>¦¦'¦ !.¦»"•{ .¦5"""» ;"".•; '"^S

LETTERS FROM ROME

VOL. II.

PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON

LETTERS FROM ROME
ON THE OCCASION OF THE
CECUMENICAL COUNCIL
1869 — 1870
BY THE
REV. THOMAS MOZLEY, M.A.
FORMERLY FELLOW OF ORIEL
AUTHOR OF 'reminiscences' AND SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF 'THE TIMES*
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.

LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK : 15 EAST le"" STREET
1891
All rights reserved

CONTENTS

THE SECOND VOLUME

CHAPTER

LXIV.

Feb. 9

LXV.

IO

LXVL

LXVII.

II

LXVIII.

12

LXIX.

12

LXX.

LXXI.

14

Lxxn.

LXXIII.
i6
LXXIV.
17
LXXV.
LXXVI.
i8
• LXXVII.
20
LXXVIIL
22
LXXIX.
25
LXXX.
26
LXXXI.
28
LXXXII.
March 3
LXXXIII.
4
LXXXIV.
5
LXXXV.
LXXXVI.
7
PAGE
The Bishop of Hebron . . . i
The Bishop of Mondovi . . . . 10
Proposed Anathemas . . . 17
The Weariness of the Work . . 31
Difficulties of the French Emperor 36
The Exposition of Catholic Art. . 42
Some Statistics  53
The Little Catechism . . .57
France and the Vatican . . .65
How Votes can be Multiplied . 70
Opposition melting away . 78
Count Daru .... -84
Still on the Little Catechism 95
Pio Nono  . 102
The New Regulations . . 112
The Pope and the Catholic Powers 121
The Carnival  128
Some Details of Procedure . . . 144
Ash Wednesday . . . ~. .153
The Carnival  159
Montalembert's Letter . . . 168
The ' Times ' on Montalembert's
Letter  176
The Council Dragging a Lengthen
ing Chain  1S2
LETTERS FROM ROME

CHAPTER

LXXXVII. Y W\7'TTT

March

9

-,AA.A. Viil.
LXXXIX.

II

XC.

12
XCL
XCIL
14
XCIIL
15
XCIV.
16
XCV.
17
XCVI.
18
XCVII.
XCVIIL
19
XCIX.
20
C.
22
CL
24
CH.
25
CIH.
26
CIV.
28
cv.
29
CVI.
30
evil.
April
4
CVIII.
5
CIX.
7
ex.
9
CXI.
11-13
CXH.
CXIII.
16
CXIV.
16
CXV.
18
CXVI.
20
CXVI I.
21
cxvin.
25
CXIX.
27
cxx.
CXXL
May
8
CXXIL
June
8
CXXIII.
July
7
CXXIV.
18
Nine Days' Adjournment
Our Northern Ancestors at Rome
Rome and Italy ....
The Italians moving .
Romans and Germans
PAGE
. 188
. 196
. 202
. 207
. 212
Protest against the New Regulations 220
The Proposed Dogma . . . . 226
Papal Assumptions .... 235
St. Patrick's Day  242
Montalembert  247
Montalembert's Last Letter . 253
Feast of St. Joseph . . . 258
The Pope's Mass for ' One Charles ' 263
Refusal of a French Envoy to the
Council  266
Schwarzenberg and Strossmayer . . 273
The Daily Work of a Pope . . 280
The English-speaking Race Speech
less IN the Council . . . . 285
Is a Majority to decide a Dogma? . 289
The Armenians  296
Papal and Parliamentary Practice 300
Monsignor Capel  307
Deaths in Rome . . . -315
Cardinal Barnaeo and the Orientals 318
Banneville's Mission .
Palm Sunday {April 10) .
The European Crisis .
The Ceremonies of Holy Week
Holy Week at Rome .
Easter Day at Rome
The Heavenly Jerusalem .
The Pope's Day
Third Open Session .
The Roman Artists at Cervara
Some Recollections
The French Emperor's Plebiscite
Times Article ....
Times Article . . . .
Fourth Open Session .
322329341344
357364375 380
389
403 412
418 426433
441
LETTERS FROM ROME

CHAPTER LXIV
THE BISHOP OF HEBRON
Rome : Feb. 9.
I WITNESSED yesterday the assembling and the separat
ing of the Council, the former as I stood on the Bridge
of St. Angelo, the latter at the door of the Council Hall.
There are those who think it undignified thus to look
on, but it is necessary to sacrifice oneself sometimes.
The Council is a fact of some importance, and deserves
to be seen with the mind's eye, if not otherwise. The
Fathers are now late to arrive, and are fast dropping off
long before the sitting is over. At ten minutes to nine,
under a most ungetoial sky — not frost, because it rained,
and little rain because it was so cold — half a mile of
bishops and cardinals were rattling up with a roar of
carriage-wheels ; the walking bishops, primates, and
patriarchs drawing up every half minute into the door
ways to escape immolation. Long after noon I entered
St. Peter's. You hear the sound of declamation the
instant you lift the door curtain, and there is not a corner
in the whole church where you don't hear it ; but, of
VOL. II. ¦ B

2 THE J3ISH0P OF HEBRON
course, it is sound without sense. But think of the case
of these eight hundred gentlemen accustomed to spend
their mornings quietly, or in receiving callers, or in
useful work, being condemned morning after morning to
four hours of vociferous Latin declamation ! There
were various voices, but all at full pitch. It was a
quarter past one before the doors were thrown back, and
all came out, grasping tight their bundles of Schemata,
or what not, and looking very much like men engaged
in a work they little loved, but from which there was no
escape. If there were a score or two who might be
Grand Inquisitors, all the rest were visibly on the rack.
The ' Little Catechism,' they say, is not yet over ;
but when it is disposed of the tug of war is to begin.
Meanwhile the discussion on the Catechism will show
which way the wind goes, for it contains Papal infalli
bility in the form of milk for babes. But as I write I
hear that the difficulties of the discussion, the extreme
weariness felt at these cut-and-dried speeches, and the
impossibility of getting over the ground fast enough,
have suggested a course probably long anticipated in the
far-seeing Jesuit mind. It is that the Fathers shall send
in written statements of their objections or observations,
instead of delivering speeches ; in fact, that this shall be
a paper and not a viva voce discussion. If they will
only be so good as to write what they want, or don't
want, on slips of paper, and drop them into a box, then
the cardinal legates and other Papal officials will con
sider their suggestions, as far as possible, and as far as
is proper, in the amendment of the matter to be put to
the vote. Such a course, uniformly adopted, would shut
up all these troublesome speakers. The very natural

THE BISHOP OF CLIFTON 3
comment made on this plan is that it would put an end
to what there is of discussion. Much the same may be
said of another proposal, that the speeches shall be
handed at once in manuscript to the shorthand writers,
which would reduce their office and the Council itself to
a sinecure. Another idea I can hardly think serious for
helping the Council onwards is that it be divided into
several sections, to take their respective subjects. The
objections to such a course are too obvious to mention.
On Friday, Clifford, of Clifton, spoke three-quarters
of an hour, de Romano Pontifice, very well, in a liberal
sense. He is the first English bishop who has opened
his mouth in Council. Strossmayer spoke on Monday,
with his usual strength. His remarks upon the cardinals
have set people comparing the bishops, who represent, 1
am told, the greatest extremes of wealth and poverty.
While some are in palaces, surrounded by servants, and
are the centres of circles, others are smoking their pipes
all alone. But, as all are dressed uniformly, according
to the regulations, this does not show out of doors.
There is a vague report, I have heard more than once,
of some great scandal in the Council — whether that
some Father has spoken too freely, or that he has been
too roughly silenced, or something else, we are left to
imagine. Perhaps it is only the case of that mysterious
Chaldean, of which so much has been said. By the by,
it is asserted by the Vatican people, and denied by the
French, that the French Minister here has had a long
and angry discussion with Antonelli. It is not said
distinctly what about, though it is easy enough to guess.
The Austrian, Prussian, and Hanoverian people here all
^ay there has been such a discussion, and add that the

4 THE BISHOP OF HEBRON
French Government has made a strong demonstration
on the lines of the Treaty of September I 5 ; but when
the chief personage concerned in the supposed discussion
holds his tongue we can only conjecture.
While the utterances of the Council are few and far
between — nothing, in fact, except the Creed of Pius IV.
since the opening day — a good stroke of work is done
by the best preachers Rome can collect from France,
Germany, England, and Ireland. I wish that my time
and physical constitution would allow of my attendance
on the two latter, but in the present inclement season an
hour's attentive listening in the atmosphere of a Roman
church, which, large as it may be, is generally deep in
the shade of still larger houses, would in my case be
suicide. This has been a most unhealthy season for
Rome, and there has been a sad, mortality among our
own countrymen and countrywomen as I hear, very
often arising, it is to be feared, from the neglect of ordi
nary precautions. But to return to the preachers. One
of the most eloquent is Mermillod, titular Bishop of
Hebron, and Auxiliary of Geneva. He has been
preaching from the popular pulpits of S. Andrea della
Valle and S. Luigi de' Francesi, the French church.
' What did he say ? ' I ventured to ask a good
listener : —
' The Church alone can establish unity, which cannot
be established upon reason, still less upon force. The
Church establishes liberty for the truth, which in her
has its only source and only protection. The hierarchy
is the basis and bond of that unity. It is the only unity
there is that we can fall back upon when other unions
Other ties, fail. The hierarchy is as it were the central

ST. PETER'S THE CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS 5
fortress, the backbone of the true social system. No
fear from .libraries, or all that books can do. They are
ideas ; they are opinions ; they are paper. They are
written and forgotten ; they commit nobody ; they bind
nobody. Then, for patriotism, if it be true, it has no
enemy in the Catholic Church, which favours and
nourishes patriotism by all the means in its vast power.
There is a church for every nation under the sun at
Rome. The Catholic Church knows the necessities of
all humanity, and offers a home for all. St. Peter's
alone of churches belongs to all nations, and is the resort
of all nations ; for all walk therein and feel at home
there, even in spite of their national prejudices, or those
which education may have implanted.'
These sermons, delivered by men of good figure,
good voice, and good delivery, have a great effect ; and
one hears every day of some lady or gentleman who
may be expected soon to declare. Only yesterday, they
say, a young English gentleman of twenty-two received
his first communion from the Pope — name not given.
When the season moderates I may at least become a
listener.

Mermillod must have smiled at finding a ' good figure '
joined with voice and delivery as a requisite for effective
eloquence. What he wanted in figure he more than
made up with the brilliancy of his eye and the sweet
ness of his expression. He was one of those men who
would undertake to fight a lion at a moment's notice,
with scarce a chance of living to tell the tale. Geneva
has always resisted the intrusion of any spiritual authority

6 THE BISHOP OF HEBRON
derived from an external source, and, I believe, will only
tolerate the English congregation as an independent
body, not officially connected with the Church of England.
But there were formerly Bishops of Geneva, and, of
course, there is one still, in name at least, for Rome
never abandons the ground she has once occupied. Mer
millod was sent to Geneva to work his way into some
position, from which he might advance a step further
towards the re-establishment of the medieval see. His
titular see of Hebn n must have had an occult reference
to the ' Hill Country.' He did me much kindness, which,
I regret to add, it was quite out of my power to return.
Since writing the above I see that Quirinus credits
Mermillod, not only with enthusiasm, which is not a
very measurable quality, but with singular powers of in
vention, illustrated in the phrase tamquam os et organon
ecclesice, applied to the Pope. As for the phrase, I
leave it to divines better versed in controversy, but
I cannot think the above a just estimate of the man.
Perhaps it required a certain amount of enthusiasm, and
even invention, to undertake the conversion of Geneva
to the old faith. The result was a foregone conclusion.
The Genevese authorities walked Mermillod out of their
little territory, with the threat of worse if he returned.
The above I wrote some months ago. My readers
have now to congratulate me on the admission of ' Mgr.
Mermillod, Bishop of Lausanne and Geneva,' to the
Sacred College. I shall not be expected to take side
with either the Genevese democracy or the Roman
Papacy, in Mgr. Mermillod's life-long troubles, but I
cannot forbear quoting the passages specially relating to
bim in Plug IX.'s EncycHcal Letter, November 21, 1873.

ROME AND GENEVA 7
After the forcible banishment of our venerable brother
Gaspar, Bishop of Hebron and Vicar Apostolic of Geneva, so
glorious for the sufferer and so disgraceful to those who put it
into execution, the Government of Geneva, on March 23 and
August 27 of this year, enacted two laws of the same tenor
as the decree of October 1872, which was condemned by us
in the Allocution before mentioned. That Government has
claimed the right of reforming the constitution of the Catholic
Church in the Canton according to the democratic pattern,
and of subjecting the bishop to the civil power in the exercise
of his proper jurisdiction, and the administration and delega
tion of his authority to others ; forbidding him to dwell in the
Canton, limiting the number and boundaries of the parishes,
laying down the form and conditions of the election of parish
priests and their assistants, and the manner of their resignation
or suspension ; assigning to laymen the right of nomination
and the temporal administration and inspection of ecclesiastical
affairs generally. Moreover, parish priests and their assistants
who have not received permission (to be withdrawn at pleasure)
of the Government were forbidden to exercise their functions,
to accept any dignity higher than that conferred upon them by
the election of the people, and were also forced to take an
oath in terms involving actual apostasy. It is clear that laws
of this kind are not only null and void by reason of want of
power in the law-maker as being laymen and non-Catholics,
but also, as regards their provisions, that they are so contrary
to the doctrines of the Catholic faith, and to the ecclesiastical
discipline enjoined by Pontifical Constitutions and the CEcu-
menical Council of Trent that they ought to be altogether
rejected by us.
We, therefore, as required by our office, do, by our apostolic
authority, solemnly reject and condemn them, declaring the
required oath to be unlawful and sacrilegious, and that all
those who in the Canton of Geneva or elsewhere having been
elected according to the tenor of the said laws, or others
like them, bv the votes of the people and confirmation of the

8 THE BISHOP OF HEBRON
civil power, shall venture to take upon thera ecclesiastical
functions, do ipso facto incur the greater excommunication
especially reserved to this Holy See, and other canonical
penalties ; and that they are to be avoided by the faithful
according to the Divine command ' as strangers and robbers,
who come not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.' (St.
John X. lo.)

The following is the result thus far : —
Fribourg : July i6, 1890.
Mgr. Mermillod, the new Swiss Cardinal, was formally
received by the President of the Swiss Confederation in Berne
last night. This was the first time a Cardinal had crossed the
threshold of the Federal Palace, and Mgr. Mermillod is the
second Swiss Bishop ever elected to the Sacred College. He
was received with all the honour due to a Prince of the Church.
The members of the Federal Council refused to take part,
however, in the grand reception accorded to the Cardinal
to-day at his seat in P'ribourg. The authorities of this town
invited members of the States Council of Geneva, but they
also declined. It will be remembered that eighteen years ago
Bishop Mermillod was expelled from the Canton of Geneva
for his violent Ultramontane preaching. He was, however,
welcomed to Fribourg, which is perhaps the most rigid of the
Catholic Cantons in Switzerland, and his formal entry to-day
was made the occasion for a grand reception. He left Berne
this morning by road, and the President and members of the
States Council awaited his Eminence and conducted him to
Fribourg. The route was crowded with people and hand
somely decorated with arches. In the town a procession of
30,000 persons, consisting of ecclesiastical, academical, and
civic bodies of the Canton, was massed, and, headed by the
Landwehr band and a guard of 100 Swiss, marched to the
Cathedral. The Bishop of Sion welcomed Cardinal Mermillod
here, and the Provost of the College pronounced an allocution.

BARRICADES AT PARIS 9
After the Te Deum, the Cardinal gave the Pontifical benedic
tion. Subsequently his Eminence was entertained at a banquet.
He expressed his thanks for the cordial reception accorded him
not only at Fribourg, but by the Swiss Federal Council.

Paris : Feb. 9.
According to the last reports only one serious conflict has
occurred, and this was in the Rue Oberkampf, where a barri
cade was removed by the Gardes de Paris. The troops did
not make use of their arms. Some stray revolver shots came
from the ranks of the rioters, and one police agent was most
severely wounded. About a hundred ringleaders and others
carrying arms were arrested. It is stated that ten strong
barricades vvere still left during the night, chiefly in the Rue du
Temple, Rue St. Maur, and Rue Oberkampf, and also on the
Quai Valmy. They were formed by overturned carriages,
omnibuses, and building materials. None, however, of those
obstructions were defended by the rioters, who only smashed
some street lamps. It is also asserted that the sergents de
ville made a charge upon the rioters with drawn swords, in
which several of the latter were wounded. A body of Chasseurs
co-operated with the Municipal Guards to free the streets from
obstructions. A rumour says that some shots were fired by
the rioters, but not by the pohce. At i o'clock this morning
tranquillity was everywhere re-established. The Gazette des
Tribunaux mentions some attempts at throwing up barricades
in the Quartier du Temple, stating, however, that no resistance
was offered, and consequently there was no conflict. The
latest reports say that the Quartiers La Villette and La Bastille
were perfectly quiet, as also was the Faubourg St. Antoine.
The news is confirmed that the greater part of the editorial
staff of the Marseillaise has been arrested. Moreover, M.
Valee, the printer of the journal, refuses to act in that capacity
any longer.

CHAPTER LXV
THE BISHOP OF MONDOVI
Rome : Feb. 10.
I OUGHT to have told you more of what I saw and
heard on Tuesday, for, as now appears, it was some
thing out of the way. The voices were very loud ; the
bell rang several times ; there was a false break-up ; the
doors opened, the Swiss Guard, the servants of the
bishops end cardinals — a host of them— and a con
siderable crowd of people all hastened to the entrance
of the Council Hall ; the doors were closed again, and
remained closed for ten minutes ; then out came the
Fathers, all excited, some looking determined, most
very uncomfortable. I did not write all this, because if
nothing came of it I should have been presenting you
with a mare's nest. But here is the explanation.
The speaker was Ghilardi, Bishop of Mondovi, the
same man who some years ago preached in the Duomo
at Milan, and gave such offence that a bomb was fired
under the pulpit. His speech was a studied and very
unsparing philippic against the leaders of the Opposi
tion. The tone at first was that of a homily, paternal
and unctuous, but Ghilardi soon followed a more natural
vein. He told the Gallican and German chiefs that
they were creating discord in the Council, and then pro-

MGR. GIOVANNI TOMMASO GHILARDI ii
claiming it to all the world. This, he said, was intoler
able, and an end must be put to it. Such men were
converting a most auspicious design into a scandal and
cause of offence. He charged them with pride, with
ignorance, with downright impudence — impudicitia —
and, as far as he could venture to say it, with heresy.
The objects of his attack found it rather too much for
their patience, and exclaimed, in a great variety of
languages, that they had had enough of this, and would
listen no more. The Legate rang his bell several times,
but each side took the rebuke as addressed to the other,
and the more he rang his bell, the louder Ghilardi de
claimed, and the more, too, did the French and Germans
try to shout him down. They took to stamping on the
floor, and to beating the benches — and I must remind you
that among other privations the Fathers are sitting on
hard boards covered with Brussels carpeting. Then all at
once they rose up, as if to rush out of the Hall, addressing
angry ejaculations to the Italian as they passed the pulpit,
and it is positively asserted shaking their fists at him —
more likely the bundles of Schemata I saw them grasp
ing with something like a quiver of emotion.
At the appearance of the flying crowd between the
inner and outer screen, the doorkeepers threw open the
great doors, but by the time I had got to them, with
everybody else in the church, they were closed again.
The Legate had managed to recall the fugitives, though
the declaimer went on, and did go on, they say, even when
the Council, after a formal dismissal, was finally leaving
the Hall. This I give as I am told, but of course it
must occur to every Englishman that after Uupanloup
and Strossmayer had been allo\ved to have their say, it

12 THE BISHOP OF MONDOVI
would have been at least wise to let Ghilardi have his.
But scandalous as the scene is said to have been, they
tell me that something worse is likely to happen before
long. I described to you some days ago the sword of
Damocles hanging over the remonstrant Fathers. It is
over the Council itself that the sword hangs, it is freely
whispered. I sent you the other day the text of an
' Infallibility ' alleged to lie midway between the extremes
held in the Council. The thing itself was simply a fly
ing sheet without a name, and I should not have troubled
you with it had I not seen it made something of in an
English paper. It turns out to be a newspaper squib,
and no more.
To-day, and not before, the ' Little Catechism ' is
introduced into the Council. The late discussions have
been on the relations between the Pontifif and the
hierarchy. His relation with the State — that is, with the
human race generally and the entire creation — contained,
as I understand, in the scheme properly called De
Romano Pontifice, is to come on after the ' Little Cate
chism ' is disposed of It is asserted, and may perhaps
be true, that infallibility is to be woven into the Canons
de Romano Pontifice, but not ' to be introduced again in
a Supplica, or Postulatum. This, however, is only a
matter of form. The Jesuits are loudly proclaiming
that infallibility is no child of theirs. All they asked
was that it should not even be mentioned. I entirely
believe them.
It has been whispered for several weeks here that
there lay in the Vatican a Bull against the Fenians by
name, which the Irish and American bishops here, and
still more a good many Irish priests, were earnestly

A BULL AGAINST THE FENIANS i.^
beseeching his Holiness to send back to the place that
it came from, whatever that may be. As the Bull might
never appear, to allege its existence could only be
running the risk of a stout and incisive contradiction.
However, it has now made its appearance, and the
aforesaid bishops are so frightened that they wish the
Council may never end, and never cease to sit, summer
or winter. It's all very well, they say, for the Pope to
discharge paper Bulls against Fenians, but, unfor
tunately, the latter do not confine themselves to blank
cartridge, and are not very particular as to the direction
of their missiles. At New York, it appears, the Fenians
are a recognised institution. They have their public
parades, their competitions — like our Wimbledon — and
their distribution of prizes. So Monsignor MacCloskey,
Archbishop of New York, asks how in the world he is
to be expected to present himself before all these men
on a field-day, and consign them one and all to eternal
perdition. There are things a man can do and there
are things he can't ; at least, bishops and priests think
so, though Pius IX. appears to be of another opinion.
Upon the whole, and taking a practical view of the
subject, they say it would have been better to leave it
alone. Some of them go so far as to charge the Irish
Cardinal and the English Archbishop with the concoc
tion of the Bull, as a piece of toadyism to the British
Government, done, as it appears, at others' cost rather
than their own. The Bull speaks of Ireland and
America ; whereas it is notorious, they say, that every
Irishman in London, particularly in Westminster, is a
Fenian, and that every Catholic chapel would be half

1 4 THE BISHOP OF MONDOVI
emptied at the bare mention of the word. Then as for
the cardinal, he sits in Dublin, surrounded by English
troops, with a Viceroy always ready to pat him on the
back, if he likes that sort of encouragement. Others
observe that the Fenians really have at present no evil
intentions, and that if they have a fancy for drill and
target practice, so also have the English, with, perhaps,
very little intention of ever shooting a live man.
England, of course, Fenians are not likely to attack, for
reasons best known to themselves ; and so long as they
confine themselves to Ireland, and to their adopted
home in the United States, they have a sort of right, it
is argued, to indulge in a national pastime — not shoot
ing, but talking and flourishing about it. There cer
tainly is some reason in the argument that the wilful
and intractable nature of the people renders this a case
more for private treatment than for sweeping denuncia
tion. Perhaps there is more reason in the fact that the
Irish always have been at this sort of work, and most
likely always will be upon one pretext or another The
Irish bishops ask why they are to be employed as peace
officers to keep in order people whom they feel to have
real grievances.
In deliverance of my own conscience I beg to
suggest two answers to this line of defence, which I do
not expect the Irish bishops to care twopence for.
First, it is an understood thing that everybody who sets
up to give good advice to his fellow-creatures does so
not only at some risk, but even with the certainty that
he will offend a good many, and make enemies. When
the clergy tell people to be good, and all that sort of
thing, it is not because the people are good already, for

IS IRELAND AN EXCEPTION TO ALL RULES'/ 15
in that case they don't want advice : it is because they
are not so good as they ought to be, and on that
account they will always be apt to take offence, and,
perhaps, even retaliate after some fashion of their own.
Not only every clergyman, but also every journalist,
expects to provoke unpleasant antagonism if he does his
duty at all honestly. So what right have the Irish and
American bishops to complain if they are told to repro
bate publicly and solemnly that which they really must
feel to deserve reprobation ? Of course, when the Pope
himself tells them it is wrong, they can have no further
doubts about it.
I must answer, further, that if people are not to be
told what is right and what is wrong, there is an end of
all things, as far as Rome, and, indeed, everything else,
is concerned. The Pope, as we understand, claims a
special commission for telling all the world what is true
and what is false, what is right and what is wrong. It
is only in the form and degree, and not at all in the
matter, that his alleged commission differs from that
claimed by every parson and every dissenting minister.
Nay, the true and the false, the right and the wrong, are
the things all the world is fighting, squabbling, scribbling,
speechifying, wrangling, and abusing one another about.
Are we to be told all at once that in one particular
matter of rather serious dimensions there is no right or
wrong, or at least that these characteristics had better
not be recognised ? There can be no exceptions if the
rule is to be established. The Pope undertakes to put
us all right. If he wishes to stand well with us, he
ought to put his own house — that is, his own people — in
order. The British Government has been trying to do

i6 THE BISHOP OF MONDOVI
this, at some cost to English prejudice or self-esteem,
and it is Ireland's turn to show a like renunciation of
her dear little self If the Irish bishops do meet with
any mischief in the execution of their duty, they will
win for themselves and their Church an amount of
sympathy not to be gained by any triumphs or
successes. Six bishops spoke on Tuesday. There lies before
me a list of forty-nine p-athers who signed Schwarzen-
berg's address to the Pope, praying for greater liberty of
deliberation and discussion. The address was either
not received or received in silence. As these things are
conducted it might be hard to say which. There is a
rumour of a similar address to be presented with many
more signatures, and with a serious result likely to follow
in case of rejection. The Opposition Postulatum, or
address, in the matter of infallibility, was signed by
forty-seven Germans, thirty-four French, against only
twenty-four on the other side, thirty Americans, twenty-
five Orientals, and some Italians and English, making
up altogether 1 50. Ullathorne is said to be one of those
engaged in drawing up the Canons, which are to involve
the absolute supremacy and consequently practical in
fallibility of the Pope.
There was a good coat of snow on the housetops at
eight this morning, and also yesterday morning, when
there were two 1-arge patches of snov\^ on the banks of
the Tiber.

I?

CHAPTER LXVI
PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
The Augsburg Gazette had now published that portion
of ,the Syllabus known as Canones de Ecclesia, proposed
to the Council at Rome as the new dogmatic scheme.
The following translation appeared in the Times on
February lo : — Of the Church of Christ.
Canon i. If any man say that the religion of Christ does
not exist and is not expressed in any particular association
instituted by Christ himself, but that it may be properly
observed and exercised by individuals separately without rela
tion to any society which may be the true Church of Christ,
let him be anathema.
2. If any man sa,y that the Church has not received from
the Lord Jesus Christ any certain and immutable form of con
stitution, but that, like other human associations, it has been
subject, and may be subject, according to the changes of times,
to vicissitudes and variations, let him be anathema.
3. If any man say that the Church of the Divine promises
is not an external and visible society, but is entirely internal and
invisible, let him be anathema.
4. If any man say that the true Church is not a body one
in itself, but that it is composed of various and dispersed
societies bearing the Christian title, and that it is common to
VOL, II. C

i8 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
them all, or that various societies differing from each other in
profession of faith and holding separate communion, constitute,
as members and portions, a Church of Christ, one and
universal, let him be anathema.
5. If any man say that the Church of Christ is not a society
absolutely necessary for eternal salvation, or that men may be
saved by the adoption of any other religion whatsoever, let him
be anathema. 6. If any man say that this intolerance, whereby the
Catholic Church proscribes and condemns all religious sects
which are separate from her communion, is not prescribed by
the Divine law, or that with respect to the truth of religion it
IS possible to have opinions only, but not certainty, and that,
consequently, all religious sects should be tolerated by the
Church, let him be anathema.
7. If any man say that the same Church of Christ may be
obscured by darkness, or infected with evils, in consequence
of which it may depart from the wholesome truth of the
faith and manners, deviate from its original institution, or
terminate only in becoming corrupt and depraved, let him be
anathema. 8. If any man say that the present Church of Christ is not
the last and supreme institution for obtaining .salvation, but
that another is to be looked for from a new and fuller outpour
ing of the Holy Spirit, let him be anathema.
9. If any man say that the infallibility of the Church is re
stricted solely to things which are contained in Divine revela
tion, and that it does not also extend to other truths which are
necessary in order that the great gift of revelation may be pre
served in its integrity, let him be anathema.
10. If any man say that the Church is not a perfect society,
but a corporation [collegium), or that as such in respect of civil
society or the State it is subject to secular domination, let him
be anathema. II. If any man say that the Church, divinely instituted, is
like to a society of equals ; that the bishops have indeed an

VISIBLE HEAD OF THE CHURCH

19

office and a ministry, but not a power of governing proper
to themselves, which is bestowed upon them by Divine ordi
nation, and which they ought to exercise freely, let him be
anathema. 12. If any man hold that Christ our Lord and Sovereign
has only conferred upon his Church a directing power by means
of its counsels and persuasions, but not of ordering by its
laws, or of constraining and compeUing by antecedent judg
ments and salutary penalties those who wander and those who
are contumacious, let him be anathema.
1 3. If any man say that the true Church of Christ, out of
which no one can be saved, is any other than the Holy Roman
Catholic and Apostolic Church, let him be anathema.
14. If any man say that the Apostle St. Peter has not been
instituted by our Lord Christ as Prince of the Apostles, and
visible head of the Church Militant, or that he received only
the pre-eminence of honour, but not the primacy of true and
sole jurisdiction, let him be anathema.
15. If any man say that it does not follow from the institu
tion of our Lord Christ himself that St. Peter has perpetual
successors in his primacy over the Universal Church, or that
the Roman Pontiff is not by Divine right the successor of
Peter in that same primacy, let him be anathema.
16. If any man say that the Roman Pontiff has only a
function of inspection and of direction, but not a full and
supreme power of jurisdiction over the Universal Church, or
that this power is not ordinary and immediate over the whole
Church, taken as a whole or separately, let him be anathema.
17. If any man say that the independent ecclesiastical
power respecting which the Church teaches that it has been
conferred upon it by Christ, and the supreme civil power cannot
coexist so that the rights of each may be observed, let him be
anathema. 18. If any man say that the power which is necessary for
the government of civil society does not emanate from God, or
that no obedience is due to it by virtue even of the law of God,
c 2

20 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
or that such power is repugnant to the natural liberty of man,
let him be anathema.
19. If any man say that all rights existing among men are
derived from the political State, or that there is no authority
besides that which is communicated by such State, let him be
anathema. 20. If any man say that in the law of the political State or
in the public opinion of men has been deposited the supreme
rule of conscience for public and social actions, or that the
judgments by which the Church pronounces upon what is
lawful and what is unlawful, do not extend to such actions, or
that by the force of civil law an act which by virtue of Divine
or ecclesiastical law is unlawful, can become lawful, let him be
anathema. 21. If any man say that the laws of the Church have no
binding force until they have been confirmed by the sanction
of the civil power, or that it belongs to the said civil power to
judge and to decree in matters of religion by virtue of its
supreme authority, let him be anathema.
This is neither more nor less than a claim to govern the
whole world from the Court of Rome, and by the mouth
and hand ofthe Roman Pontiff". As Rome was without
the means of enforcing this claim, and could not even
hold its ground at home without the aid of a foreign
power that might any day be withheld, and indeed was
soon withheld, the claim may now be regarded rather in
the light of an audacious, and even extravagant theory,
than of a serious practical demand. That demand,
however, has been unreservedly and consistently made
for many centuries, and it has been submitted to by a
large and respectable part of the human race. The
world has, therefore, to treat it seriously, and to hear
what is to be said for as well as against it. Whether

THE ROMAN EMPIRE 21
for or against, there is much to be said — more, indeed,
than can be imagined by people unacquainted with the
controversy, however interested they may be.
The claim advanced in the above document can least
of all be lightly treated by a Power that actually owns a
greater number of subjects than Rome does or ever did,
and that freely recognises the obligation to bring them
all to her own religious faith and practice by all lawful
means. The Roman claim may be said to have posses
sion of the ground, and to impose what is called the
onus argumenti on those who do not yield to it. If only
to do justice to their own cause, the dissentients are
bound to do justice to that which they have concluded
against. The Roman Empire, in one form or another, is all but
coterminous with history, with civilisation, w ith the in
habited world. It is by far the most important fact, in
the seriously critical sense of that word, under moral
cognisance and within authentic record. It far sur
passes all other national, imperial, and even religious
records in its claim to our serious consideration. No
other social unity can point to such apjjearances of
providential design, to such contributory causes, to such
prophetic preparation and miraculous inauguration, to
such an amount of success by any common reckoning,
to so much willing, hearty, and intelligent acceptance ;
in fine, to so large a place as factor in the making of
the world — the world past and present — in its spiritual
as in its temporal stage. It is an honour even to have
had to protest against it, for it is an honour to have
belonged to it ; and they who refuse to be called Protes
tant, thereby decline a higher title than they possess

22 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
who stand upon a mere nationalism, or imagine a certain
Catholicity. But we have at least to show reasons for
our Protestantism.
The claim to dictate in religion and morals, in a
broad sense, is one very familiar to the English, and to
all self-governing peoples. It is advanced, quite as a
matter of course, by all States in their own behalf, by all
Churches, by all denominations, by all societies, to the
extent of their interests, convenience, opportunities and
powers. No one can be anywhere in this country with
out finding himself in the presence of persons, who,
upon one ground or another, claim to dictate to him
their own laws, opinions, tastes, and usages ; with only
such differences as there must be where one is a chief,
and the others subordinate ; or where one class is at an
advantage in the comparison with another.
When Roman Catholics, even the most Ultramontane,
are charged with absolutist principles, whether in Church
or in State, they instantly retort by pointing to any
number of cases, in which they that have the power ac
tually use it, as Rome is charged with claiming to use it.
Rome only claims what the world claims, they say, but
not as the world claims, or for the same purposes. The
world, they proceed to say — that is, the Civil Powers
of the A\-orld — claims to rule the world for worldly,
sensual, and, it is added, often devilish purposes. Rome,
on the other hand, makes a counter-claim, on no mean
authority, to rule the world for the world's present and
eternal good.
If a man will not obey your laws, Rome says to the
Powers that be, or recognise your authority, or treat you
with proper respect, you do more than Rome ever claims

VARIOUS EXCOMMUNICATIONS 23
to do in its spiritual capacity. You imprison him, you
fine him, you banish him, you exclude him from all
society, you put him to death, you visit his offences on
his family, posterity, and name. Coming down from
the State to the individual, Rome is doing no more,
— indeed not so much as many of you are doing every
day of your lives upon very slight and even indifferent
grounds. You ' cut ' a man ; you drop his acquaintance ;
you refuse to recognise his existence even if circum
stances have made him your neighbour, ami have made
him dependent on your social recognition. You let it
be known that he is under your ban ; you justify your
self by confessing your fears that social contact may lead
to closer connection. You will not touch pitch lest you
be defiled. You congratulate yourself on the success of
your anti-social policy, if your neighbour decreases while
you increase, and finally disappears while you hold
your ground.
All this, forsooth, is common, allowable, and even
commendable in your case, and from your point of view.
You claim not to be called to a general account, for you
are ready, to justify yourself at every step of the pro
cedure, and that is all the public are concerned with.
You are not called upon to divulge a policy, or commit
yourself to a principle, beyond your interest or your
taste. So far are the rights of the individual carried in
this country, that there are many very good sort of
people — that is, good in their way, and as the world
counts goodness — who would not hesitate to denounce a
neighbour because he would, or would not, turn to the
east at the recitation of the Creed.
Romanists see, indeed, and cannot deny, that there is

24 Proposed anathemas
a good deal of mutual toleration. This they set down
to indifference, sometimes perhaps with reason. Every
serious believer, they say, persecutes when it is necessary
for the defence, or for the spread of his faith — that is, of
his own convictions. If a man does not persecute, they
say, it is because he is not serious. If he has a domestic
servant of another faith than his own, or deals v^^ith a
trader of another faith, or votes at an election without
regard to the faith of the candidates, it is because he is
not serious. If he were serious, Roman Catholics say,
he would make truth — that is, what he believes — his
supreme rule and object.
Earnest Dissenters and earnest Church of England
people say and do as Rome does. Practically, and to
all intents and purposes, they anathematise those who
do not agree with them. That they do not pronounce
the anathema, and make it an act of religion, matters
not. They do the thing itself, all the more because they
do not formalise it, or think about it at all. Robbers
and murderers do not generally make a religion of their
acts, or invest them with pious and sanctimonious
forms. They simply do them, and they do all they can
to avoid recognition and escape consequences.
Such is the argument by which the Romanist justifies
a systematic and open attack upon the religious freedom
of the entire human race, beginning, of course, with those
immediately in her front. It is the old Tu quoque, of
all arguments the most easy both to advance and to
reply to.
What if it were indeed true that Roman Catholics
are not worse than other people, and their clergy not
worse than their laity, and the Pope not worse than the

THE KINGDOM NOT OF THIS WORLD 2^
parson, the preacher, or the ordinary layman. That
would only prove the depth and universality of the evil,
and the truth of the old saying that ' power is not made
for man.' By the testimony of the Romish advocate
himself it is established that man, such as he is, will
abuse power, and turn to evil that which is given him
for good. Not to enter into an interminable controversy, what
ever St. Paul said, and whatever St. John said, their
Master and our Master said more than ence, and on the
most critical occasions, ' My kingdom is not of this world,'
a sentence that at once stops the triumphant progress
of these twenty-one Propositions, from the audacious last
to the insidious first of them ; from the fine point of the
huge wedge to its rough end.
But in truth States cannot argue, and cannot even
stop to justify themselves. They have to deal, as best
they can, with necessities, often sudden, often urgent,
often overpowering. It is with them a daily question of
self-preservation — existence indeed. When the dis
turbers of the common weal choose to act like wild
beasts, they cannot be reasoned with ; they must be
met with the readiest and most effective weapon, whether
it be compromise, promise, or some more presently
effective device. No matter who they are, Romanists,
or the very opposite, if they drive a State ' into a corner,'
as they say, they are themselves answerable for the State
taking perhaps the only course open to it in that extremity.
It has often been alleged, perhaps too truly, that the
expectations embodied in these twenty-one Propositions
were indeed manifest, not to say avowed, in the public
demeanour and presentation of the early Church, and

26 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
that to this sad fact the Church owed its slow progress
and its many persecutions.
The student of Christian history has to stop every
now and then and ask himself how it could be that a
wonderful revelation attested by miracles, and the still
more touching evidence of martyrdom, accepted by
philosophers, hailed by philanthropists, and served by the
greatest men of the day, should be three centuries
working its way to complete recognition at the great
centres of thought and action, and take twice or even
thrice that time in leavening large portions of the old
Roman Empire. Is it impious to suspect that the
spirit to be detected in the Canons before us early
showed itself, and had something to do with this tardy
and imperfect realisation of the Christian promises i*
When were Christians not contending for pre-eminence .'
When were they not hoping for a temporal kingdom ?
When were they not looking to the skies for the avenging
bolt, and grasping the sword as the last argument of
saints ? When did not this fatal error give the enemies
of the Church abundant cause to blaspheme ?
No doubt the present terrible broadside of eccle
siastic artillery is directed against the provocative and
stubborn mass of German rationalism, or whatever else
its name. But here is a manifest hypocrisy. None
knows so well as Rome that Italy has first to be won —
to be converted, one might almost say. Rome has
always rested her claim to a position among the
Temporal Powers on the ground that she had to exhibit
the example of a perfect Christian State, which, like a
true leaven, should leaven the mass of virtual heathen
ism outside. That remains still to be done, and it

THE ONLY POSSIBLE THEORY 27
requires something more than a pompous string of
ingenious but impracticable Propositions. If German
intellect be rebellious, still more rebellious is Italian
morality. If necessity he often at once the condition and the
apology of the stronger arm, that arm has to bear in
mind that necessity may be equally the condition and
the apology of the weaken The long-suffering op
pressed, or degraded, may at length have no resource
but to assert themselves as best they can. Necessity
reigns or rages, not in the forum or in the senate, still
less in the temple, but in the open field, unless, may
be, in the dark and cavernous defile. It owns no laws.
All sides, then, rich and poor, strong and weak, priest
and layman. Church and State, have to beware of the
day when argument may become an empty sound,
reason itself as child's play, and justice as hypocrisy, for
Necessity has become the one lord of misrule, and none
can forecast her deliverance. But who are they that let
in this terrible and irresponsible arbiter of faction and
controversy? None so much as they that push to the
uttermost the pretensions for which they plead the
highest authority.
Rome urges that these Propositions are only the
theory, the only theory possible, of her Divine institu
tion, and that every commonweal has a theory, and is
forced to have one. The theory, she says, only affects
her subjects — her spiritual subjects — and does not reach
those who are out of her allegiance, from the simple fact
that they have not yet submitted to it. Neither the
willing nor the unwilling have any grievance ; for the
willing complain not, the unwilling have nothing to

28 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
complain of But undoubtedly these Propositions con
stitute an offensive, indeed destructive weapon, of
tremendous and continual efficacy in the hands of
those who can use it, or have, as they deem, occasion to
use it. It can do very much more than deliver once
for all its biggest charge, in the form of a final ana
thema. It is a veritable volcano.
We have only to suppose the case of a priesthood,
starting with much love for the Pope and little for any
other power, wholly dependent on a credulous, wilful,
and subservient people always ready to quarrel with
any institution, or law, or anything that interferes with
their own sweet will and pleasure. The people are told
with a plainness that really leaves no doubt in the
matter, that the government, the laws, and the dynasty
under which they have the misfortune to be thrown are
all • anathema,' whatever that may mean. What it
really means may be a question for scholars, but there
can be no doubt of the meaning a man may put upon it
if he likes, and if he has no other guide but a priest who
is not much of a scholar, and is proud not to be one.
Wherever there exists a population of this sort, the pro
mulgation of this code puts it continually on the verge of
revolt, and absolutely prevents the most honest and
kindly intended legislation from doing its work in
binding classes, and turning the hearts and minds of
all to the things that are for their common good.
But even if anybody else regarded these Propositions
as theories, mere brutum fulmeti, indeed never to be
taken out of the Papal stores, there is one personage
who cannot possibly take so light a view of them. That
is the Pope himself He is asked — indeed he evidently

ROME ON HER OWN PRESENTMENT 29
was asked on the occasion of this Council — to give the
influence and authority of his name against the Fenians.
How could he, with these twenty-one fundamental prin
ciples of the great Christian commonwealth before him }
They certainly declare the existing constitution, rulers,
and laws of the British Empire to be nothing better
than a godless and utterly unwarranted combination
against the only true Church and House of God.
They certainly declare it lawful, meritorious, and even
necessary to wage war with that anti-Christian Power
by all the means that may present themselves. If Pio
Nono, with these avowed principles, entered into the
question at all, in consistency he was bound to give all
his weight to the Fenians, or by whatever name the
active Irish Opposition is called. Who shall say that he
did not .'' He certainly was bound to do so, and he was
guilty of a great inconsistency if he did not.
' Great inconsistency,' I repeat, upon the principles
of the Roman Catholic Church, especially as forma
lised in these Anathemas. Of course potentates and
governments are privileged to be inconsistent, for they
can do no wrong so long as the seeming inconsistency is
in obedience to some higher call — even if known only to
themselves. What, indeed, is the purpose of all this
terrible manufacture ? It is to provide the Pope with a
magazine of thunder-bolts, certain by their own laws, to
hit the right mark and burn out the doomed scandal.
But it is for the Pope to employ them at his discretion.
We understand all this at home. All governments under
stand it. It is policy. The speciality in this case is that
the policy claims a supernatural character, and is there
fore more subtle, more unaccountable, rnore difificult to

30 PROPOSED ANATHEMAS
be dealt with than policies like our own, and standing
on our own level. Diplomacy itself, legislation itself,
public opinion itself, all bear witness to the formidable
character of a policy claiming a spiritual and supernatural
character ; for certainly England would not allow any
simply secular power to fill these isles with emissaries
teaching and preaching everywhere that our laws and
institutions, even our sovereigns, have no authority bind
ing on the heart and conscience of man.

It was commonly believed at Rome that Cardinal
Hohenlohe and his theologian kept up an unreserved
communication between the German bishops at the
Council, and the Bavarian Court, clergy and press.
There were repeated rumours of the trouble they had to
encounter at the Vatican, and how they escaped expul
sion was one of the mysteries of the Council. Perhaps,
after all, there was not much to reveal, and what there
was did not signify.

31

CHAPTER LXVII
THE WEARINESS OF THE WORK
Rome : Feb. ii.
The entire Papal choir is singing the song of Unity and
Peace. The discords said to rend the Council asunder
have no existence, it is said, except in the imagination
of journalists and other enemies of the truth, who imagine
what is convenient to themselves. Have not all these
assembled Fathers sworn to the Creed of Pius IV. ?
Have they not all, by many spontaneous and uninvited
acts, declared their absolute devotion to his Holiness,
as the supreme teacher of faith and morals ? Are they
not all daily at the same altar, forgetting every cause of
difference ? It is true, and a very grand truth, that they
represent different nations, different schools, different
tempers, and various qualities of courage, prudence,
wisdom. They might not always see things just alike,
or act alike ; but it is those very diversities that make
unity the more admirable. These men are agreeing to
differ in superficial or secondary matters. After all, is
not Dupanloup the Pope's own champion, and has
Strossmayer expressed a single sentiment which the
entire Sacred College would not reciprocate ? If Ghilardi
had been heard out, it is quite possible he would have

32 THE WEARINESS OF THE WORK
healed the little sore he kindly tried to cauterise. It is
the settled conviction of the good people here that if
every adverse eye, every adverse ear, every invincibly
prejudiced or interested mind were withdrawn from
Rome, the Council would be found the happiest of
families. I am bound to do justice to the thoroughgoing
loyalty with which the Papal shield is held over the
character of the Fathers. It is absolutely impossible,
we are assured, that any one of them, or any one of the
many hundred privileged and sworn frequenters of the
Council, can have betrayed the Pontifical secret.
How, then, did the actual text of any of the Schemata
get out ? The answers to this question are wonderful,
and not even sought, for they circulate spontaneously
through the mouths of saintly men. You will hardly
believe me, but I am serious. Every Father has two
copies, one of which is therefore waste paper. The
arrangements of the Council account for a good deal of
waste paper. The Germans have watched their oppor
tunity, gone to the source, or rather to the issue of
things, and achieved the feat which yEneas besought the
Cumean Sibyl to spare him. This is said without a
smile. The second is stated with equal gravity and
certainty. At the opening of the Council it was natural
to speculate on the personal changes it was likely to
suffer ; and I think it was your correspondent himself
who ventured the sad forecasts that the deaths would
average one in ten days. Considering the extreme
inclemency of the season, the great age of many of the
Fathers, and the innovations on their customary manner
of life, I marvel that there should have been so few
deaths among them. Following, I suppose the scent

THE VULTURES OF THE PRESS 33
of this calculation, the guardians of the honour of the
Council have discovered that, as soon as a Father is
reported to be seriously ill, the vultures of the Press
hover about his lodgings, in the hope of carrying off
some of his papers. It is presumed they have been
successful in some instances. Rome certainly protects
her friends, and does not easily give them up. The
hostility of the outer world she confesses freely enough ;
but she hopes against hope for every one of her own
children — and she had need do so for a good many of
them here.
But what is the truth of this unity and this devotion
of the whole heart and soul to Rome, thus asserted for
the assembled Fathers ? It is enough to reply that out
of the whole 800 there are certainly not a tithe — not 80,
I say — who would not jump for joy and sing a song of
thanksgiving if they heard that the Council was suddenly
dissolved this very afternoon. You know the evil thought
that sometimes presents itself to the imagination of a
schoolboy — ' What if the school-house were to be burnt
down ? ' These Fathers wish no calamity to Rome, but
if by some special intervention Rome could only be
reminded that she is mortal, and, still more, if she should
'1 find a little leisure necessary for the reconsideration of
her Pontifical Code, they would be the happiest men
under the sun. It is not the leader or the rank and file
of this or that national section that prays for deliverance ;
it is the mass of them — all, except the few who have
been making this matter the meat and drink of their souls
for the last dozen or twenty years, and who have vowed
to make Rome absolute, or die in the attempt. The
Jewish captives who dragged the huge stones of the
VOL. II. D

34 THE WEARINESS OF THE WORK
Colosseum through the streets, and hoisted them to their
lofty beds, to make a place for impious and brutal enter
tainments, hardly worked more unwillingly than these
men engaged in the construction of a fabric which is to
reduce every one of them to ciphers. They loathe the
work, and loathe their very selves while thus engaged.
The expression of their countenances is that of men
contemplating a terrible act. Every one of them knows
that on his return to his see he will have to invent all
sorts of plausible excuses and ingenious forms of speech,
in order to palm off on his people, for a wise and holy
deed, that which is really an insult to the understanding,
the conscience, and the soul of man.
Just think of the Americans, whom I mentioned
long ago as finding themselves already under moral
torture. The last phrase about infallibility is that the
English form is given up, and the ' American form ' is
to be proposed. An American phrase for infallibility !
What can it be ? But that shows where the shoe
pinches. It is no longer States, it is no longer even
nations — it is peoples, in their most mixed and demo
cratic form, that Rome finds she has to deal with.
States and Empires have been broken up — often thanks
to Rome herself Nations have been disintegrated and
scattered. There remain motley accumulations of the
human kind, waifs and strays from every shore, where
man is a unit almost out of count. Rome addresses
these, and tells them she is the supreme and only lord,
master, teacher, for all things of heaven and earth too.
This is the message her emissaries— bishops no longer
— have to carry back to them ; and we are now told
naively that the message is to be couched in a form

THE AMERICAN FORM OF INFALLIBIIITY 35
specially addressed to the American understanding.
How far the message which suits best the far West
will also meet the tastes and habits of the far East
I know not. But the truth is there is not one of the
bishops, from any distance, who does not tremble and
turn pale at the thought of what he is to take back
to his people, and call a voice from Heaven. Is this
a real and moral unity ? Is it any unity except that
of a common bondage ? No one here, unless he be
' privileged ' to say it, would dare to call it a joyful
unity.

It may be as well to remind the reader that Parlia
ment had met on the 8th of this month ; and that on
the 15th the Irish Land Bill was introduced by
Mr. Gladstone for the more thorough union of England
and Ireland ; and on the 17th was the first reading of
the Public Elementary Education Bill for England and
Wales.

36

CHAPTER LXVIII
DIFFICULTIES OF THE FRENCH EMPEROR
Rome : Feb. 12.
We have what we call a sirocco here ; very little
wind, but a soft air and relaxed frame. It is very
pleasant after all we have gone through, and just in time
for the approaching conventional gaieties which Rome
celebrates for the world, and herself despises. The
Council did not meet yesterday or to-day. On Monday
the Pope pays his private visit to the Exposition of
Catholic Art, which he opens to the public on Tuesday.
The Carnival begins on Saturday. May I venture to
suggest to the fifty Fathers who have inscribed them
selves to speak on the Little Catechism that they would
economise time and strength by sending a short state
ment of the alterations they wish in the Schema on this
subject to the Times} Itwould bean important con
tribution to the educational question, which I see has
been announced from the Throne ; and it is not easy to
see how these gentlemen are to get attention here in
any other way.
But besides all that happens, or does not happen,
behind that famous screen in St. Peter's — besides the
approaching Exposition, the impending gaieties, and

THE POPE'S HALF-HEARTED FRIENDS

37

the threatened infallibility — something else looms in the
political twilight, too terrible even for Roman com
posure. I do not understand the Pope's own privileged,
blessed, specially favoured, and specially endowed
journal, and can see no signs of the spiritual gifts he has
solemnly imparted to it. It indulges in the most
indecent, and, I should have thought, too, the most
unwise, exultation, at the difficulties which it supposes
the French Emperor to be now contending with. Sove
reign after sovereign, it reminds him, dynasty after
dynasty, have fallen before the barricades. It is only a
question of time, it says. When the barricade once
rises between a French Monarch and his people he is
doomed. Louis Philippe conquered at the barricades
three times, and was conquered the fourth. The barri
cade is the throne of the people, and it always succeeds
against the man who has no better thione than the
people can give hira. All those sovereigns against
whom a multitude could arm themselves with eventual
success were men who had not given their whole heart
to the Pope. Such men are afraid of the Pope, therefore
a greater terror assails them. Planted by human hand,
they shall be rooted up. In the midst of a declaration
worthy of a Plildeibrand, one nevertheless comes upon
words of double meaning, which- suggest fearful sus
picions. Is it possible the Pope is ill served, and even
betrayed ? There is a saying that wherever there are
two priests there is at least one Jesuit, and that wherever
there is a Jesuit there is a conspirator ; but for every
conspirator there is also another against him ; and
wherever there is a conspiracy there is sure to be an
informer, and one who plays a double part. The writer

38 DIFFICULTIES OF THE FRENCH EMPEROR
before me tells the Emperor, ' Had you given free admis
sion to all the Pope may ordain or decree'— and he
specifies the occasions — ' you would not now be at Paris
with barricades before you.' I agree with the ingenuous
writer. ' Republican cannon you have need to fear, not
those of a Pope and a Council,'
Again, I agree with the writer. ' If you had sup
ported the Pope as you are bound in duty, you would
not now be encouraging those who sow dissensions in
the Council.' Nothing is more likely. Nor is any
thing more likely than that the composer of these witty
ambiguities is now laughing in his sleeve at his own
employers, and wondering whether they will see through
his almost transparent buffoonery. Religion lives in the
midst of hypocrisies ; despotism is surrounded by hypo
crisies ; but when the religion and the despotism are
one, then the hypocrisy becomes universal, portentous,
and overwhelming. Rome reeks with unbelief, and
worse blasphemy — the blasphemy of men who may
restrain their flippant tongues in this or that holier or
graver presence, but who hesitate at no profanity or
treason whatever when they know their ground. These
men can not only talk ; they write, and they can act too.
This afternoon I hope to see the Exposition of
Catholic Art in its last stage of preparation, and must
post these few words. The post, by the by, closes
earlier and earlier ; the letter-boxes are now emptied at
half-past three ; why, it is impossible to divine. The
Times of Wednesday, the 2nd inst., has made no
appearance in Rome ; I gather that it contained a copy
of that so-called middle course on Infallibilism, which
turns out to be a hoax. But things are substances or

THE TRADITION OF INFALLIBILITY

39

shadows here according as they take, and what is some
thing one day never existed the next. My only news
as I close is that there is no news, and nobody here
appears to want any. But we certainly are all much
better here than we have been lately— that is, as respects
our bodily health.

The last paragraph probably refers to the descrip
tion of a Moderate party, in my Letter of January 24,
vol. i. p. 365. We had several communications, one,
I remember, in the form of a letter, from members
of the Council, who did not wish their names to be
given, simply because they had no wish to be the leaders
of party, or to present themselves as butts for contro
versialists. There was no betrayal of the Pontifical
secret, for ' infallibility,' we were frequently assured, was
not yet in the Council. Our informants stated, what I
have no doubt was quite true, that the great majority of
the Fathers were ' Moderate,' that is, in favour of leaving
infallibility where it was, as the traditionary doctrine
and constitutional rule of the Roman Catholic Church.
They that studied the matter had arrived, may be, at
some definition which had established itself in their
minds, and which they could not change for another in
a day. In using the word ' hoax,' I must too readily
have adopted the expression of some zealous Infalli-
bilist. I accordingly paid the penalty of being held
up in an archiepiscopal Pastoral as a confessed retailer
of hoaxes. I was wrong in accepting the word. The
Moderate party was not a hoax. It was the truth.
The Papal organs were now continually reading

40 DIFFICULTIES OF THE FRENCH EMPEROR
homilies to the French Emperor on the instability of
his Throne, if it was to have no other support than public
opinion, which in his case was the power of the Paris
mob. Was this an appeal to the Emperor's political
sense ? or to his religious feelings .'' or to those of the
Empress ? The one terror that haunted the Vatican day
and night was, the certainty that in the case ofthe French
force at Civita Vecchia being withdrawn — a contingency
always imminent — there would immediately be a race
between the King of Italy and the Republicans, which
should first reach Rome, where the Pope's own little army
would be found no match for either of them. Did the Pope
and his friends really suppose that these daily or weekly
admonitions would prevent the withdrawal of the French
force, or at least stave off" the evil day ?
It should be fully understood that during the whole
period of the Council the Papal journals were doing the
diplomacy of Rome, as regards France at least. The
Pope, acting under the counsels of his Jesuit advisers,
would not allow the French Ministers to communicate
directly with the Council, nor would he undertake to
communicate to the Council any warning or opinion the
French Government might think fit to send. Some
interchange of views, however, there must be, and it was
done in the journals.
Here were four parties contending for the posses
sion of the city of Rome, viz. the Pope, the King of
Italy, the Republicans, and France. They quite under
stood and appreciated one another — indeed had mutual
likings and respects. But they were jealous of outsiders.
Here is a little story I was told in 1857, and do not
remember to have seen in print.

AN INCIDENT IN THE SlEGE OF RoME 41
In 1849, when Rome was in the hands ofthe Re
publican Triumvirate, the French made two breaches in
the wall not far from the Porta S. Pancrazio, selecting that
point because in the case of shot taking too high a flight
it would pass over the Bridge of St. Angelo into the
Tiber, or the open ground beyond, without injury either
to St. Peter's, or to the city of Rome. As a fact it did
damage two of the Angels on the bridge. The Re
publicans assumed that one of these breaches would be
the point of assault, the other a feint, but they could not
guess which. They had a force of some hundred Polish
refugees, on whom they much relied, as having had some
fighting experience, besides being men of desperate
fortunes. These they accordingly stationed between the
two breaches, ready for the real attack wherever it should
prove to be.
Immediately before the attack General Oudinot
assembled his officers and gave them his instructions.
Of course, these instructions involved that the two
columns of attack were to unite as soon as possible.
Once within the fortifications they would close in upon
the Poles. Upon leaving the General, the officers were
accosted by a subordinate member of the staff". ' What
instructions has the General given you ? ' They answered
straight. ' How about the Poles ? ' ' The General said
nothing about them.' ' How do you interpret his silence .? '
He proceeded to interpret it for them. ' You are not to
leave a man of them to tell the tale.' This they did
completely and with gusto. A day or two after there
was much curiosity in Rome as to the Poles. How had
they behaved ? Where had they gone .? What had
become of them ? Nobody could answer the question.

42

CHAPTER LXIX
THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
Rome : Feb. 12.
The Exposition of Catholic Art which the Pope opens
on Tuesday, the iSth, can be easily found in the common
maps of Rome. It occupies the great cloister of the
Carthusians, behind the immense Church of S. Maria
degli Angeli, and close to the temporary station which.
is the terminus of all the Roman railways. The cloister,
the monastery, the church, and the station are all within
the thirty acres of stupendous ruin formerly the Baths
of Diocletian. They lie beyond an open and elevated
region, destined to be new Rome, and laid out already
for streets and boulevards. I may add that the site is
near the Praetorian Camp. Within a stone's throw both
of the railway station and the Exposition is Villa
Grazioli, where Dupanloup lives and where Keats died.
The Bishop of Orleans only shares the house with half-
a-dozen other lodgers. The cloister, from which the
poor monks are driven by the invasion of science and
art, was designed by Michael Angelo, with Doric (or
Tuscan .') columns and arcades, and is a hundred yards
every way, so that the whole space actually covered by
the Exposition, exclusive of offices and approaches, is

A PALACE OF ART 43
10,000 square yards, or two acres and a quarter. In the
centre is a fountain and four cypresses. Three of
them are the original trees planted by Michael Angelo ;
one of an immense size and hardly past its prime ; a
second as large, but going ; a third once larger, but now
a wreck. The fourth is younger by two centuries.
Round these trees a beautiful little garden has been
laid out, with beds, walks, and an open-air altar for
ceremonials. Round the garden, and radiating from the
centre, are sixteen spacious and lofty halls, with a
circular promenade running through them, receiving
their light from above. Each hall is more than 60 feet
long, about 50 feet wide at the end near the cloister, and
25 feet at the end near the central garden. A few of these
halls are divided, with a view to more wall space. The
four halls that communicate directly with the cloister have
also doors and windows looking upon the cypresses. The
whole structure has been brought well within the open
space, and several yards clear of the cloister, so as to
leave room for passages, refreshment-rooms, and gardens
in the corners between the outer square and the inner
circle. There are also refreshment-rooms, promenades,
and space for everything in the surrounding world of
ruins. It will be seen that the plan is very simple ; but it
has two great defects, if defects they be. All the halls
are alike, and there is no such thing as a right angle or
two parallel lines in the building, excepting, of course,
the outer walls, which follow the line of the cloisters.
Fontana made a plan which would have given more
variety, and also more picturesque effects. It included
a wide circular colonnade round the garden, four large

44 THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
rectangular halls, and eight more as long but not so
wide, and also four semicircular halls, each with a radius
of 50 feet. The differences in favour of his plan appeal
so strikingly to the imagination that the rejection of it
has been set down to a want of Court favour. For my
part, I cannot help thinking that the plan adopted, not
withstanding a certain monotony, is the better, and
certainly the more convenient, of the two. The circular
colonnade round the small garden would have had too
small a radius for a promenade and too many side
openings for any other use. It would also have wearied
one at last of the fountain and cypresses. In the
plan adopted, which is that of Professor Virginio Ve-
spignani, the promenade has a larger radius, and takes
people through the middle of the halls containing the
objects exhibited. Upon the whole, the structure has a
strong family resemblance to those of London and
Paris, and the scene to-day did just recall the memories
of Hyde Park and South Kensington. The exhibitors
were all busy, some opening packages with fear and
trembling, some conferring with very polite officials,
some running here and there for counsel or aid, and one
tall, elderly artist, in a frock coat, perched on steps, was
delicately filling a crown of thorns. The Zouaves were
working everywhere as if the fate of Rome depended
on it. One poor lad was in a fainting fit as v,'e entered,
and remained so long insensible that I hope it was no
worse with him. But there were not many things of
great bulk.
As my friend and I neared the scene of action a
large body of men were moving an immense block of
white marble, containing at least 400 cubic feet, and

OXFORD AND WESTMINSTER COMPARISONS 45
therefore weighing near 20 tons. As this operation is
one of the marvels of old Rome — in the Colonna Gardens
there is a block of marble from the Temple of the Sun,
weighing more than a hundred tons — I was curious to see
how it was done. The block was on a sledge, which
moved over cross sleepers, the surfaces of both of them
hardened and smoothed by use. Every hundred yards
the men took up the paved road and fixed in the ground
a very strong windlass. It must be slow work, and
only possible with hard roads. We were disappointed.
The block was not for the Exposition, but for a private
studio, where it would be good for a hero or a saint
15 ft. high.
I don't know whether I have succeeded in bringing,
the Exposition building before you. Imagine the ' Tom
Quad ' of Christ Church at Oxford, with its cloisters as
originally intended, and the area filled with glass roofs and
wooden partitions. The halls are spacious and airy, the
light pleasant and cheerful. It did occur to me that it
was all promenade, and consequently all motion, and that
there would be no retreat from the stream. I must also
say that, for a month or so, I would advise anybody liable
to catch a cold not to remain more than twenty minutes
at a time in Michael Angelo's cloister, or more than
five minutes in that most stupendous, most magnificent,
and most perishingly cold of all cellars, the adjoining
Church of S. Maria degli Angeli. Westminster Hall
could stand easily under that enormous vault, and there
would be room to drive a carriage round it. But, for
the cold, it might be a cavern in an iceberg.
The Exposition is about half filled, and no more.
They have had to wait for possible contributions, which

46 THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
have not come, and will not. The programme is itself
very restricted. This is a Universal Exposition of the
Fine Arts, and of the Catholic industries, in their
present state of progress, and so far as they have some
special bearing on the OEcumenical Council. Ofcourse
the Exposition shares the fate of the Council, having
no more friends, and at least as many enemies. At a
very early day it occasioned a passage of amenities
between Italy and Rome. The people here sent cir
culars to the clergy •and others throughout Italy inviting
them to send objects for exhibition. Thereupon the
Italian Government sent counter-circulars, not exactly
prohibiting, but quietly suggesting that Rome was
notoriously selfish and dishonest, and was now also very
needy. She did not want other cities to have any Art
Treasures, and it was also certain the Exposition was
only a design for getting them into her hands, when,
beyond a doubt, she would ship them off to foreign
countries, and pocket the proceeds towards the expenses
of the Council. The Pope's people replied that the
Italian Government was only true to its own character
and practice in discouraging religious art ; that notori
ously it took no care of what it had, and that it had
destroyed more than the barbarians ever had done in
Italy. Everywhere the most beautiful works of art had
been demolished, sold for a trifle, or thrown away.
Libraries, MSS., and archives had been sold for waste
paper ; sacred images robbed of jewels and sent to the
curiosity shops ; the illuminations and arabesques cut
out of the Missals, A\'hich were left to rot in corners ;
whole galleries of pictures had been sold by auction for
a few sous apiece to persons who ripped out the canvas

CONTRIBUTORS AND CONTRIBUTIONS 47
and only wanted the frames. How all this may be I
know not, for how could I pretend to say that on any
given occasion it is Rome that speaks the truth, and not
the other side? Plowever, there is not much from Italy
here. The most conspicuous contributors are Lyons (I
think first and foremost), Paris, Malines, Ratisbon,
Tournay, Montpellier, Cologne, and the Rhine. There
is a great show of church ornaments, sacred vessels of
all kinds, candelabra, shrines, coffers, vestments, wax
candles, and every kind of thing one sees in these
churches ; indeed, more than one sees at Rome itself
Collected as they are in the Exposition, they surfeit
with their gorgeousness. There are models of churches
— a very large and beautiful one of St. Peter's itself;
there is a great number of splendid new works from the
press of Didot and other well-known French and German
publishers, with beautiful illustrations, and in magnificent
bindings. But the rule of selection must have been
relaxed sometimes, for there is a Greek ' Thesaurus ' in
nine volumes, ' Ptolemy's Geography,' ' Virgil,' ' Horace,'
and ' Anacreon,' and books of maps. There is a ' Dic
tionary of the Fine Arts,' Gailhabaud's ' Ancient and
Modern Monuments,' and — from Didot's press, I believe
— a facsimile publication of a MS. from Mount Athos.
There is also a French translation of the New Testament,
handsomely got up, and very popular in France. The
rule restricts to modern works ; but there are some
mediseval bronzes, woodwork, majolica, old German
coloured glass, plans and drawings of the Catacombs,
and, in fact, whatever is likely to interest anybody.
The Exposition was announced to illustrate the

48 THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
progress of Catholic science as well as art, but, as
nothing appears under that head in this building, I
presume that it is to be looked for in due time from the
Council Hall. The Roman journals, indeed, talk of a
new discovery which is to make forgeries and interpola
tions impossible for the future. They say nothing of
one for the detection of old forgeries and interpolations.
There are a good many church mosaics, such as the
medallions of Pope's heads. One thing every visitor will
notice and examine. It is a ' Lord's Supper,' about two
yards long and one high, in square tesserae, of a good
size. The effect produced is miraculous. Though done
with such inconvenient and intractable means, it has
the delicacy and expression of a picture. The faces
show through the hard lines of the tesserae as through
a screen. Of course the work would defy any amount of
damp. But I grieve to say, first, that the work is priced
— very likely underpriced— at i6o/. ; secondly, that the
marvel is one I should not care to possess. It does not
strike ; it does not please ; it is only most curious and
incredible. The Pope contributes three tiaras — that
presented by Napoleon I., that by Queen Christina (of
which I saw the first appearance in St. Peter's twelve
years ago) and that by the Palatine Guards ; also some
chalices in rock crystal, and historic vestments and
ornaments, such as the Dalmatic of Charlemagne and
the cross lately presented by the Marquis of Bute.
It is necessary to hasten over the ground, for there
remain the sculptures and the pictures. The former
have one or two of the halls, and also share with the
pictures the four hundred yards of cloister wall. We
must bear in mind that the sculpture must be strictly

PICTURES AND SCULPTURES 49
Catholic. The most striking objects are a set of pairs —
the Wise and Unwise Virgins, Joseph and Potiphar's
Wife, the Saviour and Judas, the Saviour and Pontius
Pilate, and the Saviour and Pius IX. The Wise Virgin
is not content with refusing her oil bottle ; she won't
let the other even take a light of her. Potiphar's wife
does not look so bad a woman as she ought, nor Joseph
so good a man. Pilate reminds one of an ItaUan states
man whose portrait I have seen. In the remaining
pair the Saviour seems straight from the Resurrection,
while the Pope is in his most gorgeous vestments ; the
Saviour is commanding him to strengthen his brethren.
To my own taste there is something very painful
in the representation of the Saviour in the modern
sculpture and paintings here. I hardly venture to
describe it, still less pretend to analyse it. While it
is less and less human than it is in the Old Masters, it is
also less Divine, so that I don't know what it is coming
to. Surely, better nothing at all than gaunt, drooping,
long-drawn pictures, which as much as possible mean
nothing. All Italians, and Romans among them, look
at Madonnas with a real, though possibly mixed, admira
tion ; for the truth is, the Madonna of Art is a healthy,
natural, simple, kind-hearted woman. Are artists and
their employers afraid of the images and pictures of the
Saviour being regarded with a mixture of feelings ? If
so, that is a reason against any representation at all,
not for giving a grim, ghastly, and scarecrow look.
Associated with the fleshly realities one sees in many of
these pictures. He seems anything but a partaker of our
nature. Well, I must leave this ; but the representations
I speak of happen to constitute almost half the sculpture.
VOL. II. E

so THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
There is a Saint, by the by, who has made his own bed,
and lies upon it ; and it is a bed of thorns.
The pictures are chiefly modern, but there remain
two sides of the cloister to be filled, and I foresee that the
Roman Princes will have to contribute a good deal from
their galleries to make up for the absence of Italy. There
are a great number of large pictures representing Jesuit
Fathers, and other holy — but sometimes very heavy and
not very pleasant-looking — men, lifted off their feet during
their devotions, and wafted to Christ on the cross, or upon
a beam of heavenly light, or at least off" the ground we
tread on. There is a picture of martyrs in prison wait
ing their turns for death, which will please many who
may be unmoved by the more ambitious subjects. The
few pictures already there from the Old Masters I leave
to the critics. There are half-a-dozen small pictures
which I looked on with the more interest that I have
wished to see the subject, and shall not. They are views of
Monte Casino, the great Benedictine monastery between
this and Naples, and no doubt they are put here to plead
silently for the preservation of the monastery. There is
a vast quantity of tapestry, good, bad, and indifferent,
but good for lining walls, moderating the light, and
keeping out draughts.
One thing I had forgotten — a most important per
sonage. In all this glass, china, sculpture, and other
fragile matters, there is the universal cat of the house.
It is a most mischievous and active beast, and has done
a fearful amount of damage ; what is more, it has a
pocket like a Christian, and appears to be lavish of its
money. Its name is Victor Emmanuel. It is stated, on
infallible authority, that it has bribed the servants ofthe

THE CAT OF THE HOUSE 51
Messageries Imperiales, and the servants and porters of
all the railways and all the packet companies trading to
Rome — nay, the very carriers and carters in the city
itself — to handle as roughly as they can all the packages
directed to the Catholic Exposition. Under its instiga
tion they have turned these things upside down, rolled
them along the ground, thrown them down from piers
and luggage vans, drenched them with salt water, and
irreparably injured most of them. The floors of the
Exposition, so I read, though I saw it not, are strewed
with broken arms, legs, and heads, the victims of this
creature's malice. A box of glass, worth 200/. in
Catholic Germany, having to pass through the dominion
of this formidable monster, upon being opened here was
found to contain nothing but a worthless debris. No
body doubts who has done it all. But one cannot help
asking, — How is it that the special powers which have
worked so many miracles for Rome, on any or no occa
sion, have failed her in this emergency ? Why did they
not lift these boxes from the ground, waft them over all
obstacles, and even carry them through the air to the
Holy City ? Why have they allowed the enemy of
mankind to do all this mischief.? Is he in the Exposi
tion, as some say he is on a still holier floor, in the very
sanctum sanctorum of the Council, breaking everything
to pieces there, and turning everything upside down ?
This reminds me of another subject. It is a model
ofthe Memorial ofthe Council ofthe Vatican, now in the
course of construction. It is a tall and handsome design.
Round the base are four angelic figures — one holding
the cross, another the ball and cross of earthly and
heavenly dominion. The two others have open Bibles on

52 THE EXPOSITION OF CATHOLIC ART
their knees, which, however, they are not reading, for one
is gazing at something above, and the other at something
below. At the top is a handsome young girl, somewhat
strongminded, holding a sword, with which she has just
decapitated an ugly monster with a long tail still
writhing and turning the sting towards her, and with
the usual claws and bat's wings. A dozen heads, though
separated by the one successful stroke, still show in
death their wonted fires of envy and malice. Two are
human — that is, two heads, for the sculptor has not hit on
the idea of two faces on one head. One is the head of a
philosopher ; the other, enveloped in a light fold, is the
English ideal of a widow, but meant, I suppose, for Sin.
It is said that at the present pace of affairs the Memorial
will be finished long before the Council has done its
work, just like the Boulogne pillar to commemorate the
invasion and conquest of England. To say nothing of
modesty, would it not be common prudence to put off
the execution of the Memorial till something has been
done at least ostensibly worthy of it ?

53

CHAPTER LXX.
SOME STATISTICS.
From the Times of this date (February 12) I insert here
some statistics which cannot be denied to have an im
portant bearing upon the value of Decrees emanating
from a Council professing to be cecumenical. They
must, however, be taken for what they are worth.
England, for example, should be the last to restrict the
value of its own example and utterances to the measure
of its own population. Rome claims to have a calling,
an authority, and a power, to convert and unite the
whole world. She alone fosters that hope and pursues
that design. She requires an enormous staff" — an army
of bishops. They have a right to attend a General
Council. It is true that Italy can boast no prince-
bishops, no men surpassing royalty in their revenues,
their state, and their hospitality. After all Italy is a poor
country. Nor is she able to encounter the German
theologians on their own field. Though quite in the
front upon science, and in some branches of art, she
does not care for Greek literature, and one history is
enough for her. She believes herself a Child of Promise,
and that promise is to conquer and rule the world.
Whether she has forfeited that promise, or sought its
attainment so ill as to render it a curse rather than a

54 SOME STATISTICS
blessing, is another question. But with this burden still
pressing on her, and this goal still in view, she is not to be
judged by common rules, if only because she will never
consent to be so judged.
When the German and French prelates pointed to
the immense population, great wealth, and high culture
of their dioceses, the Court of Rome had a ready answer.
Whose fault is it that you have so few shepherds for such
enormous flocks ? Not ours. Rome never consented
to the extinction of a bishopric, and would only allow it
to fall into abeyance in the presence of an overpowering
tyranny or an utter desolation. Have more bishops and
then you will have more voices in Council. We are not
bound to follow you in a course which aims at the de
struction of the whole flock by the diminution of the
shepherds. 
A letter from Rome supplies the following interesting facts
respecting the proportions between the members of the Qicu-
menical Council now present at the Vatican and the Roman
Catholic population of the countries they represent : —

T, , Prelates in Council
Italy- Papal States

. 754;
143 (

Population, :
^^^(24,300:

200,000,000,000 1

Kingdom of Italy

133/

,000 / 25,000,000

France ....

84 .

