be

But in Rome Cardinal Pecci was never, or but rarely, seen, and very little known or heard of. A few months, however, before the death of Pius, Cardinal Pecci (his old enemy Antonelli having disappeared from the scene) was appointed to the high office of Camerlengo of the Church. Then he came to Rome; and his tall spare figure and homely, though kindly, features were seen in Roman drawing-rooms with a frequency unusual with his brethren of the Sacred College in these latter days. It may perhaps be thought that his conduct in this respect even then indicated an opinion adverse to the policy of seclusion which had been adopted by Pius IX. and his cardinals. Gradually more and more during those last months of the life of Pius, when it had become clear that the end of the unexampled pontificate of thirty-one years was at length at hand, the name of Cardinal Pecci began to be heard in speculations as to the probable successor of the dying Pontiff; and when the cardinals went into conclave on February 18, 1878, it was pretty evident that, both in ecclesiastical and outer lay circles, he was, if the phrase may permitted us, the favourite. It had been very generally expected that the conclave would be a long one: the task it had to accomplish seemed so difficult. What man could be found to accept the inheritance of Pius IX.? In the eyes of that Pontiff's admirers the awful weight of it was, by his unparalleled virtues and sanctity, rendered too great for any lesser man to bear; while, in the estimation of all the rest of the world, that inheritance had been loaded with increased difficulties by the imprudence, impolicy, and vanity of the late Pope. It was also thought, not perhaps very reasonably, that the work of the conclave was likely to be protracted because the sixty-one men who entered it were not guided by the old well-known party organisation which had shaped the operations of former conclaves. The nature of the personal considerations which chiefly determined the struggles between the creatures' of successive Popes in these assemblies is well known, despite the secrecy in which it has been sought to envelop them. But in this latest conclave all the members of the Sacred College, save two,* were the creatures' of Pius IX. This was the natural, but unprecedented, result of a pontificate which had lasted for thirty-one years. It had

* Schwarzenberg and Amat, created by Gregory XVI. Neither of them had much influence in the conclave-the former, because he was a foreigner scarcely known at Rome; the latter, because his last sands were even then running. He died about a month later.

been, moreover, a pontificate which, whatever might be its other faults, was wholly unstained by nepotism. If there were a party in the conclave that could be called in any special sense the party of the late Pope, it was composed of those who thought that his policy should still continue to govern the course of the Church.

The old interference, too, of foreign powers, with their retos and intrigues, was, for the first time during many generations, entirely absent. There had been much talk, for some time before the death of Pius, of the possibility of such interference with the independence of the conclave, and especially as to pressure to be feared from the Italian Government. Those who had any real knowledge of the policy of that Government were, however, well aware that such fears, or affected fears, were absolutely vain. Nor did it seem probable, under the conditions in which Europe then found herself, that any foreign government would use its old quasi right of veto. The result justified this view. The conclave was left, without party organisation, without guidance, and without external influence of any kind, to choose its Pontiff in accordance with its own inspirations.

There was, indeed, one question of a preliminary sort which is known to have divided the cardinals, and to a certain degree to have formed two parties in the conclave-the question, namely, whether the conclave should be held in Rome at all. In spite of some opposition, the decision to hold the conclave in Rome was taken, and, contrary to the general expectation, the election was a very short one. The cardinals met on the evening of February 18, according to the provision of the canon which prescribes that a period of ten days shall elapse between the death of a pontiff and the commencement

It may perhaps be worth while to mention here that the very generally received notion that the great Catholic Powers have, or had, a right to exercise a veto on the election of the conclave, is an entirely erroneous one. A veto on a consummated election was never exercised, nor was any pretension to exercise it ever claimed. The practice was for the cardinal entrusted with the veto of any State to station himself at the door of the chapel, as the electors passed into it for the election, and there to communicate to each cardinal, as he entered, the fact that the Power he represented would find the election of his Eminence A. B. objectionable. But it was a matter of courtesy, not of right; and several cases of an election made, and carried into effect, in the teeth of such a veto might be cited. Curiously enough, however, one Catholic Power had, and has, the right of veto, granted to it by special bull-Portugal, the only one which has never exercised it.

of the conclave which is to elect his successor; and, at a quarter past one on the afternoon of the 20th, the announcement was made from the balcony of St. Peter's in the ancient form: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Ponti

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'ficem eminentissimum et reverendissimum Dominum Joachim Pecci, qui sibi nomen imposuit Leo XIII.' The important words were uttered in the quavering voice of Cardinal Caterini, who, despite the feebleness of extreme age, insisted on exercising this privilege of his position as senior deacon of the Sacred College.

Three scrutinies only had been needed to arrive at the election one on the morning after the entry into conclave, one on the evening of the same day, and one on the morning of the 20th. At the first scrutiny the number of votes for Cardinal Pecci was not large; but it included a very great proportion of the foreign cardinals, of whom there were twenty out of the sixty-one in conclave. It may in fact be said that the election of Leo XIII. was due to the foreign vote. Both as a man of extensive culture and especially as a diplomatist, he was better known north of the Alps than in Rome. His long and retired residence in Perugia had made him a stranger in the capital. But there existed neither any strong desire to elect any other, nor any reason for not electing him; and this striking testimony of the foreign cardinals that by the Church at large he was deemed a fitting man, and would be well received, produced a strong effect. At the afternoon scrutiny on the 19th there were thirty-five votes in his favour, and at the first scrutiny on the 20th he was elected by a majority of forty-four.

