A PAPAL COUP D'ETAT.
THERE has been a groat deal of going to and fro among the Cardinals at Rome. That interesting question, which cannot be kept for three consecutive weeks out of the Roman papers, the state of the Pope's legs, is of course again on the carpet ; and it is understood that he himself, in view of the Conclave which must at no great distance of time assemble, is making various preparations with respect to the appointment of his successor. The Cardinals have, it is said, been consulted, and have already expressed their opinion on one important question touching the election of the future Pope. Pio Nono invited them to consider what change, if any, circumstances have made withrespect to the right of exclusion which Prance, Spain, Austria, and formerly Naples, as the chief Catholic Powers of Europe, claimed to exercise at Papal elections. Each of these States can, in theory, say " Nay" to the appointment of one Cardinal who happens to be distasteful to it. It is a right rather rarely used ; in fact, the only two recent oases in which it has been employed are the cases 'of Cardinal Severoli, who was excluded in 1823 by Austria, acting through Cardinal Albani ; and Cardinal Giustiaui, who was in 1831 excluded by Spain, acting through Cardinal Marco-y-Catalan. Still the right of exclusion has subsisted for centuries, and it might, in certain circumstances, be of much consequence. At the last Papal election, Austria deemed it necesfsoarrytheac to use hasteit the election was oweecit*iotno exclude the present Pope, and but
was remarkably short, and that the Austrian agent arrived a day too late to lodge his protest, Cardinal Mastai would have been vetoed, and Cardinal Lambruschini would have probably been elected. Who can tell whether these Catholic States might not at some period of their history believe it to be of priceless importance that they should be saved from the curse of a hot-headed Ultramontane Pope ? They have, as a rule, used their power in recant 'times only for the secondary pur- pose of getting rid of Cardinals who, as Nuncios at their Courts, had come to know too much to be safe Popes. But this has not always been the case and we live in days when the right ;
of exclusion might appear to a Catholic State, anxious for its internal peace, to be a matter of vital consequence. Accord- ing to a well-informed correspondent of the Papublique Fran- caise, the Cardinals have expressed an opinion—nob definitively, but provisionally—that this right of exclusion has vanished with the Temporal Power. It was, as they view it, a concession to the powers of this world not out of place when they really did protect the Papacy with the civil arm. It is an anachronism, when "the prisoner of the Vatican "is deserted alike by Prance, Spain, and Austria, which acquiesce in the destruction of the Temporal Power. This reasoning seems to us very sound. It is historically justifiable : the far larger rights of the Emperors with respect to the Papal elections arose at a time when the
Church became clothed with secular privileges ; the right of exclusion which succeeded the extensive right of ratification claimed by Honorius and Charlemagne arose, as Herr Lorenz shows in his learned work on the " Papstwahl," not in any ancient contract or grant, but out of the fact that the Conclave was, on general considerations of prudence, glad to secure the approval and good-will of the great Powers of the earth. It was the price paid for a friendly policy. But apart from historical considerations, it would be monstrous for these States to claim to regulate the election of the Pope, and yet to deny to the Church of Rome all counter-claims against them. As well might the English Government pre- tend to interpose in the election of the President of the Wes- leyan Conference, or of the Moderator of the Free Kirk Assembly. We do not, in fact, expect that the change will be much contested. It is not the immediate interest of any of the Catholic Powers to embroil themselves with the Papacy. There is, too, no objectionable French, Spanish, or Austrian Cardinal who has the slightest chance of being elected. Perhaps no one except scholars and Canon lawyers will take much note of the change for these reasons, if no other : —Hitherto the Popes have been wont to publish to the world any constitution or decree affecting the mode of election. The German emperors and the French kings who looked sharply after Papal elections did not object to minor modifications in the ceremonial, but as Herr Lorenz points out, in his work on the " Papstwahl," the solemn publication of the constitutions or decrees making innova- tions was deemed essential. But this Pope, innovating here, as in so many other things, has chosen, it is believed, to leave the world much in the dark as to the electoral changes which he has decided upon, and which will not be known until the much-talked-of secret Bull is published. In the second place, it is understood that the Cardinals are to be absolved when they come to choose the next Pope from the formalities usually observed and prescribed by the Constitution of Gregory X. The Cardinals may choose to waive the nine days' ceremonial usual before electing a Pope. They may meet when and where they please. The determination of the College with respect to the right of exclusion may never be known until it is too late for the States concerned to make any successful protest.
Should the Papacy cast off this last link connecting her with the secular Powers, her isolation will be complete. We shall be the witnesses of a change scarcely less interesting his- torically than the destruction of the Temporal Power. The last touch will be put to the handiwork of Hildebrand. Com- plete freeedom will arrive almost simultaneously with tem- poral destitution. There are not many obscurer points in history than the exact part which the secular Powers played in early times in the Papal election. The most erudite investi- gator, Herr Lorenz, thinks that the Imperial share was con- fined to ratification; that sometimes, indeed, very large loose claims were made and enforced ; and that although all sorts of changes in forms were freely admitted, a Papal election was never regarded as complete until the approbation of the Emperor was signified. All this was changed by the famous, Bull In Nomine Domini of Nicholas II., Who handed over the election to the College of Cardinals, and who only faintly recog- nised the ancient right of the Emperor. One Pontiff after another gave precision to the mode of election. Pope Alex- ander III, decided that a majority of two-thirds sufficed to constitute a valid election ; Gregory X. regulated with much minuteness the mode of election, and took all pains to enable the College of Cardinals to vote in an independent spirit. More than one Pope has shown that he is master in his own house, by arbitrarily setting aside all the traditional formalities, and empowering the Cardinals to conduct the election as seemed good to them. And now there seems reason to believe that the seal may be put on Papal independence, by the total denial of the right of exclusion.
' And yot we do not believe that this would be the death- blow to foreign influences in the Quirinal. The Conclaves have always been notoriously worldly ; in their proceedings there has been a terrible amount of human nature. The art of log- rolling and all other electoral tricks and devices, have been prac- tised there long before men of the world knew of them. Any one who reads the memoirs of Cardinal Consalvi will see that very earthly influences actuate their Eminences, and we do not doubt that in making the election the College will take due note of the wishes and prejudices of the'Powers which it is de- sirable to conciliate. Take the case of Italy,-for example ' . she has no right of exclusion, unless she claims it as heir of the kingdom of Naples. But we cannot doubt that some con- sideration will be paid to the known desire of a State which, with all her shortcomings in the eyes of Catholics, gives to the Pope large privileges and immunities, which might be with- held if a narrow-minded Irreconcilable were appointed. Take, again, France ; we may be sure that her wishes, so far at least as Cardinal Guibert expresses them, will not be lightly disre- garded, at a time when all the worldly ambition of the Papacy must be chiefly based on her good-will.
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