These Letters of the Council originated in the following way. Three
friends in Rome were in the habit of communicating to one another what
they heard from persons intimately acquainted with the proceedings of the
Council. Belonging as they did to different stations and different classes
of life, and having already become familiar, before the opening of the
Council, through long residence in Rome, with the state of things and with
persons there, and being in free and daily intercourse with some members
of the Council, they were very favourably situated for giving a true
report as well of the proceedings as of the views of those who took part
in it. Their letters were addressed to a friend in Germany, who added now
and then historical explanations to elucidate the course of events, and
then forwarded them to the _Allgemeine Zeitung_.
Much the authors of these Letters could only communicate, because the
Bishops themselves, from whose mouth or hand they obtained their
materials, were desirous of securing publicity for them in this way, That
there should be occasional inaccuracies of detail in matters of
subordinate importance was inevitable in drawing up reports which had to
be composed as the events occurred, and not seldom had only rumours or
conjectures to rest upon. But on the whole we can safely affirm that no
substantial error has crept in, and that these reports supply as faithful
a portrait as can be given of this Council, so eventful in its bearings on
the future history of the Catholic Church, and not only conscientiously
exhibit its outward course, but in some degree unveil those more secret
and hidden movements whereby the definition of the new dogma of
infallibility was brought about. If it were necessary here to adduce
testimonies for the truth of these reports, we might appeal to the actual
sequence of events, which has so often and so clearly confirmed our
predictions and our estimate of the persons concerned and their motives,
as well as to the Letters and other works of the Bishops, whether
published with or without their names.
This collection of Letters then is the best authority for the history of
the Vatican Council. No later historian of the Council will be able to
dispense with them, and the Liberal Catholic Opposition, whose
ecclesiastical conscience protests against the imposition of dogmas
effected by all kinds of crooked arts and appliances of force, will find
here the most serviceable weapons for combating the legitimacy of the
Council.
In order to preserve the original character of the Letters, as a chronicle
accurately reflecting the opinions and feelings of the Bishops of the
minority, they are published now in a complete collection without any
change, with the exception of a few corrections here and there in a
foot-note. Some articles from the _Allgemeine Zeitung_ are prefixed to the
Letters, which have an important bearing on the previous history of the
Council;(1) and an appendix is subjoined containing documents partly
serving to throw a further light on the history of the Council and partly
to corroborate our statements.
_September 1870._