'I am flattered by his Royal Highness's remembrance of me,' said Caraffa proudly.
'And this,' said Massoni, showing a few lines on a simple slip of paper, 'this came enclosed within D'Allonville's letter.
"I am willing to open direct relations with his Eminence the Cardinal Caraffa on the subjects herein discussed.--D'Artois."
'More than enough to gratify a loftier pride than mine,' said Caraffa, with a flushed cheek; 'but let us turn to a worthier theme. What is it that is proposed?'
'The project, in one word, is this--to make the rising now about to take place in Ireland a royalist, and not a revolutionary movement; to overbear the men of destruction by the influence of wiser and safer guides; to direct the wild energies of revolt into the salutary channels of a restoration; and to build up once more, in all its plenitude, the power of the Church.'
'Remember, Massoni, what Mirabeau said; and though I do not love the authority, the words are those of wisdom: "Revolutions are not the work of men--they make themselves."'
'It is from men's hands, however, they receive their first impulses. It is also by a secret and firm alliance of men--steady to one purpose, and constant to one idea--that revolutions catch their tone and colour. None of us could expect that, in a great national struggle, there will not be many acts to deplore--grievous crimes committed gratuitously--vain and useless cruelties. To every great vicissitude in this world there is an amount of power applied totally dis-proportioned to the effect produced. To wreck one solitary ship, a whole ocean is convulsed, and desolate shores in faraway lands are storm-lashed for days. So is it in revolutions The unchained winds of men's passions sweep over a larger space than is needed. This must be borne. Let us remember, too, that the blood thus, to all seeming, gratuitously shed has also its profit. Terror is a great agency of revolt. Many must be intimidated. It is when people are paralysed by fear that they who are to reconstruct society have time to mature their plans, just as the surgeon awaits the moments of his patient's insensibility to commence his operation. But, above all, your Eminence, bear in mind that where the object is good and great, a blessing goes with those who sustain it.'