The sun., 1892-09-19

Philippe. they are playing their last card. and
In tho race after alliances they may. like him.
md themselves turned out OF doors By order
OF the people.
The peculiar conditions OF the italian mon,
archy explain the anxiety ofall its offlcas and
all the monarchists, from the i'm m ediate SUR
rounding OF tho throne down to tho conscrva.
tives. to get the Holy Soc to take part In its
political contests. Without this collaboration
the dynasty is at the mercy OF coup de tete. or.
rather, its gradual fall. il pldcido tamontc. a.
they say in Italy. must form the logical denoue-
mont Of the well-known situation. Participa7
tion means tho cleansing OF corrupting and
corrupted amentarism. tho internal and
organic consolidation OF the royalty and OF the
State such as It is now constituted.
Tho moment tho Italian Catholics come
down into tho arena it is all over with the ex.
elusive domination OF tho Liberal party.which
is now In possession Of power. and composed
altogether of old-time republicans. who are
bound to be the republicans OF tho future. The
inevitable struggle between the Loft and the
Right would mako royalty the arbiter OF our po-
litical destlnies. while to-day 1t is the prisoner
OF repubicansm masked anG .stsnt. II night
then intervene as n moderatinG and direct
ing power. and would be not alono an orna.
mont or NTH wheel which is simply tol.
Grated. but the director. IL not OF the sovereign
ty. at least OF general public affairs
In the second place. the participation in pubs
lilo business Of tho Catholic Conservative party
would be. under m ore than one aspect the tri-
umph OF tho monarchical idea. Although the
republican democracy counts Jealous parti.
sans In tho ecclesiastical world. monarchy
appears In the eyes OF many OF them the syno-
nyme OF conservatism. OF order. and OF national
tradition. Each Conservative Deputy elected
and each position captured by tho Catholics
would be n guarantee and n liEhtning-ro rod for
the House OF Savoy. Consequently all tho great
landed proprietors and all tho patricians OF
tho provinces. all tho moderate conservative
party. which reaches from tho BorEhcse and
the Piomblno to tho Bonghi and tho Ruiint,
all this floating mass. ono day moro royulist
than pontincal and another day more Catholic
than Quirinalistic. would become the defend-
ers OF royalty. Whethcrthey had the majority
| or not. the House OF Savoy would he saved for
an indefinite period.
Now. should tho Pore stop tho current OF
affairs and roll back tho destnics OF Italyp
The whole question Is there If the King. in
stead OF thoughtlessy rushing into anti.cleri-
calism had given. or at least promised TO give,
! some guarantees OF peace to the Holy Sec IL
| Is beyond doubt that Leo XlIL. would have
| raised the electoral nterdict. That was the
| first idea OF the Pontff. With that intuition
which characterizes his keen intellect Leo
NH. became convinced at the commencement
OF his reign. as before his Pontncatc that tho
| King and the constituted authorities might
possibly understand their own interest and
| offer the hand Of reconciliation to the Pope.
| But tho dynasty was afraid. Placed between the
claims of Leo XIII. upon Rome and the terror.
| ism OF parties that called for Rome or
Death" the King capitulatcn. Cayour would
| not have hesitated. But it Is tho misfortune
| OF Italy that she has exhausted the series Of
| her men. At present she has only sct OF
| epigcnc creatures. Tho peninsula is nothing
| now but the dust OF men. \ firm heart. 4 lucid
Intelligence. would have saved tho country
from frightful crises and the royalty from 1t 8
gradual descent toward the abyss
When Leo NIII. saw that the King far from
| responding to his voice. accumulated his anti.
clericalism: that tho dynasty Of Savoy was
making itself ostontatiously tho symbol and
the visible sign Of war upon the Pope upon
the basis Of tho status quo. could Leo XIII. per-
nit Catholics to perform tho functions Of
fremen? Was 1t his place to save an institu-
tion which boldly announced its intention to
| porpetuSts the present abnormal situation in
Rome? Should he fashion and perfect the in
| strument OF his scrvtude and OF his insecu-
| rity2 Such policy would be called in history
q suicide. Mon may commit suicide. but
moral powers never. INNoM1NAro.