Page:History of Freedom.djvu/401

 DÖLLINGER ON THE TEMPORAL POWER. 357

impoverishment of the State, and the odious union of spiritual with temporal y.rms, \vhich became a permanent calamity for the Holy See. This attachment to the interest of their families threw great discredit on the Popes, who "'ere_ dishonoured by the faults, the crimes, and the pun1shment of their relatives. But since the death of Alexander VI I I., in 169 I, even that later form of nepotism which aimed at wealth only, not at political power, can1e to an end, and has never reappeared except in the case of the Braschi. The nepotism of the cardinals and prelates has survived that of the Popes. If the statute of Eugenius IV. had remained in force, the College of Cardinals would have formed a \vholesome restraint in the temporal government, and the favouritism of the papal relations would have been prevented. But the Popes acted \vith the absolute power \vhich ,vas in the spirit of the monarchies of that age. vVhen Paul IV. announced to the Sacred College that he had stripped the house of Colonna of its possessions to enrich his nephew, and that he was at war with Spain, they listened in silence, and have been passive ever since. No European sovereignty enjoyed so arbitrary an authority. Under Julius I I. the towns retained considerable privileges, and looked on their annexation to the Papal State as a deliverance from their former oppressors. Machiavelli and Guicciardini say that the Popes required neither to defend nor to administer their dominions, and that the people \vere content in the enjoyment of their autonomy. In the course of the sixteenth century the administration was gradually centralised in Rome, and placed in the hands of ecclesiastics. Before 1550 the governors \vere ordinarily laymen, but the towns themselves preferred to be governed by prelates. By the close of the century the independence of the corporations had disappeared; but the centralisation, though complete, was not vigorous, and practically the towns and the barons, though not free, were not oppressed. The modern system of government in the Roman States originated \vith Sixtus V. I-Ie introduced stability