55The Unification of Italy

DISREGARDING the national aspirations whichhad stirred Italy during the era of Napoleon I,the Congress of Vienna in 1815 had redividedthe peninsula into nine fragments,1 most ofwhich were ruled in the name of “legitimacy”by princes of foreign extraction who had nosympathy for the idea of Italian unity andindependence.

But though the map of Italy had been redrawn on the eighteenth-century model, theItalian people had acquired since 1789 a newspirit, new memories, and new ideas. Theyhad, indeed, experienced a risorgimento (rebirth), and after 1830, especially, had followedthe lead of such men as Mazzini to prepare forliberation from alien rule and for unity.2 Thedisappointments of 1848—49, however, hadbeen a severe blow to their hopes. A re-examination of objectives and methods seemed calledfor, if Italy were to escape a fate of permanentpartftion.

1. The Lessons of 1 84 8—49

It will be recalled that at first all ItalySeemed to unite in the effort to drive out theAustrians But after the first flush of enthuslasm, several states recalled their troops, and

See above, page 619; and map, page 631.See above, pages 648 and 657.

Italy seemed to become a prey of conflictingpolitical platforms and passions. Mazzinianrepublicans seized Venice, FiDrence, and Rome.On the other hand, conservative and moderatemen resisted what seemed to them radical anddangerous ideas and actions. At the same time,Charles Albert of Sardinia, who had boastedthat “L’ltalia farà da se” (“Italy will do it herself”), was twice defeated by the Austriansunder the command of Radetzky, and resignedhis throne in despair. The republics were gradually suppressed, the Roman by Louis Napoion’s French troops. Once more reaction hadset in, and the most determined and widespread effort yet made to free Italy fromforeign oppression and domestic tyranny hadended in the blackest failure.

Kingdom of Sardinia. Yet one Italian state,the Kingdom of Srdinia, conserved its libertyeven in defeat. As the only independent Italianprincipality ruled by a native dynasty, thePiedmontese state enjoyed a unique position inItaly. With its hard-working peasantry, influential middle class, and well-trained army,it ranked as a third-class power, and might aspire to play the role in Italy which Prussia wasto play in the Germanies. Ardent revolutionaries like Mazzini had distrusted the Sardinianking, the enigmatic Charles Albert (I 831—49), believing him a traitor to liberal idealsbecause he had refused his subjects a constitution and hesitated to challenge Austria in a

665

“If we did for ourselves what we do for ourcountries what rascals we should be.”

Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810—61)

Is had restrained theith one another fora sum equivalentn poured away, andcd to war, diseaseolcon Ill had w00

a peace conferentecould sleep more

use for the momentten Constantinoplen Cavour, who hadlien conflict to gainipolcon, could turnute ends.’ Perhapsoa and Austria hadnservative alliance’y and had helpedans and to restoremany in 1848—50

The isolation of-sific-ations—of Italyward under differ-great-power align-9.

ty years ofrganized a

tary reform

II

I

war for Italian liberation. In 1848, however,he had revised his former policy by issuing aconstitution and attacking Austria, but hadmet ignominious defeat. His son and successorto the throne, Victor Emmanuel II, thereuponmade the best terms he could with Austria. Alegend later grew up that Radetzky sought tocoerce Victor Emmanuel into revoking the Satdinian Statuto, or constitution, proclaimed byhis father, and that the new king proudly refused. Actually, however, Radetzky softenedhis terms out of consideration for Victor Emmanuel, whom he considered more conservative than his father, and he did not criticizethe Statuto. Sardinia, therefore, not only remained independent but also retained the liberal gains of 1848.

