Like the wounded birds of a flock fired into toward nightfall, they came

straggling on with faltering steps, many of them without bag or baggage,
beast or barrow, all asking shelter or burial, and forcing a fresh
repartition of the already divided rations of their friends. It was
plain now that every energy must be taxed to prevent the entire
expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out of
the question, and the whole people prepared themselves for encountering
another winter on the prairie.

Happily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture among
Indians who were amicably disposed. The lands on both sides of the
Missouri in particular were owned by the Pottawottomis and Omahas, two
tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States Government had the
effect of rendering most hospitable to strangers whom they regarded as
persecuted like themselves.

They were pleased with the Mormons. They would have been pleased with
any whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip
them for their poor gypsy habits, nor conduct themselves indecently
toward their women, many of whom among the Pottawottomis--especially
those of nearly unmixed French descent--are singularly comely, and some
of them educated. But all Indians have something like a sentiment of
reverence for the insane, and admire those who sacrifice, without
apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an idea. They
understand the meaning of what they call a great vow, and think it the
duty of the right-minded to lighten the votary's penance under it. To
this feeling they united the sympathy of fellow-sufferers for those who
could talk to them of their own Illinois, and tell the story of how they
also had been ruthlessly expelled from it.

Their hospitality was sincere, almost delicate. Fanny le Clerc, the
spoiled child of the great brave Pied Riche, interpreter of the nation,
would have the paleface Miss Devine learn duets with her on the guitar;
and the daughter of substantial Joseph la Framboise, the United States
interpreter for the tribe (she died of the fever that summer) welcomed
all the nicest young Mormon women to a party at her father's house,
which was probably the best cabin in that village. They made the Mormons
at home, there and elsewhere. Upon all their lands they formally gave
them leave to remain as long as suited their own good pleasure.

The affair, of course, furnished material for a solemn council. Under
the auspices of an officer of the United States their chiefs were
summoned, in the form befitting great occasions, to meet in the yard of
a Mr. P.A. Sarpy's log trading-house. They came in grand costume, moving
in their fantastic attire with so much _aplomb_ and genteel measure that
the stranger found it difficult not to believe them high-born gentlemen,
attending a fancy-dress ball. Their aristocratically thin legs, of which
they displayed fully the usual Indian proportion, aided this illusion.
There is something too at all times very mock-Indian in the theatrical
French millinery tie of the Pottawottomi turban; while it is next to
impossible for a sober white man, at first sight, to believe that the
red, green, black, blue, and yellow cosmetics, with which he sees such
grave personages so variously dotted, diapered, cancelled, and
arabesqued are worn by them in any mood but one of the deepest and most
desperate quizzing. From the time of their first squat upon the ground
to the final breaking up of the council circle they sustained their
characters with equal self-possession and address.

I will not take it upon myself to describe their order of ceremonies;
indeed, I ought not, since I have never been able to view the habits and
customs of our aborigines in any other light than that of a sorrowful
subject of jest. Besides, in this instance, the powwow and the expected
flow of turgid eloquence were both moderated probably by the conduct of
the entire transaction on temperance principles. I therefore content
myself with observing generally that the proceedings were such as in
every way became the dignity of the parties interested, and the
magnitude of the interests involved. When the red men had indulged to
satiety in tobacco-smoke from their peace-pipes, and in what they love
still better--their peculiar metaphoric rhodomontade, which, beginning
with the celestial bodies, and coursing downward over the grandest
sublunary objects, always managed to alight at last on their "Great
Father," Polk, and the tenderness with which his affectionate red
children regarded him. All the solemn funny fellows present, who played
the part of chiefs, signed formal articles of convention with their
unpronounceable names.

The renowned chief Pied Riche--he was surnamed Le Clerc on account of
his remarkable scholarship--then rose and said: "My Mormon brethren, the
Pottawottomi came, sad and tired, into this unhealthy Missouri bottom,
not many years back, when he was taken from his beautiful country,
beyond the Mississippi, which had abundant game and timber and clear
water everywhere. Now you are driven away, the same, from your lodges
and lands and the graves of your people. So we have both suffered. We
must help one another, and the Great Spirit will help us both. You are
now free to cut and use all the wood you may wish. You can make all your
improvements, and live on any part of our actual land not occupied by
us. Because one suffers, and does not deserve it, is no reason he shall
suffer always: I say, we may live to see all right yet. However, if we
do not, our children will. _Bon jour!_"

And thus ended the powwow. I give this speech as a morsel of real
Indian. It was recited to me after the treaty by the Pottawottomi orator
in French, which language he spoke with elegance. _Bon jour_ ["good
day"] is the French, Indian, and English hail, and farewell of the
Pottawottomis.

