The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-08 00:00:00

ROMAN AFFAIRS.

(From the Roman Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette.)
ROME, May 30.
The Infanta of Spain and her husband,
Count Girgenti, arrived here on Saturday, and
were received by the Pope in audience on
Monday, and yesterday they held a grand
reception of the Corps Diplomatique at the
Palazzo di Spagna. Some have thought it was
through French intrigue that the preference
was not given to the Palazzo Fames° ; but
the actual arrangement can hardly be con-
sidered otherwise than as more honourable,
still completing the recognition by Spain of
its devotion to the dynasty of Francis 11.,
which, however, was already significant
enough in according the hand of the Princess
to the dispossessed Prince, after refusing it to
the heir-apparent of the usurped crown of
Italy. The King of Naples gave a State soiree
in their honour on Tuesday, and the Count of
Trapani has issued invitations for one next
Monday, at which he will announce the ap-
proaching marriage of his daughter with the
Count of Caserta.

Of the religious celebrations of this week
the principal has, perhaps, been the fete of St.
Philip Neri, which is of obligation here. The
Pope attended its celebration at the Chiesa
Nuova with what is called his semi-pubblico
cortege, consisting of the carriages of his court,
preceded by the Prelate Cross-bearer mounted
on a white mule. In the carriage with the
Pope were two cardinals of the last creation—
Borromeo and Monaco. Count and Countess
Girgenti wei e also present at the Mass, which
was sung by Cardinal Hohenlohe. The In-
fanta, who assisted for the first time at a Roman
function, was most enthusiastic in her interest
in it. The Pope gave the Oratorians on the
occasion a magnificent altar cross, in Byzantine
style of orjevrerie, containing a fragment of the
True Cross. There was a presentation, limited
in numbers, in the Sacristy after the Mass.
While
.the Holy Father was unvesting, and the
people thronging round to get near him as
usual, " a little vulgar boy" crept between the
legs of the stalwart Swiss Guards, his ragged
habiliments anything but improved by the
process,, and, pushing gently past the noble
crowd, made his Vvay up to kiss his foot. En-
couraged by the indulgent smile with which
the Holy Father condoned his familiarity, the
little fellow, with much native grace and deli-
cacygazing at him as if he
llisliposf,
amnadntnheern,
sttooookd his haLd and put it to
did not know how to give up the advantageous
position he had gained. It was touching to
see the hand which may be raised to give
effect to the mightiest bann or benediction
lying within the clasp of the small unwashed
fingers of earth's meanest little one, while he,
her greatest, forbid it not.
The discussions on the payment of the con-
tribution due from Victor Emmanuel's Go-
vernment to the Pontifical debt continues at
the French Embassy. On the Italian side are
Pasolini, Mari, and Martinengo, and on the
other, M. de Sartiges, and the agents of French
finance, deputed for the occasion.
Italy imagines that the embarrassment she
can inflict on the Papal exchequer by the
attempt at repudiating her obligations, may,
seriously cripple the action of the Roman Go-
vernment, and prove a much pleasanter mode
of warfare, and one more suited to her charac-
ter than that of dragging her badly paid, de-
moralized, and unwilling forces again to the
encounter of the ardent defenders of the
Pope. She accordingly displays a tone of
impertinence, only less surprising than the
bad faith it is taken up to defend. If she is
as fraudulent in her intentions as in her pro-
fessions, however, there will be no escape from
giving her a lesson of honesty at the point of
the sword and the bayonet, which dislodged
her from her cover behind the brushwood of
Mentana, and will not be slow to drive her
from the less tenable cover of her flimsy pre-
texts for escaping her debts. It was with
France, however, her engagements were made,
and as France is the agent of the negotiation,
it is she who has to drink the cup of sauciness
Italy pours out so plentifully. It argues an
immense accession of Christian patience, or
a lamentable pitch of national degradation,
that she has accepted the measure dispensed
hitherto, and that at the hands of a mush-
room creation of her own. Those who have
watched the struggle are aghast at the long-
suffering of France. An occupation of the
usurped provinces as a pledge for enforcing
the observance of the Convention seems to
be the weakest measure she can adopt in de-
fence of her dignity and self-respect; but Italy
snaps her fingers at the threat, and shelters
herself behind the fancied protection of the
other European Powers jealous of France.

