" Moreover, the Easter ceremonies
were celebrated as usual; the Triumvirate and the Assembly stood among
the people in the church and in the square to receive the blessing from
the outer balcony of St. Peter's.
All this gave umbrage to Garibaldi, but no hypocrisy and much wisdom
inspired these acts. In the first place, the Triumvirate, and especially
Mazzini, the most religious man we have ever known, were well aware
that, while the temporal power of the papacy might be destroyed by fire
and sword, the spiritual power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy could be
extinguished only in the name of a moral law recognized and accepted as
being higher and more authoritative than any other intermediary between
God and the people--they knew that ideas can be vanquished only by
ideas. Again, as the responsible heads of the Roman Republic, the
Triumvirs were wisely careful not to offend the hearts and consciences
of Catholics abroad. Finally, the very fact that, with four armies at
their gates, life, its feasts and fasts, its workdays and holidays,
could go on as usual, was one highly calculated to strengthen the
Romans' faith in and affection for the new Government.
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