the minds of the people, had altered the tone of the ecclesiastics, and even penetrated the seclusion of the monasteries, and infused a new spirit into the vigils and devotions of the cloistered monks.

ent.

To the growth of these new doctrines among his own subjects a Pontiff like Leo X. was not likely to be long indifferThe pernicious heresies which had hitherto been threatening the Catholic faith beyond the Alps seemed now to be springing up around the very seat of the Papacy, and to be menacing with destruction the most sacred monuments of its power. Leo X. however soon passed away, and was succeeded by Adrian, a Pontiff of milder and more generous qualities, whose attachments to the Christian faith were of a far purer character. The hopes of those who sought to reform the abuses which existed in the Church were now raised to the highest pitch, as they saw Adrian seated in the pontifical chair. But they were destined never to be realized, for though the Pope himself eagerly endeavored to effect a reconciliation between the contending parties, his courtiers and cardinals arrayed a steady and powerful opposition against all his plans, and the pontificate soon passed into the hands of those who, bent on securing every element both of spiritual and of civil power that lay within their reach, were determined to suppress the Reformation in Italy at every hazard and by any means that could be put in requisition. Among these means, by far the most effectual was the Inquisition, which had already been successfully established in Spain, and by its agency there had clothed itself with frightful terrors to the imagination of every people in Christendom. It was now introduced into Italy, and though it met with violent opposition both from the people and the governments of several of the States, yet the Papal power was at length everywhere triumphant, and the terrors of the "Holy Office" soon silenced the voice of the reformer in every portion of the land. Then began the dismal reign of that unmitigated despotism which has so often followed the triumphs of the Romish Church. Who can describe the wrongs and the woes which are wrought into the history of that gloomy period in which the tribunals of the Inquisition were employed in punishing the innocent disciples of the Reformation in Italy? Their secret agents were everywhere at work, and, often stimulated by private enmity, were constantly bringing forth for accusation and for trial persons of the most blameless lives, whose Protestant faith had been cherished in the sanctuary of their own hearts, and had scarcely been breathed save in

the privacy of their holiest devotions. No social rank was so elevated as to be exempt from the ceaseless espionage of the Inquisition. No domestic hearth was so sacred as to escape its remorseless scrutiny. Its racks were constantly occupied with the victims of its torture, and its deep dungeons, more gloomy and terrific than have ever been built for other purposes, were crowded with those whom neither rank nor age nor sex could protect, and whose unrecorded sufferings were witnessed only by the dreary walls within which they were immured.

Thus perished the Reformation in Italy, and in its ruins was extinguished every spark of the Protestant religion among the people. What the tortures of the Inquisition could not effect on account of the number of victims who were to be sacrificed, was finally accomplished by the flames of the stake and by the ravages of the sword. The Waldenses from Piedmont who had planted their quiet colonies in Calabria, were driven to the forests and mountains by a relentless persecution, where, "hunted like beasts of prey, some fell by the sword and others, less happy, perished by famine in the desolate caverns which had afforded them a temporary asylum. The greater portion being thus cut off, the few who had fallen alive into the hands of their enemies were reserved for every species of torture, perishing by the knife, or precipi tated from the summits of lofty towers, or stifled by the foul air of damp and crowded dungeons."

In a subsequent article on the "Hopes of Italy," written early in 1848, Mr. Greene eloquently and earnestly sets forth the indications of social progress which presented themselves to his own eye while residing in the country and in daily commerce with its people. The hopes he here expresses, he educes from the changes which have been made in the divisions of the territory, and which have increased its capacities for union and defense; from the multiplied facilities for communication between the several States, which are awakening in all a deeper feeling of common wants and common interests; from the popular character of Italian literature and the relations which the men of letters sustain to the people; from the gradual rise of a middle class which is uniting the two opposite extremes of society; and especially from the progress which the Italians have made in the formation of moral and social character, and in the attainment of those civic virtues without which the hopes of freedom are always illusory and the labors and sacrifices of the patriot are inevitably futile. Each of these sources of hope he con

siders in detail, and throws over them all the light which he has borrowed from the earlier history of Italy, and the warm glow of enthusiasm which he has caught from daily intercourse with her scholars and men of genius.

The views which he thus develops were written and published just on the eve of the great events which have marked the past two years of Italian history. By the astonishing changes and reverses which have taken place within this period they have been subjected to the severe test of experience; and in a supplemental article upon the same subject, now published for the first time, Mr. Greene reviews the progress of Italian affairs, and furnishes an estimate of the changes which have been made and the permanent results which have been secured. In his manner of doing this, we discern traces of a minute knowledge and a careful discrimi nation such as could belong only to one long resident amid the scenes which he describes and familiar with the chief agents in the transactions which he recounts. It is evident that, to his mind, the hopes of Italy have not perished with the defeat of Charles Albert, the flight of Pope Pius IX., or even with the fall of the Triumvirate. The sources from which he originally derived them still exist in the aspirations of the popular mind and in the moral and social condition of the people, and the influences are still at work which are to shape their hopes and embody them in yet another movement for Italian freedom. The period in question is divided into three distinct parts, each of which is reviewed in detail in the article before us. "The first is the period of reform by government. The second, of the war of independence. The third, of reform by the governed."