The • revolutionary committees of Florence
and other Italian centres are, however, very
busy, making the most of the chance. Menotti
Garibaldi is at Terni, stimulating the excite-
ment of the advanced party, and Dio e popolo
is the cry they raise now to predicate the
downfall of the present dynasty, and the final
triumph of revolution in democracy. The
idea has been no slower in working among en-
tb.lisiastiC spirits on our own side. Every order
for change of barrack, necessitated by hygienic
or disciplinary considerations, is hoped to
imply a preparation for support of the French
movement in suchA direction. And though
what I see of the tameness of Napoleonic policy
in this affair leads me to believe the day is yet
distant for any such energetic measure, I
found the men composing the first and second
companies of the second battalion of Zouaves,
who were ordered off on Wednesday to Monte
Fiascone to replace the men of the Roman
Legion, recalled thence to form the camp, so
fully possessed with the joyful belief that it
was only a stage on the way to Orvieto, that
they would not listen to a doubt on the subject.
Mgr. Stonor's dinner, one of the neat and
recherche repasts by which one little spot in the.
Via Condotti makes good its claim to form
an oasis in the desert of Roman cookery, went
off very successfully on the Queen's birth-
day. Some twenty or thirty English-speaking
Zouaves were present, as also Lord Beaumont,
who seemed as if he would 'ake his place very
naturally at a Zouave mess-table. The usual
loyal toasts were duly honoured by the com-
pany. In proposing her Majesty's health, Mgr.
Stonor said :
" To-day is an anniversary full of lively home
associations—our Queen's birthday—a day
which kindles the loyalty of every British
subject. Catholics of England have never
failed to pay their allegiance to the throne.
Our Royal family lives in the hearts and affec-
tions of our people, and no more prominent
example of this has ever been given than the
late enthusiastic reception of the Prince and
Princess of Wales in Catholic Ireland. A few
days more and our countrymen at home will
be idling another joyous reception—the return
of the Duke of Edinburgh, for whom the
sympathy and interest of all classes has lately
been so sincerely engaged. This is not the age
of loyalty. Treason and contempt for dynastic
rights are at the present day rampant in
Europe; and some of the
principal thrones are
occupied by men who can show no title to
them but usurpation. This is not the case in
England, and never will be, for the reigning
house has ever been dear to our forefathers,
and holds its roots deep in .the traditions and
feelings of the people. I propose the health
of the Queen, wishing her long life and happi-
ness, and I join with her's the name of the
Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke
of Edinburgh, hoping that both may follow the
bright example she has set them."
Iri giving the Pope's health, Mgr. Stonor
said :

" I do not suppose such a company as this
has ever met together before. We have, sitting
round the table, members from all parts of the
British dominions—English, Irish, Scotch,
Canadians, and from the English-speaking
continent of North America. What is stranger
still, you are all here as soldiers, not now fight-
ing for your Queen and country, ready as you
would be if need were, but wearing a foreign

uniform, enffaged in defending the rights of
a foreign Sovereign. But then it is because
he is also the Sovereign Pontiff of your reli-
gion, and to defend his throne and his rights
is a sacred, as well as a chivalrous duty.
There is no cause more holy and noble than
his. There is no Sovereign more worthy of
your support than Pius IX., who for twenty
years has bravely withstood every attempt
against the rights lie received with his crown,
and who, owing to your courage, has lately
gained so great a victory over the Revolution.
I propose the health of the Holy Father,
wishing him many long years yet of life and
happiness, and hoping that by the brave sup-
port of his army, which is exciting at this
moment the admiration of the whole world,
he may obtain a final victory over his ene-
mies."

Major Lewis, who was also of the party,
returninc, thanks on behalf of the Zouaves,
passed a well-merited' tribute on the exertions
of their hospitable host, in promoting the well-
being and comfort of the corps, left yes-
terday for the United States, charged with
a mission relative to the enrolment and trans-
mission of the American volunteers. The offer
of a thousand which has been accepted, might,
it is said, be easily doubled or tripled ; two
thousand more from Holland would but too
gladly receive the order to start for Rome.
Offers of men, arms, and money pour in daily
from every part of the Christian world. These
are either received or noted for future accep-
tation as prudence may suggest in each case,
and by an economy and forethought worthy
of imitation, the limited means of the Roman
Government are laid out to an advantage which
may be compared to the distribution of the five
small loaves in the wilderness, in giving them
a value many times their actual amount. There
is no relaxation in adopting every means of
preparation within reach, and as an instance I
may mention that many companies of the Line
are already provided with breech-loaders—
their old guns converted here, and the men
are well exercised daily in their use. It was a
vigorous idea, too, to train the little army to
the exigencies of military service, by giving it
an experience of camp life. This it is definitely
arranged to carry out after the celebration of
Corpus Christi. M. de Maliget, General Kanz-
ler's secretary, has for some time past been en-
gaged on a journey of inspection of other
European camps, for the purpose of assisting
the enterprize by experience thus gained.
On Monday the triduo in honour of the
Japanese martyr of the Dominican Order suc-
ceeded that for those of Gorcum at the Minerva.
The illuminated paintings surmounting the
door inside and out, and that over the high
altar, were changed to suit the occasion. The
band in the Piazza, supplied by the various
regiments in town, continues every evening.
The 22nd of May, B. Rita di Cascia, was the
festa of the guild of pizzicarnoli (the cheese-
mongers of Rome), the trade receiving its
chief supplies from the neighbo arhood of Cascia.
After the High Mass the guild distributes a
number of dowries to young girls of good
character. The churches are strewn with
rosebuds on the occasion, in memory of a
legend connected with the life of B. Rita,
which represents the rose-bushes flowering in
mid-winter on some occasion in her honour.
The feast of St. Gregory VII. is celebrated
with special solemnity at S. Lorenzo fuor' le
aura, where he lived in religion before lie was
called to the Pontifical throne. It was he who
instituted the Peter's Pence in France, as
appears by the following passage in one of his
letters :—" Dicendium est autem omnibus
Gallis et per veram obedientium praecipuen-
dura ut unaquceque domus saltem unum
denarium annuatim solvant B. .Petro si eum
recognoscunt Patrem et pastorem scum mare
antiquo." This great saint still lies buried
in a humble chapel of the Cathedral of
Salerno, where he died. Pius IX. had had it
in contemplation during the late reign to have
translated it to Rome and laid it in St. Peter's
in the midst of his noble predecessors and
successors.

