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The populace were, as usual, intolerant. The French were especially obnoxious as the supposed representatives of liberal" opinions, and the French students were liable to be insulted when they ventured beyond the precincts of the Villa Medici, in which their warlike president, Horace Vernet, had intrenched himself. A moustache was then thought to be the outward symbol of republican opinions, and on one occasion an inoffensive stranger, who had unwittingly ventured within the limits of Trastevere with this obnoxious appendage, was stopped by certain popular ringleaders and taken to the shop of a barber, whom they compelled to shave him. They then dismissed him with the assurance, 'Now you have the face of a Christian man; but if ever you disfigure it again by turning it into the muzzle of a beast'-the speaker, by drawing his hand horizontally across his throat, gave him to understand the fate he was to expect.

The

Throughout his States the Pope turned to account the popular feeling in his favour by enrolling volunteers and obtaining recruits for his puny standing army. Under the circumstances the Government could not be nice in the choice of soldiers, and we can readily believe they did not venture to enforce a very strict discipline on their partisans. The republican government of Bologna subsisted long enough to show its inaptitude. president, Vicini, a lawyer, published a manifesto-feeble, diffuse, and pedantic-in which, from his eagerness to embrace every possible accusation, he enumerated as grievances matters so trifling as to throw an air of ridicule over the reasonable subjects of complaint. Sercognani, who took the command of the army such as it was, did not display more energy or talent. The two sons of Louis Buonaparte the present Emperor of the French and his elder brother-forgetful of the hospitality which the Pope alone of continental sovereigns had extended to them, repaired to the rebel camp, but were coldly received by the malcontents, who feared their presence might give umbrage to the new ruler of France, and failed to perceive that nothing could make Louis Philippe more hostile than he was already to the cause of revolution in Italy. All was disorder, distrust, and confusion. The native republican leaders were loudly accused by their own party of venality and corruption. Certain it is that the languor, the improvidence, the childish security, with which they conducted their operations, could not be exceeded even by the timidity and precipitation with which the papal authorities in most instances. surrendered their trusts. Civil war, so conducted, resembled a game of children. Ancona capitulated without a struggle to the republican general. On the first summons the principal provincial towns hastened to establish a provisional government, and the

papal

papal authorities, military and ecclesiastical, were the first to take post and bring the news of their disgrace to their employers. On the other hand the Bishop of Rieti, at the head of a few dependants, triumphantly defended the town and drove back the insurgent forces. The capital was harassed with rumours of engagements which scarcely amounted to skirmishes, and in one instance it was positively asserted the hostile forces had kept up a fire at each other from the opposite sides of a valley, without once having approached within musket range. Whatever hopes the most sanguine may have derived from the outbreak of the revolution must have been dissipated in its progress, and few among impartial spectators could have felt anything but relief

when the bloodless intervention of Austria restored the ancient government on the basis of a general amnesty. A few only of the ringleaders were punished with exile. Acts of severity it was understood would not be agreeable to Austria, who was glad to diminish the odium of intervention by taking on herself the part of mediator.

The Pope had applied to the Austrian Cabinet for assistance, not without the privity of the French Government, who were beyond measure anxious to trample out the flames of revolutionary war in Italy. The other great powers of Europe, not less desirous to maintain the general peace, and willing to conciliate public opinion, proposed a conference on the internal condition of the Roman States. Besides France and Austria, Russia, Prussia, and even England, sent their representatives. France more especially had a debt of justice to discharge towards the malcontents, whom she had encouraged; and England had begun, under the direction of Lord Palmerston, that system of intermeddling which has brought on her the accumulated hatred of Europe. The result of the congress was the famous Memorandum.' It recommended a reform, administrative and judicial, not confined to the revolted provinces, but coextensive with the Roman States-a popular form of municipal government by means of elective councils, and a popular administration of finance.

Louis Philippe was obliged by his position to make an ostentatious display of liberality, and Austria sincerely approved, and to the end of Gregory's reign continued to advise, such reforms as might pacify the Roman provinces. But it may be doubted whether any of the five powers, except England, desired such innovations as the Memorandum,' in its largest sense, might be construed to recommend. In its strictest interpretation it implied far more than the Pope intended to grant, even when in his first panic he issued his edict to assure his rebellious subjects that his reign should be the beginning of a new era. He promised, hesitated,

temporised,

6

temporised, negotiated; but in the mean time, no sooner had the Austrian troops repassed the frontier than the Legations again rose in arms. This time the moderate party made themselves masters of the movement. They endeavoured to restrain the revolutionists within the bounds of allegiance, and to negotiate with the Pope for the execution of the Memorandum;' but in vain. The violent party refused even to acknowledge the Pope's authority so far as to allow the national guard to wear his colours. The moderate party, always powerless in revolutions, was utterly inefficient even for the ordinary purposes of government. Licence and anarchy prevailed; the mediating powers, not sorry to escape from a position no longer tenable, sanctioned a second occupation of the Legations by Austria. From this course England alone dissented, on the plea that a full execution of the 'Memorandum had not been tried. The Austrians advanced, and the provincials, weary of anarchy and willing to show their preference of any troops to those of their sovereign, received them with acclamations. Soon afterwards occurred the strange piratical occupation of Ancona by the French. It was executed by surprise, and in the name of liberty. The hopes of the republicans were roused -the papal government was alarmed and indignant. It seems to have been a measure extorted from Louis Philippe by the national party in France, who desired to have a counterpoise to the increased influence of Austria, and to make a demonstration in favour of the republicans. But with whatever intention it was forced on the Government, Louis Philippe subsequently turned it to his own purposes, and in its results it was favourable to the Pope. The French were a check upon the Austrians, and both supported the papal government till both vacated the country together in the year 1838. France desired no payment for her aid, and Austria could not demand what France declined to receive.

