The Pope Who Would Be King, page 50
17. A copy of the original document is found in ASV, ANN, b. 392, ff. 175r–176v. Although first appearing in Rome on the seventeenth, it carried the date of September 12.
18. The text is found in Stato pontificio 1850, pp. 169–70.
19. Farini is quoted in Ghisalberti 1949, p. 143. In meeting with Cardinal Antonelli in late September, Rayneval complained about the pope’s limited amnesty. If they had listened to the French, replied the secretary of state, they would not have ended up excluding anyone from the amnesty. “Ah,” responded the French ambassador, “then so much the better, that would do honor to the Holy Father. He would show himself to be merciful and generous.” “Not at all,” replied Antonelli. “A general pardon would, at the same time, be both unjust and immoral.” Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 30 septembre 1849, n. 198, MAEC, PAR.
20. “The French military authorities in Rome,” Antonelli went on to complain, “want to exercise their influence in the most important areas, especially with regard to the police.” Antonelli a Viale, Portici, 17 settembre 1849, doc. 49 in Lukács 1981, pp. 369–70. Antonelli sent the same letter to the nuncio in Madrid, along with a copy of the motu proprio. Antonelli al nunzio di Madrid, Portici, 17 settembre 1849, ASV, ANM, b. 313, ff. 707r–712r.
21. Quoted in Ghisalberti 1949, p. 143.
CHAPTER 20: THE UNPOPULAR POPE
1. Liedekerke, September 22, 1849, in a report excerpted in Ghisalberti 1949, pp. 147–50.
2. Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 23 septembre 1849, n. 192, MAEC, PAR.
3. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 24 septembre 1849, doc. 155 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 416–23. The following day Tocqueville wrote to Rostolan to inform him of Mazzini’s accusation and to give him similar instructions. Tocqueville à Rostolan, Paris, 25 septembre 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis.
4. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 26 septembre 1849, doc. 157 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 429–30.
5. The English text of Qui pluribus is found at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9quiplu.htm. In this passage, Pius IX quotes from his sainted fifth-century predecessor, Pope Leo the Great.
6. Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 30 septembre 1849, n. 198, MAEC, PAR.
7. Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 27 septembre 1849, n. 196, MAEC, PAR; Lukács 1981, p. 31n.
8. On Rostolan’s request, see Rayneval à Barrot, Rome, 24 septembre 1849, in Gaillard 1861, pp. 500–502. Two days after his initial letter to Tocqueville, Corcelle advised the foreign minister that he would keep the matter of his resignation confidential. He said he did not want to undermine his own authority in the interim, nor did he want to encourage Rostolan to stick by his decision to resign. Corcelle also feared the impact that the news of his resignation would have on the papal court. Nor, he added, did he want to embarrass his good friend. “If you think that my resignation for political reasons looks badly for you,” he told Tocqueville, “attribute it to reasons of health and the expiration of the natural term of six months.” Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 24 septembre, 2 octobre, 4 octobre 1849, docs. 155, 161, 162 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 427, 444.
9. Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 10 octobre 1849, doc. 164 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 449–51.
10. The foreign minister sent the letter to the warship he kept at Toulon for emergencies and ordered the captain to set sail immediately to rush it to Corcelle. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 9 octobre 1849, doc. 164 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 448–49.
11. Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 13 octobre 1849, doc. 165 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 451–54. “The limited concessions that your repeated entreaties and those of M. de Rayneval have obtained from the Holy See,” Tocqueville wrote Corcelle in mid-October, “have been unable to modify more than minimally the harsh judgment of the amnesty decree.” The foreign minister urged him to keep up the battle. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 15 octobre 1849, n. 12, MAEN, RSS 274; Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 30 octobre 1849, n. 18, MAEN, RSS 274.
12. D. Savelli al Sig.r Assessore gen.le di Polizia, 24 settembre 1849, ASV, Segr. Stato, An. 1850, Rubr. 165, fasc. 3, ff. 76r–76v. It appears that due to French pressure, Savelli was not entirely able to have his way, and many of those excluded from the amnesty were given until the end of September to leave the Papal States. Frantic attempts to flee followed, often to destinations unknown. Bollettino n. 22, Roma, 29 settembre 1849, ASV, Segr. Stato, An. 1849, Rubr. 155, fasc. 2, ff. 228v–229r.
