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2 in one of the minor theatres of Madrid, and to her I paid the value of the sap phire ring, which thus became my pro perty with her full consent.” “And what became of M. de Gondrc court?” I asked. “He entered the army, but resigned when the civil war in America broke out. lie joined the Confederates, was made a Colonel, and finally a general; but af ter some years of hard lighting, fore seeing, probably, the failure of the Con federacy, he left the United Strtcs and went to Mexico to proffer his services to the Emperor Maximilian* I believe he holds quite an elevated position among the military chieftains of the Imperial army, and he may some day become one of the greatest dignitaries of the new empire.” In he at'umn of 1867 I r c jived a letter from M. de Sicyeres (with whom I constantly correspond), which contained tlu,* following paragraph: “Do you rc meiiibrr my sapphire ring, and the his tory of the danseuse and of Gaston de Gondrecouif? I have just beard of the sad fate of the latter. He refused to quit Mexico with the French troops, preferring to remain and share the for tunes of his ill-fated master. lie was captured at Querctaro and two days af ter the execution of Maximilian was shot by order of Juarez. His last words, ad dressed to his executioners, were—“ You bring me a boon which for years I have sought in vain—death!” THE PRELATES RETURN AKCOBIS HOP McCLSKEY ON THE VATICAN COUNCIL AND THE DOGMA OF INFALIBILITY. IMPOSING RECEPTION AT ST, PATRICK’S {CATHEDRAL. SOLEMN" ECCLESTICAL PAGEANT. A solemn ecclesiastical reception was yesterday accorded to the Most Reverend Archbishop McCloskey on the occasion of his return from the Holy City. A more imposing religious pageant has seldom been witnessed within the hallowed walls of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The sacred edifice was crowded to the very doors; and, while the feelings’ of the immense assemblage devoutly harmonized with the object and the surrounding circum stances which marked the event, the welcome was unmistakably sincere. It will be rembered that Archbishop McCloskey, in attending- the Ecumenical Council took a somewhat prominent part in the various discussions and attracted considerable attention by his profound aod erudite theological views on the sub jects brought forward. His return to New York had been anxiously awaited for some time. Prior to his arrival meetings were held in the different parishes throughout the city, and it was unanimously resolved to give him a grand reception in the cathedral. That the most sanguine expectations of the prelate’s ardent and affectionate admirers were completely realized the magnificent dis lay of yesterday thoroughly demonstrat ed. Characterized by all the grandeur and religious pomp which ever mark the ceremonies peculiar to the Roman Catho lic Church, the reception to the Arch bishop yesterday was an event that could not have failed to make a lasting im pression upon those who attended it. Ad mission was by ticket, and although the hour named for the reception was twelve o’clock, the Cathedral was filled fully two hours before that time. The interior of the edifice presented quite a brilliant appearance, and when all the the seats had been occupied the mass of people in the rear moved up the aisles, or, more properly speaking, were com pelled to make advance, owing to the pressure of the dense throng. The altar was handsomely decorated, aqd my riads of lights burned on the hijfh altar. Among those occupying seats in its vinicity were Mayor Hall, Matthew T. Brennan, Sheriff O’Brien, Judge Gun ning S. Bedford, Judge Joseph F. Daly, Judge Dowling, Judge Quinn, Dr. Mc- Sweeny, J. J. Cummins, Denis Carolin, J edge Sbandley and others. Then a splendid array of beautiful toilets, and, in fine, the appearance of the cathedral in every aspect was such as to inspire feelings of solemnity and admiration. Shortly after twelve o’clock the gran organ pealed forth, and in conjunctio with a splendid orchestra, played Te Deum march, and almost simulta neously with the first strains of music the doors of the sacrisitv were thrown open and the procession "issued forth in following order:— Acolyte. Acolyte—Cross Bearer—Acolyte. Acolytes, two and two. Clergy, two and two, in surplices, cas socks and barettas. Incense Bearers with censers. Rev. Drs.yMcSwceny and McGeari. Priests of the Cathedral. Priest carrying cross. Rev. Father Kearney, Master of Cere monies. Very Rev. William Starrs, D. D., V. G., in chasubule &c. Attendant The Archbishop Attendant Priest, with mitre and crozier, &e. Priest. Four Acolytes, bearing the train of the Archbishop. The procession moved slowly down the southern aisle and