Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-07-24
SOLDIERS GUARD HIM
Italian Government Troops Stand Sentinel Tn Basilica.
RECLAIMING OF THE FATAL RIGHTS

Congregation of Cardinals Discusses
 the Policy of Supreme Authority
 of Pope and Orders Diplomat
 tc Note Concerning 1t.
 ROME, July 24.-From sunrise until sunset thousands passed before the body of Leo XIII. lying in state in the basilica of St. Peters. It was originally intended that this opportuni- ty to publicly view the remains should extend through three days, but the time is likely to be curtailed, and the fu- neral may occur Friday instead of Sat urday night owing to the evidences that decomposition is setting in. This is due to the severe heat, from which no embalming, however perfect, could completely protect the body. The will of the dead pope was open ed at the meeting of the congregation of cardinals. It consists of thirty-six pages in the handwriting of Leo XIII. and leaves all the property of which he died possessed to his successor for the use of the church. To each member of his family he leaves 8 present to be chosen from the valuable objects in his apartment. Similar presents are be- Queathed to his physicians. The total amount of the property which he left is not yet known.
 The prevailing impression of those who passed the iron gates of the Chap el of the Sacrament to view the re- mains was one of intense pity com bined with a certain sense of horror. The body was tilted up on the cata- falque in order that all might see the terribly shrunken face. An ordinary skull in a frame of gold lying in the midst of a mass of red robes could scarcely have been more typical of death. N
 Except at sunrise, when the crush threatened panic, all those who wish ed 1t had an opportunity of entering St. Peters. During the day many of those who passed in stopped before the cata- falque to say a hurried prayer. Hun dreds of the women and even some of the men carried children in their arms.
 An important political factor was in- troduced into the ceremony by the en- trance into St. Peters of Italian sol- diers, who remain there to preserve or der. Their presence there in such a capacity, unprecedented in the history of modern Italy, is important as an in .dication of better relations between the government and the Vatican, as 1t was by the consent if not by the desire of the Vatican authorities that they em- ployed the troops of the Quirinal in pa- pal territory
 Another feature which is causing comment along the same lines is the fact that Cardinal Oreglia in receiving group of the city fathers of Rome who represented the Clerical party charged them to thank also their Lib eral colleagues for the manifestat tons of sympathy which they showed dur ing the illness of the pope.
 The cardinal, continuing his conver- sation, indicated special satisfaction over similar manifestations coming from several constituted bodies of the kingdom of Italy, such as communal councils and provincial deputations, in cluding that of Rome, which is presid- ed over by Prince Felice Borghese.
 'It is an unexpected tribute" ex- claimed the cardinal, which no one would have imagined twenty-five years ago."
 Much interest attaches to the meet ing of the congregation of cardinals. The most important matter before the meeting, however, was proposition presented by Cardinal Oreglia to send note to the diplomatic body accred- ited to the holy see for the purpose of representing to the powers the condi- ton of the papacy since the loss of its temporal power and the transfer of the capital of the Italian government to Rome
 From what leaks out it appears that the proposition provoked considerable discussion and that Cardinals Steinhu- Der, Mathieu and Wives y Tuto favored the dispatch of a most energetic note concerning the question of retaining the papal rights. Cardinals Agliardi and Serafino VannutelH on the. contra ry, advocated milder wording of this document, which, they contended, should maintain the historical preten- sions of the holy see, but in temperate language. -