The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-24 00:00:00

ROME, APRIL 3.

Ere this can reach you, you will have received
intelligence of the election of a Pope ; an event
which took place in the forenoon of Tuesday,'
March 31, and in a very satisfactory manner to
the elected ; as out of 60 Cardinals who were in
the Conclave, no less than 47 gave their Votes in
favour of Cardinal Francisco Xaverius Casti-
glioni, Bishop of the Tusculan Diocese, and
Grand Penitentiary. He was born at Carigoli,
a small town in the March of Ancona, on the
20th of November, 1761, and promoted to the
Cardinalate by Pius VII., March 8, 1816.
Previously he had been Bishop of Montalto,
and, during the period of occupation of the Papal
territory by the French, was detained (as they
expressed it) several years in France.
The Cardinal Albani, mentioned in one of my
late letters, is said to have been remarkably
active in the Conclave. At the beginning, the
votes in favour of Cardinal Pacca were pretty
numerous. Afterwards M. De Gregorio seemed
to take the lead ; but, latterly, Cappellari and
Castiglioni seemed to obtain conclusive pre-
ference. It is currently reported that only
one vote was required to effect the election
of the former, and that Cardinal Albani
offered to secure it to him by giving his
' own in his favour, upon a conditional pro-
mise of the Secretaryship of State being conferred
upon himself. This, it is added, would not be
acceded to, and the refusal is highly honourable
to the principles of Cappellari, who is a mere
Carthusian Monk, but possessed of eminent at-
tainments. At all events, the new Pope, imme-
diately upon being assured of his election, nomi-
nated All3ani to the ambitioned office, for which
the Romans generally opine that be is extremely
unfit.

After the morning ballot on the 31st, it was
ascertained that 34 votes (the required propor-
tion) were for Cardinal Castiglioni ; but it was
perceived that some formalities had been omitted
from a few of the billets placed by some of the
Cardinals in the usual chalice. It was, how-
ever, proposed, in order to save time, to insti-
tute a fresh ballot. This was accordingly done,
and the other 13 (making 47 in all) Cardinals,
who had kept aloof very prudently, went over to
the secured majority.
The election being effected, the new Pope was
asked by the Cardinal Dean of the Sacred Col-
lege whether he would accept the high office.
His answer was " God's will be done." He
was next interrogated respecting the name he
wished to assume. He has taken that of Pius
VIII. in memory, no doubt, of him by whom he
had been created Cardinal.

After a regular proces verbal of all the pro-
ceedings had been drawn up by the First Master
of the Ceremonies, the newly-elected Pope was
eonducted, by the two senior Cardinals of the
Order of Deacons, to a little space behind the
altar, and there attired in the Pontifical robes
which had been placed there for the occasion.—
After this he returned to the front of the altar,
and thence bestowed his first Papal benediction
upon the Sacred College. He next ascended to
the Papal throne, and, seated thereon, received
the first Adoration (as it is called) of the Car-
dinals. Each knelt before him, kissed his foot, '
his hand, and his cheeks. The (new) Fisher-
man's ring was then delivered to him by the
Carnerlingo, Cardinal Galeffi. -
The next formality was the annunciation of
his election to the public. The senior Cardinal
Deacon, having previously obtained his Holi-
ness's permission, repaired, preceded by a Master
of Ceremonies, and another ecclesiastic bearing
a cross, to the great balcony in front of the Pa-
lace, and (in Latin !) intimated to the populace
the auspicious event, and the name assumed by
the new Pontiff. This was done by the Cardi-
nal Albani, to whom this day has been a re-
markably lucky one, as, over and above the new
appointment, he is entitled, by this mere act, to
an official fee, amounting to 6,000 dollars ! The
tidings were greeted by ringing of bells and firing
of cannon.

