, 1866-04-04
FROM ITALY,
THE NFALLIBLES OF EURopR,

The Quarrel Between Nupsin aod III.
Pope-Absusdities OF the Papal sys,
tenn
From Our Special Correspondent
FLORENCE. March 10, 1885,
IN the golden days before the French Reyo-
luton turned everything upside dowu-tbe
happy time when one wolloped his niepers OF
h1s serts ad lidIum, and both classes Of the
common herd - knew their places and ken.
them; when, in fact, everything vas lust as
II ehonid be, and authority was q big hiug
and not rctailable in small quantities, there
We1e-tn spite Of the general feliclty-small
troubles which have not much perplexcd the
de7il-going world In which We sinners do
pretty much as we please. ,
The fnfallibiity Of the Pope, and The divine
rights of Kings made things comfortable like
for 1t must have been pleasant to feel that the
fellows on the quarterback were properly
authorized 10 steer the vessel, and that any
particular shipwreck Was duly arranged fpr
ut the right Office. But the small trouble
grew up When infal1lbI]Ities multiplied, when
seTcrnl Popes were busy in loosiug what each
other had bound up when Kings who could
do no more were constantly engaged in
'TroneiDg each other; and both Glasses of
diyfncly commissioned fellows seemed to get
such very conflicting instructions from in
splred fountains. There was In fact much
ness about the thing, all the more perplexipe
10 poor fellows TINT It vas undeniab1y q
good thing, for the other fellows who were
tnfallible.
Since the French Revolution made all En-
rope so mlselably free to think as 1t plcases,
and 90 pretty much as 1t likes, We have
donbtless been very badly of. So many IN
1ali6le Ili5, people tel US 60, and the present
90 often telling us how desperate our case Is,
that Ii would bc q sin agufnst light to dount
on the subject. But the Infa1lible ought to
see that be Is much nearer to being mo-
nopoly Of lniallibility, and that NC arc very
good not TO make other intallib1cs to unite as
iast as he ties up.
The unhappy monopollst-for who can
doubt thet our sins make him very miserable?
ought to be grateful for one blessing At
tended with the dnlness Of the market for
infallbility. If 1t was in good demand, VIC
should make so many rivals of Ills Holiness
That everything. ,would get loose, and even
them to wish to become 1nla1llbles, when
they saw how hopeless the task Of tying up
must be.
But Plus II. Is painfully conscious Of Inv.
ing one rival lnfallib1e. The greatest Of mon
archs, and the one who believes himself to be
greatest. arc equally infallible. The Empe-
TINT article Of crcdulity with The King OF ali
the Romans all that is left OF them" In
MEDIEVAL times men learned that the infalli.
bilitlcs made IN indefinite supply Of fallsb1e
conduct, OF, at least, conduct that looked
crooked and irregn1ar like 10 fallible eyes;
md modern experience Is not likely to re-
The Greek Church Infallible sends an am-
hassador to the Roman one, and as all ambas
sadors are rather ''tetchy,n it may be easily
conceived that the ambassador Of a rival In
the intallible business might easily got
fetched" at Rome, especially If he insisted
upon tie point. The thing has happened
anyhow, and We may spare ourselves my in
qulry into the reasonableness- of the thing.
The ambassador ceased to be an ambassador,
that is, he WIS told to pay no more attention
TO the HoW-not-to d0-it business In Rome,
md mind his private aHatrs- Accordingly he
ceased one day to be the ambassador Of the
Emperor Of all the Russias, and relapsed into
Russia, living in Rome. Not to put too Bne
APPOINT upon It, there was rupture Of dIplo-
matte relations, but the ambassador had the
e6rontery TO stay In Rome. OF course this
was an insult 10 the 1niallible-at least it Is
thought 60 In Paris, where everything is
known by somebody-and the question Is
what Is TO be done by the Roman Intalliblp to
redress bis wrongs.
II is very bad business, because the fellow
up there In the SLOW banks has good deal
more gundowder and carries good many
more guns than the Roman man can induce
CATHOLIC Eu1ope-orerrnn though she Is with
tim Pcople'-to send to the great Catholic
mortmain commonly styled lthe Eternal
City. The moral Of It all Is that It one; scts
up in the 1nfa1lib1e busfne8s-in which he
must put chips on his hat and get 'ssassed''-
be had best look to the Neya, and not to the
Tber, fof model in the successful dong of
difIlcult business.
