The Roman Question

It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all opinions, examined things very closely, and collected my information on the spot.

My first impressions, noted down from day to day without any especial object, appeared, with some necessary modifications, in the Moniteur Universel. These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to discover in them contradictions and inconsistencies, I was obliged to discontinue, in consequence of the violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book instead. The present volume is the result of a year's reflection.

I completed my study of the subject by the perusal of the most recent works published in Italy. The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, and the admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de Rayneval, supplied me with my best weapons. I have been further enlightened by the conversation and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing them to danger.

The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to write more rapidly than I could have wished; and this enforced haste has given a certain air of warmth, perhaps of intemperance, even to the most carefully matured reflections. It was my intention to produce a memoir,--I fear I may be charged with having written a pamphlet. Pardon me certain vivacities of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge boldly into the heart of the book. You will find something there.

I fight fairly, and in good faith. I do not pretend to have judged the foes of Italy without passion; but I have calumniated none of them.

If I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I had an excellent one in Paris, it is not because I feel any alarm on the score of the regulations of our press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the Pope has a long arm, which might reach me in France, I have gone a little out of the way to tell him the plain truths contained in these pages.

May 9, 1859.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE POPE AS A KING

II. NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER

III. THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER

IV. THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER

V. OF THE PLEBEIANS

VI. THE MIDDLE CLASSES

VII. THE NOBILITY

VIII. FOREIGNERS

IX. ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE

X. PIUS IX

XI. ANTONELLI

XII. PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT

XIII. POLITICAL SEVERITY

XIV. THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME

XV. TOLERANCE

XVI. EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE

XVII. FOREIGN OCCUPATION

XVIII. WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS

XIX. MATERIAL INTERESTS

XX. FINANCES

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER I.

THE POPE AS A KING.

The Roman Catholic Church, which I sincerely respect, consists of one hundred and thirty-nine millions of individuals--without counting little Mortara.

It is governed by seventy Cardinals, or Princes of the Church, in memory of the twelve Apostles.

The Cardinal-Bishop of Rome, who is also designated by the name of Vicar of Jesus Christ, Holy Father, or Pope, is invested with boundless authority over the minds of these hundred and thirty-nine millions of Catholics.

The Cardinals are nominated by the Pope; the Pope is nominated by the Cardinals; from the day of his election he becomes infallible, at least in the opinion of M. de Maistre, and the best Catholics of our time.

This was not the opinion of Bossuet; but it has always been that of the Popes themselves.