Lessons for Italy. Elsewhere in Italy twolessons were to he drawn from the failures of1848—49. The first suggested that neither theRepublican nor the Clerical Party would succeed in uniting Italy. The collapse of the Roman Republic left Mazzini and his colleagues,not exactly leaders without a party, but certainly leaders of a discouraged and diminishedparty. The Catholic liberals, on the other hand,

Iflow found themselves a party without a leade1for Pius IX had returned to Rome disappoinelike most Italians, with the disunity and fail01of the liberal party. With the party of thRight and the party of the Left losing groun1it became clear that the party of the Cctmight yet win the day, and make the Xingdoof Sardinia the nucleus of a resurrected halThis was the first lesson to be learned frothe events of 1848—49. But there was second conclusion to be recognized, a bitter one foItalian patriots to accept. Italy could not “dit herself.” The Italian people possessed neithethe forces nor the unity of purpose neededdrive out the Austrians; to attempt the task uraided was to invite further failure. Fortenately for the cause of Italian freedom, therewas at least one statesman in Italy capable ofappreciating both these lessons, His name wzCamillo di Cavoux.

2. CaviiüfCbntrives

Life and aims. Cavour was born in Turinin 1810, the second son of a noble family,After graduating from military school at sixteen, he obtained a commission in the Sardinian army, but his dabblings in liberalismand his indiscreet comments upon the backward political condition prevailing in Piedmontgot him into trouble, and after a brief imprisonment he resigned his commission. His liberalism had made him a marked man, and theAustrian police in nearby states were warnedthat he was “deeply corrupted in his politicalprinciples.” From 1831 to 1848 he pursued private interests, experimented with newmethods of agriculture, studied, traveled, andaccumulated a fortune, but his mind was Constantly absorbed with political affairs in whichhe was denied a part, Then, in 1848, condFLions changed abruptly. When Charles Albertgranted his subjects a constitution, Cavour Waselected to the newly created Sardinian paflianient. In 1850, the new king, VictorEmmanuel II, appointed him minister of commerce and agriculture, an office which, permitted him to display at once his extraordinarYgrasp of political and economic questions.

Few people would have guessed from Ca-your’s appearance that he was one of the doinl

The lofty aims of Giuseppe Mazzinl, wlrodreamed of making Italy a united secular republic, proved unrealistic and unattainable.

THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY667

t i lead 0ant personalities of the nineteenth century. won Cavour a seat at the peace conference iner,

with his stocky figure, plain garb, and metal- Paris, where he had an opportunity to impressnd fail rimmd spilt ides he lookcd a shopkcepcr or Napokon III and to bring the Italian questionty of th clerk I-us lift, purpose wis to free Italy of before the European diplomats Three yearsron foreign influence ‘md control and give the later, Cavour and Napoleon held a secret in I —‘r- 7Itahan pLOpl(.. ‘I parli’nnentary government on terview at Plombieres, where the stage was setKin er the liberal English pattern, but he made no for the War of Italian Liberation.Dted Ital passionate speeches about the rights of man Napoleon’s reasons for helping the Italiansned fm like Mazzini, nor did he lead the van of hope- to overthrow Austria were numerous and cornvas a sem less and heroic charges like Garibaldi. His plicated. His mind was a strange crucible inter one f unique talent was his ability to grasp realities, which generous impulses and humanitariand not “d to move only as fast as events permitted, to ideals blended obscurely with dynastic aims anded neith: take practical advantage of the political forces political calculations. As a youth he had cam-needed at work in Europe and quietly direct them to paigned with the Italian patriots in their ille task uii his own ends.

starred uprising of 1830, and as an emperore Fortu. Cavours ministry. The first step in Ca- he continued to declare his sympathy for sup-cm there your’s program was to make the Sardinian pressed people — Poles, Germans, or Italians.‘a able r- Kingdom known as a liberal and prosperous To drive the Austrians from Italy and replace- rne w’ state to which all other Italians would look with their influence by a French hegemony, as the _____

