The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-03 00:00:00

flocks ; while from France, Italy, Spain, Mexico,
even Austria, and, most of all, Portugal, they
come round him full of laments over the perse-
cution they have to endure from their various Go-
vernments, not to speak of Poland, the deepest in
mourning of all Catholic countries.
In non-Catholic countries the possessions of the
clergy are not interfered with, though perhaps
they are nowhere large enough to excite cupidity,
but they can found religious institutions without
let or hindrance ; while in Catholic countries
rulers sanction the most iniquitous laws—authorise

the spoliation of the clergy, and under the pretext
of furthering what they call the liberty of public
worship, treat the true worship of God with in-
difference and contempt. Further than this, they
are wanting to their own.mission : while retaining
the titles conferred on them in olden time by the
Church' they openly encourage freemasonry, be-
long to it themselves, nominate the dignitaries of
the sect, and even, as in France, require that ma-
sonic insignia should figure in the ceremonies of
Catholic worship.
Hence it is a vital necessity for the Church to
remedy all these disorders ; and it is precisely in a
general council that the Church would be enabled
to trace the future line of operations. Many
events will have occurred before the eighteen
months, to intervene, will have run out. The
present attitude of European diplomacy suggests
every probability that we shall have had a deep
taste of war in the interval, leaving to the Church
her old mission of advocating maxims of peace,
justice, and truth.
You see that Pius IX. possesses the quality
which has, ere now, been ascribed to him, of
knowing the tide of human affairs ; all he does is
done in its own time. 'What was said of the defi-
nition of the Immaculate Conception may be said
also of this council—they are each appropriate to
their time.
Another letter from Rome, dated June 22, says :
The Spanish steamer, St. Quentin, brought the
Cardinal Archbishop of Seville and twenty-two
bishops of Spain to Civita Vecchia last Saturday,
making the whole number of Spanish bishops
here thirty-five. The newly-arrived were received
at the landing-place by Mgr. Scapetta, Apostolic
delegate of the province, who would have provided
carriages to take them into the town, but, saying
pilgrims, they one and all re-
together to the cathedral, where
tfhueseyd,haanddc:,malke
cads
they heard Mass said by one of their number ;
after which Mgr. Scapetta entertained them at
breakfast. Later in the day they were brought
I on to Rome by a special train.
The Archbishop of Mexico brings about 300,000
francs to the Peter's Pence tribute. The whole
of the offerings amount, it is said, to about
10,000,000 fr.
An American photographer has applied for per-
mission, which has, I believe, been given, to pub-
lish an album of portraits of all prelates present
at the Centenary feste, with that of the Holy
Father for the frontispiece. Alessandri, however,
had previously entertained the same idea, and it
will not be easy to beat him in photographic
portraits.

A very unusual occurrence took place here las\
week. A person named Francesa Prosperi was
seen walking quietly along the bridge of Sant'
Angelo about three o'clock in the day, when she
suddenly made a spring on to the parapet, and
flung herself into the water mid-stream. The act
was so sudden that it was impossible to arrest her.
No ground whatever can be assigned for the act,
which is, therefore, ascribed to a fit of temporary
insanity.
The Municipality and resident nobility of
Rome seem to be vieing with the Church in giv-
ing splendour and interest to the approaching feste.
The Girandola of the Piazza del Popolo is to be
given on an even grander scale than usual.
Abundant alms have been voted for distribution to
the poor of the city, in various forms. The Senator
gives a grand reception at the Capitol in honour
of the foreign bishops, and also holds an Acca-
demia vocale eel instrunzerdale. The Forum is to
be illuminated with Bengal lights, while concerted
pieces are being performed, and a grand effect is to
be produced by the illumination of the whole
spacious terrace round St. Pietro in blontnilv
'church built over the spot of St. Peter's Martyr-
dom). This will be quite a novel addition to the
illuminations and an appropriate one to the occa
sion, while, from its elevated position, it will
afford a splendid spectacle from almost any part
of Rome. In the grounds of the Villa Borghese,
and other localities, there will be popular games,
races, and other diversions, at which above 500
prizes will be distributed.
You will very likely have heard alarming news
of cholera at Civita Vecchia again, but the only
thing like it occurred in the case of some poor
fishermen, who, having. been out all day in the
burning sun, with nothing to drink, incautiously
drank too freely of some impure water, which they
got on their landing
.at Fiumicino. On the way
back to Civita Vecchia, next day, one of them died,
and another was so ill with choleraic symptoms
that it was thought wiser to send him to the
Lazzaretto on landing. Hi e s, however, likely to
recover under the care he has received there.
With every disposition to wish the greatest pos-
sible number of enjoy Rome, it is im-
possible not to feel a little incommoded now and
then bye the
public place, and I might
eeroverwhelming numbers who now
almost say every street. The entrance to every
hotel is so crowded with arrivals that it is often
hard work to force one's way through to make a
call. Even one's letters are delayed, because the
tarraeinesvearyredsaoyobveehrliond adteldmwe.ith passengers that they
There seems, from all
I hear, two principles at work in the management
of the Italian railways—one, prompted by a desire
to make the most of the influx of travellers, ad-
vertizes cheap tickets to draw people to their line
of route ; and the other, by the obstructivity of
revolutionary tendencies, which causes continual
annoyances to the travellers they have secured—
annoyances the more provoking for their very
pettiness. One of the most serious was a trick
served on a party of French ecclesiastics, all of
whose tickets, being " returns," were wrongly
divided at one of the Piedmontese stations, and
the consequent delay just sufficed to make them
miss reaching Rome in time for Corpus Christi. I
must confess the various centres of attraction on
the day were crowded enough without them, and
set one speculating as to what is to be done with
any more who May arrive before the 29th. It
was a lovely morning. The Holy Father carried
the Blessed Sacrament and gave Benediction as
usual in St. Peter's. The procession started before
half-past eight, and it was nearly eleven before it
had fully completed the tour of the Piazza. I
have spent many crowded Easter& in Rome, but
never saw St. Peter's so densely packed. Three
hundred and forty bishops were counted in the
procession, but Ido not know that computation
is absolutely accurate. Some of the Orientals
were dressed in vestments of most peculiar form.
Some wore low, crown-shaped mitres, decorated
with miniatures in medallions of the four Evan-
gelists, others with the twelve Apostles.
On the 21st (the Pope's Coronation day), there
was a review before General Kanzler, in the
grounds of the Villa Borghese. The French por-
tion of the spectators were very demonstrative,
and, besides the usual cries, shouted " Vive la
Gloire 1" " V ive la France !" and, ultimately, " Vive
Mgr. Dupanloup !"
"All the world" seemed there,
yet the vast church of St. Tgnazio was as full as
it could well hold to celebrate the day of San
Luigi di Gonzaga.
The illumination of the Colisseum with Bengal
lights, in the evening, I hear, attracted the usual
concourse.
The Figaro gives the following
description of
Juarez :—" He is a jovial sort of fellow, ready
enough to laugh and talk with his friends, and na-
turally of a humane disposition. Of the acts of
cruelty attributed to him not a tenth are true,
encies of a difficult situation, and never without
the sanction of the law. In person he is of
generally been dictated by the ext.
ci
amnidddtlhee she haveeight, and, to say the least, not a
handsome example of the mixed native and
European race ; high and prominent cheek-hones,