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Show THE LAST OF THE FALK LAWS. Most of the issues raised by Bismarck against the Church, when he became chancellor of the Ger- man empire, were dead and buried before he died himself. Many wore revoked by himself, when he found he was unable to silence tho mouths of the independent, sturdy Catholic element among his countrymen, who. protested against the Falk laws and demanded liberty of conscience. The law of banishment against the Jesuits, which meant their suppression in the whole empire, is now wiped out. Bismarck's pet scheme in the early '70s was to destroy des-troy ihe Papacy. He connived at and encouraged Dr. Dollinger in Lis scheme. It was to -be a war of intolerance, but in the bitter contest which followed fol-lowed he had not the sympathy, loyalty and patriotic patri-otic co-operation of his Catholic countrymen who fought so nobly against France, and helped to make him the uncrowned king of the German empire, em-pire, lie was lauded by the Protestant world, who prophesied that the Papacy had reached its end. To attain his purpose Bismarck instinctively felt that, in his" warfare, tho first blow should be directed di-rected against the. Jesuits. Hence their expulsion in 1872. Aided and abetted by Dr. Dollinger, who had hitherto won the esteem and approbation of Catholics, not alone in Germany, but in England and throughout the entire Catholic world, Bismarck's Bis-marck's aim and ambition was first to nationalize the Catholic church, by -making it independent of Borne, and subject only to the state. Dr. Dollinger, not from conviction or for conscience sake, with a small coterie of apostates, joined issue with -the chancellor, knowing too that the terms 'catholic" n!v -3f0lV?V.a applied to the Church, were diametrically Vopposod. .J)r. Dollinger vigorously opposed tlKdefinition 0f Fapal infallibility by the "" " "" " 111 ium,i,i.i.imu.jiniJii"."l lipn Hiimni m Vatican Council," yet ho claimed for himself immunity im-munity from error in his opposition. With his widespread knowledge as a historian, his learning surpassed his judgment, and. with greater ambition am-bition than Lucifer, he not only desired, but claimed, ihe perogatives of the Papacy. To make good his claims he appealed to the state by striving striv-ing to show that the definition of Papal infallibility infalli-bility was inimical to the state. The appeal met the approval of Prince You Bismarck. The feelings feel-ings aroused were taken up in England, and to such an extent that even Glad-tone wrote a pamphlet pamph-let in which he expressed his apprehension of a menace to the state in the definition of Papal infallibility. in-fallibility. Cardinals Manning' and Xewman re-' plied to the premier's argument. litis settled the i difficulty-in England. In Germany, however, it ; was quite different. Bismarck's influence at. the time was all-powerful. His prescriptive laws were adopted. Dr. Falk, the minister of public worship wor-ship at the time, acted as his master uggested. Laws were enacted which deprived the Catholic church of its prescriptive rights, gave her no freedom free-dom in the education of her own children, or canonical rights over her priests. The laws, which were tyrannical and unjust, were wiped out from the statutes of Germany one by one. The last of these odious exactions in regard to the Jesuits has now disappeared. What is the moral f The Church founded by Christ may be oppressed but cannot be suppressed. God is greater than man. Bismarck, all-powerful as he was, did not succeed. The German Ger-man Catholics, who were loyal to their Catholic convictions, could not be intimidated. They stood by their colors in the midst of persecutions. Their loyalty to their religious convictions did not lessen, but rather increased, their allegiance to the government. govern-ment. When this truth dawned upon the ruling powers- in Germany, instead of persecuting the Church, they sought its aid and influence, and. not as a compromise, but in justice, have annulled all the laws of Dr. Falk. That against the Jesuits, recently revoked, was the last of the unjust laws. i. |