| Despite the best efforts of the Whig ministry of Lord John Russell (July 1846-February 1852), Great Britain was unable to take advantage of the favorable climate created by the accession of Pope Pius IX to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy See. In an attempt to explain this failure, the dissertation explores the motivations of and policies pursued by British and Papal statesmen over the course of six eventful years, which included the Great Famine in Ireland, the 1848 Revolutions on the Continent, and the Papal Aggression uproar in England. Material has been drawn from the relevant governmental archives, among others those of the Foreign Office, the Papal Secretariat of State, and Propaganda Fide, plus the papers of Russell, Viscount Palmerston, and the Earls of Clarendon and Minto. Ecclesiastical archives in England, Ireland, and Rome shedding light on the effects of struggles within the Catholic Church upon the diplomatic question have also been utilized. Some consideration has been given to the role of the press, first in facilitating, then in complicating the British approaches to Rome.; Although the Whig statesmen were crippled in their campaign to set up a legation in Rome by differences among themselves, the primary cause for their defeat was the long-standing aversion of the Roman Curia to closer contact with Great Britain. This hostility had two underlying motives: fear that London would take advantage of relations to gain an unhealthy influence over the Catholic Church in the British Isles, particularly in Ireland; and concern (especially pressing when Palmerston was Foreign Secretary) that a British envoy would be the means of constant interference in the internal affairs of the Papal States.; Since neither of the Holy See's fears was altogether without foundation, it is not surprising that Her Majesty's Government was unable to persuade Pius IX to receive a British diplomat. A host of other factors, detailed in the dissertation, also played a part, but probably the Roman Question and the Irish Question formed the truly insuperable obstacles to amicable dealings between the two courts. |
