The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1868.

ROMAN AFFAIRS.

:F•om; the Roman Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette.)
ROME, February 29.

The approach of Lent crowded many gay doings
into the earii part of this week. Every one who
goes in for gaieiT, was engaged at least three balls
deep on Monday and Tuesday nights. The wed-
ding of Princess Doria with the Conte di Somaglia
took place on Monday, and according to Roman
custom at a very early hour. The marriage cere-
mony itself was at the beautiful church of S. Agnese
in the Piazza Navona, which is under the patronage
of the Doria family. Afterwards, in fulfilment of
another Roman custom, the bridal pair and all the
guests drove to visit the shrine of the Apostles. A
crowd of English, American, and other forestieri
had assembled in S. Peter's to take advantage of
the opportunity thus afforded of obtaining a view
of the beauty and rank of Rome.
The marriage is said to be one quite of affection,
and if the Princess has taken a husband who is
only of the rank of a Count, he is nevertheless of
one of the oldest houses of Milan. The happy
couple are gone to Albano for a few days, after
which they return to rooms prepared for them in
the Villa Doria, out side the Porta S. Pancrazio,
for the present. The Princess is to retain a suite
of apartments in the Palazzo Doria in the Corso,
and spend her winters here, so that Rome will not
altogether lose this, one of her brightest ornaments.
The Corso was made almost as lively as by the
carneval itself, by the succession of brilliant equi-
pages which followed each other in close proxi-
mity, driving the bridal party back from St.
Peter's, and scarcely had the last driven into the
handsome cortile of the Palazzo DoHo, when another
more illustrious cortege came by, bearing the Sove-
reign Pontiff from his visit to the Gesii to see the
Poor Clares of S. Silvestro in Capite, and then
to the Dominican nuns at Sta. Caterina da Siena.

The last day of carneval is always the best and
gayest. There were of course more carriages and
costumes in the Corso than on other days, and the
throwing was more animated. The race never
fails to attract its tens of thousands, and there
never seems a vacant space at any point of its
course, either on the pavement or in the windows
overlooking it. Some ten to twenty minutes be-
fore the start of the horses a 7nossa of Dragoons
dashes down its whole length, and back again
after a minute's pause to take breath, at a pace
little inferior to that of the contending horses
themselves, and exciting nearly as much delight
in the bystanders.
The narrow end of the Corso—itself a little
over a mile in length—in which the horses are
stopped, takes its appellation of la ripresa de' bar-
beri from this performance. When the gun to
announce the hour for clearing the course sounds,
a company of soldiers, formed two deep and
twenty or thirty abreast, march down it shoulder
to shoulder, filling up the entire breadth, thus
effectually clearing out the crowd. Two curtains
of sailcloth, adorned with the S.P., Q.R. and other
municipal symbols, about eight feet high and
twenty yards apart, are then securely slung across
the space so gained, which is quickly occupied
and surrounded by the grooms with their jaunty
red jelby-bag caps and brass arm-badges, the
friends of the owners of the horses, and any others
who can any how set up a claim to the privilege
of being there; as the senator and conservatori are,
in virtue of their office, stationed in a palco just
above it at the angle of the Palazzo de Venezia, of
course many of the Palatine guard, pompieri (fire-
men), and the senator's men in their quaint red
and yellow dresses, are there to give colour to the
tableau.

The mossa has been and gone, the inevitable dog
which somehow always gets launched into the
course, and is kept in by the maddening hisses of
the multitude, has at last broken through the dense
hedge of his tormentors and escaped ; false alarms
of the advance of the wild troop of horses have
been given and disproved, and strained attention
is just relaxing itself on some nearer object of
discussion, when suddenly the great cry is heard
rising from the myriads of spectators screeching,
shouting, howling with the full power of their
lungs, and yet scarcely moving aside in time to
escape the flying hoofs of the contending steeds.
Excited by the voice of the poorla, yct, by the
direetnts of their steps, apparently heeding it no
more than ii they were so many arrows, on they
come, rattling the tinsel with which they are
covered like a flight of butterflies on their shoulders
and haunches, and often scattering the gay feathers
of their topknots to the winds, or to the clutches

of the urchins who are on the watch to have a
good fight over every bit of bright finery which
may be thrown about in carneval.