Upon the Pottawotomi lands, scattered through the border regions of
Missouri and Iowa, in the Sac and Fox country, a few among the Ioways,
among the Poncas, in a great company upon the banks of the l'Eau qui
Coulée (or Running Water) River, and at the Omaha winter quarters, the
Mormons sustained themselves through the heavy winter of 1846-1847. It
was the severest of their trials. This winter was the turning-point of
the Mormon fortunes. Those who lived through it were spared to witness
the gradual return of better times; and they now liken it to the passing
of a dreary night, since which they have watched the coming of a
steadily brightening day.

In the spring of 1847, a body of one hundred forty-three picked men,
with seventy wagons, drawn by their best horses, left the Omaha
quarters, under the command of the members of the high council who had
wintered there. They carried with them little but seed and farming
implements, their aim being to plant spring crops at their ultimate
destination. They relied on their rifles to give them food, but rarely
left their road in search of game. They made long marches, and moved as
rapidly as possible.

Against the season when ordinary emigration passes the Missouri, they
were already through the South Pass, and after a couple of short days'
travel beyond it entered upon the more arduous part of their journey,
which now lay through the Rocky Mountains. They passed Fremont's Peak,
Long's Peak, The Twins, and other summits, but had great difficulties to
overcome in forcing their way over other mountains of the rugged Utah
range, sometimes following the stony bed of torrents, the headwaters of
some of the mightiest rivers of our continent, and sometimes literally
cutting their road through heavy and ragged timber. They arrived at the
grand basin of the Great Salt Lake, much exhausted, but without losing a
man, and in time to plant for a partial autumn harvest. Another party
started after these pioneers from the Omaha winter quarters, in the
summer. They had five hundred sixty-six wagons, and carried large
quantities of grain, which they were able to sow before it froze.

The same season these were joined by a part of the battalion and other
members of the Church who came eastward from California and the Sandwich
Islands. Together they fortified themselves strongly with sun-dried
brick walls and blockhouses, and, living safely through the winter, were
able to reap crops that yielded ample provision for the ensuing year.

In 1848, nearly all the remaining members of the Church left the
Missouri country in a succession of powerful bands, invigorated and
enriched by their abundant harvests there; and that year saw fully
established their commonwealth of the "New Covenant," the future State
of "Deseret." [Footnote: The Mormons repeatedly tried to secure the
admission of Deseret into the Union as a State under that name--said to
mean "virtue and industry."]

When Utah was organized as a Territory (1850), the Mormon leader,
Brigham Young, was made governor. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed a
non-Mormon to succeed Young. This act led the Mormons to rebel, but
after a display of military force by the Government they acknowledged
allegiance. In 1896, polygamy having been prohibited by Congress, Utah
was admitted to the Union. Since the settlement of the Mormons upon the
Great Salt Lake there has been a large immigration into Utah. [The
Mormons have spread beyond that State into Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, and
other parts of the West and Southwest--ED.]




(1848) THE REFORMS OF PIUS IX, Francis Bowen


In the long roll of pontiffs the name of Pius IX stands conspicuous
among those of popes, who have greatly exerted their power for effect
upon the papacy itself. But the influence of Pius IX was not less marked
in Italian and European politics. An account of the reforms which he
undertook and of the obstacles he had to confront, cannot fail to
convey, directly or by implication, matters of much importance in modern
history. That a pope who signalized the beginning of his official career
by a series of liberal reforms should soon have been driven from his see
by revolutionists is one of the historical paradoxes for which even the
"philosophy of history" finds it difficult to account. But, as one
writer tells us, "The revolutionary fever of 1848 spread too fast for a
reforming pope, and his refusal to make war upon the Austrians finally
cost him the affections of the Romans."

Pope Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) who at the age of
fifty-four brought the power of his papal throne to advance the cause of
Young Italy--led by Mazzini and other patriots--was born at Sinigaglia
May 13, 1792. He was descended from a noble family, and his early
education was received at the College of Volterra. Throughout the years
of his youth he suffered from infirm health, but before reaching thirty
he gained much in strength, and in 1827 became Archbishop of Spoleto. In
1840 he was made cardinal by Pope Gregory XVI. Gregory died June 1,
1846, and after being two days in conclave the cardinals elected their
colleague Ferretti to succeed him. The cardinals felt the advisability
of choosing for pope a native of the Papal States, a man not too far
advanced in years, and one "who would see the necessity of correcting
abuses and making some reforms."

