On the 18th of August, 1855, a Concordat between the Courts of Austria and Rome was signed. This compact, by which a great deal of the liberty of the Austrian Church was given up to the Papacy, caused much dissatisfaction. In 1868, it was virtually abolished by the Legislatures of Austria and Hungary. To none was it more distasteful than to Panizzi, in whom, as will have been already seen, there was a wholesome dread of the Roman Church (a dread not altogether unreasonable, when certain countries and Governments had to be taken into account), and this was strongly expressed in two letters from him to Mr. Gladstone and to Mr. Haywood respectively. In the last of these, it must be granted that Panizzi very accurately estimates the opposition likely to be offered by disunited Sceptics and Freethinkers, void of combativeness and enthusiasm, to the disciplined forces of the Pope and the Curia. “B. M., June 1st, 1855. “My dear Sir, ... First of all, any Government agreeing to a Concordat on the ground discussed, the Civil Power is not paramount, but subject to the superior power of Rome. When Napoleon became King of Italy, he thought it right to ask the approval and confirmation of the sale of the Church property, by the Pope. It was at once granted; but when afterwards the State was going to dispose of one hundred millions of francs more of that property, the Pope protested, and argued that Napoleon himself, by asking the Papal sanction for past sales, acknowledged that no sale could be lawful without the consent of Rome. In the second place, the Court of Rome makes a great distinction between a Treaty and a Concordat. The latter she looks upon, properly speaking, as a boon granted by the Head of the Church, to any inferior Civil Power who humbly sues for the favour. I enclose you the first article of one of the most recent acts of this kind—the very one, in fact, which the Papal Court complains to have been broken by the Sardinian Government, by the Siccardi Law. In the third place, the Court of Rome does not consider herself bound to observe Concordats on her side. First of all the general maxim of the Comitia is alleged, that ‘non juramenta sed perjuria potius dicenda sunt quæ contra utilitatem Ecclesiasticam attentantur.’ As the Church is the judge of the _utility_, being the highest power, they say, no oath or promise can be binding if against Ecclesiastical utility. Next in the matter of Concordats, the doctrine is explicitly taught that the Pope has the power to derogate to them. I give you extracts from the works of a great Canonist, who states the pretensions of Rome to confute them; that, however, is another point: the point is what they at Rome affirm.