number, and consult the Capuchin, who is good authority on this as on other subjects, and live as much as possible by faith.

It is hardly possible to make the mere temporal interests of the people a matter of conscience with this priestly government. What can industry do but make the world more pleasant and seductive? And science is a known enemy to implicit belief. It is said that there is no country in Christendom where education is so little advanced as this, which lies under the immediatè care of the Vicar of Christ.

Such is the government that is now upheld by the foreign troops of France, against the wishes of the inhabitants of Rome. Such is the government which is again threatened with overthrow by the new movement, headed by Garibaldi and the King of Sardinia. Will the Emperor of France, or any other emperor, continue to support it? And what will be the results on Catholic Europe, if the temporal sovereignty of the Pope should really come to an end? These are questions which we cannot help asking ourselves, though it is only a very imperfect answer we can give to them.

When the present Emperor of France undertook the restoration of the Pope to his civil power, it was a small republic, of most uncertain existence, that he assailed and destroyed. And the policy which determined him is very intelligible. He thereby represented himself to all Europe as the champion of order, he gained the support of his own clergy, and he set his foot on this rising flame of republicanism, which, as matters stood, seemed to bode no good to Italy, or to neighbouring nations. But the scene has very rapidly changed. The new movement is one for national unity,-the formation of one great Italian monarchy. Will the Emperor of France oppose this movement, openly or covertly? Or will it be strong enough to accomplish its ends, despite of all foreign opposition? Here we can express no confident opinion. We can only hope that the grandest political scheme which has agitated the minds of men in our day may be fulfilled.

It looks, as we are accustomed to say," too good to be true,"-too grand a project to be actually accomplished.

All Italy formed into one compact monarchy-or say all Italy, with the exception of that part which has been left under the dominion of Austria— the design is one which must kindle the imagination of the coldest politician. A kingdom of Italy that would soon compete in population, in wealth, in intelligence, with the kingdom of France-what an accession to the great family of European nations! Not an acre of land, nor a single human soul, would be added to Europe, and still there would be a new creation, a new people, with renewed energies. France, England, and Germany have long represented the growth and progress of the world; they have been the foremost and advancing nations of Europe; now a fourth would come amongst them, who, in every career, whether of art, science, industry, or war, would be second to none. Every one feels directly that Italy would be a new power; that the intellect of the nation would spring up as from a sleep. Commerce and industry would revive, new schools of art would appear, and, above all, new universities, or universities that will teach science and history in quite a new spirit. Hitherto the youth of Italy, the youth of the middle classes, on whom the vigour and energy of each coming age depends, has been cruelly maltreated, "cabined, cribbed, confined," and then pronounced to be capable of nothing better than a theatrical and coffee-house existence. Let us hope that France will not be impelled, by some feeling of distrust and jealousy, to oppose and thwart this great regeneration of a people, who, in the arts of peace, in the prosecution of science and philosophy, if not in material wealth and power,-may soon be its distinguished rival.

We can but hope success to this great effort for a united Italian people. We know the difficulties that must be encountered, the opposition from without and within, the open or concealed hostility of foreign powers, the ceaseless, pertinacious, unwearied, and unscrupulous resistance of the great body of the priest

hood, the alternating sloth and passion of the populace, and the timidity and repugnance to change which the wealthy classes in all nations are sure to display. We can but hope. But if it should succeed, there are some of the results to follow from it on which we should speak with much less hesitation, which we should venture, indeed, very confidently to predict.

