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have contended are even approximately sound, the schedule and the rules ought to be consolidated into one complete code of procedure with no omissions to invite the resuscitation of conflicting practices in different branches of the one Supreme Court of Judicature, and no ambiguities to furnish material for years of technical and costly litigation. Such modifications should be introduced as will make the code of the future consistent throughout with itself and with the broad principles on which it purports to be based, and no pains should be spared to weed out imperfections of phraseology which seem sometimes to suggest the revival of the very procedure which is elsewhere abolished.

On the other hand, we should be still more grievously misconceived if it were supposed that we undervalue the work which we have ventured to criticise. It is an ungrateful but inevitable part of a critic's duty to give special prominence to that which he least approves, but it does not follow that the merits on which he is silent may not outweigh the faults which he exposes for the sake of inviting amendment. If we were

called upon to make a declaration of faith on the subject, we should feel bound in the fullest sense to recognise the greatness of the design and the truth of the principles on which it has been framed. The errors, as they seem to us, are errors of detail only-not unimportant detail it is true, but precisely such defects as every great work must show for which adequate time has not been forthcoming. The Judicature of England could not be built on nobler lines than those which are traced in Lord Selborne's plan. When all the difficulties of the task are considered, the passing of the Judicature Act was a stupendous work, which no one less able and resolute than its author could have accomplished within the brief period of a single session. But the work is only half done until a superstructure is reared worthy of the foundations that have. already been laid, and for this the country will look to Lord Cairns with a confidence not less than that which it reposed in his predecessor.

It was a fortunate accident that political necessities compelled the Government to take another year for the completion of the great work they have in hand. It will not be found a day too much, and the delay will be compensated a hundred fold if the result should be, as we may well hope it will be, to make the Judicature Act and the Judicature Rules, in their final form, as perfect in execution as-in spite of all minor defects—they are grand in conception.

ART.

ART. VIII.-Discorsi del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX., pronunziati in Vaticano, ai Fedeli di Roma e dell' Orbe, dal principio della sua Prigionia fino al presente. Vol. I., Roma, Aurelj, 1872; Vol. II., Cuggiani, 1873.

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S a general rule, the spirit of a system can nowhere be more fairly, more authentically learned, than from the language of its accredited authorities, especially of its acknowledged Head. The rule applies peculiarly to the case of the Papacy, and of the present Pope, from considerations connected both with the system and with the man. The system aims at passing its operative utterances through the lips of the Supreme Pontiff: and as no holder of the high office has ever more completely thrown his personality into his function, so no lips have ever delivered from the Papal Throne such masses of matter. Pope all over, and from head to foot, he has fed for eight-and-twenty years upon the moral diet which a too sycophantic following supplies, till every fibre of his nature is charged with it, and the simple-minded Bishop and Archbishop Mastai is hardly to be recognised under the Papal mantle.

It can hardly be policy, it must be a necessity of his nature, which prompts his incessant harangues. But they are evidently a true picture of the man; as the man is of the system, except in this that he, to use a homely phrase, blurts out, when he is left to himself, what it delivers in rather more comely phrases, overlaid with art.

Much interest therefore attaches to such a phenomenon as the published Speeches of the Pope; and besides what it teaches in itself, other and singular lessons are to be learned from the strange juxtaposition in which, for more than four years, his action has now been exhibited. Probably in no place and at no period, through the whole history of the world, has there ever been presented to mankind, even in the agony of war or revolution, a more extraordinary spectacle than is now witnessed at Rome. In that city the Italian Government holds a perfectly peaceable, though originally forcible, possession of the residue of the States of the Church; and at the same time the Pope, remaining on his ground, by a perpetual blast of fiery words, appeals to other lands and to future days, and thus makes his wordy, yet not wholly futile, war upon the Italian Government.

The mere extracts and specimens, which have from time to time appeared in the public journals, have stirred a momentary thrill, or sigh, or shrug, according to the temperaments and tendencies of readers. But they have been totally insufficient to convey an idea of the vigour with which this peculiar warfare is

carried

carried on; of the absolute, apparently the contemptuous, tolerance with which it is regarded by the Government ruling on the spot; or of the picture which is presented to us by the words and actions of the Pope, taken as a whole, and considered in connection with their possible significance to the future peace of Europe.

Between the 20th of October, 1870, and the 18th of September, 1873, this nonagenarian Pontiff (he is now aged, at least, eighty-two), besides bearing all the other cares of ecclesiastical government, and despite intervals of illness, pronounced two hundred and ninety Discourses, which are reported in the eleven hundred pages of the two Volumes now to be introduced to the notice of the reader. They are collected and published for the first time by the Rev. Don Pasquale de Franciscis; and, though they may be deemed highly incendiary documents, they are sold at the bookshop of the Propaganda, and are to be had in the ordinary way of trade, by virtue of that freedom of the press which the Papacy abhors and condemns.

