Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/25



T will hardly be necessary to remind the reader that the existing mode of Papal election, by which the prerogative of naming the Supreme Pontiff is vested exclusively in those ecclesiastical dignitaries who have attained the rank of Cardinals, is a matter of comparatively late creation. For centuries, athwart the many political vicissitudes which, with frightful rapidity, came tumbling over Rome in wild confusion, the election of its bishop, who was ever growing steadily in might, remained yet fixedly lodged in a joint action of the whole community, as falling into the three classes, of civil authorities, people, and clergy. Every other provision connected with public institutions was subjected to incessant revolution; but, amidst this endless influx of change and counter-