New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-04-24
TmK PAPAL BULL.


Gals in our day is not puzzlDg il has been inn
eeiDed. The palpable reason for this failure is the
superiority in mirhinspiring force of would.be
grave documents from time to time appearing over
any trayestes or carcatures that Wit can devise or
Fancy conceive.
Read the Pspa Bull which we received by the
America and publish this morning. and jadge how
far PANTY Fair or Menus must "pale its inef
fecual fires F" before this document as an inciter
TO iocularity. We certainly do not mean to offend
or shock those devout Catholics who hold that this
Bull, because it is Bull, should be treated SOL
EMMY; but we defy even an Archbishop to con this
document intently, note its swelling phrases, its
lofty assumptions, its freezing awe Of its own aw-
fulness, and not realize that the Nineteenth Century
is bursting INTO one nrepressbls horselaush at the
untimely performance.
Referring our readers to the Bull itself for feast
of fun, we proceed to sketch briefly the graver as
pect Of the matter.
Certain provinces or districts of Central Italy,
stretching from tho Mediterranean to the Adristic,
and now containing Six Millions Of people, were
from time to time ceded by sundry Emperors and
other princes to the Bishop or Pope OF Rome.
Some Of these cessions or acquisitions are nearly or
quite q thousand years old; but others date back
but four or FIVE centuries; aud these cover the east
ernmost portion Of the Papal dominion, including
the cities Of Bologna and Ferrara, TO which the
name of Emilia has been given (or restored) by its
present rulers.
Well: the Pope has for so many centuries been
the ruler of these districts these milOns-an abso
Lutte sovereign, elected by corporation Of priests
themselves the appointees Of former Popes) termed
the College of Cardinals. The government is pure
IL sacerdotal all the important posts being held by
priests, and the petty places by priests minons.
Whoever aspires to position or influence in these
estates of the Church must belong TO the priest
hood And the interest, the security, the indepen-
dence the growth, the advancement OF "the
"Church" is avowedly the primary end OF this
Papal and priestly rule.
This may be very excellent form of government
for those who like it: but the people who have tried
it happen not to like it. On this point there is no
room for doubt or csvil. The simple fact that it
has for years been upheld solely by foreign bayonets
we speak not of those of the Pope's Swiss Guard,
but of those of the Austrian and French despotisms
is conclusive. Even in Rome itself, on which all
the advantages of the system are concentrated, the
Papal rule would not last day after the
withdrawal of the French troops, unless 1t
were morally certain that other foreign
legions wond soon replace them. The present
Pope (who is personally amiable and rather
liked than Otherwise) was borne back from Gaeta
in 1919 by French bsyonets-may be said to have
entered the Eternal City through breaches in its
walls made by French cannon. Mazzini said to
him with great force directly thereafter: You
{" say that the Roman People were under the con-
{" troll of demsgogues during the existence of the
" RepubIc-that our elections were farces-our
"rule one of terror. Well: You cannot pretend
that we mono control the people-that we in our
exile either tyrannize over or terri'y them:
"Now hold an election yourselves we dare you TO
O. do it and let the People decide, under an cleo
" ton managed by you, whether they prefer
your rule or ours !" of course, the hierarchy
stood dumb.
The Emilian provinces were in lSi9 restored to
the Pope by Austrian bayOnets, just as tho Medi-
terranean districts were by French. And they
had been held by Austrian bayonets ever since,
until, in 1859, the Emperor Francis Joseph needed
all his troops on the plains of Lombardy: when be
evacuated the Papal (Emilian) States, which i'm
mediately framed secular government of their
own. The process was as natural, as quiet, as
bloodless, as the coming of Spring. They have
since presented spectacle of order, contentment
and tranquility which other States may well envy;
and they have just voted, by an immense majority,
to annex their district to the kingdom of Sardinia,
now become the kingdom of Upper Italy, and en-
bracng nearly all the country drained by the Pc in
its course from the Alps of Savoy to tho Adriatic
The Pope and the Cardinals do not relish this
peaceful revoution-this al but unanimous decision
of the people Of the Emilia to live under secular
rather than a sacerdotal rule. Their active, open
warfare against it begins with the extraordinary
manifesto which we publish to-day. We need not
ask for that document general perusal.