a sovereign possessed of this privilege, then some other Cardinal also known to be distasteful to him, is started and pushed to the very verge of the required majority, in the hope of causing the veto to be pronounced, when no obstacle from that quarter can any longer stand in the way of the concealed candidate, who had all along been the real object of predilection. The origin of this privilege of excluding from the Papacy is involved in mystery, but its existence is formally recognised by the Court of Rome in the Crowns of France, Austria, and Spain.[1] The privilege is absolute; and its exercise is surrounded with all the accurate formality of a publicly admitted right. On the occurrence of a Conclave, the secret determination to protest against particular Cardinals is confided by each Court to some member of the Sacred College, who is trusted with the duty of making this known at the proper moment; or, in the event of a Court having no Cardinal on whose fidelity it can rely, then this knowledge is deposited with the Cardinal Dean. For a protest to have effect
- ↑ The Crown of Portugal claims the same right of veto, but the claim is contested by Rome.