Francis Bowen, whose review of Pope Pius's career, from his entrance
upon the papal office until his temporary withdrawal from Rome, is here
presented, is a well-known authority in this as also in other fields of
history, and his recital is based upon the best contemporary accounts.

When Pius IX was elected Pope his course did not long remain doubtful.
He limited the expenses of the court at once, dispensed alms in
abundance, set aside one day of each week for giving audiences, and
commanded that political inquisitions should be stopped immediately.
These few steps, taken before he had had time to consult with others,
afford perhaps a better indication of the mild and kind character of the
new pontiff than the grave political acts which were subsequently
performed. These show us the man, the others reveal only the sovereign.
Just one month after his election, a manifesto of amnesty for all
political offenders was published at Rome, including the exiles, those
awaiting trial, and those undergoing sentence. The only conditions
imposed were that the individuals pardoned should give their word of
honor never to abuse the indulgence, and would fulfil every duty of a
good citizen.

The news of this act flew like the wind through the Papal States, and
caused everywhere a burst of exultation and gratitude toward the new
sovereign. It carried joy to thousands of households, bringing back to
them the long-separated brother or parent, and it was a token of future
peace and contentment. In the city, says Farini, [Footnote: Luigi Carlo
Farini, who is freely quoted by Bowen, was an Italian historian and
statesman. His principal work is _Storia dello stato Romano dall' anno
1814 al 1830_.--ED.] the hosannas were countless; each citizen embraced
his neighbor like a brother; thousands of torches blazed in the evening;
the multitude ran to the palace of the Pope, called for him, threw
themselves prostrate on the earth before him, and received his blessing
in devout silence. Many of the pardoned offenders were still more
extravagant in their demonstrations of joy and thankfulness. Among them
was Galletti, of Bologna, afterward one of the Pope's ministers, and
most active in those measures which ended in the assassination of Rossi
and in driving Pius into exile. He had been sentenced to imprisonment
for life, and was kept in the castle of Sant' Angelo. When released, he
threw himself at the Pope's feet, and swore, by his own heart's blood
and that of his children, that he would be grateful and faithful. Some
of the exiles, however, among whom was Mamiani, refused to subscribe the
proposed engagement, simple as it was; but they returned after a time to
their homes, merely promising allegiance. Every time that the Pope left
his palace he was surrounded by a sort of triumphal procession. The
whole length of the Corso was decorated when he passed through it, and
hundreds of likenesses of him, and of panegyrical compositions, covered
the walls. Foremost in getting up these popular celebrations was Angelo
Brunetti, afterward so well known by his nickname of "Ciceruacchio." "He
was a person of single mind, rustic in manners, proud and at the same
time generous, as is common with Romans of the lower class." By his
industry he had acquired considerable property, and by his liberal use
of it had become a leader of the populace, whom he now fired with his
own enthusiasm for Pius IX.

The Pope would have been more than man if his head had not been a little
turned with all this adulation, which came to him from many foreign
lands as well as from Italy. But his simple and modest character bore
the trial well; he manifested no undue elation, and formed his plans
tranquilly and without hurry for the improvement of his people. Cardinal
Gizzi, well known as a friend to reform, and much attached to the Pope,
was named Secretary of State; and he wrote letters to the presidents of
the provinces, inviting them, the municipal magistrates, ecclesiastics,
and all respectable citizens, to prepare and offer schemes for promoting
popular education, and especially for the moral, religious, and
industrial instruction of the children of the poor. Commissions were
appointed to deliberate and advise upon many subjects of proposed
reform. Great, indeed, was the need of change in the institutions of the
Pontifical States; but the Government had a delicate part to play in
amending them, and it wisely determined not to be precipitate in its
measures. "Already the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and the
Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fears. The Government had,
to-day, to moderate on the left, circulate despatches, wellnigh to scold
men for hoping too much."

But the friends of change, says Farini, were for the most part measured
in their wishes and cautious in their proceedings; for all prudent men
were exerting themselves strenuously to keep the impatient in hand, with
excellent effect.

We cannot follow in detail the Pope's measures down to March, 1848, till
which period the movement may be considered as all his own, emanating
from his free choice and not from the pressure of outward circumstances
or from revolutions in foreign States. He did enough during these twenty
months to establish his character as a wise, humane, and liberal
sovereign, eager to promote the temporal and religious interests of his
people, and prompt to give political power into their hands as fast as
they showed themselves capable of using, and not abusing, it. He
instituted a civic guard throughout his dominions, modelled on the
French National Guard, and disbanded the Gregorian Centurions and
volunteers. All his court was opposed to this measure as premature and
dangerous; and even Cardinal Gizzi resigned his place in consequence of
it. But the Pope persevered, and Cardinal Ferretti, still more inclined
to liberalism, was appointed in his place.

