the Jansenist restrictions and reservations. The announcement of their submission pure and simple was forwarded to the Pope without any reference to any conditions or qualifications, and the Pope informed the king that he was about to issue letters of reconciliation to the four bishops. Before the letters were forwarded, however, rumours began to reach Rome that all was not well, and a new investigation was ordered. Finally, in view of the very critical state of affairs it was decided that the Pope might proceed safely on the documents received from the nuncio and the mediators without reference to the information acquired from other sources. In January 1669 the letters of reconciliation were issued. The Jansenists hailed the /Clementine Peace/ as a great triumph for their party, and boasted publicly that Clement IX. had receded from the position taken up by his predecessor, by accepting the Jansenist distinction between law and fact. That their boasting was without foundation is sufficiently clear from a mere cursory examination of the papal letters. The Pope makes it perfectly evident that the letters were issued on the assumption that the bishops had subscribed without any reservation or restriction. He states expressly that he was firmly resolved to uphold the constitutions of his predecessors, and that he would never admit any restriction or reservation. ---------- [1] Calleawert, /Cornelius Jansenius d'Ypres, ses derniers moments, sa soumission/, 1893. [2] Montlaur, /Angelique Arnauld/, 1902. [3] Giraud, /Pascal, l'homme, l'ouevre, l'influence/, 1905. (d) The Immaculate Conception. Passaglia, /De Immaculat. Concept. B.V.M./, 3 vols., 1855. Strozzi, /Controversia dell' Immacolata Concezione/, 1700. Roskovany, /De Beata Virgine in suo conceptu immaculata/, 1873-92. Le Bachelet, /L'Immac. Conc./, 1903. Bishop, /The Origins of the Feast of the Conception of B.V.M./, 1904. Ullathorne, /The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God/, 1904.