crossed over io the main entrance, where incense was offered to the Archbishop by the Very Rev, Dr. Stars, Y. G. Holy water was then sprinkled around. The procession subsequently went up the nrudle aisle, and the clergy numbering about 150, defiled to either sides of the altar, when versicles were sung by the Vicar Gen eral and responded to by the choir. Prayers were then offered, and the March from Athali •, by Mendeissohn, was given in sple idid style. The Tc Deum , by Lam’ elatt, in D major, in cluding the Tc Gloriosi , soprano solo, was also sung, with full orchestra 1 ac companiment. The Rev. Father Preston, of St. Ann’s, then advanced to the foot of the altar and delivered an address to the Areh bistn p on behalf of the clergy. He said:—lt. is with the utmost pleasure mid gratitude to God that the clergymen of your dioc< so to-day in this sacred place welcome you home. They speak in their own name, and in the name of the faithful committed to their charge, when they express the universal joy which is felt by your flock at seeing you once more among us, seated upon your own episcopal throne. They come to pay their homage of respect, love and duty to a prelate whom they revere and for whose health and length of days they have offered many prayers. It has been no ordinary call of duty which has for one year separated us—the voice of Him who rules the sheep of Christ from the th rone of St. Peter, which called you to the sessions of that memorable council, whose acts will be written in the brigh test pages of history. In your person we have been represented in that august assemblage, and you have spoken for us. The faith and piety which animated the Catholics of this metropolis of the New World, in high honor which you have re ceived from the Holy Father and the important part assigned to you in the deliberations of the great Council, we have been honored. The clergy and people of this district, ever distinguish ed for loyalty to the Iloly See and fi delity to the one faith, have cause to thank you for your part in those glori ous o institutions and decrees whic hhave so deeply touched the heart of the Chris tian world and which have aroused again the echoes of Nice, of Florence and of Trent, and have bound together in new concord the souls that believe in the divinity and redemption of Jesus Christ. We confidently predict new triumphs to the Church in her great mission of civilizing and evangelizing mankind. Nation may go against nation and kingdom against kingdom, but no weapon drawn against her can prosper. For ourselves at homo wo can only say that during your absence we have labored with more than usual zeal, that the cause of Christ might not suffer in our hands; pace and unity have reigned among us without and with in. We trust that your return will be hailed by the evidences which are offer ed you of our fidelity to the vineyard of the Lord. The churches which have been built, or are now in process of erec tion, the increased efforts we have made to give Christian education to the child ren of our docks, on whom the future of our beloved country depends, the offer ings to the new cathedral, a monument alike to our faith and charity, are to you a sufficient proof that we have neither been idle or toiled in vain. The earnest sympathy and fatherly kindness which you haye ever shown to us bind us to gether; and to you, in these our works and labor of love, the consolation which we can give to you in the arduous res ponsibilities of your office is no small part of your reward. Permit us here, then, to renew the assuuances of our unalterable devotion to your office and person. Through you are we bound to that rock on which the Lord built His Church, that lasting foundation against whicli the gates of hell cannot prevail. We are happy and proud to welcome you as our father in Christ, as our leader in the great mission intrusted to us. We earnestly pray God to multiply upon you His grace and blessings, to spare you yet many years that the happy tie which exists yet among us may be long unbroken, for the confirmation of many in the faith, for the honor of the episcopate and the glory of our Lord and Saviour. ihe address was submitted on behalf of the clergy and the names of the follow ing reverend gentlemen were signed to the document:— Y. iiliam Starrs, Y. S., D. D ; Thomas S. Preston, William 11. Clowry and E award J. O’Reilly. ADDRESS ( F ARCHBISHOP M CLOSKEY. The M. st Reverend Archbishop Mc- Closkoy then ascended the pulpit, and adrnii the deepest si’enee spoke as fol low. :—Venerable and respected breth re and clergy, I should be too happy, were it possible, to return anything like adequate thanks for your kind and affec tionate reception; but for this I fell my