He conceived the idea of an Italian customs league, after the model of
the German one, and pressed it with so much earnestness that in
November, 1847, it was instituted for the Roman, Tuscan, and Sardinian
dominions, and every effort was made to render it acceptable to the
other powers of Italy. He established a municipal government for the
city of Rome, which had hitherto remained without one; and he created a
Council of State for all his dominions, to consist chiefly of the laity,
one person being chosen for each Province by the sovereign, out of a
list of three, nominated by the provincial authorities. This Council was
to sit in Rome, and aid the Government with its advice in putting the
various departments in order, in constituting municipalities, and in
other public concerns. He created, also, a Council of Ministers, which
Farini calls the most important act of his reign, "As being that by
which the executive power acquired an organization worthy of a civilized
state, and altogether novel in that of Rome." There were to be nine
departments, and, with the exception of the president of the Council and
its secretary, the ministers need not be cardinals. All those first
appointed, however, were cardinals or prelates.

A body of _Uditori_ was attached to this Council, consisting of twelve
ecclesiastics and twelve laymen, all appointed by the sovereign. The
laws respecting the censorship of the press were much relaxed, and
numerous political journals were established at Rome, which before had
nothing that deserved the name of a newspaper. "Our infant journalism,"
says Farini, "had its infant passions and caprices; instead of
meditating, it gambolled, and every day it smashed its toys of the day
before, as children do; it instituted a school of declamation, not of
political knowledge; it ran and plunged about, blindfold; it made boast
of an independent spirit, and was a mean slave to out-of-doors
influence."

These measures of reform, and the enthusiasm which they created, were
not without effect on surrounding nations. Considering the place whence
they came, and the sovereign who conducted them, they were adapted to
have a vast influence. Rome, the "Eternal City," was regenerated, and a
new life bounded through her old limbs; and the August head of the
Catholic Church, the greatest religious potentate of the civilized
world, the infallible, the object of veneration to half Christendom, and
hitherto the most despotic and conservative sovereign in Europe, was now
the daring innovator, the radical, the idol of the populace. Austria
looked on with distrust and dismay, and tried to pick a quarrel and thus
find a pretext for invasion by ordering its troops, who had as yet only
garrisoned the fortress, to occupy the city of Ferrara and patrol its
streets--a measure almost sure to lead to a collision with its citizens.

The Pope protested in a firm but temperate tone, and his indignant
people would fain have hurried him into a war; but he bridled their
impatience and the matter ended in a compromise. Tuscany caught the
generous flame of freedom; and though there was not so much to be
accomplished there, as the Government had long been mild and discreet,
the good Archduke [Leopold II] professed the utmost admiration for Pius,
and began to imitate his measures.

The King of Sardinia was moved to enthusiasm; during the difficulty with
Austria about Ferrara he offered the Pope whatever succor of ships or
men he might need, and an asylum in his dominions if he should be
compelled to leave Rome. He did more; he relaxed the bonds of the press,
improved the administration of justice, deprived the police of their
discretionary power, enlarged and amended the Council of State,
emancipated the communes, and allowed their officers to be chosen by
popular vote. The character and example of Pius seemed likely to effect
as great and as beneficial changes out of his dominions as within them.
Those of the Italian sovereigns who were not willing to follow his lead
of their own accord, were obliged to yield in dismay before the spirit
which he had awakened in their subjects.

The silly Duke of Lucca, a fanatic, a prodigal, and a despot, after
attempting in vain to cudgel his people into submission, fled in terror
from their aroused wrath, and consented to the annexation of his
dominions to Tuscany, whereby they shared in the reforms instituted by
Leopold.

But in Sicily and Naples were developed the most striking results of the
fire which had been kindled by a reforming pope. The cruel and imbecile
Bourbon who reigned there became only more harsh and obstinate, while
the other princes of Italy deemed it necessary to reform their
institutions and conciliate their people. His subjects petitioned him,
and shouted for Pius in the streets; but the soldiery were turned
against them, and the King showed himself alike inaccessible to their
caresses and their prayers. "One king only," said Thiers from the
tribune, speaking of Italy, "he of Naples, presented the sword's point
to the people who were flocking around him, and that people fell on it."
The impulsive Sicilians fixed January 12, 1848, as the day beyond which
their patience would not extend. The King made no concessions, the day
came, and the island was revolutionized, the troops everywhere giving
way before the excited populace. Within a fortnight the inhabitants of
Naples followed their example; and before the fight began, the King's
heart failed him, and he granted all that they asked. The Ministry was
changed, a constitution was resolved upon, and its fundamental
principles were announced on January 29th, while the Administration
pledged themselves to publish it complete within twelve days. The King
came out to meet the crowd, who were cheering him, and intimated his
purpose to surpass the other sovereigns of Italy in the magnitude of his
concessions. How sincere his promises were, the lapse of a few months
fully showed; but at present everything wore a cheerful aspect.

