The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-09-15
THE NEW KING OF ITALY
AND POPE LEO THE XIII.


Rome, Aug. 14-Victor Emmanuel is
small. His legs are short, his jaw
enormous, his chin projecting. The
upper part of his face he takes from
| his mother, the bushy mustache from
his father Reticent and mysterious
| it is not easy TO know his inner
thoughts. Brought up affectionately
| and carefully by Queen Margherita he
| is the product of her mind. In his
early youth he was a good student;
| they say that his hobby is numismat-
| les. He has had nothing so far that
| could attract attention. After the de-
| feat at Adaua he compelled his father
| to send SignOr Crispi into retirement;
| behind the curtain stood Agrippina.
| Never will the queen forgive the SiCil-
ian for the brutal rudeness to which
she was subjected
Margherita has inStilled deep re-
ligiOus feelings in her son In his reign
they will try to square the circle, that
is to say they will seek to solve the
Italo- Papal question on the basis of the
status quo. His physical LONELINESS,
his silence and concentration in him
self, the emptiness of his life have i'm
pressed on diplomats the assurance
that he is insignificant. While Queen
Marghertta was securing the courts Of
Europe to find a wife for the Prince
of Naples the Ambassadors kept mott
flying their governments. Everywhere
an eVasiVe answer was given. He owes
his wife, the Princess of Montenegro
to the kind intervention of Gar NichO-
las II. At the coronation festival the
new Car said one day to the Prince of
Naples: You must get married; mar
riage makes a man happy. Look at
me. used to be melancholy. L am
happy now since l have taken a Wife
Nicholas III had the young person at
hand, the beautiful Princess of Monte
negro. For while it had been be-
lieved that there would be a match be-
tween her and Nicholas II. Very much
attracted by her relative she had
counted on having him; as a make
shift the Gar married her to the young
heir to the crown of Italy. A Queen
today, she has no children. Spiteful
tongues assert that she will never have
any.
Victor Emmanuel II was the Father
of the Country" the RE galantuomo.
Humbert L was the do-nothing King.
Victor Emmanuel III will be the 81
lent King. But behind him will rule
a supple and strong hand, a proud, am
bilious and restless soul, a heart whose
pride and feelings have been wounded
an unsubduable and persevering ma
lure, queen Margherita. She ruled
with discretion under Humbert, she
will rule absolutely under Victor En-
The son is the reflection the
echo, the image of his mother. King
Humbert sometimes thwarted the plans
of his wife: the son will be more ODE
dent, for he lives in and through his
mother.
1t is the dynastic union of two obstf-
nate beings. PiOus and honest, the
Queen mother nevertheless hates the
Pope; the Roman question irritates and
eXcttes her. She looks on the house of |
Savoy as Louis XIV looked on the
BourbOns. She still believes in the
divine rights Of Kings. The Pope and
his socialistic policy hamper the in
clinatiOns and the ambitions of the !
Queen and of the woman. She suffers |
on account of the dissidio. She looks (
on the policy of the Holy Father as a /
insult. That is the origin of /
the Triple Alliance. of the naval en- |
gagements to England, of the perma- |
nent war against the Pope. of the re- :
action in all other interests to the pres /
ervation of the dynasty. That is the /
source of the megalomania. of the |
crushing taxes. of the general poverty. |