Our author confines his review almost entirely to the political events of the period; but for ourselves, we cannot but believe, that there are hindrances to the progress of the Italian people, existing in the very constitution of the Papacy, if not in the organization of the Catholic Church itself, which no political combinations, however propitious, can possibly remove. Our hopes for Italy therefore can never be sanguine, so long as a Pope shall continue to occupy the throne, and to rule the ancient capital of the Cæsars. The Papal power must of itself assuredly blight whatever freedom may spring up beneath its dismal shadow. That dread union of imperial and spiritual rule which the Papacy has always maintained, we believe to be wholly incompatible with the habits both of thought and of action that are essential to the character of a free and advancing people. We have lost our

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faith in the liberality of Popes and the justice of Cardinals. We dread their influence alike in the counsels of cabinets and upon the minds of the people; for wherever we see it exerted, there we are sure to witness intrigue, mischief and wrong, as the unfailing results. We speak no language of bigotry, but only utter what the voice of all history confirms, when we pronounce the Papacy to be utterly incompatible with the rights and the progress of humanity; and to whatever part of the earth its power is extended, whether it be in the classic realms of Italy, among the beautiful vales of France, on the green islands of the Pacific, or over the prairies and sierras of our own continent, we feel that a blight has descended upon the hopes and interests of mankind, that a barrier of giant dimensions and most formidable strength has been raised in the pathway of human improvement and of true Christian civilization. It will be only when the dynasty of the Pontiffs in Italy has passed away, and, with that of the Stuarts in England and the Bourbons in France, has lost its prestige and power for ever, that the Italian people can spring forward upon a progressive career of civil and religious freedom. Mr. Greene, it may be, will hardly agree with us in this estimate of the influence of the Papal government, and we feel on this account the more bound to give his views concerning the results of the recent movements in Italy in his own words :

First of all, a definite line has been drawn between progress and reaction, with the people on one side, and despotism on the other. All the hopes of civilization are to be found with the one, with the other all that it dreads. The question of the future has been simplified, reducing the claims of power to a single standard of legitimacy-the fulfilment of all the conditions of a progressive civilization. Peasants have sat in the halls of princes, and the prestige of royalty is gone. Every capital in Europe has been in the hands of the people, and during their dominion scarcely an excess was committed. Every capital has fallen again into the hands of the sovereign, and prison and exile and the gibbet have marked their return. Whenever a new convulsion comes, and come it must, there will be but one question-the will of the many,—and but one test-their good.

And next, we have seen that, at the beginning of the war of independence, there were two prominent parties in Italy, and one in the shade. The King of Piedmont was the first to test his strength and failed, whether from incompetence or from treachery posterity will decide. A failure equally signal, though from a less dubious cause, showed how little reliance could be placed in the Pope as the leader of a great national enterprise. Last came the republicans, with no reliance but their enthusiasm and their faith. Under a republican government Rome resisted for four weeks every effort of a well-appointed army and a skilful general, and never had the administration been conducted more calmly, with greater order, or so equal a distribution of justice. If such calmness and energy

and equal justice could be displayed by unexperienced republicans in such a moment of trial, what might not be hoped from them when greater experience should have perfected their science, and better days have given them time to test and develop their designs? Let who will tax republicanism with incompetence, history is there with her stern realities to show that of all the governments which attempted to lead the great movement of Italian regeneration, the republican was the only one that proved itself equal to the task. Despotism appealed to interest, republicanism to conscience. The one to present enjoyment, the other to future good. The former addressed itself to that cold spirit of calculation, which weighs all the chances of personal hazard, the other to that expansive love of humanity, which looks hopefully to the happiness of the son as an ample compensation for the sacrifices of the father.

And finally, the question of religious freedom has become indissolubly connected with that of Italian independence.

When the war of independence broke out the Court of Rome might have taken the lead and kept it, and that purely by the force of its moral power. But from the day in which Pius IX. signed his appeal to the Catholic sovereigns of Europe, he renounced the position which he had held as the leader of Italian reform, and made himself the dependent of the absolute principles of his protectors. After a declaration so precise, it is mockery to talk of paternal love, or a conscientious abhorrence of war. Every drop of blood that was shed before the walls of Rome, has risen up in testimony against him. Foreign bayonets may force him again upon his unwilling people, and an appeal to old associations, and base flattery of the baser feelings of our nature, may keep him there for a time; but nothing can ever restore to the Vatican that force of opinion which it has wielded so fatally and so long.

Therefore, the events of the last two years have shown that every liberal movement of an Italian prince will necessarily lead to a war of independence. They have shown that the means for conducting this war are greater than they ever were before, and the spirit of the people better prepared to meet the sacrifices which it will inevitably impose.

They have shown that there is no single banner which the people can follow; that the personal ambition of princes is a serious obstacle to the success of such a contest; that to win it with their guidance, they must pay the full price of victory, and submit to all the penalties of defeat.

They have shown that it is not in palaces that they are to look for the genius and the energy which so arduous a task requires.

They have shown that the concessions of the sovereign are no sure basis of reform; that what terror or caprice or even a sense of justice may wrest from him to-day, may be given back to him to-morrow by the bayonet.

They have shown that in the day of trial the real strength of a country is to be found in the energetic will of the people, combined and directed by the men of their own choice.

They have shown that the strength of absolute power is founded on money or on credit and on the hirelings that these can command.

They have shown that for the leaders of great movements there is no compromise between victory and defeat. (Pp. 459–462.)

Passing by the other articles, we pause for a moment upon that which delineates the character and relates the adventures of Charles Edward, the Young Pretender. It is the longest and most elaborate in the volume, and contains a narrative of