13. Segreteria della S. Cong.ne degli Studi a Bonaventura Orfei, 9 novembre 1849, MCRR, ms. 40, Consiglio di censura per l’Università romana, 1849–50, ff. 21r-22v. There may have been no clearer sign of how far unhappiness had spread in Rome than the revolt in the city’s foundling home. The mammoth thirteenth-century Santo Spirito complex, aside the Vatican’s walls, housed hundreds of girls who had been abandoned at birth. Those for whom a husband could not be found were forced to spend the rest of their lives there. During the republic, laywomen had replaced the nuns who ran the home. When, on October 1, the nuns returned, the bastarde, as they were called, erupted in protest, their shouts of “Long live the Republic!” and “Death to the priests!” creating a huge din. Only through the intervention of French troops were the nuns and calm restored. Roncalli 1997, p. 235. On infant abandonment in nineteenth-century Italy, see Kertzer 1993.
14. ASVR, Vicariato, Documenti particolari, Istituti diversi, Dossier F, fasc. 11.
15. Adolphe Niel à Gustave Niel, Rome, 4 octobre 1849, doc. 14 in Niel 1961, p. 481.
16. “Although the character of the Pope, so remarkable for personal piety, is respected, yet all enthusiasm and even interest in his cause has ceased to exist.” Hamilton to Palmerston, Florence, October 6, 1849, doc. 120 in Parliament 1851, p. 114. The Austrians, too, were under no illusion. The corruption that came with the return of priestly rule, the new Austrian consul to Rome reported, was producing “general unhappiness in the lower classes, which the ill-intentioned are adroitly turning against the clergy and against the Sacred College, accusing them of blocking the concessions promised by the old constitution and thwarting the Holy Father himself.” Schnitzer-Meerau à Schwarzenberg, Rome, 6 octobre 1849, doc. 140 in Blaas 1973, pp. 394–97.
17. “Rome, Naples, and Sicily,” TL, September 11, 1849. “The Pius IX of 1849,” reported the consul, describing what the prelates were telling him, “is as far as we are concerned the same person he was in 1847, blessing ‘Italy.’ ” It is well known, he added, that Gregory XVI hesitated a long time before naming Mastai a cardinal. To all those who asked him why he was so hesitant, Gregory gave the same reply: “In the Mastai family home, even the cats are liberals.” Schnitzer-Meerau à Schwarzenberg, Rome, 18 octobre 1849, doc. 150 in Blaas 1973, pp. 413–16.
18. Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 24 septembre 1849, n. 194, MAEC, PAR; Key 1898, p. 209; Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 10 octobre 1849, n. 203, MAEC, PAR; Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 24 septembre 1849, n. 194, MAEC, PAR. Corcelle, too, could not imagine how the pope could place himself in the hands of a king who seemed to be growing ever more paranoid. “It is evident,” observed the French envoy, “that the King of Naples has a frightful system, which can have no reasonable result, because he extends the number of the people he goes after in proportion to his fear, and his fear grows with the number of men who are being pursued….It is difficult to believe that the Holy Father feels at ease in the midst of such abominable follies.” Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 15 octobre 1849, MAEN, RSS 411.
19. Barrot 1876, pp. 454–55.
20. Jankowiak 2007, p. 222.
21. The vote in favor was 469 to 168. Assemblée nationale 1849d, pp. 86–91, 147.
22. Rayneval à Tocqueville, Naples, 28 and 31 octobre 1849, nn. 210, 211, MAEC, PAR.
23. Rayneval au ministre des affaires étrangères, Naples, 4 novembre 1849, n. 212 bis, MAEC, PAR. News of the appearance of half a dozen cases of cholera among the French troops in Civitavecchia, and the fear that it might spread quickly to Rome, further increased the French diplomats’ sense of urgency. Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 30 octobre 1849, n. 36, MAEN, RSS 411.
24. Schnitzer-Meerau à Schwarzenberg, Rome, 24 octobre 1849, doc. 153 in Blaas 1973, pp. 419–20.
25. ASCER, Co. 48, f. 2, Rc, 9 sup. 2, fasc. 3, 7 settembre 1849.
26. The raid did not come as a surprise to the people of Rome. Rumors that Jews had made off with sacred objects of immense value had been circulating since the French entered the city. In September, word spread that the police were going to surround the ghetto and search its homes. People attributed the fact that this did not then happen to General Rostolan’s opposition. Rumors spread that the Jews had paid him six thousand scudi to buy his support. Roncalli 1997, p. 231.
27. The police reports are reproduced in Grantaliano 2011, pp. 120–27. The secretary of state report on the importance of publicizing what was found in the ghetto, and warning of the need to counter charges of religious prejudice against the Jews, is found in ASV, Segr. Stato, An. 1849, Rubr. 155, fasc. 3, ff. 71v–73v. On these events, see also Carpi 1849, pp. 5–13.
