ing and
contented, and able to take care of herself without foreign troops.
Your Holiness has done me the honour to speak freely and openly with
me; permit me to do the same, and ask your Holiness what England must
think when she sees the temporal power of your Holiness imposed
upon three millions of people by the constant presence of French
and Austrian bayonets, and when, after ten years of occupation,
the Austrians withdraw suddenly, there is at once an insurrection
throughout the country; and if the French were to leave Rome it is
generally acknowledged that a revolution would compel your Holiness to
seek refuge in some foreign country. At the same time, when the troops
of your Holiness are employed as at Perugia,[64] the Government is
too weak to control them; they pillage and murder, and, instead
of investigating their conduct, the excesses committed by them are
publicly rewarded."

The Pope smiled, paused, took a pinch of snuff, and then said
good-humouredly: "Although I am not a prophet, I know one thing; this
war will be followed by an European Congress, and a Congress about
Italian Affairs is even worse for us than war. There will be changes
in Italy, but mark my words, whatever these changes are, the Pope will
ever be the Pope, whether he dwells in the Vatican or lives concealed
in the Catacombs.

"Lastly, I will give you some advice. Prepare and take care of
yourselves in England, for I am quite certain the French Emperor
intends sooner or later to attack you."

The Pope then beckoned to me to approach, and making the sign of the
Cross, he gave me his blessing in Latin, then with both his hands,
he took one of mine, pressed it, and said with great warmth, "Be our
friend in the hour of need." I have the honour to be, etc., etc.,

ODO RUSSELL.

[Footnote 62: Mr (afterwards Sir) Henry Elliot, P.C., G.C.B.,
was Plenipotentiary to Naples. He was subsequently Ambassador
at Vienna, and died in 1907.]

[Footnote 63: Edmond About, a French journalist (1828-1885),
had published _La Question Romaine,_ an attack on the Papacy.
See De la Gorce, _Histoire du Second Empire_, vol. ii. p.
365.]

[Footnote 64: An insurrection against the Pope at Perugia bad
been put down with great cruelty on the 20th of June.]

[Pageheading: DISAPPOINTMENT OF CAVOUR]

_Queen Victoria to Lord John Russell._

OSBORNE, _18th July 1859_.

The Queen returns these interesting letters to L