diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 14381-0.txt | 7291 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14381-8.txt | 7682 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14381-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 160581 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14381.txt | 7682 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/14381.zip | bin | 0 -> 160461 bytes |
8 files changed, 22671 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14381-0.txt b/14381-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..66231fe --- /dev/null +++ b/14381-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7291 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14381 *** + +THE ROMAN QUESTION + +by + +E. ABOUT + +Translated From The French By H. C. Coape + +New York: +D. Appleton and Company, +346 & 348 Broadway + +1859 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I +travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all +opinions, examined things very closely, and collected my information +on the spot. + +My first impressions, noted down from day to day without any especial +object, appeared, with some necessary modifications, in the _Moniteur +Universel_. These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so +thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to discover in them +contradictions and inconsistencies, I was obliged to discontinue, in +consequence of the violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did +more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book instead. The present +volume is the result of a year's reflection. + +I completed my study of the subject by the perusal of the most recent +works published in Italy. The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, +and the admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de Rayneval, +supplied me with my best weapons. I have been further enlightened by +the conversation and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom +I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing them to danger. + +The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to write more rapidly +than I could have wished; and this enforced haste has given a certain +air of warmth, perhaps of intemperance, even to the most carefully +matured reflections. It was my intention to produce a memoir,--I fear +I may be charged with having written a pamphlet. Pardon me certain +vivacities of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge +boldly into the heart of the book. You will find something there. + +I fight fairly, and in good faith. I do not pretend to have judged the +foes of Italy without passion; but I have calumniated none of them. + +If I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I had an excellent one +in Paris, it is not because I feel any alarm on the score of the +regulations of our press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the +Pope has a long arm, which might reach me in France, I have gone a +little out of the way to tell him the plain truths contained in these +pages. + +May 9, 1859. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE POPE AS A KING + + II. NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + III. THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + IV. THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + V. OF THE PLEBEIANS + + VI. THE MIDDLE CLASSES + + VII. THE NOBILITY + + VIII. FOREIGNERS + + IX. ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE + + X. PIUS IX + + XI. ANTONELLI + + XII. PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT + + XIII. POLITICAL SEVERITY + + XIV. THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME + + XV. TOLERANCE + + XVI. EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE + + XVII. FOREIGN OCCUPATION + +XVIII. WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS + + XIX. MATERIAL INTERESTS + + XX. FINANCES + + CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE POPE AS A KING. + + +The Roman Catholic Church, which I sincerely respect, consists of one +hundred and thirty-nine millions of individuals--without counting +little Mortara. + +It is governed by seventy Cardinals, or Princes of the Church, in +memory of the twelve Apostles. + +The Cardinal-Bishop of Rome, who is also designated by the name of +Vicar of Jesus Christ, Holy Father, or Pope, is invested with +boundless authority over the minds of these hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics. + +The Cardinals are nominated by the Pope; the Pope is nominated by the +Cardinals; from the day of his election he becomes infallible, at +least in the opinion of M. de Maistre, and the best Catholics of our +time. + +This was not the opinion of Bossuet; but it has always been that of +the Popes themselves. + +When the Sovereign Pontiff declares to us that the Virgin Mary was +born free from original sin, the hundred and thirty-nine millions of +Catholics are bound to believe it on his word. This is what has +recently occurred. + +This discipline of the understanding reflects infinite credit upon the +nineteenth century. If posterity does us justice, it will be grateful +to us therefor. It will see that instead of cutting one another's +throats about theological questions, we have surveyed lines of +railway, laid telegraphs, constructed steam-engines, launched ships, +pierced isthmuses, created sciences, corrected laws, repressed +factions, fed the poor, civilized barbarians, drained marshes, +cultivated waste lands, without ever having a single dispute as to the +infallibility of a man. + +But the busiest age, the age which the best knows the value of time, +may be obliged for a moment to neglect its business. If, for instance, +it should remark around Rome and its Bishop a violent agitation, which +neither the trickery of diplomacy nor the pressure of armies can +suppress; if it perceive in a little corner of a peninsula a +smouldering fire, which may at any moment burst forth, and in +twenty-four hours envelope all Europe, this age, prudent from a sense +of duty, on account of the great things it has to accomplish, turns +its attention to the situation of Rome, and insists upon knowing what +it all means. + +It means that the simple princes of the middle ages, Pepin the Brief, +Charlemagne, and the Countess Matilda, behaved with great liberality +to the Pope. They gave him lands and men, according to the fashion of +the times, when men, being merely the live-stock of the land, were +thrown into the bargain. If they were generous, it was not because +they thought, with M. Thiers, that the Pope could not be independent +without being a King; they had seen him in his poverty more +independent and more commanding than almost any monarch on the earth. +They enriched him from motives of friendship, calculation, gratitude, +or it might even be to disinherit their relations, as we sometimes see +in our own time. Since the days of the Countess Matilda, the Pope, +having acquired a taste for possession, has gone on rounding his +estate. He has obtained cities by capitulation, as in the case of +Bologna; he has won others at the cannon's mouth, as Rimini; while +some he has appropriated, by treachery and stealth, as Ancona. Indeed +so well have matters been managed, that in 1859 the Bishop of Rome is +the temporal sovereign of about six millions of acres, and reigns over +three millions one hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and +sixty-eight men, who are all crying out loudly against him. + +What do they complain of? Only listen, and you will soon learn. + +They say--that the authority to which, without having either asked or +accepted it, they are subject, is the most fundamentally absolute that +was ever defined by Aristotle; that the legislative, executive, and +judicial powers are united, confounded, and jumbled together in one +and the same hand, contrary to the practice of civilized states, and +to the theory of Montesquieu; that they willingly recognize the +infallibility of the Pope upon all religious questions, but that in +civil matters it appears to them less easy to tolerate; that they do +not refuse to obey, because, all things considered, man is not placed +here below to follow the bent of his own inclinations, but that they +would be glad to obey laws; that the good pleasure of any man, however +good it may be, is not so good as the _Code Napoléon_; that the +reigning Pope is not an evil-disposed man, but that the arbitrary +government of one man, even admitting his infallibility, can never be +anything but a bad government. + +That in virtue of an ancient and hitherto ineradicable practice, the +Pope is assisted in the temporal government of his States by the +spiritual chiefs, subalterns, and spiritual _employés_ of his Church; +that Cardinals, Bishops, Canons, Priests, forage pell-mell about the +country; that one sole and identical caste possesses the right of +administering both sacraments and provinces; of confirming little boys +and the judgments of the lower courts; of ordaining subdeacons and +arrests; of despatching parting souls and captains' commissions; that +this confusion of the spiritual and the temporal disseminates among +the higher offices a multitude of men, excellent no doubt in the sight +of God, but insupportable in that of the people; often strangers to +the country, sometimes to business, and always to those domestic ties +which are the basis of every society; without any special knowledge, +unless it be of the things of another world; without children, which +renders them indifferent to the future of the nation; without wives, +which renders them dangerous to its present; and to conclude, +unwilling to hear reason, because they believe themselves +participators in the pontifical infallibility. + +That these servants of a most merciful but sometimes severe God, +simultaneously abuse both mercy and justice; that, full of indulgence +for the indifferent, for their friends, and for themselves, they treat +with extreme rigour whoever has had the misfortune to become obnoxious +to power; that they more readily pardon the wretch who cuts a man's +throat, than the imprudent citizen who blames an abuse. + +That the Pope, and the Priests who assist him, not having been taught +accounts, grossly mismanage the public finances; that whereas +maladministration or malversation of the public finances might have +been tolerated a hundred years ago, when the expenses of public +worship and of the papal court were defrayed by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics, it is a widely different affair +now, when they have to be supported by 3,124,668 individuals. + +That they do not complain of paying taxes, because it is a universally +established practice, but that they wish to see their money spent upon +terrestrial objects; that the sight of basilicas, churches, and +convents built or maintained at their expense, rejoices them as +Catholics, but grieves them as citizens, because, after all, these +edifices are but imperfect substitutes for railways and roads, for the +clearing of rivers, and the erection of dykes against inundations; +that faith, hope, and charity receive more encouragement than +agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; that public simplicity is +developed to the detriment of public education. + +That the law and the police are too much occupied with the salvation +of souls, and too little with the preservation of bodies; that they +prevent honest people from damning themselves by swearing, reading bad +books, or associating with Liberals, but that they don't prevent +rascals from murdering honest people; that property is as badly +protected as persons; and that it is very hard to be able to reckon +upon nothing for certain but a stall in Paradise. + +That they are made to pay heavily for keeping up an army without +knowledge or discipline, an army of problematical courage and doubtful +honours, and destined never to fight except against the citizens +themselves; that it is adding insult to injury to make a man pay for +the stick he is beaten with. That they are moreover obliged to lodge +foreign armies, and especially Austrians, who, as Germans, are +notoriously heavy-fisted. + +To conclude, they say all this is not what the Pope promised them in +his _motu proprio_ of the 19th of September; and it is sad to find +infallible people breaking their most sacred engagements. + +I have no doubt these grievances are exaggerated. It is impossible to +believe that an entire nation can be so terribly in the right against +its masters. We will examine the facts of the case in detail before we +decide. We have not yet arrived at that point. + +You have just heard the language, if not of the whole 3,124,668 +people, at least of the most intelligent, the most energetic, and the +most interesting part of the nation. Take away the conservative +party,--that is to say, those who have an interest in the +government,--and the unfortunate creatures whom it has utterly +brutalized,--and there will remain none but malcontents. + +The malcontents are not all of the same complexion. Some politely and +vainly ask the Holy Father to reform abuses: this is the moderate +party. Others propose to themselves a thorough reform of the +government: they are called radicals, revolutionists, or +Mazzinists--rather an injurious term. This latter category is not +precisely nice as to the measures to be resorted to. It holds, with +the Society of Jesus, that the end justifies the means. It says, if +Europe leaves it _tête-à -tête_ with the Pope, it will begin by cutting +his throat; and if foreign potentates oppose such criminal violence, +it will fling bombs under their carriages. + +The moderate party expresses itself plainly, the Mazzinists noisily. +Europe must be very stupid, not to understand the one; very deaf, not +to hear the other. + +What then happens? + +All the States which desire peace, public order, and civilization, +entreat the Pope to correct some abuse or other. "Have pity," they +say, "if not upon your subjects, at least upon your neighbours, and +save _us_ from the conflagration!" + +As often as this intervention is renewed, the Pope sends for his +Secretary of State. The said Secretary of State is a Cardinal who +reigns over the Holy Father in temporal matters, even as the Holy +Father reigns over a hundred and thirty nine millions of Catholics in +spiritual matters. The Pope confides to the Cardinal Minister the +source of his embarrassment, and asks him what is to be done. + +The Cardinal, who is the minister of everything in the State, replies, +without a moment's hesitation, to the old sovereign:-- + + "In the first place, there are no abuses: in the next place, + if there were any, we must not touch them. To reform + anything is to make a concession to the malcontents. To give + way, is to prove that we are afraid. To admit fear, is to + double the strength of the enemy, to open the gates to + revolution, and to take the road to Gaeta, where the + accommodation is none of the best. Don't let us leave home. + I know the house we live in; it is not new, but it will last + longer than your Holiness--provided no attempt is made to + repair it. After us the deluge; we've got no children!" + +"All very true," replies the Pope. + + "But the sovereign who is entreating me to do something, is + an eldest son of the Church. He has rendered us great + services. He still protects us constantly. What would become + of us if he abandoned us?" + +"Don't be alarmed," says the Cardinal. "I'll arrange the matter +diplomatically." And he sits down, and writes an invariable note, in a +diplomatically tortuous style, which may thus be summed up:-- + + "We want your soldiers, and not your advice, seeing that we + are infallible. If you were to show any symptom of doubting + that infallibility, and if you attempted to force anything + upon us, even our preservation, we would fold our wings + around our countenances, we would raise the palms of + martyrdom, and we should become an object of compassion to + all the Catholics in the universe. You know we have in your + country forty thousand men who are at liberty to say + everything, and whom you pay with your own money to plead + our cause. They shall preach to your subjects, that you are + tyrannizing over the Holy Father, and we shall set your + country in a blaze without appearing to touch it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + + "For the Pontificate there is no independence but + sovereignty itself. Here is an interest of the highest + order, which ought to silence the particular interests of + nations, even as in a State the public interest silences + individual interests." + +These are not my words, but the words of M. Thiers: they occur in his +report to the Legislative Assembly, in October 1849. I have no doubt +this Father of the temporal Church expressed the wishes of one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics. It was all Catholicity which +said to 3,124,668 Italians, by the lips of the honourable reporter: + + "Devote yourselves as one man. Our chief can only be + venerable, August, and independent, so long as he reigns + despotically over you. If, in an evil hour, he were to cease + wearing a crown of gold; if you were to contest his right to + make and break laws; if you were to give up the wholesome + practice of laying at his feet that money which he disburses + for our edification and our glory, all the sovereigns of the + universe would look upon him as an inferior. Silence, then, + the noisy chattering of your individual interests." + +I flatter myself that I am as fervent a Catholic as M. Thiers himself; +and were I bold enough to seek to refute him, I should do it in the +name of our common faith. + +I grant you--this would be the tenor of my argument--that the Pope +ought to be independent. But could he not be so at a somewhat less +cost? Is it absolutely necessary that 3,124,668 men should sacrifice +their liberty, their security, and all that is most precious to them, +in order to secure the independence which makes us so happy and so +proud? The Apostles were certainly independent at a cheaper rate, for +they did nobody harm. The most independent of men is he who has +nothing to lose. He pursues his own path, without troubling himself +about powers and principalities, for the simple reason that the +conqueror most bent on acquisition can take nothing from him. + +The greatest conquests of Catholicism were made at a time when the +Pope was not a ruler. Since he has become a king, you may measure the +territory won from the Church by inches. + +The earliest Popes, who were not kings, had no budgets. Consequently +they had no annual deficits to make up. Consequently they were not +obliged to borrow millions of M. de Rothschild. Consequently they were +more independent than the crowned Popes of more recent times. + +Ever since the spiritual and the temporal have been joined, like two +Siamese powers, the most August of the two has necessarily lost its +independence. Every day, or nearly so, the Sovereign Pontiff finds +himself called upon to choose between the general interests of the +Church, and the private interests of his crown. Think you he is +sufficiently estranged from the things of this world to sacrifice +heroically the earth, which is near, to the Heaven, which is remote? +Besides, we have history to help us. I might, if I chose, refer to +certain bad Popes who were capable of selling the dogma of the Holy +Trinity for half-a-dozen leagues of territory; but it would be hardly +fair to argue from bad Popes to the confusion of indifferent ones. +Think you, however, that when the Pope legalized the perjury of +Francis the First after the treaty of Madrid, he did it to make the +morality of the Holy See respected, or to stir up a war useful to his +crown? + +When he organized the traffic in indulgences, and threw one-half of +Europe into heresy, was it to increase the number of Christians, or to +give a dowry to a young lady? + +When, during the Thirty Years' War, he made an alliance with the +Protestants of Sweden, was it to prove the disinterestedness of the +Church, or to humble the House of Austria? + +When he excommunicated Venice in 1806, was it to attach the Republic +more firmly to the Church, or to serve the rancour of Spain against +the first allies of Henry IV.? + +When he suppressed the Order of the Jesuits, was it to reinforce the +army of the Church, or to please his master in France? + +When he terminated his relations with the Spanish American provinces +upon their proclaiming their independence, was it in the interest of +the Church, or of Spain? + +When he held excommunication suspended over the heads of such Romans +as took their money to foreign lotteries, was it to attach their +hearts to the Church, or to draw their crown-pieces into his own +treasury? + +M. Thiers knows all this better than I do; but he possibly thought +that when the spiritual sovereign of the Church and the temporal +sovereign of a little country, wear the same cap, the one is naturally +condemned to minister to the ambition or the necessities of the other. + +We wish the chief of the Catholic religion to be independent, and we +make him pay slavish obedience to a petty Italian prince; thus +rendering the future of that religion subordinate to miserable local +interests and petty parish squabbles. + +But this union of powers, which would gain by separation, compromises +not only the independence, but the dignity of the Pope. The melancholy +obligation to govern men obliges him to touch many things which he had +better leave alone. Is it not deplorable that bailiffs must seize a +debtor's property in the Pope's name?--that judges must condemn a +murderer to death in the name of the Head of the Church?--that the +executioner must cut off heads in the name of the Vicar of Christ? +There is to me something truly scandalous in the association of those +two words, _Pontifical lottery_! And what can the hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics think, when they hear their +spiritual sovereign expressing, through his finance minister, his +satisfaction at the progress of vice as proved by the success of the +lotteries? + +The subjects of the Pope are not scandalized at these contradictions, +simply because they are accustomed to them. They strike a foreigner, a +Catholic, a casual unit out of the hundred and thirty-nine millions; +they inspire in him an irresistible desire to defend the independence +and the dignity of the Church. But the inhabitants of Bologna or +Viterbo, of Terracina or Ancona, are more occupied with national than +with religious interests, either because they want that feeling of +self-devotion recommended by M. Thiers, or because the government of +the priests has given them a horror of Heaven. Very middling +Catholics, but excellent citizens, they everywhere demand the freedom +of their country. The Bolognese affirm that they are not necessary to +the independence of the Pope, which they say could do as well without +Bologna as it has for some time contrived to do without Avignon. Every +city repeats the same thing, and if they were all to be listened to, +the Holy Father, freed from the cares of administration, might devote +his undivided attention to the interests of the Church and the +embellishment of Rome. The Romans themselves, so they be neither +princes, nor priests, nor servants, nor beggars, declare that they +have devoted themselves long enough, and that M. Thiers may now carry +his advice elsewhere. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +The Papal States have no natural limits: they are carved out on the +map as the chance of passing events has made them, and as the +good-nature of Europe has left them. An imaginary line separates them +from Tuscany and Modena. The most southerly point enters into the +kingdom of Naples; the province of Benevento is enclosed within the +states of King Ferdinand, as formerly was the Comtat-Venaissin within +the French territory. The Pope, in his turn, shuts in that Ghetto of +democracy, the republic of San Marino. + +I never cast my eyes over this poor map of Italy, capriciously rent +into unequal fragments, without one consoling reflection. + +Nature, which has done everything for the Italians, has taken care to +surround their country with magnificent barriers. The Alps and the sea +protect it on all sides, isolate it, bind it together as a distinct +body, and seem to design it for an individual existence. To crown all, +no internal barrier condemns the Italians to form separate nations. +The Apennines are so easily crossed, that the people on either side +can speedily join hands. All the existing boundaries are entirely +arbitrary, traced by the brutality of the Middle Ages, or the shaky +hand of diplomacy, which undoes to-morrow what it does to-day. A +single race covers the soil; the same language is spoken from north to +south; the people are all united in a common bond by the glory of +their ancestors, and the recollections of Roman conquest, fresher and +more vivid than the hatreds of the fourteenth century. + +These considerations induce me to believe that the people of Italy +will one day be independent of all others, and united among themselves +by the force of geography and history, two powers more invincible than +Austria. + +But I return _à mes moutons_, and to their shepherd, the Pope. + +The kingdom possessed by a few priests, covers an extent, in round +numbers, of six millions of acres, according to the statistics +published in 1857 by Monsignor, now Cardinal, Milesi. + +No country in Europe is more richly gifted, or possesses greater +advantages, whether for agriculture, manufacture, or commerce. + +Traversed by the Apennines, which divide it about equally, the Papal +dominions incline gently, on one side to the Adriatic, on the other to +the Mediterranean. In each of these seas they possess an excellent +port: to the east, Ancona; to the west, Civita Vecchia. If Panurge had +had Ancona and Civita Vecchia in his Salmagundian kingdom, he would +infallibly have built himself a navy. The Phoenicians and the +Carthaginians were not so well off. + +A river, tolerably well known under the name of the Tiber, waters +nearly the whole country to the west. In former days it ministered to +the wants of internal commerce. Roman historians describe it as +navigable up to Perugia. At the present time it is hardly so as far as +Rome; but if its bed were cleared out, and filth not allowed to be +thrown in, it would render greater service, and would not overflow so +often. The country on the other side is watered by small rivers, +which, with a little government assistance, might be rendered very +serviceable. + +In the level country the land is of prodigious fertility. More than a +fourth of it will grow corn. Wheat yields a return of fifteen for one +on the best land, thirteen on middling, and nine on the worst. Fields +thrown out of cultivation become admirable natural pastures. The hemp +is of very fine quality when cultivated with care. The vine and the +mulberry thrive wherever they are planted. The finest olive-trees and +the best olives in Europe grow in the mountains. A variable, but +generally mild climate, brings to maturity the products of extreme +latitudes. Half the country is favourable to the palm and the orange. +Numerous and thriving flocks roam across the plains in winter, and +ascend to the mountains in summer. Horses, cows, and sheep live and +multiply in the open air, without need of shelter. Indian buffaloes +swarm in the marshes. Every species of produce requisite for the food +and clothing of man grows easily, and as it were joyfully, in this +privileged land. If men in the midst of it are in want of bread or +shirts, Nature has no cause to reproach herself, and Providence washes +its hands of the evil. + +In all the three states raw material exists in incredible abundance. +Here are hemp, for ropemakers, spinners, and weavers; wine, for +distillers; olives, for oil and soap makers; wool, for cloth and +carpet manufacturers; hides and skins, for tanners, shoemakers, and +glovers; and silk in any quantity for manufactures of luxury. The iron +ore is of middling quality, but the island of Elba, in which the very +best is found, is near at hand. The copper and lead mines, which the +ancients worked profitably, are perhaps not exhausted. Fuel is +supplied by a million or two of acres of forest land; besides which, +there is the sea, always open for the transport of coal from +Newcastle. The volcanic soil of several provinces produces enormous +quantities of sulphur, and the alum of Tolfi is the best in the world. +The quartz of Civita Vecchia will give us kaolin for porcelain. The +quarries contain building materials, such as marble and pozzolana, +which is Roman cement almost ready-made. + +In 1847, the country lands subject to the Pope were valued at about +£34,800,000 sterling. The province of Benevento was not included, and +the Minister of Commerce and Public Works admitted that the property +was not estimated at above a third of its real value. If capital +returned its proper interest, if activity and industry caused trade +and manufactures to increase the national income as ought to be the +case, it would be the Rothschilds who would borrow money of the Pope +at six per cent. interest. + +But stay! I have not yet completed the catalogue of possessions. To +the present munificence of nature must be added the inheritance of the +past. The poor Pagans of great Rome left all their property to the +Pope who damns them. + +They left him gigantic aqueducts, prodigious sewers, and roads which +we find still in use, after twenty centuries of traffic. They left him +the Coliseum, for his Capuchins to preach in. They left him an example +of an administration without an equal in history. But the heritage was +accepted without the responsibilities attached to it. + +I will no longer conceal from you that this magnificent territory +appeared to me in the first place most unworthily cultivated. From +Civita Vecchia to Rome, a distance of some sixteen leagues, +cultivation struck me in the light of a very rare accident, to which +the soil was but little accustomed. Some pasture fields, some land in +fallow, plenty of brambles, and, at long intervals, a field with oxen +at plough, this is what the traveller will see in April. He will not +even meet with the occasional forest which he finds in the most desert +regions of Turkey. It seems as if man had swept across the land to +destroy everything, and the soil had been then taken possession of by +flocks and herds. + +The country round Rome resembles the road from Civita Vecchia. The +capital is girt by a belt of uncultivated, but not unfertile land. I +used to walk in every direction, and sometimes for a long distance; +the belt seemed very wide. However, in proportion as I receded from +the city, I found the fields better cultivated. One would suppose that +at a certain distance from St. Peter's the peasants worked with +greater relish. The roads, which near Rome are detestable, became +gradually better; they were more frequented, and the people I met +seemed more cheerful. The inns became habitable, by comparison, in an +astonishing degree. Still, so long as I remained in that part of the +country towards the Mediterranean, of which Rome is the centre, and +which is more directly subject to its influence, I found that the +appearance of the land always left something to be desired. I +sometimes fancied that these honest labourers worked as if they were +afraid to make a noise, lest, by smiting the soil too deeply and too +boldly, they should wake up the dead of past ages. + +But when once I had crossed the Apennines, when I was beyond the reach +of the breeze which blew over the capital, I began to inhale an +atmosphere of labour and goodwill that cheered my heart. The fields +were not only dug, but manured, and, still better, planted and sown. +The smell of manure was quite new to me. I had never met with it on +the other side of the Apennines. I was delighted at the sight of +trees. There were rows of vines twining around elms planted in fields +of hemp, wheat, or clover. In some places the vines and elms were +replaced by mulberry-trees. What mingled riches were here lavished by +nature! How bounteous is the earth! Here were mingled together, in +rich profusion, bread, wine, shirts, silk gowns, and forage for the +cattle. St. Peter's is a noble church, but, in its way, a +well-cultivated field is a beautiful sight! + +I travelled slowly to Bologna; the sight of the country I passed +through, and the fruitfulness of honest human labour, made me happy. I +retraced my steps towards St. Peter's; my melancholy returned when I +found myself again amidst the desolation of the Roman Campagna. + +As I reflected on what I had seen, a disquieting idea forced itself +upon me in a geometrical form. It seemed to me that the activity and +prosperity of the subjects of the Pope were in exact proportion to the +square of the distance which separated them from Rome: in other words, +that the shade of the monuments of the eternal city was noxious to the +cultivation of the country. Rabelais says the shade of monasteries is +fruitful; but he speaks in another sense. + +I submitted my doubts to a venerable ecclesiastic, who hastened to +undeceive me. "The country is not uncultivated," he said; "or if it be +so, the fault is with the subjects of the Pope. This people is +indolent by nature, although 21,415 monks are always preaching +activity and industry to them!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +On the 14th of May, 1856, M. de Rayneval, then French ambassador at +Rome, a warm friend to the cardinals, and consequently a bitter foe to +their subjects, thus described the Italian people:-- + + "A nation profoundly divided among themselves, animated by + ardent ambition, possessing none of the qualities which + constitute the greatness and power of others, devoid of + energy, equally wanting in military spirit and in the spirit + of association, and respecting neither the law nor social + distinctions." + +M. de Rayneval will be canonized a hundred years hence (if the present +system continue) for having so nobly defended the oppressed. + +It will not be foreign to my purpose to try my own hand at this +picture; for the subjects of the Pope are Italians like the rest, and +there is but one nation in the Italian peninsula. The difference of +climate, the vicinity of foreigners, the traces of invasions, may have +modified the type, altered the accent, and slightly varied the +language; still the Italians are the same everywhere, and the middle +class--the _élite_ of every people--think and speak alike from Turin +to Naples. Handsome, robust, and healthy, when the neglect of +Governments has not delivered them over to the fatal _malaria_, the +Italians are, mentally, the most richly endowed people in Europe. M. +de Rayneval, who is not the man to flatter them, admits that they have +"intelligence, penetration, and aptitude for everything." The +cultivation of the arts is no less natural to them than is the study +of the sciences; their first steps in every path open to human +intellect are singularly rapid, and if but too many of them stop +before the end is attained, it is because their success is generally +barred by deplorable circumstances. In private as well as public +affairs, they possess a quick apprehension and sagacity carried to +suspicion. There is no race more ready at making and discussing laws; +legislation and jurisprudence have been among their chief triumphs. +The idea of law sprang up in Italy at the time of the foundation of +Rome, and it is the richest production of this marvellous soil. The +Italians still possess administrative genius in a high degree. +Administration went forth from the midst of them for the conquest of +the world, and the greatest administrators known to history, Cæsar and +Napoleon, were of Italian origin. + +Thus gifted by nature, they have the sense of their high qualities, +and they at times carry it to the extent of pride. The legitimate +desire to exercise the faculties they possess, degenerates into +ambition; but their pride would not be ludicrous, nor would their +ambition appear extravagant, if their hands were free for action. +Through a long series of ages, despotic Governments have penned them +into a narrow area. The impossibility of realizing high aims, and the +want of action which perpetually stirs within them, has driven them to +paltry disputes and local quarrels. Are we to infer from this that +they are incapable of becoming a nation? I am not of that opinion. +Already they are uniting to call upon the King of Piedmont, and to +applaud the policy of Count Cavour. If this be not sufficient proof, +make an experiment. Take away the barriers which separate them; I will +answer for their soon being united. But the keepers of these barriers +are the King of Naples, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Austria, the Pope, +and the rest. Are such keepers likely to give up the keys? + +I know not what are "the qualities which constitute the greatness and +power of other nations"--as, for example, the Austrian nation,--but I +know very few qualities, physical, intellectual, or moral, which the +Italians do not possess. Are they "devoid of energy," as M. de +Rayneval declares? I should rather reproach them with the opposite +excess. The absurd but resolute defence of Rome against the French +army, may surely be regarded as the act of an energetic people. We +must be extremely humble, if we admit that a French army was held in +check for two months by men wanting in energy. The assassinations +which occur in the streets of Rome, prove rather the inefficiency of +the police than the effeminacy of the citizens. I find, from an +official return, that in 1853 the Roman tribunals punished 609 crimes +against property, and 1,344 against the person. These figures do not +indicate a faultless people, but they prove little inclination for +base theft, and look rather like a diabolical energy. In the same year +the Assize Courts in France pronounced judgment upon 3,719 individuals +charged with theft, and 1,921 with crimes against the person. The +proportion is reversed. Robbers have the majority with us. And yet we +are rather an energetic people. + +If the Italians are so also, there will not be much difficulty in +making soldiers of them. M. de Rayneval tells us, they are "entirely +wanting in military spirit." No doubt he echoed the opinion of some +Cardinal. Indeed! Were the Piedmontese in the Crimea, then, wanting in +the military spirit? + +M. de Rayneval and the Cardinals are willing to admit the courage of +the Piedmontese, but then, they say, Piedmont is not in Italy; its +inhabitants are half Swiss, half French. Their language is not +Italian, neither are their habits, the proof of which is found in the +fact, that they have the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown +to the rest of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to +prove that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French; the first, +because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and because they say +_Meinherr_ when we should say _Monsieur_; the second, because they +have the true monarchical spirit, and because they call _butun_ what +we call _tabac_. But all the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont. +The King of Naples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has a +sufficient one for his defence; the small Duchies of Modena and Parma +have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, Venice, Modena, and one-half +of the Papal States, have given heroes to France. Napoleon remembered +it at St. Helena; it has been so written. + +As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to be found, +if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world governed? By an +Association. What is it but an Association that wastes the revenue of +the poor Romans? Who monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil? +Who lays waste the forests of the State? An Association. Who take +possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travellers under +contribution? Five or six Associations. Who keeps up agitation at +Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, at Home? That secret Association +known as the Mazzinists. + +I grant that the Romans have but a moderate respect for the law. But +the truth is, there is no law in the country. They have a respect for +the Code Napoléon, since they urgently ask for it. What they do not +respect is, the official caprice of their masters. I am certainly no +advocate of disorder; but when I think that a mere fancy of Cardinal +Antonelli, scribbled on a sheet of paper, has the force of law for the +present and the future, I can understand an insolent contempt of the +laws, to the extent of actual revolt. + +As for social distinctions, it strikes me that the Italians respect +them even too much. When I have led you for half an hour through the +streets of Rome, you will ask yourselves to what a Roman prince can +possibly be superior. Nevertheless the Romans exhibit a sincere +respect for their princes: habit is so strong! If I were to conduct +you to the source of some of the large fortunes among my +acquaintances, you would rise with stones and sticks against the +superiority of wealth. And yet the Romans, dazzled by dollars, are +full of respect for the rich. If I were to--But I think the Italian +nation is sufficiently justified. I will but add, that if it is easily +led to evil, it is still more easily brought back to good; that it is +passionate and violent, but not ill-disposed, and that a kind act +suffices to make it forget the most justifiable enmities. + +I will add in conclusion, that the Italians are not enervated by the +climate to such a degree as to dislike work. A traveller who may +happen to have seen some street porters asleep in the middle of the +day, returns home and informs Europe that these lazy people snore from +morning till night; that they have few wants, and work just enough to +keep themselves from one day to another. I shall presently show you +that the labourers of the rural districts are as industrious as our +own peasants (and that, too, in a very different temperature), as +economical, provident, and orderly, though more hospitable and more +charitable. If the lower orders in the towns have become addicted to +extravagance, idleness, and mendicity, it is because they have +discovered the impossibility, even by the most heroic efforts and the +most rigid economy, of gaining either capital or independence or +position. Let us not confound discouragement with want of courage, nor +tax a poor fellow with idleness, merely because he has had the +misfortune to be knocked down and run over by a carriage. + +The Pope reigns over 3,124,668 souls, as I have already observed more +than once. This population is unequally distributed over the surface +of the country. The population in the provinces of the Adriatic is +nearly double that in the Mediterranean provinces, and more +immediately under the Sovereign's eyes. + +Those pious economists who insist upon it that all is for the best +under the most sacred of governments, will not scruple to tell you:-- + + "Our State is one of the most populous in Europe: + _therefore_ it must be one of the best governed. The average + population of France is 67 ½ inhabitants to the square + kilomètre; that of the States of the Church 75 7/10. It + follows from this that if the Emperor of the French were to + adopt our mode of administration, he would have 8 2/10 + inhabitants more on each square kilomètre! + + "The province of Ancona, which is occupied by the Austrians, + and governed by priests, has 155 inhabitants to the square + kilomètre. The Bas-Rhin, which is the fourth department of + France, has but 129, consequently it is evident that the + Bas-Rhin will continue to be relatively inferior, so long as + it is not governed by priests, and occupied by the + Austrians. + + "The population of our happy country became increased by + one-third between the years 1816 and 1853, a space of + thirty-seven years. Such a grand result can only be + attributed to the excellent administration of the Holy + Father, and the preaching of 38,320 priests and monks, who + protect youth from the destructive influence of the + passions.[1] + + "You will observe that the English have a passion for moving + about the country. Even in the interior they change their + residence and their county with an incredible mobility; no + doubt this is because their country is unhealthy and badly + administered. In the El Dorado which we govern, no more than + 178,943 individuals are known to have changed their abode + from one province to another: _therefore_ our subjects are + all happy in their homes." + +I do not deny the eloquence of these figures, and I am not one of +those who think statistics prove everybody's case. But it seems to me +very natural that a rich country, in the hands of an agricultural +people, should feed 75 inhabitants to the square kilomètre, under any +sort of government. What astonishes me is that it should feed no more; +and I promise you that when it is better governed it will feed many +more. + +The population of the States of the Church has increased by one-third +in thirty-seven years. But that of Greece has trebled between 1832 and +1853. Nevertheless Greece is in the enjoyment of a detestable +government; as I believe I have pretty correctly demonstrated +elsewhere.[2] The increase of a population proves the vitality of a +race rather than the solicitude of an administration. I will never +believe that 770,000 children were born between 1816 and 1853 by the +intervention of the priests. I prefer to believe that the Italian race +is vigorous, moral, and marriageable, and that it does not yet despair +of the future. + +Lastly, if the subjects of the Pope stay at home, instead of moving +about, it may be because communication between one place and another +is difficult, or because the authorities are close-fisted in the +matter of passports; it may be, too, because they are certain of +finding, in whatever part of the country they move to, the same +priests, the same judges, and the same taxes. + +Out of the population of 3,124,668 souls, more than a million are +agricultural labourers and shepherds. The workmen number 258,872, and +the servants exceed the workmen by about 30,000. Trade, finance, and +general business occupy something under 85,000 persons. + +The landed proprietors are 206,558 in number, being about +one-fifteenth of the entire population. We have a greater proportion +in France. The official statistics of the Roman State inform us that +if the national wealth were equally divided among all the proprietors, +each of the 206,558 families would possess a capital of £680 sterling. +But they have omitted to state that some of these landed proprietors +possess 50,000 acres, and others a mere heap of flints. + +It is to be observed that the division of land, like all other good +things, increases in proportion to the distance from the capital. In +the province of Rome there are 1,956 landed proprietors out of 176,002 +inhabitants, which is about one in ninety. In the province of +Macerata, towards the Adriatic, there are 39,611, out of 243,104, or +one proprietor to every six inhabitants, which is as much as to say +that in this province there are almost as many properties as there are +families. + +The Agro Romano, which it took Rome several centuries to conquer, is +at the present time the property of 113 families, and of 64 +corporations.