THE THRONE IN THE TIME OF STORMS
The Popes no longer issued from ruling and wealthy families, and the nepotism which would have guaranteed to them loyal ministers and instruments of a firm policy had ceased to exist.
Why then did the Popes not simply abandon their temporal states? When Pius VII had escaped from Napoleon, he explained to the Austrian Emperor that his own fate was sufficient proof of the need of territorial possessions as a visible, tangible guaranty of the complete freedom and independence o the Roman See. Robbed of his sover- eignty and his States and subordinated to the power of a monarch, the Head of the Church would be hindered from carrying out his tasks in whatever country he dwelt and would meet the obstacle of jealousy when treating with other states. The same opinion was entertained by men of wide vision who were not Popes. Frederick the Great replied to the suggestion that a Catholic prince should take over the Papal States and himself reside in Rome by saying that soon other rulers and the Catholics of other states w T ould have nothing more to do with a Pope who had thus been deprived of his freedom. It was also Voltaire's opinion that without temporal power the Pope would be the humble chaplain of the Emperor to whom Italy would be en- slaved.
Though the Papal States were on the verge of collapse, they never- theless formed the political symbol of a unique spiritual verity, an expression of Papal sovereignty, and also the nucleus of a national tradi- tion which when it felt itself strong easily forgot what it owed the Papacy.
Unity and freedom that was the slogan of the Italian Risorgi- mento. All its advocates agreed in cherishing national unity and in passionately resisting alien rule. They included poets and seers like Manzoni, Leopardi and Capponi, priests like Rosmini and Gioberti, statesmen like Cesare Balbo, d'Azeglio and Camillo Cavour, revolu- tionists enlisted from the ranks of the Carbonari, and Freemasons like Mazzini and Garibaldi. But when the question arose as to how free- dom was to be obtained, and what kind of freedom and what form of state and civil existence were desirable, the Risorgimento split up so grievously that the patriots of unity were no longer able to reach an agreement. Minds parted company over the meaning of man> the world, and all ultimate verities. Therewith, of course, the Papacy
MAZZINI
