Whether the effect of these affirmations upon Lord Clarendon was
as great as Manning supposed is somewhat doubtful; but it is at
any rate certain that Mr. Gladstone failed to carry the Cabinet
with
him; and, when at last a proposal was definitely made that the
English
Government should invite the Powers of Europe to intervene at the
Vatican,
it was rejected. Manning always believed that this was the direct
result
of Mr. Russell's dispatches, which had acted as an antidote to
the poison
of Lord Acton's letters, and thus carried the day. If that was
so, the
discretion of biographers has not yet entirely lifted the veil
from these proceedings Manning had assuredly performed no small
service for his cause. Yet his modesty would not allow him to
assume for himself a credit which, after all, was due elsewhere;
and when he told the story of those days, he would add, with more
than wonted seriousness, 'It was by the Divine Will that the
designs of His enemies were frustrated'.

Meanwhile, in the North Transept of St. Peter's a certain amount
of preliminary business had been carried through. Various
miscellaneous points in Christian doctrine had been
satisfactorily determined. Among others, the following Canons
were laid down by the Fathers: 'If anyone does not accept for
sacred and canonical the whole and every part of the Books of
Holy Scripture, or deny that they are divinely inspired, let him
be anathema.' 'If anyone says that miracles cannot be, and