The Pope enlisted in his service two Swiss regiments, amounting to about 5000 men, and henceforth the chief object of his policy seems to have been to preserve the existing order of things. No reforms could be attempted by a weak government whose whole energies were concentrated in a struggle for existence. The smallest change which Gregory could have effected would have disgusted his supporters; the largest he could offer would not have conciliated his enemies. The Memorandum operated unfortunately. Those who desired only the administrative reforms it recommended, were led to seek them by allying themselves with the Revolutionists; those who desired revolution were enabled to mask their designs by joining the clamour for administrative reform. Even the improvements of material civilisation adopted by other countries

became

became associated with the ideas of political change, and were advocated and opposed by the two parties with reference to that ulterior object. Thus by the one gas was identified with intellectual light, by the other with the torch of the incendiary. Railways were desired by the reformers, as if they could be constructed without labour and capital, and as if they were the necessary cause of the industry, the wealth, and intelligence of which they are rather the expression and the result, while by the Roman conservatists they were resisted as the harbingers and instruments of anarchy and revolution.

This uneasy state of things was maintained, though with yearly increasing difficulty on the part of the Government, till the close of Gregory's life. We shall not attempt to narrate the senseless and abortive insurrections in Romagna and elsewhere, equally wearisome in their details, and equally disastrous in their results, which alarmed his declining years and preluded the convulsions which for a time overset the throne of his successor.

The first secretary of state appointed by Gregory was Cardinal Bernetti, who had already proved himself a man of ability when employed in the same capacity by Leo XII. The Cardinal Secretary had been wont to fill the place held in the ancient French and Spanish courts by the First Minister,' who frequently under this title became to an indolent prince nothing less than maire du palais.' By the advice of the Congress this custom was altered, and two secretaries were named, the one for foreign, the other for internal affairs. But as no decided superiority of rank was reserved for the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, it was necessary that he should retain it by dexterous management and the judicious choice of a pliant colleague. The first person named for the new office was Cardinal Gamberini. He had been a lawyer, and comparatively late in life, at the restoration of Pius VII., had entered the ecclesiastical career as being then the only remaining road to wealth and honours. But though in dress a churchman, in his habits and modes of thought he was a lawyer still. Astute, unscrupulous, grasping, and tenacious, he sought office for its solid advantages, and to retain it he was willing to work hard and endure much. As it is not the etiquette of the papal court to dismiss a cardinal secretary, the Pope is often much perplexed in devising means to get rid of an unacceptable minister. Gregory soon found himself in this position. Cardinal Gamberini became aware that he was distasteful to his master, and that his place was desired for a rival who was rapidly advancing in His Holiness's good graces. But he would understand no hint-he would perceive no slight, he would resent no insult-his patience was evangelical. At the time when the

disgrace

disgrace of the minister was pretty generally foreseen, a prelate in his department who had been subjected to some mortification waited on him to acquaint him that he had tendered his resignation. The Cardinal heard him with patience and shook his head. You have done wrong-you should never resign.' The prelate explained more at length his motives. The cardinal again shook his head. He pointed to the crucifix which faced his writing table. 'When I am mortified or irritated,' he said, 'I fix my eyes on that image and derive comfort and support.' The prelate was amazed: he had not suspected that His Eminence drew his consolations from so sacred a source. 'How do you interpret,' continued the minister, 'those letters over the Saviour's head, IN RI? I read them thus, Io Non Rinunzio Impieghi' (I never resign employments). Strong in this support, he clung to office with a tenacity that baffled his unwilling employer. He seemed even to enjoy the embarrassment he occasioned. The Pope's patience at length gave way. One morning, after a long conversation with a trusty confidant, he descended with hurried steps into the Cardinal's apartment. In a quarter of an hour he returned, with a clearer and more cheerful look, but with a manner still agitated, and a deeper flush suffusing his ruddy brow. The Cardinal was found calm and collected, and with a smile of peculiar meaning on his lips he prepared to quit the apartments he never entered again. Cardinal Mattei, who was appointed to fill the vacant office, was a man of very mean origin, and remarkable for little but his pliancy and servility. Lambruschini not long after succeeded to Bernetti, and with Mattei for a colleague retained his place till the death of his patron.

Cardinal Lambruschini was a native of Genoa: his parentage was humble, and it was by no patronage of the great and powerful that he reached his eminent station. An obscure Barnabite monk, he was raised to the generalship of his order, and subsequently to a mitre, by his reputation for learning and piety; and he is admitted by his enemies to have possessed every virtue of the cloister except humility and meekness. Merits such as his were sure to attract the attention of Leo XII., and by him he was employed and advanced. He had sound sense, a correct judgment, and good intentions; but his monastic education had not fitted him to conduct state affairs at a time of extreme difficulty, and his policy was necessarily limited to the scrupulous maintenance of the existing order of things.

Gregory's greatest embarrassment was finance. The revolt of the Legations occasioned the most violent panic in the treasury, for it necessitated an increased expenditure and cut off the most fruitful sources of income. To meet this double difficulty our

author