npride and envy. His wide stud and

- tto hadThTë im nra authority on commerce appealed to him as an undertaking that wouldand agriculture, on railroads, finance, the shed luster upon French arms and strengthenmethods of parliamentary government, and the his throne. But the French ruler took no activeconduct of foreign affairs. Once in office he steps to aid the liberals in Italy until, in 1858,in Turin pushed his reforms with implacable delibera- an impatient Italian patriot named Orsini threwle family don. The Sardinian parliament ordained that a bomb at his carriage to refresh his memory.ol at six- marriage should become a civil contract, and Pact of Plombières. Far from deterring Na-the s- forbade the gift of further property to the poleon, Orsini’s conspiracy crystallized his resliberalism church, a policy aimed at curbing the influ- olution to aid the Italians. He knew that thethe back- ence of the clergy. Commercial treaties with only state in Italy strong and independentPiedmont other nations and a revision of the tariffs bene- enough to take the offensive in war to expel theimprison- fited the poorer classes. ‘While assiduously cul- Austrians was the Kingdom of Sardinia. Withis liberal th’ating the friendship of France and Britain, elaborate secrecy he arranged the meeting atCavour maintained a firm and cool attitude Plombières with Cavour. The two agreed thate warned toward Austria, so that Sardinia came to be Austria should be tricked into attacking Sarpolitical recognized as a state guided by liberal counsels dinia, whereupon a French army of two hun-he p where men dared to plan the liberation of dred thousand men would hasten to the aidwith nest Italy This was precisely the impression Ca our of the Sardmnians Italy was to be fried fromeled, and wished to conve) to the discontented citizcns the Alps to the Adriatic, and France as awas con I other Italian provinces ‘mnd to M izzini s re reward would annex the province of Savo3in which publican iflsurg nts and the city of Nice8, condi- Ccavour finds an ally. Few of Cavour’s con- Cavour hated to sacrifice a portion of thees Albert temporaries understood the intricacies of his Piedmontese realm, but lie knew that the popuLVOUt WOS foreign policy, yet his aim was comparatively lation in Savoy and Nice was more French thanian par- m1 believed that the Italians must have Italian, and that France could not be expected, Vict° ie aid of a great power to help expel the j\us- to fight a war for pure altruism. Cavour was aof corn’ toans, and he sought for such an ally. His first realist and a man of business. On the otherijch per P WaS to join Great Britain and Fiance in hand, Napoleon privately felt confident that aaordina eCrimean War in 185 S. Sardinia had no victory would enable him to make French inns. quari with Bussia, but the intervention fluence supplant Austrian domination in theFrom CaItalian peninsula. He did not intend to makehe dorni’ See abov,, pagc-S 662—664. Italy a powerful independent kingdom, hut

I

ganibled on the creation of an Italian Confederation under the presidency of his nephew,pdnce Napoleon, whose marriage to a Sar1jjniafl princess was part of the bargain atplombières.

3. War with Austria

astute policy of provocation, skillfullypursued by Cavour, incited Austria to declarewar against the Kingdom of Sardinia in April,189, and Napoleon III fulfilled his promiseby leading an army of two hundred thousandnen into Italy. But after the Austrians hadbeen driven from Lombardy in the bloody battles of Magenta and Solferino, Napoleon IIIsuddenly abandoned the campaign and signeda truce with the ustrians.

Napoleon makes peace. What impelledNapoleon to end the war before Italy hadbeen freed from “the Alps to the Adriatic”?For one thing, he had been appalled by the carnage of the battlefields. A second and weightierreason was the growing hostility of the Prussian government, which had mobilized its armyand could threaten France with an attack onthe Rhine. Then, too, Napoleon had come tosuspect that he had underrated the strength ofthe Italian movement for independence, whichnow seemed likely to create, not a loose Italianfederation which he could dominate, but aunified state which might menace France inthe south. Finally, if the Italians succeeded informing a united kingdom, they would seekto include Rome as their capital, a coursewhich must deprive the pope of his temporalpossessions and cause French Catholics toblame Napoleon for endangering the papal patrimony after he had promised to safeguard it.

Accordingly, to prevent the developmentsfrom outrunning his aims, Napoleon madePeace with the Austrian emperor, FrancisJoseph (Treaty of Villafranca). As the Austrian forces remained strongly entrenched inthe circle of fortresses known as the Quadrilateral (Mantua, Peschiera, Verona, and[.egnago), Francis Joseph could still bargain,and although he agreed to surrender Lomardy he kept Venetia and insisted that therulers of Modena and Tuscany should retaintheir thrones. The two emperors also decided0 proi the formation of an Italian federa

1

After the unsuccessful revolutions of 1848—49, Cavour labored to forge Italy into a kingtonz under Victor Emmanuel 11 ofSainiá.By the time of his death in 1861 Cavour’scalculating and devious diplomacy had helpedto create another great power in Europe.

tion under the presidency of the pope, a stepwhich Napoleon counted upon to placate theFrench Catholics.