self unequal, and I must simply throw myself, without reserve, upon your gene rosity. The words which have just been uttered, the place in which I stand, the spectacle which I here behold before my eyes, kindle emotions which forbid ut terance. This much, however I can say, and this much from the very bottom of my heart Ido say, that I am overjoyed— ten and a hundred fold overjoyed to see yon, overjoyed to lcok upon so many friend’y, familiar faces, overjoyed to be standing once more here among you, and grateful beyond measure for tbo warm and generous greeting which you have accorded me. I rememder to have said to you when on the eve of parting that, deeply as I regretted the necessity of even a temporary separation from you and from my diocese, yet I could leave without any serious disquietude concern ing the welfare of you, my brethren, dur ing my absence abroad. I knew that the adnustration of its affairs was ensrust ed to the prudent bands of one whose fidelity and zeal hud in other times and in the eyes of my illustrious predecessor, been fully tested. I had confidence in the zeal and devotedness of my clergy. I was convinced that it would be with you not simply a point of duty, but a matter of sacred honor, to labor if pos sible with even greater courage and greater earnestness during my absence than before; and in this I have not been disappointed. You have observed, and observed truly that it was not in obedence to any mission of my own not for any purpose of self-gratification, that I went to Rome. It, was simply in obe dience, ready and cheerful, to the voice of that Father, whose voice is to all the Catholics of the world, and the bishops of the Church and its clergy more especially, the voice of Christ, summoning me, hum ble as I am, in common with all the other prelates of the world, to the General Council of the Vatican. I needed not your assurance that your prayers accom panied me. Your eyes and your hearts instinctively—almost irresistibly—turn ed to that Holy City whither so many were journeying, and every day your prayers and supplications were offered up to heaven lor the success of that great work which was being undertaken. A General Council, beloved brethren, you know is no new thing in the Church; but in that Church’s eventful histoiy there is no one thing, no one event or circumstance, that has marked it sj strongly, has shone forth more conspicu ously or most rcsplendently through the ages, has been more powerful in the work us preserving the integrity’- of Di vine revelation, of the deposit of faith as it was first committed to the Apostles, of arresting the progress of heresy, of heal ing schisms, of promoting morality, of conducing to the advancement of civiliza tion, of giving true peace and happiness to society and providing for the advance ment of the troth and the salvation of souls. Nothing, I say, like this in the history of the Church can be compared with that which has been done and ef fected by its General Councils. I have only to mention Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, Florence, Trent and so many others with which you to-day are all so familiar. Their saving and salutary in fluences were not only for the day and generation in which they were held, but they have reached to our own times, deep ening and widening in their course through successive centuries, and now, as has been so eloquently remarked at the foot of this altar, “and now their Mori ous and their sacred echoes re-echo in the Council of the Vatican.” And among these general councils—lD now in number —I think I may with safety say there has not been one of greater importance and which, we trust, will be more productive of beneficial results than that whose ses sions are now in progress—important by reason of the number of prelates who are assembled therein, important by reason of that glorious and divinely protected PcntiCcite under which it is called, im portant by reason of the magnitude of the questions which have been consider ed already and defined. There assembled Bishops from every portion of the globe. In the earlier councils of the East there were few present other than Bishops from the East. The west was represented chiefly by the legates of the Holy Father whom he invested with his authority and in his name. In the great general coun cils of the East,the Eastern Bishops pre dominated and prevailed, and in common with them were to be seen others, some Bishops of Asia, some from Africa, and of Europe. America had no place there in. Australia had no place therein. They had no place in those councils because they then had no place on the map of the Christian world. Three hundred years have elapsed since the Council of Trent, and since that period