[3] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OF THE PLEBEIANS. + + +The subjects of the Holy Father are divided by birth and fortune +into three very distinct classes,--nobility, citizens, and people, or +plebeians. The Gospel has omitted to consecrate the inequality of men, +but the law of the State--that is to say, the will of the +Popes--carefully maintains it. Benedict XIV. declared it honourable +and salutary in his Bull of January 4, 1746, and Pius IX. expressed +himself in the same terms at the beginning of his _Chirografo_ of May +2, 1853. + +If I do not reckon the clergy among the classes of society, it is +because that body is foreign to the nation by its interests, by its +privileges, and often by its origin. The Cardinals and Prelates are +not, properly speaking, the Pope's subjects, but rather his ghostly +confederates, and the partners of his omnipotence. + +The distinction of class is more especially perceptible at Rome, near +the Pontifical throne. It gradually disappears, together with many +other abuses, in proportion to their distance from their source. There +are bottomless abysses between the noble Roman and the citizen of +Rome, between the citizen of Rome and the plebeian of the city. The +plebeian himself discharges a portion of the scorn expressed by the +two superior classes for himself, upon the peasants he meets at +market: it is a sort of cascade of contempt. At Rome, thanks to the +traditions of history, and the education given by the Popes, the +inferior thinks he can get out of his nothingness, and become +something, by begging the favour and support of a superior. A general +system of dependence and patronage makes the plebeian kneel before the +man of the middle class, who again kneels before the prince, who in +his turn kneels more humbly than all the others before the sovereign +clergy. + +At twenty leagues' distance from Rome there is very little kneeling; +beyond the Apennines none at all. When you reach Bologna you find an +almost French equality in the manners: for the simple reason that +Napoleon has left his mark there. + +The absolute value of the men in each category increases according to +the square of the distance. You may feel almost certain that a Roman +noble will be less educated, less capable, and less free than a +gentleman of the Marches or of the Romagna. The middle class, with +some exceptions which I shall presently mention, is infinitely more +numerous, more enlightened, and wealthier, to the east of the +Apennines, than in and about the capital. The plebeians themselves +have more honesty and morality when they live at a respectful distance +from the Vatican. + +The plebeians of the Eternal City are overgrown children badly brought +up, and perverted in various ways by their education. The Government, +which, being in the midst of them, fears them, treats them mildly. It +demands few taxes of them; it gives them shows, and sometimes bread, +the _panem et circenses_ prescribed by the Emperors of the Decline. It +does not teach them to read, neither does it forbid them to beg. It +sends Capuchins to their homes. The Capuchin gives the wife +lottery-tickets, drinks with the husband, and brings up the children +after his kind, and sometimes in his likeness. The plebeians of Rome +are certain never to die of hunger; if they have no bread, they are +allowed to help themselves from the baker's basket; the law allows it. +All that is required of them is to be good Christians, to prostrate +themselves before the priests, to humble themselves before the rich, +and to abstain from revolutions. They are severely punished if they +refuse to take the Sacrament at Easter, or if they talk +disrespectfully of the Saints. The tribunal of the Vicariates listens +to no excuses on this head; but the police is enough as to everything +else. Crimes are forgiven them, they are encouraged in meanness; the +only offences for which there is no pardon are the cry for liberty, +revolt against an abuse, the assertion of manhood. + +It is marvellous to me that with such an education there is any good +left in them at all. The worst half of the people is that which dwells +in the Monti district. If, in seeking the Convent of the Neophytes, or +the house of Lucrezia Borgia, you miss your way among those foul +narrow streets, you will find yourself in the midst of a strange +medley of thieves, sharpers, guitar-players, artists' models, beggars, +_ciceroni_, and _ruffiani_. If you speak to them, you may be sure they +will kiss your Excellency's hand, and pick your Excellency's pocket. I +do not think a worse breed is to be found in any city in Europe, not +even in London. All these people _practise_ religion, without the +least believing in God. The police does not meddle much with them. To +be sure they are sent to prison now and then, but thanks to a +favourable word in the right quarter, or to the want of prison +accommodation, they are soon set at liberty. Even the honest workmen +their neighbours occasionally get into scrapes. They have made plenty +of money in the winter, and spent it all in the Carnival--as is the +common custom. Summer comes, the foreign visitors depart; no more work +and no more money. Moral training, which might sustain them, is wholly +wanting. The love of show, that peculiar disease of Rome, is their +bane. The wife, if she be pretty, sells herself, or the husband does +what he had better leave undone. + +Judge them not too harshly. Remember, they have read nothing, they +have never been out of Rome; the example of ostentation is set them by +the Cardinals, of misconduct by the prelates, of venality by the +different functionaries, of squandering by the Finance Minister. And +above all, remember that care has been taken to root out from their +hearts, as if it were a destructive weed, that noble sentiment of +human dignity which is the principle of every virtue. + +The blood which flows in Italian veins must be very generous, or so +notable a portion of the plebeians of Rome as the people of the +_Trastevere_, could never have preserved their manly virtues, as is +notoriously the case with them. I have met with men in this quarter of +the city, coarse, violent, sometimes ferocious, but really _men_; nice +as to their honour, to the extent of poniarding any one who is wanting +in respect to them. They are fully as ignorant as the people of the +Monti; they have learnt the same lessons, and witnessed the same +examples; they have the same improvidence, the same love of pleasure, +the same brutality in their passions; but they are incapable of +stooping, even to pick anything up. + +A government worthy of the name would make something of this ignorant +force, first taming, and then directing it. The man who stabs his +fellow in a wineshop might prove a good soldier on a battle-field. But +we are in the capital of the Pope. The Trasteverini neither attack God +nor the Government; they meddle neither with theology nor politics; no +more is asked of them. And in token of its appreciation of their good +conduct, a paternal administration allows them to cut one another's +throats _ad libitum_. + +Neither the people of the Trastevere nor of the Monti give the least +sign of political existence, whereat the Cardinals rub their hands, +and congratulate themselves upon having kept so many men in profound +ignorance of all their rights. I am not quite certain that the theory +is a sound one. Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees +of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers into the +Pope's capital. An honest, mild, enlightened plebeian would reflect +twice before enrolling himself. He would weigh the pros and the cons, +and balance for a long time between the vices of the government, and +the dangers of revolution. But the mob of the Monti would take fire +like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, while the +Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the Papal despotism were +represented to them as an attack upon their honour. It would be better +to have in these plebeians foes capable of reasoning. The Pope might +often have to reckon with them, but he need never tremble before them. + +I trust the masters of the country may never more be obliged to fight +with the plebeians of Rome. They were easily carried away by the +leaders of 1848, although the name of Republic resounded for the first +time in their ears. Have they forgotten it? No. They will long +remember that magic word, which abased the great, and exalted the +humble. Moreover, the hidden Mazzinists, who agitate throughout the +city, don't collect the workmen in the quarter of the _Regola_ to +preach submission to them. + +I have said that the plebeians of the city of Rome despise the +plebeians of the country. Be assured, however, the latter are not +deserving of scorn, even in the Mediterranean provinces. In this +unhappy half of the Pontifical States, the influence of the Vatican +has not yet quite morally destroyed the population. The country people +are poor, ignorant, superstitious, rather wild, but kind, hospitable, +and generally honest. If you wish to study them more closely, go to +one of the villages in the province of Frosinone, towards the +Neapolitan frontier. Cross the plains which malaria has made dreary +solitudes, take the stony path which winds painfully up the side of +the mountain. You will come to a town of five or ten thousand souls, +which is little more than a dormitory for five or ten thousand +peasants. Viewed from a distance, this country town has an almost +grand appearance. The dome of a church, a range of monastic buildings, +the tower of a feudal castle, invest it with a certain air of +importance. A troop of women are coming down to the fountain with +copper vessels on their heads. You smile instinctively. Here is +movement and life. Enter! You are struck with a sensation of coldness, +dampness, and darkness. The streets are narrow flights of steps, which +every now and then plunge beneath low arches. The houses are closed, +and seem to have been deserted for a century. Not a human being at the +doors, or at the windows. The streets, silent and solitary. + +You would imagine that the curse of heaven had fallen on the country, +but for the large placards on the house-fronts, which prove that +missionary fathers have passed through the place. "_Viva Gesù! Viva +Maria! Viva il sangue di Gesù! Viva il cor di Maria! Bestemmiatori, +tacetevi per l'amor di Maria!_" + +These devotional sentences are like so many signboards of the public +simplicity. + +A quarter of an hour's walk brings you to the principal square. +Half-a-dozen civil officials are seated in a circle before a café, +gaping at one another. You join them. They ask you for news of +something that happened a dozen years ago. You ask them in turn, what +epidemic has depopulated the country? + +Presently some thirty market-men and women begin to display on the +pavement an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Where are the buyers +of these products of the earth? Here they come! Night is approaching. +The entire population begins to return at once from their labour in +the fields; a stalwart and sturdy population; the thew and sinew of +some fine regiments. Every one of these half-clad men, armed with +pickaxe and shovel, rose two hours before the sun this morning, and +went forth to weed a little field, or to dig round a few olive-trees. +Many of them have their little domains several miles off, and thither +they go daily, accompanied by a child and a pig. The pig is not very +fat, and the man and his child are very lean. Still they seem +light-hearted and merry. They have plucked some wild flowers by the +roadside. The boy is crowned with roses, like Lucullus at table. The +father buys a handful of vegetables, and a cake of maize, which will +furnish the family supper. They will sleep well enough on this +diet--if the fleas allow them. If you like to follow these poor people +home, they will give you a kindly welcome, and will not fail to ask +you to partake of their modest meal. Their furniture is very simple, +their conversation limited; their heads are as well furnished as their +dwellings. + +The wife who has been awaiting the return of her lord, will open the +door to you. Of all useful animals, the wife is the one which the +Roman peasant employs most profitably. She makes the bread and the +cakes; she spins, weaves, and sews; she goes every day three miles for +wood, and one and a half for water; she carries a mule's load on her +head; she works from sunrise to sunset, without question or complaint. +Her numerous children are in themselves a precious resource: at four +years old they are able to tend sheep and cattle. + +It is vain to ask these country people what is their opinion of Rome +and the government: their idea of these matters is infinitely vague +and shadowy. The Government manifests itself to them in the person of +an official, who, for the sum of three pounds sterling per month, +administers and sells justice among them. This individual is the only +gift Rome has ever conferred upon them. In return for the great +benefit of his presence, they pay taxes on a tolerably extensive +scale: so much for the house, so much for the livestock, so much for +the privilege of lighting a fire, so much on the wine, and so much on +the meat--when they are able to enjoy that luxury. They grumble, +though not very bitterly, regarding the taxes as a sort of periodical +hailstorm falling on their year's harvest. If they were to learn that +Rome had been swallowed up by an earthquake, they certainly would not +put on mourning. They would go forth to their fields as usual, they +would sell their crops for the usual price, and they would pay less +taxes. This is what all towns inhabited by peasants think of the +metropolis. Every township lives by itself, and for itself; it is an +isolated body, which has arms to work, and a belly to fill. The +cultivator of the land is everything, as was the case in the Middle +Ages. There is neither trade, nor manufactures, nor business on any +extended scale, nor movement of ideas, nor political life, nor any of +those powerful bonds which, in well-governed countries, link the +provincial towns to the capital, as the members to the heart. + +If there be a capital for these poor people, it is Paradise. They +believe in it fervently, and strive to attain it with all their might. +The very peasant who grudges the State two crowns for his hearth-tax, +willingly pays two and a half to have _Viva Maria_ scrawled over his +door. Another complains of the £3 per month paid to the Government +official, without a murmur at the thirty priests supported by the +township. There is a gentle disease which consoles them for all their +ills, called Faith. It does not restrain them from dealing a stab with +a knife, when the wine is in their brains, or rage in their hearts; +but it will always prevent them from eating meat on a Friday. + +If you would see them in all the ardour of their simplicity, you must +visit the town on the day of a grand festival. Everybody, men, women, +and children are rushing to the church. A carpet of flowers is spread +along the road. Every countenance is glowing with excitement. What is +the meaning of it all? Don't you know?--It is the festival of Sant' +Antonio. A musical Mass is being performed in honour of Sant' Antonio. +A grand procession is being formed in honour of that Saint, probably +the patron of the place. There are little boys dressed up as angels, +and men arrayed in the sack-like garment of their brotherhoods: here +we have peasants of _The Heart of Jesus_; here, those of _The Name of +Mary_; and here come _The Souls of Purgatory_. The procession is +formed with some little confusion. The people embrace one another, +upset one another, and fight with one another--all in the name of +Sant' Antonio. But see! The statue of the worthy Saint is coming out +of the church: a wooden doll, with flaming red cheeks. _Victoria_! Off +go the petards! The women weep with joy--the children cry out at the +top of their shrill voices, "_Viva Sant' Antonio_!" At night there are +fireworks: a balloon shaped in the semblance of the Saint ascends amid +the shouts of the people, and bursts in grand style right over the +church. Verily, unless Sant' Antonio be very difficult to please, such +homage must go straight to his heart. And I should think the plebeians +of the country very exacting, if, after such an intoxicating festival, +they were to complain of wanting bread. + +Let us seek a little repose on the other side of the Apennines. +Although the population may not be sufficiently sheltered by a chain, +of mountains, you will find in the towns and villages the stuff for a +noble nation. The ignorance is still very great; the blood ever +boiling, and the hand ever quick; but already we find men who reason. +If the workman of the towns be not successful, he guesses the reason; +he seeks a remedy, he looks forward, he economizes. If the tenant be +not rich, he studies with his landlord the means of becoming so. +Everywhere agriculture is making progress, and it will ere long have +no further progress to make. Man becomes better and greater by dint of +struggling with Nature. He learns his own value, he sees whither he is +tending; in cultivating his field, he cultivates himself. + +I am compelled in strict truth to admit that religion loses ground a +little in these fine provinces. I vainly sought in the towns of the +Adriatic for those mural inscriptions of _Viva Gesù! Viva Maria!_ and +so on, which had so edified me on the other side of the Apennines. At +Bologna I read sonnets at the corners of all the streets,--sonnet to +Doctor Massarenti, who cured Madame Tagliani; sonnet to young +Guadagni, on the occasion of his becoming Bachelor of Arts, etc., etc. +At Faenza, these mural inscriptions evinced a certain degree of +fanaticism, but the fanaticism of the dramatic art: _Viva la Ristori! +Viva la diva Rossi!_ At Rimini, and at Forlì, I read _Viva Verdi!_ +(which words had not then the political significance they have +recently attained,) _Viva la Lotti!_ together with a long list of +dramatic and musical celebrities. + +While I was visiting the holy house of Loretto, which, as all the +world knows, or ought to know, was transported by Angels, furniture +and all, from Palestine, to the neighbourhood of Ancona, a number of +pilgrims came in upon their knees, shedding tears and licking the +flags with their tongues. I thought these poor creatures belonged to +some neighbouring village, but I found out my mistake from a workman +of Ancona, who happened to be near me. "Sir," he said, "these unhappy +people must certainly belong to the other side of the Apennines, since +they still make pilgrimages. Fifty years ago we used to do the same +thing; we now think it better to work!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MIDDLE CLASSES. + + +The middle class is, in every clime and every age, the foundation of +the strength of States. It represents not only the wealth and +independence, but the capacity and the morality of a people. Between +the aristocracy, which boasts of doing nothing, and the lower orders +who only work that they may not die of hunger, the middle class +advances boldly to a future of wealth and consideration. Sometimes the +upper class is hostile to progress, through fear of its results; too +often the lower class is indifferent to it, from ignorance of the +benefits it confers. The middle class has never ceased to tend towards +progress, with all its strength, by an irresistible impulse, and even +at the peril of its dearest interests. A great statesman who must be +judged by his doctrines, and not by the chance of circumstances, M. +Guizot, has shown us that the Roman Empire perished from the want of a +middle class in the fifth century of our era, and we ourselves know +with what impetuosity France has advanced in progress since the middle +class revolution of 1789. + +The middle class has not only the privilege of bringing about useful +revolutions, it also claims the honour of repressing popular +outbreaks, and opposing itself as a barrier to the overflow of evil +passions. + +It is to be desired, then, that this honourable class should become as +numerous and as powerful as possible in the country we are now +studying; because, while on the one hand it is the lawful heir of the +temporal power of the Popes, on the other, it is the natural adversary +of Mazzinist insurrection. + +But the ecclesiastical caste, which sets this fatal principle of +temporal power above the highest interests of society, can conceive +nothing more prudent or efficacious than to vilify and abuse the +middle class. It obliges this class to support the heaviest share of +the budget, without being admitted to a share in the benefits. It +takes from the small proprietor not only his whole income, but a part +of his capital, while the people and the nobility are allowed all +sorts of immunities. It demands heavy concessions in exchange for the +humblest official posts. It omits no opportunity of depriving the +liberal professions of all the importance they enjoy in other +countries. It does its best to accelerate the decline of science and +art. It imagines that nothing else can be abased, without its being +proportionately elevated. + +This system has succeeded (according to priestly notions) tolerably +well at Home and in the Mediterranean provinces, but very badly at +Bologna, and in the Apennine provinces. In the metropolis of the +country the middle class is reduced, impoverished, and submissive; in +the second capital it is much more numerous, wealthy, and independent. +But evil passions, far more fatal to society than the rational +resistance of parties, have progressed in an inverse direction. They +predominate but little at Bologna, where the middle class is strong +enough to keep them under; they triumph at Home, where the middle +class has been destroyed. Thence it follows that Bologna is a city of +opposition, and Rome a socialist city; and that the revolution will be +moderate at Bologna, sanguinary at Rome. This is what the clerical +party has gained. + +Nothing can equal the disdain with which the prelates the princes, the +foreigners of condition, and even the footmen at Rome, judge the +middle class, of _mezzo ceto_. + +The prelate has his reasons. If he be a minister, he sees in his +offices some hundred clerks, belonging to the middle class. He knows +that these active and intelligent, but underpaid men, are for the most +part obliged to eke out a livelihood by secretly following some other +occupation: one keeps the books of a land-steward, another those of a +Jew. Whose fault is it? They well know that neither excellence of +character nor length of service are carried to the credit of the civil +functionary, and that, after having earned advancement, he will be +obliged either to ask it himself as a favour, or to employ the +intercession of his wife. It is not these poor men whom we should +despise, but the dignitaries in violet stockings who impose the burden +upon them. + +Should Monsignore be a judge of a superior tribunal, of the _Sacra +Rota_ for instance, he need know nothing about the law. His secretary, +or assistant, has by dint of patient study made himself an +accomplished lawyer, as indeed a man must be who can thread his way +through the dark labyrinths of Roman legislation. But Monsignore, who +makes use of his assistant's ability for his own particular profit, +thinks he has a right to despise him, because he is ill paid, lives +humbly, and has no future to look forward to. Which of the two is in +the wrong? + +If the same prelate be a Judge of Appeal, he will profess a most +profound contempt for advocates. I must confess they are to be pitied, +these unfortunate Princes of the Bar, who write for the blind, and +speak to the deaf, and who wear out their shoes in treading the +interminable paths of Rotal procedure. But assuredly they are not men +to be despised. They have always knowledge, often eloquence. +Marchetti, Rossi, and Lunati might no doubt have written good sermons, +if they had not preferred doing something else. + +Between ourselves, I think the prelates affect to despise them, in +order that they may not have to fear them. They have condemned some of +them to exile, others to silence and want. Hear what Cardinal +Antonelli said to M. de Gramont:-- + +"The advocates used to be one of our sores; we are beginning to be +cured of it. If we could but get rid of the clerks in the offices, all +would go well." + +Let us hope that, among modern inventions, a bureaucratic machine may +be made by which the labour of men in offices may be superseded. + +The Roman princes affect to regard the middle class with contempt. The +advocate who pleads their causes, and generally gains them, belongs to +the middle class. The physician who attends them, and generally cures +them, belongs to the middle class. But as these professional men have +fixed salaries, and as salaries resemble wages, contempt is thrown +into the bargain. Still the contempt is a magnanimous sort of +contempt--that of a patron for his client. At Paris, when an advocate +pleads a prince's cause, it is the prince who is the client: at Rome, +it is the advocate. + +But the individual who is visited by the most withering contempt of +the Roman princes is the farmer, or _mercante di campagna_; and I +don't wonder at it. + +The _mercante di campagna_ is an obscure individual, usually very +honest, very intelligent, very active, and very rich. He undertakes to +farm several thousand acres of land, pasture or arable as may be, +which the prince would never be able to farm himself, because he +neither knows how, nor has the means to do so. Upon this princely +territory the farmer lets loose, in the most disrespectful manner, +droves of bullocks, and cows, and horses, and flocks of sheep. Should +his lease permit him, he cultivates a square league or so, and sows it +with wheat. When harvest-time arrives, down from the mountains troop a +thousand or twelve hundred peasants, who overrun the prince's land in +the farmer's service. The corn is reaped, threshed in the open field, +put into sacks, and carted away. The prince sees it go by, as he +stands on his princely balcony. He learns that a man of the _mezzo +ceto_, a man who passes his life on horseback, has harvested on his +land so many sacks of corn, which have produced him so much money. The +_mercante di campagna_ comes, and confirms the intelligence, and then +pays the rent agreed upon to the uttermost baioccho. Sometimes he even +pays down a year or two in advance. What prince could forgive such +aggravated insolence? It is the more atrocious, since the farmer is +polite, well-mannered, and much better educated than the prince; he +can give his daughters much larger fortunes, and could buy the entire +principality for his own son, if by chance the prince were obliged to +sell it. The cultivation of estates by means of these people is, in +the eyes of the Roman princes, an attack upon the rights of property. +Their passion for incessant work is a disturbance of the delightful +Roman tranquillity. The fortunes they acquire by personal exertion, +energy, and activity, are a reproach by inference to that stagnant +wealth which is the foundation of the State, and the admiration of the +Government. + +This is not all: the _mercante di campagna_, who is not nobly born, +who is not a priest, who has a wife and children, thinks he has a +right to share in the management of the affairs of his country, upon +the ground that he manages his own well. He points out abuses; he +demands reforms. What audacity! The priests would cast him forth as +they would a mere advocate, were it not that his occupation is the +most necessary of all occupations, and that by turning out a man they +might starve a district. + +But the insolence of these agricultural contractors goes still +further. They presume to be grand in their ideas. One of them, in +1848, under the reign of Mazzini, when the public works were suspended +for want of money, finished the bridge of Lariccia, one of the finest +constructions of our time, at his own expense. He certainly knew not +whether the Pope would ever return to Rome to repay him. He acted like +a real prince; but his audacity in assuming a part which was not +intended for his caste, merited something more than contempt. + +I, who have not the honour to be a prince, have no reason to despise +the _mercanti di campagna_. Quite the contrary. I have solid ones for +esteeming them highly. I have found them full of intelligence, +kindness, and cordiality: middle-class men in the best sense of the +term. My sole regret is that their numbers are so few, and that their +scope of action is so limited. + +If there were but two thousand of them, and the Government allowed +them to follow their own course, the Roman Campagna would soon assume +another aspect, and fever and ague take themselves off. + +The foreigners who have inhabited Rome for any length of time, speak +of the middle-class as contemptuously as the princes. I once made the +same mistake as they do, so my testimony on the subject is the more +worthy of acceptation. + +Perhaps the foreigners in question have lived in furnished lodgings, +and have found the landlady a little less than cruel. No doubt +adventures of this kind are of daily occurrence elsewhere than in +Rome; but is the middle-class to be held responsible for the light +conduct of some few poor and uneducated women? + +Or they may have had to do with the trade of Rome, and have found it +extremely limited. This is because there is no capital, nor any +extension of public credit. They are shocked to see the shopkeepers, +during the Carnival, riding in carriages, and occupying the best boxes +at the theatres; but this foolish love of show, so hurtful to the +middle-class, is taught them by the universal example of those above +them. + +Perhaps they have sent to the chemist's for a doctor, and have fallen +upon an ignorant professor of the healing art. This is unlucky, but it +may happen anywhere. The medical body is not recruited exclusively +among the eagles of science. For one Baroni, who is an honour at once +to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, you naturally expect to find many +blockheads. If these are more plentiful at Rome than at Paris or +Bologna, it is because the priests meddle with medical instruction, as +with everything else. I never shall forget how I laughed when I +entered the amphitheatre of Santo Spirito, to see a vine-leaf on 'the +subject' on which the professor was going to lecture to the students. + +In this land of chastity, where the modest vine is entwined with every +branch of science, a doctor in surgery, attached to an hospital, once +told me he had never seen the bosom of a woman. "We have," he said, + + "two degrees of Doctor to take; one theoretical, the other + practical. Between the first and the second, we practise in + the hospitals, as you see. But the prelates who control our + studies, will not allow a doctor to be present at a + confinement until he has passed his second, or practical + examination. They are afraid of our being scandalized. We + obtain our practical knowledge of midwifery by practising + upon dolls. In six months I shall have taken all my degrees, + and I may be called in to act as accoucheur to any number of + women, without ever having witnessed a single accouchement!" + +The Roman artists would endow the middle-class with both fame and +money, if they were differently treated. The Italian race has not +degenerated, whatever its enemies and its masters may say: it is as +naturally capable of distinction in all the arts as ever it was. Put a +paint-brush into the hands of a child, and he will acquire the +practice of painting in no time. An apprenticeship of three or four +years enables him to gain a livelihood. The misfortune is, that they +seldom get beyond this. I think, nay, I am almost sure, they are not +less richly gifted than the pupils of Raphael; and they reach the same +point as the pupils of M. Galimard. Is it their fault? No. I accuse +but the medium into which their birth has cast them. It may be, that +if they were at Paris, they would produce masterpieces. Give them +parts to play in the world, competition, exhibitions, the support of a +government, the encouragement of a public, the counsels of an +enlightened criticism. All these benefits which we enjoy abundantly, +are wholly denied to them, and are only known to them by hearsay. + +Their sole motive for work is hunger, their sole encouragement the +flying visits of foreigners. Their work is always done in a hurry; +they knock off a copy in a week, and when it is sold, they begin +another. + +If some one, more ambitious than his fellows, undertakes an original +work, whose opinion can he obtain as to its merits or demerits? The +men of the reigning class know nothing about it, and the princes very +little. The owner of the finest gallery in Rome said last year, in the +salon of an Ambassador, "I admire nothing but what you French call +_chic_" Prince Piombino gave the painter Gagliardi an order to paint +him a ceiling, and proposed to pay him by the day. The Government has +plenty to attend to without encouraging the arts: the four little +newspapers which circulate at remote periods amuse themselves by +puffing their particular friends in the silliest manner. + +The foreigners who come and go are often men of taste, but they do not +make a public. In Paris, Munich, Düsseldorf, and London, the public +has an individuality; it is a man of a thousand heads. When it has +marked a rising artist, it notes his progress, encourages him, blames +him, urges him on, checks him. It takes such a one into its favour, is +extremely wroth with such another. It is, of course, sometimes in the +wrong; it is subject to ridiculous infatuations, and unjust revulsions +of feeling; yet it lives, and it vivifies, and it is worth working +for. + +If I wonder at anything, it is that under the present system such +artists are to be found at Home as Tenerani and Podesti, in statuary +and painting; Castellani, in gold-working; Calamatta and Mercuri, in +engraving, with some others. It is a melancholy truth, however, that +the majority of Roman artists are doomed, by the absence of +encouragement, to a monotonous and humiliating round of taskwork and +trade; occupied half their time in re-copying copies, and the +remainder in recommending their goods to the foreign purchaser. + +In truth, I had myself quitted Rome with no very favourable idea of +the middle class. A few distinguished artists, a few advocates of +talent and courage, some able medical men, some wealthy and skilful +farmers, were insufficient, in my opinion, to constitute a middle +class. I regarded them as so many exceptions to a rule. And as it is +certain that there can be no nation without a middle class, I dreaded +lest I should be forced to admit that there is no Italian nation. + +The middle class appeared to me to thrive no better in the +Mediterranean provinces than at Rome. Half citizen, half clown, the +people representing it are plunged in a crass ignorance. Having just +sufficient means to live without working, they lounge away their time +in homes comfortless and half-furnished, the very walls of which seem +to reek with _ennui_. Rumours of what is passing in Europe, which +might possibly rouse them from their torpor, are stopped at the +frontier. New ideas, which might somewhat fertilize their minds, are +intercepted by the Custom House. If they read anything, it is the +Almanack, or by way of a higher order of literature, the _Giornale di +Roma_, wherein the daily rides of the Pope are pompously chronicled. +The existence of these people consists, in short, of a round of +eating, drinking, sleeping, and reproducing their kind, until death +arrive. + +But beyond the Apennines matters are far otherwise. There, instead of +the citizen descending to the level of the peasant, it is the peasant +who rises to that of the citizen. Unremitting labour is continually +improving both the soil and man. A smuggling of ideas which daily +becomes more active, sets custom-houses and customs officers at +defiance. Patriotism is stimulated and kept alive by the presence of +the Austrians. Common sense is outraged by the weight of taxation. The +different fractions of the middle class--advocates, physicians, +merchants, farmers, artists--freely express among one another their +discontent and their hatred, their ideas and their hopes. The +Apennines, which form a barrier between them and the Pope, bring them +nearer to Europe and liberty. I have never failed, after conversing +with one of the middle class in the Legations, to inscribe in my +tablets, _There is an Italian Nation_! + +I travelled from Bologna to Florence with a young man whom I at first +took, from the simple elegance of his dress, for an Englishman. But we +fell so naturally into conversation, and my companion expressed +himself so fluently in French, that I supposed him to be a +fellow-countryman. When, however, I discovered how thoroughly he was +versed in the state of the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, laws, +the administration, and the politics of Italy, I could no longer doubt +that he was an Italian and a Bolognese. What I chiefly admired in him +was not so much the extent and variety of his knowledge, or the +clearness and rectitude of his understanding, as the elevation of his +character, and the moderation of his language. Every word he uttered +was characterized by a profound sense of the dignity of his country, a +bitter regret at the disesteem and neglect into which that country had +fallen, and a firm hope in the justice of Europe in general and of one +great prince in particular, and a certain combination of pride, +melancholy, and sweetness which possessed an irresistible attraction +for me. He nourished no hatred either against the Pope or any other +person; he admitted the system of the priests, although utterly +intolerable to the country, to be perfectly logical in itself. His +dream was not of vengeance, but deliverance. + +I learnt, some time afterwards, that my delightful travelling +companion was a man of the _mezzo ceto_, and that there are many more +such as he in Bologna. + +But already had I inscribed in my tablets these words, thrice +repeated, dated from the Court of the Posts, Piazza del Gran' Duca, +Florence:-- + +_"There is an Italian Nation! There is an Italian Nation! There is an +Italian Nation!"_ + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NOBILITY. + + +An Italian has said with pungent irony, "Who knows but that one of +these days a powerful microscope may detect globules of nobility in +the blood?" + +I am too national not to applaud a good joke, and yet I must confess +these "globules of nobility" do not positively offend my reason. + +There is no doubt that sons take after their fathers. The Barons of +the Middle Ages transmitted to their children a heritage of heroic +qualities. Frederick the Great obtained a race of gigantic grenadiers +by marrying men of six feet to women of five feet six. The children of +a clever man are not fools, provided their mother has not failed in +her duties; and when the Crétins of the Alps intermarry, they produce +Crétins. We know dogs are slow or fast, keen-scented or keen-sighted, +according to their breed, and we buy a two-year-old colt upon the +strength of his pedigree. Can we consistently admit nobility among +horses and dogs, and deny it among men? + +Add to this, that the pride of bearing an illustrious name is a +powerful incentive to well-doing. Noblemen have duties to fulfil both +towards their ancestors and their posterity. They must walk uprightly +under the penalty of dishonouring an entire race. Tradition obliges +them to follow a path of honour and virtue, from which they cannot +stray a single step without falling. They never sign their names +without some elevated thought of an hereditary obligation. + +I must admit that everything degenerates in the end, and that the +purest blood may occasionally lose its high qualities, as the most +generous wine turns to molasses or vinegar. But we have all of us met +in the world a young man of loftier and prouder bearing, more +high-minded and more courageous, than his fellows; or a woman so +beautiful and simple and chaste, that she seemed made of a finer clay +than the rest of her sex. We may be sure that both one and the other +have in their blood some globules of nobility. + +These precious globules, which no microscope will ever be powerful +enough to detect, but which the intelligent observer sees with the +naked eye, are rare enough in Europe, and I am not aware of their +existence out of it. A small collection of them might be brought +together in France, in Spain, in England, in Russia, in Germany, in +Italy. Rome is one of the cities in which the fewest would be found. +And yet the Roman nobility is surrounded with a certain prestige. + +Thirty-one princes or dukes; a great number of marquises, counts, +barons, and knights; a multitude of noble families without titles, +sixty of whom were inscribed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.; a vast +extent of signiorial domains; a thousand palaces; a hundred +picture-galleries, large and small; a considerable revenue; a prodigal +display of horses, carriages, servants, and armorial bearings; some +almost royal entertainments in the course of every winter; the remains +of feudal privileges; and the respect of the lower orders: such are +the more remarkable features which distinguish the Roman nobility, and +expose it to the admiration of all the travelling cockneys of the +universe. + +Ignorance, idleness, vanity, servility, and above all incapacity; +these are the pet vices which place it below all the aristocracies in +Europe. Should I meet with any exceptions on my road, I shall consider +it my duty to point them out. + +The roots of the Roman nobility are very diverse. The Orsini and the +Colonna families descend from the heroes or brigands of the Middle +Ages. That of Caetani dates from 730. The houses of Massimo, +Santa-Croce, and Muti, go back to Livy in search of their founders. +Prince Massimo bears in his shield the trace of the marchings and +counter-marchings of Fabius Maximus, otherwise called Cunctator. His +motto is, _Cunctando restituit_. Santa-Croce boasts of being an +offshoot of Valerius Publicola. The Muti family counts Mutius Scævola +among its ancestors. This nobility, whether authentic or not, is at +all events very ancient, and is of independent origin. It has not been +hatched under the robes of the Popes. + +The second category is of Pontifical origin. Its titles and fortunes +have their origin in nepotism. In the course of the seventeenth +century, Paul V., Urban VIII.; Innocent X., Alexander VII., Clement +IX., and Innocent XI. created the houses of Borghese, Barberini, +Pamphili, Chigi, Rospigliosi, and Odescalchi. They vied with one +another in aggrandising their humble families. The domains of the +Borghese house, which make a tolerably large spot on the map of +Europe, testify that Paul V. was by no means an unnatural uncle. The +Popes have kept up the practice of ennobling their relations, but the +scandal of their liberalities ceases with Pius VI., another of the +Braschi family (1775-1800). + +The last batch includes the bankers, such as Torlonia and Kuspoli, +monopolists like Antonelli, millers like the Macchi, bakers like the +Dukes Grazioli, tobacconists like the Marchese Ferraiuoli, and farmers +like the Marchese Calabrini. + +I add, by way of memorandum, strangers, noble or not, as may be, who +purchase an estate, get a title thrown into the bargain. A short time +ago a French petty country gentleman, who had a little money, woke up +a Roman Prince one fine morning, the equal of the Dorias, Torlonias, +and of the baker Duke Grazioli. + +For they are all equal from the hour when the Holy Father has signed +their parchments. Whatever be the origin of their nobility and the +antiquity of their houses, they go arm in arm, without any disputes as +to precedence. The names of Orsini, Colonna, and Sforza, are jumbled +together in the family of a former _domestique de place_. The son of a +baker marries the daughter of a Lante de La Rovère, granddaughter of a +Prince Colonna, and a Princess of Savoie-Carignan. There is no fear +that the famous quarrel of the princes and dukes, which so roused the +indignation of our stately St. Simon, will ever be repeated among the +Roman aristocracy. + +To what purpose should it be, gracious Heavens! Don't they well +know--dukes and princes--that they are all alike inferior to the +shabbiest of the cardinals? The day that a Capuchin receives the red +hat, he acquires the right to splash the mud in their faces as he +rides past in his gilded coach. + +In all monarchical States, the king is the natural head of the +nobility. The strongest term that a gentleman can make use of, in +alluding to his house, is that it is as noble as the King. _As noble +as the Pope_ would be simply ludicrous, since a swineherd, the son of +a swineherd, may be elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity +from all the Roman princes. They may well then consider themselves +upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, seeing that +they are equally looked down upon by a few priests. + +They console themselves with the thought that they are superior to all +the laymen in the world. This soothing vanity, neither noisy nor +insolent, but none the less firmly rooted in their hearts, enables +them to swallow the daily affront of conscious inferiority. + +I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior to the +upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority to other men is +less evident to me. + +As to their courage. Some years have elapsed since they had the +opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.[4] + +Heaven forbids duelling. The Government inculcates the gentler +virtues. + +They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and theatrical +liberality. A Piombino sent his ambassador to the conference at +Vienna, allowing £4,000 for the expenses of the mission. A Borghese +gave the mob of Rome a banquet that cost £48,000, to celebrate the +return of Pius VII. Almost all the Roman princes open their palaces, +villas, and galleries to the public. To be sure, old Sciarra used to +sell permission to copy his pictures, but he was a notorious miser, +and has found no imitators. + +They practise generally the virtue of charity, in a somewhat +indiscriminate manner, from the love of patronage, from pride, habit, +and weakness, because they are ashamed to refuse. They are by no means +badly disposed, they are good--I stop at this word, lest I should go +too far. + +They are not wanting in sense or intelligence. Prince Massimo is +quoted for his good sense, and the two Caetani for their puns. +Santa-Croce, though a little cracked, is no ordinary man. But what a +wretched education the Government gives them! When they are not the +children, they are the pupils of priests, whose system principally +consists in teaching them nothing. Get hold of a student of St. +Sulpice, wash him tolerably clean, have him dressed by Alfred or +Poole, and bejewelled by Castellani or Hunt and Roskel, let him learn +to thrum a guitar, and sit upon a horse, and you'll have a Roman +prince as good as the best of them. + +You probably think it natural that people brought up at Rome, in the +midst of the finest works of art in the world, should take a little +interest in art, and know something about it. Pray be undeceived. This +man has never entered the Vatican except to pay visits; that one knows +nothing of his own gallery, but through the report of his +house-steward. Another had never visited the Catacombs till he became +Pope. They profess an elegant ignorance, which they think in good +taste, and which will always be fashionable in a Catholic country. + +I have said enough about the heart, mind, and education of the Roman +nobility. A few words as to the fortunes of which they dispose. + +I have before me a list which I believe to be authentic, as I copied +it myself in a sure quarter. It comprises the net available incomes of +the principal Roman families. I extract the most important:-- + + Corsini ....... £20,000 + Borghese....... 18,000 + Ludovisi....... 14,000 + Grazioli....... 14,000 + Doria.......... 13,000 + Rospigliosi.... 10,000 + Colonna........ 8,000 + Odescalchi..... 8,000 + Massimo........ 8,000 + Patrizi........ 6,000 + Orsini......... 4,000 + Strozzi........ 