In 1846 Gregory XVI died. When the news from I; :ame to the archbishop-cardinal of Imola, lie de- layed to celebrate first the obsequies of the dead pope. Apparently he was in no haste to get to Rome ; yet those who were close observers and less friendly say that he had an eye to the papal throne from the moment ofhis elevation to the cardinalate. and that he prudently for- bore ever after to identify himself with the court of Greg- ory. There were two parties in the conclave. Each of
these ght in the new pontiff the representative of
their ideas. The ■ party, confined to the Jesuits ami
leaded by Lambruschini himself an aspirant for the vacant chair -determined to maintain the papacy of mediaeval times; the other party, moderately liberal, made up of better men than the .h-nits. yet also de- voted to the fahric of mediaeval times, hut with some Bhow of concession to modern ideas, were disposed to compromise on a moderate man. and selected the virtu-
oua Bit id. t he I tominican \t ho never doffed the dress
•if his order for the purple robe, though he accepted its honors and eschewed the Austrian policy of the late pon- tificate. ' in i -iile ,,f 1 1,,, conclave, however, there was a Btnall hut enthusiastic faction, called "Young [taly,"re- Bolved to have a liberal pope, ami thej fastened upon the young cardinal w lo> had espoused the Italian cause and had I., en a liberal in hi- past history. N.. one out- Bide of the conclave imagined, when, on the 14th of June,
it convened, that the party at whose simple mention the '• holy" men were accustomed t" ( ross themseh es would -fid. The onlj hope was in the popular en- thusiasm, which ran >,, high that there was hop.- the m.r populi might possibly he turned into the vox Dei, On the very first vote Lambruschini received fifteen votes and Mastai thirteen, i tn the alt. n u ot the 16th
Mastai received on the fourth ballot thirty-six votes — making, of the fifty-two present, more than the necessary two thirds when the assembly rose as one man to con- firm the choice by unanimous acclamation. Young Italy had c |uered against all the Jesuit machinations.
But it was well that it was done so soon; for as Ma-tai — now l'ius IX — was bestowing his benediction {Urbi ■ t orK) 1 1 on i the balconj of St. Peter's, an Austrian car- dinal drove into the Piazza with smoking post-horses and a " veto" from Vienna.
Various incidents in the reign ol Pio Nono's pi s..r had given rise to the w ildesl agitation in diplomatic circles. In 1845 there occurred the rising in the l.'o- magna, which, when suppressed, revived in a far more effective shape in the famous pamphlet. / Casi delh /.'«- magne, which circulated as the testament of a new po- litical gospel throughout the peninsula. Then there came the memorable visit of the czar Nicholas to Koine. and those interviews in which the pope had dared to protest to the dreaded autocrat against the treatment to w hich he subjected the Romish < Ihurch in Russia. The interest excited in the political world was very great. for. on the one hand, the religious agitation iii Poland had assumed serious proportions, while, on the other, speculation was stimulated by the mystery surrounding this interview, at which only two witnesses bail been present (cardinal Acton and Mr. Boutevieff, the Russian minister at Rome). Finally, there came as French am- bassador M. Rossi, a born subject ofthe pop.- a fugitive professor from Bologna, and a notoriously compromised liberal— avowedly to obtain from the holy see its con- currence with the principles of free education, then advo- cated in France, and its compliance with the desire ofthe French government for the reduction within moderate limits of the establishments that had been opened in France, more or less clandestinely, by the Jesuits. All these circumstances had brought about a degree of agi- tation which was acknowledged by all who had not some special interest in speaking against the truth. Gregory XVI had lived in hourly dread of revolution- ary upheaval, and in constant fear of absolute neglect by the European states. He had always kept in bis drawer a document empowering the cardinals, on his demise, to proceed to immediate election, if they saw danger to the
free action Ofthe conclave. Such times needed a popu- lar priest in the pontificate. But Mastai disappointed
both his friends and his enemies — the former so sorely that tiny were weakened beyond the possibility of recovery; the latter, by his forming an alliance with them, and by the execution of schemes which they had never dreamed could be executed, e\ en if Lambruschini himself had been in the papal chair. Pio Nono proved an impulsive, good-natured man. but ignorant and su- perstitious, vain and impetuous, weak and obstinate. without a mind of Ids own or settled policy. His re- forms were, iii reality, of little value. The best of them those devoid of any political significance— projects to regulate the finances, to reform the administration of justice, to introduce railways, to ameliorate the condi- tion ofthe Campagna brought about merely a tempo- rary improvement. The political measures were equal- ly short-lived in their results, ami. besides, were a bur- lesque on liberalism. Thus in March. 1*17. .-in edict of the press was published with the intention of removing some of the r. sti-ictions under which it had labored till then; but strong hints were given as to the subjects