Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-10-10
THE ROMAN QUESTION.
The Recall of the French Troops
Napoleon's Great Failure.

From the London Times. September l5.I
The day brings round the second an
niversary of that Paris Convention be-
tween France and Italy, by the terms of
which the Emperor Napoleon engaged to
withdraw his troops from Rome. A con
siderable part of the Imperial garrison
has already left that city, and it is un-
derstood that the evacuation will be com
plete by the 9th of December. Mean
while the socalled Franco Pontifcal
Legion, 1905 men strong, was to embark
last Thursday at Antilles for Civta Vec
CHA, on board the French steamer FL
Dorado. On Sunday last, Gen. d'Au-
relle, the officer in command of the
Ninth French Military Division, deliv-
cred the Legion into the hands of the
Pontifcal Commissioners, Gen de Cour-
ten and NJ. Massimi, Military subIn-
tendent There was somewhat imposing
ceremony at Antlbes, breakfast and
review of the Legion in full uniform,
which, as we are told, presented most
magnificent sight The words addressed
to the corps by Gen. d Aurelle were sui-
fciently significant He reminded them
that, although they were henceforth to
serve under other colors, they would not
cease to be French soldiers, and they
would under all circumstances have to
uphold the honor of the French name,
of which they would soon be the only
representatives at Rome" 1t is asserted
in fact, that the Antilles Legion will be
the only foreign force allowed for the de
fense OF the Vatican after the 9th of De-
cember We hear in the meantime that
the Legion will not for the present pro
ceed from Civita Vecchia direct to Rome,
as the General in command of the garri-
son objects to his French troops being
brought into contact with these new
Pope soldiers. The Legion will there
fore be sent to Viterbo, in spite of
strong remonstrance by the municipal
authorities Of that town, who warned the
Papal Government of the danger of col
lisions between their people and those
unwelcome foreign guests. The Minis
ter for Arms, Gen. Kanzler, had gone to
Viterbo with view to reconcile those
citizens to the inevitable arrangement
After fully eighteen years Of the most
painful experience, the Emperor Ma
poleon must be aware that he leaves at
this day the Roman question precisely
on the same terms as it was when he took
it up in l84S. The Pope had at that
juncture been left at the mercy of his
subjects, and political passions had risen
so high round the Vatican that an expe-
dition to Rome, meant to screen the
Pope from PERSONAL outrage, was Justl'
fed in the opinion of all reasonable men.
Anything beyond personal protection,
and safe retreat from the midst OF his
revolutionized subjects, could not and
should not have been extended to the
Pope. All efforts to prop up or reform
his Government were made in vain, and
their utter futility is now emphatically
acknowledged
The Pope will soon be once more in
the hands of his subjects, and, were
these determined TO be rid of him, 1t is
doubtful whether even the l205 hirelings
from Antribes could do more for their
new sovereign than favor his second
fight The Pope can be sovereign on
no other terms than those of the bound
less protection Of foreign power; and
we do not see how this protection can
ever be found compatible with his pre-
tensions as a self-standing potentate.
We hear that the supreme spiritual
Office Of the head of the Church requires
for its free and fair exercise the perfect
independence of his person; that the
Independence Of his person cannot be
secured without exemption from all
temporal superiors > that "this exemp-
ton requires sphere of his
own" but for all that we are not
convinced either that Papal sovereignty
and sovereignty in Rome is a necessity,
or that such sovereignty fulhlls the
condition of securing the personal indie
pendence of the Pontiif or the free ex-
ercise of his Office Could It even be
proved that Providence has set apart
Rome and her territory as the residence
Of the head Of the church, and that the
act of Constantine, or Charlemagne, or
the Countess Matilda laid the foundation
Of Papal dominion in the Roman state,
and the donations in the world could not
in our modern views Of such matters,
give the Pope a right over more than the
mere lands The Romans cannot be held
in fee simple by any man. The titles OF
a sovereign over his subjects IN our days
must rest either on a mutual compact OF
good will and loyalty, OF on force-force
drawn from the people against itself, or
borrowed from foreign protection. What
ever jealous Catholics hold 10 the con
trary the Pontiffs have no better right to
sovereignty in Rome than the Staarts
had in England in less, or the Bourbons
in France in 1880. The same revolu-