One of those debates in which the House of Commons
always looks so silly came off on Tuesday. Of all foreign Princes, the one who can worry us most is the Pope, and consequently we have always of late years kept an Agent at his Court, to communi- cate with him and find out what he is doing. Scarcely any post under the Foreign Office is more important or trains diplomatists better, as witness the career of Lord Odo Russell. Nevertheless, Mr. Monk on Tuesday moved that the Agent's pay be disallowed, on the ground that the Pope was no longer a Sovereign Prince ; and Lord Enfield was obliged to talk nonsense about his sovereignty over the Leonine City, and the Attorney-General to talk against time, so that the debate might be adjourned without a division. What childish nonsense it all is! Suppose the Pope's sovereignty is gone, what then ? The man can help or hurt our policy most materially, and is more likely to help than hart if we deal with him in respectful and diplomatic form. That is the reason for accrediting a charge d'afiaires to the Vatican, and would be suffi- cient reason if the Pope were a Hindoo or a Buddhist.
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