Everywhere as they have galloped by, they have

formed a lice for themselves, the people have
drawn themselves up on either side to let them
pass, like the waters of the Red Sea for the chil-
dren of Israel. But, arrived at the top of their
mad speed at the ripresa de' barberi, they meet
an unusual sight ; here, the professional public
stand like a wall in front, instead of on either side
of them, drawn up against the first curtain, which
forms the " winning-post ;" the cool impudence
of the thing imparts a wavering to their onward
career. The moment's wavering is all their stout-
hearted grooms require to catch at the short straps
dangling from their bits by which to hang on and
bring them to a stop. Some break away and bolt
through the curtain, and then through the second
curtain also, by which time they are sufficiently
surprised at such a succession of obstacles to suffer
themselves to be taken with greater ease ; or the
moment's interior cogitation, whether to leap or
bolt through the curtain, makes those of a more
calculating frame of mind more easily caught still;
while the more thoughtless face about at once and
set off on a return match. At the end of the Piazza
di Venezia, however, the course has in the moment's
interval been closed against them by a phalanx
of dragoons, which formed a more impenetrable
barrier than that of sailcloth, and effectually puts
an end to any attempt at further careering. The
familiar handling and voices of their grooms soon
soften their chafing, and induces them to submit
to be dressed in their horsecloths, and then a mozo
hanging on to strap on either side is sufficient to
reduce their snorting dance to a moderate pace
during the return home. The winner and proxime
accessit are led up to the senator's palco to receive
their prizes, and each subsequently escorted to his
palazzo by some of the senator's gaily-dressed
serving-men on horseback, bearing the prize be-
fore them, the pompieri-drummer beating time, and
the multitude streaming by their side. Being the
moccoletti night, there were also torches carried
before the winner, the flaring of which, however
it may have redounded to his honour, certainly
did not improve his quietness of mind. There
were nine horses in the race during the early days
of carneval this year, but they got sifted away by
one cause and another down to five on the last
day, when the horse who had been winner every
day came in second.
After the evening's amusement of the moccoletti,
usually the most exciting act of the carneval, and
improved this year by an exhibition of magnesium
light from one of the balconies, the day was wound
up by masked balls at the theatres, and similar
merry-makings in many private houses of the
people, from which they might be heard returning
at a late hour, certainly beyond the strict com-
mencement of Ash Wednesday, rattling their tam-
bourines, and rehearsing choruses.
The shdps were closed all day, and the whole
population was in the streets. Wherever you
passed, you met whole families turning out for
their holiday with their little children dressed in
fantastic costumes, sometimes grotesque and ab-
surd, sometimes very true to the characters intended
to be represented, but in all cases charming from
the artless grace of the little wearers.
This gala-work out of doors seems strange, but
one ought not to be surprised that the people
prefer to hold their gatherings under such a sky
as we have here, to any comforts offered between
four walls.
There have been no disturbances of any kind
to mar the amusements of carneval while it lasted,
and the two or three casualties from foolhardi-
ness at the race are not serious. I mentioned

last week that one or two stories of Pontifical sol-
diers injured by civilians during its days of licence,
had melted away under investigation. Two more
were brought me this week, and as they may find
their way in a distorted form into the Protestant
prints, I may as well give you the facts which
would otherwise hardly call for notice in this letter.
In the first place, then, it may be fearlessly
stated that no Pontifical soldier was injured in any
way during the carneval in Rome, except one of
the Swiss rifles, who was knocked down by the
horses through his own temerity, and is now doing
well ; and one Zouave who, through the careless
handling of his pistol in the house of his private
friends, to whom he was explaining its mechanism,
has injured his own hand. This accident, it will be
observed, had no connection with the festivities.
At Albano a soldier received a cut in the hand
from a clasp-knife, which will probably be soon
proved to be the result of a private quarrel.
There are few towns of Italy which have been so
fortunate-
If Lent has put an end or a check to gaiety, it
has by no means made occupation stagnant. Quite
the contrary—it is the season for setting forth
her special character of leader in religious matters.
On Ash-Wednesday the Pope held a cappella
papale at the Sixtine, which was crowded as usual.
The Pope first received the ashes from Cardinal
Panebianco, the Grand Penitentiary, and then dis-
tributed them to the cardinals, and to many arch-
bishops, bishops, and prelates ; afterwards to the
Senator and Conservator/ of Rome.
Sermons and special Lenten services abound in
the various churches day by day. The Lent
preachers were received as usual by the Pope on
the Thursday before Lent. Before sending them
out to preach, with his blessing, he addresses some
words of exhortation to them :—" Preach Jesus
Christ, the great example of holy poverty, morti-
fication, and humility, and make yourselves models
of these virtues for your flocks to follow." Such
was the burden of his address on this occasion.
All the parochial churches and a number of others
have these special services for Lent, the preachers
being chosen chiefly from among the religious
orders.

