I pity still more that
infirmity of character which now allows more evil to be done in his
name than he has ever himself done good.
The failure of all his enterprises, and three or four accidents which
happened in his presence, have given rise to the popular belief that
the Vicar of Jesus Christ is what the Italians call _jettatore_--in
other words, that he has the _evil eye_. When he drives along the
Corso, the old women fall down on their knees, but they snap their
fingers at him beneath their cloaks.
The members of the Italian secret societies impute to him--though for
other reasons--all the evils which afflict their country. It is
evident that the Italian question would be greatly simplified, if
there were no Pope at Rome; but the hatred of the Mazzinists against
Pius IX. is to be condemned in all its personal aspects. They would
kill him to a certainty, if our troops were not there to defend him.
This murder would be as unjust as that of Louis XVI., and as useless.
The guillotine would deprive a good old man of his life, but it would
not put an end to the bad principle of sacerdotal monarchy.
I did not seek an audience of Pius IX.; I neither kissed his hand nor
his slipper; the only mark of attention I received from him was a few
lines of insult in the _Giornale di Roma_. Still, I never can hear him
accused without defending him.
Let my readers for a moment put themselves in the place of this too
illustrious and too unfortunate old man.
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