Why is it that we feel convinced that the construction, by the Italians themselves, of a new kingdom of Italy, must be accompanied by a reinvigoration of all the powers and energies of the people? Because we know that this great political design cannot possibly be accomplished without such an awakening of the mind and heart of the country as must inevitably display itself in very many directions. In one direction the very contest will call it forth. It is not the Austrian alone that has driven the several portions of Italy into this union-it is not the Austrian alone that would oppose it-there is a power of the one Church which the scattered civilians of Italy are incapable of competing with-there is a subtle opponent in their own territory which must, in one shape or other, be done battle with. The programme of national unity necessarily implies two things freedom from foreign domination, and a due subordination of the ecclesiastical to the civil power, or an equitable alliance between them. The Austrian, limited to a corner of Italy, and left unassailed there, might not provoke an open war, but the open war of speech, of denunciation, of every priestly weapon, there is no possible escape from. It is in vain that leaders of this great political movement strive to limit it to politics; it will be a religious as well as civil contest. They do not now assail the Church, but the Church will assail them, and they must combat or submit.

It is impossible to exclude Rome from the programme of an Italian kingdom. Rome must be the capital of the new Italy. The existence of the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, though he should consent to restrict it within the walls of the city of

Rome, is utterly incompatible with the foundation of a stable Italian monarchy. The Pope, or the Bishop of Rome, must become, in temporal matters, a citizen of Rome, a subject of the Italian monarchy.

Of course the priesthood, and those who feel with the priesthood, will be indignant at the thought,-will do everything in their power to prevent this degradation, as they will esteem it, of the head of the Universal Church. They will set in motion every engine of diplomacy; they will rouse every superstition of the people. There are no traitors, no calumniators, that can rival an angry priesthood. There is no peace to be made with them. It is not a question of peace or war; there must be war or submission.

We confess we tremble for the fate of Italy, when we reflect on the vast power of the clergy over a most superstitious people, and call to mind that the anger of that clergy will inevitably be roused to the utmost. There are princes, too, as superstitious as the populace, or, what is worse, who seek to govern by its superstition. An Emperor who could enter into a concordat with a pope in order to improve the piety and morality of his own subjects, may commit any folly, or any treachery on earth. He is not to be trusted for a moment. He has stamped himself indelibly as perfect child or perfect hypocrite. Or who can say what a confessor may do with the conscience of a queen of Spain, or a Dominican friar with the populace of Castile and Madrid? Who knows what disturbance in every Catholic country the emissaries of Rome may excite? We know this, that there is no war so cruel that a Catholic priesthood would not bring upon its own country in the defence of its Church.

We tremble for the issue of the contest, but we repeat that it is because the contest must be of this twofold description-because an internal domination, as well as an external one, must be overthrown, if success is to be achieved-that we prognosticate such good results from a politically united Italy. Let us permit ourselves to imagine that,

in spite of all opposition, success has been attained-that a great Italian monarchy has been formed, embracing the Roman States-what would be the effect on the Papacy?

We have in Mr Hemans one of those Catholics who can look without dismay, or even with approbation, on the suppression of the temporal Sovereignty of the Pope. He thinks Catholicism will reap benefit from the change, arise purer and stronger. If for Catholicism we might substitute Christianity, or if the Papacy can be distinguished from Catholicism, we should acquiesce in his opinion. But if the present ecclesiastical system, the present government of the Church, be included in the idea of Catholicism- if Catholicism is rightly described by Le Maistre in his celebrated book, Le Pape-then we pronounce that it cannot long survive the blow it would receive by the subjection of the Pope or Bishop of Rome to the King of Italy.

It is very likely that immediately after any adversity should befall the Pope, whether humiliation or exile, the fervent devotion of Catholics would increase. For a time he might exercise a greater influence than ever over the pious throughout all Europe. It is very likely, too, that, for centuries to come, some dreamy doctrine of the "infallibility of the Pope" would haunt the minds of scattered sectaries, who would look with contempt on all the national churches which, in the course of those centuries, had sprung up. Do not the Parsees hold their ground to this very day? Does not some traveller tell us of three wise men who met in the ruins of Baalbec to kindle a sacred fire, and perform some annual rite. These wise men were persuaded that, if this fire were not annually kindled, the world would cease to exist. What we venture with confidence to predict is this, that if the Pope is the subject of the King of Italy, he will not long be the head of the Church of France. France, and other Christian monarchies, will acknowledge no higher ecclesiastical functionary than their own bishop or archbishop. If the Pope should emigrate into France,

other governments would be equally slow to receive him as the head of their own ecclesiastical establishment. It is not necessary to argue this point. The mere statement of the case must bring conviction, we think, to every man who is at all accustomed to reflect on the springs of human action. If two European nations are rivals of each other in power, and wealth, and knowledge,

in everything that constitutes national greatness, neither would accept the high-priest of the other as the head of its own clergy.