The English sermon is at the usual church in
the Piazza del Popolo, and is by the Rev. Patrick
O'Ryan, of St. Louis, U.S., whose Epiphany dis-
course, at S. Andrea della Valle, was much liked.
The French have two preachers of so great cele-
brity that one wonders how Paris can spare them,
or S. Luigi de' Francesi contain their, auditory—
Pere Hyacinthe and Pere Hippolyte, both Carme-
lites. The Germans have Canon Ludwigs. The
Lent preacher at the Gesii is not, as far as I can
hear, very widely celebrated as yet, but the selec-
tion will doubtless be fully justified.
Neither is the army forgotten. Besides the
usual Retreats, arrangements are made to enable
all who wish to attend sermons in their own
tongue ; and besides the regular chaplains several.
Religious will attend specially to preaching to
them and hearing confessions. And just as the
Cardinal Vicar (who exercises the functions of
Bishop of Rome in.the name of the Pope) publishes
the Lenten indult for the Roman people, Mgr.
Tizzani, first chaplain of the Army, Bishop of
Nisibis (in partibus) publishes one for the army as
indulgent as possible, in consideration of the hard-
ships to which soldiers are subjected.
The Cardinal Vicar's indult opens by drawing a
distinct line of demarcation between the conduct
of those who neglect the fast from motives of in-
difference to the principle of mortification, and
those who are unable to practise it to the full
extent practised in former times. But he adds,
even these latter " must be reminded that faith
without works is dead, and that the works of
penance are the first which a lively faith inspires,
arising from the salutary fear of Divine judgment
and a due horror of sin, as well as from affec-
tionate aspirations after holiness, and a noble de-
sire to be made like our Divine Redeemer in His
sufferings, in order that we may one day be made
like unto Him in glory."
Then, first declaring that the laws of fasting
remain in force just as of old, he pronounces the
dispensation for this present Lent (for the city
and district of Rome), which allows the use of
meat at one meal on all days except Ash Wed-
cite v igus ot Joseph,
Wed-
nesday. Pmber days,
and the Annunciation, and the three last days of
Holy Week ; all Fridays and Saturdays being
already days of abstinence here. The use of fish
and meat at the same meal is also forbidden even
on the Sundays. The usual warning is repeated to
keepers of caf6s and restaurants, to have ready
on all days not excepted by the indult, dishes which
do not contravene the laws of fasting, so that
none may be driven to inconvenience or trans-
ionaud that if they
agrree ss
requiredby to their
preparenegl negligence
Meats, it should be
in a separate room, 00 that scandal may not be
given.
The Lenten devotion which gives most occupa-
tion to visitors is the practice of visiting the sta-
tional churches on the various days on which special
indulgences are attached to the act, many of them
being of surpassing interest, yet difficult of access,
or not to be appreciated to advantage when bare
of worshippers, at other times.
The title of stational churches is variously de-
rived. Some, referring to a parallelism which has
been established between the forty years' wander-
ing of Israel in the wilderness and the forty days'
fast of Lent, see in them a figure of the stations at
which the favoured people halted on their way to
the Land of Promise. Others refer its origin to a
custom in the Primitive Church of the faithful
spending nights in watching in the churches, and
remaining standing during the vigil. Others, again,
to the custom of the Pope's preaching to the people,
standing, during Lent. Others derive it simply
from the fact of their being established by the Holy
See for gaining particular indulgences.
The observance is very ancient. There is in
the Vatican Library an old MS. ceremoniale, in
which it may be found described almost in its
present order as in use in the time of Pope St.
Hilarion in 446. It gives, besides, the order of a
very curious custom, the record of which, though
it has now fallen into disuse, is not without inte-
rest. The sub-deacon was ordered to give out be-
fore the Communion at Mass the stational church
of the next day thus :—" Crastina die veniente
statio erit in ecclesia Sancti N.," and the cantors
to answer " Deo gratias." On the day itself an
acolyte of the church was to carry to the Pope
a ball of tow dipped in the oil of its sanct-lamp,
intoning, as he offered it, the versicle, " Jube,
Domine, benedicere I" and the Pope, having given
his blessing, he was to sing " Hodie fait statio
ad Sanctum N. qui salutat te." The Pope then
took the tow from him, and, kissing it with de-
votion, answered " Deo gratias !" He then handed
it to a Cameriere, by whom all these balls of tow
were put by carefully, and preserved till the death
of the Pope, when they were made into a pillow,
which was placed under his head at his burial.
St. Gregory revised the list of churches hon-
oured as stational,. and appointed to each its fixed
day. They are all specially venerable for their
antiquity and for the mysteries they commemo-
rate, being all dedicated to our Lord or His Mother,
or to some of the martyrs.
The station on Ash Wednesday is at Sta. Sabina,
S. Alessio and Sta. Maria in Cosmedin ; the two
former on the summit of the Aventine, the latter
at its base. Sta. Sabina was built, according to a
mosaic inscription yet to be seen, by a certain Pietro
di Schiavonia, in 425, on the site of the palace of
the martyr, Sta. Sabina. It is interesting on many
accounts. For one, from having been the place
of refuge of Pope St. Silverius when accused by
Belisarius of communicating with the Goths. Then
it was the residence of several Popes in the Middle
Ages, and most of all in that it was given by Ilono-
rius 111. to St. Dominic, who resided there some
time, and many are the traditions still preserved
of associations, with details of his holy life. Among
other legends is one of an occasion in which the
devil, appearing to him in the form of an ape in his
cell, to distract him during his meditations, the
saint constrained him to hold a taper for him till
it burnt down and scorched his hand, and he was
glad to escape, howling with pain. Another tells
Of how the ?Mint, being commissioned by the Pope

