4 42 Mr. Lyman on the Poli 



state, which Mr. Lyman has collected, 

 serve to illustrate the Concetto of (he 

 Abb6 Galiani, which Mr. Lyman has 

 quoted, that an atheistical successor of 

 St. Peter were better than a supersti- 

 tions one. Nor is the proposition more 

 questionable, in the form in which 

 Mr. Lyman has himself presented it, 

 that the monastic vows of celibacy im- 

 posed on the heads of the Roman go- 

 vernment, are equally fatal to its cha- 

 racter and power. The doctrine is, in 

 truth, in eitlier form the same ; and 

 no one we think can have made a visit, 

 however transient, to Rome, and wit- 

 nessed the oppressive formalities which 

 have their origin in the ecclesiastical 

 character of the government, without 

 being ready heartily to assent to it. 

 We suspect that there is something 

 fatal in the ecclesiastical training, to 

 that enlargement of mind and in- 

 curiousness of small things, whicli are 

 necessary to the admiuistratiom of a 

 government at the present day. 



The following passage presents thg 

 personal ciiaracier of (lie present vener- 

 able head of the cliurch in a pleasing 

 point of view. 



' But the present Pope, an amiable and 

 good mail, possessing' much learning and 

 sound sense, but with a spirit and body- 

 chastened and shattered by many years of 

 captivity, insults', mortifications, and per- 

 sonal injuries, does not appear to be much 

 beset with the ambition of restoring Rome, 

 either by abandoning his religion or his 

 monastic vows. Those who recollect his 

 touching answer to the base prelates scut 

 by Bonaparte to torture and persecute him ; 

 looking at his crucifix, he said, " let me 

 die worthy of the sulferings that I have al- 

 ready endured ;" those who have witnessed 

 the piety, earnestness and devotion, with 

 which he assists at the great festivals of 

 Christmas j those who have seen him driv- 

 ing slowly through the streets of Rome, and 

 the people, kneeling at his approach, ex- 

 claim, " blessing, holy father ;" finally, all 

 those, who still bear in miud the meek and 

 saint-like expression of his face, who are 

 acquainted with his mild, gentle and sub- 

 dued manuers, his mortified habits of life, 

 his holy and sanctified demeanour and car- 

 riage, will have no difficulty in believing 

 that he is undefiled by those wild and 

 wicked projects, and thofte debauched and 

 profligate principles and pi-actices, that dis- 

 grace too many of his predecessors.' pp. 

 11, 12. 



The third chapter contains an ac- 

 curate account of the form in which the 

 Roman government is exercised over 

 the several provinces of the ecclesiasti- 

 cal state, of the several courts of just ice, 



lical State of Italy. [June 1 



civil and criminal, and of some of the 

 important dignities of the Roman mtini- 

 cipality. We presume it was unex- 

 pected to most of the readers of Mr. 

 Ijyman's work, to find that the liberal 

 principles whieli have sprung up from 

 the French revolution, and which have 

 redceiued, as far as any thing could re- 

 deem, the crimes and calamities of that 

 great civil tragedy, have penetrated 

 into what one would have tliought the 

 veiy sanctuary of prescription and the 

 old regime, the capital of the Pope of 

 Rome. The administrfition of the Ro- 

 man government, as apj)ears from the 

 statements made by Mr. Lyman, has 

 retained much of the organization 

 given it by the French ; and which was 

 confirmed by the Motu Proprio, or 

 pontifical decree of July 6, ISlfi. Nor 

 is the reason less unexpected than the 

 fact. 



' In the course of (he Motu Proprio, 

 the following uuexjiected concession 

 appears : — " New habits substituted for 

 the old, new o])inions and fresh infor- 

 niation didused upon all tlie branches 

 of administration and public economy, 

 require the adoption of a system more 

 adapted to the present condition of thfe 

 inhabitants of the pontifical states." ' 



We iire informed, in this chapter, 

 that the use of the torture was abolish- 

 ed by the s.ame ordinanceof 1816. Mad 

 not fundamental changes of (he oldest 

 institutions and liabits become .so fami- 

 liar to us, iu tlie last thirty yeiirs, we 

 should hardly know how to believe 

 (hat the tise of the torture was abolish- 

 ed in (lie papal courts : and tliat (he 

 inqTiisition in 1818 condemned but one 

 man, and (hat for stealing church plate. 

 In fiict, if we are not misinformed, the 

 papal government has not been (he last 

 to abolisli the use of the torture ; for 

 at the date of (he Motu Proprio of 1816, 

 (he use of the torture had not been for- 

 bidden by law, in the Protestant king- 

 dom of Ilanover, (hen subjec( to his 

 Majesty Geerge HI. Since (hen, we 

 believe, it has been formally abolished 

 in Kanover. Before the formal aboli- 

 tion of the tor(ure a year or two ago lu 

 Hanover, it had sunk silently into dis- 

 use: a fact, however, -which was s(u- 

 diously concealed from the common 

 people, on whom the notion was dili- 

 gently inculeatetl that it was still in 

 practice. To this end a notable prac- 

 tice, called the territio ren/is, was 

 admitted, even in the subordinate 

 criminal com (s; in virtue of which the 

 prisoner was summoned at the dead of 

 night, 