Italy reconstructed. Overwhelmed withdisappointment at this desertion of his ally before the successful completion of a war fromwhich he had hoped so much, Cavour for oncelost his good sense, demanded that Sardiniacarry on the struggle alone, and, when VictorEmmanuel prudently refused, threw up his office. Equally chagrined at the developments,but more level-headed, the Sardinian monarchacquiesced in the terms arranged at Villafranca,which at least promised to bring him Lombardy.But this inadequate settlement, so galling toItalian pride, was destined to be speedily superseded. Seized with patriotic enthusiasm andencouraged by agents who were secretly intouch with Cavour, the people of Parma andModena, as well as the population of the Rumagna, in the Papal States, voted for unification with the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Romagna formed part of the patrimony ruled by

1

rr

670

Pius IX, which Napoleon had agreed to protect.Nevertheless, he offered to approve the emlargement of the Sardinian Kingdom on condition that France obtain Savoy and Nice, for,although he had failed to keep his full promisemade to Cavour, Napoleon still desired his reward. After the inhabitants of the districts concerned had signified their approval throughplebiscites, France incorporated Savoy andNice, while Sardinia annexed Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma, Moderia, and the Romagna(Treaty of Turin, 1860),

Cavour, recovering from the bitter moodinto which Napoleon’s separate negotiationshad driven him, returned to office in time tocomplete these diplomatic exchanges with amasterly hand. His policy, though not whollysuccessful, since Venice still remained to theAustrians, had doubled the area and populationof the Sardinian Kingdom. But many patriots,Garibaldi among them, denounced him as atraitor because he had relinquished Savoy and

4. Garibaldi MarchesGaribaldi (1807—82). Gi’useppe Garibaldi

(1807—82) ranks with Mazzini and Cavour asthe third in the great triumvirate of Italianliberators. ‘While still in his twenties he joinedYoung Italy, and plunged, with the courage ofa lion and the heart of a child, into the waragainst tyrants. In 1834, he was sentenced todeath, but escaped to South America, where hefought for the liberty of alien republics untilthe outbreaks of 1848 afforded him anotherchance to strike a blow for Italy. The following year he defended Mazzini’s Roman Republic, and barely escaped with his life, to resumehis career of adventure and exile. The ‘War of1859 found him back in Italy, leading a freelance company against the Austrians once more.The involutions of politics and the sagaciousstatesmanship of Cavotir he neither understoodnor approved. What he did understand wasthe nobility of taking up arms in the cause ofljbcrty and fighting side hy side with honestmen. An alliance with a despot like NapoleonlIE, or the bargain by which Cavour tradedSavoy and Nice to Prance, appeared to Garibaldi, who had been born in Nice, an act oftreason. lie did not understand the spirit of

realism that guided Cavour nor comprehendCavour’s fear that the republicans might delaythe unification of Italy by their hasty andradical plans. Cavour knew that Garibaldiwas a brave soldier but a naïve politician anddistrusted the influence that the repuliljc05might exert on his impetuous spirit.

“The Thousand.” It is not surprising, therefore, that when Cavour wished to rest in 1860and consolidate the Sardinian gains, Garibaldiinsisted that the struggle must continue untilall Italy was free. Organizing an expeditionthe famous “One Thousand,” he sailed fromGenoa on May 5 to attack the Kingdom of theTwo Sicilies. Francis II (1859—61) had anarmy of over one hundred thousand men, butmany of his subjects hated him, and his soldierswere half-hearted in their allegiance. Withinsix months Garibaldi’s “red shirts” had conquered the island of Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel, and crossing to Naples theyentered the city in triumph on September 7,Tf1TThfldThiiith of Italy

had been won for the Italian Kingdom, andthe next step, logically, was to march on Rome.But Cavour, fearing that such an affront to thepope must bring a French army to his rescue,frustrated Garibaldi’s impetuosity. With thetacit consent of Napoleon Ill, Victor Emmanuel led a Sardinian force across papal territoryinto the Neapolitan State, and completed theconquest of it; bitt at the same time he casedthe tension by taking the leadership out ofGaribaldi’s hands.

