The Moniteur of Thursday affirms that the fate of Rome
cannot now be settled between Italy and France, but must be referred to a Congress of the great Powers. Propositions of this kind have been for some days in circulation, and can have but one meaning, —that Napoleon wishes to retreat with honour from an untenable situation. There is not the least probability that Italy will give her capital away in Council, or that the Protestant Powers or Russia will menace Italy in order to secure the safety of a Pope'. Before England or Prussia could join such a Conference, it must be arranged that the Temporal Power shall end, and that the only thing to be guaranteed is the so-called "independence" of the Pope. With that understanding, to be rigidly enforced, the Con- ference might be a means of avoiding bloodshed, but the sub- jugation of the Papacy to heretics would be nearly complete. Greek, Lutheran, and Protestant nations would dispose by a majority of the Catholic metropolis.
