[394] It is differently reported by what means the consent of Austria to the destruction of the Jesuits was obtained. The report most current at the time was, that Charles III. obtained it from Maria Theresa, by sending to the empress her own confession, which her Jesuit director had sent to the General, and which the king had had the means of obtaining. St Priest, in contradicting this opinion, says that Maria Theresa’s resistance was conquered by her son Joseph, who, although he took little interest in the affair as it affected the Jesuits, yet coveted their possessions.
[395] These are the words attributed to the Pope by the popular tradition. However, St Priest, following Caraccioli, makes the Pope exclaim, after having signed the brief, “Questa suppressione mi dará la morte”—This suppression will be my death.
[396] Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 374.
[397] It is here given as translated in the Protestant Advocate, 1815, vol. iii. p. 153, &c.
[398] Crét. vol. v. p. 275.
[399] Ibid. p. 390.
[400] St Priest, p. 50.
[401] Botta Storia d’Italia cont. da quella del Guic. 48. See also Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 391, and ff.
[402] St Priest, p. 89.
[403] Botta, ubi supra.
[404] Georgel, Memoires, vol. i. p. 160. Apud St Priest, p. 90.
[405] Gioberti, quoting Florida Blanca, vol. iii. p. 394.
[406] St Priest, p. 91, and following. All these details of the illness and death of Ganganelli we have taken from St Priest, adding now and then some particulars which we have found in other writers. But St Priest is the best authority on the subject. He has drawn from original sources—the Letters of Bernis, of Florida Blanca, the History of Botta Gorani Caraccioli—and has condensed his materials into a most accurate and impartial narrative. It would be useless, then, either to send back our readers to those authors, or to endeavour to analyse them ourselves. We shall, then, be contented with some reflections or deductions at the proper place.
[407] Ibid.
[408] Botta, ubi supra.
[409] Gioberti, vol. iii. p. 392.
[410] St Priest, p. 92.
[411] It is a popular tradition, and, indeed, not at all unfounded, that in Perugia some persons had the secret of composing a sort of water which, when drunk, produced certain death, although life was prolonged for more or less space of time, according to the quantity and strength of the dose given. The nuns, in particular, had a sad celebrity for composing this drug.
[412] St Priest, p. 93.
[413] St Priest could not find those documents anywhere.
[414] See all those letters in St Priest, p. 93, and following.
[415] St Priest, p. 78.
[416] It is commonly reported in Italy, and it is also believed in France, that on the day commemorating Ganganelli’s death, every year, the Jesuits, at least those who are deep in the secrets of the order, assemble in a room, and, after one of them has addressed a volley of curses and imprecations against Clement’s memory, every person present pierces his image with a poniard. We repeat the popular belief, without, however, warranting its correctness.
[417] St Priest, p. 97.
[418] D’Alembert to Frederick. April 24, 1774.
[419] St Priest, p. 144.
[420] St Priest, p. 155.
[421] See this Testament in Crétineau, vol. v. p. 401, and ff.
[422] Czerniwiecz, Lenkeawiecz, and Korell.
[423] Crét. vol. vi. p. 33.
[424] Vol. iii. p. 30.
[425] The translation here given is from the Protestant Advocate, vol. iii. p. 13, &c.
[426] As lively turf with green herb.—Dante.
[427] Crét. vol. vi. p. 323.
[428] Crét. vol. vi. p. 338.
[429] Crét. vol. vi. p. 105.
[430] Crét. vol. vi. p. 110.
[431] Crét. vol. vi. p. 110.
[432] Vol. vi. p. 81.
[433] Crét. vol. vi. p. 84.
[434] Ibid. p. 83.
[435] Overbury.
[436] Crétineau, vol. vi. p. 94.
[437] Vol. vi. p. 89.
[438] Vol. vi. pp. 91, 92, in a note.
[439] Vol. vi. p. 97.
[440] It is to be remembered that all the revolutions which have taken place in Italy since 1814 were prepared and executed by the upper classes of the nation.
[441] We have to lament the decease of this illustrious Italian, which has happened while we were writing these pages. His country has not forgotten that it is due to him, perhaps more than to anything else, that Piedmont is without Jesuits. Monuments are to be erected to him, and his mortal remains will be transported from Paris to Turin at the public expense. But while all Italy is unanimous in regretting his loss, a Jesuit newspaper, the Armonia, attributing his sudden death to the judgment of God, exclaims, “See what it is to wage war against Heaven! Gioberti died like Simon the magician, like Arius!” A Jesuit in Rome asserted the same thing from the pulpit; while the Romans repeat that the Jesuits have poisoned him. He was firm to the end in his hostility to the fathers, and in the last letter he wrote to the author of this history, encouraging him to proceed with the work, he adds, “You will render a good service to our country.”
[442] See my History of the Pontificate of Pius IX., p. 29 and ff.
[443] A month before the Pope fled from Rome to Gaeta, the author had a conversation with Joseph Mastai, the Pope’s brother, who had been an exile and a political prisoner during the last reign. He, to excuse the change in his brother’s conduct, said, “I warned you not to attack religion, or you would ruin the cause of liberty. You have not listened to my advice, and you must abide the consequences.” When I asked him in what respect we had shewn disrespect to religion, he answered, with great earnestness, “You have driven the Jesuits from Rome, and attempted to deprive the ecclesiastics of all authority.” These words speak volumes. They express the true sentiments of the Pope, which were adopted, it seems, by his brother, who had formerly been a Carbonaro.
[444] The author was a member of this second deputation. Oudinot was at first indignant that we should think of offering opposition to his troops. “How!” said he, “two armies, the Neapolitans and the Austrians, are marching against Rome! We come to succour you, and you speak of fighting us!” And half an hour after this, when we pressed him hard, forgetting himself, he exclaimed, “Eh bien! nom de Dieu nous venous pour remettre le Pape sur le trône.”
[445] Mather.
[446] Murray.
[447] Newton.
[448] Oudinot was named by the Pope Duke of St Pancrace, in commemoration of his having destroyed a church dedicated to that saint, and also that part of the wall by which the French entered, which bears the same name.
[449] Many public officers were dismissed or imprisoned for refusing to be present at the Te Deum.
[450] Murray is of this number.
[451] When nothing can be invented which may at least have the appearance of criminality, and the man is punished merely for his opinions, he is not interrogated at all, but is kept a prisoner as long as his persecutors please, and released after five, six, or more years, without ever having been interrogated, or even seeing the face of a judge.
[452] English readers must be aware that in France, as well as in Italy, murder does not necessarily and inevitably import capital punishment. There are certain extenuating circumstances admitted. In the Roman states, indeed, very seldom is the common assassin executed.
[453] The fate of this generous and unfortunate young man has excited, and indeed deserves, the deepest commiseration. He was a merchant, and in ’48 left his business to march with us into Lombardy; he became lieutenant of the battalion commanded by the chevalier Geraldi, one of the Pope’s nephews, and was intimate with Ercole Mastai, who was an officer in the same battalion. On returning from the war, he was raised, by the esteem of his fellow-citizens, to the rank of colonel in the national guard. When the fatal acts of revenge above narrated were perpetrated at Sinigallia, the author wrote to Simoncelli from Rome, entreating him to use all his influence to repress these murders. He answered in a tone which left no doubt that he entirely condemned them. He said he had been able to save the lives of some, and would redouble his exertions to put a stop to crimes, which he abhorred and detested. I gave the letter to Mazzini. Yet this same man has been shot as an abettor and accomplice. Such is the justice of the priests!