The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-17 00:00:00

EVACUATION OF ROME:

France appears to have been dickering with Italy,
giving up Rome in exchange for Victor Emanuel's
alliance. The Emperor withdraws his small force from
the Papal territory, not, we suppose, because he needs
the men, but because Italy demands his retirement as the
price of either friendship or neutrality. Six years ago the
French and Italian Governments signed a convention for
the protection of the Pope's dominions, Italy engaging
neither to attack them herself nor allow attacks
to be made upon them from without, and consenting
to the organisation of a Papal army, provided it should.
not " degenerate into a means of attack against the
Italian Government ; " while France pledged herself to
withdraw all her troops from Rome within two years. A
Papal army (now numbering about 10,000) was accordingly
enlisted, chiefly in foreign countries, and by the. month
of October, 1866, the French had all returned
home. The result which everybody had fore-
seen soon came to pass. The Garibaldians
evaded the King's forces, set on foot repeated expedi-
tions against Rome, and would probably have secured
possession of the city had not the French returned to the
Pontiff's assistance. On the ground that Italy had not
observed her promise of preventing attacks from without,
Napoleon has ever since kept a force in the Pontifical
States, to the intense chagrin of the Italian
people. Now that he withdraws once more, it
may be dOubted whether Italy will repeat the
guarantee she gave in 1864. It seems probable
that we shall see the syeedy extinction of the rem-
nant of the temporal power, and the incorporation
of Rome with the kingdom of which it is the natural
capital, It is reported that the operation is to be con-
ducted by the favourite Napoleonic device of a plebis-
citum, only there will be no necessity fur manufacturing
majorities on the French plan, because the Roman people,
it is notorious, are overwhelmingly in favour of union
with the kingdom of Italy. The Pope's 10,000 men can
do nothing, though General Kanzler; the Minister of
War, talks bravely of putting the city in a state
of defence. Austria has consented to the arrangement,
and there seems to be no one else to whom Pius IX. can
turn for help. In the hour of his theological triumph he
is probably destined to see the last of his temporal glories
slip from his hand. To say nothing of the Church as a
religious organization, the vitality of the temporal power
in history has certainly been amazing. It has withstood
more assaults, both from within and without, than any
other state or form of government ever erected in
Christendom. It has arisen from humilia,4ions which
all mankindbelieved to be fatal. The first Napoleon blotted
it entirely out of existence and sent the Pope a captive
into France. Pius VI. died in captivity, and no other
Pope could be selected except upon terms dictated by the
conqueror. But just when men began to believe not only
in the extinction of the temporal power, but the
extinction of the Papacy itself, Napoleon fell, and
Rome regained all that had been taken from it.
Pius IX. had to flee from Rome in disguise, and
there has been more than one period of his reign when his
case seemed at, first view even more desperate than it is
now. We cannot, therefore, feel assured that some at
least of his power may not be saved or restored to him
yet. In former times, however, he has had more of the
good will of the Catholic powers than he seems to have
now. France, Austria Spain, the Two Sicilies, any or
all of them twenty years ago would have been
ready to help him as far as they conld ; but not
one would do much for him now. The revolution in
Spain has resulted in a violent hostility between the
Government and the Church. The power which has
succeeded to the property of the King of Naples is the
chief of the Pope's spoilers. France and Austria are not
only irritated by the new dogma and its dreaded results,
but find an opportunity in the Pope's necessities, the one
for a little commercial transaction, the other for a political
alliance which, in the course of the war, may do her a
gredt deal of material good. In fact, the Pope seems to
have few friends. in these days besides the Irish, and
unfortunately for him the Irsh are not a power—except in
the City of New York. It is a strange coincidence,
however, that just when France and Italy are casting
lots for the Pope's garments, the faithful Catholics
of Ireland, under the lead of their priests, are
preparing for a great demonstration in favour of Napo-
leon ! There seems to be a vague impression among
Irishmen that in this contest Napoleon is the Catholic
champion. It ought to be clear enough by this time that
Catholicism and Protestantism have nothing to do
with the quarrel. Men of all creeds fight side by
side on equal terms, and the Churches, we presume,
need look for no favours from either party. —New York
Tribune.

THE MYSTERY OF THE TWENTY-THIRD-
S I BEET MURDER.

