The fears of Pius the Ninth's retrograde condition deepen :
still, we think, on insufficient evidence. A coincidence, however, is noted between these reports, the arrival of Lord Minto in Rome, and the continued intercourse of that nobleman with the Sovereign Pontiff. Lord Lansdowne made an emphatic decla- ration, that his colleague had gone to Italy, for the purpose of moderating the counsels of the leaders in the movement: is it possible Lord Minto can have been telling the Pope that he was going too far, and that even Liberal England expected less of him than he was prepared to vouchsafe? Of course we centime no present answer to the question : in the secret operations of diplomacy, the mischief is all done before one knows anything about it. Lord Minto may truly represesit his son-in-law, Lord John Russell, or the gentlemen that frequent Lansdowne House; he may ably negotiate the terms of an accredited intercourse; but as a moderator of counsels, we do not know what qualification he possesses to represent the opinions of Englund.
