New-York tribune., 1903-07-21


XIII must be divided into two periods. namely.
tnat from the date Of hi9 accession. in 1878.
until his severe illness. in 1888. and the period
thence until the time of his death During the
frst OF these two epochs Leo remained true TO
the policy OF conciliation. toward the Italian
government which had won for him while
Afcholshop OF Perugia the good will of the Ital-
ian authorities and the animosity Of Plus TX.
Slowly and surely he made his way toward a
Qutrinal-a reconciliation as ardently longed for
by the latter as by the former. The prog
ress, 1t is true, slow But this was due
TO the variety Of interests involved and to the
numerous obstacles to be overcome. Chief
among these were the objections OF the intran-
slsent prelates, who were imbued with the pol
Icy Of Plus TX and determined adversaries of
any understanding with the usurper of the
sition by the Jesuits the most powerful reiig-
ious society in the world
The French Government. too, repeatedly in
formed the PontiR that any reconciliation be-
tween the Vatican and the Ouirinal would be
Immediately followed by annulment Of the
between the Papacy and the French Church
and that the latter would not only renounce its
spiritual allegiance to the Holy See, but also
declare Itself schismatic and entirely indepen-
dent Of the Catholic Church at Rome Fore
eeelns Inat IN the event OF reconciliation be-
tween the Italian Government and the Papacy
the influence of the former would in course of
time succeed in dominating that of the Vatican.
the French authorities were determined to avoid
at all costs the danger of seeing the Pope exer-
else his spiritual power over the French Catho-
lies for the advancement of the purely secular
interests OF Italian statesmen such as Signori
Crtspi and Nicotera.
THE QUESTION OF FINANCE
Besides this there was the all important ques
tion or finance. The main part OF the PapaI
revenue at the present moment is derived from
the Peters Pence, or voluntary contributions of
the faithful The larger part of these are OBJ
tanned by appeals to sympathy for ''the prisoner
OF the Vatican" and the size of the subscrip-
tions is proportionate to the amount Of persecu-
ton to which the Holy Father is asserted to
be subjected Indeed. II has been noticed that
whenever anything was done that appeared as
tending toward a reconciliation between church
and state, alarming decrease of Feter's
Pence Immediately followed. 1t will be seen.
therefore. that the obstacles In the way Of a
settlement of the differences between King and
Pope were Of wellnigh insurmountable nature
Leo xii did not. however, lose courage or
despair Of success until his severe illness in
1888 What the precise nature OF the maIady
was remains a mystery to this day. The Lon
don Times" in one of it's ponderous editorial
articles, went so far to re-echo publicly the
rumors current at the time, which attributed it
to poison administered by the Jesuits and by
the intransigent prelates. who were in mortal
dread of the success of his conciliatory policy
Without attaching any undue Importance to the
report. 1t is worthy Of note that the first act Of
His Holiness on his recovery was to restore TO
the Jesuits all the ecclesiastical rights and
privileges Of which they had been deprived years
previously by his predecessors.
Moreover, from that time forth his policy
toward the italian Government appeared to I'M
dergo an entire change He seemed to have
lost all hope of achieving any good by a con-
clatory attitude, and began to display an ami
mostly and a bitterness almost as intense as
that OF his predecessor toward the royal govern
ment.
While, however, the altered policy Of the sst
few years OF his reign has done much to obut-
crate the memory of his previous efforts TO bring
about friendly relations with King Humber
yet many Of the good results of those efforts re-
main, and his death leaves the Papacy much
nearer reconciliation than was the case at the
beginning OF his pontifcate. Every one of the
Italian Cardinals created by him between 1875
and the date OF his illness belongs to the party
that is in favor OF certain degree of under
standing with the state. while most Of the in
transigents elevated to the Sacred College bv
Plus TX have died. 1t is probable therefore
that unless the Jesuit and French element rem
resented in the conclave proves unexpectedly
strong a Cardinal acceptable to the Ouirinsl
will be chosen TO succeed Leo XIII
At the end Of 1857 the Pontiff celebrated
Jubilee coInmemorating the fiftieth anniversary
OF his ordination to the priesthood The ceIe
bration was carried out with great splendor
and congratulations were received from ou
parts OF the world. Queen Victoria sent the
Duke of Norfolk as her special envoy bearing
valuable gifts and an address of congratulation
In June of 1891 the Pope issued an important
eneyciical letter on labor. which attracted wide