THE CATHOLICS AND 71IE COMING

ELECTIONS.

The Catholics of' England owe Ireland a
debt of gratitude, for without Ireland's de-
termination and her power to enforce justice,
English Catholics might have been still un-
emancipated. In the coming struggle be-
tween Ireland and the old spirit of Protestant
ascendancy—and it cannot be doubted that the
old beldame of bigotry will die hard —for Eng-
lish Catholics to keep aloof in supercilious
indifference or out of a perverse party spirit
would not only be an ungenerous ingratitude,
but a suicidal folly. To separate ourselves
from the hopes and fears, the interests and
labours of the Catholic people of Ireland,
would be to condemn ourselves to political
sterility. It would be a denial of one of the
most essential principles of Catholicism—a
principle that underlies the whole Catholic
system, and gives strength and confidence in
the day of battle—the principle of unity. We
are one. The Catholics of Ireland, and Eng
land are linked together by the strongest of
bonds and the deepest of sympathies ; and at
whose bidding is this bond to be severed; this
sympathy to be repudiated ? If there be
among us any who advocate in the coming
elections the abandonment of Catholic inte-
rests in Ireland, who would postpone out of
indifference, timidity as to the results of the
battle, or to party feeling, an act of justice
already for the good name of England too
long delayed, such men are traitors, or
cowards, or both. The Catholic vote in many
an English borough is able, in a closely con-
tested election, to turn the balance. If we
throw our weight into the scale of Pro-
testant ascendancy in Ireland, we shall be
less brotherly to our fellow Catholics than the
Nonconformists of England, and surely less
religious. For it is out of no worldly or poli-
tical spirit that the Wesleyans and English
Dissenters oppose the Church Establishmnts
of England and Ireland. They abhor the
Erastianism of the Established Church in Eng-
land. They regard it as a defilement of the
purity of religion. The Royal- Supremacy, 'as
set forth again of late by Mr. Disraeli, is not a
thing for Catholics to be so much in love with
as to betray, for its preservation in England,
the interests of Catholicism in Ireland. The
independency of the Nonconformists is a less
unclean thing in our eyes than the Royal
Supremacy. We have suffered less, England
has suffered less by it, than by the fatal prin-
ciple introduced by the Tudor religion. In
the work of disestablishing, first the Irish, then
the Anglican Church, we can, though without
sharing their principles, join hands with the
earnest and religious dissenters of England.
By so doing, we should be in far less danger
of contamination than by supporting the
" No Popery " party and Mr. Disraeli in the
maintenance of the Royal Supremacy in Eng-
land and in Ireland.
We do not for an instant deny that many
will have to overcome a just repugnance at
restoring the Liberal party to power ; some
will have to sacrifice personal and party pre-
dilections—some to postpone lesser or tempo-
rary- advantages in obedience to the dictates
of justice and for the furtherance of the highest
interests of religion. In every good cause,
however, sacrifices must be made ; in every
strurigle losses must be sustained, but such
sacrifices will bring their own reward. At any
rate, we cannot stop to count the cost ; it is
no longer optional for us to leave this work
alone without being untrue to ourselves and
to our principles. There have always been
amongst us a few who, in every great onward
movement, have cried : Hold. It was the case
with Catholic emancipation, with the establish-
ment of the hierarchy, and so it is now when,
owing to a sudden supervent ion of juster ideas
in the mind of the people of England, an op-
portunity is offered of delivering Ireland from
the domination of an heretical Establishment.
We will not stop now to inquire into the mo-
tives of those amongst us who thrust them-

selves between Ireland and her deliverance ;
we have elsewhere treated of the absurdest of
these motives, the notion that in so doing
Catholics were acting in obedience to the Syl-
labus.

In the approaching elections we trust that
no false application of Conservative principles
will induce any Catholics to thwart by their
vote the first step towards completely emanci-
pating in these kingdoms the State from the
long thraldom of a malignant heresy, and of
opening a free path for the progress and de-
velopment of the Catholic Church in England
and Ireland.—Westminster Gazette.