Germans high in rank in the government often told me that no part
of conquered Poland would ever be incorporated in Prussia or the
Empire, because it was not desirable to add to the Roman Catholic
population; that they had troubles enough with the Catholics now
in Germany and had no desire to add to their numbers. This, and
the desire to lure the Poles into the creation of a national
army which could be utilised by the German machine, were the
reasons for the creation by Germany (with the assent of Austria)
of the new country of Poland.

This Catholic party is the result in Germany of the
_Kulturkampf_ or War for Civilisation, as it was called by
Bismarck, a contest dating from 1870 between the State in Germany
and the Roman Catholic Church.

Prussia has always been the centre of Protestantism in Germany,
although there are many Roman Catholics in the Rhine Provinces
of Prussia, and in that part of Prussia inhabited principally
by Poles, originally part of the Kingdom of Poland.

Baden and Bavaria, the two principal South German States, and
others are Catholic. In 1870, on the withdrawal of the French
garrison from Rome, the Temporal Power of the Pope ended, and
Bismarck, though appealed to by Catholics, took no interest in the
defence of the Papacy. The conflict between the Roman Catholics
and the Government in Germany was precipitated by the promulgation
by the Vatican Council, in 1870, of the Dogma of the Infallibility
of the Pope.

A certain number of German pastors and bishops refused to subscribe