the Ameri can Church has been planted and has grown up, and taken in North and South, and has presented within the walls of that Vatican a body of prelates as numerous and even more numerous than any other nation of Christians. There were there Bishops from China, Bishops from Japan Bishops from Abyssinia, from the North and from the South, from the islands of the sea scattered throughout the ocean. There were there venerable patriarchs representing churches of the earliest days of Christianity. There were there prelates renowned for their learning, and for their eloquence, for their piety, for their devotion to the cause of Christ. There were there doctors and confessors, men who had suffered and bearing upon their persons scars and wounds which had been inflicted upon them. I might mention one instance in the of the Bishop of China who came to Rome. lie had barely escaped from his residence, which for weeks had been besieged by the military, waiting for the moment when he would be assassinated, according to the edict of the Emperor to put him to death. But he escaped from their hands and took part with his brothers in council. There were gathered there from ail parts as children and brothers, all performing one and the same unani mous act of faith, officiating at the same altar, in various liturgies, in various cos tumes; but the same sacrifice, the same consecration, the same adoration and the same communion. It was a specta cle inspired, a spectacle sublime and beautiful beyond description, and such as Rome, with all its traditions of glo ries never, perhaps, had seen before, and it may be destined never to see again. So that it may be truly said there never was a council more truly deserving the name of general, the name of Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. I have alluded to the magnitude of the questions which occupied its attention. I would -fain dwell upon that, but I am warned that I must not trespass upon your patience. But there is one point when the name of the Vatican is mentioned, comes up at once to your minds, one that has received a peculiar importance not only because of that which intrinsically belongs to it but because of the external attention which has been drawn to it throughout the world, and that is the doctrine of In fallibility of the Pope. A great deal of misreprsseutation, and, in consequence, a great deal of misapprehension, exists as to the meaning and the nature and the intent of the infallibility of the Pope. It is said by many, and it is believed by many, that the Church and Vatican Council has been creating anew doc trine, has been imposing upon its Chris tian people a belief which they never held before; has been conferring upon the Holy Father, or lias allowed the assump tion by the Holy Father, of a prerogative and of an authority which before had never been recognized or received. That it was, therefore, an oppression of the consciences of the people, that it was a disturbance of the peace and tranquility of the Church, that it was an interference j with political and civil society, and that] it would make the Pope a sort of demi-! god, authorizing him to teach and divine ! and declare whatever he pleased, and that the motto would be—‘‘All right; the Pope can do no harm—the Pope can do no wrong.” Now, beloved brethren, let me say that the Vatican Council has made no new doctrine. It has given to the Pope no authority or prerogative which had not existed in him before; that it has not oppressed the calmest consciences; that it lias not interfered in either civil or political society-; but, if properly understood and*received, would contribute to the good order, to the strength of both, and to the peace and welfare of the people; and that the Pope, although infallible, is a man subject to error. He is infallible as Pope and as Vicar of Christ. Asa man—as a private Bishop, if you will—he is subject to error—subject as you are, except by the assistance of God’s grace. The Church does not, nor cannot create any new doc trine. It declares and it divines what is the truth that it has received, what is the truth that lias been revealed by God, and what is contained in that depository of the revelations of which it is rhe divinely appointed guardian. That which was be lieved before and not divined, might not always be, although a doctrine to be be lieved. That which we call a dogma of Catholic faith, we are bound to believe, under pain of sin, and it would be contu macy itself in not believing, under pain of heresy. Such lias been the doctrine of infallibility of the Pope which has been believed by the Christian world since the days of the Apostles until now. "The Church has always believed that the Popes of Rome are the