ice, for my time was limited; but
a middle-aged friend strongly dissuaded me. "You should by no means
fail to visit Rome now," he said, "for, independently of the immortal
interest of the place, of the treasures of association and of art
which are its imperishable birthright, there is the more transient
spectacle of the Papacy, in the pride, pomp, and circumstance of the
temporal power. This may at any moment pass away, and you therefore
may never have another opportunity to witness it in its glory. There
is a vague traditional prophecy that, as St. Peter held the bishopric
of Rome twenty-five years, any pope whose tenure exceeds his will see
the downfall of the papal sovereignty over Rome. Such prophecies
often insure their own fulfilment, and Pius IX. is now closely
approaching his twenty-fifth year. Go while you can." So I went, in
February, 1870; and before the next winter's snow the temporal power
was a thing of the past.

XI

THE TURNING OF A LONG LANE--HISTORICAL, NAVAL, AND PERSONAL

1870

In narrating the cruise of the _Iroquois_ I have, as it were, laid the
reins on the neck of my memory, letting it freely run away; partly
because our track lay over stretches of sea even now somewhat unbeaten
by travel, partly because the story of routine naval life and
incidental experiences, in a time already far past, might have for the
non-professional reader more novelty than could be premised by me, a
daily participant therein. Moreover, there were in our cruise some
exceptional occurrences which might be counted upon to relieve
monotony. I purpose to observe greater restraint in what follows.

The year 1870, in which I returned home, was one of marked and
decisive influence upon history, and in a way a turning-point in my
own obscure career. As in February I witnessed the splendors of the
papal city under its old regime, so in April and May I saw imperial
Paris brilliant under the emperor. In the one case as in the other I
was unconscious of the approaching _debacle_; a blindness I presume
shared by most contemporaries. Whatever the wiser and more far-seeing
might have prophesied as to the general ultimate issues, few or none
could then have foretold the particular occasion which so soon
afterwards opened the floodgates. As the old passed, with the downfall
of the French Empire and of the temporal kingdom, there arose a new;
not merely the German Empire and the unity of Italy, crowned by the
possession of