This division of the universal church into so many national churches, does not imply necessarily the advance of Protestantism, but it inevitably entails a diminution of the ecclesiastical power. It will permit the religious establishments of each country more freely to conform themselves to the growing intelligence of each country. At present, a refractory clergy gains a support from without. Say that six nations, independent in their civil government, were linked together by one common ecclesiastical institution, no reform of a religious nature could be effected by either, till it had obtained in its favour a majority of the six. The clergy of every nation would be supported, or would be restrained (if they themselves should be liberally disposed) by the general spirit pervading the whole clergy. And this general spirit would find its representative and executive in the permanent head of the united hierarchy. If an archbishop of Cologne rebels against the municipal regulations of his country, he appeals to a foreign priesthood for sympathy and support. If au Emperor of Austria wishes to repress the little philosophy that appears in his states, and, under the plea of fostering piety and morality, to keep the people from the least freedom of religious inquiry, he enters into an agreement with the Pope, and the Pope grants fresh powers to his bishops. If in France a spirit of concession should arise amongst the clergy themselves, the reaction takes the form of an ultramontane faction. To all this there will be an end. In every country the clergy will feel themselves essentially national, and their teaching will more

readily be modified according to the advancing intelligence of the nation. The formation of a great Italian monarchy will be the downfall of the present ecclesiastical system, and no country will reap so much benefit from the change as Italy itself. We are not pretending to prophesy that Italy or other Catholic countries will become Protestant, though it is very natural for an Englishman to arrive at such a conclusion. What we see before us, in the event of the success of this great political movement for a national unity, is the downfall of an ecclesiastical system. The new Italy cannot relinquish her Rome; Rome cannot submit to be handed over to an ecclesiastical caste, who are to continue to govern it without one generous sympathy in all that constitutes a national life-a caste of celibates, who must either rule in the spirit of monks, or of profligate men, reckless of domestic virtues as of national greatness. The spectacle of a city coerced perpetually by a military force to live under a monastic government,_ could not be endured; and if Rome is to be the capital of the new Italy, it can no longer give a pope to France. The government that has its seat at Paris could not consent to this. The spirit of rivalry that must arise between the two nations would utterly forbid it. Thus the great ecclesiastical system, which nets the several Catholic nations together, would be broken up. To this extent we venture to prophesy, but no further.

We have forsaken Mr Hemans's book to take a single glance at Italian politics. It shall be no more than a single glance. Of the immediate result of the noble enterprise of Garibaldi it is in vain to speculate. Before our speculations will be printed, events themselves may have rendered all speculation idle and superfluous. Nor can a foreigner form any conclusions satisfactory to himself of the state of public opinion in Italy. How can he distinguish between a temporary effervescence and a wellgrounded permanent sentiment-between the overflowing of the stream and the steadfast current of the river? That Italy has its full proportion of noble souls,-of heroic

men, we do not doubt a moment; and nature has done all she can for this people, whether we talk of race or of climate. The impression which every one must receive who reads its annals or visits the country, is of the power that resides in this people for good or for evil. Once on the right track, none is so likely to take the lead in Europe. But how a superstitious, passionate populace will comport itself in the ensuing struggle, who shall venture to predict?

