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ON THE CONSTITUTION
character of recent political events in Italy, in so far as events of such comprehensive force can really depend on merely individual influences. The Court of Vienna intended to veto Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti at the last Conclave, and the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Gaysruck, the Austrian agent, received instructions to lodge the formal exclusion in the name of the Emperor, in the event of this prelate promising to obtain his election. The Cardinal proceeded to Rome, but arrived there the morning following Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti's proclamation as Pius IX., after one of the shortest Conclaves on record.[1] 'Semel
- ↑ At the Conclave of 1823 Austria excluded Cardinal Severoli through the agency of Cardinal Albani. A despatch of the Sardinian representative in Rome, published in the valuable appendix to the second volume of Bianchi's Storia della Diplomazia Europea in Italia, gives very curious details of the incidents that marked this proceeding. The veto was so unpopular, that it was sought to be set aside on the plea of Cardinal Albani's not having been duly invested with the formal authority to exercise this privilege on its behalf by the Court of Vienna; so that Severoli continued to poll votes after the protest had been lodged, until Count Apponyi, then Austrian ambassador, handed in a note, the text whereof is given by the Sardinian diplomatist confirming Albani's authority. The Cardinal's exclusion was conveyed in the following terms: 'In my capacity of Extraordinary Ambassador to the Sacred College met in Conclave, … I fulfil the displeasing
