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absolutism in the temporal government of the Church,
and the liberals, who were desirous of moderate
political reforms. At the fourth scrutiny, 16 June,
Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, the liberal candidate,
received three votes beyond tlie required majoritj'.
Cardinal Archbishop Gaysruclc of Milan had arrived
too late to make use of the right of exclusion against
his election, given him by the Austrian Government.
The new pope accepted the tiara with reluctance and
in memory of Pius VII, his former benefactor, took
the name of Pius IX. His coronation took place in
the Basilica of St. Peter on 21 June. His election was
greeted with jo}', for his charity towards the poor, his
kindheartedness, and his wit had made him very
popular.
"Young Italy" was clamouring for greater political freedom. The unyielding attitude of Gregory X\'I and his secretary of state. Cardinal Lambruschini, had brought the papal states to the verge of a revolu- tion. The new pope was in favour of a political re- form. His first great political act was the granting of a general amnesty to political exiles and prisoners on 16 July, 1846. This act was hailed with enthu- siasm by the people, but many ijrudciit nicn had rea- sonable fears of the results. Some ex- treme reactionaries denounced the pope as in league with the Freemasons and the Carbonari. It did not occur to the kindl}' nature of Pius IX that many of the pardoned political offenders would use their lib- erty to further their revolutionary ideas. That he was not in accord with the rad- ical ideas of the times he clearly demonstrated by his Encyclical of 9 Nov., 1846, in which he laments the op- pression of Catholic interests, intrigues against the Holy See, machinations of secret societies, sectarian bitterness, the Bible associations, indifferent- ism, false philo-sophy, communism, and the licentious press. He was, however, willing to grant such politi- cal reforms as he deemed expedient to the welfare of the people and compatible with the papal sovereignty. On 19 April, 1847, he announced his intention to es- tablish an advisory council (Consulta di Slalo), com- posed of laymen from the various provinces of the papal territory. This was followed by the establish- ment of a civ-ic guard [Guardia Civica), 5 July, and a cabinet council, 29 December. But the more con- cessions the pope made, the greater and more in- sistent became the demands. Secret clubs of Rome, especially the "Cireolo Romano", under the direction of Ciceruacchio, fanaticized the mob with their radicalism and were the real rulers of Rome. They spurred the people on to be satisfied with nothing but a constitutional government, an entire laicization of the ministry, and a declaration of war against hated and reactionary Austria.
On 8 February, 1848, a street riot extorted the promise of a lay ministry from the pope and on 14 March he saw himself obliged to grant a constitution, but in his allocution of 29 April he solemnly pro- claimed that, as the Father of Christendom, he could never declare war against Catholic Austria. Riot followed riot, the pope was denounced as a traitor to
Crypt of S. Lore,
his country, his prime minister Rossi was stabbed to
death while ascending the steps of the Cancelleria,
whither he had gone to open the parliament, and on
the following day the pope himself was besieged in the
Quirinal. Palma, a papal prelate, who was standing at
a window, was shot, and the pope was forced to prom-
ise a democratic ministry. With the assistance of the
Bavarian ambassador. Count Spaur, and the French
ambassador. Due d' Harcourt, Pius IX escaped from
the Quirinal in disguise, 24 November, and fled to
Gaeta where he was joined by many of the cardinals.
Meanwhile Rome was ruled by traitors and adven-
turers who abolished the temporal power of the pope, 9
Februarj', 1849, and under the name of a democratic
republic terrorized the people and committed untold
outrages. The )jope a]ipealed to France, Austria,
Spain, and Naples. On 29 June French troops under
CJeneral Oudinot restored order in his territory.
On 12 April, 1850, Pius IX returned to Rome, no
longer a political liberalist. Cardinal Antonelli, his
secretary of state, exerted a paramount political in-
fluence until his death on 6 Nov., 1876. The tem-
poral reign of Pius IX, up to the seizure of the last
of his temporal ])ossessions in 1870, was one continu-
ous struggle, on the
one hand against
the intrigues of the
revolutionaries, on
the other against
the Piedmontese
ruler Victor Em-
manuel, his crafty
lircinier Cavour,
and other antipapal
statesmen who
aimed at a united
Italy, with Rome
as its capital, and
the Piedmontese
ruler as its king.
The political diffi-
culties of the pope
were still further in-
creased by the double
dealing of Napoleon
III, and the necessity
of relying on French
and Austrian troops
for the maintenance
of order in Rome and the pajial legations in the north.
When Pius IX visited his provinces in the summer
of 1857 he received everywhere a warm and loyal recep-
tion. But the doom of his temporal power was sealed,
when a year later Cavour and Napoleon III met at
Plombieres, concerting plans for a combined war
against Austria and the subsequent territorial extension
of the Sardinian Kingdom. They sent their agents into
various cities of the Papal States to propagate the idea
of a politically united Italy. The defeat of Austria
at Magenta on 4 July, 1859, and the subsequent with-
drawal of the Austrian troops from the papal lega-
tions, inaugurated the dissolution of the Papal States.
The insurrection in some of the cities of the Romagna
was put forth as a plea for annexing this province to
Piedmont in September, 1859. On 6 Feb., 1860,
Victor Emmanuel demanded the annexation of Um-
bria and the Marches and, when Pius IX resisted
this unjust demand, made ready to annex them by
force. After defeating the papal army at Castelfi-
dardo on 18 Sept., and at Ancona on 30 Sept., he de-
prived the pope of all his possessions with the excep-
tion of Rome and the immediate vicinity. Finally on
20 Sept., 1870, he completed the spoliation of the pa-
pal possessions by seizing Rome and making it the
capital of United Italy. The so-called Law of Guar-
antees, of 15 May, 1871, which accorded the pope the
rights of a sovereign, an annual remuneration of