4,000 + Torlonia....... Unlimited. + Antonelli....... Ditto. + +It is not to be supposed that Grazioli, for instance, has himself +alone nearly as large a gross income as Prince Borghese and his two +brothers Aldobrandini and Salviati together. But the fact is that all +the more ancient families are burdened with heavy hereditary charges, +which enormously reduce their incomes. They are obliged to keep up +chapels, churches, hospitals, and whole chapters of fat canons, while +the nobles of yesterday are not called upon to pay for either the fame +or the sins of their ancestors. + +At all events the foregoing list proves the mediocrity as to wealth, +as in everything else, of the Roman nobility. Not only are they unable +to compete with the hard-working middle classes of London, Bâle, or +Amsterdam, but they are infinitely less wealthy than the nobility of +Russia or of England. + +Is this because, as with us in France, an equitable law is constantly +subdividing large properties? No. The law of primogeniture is in full +vigour in the kingdom of the Pope, like every other abuse of the good +old times. They provide for their younger sons as they can, and for +their daughters as they please. It is not parental justice that ruins +families. I have even heard it said that the elder brother is not +obliged to put on mourning when the younger dies; which is a clear +saving of so much black cloth. + +This being the case, why are not the Roman princes richer than they +are? It is to be accounted for by two excellent reasons,--the love of +show, and bad management. + +Ostentation, the Roman disease, requires that every nobleman should +have a palace in the city, and a palace in the country: carriages, +horses, lacqueys and liveries. They can do without mattresses, linen, +and armchairs, but a gallery of pictures is indispensable. It is not +thought necessary to have a decent dinner every Sunday, but it is to +have a terraced garden for the admiration of foreigners. These +imaginary wants swallow up the income, and not unfrequently eat into +the capital. + +And yet I could point out half-a-dozen estates which could suffice for +the prodigalities of a sovereign, if they were managed in the English, +or even in the French fashion,--if the owner were to interfere +personally, and see with his own eyes, instead of allowing a host of +middlemen to come between him and his property, who of course enrich +themselves at his expense. + +Not that the Roman princes knowingly allow their affairs to go to +ruin. They must by no means be confounded with the _grands seigneurs_ +of old France, who laughed over the wreck of their fortunes, and +avenged themselves upon a steward by a _bon mot_ and a kick. The Roman +prince has an office, with shelves, desks, and clerks, and devotes +some hours a day to business, examining accounts, poring over +parchments, and signing papers. But being at once incapable and +uneducated, his zeal serves but to liberate the rogues about him from +responsibility. I heard of a nobleman who had inherited an enormous +fortune, who condemned himself to the labor of a clerk at £50 a year, +who remained faithful to his desk even to extreme old age, and who, +thanks to some blunder or other in management, died insolvent. + +Pity them if you please, but cast not the stone at them. They are such +as education has made them. Look at those brats of various ages from +six to ten, walking along the Corso in double file, between a couple +of Jesuits. They are embryo Roman nobles. Handsome as little Cupids, +in spite of their black coats and white neckcloths, they will all grow +up alike, under the shadow of their pedagogue's broad-brimmed hat. + +Already are their minds like a well-raked garden, from which ideas +have been carefully rooted out. Their hearts are purged alike of good +and evil passions. Poor little wretches, they will not even have any +vices. + +As soon as they shall have passed their last examinations, and +obtained their diplomas of ignorance, they will be dressed in the +latest London fashions, and be turned out into the public promenades. +They will pace for ever the pavement of the Corso, they will wear out +the alleys of the Pincian Hill, the Villa Borghese, and the Villa +Pamphili. They will ride, drive, and walk about, armed with a whip, +eye-glass, or cane, as may be, until they are made to marry. Regular +at Mass, assiduous at the theatre, you may see them smile, gape, +applaud, make the sign of the cross, with an equal absence of emotion. +They are almost all inscribed on the list of some religious fraternity +or other. They belong to no club, play timidly, rarely make a parade +of social irregularities, drink without enthusiasm, and never ruin +themselves by horse-racing. In short, their general conduct is beyond +all praise; and the life of dolls made to say "Papa!" and "Mama!" is +equally irreproachable. + +One fine day they attain their twenty-fifth year. At this age, an +American has already tried his hand at a dozen trades, made four +fortunes, and at least one bankruptcy, has gone through a couple of +campaigns, had a lawsuit, established a new religious sect, killed +half-a-dozen men with his revolver, freed a negress, and conquered an +island. An Englishman has passed some stiff examinations, been +attached to an embassy, founded a factory, converted a Catholic, gone +round the world, and read the complete works of Walter Scott. A +Frenchman has rhymed a tragedy, written for two newspapers, been +wounded in three duels, twice attempted suicide, vexed fourteen +husbands, and changed his politics nineteen times. A German has +slashed fifteen of his dearest friends, swallowed sixty hogsheads of +beer and the Philosophy of Hegel, sung eleven thousand couplets, +compromised a tavern waiting-maid, smoked a million of pipes, and been +mixed up with, at least, two revolutions. + +The Roman prince has done nothing, seen nothing, learnt nothing, loved +nothing, suffered nothing. His parents or guardians open a cloister +gate, take out a young girl as inexperienced as himself, and the pair +of innocents are bidden to kneel before a priest, who gives them +permission to become parents of another generation of innocents like +themselves. + +Probably you expect to find them living unhappily together. Not at +all. And yet the wife is pretty. The monotonous routine of her convent +education has not so frozen her heart that she is incapable of loving; +her uncultivated mind will spontaneously develope itself when it comes +in contact with the world. She will not fail, ere long, to discover +the inferiority of her husband. The more her education has been +neglected, the greater is her chance of remaining womanly, that is to +say, intelligent, tender, and charming. In truth, the harmony of their +household is less likely to be disturbed at Rome than it would be at +Paris or Vienna. + +Yes, the huge extinguisher which Heaven holds suspended over the city +of Rome, stifles even the subtle spark of passion. If Vesuvius were +here, it would have been cold for the last forty years. The Roman +princesses were not a little talked of up to the end of the thirteenth +century. Under the French rule their gallantry assumed a military +complexion. They used to go and see their admirers play billiards at +the Cafè Nuovo. But hypocrisy and morality have made immense progress +since the restoration. The few who have afforded matter for the +scandalous chronicles of Rome are sexagenarians, and their adventures +are inscribed on the tablets of history, between Austerlitz and +Waterloo. + +The young princess whom we have just seen entering upon her married +life, will begin by presenting her husband with sundry little princes +and princesses; and there is no rampart against illicit affection like +your row of little cradles. + +In five or six years, when she might have leisure for evil thoughts, +she will be bound hand and foot by the exigencies of society. You +shall have a specimen of the mode in which she spends her days during +the winter season. Her morning is devoted to dressing, breakfasting, +her children, and her husband. From one to three she returns the +visits she has received, in the exact form in which they were paid to +her. The first act of politeness is to go and see your acquaintance; +the second, to leave your card in person; the third, to send the same +bit of pasteboard by a servant _ad hoc_. At three, all the world +drives to the Villa Borghese, where there is a general salutation of +acquaintances with the tips of the fingers. At four, up the Pincio. At +five, it files backwards and forwards along the Corso. Everybody who +is anybody is condemned to this triple promenade. If a single +woman--who is anybody--were to absent herself, it would be inferred, +as a matter of course, that she was ill, and a general inquiry as to +the nature of her complaint would be instituted. + +At close of day all go home. After dinner another toilette, and out +for the evening. Every house has its particular reception-night. And a +pure and simple reception indeed it is, without play, without music, +without conversation; a mere interchange of bows and curtsies, and +cold commonplaces. At rare intervals a ball breaks the ice, and shakes +off the _ennui_ generated by this system. Poor women! In an existence +at once so busy and so void, there is not even room for friendship. +Two who may have been friends from childhood, brought up in the same +convent, married into the same world, may meet one another daily and +at all hours, and yet may not be able to enjoy ten minutes of intimate +conversation in the whole year. The brightest, the best, is known but +by her name, her title, and her fortune. Judgments are passed on her +beauty, her toilet, and her diamonds, but nobody has the opportunity +or the leisure to penetrate into the depths of her mind. A really +distinguished woman once said to me, "I feel that I become stupid when +I enter these drawing-rooms. Vacancy seizes me at the very threshold." +Another, who had lived in France, regretted, with tears, the absence +of those charming friendships, so cheerful and so cordial, that exist +between the young married women of Paris. + +When the Carnival arrives, it mingles everything without uniting +anything. In truth, one is never more solitary than in the midst of +noise and crowds. Then comes Lent; and then the grand comedy of +Easter; and after that the family departs for the country, which +means, economizing for some months in a huge half-furnished mansion. +In short, the romance of a Roman Princess is made up of a certain +number of noisy winters, and dull summers, and plenty of children. If +there be, by chance, any more exciting chapters, they are doubtless +known to the confessor. + +"Ce ne sont pas là mes affaires." + +You must go far from Rome to find any real nobility. Here and there in +the Mediterranean provinces some fallen family may be met with, living +poorly upon the produce of a small estate, and still looked up to with +a certain respect by its wealthier neighbours. The lower orders +respect it because it has been something once, and even because it is +nothing under the present hated government. These little provincial +aristocrats, ignorant, simple, and proud, are a sort of relic of the +Middle Ages left behind in the middle of the nineteenth century. I +only mention them to recall the fact of their existence. + +But if you will accompany me over the Apennines, into the glorious +cities of the Romagna, I can show you more than one nobleman of great +name and ancient lineage, who cultivates at once his lands and his +intellect; who knows all that we know; who believes all that we +believe, and nothing more; who takes an active interest in the +misfortunes of Italy, and who, looking to free and happy Europe, +hopes, through the sympathy of nations and the justice of sovereigns, +to obtain the deliverance of his country. I met in certain palaces at +Bologna a brilliant writer, applauded on every stage in Italy; a +learned economist, quoted in the most serious reviews throughout +Europe; a controversialist, dreaded by the priests; and all these +individualities united in the single person of a Marquis of +thirty-four, who may, perhaps, one of these days play an important +part in the Italian revolution. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FOREIGNERS. + + +Permit me to open this chapter by recalling some recollections of the +golden age. + +A century or two ago, when old aristocracies, old royalties, and old +religions imagined themselves eternal; when Popes innocently assured +the fortunes of their nephews, and the welfare of their mistresses; +when the simplicity of Catholic countries regilt annually the +pontifical idol; when Europe contained some half-million of +individuals who deemed themselves created for mutual understanding and +amusement, without any thought of the classes beneath them, Rome was +the Paradise of foreigners, and foreigners were the Providence of +Rome. + +A gentleman of birth took it into his head to visit Italy, for the +sake of kissing the Pope's toe, and perhaps other local curiosities. +He managed to have a couple of years of leisure,--put three letters of +introduction into one pocket, and 50,000 crowns into the other, and +stepped into his travelling carriage. + +In those days people did not go to Rome to spend a week there and away +again; for it was a month or two's journey from France. The crack of +the postilions' whips used to announce to the Eternal City in general +the arrival of a distinguished guest. _Domestiques de place_ flocked +to the call. The luckiest of them took possession of the new comer by +entering his service. In a few days he provided his master with a +palace, furniture, footmen, carriages, and horses. The foreigner +settled himself comfortably, and then presented his letters of +introduction. His credentials being examined, the best society at once +opened its arms to him, and cried, "You are one of us!" From that +moment he was at home wherever he went. He was a guest at every house. +He danced, supped, played, and made love to the ladies. And of course, +in his turn, he opened his own palace to his liberal entertainers, +adding a new feature to the brilliancy of a Roman winter. + +No foreigner failed to carry away with him some recollection of a city +so fertile in marvels. One bought pictures, another ancient marbles, +this one medals, that one books. The trade of Rome prospered by this +circulation of foreign money. + +The heats of summer drove away foreigners as well as natives; but they +never went far. Naples, Florence, or Venice offered them agreeable +quarters till the return of the winter season. And they had excellent +reasons for returning to Rome, which is the only city in the world in +which one has never seen everything. Some of them so entirely forgot +their own countries, that death overtook them between the Piazza del +Popolo and the Piazza de Venizia. If any exiled themselves to their +native land, they did it in sheer self-defence, when their pockets +were empty. Rome bade them a tender adieu, piously keeping their +likeness in its memory and their money in its coffers. + +The Revolution of 1793 somewhat disturbed this agreeable order of +things; but it was a mere storm between two fine summer days. Neither +the Roman aristocracy, nor its constant troop of guests, took this +brutal overthrow of their elegant pleasures in earnest. The exile of +the Pope, the French occupation, and many similar accidents, were +supported with a noble resignation, and forgotten with the readiness +of good taste. 1815 passed a sponge over some years of very foul +history. All the inscriptions which recalled the glory or the +beneficence of France were conscientiously erased. It was even +proposed to do away with the lighting of the streets, not only because +they threw too strong a light upon certain nocturnal matters, but +because they dated from the time of Miollis and De Tournon. Even now, +in 1859, the fleur-de-lis points out what is French property. A marble +table in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi promises indulgence to +those who will pray for the king of France. The French convent of the +Trinità dei Monti--that worthy claustral establishment which sold us +the picture of Daniel di Volterra and then took it back--possesses the +portraits of all the kings of France, from Pharamond to Charles X. +There you see Louis XVII. between Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII.; but in +this historical gallery there is no more mention of Napoleon or of +Louis-Philippe, than of Nana-Sahib or Marat. + +A city so respectful to the past, so faithful to the worship of bygone +recollections, is the natural asylum of sovereigns fallen from their +thrones. It is to Rome that they come to foment their contusions, and +to heal the wounds of their pride. They live there agreeably, +surrounded by the few followers who have remained faithful to them. A +miniature court, assembled in their antechamber, crowns them in +private, hails them on rising with epithets of royalty, and pours +forth incense in their dressing-room. The Roman nobility, and +foreigners of distinction, live with them in an unequal intimacy, +humbling themselves in order that they may be raised; and sowing a +great deal of veneration to reap a very light crop of familiarity. The +Pope and his Cardinals, upon principle, are lavish of attentions which +they would perhaps refuse them on the throne. In short, the king who +has been the most battered and shaken by his fall, and the most +ill-used by his ungrateful subjects, has but to take refuge in Rome, +and by the double aid of a vivid imagination and a well-filled purse, +he may persuade himself that he is still reigning over an absent +people. + +The reverses of royalty which ended the eighteenth and commenced the +nineteenth centuries, sent to Rome a colony of crowned heads. The +modifications which European society has undergone have more recently +brought many less illustrious guests, not even members of the +aristocracy of their own country. It is certain that for the last +fifty years, wealth, education, and talent have shared the rights +formerly belonging to birth alone. Rome has seen foreigners arriving +in travelling carriages who were not born great,--distinguished +artists, eminent writers, diplomatists sprung from the people, +tradesmen elevated to the rank of capitalists, men of the world who +are in their place everywhere, because everywhere they know how to +live. The best society did not receive them without submitting them to +careful inquiry, in order to ascertain that they brought no dangerous +doctrines; and then it seemed to say to them: "You cannot be our +relations--be our masonic brothers!" + +I have said that the Roman princes are, if not without pride, at least +without arrogance. This observation extends to the princes of the +Church. They welcome a foreigner of modest condition, provided he +speaks and thinks like themselves upon two or three capital questions, +has a profound veneration for certain time-honoured lumber, and curses +heartly certain innovations. You must show them the white paw of the +fable, if you wish them to open their doors to you. + +On this point they are immovable. They will not listen to rank, to +fortune, or even to the most imperious political necessities. If +France were to send them an ambassador who failed to show them the +white paw, the ambassador of France would not get inside the doors of +the aristocratic _salons_. If Horace Vernet were named director of the +Academy, neither his name nor his office would open to him certain +houses where he was received as a friend previously to 1830. And why? +Because Horace Vernet was one of the public men of the Revolution of +July. + +Do not imagine, however, that paying respect to Cardinals involves +paying respect to religion, or that it is necessary to attend Mass in +order to get invited to balls. What is absolutely indispensable is, to +believe that everything at Rome is good, to regard the Papacy as an +arch, the Cardinals as so many saints, abuses as principles, and to +applaud the march of the Government, even though it stand still. It is +considered good taste to praise the virtues of the lower orders, their +simple faith, and their indifference as to political affairs, and to +despise that middle-class which is destined to bring about the next +revolution. + +I conversed much with some of the foreigners who live in Rome, and who +mix with its best society. One of the most distinguished and the most +agreeable of them often gave me advice which, though I have not +followed, I have not forgotten. + +"My dear friend," he used to say, + + "I know but two ways of writing about Rome. You must choose + for yourself. If you declaim against the priestly + government, its abuses, vices, and injustice; against the + assassinations, the uncultivated lands, the bad air, the + filthiness of the streets; against the many scandals, the + hypocrisies, the robberies, the lotteries, the Ghetto, and + all that follows as a matter of course, you will earn the + somewhat barren honour of having added the thousand and + first pamphlet to those which have appeared since the time + of Luther. All has been said that can be said against the + Popes. A man who pretends to originality should not lend his + voice to the chorus of brawling reformers. Remember, too, + that the Government of this country, though very mild and + very paternal, never forgives! Even if it wished to do so, + it cannot. It must defend its principle, which is sacred. + Don't close the gates of Rome against yourself. You will be + so glad to revisit it, and we shall be so happy to receive + you again! If you wish to support a new and original theme, + and to gain fame which will not be wholly unprofitable, dare + to declare boldly that everything is good--even that which + all agree to pronounce bad. Praise without restriction an + order of things which has been solidly maintained for + eighteen centuries. Prove that everything here is firmly + established, and that the network of pontifical institutions + is linked together by a powerful logic. Bravely resist those + aspirations after reform which may haply urge you to demand + such and such changes. Remember that you cannot disturb old + constitutions with impunity; that the displacement of a + single stone may bring down the whole edifice. How do you + know, that the particular abuse which most offends you is + not absolutely necessary to the very existence of Rome? Good + and evil mixed together form a cement more durable than the + elaborately selected materials of which modern utopias are + made. I who tell you this have been here many years, and am + quite comfortable and contented. Whither should I go if Rome + were to be turned topsy-turvy? Where should we establish our + dethroned sovereigns? Where would a home be found for Roman + Catholic worship? You have no doubt been told that some + people are dissatisfied with the administration: but what of + that? They are not of _our_ world. You never meet them in + the good society you frequent. If the demands of the middle + class were to be complied with, everything would be + overturned. Have you any wish to see manufactories erected + round St. Peter's and turnip fields about the fountain of + Egeria? These native shopkeepers seem to imagine the country + belongs to them because they happen to be born in it. Can + one conceive a more ridiculous pretension? Let them know + that Rome is the property in copartnership of people of + birth, of people of taste, and of artists. It is a museum + confided to the guardianship of the Holy Father; a museum of + old monuments, old pictures, and old institutions. Let all + the rest of the world change, but build me a Chinese wall + round the Papal States, and never let the sound of the + railway-whistle be heard within its sacred precincts! Let us + preserve for admiring posterity at least one magnificent + specimen of absolute power, ancient art, and the Roman + Catholic religion!" + +This is the language of foreign inhabitants of Rome of the old +stamp,--estimable people, and sincere believers, who have gone on year +after year witnessing the ceremonies of St. Peter's, and the _Fête des +Oignons_ in the St. John Lateran, till they have acquired an +ecclesiastical turn of thought and expression, a habit of seeing +things through the spectacles of the Sacred College, and a faith which +has no sympathy with the outer world. I do not share their opinions, +and I have never found their advice particularly useful; but they +interest me, I like them, and I sincerely pity them. Who can tell what +events they are destined to witness in their time? Who can foresee the +spectacles which the future reserves for them, and the changes that +their habits will be made to undergo by the Italian revolution? +Already their hearing is distracted by the locomotives that rush +between Rome and Frascati; already the shriek of the steam-blast daily +and nightly hisses insolently at the respectable comedy of the past +between Rome and Civita Vecchia. Steamboats, another engine of +disorder, furnish the bi-weekly means of an invasion of the most +dangerous character. Those dozens of travellers who throng the streets +and the squares are about as much like our good old foreign tourists, +as the barbarians of Attila were like the worthy Spaniard who came to +Rome on purpose to see Titus Livius. + +Examine them carefully; they are of every possible condition; for now +that travelling costs next to nothing, everybody is able to afford +himself a sight of Rome. Briefless barristers, physicians without +practice, office-clerks, poor students, apprentices, and shop-boys +drop down like hail on the Eternal City, for the sake of saying that +they have taken the Communion in it. The Holy Week brings every year a +swarm of these locusts. Their entire _impedimenta_ consist of a +carpet-bag and an umbrella, and of course they put up at a hotel. In +fact hotels have been built on purpose to receive them. When everybody +hired houses, there was no need of hotels. The 'Minerva' is the type +of the modern Roman caravansary. Your bed is charged half-a-crown per +night; you dine in a refectory with a traveller at each elbow. The +character of the travelling class which invades Rome about Easter is +illustrated by the conversation which you hear going on around you at +the _table d'hôte_ of the 'Minerva.' The following is a specimen:-- + +One says triumphantly, "I have _done_ two museums, three galleries, +and four ruins, to-day." + +"I stuck to the churches," says another, "I had floored seventeen by +one o'clock." + +"The deuce you had! You keep the game alive." + +"Yes, I want to have a whole day left for the suburbs." + +"Oh, burn the suburbs! I've got no time to see them." + +If I have a day to spare, I must devote it to _buying chaplets_."[5] + +"I suppose you've seen the Villa Borghese?" + +"Oh yes, I consider that in the city, although it is in fact outside +the walls." + +"How much did they charge you for going over it?" + +"A paul." + +"I paid two--I've been robbed." + +"As for that, they're all robbers." + +"You're right, but the sight of Rome is worth all it costs." + +Shades of the travellers of the olden time--delicate, subtle, genial +spirits--what think you of conversations such as this? Surely you must +opine that your footmen knew Rome better, and talked more to the +purpose about it. + +Across the table I hear a citizen of London town narrating to a +curious audience how he has to-day seen the two great lions of +Rome,--the Coliseum, and Cardinal Antonelli. The conclusion he arrives +at is, that the first is a very fine ruin, and the second a very +clever man. + +A provincial dowager of the devotee class, is worth listening to. She +has toiled through the entire ceremonies of the Holy Week. She has +knelt close to the Pope, and declares his mode of giving the +Benediction the most sublime thing on earth. The good lady has spared +neither time nor money in order to carry home a choice collection of +_relics_. Among other objects of adoration she has a bone of St. +Perpetua, and a real bit of the real Cross. Not satisfied with these, +she is bent on obtaining the Pope's palm-branch, the very identical +palm-branch which his Holiness has carried in his own sacred hand. +This is with her a fixed idea, a positive question of salvation. The +poor old soul has not the smallest doubt, that this bit of stick will +open for her the gates of Paradise. She has made her request to a +priest, who will transmit it to a Monsignore, who will forward it to a +Cardinal. Her importunity and her simplicity will, doubtless, move +somebody. She will get the precious bough, and she is convinced that +when she arrives at home with it, all the devotees in the province +will burst with envy. + +Among these batches of ridiculous travellers, you are certain to find +some ecclesiastics. Here is one from our own country. You have known +him in France. Does not he strike you as being somewhat changed? Not +in his looks, but his manner. Beneath the shadow of his own church +tower, in the midst of his own flock, he used to be the mildest, the +meekest, and most modest of parish priests. He bowed low to the Mayor, +and to the most microscopic of the authorities. At Rome, his hat seems +glued to his head. I almost think--Heaven forgive me!--it is a trifle +cocked. How jauntily his cassock is tucked up! How he struts along the +street! Is not his hand on his hip? Something very like it. The reason +of this change is as clear as the sun at noon. He is in a kingdom +governed by his own class. He inhales an atmosphere impregnated with +clerical pride and theocratic omnipotence. Phiz! It is a bottle of +champagne saluting him with the cork. By the time he has drunk all the +contents of the intoxicating beverage, he will begin to mutter between +his teeth that the French clergy does not get its deserts, and that we +are a long time in restoring to it the property taken away by the +Revolution. + +I actually heard this argument maintained on board the steamer which +brought me back to France. The principal passengers were Prince +Souworf, Governor of the province of Riga, one of the most +distinguished men in Europe; M. de la Rochefoucauld, attached to the +French embassy; M. de Angelis, a highly educated and really +distinguished _mercante di campagna_; M. Oudry, engineer of the Civita +Vecchia railway: and a French ecclesiastic of a respectable age and +corpulence. This reverend personage, who was nowise disinclined to +argumentation, and who had just left a country where the priests are +never wrong, took to holding-forth after dinner upon the merits of the +Pontifical Government. I answered as well as I could, like a man +unaccustomed to public speaking. Driven to my last entrenchments, and +called upon to relate some fact which should not redound to the Pope's +credit, I chose, at hazard, a recent event then known to all Rome, as +it was speedily about to be to all Europe. My honourable interlocutor +met my statement with the most unqualified, formal, and unhesitating +denial. He accused me of impudently calumniating an innocent +administration, and of propagating lies fabricated by the enemies of +religion. His language was so sublimely authoritative, that I felt +confounded, overpowered, crushed, and, for a moment, I asked myself +whether I had not really been telling a lie. + +The story I had related was that of the boy Mortara. + +But I return to Rome and our travellers in the trumpery line. Those we +overheard before are already gone. But their places have been quickly +filled. They follow one another, like vapours rising from the ocean, +and they are as much like one another as one sea-wave is to its +predecessor. See them laying-in their stocks of Roman _souvenirs_ at +the shops in the Corso and the Via Condotti. Their selections are +principally from the cheap rosaries, coarse mosaics, and gilt +jewellery, and generally those articles of which a lot may be had for +a crown-piece. They care little for what is really good in its way; +all they want is something which can be bought nowhere but at Rome, +and which will serve to their descendants as the evidence of their +visit to the Eternal City. They haggle as if they were at market, and +yet, when they get back to the 'Minerva,' they wonder they have so +little to show for their money. + +If they took home nothing worse than their cheap rosaries, I should +not find fault with them; but they carry opinions and impressions. +Don't tell them of the abuses which swarm throughout the kingdom of +the Pope. They will bridle up, and answer that for their parts they +never saw a single one. As the surface of things is smooth, at least +in the best quarter of the town--the only quarter these good folks are +likely to have seen--they assume, as a matter of course, that all is +well. They have seen the Pope and the Cardinals in all their glory and +all their innocence at the Sistine Chapel; and of course it is not on +Easter Sunday, and in the eyes of the whole multitude, that Cardinal +Antonelli occupies himself with his business or his pleasures. When +Monsignore B---- dishonoured a young girl, who died of the outrage, +and then sent her affianced bridegroom to the galleys, he did not +select the Sistine Chapel as the theatre of his exploits. + +You must not attempt to extract pity for the Italian nation from these +foreign pilgrims of the Holy Week. The honest souls have marked the +uncultivated waste which extends from Civita Vecchia to Rome, and they +have at once inferred that the people are idle. They have been +importuned for alms by miserable-looking objects in the streets, and +they conclude that the lower class is a class of beggars. + +The cicerone who took them about, whispered some significant words in +their ears, and they are persuaded that every Italian is in the habit +of offering his wife or his daughter to foreigners. You would astonish +these profound observers immeasurably, if you were to tell them that +the Pope has three millions of subjects who in no way resemble the +Roman rabble. + +Thus it happens that the flying visitor, the superficial traveller, +the communicant of the Holy Week, the guest of the 'Minerva,' is a +ready-made foe to the nation, a natural defender of the clerical +government. + +As for the permanent foreign visitors, if they be men enervated by the +climate or by pleasure, indifferent to the fate of nations, strangers +to political chicane, they will, in the natural order of events, +become converted to the ideas of the Roman aristocracy, between a +quadrille and a cup of chocolate. + +If they be studious men, or men of action, sent for a specific object, +charged to unravel certain mysteries, or to support certain +principles, their conversion will be undertaken in due form. + +I have seen officers, bold, frank, off-hand men, nowise suspected of +Jesuitism, who have allowed themselves to be gently carried away into +the by-paths of reaction by an invisible influence, until they have +been heard swearing, like pagans, against the enemies of the Pope. +Even our own generals, less easy to be caught, are sometimes laid hold +of. The Government cajoles them without loving them. + +No effort is spared to persuade them that all is for the best. The +Roman princes, who think themselves superior to all men, treat them +upon a footing of perfect equality. The Cardinals caress them. These +men in petticoats possess marvellous seductions, and are irresistible +in the art of wheedling. The Holy Father himself converses now with +one, now with the other, and addresses each as "My dear General!" A +soldier must be very ungrateful, very badly taught, and have fallen +off sadly from the old French chivalry, if he refuses to let himself +be killed at the gates of the Vatican where his vanity has been so +charmingly tickled. + +Our ambassadors, too, are resident foreigners, exposed to the personal +flatteries of Roman society. Poor Count de Rayneval! He was so petted, +and cajoled, and deceived, that he ended by penning the _Note_ of the +14th of May, 1856. + +His successor, the Duke de Gramont, is not only an accomplished +gentleman, but a man of talent, with a highly cultivated mind. The +Emperor sent him from Turin to Rome, so it was to be expected that the +Pontifical Government would appear to him doubly detestable, first, +from its own defects, and then by comparison with what he had just +quitted. I had the honour of conversing with this brilliant young +diplomatist, shortly after his arrival, when the Roman people expected +a great deal of him. I found him opposed to the ideas of the Count de +Rayneval, and very far from disposed to countersign the _Note_ of the +14th of May. Nevertheless, he was beginning to judge the +administration of the Cardinals, and the grievances of the people, +with something more than diplomatic impartiality. If I were to express +what appeared to be his opinion, in common parlance, I should say he +would have put the governors and the governed in a bag together. I +would wager that, three months afterwards, the bag would contain none +but the governed, and that he would think it only fit to be flung into +the water. Such is the influence of ecclesiastical cajoleries over +even the most gifted minds. + +What can the Romans hope from our diplomacy, when they see one of the +most notorious lacqueys of the Pontifical coterie lording it at the +French Embassy? The name of the upright man I allude to is Lasagni; +his business is that of a consistorial advocate; we pay him for +deceiving us. He is known for a _Nero_,--that is, a fanatical +reactionist. The secretaries of the embassy despise him, and yet are +familiar with him; tell him they know he is going to lie, and yet +listen to what he says. He smirks, bends double, pockets his money and +laughs at us in his sleeve. Verily, friend Lasagni, you are quite +right! But I regret the eighteenth century--there were then such +things as canes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE. + + +The Counsellor de Brosses, who wished no harm to the Pope, wrote in +1740:--"The Papal Government, although in fact the worst in Europe, is +at the same time the mildest." + +The Count de Tournon, an honest man, an excellent economist, a +Conservative as to all existing powers, and a judge rather too much +prejudiced in favour of the Popes, said, in 1832:-- + + "From this concentration of the powers of pontiff, bishop, + and sovereign, naturally arises the most absolute authority + possible over temporal affairs; but the exercise of this + authority, tempered by the usages and forms of government, + is even still more so by the virtues of the Pontiffs who for + many years have filled the chair of St. Peter; so that this + most absolute of governments is exercised with extreme + mildness. The Pope is an elective sovereign; his States are + the patrimony of Catholicism, because they are the pledge of + the independence of the chief of the faithful, and the + reigning Pope is the supreme administrator, the guardian of + this domain." + +Finally, the Count de Rayneval, the latest and least felicitous +apologist of the Papacy, made in 1856 the following admissions:-- + + "_Not long ago_ the ancient traditions of the Court of Rome + were faithfully observed. All modifications of established + usages, all improvements, even material, were viewed with an + evil eye, and seemed full of danger. Public affairs were + exclusively managed by prelates. The higher posts in the + State were by law interdicted to laymen. In practice the + different powers were often confounded. The principle of + pontifical infallibility was applied to administrative + questions. The personal decision of the Sovereign had been + known to reverse the decision of the tribunals, even in + civil matters. The Cardinal Secretary of State, first + minister in the fullest extent of the term, concentred in + his own hands all the powers of the State. Under his supreme + direction the different branches of the administration were + confided to clerks rather than ministers. These neither + formed a council, nor deliberated together upon the affairs + of the State. The public finances were administered in the + most profound secrecy. No information was communicated to + the nation as to the mode in which its revenues were spent. + Not only did the budget remain a mystery, but it was + afterwards discovered that the accounts were frequently not + made up and balanced. Lastly, municipal liberties, which are + appreciated above all others by the Italians, and which more + particularly respond to their real tendencies, had been + submitted to the most restrictive measures. _But from the + day on which Pope Pius IX. ascended the throne_" etc. etc. + +Thus we find that the _not long ago_ of the Count de Rayneval is an +exact date. It means, in good French, "before the election of Pius +IX.," or again, "up to the 16th of June, 1846." + +Thus also M. de Brosses, if he could have returned to Rome in 1846, +would have found there, by the admission of the Count de Rayneval +himself, the worst government in Europe. + +And thus the most absolute of governments, as M. de Tournon calls it, +still existed in Rome in 1846. + +Up to the 16th of June, 1846, Catholicity owned the six millions of +acres of which the Roman territory consists; the Pope was the +administrator, the guardian, the steward; and the citizens of the +State seem to have been the ploughmen. + +Up to this era of deliverance, a systematic despotism had deprived the +subjects of the Pope, not only of all participation in public affairs, +but of the simplest and most legitimate liberties, of the most +innocuous progress, and even--I shudder as I write it--of recourse to +the laws. The whim of one man had arbitrarily reversed the decisions +of the courts of law. And lastly, an incapable and disorderly caste +had wasted the public finances without rendering an account to any +one, occasionally even without rendering it to themselves. All these +statements must be believed, because it is the Count de Rayneval who +makes them. + +Before proceeding, I maintain that this state of things, now admitted +by the apologists of the Papacy, justifies all the discontent of the +subjects of the Pope, all their complaints, all their recriminations, +all their outbreaks previous to 1846. + +But let me ask this question. Is it true that, since 1846, the Papal +Government has ceased to be the worst in Europe? + +If you can show me a worse, I will go and announce the discovery at +Rome, and I rather fancy I shall considerably astonish the Romans. + +Is the absolute authority of the Papacy limited in any way but by the +individual virtues of the Pope? No. + +Does the Constitution of 1848, or the _Motu Proprio_ of 1849, set +limits to this authority? No. The first has been torn up, the second +never observed. + +Has the Pope renounced his title of administrator, or irresponsible +guardian of the patrimony of Catholicism? Never. + +Is the management of public affairs exclusively in the hand of +prelates? As much so as ever. + +Are the higher posts in the State still by law interdicted to laymen? +Not by law, but in fact they are. + +Are the different powers still confounded in practice? More so than +they ever were. The governors of cities act as judges, and the bishops +as public administrators. + +Has the Pope abandoned any portion of his infallibility as to worldly +matters? None whatever. + +Has he deprived himself of the right of overruling the decisions of +the Courts of Appeal? No. + +Has the Cardinal Secretary of State ceased to be a reigning Minister? +He reigns as absolutely as ever; and the other ministers are more like +footmen than clerks to him. They may be seen any morning waiting in +his antechamber. + +Is there a Council of Ministers? Yes, whereat the Ministers attend to +receive the Cardinal's orders. + +Are the public finances publicly administered? No. + +Does the nation vote the taxes, or are they taken from the nation? The +old system still exists. + +Are municipal liberties at all extended? They were greater in 1816 +than they are at present. + +At the present day, as in the days of the most extreme pontifical +despotism, the Pope is all in all; he has all; he can do all; he +exercises a perpetual dictatorship, without control or limit. + +I own no systematic aversion to the exceptional exercise of a +dictatorship. The ancient Romans knew its value, often had recourse to +it, and derived benefit from it. When the enemy was at the gates, and +the Republic in danger, the Senate and the people, usually so +suspicious, placed all their rights in the hands of one man, and +cried, "Save us!" Some grand dictatorships are to be found in the +history of all times and all peoples. If we examine the different +stages of humanity, we shall find almost at every one a dictator. One +dictatorship created the unity of France, another its military +greatness, and a third its prosperity in peace. Benefits so important +as these, which nations cannot acquire alone, are well worth the +temporary sacrifice of every liberty. A man of genius, who is at the +same time an honest man, and who becomes invested with a boundless +authority, is almost a God upon earth. + +But the duties of the dictator are in exact proportion to the extent +of his powers. A parliamentary sovereign, who walks in a narrow path +traced out by two Chambers, and who hears discussed in the morning +what he is to do in the evening, is almost innocent of the faults of +his reign. On the contrary, the less a dictator is responsible for his +actions by the terms of the Constitution, the more does he become so +in the eyes of posterity. History will reproach him for the good he +has failed to do, when he could do everything; and his omissions will +be accounted to him for crimes. + +I will add, that under no circumstances should the dictatorship last +long. Not only would it be an absurdity to attempt to make it +hereditary, but the man who should think of exercising it perpetually +would be insane. A sick patient allows himself to be bound by the +surgeon who is about to save his life; but when the operation is over +he demands to be set at liberty. Nations act in a like manner. From +the day when the benefits conferred by the master cease to compensate +for the loss of liberty, the nation demands the restoration of its +rights, and a wise dictator will comply with the demand. + +I have often conversed in the Papal States with enlightened and +honourable men, who rank as the heads of the middle class. They have +said to me almost unanimously:-- + + "If a man were to drop down from Heaven among us with + sufficient power to cut to the root of abuses, to reform the + administration, to send the priests to church and the + Austrians to Vienna, to promulgate a civil code, make the + country healthy, restore the plains to cultivation, + encourage manufactures, give freedom to commerce, construct + railways, secularize education, propagate modern ideas, and + put us into a condition to bear comparison with the most + enlightened countries in Europe, we would fall at his feet, + and obey him as we do God. You are told that we are + ungovernable. Give us but a prince capable of governing, and + you shall see whether we will haggle about the conditions of + power! Be he who he may, and come he whence he may, he shall + be absolutely free to do what he chooses, so long as there + is anything to be done. All we ask is, that when his task is + accomplished, he shall let us share the power with him. Rest + assured that even then we shall give him good measure. The + Italians are accommodating, and are not ungrateful. But ask + us not to support this everlasting, do-nothing, tormenting, + ruinous dictatorship, which a succession of decrepit old men + transmit from one to another. Nor do they even exercise it + themselves; but each in his turn, too weak to govern, + hastens to shift a burden which overpowers him, and delivers + us, bound hand and foot, to the worst of his Cardinals!" + +It is too true that the Popes do not themselves exercise their +absolute power. If the _White Pope_, or the Holy Father, governed +personally, we might hope, with a little aid from the imagination, +that a miracle of grace would make him walk straight. He is rarely +very capable or very highly educated: but as the statue of the +Commendatore said, "He who is enlightened by Heaven wants no other +light." Unfortunately the _White Pope_ transfers his political +functions to a _Red Pope_, that is to say, an omnipotent and +irresponsible Cardinal, under the name of a Secretary of State. This +one man represents the sovereign within and without,--speaks for him, +acts for him, replies to foreigners, commands his subjects, expresses +the Pope's will, and not unfrequently imposes his own upon him. + +This second-hand dictator has the best reasons in the world for +abusing his power. If he could hope to succeed his master, and wear +the crown in his turn, he might set an example, or make a show, of all +the virtues. But it is impossible for a Secretary of State to be +elected Pope. Not only is custom opposed to it, but human nature +forbids it. Never will the Cardinals in conclave assembled agree among +one another to crown the man who has ruled them all during a reign. +Old Lambruschini had taken all his measures to secure his election. +There were very few Cardinals who had not promised him their voices, +and yet it was Pius IX. who ascended the throne. The illustrious +Consalvi, one of the great statesmen of our age, made the same attempt +with as little success. After such instances it is clear that Cardinal +Antonelli has no chance of attaining the tiara; and therefore no +interest in doing good. + +If he could at least hope that the successor of Pius IX. would retain +him in his functions, he might observe a little caution. But it has +never yet happened that the same Secretary of State has reigned under +two Popes. Such an event never will occur, because it never has +occurred. We are in a land where the future is the very humble servant +of the past. Tradition absolutely requires that a new Pope should +disgrace the favourite of his predecessor, by way of initiating his +Papacy with a stroke of popularity. + +Thus every Secretary of State is duly warned that whenever his master +takes the road heavenward, he must become lost again in the common +herd of the Sacred College. He feels, therefore, that he ought to make +the best possible use of his time. + +He has, moreover, the comfortable assurance that after his disgrace, +he will not be called upon for any account of his past deeds; for the +least of the Cardinals is as inviolable as the twelve Apostles. +Surely, then, he would be a fool to refuse anything while he has the +power to take it. + +This is the place to sketch, in a few pages, the portraits of the two +men,--one of whom possesses, and the other exercises, the dictatorship +over three millions of unfortunate beings. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PIUS IX. + + +Old age, majesty, and misfortune have a claim to the respect of all +right-minded persons: fear not that I shall be wanting in such +respect. + +But truth has also its claims: it also is old, it is majestic, it is +holy, and it is sometimes cruelly ill-treated by men. + +I shall not forget that the Pope is sixty-seven years of age, that he +wears a crown officially venerated by a hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics, that his private life has ever been exemplary, +that he observes the most noble disinterestedness upon a throne where +selfishness has long held sway, that he spontaneously commenced his +reign by conferring benefits, that his first acts held out the fairest +hopes to Italy and to Europe, that he has suffered the lingering +torture of exile, that he exercises a precarious and dependent royalty +under the protection of two foreign armies, and that he lives under +the control of a Cardinal. But those who have fallen victims to the +efforts made to replace him on his throne, those whom the Austrians +have, at his request, shot and sabred, in order to re-establish his +authority, and even those who toil in the plague-stricken plains of +the Roman Campagna to fill his treasury, are far more to be pitied +than he is. + +Giovanni-Maria, dei Conti Mastai Ferretti, born the 13th May, 1792, +and elected Pope the 16th June, 1846, under the name of Pius IX., is a +man who looks more than his actual age; he is short, obese, somewhat +pallid, and in precarious health. His benevolent and sleepy +countenance breathes good-nature and lassitude, but has nothing of an +imposing character. Gregory XVI., though ugly and pimply, is said to +have had a grand air. + +Pius IX. plays his part in the gorgeous shows of the Roman Catholic +Church indifferently well. The faithful who have come from afar to see +him perform Mass, are a little surprised to see him take a pinch of +snuff in the midst of the azure-tinted clouds of incense. In his hours +of leisure he plays at billiards for exercise, by order of his +physicians. + +He believes in God. He is not only a good Christian, but a devotee. In +his enthusiasm for the Virgin Mary, he has invented a useless dogma, +and disfigured the Piazza di Spagna by a monument of bad taste. His +morals are pure, as they always have been, even when he was a young +priest: such instances are common enough among our clergy, but rare, +not to say miraculous, beyond the Alps. + +He has nephews, who, wonderful to relate, are neither rich nor +powerful, nor even princes. And yet there is no law which prevents him +from spoiling his subjects for the benefit of his family. Gregory +XIII. gave his nephew Ludovisi £160,000 of good paper, worth so much +cash. The Borghese family bought at one stroke ninety-five farms with +the money of Paul V. A commission which met in 1640, under the +presidence of the Reverend Father Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits, +decided, in order to put an end to such abuses, that the Popes should +confine themselves to entailing property to the amount of £16,000 a +year upon their favourite nephew and his family (with the right of +creating a second heir to the same privileges), and that the portion +of each of their nieces should not exceed £36,000. + +I am aware that nepotism fell into desuetude at the commencement of +the eighteenth century; but there was nothing to prevent Pius IX. from +bringing it into fashion again, after the example of Pius VI., if he +chose; but he does not choose to do so. His relations are of the +second order of nobility, and are not rich: he has done nothing to +alter their position. His nephew, Count Mastai Ferretti, was recently +married; and the Pope's wedding present consisted of a few diamonds, +worth about £8000. Nor did this modest gift cost the nation one +baioccho. The diamonds came from the Sovereign of Turkey. Some ten +years ago the Sultan of Constantinople, the Commander of the Faithful, +presented the commander of the unfaithful with a saddle embroidered +with precious stones. The travellers in the restoring line, who used +to flock to Gaeta and Portici, carried off a great number of them in +their bags; what they left are in the casket of the young Countess +Ferretti. + +The character of this respectable old man, is made up of devotion, +simplicity, vanity, weakness, and obstinacy, with an occasional touch +of rancour. He blesses with unction, and pardons with difficulty; he +is a good priest, and an insufficient king. + +His intellect, which has raised such great hopes, and caused such +cruel disappointment, is of a very ordinary capacity. I can hardly +think he is infallible in temporal matters. His education is that of +the average of cardinals in general. He talks French pretty well. + +The Romans formed an exaggerated opinion of him at his accession, and +have done so ever since. In 1847, when he honestly manifested a desire +to do good, they called him a great man, whereas in point of fact he +was simply a worthy man who wished to act better than his predecessors +had done, and thereby to win some applause from Europe. In 1859, he +passes for a violent re-actionist, because events have discouraged his +good intentions: and above all, because Cardinal Antonelli, who +masters him by fear, violently draws him backwards. I consider him as +meriting neither past admiration nor present hatred. I pity him for +having loosened the rein upon his people, without possessing the +firmness requisite to restrain them seasonably. I pity still more that +infirmity of character which now allows more evil to be done in his +name than he has ever himself done good. + +The failure of all his enterprises, and three or four accidents which +happened in his presence, have given rise to the popular belief that +the Vicar of Jesus Christ is what the Italians call _jettatore_--in +other words, that he has the _evil eye_. When he drives along the +Corso, the old women fall down on their knees, but they snap their +fingers at him beneath their cloaks. + +The members of the Italian secret societies impute to him--though for +other reasons--all the evils which afflict their country. It is +evident that the Italian question would be greatly simplified, if +there were no Pope at Rome; but the hatred of the Mazzinists against +Pius IX. is to be condemned in all its personal aspects. They would +kill him to a certainty, if our troops were not there to defend him. +This murder would be as unjust as that of Louis XVI., and as useless. +The guillotine would deprive a good old man of his life, but it would +not put an end to the bad principle of sacerdotal monarchy. + +I did not seek an audience of Pius IX.; I neither kissed his hand nor +his slipper; the only mark of attention I received from him was a few +lines of insult in the _Giornale di Roma_. Still, I never can hear him +accused without defending him. + +Let my readers for a moment put themselves in the place of this too +illustrious and too unfortunate old man. After having been for nearly +two years the favourite of public opinion, and the _lion_ of Europe, +he found himself obliged to quit the Quirinal palace at a moment's +notice. At Gaeta and Portici he tasted those lingering hours which +sour the spirit of the exile. A grand and time-honoured principle, of +which the legitimacy is not doubtful to him, was violated in his +person. His advisers unanimously said to him: + + "It is your own fault. You have endangered the monarchy by + your ideas of progress. The immobility of governments is the + _sine quâ non_ of the stability of thrones. You will not + doubt this, if you read again the history of your + predecessors." + +He had had time to become converted to this belief, when the armies of +the Catholic powers once more opened for him the road to Rome. +Overjoyed at seeing the principle saved, he vowed to himself never +again to compromise it, but to reign without progress, according to +papal tradition. But these very foreign powers who had saved his +crown, were the first to impose on him the condition of advancing! +What was to be done? He was equally afraid to promise everything, and +to refuse everything. After a long hesitation, he promised in spite of +himself; then he absolved himself, for the sake of the future, from +the engagements he had made for the sake of the present. + +Now he is out of humour with his people, with the French, and with +himself. He knows the nation is suffering, but he allows himself to be +persuaded that the misfortunes of the nation are indispensable to the +safety of the Church. Those about him take care that the reproaches of +his conscience shall be stifled by the recollections of 1848 and the +dread of a new revolution. He stops his eyes and his ears, and +prepares to die calmly between his furious subjects on one hand, and +his dissatisfied protectors on the other. Any man wanting in energy, +placed as he is, would behave exactly in the same manner. The fault is +not his, it is that of weakness and old-age. + +But I do not undertake to obtain the acquittal of his Minister of +State, Cardinal Antonelli. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ANTONELLI. + + +He was born in a den of thieves. His native place, Sonnino, is more +celebrated in the history of crime than all Arcadia in the annals of +virtue. This nest of vultures was hidden in the southern mountains, +towards the Neapolitan frontier. Roads, impracticable to mounted +dragoons, winding through brakes and thickets; forests, impenetrable +to the stranger; deep ravines and gloomy caverns,--all combined to +form a most desirable landscape, for the convenience of crime. The +houses of Sonnino, old, ill-built, flung pell-mell one, upon the +other, and almost uninhabitable by human beings, were, in point of +fact, little else than depots of pillage and magazines of rapine. The +population, alert and vigorous, had for many centuries practised armed +robbery and depredation, and gained its livelihood at the point of the +carbine. New-born infants inhaled contempt of the law with the +mountain air, and drew in the love of others' goods with their +mothers' milk. Almost as soon as they could walk, they assumed the +_cioccie_, or mocassins of untanned leather, with which they learned +to run fearlessly along the edge of the giddiest mountain precipices. +When they had acquired the art of pursuing and escaping, of taking +without being taken, the knowledge of the value of the different +coins, the arithmetic of the distribution of booty, and the principles +of the rights of nations as they are practised among the Apaches or +the Comanches, their education was deemed complete. They required no +teaching to learn how to apply the spoil, and to satisfy their +passions in the hour of victory. + +In the year of grace 1806, this sensual, brutal, impious, +superstitious, ignorant, and cunning race endowed Italy with a little +mountaineer, known as Giacomo Antonelli. + +Hawks do not hatch doves. This is an axiom in natural history which +has no need of demonstration. Had Giacomo Antonelli been gifted at his +birth with the simple virtues of an Arcadian shepherd, his village +would have instantly disowned him. But the influence of certain events +modified his conduct, although they failed to modify his nature. His +infancy and his childhood were subjected to two opposing influences. +If he received his earliest lessons from successful brigandage, his +next teachers were the gendarmerie. When he was hardly four years old, +the discharge of a high moral lesson shook his ears: it was the French +troops who were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonnino. After +the return of Pius VII. he witnessed the decapitation of a few +neighbouring relatives who had often dandled him on their knees. Under +Leo XII. it was still worse. Those wholesome correctives, the wooden +horse and the supple-jack, were permanently established in the village +square. About once a fortnight the authorities rased the house of some +brigand, after sending his family to the galleys, and paying a reward +to the informer who had denounced him. St. Peter's Gate, which adjoins +the house of the Antonellis, was ornamented with a garland of human +heads, which eloquent relics grinned dogmatically enough in their iron +cages. If the stage be a school of life, surely such a stage as this +is a rare teacher. Young Giacomo was enabled to reflect upon the +inconveniences of brigandage, even before he had tasted its sweets. +About him some men of progress had already engaged in industrial +pursuits of a less hazardous nature than robbery. His own father, who, +it was whispered, had in him the stuff of a Grasparone or a Passatore, +instead of exposing himself upon the highways, took to keeping +bullocks, he then became an Intendant, and subsequently was made a +Municipal Receiver; by which occupations he acquired more money at +considerably less risk. + +The young Antonelli hesitated for some time as to the choice of a +calling. His natural vocation was that of the inhabitants of Sonnino +in general, to live in plenty, to enjoy every sort of pleasure, to +make himself at home everywhere, to be dependent upon nobody, to rule +others, and to frighten them, if necessary, but, above all, to violate +the laws with impunity. With the view of attaining so lofty an end +without exposing his life, for which he ever had a most particular +regard, he entered the great seminary of Rome. + +In our land of scepticism, a young man enters the seminary with the +hope of being ordained a priest: Antonelli entered it with the +opposite intention. But in the capital of the Catholic Church, young +Levites of ordinary intelligence become magistrates, prefects, +councillors of state, and ministers, while the "dry fruit[6] is +thought good enough for making priests." + +Antonelli so distinguished himself, that (with Heaven's help) he +escaped the sacrament of Ordination. He has never said mass: he has +never confessed a penitent; I won't swear he has even confessed +himself. He gained what was of more value than all the Christian +virtues--the friendship of Gregory XVI. He became a prelate, a +magistrate, a prefect, Secretary General of the Interior, and Minister +of Finance. No one can say he has not chosen the right path. A finance +minister, if he knows anything of his business, can lay by more money +in six months than all the brigands of Sonnino in twenty years. + +Under Gregory XVI. he had been a reactionist, to please his sovereign. +On the accession of Pius IX., for the same reason, he professed +liberal ideas. A red hat and a ministerial portfolio were the +recompense of his new convictions, and proved to the inhabitants of +Sonnino that liberalism itself is more lucrative than brigandage. What +a practical lesson for those mountaineers! One of themselves clothed +in purple and fine linen, actually riding in his gilt coach, passed +the barracks, and their old friends the dragoons presenting arms, +instead of firing long shots at him! + +He obtained the same influence over the new Pope that he had over the +old one, thus proving that people may be got hold of without stopping +them on the highway. Pius IX., who had no secrets from him, confided +to him his wish to correct abuses, without concealing his fear of +succeeding too well. He served the Holy Father, even in his +irresolutions. As President of the Supreme Council of State, he +proposed reforms, and as Minister he postponed their adoption. Nobody +was more active than he, whether in settling or in violating the +constitution of 1848. He sent Durando to fight the Austrians, and +disavowed him after the battle. + +He quitted the ministry as soon as he found there were dangers to be +encountered, but assisted the Pope in his secret opposition to his +ministers. The murder of Count Rossi gave him serious cause for +reflection. A man don't take the trouble to be born at Sonnino, in +order to let himself be assassinated: quite the contrary. He placed +the Pope--and himself--in safety, and then went to Gaeta to play the +part of Secretary of State _in partibus_. + +From this exile dates his omnipotence over the will of the Holy +Father, his reinstatement in the esteem of the Austrians, and the +consistency in his whole conduct. Since then no more contradictions in +his political life. They who formally accused him of hesitating +between the welfare of the nation and his own personal interest are +reduced to silence. He wishes to restore the absolute power of the +Pope, in order that he may dispose of it at his ease. He prevents all +reconciliation between Pius IX. and his subjects; he summons the +cannon of Catholicism to effect the conquest of Rome. He ill-uses the +French, who are willing to die for him; he turns a deaf ear to the +liberal counsels of Napoleon III.; he designedly prolongs the exile of +his master; he draws up the promises of the _Motu Proprio_, while +devising means to elude them. At length, he returns to Rome, and for +ten years continues to reign over a timid old man and an enslaved +people, opposing a passive resistance to all the counsels of diplomacy +and all the demands of Europe. Clinging tenaciously to power, reckless +as to the future, misusing present opportunities, and day by day +increasing his fortune--after the manner of Sonnino. + +In this year of grace 1859, he is fifty-three years of age. He +presents the appearance of a well-preserved man. His frame is slight +and robust, and his constitution is that of a mountaineer. The breadth +of his forehead, the brilliancy of his eyes, his beak-like nose, and +all the upper part of his face inspire a certain awe. His countenance, +of almost Moorish hue, is at times lit up by flashes of intellect. But +his heavy jaw, his long fang-like teeth, and his thick lips express +the grossest appetites. He gives you the idea of a minister grafted on +a savage. When he assists the Pope in the ceremonies of the Holy Week +he is magnificently disdainful and impertinent. He turns from time to +time in the direction of the diplomatic tribune, and looks without a +smile at the poor ambassadors, whom he cajoles from morning to night. +You admire the actor who bullies his public. But when at an evening +party he engages in close conversation with a handsome woman, the play +of his countenance shows the direction of his thoughts, and those of +the imaginative observer are imperceptibly carried to a roadside in a +lonely forest, in which the principal objects are prostrate +postilions, an overturned carriage, trembling females, and a select +party of the inhabitants of Sonnino! + +He lives in the Vatican, immediately over the Pope. The Romans ask +punningly which is the uppermost, the Pope or Antonelli? + +All classes of society hate him equally. Concini himself was not more +cordially detested. He is the only living man concerning whom an +entire people is agreed. + +A Roman prince furnished me with some information respecting the +relative fortunes of the nobility. When he gave me the list he said, + + "You will remark the names of two individuals, the amount of + whose property is described as unlimited. They are Torlonia + and Antonelli. They have both made large fortunes in a few + years,--the first by speculation, the second by power." + +The Cardinals Altieri and Antonelli were one day disputing upon some +point in the Pope's presence. They flatly contradicted one another; +and the Pope inclined to the opinion of his Minister. "Since your +Holiness," said the noble Altieri, "accords belief to a _ciociari_[7] +rather than to a Roman prince, I have nothing to do but to withdraw." + +The Apostles themselves appear to entertain no very amicable feelings +towards the Secretary of State. The last time the Pope made a solemn +entry into his capital (I think it was after his journey to Bologna), +the Porta del Popolo and the Corso were according to custom hung with +draperies, behind which the old statues of St. Peter and St. Paul were +completely hidden. Accordingly the people were entertained by finding +the following dialogue appended to the corner of the street:-- + +_Peter to Paul_. "It seems to me, old fellow, that we are somewhat +forsaken here." + +_Paul to Peter_. "What would you have? We are no longer anything. +There is but James in the world now." + +I am aware that hatred proves nothing--even the hatred of Apostles. +The French nation, which claims to be thought just, insulted the +funeral procession of Louis XIV. It also occasionally detested Henri +IV. for his economy, and Napoleon for his victories. No statesman +should be judged upon the testimony of his enemies. The only evidence +we should admit either for or against him, is his public acts. The +only witnesses to which any weight should be attributed are the +greatness and the prosperity of the country he governs. + +Such an inquiry would, I fear, be ruinous to Antonelli. The nation +reproaches him with all the evils it has suffered for the last ten +years. The public wretchedness and ignorance, the decline of the arts, +the entire suppression of liberty, the ever-present curse of foreign +occupation,--all fall upon his head, because he alone is responsible +for everything. + +It may be alleged that he has at least served the reactionary party. I +much doubt it. What internal factions has he suppressed? Secret +societies have swarmed in Rome during his reign. What remonstrances +from without has he silenced? Europe continues to complain +unanimously, and day by day lifts up its voice a tone or two higher. +He has failed to reconcile one single party or one single power to the +Holy father. During his ten years' dictatorship, he has neither gained +the esteem of one foreigner nor the confidence of one Roman. All he +has gained is time. His pretended capacity is but slyness. To the +trickery of the present he adds the cunning of the red Indian; but he +has not that largeness of view without which it is impossible to +establish firmly the slavery of the people. No one possesses in a +greater degree than he the art of dragging on an affair, and +manoeuvring with and tiring out diplomatists; but it is not by +pleasantries of this sort that a tottering tyranny can be propped up. +Although he employs every subterfuge known to dishonest policy, I am +not quite sure that he has even the craft of a politician. + +The attainment of his own end does not in fact require it. For after +all, what is his end? In what hope, with what aim, did he come down +from the mountains of Sonnino? + +Do you really believe he thought of becoming the benefactor of the +nation?--or the saviour of the Papacy?--or the Don Quixote of the +Church? Not such a fool! He thought, first, of himself; secondly, of +his family. + +His family is flourishing. His four brothers, Filippo, Luigi, +Gregorio, and--save the mark!--Angelo, all wore the _cioccie_ in their +younger days; they now, one and all, wear the count's coronet. One is +governor of the bank, a capital post, and since poor Campana's +condemnation he has got the Monte di Pietà . Another is Conservator of +Rome, under a Senator especially selected for his incapacity. Another +follows openly the trape of a monopolist, with immense facilities for +either preventing or authorizing exportation, according as his own +warehouses happen to be full or empty. The youngest is the commercial +traveller, the diplomatist, the messenger of the family, _Angelus +Domini_. A cousin of the family, Count Dandini, reigns over the +police. This little group is perpetually at work adding to a fortune +which is invisible, impalpable, and incalculable. The house of +Antonelli is not pitied at Sonnino. + +As for the Secretary of State, all who know him intimately, both men +and women, agree that he leads a pleasant life. If it were not for the +bore of making head against the diplomatists, and giving audience +every morning, he would be the happiest of mountaineers. His tastes +are simple; a scarlet silk robe, unlimited power, an enormous fortune, +a European reputation, and all the pleasures within man's reach--this +trifle satisfies the simple tastes of the Cardinal Minister. Add, by +the bye, a splendid collection of minerals, perfectly classified which +he is constantly enriching with the passion of an amateur and the +tenderness of a father. + +I was saying just now that he has always escaped the sacrament of Holy +Orders. He is Cardinal Deacon. The good souls who will have it that +all goes well at Rome, dwell with fervour on the advantage he +possesses in not being a priest. If he is accused of possessing +inordinate wealth, these indulgent Christians reply, that he is not a +priest! If you charge him with having read Machiavelli to good +purpose; admitted--what then?--he is no priest! If the tongue of +scandal is over-free with his private life; still the ready reply, +that he is not a priest! If Deacons are thus privileged, what latitude +may we not claim who have not even assumed the tonsure? + +This highly-blest mortal has one weakness--truly a very natural one. +He fears death. A certain fair lady, who had been honoured by his +Eminence's particular attentions, thus illustrated the fact, + + "Upon meeting me at our rendezvous, he seized me like a + madman, and with trembling eagerness examined my pockets. It + was only when he had assured himself that I had no concealed + weapon about me that he seemed to remember our friendship." + +One man alone has dared to threaten a life so precious to itself, and +he was an idiot. Instigated by some of the secret societies, this poor +crazed wretch concealed himself beneath the staircase of the Vatican, +and awaited the coming of the Cardinal. When the intended victim +appeared, the idiot with much difficulty drew from beneath his +waistcoat--a table-fork! Antonelli saw the terrible weapon, and +bounded backwards with a spring which an Alpine chamois-hunter might +have envied. The miserable assassin was instantly seized, bound, and +delivered over to justice. The Roman tribunals, so often lenient +towards the really guilty, had no mercy for this real innocent. He was +beheaded. The Cardinal, full of pity, fell--officially--at the Pope's +feet, and asked for a pardon which he well knew would be refused. He +pays the widow a pension: is not this the act of a clever man? + +Since the day when that formidable fork glittered before his eyes, he +has taken excessive precautions. His horses are broken to gallop +furiously through the streets, at considerable public risk. +Occasionally, his carriage knocks down and runs over a little boy or +girl. With characteristic magnanimity, he sends the parents fifty +crowns. + +Antonelli has been compared to Mazarin. They have, in common, the fear +of death, inordinate love of money, a strong family feeling, utter +indifference to the people's welfare, contempt for mankind, and some +other accidental points of resemblance. They were born in the same +mountains, or nearly so. One obtained the influence over a woman's +heart which the other possesses over the mind of an old man. Both +governed unscrupulously, and both have merited and obtained the hatred +of their contemporaries. They have talked French comically, without +being insensible to any of the delicate niceties of the language. + +Still there would be manifest injustice in placing them in the same +rank. The selfish Mazarin dictated to Europe the treaties of +Westphalia, and the Peace of the Pyrenees: he founded by diplomacy the +greatness of Louis XIV., and managed the affairs of the French +monarchy, without in any way neglecting his own. + +Antonelli has made his fortune at the expense of the nation, the Pope, +and the Church. Mazarin may be compared to a skilful but rascally +tailor, who dresses his customers well, while he contrives to cabbage +sundry yards of their cloth; Antonelli, to those Jews of the Middle +Ages, who demolished the Coliseum for the sake of the old iron in the +walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT. + + +If the Pope were merely the head of the Roman Catholic Church; if, +limiting his action to the interior of temples, he would renounce the +sway over temporal matters about which he knows nothing, his +countrymen of Rome, Ancona, and Bologna might govern themselves as +people do in London or in Paris. The administration would be lay, the +laws would be lay, the nation would provide for its own wants with its +own revenues, as is the custom in all civilized countries. + +As for the general expenses of the Roman Catholic worship, which in +point of fact no more _specially_ concern the Romans than they do the +Champenois, a voluntary contribution made by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of men would amply provide for them. If each +individual among the faithful were to give a halfpenny _per annum_, +the head of the Church would have something like £300,000 to spend +upon his wax tapers and his incense, his choristers and his +sacristans, and the repairs of the basilica of St. Peter's. No Roman +Catholic would think of refusing his quota, because the Holy Father, +entirely separated from worldly interests, would not be in a position +to offend anybody. This small tax would, therefore, restore +independence to the Romans without diminishing the independence of the +Pope. + +Unfortunately the Pope is a king. In this capacity he must have a +Court, or something approaching to it. He selects his courtiers among +men of his own faith, his own opinions, and his own profession: +nothing can be more reasonable. These courtiers, in their turn, +dispose of the different offices of state, spiritual or temporal, just +as it may happen. Nor can the Sovereign object to this pretension as +being ridiculous. Moreover he naturally hopes to be more faithfully +served by priests than laymen; while he feels that the salaries +attached to the best-paid places are necessary to the splendour of his +Court. + +Thence it follows that to preach the secularization of the government +to the Pope, is to preach to the winds. Here you have a man who would +not be a layman, who pities laymen simply because they are laymen, +regarding them as a caste inferior to his own; who has received an +anti-lay education; who thinks differently to laymen on all important +points; and you expect this man will share his power with laymen, in +an empire where he is absolute master of all and everything! You +require him to surround himself with laymen, to summon them to his +councils, and to confide to them the execution of his behests! + +Supposing, however, that for some reason or other he fears you, and +wishes to humour you a little, see what he will do. He will seek in +the outer offices of his ministers some lay secretary, or assistant, +or clerk, a man without character or talent; he will employ him, and +take care that his incapacity shall be universally known and admitted. +After which, he will say to you sadly, "I have done what I could." But +if he were to speak the honest truth, he would at once say, "If you +wish to secularize anything, begin by putting laymen in _my_ place." + +It is not in 1859 that the Pope will venture to speak so haughtily. +Intimidated by the protection of France, deafened by the unanimous +complaints of his subjects, obliged to reckon with public opinion, he +declares that he has secularized everything. "Count my functionaries," +he says: + + "I have 14,576 laymen in my service. You have been told that + ecclesiastics monopolize the public service. Show me these + ecclesiastics! The Count de Rayneval looked for them, and + could find but ninety-eight; and even of those, the greater + part were not in priests' orders! Be assured we have long + since broken with the clerical _régime_. I myself decreed + the admissibility of laymen to all offices but one. In order + to show my sincerity, for some time I had lay ministers! I + entrusted the finances to a mere accountant, the department + of justice to an obscure little advocate, and that of war to + a man of business who had been intendant to several + Cardinals. I admit that for the moment we have no laymen in + the Ministry; but my subjects may console themselves by + reflecting that the law does not prevent me from appointing + them. + + "In the provinces, out of eighteen prefects, I appointed + three laymen. If I afterwards substituted prelates for those + three, it was because the people loudly called for the + change. Is it my fault if the people respect nothing but the + ecclesiastical garb?" + +This style of defence may deceive some good easy folk; but I think if +I were Pope, or Secretary of State, or even a simple supporter of the +Pontifical administration, I should prefer telling the plain truth. +That truth is strictly logical, it is in conformity with the principle +of the Government; it emanates from the Constitution. Things are +exactly what they ought to be, if not for the welfare of the people, +at least for the greatness, security, and satisfaction of its temporal +head. + +The truth then is that all the ministers, all the prefects, all the +ambassadors, all the court dignitaries, and all the judges of the +superior tribunals, are ecclesiastics; that the Secretary of the +_Brevi_ and the _Memoriali_ the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +Council of State and the Council of Finances, the Director-General of +the Police, the Director of Public Health and Prisons, the Director of +the Archives, the Attorney-General of the Fisc, the President and the +Secretary of the _Cadastro_ the Agricultural President and Commission, +are _all ecclesiastics_. The public education is in the hands of +ecclesiastics, under the direction of thirteen Cardinals. All the +charitable establishments, all the funds applicable to the relief of +the poor, are the patrimony of ecclesiastical directors. Congregations +of Cardinals decide causes in their leisure hours, and the Bishops of +the kingdom are so many living tribunals. + +Why seek to conceal from Europe so natural an order of things? + +Let Europe rather be told what it did when it re-established a priest +on the throne of Rome. + +All the offices which confer power or profit belong first to the Pope, +then to the Secretary of State, then to the Cardinals, and lastly to +the Prelates. Everybody takes his share according to the hierarchical +order; and when all are satisfied, the crumbs of power are thrown to +the nation at large; in other words, the 14,596 places which no +ecclesiastic chooses to take, particularly the distinguished office of +_Guardia Campestre_, a sort of rural police. Nobody need wonder at +such a distribution of places. In the government of Rome, the Pope is +everything, the Secretary of State is almost everything, the Cardinals +are something, and the priests on the road to become something. The +_lay nation_, which marries and gives in marriage, and peoples the +State, is nothing--never will be anything. + +The word _prelate_ has fallen from my pen; I will pause a moment to +explain its precise meaning. Among us it is a title sufficiently +respected: at Rome it is far less so. We have no prelates but our +Archbishops and Bishops. When we see one of these venerable men +driving slowly out of his palace in an old-fashioned carriage drawn by +a single pair of horses, we know, without being told it, that he has +spent three-fourths of his existence in the exercise of the most +meritorious works. He said Mass in some small village before he was +made the cure of a canton. He has preached, confessed, distributed +alms to the poor, borne the viaticum to the sick, committed the dead +to their last narrow home. + +The Roman prelate is often a great hulking fellow who has just left +college, with the tonsure for his only sacrament. He is a Doctor of +something or other, he owns some property, more or less, and he enters +the Church as an amateur, to see if he can make something out of it. +The Pope gives him leave to style himself _Monsignore_, instead of +_Signore_, and to wear violet-coloured stockings. Clad in these he +starts on his road, hoping it may lead him to a Cardinal's hat. He +passes through the courts of law, or the administration, or the +domestic service of the Vatican, as the case may be. All these paths +lead in the right direction, provided the traveller pursuing them has +zeal, and professes a pious scorn for liberal ideas. The +ecclesiastical calling is by no means indispensable, but nothing can +be achieved without a good stock of retrograde ideas. The prelate who +should take the Emperor's letter to M. Edgar Ney seriously, would be, +in vulgar parlance, done for; the only course open to him would be--to +marry. At Paris, a man disappointed in ambition takes prussic acid; at +Rome, he takes a wife. + +Sometimes the prelate is a cadet of a noble house, one in which the +right to a red hat is traditional. Knowing this he feels that the +moment he puts on his violet stockings, he may order his scarlet ones. +In the meanwhile he takes his degrees, and profits by the occasion to +sow his wild oats. The Cardinals shut their eyes to his conduct, so he +does but profess wholesome ideas. Do what you please, child of +princes, so your heart be but clerical! + +Finally, it is not uncommon to find among the prelates some soldiers +of fortune, adventurers of the Church, who have been attracted from +their native land by the ambition of ecclesiastical greatness. This +corps of volunteers receives contingents from the whole Catholic +world. These gentlemen furnish some strange examples to the Roman +people; and I know more than one of them to whom mothers of families +would on no account confide the education of their children. It has +happened to me to have described in a novel[8] a prelate who richly +deserved a thrashing; the good folks of Rome have named to me three or +four whom they fancied they recognized in the portrait. But it has +never yet been known that any prelate, however vicious, has given +utterance to liberal ideas. A single word from a Roman prelate's lips +in behalf of the nation would ruin him. + +The Count de Rayneval has laboured hard to prove that prelates, who +have not received the sacrament of Ordination, form part of the lay +element. At this rate, a province should deem itself fortunate, and +think it has escaped priestly government, if its prefect is simply +tonsured. I cannot for the life of me see in what tonsured prelates +are more laymen than they are priests. I admit that they neither +follow the calling nor possess the virtues of the priesthood; but I +maintain that they have the ideas, the interests, the passions of the +ecclesiastical caste. They aim at the Cardinal's hat, when their +ambition does not soar to the tiara. Singular laymen, truly, and well +fitted to inspire confidence in a lay people! 'Twere better they +should become Cardinals; for then they would no longer have their +fortunes to make, and they would not be called upon to signalize their +zeal against the nation. + +For that is, unhappily, the state at which things have arrived. This +same ecclesiastical caste, so strongly united by the bonds of a +learned hierarchy, reigns as over a conquered country. It regards the +middle class,--in other words, the intelligent and laborious part of +the nation,--as an irreconcilable foe. The prefects are ordered, not +to govern the provinces, but to keep them in order. The police is +kept, not to protect the citizens, but to watch them. The tribunals +have other interests to defend than those of justice. The diplomatic +body does not represent a country, but a coterie. The educating body +has the mission not to teach, but to prevent the spread of +instruction. The taxes are not a national assessment, but an official +foray for the profit of certain ecclesiastics. Examine all the +departments of the public administration: you will everywhere find the +clerical element at war with the nation, and of course everywhere +victorious. + +In this state of things it is idle to say to the Pope, "Fill your +principal offices with laymen." You might as well say to Austria, +"Place your fortresses under the guard of the Piedmontese." The Roman +administration is what it must be. It will remain what it is as long +as there is a Pope on the throne. + +Besides, although the lay population still complains of being +systematically excluded from power, matters have reached such a point, +that an honest man of the middle class would think himself dishonoured +by accepting a high post. It would be said that he had deserted the +nation to serve the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +POLITICAL SEVERITY. + + +It is admitted that the Popes have always been remarkable for a senile +indulgence and goodness. I do not pretend to deny the assertions of M. +de Brosses and M. de Tournon that this government is at once the +mildest, the worst, and the most absolute in Europe. + +And yet Sixtus V., a great Pope, was a still greater executioner. That +man of God delivered over to the gallows a Pepoli of Bologna, who had +bestowed upon him a kick instead of a piece of bread when he was a +mendicant friar. + +And yet Gregory XVI., in our own times, granted a dispensation of age +to a minor for the sake of having him legally executed. + +And yet the punishment of the wooden horse was revived four years ago +by the mild Cardinal Antonelli. + +And yet the Pontifical State is the only one in Europe in which the +barbarous practice of placing a price upon a man's head is still in +use. + +Never mind. Since, after all, the Pontifical State is that in which +the most daring crimes and the most open assassinations have the +greatest chance of being committed with perfect impunity, I will +admit, with M. de Brosses and M. de Tournon, that it is the mildest in +Europe. I am about to examine with you the application of this +mildness to political matters. + +Nine years ago Pius IX. re-entered his capital, as the father of a +family his house, after having the door broken open. It is not likely +that either the Holy Father, or the companions of his exile, were +animated by very lively feelings of gratitude towards the chiefs of +the revolution which had driven them away. A priest never quite +forgets that he was once a man. + +This is why two hundred and eighty-three individuals[9] were excluded +from the general amnesty recommended by France and promised by the +Pope. It is unfortunate for these two hundred and eighty-three that +the Gospel is old, and forgiveness of injuries out of date. Perhaps +you will remind me that St. Peter cut off one of the ears of Malchus. + +By the clemency of the Pope, fifty-nine of these exiles were pardoned, +during a period of nine years, if men can be said to be pardoned who +are recalled provisionally, some for a year, others for half a year, +or who are brought home only to be placed under the surveillance of +the police. A man who is forbidden to exercise the calling to which he +was bred, and whose sole privilege is that of dying of starvation in +his native land, is likely rather to regret his exile sometimes. + +I was introduced to one of the fifty-nine privileged partakers of the +pontifical clemency. He is an advocate; at least he was until the day +when he obtained his pardon. He related to me the history of the +tolerably inoffensive part he had played in 1848; the hopes he had +founded on the amnesty; his despair when he found himself excluded +from it; some particulars of his life in exile, such, for instance, as +his having had recourse to giving lessons in Italian, like the +illustrious Manin, and so many others. + +"I could have lived happily enough," he said, + + "but one day the home-sickness laid my heart low; I felt + that I must see Italy, or die. My family took the necessary + steps, and it fortunately happened that we knew some one who + had interest with a Cardinal. The police dictated the + conditions of my return, and I accepted them without knowing + what they were. If they had told me I could not return + without cutting off my right arm, I would have cut it off. + The Pope signed my pardon, and then published my name in the + newspapers, so that none might be ignorant of his clemency. + But I am interdicted from resuming my practice at the Bar, + and a man can hardly gain a livelihood by teaching Italian + in a country where everybody speaks it." + +As he concluded, the neighbouring church-bells began to sound the _Ave +Maria_. He turned pale, seized his hat, and rushed out of my room, +exclaiming, "I knew not it was so late! Should the police arrive at my +house before I can reach it, I am a lost man!" + +His friends explained to me the cause of his sudden alarm: the poor +man is subject to the police regulation termed the _Precetto_. + +He must always return to his abode at sunset, and he is then shut in +till the next morning. The police may force their way in at any time +during the night, for the purpose of ascertaining that he is there. He +cannot leave the city under any pretence whatever, even in broad day. +The slightest infraction of these rules exposes him to imprisonment, +or to a new exile. + +The Pontifical States are full of men subject to the _Precetto_: some +are criminals who are watched in their homes, for want of prison +accommodation; others are _suspected persons_. The number of these +unfortunate beings is not given in the statistical tables, but I know, +from an official source, that in Viterbo, a town of fourteen thousand +souls, there are no less than two hundred. + +The want of prison accommodation explains many things, and, among +others, the freedom of speech which exists throughout the country. If +the Government took a fancy to arrest everybody who hates it openly, +there would be neither gendarmes nor gaolers enough; above all, there +would be an insufficiency of those houses of peace, of which it has +been said, that "their protection and salubrity prolong the life of +their inmates."[10] + +The citizens, then, are allowed to speak freely, provided always they +do not gesticulate too violently. But we may be sure no word is ever +lost in a State watched by priests. The Government keeps an accurate +list of those who wish it ill. It revenges itself when it can, but it +never runs after vengeance. It watches its occasion; it can afford to +be patient, because it thinks itself eternal. + +If the bold speaker chance to hold a modest government appointment, a +purging commission quietly cashiers him, and turns him delicately out +into the street. + +Should he be a person of independent fortune, they wait till he wants +something, as, for instance, a passport. One of my good friends in +Rome has been for the last nine years trying to get leave to travel. +He is rich and energetic. The business he follows is one eminently +beneficial to the State. A journey to foreign countries would complete +his knowledge, and advance his interests. For the last nine years he +has been applying for an interview with the head of the passport +office, and has never yet received an answer to his application. + +Others, who have applied for permission to travel in Piedmont, have +received for answer, "Go, but return no more." They have not been +exiled; there is no need of exercising unnecessary rigour; but on +receiving their passports, they have been compelled to sign an act of +voluntary exile. The Greeks said, "Not every one who will goes to +Corinth." The Romans have substituted Turin for Corinth. + +Another of my friends, the Count X., has been, for years, carrying on +a lawsuit before the infallible tribunal of the _Sacra Rota_. His +cause could not have been a bad one, seeing that he lost and gained it +some seven or eight times before the same judges. It assumed a +deplorably bad complexion from the day the Count became my friend. + +When once the discontented proceed from words to actions you may +indeed pity them. + +A person charged with a political offence summoned before the _Sacra +Consulta_ (for everything is holy and sacred, even justice and +injustice), must be defended by an advocate, not chosen by himself, +against witnesses whose very names are unknown to him. + +In the capital (and under the eyes of the French army) the extreme +penalty of the law is rarely carried out. The government is satisfied +with quietly suppressing people, by shutting them up in a fortress for +life. The state prisons are of two sorts, healthy and unhealthy. In +the establishment coming within the second category, perpetual +seclusion is certain not to be of very long duration. + +The fortress of Pagliano is one of the most wholesome. When I walked +through it there were two hundred and fifty prisoners, all political. +The people of the country told me that in 1856 these unfortunate men +had made an attempt at escape. Five or six had been shot on the roof +like so many sparrows. The remainder, according to the common law, +would be liable to the galleys for eight years; but an old ordinance +of Cardinal Lante was revived, by which, God willing, some of them may +be guillotined. + +It is, however, beyond the Apennines that the paternal character of +the Government is chiefly displayed. The French are not there, and the +Pope's reactionary police duty is performed by the Austrian army. The +law there is martial law. The prisoner is without counsel; his judges +are Austrian officers, his executioners Austrian soldiers. A man may +be beaten or shot because some gentleman in uniform happens to be in a +bad temper. A youth sends up a Bengal light,--the galleys for twenty +years. A woman prevents a smoker from lighting his cigar,--twenty +lashes. In seven years Ancona has witnessed sixty capital executions, +and Bologna a hundred and eighty. Blood flows, and the Pope washes his +hands of it. He did not sign the warrants. Every now and then the +Austrians bring him a man they have shot, just as a gamekeeper brings +his master a fox he has killed in the preserves. + +Perhaps I shall be told that this government of priests is not +responsible for the crimes committed in its service. + +We French have also experienced the scourge of a foreign occupation. +For some years soldiers who spoke not our language were encamped in +our departments. The king who had been forced upon us was neither a +great man nor a man of energy, nor even a very good man; and he had +left a portion of his dignity in the enemy's baggage-waggons. But +certain it is that, in 1817, Louis XVIII. would rather have come down +from his throne than have allowed his subjects to be legally shot by +Russians and Prussians. + +M. de Rayneval says, "The Holy Father has never failed to mitigate the +severity of judgments." + +I want to know in what way he has been enabled to mitigate these +Austrian fusillades. Perhaps he has suggested a coating of soft cotton +for the bullets. