Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/20

 steps and counter-steps which, springing from no higher source than intrigue of the lowest stamp, have had memorable consequences, by lodging at critical moments the supreme prerogatives of the Papacy, and therewith the religious and political destinies of a large section of the human race, in hands that had too often no title to wield this preponderating authority beyond the favour and the successful craft of a patron. History presents no more astonishing spectacle than the contrast between the mean causes which have frequently decided the fate of Papal elections and the momentous issues that have flowed from them.

It is to be hoped that students will turn their attention to the great Italian Archives, which now are freely open to inspection, and furnish us with the documentary records for this interesting and unwritten portion of history. The richness of these all but virgin mines of historical knowledge exceeds imagination; for jealousy, and vigilance, and cunning intrigue, were the three cardinal qualities that entered into the necessary constitution of Italian Princes, who spent their lives in incessant correspondence with the agents of their cunning devices.