The Presidential pretension is so important in every aspect, and the
character of republican institutions is so absolutely compromised by
its toleration, that it cannot be treated in any perfunctory way. It
shall not be my fault, if hereafter there is any doubt with regard to
it.
The word “Nepotism” is of Italian origin. First appearing at Rome when
the Papal power was at its height, it served to designate the authority
and influence exercised by the nephews, or more generally the family,
of a Pope: all the family of a Pope were nephews, and the Pope was
universal uncle. From Italian the word passed into other European
languages, but in the lapse of time or process of naturalization it
has come to denote the misconduct of the appointing power, and has
amplified so as to embrace others besides Popes who appoint relations
to office. Johnson in his Dictionary defines it simply as “Fondness for
nephews”; but our latest and best lexicographer, Worcester, supplies
a definition more complete and satisfactory: “Favoritism shown to
relations; patronage bestowed _in consideration of family relationship
and not of merit_.” Such undoubtedly is the meaning of the word as now
received and employed.
The character of this pretension appears in its origin and history.
As far back as 1667 this undoubted abuse occupied attention to such a
degree that it became the subject of an able historical work, entitled
“Il Nipotismo di Roma,” which is full of instruction and warning even
for our Republic. In the early days of the Church Popes are described
as discarding all relationship, whether of blood or alliance, and
inclining to merit alone in their appointments, although there were
some with so large a number of nephews, grand-nephews, brothers-in-law,
and relations, as to baffle belief; and yet it is recorded that no
sooner did the good Pope enter the Vatican, which is the Executive
Mansion of Rome, than relations fled, brothers-in-law hid themselves,
grand-nephews removed away, and nephews got at a long distance.[61]
Such was the early virtue. Nepotism did not exist, and the word itself
was unknown.
At last, in 1471, twenty-one years before the discovery of America
by Columbus, Sixtus the Fourth became Pope, and with him began that
nepotism which soon became famous as a Roman institution.[62] Born
in 1414, the son of a fisherman, the eminent founder was already
fifty-seven years old, and he reigned thirteen years, bringing to his
functions large experience as a successful preacher and as general of
the Franciscan friars. Though cradled in poverty, and by the vows of
his Order bound to mendicancy, he began at once to heap office and
riches upon the various members of his family, so that his conduct,
from its barefaced inconsistency with the obligation of his life,
excited, according to the historian, “the amazement and wonder of
all.”[63] The useful reforms he attempted are forgotten, and this
remarkable pontiff is chiefly remembered now as the earliest nepotist.
Different degrees of severity are employed by different authors in
characterizing this unhappy fame. Bouillet, in his Dictionary of
History,[64] having Catholic approbation, describes him as “feeble
toward his nephews”; and our own Cyclopædia,[65] in a brief exposition
of his character, says “he made himself odious by excessive nepotism.”
But in all varieties of expression the offence stands out for judgment.
The immediate successor of Sixtus was Innocent the Eighth, whom the
historian describes as “very cold to his relations,”[66] since three
only obtained preferment at his hands. But the example of the founder
so far prevailed that for a century nepotism, as was said, “lorded it
in Rome,”[67] except in a few instances worthy of commemoration and
example.
Of these exceptions, the first in time was Julius the Second, founder
of St. Peter’s at Rome, whose remarkable countenance is so beautifully
preserved by the genius of Rafael. Though the nephew of the nepotist,
and not declining to appoint all relations, he did it with such
moderation that Rome was said to have been “almost without nepotism”
in his time.[68] Adrian the Sixth, early teacher of Charles the Fifth,
and successor of Leo the Tenth, set a better example by refusing
absolutely; but so accustomed had Rome become to this abuse, that not
only the ambassadors, but the people, condemned him as “too rude” with
his relations. A son of his cousin, studying in Siena, started for
Rome, trusting to obtain important recognition; but the Pope, without
seeing him, sent him back on a hired horse. Relations thronged from
other places, and even from across the Alps, longing for that greatness
which other Popes had lavished on family; but Adrian dismissed them
with a slight change of clothing and an allowance of money for the
journey: one who from poverty came on foot was permitted to return on
foot. This Pope carried abnegation of his family so far as to make
relationship an excuse for not rewarding one who had served the Church
well.[69] Similar in character was Marcellus the Second, who became
Pope in 1555. He was unwilling that any of his family should come to
Rome; even his brother was forbidden: but this good example was closed
by death, after a reign of twenty days only; and yet this brief period
of exemplary virtue has made this pontiff famous. Kindred in spirit was
Urban the Seventh, who reigned thirteen days only in 1590, but long
enough to repel his relations,--and also Leo the Eleventh, who reigned
twenty-five days in 1605. To this list may be added Innocent the Ninth,
who died after two months of service. It is related that his death
displeased his relations much, and dissolved the air-castles they had
built. They had hurried from Bologna, but, except a grand-nephew, all
were obliged to return poor as they came.[70] In this list I must not
forget Pius the Fifth, who reigned from 1566 to 1572. He set himself
so completely against aggrandizing his own family, that he was with
difficulty persuaded to make a sister’s son cardinal,--and would
not have done it, had not all the cardinals united, on grounds of
conscience, against the denial of this dignity to one most worthy of
it.[71] Such virtue was part of that elevated character which caused
his subsequent canonization.
