it had become a leader of the populace, whom he now fired with his
own enthusiasm for Pius IX.

The Pope would have been more than man if his head had not been a little
turned with all this adulation, which came to him from many foreign
lands as well as from Italy. But his simple and modest character bore
the trial well; he manifested no undue elation, and formed his plans
tranquilly and without hurry for the improvement of his people. Cardinal
Gizzi, well known as a friend to reform, and much attached to the Pope,
was named Secretary of State; and he wrote letters to the presidents of
the provinces, inviting them, the municipal magistrates, ecclesiastics,
and all respectable citizens, to prepare and offer schemes for promoting
popular education, and especially for the moral, religious, and
industrial instruction of the children of the poor. Commissions were
appointed to deliberate and advise upon many subjects of proposed
reform. Great, indeed, was the need of change in the institutions of the
Pontifical States; but the Government had a delicate part to play in
amending them, and it wisely determined not to be precipitate in its
measures. "Already the Liberals had conceived boundless desires, and the
Retrogradists were haunted with unreasonable fears. The Government had,
to-day, to moderate on the left, circulate despatches, wellnigh to scold
men for hoping too much."

But the friends of change, says Farini, were for the most part measured
in their wishes and cautious in their proceedings; for all prudent men
were exerting themselves strenuously to keep the impatient in hand, with
excellent effect.

We cannot follow in detail the Pope's measures down to March, 1848, till
which period the movement may be considered as all his own, emanating
from his free choice and not from the pressure of outward circumstances
or from revolutions in foreign States. He did enough during these twenty
months to establish his character as a wise, humane, and liberal
sovereign, eager to promote the temporal and religious interests of his
people, and prompt to give political power into their hands as fast as
they showed themselves capable of using, and not abusing, it. He
instituted a civic guard throughout his dominions, modelled on the
French National Guard, and disbanded the Gregorian Centurions and
volunteers. All his court was opposed to this measure as premature and
dangerous; and even Cardinal Gizzi resigned his place in consequenc