The Pope had now reached the climax of his fortunes, the furthest limit
of the good which he was permitted to accomplish by his own free will,
and the sky began to be overcast. The enthusiasm of his people became
unmanageable, and the volcanic force of another French revolution was
soon to burst and to prostrate half the governments in Europe by the
explosion. Constant excitement for twenty months had made Rome noisy and
turbulent, and the populace had been gratified so often that they now
expected everything to succumb to their wishes. Busy agitators were in
the midst of them, intent upon prosecuting the plans of Mazzini and
Young Italy, and turning reform into revolution. The people were mad for
a declaration of war against Austria, though the military strength of
the Roman States was grossly inadequate for such a conflict, and the
head of the Catholic Church was naturally reluctant to come to
extremities with a Catholic power which had long been the firmest
support of the papacy. Then a cry was raised to exclude all
ecclesiastics from office, or at least to admit so large a portion of
the laity into the Administration that Rome would be secularized and
lose its distinctive character as an appanage for the head of the
Church. The people would not consider, or were reckless of the fact,
that Pius was a devout Catholic as well as a liberal sovereign, and
could not be expected to lend his aid to a project for stripping the
papacy of all temporal power, if not for razing it to its foundations.
The cries of expulsion and death to the Jesuits were also raised; and as
that body, however obnoxious elsewhere, had given no offence at Rome,
the Pope's sense of justice inclined him to protect them and to resist
the clamor of the mob.

The news from Sicily and Naples caused a great popular demonstration at
Rome, the aspect of which was so threatening that Pius issued a
proclamation, on February 10th, announcing that he had taken measures
for reorganizing and enlarging the army, and for augmenting the lay
portion of the Council of Ministers; but appealing to his people in
affecting terms, by the proofs already given of his solicitude in their
behalf, that they should cease from agitation and not make demands which
could not be granted consistently with his duty and their own
well-being. This paper caused another effusion of popular gratitude; an
immense multitude collected in the Piazza del Papolo, and, accompanied
by the Civic Guard and bearing banners, they set out for the Pope's
palace. When they came to the Quirinal Pius showed himself at the
balcony and made signs that he wished to speak. "There was a profound
silence, not broken even by the trickling of the fountains, which had
been stopped some days before." The Pope said:

"'Before the benediction of God descends upon you, on the rest of my
people, and, I say it again, on all Italy, I pray you to be of one mind,
and to keep the faith which you have sworn to me, the Pontiff.'

"At these words the silence of deep feeling was broken by a sudden
thunder of acclamation, 'Yes, I swear,' and Pius proceeded:

"'I warn you, however, against the raising of certain cries, that are
not of the people, but of a few individuals, and against making any such
requests to me as are incompatible with the sanctity of the Church; for
these I cannot, I may not, and I will not grant. This being understood,
with my whole soul, I bless you.'"

Deeds followed words; the Ministry was changed; five laymen were
admitted into it, and it was intimated that a constitution would be
granted resembling those in other States. Then came the news of the
disasters at Paris, and everything was precipitated. On March 10th the
Ministry was again changed, only three ecclesiastics being now admitted
into it; and on the 14th the new constitution, or "Fundamental Statute,"
was proclaimed. It instituted a Legislature in two branches, the High
Council and the Council of Deputies, the members of the former being
appointed by the Pope, and those of the latter being chosen by popular
vote in the ratio, as nearly as might be, of one to every thirty
thousand souls. All citizens were voters who paid twelve crowns a year
in direct taxes or had property amounting to three hundred crowns; to
these were added all members of colleges and honorary graduates, and all
persons holding office in the communes and municipalities. The
Legislature was to be convoked every year, both Councils were to choose
their own officers, and their sessions were to be public, except on
extraordinary occasions when they might of their own accord prefer
secrecy. Freedom of debate and vote was guaranteed, and the members of
both Houses were protected from arrest, even for notoriously criminal
acts, during the session, except by consent of the Council to which they
belonged.

