There is, we think, something, though not very much, in
the reports of a rapprochement between the Vatican and the Quirinal. The Papacy, of course, cannot give up its position, which is that sovereignty in Rome is essential to its inde- pendence; and the Italians cannot give up theirs, which is that they have a right to their own historic capital. Signor Crispi, however, wants all Conservative votes, and the Church wants a great many small favours,—such, for instance, as more freedom in selecting Italian Bishops, and more exemp- tion from petty persecution. The two Powers, therefore, have come to some vague understanding which does not affect their permanent attitude, but does affect their glances at each other. We should add for ourselves, as matter of belief though not of full knowledge, that the rise of Anarchy has profoundly startled the governing group of the Catholic Church, as it has all other ruling men, and has driven them, willing or unwilling, to be more conservative than usual, and to desire more the actual physical protection of the secular power. There is something, if there is not much, in the Italian idea that the Anarchists have a desperate and dangerous quarrel with the Papacy.