. 38,000,000

British Isles-

England .
ScotlandIreland
"1
20 1
3,5
6,500,000?
British America
16
, 1,372,000
United States
40
8,000,000 ?
Austria .
Germany —
North South
ID) 9;
48
. 22,000,000
7,100,000 1
S.oooioooj '^''°°'°°°
Spain .
41 .
. 16,000,000
Belgium
¦
6 .
,
4,8oo,ooQ
ISRAEL VERSUS JUDAH 55
It would be irrelevant to our purpose to follow these state
ments with respect to the minor States of Europe, or to those
of Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. We only wish to
observe the following striking particulars : — The Italian pre
lates in the Council are nearly one-third of the whole number,
though the population of Italy is barely one-eighth that of the
whole Roman Catholic world. With respect to Italy itself the
population of the Papal States is more than thirty times as
strongly represented in the Council as that of the Italian king
dom. The prelates from the Roman States constitute more
than one-fifth ofthe Council, though the population of those
States is to that of the whole Roman Catholic population as i
to 285. At the rate of population the Italian prelates ought
to be 95 ; they are 276. Those of France ought to be 128,
they are only 84. Italy has three times as many representatives
as she ought to have, France has scarcely two-thirds of what
she ought to have. Again, Italy is six times more strongly
represented in the Council than Austria, though the Roman
Catholic population of both countries is nearly on a par.
Germany, North and South, with nearly half the Roman
Catholic population of Italy, has only 19 representatives in
the Council. Those of Italy are fourteen times as numerous.
Great Britain and Ireland, with a Roman Catholic population
about one-sixth that of France, have nearly half as many pre
lates in Council as France has ; while the United States, with
a Roman Catholic population little more than one- fifth that of
France, send considerably more than half the number of pre
lates sent by France ; or, in other words, the United States are
nearly three times as strongly represented in the Council as
France is, and five times as strongly as Germany. Not taking
into account the minor Roman Catholic communities, which
might easily be ranged in equal proportions on either side, we
have the Council divided into two great factions : that of the
Ultramontanes — Italians, British, and Anglo-Americans, con
sisting of 340 prelates, and representing a population of
40,000,000; and that of the anti Ultramontanes, — Frenchj

56 SOME STATISTICS
Germans, and Austrians, a population of 70,000,000, represented
by only 151 prelates. These 70,000,000 of French, Germans,
and Austrians constitute more than one-third of the Roman
Catholic population of the whole world. Were they to be fairly
represented according to the rate of population, their prelates
ought to be 260. Were they represented in the same ratio as
the Italians are, their prelates ought to be at least 772 ; and
were they to be admitted in the same proportion as the people
of the Papal States, their prelates ought to be 1,430. The
consequences of this enormously unequal distribution of Roman
Catholic dioceses are that the Italians, the English, and the
American prelates, the majority of whom are more Papist than
the Pope himself, have it in their power to oppose four, and
even five, votes to one against the French, German, and
Austrian prelates, the vast majority of whom are bent on re
sisting unreasonable Papal pretensions. Were votes to be
weighed rather than counted, there is little doubt but the
Liberal or Rational party in the Council would be nearly a
match for the whole servile faction ; and were the flocks to
vote instead of the shepherds, the defeat of the Papacy would
not be for one moment doubtful ; as the Pope could only hope
for a certain number of Ultramontanes in F'rance, England,
and America ; whereas, the majority, not only in France,
Austria, and Germany, but even in Italy, would be for resist
ance against Papal pretensions.

57

CHAPTER LXXI
THE LITTLE CATECHISM.
Rome : Feb. 14.
The Council has got into a state familiar to modern
legislators. The Opposition are resolved to make
speeches and are now in the way of it ; but if they make
speeches there must be speeches in reply, to which they
don't object, unless they are touched rather too hard.
But, meanwhile, nothing is done or likely to be done.
Here is how matters stand in the tenth week of the
Council. The Little Catechism ^ is on to-day, and fifty-
seven Fathers have inscribed themselves to speak about
it. All are most anxious to speak. P'ive speeches a
day are the utmost that can be delivered or listened
to with patience at one sitting, and there are only
three sittings a week ; nor would it be possible to
have more. So as matters now stand there must be
eleven sittings — that is, a month's work — on this small
affair. But all this speaking would be no more than
preliminary — that is, as it were, on the first reading of
the Bill — because after it the Catechism will have to
make a second appearance in an amended form, and the
discussion will be reopened, unless the Cardinal Legates
' The so-called Little Catechism was designed and described as ' One
Catechism for the whole Catholic Church ; ' and of course, as such, intended
to supersede all other Catechisms, indeed all other courses of catechetical
instruction,

58 THE UTTLE CATECHISM
attempt to cut the knot another way, when they know
what to expect. If there are fifty-seven speakers on the
first reading, there will probably be some on the second,
and, perhaps, after all, a dis,satisficd minority.
But while these eight hundred Fathers are brought
to a standstill by a Children's Catechism, the world goes
on at rather a faster pace than usual. Governments are
changing, and men denounced at Rome, justly or not, as
revolutionists, are taking their place at the head of
affairs. At this very moment the Court does not know
in what quarter its worst danger lies, whether at Paris
or at Vienna, its prospects at Florence, at Madrid, and
some other places having settled into a hideous certainty.
In the midst of all this there comes the dire intelligence
that the Austrian Legislature is about to impose the
obligation of Civil Marriage. The obligation did I say ?
Rather the oppression, the tyranny, the burden, the use
less form of Civil Marriage, as the Unitd calls it.
Matters are getting desperate. So this morning, it
was whispered, an independent Father was to move that
the speeches, instead of being delivered, should be taken
as having been delivered, laid on the table, printed, and
circulated among the Fathers. Of course there is some
sense in this, if the Council is to do something ; not if
the question is whether it shall do something or nothing.
The Opposition are resolved to do nothing beyond the
requirements of use and necessity. It is neither neces
sary nor useful to proclaim again to the world, and even
reduce to a vast code, the enormous pretensions which
have been the ruin of the Church, by bringing upon it
an odium it could never soften, and involving it in dis
putes which it always enters with its hands tied. Such

TALE-BEARERS

59

is the attitude of the world ; such of Rome ; such of the
Opposition to-day. Time is becoming very precious, and
I have just mentioned how time was to be saved. The
expedient is recommended here as being American, and
it is asserted by the Pope's people that members of the
American House of Representatives lay on the table,
and send down to their distant electors, long speeches
which count as if they had been delivered, though never
heard by mortal ear till read a thousand miles from
Washington. The device may be very pretty, and
highly recommended, but it does not suit the French
' book,' or the German either, and accordingly it has
been threatened for some days that if this proposal be
made, and carried, at least a hundred Gauls and Germans
will declare discussion stopped, the Council closed, and
their business here at an end.
There is a panic among the tale-tellers. Two short
hand writers, it is said, have been committed to the care
of the official corresponding to our Serjeant-at-Arms.
Several days ago, it was reported, has been denied, but
is still asserted, a theologian in the suite of Prince
Hohenlohe had been arrested and sent home. ' A
bishop must have told all this ' is the comment made by
bishops themselves upon what they read in the Italian
and German papers ; and as bishops themselves are
above all suspicion, it is inferred that their theologians,
or secretaries, must have betrayed them. Either the
little affair there was to have been in the Council yester
day was prevented, or it has been hushed up ; for no
thing yet transpires, and the Pope's people are radiant
with hope. It is true that twenty more Fathers have
put down their names to speak on the Little Catechism,

6o THE LITTLE CATECHISM
making a total of seventy-seven ; but the number may
render speeches impossible, and necessitate written state
ments instead, which is just what the Council wants.
I see some of the French bishops have petitioned for
another hall, in which they can hear and understand ;
and they say they are now in jeopardy of assenting to
what they have no knowledge of But the tide of feeling
just now is towards peace, union, despatch, and a quick
return home. The Fathers are not only homesick, but
specially sick of Rome. Most of them are ill-lodged, in
mere prophets' chambers, small, dark, dull, cold, ill-
furnished, and uninteresting. For air and warmth they
have the dirty winding streets and lanes of mediaeval
Rome. Their francs and dollars are going fast, if not
gone long since. Even cardinals groan over the
monotony of the Council — the same boring stuff" day
after day : talk, talk, talk, and nothing more. They are
fortunate, however, for most of them understand a little
of what they hear. More than a score of Fathers have
just asked to leave ; others would if they had the courage.
All know and feel that the Council must sit until it
has done something, and the Jesuits are resolved that,
in whatever it does, there shall be contained some
decided augmentation and definition of the Papal
authority. They hold their victims in a cage, and watch
the birds that lead the others. Under some mysterious
suggestion, every now and then, the Pope sends for a
man and, with his own unexampled persuasiveness, con
jures him to avoid them that cause divisions, and to save
the Church from scandal. Whether he has got round
Dupanloup or not, neither I nor the Bishop of Orleans
would be able to say, but the calf which is to be killed

PLEAS FOR SUBMISSION 6i
for him is already in the stall, and others besides Dr.
Ullathorne expect to assist at the music and dancing on
the happy occasion. Of course I can only repeat what
I hear. The prevailing idea is that, it being evidently
impossible to do the proposed work in parliamentary
fashion, a royal road may be found to it all in a total
surrender of liberty.
Then, ' Is not infallibility the theory of the Roman
Catholic Church .' Why shrink from it ? After all it is
nothing. It is a word. It is a thing in books. Who
ever hears of the Immaculate Conception now ? That
question was settled fifteen years ago — happily, for we
have done with it, and shall never hear of it again. It
will be the same with infallibility. So let it be voted,
an"?! let's have done with it.' I assure you that every
word I have put within inverted commas is quoted from
Roman Catholic lips, and flies about in Roman air.
The word ' infallible ' may not be used, still less the
obnoxious phrase ' Personal Infallibility,' fathered here
upon the English Archbishop ; but when the Fathers see
they can escape from this city by the use of a few words,
which may mean anything or nothing, they will accept
it as a heavenly intervention. Then the Pope is such a
good man, so amiable, so kind, so sincere ! It is impos
sible to deny him anything It might be the death of
him. His Holiness says, so I am told, ' Before I was
Pope I believed in his infallibility ; now I feel it.'
The politics of Rome are full of consolations, which
are sometimes well founded. If Rome has no sovereigns
on her side, she may have none against her. If they
are against her, the people may be for her. If there are
no powerful sovereigns, they can do her no damage. If

62 THE LITTLE CATECHISM
the sovereigns are not perfectly agreed with their people,
then they have to look about for help. It is the very
instinct of sovereigns to sympathise with that which is
constant, loyal, and aff"ectionate. Rome now asks
triumphantly. Whom have France and Austria to look
to, unless it be herself, her clergy, and her faithful
people ? What she feels herself she thinks they must
feel, and since these Emperors are no longer the men
they were a few years back in the Senate, or in the
Forum, she concludes they must appreciate all the more
their undiminished, perhaps growing, place in the
Church ; that is, in the Catholic soul. There is a very
steady calculation here that neither of these Emperors
will go out of his way, or be very forward to control the
only living power which still cherishes the tradition of
absolute devotion, unthinking loyalty, and unconditional
obedience. In our own country, the less the king was
loved by his parliament the more he loved his Church.
Kings must love and be loved ; the Church is in the
same case, so they have a natural affinity. You, in
London, must know better how all this stands at Paris,
but the people here are reckoning upon it, whether
wisely or foolishly, and are beginning to speak of the
new phase of French politics as if it were a Divine inter
vention for turning the heart of the Emperor towards the
Council. The army at Civita Vecchia is only a material
affair, and material questions are always found subordi
nate, and eventually even inconsiderable.
It is undeniable there has been a great change this
week, and that the Pope is not feeling quite so much
like that perverse and uncomfortable saint in the Expo
sition, lying on his bed of thorns. Thus far there has

AMERICANS UNDER TRAINING 63
been a dreary past, but we are told the winter night of
discontent is past, the barren wilderness will still smile,
and since men must and will do something, the less
they have done the more they will do. Only two
American bishops signed the Address for Infallibility,
but the Jesuits reckon confidently on every one of their
votes for their own more subtle form of the same
doctrine. Every time the said Americans emerge from
their dismal cloister here into Roman society they
return to their couches less sad, and less wise. Then
there are plenty of people here who, since the Papal fana
ticism cannot be checked any other way, wish to see it
defeat itself by going too far. Infallibility, they say,
will put Peter in the pillory, by which I hope they mean
no more than that the successors of the Prince of the
Apostles will thereby bring upon themselves some of
the rebukes which he did. The people who say this
sort of thing are as much bound to Rome as the Pope
himself, but they see that a more moderate tone of
spiritual supremacy is necessary, and that as the Court
will not come down to it gradually, they are content
that it should fall headlong, by some act of folly, to the
lower and safer level. I hear, on good authority, what,
if true, must mean something. It is that all the printed
papers laid before the Council are to be recalled, and
others substituted for them. Another death is an
nounced, that of Gil y Bueno, Bishop of Huesca e Bar-
bastro, in Spain. The Prince Bishop of Trent has what
is described as apoplexy of the head and tongue, and is
in danger.

64 THE LITTLE CATECHISM
Vienna : Feb. 13.
The NcTv Free Press of this morning says : — ' We learn
from a reliable source that Count Beust, acting upon an
understanding with the governments of other great Powers, is
preparing a manifesto protesting against the Papal Syllabus
now under discussion at the CEcumenical Council.' Rome : Feb. 14.
A telegiam ofthe 13th has been received here from Con
stantinople announcing that the Turkish Government was
disposed to recognise the withdrawal of the great majority of
the Armenian community from the authority of their Patriarch,
Hassoun, the latter being considered too weak to stem the
encroachments of the Court of Rome in matters concerning
the secular privileges of the Catholics of the East. The Holy
See is somewhat uneasy as to the result of this movement,
fearing a schism of some importance might arise.

65

CHAPTER LXXII
FRANCE AND THE VATICAN
From the Times, Feb. 14.
We have reason to believe there have been of late fre
quent communications between the Court ofthe Tuileries
and that of the Vatican far from favourable to Papal
pretensions. Besides the ordinary channels of the
Nuncio at Paris and of the French Ambassador in
Rome, the rulers of France have at present other means
of conveying many a hint to Rome respecting their
views and the exigencies of their position. The Papal
Government, we are told, has been clearly informed
that, whatever reverence France may feel for the spiritual
authority of the Holy See, she cannot, as a constitutional
country, entertain any sympathy with the narrow system
of absolutism upon which the Temporal Power is con
ducted. The Pope is strongly urged to go back to his
own schemes of 1847, which announced the secularisa
tion of the Administration, municipal institutions,
popular representation in a Consulta, Council, or
Chamber, a Free Press, and the establishment of a Civil
Guard. It has been further signified to His Holiness
that, in volunteering these suggestions, the Imperial
Government does not in the least intend to make the
continuance of the French troops in the Roman States
VOL. II. F

66 FRANCE AND THE VATICAN
conditional upon the Pope's compliance with its friendly
advice, as the recall of those troops is with the Emperor's
Government a settled purpose, and it is naturally felt that
such a resolution need not immediately alter the condi
tion of affairs, the French flag being as able to guarantee
the integrity of the Papal territory from Toulon or Paris
itself as from any point on the Papal coast or frontier.
There seems to be little doubt as to the anxiety the
Emperor Napoleon has long felt to wash his hands of
this unfortunate Roman business altogether. It is one
of those points in his policy in which the Emperor has
been least able to follow his own impulse, and in which,
consequently, his conduct has been most liable to the
charge of inconsistency. If there is a man in Europe
intimately convinced that it is not good for a Pope to
be a king, that the true interests of religion, no less
than the exigencies of human progress, render it impos
sible for the same hand to wield the sceptre and the
crozier, that man must certainly be he who bore arms
against a Pope nine-and-thirty years ago. Nine-and-
thirty years ago the Pope leant for support on all the
Roman Catholic States. At this moment Rome relies
for existence on France and the French sovereign alone.
Possibly in the opinion of that sovereign the solution of
the Roman problem must needs be adjourned till the
close of the present Pontificate. During the lifetime of
Pius IX. the Emperor possibly conceives that he has
done enough. The final demolition of the Temporal
Power after Solferino, could not have been accomplished
without violence, which the Emperor would either have
to perpetrate or to sanction — violence to an aged man
on whom he found by experience no other argument

THE BENEVOLENT PONTIFF 67
than force could make any impression. The Emperor
thought of the helplessness of former French rulers — one
of them his own uncle — in their dealings with other old
Popes at Valence and Fontainebleau. He had struck
as heavy a blow at the Papacy as he thought any man
could safely venture to deal. He would leave the rest
to time ; and the forbearance of one who had achieved
and could achieve so much prescribed the same line of
temporising policy to other people of more impatient
temper. But although he had no faith in the vitality of the
Temporal Power, although he anticipated and actually
compassed its downfall. Napoleon adopted towards it
the same system he has often pursued towards other
adversaries — he allowed it a chance. On his bringing
the Pope back from Gaeta in 1849, he undertook to
screen him from foreign aggression on condition that he
should allay home disaffection. It seemed natural at
the time that the Sovereign of France should count for
something in the Pope's councils. He endeavoured to
recall the ' Benevolent Pontifif' to the Liberal ideas pro
claimed by him on his accession to the Apostolic Chair.
In his letter to Edgar Ney he himself drew 'the limits of
those concessions on which he conceived the Pope's
subjects might justly insist, and to which his Holiness's
Government could safely consent. To what extent the
Emperor deceived himself on that score — whether he
really fancied the Papacy and the faintest shadow of
Liberal principles would be compatible with each other,
it would be idle to inquire. It is enough to state that
twenty-one years ago he made the concessions summed
up in his letter to Ney conditional on any support F 3

68 FRANCE AND THE VATICAN
France might engage to lend to Rome ; and that it is
always in his power to revert, as he seems now disposed
to do, to those conditions. Since the Ney letter was
treated with contempt, Rome and the world have gone
through momentous vicissitudes — Solferino, Castelfi-
dardo, Mentana, the Council. The Emperor has never
withdrawn his demand for good government. The Pope
has claimed more loudly and more arrogantly than ever
his full and independent right to misgovern his subjects.
The exorbitant pretensions of the CEcumenical Council
are now widening the gulf the Pope's long obduracy to
good advice had opened between himself and his
Imperial Protector. With his own soldiers doing duty
at the Vatican gates, it seemed hard the Emperor Napo
leon should be made virtually answerable for infallibility,
for anathemas, and other obsolete rules and dogmas
which would be absolute impieties if they were not in
our days egregious absurdities. The real or apparent
connivance of the Emperor at these extravagances
became more glaring since, by the change in his home
policy, he made himself more emphatically than ever
the promoter and defender of those civil institutions
which the Pope and his Council seem insanely bent on
trampling under foot.
The Council and its Ultramontane faction have
brought matters to a point beyond which the Pope and
the Emperor could not go together. Hitherto the
Emperor might seem to serve two masters at Rome
because he was in France itself distracted between two
parties, compelling him to waver between rash advance
ment and insensate reaction. But now the men of
progress have carried the day, and the Emperor could

THE EMPEROR'S POSITION UNTENABLE 69
not cast in his lot with a retrograde Pope in Rome with
out raising suspicions as to the earnestness of his
Liberal intentions in France. The Emperor's position
in Rome has become untenable. He may not, perhaps,
withdraw his troops from Rome at once, and without
exacting from the Italian Government such securities as
may preclude the necessity of a second Mentana. He
may deal leniently with the Council, and avoid interfer
ence with its acts till he sees what chance his own
bishops have of holding their ground against the servile
or fanatical multitude of the Ultramontane party_
France, it is true, has little to fear from Rome or from
the Council for her own liberties ; but she has to
guarantee her honour from the charge, and even from
the suspicion, of her willingness to sacrifice the liberties
of other nations. She must clear herself of all partici
pation in the vagaries of the CEcumenical Council, of all
complicity in the disorders and iniquities of the Pontifical
Government. Even in his worst days of personal rule
the occupation of Rome was the one sting of remorse
which the Emperor found it most difficult to blunt ; it
was the blot in his policy for which neither the ' logic of
events ' nor his duty as the ' saviour of society ' supplied
a sufficient excuse. A complete change has now been
effected. In his present ministers the Emperor Napoleon
has found statesmen who pride themselves on being
' honest men,' who must feel that if the occupation of
Rome ever was, it has now ceased to be, consistent with
the honour of France, since what was formerly only a
divergence between the views of the Pope and those of
the Emperor has now become a diametrical opposition.

70

CHAPTER LXXIII
HOW VOTES CAN BE MULTIPLIED
Rome : Feb. 1 6.
There are various accounts of the treason in the
Council. A letter to the Allgemeine Zeitung, it is said,
was intercepted in the Post-office and opened. Accord
ing to the Roman Catholic code of morality to open a
letter is as great a sin as to betray a secret, and both are
said to entail minor excommunication. However, in
this case the result seems to prove that the writer of the
letter has no just ground for complaint. It was found
to contain a copy of the Schema, or Schedule of Propo
sitions then before the Council. On the margin there
were observations which were also found in Prince
Hohenlohe's copy of the Schema, so the Prince's theo
logian, a German, was expelled from Rome. This is
one story. The next mayor may not be another version
of it. Some German or other was evidently telling tales.
On what precise ground I know not, it was assumed
that he must be one of the Assignatori dei Posti, the
officials who place the Fathers, and who had to conduct
them to their seats in the earlier sittings. Four of these
officials were suddenly suspended. Three of them were
sent for afterwards and told their cases were under con
sideration. As their consciences acquitted them, and

LOYALTY UNREWARDED AND UNPITIED 71
they knew they were in good hands, they took it all as
a blind. So it turns out, for while the three butlers are
at their butlership again, the baker has been sent home.
They do say that he was an acquaintance of Stross-
mayer's. You see in a matter like this, where there
has been a secret process to protect the ' Pontifical
Secret,' what I send you may be the merest leakage of
the fact.
I hear to-day, again, that it is an understood thing,
and thoroughly realised by all the Fathers in the
Council, that if they will accept the Pope's infallibility
they may be released by Easter ; but that, if they will
not, they are to be cast into the ' burning fiery furnace '
of a Roman July. They all see that something must
be done, and something will be done, and that all they
can hope to accomplish is, that it shall be as little bad
as possible. The Italians are hoping, and almost pray
ing, that infallibility may be proclaimed in its most
astounding, preposterous, and blasphemous form. Not
a day passes that I do not hear from that quarter jokes
on the subject far too strong for the English taste. The
people who are not hoping, but praying, and that very
anxiously, are the nobles of the old r/gime, the adherents
of kings and grand dukes. ' It's very hard upon us,'
they say, ' we must profess to believe all this, but we
don't and we can't ; and this is all we get for sacrificing
our fortunes and prospects to religion and loyalty.'
The very best men in South Italy are saying this, and,
poor fellows, they have indeed to ' beg their bread in
desolate places,' for nobody pities them. I pity them,
but I am nobody, and my pity is worthless. Truth
used to come out in pasquinades, but poor Pasquin has

72 HOW VOTES CAN BE MULTIPLIED
been put under the surveillance of the police, and his
jokes no longer seethe light, except with an Imprimatur.
The Pope, I have observed before, is the best resource
of Roman policy. As such he is most obliging, and
most infallible. When everything else fails, he is
brought to bear on the rebellious or hesitating subject.
Whoever refuses to do or say what he is asked to do
or say by the Holy Father in a personal interview, has
committed the unpardonable sin, and is on the Black
Book of Rome for all time. No wonder that, in the
midst of such terrors and seductions, ' the faithful are
minished among the children of men.' To be home
and out of all this is the one craving of all this mitred
crowd. Even if it must be by a sin and a folly, which,
done to-day, memory will try to hide to-morrow, these
poor people only wish to escape. Both yesterday and
the day before a Father took courage to rise in Council,
and ask when infallibility was to come on. Of the pro
ceedings of the Council I have, indeed, little to tell you.
There is a rumour that one proposition was made re
specting the Little Catechism which startled the Fathers,
who rejected it very summarily ; but for the present I
can only excite curiosity ; I can do nothing to allay it.
But if you wish to realise still more than you do now
the atmosphere of Rome, I can give you a new illustra
tion. There are people who say that the sudden melting
away of the Opposition is only a ruse to throw the
Jesuits off" their guard. That I cannot believe, for they
were never off their guard, and never will be. Nobody
is off" his guard here, so far as I see ; but nevertheless
time, and the seasons, and physical strength are im
portant elements in the question.

THE THERMOPYL^ OF THE OPPOSITION 73
The Opposition have a policy which will bear a few
vicissitudes, if the chiefs only stand to it, and have a few
gallant men about them. Here is their Thermopylze.
They say they have gone as far as free agents and good
Catholics could go in accepting the Regulations, made
as they are by the Pope's men, and in the Papal interest.
But by these Regulations they will abide, and insist on
others abiding. What they apprehend, and what they
seem to have good ground for apprehending, is that
when the Council has discussed a Scltema, or Schedule
of Propositions, and sent it up to the committee for
amendment in accordance with the discussion, upon the
reappearance of the said Schema in its alleged amended
form, it may be found not really so amended, and,
perhaps, an altogether different thing. These last words
express the worst of their fears. The Jesuits don't
mend ; they substitute. If one device won't do, they
try another, which may be radically as objectionable as
the first. The Opposition say that in the case of any
absolutely new matter they will insist on re-opening the
discussion, and, of course, on seeing that the discussion
is attended to.
As I have explained in former letters, it will be im
possible to do all the work before the Council in the
way prescribed by the Regulations within this year or in
ten years. There must be compromises, or delegations,
or what the Court, perhaps, most desires, a general com
mission of the whole matter to the Court itself, assisted
by standing congregations of the Fathers, and dispensing
with the attendance of the rank and file. By the by,
this ' rank and file ' reminds me of the Oriental bishops.
We are bound to respect them. They come from the

74 HOW VOTES CAN BE MULTIPLIED
t
home of our faith. It is the East that teaches the West
to believe, and which is taught very little in return.
Doubtless most of these men have made large sacrifices
for their religion, and, anyhow, they are committed to it,
and stand stiffly to their little differences. But facts
should be known. The great fact, first of all, is that
the bulk of the Christians in the East are, under one
denomination or another, strongly and bitterly opposed
to Rome, and look on her as their greatest enemy. But
the region is most prolific of doctrinal differences and of
distinct rites, to which the people cling with even more
tenacity than to their peculiar dogmas.
The result is, that in the same region, and even in
the same city, or bit of a town, or mass of ruin that once
was a town, there may be any number of archbishops
and bishops, of various ' rites.' Wherever it is possible
— wherever zeal, influence, or money can do it, Rome
has a bishop, an archbishop, or even a patriarch, in
these places, for each of the ' rites ' in vogue there, to
catch its traditional devotees. There are of course also
the prelates of her own rite in the same places. Thus
Rome has for one ' rite ' or another a patriarch and an
archbishop at Constantinople and Scutari ; four patri
archs and a bishop at Antioch ; a patriarch and two
archbishops at Babylon ; an archbishop and three
bishops at Aleppo ; an archbishop and a bishop at
Csesarea ; two archbishops at Diarbekir ; an arch
bishop and a bishop at Karputh ; an archbishop and a
bishop at Mardin ; an archbishop and a bishop at
Heliopolis or Balbec ; and two archbishops at Sidon.
She has also bishops at many places I must confess
never to have heard of in those regions. I have not

A BABEL OF CHURCHES 75
reckoned here, to the best of my belief, any of the
bishops in partibus, many of whom derive their titles
from the East. This desire to keep a hold on the East
is very natural and most excusable ; and England, which
is always looking that way, can find no fault with Rome.
But there is something else beside patriarchs, arch
bishops and bishops, denominations, rites, and cere
monies, and that is, the Christians themselves, if any,
thus ostensibly represented.

Some objections were taken to this enumeration.
They were worth perhaps about as much as the
enumeration itself After the lapse of twenty years I
have now compared it with the official Description of
the Catholic Episcopate compiled on the occasion of
the Council. The only correction I have to make as
to numbers is that six of the Fathers hailed from
Antioch. In several other instances the prelates were
archbishops or bishops in partibus, some with grand
titles, but simply Vicars Apostolic as regarded the
sees under which their names were found, and where it
was to be presumed they exercised episcopal functions in
one rite or another. At Aleppo, for example, Rome
had an archbishop for the Armenian rite, one Tor the
Greco-Melchite, one for the Siro-Maronite, and for the
Latin rite a Pro-Vicar- Apostolic with the title, in partibus,
of Patriarch of Jerusalem.
It has been admitted in a former chapter, with very
little reserve, that Rome, having regard to her unique
position, and exalted aims, has no choice but to send

76 HOW VOTES CAN BE MULTIPLIED
her missionaries wherever they have a chance of doing
her work, wherever life is worth a year's purchase,
wherever truth has to be preached or error combated.
Supposing a missionary, there must also be a bishop,
for he is a necessity of the Church, in the eyes of Rome.
If other religious communities send out missionaries
who are not expressly bishops, it is either because they
think a bishop unnecessary, or that a priest is as good
as a bishop, or that there is no such thing as a bishop or
priest in the matter. Rome must be true to her own
belief, and fulfil her own destiny, which is to establish
the Church universal, according to a certain ideal, for
which she claims primitive, apostolic. Divine authority.

Vienna : Feb. i6.
It is asserted that Count Beust, on his own responsibility,
has made a most earnest representation to the Holy See re
specting the twenty-one Canons recently voted by the
CEcumenical Council, and has lodged a formal protest against
any practical consequences which might be drawn from these
or similar votes of the Council. Munich : March 15.
It is stated on reliable authority that the Austrian
Ambassador at Rome has received instructions from his
Government to support the demands of France, though
Austria does not intend sending a special representative to the
Council. As our readers are aware, the number of the Augsburg
Gazette in which were published the proposed Canones de
Ecclesia was seized by the Roman authorities. The Augsburg
Gazette now announces that ' the Roman authorities have not
confined themselves to this measure of punishment. One of
our oldest and most esteemed correspondents has been the

DR. ALBERT DRESSED 77
object of a still more rigorous proceeding. Dr. Albert Dressel,
a savant, a Catholic native of Magdeburg, but for upwards of
thirty years resident in Rome, and who has long since become
Roman by ties of friendship and relationship, has for some
years been a correspondent of this journal, and the moderate
character of his communications has never afforded any ground
for complaint. This gentleman received on February 4, from
the Marquis Pio Capranica, Secretary-General of the Roman
Police, an order to quit Rome. This order, it was said, pro
ceeded from the Pope. Dr. Dressel was accused of being the
author of hostile articles concerning the Council which had
appeared in the Augsburg Gazette. Neither the denial of the
doctor nor the interposition of the Prussian Ambassador has
availed to protect the aged gentleman, who is nearly blind,
from this act of oppression. In justice to our honourable
correspondent, we declare upon our honour and conscience
that Dr. Albert Dressel has not written any of the letters re
specting the Roman Council'

78

CHAPTER LXXIV
OPPOSITION MELTING AWAY
Rome : Feb. 17.
In my last two letters I have told you of a great and
sudden thaw in the Council, which seemed to be fast
melting into infallibility. All is explained. On Sunday,
the 6th inst, the Pope's own Commission or ' Con
gregation ' of 26 Fathers ( 1 2 cardinals, as many arch
bishops, and two bishops) concluded to accept the
Petitions, or Postulata, for the reduction of infallibility
to a dogma, one of these petitions — that is, the one
that has received most notice — being that ascribed to
Archbishop Manning. On Tuesday, the iSth, the Pope
and the cardinals had a meeting to decide upon the
kind of formula to be proposed. This formula was to
be completed last night, and is to be distributed in the
Council as soon as possible. The language of the
formula, it is stated, is studiously moderate and in
offensive. It carefully avoids ' infallibility ' — that is, the
word. It will not separate the Pope from the Council
or the Church, as the English archbishop has been
charged with doing, and is anxious to show he has not
done. In fact, whatever lies beneath, there can be no

RUMOURED ACCEPTANCE OF POSTULATA 79
doubt the style is to be as silken and fleecy as the
nature of the subject will allow. But I doubt whether
it is started very favourably when it is described as being
in perfect harmony with the proposed string of
anathemas the public are now in possession of It is
true that a string of anathemas is thought no more
of here than a necklace of Roman pearls, or corals, or
mosaics. Our own grandfathers did not think the worse
of a man for cursing himself and everybody about him
the whole day long. But, somehow or other, that same
string of anathemas will not now go down in our
country, nor will the new doctrine announced to har
monise with it. But now you have the programme.
It is expected that as soon as the Little Catechism
is disposed of — and they say this can be done more
speedily than was imagined — the dogma of infalli
bility is to be projected into the Council for immediate
and full discussion. Hundreds of Fathers, they say
will want to speak upon it, and there will be a lively
debate. We are l^ft to conjecture how far it will answer
the policy of the Court to let this debate go on for ever.
It is stated, on the one hand, that the Court would let
the Council exhaust its excitement and its talk in the
spring, separate in May, and meet again to decide
calmly in the cool month of October. On the other
hand, there are some who expect confidently that the
dogma, now declared to be rendered perfectly innocuous,
will be carried by acclamation on or by Lady-day.
Should this come to pass I adhere to my old opinion
that the Fathers will then be allowed tc go their own
ways. But, meanwhile, these are signs of the times.
The other day there were twenty-four applications from

8o OPPOSITION MELTING AWAY
bishops anxious to revisit their sees. Their cases were
well considered, and the result was that ten obtained _
leave, but were also told they need not return in October.
This looks like weeding the Council of its impracticable
elements, and reducing it finally to the malleable stuff"
with which anything can be done.
There are some considerations that will present
themselves to the least initiated observers. Supposing
a discussion in the spring, a vacation in the summer,
and a return for discussion in the autumn, the Fathers
will certainly bring to this last and most important
stage of the work some new influences and personal
impressions from their own countries not uniformly
favourable to Rome. Will it not be like allowing a jury
to separate and enjoy themselves as they please between
the first putting their heads together and the actual
verdict ? If the Pope finds his men in a pleasant mood
in April or May, is he likely to run the risk of their
being not quite so pleasant in October ? What is he to
gain by it 1 Upon the whole, I incline to think this
great consummation is nearer than some expect, and
that Pius IX. is not so rash and presumptuous as to
place the salvation of the human race on the chance of
his living another year. All know that whatever he
takes in hand he does with all his might ; and, what is
more, he does it quickly. I must repeat, that if the
Fathers do their duty on Lady-day, they will most
certainly be allowed to keep their Easter at home.
As the dogma has yet to appear, the Fathers are
wise to hold their tongues. That, however, has been
their case all along, and the Opposition— we must still
use the word for want of a better— complain that they

DIFFICULTIES OF THE OPPOSITION 8i
are obliged to fight the air against a certain, but unseen
danger. In truth, it has been a duel in the dark. There
has been this difficulty, and there is still. But it is
stoutly maintained that the French and German anti-
Infallibilists, anti-Opportunists, Liberals, or whatever we
are to call them, are as staunch as ever, and that there is
no labefaction or liquefaction on that side — not, at least,
in the heart of the party. Dupanloup's admirers are doing
their best that he shall continue to be worthy of their
admiration, for they are circulating his writings gratis,
together with Gratry's, through all the French-speaking
countries. But you may remember the exclamation of
the old orator when he found himself somewhat over-
applauded by a not very discriminating audience, ' What
foolish thing have I said ? '
People now say it is a miracle there should be any
resistance, any party, any common understanding at all,
when the difficulties are considered ; and that we should
not be hasty to censure or despise what is in fact a
necessary looseness of formation. There is no chief;
there can be none. There is no whipper-in ; there can
be none. There is no name or party cry ; there can be
none. There is no organisation ; there can be none.
There is no uniform or flag ; there can be none. The
wonder is these people hold together at all, and that
there is still that which we can at least talk about, and
of which the Council still has fears. But what is there,
or rather what is there not, opposed to these courageous
and still determined people 1 First and foremost there
is a huge dead wall, the Pope's army of petty or purely
nominal bishops, to which even your useful and striking
statistics of Saturday, the I2th, hardly do full justice.
VOL. n. G

82 OPPOSITION MELTING AWAY
It is impossible to make the slightest impression upon
them, and every one of them here is as good as a
Darboy or a Dupanloup. You see that we are asked to
suspend our judgment on the present inaction, and to
take comfort in the fact that nothing whatever has been
done, and that nob a sentence is even near promulgation.
The Pope opened the Exposition this morning, with
the usual procession of state carriages and dragoons,
and was favoured by the weather. The comparatively
desert region was populous with clergy, from cardinals
and patriarchs, to seminarists and monks, visitors of all
nations, and people of all sorts. Strangers coming out
of the railway station must have wondered to find all
the world there. I heard it remarked that there was no
cheering, but it is to be considered that every good
Catholic throws himself on his knees the instant he sees
the Pope, and every inch of ground on which this
devotion had to be done had just been macadamised
with the sharpest marble, granite, and limestone. You
can't expect a man to cry Vivas while his knees are
being cut to the bone. After two postponements, the
first for a fortnight, then for two days, the Pope dis
appointed most of the English visitors by arriving ten
minutes before the appointed hour However, they
saw him depart.

Rome : Feb. 17.
The Pope inaugurated to-day the exhibition of articles used
in Roman Catholic worship. An immense crowd was present
at the ceremony. Angers : Feb. 17.
Z' Union d' Angers of to-day says that Count Daru, the French
Minister for Foreign Affairs, has not sent a diplomatic de-

LETTER FROM DARU TO MGR. DE M ERODE 83
spatch to Rome, but has addressed a private letter to Monsignor
de Merode, stating that his own devotion to the Church does
not admit of a doubt, but that acts of imprudence might render
the task of the French Ministry a difficult one, and that the
Government to which he belongs is bound to take public opinion
seriously into consideration. According to this account, Count
Daru proceeds to say that the CEcumenical Council, by certain
acts, would run the risk of raising a bad feeling in the French
Chamber of Deputies, and he therefore recommends the Court
of Rome to exercise prudence, and expresses a desire that the
Council should adjourn in order to give time for calm views to
prevail.

84

CHAPTER LXXV
COUNT DARU
The relations of France with Rome were forced upon
the attention of all visitors during the sitting of the
Council, whether they took much interest in it or none
at all. The presence of a large foreign army, and the
comparative absence of it, are conspicuous facts.
Twelve years before this Rome was in the military
occupation of the French. The Romans had then only
just repaired the damages done by the siege, and by the
capture of the city from the hands of the Republicans.
Upon one pretence or other the French were then mak
ing an appearance everywhere. I heard as well as saw.
All day long their trumpeters practised in and round
the Coliseum. Twice a week, seven or eight thousand,
horse, foot, and artillery, went through the city to be
reviewed somewhere near Ponte Milvio. Every day a
regiment was paraded in the Piazza of St. Peter's. I
have related elsevi^here that upon my leaving St. Peter's
with four ladies, and engaging a fiacre, the driver
instantly dashed into the very middle of a line of French
infantry marching up towards St. Peter's, compelling
the officer to call out a ' halt,' and the soldiers
to break rank. The officer swore hard, but still
louder laughed the Italian driver, who with a freight of

STATE OF THINGS AT PARIS 85
English ladies was prepared to defy the world.
Every day I saw French soldiers carrying, or escorting,
immense quantities of bread, meat, vegetables, and wine,
at a time when even a well-informed cicerone, or a
cardinal's footman, thought a morsel of cat's meat an
excess not to be often indulged in. Most of this was
now of the past.
True, there was an army at Rome, and it naturally
included a certain remainder or tail of the army I have
been speaking of. It was just a sufficient force to keep
Rome open, and prepared for re-occupation, should that
be found necessary. At this time the entire forces,
Roman and French, looked a very theatrical affair,
though no doubt a comfortable assurance of safety to
the Pope and Council. A French legion was at Civita
Vecchia, for all practical purposes as near France as it
was to Rome. Its presence there was significant of
changed circumstances, and changed feelings. The
state of things at Paris was not only menacing, but
defying all calculation which is worse. During the
sitting of the Council that city was in constant turmoil.
There were two changes of Ministry. The Imperial
institutions were no longer on trial, for they were now
condemned, and the Emperor was only considering how
much he could give up without entire self-immolation
The extreme Republicans were hopeful, and of course
founding their chief expectations on the ruin of all other
parties. The clergy, including some of the best and ablest
bishops, were proud of the national semi-indepen
dence they had now long enjoyed, and which a dis
tinguished Englishman of their communion has pro-

86 COUNT DARU
nounced a more dangerous error than Anglicanism.
They were now in a strait. They were not the men to
see in Roman weakness a French opportunity. They
wished to see Rome stronger, and themselves not weaker.
It is difficult to understand how any ecclesiastic could
really wish to present himself daily to all sorts and con
ditions of men, after publicly committing himself to a
long string of most off'ensive provocations to mortal
and irreconcilable feud.
While such was the case of the Emperor, and such the
case of the French metropolis, and such the case of the
clergy, there were two other elements in the question of
not less gravity, and not less terrible to those who can
see perils ahead.
There was the old racial incompatibility, the long
rankling jealousy, the ripening feud between France and
Germany, always leaving one party the better, the other
the worse, in the endless account of injuries received or
challenges made. At this time France had to accept,
or return, what she could not but deem as insults and
rebukes ; and even if the Emperor had been himself
disposed to accept them, that would have been construed
by half France as a confession of weakness, which they
were ready to avail themselves of, for their own ends.
In fact the Emperor had to make the old choice between
war abroad, and war at home : the one beginning, as he
and the people about him supposed, with a military
promenade into the centre of Europe ; the latter, in a
tumult at his own palace gates, to be decided in an
hour. But the one element most prominent at Rome,
most discussed, and held to be most critical, was the

THE EMPRESS EUGENIE 87
Empress. It was known that she was taking a woman's
view of the whole situation. She had the utmost con
fidence in France, but it was the France of the old
Bourbons, the France of the Noblesse, of the Clergy, and
of Rome. It was then commonly said that she saw no
other escape from home difficulties, and no chance for
either the Emperor or for the Pope, but in a war with
Germany. I presume that all this town's talk had some
foundation. I cannot, however, remember to have heard
of any particular utterance, or document, committing the
Empress to any opinion on the matter.
The chief feature of the French crisis was vacillation,
indecision, uncertainty, and by consequence, instability.
The Empire was all on a totter. There was evidently
something rotten in the State, and this rottenness, as it
proved, had consumed the whole interior, and France
was by this time an outside show, as the French them
selves were the last to find — the Germans the first. It
was no longer even a Hector the Germans had to
encounter ; it was the aged Priam, who could only cast
a spear above his strength, without momentum, or
aim, and then accept his destiny, or his deserts.
The year 1870 began at Paris with a new Ministry,
in place of one a few months old, and after many
troubles. Ollivier, Daru, and Leboeuf had now to ride
the storm. A iew days after their acceptance of office the
Emperor's uncle shot a distinguished journalist. Then
ensued in rapid succession the trial of Rochefort,
barricades, and what more immediately affected the
Council, the death of Montalembert, a few days after
delivering a public protest against any new definition of
Papal infallibility. The Council was a frequent subject

88 COUNT DARU
of ' interpellation.' Daru, as Minister for Foreign Afifairs,
had immediately to announce that he was prepared to
give explanations on all points connected with the
Council, among other subjects. He was at any time
liable to be asked what line he was taking towards the
Council, and whether he was sanctioning by his silence its
evident design upon the constitutional liberties of France
and the existing principles of European society. He
had to be ready with a satisfactory answer, or otherwise,
receive his orders from his political rivals, and be so
far their humble servant. There could be no doubt
he would have to give some advice to the French
minister at Rome, an advice that would reach the
Council through some legitimate channel. There would
be, and indeed there was, some difficulty here. The
Marquis de Banneville was the French minister at the
Court of Rome, and this might seem at once the proper
channel of communication not only with the Roman
Sovereign but also with the Council. If France had
had to regard the Pope as Pope and King and no more,
the French minister was sufficient for the purpose, as he
always had been. But the Pope was now in a new and
transcendental form. He was in nubibus, or in the Third
Heaven one might say, as far as regards all ordinary
affairs. As head of the Council he was taking his
proper part in a preternatural development, and under
going a miraculous change, as this might be called, from
a less certainty to a greater one, from a qualified to an
unqualified infallibility, from one strength to another,
from a received opinion to an absolute truth.
There may or may not have been a diplomatic ques
tion as to the admission of envoys from the Catholic

SPECIAL ENVOYS 89
Powers to the Council itself They had been invited
and admitted to the Council of Trent. It is obvious,
however, that the precedent did not quite apply to the
present case. On the former occasion there were, indeed,
' Catholic Powers,' in the Papal sense, for there were
Powers that rendered an absolute submission to the
Pope, as far as he required it, and that would not hesitate
to burn a ' heretic' But now there were no Catholic
Powers in that sense. There was no sovereign without
subjects over whose religious faith and practice he had
no control, and whom, therefore, he could not answer
for. The European sovereigns of the present age are
not possessors of the soil, and of all the live and dead
stock upon it ; they represent free peoples, whose opinions
they are bound to consider even more than their own,
even if they venture to have anything of that kind.
On the present occasion, the Pope's solution of the
difficulty was to invite special envoys to his Court, and
to offer them the use of a tribune, where they could see
and hear what was going on. By so doing they would
contribute to the grandeur of the occasion and to the
weight of the authority, even at the possible cost of
sharing the responsibility. But they were to be mutes.
They were not to take any part in the proceedings, or
have any vote, the latter being, indeed, of mighty little
consequence, where a dozen bishops in partibus, without
the shadow of a flock, would overweigh all the European
Powers. As it turned out, the Pope and the Catholic
Powers were never quite agreed as to the relation of the
latter to the Council, the above half-and-half arrange
ment not answering. As far as I remember, the envoys
made no use of this tribune at the private sessions

90 COUNT DARU
of the Council, where the Fathers were supposed to be
actually consulting in what was called a General Congre
gation. Had they been present, and had there been
any consultation, the envoys would have had to keep
the Pontifical Secret, and would probably have made
very light of the obligation.
From first to last, indeed, the whole affair was a
battle between impossible suppositions and very solid
realities. On the one hand there was the supposed
spiritual monarch of the whole human race, dealing with
supposed subject princes, deriving from him correspond
ing powers over obedient subjects all of one mind in the
matter. The said monarch was supposed to exist in many
capacities : as a spiritual chief, as temporal king over
a specimen kingdom, as taking a rightful part in all
quarrels and controversies, and expected to decide them ;
and, besides this, now holding a Council designed to
augment and consolidate this vast and strong, even
though indefinite dominion. But the whole business was
now to be done in profound secrecy. It was a mere
impertinence for the world — even for emperors — to wish
to have a glimpse, or an echo, of what was going on. But
whose secret was it ? Whose Council was it .-' The Pope
has an ordinary Council of his own ; but that Council
was not this, nor this that. What common example will
apply to the case, and help the poor human race to
understand it .' Of course this was not anything in the
nature of a senate, or a parliament, or a constituent
assembly, or a house of representatives. The Pope
had the making and the unmaking of an assembly, every
member of which was his own creation, in the sense that
the gift of continued existence is itself a creative act

POPE, KING, AND COUNCIL, ALL IN ONE 91
All these were his creations ; echoes and images of him
self He had summoned to his presence his own larger
self, opened their mouths, and listened. He declares
that what he declares is his own, and is not even a bind
ing truth till he has declared it Till he has spoken it
is disputable, not after. What can any reasonable Power,
in the existing state of human affairs, do, when invited
to take part in such a performance ?
Early in January, it was reported in Rome that Daru
had, through some channel, protested against the Propo
sitions said to be before the Council, and not unlikely to
be embodied in canons and decrees : and these reports
were renewed from time to time. The Papal organs
denied the alleged fact altogether. Nothing had come
from France that either Pope or Council heard of It
was pronounced quite out of the question that France
would interfere with a Council in which the Emperor
was taking no part, indeed was not in a condition to take
part. Charges of fabrication were freely lavished on
those who had given currency to the rumours. It
was assumed that the only foundation for them was the
inference that Daru might in this way prepare himself
for a reply to the anti-Catholic party in the French
Chambers. Of course, too, it was added, that even if the
French Foreign Minister had ventured to dictate to
Heaven's Vicegerent, that is, to Heaven itself, what
it ought to say and do, that mattered nothing, for if
certain French politicians acted and spoke according to
their own notions and circumstances, much more was the
Holy Father and the Council bound to speak as they
were inspired to speak. No doubt Rome is always
ready with a reply, and I don't suppose that anybody

92 COUNT DARU
in the Council, or over it, was the least abashed at the
appearance of the following in the German and English
papers : — Paris : Jan. i8, 1870.
I have seen with regret some of the things which have
happened, and yet I cannot believe in any very great impru
dence on the part of the Court of Rome. They cannot blind
themselves enough there to suppose that the maintenance of
our troops would be possible the day following that on which
the dogma of Infallibility should be pronounced.
Should we wish to leave them in Rome we could not do so.
There will be an irresistible movement of opinion in France, to
which it will be impossible not to submit.
Certainly, the Holy Father knows it, sees it, believes it.
He will yield, I hope, to the more moderate counsels of the
most illustrious members of the Church of France.
I remain, &c.,
Daru.
Paris : Feb. 5, 1870.
I thank you, sir, for the information which you are so
good as to give me. I fear that the party in the majority in
the Council may want to abuse its advantages, and that it may
go headlong towards the goal. Religious passions are still
more difificult to sway than poHtical passions.
I honour greatly the resistance opposed to them by the
firm attitude of the minority of the bishops, and I second it
with all my endeavours. I have repeatedly sent the instruc
tions of the Government to M. de Banneville, who keeps me
informed of everything, and by his mouth I have caused the
truth to be heard by Cardinal Antonelli. It is quite evident
that all may be again brought into question by the Italian and
Spanish prelates, missionaries, and apostolic vicars, who seem
to dwell in a world apart.
It is quite evident that they can render impossible for us
the maintenance of our garrison in Rome, as well as the

TWO PRIVATE LETTERS 93
arrangement of the financial affairs of the Holy See, with which
I was so well disposed to occupy myself, that they may
seriously invalidate the concordatorial engagements, to which
the Propaganda does not appear to pay the slightest attention,
and break the compact which unites us. I have warned the
Cardinal of it ; I shall not cease to represent to him the danger
of the position in which he places himself, and he places us ;
I am not sure that these representations may be listened to ;
they do not reason, they allow themselves to be carried away
by the ardour of the moment. If the minority can gain time,
it will do the best that is to be done at the present moment.
The revolutionary party, which has been stirring for some
time, causes us a little trouble here.
It conspires, and seems to desire to act shortly. How blind
they must be in Rome, if they do not see that they are giving
it arms — that there is the danger ; that to shatter the conserva
tive strength in face of such a peril is an insane act ! That to
compromise rehgion by Syllabuses is to play the game of those
who attack it audaciously every day, openly, by their words as
well as in their writings ! I think that the revolutionary plots
will not succeed, and that their attempts will be repressed ; but
they are a symptom of the condition of minds, and they should
pay some attention to them in Rome. , I remain, &c., Daru.
Upon these letters Quirinus observes : —
Not less remarkable is the coincidence of the decree with
the publication of Count Darn's letter. Its publication, which
proclaims to the world the policy of the French Cabinet
towards the Court of Rome, has excited the greatest sensation
in Rome, as it could not have emanated from any ordinary
correspondent. The letter was only known to the English
Government, and there was no copy in England except in the
hands of the Ministry. It cannot be supposed that it would
be offered for publication without the connivance of Count

94 COUNT DARU
Daru himself, and this conjecture is confirmed by the tone ol
the Franfais, Count Darn's organ, on the subject It was
open to it to disavow the letters, which are addressed to a
private individual, and not, as the Times incorrectly stated, to
a French prelate. But instead of seizing on this loophole, the
Franfais says that the private letters of the Minister contain
nothing different from his public despatches.
After the lapse of twenty years I shall be excused for
forgetting from whom I received these letters ; but I well
remember that they came to me with the intimation
that I must on no account let it be known they passed
through my hands. I accordingly had them posted
under a cover to a friend in London.

Paris : Feb. 17.
The Marquis de Lavalette, who had an audience of the
Emperor when he recently passed through Paris on his way to
his country seat of Cavalerie, is expected in Paris on Saturday,
and will probably return to England early in April. There
seems no present intention of removing him from the London
embassy. M. de Banneville, who yesterday had an hour's
interview with Count Daru, and who is understood strongly to
insist on the propriety of maintaining an attitude of mere
observation in Rome, will return next week to his post, the
report that another person was likely to be sent thither in his
stead proving unfounded. It is thought probable that all
interpellations and explanations relating to the affairs of
the Roman Council will be indefinitely postponed in the
Chamber.

95

CHAPTER LXXVI
STILL ON THE LITTLE CATECHISM
Rome: Feb. i8.
All sides are now buoyant with hope. The Italians
— that is, the perfidious enemies by whom the Pope's
own organ declares his Throne to be surrounded — say
that Rome is about to stultify herself past all cure.
Rome herself says that she is about to unite all nations,
and establish her reign for ever. The wondrous birth
of time which is to do this has not yet been seen by
eyes profane, but the exultation is unbounded. Already
all the supposed failures and mishaps are more than re
paired ; they are justified, and declared to be the very
best things that could have happened. A significant
expression has reached me, if once, a dozen times during
the last month — that is, ever since the confessed failure
of the Infallibility Petition. It was, ' Of course we can
not disregard a petition signed by an actual majority of
the Council, small as it might be.' That expression was
current in Rome at the very time when we were all
desired to believe that the Petition had not even been
presented at all. It was rather ostentatiously confessed
— that is, as men confess the sins of their neighbours —
that the document was injudicious, the operation
bungled, and some harm done by the inexperience and

96 STILL ON THE LITTLE CATECHISM
maladroitness of the distinguished novice charged with
the task. The Cardinals have looked on him as Saul
probably looked on the unproved youth, who might
possibly slay the giant, and who would be no great loss
if he himself perished in the attempt The result in this
case is neither one thing nor the other, but enough has
been done to build upon, and the world is promised a
new Dogma. In my last I told you that the discussion
on the Little Catechism threatened to stop the way in
definitely ; by all calculations for near a month. But
they are going through it at a hand gallop, eight Fathers
a day, and next week the coast will be clear for whatever
the Court may give precedence to. It will be this
Dogma. So far I am ready to believe what I am told ; but I
cannot believe what it is evidently wished to impress on
people here, that there is to be a deliberate, protracted,
and, indeed, adjourned discussion of this Dogma. It is
gravely put about as a serious probability that hundreds
are to speak on this subject, and that the Fathers are to
have time to calm down for a few months in the retire
ment of their own sees before they are to be invited to
a decision. The discussion might be closed in a fort
night or less, for the working majority is as much in
hand as the officials of the Council or the Pope's house
hold. So all the talk about a protracted discussion and
an adjournment of the question goes for nothing, as a
fhing that may be or may not be. No man can answer
for it. On the other hand, while the Dogma is thus in
continual suspense, and all the alarm, all the vigilance
directed to it alone, there are the successive strings of
canons and decrees, all of them more or less involving the

DARBOY AND THE DIPLOMATISTS 97
same doctrine. Even if the Dogma is never to be
carried, -in this Council at least, it still operates as a
point to which to direct attention. It is no longer any
secret that if it is to be carried it will be in defiance of
the Catholic Powers — that is, of those with Roman
Catholic populations. The Archbishop of Paris gave
an entertainment yesterday to the French and Austrian
Ambassadors and the Prussian and Bavarian Ministers,
and it is interpreted to mean that these Powers are
agreed, and are pledged tp co-operation. But, while they
are making these afrangements to meet the discharge of
one monster piece of ordnance, it is quite possible they
may find themselves, outwitted by ecclesiastical engines
of real efficacy, though not quite so pretentious.
The proposed ' Little Catechism for the Universal
Church ' has been under discussion now for four sittings,
and rriust occupy a day or two more. On Thursday, the
loth, the speakers were — Mathieu, Rauscher, Simor,
Guibert ; Pedicini, of Bari ; Moreno, of Ivrea ; Forcade,
of Nevers ; and Dupanloup. Of these I hear the
Bishop of Ivrea spoke rather against the proposed Cate
chism, and Dupanloup preferred one in use in his own
diocese — his own, I believe. On Monday, the I4th,>
the speakers were De Langalerie, of Belley ; Sola, of
Nizza ; Verot, of Savannah ; David, of St. Brieux ; and
Ballerini, Patriarch of Alexandria. Of these the Bishop
of St Brieux spoke against the proposed Catechism.
Dr, Grant was to have spoken on that day, but was
taken ill, and wished Manning to read his speech for
him, in his absence. This, however, was found to be
contrary to the Regulations. Dr. Grant is well now.
On Tuesday, the iSth, the speakers were— Ricciardi, of
VOL II. I'J

98 STILL ON THE LITTLE CATECHISM
Reggio ; Nobili Vitelleschi, of Osimo and Cingoli ;
Ghilardi, of whom you have heard before ; Keane, of
Cloyne ; Mabile, of Versailles ; De La Bouillerie, of
Carcassona ; Clifford, of Clifton ; and Paya y Rico, of
Cuenca. Of these I hear that Dr. Clifford had objec
tions to the proposed Catechism, and named one he
preferred to Bellarmine's. Six more bishops were to
speak to-day, when there would remain eleven more, one
of them Ricca, the first General of an Order yet an
nounced for speaking. The names will at least serve to
illustrate the difficulty of finding one form of elementary
religious instruction for all the world.

Rome : Feb. 1 8.
The Pope has despatched Monsignor Pluym to Constanti
nople with special powers, in the hope of putting an end to
the schism which has arisen in the Armenian community.

After the lapse of twenty years some readers will
be disposed to smile at the idea of a Little Catechism
occupying many days, dividing a Council, and eliciting
much use or abuse of mediseval Latin, when so critical
a question as infallibility was pending, and its decision
imminent I see Quirinus thinks it necessary to account
for the episode, and calls it the last stage of the peaceful
proceedings which are to precede the battle. This does
not accord with my own recollections, nor with the
comments which Quirinus immediately proceeds to
make on the debate, which was anything but peaceful.
He says, for example, that Dupanloup 'lashed those

WHAT SHOULD A CATECHISM BE f 99
who think that the cultivated nations of the Catholic
world are to have a Catechism dictated to them by
Rome. Certainly, to dictate a first course of theological in
struction to all the world is an ambitious design, but
England does the like for those of her fellow-subjects
who can duly recognise her Majesty as Defender of
the Faith. Our own Catechism is a very weighty —
indeed grievous — question, not only to the comparatively
few who have studied its history, but still more to the
many who think either that it is very defective, or that it
is unsuitable for its purpose, or that it is misleading in
its doctrine. Putting Irish Catholics and Scotch Pres
byterians out of the question, nearly half of the English
population will have nothing to say to it. At the very
first beginning of the Oxford movement several clergy
men held that nothing could be done without a nev^^
Catechism defining more sharply and precisely Church,
orders, membership, communion, sacraments, &c., to the
exclusion of Papists and Dissenters. That design has
been several times revived, and, as I write this, is once
more occupying Convocation.
Of course all depends on the fundamental idea :
What do we mean, or intend, by a Catechism ? Is it an
introduction proper to a tender age? To what age,
then, shall it be adapted — to seven years, or to fourteen ?
Even at the later age the mind is scarcely receptive of
a mystery, except as an unintelligible form of words.
Is it in the nature of a pledge, or an oath, to bind the
conscience and the intellect, and preclude for ever all
inquiry, or rational apprehension ? The arch-magicians
who insinuated themselves into the counsels of the

loo STILL ON THE LITTLE CATECHISM
Church of England some centuries ago succeeded in
, constructing an engine which effectually split up the
Christianity of these isles, and now utterly debars from all
unity or approach. For the sake of the Little Catechism
which the Church of England is so proud to have
invented, and passed off" as a Summary of Scripture
and the Church, it has gone on making first one costly
sacrifice, then another, till it is hard to see what remains
to be sacrificed, and what there is worth preserving.
To put any meaning whatever into the special creed
into which English Churchmen are baptised and married,
requires a very bold philosopher and a very ingenious
theologian ; and I, for one, cannot feel myself equal to the
task, though I have been on it now for three-quarters of a
century. That the greater part of my countrymen are
in the same plight as myself, is not to me a matter of
congratulation, for I honestly wish they did understand
our Catechism, at least its creed, better than I do.
But what new design, what new portent is this,
that I now hear — indeed reproduced annually as one
of the discoveries of the age 1 It far, far surpasses all
that poor benighted Rome ever conceived of herself
All that Rome ever contemplated was to hand down
and disseminate the faith and religion she believed her
self to have received near nineteen hundred years ago,
with no more development than was consistent with the
original form. Modest as this design might seem,
it was yet hazardous, and cannot be, pronounced
absolutely successful. But we are now gravely informed
by the most infallible of men that it is the function,
the privilege, and the duty of the British Empire to
invent religions suited to the various tastes and habits

RELIGIONS TO SUIT ALL TASTES loi
of its peoples and races. Theology, rightly considered,
they tell us, is only a, spiritual Pharmacopoeia, instruct
ing us how to select, compound, and administer certain
words and ideas, found by experience to operate this
way or that way on the human mind. Certainly this
beats the highest flight of the Vatican, and the accumu
lated wisdom of its thousand and one Fathers. With
this project seriously entertained in high quarters in this
country, our only possible contention with the Pope is
that he does not go far enough — at all events that we
beat him.

CHAPTER LXXVII
PIO nono
Rome : Feb. 20.
The most careless observer must be struck with the
defensive tone which Rome has assumed within a week
or two. Like the ladies I saw yesterday in the balconies
in the Corso, she had prepared a vast magazine of small
artillery, and was already discharging hailstorms of con
ventional malice against all the world. Suddenly, like
the same ladies, she has had to shield herself from com
bined foes, though, it must be admitted, as aggressive
and defiant as ever.
The Pope spoke from the abundance of his heart at
the opening of the Exposition. He arrived there much
fatigued, his thoughts evidently far away ; and the
cheers of a compact troupe trained to cry l^iva 'I Papa
Infallibile I could not dispel his anxieties. He asked
not to be over-walked, was conducted to a throne, and
went through the ceremony. Standing up, which they
say is unusual, he paused to collect his thoughts, and
spoke with great emphasis. Starting fairly from the
manifold inspirations of faith, it was religion, he said,
that guided the brush in the strong lines which depict
the old man receiving his last sacrament ; religion that
gave the chisel its force when it carved the great Law
giver.

TIME-HONOURED CUSTOMS 103
Catholic principle, with whatever matter it had to
deal, he said, was one great harmony, inexhaustible and
life-giving ; it was not founded on the shifting sands,
but on the rock. ' It is said ' — and here the Pope passed
at once from what he saw to what he had heard — nay, I
am assured, to something by Falloux, which he must
have read very recently in the Augsburg Gazette — ' it is
said that the Catholic religion requires the adoption of
the principles of 1789, now the talk of the Italian
demagogues. But the Catholic religion,' he said, ' loves
and cherishes all the arts of true progress, instead of
opposing them.' That was a calumny invented to give
colour to political principles which the Church could not
but abhor and condemn. ' Religion,' he said, ' is immut
able ; not an idea, but the truth. Truth knows no
change. The Catholic Church ever, from time to time,
denounces and proscribes the hand uplifted against the
supreme principles which have governed the faith for so
many centuries.' His Holiness added that he prayed
for those misguided persons, and promised them forgive
ness if they would repent and seek again the sacred
fold. Much more had he to say on this point, but time
failed. Returning to the Exposition, he said it had another
object, which was to further uniformity in the ecclesiasti
cal hierarchy and ecclesiastical dignities. ' I do not
mean that these need any change as respecting us and
the Orientals ; ' and here, stretching out his hand, he
exclaimed, ' Are there any here 1 If any are, I wish
them to know that it is my will that there shall be no
change in forms. Let them retain their time-honoured
customs and insignia, If they can draw nearer to our

104 Pl^O NONO
discipline, that is much to be desired ; but in matters of
form, I repeat, I wish no change.' The Pope expressed
his warm gratitude to the Commission, which had filled
the building so well in spite of the difficulties, and to the
exhibitors, many of whom had come from such distant,
countries ; and so concluded with his benediction upon
all Catholic arts and industries. The Pope blessed as
he rose from his throne, and blessed as he sat down ;
but that which brought him on his legs, and gave the
heart and substance of his address, was in another strain,
and addressed to the Council rather than to the
Exposition. <
At the same time the Pope's own organ has set
about the work of defence with an industry and research
which seem to show that the emergency was not quite
unforeseen. The policy of Pius IX. ! Does it want an
apology ? Will it not stand comparison with any other
in the world .'' What is there in it to amend or recall,
or to conceal .'' As for that Letter which is now to be his
test, has he not carried out every word of it ? The
principles of his Pontificate constitute the most stu
pendous defence his most devoted children can ever
raise to his memory. There once existed archives which
Napoleon III. had some reason to be ashamed of They
have disappeared, no one knows how. On the contrary,
in 1857 Pius IX. published all the documents relating to
his policy in 1847 ; the Pontifical in Latin, the Regal in
Italian. He never changed from what he began. He
never took up with something new, or repudiated the
old. All the principles of the Syllabus were enunciated
at the period when he is now said to have won the name
of Benevolent — that is, in 1846 and 1847. It was in

HIS EARLY UTTERANCES 105
December 1846 that he denounced the principal evils
of the age, the fallacies of human opinion, and the wild
spirit of innovation. Then, too, he appealed to the
memory and acts of Gregory XVL, to be written, as he
said, in letters of gold.
In what follows I cannot find that Pius IX. did or
said much more than was customary in those days, and^
indeed, in any other days before and after, with our own
English High Church divines — and Low Church, too,
for the matter of that ; and if I continue to quote this
laboured apology it will be in order to ask how it is that
what excited no attention in those days disgusts, alarms,
and exasperates now. The stronger the language of the
forgotten document, the more significant the effect of
the noisy and ostentatious revival. In the very infancy
of his Pontificate, it seems, Pius IX. exposed the great
league of unbelief called Rationalists, who repudiate the
light of supernatural faith, and give the supremacy to
proud reason and the dictates of nature. It was then
he raised his voice against all private interpretation of
the Word of God in contempt of the only legitimate,
infallible authority of the Church of Christ and His
Vicar, the Pontiff". Nor was it to religion and Scripture
and the Dogma that the Pope confined himself He
denounced the impiety which disregarded the laws of
the Church, but, not less, all contempt of rights and
lawful civil authority. His predecessors had already laid
their anathema on the secret societies vomited forth from
the regions of darkness for the ruin of Church and State.
Pius IX., it seems, singled out for his own special
anathemas the Bible Societies fnstituted by heretics for
the spread of their secret poison, Under the same ban

io6 PIO NONO
he laid religious indifference, the opposition^to religious
celibac)', and the establishment of a soul-destroying
philosophy under the pretence of education. It was
then he warned the faithful against the pernicious tracts
sown broadcast by wicked hands, and, in a word, all free
thoughts, free speech, and, above all, the free press.
Certainly it is not amiss the world should be reminded
that it was Pope Pius IX. who did all this ; that he
did it when he was, so to speak, a child of the people,
and that it passed with scarcely anim.adversion — nay,
more, that the bare fact may be almost said to be for
gotten. '
But the Pope's apologists are not content with the
natural inference that he was always the same man that
he is now ; they must also establish a splendid and
elaborate unity of design. It is a policy that is to be
defended, and the world is triumphantly asked why it
interferes too late with the completion of the edifice it
has had the opportunity of watching from the ver)'
foundations, and seen slowly rising story after story in a
Pontificate providentally prolonged for this very work.
As it is a question that concerns France a good deal
more than ourselves, I need not hesitate to assist the
Pope and his privileged champions in putting it well
before the world. It appears that as early as November
1846, the Pope condemned the Proposition numbered
the fourth in the Syllabus, and then, or shortly after, ex
pressed himself in like manner as to the Propositions
numbered sixth, seventh, sixteenth, fortieth, and sixty-
third in the Syllabus. But the fourth paragraph is
simply a quotation in extenso from the earlier document,
and various letters and allocutions from January to

INTERRUPTED IN A GOOD WORK 107
December 1847 are referred to, and the titles given, in
order to prove that the Syllabus, and consequently the
Propositions now before the CEcumenical Council, were
all anticipated, more or less literally, on or before the
very year 1 847 now brought into question. When, there
fore. Napoleon III. asks the Pope to return to the
counsels of 1 847, it is nothing more nor less than advising
him to return to the Syllabus — a most needless piece of
advice — inasmuch as the Vicar of Jesus Christ has never
departed from those counsels, and is not likely to depart
from them.
If, too, it be said that all this refers only to religious
principles, not to those relating to temporal matters, and
that Pius IX. has certainly somewhat departed from his
first temporal policy, and has shown a want of fixed
principles, an answer is at hand, these writers inform us.
In the first month of 1847 M. Guizot wrote a series of
despatches to the French Minister at the Court of Rome,
bringing before the newly-elected Pope certain articles
agreed upon by the five European Powers in 1831, with
a view to the improvement of the Papal Government.
Pius IX. entered heartily into the programme, and
immediately upon his coronation had the entire series of
papers collected, with all the appended documents, and
these he kept in his own room in the Quirinal, with his
private papers, intending to make the fullest use of
them. When, however, he was driven into exile, these
papers, with many others, were stolen and dispersed or
destroyed. The Pope had made no secret of his reason
for collecting the papers, said to have been very bulky,
and lumbering his private room with them. His inten
tion was to study them diligently, and by their light to

io8 PIO NONO
give to the Pontifical Government that completion which
he felt it still needed.
Of course, it is a great pity that the loss of these
papers should have entirely stopped for twenty years all
reform at the Holy See ; but, for the present, I will
return to the Syllabus, and its growth from the sapling
of 1847 to the CEcumenical Council of 1870. The
present argument worked out elaborately before us is
that if -the world stood by quietly and watched with
approving smiles the first inception, the scattered antici
pation, and the slow progress of this enormous design,
it has no reason to interfere with the final execution.
The argument is addressed, of course, to those who are
directly concerned in the result, and who also had the
power always in their hands. Why did they let the
work go on towards its evil and bitter end ? But the
argument is still liable to the rejoinder — If all that
comes of allowing Pius IX. to begin as he did, and go
on as he did, what in the world will not come of letting
him work it out to the very end of all ?
The Council is getting over the ground rapidly, with
a view to the great question. There were seven
speakers on Friday. It is said that on the previous dis
cussion upon bishops and clergy one speaker surprised
the Council with a suggestion that all the clergy of a
¦diocese should make a common fund, and live together
as much as possible. A good many more applications
for leave to depart have been referred to the Holy
Father, who finally decides. The Fathers are so utterly
wearied with the speeches that it is said the New Rules
forthcoming will be allowed quietly to substitute printed
for spoken addresses, with, however, some security for

ECCLESIASTICAL PRECEDENCE 109
their proper consideration ; but this, it is evident, will
put it in the power of the Court to make the discussion
last just as long as it pleases. The Archbishop of Paris
has written to his cl-ergy that he may without doubt be
expected at home by Easter, whether the work here be
finished or not.
The Archbishop of Milan has been thanked by his
clergy for the resistance he has offered to the extreme
Propositions before the Council, and either they or his
other friends at Milan take the opportunity to remind
him, on I know not what grounds, that the See of Milan
was once held equal in rank and dignity to the See of
Rome, and its Canons called Cardinals. The Court of
Rome has always done all it could to depreciate and ig
nore the title of Primate, and to treat it as an empty
and gratuitous pretension. Whenever it could, it let
two Primates set themselves up and fall together by the
ears. In the Regulations of this Council the Pope care
fully explains that he will have nothing to do with the
precedence of Primates, that they must settle it among
themselves, and that no order they may now happen to
sit in shall be construed into a precedent He has now
done something more. The Archbishops of Antipari
and Scutari, Malines and Salerno, have put in their claims
to sit among the Primates, and their claims have been
allowed. For more serious matter, Beust has followed the ex
ample of France, and sent word that infallibility will
separate Church and State in Austria. The Spanish
Minister is in co-operation with the representatives of
the four other Powers. While the Pope and his Court
are telling ¦ everybody without reserve that infallibility

no PIO NONO.
is wanted for the greater power it will bring, the Govern
ments of Europe say that is the very reason why they
object to it and will not have it. Indeed, it is evident
that this whole affair is passing out of ecclesiastical into
civil hands, and that the Church of Rome is about to
suffer that indignity of a Lay Court of Appeal so much
resented by our High Churchmen at home.

The Pope, who has been suffering from an attack of
bronchitis grafted on chronic catarrh of the lungs, is well
enough at present to be able to discharge the varied and
arduous duties entailed by the sitting of the Fathers. — Paris
Correspondent of the Lancet. Rome : Feb. 19,
M. Friederich, the theological adviser of Cardinal Hohen
lohe, has been accused of sending letters to the Augsburg
Gazette, and has received orders to leave Rome this evening.
The rumour that the Council will shortly be adjourned is
confirmed. Paris : Feb. 19.
The preliminary inquiry into the charge against Prince
Pierre Bonaparte for killing M. Victor Noir was completed
yesterday, and the prince has been ordered to take his trial
before the High Court of Justice. Evening.
A meeting of the Right Centre has been held, at which it
was resolved to support the Ministry. The Moniteur of this
evening confirms the intelligence that Count Daru, the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, has addressed a letter to Count
Werner Merode, recommending that the discussion upon the
question of Papal Infallibility should be adjourned. Paris : Feb. 20.
A Ministerial decree of yesterday's date orders the High
Court of Justice to assemble at Tours on March 21 for the

PRINCE PIERRE BONAPARTE in
trial of Prince Pierre Bonaparte. M. Glandaz will act as pre ¦
siding judge, and M. Grandperret as public prosecutor. The
Gazette des Tribunaux states that the preliminary investigation
has furnished proof of the assault to which the prince asserts
that he was subjected, so that no doubt is left as to the pro
vocation offered to him, and which caused him to shoot M
Victor Noir, and to threaten the life of M. Fonvielle. Rome : Feb. 20.
The Carnival commenced] yesterday. Perfect calm pre
vailed, and but few foreigners took part in the festivities. The
police found several placards on the walls turning the question
of .Papal infallibility into ridicule.