Death of Cavour. By the close of 1860,Sicily, Naples, and the papal provinces knownas the Marches and Urnbria,1 had voted forunion with the other states now ruled by VictorEmmanuel, and the following March the Sardhiian monarch was proclaimed king of aunited Italy, although the kingdom remainedincomplete. The Statuto of Sardinia, grantedby Charles Albert in March, 1848, became thefundamental law of the new kingdom of Italy.But the enormous labor, the hopes and the disappointments of the crowded years 1859 to1 861 had exhausted Cavour, and lie died onJune 6 of the latter year. in his last hours heconsoled himself with the thought, L’ltalla è

fatta — “Italy is made

1 dl

I[ I ::I 1:1

Ik

THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM AND LIBERALISM (1 815—1871)

5. The Winl

Italy was madfor the papal goand the Austrianof Cavour had t(

to add these “U

Italian Kingdom1866, when P‘Seven Weeks’ VBismarck arrangItalian Kingdomand attempted t(

feated by the Atthe Italians rece

1 See below, pa

IjI

1I.

In 1860Sailed from Gethousand i’olanterate Sicily anfrom,, the rule of

1 .Sce map on page 668.

r compre]ljns might delaydr hasty anthat Garibaldipolitician and

he republicanspint..lrprising, there.to rest in 1860gains, Garibaldi

Continue untilan expedition,

he sailed fromKingdom of the59—61) had anusand men, butand his soldiers

giance. Within,hirts” had cohe name of Vie-to Naples they

)n September 7,ie south of Italya Kingdom, andmarch on Rome,an affront to the

ny to his rescue,Losity. With the

Victor Emman)SS papal territoryId completed theue time he easedeadership out of

e close of 1860,provinces known

,1 had voted forw ruled by Victor

g March the Sar

aimed king of a

cingdom remainedSardinia, granted1848, became the

kingdom of Italy.

hopes and the dis

ed years 1859 to

r, and lie died on

1 his last hours he

thought, L’ltalia e

In 1860 Garibaldi

snled from Genoa with athousand volunteers to liberate Sicily and Naplesfrom the rule of Francis ii.

THE UNIFICATION OF ITALY671

5. The Winning of Venice and Rome

Italy was made, but it was not yet complete,

for the papal government still ruled at Rome

and the Austrians held Venetia. The successors

of Cavour had to wait for a favorable moment

to add these “unredeemed” segments to the

Italian Kingdom. One such chance came in

1866, when Prussia fought Austria in the

“Seven Weeks’ War.”1 The Prussian statesman

8ismarCk arranged an alliance with the new

Italian Kingdom, which joined in tile attack

and attempted to seize Venetia. Although de

feated by the Austrians on both land and sea,

the Italians received Venetia through the me

1 See below, pages 678—679.

diation of Napoleon III, who turned it over to

Italy after Austria had ceded it to him in order

to avoid the humiliation of yielding to a con

quered foe.Occupation of Rome. To crown the new

kingdom by the acquisition of Rome as its

capital had now become “an inexorable neces

sity.” Twice Garibaldi led a force of volunteers

to seize the Eternal City, but he was checked

by Victor Emmanuel’s troops (wounded “by an

Italian bullet” he complained) on the first at

tempt (1862), and defeated by French forces

on the second (1867). Diplomacy seemed

powerless to achieve a settlement of the “Ro

man Question,” yet the Italian government

feared that if the pope were dispossessed by

force, the Catholic nations might come to his

_______

-*•‘‘

- .,..

