The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-25


 physical reinforcement of a. determina- tion to rise and to rule, all are there. But at the end you have the feeling that you have seen another cardinal-and nothing more. Besides, the climax of his splendid abilitiesis now behind him.
 He has never looked the same mansince his bitter disappointment at not being made prefect of the propaganda last summer. He had served up to it." as Lord Holland said of the treasury, and he fully expected to have it. When first saw him after the appointment of his successful rival I had difficulty in recognizing that it was the same Van- nuteli. He had suddenly grown sour ed, morose old man.
 The prelate, who then stepped ill be- fore him, may very possibly block his aspirations to the papacy as well. Car dinal Gotti is usually described by emu merating all the things that he isn't. To begin with, he is not an aristoerat But that he happens to be the son of a Genoese laborer is neither new nor startling to the Roman Catholic church. The first pope was fisherman. Hide brand was the son of carpenter, and the one English pope, Adrian w, be- gan life as beggar boy. But the neg alive side of the cardinal goes beyond this. He appertains to no party, re represents no tendency. Somehow the idea has gained currency that he is lib- eral, but no one, not even Roman correspondent, could instance anything authentic to prove it. During the years that he has lived in Rome he has care fully avoided being. seen in public ex- cept when indispensably necessary, and with even more care he has avoided committing himself on any important question. He is believed to be the choice of Leo XIII. for the succession, but that is pure conjecture. In short, mo- body knows anything about him. Per sonally, he is a man of medium figure, irregular features and peculiarly white complexion. It is a thoughtful face, but what is he thinking about? Rampolla's appearance piques conjec- ture and challenges even the most fan tastic speculations. There is something about Gotti which discourages in ad- vance anything of that sort. You feel that after infinite guessing you would leave him where you found him, and end just as wise as you were when you began. When the great Camerlite church of Santa Teresa was gconseerat- ed about year ago Gotti officiated. I took occasion, for the sake of my own curiosity, to observe him closely for an hour, At the end of that time I mourn fully confessed to myself, "Wel, that is Cardinal Gotti. So much L'm aware of. As for the rest. 7 Just, then some American friends carried me off and helped me think of things about which the human mind could reach some sort of conclusion. aIs s''
 The present occupant of the great of- flee of cardinal grand chamberlain is Luigi Cardinal Oreglia of the Barons of Santo Stefano, bishop of Ostia and Vel letri, dean of the Sacred college, areh- petual abbot of the monastery of Ire Fontane, and a few other odds and ends. To include everything his visit ing card would require a sequel. He is now the only living cardinal created by Plus TX. To all the others Leo might have said: You did not make me, but made you, But, while Leo broad- ened, Oreglia has stood stock still The mummy of Ranleses has just about as much congruity with the present day and generation as he has. His contin- uing to exist after the collapse of the Austrian system and the death of Plus TX. and Antonelli simply shows his lack. of sense of humor. That he and Guglielmo Marcino should live at the same time, and in the same country, I is one of the magnificent ironies of his I tory. - \
 But survivals are interesting, and certainly Oreglia is. Looking at him, one seems to realize what, for instance, \ Metternich must have been like. I like that fine old fighting face; thin now, i and pale and scanned and wrinkled, with the keen, shreWd eyes peering through the great goggles, the flowing, fluffy white hair, he is figure that commands interest and even a sort of grudging respect. To share his views is out of the question, of course. He is a kind of glorified Mrs. Burlington, trying to sweep back the tide. One afternoon last summer I was walking alCnd the road which follows the Tiber- bank, beneath Monte Mario Presently Cardinal Oreglia's carriage passed. At the same moment there came from the l opposite direction an. automobile, flying along as if hurled from the pit of To- phet, and left behind it a Hades of dust and stench. The cardinal stuck his head out of the carriage window-just a momentary vision of white hair and glittering goggles-while the crevasse- like wrinkles frightened and pulled the corners of his mouth as he bestowed sardonic grin on the vanishing chauf- feur. It was the comment of the tenth century on the twentieth.-D. c. Bran- son in New York Post.