ART. II.-THE TWO POWERS OF THE POPE.

The Roman State from 1815 to 1850, by CARLO Luigi FariNI, M. D., translated by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. London: John Murray. 1851.

Gli Ultimi Rivolgimenti Italiani-Memorie Storiche di F. A. GUALTERIO. Firenze: Felice Le Monnier. 1852. Memorie Storiche sull' Intervento Francese in Roma nel 1849, di FEDERICO TORRE. Torino: Barrera ed Ambrosio. 1853.

Memorie per servire alla Storia degli Stati Romani dall'

elevazione di Pio Nono al pontificato sino alla caduta della Republica, dell' avvocato GIUSEPPE GABUSSI. Genova: Sordo Muti. 1852.

Ir is said that a good contemporary history cannot be written and there is much truth in this, particularly in times of excited passion and bloody contest. But when the conflict is over, and a period of comparative peace follows, as a truce to bury the dead, it is highly interesting and instructive to peruse the impassioned accounts of those who have been men of action, and who, still powerfully excited, take up the pen, with their swords unsheathed on the desk. Their writings, to be sure, breathe the spirit of party, and like colored glasses, give the facts a partisan shade. But such writings contain also a revelation of the inmost feelings poured out in the warmth of passion, and the precious information which only actors and eyewitnesses can give. An impartial reader, free from passion, and endowed with good sense, will always derive from them much instruction, and find out the truth, particularly if he has patience and leisure to read coolly the productions of the opposite parties.

History is styled the teacher of life-magistra vitæ-by Cicero. Its lessons are most impressive when history is con

temporary. There is no need to be a professed 'humanitarian,' for one to admit that sympathy and common interests connect all men, though spread over the face of the whole earth, and divided into nations and states. We cannot feel indifferent with regard to the condition of our fellow-beings; and our own interests, if well consulted, suggest a regard for their welfare. It is therefore no less instructive than natural and useful to endeavor to learn the condition and the tendencies of other associations of men besides that to which we belong. Besides, it is evident that there are some nations, and even some periods in the life of a single nation, that exercise a wide influence on the condition of all mankind and on the solution of questions upon which the welfare of many peoples depends. Italy, the oldest of the living nations, with her never interrupted traditions of science, fine arts, and civilization, has a long history, all the periods of which offer great general lessons. Italy is now engaged in the solution of a question that has a special interest for our times. Evidently the Italians are struggling for the destruction of the Papacy, as the chief obstacle to their national unity and independence. They may succeed, and they may fail; but in either case no wise man can look with indifference upon the important struggle.

At the beginning of the present century, two Popes were arrested in Rome by the French, and kept prisoners in Italy. The Italians looked on, some with indifference, and some with great satisfaction. Afterwards, continual troubles with their own subjects reduced the Popes to rely upon foreign support. At present only the overwhelming military force of two foreign nations secures a precarious safety to a Pope in Rome. Evidently the struggle is going on. The Italians have not given up the war though they have lost many battles. They are a traditional people; slow in their progress, strongly attached to the past, and fond of the arts of peace; but they are also firm and obstinate in their purposes. The Italians cannot be changed by a three days' revolution; no more can they by three hundred years of foreign oppression.

The Roman revolution therefore deserves from all the Chris

tian world a greater general interest than any revolution of a small people struggling for independence and liberty. If it were a question only between the oppressed and the oppressors, it might be regarded as already settled, for the Austrians and the French are, no doubt, the strongest. But oppression with them is only the means; their aim is to support the Papacy, and revive its moral power. Will they succeed? What will be the consequences of a failure on their part? Though by no means approving the French intervention at Rome, we must do justice to their earnest exertions to reconcile the Romans with the Papacy. But it has been lost labor. After nine years of military occupation, the French in Rome are still detested by the people, ill-treated by the Pope, and despised by the Austrians. The Papal restoration has made no progress.

