ough right had been trampled
down, it knew how to do battle and to die. "For the first time," observed
a Protestant journal, the new Gazette of Prussia, "a general of the party
of legality has dared to lead his troops against the enemy. For the first
time the revolution has been met in the field of battle. The effort has
not been successful. We know it. And as we repeatedly said beforehand, we
had no hope that it would. But the defeat of Lamoriciere raises the mind
by contrast. For a long time we had been accustomed to the triumphs of
cowardice, treachery and corruption, of all which the victories of
Garibaldi presented such a disgusting spectacle. We are assured that the
Pontifical troops did their duty unto death. This is enough. It is easily
understood how the adversaries of the revolution had become humble. For
years they could only record the victories of their enemies. But if, at
Castelfidardo, a few individuals were defeated, the principle of legality
was at last asserted. Now, if men contend in battle for a principle its
final triumph is assured."

It was to be expected that Pius the Ninth would avenge the memory of the
brave men who had been branded by the name of _Mercenaries_, the greater
number of whom served without pay. No wonder if he did justice on the
pretended moral order which Piedmont said it had come to restore in the
States of the Church. Not only did he honor their noble efforts, he also
founded at his own cost, and for their benefit, the chaplaincy of
Castelfidardo in the sanctuary of the Scala Santa. He ordered the funeral
obsequies of General Pimodan to be celebrated with becoming magnificence,
and composed himself an inscription for his tomb in the French Church of
St. Louis. He wished to confer on Lamoriciere the title of Roman Count.
But the defeated hero declined the honor, saying that he desired always to
be called Leon de la Moriciere. Pius IX. then addressed him a few words,
which recall the piety of early times: "I send you what, at least, you
cannot refuse, the order of Christ, for whom you have combated, and who
will, I trust, be your reward as well as mine."

In France the government showed its revolutionary leaning by forbidding a
subscription which was undertaken for the purpose of presenting a sword of
honor to Lamoriciere. It did even worse than this. It meanly persecuted
the vanquished soldiers of the Holy See, as well as those who had hastened
to fill their places. This was pur