to reform the convent of nuns at Sta. Maria, in
Trastevere, his labours among theni kept him one
night till so advanced an hour that the good nuns
were in great alarm at his encountering the perils
of the road. The saint, however, would not trans-
gress the rule by remaining through the night.
Even at the present day it would not be a pleasant
midnight journey from Sta. Maria in Trastevere
to Sta. Sabina. In the thirteenth Century it was
probably not smoother or better lighted, while the
means of crossing the river were certainly less
convenient, for the Ponte Sisto did not exist, and
one of the arches of the Ponte Palatino had just
been washed away. St. Dominic, nevertheless,
set out on his homeward way. The door was
scarcely closed behind him when the rays of a
friendly lantern, borne by a youth of surpassingly
beautiful countenance, were thrown across his path.
With marked courtesy the young man offered to
escort him home, seeming to know his destination
of himself ; the saint followed, wondering at the
guiding of Divine Providence. Arrived at Sta.
Sabina, the heavy gate of the monastery opened
for them as the light of the young stranger's lamp
fell on it. They entered, and it closed behind them;
but, on the instant St. Dominic found himself
alone, and doubted not that GOd had sent his angel
before him to preserve his life. In the church is
shown an ancient Roman marble balance-weight,
one of those subsequently used for tying to the
feet of martyrs sentenced to be thrown into the
Tiber. It bears the following inscription, from
which may be gathered the story of its connection
with the history of St. Dominic :

Credidit orantem jacto confundere saxo
Sanctum hic Dominicum, hostis versutus ad ilium
Illae sum Dominusservat, mirabile factum

Marmoris illrsi confractio monstrat in aavum

Risque fidem prmbet suspensus, et iste molaris.
In the convent garden is a merangolo, or ungrafted
orange tree, planted by the saint, whose shade is
counted holy ground, and whose leaves are prized
as relics still.

