Condition of the Catholic Nations of Europe.
In the following statements we read the sure cause of the decline of the papacy in its strongholds, according to the predictions of the prophet Daniel:— . . . The XIXme Siecle, a conservative Republican journal of Paris, has been publishing a remarkable series of articles on “Bismarck and France.” They purport to be the joint production of two publicists who were so profoundly impressed with the events of 1870-71, that they set out to master the secret of Bismarck’s success, and, for this purpose, subjected the social, political, and religious condition of Europe to a rigid analysis, and then applied the inductive method to the facts thus obtained, so as to reach a scientific solution of the problem. Among other conclusions they find that the material and intellectual progress of Prussia has been due to the Protestant element which so largely predominates in her population, and that Protestantism is the force that has developed her superiority, by lifting the nation out of the ruts of ecclesiastical authority, and up to the plane of scientific thought and action. They argue that the Catholic nations of Europe have reached their culmination; that while Prussia was progressing, Austria was petrifying herself, so that now she is reduced to a “geographical expression;” that the vigorous dynasties are either non-Catholic, such as England, Russia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, or at variance with the pope, as Italy; that nearly all the reigning houses of Europe have the blood of German Protestants in their veins, and that “the intelligence of Protestantism now leads the affairs of Europe.” The same writers account for Bismarck’s anti-papal policy by saying that “he must pivot his empire on the consistent and dominant element in it.”