FATHER GAVAZZI ON THE CHARACTER OF PIO NONO.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 566, 17 September 1851, Page 3

F ATHER GAVAZZI ON THE CHARACTER OF PIO NONO.

The Da\\}j News observes, in its report of Father G.'tv.i/zi's lift!) oration, delivered on Sunday last, thai in tho croud woio sovoiiil distinguished members of tho English bar, as well as many artists of celebrity; atlinctcd by nn elotjuenco of delivery a3 well us speech that has no pnnillol w tho present day. Tho subject — (bo diameter of tbo refounmg pontilF — gave additional interest to this particular lecture. Tho father's appearance on tlic taised oicbostra, wlien be prepared to address tlie assembly, by flinging tlie (olds of bis black mantle over ln.s Hboulder so as to reve:il tbo cross of bis order, was bailed by a burst oi welcome, lie came, be said, to talk to them of a man onco dear to them all, and most of all, to himself, who bad known him in personal intercourse, a man whoso orery act had boon watched with intenso solici- j tudc, whose every successive movement bad caused the hearts of millions to throb in succession, with hope, joy ahum, despondency, and despair. Ho spoke of tbo man Blastai, not of the mask I'io Nono ; disrobed of tbo fiaceldolal btolo, which is his own, deprived of the usurped bcoptrc, which is not, he rocognised tbo bishop, tbough ' ho repudiated tbo km». 110 came to-day to nnnign liim in Ins cliaracter of priost as well m patriot, to put him ot the bar of bis God, us well ns of his country. Tbo day is gone by for nations to rink as objects of transfer, baiter, bargain or mbeiitarice. To become the personal chattels of Ungs was ignominous for mankind ; to sink into a diove of clerical cattle wan a still inoie ignoble lot. Scorning to notice the king, ho arraigned tho man for bigii misdemeanours against tho liirtil of bi9 iatbeia and tbo chtarch of GotJ. Clnislianity bad passod \ho ordeal of a century of suvciisrn ; the irony of tbo scoiFor and tbo shaft of ridicule bad failed , it rcmainod to see how tbo J'npal systoin would stand tbo teat of calm reason nnd the scrutiny of a thinking generation. It was no fair trial of its efficiency to view it under the vacillating policy of Leo XII., or the stolid and drunken tyranny (il ultbriacco nnoniggmre) of tbo Bixfeontb Gregory. Givo it a chance under tho sway of n gentleman with a heart in his bosom was the cry of its apologists. The hour came iind the man. Did not tho nations of earth clap their bands at tho sight of the long desiileintcd spectacle? — was not tbo Popcdom at last to set at jest the doubts nnd misgivings of mankind'? Could they still say a C'huicliniun never yet forgave when the word niunosty was proclaimed? — whou the power of tbo keys was for onco used to unbar a prison. At tha programme of a I»erai chy linked with our common humanity after centimes of disseverance, Europe roso in raptuious recognition : Gei runny and England, the great laboratories of intelligence, began to study the phenomenon with eager gnze. Fiance, even under Guuot and I'bilhppe's leaden influence, caught up a soit of spasmodic enthusiasm ; America waftod o'er tlie Atlantic on the wings of steam ibo exulting plaudits of her freemen ; and even Turkey (not to speak of tho Spanish peninbula) hailed the civilizing change. Tho Jews joined in the general gratulation, and began to suspect the coming of tboir Messiah, so stupendous was the prodigy of a philanthropic Popodom. 'I he Father, after a glowing picluroof tho prospects of Christian piety in tho different states of Italy consequent on (ho new attitude of the high priest, drew a dismal contiast, in which (bo utter odium of every ecclesiastical ordinance and the loathing of church ministrations now visible so painfully among all classes have succeeded, without hope of change but in tlie death of tho present occupant of the papal chair. 110 asci ibetl the sad catastrophe as cntiiely owing to the radical defect of his chdiacter — la matajedc — that fatal incapacity for pbiindcihng which, in the history of modem times, has been exemplified by the Stuait and Bourbon, Charles I. and Louis X VJ., "productive in both cases of unfoi giving boatihty to the tin one as now to the tiaia. He traced this systematic habit of deception (the resource of timid find imbecile mind',) in the earliest acts of his ponuhcalc, and in tlif> woiding of Ins vurious enoyche.il and political manifestoes, whether in the full noon of his popularity, or in the disastious eclipse of Gao'a • he never could be got to look a plain question in tbo face, his object being constantly to myhtify and delude. His i/nliuthfuhu'ss was exemplified by nniy flagrant instances, and, amoii'> the rebt, the Fathei drew an amusing sketch of his nitei views with and subsocpient repudiation of L'nd Minto. 110 demonrthaled how hollow fiom the iiiht \\;i-; liiHgiantol constitutional forms to tho RoinniM never h.iviug bad tbo klighest intention of siinendenng .1 paiti'v k' ol pap.il despotism. Him adoption ot Houhi as an invfrumenl of deceit was olmactensedas the aenir ol treaoheiy. Him disguise as a fooounun, anil bis i»nomiuoti'j Slight, wcie but the natiuul lmjuilses ot a low ohei 1 1, li-duicd !o the "ilcst o.jiodiouts of (ink auJ c\.iaion His notable discoveiy of a canon in the Council oil tent by which ''the tepuhlic wns excinnmiini(.,iIcd aioiic frcm the came obli<|iu',y of nimd : as be must have been cnnctiuous th.it the t.mon be quoted only ,i)))>l) >il to parlies nns.appippii.itmg cbnifb rpvenncs, aud uoi, to a nation uvomug anarchy by ua\( consututed