CHAPTER LXXVIII
THE NEW REGULATIONS
Rome : Feb. 22.
I SEND you the new Regulations, which have been long
looked for and invested with a certain critical character,
as a turning-point in the history of the Council. They
read very reasonable and parliamentary, insomuch as to
suggest the idea that the battle has been already fought
upon them, and that what we see is the compromise.
But a day or two may reveal an ambuscade. Whether
it be said with sincerity or not, all are promised an op
portunity for delivering their conscience, and all, it is
added, will avail themselves of it Great is to be the
multitude of preachers — hundreds of them. But when
you come to counting shadows, names, and ciphers, the
calculation is very elastic, and the manipulation easy.
It may take a day to dispose of one man, no more than
an hour to get rid of a thousand. If these Regulations
are to be taken at what they seem to profess, the managers
of this great affair must think that the loss of time is
entirely owing to irregularity, discursiveness, and want
of method, not to any real difficulties in the subject, oi
to the lawful variations of human opinion. Accordino-ly,
it is hoped, simply and honestly, that if men will be so
good as to put themselves into the ' well-oiled machine

HO'W REMONSTRANCE MA Y BE INTERPRETED 113
one has heard of so often here, time and space will dis
appear, and truth will flash on mankind.
But I must revert to the great topic. Had I pre
tended to see further into a millstone than most men, or
than some of your other correspondents, I should be
tempted to deal craftily with the information I have now
to give you, for it happens to confirm what others have
told you at least much more plainly than myself The
high Infallible party are making great merriment over
the admitted fact that the Governments of the Catholic
Powers have been communicating with the Court and
the Council here. It is admitted there have been remon
strances, and even menaces, and that the chiefs of the
so-called Opposition have received encouragement to go
on and prosper. But in the politics of this place it is
assumed that whatever is known is a feint to conceal the
reality or divert attention from it It would not be
known to all the world what Daru has written, or what
Beust has written, if it meant anything.
The Infallibilists do not insinuate that either of these
statesmen is insincere, but it is certainly assumed that
there is insincerity somewhere. ' Oh, yes ; we know all
that,' is their language. ' There will be plenty of pro
tests ; people's honour will be saved all round, and in
fallibility will be passed by the Council in the strongest
sense. Once passed, it will be accepted very easily and
quietly, and there will be no more fuss about it.' It is
natural to reply that there has been a considerable
amount of resistance and division, and that saintly
tempers have been ruffled. The rejoinder is that every
thing has gone on exactly as was expected, and quite as
smoothly as could be desired. Nobody likes perfectly
VOL. II. I

114 THE NEW REGULATIONS
smooth water. They who manage the Council are con
scious of no check Nor do they expect any. Of course
such expectations, so freely avowed, suggest painful in
quiries as to the persons out of this city in the ' Pontifical
Secret' How does it come to pass that the happy
possessors of that secret can tell the world, as they do,
that a mass of official and unofficial communications
from I know not how many Courts are already discounted
at their true value, which is nill
The crisis is approaching. The Little Catechism has
probably been disposed of this morning. Then comes
the list of Propositions relating to the Church and to the
Pontiff". As soon as the latter subject is on, the Dogma
of all Dogmas is to shoot like a comet athwart the ec
clesiastical heavens. It is spoken of as even a matter of
duty that everyone is to say something about it But,
according to the Regulations I now send, the first notices,
the first speaking, and the first voting will be on the
Proposition in its general aspect, like a debate on the
first reading in our House of Commons. That general
discussion closed, the President will put the principle,
not the express terms of ' the Bill before the House,' to
the Fathers, when all who rise from their seats will be
counted, and no doubt found a very large majority. Shall
we see this event before Easter ? Everybody is asking
the question here — that is, everybody who feels the least
interest in what is presumed to be the most imporiant
question that can divide or unite the world. That the
event will come off some time or other no one doubts.
The Pope's people say that Rome has been dri\-en to
it. That sounds odd, but it is an old story. They ex
plain that the Catholic journals all over the world have

LIFE-LONG MISAPPREHENSIONS 115
raised the question, which will not be set at rest till Rome
has spoken. But the said Catholic organs in this Penin
sula are Pius IX.'s organs of speech as much as his own
lips and tongue, and the questions they ask are what he
puts to the world. The Italians, never at a loss, answer
the question also, and thank Heaven it has been put.
Let the Pope be declared infallible by all means, they
say ; let infallibility be placed in one man, and then we
shall know how we stand, and what we are dealing with.
All who wish them well wish the same. For myself I
must protest against a falsity, whatever good, if good,
may seem to come out of it.
Another word or two. I do not pretend to know
characters, especially when I have only writings to go
by. Dupanloup, it is declared by his admirers, came
here an anti-opportunist, and is now an anti-dogmatist,
substantially agreeing with Strossmayer, Dollinger, and
Gratry. The second of these men has lately said that
he has talked and preached as he now writes for forty
years, but the Bishops of Manheim and Munich write to
say that they have known him, and acted with him, for
forty years, without guessing it. He may be right after
all, and they wrong, for it is possible for a man to be
blind and deaf for forty years.
The Orientals generally are said to be suffering
horrors, Dupanloup pulling them one way, and Cardinal
Barnabo the other. There is a story that the unfor
tunate Hassun, the Armenian Patriarch of Cilicia, who
was compelled to consecrate two of the Pope's nominees
the other day, and whose clergy and congregation have
accordingly renounced him, placing themselves under
the Sultan's protection, had proposed his own two at-

ii6 THE NEW REGULATIONS
tendants here, one of them his 'groom,' that is, I suppose,
his body servant. But this sounds like a Popish inven
tion. The Melchite and the Maronite Churches are now
said to be well in opposition. However, they will signify
little. ' Infallibility is certain.' I add the new Regula
tions. The Carnival is in full roar a few yards ofif

New Decree for the Regulation of the Council, issued to
the Fathers at the sitting of February 22 : — ¦
In the Apostolical Letter, Multiplices inter, issued last
November 27, the Supreme Pontiff constituted the general
order to be observed in the celebration of the Vatican Council ;
and in that Letter, besides other things, he prescribed certain
fixed rules in order to secure a proper system in the discussions
of the Fathers
Now, however, our Most Holy Lord, for the more easy
attainment of that object, having regard also to the complaints
repeatedly made by the Fathers that the discussions were pro
tracted to an unreasonable length, out of his own apostolic
solicitude, has determined to lay down for the General Congre
gations ofthe Council some special rules, which, while they carry
out the general system already in force, and do not interfere with
that liberty of discussion which becomes the bishops of the
Catholic Church, will provide a more complete and expeditious
method for the e.xamination of the matters to be handled, for
discussion and deliberation.
Having, therefore, taken into consultation the Cardinal
Presidents of the General Congregations of the Council, and
having obtained also the opinions of the Fathers of the Special
Commission for receiving and weighing the propositions made
by the Bishops, our Most Holy Lord has given to us the follow
ing ordinances to be issued and observed : —
I. Upon the distribution of a Schema to the Fathers'of the
Council, the Cardinal Presidents ofthe General Congregations

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO BE IN WRITING 117
shall name a reasonable period within which the Fathers who
have any remarks to make on the Schema must present them
in writing. 2. The remarks are to be arranged in the following order —
viz. those first which relate generally to the whole Schema, or
to a division of it, as the Presidents shall have appointed ; then
those which refer to the several parts of the Schema, the order
of the Schema itself being duly observed.
3. The Fathers who have any remarks to make either on
the words or on the paragraphs of the proposed Schema shall
state what form of words or of paragraphs they propose to
substitute for them.
4. The remarks of the Feathers, thus arranged and certified
by their signatures, shall be given to the Secretary of the
Council, and by him be forwarded to the respective Com
mittees of Bishops.
5. After these remarks have been duly weighed in the meet
ing of the Committee charged with that subject, there shall be
distributed to every Father an amended Schema, together with
a brief statement in which mention shall be made of the
remarks proposed to be made.
6. The Schema, together with the said statement, being
communicated to the Fathers, the Cardinal Presidents shall
fix a day for a General Congregation in which the discussion
is to be entered on.
7. The discussion shall be first generally upon the Scliema,
whole or divided, as the Cardinal Presidents shall think
proper : and when that discussion is concluded, each part of
the Schema shall be handled separately, the speakers always
having before them, in this discussion of the details, the form
they propose to substitute for the period or the paragraph of
the amended Schema, which form they are to hand in writing
to the Presidents at the conclusion of their speech.
8. They who wish to speak on the amended Schema, when
they announce their intention to the Presidents, shall explain
at the same time whether they wish to speak generally on the

Ii8 THE NEW REGULATIONS
whole Sch;ma, or specially on its parts ; as also on what part,
and with what special object in view.
g. With the leave of the Presidents, any member of the
respective Committees of Bishops may reply to the objections
and remarks of the speakers, either immediately after a speech,
or after several speeches on the same subject on either that or
a future day.
lo. The speakers must confine themselves to the subject.
If any Father wanders off it, it will be the duty of the Presidents
to call him back to the question.
II. If, the subject being exhausted, the discussions are
protracted to an unreasonable length, then, upon the presenta
tion of a requ3st by at least ten Fathers, the Cardinal Presi
dents may put it to the question whether the meeting wishes
the discussion to be continued, and, calling upon those who
think otherwise to stand up, may close the discussion if the
majority is that way.
12. When the discussion upon one part of a Schema is
finished, before the meeting passes on to another, the Cardinal
Presidents shall take the votes of the meeting, first upon the
proposed amendments, then upon the original te.xt of the part
discussed. 13. The votes, both on amendments and also on the
original text, shall be thus taken : The Presidents shall
first call on those to rise up who agree to the amendment
or to the original text ; then on those that disagree ; and after
a comparison of the votes the decision shall be according to
the majority.
14. When the votes shall thus have been taken on all the
parts of the Schema, the Cardinal Presidents shall take the
opinions of the Fathers upon the whole of the Schema that has
been gone through. But on this occasion the votes shall be
given viva voce, by the word Placet or N'on Placet ; it being
permitted, however, to those who wish to vote with some con
dition, to give the vote and condition in writing.

THE SPECIAL COMMISSION 119
Here then, as it seems, is the first and last official
record of the ' Special Commission ' for receiving and
weighing the propositions made by the bishops. It is here
described as having been consulted, and having at once
surrendered its functions to the Cardinal Presidents ofthe
General Congregations. The French and Germans had
asked that the Commission might be strengthened and
popularised by the addition of ten representative bishops.
Though not stated, this would probably imply the
withdrawal, or the abeyance, of all or most of the car
dinals in the Commission, and its assimilation to the
four Committees for special subjects. Quninus, while
expecting the appearance of the Commission on the
scene of action, and knowing only its constitution and
its members, had spoken of it as holding the Council in
its hands, and as likely to do its work for it. Had that
been the c^se, the addition of ten representative bishops,
in the place of the cardinals, or overweighing them,
would have enabled the Commission to supersede not only
the Council, but the Pope. So the Court of Rome seems
to have taken the simpler course of dispensing with the
services of the Commission altogether. There were plenty
behind the scenes to do its work as -well, or better.

Rome : Feb. 22.
In the General Congregation held to-day the discussion of
the Catechism, which had occupied two previous sittings, was
brought to a conclusion. Six Fathers addressed the Council.
Six other Schemata have been distributed, one of which relates
to the Religious Orders. A Decree affecting the Regulation of
the Council, and intended to accelerate the progress of dis-

120 THE NEW REGULATIONS
cussions, has been made pubhc. The Decree prescribes that
General Congregations shall be held every ten days. It
enacts, moreover, that the Prelates, after the distribution of
Schemata which have become orders of the day, shall
present their observations in writing to the appointed Com
mittee.

It is stated above, at p. ii 5, that Dupanloup had been
credited with some change of opinion since the meeting
of the Council. What his views were on the eve of the
Council appears from the following summary of a Letter
published at that date : — Paris : Nov. 16.
This evening's journals publish a Letter, addressed by
Monseigneur Dupanloup to the clergy of the diocese of Orleans,
in which his Lordship declares himself adverse to a definition
of the personal infallibility of the Pope as inopportune. Mon
seigneur Dupanloup, moreover, blames the intemperate
language of such journals as the Civilta Cattolica and the
Univers, which have opened the discussion upon this delicate
question, and have prejudged the decisions of the CEcumenical
Council. His Lordship says that a declaration of personal in
fallibility would he inopportune at the present time, because it
would be useless and dangerous ; would drive schismatics and
heretics still further from the Church, their restoration to which
ought not to be despaired of ; would provoke the mistrust even
of Catholic governments, and would revive the hatred of the
Pontifical Power. Monseigneur Dupanloup mentions only to
blame those Popes who confounded the spiritual with the
temporal, and arrogated to themselves claims to dominate over
Thrones, referring particularly to the Bull of Paul IIL, which
leleased the subjects of Henry VIII. from their oath of allegi
ance. This Bull Monseigneur Dupanloup considers to have
been calculated rather to precipitate the English nation into
heresy than to have brought it back to the Church, and to have
been for all Christendom a great misfortune.

CHAPTER LXXIX
THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC POWERS
Rome : Feb. 25.
On Tuesday, after seven more speeches, the Little
Catechism was finally sent to the mysterious limbo
where now lies everything yet discussed in the Council.
All the four schedules of Propositions, or what not, are
in the hands of the two Committees on Faith and
Discipline, and are already referred, or to be soon
referred, by them to very small Sub-Committees, assisted
by theologians — some of them the Jesuits engaged in-
preparing these schedules. On Tuesday, also, there
was distributed a new schedule of Propositions relating
to the Regular Orders, no doubt in order to find matter
for the Committee charged with that subject. At the
same time the Fathers received, in the form of a Decree,
the new Regulations for the quicker despatch of business,
which I sent you the other day. It is said that they
further restrict liberty of discussion, but the chief com
plaint made is that, being in the form of a Decree, they
cannot themselves be discussed in Council. The force
of this complaint I do not myself understand. The
original Regulations, like everything else relating to the
action of the Council, were a simple emanation of the

122 THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC POWERS
Papal will and pleasure. There were remonstrances,
nevertheless, and in due time inconveniences discovered
themselves. The result is the new Regulations, which
are likely enough to fare as the others did. However,
it is always taken for granted here, and that by people
with a long and painful experience, that whatever comes
from the Couft has a sinister intention. As I have just
said, there was a good reason for setting the Council to
work on the Regular Orders, but this was not the
expected subject of the next discussion, and all sides
have been taken by surprise. The Propositions de Ecclesia
and de Romano Pontifice had been long threatened for
discussion as soon as ever the Little Catechism could be
got rid of, and under the second of these heads the great
battle was to be fought.
But all that volcanic matter is now indefinitely post
poned ; the Syllabus takes another leap into the future ;
and infallibility— it is the very latest thing I hear — has
not even yet received the form in which it is to fight all
the powers of evil or of good. It is still as far to seek
as the monster gun that is to overcome all the defences
of earth, wood, iron, or stone that men raise against it
It is clear to me that I shall never see either the final
gun or the irresistible dogma. But observe how we are
situated here. The Council stands adjourned to Thurs
day, March 3, not without good reasons. Wednesday is
a day of ceremonies, and till that day Rome is running
riot in its own peculiar fashion. But when the Council
meets again it will have sat twelve weeks and a day, and
done nothing at all but send back all its work to be
fa.shioned anew for further discussion. The entire Church
will have been deprived of its bishops, and consigned to

THE REIGN OF KING LOG 123
the care of Vicars Apostolic directly appointed by the
Pope, for a quarter of a year, and this Council kept here
at a cost beyond calculation, without any result what
ever. I admire, and I am even charmed with, the audacity,
the ingenuity, and the readiness of the Papal writers,
but not one of the entire corps could put his finger on a
thing the Council has yet done, or a word it has yet
sanctioned, or a doctrine, or opinion, or sentiment to
which it has given a new colour. It has thus far been
as absolutely unproductive as the huge lumps of granite
in the ruins of old Rome. Yet we are daily assured here,
on the infallible authority of the Pope's own journals,
that everything has gone on exactly as was wished and
expected, and that the majestic operation has never
suffered the slightest check or intestine disturbance. All
that is reported to this effect, they declare, they swear,
they call heaven to witness, has no foundation whatever,
except in the dreams, the imaginations, and the inven
tiveness of writers compelled to send home something
in return for the cost of their mission. I suppose the
day is to come — and perhaps I may rue the day — when
King Log is to be succeeded by King Stork ; but the
reign of King Log is very long. Even if we did not
happen to know the true state of the case, we might still
ask, from time to rime, why His Majesty sits there so
long doing nothing.
But besides those rumours of what goes on within
the screen, which I have never treated otherwise than
as rumours, supported by some concurrence of testimony,
there are matters of which the outer worid is well cog
nisant, and which do not look as if everything was going

124 THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC POWERS
on smoothly. First for all the diplomacy which is going
on. There are those here who laugh at it Rome, they
say, has always had to deal with diplomacy, and has
always got the better of it, not exactly by outwitting it,
but because diplomacy represents neither a sovereign
nor a nation, but the whole State, in which the Church
must always go for a good deal. The diplomatists, it is
said, are sent to fight a losing battle, with as much
decency as possible. No sovereign will ever throw away
his best card or his best piece if he can help it. I do
not yet know how the people here take the arrival of
M. Baroche to assist the French ambassador with his
knowledge of the history and working of Concordats.
It shows, at least, a proper sense of the crisis, and of the
necessity for vigilance and prompt decision. It may
also imply that, while the Fathers are deliberating, an
affair is in progress a little way off
Meanwhile, the Pope's organs do not cease to send
to Napoleon III. their pious homilies on the fickleness
of human favour and the uncertainty of power. They
remind the Emperor of what, by his own account, the
name of Napoleon meant in 1849, and what it means
now, when, as they tell him, it has become the shadow of
a shade. It now means only the absence of all that it
once claimed, for it suggests suspicion, fear, interpella
tions, and the dark looming of something to come, which
it is vainly attempted to keep out of view by follies and
extravagancies. While the Pope goes round his faithful
people distributing blessings, or gathers them periodically
for solemn acts of grace. Napoleon is obliged to assemble
those whom it is convenient to propitiate and dazzle, or
stupefy them with dances and champagne, of which the

What EMPERORS do and what the pope 125
number of bottles is duly published to the credit of his
policy. The Pope gives no banquets ; he celebrates
Masses. The Pope does not dance ; he leads the solemn
procession. The Pope sings, indeed, but his are the
songs of Israel and the Litanies of the Church. The
Pope hunts and fishes ; but he seeks only the souls of
men. I could have wished to see the contrast carried
further, for the Pope would be a Pope indeed if it could
be said that he had no soldiers except the army of the
faithful, and no artillery except the arguments and the
eloquence of his preachers. But why do the Pope's
most zealous friends persist in proclaiming and widening
the gulf between the Throne of France and the See of
Rome ? Why do they inform the world, be it true or
false, that ' M. Bonaparte ' is the title usually given at
Paris to the nominal head of the French Constitution ?
So much for France. Towards Austria these writers
are still less reserved in their language. They assume,
be it true or not, that Austria has given notice that she
cannot permit the Syllabus to enter that Empire, being
at variance with the Constitution, and that all who
attempt to introduce it will find themselves liable to
severe penalties. The Pope's organ replies with becom
ing spirit that His Imperial Majesty Nero once sent a
similar message tb the most illustrious of Pius IX.'s pre
decessors, and that Peter — for that was his name- — set
the message at naught, and was content to pay the
penalty of martyrdom. Not only Pagan Rome, but,
many times since her days, all Europe has tried to
frighten the Pope from his duty, and tried in vain. It
is ridiculous to suppose, so these papers argue, that
France and Austria — both of them the very shadows of

126 the pope and the CATHOLIC POWERS
what they were the other day — should think to change
his settled purpose.
The gist of all this is that so long as Rome is sure
of her own people she is prepared to defy governments
and rulers. But then for ' her own people.' There's the
rub. If the bishops themselves here assembled are not all
of the metal Popes are made of, can more be expected
of their flocks and their inferior clergy } The Court is
harassed and even alarmed at the requests for leave of
absence from bishops who are sick of the game, and who
take the pastoral rather than the militant view Of their
position. Then, if the Italians still possess their insatiable
thirst for power, the Spaniards still hug their ' Constitu
tions,' the French their ' privileges,' the Germans their
own 'direction of studies;' the Americans wait to see
what Rome is at, and the Orientals either cannot or will
not understand or know anything except that as soon
as they get home they \\'ill return to their own ways.
Already I have mentioned, or ought to have mentioned,
that the Court is in the greatest alarm at the reported
resistance of the Armenians in the Roman obedience,
and cannot make out whether the patriarch here is a
victim or an accomplice in the revolt. Anyhow, he will
never resume his place in Cilicia unless he repudiates
there all he has done and said here. A messenger has
gone in great haste to Constantinople to explain matters
to the Sultan, but I should think the more he explains
the less will the Sultan be pleased.
All that I have said thus far relates to the weakness
of the materials on which the Pope is to rely ; and it is
acknowledged that if Emperors may have seasons of
weakness, Popes may also. But in the midst of all this

DUPANLOUP'S WORK AND STAFF 127
I still see one name invested with a terror which I can
hardly account for. It must be to depreciate him, and
to prove that he is a mere bustling agitator, that Dupan
loup is described as employing four secretaries and
answering three hundred letters a day. If it be true,
there must be great waste of powder and shot here. As
for Strossmayer, I have nothing to report, except a mere
rumour, which I give for what it is worth — that on
Tuesday he was ' silenced ' — by whom, in what matter,
or on what occasion. Rumour herself sayeth not
To-day being Friday, Rome rests from the Carnival.
which is to break out again to-morrow, and rage, Sunday
excepted, till Ash Wednesday. There is quite enough
of it, though one is told twenty times a day that it is
nothing to what it was. ' The Romans,' it is even said,
will not be gay in the present state of things ; but there
is plenty of men and money, too, to take their place,
' The bachelors ' — 400 — gave their ball last night, in
return for hospitalities received, and accordingly were
dropping into the hotels at all hours till past five this
morning.

128

CHAPTER LXXX
THE CARNIVAL
Rome : Feb. 26.
About a hundred thousand of my fellow-countrymen
may have seen a Carnival ; but there remain thirty
millions who have not. It is for the latter I take up my
pen this glorious sunshiny morning, with a succession of
ambitious artists performing under my window, and my
friends and neighbours making parties for Castellani's
jewelry, Macpherson's photographs, the studios, and
perhaps the Exposition. I must begin with the humbling
confession that what I am ,about to describe is just no
thing — the most absolute nonsense in the world ; and my
only fear is that by my clumsy description I may seem
to make something of it. A Carnival is the human
intellect at its lowest ebb. There are tribes of monkeys,
I believe, that keep perpetual Carnival, and do it far
better than we do. However, I must open with a
flourish of penny trumpets, and my first flourish must
be a sketch of the Corso. It is the most famous street
in the world. Antiquaries say it is the old Via Flaminia,
but it must have been used for races and games ever
since it received its present name — how many centuries
ago I know not. The Corso runs in a straight line,
almost due north and south, between two objects of some

THE CORSO 129
historical interest. As you walk southward you have
always before you the Capitol of Old Rome, surmounted
by a lofty mediaeval bell tower ; as you walk northward
you have always before you an Obelisk, with a rather
remarkable history, extending over four thousand years.
It stood for about half that time before a Temple of the
Sun in Egypt, and Mr. Simpson informs me that about
the time of Moses — ^who probably knew its hieroglyphics
by heart — for some religious or political reason, several of
them on three of the sides were scooped out and others
cut in their place. So early did people begin to tamper
with historical documents. Augustus set it up in the
Circus Maximus as a memorial of his conquest of Egypt,
and every Roman Emperor, as well as every other Roman,
must have seen it all his life when he went to the games.
Nero is particularly mentioned as having hung the
Obelisk with garlands upon the occasion of a mad
triumph he celebrated in the great Circus. It stood
there exactly as long as the Empire stood whole and un
divided, but when the Empire fell into two pieces the
Obelisk fell into three, and lay in the dirt there one thou
sand two hundred years, till the year after the ' Spanish
Armada' of our history, when it was set up where it
now is.
From the Obelisk to the foot of the Capitol is about
a mile and one hundred yards, and the street itself, in
cluding the foot pavements, cannot average more than
thirteen yards wide ; indeed, in some places it is hardly
ten. But in that mile there are about twenty immense
palaces, as many churches or more, half-a-dozen piazzas,
and the magnificent Column of Antonine. The ground
floor of* some of the palaces is let for shops and cafes,
VOL. II. " K

T30 THE CARNIVAL
and, to show the capacity of these edifices, nearly the
whole Irish hierarchy is now lodged in the top story of
the Doria. Thus the scene of the performance I hope
to come to in time is a very grand one — some think
even more gloomy than grand. The street being very
narrow, the houses very lofty, and the direction almost
due north and south, it is only for an hour or two in the
middle of the day that the sun can reach the foot pave
ment on either side, and the pavement itself varies from
six feet to eighteen inches. It is, however, the only foot
pavement in Rome. For some time past the street has
been under repair for the present occasion. It is paved
with bits of lava, hard and slippery as glass, about five
inches square, and wherever a bit had sunk it has been
taken up and brought to the level. At the two termini
— that is, at the Obelisk and at the other end, under
what is now the Palace of the Austrian Embassy — lines
of galleries have been erected for those who would pay
a franc to see the starting or the coming in. At the
former point the galleries are just those neat structures
you see in old pictures of jousts and state ceremonies,
with roofs and many partitions.
For several weeks all the regulations of the Carnival j;
have been duly announced in successive proclamations
signed by the Most Reverend Monsignor Randi. Pat
terns and models of the only lawful confetti, or ' comfits,
bouquets, and other missiles allowed to be thrown have
been exhibited at the public offices, and masks pro
hibited, as also ' night-gowns.' For some days before
the shops exhibited many varieties of Carnival dress,
some complete suits, some just a thing to throw over you,
so that you might make yourself as great a fool as you

PRE PA RA TIONS 1 3 1
pleased. In every side street one was sure to see a score
or two of these absurd costumes fluttering in the wind
over the shop doors. Then the tubs of confetti began to
make their appearance for those who had to man the
balconies. Half the windows and balconies in the Corso
were ' to be let ' for the occasion. In relating these
humbling particulars I must ask you to consider that I
am. writing for the thirty millions, including a fair pro
portion of women, children, persons given to trifles, and
others with a craving for facts, however small.
The Carnival — I don't mean the Carnival season of
balls, theatres, and concerts, but the Carnival in its
vulgar, out-door sense — began last Saturday, lasts all
this week, Friday excepted, and next Monday and
Tuesday. On Saturday the mile's length of lava was
laid early with tufa sand — the stuff" they make Roman
cement with. Every window and every balcony in the
first and second stories, and even many higher up, were
hung with red and white drapery, mostly chintz, but
often of richer material, with fringes, and even gold
borders. " Some of the palaces hung out their tapestries
and their carpets. The vista was beautiful,'and all the
.better for not being interrupted by anything thrown
across the streets. Mind, I am speaking for myself, and
to the thirty millions. No doubt there are many here
who think the display contemptible.
I went to a friend's balcony, just half way in the
Corso,. soon after 3, understanding that the Carnival was
then to be opened by the Senator with a procession.
As I stepped out into the balcony a troop of dragoons
was coming down the street, leaving one after another
at lithe openings into side streets; while the^ Zouaves

132 THE CARNIVAL
were forming lines to cut off" the Piazzas. By this time
everybody was impatient for action and everything
ready. All the balconies were crowded, generally with
women — young ones, handsome, pretty, or lively ; little
girls and boys, too, with here and there a parent or a
tutor. Before all the balconies were long boxes of
' comfits,' like the flower-boxes before a London window.
But on the floors within also there were large boxes,
tubs, and baskets full of ammunition. In the street
below, every ten yards there was a dealer, male or
female, continually screaming out ' Confetti, confetti ! '
each one surrounded by eight or ten large buckets full,
while other dealers pursued likely customers. I must
take these things first as they struck the eye and the
ear before one's face got a taste of them.
But what most struck the eye was an immense
number of fellows carrying poles eight, ten, or twelve
feet high, stuck round with pegs, and on each peg a
large handsome bouquet, with its proper complement of
lace paper. As one looked up and down the street, it
might be a procession with emblems and devices a mile
long. All people were evidently dressed for rough
work, but the ladies had not altogether sacrificed
appearances to safety. The usual weapon for the oc
cupants of the balconies is a tin can, about nine inches
long and three wide at the mouth, and holding, I should
think, a pint of comfits. The men, fighting as they do
from below, generally throw with the hand simply. A
minute after the passing of the dragoons and before the
formal opening somebody threw a handful ; then some
body else did ; then a dozen ; then a hundred ; then
the whole street was a hailstorm, which, indeed, the

THE CONFETTI 133
thing is very like, particularly in its wavy effects. The
Carnival had set in. It consists in everybody throwing
these comfits into everybody's face as long as strength
or comfits hold out It must be in the Corso, or from
the windows looking into it ; the clergy are exempted,
or, as they put it themselves, excommunicated ; the
battle begins at 3 and ends at sunset, but it is continued
eight days, and for eight afternoons the Corso, the great
street and chief thoroughfare of Rome, is carefully
guarded by military and given up altogether to an
exceedingly rough game, in which every man is as good
as his neighbour, and all distinctions of rank, sex, and
age are laid aside. Now, I know, as I write, that the
hundred thousand fellow-countrymen of mine who have
seen all this will think me the greatest ass in the world
for describing what everybody knows, and describing it
indifferently, perhaps ; but remember I am writing for
the thirty millions. I know, too, the older ones will say
that this is nothing of a Carnival, and that the Carnivals
they saw twenty or thirty years ago were vastly superior
— indeed, altogether a different sort of thing from this.
Be it so ; that is only a reason why I should describe a
thing which may become obsolete altogether in another
twenty years.
These comfits are the sweetest little playthings in
the world. Any English child would be delighted to
see the streets full of them — white, and all colours.
They are grape stones, encrusted with plaster of Paris,
and some say a little flour. They are rather harder and
heavier than dried peas, and in a handful there will be a
dozen or two as large as good-sized peas. The way to
show what they are would be to sidle up to an acquaint-

134 THE CARNIVAL
ance who is thinking of something else, or engaged in
conversation, and then, at the distance of a yard or two,
dash a handful into his face as hard as you can, with a
good swing of the arm. If he is not in the secret, or is
naturally sensitive, or wanting in presence of mind, he
will be likely to take it ill, and of course think you sud
denly possessed. Should one of the comfits take him in
the eye, it will be some time before he opens it again.
They are serious missiles, and no flesh and blood can be
insensible to them. Ladies and gentlemen who care for
their skins, their complexions, or their eyes, use veils or
wire masks, such as fencers use, or hand masks. If they
don't the first day, they often do the second ; indeed, it
is mere bravado for anybody with a skin which would
not turn a soft bullet to go about in the Corso without
some such protection. I observed much more armour
the second day than the first ; indeed, there could not
possibly be a tender skin in the first day's fray which
did not suffer change of form and hue by bed time,
The quantity of these comfits consumed in the course
of three hours, by I know not how many thousand
people incessantly discharging their vials of wrath
against one another, is immense. The balconies opposite
me were defended by young ladies, I suspect Americans,
and they must have used a small cartload in that time —
that is, the first day only. Indeed, they say that a
tribe of people live comfortably the whole year by
making these misnamed mischiefs.
But, unpleasant as they are, they are the least un
pleasant mode of offence. The occupants of the
balconies are also provided with tubs and bags of flour,
as it is called, but really plaster dust. Every now and

ASSAILANTS AND VICTIMS 135
then a victim presents himself, in the shape of a well-
dressed gentleman, standing, or moving slowly just
under a balcony, and instantly a gallon of this villanous
stuff" is poured steadily upon him, and he retreats an
inch thick with it, wherever it can rest on his hat or
shoulders, or pockets. The shower comes down so soft
and gentle that the victim walks off" majestically, without
the least idea he is carrying a gallon of flour on his head
and shoulders, while his coat looks as if he had been rolled
in a meal tub. It is better he should not know all, for
if he takes offence, and looks up, he will receive some
comfits in his eye, or find that he has been forgotten
altogether, and his foes are at another victim. With all
my experience of human nature I must confess myself
astonished at the desperate and insatiable malignity cf
some girls opposite me, quite as good-looking as the run
of angels in the Catholic Exposition. For three hours
they never ceased to do all the damage they could to
the persons, clothes, and tempers of the human race
generally, friend or foe, only stopping now and then for
a few seconds, not to rest, but to pick out a good victim.
You may guess who the victims would be— everybody
who looked at all like a gentleman, in spite of his
disguise, dust, and dirt ; also everybody who looked a
little out of place there. The Zouaves, too, of
course, with their graceful figures and freedom of gait,
their often aristocratic features, their bare necks, and
somewhat theatrical uniform, were irresistible. Every
body in the balconies, man, woman, and child, pelted
them. The comfits went down their backs and filled
their capes, but they seemed to make a rule of not even
looking up at their enemies, well knowing who they

136 THE CARNIVAL
would be. The Legionaries, too, had their foes. It was
lower down in the Corso, where the small public-houses
are ; but the assailants looked honest and pretty for all
that. The women have the advantage of position, and
of the tin funnels, but strength tells on the other side.
A resolute man, not over anxious for his eyes, or his
good looks, with two or three big pockets full of comfits,-
and large reserves at hand, can throw enough, and fast
enough, to clear a balcony of its occupants, or make
them, at least, bend to the storm, but this is not an
affair of regular duels, and one can see that a gentleman
has done all that can be expected of him when he has
made a fair return for compliments received. But as
everybody's hand is against everybody else everybody
suffers. The ladies show it most Their bonnets and
their hair, their veils and their dresses, become loade'd
with white rubbish, which it is hardly worth while to
shake off". Every now and then they sweep the balcony,
of course on the heads of the people below. As for the ¦'I'
bouquets — many of them a franc or two francs apiece —
the ladies look admiringly at the first, but soon begin
to catch a bouquet, and fling it down at somebody or
anybody else five seconds after.
The real secret of all this endurance is that these
comfits are the courtesies of the occasion, and the more
savagely they are hurled the more pointed the flattery.
The ladies pick out the ' swells,' and the fine fellows the
pretty girls. Of course, they must both keep their hands
in with some victim or other, but they are always looking
out for the nobler game, or at least for something to
interest and attract. Opposite me, under a balcony,
with two friends, there stood a good-looking young

IRRESISTIBLE OBJECTS 137
woman, who might be a bride or sweetheart, with the
usual Roman costume, a red bodice, blue petticoat, snow-
white lace kerchief, and a red band across her black hair,
with a good strong complexion, and a smile always on
her face. Everybody who caught sight of that face
dashed a handful of comfits into it, and as this was done
at least once a minute for the three hours she stood there,
I am sure her face became both redder and rounder as
the assault and battery went on. How she escaped
having her eyes injured I cannot conceive. Every now
and then she bent her head, and rubbed her eyes, and I
feared she had been hit too hard, but in an instant after
she was cotirting fresh persecution.
But whatever attracted notice of any kind received
the samfe marked attention. The grave were assaulted
and so were the gay, the dowdy, and the smart, but
perhaps most of all anybody who seemed to have strayed
into the Corso, and had not much right there. Round
hats, seven-guinea overcoats, velvet mantles, and all male
or female attire that seemed too good or too new for the
occasion, were immediately madte free of the Corso. The '
proper missile to hurl at one of Lincoln and Bennett's
best hats is a bouquet, somewhat exceeding the regulation
weight, which, after being thrown at the beauties in the
balconies and back at everybody below a dozen times,
has become somewhat heavier and harder by frequent
contact with the dusty road. As you are walking on,
-looking naturally before, you feel a violent blow on the
back of the head, and the next instant see your hat under
the feet of the crowd several yards before you. Not
without difficulty you recover it and put it on, only
to offer a mark to another unseen foe. You become

138 THE CARNIVAL
conscious of fresh persecution, and slope off" into a side
street. The most conspicuous and indeed ostentatious belli
gerents are groups of handsome young fellows, six feet,
more or less, holding their heads well above the crowd,
and able to catch the eyes in the balconies. They take
the middle of the street, exchanging defiant glances
right and left They dress either in some slight absurdity,
or in close-fitting garments, that will 'neither collect dirt
nor reveal it. The middle one will be a very big fellow,
of whom England, or America, may be proud : os hume-
rosque dec similis. The dealers in comfits and bouquets,
and the small riffraff", recognise the lords of the creation,
and form themselves into a little army round the ad
vancing trio. Two men are lugging a heavy basket of
comfits, which they offer every now and then to shovel
into the pockets of the three fighting men. Half a dozen
men behind them are bearing, like military standards,
poles charged with bouquets. One or two others are
always tendering bouquets for immediate use, and trying,
with their own eyes, to establish hostile relations between
the signors in the street and the signoras above. Small
boys hang on the flanks of the advancing party, in the
hope of catching the bouquets which may fail to reach
the balconies, though such mishaps are not common, for
I never saw better throwing and catching. When the
street urchins get a good bouquet lawfully, they offer it
for sale, but soon wearying of trade, or yielding to a
momentary suggestion of malice, they fling it at a round
hat, or a bonnet a little out of fashion. But they make
nothing of snatching a bouquet or a handful of comfits
from a dealer's stock, of course to fling away at once. I

THE SENATE 139
suppose there is a profitable commerce going on, but I
saw no end of petty larceny, which must be a serious
item in the calcularion. No doubt the ' swells ' pay for
everybody. But Rome does not go mad without warning and
ceremony. In the first place the Carnival is each day
opened by the great bell of the Capitol, which roars for
a quarter of an hour, and is closed at sunset, or earlier
by the guns of St Angelo. On the first day there is
also a grand procession : one must think it very grand
indeed, for part of it is the entire Senate of Rome. But
I won't stagger your credulity ; I know I do sometimes.
The comfits had been flying about for an hour on the
opening Saturday, when there came down the Corso,
from the Capitol, first a troop of dragoons, then three
state carriages, all very grand indeed inside and out
then more dragoons, then two immense carriages, all
gold and glass, drawn by six horses all over gold,
and full of magnificent personages in silks, satins, and
brocades, mostly crimson. The first was that of Mon
signor the Governor of Rome, and a member of the
Papal Court The next contained the Senate — that is,
the Senator ; for the citizens of Rome have now one
neck, as Nero wished, and the last of the Romans is still
here. The Senator does humble service to the Pope at
the great ceremonies of the Church ; he figures in pro
cessions, and has a chain round his neck like the bishops
at the Council. There are also consuls ; so I must infer
from numerous marble tablets in the Capitol recording
the Senator and Consuls quite down to our times. I did
not, indeed, see the Consuls to know them, but it
occurred to me that one of the emperors made his horse

I40 THE CARNIVAL
a consul, and a Pope can do as much as an emperor, and
a good deal more. Then came more dragoons, then
half-a-dozen more state carriages, and dragoons bringing
up the rear. The procession was very splendid, and
must have taken nearly a quarter the length of the
Corso. But, carriage, horse, and foot, it was most un
mercifully pelted. The horses tossed and wriggled, and
the comfits rattled against the roofs and windows of the
carriages like a hailstorm on skylights. By the by, both
the Governor and the Senator have the famous old
initials of the Roman State embroidered with bullion,
on an immense scale, upon their hammer-cloths, and
emblazoned on their panels with a grand trophy of con
quered flags. But a dainty little cross is added, like the
algebraic sign which denotes the power, or like the bit
of a Cupid in the old mosaics riding a centaur or a lion.
Can you do it in type .? ' S. P. Q. R.+.' The addition
has been in use many centuries. That was the proces
sion the first day. There was to have been one on
Thursday, but it missed, and I saw none. The mud
would have done it some damage.
Now for the races : I have seen them every day.
At 5 o'clock two guns are fired ; in ten minutes, two
more — good loud guns, that seem to shake the walls.
Another ten minutes and two dragoons, followed at the
interval of a hundred yards by ten more, come up the
Corso from the Obelisk at a hand-gallop, the best horses
trotting. The crowd jumps out of the way, and jumps
back again the instant the dragoons have passed. It is
a feat on both sides, but has soon to be repeated with
increased dexterity. In ten minutes the same dragoons

THE RACES 141
return, this time at a good gallop. The crowd has to be
more on the alert, and to get quicker out of the way.
But people are accustomed to this in most foreign cities,
as, for example, in the Toledo at Naples, which is always
full of vehicles and also of foot passengers, both in quick
and constant motion. The crowd yields and reunites
just as the air does when a stone is sent through it.
However, after the return of the dragoons the crowd in
the Corso leaves the centre of the roadvifay a little
clearer for circulation, and they who remain in the
middle of the street look nervously upwards now and
then towards the Obelisk. All at once the crowd
divides, and seven or eight horses rush past you at a
speed that 'might not, indeed, win the Derby, but which
is very impressive to a close observer. They are with
out riders — this is for the thirty millions who have not
seen a race in the Corso. They are small, slight things —
'weedy,' I have heard them called — and they are got
up in a style not agreeable to English notions. Their
numbers are painted in white letters a foot long on their
fore and hind quarters. They have large gilt tin flappers
like wings, larger than a page of foolscap, so fixed as
to rise and fall against their ribs, and, it is said, furnished
with steel points on the under surface. A similar engine
is attached to the root of the tail, and various other
hideous contrivances— bullets, they say, with points —
hang about them. The effect is more queer than ugly ;
at least I speak for myself, and for the mob of Rome,
who know a race in no other form. The horses are, as
often as not, well together halfway, but seldom early or
late in the race.

142 THE CARNIVAL
I have witnessed two starts. At the first three
horses came out of a siding, and the instant they saw
the course — this was the second day — they were on their
hind legs. By that time three more showed behind.
There was a yell and scream of man and beast, and all
six were off instantly, followed by another ten yards
behind — all this, from first to last, ten seconds, perhaps
fifteen. They immediately began to shed their absurd
finery, which boys rushed in to pick up. The next start
I saw was fairer, and took perhaps a minute from the
first appearance. The 'winning-post' is a sailcloth
thrown across a narrow prolongation of the Corso, close
to the ascent of the Capitol, called, I know not how
long, Ripresa de' Barberi, from the use made of it At
the intersection of two narrow streets several sailcloths
are thrown from corner to corner, and the hofses,
blind and half-mad, tumble into the sailcloth, some
times all of a heap. The first day some of them broke
through, and were soon scampering round Trajan's
Column. I saw their arrival in the third race ; they
are the same horses always. They tailed in, abated
their speed, and were taken up with ease before they got
into the toils. People say the poor brutes all belong to
one man, and therefore it matters not which wins ; nor
is there any betting to speak of I am only describing
this extraordinary performance for the benefit of those
who may never be out of their own country. They may
have seen races with riders, over open downs, in well-
kept courses. What do they think of seven or eight
horses maddened with horrid devices, and started with
out riders down more than a mile's length of narrow
street filled with an immense crowd, which divides under

HISTORY OF THE RACES 143
their very noses and joins again at their tails ? At any
one point the parting does not take more than three or
four seconds.
But I must leave the rest, perhaps the absurdest
also, to another day.

The Races are of no great antiquity. They were
instituted by Paulus 1 1., 1 464-1 471, the Pope who
reduced the Jubilee Cycle to twenty-five years. The
circumstances of the time, the general European
anarchy, and the increasing demands on the Papal
treasuiy, involving, among other costly projects, the
standing idea of a Crusade for the expulsion of the
Turks out of Europe, made Rome the less scrupulous
both as to men and as to measures. One story is that
up to the above-mentioned date the races were run by
Jews, who were at length allowed to substitute horses at
their own cost This was not the only annual penalty
to be paid by the Jews. Up to 1870 they had to
present themselves, by deputation, at the Capitol, and
repeat a humble apology for some supposed offence. I
think it was Mgr. Randi who had to receive them. He
just drove up, alighted, waved his hand, and was off"
again, when they walked away.

144

CHAPTER LXXXI
SOME DETAILS OF PROCEDURE
Rome : Fab. 28.
The New Rules are the talk of the day, and how to deal
with them. Bishops are meeting here and there, from
day to day, to resolve upon a plan of counter-action.
To-morrow it is expected there will be an important
decision, and a crisis in the story of this Council. It is
assumed that the Rules are intended and planned to stop
discussion ; but as the Rules expressly assume discussion,
both on the general principle and the main features
of the matter before the Council, and also on the par-
ticulars and very words, it cannot be admitted that dis
cussion is to be stopped outright, or that the Council is
henceforth to be only paper work. However, it is the
galled jade that winces, and these Fathers must know,
and do know, a good deal better than outsiders whether
the new harness is cumbersome and complicated, whether
the rein is tight, and whether there will be more need
than before to fear the caprice or the violence of the
driver. The suspicion and resentment are so strong in
some quarters, among the Germans especially, that it
has even been proposed to look out for the best oppor
tunity of withdrawing from the Council, and throwing
upon Pius IX. and his advisers the responsibility of all

NOTHING BUT TALK 145
that may happen. There is the same numerical amount
of opposition to these Rules as to the Dogma of Infalli
bility, and it is even said that there will be less reluc
tance to act. So it is not impossible that near a
hundred Fathers — for the Opposition counts a hundred
and forty — may leave either the Council, or Rome, upon
the express ground that discussion is too much tied to
make attendance here of any u5e. The French, how
ever, do not see the wisdom of throwing up the game
and leaving the field clear for they know not what ope
rations. So vigilance, obstinacy, and dexterity are still
the order of the day.
It can hardly be denied that there was a case for
some alteration in the Rules. We Englishmen may
very naturally feel much edified and comforted at the
singular spectacle of the entire hierarchy of the Church
of Rome performing magnificent ceremonies and making
splendid Latin speeches for three whole months with
absolutely no result whatever. It is enough to console
Anglicans for three centuries of dormant or idly-active
Convocations. We may, too, feel no great surprise at
the manifest readiness of such men as Strossmayer and
Haynald to make any number of orations in a language
few can master, in the finest building in the world, and
on an occasion which has not occurred for three centuries
and may never again. But Rome must be allowed its
own point of view, and if any work was to be done an
endless continuity of talk was not the way to do it.
The discussions have hitherto been such as we should
have in our Parliament, if we could suppose first, second,
and third readings, all fused into one rambling discussion,
and that not conclusive, but to be resumed as often as
VOL. IL L

146 SOME DETAILS OF PROCEDURE
the Bill has been amended in conformity with the
previous debates. Every speech hitherto has been all
about the Schema in hand ; its principles, its details, its
wording, and whatever else the speaker might think
connected with it The expectation evidently was that
after all who wished had had their say the Schema was
to go to Committee, come back again, be discussed again,
and so on for ever. This, mind, when a pontifical code
is the work to be done. Under such a system of dis
cussion, one of two things must happen. Either the
CEcumenical Vatican Council would sit as long as the
world lasts, only getting to the end of its work to find
that it must return to the beginning, or the functionaries
whom the gods call presidents, and men the legates,
would, every now and then, pronounce the discussion
closed, stop a hundred rebellious mouths, take the votes
and add what they thought fit to the law, or the faith,
of the Church. The bare possibility of such a conclusion
to come any day, was enough to unnerve men more
accustomed to altars and pulpits than to Senates and
Council-rooms. It is quite plain that the original Rules, liberally
interpreted as they have been, favoured declamation,
but not deliberation, and certainly not decision. New
Rules were wanted. Here they are, and when the Pope
has presented every Father in the Council with the cus
tomary ashes next Wednesday, it is presumed that each
will be humble and contrite enough to endure them and
observe them. As I understand these Rules, there will
be only one viva voce discussion, and that upon para
graph by paragraph ; but it is to be final, so that what
is then discussed may be any time put to the vote para-

WANT OF CONFIDENCE IN ROME 147
graph by paragraph. All the preliminary stages are to
be done on paper. The Fathers who have anything to
say, either to the whole, or the parts, or the words, are
to send in their remarks clearly stated and methodically
arranged to the Committee charged with the subject, and
are to state the amendments they desire, if any. The
Committee, as far as it thinks fit, is to amend the pro
positions — or Bill, as we should call it — in accordance
with the papers sent in, and is then to circulate the ' Bill '
thus amended, with an explanatory statement, among
the Fathers. In this way it is evident that the matter
to be put to the vote, if honestly prepared, will represent
the joint industry of all parties and all sides, as far
as Rome herself thinks fit to take the advice of inde
pendent Fathers.
But it is painfully clear that the independent Fathers
do not expect either fairness in the paper part of the work,
or freedom in the viva voce discussion. They are orators
rather than canonists, and perhaps better prepared to
condemn than to amend, and to criticise than to advise.
They are gathering together, and calling to their aid all
the learning and all the experience within reach. The
Sovereigns, whatever they are ready to do in the final
appeal and in the last necessity, would much rather the
theologians settled these matters satisfactorily and com
fortably among themselves.
As to the Council itself, everything is uncertain. It
is not known whether it meets again next Thursday
or next Monday. It is not known whether it will
proceed at once to the great question, De Romano Pon
tifice, which is to include the infallibility, or whether it
will try the New Rules on some old matter. That has

148 SOME DETAILS OF PROCEDURE
been suggested, and the propositions about Rationalism,
it is thought, would do to put the Fathers in training for
the more serious work before them. Both sides betray
a wholesome dread of the fell issue which may at once
break up the Council and the Church of Rome, and do
so almost before they are aware of it The majority
here is precipitate ; the minority obstinate ; but both re
coil from the precipice on the edge of which they are
struggling. Both sides are firm, but one will have to
give way. A protest against the New Rules is in pre
paration, and it is likely that either they will be amended,
or satisfactory assurances be given that the discussion
will not be closed prematurely. I have already told you
that the French ambassador here is to be reinforced
from home. There have been several meetings, at his
house, of the French and German bishops, on the critical
phase of affairs introduced by these New Rules.
The last two sittings before this little recess appear
to have had incidents. On Monday the Bishop'of Namur
talked about the Breviary in a way some of the Fathers
did not like, and said that his own people did not care
much for the Little Catechism. He was called to order,
though what he said was not bad or irregular. Haynald,
the most fluent and ready speaker here, felt moved to
come to his rescue, but was told he could not speak that
day, so he put his name down for Tuesday. He was
much excited, and spoke strongly. The bell rang.
After a pause he proceeded, but the majority would not
listen ; they called to order, rattled their paper-knives,
and drowned his voice. The bell rang a second time ;
Haynald was formally called to order by Capalti and left
the pulpit. This does not promise well for the one, first

FRANCE, AUSTRIA, AND ROME 149
and last, discussion provided by the New Rules. On
Tuesday four Spanish bishops spoke. But all this is
passing out of mind at the approach of a crisis which all
fear. Every day, we are now told, something new and
strange may be expected. Already they say the Council
has spoilt the Carnival. Has it taken its place ?

Berlin : March 2.
A few weeks ago Count Beust begged to dissuade the
Papal Government from having the famous canons enacted by
the Council. The note in which these admonitions were
embodied was communicated by him to the Austrian Ambas
sador at Paris, together with an explanatory despatch, of which
the following is an abstract. Alluding to the reserve Austria
and the other Catholic Powers have displayed towards the
Council, the Count observes : —
The Catholic Powers, and more especially Austria and
France, being anxious to leave the Church at liberty to conduct
its own concerns, have not interfered with the arrangements
for the Council and have resigned the right properly belonging
to them of sending representatives to that assembly. In thus
abstaining from all interference they had been actuated by a
wish to show their respect to the Church, and likewise by a
recognition of that principle of modern civilisation which
accorded full and unrestrained liberty to Church and State
within their respective spheres. For France it had been more
easy to adopt such a course than for Austria, the former, by
her treaties with the Pope, being entitled to stop the promulga
tion on her territory of any objectionable ecclesiastical decrees,
a right which the latter, by her own Concordat, did not
possess. In view, therefore, of what was preparing at the
Council, and remembering the protests a short time ago
made by the Austrian bishops against the new school and
marriage laws, and the agitation to which their resistance had

150 SOME DETAILS OF PROCEDURE
given rise, Austria could not but feel uneasy concerning the
future. It was not, indeed, the intention of the Council to
enact Papal Infallibility that disquieted her, for she trusted that
this doctrine, if proclaimed at all, would be expressed in a mild
and merely theoretical form, similar to the one adopted by the
Florentine Council, and, therefore, without much practical
influence on the course of events. Nor had the State a right
to object to the proclamation of-other purely religious dogmas,
such as the immaculate conception and glorification of the
Virgin Mary. But it was different when the Church was about
to claim a permanent and comprehensive supremacy over the
State, and to arrogate to herself the right of deciding which of
the laws laid down by the secular powers were binding on the
subject, and which not. Unfortunately, this was the stand
point assumed in the 2 1 canons submitted to the Council, and
warmly advocated by certain parties. But, not content with
establishing so unacceptable a principle, the canons proceeded
at once to make use of the prerogative claimed, and declared
many of the fundamental laws of all modern and civilised
States to be unsound, invalid, and, in short, accursed. The
canons, for instance, anathematised liberty of religion, liberty
of the press, liberty of instruction, civil marriage, the amena
bility of the clergy to the criminal code, and a variety of other
statutes asserted in them to be contrary to the laws of God and
Holy Church. Now, supposing these Sclwmata to be really
passed by the Council, the danger to France would be very
small, as the principles denounced had been the law of the
land for nearly a century, and were likely to be upheld by the
common consent of society. But in Austria legislation had
only recently begun to recognise the necessity of enacting the
laws long introduced in France, and the consequences result
ing from clerical opposition to the new statutes would, there
fore, be much more unpleasant. For this reason the Austrian
Government had applied to Rome, and pointed out the
disastrous results likely to arise from a struggle between Church
and State. Whatever might be enjoined by the Church, the

THE BISHOP OF MONTPELLIER 151
Austrian Courts of Law would not be induced to look
leniently on those that broke the laws or incited others to
break them. Add to this that the majority of the Austrian
bishops were opposed to the canons, and in the event of their
being passed would be subjected to the cruel alternative ol
either not publishing them or of doing so against their better
judgment, and it could not be denied that there were many
reasons for apprehending an undesirable issue. Rome should
beware of throwing down the gauntlet to the civilised
world. The Bishop of MontpeUier has addressed the following
letter to the Francais : — Rome, Feb. 27, 1870. To the
Editor, — You have reproduced in your journal of the 24th of
this month, without adding any comment, the letter which the
Bishop of Laval thought it right to address to the editor of the
Semaine Religieuse ofthe diocese, under date ofthe 7th of, the
present month. This letter is now known to everyone, and it
is not necessary to quote the painful expressions which it con
tains. From respect for the age and character of the venerable
writer it was right to allow time for a disavowal of the letter ;
or if not disavowed to give an opportunity for its retractation.
It has not been withdrawn. It does not belong to me,
certainly, in my weakness to avenge the affronts offered to the
Bishop of Orleans. The outrage he has received does not
indeed, transcend the limits of his patience and charity, and
his Christian moderation. This kind of passionate attack
cannot injure a bishop whose whole life has been one of
heroic devotion to the Holy See, and who in all his writings
has upheld the cause of the Papacy. But the manifesto of
the Bishop of Laval, issued while the Council is in full Session,
and before any decision has been arrived at by it, seems to be
an assault upon its liberty, for each member of the Sacred
Assembly may be subjected to similar attacks. The liberty of
aU suffers when the hberty of one is affected, as by these
attacks which proceed from a prelate who is sitting among us,
and it is of the first importance that a Council should be

152 SOME DETAILS OF PROCEDURE
entirely free, wholly exempt from all pressure from any
quarter whatsoever. Accept, &c., Francois, Bishop of Mont
pellier. Rome : Feb. 28.
The police have granted permission for masks to be worn
in the streets to-day and to-morrow. This is only the second
time that this has been allowed since 1850. Perfect tran
quillity prevails. The weather continues very wet, and but
little animation is manifested in the Carnival festivities.
Paris : Feb. 26, Evening.
The Cardinal Archbishop of Lyons is dead. Notwith
standing the assertions of some of the Paris newspapers, it is
understood that perfect harmony exists between the Emperor
and the Ministry, as well as among the Ministers themselves.
The Emperor is reported to have said yesterday to a political
personage, — 'We shall succeed ; we have all the honest men
of the country at our backs ! ' The Soir of this evening affirms
the truth of the report that the Council of State has reduced
by 10,000 or 15,000 men the annual army contingent of 1871,
originally fixed at 100,000 men. Paris : Feb. 27, Evening.
The Journal Officiel of this morning announces that all
pubhc receivers and collectors of taxes will be allowed to
accept payments in Papal coins until April 30 next, at the rate
of 91C. per franc. The Moniteur of this evening says : —
' Letters received from Rome afford ground for anticipating
that fresh steps are about to be taken by the Cabinet of the
Tuileries to dissuade the Pontifical Government and CEcu
menical Council from taking any decision opposed to the
principles of the constitutional law of France. The French
Government will especially insist upon the necessity of giving
full liberty of expression to all the opinions represented in the
Council.

153

CHAPTER LXXXII
ASH WEDNESDAY
Rome : March 3.
Yesterday the Pope sprinkled ashes on the heads of
the Cardinals. The English who went to see it can
swear to the Pope and to the Cardinals, but not to the
ashes. To-day is a day of coming and going. People
are leaving for home and for Naples, and within an hour
of their departure others are fastidiously inspecting
rooms that have been cheerfully and pleasantly occu
pied for months. The patience and politeness of
secretaries and waiters is marvellous — nowhere more so
than at Rome. Out of doors new groups of strangers
stand, not knowing which way to turn, in the Condotti.
New eyes are devouring the contents of the windows,
staring at the bishops, and at whatever is either British
or decidedly not so. The models and the mendicants
have turned out in great force. The weather is either
coming or going. It is too hot for a fire, but not hot
enough to do without one. Sultriness is not warmth.
There is nothing like radiated heat But Rome is very
pleasant to-day for those who have nothing to do, and
a thrill of common humanity went through me this
morning as I saw a bishop in an overcoat carrying a
small carpet-bag. The Council is in a trance. Would

154 ASH WEDNESDAY
that it might not awake till it found the world wiser and
better ! On Monday there was a rumour that the army
at Civita Vecchia had received orders to prepare for
leaving at a day's notice. Most probably the report had
been put about by an Infallibilist bishop who has en
gaged to eat the leek, but would rather be spared it.
I see that one of your contemporaries at home has
kindly undertaken to state, in a very few words, the
whole truth respecting the opinions ofthe English bishops
at Rome. Excepting Errington and Clifford, he says, ' all
the English prelates are known to be in favour of the
dogma of infallibility being declared.' This he gives as
' news,' and without prejudice. Surrounded as we are
by rumours, suppositions, inferences, and interpretations,
anybody will hail with delight whatever is perfectly
accurate and authentic. Therefore it is that I deeply
regret that in this instance the informant, in his desire to
use ' fewf words,' has omitted one which is necessary not
only to the truth, but also to the sense of his announce
ment. He does not say what dogma of infallibility
these bishops wish to have declared. No such dogma
exists. No such dogma is in the Council yet for dis
cussion. No such dogma awaits either declaration or
decision. With or without a participation in the
Pontifical secret, nobody could produce a form of words
and say that it is the dogma of infallibility the battle is to
be about. For several centuries myriads of speculative
theologians have been trying to hit on a form of words
which shall make the Pope everything without making the
Church nothing, and which shall perfect faith without
annihilating reason. The results of this ingenuity fill
libraries. Which of these many forms of words is it

GEOGRAPHICAL DELIMITATION OF DOGMA 155
that this authentic and too laconic writer, speaking from
his own knowledge, tells us that Manning, Cornthwaite,
Ullathorne, Chadwick, Amherst, Roskell, Vaughan,
Turner, and Grant are all in favour of having declared
by the Council t The answer to this question is of some
importance to Bishops Clifford and Errington, because
this writer states that they object to the declaration ofthe
form of words desired by the others.
No one doubts that a very large majority of the
Fathers will vote anything for peace's sake, and to be
back again to their sees, where they will say as little as
they can about infallibility, or explain it away. The
American bishops have already hit on an ingenious theory
on the subject It is absolute infallibility modified
by geographical conditions. Everything that a Pope
says is to be true, excepting only as regards the United
States and all the countries that may be annexed. They
are even likely to carry the day, and there is a mysterious
allusion every now and then to the American formula.
Warned to place no confidence in princes, the bishops
are looking to a president, and to that condition of the
human intelligence which a president implies. But the
Old World has not yet failed them or fallen asleep. The
French Government has determined to send an Ambas
sador Extraordinary to the Council, most probably
Baroche. At the Council of Trent there was a French
ambassador, assisted by fourteen theologians, and from
the first announcement of this Council successive French
Ministers and statesmen have called attention to the
necessity. The International Committee of Fathers do not seem
to have decided finally how to meet the New Rules. It is

156 ASH WEDNESDAY
stated that they will most likely make an interpellation ;
that is, ask the question — What will follow upon a vote
of the Council in the face of a large minority ? The
theory of a Council being unanimous, it is thought, fails
when there is an opposition of a hundred and thirty
bishops representing nearly half, and that the best part,
of the Church. I should myself suppose that the answer
to this question will be that the Pope and his Council
will do as they think fit under the circumstances, and I
do not see what rejoinder the Opposition can make.
However, it reckons on eighty men, who, when the
occasion comes, are ready to walk out of the Council,
and thus impair, or rather hang up, its authority without
dividing the Church or touching the existing state of
things. The Pope's organs are exulting in the fact, as they
state it, that there is no controversy between the Fathers
of the Council, and that the only opposition which ap
pears is that by German writers, who are outside. It is
not added that nothing can be published here without
the Papal imprimatur. The text of the New Rules I
sent you the other day was from a proof sheet. There
are many verbal alterations in the published form, and
an alteration more or less important It is, that upon
the viva voce discussion being carried on to a great and
needless length, ten Fathers may join in a written re
quest that it be closed, and the President may thereupon
act on the request. As the request would be only a
form, perhaps a convenient one, it is not felt to be a
security. What, indeed, is the real feeling and the real
situation of the hundred and thirty bishops, call them
what we please ? They feel that something hovers over

THE PAPAL PRESS 157
them which may descend any moment What is it t
Will it waft itself down and light upon them ? That is
not what they expect The idea in their minds is a
thing that makes a swoop and is armed.
Meanwhile, it is a fact which, I know, will be contra
dicted, but which is a fact nevertheless, that the deepest
murmurs here are not those of the Opposition. It is
the other side who go about complaining to everybody
that they are simply made fools of; that they are wast
ing their time, doing nothing, losing character ; and
represented to the world, not by speeches which are not
yet published, nor yet by acts which are not yet done,
but by Papal journalists, who, as they say, make a capital
out of them and dress them up in what colours they
please for the amusement of their readers. Out of Rome,
they say, they never were beholden to the journals, for
they could always speak for themselves. Now they must
be content to be just as they are described, the puppets
of a fanatical or hypocritical Press. It is a sad case, but
it is for them to see the wa)' out of it.

Munich : March 2.
The King has addressed an autograph letter to Dr.
Dollinger on the occasion of his birthday, in which His Majesty
expresses a hope that Dr. Dollinger will continue bravely to
fight in the contest he has commenced for the benefit of the
State and the Church. Paris : March 2.
The France of this evening says : —
'At a dinner given yesterday at the Tuileries to some
members of the Legislative Body the Emperor expressed his

158 ASH WEDNESDAY
resolution not to dissolve the Legislative Body under present
circumstances.' The Francais contradicts the rumour that the Government
intends to modify the electoral law in a sense opposed to
universal suffrage.
It is expected that Father Rouillard, the Provincial of the
French Dominicans, will be nominated Bishop of Grenoble.
The Francais, alluding to the letters addressed by Count
Daru to a French prelate at Rome, says that the extracts pub
lished by the Times are inaccurate, and that in any case
Count Daru's expressions only imply that respect will be paid
to the liberty of the Church, and are meant as a warning of the
possible effect of certain decisions of the Church upon pubhc
opinion. The Journal des Debats considers that Count Daru's
arguments were futile, in so far as they sought to influence
the Vatican, injudicious on other points, and mistaken in the
supposed effect of the proclamation of InfaUibility in France.
M. Drouyn de Lhuys has been appointed Vice-President
of the Commission upon Decentralisation. Rome : March 3.
The Pope suspended last Monday the issue of the Osser-
vatore Romano, for publishing, among other matters, without
regarding the corrections of the censorship, a telegraphic
despatch announcing the meeting of Don Carlos and the ex-
Duke of Modena. It is believed thatthe journal will reappear
on Monday next.

159

CHAPTER LXXXIII
THE CARNIVAL
Rome : March 4.
The Carnival, all the people here say, is a doomed insti
tution, losing year by year its Roman and mediaeval
character. It is nothing, they say, to what it was when
half the people were in character or costume, when the
Corso was a string of carriages, and when princes,
duchesses, and countesses exchanged railleries and what
not Well, nothing is as it has been in this world. All
its glories are fading. We shall never again see the Jews
in the Ghetto compelled to pay the prizes to be run for,
and themselves also made to strip, and run races in the
Corso, through a gauntlet of horsewhips and heavy
missiles. Cling as we may to the recollections of the
last century, our own lot is cast in this, and v^^e may con
gratulate ourselves that we do not live later down in the
ebbing current of Time. The lament all last week was
that no Romans were there ; no nobles, not even the
tradespeople. All took so much to heart the political
state of Italy. But the weather, also, was bad ; and
masks, too, had been prohibited. So, excepting a few
hundreds of people in some folly of costume, and here
and there peasantry with their big tambourines, there
was only the continual warfare of comfits, which, though

i6o THE CARNIVAL
as persevering as bombardments, in these days becomes
monotonous. But on Saturday Rome was gladdened with the
sudden announcement that on the last two days — that
is, Monday and Tuesday—masks would be allowed. It
was, however, too late to make parties, it was said, and
going about alone in a disguise is an unsocial and rather
fatiguing amusement. A man must have great energy
and spring to find continuous and varied amusement for
a mob in an entirely new character a whole afternoon.
The Romans used to go out in groups, and play pranks
on other groups, whom they might or might not re
cognise. Then, again, one heard that the Romans would
have nothing to do with the Carnival, whatever might
happen. The Roman nobility is about the most select —
and some say the most worthless — in the world. All this
I can neither believe nor disbelieve, for I know nothing
about them. Such a colossal affair as this Papacy must
have a tendency to stunt, to wither, and to spoil every
human institution under its shadow. But the real truth,
probably, is that the Roman nobility — nobility and gentry
mean the same here — are neither better nor worse than
most men under similar circumstances — under whatever
circumstances, perhaps, one ought to say. All the'world
comes here and takes note of their ways, and all the world
traduces the exclusive, whether they deserve it or not
But the ' Romans,' I have to repeat, ' are shy of the
Carnival.' Perhaps the truth is the English, Americans,
French, and other strangers having taken it on them
selves, the Romans decline the competition and the free
intercourse of the occasion. Tomfoolery with old friends
and acquaintances, with a strong bond of traditional

MASKS PERMITTED i6i
•sentiment and humour, cannot be dilated and stretched
to cosmopolitan dimensions. Well, it is Rome herself
that brings the world here, as she has always done, and
she must not complain if her Carnival is vulgarised, and
even barbarised. Then, if any choose to be fastidious,
there are plenty to take their place, for, besides strangers,
the population of Rome has nearly doubled during the
last half-century.
So with Monday came the masks, but with them
rain and dirt, and I saw little of the Corso. Tuesday —
Shrove Tuesday wfe call it — was to be the great day, and
it was. From the Obelisk to the Capitol, it was difficult
to push your way more than a yard at a time, even if
comfits, flour, and exploded bouquets were pouring upon
you. The general effect was as if a quarter of the popu
lation had tricked themselves out in the contents of old
family chests, old clothes shops, and the old shops in the
small streets about Covent-garden and Drury-lane. But
an ordinary children's masquerade on Twelfth Day
suggests it pretty well. You may throw in a few dozen
groups of Ethiopian serenaders, without, however, black
ened faces, chimney-sweeps on May Day, Christmas
mummers, and, of course, as many clowns, harlequins,
and pantaloons as you please. The masks are generally
black silk, or more outrageously hideous.
I got into the Corso at half-a-dozen different points,
and at every one there were fellows talking and acting
some part which amused the people, at the expense of
some butt, unless they chanced to light on a tongue as
sharp as their own, when the amusement was all the
more. A big fellow, with a tall cap and very motley
apparel, but with a mouth like a well and a tongue like
VOL. II. M

i62 THE CARNIVAL
a dragon, appeared to single out the stout, heavy
Englishman as his object, and with plenty of words, and
suitable gestures, created a general merriment, in which
the victim had nothing to do but join. The noise was
deafening, and the closeness intolerable. All the time,
and as the time was becoming short, the occupants of
the balconies positively maddened at their work, empty
ing sometimes tubs of rubbish at one heave on the
crowd below. By the by, I have not mentioned that
on every one of these eight days, not only both foot-
pavements but also half the roadway become white with
comfits before the end of three hours, and hundreds
of old women and children are busy scraping them
up for fresh use, somewhat dirty now, and not quite
dry. The students of the French Academy had prepared,
and now most effectively manned, a huge fabric, repre
senting two enormous sea-horses, with Neptune, or some
sea-god, standing between them, twenty feet high, I
should think. The space between the sea-horses was
occupied by fishes, that waged war with the balconies,
with which they were nearly level. Then followed a long
train of decorated waggons and shabby hack-carriages,
full of black devils in white dominoes, sailors, family
parties, and boys and girls — nice-looking ones, too— who
evidently cared not a bit what they were suffering, so as
they paid it in kind. Many discarded their wire masks,
as being hot and preventing a correct aim. I saw only
one man get out of temper, and he was, I think, a fellow-
countryman, of the paterfamilias class, with a pretty
daughter ten or twelve years old. He walked up to a
comparatively open spot at the end of the Condotti to

TRIALS OF TEMPER 163
look on, as he would have looked at Punch-and-Judy at
home. Of course he was picked out at once from half-a-
dozen balconies, and retreated angrily pointing his
umbrella. The rule is that nobody takes offence what
ever is done, or whoever does it, but of course there are
reasonable limits to the right of assault
One mode of offence — one among many — is ingenious
and simple. Men are always looking up to the balconies
for one reason or another, and in so doing are apt to
show an interval between the throat and the collar. The
thing is to drop a handful of comfits into that void. The
comfits immediately disperse themselves pleasantly about
the human figure, and, if there be what we call Wellington
boots, settle finally under the soles of the feet, inflicting
for the rest of the afternoon the well-known penance of
the pilgrims to Loretto. But human ingenuity is inex
haustible for malice, though sometimes defeated in its
best intentions. The prettiest missiles are little comets,
consisting of small balls of comfit stuff", with coloured
streamers to steady them.
All this was going on faster and more furious than
ever on Tuesday, when came the two guns, then two
guns again. It was terrible to think of a mile race, with
wild, riderless horses, through such a mass and such a
riot. Flowever, the Dragoons came from the Obelisk,
as usual, but not quite so fast They returned at a
somewhat better pace, but hugging one another very
close in what seemed hardly ten feet of space. Having
driven from Salerno to Paestum and back, four abreast,
I know through how small a space four horses can manage
to squeeze themselves. In ten minutes more a shout,
and through a mere thread of an opening the seven

i64 THE CARNIVAL
horses came at a very good pace, but one behind the
other, with small chance of their changing their places.
This was two-thirds down the Corso — that is, towards
the Capitol. With eight repetitions the poor brutes must
become knowing ; and, now I think of it, I have not
before mentioned that for many days before the races
they are led up and down the street, to train them in
the way they should run. Rome is the great school of
the world, and even horses can here be taught that truth
is the straight course, and divergence error.
The race over, instantly begins the most extraordinary
scene of the Carnival. Lights show themselves here and
there, in the windows, in the balconies, and then below.
Shortly there is an illumination, with brilliant pyramids
and circles of gas ; our friend Neptune is in a grand halo
of Bengal lights. A gun fires, and thousands of voices
cry ' Moccoli, Moccoli!' and then this strange game begins.
It is almost confined to the occupants of the windows
and balconies, but they come close to the ground, and
reach up a good way to the skies, while, the balconies
being almost continuous, there is plenty of amusement
for the spectators below. Everybody carries a lighted
candle, and everybody tries to put everybody's candle
out, with the breath, or with flapping, or with, throwing
upwards, or dropping downwards.
Every house wages war with its neighbour ; every
story with that above and that below ; every window
with the windows near ; while in every balcony or window
itself there rages intestine war. The little boys in the
street climb up and carry a window by assault, dropping
down the moment they have extinguished the lights.
Handkerchiefs are tied in lines, and dropped to the

MOCCOLI 165
windows below, or fastened at the end of sticks, and
flapped to this side or that Of course it is a very pretty
sight, as Pepys would say, to see rows of ladies of good
figure, gracefully, but very actively, defending, and all
the time exhibiting, their lights. The hangings of the
balconies take fire occasionally, to the great delight of
the mob below ; but the prudent withdraw them in time.
The general effect is that of an illumination, in which
either you or the candles are tipsy. This goes on for an
hour. The Angelus, which I think must have been put
off" on this day, sounds. The soldiers, horse and foot,
collect, form, and march off" the Corso, and the Carnival
is over. Not quite over, I must say. The illumination
and the noise went on. There was a grand masked ball
at the Colonna, from which all the people turned out at
midnight, and, with all the other masks in Rome, paraded
the Corso with music, and whatever was thought music,
till three in the morning, when at last Rome was quiet,
and Lent had begun.
I must say that during the eight days these Saturnalia
were in full possession of the Corso, I never saw a case
either of ill-feeling, of intoxication, or anything else one
would not wish to see. One group, indeed, did look
very like the company of a very minor theatre, but they
were quiet and dull enough. It was a game, and nothing
more ; and the laws of the game seemed honourably
observed. Could we have a thing of this sort in England ?
It is easy to say that nobody wishes it, but one may still
regret that it should be utterly out of the question. Yet
it is said England once had her Carnivals. As Rome
has the reputation of being socially a dull place, and her
nobility are just now said to do little to Hghten the gloom.

1 66 THE CARNIVAL
it is only fair to state that there has been at least a lively
week or fortnight.
Washington's birthday was celebrated on the 22nd
ult. by a hundred Americans and their guests, when
Mr. Buchanan Reid was voted into the chair by accla
mation, and our Queen's health given and well responded
to. There have been several balls and other entertain
ments in private houses, in which ordinary Christian
ladies and gentlemen could find themselves under the
same roof with Principessas and Marchesas, on the con
dition of paying twenty francs apiece to this or that
charitable institution. The Salviati, Aldobrandini, and
Barberini Palaces have been opened to the world at
Rome. There have been receptions at the French Em
bassy and the American Minister's. The German
artists have given a grand fancy ball. Last night four
leading artists gave an entertainment, with pictures and
music, to the whole fraternity at Rome. In fact, if any
body comes here with that best of all passports and re
commendations described by Lord Chesterfield, and
chooses to please and be pleased, he can find amusement
and society even here, in this huge grave of the old
world. Some of my readers will think I have given more
than sufficient space to the Carnival. But after being
long a not uninteresting social question, it had now
received political notice. Turin, Milan, Florence, and
Naples, and many other cities where the Carnival had
never been much at home, were now asking how Rome
managed to keep it up. Was it 'Aie genius loci} Was it
the temper of the native population ,? Was it the

DULCE EST DESIPERE IN LOCO 167
visitors 1 Was it, as some did not hesitate to say, the
influence of an extravagant superstition, full of wild
ideas and ingenious devices .'' That we could never
have a Carnival in London, or the Parisians a Carnival
in their own brighter and gayer city, is certain ; and of
course we find good reasons for it. But that a Carnival
is not a very objectionable thing is manifest from the
anxiety shown by Northern and Southern Italy to
develop or revive their own Carnivals, and to prove
Rome's a failure. If my evidence and recollections are
worth anything, it was not a failure in 1 870. But Rome
is, after all, only a moderate sized city, with no class of
roughs, and few manufactures. If there are what may
be called classes, they are in touch with one another.

Paris ; March 4.
An Imperial decree, dated the 2nd inst., promotes Mon
seigneur Ginoulhiac, Bishop of Grenoble, to the dignity of
Archbishop of Lyons. Pesth : March 4.
Yesterday, at a conference held at the house of Herr Deak,
the Minister, Baron Eotvos, laid before the meeting the
draft of a Bill respecting freedom of public worship. By
the provisions of the Bill everyone is allowed to practise the
creed to which he belongs ; free religious communities are
allowed to be established ; marriage is to be a civil contract ;
and complete liberty of action is allowed to parents with
regard to the education of their children.

