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    THE PAPAL QUESTION SOLVED BY NAPOLEON THE FIRST. '

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    beforehand- —liow many troops are coming ' , at what points they will disembark , and when they may be expected to sit down before London . We know all these particulars respecting the invasion -which is to take place on Sunday next ; and we are fully prepared to meet it , though our fleet is declared to be totally inadequate for the protection of our shores , our arsenals wholly undefended , and our forts mere empty shams and pretences . To relieve the alarm of any reader who may have been perusing- Lord Ovekstonjs ' s startling picture of the sack of London , we may as well state at once that the army " which is to invade us on Sunday next is composed , not of chasseurs and zouaves , but of musicians , members of IS Orphean , an amalgamation of all the musical societies of France ; and their obiect in laying siege to London is not to make us all

    Frenchmen , and plunder the Bank , but to subdue us , as their classic godfather is said to have subdued the stocks and stones , with melodious music . The general of this invading army of harmonists is the well-known M . Eugene Belapqete , and he and the Directors of the Crystal Palace are the parties to .-the-compact which has decreed us * to musical enslavement for one week . The society of which HI . Delaporte is the head is the largest of the kind in the world . It numbers in all 30 , 000 members , and its various branches are spread over every nook and corner of France . All classes are represented in its ranks—gentlemen , shop-keepers , artisans , and workmen ; Of course it was found impossible to bring over the whole 30 , 000 , and so JVI . Dezapoete is content to facets with a tithe of that number . The campaign is to be short ,

    sharp , and decisive . The army of Orpheonists will arrive in London on Sunday night , and take possession of all the spare beds in the neighbourhood of Leicester-square . Early next morning they will march : ' upon Sydenbam , and prepare tor the assault upon British ears in the afternoon , This will be continued on Tuesday and Thursday ; and on Wednesday , Friday , and Saturday the town will be given up to the mercy of the invaders . The Bank , the Mint , the Houses oi Parliiunent , St . James ' s Palace , and the British -Museum , will all surrender to the invaders at discretion . As Lord Oveestone observes , there is no help for us when things have come to this pass . We must yield up everything 1 without a grumble . And so we shall . We shall show these Frenchmen \ vhat freedom is . They will ; find out for the first time in their lives that they can go about where -they please

    notions which still tend to estrange the sympathies of the two nations would soon be dispelled . The bare announcement of 31 . Delaporte's project has already been productive of the besfc effect on both sides of the Channel . The moment the two nations come down from the high horse of dynastic policy to contemplate questions of social intercourse , they become men and brothers . It is only the projects of ambitious rulers that inflame their jealousies , and provoke ' ' autag . biii . siiv . It is evident from the tone of the French journnls that Frenchmen attaeh as much importance to this visit as Englishmen do , and that they are equally anxious for opportunities to cultivate onr acquaintance , and draw closer the bonds of nilianee mid friendship .

    The Siccfe , which can be very fierce on questions connected with onr governmental policy abroad , meets us hove on the common ground of brotherhood , and fervently expresses a hope that these three . thousand arlifians will carry back with them to France juster notions of Grwit Britain than lmve hitherto obtained ; and M . AUoustk Luctikt describes , in characteristic language , the reunion as ' * a bridge of fraternity thrown across from one country to the other , the electric cable of humanity—a conductor of peace , union , and happiness . "

    May it bo so ! In the mean time , while Lot'is Napoleon , and not ' the French nation , is master of France , it may be well if wo keep our powder dry ; so that when a hostile invasion takes place , ¦ w e may be prepared to meet it as complacently and with as little misgiving a * wo sliull meet the three thousand Orpheonists at the Crystal Palace on Monday . As to the occupation of London by Frenchmen on any terms but those of landlord and tenant , we will say . yvitli Lord Qv . jiksto njj , J * We cannot contemplate or trace to its consequence * hdcIi a supposition . """ . "' It ~" muSt "" never '" b 6 ; . T . it must never be . "

    without a- passport , and without being watched by a gendarme . They will see a city crowded by an industrious population , living in unrestricted freedom , under it popular-, constitutional Government ; They will _ &ee how commerce , unrestricted by arbitrary laws , lias ' becomethe material bond by which all classes are held together ; and , above all , they will learn that the Government is inthe hands of the . ' nation , and not the prerogative of an autocratic and irresponsible chief . We cannot help thinking that this friendly invasion will prove more effectual than any number of forts round London in protecting us against the hostile designs of our neighbours . We only regret that M . Delaporte cannot bring over the whole of his Orpheonists . With 30 , 000 " inissionaries who had been witnesses of our institutions , going back to carry into every corner of France a true account of our freedom and prosnerity , we — iirrght—hope—tlm *—many—of— those—erroneous ^

