Leo XII. (June 18. 1827) remains recorded in the Collection of Marten's Traités; the foundation of it being the French Concordat of 1801, which continued in force for the southern provinces, and was extended by this convention to the northern provinces.

In pursuance of this Concordat, Letters Apostolical sub plumbo were issued by the Pope on the 17th of August, 1827, incorporating the Concordat itself, and reciting that the Pope †, in concert with his Majesty King William, had resolved to erect three new Sees of Bishops; to wit, Bruges, Amsterdam, and Bois le Duc. This arrangement, however, was never carried into effect. The disruption of Belgium from Holland supervened in 1830, and it has been held that the Concordat, by the change of circumstances consequent thereupon, has become null and void. The result is, that the Netherlands is still considered as a mission in partibus infidelium, under the superintendence of Vicars Apostolic; and it is not unworthy of remark, that the Bishop in partibus designed by the Pope to reside at Amsterdam, as Vicar, has not as yet ventured to take possession of the building assigned to him for a residence, in the presence of the difficulties raised in his way by the Protestant communions of Holland.

In the other category of States which have made arrangements with the Holy See, not by way way of treaty, but by means of diplomatic negotiations, stand Prussia

* Nouveau Recueil, tom. vii. p. 242.

† "Nos, collatis cum serenissimo rege Gulielmo consiliis, ad Catholicæ religionis incrementum, atque ad animarum salutem, præter quinque jam actu existentes, tres alias pro nunc episcopales Sedes restituere, vel de novo erigere, sicque universum Belgicum regnum in octo Dioceses dividere, totidemque inibi cathedrales ecclesias constabilire decrevimus."

and Hanover. In both these cases the Holy See has issued what is termed a Bull of Circumscription*, to which the subsequent sanction of the Crown has been given. The Prussian Bull of Circumscription (16th July, 1821) expressly refers to the co-operation of the King of Prussia, whilst the Hanoverian Bull of 26th of March, 1824, no less recites that the King of Hanover, George IV. †, had been previously consulted by the Holy See in the matter.

Amongst other provisions of these Bulls, the Crown is admitted to exercise a veto against a candidate for election into a vacant Bishopric. But the preliminary negotiations must not be overlooked, more especially those between Prussia and the Holy See. In the course of those negotiations it was hinted at, as a wish of the Pope, that there should be certain Bishoprics established in the Protestant provinces, e. g. at Magdeburg and Berlin or Potsdam. M. Niebuhr,

the Prussian minister at the Court of Rome, at once objected to the proposal in the most decided manner, and it was accordingly abandoned by Cardinal Gonsalvi; nor was it once attempted to be pressed in the written negotiations. It may also be observed, that the Crown abolished the See of Aix-la-Chapelle, which had been erected by the French during their occupation of the west bank of the Rhine, and united the Archbishoprics of Gniesen and Posen into the See of a Primate, in both of which arrangements the Holy See acquiesced. The Pope further adopted in the

* Cf. Vollständige Sammlung aller ältern und neuern Konkordate, von Dr. E. Münch, 2er Theil, Leipzig, 1831; Lehrbuch des Kirchen-Rechts, von F. Walther, Bonn, 1839.

"Re propterea collata cum Serenissimo Georgio Quarto Regnorum Magnæ Britanniæ et Hiberniæ unitorum, necnon Hanoveriæ Rege, ac Brunsvicensi, et Lunebergensi Duce."

Bull this provision, to meet the necessity arising from the great extent of the Prussian territory,—namely, that the ordinary Bishops should have the aid of Bishops in partibus as suffragans; a most anomalous arrangement, which was rendered necessary by the objection on the part of the Crown to any increase in the number of Sees.

