The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1891.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 238, 7 October 1891, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1891.

For tie earjo that lac>3 assistance, i'or tlio vrcnor that ncccia rc:istanoo, for tho future in the- distance, Aai tlis seed that ~jc czn do.

Rome is at present in a state of ferment. A cable message a few days ago announced that the Pope had blessed 60,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's, but His Holiness is just now probably more inclined to curse

pilgrims and their follies rather than to

Hit up the light of the apostolic coun. tenance upon them. The originators of the tumult that threatens to compli" cate the relations between two great

nations are insignificant enough to show us on what poor creatures great events sometimes depend. Three French pilgrims, fresh from the Papal blessing, thought they could not better show their respect, for religion than by insulting the tomb of the first King of United Italy, Victor Emmanuel. The follies of three ruffians who, like a large proportion of their companions, were probably mere idle thieving vagabonds in pilgrims' garb, would in ordinary circumstances have called for nothing beyond a summary punishment inflicted on their own persons. But there are political and social combustibles in Italy that only need the application of the match to produce an explosion. That was furnished by the indecent action of the trio of worthies. The affair has produced a profound sensation both in Italy and France. No one, perhaps, is more embarrassed by the outbreak than the Pope. He has hastened to make the amende honorable by expressing his regret at the insult offered to the illustrious dead. But while we give the Pope every credit for sincerity in his expressions of regret, it is impossible to overlook the fact that by his bitter encyclicals and violent speeches he has done his best to provoke some such outbreak. Only a few days ago His Holiness, when giving audience, attacked the Italian Government in terms of vituperation and spoke of being surrounded by " insane and ungodly " persons. If the Pontiff refreshes himself by indulging in these declamations, he must not be surprised if the minds of ignorant persons are inflamed by a desire for revenge which shows itself in outrages that violate both law and decency.

The ruffle produced by thousands of excited people parading the streets of Rome and indulging in hostile language against the Pope would speedily sink into a calm but for the unsatisfactory nature of the relations that exist between Italy, France and the Papacy. The old question of the temporal'power, if left (merely to the Pope on one hand and j Italy on the other, might be regarded las settled for ever, that is, if the will !of a nation, expressed at the ballot-box, jis capable of settling a question of sovereignty ; and yet, more than 1 twenty years after the Italians declared by overwhelming majorities for the unification of Italy, the Pope's claim is still the apple of discord. But, ■ short of being invested with a shadow lof sovereignty, it is difficult to see that 1 the Pope has lost anything requisite to the discharge of his spiritual functions. He lost the semblance but preserves the reality of power. The "Prisoner of the Vatican" has been allowed a freedom both of speech and 'action which would not have been permitted to any secular sovereign. It was only natural that Pius IX. I should be filled with bitterness, and the caustic language in which that aged Pontiff indulged was borne with a tolerance that owed its origin to genuine human sympathy for his sorrows, and admiration of his many good qualities. A similar forbearance has been extended to Leo XIII. The Italian Government has been embarrassed by the exercise of a quasi sovereignty within its own borders. The Pope has received ambassadors, conferred titles, and carried himself generally as a sovereign prince. His spiritual character has protected him in aggressive acts in foreign countries. Pius IX. compelled ecclesiastics to resist the civil power in Germany, and Bismarck was eventually compelled to come to terms with Leo XIII, who •imitated the policy of his predecessor.

The great body of the Italian people are firm in their allegiance to the monarchy. United Italy 1.1 their watchword. They cannot forget that they have a country as well as a religion. Disunited, they were for ages the prey of the foreign invader; united, they confront other Great Powers on equal terms. The result of the vote by ballot on the question of the unification of Italy in IS7O showed conclusively the passionate aspirations of. the people for nationality. In the Roman Provinces, the number of votes on the list amounted to 167,548. Of the 135,291 who recorded their votes, 133,681 voted for annexation, while only 1,507 voted against it, and 103 votes were annulled. The Italian

Parliament ratified the vote of the Roman people by a vote of 239 to 20. If there be any truth in the old motto, Voxpopuli vox Dei, the Italian Government can certainly claim to exist by Divine Right. But, from questions of merely worldly policy, there was no wish to quarrel with the Pope. While the Parliament has been engaged with measures promoting education,

developing the resources of the country, and strengthening the position of Italy by alliance with foreign Powers, the guarantees have been strictly observed, the Pope has enjoyed complete autonomy, and the prerogatives with which the Roman Catholic religion is invested give it in Italy advantages greater than those enjoyed by any other form of worship.

A free and united Italy has never been looked upon with complete favour by France. Pius IX. was supported on his tottering throne by French bayonets till the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war. Since that disastrous event France gives but grudging sympathy to her Italian neighbour. It is true the French Republic cans affirm that the obstacle to Italian independence was Napoleon 111., and not the French people, but none the less the existence of Italy as a powerful united nation is opposed to French traditions. The French are ambitious as ever to be arbiters of Europe, and Germany and Italy as united States are obstacles that have to be reckoned with. Hence the aversion of France to the Triple Alliance, the coquetting with the temporal claim of the Pope, and the pretence that the "eldest son of the Church" is the natural guardian of the Papacy. It was not without reason that Signor Crispi wrote recently, "Fiance, then, or at least the French press, wishes our defeat, wishes to reconstitute the Civil rule of the Church, and divide us into as many Republics perhaps as there were, in the Middle Ages, States in the Peninsula." The jealous attitude of the two nations, and the doubtful position of the Pope, cause an ] importance to be attached to the action of three fanatical pilgrims that no one would dream .of under ordinary circumstances.