Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-05-22
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EORNAGN.
lpAL PROCLAMATION.

His Holiness being informed tina, the
Austrian forces which, in consequence OF
dispositions made by the High Allied
Powers were assembled on the Lombar-
dy Venetian kingdom have passed the
Po, and arc marching as friendly troops
towards the kingdom of Naples, TO pro-
;ect the execution of those determine
lions which his Siciiian Majesty has an
nounced to his, people to have been
adopted by the said sovereigns for the
peace and tranquility of Italy and Of all
Europe, is DESTROYS that his well beloved
subjects should be assured respecting
the object of this military expedition,
and at the same time informed of what
in the existing circumstances he expects
from their unalterable fidelity, and fllial
attachment 10 his sacred person:
The Holy Father takes pleasure in
fiattering himself that the Neapolitan ma
zion, united with its King, will be anxious
to preserve to itself and to Europe the
inestimable benefits Of that peace which
was but few years ago regained by so
many sacrifices, and at the expense of SO
much blood. His Holiness offers his
most feryid prayers that Heaven may in
lis mercy keep for ever far from us the
scourge of war. But il, by the inscruta-
bic DEGREES of Divine wisdom, the people
oGItaly are to be again afflicted by that
dreadful evil, the Holy Father, in his
quality of head of the church, and as a
sovereign essentially pacific, will not
cease to maintain, as he has hitherto
maintained, perfect neutrality towards
all nations. But at the same time his
Holiness feels too strongly the force OF
his paternal solicitude for the welfare of
the people whom Divine Providence has
intrusted to his temporal government, to
neglect, under such important circum-
stances, to protect and secure their III
terests.
If the geographical position of the
Ponlfical States render it indispensable
that foreign troops should pass through
chem, he knows not how he can oppose
them. But his Holiness will not fail to
require that during the unavoidable pas
sage ofany foreign troops, his neutrality,
as recognized by all the Powers, shall be
religiously respected that not the
slightest obstacle shall be opposed to the
ecclesiastical, civil, and military au-
thorities of the Papal states in the exer-
else of their respective powers that
the persons and property Of his faithful
subjects, and of all the foreigners who
enjoy the hospitality of his pacific domi-
Mons, shall be inyiolably respected =
and that, though the passage ofthc troops
through many cities and parts of his ter
ritories cannot be prevented, that the
capitol of the Catholic world, through
which there can be no necessity for the
foreign troops passing, shall be entirely
excepted. A different manner of acting
on the part of the foreign troops, will en-
title the Holy Father to consider them
no longer as friends, and to oppose, with
az the means in his power, their passage
through his states, and TO have recourse
to the protection of the High Powers.
Guided by these principles, the Holy
Father has already caused strict orders
TO be given to the civil and military au-
thorities of his states, to the effect that
the foreign regular troops, on entering
and passing through the Pontifical do
ninions, shall be regarded as friends,
and not opposed in the passage, but that
any of the evil disposed class who may
dare to violate the Pontifical territory
shall be vigorously resisted and for this
purpose his Holiness also ordered the
tortresses of his dominions to be put in a
state of defence.
His Holiness our Lord, in making
known to his faithful subjects in the
usual manner, and in order to give them
perfect confidence, the object of the pre-
sent military expedition, his sentiments
as expressed above, and the measures
adopted for securing tranquility in his
states, has at the same time thought fit
to manifest his sovereign will that they
shall show towards the foreign troops all
those attentions which they owe to the
troops Of friendly powers, and that no one
shall take upon himselfto iniure them by
word or deed.
The fidelity and the attachment con-
stantly and most strikingly manifested
to his Holiness, our Lord, by his people,
afford to his Holiness the surest guaran-
tee that they will in the present circum-
stances contribute, by the prudence of
their conduct, to the maintenance ofthat
tranquility which, with so much salts
tisfaction to his paternal heart and so
much honor to the people of his states,
has hitherto been preserved under the
sacred aegis of the laws and the vigil
lance ofthe government Buff any tur-
bulent spirit shall wickedly dare, during