1 68

CHAPTER LXXXIV
montalembert's letter
On March 5 there was published at Paris a letter
written, five days before, by Count Montalembert It
was received with great interest at Rome, and with still
more interest when it was found to be, as was then felt,
the novissima verba of the writer. In his then state of
health, following upon long and depressing illnesses, the
letter may have been too much for his strength. But as
the Pope said he had some reason to hope that Monta
lembert had, in the brief time allowed him, come to
think better, it is possible the ensuing conflict of feel
ings and convictions may have been itself too much for
him. To myself the name recalled many memories and
impressions upon which Time had done its work. In
the earlier stages of the Oxford Movement, he was often
quoted, with unqualified sympathy. Lamennais, his
friend and colleague, was a man of genius, of learning
and invention, but to these qualities Montalembert
seemed to add all that we expect to find in a high-bred
Christian gentleman of ancestry, education, and good
manners. That he was all this I doubt not, but I yet
think there was some little misapprehension at Oxford
as to Montalembert's special claims. He was, in fact, a

A DAYSPRING OUT OF DARKNESS 169
man of very mixed nationality, mixed associations, mixed
education, mixed schools, and about as much the
creature of circumstances as a good man can be.
Englishmen ought to be the first to deny that a for
tunate and thorough intermixture, and a well-assorted
variety are really the best school of character, whether
in its moral or in its intellectual aspect. Nor are
Romans in a condition to dispute it. Montalembert
was partly English, partly Scotch, partly French, and,
young as he was, had seen a good deal of the world
before he joined ' the forlorn hope ' that stepped out of
the ranks of common life to strengthen and popularise
the Church, and so to retrieve the loss it was supposed
to suffer by the downfall of the elder Bourbons. A large
acquaintance, wide and ready sympathies, versatile
powers, and the faculty as well as the wish to be all
things to all men, have their advantage, at least to those
who start with the noble design of restoring or reform
ing a world confessed by all to want it. But with the
gain there is loss, and the many-sided man is not so
tremendous a projectile as the pointed bolt of modern
political warfare. The little band who had set about to
summon a new world out of the mass of social con
fusion and corrupt life saw visions and dreamt dreams,
and, in fine, had numerous hobbies, which others
took up and worked out with immense but fruitless
industry. They revived all the ideas, all the hopes, all
the schemes of the Ages commonly called Dark, but
which were Light to them, and they were ready to reverse
the judgment which Time, not to say Necessity, has
pronounced on them. One after another these stars of
hope set in darkness. The most promising of all was

I70 MONTALEMBERT'S LETTER
the idea of the Pauperes Christi; that is, the creation
of a large working yet dependent class that should
become powerful by numbers, by organisation, and by
the high principles on which they stood. After exhaust
ing the finances, the opportunities, the youth, strength,
and heart of Christian philanthropists, these prot^gis of
the Church turned against their benefactors, or simply
reverted to old Nature's ways, like the legendary con
gregation to which Saint Anthony delivered his famous
sermon. It is impossible to bring the world back to old
ways, and so put out of count the actual order of things
in which we find ourselves. Though Montalembert made
great and sudden impressions from time to time, keeping
up not only his vigour, but also a perennial freshness and
purity of style, he failed to establish the reputation to
which he had early aspired, by a reconstruction of the
whole social state on Catholic principles. Like some
other great men he lived and died in border-land, leav
ing a lesson to avoid rather than to covet that undefined
position which gives abundant liberty of choice and
freedom of action, but at the cost of less actual result
Possibly I may be writing too much from my own recol
lection : possibly the many surviving friends of this
really interesting man may have much to say about
him : but to me he had early set in gloom, and it was
almost a surprise to me to find that he was writing and
dying.  Paris : March 5.
I am certain you will read with interest the subjoined trans
lation of a letter which Count Montalembert has felt himself
called upon to write, in reply to a person who had pointed out
to him what he considered a flagrant contradiction between his

PHASES OF GALLICANISM 171
former speeches in the Chamber of Peers against Gallicanism
and his present adhesion to the protest of Father Gratry
against the absolute supremacy and separate infallibility of the
Pope. The letter is dated Paris, February 28, 1870, and runs
as follows : —
Sir, — Since you are good enough to interest yourself in my
former speeches and in my present opinions, you, perhaps, are
aware that I for several years past have suffered from an
incurable malady which forbids my writing and walking, and
only at long intervals leaves me sufificient leisure, and my mind
sufiSciently free, to busy myself with the labours or the ques
tions to which my life has been devoted. Thus will be
explained to you my very involuntary delay in replying to the
letter you did me the honour to address to me on the 16th of
this month, respecting the contradiction you think you discern
between my speeches in the Chapter of St Denys, in the
Chamber of Peers in 1847, and my approbation of the recent
letters addressed by Father Gratry to Monseigneur the Arch
bishop of Malines. I desire, first, to thank you, sir, for having
thus afforded me an opportunity of reverting to a period now
so distant at the same time that I explain myself on the ques
tions of the day.
That said, I beg you to observe that the Gallicanism of
which I was the resolute and victorious adversary twenty-five years
ago had only the name in common with that with which you
reproach the Rev. Father Gratry. The Gallicanism I then
called a mummy was no other than that which my old colleague
and friend. Count Daru, ridiculed the other day when he said,
in replying to M. Rouland, 'You are mistaking the century.'
It was solely the oppressive or vexatious intervention of the
temporal power in spiritual interests ; an interference which a
portion of our old and illustrious French clergy had sometimes
too easily accepted. But I venture to say that you will not
find, any more in my speech of 1847 than in my other speeches
or writings, a single word in conformity with the doctrines or
pretensions of the Ultramontanes of the present day ; and that

172 MONTALEMEERTS LETTER
for an excellent reason — which is, that nobody had thought of
advocating or raising them during the period between my
entrance into public life and' the advent of the Second Empire.
Never, thank heaven, have I thought, said, or written anything
favourable to the personal and separate infallibility of the Pope,
such as it is sought to impose upon us ; nor to the theocracy,
the dictatorship of the Church, which I did my best to repro
bate in that history of the Monks of the West of which you are
pleased to appreciate the laborious fabric ; nor to that Absolu
tism of Rome of which the speech that you quote disputed
the existence, even in the Middle Ages, but which to-day
forms the symbol and the programme of the faction dominant
among us.
Assuredly, if anyone would kindly point out to me anything
to correct or to retract in what I may have spoken from the
tribune of the Luxembourg, or from that of the Palais
Bourbon, and if I felt convinced of my wrong, it would be in
no way painful to me to confess him in the right ; for where is
the public man to whom twenty-three years of experience and
of revolutions have not taught something ?
But when I read again with you my words of 1847, I find
nothing, or scarcely anything, to change in them. I feel that,
did the occasion arise, I again to-day should oppose all against
which I then contended, and that I should proclaim, now as
then, the reciprocal incompetence of the Church and of the
State outside the boundary of their proper domain, without
desiring that their mutual independence should lead to their
absolute separation.
At the same time, I willingly admit that, if I have nothing
to cancel, I should have a great deal to add. I sinned by omis
sion, or, rather, by want of foresight. I said, ' Gallicanism is dead
because it made itself the servant of the State ; you have now
only to inter it.' I think I then spoke the truth. It was dead,
and completely dead. How, then, has it risen again ? I do not
hesitate to reply. In consequence of the lavish encouragement
given, under the pontificate of Pius IX., to exaggerated doc-

IDOL OF THE VATICAN 173
trines, outraging the good sense as well as the honour of the
human race — doctrines of which not even the coming shadow
was perceptible under the Parliamentary Monarchy.
There are wanting, then, to that speech, as to the one I
made in the National Assembly on the Roman expedition,
essential reservations against spiritual despotism, against
absolute monarchy, which I have always detested in the State,
and which does not inspire me with less repugnance in the
Church. But in 1847, what could give rise to a suspicion that the
liberal pontificate of Pius IX., acclaimed by all the Liberals of
the two worlds, would become the pontificate represented and
personified by the Univers and the Civiltct ? In the midst of
the unanimous cries then uttered by the clergy in favour of
liberty as in Belgium, of liberty in everything and for all, how
could we foresee as possible the incredible wheelabout of
almost all that same clergy in 1852 — the enthusiasm of most
of the Ultramontane doctors for the revival of Caesarism, the
harangues of Monseigneur Parisis, the charges of Monseigneur
de Salinis, and especially the permanent triumph of those lay
theologians of absolutism who began by squandering all our
liberties, all our principles, all our former ideas, before Napoleon
IIL, and afterwards immolated justice and truth, reason and
history, in one great holocaust to the idol they raised up for
themselves at the Vatican ?
If that word idol seems to you too strong, be pleased to lay
the blame on what Monseigneur Sibour, Archbishop of Paris,
wrote to me on September 10, 1853 : — 'The new Ultramontane
school leads us to a double idolatry— the idolatry of the
temporal power and of the spiritual power. When you formerly,
like ourselves, M. le Comte, made loud professions of Ultra-
montanism you did not und-erstand things thus. We defended
the independence of the spiritual power against the pretensions
and encroachments of the temporal power, but we respected
the constitution of the State and the constitution of the Church.
We did not do away with all intermediate power, all hierarchy,

174 MONTALEMBERT'S LETTER
all reasonable discussion, all legitimate resistance, all indi
viduality, all spontaneity. The Pope and the Emperor were
not one the whole Church and the other the whole State.
Doubtless there are times when the Pope may set himself
above all the rules which are only for ordinary times, and when
his power is as extensive as the necessities of the Church. The
old Ultramontanes kept this in mind, but they did not make
of the exception a rule. The new Ultramontanes have pushed
everything to extremes, and have abounded in hostile argu
ments against all liberties — those of the State as well as those
ofthe Church. If such systems we're not calculated to com
promise the most serious religious interests at the present time,
and especially at a future day, one might be content with
despising them ; but when one has a presentiment of the evils
they are preparing for us, it is difficult to be silent and resigned.
You have, therefore, done well, M. le Comte, to stigmatise
them.' Thus, sir, did the pastor ofthe vastest diocese in Christendom
express himself seventeen years ago, congratulating me upon
one of my first protests against thg spirit which, since then, I
have never ceased to combat. For it is not to-day, it was in
1852, that I began to struggle against the detestable pohtical
and religious aberrations which make up contemporary Ultra-
montanism. Here, then, traced by the pen of an Archbishop of Paris,
is the explanation of the mystery that pre-occupies you, and of
the contrast you point out between my Ultramontanism of 1847
and my Gallicanism of 1870.
Therefore, without having either the will or the power to
discuss the question now debating in the Council, I hail with
the most grateful admiration, first, the great and generous
Bishop of Orleans, then the eloquent and intrepid priests who •
have had the courage to place themselves across the path of
the torrent of adulation, imposture, and servility by which we
risk being swallowed up. Thanks to them. Catholic France will
not have remained too much below Germany, Hungary, and

NEW AND OLD ULTRAMONTANES 175
America. I publicly congratulate myself, and more than I can
express by words, on having them for friends and for brother
academicians. I have but one regret, that of being prevented
by illness from descending into the arena in their suite — not
certainly, on the ground of theology, but on that of history and
of the social and political consequences of the system they
contend against. Thus should I deserve my share (and it is
the only ambition remaining to me) in those litanies of abuse
daily launched against my illustrious friends by a too numerous
portion of that poor clergy which prepares for itself so sad a
destiny, and which I formerly loved, defended, and honoured
as it had not yet been by any in modern France.
I thank you once more, sir, for having enabled me thus to
say what I think, and I should be a great deal more obliged
to you if I could hope that you would obtain the publication
of this letter in one of the journals with which your opinions
must put you in intercourse. Accept, &c.,
Ch. de Montalembert.
I need only remind some of your readers that Archbishop
Sibour, whose curious and really admirable letter Count
Montalembert quotes, was appointed to the See of Paris, after
the death (so truly glorious and worthy of a Christian bishop)
of Monseigneur Affre, in June, 1848, and that he himself was
murdered by a wretched priest, named Verger, in 1857.

176

CHAPTER LXXXV
THE ' TIMES ' ON MONTALEMBERT'S LETTER
Friday, March 11.
The negotiations between the Court of the Tuileries
and the Holy See are daily assuming fresh interest, and
may lead to results of which one at least of the parties
has not appreciated the magnitude. France, it seems 1
now certain, demands that a Representative of her
Government be admitted into the Council Hall at the
Vatican ; and it is difficult to estimate the strength this
layman may lend to the so-called ' Gallican ' or Liberal
Episcopal Opposition, even supposing the French Am
bassador to remain the only layman present, and the
other Roman Catholic States — Austria, Belgium,
Bavaria, Spain, and even Italy, or ' Piedmont,' as the
Pope calls it — to be indifferent to the privilege vouch
safed to France. There is a party in France, as in other
parts of the world, which thinks the laity should count
for something in the Church, and that party happens
now to muster somewhat strong in the French Ministry,
and in those two ' Centres ' in the Legislative Body on
which the Cabinet relies for its majority. There is a
certain number of ' Liberal Catholics ' in France — men,
as it was said of Count Daru, who ' profess devotion to

RELIGION COMPATIBLE WITH FREEDOM 177
the Church, yet ' vex the Church.' To some of these
¦Rome has good reason to show deference and gratitude ;
they are MM. Baroche, de Falloux, de Courcelles, de
Broglie, de Latour d'Auvergne; and last, not least, de
Montalembert. A lew years ago where had the Papacy a more
'zealous and fiery advocate than Monseigneur Dupanloup,
or where a nobler or more, chivalrous champion than
Count Montalembert ? How happens it now that the
Bishop of Orleans takes the lead of his Holiness's
Opposition at the Vatican, and that the ' last of the
peers ' in- Louis Philippe's reign wishes he had only
health and strength to declare himself the standard-
bearer of New Gallicanism in France ? In what, one
.-might ask, does thgi. difference between Old and New
Gallicanism consist? How is it that the principle of
Nationality in the Church, which was scouted as heresy
in 1847, regains its ascendency in 1870? If there
exist anywhere in France a man of earnest convictions,
that man should be Count Montalembert Born in
England, of an English mother, he, perhaps, owed to the
air he first breathed that firm faith he has always pro
fessed in the compatibility of religion with freedom. A
believer in Lamennais, yet falling back into rigid ortho
doxy when that democrat preacher was disavowed by
Rome, Count Montalembert sought inspiration among
the records of Elizabeth of Hungary and of the Monks
of the West He called upon his own generation of
Frenchmen as ' sons of the Crusaders*' to take the field
against the "sons of Voltaire.' Count Montalembert
had also the cause of oppressed nationalities at heart ;
that of the Poles, of the Greeks, of the Syrian Christians,
VOL. II. N

178 THE ' TIMES' ON MONTALEMBERT'S LETTER
of the Sonderbund Swiss, of the Irish — of all the people
whom the Pope blessed ; and he had a funeral service
performed at his expense in honour of Daniel O'Connell.
Ready as he was to identify the cause of the Throne
with that of the Altar, Montalembert did not withdraw
his countenance either from the Republic or the Empire ;
on one condition, however, that both Republic and
Empire should be the enemies of the Pope's enemies.
He was won over to Louis Napoleon when he sent his
troops to Rome, only recommending that there should
also be une expedition de Rome a I'interieur; meaning,
we suppose, a crusade against the ' sons of Voltaire.'
But now this same Count Montalembert, this ' eldest
son of the Church,' as he has been aptly called, inveighs
against the personal and separate infallibility of the
Pope, against ecclesiastical dictatorship and Roman
absolutism, against doctrines which ' outrage the good
sense as well as the honour of the human race ' ! He
cries out against the ' Idol ' which false Catholics have
set up for themselves in the Vatican, and quotes Mon
seigneur Sibour, late Archbishop of Paris, who, as early
as 1853, feared that the Ultramontane school would lead
to a double idolatry — ' the idolatry of the Temporal
and of the Spiritual Power.' Has it, indeed, come to
this ? Do these ardent Romanists begin to feel that
Rome is coming home to themselves ? So long as the
Pope only exercised tyranny over his own subjects, or,
by the means of Austrian, Bourbon, and other despotic
governments, over the Italians, not only were Count
Montalembert and his friends unshaken in their devotion
to the Holy See, but they showed boundless gratitude
to the Emperor Napoleon for the arms by which he

WHO SET UP THE IDOL IN THE VATICAN? 179
upheld the Papal Government, and only quarrelled with
the advice by which he vainly strove to reform and
popularise it. So far as Rome and Italy were concerned,
there was to be no constitution of the State apart from
the constitution of the Church ; ' no reasonable discus
sion, legitimate resistance, individuality, spontaneity.'
The Italians were denounced as monsters in human
form, because they objected to the 'double idolatry,'
because they claimed a few of those civil liberties which
France had vindicated in 1789, and which had been
sanctioned by the Concordat of 1801.
Did it ever occur to Count Montalembert and his
friends to ask how it happened that an Idol was set up
at the Vatican ? Can they recollect by whose opposi
tion it was that the Emperor Napoleon, who in all this
Roman business, as in many others, was the most
enlightened man in France, was prevented from en
forcing the terms of that letter to Edgar Ney, which
was to put to the test their favourite theory as to the
consistency of Romanism with modern progress ? Have
they forgotten whose opposition it was that arrested
the course of Italian victories at Castelfidardo, and
prolonged that agony of the Temporal Power which
led to all the subsequent abuses of spiritual supremacy ?
For our own part, placed, as we are, out of the pale
of the Roman Catholic Church, and only interested in
her welfare as spectators, we always entertained and
expressed our belief that the bane of Catholicism lay
in that epithet ' Roman,' which, indeed, adulterated its
very essence, and made of Christ's religion an institution
universal in name, but, in fact, local. By insisting on
keeping their Pope-King in Italy the Catholics of other

i8o THE 'TIMES' ON MONTALEMBERT'S LETTER
countries allowed the monopoly of their Church govern
ment to fall into the hands of a people whom they
despised, whom conquest and oppression had degraded
for centuries. French and Germans made the Italians
slaves that there might be priests over them. To say
nothing of the exclusion of all other nations from the
Papal Chair, of their own numerical insignificance in the
College of Cardinals, they now see themselves hopelessly
outvoted in the CEcumenical Council. Papal Infalli
bility is claimed as something separate and personal,
something local — Italian and Roman ; and so long as
Rome is the Church, there is no room left for ' reason
able discussion or legitimate resistance.' What they,
the French, German, and other Catholics, meted out to
Italy, Italy now, through her Pope, her Cardinals, and
her packed Episcopal majority, is meting out to them.
Is all this to be changed ? Are France and, after
her, Austria and Germany bent on overthrowing the
tyranny they all helped to rear up in the Vatican ?
Will they enter the lists against the double idolatry?
Count Montalembert's words and Count Daru's notes
seem to point to some great change in the relations
between France and Rome, between Church and State.
We hardly know vi^hat permanent good may be accom
plished by mere lay interference with the deliberations
of the Council. It seems to us necessary to strike at
the root of the evil, and we think all the abuses of
spiritual supremacy are traceable to the Temporal Power
It was that petty Italian Sovereignty which made the
Papacy the curse both of Rome and Italy and of the
Church itself, and to France alone does that Sovereignty
owe its existence. Let the French troops be recalled

MONTALEMBERT'S VISIT TO OXFORD i8i
from Rome ; let the French and other nations restore to
Italy what belongs to Italy, and let them claim for the
Church what belongs to the Church. Let the Italians,
or at least the Romans, have Rome ; and let the Church,
even if it continue to have its seat in Rome, receive such
a Constitution as may make it the Church of all Catholic
nations — a Church whose doctrines may not be what
Count Montalembert now says they are — ' an outrage
to the good sense and to the honour of the human race.'

After the submission of Lamennais and his party,
referred to in the second paragraph of this article,
Montalembert, finding nothing to be done at home,
came to England for a round of visits, where he was a
most interesting guest. In the summer of 1840 he was
at Oxford, in communication with Newman, then on the
point of retiring to Littlemore. The expression ' an
ecclesiastico-political friend of Lamennais,' in a letter by
Newman, June 10, enumerating his visitors, is rather dry
and hardly complimentary. But Newman was then
dreading further complications in both the matters thus
combined and so far neutralised. Montalembert pro
bably spoke freely and then wrote as he spoke.

CHAPTER LXXXVI
the COUNCIL DRAGGING A LENGTHENING CHAIN
Rome : March 7 .
The Council is at a standstill. It is not sitting to-day ;
a fortnight has been lost, and it is little more than a
fortnight to Lady Day, when, at last, if possible, some
thing is to be given to the outer world. The last fort
night, we were all told, was to be a fortnight of hard
work — not in the Council, but out of doors. The
Fathers were to acquaint themselves with the New
Rules, and get into the way of using them. Instead of
doing this, the Opposition and the Powers at their back
have combined in an energetic and decisive protest
against the New Rules altogether. On Friday thirty-
four French bishops sent in to the five Cardinal Legates
a statement of objections to almost every article of the
New Rules, with an ominous declaration that, if the ob
jections were not removed, it would be a great burden on
their own consciences, while the Council would lose credit
for liberty and truth, in the very face of all mankind. As
many Germans are to send in a similar protest to
morrow. Meanwhile it is no secret that these bishops,
whatever other advice they receive from their Govern
ments, are desired, first and foremost, to do all they can
to secure full time for their discussions. The Pope has

THE NEW RULES NO BETTER THAN THE OLD 1S3
refused to receive a special ambassador from France on
the afifairs of the Council. On sending out the invita
tions last year, he said that as the Council would deal
only with religious questions, and the internal adminis
tration of the Church, it did not want representatives of
secular Powers.
The present result is that the French ambassador
finds himself engaged single-handed in a task, not above
his powers or his ambition perhaps, but not to his taste
or suited to his special experience. Should the Court
find his hand rather heavy, it will be its own fault. Thus,
after three months of utterly barren discussion, the
Council is returning to the very first question of all —
how to discuss. If the protests are attended to, and if
the objections are removed, there is no reason I can see
why the Fathers are not to go on making speeches as
long as the world lasts. On the other hand, if the
Cardinal Legates won't give way, but stand by their New
Rules, then everything the Council may do from this day
will be discredited by the protests now made. The
French and German bishops say plainly that the Council
will have damaged — that is, virtually forfeited — its
character for freedom and honesty. Then what will its
decrees be worth, in France and Germany at least? I
do not see how these bishops can remain here if their
complaints are not attended to, but nothing is said of
their withdrawal, and the French are not a people to
give up the game as long as a chance remains.
What they most prominently object to is, consider
ing the actual constitution of the Council, the predomi
nance claimed for a mere numerical majority, and the
power given to any ten Fathers to ask that a discussion

i84 COUNCIL DRAGGING A LENGTHENING CHAIN
may be closed. For ten they propose to substitute a
hundred. It all comes to this : the Council has to con
stitute and organise itself The Pope, with the advice
and aid of his good friends at the Gesii and Propaganda,
gave it lines of his own to work upon. The assembled
Fathers looked at the lines, did not like them, protested
in vain, and then submitted to work upon them, inwardly
resolving to use their own discretion. The Papal Court
felt its position a false one, for it had certainly assumed
too much, and it gave way. Hence this amazing three
months' continuity of Latin speeches, all ending in
nothing. But what is now to be done? The Pope,
they say, is distressed and anxious ; but he has spent
the whole of his long life in perilous and difficult
circumstances and has hitherto thriven upon them. In
the Church Militant he has been a man of war from his
youth. Some of the suggestions made on his side — I
know not by whom, but made seriously — show that
neither faith nor courage fails here. 'We must carry
infallibility,' it said, ' for they won't let us do anything
else.' A good reason, of course. It has also been sug
gested that the Fathers shall vote by ballot
Meanwhile the Court, its friends, and its journalists
are busy firing over the heads of the Council at their
distant foes. The Bishops of Strasbourg and Montpel
lier have followed the example of the Bishop of Laval
in prohibiting the works of Gratry in their dioceses,
while Strossmayer, it is said, has written to him express
ing his approval, and urging him to go on. So people
are asking here what the Archbishop of Paris will do.
The Papal journals are incessantly reminding ,France
and Germany that they have already enough to do

THE ARMENIAN SCHISM 185
besides the work that is coming, without pretending to
assist, or to obstruct, the Council in the definition of
dogmas, which is not their affair. A happy thought has
struck them a propes of the King of Bavaria. Louis I.
lost his throne by a foolish attachment to Lola Montes,
and a similar infatuation for Dr, Dollinger may be
attended with the like disastrous result to Louis II.
' Our own Anglicans, looking eastward, may wish to
know the progress of the Armenian schism. It has
made fearful ravages, and the Schismatical Church is
now estimated at thirty-three priests and three hundred
laity, which gives nine laymen to a priest However,
messengers have been sent to Constantinople and Cilicia,
and the Patriarch and eleven bishops here have had to
give further pledges of their fidelity by signing a most
humble prayer for the early ahd complete definition of
Papal infallibility. There are some curious speculations
current as to what they will do when they get back to
their own country. The Sultan is here spoken of most
respectfully as a gentleman of liberal opinions, but it is
feared that on the principle of universal toleration he
may lend a hand to the Armenian schismatics. Oddly
enough, the Armenians in Rome allege that the mischief
has been done by the Antonian monks, who, having been
educated at Rome and sent out with special privileges
to the East, have thereby weakened the authority of the
bishops, without, however, strengthening the connection
with Rome ; in fact, they are now said to be at the
bottom of the schism.
The New Rules distributed to the Council on the
22nd ult, are, as I write, still the subject of grave

i86 COUNCIL DRAGGING A LENGTHENING CHAIN
communications between the Cardinal Legates and the
French and German Fathers.

Rome : March 6, Evening.
The Opinione of this evening says : — ' Count Daru has
sent a despatch to Cardinal Antonelli declaring that if the
Pope does not relinquish the idea of a discussion upon the
question of his personal infallibility, France will send an
ambassador to the Council. Should the Pope refuse to
receive him, the French Government will then consider what
course it shall pursue.' According to other information derived
from a reliable source, France has only claimed the right to
which she is entitled under the Concordat, to send an ambas
sador to the Council. To tJie Editor of 'The Times.'
Sir, — My attention has been called to an article on ' Infalli
bilism at Fault,' in the .'Saturday Revieiv of the 26th ult. The
writer is pleased to say that, in a sermon preached by me the
other day, I asserted that ' I respect a hundred and fifty thou
sand times more the person -ivho rejects Christianity altogether
than one who, accepting it in a modified form, denies or
doubts Transubstantiation,' or, adds the writer, ' we presume.
Papal Infallibility.' He then concludes : — ' In Monsignor
Capel's, and therefore, we may infer, in Archbishop Manning's
opinion, it is exactly one hundred and fifty thousand times
better to be an infidel than a Protestant or even — what is,
perhaps, worse — a Liberal Catholic'
Will you allow me, through your columns, to say that
neither in preaching nor in conversation have I ever used the
words attributed to me by the writer ? The opinion implied
by them and the inference drawn from thera I formally repu
diate. I hold that to believe in any portion, however frag
mentary, of the Christian revelation is far better than ' to deny

MGR. CAPEL ON HIS CRITICS 187
Christianity altogether.' As to Papal Infallibility, it has been
a part of my belief from childhood. Once admit that the
Church is an organic body endowed with the gift of infallibility,
then it appears to me to be a necessary consequence that ex
cathedra utterances of the Pope are infallible. But this im
plicit belief is very different from the explicit act of faith
required wherever the Church defines a doctrine to be of
revelation. The writer of the article ought to have known the
distinction before he ventured to place Papal Infalhbility and
Transubstantiation in the same category.
It is too transparent the writer wished to attack through me
the Archbishop of Westminster ; whether the cumbrous means
to effect this purpose are fair and honourable I leave to the
judgment of your readers.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged servant
T. J. Capel.
Rome, Via Frattina 48 : March 6.

i88

CHAPTER LXXXVII
NINE DAYS' ADJOURNMENT
Rome : March 9.
The Council is not to meet again for nine more days —
that is, till Thursday, the 17th, when it is at last to do
something. Papal infallibility has been put into the
form of a dogma, which the day before yesterday was
presented by the Pope's Commission of twenty-six to
the Cardinal Presidents, to be by them proposed to the
Council, as I have said, to-morrow week. The definition
is reported to be in the strongest and harshest form, and
to come between the eleventh and twentieth Canons in
the Schema de Romano Pontifice. Rome aims at forcing
the dogma into every confessional and putting that mark
on every one of her children. This will not, however,
inevitably lead to a schism, for unless the confessors can
be made to ask the question it will not have to be
answered, and they who wish to know the precise value
of ' confession ' can learn it at Rome. Flowever, the
dogma is now in view, and the scent strong.
Meanwhile the French and German Protests against
the New Rules, have to be dealt with. You will prob
ably be informed through some authentic channel that
no such Protests have been presented, and, though they
will shortly make their appearance north of the Alps, it

A LAND WHICH IS NOT OF GOSHEN 189
is doubtful whether either has been formally presented.
But, presented or not, they are driving the cardinals
wild, giving even the Pope much uneasiness, and infusing
a degree of uncertainty into the grand performance
fixed for the 17th, and eight following days. I say the
eight following days, for the people here still say the
Annunciation is not to pass without an event ; but
according to the New Rules, if they are now to be put
in force, it will be necessary to give the Fathers time to
make their comments and to propose amendments.
That would put ofif the catastrophe to Easter. What
that catastrophe will be can only be guessed, but they
who know the men say that, upon the question being
put to the vote, near a hundred Fathers will rise and
quit the Council. As it is impossible to say what will
be done on one side, so it is also impossible to say what
will be done on the other. Some persons say they will
put no faith in the Opposition till it, or the Governments
in accord with it, say plainly what they will do ; but
that is not the mode of this warfare, or, indeed, of any
warfare. Each side hides its hand.
We are in a land which is not Goshen, for, while all
is darkness here, it appears to be light everywhere else.
His Holiness and his Court lead the way. All the
news, all the documents, and all the best inspirations
are sent over the frontier to enlighten the reading-rooms
and cafi^s of Turin and Florence, and to give even Paris,
London, and Dublin the priority over Rome as far as
possible. The Fathers of the Council think they may
do what the Holy Father does, and are busily smug
gling their carefully-composed Latin speeches over the
frontier. This information comes from a young gentle-

igo NINE DAYS' ADJOURNMENT
man who has himself taken charge of several bulky
packages. Literary men are apt to be vain and impa
tient, and in these days won't let their best things sleep
for nine years. Thus, after the interval of a few days,
every capital in Europe is better informed of the Council
than Rome itself can be, and is free to read documents
which at Rome cannot be looked at without incurring
minor excommunication.
The publication of the extracts from Count Daru's
letters to a French bishop has created great surprise ;
but I am bound to say the persons who profess to be in
dignant aver at the same time that they knew all about
the letters, and make small account of them. I observe
that a ' Vatican ' contemporary is most vehemently
urging the Pope to expel all the correspondents, except,
of course, its own, and its culminating argument is that
the C^ar would do so, and therefore it sees no reason
why the Pope should not. It is the first time I have
seen the Pope compared to the Czar, or recommended
to take him for a model. For my own part I have
always thought the Pope, whatever his mistakes, was at
least a monarch with his throne in the hearts and minds
of men, and not a mere lord of lands, races, and multi
tudes. For whatever reason — I believe, in the interest
of truth — his Holiness has deemed it best to tolerate
his critics, and the little band keeping their watch at the
doors of the Council. Nor is it much to the honour of
our country that the very first suggestion for driving
them away should come from persons professing to be
Englishmen. I venture to predict that the expulsion of
the correspondents would be followed by a vast outbreak

THE ARMENiAn liberties

191

of-surreptitious, irresponsible, and unscrupulous informa
tion cropping up in every capital in Europe.
Rome is taken aback at the rapid pace of affairs in
the East, where they do not spend three months in
doing nothing. It is said that in Pera eight hundred or
a thousand Armenian families, with thirty priests, upon
hearing of the pressure put on the unfortunate Patriarch
here, met, and signed a declaration that, while they
accepted Rome as an authority in matters of faith, they
would not submit to her discipline, and never had done
so. They also took the opportunity of protesting
against the Bull — Reversurus — of July 12, 1867, aimed,
as they say, at the destruction of their liberties. The
next day the president of the meeting went to the Grand
Vizier to explain what they had done, and it seems to
have met with his approbation, for the Porte gave them
the temporary Church of St. John Chrysostom. But the
next Sunday, while seven of the priests were saying
Mass, the .Greater Excommunication upon all within
was attached to the door. Cardinal Barnabo, of the
Propaganda — of course, too, poor Hassoun, the Patriarch
— are telegraphing incessantly to Constantinople in the
most peremptory tone ; while the two parties at Con
stantinople are sending messengers all over Asia Minor
and Syria exhorting them — the one, to be true to their
Roman allegiance ; the other, to stand by their old
liberties. Hassoun, feeling the iron entering his soul —
so long, at least, as he is here — has telegraphed that
Rome will act inexorably. The Asiatics see it, and
therefore will not submit to her. The present calcula
tion is that more than a third of the ' Catholic Eastern
Church ' is lost to Rome, and it is clear that the priests

192 nine DAYS' ADJOURNMENT
and people who have shown such alacrity and decision
have been only too glad of the opportunity to break
from her.
I am sorry to hear that Dr. Grant, one of our English
bishops, is still very unwell. The day before yesterday
the Pope went to see him at the English College. His
Holiness was received as usual, and intoned his devo
tions in the temporary chapel with a strong and clear
voice. He then went to the bishop's room and con
versed with him a quarter of an hour in the 'kindest and
most consolatory manner. He does the same for all the
invalid br aged bishops, and shows everywhere the royal
gift of a large and exact acquaintance with persons and
things. This we may concede him, but not to know
everything. Paris : March 9.
The French Government has notified to the Vatican its
intention of sending an Ambassador to the Council, and we
await with much interest the reply that will be made. The
precedents of former Councils, or, at least, of that of Trent,
are in favour of sending two envoys — a layman and an eccle
siastic — and the report is that the Marquis de Banneville, the
present Ambassador in Rome, will be appointed to represent
his Government at the Council in conjunction with Monsei
gneur Dupanloup as the clerical plenipotentiary. In this case
it is obvious that the layman will play what is vulgarly called
' second fiddle ' to the ecclesiastic, who in all the qualifications
for such an office is so much his superior. M. de Banneville
does not enjoy the reputation of a man of great ability or of
enlarged views, and rumour has spread doubt as to whether he
has invariably fulfilled the spirit as well as the letter of his in
structions. He is considered by many to be a narrow-minded
and punctilious person, too Papal in his addictions frankly to

PRUSSIA, FRANCE, ITALY, AND THE POPE 193
represent a Liberal policy in Rome. There are reports of
•certain differences of opinion in the French Government on the
¦question of Rome and the Council, but it is unlikely that these
are of a serious nature. Count Daru himself has the reputa
tion of a strict Catholic, but he is not a man to shrink from
decided steps in certain contingencies. As regards the possible
withdrawal of the French troops from the Papal States, the
present Cabinet may be presumed to have an eye to future
¦complications, especially if it hopes to retain power long. In
the event of a difficulty with Germany it would naturally desire
to be certain, of the alliance, or at least of the neutrality, of
Italy. Now, there is little doubt if war broke out between
Prussia and France while a French garrison was still at Civita
Vecchia which side the Italian Government would be compelled
to take. Italy, it may be said, is but puny as a military Power ;
but France would need her undivided force to struggle success
fully with the power of Germany, and could ill spare an
army to watch the Itahan frontier and awe Florence into sub
mission. To return to the proposed French mission to the Council.
Itis understood that an active correspondence is now going on
between Paris and Rome. The proposed intervention is
limited strictly fo questions of a civil and political character,
and the intention of interference with those of a merely dog
matic nature is said to be carefully disclaimed. It is further
alleged that Count Daru is somewhat in advance of his col
leagues in the course followed in this matter. I doubt much,
however, that he is in advance of the Emperor, whose views on
questions relating to Rome and the Church are infinitely more
liberal than might be inferred from the policy he has on various
occasions felt himself compelled to adopt. As regards the
special envoy to be sent to Rome, it seems scarcely probable
that Monseigneur Dupanloup would be selected as a persona
Strata, and it is also thought that the precedent of sending an
ecclesiastic may not be followed. M. de Corcelles, who was
at Rome in 1840, and is a personal friend of the Pope, has
VOL, II. O

194 NINE DAYS' ADJOURNMENT
been spoken of as a likely person to go. It is true that he is
also a friend of Monseigneur Dupanloup and Count Mont
alembert. The Prince of La Tour d'Auvergne has also been
named as a not improbable Ambassador to the Council.
Contrary to Count Montalembert's expectation implied in
his valedictory paragraph, the clerical Gazette de France has
opened its columns to his letter of the sth inst., published in
yesterday's Times. It will assuredly be extensively reproduced
and commented upon. Bologna : March 8.
Reliable intelligence from Rome announces that in con
sequence of the publication of the various Schemata, several of
which, particularly that relative to the infallibility of the Pope,
undoubtedly trench upon political ground, the French Govern
ment has declared it impossible to continue the attitude of
non-intervention towards the CEcumenical Council hitherto^
maintained. It has, therefore, officially demanded that a
special representative of the French Government may he
admitted to take part in the deliberations of the Council, at
least in so far as relates to the points touched upon in these
Schemata. Up to the present Cardinal Antonelli has merely
acknowledged the receipt of the communication from the
French Government, and has stated that their request will be
taken into consideration and a reply be subsequently given.
Paris : March 8.
The Monde publishes a telegram from Rome, dated
yesterday, stating that the Pope has ordered the distribution of
a Schema proposing a definition of infallibility. Observations
will be admitted until the 17th inst
From the Roman frontier : March 10.
The article relating to infallibility (an additional article of
the Schema distributed on the 7th inst.) is drawn up in the
following terms : —

INERRANCY OF THE ROMAN PONTIFF 195
' Chapter to be added to the Decree upon the Primacy of
the Roman Pontiff, to the eflfect that the Roman Pontifif cannot
err in the definition of matters of faith or morals.
' The Holy Roman Church possesses the supreme and com
plete primacy and principality over the Universal Catholic
Church, which it verily and humbly acknowledges to have re
ceived with the plenitude of the power of the Lord Himself in
the person of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of whom the
Roman Pontifif is the successor.
'And as, above all things, it behoves the Church to make
clear the truth of the faith, all questions which may arise upon
matters of faith must be determined by its judgment, seeing that
otherwise the words of the Lord Jesus Christ (Tu es Petrus,
&c.) would be disregarded.
' That which has been set forth upon this point has heen
proved by the results, as in the Apostolic See the Catholic
religion has always been preserved immaculate, and its doctrine
has always been maintained at its fulness (celebratd).
' Consequently, we inculcate, with the concurrence of the
Holy Council, and we define as a dogma of faith, that, thanks
to the Divine assistance, it is that the Roman Pontifif, of whom
it was said in the person of St. Peter by our same Lord Jesus
Christ, " I have prayed for thee," &c., cannot err when, acting
in his quality as supreme teacher of all Christians, he defines
what the Universal Church must hold in matters of faith and
morals, and that the prerogative of inerrancy or infallibility
extends over the same matters to which the infallibility of the
Church is applicable. But if any one should dare — which may
God forbid ! — to controvert our present definition, let him
know that he departs from the truth of the faith.'

igft

CHAPTER LXXXVIII
OUR NORTHERN ANCESTORS AT ROME
The following letter was written about this time, and
not posted, I know not why. I might have been sud
denly moved to write it by the language of the Papal
journals, and it is equally possible that I might have
been moved to withhold it by finding, as I did find, that
the German theologians were giving the Pope's theo
logians quite as much as they took ; indeed with interest
To some of my readers it may be news to find how the
ancestors we are so proud of are uniformly represented
in old Roman statuary. Vitruvius, the great Roman
architect, evidently looked on them much as he would
on fine blocks of wood or marble supplied by Nature
for corner-stones, architraves, or pilasters ; — Sub Sep-
temtrionibus nutriuntur gentes immanibus corporibus,
sanguine multo, quoniam ab humoris plenitate ccBlique
refrigerationibus sunt conformati. Rome : March.
All over this city, in its museums, its courts, and
its gardens, there are in marble or stone the figures of
men as distinct from the Roman kind as negroes or
satyi 3. They are usually giants, but without even that
wild and capricious spirit with which giants are supposed

LORA RESTRICTIS LACERTIS SENSIT INERS 197
to be animated. They represent simply fabrics- of
bone, covered with flesh, and hung with skin. Droop
ing, cast down, with their hands crossed, and sometimes
even manacled, they look as if every vestige of courage
and self-respect had been whipt out of them. If there
ever was any expression in their countenances, any look
in their eyes, or any dignity in their mien, it is gone
now, and nothing remains but to bear the burden which
the sculptor has sometimes actually put on their heads,
or to wince under the lash one can almost see descend
ing upon them. Their brows are low and fleshy, their
features coarse, and the lines on their flaccid cheeks are
those of a brooding but impotent subjection. They
show man in his most fallen state, when, as the Roman
poet says, he will never fight, or live a real life again.
These hideous wrecks of humanity are our northern
ancestors. They are Britons, Gauls, Germans, Dacians,
that once held their own, and do so now to some extent.
All were outer barbarians in the eyes of Rome ; that
was her opinion and sentiment, and it had a foundation
in the facts of the case. Rome described these nations
as she saw them, as she found them, as she knew them,
and as she dealt with them. The Italian was as yet a
most masterly race, very far above my own humble
measurement, and wherever it came it passed over men,
treading them under foot, crushing them, stamping on
them, breaking their very bones, and paralysing every
.nerve and muscle of man by its own natural ascendency.
It is possible, but very doubtful, that those great nations
might have ripened to a fullness and maturity of their
own, had they been left to themselves ; and history
shows the North at a disadvantage in the act of subju-

198 OUR NORTHERN ANCESTORS AT ROME
gation ; but they never had a chance, at least while
Rome was a Power. Here there are several hundreds
of them, any number of feet high, and averaging several
tons. Marble must have been cheap indeed to be wasted
on such scarcely animate figures, but as they are in no
attitude, or action, lengthy blocks do for them. The
Roman, as the sculptor makes him, is addressing an
army, or a senate ; he holds a spear, or a globe ; or he
is raising his outstretched arm ; and he takes all the
space he can in the eyes of the spectators. The Gaul is
simply a living post in the fabric of Roman glory and
power. Rome could indeed be generous and even just.
The barbarians fought well in the amphitheatre, and
their battles for independence were sometimes worth a
record ; so we have the Dying Gladiator, who, however,
was not of a race so hyperborean, and brutish, as
ours. Rome was also full of mercy and indulgence, as
she is to-day ; and accordingly in the Capitol are grand
reliefs representing northern barbarians supplicating for
their lives under the very hoofs of the victorious Roman.
Of course, Rome made slaves of these people ; and
though, as the names show, she got her earlier supplies
from the Serfs and Slaves, in due time, and for many
centuries, the Roman slave market drew chiefly from our
own end of Europe, and from England especially.
There never was a time when this appreciation of us
ceased. The barbarians had invaded Rome centuries
before the Christian era, and did so after, to more effect.
So they were felt to be a power. In due time the
character of the Roman dominion changed, and its prin
ciples had to be adapted to new circumstances. There
has, too, been some mixture of blood, so that we have

SUPERIOR AND INFERIOR RACES 199
Roman blood in us, and the Romans, it is possible, an
infusion of ours. But Rome and the Italian race have
always felt that they had it in them to dominate over all
the world besides, and bring all nations in subjection
under their feet. Other nations — ourselves and the
French, for example — have had something of this proud
consciousness, and something of this noble ambition ;
but it has never taken form, or acquired consistency, or
matured into a national policy. Latterly, too, we have
both abandoned it altogether. But it is ingrained in the
Roman. It runs in his blood. Without this he is
nothing. Of course, there are plenty of Italians in Italy
that are not of this nature ; but all that partake of the
•old Roman form — and, of course, little remains of that
form but the spiritual phase — retain the indestructible
conviction that they are the finest quality of the human
kind and the world's natural masters.
It is impossible to deny, or to blink the fact, that the
enormous and preposterous anomalies of this Council,
and of the Roman Catholic Church altogether, are
founded on this estimate of the Italian race. At Rome
it is thought the most natural thing in the world that
the successor of St Peter, and the heir of his universal
monarchy, must be always an Italian ; that the Senate
•of the Church, that is, the Sacred College, should be
¦chiefly Italian, and that in the Episcopacy there should
be Italians enough to turn the scale always in favour of
Rome. Why should not the Roman Catholic Church be
governed, and as much as possible administered, by
Romans and Italians, just as the old Roman Empire
was ? England of course knows the sentiment of superior

200 OUR NORTHERN ANCESTORS AT ROME
race, for she has had to deal with inferior races ; but she
is herself an inferior race in the estimate of Rome. Yes,
all these northern races, all that think so much of their
vigour and enterprise ; their freedom, their love of truth,
their zeal for justice and equal laws, are in the eyes of
Rome but as those who struggle, grandly perhaps, for first
necessities and natural rights, only because they are in
capable of a higher and larger policy. Slaves struggle
to live, and traders for what they can get.
The Pope's organs take their inspiration from the
Gesii, where, indeed, their articles are written ; and with
surpassing vigilance and nicety of style, they localise
everything lofty, grand, or refined, south of the Alps ;
everything coarse, selfish, and rude — in a word barbarous
— outside of that battlement of silver and gold. They
describe every sovereign in Europe, unless it be the
Ogre on the Neva, or the Intruder on the Bosphorus,
as a poor caitiff, contending for an ephemeral throne
and a usurped title, with disloyal multitudes, and with
Parliaments one thing to-day and another to-morrow.
The best thing I see in one of the ' privileged ' papers is
a contrast between the Roman Council and the ' Concilia-
bolo ' at Paris, which the journal rejoices to find the only
basis left to Napoleon's throne. As to the Church of
England and the other religious communities not of
Rome, the organs of Rome simply assume that anybody
speaking or writing in their behalf can only do so for the
very lowest and basest of reasons. They assume that
nobody can possibly say or write a word for them,
except just as a slave might take money to betray his
master, an assassin to put somebody out of the way,
or a wretch to swear to a false tale in a court of justice.

DAILY INCENSE OF THE PAPAL PRESS zor
This is the ordinary, daily language of the Pope's own
privileged organs with regard to religious bodies, and
religious causes, in which Englishmen fondly suppose it
possible to be saintly and heroic. I have asked here
several times how it is the Court can sanction in its
journals language which would certainly condemn them
to the lowest rank in the press of any other country.
The answer is one I can hardly believe. It is that these
journals are written, in fact, for Pius IX. himself; that
he is the chief reader ; that he reads, indeed, little else ;
and that this is the mode in which he is daily fed and
kept up to his extravagant opinions and enormous
pretensions.

ZOI

CHAPTER LXXXIX
ROME AND ITALY.
Rome: March ii.
The Fathers of the Opposition are now trebly occupied
— first, in considering well the Dogma of Infallibility
now actually placed before their eyes ; secondly, in
framing their animadversions and amendments, if any,
according to the New Rules of Procedure ; and, thirdly,
in protesting against the said New Rules, by which, how
ever, meanwhile they must act, unless they would let in
fallibility pass by default A man had need know well
what he is about under such circumstances. In fighting
the Dogma they accept the Rules ; in fighting the Rules
they submit to the Dogma. If they attempt to fight both
together they may fall between two stools. By the
meeting of the Council — nobody can be sure of that day
— they will have to present their comments, and also the
very words they would substitute. If they have failed
to do so they will find everything going against them
* with a run,' as we say at home. According to the New
Rules there will be no discussion whatever except upon
matters ripe for immediate decision, and the words they
utter, as it were with their last breath, may be uttered
then and there for the last time without mortal sin. The
bell once rung, the debate closed, the votes taken, and

HOLY OIL 203
the decision announced, if the Father repeats what he
said ten minutes ago he is anathema. At least, he only
waits for the Pope to say the word.
No wonder that there are reports of all kinds in cir
culation, and as reports only do I mention them. First,
it is reported that the French ambassador is off to Paris,
without even his secretary being able to vouch for the
fact Secondly, it is reported that Italy is moving again,
and of course the Pope, the one moved by the other.
Thirdly, it is reported that five Powers have sent a joint
note to the Vatican. Fourthly, it is reported that the
Pope, in reply to these and other notes, says that he can
not communicate with foreign Powers unless he be rein
stated, and his hands strengthened by the declaration of
his infallibility. If the Powers will admit all the spiritual
power he claims, then he will be generous with it, and
give back something of the unlimited concession. Grant
only that the Pope may do and say whatever he thinks
fit, and that his deed and word are the law of the uni
verse, then he will be gracious, and even indulgent He
will not say all, or do all, that he has power to do ; and,
terrible as he is, France and Germany will still find him
a kind father ; only give him everything he asks, and
faith will have its reward.
Other reports point to the time when the great ques
tion is to be opened or decided. People who are about
to be hung count the days ; and never did I hear so
many forecasts of the future as since this Council went
behind that screen. The bishops have been very clam
orous lately for leave to go home by Easter, and make
* holy oil ' for the ensuing year. Pius IX. is equal to the
emergency, and has issued a document to the effect that

¦204 ROME AND ITALY
the remaining stock of holy oil is to be mixed with
sufficient new oil to make a supply for the next year ;
and that the oil so mixed is to have the same virtue as
if every particle of it had been consecrated. To the
-uninitiated this looks a very sensible course to take
under the circumstances, but a good manyof the bishops
allege that the Pope cannot command a violation of the
Ritual, decreed by successive Councils, without the con •
sent of a Council. The very act of issuing such an order,
they say, shows that Pius IX. is exalting himself above
everything, superseding all authority, and dispensing with
all obligation. As these are serious charges, it is a pity
they should be based on a direction to mix new oil with
old. That, it is certain, will have to be done. An Irish
bishop, I hear, asked leave to go home to see a brother
dangerously ill, and was told by the Secretary of the
Council that there would be time to go and return, for
that nothing would be done till after Easter.
On the Fridays in Lent the Pope performs a singu
larly quiet and simple devotion. He walks into St.
Peter's and up to the Chapel of the Sacrament, where he
kneels in silent prayer ; thence to the Chapel of the
Madonna del Soccorso, where he does the like ; then he
passes the bronze statue of his great predecessor, where
he does as all good Catholics do, and after silent prayer
before the tomb of St. Peter, walks out of the church as
he came. Nothing can be more interesting than an act
which leaves everything to suggestion, and in which
there seems so little to shut ofif community with any
Christian soul. I went this morning to see Pius IX. look
like man, and doing just what other Papists do, also with
some thought of seeing a model service — no talk at all.

A QUIET AND SIMPLE DEVOTION 205
whether by priest or people. Here is the result of my
little fishing in quiet waters. I must have forgotten that
since the Carnival a new population has come, which has
yet to see a live Pope. Never did I see such a rush of
carriages. In St. Peter's there could not be less than
five thousand, evidently new comers, and fortunately
standing in some awe of the Swiss Guard. At a quarter
to twelve the great west doors opened, and in came
military gentlemen, soldiers, guards. Papal Court and
household, cross-bearer, Pius IX., all the Cardinals, and
most of the Fathers. The peculiarity of the occasion
was that all were in the colours of the season — that is
the colours of the violet and wild anemone, now under
your feet everywhere round Rome. All, I say, were in
these colours, except the Pope, who wore his scarlet
cloak or mantle, making a brilliant contrast with his
snow-white head. You will see the occasion was not
quite what I had hoped to witness, but there was silence,
and that itself was a solemnity.

Paris : March 10, Evening.
A despatch from the Roman frontier, dated to-day, says
that, contrary to the assertions of the Ultramontane party, it is
considered impossible that the discussion on the proposition of
Papal infallibility can come on within a fortnight. It is not
believed that the discussion will arise before the second fort
night in April. The Ministerial organ, the Franfais, of this
evening contradicts the rumour of a divergence of opinion
between Count Daru and M. Emile Ollivier on the question of
the CEcumenical Council, and adds that the Ministers are
completely agreed both on this and on all other questions.
The Mhnorial Diplomatique of this evening announces that

2o6 ROME AND ITALY
the Court of Rome has sent its reply to Count Daru's last
despatch. The Pontifical Government readily accedes to the
request of France to be represented in the Council.
Berlin : March lo. Evening.
The semi-official North German Gazette of this evening,
writing of the document published yesterday by the Cologne
Gazette, wherein the Pope is declared infallible, says : — ' The
first impression created by this document is one of deep
regret. There have been but few instances which so strik
ingly show to what extent the human mind can fall into
error.' Paris: March ii, Evening.
The Statement which has appeared in certain journals
asserting that Count Daru had addressed several letters to
Monseigneur Dupanloup is without foundation. No corre
spondence has passed between them. It is expected that
interpellations will be moved shortly in the Legislative Body,
with the view of ehciting declarations from the Government
relative to its policy on the CEcumenical Council. Rome : March lo.
The Prince of Asturias left to-day for France.
Augsburg: March ii, Evening.
The Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitutig of this evening
publishes a telegram from Rome, of yesterday's date, announc
ing that the Opposition bishops have lodged a protest
against the revised order of business to be transacted by the
Council.

207

CHAPTER XC
THE ITALIANS MOVING
Rome: March 12.
The Italians are moving. This reads strange as an
article of news, for the Italians are always moving, and
it would be news to hear of their being quiet ; but they
are not moving in any Papal sense, and their approxi
mation, if any, is to Rome, not to the Pope. I am sorry
to hear it, for just now I can address Pius IX. as a
certain orator addressed Governor Felix, — ' Seeing that
by thee we enjoy great quietness.' Whether inside
Rome, or in the grounds of the Borghese, Albani, and
Pamphili Doria, the Italians would make Rome a very
unpleasant place as long as the ' movement ' lasted.
People will have their own opinions as to the best
arrangement for the future. I do not concern myself at
all about the politics of the place, for you must have
much earlier, fuller, and more exact intelligence than
any I could send you ; but I must tell you that at a
large party of Romans last night there passed round an
emphatic, but utterly unexplained, statement, that some
thing was heaving under them, and you will admit that
it is no more than my duty to communicate the sensa
tion to you.
With an avowed reference to their own wishes and

2o8 THE II ALLANS MOVING
designs, the Italians are amusing themselves and the
Fathers with an old prophecy of St. Bridget, whose
name somehow in our own country has lost its oracular
dignity. A good many centuries ago she predicted that
one day there will arise a Pope who loves the Church
with true love, and that he and his Court and Council
will be content with what is called the Leonine city,
from St. Peter's to the Tiber. The idea was not her
•own, and there never has been a time when the temporal
position of the Roman Pontiff has not been a con
spicuous and troublesome element in his controversy
with the rest of the world.
There are several sides to this controversy now, so
far as it affects the city of Rome, for Pius IX. and Victor
Emmanuel are not the only personages who feel the
possession of Rome necessary to their complete happi
ness. The Italians of all sorts allege that what they want
is some modus vivendi with the extremely impracticable
institutions they find in the heart of their peninsula.
What with the Alps in the north, a volcano at Naples,
another in Sicily, and a Pope at Rome, they think that
Nature or some other power has been hard upon them.
They want peace and quietness — so they say ; but at any
sign of an approximation to this desired end, the Jesuits
throw everything into confusion, simply because they
know that with peace and quietness their own influence
is at an end. This is the sort of talk that one hears.
Talk it is, and no more.
The officials say that April 1 2 is to be the great day.
Though not marked in any calendar, it is always ob
served with extraordinary ' rejoicings ' — that is, illumi
nations and so forth — and as a general holiday. So it

EXPECTED CANONISATION OF PIUS IX. 209
will be this year,-,though it is Tuesday in Passion Week.
On April 12, 1854, Pius IX. and many Cardinals and
other dignitaries were precipitated into a vault at the
well-known Basilica of St. Agnes,' outside the walls, by
the floor of a hall giving way under their feet That
they escaped with their lives is ascribed to a Divine in
terposition, and it is said there is no day in the year
that the Pope observes with greater devotion. Its ex
clusive reference to the person of the Pope will make it
the happiest occasion for declaring his infallibility.
I must not pass by this opportunity of telling you
that they who live long enough will see the fair fame of
this remarkable old gentleman sadly marred and vul
garised. The outer world regards him with the admi
ration due to a courageous, resolute, and withal amiable
man, who sticks to his principles, and labours all he can
that his position and office shall not suffer in his hands.
' The Church has always called me infallible, and I will
be that or nothing.' In England this is appreciated.
Liberals must take a liberal view of what many think a
delusion, and Conservatives are bound to admire the
grandest specimen of their own school. But this great
man, it is quite certain, is to be swamped in the mob of
Saints. Within a year of his death, Pius IX. is to be
beatified, canonised, or what not. Nay, it is impossible
to say what they will not do with him. I could hardly
repeat what I hear. Already a miracle has been certified,
examined, authenticated, and recorded. Having become
free from epileptic seizures from the moment of his first
admission to Orders, the Pope has been naturally
' A few yards from this Basilica Victor Emmanuel's forces planted the
battery that made the breach through which they entered Rome this year.
VOL. IJ. P

210 THE ITALIANS MOVING
believed to have a specialty for this cure ; and a
countryman has lately turned up who avers that, having
formerly been very subject to the malady, he has never
had a single recurrence since he came one day to the
Pope, stated his case, asked in faith, and was instantly,
by the act and word of the Holy Father, delivered
from that plague. Why should a great name be re
moved from the pedestal of authentic history to be
placed on a peasant's tale ?
Spring is coming upon us. The French ambassador,
I should think, is across the frontier, at the spot which
the Pope's friends say is the great manufactory of lies,
telegraphing with his Government.

The French Government and the Roman Council. — The
Memorial Diplomatique states, upon the authority of its corre
spondent at Rome, that upon receiving from Cardinal Anto
nelli a copy of the despatch from Count Daru, claiming for
France the right of being represented in the Council by an
Ambassador, the Pope summoned a meeting of the chief
members of the Sacred College, including the five presidents
of the Conciliar Congregations, in order to elicit their views as
to the answer to be returned to the Court of France. The
correspondent adds that he is in a position to affirm that the
assembly unanimously approved the admission of a French
Ambassador. The Pope even declared that it had been his
desire that the Catholic Powers should be represented at the
Council, and that in the original plan of arrangement of the
Basilica places in proximity to the Bench of Cardinals had been
reserved for the representatives of the Powers, and that these
places were only omitted from the second plan after it had
been ascertained that the Powers would not send representa
tives. The same journal publishes a telegram from Rome,

PROPHECY OF ST. BRIDGET 21 r
dated March 10, stating that the reply of the Pontifical Court
to the last despatch of Count Daru had just been despatched
to Paris, where it would be handed by Monsignor Chigi to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Pope readily accedes to the
desire of the French Court to be represented at the Council
The Papal Nuncio is also charged with the assurance that the
representative of France will be received with all the considera
tion due to the nation he represents.
St. Bridget—The attention of the Fathers at Rome has
been called to a prophecy of St. Bridget, which is conceived to
have some reference to the present state and prospects of
Roman and Italian afifairs. The ' Revelations ' of this lady
¦were recognised and commended by Gregory XI. and other
Popes, and published at Rome with the authority of the
reigning Pontifif in 1606. The words quoted are, ' I saw, a
Rome, stretching from the palace of the Pope, by St. Peter's,
as far as the Castle of St. Angelo, and from the Castle as far as
the Church of St. Peter, as it were an open plain, and round
the plain there was a very strong wall, and various habitations
following the line of the wall. Then I heard a voice saying,
" That Pope who loves his Spouse with the love with which I
and my friends have loved her will possess this place with his
assessors, that he may the more freely and quietly call in his
Councillors." '

CHAPTER XCI
ROMANS AND GERMANS
Long before the opening of the Council, months and
years before, Rome had afforded the occasion for an
international controversy^ There were partisans on
either side, all over Europe, and far into the East, but
the thick of the fight was between Rome and Germany.
Both held strong hands, but the hand of Germany was
more than strong, for it was free. Its interest lay in
immediate, universal, and obtrusive publicity. It pre
occupied the clubs, the libraries, the columns of the
press, and most of the warm and lively spots where men
are thrown together and exchange what they have
brought to, the social mart Rome had to be patient in
her incubation and methodical in her hatching. Ger
many long forestalled her in the more noisy part of the
process. The whole line of intended opposition had
been displayed before there had been an overt act to
oppose. Germany denounced the Council in its cradle ;
stigmatised its authors, its chiefs, and its minor agencies ;
discounted its successes, and made it a byword in all the
haunts of philosophy and civilisation. It would itself
alone lead the attack and monopolise the glory. I have
lately made myself well acquainted with ' Quirinus ' and
' Pomponio Leto', and I cannot recall a single instance in

LEGIS EXPE RTFS LATINS VINDELICI 213
which they have allowed any moral or intellectual merit,
indeed any activity worth speaking of, to any member
of the Council, or any author, other than German. The
greatest efiforts of other students and public men, enjoy
ing high fame and grand positions in their own
countries, are simply ridiculous from the German point
of view. At the time I am writing of no one could be a day
in Rome without becoming aware of the presence of the
Teuton, his emissaries and auxiliaries. They were
secure, and proud of their position : and justly so ; for
they had an immense command of facts, names and
dates ; they had duly labelled every person, every act,
and every utterance that they could import into the ques
tions, and they had not the least doubt as to the con
clusion. The moment that they found a writer halting,
as they thought, between two opi'.iions, or looking for a
truth still to be attained, they could only express their
indignation and contempt Most Englishmen soon feel
themselves hopelessly bewildered, and incurably dis
gusted with mediaeval history, theology and philosophy.
They believe that sufficient truth is attainable without
reading whole libraries. There must be some other
way. The truth attainable this way is likely to be
much distorted, and tainted. The greater the mass,
the more miscellaneous its ingredients, and the more
chaotic its condition, the more at home is the German
in it, and the more infallible are his conclusions.
But what were those conclusions, and what was the
sum of all those painful studies, and aU those formidable
operations, for such they indeed were ? Most negative,
as it seemed to me. Wha;t, under existing circum-

214 ROMANS AND GERMANS
stances, and in foro conscientice, is the authority of
the Church of Rome, is a question upon which I must
continue to feel that two opinions are possible, and
neither to be despised. But the mode of reasoning, the
tests, and the estimates, of the German critics, seem
to me simply destructive, leaving to Rome, and, un
happily, to the Church universal, ' not a leg to stand
upon.' They demand a perfect chain, links that cannot
be broken, every relation in exact correspondence with its
antecedents, every agent unimpeachable, and every act in
disputable. No doubt Church history, and what is called
theological tradition, will not meet those requirements.
But will the Bible ? Will human society considered as a
structure and as a whole ? Will any national history >
Will any political cause ? Will any family in high, low,
or middle class } Will any biography ? Will anything
on earth that can be called good or evil ?
Charity, candour, fairness, common sense, compassion,
are not critical, or mathematical, or logical rules, but
they are necessary in all human computations, unless
one is prepared to sink out of living humanity into the
ddbris of material forces. I am sorry to have to re
member it, and still more to have to repeat it, but there
was not even ordinary politeness or common civility in
the published comments of the man whom I found re
presenting Germany at Rome in 1 869. Of course there
was some folly, some approach to rudeness, some trifling
with a great occasion, and some recklessness of language
on all sides, but from one quarter alone was there the
grinding note of heartless, unnecessary animosity.
If not reason, there was method in this animosity, for
personal depreciation is cultivated to high art in Germany.

CARDINAL REISACH 215
Not long ago minute criticisms and various readings
were supposed to be the best training for the golden
youth of our public schools. German scholarship led
the way, and if it failed to elevate the taste or enlarge
the mind, it taught at least the arts and phrases of
literary invective. Such were substantially the materials
used by Quirinus in what I must admit to be his impor
tant and valuable work. A few days after the meeting
of the Council he recognises an irreparable loss, that it
would be impossible for the Pope to make up for from
all the countries at his service, and the enormous staff
at his command. This was Cardinal Reisach, who
had done much of the preparatory work of the Council,
and who, when it met, was one of its five Presidents.
He died a few days after. The loss was infinite as re
garded the needs of Rome, infinitesimal in the German
scale. He was an Italianised German. Bacon quotes
the saying current in his Aa.-ys Anglicano Italianato, Diavolo
incarnate, and Quirinus noted some such change in this
instance. Having formerly been Archbishop of Munich,
Reisach had put German books into the Index, though
quite ignorant, Quirinus says, of German literature, and
therefore incompetent to form a judgment upon it At
Rome he passed for a man of comprehensive learning, and
the Pope had now to be content with such scholars as he
could get, viz. half-a-dozen men whom the German puts
in this modest category. As for the run of the Pope's
Theologians, he says that a hundred of them pounded
in a mortar would not amount to one ordinary German
scholar. Whenever the two races can be brought into the
same field of view, Quirinus, while careful to note the

2i6 ROMANS AND GERMANS
help that Rome got of Germany for her own purposes,
never fails to insist on the utter incompatibility of the two
races, and the certainty that the higher and better must
suffer in the combination. Germans and Italians could
never make more than a very bad alloy. Here, for ex
ample, is a specimen of the treatment accorded to three
men whose names frequently emerged from this crowd
of many nations : —
Dogmatic and theological philosophy — i.e. a philosophy
adapted to dogmatic needs and ends — are provided here by
three German Jesuits, Schrader, Franzelin, and Kleutgen.
For here Germans are only thought available when they have
first been transformed into Jesuits, and thereby, as far as
possible, un-Germanised. That Order, on which the features
of the Spanish national character of the sixteenth century are
still indelibly impressed, cannot tolerate a genuine German in
his natural shape ; it would be compelled to eject him as Etna
vomited out the brazen shpper of Empedocles.
Now this is not philosophy ; it is not universal ex
perience ; it is not common sense. It is not piety, and
certainly not civility. Who is it that has made all these
nations to differ and become various forms of a common
humanity ? Who has placed them one beside the other,
not always by mere national development, but oftener
by social convulsions, scatterings, wanderings, and trans
positions ? Who is it that has established definite re
lations between them, fused them, mixed them, and
thereby produced many nations, and within nations
many sections and classes, in which it is hardly possible
to say which is the prevailing nationality ? What was
the origin of Greece ? What was the origin of Italy ?
Twenty races familiar to the students of history and

MUTUALLY HELPFUL 217,
ethnology will not exhaust the early population of that
peninsula and its islands. What was the origin of that
population which we are obliged to call English, but
which is in fact the outcome of many conquests and
immigrations ? Who did all this ? One answer only
is possible, and it has evidently escaped the notice of
Quirinus. No pious mind can escape, or wish to escape,
from the conclusion that the existing disposition, and
existing characteristics, of all the tribes of humanity are
by the Divine ordinance, and that we are bound to take
things as they are, subject only to the rule of making
the best of things as they are. The Germans are an ad
mirable, indeed wonderful people, unequalled in certain
special gifts ; and, for that very reason, they have no
need to sing their own praises, and depreciate the rest of
the world. They can do much that the Italians cannot
do so well, but, on the other hand, they must own by the
judgment of history and by the evidence of their senses,
that Italy can surpass Germany in the arts of war and
also of peace, in the acquisition of empire and in its
consolidation and perpetuation. Rome certainly is no
mean city, and not to be scoffed and flouted at by these
abnormal giants of philosophical and theological culture.
Now the English cannot be called either Germans
or Italians, but they have elements in common with
both, besides elements inherited from a wider range.
They can almost say Tros Tyriusque in their cosmo-
jpohtan liberality. Anyhow, they don't like to see one
race crowing in this style over another. There is no
thing in all this to better the world, did the world want
it ever so much. Criticism pushed to the extreme and
bound to its own canons, establishes nothing in the place

2i8. ROMANS AND GERMANS
of that which it destroys. The question this Council
had to deal with was one of eternal realities ; that
is, whether the Almighty had indeed imparted and
pledged for ever certain spiritual gifts, of infinite signifi
cance and value, to the Roman Catholic Church to be
administered through its rightful authorities. Such a
question could not rest on this man or that ; this living
or dead writer or that ; this document or that ; this
process of reasoning or that ; this literaiy reputation
or that. Upon such matters a mere scholar, or philosopher,
might do what he liked with the argument, and leave the
conclusion unchanged. He would stand where he had
stood, and his opponents where they had stood. In the
mere literary question, or mere international question, or
mere inter-ecclesiastical question, immense damage may
be done, and much glory of a certain sort acquired.
But all that survives in such a battle-field is a few
theories of morality and religion, resting on no founda
tion, bound by no laws, ever accommodating themselves
to convenience, and first cousins to all the hypocrisies
and superstitions entertained and practised by the
simpler sort of men.
No doubt people always do make their own morality^
their own philosophy, and their own theology. As the
systems thus constructed are the work of a hfe, and sup
ported by surrounding examples, it is almost hopeless,
to attempt to mend and enlarge that which is not only
concrete but encrusted.
The Germans were labouring hard to extract the mote
from the Pope's eye, without a thought of the beam in
their own. It could not be sound philosophy, or true

E PLURIBUS UNUM 219
religion, that made them regard all the nations of the
earth as so many steps in an ascending scale, on the
summit of which sits Germany. Why were nations
made different, that is, different as far back as can be
known, and with many more differences arising out of fresh-
combinations, new conditions, and singular histories ?
Surely it must have been for their good, not for their
evil ; for mutual benefit, not for mutual bane ; for mutual
love, honour and esteem, not for mutual depreciation.
Surely, too, the great object proposed to the higher
sense and right reason of man was to ascertain and work
upon the design of Almighty goodness in this variety
of racial characteristics and national fortunes. We can
only aspire to be all fellow-workers under One Master
Builder. The necessity of mutual subordination and
co-operation is nowhere so manifest as in the striking
differences between the Italian and the German families.
The natural element has always prevailed in the Ger
man ; the preternatural in the Italian. The Italian took
his place in the ' Golden Legend ' in direct and immedi
ate succession to that which was in the Beginning, while
the German remained mostly Pagan till the arrival of
our English Boniface in the eighth century. What
would Germany have been to this day, without Italy,
who never neglected the gift that was in her, though she
might use it in too human a fashion. England boasts,
too truly indeed, that her empire far surpasses the
Roman. A time will come when it will be asked. Did
she use it as well as Rome did hers ?

CHAPTER XCII
PROTEST AGAINST THE NE^W REGULATIONS
Rome : March 14.
The agitation on both sides increases from day to day.
As might be expected, however, the attitude of the
Vatican is the more tranquil, dignified, and imposing.
It would be hard, indeed, if Rome could not look grander
and calmer than the comparative handful of men con
certing suddenly, unpreparedly, and with much violence
to many deep convictions and fond prejudices, to main
tain what is left of their independence. The latter meet
about every other day, and have both to do much at
once, and also to decide how to act in this or that even
tuality. It is a necessity of the situation that their first
prayer should be for time ; but it is scarcely possible to
ask for time, or to operate with a view to time, in a very
dignified manner. On Friday they sent in a Protest,
under nine heads, so I hear, touching upon all the four
teen articles of the New Rules of procedure, but passing
over some of them lightly.
Their first complaint is that the time allowed by the
Rules for sending in written observations and amend
ments is left entirely to the discretion of the Cardinal
Legates, and in the present instance, in a matter of
supreme importance, has been only ten days. So they

INFALLIBILITY TO BE MADE INFALLIBLE 221
ask for more law. In itself the demand is most reason
able, but it has been a little damaged by the dilatory
tactics evidently pursued by the Opposition, and by the
confessed fact that they have been pursued with design,
and with encouragement from without. Moreover, the
world itself will make its own comments upon personages
of high position, consummate ability, and opinions known
to all, suddenly confessing that they don't know their
mind on a point at the very basis of their system. Of
all men they ought to know what they believe, and what
they don't ; so outsiders will say. Rome says at once it
knows what it believes. What it declares without hesi
tation or the shadow of a misgiving presents itself at a
great advantage, in the face of divers criticisms, doubts,
and demurs. She has shown none of this herself
They who have seen the proposed Dogma say that
it is the extremest that could have been proposed, inas
much as they are led to ask what Rome herself can be
about in proposing it. Has she, in her own mind, left a
margin for concessions ? Does she only mean to press
the Dogma now so far as to demonstrate to the Church
and to the world that she can pass it when she pleases I
Or is it simply all or nothing ? In substance, the Dogma
makes the Vicar of Christ Infallible in Faith and Morals,
the latter, of course, including all political and social
questions. It declares that ' he cannot err.' It is said
that the Archbishops of Rouen and Algiers, on behalf of
those who had signed neither of the petitions, for and
against infallibility, proposed a Dogma which the Pope
might have been more or less disposed to accept ; but
that others more uncompromising than the Pope himself
prevailed against it

222 PROTEST AGAINST THE NEW REGULATIONS
But another question is now sjnd to be causing anxiety
to both sides. The theory of a Council is perfect una
nimity, and the New Rules pointedly abstain from
laying down that anything is to follow from a comparison
of the placets and non-placets, on the scheme being finally
put to the vote. The minority has not only to be over
come, but eliminated altogether, and no one sees how
this is to be done, excepting by its own consent. Scan
dalous as it may seem for a minority to hold its ground
against the majority, nevertheless for the Creed of the
Church to be settled by a majority, by a counting of
heads, is held to be a still greater outrage to the dignity
and authority of the Vicar of Christ. Neither party here
can settle the point between the infallibility of the Pope
himself and the infallibility of the Pope and Council.
It is quite uncertain whether the Council will meet
on the 17th, or when it will meet Banneville has been
here all the time, but has sent his secretary, the Count
de Hennesey, with despatches to Paris. It is now said,
as you have no doubt heard by this time, that the Court
•declares itself very glad to have a French Ambassador
at the Council. The post is suddenly announced to close
an hour earlier than hitherto — that is, three hours before
the departure of the mail train.

The Roman correspondent of the Memorial Diplomatique,
writing on March 13, says that the representatives of several
second-rate Catholic Powers, including Bavaria, Belgium, and
Portugal, have informed Cardinal Antonelli that their Govern
ments had entered into negotiations with the Cabinet of the
Tuileries in order that, if an Ambassador Extraordinary of
-France should be admitted to the Council, he should also be

TWO ARCHBISHOPS 223
charged with the care of their respective interests. It is that
fact which, as the correspondent believes, has caused the delay
in sending ofif to Paris the Pontifical reply to the last note of
Count Daru. Although this reply will be affirmative in its
character, the Cardinal Secretary of State has thought it neces
sary to introduce into it considerations of a general nature, it
having in the first instance been confined to the particular
relations established by the Concordat of 1861 between the
Holy See and France.
The Archbishop of Syra and Tenos, who has been staying
with the Bishop of Winchester at his town house in St. James's
Square, yesterday paid a visit to his Grace the Archbishop of
Canterbury at Addington Park. The Greek Archbishop was
attended by the Rev. George Williams, and was met at West
Croydon station by the Rev. C. W. Sandford, domestic chaplain
to the Archbishop of Canterbury. On arriving at Addington
Park a short service was held in the chapel. The state of his
Grace's health, though much improved, did not admit ofa pro
tracted interview between the two prelates ; but the personal
intercourse of a few minutes was sufficient to confirm the
sentiments of mutual esteem and affection which they already
entertained one for the other. After taking luncheon with the
family the Archbishop of Syra and Tenos returned to town,
and was present in the course of the evening at the
adjourned debate on the Education Bill in the House of
Commons. The pastoral from Cardinal Cullen was published yesterday.
He says that last year one of the greatest impediments to the
happiness of Ireland, the State Church, was removed for ever.
The great statesmen who conferred that boon have manifested
their resolve to remove other grievances. It is only by peace
able agitation and temperate discussion that Irishmen can
hope to co-operate with them. There never was a period
when the truth of the axiom that ' he who commits a crime
gives strength to the enemy ' was more apparent He cautions
people against Fenianism and Freemasonry.

224 ILLE DIES PRIMUS LETHI
Madrid : March 12, 2.25 P.M.
A duel was fought to-day between the Duke de Montpensier
and Don Enrique de Bourbon. The latter was killed by the
former's third shot. The Duke de Montpensier's seconds were
Generals Cordoba and Alaminos ; Don Enrique's were two^
Republican Deputies. Evening.
The following particulars have transpired respecting the
duel between the Duke de Montpensier and the Infante Don
Henry of Bourbon. The duel was fought at Alcorcon, in the
neighbourhood of Madrid. Three shots were fired on each
side, the Infante always firing first. The ball which proved
fatal penetrated the Infante's head, close to the ear. He died
instantly. The Duke was much affected by the result, and is
very unwell. His seconds and witnesses were the Duke de
Cordoba and Senor Alaminos ; those of the Infante, Seiiores
Santamaria Ortiz and Rubis. March 13.
Further details have come to hand of the duel between the
Duke de Montpensier and the Infante Don Henry de
Bourbon. The adversaries fired the first time at a distance of
ten yards, but neither of them was hurt. The second time
the distance was nine yards, but still neither of the shots took
effect. The third time the combatants were placed at a
distance of eight yards from each other ; Don Henry fired
first and missed aim. He was then shot dead by the Duke.
The latter behaved with great coolness during the action, but
was afterwards very much affected, and had to be bled twice.
The supposed cause of the duel was the fact of printed docu
ments, dated March 7, having been circulated in Madrid,
signed by Don Henry de Bourbon, attacking the Duke de
Montpensier in the strongest and most personal terms. The
funeral of Don Henry will be solemnised to-day.

