to the bull from
becoming resistance to the dogma. The Bishop of Grenoble, who was
reputed a good divine among his countrymen, was sounded in order to
discover how far he would go; and it was ascertained that he admitted
the doctrine substantially. At the same time, the friends of the Bishop
of Orleans were insisting that he had questioned not the dogma but the
definition; and Maret, in the defence of his book, declared that he
attributed no infallibility to the episcopate apart from the Pope. If
the bishops had been consulted separately, without the terror of a
decree, it is probable that the number of those who absolutely rejected
the doctrine would have been extremely small. There were many who had
never thought seriously about it, or imagined that it was true in a
pious sense, though not capable of proof in controversy. The possibility
of an understanding seemed so near that the archbishop of Westminster,
who held the Pope infallible apart from the episcopate, required that
the words should be translated into French in the sense of independence,
and not of exclusion. An ambiguous formula embodying the view common to
both parties, or founded on mutual concession, would have done more for
the liberty than the unity of opinion, and would not have strengthened
the authority of the Pope. It was resolved to proceed with caution,
putting in motion the strong machinery of Rome, and exhausting the
advantages of organisation and foreknowledge.

The first act of the Council was to elect the Commission on Dogma. A
proposal was made on very high authority that the list should be drawn
up so as to represent the different opinions fairly, and to include some
of the chief opponents. They would have been subjected to other
influences than those which sustain party leaders; they would have been
separated from their friends and brought into frequent contact with
adversaries; they would have felt the strain of official responsibility;
and the opposition would have been decapitated. If these sagacious
counsels had been followed, the harvest of July might have been gathered
in January, and the reaction that was excited in the long struggle that
ensued might have been prevented. Cardinal de Angelis, who ostensibly
managed the elections, and was advised by Archbishop Manning, preferred
the opposite and more prudent course. He caused a lithographed list to
be sent to all the bishops open to influence, from which every name was
excluded that