28. A copy of the Roman police report, dated October 30, is found in the archives of the Rome Jewish community. ASCER, Co. 48, f.2 Rc, 9 sup 2, fasc. 6, estratto dal “Times” del 12 novembre 1849. On the election of the Jews to the Constituent Assembly and to Rome’s city council, see Capuzzo 1999, p. 279.
29. From the beginning of July, explained Corcelle, the authorities had asked all Romans to return any objects taken from public establishments during the previous months. “A large number of restitutions were made by the Christians in the time we had allotted,” he reported, adding, “It is remarkable that the Jews did not return a single thing.” A delegation from the ghetto had come to complain to Corcelle about the raid, but he told them he had had nothing to do with what had happened. He did, though, go together with General Rostolan to speak with the cardinals of the governing commission. The cardinals assured the Frenchmen that “there did not exist any plan of persecution nor any exceptional measure to be taken against the Jews.” Corcelle à Tocqueville, Rome, 31 octobre 1849, n. 37, MAEN, RSS 411. Rome’s Jewish community later sent Corcelle a formal written protest about the ghetto raid. He sent it on to Paris with the comment that it should not be taken seriously. Corcelle au ministre des affaires étrangères, Rome, 10 novembre 1849, n. 39, MAEN, RSS 411.
30. Barrot’s anger was all the greater because one of the men who piloted the “coup” was his own brother, Ferdinand. It was from this time that Ferdinand Barrot, previously the president’s general secretary and now his new minister of the interior, came to be referred to behind his back as “Cain.” Barrot 1876, pp. 470–84; Agulhon 1983, p. 120; Martina 1974, p. 390.
31. Esterházy à Schwarzenberg, Naples, 14 novembre 1849, doc. 157 in Blaas 1973, pp. 427–28.
CHAPTER 21: “THOSE WICKED ENEMIES OF GOD”
1. Mercier à d’Hautpoul, Naples, 18 novembre 1849, n. 215, MAEC, PAR; Rayneval au ministre des affaires étrangères, Naples, 24 novembre 1849, n. 216, MAEC, PAR; Roncalli 1997, p. 239. Rayneval remained convinced that deep down the pope was eager to do good, but, he again observed, “he is indecisive by nature and lacks the resolution needed to push back against the mistaken and unreasonable objections of his entourage.” Rayneval à d’Hautpoul, Naples, 4 décembre 1849, n. 218, MAEC, PAR.
2. Baraguey au ministre des affaires étrangères, Rome, 24 novembre 1849, n. 1, MAEN, RSS 411.
3. Baraguey à de la Hitte, Naples, 2 décembre 1849, n. 4, MAEN, RSS 411; De Cesare 1907, pp. 34–36. In response to the letter from Louis Napoleon that Baraguey gave the pope, Pius sent a letter to the French president in mid-December. There he further argued against broadening his amnesty. “The pardon that I already gave, in a spontaneous manner, on another occasion, shows clearly enough that my soul is disposed to clemency. But this act had only very bad effects, being followed only by a most cruel reciprocity.” A copy of Pius IX’s letter to Louis Napoleon, dated Portici, 16 dicembre 1849, is found attached to de la Hitte à Baraguey, Paris, 22 décembre 1849, MAEN, RSS 274.
4. Baraguey à de la Hitte, Naples, 4 dicembre 1849, n. 5, MAEN, RSS 411. In fact, the most influential of these “bad advisors,” Cardinal Antonelli, was at that time trying to arrange the replacement of the French troops in Rome with a battalion of eight thousand Spanish volunteers. This came as an alternative to Antonelli’s preferred plan of substituting the Spanish army for the French army in Rome, given the Spanish government’s decision to withdraw its troops from the Papal States. Antonelli al nunzio di Madrid, 5 dicembre 1849, Portici, ASV, ANV, b. 330, ff. 381r–382r.
The next day the new French envoy had a testy exchange with Austria’s ambassador. It was beneath the pope’s dignity, Esterházy told him, to return to a Rome that was flooded with French troops. “I am surprised by what you say,” replied the general, “because France has only undertaken this expedition to Rome in order to reestablish the pope in all the plenitude of his temporal power.” The troops were there to ensure order. If the Austrians were concerned about reducing the number of foreign troops in Italy, he added, they should begin with their own army of occupation. They had twelve thousand men in Tuscany and another twelve thousand in the Papal States. “The Holy Father’s dignity,” said Baraguey, “may be just as compromised by the pressure that you exercise on him.”
