the Council. He invited the bishops to
bring forward their own proposals, but required that they should submit
them first of all to a Commission which was appointed by himself, and
consisted half of Italians. If any proposal was allowed to pass by this
Commission, it had still to obtain the sanction of the Pope, who could
therefore exclude at will any topic, even if the whole Council wished to
discuss it. Four elective Commissions were to mediate between the
Council and the Pope. When a decree had been discussed and opposed, it
was to be referred, together with the amendments, to one of these
Commissions, where it was to be reconsidered, with the aid of divines.
When it came back from the Commission with corrections and remarks, it
was to be put to the vote without further debate. What the Council
discussed was to be the work of unknown divines: what it voted was to be
the work of a majority in a Commission of twenty-four. It was in the
election of these Commissions that the episcopate obtained the chance of
influencing the formation of its decrees. But the papal theologians
retained their predominance, for they might be summoned to defend or
alter their work in the Commission, from which the bishops who had
spoken or proposed amendments were excluded. Practically, the right of
initiative was the deciding point. Even if the first regulation had
remained in force, the bishops could never have recovered the surprises,
and the difficulty of preparing for unforeseen debates. The regulation
ultimately broke down under the mistake of allowing the decree to be
debated only once, and that in its crude state, as it came from the
hands of the divines. The authors of the measure had not contemplated
any real discussion. It was so unlike the way in which business was
conducted at Trent, where the right of the episcopate was formally
asserted, where the envoys were consulted, and the bishops discussed the
questions in several groups before the general congregations, that the
printed text of the Tridentine Regulation was rigidly suppressed. It was
further provided that the reports of the speeches should not be
communicated to the bishops; and the strictest secrecy was enjoined on
all concerning the business of the Council. The bishops, being under no
obligation to observe this rule, were afterwards informed that it bound
them under grievous sin.

This important precept did not succeed in excluding the action of public
opinion. It co