Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/174

 158 with accounts of election manœuvres practised by plotting Cardinals with the view of bringing about, by underhand tactics, some preconcerted result. The whole system of these proceedings bears the visible impress of that cautious and cunning temperament which never operates but under a mask, and never contemplates to work otherwise than by stratagem. Of these tricks the most common—indeed so common as to be an established feature in Papal elections—is the naming of sham candidates by the rival sections. The general object of this device is to elicit the exercise of the veto vested in certain Catholic sovereigns, and which can be given but once. If it be intended to carry a Cardinal known to be obnoxious to