PRIMUSQUE MALORUM CAUSA FUIT lit,
On a day memorable in the annals of France, Spain,
England, the City of London and the Times, there came
from Paris a square inch of tissue paper half covered
with the quotations of the Bourse. The remaining half
contained, in almost microscopic letters, what seemed an
expected announcement. It read as if the question of
the Spanish marriages had been settled as England had
finally insisted on. Our Government had just received
an intimation that such would be the decision, and that
the confirmation would follow speedily. The express
thus interpreted had to be made into a column. The
writer could not satisfy himself that it meant anything
at all, but circumstances prevented any comparison of
opinions on that point. The result was an idyl on peace
at any price, even at the sacrifice of national ideas, and
on the happy influence of domestic affections upon
political difficulties. The immediate response from
Paris was that the decision actually made was that which
France had demanded, the simultaneous marriage of both
the Infantas, and that England, while true to her own
traditions in blustering, had now shown her wisdom in a
light-hearted acquiescence. The fact was that after a
train had been laid, a bogus message had been sent, no
doubt by the contrivance of the French Government.
At that time there had been no final decision, Spain
fearing to excite English susceptibilities. But now, with
the Times in his hand, the French minister could assure
Spain of England's indifference in the matter. Both the
marriages then took place. By that time the truth was
known in London, and there followed an outburst of in
dignation which assured Louis Philippe's enemies at home
and abroad that he would never have England to help
him in his difficulties. Hence the Revolutions of 1848.
VOL. II. Q

226

CHAPTER XCIII
THE PROPOSED DOGMA
Rome : March 15.
' We live here under a peculiar institution,' as the
Southerners said of their slaves and the people of Utah
of their domestic arrangements. The Infallibility Dogma
was delivered to the Fathers, so it is stated, on the 7th.
I saw it for the first time last night in a Paris paper.
This morning I have had the Latin text before me in
manuscript, and also in a Turin paper. The manuscript
was to be returned immediately in order to be burnt,
and, no doubt, the owner would watch the ashes till not
a letter could be traced in them. I have taken a copy,
and am not sure that even now the discovery of the
copy would not procure my immediate expulsion. On
Friday we were told that the Dogma had been sent across
the frontier, and telegraphed to all the world ; so that
Rome was now the only place not basking in this sudden
effulgence of the light divine. Egypt was in light,
Goshen in darkness. Of course, there were people who
had seen it, but they dismissed its purport with that
brevity which is the soul of wit, and leaves little to write
about. I have already intimated that the Pope has some

THE ROMAN POST OFFICE iiT-
excuse for preferring the long range to the short range
in the discharge of his artillery. Even at Florence and
Turin his thunderbolts are received more respectfully
than they are here. The Pope has the usual mark of a
prophet — that he is not without honour save in his own
country and in his father's house. Though strangers
come to Rome full of devotion, the people who have
seen Popes, off" and on, for near 2,000 years, show rather
too much of that which is bred by familiarity. So the
Pope is obliged to speak over their heads and let them
hear the rebound. Everybody in London last Saturday
could know, if he cared, what the Princes and ' Senate '
of Rome could not know, even for days after, without
somebody incurring for their sake minor excommunica
tion, and, if he did not repent of it, eternal perdition.
This is the way in which Divine truth is searched and
elicited here ; and we are told, over and over again,
that it is the way enjoined by Scriptural precept and
example. I am not without some expectation that
it will be authoritatively stated, and perhaps tele
graphed, that the Dogma published is not the Dogma
distributed to the Fathers. Of course it is ; you may be
sure of it.
I will take this opportunity to mention something
else which ought to be known and duly considered by
all who write letters to Rome, or expect to hear from it
The post from the north — that is, from all Europe-
arrives here at ten minutes to nine in the morning, and
the letters are not delivered, nor can they be obtained,
till half-past one, giving the officials an interval of four
hours and a half for manipulation. The mail does not
leave till ten minutes to eight in the evening, but no

328 THE PROPOSED DOGMA
letter can be posted after five, giving the officials two
hours and fifty minutes for manipulation.'
As the proposed Dogma is now in your hands, and
as all the controversialists at home are busy upon it, I
will for the present leave it alone, only observing that as
the people here are bound by their creed to believe the
Pope infallible in some sense or other, in some form or
other, on some occasion or other, on some matter or
other, the controversy here will be very quiet and cir
cumscribed, compared with that which the Dogma will
awaken ' at home.' When does the Pope properly and
really discharge the office of supreme teacher ? When
does he speak with real authority ?
At present I hear more of the great question started
by the New ' Rules, but, of course, an old question.
Though it is a matter of convenience to take votes in
the Council — that is, in the intermediate and, as it were,
preparatory stages — there is to be no final comparison of
votes, for nothing will be recognised except unanimity.
The minority contemplate, not defeat, but extinction.
The majority is to walk over them, as the conqueror
walks over the conquered in the pictures and sculptures
here. Nor is that all. While the majority is not to
recognise the minority, the Pope is not even to recog
nise the Council, except as a body of Christian bishops,
who, fortunately for their own souls, have the piety and
good sense to agree with him. The Fathers are assen-
' The English visitors very naturally resented this late delivery and
early closing, together making it impossible to answer letters by return of
post, except in the hours usually devoted to sight-seeing. They urged the
early and late hours of the London Post Office. The only answer they got
from the officials was that Romans required time to save their souls, and, it
appeared, the English had no souls to save.

AN ASSENTING COUNCIL 229
taiores, not assessores, or conciliarii, with him. In the
Dogma itself the Pope declares himself infallible ; it is
not the Council that does so ; it only approves. Indeed,
his infallibility can neither depend on itself nor on any
thing but itself The Pope is infallible ; and there is
nothing like him, or second to him, or that can be com
pared with him, or, indeed, that can properly co-operate
with him.
But I must say the little that is to be said about the
state of -things. A French ambassador is expected.
He might not find it good employment of his time to
attend the sittings of Council, but, in other respects, he
would have quite as good opportunities as the Bishops
have — perhaps better. He will hardly share the opinion
freely expressed by the extremes of French party, that
it cannot possibly signify to the State what dogmas a
Pope may choose to send into a country.
No summonses have yet been issued for a sitting of
Council, and it is very doubtful when it will sit again.
It appears, however, to be thought certain that there
will be a public Session on Lady Day, when some of the
anathemas against Rationalism will be pronounced.
This is thought necessary as a good practice for the
more important occasion to follow, when there must be
no mistake. The Roman world still expects that
infallibility will be decreed, everything done, and the
Council prorogued on April 12, the anniversary of the
Pope's accident and escape at St. Agnes. On the other
hand, there are those whq^ talk of June. The truth is,
this is a thundercloud, or meant to be such, that may
discharge its fire next minute, or may continue to
threaten us all to-night or to-morrow. Meanwhile, this

230 THE PROPOSED DOGMA
is not the only thundercloud in the sky, and even they
who wield this look with anxiety to one near the banks
of the Seine. Politic councillors, friendly ministers,
agreeable ambassadors — what are they, when parlia
ments are sitting and votes counted ? That is the rock
the Vatican sees ahead.

C.^PUT .4DDENDU.M DeCRETO DE RoMANI PONTIFIClS
Pruiatu.
Romanum Pontificem in rebus fidei et morum definiendis errare
non posse.
Sancta Romana Ecclesia summum et plenum primatum et
principatum super universam Catholicam Ecclesiam obtinet,
quem se ab ipso Domino in beato Petro, Apostolorum Principe,
cujus Romanus Pontifex est successor, cum potestatis plenitu-
dine recepisse, veraciter et humiliter recognoscit Et sicut
prae casteris tenetur fidei veritatem defendere, sic et si quse de
fide subortse fuerint quaestiones, suo debent judicio definiri.
(Concilium Lugdun. II.') Et quia non potest D. N. Jesu
Christi prsetermitti sententia dicentis, ' Tu es Petrus, et super
hanc petram tedificabo Ecclesiam meam ' (Matth. xvi. lo),
haec quae dicta sunt, rerum probantur efifectibus, quia in sede
apostolica immaculata est semper Catholica conservata religio
et sancta celebrata doctrina (ex formula S. Hormisdae Papse
subscripta ab episcopis Orientalium ^). Hinc sacro approbante
Concilio dicimus et tanquam fidei dogma definimus [sc. Pius
IX.], per divinam assistentiam fieri ut Romanus Pontifex, cui
in persona beati Petri dictum est ab eodem D. N. Christo,
' Ego pro te rogavi ut non deficiat fides tua,' cum supremi
omnium Christianorum doctoris munere fungens pro auctoritate
definit quid in rebus fidei et morum ab universa Ecclesia
' E.x professione fidei edita a Griccis in Cone. CEcii/n. Liis^d. II.
'' Subscripta a Patribus Cone. CEciiin. VIII., Constantinop. IV.

MAGNA EST VERITAS, ET PR^VALEBIT 231
tenendum est, errare non possit, et hinc Romani Pontificis
inerrantiae seu infallibilitatis prerogativam ad idem objectum
porrigi, ad quod infallibilitas Ecclesiae extenditur.
Si quis autem huic nostras definitioni contradicere (quod
Deus avertat) praesumpserit, sciat, se a veritate fidei Catholicas
et ab ipsa unitate Ecclesiae defecisse.
Translation.
The following is the Chapter to be added to the Decree on
the Primacy of the Roman Pontifif, to the efifect that his Holi
ness cannot be mistaken in the definition of matters regarding
Faith and Morals : —
The Holy Roman Church possesses the supreme and entire
principality and control over the Universal Catholic body, and
it truly and humbly recognises that it received that authority
with the plenitude of power of the Saviour Himself, in the
person of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, of whom the Pope
is the successor.
And as, before everything, it is bound to defend the purity
of the faith, all questions which may arise on that subject
ought to be defined by it. Seeing, moreover, that the words
of our Lord Jesus Christ 'Thou art Peter,' &c., cannot be
disregarded, what was said on that occasion has since been
proved, for in the Apostolic See the Cathohc religion has
always been preserved immaculate, and the doctrine has ever
been maintained in its purity.
In consequence, we teach, with the adhesion of the Holy
Council, and we declare as a dogma of the faith, that through
the Divine assistance, the Roman Pontiff, of whom it was said
in the person of St. Peter by Our Saviour Jesus Christ, ' I have
prayed for thee,' &c., cannot err when, acting in his quality of
supreme teacher of all Christians, he defines what the Universal
Church ought to adopt with regard to faith and morals, and
that this Papal prerogative of not making a mistake, or infalli
bility, extends to the same matters as those on which the
Church cannot be wrong.

232 THE PROPOSED DOGMA
But if any dare, which God forbid, to contradict our present
definition, let him know that he has fallen away from the truth
of religion and the very unity of the Church.
Though a somewhat different translation has already
been given in a telegram under Chapter Ixxxvii., I
take the liberty of adding another, not as better than
the above, but as simply not the same. It is impossible
to translate theological Latin into English without giv
ing openings for controversy to which I do not feel even
physically equal. The reader must bear in mind that
this Schema, or draft, was distributed to the Fathers
on March 7, when the Council had been three months
at work, and that it can only be regarded as an early
stage of the process, which was not concluded till four
months after.

Chapter to ee added to the Decree on the Primacy
OF THE Roman Pontiff.
That the Roman Pontiff cannot err in defining Matters of Faith
and Morals.
The Holy Roman Church possesses the supreme and full
primacy and royal authority over the Universal Catholic Church
which it truly and humbly recognises to have received with
fulness of power from the Lord Himself in St. Peter, Prince of
the Apostles, of whom the Roman Pontiff is successor.
And since, before all other matters, it is bound to defend
the true Faith, so, if there should arise any questions of faith,
they ought to be decided by its judgment [It has the sole
right to define them.] And while that declaration of Jesus
Christ, ' Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
Church,' cannot be disregarded, these words have the proof of
actual results, inasmuch as the Apostolic See has always pre-

FRANCE PROTECTING SPAIN 233
served the Catholic religion, and inculcated sacred truths, with
out stain of error. Hence, with the approbation of the Sacred
Council, we [Pio IX.] pronounce and define as a Dogma of
Faith, that by the Divine aid, the Roman Pontifif, to whom, in
the person of the blessed Peter, our Lord Christ said, ' I have
prayed for thee that thy faith fail not,' when, in the discharge
of his office as the Supreme Teacher of all Christians, he
defines with authority what is to be held in Faith and Morals,
by the Universal Church, cannot err ; and hence the Roman
Pontiff's immunity from error, and prerogative of infallibility,
reaches to the full extent of the Church's infallibility.
But if anyone, which God forbid, shall presume to gainsay
this our Definition, let him know that he has fallen from the
truth of the Catholic Faith, and from the unity itself of the
Church.

March 12.
The Francais of this evening states that important questions
were discussed at to-day's Council of Ministers. The same
journal denies that the Government has yet received the reply
of the Vatican to Count Daru's despatch, or that it has decided
upon the choice of a representative at the CEcumenical Council.
March 13.
Count de Montalembert is dead.
The Constitutionnel states that the Emperor has sent a
General to King Francesco d'Assisi, to express his deep dis
pleasure at the dissension between the King and Queen Isabella,
The Emperor trusts that an amicable understanding will be
effected, in order to obviate the necessity of adopting such
measures as would be required to maintain the dignity of French
hospitality. Paris : March 15.
The France of this evening announces that the Marquis de
Banneville, the French ambassador at Rome, left that city to
day, and will embark at Civita Vecchia for France. There is.

234 THE PROPOSED DOGMA
however, up to the present no corroboration of this news.
According to the Francais there is no truth in the rumour of
a disagreement between M. Emile Ollivier and Count Daru.
The report of Marshal M'Mahon's resignation of his post as
Governor-General of Algeria is not confirmed. In to-day's
sitting, the Senate passed to the order of the day on the
petitions tending to restrict universal suffrage, although the
report recommended that they should be referred to the Com
mittee. Munich: March 15.
It is Stated on reliable authority that the Austrian Ambas
sador at Rome has received instructions from his Government
to support the demands of France, though Austria does not
intend sending a special representative to the Council.

My readers will be partly wearied, partly amused,
with the dilatory and vacillating policy of all the Conti
nental Powers now for three months, not to speak of
the long preparation. It would have been impossible
to convey any idea of the fact without giving many of
the telegrams — more, indeed, than m.ost readers will
take the trouble to read. Perhaps the policy of in
action, thus found to have been universal, is not quite
so strange and unusual in politics, whether domestic or
international, as might be supposed. With regard to
many large and complicated questions, statesmen called
upon to do something, and even politicians under
no obligation to do anything, equally recoil from
decision. If they can go on without compromising
themselves, and reserve the power to a^¦ail themselves of
an opportunity, they will not do to-day what they might
have to repent of to-morrow. No blame to them.
Theologians and Churchmen do the same.

CHAPTER XCIV
PAPAL ASSUMPTIONS
Rome : March 1 6.
The Greeks ruled the world ; Athens ruled the Greeks ;
Pericles ruled Athens ; his wife ruled Pericles ; her son
ruled his mother : therefore her son ruled the world.
The Universal Catholic Church is the divine teacher of
the world ; the Holy Roman Church has the primacy
and supremacy of the Universal Catholic Church ; the
Roman Pontiff is the head, heart, mind, and tongue of
the Holy Roman Church : therefore, he is the head, lord,
master, teacher, ruler, and judge of the whole world.
It is quite evident there are many millions of men,
women, and children, besides prelates on their promo
tion, who do not see the slightest flaw in this train of
reasoning. So there must be something in it English
men generally, seeing the conclusion, will not listen to
the argument ; and, indeed, logic is in evil odour with
my countrymen. They seize the first opportunity of
rebelling against an assumption in which they cannot
entirely acquiesce. They have opportunities here — that
is, if they start with an honest and undisguised determi
nation not to accept the Pope as the sovereign lord and
master of their bodies and souls.
In the document before me there are not a few as-

236 PAPAL ASSUMPTIONS
sumptions. It is assumed that Jesus Christ gave to
Peter supreme and full primacy and principality over
the Universal Catholic Church. It is assumed, further,
that in so doing He also gave it to the Holy Roman
Church. It is assumed that the Roman Pontiff" is the
successor of Peter ; and in that assumption is included
the assumption that Peter was at Rome, and that he
was Bishop of Rome — points upon which Scripture is
silent It is assumed that whatever power Peter had,
the Pontifif has from him, and this assumption is made
' truly and humbly,' for indeed the Pontiff cannot but be
all truth and humility. It is assumed that the Roman
Church is under a distinct obligation, and has a special
power and authority for the definition — that is, for the
absolute stopping of all questions of faith that may arise.
This is to be done by ' its oivn ' judgment — that is, by
the judgment of the Church of Rome. It is assumed
that the words ' Thou art Peter,' &c., mean that the
Church was to be built on Peter, not only as respects
his character, his utterances, and his career, and as a
prominent example of others like him, but also on the
ground that he was the recognised chief of the Apostles
and the predestined founder of a like succession. It is
assumed that these words of our Lord addressed to
Peter are proved to possess the particular significance
ascribed to them by the Church of Rome by the test of
results, those results being the singular and absolute im
munity from doctrinal error enjoyed by the Apostolic
See, which, it is assumed, has kept the whole faith, and
that without spot, in a singular and remarkable manner.
It is assumed that it is the place of the Pope to define —
that is, to make and proclaim — articles of faith ; and of

PONDERA VERBORUM 237
an CEcumenical Council to approve. It is assumed that
when our Lord said he had prayed for Peter that his
faith should not fail, that prayer implied a promise that
both Peter himself and his alleged successors, the
Bishops of Rome, would always have a perfectly right
judgment in all theological, spiritual, moral, political,
and social questions. The two last heads I throw in,
for they are certainly included in morality.
On these assumptions it is argued and concluded
that the Roman Pontiff" whenever he acts and speaks
with authority — that is, in a formal and customary man
ner, according to rule and precedent — possesses and
exhibits all the infallibility promised in Holy Writ to
the whole Church ; and that as far as the Church is in
fallible, so is he : in whatever matter it is infallible, in
that matter is he. Anybody the least conversant with
the question will see that I have not exhausted the as
sumptions which all Christians are requested to take on
the simple word of Rome, and upon which she now
proposes to build up once more the vast fabric of her
dominion. It only remains to add the doom of him,
whoever he be, who refuses to assist in this design, who
demurs to the logic of the Holy Father, or to his abso
lute power of defining his own authority. It is that
such a person, if any there be — God forbid it ! — has fallen
away from the truth of the Catholic faith, and from the
very unity of the Church.
It must be some days before I can send you the
merest rumours of the criticisms that may be levelled
against this stupendous dogma. The critics here have
before them the possibility of having to swallow their
objections, or bow in silence to the acclamation of a

238 PAPAL ASSUMPTIONS
majority consisting chiefly of men who must be con
sidered the pure creations of the Roman Court rather
than the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church.
Rome has herself made the votes which are now to be
given back to her, and which she will only receive on the
express understanding that they are utterly worthless ;
that they contribute no authority or weight, and that
whatever is now concluded and done is by her own
absolute and Divine power. How will the men that
the world has been hearing of deal with such an emer
gency ? Better never to have walked, or sat, in purple
and fine linen ; better to have stood only in that mag
nificent temple with unadorned baldness or gray hairs
than be now compelled to lend a hand and tongue to
what the inner soul revolts from. But these men have
gone very far ; they know and feel they have gone very
far ; some have even said so ; and they have opened
their mouths as if about to say, ' Thus far, and no
farther.' But then it has occurred that perhaps they
might be called on to go farther, and that it was needless
to anticipate the evil day, which indeed has come, which
would test the sincerity of their protest.
But what are they doing? The Italian journals
Papal and national, are fighting over Dupanloup as
they who once fought over the body of Patroclus. All
he ever wrote or said in his days of gushing loyalty is
revived to be thrown in his face. It is an important
fact, however, that, denied the press at Rome, he has
published at Naples a forcible reply to the Archbishop
of Malines. Indeed, it is impossible to deny that the
Opposition survives, works, and is active, though, on the
Roman theory, it ought to melt away like an ice floe

DUPANLOUP CONFRONTED WITH DUPANLOUP 239
under a tropical sun. The Pope's people ingeniously
rate the obstinate opposition at forty, which is the usual
number of a gang or conspiracy, banded for evil, and
certain to be betrayed, cheated, or baffled. They are
looking to see whether any bone, or the merest fibre,
will remain when the mass of gelatinous matter has
been dissolved, for they assume that whatever has been
once thoroughly Roman will be ultimately obedient to
the new law of its nature.
Will it be so now } There is, indeed, a bustle of
telegrams, despatches, circulars, and meetings described
even as stormy, but it will wear itself out Dupanloup
himself said long ago, so he is quoted, ' Once on the floor
of St. Peter, the bishops will lay aside their divergencies.
The Council will be no field of battle, no arena for oratory,
no tribunal of men.' With the fatal facility of genius, the
Bishop of Orleans has evidently let his pen or his tongue
have all its own way in describing what the Council ought
to be and what it ought not ; and hitherto it has only shown
how much it needed the almost prophetic caution. He has,
it seems, pictured so correctly what a Council in the
nineteenth century is too likely to turn out that he is
now called on to present himself as its promised deliverer
from its difficulties.
The last touching appeal to his higher feeling is an
allusion to the vile journals that insult him with their
praises, and he is even vindicated from the entirely pas
sive crime of having received letters from Daru. Again,
for the twentieth time since I have been here, has he
been walked up to the Papal mirror, and invited to con
template himself in that wondrous hat which has wrecked
so many natures, hearts, tempers, fortunes, and under-

240 PAPAL ASSUMPTIONS
standings. You will be asking by this time whether it
is possible that the champion of liberty should ever hug
the chain and ever dance in his fetters.
It would be unjust to the Bishop of Orleans to revive
against him columns of declamation which may be only
the outpouring of an exuberant fancy. But he is a
prophet, and who should better fulfil the prophecy than
the prophet himself.' Fifteen years ago he saw what
others saw, but in which only he discerned a future sig
nificance. 'Pius IX. speaks,' he said; 'the Christian
world hears and receives. From Vienna, Cologne,
Madrid, Dublin, Smyrna, Baltimore, from the rising and
from the setting sun, from the depths of continents, from
the far-off isle, from the recesses of oceans and the
corners of the world, there present themselves the chief
pastors of the universal Church, to prostrate themselves
before the throne of St. Peter, and receive from the
common teacher what others must learn from them.'
Is not this prophetic ? But prophecy is often curiously
circumstantial. I see that long ago the Bishop of
Orleans predicted that a Council of the Vatican would
have nothing to do with the secrets of political councils.
Even to the letter has this been fulfilled in his repudia
tion of the correspondence with Count Daru. But I
must stop here. All is close as close can be in the two
camps; the rumour of one hour contradicted by the
next. Did our informants but know how widely they
diff"er !
Rome is full and lively. There has been a review of
the Papal army this afternoon. On Monday morning
invalids, ladies, and clergy were sitring on the Pincian
enjoying the sunshine and the fragrance of spring flowers.

COMMIXTA GRANDINE NIMBUS 241
At 1 1 o'clock, the hour of the meet at the tomb of Cecilia
Metella, winter came back suddenly, with storms of wind
and rain ; and since that we have had the tramontana
and the thermometer under 40. Pleasant for the last
arrivals frora our own much-abused climate !

Paris : March 16.
It is probable that France will send no special Envoy to
the CEcumenical Council, but will be represented thereat by
the Marquis de Banneville, the French Ambassador at Rome.
Bologna : March 16.
Reliable information from Rome states that the French
Note of the 20th of February to the Pontifical Government in
no way engages France in ofificial steps against the proposition
of infallibihty. France requests to be heard through a special
envoy on the questions raised by the publication of the 21
canons which tend to the establishment of a theocracy.
These canons embody as doctrines the principles enunciated
by the Syllabus of 1864. The publication of these canons is a
new fact whereof the French Government knew nothing when
expressing its resolution on non-intervention at the CEcumenical
Council in its circular of the 9th of September, and by the
declarations of Count Daru in the Senate on this subject.
The expectation that the Council would confine itself to the
examination of purely religious matters, as expressed by the
speech of the Emperor to the Legislative Corps in November
last, has been deceived by the publication of the canons, which
constitute a rupture with the principles of government and
modern society, and are a violation of the law which no
Government in Europe could accept Up to yesterday the
French Government had received no reply at Paris from
Rome.

VOL. n. R

242

CHAPTER XCV
ST. PATRICK'S DAY

I CAN scarcely believe that I failed to report progress
on March 17, but I have searched the Times in vain.
My recollections may be distincter, or less distinct,
through the omission, as my present readers may please
to suppose. Archbishop Manning was announced to
preach at the Church of St. Patrick and St. Isidore. I
availed myself of the opportunity to revive old recollec
tions, and to see most of the English-speaking Fathers.
The church is small, but not mean, and besides dignified
proportions it is full of good paintings and sculptures.
Till the end of last century, it was the Church of
St. Isidore, the great Spanish Saint, but it had been
* converted into a College for the Irish Observant Friars.' '
Though I was in good time, upon opening the west
door I saw the church was already crowded. What we
should call at home a chancel door promised a quiet and
unobserved entrance. The door opened at a touch ; I
stepped in almost on tip-toe, and closed the door behind
me. Immediately I saw before me not less than a
hundred English, Irish, American, and AustraHan
bishops, packed .shoulder to shoulder, on benches, rails
' Cardinal York had his brother buried as a king at Frascati, taking
care that the formalities at Rome should be inoffensively humble. More
than two hundred Masses were celebrated during the thirty hours im
mediately succeeding the demise. The Office of the Dead was chanted by
the Mendicant Orders, the Irish Franciscans of St. Isidore alone being
admitted to the chamber of death.

THE ISLE OF SAINTS 243
and steps, and on the marble floor. A good many of
them recognised me at once, exchanged signals, and
very good-humouredly invited me to take a seat in the
thick of them, doing their best to make room for me.
I was satisfied with my first position, though I believe
it involved my being on my legs the whole service.
Manning preached on the Saint : his history ; his
mission ; his work ; his example ; but not, if I remember
right, on his miracles. He had to admit that St. Patrick
was not an Irishman ; that he had been captured by
Irish pirates ; that he had lived for years in the most
cruel and degrading servitude to his Pagan masters ;
that he had witnessed horrors of all kinds ; and that,
having found himself free, he returned after some years
to Ireland with the single object of converting to
Christianity those from whom he had suffered so much
ill-treatment. Up to that time the Irish had been irre
claimable, and St. Patrick reclaimed them— for a time at
least — and made Ireland the Isle of Saints. Manning
had to pass lightly over the interval of seven hundred
years between the death of St. Patrick and the arrival
of Strongbow, for then began the light and life, the fire
and spirit, of his discourse.
From that point the personages were distinct, and
the antagonism established. The chief figure was
England, England the grasping, England the greedy,
England the bloody, England the treacherous, England
the tyrannical, England the worldly, the irreligious, and
all that an Irishman presumably is not. Displaying a
well-formed hand over the side of the pulpit and gently
waving the taper fingers, he exclaimed, ' The hand of
England always has been soiled with earth.'

244 ST. PATRICK'S DAY
I confess I thought this hard. Even at that time a
long and wide experience had led me to the conclusion
that the population of England is less bound to the soil,
and more ready to quit it at a sufficient call, than any
other in the world. There is nothing here to call a
battle for the possession of the land. I don't know
much of what people are doing north of the Tweed, or
west of the Severn, or west of the Tamar, but within
these boundaries people are not shooting, bludgeoning,
stoning, burning, maiming, boycotting, and vilifying one
another for the possession of acres be they few or many.
In all classes people follow the example of the wandering
patriarch, and leave first their dear home, and then this
or that cherished spot, as duty may call, or common sense
invite, or the love of peace may dispose them. As a
population we really are the most lackland in the world.
It is true there is a pestiferous generation of economic
reformers, or social reformers, as I believe they prefer to
be called, who are for burying every man in the land up
to his neck in the soil, clay, sand, gravel or stone as it may
happen to be. How I wish, and how I don't wish, that they
might themselves reap the fruits of their own dishonest
industry, and add a chapter to Dante's ' Purgatory,' a
field of men rooted each to his own acre, burdened,
darkened, and chilled by his own leaves and branches !
But I must return to the preacher. He tried fairly
enough to trim the balance evenly. He admitted faults
on both sides. After ages of oppression and irritation,
the Irish wanted friendl)- counsel and congenial aid.
They suffered, it was true, but not so gladly as they
might do. They were naturally a religious people, but
they were not to make godliness a cloak for malicious-

A BRIEF COMMENTARY 245
ness. They should recognise the order of Providence
even while prosecuting a just quarrel. England was
not altogether a bad neighbour, for she did them good
even when least intending it and thinking only of her
own interest. Above all — and on this point he dwelt with
earnestness — she provided ships wherein, as on the wings
of a dove, the outcast Irish could flee away and be at rest
Upon the whole the preacher seemed to meet the various
necessities of the occasion, and one of these necessities
was to leave Ireland a good deal to complain of
As it turned out, he failed to satisfy either side. The
church is on the brow of a, slight eminence and is
approached by two winding flights of steps, meeting
at a platform, which commands the little piazza in
front. As I stood on the platform preparing to de
scend, a tall, handsome, well-dressed young lady, took
her station in front, and delivered herself freely and
loudly to the departing congregation below, ' I never
heard such rubbish in my life.' If the statement was
true, she must have been singularly fortunate in her
experience. But I soon heard that the assembled Fathers
had their quarrel with the preacher. They thought the
sermon a cold, tame, and namby-pamby affair. Any
one of them could have done it better. It was a grand
occasion thrown away.
This chapter I wrote yesterday, June 4, 1890. To-day I
read as follows : —
Cardinal Manning and Mr. O'Brien's Novel. — Mr.
William O'Brien, M.P., has received the following letter con
cerning his novel 'When We Were Boys,' from Cardinal
Manning: — 'Archbishop's House, Westminster, June 3. My
dear Mr. O'Brien, — In my last letter I promised you that I

246 ST. PA TRICK'S DA Y
would write again when I had finished reading your book, but
when I came to the end I forgot the book and could only
think of Ireland, its manifold sufferings, and its inextricable
sorrows. For years I have been saying these words: "The
Irish people are the most profoundly Christian and the most
energetically Catholic people on the face of the earth." They
have also been afflicted by every kind of sorrow, barbarous
and refined. All that centuries of warfare, of race against
race, and religion against religion, can inflict upon a people
has been their inheritance ; but the day of restitution is nearly
come. I hope to see the daybreak, and I hope you will see the
noontide, when the people of Ireland will be readmitted, so
far as is possible, to the possession of their own soil, and shall
be admitted as far as possible to the making and administra
tion of their own local laws, while they shall still share in the
legislation which governs and consolidates the Empire. Their
Ken and Mabel shall be no more parted. — Believe me always
yours very faithfully, Henry E., Cardinal Archbishop.'

Perhaps it is unfair to criticise an effusive letter to
the author of an Irish novel, admitted to be forgotten as
soon as read. But it may be allowable to point out that
the Cardinal here freely recognises (i) the right of any
one race, under all circumstances, to the exclusive
possession of the soil to which it can lay a geographical
claim ; (2) its right to share the possession and accruing
advantages of a neighbouring island which has attained
an unexampled prosperity by a more distinctly Christian
policy ; (3) to enjoy equally with this hospitable neigh
bour the government of a great empire comprising many
other races ; (4) to maintain, by all the means in its
power, the claims of an Italian bishop to the spiritual
and, in effect, to the temporal dominion of the whole
world. Are these claims compatible ?

247

CHAPTER XCVI
MONTALEMBERT
Rome : March i8.
On Sunday the Pope received, they say, as many as
800 strangers, and had a word for most of them. Ad
dressing a Frenchman, he said : — ' I grieve to see the
death of a distinguished countryman of yours, who has
done great services to the Church. A few days before
his death he wrote a letter which gave me much pain,
and made me feel anxious. But I will hope that in his
last hours better thoughts came back to him.' Thus
far the letter is the historical fact and remains the dying
confession and conscience-clearing of Montalembert.
The French bishops of the Gallican party, headed
by De Merode, the Pope's almoner, and brother-in-law
of Montalembert, ordered a funeral service for him at
the Ara Cceli for 10 o'clock yesterday morning. On
Tuesday or Wednesday notice of the service was given
from the pulpit of the French Church, S. Luigi de'
Francesi. Notice was also sent to the Osservatore
Romano, where the censor saw it, reported it to his
superiors, and had orders to strike it out. On Wednes
day evening, when the French bishops were with the
Archbishop of Paris, they received a notice that the
service had been prohibited.

248 MONTALEMBERT
Nevertheless, on Thursday morning about twenty
bishops and a great number of Frenchmen and other
friends of Montalembert, including Due Mario Massimo,
went to the Ara Coeli, where they read on the doors a
notice that the service would not be held, and inside
found the Papal gendarmes taking down the catafalque
and .other preparations for the service, by order of the
Cardinal Vicar.' In answer to inquiries the sacristan said
it was because Montalembert having in his Letter.pro-
fessed his adbesion to Gratry's opinions, and called the
Pope ' the idol of the Vatican,' had been guilty of heresy,
and become ipso facto excommunitated. The prohibi
tion of the funeral service caused great excitement, and
many who could not guess the reason were a\\-are that
something had happened. The Pope, it is said, would
not permit a demonstration, as this threatened to be,
against himself and the Council. No doubt, however,
the service would have been naturally accorded to
Montalembert but for his Letter, so the prohibition
becomes the demonstration.
But it would appear that the Pope has better hopes
for Montalembert than might be rashly inferred from
these summary and not very agreeable proceedings.
This morning, upon rising, he called for his carriage, and
upon being reminded that his Court was not yet as
sembled, said he would do without it, and drove at once
to the Church of S. Maria Traspontina, where you may
remember there was once a talk of holding the ordinary
sittings of the Council. Arriving there, he found a
bishop, of whom he asked whether he had celebrated
Mass this morning. He had not Thereupon, the Pope
ordered a Mass for the repose of the soul of Montalem-

. ITALIANS PAPISTS OR DEISTS 249
.bert. It is possible the. Pope may have received better
accounts of his last hours ; possible, too, that he may
take a more kindly view of these matters than some of
his louder-tongued courtiers seem to do.
I can only say that I have now heard and read at
least a hundred times, ever since I came to Rome, that
there is no resting-place, no middle at all, between
absolute submission to the Pope as infallible teacher
and.absolute unbelief The people here, including now
three-fourths of the Council, are Papists in the extreme
sense of the word ; and they will admit that Deism is a
rational creed,, but for the pretended Churches and
communions that are neither one thing nor the other,
they have no words that can express their contempt.
Of course, this has told most in Italy, where men of the
least education are either priests and monks or nothing.
If anyone wishes to remain a Christian in Italy, but feels
misgivings as to what is required from him in the house
of Rimmon, I for one am prepared to say to him, ' Go
in peace.' Rome : March 17.
The reply to the Note of Count Daru has not yet been
forwarded, but will probably be sent ofif to-morrow by French
steamer. Madrid : March 17.
In to-day's sitting of the Cortes a motion was brought for
ward for placing all provinces on exactly the same footing as
regards the payment of wages to the poorer classes and rent
coupons. The motion was rejected by 74 against 38 votes.
It is asserted that the Government have resolved to abstain
from sending a Special Envoy to the CEcumenical Council in
consequence of the spirit which prevails at Rome. The
general belief is that the promulgation of the Infallibility

250 MONTALEMBERT
Dogma would be detrimental to the prestige and the interest
of the Catholic Church in Spain, as tolerance now prevails
both in religious and political questions, and complete liberty
has been granted to ministers of all creeds. Munich : March 17.
It is here currently reported that all the Catholic Powers,
although concurring with the views of France relative to the
CEcumenical Council, have resolved not to send special repre
sentatives to Rome. The Catholic Powers will mutually
concert measures to insure by existing laws, each in its own
territory, respect for those civil rights which are menaced by
the Scliemata submitted to the CEcumenical Council. Rome ; March 18.
A funeral Mass was celebrated to-day for the Count de
Montalembert. The service had originally been arranged by
Monsignor de Merode, the brother-in-law of the deceased,
and Monsignor Dupanloup was to have officiated. The Pope
however, prohibited this service as being a manifestation of
opposition to the Council. This incident having produced
a most painful impression, the Pope to-day ordered the cele
bration of a funeral Mass for the deceased, by an Italian
bishop chosen by himself, at the church of Santa Maria
Traspontina. His Holiness was present in the gallery of the
church. Paris : March 20,
A private despatch from Rome, dated yesterday, contains
the following : — ' It is probable that the Marquis de Banneville
will be absent three weeks. The discussion of the Schema de
Ecclesia by the Council will not commence before his return.
The Vatican's reply to Count Daru's despatch has not left for
Paris. A large number of bishops would have been present
at the requiem Mass for Count Montalembert had not the Pope
purposely caused it to be celebrated during a sitting of the
Council.' The mother of the lamented Count Montalembert was

HIS PARENTAGE 251
neither a Scotchwoman nor a Presbyterian. She was the
daughter and heiress of Mr. James Forbes, a branch of the
Granard family, a retired Bombay civilian, author of the Ori
ental Memoirs, and a member of the French Institute. The
Countess de Montalembert returned with her husband to
France at the Restoration, and in the suite and service of the
Duchesse d'Angouleme, by whom she was prevailed upon to
become a Roman Catholic. Paris.
Montalembert has left a very lengthy will. The arrange
ment and use to be made of his letters and papers he has
confided to four executors. These are M. Leon Cornudet,
a senator and his friend from childhood ; M. Augustin Cochin ;
his son-in-law. Viscount de Meaux ; and M. Leopold Gaillard,
Editor of the Correspondant. His papers are dispersed in
Belgium, Paris, and at his chateau of La Roche en Br^ny, in
Burgundy. The papers which are in Belgium were sent to
that country lest they should be seized in Paris. Among them
is a long letter to Count Daru, in which is related the history
of the Coup d'Etat. He leaves in manuscript a Histo-ry of
St. Bernard, and the seventh volume, sketched, but not com
pleted, of his Alonks of the JVest. He was a man of great
order, and his manuscripts and correspondence are classed
and numbered with the utmost care. Of all the letters he
wrote he kept copies, which for many years had been made by
one or other of his five daughters.
To the Editor of ' The Ti.mes.'
Sir, — The paragraph respecting ' the mother of the
lamented Count de Montalembert' which appears in the
Times of this day, is correct as far as it goes. But while it
truly states that she was prevailed upon by the Duchesse
d'Angouleme to become a Roman Catholic, it omits the im
portant and interesting fact that, after a few years, she returned
with ardent attachment to the Church in which she was born
and nurtured. I was honoured by her intimate friendship

252 MONTALEMBERT
during many years, and until her decease. Her father was
my father's intimate friend from the time of his return from
India until his death ; and I can testify to the fervency of her
love towards the Church of England during the latter years of
her life, and her continual sorrow over her temporary (and, as
she often declared, only nominal) adherence to the Church of
Rome. During the several years that she resided in Chapel
Street South Audley Street, she regularly attended the services
at Grosvenor Chapel ; and she occupied much of her leisure
time in writing Meditations on tlie Life of King David. She
completed a copious manuscript on this subject, but by the
advice of her friend Mr. Beamish, of Trinity Chapel, Conduit
Street she abstained from publishing it. Her remains were
interred in the family vault in the churchyard at Great
Stanmore, her early life having been spent at Stanmore Hall,
her father's residence. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Thom.as Bacon.
Kingsworthy Rectory : March 30.

Count de Montalembert is the only layman who
makes any appearance in the story of this Council. He
is the only man, not in orders, recognised as having a
conscience, a will, and a voice of his own. He happens
to be singularly representative, not only of a school, but
of the human race. Emperors, kings, senates, factions,
ambassadors and envoys, are dimly discerned moving
about like motes in a sunbeam, as interest may sway
them. The human eye rests on Montalembert.

253

CHAPTER XCVII
MONTALEMBERT'S LAST LETTER
Paris : April 13.
The well-known Austrian diplomatist. Baron Htibner,
the man to whom were spoken, on a certain New
Year's Day, the unfriendly words which warned the
world of a coming encounter of French and Austrian
hosts in Lombardy, has beguiled the leisure of his
official residence in Rome by writing a book. Inde
pendently of the historical interest and value attributed
to it, the work is a literary curiosity. Written in French
by a German, the French reviewers have expressed
themselves enthusiastically with regard to the purity of
its idioms and the elegance of its style. Its author
himself proposes to translate it into his native German.
My reason for mentioning it is its connection with the
last hours of a very distinguished man whose memory
will long be cherished by a host of admirers, and whose
loss is still deeply mourned by a large circle of attached
friends. Baron Hiibner, during his long residence as
Austrian representative in Paris, had formed an intimacy
with many eminent Frenchmen, and to a few of them
he sent the first volume of his work while the two others
were still passing through the press. From Montalem-

254 MONTALEMBERT'S LAST LETTER
bert he received a letter of what may almost be termed
posthumous criticism. None, besides its writer, saw it
until after that writer was dust and ashes. It is dated
' March 13, 1870,' and at half-past 8 on the morning of
that day the soul of Montalembert had fled and his
long-tortured body was at rest The eve of his decease
had passed away and midnight had struck when he
asked the Sister of Charity who watched by his pillow to
give him writing materials. She in vain remonstrated
and urged him to repose. Sleep refused to visit his
eyelids, and there was a letter he anxiously wished to
write, for, he added, in a prophetic spirit, he had little
time left at his disposal. That letter is now before me,
written in a close, clear character, on a small sheet of
note-paper. It was probably intended as a rough
draft to be transcribed by a secretary, or by the affec
tionate woman who had long been his best amanuensis.
At any rate, as it contained some erasures and correc
tions, a fair copy of it was made after his death and
forwarded to his friend Hiibner. The original was too
precious a relic to be parted with by his widow, but a
photographed facsimile was sent to the Baron. The
letter runs as follows : — Paris : March 13, 1870.
My dear Baron, — You could not perform a greater act of
charity to a poor incurable than you have done by procuring
him the pleasure of reading, in all its unpublished freshness,
t^a&^x'&X.yohxcRe oi^o\xx History of Sixtus V. Before thanking
you I desired to read you, but I am no longer able, as formerly,
to devour a volume in a few hours. Hence the delay of my
reply to your very friendly note of February 22. On the other
hand, I have read you conscientiously and completely, pencil

A NIGHT AND A DAWN 255
in hand ; and this I will prove to you, when next you visit me,
by pointing out several printer's errors and oversights, of no
real importance, which you will correct in the next edition.
I can, therefore, conscientiously offer you my sincerest con
gratulations. It was long, very long, since I had read a work
with greater interest and satisfaction. In the first place, you
have enjoyed the advantage of having chosen an excellent
subject. There is nothing more desirable, but also nothing is
rarer, for a modern historian than to meet with a hero whose
name is familiar to everybody, but upon whose authentic and
detailed biography nobody as yet has ventured. That is an
essential and certain condition of interest and success. The
subject thus happily found, you have treated it marvellously
well, with an equity, a moderation, and a lucidity for which the
friends of historic truth cannot be sufficiently grateful to you-
By your example you have justified the testimony you render,
at the beginning of your work, to the veracity of diplomatists.
I know no work more sincere than yours. At my age, or in
my state, when one's sole remaining ambition is to pass
quickly into the tomb open before him, you would hardly
believe how much one appreciates a sincerity so rarely met
with in this world, while one at least has the assurance of its
abundant enjoyment in the next. [As a curious mode of
expression, I give the French of the last line : tandis que I'on a
du moins Vassurance d'en etre rassasie dans I'autre.^
You have done your best to contribute to re-establish the
true point of view from which the past should be judged.
You have understood and judged the great Catholic reaction
of the second half of the sixteenth century with a sagacity and
an impartiality for which I first thank you as a Christian, and
afterwards congratulate you upon it as a publicist and as an
historian — I also, but of a more remote and forgotten period
than that of which you are about to revive the annals. You
have concealed neither the shadows nor the stains inseparable
from the human element, always so visible and so powerful in
the Church ; and by that alone you have all the more

2S6 MONTALEMBERT'S LAST LETTER
brought out the Divine element which in the end ever prevails,
and consoles us by inundating us with its soft and convincing
light. I await with impatience, and I anticipate with certainty,
the satisfaction I shall have in reading your subsequent
volumes. In your pages, always so instructive and often so
amusing, I desire especially to refer to your picture of moral
and material Italy at the death of Gregory XIIL, and also to
your rare talent as a landscape painter. Without yielding to
the temptation of describing overmuch, you always allow your
reader a glimpse — as when you write about Avila— rof the
traveller who had seen countries and nations, much and well,
before he became the ambassador who has written .and acted
much in Courts and Cabinets.
Au revoir, my dear Baron, when you shall find leisure to
come and see me ; and in the meantime a thousand affectionate
thanks. Is not this a very charming and, under the circum
stances, a particularly touching letter .' In the still
hours of the night this wise and good man — for he must
have been good to secure, as he did, the affectionate
devotion of his family and the fervent attachment of
many friends — forgets the sufferings that for years had
racked and prematurely aged him, and seizes his pen to
write graceful words of judicious criticism. ' Better
sleep,' says the nun who tends him. ' Not so,' was the
reply ; ' no man can worse afford than myself to post
pone until to-morrow what he feels able to do to-night'
So he wrote, and he slept after\\'ards a more refreshing
sleep, it seems, than it was often given him to enjoy, for
he awoke cheerful and declared he felt better. ' I
anticipate with certainty,' he had just written, 'the
satisfaction I shall have in reading your subsequent

^ UDAM SPERNIT.HUMUM FUGIENTE PENNA 257
vcjlumes.' .Alas ! what is certain in this life, in the midst
of which we are in death ? The ink was scarcely dry
the words to his nurse were scarcely spoken, when there
came the short, sharp pang, and the sudden summons to
eternity. , -

The above was from the Times correspondent at
Paris. But who, and what manner of man was this
Sixtus v., in whose life, by an old friend, the dying
Montalembert found relief from physical pain, and
religious 'anxieties ? Felice Peretti, after a long and
varied career, attained what appears to have been the
object of his life's ambition in 1585. He then com
prised in the short space of five years as many grand
operations, real improvements, and very questionable
acts, as would have made half a dozen common papacies.
His work was cut out for him by the extraordinary
circumstances of the period, and he did it by one means
or another. But no statesman or theologian of any
modern school would regard him as much in advance of
his time.

VOL. II.

258

CHAPTER XCVIII
FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH
Rome : March 19.
The Pope assisted at the Mass he ordered for Monta
lembert yesterday, but left the officiating Bishop to give
the Absolution. Thence he soon went to St Peter's to
do his ' stations,' as customary on the Fridays in Lent
Thereupon the Council rose and followed him in silence
to the two Chapels, to the Statue, and to the Tomb. It
does not sit again till Tuesday, and may possibly,
though it is most doubtful, have Decrees ready for pro
mulgation on Lady Day. As the Decrees prepared are
precisely those to which a large part of the world must
object, I am not surprised to hear that they are still
under consideration. There has been no formal exten
sion of the time for considering the Dogma of Infalli
bility, but it is not to come on till the matters first dis
cussed have been disposed of So they say.
Yesterday evening the great bells of St Peter's, and
of a good many other churches, gave the first oecumeni
cal announcement of what is to be the great event of
the next decade or the next Pope's reign. They gave
notice of the Festival of St. Joseph, which has been
observed this morning, at St. Peter's and elsewhere,,
as never before. I did not go to St. Peter's, but to the

THE PATRON OF THE CHURCH 259
only church here dedicated to St. Joseph, the Church of
the Carpenters, built over the Mamertine Prisons. I
found it gorgeously decorated, with service at several
altars, and crowded with the fraternity. There was a
guard of Papal soldiers before the church, under the
steps from which old Rome used to exhibit the bodies
of the State criminals who had been put to death in the
prisons ; and as much as a company of the Legion a
hundred yards down the Forum, standing in groups,
with their eyes turned towards St Joseph's. It appears
this is the day of another Joseph, and, as the Garibal-
dians like to keep the Court here always on the qui vive,
it had been put about that there might be a little dis
turbance. But the bells, I said, gave last night a warning which
is for all the world and for all time. The next occasion
on which Rome is to assemble all her Bishops will be to
decree and proclaim St Joseph the Patron of the
Church ; and a whole series of similar events is in store
at the Gesii for the use of centuries to come. At this
moment every Sovereign, every minister, and every
diplomatist in Europe, when he addresses a people or
an assembly, repeats what by this time is a cuckoo note,
that people may believe what they please, and make
what demands upon faith they please, so as they
encroach not on the province of civil rulers or law
makers. It is assumed that there is, or will soon be,
everywhere such a separation of Church and State, that
whatever the Church may choose to profess and teach
it cannot matter to the State.
The theory is very pretty, but, as a forecast of the
history which is to be, I confess to thinking very little of

26o FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH
it. It is said, if people choose to believe the Infalli
bility, or the ' Immaculate Conception,' or that Joseph is
the divinely appointed Patron of the Church, let them
do so ; it concerns themselves and nobody else. I must
answer that Rome, though she is glad to see the distinc
tion made for her, does not recognise it herself Her
dogmas de Fide, in the Schemata now before the world, in
clude everything that can be done or attempted by the
British Parliament, the American Congress, the Alder
men and Council of the City of London, the railway
companies, the public Press, and whatever thinks, acts,
or speaks. Under the single word mores, the Dogma of
Infallibility claims the entire sphere of human action.
Nothing that a human being can do escapes the range of
that word. The Dogma becomes thereby the solemn con
cession of empire over the body as well as the soul of
every human being.
As I understand them, all the decrees de Fide, brist
ling as they are with anathemas, have an unlimited
secular force. They are a declaration made in the most
solemn and awful manner, that no power, no institution,
no crown, no right, no custom, no distinction of rank, no
claim to authorit}' and respect, no union, alliance, fede
ration or treaty, no law of education or marriage, or any
thing whatever, has any claim to be observed a moment
longer than suits a man's convenience or caprice, unless
it has the sanction of the Pontiff. I do not myself see
how this can be a matter of indifference to any State in
the world. We are not left to imagine an instance, for
we have one too near and too substantial. It cannot be
a matter of indifference to our own State that a part of
its population is told that it is a holy people under the

TOLERATION MUTUAL OR IMPOSSIBLE 261
only true and only rightful government in the world —
viz. that of Rome — though compelled to serve Egyptians
and Philistines.
One more remark on the Dogma of Infallibility, as it
stands, and as it is interpreted by acts. Even in its
bearing upon matters of faith, it is a serious affair to
have in the midst of us a Power claiming the right to
evolve any number, any kind, any description of
doctrines. There is scarcely anything, indeed, that we
do not allow, finding it the best course in the end ;
but we may live to find by experience that toleration
becomes impossible when it is no longer tolerated.

Paris : March 19.
Leave of absence for eight days has been granted to the
Marquis de Banneville, the French ambassador at Rome, who
is coming to Paris in order to concert measures with the
Government relative to the CEcumenical Council. It is stated
that the French Cabinet will shortly send a fresh Note addressed
to the Pope and the Council. It is not, however, known
whether the communication will be made direct to the Council
by the French Envoy or addressed to the Legate for com
munication to the Council. A telegram received from Rome,
dated to-day, confirms the news that the Marquis de Banneville
left yesterday for Paris. Rome : March 20.
The reply of the Vatican to the French Note has not yet
been forwarded. From expressions which have fallen from the
Pope on this subject it is believed that his Holiness is
resolved not to admit the representative of any Catholic Power
to the Council. Paris : March 21..
The French Cabinet are unanimous upon all home ques
tions, and also upon the line of policy to be adopted towards

262 FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH
the CEcumenical Council. The members are actively engaged
in the consideration of the constitutional faculties to be trans
ferred to the Corps Ldgislatif in order promptly to submit
proposals to the Senate. The Marquis de Banneville arrived
here last night, Paris : March 1 6.
Count Montalembert was extremely partial to M. Ollivier,
whose decided and passionate eloquence recalled personal
impressions and recollections. In fact, some resemblance
between the talent of the two men did exist : M . Emile Ollivier
has become what Count de Montalembert was in his best days.
He defends , what the deceased would have defended, and by
oratorical qualities which seem to have been derived from the
same source. The two men had too many afifinities not to
enter into the interchange of ideas and sentiments which create
solid and profitable friendships. The Minister of Justice went
at his leisure hours to visit the illustrious patient. On Saturday
last (the eve of his death) M. de Montalembert desired to talk
with M. Ollivier : he received his visitor without any idea that
this conversation might be the last he would have with the
Minister, become his friend : — ' I wished to see you,' he said,
' to talk to you of the Academy ; you must present yourself
as a candidate.' The Count had made up his mind to assist
the Minister of Justice in obtaining one of the vacant seats.
He was anxious to give the latter that proof of friendship for
his person and esteem for his talent. At the same time, he
was of opinion that the Academy, which had hitherto shown
great favour to candidates devoted to the absolute empire,
would be prepared to accept a Minister of the liberal empire.
'We must name you,' added the deceased; 'I have already
gained some votes, and you will certainly have a majority.'
Such was the subject of the conversation. The following day
the terrible malady which, during several years, had subjected
him to a slow martyrdom had a fatal and sudden termination.'
— Constitutionnel.

263

CHAPTER XCIX
THE POPE'S MASS FOR ' ONE CH.\RLES '
Rome ; March 20.
Everybody seems to have been welcome to the funeral
rites of Montalembert at Paris, and nobody quite wel
come here. Nothwithstanding the last words ascribed
to him — not that they tell much one way or the other
— it was his fate not to be of Rome. I must repeat
a little, and correct some things. Montalembert was
made a Roman patrician for his services in 1 849, and as
such he had a right, by custom, to a funeral service in
the Ara Cceli, where are to be seen many monuments
of the Capitoline nobility. His friends, including De
-Merode, who is in bed with a broken leg, sent the usual
order, as they supposed it, to the authorities at the
church, and sent round invitations. The Bishop of
Orleans was asked to deliver a panegyric, and agreed to
do so, taking care to let it be known at the Vatican that
he would abstain from every word that could give
offence. However, on returning home he thought over
it, and wrote to De Merode that he would say nothing
at all. It is now said that there had been a serious
omission, the leave of the Cardinal- Vicar not having
been first obtained for the service. When they who had
been invited flocked to the church they saw the simple

264 THE POPE'S MASS FOR 'ONE CHARLES'
notice, ' The Funeral Ceremony announced for Count de
Montalembert will not take place on the 17th of March.'
Among those thus sent back were some distinguished
Germans, and among the latest arrivals, it was particu
larly noticed, the General of the Jesuits, with his assist
ant. Of course, it is thought strange that he did not
know what had been done.
There are various reports as to the suggestion upon
which the Pope ordered the Mass for Montalembert at
S. Maria Traspontina. Some ascribe it to the editor
of the Univers. It is also said that before sending the
order the Pope had received a despatch, in which it was
stated that Montalembert's last words, after the Viaticum,
were, — ' Pardon, pardon, pardon', so spoken as to give
the Pope the desired satisfaction. The order for the
Mass was sent to the Church the night before, ' for one
called Charles,' the usual form, they say, though one not
invariably observed. The Pope assisted in a tribune,
and all sorts of stories are about as to the surprise of
strangers at finding him there, when the world was look
ing for him that morning at St Peter's. But it seems
there has been another irregularity here, for Cardinal Ho
henlohe happens to be protector of that church, taking his
title from it, and he ought to have been consulted — that
is, if the Pope is bound to consult anybody whatever..
If there was no occasion to consult him, it is argued that
neither was there any occasion to consult the Cardinal-
Vicar for the service at the Ara Coeli.'
' It is said there was no irregularity, either in the act or in the manner"
of it. The Pope did what anyone has a right to do in asking a priest to
say Mass for his intention — in this instance, pro quodam Carolo. Cardinal
Hohenlohe had no rights in the matter. He had only to watch over the
welfare of the church. The Pope, as Bishop of Rome, is Ordinary of the-
clergy of both the above churches. At Ara Cceli, through his representative

MISTAKES ON ALL SIDES 265
The Pope has written to the widow, and has also
sent conciliatory messages to De Merode ; but there is
the greatest excitement on the subject, and there are
those who think it will tell for something in the Council.
Others may think the forces at work there are too strong
to be much affected by a momentary excitement, or
even a few mistakes. The French themselves are ex
claiming, after their wont, ' It is not a crime, it is a
mistake.' Well, a mistake may decide a battle, and
even a campaign, but the people here believe a Council
superior to such contingencies. On looking over the
above I find I have left the French ambassador out
of the question, and no doubt that is the place he
would prefer to occupy. Some of his countrymen here
thought he ought to appear, and took steps, so it is
said, to obtain an order from his Government that he
should assist at the service. If the order came, it came
too late. However, Banneville is now at Paris, to tell
his own story.
For the afifairs of the Council, all I have to say to
day is that many of the Fathers have petitioned that the
question of the infallibility may be taken at once, before
all the other matters in hand, and that the Pope's
Councillors reply that it is to be taken in its turn. I give
the reply for what it is worth. If it means what it says, and
if what people say of the state of business be true, infal
libility will not come on till the end of June. The
absence of the French ambassador counts for a fort
night lost to the progress of the Council.
tlie Cardinal Vicar, he forbade a public function in honour of a man deemed
hostile to the Church. At S. Maria Traspontina John Mastai Ferretti had
a Mass said for Charles Montalembert, whom he admired and highly es
teemed.

266

CHAPTER C
REFUSAL OF A FRENCH ENVOY TO THE COUNCIL
Rome : March 22.
Antonelli, it is stated, has now sent a formal reply to
a formal application of the French Government for leave
to have a representative at the Council. The terms of
the reply are understood to be that Rome cannot receive
a special envoy to the Council, inasmuch as the other
Catholic States would claim the same privilege, and also
on the ground that the ' mutual reciprocity between
Rome and the Catholic States no longer exists.' This
is what is said, and there are those who think it impor
tant and conclusive. I am not, myself, able to attach a
definite value to it. For aught I know, it may be only
a formal step in a negotiation ; it may have a bearing
on the interpellations in the French Chamber ; it may
only mean that the Court here is too well satisfied with
Banneville to wish his authority divided or embarrassed ;
it may be, indeed, an honest political necessity. You,
who probably know the fact already, will also know
better what it means. If the worst comes to the worst,
Banneville will have to send for more theologians.
Some of the people here say that what he really wants
is a backbone, and he has been disrespectfully called a
mere chiffon, which, I believe, means any fabric which

PAPISTS OR NOTHING 267
has become too pliant by use. I only hope that the
persons who make the charge will not find themselves
included in it
This is Tuesday, and nobody expects a public session
on Friday, but that day will be added to history before
these words can be in print. Infallibility cannot come
on till after Easter, they say ; and there is another story
that there was an intention to acclaim it next Thursday,
but that certain American bishops said they would have
to leave the Council if that was done. This can hardly
be true of many of them, for, as a general rule, the
Americans, like our English and Irish Bishops, must be
Papists, if anything. As they get no position from the
State, they must make the most of that they have from
the Church ; and their position in the Church is to re
present the Bishop of Rome. In the United States and
our own dominions any good fellow, at a very early age,
with no other accomplishment than the power of abusing
England for all the things she has done, not done, could
do, could not do, can be made bishop or archbishop, if
not of a great city, at least of a station in the Far
West ; and if he is not a Papist I don't see what else he
can be. However, there is talk of a resistance in some
quarters. Another little rumour I must send, and I really
think there is something in it. Napoleon used to launch
his flotilla at Boulogne, and embark his army just for
practice, and to keep up the excitement. Well. This
comes from Civita Vecchia. There is to be an embark
ation and a disembarkation within forty-eight hours, with
corresponding movements at Rome, affording good
practice to the Zouaves, and the Legion, and the Artil-

268 REF US A L OF FRENCH ENVO Y TO THE CO UNCIL
lery, and everybody else that happens to be here at the
time. We live in such a haze here that it is not easy
to say how much of all this is to be real and how
much sham, but this, they say, is the movement we are
to hear of some fine morning. By the by, there are
shrewd people here who say that Banneville will not
return ; he was so long preparing to go, and so much
stress was laid at last on his having only ' his carpet-bag.'
A new Estatica, named Palma, has appeared at an
out-of-the-way place, a little off" the road to Brindisi, and
accessible to Eastern tourists. Her mission is to confirm
the faith of Pius IX., to warn him against attempts on
his life, and to direct his attention to the advisers in
whom he may place entire confidence. She has been
visited by several parties of our countrymen, but I
believe they have come to the conclusion that what she
picks up from one visitor she reveals to the next. A
few inquirers, with properly concerted questions, would
soon find out whether she is able to evolve information
without first receiving it.

The refusal of a French envoy to the Council referred
to in the above Letter, and Notes, was contained in a long
and well-written letter from Cardinal Antonelli to the
Nuncio at Paris. Archbishop Manning believes — at least
in 1870 did believe — Antonelli himself the author. I am
disposed to believe all things, but I find it difficult to
believe that. The letter is dated March 19. Banneville
had presented himself to Antonelli Avith a despatch from
Daru, first acquainting Antonelli with its general pur
port. The latter had thereupon declined to receive it,
but had allowed a copy to remain in his hands. In con-

DIPLOMATIC DIFFICULTIES 269
formity with this beginning, Antonelli sent his reply, not
to Daru, but to the Nuncio, who would give Daru its
general purport and leave a copy in his hands.
Daru, as he appears in the story of this Council, must
have been driven out of his self-possession, his wits, in
deed everything but his temper. He had to deal with
the Emperor, the Empress, the Legislative Chambers,
his immediate political rivals, the Republic, the Paris
mob, the Pope, the semi-independent French clergy, the
Italians, and other forces and powers coming in turn to
the front, and making every day a new crisis. Under
such circumstances it is no wonder that a man who could
not give his whole time to it, and was not a theologian
of either the Italian or the German type, was continually
baffled by the Roman Court, and reduced to a tem
porising and a vacillating policy.
At the initiation and early stages of the Council he
had had to assert the ancient right of France to send a
representative to the Council, to state the case of France,
to be duly warned of intended or expected enunciations,
and to take steps accordingly. Antonelli had given very
good reasons why, under the changed circumstances of
our time, this was impossible, especially as there was no
stopping at France, and whatever was conceded to her
must be conceded to all Catholic Powers — indeed all
Powers so describing themselves.
It is obvious that with envoys it would be no matter
of argument, or of votes, for every such envoy would be
as good as a President, indeed as the Pope himself, with
his five hundred or six hundred Fathers at his service. Nor
was there the least occasion for a political envoy, Rome
said, inasmuch as the Council would confine itself to

270 REFUSAL OF FRENCH ENVO Y TO THE CO UNCIL
sacred truths and consequent principles, which need
never bring it into collision with the civil power, confined,
as it should be, to its own provinces. Daru had been
contented, or at least had had to be contented, with these
assurances, and had confined himself to frequent commu
nications with Banneville, to and fro.
At last, however, through the irregular publication of
the Schema de Ecclesia in the Augsburg Gazette, Daru
found it impossible to accept the assurances of Rome as
to the abstract and innocuous character of the proposed
Dogmatic Constitution. At least there were those at his
elbow, those behind him, and those in front, who would
not allow him to continue a policy of non-interference.
Accordingly, as above stated, he had renewed the proposal
of an envoy better qualified, and more distinctly ac
credited, than Banneville.
The letter now sent to Paris, and described as the
Refusal of an Envoy, was in fact a complete declaration
of the status of the Church of Christ, from the Roman
point of view, claiming for the Church, and for the Pope,
as the successor of Peter, the moral and spiritual govern
ment ofthe world, without any limitations or reservations,
beyond those which Rome herself had the sole right to
apply. Antonelli professed himself surprised that Daru
could entertain any other notion of Rome, her claims
and her policy. He could indeed have read history,
Antonelli said, to very little purpose. Rome always
had advanced and maintained the pretensions which Daru
now professed to regard as novelties, and she could not
hold her ground if she renounced them. Statesmen, of
course, would have to take care of themselves — when had
they not had to do so ? — but Rome had to do the like.

BANNEVILLE TO BE LEFT SINGLE-HANDED 271
and to stand to her single claim to be the supreme
moral power of the Christian world.
The telegrams, and other contemporary notices, few
out of many, that I have found room for, will have put
the reader au courant with the increasing difficulties of
the situation at Paris. Daru had again to be content with
keeping Banneville up to the mark, if that were possible.
The refusal of an envoy to the Council itself, and
the acquiescence of France in that refusal, decided the
character of the Council as a purely Clerical Synod.
Former Councils had, more or less, represented the laity
as well as the clergy, the civil as well as the spiritual
element This distinctly did not. It might be true that,
on the Roman theory, there was no need of laymen, and
they would not sufifer by their absence, seeing that they
know so well how to take care of themselves. But
when this is thoroughly understood and accepted, it also
means that the laity must take care of themselves, as they
certainly will. Rome : March 22.
Among the Prelates ' preconised ' in the Consistory yesterday
were the Archbishops of Armagh and Toronto, the Bishops of
Savannah, Armidale, and St. Augustine.
France and the Council. — The Memorial Diplomatique
states that the French Government has decided that the
Marquis de Banneville, the ambassador at Rome, shall also
be accredited as special envoy to the Council. In order to
obviate any imputation of seeking to impose moral pressure
upon the august body at Rome, the Marquis de Banneville
will limit his communications to the Cardinal Legates who
preside in the name of the Pope. When he shall be received
by them in solemn audience he will present the remonstrance

272 REFUSAL OF FRENCH ENVO Y TO THE CO UNCIL
which his Government may have to offer against the adoption
of certain doctrines which are of a nature to disturb the rela
tions between the State and the Church by tampering with
the rights assured to France by the Concordat of 1801. These
remonstrances will be embodied in a formulated despatch,
which will be handed to the senior Cardinal Legate for com
munication to the Fathers of the Council. The same journal
also states that M. de Banneville is about to visit Paris by
leave of the Government. His arrival will coincide with that
of the Pontifical reply to the note of Count Daru, which there
is no doubt will be of an affirmative character, and the
Minister for Foreign Affairs will therefore be able to give
instructions to the ambassador relative to the special mission
with which he will be charged to the Council. The visit of
M. de Banneville to Paris has been induced by private reasons,
but his stay will be but brief, as he will return to Rome
towards the end of the present month with the letters
accrediting him as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Council.
— Times, March 21.
France and the Pope. — The Memorial Diplomatique pub
lishes a telegram from Rome, dated March 22, stating that 'a
violent attack of gout from which Cardinal Antonelli has been
suffering since the middle of last week, and which particularly
affects his hands, has prevented his Eminence from com
pleting the Pontifical reply to the last despatch of Count Daru.
It is well known that the Cardinal Secretary of State himself
draws up all the despatches intended for great Powers. It has
been only since yesterday that the Cardinal has been able to
resume his pen. His reply may, therefore, be expected to be
sent ofif by Thursday next at latest. — Times, March 24.

373

CHAPTER CI
SCHWARZENBERG AND STROSSMAYER
Rome : March 24.
The Council has been sitting three successive days, and
to-morrow there is to be nothing but the usual cere
monies. To-day makes the fourth given tq the amended
Schema on matters of Faith, and, consequently, to what
may be called the second stage of discussion. By this
time the Fathers ought to be rubbing ofif their angular
points, and the machine ought to work smoothly ; but
the contrary is the case. Even the American bishops
begin to see that their best chance of getting home before
July lies in the failure rather than the success of the
Council. The new discussion opened fair enough on
Friday (the i8th inst.), but there was little of it A long
report had to be read, and pleas for absence received.
Simor, Tizzani, and the Bishop of Ivrea repeated the
old objections to the Schema, and declared that it had
not been really amended by the Committee on Faith in
accordance with the opinions expressed in the former
discussion ; in fact, that it was substantially the same.
We have the best possible authority for this. The Pope's
privileged journals, which serve him with more zeal than
tact, have been loudly trumpeting to the world that the
amended Schema is quite as strong as ever, only ingeni-
VOL. II. T

274 SCHWARZENBERG AND STROSSMAYER
ously cast in a new shape, which looks like a change
but is not pne. However, these three speakers lifted
the disguise and found their old friend come back again.
As I told you in my Saturday's letter, by the time they
had spoken the Council had to rise and accompany his
Holiness on his usual Lenten stations. On emerging
from St. Peter's the first thing the French bishops and
their sympathisers heard was that they had been listen
ing to Latin speeches in the Council Hall while a Mass
was celebrated for the soul of Montalembert a hundred
yards down the street. They had to pass the spot as
they went home.
On Tuesday something or other seems to have corae
to a head, and various strangers who that day went for
the first time to see the Fathers leave the Council
reported loud and discordant sounds within for some
time before the opening of the doors. What was it .'
has been the universal inquiry. There are conflicting
reports as to the names, but by the better authority the
speakers were Strossmayer, Schwarzenberg, and two
other ' opposing ' Fathers, who all spoke with what is
called violence against the Scltema, whether in its new or
in its original form, and the two former were ' silenced '
over and over again.
' Here are you launching anathemas,' said Schwarz
enberg, ' against those who deny the first articles of the
Christian faith ; nay, against those who do not believe in
a God at all. What is the use of it ? Will they care
about being called unholy when they don't think there
is such a thing as holiness ? They will only accept the
quarrel. If the Council must decree, let it do so simply.
These Decrees have long-winded doctrinal preambles,

NEITHER ARGUE NOR ANATHEMATISE 275
which nobody will read, and which will only commit us
to language which we have not time to examine. A
Council ought not to argue. That is to descend into the
common arena. Whom is the argument with .'' If with
us, we don't dispute what is decreed ; if with the world,
it will take up the argument and leave the Decree alone.
The Council had better leave Atheists to their own
condemnation.' However, he did not insist much on this objection,
and it seems to be expected that this part ofthe Schema
will pass without much further alteration. He then
passed to the Decrees which condemn the tenets of
Protestantism, and leave no hope of salvation to the
holders : —
' This is not the time to hurl anathemas at all Pro
testants in a lump. Instead of winning them to the
Faith, it will only drive them further away. It will widen
the gulf between them and the Church. Many Pro
testants are models of conduct and high feeling.
Humanity recognises their merits and feels its obliga
tion to them. It will take their side. This is not a
crisis for the revival and exasperation of old dissensions.
It is a time to pacify, to reconcile, and to show that
unity is not quite beyond the hope of men.'
De Angelis thought it his duty to call him to order.
He was wandering from the subject Schwarzenberg
attempted to continue his speech, but found he had lost
the thread of it, and walked down from the pulpit in a
state of irritarion. Ginoulhiac, just promoted from
Grenoble to Lyons, was expected to speak as strongly
as he did in January ; but his promotion appears to
have had the usual effect on his style, for he was

276 SCHWARZENBERG AND STROSSMAYER
calm and moderate in his opposition to the amended
Schema. When he sat down Strossmayer rose to take up the
thread of Schwarzenberg's speech. This, he said, was
not J:he sixteenth century, when Catholics and Pro
testants were at open war, and when their words were
in accordance with their deeds. These outrageous
anathemas will not win a single Protestant.
' Will they win over this man,' he exclaimed, naming
him, ' or that man, or that man ; or will they even
attach a stigma on those whom they fail to win ? It's
useless ; you cannot send half the civilised world all in
a mass to eternal reprobation by merely discharging so
many words at them. Among those Protestants there
are many men of a pure faith, with deep and sound
convictions. Unhappily, they cannot agree with us in-
some doctrinal or canonical points, but they^ are mirrors
of probity and honour. The proper business of a
Council in these days is conciliation, and for that
purpose the utmost delicacy and moderation are re
quired.' Here Capalti, hardly restraining himself, gently
called Strossmayer to order. He resumed in the same
strain. Capalti called to order again, with the same
result. A third time Strossmayer was called to order,
and returned to the charge more vigorously than ever.
Capalti could restrain himself no more, and peremptorily
commanded silence. Strossmayer raised his voice and
addressed Capalti. He would no longer endure to be
called to order when he was speaking to the purpose ;
and he made a solemn protest against calls to order,
which were themselves out of order and infringements of

APPEAL TO THE PRINCES OF THE APOSTLES 277
the liberty of discussion. All on Strossmayer's side,
including many Americans, rose to their feet and joined
in his protest. The other side — a crowd of Italian and
Spanish Bishops— did the same, and in the midst of the
confusion there were even cries of ' Viva Pio Nono ! '
Vivano i Cardinali Legati ! ' In the midst of the dis
turbance, with some hope of calming it, Patrizi, a
personage of great dignity, rose and uttered what some
call his single speech in the Council. ' You protest
against us ; well ; we protest against you.' However,
there was an end of the sitting, and the Council rose.
Strossmayer, it seems, has said a good deal more
than is commonly known, but of a sort to rankle in the
Roman breast Whatever he now says is interpreted
by what he has said before, and he will hardly now have
a chance of a quiet hearing. On being once called to
order, with the question, ' Was he not ashamed to use
those words in a place where reposed the Princes of the
Apostles ? ' he replied that it was the peculiar and awful
sanctity of that place which inspired him to tell these
truths, and that he invoked the Princes of the Apostles
who reposed there — St. Peter and St. Paul — to testify to
the loyalty of his sentiments and the truth of his
words. So much for these debates, which all say promise to
be more lively and outspoken than ever. It is not easy
for an outsider to understand even the announcements
which are permitted to appear ; but, if I am to take
words in their natural sense, the Dogma of InfaUibility is
included in the matters now before the Council, as an
amendment to the original Schema. France, you have
probably heard before this, has asked to see beforehand

278 SCHWARZENBERG AND STROSSMAYER
the matters to be proposed to the Council, and has
received from the Pope an indignant refusal.

Rome : March 23.
The reply of the Vatican to the Note of the French
Government is now on the way to Paris. Since the Congrega
tions have resumed their sittings the CEcumenical Council
have been discussing the Schemata upon heterodox philosophy.
The third public session for the promulgation of the result of
the discussion of the Council will not be held before Easter
Monday. Berne : March 23.
A diplomatic Note has been received by the Federal
Council from the Papal Government, complaining of an
obnoxious manifestation against the Catholic religion, which
was lately made at Basle. Florence : March 24, evening.
In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, Signor
Lanza, replying to Signor Massari, confirmed a report that at
4.30 this morning forty individuals assembled before the barracks
at Pavia, shouting, ' Long live the Republic ! ' ' Down with
the Monarchy ! ' and replied to the challenge by firing re-\olvers.
An officer with a company coming up, firing commenced on
both sides. The ofificer was seriously wounded, one sergeant
was killed, and four soldiers wounded. Two of the rioters
were killed, and the rest dispersed. The city was in a state of
surprise and consternation, but was perfectly tranquil. A
telegram from the mayor announces that the inhabitants
support the Government in the maintenance of order. Paris.
To-day, being the Mi-careme, half-way through I^ent is
observed by a portion of the Parisian population as a holiday,
and a few masks, in vehicles and on foot, are to be seen upon
the Boulevards, which are crowded with people and hackney

A PRINCE OF THE CHURCH 279
coaches. The usual Thursday reception at the Tuileries is
countermanded, on account it is understood, of Prince Pierre
Bonaparte's trial, the date of the conclusion of which, as I learn
to-day from Tours, is not yet positively foreseen, and may
possibly be protracted, it is thought, even beyond the end of
the present week.

From a most interesting account of a visit to Strossmayer,
by the lamented Canon Liddon, which I find under date
October 12, 1876, I venture lo quote the closing sentence : —
' Here we have an ecclesiastic who recalls some of the
greatest bishops of bygone ages administering princely revenues
in a noble and disinterested way. But Bishop Strossmayer, as
I have said, is also a great popular leader, a born king of men,
who, beyond any other man, reigns in the hearts of the
Slavonic populations throughout Southern Europe. At his
table, indeed, he recalls a refined English gentleman of the
old school, who illustrates his meaning, or hints it by an apt
quotation from A^irgil or Horace. But in the street he has a
kind word for every child, every woman, every ploughboy he
meets. " Oh, if you only knew these Croats," he said, with a
burst of enthusiasm, " you would see what a splendid, what a
lovable people they are ; and they are the same people," he
added, " as the poor Bosnians and Servians who have suffered
and are sufifering so much." Bishop Strossmayer poured out
his mind to us in torrents of impassioned but reasoned
eloquence ; I cannot hope to do more than record the salient
points of his opinions.'

28o

CHAPTER CII
THE DAILY WORK OF A POPE
Rome : March 25.
The ceremony to-day has been at the ' Minerva ' — that
is, the church built on the site of the temple of that
divinity. It includes a grand procession from the Vati
can, a service in the church, and a distribution of dowries
by the Pope's own hand to a considerable number of
girls educated and portioned by a society which takes
its name from the day. The church is the one most
frequented by English members in the Roman ' obedi
ence,' and not many years ago was restored at the cost
of 25,000/. English money, unfortunately without an
adequate result. It is the only church here that ca-n be
called Gothic, and how to apply variously coloured
marbles to that style was a difficulty which has not been
solved with much success in this instance. As the edi
fice is only as large as a first-class London parish church,
it would scarcely hold a tithe of the people who would
wish to get in, for everything to-day is as at St. Peter's.
The procession one could see without danger, and it
combines a singular feature which it is scarcely possible
for an Englishman to anticipate without grotesque asso
ciations. I have only to confess that I felt ashamed of
them when I saw the reality, as I did on the Bridge of

A SERIOUS MISTAKE 281
St. Angelo. The Pope's state carriage, all gold, the six
horses with gorgeous trappings, the Pope blessing all
about him, a second carriage with six horses, a dozen
others of municipal magnificence, dragoons, and so forth,
are all as usual. But the feature of this one day of the
year is that a Cardinal ' bears a cross before the Pope's
carriage, riding a white mule. That is the programme.
What I saw was a dignified figure, in a flowing robe of
light purple, with a skull-cap, riding a rather undersized
grey mule, with his eyes fixed on the tall cross he bore
upright before him, and apparently in devotion. Half-
a-dozen shining halberds surrounded him, and the silver
cross rose just above its satellites of steel. All took off
their hats to the cross, and a few seconds after knelt to
his Hohness. The day, fortunately, is brilliant. The
point of pressure has been the piazza before the church,
the one with an obelisk on the back of an elephant. I
did not venture .there. The windows of the Minerva
Hotel — it must have a hundred looking into the- piazza
— were to be occupied by the Fathers of the Council, so
I was told.
The day reminds me once more of the enormous
amount of work expected from a Pope, and done dili
gently, faithfully, and cheerfully by this old man in his
seventy-eighth year. Yesterday he paid a long visit to
the Exposition, talking with the exhibitors, and having
his jokes with all about him. He has to give interviews
to all these seven hundred bishops, and, the enemy says,
' So I wrote, and so I leave it in the text. But it was not a Cardinal ;
only an official of much lower rank. If I was amused at the idea of a
Cardinal carrying a large cross on horseback, the Papal organs were i a
downright rage at its being thought possible.