We regret that the work of Mr Hemans (which bears Florence on its title-page) is not printed or published in a form more likely to insure for it a fair trial. In spite of that want of literary skill which we have noticed, and which probably is due to a prolonged residence abroad, and the habit of reading and speaking in a foreign language, we have perused it with interest. Much of the information he gives is such as could be only gleaned by a resident in Rome; we accompany him with pleasure throughout all his descriptions of the various ceremonies or festivals of the Church; as a lover of art he produces them in their most attractive aspect, as a good Catholic he enlightens us upon their symbolic significance. We learn here the hidden meaning of the alb, the maniple, the chasuble, and all other ecclesiastical robes. Nor is the information curious only, but useful. We have a fuller account than is easily to be met with elsewhere of the machinery of the Papal Government, of the several Congre gations, or, as we might call them, the several Boards, or Councils, by which it conducts its charitable and missionary schemes, and other multifarious objects of its civil and spiritual jurisdiction. There is an account, also, drawn up very carefully, of the several religious fraternities, monks and friars, which, to the Protestant reader at least, will point out some distinctions of which he was not aware. He will become acquainted, perhaps, with some monastic orders of which he had not heard before. The whole book is really replete with either interesting or useful material, though it may not be presented in the most attractive style, or with the most judicious arrangement.

TICKLER II.'S FIRST APPEARANCE.

I WAS lying on the sofa, late in the afternoon, trying to get a nap, by the aid of a Blue-book, but which was very near giving me a nightmare in the daytime; so heavy was the pressure on my chest, where it rested, of that ponderous mass of expensive, unintelligible, and worthless statistics, which had been obtained at an expense to the country of £356 by a certain M.P.: who, having no other means of indicating to his constituents that he was in Parliament, had worried the Under-Secretary of the Treasury into consenting to his request, under a threat that, by-andby, a vote might be more easily asked for than got! The nightmare aforesaid would probably have completed itself in all its horrors; but my daughter, who was standing at the window, suddenly exclaimed-"Oh, papa papa! Here it is, I do believe! Something is coming!" Up I jumped; and, as I gained the window, to be sure the cause of the girl's excitement was apparent, and produced the same in me. 'Twas a van, with "GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY" painted on it; and it drew up at our door. There was no mistaking one of the three occupants of the seat 'twas a dog; a dark pepper-and-salt Skye, sitting modestly between two men, one of whom jumped down and knocked at the door, returning to get the dog, who had a little metal chain attached to his neck.

"Come, my little man!" quoth the former; "here you are, all right," and he lifted the dog kindly down. "Is this -'s?" he inquired of myself, mentioning my name, who had hurried round to open the door. I said, "I am and, examining the parchment label attached to the chain, recognised the handwriting of the kind donor of the dog. There was only a shilling to pay, and yet the little creature had travelled all the way from Skye! "He's a 'ansome little dog, sir, isn't he?" quoth the man.

"Bless him!" (the dog I mean,

not the man, though he seemed a decent enough fellow) and he did look handsome! He trembled silently as I carried him inwards, and placed him on the sofa-and a picture he was! I never beheld such a pair of eyes in a dog's head before: seen through his long hair, how large, full, gentle, and sad they looked! Here, by the way, is what had been said of him by the donor, in a letter received that very morning:

E

"I hope you will receive, in the course of the day on which you get this note, my promised Skye terrier. I can tell you that it is far away the finest specimen, to my thinking, that ever left these parts, and you may rely on its being of the very purest breed. I hardly knew how to look in the face the dear good girl whom I have persuaded to give it up to you; but when I told her for whom I wanted it, I must own she surrendered it very charmingly. I hope you will keep a precious sharp lookout after the little gentleman; for the moment he is seen by one of the fraternity of London dog-stealers, I would not give much for your chances of keeping Tickler II., as I hope you will call him. He's a most affectionate, intelligent little thing, and only about nine months old. Yours ever sincerely,

P.S.-Don't give him all sorts of things directly you get him. Recollect he will have come off a long journey, by boat and rail. I wish you had some oat-cake, or something of that sort, to which he is accustomed."