The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-07 00:00:00

THE PAPAL EXCO 3.1.31UN1CA I lON.

" Qui s'excuse s'accuse." There is clearly an
uneasy feeling in Paris lest it should be thought
among the mass of the rural population that the
Emperor Napoleon is comprised in the excommu-
nication or eel-Nitre Nothiell has been promulgated at
Rome. The note in the Monitchir some days back,
warning the public that no Papal bulls, reseripts,
briefs, i&c., could be introduced into France without
an infraction of the organic laws of the Concordat ;
the dogging by a police emissary of M. Louis
Veuillot's footsteps during his journey to Rome, his
stay there, and his return to Paris; and the elabo-
rate articles in this day's Constitutionnel, signed, it
is true, by M. Grandguillot, but most probably fur-
nished by authority, all indicate nervousness on the
subject, as well as an earnest desire to remove any
impression unfavourable to the Imperial Govern-
ment. It is true that French soldiers did not invade
the Romagna, and that no portion of the Pontifical
States has been annexed to France. But is it true
that France has had no parts direct or indirect, in
the act ? Is it true that there has been no partici-
pation, morally or materially, in it ? Is it denied
that the annexation of Savoy to France has been
a consequence of the annexation of the Romagna
to Piedmont, and was projected fro* the begin-
ning ? Who wrote the pamphlet Le Pape et
let ongres, fiercely denounced by the Pope as a
tissue of sophistry and hypocrisy ? If you look at
the map of the Europe of 1800, which was thrown
out as a feeler in 1858, and, when the public mind
got used to the discussion of the contemplated
changes, was suddenly withrawn from public
sight, you will find that the portion of the Roman
States, the annexation of which has drawn forth the
censures of the Vatican, is laid down as forming
part of the projected Italian kingdom. So, to be
sure, is Venetia; but if the eagles did not sweep
over the waters of the Adriatic, it Was not for want
of good will on the part of those Imperial birds. It
is true, as the Constautionne/ remarks, that the
French army is still at Rome till protect the Pope.
But the city of Rome was reserved for the Pope by
the programme traced in the pamphlet. The Im-
perial Government probably cares very little about
Papal excommunications or censures; but there is
clearly great anxiety to show to the French clergy
and the provinces that it is not touched by them.
It is not forgotten that the object for which Prince
Napoleon's corps d'armee went to Italy was to force
the Austrians to evacuate the Romagna ; and the
evacuation of the Romagna was followed by the
revolt of those provinces. The Prince, indeed, con-
gratulates himself on having by that manoeuvre
contributed to the success of the campaign. If
this be not " abetting, promoting, inducing," Sze,
it is hard to say what is. Talking
of excommuni-
cation, I may observe that the one given by the
Siecle some days back, and which may have been
copied from " Tristram Shandy," was not the in-
vention of Sterne, but was no doubt taken by him
from Etienne Baluze, who published at the close of
the 17th century his " Capitulaires," in a volume of
which I have just read the formula in question,
under the 'Had of " Formulae vtieres exorcismorum
et exconamunicationum."—Letter fronz Paris.

M. Carvalho has resigned his functions as director
of the Theatre •Lyrique, and M. Bety has been nominated
to the vacant place.
M. E'nmanuel Arago, who in 1848 was commis-
sioner extraordinary of the Republic' at Lyons, and after-
wards representative of the people in the Constituent As-
sembly, has resumed the exercise of the profession of advo-
cate at the bar of Paris, which he has ceased to follow since
1&37.