There seems to be an uncommon amount of
piety IN the French Assembly or Sapoleonic
Debating Society. The Deputies were evi-
dently "p1ously inclined" last year; but he
would be bold man who should now deny
that they shave got religion" II Will be
denied BY good many at Rome, Including
never were deferred from advocating tny pro-
position because that proposition was un-
reasonable. To all other neutrality-suspicious.,
We might say, to oil mortals, since tbs Roman
wisdom Is moro than nostal-thc Assembly
seems to b. IN a most religious state Of mind.
It ought to affect the Holy Father 10 tears TO
read how sacrificing, BENEVOLENT, LIBERAL and
all that, these French Deputies are with What
does not belong to them. They vote that
Rome Is the property Of all Catholic nations,
md sneer at the Idea OF liz belonging to the
Romans or Italians with a plety which Is
truly affecting.
But, seriously, what measurelcss lmpndcnce
It Is to talk In Spain, and France, md Italy,
as statesmen do talk. To assert that Home
does not belong to its peoples not an In
tegral part Of Italy-is Just like denying that
two added TO two make four. It Is
denying axioms on which the modern
fon1 efa r{oIf &hoe -
II which are called Spain, France and Aus
iria. If the deputies honestly believe that
the Emperor rcigns By the will Of the French
peop1e-as tc and they profess to believe
how can they apply my other doctrine to
Romans! But pIety Is popular-tbe iue1pen-
sivc sort: or rather that sort which other peo-
pie pay for-And the deputies wunt to be pop
ular. The Pope is pit1cd, (and can conceive
ofuobody more to be p}tied, and even French
deputIes can initiate the English fashion OF
'sympathizing with the small dog in the fight
50 long as It pays.
II is proposed 10 furnish the Pope 1e,ooo
foreign Christians TO defend him against TINT
particular set OF Christians whom he and his
predecessors here have bad the exclusive
making Of. It does look Is though-on the
Papal line OF IeasoniDg-the processes By
which Christians are made Mt Rome ought to
be improved. To be sure improvement Is not
an acceptable word at Rome; the infalllble
and never gets out Of repair We despair of
comprehendIng any part Of this business.
How Holy Father can spiritually beget such
outraseously bad children as Antonclli de-
clnEe the Romans to he, Is utterly fncompfe-
hensible; and We abandon the mattcr TO the
brains OF most Christian princes and people.
Bat what looks very sad to rs and quite
incomprehentible, Is that the Christians who
arc going 10 govern the common father OF
them all, do not seem to sustain that degree
Of confidence In their Own virtue which such
an army going OF SO very delicate business
ought to have.
The matter is Just this; Rumor asserted in
all good Fathers do, or either had them VOL
lopcd by proxy, as all good masters used to
do. Now, it may seem strange that men who
are going 10 fight 10 maintain intallibIlity,
should have had any doubts that 1t was very
proper that sthc II. F. shonld fog them.
That they should offer their lives ior an taea
and then draw back at the first step, Is all
puzzle, as the whole iniallible business Is, and
must ever be to people who cannot sec It.
But what Is very simple and comprehensive Is
this, that these Pious recruits expected to de-
serve 1ogging md did not like the idea Of being
wolloped. VIC get here right On human
ground and can travel. That the sort Of man
t'lickinc'' is very easy Of belief; that men Of
any amount OF piety or "cussedness'' should
dislike ssllckings" Is equally plausible But
In the Roman matter we cannot Keep out Of
the brush Of infhliibillty. The two powers
are so Eixcd up-the Pope is 60 complicated
with The king-that his ordinary capacities
are dumbfoundcd at every step. So in this
business. The soldiera were pacided by the
abolition Of flogging In the Papal army. Now
ifan intal!iblc Pope can put the fogging into
the code, how can another infallib1e Pope put
1t out!
Really It would be 9 deal better If the infal-
lible business we're confined to matters Of
faith. SpRRo.
FOkElGsN ITEMS.
Lady Eaetlakc, alter attending to her hnsband'a
funeral at flortree. WIS lata1y on her way to Eng