successors of S Peter, are the inheritors of the promises which Christ made to him, and are also the inheritors cf his prerogatives and of his supreme apostolic authority. Chris 4 said to Peter, “Thou art the rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell will never prevail agaiust you.” The Church was to en dure forever, and how forever if the rock did not endure forever; and how would the rock endure forever if the of hell were to prevail against it? And if the gates could not prevail against it then Peter, who is the rock, and his suc cessors, who inherit the promises which I say are likewise the rock, must be rmht and neither against the rock nor against the successors of Peter will the gates of hell ever bo able to prevail. If i n t ] Je discharge qf their cilice as Vicars of Christ, as the head of his Church, thus divinely appointed to rule and govern the universal flock, they can teach error: if they can give in place of nourishing food the poisoned food of error; if they can teach declines as revelations wh'ch had never been revealed, and thereby impose as duties in morality; duties which were never contained in the Gos pel, never in the apostolic teachings or traditions of the Church, then the prom ises would have failed and the gates of hell would have prevailed. Feed my sheep and feed rny flock, and teach the Bishops of the Church as well as the faith ful people. This was the text of the Vicar of Christ. When wo say he is in fallible, we mean that when in the exer cise of that office, when in the exercise of its duties as Vicar of Christ, as head of the Church, as the organ of that Church, as the pastor and the teacher of that Church, he divines as a dogma of faith, and ho is, in virtue of his promises which have been made to Peter, and to him through Peter, protected from error. He has the promises of the Holy Ghost made to protect him. By his office he is called up m to decide when discussions spring up; when schisms threaten, when con sciences are disturbed, when doubts vex men’s minds, the Catholic heart instinct ively turn towards the See of Peter to demand and to hear from him the words and the teaching of truth, and when he spoke it was the mouth of Peter, the mouth of Christ —vox Lei. lie was e tiled upon to decide between the true and the untrue, to define errors and pro tect the people from the wrath of those against them; and would m>t-—wt; s>y it reverently—would not God have been wanting to Ilis Church if he had failed t > provide, when General Councils could not convene; when Bishops could n;t come together ? He spoke with that voice that spoke by right and by authori ty, un i, having the assistance of the Holy Ghost, he spoke the truth. And now, my brethren, that the Church has spokeD, we, as Catholics, bow down in obedience to its decrees. You have beard < f the dissensions, you have read much of the agitations, even among the Bishops them selves. True, never was there a question more fully and more freely discussed; never was greater liberty granted to any body of men, I will say, either of ‘ho Church or State, to speak out freely hoc sentiments of their heart and the convic tions us their mind, than was given on this and every other question that arose in this AAtican Council. They did speax freely whatever they spoke upon, never forgetting their digoity as Bishops, newer willfully, or, I may say, unwillfuliy, of fending the most delicate sensibility ot any brother. Nothing, that was calcina ted to excite animosity, was aroused. They spoke warmly, earnestly, fervently, it might be, to one another, but grasping one another’s hand in the same friendship, the same fraternal love, at the close of the Giscu— sions that they did at the beginning, I may say, as far as my own knowledge ex tends, I really" do no not know ol a sin gle bishop of the Vatican Council wh o was willing to or did boldly deny tic truth of the doctrine. They mignt nut have wished for prudential reasons, or for other reasons, that it should come n : > fore the world as a dogma of the Catho lic faith; but the agitations that a:w-\ whether through the fault of one or w another, the disturbances of Cath-.m consciences, the doubts which began . - arise in the minds of many who me never doubted before, rendered it imp r j‘ five that the Church should speak t - ly, in a manner intelligible to ail, tmu consciences might be tranquilized, men should know without dcubt,wnai •' - the teaching of the Church. If w v y the infallibility of the Pope we deny Me infallibility of the Church itself. 1- 1 say, though there might nave y ll 1 difference in some points, yet uie au. trine was received, and I know, 1 y ■ g own knowledge, that two hours hmy passed since ihe grand and triun:.