that it should not be attempted. But he was warned
that the promise held good for the first day only, and that there was no
engagement for the future. Then he made it known that one hundred
bishops were ready, if a surprise was attempted, to depart from Rome,
and to carry away the Council, as he said, in the soles of their shoes.
The plan of carrying the measure by a sudden resolution was given up,
and it was determined to introduce it with a demonstration of
overwhelming effect. The debate on the dogmatic decree was begun by
Cardinal Rauscher. The Archbishop of St. Louis spoke on the same day so
briefly as not to reveal the force and the fire within him. The
Archbishop of Halifax concluded a long speech by saying that the
proposal laid before the Council was only fit to be put decorously under
ground. Much praise was lavished on the bishops who had courage,
knowledge, and Latin enough to address the assembled Fathers; and the
Council rose instantly in dignity and in esteem when it was seen that
there was to be real discussion. On the 30th, Rome was excited by the
success of two speakers. One was the Bishop of Grenoble, the other was
Strossmayer, the bishop from the Turkish frontier, who had again
assailed the regulation, and had again been stopped by the presiding
Cardinal. The fame of his spirit and eloquence began to spread over the
city and over the world. The ideas that animated these men in their
attack on the proposed measure were most clearly shown a few days later
in the speech of a Swiss prelate. "What boots it," he exclaimed, "to
condemn errors that have been long condemned, and tempt no Catholic? The
false beliefs of mankind are beyond the reach of your decrees. The best
defence of Catholicism is religious science. Give to the pursuit of
sound learning every encouragement and the widest field; and prove by
deeds as well as words that the progress of nations in liberty and light
is the mission of the Church."[387]

The tempest of criticism was weakly met; and the opponents established
at once a superiority in debate. At the end of the first month nothing
had been done; and the Session imprudently fixed for the 6th of January
had to be filled up with tedious ceremonies. Everybody saw that there
had been a great miscalculation. The Council was slipping out of the
grasp of the Court, and the regulation was a manifest hindrance to the
despatch of business. New resources were required.

A new president was appoi