He maintained unwaveringly the attitude of his predecessor toward the Italian Government, con sidering it as a usurper in Rome and himself as a prisoner in the Vatican. Elsewhere his general policy was to support existing governments as representatives of law and order. Thus, though with some difficulty, he persuaded French Catho lics to support the Republic; and he condemned the Nationalist 'plan of campaign' in Ireland. The Kulturkampf (q.v.) waged by the Prussian Gov ernment against the Holy See was brought to a close in 1887, the Papacy issuing from it trium phant. Leo XIII. reestablished the ancient hier archy of Scotland in 1878, and also established one in India. His constant efforts were devoted to the promotion of peace in the temporal order throughout the world ; in 1885 he was able to se cure it in a definite case by acting as arbitrator in the dispute which arose between Germany and Spain concerning the Caroline Islands. His life was of the simplest and most abstemious descrip tion, which doubtless had much to do with its prolongation. His interest in science and litera ture was always great, and marked for example by the provision of large sums for the Vatican Observatory. In 1883 he threw open the Vat
ican archives to all properly qualified scholars, expressing the conviction that the Church had nothing to fear from the study of the facts of history. His Latin style is of a high order, both in prose and verse: the com position of Latin poetry was one of his favorite relaxations. For his life, consult biographies by Bonghi (Citth di Castello, 1884), O'Reilly (Lon don, 1887), Weinand (2d ed., Cologne, 1892), T'Serclaes (Lille, 1894), Hall (New York, 1899), Narfon (Eng. trans.. London, 1S99) ; also Boyer d'Agen, La jeunesse de Leon XIII. (Tours, 1896) ; id., La prelature de Leon XIII. (ib., 1902) ; Goetz, Leo XIII., seine Weltanschauung and seine Wirksamkeit (Gotha, 1899) ; Keller, Life owl Acts of Leo XIII. (New York, 1887). An edition of his Carmina was published in 1883; also Poems, Charades, and Inscriptions of Pope Leo. XIII. (ed. Henry, Philadelphia, 1902). His encyclicals have been published in Latin and Ger man (Freiburg, 1881 seq.).