government when abandoned by the cln< f magUtiato whose flight was intended to cieato confusion ami bloodshed, though in that villunous scheme bo was doomed to disappointment. False at heart, ho i harmed (.Ik; hcivy hours of his ignoble residence at Caota by the piomulgalion of faKohoods, denouncing the lopubhc ioi having impeded the sntoidotal ministry, when (ho first net of his idum was to mcarroiato iorty pnests, " whose sole enmo was mine own, that of having ns.sif,tod the woundi'd and the dying victims of his bombatdmg auxiliaries." What inoio outiagoons exhibition of a false and fraudulent idiosjnciasy th.m his profes°rd abhoironco of war and Moodshiddm";, when Mitumonod by the vice of Italy to head llu- gennal uprising in (ho glonous otlort to slmko oil' AuMi inn oond i»c, ronlja*ted v>\\\\ his eager outcry for fcuo'gn help and his titiculent appeal to the cut-throats o( Spain, Portugal, Naples, ami Franco, to come and goigotheu wingumaiy maw on the vitals of bleeding Rome , and, not eont»nt with imbruing bis consecrated hands in the blood of his people — not aatiafiud with crushing the manhood ol the eternal city under nu uvalancho ot foreign pavngory — ho did what a priest alono could do, without feeling tho full depth of bolf-degiadation ho foully traduced tho woninnhood of lm country, by pioclnimmg to (.'hi istondom as prostitutes tho wives and duughtois of Homo, 6,000 of whom, including eveiy ranlv, tltiongcd the hospitals dining tliu siogo, obeying tho genojoua impulse of a huiuane and patnot i'wli/iu; to be luvvaidod l>y the divstardly dctuution of this nacoidotal purveyor of broken limbs and gaping wounds to the nuhtaiy alm« lanco of his capital, lie, too, became an mnuteur visitant of the hotipitaln, but restricted his vi«italions to iho French, among whom ho was profuse of rosauea nnd other amulets fiom the Vatican loy-bhop, trnd tho jeers of the unbelieving Gaul. JMeantimo tlie common ul os of decent burial vvcio giudged to the defendoif) of their country, and in hia evening iiivea towards the villa Pnmfihi ho seoinod to snifi with complarency the odour of hia own haudivvoilt. Did tho calamities lie bioughl on us inako inroad on his coipulcnco 1 } r>nck' he ciin« from exile wjtb undiminibhed loluruhty and prosperous obesity, a credit to tho Portici larder and Gaota kitchen, to reat his weary head, weaiy with devising imposture? on the pillows of his llomati pavilions, to tho (hbtrmt music of maternal groans and sisteily lamentations, and tho shrieks of widowhood. And yet, forsooth, ho lias a conscience so delicately oigiuuzed, that tho gaoat obstacles to his statesmanship vie lna tender bciuplos; and people talk {of his" remorse," and his wish to "renounce Iho luu.i, and carry into retirement a heart stuckon with tho woen of Inn country." Why, the List interview I had with tho man hia liiat word tome was, "l'alhor, I'll listen to you, but on condition you don't pronouueo the uamo of Italia," 1 pointod to tho tricolor cioss on my bioast, and loft \m presence for ever. Antonolli was a worthy rou of his father, tho notorious brigand^ first houtonant in his day of (iasparono, the exploits ol both being still classic rccoids in tho district of ¥t a Diavolo, 'Lorracina. The actuallifo and soul of the Papal Government wnfl iho infamous Naidoni, whoso condemnation to the galleys for robbeiy, in tho year 18 ! i, is on the public lccords of Forli, and whoso whole caieer has been n tissue of rascality. Tenor and dismay pervade the socinl lifo of tho Romans: no press to onhghten — no tribunals to shelter — no representative to remonstrate — no pulpit to persuado, for religion has become the ignoble pander to tyranny, nnd her holy influences have departed. If religion is to resume her empire over men's minds in Italy, blic must comn arrayod in a very different gaib from tho livery of tho Vatican. The tiail of tho scipont slavery is on her pnth ; aho has become the degiaded handmaid of oppionsion. A religious revolution will bo tho inevitable concomitant of the approaching political dohvoranco of tho peninsula; for religion is an indispensnblo olcment of human society, nnd without its ennobling aspn.itiona it wero folly to dieam of a regenerated Italy. Tho late lucid interval m tho long dismal derangement of their desolate annals had tuuglit them tho utter incompatibility of a sceptred Pope, cither with Italian Chiistianity or Italian independence They must have a creod and a worship worthy of freeman, wot thy of tho manhood that held Venice for eighteen months ngainat the confederated energies of northern baibaiism and taught Europe that soldiership is not extinct in the old land of tho legionaries; woithy of the valour that kept Homo for sixty days again tho trained cohaits of France, Us engineering skill, and its scientific artillery ; of tho men who took their a'and at Curtalone and MoiiInnarn ngninst tho Austrian, and discovcicd by the fust uprising ut Milan tho terrible scciet of foreign deciopitudo when u people acts m unision for freedom. 'Iho Cliurcti Ot the future must adapt itself to tlio futuio dovelopement of tho Italian rcind and tho coming ledcmption of our countiy. 'Iho Popodom may ho a system suited to sucklo slaves, but is manifestly unfitted for tho nature of full-grown ircomoii.