which had been for some time established at
Florence, now resolved to avail itself of the disasters of France to seize
the city of the Popes, and to constitute it the capital of regenerated
Italy. The minister, Visconti Venosta, in a circular letter, renewed his
calumnies, pretending that a hostile power existed in the centre of Italy,
and hypocritically declared that it had become necessary that the
government of his master should assume the protection of the Holy See.
They would not wait, he said, moreover, till the agitation at home should
lead to the effusion of blood between the Romans and foreign forces, but
would proceed, as soon as they could learn that the opportune time had
come, to occupy what remained to the Holy Father of the Roman States. The
information which the minister sought came with remarkable rapidity. The
day after the circular alluded to was written, another minister, Signor
Lanza, declared that the solemn moment had arrived when the government of
his king was called upon, in the interest of the Holy See and of Italy, to
take measures for the national safety. An envoy was despatched to Rome,
with a letter to the Pope, assuring him that the king's government was
firmly resolved to give the necessary guarantees for the spiritual
independence of the Holy See, and that these guarantees would be hereafter
the subject of negotiations with the Powers that were interested in the
Papacy. In addition to this mockery of diplomacy, Victor Emmanuel himself
wrote to the Pope, expressing his filial devotedness, while at the same
time he was preparing, from an excess of affection, to bombard his city
and slay his defenders, to rob him from an excessive zeal for justice, to
imprison him in order to set him free, and, finally, that he ought to
allow all this to be done without complaint, and even thank the good king
who took so much care of him.

The Florentine Envoy, Signor Ponza di San Martino, when he came to Rome,
made his first visit to Cardinal Antonelli, who received him politely, and
did not refuse to ask for him an interview with the Pope. The cardinal,
however, declined to have any conversation with him on the object of his
mission. "I know already," said he, "all that you could tell me. You are
also aware of the reply that I would give. Force, not argument, speaks at
present." Pius IX. was more afflicted than surprised when he read King
Victor Emmanuel's letter. He was particularly pained by the tone of