“Precisely so, sir,” said the Abbé. “There can be no question of an antidote if there has been no poisoning.”
“Ay; but may not this system be pushed too far? Is not his Holiness already doing so?”
“Some are disposed to think so, but I am not of the number,” said D'Esmonde. “It is necessary that he should himself be convinced that the system is a bad one; and there is no mode of conviction so palpable as by a personal experience. Now, this he will soon have. As yet, he does not see that every step in political freedom is an advance towards the fatal heresy that never ceases its persecutions of the Church. Not that our Revolutionists care for Protestantism or the Bible either; but, by making common cause with those who do, see what a large party in England becomes interested for their success. The right of judgment conceded in religious matters, how can you withhold it in political ones? The men who brave the Church will not tremble before a cabinet. Now the Pope sees nothing of this; he even mistakes the flatteries offered to himself for testimonies of attachment to the Faith, and all those kneeling hypocrites who implore his blessing he fancies are faithful children of Rome. He must be awakened from this delusion; but yet none save himself can dispel it He is obstinate and honest.”
“If the penalty were to be his own alone, it were not so much matter,” said the Minister; “but it will cost a revolution.”
“Of course it will; but there is time enough to prepare for it.”
“The state of the Milanais is far from satisfactory,” said the Minister, gravely.
“I know that; but a revolt of a prison always excuses double irons,” said D'Esmonde, sarcastically.
“Tell him of Sardinia, Abbé,” said Madame de Heidendorf.
“Your real danger is from that quarter,” said D'Esmonde. “There is a growing spirit of independence there,—a serious desire for free institutions, wide apart from the wild democracy of the rest of Italy. This is a spirit you cannot crush; but you can do better,—you can corrupt it Genoa is a hotbed of Socialist doctrine; the wildest fanaticism of the 'Reds' is there triumphant, and our priests are manfully aiding the spread of such opinions. They have received orders to further these notions; and it is thus, and by the excesses consequent on this, you will succeed in trampling down that moderated liberty which is the curse that England is destined to disseminate amongst us. It is easy enough to make an excited people commit an act of indiscretion, and then, with public opinion on your side—”
“How I detest that phrase!” said Madame de Heidendorf; “it is the lowest cant of the day.”