“Passing from the chancery to the archives, which is in the second floor, it appeared, on first entering, as if everything was in its usual place; but on further inspection it was found, with much astonishment, that though the labels and cases were in their places, they were emptied of the packets of papers and documents indicated by the inscriptions without. Some conjecture that the missing packets have been conveyed to the convent ‘Della Minerva,’ or were hidden in the houses of private persons; while others suppose that they were burnt by the Dominican fathers. This last hypothesis receives weight from the circumstance that in November, 1848, shortly after the departure of the Pope from Rome, the civic guard came in much haste to the Holy Office, from having observed great clouds of smoke issuing from one of the chimneys, accompanied by a strong smell of burnt paper. But whatever were the means, the fact is certain, that, in the archives of the Inquisition, the most important trials were not to be found; such, for instance, as those of Galileo Galilei, and of Giordano Bruno, nor was there the correspondence regarding the reformation in England, in the 16th century, nor many other precious records. There remains, however, nearly complete, a collection of decrees, beginning with the year 1549, down to our own days. They were divided year by year, each volume containing the decrees of one year. Of these, of all that was contained in the chancery and archives of the Holy Office, a catalogue has been taken, with every legal formality of certification. It ought to be added that, after the above-mentioned threat of setting fire to the Holy Office, it was unanimously decreed by the Assembly that, instead of destroying that vast edifice, it should be portioned into dwellings for poor families of Rome. In consequence of this decision, the government was obliged to remove all the papers in the chancery and archives, along with three libraries existing in the Holy Office, to the Palazzo dell Apolinare, which was the residence assigned for the Minister of Finance.