The Great Reforming Pope

The present Popo is Cardinal Mastal Forriti. He was born at Pinigaglin, in 1792, of the family of Mastui. Many years since, ho was sent on a mission to Chili. The crueliies of Metternich and his abettors, whiclvhe had long opposed, on his assumption of the titlaofPope Pions IX, gave him an oppoitunity to carry out his liberal views. This he i s boldly doing, without fear of the hostile attitudes nssumed towards him by several of the Italian State?. A masierly work his appeared, by Azeglio, which is an appeal to Europe, on the Present movement al Rome. - From this work, the Journal of Commerce has made an epitome of his roforms. He seems to be a ruler as resolute as Luther, yet gentier than Melancihon. - The throne which lottered under his feet when lie ascended iis now the (ir mest :n Europe. In order that lie miglit be informedof all grievances, and render the access of complaints to himself ns easy as possible, ie caused a letter-box to be put up on the ouisideof the palace, in wliich the peo)le were invited to deposite letters for lim. The key he kepf, and (vent himself for the letters. The night of his election he wrote to his tvvo brothers,inbrming them of his election, but requestng them not to come to Rome, and not o accepet any office, linmediately on lis accession, he sold off a part of the earriagos, horses, &c, of the establishment, and so reduced the expenses and omp of the oflice. He found that the able of the palaee was furnished wilh seven suceessive couises of dishes, and directed the royal eooks thereafter to irepare only three, as that was the numjerto which he had been accustomed. - ïe went through the streets on foot, which the five precoding Popeshad never jone. He preached, which no Pope liad done before for three hundred years. - Ie sought the society of men oftalents and information, and spent much time with them, and wilh the officers of the 'overnment, discussing p.rojects of rebrm. He gave audiences without the ordinary ceremonies, aud appointed days on which the meanest subjects could have access to his person. Nor were these mere to gain popularity, but the fruits of an hor.est desirp to be acquainted with he wants of the people, that he might relieve them. A coirunon soldier brought to him a miserable loaf of bread, and said it was a fair sample of their ralions. i'ius look the loaf, and laid it on the )late of the minister of war, whom he lad invited to dinner ; and as the astonished functionary turncd pa!e, charged him with the fault. After tbat he went through the barracks, found 4000 loaves of a similar character, which he distributed to the poor; he degraded the minister, imprisoned the bakers, and gave each soldier money to buy bread for himself. On the 16th of July, just one montb after his election, appeared the fiïst great publicad of his administralion, in a decree of amnesty for political offonces, which restored to liberty, their country, their homes, and the rights of cilizenship, the vlctims of previous tyranny, to the estimated number of 6000. Many of them were in great poverty, and a subscription was started in Rome for their relief. Marini, governor of the city, represented to the Pope that a dangerous political motive had prompted the moveinenl. The Pope called for the subscriptión paper, put down his own name for I0Ö and Marini's-for 10 scudi, and dered it to be handed around amongsi the nobiiity. Renzo the leader ofaninsurtection at Rimini the previous year, cnllcd on him to return thanlcs for the restoration of his liberty, and was receivedas a son rather tlian a rebel, and during an affectioiiate conversation Pius took from his desk n copy of Renso's revolutionary prociamation, and said that although parts of it were wrong it contained many useful süggestions of which he should avail himsclf. Galetti.'another rebel lsadar, who had been in prison three years, presenled Iiim a memoir on the reforms which were needed in the law of mortgiges, nnd received in return a medal of honor. This conduct showed (hal ba symprahizcrf with il, and ac'ion of the politica! offeiiders, as well as wiih their sufferings. He in fact put himself at the head of the reform pirty, and set himself busily at work to brJng about those very changes which a few months before it was treason to think of. " My people," said he, laying his hand on the New Testament, "may expect justice and mercy from me, for my only guide is this book." He sent out circulara to the governors of the provinces, requiring them to investígate and report upon the temporal and religiouscondition of the people, and the methods of improving them, and especiallv with regard to the diffusien ofeduaction, and the establishment of a military school for poor boys at Rome. - With the same object, he re-instituted a board of education, which had been first established by Leo X, but never called togpther since his time. He appointed a number of committees, parlly ofecclesiastics and partly of leirned laymen, cach charged with the investigation of some subject which concerned the public welfare and of drawing up of plans for ameliorating the condition of