Sacred Chair.
After the ceremony was over, it seems that the Senator of Rome, Marquis
Mattei, presented an address to the Pope, with a copy of which I am
kindly favoured. The Senator, in his own name and in that of his
colleagues in the magistracy, declares, that "if at all times devotion to
the Pontiff and loyalty to the Sovereign was the intense desire of his
heart, it is more ardent to-day than ever, since he only re-echoes the
sentiment of the whole Catholic world, which with wonderful unanimity
proclaims its veneration for the august Father of the faithful, and
offers itself, as a shield, to the Sovereign of Rome." He adds, that
"his mind revolts from those fallacious maxims, which some persons try to
insinuate into the feeble minds of the people, throwing doubts on the
incontestable rights of the Church, and that he looks with contempt on
such intrigues." As however both the Senator and his colleagues are
nominees of the Pope, and as a brother of the Marquis is a Cardinal, I
feel sceptical as to the value of their opinion. The next paragraph
tells me, that in order to testify their devotion to the Papacy the
inhabitants of Rome illuminated their houses last night in honour of the
feast. Unfortunately, I happened to walk out yesterday evening, and
observed that the lamps were very few and far between, while in the only
illuminated house I entered I found the proprietor grumbling at the
expense which the priests had insisted on his incurring. I have then a
whole column about the proceedings at the "Propaganda" on the festival of
the Epiphany, now some days ago. The Archbishop of Thebes, I rejoice to
learn, excited the pupils of the Academy to imitate the virtues
manifested in the "Magi," by an appropriate homily, drawing a striking
parallel between the simplicity, the faith and honesty of the three
kings, and the disbelief and hypocrisy of the wicked king Herod. I
wonder if I have ever heard of Herod under a more modern name, and pass
on to a passage, written in italics, in order to attract my special
attention. The "Propaganda" meeting is, I am informed, "a noble
spectacle, which Rome alone can offer to the world; that Rome, which God
has made the capital of His everlasting kingdom." This concludes the
whole of my domestic intelligence; all that I know, or am to know, about
the state of my own country.

Then follows the foreign intelligence, under the heading of "Varieties."
Seventy pro-papal works have,