‘i

672

assistance. Napoleon UI was also anxious toreach a settlement because his continuing occupation of the city poisoned his relations withItaly, but he saw no way out of his dilemma.In 1870 however, the outbreak of the FrancoPrussian War directed international attentionelsewhere, and compelled Napoleon III to recall the French guard at Rome for home defense. The moment was too auspicious to overlook. On September 20, 1870, Italian troopsmarched into Rome, and the citizens voted, bya majority of 134,000 to 1500, for incorporation into the Italian Kingdom. Cavour’s greatproject had been completed nine years afterhis death.

6. The Roman Catholic Churchin the Nineteenth Century

Stripped of his temporal possessions, PopePius IX -retired -within the environs -of the Vatican, where he chose to regard himself as aprisoner, in 1871, the Italian parliamentpassed a Law of Papal Guaranties recognizinghim as a sovereign within this tiny domain,and offering hint a sum equal to S650,000 ascompensation for the territory which had beenseized, This offer Pius refused, and lie andhis successors1 preferred to remain voLuntaryprisoners rather than rccogmre a governmentthat they regarded as guilty of usurpation.

Liberalism distrusted. Prom the days of thegreat Ercnch Revolution, when the NationalAssembly confiscated all the church lands inFrance, the papacy had shown iteif distrustfultoward liberal and revolutionary doctrines.After the Congress of Vienna restored theStates of the Church, which Napoleon hadseized, to the ride of Pius VII, the influence ofthe clergy was invoked l)y the conservative go—ernments of Europe during the P.rI of BeattWo. Catholics were warned to be (ITt theirguard against the seduction of liberal notions,which, as experience bad recently proved, oftenled to revolution and tragic social excesses. Yet,although liberals were sometimes denouncedas atheists and enemies of society, liheral andnational ferment continued to spread despite allefforts at repressing it. The outbreaks of 1848

1 Until 1929; see below, pilgcs 835—836.

and 1849, which shook conservative gove0.ments everywhere and drove Pius IX fromRome, not unnaturally convinced him that allrevolutionaries, whether they called themselvesliberals, Socialists, or republicans, were a (longer to the established order. Nor was the Popealone in this opinion. Napoleon III greatlystrengthened the position of the Roman Catholic clergy in France as the best defense againsocialisni. The Austrian government signed aconeordat with the papacy (1855), and severallesser states restored to the clergy the CofltrQlwhich they had previously exercised in mattersof censorship and education.

The panic over socialism which followed therevolution of 1848 had modified the attitudeof the bourgeoisie toward the church, Theclergy, it was now felt, might prove inval.able allies in the combat- with radical thinkert, -

who were misleading the people by their optacks upon religion and their demands for theconfiscation oT iriIe property. When liberals, Socialists, and other reformers whodreamed of remaking society found the churchentrenched upon the side of the propertiedclasses and the established governments, theyassailed it as an obstacle to progress, and denounced it much as the eighteenth-centuryphilcisvphes had done. Throughout the greaterpart of the nineteenth century, liberals wereinclined, not without reason, to regard theclericils as their most ingenious and most consistent opponents.

Pontificate of Pius IX. The policies of PlusIX (I 846—78) did much to confirnt this widespread impression that the church would alwaysbe found on the side of the conservatives andthe traditionalists. In 1864. Pius issued an encyclical (a papal letteri, entitled Quanta cure,accompanied by a Syllabus of hrrors. In thesecommunications he reaffirmed the independent-c of the Catholic Church and its SLipremacv over all secular governments, condemnedthose who fai-ored granting toleration to othersects, those who advocated civil marriages, layschools, or curtijutent of the privileges of theclergy, and those who sought to deprive thepope of his temporal possessions. Pius thusarrayed the church against libt.ralisnt and nationalism , the dominant social and politiCO1ideals of the day, at a time when a more caUtious and more conciliatory clJploflilt might well

THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM AND LIBERALISM (1815—1871)

L

During hisPope Pius IXnat1oalism, libwhich he distri,

have hesitatedanti-clerical for

Growth of skOrgaflh!e(1 religteentli centurydangerous attaspread of scieage of the earpeared to contrA mare criticaparative rehigicthe authority cof religious doand the (liVintrepudiate, in IOlogy which stevery countryespecially autotheir faith wcagnostics or at

Vatican CoUpon the intelth saute firniminspired his u

1 Sec below,

I

673

many political and social currents of the age.