Immediately afterwards all impediments to
access were actively removed, and those who
wished to enter the Conclave were admitted. The
new Pope received with remarkable urbanity all
who approached him, and addressed most cour-
teous expressions to many. In the evening the
city was generally illuminated. In the ensuing
forenoon Pius VIII. made his first appearance in
public, as the second Adoration always takes
place in the Sixtine 'Chapel (in the Vatican
Palace), and the third in St. Peter's Church.
For this purpose be, the Cardinals, and the usual
cortege, left the Quirinal Palace at about eleven
o'clock. Upon arriving at the Vatican he robed,
and, being seated upon the very altar, received a
repetition of the genuflections and osculations of
the preceding day.
From hence the procession descended to the
Church of St. Peter. The Pope was borne in
the usual Chair of State upon men's shoulders,
and followed by the Cardinals. Upon his en-
tering the church, his choristers sung the Anthem
beginning with " Ecce Sacerdos Magnus."—
He descended from his chair to pray a few
minutes before the Sacrament, kept in one of the
lateral chapels ; and was thence conducted to the
grand central altar, seated upon which, during
the performance of Te Deum, he received the
third and last Adoraticin. The ceremony con-
' eluded with his giving his first benediction to
the public in the Cathedral, and after this he re-
turned to the Quirinal.

During those two progresses, he was very par-
tially and feebly greeted by the populace, Few
knees were bent ; and, in many parts, military
constraint was employed to induce persons even
to take off their hats. This iudifference I can-
not ascribe to any dislike or objection towards
the mere man. But the Romans cannot but
remember what they have suffered during the last
three reigns, and in the revolutions and exac-
tions of that period. In fact, a settled gloom—
a kind of apathy, produced by despair—has evi-
dently settled upon the aspects and minds of a
people who have so long been treated with ne-
glect, contempt, or indignity, by their elected or
intrusive rulers. A transient gleam of joy was
discernible at the death of.the late Pontiff; but
us it could not. open any prospect to reasonable
hope, the heavy mist quickly prevailed again.
Yet, had the late Leo remained in St. Peter's
Chair, they and society, I am assured, would be
subjected to additional hardships. The Treasury
(owing, no doubt, to mismanagement) was so
empty that he had it in contemplation to force
upon them a paper currency—a medium which
the former and fatal experience of their fathers had
rendered peculiarly odious to remembrance and
foresight. It was also his intention to dissolve
all the separate colleges and institutions for
education (many of them endowed by the origi-
nal benefactors for specific plans, and with pre-
scribed regulations), and assemble all students in
' one or two vast
,establishments, to be utterly
and peremptorily under the direction of the Je-

suits. His Constant epistolary correspondence
with Ferdinand of Spain is now openly avowed.
As to his successor in the Pontificate, he is
said to be a man of slender abilities, of !zealous
piety, of a good heart, and of an amiable dispo-
sition. He has generally been in tears since his
election. The causes I cannot immediately as-
certain ; but, in °tie Instance, they certainly
flowed from a respectable motive: On his way
from the Vatican, some in the mob invoked him
fbr " bread, as they were dying for hunger." In
fact, the lower orders, here are in a deplorable
state. He was considerably affected, and an-
nounced a desire to have a largess immediately
distributed among the poor. This could not be
effected, for he was assured that there was no
money in the Treasury. Several other amiable
anecdotes of him have already transpired, and
some shall be communicated in my next, toge-
ther with an account of the Coronation, which
is expected to take place very shortly. On the
other hand, the poor old man's frame is in a
state to forbid any hope of his being able to per-
form his high and various duties with energy or
activity. He labours under various chronical
disorders ; and is in a state nearly approaching
to decrepitude. This, among the ambitious,
may have facilitated his election, excluding due
consideration of the needs of the people and
times; and the eventual requisitions upon the
former for the enormous expences incidental to
frequent conclaves, &c. He has already or-
dered to be recalled from the principal churches
the Swiss boorish soldier his predecessor had
stationed in each, as monitors of devotion, and
inspectors of ladies' bonnets.