Here, too, St. Thomas of Acquino lived, and
there fail not memories either of his consoling
visions received there of his sister rising from pur-
gatory at his intercession ; of the name recorded in
the Book of Life of his brother, killed by the Em-
peror Conrad for his defence of the rights of the
Holy See.

The church of St. Alessio, to which the station
was given on this day by Urban VIII, is no less
interesting, but of an entirely different order of in-
terest. The wonderful conversion of Aglae, who
built the first chapel on the spot ; the still more
wonderful conversion of St. Boniface, in whose
honour she raised it; then the singular life of St.
Alessio, unknown among the pensioners of Euphe-
mius, his father's table, his patronage of Sta.
Francesca Romana, the picture of our Lady he
loved so well when at Edessa that his tears con-
strained it to bid the porter open to him one day
when he mourned that he was shut out from it,
and then -followed him to Rome to console him
when he came back, without leaving trace or record
of its passage. All these simple traditions, and
many more, hover round the venerable precincts ;
but time forbids me to more than allude to them.
Of Sta. Maria in Cosmedon, I can only say on this
occasion that it claims to possess among its relics
the reed with which our Lord was struck in Pilate's
house.

Time forbids me also to speak of the other
churches similarly visited in the later days of this
week ; it must be for another year.

I am sorry to break in on those peaceful con-
siderations with rumours of war, but I must chro-
nicle all. I spoke last week of the feeling that
obtains that the revolutionary party is on the look-
out for opportunities to work out its ends. This
week it has been confirmed by reports of red-shirts
again collecting and taking up their station along
the frontier, so as to be ready to act when re-
quired.

On Wednesday an officer of Victor Emmanuel
had the effrontery to hand to the Papal Comandante
di piazza at Aquapendente despatches from the
Italian general, informing him that he intended to
cross the frontier in pursuit of a band of brigands.
The Comandante di piazza answered that there were
no brigands in the neighbourhood, but such as
might be sent as the vanguard of the Pierlmontege
invasion ; that the trick was known and under-
stood, and that he protested against the presence
of even the officer in question on the Pontifical
soil. The officer, however, assured him at parting
that the Italian army was ready to act and would
act ; on which, of course, the Comandante de-
spatched his report of the affair to head-quarters.
Meantime, there is no appearance of relaxation
in the influx of men and funds for the army nor of
that of the Peter's Pence. Among the amounts I
have heard of lately for the latter is £l7O from the
English Diocese of Beverley, making upwards of
£550 received from it in the course of the year.
Father Malooly, Prior of the Irish Dominicans
at San Clemente, has had the honour of being
received by the Pope to present to him a reliquary
containing particles of the relics which were lately
laid with so much state under the high altar of
that church. The Holy Father bared his head
before the sacred remains, and kneeling down,
addressed a prayer to SS. Clement and Ignatius
aloud. He then bestowed on the Vicar a gold
medal, and expressed his satisfaction at the honour
given to the festa, and his regret that he was pre-
vented from assisting at it ; that he would have
liked to have pronounced a homily in the Coli-
seum on the very spot where St. Ignatius was mar-
tyred, and to have repeated there the words which
the Church puts into the mouth of the heroic
Bishop of Antioch-4i Trumenturn Christi sum, et
bestiarum dentibus molar, ut panis mundus in-
veniar."

Of course there is not space to tell of all such in-
cidents, though I know even subordinate details
concerning the Holy Father are read with interest,
more especially, of course, those in any way con-
nected with English matters. For another, then.
He has just contributed 2,500 lire to the fund for
the building of the English college chapel as an
earnest of his continued interest in the work begun
under his auspices now two years ago. None who
were then here will easily forget the ceremony,
nor the cordial reception he gave the English visi-
tors, nor the earnest and loving words in which he
addressed them on that occasion.

