Paris, who had attended, with the other foreign
representatives, to offer the usual congratulations on the 1st
of January, he observed: "I regret that the relations between
our two Governments are not more satisfactory; but I beg
you to assure the Emperor that they in no respect alter my
feelings of friendship to himself."]

[Pageheading: THE POPE]

[Pageheading: THE POPE AND LORD PALMERSTON]

_Mr Odo Russell[3] to Mr Corbett._[4]

(_Submitted to Queen Victoria_.)

ROME, _14th January 1859_.

SIR,--I had the honour of being received by the Pope at a private
audience this morning at the Vatican. No one else was present.

His Holiness, whose manner towards me was most kind and benevolent,
said: "You are appointed to succeed a very good man,[5] for whom I
felt great affection, and I regret that he has left Rome. You may be
as good as he was, and we shall become friends, but I do not know you
yet, and Mr Lyons I had known for many years; he is going to America,
I hear, and he will find the Americans far more difficult to deal with
than with us.

"I am much gratified to hear that the Prince of Wales is likely to
visit Rome, and Her Majesty, I feel sure, has done well to allow him
to prosecute his studies here. It will be an honour to me to receive
him at the Vatican, and I beg that you will confer with Cardinal
Antonelli[6] as to the best means of making the Prince's visit here
useful and pleasant. We are anxious that all his wishes should be
attended to, that he may preserve a pleasant recollection of Rome
in the future. Alas! so many erroneous impressions exist about this
country that I hope you will not judge of us too rashly. We are
advised to make reforms, and it is not understood that those very
reforms, which would consist in giving this country a Government of
laymen, would make it cease to exist. It is called 'States of the
Church' (_Etats de l' Eglise_), and that is what it must remain. It
is true I have lately appointed a layman to a post formerly held by an
ecclesiastic, and I may do so again occasionally; but, however small
we may be, we cannot yield to outer pressure, and this country must
be administered by men of the Church. For my part, I shall fulfil my
duties according to my conscience, and should Governments and events
turn against me they cannot make me yield. I shall go with the
faithful to the Catacombs, as did the Christians of the early
centuries, and there awai