Apart from the Protestant states which have entered into treaties or negotiations with the Holy See, stand those which have kept themselves aloof from Rome altogether in religious matters. The former have been constrained, for the most part, to make arrangements with the Pope by political considerations, arising out of the circumstance of their having acquired accessions of territory by conquest or cession from Roman Catholic princes, and so far coming to rule over a Roman Catholic population. The latter, on the other hand, have either remained restricted to their ancient territorial limitations, or have extended their dominion without at the same time admitting under their sceptre a population with a foreign reliligious element. In the former cases, the Roman Catholic population has received full ecclesiastical protection; in the latter it has only been allowed religious toleration, and that too in very various degrees. In Denmark, for instance, where the Lutheran Church is established by the Lex Regia of 1665, the severe laws of King Christian V. have been considerably mitigated by more recent ordinances; but the Roman Catholics enjoy only a permissive exercise of their religion, and their clergy have to seek ordination at the hands of a neighbouring Roman Catholic Bishop in partibus, who exercises, at Hildersheim, the delegated authority of a Vicar Apostolic. In the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, a more ex

tended toleration exists; but it varies with each town, and in no case exceeds mere religious toleration. In Sweden, the edict of toleration issued by Gustavus III., in 1781, for the first time authorised the profession of the Roman Catholic religion in that kingdom on the part of Swedish subjects. Three years afterwards, Pope Pius VI., with the consent of the Crown, erected a Roman Catholic parish in Stockholm, and delegated the spiritual superintendence of it to a Vicar Apostolic. The Vicar is usually a Bishop in partibus, and is authorised by royal diploma to exercise his functions within the realm of Sweden, subject to his conformity with the provisions of the edict of toleration.

In Saxony, on the other hand, where there is the singular phenomenon of a Roman Catholic king and a Lutheran people, no Prelate of episcopal rank in the Roman Catholic Church has existed since the Reformation, until a comparatively recent period, when the King's Confessor, who is appointed to that office by the Crown, has, at the request of the Crown, of late been accustomed to receive the title of a Bishop in partibus, with the authority of Vicar Apostolic. Formerly, indeed, the Bishop of Hildersheim appears to have had vicarial authority delegated to him from the Holy See, in respect of the Roman Catholics in Saxony, as well as in Denmark; but his interference was formally repudiated by the King of Saxony, on the occasion of Pope Clement XIV. transmitting through his hands the Brief "Dominus ac Redemptor Noster," for the suppression of the Society of Jesus. In Upper Lusatia the Chapter of the Cathedral church of Budissin, or Bautzen, is still Roman Catholic, and the Dean, or Præses (who is generally the same person with the King's Confessor, although not invariably so), exercises a spiritual

superintendence over the Roman Catholics in that province. At times he has further exercised episcopal functions as a Bishop in partibus, but never in the character of a Saxon Bishop.

It is said that Pope Gregory XVI., shortly after his accession to the Chair of St. Peter, was anxious to erect a Bishop's See at Meissen, as Pius VII. had been similarly desirous to re-establish monasteries in Saxony. The official answer in the latter case was, that the Pope could not do what he wished without the consent of the Crown. In the former case there does not appear to be any written record of what transpired, any more than of the oral negotiations between Cardinal Gonsalvi and M. Niebuhr, in regard to the overture to erect episcopal Sees in the Protestant districts of Prussia; but the fact may not be gainsayed, that the plan, if conceived, was never brought to maturity, and formally carried out by a Rescript of the Holy See; or if matured and promulgated, has never been substantially put into execution within the realm of Saxony.* Bishop Loch, the two Bishops Mauermann, and Bishop Dietrich, who have successively filled the offices of Confessor of the King and Vicar Apostolic during the last quarter of a century, do not appear to have borne any other episcopal titles than those of Bishops in partibus, nor is there at present any trace to be found in the Papal Red Book (Notizie) of a See of Meissen in Saxony.

The result of these cases is to establish an uniformity of practice on the part of the Holy See in exer

* When the elector of Saxony, in 1697, espoused the Roman Catholic religion, the rights and privileges of his Lutheran subjects were guaranteed by him in the Diet; and he resigned, on behalf of the Crown, all power over the Lutheran Church and schools to his privy council, which is not responsible to him in these matters.