The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-21


 Pecci was appointed camerlengo of the Roman church. which gave him chief charge of the temporalties of the Holy See. In this capacity it fell to his task to make the necessary arrangements for the eonelave for the election of a new pope after the death of Plus K, in Feb ruary, 1878. The conclave lasted thirty six hours and at the third ballot Cardinal Pecci was elected supreme pontin and took the name of Leo XIII, after the famous Pope Leo x for whom he had great veneration. He was crowned on March with the tiara, or triple crown, the ceremony taking place not in St. Peters where all his predecessors, but one, had been crowned since 1853, but in the Sstine chapel in the Vatican, where the conclave had been held.
 Public opinion regarded the new pope as characterized above all things by love of peace, and 1t was expected that, departing from that Non -Possumus pol icy of his predecessor, he would speedily conclude a compromise with the Italian government and thus put an end to the antagonism between the vatican and the Quirinal But the world was soon unde- ceived, and, in his first encyclical. pro mulgated at the Easter following his ac- eession, Pope Leo XIII unhesitatingly uldlnIdlfleu HIS Qtlldiu AOi NiC iteARAo ton of the temporal power of the pap aoy, nor did he ever recede from the position then taken up.
 At the same time the policy of the Ro- man Curia certainly underwent de- velopment in the direction of moderation, which greatly contributed to increasing the influence of the vatican abroad From the very outset the new pontiff displayed the greatest interest in the social ques- tions agitating the world of today and in an eneyclical issued in December, 1878, appealed to the intellectual forces Of Catholicity to contest the propaganda of doctrines which his holiness described as subservient of social order, alluding es- pecially to the socialists in Germany and the nihilist movement in Russia.
 Cooperation Settles Disputes.
 The cooperation afforded by the pope to the various governments in opposing the growing forces of social democracy paved the way for the settlement or dls- putes existing between those govern ments and the vatican. both spiritual and civil authorities being, as it were, called upon to merge their differences and make common cause against the common enemy. The first great polit- ical achievement of the pope was the settlement of the differences with Ger many which had given rise to the famous Kulturkampf.
 The rapid spread of anarchistic doc trines in Germany and the attempts made upon the emperor's life in 1878 in duced Prince Bismarck to make ap- breaches to the ultra Montane party to secure their support for his economic policy. Herr Falk. the famous author of the May laws, was removed from office and other concessions were made to the Catholics Finally diplomatic relations with the vatican were resumed and the late Emperor Frederick, then crown prince, signalized the restoration of an harmonious understanding by visiting the pope at the vatican. A still greater tribute was paid by Germany to his holi- ness by her selection of him as arbitrator in the dispute with Spain regarding the Caroline islands and her deferential ac- ceptance of his decision in favor of the weaker power. His success in this arbi- tration induced the pope to declare his readiness to act as arbitrator in other disputes for the benefit of the whole Europe and of Christianity, but for this his holiness declared it to be essential that he should be restored his liberty as an independent temporal sovereign.
 This demand however, met with no re- sponse. as far as foreign governments were concerned and the hopes which had been expressed in some quarters that the German emperors visit to the pope in 1888 might lead to Germany advocating the temporal claim of the Holy See were soon dissipated. The pope himself in a letter to the German bishops declared that he regarded the presence of Empe- TOT William in Rome as the guest of the Quirinal as a "deplorable recognition of accomplished facts"
 The interests of the triple alliance were not compatible with those of the vati- can and even Catholic Austria could not afford to offend Italy by espousing the pope's cause although the Emperor Francis Joseph abstained from visiting King Humbert in the city of Rome. and