The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-15 00:00:00

THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL LETTER.

The Journal de Francfort publishes a circular
which the French Minister, M. Thouvenel, has ad-
dressed to the diplomatic agents of France in reply
to the last encyclical letter of the Pope. No date
is affixed in the above-mentioned journal to the
document, which runs as follows :
" Sir,—You have read the encyclical letter which
the Pope has addressed to all Patriarchs, Bishops,
and Primates of the Catholic Church, and in which
his Holiness, exposing in an exclusive point of view
the origin and nature of the difficulties presented
by the existing situation of the Romagna, exhorts
pastors and the faithful of the whole world. to em-
ploy zealously all their efforts towards the main-
tenance and defence of the rights of the Holy See
over that province.
" Not doubting that this document has at-
tracted the serious attention of the Government of
—, I consider it my duty to enable you to make
known how his Majesty's Government appreciates
it.

...
" I will not for the moment stop to notice the
reproaches, more or less explicit, which are directed
by the encyclical letter against the line of policy
followed by the Emperor with regard to the Holy
See, in the difficult circumstances of these latter
times. History in its impartially will one day say
whether the responsibility of the events which have
occurred falls on the Sovereign whose efforts have
been constantly employed to prevent them, or on
those who, refusing any concession or any reform,
and confining themselves in inexplicable inaction,
have allowed things to grow worse and worse, until
they threaten to reach a point at which the evil
becomes so great that it cannot be remedied.

" What in particular has attracted the painful
attention of his Majesty's Government is the for-
getfulness of diplomatic usages which, in so im-
portant a matter, the Court of Rome has displayed,
by transporting directly to the field of religion a
question which before all things belongs to tem-
poral order. We see with sentiments of sincere
and profound regret the Holy Father appealing to
the conscience of the clergy, and exciting the ar-
dour of the faithful, with respect to an affair the
discussion of which can only take place advanta-
geously between Government and Government.
" It is not intended, in fact, to make the
slightest encroachment on the spiritual power of
the Sovereign Pontiff, nor on the independence
required for the exercise of that power within
the limits of his rights. The question of Romagna
now as at other periods, has arisen from political
circumstances ; and it is in its political aspect
that we should examine it, by seeking the best
means of satisfying necessities in the presence of
which the Pontifical Government would not find
itself fatally placed, if, instead of imprudently wait•
ing for the development of the situation, it had
listened to our counsels and seconded our efforts.
No, whater a party which does not fear to assume
the appearance of religious zeal may say ; no, what-
ever may be done to lead to the belief that the in-
terests of the faith are in peril, the question in dis-
cussion between the Government of his Holiness
and that of the Emperor is, thank God, a purely
temporal one. We may thoreforo discuss it with-
out failing in the deference and respect which all
France feels honoured in entertaining for the Father
of the Faithful, and of which his Majesty has al-
ways been happy to be the first to give the exam-
ple.
I do not hesitate to say, Sir, that the Court
of Rome has n-)t been well inspired in endeavour-
ing to establish, as the encyclical letter attempts to
do, a sort of indissoluble eunueetion between two
sorts of interests which cannot be mixed up and
confounded without danger. In the first ava of
the Church, when the tendencies of ciyilisittion were
merely theocratical, that confusi OR was possible and
natural; it weB ampted without difficulty by every
boas, heuaase it was in accordance with the state of
opinion and of men's consciences; It was thus at
the outset one of the 01ei41,94_,0f po,Wer og the
Papacy, 4114 14 99:4),VV0y0 111 4 fu,reamin ald de-
YeleVilefit Af its tqlitqlcki§QTQT9iglity. Still, if we

interrogate history with attention, we shall see
clearly that it was not solely by invoking motives de-
rived from its divine mission, and by putting forth, as
it were, claims in the name of Heaven, that the
Papacy, sometimes with the support of the popula-
tions themselves, sometimes with the help of foreign
Sovereigns, succeeded in gaining possession of a
part of Italy. It would be seen at the same time,
and the fact must be proclaimed to the honour of
the Holy See, that the Pipes found in their wis-
dom, their enlightenment, their lover of order and
justice—in a word, in the better government which
they offeredlte the'people, in those times of violence
and anarchy, one of the essential elements of their
political authorit.

