antism and papal
despotism, and its incompatibility with modern thought, were clearly
pointed out; and the evidence against papal infallibility, resting, as
the _Letters_ asserted, on the False Decretals, and accepted without
controversy in an age of ignorance, was ably marshalled for the guidance
of the council. When, on the 8th of December 1869, it had actually
assembled, the world was kept informed of what was going on in the
_Letters of Quirinus_, written by Dollinger and Huber while the debates
of the council were proceeding. Some of these letters appeared in the
German newspapers, and an English translation was published by
Rivington. Augustin Theiner, the librarian at the Vatican, then in
disgrace with the pope for his outspoken Liberalism, kept his German
friends well informed of the course of the discussions. The proceedings
of the council were frequently very stormy, and the opponents of the
dogma of infallibility complained that they were not unfrequently
interrupted, and that endeavours were made to put them down by clamour.
The dogma was at length carried by an overwhelming majority, and the
dissentient bishops, who--with the exception of two--had left the
council before the final division, one by one submitted (see VATICAN
COUNCIL). Dollinger, however, was not to be silenced. He headed a
protest by forty-four professors in the university of Munich, and
gathered together a congress at Nuremberg, which met in August 1870 and
issued a declaration adverse to the Vatican decrees. An immense ferment
took place. In Bavaria, where Dollinger's influence was greatest, the
strongest determination to resist the resolutions of the council
prevailed. But the authority of the council was held by the archbishop
of Munich to be paramount, and he called upon Dollinger to submit.
Instead of submitting, Dollinger, on the 28th of March 1871, addressed a
memorable letter to the archbishop, refusing to subscribe the decrees.
They were, he said, opposed to Holy Scripture, to the traditions of the
Church for the first 1000 years, to historical evidence, to the decrees
of the general councils, and to the existing relations of the Roman
Catholic Church to the state in every country in the world. "As a
Christian, as a theologian, as an historian, and as a citizen," he
added, "I cannot accept this doctrine."

The archbishop replied by excommunicating the disobedient professor.
This aroused fresh opposition. Dollinger was almost unanim