It was only during the last spring that the French government published an important document which contains the confession of their failure. It was a diplomatic note or report of the French ambassador, Rayneval. This statesman, well known for his devotion to the cause of despotism, a personal friend of the king of Naples, and a great admirer of the Jesuits, openly declared that he "could see no end to the French military occupation of Rome, if the Papacy must be maintained there for the common interest of the European nations; for the opposition of the people did not abate, nay, it grew stronger after the restoration of 1849. Not because they are ill-treated or placed in a worse condition than other people; but because a general spirit of nationality prevails throughout the whole of Italy, and the patriots regard the Papacy as the principal obstacle to the accomplishment of their views.”

This document, drawn up in language sure to be considered sarcastic and insulting by the oppressed Italians, created quite a sensation in the diplomatic world, and placed the so-called "Roman question' in a new light; for in 1849, the French occupation of Rome excited the jealousy of the other European Powers, except Austria and Spain, who were naturally interested in the Papal restoration. But the French government emphatically declared that they had neither con

quest nor permanent occupation in view; their object was simply to put down a handful of abandoned characters, mostly foreigners, who had overthrown the Papacy against the will of the people. The diplomatists of other powers-pro bono pacis-pretended to believe that impudent lie. But now events, and the confession of the French government, have revealed the whole truth. Lord Palmerston, the man of conciliative half-measures, suggested that a joint note might be presented to the Pope, urging upon him the necessity of a general pardon of all political offenders, and the initiation of a new system of government, on a truly liberal basis. But the Pope and his court knew better than Palmerston the character of the popular opposition. They despised that ridiculous note, and answered it laconically, but significantly; "The first concession would be a signal for general anarchy," meaning a revolution. And they were right; the Papacy cannot be reformed; it must be destroyed.

As we are probably on the eve of new events, upon which the solution of the problem depends, it is important to take a glance at it, with the light afforded by writers who belong to the Roman state, and who had a part in the late movement. The work of Signor Farini, which is before us, has acquired a certain popularity in England, from the fact of its having been translated into English by Gladstone. It contains a great deal of information, and its statements in regard to the condition and abuses of the Papal government may be fully relied upon, for the author is a conservative man, who likes the Papacy and befriends the present Pope, who has treated him kindly. Signor Farini would do away with abuses, and reform the Papal administration, by taking it in part from the hands of the clergy. He would also give liberty to the people, but only in a homeopathic dose. He takes it for granted that his plan does not agree with the views of the people; but he assumes that they are wrong, and he is right.

Signor Farini informs us that the Italian cities are all wrong, and he assumes the proud position of a teacher, armed with an iron rod. We feel that the same rod is ready for us should we dare to controvert the justice of his magisterial corrections.

Sometimes however he seems to remember that he is by profession a physician, and shows a disposition to dress the dreadful wounds inflicted by tyranny on the people; but then he gets angry and quarrels with his patient, who in the paroxism of fever does not acknowledge the efficacy of his homeopathy. The style of Signor Farini is artificial, unequal, and bombastic, such as we should expect from a self-conceited man. His views are narrow, and he is more inclined to declaim than to reason. He always aspires to be eloquent, and sometimes succeeds. The translator has corrected, as far as possible, the most shocking faults of style. The knowledge of the social position of the writer is always a good key to a contemporary history. Signor Farini views all events from the point on which he stands. He dislikes the old Pope Gregory XVI, who sent him into exile, and feels grateful to Pius IX, who recalled and employed him. He is severe with the revolutionists, because they have been unkind to him since he deserted their ranks. He boasts, indeed, that he never took part in their secret conspiracies; but Professor Montanelli, in his Memorie dalla Toscana,' (Torino, 1853,) gives the proofs of the participation of Signor Farini in the revolutionary movement of Rimini, of 1845, and to him he ascribes the authorship of the able manifesto then published in the name of the revolutionists. Signor Gualterio gives us the key to explain this contradiction. It seems that with them, a secret association for the object of forcing a monarch to grant constitutional liberty is not a conspiracy; it assumes this character when the object is the establishment of a republican government!

Signor Gualterio also is a conservative; he would preserve the Papacy, but not its faults. He believes that the Papacy can be reformed by the separation of the temporal from the spiritual power. The Pope should reign, but not govern; a theory very easy in a book, but impossible in the way of experiment. Signor Gualterio, however, is a sober and moderate writer. He is a gentleman by birth and education, and never forgets himself. There is nothing in him of the violence and rant of Farini. Those who differ from him are