The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-25 00:00:00

THE CATHOLIC POIPERS ANL ROME

The Brussels papers furnish us with the text of
M. Thouvenel's reply to the proposal made to France
by Austria and Spain, to interfere in behalf of the
Pope's temporal power. It will be recollected that
Lord J. Russell stated in the House of Commons, on
Thursday evening last, in answer to a question from
Mr. D. Griffith, that Franco had answered nega-
tively. The French Foreign Minister's despatch,
aidressed to the two powers, is as follows :

" Paris, June 6.

" Sir,—l have received the note which your Ex-
cellency has done me the honour to address to me,
dated the 28th May, in which you express the de-
fire of your Government to come to an understand-
ing with the Government of the Emperor, with a
view of securing in a definitive manner, and as the
result of an agreement between the Catholic Powers,
the maintenance of the temporal power of the Holy
See. On his part, M. the Ambassador -- was en-
trusted by his Government with a similar mission,
My first duty was to place before the eyes of his
Majesty these important communications, and I
now find myself in a position to reply.
"The sentiments inspired in the Government of
by the position of the Holy Father, are in en-
tire conformity with those of the Government of
the Emperor. That Government has equally la-
mented and condemned the aggression directed
against the Pontifical States, and if the grave poli-
tical considerations which Austria and Spain have
both taken into account, at this epoch, have not al-
lowed it further to oppose accomplished events, if;
has neglected nothing in order to limit their conse-
quences. The corps of occupation at Rome was
augmented without delay, and the Pope, being
able to dwell with security in his capital in the
midst of the turmoil which agitated Italy, has been
indebted to the French troops for the preservation
of a part of his territory.

" The Government of the Emperor by some acts,
of which, as I ascertain with satisfaction, the Go-
vernment of -- does not hesitate to express ap-
proval, has testified, and constantly testifies, to the
profound and invariable sympathies which animate
it in relation to the head of the Church. The pre-
carious situation in which circumstances have placed
the temporal power of the Holy See, do not excite
less distressing sentiments among the Catholic na-
tions ; and as it concerns the peace of consciences
that such serious questions should not remain for a
long period in suspense, it is certainly the duty of
Governments to unite their efforts, in order to sim-
plify them and facilitate their solution.
" I do not believe, however, M—, that it would
be useful to discuss here, with the necessary ful-
ness, the system according to which the States of
the Pope and the city of Rome would establish, so
to speak, a property in mortmain appropriated en-
tirely to Catholicism, and, in virtue of an unwritten
law, placed above the rights which regulate the
condition of other sovereignties. I confine myself
to recalling the fact that neither the most an :cent
nor the most recent historical traditions appear to
sanction this doctrine, and that England, Prussia,
Russia, and Sweden—powers separated from the
Church—signed at Vienna, with the same authority.
as France, Austria, Spain, and Portugal, the trea-
ties which restored to the Pope the possessions he
had lost.
" The highest expediency—l hasten to proclaim
it—agrees with the greatest social interests in re-
quiring that the Head of the Church maintain him-
self on the throne occupied by his predecessors for
so many centuries. The opinion of the Emperor's
Government is very firm on this point, but it thinks
also that the wise exercise of the sapreme authority
and the consent of populations are in the Roman
States, as elsewhere, the first considerations of the
solidity of power. The gravest dangers now me-
nacing the temporal Sovereignty of the Holy See
proceed, it is true, from without; and though the
occupation of Rome provides for the necessities of
the present, the future remains exposed to hazards
which we sincerely wish to avert.
" Austria and Spain, M.— agree with us in this
task ; but they do not at the same time indicate the
means to be employed for accomplishing it ; and
some explanations on their part, moreover, become
the more necessary, as their position towards Italy
differs, under a certain aspect, from that of France.
We have seen with regret the stipulations of Villa-
franca and of Zurich fail of complete execution, and
we should have wished that the Monarchy of the
Two Sicilies had not been overthrown ; nevertheless,
the march of events, while contrary to its wishes,a
has not affected the Imperial Government in MBaudeh rid.
direct way, as the Courts of Vienna
"
Without giving our approbation to whatgarantee u the
has passed ;
without wishing to cover with our
existence of the new state of th no dynastic igs
normal' relations
in-
terest prevents us from effecting
and s thewe are obstacle
concerned, t o i t
s
with the kingdom of Italy,
acknowledgment rests,
r privatese c solicitude
considera-
tion. for the
simply in the difficultiey
s inherent
that
Austria and
" May we be permitte
time be disposed
Spain will from the present to take
this point of view, and at
icilthfto: r:ehane t. in affairs at Rome.
The foregoing is a question Which I put to
asnupteor.ioyrotuoranE
Excellency ; but the
Holy See will
myself
doubt even which it excites, and the consequences
which result from it, do not allow me to appreciate
with as much exactitude as is required, the nature
rather beth
of the common action Proposed by the Government
of

I do not conceal, M
that the principle of
non-intervention which has saved the peace of
Europe, excluding to-day, as it did
a year ago, the
employment of force, there exists in our eyes a strict
connection between the regularisation of the facts
that have so considerably modified the situation of
the Peninsula, and the solution to be given to the
Roman question. The Government of the Emperor
will, then, be very happy to learn that Attstria and
Spain deem it possible to enter also in the only
path which, as seems to it, can without new shocks
conduct to a practical result; but in any hypothesis
it does not hesitate to give the assurance that, for
its part, it will not adhere to any combinat ion which
is incompatible with the respect it profess es for the
independence and dignity of the Holy See, and
which would be at variance with the object of the
presence of its troops at Rome.—Receive, &c.,
(Signed) " THOUN; ENEL."

Owing to the present excessive heat tiDe superior
military authorities in Paris have given orders that the
exercises and manoeuvring of the troops in tha Champ de
Mars 0411 not be continued after 10 o'clock in ko W*4°