uction of social order out of
the ruins, both as a connecting civilising power, and as the
preserver and dispenser of moral and religious tradition. And thus
the Papacy, with or without territory, has its own function and its
appointed mission.

These, then, were the ideas from which I started; and it may be
supposed that my language concerning the immediate fate of the
temporal power of the Pope necessarily sounded ambiguous, that I
could not well come with the confidence which is given to
other--perhaps more far-sighted--men before my audience, and say,
Rely upon it, the States of the Church--the land from Radicofani to
Ceperano, from Ravenna to Civita Vecchia, shall and must and will
invariably remain to the Popes. Heaven and earth shall pass away
before the Roman State shall pass away. I could not do this, because
I did not at that time believe it, nor do I now; but am only
confident that the Holy See will not be permanently deprived of the
conditions necessary for the fulfilment of its mission. Thus the
substance of my words was this: Let no one lose faith in the Church
if the secular principality of the Pope should disappear for a
season, or for ever. It is not essence, but accident; not end, but
means; it began late; it was formerly something quite different from
what it is now. It justly appears to us indispensable, and as long as
the existing order lasts in Europe, it must be maintained at any
price; or if it is violently interrupted, it must be restored. But a
political settlement of Europe is conceivable in which it would be
superfluous, and then it would be an oppressive burden. At the same
time I wished to defend Pope Pius IX. and his government against many
accusations, and to point out that the inward infirmities and
deficiencies which undeniably exist in the country, by which the
State has been reduced to so deplorable a condition of weakness and
helplessness, were not attributable to him: that, on the contrary, he
has shown, both before and since 1848, the best will to reform; and
that by him, and under him, much has been really improved.

The newspaper reports, written down at home from memory, gave but an
inaccurate representation of a discourse which did not attempt in the
usual way to cut the knot, but which, with buts and ifs, and
referring to certain elements in the decision which are gener