The death of the reigning Prince of Monaco, which was
announced on Wednesday, might under certain circumstances be of some importance to Europe. His beautiful little Principality, which has been a separate entity for a thousand years, is the spot marked out by geography and politics for the retreat of the Popes if they leave Rome. Seated in full sovereignty upon those lovely bluffs, the Papacy would be in direct touch with all Catholics, would be shielded by the jealousies of France and Italy, and would still occupy a habitat acceptable to the Italian Cardinals. The Palace would be no bad substitute for the Private Apartments of the Vatican, and the great accumulations of the undrawn Italian grant could be expended on the necessary buildings for the Congregations. The new head of the Grimaldis would probably sell his dominion, in which he never lives, on reasonable terms. He is a savant in- terested in deep-sea dredging, he dislikes the contract with the gaming company, who are a European nuisance, and he is betrothed to the Duchesse de Richelieu, heiress of the wealthy Jewish banker Heine. Rank as a mediatised prince, with 1110,000 a year to be paid to his eldest descendant as long as the Papacy shall last, would be full compensation for a dominion already threatened by the inability of the age to bear anything but a drab-coloured uniformity. As for the people of Monaco, they are good Catholics, with, perhaps, some extra need for repentance, the Pope need not tax them any more than the Prince does, and his expenditure will be as comforting as that of the Casino. It would be an admirable arrangement, delivering Europe from a scandal, and Leo XIII. and S. Crispi from an impasse.
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