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    were in a condition of general discontent and disaffection ; but , unfortunately , this latter circumstance is one of too constant occurrence , to " afford any clue as to the date of the period in question . In the year of grace " 1808 , the enemies of Napoleon were ipso facto our friends ; and in consequence the Pope , who was known to be hostile to France , became somewhat of a popular characteramongst us . Indeed , Pitrs VII . was looked on here rather m the light of a martyr and a hero . It is only of late years that this feeling has worn off , and that we , as a nation , have begun to doubt whether , in his struggle with the Papae . r , the " Corsican usurper , as it was the fashion then to style him , may not have been m the ri « -ht after all . Considerable light has been thrown upon tins question by the recent publications of certain private State papers , which remained in the possession of Count Aldini , the llimster of Italian Affairs under the great Emperob . It is the pith of these papers , in so far as they bear on the Papal question , to which

    we wish to call attention . . There had long been subjects of dissension between the Papal and the Imperial Governments . At last , in 1806 , these dissensions came to an open rupture . On the 1 st of June in that year , Count Aldini wrote a despatch , i > y order of the Euperor , to coin plain of the ayowed hostility displayed by the Papal Court against the system of legislation introduced into the kingdom of Italy , and of the private intrigues carried on by Cardinal Antonelli . In this despatch occur these words , which at the present day read strangely appropriate : — " His Majesty cannot behold without indignation , how . thab authority , which was appointed by God to maintain order and obedience on earth , employs the most perilous weapons to spread disorder and discord . "

    This appeal to the conscience of the Vatican remained of course without effect , and things only grew worse . At the end of the same year Napoleon published at Berlin his famous decrees for the blockade of England , and the exclusion of all English merchandise . Whether justly or unjustly , the Court of Koine was suspected by Btjonapaete of not keeping up the blockade ( the most unpardouable of all political offences in his eyes ) . At last , by a deeree _ of the 2 nd April * 1808 , he removed the Marches from the Papal Govern- , meiitrand annexed tlieui to the kingdom of Italy . The Legations , by the way , had formed part of that kingdom since the treaty of Tolentino . . ¦'¦'¦ . This experiment proved unsuccessful . Napoleon soon

    dis-.. " It appears from history , that Crescenzixts governed Rome many years with the title of Patrician and Consul , " Pope John XV . having appealed ' against him to the Emperor Otho . the appeal was dismissed , and Cuesgenzius was confirmed in his office , and caused to swear allegiance to the Emperor . " The supreme dominion of the Emperors over Rome was exercised without contradiction throughout all the dynasty of the Othos and Conrads , and only became assailed under Fbedkrick I . " Afterwards , amidst the multitude of Italian republics , the Roman republic was restored for a time , and in the 13 th century had for the head of its government aMATTEO of the Obsini family , with the title of Senator , in honour of whose memory a medal was struck . " For a long period the Kings of Naples , of the Anjou race , were Senators of Rome .

    " Pope Nicholas III . retained the Senatorial dignity for himself , and by a bull of 1208 forbade the election of any Senator , without the sanction of the Pope . " From this date all the Senators of Rome have been nominated by the Popes , and , were never permitted to be foreigners . " Besides the Senator , there was a Council , called the " Conservatori . " The members of this council were chosen from amount the first families of Home , proposed by the Senator and approved by the Pope .

    " From time to time the Pontiffs have endeavoured to diminish the jiu . isdic , tiQ : n and the prerogatives of the Senators , to that in hitter times their office lias been reduced to ii inei ehononiry irharge . "It haa appeared to me that the restoration of thi » form oi government , replacing the Senator in his old authority , would be a step at once adapted to the circumstances of the preseut day , and acceptable to the Roimui people . " To doclare Koine a free Imperial city , and to reserve a palace there f \» r your , Mnjeaty and your court , cannot but produce tine most favourable effect on the minds of the Romans .

    " In-the other dispositions of the proposed statute I have confined mysell to following the precedents adopted by your Mnjcniy on former occasions , under similar circumstances . "

    ABOUT half a century ago the Papal question was the order of the day . Another Napoleon was seated 6 u the throne of France , in mu full title of BueeeHS and triumph of victory . Another Pivs was Pontiff at Mte Vatican , under the pntroiingo of French legions ; and , tUninge to t-ny , another Antonelli wuh the leading udviser of the Pope . The city of Home , too , and the Papul fcJttitcs ,

    covered , what his successor is also likely to learn , that the real evil of the Papal Government consisted not in its territorial extent , . but in the admixture of temporal a , nd spiritual authority ; that , in fact , its power of working mischief Wits , if anything , in inverse proportion to its size . With that rapidity of resolution which formed half his power , he resolved at once to suppress the temporal power of the Popes , and gave instructions to Count ALDiNr to draw up the necessary decrees . The Emperor was then on the eve of departure for the Spanish peninsula , and it was during the harassing reverses of his fortunes in Spain that the following report of Aldini was perused by him : —

    '¦ for " Sire , —Your Imperial and Royal Majesty has considered that the time is come to fix the destinies of Rome . — - —*^\^ T ^ Ha ^ fr ^ irff <» tftd—m <^ tQ- ^ xamma-JwJiich . amidst the diverse governments that Rome has had during modern times , is . -most adapted for her actual circumstances , while retaining the character of a free government .

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    53 $ The Leader and Saturday Analyst : [ June 2 S , 1 SCO .

    The Papal Question Solved By Napoleon The First. '

    THE PAPAL QUESTION SOLVED BY NAPOLEON THE FIRST .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 588, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/8/