Thus it happened that the Triple Tiara seemed
to come, for a moment, within the grasp of the late Archdeacon of
Chichester; and the cautious hand refrained. Leo XIII was
elected, and there was a great change in the policy of the
Vatican. Liberalism became the order of the day. And now at last
the opportunity seemed ripe for an act which, in the opinion of
the majority of English Catholics, had long been due-- the
bestowal of some mark of recognition from the Holy See upon the
labours and the sanctity of Father Newman. It was felt that a
Cardinal's hat was the one fitting reward for such a life, and
accordingly the Duke of Norfolk, representing the Catholic laity
of England, visited Manning, and suggested that he should forward
the proposal to the Vatican. Manning agreed, and then there
followed a curious series of incidents-- the last encounter in
the
jarring lives of those two men. A letter was drawn up by Manning
for the eye of the Pope, embodying the Duke of Norfolk's
proposal; but there was an unaccountable delay in the
transmission of this letter; months passed, and it had not
reached the Holy Father. The whole matter would, perhaps, have
dropped out of sight and been forgotten, in a way which had
become customary when honours for Newman were concerned, had not
the Duke of Norfolk himself, when he was next in Rome, ventured
to recommend to Leo XIII that Dr.
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