At the commencement of the year a great attempt was made by the
Government to get up addresses of loyalty and devotion to the Pope. Not
even Pius the Ninth himself believed one single word in any of these
purchased testimonials. Indeed, on one occasion, when an address was
presented by the officers of the army, he informed the deputation with
more candour than prudence, that he knew perfectly well not one of them
would raise his hand to save the Papacy. But abroad, and more especially
in France, it was conceived that such addresses would be accepted as
genuine testimonials to the contentment of the Roman people with their
rulers. In obedience to these tactics, it was resolved to have an
address from the students of the Sapienza. Such an address, containing
the stock terms of fulsome adulation and unreasoning reverence, was drawn
up by the authorities. Only a dozen students out of the 400 to 500 of
whom the college consists volunteered to sign it. The students were then
summoned in a body before the rector, and requested to add their
signatures. For this purpose the address was left in their hands, but
instead of being signed it was torn to pieces, and the fragments
scattered about the lecture-room, amidst a chorus of shouts and groans.
With the sort of senile folly which characterized all the proceedings of
the Vatican at this period, the affair, instead of being passed
unnoticed, was taken up seriously, and assumed in consequence an utterly
uncalled-for notoriety.
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