company, as well as those who had come
to rescue them, he entered the church, where, deeply affected, he intoned
the _Te Deum_, and concluded with the solemn benediction of the most Holy
Sacrament.

The news of the accident spread rapidly through the city. The people
flocked to the churches. At St. Agnes the wonderful deliverance was
commemorated by a special service. The interior of this church has been
since restored at great cost by Pius IX. A fresco in the open space in
front represents the scene at the convent. The 12th of April is now a
holiday at Rome, and it is observed every year with piety and gratitude.
Twenty years later--12th of April, 1875--the Romans held a magnificent
celebration of the anniversary of the accident at St. Agnes. It was also
the day of the Pope's return from Gaeta, in 1850. In reply to the address,
expressive of duty and devotedness, which was presented to him on that
occasion, the Holy Father alluded, in the language of an apostle, to the
mysterious ways of Providence. "Our fall at St. Agnes," said he, "appeared
at first to be a catastrophe. It struck us all with fear. Its only result,
however, was to cause the works by which the ancient Basilica was renewed
and embellished to be more vigorously prosecuted. The same will be the
case in regard to the moral ruins which the powers of darkness are
constantly heaping up against us and around us. The church will emerge
from the confused mass more vigorous and more beautiful than ever."

(M47) Piedmont, surely, had little to do at the Congress of Paris, the
object of which was to make the best arrangements possible for the
Christians, and especially the Catholics, of the East. Count Cavour, its
representative, nevertheless, found a pretext for being present, and
introduced as he was by the Minister of France, Count Walewski, and
sustained by the British Plenipotentiary, Lord Clarendon, he became more
important than the power of his country, or the share it had in the
Crimean War, would alone have warranted. He availed himself of his
position to attack and undermine two of the minor sovereigns--the Pope and
the King of Naples.

"The States of the Holy See," he insisted, "never knew prosperity, except
under the rule of Napoleon I., when they formed part of the French empire
and the kingdom of Italy. Later, the Emperor Napoleon III., _with that
precision and firmness of view by which he is characterized_, understood
and clearly pointed out in his