Intrigues begin the moment the
Pope's health is known to be failing, and grow thicker and more
intricate with each unfavorable bulletin. There are few among the
cardinals who do not feel that they have at least a chance of election;
and not one, perhaps, but enters the conclave prepared to make the most
of his individual pretensions. Some even, like Consalvi at the conclave
of Leo XII., set their hearts so strongly upon it that they have been
supposed to have died of the disappointment. Great services are not
always the best recommendation; for it is difficult to serve the public
well without making some private enemies. Little griefs, long forgotten
by the offender, but carefully treasured up in the more tenacious memory
of the offended, have more than once proved insurmountable obstacles in
the path to the throne. Each, too, of the great Catholic powers has a
right to exclude one among the candidates, if the exclusion be announced
before the votes are all given in: a privilege which, as it narrows the
circle of the eligible and increases individual chances, seldom fails to
be faithfully exercised.
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