New-York tribune., 1870-11-29
THE ROMAN QUESTION.


ernment has been sustained by an immense
majority. This is encouraging so far as it
goes, but there are still elements of trouble in
Rome which may well cause the King no little
anxiety, and grow moro and more serious
every day. Victor Emanuel has dealt with
the Pope from the first by series of COM
promises and as always happens when one
attempts to halt between two irrecOncable
principles, he has satisfied nobody and made
enemies on both hands. If he had boldly
seized the whole PaIal territory at one stroke,
he would at least have delighted the Italian
Radicals, and made himself no more Odious to
the Church party than he has now done 10y
seizing it piecemeal. The result of his tenn
porizing and reluctant progress towards Rome
is that while the Pope regards him as sort
of Antichrist, his own people feel that he is q
king who instead of leading has to be pushed
forward, and that he would gladly attempt
reconciliation with the Holy See If they would
let him. He commands majority in the
elections not because he is trusted, but be-
cause he is the most convenient Instrument
for completing the unity Of Italy.
We believe there was more sincerity IN the
Kings prOtestations of respect for the Papal dlg-
nifty than he has generally been given credit for
He is naturally susceptible to religious i'm
neutrality-suspicious., if you willard would
be only too happy if he could reconcile the
political necessities of the King OF Italy with
the duties of devout Catholic The day is
past, indeed, when Popes could terriiy the
world with the thunderbots Of excommunica-
ton; but the ban has not wholly lost its efii-
srnttl1 a0riti ipa H.
most anything except his crown if he might
be readmitted to the company of the fsithiul.
In q lower state of life ne is man who
would alternate the lawlcss pursuit OF pleas
ure with fits of genuine remolse, and after a
night of debauch beat his breast at the doors
of the confessional in the morning. Thus he
has hoped against hope that some accomm0-
datiOn might be made with the offended Pom
tiff, that the spoiler, so to speak, might get
absolution without surrenderng the spolls.
The time seems now to be approaching, how
ever, when he must give up the last show OF
Difference to the Roman See. The two govern
ments which he asks the Roman people to re-
coenize side by side in the Eternal City can
not exist together. The illuminations over
the entrance of the Italian troops have hardly
died out when the pOpulace clamor for an
other INVASION The papal occupation of the
LeOnine City is only temporary make-shlft,
of which the Roman people are already grow
ing impatient, and so long as the Pope is
recognized as an independent sovereign, Its
dangers and inconvenience are obvious. The
POntiff's independence is to be rellgously re-
spected, says the Italian Government, and his
followers shall have free access to him at all
times. That is to say, the Italian Government
will tolerate q rival court in its own capital;
will allow that court to communicate freely
with its fayorers and adherents all over tho
world; will suffer a conspiracy against the
principle of Italian unity and all the political
axioms of modern constitutional government
to prosper unchecked right at the center of the
kingdom. You may take away the POpe's
lands, but you cannot prevent his rule from
being in some respects political one In q
country over which he claims temporal au-
thority. A conflict is inevitable sooner or
later and liberty Of access to the Vatican will
then of course be cut off.
The hostility which the populace are begin
ming to manifest towards the clergy is one of
the most serious signs Of coming trouble.
While Rome was an ecclesiastical city, there
WIS no OHe W W itS huhuiSuo w Soh-
vents and its seven thousand priests and nuns;
but now that it is political capital, most OF
these will be driven out, and the purpose of
the people seems to be that they shall be
driven out with insult If not with violence.
The Romans indeed, or that party among
them which is now supreme, seem determined
to keep no terms with the Church, TO push
the quarrel to its last results, and to do so
without further delay. In this the King will
resist them as far as he dares, and powerful
section of his people-the reactionists who
believe in the divine sanction of the temporal
power, and the mOderates who, after tho
peninsula has been united, would be glad to
leave religion unmolested and the Holy Father
undisturbed in the attributes of sovereignty
will undoubtedly support him. The perplexi-
ties of the Roman question, therefore, are not
yet resolved; though what the end will be
few attentive students of the history of the
last few years will hesitate to predict.