Affairs in Italy [pp. 814-823]

Affairs in Italy.
tember convention. We cannot bring
ourselves to believe for a moment
that the recent outrage will result to
the advantage of its authors and
abettors. In the sense of the parliamentary resolutions passed at Turin
and Florence, the solution of the Roman problem means nothing less
than the destruction of the papal
rights, and the spoliation and the
oppression of the church. It will be
well to bear this fact distinctly in
mind. The new monarchy has unmistakably shown how it means to
respect its most solemn obligations
and the vested rights of others; and,
above all, it has shown how it would
like to treat the head of the church.
And this Italy dares to demand that
the gate of the papacy should be intrusted to her safe-keeping? Were it
possible to obliterate the whole history of the last eight years from
men's recollection, the occurrences
of the last few months would alone
suffice to warn Christendom against
listening to such a proposition. The
Roman Catholic community will
hardly feel disposed to see Victor
Emmanuel the intestate heir of Garibaldi at Rome, as it has seen him
once before at Naples.
The Roman problem requires, no
doubt, a solution, for the French are
merely a momentary expedient.
The subject is one that interests
the whole world, and which demands
a settlement that will not again expose the supreme pontiff to the danger of being besieged at the Vatican,
as was his handful of defenders in
the Bicoque Monte Rotondo, where
they fought one against ten. We
shall not even touch here upon the
claims of the pope as a mere temporal ruler, and the most ancient on
earth at that. Our religious sentiment rebels against dragging a question whose two component elements
are indivisible into the narrow sphere
VOL. VI.-52
of politics, and still more into the
sphere of revolutionary politics which
has made the nationality idea its
god. The Catholic sentiment resents the base suggestion of peril to
the independence of the church and
its head. It cannot conceive a popedom like the one to which the Byzantine exarchs have been reduced. It
wants no repetition of a Greek patriarchate among Greeks and Turks.
This is a question which concerns
the entire civilized Christian world,
and not the Roman Catholic powers
alone. The royal speech from the
throne to the North German Diet
contained a passage alluding to the
important interests which Germany
and Italy are supposed to hold in
common, and the chances of Prussia's support in the case of a war
with France about Rome have, no
doubt, entered largely into the calculations of the Florence cabinet. But
Prussia alone has over eight millions
of Roman Catholic subjects, who
will never consent to the total destruction of the foundation on which
the independence of their church
rests, and who will therefore oppose
every attempt to rob the pope of his
temporality. Such, at least, is the
inference which we are warranted in
drawing from the spirit displayed
during the last month in Germany, and
especially at the Mainz meeting, where
two thousand leading Catholics from
all parts of the country discussed the
dangers of the church state. The
following are the resolutions which
were passed unanimously on that occasion: "x. Divine Providence has
made the successor of St. Peter the
sovereign of the Roman church state,
and raised him above all mere national interests, that he might be the
subject of no political power, but
manage the religious affairs of ali
Christian nations in perfect independence. This sovereign right, con
8I7