The few Swiss fired
in return; and then the cry ran through the city that the Pope's guards
were butchering the people, and already there were many slain. Within
the palace many advised Pius to yield, a few still spoke of resistance,
and the foreign ministers, who were collected there, had no scheme to
offer. "The scuffle continues; the worthy prelate, Monsignor Palma,
falls dead by the window of his own apartment; balls reach the
ante-chamber of the Pope." At last Pius turned to the diplomatic body
who stood around him, and said: "There is no further hope in resistance.
Already a prelate is slain in my very palace, shots are aimed at it,
artillery levelled. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased
enormities, we give way; but it is, as you see, only to force. Therefore
we protest; let the courts, let your governments, know it. We give way
to violence alone, and all we concede is null and void."
Galletti was then asked to propose his list of ministers, from which the
Pope indignantly struck out the name of the Neapolitan Salicetti, but
admitted without a word the names of Sterbini, Lunati, and Galletti.
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