282 THE DAILY WORK OF A POPE
to put a strong pressure on all who are recommended to-
him for the application of the supreme torture. A great
deal has been said about his visits to the aged and
invalid bishops lodged and nursed in the canonical
apartments attached to St Peter's. Nothing can be
more touching than the attention ; but some of the
objects of it have felt it oppressive. They have had to
make their last will and testament in favour of
infallibility. Other bishops, who have been disposed, or compelled
by circumstances, to adopt a neutral or a moderate line in
the Council, have found themselves sorely tried in a per
sonal interview. They find itvain todeclare their devotion
or their sincerity. His Holiness tells them plainly they are
not on his side ; they are among his enemies ; they are
damaging the good cause ; their loyalty is not sound. It
is enough that they have signed what they should not, or
not signed what they ought. On the Roman system there
is nothing wonderful in this personal interference of the
Head of the Church. \'\'hat I most marvel at is that
it is all done by this old man, and that it is done with a
success which provokes the indignation of those who
conceive their cause hurt by it Even when Pius IX.
does make a mistake — and certainly he made one in the
case of Montalembert — he retrieves it, not entirely,
perhaps, but with amazing promptitude and decision.
Thus passes one more of the days on which there
was to have been a public session and something declared
to the world. There never is an ordinary sitting now
without applications for leave to return home. Twelve
American bishops have gone off", and all the rest would
if they could with any decency. They avow, without

THE LATIN RACE THE SOUL OF THE WORLD 283
the least reserve, that they are utterly disgusted with the
whole affair. It is quite out of their line. They can do
nothing except say 'Amen ' to what is done. They don't
want the Decrees, but know that they must help to pass
them. They have always most faithfully and honestly
assumed the Pope to be infallible, and don't see the
necessity of saying it in a more express and ostentatious
manner, and so provoking a quarrel with people they
now get on well with.
As for the cardinals and prelates really doing the
work of the Council, the Americans admit that they are
wonderful men in theology and in canon law, in books,
and in Latin, but- call them children in business and in
the affairs of the world. They feel themselves humbled
to be acting the part of mutes and dummies when such
persons have the lead, and most certainly will carry off
all the honours and prizes. Anybody who made it his
business to cultivate the acquaintance of either the
American or the Irish bishops could send you columns
of such complaints ; but of course you would never learn
much of the intentions or the strategy of an army from
those who admit themselves to be common soldiers, and
no more. I see it boasted, by the by, not only in the
Ultramontane papers, but also in the Liberal Italian,
that all the ability, all the learning, all the eloquence of
the Council is in the Italians first, then the Spaniards,
and after them the French and Germans ; whereas, they
boast, the English, Irish, and Americans don't know what
to do, have nothing to say, and are simply lost here. It
is the Latin race, they conclude, that is the soul of the
world.

284 THE DAILY WORK OF A POPE
Geneva : March 25.
The Journal of Geneva publishes an analysis of the
despatch addressed by Count Daru to Cardinal Antonelli, and
of the latter's reply. According to this journal Count Daru's
-despatch does not touch upon the question of the Pope's
infaUibility so lightly as was supposed. He claims for the
French Government the right of being heard in the discussion
of matters of a mixed character, but does not insist upon it to
the extent allowed at the Council of Trent. The French
Minister for Foreign Afifairs says the Government would be
satisfied with a French bishop explaining in the Council the
condition and the rights of the country, and he concludes by
proposing a modification of the programme of the Council in
the above sense, even if it should be found necessary to pro
rogue the Council. Count Daru's despatch does not make
any threat in the event of a refusal being received from the
Vatican. Cardinal Antonelli, in his reply, represents that a
bishop could not reconcile the double duties of an ambassador
and a Father of the Council. Nevertheless, he does not
decline to receive observations from France before the discus
sion on any particular question, but neither can he undertake
that the recommendations which may be given will be
adopted. Augsburg : March 25.
A telegram dated yesterday, which appears to-day in the
Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, says that on Dr. Strossmayer
declaring, at a sitting of the CEcumenical Council, that a new
dogma of faith could not be established without a moral
unanimity of the Fathers, he was ordered by the President to
leave the Council. This incident gave rise to a most tumultuous
scene in the Assembly.

285

CHAPTER CHI
the ENGLISH-SPEAKING RACE SPEECHLESS IN
THE COUNCIL
Rome : March 26.
The home-sickness of the American bishops excites as
much alarm on one side as on the other. It won't do
for the New World to leave the Old in the lurch ; and
there are quite as many on this side the Atlantic who
are resigned to vote as they are bid, but who are only
waiting for Providence to relieve them from voting at
all. At the opening of the Council England was
reckoning up rather proudly the proportion of the
Fathers speaking her tongue, or understanding it ; and
looking forward to the days when a Council to be
really cecumenical would be prevailingly Anglo-Saxon.
The poor lady has been counting her chickens, not
exactly before they were hatched, but certainly before
they chucked, for never was there so silent and sluggish a
brood. All the Italian papers, whatever their politics or
faith, are enjoying the sight of a whole race — and that
one which thinks not meanly of itself, and is apt to look
down on others — absolutely dumbfounded. On matters
of faith — that is, on the questions really at issue, and
really moving the souls of men — one English bishop has
opened his mouth, one Irishman ; one American, and

286 ENGLISH-SPEAKING RACE SPEECHLESS
there ends this ridiculous exhibition of our national
superiority. Dr. Grant is admitted to be an able and
learned man, and a good deal of work has been thrown
upon him ; but when the time came for him to speak he
was taken ill, and is not yet well. The Anglo-Saxon
race, wherever placed or whatever called, has very little
familiarity with Latin, does not read it with perfect
facility, can hardly understand it when spoken and does
not speak it at all.
The Council has been sitting to-day — and it is hoped,
for the last time — on the first part of the amended scheme
upon Rationalism. It was even expected that the
Schema, so far, would be put to the vote by rising and
sitting ; and be in a condition to be put to the vote by
placets next week. This will at once suggest the inquiry.
What has become of the protest against the New Rules
of procedure, signed by 125 Fathers .'' The answer is
that the protest is maintained, though not yet acted
upon. The Opposition waits for the proof of facts — that
is, for a result which will be itself a condemnation of the
New Rules. It is even said that it will wait till the
majority has voted for the definition of infallibility. As
I understand these matters, it will be waiting too long.
However, when the time comes will it act ? I am told
that it will act, and that decisively. A hundred, it is
said, will protest, though a very much smaller number,
nay half-a-dozen archbishops of large dioceses, would, by
their protest, break the back of the Council. Any one
of these archbishops has more Catholics in his diocese
than the Pope in the whole of his ' dominions ' as
matters now stand, and though the Pope does not see
this, the world at large sees something in it.

ARCHBISHOP KENRICK 287
I sent you some particulars of the stormy meering
on Tuesday last, and have to supply an omission.
Kenrick, Archbishop of St. Louis, followed Schwarzen
berg. Though a slow and deliberate speaker, and not
likely to make an immediate impression on the Council,
he is said to have great weight here, and to be appre
ciated every day more and more. As a large part of
his flock are French, it is possible he finds the less
difficulty in the language of the Council.
Tramontana again, and everybody quarrelling with
the climate. Many would go northward, but that they
hear the north of Italy is under snow. Palma, the Esta
tica, has good news for Cardinal Wiseman's friends.
He came out of purgatory on the 7th inst For some
reason or other there has been great anxiety on the
subject Unless it be that the Cardinal certainly had to
be cured of a rather random style of statement, reference,
and quotation, I am not aware that he wanted more
than usual purgation. However, he is out now, so says
the medium.
Passing to the visible world and material things,
I have to acquaint the British public that there is to
be an ' International Maritime Exhibition ' at Naples,
from September i to November 30, this year. Under
ten divisions there are to be exhibited objects con
nected with: — I, Naval Constructions; 2, Steam En
gines : 3, Ports and Maritime Establishments ; 4, Woods,
Metals, and Combustibles ; 5, Rigging, Arrangement
of Ships, and Navigation ; 6, The Commercial Marine ;
7, Victualling of Ships, and Sailors' Outfits ; 8, Fishery ;
9, Science ; 10, Chief Italian Exports. There is also
to be an Exhibition of Art at Parma in the autumn.

288 ENGLISH-SPEAKING RACE SPEECHLESS
Paris : March 26.*^
The Constitutionnel of this morning says : — 'The answer
of Cardinal Antonelli to Count Daru's recent despatch
endeavours to prove that the 2 1 canons of the Schema do not
bear the interpretation which the French Cabinet attributes to
them. The Cardinal adds, " When discussed in the Council
they may be considerably modified. The Church does not
contemplate interfering with politics, and the canons referred
to are not of a nature to cause France to abandon her
attitude of abstention with regard to the Council." The
Cardinal concludes by expressing a hope that, after these ex
planations, France will not think herself justified in persisting
in Count Daru's demands.' Berlin : March 26.
Cardinal Antonelli's reply to the last anxious despatch of
Count Beust fully confirms anticipations as to the discreet use
the Holy See intends to make of the new prerogative to be
voted by the Council. 'There is,' Cardinal Antonelli tells the
disquieted Chancellor of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, ' a
great difference between theory and practice. No one will
ever prevent the Church from proclaiming the great principles
upon which its Divine fabric is based ; but as regards the
application of these sacred laws, the Church, imitating the
example of its heavenly Founder, is inclined to take into con
sideration the natural weaknesses of mankind, and accordingly
exacts only so much from human frailty as is within the power
of every age and country to render.'

289

CHAPTER CIV
IS A MAJORITY TO DECIDE A DOGMA .'
Rome : March 28.
One cannot be surprised to find that in an endless con
tinuity of Latin addresses an actual disturbance should
excite some attention, even if the reasons were not clearly
known at the time. Strossmayer conceives himself ag
grieved by the violent gestures and cries, of the four
hundred Fathers who last Tuesday helped the President
to silence him. He has accordingly sent in a strongly-
worded protest, with the demand for an apology. .He
¦maintains that the Cardinal ought to have stopped the
clamour, and reproved what are described as actually
threatening gestures. To this demand for satisfaction
he adds a question, for which he insists on a categorical
ansv^er, — ' Is a majority to decide a dogma .'' ' Of course
this puts the Pope in a dilemma. If the answer be ' Yes,'
,that extinguishes two great principles at a blow, viz. the
Unanimity of CEcumenical Councils, and the Infallibility
of the Pope, neither of which can hold its ground in the
face of decision by majorities. If the answer be. ' No,'
theh there is always hope for the minority. It seems. to
me impossible that Strossmayer can really expect an
answer to his question. The reason he gives for putting
it is that he and those who are acting with him may
VOL. II. U

290 IS'^A MAJORITY TO DECIDE A DOGMA?
know how to act ; but that can only constitute an addi
tional reason for not answering his question.
Schwarzenberg thought him too violent on Tuesday,
and told him after the Council that it would become im
possible to act with him if he could not restrain his
feelings. However, upon a deliberate review of the
afifair it seems to have been concluded that Strossmayer
had good cause ; for all the French and German bishops
called upon him, and, not finding him at home, left their
cards ; and on Strossmayer coming to the next meeting
of the international committee at Rauscher's, all rose
and embraced him. Nothing can be stronger than the
words and demonstrations of these men, and the only
misgiving is that of the outer world cynics, who still warn
us that a bishop is not to be trusted. We shall see.
It is said that in the letter declining the proposal of
a special envoy to the Council, Cardinal Antonelli again
assured the French Government that the Council would
only concern itself with matters of religion, and therefore
required no aid frorn the servants of a State. It is
scarcely credible that such an answer could have been
made in seriousness, for the Dogmas to be promulgated at
or before Easter strike at the foundations of every State
in the world. The Opposition, as you see, are fighting
for time ; the Court, for despatch. More than forty
amendments on the preamble of the first Schema were
sent in, apparently without much concert between the
respective framers.
Meanwhile the Pope is not silent, nor does he deliver
his opinions within closed doors ; that was never his
way. He is making speeches, long or short, few or
many, every day, and they are always d propos of the

RERUM FACTA EST PULCHERRIMA ROMA i^i
Council. On Friday he distributed to a large body of
missionary bishops and priests a quantity of sacred vest
ments, sent here by a Belgian society, and made an
address, which has been described as an epitome of the
whole Conciliar question : —
' It is a great consolation to me to find myself in the
midst of you, so as to fulfil the desires of these pious
ladies of Belgium, who, animated by a lively desire to be
able to say, Domine, dilexi decorem domus tuts, have
prepared and sent to Rome, in boxes adapted to them,
a certain quantity of sacred ornaments of various rites
to be distributed among the bishops of the poor missions.
I must praise the zeal of these pious ladies, and in giving
you their presents I need not recommend them to your
prayers, for I am certain that both for them and their
families you will implore the blessing of God, and
endeavour to satisfy their desires. Within the cases
you will find the special prayers they ask ; I am sure
you will not forget them. I rejoice beyond measure
that these ladies have interested themselves about the
ornaments for the Oriental rites. I do not know how
they have succeeded as regards the pattern and the cut ;
each one of you will try to adapt them to himself. But
I rejoice at this thought, for I love the Oriental rites,
and desire that they shall be preserved intact The
variety of rites is one of the great ornaments and glories
of the Catholic Church. I love all my children, without
distinction of nation, of tongue, or rite ; and I ardently
desire that this love be responded to, and that it may
make still closer the union between the head and the
members. ' My words are directed specially to you Orientals,

292 IS A MAJORITY TO DECIDE A DOGMA?
with whom I know that efforts have been made recently
to detach you from this Holy See. Instead of this you
are more closely united to me, and do not suffer your
selves to be conquered by counsels and suggestions
made to you by the enemies of the Church, and those
who do not wish us well. Now is renewed in the Vicar
of Jesus Christ a similar fact to that which happenedto
Jesus Christ himself when dragged before the tribunal of
Pilate. Pilate was well persuaded of the innocence of
the Saviour, and would have desired to set him at liberty,
but on hearing these words, " Si hunc dimittis non es
amicus Ccesaris," he was intimidated and overcome by a
respect for man — " tradidit ilium voluntati eoru^m!' They
are solemn moments which are passing ; we are treating
of the principles of eternal life, of the rights of the
Church, and of the Holy See ; the truth, sanctity, and
justice of which are recognised by all, and which are
yet impugned by those who, calling themselves the
friends of Caesar, are friends of the Revolution. Let us
not be seduced by their threats or their promises, and
we will not imitate the judges of the tribunal of Pilate ;
but we will defend the holy cause of God without being
flattered by the applause of the world, and without
being frightened at that which is called public opinion,
of which there are so many unhappy victims. I repeat
it : be united with me, and not with the Revolution ; be
united with me in defending the holy rights of truth and
justice, and, in order to guard yourselves against the
seductions of the love of popularity and applause, turn
your minds to me, and not to public opinion.
' But to hold ourselves firm in these resolutions, let
us invoke the Holy Spirit to descend upon us and give

HUMILITY, UNITY, AND TRUTH 293
US the strength necessary for us. Above all, let us be
humble in heart and in spirit, not placing any confidence
in our own strength or our own light. Founded on this
virtue, and guided by faith, we will struggle for the
kingdom of God without fear and without danger of
error. Oh ! my God, give Thy Spirit to animate and
fill our hearts with light, so that, above all things, and
in despite of our enemies, we may confess and promul
gate the truth. Meanwhile, I give you the benediction.
I bless you in the name of the Father ; I bless you in the-
name of the Son ; I bless you in the name of the- Holy
Spirit ; and may this blessing accompany you in your
missions and fortify you for the accomplishment of the
arduous and holy work intrusted to your zeal. May it
descend upon your clergy, and on all the faithful con
fided to your care ! May it keep you united in this
world, that we may be eternally so in another ! '
An English family here, consisting of three harm
less ladies, after two domiciliary visits by the police, and
very minute searches, has been ordered to quit Rome.-
The police found nothing, and no reason has been given
for the order. The surmise is that a female servant, who
had become acquainted with a family in the opposite
house suspected of Garibaldian sympathies, had posted
letters for it. The ladies who have become the victims
are said to be anything but dangerous persons, and had
taken their rooms to the end of April.

c The last paragraph of this letter gives anything but
Satisfaction to the persons chiefly concerned. They "did
nbt wksh to be snufifed out vyith the imputation of harm-

294 IS A MAJORITY TO DECIDE A DOGMA?
lessness or the suggestion of a mistake ; on the contrary,
they wished to be regarded as very dangerous, and as
getting the better of the authorities by personal ascend
ency. I never saw them, though if I remember right
It was not for want of the opportunity ; but they were
described to me as handsome, ladylike and dignified ;
with persuasive manners and a commanding address.
A brother had recently achieved much publicity in
England by a row with his regimental superiors, and
it was possible that these ladies had conceived a like
ambition. There lies before me a budget of notes taken
after the date of this letter, and I cannot but share the
common belief that these ladies had organised a corre
spondence between Garibaldi and his Roman friends,
making their house, in fact, a private post-office. The
letters came in an envelope addressed to them, or to their
maid, and, when the coast seemed clear, were carried by
the latter to a Garibaldian, a few steps off". Now ninety-
nine ladies out of a hundred think nothing of smuggling;
and have a very mean opinion of their husbands if they
express any scruple about it To do all this without dis
covery was the first object ; the second, as scarcely a less
prize, was to be found out and have their laugh at the
authorities. The police watched and were down upon
them. They had notice to quit Rome. Thereupon
they set about a round of visits, calling on Randi, the
head of the police, then on Cardinal Antonelli, who
told them it was not in his department, then on Mr.
Odo Russell, who wrote to the Cardinal, who didn't open
his letter, then on Mr. Wreford, and, I know not who
besides, and finally on Mr. Severn, the most popular and
powerful foreigner in Rome. He proved their friend in

A FEMININE EPISODE 295
need — that is, if they really did wish for so tame a solu
tion — for they were allowed to remain in Rome, I sup
pose on an understanding that they were to shut up
their little post-office, and render provisional loyalty to
the powers that be.

Florence : March 28, evening.
In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies, in reply to
a question as to the intentions of the Government with re
ference to the CEcumenical Council, Signor Visconti Venosta,
the Minister for Foreign Affairs, explained that the Cabinet,
trusting to the authority of the law and to the established
principles of religious liberty, would adhere to its first reso
lution of abstaining from all intervention in the doings of
the Council. The Government confined itself to approving
the conciliatory efiforts of Italian bishops, but, in conformity
¦with the principle of the separation of Church and State, it
would allow the Church freely to lay down what dogmas it
chose. After some observations from different speakers the
Chamber voted the order of the day asked for by the
Ministry.

296

CHAPTER CV
THE ARMENIANS
Rome : March 29.
THE preamble of the Schema on ' Heterodox Philosophy '
is still under discussion this morning, with some prob
ability of being passed. It has now been twice amended,
and the last amendment is said to have got rid of several
passages which would have implied Papal infallibility,
and have thus forestalled the proper discussion of that
dogma. Meanwhile the atmosphere of Rome is becom
ing less and less calm. The Orientals are very restless.
No wonder. The giant said to be buried alive under
Etna had every right to turn in his bed if he could.
The Chaldeans — Syro-Chaldeans they ought to be called
— have appealed to the French as protectors of the East,
stating in express terms that their bishops here have
been bought over. This can only mean what all the
world knows — that their bishops must vote as they are
bid, and do as they are bid, or they will sufifer for it.
The French Government, however, has promised to take
them under its care, as well as the Armenians. The
latter are now pushing their quarrel into Rome itself,
taking courage possibly from the presence of a Turkish
envoy, Rustim Bey, a man of Italian extraction.
There is an Armenian convent here, not far from
St. Peter's. Last Thursday or Friday the Pope sent a.

A VERY OLD .QUARREL 297
Monsignor to make an official or ' apostolic ' visit The
Armenians refused to admit him : said the convent was
their own property, and that no one had a right to
enter. The Pope sent Monsignor again, this time, it is
said, with a ' thundering ' letter. The Armenians sent
him back again with his letter. They then betook
themselves to the Turkish envoy, who declined to enter
into the religious question, but was here, he said, to
protect his master's subjects, and would do so. It
appears that the question is not a new one, having
occurred before at the Armenian Monastery in the island
of St. George, near Venice. The ill-disposed are hoping
to see the Turkish flag flying over the convent here
within sight of St. Peter's.
In this instance the Papal interference had been pro
voked, or precipitated, by an awkward incident On
Wednesday, in the Via Giulia, the long straight street
leading from the suspension-bridge to the back of the
Farnese Palace, the police were sent to art;est an Oriental
priest who had been going about expressing himself
freely on the Pope's claims fo infallibility. The priest
made a stout resistance, and got wounded in the scuffle.
His friends ran off" for help, and found a bishop of his
rite, who came to the rescue, and, seeing his brother
covered with blood, got involved in the dispute, and
recei-ved himself a violent blovv' in the face, which set his
nose bleeding. The police seem'ed to have relented at
the sight, for they allowed the bishop to take the priest
into his carriage, and drive off", first to the " French
Embassy, where they received advice and consolatio'n,,
arid then to Rustim Bey,' under whose protection they
placed themselves. Next day the envoy had an audi-

298 THE ARMENIANS
ence of the Pope, it is not known with what result. It
was the day after this unpleasant afifair that the. Pope, in
distributing the sacred vestments supplied by a religious
association, expressed himself with so much tact and
tenderness on the subject of Oriental rites and customs.
Two decrees have appeared, the one beatifying and
canonising a saint, the other recognising the immemorial
worship of one.
You may remember that by some mischance an
English bishop was put into a wrong box in one of my
January letters. As that number of the limes never
saw the light in Rome, I must accept the fact on the
statement of the adversary. But the good bishop's
friends are still favouring me with all sorts of rough
music for the indignity done to him in supposing him a
reasonable being. Here I see it once more filling a
column as I turn over the leaves of the Correspondance
de Rome for last Saturday, two whole months after the
alleged'offence. The Papal press was always returning to this unfor
tunate error as if it was the only mistake I made, which
was not quite the case. I have long believed it to have
been a mere slip, but on looking over my notes for the
present work, I was surprised to find that I had ex
pressed a doubt to my informant, and asked him to
repeat the name, which accordingly I noted with in
verted commas. I must have concluded that the good
bishop in question had on some occasion over-explained
his notions on infallibility.
But I have already noticed, and have to notice
again, the extreme ignorance betrayed by really well-in-

SCIRE VOLUNT SECRETA DOMUS 299
formed people on persons and things out of their own
national beat. Quirinus, for example, shows a wonderful
familiarity with all the bishops and theologians within,
say, two hundred miles of Munich. Beyond that circle
he is often hazy, blind, and fanciful, with nothing but a
few strong prepossessions to guide him.

Rome : March 29.
It is stated that the General Congregation has voted to (Jay
the Schema de Fide, which up to the present time had been
under discussion, and that to-morrow other schemata will come
on for debate.
The Paris Univers of Thursday relates two incidents of
rather remarkable character. A theologian in attendance upon
an Armenian bishop having indulged in language repugnant
to authority was ordered to retire into a monastery. He refused,
and the officers of the Vicariate attempted to arrest him. The
theologian escaped from their hands and took refuge with his
bishop, who has protested against the action of the authorities,
and thus the matter remains at present. The other circum
stance was still more serious. An Apostolic Visitation hf^ving
been directed to the Armenian convent of the Antonines, the
bishop refused to admit the Apostolic Visitor. An ortjer was
obtained from the Pope commanding the bishop to make a
retreat in a Dominican monastery. The prelate refiised
obedience, and has written to the Bishdp of Marseilles to
obtain the protection of France against the Holy Father.
Florence : May $t
Rustim Bey has returned from Rome, and it is stated that
his mission with regard to the Armenian Catholics has been
unsuccessful.

30O

CHAPTER CVI
PAPAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
Rome : March 30.
It is now stated on very good authority that there will
be a public Session on the nth— that is, on the Monday
before Easter, and, it is grimly added, infallibility can
not come on till June. But the matter to be promul
gated on the I Ith is still far from safe. Something was
voted, and something else was discussed, yesterday, but
whether it was the preamble that was disposed of or
some decrees is not known. The amendments proposed
on the preamble were not all on the Opposition
side, for the Bishop of Moulins, Dreux-Br^z^, proposed
the insertion of infallibility, as a counterpoise, of course,
to adverse amendments. For some reason or other
there was a very great noise inside the screen, and there
was a report in the evening that there had^ been a worse
' row' than on the 22nd. One can only glean what
occurred on that day, and I must give you the bits as
they come. Cataldi went up to Strossmayer at last in
the pulpit, and told him very audibly in his ear that the
bell had rung four times, and he must come down, the
enraged majority all the time surrounding the pulpit,
with loud cries, and many of them shaking their fists at
Strossmayer. The next day he asked Cataldi how he

BISHOPS AND BISHOPS 301
presumed to call him down— without, I suppose, getting ,
much satisfaction.
But from day to day it is now reported that the
Opposition is more strong, more compact, more decided,
and more courageous than ever. They declare that
nothing shall be passed without ' a moral unanimity '
such as that found in the old Councils, and that a moral
unanimity must be one representing character, popula
tion, and' actual cure of souls. Compared with the rest
they say that 360 members of the So-called majority
have no right to count as representatives of the Church,
being bishops in partibus, or otherwise little more than
titular personages. Rome has its answer to all this.
In her eyes a bishop is a bishop whether he represents
Paris and two million souls, or one very small congre
gation in Aleppo or at Little Rock, the capital of
Arkansas. Thus there are two distinct ideals of a
Council, and they become more distinct day by day.
After four months of weary sitting, and with Easter
fast coming on, people are asking for the twentieth time
how it fares with infallibility. It has now been extracted
from the preamble of the Schema under discussion for a
future and separate treatment. But there has been
plenty of argument out of doors, fair, candid, and reason
able argument, addressed, as the case may be, to the
politician, the Liberal, or the Anglican. The argument
has been only too successful, and success will be the ruin
of infallibility. What is put foremost in Rome, at least,
is that the Council waits an interposition of the Spirit,
of which the Pope is the expected medium. This has
been expressed continually in a way to remind one of
the silent and expectant meetings of the Society of

302 PAPAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
Friends. But it is found impossible to keep out of sight
much that is hardly consistent with the sublime spiritual
theory. There is the unlimited creation of what must
be called fagot votes ; there are the hundreds of votes
retained, lodged, fed, and paid so many francs a head ;
there are the twenty Cardinals' hats, and innumerable
other prizes kept open for competition ; there are the
personal pressure, the intimidation, and the flattery ;
there is the enormous bill of costs, fast running Rome
into an amount of debt which it will require the grandest
results to compensate for. Is this a spiritual opera
tion, and is the Holy Father, aided by a chosen few,
' in the garden,' or ' on the mount,' or in ' an upper
chamber ' ? It is not
But then, we Englishmen must not object to what we
see here, for it is our own way, We are desired to look
at home ; at our Parliamentary system, our government
by parties, the exalted theory and low practice of our
contested elections, the operations of our ' whipper-in,'
the distribution of our patronage in Church and in all the
departments of the State, the various uses and abuses of
social influence among us, and the notorious fact that
even our noblest measures are proposed and passed upon
the plea of necessity. As for money, is not our whole
system one of money, I have been asked, and are not
our livings bought and sold ?
It is not easy to deny the resemblance, nor is it
necessary. We may not only concede, but even be the
first to recognise, that the whole operation here is
British in the lower sense and aspect of that word.
The afifair before us is necessarily complicated with
earthly matters and common agencies, and cannot pre-

SIMONY 303
duce infallibility if it be not already there. They who
humanise and rationalise the dogma also vulgarise and
debase it Grant that it has become a political necessity,
and that upon ordinary grounds the Pope is justified in
compassing it by the most ordinary means, we may be
wisely charitable as to practices too like those of our
own country, but yet may insist that the Pope's neces
sity shall not be our law. No doubt, he does want
further confirmation and basis for his power. No doubt,,
too, we are not in a condition to complain of the means
employed. But the argument and the line of action in
harmony with it sink the Pope and his pretensions to
the common level, and reduce Infallibility to the watch-*
word of a political combination.
But I have something further to say upon what we
should call at home the simoniacal character of this
transaction. The Pope is about to purchase the very
highest conceivable gift of God with money. There
can be no spiritual gift — charity alone excepted — no
authority or office, so great as that of a perfect judgment
and discernment in spiritual things. When an English
clergyman pays 1,000/. for a next presentation with
immediate possession it is called simony. So, again,
when the candidate for a living of which the parishioners
are the patrons bribes them right and left, he must incur
the same imputation. In the colossal instance before
us the votes of these Fathers are admitted to be neces
sary to the authentication and actual possession of the
gift of gifts, called infallibility. The Pope, indeed,
being infallible, does not need to be made so ; but he
wants induction, or some such process, which shall esta
blish his right, and inaugurate its exercise in the eyes of

304 PAPAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
the world. With a view to this he is now undergoing
a sort of contested election, and making a canvass, with
active and unscrupulous agents touting for votes all
about him.
There is no disguise that this is done exactly as seats
in Parliament are often sought in our own country ;
indeed; the resemblance is curiously complete in many
particulars. Imagine a rotten borough, carefully and
regularly nursed for many years by ,a neighbouring
landowner, or suddenly invaded by a newer and wealthier
interest, and you have the like of all that is done here to
accomplish the desired ' return.' From beginning to
end, from the top to the bottom, in every rank, stage,
and process, this is a prodigious pecuniary transaction.
In our own contested elections we distinguish between
bribery and intimidation, but we are aware that the dif
ference is rather in circumstance, and that they are sub
stantially the same thing. Both are in full requisition
here, for terrible will be the case, even in this world, of
the man who will not vote for the forthcoming dogma.
In its spiritual aspect it is all bribery.
The first inventor of the spiritual offence called after
his own name offered money for miraculous powers, and,
failing in that suit, is stated, though upon doubtful
authority, to have applied to another quarter, and even
tually to have come to great grief in consequence of a
too soaring ambition. The present instance only differs
from petty traffic in livings, and such things, in its enor
mous scale. From first to last infallibility will cost not
less than five million pounds sterling, and, really, once
secured, will be cheap at that figure. Its actual value,
of course, will depend upon circumstances and upon the

THE ITALIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES 365-
discretion with which it is used. Perhaps, too, it is a
question of time, for it has sometimes occurred that
when a great price has been paid for a thing it has been
shortly superseded by a better article or a new dis
covery. This is a speculation which may yet, even in
the hour of seeming triumph, prove a terrible failure.

A Florence letter published in the Debats, dated March
30, gives an account of a discussion in the Chamber on the
previous day, in which the position of the Italian Government
towards the Council was incidentally defined : — ' In the dis
cussion upon the budget relating to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs a question was raised which elicited from Signor Visconti
Venosta a clear and definite statement, the effect of which
was that Italy, having proclaimed the principle of religious
hberty, had nothing to do with what passed at the Council.
If the Council should proclaim any dogmas which would be
incompatible with the laws of the State, those laws would,
nevertheless, be continued in force. There was no present
necessity for considering what was styled the Roman question.
Such is a terse but exact summary of the Minister's speech,
which met with the approbation of all parties in the Chamber.
After these declarations there was no real debate. Signor
d'Ondes Reggio, who is almost the sole representative in the
Chamber of the clerical party, ventured to say a few words in
favour of the Council, but they produced no efifect Signor
Ferrari then made a speech, in which he endeavoured to point
out what might be the political consequences of a declaration
of Papal Infallibility, and submitted a motion to the efifect that
the Chamber, without troubling itself with the question of in
falhbility, passed to the order of the day. The Chamber, per
ceiving that a solemn declaration that it would not preoccupy
itself with that question would really amount to a proof that
the subject had engaged its attention, declined to accept the
VOL. II. X

3o6 PAPAL AND PARLIAMENTARY PRACTICE
resolution, and passed simply to the order of the day. Signor
"Visconti Venosta in his speech had referred to the spirit of
moderation evinced by the Italian prelates. This declaration
has provoked the anger of the ultra-clerical organs in the press,
which insist that the Italian bishops are ready to sufifer martyr
dom, but none among them will ever enter into any argument
with the enemies of the Church. This anger seems to imply
that Signor Visconti Venosta was correct- in saying that there
are among the Italian prelates men who are more moderate
than is generally supposed. The great act of persecution of
which the journals in question make so much on every occasion
is what they call the imprisonment of Cardinal de Angelis, who
has in fact been detained at Turin for a certain time. He was
not in prison there, but in a convent and you may be certain
that in his detention, if detention it were, there was no bar
barous rigour. The Infallibilist party has now attained, at least
in words, to a very curious state of exaltation. It compares
Pius IX. to Jesus Christ, and that which is occurring in the
Council to the preliminaries of the Passion. It is "probable
that in the minds of this party Monsignor Dupanloup enacts
the part of Caiaphas. They do not say so plainly, but such
is evidently their opinion.'

307

CHAPTER CVII
MONSIGNOR CAPEL
Rome : April 4.
The fate of the very first matter discussed in the Council
is so important a fact that I must repeat it in as exact
terms as present information will allow. It was the
Preamble of the Canons de Fide. The earliest discussions
of the Council were upon it and the Canons together.
They were together sent up to the Committee de Fide,
and after a considerable time sent down in an amended
form. The Preamble itself had received various altera
tions, one of them, ascribed to Dreux-Br6z^, Bishop of
Moulins, containing the Dogma of Infallibility so strongly
,as to give rise to a report that this Dogma was now under
discussion, and that the Preamble so often mentioned
was that of the Schema de Ecclesia. However, it was as
I state, and the Vatican journalists were quite justified
so far in their boast that the amended Preamble was
stronger than the original form. It was Ginoulhiac, the
new Archbishop of Lyons, who hit the spot, though he
did so with a mildness of tone that reminded the Fathers
of his recent promotion.
Strossmayer will have the credit of the result, which
is that the Preamble has been withdrawn altogether as
incapable of amendment. Of course another will have

3o8 MONSIGNOR CAPEL
to be introduced in its place ; but, for the present, matter
long discussed in two distinct stages is absolutely rejected.
The Opposition is very triumphant, but they are met, as
one would say at home, with counter cheers. They have
been entrapped, so the ' Ultras ' boast, into recognising
and accepting the New Rules of procedure, and the con
sequent necessity of bowing to the majority. However,
they have been all along fully aware of the dilemma
created by the appearance ofthe New Rules, and it is to
be presumed that they have not accepted them to the
alleged extent
The public session is fixed for Tuesday, the 26th.
The Prussian Government is sending Herr Schlitzer, who
was charge d'affaires here in 1865 and the two following
years. His services to Prussia, here and elsewhere, and
his known principles, lead more than one party to expect
important results from his mission.
Though this Easter may pass without a decree, it may
still be signalised by some important conversions. The
best German, French, and English preachers have been
at work here ever since the meeting of the Council, and
their sermons have been among the things to be regularly
' done ' by the indefatigable crowd of visitors. They
preach under difficulties, for they have to present Rome
just now in her kindest, most indulgent and most liberal
aspect. I was one of a large congregation, chiefly ladies,,
hearing Mgr. Capel yesterday afternoon, and regret that
a mistake as to the hour left me only the conclusion of a
sermon which it was known before was to be on ' Salva
tion out of the Church.' With the assistance of other
hearers I believe I know most of what was said. Mgr.
Capel succeeded in showing that in the matter of intoler-

PERSECUTION ALL ROUND 309
ance and persecution the doctrines, the principles, and
the actual practice Of Rome are very much the same as
those of all other religious communities and scKools: of
opinion, as far as they really believe and are in earnest.
The argumintum ad hominem certainly was strong.
It is a favourite thesis of the schools. Every believer is
a persecutor. Presbyterians and Anglicans, he said, not
only denied salvation to those out of their pale, but
socially excommunicated, persecuted, and turned out of
doors those who dissented from their doctrines — ^except-
ing, of course, utter unbelievers, whom they found it easy
to tolerate. The last is, perhaps, the strongest point of
resemblance between the Churches here in question. If
any Roman gentleman, or tradesman, or working man
were to join the English Church, or any form of Protes-
' tantism, he would not find Rome a pleasant place ;
whereas if Rome were to expel all the known unbelievers
and scoffers she would have to ask Victor Emmanuel to
send hands to supply their place, for, otherwise, all the
y/brk and business of the city would come to a sudden
"find, and Rome would find herself sitting in ruins and
bare walls. Mgr. Capel opened the gates of mercy to
baptized babes, to the poor and ignorant, so as they have
the soul of Catholicism ; to all who are inwardly tending,
inquiring,, and struggling towards the true Church, and
only hindered by circumstances or anticipated by death
— in a word, to all who would be Roman Catholics, if
they lived under the Church, if they were better informed,
if they were older, or had the chance.
~ Who, then, are under condemnation? For this
purpose the preacher imagined a class the existence of
which will strike" most E'nglishrrien as a novelty. ' You

3IO MONSIGNOR CAPEL
have to suppose a race of travellers, well-educated, well
informed, full of interests, caring about pictures, anti
quities, arts and sciences, but not about religious truth
and unity, full of hatred to the Church, attending the
services to scoff at them, running after the Pope to say
irreverent things about him, inquiring after the Council
to make naught of it, with no desire to mend their souls,
and given to all sensual indulgences and wicked excesses,
especially those that most debase the soul and darken
the understanding. Mgr. Capel certainly described with
eloquence a spiritual condition which one must admit to
be possible, and which one should beware of In the
presence of five hundred elegantly-dressed ladies he
took a safe and easy course in putting the class de
scribed beyond the reach of mercy. But is this a faith
ful portrait of the husbands, the fathers of families, the
brothers, or even the young University graduates we
see here fresh from English homes ? Does it apply to
these particularly, even if they have no leaning what
ever to Rome — nay, even if they be most thoroughly
resolved against it — nay, even if their resolution becomes
stronger and stronger every day they remain here >
Their condemnation, as the preacher puts it, is that they
are here within the reach of grace, because they see the
services and the spectacles of the Holy City. I would
speak of these spectacles with respect. They are the
religion of the place, which otherwise would have little
or none. But an ordinary Englishman must be changed
very much .indeed before he can recognise in all this
pageantry and this enormous mass of ceremony that
special call to Divine truth and unity to resist which is
utter condemnation. But it is fair to say I was very

DARU UNABLE TO REACH THE COUNCIL 311
sorry to be late at Mgr. Capel's church, and -sorry that
his sermon was so soon over.

Paris : March 31.
Count Daru is said to be maturing a Note in reply to
Antonelli's recent despatch, but still people are to be found
who doubt that such a Note will ever be sent. Diplomatists
say that it must be — that to leave the Cardinal's communication
unanswered would be to acquiesce in a rebufif, and give Rome
a triumph. Nay, some go so far as to declare that such a
course must entail M. Daru's resignation, especially as it is
well known that his first decided step in this matter was of a
rather independent character, without, it is believed, the
cognisance, or at least the approval, of some of his colleagues,
however much they may have given their assent to the accom
plished deed. The present Foreign Minister is so worthy and
estimable a man, and has won such excellent opinions by his
bearing during the short time he has been in ofifice, that his
retirement would be a cause of great regret. It is not to be
supposed that any Note that could be sent would move the
Vatican from its resolves, and it is a prevailing opinion that it
would have been better never to enter upon a diplomatic
correspondence unless this Government had been prepared to
back its demands by menaces and even by acts. The fate of
Rome is in the hands of France, who has but to withdraw her
garrison to render the position of the Papacy desperate. There
is no present probability of so decided a step being taken.
The expected Note will be to the Council rather than to the
Pope, and it is said that means will be found of presenting it
to the great assembly otherwise than through the Pontifical
Government which might decline to act as intermediary. It
is difficult to say how this will be done, s-ince the Council has
no regular bureau or Board. There is, however, a Congrega
tion which intervenes between it and the Pope, and, perhaps,
the French bishops might be made useful in the matter ; at

.3*2 .: , . M.ONSJGNOR CAPEL
;ariy rate tp the extent df ascertaining whether the Note, if sent
to Antonelli, was communicated to the Council correctly and
unabridged. In short, the line of conduct to be adopted by
the French Government in t-his question -with Rome is just
now discussed with particular interest in diplomatic circles in
Paris, and was a leading topic at last night's ofificial receptions.
The question of the plebiscitum for the changes in the
Constitution is still much discussed, but the probability of that
step being resorted to seems to lessen daily. Notwithstanding
the reports I recently mentioned, it is beyond a doubt that the
Emperor goes with his Ministers in disapproving it. The
general opinion is that there is no occasion whatever for such
an extreme measure as an appeal to the people, and neither of
the two parties which have advocated it is likely to insist upon
the adoption of its views. On the other hand, the impression
gains strength that a modification in the Ministry may occur
sooner than was lately expected, and that more Liberal elements
will be brought into the Cabinet.
A good deal of attention was excited two days ago by a
paragraph in the Ministerial Francais, speaking of revelations
said to have been made to the Council of State, a propos of
the discussion of the Extraordinary Budget of the city of Paris,
on the state of the finances of this capital. These revelations
were said to surpass all that the most mistrustful adversaries of
M. Haussmann could ever have imagined. The loan of 250
millions was said to be absorbed by work already done, but
not yet paid for. The Francais is a Ministerial organ ; the
paragraph was mysterious in its terms, but very damaging to
the ex-functionary to whom it alluded. In yesterday's Chamber,
M. Ollivier, replying to some remarks of Jules Simon, said that
the Council of State had discovered, in . its examination of the
Budget ofthe city of Paris, 'new elements of appreciation and
discussion not previously known.' 'We seek,' he added, 'the
most complete truth ; we have been obliged again to refer the
matter to the Municipal Council, aud at this moment the
Minister of the Interior is at the Council of State, where ,the

HAUSSMANN' S BILL OF COSTS 313
definitive examination is being terminated. We : desire to
liquidate completely the situation of the city, and to make it
known without any kind of ambiguity or dissimulation.' The
Chamber applauded this declaration. To-day I am informed
that the Minister of Finance is about to appoint two Inspectors-
General of his department, to examine and sift the accounts
of this city during the period of the Haussmann administra
tion. March 31.
Advices from Rome state that the Pope and the Ultramon
tanes appear to have abandoned all idea of conciliation.
Nothing has yet been decided respecting the period of the
Marquis de Banneville's return to Rome. The Fresse of this
evening states that Prince Pierre Bonaparte embarked at Havre
this morning for America. The Princess and children have
gone to Switzerland. The state of affairs at Creuzot is un
changed. The miners are gradually resuming work, but the
efiforts of the agitators continue. Paris : April I.
The assertion of the Fresse that Prince Pierre Bonaparte
had left his residence is unfounded. The Prince was still at
Auteuil last night.
The France of this evening says that the Government leaves
the Roman question entirely in suspense. Rome : April 1.
The Civilta Cattolica publishes an article with the object
of proving to the world that unanimity of the Fathers on the
question of the personal infallibility of the Pope is not
necessary, a simple majority being sufificient to define the
dogma. Schaffgotsche, Bishop of Briinn, is dead. Augsburg : April I.
To-day's Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung publishes the most
important paragraphs of the Schema de Fide Catholica and
the canons deduced therefrom, which are now being discussed

314 MONSIGNOR CAPEL
by the CEcumenical Council, at which they will shortly be put
to the vote, and in all probability be adopted. The canons
are directed against materialism, atheism, and pantheism.
Marseilles : April 2.
The ex-Grand Duke of Tuscany has arrived here from
Rome, and has left for Bavaria. April 2.
The Manorial Diplomatique learns from Rome that the
Pope has postponed all promotions to the Cardinalate until the
Consistory, which will be held in September next. This
determination has been induced by a desire to avoid all
appearance of attempting by the introduction of i8 new
cardinals into the Council to exercise a favourable influence
upon the question of Pontifical Infallibility. It appears certain
that Monsignor Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, will be included
among the new promotions, as also will be Monsignori Chigi
and Antonucci Falcinelli, Apostolic Nuncios at Paris and
Vienna.

315

CHAPTER CVIII
DEATHS IN ROME
Rome : April 5.
There have been many deaths among the visitors here,
whether in the hotels or in apartments ; some from
fever, some from congestion of the lungs, and other dis
orders. There are several thousand visitors here, and a
good many have come because they were ailing, or
because they wanted rest, or change of air and scene.
A certain average mortality is to be expected, and you
may remember that people rather freely speculated on
the probable rate of mortality among the Fathers, which
has certainly not been exceeded. Yet people are much
shocked when they hear of a visitor dying, and seem
ready to throw blame on somebody. The guide-books
insinuate that certain hotels are unhealthy, and ' A
Traveller ' warns tourists to protect themselves against
the carelessness and cupidity of hotel-keepers. To the
best of my experience and information, the landlords
and the servants omit no precaution or duty in the
matter. They keep their rooms and their houses as
clean and sweet and airy as they can, opening the
windows at every opportunity, watching every arrange
ment, and at any interval in the occupation of rooms
giving a thorough washing and cleaning. This care is

3i6 DEATHS IN ROME
redoubled in the case of death or illness, when every
thing is changed, and the room kept open for several
days. '
The blame, if blame there be, lies with the visitors
themselves. When a gentleman, with only a common
constitution, goes up Vesuvius, runs down from the
Crater into Pompeii, takes the train there, and dances
till five in the morning at a Palace Ball, all within
twenty-four hours, travels next day to Rome, catches
cold, and is dead in a few days, whose fault is it .'
When a gentleman, long accustomed to task his brain
at the expense of his health, nurses a sick wife for a fort
night, having his only night's rest in an armchair, leaves
a sick chamber for a long walk on a bitterly cold day,
feeling it necessary to take a glass of wine at starting,
with the same sad result, the only reasonable comment
is that he has sacrificed himself to conjugal duty.
People will do everything here. They come to Rome,
perhaps, once in their lives, to see things and people,
and they think it worth a little risk. They walk out of
glorious sunshine info' churches arid galleries even colder
than the catacombs, and out of crowded rooms into dank
evening air.
No doubt Rome is a dangerous place. It is a city of
six-storied palaces, separated by narrow and often dirty
lanes. The ground-floor of many palaces is given to
stables, and to abominations of all kinds. The base
ments are worse. The population of horses and cows is
immense, the latter always out of sight. As for the
streets, they cannot be kept as clean as an English
stable-yard. There is always a smell, and where there
is a smell there is mischief On every side, except

ITALIAN ECONOMICS 317
where the Tiber enters and leaves, Rome is surrounded
by hills, quite high enough to check the ventilation.
The air must often stagnate and be cold. Under such
circumstances the English ought to take as much care
of themselves as at home. In one respect, certainly,
they do not. They do without fires, being out most of
the day, and a wood fire costing a guinea a week.
Whenever they return from a walk, or leave the hot
saloon, they enter a room as cold as a cellar, to read, to
write, to dress, or to undress. I wonder how -they live,
not why they die. However, they say that this is the
Italian practice, and that the Pope never sees a fire, even
when the snow is on the ground. ' Sun, no fire,' is the
rule of the best houses. The drink of all classes is the
lightest of wines — highly diluted. The Italians must
have special constitutions, and a fire in them or under
them, for they could not stand an English parlour fire,
and two glasses of sherry would upset any one of them.
It is right to add, what I believe to be the case, that
there have been more deaths among the Americans
than the English.

5i8

CHAPTER CIX
CARDINAL BARNABO AND THE ORIENTALS
Rome : April 7.
All is calm in the Council, so it is said, and order
reigns out of doors. The Armenians are quiet, in the
streets at least ; our troubled countrywomen who have
been the town's talk for a fortnight, are let alone ; the
Zouaves and Legionaries are marching to and fro in an
ticipation of the ever-impending emeute, now fixed for
the" Pope's own day, next Tuesday ; the preparations
for the Easter fireworks are making rapid progress ; and
there is not much to show that one lives here under an
absolute sovereign, who gives laws to the whole world,
still less that his authority is here and there disputed.
But it is apparent that the Council has only just begun
to do something after all its talk. One chapter of the
Schema de Fide has been voted, and that is all that is
known for certain ; they are still making speeches about
the rest of the Schema.
An immense list of names is down for speaking, but
as many of them are only inscribed to be withdrawn
when necessary, it is useless to give the figure reported.
The Court party has any number of good men and true
ready to speak or be silent, as the emergency may
require. The missionary bishops, a hundred of whom

LATIN ACQUIRED BY EARLY USE 319
were received the other day, the bishops in partibus,
the mass of the Italian bishops, many even of the
Orientals, and also of the bishops from the more distant
sees, have been entirely educated at Rome, Here they
have learnt to speak Latin, not only fluently, but with a
distinctness and pronunciation which enable them to
make a real use of the language. If England and
Ireland and the United States, and even France and
Germany, have not contributed as much as might be
expected to the discussion, it is because the bishops of
these countries have generally received at least all the
earlier part of their education in their own countries.
Work, however, advances but slowly. There will be
no promulgation before Easter, and when it is stated
that the fireworks are to be a few days later than usual
this year, it is natural to suspect that they and the
Decrees are to be fired off" together. The Fathers are
making up their mind to stay till June 29, the usual
finish of the business year at Rome, and to meet again
in October. There is a savage idea of continuing the
Council by weekly sittings all through the year, on the
calculation that the Pope's best friends are those who
can also best stand a Roman summer. Upon this
point, as also on the alleged unhealthiness of the season,
it may be as well to mention here that in Spirito Santo,
one ofthe chief hospitals, there are now only 236 cases
of acute disease, that in August and September the
average is between five and six hundred, and there are
sometimes as many as a thousand. This looks ill for
the unacclimatised. But all the Roman medical autho
rities throw the danger of the climate on those who
come here with the idea that they may be guilty of any

320 CARDINAL BARNABO AND THE ORIENTALS '/
imprudence ; v/ho reduce their system by walking,
niorning, noon, and night ; who act like madmen in
Italian eyes, and who refuse to recognise the most
violent, and, at the same time, most regular, atmospheric
changes. To return to the Council. They hope to vote all
the Schema de Fide before Easter, to promulgate it
immediately after, and then to set to" work at once on ,
the Schema de Ecclesia, with the all-important ques
tions involved. Such is the hope, and such- hopes have
there been often before. But somehow or other the
chariots of the great host are still driven heavily. The
Fathers say unreservedly that all is confusion, that the
people here don't understand organisation and adminis
tration, and that business is needlessly hindered and pro
tracted. Most likely they don't see very well what is
going on, and don't know a tithe of the difficulties. One
great question occupies their minds, and they may have
prepared to take their respective sides upon it. They
may even have mastered the ground sufficiently to
understand the various modifications that will be off"ered.
But there is something like a sluggish listlessness,
perhaps a weariness, as to the many minor questions
involved in the matter now before the Council. As a
spectator I have often wondered how it is that so few of
the Fathers have their yellow-books with them. Here ,
and there a grave Oriental or his secretary carries the
well-known volume as solemnly as if it were the Tables
of the Law ; but the Westerns seem to spare themselves
the encumbrance. The great mass of the Fathers look
to have the questions of the day put into distinctness
and relief by their respective leaders ; and are ready

ANTIOCH AND TARSUS yi\
enough to fight the battles when they see the position
to be maintained. The Opposition is as firm as ever,
and there are those not of it who are ready to do justice
to its sincerity and its heroism, knowing well its diffi
culties and its sacrifices. As usual, there are many here
only too glad to see the battle fought for them, so as they
are spared fighting it themselves.
As I said above, there is peace, or the semblance of
it, between the Vatican and the Armenians living here
under its shadow. Casangian, Archbishop of Antioch,
and Avak-Wartan-Angiarakian, Archbishop of Tarsus,
have been allowed to return to their convents. By the
by, one of the bitterest complaints of the Orientals is
that whereas Cardinal Barnabo, as head of the Propa
ganda, is the great enemy of their peace and indepen
dence at home, they find him the President ofthe Com
mittee on Rites and Eastern Affairs when they come
here ; and, in other respects, they enjoy no proper
representation in the Committee. They have not a
chance, they say, for the appeal from Barnabo is to
Barnabo himself, only Barnabo is in a stronger position
than ever. They would like a change of some sort,
even were it only a new name or some new person tb
tell their story to. They have told it to Barnabo a
.thousand times, and he knows it by this time as well as
they do themselves.

VOL. II.

CHAPTER CX
banneville's MISSION
Rome : April 9.
The public Session stands fixed for Low Sunday, the
24th, unless anything should prevent it ' Unless ' has
so often been said, and so often justified by the result,
that one cannot help asking what it means now. It
does not mean the want of matter ready for promul
gation, for a considerable part of the Decrees on Faith
and Philosophy only waits what may be called the
third reading and the Papal sanction. It is not known
how much of the four chapters are in this forward
state. There have been several votings this week,
yesterday accompanied with much noise, they say.
The ' Little Catechism ' would have been added to the
matter for promulgation, but it cannot be got ready, and
appears to be an unsafe subject What, then, is there
to make a Session still not quite certain ? It is the
compact body of a hundred men in the Council, who, it
is admitted by all, have it in their power to break up
thq Council altogether any day and compel its proroga
tion for an indefinite period. These hundred men have
only to know their own mind well and resolve on their
line of action, and they can dictate reasonable terms.
They can insist on a freer and fairer discussion, and they

FREE CHURCH AND FREE STATE 323
can put an absolute veto on any matter which their con
sciences may condemn. This power they possess ; this
position they occupy ; for Rome, though yielding to no
earthly power in resolution and audacity, would not,
and indeed could not, launch a decree which would
start without the sanction of a universal acceptance.
What, then, do these hundred men want if they
manifestly can hold this Thermopylse without dying for
it, and, indeed, without much harm or loss? The
answer is that if they can do it themselves there is no
need to help them. They want nothing but the will,
and that will they will have to exercise. Italy and Spain
tell the Council it may decree just what it pleases, and
the former too evidently wishes that it may widen the
present gulf between Church and State. France, it is
here believed — but you will know by this time — finds
herself reduced to the same actual policy, with whatever
repugnance. She must leave the Fathers to do what
they think proper in the Vatican, bearing in mind that
every document coming thence will have to be inter
preted by the grammar of French law. The answer
Banneville is said to bear is described as a great blow to
the Opposition, and an evil augury of things to come.
As things are, and as France has allowed them to be,
she can only communicate with the Papal Government,
and must leave it to convey, if anything, what it pleases
to the Council.
All may remember the loud jubilation, long before
the opening day, on the important fact that the Council
of the Vatican would have the advantage over all pre
vious OEcumenical Councils, in not being complicated
and embarrassed with earthly powers. It has not

324 BANNEVILLE'S MISSION
enjoyed their countenance ; it is under no obligation to
them ; it has no requital to make ; no assistance to ask ;
no advice to seek. This is the hour of Rome's triumph,
so far as this matter is concerned. So the Fathers con
stituting what we must continue to call the Opposition
are left to themselves. They say they will use their
strength, and do all that the occasion requires. We
shall see. In the meanwhile their organs, or rather the
organs taking their side, north of the Alps are solemnly
\varned by Rome, and no doubt the warning is addressed
to the recalcitrant Fathers themselves. In the official
irgan of the Court they may read this week : —
' Ever since the opening of the CEcumenical Council
some Ultramontane journals, which pretend to be devoted
to the Holy See, have endeavoured, by their correspond
ence and their articles, only to weaken the authority of
this Holy Assembly. It was hoped that time would have
made them more just in their judgments ; but as they
persist in misrepresenting the deliberations, in attacking
the rules which direct them, in falsifying the reports
of the Sessions, and have the evident intention of out
raging the most numerous portion of the Bishops, it be
comes necessary to blame severely these correspondences
as exaggerated, false, and off'ensive to the honour of the
Council, to the dignity and liberty of the Church, as also
to the rights of the Holy See. Faithful Catholics are
warned to be on their guard against such journals.'
The ' Pope's Day ' — that is, the anniversary of his
escape at S. Agnese, and of his return from Naples —
coming in Holy Week, is postponed to Easter Tuesday.
The ceremonies begin to-morrow, and are to be more
than usually solemn and magnificent There is an un-

IS THERE AN UNDERSTANDING ? 325
pleasant rumour that the financial difficulties of the
Government are coming to a head, and that a serious
operation will be necessary for any real relief; but as
Rome and Florence are constantly playing the part of
Job's comforter to one another on this head, one does
not know how much to believe. All interested in the
Council are asking what is to be done after the 24th
inst If all is quite smooth, it is said, the Council will
resume the Little Catechism and the Decrees de Hones-
tate, or the clerical life. That would be the right order.
But it is possible that upon a requisition from the Fathers
the Council may proceed at once to the Schema de
Ecclesia, and in due course to the great dogma of dogmas
now contained in it. On the other hand, it is also
possible that the Opposition may take their stand upon
the necessity of postponing that question to the autumn
or to another year.
People think there has been some understanding
which the world is not to know till the present has passed
into history. Why has France talked so much and done
so little .'' Plenty of good reasons are given, but the fact
remains, and looks ill. The last excuse is that France
never intended separate action, being not singly respon
sible or singly interested. She intended to take her
equal part in the joint action of all the Powers having
Catholic populations in the form of a collective Note.
They refuse to act together. They have already taken
their own lines. France also has lines of her own, in her
Concordat. She has less occasion to move than the
rest, and is still free to act should the occasion require.

326 BANNEVILLE'S MISSION
It is stated by the Mhnorial Diplomatique that the
memorandum which M. de Banneville has been instructed by
the French Government to deliver to the Sovereign Pontifif
was, previous to the ambassador's departure from Paris,
communicated to the representatives of Powers possessing
Cathohc subjects. M. Daru, on April 8, furnished each of the
representatives of those Powers with a copy of that document
which was im'mediately forwarded to the respective Govern
ments. The majority of those Powers, particularly Austria,
Prussia, England, Bavaria, and Belgium, were enabled to in
form the French Cabinet, before the departure of M. de
Banneville, that they were about to forward suitable instruc
tions to their representatives at Rome. ' This fact alone,' says
the Memorial Diplomatique, ' will suffice to show the improba
bility of the rumour accepted by some journals that after the
retirement of Count Daru the French Ministry ordered M. de
Banneville to suspend the delivery of the memorandum. It is
not consistent with diplomatic propriety that a collective
measure agreed upon between a Minister of Foreign Afifairs in
actual authority and foreign Cabinets should be revoked by an
interim successor.
In the Paris Liberie of Sunday there appears the following
letter to the editor from M. Loyson, hitherto known as Pfere
Hyacinthe : — ' Paris, April 8. Sir, — It is believed in many
quarters that I have a great though concealed share in the
publication of La Concorde. Such a course of proceeding
would not, I am sure, be attributed to me by any of those who
know me, but I feel bound to give a public denial of it. There
can be no doubt that my sympathies are with a work to which
my brother is a party, and which promises to add strength to
the cause of religion and liberty. That cause is more than
ever mine, but there are different ways of serving it and I
think it best to remain in that silence which my conscience
imposed upon me at the beginning of the crisis through
which we are now passing. " Humble thine heart" says the
inspired book, "and wait patiently, and hasten not to the

CRISIS IN THE TRENCH CABINET 327
day of darkening." Receive, Monsieur, &c., Hyacinthe
LOYSON.' Paris : April 9.
Rumours are current of a Ministerial crisis arising from the
Ministers insisting upon a modification of Article 13 of the
Senatus-Consultum, which says the Emperor is responsible to
the French people, to whom he has always the right to appeal.
The rumour is considered unfounded, the whole Ministry
having accepted the responsibility of the integral text of the
Senatus-Consultum. 6.10 P.M.
The Cabinet is in full crisis. The resignation of M. Buffet
has been presented and accepted, and it is stated that Count
Daru and the Marquis de Talhouet have s"ent in their resigna
tion. The entry of Viscount de Lagu6ronnifere and of M.
Magne is spoken of, in which case the former would be
Minister for Foreign Affairs. A Council is being held this
evening at the Tuileries to confer on the position of afifairs,
and to choose the successors of the retiring Ministers. M.
Emile Ollivier remains Premier. April 9, evening.
In to-day's sitting of the Legislative Body M. Barthelemy
presented a proposal demanding that the vote of the Plebiscitum
should be taken in a single day. The discussion of the motion
was ordered to be deferred till Monday next, in accordance
with the wish of the Government. In answer to an interpella
tion from M. Leffevre-Pontahs, M. Emile Ollivier said that all
poUtical meetings would be permitted during the plebiscitary
period ; and, in reply to M. Gambetta, he declared that the
plebiscitary period would be shorter than the electoral period.
Replying to Count Keratry, the Minister of the Interior stated
that the recent instructions sent to the Prefects could not
furnish any ground for complaint. M. Ernest Picard having
asked if these instructions would be published, M. Emile
Ollivier said that the Government had recommended the
functionaries to avoid all pressure against liberty, and

328 BANNEVILLE'S MISSION
earnestly to invite the citizens not to abstain from voting:
The Minister added that the Government could not remain
inert considering the activity displayed by all political
parties. Among those who delivered themselves in a sense
more or less adverse to the Council, one may now venture
to name John Henry Newman. On the eve of the
Council he wrote a letter to his bishop, expressing much
uneasiness and something like irritation. It was in a
confidential tone, and ought not to have been published.
That is all that need be said about it.
What the writer thought and felt on the subject
appears sufficiently in his great work entitled 'The
Grammar of Assent,' published Feb. 21, 1870, that is,
about ten weeks after the opening of the Council. It
was reviewed at great length in the Times of the follow
ing April 21. I am not sure that I ever saw the volume
at Rome, or met there anyone who had the least ac
quaintance with its contents. All candidates for Orders
in the Roman Catholic Church are taught the art and
practice of belief from their infancy, on the principle
that belief requires a corresponding education. In their
schools they take both sides of every question by turns,
but ample care is taken that the logic employed shall
always lead to the desired result. The ' Grammar of
Assent ' would never fit in with this system.

339

CHAPTER CXI
palm SUNDAY
Rome : April 1 1 .
Palm Sunday is one of the most picturesque spectacles
of the Roman year. It is the opening scene of the great
Epic. Our own Reformers carefully eliminated all
notice or reminder of the day out of the Calendar.
Psalms, Lessons, Collect, Epistle, and Gospel are all
equally without allusion to the striking incidents de
scribed in Holy Writ, with exact time, place, manner,
and circumstance. Perhaps the ceremony was overdone
in those days, as many might fairly think it overdone
here yesterday, or, perhaps, the compilers of our Liturgy
wished to avoid the recognition of Maccabees, to which
we must have recourse if we want an express and un
doubted precedent for carrying the palm branches.
Neither the Jewish nor the Pagan precedent seems to
have been thought sufficient by our good people at home,
and Palm Sunday in England is a name and no more.
An old friend (Sir George Bowyer) was very anxious
that I should see what it is here. Standing in the rain
before Piale's on Friday, he ' coached ' me well through
the service, and expatiated on its peculiar beauties. By
his kindness I was driven to St Peter's yesterday — the
single unsightly object in a carriage full of Knights of

330 PALM SUNDAY
Malta in the most splendid of uniforms. As I was in
regulation black, and the look of things forbade the sup
position that I was either a waiter or an undertaker,
English observers must have set me down for ' the Pre
late of the Order,' or at least the Grand Master's private
chaplain. The Order, I must tell you, has a palace here,
in the Condotti, a spacious but ordinary-looking mansion,
the property of the Order ever since it had Malta, and
the residence of its ambassador as long as it asserted its
right as a sovereign power. It still numbers several
hundred knights — sixty of the first rank — and shares
with the Guardia Nobile the protection of CEcumenical
Councils. Some thirty knights have now mustered to
assist at the long-expected promulgation of decrees,
and defend the act by word or deed, as may be
wanted. Entering at a reserved door, where the knights
rendezvoused, I was passed through various hands, one
of them Mgr. Mermillod, whom I was glad to have this
opportunity of meeting. He is a bishop in partibus,
now making a great fight for his Church at Geneva, a
man of extraordinary eloquence, and, accordingly, turned
to good account by a Church which, like the Abbot
Carlyle wrote of, knows a man when it sees him. On
this occasion, however, he was only very pleasant, and,
putting me into a tribune immediately behind the
Fathers, commended me to the attention of a retired
diplomatist, who did his best to explain things to me.
This gentleman pointed out a good many personages,
among them the Due de Nemours ; but though just
opposite, they were a hundred feet off", and the day was
very overcast The adjacent tribune was the one

A RETIRED DIPLOMATIST 331
assigned to mediatised princes, and on my saying I
feared it would have to be made larger, I perceived
that I had ' put my foot into it' My kind friend was
of opinion that Germany had found out its mistake, and
that change had set the other way. Four times the old
taxation, and a good deal more military service, with a
fair chance of being killed in a cause you didn't like,
had told, at least on the peasantry, who are the
people, he added. My friend said more, all in good
part, but the crowd increased even in our reserved
place, and by-and-by chanting was heard far down the
nave. The Pope came in his usual pomp, but had descended
from his chair before he came near the High Altar. On
the left of the throne, which was at the end of the church
fifty yards from the High Altar, I had noticed, immedi
ately on taking my place, a good waggon load of the
palms. The colour — straw or gold, as you may please
to call it — was all one could then distinguish. I had
expected green. Already, the day before, there had
appeared in the shops what one might suppose a new
kind of toy, sceptres with various fanciful devices, the
colour of straw or macaroni. After the usual prelimi
naries there came the ' obeisance ' — that is, the homage —
done by Cardinals, Patriarchs, and a good many others.
That over, the Pope, rising and turning to the heap of
palms, with a strong, clear, and musical voice, intoned a
good many long benedictions, conveying to the palms,
and through them to all who received them, all the graces
and gifts of which they may be the fit emblems. I should
say. that he had already received some palms from the
priests ministering at the altar, and that there was a

332 PALM SUNDAY
ceremony with these ; but I only say what I saw and
heard. The Pope then sprinkled the palms well, as it
seemed to me, with holy water. Then he incensed
them very earnestly and thoroughly. After each of
those processes he turned towards the vast congregation
and, with sprinkling and incensing, blessed all the palms
and all the sprigs of olive that anybody might have
brought into the church for that purpose.
Then came a long succession of privileged persons,,
mounting up the steps of the throne, in a lane formed by
Cardinals, Patriarchs, and Officers of State, to receive
palms from the Pope's own hands. Nothing could be
more beautiful than the pyramid of gorgeous figures,
surmounted by the only mitred head in the church that
day. The favoured recipients were Cardinals, Patriarchs,
Officers of State, Officers of the Household, soldiers,
diplomatists, and a great number of persons or repre
sentatives of bodies that have enjoyed this privilege for
many centuries. Every name, every movement, every
degree of submission or obeisance is prescribed by ancient
usage, and were I to begin I should never end. There
is a whole literature of annals, antiquities, rites, and
ceremonies about Palm Sunday alone.
The Patriarchs descended the steps, carrying im
mense tiaras or mitres with one arm, their palms in the
other ; their trains borne by one attendant, with another
at their side. As they returned to their seats, then one
could see what kind of a thing the palm of the Church is.
It is a straight rod, or staff, five feet long, golden straw-
coloured, thickly covered with bows or loops, each, say,
three inches long, with a large bulb of open work just
above the handle, and another just below two long

THE PALMS OF THE CHURCH 333
feathery tips, with which the rod ends. The original
palm entirely disappears in the conventional creation,
which unites the idea of a sceptre, a sword, and a mace.
It is, however, a very beautiful thing. The guide-books
all tell you that it comes from S. Remo, that the nuns
make it there, that they have to subject the palms to
some curious processes in order to straighten the stem
and blanch the leaves, and that the privilege of supply
ing these palms was granted upon a remarkable occa
sion. Besides the more usual form there were two
immense specimens upright before the throne, and
quantities of smaller ones, with much variety of shape
and workmanship, brought to share the Papal blessing.
Some resemble the finest filagree work, and some com
bine flowers and even jewels. This morning I saw a
footman carry one up the steps from the Piazza di
Spagna so exquisitely beautiful that I could not help
asking a question. It was going to the Cardinal Vicar
at the church there, and for once I envied him. All the
bishops as they left the steps of the throne carried their
palms upright, and placed them upright by them as
they sat down. The soldiers and diplomatists first
carried them as spears, then shouldered them, and
afterwards disposed them all sorts of ways. While the
favoured classes were receiving their palms from the
Pope's own hands, large armfuls were carried about and
distributed to the mass of the Fathers. By-and-by the
church was a golden grove.
At last the Pope rose, ascended his chair, palm in
hand, and was carried out of the church, followed, not by
all the Fathers, but by all who had received their palms
from his own hands. This was the prettiest spec-

334 PALM SUNDAY
tacle I have yet seen in St. Peter's, and more effective
than that on Candlemas day. Where I stood I could
only hear, but not see, what occurred at the entrance.
The Pope and train go out into the portico ; the great
door is closed ; the cross-bearer knocks with the foot of
the cross, and asks admission ; there is chanting alter
nately within and without ; the door is opened, and the
procession returns. You are to suppose it the entry
into Jerusalem, or into the Temple, or into this kingdom
here, or into Heaven, as you please. All one, if you
can. When all were again in their places the service of
the Mass began. But I find I have omitted to mention
the transporting music of the anthem at the beginning
of the ceremony. The feeling with which my retired
diplomatist whispered ' That's Palestrina ' reminded me
of an elderly country gentleman who, in days long gone
by, addressed me just before the witch scene in ' Mac
beth,' ' Now you're going to hear the most beautiful
music in the world.'
But Palestrina himself was only enchantment com
pared with what I now heard. It was the ' Passion,' as
it is called in the services of this week. The ' Passion ' of
this day consists of the 26th and 27th of St. Matthew,
two of the longest chapters in the Bible, altogether 141
verses, and it was chanted in the tone of an agony at its
highest pitch of effort and endurance. It was an appeal
to earth and Heaven in a cause transcending human
thought and feeling. The chant is a nameless tradition
of many centuries, peculiar to this day, and the like of
it I never heard before. The emphatic passages in the
narrative are all but acted in voice and tone. As I read
in one of the books about it, ' The history itself is sung

THE 'PASSION' 335
by a tenor voice, the words of our Saviour by a bass,
and those of any other single voice by a contralto,
called the Ancilla, from his singing the words of the
maid to St. Peter ; the choir sings the words of the
multitude,' and is called the Turba. At the words ' He
yielded up the ghost ' the chant ceases, all kneel, and
there is a long silence. The chant itself is far more
melodious than most of those lately revived among us,
and infinitely more expressive and touching. The
' Passion ' must have lasted half an hour, and the many
thousands in the church must have hung for the while
on these few voices — voices and nothing more — as if
their lives were in the strain. After this the service,
called the longest in the year, was soon over, and about
a thousand palms were carried from the church by
their favoured possessors, most of them to be carried
further to all parts of the world.
As for the Council, it sits to-day, and will probably
sit a day or two next week, for every effort is to be
made to have decrees sufficient to justify a public
session on Low Sunday. The utmost possible are four
chapters out of the twenty de Fide, for the remaining
sixteen have not even been laid before the Council. At
the present rate of progress the task is interminable. But
all is uncertainty even as respects the public session.
The sudden and decisive action of Prussia, and the re
newed threat of a joint Note by the Catholic Powers,
have created a new phase of affairs. Darboy and
Dupanloup have both gome home for their Easter cere
monies. The chief question of the day hitherto has
been whether Banneville is coming back, but to-day
there is a stirring rumour of a change in the Frencl>

336 PALM SUNDAY
Cabinet, and a policy as regards Rome more in unison
with the Italian and Spanish. April 13.
The Official Journal of last night claims a great
victory. It says the sitting yesterday finished the
voting upon the Amendments proposed to the several
parts of the Constitution de Fide before the Council.
The votes were afterwards taken by calling of names
upon the entire text of the matter under discussion.
Six hundred Fathers were present. There were no
negative votes. A moderate number voted with con
ditions, y«^,;rto modum. All the rest were simply affirma
tive. The next meeting is fixed for Easter Tuesday.
Of course, much depends on what the journal calls a
moderate number, and on the conditions. The Arch
bishop of Paris, who, as well as the Bishop of Orleans,
is here, and not gone home as reported, claims a victory.
Upon what precise grounds I have yet to learn. The
objections made to the vote, and attached to it in the
form of protest, were not to the matter, or to any prin
ciple involved in it, so I hear ; but were rather on the
ground of informality. Indeed it is admitted, and put
in the way of excuse, that the Opposition was taken by
surprise. Darboy and many others imagined they
would have another opportunity of speaking before the
voting by name-call ; but found themselves silenced.
Yet they say they have gained something, and stand
better than before, and also that the Opposition is
stronger than ever. Rome, it is needless to say, recog
nises a providential interposition in the coming Plebi
scite, which will reduce the French Government to non
intervention with the Council, so it says.

RESIGNATION OF COUNT DARU 337
Paris : April 10.
M. OUivier, replying yesterday in the Legislative Body on
the subject of the Plebiscitum, declared that neither the
Empire nor the Emperor was called in question ; the point to
be submitted to the electors was the choice between the
autocratic Constitution of 1852 and the Constitution of 1870.
April 10, noon.
At the Council of Ministers held last night M. Bufifet per
sisted in his resolve to retire from ofifice. No successor to him
is yet designated. It is stated that an accord was established
among the rest of the Cabinet. Another Council is to be held
to-day. S. 30 P.M.
The crisis continues, and there is every probability of M.
Daru leaving the Cabinet. M. Parieu is now spoken of as the
probable Minister of Finance . The split in the Cabinet arises
from a disagreement upon Article 13 of the Senatus-Consultum,
certain of the Ministers opposing the continuance of the
plebiscitary power in the hands of the Emperor. The Francais
of this evening believes that the withdrawal of M. Bufifet
renders the resignation of several other Ministers inevitable. 11.40 P.M.
Bufifet and Daru have resigned. Their successors will not
be appointed till after the Plebiscite. Parieu and Ollivier will
take charge of the Ministries ad interim. The other Ministers
are expected to remain for the present.
M. de Banneville left to-night for Rome with a Note to the
Council, but its presentation will probably be deferred. Paris : April 13.
The withdrawal of Count Daru from the French Ministry
is now definitive. Nothing certain is as yet known respecting
the successors of those Ministers who have resigned, or
whether the Ministry will remain incomplete until after the
VOL. II. Z

338 PALM SUNDAY
Plebiscitum. The resignation of Count Daru is in all proba
bility the cause of the suspension of the delivery of the French
Note at Rome, as the French policy towards the CEcumenical
Council is now becoming expectant. A meeting of the Centre-
Right party was held yesterday evening, when it was resolved
to institute a central electoral committee in view of the
Plebiscitum. Many Deputies of different parties, Senators,
journalists, and business men have offered and become
members. The Memorial Diplomatique is cautioned by its corre
spondent at Rome against a rumour current in that city to the
effect that the majority of the Fathers of the Council have
determined to proclaim by acclamation the infallibility of the
Pope at the pubhc sitting of the Council, to be held on
Easter Monday, under the presidency of the Holy Father.
The representatives of foreign Powers ofificially accredited to
the Holy See are always invited to be present at the public
sittings of the Council. The rumour referred to has obtained
such consistency in Rome that the greater number of diplo
matic agents have declared beforehand that they will not
attend on Easter Monday. The correspondent of the Mhnorial
admits that a certain number of prelates belonging to the
majority in the Council had really avowed an intention of
putting an end to the controversies respecting the opportune
ness of a declaration of infallibility by proclaiming the principle
by acclamation ; but the Pope, when made acquainted with
this intention, placed his formal veto to it being unwilling that
so important a question should be decided by a surprise.

Rome : April ii.
It is Stated that the Vatican, after consulting the Spanish
Bishops, has decided that the Spanish clergy cannot take the
oath of fidelity to the Constitution. The date of the third
Session of the Council is not yet fixed. The Marquis de
Banneville is expected here on the 1 3th inst.

