g for the Press this edition of a work illustrative of the
exertions of a Roman, in advance of his time, for the political freedom
of his country, and of those struggles between contending principles,
of which Italy was the most stirring field in the Middle Ages, it is not
out of place or season to add a few sober words, whether as a student of
the Italian Past, or as an observer, with some experience of the social
elements of Italy as it now exists, upon the state of affairs in that
country.

It is nothing new to see the Papal Church in the capacity of a popular
reformer, and in contra-position to the despotic potentates of the
several states, as well as to the German Emperor, who nominally inherits
the sceptre of the Caesars. Such was its common character under its more
illustrious Pontiffs; and the old Republics of Italy grew up under the
shadow of the Papal throne, harbouring ever two factions--the one for
the Emperor, the one for the Pope--the latter the more naturally
allied to Italian independence. On the modern stage, we almost see the
repetition of many an ancient drama. But the past should teach us to
doubt the continuous and stedfast progress of any single line of policy
under a principality so constituted as that of the Papal Church--a
principality in which no race can be perpetuated, in which no objects
can be permanent; in which the successor is chosen by a select
ecclesiastical synod, under a variety of foreign as well as of national
influences; in which the chief usually ascends the throne at an age
that ill adapts his mind to the idea of human progress, and the active
direction of mundane affairs;--a principality in which the peculiar
sanctity that wraps the person of the Sovereign exonerates him from
the healthful liabilities of a power purely temporal, and directly
accountable to Man. A reforming Pope is a lucky accident, and dull
indeed must be the brain which believes in the possibility of a long
succession of reforming Popes, or which can regard as other than
precarious and unstable the discordant combination of a constitutional
government with an infallible head.

It is as true as it is trite that political freedom is not the growth of
a day--it is not a flower without a stalk, and it must gradually develop
itself from amidst the unfolding leaves of kindred institutions.

In one respect, the Austrian domination, fairly considered, has been
beneficial to the States over which it has been directly