The official list has been published of the results
of the concurrence of Roman subjects at the French
Exhibition. The number of exhibitors was 139,
and of prizes of various kinds and honourable men-
tions fifty-three. Of these there were nominated
for the Legion of Honour two. (Padre Secchi, the
astronomer, and Luccardi, the sculptor.) Grand
prix, one (to Padre Secchi). Gold medals, three
(one for mosaic, one for music, and one for sculp-
ture). Silver medals, eleven (for inlaid marbles
and inlaid wood, cameos, silks, laces, scagliola,
minerals, cereals, and one for carriage-building).
Bronze medals, twenty-three (for a cameo in rock
crystal, for book-binding, inlaid furniture, marble
work, goldsmith's work in Byzantine style, scien-
tific instruments, alabaster, artificial marbles, seve-
ral for stearine candles, wines, and olive oil).
Honourable mention, thirteen (one of these to the
Dominican Padre Embriaco, for his hydraulic
watch, which has already attracted so much notice,
others for photographs, for inlaid musical instru-
ments, for surgical instruments, for gunsmith's
work, for an ingenious instrument invented for use
in the mint here, for fancy leathers, minerals, and
olive oil). Exhibited goods were sold to the value
of about 190,000 lire.
On Thursday there was an illumination of the
Coliseum by Bengal lights and red and green fire,
with musical accompaniment, a not very elevated
or appropriate entertainment, but one which always
attracts great crowds, serving, as it does, as an
object of evening gathering in a season when
parties are few, and operas have ceased.

(From another Correspondent.)
ROME, February 29.

To remove any doubts which may exist of
the real intentions of those who pretend that
the invasion of the Roman territory was merely
directed against the " Temporal Power," it is
only necessary to look at the history of the
last seven years, and compare the acts and de-

clarations of the Government of the kingdom
of Italy.

" It is not enough to dishonour Catholicity,
we must smother it in the mire," was the im-
pious profession of faith of Edgar Quinet, one
of the most notorious writers of the present
school of infidel revolution. The Italian
Ministers have acted up to his advice, and by
the persecution of the Church, the sequestra-
tion of its property, and the arbitrary and un-
justifiable imprisonment of its priests, have
endeavoured to destroy its influence and de-
prive it of its liberty. " The independence of
the clergy is a political heresy which we can
never admit ; we can give them no greater
privilege than we are ready to extend to Jews
or Mussulmen," said the deputy Benedetto
Musolino in Parliament, in the month of June,
1863, and his discourse was rapturously ap-
plauded.
When His Holiness the Pope summoned to
Rome the bishops of all Christendom, to take
part in the religious ceremonies for the can-
onization of the Japanese martyrs, the Italian
Minister of Public Worship prohibited the jour-
ney to the bishops of the kingdom, on the pre-
text " that they might be exposed to insult
from their diocesans, who disapproved of the
ceremonial; yet the protest of the ecclesiastics
to this arbitrary decree of Minister Conforti
was answered by the deputy Nicotera in Par-
liament with a recommendation "to silence
them with the bayonet—not with empty
threats."

The official organs, in the hope of eradicat-
ing all religious sentiment among the ecclesi-
astical students, tells them " so much piety is
superfluous ; daily attendance at Mass is use-
less, Sundays are all that is necessary ; confes-
sion should be practised rarely, for it behoves
us to throw off the yoke of all these clerical
prejudices."
But the whole situation is summed up in
Garibaldi's letter to the Italian clergy, in which
he bids them " atone for the faults of their past
by future good conduct." " You have so far,"
he writes, " made Rome a den of wild beasts.
. . . . I am unfortunately too well per-
suaded that you cannot save the cardinals from
perdition, but do it if you can

