Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-03-22
The First Days of Pins ms POntifI-
cate,

Brit Harte called his first lecture The
Argonauts of rs 1t was happy title for n
story of the eager adventurers who in that
year set forth to lind the golden fleece in Cal
ifornia, which was too truly fleece for many
of them. but not fleece of gold. The name
suggested the gorgeous anticipations of an Ell
Dorado and was full of the romantic glamour
which to so many eyes hung over the land of
gold The squalid and ghastly reality of that
Argonautic life, however, the brutal conflict
of fierce passion. and the degredntion of hus
manity that belonged to the wild frontier, are
also recorded by the historian of the Argonauts
in that series of mastery sketches in which
his genius is most fully shown. The recent
death of the Pope who was elected in '4G,
and the beginnings of whose reign We're con-
temporary with the expedition of the Califor-
nian Argonauts. recalls another band of trav-
elers. who at about the same time, went east
ward instead of westward, bent not upon
work. but play-the young Americans going
abroad at that time for the grand tour, and
who may be called in turn the Lotus-eaters
of rs.
They came to Rome some of them as early
as '4G. 1t was in June of that year that Mas
tai-Ferretti had been chosen Pope, and his
character and career were such that his cleo
ton seemed to forecast the millennium. The
exultation of hope in the country was indie
scrbable The old Pope, Gregory the Six
teenth, was not beloved, and had left hard
and gloomy impression upon the popular
mind. But the selection of Mastai-Ferretti,
who was the first cardinal that Gregory had
made, aroused Italy to enthusiasm. 1t is al
most ludicrous to recur to that exaltation of
feeling. Old Austria was virtually supreme
in Rome for it was not yet As, the year of
revolutions, and the new potentate was the
head Of the most despotic organization in the
world, whose traditions and instincts were
necessarily hostile to popular political liberty.
In the temporal principality TO which Plus
succeeded the will of the monarch was the
law of the land, and the abuses and evils of
ecclesiastical politics are indescribable Yet
the expectation of Italy was nothing less than
that of political freedom. Constitutions, lib
erty, popular laws were the visions of the
hour, and the Lotus-eater,' as he watched the
people around him. might have assumed just
iy that they expected the Pope to fulfill the
dreams of AlaZZini.
The reverence and the affection of the en-
thusiasm for him were most touching. Lott
ering one day along the Corso, which is the
chief street IN Rome, one of the Lotus-eaters
of that time heard loud clatter, and saw the
carriage of the Pope approaching 1t moved
very rapidly drawn by four richly caparison-
ed horses, with gay positions and funkies-a
huge gilded glass coach in which the Pope sat
visible to every spectator. As he came, every
man and woman barred their heads and fell
upon their knees crossing themselves, while
the Pope, turning gravely from side to side Of
the street, constantly moved his upraised
hand with the papal benediction. He was clad
in white with white skull-cap upon his head.
His figure was large, his face round and full,
with an expression of sweet benignity, and
his air of serene dignity was very impressive
Again. in st. Peters, the same loiterer stand
ing before the monument of the Stuarts where
Sir Walter Scott often fingered, saw the great
leathen curtain at the door raised, and the
Pope, with a small retinue, entering to pay
his devotions at the altar. The swords and
spurs of the guard ratified upon the pavement,
and every person in the church hastened for
ward and knelt as the pontif passed. There
were the same tranquility and gentleness and
a certain modest grace of bearing, conscious
ness of the vast responsibility of his position,
without any sense of weakness or avoidance
of the trust A kneeling woman threw nose
gay before him, an attendant raised it, and
the Pope looked gravely at the woman, in
whose family doubtless that look is a fond ira
dition. Reaching the high altar, he knelt for
a little while, and then rising, withdrew with
his Gathering and brilliant suite, leaving the
! vast church more strangely silent by the con-