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. + + +The Roman State is the most radically Catholic in Europe, seeing that +it is governed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ himself. It is also the +most fertile in crimes of every description, and above all, of violent +crimes. So remarkable a contrast cannot escape observation. It is +pointed out daily. Conclusions unfavorable to Catholicism have even +been drawn from it; but this is a mistake. Let us not set down to +religion that which is the necessary consequence of a particular form +of government. + +The Papacy has its root in Heaven, not in the country. It is not the +Italian people who ask for a Pope,--it is Heaven that chooses him, the +Sacred College that nominates him, diplomacy that maintains him, and +the French army that imposes him upon the nation. The Sovereign +Pontiff and his staff constitute a foreign body, introduced into Italy +like a thorn into a woodcutter's foot. + +What is the mission of the Pontifical Government? To what end did +Europe bring Pius IX. from Gaeta to re-establish him at the Vatican? +Was it for the sake of giving three millions of men an active and +vigorous overseer? The merest brigadier of gendarmerie would have done +the work better. No; it was in order that the Head of the Church might +preside over the interests of religion from the elevation of a throne, +and that the Vicar of Jesus Christ might be surrounded with royal +splendour. The three millions of men who dwell in his States are +appointed by Europe to defray the expenses of his court. In point of +fact, we have given them to the Pope, not the Pope to them. + +On this understanding, the Pope's first duty is to say Mass at St. +Peter's for 139,000,000 of Roman Catholics; his second is to make a +dignified appearance, to receive company, to wear a crown, and to take +care it does not fall off his head. But it is a matter of perfect +indifference to him that his subjects brawl, rob, or murder one +another, so long as they don't attack either his Church or his +government. + +If we examine the question of the distribution of punishments in the +Papal States from this point of view, we shall see that papal justice +never strikes at random. + +The most unpardonable crimes in the eyes of the clergy are those which +are offensive to Heaven. Rome punishes sins. The tribunal of the +Vicariate sends a blasphemer to the galleys, and claps into goal the +silly fellow who refuses to take the Communion at Easter. Surely +nobody will charge the Head of the Church with neglecting his duty. + +I have told you how the Pope defends and will continue to defend his +crown, and I have no fear of your charging him with weakness. If +Europe ventured to allege that he suffers the throne on which it has +placed him to be shaken, the answer would be a list of the political +exiles and the prisoners of state, present and past--the living and +the dead. + +But the crimes and offences of which the natives are guilty towards +one another affect the Pope and his Cardinals very remotely. What +matters it to the successors of the Apostles that a few workmen and +peasants should cut one another's throats after Sunday Vespers? There +will always be enough of them left to pay the taxes. + +The people of Rome have long contracted some very bad habits. They +frequent taverns and wine-shops, and they quarrel over their liquor; +the word and the blow of other people is with them the word and the +knife. The rural population are as bad as the townspeople. Quarrels +between neighbours and relatives are submitted to the adjudication of +cold steel. Of course they would do better to go before the nearest +magistrate; but justice is slow in the States of the Church; lawsuits +cost money, and bribery is the order of the day; the judges are either +fools or knaves. So out with the knife! its decisions are swift and +sure. Giacomo is down: 'tis clear he was in the wrong. Nicolo is +unmolested: he must have been in the right. This little drama is +performed more than four times a day in the Papal States, as is proved +by the Government statistics of 1853. It is a great misfortune for the +country, and a serious danger for Europe. The school of the knife, +founded at Rome, establishes branches in foreign lands. We have seen +the holiest interests of civilization placed under the knife, and all +the honest people in the world, the Pope himself included, shuddered +at the sight. + +It would cost his Holiness very little trouble to snatch the knife +from the hands of his subjects. We don't ask him to begin over again +the education of his people, which would take time, or even to +increase the attractions of civil justice, so as to substitute +litigants for assassins. All we require of him is, that he should +allow criminal justice to dispose of some few of the worst characters +who throng to these evil haunts. But this very natural remedy would be +utterly repugnant to his notions. The tavern assassin is seldom a foe +to the Government. + +Not that the Pope absolutely refuses to let assassins be pursued; that +would be opposed to the practice of all civilized countries. But he +takes care that they shall always get a good start of their pursuers. +If they reach the banks of a river the pursuit ceases, lest they +should jump into the water and be drowned without confession and +absolution. If they seize hold of the skirts of a Capuchin Friar--they +are saved. If they get into a church, a convent, or a hospital--saved +again. If they do but set foot upon an ecclesiastical domain, or upon +a clerical property (of which there is to the amount of £20,000,000 in +the country), justice stands still, and lets them move on. A word from +the Pope would reform this abuse of the right of asylum, which is a +standing insult to civilization. On the contrary, he carefully +preserves it, in order to show that the privileges of the Church are +above the interests of humanity. This is both consistent and legal. + +Should the police get hold of a murderer by accident, and quite +unintentionally, he is brought up for trial. Witnesses of the crime +are sought, but never found. A citizen would consider himself +dishonoured if he were to give up his comrade to the natural enemy of +the nation. The murdered man himself, if he could be brought to life, +would swear he had seen nothing of the affair. The Government is not +strong enough to force the witnesses to say what they know, or to +protect them against the consequences of their depositions. This is +why the most flagrant crime can never be proved in the courts of +justice. + +Supposing even that a murderer lets himself be taken, that witnesses +give evidence against him, and that the crime be proved, even then the +tribunal hesitates to pronounce the sentence of death. + +The shedding of blood--legally--saddens a people; the Government has +no fault to find with the murderer, so he is sent to the galleys. He +is pretty comfortable there; public consideration follows him; sooner +or later he is certain to be pardoned, because the Pope, utterly +indifferent to his crime, finds it more profitable, and less +expensive, to turn him loose than to keep him. + +Put the worst possible case. Imagine a crime so glaring, so monstrous, +so revolting, that the judges, who happen to be the least interested +in the question, have been compelled to condemn the criminal to death. +You probably imagine that, for example's sake, he will be executed +while his crime is yet fresh in the popular recollection. Nothing of +the sort. He is cast into a dungeon and forgotten; they think it +probable he will die naturally there. In the month of July, 1858, the +prison of the small town of Viterbo contained twenty-two criminals +condemned to death, who were singing psalms while waiting for the +executioner. + +At length this functionary arrives; he selects one out of the lot and +decapitates him. The populace is moved to compassion. Tears are shed, +and the spectators cry out with one accord, "_Poveretto!_" The fact +is, his crime is ten years old. Nobody recollects what it was. He has +expiated it by ten years of penitence. Ten years ago his execution +would have conveyed a striking moral lesson. + +So much for the severity of penal justice. You would laugh if I were +to speak of its leniency. The Duke Sforza Cesarini murders one of his +servants for some act of personal disrespect. For example's sake, the +Pope condemns him to a month's retirement in a convent. + +Ah! if any sacrilegious hand were laid upon the holy ark; if a priest +were to be slain, a Cardinal only threatened, then would there be +neither asylum, nor galleys, nor clemency, nor delay. Thirty years ago +the murderer of a priest was hewn in pieces in the Piazza del Popolo. +More recently, as we have seen, the idiot who brandished his fork in +the face of Cardinal Antonelli, was beheaded. + +It is with highway robbery as with murder. I am induced to believe +that the Pontifical court would not wage a very fierce war with the +brigands, if those gentry undertook to respect its money and +despatches. The occasional stopping of a few travellers, the clearing +out of a carriage, and even the pillaging a country house, are neither +religious nor political scourges. The brigands are not likely to scale +either Heaven or the Vatican. + +Thus there is still good business to be done in this line, and +particularly beyond the Apennines, in those provinces which Austria +has disarmed and does not protect. The tribunal of Bologna faithfully +described the state of the country in a sentence of the 16th of June, +1856. + + "Of late years this province has been afflicted by + innumerable crimes of all sorts: robbery, pillage, attacks + upon houses, have occurred at all hours, and in all places. + The numbers of the malefactors have been constantly + increasing, as has their audacity, encouraged by impunity." + +Nothing is changed since the tribunal of Bologna spoke so forcibly. +Stories, as improbable as they are true, are daily related in the +country. The illustrious Passatore, who seized the entire population +of Forlimpopoli in the theatre, has left successors. The audacious +brigands who robbed a diligence in the very streets of Bologna, a few +paces from the Austrian barracks, have not yet wholly disappeared. In +the course of a tour of some weeks on the shores of the Adriatic, I +heard more than one disquieting report. Near Rimini the house of a +landed proprietor was besieged by a little army. In one place, all the +inmates of the goal walked off, arm-in-arm with the turnkeys; in +another a diligence came to grief just outside the walls of a city. If +any particular district was allowed to live in peace, it was because +the inhabitants subscribed and paid a ransom to the brigands. Five +times a week I used to meet the pontifical courier, escorted by an +omnibus full of gendarmes, a sight which made me shrewdly suspect the +country was not quite safe. + +But if the Government is too weak or too careless to undertake an +expedition against brigandage, and to purge the country thoroughly, it +sometimes avenges its insulted authority and its stolen money. When by +chance the Judges of Instruction are sent into the field, they do not +trifle with their work. Not only do they press the prisoners to +confess their crimes, but they press them in a thumbscrew! The +tribunal of Bologna confessed this fact, with compunction, in 1856, +alluding to the measures employed as _violenti e feroci_. + +But simple theft, innocent theft, the petty larceny of snuff-boxes and +pocket-handkerchiefs, the theft which seeks a modest alms in a +neighbour's pocket, is tolerated as paternally as mendicity. Official +statistics give the number of the beggars in Rome, I believe, somewhat +under the mark; it is a pity they fail to give the number of +pickpockets, who swarm through the city; this might easily have been +done, as their names are all known to the authorities. No attempt is +made to interfere with their operations: the foreign visitors are rich +enough to pay this small tax in favour of the national industry; +besides, it is not likely the pickpockets will ever make an attempt +upon the Pope's pocket-handkerchief. + +A Frenchman once caught hold of an elegantly dressed gentleman in the +act of snatching away his watch; he took him to the nearest post, and +placed him in the charge of the sergeant. "I believe your statement," +said the official, + + "for I know the man well, and so would you, if you were not + very new to the country. He is a Lombard; but if we were to + arrest all his fellows, our prisons would never be half + large enough. Be off, my fine fellow, and take better care + for the future!" + +Another foreigner was robbed in the Corso at midnight, on his return +from the theatre. All the consolation he got from the magistrate to +whom he complained was, "Sir, you were out at an hour when all honest +people should be in bed." + +A traveller was stopped between Rome and Civita Vecchia, and robbed of +all the money he had about him. When he reached Palo, he laid his +complaint before the political functionary who taxes travellers for +the trouble of fumbling with their passports. The observation of this +worthy man was, "What can you expect? the people are so very poor!" + +On the eve of the grand fêtes, however, all the riffraff are bound to +go to prison, lest the religious ceremonies should be disturbed by +evil-doers. They go of their own accord, as an amicable concession to +a paternal government: and if any professional thief were by chance to +absent himself, he would be politely sent for about midnight. But in +spite even of these vigilant measures, it is seldom that a Holy Week +goes by without a watch or two going astray; and to any complaint the +police would be sure to reply: + + "You must not blame us; we have taken every necessary + precaution against such accidents. We have got all the + thieves who are inscribed on our books under lock and key. + For any new comers we are not responsible." + +The following incident occurred while I was at Rome; it serves to +illustrate the pleasing fraternal tie which unites the magistrates +with the thieves. + +A former secretary to Monsignor Vardi, by name Berti, had a gold +snuff-box, which he prized highly, it having been given him by his +master. One day, crossing the Forum, he took out his snuff-box, just +in front of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and solaced himself +with a pinch of the contents. The incautious act had been marked by +one of the pets of the police. He had hardly returned the box to his +pocket ere he was hustled by some quoit-players, and knocked down. It +is needless to add, that, when he got up, the precious snuff-box was +gone. + +He mentioned the affair to a judge of his acquaintance, who at once +told him to set his mind at rest, adding, + + "Pass through the Forum again to-morrow. Ask for _Antonio_; + anybody will point him out to you; tell him you come from + me, and mention what you have lost. He will put you in the + way of getting it back." + +Berti did as he was desired; Antonio was soon found. He smiled +meaningly when the judge's name was mentioned, protested that he could +refuse him nothing, and immediately called out, "Eh! Giacomo!" + +Another bandit came out of the ruins, and ran up to his chief. + +"Who was on duty yesterday?" asked Antonio. + +"Pepe." + +"Is he here?" + +"No, he made a good day of it yesterday. He's drinking it out." + +"I can do nothing for your Excellency to-day," said Antonio. "Come +here to-morrow at the same hour, and I think you'll have reason to be +satisfied." + +Berti was punctual to the appointment. Signor Antonio, for fear of +being swindled, asked for an accurate description of the missing +article. This having been given, he at once produced the snuff-box. +"Your Excellency will please to pay me two scudi," he said; "I should +have charged you four, but that you are recommended to me by a +magistrate whom I particularly esteem." + +It would appear that all the Roman magistrates are not equally +estimable; at least to judge from what happened to the Marquis de +Sesmaisons. He was robbed of half-a-dozen silver spoons and forks. He +imprudently lodged a complaint with the authorities. Being asked for +an exact description of the stolen articles, he sent the remaining +half-dozen to speak for themselves to the magistrate who had charge of +the affair. It is chronicled that he never again saw either the first +or the second half-dozen! + +The malversations of public functionaries are tolerated so long as +they do not directly touch the higher powers. Officials of every +degree hold out their hands for a present. The Government rather +encourages the system than the reverse. It is just so much knocked off +the salaries. + +The Government even overlooks embezzlement of public money, provided +the guilty party be an ecclesiastic, or well affected to the present +order of things. The errors of friends are judged _en famille_. If a +Prelate make a mistake, he is reprimanded, and dismissed, which means +that his situation is changed for a better one. + +Monsignor N---- gets the holy house of Loretto into financial trouble. +The consequence is that Monsignor N---- is removed to Rome, and placed +at the head of the hospital of the Santo Spirito. Probably this is +done because the latter establishment is richer and more difficult to +get into financial trouble than the holy house of Loretto. + +Monsignor A---- was an Auditor of the Rota, and made a bad judge. He +was made a Prefect of Bologna. He failed to give satisfaction at +Bologna, and was made a Minister, and still remains so. + +If occasionally officials of a certain rank are punished, if even the +law is put in force against them with unusual vigour, rest assured the +public interest has no part in the business. The real springs of +action are to be sought elsewhere. Take as an example the Campana +affair, which created such a sensation in 1858. + +This unfortunate Marquis succeeded his father and his grandfather as +Director of the Monte di Pietà , or public pawnbroking establishment. +His office placed him immediately under the control of the Finance +Minister. It was that Minister's duty to overlook his acts, and to +prevent him from going wrong. + +Campana went curiosity mad. The passion of collecting, which has +proved the ruin of so many well-meaning people, drove him to his +destruction. He bought pictures, marbles, bronzes, Etruscan vases. He +heaped gallery on gallery. He bought at random everything that was +offered to him. Rome never had such a terrible buyer. He bought as +people drink, or take snuff, or smoke opium. When he had no more money +of his own left to buy with, he began to think of a loan. The coffers +of the Monte di Pietà were at hand: he would borrow of himself, upon +the security of his collection. The Finance Minister Galli offered no +difficulties. Campana was in favour at Court, esteemed by the Pope, +liked by the Cardinals; his principles were known, he had proved his +devotion to those in power. The Government never refuses its friends +anything. In short Campana was allowed to lend himself £4,000, for +which he gave security to a much larger amount. + +But the order by which the Minister gave him permission to draw from +the coffers of the Monte di Pietà was so loosely drawn up, that he was +enabled to take, without any fresh authority, a trifle of something +like £106,000. This he took between the 12th of April, 1854, and the +1st of December 1856, a period of nineteen months and a half. + +There was no concealment in the transaction; it certainly was +irregular, but it was not clandestine. Campana paid himself the +interest of the money he had lent himself. In 1856 he was paternally +reprimanded. He received a gentle rap over the knuckles, but there was +not the least idea of tying his hands. He stood well at Court. + +The unfortunate man still went on borrowing. They had not even taken +the precaution to close his coffers against himself. Between the 1st +of December, 1856, and the 7th of November, 1857, he took a further +sum of about £103,000. But he gave grand parties; the Cardinals adored +him; testimonies of satisfaction poured in upon him from all sides. + +The real truth is that a national pawnbroking establishment is of no +use to the Church, it is only required for the nation. Campana might +have borrowed the very walls of the building, without the Pontifical +Court meddling in the matter. + +Unluckily for him, the time came when it answered the purpose of +Antonelli to send him to the galleys. This great statesman had three +objects to gain by such a course. Firstly, he would stop the mouth of +diplomacy, and silence the foreign press, which both charged the Pope +with tolerating an abuse. Secondly, he would humiliate one of those +laymen who take the liberty to rise in the world without wearing +violet hose. Lastly, he should be able to bestow Campana's place upon +one of his brothers, the worthy and interesting Filippo Antonelli. + +He took a long time to mature his scheme, and laid his train silently +and secretly. He is not a man to take any step inconsiderately. While +Campana was going and coming, and giving dinners, and buying more +statues, in blissful ignorance of the lowering storm, the Cardinal +negotiated a loan at Rothschild's, made arrangements to cover the +deficit, and instructed the Procuratore Fiscale to draw up an +indictment for peculation. + +The accusation fell like a thunderbolt upon the poor Marquis. From his +palace to his prison was but a step. As he entered there, he rubbed +his eyes, and asked himself, ingenuously enough, whether this move was +not all a horrible dream. He would have laughed at any one who had +told him he was seriously in danger. He charged with peculation! Out +upon it! Peculation meant the clandestine application by a public +officer of public funds to his private profit: whereas he had taken +nothing clandestinely, and was ruined root and branch. So he quietly +occupied himself in his prison by writing sonnets, and when an artist +came to pay him a visit, he gave him an order for a new work. + +In spite of the eloquent defence made in his behalf by a young +advocate, the tribunal condemned him to twenty years' hard labour. At +this rate, the Minister who had allowed him to borrow the money should +certainly have been beheaded. But the lambs of the clergy don't eat +one another. + +The advocate who had defended Campana was punished for having pleaded +too eloquently, by being forbidden to practise in Court for three +months. + +You may imagine that this cruel sentence cast a stigma upon Campana. +Not a bit of it. The people, who have often experienced his +generosity, regard him as a martyr. The middle class despises him much +less than it does many a yet unpunished functionary. His old friends +of the nobility and of the Sacred College often shake him by the hand. +I have known Cardinal Tosti, at once his gaoler and his friend, let +him have the use of his private kitchen. + +Condemnations are a dishonour only in countries where the judges are +honoured. All the world knows that the pontifical magistrates are not +instruments of justice, but tools of power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TOLERANCE. + + +If crimes against Heaven are those which the Church forgives the +least, every man who is not even nominally a Catholic, is of course in +the eyes of the Pope a rogue and a half. + +These criminals are very numerous: the geographer Balbi enumerates +some six hundred millions of them on the surface of the globe. The +Pope continues to damn them all conformably with the tradition of the +Church; but he has given up levying armies to make war upon them here +below. + +Things are improved when we daily find the Head of the Roman Catholic +Church in friendly intercourse with the foes of his religion. He +partakes of the liberality of a Mussulman Prince; he receives a +schismatic Empress as a loving father; he converses familiarly with a +Queen who has abjured Catholicism to marry a Protestant; he receives +with distinction the aristocracy of the New Jerusalem; he sends his +Majordomo to attend upon a young heretic prince[11] travelling +_incognito_. I hardly know whether Gregory VII. would approve this +tolerance; nor can I tell how it is judged in the other world by the +instigators of the Crusades, or by the advisers of the Massacre of St. +Bartholomew. For my own part, I should award it unbounded praise, if I +could believe it took its source in a spirit of enlightenment and +Christian charity. I should regard it differently, if I thought it was +to be traced to calculations of policy and interest. + +The difficulty is to penetrate the secret thoughts of the Sovereign +Pontiff; to find a key to the real motive of his tolerance. Natural +mildness and interested mildness resemble each other in their effects, +but differ widely in their causes. When the Pope and the Cardinals +overwhelm M. de Rothschild with assurances of their highest +consideration, are we to conclude that an Israelite is equal to a +Roman Catholic in their eyes, as he is in yours or mine? Or are we to +conclude that they deem it expedient to mask their real sentiments +because M. de Rothschild has millions to spare? + +This delicate problem is not difficult to solve. We have but to seek +out a Jew in Rome who is _not_ the possessor of millions, and to ask +him how he is considered and treated by the Popes. If the Government +really make no difference between this citizen who is a Jew, and +another who is a Catholic, I will say the Popes have become tolerant +in earnest. If, on the contrary, we find that the administration +accords this poor Jew a social position somewhere between man and the +dog, then I am bound to set down the fine speeches made to M. de +Rothschild, as proceeding from calculations of interest, and as +inferring a sacrifice of dignity. + +Now mark, and judge for yourselves. There were Jews in Italy before +there were Christians in the world. Roman polytheism, which tolerated +everything except the kicks administered by Polyeucte to the statue of +Jupiter, gave a place to the God of Israel. Afterwards came the +Christians, and they were tolerated till they conspired against the +laws. They were often confounded with the Jews, because they came from +the same corner of the East. Christianity increased by means of pious +conspiracies; enrolled slaves braved their masters, and became master +in its turn. I don't blame it for practising reprisals, and cutting +the pagans' throats; but in common justice it has killed too many +Jews. + +Not at Rome. The Popes kept a specimen of the accursed race to bring +before God at the last judgment. The Scripture had warned the Jews +that they should live miserably till the consummation of time. The +Church, ever mindful of prophecy, undertook to keep them alive and +miserable. She made enclosures for them, as we do in our _Jardin des +Plantes_ for rare animals. At first they were folded in the valley of +Egeria, then they were penned in the Trastevere, and finally cribbed +in the Ghetto. In the daytime they were allowed to go about the city, +that the people might see what a dirty, degraded being a man is when +he does not happen to be a Christian; but when night came they were +put under lock and key. The Ghetto used to close just as the Faithful +were on their way to damnation at the theatre. + +On the occasion of certain solemnities the Municipal Council of Rome +amused the populace with _Jew races_. + +When modern philosophy had somewhat softened Catholic manners, horses +were substituted for Jews. The Senator of the city used annually to +administer to them an official kick in the seat of honour: which token +of respect they acknowledged by a payment of 800 scudi. At every +accession of a Pope, they were obliged to range themselves under the +Arch of Titus, and to offer the new Pontiff a Bible, in return for +which he addressed to them an insulting observation. They paid a +perpetual annuity of 450 scudi to the heirs of a renegade who had +abused them. They paid the salary of a preacher charged to work at +their conversion every Saturday, and if they stayed away from the +sermon they were fined. But they paid no taxes in the strict sense of +the word, because they were not citizens. The law regarded them in the +light of travellers at an inn. The license to dwell in Rome was +provisional, and for many centuries it was renewed every year. Not +only were they without any political rights, but they were deprived of +even the most elementary civil rights. They could neither possess +property, nor engage in manufactures, nor cultivate the soil: they +lived by botching and brokage. How they lived at all surprises me. +Want, filth, and the infected atmosphere of their dens, had +impoverished their blood, made them wan and haggard, and stamped +disgrace upon their looks. Some of them scarcely retained the +semblance of humanity. They might have been taken for brutes; yet they +were notoriously intelligent, apt at business, resigned to their lot, +good-tempered, kind-hearted, devoted to their families, and +irreproachable in their general conduct. + +I need not add that the Roman rabble, bettering the instruction of +Catholic monks, spurned them, reviled them, and robbed them. The law +forbade Christians to hold converse with them, but to steal anything +from them was a work of grace. + +The law did not absolutely sanction the murder of a Jew; but the +tribunals regarded the murderer of a man in a different light from the +murderer of a Jew. Mark the line of pleading that follows. + + "Why, Gentlemen, does the law severely punish murderers, and + sometimes go the length of inflicting upon them the penalty + of death? Because he who murders a Christian murders at once + a body and a soul. He sends before the Sovereign Judge a + being who is ill-prepared, who has not received absolution, + and who falls straight into hell--or, at the very least, + into purgatory. This is why murder--I mean the murder of a + Christian--cannot be too severely punished. But as for us + (counsel and client), what have we killed? Nothing, + Gentlemen, absolutely nothing but a wretched Jew, + predestined for damnation. You know the obstinacy of his + race, and you know that if he had been allowed a hundred + years for his conversion, he would have died like a brute, + without confession. I admit that we have advanced by some + years the maturity of celestial justice; we have hastened a + little for him an eternity of torture which sooner or later + must inevitably have been his lot. But be indulgent, + Gentlemen, towards so venial an offence, and reserve your + severity for those who attempt the life and salvation of a + Christian!" + +This speech would be nonsense at Paris. It was sound logic at Rome, +and, thanks to it, the murderer got off with a few months' +imprisonment. + +You will ask why the Jews have not fled a hundred leagues from this +Slough of Despond. The answer is, because they were born there. +Moreover, the taxation is light, and rent is moderate. Add that, when +famine has been in the land, or the inundations of the Tiber have +spread ruin and devastation around, the scornful charity of the Popes +has flung them some bones to gnaw. Then again, travelling costs money, +and passports are not to be had for the asking in Rome. + +But if, by some miracle of industry, one of these unfortunate children +of Israel has managed to accumulate a little money, his first thought +has been to place his family beyond the reach of the insults of the +Ghetto. He has realized his little fortune, and has gone to seek +liberty and consideration in some less Catholic country. This accounts +for the fact that the Ghetto was no richer at the accession of Pius +IX. than it was in the worst days of the Middle Ages. + +History has made haste to write in letters of gold all the good deeds +of the reigning Pope, and, above all, the enfranchisement of the Jews. + +Pius IX. has removed the gates of the Ghetto. He allows the Jews to go +about by night as well as by day, and to live where they like. He has +exempted them from the municipal kick and the 800 scudi which it cost +them. He has closed the little church where these poor people were +catechized every Saturday, against their will, and at their own +expense. His accession may be regarded, then, as an era of deliverance +for the people of Israel who have set up their tents in Rome. + +Europe, which sees things from afar, naturally supposes that under so +tolerant a sway as that of Pius IX., Jews have thronged from all parts +of the world into the Papal States. But see how paradoxical a science +is that of statistics. From it we learn that in 1842, under Gregory +XVI., during the captivity of Babylon, the little kingdom of the Pope +contained 12,700 Jews. We further learn that in 1853, in the teeth of +such reforms, such a shower of benefits, such justice, and such +tolerance, the Israelites in the kingdom were reduced to 9,237. In +other words, 3,463 Jews--more than a quarter of the Jewish +population--had withdrawn from the paternal action of the Holy Father. + +Either this people is very ungrateful, or we don't know the whole +state of the case. + +While I was at Rome, I had secret inquiries on the subject made of two +notables of the Ghetto. When the poor people heard the object I had in +view in my inquiries, they expressed great alarm. "For Heaven's sake +don't pity us!" they cried. + + "Let not the outer world learn through your book that we are + unfortunate--that the Pope shows by his acts how bitterly he + regrets the benefits conferred upon us in 1847--that the + Ghetto is closed by doors invisible, but impassable--and + that our condition is worse than ever! All you say in our + favour will turn against us, and that which you intend for + our good will do us infinite harm." + +This is all the information I could obtain as to the treatment of this +persecuted people. It is little enough, but it is something. I found +that their Ghetto, in which some hidden power keeps them shut up just +as in past times, was the foulest and most neglected quarter of the +city, whence I concluded that nothing was done for them by the +municipality. I learnt that neither the Pope, nor the Cardinals, nor +the Bishops, nor the least of the Prelates, could set foot on this +accursed ground without contracting a moral stain--the custom of Rome +forbids it: and I thought of those Indian Pariahs whom a Brahmin +cannot touch without losing caste. I learnt that the lowest places in +the lowest of the public offices were inaccessible to Jews, neither +more nor less than they would be to animals. A child of Israel might +as well apply for the place of a copying-clerk at Rome as one of the +giraffes in the Jardin des Plantes for the post of a Sous-Préfet. I +ascertained that none of them are or can be landowners, a fact which +satisfies me that Pius IX. has not yet come quite to regard them as +men. If one of their tribe cultivates another man's field, it is by +smuggling himself into the occupation under a borrowed name; as though +the sweat of a Jew dishonoured the earth. Manufactures are forbidden +them, as of old; not being of the nation, they might injure the +national industry. To conclude, I have observed them myself as they +stood on the thresholds of their miserable shops, and I can assure you +they do not resemble a people freed from oppression. The seal of +pontifical reprobation is not removed from their foreheads. If, as +history pretends, they had been liberated for the last twelve years, +some sign of freedom would be perceptible on their countenances. + +I am willing to admit that, at the commencement of his reign, Pius IX. +experienced a generous impulse. But this is a country in which good is +only done by immense efforts, while evil occurs naturally. I would +liken it to a waggon being drawn up a steep mountain ascent. The joint +efforts of four stout bullocks are required to drag it forward: it +runs backwards by itself. + +Were I to tell you all that M. de Rothschild has done for his +co-religionists at Rome, you would be astounded. Not only are they +supported at his expense, but he never concludes a transaction with +the Pope without introducing into it a secret article or two in their +favour. And still the waggon goes backwards. + +The French occupation might be beneficial to the Jews. Our officers +are not wanting in good will; but the bad will of the priests +neutralizes their efforts. By way of illustrating the operation of +these two influences, I will relate a little incident which recently +occurred. + +An Israelite of Rome had hired some land in defiance of the law, under +the name of a Christian. As everybody knew that the Jew was the real +farmer, he was robbed right and left in the most unscrupulous manner, +merely because he _was_ a Jew. The poor man, foreseeing that before +rent-day he should be completely ruined, applied for leave to have a +guard sworn to protect his property. The authorities replied that +under no pretext should a Christian be sworn in the service of a +Jew. Disappointed in his application, he mentioned the fact to +some French officers, and asked for the assistance of the French +Commander-in-Chief. It was readily promised by M. de Goyon, one of the +kindest-hearted men alive, who undertook moreover to apply personally +to the Cardinal in the matter. The reply he received from his Eminence +was, + + "What you ask is nothing short of an impossibility. + Nevertheless, as the Government of the Holy Father is unable + to refuse you anything, we will do it. Not only shall your + Jew have a sworn guard, but out of our affection for you, we + will select him ourselves." + +Delighted at having done a good action, the General warmly thanked the +Cardinal, and departed. Three months elapsed, and still no sworn guard +made his appearance at the Jew's farm. The poor fellow, robbed more +than ever, timidly applied again to the General, who once more took +the field in his behalf. This time, in order to make the matter sure, +he would not leave the Cardinal till he held in his own hand the +permission, duly filled up and signed. The delighted Jew shed tears of +gratitude as he read to his family the thrice-blessed name of the +guard assigned to him. The name was that of a man who had disappeared +six years back, and never been heard of since. + +When the French officers next met the Jew, they asked him whether he +was pleased with his sworn guard. He dared not say that he had no +guard: the police had forbidden him to complain. + +The Jews of Rome are the most unfortunate in the Papal States. The +vicinity of the Vatican is as fatal to them as to the Christians. Far +from the seat of government, beyond the Apennines, they are less poor, +less oppressed, and less despised. The Israelitish population of +Ancona is really a fine race. + +It is not to be inferred from this that the agents of the Pope become +converts to tolerance by crossing the Apennines. + +It is not a year since the Archbishop of Bologna confiscated the boy +Mortara for the good of the Convent of the Neophytes. + +Only two years ago the Prefect of Ancona revived the old law, which +forbids Christians to converse publicly with Jews. + +It is not ten years since a merchant of considerable fortune, named P. +Cadova, was deprived of his wife and children by means as remarkable +as those employed in the case of young Mortara, although the affair +created less sensation at the time. + +M.P. Cadova lived at Cento, in the province of Ferrara. He had a +pretty wife, and two children. His wife was seduced by one of his +clerks, who was a Catholic. The intrigue being discovered, the clerk +was driven from the house. The faithless wife soon joined her lover at +Bologna, and took her children with her. + +The Jew applied to the courts of law to assist him in taking the +children from the adulteress. + +The answer he received to his application was, that his wife and +children had all three embraced Christianity, and had consequently +ceased to be his family. + +The Courts further decreed that he should pay an annual income for +their support. + +On this income the adulterous clerk also subsists. + +Some months later Monsignore Oppiszoni, Archbishop of Bologna, himself +celebrated the marriage of M.P. Cadova's wife and M.P. Cadova's +ex-clerk. + +Of course, you'll say, P. Cadova was dead. Not a bit of it. He was +alive, and as well as a broken-hearted man could be. The Church, then, +winked at a case of bigamy? Not so. In the States of the Church a +woman may be married at the same time to a Jew and a Catholic, without +being a bigamist, because in the States of the Church a Jew is not a +man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. + + +All the world knows, and says over and over again, that education is +less advanced in the Papal States than in any country in Europe. It is +a source of universal regret that the nation which is, perhaps, of all +others the most intelligent by God's grace, should be the most +ignorant by the will of priests. This people has been compared to a +thorough-bred horse, reduced from racing to walking blindfolded, round +and round, grinding corn. + +But people who talk thus take a partial view of the question. They +don't, or they won't, see how entirely the development of public +ignorance is in conformity with the principles of the Church, and how +favourable it is to the maintenance of priestly government. + +Religions are founded, not upon knowledge, or science, but upon faith, +or, as some term it, credulity. People have agreed to describe as an +"act of faith" the operation of closing one's eyes in order to see +better. It is by walking with faith,--in other words, with one's eyes +shut,--that the gates of Paradise are reached. If we could take from +afar the census of that locality, we should find there more of the +illiterate than of the learned. A child that knows the catechism by +heart is more pleasing in the sight of Heaven than all the five +classes of the Institute. The Church will never hesitate between an +astronomer and a Capuchin friar. Knowledge is full of dangers. Not +only does it puff up the heart of man, but it often shatters by the +force of reasoning the best-constructed fables. Knowledge has made +terrible havoc in the Roman Catholic Church during the last two or +three hundred years. Who can tell how many souls have been cast into +hell through the invention of printing. + +Applied to the industrial pursuits of this sublunary sphere, science +engenders riches, luxury, pleasure, health, and a thousand similar +scourges, which tend to draw us away from salvation. Science cures +even those irreligious maladies wherein religion used to recognize the +finger of God. It no longer permits the sinner to make himself a +purgatory here below. There is danger lest it should one of these days +render man's terrestrial abode so blessed, that he may conceive an +antipathy to Heaven. The Church, having the mission to conduct us to +that eternal felicity which is the sole end of human existence, is +bound to discourage our dealings with science. The utmost she can +venture to do is to let a select number of her most trustworthy +servants have free access to it, in order that the enemies of the +faith may find somebody whom they can speak to. + +This is why I undertake to show you in Rome a dozen men of high +literary and scientific acquirements, to a hundred thousand who don't +know their ABC. + +The Church is but the more flourishing for it, and the State by no +means the less so. The true shepherds of peoples, they who feed the +sheep for the sake of selling the wool and the skins, do not want them +to know too much. The mere fact of a man's being able to read makes +him wish to meddle with everything. The custom-house may be made to +keep him from reading dangerous books, but he'll be sure to take the +change out of the laws of the kingdom. He'll begin to inquire whether +they are good or bad, whether they accord with or contradict one +another, whether they are obeyed or broken. No sooner can he calculate +without the help of his fingers, than he'll want to look up the +figures of the Budget. But if he has reached the culminating point of +knowing how to use his pen, the sight of the smallest bit of paper +will give him a sort of political itching. He will experience an +uncontrollable desire to express his sentiments as a man and a +citizen, by voting for one representative, and against another. And, +gracious goodness! what will become of us if the refractory sheep +should get as high as the generalities of history, or the speculations +of philosophy?