These good Popes were short-lived,--their reigns for the most
part counting by days only; but they opened happy glimpses of an
administration where the powers of government were not treated as a
personal perquisite. The opposite list had the advantage of time.
Conspicuous among nepotists was Alexander the Sixth, whose family name
of Borgia is damned to fame. With him nepotism assumed its most brutal
and barbarous development, reflecting the character of its pontifical
author, who was without the smallest ray of good. Other Popes were
less cruel and bloody, but not less determined in providing for their
families. Paul the Third, who was of the great house of Farnese, would
have had the estates of the Church a garden for the “lilies” which
flourish on the escutcheon of his family.[72] It is related that when
Urban the Eighth, who was a Barberini, began his historic reign, all
his relations at a distance flew to Rome like the “bees” on the family
arms, to suck the honey of the Church, but not leaving behind the
sting with which they pricked while they sucked.[73] Whether lilies
or bees, it was the same. The latter pontiff gave to nepotism fulness
of power when he resolved “to have no business with any one not
dependent upon his house.”[74] In the same spirit he excused himself
from making a man cardinal because he had “always been the enemy of
his nephews.”[75] Although nothing so positive is recorded of Paul the
Fifth, who was a Borghese, his nepotism appears in the Roman saying,
that, “while serving the Church as a good shepherd, he gave too much
wool to his nephews.”[76] These instructive incidents, illustrating
the pontifical pretension, reflect light on the history of palaces and
galleries at Rome, now admired by the visitor from distant lands. If
not created, they were at least enlarged by nepotism.
It does not always appear how many relations a Pope endowed. Often
it was all, as in the case of Gregory the Thirteenth, who, besides
advancing a nephew actually at Rome, called thither all his nephews and
grand-nephews, whether from brothers or sisters, and gave them offices,
dignities, governments, lordships, prelacies, and abbacies.[77] Cæsar
Borgia and his sister Lucretia were not the only relations of Alexander
the Sixth. I do not find the number adopted by Sixtus, the founder of
the system. Pius the Fourth, who was of the grasping Medicean family,
favored no less than twenty-five.[78] Alexander the Seventh, of the
Chigi family, had about him five nephews and one brother, which a
contemporary characterized as “nepotism all complete.”[79] This pontiff
began his reign by forbidding his relations to appear at Rome, which
redounded at once to his credit throughout the Christian world, while
the astonished people discoursed of his holiness and the purity of his
life, expecting even to see miracles. In making the change, he yielded
evidently to immoral pressure and the example of predecessors.
The performances of papal nephews figure in history. After the Borgias
were the Caraffas, who obtained power through Paul the Fourth; but at
last becoming too insolent and rapacious, their uncle was compelled to
strip them of their dignities and drive them from Rome.[80] Sometimes
nephews were employed chiefly in ministering to pontifical pleasures,
as in the case of Julius the Third, who, according to the historian,
“thought of nothing but banqueting with this one and that one, keeping
his relations in Rome rather to accompany him at banquets than to
aid him in the government of the holy Church, about which he thought
little.”[81] This occasion for relations does not exist at Rome now, as
the pontiff leads a discreet life, always at home, and never banquets
abroad.
These historic instances make us see nepotism in its original
seat. Would you know how it was regarded there? Sometimes it was
called a hydra with many heads, sprouting anew at the election of a
pontiff,[82] then again it was called Ottoman rather than Christian
in character.[83] The contemporary historian who has described it so
minutely says that those who merely read of it without seeing it will
find it difficult to believe or even imagine.[84] The qualities of a
Pope’s relation were said to be “ignorance and cunning.”[85] It is easy
to believe that this prostitution of the head of the Church was one
of the abuses which excited the cry for Reform, and awakened even in
Rome the echoes of Martin Luther. A Swedish nobleman visiting Rome is
recorded as declaring himself unwilling to be the subject of a pontiff
who was himself the subject of his own relations.[86] But even this
pretension was not without open defenders, while the general effrontery
with which it was maintained assumed that it was above question. If
some gave with eyes closed, most gave with eyes open. It was said that
Popes were not to neglect their own blood, that they should not show
themselves worse than the beasts, not one of which fails to caress its
relations; and the case of bears and lions, the most ferocious of all,
was cited as authority for this recognition of one’s own blood.[87]
All this was soberly said, and it is doubtless true. Not even a Pope
can justly neglect his own blood; but help and charity must be at his
own expense, and not at the expense of his country. In appointments to
office, merit and not blood is the only just recommendation.
That nepotism has ceased to lord itself in Rome, that no pontiff
billets his relations upon the Church, that the appointing power
of the Pope is treated as a public trust and not as a personal
perquisite,--all this is the present testimony with regard to that
government which knows from experience the baneful character of this
abuse.