They were to have authority to make laws on all subjects, excepting
ecclesiastical matters and the canons and discipline of the Church, but
including the imposition of taxes; the Pope, however, like most
monarchs, reserved to himself the right of negativing a law. All
discussions, also, of the diplomatico-religious relations of the Holy
See with foreign powers were forbidden. Money bills were to originate in
the lower house, and direct taxes could be granted for only a year. The
Deputies had a right to impeach ministers, who, if they were laymen,
were to be tried by the High Council; if ecclesiastics, by the Sacred
College. The unlimited right of petition to the lower house was assured
and ministers were responsible for every ministerial act; they had the
right of sitting and debating, but not of voting, in both Councils. A
portion of the revenue of the State, for the support of the cardinals,
the ecclesiastical congregations, and generally for the transaction of
purely ecclesiastical business, was to be secured to the Pope, and to be
borne on the estimates every year.

The judges were to be irremovable after they had held office for three
years; and all persons were declared equal in the sight of the law.
Extraordinary commissions or tribunals for the trial of offences were
abolished. All property, whether of individuals or corporations, whether
civil or ecclesiastical, was to be held subject to its equal part of the
burdens of the State; and to all bills imposing taxes, the Pope would
annex, of his own authority, a special waiver of the ecclesiastical
exemption. The administrations of the Provinces and the communes were
placed in the hands of their respective inhabitants. The Government (or
political) censorship was abolished, but the ecclesiastical censorship
was retained.

Such is a general outline of the Roman Constitution spontaneously
granted to his subjects by Pius IX. Its merits, in all civil or
political matters, are certainly equal, if not superior, to those of the
English Constitution, from which in great part it was borrowed; its
faults are precisely those which resulted necessarily from the Pope's
double character, as temporal sovereign of the Roman States and as head
of the Catholic Church throughout the world. It was not within the
province or at the discretion of Pius to alter the tenure by which he
held his throne, to change the fundamental principles of the Church or
to abolish his ecclesiastical dominion. He granted to his subjects all
that was in his power to grant as their temporal sovereign. His purely
ecclesiastical relations and duties did not concern them, or concerned
them only so far as they were members of the great body of Catholic
believers in all lands. The College of Cardinals _must_ choose the Pope,
and _must_ choose one of their own number; this is not a law of the
Roman States, but a law of the Catholic Church. Pius could not abrogate
it; and if he had been inclined to grant everything to his people by
divesting himself of the last rag of his sovereignty, the only
consequence would have been that the cardinals must have chosen another
pope in his place, who might undo all that Pius had accomplished.

These are obvious and necessary considerations; and the Pope expressly
recognizes them in the ordinance accompanying the grant of the
constitution. "We intend," he says, "to maintain intact our authority in
matters that by their nature are related to the Catholic religion and
its rule of morals. And this is due from us as a guaranty to the whole
of Christendom, that, in the States of the Church reorganized in this
new form, nothing shall be derogated from the liberties and rights of
the Church herself, and of the Holy See, nor any precedent be
established for violating the sacredness of the religion which it is our
duty and mission to preach to the whole world, as the only scheme of
covenant between God and man, the only pledge of that heavenly
benediction by which states subsist and nations flourish."

Now, it is worthy of note that neither this constitution nor any of the
acts of Pius under it was ever complained of by any party among the
Pope's subjects except in regard to these ecclesiastical reservations
which were forced from him by the very nature of the office that he
held. The constitutionalists, indeed the moderate reformers, the party
of Balbo and Gioberti and D'Azeglio, which comprised most of the
educated and reflecting persons in the State, seem to have been entirely
satisfied with it as a whole, or as it was. So also were the unthinking
populace, who received it with shouts of exultation, so long as they
were not moved by the arts of a party who would not be satisfied with
having a good pope, but were bent upon having no pope at all. This was
the party of Mazzini, the revolutionists as distinguished from the
reformers--not strong at first either in numbers or credit, as we have
seen, but who made up for all deficiencies by their zeal and
activity--who were determined to establish a republic, and who cared
nothing for the embarrassments of the Pope's situation as head of the
Church, of indeed for the Church itself. They complained--and with
reason, too, upon their principles--of these ecclesiastical
reservations; and they made out of them their chief weapon of attack
upon the Pope's government, though they did not profit so much by the
use of it as by the evident unwillingness of Pius to rush into a war
with Austria for the purpose of giving the sovereignty of Lombardy to
Charles Albert, a measure to which he was averse, because he thought
such a conflict would be detrimental to the interests of the Church over
which he presided.