--if he should begin to stir important questions, to +inquire into great truths, to refute sophisms, to point out abuses, to +demand rights? The shepherd's occupation is assuredly not all roses +from the day he finds it necessary to muzzle his flock. + +Sovereigns who are not Popes have nothing to fear from the progress of +enlightenment, for their interest does not lie in the fabrication of +saints, but in the making of men. In France, England, Piedmont, and +some other countries, the Governments urge, or even oblige the people +to seek instruction. This is because a power which is based on reason +has no fear of being discussed. Because the acts of a really national +administration have no reason to dread the inquiry of the nation. +Because it is not only a nobler but an easier task to govern +reflecting beings than mere brutes,--always supposing the Government +to be in the right. Because education softens men's manners, +eradicates their evil instincts, reduces the average of crime, and +simplifies the policeman's duty. Because science applied to +manufactures will, in a few years, increase a hundredfold the +prosperity of the nation, the wealth of the State, and the resources +of power. + +Because the discoveries of pure science, good books, and all the +higher productions of the mind, even when they are not sources of +material profit, are an honour to a country, the splendour of an age, +and the glory of a Sovereign. + +All the princes in Europe, with the single exception of the Pope, +limit their views to the things of the earth; and they do wisely. +Without raising a doubt as to a future existence in another and a +better world, they govern their subjects only with regard to this +life. They seek to obtain for them all the happiness of which man is +capable here below; they labour to render him as perfect as he can be +as long as he retains this poor "mortal coil." We should regard them +as _mauvais plaisants_ if they were to think it their duty to make for +us the trials of Job, while showing us a future prospect of eternal +bliss. + +But the fact is that our emperors and kings and lay sovereigns are men +with wives and children, personally interested in the education of the +rising generation, and the future of their people. A good Pope, on the +contrary, has no other object but to gain Heaven himself, and to drag +up a hundred and thirty millions of men after him. Thus it is that his +subjects can with an ill grace ask of him those temporal advantages +which secular princes feel bound to offer their subjects +spontaneously. + +In the Papal States the schools for the lower classes are both few and +far between. The government does nothing to increase either their +number or their usefulness, the parishes being obliged to maintain +them; and even this source is sometimes cut off, for not unfrequently +the minister disallows this heading in the municipal budget, and +pockets the money himself. In addition to this, secondary teaching, +excepting in the colleges, exists but in name; and I should advise any +father who wishes his son's education to extend beyond the catechism, +to send him into Piedmont. + +But on the other hand, I am bound to urge in the Pope's behalf that +the colleges are numerous, well endowed, and provided with ample means +for turning out mediocre priests. The monasteries devote themselves to +the education of little monks. They are taught from an early age to +hold a wax taper, wear a frock, cast down their eyes, and chant in +Latin. If you wish to admire the foresight of the Church, you should +see the procession of Corpus Christi day. All the convents walk in +line one after the other, and each has its live nursery of little +shavelings. Their bright Italian eyes, sparkling with intelligence, +and their handsome open countenances, form a curious contrast with the +stolid and hypocritical masks worn by their superiors. At one glance +you behold the opening flowers and the ripe fruit of religion,--the +present and the future. You think within yourselves that, in default +of a miracle, the cherubs before you will ere long be turned into +mummies. However, you console yourselves for the anticipated +metamorphosis by the reflection that the salvation of the monklings is +assured. + +All the Pope's subjects would be sure of getting to Heaven if they +could all enter the cloisters; but then the world would come to an end +too soon. The Pope does his best to bring them near this state of +monastic and ecclesiastical perfection. Students are dressed like +priests, and corpses also are arrayed in a sort of religious costume. +The Brethren of the Christian Doctrine were thought dangerous because +they dressed their little boys in caps, tunics, and belts; so the Pope +forbade them to go on teaching young Rome. The Bolognese (beyond the +Apennines) founded by subscription asylums under the direction of lay +female teachers. The clergy make most praiseworthy efforts to reform +such an abuse. + +There is not a law, not a regulation, not a deed nor a word of the +higher powers, which does not tend to the edification of the people, +and to urge them on heavenward. + +Enter this church. A monk is preaching with fierce gesticulations. He +is not in the pulpit, but he stands about twenty paces from it, on a +plank hastily flung across trestles. Don't be afraid of his treating a +question of temporal ethics after the fashion of our worldly +preachers. He is dogmatically and furiously descanting on the +Immaculate Conception, on fasting in Lent, on avoiding meat of a +Friday, on the doctrine of the Trinity, on the special nature of +hell-fire. + + "Bethink you, my brethren, that if terrestrial fire, the + fire created by God for your daily wants and your general + use, can cause you such acute pain at the least contact with + your flesh, how much more fierce and terrible must be that + flame of hell-fire which ever devours without consuming + those who ... etc. etc." + +I spare you the rest. + +Our sacred orators for the most part confine themselves to preaching +on such subjects as fidelity, to wives; probity, to men; obedience, to +children. They descend to a level with a lay congregation, and +endeavour to sow, each according to his powers, a little virtue on +earth. Verily, Roman eloquence cares very much for virtue! It is +greatly troubled about the things of earth! It takes the people by the +shoulders and forces them into the paths of devotion, which lead +straight to Heaven. And it does its duty, according to the teachings +of the Church. + +Open one of the devotional books which are printed in the country. +Here is one selected at random, 'The Life of St. Jacintha.' It lies on +a young girl's work-table. A knitting-needle marks the place at which +the gentle reader left off this morning. Let us turn to the passage. +It is sure to be highly edifying. + + "_Chapter V.--She casts from her heart all natural affection + for her relations._ + + "Knowing from the Redeemer himself that we ought not to love + our relations more than God, and feeling herself naturally + drawn towards hers, she feared lest such a love, although + natural, if it should take root and grow in her heart, might + in the course of time surpass or impede the love she owed to + God, and render her unworthy of him. So she formed the very + generous determination of casting from herself all affection + for the persons of her blood. + + "Resolved on conquering herself by this courageous + determination, and on triumphing over opposing nature + itself,--powerfully urged thereto by another word of Christ, + who said that in order to go to him we must hate our + relations, when the love we bear them stands in the + way,--she went and solemnly performed a great act of + renunciation before the altar of the most holy Sacrament. + There, flinging herself on her knees, her heart kindling + with an ardent flame of charity towards God, she offered up + to Him all the natural affections of her heart, more + especially those which she felt were the strongest within + her for the nearest and dearest of her relations. In this + heroic action she obtained the intervention of the most holy + Virgin, as may be seen by a letter in her handwriting + addressed to a regular priest, wherein she promises, by the + aid of the holy Virgin, to attach herself no more either to + her relations, or to any other earthly object. This + renunciation was so resolutely courageous and so sincere + that from that hour her brothers, sisters, nephews, and all + her kindred became to her objects of total indifference; and + she deemed herself thenceforth so much an orphan and alone + in the world, that she was enabled to see and converse with + her aforesaid relations when they came to see her at the + convent, as if they were persons utterly unknown to her. + + "She had made herself in Paradise an entirely spiritual + family, selected from among the saints who had been the + greatest sinners. Her father was St. Augustin; her mother + St. Mary the Egyptian; her brother St. William the Hermit, + ex-Duke of Aquitaine; her sister St. Margaret of Cortona; + her uncle St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles; her nephews + the three children of the furnace of Babylon." + +Now here is a book that you, probably, attribute to the monkish ages; +a book expressing the isolated sentiments of a mind obscured by the +gloom of the cloisters. + +In order to convince you of your error, I will give you its title and +date, and the opinion concerning it expressed by the rulers of Rome. + + "Life of the Virgin Saint Jacintha Mariscotti, a professed + Nun of the Third Order of the Seraphic Father St. Francis, + written by the Father Flaminius Mary Hanibal of Latara, + Brother Observant of the Order of the Minors. Rome, 1805. + Published by Antonio Fulgoni, by permission of the + Superiors. + + "Approbation.--The book is to the glory and honour of the + Catholic Religion and the illustrious Order of St. Francis, + and to the spiritual profit of those persons who desire to + enter into the way of perfection. + + "Brother Thomas Mancini, of the Order of Preachers, Master, + ex-Provincial, and Consultor of Sacred Rites. + + "Imprimatur. Brother Thomas Vincent Pani, of the Order of + Preachers, Master of the Sacred Apostolical Palace." + +Now here we have a woman, a writer, a censor, and a Master of the +Palace, who are ready to strangle the whole human race for the sake of +hastening its arrival in Paradise. These people are only doing their +duty. + +Just look out into the street. Four men of different ages are kneeling +in the mud before a Madonna, whining out prayers. Presently, fifteen +or twenty others come upon you, chanting a canticle to the glory of +Mary. Perhaps you think they are yielding to a natural inspiration, +and freely working out their salvation. I thought so myself, till I +was told that they were paid fifteen-pence for thus edifying the +bystanders. This comedy in the open air is subsidized by the +Government. And the Government does its duty. + +The streets and roads swarm with beggars. Under lay governments the +poor either receive succour in their own homes, or are admitted to +houses of public charity; they are not allowed to obstruct the public +thoroughfares, and tyrannize over the passengers. But we are in an +ecclesiastical country. On the one hand, poverty is dear to God; on +the other, alms-giving is a deed of piety. If the Pope could make one +half of his subjects hold out their hands, and the other half put a +halfpenny into each extended palm, he would effect the salvation of an +entire people. + +Mendicity, which lay sovereigns regard as an ugly sore in the State, +to be healed, is tended and watered as a fair flower by a clerical +government. Pray give something to yonder sham cripple; give to that +cadger who pretends to have lost an arm; and be sure you don't forget +that blind young man leaning on his father's arm! A medical man of my +acquaintance offered yesterday to restore his sight, by operating for +the cataract. The father cried aloud with indignant horror at the +proposal; the boy is a fortune to him. Drop an alms for the son into +the father's bowl; the Pope will let you into Paradise, of which he +keeps the keys. + +The Romans themselves are not duped by their beggars. They are too +sharp to be taken in by these swindlers in misery. Still they put +their hands into their pockets; some from weakness or humanity, some +from ostentation, some to gain Paradise. If you doubt my assertion, +try an experiment which I once did, with considerable success. One +night, between nine and ten o'clock, I begged all along the Corso. I +was not disguised as a beggar. I was dressed as if I were on the +Boulevards at Paris. Still, between the Piazza del Popolo and the +Piazza di Venezia, I _made_ sixty-three baiocchi (about three +shillings). If I were to try the same joke at Paris, the +_sergents-de-ville_ would very properly think it their duty to walk me +off to the nearest police-station. The Pontifical Government +encourages mendicity by the protection of its agents, and recommends +it by the example of its friars. The Pontifical Government does its +duty. + +Prostitution flourishes in Rome, and in all the large towns of the +States of the Church. The police is too paternal to refuse the +consolations of the flesh to three millions of persons out of whom +five or six thousand have taken the vow of celibacy. But in proportion +as it is indulgent to vice, it is severe in cases of scandal. It only +allows light conduct in women when they are sheltered by the +protection of a husband.[12] It casts the cloak of Japhet over the +vices of the Romans, in order that the pleasures of one nation may not +be a scandal to others. Rather than admit the existence of the evil, +it refuses to place it under proper restraint: lay governments appear +to sanction the social evil, when they place it under the control of +the law. The clerical police is perfectly aware that its noble and +wilful blindness exposes the health of an entire people to certain +danger. But it rubs its hands at the reflection that the sinners are +punished by the very sin itself. The clerical police does its duty. + +The institution of the lottery is retained by the Popes, not as a +source of revenue only. Lay governments have long since abolished it, +because in a well-organized state, where industry leads to everything, +citizens should be taught to rely upon nothing but their industry. But +in the kingdom of the Church, where industry leads to nothing, not +only is the lottery a consolation to the poor, but it forms an +integral part of the public education. The sight of a beggar suddenly +enriched, as it were by enchantment, goes far to make the ignorant +multitude believe in miracles. The miracle of the loaves and fishes +was scarcely more marvellous than the changing of tenpence into two +hundred and fifty pounds. A high prize is like a present from God; it +is money falling from Heaven. This people know that no human power can +oblige three particular numbers to come out together; so they rely on +the divine mercy alone. They apply to the Capuchin friars for lucky +numbers; they recite special prayers for so many days; they humbly +call for the inspiration of Heaven before going to bed; they see in +dreams the Madonna stuck all over with figures; they pay for masses at +the Churches; they offer the priest money if he will put three numbers +under the chalice at the moment of the consecration. Not less humbly +did the courtiers of Louis XIV. range themselves in the antechamber he +was to pass through, in the hope of obtaining a look or a favour. The +drawing of the lottery is public, as are the University lectures in +France. And, verily, it is a great and salutary lesson. The winners +learn to praise God for his bounties: the losers are punished for +having unduly coveted worldly pelf. Everybody profits--most of all the +Government, which makes £80,000 a year by it, besides the satisfaction +of having done its duty. + +Yes, the holy preceptors of the nation fulfil their duty towards God, +and towards themselves. But it does not necessarily follow that they +always manage the affairs of God and of the Government well. + + "On rencontre sa destinée + Souvent par les chemins qu'on prend pour l'eviter." + +La Fontaine tells us this, and the Pope proves it to us. In spite of +the attention paid to religious instruction, the sermons, the good +books, the edifying spectacles, the lottery, and so many other good +things, faith is departing. The general aspect of the country does not +betray the fact, because the fear of scandal pervades all society; but +the devil loses nothing by that. Perhaps the citizens have the greater +dislike to religion, from the very fact of its reigning over them. Our +master is our enemy. God is too much the master of these people not to +be treated by them in some degree as an enemy. + +The spirit of opposition is called atheism, where the Tuileries are +called the Vatican. A young ragamuffin, who drove me from Rimini to +Santa Maria, let slip a terrible expression, which I have often +thought of since: "God?"--he said, "if there be one, I dare say he's a +priest like the rest of 'em." + +Reflect upon these words, reader! When I examine them closely, I start +back in terror, as before those crevices of Vesuvius, which give you a +glimpse of the abyss below. + +Has the temporal power served its own interests better than it has +those of God? I doubt it. The deputation of Rome was Red in 1848. It +was Rome that chose Mazzini. It is Rome that still regrets him in the +low haunts of the Regola, on that miry bank of the Tiber, where secret +societies swarm at this moment, like gnats on the shores of the Nile. + +If these deplorable fruits of a model education were pointed out to +the philosopher Gavarni, he would probably exclaim, "Bring up nations, +in order that they may hate and despise you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FOREIGN OCCUPATION. + + +The Pope is loved and revered in all Catholic countries--except his +own. + +It is, therefore, perfectly just and natural that one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of devoted and respectful men should render him +assistance against three millions of discontented ones. It is not +enough to have given him a temporal kingdom, or to have restored that +kingdom to him when he had the misfortune to lose it; one must lend +him a permanent support, unless the expense of a fresh restoration is +to be incurred every year. + +This is the principle of the foreign occupation. We are one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics, who have violently delegated to +three millions of Italians the honour of boarding and lodging our +spiritual chief. If we were not to leave a respectable army in Italy +to watch over the execution of our commands, we should be doing our +work by halves. + +In strict logic, the security of the Pope should be guaranteed at the +common expense of the Catholic Powers. It seems quite natural that +each nation interested in the oppression of the Romans should furnish +its contingent of soldiers. Such a system, however, would have the +effect of turning the castle of St. Angelo into another Tower of +Babel. Besides, the affairs of this world are not all regulated +according to the principles of logic. + +The only three Powers which contributed to the re-establishment of +Pius IX. were France, Austria, and Spain. The French besieged Rome; +the Austrians seized the places of the Adriatic; the Spaniards did +very little, not from the want either of goodwill or courage, but +because their allies left them nothing to do. + +If a private individual may be permitted to probe the motives upon +which princes act, I would venture to suggest that the Queen of Spain +had nothing in view but the interests of the Church. Her soldiers came +to restore the Pope to his throne; they went as soon as he was +reseated on it. This was a chivalrous policy. + +Napoleon III. also considered the restoration of the Pope to a +temporal throne necessary to the good of the Church. Perhaps he thinks +so still--though I couldn't swear to it. But his motives of action +were complicated. Simple President of the French Republic, heir to a +name which summoned him to the throne, resolved to exchange his +temporary magistracy for an imperial crown, he had the greatest +possible interest in proving to Europe how republics are put down. He +had already conceived the idea of playing that great part of champion +of order, which has since caused him to be received by all Sovereigns +first as a brother, and afterwards as an arbitrator. Lastly, he knew +that the restoration of the Pope would secure him a million of +Catholic votes towards his election to the imperial crown. But to +these motives of personal interest were added some others, if +possible, of a loftier character. The heir of Napoleon and of the +liberal Revolution of '89, the man who read his own name on the first +page of the civil code, the author of so many works breathing the +spirit of new ideas and the passionate love of progress, the silent +dreamer whose busy brain already teemed with the germs of all the +prosperity we have enjoyed for the last ten years, was incapable of +handing over three millions of Italians to reaction, lawlessness, and +misery. If he had firmly resolved to put down the Republic at Rome, he +was not less firm in his resolution to suppress the abuses, the +injustice, and all the traditional oppressions which drove the +Italians to revolt. In the opinion of the head of the French Republic, +the way to be again victorious over anarchy, was to deprive it of all +pretext and all cause for its existence. + +He knew Rome; he had lived there. He knew, from personal experience, +in what the Papal government differed from good governments. His +natural sense of justice urged him to give the subjects of the Holy +Father, in exchange for the political autonomy of which he robbed +them, all the civil liberties and all the inoffensive rights enjoyed +in civilized States. + +On the 18th of August, 1849, he addressed to M. Edgar Ney a letter, +which was, in point of fact, a _memorandum_ addressed to the Pope. +_AMNESTY, SECULARIZATION, THE CODE NAPOLEON, A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT_: +these were the gifts he promised to the Romans in exchange for the +Republic, and demanded of the Pope in return for a crown. This +programme contained, in half-a-dozen words, a great lesson to the +sovereign, and a great consolation to the people. + +But it is easier to introduce a Breguet spring into a watch made when +Henri IV. was king, than a single reform into the old pontifical +machine. The letter of the 18th of August was received by the friends +of the Pope as an "insult to his rights, good sense, justice, and +majesty!"[13] Pius IX. took offence at it; the Cardinals made a joke +of it. This determination, this prudence, this justice, on the part of +a man who held them all in his hand, appeared to them immeasurably +comical. They still laugh at it. Don't name M. Edgar Ney before them, +or you'll make them laugh till their sides ache. + +The Emperor of Austria never committed the indiscretion of writing +such a letter as that of the 18th of August. The fact is, the Austrian +policy in Italy differs materially from ours. + +France is a body very solid, very compact, very firm, very united, +which has no fear of being encroached upon, and no desire to encroach +on others. Her political frontiers are nearly her natural limits; she +has little or nothing to conquer from her neighbours. She can, +therefore, interfere in the events of Europe for purely moral +interests, without views of conquest being attributed to her. One or +two of her leaders have suffered themselves to be carried somewhat too +far by the spirit of adventure; the nation has never had, what may be +called, geographical ambition. France does not disdain to conquer the +world by the dispersion of her ideas, but she desires nothing more. +That which constitutes the beauty of our history, to those who take an +elevated view of it, is the twofold object, pursued simultaneously by +the Sovereign and the nation, of concentrating France, and spreading +French ideas. + +The old Austrian diplomacy has been, for the last six hundred years, +incessantly occupied in stitching together bits of material, without +ever having been able to make a coat. It does not consider either the +colour or the quality of the cloth, but always keeps the needle going. +The thread it uses is often white, and it not infrequently +breaks--when away goes the new patch! Then another has to be found. + +A province is detached--two more are laid hold of. The piece gets rent +down the middle--a rag is caught up, then another, and whatever comes +to hand is sewn together in breathless haste. The effect of this +stitching monomania has been, to keep constantly changing the map of +Europe, to bring together, as chance willed it, races and religions of +every pattern, and to trouble the existence of twenty peoples, without +making the unity of a nation. Certain Machiavellic old gentlemen +sitting round a green cloth at Vienna, direct this work, measure the +material, rub their hands complacently when it stretches, snatch off +their wigs in despair when a piece is torn, and look on all sides for +another wherewith to replace it. In the Middle Ages, the sons of the +house used to be sent to visit foreign princesses: they made love to +their royal and serene highnesses in German, and always brought back +with them some shred of territory. But now that princesses receive +their dowers in hard cash, recourse is had to violent measures in +order to procure pieces of material; they are seized by soldiers; and +there are some large stains of blood upon this harlequin's cloak! + +Almost all the states of Italy, the kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, +Sicily, Modena, Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, have been in turn +stitched to the same piece as Bohemia, Transylvania, and Croatia. Rome +would have shared the same fate, if papal excommunications had not +broken the thread. In 1859 it is Venice and Milan that pay for +everybody, till it comes to the turn of Tuscany, Modena, and Massa, to +be patched on in virtue of certain reversionary rights. + +What must have been the satisfaction of Austrian diplomatists when +they were enabled to throw their troops into the kingdom of the Pope, +without remonstrances from anybody! Beyond all doubt, the interests of +the Church were those which least occupied them. And as for taking any +interest in the unfortunate subjects of Pius IX., or demanding for +them any rights, or any liberties, Austria never thought of it for a +moment. The old Danaïde only saw an opportunity for pouring another +people into her ill-made and unretentive cask. + +While the French army cautiously cannonaded the capital of the arts, +spared public monuments, and took Rome, so to speak, with gloved +hands, the Austrian soldiers carried the beautiful cities of the +Adriatic--_à la Croate_! As victors, we treated gently those we had +conquered, from motives of humanity; Austria, those she had conquered, +brutally, from motives of conquest. She regarded the fair country of +the Legations and the Marches as another Lombardy, which she would be +well disposed to keep. + +We occupied Rome, and the port of Civita Vecchia; the Austrians took +for themselves all the country towards the Adriatic. We established +our quarters in the barracks assigned to us by the municipality; the +Austrians built complete fortresses, as is their practice, with the +money of the people they were oppressing. For six or seven years their +army lived at the expense of the country. They sent their regiments +naked, and when poor Italy had clothed them, others came to replace +them. + +Their army was looked upon with no very favourable eye; neither indeed +was ours: the radical party was opposed both to their presence and +ours. Some stray soldiers of both armies were killed. The French army +defended itself courteously, the Austrian army revenged itself. In +three years, from the first of January, 1850, to the 1st of January, +1853, we shot three murderers. Austria has a heavier hand: she has +executed not only criminals, but thoughtless, and even innocent +people. I have already given some terrible figures, and will spare you +their repetition. + +From the day when the Pope condescended to return home, the French +army withdrew into the background; it hastened to restore to the +pontifical government all its powers. Austria has only restored what +it could not keep. She even still undertakes to repress political +crimes. She feels personally wronged if a cracker is let off, if a +musket is concealed: in short, she fancies herself in Lombardy. + +At Rome, the French place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for +the maintenance of order and public security. Our soldiers have too +much honesty to let a murderer or a thief who is within their reach +escape. The Austrians pretend that they are not gendarmes, to arrest +malefactors; each individual soldier considers himself the agent of +the old diplomatists, charged with none but political functions: +police matters are not within his province. What is the consequence? +The Austrian army, after carefully disarming the citizens, delivers +them over to malefactors, without the means of protection. + +At Bologna, a merchant of the name of Vincenzio Bedini was pointed out +to me, who had been robbed in his warehouse at six o'clock in the +evening. An Austrian sentinel was on guard at his door. + +Austria has good reasons for encouraging disorders in the provinces +she occupies: the greater the frequency of crime, and the difficulty +of governing the people, the greater is the necessity for the presence +of an Austrian army. Every murder, every theft, every burglary, every +assault, tends to strike the roots of these old diplomatists more deep +into the kingdom of the Pope. + +France would rejoice to be able to recall her troops. She feels that +their presence at Rome is not a normal state of things: she is herself +more shocked than anybody else at this irregularity. She has reduced, +as much as possible, the effective force of her occupying army; she +would embark her remaining regiments, were she not aware that to do so +would be to deliver the Pope over to the executioner. Mark the extent +to which she carries her disinterestedness in the affairs of Italy. In +order to place the Holy Father in a condition to defend himself alone, +she is trying to create for him a national army. The Pope possesses at +the present time four regiments of French manufacture; if they are not +very good, or rather, not to be relied upon, it is not the fault of +the French. The priestly government has itself alone to blame. Our +generals have done all in their power, not only to drill the Pope's +soldiers, but to inspire them with that military spirit which the +Cardinals carefully endeavour to stifle. Is it likely that we shall +find the Austrian army seeking to render its presence needless, and +spontaneously returning home? + +And yet I must admit, with a certain shame, that the conduct of the +Austrians is more logical than ours. They entered the Pope's +dominions, meaning to stay there; they spare no pains to assure their +conquest in them. They decimate the population, in order that they may +be feared. They perpetuate disorder, in order that their permanent +presence may be required. Disorder and terror are Austria's best arms. + +As for us, let us see what we have done. In the interest of France, +nothing; and I am glad of it. In the interest of the Pope, very +little. In the interest of the Italian nation, still less. + +The Pope promised us the reform of some abuses, in his _Motu Proprio_ +of Portici. It was not quite what we demanded of him; still his +promises afforded us some gratification. He returned to his capital, +to elude their fulfilment at his ease. Our soldiers awaited him with +arms in their hands. They fell at his feet as he passed them. + +During nine consecutive years, the pontifical government has been +retreating step by step,--France, all the while, politely entreating +it to move on a little. Why should it follow our advice? What +necessity was there for yielding to our arguments? Our soldiers +continued to mount guard, to present arms, to fall down on one knee, +and patrol regularly round all the old abuses. + +In the end, the pertinacity with which we urged our good counsels +became disagreeable to his Holiness. His retrograde court has a horror +of us; it prefers the Austrians, who crush the people, but who never +talk of liberty. The Cardinals say, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes +even aloud, that they don't want our army, that we are very much in +their way, and that they could protect themselves--with the assistance +of a few Austrian regiments. + +The nation, that is the middle class, says, our good-will, of which it +has no doubt, is of little use to it; and declares it would undertake +to obtain all its rights, to secularize the government, to proclaim +the amnesty, to introduce the Code Napoléon, and to establish liberal +institutions, if we would but withdraw our soldiers. This is what it +says at Rome. At Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona, it believes that, in +spite of everything, the Romans are glad to have us, because, although +we let evil be done, we never do it ourselves. In this we are admitted +to be better than the Austrians. + +Our soldiers say nothing. Troops don't argue under arms. Let me speak +for them. + + "We are not here to support the injustice and dishonesty of + a petty government that would not be tolerated for + twenty-four hours with us. If we were, we must change the + eagle on our flags for a crow. The Emperor cannot desire the + misery of a people, and the shame of his soldiers. He has + his own notions. But if, in the meantime, these poor devils + of Romans were to rise in insurrection, in the hope of + obtaining the Secularization, the Amnesty, the Code, and the + Liberal Government, which we have taught them to expect, we + should inevitably be obliged to shoot them down." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS. + + +I paid a visit to a Roman Prelate well known for his devotion to the +interests of the Church, the temporal power of the Popes, and the +August person of the Holy Father. + +When I was introduced to his oratory I found him reading over the +proof-sheets of a thick volume, entitled _Administration of the +Military Forces_. + +He threw down his pen with an air of discouragement, and showed me the +two following quotations which he had inscribed on the title-page of +the book: + + "Every independent State should suffice to itself, and assure its + internal security by its own forces."--_Count de Rayneval; note of + 14th May_, 1855. + + "The troops of the Pope will always be the troops of the Pope. What + are warriors who have never made war?"--_De Brosses_. + +After I had reflected a little upon these not very consoling passages, +the Prelate said, + + "You have not been very long at Rome, and your impressions + ought to be just, because they are fresh. What do you think + of our Romans? Do the descendants of Marius appear to you a + race without courage, incapable of confronting danger? If it + be indeed true that the nation has retained nothing of its + patrimony, not even its physical courage, all our efforts to + create a national force in Rome are foredoomed to failure. + The Popes must for ever remain disarmed in the presence of + their enemies. Nothing is left for them but to entrench + themselves behind the mercenary courage of a Swiss garrison + or the respectful protection of a great Catholic power. What + becomes of independence? What becomes of sovereignty?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "I already know the Romans too well to judge them by the + calumnies of their enemies. I daily see with what + intemperate courage this violent and hot-blooded people + gives and receives death. I know the esteem expressed by + Napoleon I. for the regiments he raised here. And we can say + between ourselves that there were many of the subjects of + the Pope in the revolutionary army which defended Rome + against the French. I am persuaded, then, that the Holy + Father has no need to go abroad to find men, and that a few + years would serve to make these men good soldiers. What is + much less evident to me is the real necessity for having a + Roman army. Does the Pope want to aggrandise himself by war? + No. Does he fear lest some enemy should invade his States? + Certainly not. He is better protected by the veneration of + Europe than by a line of fortresses. If, by a scarcely + possible eventuality, any difference were to arise between + the Holy See and an Italian Monarchy, the Pope has the means + of resistance at hand, without striking a blow; for he + counts more soldiers in Piedmont, in Tuscany, and in the Two + Sicilies, than the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the + Piedmontese would well know how to send against him. So much + for the exterior; and the situation is so clear, that your + Ministry of War assumes the modest and Christian title of + 'the Ministry of Arms.' As for the interior, a good + gendarmerie is all you want.' + + "Eh! my dear son," cried the Prelate, "we ask nothing + better. A people which is never destined to make war does + not want an army, but it ought to keep on foot the forces + necessary for the maintenance of the public peace. An army + of police and internal security is what we have been + endeavouring to create since 1849. Have we succeeded? Do we + suffice for ourselves? Are we in a position to ensure our + tranquillity by our own forces? No! no! certainly not." + + "Pardon me, Monsignore, if I think you a little severe. + During the three months I have loitered as an observer in + Rome, I have had time to see the pontifical army. Your + soldiers are fine-looking men, their general appearance is + good, they have a martial air, and, as far as I can judge, + they go through their manoeuvres pretty well. It would be + difficult to recognize in them the old soldier of the Pope, + the fabulous personage whose duty it was to escort + processions, and to fire off the cannon on firework nights; + the well-to-do citizen in uniform who, if the weather looked + threatening, mounted guard with an umbrella. The Holy + Father's army would present a good appearance in any country + in the world; and there are some of your soldiers whom--at a + little distance--I should take for our own." + +"Yes," he said, + + "their appearance is good enough, and if factions could be + kept down by mere appearances, I should feel tolerably easy. + But I know many things respecting the army that make me very + uncomfortable--and yet I don't know all. I know there is + great difficulty in recruiting not only soldiers, but + officers; that young men of good family scorn to command, + and ploughboys to serve, in our army. I know that more than + one mother would rather see her son at the hulks than with + the regiment. I know that our soldiers, for the most part + drawn from the dregs of the people, have neither confidence + in their comrades, nor respect for their officers, nor + veneration for their colours. You would vainly look to find + among them devotion to their country, fidelity to their + sovereign, and all those high and soldierly virtues which + make a man die at his post. To the greater number the laws + of duty and honour are a dead letter. I know that the + gendarme does not always respect private property. I know + that the factions rely at least much as we ourselves do on + the support of the army. What good is it to us to have + fourteen or fifteen thousand men on foot, and to spend some + millions of scudi annually, if after such efforts and + sacrifices, foreign protection is now more necessary to us + than it was the first day?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "you place things in the worst light, and you judge the + situation somewhat after the manner of the Prophet Jeremiah. + The Holy Father has several excellent officers, both in the + special corps and in the regiments of the line; and you have + also some good soldiers. Our officers, who are competent + men, render justice to yours, both as regards their + intelligence and their goodwill. If I am astonished at + anything, it is that the pontifical army has made so much + progress as it has in the deplorable conditions in which it + is placed. We can discuss it freely because the whole system + is under examination, and about to be reorganized by the + Head of the State. You complain that young gentlemen of good + family do not throng to the College of Cadets in the hope of + gaining an epaulette. But you forget how little the + epaulette is honoured among you. The officer has no rank in + the state. It is a settled point that a deacon shall have + precedence of a sub-deacon; but the law and custom of Rome + do not allow a Colonel to take precedence even of a man + having the simple tonsure. Pray, what position do you assign + to your Generals? What is their rank in the hierarchy?" + + "Instead of having our Generals in the army, we have them at + the head of the religious orders. Imagine the sensations of + the General of the Jesuits at hearing a soldier announced by + the honourable ecclesiastical title of _General_!" + +"Well! there's something in that." + + "In order to have commanders for our troops, without at the + same time creating personages of too much importance, we + have imported three foreign Colonels, who are permitted to + perform the functions of General. They even appear in the + disguise of Generals, but they will never have the audacity + to assume the title." + + "Capital! Well, now with us there is not a scamp of eighteen + who would engage in the army if he were told that he might + become a Colonel, but never a General; or even a General, + but never a Marshal of France. Who, or what, could induce a + man to rush into a career in which there is at a certain + point an impassable barrier? You regret that all your + officers are not _savants_. I admit that they have learnt + something. They enter the College without competition or + preliminary examination, sometimes without orthography or + arithmetic. The first inspection made by our Generals + discovers future lieutenants who cannot do a sum in + division, a French class without either a master or pupils, + and an historical class in which, after seven months of + teaching, the professor is still theologically expounding + the creation of the world. It must indeed be a powerful + spirit of emulation which can induce these young men to make + themselves capable of keeping up a conversation with French + officers. You are astonished that they allow the discipline + of their men to become somewhat relaxed. Why, discipline is + about the last thing they have been taught. In the time of + Gregory XVI. an officer refused to allow a Cardinal's + carriage to pass down a certain street. Such were his + orders. The coachman drove on, and the officer was sent to + the castle of St. Angelo, for having done his duty. A single + instance of this sort is quite enough to demoralize an army. + But the King of Naples shows the Pope his mistake. He had a + sentry mentioned in the order of the day, for giving a + bishop's coachman a cut with his sword. You are scandalized + because certain military administrators curtail the + soldiers' poor allowance of bread; but they have never been + told that peculation will be punished by dismissal." + + "Well, the scheme of reorganization is in hand; you will see + a new order of things in 1859." + + "I am glad to hear it, Monsignore; and I will answer for it + that a judicious, well-considered reform--slowly + progressive, of course, as everything is at Rome--will + produce excellent results in a few years. It is not in a day + that you can expect to change the face of things; but you + know the gardener is not discouraged by the certainty that + the tree he plants to-day will not produce fruit for the + next five years. The morals of your soldiers are, as you + say, none of the best: I hear it said everywhere that an + honest peasant thinks it a dishonour to wear your uniform. + When you can hold out a future to your men, you need no + longer recruit them from the dregs of the population. The + soldier will have some feeling of personal dignity when he + ceases to find himself exposed to contempt. These poor + fellows are looked down upon by everybody, even by the + servants of small families. They breathe an atmosphere of + scorn, which may be termed the _malaria_ of honour. Relieve + them, Monsignore; they ask nothing better." + + "Do you think, then, the means are to be found of giving us + an army as proud and as faithful as the French army? That + were a secret for which the Cardinal would pay a high + price." + + "I offer it to you for nothing, Monsignore. France has + always been the most military country in Europe; but in the + last century the French soldier was no better than yours. + The officers are pretty much the same, with this difference + only,--that formerly the King selected them from the + nobility, whereas now they ennoble themselves by zeal and + courage. But a hundred years ago the soldiery, properly so + called, consisted in France of what it now does with + you--the scum of the population. Picked up in low taverns, + between a heap of crown-pieces and a glass of brandy, the + soldier made himself more dreaded by the peasantry than by + the enemy. He seemed to be overpowered beneath the weight of + the scorn of the country at large, the meanness of his + present condition, and the impossibility of future + promotion; and he revenged himself by forays upon the cellar + and the farmyard. He had his place among the scourges which + desolated monarchical France. Hear what La Fontaine says,-- + + "La faim, les créanciers, _les soldats_, la corvée, Lui font + d'un malheureux la peinture achevée." + + You see that your soldiers of 1858 are angels in comparison + with our _soudards_ of the monarchy. If, with all this, you + still find them, not absolutely perfect, try the French + recipe: submit all your citizens to a conscription, in order + that your regiments may not be composed of the refuse of the + nation, Create--" + +"Stop!" cried the prelate. + +"Monsignore?" + + "I stopped you short, my son, because T perceive that you + are getting beyond the real and the possible. _Primo_, we + have no citizens; we have subjects. _Secundo_, the + conscription is a revolutionary measure, which we will not + adopt at any price; it consecrates a principle of equality + as much opposed to the ideas of the Government as to the + habits of the country. It might possibly give us a very good + army, but that army would belong to the nation, not to the + Sovereign. We will at once put away, if you please, this + dangerous utopia." + +"It might gain you some popularity." + +"Far from it. Believe me, the subjects of the Holy Father have a deep +antipathy to the principle of the conscription. The discontent of La +Vendée and Brittany is nothing to that which it would create here." + +"People become accustomed to everything, Monsignore. I have met +contingents from La Vendée and Brittany singing merrily as they went +to join their corps." + +"So much the better for them. But let me tell you the only grievance +of this country against the French rule is the conscription, which the +Emperor had established among us." + +"So you negative my proposal of the conscription." + +"Absolutely!" + +"I must think no more about it?" + +"Quite out of the question." + +"Well, Monsignore, I'll do without it. Let us have recourse to the +system of voluntary enlistment, but with the condition that you secure +the prospects of the soldier. What bounty do you offer to recruits?" + +"Twelve scudi; but for the future we mean to go as high as twenty." + + "Twenty scudi is fair enough; still I'm afraid even at one + hundred and seven francs a head you won't get picked men. + Now, you will allow, Monsignore, a peasant must be badly off + indeed when a bounty of twenty scudi tempts him to put on a + uniform which is universally despised? But if you want to + attract more recruits round every barrack than there were + suitors at Penelope's gate, endow the army, offer the Roman + citizens--pardon me, I mean the Pope's _subjects_--such a + bounty as is really likely to tempt them. Pay them down a + small sum for the assistance of their families, and keep the + balance till their period of service has expired. Induce + them to re-engage after their discharge by promises + honourably and faithfully observed; arrange that with every + additional year of service the savings which the soldier has + left in the hands of the state shall increase. Believe me, + when the Romans know that a soldier, without assistance, + without education, without any brilliant action, or any + stroke of good fortune, by the mere faithful performance of + his duty, can, after twenty-five years' service, secure an + income of £20 or £25 a year, they will snatch at the + advantage of entering the ranks; and I warrant you, the + personal interest of each will attach them more firmly to + the Government, as the depository of their savings. When the + house of a notary is on fire you will see the most immovable + and indifferent of shopkeepers running like a cat on the + tiles, to put out the fire and save his own papers. On the + same principle, a Government will always be served with zeal + in proportion to the interest its servants have in its + security." + +"Of course," said the Prelate, + + "I understand your argument perfectly. Man requires some + object in life. A hundred and twenty scudi a year is not an + unpleasant bed to lie upon after a term of military service. + At this price we should not want candidates. Even the middle + class would solicit employment in the military as much as it + now does the civil service of the state; and we should be + able to pick and choose our men. What frightens me in the + matter is the expense." + + "Ah! Monsignore, you know a really good article is never to + be had cheap. The Pontifical Government has 15,000 soldiers + for £400,000. France would pay half as much again for them: + but then she would have the value of the extra cost. The men + who have completed three or four terms of service, are those + who cost the most money; and yet there is an economy in + keeping them, because every such man is worth three + conscripts. Do you then, or do you not, wish to create a + national force? Have you made up your mind on the subject? + If you do wish for it, you must pay for it, and make the + sacrifices necessary to obtain it. If, on the contrary, your + Government prefers economy to security, begin by saving the + £400,000, and sell to some foreign country the 15,000 + muskets, more dangerous than useful, since you don't know + whether they are for you or against you. The question may be + summed up in two words: safety, which will cost you money; + or economy, which may cost you your existence!" + +"You are proposing an army of Prætorians." + +"The name is not the thing. I only promise you that if you pay your +soldiers well, they'll be faithful to you." + +"The Prætorians often turned against the Emperors." + +"Because the Emperors were silly enough to pay them ready money." + +"But is there no motive in this world nobler than interest? And is +money the only lasting tie that binds soldiers to their standard?" + + "I should not be a Frenchman, if I held such a belief. I + advised you to increase your soldiers' pay, because hitherto + your army has been recruited by money alone; and also + because money is that which it costs you the least to + obtain, and consequently that which you will the most + willingly part with. Well then, now that you have given me + the few millions I required for the purpose of attaching + your soldiers to the Pontifical Government, furnish me with + the means of raising them in their own estimation and in + that of the people. Honour them, in order that they may + become men of honour. Prove to them, by the consideration + with which you surround them, that they are not footmen, and + that they ought not to have the souls of footmen. Give them + a place in the state; throw around their uniform some of the + _prestige_ which is now the exclusive privilege of the + clerical garb." + +"Do you know what you are asking for?" + + "Nothing but what is absolutely necessary. Remember, + Monsignore, that this army, raised to act in the interior of + the Pontifical States, will serve you less frequently by the + force of its arms, than by the moral authority of its + presence. And pray what authority can it possess in the eyes + of your subjects, if the Government affect to despise it?" + + "But, admitting that it obtain all the pay and all the + consideration that you claim for it, still it will remain + open to the remark of the President de Brosses, 'What are + warriors who have never in their lives made war?'" + + "I admit it. The consideration accorded by all Frenchmen to + the soldier, takes its source in the idea of the dangers he + has encountered or may encounter. We behold in him a man who + has sacrificed his life beforehand, in engaging to shed + every drop of his blood at a word from his chiefs. If the + little children in our country respectfully salute the + colours--that steeple of the regiment--it is because they + think on the brave fellows who have fallen round it." + + "Perhaps, then, you think we ought to send our soldiers to + make war, before employing them as guardians of the peace?" + + "It is certain, Monsignore, that whenever one sees an old + Crimean soldier who has strayed into one of the Pope's + foreign regiments, the medal he wears on his breast makes + him look quite a different man from any of his comrades. The + corps of your army which the people has treated with the + greatest respect, is the Pontifical Carabineers, because it + was originally formed of Napoleon's old soldiers." + + "My friend, you do not answer my question. Do you require us + to declare war against Europe for the sake of teaching our + gendarmes to keep the peace at home?" + + "Monsignore, the government of his Holiness is too prudent + to go in search of adventures. We are no longer in the days + of Julius II., who donned the cuirass, and buckled on the + sword of the flesh, and sprang himself into the breach. But + why should not the Head of the Church do as Pius V., who + sent his sailors with the Spaniards and Venetians to the + battle of Lepanto? Why should you not detach a regiment or + two to Algeria? France would, perhaps, give them a place in + her army; they might join us in advancing the holy cause of + civilization. Rest assured that when those troops returned, + after five or six campaigns, to the more modest duty of + preserving the public peace, everybody would obey them + courteously. Vulgar footmen would no longer dare to make use + of such expressions as one I heard yesterday evening at the + door of a theatre,--'Stick to your soldiering, and leave + servant's work to me!' They who despise them now, would be + proud to show them respect; for nations have a tendency to + admire themselves in the persons of their armies." + + "For how long?" + + "For ever. Acquired glory is a capital which can never be + exhausted. And these regiments would never lose the spirit + of honour and discipline which they would bring back from + the seat of war. You know not, Monsignore, what it is to + have an idea become incarnate in a regiment. There is a + whole world of recollections, traditions, and virtues, + circulating, seen and unseen, through this band of men. It + is the moral patrimony of the corps; the veterans don't + carry it away when they retire from the service, while the + conscripts inherit it from the day of their joining the + regiment. The colonel, the officers, and the privates, + change one after the other, and yet it is the same regiment + that ever remains, because the same spirit continues to + flutter amid the folds of the same colours. Have four good + regiments of picked men, well paid, properly respected, and + that have been under fire, and they will last as long as + Rome, and Mazzini himself will not prevail against their + courage." + + "So be it! And may Heaven hear you!" + + "The business is half done, Monsignore, when you have heard + me. We are not far from the Vatican, where sits the real + Minister of Arms." + + "He will urge another objection." + + "What will it be?" + + "That if he send our regiments to serve their apprenticeship + in Africa, they will bring back French ideas." + + "That is an accident, impossible to prevent. But console + yourself with the reflection that it is perfectly immaterial + whether the French ideas are brought into your country by + your soldiers or by ours. Besides, this is an article which + so easily eludes the vigilance of the custom-house, that the + railways are already bringing it in daily, and you will soon + have a large stock on hand. And after all, where's the great + evil? All men who have studied us without prejudice, know + that French ideas are ideas of order and liberty, of + conservatism and progress, of labour and honesty, of culture + and industry. The country in which French ideas abound the + most is France, and France, Monsignore, is in good health." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MATERIAL INTERESTS. + + +"For my part," said a great fat Neapolitan, + + "I don't care the value of a bit of orange-peel for + politics. I am willing to believe we've got a bad + government, because all the world says we have, and because + our King never dare show himself in public. All I can say + is, that my grandfather made 20,000 ducats as a + manufacturer; that my father doubled his capital in trade; + and that I bought an estate which, in my tenants' hands, + pays me six per cent. for the investment. I eat four meals a + day, I'm in vigorous health, and I weigh fourteen stone. So + when I toss off my third glass of old Capri wine at supper, + I can't for the life of me help crying, 'Long live the + King!'" + +A huge hog which happened to cross the street as the Neapolitan +reached his climax, gave a grunt in token of approbation. + +The "hog" school is not numerous in Italy, whatever superficial +travellers may have told you on that head. The most highly-gifted +nation in Europe will not easily be persuaded that the great end of +human existence is to eat four meals a day. + +But let us suppose for an instant that all the Pope's subjects are +willing to renounce all liberty,--religious, political, municipal, and +even civil,--for the sake of growing sleek and fat, without any higher +aim, and are content with the merely animal enjoyments of health and +food; do they find in their homes the means of satisfying their wants? +Can they, on that score at least, applaud their Government? Are they +as well treated as beasts in a cage? Are the people fat and thriving? +I answer, No! + +In every country in the world the sources of public wealth are three +in number: agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. All governments +which do their duty, and understand their interests, emulate one +another in favouring, by wholesome administrative measures, the farm, +the workshop, and the counting-house. Wherever the nation and its +rulers are united, trade and manufactures will be found clinging round +the government, and increasing even to excess the population of the +capital cities; while agriculture works her greatest miracles in the +circuit which is the most immediately subject to the influence of +authority. + +Borne is the least industrious and commercial city in the Pontifical +States, and its suburbs resemble a desert. You must travel very far to +find any industrial experiment, or any attempt at trade. + +Whose fault is this? Industrial pursuits require, above all things, +liberty. Now in the States of the Church all the manufactures of any +importance constitute privileges bestowed by the government upon its +friends. Not only tobacco and salt, but sugar, glass, wax, and +stearine, are objects of privilege. Privilege here--privilege +there--privilege everywhere. An Insurance Company is established, of +course by special privilege. The very baskets used by the +cherry-vendors are the monopoly of a privileged basket-maker. The +Inspector of the Piazza Navona[14] would seize any refractory basket +which had failed to pay its tribute to monopoly. The grocers of +Tivoli, the butchers of Frascati, all the retail dealers in the +suburbs of Rome, are privileged. The system of privileges and +monopolies is universal, and of course commerce shares the common lot. + +Commerce cannot flourish without capital, facilities of credit, easy +communication, and, above all, personal safety. I have shown you what +the roads are as to safety. I have not yet shown you how wretchedly +bad and insufficient they are. Now for a few facts. + +In June, 1858, I travelled through the Mediterranean provinces, taking +notes as I went along. I established the fact that in one township the +bread cost nearly three-halfpence a pound, while in another, some +twelve miles off, it was to be had for a penny. It follows that the +carriage of goods along twelve miles of road cost a farthing a pound. +At Sonnino bad wine was sold for sevenpence the _litre_, while the +same quantity of passable wine might be had at Pagliano, thirty miles +off, for twopence halfpenny; so the cost of carrying an article +weighing some two pounds for thirty miles was fourpence halfpenny. +Wherever governments make roads, prices naturally find their level. + +I may be told that I explored remote and out-of-the-way districts. If +we approach the capital, we find the matters still worse. The nearest +villages to Rome have not roads fit for carriages from one to the +other. What would be said of the French administration, if people +could not get from Versailles to St. Germain without passing through +Paris? This, however, has been for centuries the state of things near +the Pope's capital. If you want a still more striking instance, here +it is. Bologna, the second city in the Pontifical States, is in rapid +and frequent communication with the whole world--except Rome. It +despatches seven mails a week to foreign countries--only five to Rome. +The letters from Paris arrive at Bologna some hours before those from +Rome; the letters from Vienna are in advance of those from Rome by a +day and a night. The Papal kingdom is not very extensive, but it seems +to me even too extensive, when I see distances trebled by the +carelessness of the Government and the inadequacy of the public works. +As to railways, there are two, one from Rome to Frascati, and one from +Rome to Civita Vecchia; but the Adriatic provinces, which are the most +populous, the most energetic, and the most interesting in the country, +will not hear the whistle of the locomotive and the rush of the train +for a long time to come. The nation loudly demands railways. The lay +proprietors, instead of absurdly asking fancy prices for their land, +eagerly offer it to companies. The convents alone raise barricades, as +if they thought the devil was trying to break in at their gates. The +erection of a railway station in Rome gave rise to some comical +difficulties. Our unfortunate engineers were utterly at a loss for the +means of effecting an opening. On all sides the way was blocked up by +obstructive friars. Black friars--white friars--grey friars--and brown +friars. They began with the Lazarists. The Holy Father personally came +to their rescue. "Ah, Mr. Engineer, have mercy on my poor Lazarists! +The good souls are given to prayer and meditation; and your +locomotives do make such a hideous din!" So Mr. Engineer is fain to +try the neighbouring convent. New difficulties there. The next attack +is made upon a little nunnery founded by the Princess de Bauffremont. +But I have neither time nor space for episodical details. It suffices +for our purpose to state that the construction of railways will be a +terribly long-winded affair, and that in the meantime trade languishes +for want of crossroads. The budget of public works is devoted to the +repair of churches, and the building of basilicas. Nearly +half-a-million sterling has already been sunk in the erection of a +very grey and very ugly edifice on the Ostia road.[15] As much more +will be required to finish it, and the commerce of the country will be +none the better. + +Half a million sterling! Why the entire capital of the bank of Rome is +but £400,000; and when merchants go there to have their bills +discounted, they can get no money. They are obliged to apply to +usurers and monopolists, and the governor of the bank is one. Rome has +an Exchange. I discovered its existence by mere chance, in turning +over a Roman almanack. This public establishment opens _once a week_, +a fact which gives some idea of the amount of business transacted +there. + +If trade and manufactures offer but small resources to the subjects of +his Holiness, they fortunately find some compensation in agriculture. +The natural fertility of the soil, and the stubborn industry of those +who cultivate it, will always suffice to keep the nation from +starvation. While it pays away a million sterling annually for foreign +manufactures, the surplus of its agricultural produce brings back some +£800,000. Hemp and corn, oil and wool, wine, silk, and cattle, form +its substantial wealth. + +How do we find the Government acting in this respect? Its duties are +very simple, and may be summed up in three words,--protection, +assistance, and encouragement. + +The budget is not heavily burdened under the head of encouragement. +Some proprietors and land stewards, residing in Rome, ask permission +to found an Agricultural Society. The authorities refuse. In order to +attain their object, they steal furtively into a Horticultural +Society, already established by authority. They organize themselves, +raise subscriptions, exhibit to the Romans a good collection of cattle +and distribute some gold and silver medals offered by Prince Cesarini. +Is it not curious that an exhibition of cattle, in order to be +tolerated, is obliged to smuggle itself in under the shelter of +camellias and geraniums? + +Lay sovereigns not only openly favour agriculture, but they encourage +it at a heavy cost, and do not consider their money thrown away. They +are well aware that to give a couple of hundred pounds to the inventor +of a good plough, is to place a small capital out at a heavy interest. +The investment will render their kingdom more prosperous, and their +children more wealthy. But the Pope has no children. He prefers sowing +in his churches, in order to reap the harvest in Paradise. + +Might he not at least assist the unfortunate peasants who furnish the +bread he eats? + +An able and truthful statistician (the Marchese Pepoli) has proved +that in the township of Bologna, the rural proprietors actually pay +taxes to the amount of £6. 8s. 4d. upon every £4-worth of taxable +income. The fisc is not content with absorbing the entire revenue, but +it annually eats into the capital. What think you of such moderation? + +In 1855 the vines were diseased everywhere. Lay governments vied with +each other in assisting the distressed proprietors. Cardinal Antonelli +seized the opportunity to impose a tax of £74,680 upon the vines; and +as there were no grapes that year to pay it, the amount was charged +upon the different townships. Now which has proved the heaviest +scourge--the _Oidium_ or the Cardinal Minister? Certainly not the +_Oidium_, for that has disappeared. The Cardinal remains. + +All the corn harvested in the _Agro Romano_ pays a fixed duty of +twenty-two pauls per rubbio. The rubbio is worth, on an average, from +80 to 100 pauls; so that the government taxes the harvest to the +amount of at least 22 per cent. Here is a moderate tax. Why it is more +than double the tithe. So much for the assistance rendered to the +growers of corn. + +Every description of agricultural produce pays a tax on export. There +are governments which give a premium to exporters: one may call that +encouraging the national industry. There are others, and they are +still more numerous, which allow a free export of the surplus produce +of the land: this is not merely to encourage, it is to assist the +labourers. The Pope levies an average tax of 22 per thousand on the +total amount of exports, 160 per thousand on the value of imports. The +Piedmontese government is satisfied with 13 per thousand on exports, +and 58 per thousand on imports. Of the two countries, I should prefer +farming in Piedmont. + +Cattle are subject to vexatious taxes, which add from twenty to thirty +per cent. to their cost. They pay when at pasture; they pay nearly +twenty-three shillings per head at market; they pay on exportation. +And yet the breeding of cattle is one of the most valuable resources +of the State, and one of those which ought to be the most assisted. + +The horses raised in the country pay five per cent. on their value +every time they change hands. By the time a horse has passed through +twenty different hands, the Government has pocketed as much as the +breeder. When I say the Government, I am wrong; the horse-tax is not +included in the Budget. It is an ecclesiastical prebend. Cardinal +della Dateria throws it in with general episcopal revenues. + +"The good shepherd should shear, and not flay his sheep." These are +the words of an Emperor, not a Pope, of Rome. + +And now I dare not ask of the Holy Father certain protective measures +which could not fail to double the revenue of his crown and the number +of his subjects. + +According to the statistical returns of 1857, the territorial wealth +of the Romans is estimated at £104,400,000. The gross produce of this +capital does not reach more than £116,563. 11s. 8d., or about ten per +cent. This is little. In Poland, and some other great agricultural +countries, the land pays a net revenue of twelve per cent., which +represents at least twenty per cent. gross. The Roman soil would +produce the same if the Roman government did its duty. + +The country is divided into cultivated and uncultivated lands. The +former, that is to say those planted with useful trees, enriched by +manure, regularly submitted to manual labour, and sown every year, lie +chiefly in the provinces of the Adriatic, far beyond the ken of the +Pope. In this half of the States of the Church (the most worthy of +attention, and the least known) twenty years of French occupation have +left excellent traditions. The system of primogeniture is abolished, +if not by law, at least in practice. The equality of rights among the +children of the same father necessitates the subdivision of property +so favourable to agricultural progress. There are some large landed +proprietors here, as there are everywhere; but instead of abandoning +their estates to the rapacity of an intendant, they divide them into +different occupations, which they confide to the best farmers. The +landlord supplies the land, the buildings, and the cattle, and pays +the property-tax. The tenant supplies the labour, and pays the other +taxes, and the produce is equally shared between the landlord and the +tenant. The system answers well, and the Adriatic provinces would +hardly seem deserving of pity, if it were not for the brigands, the +inundations of the Po and the Reno, and the crushing taxation I have +described. + +These taxes are lighter on the other side of the Apennines. There are +even in the neighbourhood of Rome some landowners who pay scarcely any +at all. In 1854 the _Consulta di Stato_ valued the privileged lands at +£360,000. But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands. + +Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west of Rome, and +wherever the Papal benediction extends, the flat country, which covers +an immense extent, is at once uninhabited, uncultivated, and +unhealthy. Various are the modes in which experienced persons have +attempted to account for the wretched condition of this fine country. + +One says, + + "It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. How can you + cultivate without men? It is uninhabited because it is + unwholesome. How can you expect men to inhabit it at the + risk of their lives? Make it healthy, and it will populate + itself, and the population will cultivate it, for there is + not a finer soil in the world." + +Another replies, + + "You are wrong. You confound cause with effect. The country + is unhealthy because it is uncultivated. The decayed + vegetable matter accumulated by centuries ferments under the + summer sun. The wind blows over it, and raises up a + provision of subtle miasma, imperceptible to the smell, and + yet destructive to life. If all these plains were ploughed + or dug up three or four times, so as to let the air and + light penetrate into the depths of the soil, the fever which + lies dormant under the rank vegetation would speedily + evaporate, and return no more. Hasten then to bring ploughs, + and your first crop will be one of health." + +A third replies to the two first, + + "You are both right. The country is unhealthy because it is + uncultivated, and uncultivated because it is unhealthy. The + question lies in a vicious circle, from which there is no + escape. Let us therefore leave things as they are; and when + the fever-season arrives, we can go and inhale the fresh + mountain air under the tall trees of Frascati." + +The last speaker, if I am not greatly mistaken, is a Prelate. But have +a care, Monsignore! Frascati, once so renowned for the purity of its +air, now no longer deserves its reputation; and I may say the same of +Tivoli. The quarters of Rome most remarkable for healthiness, such for +instance as the Pincian, have of late become unhealthy. Fever is +gaining ground. It is equally worthy of observation that at the same +time the cultivation of the land is diminishing; and that the estates +in mortmain--that is to say, delivered into the hands of the +priesthood--have been increasing at the yearly rate of from £60,000 to +£80,000 a year. Is _mortmain_ indeed the hand which kills? + +I submitted this delicate question to a very intelligent, very +honourable, and very wealthy man, who farms several thousand acres of +Church property. He is one of the _Mercanti di Campagna_, mentioned in +a former chapter (Chap. VI.). The following is the substance of his +reply. + + "Six-tenths of the Agro Romano are held in mortmain. + Three-tenths belong to the princely families, and the + remaining tenth to different individuals. + + "I hold under a religious community. I have a three-years' + lease of the bare land. The live and dead farm-stock is my + own property. It represents an enormous capital, which is + liable to all sorts of accidents. But in our dear country + one must risk a great deal to gain a little. + + "If the land, which is almost all of fine quality, were my + own, I should bring nearly the whole of it under the plough; + but I am expressly forbidden by a clause in my lease to + break up the best land, for fear of exhausting it by growing + corn. No doubt such would be the result in the course of + time, because we apply no manure; but of course the inferior + land which I _am_ allowed to break up will be worn out much + sooner, and will in the end become almost worthless. The + monks knowing this, take care that the best land shall not + lose its quality, and oblige me to keep it in pasture for + cattle. Thus I grow little corn merely because the good + fathers will not let me grow a great deal. I cultivate first + one piece of land, then another. On my farm, as throughout + the Agro Romano, cultivation is but a passing accident; and + so long as this continues, the country will be unhealthy. + + "I raise cattle, which, as you will presently see, is + sometimes a profitable pursuit, sometimes quite the + contrary. On the whole of my farm I have no shelter for my + cattle. I asked the monks to build me some sheds, offering + to pay an increased rent in proportion to outlay. The monk + who acts as the man of business of the convent, shrugged his + shoulders. 'What can you be thinking of?' he said; 'you know + we have only a life interest in the property. To comply with + your request, we must spend our income for the benefit of + our successors: and what care we for our successors? No, we + look to the present usufruct; the future is no concern of + ours--we have no children!' And the friar is right. Well, he + went on to say that I was at liberty to build at my own cost + as many sheds as I liked, which of course would belong to + the convent at the expiration of my lease. I replied that I + had no objection to erect the sheds, if the convent would + grant me a lease of reasonable length. But just then it + occurred to me very opportunely, that the canon law does not + recognize leases for more than three years, and that on the + very day when my sheds were completed, the pious fathers + might find it convenient to pick a quarrel with me. So here + the matter dropped. Although our cattle are naturally hardy + they are bound to suffer from exposure to the weather. A + hundred cows under shelter will yield the same quantity of + milk through the winter as five hundred in the open air, at + half the cost. A large portion of the hay we strew about the + pastures for the cattle, is trodden underfoot and spoilt + instead of being eaten; and if rain falls, the whole is + spoilt. Calculate the loss of milk, the cost of cartage over + a wide range of land, the damage done to the pastures by the + trampling of heavy cattle in wet weather, all caused by the + want of a few sheds, which it is impossible to have under + the present system, and you will appreciate the position of + a farmer holding under landlords who are careless as to the + future, and merely live from hand to mouth. + + "There is another improvement, which I offered to make at my + own expense. I asked permission to dam up a little stream, + dig some trenches, and irrigate the fields, by which I could + have doubled the produce both in quantity and quality. You + will hardly imagine the answer I received. The monks + declared the extraordinary fertility which would result from + the irrigation, would be a sort of violence done to nature, + by which in the end the soil could not fail to be + impoverished. What could I reply to such reasoning? These + good fathers only think of nursing their income. I tax them + neither with ignorance nor bad intentions. I only regret + that the land should be in their hands." + + "Pasture-farming under such conditions as these is a + terribly hazardous pursuit. A single year of drought will + suffice to ruin a breeder completely. In the years 1854-5 we + lost from twenty to forty per cent. of our cattle; in 1856-7 + from seventeen to twenty per cent: and bear in mind that + every beast, before it died, had been taxed." + +A champion of the Pontifical system offered to prove to me _by +figures_ that all is for the best even in the ecclesiastical estates. + +"We have our reasons," he said, + + "for preferring pasture to arable land. Here is a property + consisting of a hundred _rubbia_[16] (not quite three + hundred acres). If it were farmed on the proprietor's own + account, the cultivation, harvesting, threshing, and storing + would amount to the value of 13,550 days' labour. The wages, + seed, keep of horses and cattle, the interest of capital + invested in stock, cost of superintendence, wear and tear of + tools, etc., would stand him in 8,000 scudi, or 80 scudi per + rubbio. The earth returns sevenfold on the seed sown. If 100 + measures of seed are sown, the return will be 700. The + average price of the measure of corn may be taken at 10 + scudi. Thus the value of the crop will be 7,000 scudi, + whereas the same crop cost to raise 8,000 scudi. Here are + 1,000 scudi (about £215) flung clean into the gutter; and + all for the pleasure of cultivating 100 rubbia of land. Is + it not much better to let the 100 rubbia to a + cattle-breeder, who will pay a rent of thirty or forty + shillings per rubbio? On one side we have a clear loss of + £215, and on the other a clear income of £160 or £184." + +This reasoning is founded upon the calculations of Monsignore Nicolai, +a prelate of considerable ability[17]: but it proves nothing, because +it attempts to prove too much. If the cultivation of corn be really so +ruinous an operation, it is strange that farmers should continue to +grow it merely to spite the government. + +But although it is quite true that the cultivation of a rubbio of land +costs 80 scudi, it is false that the earth only yields sevenfold on +the seed sown. According to the admission of the farmers +themselves--and they are notoriously not in the habit of exaggerating +their profits--it yields thirteen-fold on the seed sown. Thirteen +measures of corn are worth thirteen times ten scudi, or 130 scudi. +Deduct 80, the cost of cultivation, and 50 remain. Multiply by 100, +the result is 5,000 scudi (about £1,070), which will be the net income +arising from the 100 rubbia cultivated in corn. The same extent of +land under pasturage will produce £160 or £180. + +Consider, moreover, that it is not the net, but the gross income, +which constitutes the wealth of a country. The cultivation of 100 +rubbia, before it puts 5,000 scudi into the farmer's pockets, has put +some 8,000 scudi in circulation. These eight thousand scudi are +distributed among a thousand or fifteen hundred poor creatures who are +sadly in want of them. Pasture-farming, on the contrary, is only +profitable to three persons, the landlord, the breeder, and the +herdsman. Add to this, that in substituting arable for pasture +farming, you substitute health for disease, a more important +consideration than any other. + +But churchmen who hold or administer lands in mortmain, will never +consent to such a salutary resolution. It does not profit them +directly enough. As long as they have the upper hand, they will prefer +their own ease, and the certainty of their income, to the future +welfare of the people. + +Pius VI., a Pope worthy to have statues erected to him, conceived the +heroic project of forcing a change upon them. He decided that 23,000 +rubbia should be annually cultivated in the Agro Romano, and that all +the land should in turn be subjected to manual labour. Pius VII. did +still better. He decided that Rome, the _origo mali_, should be the +first to apply the remedy. He had a circuit of a mile traced round the +capital, and ordered the proprietors to cultivate it without further +question. A second, and then a third, were to succeed to the first. +The result would have been the disappearance, in a few years, of +malaria, and the gradual population of the solitudes. The purification +of the atmosphere would, too, be further promoted by planting trees +round the fields. Excellent measures these, although tinged by +despotism. Enlightened despotism repairs the errors of clumsy +despotism. But what could the will of two men avail against the +passive resistance of a caste? The laws of Pius VI. and Pius VII. were +never enforced. Cultivation, which had extended over 16,000 rubbia +under the reign of Pius VI., is reduced to an annual average of 5,000 +or 6,000 under the paternal inspection of Pius IX. Not only is the +planting of young trees abandoned, but the sheep are allowed to nibble +down the tender shoots of the old ones. Besides this, speculators are +tolerated, who burn down whole forests, for the production of potash. + +The estates of the Roman princes are somewhat better cultivated than +those of the Church: but they are involved in the same movement, or, +more strictly speaking, enchained in the same stagnation. The law, +which retains immense domains for ever in the hands of the same +family, and custom, which obliges the Roman nobles to spend so large a +portion of their incomes upon show, are equally obstacles to the +subdivision and to the improvement of the land. + +And while the richest plains in Italy are thus lying dormant, a +vigorous, indefatigable, and heroic population cultivates with the +pickaxe the arid sides of mountains, and exhausts its strength in +attempting to extract vegetation from flints. + +I have described the small mountain proprietors who form the +populations of the towns of 10,000 inhabitants towards the +Mediterranean. You have seen with what indomitable resolution they +combat the sterility of their meagre domains, without any hope of ever +becoming rich. These poor people, who spend their lives in getting +their living, would fancy themselves transported to Paradise, if +anybody were to give them a long lease of half-a-dozen acres in the +country about Rome. Their labour would then have a purpose, their +existence an aim, their family a future. + +Perhaps you think they would refuse to labour in an unhealthy country. +Why, these are the very men who at present cultivate the Roman +Campagna to such extent as it is allowed to be cultivated. They it is +who, every spring, come down in large companies from their native +mountains, to break up the heavy clods with pickaxes, and complete the +work of the plough. It is they, too, who return to harvest the crop +under the fatal heat of the summer sun. They attack a field waving +with golden corn. They reap from dawn to dusk, with no food more +nourishing than bread and cheese. They sleep in the open field, +regardless of the nocturnal exhalations which float around them--and +some of them never rise again. Those who survive ten days of a harvest +more destructive than many a battle, return to their native village +with some four or five scudi in their pockets. + +If these men could obtain a long lease, or merely take the land from +year to year, they would make more money, and the dangers to be +encountered would be no greater. They might be established between +Home and Montepoli, Rome and Civita Castellana, in the valley of +Ceprano, on the hills extending round the _Castelli_ of Rome, where +they would breathe an air as wholesome as that of their own mountains; +for fever does not always spare them even there. In course of time, +the colonizing system, advancing slowly and gradually, might realize +the dream of Pius VII., and would inevitably drive before it pauperism +and disease. + +I dare not hope that such a miracle will ever be wrought by a Pope. +The resistance to be encountered is too great, and the power is too +inert. But if it should ever please Heaven, which has given them ten +centuries of clerical government, to accord them, by way of +compensation, ten blessed years of lay administration, we should +perhaps see the Church property placed in more active and abler hands. + +Then, too, we should see the law of primogeniture and the system of +entails abolished, large estates divided, and their owners reduced, by +the force of circumstances, to the necessity of cultivating their +properties. Good laws on exportation, well enforced, would enable +spirited farmers to cultivate corn on a large scale. A network of +country roads, and main lines of railway, would convey agricultural +produce from one end of the country to the other. A national fleet +would carry it all over the world. Public works, institutions of +credit, police--But why plunge into such a sea of hopes? + +Suffice it to say, that the subjects of the Pope will be as prosperous +and as happy as any people in Europe--as soon as they cease to be +governed by a Pope! + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +FINANCES. + + +"The subjects of the Pope are necessarily poor--but then they pay +hardly any taxes. The one condition is a compensation for the other!" + +This is what both you and I have often heard said. Now and then, too, +it is put forth upon the faith of some statistical return or another +of the Golden Age, that they are governed at the rate of 7s. 6d. per +head. + +This calculation is a mere fable, as I can easily prove. But supposing +it to be correct, the Romans would not be the less deserving of pity. +It is a miserable consolation to people who have nothing, to be told +that their taxes are low. For my part, I would much rather have heavy +taxes to pay, and a good deal to pay them with, like the English. What +would be thought of the Queen's government, if after having ruined +trade, manufactures, and agriculture, and exhausted all the sources of +public prosperity, it were to say to the people, "Rejoice, good +people, for henceforth your taxes will not exceed 7s. 6d. a head all +round!" The English people would answer with great reason, that they +would much prefer to pay £40 a head, and be able to make £400. + +It is not this or that particular sum per head on a population which +constitutes moderate or excessive taxation; but the relation which the +sum annually taken for the service of the State bears to the revenues +of the nation. It is just to take much from him who has much; +monstrous to attempt to take anything--be it never so little--from him +who has nothing. If you examine the question from this common sense +point of view, you will agree with me that taxation at the rate of 7s. +6,d. a head, is pretty heavy for the poor Romans. + +But 7s. 6,d. a head is _not_ the rate at which they are taxed; nor +even double that amount. The Budget of Rome is £2,800,000, which is to +be assessed upon three million taxpayers. + +Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, justice, and +humanity, but in such a manner that the heaviest burdens fall upon the +most useful, laborious, and interesting class of the nation, the small +proprietors. + +And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to the State, and +admitted in the budget. Besides these, there are the provincial and +municipal charges, which, under the title of additional per-centage, +amount to more than double the direct taxes. The province of Bologna +pays £80,900 of property-tax, and £96,812 of provincial and municipal +charges, making together £177,712. This sum distributed over the whole +population of 370,107, brings the taxation to a fraction under 10s. a +head. But observe, that instead of being borne by the whole +population, it is borne by no more than 23,022 proprietors. + +But mark a further injustice! It does not bear equally upon the +proprietors of the towns and those of the country. The former has a +great advantage over the latter. A town property in the province of +Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per cent., a country property of the same value +5s. 3d. per cent., not upon the income, but the capital. + +In the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the middle +class that are the most heavily rated. Take the palace of a nobleman +in Bologna, and a small house belonging to a citizen, which adjoins +it. The palace is valued at the trifling sum of £1,100, on the ground +that the apartments inhabited by the owner are not included in the +income. The actual rent of which the owner is in the receipt for the +part left off is about £280 a year: his taxes are £18 a year. The +small house adjoining is valued at £200. The rent derived from it is +£10 a year, and the taxes paid on it are £3. 7s. 6d. Thus we find the +palace paying something like 5s. 6d. per cent. on its income, and the +small house £1 7s. + +The Lombards justly excite our compassion. But the proprietors of the +province of Bologna are taxed to the annual amount of £1,400 more than +those of the province of Milan. + +To this crushing taxation are added heavy duties on articles of +consumption. All the necessaries of life are liable to these taxes, +such as flour, vegetables, rice, bread, etc. They are heavier than in +almost any other European city. Meat is charged at the same rate as in +Paris. Hay, straw, and wood, at still higher rates. + +The town dues of Lille amount to 10s. per head on the population; +those of Florence, about the same; and those of Lyons 12s. 6d. At +Bologna they are 14s. 2d. Observe, town dues alone. We are already a +long way from the 7s. 6d. of the Golden Age! + +I am bound in justice to admit that the nation has not always been so +hardly dealt with. It was not till the reign of Pius IX. that the +taxation became insupportable. The budget of Bologna was more than +doubled between 1846 and 1858. + +Something might be said, if at least the money taken from the nation +were spent for the good of the nation! + +But one-third of the amount raised in taxation remains in the hands of +the officials who collect it. This is incredible, but true. The cost +of collecting the revenue amounts, if I mistake not, in England, to 8 +per cent.; in France, to 14 per cent.; in Piedmont, to 16 per cent.; +and in the States of the Church, to 31 per cent. + +If you marvel at a system of extravagance which obliges the people to +pay £4 for every £2. 15s. 10d. required for their mis-government, here +is a fact which will enlighten you on the subject. + +Last year the place of municipal receiver was put up to auction in the +city of Bologna. An offer was made by an honourable and responsible +man to collect the dues for a commission of 1-1/2 per cent. The +Government gave the preference to Count Cesare Mattei, one of the +Pope's Chamberlains, who asked two per cent. So this piece of +favouritism costs the city £800 a year. + +The following is the mode in which the revenue (after the abstraction +of one-third in the course of collecting it) is disposed of. + +£1,000,000 goes to pay the interest of a continually accumulating +debt, contracted by the priests, and for the priests, annually +increasing through the bad administration of the priests, and carried +by the priests to the debit of the nation. + +£400,000 is devoured by a useless army, the sole duty of which has +hitherto been to present arms to the Cardinals, and to escort the +procession of the Host. + +£120,000 is devoted to those establishments which of all others are +the most indispensable to an unpopular government: I mean, the +prisons. + +£80,000 is the cost of the administration of justice. The tribunals of +the capital absorb half the amount, because they enjoy the distinction +of being for the most part composed of prelates. + +The very modest sum of £100,000 is devoted to public works. This is +chiefly spent in embellishing Rome, and repairing churches. + +£60,000 goes in the encouragement of idleness in the city of Rome. A +Charity Commission, presided over by a Cardinal, distributes this sum +among a few thousand incorrigible idlers, without accounting for it to +anybody. Mendicity is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to +every one. From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid +£1,600,000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects of which, +the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it required. The +Cardinal who presides over the Commission takes £2,400 a year for his +private charities. + +£16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public education, which, +moreover, is wholly in the hands of the clergy. Add this moderate sum, +and the £80,000 devoted to the administration of justice, to a part of +the £100,000 spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly +be set down as money spent in the service of the nation. The remainder +is of no use but to the Government,--in other words, to a parcel of +priests. + +The Pope and the partners of his power must be indifferent financiers, +when, after spending such a pittance on the nation, they contrive to +wind up every year with a deficit. The balance of 1858 showed a +deficit of nearly half a million sterling, which does not prevent the +government from promising a surplus in the estimates of 1859. + +In order to fill up the gaps in the budget, the Government has +recourse to borrowing, sometimes openly, by a loan from the house of +Rothschild, sometimes secretly, by an issue of stock. + +In 1857 the Pontifical Government contracted its eleventh loan with +Rothschild's house; it was a trifle, something under £700,000. +Nevertheless there were quiet issues of stock from 1851 to 1858, to +the tune of £1,320,000. The capital of the debt for which its subjects +are liable, amounts to £14,376,150. 5s. If you will take the trouble +to divide this grand total by the figure which represents the +population, you will find that every little subject born to the Pope +comes into the world a debtor of something like £4. 10s., whereof he +will contribute to pay the interest all his life, although neither he +nor his ancestors have ever derived the least benefit from the outlay. + +It is true these fourteen millions and a half (in round numbers) have +not been lost for all the world. The nephews of the Popes have +pocketed a good round sum. About a third has been swallowed up by what +is called the general interests of the Roman Catholic faith. It has +been proved that the religious wars have cost the Popes at least four +millions; and the farmers of Ancona and Forlì are still paying out of +the produce of their fields for the faggots used to burn the +Huguenots. The churches of which Rome is so proud have not been paid +for entirely by the tribute of Catholicism at large. There are certain +remnants of accounts, which were at the cost of the Roman people. The +Popes have made more than one donation to those poor religious +establishments, which possess no more than £20,000,000 worth of +property in the world. The expenses lumped together under the head of +Allocations for Public Worship add something short of £900,000 +sterling to the national debt. Foreign occupation, and more +particularly the invasion of the Austrians in the north, has burdened +the inhabitants with a million sterling. Add the money squandered, +given away, stolen, and lost, together with £1,360,000 paid to bankers +for commission on loans, and you have an account of the total of the +debt, excepting perhaps a million and a half or so, of which the +unexplained and inexplicable disbursement does immortal honour to the +discretion of the ministers. + +Since the restoration of Pius IX., an approach to respect for public +opinion has forced the Pontifical Government to publish some sort of +accounts. It does not render them to the nation, but to Europe, +knowing that Europe is not curious in the matter, and will be easily +satisfied. A few copies of the annual Budget are published; they are +certainly not in everybody's reach. The statement of receipts and +expenditure is prodigiously laconic. I have now before me the +estimates prepared for 1858, in four pages, the least blank of which +contains just fourteen lines. The Finance Minister sums up the +receipts and the outgoings, both ordinary and extraordinary. Under the +head of Receipts, he lumps the whole of "the direct contributions, and +the State property, 3,201,426 scudi." + +Under the head of Expenditure, we read "Commerce, Fine Arts, +Agriculture, Manufactures, and Public Works, 601,764 scudi." A +tolerable lump, this. + +This powerful simplification of accounts enables the Minister to +perform some capital tricks of financial sleight of hand. Supposing, +for instance, the Government wants half a million of scudi for some +mysterious purpose, nothing is easier than to bring their direct +contributions in as having paid half a million less than they really +have. What will Europe ever know about the matter? + + "Speech is silver, but silence is gold." + +Successive Finance Ministers at Rome have all adopted this device, +even when they are forced to speak, they have the art of not saying +the very thing the country wants to hear. + +In almost all civilized countries the nation enjoys two rights which +seem perfectly just and natural. The first is that of voting the +taxes, either directly or through the medium of its deputies; the +second, that of verifying the expenditure of its own money. + +In the Papal kingdom, the Pope or his Minister says to the citizens, +"Here is what you have to pay!" And he takes the money, spends it, and +never more alludes to it except in the vaguest language. + +Still, in order to afford some sort of satisfaction to the conscience +of Europe, Pius IX. promised to place the finances under the control +of a sort of Chamber of Deputies. Here is the text of this promise, +which figured, with many others, in the _Motu Proprio_ of the 12th of +September, 1849. + + "_A Consulta di Stato_ for the Finances is established. It + will be _heard_ on the estimates of the forthcoming year. It + will examine the balance of accounts for the previous year, + and sign the vote of credit. It will give its advice on the + establishment of new, or the reduction of old taxes; on the + better distribution of the general taxation; on the measures + to be taken for the improvement of commerce, and in general + on all that concerns the interests of the public Treasury. + + "The Councillors shall be selected by Us from lists + presented by the Provincial Councils. Their number shall be + fixed in proportion to the provinces of the State. This + number may be increased within fixed limits by the addition + of some of our subjects, whom we reserve to ourselves the + right to name." + +Now, allow me to dwell briefly upon the meaning of this promise, and +the results which have followed it. Who knows whether diplomacy may +not ere long be again occupied in demanding promises of the +Pope?