present day. In the original
Christian theory the whole world should now be one vast republic, in
which all Christians should call each other brothers, and support each
other in worldly as well as spiritual matters. Within this should exist
the smaller republic of the hierarchy, by common consent,--an elective
body, recruiting its numbers from the larger, as it does now; choosing
its head, the sovereign Pontiff, as it does now, to be the head of both
Church and State; eminently fitted for that position, for the very simple
reason that in a community organised and maintained upon such principles,
in which, by virtue of the real and universal love of religion, the best
men would find their way into the Church, and would ultimately find their
way to the papal throne."

"Your Eminence states the case very convincingly," answered Gouache. "But
why has the larger republic, which was to contain the smaller one, ceased
to exist? or rather, why did it never come into existence?"

"Because man has not yet fulfilled his part in the great contract. The
matter lies in a nutshell. The men who enter the Church are sufficiently
intelligent and well educated to appreciate the advantages of Christian
democracy, fellowship, solidarity, and brotherly love. The republic of
the Church has therefore survived, and will survive for ever. The men who
form the majority, on the other hand, have never had either the
intelligence or the education to understand that democracy is the
ultimate form of government: instead of forming themselves into a
federation, they have divided themselves into hostile factions, calling
themselves nations, and seeking every occasion for destroying and
plundering each other, frequently even turning against the Church
herself. The Church has committed faults in history, without doubt, but
on the whole she has nobly fulfilled her contract, and reaps the fruits
of fidelity in the vigour and unity she displays after eighteen
centuries. Man, on the other hand, has failed to do his duty, and all
races of men are consequently suffering for their misdeeds; the nations
are divided against each other, and every nation is a house divided
against itself, which sooner or later shall fall."

"But," objected Gouache, "allowing, as one easily may, that all this is
true, your Eminence is always called reactionary in politics. Does that
accord with these views?"

Gouache believed the question unanswerable, but as he put it he worked