s conduct of the
Emperor tended to widen still more the breach between himself and the
Roman people.

Soon after an event occurred which abolished forever the authority of the
Byzantine Emperors in Italy, and established on a sure and lasting basis
the temporal sovereignty of the Popes.

In 754 Astolphus, King of the Lombards, invaded Italy, captured some
Italian cities and threatened to advance on Rome.

Pope Stephen III.,(183) who then ruled the Church, sent an urgent appeal
to the Emperor Constantine Copronymus, successor of Leo the Isaurian,
imploring him to come to the relief of Rome and his Italian provinces. The
Emperor manifested his usual apathy and indifference and received the
message with coldness and neglect.

In this emergency Stephen, who sees that no time is to be lost, crosses
the Alps in person, approaches Pepin, King of France, and begs that
powerful monarch to protect the Italian people, who were utterly abandoned
by those that ought to be their defenders. The pious King, after paying
his homage to the Pope, sets out for Italy with his army, defeats the
invading Lombards and places the Pope at the head of the conquered
provinces.

Charlemagne, the successor of Pepin, not only confirms the grant of his
father, but increases the temporal domain of the Pope by donating him some
additional provinces.

This small piece of territory the Roman Pontiffs continued to govern from
that time till 1870, with the exception of brief intervals of foreign
usurpation. And certainly, if ever any Prince merited the appellation of
legitimate sovereign, that title is eminently deserved by the Bishops of
Rome.

II. The Validity And Justice Of Their Title.

There are three titles which render the tenure of a Prince honest and
incontestable, viz., _long possession, legitimate acquisition_ and _a just
use of the original grant confided to him_. The Bishop of Rome possessed
his temporality by all these titles.

First--The temporal dominion of the Pope is most ancient in point of time.
He commenced, as we have seen, to enjoy full sovereignty about the middle
of the eighth century. The Pope was, consequently, a temporal ruler for
upwards of 1,100 years. The Papal dynasty is, therefore, the oldest in
Europe, and probably in the world. The Pope was the temporal ruler of Rome
four hundred years before England subjugated Ireland, and seven hundred
before the first European pressed his foot on the American continen