New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-02-08
Plus IN.

The death cf no merely secular monarch
could occasion anything like the feeling which
will be awakened by that of Plus TX. For
however restricted had become his temporal
authority, he was still regarded with flial
veneratlon by the most numerous religious
ORGANIZATION IN the world. With this senti-
ment. not altogether ecclesiastical, his personal
character had something to do. He was UNI
doubtedly held by his spiritual children to be
the very flower and perfection OF all Christian
graces, and the worthy representative on
earth of the Majesty of Heaven. This cOnces-
sion was made partly to the man, and partly
to the great office which he had been prOviden-
tially called to hll. All the misfOrtunes which
clouded most of the years Of his pOntiiicatc,
served only to raise him in millions OF eyes to
the dignity of sufferer for righteousness
sake. But, on the other hand, 10y the great
and intelligent body Which made the denial
of his authority almost an article OF its creed.
he will be considered as a man OF many mis-
takes, as ruler who proved rccrcant to the
liberal principles avOwed upon his accession to
mower. as an obstruction, all the greater for
that reason, to the mental material and spir-
itual progress of mankind. AT the beginning
of his reign he may have been misunderstood,
and his liberalism Over-estimatcd. 1t will
be said, Indignantly by some and
critically by Others, either that he was
false in the presence of difficulties to
the promptngs Of his better nature, or that
he was intellectually unequal to the work which
he undertook. Even a greater man than he
was might have succumbed to the difficulties
of his situation. 1t was natural that the liberal
course which he at first pursued should have
alarmed the princes, anxious for the perpetuity
of their power, by whom he was surrounded.
TO their rem0nstranccs and to their inter
ference he had nothing but moral forces to
| oppose at time when justice, honor, human
ity, and religion had almost all ceased to
direct royal governments. The rcDubcanism
which enthusiasts had expected to see
tempering, if not Transforming the Papal
Government was scarcely consistent with the
religious autocracy which the position Of Plus
impled No moderation was to be expected
from people unaccustOmed to an atmosphere
Of freedom. Patience and faith were the quail
ties required of their ruler if they were to be
concentrated. the act should have been con-
trolled by mind with large capacity for
publc affairs and such mind, it may with
ont disrespect be said, the Pope did not possess.
In his first measures is to be observed a
character naturally amiable and plilanthroplc.
He dismissed his Swiss guard because he
meant to enshrine himself in the hearts of his
people and he proclaimed a political amnesty
because he could not bear to prosecute and TO
puni,h. He thought to establish the prosperi-
ty and to sweep away the pauperism OF Rome,
and had hundred plans for promoting the
temporal prosperity of the See. But the wild
ladicalism of uprising Europe was sending us
apostles and emissaries to Rome, and the dis
satisfied population of the States forgot bene-
fits conferred in its eagerncss for larger
freedom; and, after suffering Il hundred III
suits, the Pope fled from the Quirinal.
1t was natural that Plus should return to
Rome different, if not wiser man. II he
thought that he had paid dearly for indul-
gence In popular sympathies and that hence
forth sterner policy was demanded of him,
it is hard to see how, after such an expert
ence he could have thought otherwise. 1t is
certain that from this time forth his liberalism
was thing of the past. 1t is not however,
to be understood that he grew hard or cruel,