A life of Pius IX down to the Episcopal jubilee of 1877

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Author's Preface

letter published by Georges Seigneur, on January the 10th, 1873, attempts to exonerate the Emperor Napoleon IIL from all complicity with his ally, Victor EmmanneL The writer of the letter affirms that the exiled emperor, in March of the preceding year, expressed himself in the following manner :

"The situation forced upon the sovereign pontiff at the present moment* by events which I oould not control, is a sad, a cruel, but a most convincing proof of the necessity of the temporal power for the Head of the Church.

"The keenest sorrow I have experienced in my exile arises from my present inability to free the Head of the Church, who is also my eon's godfather, as well as my being powerless to renew the crusade of 1849 and that of Montana."

This retraction, whatever may be its authenticity or its sincerity, is here given, lest the severe judgment pronounced in this book on the ex-emperor should be accepted by the reader without the attenuating circumstances which may plead before living judges in favor of one who has undergone the judgment of God.

July the 80th, 1877.