be able to keep her place in the foremost rank, if she repudiate the manly virtues of confidence in liberty, and sympathy with it." Thus the Triumvir wrote, and the Assembly applauded, and the artillery went on bombarding the walls of Rome. The Foreign Consuls, moved by the requests of the Government and the loud complaints of the city, appealed in vain to the French General, and besought him to abstain from throwing bombs, which occasioned injury to the monuments, death and fear to the peaceful inhabitants. CHAPTER XI. THE THE COURT OF GAETA -THE ENVOYS.-POLICY OF THE PIEDMONTESE RESOLUTION WHEN the Court of Gaeta heard the report of the artillery which was bombarding the walls of Rome, its courage rose once more, for all was now progressing according to the wishes of the Catholic party, which, having acquired increased reputation in France, was increasing in pride throughout all Europe, and set no bounds to its ambition. The French troops, who had pitched their tents in the midst of the courtiers, were indeed an eyesore to them; but they had serviceable allies in their own obstinacy in resisting liberal councils, craftiness in evading their promises, patience in biding their time, and the art of temporising with events; and they trusted that, if they could not avoid the perils of a burdensome protection, they might at any rate ensnare with promises and deceive with appearances. Amongst the Foreign Ambassadors, with the single exception of the French, who never hoped to derive any advantage from timid counsels, there was not one who was not tractable. Naples egged on the Court; Tuscany yielded to the Austrian embrace; the King of Piedmont alone, with Massimo d'Azeglio as his minister, unwilling that free institutions should perish in Rome without commending them to the care of the Pope who had inaugurated them, sent the illustrious Cæsar Balbo, whose religion is as firm as is his faith in the liberty and the destinies of the nation, to the Pope as advocate for the liberal party. Balbo was accordingly admitted to an interview with Pius IX., and Cardinal Antonelli, who received him with great courtesy; he then endeavoured to persuade them that the throne, the peace of the people, and the honour of the prince, could only be secured by establishing liberal institutions. But both the Pope and Cardinal Antonelli were of a contrary opinion; they alleged the want of training in the people, the desire of the good not to make any fresh trial of those institutions on which they laid the blame of all the evils which had taken place, and the incompatibility or quasi-incompatibility (so they said) of the Constitution with the free exercise of the spiritual power. Balbo replied, that the training of the people could only be effected by the practice of that which it is desirable to teach them; that if any desired the annulling of the Statute, they were not the good; the few who entertained retrograde opinions ought not to be reckoned; they were not worth anything, they had never done anything for His Holiness. Balbo then reasoned at length on their argument of the incompatibility of constitutional government with the free exercise of the spiritual power, animated by those liberal principles which, conjoined with profound reverence for the power of the keys, influence all his opinions; but his arguments produced no effect. He had also a similar mission to fulfil towards the King of Naples and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and to urge them to follow the example of Victor Emmanuel. The first was courteous, and promised to resume his usual diplomatic relations with Piedmont, but gave no other sign of acquiescence; and the second, though he received Balbo with smiles, showed that his mind was full of suspicion. When Balbo congratulated him on having restored the Statute, the Grand Duke exclaimed, as if disdaining the praise, “And what did you, gentlemen, think of me?” Then, speaking of the political bias of Piedmont, he added "it is necessary that its Government should go to work honestly." Perhaps he meant to say after the Austrian fashion, for his Government did so then, and does so still. About this time Rosmini fell into great trouble. When he had heard from the Pontiff that the Statute was irrevocably condemned, he abstained from taking any steps whatever which could be regarded unbe coming his profession as an obedient priest; but owing to the jealousy and envy of his ancient adversaries, who seized the occasion to injure him by fresh accusations, his works were anew charged with error and called in question, though they had been censured in vain during the Pontificate of Gregory XVI., and had been considered so blameless by Pius IX. that he had given the author a situation in the Congregations who are guardians of the Roman doctrines and the honour of the purple. When the news reached him, he requested that, if his books contained any errors, he might be made acquainted with them, and he would correct and amend them in all sincerity and humility; to which request he received a civil answer in the affirmative, but a condemnation was afterwards pronounced without further notice. As if this trouble were not sufficient, when he had gone from Naples to Gaeta, the sgherri went to his house in the night, and wanted to drag him before the Naples police court. He complained indignantly at this, said that he belonged to the Papal Court, and would not go without orders from the Pope unless they offered violence to his person. In the morning he went to Court, where he encountered nothing but sour faces instead of the kindly greeting he had been accustomed to receive; and the courtiers whose pleasure it had been to leave him at the mercy of the Neapolitan police, did not wish him to see either the Pope or Cardinal Antonelli. However, it so chanced that the Cardinal, who perhaps did not intend it, let himself be seen in the ante-chamber, |