The first question which a judicious reader will put is, whether we have reasonable assurance that this work really reports the Speeches of the Pontiff with accuracy. And on this point there appears to be no room for reasonable doubt. Some few of them are merely given as abstracts, or sunti; but by far the larger number in extenso, in the first person, with minutely careful notices of the incidents of the occasion, such as the smiles, the sobs, the tears* of the Pontiff on the auditory; the animated gestures of the one, the enthusiastic shoutings of the other, which cause the halls of the Vatican to ring again. In a detailed notice which, instead of introducing the first volume, is rather inconveniently appended to it at the close, the editor gives an account both of the opportunities he has enjoyed, and of the loving pains he took in the execution of his task. On nearly every occasion he seems to have been present and employed as a reporter (raccoglitore); once his absence is noticed as if an unusual, no less than unfortunate, circumstance (ii. 284). In a particular instance (ii. 299) he speaks of the Pope himself as personally giving judgment on what might or might not be published (sarebbe stato pubblicato, se così fosse piaciuto a CHI potea volere altrimenti). The whole assistance of the Papal press in Rome was freely given him (i. 505). Eyes and

* In the estimation of Don Pasquale, all emotion, if within the walls of the Vatican, and on the Papal side, is entitled to respect, and must awaken sympathy: but when he has to describe the tears and sobs which, as he states, accompanied the funeral procession of the ex-Minister Rattazzi (ii. 350), he asks, might not this be a Congress of Crocodiles (non sembra questo un Congresso di Coccodrilli)?

ears,

ears, he says, far superior to his own had revised and approved the entire publication (i. 506). The Preface to the Second Volume refers to the enthusiastic reception accorded to the First, and announces the whole work as that which is alone authentic and the most complete (ii. 14, 15). So that our footing is plainly sure enough; and we may reject absolutely the supposition which portions of the book might very well suggest, namely, that we were reading a scandalous Protestant forgery.

Certainly, if the spirit of true adoration will make a good reporter, Don Pasquale ought to be the best in the world. The Speeches he gives to the world area treasure,' and that treasure is sublime, inspired, divine (i. 1, 2, 3). Not only do we quote these epithets textually, but they, and the like of them, are repeated everywhere, even to satiety, and perhaps something more than satiety. Receive, then, as from the hands of angels, this Divine Volume of the Angelic Pio Nono' (p. 4); 'the most glorious and venerated among all the Popes' (p. 3); 'the portentous Father of the nations' (p. 11). This is pretty well, but it is not all. He is the living Christ' (p. 9); he is the Voice of God. There is but one step more to take, and it is taken. He is (in the face of the Italian Government) Nature that protests: he IS GOD, THAT CONDEMNS (p. 17).

*

6

In a letter dated December 10, 1874, and addressed to a monthly magazine, Archbishop Manning, with his usual hardihood, says, for a writer who affirms that the Head of the Catholic Church claims to be the Incarnate and Visible Word of God I have really compassion.' Will this bold controver sialist spare a little from his fund of pity for the Editor of these Speeches, who declares him to be the living Christ, and for the Pope under whose authority this declaration is published and sold?

Truly, some of the consequences of a 'free press' are rather startling. And those who are astonished at the strained and preternatural tension, the surexcitation abnormale, to borrow a French phrase, the inflamed and inflaming tone of the language ordinarily used by the Pontiff, should carefully bear in mind that the fulsome and revolting strains, of which we have given a sample, exhibit to us the atmosphere which he habitually breathes.

Even those, however, who would most freely criticise, and, indeed, denounce the prevailing strain and too manifest upshot of these Speeches, may find pleasure, while they yield a passing tribute to the persevering tenacity, and, if we may be pardoned

*Macmillan's Magazine' for January 1875.

such

such a word, the pluck, which they display. It may be too true that the Pope has brought his misfortunes on his own head. But they are heavy, and they are aggravated by the weight of years and the strong constitution, indicated by his deep chest and powerful voice, has had to struggle with various infirmities. Yet, by his mental resolution, all cold obstruction' is kept at arm's length: and he delivers himself from week to week or day to day, sometimes, indeed, more than once in the day, of his copious and highly explosive material, with a really marvellous fluency, versatility, ingenuity, energy, and, in fact, with every good quality, except that the absence of which, unhappily, spoils all the rest, namely, wisdom. And, odd to say, even the word wisdom (saviezza) seems to be almost the only one which in these Speeches does not constantly pass his lips.

Reversing the child's order with his plate at dinner, let us keep to the last that which is the worst, and also the heaviest, part of the task before us: and begin by noticing one or two discourses of the Holy Father to little children, which are full of charm and grace. For even very little children go to him on deputations, and, reciting after the Italian manner, discharge in manufactured verse their anti-revolutionary wrath. An infant of five years old denounces before him the sacrilegious oppressor! (ii. 405.) Another fanciulletta declares the Pope to be the King of kings (ii. 465). These interviews were turned by the Pope to edification. He tells the children of their peccatucci (ii. 209)-how shall we try to give the graceful tournure of the phrase? darling little sins:' and certain orphans he again gently touches with the incomparable Italian diminutive on their difettucci and their rabbiette, and lovingly presents to them the example of their Saviour:

'Now that the Church commemorates' (it was on Dec. 19) the birth of Jesus Christ the babe, do you cause Him to be re-born in your hearts.... beg Him to put there something that is good, namely, a good will to study, and to mind your work and all your

other duties.'

And so he blesses them, and sends them away (ii. 119).

There are other examples not less pleasing, such as a discourse to some Penitents of the Roman Magdalen. After mentioning the case of Rahab, the Pontiff proceeds in a tone both Evangelical and fatherly (ii. 57):

'You, too, my daughters, carry the red mark; you, too, carry a mark able to deliver you from the assaults, that the enemies of your souls will make. This red mark you have put upon you; and its meaning is, the most precious blood of Jesus Christ. Often meditate

on

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