There is a natural solicitude among Italians in scrutinizing the
conduct of the Pope; but we think that it leads them too fast and too far. An instance has just occurred. At the opening of the new deliberative Council, the Pope made a speech in which he warmly rebuked those who thought that he was hurrying into Utopian and revolutionary extravagances. This enigmatical disclaimer sorely afflicted the excitable Italians: they thought their Pontiff was " retrograding." It turns out, however, that he had just before had a conference, probably a controversy, with the representatives of certain Conservative states ; and his re- buke is now understood to be a retrospective reproach levelled at the Austrian Minister, for exaggerated fears as to the course adopted by the High Pontiff. This view is strengthened by another fact : the Council delivered an address in reply to the Pope's speech, and made the formal document a manifesto in fa- vour of zealous reforms: that address was seen by the Pope be- fore its publication, slightly corrected by him, and thus sanc- tioned. It is not, therefore, the interpretation which his subjects put upon his views that he disclaims. So the Romans are all glad again.
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