I confounded this wide-spread heresy with what
you see around you in Ireland, those backslidings which you
so aptly called 'soup conversions.'

"By Protestantism, I mean something more dangerous than
Anglicanism, which, by the way, has latterly shown itself
the very reverse of an enemy. The peril I dread is that
spirit of examination and inquiry which, emboldened by the
detection of some trumpery trick, goes on to question the
great dogma of our religion. And here I must say, that these
miracles--as they will call them----have been most ill-
judged and ill-timed. Well adapted as they are to stimulate
faith and warm zeal in remote and unvisited villages, they
are serious errors when they aspire to publicity and
challenge detection. I have done all I could to
discountenance them; but even in the Vatican, my dear
Michel, there are men who fancy we are living in the
sixteenth century. What are you to do with a deafness that
cannot be aroused by the blast of a steam-engine, and which
can sleep undisturbed by the thunder of railroads? Well, let
us be thankful for a little breathing time; the danger from
these heretics is over for the present. And here I would ask
of you to mark how the very same result has taken place
wherever the battle was fought. The Church has been
triumphant everywhere. Is this accident, my dear friend?
Was it mere chance that confounded counsels here, and dealt
out ruin to Ireland also? Why did our policy come to a
successful issue, here, by a dangerous conflict; and, with
you, by abstaining from one? Why, because it was truth--
eternal, immutable truth--for which we struggled. I must say
that if _our_ game called for more active exertions, and
perhaps more personal hazards, _yours_ in Ireland was
admirably devised. There never was a more complete
catastrophe than that into which you betrayed your Mitchells
and Meaghers; and does not the blind credulity of such men
strike you as a special and Divine infliction? I own I think
so. They were, with all their hot blood, and all the glow of
their youth, serious thinkers and calm reasoners. They could
detect the finger of _England_ in every tangled scheme, and
yet they never saw the shadow of _your_ hand as it shook in
derision over them. Yes, Michel, the game was