Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/214

 198 From that instant Lambruschini's chances were gone, as regards his own election, and it only remained a question whether he might still succeed in averting a conclusive vote until the arrival of those Cardinals who would combine to prevent the complete victory of the opposite faction. But this hope was not destined to be realized. The incidents of the day had produced a deep impression. The Cardinals felt that they were exposed to an indefinite Conclave if they allowed it to be spun out until the intervention of their still absent colleagues; and a protracted Conclave in the peculiar condition of the Romagna, and the revolutionary agitation throughout Italy, all Cardinals who postponed personal to general interests concurred in deprecating as a most disastrous event. Next morning the action on the Cardinals of the night's consultation was unmistakable. On the ballot papers being examined, Mastai was found with twenty-six votes, while Lambruschini had gone down further to eleven. So successful a progress instinctively elated the opposition with hope of being able by an energetic effort to complete their victory, and this much desired consummation was really