The sharpest answer to those who presumed to

question the papal authority was furnished by

The Vatican Council which met at Rome in

1869. Before it was prorogued in 1870, the

council declared it to be a dogma ‘divinely

revealed” that when the pope officially pro

nounced upon a question of faith or morals he

was endowed with infallibility. Thus, in the

same year that his temporal possessions were

reft away, Pius IX was invested with spiritual

claims as absolute as any exercised by his

mighty predecessors Gregory VII or Innocent

Ill in the Middle Ages.Leo XIII (1878—1903). To the theologians

who proclaimed it, the dogma of papal infalli

bility was a definition of, not an addition to, the

papal prerogatives. Among the laity, particu

larly among non-Catholics, it met with con

siderable distrust and opposition. The Kultur

leampf in Germany,2 the breach between the

During his long pontificate (1846—78) Italian government and the papacy, and the

Pope Plies 1K criticize the rising currents of conflict of church and state in France, as well

nationalism, liberalism, secularism, and science as théfeüd àf iëti laxicl-anticleriuais clse--—-------- -- -

which he distrusted as threats to religious faith. where, were all intensified by the niisappre

hensions aroused by the papal claims. To Leo

have hesitated to antagonize and acid to the XIII, who succeeded Pius IX in 1878, fell the

anti-clerical forces, task of healing estrangernents and harmonizing

Growth of skepticism. For the opponents of the position of the church with the existing

organized religion in the middle of the nine- forces and realities of the modern age. While

teenth century had already opened a fierce and retracting nothing, Leo endeavored with tact

dangerous attack from another quarter. The and skill, and with considerable success, to

spread of scientific doctrines concerning the reveal the possibility of a working compromise

age of the earth and the origin of man1 ap- on the political and intellectual issues which

peared to contradict the teaching of the church. had separated the church from most of the

more critical study of history and of corn- secular governments and dug a gulf between

parative religion led many people to question religion and science. The careers of Louis Pas

the authority of the pope, to deny the validity teur and later of Gregor \lendel were cited as

of religious dogmas concerning the fall of man proof that it was possible to be a great scien

and the divine revelations of the Gospels, to tist and a good Catholic, and the Vatican ar

repudiate, in fact, the whole structure of the- chives were opened to accredited historians in

Ology which supported the Christian faith. In the hope that a more thorough study of the

Cvery country a growing number of people, early centuries of the church Would tend to

especially among the educated classes, found reconcile the secular with the orthodox inter-

their faith weakened, and many became frank pretations. In this way part of the opposition to

BMflnsti or atheists in matters of religion, clerical authority was skillfully dissipatcd, and

VQSCOfl Council. In meeting this attack the opening years of the twentieth century

Upon the intellectual front, Pius IX displayed found the Roman Catholic Church performing

ic same firmness and consistency which had its historic mission with renewed vigor under

‘flsplred his unequivocal condemnation of so Leo XIII and Pius X.

Se l)elow, page 711.

F,

0

rvati’e governPius IX fron

ed him that allshed themselvesns, were a dauor was the popecon III greatlye Roman Catfrdefense again5

nment signed a), and severalDrgy the controlcisecl in matters

ich followed thefled the attitudee church. Theit prove invahiradical thinkers1pie by their at-demands for the:rty. When lib-reformers who

ound the churchif the propertiedwernments, they)rogrcss, and deightcenth-eenturyghout the greaterry, liberals weres, to regard theus and most con

e policies of Piusmnfirm this wideirch would alwaysconservatives andPius issued an entIed Quanta coca,

1rrors. In thesecd the indepewcli and its suprencnts, condemnedtoleration to other

ivil marriages, lay

e privileges of the

lit to deprive the

csions. Pius thus

ihera]isni and n

cial and politiC

when a more caU

iploniat might wall

:

2 See below, page 734.

a,,