The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-20 00:00:00

Mr. Humphreys, jun., said the class of persons
referred to did not confine their practice tc pri-
soners, but carried it on to a considerable extent
amongst prosecutors, who were often induced to
allow the parties touting them to conduct prose-
cutions, by the promise that it would be done
without any personal expense to themselves; and
the way in which that was managed was by giving
the so-called brief, and very brief it was as far as
instructions went, to counsel, who asked one or two
questions during the trial, for which a sum of money
was obtained from some fund connected with the
court sufficient to pay a small fee to the counsel and
leave something for the person acting as the solicitor.
If such persons succeeded in getting money alsofrom
the prosecutors it was generally thrown away, as
the business was managed in an incompetent manner,
and their blundering often led to the acquittal of
the accused ; the ends of justice were entirely frus-
trated, and not unfrequently actions for false im-
prisonment ensued, and prosecutors mulcted in
heavy damages.
Sir J. Musgrove admitted it was .a very serious
matter, and said he would take the earliest oppor-
tunity of bringing it under the consideration of his
brother magistrates.

ITALY AND THE PAPACY.

1,, _ ....ib Presse has the following striking arti-
cle on the Papacy and Italy, shovriaxthv alaitgo.
nism between the two from a- vergt early petiod of
Italian history :—" ' The Papacy' says the Nand*.
this morning, ' has always lived in peace with
Italy; and so long as Italy remained Christian she
surrounded with respect the Sovereign Pontiffs;
To express one's-self thus one of two things is
necessary—either the If londe knows very little of
the history of the Popes, or else it calculates largely
on the ignorance of its readers. Not only has Italy
not always lived in peace with the Papacy, but, on
the contrary, she has been the country where the
Popes have met with the strongest and most con-
stant opposition. Dating from the accession of
John VIII. (A.D. 872), they have been at feud con-
tinually with all parties. In the course of the
105 years that elapsed between the death of. For-
moso in 896, and the election of Sylvester in 999,
there were 29 Popes, 11 of whom were strangled or
assassinated, three died in prison or exile, 14 were
only Popes in name, and one could only reign in
the society and with the protection of the famous
Theodora. This woman, marching at the head of a
powerful family and party, commanded as a sove-
reign in Rome, where she disputed the authority
of her relative. the deacon Sergius, who aspired to
the Papal chair. Conquered and driven out re-
peatedly, Sergius, on being supported by Adalbert,
the Marquis of Tuscany, returned as conqueror to
Rome in 904, as Mahomet had done to Mecca ; he
had himself proclaimed Pontiff, and was reconciled
to Theodora, who gave up to him her daughter
'Maroza or Marietta, by whom he had some
children. These women, braving public indigna-
tion and popular riots, disposed of the iChurck
made Popes and had them strangled, until Maroza
was herself thrown into prison by her own son,
Alberic, who turned his brother John XI., son of
Sergius 111., out of the Pontificial see. To Alberic
succeeded, in 955, Octavian, who, uniting the tem_
poral with the spiritual power, made himself Pope
under the name of John XII. ; and what:a Pope !
He was half a pagan, laughed at the sacrament, a
blasphemed like a Turk, and led the life, not of
priest, but of a soldier. He was deposed by Otho
1., reascended the pontifical throne, where he took
a horrible revenge, and in 964 was assassinated,
having been caught in flagrante delieto, like Alex-
ander of Medicis. To the Maroza family succeeded
that of the Crescentius family, descendants of
Theodora 11. The tragedies continued, and with
them the old disturbances, assassinations and
exiles. Rome offered the spectacle of the old bar-
baric regencies. Otho 111, put into the chair his
cousin Gregory V., who kept himself in it by terror
and died by poison. For 300 years the Roman
Church was a battlefield. Constantine, brought to
the chair by force, was turned out of it by force, for
Adrian 111. deposed him and had him assassinated.
Adrian I. commenced his pontificate by chastising
the crimes committed under his predecessor. Leo
111. took to flight to escape assassination. Pascal
I. had two dignitaries of the Church murdered in
his own palace; Sergius 11. had John, his rival, cut
to pieces ; the election of Benedict 111, and of
Nicholas I. brought about an insurrection and almost
a schism ; Leo V. and John X. were strangled •
John XI. was deposed and imprisoned ; Stephen!
VIII. died of his wounds; John XII, was stabbed
to death ; Benedict V. died an exile in Germzny
Benedict VI. and John XIV. were assassinated by
Boniface VII., and he was massacred in his turn by
the frenzied people ; Gregory V. was expelled and
incarcerated ; John XVI. was deposed and put to
death. The rebellion against Benedict IX., who
was expelled for his crimes, as Pope Victor 111.
htanself acknowledged, was smothered by Conrad
in 1047. But the peace only lasted six years, and
the Pope had to take to flight again. He returned
to Rome 'tt second time through blood and over the
dead bodies of his sons; he maintained himself in

