated the conduct of its envoy was sure to go wrong) and to frustrate action by theory. A government that trusted the advice of its minister present on the spot enjoyed a great advantage. Baron Arnim was favourably situated. A Catholic belonging to any but the ultramontane school \vould have been less willingly listened to in Rome than a Protestant who \vas a con- servative in politics) and \vhose regard for the interests of religion was so undamaged by the sectarian taint that he was kno\vn to be sincere in the wish that Catholics should have cau e to rejoice in the prospedty of their Church. The apathy of Austria and the vacillation of France contributed to his influence, for he enjoyed the confidence of bishops froln both countries; and he was able to guide his own government in its course to\vards the Council. The English Government ,vas content to learn more and to speak less than the other Powers at Rome. The usual distrust of the Roman Court to\vards a Liberal ministry in England was increased at the moment by the measure which the Catholics had desired and applauded. It seemed improbable to men more solicitous for acquired rights than for general political principle, that Protestant statesmen who disestablished their own Church could feel a very sincere interest in the \velfare' of another.
