MARION CRAWFORD ON THE POPE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)

MARION CRAWFORD ON THE POPE.

Marion Crawford regards the Pope as among the greatest statesmen of the century, and in one of the most forcible passages of his lecture compared him Avith Lincoln and Gladstone, bracketing the three great statesmen together. All three, he pointed out, Avere men who possessed remarkable physical qualifications in their youth. All three could be eloquent on occasion, and all three had a certain element of melancholy sadness in their composition. Leo is noAV nearly ninety years off ng- e, yet Crawofrd drew a wonderful picture of his physical vigour. With almost a superfluity of detail he told oi: the hours the Pope keeps, of the scanty meals he eats; all the little peculiarities of his character Avere set forth with photographic accuracy. The Pope has great conversational poAver. Rarely does a distinguished personage pass through Rome without being summoned to an audience. In his dictatorial way, Leo Avill sometimes talk for a couple of hours, and the visitor feels through it all that he is listening to a man of real power, who unites the three great essentials of .strength—those of head, heart, ancl hand. The, Pope, as Mr CraAVford sums him up, is evenly balanced a.s a .statesman, a scholar, and a man. No such personage has appeared at the head of the Church for centuries. He has turned the feeling- of .the nations of Europe from 'hostility to friendliness. He has achieved greater results than Mazzini and Garibaldi, Bismarck, or Napoleon 111. Yet, despite all this extreme praise, Mr Crawford had to admit that Leo i.s practically a prisoner in his oavu Vatican. Political reasons aro often given for his voluntary seclusion;, but the real cause is the disturbed'condition off Borne. A volcano of fanarchical sentiment rag-es beneath the surface, and the Pope's life, should he venture beyond his own grounds, Avould not be safe for a day. Some fanatical revolutionist, afflicted with the 'sour indigestion of free thought,' Avoujd cut his career short, and, therefore, the rulers of modern Italy, Avho have, the highest respect for Leo's character and ability, arc glad to have him remain at home.