The world's future judgment of Pius will depend upon its belief of the
sincerity with which he acted in thus allowing nothing but his religious
duties and his position as the head of the Church to limit his
concessions of political privileges to his subjects. On this point, it
is well to hear the opinion of Farini, who, as one of the Mamiani
Ministry and as employed to mediate between them and the Pope, because
much loved and trusted by him, seems peculiarly qualified to form one
without undue bias on either side:

"Pius IX had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the
reason that his conscience as an honorable man and a most pious
sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the papal office
prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his
spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent prince, Pius IX was, as
a pontiff, lofty even to sternness. With a soul not only devout, but
mystical, he referred everything to God, and respected and venerated his
own person as standing in God's place. He thought it his duty to guard
with jealousy the temporal sovereignty of the Church, because he thought
it essential to the safe-keeping and the apostleship of the faith.

"Aware of the numerous vices of that temporal government, and hostile to
all vice and all its agents, he had sought, on mounting the throne, to
effect those reforms which justice, public opinion, and the times
required. He hoped to give lustre to the papacy by their means, and so
to extend and to consolidate the faith. He hoped to acquire for the
clergy that credit, which is a great part of the decorum of religion and
an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people. His first
efforts were successful in such a degree that no pontiff ever got
greater praise.

"By this he was greatly stimulated and encouraged, and perhaps he gave in
to the seduction of applause and the temptations of popularity more than
is fitting for a man of decision or for a prudent prince. But when,
after a little, Europe was shaken by universal revolution, the work he
had commenced was, in his view, marred; he then retired within himself
and took alarm.

"In his heart, the pontiff always came before the prince, the priest
before the citizen; in the secret struggles of his mind, pontifical and
priestly conference always outweighed the conscience of the prince and
citizen. And as his conscience was a very timid one, it followed that
his inward conflicts were frequent; that hesitation was a matter of
course, and that he often took resolutions even about temporal affairs,
more from religious intuition or impulse than from his judgment as a
man. Added to this, his health was weak and susceptible of nervous
excitement--the dregs of his old complaint. From this he suffered most
when his mind was most troubled and uneasy; another cause of wavering
and changefulness.

"Under the pressure of the extraordinary occurrences throughout Europe
early in the spring of 1848, the Pope's new Ministry under the
constitution proceeded vigorously and rapidly to give full development
and efficiency to that instrument. They also expressed the wish for a
firm union of the constitutional thrones of Italy with one another with
a view to insuring her independence; and they ordered the papal banners
to be decorated with pennons of the Italian tricolor. On March 21st the
news of the revolution at Vienna, much magnified by report, arrived, and
the excitement of the Roman populace knew no bounds.

"Every bell in the city pealed for joy; from palace and from hovel, from
magazine and workshop, the townspeople poured in throngs into the
streets and squares; some took to letting off firearms, some to strewing
flowers; some hoisted flags on the towers, some decked with them their
balconies; everybody was shouting '_Italia! Italia!_' and cursing the
Empire. In an access of fury, the Austrian arms were torn down, dashed
to pieces, and befouled amid the applause of the crowd in spite of the
dissuasion of the public functionaries and of prudent persons."

The hostility to the Jesuits now threatened to break out into violence;
and for the double purpose of protecting them and appeasing the passions
of the mob the Pope consented that the schools which they had
superintended should be given into other hands, that their associations
should be disbanded and they should be exiled.

"The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did
the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not affirm that the Pope
and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security
of the State for an ineffectual defence of the fraternity. What I wish
to observe is that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with
guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and
punished as bad citizens; but it was incompatible with propriety or
justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a
place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of
the Church. None but the Pope had the power to condemn the society as a
whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion
and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political
effects." On the same day that the Jesuits were expelled, the Pope
issued a noble proclamation, breathing the best spirit of religion. The
following excerpt is a portion of it:

"_Pius Papa IX to the People of the States of Italy--Health and
Apostolic Benediction_:

"The events which the last two months have witnessed, following and
thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man. Woe
to him that does not discern the Lord's voice in this blast that
agitates, uproots, and rends the cedar and the oak. Woe to the pride of
man if he shall refer, these marvellous changes to any human merit or
any human fault; if instead of adoring the hidden designs of Providence,
whether manifested in the paths of his justice or of his mercy, or of
that Providence in whose hands are all the ends of the earth. And we,
who are endowed with speech in order to interpret the dumb eloquence of
the works of God--we cannot be mute amid the longings, the fears, and
the hopes which agitate the minds of our children.

"And first, it is our duty to make known to you that if our hearts had
been moved at hearing how, in a part of Italy, the consolations of
religion have preceded the perils of battle, and nobleness of mind has
been displayed in works of charity, we nevertheless could not and cannot
but greatly grieve over the injuries which, in other places, have been
done to the ministers of that same religion--injuries, even if contrary
to our duty we were silent concerning them, our silence could not hinder
from impairing the efficacy of our benedictions.

