by violent illness, and appeared to be upon his deathbed. Manning
thought for a moment that his labours had been in vain and that
all was lost. But the Cardinal recovered; Monsignor Talbot used
his influence as he alone knew how; and a papal decree was issued
by which Dr. Errington was 'liberated' from the Coadjutorship of
Westminster, together with the right of succession to the See.

It was a supreme act of authority--a 'colpo di stato di
Dominiddio', as the Pope himself said--and the blow to the Old
Catholics was correspondingly severe. They found themselves
deprived at one fell swoop both of the influence of their most
energetic supporter and of the certainty of coming into power at
Wiseman's death. And in the meantime, Manning was redoubling his
energies at Bayswater. Though his Oblates had been checked over
St. Edmund's, there was still no lack of work for them to do.
There were missions to be carried on, schools to be managed,
funds to be collected. Several new churches were built; a
community of most edifying nuns of the Third Order of St. Francis
was established; and £30,000, raised from Manning's private
resources and from those of his friends, was spent in three
years. 'I hate that man,' one of the Old Catholics exclaimed, 'he
is such a forward piece.' The words were reported to Manning, who
shrugged his shoulders. 'Poor man,' he said, 'what is he made of?
Does he suppose, in his foolishness, that after working day and
night for twenty years in heresy and schism, on becoming a
Catholic, I should sit in an easy-chair and fold my hands all the
rest of my life?' But his secret thoughts were of a different
caste. 'I am conscious of a desire,' he wrote in his Diary, 'to
be in such a position: (I) as I had in times past; (2) as my
present circumstances imply; (3) as my friends think me fit for;