Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-06
POPE LEO XIII.
A Vigorous and Tireless Reformer-
Sweeping Changes I'm the Vatican
His Holiuess's Health Occa-
sioning Uueasiness.
New York Warld.l


ROME, June 11.-If the pope's late dis
course to the officers of the pontifical army,
so strongly in contrast with mis- preceding
declarations, sounds discouraging to liberal
ears his acts within the Vatican are equally
unsatisfactory to some of its residents. Leo
XIII has not been four months in office, and
In that short time he has worked most
radical change IN the arrangements and per-
sonnet of the pontifcial palace. 1t has been
done, too, quietly and firmly. The Swiss
Guard had one half OF its refractory members
discharged and fresh ones engaged. The SER
vice of the Vatican has been lessened
and wages cut down. Don Pirlonci,O, an
audacious caricaturing journal of Rome,
had a picture lately representing his holiness
sweeping out great hall with vigcr The
pope's new laws and regulations are dong
the work of huge broom. All the present
inhabitants of the Vatican who did not live
within its gates before 1870 are given to un-
derstand that they must leave and 60 to
apartments in the city. A report has been
running through the Italian Journals about
the loss of several millions of Peter pence
which disappeared after the death OF Cardi-
nal Antonelli. | have made very close in
quiries about this, and find that 1t is utterly
false. There is not the slightest foundation
for it. Not a penny is missing, but it is true
enormous sums have been spent. His holiness
is far from being well. He no longer walks
through the kneellDg crowds at audiences
He sits on the throne; little groups go up and
receive the benediction, but he makes no
addresses. A friend who was present at a
reception last week told me that his holiness
seemed in fainting state when he assembled
He was very pale, closed his eyes YEARLY and
looked as if ''the weight of the grasshopper
was a burden;" faint color came and went
on his very pale cheeks. After the audience
the pope was heard to say, as he left the
throne-room "Oggi ana grau' brutta giorn-
dia." To-day is very bad one.) And it
was. The sirocco was blowing, and the air
full month of June in Rome is being spoiled
for all of US by heavy drought. Rain is very
much needed everywhere, and the pope feels
the dry, dusty weather seriously. The audi
ences, which used to be two in a week, are
now limited to one, and that one is held on
every Thursday. VIII the pope leave the
Vatican this summer and go into Uille0iatura,
as Italians call going into the country ?
Some OF my informants, who are ultra
montana, say he will net; those who are
more liberal in their views say Perche non2
why notD One report tells US he is
going to his old and happy residence at Pc
rugia; and | mentioned in a preceding letter
that friend of mine, who was lately at
Monte Casino, was told that they were ex-
pectlng his holiness there this season. l do
not believe Leo XIII will leave the Vatican
After rain comes. as 1t must before long. the
air OF the city will be all right, and the Vati-
can is especially breezy and fresh; it has vast
woods and gardens; Is on an emIrence, and
is healthy enough. Rome is not unhealthy
during the summer months. The autumn
rains cause illness. But one has only to look
at the inhabitants of Rome, who live in the
city, year in and year OUT" who never go
anywhere except to fare mercuda (picnic) at
a wine garden IN the Campagna, to feel as
sured of the salubrious air of Rome. A
more ruddy, stout, healthy set of people
could not be found in any city-certainly not
III Florence or Paris. The pope's delicate
state of health does not arise from the air of
Rome, but from the fatigues and ankle
ties of his position. The OSSerpatore Ro-
nano, of this evening, contradicts the report
of his holiness's weak condition. and says he
is in u,ao state di consolidate floridezzd This
is rather exaggerated, and certainly very
unnecessary remark. The same journal an
nounces that the pope has conferred on the
celebrated Slstine chapel master and papal
singer, perpetual master of the papal church,
Domenlco Mustafa, the order of st. Gregory
the Green. L have this moment received a
circular from Arcadia. 1t is dated
''Dal Sasbatojo, tenth June, 1873" and
summons me, as an Arcadian, to an extraor-
binary solemnity which is to be celebrated on
the eighteenth of June in honor of the exal-
tation of the Arcadian Neandro Ecateo to the
supreme position of pontiff as Leo XIII. The
celebration will be held on the Janiculum in
the picturesque Bosco Parrasio that was given
to Arcadia by the king of Saxony many years
ago. The circular is signed by the Custode
General Monsignor Ceccolin, know in Area
dIa as Agesandro Tesporide.
ANNE HAMPTON BREWSTER.