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Show LOYALTY TO 1 VATICAN IIIBt, I K Many Noble Families in 14- Rome Remained True If to the Pope III W, if Rome, March 2. Public interest from one end of Imly to the other has It Ien oxcitcd to nn extraordinary deli de-li gree In the question whether the vir-ft vir-ft tually Inestimably valuable art collec-illf collec-illf 'on e mle r'ncc Marcantonio M t'olonna, the head of Uic historlcfhouse 111 I ,s t0 be c,)t mtact or ao1 b? tne foU1' 'BE; Members of the family to whom it hag 111. ',een bequeathed. F If the four owners transport thejr I & shares of the collection to their re- Epectie residences, it 1b, of course, J ' lost to all except intimates of the own-? own-? V crs, and that this should happen would I f be considered a public caamlty T No one who has ever visited the f Colonna palace can forgot the mag-ff mag-ff niflcont hall where tho pictures bans, and which was the seat, unique and memorable, of the postal congress. It !is decorated with painted mirrors by Mario do' Flori'and cupids by Carlo Murattn. There are several Tintoret-tos Tintoret-tos and Pnlraa Vccchlos, Paul Vero-neses' Vero-neses' "Portrait of a Man." some TI-tlans, TI-tlans, with many lessor, though well-known, well-known, works of art, but the most precious and Interesting are twelve water color landscapes of inestimable value bv Pouesln tl The palace itself is one of tho most f attractive historically in Rome. Archill Archi-ll teclurally, outside it is plain to hide- ousness, but inside gorgeous in the exit ex-it treme It was loft to his brother, as . the bearer of the name of Colonna, Prince Marcantonio leaving no sons i The history of the Colonna paace is 5 ; the history of mediaeval and renals- f sanco Rome and that it has been made , . hereditary, and therefore inalienable to tho houso of Colonna, should be a .' i cause of rejoicing to those who loc j the history of their country, j r After tho Tall of the Temporal Power 1 In 1870, the Vatican nobleB felt strong-i strong-i I ly, and each made some visible pro-j pro-j test, each in his own way. It had been .' -' the habit of,thPipontIff to occasionally I honor his great nobles by n visit, and j j in the Imposing throne room of the .' a Colonna palace stood a, gold and. red I yt broendn chair in which only his 'ho)1-) 'ho)1-) "ess ever sat. YVhon the pontiff be-L, be-L, .came a "prisoner" and his visits .ceaa-p'eti. .ceaa-p'eti. thlir chair was turned towards tho '! wall, and from Uint day to (his, 42 !i years, ii hns ttever been moved; there it stands, and there It will stand un-' un-' til probably, in a dim future, it falls ! to pieces. I Prince Lnncollotti. another "black' noble, declared upon his word of hon-m hon-m or that he would never onier a Ro-; Ro-; man theater while tho city belonged to the house of Savoy. When Mascag-ni's Mascag-ni's "Caallerla"' was first given, the prince, who loved music passionately, was horribly tempted to break his vow, but he would not, and went instead all the way to Vienna, heard it once, and returned. He also permanently closed half of the great door of his palace with the Romans a sign of mourning and only opened it just in i these das becauso of domestic festi vals The Colonna are one of these aristocratic aris-tocratic families who seem to be torn I between an ancient loyalty to the pap-ncy pap-ncy and a stirring of tho blood due to now conditions and fresh points n iew, which take them into the opposite oppo-site camp, that of the Royal House. The prince just dead showed this uncertainty un-certainty to a vory marked degree. As n young" man he clung to the pope, but I as he grew towards mlddje ago he I thought that to cling to tho Vatican meant to be outside every forward movement of his country, and he accepted ac-cepted the position of gentleraan-ln-waitiug to the then reigning queen, Margherita. In his later ycara he fell heir to the hereditary position of " Assistant to the Papal Throne." threw up his post at court and assumed the position waiting for him at the vati-enn vati-enn One of his brothers, Don Prospero Colonna. has been major of Rome, the other, Don Fabrlzio. is a senator of tho kingdom, and although he has inherited in-herited the "AsB'stantshlp ' has passed It on to his son, who for his part has i nover appeared at court aud has all ' his Interests at the Vatican. The late prince had no sons, but of ' f his two daughters one married Prinue n Teano. a Radical deputy, aud the other Prince Ghigo, of the blacktest Vatican j nobility l Prince Colonna's death has made ;J more of a stir in Italy than any other ' non-political event in many years. |