rian of the Council will be able to dispense with them, and the Liberal Catholic Opposition, whose ecclesiastical conscience protests against the imposition of dogmas effected by all kinds of crooked arts and appliances of force, will find here the most serviceable weapons for combating the legitimacy of the Council.
In order to preserve the original character of the Letters, as a chronicle accurately reflecting the opinions and feelings of the Bishops of the minority, they are published now in a complete collection without any change, with the exception of a few corrections here and there in a foot-note. Some articles from the Allgemeine Zeitung are prefixed to the Letters, which have an important bearing on the previous history of the Council;1 and an appendix is subjoined containing documents partly serving to throw a further light on the history of the Council and partly to corroborate our
1 [It may be well to add, to preclude misconceptions, that both Letters and Articles are exclusively the work of Catholics.-TR.]