VOTES ON THE SCHEMA DE FIDE 339^
Rome : April 12.
In the General Congregation of the CEcumenical Council
the voting on the remaining amendments to the Schema de
Fide terminated. Subsequently the entire text of the Consti-
tutio de Fide was put to the vote, when 515 bishops unre
servedly and 83 conditionally voted for the measure as it
stands, making altogether 598 ayes. Not a single contrary
vote was given. Another General Congregation will be held
on Tuesday next. Rome : April 14.
A certain number of the Fathers were absent yesterday
from the general Congregation in which the Schema against
heterodox opinions was voted. Several other Fathers accom
panied the vote by written declarations, stating that it should
not be inferred from their approbation that they approved the
regulations under which the Schema was discussed. The
Marquis de Banneville arrived here this morning.

The affair of the Hassounist Catholics, which has been so
long a source of agitation among the Armenian Christians, is
by no means settled by the supposed recent decision in their
favour. This decision was the first act of the new Grand
Vizier, Hussein Avni, whose predecessor had remained con
stantly proof against the insistance of the Catholic party,
although strongly supported by the authority of the French
Ambassador. In this resistance it was understood that
Chirvani was upheld by Herr Eichmann, who represented
until very recently the German interests at Constantinople.
Hussein, taking a different view, on his accession to power at
once offered the Hassounists to allow them the Vakeel, or
ofificial representative at the Porte, which they had hitherto in
vain pressed for. But he lessened this act of favour by laying
down the condition that the person appointed should be a
layman. The Hassounists, however, accepted this, and named
a well-know Ultramontane, Pouzant Effendi ; but their chagrin
was excessive when, on this gentleman's receiving his letters of

340 PALM SUNDAY
ofifice, they found themselves four times cited in them as ' the
Hassounist sect' and only once mentioned as ' Catholics,'
though their claim extends to being the sole recognised body
of Armenians allowed that title. And when Pouzant applied
to the new Grand Vizier for an official seal he was informed
that the Government had none to give him, but that he might
be permitted to engrave one for his own ofificial use, with the
inscription 'The Hassounist Sect of Constantinople.' This
semi-recognition so little met the views of the clergy for whom
he acted, that on their instance he has sent in his resignation
of his new functions to the Vizier. But the latter refuses to
accept it, or to admit the proffered mediation of the French
Minister, who has warmly, though privately, remonstrated
against the half-measure taken as insufficient. At last accounts
no accommodation of this difificulty had been arrived at and
the so-called Liberal Armenians — who are opposed to the
Hassounist submission to Rome — were looking with anxiety to
see what line of conduct Count Arnim would adopt in the
matter in order to prevent their cause being crushed by some
further exercise of French influence. — Pall Mall Gazette,
April II. Athens : April 12.
Thirty brigands, after a conflict with the gendarmes, have
seized near Marathon two Secretaries of Legation, one English
and the other Italian, three English travellers, and two women.
The brigands released the women, but have kept the men, for
whom they demand a heavy ransom.

The following was received at Mr. Cook's Tourist Ofifice in
Fleet Street : — Athens : April 12.
' Lord Manchester, Messrs. Vonner, Loyd Herbert, Secre
tary Italian Legation, and Bayl, taken by brigands, near
Marathon, yesterday. Ladies liberated. Ransom demanded
this morning, 2,000/. Cook's party all safe.'

341

CHAPTER CXH
THE EUROPEAN CRISIS
The fortnight between Palm Sunday and the third Open
Session of the Council, on April 24, was critical in the
afifairs of Rome, France, Germany, and all Europe. It
is impossible to say how much was then hanging in the
balance, and what might or might not have happened
under certain eventualities. It is not within the com
pass of these volumes, or of my own capacity, to attempt
a general history of the period. But I may be permitted
a remark or two.
The first is, that we are bound to regard with the
utmost consideration any personage called upon to play
a prominent part at this crisis. Everybody had to make
the best preparation he could, and the best show that
his preparation could warrant, and then wait for events
beyond his foresight or control. Our own home troubles
may help us to estimate those of our neighbours far or
near. The English Church at that time was in the
agonies of the Public Elementary Education Bill, which
might be a necessity, perhaps even a just retribution
for long neglects, but which had its costs, and its new
crop of difficulties. This was one of many blows, de
served or not, to be accepted or not, but to be endured.

342 THE EUROPEAN CRISIS
and made the best of Curses, they say, come home to
roost, and many had to bear themselves that which they
were wishing for Rome.
For my own part I cannot pretend to say what Pio
Nono and the Court of Rome ought now to have been
doing, or leaving undone. It is a universal maxim that
people know their own business best, for they alone can
know everything that has to be taken into account. Any
attempt they can make to establish their case completely,
and demonstrate its rightfulness and its wisdom to a re
luctant and prepossessed world, is sure to end in nothing
but injury to the cause.
Passing from Pio Nono to the French Emperor, I
cannot even now say what he ought to have done.
France never has been quiet or content since the begin
ning of history. She always has been either crushed or
rebellious. She always has had two governments, one
looking up, the other looking down. She always has
been crossing, or recrossing, her own frontier. She
always has had the peace party and the war party.
She always has shown the same marvellous transition
from unwarrantable confidence to unaccountable imbe
cility. The Franco-German war might almost pass for
a Book in the De Bello Gallico, the only difference being
that Caesar would not have wasted his force and his
supplies upon such multitudes of prisoners. The story
of Sedan would have been told in half a dozen lines, and
there would have been the end of it. Then, not to speak
of England, or of any other country, France always has
found in war its only escape from revolution at home.
It may be doubted whether Louis XIV., or even his two
immediate successors, would have reigned as long as

MULTI QUIBUS UTILE BELLUM 343
they did, but for their wars, little good as those wars,
otherwise, did for them.
If the candid reader will bestow the most cursory
glance at the long string of telegraphic and other
notices given above, he will see reason for charity in his
estimate of Popes, Emperors, Kings, Churches and
peoples, theologians and philosophers. At this time all
Europe was in convulsions and paroxysms ; full of
senseless, aimless, and misdirected energy, tearing
itself to pieces, looking, indeed, for the discovery of the
part that should govern the whole, and give a new life
and a new course to human afifairs.
The French Emperor was fully aware of his dangers.
Very recently he had offered to reduce his army and to
increase the civil element in the administration ; but such
proposals now flew as chaff before the wind in the
storm of French politics. It was a case of multi quibus
utile bellum. There occurred to me often at this time
the answer given me by an Apulian gentleman at
Naples twelve years before, I had asked what was the
quarrel the Neapolitans had with the Bourbons, and
why they wanted a change. ' How can you expect
people to be satisfied,' he replied, ' when there are in
this city alone five thousand gentlemen as well educated
as you are, not one of them with 50/. a year ? ' Though
somewhat taken aback at the enormous dimensions of
the statement, I had no doubt there was much truth in
it, and in the conclusions drawn from it How it will
be in our country when there are several hundred
thousand men and women, as well educated as an
ordinary Oxford ' pass man,' having to be content with
a good deal less than 100/. a year, I will not venture to
predict — I do not wish to see.

344

CHAPTER CXIII
THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY 'WEEK
Rome : Easter Eve, April l6.
On Tuesday the new arrivals began to show themselves.
It is the third invasion of Rome since I came here —
first, that for Christmas, then for the Carnival, and now
for the Holy Week. The last has come to take Rome
by storm and sack it in eight days. They have every
thing to do in that time, whether Christian or Pagan,
and, fortunately, they ' are active, healthy, and robust
They go about with binoculars slung from their shoulders,
with new ' Murrays,' and in light summer clothing. It
was reported that special trains had brought in Cook's
tourists by hundreds, and that more than sixty of them
dined at the ' Allemagne,' lodging it is hard to say where.
The shop windows were again beset with eager eyes,
the shopmen once more hopeful, and everybody in
spirits, except the sculptors and painters, who complain
that the Council has driven away the men who give
orders. I went to St. Peter's on Wednesday evening for the
first ' Miserere.' The day was bright and warm, the sun
was finding its way into the church, and there was a
vast crowd with as much movement and hum of con-

THE 'LAMENTATIONS' 345
¦^ersation as in our Crystal Palace. Women were talking
in circles, old acquaintances recognising one another
with delight, and people looking for some one whom
they didn't find, though before long they found some
body else.
The service begins, and soon there is a ' Lamenta
tion ' by Palestrina to listen to and follow, if one could.
All round there were s^d-looking priests, and devout
young Englishmen, with books, trying to follow. But
ladies were talking, and ladies' maids were chattering,
and there was no escaping them. Well, perhaps, they
hadn't seen one another for a dozen years. I had
missed my chance of a good place, but there were still
quiet corners.
I have now heard three ' Lamentations.' They are
the wailing of a people ruined and miserable, yet hope
ful and resolute. These conflicting feelings are expressed
in the alternate verses. A mixed multitude of women,
children and aged pour out to heaven the tones of grief
and expostulation ; and they are taken up by the strong
and deep tones of manly determination. Some one from
the sister island said the former was like ' keening ' —
that is, the voice of professional wallers. The extreme
peculiarity of the two together indicates a tradition,
which one can hardly expect to trace to Pagan Rome.
It takes one back rather to the dwellers in the Cata
combs, and further back to the Captivity, and even to
the House of Bondage. A people that mourn in this
way may have its weakness, but it will also have its
strength. I could not help thinking of poor Ireland
more than I wished to do, provoked as one is by its
utter impracticableness. The tone was not that of Eng-

346 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
land ; whether the fault of England, or of the ' Lamen
tation,' I cannot say.
Then -were chanted Psalms, during which was done
a little ceremony, significant enough, but very unnotice-
able unless one is on the look out There is a triangular
candlestick before the altar, with thirteen lights. These
are one by one extinguished, the greater lights on the
altar being extinguished too, and finally, at the word
' traitor,' the last light is removed and placed under one
end of the altar. Easter is late this year — there was
daylight in the church, so this ceremony made no show.
But most of the people in the church were aware of it.
When the last light was thus removed there followed
a silence for prayer, and then began the ' Miserere.' It is
simply a wail, without the mixed, national, and distinctly
alternated character of the ' Lamentation.' It is what it
should be, the grief and struggle ofa mighty soul, or what
ever you may please to call that which is within us. The
English and, indeed, all nations talk of the ' Miserere,' but
one seldom hears of the ' Lamentation ' or the ' Passion,'
though equally peculiar to this place and time. The
alternate verses of the Psalm, the fifty-first, are chanted
in a very uniform tone with a sort of rapid and convulsive
energy. From this there are outbursts of frenzied grief
and impassioned confidence — hope rising out of despair.
I have now heard three versions of the ' Miserere.'
In the first two it seemed to me that the prevailing tone
was feminine in its character, according to the old idea
of the soul in its passive and helpless aspect But that
tone was most dehcious, most soothing, and most wonder
ful. The last, which I heard last night, seemed to me
as beautiful, but more manly, more energetic, and more

THE 'MURMUR' 34.7
relieved. There must be perfect execution ora 'Miserere'
will be monotonous. But on all three occasions the
execution, to my ear — not first-rate, I confess — was
perfect. It was a marvel how a dozen voices, shut up in a
small cage of gilt lattice-work, could hold that vast
assemblage in thraldom. Two or three of them, and
only one at last, and that reduced to the utmost tenuity,
would keep captive for half a minute the ear of those
many thousands spread over five acres of marble floor.
I am describing impressions for what they are worth,
and I cannot say that either the ' Lamentation,' or the
' Miserere ' came home to me as the ' Passion,' on Palm
Sunday, though the ' Passion ' and the ' Miserere ' are
referred to the same source or sources, and no doubt the
latter is the grander work of art.
When the last thrill of the ' Miserere ' had died away,
and before people could be quite sure it would not
rise again, there was a strange noise. Not being then
prepared for it, I confess that it suggested to me appro
bation of the performance just over, by some action of
the feet or hands, on the floor or benches. Why not ?
There were strangers here, and there were Orientals,
with one never knows what customs.
Then it is certain they applauded the preachers in
good old Primitive times. However, it turns out that
this is a singular custom, I know not how many centuries
old. The ' murmur ' or ' confusion ' is to express the
miraculous appearances, the earthquake, the rending of
the veil, the crisis of nature, and the overthrow of the
old state of things. But books, they say, have been
written about it.

348 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
After another silence — I speak now of Wednesday
evening — there was a loud and continued bell-ringing
overhead, and all eyes turned to a gallery now in a blaze
of light. It was the customary exhibition of three great
relics — the head of the spear that pierced the Saviour's
side, a piece of the cross, and the handkerchief of St
Veronica. These were all framed in crystal cases ; that
containing the ' true cross,' by Benvenuto Cellini. The
devout all fell on their knees to the relics ; the curious
all around me presented their binoculars.
So closed Wednesday evening, but what I had been
hearing and seeing was, by the book, the matins of
Maundy Thursday, for the Church, as it is explained to
me, always anticipates. Rome certainly does, and it is
a fact which I cannot but think people are not enough'
alive to. Strange it was, after such a service, to see
the multitude spread over the vast Piazza, with the rush
and rattle of gaudy equipages, and the galloping of
dragoons this way and that to keep order and clear the
way. On Thursday I went to St. Peter's, and took my
station in a quiet corner, under St Longinus, with a
clear, though distant, view of the choir,^ where the Pope
and Fathers were. The crowd was immense, the greater
part wandering wild about the church and not knowing
where best to see and hear. To many of these every
thing was new, and most had rather indefinite expecta
tions. Fraternities of pilgrims were to perform a part
' This word is used, for want of a better, to designate the further end
of the church, opposite the chief entrance, which at St. Peter's happens
to be east. The only choir at St. Peter's is the Cappella del Coro, which
is, architecturally, a side chapel.

EASTER CONFESSIONS 349
in the ceremony, and were looked for. They were to
visit the tomb of the Apostles, to worship the relics, and
to be received by the Pope. But they were lost in the
crowd. The people one did see were the simple folk
from the Campagna, in their picturesque costume, not
quite so artistic, or so handsome, or so well-favoured,
but vastly more honest and industrious-looking than the
' models ' on the ' steps ' and in the region of the Piazza
Barberini. These poor, hard-favoured people were, some of them
sitting before St. Peter's, some making groups in the
nave, some leaning against the walls, and waiting for
their turn at the confessionals. I must tell you that
in all the hubbub of these Easter ceremonies, and with
something very like Vanity Fair raging around, all the
confessionals were occupied, and poor creatures were
whispering their tales of sorrow. There was hardly a
foot of interval between the penitents and the careless
crowd. Possibly the noise and disturbance would suit
some cases better than horrid silence.
The Pope came into the church quietly, through a
side entrance. The first distinctive feature of the Mass
on this day, as it was explained to me, was that two
hosts were to be consecrated : the one consumed, and
the other to be enshrined, or rather entombed, for Good
Friday, when there is no consecration. The consecra
tion was therefore marked by a longer interval of silence
at the act. At a point in the service shortly after the
act silence is imposed on all the bells of Rome for two
days — that is, till the ' Gloria in Exeelsis ' to-day. The
Pope, with a grand procession, himself carried the re
served Host under a canopy to the shrine in the choir

350 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
chapel, where it was to remain under a mountain ot
burning candles and gorgeous decorations.
The Mass over, the Pope was carried down the
church, out of which the whole multitude were strug
gling to escape through five wide entrances. When I
got out the sun was shining bright and hot ; the Piazza
was full ; and it was not easy to force one's way even a
few yards from the front, though the nave we had just
left seemed still crowded. All turned their eyes up to
the balcony, adorned with tapestry, and overhung by an
immense sail cloth. At first one saw only a row of
tiaras, crowns, and mitres, evidently of the privileged
Orientals who had been taking part in the service. By-
and-by the poles of the Pope's chair were seen resting
on the balustrade of the balcony. I had not advanced
far enough towards the Piazza, and could not swear either
that I saw the Pope or that I did not However, there
was a silence, and we immediately heard the familiar
voice of the old man intoning his blessings, not this day
for the city and the world, but for his court and house
hold. I am sure that every word of the three collects
he had to intone could have been well caught by every
body in that vast Piazza who was already acquainted
with the words. More could not be expected. The
guns fired — unless my memory deceives me, and it was
before the blessing.
Immediately the multitude retraced its steps into the
church. I was under a false impression that both the
ceremonies to follow would be in the church, in conse
quence of the great numbers now at Rome. I had, too
seen a table spread with linen cloth, and covered much
after the fashion of a sideboard. On the contrary, the

THE FEET-WASHING 351
waiting at the table of the poor pilgrims was done, as
usual, in the hall over the portico. So this I saw not,
and can only say what I heard. A long table was
spread, and very tastily adorned with vases of flowers —
much, I should think, as at a London dinner party.
The pilgrims were placed along it, and had something
given them, nobody could say what, and equally inscrut
able was the amount of the Pope's service. The squeez
ing was terrific. One of my informants saw a priest
carried out insensible by two Zouaves ; but, on the other
hand, a lady, whose looks would win her way, reports
that she got a good sight of the Pope and the table, and
was presented with one of the flowers.
The Pope returned to the church, and soon did the
feet-washing. There sat on a raised platform above the
heads of the assembled Bishops twelve men in large,
loose-fitting, whitish garments, with very tall caps of the
same hue. The Pope came to them, well supported by
Cardinals, and, supplied with water and towels from the
dressing-table, which I had thought a sideboard All
one could see was a wonderful quantity of bowing and
kissing. Wherever the Pope's hand went, a head bent
down to kiss it They say that he really does throw
some drops of water on their feet, and rub them off" with
a napkin. The poor men, it is said, are priests who ask
the honour. The service was over at last
I went to St. Peter's again in the evening. The
attendance was thinner, the church quieter ; the Pope
was not there, and the grandest worshipper was a
Patriarch, in a robe of purple and gold. The service
itself was much as before, the music by different masters,
but variations of the same living tradition. What struck

352 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
one, perhaps at last painfully, was that all was done by
the choir, consisting of a few singers behind a gilt screen,
and not visibly forming part of the congregation. At
certain passages some score bishops rose to their feet,
and they and the assembled crowd went on their knees,
but I did not once hear a sound, except from the pro
fessional choir. They alone were vocal in their praise,
or their prayer, or their suffering ; all beside were
voiceless. When the last of their notes had died on the ear,
after a short interval of silence there was a loud rattle,
as of a hailstorm, though hailstorms are not likely to be
heard in St. Peter's. The only sounds that penetrate
these thick walls are those of the Pope's guns and drums,
and of his state carriages as they roll down the outer
slope. What was this ? Looking up, one saw that the
grand relics were being exhibited, and that the rattle
had announced them. But why a rattle .' It was
because, as I have said above, from the moment of con
secration at that day's Mass, bells were prohibited till
Easter Even — that is, till this morning's Mass. From
that moment the bells of Rome — fifteen hundred I once
made them out — were silent for two days. The church-
clocks here are the merriest in the world, for they pro
claim both the quarters and the hours every fifteen
minutes, so that it takes fifteen strokes to tell a quarter
to one. The bells are all rung at noon, and again at the
Ave Maria, and of course for services and for funerals.
I hear bell-ringing at midnight, and at two in the morn
ing, at five, and half-past Indeed, I should say there
always is a bell-ringing upon some pretence or another.
But from Thursday morning to this morning every bell

ROME SILENT FOR TWO DA YS 353
was dumb and Rome was silent as the grave, overhead
at least. Yesterday, boys in surplices \Vere rattling various
contrivances of wood and iron before the churches to
summon people to services, and seemed to like the fun oi
it One stroke of the church bell would have brought
at least a Cardinal- Vicar down upon them. I asked
some Americans, arrived the night before, whether they
had heard a bell in Rome ; they had not, and they set
it down to the natural and proper solemnity of the
place. They must be undeceived by this time. I need
scarcely observe that this silence was to signify that the
Church was dead. The world, however, was still alive
yesterday, not in our Good Friday fashitin, but in the
way of business. The shops were all open, traffic went
on as usual, and the streets were as lively as they always
are on a fine day.
As to the Council. Thus far there has been no
¦official notice of the public session. The number of the
Opposition who voted for the Schema de Fide, Juxta
modum — that is, with some sort of protest — was eighty-
four. This is much more than the proportion admitted
to be sufficient to destroy unanimity ; and at the sitting
of next Tuesday the Pope's friends hope that they will
be ^ble to come to a better understanding with the,
Opposition, and so be ready for a promulgation. At
present they are not, and the long-expected day is
really as far off" as ever. Strossmayer has gone to
Naples — to rest, I suppose. They say he considers that
he has not received sufficient satisfaction for the affronts
put on him in Council. Nor is that all. The French
Illustration has been delivered in ., Rome with a leaf
VOL. II. A A *

354 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
cut out. On that leaf were a portrait and notice of
Strossmayer. Banneville is here at last, and we are to
hear next week what he brings.
In my letter of the 7th inst. my eye catches a phrase
which I must guard from mistake. I mentioned ' the
Missionary Bishops, a hundred of whom were received
the other day.' It only means that they had the honour
of a special ' reception ' in the palace. This reminds me
that three thousand names are now down for the recep
tion to-morrow, and that some conscientious English
and Americans are pleading their objection to Sunday
work, and trying to get audiences on a week-day.

A custom the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of time
prevails in the neighbourhood of Guildford, of making a
pilgrimage to St. Martha's (or Martyr's) Hill on Good Friday.
Thither, from all the country side, youths and maidens, old
folks and children betake themselves, and, gathered together on
one of the most beautiful spots in Surrey, in full sight of an old
Norman church which crowns the green summit of the hill,
beguile the time with music and dancing. The annual
assembly and revel were held as usual on Friday last when the
concourse of persons was greater than has been known for
some years past. The green sward at the foot of the hill was
crowded with dancers, who, in pursuing their favourite amuse
ment seemed to attain the height of rustic enjoyment Others
who were too old, or whose inchnations did not prompt them
to such active exercise, ascended the hill as far as the curious
old church, which stands alone, far away from any human
habitation, where they had the opportunity of enjoying a
splendid panorama, including a sight of that picturesque part
of the county near Haslemere where the Poet Laureate has
built himself a new abode, and whence may be expected to

THE ARMENO-C A THOLIC QUARREL 355
proceed some of the happiest efiforts of his muse. From every
indication which presented itself it was apparent that the
pilgrimage to St. Martha's, whatever its origin, is one which
commends itself to the taste of the present generation, and is
not likely to die out with the lapse of years, but to increase in
popular estimation as long as the green hill lasts to attract the
worshipper of natural beauty, or to furnish the mere votaries
of pleasure with the excuse and the opportunity for a pleasant
hohday. 
The Levant Herald recounts another stormy incident in the
Armeno-Catholic quarrel. A few Sundays ago, during the
performance of divine service in the large Pera church of St.
John Chrysostom, some emissaries of Monsignor Pluym, the
Papal delegate, attempted to post up on the walls of the build
ing a sentence of excommunication against the whole body of
priests who have sided with the anti-Hassounites. The
attempt was resisted, and partisans of the two parties coming
to the aid of their respective friends, the courtyard of the
church was, for nearly a quarter of an hour, the scene of a
free fight, in which Armenian throttled Armenian, as these
usually unbellicose proteges of St. Gregory had never done
before. It was, however, a case of 'more noise than wool,'
for when the Turkish police at length tardily appeared the
casualties were found to be limited to a few scratched faces
and torn setrias (buttoned-up frock-coats). Some half-dozen
of the combatants were however, led ofif to the Zaptieh, where,
after a short detention and a wigging from the Bey, they were
set at liberty. In the meantime news from the provinces
reports that both the laity and clergy are joining the secession
in large numbers, nearly the whole of both at Trebizond,
Samsoun, Bafra, Biledjek, Broussa, and other towns, having
sent in their adhesion. — Echo.

Rome : April 16.
Cardinal Gonella died here yesterday evening.

356 THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY WEEK
Paris : April i6.
"We hear that M. Bufifet is jubilant at ha-ving got rid of a
responsibility, political and financial, which weighed heavily
upon him. M. de Banneville, before leaving for Rome, is
understood to have declared to his friends that in the then
state of afifairs (Daru's resignation had been given in) he felt
much at his ease, and would keep the memorandum for the
Council in his pocket. From the Times Correspondent. Paris, April 1 6.
M. Ollivier has sent a circular to the chiefs of embassies
and missions in Paris, informing them of his temporary as
sumption of the duties of Foreign Minister. You have learned
the arrival of M. de Banne-rille in Rome, but I doubt your
soon hearing that he has delivered the Note of which he was
bearer. The idea of withholding it seems to have occurred
simultaneously to the Emperor and to M. Ollivier, and it was
a fortunate inspiration. I have grounds for believing that the
decision has given much satisfaction to the Nuncio in Paris, as
it also will have done at the Vatican. The French Govern
ment has acted wisely in its own interest. The exit of Count
Daru and the non-delivery of the Note will certainly have a
favourable effect on the result of the Plebiscite. There was
great danger that the clergy would dissuade their parishioners
to abstain from voting. It seems generally agreed that M.
Daru acted imprudently in sending the first Note. The Temps
says : ' M. Daru is the most honest of men ; everybody ac
knowledges that, and he had no need to proclaim it ; but he
evidently is not adapted for politics. It is quite enough that
he at first espoused and patronised the idea of the Plebiscite,
which he afterwards conspicuously repudiated by his resigna
tion, at the risk of provoking a very serious crisis.'

357

CHAPTER CXIV
HOLY "WEEK AT ROME
Rome : Easter Eve.
To begin where I left off" in my previous letter with this
date, I was observing on the singular effect of a long
service, performed by a few professional persons, thirty of
all ages, in a cage of trellis-work, and a congregation of
many thousands, including some hundred bishops, join
ing only by standing, and kneeling, and crossing them
selves at the right time. That is an outside view of the
case. The inside view is, in the first place, that the
people like it themselves. They always know where
they are in the service, quite as well as an Anglican
does with his prayer-book before him ; and if you are to
have five or ten thousand people in a church, they will
be much better able to follow two or three good and
well-trained voices than any number of congregational
volunteers with less truth of time, tone, and tune.
But it is proper to add that this is an extraordinary
occasion. The ' Miserere ' and the whole service of which
it is a part have always been performed in the Sistine
Chapel, which a few voices can fill well, and almost
without effort. That chapel, however, would hardly
contain the Fathers of the Council, putting the multi
tude of strangers out of the question. So the service

3S8 HOLY WEEK AT ROME
has been in St Peter's, and the choir has been a little
strengthened, and the music invigorated in tone and
style, to meet the occasion. It was a bold experiment,
and all say it has answered. I believe I shall be told
that I have not done justice to the ' Miserere ' as the ex
pression of One who was more than human, but people
must feel as they can.
On Thursday evening, as I said, after a pause there
was a murmur, or ' disturbance ' as it is technically
called, done because it has been done exactly so a thou
sand years or more, it is not exactly known why ; then
followed a loud rattle announcing an exhibition of relics,
each older even than the ' murmur.' The rattle was
repeated before the exhibition of each of the three
famous relics. The bishops, the choir, and all the
officials rose and left, but the congregation remained and
gathered nearer to the altar. Serving men came and
removed the candlesticks and the coverings, of the altar
till it was stripped to the bare marble. After a time —
for the thing was done very leisurely, and one's patience
was tried — a troop of acolytes brought a dish of big
sponges, and laid it on the pedestal of one of the great
pillars, and then a dish of napkins. Others then placed
on the altar seven bottles, or green glass vases, of wine.
Then singular implements made their appearance —
aspersors, I believe, they are called : between a mop
and a brush, made each out of one piece of wood, by
shaving the wood and gathering the shavings into a
large flossy head. Large lights were placed round the
altar, and were necessary, for the church was now dark.
Then came a procession, consisting of all the clergy
belonging to the Basilica, I suppose, headed by a

THE CLEANSING OF THE ALTAR 359
bishop with his mitre.^ The seven foremost ascended
the steps, and standing in line before the altar, emptied
upon it the seven bottles of wine. Then taking the
little implements I have described, they mopped the
surface, each slightly and perfunctorily, but enough to
send the wine dripping over the sides. The rest fol
lowed, a hundred or two, I should think, of all ranks
and ages, each passing his brush along the surface of
the altar, some only touching it, others gathering the
wine more into their brush, or taking a wider sweep.
For several minutes they were ascending the steps on
the Epistle side, and descending at the Gospel side, till
I thought there was no end of them, and began to
suspect that some small town must live by making
these queer little toys, The sponges were then applied
in more business-like fashion, as also the napkins.
The whole ceremony was done with a sort of funeral
chant, which sounded weird in the darkness of the
church and silence of the assemblage. What it all
means I know not, unless it be derived from the blood-
sprinklings of the Law. The brushes, like the candles
on Candlemas Day, and the palms on Palm Sunday,
become perquisites, an infallible way to keep up a
custom, even if the perquisite be only a trifle to amuse
children. The performers, particularly the more juve
nile, did their mopping very cheerily, and several
thousand gentlemen and ladies, from all parts of the
world, looked on admiringly. The abolition of such a
' In Salmon's Rome, 1798, it is stated, 'The Chapters who ofiSciatein
this church are remarkable for their quality and number, consisting of
thirty canons, thirty-six beneficiati, four chaplains, and twenty-six beneficed
clergy, besides a great number of other clergy and musicians. The arch
priest is a cardinal, who keeps a bishop for his vicar. '

36o HOLY WEEK AT ROME
custom, then, would be a positive loss ; but it, neverthe
less, is a curious fact in the science of tradition.
Good Friday, as I have said, was a day of no bells,
and acolytes were rattling boards or shaking boxes with
pebbles in them, before the church doors, as I went a
round of churches. Everywhere the high altar was
stripped and ungarnished, a napkin or two lying upon it
with studied negligence, no lights, the crucifix, ofcourse,
in a dark cover, and the pictures veiled. Everywhere,
also, one chapel or side altar was brilliantly lighted, and
fitted up with such pictures, wax figures, and flowers as
the church could afford. Where possible, there was
always a garden extemporised in front, sometimes
prettily laid out, and always having little lights on the
ground that reminded one of glow-worms. In some
churches the style was good, in others coarse enough, for
a Pietd may be worth 5,000/. and another not be worth
five shillings. Of course, there were hangings of crimson,
red, white and gold ; and of course, too, plenty of box
and other leaves spread before these Easter sepulchres,
as I think they are called. The devout were collected
there. The rest of every church was no better than the
public street In the Gesii, behind the high altar, bare as
I have described, and under a sombre canopy, was a large,
dismal, and almost colourless landscape, in which I
could just make out a dark valley, three crosses on a low
mount, and city walls from which light and hope seemed
to have departed.
There was a good deal one ought to have done
on Friday, but which I did not I had work, and
a sick friend. In the afternoon all the world was at
the Colosseum, the Golgotha and Calvary of Rome.

ALL ROME AT THE COLOSSEUM 361
The devout were on their knees at all the stations
arranged round its blood-stained arena, and friars were
preaching. Being out of doors, in a bright day, and in
a place not easily divested of holiday associations,
English people must have been reminded of the some
thing between Holy Day and holiday which Good
Friday is at home, and of the way in which our Dis
senters especially observe it.
I went to St. Peter's at half-past four. There were
not so many thousands there as I have seen lately ;
perhaps only five or six. There were few Fathers, and
no Pope. For anything that one could hear, the service
was simply a performance by the choir, most beautiful
indeed ; and I was well pleased to find myself agreeing
with everybody that the ' Miserere ' of this day was the
most beautiful of the three. I here purposely avoid
giving names, for no versions or modifications, or other
processes of composition can change the identity of the
tradition ; but names have, nevertheless, won honour
upon it, and are still winning it.
The sei-vice over, the Pope was to come and perform
a customary devotion before the relics, the tomb of
St Peter, and the great relics I have several times
mentioned. The exhibition of the latter was the same
as before. The Pope came in, and knelt at the modest
little faldstool or desk you may almost tumble over as
you walk up the nave. There he silently prayed for
five or ten minutes ; but round him was a forest of
brass helmets, white crests, drawn swords, halberds and
bayonets — not that there was anybody that might hurt
him, but because so it has always been, at least ever
since these things were invented. So I saw him not.

362 HOLY WEEK AT ROME
though only a few yards off". Again, it was strange,
indeed, after such a service, ending after sunset, to go
out of the dark church into the still lingering daylight,
and see the Piazza all a tumult with soldiers, gaudy
equipages, and a crowd which, however shrunk within,
expanded itself indefinitely outside.
This morning I returned to St. Peter's, needlessly
early as it turned out, though the service had begun.
There were fewer people than I have seen there this
week, for a reason which will soon appear. A ceremony
was going on at the altar, upon which many things"
were laid. I believe it to have been the blessing of the
lights, but may be wrong.
By-and-by the choir came down from its gilt cage,
and a procession of all the clergy of the Basilica, as they
seemed, came down the church v^?ith a processional
chant, so beautiful that I was sorry for the many who
were missing it The procession entered the Baptistery,
a small chapel immediately to the left within the main
entrance, gorgeously decorated for the occasion. Then
followed a service of some length in the Baptistery, such
a mere corner of the building that the people then
coming in could not be aware anything was going on.
I believe it to have been the annual blessing of the
water in the font. That font is an immense vase, if vase
it can be called, of porphyry, which has successively
done duty as the tomb of the Emperors Hadrian and
Otho II. In due time the Pope came, and then a
multitude of people came pouring in, with more and
more men of the excursionist type, in good mountain
eering costume.
They had been to see what I had rather avoided.

RESURRECTION SATURDAY 363
The great spectacle of Holy Saturday is the annual
conversion of Jews at the Baptistery of St John Lateran,
part of the Emperor Constantine's house. This morning
a cardinal, assisted by thirty bishops, and three thousand
other Christians, baptized three Jews — an old man, a
young man, and a female — who, they tell me, looked
honest and good. If they were, it is a pity so much has
been done to spoil them.
However, the three thousand and many more all
flowed now into St. Peter's in time for the event of the
day. All over the, church people were taking down the
symbols of mourning, putting up festive decorations, and
clothing the altar with white and gold. Mass followed.
At the first notes of the ' Gloria in Exeelsis ' the guns
of S. Angelo fired, and all the bells of Rome began to
ring. Easter had begun, somewhat before our own
reckoning, at 11.30 on Saturday morning. Certainly it
was evident enough that a change had come over the
spirit of the scene when I passed through the streets.
No wonder the day is called Resurrection Saturday, and
all Italy firmly believes the great event to have been on
that day of the week.

364

CHAPTER CXV
EASTER DAY AT ROME
Rome : Easter Monday.
You will think me long on the road to Easter Day.
But there is much to be done in Holy Week, and, since
one cannot be in several places at once, one must
submit to be well guided or well informed. When
you have done everything there remains another ' every
thing ' which you are assured was much better. Thus, it
is said the ' Miserere ' services at the Lateran have been
more solemn and devotional than at St. Peter's, and, of
course, with less of a crowd. I forgot to say before that
on Good Friday I heard a ' Passion ' at the Gesu, where
they are said to do all things well. The tenor, that is
the chief part, was well done ; the rest was feeble in
comparison. Among other churches I went into the
Pantheon. The ' Passion ' there was to my thought
much better than at the last-mentioned church, though
the Pantheon must be very poorly endowed. But the
legitimate congregation standing round the clergy could
not be more than a dozen. There were, however, at
least a hundred excursionists making the best of their
time, and evidently without the slightest idea of what
was going on ; and there was also the usual Easter

PILGRIMS AND PENITENTS 365
sepulchre in a recess where an Olympian deity once
stood for three centuries.
But before I leave Holy Week I must remember our
picturesque visitors, the ' Pilgrims,' as they are called.
They contrast well with the excursionists. One is told
that they are pilgrims, and no doubt they are as much
pilgrims as their predecessors for fifteen hundred years
or more. They are country people, dressed in very
light colours, with a great deal about the shoulders,
very little about the body, very hard faring, rather
swarthy, and looking dead-beat They sit on the steps
of St Peter's, and make circles sometimes on the ground.
They seem lost in the crowd. Half a dozen or a dozen
of them, making a line, will try to insinuate themselves,
through soldiers and foreigners, to the nearer and more
reserved sites. A look from an officer, perhaps even a
rougher hint, sends them back into the crowd. The
tailed coat — ugly as it is — has precedence of all the
costumes in the world.
Then the country people, be they pilgrims or not,
make little settlements in the aisles and chapels, and
there are always some waiting their turn at the confes
sionals. The confessors work I know not how many
hours a day in Holy Week, and St Peter's boasts
confessionals for all the languages under the sun, about
seventy by the Roman reckoning. Every confessor has
a slender rod a couple of yards long. A poor penitent
comes kneeling to ask a turn. The rod comes out of
the box and gives her a gentle touch on the head. She
moves away : I suppose it is because the confessor has
his hands full. He has at least one penitent on each
side of him.

366 EASTER DAY AT ROME
By the by, the English ladies here who have sub
mitted are naturally jealous of the extravagant demands
made on the time of the private confessors by those
who are still halting between two opinions. On the
afternoon of Easter Eve a number of ladies were waiting
their turn, with the honest intention of taking a drive
or paying visits with a lightened conscience before
dinner. A pretty female waverer was announced, and
the good Father, running off" to secure a prey, plied his
rod and line without the smallest success for two hours,
leaving the neglected penitents to run up a fresh account
of venial sin.
But for the pilgrims, strictly so-called. They must
have certificates from their parish priests ; they must
live not less than sixty miles from Rome, which now
will generally mean an enemy's country ; they must
walk every inch of the way, and they must not wash
their feet or change their stockings the whole way. As
far as one can see, they are either very clever Gibeonites
or just what they profess to be. They come to Rome
to share the benediction on Easter Day, and to entitle
themselves to many spiritual benefits upon which a
particular understanding exists.
Of course they are suitably entertained. The fra
ternity of the Trinita de' Pellegrini, and other bodies,
I believe, take them in charge, conduct them to the
relics, wash their feet, give them supper, and put them
to bed. The Princes and other noblemen do this for
the men, and the Princesses and other high-born ladies
for the women. It is the only occasion in the year on
which a Princess can be seen doing something, and
heard as well as seen, so I cannot tell you the inquiring

THE WASHING OF THE PILGRIMS FEET 367
for tickets, the difficulty of approach, the pushing and
squeezing, and the intolerable heat to be endured for a
couple of hours by English, American, French, and
German ladies anxious to see a Roman Princess, and to
say they have seen one.
•Gentlemen only are allowed to see the Princes at
this good work, and ladies only to see the Princesses ;
but it so happens I have not yet met or heard of a
single gentleman who has availed himself of his privilege.
I have not, though perhaps I might, upon special leave,
have gone to see the Princesses. They tell me there
are hundreds entitled by their rank to do this service.
The ladies do the work very thoroughly and really,
though they must not use soap, which in Italy is
suspected of raising blisters, and I know not what
They talk, ask pretty questions, throw in a word right
and left, chaff" a little, and show a vivacity which makes
the spectators rather afraid of them. They then set
before the pilgrims bread, fish, salad, and wine : of the
last rather more than these frugal folks usually take at
a meal. That nothing be lost, the pilgrims bring old
bottles of wonderful quaintness, in order to put by
what they cannot drink. They take all this kindness in
very simple part, for they really want what they receive,
though there is a great deal of soul-saving besides in the
affair. The pilgrims from the Neapolitan territory have all
been strictly charged by their friends to ascertain when
the Holy Father means to send them their King again.,
I have not heard the answer usually given. The English
and American spectators come home late, exhausted
with the closeness and crowding. Their first anxiety is

368 EASTER DAY AT ROME
to find whether their black silks have suffered, next
whether they have really seen any of the chief person
ages. It is a terrible disappointment to find that there
were two Borgheses there, and they had no one to point
them out. ' Oh, didn't you see them — two lively girls
with bright black eyes, and a word for everybody .' '
You can imagine the feelings of a lady who has come
from New York, spent three months here, and who has
done, most dutifully, all the worlds that lie dead and
buried at Rome. Depend on it, she will make another
visit to the Hospice with somebody who can point out
those Borghese girls. She has a conscience, and won't
swear she has seen them, except on good authority.
On Easter Day all Rome was waked, and waked
well, at a quarter to five, by the guns of St. Angelo, and
long before seven everybody with a faith was on his
way to some church or other, for the quiet little services
which prepare for the grand ceremonies of the day.
Most of the English had done their duties by nine.
St. Peter's was about as full as it ever was, or ever could
be. The good Bishop yclept of Hebron, but fighting
with wild beasts at a certain disputatious city nearer this
part of the world, again befriended me, and I sat almost
among the mitred Fathers. The service is the most
magnificent of the year, but the most magnificent part
is that which is ordinary, while the extraordinary parts
did not fully explain themselves. Eight gorgeous mitres
were placed on the altar in a row, whether to signify
new bishops, or new bishoprics, or nothing at all, I know
not What seemed to be ofiferings were placed on the
altar, and solemnly presented afterwards to the Pope.
There was the usual obeisance or homage.

BENEDICTION URBI ET ORBI 369
The Pope ' celebrated.' For the third time I heard
the silver trumpets, except that pne also hears them
performing a simple march when the Pope, at Christmas
and Easter, is carried in his chair. Do they lose their
charm by repetition ? I should be sorry to say ' Yes ,'
but I suspect one ought to hear them only once in ten ,
years. As it seemed to me, after the ' consecration ,' the
Pope returned to his throne at the further end of the
church ; he then ' received ,' the bread and wine being
successively brought in grand procession from the altar ;
he then, after two like processions, administered from his
throne to certain Cardinals and other privileged com
municants. The youngest acolyte in the churches here
would convict me perhaps of a dozen blunders at this
point, but I speak from what I saw. There were addresses
made to the Pope, as it seemed, from the extremity of
the church ; there was a good deal of intoning by
persons who did not seem much used to it.
But whenever the Pope himself had either to intone,
or to give the first notes of the grand sacramental hymns,
his peculiarly cheery voice rang through the whole church
and woke a response from everybody within reach of it.
The murmur he roused was so universal and hearty that
I could almost have fancied there was a touch of mirth
in it The jubilant character of the music strongly con
trasted with the wails we had been hearing lately, and
by this time was welcome.
The next act was the great Benediction of the year,
Urbi et Orbi. I got into nearly the same place as
before, but somewhat further into the Piazza, and looked
the way everybody else was looking. The balcony was
VOL. II. B 13

370 EASTER DAY AT ROME
successively filled with patriarchs, bishops, and others,
come out to see the multitude. It was rather balking
and a little ridiculous to see a second exhibition of the
row of mitres I had seen on the altar. But they were
soon removed. The 12 o'clock gun fired. The bells of
the churches, great and small, kept up an incessant roar
and jangle. The multitude was immense, the largest,
old Romans say, ever seen there. The sun was shining
brightly. It must have been twenty minutes past 12
when the bells ceased ; some signal guns were fired ;
then a dead silence. At first I could see only the chair,
or portable throne.
In a few seconds the well-known voice came forth,
strong, sweet, and clear. When this had been heard
some time the Pope rose and came to the front, for up
to that he had been out of sight The last clause of the
Blessing he intoned with a degree of action we Enghsh
seldom witness. It was solemn, and also very graceful.
The Pope seemed as he spoke to raise his arms, join his
hands over his head, and then bow so low — head and
arms together — as to make one tremble for his huge
tiara. This I thought he did twice or thrice. Whatever
he did, it is an exact tradition, but done by him in no
formal manner. Then, after a second or two, followed
a loud and universal acclamation, mingling with the
sound of cannon, bells, and military music. People
talk of cries here and there. The only cries I heard
were ' Viva il Papa Pio Nono ! ' I give it as my ear
caught it. There was universal acclamation on Thurs
day, but nothing like this.
I got where I could see the Piazza well. Four
thousand soldiers massed in the middle, round the

THE WELL-KNOWN VOICE 371
Obelisk, seemed a mere patch in the vast sea of heads.
A military man, taking all things into account, estimated
the number at 80,000. The open space consists of the
steps and the slope up to the church, the oval enclosed
by the colonnade, and the Piazza beyond it The whole
is about 350 yards long, and 200 yards wide. Seven
persons placed in it at the greatest possible distance
from St Peter's — that is 350 yards from it — assure me
that they heard distinctly every syllable of the Benedic
tion. Pio Nono's voice has this peculiarity, that it cannot
but be remembered, and, therefore recognised. He was
always remarkable for combining two gifts, seldom found
together — a good musical, and a good speaking voice.
This, combined with what I have heard called a pretty
action, made him one of the most popular preachers in
Italy. It was, they tell me, his graceful and taking
manners, rather than any exact knowledge of his
opinions and intentions, that led the Sacred College to
choose him for Pope. They wanted a king, and it is
quite possible they have found him more of the priest
than some of them would prefer. But the sweetest
manners in the world would not have preserved the
temporal kingdom, which has departed, may be is still
departing, from the Holy See.
The next thing was the illumination of St Peter's.
The trainontana was still blowing, not hard indeed, but
strong enough to make the task of the 365 lamp-lighters
employed, not only unpleasant, but difficult. In a
perfect calm the right course is to go first to the Piazza
of St. Peter's, and see all the lines of the architecture

372 EASTER DAY AT ROME
pidked out in light. I elected to take first the view from
the Pincian. At that distance the mischance of a few
lamps here or there did not signify ; and what one saw
was an edifice not so much illuminated as itself of fire.
I never saw the architectural design to better advantage,
insomuch, that I said to myself, ' Now, this is St. Peter's
as it existed in the architect's mind before he had to do
it in stone and lead.' Yet there is a novelty in the fiery
design. The outline of the dome and lantern surmount
ing it becomes more flowing and graceful, and acquires
even an Oriental character. At that distance the
illuminated colonnade vaguely suggests a region of light
out of which rises its own fitting temple. The sky was
a clear green, and the stars a pale blue, over the redder
fires of human art. The sword of Orion hung just over
the cross, as the illumination was completed. But the
chief contrast was that of the glowing pile with all the
domes and towers and lower edifices between us, on the
Pincian, and the fading twilight.
In a moment — and had one not been looking that
way, one must have missed it — a shower or mantle of
brighter glory seemed to fall from heaven, and, begin
ning with the cross changed every light to a brighter
and purer flame. It is scarcely possible to conceive how
it is done, but the change is really instantaneous. At
first the wind blew flakes and sheets of fire far away from
every part, as in our own city conflagrations, but soon
the lights were all as steady as before, and much more
brilliant The effect is due not to a multitude of smaller
lights, but, I believe, to only 4,000 large ones — literally
fire pots. By this arrangement the design of the dome
is improved, even in its lower portion, or bulb, the lines

'MOUNTAIN GLOWING WITH FIRE' 373
being relieved with what we should call lozenge-shaped
interruptions. Later in the night, when even the larger lamps were
beginning to expire, and the smaller ones were mostly
out, I went to the Piazza. From the Bridge of S.
Angelo what one saw was a mountain, as irregular as
an Alp, and any height one might imagine, for it might
be near and it might be far, all of a glow, as if it had
burst out of the burning centre of the earth by the
fracture of its crust. There it was, as possibly the
Matterhorn glowed for ages after it emerged from the
fiery realms below. It looked an incandescent mass,
the stones only glowing somewhat less vividly than the
flames themselves, bursting out where they could. The
Piazza itself was almost as light as day, and, as it were,
wrapped in the surrounding, though now expiring,
flames. So closed Easter Day.
The state of affairs in the Council is very serious
indeed, It is now stated on undoubted authority that
the eighty-four Fathers, said to have voted conditionally
for the Schema before the Council, did not vote at all,
giving in blank papers. This would amount to a strong,
and rather disorderly, protest against the Rules of Pro
cedure, which allow only three courses, of which this
was not one. The three courses are aye, no, or juxta
modum ; but it is plain that juxta modum means some
thing, not nothing. It is also said positively, that more
than 100 Fathers were absent from the sitting, though
many of them were known to be in Rome. You will
know by the time this reaches you, whether any
arrangement will be effected to-morrow. Failing that,
another attempt is to be made on Thursday. A good

374 EASTER DAY AT ROME
many of the bishops, however, are under a strong
impression, for which, no doubt, they have good grounds,
that if matters are settled pleasantly for Rome this week,
so that there may be a promulgation next Sunday, a
prorogation will immediately follow. The bribe is
almost too great to be resisted.
On Saturday afternoon the Pope received 2,000 —
nay, a chamberlain said 4,000 — but that seems impos
sible. They filled the largest gallery in the Vatican,
insomuch that there was great pressure and heat. The
great majority were ladies, many of them struggling to
touch the Pope's vestments as he passed up and down
the gallery, or to obtain his blessing on crosses, rosaries,
and the like. He preached what all describe as a most
beautiful, short sermon, addressed to mothers on the
education of their children, exhorting them to lose no
time in bringing them to the foot of the Cross. People
say, but I cannot believe it, that ladies were actually
tearing off" bits of the Pope's clothing, having heard, I
suppose, that the pallium given to bishops is theoretically
a subdivision of the Pope's own.

375

CHAPTER CXVI
THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM
Rome : April 20.
All the world has heard of Roman fireworks. Should
wars ever cease under the peaceful and beneficent sway
of the Holy See, it will find a new use for the gun
powder in store, as we did after the Russian war, but
Rome takes her time about these things. Whatever is
worth doing at all, she holds to be worth doing well.
For a month past, thoughtful, intellectual men, with
hidden fire in their expression, have been seen on the
Pincian, note-book in hand, poring over large drawings,
solving the difficulties of workpeople, and bright with
new ideas. It was plain that a city at least, if not half
a universe, was in conception, and lay in the form of
numberless huge Schemata on the ground. Pillars, arches,
canopies, pinnacles, battlements, slowly revealed them
selves. At last there rose up rows of tall masts, a lofty
tower, and lower down towards the Piazza del Popolo a
vast amphitheatre of inscrutable preparations. The
western side of the Piazza had been meanwhile filled
with seats and galleries.
The hotels had early dinner, and at seven on
Monday, a party of us secured, without difficulty, a good
position in the Piazza which soon contained as many as

376 THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM
it could hold, perhaps 50,000 people, not to speak of
house-tops and other points commanding the scene. It
was a fine night, but the wind, which had been a little
too much for the illumination of St Peter's the day
before, was not quite enough to clear away the smoke of
the fireworks. After due warning in the way of guns,
and enough musketry, or what sounded such, to make
a pitched battle, we had an exhibition of which I can
only say that I cannot recall one more beautifuL Of
course there were the invariable features of a pyro
technic display, but all beautiful in their kind.
I had been stupid enough not to put together the
parts of a vast series of preparations on the face of the
Pincian, half encircling the Piazza, about two hundred
yards long, and seventy yards high, to the top of a
temporary tower. I had not imagined a combined
effect. After a brilliant and rather stunning battlei
done with serpents, wheels, meteors, and what not, they
all ceased, and through the ascending smoke we had the
Heavenly Jerusalem to which Pio Nono and Dr. Cum-
ming equally invite us. It was designed by Vespigniani,
and must have cost him as much headwork as the
Exposition of Catholic Art, though unfortunately not
to last more than ten minutes or so. The dimensions,
you will observe, surpass the broad side of Westminster
Abbey. There was the city wall glowing with emeralds
and rubies, towers, three gates out of the twelve, Ephraim,
Judah, and Manasseh, as far as I could see ; temples,
domes, minarets, and steeples rising one over another,
HO well done that it was difficult to believe it was not a
real edifice of the Mount St Michael class. From a
cloud above an immense glory dififused itself, wrapping

A ROMAN CROWD 377
the city in many-coloured lights. High up, on the left,
an angel was showing the vision to St John, still, I
think, on his knees. This ought to have come last, but
that could not be managed, and the necessities of the
construction involved anachronism.
The city of Zion disappeared, and after some terrible
convulsions and conflicts in heavenly places, there ap
peared a great act of homage and congratulation to Pio
Nono on his entrance into the twenty-fifth year of his
Pontificate. The whole face of the Pincian seemed to
be garlanded with the most brilliant and real festoons of
flowers. Even this, however, passed away, and left not
a rack behind. In the interval, and afterwards, engineers
amused us and themselves with showers of rockets,
meteors, serpents, and what not, that flew over our heads
and struck the buildings round the Piazza. As for
showers of gold, snowfalls, and rivers of blood, they
were as beautiful as they were harmless. The Obelisk
must have been reminded of much that it once saw in
the land of Egypt
It is due again to say a word for the crowd. We
had been warned against pickpockets, and alarms made
in their favour, so our party left purses, watches, and
brooches at home. I never saw a quieter or better
behaved assemblage. A baby in arms was just before
us. Ladies were sitting on camp-stools all about us.
There was no pushing after people once got placed.
When a great circle of Bengal lights, at the close,
brought out every face in the crowd into stronger than
daylight I saw ladies with rather obtrusive coral decora
tions in their hair a few yards from me, in the middle of
the Piazza. People asked where the ' roughs ' were

378 THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM
They had modestly taken their station in the outskirts
of the crowd, and under the porticos of the churches.
The crowd, however, had a good leaven of Legionaries
and Zouaves. The return through the Corso, the Ri-
petta, and the Babuino — all narrow — was rather fearful
to think of; but, as it turned out, the only danger was
a succession of royal and ex-royal carriages escorted by
dragoons. Yesterday Rome went to Cecilia Metella to see some
races. As every carriage paid a guinea the company
was the chief sight. The racecourse is the old Circus of
Romulus, not the founder of Rome, but a son of
Maxentius. A lady tells me the races were good — at
least, there was one good horse, for it won nearly all the
races. Two gentlemen ran a hurdle race, the hurdles of
bushes, which somehow could not be got to stand up.
Not four years ago a Roman gentleman lost his seat and
was killed at one of these races ; so this is the first time
they have been allowed since.
This is ' the Pope's Day.' He is gone to S. Agnese,
where he had the escape which is commemorated to-day.
But the whole city is in the hands of illuminators,
decorators, upholsterers, and even more ambitious artists,
for exhibitions, which we are all to make the round Of
to-night from eight to twelve.
The Marquis of Bute has left after a long and I
should think to him a costly season. Among other
instances of his liberality, one has much gratified many
kind people. There is a Miss Lewis here, a sculptress
of merit, born in a wigwam, her mother a red Indian,
her father a negro. In common with several score
brothers and sisters of the craft, she has been without

CHARITY AND ART 379
orders this season, or, if with an order or two, without
ready money. Sculptors have to pay rent for a studio,
wages to workpeople, and immense sums for marble
which sometimes turns out good for nothing when it is
cut into. Their own personal expenses may be trifling,
but they always have friends. The Marquis has not only
ordered a Madonna from Miss Lewis, to be a copy of
one now in the workmen's hands, but has also paid her
promptly for it, and so relieved the poor girl from some
embarrassment. I hope this will not draw upon him a
crowd of canvassers, representing, I fear, equal claims
and equal needs. The Marquis is by no means so rich
as people supposed. With a large but speculative in
come, he started "With a large debt, and has had to
borrow more. He is now on board his yacht, and is to
spend his next winter in Scotland. The Pope has given
him the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Gregory.

38o

CHAPTER CXVII
THE POPE'S DAY
Rome : April 21.
An illumination at Rome is one of the things that make
one a little ashamed of one's country. There is nothing
like it at home. On the Queen's birthday there are
seen, flaring away, hackneyed devices over the public
buildings, the clubs, the shops of the Royal tradesmen,
and of those tradesmen who wish to attract particular
attention. Even at a declaration of peace, the most
public-spirited people send an order to the oilman or the
gasfitter, and pay a fabulous bill for some stupidity or
other. Rome puts her heart into it. She is a mistress
in the art of illusions and preternatural effects, and can
hardly help doing even a thing of the hour with propriety
and grace.
Last night this city was simply transformed into one
vast palace, of which the piazzas were saloons, the
streets galleries, and the smaller openings lobbies and
landing-places. It was only when people looked up and
saw the stars that they were reminded they were out of
doors. Of course, every man, woman, and child was out
of doors at the universal ' at home ' of the people till not
far from midnight One stream of carriages, flowing
one way only, in single line, took a very serpentine course
through the principal points. Unless you fell into it early

A UNIVERSAL 'AT HOME' 381
you would miss the right moment, and be liable to much
detention. I soon left my own party, joined it again at St.
Peter's, left it to run up to Tasso's lodgings at S.
Onofrio, and never joined it again. All the rest I did
on foot, and in the course of my wanderings lost myself
for half-an-hour as thoroughly as one might in the Cata
combs, but still amid lights, devices, carriages, and
people. This is written with an earnest desire to con
tribute hints towards the improvement of our own
illuminations. It is true they say that London is
already illuminated every night, that gas-lamps make
coloured glass feeble, and paper lanterns ridiculous, and
that London is too large for an open-air entertainment,
especially in the night time.
I must take you the round, beginning as all English
men must do in Rome. As one looked up the Via
Condotti, one saw a lofty structure, surmounted by a
tall spire, one blaze of the whitest light. This was an
illumination done with the simplest materials, on the
successive faces of the great staircase, and up to the
top of the Obelisk. The workmen employed ascend the
Obelisk by jointed ladders, and attach to it the merest
strips of wood, just strong enough to support the fire-
pots. These, I must explain, are of iron or earthenware,
from six inches to a foot wide, and they contain white
grease, with a bundle of shavings for a wick. A little off,
every flame is a huge brilliant
The Obelisk in the Piazza del Popolo did duty as a
terminus of fire to the three long streets converging on
that point Facing us, as we approached the Bridge of
S. Angelo, was a lofty canopy, some sixty feet high, with

382 THE POPE'S DAY
a deep recess, various accessories, and everything that
colour, form, and light could do for it The chief
figure, surrounded by a glittering circlet, was the Virgin
between Moses and Elias, David and Isaiah occupying
niches above. A vast multitude was gazing in silence or
reading from the inscriptions the words which described
the mystery thus commemorated.
Beyond the Bridge you may remember the un
sightly termination of streets coming from St. Peter's.
The unsightliness was disguised by an immense double
triumphal arch harmonising with the buildings at that
point On the canvas front a singularly stern and very
colossal Saviour proclaimed himself the Way, the Truth,
and the Life. A hundred yards further a facsimile of
the Arch of Titus, in what seemed white marble, and
brilliantly lit, attested with proper inscription the loyalty
of the Borgo, as that region was once called, and as its
streets are still. Through the whole of it we passed
under enormous chandeliers most effectively made of
wood and coloured paper.
The Piazza of St Peter's was all dark, but was
rapidly filling with carriages, and soon there was hardly
standing room for man or beast All were expecting
the Pope on his return from S. Agnese, the scene of
his providential escape, where he had been spending the
afternoon. By-the-by, as this is the last time probably
I shall have to mention that church and village, I will
take this opportunity of reminding readers who are
curious about such matters that the gravel pits, and even
the soil there abound with fossils, particularly the bones
and teeth of elephants and extinct species. Dr. CeseUi
has a large and interesting collection, and, indeed anyone

THE RETURN FROM S. AGNESE 383
can obtain a good many pieces on the spot I picked
up myself what I believe to be five inches of an elephant's
tusk on the roadside.
However, Pius IX. had been there yesterday to thank
S. Agnese for preserving him for the confirmation of the
faith of the Church, and was expected back. First there
was a rocket, then another, then clouds of green, white,
and red light rising from the quarter whence he was
looked for ; then cheers, then louder and nearer cheers,
then a good many explosions, and then in a minute the
fagade of St. Peter's and the colonnades all stood out in
bright green ; the windows and other recesses in red.
The Pope with a cavalcade of carriages and dragoons
was slowly passing through the Piazza by a route wind
ing through the crowd. Before he had passed through,
the colours changed — red outside now and green inside.
In five minutes he was gone, and the Piazza in darkness.
Then we had to dive into the recesses behind St
Peter's, skirt the colonnade, pass under the fortifications,
and find ourselves in a sudden blaze of glory upon enter
ing the Lungara, one of the main streets of Trastevere.
It is a region of hospitals. The Porta S. Spirito there
commands a long straight street, and therefore was illu
minated brilliantly enough to show across the English
Channel. In due time we all recrossed the Tiber by the
Ponte Sisto, near which is the Trinita de' Pellegrini.
That reminds me to supply an omission in my account
of the noble Roman ladies washing and waiting upon
the poor pilgrims. No lady, princess or otherwise, is
allowed to take part in the public ceremony till she has
twelve times visited and helped to nurse the sick in the
hospital.

384 THE POPE'S DAY
The Farnese Palace, being in trouble, by the death
of the little Neapolitan princess, made small show.
St. Bridget, too, was as humble as her name sounds to
English ears, and the English' College exhibited sixteen
very small paper lanterns and the usual street lamp.
But there is a straight street, called Via de' Baullari,
stretching from the Farnese nearly to the Piazza Navona,
may be a quarter of a mile long. No ball-room could
be more tastefully lighted and decorated than this was
from end to end by glass and paper lamps, in chandeliers
and festoons. After this I got into a labyrinth, stum
bling now and then on sudden glory, or following some
strange light which pleased, but did not show me the way.
At last the sound of music led me to the Piazza of S.
Marco, where was an orchestra, a military band, and a
listening crowd. The Collegio Romano had converted
its Piazza into a fairy garden.
Thesmall Piazza before the Ministry of Finance, where
the lucky numbers of the lottery are proclaimed by the
Cardinal at twelve o'clock every Saturday, was got up in
•a way which I trust may be considered to give the lie
to the maligners of the Papal credit. It was converted
into a garden, surrounded by immense pairs of fat boys,
in silver, with garments of gold ; supporting, of course,
the Papal arms, alternated with immense vases in silver
with massive gold wreaths. Who will now deny that
the cellars of the adjoining palace are sufficiently fur
nished for every demand ?
The Piazza Colonna was, as it always is, cheerful and
bright ; but the Zouaves, whose barracks form the west
side, have either small means, or not very inventive wits.
Twenty identical trophies in white plaster, twenty identical

THE PAPAL FLEET 385
vases in plaster, with artificial flowers, twenty identical
vases of another pattern, with sufficient lights, made up
their contribution. It had the unmistakable look of a
mess-room made into a ball-room for once in a way.
The lofty obelisk before the Courts of Justice was made
the core of a Gothic edifice with gables, pinnacles,
inscriptions, and the Pope. The fountain of Trevi was
illuminated with Bengal lights. The Piazza of the
Apostles was made a garden ; and every Piazza in the
city, lighted, decorated, and furnished with everything
except tables, chairs, and a roof
Three great attractions remain. The entire Papal
fleet had been judiciously moored opposite the custom
house and the Palazzo Borghese in the Ripetta. A
handsome temple had been built on the other side of
the river, with sailors keeping guard. The craft showed
the flags of all nations, ours and the Stars and Stripes
among them, and at night innumerable lamps on deck,
in the rigging, and on either shore, put the Tiber all in
a blaze. But the great resorts for the true people of Rome
were the Minerva and the Pantheon. How the good
Fathers lodged in the former got any rest last night, I
could not guess. At both places there was a band, and
as they are well within hail of one another a multitude
passed to and fro. The familiar elephant and the
obelisk on his back were all but hidden within an
immense kiosk or alcove, with draperies and flowers, half
filling the square, but an object of admiration, not of use.
That was at the Minerva, much frequented by converts
and other English people born to the fashion ; but the
taste presiding here was at least exceptional.
VOL. II. C c

386 THE POPE'S DAY
Rome culminated at the Pantheon, which, after all,,
is the heart of Rome. In the centre of the Piazza
was a mountain of rockery surrounded by grassy slopes,
shrubberies, fountains, and rills. The vast cavernous
interior of the Portico glowed a bright red with Bengal
lights ; but suspended from the beams, and clear of the
red surroundings, was an enormous Latin cross of the
brightest silver light So far, so good.
The rest it is sad to tell, but truth must be told. On
the side of the Piazza opposite the Pantheon, and cover
ing two houses, was an immense transparency. There was
Pio IX. with the Church, or Faith, or Religion by his side,,
and the Virgin looking down upon him from above.
Two Fathers of the Council, the one representing the
Western Church, and the other the Eastern, were rushing
towards him, the former presenting a large sheet of
paper whereupon might be read by one who ran the
word ' Placet,' and that word only ; for otherwise it was
a carte blanche, A crowd of mitred Fathers stood
behind and showed their self-devotion. Immediately
behind the Holy Father was a pit of fire, from the flames
of which poor creatures were lifting up their arms in
agony to Heaven. An angel with a very big sword was-
slashing and dashing them back into the flames. The
sword, I presume, signified only the Papal anathema.
It would be rash to conclude that the poor creatures
thus treated are the Non-placets. Yet, though the
picture was fairly exhaustive, there was evidently no
other place for them. Such was the catastrophe with
which I wound up the night's wanderings, and now this
account of them.
By the time you get this you will know whether

PREPARATIONS 387
there has been a public Session next Sunday. It is now
as sure as anything, except the sublimest mysteries, can
be in Rome.

Rome : April 22.
The ex- King of Naples has embarked at Civita Vecchia for
Marseilles, whence he proceeds to Austria. The Queen goes
by land, via Foligno, with the consent of the Italian Govern
ment, The Marquis de Banneville, the French ambassador,
only read the Note of his Government to Cardinal Antonelh,
leaving no copy with his Eminence. The Powers' that have
agreed verbally to support the French Note will only adopt that
course if the Note be ofificially communicated. Rome : April 23.
Everything is in readiness for the third public Session of
the CEcumenical Council, which is to be held to-morrow, and
the Great Hall has been arranged in the same manner as on the
day of the opening. The ceremony will commence at 9 a.m.,
and last five or six hours. Cardinal Bilio ofificiating at Mass.
No speeches will be delivered. The Fathers will vote orajly in
the presence of the Pope, and his Holiness will promulgate
their resolutions immediately afterwards. There are compara
tively few foreigners in Rome. Madrid: April 19.
The Spanish papers comment severely on a statement that
is being circulated to the efifect that at a recent banquet in
Rome in honour of the Prince Alfonso, Lord Derby, in the
presence of various generals, cardinals, Spanish bishops, and
members of the ex-Royal family of Naples, gave the following
toast : — ' In my name, and that of all my friends of the British
Parliament, I drink to the Prince of Asturias.'

388 THE POPE'S DAY
The Pope's Day was a double commemoration ; first,
of his ' glorious return from Gaeta,' as I find it described
in a semi-official account of the illuminations and trans
parencies ; secondly, of his ' prodigious salvation ' in the
casualty at S. Agnese.
The real anniversary was on the I2th, which this
year fell in Passion Week, so the celebration was
deferred to the 20th.
It was treated by some contemporaries as a very got-
up aH"air, but it has established itself in my memory
as the most beautiful transformation I have ever seen,
as well as the heartiest, as regards the part which all
classes, ages, and conditions seemed to be taking in it.

389

CHAPTER CXVIII
THIRD OPEN SESSION
Rome : April 25.
The Council has brought forth, and I have been present.
I have all but assisted. Whatever was to be heard, I
have heard ; whatever was to be seen, I have seen ; for I
have been among the most favoured hearers and seers-
But at this moment anybody in London may know what
has been done better than either I or anyone else in the
ten or twenty thousand present yesterday outside the
Council Hall. What is more, of the crowd of prome-
naders yesterday on the Pincian there were probably
not half-a-dozen men, or women either, who asked what
had been done with the smallest seriousness, or with
the faintest idea that opinion, faith, and eternal happi
ness might depend on the answer. Rome, of course,
will say, so much the worse for them, and so much the
more necessary for her to teach that there is, at least,
something to know and believe.
Rome, however, is still taking her time about things.
She yesterday gave the world an important manifesto,
and a score new Canons for the guidance of faith and
opinion ; but it is to be two days, I hear, before the very
text is published. That is what we are told, though
there is too much reason to suspect that the document

390 THIRD OPEN SESSION
is already on its way to the Pope's own newspapers. It
may well happen, as before, that you see that document
some time before we do here. I can only say what is
reported. Both the Decrees and the Preface are said to
be very much altered from the forms first laid before the
Council. On the other hand, towards the end of the
Decrees, it is said some phrases have been introduced in
regard to the ' Congregations ' — that is, the actual Papal
Government — making them, and, therefore, the Pope
who appoints them, practically infallible. This I give
as I hear, understanding it not.
But I must follow my usual course and take you
with me through the day's work. My good Knight, for
the honour of his country, and I will say of his Order,
came forward again to befriend me, and undertook to
bring me to the front My rendezvous, as before, was
under that immense canopy of marble which a marble
skeleton is lifting from the door underneath ; and before
an altar with a grand mosaic of Simon Magus falling
from the sky at the prayer of St Peter. A good many
people, including a dozen Knights of Malta, were having
their Mass. By-and-by more than thirty Knights
mustered and were paraded. They marched into the
Choir,^ taking with them one of Her Britannic Majesty's
Ministers and your humble servant The former was
put in train for admission to the Diplomatic tribune in
due time. I hung on the red coats, though several times
questioned, and all but violently repelled by officials.
The Choir, you are to understand, was empty and
' I must again explain that by the word Choir, I mean the part of the
Church which we call the Choir in England. It is not the Choir at St.
Peter's.

DWELLERS ON THE THRESHOLD 391
deserted yesterday, the service being in the Council Hall,
from which the centre portion of the screen had been
removed, the first time since Epiphany. We heard the
service beginning ; soon the Knights advanced to their
post, which was to stand at the opening made in the
screen, and, together with the Guardia Nobile, ' protect '
the Council. I followed afar, fell to the rear, and had to
be sought out and dragged from the crowd by my
Knight, who insisted that I should be where I could see,
hear, and, if possible, understand.
I must at least reward his excessive kindness by
telling you where I stood, and in so doing I shall be
describing that portion of modern civilisation and of the
human race to which the first Act of the first Vatican
Council was immediately addressed. There were actors
on either side of that threshold, the Church within and
the World without, to take the Roman view of the case.
The company outside I can tell you something about,
for I was one of it The opening in the screen, corre
sponding to the proscenium of a theatre, was about
eleven yards. Across it were placed the Knights of
Malta and the Guardia Nobile, both making a very good
show ; the latter exclusively Italian, I believe. They
usually stood at ease, having the material assistance of
a strong rail and plenty of stout auxiliaries to do the
rough work. But t-wo — i.e. one from each corps — were
always on duty as sentries, one at each side of the
opening. Every half-hour during the Session there
was a pretty little movement The sentries were re
lieved. This process, always amusing, was complicated by a
singular compromise on the question of precedence

392 THIRD OPEN SESSION
between the two bodies. The Knights have undeniable
precedence of the Guardia Nobile ; but the latter are in
possession here, and are, in fact, the nobility of Rome,
whereas the Knights are from all Christendom, and are
content to bide their time for the resumption of their
once sovereign powers. The compromise is this. The
sentry posted by the Knights is taken alternately from
the first and the second rank — that is, he is alternately
a Knight of Justice and a Knight of Devotion. The
first ranks as a Colonel and, like the Knights Templars,
cannot marry without losing rank. Accordingly, when
a Knight of Justice is on duty he takes the right side of
the Council door ; when it is a Knight of Devotion he
gives precedence to the sentry from the rival corps.
You must bear in mind that the Knights of Malta are
under oath to protect General Councils, and have per
formed that duty for I know not hov\^ many, the last
that of Trent.
Outside the cordon made by the two corps was
another line, in a semicircle, made by Swiss Guards and
some of the Papal Guard ; so that immediately before
the entrance there was a most reserved, and almost
sacred, semicircular space, a mere saloon of moderate
dimensions, in which there were at first only a score or
two persons, every one with a grand uniform, or half a
dozen decorations, or a very commanding presence, or
a very pretty face. These could look into the Council
Hall without any obstruction to the sight, except the
altar, with its tabernacle and its candles. The hall was
full, to appearance. It could not be quite full, for there
are more than 900 seats, and there were not 700 Fathers
present The sameness of the white mitres was a good

INEXTINGUISHABLE LIGHT 393
deal relieved by the splendour of the vestments — crim
son and gold, and by the Oriental varieties of vestment,
mitre, and tiara. The Mass was as usual. When it
was ended, a large and highly- decorated candle was
put out with great difficulty, for it went on smoking a
quarter of an hour, and the usual six lights were left
burning on the altar.
By-the-by — excuse a trifle, a significant one, perhaps
— Rome cannot put out candles easily. In Holy Week,
when this was a real ceremony, the candles resisted
extinction with wicked obstinacy. I saw three extin
guishers waging war with six candles, and they would
persist in flaring out again the moment the extinguisher
was removed. One powerful light did this six times,
and had at last to be almost thrashed out.
But to return to the hall. While the large candle
was smouldering, the pulpit, a ricketty old affair, that
any English ' Ebenezer ' would be ashamed of, was
wheeled in, with much groaning and tottering. All at
once the Fathers rose, and took off their mitres. The
Knights of Malta and the Guardia Nobile formed and
drew their swords. The Pope was entering, and taking
his seat on the throne which the day before I had seen
workpeople divesting of its four months' coverings. In
two minutes there followed an opening prayer, for the
Council was now proceeding to ' business. A thousand
voices within the hall, and many thousand without,
swelled the ' Amen.' Then was sung a hymn of sublime
music, but to me 'a song without words.' Then all
knelt. Then a prayer was intoned, and ' Amen ' re
sponded grandly as before.
Then followed the Litany of the Saints— good for

394 THIRD OPEN SESSION
all times and occasions in this Church — and which I
have heard chanted this morning by several thousand
clergy, of all ranks and orders, in an annual procession
through Rome to St. Peter's. It is always rendered
with a ' go ' and an increasing vigour that astonishes
English Church people. Yesterday — that is, in the
Council Hall — it was done as, perhaps, it was never done
before, and may never be again. Every separate
prayer rose like a bolt shot at the gates of Heaven, and
the response was the vast human echo. Cardinals then,
or about then, made their obeisance, or homage — proud
to do it for the bishops as well as for themselves.
Then a cardinal read the Gospel, so I was told. Then,
immediately before me, the sentries were relieved, and
the Maltese Knight coming on duty, being this time a
Knight of Justice, and white-breasted, took the right
side of the portal before us.
After this there ascended, as it were, to the roof of
the vast hall, and filling the whole church, the hymn
Veni Creator Spiritus. It was sung, indeed, with a will
and in faith, though all that could be asked of Heaven
on this occasion was faith to say Placet or Non-placet,
as the case might be. With sounds one has a chance
in a church which is not one's own, for it really is one's
own fault if one does not follow good words sung or
said. As regards the sights there is more excuse.
Some one now said the cardinals were at their
obeisance. A kind neighbour attempted to point out
to me those who stood round the throne. Of course
there was the grandest of figures, Antonelli. Orsini was
' Prince Assistant,' that is, the representative of the
Roman nobility. But the altar was sadly in the way ;

READING OF THE DECREES 395
the distance was fifty yards, and the light in St. Peter's
is not one to show objects clearly.
A bishop then ascended the pulpit, with his secre
tary, or theologian, behind him. The bishop was Mgr.
Valenziani, and he was about to read the Decrees upon
which votes were to be taken. He happens to be one
of the guests of the Knights of Malta during the
Council. He read loud, with distinctness, and with
emphasis ; but I could not make out a single word.
Nobody about me made the attempt; nor can I con
ceive how any of the Fathers behind the pulpit could
make out a word, except from the text in their hands.
The reading seemed long, half an hour to the patience,
though less by the clock. But the effect was greatly to
.demoralise the little circle, or semicircle, in which my
good friend had placed me, and also to expose it to
much pressure from without. A general conversation
ensued, first in a low tone, then in livelier accents.
People asked one another what was going on, who was
who, and then went off" to other topics. Binoculars
passed about. We were only about forty or fifty, and
were the only people in the church with a chance of
hearing or even seeing distinctly.
Two pretty girls, one more than pretty, protected
hy cavaliers and distinguished-looking personages, were
in an argument which it was not only easy, but very
pleasant to listen to. They were standing on their
stools, and therefore could be seen as well as heard.
The more th'an pretty one had a flickering tongue, and
rapped out her replies quick as fire. ' She was so
happy,' she said, ' to think that all those good men were
of one mind and one opinion.' The other said, ' That

396 THIRD OPEN SESSION
won't make a thing true if it is not true already.' The
first said, ' She used never to know what was true till
she joined the Church. Since that time she had been
at rest' The other expressed her surprise that anyone
could pass so quickly out of one state to another, and
thought everybody must feel it very strange to be a
Catholic. The first instantly replied that ' she had gone
into it like a duck into water. She had found it all
natural.' The other still thought that her earlier state,
though one of inquiry, was better than the last, being
more rational. ' How, then, could my soul have been
saved,' the first replied, ' if I was always doubting, and
did not know what to believe .? ' The other boldly
avowed that she did not believe in lost souls. The
first asked her how she could know a soul to be saved
unless she was told it ? The other said that she did
not call it believing just to take a thing because you
are told it. She added, ' How can people pretend to
believe such a quantity of things as they cannot even
take in ? '
You will see that one of the fair disputants was a
convert, and the other, as yet, in the path of free inquiry.
I had not then the least notion who they were. It so
chanced that we, a select delegation of the human race,
to whom the entire Church, as Rome holds it, was now
at this moment declaring the conclusions of all the
doctors of the Church, and a revelation from Heaven
after three centuries of silence, in point of fact heard
nothing of all that, but instead thereof heard the great
question discussed anew, very prettily and very ably,
by two young ladies who. Heaven so ordered it, had
possession of that arena. To us assembled there they

FAIR DISPUTANTS 397
constituted the third open session of the first Vatican
Council. The lady who had neither found rest nor come to
want it had some decided political views. She regretted
that human progress was not fast enough to promise
large results in her own lifetime. She wanted a reign
of justice as well as truth. ' What sort of changes ? '
The House of Lords, and all that, should be reformed-
' Would she do away with it ? ' No. Let people get
into it by merit ; for what they did, not for what they
were by birth. She did not see why a man should
govern us because an ancestor of his was a great man.
Well, you will think, I am far away from the
Council. What can I do but relate what I saw, heard,
and understood ? I stood almost on the threshold of
the Council Hall, and what I saw and heard that I tell.
One prim gentleman, in a sort of court dress, with a
gold chain, looked sadly scandalised. He could only
whisper ' Hush ! ' and attempt to silence with his eyes ;
but his looks were powerless. As I was looking hard
at the Council, it was supposed by some ladies near me
that I knew something about it So they asked me
questions which showed that a world of explanation
would be necessary. One of them even lent me an
opera-glass, and asked to know what I saw through it.
When I attempted to answer her the prim old gentle
man looked at me as if I ought to set an example. So
there I was, close questioned, and prohibited to answer,
unless, like everybody else, I would defy the censor. I
was not unwilling to be so silenced, if I could also stop
the questioners.
Once or twice in the midst of the reading a lull was

398 THIRD OPEN SESSION
heard, what or why I know not. Monsignor was now
evidently reading Decrees, for there were small intervals
in the delivery. Then followed a very short pause;
Some one else ascended the pulpit. He said a few
words, and then followed ' Placet^ first by one voice,
then by another. Some about me thought the voice
always the same. That, indeed, is the usual effect of
the echo in large rooms with stone walls. It was only
vwith close listening and comparing opinions that we
came to the conclusion the names were now being read,
and the Fathers were being separately called on to
answer. Several pauses occurred. The process became
very tedious, and seemed endless. Our sanctuary was
invaded. Ladies, chiefly the young and pretty, oozed
through the Swiss Guard, and were dragged by distin
guished friends to the front I had been strictly charged
not to give up my front position, but the ladies emerged
there by an irresistible law of forces, and I lost ground.
The two disputants rose, of course, by merit, to the
front rank, and the Progressionist then and there set
her portable stool and sat down vis-a-vis to the Pope.
Knights, Chamberlains, Papal Guards, and all sorts of .
functionaries looked at her till the cup of their indigna
tion was at last filled, and she had to stand. Little
girls twelve, even ten years of age, were got to the
front, and one could not help reflecting that some of
them may live to tell the tale in the middle of next
century. At one time during the Placets a body of ladies
formed themselves into a column and advanced through
us as if they would carry both the Altar and the Throne.
This was too much. There are in the Swiss Guard

CANONS 399
' several men of peculiarly gigantic and ogreish aspect.
Three of these were fetched, put side by side, and
directed to make a steady retrogressive movement
against the feminine invaders, who found themselves
basely repelled a couple of yards, and under the shadow
of three broad pairs of shoulders. At length the Placets
ceased. There was a pause. Then an address, as if to
the Pope. His voice was then heard. It was a short
discourse on the blessedness of harmony and peace.
As I am promised more of it I could not say more now.
It appears that there were QGj Placets ; not one Non-
placet, but some absences, for whatever reason, variously
estimated from 22 to 35. Shortly after the Pope's
voice and a murmur of approbation, the Te Deum
assured us that all was happily settled. The following
is the result.