the people. Among these subjects were the following:- Reform of the municipal regulations - Reform of the criminal and civil code, the commission on which have already reported in favor oftrial by jury - Suppression of vagrancy - Improvement of forests and ri vers,- Construction of railroads - The condition of the Jews in Rome - The tariff on imports - j The duties upon salt and other articles of: home production - The sanatory condition of towns, and the erection of gas works. Ile proposed also to his council the abolition of capital punishmems ; and the secularizing of the state offices, which had long been monopolized by the clergy. The cardinals who composed this council were some of them shocked at the infallible radicalism of the Iïoly See, and j one of them told him thnt if he did not; alter his system.the people would demand i a constitution. "And why,:' was the answer, "should I not accede to their desire, if a constitution is necessary to the welfare of my subjects." Such an answer did r.ot salisfy the uneasy dignitaries, and a conspiracy was form'ed, but ïts authors were discovered, the council aboüshed, and one appointed in ts place composed of simple prelates.with a single cardinal for president, and now that also has gi ven way toa body composed panly of laymen. - Formidable opposition was experienced from neighboring despotic governments, and especially that of Austria, which made energetic protests, gaihered armies, fomented iesu-rrections, and even marched her troops intothe Papal territory. Amidst all those difficulties, adJ to those which are inseparable from such an immense labor of reform asPius IX, marked out for himself,it is not wonderful that he halbeen obliged to defer the execution of some projects till a more favorable season, and to even recede slightly in one or two points from positions already taken. In these cases, however, he has shown the sincerity of his inter.tions, by making, as far as possible, real concession to liberty, and only formal concessions to despotism. - Thus in regard to the censorship of the press, a point on which the remonstrances of Austria are supposed to have been especially urgent, tho subjects of the Popa were greally disappointed by the langunge of the decree which he issued, mitigatina but slightly theseverity of previous laws, and equally gratified by the r.haracter oflhe new censors, who hnd been selected from the ranks of literary men of known liberality. The execu(ion of the law has been so satisfaclory, that the number of newspapers in Rome has trebled under its influence, and that of other pubücations doubled, so that the whole number of periodicals is now not far from 80. Be the intentions of the new Pope whst they may, he hos so managed both his privóte conduct and public acts, ns to gain the unbounded confidence of his peopln, and produce such good conduct, order and quiet among them as to astonish even his best friends. The number of offences coinmittec! ngainst persons or property in Rome, in June, 1816, was 500; in July 340, n August 380, n Sept. 200 and n October 122. The following is a list of reforms actually accornplished: A rcduefion of the tariiF on imported colton goods one quarter, and on woolen and mixed goods one half. A reduction of the internal diitios on salt and some other articlos of universal eonsumption. The coneession cf private companies of four unes of proposed railroads, having a totnl length ofnearly 400 miles. The 0,000 hired Swiss soldiers were sent home, and nntional and civic guards organizad in their stead. Thf publifcatiPn of a new journa] with the proceedings in the Courts of Justice has been authorized. ' The learned men are permitted to attend to Italian Scientific Congress, which tlie previous Pope had forbidden their doing. The Ghetto, that miserable part of Rome in which the Jews have hitherto been confined, is throyvn open, and they are aüowed to live elsewhere. Some special tnxes which they labored under are removed, and to insult a Jew is now a criminal ofFenceseverely punished. The law concerning the liberty of the press was so altered that the censors must hereafter be laymen. A municipal council has boen granted to the city of Rome, to becomposed of hundred persons, ofwhom sixty-four are to be proprielaries, thirty-four to be men of business, and only four ecclesiastics. - This is the legislative body, and from itself it chooses an executive body of nine, who serve without pa)'. A resident Council of State has been convened, consisting of one member from each province of the Papal territory,two from Bologna, and four from Rome, twentyfour in all,besidcs a cardinal as president. This body is to delibérate and advise about all national afFairs, and is almost a legislalure. These councils are not elected by the people, yet their organization goes a great way towards recognizing the principies of popular represenlation. With regard to puvely ecclesiastical mallere, the Pope has projecied none but moral reforms. He has exhorted the religious orders to purity, the elergy to preaching with simplicity and furbidden the ecclesiastics of Rome to attend the theatre.