Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-10-15
OCTOBER. Is, Is 1861! !
Anstec,edenin.l u 1 Z Of the Roman Revolt.


Ito an American, who simply looks atth
kingdom of Italy geographically. nothing
seems so unreasonable as the conduct of
Napoleon in attempting to dictate to the
King and people Of italy as to what shall
be their capital, and whether Rome shall
belong to the Pope, and on what terms he,
shall reside their But the history, both. of
the Papal claim to Rome, and of CHARLIE
'inagne to the Empire OF the West, viii ex-
plain the present controversy whichznow
seems to threaten the French policy in
Italy. The claim of the Church is that
when, in the fourth century, Constantine
removed the seat of government from
Rome to Constantinople, he committed the
old seat of empire and the adjacent terri
tories, or the Roman dukedom, to the pos
session and government of the Church.
Other authorities trace the title of the
Papacy to the custom of bestowing large
grants of lands and secular priDcipalities
to the clergy. such as that in 751, when
Pepin, the father of Charlemagne, and then
Prime Minister OF Childeric, King of the
Franks, dispatched message to Rome, to-
inquire whether valiant and warlike,
nation might not dethrone an indolent and
incompetent King, and substitute in his
place one more worthy, and who had al
ready done great services to the nation,
without breaking the Divine law?" 1t is
said that an affirmative answer was given
x
twice crossed the Alps in 754-5, seized
,Reyenna, Pentapolis, &C., and bestowed
them on the Pope. Twenty years later,
lPepiu being dead, the King of the Lombards
again attempted to seize the States Iof the
Church. Charlemagne, however, onthis oc-
overturned the empire of the Lombards, Of
whom he proclaimed himself King, went
to Rome, confirmed the grants said to have
been made by Pepin of what have since
been called the States of the Church, TO the
Pope, sent missionaries, attended by his
soldiers, to convert the German Saxons to
Christianity, +" compelling them to come
in,p and obtaining in return an election
of himself, by the Roman people, as En-
peror of the West 1t is in this way that
the Kings of France are said to have
achieved the tjtular dignity of fs"e eldest son
of the Church." and its chief defender with
the sword. Indeed, these events formed
and fixed the position of France as a Cath
olic power.
Charlemange, on being elected Emperor
OF the West, became sovereign of Rome
and. reserved to himself the supreme SOW
ereignty, but the beneficial dominion, as it
is called, and subordinate authority over
the city of Rome and States of the Church,
he made over to the Church. This plan is
supposed to have been suggested by the
Pontiff, who wanted to be defended against
the Lombards in his temporal estates, and
all backed by the sword of a strong con-
quering power in the assertion of a spirit
ual dominion much more extensive. In
return for this it was in his power to be-
stow on the temporarily ambitious King OF
France the sounding title aud prestige of
Emperor of the West. Napoleon wanted
to carry out this bargain to its legitimate
result, conceding to the Pope spiritual
empire, while he and bis successors ex-
tended temporal dominion TO correspond
with it, each protecting and aiding the
other. Practically, however, the Pope and
the Napoleons have never been able to
agree ''33f 91s t'-o,t' 5prT
1t is worth while to remember that Char
1emagne was engaged in sort of habitual
contest with the Saxons, who were perpet-
ually jealous of his authority. Germania
was, as she is now, very ready to oppose
this western Imperialism, and after eleven
hundred years, the old contests appear as
If they were about to be opened up again.
Napoleon and the Pope are on one side,
while Prussia, Lombardy and the rest of
Italy are combining on the other. But
after eleven hundred years how changed is
the prospect. The people now are in adj
vance of their leaders, and the traditions Of
the past are giving way before the anvanc-
ing light of the times, or rather the itradi-
tions of the Middle Ages are making way
for those more ancient and glorious ones,
in which Rome was the centre of civiliza-
ton and of power. hi..i y" ia siA