Public affairs were
exclusively managed by prelates. The higher posts in the
State were by law interdicted to laymen. In practice the
different powers were often confounded. The principle of
pontifical infallibility was applied to administrative
questions. The personal decision of the Sovereign had been
known to reverse the decision of the tribunals, even in
civil matters. The Cardinal Secretary of State, first
minister in the fullest extent of the term, concentred in
his own hands all the powers of the State. Under his supreme
direction the different branches of the administration were
confided to clerks rather than ministers. These neither
formed a council, nor deliberated together upon the affairs
of the State. The public finances were administered in the
most profound secrecy. No information was communicated to
the nation as to the mode in which its revenues were spent.
Not only did the budget remain a mystery, but it was
afterwards discovered that the accounts were frequently not
made up and balanced. Lastly, municipal liberties, which are
appreciated above all others by the Italians, and which more
particularly respond to their real tendencies, had been
submitted to the most restrictive measures. _But from the
day on which Pope Pius IX. ascended the throne_" etc. etc.
Thus we find that the _not long ago_ of the Count de Rayneval is an
exact date.
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