The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-17 00:00:00

foolish dreamers when one considers them from the
height of the Capitol. The first of their kind in
modern times was Gibbon, the coarse, ill-condi-
tioned Englishman, who professed also, like Julian,
to put away the Christ. And Gibbon had con-
ceived this idea in the Capitol—a place fearful to
many weak brains whom the touch of holy water
heals no more. Perhaps he learned out of that
same window, in the sala of the Gladiator, whence
we see, at one coup (rail, the arch of Septimus
Seveus, of Titus, the Palatine, the Campanile of
St. Frances of Rome, the Colosseum, further on
the Baths of Titus, and on the left Santa Maria
Maggiore, and other monuments and other ruins.
What a picture, what history, and what beauties !
Gibbon was indignant at seeing monks on the
Triumphal Way. The revolution is come—has
pushed at different times even to the gates of the
Eternal City the wave of its purifying armies ;
Gibbon is dead in fear thereof ; the monks are still
ever here.

The Forum is their favourite walk. I met just
now two of the Frati of the Ara Ceeli : their con-
vent is on the summit of the Capitol. They are
scarcely distinguisable in appearance from other
monks. The same habit of coarse cloth—the same
sandals on their feet. One of them is profoundly
versed in ecclesiastical sciences, and this com-
prises philosophy and history and more too ; the
other is a learned annalist of his order, an exact
historian, and an excellent writer. If they found
themselves face to face with our eagles of high
or low flight, how they would look down on these
monks, yet how embarrassed they would be to
keep up conversation with them. Though walking
along the Sacred Way, in the fashion of people
who feel themselves at home, the monks are not
taken up with worldly matters. They are not as
alarmed as is imagined. They say they have
always something to do, and that after all, the
worst times in which Christians have to live are
not those in which they have to combat, to suffer,
or to die for the truth. They have faith in the
stability of the Vatican. They are of those who
believe that if the Vatican fall, its ruins will roll over
the whole world, overthrowing thrones, institutions,
peoples—everywhere stoning the human race.
But in their opinion the :world is not yet ripe for
this; forithat which flows from the Vatican—from
the Rock set up by Jesus Christ—is the fountain
of living and fertilizing waters of Truth, and the
axe intended to destroy this Rock even causes the
waters of life to issue forth.

FRIDAY.

I left you yesterday to make my rounds. It is
a fine thing for me to boast that I am no stranger
in Rome—that I have seen everything. For do
I not let myself be tempted and sally forth again?
Our priests set me the example of not fearing the
midday heats. They are to be met everywhere—
in cabs, in omnibuses ; the greater number how-
ever on foot, saying their breviary in the heat of
the sun, in order not to lose an instant. They
are robust pioneers—a race of iron, accustomed
to bear the heat of the day. From morning till
night all the churches are filled by these vigorous
pilgrims. They serve one another at Mass. You
see old priests, with white heads and bent shoulders,
serving as acolytes to some young confrere, and
few sights are more touching.
I was much touched this morning, and passed
one of the happy moments of my life. I was in St.
Peter's, hearing Mass in the chapel of the Souls
of Purgatory, which contains the beautiful Pietd
of Michael Angelo, when all of a sudden the chant
of the Te Deunz resounded, coming, as it seemed to
me, from the very roof of the Basilica. When Mass
was over, I went there and found the chapel of
the Blessed Virgin decorated in an unusual manner
and enclosed. I learned that the chair of St. Peter
had just been placed in the chapel. It had been
removed from the reliquary above the altar in the
apse, where it is commonly preserved. The re-
moval took place under the superintendence of
the dean of the Sacred College. 'rho chair, placed
on a tressel, had been borne processionally by four
deacons and four priests ; four archbishops held
the cords.

I had the good fortune to be the first to enter,
as soon as the chapel was open to the public, and,
as usual, our dear abb6s were not wanting. I will
not try to tell you what I felt. If it were neces-
sary to explain myself I should never succeed in
making you understand. Dispense, then, with
my description. You will soon have what you
want, for the photographers and engravers are
already at work. The chair is a great arm-chair,
of wood, inlaid with several planks of ivory. From
this dead wood has germinated, among other
things the vastest and the richest basilica of the
world. This wood is the material substance of the
greatest thing in the world. This is the throne—
this the Chair of Truth —this the Holy See—
inlaid wood, no doubt, but on this inlaid seat is
seated the man to whom it was said : Tu es Petrus.
Seated there, Peter has repeated the sublime
commissions which the commission of Christ be-
stowed upon him.
In ordering that the chair of St. Peter should
be exposed to the veneration of the faithful, the
Holy Father desired that it should be guarded by
the Zouaves, who number in their ranks sons of
all the nations. It is from Pius LX. himself that
these ideas, so vivid and charming, come, and
Rome affords them ample scope. Of Rome an
Italian poet has said, " Here beauty rises into
grandeur, and here grandeur mingles with beauty."
Among the Zouaves on guard, I remarked that
several wore the medal of the wounded of Castel-
fidardo. They Were there, arms in their hands,
victorious in that place of honour—a fine image of
those who wished to fight and fall for invincible
justice.

SATURDAY.

The festival commenced yesterday at mid-day at
the sound of the bells, and was carried on without
interruption till the end of the Mass, which is not
yet finished. Yesterday evening the entire city was
illuminated with a profusion and a joyous brilliancy
of which our political atmospheres furnish scarcely
an example, and which surpassed, moreover, as I
am told, even that which one is accustomed to see
here. To this religious demonstration politics
bring their contingent ; in honouring St. Peter
the Romans honour their King ; when they recite
the Credo they proclaim their constitution ; and
when they make an act of faith they intend as
well to make an act of national life. It was enough
to walk in the streets of Rome yesterday, what-
ever the Roman Committee may say, to understand
at once that the Romans have no desire to see their
majestic city abdicate its rank as capital of the
world to become capital of Italy.
This morning
I saw the Pope enter the Basilica,
preceded by nearly five hundred bishops. If you
reflect on what has been done, and what has been
said in the world every day, and without ceasing for
a century, to prevent this, you will have an idea
of the power, which an array of four thousand
men, or of four millions of men will not give you,
even were these four millions of men furnished
with the most perfect artillery. But the array we
are speaking of are armed with a crozier; they say
"Pax," and their sword is a light, for they know
they can have no other enemies than the darkness.
Nevertheless, when Napoleon said to one of his
diplomatists, " Treat the Pope as if he had two hun-
dred men," he was not so deep and so profound a
calculator as he believed. It is clear the Pope is
something more. We do not speak of God and his
Providence, for we shall make the men of intellect
shudder who do not admit those
hypotheses, and
who desire positive arguments.
But the Pope
has, at least, on his side, time and the human con-
science. Of this, I believe he gives to-day ample
proof. When I shall have returned I will endea-
vour to learn at what sum of physical force these
abiding advantages may be estimated. I make no
doubt that Monsieur de Girardin will be able to
tell me.

The exterior illumination of the Basilica sur-
passes all that can be imagined. It seems as if
a firmament of stars had been brought beneath
this roof, elevated, as it were , to contain a
mystery more grand—a work more beautiful. In
the midst of the great nave was suspended an im-
mense lustre, having the form of a reversed cross,
crowned with the tiara and the keys. It was the
chief star of that heaven, made by the hand of