Let the Italian priest thunder from the pulpit
the sacred words of the redeemer of his country
(meaning himself, of course), and a stern cen-
sure of the hell of the Vatican."
It is not, however, necessary to look farther
into the past than the last three or four months
to find convincing proofs of the anti-Catholic
tendencies of the Piedmontese revolution. I
do not speak of the sacrilegious profanations
of God's temples in every town or village oc-
cupied by Garibaldi's cut-throats ; they might
be ascribed to the momentary excitement of an
undisciplined rabble ; I speak of the sys-
tematic persecution of every one connected
with the Catholic Church. The spoliation of
the convents continues, and, within a few days,
a motion was made in Parliament/ to seques-
trate the property of the religious orders in
Lombardy, although that property had been
expressly guaranteed to the members by the
treaty of Zurich. Protestants and infidels
have been appointed to professorships in the
different universities, from which the former
incumbents have been removed, not because
they belonged to the clergy, but "because they
were too religious, and went to Mass." " The
State ought to be atheistical ; it has nothing to
do with the affairs of heaven ; the Govern-
ment has no right to give the earnings of its
citizens to lazy priests who do nothing but
conspire against the liberty and unity of Italy!"
were the words of Salvatore Morelli in Par-
liament during the discussion of the Bill for
the meagre appropriation proposed for the re-
gular Church establishment of Italy. Farini,
towards the end of January, demanded the
exclusion of the Sisters of Charity from the
military hospitals, " because they disseminated
doctrines prejudicial to Italian unity," and
his motion met with warm support from the
members of the " party of action."
On the 17th of October, 1867, nearly three
weeks before the battle of Mentana, the Sove-
reign Pontiff decreed a Triduum, by which
the whole Catholic world was invited to pray to
God for his protection in the hour of peril.
Yet the Government of Victor Emmanuel has
invented the pretext of its being a To Deum
for the glorious victory, and has forbidden its
celebration. Nay, more, at Padua and at Pavia
the students were instigated, by an apostate
priest, who fills the post of rector of the uni-
versity, to attack the churches and the semi-
nary, and to beat and despoil of their vest-
ments the officiating clergy. A few police-
men would have prevented the outrages, yet,
although the towns were full of troops, the
authorities declined to interfere otherwise than
by an order ".that the bells should not be
rung for Mass, and the churches should be
closed after 10 a.m., in order to prevent a re-
petition of similar disorders."
With such facts as these staring the world
in the face, how is it possible to admit, for one
moment, that the attacks are simply against
the Papacy as a Temporal Sovereignty ? Con-
forti, who forbade the visit of the Italian
bishops to Rome in 1862, was the grand Master
of the Italian masons, and every office of the
Government is filled with tools of a sect whose
known object is the extinction, not only of
Catholicity, but of all religion.
The French intervention of 1867 was cer-
tainly a great moral triumph, but, if the acts
of France are to be limited to the defeat of
Garibaldi's designs, the end has not yet been
attained. The Convention of September has
been vindicated and enforced, but the position
of affairs is unchanged. For the time being,
the safety of Rome is secured, but the thunder
still mutters in the distance, and any change
in the imperial policy would allow it to burst
with renewed fury on the head of the devoted
Pontiff. Napoleon cannot be relied upon. The
history of the martyrs of Castelfidardo, and of
the unfortunate Maximilian, abandoned to his
fate after the most solemn promises of sup-
port, are there to prove that his policy is
treacherous, and that he still remembers his
ancient compact with the Carbonari. I know,
from the most positive authority, that, after
Mentana, Lamarmora was sent to Paris to in-
quire into the causes of the intervention, and,
if possible, remedy its effects. I know that he
was received like a dog by the Emperor, and
that the latter, in a voice of suppressed anger,
said to him—" You are a set of cowardly fools,
and your King is an adclleheaded baby ! I
gave you eight days !" Comment is quite
unnecessary, but some may still recollect
another interview at Chambery, in 1860, when
this same La Marmora was told—" Get rid
of Lamoriciere, but lose no time !"
To prove that the people refuse to partici-
pate in all acts which essentially constitute
the existence of a Government based upon
universal suffrage, I need only cite their per-
sistent absence from the elections ; in one in-
stance, out of 200,000 persons constituting the
population of the market quarter of Naples,
Cortese was elected by 43 votes against 41
given to the Opposition candidate.
All the papers not in the Government pay
are unanimous on one point—that a crisis is
at hand when the question will be decided
whether the Papacy or Mazzini will triumph,
for the leaders of the Revolution are tired of
their puppet, Victor Emmanuel, and are almost
ready to throw away the mask, and chant the
bloody hymn of the Red Republic.
The Pontifical State is apparently calm, but
every preparation, consistent with its meagre
revenues, is being made to resist the attack,
already announced by Garibaldi, fbr the early
spring. Although balked in their attempts to
suborn the Roman people in October, 1867,
Mazzini's partisans are labouring, industriously,
to make trouble in the city.
War is expected by the Government about
Easter, though it may be postponed until the
autumn, as the Italians have neither money
nor breech-loaders, and the Ministers have
not found anyone who will supply either on
credit, particularly as, since Custozza and
Mentana, Italian military skill and courage
have fallen below par,