134] ANNUAL ilEGISTER, 1816. 



it is asserted from Civita Vecchiaj 

 that pirates are daily in sight, bv 

 whom tlic navig-ation is wholly 

 intercepted. In fact^ the finances 

 of the Pope are so much disor- 

 dered, that he cannot maintain a 

 sufficient force on the coast, or in 

 the interior, to protect his sub- 

 jects. At Rome itself, dai'ing 

 robberies are said to be committed 

 in the most frequented streets ; 

 and the military tribunal at Fru- 

 sinone being dissolved, and the 

 moveable columns of soldiers 

 called in, the banditti are again 

 making their appearance, though 

 their expulsion had been pro- 

 claimed by the distribution of 

 honorary crosses, with the in- 

 scription " Latronibus fugatis, 

 securitas restituta." 



As an ecclesiastic, his Holiness 

 did himself honour by a decree 

 relative to the form in inquisito- 

 rial proceedings, in which the ap- 

 plication of torture is forbidden. 

 This determination was connnu- 

 nicated by the Cardinal secretary 

 of state to the ministers of Spain 

 and Portugal. 



The same Cardinal on May 

 4th, published a declaration in 

 the name of the Pope, that hav- 

 ing been informed, that some ec- 

 clesiastical courts had presumed 

 to print regulations in opposi- 

 tion to those which he directed in 

 his edict of July 1812, relative to 

 the acquisitions made under the 

 late government, of property 

 termed national, whereby alarms 

 were spread among the purchas- 

 ers, and fears as to the security 

 of the purchases themselves, his 

 Holiness orders it to be made 

 known, that the said papers have 

 been printed without his know- 

 ledge, that he highly disapproves 

 of them, that the above edict 



is still in full force, and that he 

 guarantees peaceable possession 

 to the purchasers. This is a cir- 

 cumstance worthy of observation, 

 as indicating the unwearied etlbrts 

 of the Roman Catholic clergy, 

 to recover all of which they had 

 been depi'ived in the late changes 

 of tlie time, and the timidity of 

 the head of their church, relative 

 to any measure which might in- 

 \olve him in contests with the 

 secular authority. 



An additional proof of the moie 

 humanized spirit of the religion 

 of Rome was given, in the be- 

 ginning of August, by an edict 

 of the Pope, ordaining, that con- 

 fiscation shall no longer take 

 place to the proKt of the Holy 

 Office of the Inquisition in matters 

 concern>ng the faith. This pro- 

 cess had been already abolished 

 in the papal territories, and the 

 present determination was the 

 result of the liberal ideas of 

 Count Funchal, the minister of 

 Portugal, who was desirous of 

 introducing the same reform into 

 that kingdom and Spain. 



The folloAving article of intel- 

 ligence from Rome, dated at the 

 close of September, if it may be 

 depended upon, affords an inter- 

 esting view of the present state 

 of the papal authority in some of 

 the countries, acknowledging the 

 supremacy of the Roman church. 



" The news from Germany is 

 very afflicting. It appears now 

 exceedingly difficult, to say no- 

 thing worse, to enter into nego- 

 tiations with several governments. 

 We have temporized too much. 

 The Princes, seeing their sub- 

 jects without first pastors, have 

 established them by their own 

 authority, and in fact the church 

 of Germany appeals to be com- 

 pletely 



