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he has a chance, I "accede" to him. If my main object is to prevent if possible the election of either B or C I accede to some other cardinal, in the hope that the votes given to him, if not sufficient to elect him, may at least, in Conclave language, give an exclusion to B and C, i.e. prevent either of them from having a twothirds majority. It will be seen that the "accessit " requires for its management some of the most delicate and dexterous play of any portion of the Conclave operations.

The second act of the post-scrutinium, when no election has been made at the first vote, is the opening of the seals which seal down that fold of the voting paper where the number and the motto are written, to ascertain that the first and second votes are by the same person, and are given either "nemini," or to a different candidate from him voted for the first time; the third, the numbering; and the fourth, the examination of the votes (only in case an election has been accomplished). The fifth act of the post-scrutinium is the adding together the votes obtained by the different candidates in the scrutiny and the "accessit." The sixth act consists in the verification by the "ricognitori" of the votes and the counting of them by the scrutators; and the seventh and last in the burning of the voting papers.

It should be noted, however, that in the examination of the votes, if an election should have been made by a number of votes exactly sufficient to constitute the required two-thirds majority, the scrutators must ascertain that the person elected has not voted for himself. Otherwise no election would have been made.

Volumes of subtle casuistry have been written on the exact sense of the terms of the cardinal's oath, that he will elect him whom he believes before God ought to be elected, and on the degree of literalness in which it must be assumed to be binding on the conscience. At the beginning of a Conclave many scrutinies are gone through without any thought of coming to an election, merely to try the strength of the different parties and to explore the ground. Conclave tacticians are of opinion that an elector may often injure the final chance of a candidate by voting for him from the outset in these tentative skirmishes. Is an elector, therefore, to injure the chance of the man whom he believes to be the fittest by voting for him at such times? A man may in his heart and conscience believe himself to be the fittest there to be made Pope. Is he bound to risk invalidating his own election by voting for himself? Or must he vote for some one whom he does not think the fittest? May a man vote for one whom he deems unfit when it is clear that that one will be elected? Answer: Yes! because it is fitting that an election should be made with concord and without giving rise to evil passions. Such questions and "cases" might be, and indeed have been, multiplied almost ad infinitum.

But the entire history of the Conclaves in which the Popes have been elected, and of the rules which have been enacted for the regulation of them and restriction of the actors in them, is one long series of demonstrations of the vanity and futility of endeavouring to bind by law the wills of men whose power is above that of law, and who recognise no superior. Prescription has

a certain amount of power, which is even greatly increased when it is applied to a corporate body. But it breaks down under the strain of the temptations to which those are exposed to whom so great a business as the election of a Pope is entrusted. Given the necessity of having a Pope, it would probably be impossible to devise a better means of getting one than that which the Church has gradually perfected. But she attempts the impossible; and her efforts to secure her aim, though they have been to a great degree successful, have resulted in an amount of false pretence, solemn sham, hypocrisy, and substitution of pompous appearance for reality, the long story of which makes the account of these Conclaves somewhat humiliating reading for the believer in human perfectibility.

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Abuses of the secret system of nominat-
ing Cardinals, 25.

Accumulation of wealth by papal
families, 317-322.

Advantage of a numerous College of
Cardinals, 23.

Age of candidates for the Cardinalate,
47.

Alexander VII., character of, 337.

338.

modified nepotism of,

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Announcement of their creation to new

Cardinals, 35.

Antecedents

of Moroni, Gregory

XIV.'s barber, 93.
Antipopes, 57.

Ascetic and bigoted character of
Michael Ghislieri, Pius V., 244.

B.

Barberini Family, downfall of the, 324.
Behaviour of newly created Cardinals,
36.

Benedict XIV., character of, 338.
Beretta, the, 36, 43.

Berettina, the, 36, 42.

Bitter dissensions in the Sacred College
(1303), 90.

Bull of Sixtus V., finally regulating the
composition of the Sacred College,
18, 19.

Bulls of Gregory XV. forming the
basis of Conclave Law, 229.

Pius VI., promulgated in

1782 and 1798, 407.

Burial of Alexander VI., extraordinary,
173.

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that elected

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Nephews," 138.

origin of the term, 14,

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by Paul V., 52. I

by Sixtus IV., 48.

by Sixtus V., 51.

by Urban VIII., 52.

Cardinals, new, receptions held by,

44, 45.

newly created, behaviour

expected of, 36.

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of Innocent VI., 98.
of Innocent VIII., 171.
of Innocent X., 332,

of John XXII., 95.
of Julius II., 180.

of Julius III., 213, 221.
of Leo X., 186.

of Leo XI., 262-292.
of Marcellus II., 224.
of Paul II., 156.
of Paul III., 204–211.
of Paul IV., 236-240.
of Pius II., 155.
of Pius III., 178.
of Pius IV., 245–257.
of Urban VIII., 322.
of Sixtus IV., 167.
the modern, 395-428.
a modern, how the day

passes at, 414, 415.

regulations, futility of, 427.
at Viterbo in 1269, remark-

able, 60.
Conclaves in the eighteenth century,

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Confusion in Christendom after the
election of the antipope Clement
VII., 123, 124.

Congregation of Rites, the, 37.

Conspiracy to assassinate Pius IV.,

243.

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