accomplished.

Now he proceeds from the obvious and historical fact of the quarrel
which actually took place between the Revolution and the Church, and
asks: "_Was there a necessary and fundamental quarrel between the
doctrines of the Revolution and those of the Catholic Church_?" And he
replies:

It is impossible for the theologian, or even for the practical
ecclesiastical teacher, to put his finger upon a political doctrine
essential to the Revolution and to say, "This doctrine is opposed
to Catholic dogma or to Catholic morals." Conversely, it is
impossible for the Republican to put his finger upon a matter of
ecclesiastical discipline or religious dogma and to say, "This
Catholic point is at issue with my political theory of the State."

So much for the negative argument which at that point in that book was
enough for Mr. Belloc's purpose. He proceeds to explain the material
accidents and causes which nullified this argument. But we must attempt
further to discover from the general trend of Mr. Belloc's character and
thought the positive grounds by which he reconciles these two principles
which have so far shown themselves divided in practice.

The two things are of Latin, that is to say of Roman origin. The Church
is "the ghost of the Roman Empire sitting crowned and throned on the
grave thereof": it is a new manifestation (and a higher one) of the
political and social ideal which inspired the Roman people. Also the
French have inherited most of the Latin passion for reason, law and
order: under Napoleon they strove to make a new empire, and they carried
together a code of law and the idea of equality all over Europe.

In both the Faith and the Revolution there are secure dogmas on which
the mind can rest. Fundamental unprovable things are established by
declaration, and fruitless argument about them is cut off at the roots.
In the clear certitude of such doctrines is a basis for action and for
civilization.

The purpose and the scope of work of both these ideas was much the same.
Each proposed to establish a European community, in which the peoples of
kindred blood might rest together and develop their resources. The
Revolution might well have restored that unity of the Western race which
vanished with Rome and which the Reformation forbade the Church to
accomplish.

That conception of Europe as an entity so far only conscious of itself,
as it were, by lucid intervals in