is really aggravating. It is silly to
rave about the martyr's crown and the cruel stake, when nobody has the
slightest intention of hurting a hair of your head; silly to talk of your
paternal love when your provinces are in arms against your "cruel
mercies;" silly to boast of your independence when you are guarded in
your own capital against your own subjects by foreign troops; silly, in
fact, to bark when you cannot bite, to lie when you cannot deceive. No
power on earth could make the position of the Pope a dignified one at
this present moment, and if anything could make it less dignified than
before, it is the system of pompous pretensions and querulous complaints
and fulsome adulation which now prevails at the Vatican. I know not how
better to give an idea of the extent to which this system is carried,
than by describing a Papal pageant which occurred early in the year.

To enter fully into the painful absurdity of the whole scene, one should
bear in mind what were the prospects of Papal politics at the
commencement of February. The provinces of the Romagna were about to
take the first step towards their final separation, by electing members
for the Sardinian Parliament. The question, whether the French troops
could remain in Rome, or in other words, whether the Pope must retire
from Rome, was still undecided; the streets of the city were thronged
with Pontifical Sbirri and French patrols, to suppress the excitement
caused by a score of lads, who raised a shout of _Viva l'Italia_ a week
before. The misery and discontent of the Roman populace was so great
that the coming Carnival time was viewed with the gravest apprehensions,
and anxious doubts were entertained whether it was least dangerous to
permit or forbid the celebration of the festival. Bear all this in mind;
fancy some _Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_, is written on all around,
telling of disaffection and despair, and revolt and ruin; and then listen
to what was said and done to and by the Pope on that Sunday before
Septuagesima.

Some months ago a college was founded at Rome for the education of
American youths destined to the priesthood; there were already an
English, an Irish, and a Scotch college, not to speak of the Propaganda.
However, in addition to all these, a college reserved for the United
States, was projected and established by the present Pontiff. Indeed,
this American college, the raised Boulevard, which now disfigures the
Forum, and the