ynasty. It is powerfully protected. God Himself is its guardian. He also
looks to my succession and my family. You are not unaware that these are
no other than the Church. I can speak without offence to the Prince of
Wales of the instability of Royal Houses, that which he represents being
firmly anchored in the affections of a wise people." "I am delighted,"
replied the Prince, smiling expressively, "to find that your Holiness has
so good an opinion of our people." "Yes, indeed, I respect the English
people," continued the Holy Father, "because they are more truly
religious, both as regards feeling and conduct, than many who call
themselves Catholics. When, one day, they shall return to the fold, with
what joy will we not welcome that flock which is astray, but not lost!"
The Prince and Princess, being rather incredulous, received this
benevolent aspiration with a good-natured smile. "Oh! my children,"
resumed the Pontiff, "the future has in store for mankind the most strange
surprises. Who could have imagined, two years ago, that we should see a
Prussian army in France? I hesitate not to say that your ablest statesmen
expected sooner to see the Pope at Malta than Napoleon III. in England. As
regards myself, you will observe I am, indeed, robbed of my States, but
God, who, at any moment, withdraws the possessions of this world, can also
restore them a hundred-fold. Is the dynasty of the Head of the Church, on
this account, less secure? I may, for a time, be driven from Rome. But
when your children and grandchildren shall come to visit the holy city,
they will see, as you see to-day--let the temporal power be more or less
considerable--an old man, clothed in white, pointing the way to heaven for
the good of hundreds of millions of human consciences. To compensate for
the absence of subjects immediately around him, he will have devoted
adherents at all times and everywhere." The conversation turning on
Ireland, the Holy Father spoke in the warmest terms of the fidelity of the
Catholics of that country. "You know, Prince, the results of persecution.
It does not make us any more Catholics. Your Royal Mother follows a policy
quite different from that of her predecessors, in regard to Ireland, and
you are, like her, aware that good Catholics are always good subjects."
That country, the Pope continued to observe, had need of the vigilant and
energetic superintendence of its devoted prelates, whom he praised in the
highest terms.