No. 140.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.
Berlin, June 24, 1872. (Received July 13.)
Sir: The proposition to invite the chancellor of the German Empire to prepare and lay before the next session of the diet a law rendering marriage by civil forms obligatory in all cases throughout the Empire, was adopted by a vote of 151 against 100. The proposer of this measure was a Bavarian many of the minority will, in the end, not be hostile to it. Here is another instance of the exercise by the central government of jurisdiction on questions relating to persons and families. It is justified by the necessity of providing for the legal marriage of Catholics who reject the dogma of papal infallibility, and who, as a consequence, are excluded from the sacraments of the Catholic church.
The law dissolving the corporations of the Jesuits in Germany has met the approval of the council (Bundesrath) of the German Union. The decisive policy adopted by this government attracts universal attention in Europe, and finds in Catholic countries many of those who approve it most warmly. The kingdom of Bavaria had long ago excluded the Jesuits from its territory. The new law strengthens its hereditary policy.
Another question of a very grave nature is likely to arise. It is said that the Pope has directed the election of his successor to be made immediately on his decease, even before his burial. An election so made by the cardinals who chance at the moment to be in Rome would give the election entirely into the hands of the friends of the order of Jesuits. It is held in these regions that an election so conducted, contrary to all precedents, could not claim to be received as valid. The accepted dogma of infallibility secures to the Pope the means of interfering with the administration of each bishopric, as well as absolute power over the consciences of the members of the Roman church. The question is raised whether the German Empire could consent to the election of a pope who would be its deadly political enemy, if he should be chosen in a manner conflicting with long-established usage.
In a word, the antagonism between the German Empire and the absolute power of the Pope seems likely to continue, and the good will of Italy, at least, as well as that of a large part of the Catholic population in the Austro-Hungarian Empire inclines to the side of Germany; in France, on the contrary, the aged Guizot demands the restoration to the Pope of his temporal dominions, and even Renan advises the liberals of France to a truce with the Jesuits.
I remain, &c.