Page:History of Freedom.djvu/565

 THE VATICAN COUNCIL

5 21

Commission with corrections and remarks, it was to be put to the vote \vithout further debate. What the Council discussed \vas to be the work of unknown divines: what it voted \vas to be the work of a majority in a Commission of t\venty-four. It \vas in the election of these Commissions that the episcopate obtained the chance of influencing the formation of its decrees. But the papal theologians retained their predominance, for they might be summoned to defend or alter their work in the Com- mission, from which the bishops who had spoken or proposed amendments were excluded. Practically, the right of initiative was the deciding point. Even if the first regulation had remained in force, the bishops could never have recovered the surprises, and the difficulty of preparing for unforeseen debates. The regulation ulti- mately broke do\vn under the mistake of allowing the decree to be debated only once, and that in its crude state, as it came from the hands of the divines. The authors of the measure had not contemplated any real discussion. It was so unlike the way in \vhich business was conducted at Trent, where the right of the episcopate was formally asserted, \vhere the envoys were consulted, and the bishops discussed the questions in several groups before the general congregations, that the printed text of the Tridentine Regulation was rigidly suppressed. It was further provided that the reports of the speeches should not be communicated to the bishops; and the strictest secrecy was enjoined on all concerning the business of the Council. The bishops, being under no obligation to observe this rule, were afterwards informed that it bound them under grievous sin. This important precept did not succeed in excluding the action of public opinion. I t could be applied only to the debates; and many bishops spoke with greater energy and freedom before an assembly of their o\vn order than they would have done if their words had been taken down by Protestants, to be quoted against them at home. But printed documents, distributed in seven hundred copies, could not be kept secret. The rule