" I will not dwell longer on this point of view,
from the fear that were I to do so I should lead to
the belief that I am desirous of seeking in the con-
trast an allusion and of borrowing from the past
a lesson applicable to the present times ; whereas
nothing is further from my thoughts. But I may
be permitted to say that in our days, in conse-
quence of a progress which the Emperor's Govern-
ment cannot consider other than as a benefit
irrevocably acquired to modern societies, separation
has been effected between the two domains--the
religious order and the civil and political one. The
Holy See has therefore placed itself in disaccord
not less with the general spirit of tho time than
with international rules, by making an appeal to
men's consciences in the name of faith, for an inte-
rest which, when rightly considered, is simply tem-
poral.
" I add that this attempt is far from being sup-
ported by the authority and the precedents of his-
tory. In fact, this is not the first tine that, at
periods not far distant from our own, the situation
of the Romagna and the possession of that district
have been the subject of political discussion. In
1797 the Pope, in consequence of events of which
he was obliged as sovereign to accept the respon-
sibility, ceded by the treaty of Tolentino that
province to France, and at the same time aban-
doned the ancient rights of the Holy See to the
territory of Avignon ; and great as was the regret
he felt at a diminution of his domains, Pius VI. no
doubt believed that he might subscribe, to that con-
vention without failing in his duties as Sovereign-
Pontiff and as guardian of the faith. The two con-
tracting parties were not the only ones who saw in
this transaction only a temporal act, in nowise en-
croaching on religion. The preliminaries signed
at Leoben two months later between France and
Austria prove that the Court of Vienna did not
think differently from France on the subject. After
having maintained during the war close relations
with the Court of Rome Austria nevertheless sup-
ported an arrangement which awarded to her part
of the States of Venetia and indemnified the latter
by transferring to them the possession of the
three legations of Romagna, Ferrara, and
Bologna: The treaties of Campo Formio and
Luneville confirmed, in another form, the separa-
tion of those provinces, and in the different arrange-
ments which were then entered into it is never
seen that the Governments which took part in them
had to pay any attention to the prerogatives of the
Holy See, as regards its spiritual power and reli-
gious interests.

" If we were to interrogate contemporary his-
tory on other points, who would not remember that
at the beginning of this century ecclesiastical ter-
ritories, such as the Bishopric of Salzburg. the
provostship of Berchtelsgaden, and the bishoprics
of Trent, Brixen, and Eichstadt, served on the de-
mand of Austria to indemnify its Archdukes dis-
possessed in Italy ? With regard to these terri-
tories, as for the legations and for the Electorate
of Mentz, no solidarite was recognised between
the temporal rights of the possessor and the in-
terests of religion ; the ecclesiastical character of
the sovereigns was not an obstacle to the combina-
tions which circumstances had rendered necessary.
The participation of the Court of Vienna in these
different transactions certainly does not permit re-
garding them as an application of new principles
for the use of Franco. Nothing can be a better
proof of this than what occurred some years later.
Pope Pius VII. was returning to Rome, and re-
suming the exercise of his temporal power, when,
by a secret treaty signed at Naples on Jan. 11, Igl4,
the Emperor Francis, with a view to attaching
King Joachim to the cause of the European coali-
tion, engaged, 'in order to procure him a strong
military frontier in accord with the political neces-
sities of tie two Powers, to assure to him an addi-
tion to the extent of 400,000 souls to be taken from
the Roman States, and to lend his good offiees to
obtain the consent and sanction of the Holy Father
to that concession.'

" Thus therefore the principle of partitioning the
Legations and even the Marches between the king-
dom of Naples and Austria was plainly laid down,
and its application appeared so independent of every
other circumstance that in the following year we
see the King of the Two Sicilies when restored to
the Neapolitan throne, endeavouring to maintain for
his own advantage the clause which we have just
cited. Austria, on her side, was more successful in
her pretensions, as she retained at the expense of the
Holy See part of the Legation of Ferrara on the left
of the Po, a territory which had never belonged to
the State of Venice. The Pope protested in vain
against that arrangement, as he protested against
the non-restitution of the county of Avignon and
of the territory of Parma to the Holy See. His
demands, which he based both on ancient rights
and on reasons of utility to the Church, were not
admitted by the powers, and we shall not be con-
tradicted by the documents relating to the nego•
tions of 1815, if we add that Romagna had then
a:very narrow escape from remaining separate from
the Pontifical States. More than one combination,
conceived in that sense, was brought forward in
the Congress of Vienna ; and it is well known
that Prussia, for instance, proposed to dispose of
the Legations in favour of the King of Saxony,
who would have received them as a compensation.
It was not without difficulty that the Pope suc-
ceeded in retaining them and in making the right
he invoked prevail over the opinion, so worthy of
remark, adopted by the plenipotentiaries, that the
Legations were at the disposal of the allies by right
of conquest. In any case, the discussion as to the
Roman States was constantly maintained even by
the Catholic powers in an order of considerations
exclusively temporal.
" Such is, Sir, the sole argument I wish to draw
from the examples I have cited, and which prove
to what extent the doctrine advanced in the last
encyclical letter, if it be at present in conformity
with the ideas of the Court of Rome, is in con-
tradiction with the most positive data of politics.
I have no intention of drawing from it arguments
against the acknowledged rights of the Holy See ;
but I have felt bound to furnish you with the
means of rectifying around you the erroneous im-
pressions which might tend to represent an opinion
emitted on a temporal question as an attack on the
imprescriptible and sacred prerogatives of the
Catholic Church.—Accept, Sir, &c.,
" THOUVENEL."