lation to this portentous event is thus
described by "The Month":--"In 1850 the Catholic Hierarchy was
established in England, and the Protestant public raved and stormed and
talked bigoted nonsense without end respecting this new invasion.
Parliament passed the futile and obsolete Ecclesiastical Titles Bill,
and _Punch_ took up the popular cry. Cardinal Wiseman was represented as
'tree'd' by the Papal bull, and comic verses and personal ridicule was
lavished on the Pope, the new hierarchy, and Catholics generally.

"Doyle remonstrated, but received answer that, as he had been allowed to
turn Exeter Hall and its doings into ridicule, it was only fair that his
own opinions should have their turn. But those who used this argument
little knew, and could scarcely be expected to know, the difference
between the devotion of supernatural faith and the bigotry of a
self-chosen creed. Doyle was anything but narrow or over-scrupulous. It
was not any of the cartoons which was the immediate occasion of the step
that he took, nor was it (as some of the notices of him have intimated)
any mere personal attachment to Cardinal Wiseman. 'I don't mind,' he
said, 'as long as you keep to the political and personal side of the
matter, but _doctrines_ you must not attack.' Douglas Jerrold and
Thackeray were not likely to appreciate this reversal of the general
sentiment, which resents personal attack above all else. 'Look at the
_Times_,' they argued; 'its language has been most violent, but the
Catholic writers on its staff do not for that reason resign. They
understand, and the world at large understands, that the individual
contributor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by other
contributors in articles with which he has nothing to do.' 'That is very
well in the _Times_,' was Doyle's answer, 'but not in _Punch_. For the
_Times_ is a monarchy [we believe these were his very words], whereas
_Punch_ is a republic.' So, when a week or so later an article,
attributed to Jerrold himself, jeeringly advised the Pope to 'feed his
flock on the wafers of the Vatican,' it was too much for Doyle.
Dignified protest was not sufficient now. To be any longer identified
with a paper which could use such language was intolerable to the
faithful soul. To ply his skilful fingers and busy inventive brain in
behalf of those who scoffed at the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar was
out of the question. His connection with _Punch_ must cease. But is he
boun