power until' 1045, the period of his third flight.
We have hitherto spoken only of the revolutions of
the Romans. In 1057 began at Ancona a series of
revolutions in the other towns of the Pontifical
State. The Romans have risen in insurrection 150
times against the Papacy ; the Roman States, taken
in a lump, 111 times. To give an idea of the obsti-
nacy of the Romans in rejecting the temporal
dominion of the Papacy, we will limit ourselves to
reminding our readers of the principal facts since
the 12th century ; the deplorable end of Arnold of
Brescia in 1155; the exile of Alexander 111. in
1159 ; the splendid episode of Rienzi in 1347 • the
general insurrection under Boniface IX. in 1375 ;
the new Roman republic proclaimed by the people
in the time of Eugene IV. in 1434 ; the conspiracy of
Stephen Porcari, under Nicholas V,, in 1453 ;
the general revolt of the provinces on the death of
Alexander VI., in 1503 ; the Roman Revolution,
under Clement VII., in 1526 ; the revolution
of 1590, that of 1618, and the entire history
of the Roman States down to the French Revo-
lution. We have no occasion to recall to mind
what was the fate of the Papacy from 1796 to
1815 ; and no one, except the Blonde, has forgotten
the movements of 1821, 1831, 1843, 1845, and
1848-49. All that we can say is that in no country
have the people evinced more obstinately the most
implacable hatred, the most persistent hatred, of
their Government. Such is the fashion in which
the Papacy has always lived at peace with Italy.
The Papacy in Italy has been, on the contrary,
almost always either little esteemed, or called in
question, or openly attacked. The Italians have
laughed at excommunications, even at the time
when excommunications made the whole Christian
world tremble and shook upon their thrones the
most powerful Sovereigns. When Henry 111.,
being excommunicated, degraded himself at Ca-
nossa, the Lombards were treating Gregory VII.
as a heretic, sirnoniac, and adulterer ; when Gre-
gory IX. excommunicated the Romans, they drove
him out, pursued him with arms in their hands,
and compelled him to revoke his excommunica-
tions; when Innocent IV. quitted France, after
having set Europe aghast by deposing and excom-
municating the Emperor Frederick 11., he entered
Rome himself in terror at the threats of the
Bolognese
Romans, and did not dare stir abroad from b.la
excommunications . The well-linown
palace. How many times have not the Venetians,
Florentines, Milanese, And replied by
war to Papal excorn
history of the interdict at Venice is unique of its
kind. Even under the wretched Spanish dominion,
under the tortures of thelS panish Inquisition, Italian
was that Fra Paoli Sarpi wrote. The whole
o
anti-PaPisni made its influence and strength felt ;
Italian literature is notoriously anti-Papal.
Dante scourges the Popes ; Petrarch does not spare
the lash ; Boccaccio treats them with contempt ; all.
the Italian romance writers, including Monsignori,:
thfetnheit
Matted Bandello, Bishop of Tortona, have take n
for their plots the vices and excesses of the Corirt
of Rome and. Italian clergy. Doubtless, we I.7.eed
not speak of INlacchiavelli. All, or nearly all , the
Italian historians and poets are anti-Papists; Man-
zoni, despite his genius, has tried in vain f: 0 stem
the stream ; and Cesare Cantu, by an att,fimpt of
the same description, lost his popularity. imml3diately-
The Monde pretends that the war between 'ltaly and
the Papacy, between the Revolution and tb .e Church,
`has been excited lately.' The foregoing facts,i
though very incomplete, being writteneurrene
error.
ithas
calm°, prove that such is a great historicai
The public spirit of the Italians is neeere
whuas t t
either
been essentially in every age; and.
surnm eprese nt it for
grossly ignore history, or wholly "
Papacy has always liyedin peace with Ita
the sake of a bad cause, to dare to affirm t the