Excerpt from The History of the Papacy in the 19th Century, Vol. 2<br><br>ON 2nd September 1823, thirty-seven of the Roman cardinals walked from the church of San Silvestro to the Quirinal,1 which on account of the time of year had been prepared for the Conclave. In the long procession the first to be seen was Consalvi, bowed down by sorrow and sickness.2 He had but little prospect of being elected, because a man cannot be twice Pope in a lifetime. The cardinals were afraid of the all-powerful Secretary of State, and the people sang a malicious verse about the Conclave: Heaven free us from a despot like Consalvi.3 After him followed Pacca with firm steps and a mild countenance, and by his side walked the old Di Gregorio. Behind came Galeffi, who did not look at all intelligent, but had become the favourite of the people by his condescension. It would be wise, so runs the song, to elect the good Graleffi.4 In the procession there was also a tall lean man with tottering steps and pale cheeks it looked, says Cardinal Wiseman, as if he had just risen from a sick bed to lay himself down upon his death-bed. The man was Della Genga; of him the song says He who wishes for order in everything, must pray that Della Genga may be chosen.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.