But five full days have elapsed since the most atrocious
and appalling murder that has ever horrified New .York
was committed in the very heart of one of our most popu-
lous city neighbourhoods, and already we see insidious
and determined efforts made to mystify the public mind
and browbeat public opinion. Precisely in this spell of
social influence lies the secret of public. insecurity. If
auy individual can, upon this pretext or the other, be held
absolutely sacred from the most searching inquiry in a
murder case, then what is called " detective" business in
New York is simply a sickening imposture that
insults the common sense of every thinking man.
There are beings capable of counting upon pre-
cisely this kind of impunity. "No one would believe
it possible for me to have done this deed !" has been the
language of criminal after criminal to himself. as the
elaborate records of Great Britain, France, and Germany
show. The famous volumes of the " Causes Celebres '
present several classes analagous to this Nathan horror;
but French justice is no respecter of persons; it instantly
fastens the seals of the State upon all papers, implements,
articles and depositaries in the house of assassination ; it
holds every inmate and every associate therewith con-
nected under the most rigid surveillance, day and night ;
it takes each man and woman apart, in silence and in
secret ; it prevents their conference and possible collu-
sion; it questions again, again and again, sometimes reite-
rating the very same inquiry over and over, at
different and at unexpected times ; it confronts,
compares, and scrutinizes ; it accepts all sane material and
rejects nothing; its touch has the terrible strength of the
finger at the end of the elephant's trunk, which can alter-
nately toss aside hundredweights and pick up a cambric
needle. Then, along with this width of range combined,
with minute intensity, delicate science, culture and edu-
cated information are brought to bear in their most
attractive as well as in their sternest forms. The hand is
of iron, but the glove is of velvet ; the contact is artistic,
but the grasp upon the throat of the feign is inexorable
and deadly. Let our readers recall the processes
of detection in the Traupmann murder case, which
horrified all France. What indefatigable ac-
tivity, what keen foresight, what patience,
persistence and yet what rapidity of move-
ment ; what breadth of view, and yet what
microscopic minuteness of scrutiny ; no testimony was re-
jected ; no theories were pompously scoffed at by inflated
ignorance ; no decent agencies were slighted ; no influ-
ence, one way or the other, was tolerated for the twink-
ling of an eye ; all things were taken in and sifted, the
chaff only was thrown away after winnowing, and if but
one grain of fact remained it was held precious. And the
result ? The soil of all Europe seemed alive under the
feet of the murderer ; the very stars watched him at
night ; the whistle of the locomotive when he tried to fly
denounced him with a voice like the shrieks of his victims ;
the sea alone yawned ready to receive him at Havre ; in
his utter dispair he sprang into its billows and—found
himself in the clutch of the law ! He was tried, he con-
fessed, and was executed. This is ability, and this is de-
tection. The police of New York and of the United States
have now a conspicuous and an irrevocable opportunity be-
fore them. This is their Waterloo and they will nobly dis-
charge their duty. We verily believe that to real skill
and science, armed with adequate authority, the solution
of this so-called mystery is at the door. The individual
or set of indiViduals who may attempt in the slightest
degree to clog_ their progress or throw either golden
or common dust in their way must be regarded
as hostile to society. The sum of twenty-five
thousand dollars is large, but it is not enough
for the expenses of this search. It is a
mere trifling exponent of the overwhelming importance of
the detection and punishment of the culprit. No com-
bination must be left strong enough to outbid the cry of
justice. That would be to leave the throats of every
bunker and merchant or of any other possessor of a home
and means exposed to the knife of the midnight assassin.
A state or a nation, a commercial board or a mercantile
body, would better spend a million in ferretting out all
the mysteries of this crime than in half of the purposes to
which they do apply their money. It is a case of the
"public in danger," and public paid officers must now,
once for all, do their duty, and their whole duty, or them-
selves be utterly undone.—New York Herald.

The ship-carpenter's " dog," so apparently un-
accounted for in the residence of Mr. Nathan—the
weapon in fact with which the foul murder was effected,
has been recognized as having been in the stable of
Nathan's house for a year or more. If this statement
of the builder •of the house be true—and he seems
to have been a constant and familiar visitor to the pre-
mises—one cloud of mystery, and that not a small one,
would seem to be removed. If this story can be verified
it will be another evidence in favour of the theory that
the murderer did not come from the outside, and that, in
all probability, he did not leave the house on the night of
the murder.