Tuscany, replied Esterházy, was a whole other matter. Austria had a special relationship with the grand duchy and, indeed, it could be considered to be Austrian. Nor did the Austrian want to discuss reducing the imperial troops in the Papal States. Baraguey à de la Hitte, Naples, 4 décembre 1849, n. 5, MAEN, RSS 411. That the general’s first encounter with the influential Austrian ambassador did not go well is evident from Esterházy’s report to Vienna. “The impression I got from this conversation,” he observed, “was that the French cabinet did not make a happy choice.” Baraguey, thought the Austrian, “had a great deal more ambition than real merit. He has little experience and very little knowledge of political affairs.” Esterházy à Schwarzenberg, Naples, 17 décembre 1849, doc. 172 in Blaas 1973, p. 472.
5. I here use the English translation of Nostis et nobiscum at http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9nostis.htm.
6. Rocca 2011, pp. 105–7; De Longis 2001, pp. 276–78.
7. Belgiojoso’s letter is excerpted in Rocca 2011, p. 106n. Dated January 20, 1850, it was published in the Giornale di Gorizia. The patriotic princess ended her letter on a caustic note: “The accusation pronounced by Your Holiness will not stand in the face of my denial, and those who once again have defamed pious Roman women with the false accusation of being ‘prostitutes’ will be few, hardhearted, and closed-minded.” Proia 2010, pp. 172–73.
8. R. Abercrombie to Lord John Russell, Turin, December 2, 1849, in Palmerston Papers online, #Docref=PP/GC/AB/210; Rayneval à de la Hitte, Naples, n. 223, 31 décembre 1849, MAEC, PAR. Romans found some solace in humor. A prominent pharmacist in Rome, it was said, took great pride in his parrot’s speaking ability. Earlier in the year he had taught it to repeat “Long live the Roman Republic, Death to Pius IX.” What the pharmacist had not taught his prize parrot to do was to unlearn what it had learned, causing, or so it was said, much malicious mirth. Roncalli (1997, p. 242), in relating this seemingly apocryphal account of the parrot in his diary entry for December 1, 1849, swears that it was true.
9. Rayneval à de la Hitte, Naples, n. 222, 24 décembre 1849, MAEC, PAR.
10. A week later Cardinal Della Genga, the leading member of the red triumvirate overseeing papal administration in Rome, offered his own warning. Although he began by expressing his hope that the pope might be able to return before long to his capital, he immediately added: “However, I cannot hide the fact that, while the boiling spirits of the Republic and of the time of anarchy have calmed down considerably, nonetheless…the multitudes have not yet returned to that religious and political sense that is so much to be desired for the benefit both of people’s souls and of civil society.” The quotes from Cardinal Della Genga’s letter of January 8, 1850, and from Cardinal Macchi’s December 30, 1849, letter to Pius IX are found in Martina 1974, pp. 406–7.
11. For his part, Rayneval saw not the least sign that these fears were justified. “It is true that deep down Pius IX is liberal,” reported the ambassador, “but he was sorely tested, and for a person of his nature, uncertain and fearful, lessons of this kind will always exert a profound influence.” Rayneval à de la Hitte, Naples, n. 223, 31 décembre 1849, MAEC, PAR.
12. Lancellotti, 31 dicembre 1849, in Cittadini 1968, p. 264; Lodolini 1970, p. 103; Martina 1974, pp. 414–15.
13. Farini 1850–53, vol. 4, p. 295.
14. Gille 1967, pp. 68–70. In mid-December, Rayneval reported on Antonelli’s eagerness to get the loan from the Rothschilds and his expectation that a member of the banking family would soon come to meet with him. Rayneval à de la Hitte, Naples, 14 décembre 1849, n. 220, MAEC, PAR. On December 21, the French foreign minister, de la Hitte, sent a note to Antonelli on the Rothschild negotiations via Baraguey, stressing how crucial it was that they be successful. De la Hitte à Baraguey, Paris, 21 décembre 1849, n. 8, MAEN, RSS 274.
15. De la Hitte à Baraguey, Paris, 5 janvier 1850, n. 2, MAEN, RSS 274; de la Hitte à Rayneval, Paris, 5 janvier 1850, MAEN, RSS 274.
16. Laras 1973, pp. 515–19; Martina 1967b, pp. 211–12.
17. De la Hitte à Rayneval, Paris, 10 janvier 1850, n. 2, MAEC, CP, Naples, vol. 180, ff. 14r–14v.
