M. Du Plessis-Mornay, which took place at Fontainebleau in

the year 1600, at the instigation of King Henry IV. The ques- tion under consideration was the charge preferred against Mornay, that in his book on the Eucharistics he had falsified a great many passages or quoted them incorrectly. The King himself pre- sided ; and the most notable men of both churches were present as witnesses. This conference was interrupted by Mornay's illness after the lapse of a few days, and after a number of passages quoted by him had been examined ; nevertheless, it produced an effect on the then greatly agitated state of the public mind extremely favourable to the Catholic cause.
" Most venerable Archbishop, I leave entirely to your own judgment which form you will give to a conference so much desired by myself, and certainly so welcome to multitudes of German Catholics, and what persons you will invite to attend or oppose to me. In your diocese there is certainly no want of professional theologians who will be glad to accept your invitation. The practice of the Church proves that a question of faith is just as much an affair o'f the laity as of the clergy, and that the former may take part in the scientific examination and establishment of the tradition — as both Popes and theologians have acknowledged. And in this case, which is a matter for historical proof, I am gladly ready to submit to the verdict of the most eminent historians of the German nation and of the Catholic faith. Such men as Ficker, Reumont, Hofler, Arneth, Kamps-
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chulte, Cornelius, Lerenz, Wegele, Asehbach, may judge whether my proofs be critically and historically right or not.
" Your excellency was pleased formerly to honour my book on the First Ages of the Church Apostolical with your approval, and it was generally considered among German Catholics to be a true picture of the time of foundation : even the Jesuitic- Ultra- montane party let it pass without censure. But if the new decrees contain the truth, then I have laid myself open to the reproach of having entirely misrepresented the history of the Apostles. That entire section of my book which concerns the constitution of the earlier Church, my description of the relation in which Paul and the other Apostles stood to Peter — all is fundamentally wrong, and I ought to condemn my own book, and confess that I have neither understood Luke's Acts of the Apostles nor their own Epistles.
" The new Vatican doctrine confers upon the Pope the whole plenitude of power (totam plenitudinem potestatis) over the entire Church, as well as over every individual layman, priest and bishop ; and this power pretends to be at once the genuine episcopalian, and also the specific Papal authority, which is to comprise all things whatsoever, in relation to faith, morals, duties of life and discipline, and is to be entitled to lay hold upon the monarch as well as upon the day labourer, in order to inflict upon him punishment, commandment, or prohibition. The wording is so carefully put that no other position and authority is left to the bishops than such as pertain to Papal commissioners and pleni- potentiaries. Every person acquainted with history, and with the Fathers, must know that, by this means, the orthodox episcopacy is destroyed in its very essence, and that an apostolic institution which, in the opinion of the Fathers of the Church, is entitled to the highest consideration and authority, is thus reduced to an unsubstantial shadow. For no one will admit it to be possible that there shall be two bishops in the same diocese — the one being at the same time the Pope, and the other merely a bishop — because a Papal vicar or a diocesan commissioner is not exactly a bishop nor a successor of the apostles. In virtue of the powers conferred upon him by Rome, he may be a very mighty man as long as his employer chooses to maintain him in office, precisely as a
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Jesuit or a Mendicant whom the Pope has endowed with an abundance of privileges might be. I am well aware that this prospect of an extension of their power has been held out to the bishops at Rome, and that it has often been said to them — ' The more irresistible the Pope the stronger you will be, for the plenitude of my power will cause rich rays to alight upon you.' The bishops of the minority have full well seen through the deceptive part of these promises ; by the official ' analytical- synopsis ' it is shown that they have- fully recognised that, when the universal episcopacy of the Pope is established, they may still continue to be dignitaries of the Church, but they will cease to be true bishops. Right reverend sir, you yourself took