al hands. The triumph of the liberal party
after the peace of Prague revived the movements; and Eoetvoes called on
the bishops to devise means of giving to the laity a share and an
interest in religious concerns. The bishops agreed unanimously to the
proposal of Deak, that the laity should have the majority in the boards
of administration; and the new constitution of the Hungarian Church was
adopted by the Catholic Congress on the 17th of October 1869, and
approved by the King on the 25th. The ruling idea of this great measure
was to make the laity supreme in all that is not liturgy and dogma, in
patronage, property, and education; to break down clerical exclusiveness
and government control; to deliver the people from the usurpations of
the hierarchy, and the Church from the usurpations of the State. It was
an attempt to reform the Church by constitutional principles, and to
crush ultramontanism by crushing Gallicanism. The Government, which had
originated the scheme, was ready to surrender its privileges to the
newly-constituted authorities; and the bishops acted in harmony with the
ministers and with public opinion. Whilst this good understanding
lasted, and while the bishops were engaged in applying the impartial
principles of self-government at home, there was a strong security that
they would not accept decrees that would undo their work. Infallibility
would not only condemn their system, but destroy their position. As the
winter advanced the influence of these things became apparent. The
ascendency which the Hungarian bishops acquired from the beginning was
due to other causes.

The political auspices under which the Council opened were very
favourable to the papal cause. The promoters of infallibility were able
to coin resources of the enmity which was shown to the Church. The
danger which came to them from within was averted. The policy of
Hohenlohe, which was afterwards revived by Daru, had been, for a time,
completely abandoned by Europe. The battle between the papal and the
episcopal principle could come off undisturbed, in closed lists.
Political opposition there was none; but the Council had to be governed
under the glare of inevitable publicity, with a free press in Europe,
and hostile views prevalent in Catholic theology. The causes which made
religious science utterly powerless in the strife, and kept it from
grappling with the forces arrayed against it, are of deeper import than
the issue of the contest