The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-06-19
POPE LEO XIII.


Grcatcst Roman Catholic ronthr
That Ever Lived.
Hon. Justin Mccarthy, member OF
parliament, In Chicago Record: Pope
Leo XIII. Is the last survivor OF the
great European statesmen OF the CEN
fury. During recent years. Gladstone.
Bismarck and Pope Leo stood high
above all other living statesmen OF Eur
, ope. a little further back we come
to such men as Count Cavour and
Theirs and Guizot; further back still to
such men as Canning, and then we are
among the great names that belong to
the earlier part Of the century. In re-
cent years, however, Gladstone. BIs-
marck and Pope Leo stood alone, and
now the last of the great. trio Is near
Ing his end. Il x. T. .4 Z
desire to Judge Leo XII. only as q
Statesman. and not as an ccclesiastlc
Inc inspiration of hlB whole career
may be described as q passion OF phil
antnropy. to adopt the words which
Glaustone IN my own hearing applied
condition Of the toiling classes ali over
the world. 10 mitigate the troubles OF
the overtasked, to abolish slavery In
every form. white and black; to tighten
the load OF the heavily laden, to spread
the pospel of peace among ali nations"
Ihese were the great PURPOSES Of Leo's
career. II Is. doing no more than bare
Justice to the motives which seem al
ways to have guided him when we say
tnat MS ambition was to make the life
Q! the ponun a practical illustration
or peace. good will and moral and In
tellectual advancement among men.
Leo came to the throne OF the papacy
at q time when the worldly foundations
OF that throne seemed to be hopelessly
shaken. The pope had no temporal SOW
erelGnty left TO him. and It must be
owned that the sympathy OF the civil
lzcd world went for the most part with
united Italy, to whose political union
the papncy owed the loss OF Its tenn
porai possessions. Leo's predecessor,
rus lH., was man Of pure and cSalt-
ca purpose but hewas almost altogether
an eecclesiastic. and he had few OF the
qualities or statesman. He was not
a man endowed With the peculiar capac-
lty winch might have enabled him to
regain for the papacy that Influence
which the arising of new conditions
and the spread OF new ideas seemed mt
that time to have taken from 1t for
ever; Leo XIII. appears to have from
the beglnninB OF his rule made up his
mind that the position OF the papncy
was only to be recovered by master
OF the new IDEAS and an acceptance, us
rar as possible, Of the new conditions.
The pope has been student from hIs
earliest years. There Is a distinct suf.
fusion OF the poetic In his nature.
which has found expression, indeed, In
the composition Of many fine pieces Of
poetry. especially In Latin, but also has
given him that which Is Of far greater
Importance In his cnreer-that quality
OF dramatic instinct which enables d
man TO enter Into the nature and feel
ings or other men, and without which
manship.
The pope has seen n good deal of life
OUTSIDE the papnl city. Hc has been
pnpal nuncio nj Brussels, where he had
the opportunity Of conyegsIng with
statesmen from all countries lie VS.
tied Paris. He visited London, and
was presented to Queen Victoria. He
seems to have very COON made up his
nina that not much was to be gained
tor the Influence OF the papucy by its
setting itself into active nntagonIsm
with what might have been called the
Revolutionary forces. which, according
to the pessimistic Views OF many O, his
fellow-churchmen, had taken possess
sion OF all the cabinets OF Europe.
When he became pope he set about
what he conceived to be the work Of the
papacy. Just as { nothing had happened
TO interfere with Its progress. he re-
solved. apparently. to make the papncy
an example to the Christian world In
stead OF wasting his strength and his
ihnuence by trying to contend against
the physical conditions which had left
to the pope but the vatican and its
gardens rs his worldly domain. or
course. he surrendered nothing OF the
claims or the papncy, and he refused as
MS predecessor had done to recognize
the King OF 1taly's title to the owner
snip or Rome. But he Snent little of
his time In futile efforts to resist the
physical mastery OF the new condi-
tons. and he made It his tns, above
oil things to prove that the moral intlu-
ence OF the papaGy was not to be cir
cumscribed by the limitations of the
pope's earthly possessions. It must
be owned that during his time the pro-
gress made by United Italy has not
altogether satisfied the hopes of all
those who re1oiced over the expulsion
or the Austriaus and the Bourbons,
ana the abolition OF the petty sover-
eighties and the union of Italy under
one crown. Italy has Its destiny vet to
make. but for the prcscn. we have to
see In her country terribly overtnxcd
with population crushed to an almost
unexhmpled degree by the expenditure
necessary to convert Italy Into the SEM
blance or Brent European power.
rope Leo has seemed to say to all the
world: My business In life Is the well
rare OF humanity. am the apostle of
peace and universal brotherhood. I
offer my mediation as IN agent OF
peace and of brotherhood In all ouarrels
where the disputants are willing to re-
celve my counsel and help" He has
Ind some hard battles to fight. and for
MS sweet. genial and pacific nature
he, has fought out his battles to the
end where compromise did not seem
possible, and by his principle OF pas
slVe resistance he hns generally con-
trived to come off victorious. IAN the
world looked on with Interest while
he battled for what he believed to be
the cause OF religious liberty against
no less an antagonist than Prince Bis
marck, the greatest statesman then
living on the European continent. BIs.
mnrck had loudly proclaimed that
whatever else he and his colleagues
might do. they would not 20 10 Ca
nossn," abiding to the famous castle
where Henry ". OF Germany, submits
ted to the penance Imposed on him by
Gregory VII. But though Bismarck
certainly did not go to Canossa he was
undoubtedly not the victory In the
great kulturkampf. or education bat