Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1854-03-21
MISCELLANEOUS.
From the New York Journal Of Commerce.
ROME'S INSOLVENCY..

ROME'S INSOLVENCY.
Recent advices from Rome give SAD account OF n ne
only is His Holiness insolven but the AFFAIRS OF inc no
man States are 10 desperate plight altogether Politically
srae but financially their position is DOW still more alarm
ing II only by foreign bayones that the government OF
the Ponti has been such oayonets are Gun
indispensable lie protection from anarchy; but they who
wieId those weapons 1.-Two upon ar-they must be
fed housed and clothed aud arms and ammunition must be
provided for ,hem This requires large funds IN ADDITION to
The ordinary requirements OF tho Kingdom Had the Pope
been unembarraseed the outset would have been diff
cut enough 10 sustain heavy drain upon his exchequer
but already head and in debt, and the interest OF
his loans absorbing the bulk of his regular finances II is
found impossible to 60 on much longer What will be
the ultimate issue of the crisis II not easy 10 predict
In the present condition of Europe Should revolutions
break ont Austria in Italy and in Hungary as is no, i'm.
probabe-if general ensues, Rome Will certainly ind
herself utterly defenceess. She would be po~erless in
Decd In such copjuuctuc under any circumstances OF
assistance and that which she now hae being Withdrawn
from the necessities Of the case probably Will be- His
holiness scarcely escape being lett naked 10 his enc
Blu, Is no, exclusively Pho Niuo that the RESPONSE
biIy OF Romes financial distress belongs The great mis-
chief was done by his predecessor Gregory XVI who in
the short period Of fifteen years. that Is from 1881 to 1886
incurred debt of forty millions of dollars We learn
this from siguor Fani in his admaSe History Of the
Roman States from 1915 1880" The Pspal Govern
ment he shows encountered with debt Of upwards OF
thirty nine millions Of crowns the accession of the
sent Pope in lS46 Wide spread Instructions had caused
costly expenditure for their suppression
which broke only few days after Gegorys election
throne, w0icn
pressed state durlue the whole period Of his Ponhcate-
His successor the present Pontif Is undoubtedly great
improvement both upon Gregory and all who with few ex.
ceptlous perhaps, have gone before him He
his Pon6ca a social and. political reormer He
babe fair time, be the benefacor Of his people
But the institutions he had TO do with would not stand
forming process-hey altogether rotten for IT. and
a radical reorganization all that could be done with
eas m sa' it ss d sa w ssnd
log due care, In doing so, TO strengthen liz foun
daons. He found out this. to his costs for he incurred
enmy Of those who formed the executive OF his govern
eDt and realized the unhappy case Of him whose greatest
foes those OF his own houshC When the vibrations
of revolutionary chord which France had violently
touched with such terrible effect in lS46 extended
the Holy City, for from having propitlaed the spirit Of
REFORM he found he had only provoked it, Rebellion as we
all know ensued and furious was II in lis rage that
poor Pho Niuo had hy disguise for bis m md abandon
bis sovereignty; and 1t only by the Intervention of TO-
reign armsilhat was after WHILE restored Charles Fox
used to saw that reservations were the most bloody Of
revoluons-and this Of Pope Plus yet turn out 10 be
exception; while 1t has this that no mere O.
could probably serve 10 remedy the evil OF II al ALL
The Pope aas about three millions of subjects u sta,e OF
ectua His institutions indeed only exist uLder such
bondage No Government of priests and cardinals could
f. But this is no age for endurance of such sys,em
and the ory may soon become nesisble-"Down with II ;
down with 10 the Sosn hs
Pout would give energy aud effect. His restoration we
may depend upon It, was not accomplished whout sact
Gee; and his protection has of involved still more
serious and continuous From the large sum OF forty
millions of dollars deb. has now sweed It 10 said TO
The enormous one of hundred millions; that his extrca
ZION IL morally Impossible The Roman PoniH is bank
rupr The Interest the debt alone Is slated TO be about
twenty millions of dollars year-a sum which his ordinary
revenue would DO quite unable 10 meet So that 1t Is aogel
er helpless hopeless Is said that If the whole Papa
territory were brought the hammer TO morrow, the pro-
ceeds would scarcely realize enough 10 pay oVoeha o
twenty per cent. Of the debt,
We shall no, into speculation upon the bear
ing of revolution In the temporal sovereignty OF the
catastrophe threatened would have disastrous infiu
ence upon Romes ecclesiastical concerns scarcely be
doubted Pope he might remain but certainly his whole
system even In Its sprualties would be impaired, II Il
were not destroyed Viewing the subject, however, In Its
civil aspects merely is raught with consequences which
must deeply interest us all.
EASTERN AFFAIRS.
i,,o afrou I