Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/10

vi that the present publication falls together in time with probably the closing incident in the matter which first suggested composition; for as these pages are going through the press, the news arrive of Cardinal Andrea having returned to Romp in deference to the Pope's citation of him. Another subject which occupied my attention when once I found myself engaged in the midst of constitutional questions lying at the route of the Pope's sovereign prerogatives, was to see how far there might be foundation for the assertion so freely dealt in by the upholders of the Non-Possumus [sic] principle, that the Pope, in the matter of his temporalities, is bound by oaths of such peculiar stringency that he cannot release himself there from. Although I had been too much alive to the intricate nature of the subject I was trying to investigate, not to seek every assistance within my reach, I became soon painfully aware that I had been guilty of not a few omissions and downright errors in the original Issue. My best thanks are due especially to the criticisms of some Roman friends,