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 statements. _September 1870._ VIEWS OF THE COUNCIL. (ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, MAY 20, 1869.) Cardinal Antonelli is said on good authority to have replied very lately to the question of the ambassador of a Northern Government, that it is certainly intended to have the dogma of Papal Infallibility proclaimed at the ensuing Council; and, moreover, as this has long been the belief of all good Catholics, that there would be no difficulty about the definition. It by no means follows, if this report is correct, that the importance of the new principle of faith to be created is not well understood at Rome. The _Civiltà Cattolica_ leaves no room for doubt that one of its principal effects is already distinctly kept in view, and that a further principle, which again must involve an indefinite series of consequences, is being deliberately aimed at.(2) In the number for April 3, it has spoken with full approval, with reference to the approaching Council, of the famous Bull of Boniface VIII., _Unam Sanctam_, doubly confirmed by Papal authority, and addressed as a supreme decision on faith to the whole ecclesiastical world, and treats it as self-evident that all the contents of the Bull, with other doctrinal decrees issued throughout the Church, will come into full force after the Council, and thenceforth form the basis of Catholic doctrine on the relations of Church and State. The maxims that will have to be adopted, as well by the learned as in popular instruction, when once Papal Infallibility has been defined, are these:— The two powers, the temporal and spiritual, are in the hands of the Church, _i.e._ the Pope, who permits the former to be administered by kings and others, but only under his guidance and during his good pleasure (_ad nutum et potentiam sacerdotis_). It belongs to the spiritual power, according to the Divine commission and plenary jurisdiction bestowed on Peter, to appoint, and, if cause arise, to judge the temporal; and whoever opposes its regulations rebels against the ordinance of God. In a word, the absolute dominion of the Church over the State will next year come into force as a principle of Catholic faith, and become a factor to be reckoned with by every Commonwealth or State that has Catholic inhabitants; and by “Church” in this system must always be understood the Pope, and the Bishops who act under absolute control of the Pope.