Glasgow Courier. — 1850-05-07 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.  (Front the Times.)  4 French army on its knees before a foreign Sovereign in the great quadrangle of St. Peter's, and a detachment of the Masseurs de Vincennes with a handful of consecrated trinket'', whilst the high priest of Socialism and infidelity is returned by 125,000 citizens of Paris, are strange signs of these strange times; but we are not disposed to deny or to deride the apparent enthusiasm which has accompanied, among certain classes, Roman as well as French, the restoration of Pius IX. No inconsistency is too violent, no revulsion of feeling too absurd, for men who h.'ve been carried off' their legs by this torrent of the revolution. Their principle, if it can usurp that name, is the predominant popular sentiment of the moment. They mounted behind the Papal coach with Cicerovaccho waving the tricolour symbol of approaching anarchy. They celebrated the murder of the greatest statesman of Italy with their brutal choruses, and drove the Pope with lgno. misty from the Quirinal. Too foolish to defend the only authority which had promised them practical reform, and too feeble to resist the band of adventurers who took possession of Rome as the crowning triumph of blasphemy and anarchy, the Roman population have been driven to and fro by this whirlwind; and their last impress. Rion is in favour of the restoration of that order of thing" which, with some improvements in the administration of local affairs, does probably conduce most effectually te their own peace and prosperity as inhabitants of Rome. A secular control over the concerns which used of old to fall under the authority of the municipal power of the Italia', cities, a reform of the administration of justice, and the establishment of a small but efficient force of neutral troops, such as have for ages existed in Rome would probably do more for the stability of the temporafGovernment of the Pope and for the satisfaction of the country, than the restoration of absolute authority in the hands of the priests, or than the introduction of democratic institutions totally unsuited to the character of the people. But on these points the gorgeous and impressive spectacles which have marked the return of the Pope to the chambers of the Vatican and the shrines of the apostles afford no answer. The whole question of' the temporal government of the-Papal States remains untouched. The present existence of that Government isfictitious, or at least dependent entirely on foreign support. It has yet-to resume the functions of its proper vitality, and to satisfy the world that Rome and the Papal States can be ruled by their own resources. The Papal Government stands, however, in a peculiar relation to the Catholic States of Christendom, and it is by no means the first time in histor that its spiritual dignity has rescued its temporal power. That is manifestly the part of the subject most interesting to the world, and most curious to the dispassionate observer of these revolutions. In proportion as other temporal Powers have been contested and shaken, and the Pope himself compelled to flee from his temporal throne, we have seen the unarmed spiritual power of the See of Rome increase in vigour. We have seen the armies of a Republic, which had shaken off a race of Kings identified with almost every incident of the existence of the French nation, do homage to a foreign Prince restored by themselves; and the superstition which recognises the supernatural authority of the Pontiff, ' 11111114041twed,among them, the natural faith of mankied in the rights of monarchy, in the duties of Government, in the claims of property. It is not our province to investigate the more obscure and deep-seated causes which might be traced through these contradictions. They belong rather to the elements of human nature than to the operation of politics. But polities are essentially concerned in the result, and in this sense the homage paid by the temporal powers of democracy to the spiritual despotisin of Rome is one of the most striking characteristics of the age we live in. The first object of the Romish Church in all ages of its history has been to struggle for independence, or if that was obtained to struggle for domination. The energetic support of a temporal Government as bigoted as that of Lou's