CANONS
I. — Of God, the Creator of All Things.
I. If anyone deny the One True God, Creator, and Lord
of things visible and invisible, let him be anathema.
2. If anyone blush not to affirm that there is nothing
besides matter, let him be anathema.
' 3. If anyone say that the substance or essence of God and
of all things is one and the same, let him be anathema.
4. If anyone say that finite things, corporeal as well as
spiritual, or, at least, spiritual things, are emanations from the
Divine substance ; or that the Divine essence becomes all
things by the manifestation or development of itself ; or, lastly,
that God is a universal or indefinite being, which by imposing
laws on itself constitutes a universe of. things divided into
genera, species, and individuals, let him be anathema.

40O THIRD OPEN SESSION
5. If anyone confess not that the world and all things con
tained in it, both spiritual and material, were made by God out
of nothing, in respect of the whole of their substance ; or say
that God created them, not by a will free from all necessity,
but by the same necessity as that by which He loves Himself ;
or deny that the world was created for the glory of God, let
him be anathema. II. — Of Revelation.
I. If anyone say that it is not possible, by the natural light
of human reason, to acquire a certain knowledge of the One
and True God, our Creator and Lord, by the things which He
has created, let him be anathema.
2. If anyone say that it is not possible, or that it is not
good, that man should be taught by Divine Revelation the
knowledge of God and of the worship to be rendered to Him,
let him be anathema.
3. If anyone say that man cannot be raised to a knowledge
and perfection which are above nature, by the Divine aid, but
that it is only out of himself and by natural progress that he
can and ought to attain to the possession of all that is true and
good, let him be anathema.
4. If anyone do not accept for sacred and canonical the
-whole and every part of the Books of Holy Scripture as the
Sacred Council of Trent has defined them, or deny that they
are divinely inspired, let him be anathema.
IIL— Of Faith.
I. If anyone say that such is the independence of human
reason that God cannot demand of it faith in Him, let him be
anathema. 2. If anyone say that there is no difference between Divine
faith and the natural knowledge of God and morals, and that,
therefore, it is not required for a Divine faith that the truth
revealed shall be accepted on the authority of God revealing
it, let him be anathema.

FAITH AND REASON 401
3. If anyone say that a Divine revelation cannot be made
credible by external signs, and that therefore, persons ought
only to be moved to faith by everyone's own internal experi
ence, or private inspiration, let him be anathema.
4. If anyone say that miracles cannot be, and therefore the
accounts of them, even those in Holy Scriptures, must be
assigned a place among fables and myths ; or that there can be
no certainty as to the fact of miracles, and that the Divine
origin of the Christian religion cannot be rightly proved from
them, let him be anathema.
5. If anyone say that assent to the Christian faith is not a
matter of free will, but is necessarily dependent upon the
conclusions of human reason, or that the grace of God is
necessary only for the living faith which worketh by love, let
him be anathema.
6. If anyone say that the condition of the faithful and of
those who have not yet come to the true Faith is the same, so
that Cathohcs are equally at liberty to suspend their judgment
and continue inquiry, upon the Faith which they have received
from the teaching of the Church, until they have worked out a
scientific demonstration of the credibility and truth of this
Faith, let him be anathema.
IV. — Of Faith and Reason.
I. If anyone say that in Divine revelation there are not
contained any mysteries, real, and properly so-called, but
that the universal doctrines of Faith can be understood and
demonstrated by sound logic from natural principles, let him
be anathema. 2. If anyone say that the systems of human opinion
may be studied with that freedom that their maxims may be
regarded as true, even though opposed to revealed truth, and
that they cannot be proscribed by the Church, let him be
I anathema.
'" 3. If anyone say that the doctrines of the Church can ever
receive a sense in accordance with the progress of science,
VOL. II. D D

402 THIRD OPEN SESSION
other than that sense which the Church has understood, and
still understands, let him be anathema.
In duty, therefore, to our supreme pastoral ofifice, by the
bowels of Jesus Christ we earnestly entreat all Christ's faithful
people, above all those who preside, or who discharge the
ofifice of teaching ; and we also command them, by the authority
of God and our Saviour, that they study and labour to expel
and eliminate these errors, and display the light of the purest
faith. Since, however, it is not enough to shun heretical pravity
unless care be taken to avoid also those errors which more or
less tend to it, we warn all to do their duty, and to observe the
Constitutions and Decrees by which such erroneous opinions,
though not here explicitly enumerated, have been proscribed
and prohibited by this Holy See.
It is scarcely necessary to observe that these ' Canons '
generally express the doctrine and the usual teaching
of the Church of England, and of all the religious com
munities afifecting an orthodox character. They are the
teaching of the Bible as commonly received and inter
preted. They are implied in the very idea of a revelation.
As regards the anathema, that is commonly held in
view, but ever kept in reserve. It is supposed to be
always imminent, but we no more venture to deliver the
sentence, and hurl the bolt, upon our own ' private
interpretation ' and decision, than we should to direct
heaven's own lightning at our own will and pleasure.
It was understood, at the time, that the terms in which
these various errors are described pointed to certain
well-known authors, theories, and schools of thought.

403

CHAPTER CXIX
THE ROMAN ARTISTS AT CERVARA
Rome : April 27.
The artists had their revenge on the Council the day
after the Session. They had been open-mouthed in
their complaints of the huge nightmare which has at
once insulted their reason, offended their social tastes
and their Pagan prejudices, and deprived them of bread.
The Fathers don't give orders, neither do the sort of
folk who come to see the Fathers. So to soothe them,
I suppose, by special indulgences, they were allowed
their annual festival, which for reasons of State has
been prohibited for twelve years. Nor would it be very
surprising were twelve more years to elapse before
another like celebration. So they made the very most
of it, and if Paganism ever had a chance of getting its
own again, that was on Monday. All the artists went
out of Rome by the Porta Maggiore, all their friends,
atid everybody who had the time and could afford
carriage hire. There must be at least twice as many
carriages in Rome as there were twelve years since, and
by 4 o'clock on Monday it was impossible to get a
vehicle of any sort to get to the station to save your
life. What the eye saw was the gods and goddesses
leaving Rome, as Homer tells us of their once going

404 THE ROMAN ARTISTS AT CERVARA
to spend a day on the Upper Nile. There were the
Olympians, and the lesser Divinities, Nymphs, and
Priests of every order. Waggons drawn by superb
oxen conveyed majestic beings, whose utterances were
human, though sometimes rather scathing to the irreve
rent observer. Not only were all the properties of the
studios utilised, but the theatres lent their attractions.
Every civilisation, except our own, was represented,
for there were knights, senators, and personages that
nobody could give any account of The Seasons, the
Elements, and the Moral Ideas came in ad libitum.
People tell us that, whether going or returning, it
was really one procession all the way from Rome to
Cervara — a picturesque region in the, much-maligned
Campagna, reached by striking ofif from the Tivoli road,
four miles from Rome. There are rocks, deep caverns
or grottoes, meadows, streams, and shrubberies. Here
they all disported themselves in rather Teutonic fashion.
Spring came out of her cave, encountered Winter, and
overcame him, stripping him of his icicles and bear
skin. There was, it is affirmed, an actual sacrifice to
Bacchus, done with antiquarian fidelity. That divinity
himself, as well as a good many others there, was so
conscienriously rendered as to the little drapery allowed,
that modest people had to avert their gaze or hold up
their hand at his approach. There were speeches in
many tongues, orders were instituted, and emblems
distributed. There were races on donkey and on foot,
wresriing, javelin throwing, &c.' After the 'picnic' the
fun was fast and furious, and a great number of amateurs
contributed the most original ideas to the entertainment
of the day. Fathers of families who were there open

THE GREAT LITANIES 405
their eyes wide, and say it was a thing to be seen once,
but not a second time. A good many of the Fathers
of the Council went in simplicity, looked, and came
home, neither able nor willing to say exactly what they
saw or heard. I don't know how many thousand people
there were, but it was ' all Rome.' The return was even
more imposing and lively than the going out That I
might have seen, but I was engaged, as I shall have
to tell. As to ,the morning of the day, some will think I
made a very indifferent choice of entertainment. In the
year 594, Gregory the Great ordered a procession of all
the clergy of Rome from St. Mark's, it being the day
of the Evangelist, to St. Peter's, in order to obtain the
cessation of the Plague. ' The Great Litanies,' as the
day appears to be called, have been done ever since,
now for 1300 years. At 8 precisely I assisted at the
starting from the magnificent and very Venetian church
behind what is now the Austrian Embassy ; I walked
to and fro by the side of the procession, and assisted
to receive it in St. Peter's. Exceptions I suppose
there were, but, in a general sense, there were all the
'Regulars and Seculars of the city — that is, all the
Orders, all the Colleges, all the parochial clergy, and
all the Capitular bodies. The procession must have
been a mile long, numbering, perhaps, 3,000, with a
multitude of banners, crosses, and very tall conical
canopies of embroidered silk. The whole thing, whether
as to its composition or as to the class of spectators, had
a prevailing parochial and middle-class air. It was wel
comed wherever it came with the jingle of church bells,
and bystanders were everywhere on the look-out for

4o6 THE ROMAN ARTISTS AT CERVARA
known faces. There were twenty-three different com
munities or divisions, and the alternate bodies chanted
the alternate verses of the Litany, so far as my ear
could catch. The effect was simple and solemn.
I employed my eyes on the faces and figures. The
Orphans led. They looked handsome, intelligent, and
good, up to ten or eleven years. As in most lower-
class schools, there was a falling ofif beyond that age.
The orders of Penitents, one would hope, at least de
served their name. The Capuchins struck me as very
sad and mortified, as also the Minor Conventuals or
Cordeliers. They must be starving, watching, and
praying themselves to death. The Grand Augustines
were grave, solemn people, as also the Carmelites.
There were comparatively few (and they persons of
the lowest class, who would be in a union house or a
prison at home) that looked decidedly bad, though a
good many looked dull, disappointed, heavy men. The
Seculars, of course, looked more men of the world, and
not so much men cast in a mould. The Regulars
looked as if they had emerged into daylight and were
out of place, but I am sure that some hundreds of them,
most likely nearly all, are existing on a diet and with
rules that our Parliament would never tolerate for a
thrice-convicted garrotter. However, they seemed bear
ing it all to the bitter end, and praying to the Saints
for the good of their souls.
The sun was very hot and it was a comfort to see
that they did not come right across the Piazza of St
Peter, but under the Colonnade. They were received
by the whole Chapter of the Basilica, at the great
bronze doors, with holy water, incense, and an oration

A ROMAN DINNER 407
read from a pulpit, as they passed on. They went in
two detachments to the Chapel of the Sacrament, where
they sang a hymn with as grand a mass of sound as I
ever heard. Then they all formed round the tomb of
St. Peter, had a service, and received a benediction from
the altar. When all was over, they went off pell-mell
towards the sacristy. A bishop — I think, the Vice
gerent of the Vicar-General — had the post of honour
in the procession. It was a great deal to get over by
10 o'clock in the morning ; but this is an early people.
In the afternoon the Pope and his Court received two
or three hundred ' Volunteers ' in the Vatican garden,
gave them medals, and made them pretty speeches. It
was pronounced a charming sight by the very select few
that had been told of it All that I saw of it was a
handful of orange blossom from the trees in full bloom
there now.
For the evening a most hospitable Australian friend
had invited me to a ' Roman dinner' — equivalent to a
whitebait dinner at home, with some notable points.
The associations and topics v^^ere Australian, the nation
ality chiefly Irish, and the fare rigorously the produce of
the Campagna of Rome, its rivers, and its shores. The
bill of fare on these occasions recognises no limit to
time, appetite, or digestion. It includes unheard-of fish,
cuttlefish, polypuses, things with legs and arms, snails,
frogs, porcupines, tortoises, wild boar, goat, jackdaws,
magpies, and everything that a closely besieged town
tries at least to allay hunger with. However, there is
always an ample reserve of more usual and nutritious
food. This was at the Falcone, the great place for
'Roman dinners,' between the Minerva and the Pantheon.

4o8 THE ROMAN ARTISTS AT CERVARA
The company were : their Graces of Armagh and Tuam ;
seven Australian bishops, with Irish names ; my good
friend the Knight of Malta; the rector of the Irish
College here ; an Irish parish priest ; and a disringuished
Australian colonist and statesman, whose heart was at
Eton — at least his talk was of it. There were toasts
and pretty speeches. We drank His Holiness and the
Queen, and, I think, in substance, mutual charity and
civil and religious liberty all over the world. Both the
lay and clerical Australians were of opinion that we
could not do better than do in England what has just
been done in Ireland, and what answers very well in
Australia. I suppose there is not much choice about it,
and if a man must lose his leg, the sooner the better.
As things are- — and I do not the least quarrel with the
fact — Italy and Ireland seem likely to supply bishops
for the entire human race. Of the former one must know
little ; but the latter is doing the work honestly and well.
By the by — excuse the break — I have had the following
question put in writing to an Irish 'Father 'here : — 'How
often in the year is the Athanasian Creed recited by the
congregation of a Catholic parish church ? ' The answer
is ' Never.' I must revert to the public Session of Sunday. What
ever may be said as to the necessity or the wisdom of
secrecy in the processes of deliberation, it is a thousand_
pities that what is intended to be public should lose so
much of the desired publicity by mere structural diffi
culties. Where I stood we were meant to see and hear,
and did our best ; but sadly failed. As for opera-
glasses, the good Fathers themselves use opera-glasses
in the Council Hall itself, simply because they want to

THE CEREMONIAL OF THE OPEN SESSION 409
see, and seeing helps them to hear and understand.
There was much done that I grieve not to have been
able to catch with eye or ear. Thus, in the course of
the Litany the Pope rose to his feet and intoned, the
invocations, which successively implored the Omnipotent
to deign to bless, rule, and preserve the Synod and the
hierarchy of the Church, and while so doing made the
sign of the Cross six times over the whole assembly.
The gospel chanted by Cardinal Borromeo was the clos
ing words of St, Matthew's gospel. The Pope himself
chanted the first verse of the Veni Creator and the Te
Deum. After the invocation of the Spirit, according to
the ceremonial, all the persons who had no part in the
Council were to have gone outside the entrance, and in
that case would have utterly prevented the little com
pany I have described, and of which I was one, from
seeing anything more. The Pope himself, seeing this,
most considerately gave orders that they should remain
at their places in the hall.
The Secretary of the Council then advanced to the
throne, and asked the Pope, in a loud and distinct voice,
whether the decrees and canons contained in that con
stitution pleased him. The Pope answered, declaring
bis pleasure, and handed the document to Valenziani,
who then read it from the pulpit Upon the suffrages
being collected and taken to the throne, the Pope
sanctioned the decrees and canons ' on his supreme
authority.' He then made a short address. We could
recognise the voice, but the tone, though emphatic, was
subdued, and almost conversational. The Pope was
then asked to order the making of various instruments, or
records of all that had happened in the Council. Then

410 THE ROMAN ARTISTS AT CERVARA
followed the Te Deum, the first verses intoned by the
Pope ; the Apostolical Benediction, and the ' publication
of an indulgence ' by the Cardinal Assistant I did not
give you the few words M'hich were all that reached us of
the Pope's brief allocution, expecting to hear more, but
more has not come, so here is the little all : — ' How beauti
ful is concord ! How great the blessing of peace ! As
our Saviour, in the words you have heard to-day, gave
the Apostles His peace, so I, His unworthy vicar, wish
to give my peace to you. May all the Churches labour
towards unity, trying to walk together with mutual
charity, shutting their ears to unwise talk, dwelling as
they do in the midst of impiety.' This is from a careful
listener who stood a few yards from the throne.
I had rather more chance of reporting the only
words which I heard so as to understand that day, in
my own immediate neighbourhood, but my memory now
fails to recall the Council in a nutshell. My im
pression is that the fair convert drove her logic rather
too hard, and that her opponent equally erred in the
readiness with which she accepted conclusions. ' How
can you ever have conviction if you are to be always
inquiring .? ' ' But I don't want conviction if I cannot
have it. If it comes to me, that's another matter'
' But how can you ever have peace without a con
viction ? ' ' I do not know what you call peace, but
if it puts an end to thought, I must do without it.'
Then there followed on the other side a very gentle
allusion to Heaven and Hell, as points upon which it
was as well to be without anxiety. The opponent's
answer was that if her conscience told her she was
rightly employed, or in a right way, she might dismiss

NOT ' CONVENABLE ' 41 1
anxiety as to what was beyond her powers of appre
hension. I confess myself a bad reporter, but I do my
bjCst All the time a severe-looking gentleman in black,
with a very large silver chain, was looking at me im
ploringly, as if it was in my power to close the dis
cussion. It was not ' convenable,' he said between his
teeth, and turning round looked hard, first at the
Papalina, and then at her antagonist ; but, poor man,
the fire had gone from his eye, and his mien was not
majestic, so they looked at him and went on.
The reader will possibly have observed that there
was nothing very new in the little controversy I have
ventured to report. But neither was anything new
enunciated within the Council Hall that day. Nothing
was then declared that has not been proclaimed for
centuries from some thousand British pulpits, too often
indeed and too fiercely for the patience and improve
ment of ordinary congregations.

412

CHAPTER CXX
SOME RECOLLECTIONS
The date of my last letter was my last day at Rome,
for we left early on April 28. The reader will have
observed that I had much to say, but also had much
to omit. A ' Roman dinner ' is an event in any life, if it recall
ever so little the days of Horace or of Lucullus ; but
this was a banquet shared with many Fathers of a
Christian Council, making, it is true, no great figure
there, but pillars of the Church in their countries and
at their homes. I find I have said but little of it, the
truth being that there was so much to say.
Having nothing else to do in the afternoon, and
wishing to prepare myself with a restful occupation, I
walked through Porta Pia to S. Agnese and a mile be
yond, where the Prehistoric folks were making great finds.
S. Agnese itself goes deep into earth, and into history.
What now passes for it is a conspicuous and picturesque
group of buildings that catches your eye as soon as
you are outside Porta Pia. But under the more modern
church is the church said to have been built by a
daughter of Constantine, from the pillars and other
material of Pagan temples, and from that ancient
church you again descend to the Catacombs. This

AN ATTEMPTED SACRILEGE 413
readily accounts for the disaster which so nearly cut
' short the long reign of Pio Nono. I was now pressed
for time, and pushed on to some extensive gravel pits,
the gravel itself under many feet of a light friable soil.
If I had had any plan in my expedition, or any method
in my explorations, I should have been aware of 'tread
ing on sacred ground. A mile or so beyond S. Agnese
I crossed the Anio, by what is now called the Ponte
Lamentano, near the famous Mons Sacer, and is a
region of burial-places, as Salmon informs me. A by
road, through an uninhabited district, led to the gravel
' pits, where a few men were at work. At a lone spot
my eye caught sight of some large square bricks or
tiles in a recent cutting. Upon further investigation
with the aid of my umbrella I found this was a grave,
no doubt of historic date, made entirely of these tiles,,
flat and upright, and arranged at the top in roof fashion.
The soil had found its way into the slight tenement
and filled it. I made an attempt to extricate the
skeleton, and soon found it was neither easy nor pious.
Then what could I do with my prize ? So I left the spot
and wandered, leaving my handsome London umbrella
hanging on a gate. My watch soon told me I must
return. When I had walked a few hundred yards I
perceived that I had left behind me the instrument of
my attempted sacrilege. As a respectable-looking
peasant, in a good trap, had just passed that way, I
had my misgivings. They were realised. My um
brella was gone, and I felt increased reverence and
respect for the occupant of the desecrated tomb. I
lingered long in the neighbourhood, unwiUing to tear
myself from a region full of historical associations, for

414 SOME RECOLLECTIONS
it is more in the country about Rome than in the city
itself that its history is to be read. At last I had to
set my face towards the city. The sun was very low
when I found myself in the narrow streets leading to
my hotel. I felt my head throbbing, and I lay down
for twenty minutes. This was a bad preparation for
a conflict of civilities with a dozen Fathers of the
Council. I was punctual. Ascending an external flight of
stone steps I found myself in a spacious, slightly fur
nished room, with a rather leonine figure, his Grace of
Tuam, before me. I had no reason to fear, or shun his
presence. He had long had the run of the Times, as
regards the admission of his letters ; though with an
occasional comment. I had recently heard much of
him in his own neighbourhood : I had found myself late
one night in the very lowly hovel in which, in his boy
hood, he had served for two years as a cowherd. On the
present occasion he was rather grim and taciturn, and did
not seem qliite at home with anybody. The company
dropped in : — Quinn, of Brisbane ; Goold of Melbourne ;
Shield, of Adelaide ; Brady, of Perth ; O'Mahony, of
Armidale ; Lanigan of Goulbourne ; MacGettingan, pre
conised Archbishop of Armagh the previous March 21 ;
Leahy, of Ca.shell, and Dr. Kirby of the Irish College.
The Archbishop of Westminster had been expected,
but made no appearance. The Amphitryon of the even
ing was a wealthy and hospitable proprietor of extensive
sheepruns in Queensland, who thought it very hard,
indeed a positive injustice, that while the British public
helped, as good customers, to shear Australian sheep,
they would not eat them also. I sat by Quinn, who

AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALITIES 415
had been on intimate terms with Newman at Dublin,
and who had a world of interesting Australian ex
periences. At all the Colonial stations it is the rule to give
a hospitable reception to the ministers of all the
churches, and to help them to the next station ; the
ministers taking care to provide themselves with intro
ductory letters. Bishop Quinn arrived at an out-of-
the-way station late one evening, and was glad to see
the occupant standing at his door. Mr. Mackenzie
opened the letter, read it, and, looking up, said, ' Pass
on.' The Bishop asked, ' Have you read the letter .' '
Again the answer was ' Pass on.' ' You see what Mr.
 says,' exclaimed the Bishop. ' Pass on,' was all he
could extract, and he had to pass on, at nightfall, to a
station ten miles off", in a rough uninhabited country.
Upon nearing another station the Bishop saw some
body-linen hanging on the bush, and soon got a cue to
the owner. It was marked ' Hogan.' In a minute he
found the man at his door. ' How do you do, Hogan ? '
he exclaimed. The man stared. ' How do you know
my name } ' ' Oh, no'oody could mistake a Hogan,' the
Bishop said ; ' I know all your relations.' ' That's im
possible,' the nian said, ' I was born in a workhouse at
Liverpool. My mother died the day I was born, and
nobody knew who was my father.' ' He was a Cork
man,' the Bishop said, naming the quarter where the
Hogans abounded. ' They are all like one another, and
you are just one of them.' The man had heard that
his parents came from Cork. Of course the Bishop had
a good welcome.
Quinn, I daresay, would give a good account of me.

4i6 SOME RECOLLECTIONS
but I don't think I made a good presentation of myself
at this banquet. I felt the fever in me, and took two
or three glasses of the very insidious wines of the
country, which are an essential part of a Roman dinner.
I had to drink healths and respond to a toast. I am
always a bad hand at titles and dignities, and I fear I
mixed up Graces, and Lordships, and plain Misters in a
way only to be excused by the suggestion just offered.
After the Pope's health, they drank their newly-elected
Primate, a remarkably fine, dignified figure, with the
gentlest of manners, and the kindliest of expressions.
He replied that he scarcely knew how to accept their
compliments when there were those present who so
much better deserved them, and whom he would have
preferred to see in his place. But he must take what
they said as expressing what they wished him to be,
and what he would do his best to be.
I had been introduced to the Irish Primate before
this — I cannot remember when and where. On the
evening of Easter Day, as I have stated above, I went,
with half Rome, to the Pincian to see from that point
the illumination of St Peter's. I lingered there long,
and as the crowd thinned I at last found myself almost
alone by the side of the handsome carriage which the
piety of his countrymen had found for the Irish
Primate. We had a long conversation, so long indeed
that the custodian of the garden came several times
to tell the Archbishop it was contrary to rule for a
carriage to be there at that hour. All the time we
were talking I was observing the Sword of Orion sus
pended over the Cross of St. Peter's, and it was all
I could do to withhold myself from calling his Grace's

THE SWORD OF ORION 417
attention to the fact ' Well, what of that } ' some will
say. 'The Sword of Orion must hang over the cross
of St. Peter's every day of the year.' I can only reply
that I describe what I saw, thought, and felt, and what
returned to my memory with much force a few months
after. The Journal Officiel of yesterday publishes the following
despatch received by the Minister for Foreign Afifairs from the
Marquis de Banneville, the French Ambassador at Rome : —
Rome : April 28, 1870.
Sir,^ — Separated from their dioceses by the obligations
which detain them in Rome, the greater number of our
bishops have expressed to me their regrets at being prevented
from fulfilling the duties which are imposed upon all French
men by the Emperor's appeal to the nation. In their patriotic
solicitude for the greatness and the prosperity of our country
they would have felt happy in giving their assistance to the
Emperor's Government among the people of their dioceses
by contributing the authority of their co-operation and the
example of their confidence and devotion. They desire at least
to give expression to the feelings by which they are animated
on this solemn occasion, and they have requested me to be the
interpreter of their feelings and their wishes to his Majesty and
the Government. I have also, in conformity with a request
made to me by many of the French bishops, to inquire of your
Excellency whether their votes and those of the ecclesiastics
who have accompanied them to Rome would be received at
the Embassy here. In the event of the law permitting such a
course, would your Excellency be pleased to point out in
what manner the votes shall be collected and how they shall
he transmitted ? Rome : May 5.
The French Government thanks the bishops but cannot
accede to their request, the law not authorising it.
VOL. II. E E

4i8

CHAPTER CXXI
THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S PLEBISCITE
Paris : May S.
I HAPPEN to be at Paris on the day of the PlMscite.
It is an operation which will, perhaps, be universal and
customary a thousand years hence, but which to us is
novel and unique. Every Frenchman is asked to say
before 6 o'clock whether or not he approves of a general
policy and a series of constitutional changes pursued
during the last ten years. Nine years before that period
he had been invited to accept an Emperor. He is now
invited to accept the limitations which that Emperor
has found it wise to impose on himself and his successors.
Oddly enough, this is the exact reverse of the change
now in progress, or, at least, in contemplation, at Rome,
where the spiritual chief invites his subjects to release
him from the conditions and appeals alleged to qualify
his personal authority. Paris made no sign on Friday
or even yesterday. On my arrival I looked to the
newspaper shops and stands for tokens of the coming
Plebiscite. But, as I heard last night that four news
papers had been seized, only half the tale could be told
by the Press. The only illustrations to be seen were
grotesque figures dropping Oui and Non into a ballot-
box, and a page of imaginary portraits, which, in the

THE POLLING PLACES 419
interest of fair play, the Democrats might have com
mended to the notice of the Censor. They were the
portraits of the Ministry and King of the future, and
were of the most savage Republican type.
Yesterday I asked which was likely to be the most
crowded polling place. One informant said there would
be nothing of a crowd anywhere, French elections
always being the quietest and dullest afifairs. Another
suggested the Bourse. So I walked thither after an
early breakfast this morning. Something was going on
at the chief entrance of the Italian Opera as I passed —
perhaps taking places for a performance, I thought. I
walked round the Bourse, and returned to the small
door where the Plebiscite might possibly be. Ten or a
dozen men were standing about it with bundles of small
papers, and the steps, as well as the pavement under
the pillars, even at that early hour, were thickly littered
with the same. Looking down, I read a hundred or
two ' Ouis! These were, therefore, the polling papers^
or bulletins, and they were pressed upon me by a dozen
men who might be porters, the sort of people who
undertake to find a carriage for you, in the hope of half
a franc. Inside the door was a desk at which a man
had charge of papers, and looked as if expecting I
might want one. These papers I afterwards heard
were the official vouchers of your identity, and are called
' cartes dectorales! If you had not already obtained
one, you might repair the omission to-day. In an inner
room or large lobby, a temporary table, made with
boards and trestles, stood on a dirty piece of matting.
Upon it was a plain box. Behind the table sat four
men, of whom the biggest best looking, and best

420 THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S PLEBISCITE
dressed, sat directly behind the box, with a cap that
looked rather official, but that anybody might wear.
I stood at the door. Shortly a working man passed
me, bareheaded, and took his station before the box,
with his voucher or carte in one hand, and his ' bulletin '
in the other ; but seemed not quite to know what to do
with either. He was invited by a gesture to present
the carte first, and, after a glance at it, was invited to
do something with the bulletin. While he was fumbling
it, the official with the cap took it out of his hand, com
pleted the folding, and dropped it into the box. He
then did something with the carte — tore off" a corner, I
believe, and gave it back to the voter, who took it not
very readily, as if he had wished to be quit of it He
went ofif dangling it as if waiting for a chance to dispose
of it quietly. Four or five working men, one with
an apron, went through much the same process, but
they came up slowly. An elderly man, with the look
of a gentleman, walked up without taking off" his hat,
exhibited his carte, dropped his bulletin, already folded,
and walked out, as if it were a purely mechanical opera
tion. On coming out I stooped down to pick up one
or two clean bulletins. The little group I have men
tioned immediately surrounded me, each man ofifering
one from his bundle. I took two. Here is one of
them : — 'Plebiscite du 8 Mai.
'Bulletin de Vote.
' OUI.'
Thinking it possible they might be private specu
lators, I tendered coppers, which were declined with a
civil smile. A simple fellow came up, and was also

PERFORMANCE BEST DONE AT THE OPERA 421
pressed. By the time he had taken half a dozen
bulletins the men all laughed in his face ; and he rather
slowly saw that , one was enough. I have since learnt
that the ' Yes' and ' No ' bulletins are respectively issued
by two committees, the former employing twice or thrice
as many distributors as the other. You will catch pro
bably sooner than I did that the immense quantity of
' Yes ' bulletins strewing the ground indicated not only
the number distributed, but also the number rejected
by voters who polled ' Noes.'
A notice posted on the railings ofthe Bourse informed
me that the arrondissement was divided into twelve sec
tions for the present purpose, and that the Mairie and the
Italian Opera were the polling places for two of them. I
proceeded to the Mairie. As before, there were a dozen
men tendering bulletins. Under the entrance and in
the courtyard were a good many National Guards and
Sergents de Ville. Inside were several stands of piled
arms. Over a door on my left was Justice de Paix ;
inside were the said National Guard, packed rather
closely. Ascending a staircase on my right, I found
much the same apparatus, the same sort of persons, and
the same process as before, a rather better class voting,
but coming up very slowly.
Thence I went to the Italian Opera. Here, as before,
ten men were offering bulletins, but in one respect the
dignity of the Plebiscite was better maintained than
either at the Bourse or at the Mairie. On the threshold
stood a stout, good-looking man, with a tricolour scarf
round his arm. He had an attendant in a sort of livery,
who stood a little in the background. The official
seemed, in a pleasant, genial way, to invite the public to

422 THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S PLEBISCITE
enter. Everybody who advanced to the door he ad
dressed, and, having received a brief reply, motioned to
pass within. Not being in a condition to make a
pertinent reply, I held back. By-and-by, no one coming
up, the official looked at his attendant, who looked at
him, and they went off" together to a wine-shop over the
way. The coast being clear, I walked in, and to my
surprise found not less than fifty well-dressed persons
standing in a corridor, quite silent, pair behind pair,
waiting patiently their turn to vote. It appeared to me
the last arrivals would have to wait half an hour or more.
This was the only place where I saw anybody waiting.
As I came out, the man with the scarf round his arm
returned, rubbing his hands, and with his attendant
resumed his place at the door.
I afterwards came upon two other polling places-^
one a communal school not far from the English
Embassy, and the other a primary communal school in
the ninth arrondissement At the former I waited
some time, soon after 4 P.M., and nobody came, though
there were a dozen men ready to supply bulletins. At
the latter, which I came upon at 5.30, half an hour before
closing time, there were the dozen men as before ; and
the whole pavement as well as the passages of the school
was thicky littered with bulletins. Looking down, I
saw that many of the bulletins were negative, though I
had not noticed even one at the other places. I send
you one : — 'Pli^biscite du 8 Mai.
' Bulletin de Vote.
'NON.'
I have since heard how things went on at various

CALM BEFORE STORM 423
other polling places, one of them the Ministry of Finance
in this quarter, and from all I hear the same — a tame-
ness quite shocking to British notions. The opera
tion itself is not one to leave an opening for noisy
results. This morning I heard that there might be a
disturbance — at least that it was anticipated by those
who wanted it —in the Faubourg St Antoine ; but the
only suspicious symptom I have myself seen is the
employment of a dozen fellows in the way I have
described at the polling places. They do look a little as
if paid to be on the right side, and quite capable of
taking the other side, but for the retaining fee. People
still say there may be disturbance either to-morrow
evening or when the result is declared, but that there is
an overpowering force stowed away nobody can say
where, that the army is safe, and that wherever it shows
itself it is in possession of the ground.
No stranger, without being told it, could have the
least idea that anything was going on out of the usual
course. There must be more than two hundred polling
places, employing altogether more than a thousand
officials, and several thousand other persons. The
operation itself may or may not prove of any value.
Paris, within the Faubourgs, is no more moved by it
than it is by the daily collection of rates and taxes, or
by any other affair requiring the services of officials and
the attendance of the public. To-morrow, I suppose,
we shall hear whether the Plebiscite has done either
good or harm at Paris. The stars have been fighting
for either one side or the other, for never was there e
more brilliant or enjoyable day. The entire population
was out walking, or sitting in the bits of garden nov.

424 THE FRENCH EMPEROR'S PLEBISCITE
made wherever there is a chance. These broad streets
and boulevards are as good for promenades as military
men say they are for artillery and musketry, should the
occasion ever arise ; but certainly it is the peaceful
aspect of Paris I have been seeing to-day.

The following, according to the Augsburg Gazette, is the
text of the despatch concerning the CEcumenical Council
sent to the Marquis de Banneville at Rome by M. Emile
Ollivier when acting as Minister of Foreign Afifairs ad
interim ¦ — Paris : May 12, 1870.
Monsieur I'Ambassadeur, — The Emperor's Government
has not had itself represented at the Council, although the
right of doing so belongs to it in its quality of mandatary of
the laics in the Church. To prevent ultra opinions from
becoming dogmas, it reckoned on the moderation of the
bishops and on the prudence of the Holy Father ; and to
defend our civil and political laws against the encroachments
of the theocracy, it counted on public reason, on the
patriotism of the French Catholics, and on the ordinary means
of sanction which it can dispose of In consequence, it only
paid attention to the august character of a meeting of prelates
assembled to decide on great interests of the faith and of salva
tion, and merely imposed on itself one mission — to assure and
protect the entire liberty of the Council. Warned by the
rumours current in Europe of the dangers which certain im
prudent propositions would entail on the Church, desirous oft
not finding the aggressive forces organised against religious
belief receive any additional strength, it departed for an instant
from its attitude of reserve to offer suggestions and give advice.
The Sovereign Pontifif did not think fit to listen to the former
or to act on the latter. "We do not insist upon them, and
resume our previous position of abstention.

FRANCE HOLDING ALOOF 425
You will not call forth nor enter into any conversation
henceforward either with the Pope or with Cardinal Antonelli
relative to the afifairs of the Council. You will confine your
self to learning and noting down all the facts, all the feelings
which prepared them, and all the impressions which succeed
each event. Have the goodness to inform the French prelates
that our holding aloof does not betoken indifference, but is for
them a sign of respect, and, above all, of confidence. Their
defeat would be exceedingly bitter if the civil power, by its
intervention, had not prevented it ; and their triumph will be
all the more precious if they owe it only to their own efiforts
and the force of truth. — Accept Sir, &c., Emile Ollivier. —
Pall Mall Gazette. Rome : May 14.
The discussion of the primacy and infallibility of the Pope
commenced in to-day's General Congregation of the Council,
which will sit henceforward nearly every day. Great confidence
and enthusiasm prevail among the Ultramontane party, and it
is believed that the discussion will terminate within a month.
Many Fathers sitting in the centre of the Council have asked
for leave of absence. About 100 Fathers have inscribed their
names to oppose more or less radically the proposed Dogmatic
definition. Rome : May 16.
The French bishops have ordered a Te Deum in their
respective cathedrals next Sunday in celebration of the result
of the Plebiscite. A Te Deum will also be celebrated at the
French Embassy, in the presence of the Bishops. The Council
did not meet either to day or yesterday. It is expected that
the Archbishop of Paris will speak to-morrow against the pro
posed definition of Infallibility. Papal troops have been sent
to the province of Viterbo to prevent the bands which have
been dispersed in Tuscany from crossing the Roman frontier.
The Ecclesiastical Exhibition closes at the end of the month.

426

CHAPTER CXXII
Tiie 'Times,' June 8
The British public have some reason to regret that
the pressure of subjects nearer home, and more directly
concerning this country, has put their interest in the
CEcumenical Council somewhat in abeyance. A great
event is at hand. There can no longer be any doubt
that at the approaching Feast of St. Peter and St Paul
the 29th inst, the priceless blessing of Papal Infallibility
will be vouchsafed to the world. The day is the Feast
of St. Peter in our Calendar, and it is usually called St
Peter's Day at Rome, the Apostle to the Gentiles having
been associated only to disappear. The day is on this
occasion to be observed as a day of days, and the era of
a new revelation. Fireworks, illuminations, transparen
cies, triumphal arches, and all that taste and money can
do to demonstrate and delight, are already in hand, and,
whoever the guests, the marriage feast is in preparation.
Before our readers break out into any natural indig
nation at what they may think a strange mixture of
ideas, and a profanation of all that is holy, however
regarded, we must say a word for Rome. No doubt,
this is not the way in which she would most of all have
wished the thing to be done. If we do not say that she
has suffered an absolute disappointment, it is because she

NOW OR NEVER 427
has had before her all along, from the very first concep
tion of this pageant, an abundant variety of possible
alternatives. She had resolved only that the thing
should be done one way or the other, at one season or
the other, and, above all, under Pius IX. How much
personal character stands for in the most momentous
national questions we may see on the merest glance
at our own history, under a Constitution expressly
designed to subordinate this element But even in
theory a Pope is a good deal more than a ' limited '
Monarch, and his personal qualities become of propor
tionate importance. If, then, this world-saving Dogma
was to be defined and declared at all risks, it was not
safe to put it off" to a future year, and careful observers
saw from the first that this object was ever foremost in
Roman vision. Without ' Papal Infallibility ' all else
was unsafe. What is a Council .'' It may call itself CEcu
menical, but how small are its claims to the high-sound
ing title is nowhere better known or more felt than at
Rome. It invites scrutiny and cannot stand it To
analyse it is to pull it to pieces. At best its decisions
are those of a majority the moral weight of which is in
the inverse ratio of its number. The Pope himself
only recognises it to declare it his own creation,
his own Council, and the mode in which he acts when
it so pleases him. It is a thing of the past It can
be laid by, as it has been laid by. To appeal to it
has long been heresy. There is no break in the Papal
prescription ; but it is three centuries since the assem
blage of a Council. Whatever was to be done must be
in the name of the Pope, the Council doing its part as
best it could. Now, therefore, was the time, if ever,

428 THE 'TIMES; JUNE 8
when a controversy was to be set at rest, as far as it
could be. The next Pope will have to make his
character, for there exists no probable successor equal
to this high function. The Cardinals are learned, indus
trious, acute men, long versed in the management of
ecclesiastical affairs. But there is not one of them to
whom even a Council would like to present the high
gift of Infallibility. Meanwhile, Prussia, Austria, and
France have shown an increasing determination to pro
test to the uttermost against any new accession to an
authority in which the spiritual and temporal elements
are not even ostensibly distinguished. As was seen from
the beginning, the Opposition in the Council has been
steadily consolidated. The Continental Governments
held back or hesitated, in order that the dissentient
or remonstrant Fathers might do their part ; but they
have not the less done their own, and at this moment
Rome has to confront an amount of political and contro
versial opposition which might well deter a less obstinate
Power. But the deed must be done, and ' what thou
doest do quickly.' It is vain now to ask whether it
would have answered to press the fell issue months ago
as it was then thought any day possible. It must be
done now. Rome would else lose name, authority, and
even honour. It must be done. It will not be done in
the way Rome would have chosen ; but she is equal to
the occasion, and will do what is best under the circum
stances. On St. Peter's Day Rome will have in attendance
four hundred men as ready then to assent to anything
she proposes as they were on the opening day. They
represent Rome herself, her schools and colleges, her

NUMERICAL AND MORAL WEIGHT 429
missions, her Oriental Churches, Italy and Spain. They
are men whom Rome has taught, and who are ready to
live or die for her. There will also be two hundred men
whose birth, education, and careers have associated them
rather with this world that we live in — the world that
changes, increases, and improves — the world that differs
and tolerates differences — the world that is content with
the social in default of a higher unity. These two hun
dred men will vote, either conditionally or altogether,
against the Dogma, yet with the confessed certainty that
they will have to accept the decision, and enforce it as
far as their own Governments will allow. Rome will
have, as is variously estimated, two-thirds, or three-
fourths, or even four-fifths, on her side. The minority
will be fearfully preponderant in moral and intellectual
weight, and in the populations and States represented.
Rome, however, is doing her best The summer heats
have come. The Council is thinning. The Fathers are
called home, and most anxious to respond to the call.
Known opponents are allowed to leave quietly. Others
are given to understand that they may go, if they will
leave their proxies, which will not count, indeed, in the
voting, but will be reckoned in the calculation of moral
strength which is sure to follow. Even so, however, the
Council will have the ill look of a company hardly held
together against its will, worn out, and reduced to terms.
The grandest act of the whole performance will have
to be performed to empty benches. Rome is usually
deserted by the end of this month. None are left but the
most seasoned inhabitants or that strange class of
tourists which knows not times and seasons, and thinks
one place like another. So an extraordinary efifort is to

430 THE 'TIMES', JUNE 8
be made. Rome is to excel herself in her mimic
meteors, her artistic transfigurations, her new heavens
and new earths, her angelic radiance, her divine glories,
and infernal horrors. If the Council has been chary of
its utterances and coy in its appearances, that will be
made up by explosions and spectacles of a more intelli
gible character. We can promise that it will be worth
many miles of excursion trains to go and see. The
Campagna will be deserted that all the Pope's temporal
lieges may be there in their picturesque costumes. They
and the astonished strangers will there see with their
own eyes the Pope of Rome, the actual successor of St.
Peter, invested with absolute authority over all souls,
hearts, and minds. They will see him welcoming the
faithful ' Placets,' and consigning the ' Non-Placets ' to
the flames of a Tartarean abyss. They will see hideous
forms, snakes, dragons, hydras, centipedes, toads, and
nondescript monsters under the feet, or the lance, or the
thunderbolt of conquering Rome, and they will not fail
to recognise in them the Church of England, the Protes
tant communities, and the German philosophers. It
will be a grand day, and great things will be done on
the 29th of June. We will not believe it possible that
a single mishap will disturb the sacred programme —
that the lightnings may miss their aim or the Powers of
Darkness prevail We cannot doubt all will go off" well,
for the simple reason that all is ready and forecasted,
down to the v6ry Dogma. Artists of surpassing skill
and taste are working hard on the upholstery of the
Divine manifestation, not knowing whether to think it
a blasphemy or a good joke. It is their poverty, and
not their will, that consents to the task. As we see the

EMPTY SHOW 431
illuminations expiring, the Roman candles lost in smoke,
and the exhibitors taking the old properties back to
the vast magazines of Rome, we cannot help thinking
of the poor Fathers put off with glare and noise in place
of conviction or peace of mind. Think of poor Mac-
Hale exhausting in vain his logic, his learning, and his
powerful style, and taking back to his poor flock on the
Atlantic shore a strange story of Chinese lanterns, fiery
bouquets, showers of gold, and transparencies more strik
ing even than the illustrations of our prophetic almanacs.
Was it for this he left his post and resided at the cost
of his flock seven months at Rome ? What must their
reflections be ? Is it not just possible that some of
them may darkly suspect that such, so artificial, so
illusory, so really nothing. at all, were the things they
read of in the Sacred Legend ? Nay, what should we
think, if we had the least reason to suspect that the
heavenly appearances in Holy Writ had been got up in
this fashion ?

Archbishop Manning quoted the greater part of this
article in his Pastoral Letter published that year. He
particularly calls attention to the fact that as regards
the date announced, and the general character of the
intended celebrations, the forecast was a failure. The
writer certainly did fail to foresee with infallible accuracy
that at midday the Infallibility of the Pope would be
proclaimed in thunder, lightning and rain, and by the
extemporised light of candles, and that instead of Peace
on Earth to men of good will, the supposed heavenly
announcement would. be immediately followed by one

432 THE 'TIMES; JUNE 8
of the most tremendous wars history can tell of, by the
fall of the Church's Eldest Son, and the extinction of
the Pope's own Temporal Power.
However, the Archbishop must be credited with the
courage of his convictions. At the date of his Pastoral,
the Translation of King Edward the Confessor, Oct 13,
he had seen — it is evident, with unshaken confidence —
Rome occupied by Victor Emmanuel, the Papal States
declaring by Plebiscite for union with Italy ; France
everywhere and utterly defeated, and overrun ; repub
licans, communists, and military adventurers contend
ing for the carcass, and the hated German everywhere
ascendant. With justice he appealed to all history for
the fact that Rome, Papal as well as Pagan, has often
suffered what seemed to be the end of all things as far
as she was concerned, and has then been marvellously
and amply reinstated. But what is the lesson ? Surely
to think less of earthly dreams, and more of the Divine
commission.

433

CHAPTER CXXIII
Tiie ' Times,' July 7
After seven months spent in a long agony, the pangs
and perils of which can hardly be estimated in this
calmer region, all that Rome allows to transpire is that
the Council, has approved the Preamble and the first
two chapters of the Schema on the Primacy and Infalli
bility of the Pope. It is well known that the Preamble,
at least, has been severely criticised ; and it is now
admitted that the great struggle is still to come. The
discussion continues on the Third Chapter ; the Ultra
montanes demand that it shall be closed, and should
it be found necessary to resist their entreaties, the dis
cussion may go far into the dog-days, nowhere more
terrible than at Rome. So vast a preparation, so long
a delay, such a force of resistance, and such a body of
actual protest, might well warn Rome that the work
itself transcends human power, and that the object is
unattainable in the existing state of sublunary afifairs.
But it is the pride of that people and that State to take
no warning, to retrace no steps, and only to look at
that which is far before. Pius IX. and his advisers
would think it a sin to entertain the least doubt that
they can infinitely surpass the highest flights of human
policy, science, and invention. While common men are
VOL. II. F F

434 THE 'TIMES; JULY 7
only too proud if they can make history, or bring philo
sophy down from the stars, or reduce the subtle ele
ments into mechanical subjection, Rome believes that
a company of men endowed for the purpose with Divine
power and intelligence, can ascertain and open to prac
tical use a way to and from the mystery of the (Infinite.
That which fills all space, is for all eternity, and is the
cause and end of all things, is, they maintain, to be
seen, heard, read — nay, touched and handled, in the
City of Rome. Here, in these benighted regions, we
are supposed to wander in a wilderness of speculation,
making faint guesses and still feebler efforts at truth,
and uttering the incoherent cries of a doubting faith and
a spasmodic religion ; while a few surviving traditions,
such as the Bible and a form of prayer, testify rather
to what we have not than to what we can be really said
to retain. At Rome, however, a perfect faith is to be
rewarded with a perfect fruition, and men are to know
what they may believe. They cannot fail, for they
have an infallible guide. Such a purpose, to be sure
of it, and to accomplish it, is worth any effort and any
sacrifice. If to a coarse apprehension the long labour
may seem out of all proportion to the measurable result,
we have to consider that Heaven itself was to be be
sieged, and its Sovereign brought down to earth. The
battle was to be conclusive ; the toil and pains once for
all. Henceforth there was to be no labour of thought,
no impatient longings after truth ; all was to be assured
absolutely and for ever. Compared with this, the long
struggles and supreme agonies of nations for liberty
and independence are but as the passing squabbles of
children. That there was a cause for some such effort.

A BATTLE FOR EXISTENCE 435
and that it is the world which has challenged Rome
latterly as much as that Rome has challenged the world,
we must all admit; and we must admit, too, that a
mutual challenge involves mutual respect On both
sides, however, it is a battle for existence, and so far
as we are concerned, the simple issue is whether or not
Rome shall be everything, and we nothing at all. There
can be no compromise when that is the question, and,
however much we may respect the spirit of Universal
Empire still haunting the Seven Hills and still con
juring up, for that one great end, the oracles of every
past age, we can come to no terms with the Power
which boasts not to be satisfied with anything short of
.absolute mastery.
The form of words actually obtained, or to be ob
tained, from the distracted and recalcitrant Fathers, we
shall know in a few weeks. No doubt a good deal has
to be given up in order to obtain the greatest possible
number of suffrages, especially where the suffrages stand
for population and power, and for moral and intellectual
weight. But this is a point on which we may be de
ceived, as even the most vigilant and subtle Fathers of
the Council may find themselves deceived. It was well
known at the opening of the Council, as, indeed, was
¦evident from the previous and, so to speak, preliminary
discussions, that Rome had an inexhaustible treasury
of alternative phrases, and had weighed every word that
ever had been or ever could be imported into the con-
troyersy. It was impossible that outsiders, including
all who had put themselves into an attitude of hostility,
should be as well acquainted with the vocabulary and
grammar of Primacy and Infallibility as they who be-

436 THE 'TIMES; JULY 7
lieved themselves to be actually possessing and exer
cising the sublime gifts. It was almost vain to examine
and to sift when the most searching scrutiny would only
result in leaving the work still to be done, on another
arrangement of words. What Rome hoped to accom
plish, by one formula or another, was that the Bishop
of Rome should be invested with all that possession of
the truth which theologians of all schools have believed
to reside in the Church, whatever their notion of the
Church might be. The universal doctrine of the Church
is that the Holy Spirit imparts the truth. On this
point the Vatican, the Jerusalem Chamber at West
minster, and the village Chapel, are fully agreed. As
the diversity of results compels an inquiry into the
several ways by which they have been respectively at
tained, the doctrine requires to be largely qualified, and
each denomination qualifies it accordingly in a sense
of its own. But within each denomination — certainly
within the Church of Rome — there are many schools of
thought, leading to controversy within as well as with
out the gates. How, by what modes, and in what act
and form, does the successor of St Peter, if such he be,
arrive at the end of a controversy, and declare it with
an authority never to be gainsaid or doubted ? It is
admitted that the Pope must declare the truth when he
declares it with authority and intention, and, for that
purpose, with the recognised forms. Several phrases,
such as ' ex cathedra', have been largely used, as if they
would save at once Rome and the Christian world. But
the painful and undeniable fact is that Rome, more true
to her Pagan than to her Christian precedents, labours,
as she always has laboured, to distinguish between

IS THE CHURCH A FAMILY OR A STATE? 437
herself and the rest of the world in all that relates to
origination, decision, action, government, and dominion.
She is to speak, and the rest of the world ^o hear. She
is to teach, and the rest of the world to believe. She is
to command, and the rest of the world to obey. She
is to interpret, and the rest of the world to assent.
She is to lead, and the rest of the world to follow.
This is to make herself the only real, active, manly,
and energetic existence in the world, all the rest being
shadowy, passive, feminine, and inert, in comparison
with her more noble and Divine quality. What, then,
is this terrible Power ? Is it the Bishop of Rome, the
man who occupies the See of Rome, with his Roman
Court, his Roman servants, his Roman advisers, his
numerous Roman establishments, and, above all, his
College of chiefly Italian Cardinals, or is it the elective
head of the great Spiritual Commonwealth, the chief
officer — nay, the Emperor, if it be wished— of the great
Christian State ? Rome has not allowed any but one
¦answer to this question. She has made the Italian
element preponderating and supreme in her organisa
tion. It is the Blood Royal in the Kingdom of Heaven.
In effect, Rome claims for Italians that peculiar spiritual
discernment, that special insight into Divine mysteries,
that national proclivity to all that is good in word and
in deed, and that conquering determination to seek the
good which constitute them the true lords of the crea
tion. As man has dominion over the beasts, so has
Rome over other men. If she has bowed now and then
to brute force. Providence, or a miracle, has intervened
to break her bonds, and she has emerged greater
stronger, and more courageous. But if there is one

438 THE ' times; JULY 7
thing less to be found in Holy Writ than another, it is
the pre-eminence — nay, the absolute dominion — of one
Church over another, one race over another, one State
over another, one Bishop or Apostle over another, in
the Church of Christ What Rome attempts to-day is
not the settlement of any question that might naturally
and properly arise in the Christian Church, but simply
the stout assertion of the privilege of a locality and
the supremacy of a race, with the consequent right to
possess and govern the whole world.
As the Council has now been engaged for seven
months upon words, and for two months upon the
words necessary to define Papal Infallibility, and as,
during the progress of the dark and gloomy discussion,
it is evident these questions of words have led to violent
antagonisms, the words must be of some importance.
There are those who protest, those who remonstrate,
those who flag, those who keep silence and wait for the
moment of action, and there are even those upon whom
the discussion would seem to have worked changes. A
good proportion of these men are ready to make any
personal sacrifice for their preference of one form of
decree to another. In the face of this, it sounds very
paradoxical to be told that words cannot signify at all
in the matter, inasmuch as no words can possibly be
used which cannot be made to signify anything, every
thing, or nothing, as may be desired. All sides in the
Council started fair and abreast with the common ad
mission that the Pope is infallible. It was the old and
universal doctrine, and it certainly is the doctrine of
the Romanist CatechisiTi in use in these islands. Two
sides, however, argued differently from this common

ASSENT OF THE CHURCH NECESSARY 439
admission. Since the Pope is infallible, said one party,
there is no need to make him infallible, nor can it be
done, for what has been done cannot remain to be done.
Nor can an absolute truth be dependent on the majority
of votes in a Council. On the other side, it has been
rather violently demanded that if indeed the Pope be
infallible, what possible objection can there be to a
Council adding its testimony to the great truth } Thus
much for the existing belief and tradition of the Church.
But precisely the same is said, and repeated, as to the
inefficacy of any new words to bind the futiire. It will
always be impossible to say what given words exactly
mean, or to explain them, except by reference to exist
ing practice and opinions. Make the Pope what you
please, it is said, and it will still be open to doubt
whether he has said or done anything in the very
fulness of his power and authority, and in a way to
compel assent. It is impossible to provide by any form
of words that the assent of the Church shall not be the
necessary condition of a dogma. If that assent be only
partial, or imperfect, or qualified, or incomplete by
reason of political difficulties and objections, it will so
far not be accomplished, and the dogma so far will not
even be declared. One of the last pieces of gossip from
Rome was that the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna, an
old ally of the Pope, had ventured to argue, first in
Council and then with his Holiness, that infallibility
was in the act — that is, the official act — and that the
act required the concurrence of the Church. The story
adds that the Pope told him it was not in Bellarmine
and was only the poor man's own speculative idea.
That is, however, a doctrine so universally and so re-

440 THE 'TIMES; JULY 7
spectably maintained that Rome herself will never be
able to discountenance it Rome herself has largely
availed herself of the doctrine of universal assent in
order to establish the personal infallibility, particularly
of late years. It is universal assent which Rome cites
to prove that her declaration of the ' Immaculate Con
ception ' made it an article of faith. It is universal
assent and submission which she rests on to provfe the
continuity and completeness of her own authority, as
apart from General Councils. Common sense itself
says that no teaching, whatever it be, can acquire an
actual existence, impose responsibility, or be depended
on for suitable results, without a certain degree of par
ticipation in the persons taught That, it seems, is the
question now opened, and likely to disturb Rome. She
has prepared her doctrine ; she has more to prepare ;
it is, indeed, her policy to be always a little ahead of
even the strongest believer. But she will have to en
counter deaf ears. Not only learned men, but whole
Churches and States will bind themselves no further
than their understandings can go with them.

441

CHAPTER CXXIV
FOURTH OPEN SESSION
Rome : July 19.
A GREAT event may command attention from its very
failure of success, just as a spectacle announced with a
flourish of trumpets may from the very absence of all
the attractions expected create a far greater sensation
than if it had been clothed with all that constitutes the
grandiose. So it was with the ceremony of the procla
mation of the first Dogma of the Church in the Council
Hall of St. Peter's yesterday morning. For two years
that Dogma has agitated the whole Christian world,
awakening passions that were anything but Christian.
For nearly four months its definition has been waited
for with breathless anxiety, and its proclamation, it was
thought, would give rise to one of the grandest spectacles
which the Roman Church had ever witnessed. The
direct reverse has been the case. As a spectacle it was
meagre in the extreme, everything was poor and devoid
of feeling, none of those effects were attempted which
Rome knows so well how to get up, and those who
went to gaze must have been miserably disappointed.
So much for what strikes the eye ; but yet more
deplorable were the moral aspects of the scene. The
unity of the Church — where was it yesterday ? It was

442 FOURTH OPEN SESSION
seen to be divided against itself Some of the Fathers
were flying in all directions of the compass as fast as
steam-power could carry them. Others were making
their preparations for leaving, while those resolved on
working that marvellous miracle of investing a man
with the powers of God assembled in their Hall de
pressed and thoughtful. Division was evident in the
unoccupied seats of the Fathers, and there were many
such ; and if after this the unity of the Church is
affirmed, it must be at the expense of all honesty.
Truth and hypocrisy will have become interchangeable
terms. There is a schism in Rome, and that was the
most striking feature in the moral aspects of the scene
I witnessed yesterday. Still, the festa was great from
its very littleness, and I must now show this by entering
more into details.
Let me begin with the vigil of the fete. It thundered
and lightened all night, and it rained in the morning.
When I went down to St. Peter's on December 8 last,
the very doors of Heaven seemed to have been opened,
and we were nearly washed out of our carriages. Yes
terday, too, instead of a bright Roman sky and brilliant,
burning sun, we had what may be called the storm of
the season. Thus, the opening and the closing of the
Council— the closing, at least, for the present — were
marked by a violent revolution of the elements. The
doors were not opened before half-past J o'clock, and
as I drove down at that hour the streets were compara
tively empty. A solitary cab or two were rambling in
the same direction — a few priests and students were
hurrying on through the rain, and the gallant Guards,
who let us pass unheeded, sat indolently on their horses,

CONTRAST WITH THE OPENING SESSION 443
having no occasion to make a display. From four
small houses I observed strips of crimson tapestry
hanging outside the windows, and this was all the
decoration to be seen from the centre of the city to
the gates of St Peter.
There was scarcely any person in the church — no
curious strangers, no fussy camerieri d'onore, no soldiers
even, and a cannon might have been fired from one end
to the other without inflicting any harm, and so it
might have been for two hours after. A double line of
troops was soon formed, and between them, steadily or
jauntily as the case might be, walked the Fathers, each
going to the Hall, and taking his seat as he arrived.
The laity, for whom all the blessings of the day were
specially designed, looked over the^ shoulders of the
soldiers to observe the bishops. It reminded me of
one of the earlier Congregations, when the curious world
came down to look at the gentleman in red and green,
or at the one in the blue dress, or at another whose
robes were photographed all over with saints and
flowers. There was amusement for the passing hour,
and the spectators took care not to lose it, but there
was no procession, and scarcely anyone knew that the
Pope had taken his seat until the shrill notes of the
Vatican Choir informed them of it
I looked around me and contrasted the appearance
of this stupendous edifice, comparatively empty now,
with that which it presented on December 8 last, when
the multitude surged in like an ocean wave and cries
arose from persons who were being nearly crushed to
death. I looked into the Hall and saw the Royal box
occupied by only one or two ladies and a decayed

444 FOURTH OPEN SESSION
officer with, it might be, the great order of San Januario
across his bosom. The Diplomatic box, too, was nearly
empty. I had been told on the previous evening, that
both these privileged tribunes would be ' cleared,' for
Royalty had abandoned Rome for the season, and the
representatives of all the Great Powers had been in
structed not to appear or illuminate. Many of the
seats of the Fathers also were vacant, certainly nearly
250, 130 or 140 prelates having absented themselves
only for the day. So both within and without the
aspect was chilling and discouraging to the zealous.
His Holiness, I am told by his friends, on entering
was agitated, and trembled when he knelt to say his
prayers, but this passed off", his voice was as firm and
clear as I have ever heard it, and his appearance became
bright and cheerful. The Mass was short, giving pro
mise of an early closing, and then came those beautiful
hymns of the Roman Catholic Church, sung at intervals,
and never sung more effectively. First the Litany of the
Saints was chanted by the choir, taken up by the Fathers,
and carried as it were out of the Hall until it was lifted
on high by the swelling voices of several thousands of
persons who clustered round the tomb of St. Peter. So
it was with the Veni Creator. Apart from the essen
tially sweet and plaintive character of the music, the body
of sound satisfied all one's desires, giving the assurance
of something like sincerity and depth of feeling.
Now there was a lull, broken at last by the shrill
voice of the secretary reading the Dogma. The real
business of the day had commenced, and the crowd
about the door and around the baldacchino became more
dense. It consisted of the strictest sect of the Infalli-

THUNDERSTORM 445
bilists, and it is no exaggeration to say that more than
two-thirds of those present were priests, monks. Sisters
of Mercy, and the pupils of various schools, male and
female, with not a few of those most uncharitable women
called in Italy Pinzochere, or devout, on the lucus a
non lucendo principle. No wonder, therefore, that the
music had been good where all joined, and that there
was a rush towards the door of the Hall to watch the
operation of the coming miracle. The reading of the
Dogma was followed by the roll-call of the Fathers, and
Placet after Placet followed, though not in very quick
succession. They were uttered in louder and bolder
tones than on former occasions, either that the echo was
greater from the comparative emptiness of the church
or that the Fathers were pleased at being shorn, and
amid their utterances there was a loud peal of thunder.
The storm, which had been threatening all the morn
ing, burst now with the utmost violence, and to many
a superstitious mind might have conveyed the idea that
it was the expression of Divine wrath, as ' no doubt it
will be interpreted by numbers,' said one officer of the
Palatine Guard. And so the Placets of the Fathers
struggled through the storm, while the thunder pealed
above and the lightning flashed in at every window and
down through the dome and every smaller cupola„
dividing if not absorbing the attention of the crowd.
Placet, shouted his Eminence or his Grace, and a loud
clap of thunder followed in response, and then the
lightning darted about the baldacchino and every part
of the church and Conciliar Hall, as if announcing the
response. So it continued for nearly one hour and a
half, during which rime the roll was being called, and a

446 FOURTH OPEN SESSION
more effective scene I never witnessed. Had all the
decorators and all the getters-up of ceremonies in Rome
been employed, nothing approaching to the solemn
splendour of that storm could have been prepared, and
never will those who saw it and felt it forget the pro
mulgation of the first Dogma of the Church.
The facade ofthe Hall had not been removed as on
former occasions, only the great door was opened, so
that it could be scarcely called an open Session, and
people could get a glimpse of what was going on only
by struggling fiercely and peering over one another's
shoulders, or by standing at a distance and looking
through a glass. I chose this last and better part The
storm was at its height when the result of the voting
was taken up to the Pope, and the darkness was so thick
that a huge taper was necessarily brought and placed by
his side as he read the words which invested him with
Divine powers, ' Nosque, sacro approbante Concilio, ilia
ita decernimus, statuimus atque sancimus ut lecta sunt'
And again the lightning flickered around the Hall, and
the thunder pealed.
I was standing at this moment in the south transept
trying to penetrate the darkness which surrounded the
Pope, when the sound as of a mighty rushing something,
I could not tell what, caused me to start violently, and
look about me and above me. It might be a storm of
hail. Such for an instant was my impression ; and it
grew and swelled, and then the whole mystery was
revealed by a cloud of white handkerchiefs waving before
me. The signal had been given by the Fathers them
selves with clapping of hands. This was my imaginary
liailstorm ; and it was taken up by the crowd outside

ACCLAMATION OF INFALLIBILITY 447
the Hall, and so the storm grew in violence until at
length it came to where I stood : Viva il Papa Infallibile I
Viva il trionfo dei Cattolici ! shouted the zealots. Ah !
you foolish, fat old monk, you do not know what you
are shouting about You little think that you are
rejoicing at a probable schism in the Church. But
again the storm rose with greater violence than before,
and I thought that, according to English custom, we
were to have three times three.
The Te Deum and the Benedictions, however, put a
stop to it ; the entire crowd fell on their knees as I have
never seen a crowd do before in St. Peter's, and the Pope
blessed them in those clear sweet tones distinguishable
among a thousand. A third and fainter attempt was
made to get up another cheer, but it died away, and
then priests and priestlings, monks and holy women,
rushed down the nave to get, perchance, another peep
at the Pope as he passed through the chapels, but the
doors were closed and the Infallible was hidden from
mortal view.
Thus closed the Session of the CEcumenical Vatican
Council for the present, not prorogued nor suspended,
to meet again on November 11. A risume of what
has been done by it since December 8 last would be
misplaced in this letter, and all is unimportant in com
parison with the fact that the Pope has protheosised
himself — permit the word. His apotheosis will un
doubtedly come hereafter. In spite of the rejoicings of
yesterday, it should be known that no decrees have as
yet any force, as they have not been signed by the
Fathers. Every one of them may be reconsidered and
I take for granted, annulled, for the signatures of the

448 FOURTH OPEN SESSION
Fathers are affixed at the breaking up of the Council,
and these signatures alone can give them value.
The relative numbers of the votes given yesterday
were as follows : — Two certainly were Non-Placet,
Monsignor Ricio, Bishop of Cajazzo, in Southern Italy,
and the Bishop of Little Rock (American) ; the Placets
are stated by an Infallibilist archbishop to have been
533 ; and those who abstained, or who were not present,
certainly amounted to 130 or 140. Before leaving, as
most have done, the recusant Fathers signed a letter to
the Pope, which was drawn up at Cardinal Rauscher's
on Saturday night This you will find annexed to my
letter. It was to have been presented to his Holiness
yesterday, and the 533 Fathers, many of whom are
bishops in partibus, many mere official bishops, were
perfectly satisfied to be shorn. Yet the world will hear
that upwards of a hundred of the highest dignitaries of
the Church, including at least three cardinals, men
eminent for their rank, talents, and learning, refused to
attend the Council, and by their last act and deed with
held their sanction of a dogma at which their consciences
revolted. In the words of the prelates themselves, then,
the Council is not CEcumenical, and the dogma pro
mulgated yesterday is not worth the paper on which it
is written. It was an interesting scene at the station last even
ing when the Austrian ambassador and a host of the
Fathers left — so many, indeed, that the train was
detained three-quarters of an hour behind its time.
Most of the Diplomatic Body had come up to take leave
of their bishops, and there were pleasant interchanges of
friendship between those diplomatists whose countrv-

BREAK-UP OF THE COUNCIL 449
men will soon be cutting each other's throats. In the
city the fancy lamps were lit instead of the ordinary gas
lights, and a few houses had paper lights, but very few.
There was, in fact, no illumination, and the band which
played in the Piazza Colonna attracted but a small
crowd. The Romans, I believe, abstained from going.
The faqade of St. Peter's was illuminated, but that was
only a family afifair. There were no flags, no salutes
fired, no symptoms of rejoicing, either private or public,
and the Roman world was as indifferent as if your
correspondent had been declared infallible instead of
Pius IX.
The French and Prussian ambassadors, who were
preparing to leave, have both received instructions to
remain, and so also has the Bavarian minister. The
Zouaves have been refused permission to leave, though I
have heard that the Antibes officers who are also
attached to the French army will be permitted to do so.
Orders, I am told, have been prepared to get ready
quarters for 5,000 more French, who are to be stationed
at Civita Vecchia and Viterbo, but none in Rome. The
French and Germans in the barracks here have already
come to loggerheads, and some difficulty will be ex
perienced in maintaining order. The Prussians and
Bavarians are applying for leave of absence, but that
which is denied to the French can scarcely be accorded
to them. Beatissime Pater, — In congregatione generali die 13 hujus
mensis habita dedimus suffragia nostra super schemata primae
constitutionis dogmaticas de Ecclesia Christi.
- Notum est Sanctitati Vestrse 88 Patres fuisse qui con
scientia urgente et amore Sanctae Ecclesise permoti sufifragium
VOL. II. G G

450 FOURTH OPEN SESSION
suum per verba ' non placet' emiserunt ; 62 alios qui sufifragati
sunt per verba ' placet juxta modum ' ; denique 70 circiter qui a
congregatione abfuerunt atque a sufifragio emittendo absti-
niierunt. His accedunt et alii qui infirmitatibus aut aliis gravioribus
rationibus ducti ad suas dioeceses reversi sunt.
Hac ratione Sanctitati Vestrae et toto mundo suffragia -
nostra nota atque manifestata fuere, patuitque quam multis
Episcopis sententia nostra probatur atque hoc modo munus
ofificiumque quod nobis incumbit persolvimus.
Ab eo inde tempore nihil prorsus evenit quod sententiam
nostram mutaret, quin imo multa eaque gravissima acciderunt
quiE nos in proposito confirmaverunt.
Atque ideo nostra jam edita sufifragia nos renovare ac con-
firmare declaramus.
Confirmantes itaque per hanc scripturam sufifragia nostra
a sessione publica die 18 hujus mensis habenda ut abesse
liceat constituimus.
Pietas enim filialis ac reverentia quae missos nostros
nuperrime ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae adduxerunt non sinunt
nos in causa Sanctitatis Vestrse personam adeo proxime con-
cernente palam et in facie patris dicere ' non placet.'
Et aliunde sufifragia in solemni sessione edenda repeterent
dumtaxat sufifragia in generali congregatione deprompta.
Redimus itaque sine mora ad greges nostros, quibus post tam
longam absentiam ob belli timores atque praesentissimas eorum
spirituales indigentias summopere necessarii sumus, dolentes
quod ob tristia in quibus versamur rerum adjuncta etiam
conscientiarum pacem et tranquillitatem turbatam inter fideles
nostros reperturi sumus.
Interea ecclesiam Dei et Sanctitatem vestram, cui inte-
meratam fidem et obedientiam profitemur, Domini Nostri Jesu
Christi gratias et praesidio toto corde commendantes sumus
Sanctitatis vestrae devotissimi et obedientissimi.

LETTER OF THE RECUSANT FATHERS 451
Translation.
Most Blessed Father, — In the General Congregation held on
the 13th inst. we gave our votes on the Schemata of the first
Dogmatic Constitution concerning the Church of Christ.
Your Holiness is aware that 88 Fathers, urged by conscience
and love of Holy Church, gave their vote in the words ' non
placet' ; 62 in the words ' placet juxta modum ' ; finally about 70
were absent and gave no vote.
Others returned to their dioceses on account of illness or
more serious reasons.
Thus our votes are known to your Holiness and manifest
to the whole world, and it is notorious how many bishops agree
with us, and with the manner in which we have discharged the
ofifice and duty laid upon us.
Nothing has happened since to change our opinion, nay
rather there have been many and very serious events of a nature
to confirm us in it.
We therefore declare that we renew and confirm the votes
already given.
Confirming therefore our votes by this present document,
we have decided to ask leave of absence from the public session
on the i,8th inst.
For the filial piety and reverence which very recently brought
our representatives to the feet of your Holiness do not allow
us in a cause so closely concerning your Holiness to say ' non
placet' openly and to the face of the Father,
Moreover, the votes to be given in Solemn Session would
only repeat those already delivered in General Congregation. We
return, therefore, without delay to our flocks, to whom, after so
long an absence, the apprehensions of war, and their most
urgent spiritual wants render us necessary to the utmost of our
power, grieving, as we do, that in the present gloomy state of
public afifairs, we shall find the faithful troubled in conscience
and no longer at peace with one another.
Meanwhile, with our whole heart we commend the Church
of God and your Holiness, to whom we avow our unaltered

452 DOGMA OF PAPAL INFALLIBILITY
faith and obedience, to the grace and protection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and are your Most devoted and obedient.
The Dogma defined and declared to be divinely
revealed is as follows : —
'Therefore faithfully adhering to the tradition re
ceived from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the
glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic
Religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the
Sacred Council approving. We teach and define that
it is a dogma divinely revealed : that the Roman Pon
tiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in dis
charge of the office of Pastor and Doctor of all Chris
tians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority he
defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held
by the Universal Church, by the divine assistance
promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that
infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed
that His Church should be endowed for defining
doctrine regarding faith or morals : and that therefore
such definitions of the Roman Pontifif are irreformable
of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church.
' But if anyone — \\hich may God avert — presume to
contradict this Our definition, let him be anathema.' '
' This final form of the Dogma was claimed as a victory by both sides.
The reader will find slightly different translations of the first form offered
to the Council in Chapters Ixxxvii. and xci.
THE END

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