"Neither can we refrain from telling you that to use victory well is a
greater and more difficult achievement than to be victorious. If the
present day recalls to you any other period of your history, let the
children profit by the errors of their forefathers. Remember that all
stability and all prosperity has its main earthly ground in concord;
that it is God alone who maketh of one mind them that dwell in a house;
that he grants this reward only to the humble and the meek, to those who
respect his laws, in the liberty of his church, in the order of society,
in charity toward all mankind."

*       *       *       *       *

Shortly afterward another measure, emanating entirely from the Pope, and
opposed by the prejudices of the mob, showed that his humane and liberal
disposition and enlightened understanding waited for no impulse from
without, and for no hope of increased popularity, before doing justice
to a long oppressed race. "The friends of social progress were highly
gratified by the decision of Pius IX to raze in Rome the walls and gates
which shut up the Jews in the Ghetto. He had already, at the
commencement of his pontificate, softened some of the rigors with which
they were afflicted, and had directed that they might spread beyond that
ignominious precinct; nor, however great was the outcry about it among
the mob, did he forego the idea of bettering the condition of the
followers of the Mosaic law." He was disposed to give them civil rights;
and if he did not think of extending his concessions even to political
privileges, yet he would give this as the main reason for it, that, in a
constitutional country, everyone who enjoys them may rise to the highest
stages of power; whereas a pope could not have any save Catholic
ministers. In the mean time he raised them out of the abjectness of
their isolation, although the Roman vulgar censured him for it bitterly,
most of all because it took effect in Holy Week. When it was known in
the city that the walls and fastenings of the Ghetto were to be pulled
down at night, by order of the Cardinal Vicar, Ciceruacchio hastened
with his companions, or subjects, to share in the work; and they shared
in it so largely that it seemed as though the thing were effected more
as their boon than by the will of the Pope. Pius IX was vexed at this;
whether because noise had been made about what he wanted done quietly,
or because it was brought about in such a manner that it might seem the
popular party had had more to say to it than the authority of the head
of religion. Rome fully shared the enthusiasm which was awakened
throughout Italy by the entrance of the Piedmontese troops into
Lombardy, and by the announcement by Charles Albert that he had drawn
the sword in the sacred cause of Italian independence. His proclamation,
in the stilted phrase common to such state papers, declared that he
relied upon "the assistance of that God who is visibly with us; of that
God who has given Pius IX to Italy; of that God who, by such wondrous
impulses, has placed her in a condition to act for herself." And if she
acted for herself, if her deeds had been commensurate with her glorious
words, the Austrian would never again have trodden any portion of the
peninsula with the step of a master. But the zeal of the Italians for
independence seemed all to evaporate in high-sounding manifestoes, and
in a few excesses of the populace in the great cities. The inactivity of
the Italian sovereigns may be explained by their imputed treachery or
lukewarmness in the cause. But what prevented the people themselves from
crowding the camp of Charles Albert with volunteers at a time when not a
crowned head in Italy dared offer the least open opposition to such a
movement? The King of Naples, sorely against his will, sent his regular
army, consisting of about fourteen thousand men, to fight for the cause,
and withdrew them in about six weeks, as soon as a base act of treachery
had given him the victory at home. General Pepe, their commander, wished
to disobey the order and move forward; but "nearly the whole army turned
its back on the Po and on him, and moved backward in the direction of
the Neapolitan Kingdom." Two hundred volunteers had previously set out
from Naples for Upper Italy, under the guidance and at the expense of an
enthusiastic woman, the Princess Belgioioso. "She had lived as an exile
in France, and was at first enthusiastic for the _Giovine Italia_; she
afterward became averse to it, and sided with Guizot, Duchâtel, and
Mignet, her intimate friend. She was well versed--or mixed herself
much--in literature, politics, the study of theology, and journalism; a
woman that had some of the feelings and anxieties of men, together with
all those of her own sex, and who was now travelling through Italy
intent upon manly business, but after woman's fashion. Other volunteers
afterward started, and a vessel set sail for Leghorn, which carried
them, along with the Tenth Regiment of the line." The Sicilians at the
same time determined to separate entirely from Naples and the rest of
the peninsula; "and thus all the ability and spirit, the arms and
wealth, of that powerful island were applied to the effort for insular
independence, and drawn off from that for the independence of the
nation." From Tuscany there went to this national war "about three
thousand volunteers, and perhaps as many more regulars"--a number so
small that Farini apologizes for it, and endeavors to prove that it