RS.--THEY KISS HIS
FOOT.--VESPERS AT THE GESU.--A POOR YOUTH IN ROME SEEKING A
PATRON.--RUMORS OF DISTURBANCES.--THEIR CAUSE.--REPRESENTATIONS TO THE
POPE.--HIS CONDUCT IN THE AFFAIR.--AN ITALIAN CONSUL FOR THE UNITED
STATES.--CATHOLICISM.--THE POPULARITY OF THE POPE.--HIS DEPOSITION OF
A CENSOR.--THE POLICY OF THE POPE IN HIS DOMESTIC NOT EQUAL TO THAT
OF HIS PUBLIC LIFE.--HIS OPPOSITION TO PROTESTANT REFORM.--LETTER FROM
JOSEPH MAZZINI TO THE PONTIFF.--REFLECTIONS ON IT.

Rome, January 10, 1848.

In the first morning of this New Year I sent off a letter which must
then be mailed, in order to reach the steamer of the 16th. So far am
I from home, that even steam does not come nigh to annihilate the
distance.

This afternoon I went to the Quirinal Palace to see the Pope receive
the new municipal officers. He was to-day in his robes of white and
gold, with his usual corps of attendants in pure red and white, or
violet and white. The new officers were in black velvet dresses, with
broad white collars. They took the oaths of office, and then actually
kissed his foot. I had supposed this was never really done, but only
a very low obeisance made; the act seemed to me disgustingly abject.
A Heavenly Father does not want his children at his feet, but in his
arms, on a level with his heart.

After this was over the Pope went to the Gesu, a very rich church,
belonging to the Jesuits, to officiate at Vespers, and we followed.
The music was beautiful, and the effect of the church, with its
richly-painted dome and altar-piece in a blaze of light, while the
assembly were in a sort of brown darkness, was very fine.

A number of Americans there, new arrivals, kept requesting in the
midst of the music to know when _it_ would begin. "Why, this is _it_,"
some one at last had the patience to answer; "you are hearing Vespers
now." "What," they replied, "is there no oration, no speech!" So
deeply rooted in the American mind is the idea that a sermon is the
only real worship!

This church, is indelibly stamped on my mind. Coming to Rome this
time, I saw in the diligence a young man, whom his uncle, a priest of
the convent that owns this church, had sent for, intending to provide
him employment here. Some slight circumstances tested the character
of this young man, and showed it what I have ever found it, singularly
honorable and conscientious. He was led to show me his papers, among
which was a letter from a youth whom, with that tr