ity to proof, and accepted the Pope's declaration,
"La tradizione son' io." It was resolved by a small majority that the
opposition should renew its negative vote in writing, and should leave
Rome in a body before the session. Some of the most conscientious and
resolute adversaries of the dogma advised this course. Looking to the
immediate future, they were persuaded that an irresistible reaction was
at hand, and that the decrees of the Vatican Council would fade away and
be dissolved by a power mightier than the Episcopate and a process less
perilous than schism. Their disbelief in the validity of its work was so
profound that they were convinced that it would perish without violence,
and they resolved to spare the Pope and themselves the indignity of a
rupture. Their last manifesto, _La derniere Heure_, is an appeal for
patience, an exhortation to rely on the guiding, healing hand of
God.[400] They deemed that they had assigned the course which was to
save the Church, by teaching the Catholics to reject a Council which was
neither legitimate in constitution, free in action, nor unanimous in
doctrine, but to observe moderation in contesting an authority over
which great catastrophes impend. They conceived that it would thus be
possible to save the peace and unity of the Church without sacrifice of
faith and reason.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 370: _The North British Review_, October 1870.]

[Footnote 371: Fidem mihi datam non servatam fuisse queror. Acta
supprimere, aut integra dare oportebat. He says also: Omnia ad nutum
delegati Apostolici fiebant.]

[Footnote 372: Citra et contra singulorum suffragia, imo praeter et
supra omnium vota pontificis solius declarationi atque sententiae
validam vim atque irreformabilem adesse potestatem.]

[Footnote 373: Nous restons dans les doctrines de Bossuet parce que nous
les croyons generalement vraies; nous les defendons parce qu'elles sont
attaquees, et qu'un parti puissant veut les faire condamner. Ces
doctrines de l'episcopat francais, de l'ecole de Paris, de notre vieille
Sorbonne, se ramenent pour nous a trois propositions, a trois verites
fondamentales: 1o l'Eglise est une monarchie efficacement temperee
d'aristocracie; 2o la souverainete spirituelle est essentiellement
composee de ces deux elements quoique le second soit subordonne au
premier; 3o le concours de ces elements est necessaire pour etablir la
regle absolue de la foi, c'est-a-dire, pour constituer l'acte par
exc