The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-14 00:00:00

THE POPE'S ALLOCU2ION.

We hope that in the arrangements, which cannot
be far distant, for remodelling the condition of the
• Papacy provision will be made in the interests of
' religion and decorum for suppressing altogether the
thing called an " Allocution." That a prelate, the
head of a large religious body, of venerable age, and
in a position which binds him to the most dignified
calmness, the greatest candour, and the most scru-
pulous accuracy in all he says, should assemble
together a number of grave ecclesiastics substanti-
ally of the same way of thinking as himself, and be-
fore this select and sympathising audience should
give vent to the utmost rage, envy, and malice,
should indulge himself to the utmost in evil speak-
ing, lying, slandering, should invoke the heaviest
cusses on the heads of his enemies, and do all this
with the pretence of infallibility and in the name of
a religion of mercy and forgiveness, is an intolerable
outrage upon all decency, and a standing reproach
and scandal to the profession and practice of Chris-
tianity. It may be said that such things are but
' the outbreaks of senile irritability, and that we
• give too much weight to them when we hold them
• up to the reprobation of mankind, but we by no
• means entertain this opinion. Words are things,
and the words of one who claims to be the infallible
Vicegerent of Heaven and the Vicar of Christ upon
earth, and has that claim allowed by countless
millions of his fellow-creatures, are things of too
much consequence to be lightly flung abroad.
Things that might not be worthy of very serious re-
prehension if spoken by a drunken Papal gendarme
quarrelling with a French soldier in a Roman caba-
ret are inexpressibly unbecoming, and even revolt-
ing,when clothed in that theological style which has
become traditional to the Papacy, and uttered with
the utmost deliberation, with the intention to delude,
to mislead, and excite the passions of mankind.
Where are we to seek for truth if it be not from
the lips of the infallible r %mere are we to Hope
for meekness if it be denied to the Vicegerent of
Christ ? Can we expect the Christian virtues to
propagate themselves among the flock when they
are thus ostentatiously repudiated by the shepherd ?
The Pope is a contemporary of the Italian Revo-
lution ; he has more means than most persons of
ascertaining the truth concerning it. It is impossi-
ble for any one who reads his recent Allocution to
acquit him of the gravest suppression of the truth
and the most unblushing assertion of what is false.
Let us take a specimen of the latter first :—" And
here" he says,—that is, when descending from the
interests of religion to the state of his Exchequer,
—" we cannot pass over in silence the constant tes-
timonies of real affection, of unflinching fidelity, of
devoted submission, and of generous liberality which
this Roman people have lavished on us, and we wish
also to point out how much they remain firmly
attached to us, to this Apostolic See, and to the tem-
poral power which belongs to us, and with what
warmth they repel and condemn the guilty attempts
of those who seek to spread disturbance among
them. Have not you yourselves, venerable brethren,
frequently witnessed the sincere and cordial rani-
. festations by which this Roman people, whom we
so much love, have shown the sentiments of their
traditional faith—of that faith which so justly
merits the highest praises ?" We wonder if tide
venerable brethren looked each other in t.,'Lle face
during the delivery of this appeal,and,if so, whether
they were able altogether to resist a certain invo.
luntary twitching about the corners of the mouth
when they were assured, on the authority of their
infallible head, of the affection, fidelity, submission,
and attachment to the temporal power of this Roman
people, and the warmth with which they repel all
attempts at disturbance. A considerable force of
Papal soldiers, and a division of the French army,
which they know can be increased in a few hours
to any amount that is required, are barely sufficient
to keep this Roman people from treating the Pope
and his brethren very much as the Jews did the
Prophets of Baal. The fact is notorious to all the
world, and to no ono more so than the Pope him-
self. Those who would maintain his character must
henceforth be prepared to prove, not, as they have
hitherto striven to do, that the Roman people are
led away byagitators and incendiaries, but, in direct
contradiction to this hitherto received opinion, that
the Roman people repel and condemn with warmth
the guilty attempts of those who seek to spread dis-
turbance among them ; that, in fact, Rome has no
wish to become the metropolis of Italy, but desires
to remain, as heretofore, the seat of the temporal
power of the Pope. No doubt, this ought to be so ;
no doubt, those who see most of the Papal domina-
tion ought most to appreciate its merits ; but is this
the fact ? Is not the Pope perfectly aware that it
is directly the reverse ? Let him try the experiment.
We are perfectly convinced that the Piedmontese
Government will be quite willing to leave matters
to the arbitration of the Roman people. Let the
French garrison be by all means withdrawn, and the
destiny of the temporal power be left to the decision
of its subjects. The Pope well knows that if such a
measure were announced there is not one of the vene-
rable brethren whom he addressed who would remain
within the walls of the Eternal City a single night.
Such statements are made for foreign consumption ;
there is no demand for them in the home market.
There can be but one motive, unhappily, for mak-
ing them. The Pope is living on the contributions of
the faithful, and those contributions may very pos-
sibly be increased if it once comes to be believed
that he is really the object of the affection and vene-
ration of his subjects. It is a financial expedient;
but one neither novel nor creditable.

We may take as a second instance the delil'ierate
statement that the greater part of the towns of the
kingdom of Naples have
been burnt aIP?, destroyed.
This no matter of doctrine, it, is tt plain question
of fact, and it would very mum a tend to the exone-
ration of the Pope's, eh? caster for veracity if he
would direct Cardirlai Antonelli to furnish to the
world the names of the towns burnt and destroyed
and the proportion they bear to those which have
Again, the Pope
not undergone a. similar fate.
says that in the kingdom of Naples the majority t' the faithful have been deprived of theirpta.storos.
Is that true ? Is it true that in Naples the legitimate
liberty and property of every one are attacked,.ltahe
foundations of family ties and of civil society are.
ruined, the reputation of every virtuous person. is
blackened by false accusations, and the impunity of
all vices and all errors is nourished, propagated, and
increased
Yes, there is some truth in this ; but
by
whom has this been done P Not by the great and
criminal rebellion on which the Pope charges it,
but by the hordes of miscreants whom the King of
Naples and the Papal Government have, day by
day, let loose to rob, murder, violate, and burn alive
the people of Naples; the oblect§ of rio

critical sympathy. It is worthy of the rest of the
rest of the Allocution that from first to last not the
slightest mention is (made of these outrages, and
that the world is led to believe that the bishops
and priests who have been expelled from their sees
and their parishes have suffered for conscience' sake,
and not as participators in the reactionary conspi-
racy to the promotion of which the much-injured
Government of Rome has lent the most energetic
assistance. After the fair and true expose of the state
of his affairS which the Pope has just laid before
them, it is forbidden to doubt that the faithful all
over the world will lighten with the most ardent
zeal, by their pious and spontaneous donations, the
very grave embarrassments of the Holy See. Let
them not fear that their money will be wasted ;
there is much yet to be done during the coming win-
ter in the way of plundering, murdering, and burn-
ing,—many happy homes that have not yet been
desolated, many harmless men and women who
have not yet undergone the extremities of outrage.
The Holy See does not now waste its treasures
in pomps and processions, in luxury and feasting.
Ostentation has given way to revenge, and blood
is now sweeter than wine. All this is as it should
be. The temporal power of the Popes might
have fallen, like other warlike dynasties, with
dignity, but it dies as it has lived. This sys-
tematic enemy of the liberties of mankind dies
with the complaint of violated liberty on her lips,
uttering falsehoods of incredible and shameless
grossness, with the torch of the incendiary in one
hand and the dagger of the assassin in the other.
It has surrounded its inevitable fate with every
circumstance which could alienate from it the sym-
pathy and respect of mankind.-7imes.