. The Papacy is still a great living force in
politics, and in spite of the mass of traditions with which he is bound down, each successive ,Pope usually contrives to make his personal character and opinions felt. The statesmen of Europe are always, therefore, excited about the succession, and rumours are circulating about this and that pressure which is to be 'applied to the 'Conclave, some dreaming even that the four " Vetos" may again be used against individual Cardinals. iWe disbelieve most of these stories, and think that the Conclave, meeting in full liberty, will choose the •man it prefers. The Cardinals may have to act speedily, but they will not be fettered. Of course there are a hundred " com- binations" spoken of already, and parties are supposed to be grouping around Cardinals Oreglia, Gotti, and Vannutelli ; but the secret of the Conclave is always impenetrable, and it is quite possible that the election may fall upon a man unknown outside a small ecclesiastical circle. He must be an Italian; he must be a man of repute; he must not be universally detested; and lie must be fairly "safe"; and those .taken together are strong limitations on. .a choice which in theory is limited only by Christianity. We may know the result in a few days, but we fear that a liberal Pope, or a Pope who will formally surrender the temporal power, or a Pope who will do anything original in order to lighten the human burden is past hoping for. In our day even a great Pope ,mist ,always be a Gulliver tied down by a thousand scarcely Nitible threads.
