CHAPTER VIII.

THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE PAPACY WITH FOREIGN STATES IN WHICH A PROTESTANT CHURCH IS

ESTABLISHED BULLÆ CIRCUMSCRIPTIONUM (a).

CCCXCI. THE territorial changes in Europe (b), and, indeed, in the world, which followed upon the Treaty of Vienna, brought the Roman See into immediate contact with Protestant States, with which it had hitherto had no relations. By that treaty, territories inhabited for the most part by Roman Catholics, accustomed to acknowledge the supremacy of the Pope as an indispensable part of their religious belief, were transferred to Sovereigns who had always considered the rejection and denial of his authority as necessary for the political and religious welfare of their dominions. Rome had no longer to deal exclusively with those Princes who bore, as their proudest distinctions, the religious titles which she had conferred upon them. Her intercourse was no longer to be confined to His Most Christian Majesty, The Catholic King, His Most Faithful Majesty, or His Apostolical Majesty.

The Duke of Muscovy, whom Rome had not long ago regarded with Chinese indifference as an outer barbarian, had become one of the most powerful European potentates, uniting to his ancient title of Chief of the Greek Church, that of Protector of ten millions of Roman Catholic Poles.

(a) De Pradt, Les Quatre Concordats, t. i. Avant-propos.
(b) Walter, ss. 42, 43, as to the Greek Church.

The King of Prussia (c), whom fifty years ago Rome had still addressed as the Marquis of Brandenburg, had grown into a powerful monarch in fact as well as name; and had added to his compact military State two ecclesiastical electorates, besides Prince Bishoprics, abbeys, and chapters.

The Protestant Stadholder of Holland had become possessed of that ancient inheritance of the Catholic Sovereigns, the Belgic provinces, and of the Prince Bishopric of

(c) On August 24, 1870, the following correspondence took place between the Pope and King William of Prussia :

Letter from the Pope.

"Your Majesty,-In the present grave circumstances it may perhaps appear to you an unusual thing to receive a letter from me; but as Vicar on the earth of the God of peace, I cannot do less than offer you my mediation. It is my desire to witness the cessation of warlike preparations, and to put a stop to the evils which are their inevitable consequence. My mediation is that of a sovereign who, in his quality of king, can, by reason of the smallness of his territory, inspire no feeling of jealousy, but who nevertheless shall inspire confidence by the moral and religious influence which he personifies.

"May God lend his ear to my wishes, and listen also to those which I form for your Majesty, to whom I desire to be united in the bonds of mutual charity.

"The Vatican, July 22, 1870.

PIUS, P.P. IX.

"P.S.-I have written in the same terms to His Majesty the Emperor of the French."

Answer of the King of Prussia.

"Most August Pontiff,-I have not been surprised, but profoundly moved, in reading the touching words traced by your hand to cause the voice of the God of peace to be heard. How could my heart refuse to listen to so powerful an appeal? God is my witness that neither I nor my people have desired or provoked this war. In obeying the sacred duties that God imposes on sovereigns and on nations, we take up the sword to defend the independence and the honour of our country, and we shall ever be ready to lay it down at the moment that those treasures are safe guarded. If your Holiness could offer me, on the part of him who has so unexpectedly declared war against us, the assurance of sincerely pacific dispositions, and guarantees against the repetition of a similar attempt against the peace and tranquillity of Europe, it will certainly not be I who shall refuse to receive them from the venerable hands of your Holiness, united as I am with you by the bonds of Christian charity and of a sincere friendship. WILLIAM."

Liége. Passing by, therefore, the revolutions of Roman Catholic Southern America, in Europe alone a new order of things had arisen, to which the application of Papal claims was a matter of great novelty and nicety, not the less so on account of the remarkable circumstances connected with the Pope himself. For he did not pretend to be ignorant of a fact patent to the world, namely, that his restoration to Rome was mainly owing to the energies and the arms of schismatical and heretical powers; that Russia and Prussia —and, above all, excommunicated England-had been the principal instruments in reseating him upon the pontifical throne, from which he had been dragged by Roman Catholic France.

CCCXCII. The first remark which is of importance, the object of this work being considered, is, that the Papal See has entered into no convention, strictly speaking, with any non-Roman-Catholic State. Before the year 1850, the only Concordat since the Treaty of Vienna which had been entered into was one with Bavaria (d) in 1817.

The communications between the Roman See and the Protestant States of Germany have assumed the form of edicts on the part of the Pope, with respect to the creation, restoration, and general adjustment of dioceses, entitled "Bullæ Circumscriptionis ;" and on the part of the State a recognition of these Bulls in a domestic law or statute subsequently promulgated.

CCCXCIII. (e) To this adoption of the regulations of Rome by the placet of the territorial power, German jurists are careful not to ascribe that binding power, for the future, which is inherent in a Treaty or Concordat. The acts of the State, which clothe these Papal edicts with the cha

(d) Eichhorn, Kirchenrecht, I. Band, B. ii. Abschn. ii. c. 1.

