The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE POPE'S
HEALTII.—Every day the telegrepa brings some
intelligence about the Pope's health. Sometimes
he is a little worse, sometimes he is a little better.
Oae day very unfavourable syteptonss have set in;
he has lost his mind, his legs are giving way, he, is
wholly unfit for business. The next day he is
nearly well again ; he has receis ed the French
Ambassador, he has given his assent to a new loan,
he has blessed thousands of people from a balcony.
The telegraph sends all these conflicting messages
-bout him, we may he sure, because Europe takes
a great interest in his health; or because, in plainer
language, a great many people think it to their
interest that he should die, and a great many people
think it to their interest that he should live. It
is expected that, when the Pope dies, some great
change will take place. No one says clearly what
the change is to be, or why it should come; but
still a change is C2ipueled, uud even the I)o:3:Ability
of change is enough at the present day to keep
Europe on the quiver. And yet many reasons
might be urged fur the opinion that this event,
whenever it may tyke place, will not greatly alter
the situation of affairs. It is absurd to suppose
that a Pope will be chosen who will blindly obey
the Emperor of the French, who will go out of
Rome when he is told, and will he delighted to
enter on immediate arrangements for the abandon-
ment of the temporal power. The Cardinal echo
would be of such a mind does not eaitt, and, it he
did, he would be sure to be vetoed by Spain or
Austria. The Conclave is entirely under the
direction of persons whose fidelity to the pre-
sent system is unquestionable, whose whole
traditions, failings, interests, and convictions lead
them to determine that no compromise with the
enemy shall be even thought of, and who will cling
to the temporal power to the last. Prudence may
dictate the choice of a moderate, or a silky, or even
of an oily person—of a Pope who will not go out of
his way to offend the great ones of the earth, and
who, if ha curses at all, will be content to curse in
a mild kind of ecclesiastical doet-Latin. But his
mind will be as firm as a rock, and his mind will be
set on cleaving to the inheritance of his predeces-
sors. Nor can it be said that there is any conspi-
cuous change in the position of the powers which are
most concerned in the affairs of Rome. It is true
that the Italian Ministry has been able to announce
to the Chamber that the negotiations with France
for the termination or modification of the temporal
power which broke down two years ago, have been
resumed. But that these negotiations will result
in anything, no Italian Minister would venture to
predict. It suits the Emperor to stay in Rome,
and, so long as it suits him, he is not likely to be
turned from his purpose by the diplomatic efforts
of a country that is almost entirely under subjec-
tion to him. And if it suits him to keep his troops
at Rome now, there appears to be no reason why
this should not equally suit him although the pre-
sent Pope died and a new Pope appointed. A new
Pope would do asPiuslX. has done,and if any threat
of withdrawing the French troops from Rome were
made, would simply aanounce his intention of leav
ing Rome altogether. 'What the Emperor reason
ably dreads is the spectacle of a wandering, exiled
Pope, bearing his lucrative martyrdom meekly,
stirring np the hearts of the faithful, and manag-
ing to implicate the eldest son of the Church in
the disgrace and crime of his humiliation. If
the Pope cannot do without the Emperor, the
Emperor cannot do without the Pope; and as
the Papal Court is perfectly aware of this, it can
take the same advantage of the necessities of the
Emperor, whether one man is Pope or another. In
Spain, which is the stronghold of thoroughgoing
Catholicism, the determination to uphold the Pope
seems as strong as ever, and the Spanish Ministry
has just announced that its views as to the temporal
power remain unaltered. It is true that Spain could
not keep up the temporal power for a day if France
chose to decree its termination ; but Spain, if faith-
flrl to the last, might have the honour and distinc •
tion of receiving the Pope in his exile, and this is an
honour which France would decidedly grudge her.
THE '6 EXAMINEIt" ON THE QUEEN AND THE
WAlt.—lt is little more than a century since the ac-
cession of George III„ the most wrong headed and
expensive sovereign whom this country has known
since the Revolution. Exclusive of the period dur-
ing which the supreme functions of the State were
vested in a regency, his reign lasted about 50 years;
and mainly owing to his insane pride of kingcraft
and reeklessncss in the shedding of blood,wars were
carried on which cost us at least £500,000,000, and
we fear to say how many thousand lives. Yet this
is the man whom, in spite of crazy eloquence, Lord
Ellenborough not only holds up as a model of Eng-
lish royalty, but indecently contrasts with the con-
stitutional, frugal, and peace loving monarch who
now fills the throne. In his first speech to Parlia-
ment George 111. snatched at personal popularity
by boasting that he had been born and bred in
England, a boast which was no better than a sneer
at, his Hanoverian kinsman who had preceded him.
His illustrious granddaughter, under whom wa are
more fortunate to live, has never indulged in tawdry
rhetoric when addressing her people, but then she
has never squandered their treasure or spilt their
blood for dynastic objects, or to enforce colonial
misrule. Georgelll• spent his life in raving against
the liberties of the people, and in plotting
ag inst the Ministers whose advice he was bound
to take. The Queen is the best example of loyalty
in its highest sense, for she is loyal to the law by
which she holds her crown, and loyal to the interest
and freedom of her people. The testimony of Lord
Russell, in her defence against the tirade of Lord
Ellenborougb is simple, direct, and conclusive.
Whatever advice the de'oioet may have eollectivsay
given to her M jest's, she haa inv sriebly r •ken ; •,r,(l
hone) it eroold he Unreasonable i 0 " ?act ,11:;•:- ;lie