After having been for nearly
two years the favourite of public opinion, and the _lion_ of Europe,
he found himself obliged to quit the Quirinal palace at a moment's
notice. At Gaeta and Portici he tasted those lingering hours which
sour the spirit of the exile. A grand and time-honoured principle, of
which the legitimacy is not doubtful to him, was violated in his
person. His advisers unanimously said to him:
"It is your own fault. You have endangered the monarchy by
your ideas of progress. The immobility of governments is the
_sine qua non_ of the stability of thrones. You will not
doubt this, if you read again the history of your
predecessors."
He had had time to become converted to this belief, when the armies of
the Catholic powers once more opened for him the road to Rome.
Overjoyed at seeing the principle saved, he vowed to himself never
again to compromise it, but to reign without progress, according to
papal tradition. But these very foreign powers who had saved his
crown, were the first to impose on him the condition of advancing!
What was to be done? He was equally afraid to promise everything, and
to refuse everything. After a long hesitation, he promised in spite of
himself; then he absolved himself, for the sake of the future, from
the engagements he had made for the sake of the present.
Now he is out of humour with his people, with the French, and with
himself. He knows the nation is suffering, but he allows himself to be
persuaded that the misfortunes of the nation are indispensable to the
safety of the Church.
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