Phillipps, Kirchenrecht, 3, 523, for the status of the Roman Catholic Church, generally, in Germany.

(e) Vide Eichhorn, supra.

Klüber, Oeffent. Recht des Deutschen Bundes, Th. 2, s. 420.

Phillipps, 3, 677, 678, 679, complains of this construction.

racter of municipal law, emphatically recite that their force, as such, is derived from the Sovereign who promulgates them; and the Bulls relating to Prussia and Hanover recited that they had been framed with the acquiescence and consent of the Sovereign.

CCCXCIV. The Bulla Circumscriptionis for Prussia is known by the title "De Salute" (f), the words with which the instrument begins; it was accompanied by a letter beginning "Dilecti filii." In both documents the approbation of the King of Prussia was recited. This Bull was sanctioned by a Cabinet order of the King of Prussia (g).

(f) The Bull is given at length in the Appendices to Eichhorn and Phillipps, and in the Parl. Papers. See below. (g) “Berlin, August 23, 1821. "Whereas the Papal Bull submitted to me by you, which begins with the words 'De salute animarum,' and is dated Rome, the 16th of July of this year (xvii. Cal. Aug.), agrees in its essential contents with that arrangement which was entered into on the 25th of March of this year respecting the establishment, endowment, and limits of the archbishoprics and bishoprics of the Catholic Church in the State, and of all subjects having reference thereto, and which was already sanctioned by me on the 9th of June of this year, I will hereby give, on your proposal-also to the essential contents of this Bull, namely, to what concerns the enactments respecting things having reference to the before-mentioned subjects-my royal approval and sanction, by virtue of which these enactments are to be observed as the binding statute of the Catholic Church of the State, by all those whom it concerns.

"This, my royal approval and sanction, I give in virtue of my sovereign rights, and without prejudice to these rights, as well as to all my subjects of the Evangelical Church of the State.

"Accordingly, this Bull is to be printed in the Collection of Laws, and the Ministry of Ecclesiastical Laws is to take care of its execution. "(Signed) FREDERIC WILLIAM.

"To the State Chancellor, Prince von Hardenberg."

-Parl. Papers, 1851, p. 169.

The relations between Prussia and the Pope are still in an unsettled condition. For the history of this subject, since 1873, the following authorities should be consulted: Die Preussischen Kirchengesetze, for the years 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1878, 1880; with the Commentary of Dr. P. Hinschius, published at Berlin and Leipzig. These laws go by the name of the "Falk Laws," having been introduced into the Prussian Parliament by the "Kultus-Minister," Dr. Falk. There is only one law amongst these that applies to the whole of the German Empire; all the others are merely Prussian. See also: Jahrbuch für

The Bulla circumscriptionis for Hanover bore date March 26, 1824, and begins, " Imperio Romanorum Ponti"ficium;" it recites that Pius VII. had considered the

Gesetzgebung und Verwaltung des Deutschen Reichs; Annual Register, 1872, pp. 246-7; 1873, pp. 193-5; 1874, pp. 225-9.

In 1873 a correspondence took place between William, King of Prussia, who had become the Emperor of Germany, and the Pope. On August 7, 1873, the Pope, Pius IX., wrote to the Emperor as follows:

"Your Majesty,-The measures which have been adopted by your Majesty's Government for some time past all aim more and more at the destruction of Catholicism. When I seriously ponder over the causes which may have led to these very hard measures, I confess that I am unable to discover any reasons for such a course. On the other hand, I am informed that your Majesty does not countenance the proceedings of your Government, and does not approve the harshness of the measures adopted against the Catholic religion. If, then, it be true that your Majesty does not approve thereof and the letters which your August Majesty has addressed to me formerly might sufficiently demonstrate that you cannot approve that which is now occurring-if, I say, your Majesty does not approve of your Government continuing in the path it has chosen of further extending its rigorous measures against the religion of Jesus Christ, whereby the latter is most injuriously affected-will your Majesty, then, not become convinced that these measures have no other effect than that of undermining your Majesty's own throne? I speak with frankness, for my banner is truth; I speak in order to fulfil one of my duties, which consists in telling the truth to all, even to those who are not Catholics-for every one who has been baptized belongs in some way or other-which to define more precisely would be here out of place— belongs, I say, to the Pope. I cherish the conviction that your Majesty will receive my observations with your usual goodness, and will adopt the measures necessary in the present case. While offering to your Most Gracious Majesty the expression of my devotion and esteem, I pray. to God that He may enfold your Majesty and myself in one and the same bond of mercy.

On September 3 the Emperor replied as follows:"I am glad that your Holiness has, as in former times, done me the honour to write to me. I rejoice the more at this, since an opportunity is thereby afforded me of correcting errors which, as appears from the contents of the letter of your Holiness of August 7, must have occurred in the communications you have received relative to German affairs, if the reports which are made to your Holiness, respecting German questions only, stated the supposition that my Government enters upon a path of which I do not approve.

"According to the constitution of my States, such a case cannot happen, since the laws and Government measures in Prussia require my consent