. . I suppose, forsooth, you
expect observance of the law from those liberal governments of yours,
which make the first use of their liberty to destroy liberty itself; who
exile bishops, and who, in the face of all the world, break the plighted
faith of treaties and concordats--oh yes, those governments, who spy into
the most secret recesses of family life, and create the monstrous and
tyrannical _Loi des suspects_, oh yes, _they_ are sure to respect the
liberty and the independence of the Bishop of Rome! and are you baby
enough to believe or imagine it?" D cowers beneath the moral lash; and
hints rather than proposes, that if one country did not respect the
Pope's freedom, he could move into another, though he admits at the same
time, he can see grave difficulties in the project. Even this admission
is unavailing to protect him from X's savage onslaught, who winds up
another torrent of vituperation with these words: "Yes! This is no
question of the Pope and the Pope's person, but of the liberty of all the
Church, and of all the Episcopate, of your liberty and mine, of the
liberty of princes, peoples, and all Christian souls. Miserable man,
have you lost all common sense, all catholic sense, even the ordinary
sense of language?" In vain D confesses his errors, owns that he is
converted, and implores mercy. "No," X replies in conclusion, "this is
not enough; your tongue has spread scandal; and even, if innocent itself,
has sown discord.
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