The completion of the election took the city by surprise. Twice on the 19th, in the morning and the evening, the traditional sfumata (the smoke arising from the burning of the voting-papers, which are thus destroyed after each unsuccessful scrutiny) had declared to the anxious watchers on the piazza of St. Peter's that no election was made; and on the morning of the 20th the sfumata was again seen, which told the world that the third scrutiny had been equally unsuccessful. But this third burning of the papers seems to have been a mistake; perhaps the lapse of thirty-one years had sufficed to cause some unimportant points of the traditional routine to be forgotten. The circumstances attending the conclave which elected Leo XIII. were, as has been seen, very special in many respects; and of the election itself it may be said with much confidence that it was the purest and the most truly canonical which the Church has known for many generations.

Such was the vote which, after only three scrutinies, elected Joachim Pecci to be the new Pontiff. Of course there were the usual nolo episcopari stories as to professions of unwillingness, which, if made, were probably more than ordinarily sincere at the time; and most assuredly every day and almost every hour that has passed from that moment to this, has shown such reluctance to have been but too well founded. The sincerity which springs from conviction may be said to be the first requisite for the man to be placed in St. Peter's seat. But it is very evident that firmness and resolution. were not less indispensably necessary for carrying out his task. The Church needed a ruler not only justum, but above all tenacem propositi. It was abundantly evident that he would be assailed in his task of steering by efforts of all sorts, and proceeding from all sides, to seize the helm, or at least to bias, and even to force, the hand that held it. Has the Church found in Leo XIII. the man so sorely needed in her time of trouble—the man tenacem propositi?

In the various positions in which he had been placed, Cardinal Pecci had not shown himself to be a weak man. He left Perugia with the reputation of an energetic and vigorous administrator; and a perfectly authentic story is related of his conduct as delegate of Benevento, which assuredly does not represent him as wanting in force of character or determination. Benevento, although it formed a part of what were then the States of the Church, is wholly enclosed within the territory of Naples. Thus cut off from the central authority, situated among the Apennines, and remote from any of the great lines of communication, the little province formed the headquarters of the brigands who infested the neighbouring Roman and Neapolitan territory. The ease with which malefactors could slip across the frontier, as well as the lawless habits and propensities of the feudal nobles of the country, rendered the task of governing it an extremely difficult one. The owners of the castles among the hills found it easier and more profitable to live on good terms with the brigands than to side with the pontifical authority against them. They audaciously claimed for their fortresses immunity from the authority of the magistrates, and afforded to the brigands an inviolable asylum; and these lawless feudal nobles were supported by very powerful friends at Rome. The new delegate began by obtaining from Gregory XVI. a very capable man as head of the civil force in the province. He then procured from Naples orders to the Neapolitan police authorities on the frontier to support him to the utmost of their power. Thus

VOL. CLIV. NO. CCCXVI.

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prepared, he sent a force of gendarmes to one of the hill castles, in which several brigands were known to have taken refuge, seized them, and safely lodged them in prison. The owner of the residence thus violated was one of the most powerful men in the province; and on the morrow he visited the delegate in the city of Benevento, and with extreme anger intimated that he was on his way to Rome, whence he should soon return with an order for Monsignor Pecci's recall. That you 'can do, Signor Marchese,' said Pecci quietly, but you must 'put off your journey for three months, since I am going to put you in prison for that period, during which I shall give you only bread and water.' And he was, to the letter, as good as his word. He was thanked by Gregory XVI., he was invited to Naples to receive the expression of King Ferdinand's approbation, and Benevento was for the time cleared of brigands. Assuredly this anecdote is not told of a weak or irresolute governor. But the spectacle of a man victoriously master of an inferior position, yet unfitted for superior command, is not uncommon. Years, if they ripen and perfect the reflective faculties, are apt to impair resolution and the strength of will necessary for successful supremacy. Moreover, it is to be observed that, in the case of the brigands at Benevento, there was no conflict of conscience; the line of -duty was clear and plain.

The first public act of the new Pontiff was an ominous one. Leo XIII., in accordance with immemorial custom, was about to proceed to the balcony on the outside of the west front of St. Peter's, there to give the traditional benediction urbi et orbi, when those about him hurriedly assured him that this could not be done; that all those forms were now in abeyance; and that the blessing could only be given from the interior balcony looking into the church. And Leo XIII. yielded! To those not well acquainted with Roman matters, and with the peculiar position which the Church had chosen to occupy since the entry of the Italian troops at Porta Pia in 1870, it may seem a very small matter whether the Pope gave his benediction from the outside or the inside of the church. It was not so. It was a most important and pregnant moment, and a great opportunity was lost.

All the world knows the story of the imprisonment of Pius IX., the absurdity of the fiction, and the profitable uses it had subserved. It secured from sympathising devotees in all parts of the world the contribution of many millions of francs to the pontifical treasury. But it did not excite that indignant uprising of political Europe against the acts of the Italian