--whether the Pope may not again think it wise to promise +mountains and marvels?--whether these new promises may not be just as +hollow and insincere as the old ones? This short paragraph deserves a +long commentary, for it is fraught with instruction. + +"It is established!" said the Pope. But the _Consulta di Stato_ of +Finances, established the 12th of September, 1849, only gave signs of +life in December, 1853. Four years afterwards! This is what I call +drawing a bill at a pretty long date. It is admitted that the nation +needs some guarantees, and that it is entitled to tender some advice, +and to exercise some control. And so the nation is requested to call +again in four years. + +The members of the _Consulta_ of the Finances are a sort of sham +deputies; very sham ones, I assure you, although the Count de +Rayneval, to suit his purpose, is pleased to call them "the +Representatives of the Nation." They represent the nation as Cardinal +Antonelli represents the Apostles. + +They are elected by the Pope from a list presented by the Communal +Councils. The Communal Councillors are elected by their predecessors +of the Communal Council, who were chosen directly by the Pope from a +list of eligible citizens, each of whom must have produced a +certificate of good conduct, both religious and political. In all this +I cannot for the life of me see more than one elector--the Pope. + +We'll begin this progressive election again, and start from the very +bottom--that is, the nation. The Italians have a peculiar fancy for +municipal liberties. The Pope knows this, and, as a good prince, he +resolves to accommodate them. The township or commune wishes to choose +its own councillors, of which there are ten to be elected. The Pope +names sixty electors--six electors for every councillor. And observe, +that in order to become an elector, a certificate from the parish and +the police is necessary. But they are not infallible; and, moreover, +it is just possible that in the exercise of a novel right they may +fall into some error; so the Sovereign determines to arrange the +election himself. Then, his Communal Councillors--for they are indeed +_his_--come and present him with a list of candidates for the +Provincial Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father +may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the province of +Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hundred and fifty-six; he +must be unlucky indeed not to be able to pick out eleven men devoted +to him. These eleven Provincial Councillors, in their turn, present +four candidates, out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the +nation is _represented_ in the Financial Council. + +Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father adds to the +list of representatives some men of his own choice, his own caste, and +who are in habits of intimacy with him. The councillors elected by the +nation are eliminated by one-third every two years. The councillors +named directly by the Pope are irremovable. + +Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to power, it was +this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope does not trust to it. He +has given the presidence to a Cardinal, the vice-presidence to a +Prelate; and still he is only half re-assured. A special regulation +places all the councillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal +President. It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the +bureaux, and makes the reports to the Pope. Without his permission no +papers or documents are communicated to the councillors. So true is it +that the reigning caste sees in every layman an enemy. + +And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay councillors, +selected among the most timid, submissive, and devoted of the Pope's +subjects, could not forget that they were men, citizens, and Italians. +On the day after their installation they manifested a desire to begin +doing their duty, by examining the accounts of the preceding year. +They were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in their +demands. A search was instituted. A few documents were produced; but +so incomplete that the Council was not able in six years to audit and +pass them. + +The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on the new taxes +decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, that is to say, since the +Council of Finances has entered upon its functions, the Government has +contracted foreign loans, inscribed consolidated stock in the great +book of the national debt, alienated the national property, signed +postal conventions, changed the system of taxation at Benevento, and +taxed the diseased vines, without even taking the trouble to ascertain +its opinion. + +The Government proposed some other financial measure to the Council, +and the answer was in the negative. In spite of this, the Government +measures were carried into execution. The _Motu Proprio_ says the +_Consulta di Stato_ shall be heard, but not that it shall be listened +to.[18] + +Every year, at the end of the session, the _Consulta_ addresses to the +Pope a humble petition against the gross abuses of the financial +system. The Pope remits the petition over to some Cardinals. The +Cardinals remit it over to the Greek Kalends. + +The Count de Rayneval greatly admired this mechanism. The Emperor +Soulouque did more--he imitated it. + +But M. Guizot tells us that "there is a degree of bad government which +no people, whether great or little, enlightened or ignorant, will +tolerate at the present day."[19] + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +The Count de Rayneval, after having proved that all is for the best in +the dominions of the Pope, winds up his celebrated _Note_ by a +desponding conclusion. According to him, the Roman Question is one +which cannot possibly be definitively solved; and the utmost that can +be effected by diplomacy is the postponement of a catastrophe. + +I am not such a pessimist. It appears to me that all political +questions may be solved, and all catastrophes averted. I am sanguine +enough to believe that war is not absolutely indispensable to the +salvation of Italy and the security of Europe, and that it is possible +to extinguish a conflagration without firing guns. + +You have seen the intolerable misery and the legitimate discontent of +the subjects of the Pope. You know enough of them to understand that +Europe ought without delay to bring them succour, not only from the +love of abstract justice, but in the interest of the public peace. I +have proved to you that the misfortunes which afflict these three +millions of men must be attributed neither to the weakness of the +sovereign, nor even to the perversity of minister, but are the logical +and necessary deductions from a principle. All that Europe has to do +is to protest against the consequences. The principle must either be +admitted or rejected. If you approve the temporal sovereignty of the +Pope, you are bound to applaud everything, even the conduct of +Cardinal Antonelli. If you are shocked by the offences of the +Pontifical Government, it is against the ecclesiastical monarchy that +you must seek your remedy. + +Diplomacy, without staying to discuss the premises, has from time to +time protested against the deductions. In profoundly respectful +_Memoranda_ it has implored the Pope to act inconsistently, by +administering the affairs of his States upon the principles of lay +governments. Should the Pope turn a deaf ear, the diplomatists have no +right to complain, because they recognize his character, as an +independent sovereign. Should he promise all they ask and afterwards +break his word, diplomacy is equally without a ground of complaint. Is +it not the admitted right of the Sovereign Pontiff to absolve men even +from the most solemn oaths? And finally, should he yield to the +solicitation of Europe, and enact liberal laws one day, only to let +them fall into desuetude the next, diplomatists are once more +disarmed. To violate its own laws is a special privilege of absolute +monarchy. + +I entertain a very high respect for our diplomatists of 1859; nor were +their predecessors of 1831 wanting either in good intentions or +capacity. They addressed to Gregory XVI. a MEMORANDUM, which is a +master-piece of its kind. They extorted from the Pope a real +constitution,--a constitution which left nothing to be desired, and +which guaranteed all the moral and material interests of the Roman +nation. In a few years this same constitution had entirely +disappeared, and abuses again flowed from the ecclesiastical +principle, like a river from its source. + +We renewed the experiment in 1849. The Pope granted us the _Motu +Proprio_ of Portici, and the Romans gained nothing by it. + +Shall our diplomatists repeat in 1859 this same part of dupes? A +French engineer has demonstrated that dykes erected along the banks of +rivers liable to inundation are costly, in constant need of repair, +and ineffectual; and that the only real protection against those +devastations is the construction of a dam at the source. To the +source, then, gentlemen of the diplomatic guild! Ascend straight to +the temporal power of the Papacy. + +And yet I dare neither hope for, nor ask of Europe the immediate +application of this grand panacea. Gerontocracy is still too powerful, +even in the youngest governments Besides, we are now at peace, and +radical reforms are only to be effected by war. The sword alone enjoys +the privilege of deciding great questions by a single stroke. +Diplomatists, a timid army of peace, proceed but by half-measures. + +There is one which was proposed in 1814 by Count Aldini, in 1831 by +Rossi, in 1855 by Count Cavour. These three statesmen, comprehending +the impossibility of limiting the authority of the Pope within the +kingdom in which it is exercised, and over the people who are +abandoned to it, advised Europe to remedy the evil by diminishing the +extent of, and reducing the population subjected to, the States of the +Church. + +Nothing is more just, natural, or easy than to free the Adriatic +provinces, and to confine the despotism of the Papacy between the +Mediterranean and the Apennines. I have shown that the cities of +Ferrara, Ravenna, Bologna, Rimini, and Ancona are at once the most +impatient of the Pontifical yoke and the most worthy of liberty. +Deliver them. Here is a miracle which may be wrought by a stroke of +the pen: and the eagle's plume which signed the treaty of Paris is as +yet but freshly mended. + +There would still remain to the Pope a million of subjects, and +between three and four millions of acres; neither the one nor the +other in a very high state of cultivation, I must admit; but it is +possible that the diminution of his revenue might induce him to manage +his estates and utilize his resources better than he now does. One of +two things would occur: either he would enter upon the course pursued +by good governments, and the condition of his subjects would become +endurable, or he would persist in the errors of his predecessors, and +the Mediterranean provinces would in their turn demand their +independence. + +At the worst, and as a last alternative, the Pope might retain the +city of Rome, his palaces and temples, his cardinals and prelates, his +priests and monks, his princes and footmen, and Europe would +contribute to feed the little colony. + +Rome, surrounded by the respect of the universe, as by a Chinese wall, +would be, so to speak, a foreign body in the midst of free and living +Italy. The country would suffer neither more nor less than does an old +soldier from the bullet which the surgeon has left in his leg. + +But will the Pope and the Cardinals easily resign themselves to the +condition of mere ministers of religion? Will they willingly renounce +their political influence? Will they in a single day forget their +habits of interfering in our affairs, of aiming princes against one +another, and of discreetly stirring up citizens against their rulers? +I much doubt it. + +But on the other hand, princes will avail themselves of the lawful +right of self-defence. They will read history, and they will there +find that the really strong governments are those which have kept +religious authority in their own hands; that the Senate of Rome did +not grant the priests of Carthage liberty to preach in Italy; that the +Queen of England and the Emperor of Russia are the heads of the +Anglican and Russian religions; and they will see that by right the +sovereign metropolis of the churches of France should be in Paris. + + + + + + +NOTES + + + + 1: Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 64. + + 2: 'La Grèce Contemporaine.' + + 3: Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Comte de Tournon. + + 4: A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and + deserved well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful + struggle of 1848, soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope, + under happier auspices, and with a very different result. + + Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a _corps d' + armée_ of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby + he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat + at Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Nugent, and + prevented the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President + Manin acknowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved + Venice, and immediately sent him the commission of a full General. + On the 16th of May, General Nugent arrived before Treviso with + 16,000 men, and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to + surrender, giving General Lante till noon on the following day for + consideration. At four the same evening, Lante sent for reply, + "Come this evening. I shall expect you at six. We are here to + fight, not to surrender!" After threatening the town for some + days, Nugent retired from before it, and joined Radetzky. + + Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General + Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli + served as a _private soldier_ in the Roman Legion; he was one of + the three Commissioners who were sent to the camp of Radetzky to + treat for the capitulation of Vicenza. + + Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of + Grenadiers. + + Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly + Officer to Durando. + + Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Don Ludovico Lante (a younger brother of Filippo) was Captain in + the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's _Guardia Nobile_ for a Colonelcy + of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Republic: he was an + excellent officer. + + Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young + students.--_Transl_. + + 5: The ordinary British tourist must not look for his portrait in the + witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the + pilgrims are all assumed to be true sons of _the_ + Church.--_Transl_. + + 6: An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those + students who are unable to pass their examinations; tantamount to + our English _plucked_. + + 7: A man who has worn _cioccie_. + + 8: _'Tolla_.' 1 vol. 12mo. + + 9: 'The Victories of the Church,' by the Priest Margotti. 1857. + +10: 'Proemio della Statistica,' pubblicata nel 1857, dall' + Eminentissimo Cardinale Milesi. + +11: H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. + +12: Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of + morality) occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive + caused him to be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He + had a habit, too, of ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether + any incidents of more than ordinary interest in domestic life were + passing in the palaces of his noble, or the houses of his citizen + subjects. His medium for the attainment of this end was a powerful + telescope, placed at one of his upper windows! The principal + minister to his gossiping propensities was one Captain C----, a + man of great learning, but doubtful morality, selected, of course, + for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his experiences in + what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term "life." When, + between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the + Captain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite + amount of evidence against any offending party, the mode of + procedure was sudden, swift, and sure, fully bearing out the + Author's assertion that in Rome the will of an individual is a + substitute for the law of the State. There was no nonsense about + _Habeas Corpus_, or jury, or recorded judgment. The supposed + delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the night, to + avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as it + was phrased _prigione ed altre pene a nostro arbitrio_. One day + C---- brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced + by his Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly + respected and able _Avocato_ B---- (a stout lady of fifty), who + was at the same time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in + the habit of driving out daily in the carriage, and by the side of + the old bachelor Duke C----, Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal + decision on the case was instant. The act was of such frequent + occurrence, so audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public + morality demanded the strongest measures. That very night a + descent was made upon the dwelling of the unconscious _Avocato_. + The sanctity of the connubial chamber was invaded. The sleeping + beauty of fifty was ordered to rise, and was dragged off to--the + Convent of Repentant Females! B---- knew, and none better, what + manner of thing law was in Rome, so instead of wasting time in + reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of the case--urging the + argument that, even supposing his wife to have been of a + susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he himself + made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody + else had any right to interfere--and other similar appeals to + common sense, he at once requested the interference of the French + Ambassador. This was promptly and effectively given. The + incarceration of the peccant dame was brief; and a shower of + ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. But the Sovereigns of Rome + are accustomed to, and regardless of, such irreverent + demonstrations.--_TRANSL._ + +13: Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849. + +14: The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza. + +15: The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls. + +16: The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity. + +17: Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a + sort of model farm, known as the _Albereto Nicolai_, near the + Basilica of St. Paul Without the Walls. He was an able + administrator, and a man of superior attainments; and had he only + possessed common honesty, he would have been in time a great + man--as greatness is understood in Rome. He was a _Prelato di + Fiochetto_, and held the post of _Uditore della R.C. Apostolica_, + one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to Red Hats. + Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI for the promotion, and had + actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately Monsignore + Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He was a + _bon vivant_, and a _viveur_. He loved money, and he was utterly + unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career + in the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was + very near its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which, + although he was nearly eighty years of age, he played the + principal part. He colluded with a notary, named Bachetti, to + falsify the will of one Vitelli, a wealthy contractor, inserting + in the place of the testator's two orphan nieces that of _his own + natural son_. The affair having been dragged to light, Gregory + XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in disgrace + and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in his + very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered some + gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to + watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he + had ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law + could take possession. + + It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of + Justice in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of + the will produced as that of Vitelli, his nieces were never able + to recover the whole of his property. They were compelled to make + terms with Grossi, the defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this + day remains in the enjoyment of one-half of Vitelli's property! + +18: All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from + the works of the Marchese Pepoli. + +19: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293. + + + * * * * * + + +RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF D. APPLETON & COMPANY, + +346 & 343 BROADWAY. + + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan, 1 vol. 12mo. +cloth, $1. + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents. + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (daughter of Barry +Cornwall.) 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + +Shakers. Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. +75 cents. + +The Banks of New York. Their Dealers; the Clearing House, and the +Panic of 1807. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With thirty +illustrations. By Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages, cloth, $1.50. + +The Manual of Chess. Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, Recent Games, and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 volume, 18mo. 50 cents. + +Le Cabinet des Fées; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the express +use of Students in French. By George Gerard, A.M. 1 volume, 12mo. +$1. + +Halleck's Poetical Works. In blue and gold. 24mo. 88 cents. + +Letters from Spain and other Countries. By Wm. Cullen Bryant. 1 +volume, 12mo. Cloth. + +The Foster Brothers. Being the History of the School and College Life +of Two Young Men. 1 volume, 12mo. + +Life of James Watt. The Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine. With +Selections from his Private Correspondence. By James P. Muirhead. +Portrait and Wood Cuts. + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. 1, 1636 to 1700. 8vo. Price, $2.60 + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, Designed for Schools, +Colleges and Seminaries in the United States. By Henry Goadby, M.D. +Embellished with 450 illustrations. (A new edition.) Price, $2 + +Meta Gray; or, What Makes Home Happy. By Maria J. McIntosh, Author +of "Aunt Kitty's Tales." 1 vol., 12mo. 75 cents. + +The Emancipation of Faith. By the late Henry Edward Schedel, M.D. +Edited by George Schedel. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $4 + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +"Ministering Children." 1 volume, 12mo. Cloth, with 2 engravings, $1 + +Bertram Noel: A Story of Youth. By E.J. May, Author of "Edgar +Clifton." 1 volume, 16mo. Illustrated, 75 cents. + +Benton's Thirty Years' View; or, A History of the Working of the +American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850. New edition, +with Autobiography and a General Index. 2 volumes, 8vo. Cloth, $5. + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. Third Edition. 1 volume, half morocco, $3.50. + +New York to Delhi, by the way of Rio de Janeiro, Australia, and China. +By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 volume, 12mo. Illustrated with a Map, +$1.25. (Second edt.) + +History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vol. 1, +8vo. 677 pages. From the 2d London edt., $2.50. + +Rational Cosmology; or, The Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws +of the Universe. By Laurens P. Hickock, D.D. 1 volume, 8vo. 397 +pages, $1.75. + +Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences. First American, from the +third London edition. 2.vols, 8vo. Cloth, $4. + +The Coopers; or. Getting Under Way. By Alice B Haven. 1 volume, +12mo. 336 page, 75 cents. + +Appleton's New American Cyclopædia. A Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge. Volume V. Just published. To be completed in fifteen +volumes. Cloth, $3; leather, $3.50; hf. mor. $4; hf. Russia, $4.50. +Published by subscription. + +Benton's Abridgment of the Congressional Debates. Volume X. Just +published. Sold by Subscription. Cloth, $3; law sheep, $3.50; half +morocco, $4. Each volume payable as delivered. + +Burton's Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humor. Two large volumes, 8vo. +Profusely illustrated with Wood Engravings and twenty-four Portraits +on Steel. Extra cloth, $7; sheep extra, $8; hf mor. $9; hf calf, $10 + + + + +NEW PUBLICATIONS AND NEW EDITIONS + +PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +346 and 348 Broadway. + + * * * * * + +The Foster Brothers: Being the HISTORY of the SCHOOL and COLLEGE LIFE +of TWO YOUNG MEN. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "As fresh as the morning.... It abounds in fun, and in + relish of the activities, competitions, and sports of boyish + and adolescent life."--DAILY NEWS. + + "Full of life, and fun, and vigor.... These sketches of + school and college life are among the happiest of their + kind. Particularly well written is the account of life at + Cambridge."--EXAMINER. + + * * * * * + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan. 1 vol. 12mo. +$1. + + "This volume brims with sense, cleverness, and humor. A + lively and entertaining collection of great men's thought + and quick woman's observation; a book to be read now for + amusement, and to be sought hereafter for + reference."--_London Athenæum._ + + "A charming book. It is long since the reading public has + been admitted to so great a treat as this fascinating + collection of wit, anecdote and gossip. It is a delightful + reminiscence of a brilliant past, told by one of the best + wits still extant."--_London Daily News_. + + * * * * * + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. I vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + CONTENTS.--LOOKING UPWARDS; COLIN AND JEANIE; THE FAMILY AT + ALLEYNE; OFF! OFF! AND AWAY; ENDEAVORING; EDWARD ARNOLD; + POOR, YET NOBLE; LITTLE HARRY; POOR JAMIE CLARK; FIELDS + WHITE UNTO THE HARVEST; THE SAND HUTS; THE DRUNKARD'S + COTTAGE; THE INFANT'S MINISTRY; STAND STILL; OLD MOSES AND + LITTLE ADAH; THE ROCKY GLEN; SALOME; WIDOW M'LEOD; STAFFA + AND IONA; CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE; FAITH'S CONFLICT; FAITH'S + VICTORY; REUNION; SUMMER DAYS; THE FADING FLOWER; THE + UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL, A. WEDDING DAY; THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS + APPEARING; HASTENING ON; THE SIRE'S BIRTHDAY; THE SUMMIT + GAINED. + + * * * * * + +Shakers: Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, with Biographies of Ann Lee, +William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknett, J. Mescham, and Lucy Wright. +By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + * * * * * + +Cyclopædia of Wit and Humor, Comprising a Unique Collection of +Complete Articles, and specimens of Written Humor from Celebrated +Humorists of America, England, Ireland and Scotland. Illustrated with +upwards of 600 Characteristic Original Designs, and 24 Portraits, from +Steel Plates. Edited by William E. Burton, the Celebrated Comedian. +Two vols., 8vo., cloth, $7. sheep, $8; halfmor., $9; half calf, $10. + + "As this task is a labor of love to Mr. Burton, we are sure + of its being well performed."--_New York Times_. + + "The editor has raked many old pieces out of the dust, + while he has drawn freely from the great masters of humor in + modern times."--_N.Y. Tribune_. + + "We do not see how any lover of humorous literature can + help buying it." _Phila. Pennsylvanian_. + + "Mr. Burton is the very man to prepare this Cyclopædia of + Fun."--_Louis. Journal_. + + "We do not know how any family fond of the ludicrous can + afford to dispense with this feast of fun and humor."--_New + Bedford Mercury_. + + * * * * * + + + +From New York to Delhi. By the way of RIO DE JANEIRO, AUSTRALIA AND +CHINA. By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 vol. 12mo. With a Map. $1.25. + + "Mr. Minturn's volume is very different from an ordinary + sketch of travel over a well-beaten road. He writes with + singular condensation. His power of observation is of that + intuitive strength which catches at a glance the salient and + distinctive points of every thing he sees. He has shown rare + cleverness, too, in mingling throughout the work, agreeably + and unobtrusively, so much of the history of India, and yet + without ever suffering it to clog the + narrative."--_Churchman_. + + "This book shows how much can be accomplished by a + wide-awake, thoughtful man in a six months' tour. The + literary execution of Mr. Minturn's book is of a high order, + and, altogether, we consider it a timely and important + contribution to our stock of meritorious works."--_Boston + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +Le Cabinet des Feés; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the Express +Use of Students in French. By George S. Gerard, A.M., Prof, of +French and Literature. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "After an experience of many years in teaching, we are + convinced that such works as the Adventures of Telemachus + and the History of Charles XII., despite their incontestable + beauty of style and richness of material, are too difficult + for beginners, even of mature age. Such works, too, + consisting of a continuous narrative, present to most + students the discouraging prospect of a formidable + undertaking, which they fear will never be + completed."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Banks of New York; Their Dealers; The Clearing-House; and the +Panic of 1857. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With Thirty +Illustrations, by Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages. Cloth, $1.50. + + + A book for every Man of Business, for the Bank Officer and + Clerk; for the Bank Stockholder and Depositor; and, + especially for the Merchant and his Cash Manager; also for + the Lawyer, who will here find the exact Responsibilities + that exist between the different officers of Banks and the + Clerks, and between them and the Dealers. + + The operations of the Clearing-House are described in + detail, and illustrated by a financial Chart, which + exhibits, in an interesting manner, the fluctuations of the + Bank Loans. + + The immediate and exact cause of the Panic of 1857 is + clearly demonstrated by the records of the Clearing-House, + and a scale is presented by which the deviation of the + volume of Bank Loans from an average standard of safety can + be ascertained at a single glance. + + * * * * * + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. I. 1636-1700. 1 vol. 8vo. 574 pages. +$2.50. + + "To trace the rise and progress of a State, the offspring + of ideas that were novel and startling, even amid the + philosophical speculations of the Seventeenth Century; whose + birth was a protest against, whose infancy was a struggle + with, and whose maturity was a triumph over, the retrograde + tendency of established Puritanism; a State that was the + second-born of persecution, whose founders had been doubly + tried in the purifying fire; a State which, more than any + other, has exerted, by the weight of its example, an + influence to shape the political ideas of the present day, + whose moral power has been, in the inverse ratio with its + material importance; of which an eminent Historian of the + United States has said that, had its territory 'corresponded + to the importance and singularity of the principles of its + early existence, the world would have been filled with + wonder at the phenomena of its history,' is a task not to be + lightly attempted or hastily performed."--_Extract from + Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +_Ministering Children_. 1 vol., 12mo., with Two Eng's., $1. Of the +_Ministering Children_, (the author's previous work,) 50,000 copies +have been sold. + + "The higher walks of life, the blessedness of doing good, + and the paths of usefulness and enjoyment, are drawn out + with beautiful simplicity, and made attractive and easy in + the attractive pages of this author. To do good, to teach + others how to do good, to render the home circle and the + neighborhood glad with the voice and hand of Christian + charity, is the aim of the author, who has great power of + description, a genuine love for evangelical religion, and + blends instruction with the story, so as to give charm to + all her books."--_N.Y. Observer_. + + * * * * * + +The Coopers; or, Getting Under Way. By Alice B. Haven, Author of _No +Such Word as Fail_, _All's Not Gold that Glitters_, etc., etc. 1 vol. +12mo. 336 pages. 75 cents. + + "To grace and freshness of style, Mrs. Haven adds a genial, + cheerful philosophy of Life, and Naturalness of Character + and Incident, in the History of the Cooper Family." + + * * * * * + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology. Designed for the use +of Schools, Seminaries and Colleges in the United States. By Henry +Goadby, M.D., Professor of Vegetable and Animal Physiology and +Entomology, in the State Agricultural College of Michigan, &c. A new +edition. One handsome vol., 8vo., embellished with upwards of 450 wood +engravings (many of them colored,) Price, $2 + + "The attempt to teach only Human Physiology, like a similar + proceeding in regard to Anatomy, can only end in failure; + whereas, if the origin (so to speak) of the organic + structures in the animal kingdom, be sought for and steadily + pursued through all the classes, showing their gradual + complication, and the necessity for the addition of + accessory organs, till they reach their utmost development + and culminate in man, the study may be rendered an agreeable + and interesting one, and be fruitful in profitable results. + + "Throughout the accompanying pages, this principle has been + kept steadily in view, and it has been deemed of more + importance to impart solid and thorough instruction on the + subjects discussed, rather than embrace the whole field of + physiology, and, for want of space, fail to do justice to + any part of it."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewis, Author of +_Seaside Studies_, _Life of Goethe_, etc. No. 1. Just Ready. Price 10 +cents. + +EXTRACT FROM PROSPECTUS. + + No scientific subject can be so important to Man as that of + his own Life. No knowledge can be so incessantly appealed to + by the incidents of every day, as the knowledge of the + processes by which he lives and acts. At every moment he is + in danger of disobeying laws which, when disobeyed, may + bring years of suffering, decline of powers, premature + decay. Sanitary reformers preach in vain, because they + preach to a public which does not understand the laws of + life--laws as rigorous as those of Gravitation or Motion. + Even the sad experience of others yields us no lessons, + unless we understand the principles involved. If one Man is + seen to suffer from vitiated air, another is seen to endure + it without apparent harm; a third concludes that "it is all + chance," and trusts to that chance. Had he understood the + principle involved, he would not have been left to + chance--his first lesson in swimming would not have been a + shipwreck. + + The work will be illustrated with from 20 to 25 woodcuts, to + assist the exposition. It will be published in monthly + numbers, uniform with Johnston's _Chemistry of Common + Life_. + + * * * * * + +The History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thos. Buckle. Vol. +I. 8vo. Cloth. $2.50 + + Whoever misses reading this book, will miss reading what + is, in various respects, to the best of our judgment and + experience, the most remarkable book of the day--one, + indeed, that no thoughtful, inquiring mind would miss + reading for a good deal. Let the reader be as adverse as he + may to the writer's philosophy, let him be as devoted to the + obstructive as Mr. Buckle is to the progress party, let him + be as orthodox in church creed as the other is heterodox, as + dogmatic as his author is sceptical,--let him, in short, + find his prejudices shocked at every turn of the argument, + and all his prepossessions whistled down the wind,--still, + there is so much in this extraordinary volume to stimulate + reflection, and excite to inquiry, and provoke to earnest + investigation, perhaps (to this or that reader) on a track + hitherto untrodden, and across the virgin soil of untilled + fields, fresh woods and pastures new--that we may fairly + defy the most hostile spirit, the most mistrustful and least + sympathetic, to read it through without being glad of having + done so, or, having begun it, or even glanced at almost any + one of its 854 pages, to pass it away unread.--_New Monthly + (London) Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (Daughter of the Poet, +Barry Cornwall.) One very neat volume, 12mo. Second edition. 75 cents. + + This is the charming volume of fresh and tender poems, by + the daughter of one of England's most honored and popular + poets, which has lately been received with so hearty a + welcome in England and America. Choice portions of it, + copied by the press with lively praises, have found their + way to the firesides. + + * * * * * + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. 1 vol. 8vo. 793 pages. Third edition. In half morocco. Gilt +top. $3.50. + + As the New-York correspondent of The Boston Transcript + enthusiastically writes, 'The elegiac composition, the + exquisite sonnet, the genuine pastoral, the war-song and + rural hymn, whose cadences are as remembered music, and the + couplets whose chime rings out from the depths of the heart; + whatever the old English dramatists, the ode writers of the + reign of Anne and Charles, the purest disciples of heroic + verse, the Lakists, the Byronic school--Wordsworth and + Dryden, Mrs. Hemans and Scott, Shakespeare and Hartley + Coleridge have made precious to soul and sense, are herein + brought together; and more than this--the many isolated + single notes, whose lingering harmony embalms their author's + name, with the numerous fugitive "brilliants," heretofore of + unknown parentage, cut from newspapers for the last half + century--the deep, soulfull utterances of heroes and + mourners, lovers and exiles, devotees of nature and + worshippers of art--are here elegantly garnered and + chronicled.' + + "It is just such a volume as a man may give to a woman, + albeit that woman is his mother, his sister, or his wife, + and is richly worth the place it claims on a lower shelf + within arm's length, in the most select library."--_Chicago + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +The Handy-Book on Property Law, in a series of Letters. By Lord St. +Leonards, (Sir Edward Sugden.) 1 vol., 16mo., Cloth, 75 cents. + + "This excellent little work gives the plainest inspections + in all matters connected with selling, buying, mortgaging, + leasing, settling and devising estates; and informs us of + our relations to our properties, our wives, our children, + and our liabilities as trustees, executors, &c., + &c."--_Tribune_. + + * * * * * + +The Manual of Chess; Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, recent Games and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 vol. 12mo. Price 50 cents. + + "Within the compass of this work I have included all that + is necessary for the beginner to learn. In recommendation of + this Manual, I can safely assert that it contains more than + any publication of the same dimensions. The Problems + contained herein, as also one of the 'Games actually + played,' are original, and have never been published." + + * * * * * + +The Book of Chess; Containing the Rudiments of the Game, and +Elementary Analysis of the most Popular Openings, exemplified in games +actually played by the great masters, including Staunton's Analysis of +the Kings and Queens, Gambits, numerous Positions and Problems on +Diagrams, both original and selected; also, a series of Chess Tales, +with illustrations from original designs. The whole extracted and +translated from the best sources. New Edition. By H.R. Agnel. $1.25. + + * * * * * + +Sixty Years' Gleanings from Life's Harvest. A Genuine Autobiography. +By John Brown. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1. + + "A remarkable book in every respect, and curiously + interesting from beginning to end. John Brown lived with + 'all his might,' and the 'Life' he writes is, in its + abundance and variety of tragic and comic ups-and-downs, as + good as a play. His experiences partook of all the quick + changes and boisterous bustle, and rude humor of an old + English fair; and as they are presented in this volume they + afford a picture of the times he lived and incessantly moved + in, which, in much of its bold handling, is not to be + surpassed by less spirited pencils than those of Fielding + and De Foe. The moral, even as you trace it through the + bustling table of contents, is of unmistakable application + for every fine young fellow of sound natural principles who + has to shoulder his own way to good citizenship and a share + of social influence. + + "As a neglected child, a 'juvenile offender,' an ingenious + vagabond, a, shoemaker, a soldier, an actor, a sailor, a + publican, a billiard-room keeper, a Town Councillor, and an + author, Mr. Brown has seen the world for sixty years, and he + unhesitatingly describes all that he has seen, with fidelity + of memory and straightforward simplicity of style." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14381 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd92940 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14381 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14381) diff --git a/old/14381-8.txt b/old/14381-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa05cfd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14381-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7682 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Roman Question, by Edmond About, +Translated by H. C. Coape + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Roman Question + +Author: Edmond About + +Release Date: December 19, 2004 [eBook #14381] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN QUESTION*** + + +E-text prepared by Curtis Weyant, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE ROMAN QUESTION + +by + +E. ABOUT + +Translated From The French By H. C. Coape + +New York: +D. Appleton and Company, +346 & 348 Broadway + +1859 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I +travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all +opinions, examined things very closely, and collected my information +on the spot. + +My first impressions, noted down from day to day without any especial +object, appeared, with some necessary modifications, in the _Moniteur +Universel_. These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so +thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to discover in them +contradictions and inconsistencies, I was obliged to discontinue, in +consequence of the violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did +more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book instead. The present +volume is the result of a year's reflection. + +I completed my study of the subject by the perusal of the most recent +works published in Italy. The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, +and the admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de Rayneval, +supplied me with my best weapons. I have been further enlightened by +the conversation and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom +I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing them to danger. + +The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to write more rapidly +than I could have wished; and this enforced haste has given a certain +air of warmth, perhaps of intemperance, even to the most carefully +matured reflections. It was my intention to produce a memoir,--I fear +I may be charged with having written a pamphlet. Pardon me certain +vivacities of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge +boldly into the heart of the book. You will find something there. + +I fight fairly, and in good faith. I do not pretend to have judged the +foes of Italy without passion; but I have calumniated none of them. + +If I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I had an excellent one +in Paris, it is not because I feel any alarm on the score of the +regulations of our press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the +Pope has a long arm, which might reach me in France, I have gone a +little out of the way to tell him the plain truths contained in these +pages. + +May 9, 1859. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE POPE AS A KING + + II. NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + III. THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + IV. THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + V. OF THE PLEBEIANS + + VI. THE MIDDLE CLASSES + + VII. THE NOBILITY + + VIII. FOREIGNERS + + IX. ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE + + X. PIUS IX + + XI. ANTONELLI + + XII. PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT + + XIII. POLITICAL SEVERITY + + XIV. THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME + + XV. TOLERANCE + + XVI. EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE + + XVII. FOREIGN OCCUPATION + +XVIII. WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS + + XIX. MATERIAL INTERESTS + + XX. FINANCES + + CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE POPE AS A KING. + + +The Roman Catholic Church, which I sincerely respect, consists of one +hundred and thirty-nine millions of individuals--without counting +little Mortara. + +It is governed by seventy Cardinals, or Princes of the Church, in +memory of the twelve Apostles. + +The Cardinal-Bishop of Rome, who is also designated by the name of +Vicar of Jesus Christ, Holy Father, or Pope, is invested with +boundless authority over the minds of these hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics. + +The Cardinals are nominated by the Pope; the Pope is nominated by the +Cardinals; from the day of his election he becomes infallible, at +least in the opinion of M. de Maistre, and the best Catholics of our +time. + +This was not the opinion of Bossuet; but it has always been that of +the Popes themselves. + +When the Sovereign Pontiff declares to us that the Virgin Mary was +born free from original sin, the hundred and thirty-nine millions of +Catholics are bound to believe it on his word. This is what has +recently occurred. + +This discipline of the understanding reflects infinite credit upon the +nineteenth century. If posterity does us justice, it will be grateful +to us therefor. It will see that instead of cutting one another's +throats about theological questions, we have surveyed lines of +railway, laid telegraphs, constructed steam-engines, launched ships, +pierced isthmuses, created sciences, corrected laws, repressed +factions, fed the poor, civilized barbarians, drained marshes, +cultivated waste lands, without ever having a single dispute as to the +infallibility of a man. + +But the busiest age, the age which the best knows the value of time, +may be obliged for a moment to neglect its business. If, for instance, +it should remark around Rome and its Bishop a violent agitation, which +neither the trickery of diplomacy nor the pressure of armies can +suppress; if it perceive in a little corner of a peninsula a +smouldering fire, which may at any moment burst forth, and in +twenty-four hours envelope all Europe, this age, prudent from a sense +of duty, on account of the great things it has to accomplish, turns +its attention to the situation of Rome, and insists upon knowing what +it all means. + +It means that the simple princes of the middle ages, Pepin the Brief, +Charlemagne, and the Countess Matilda, behaved with great liberality +to the Pope. They gave him lands and men, according to the fashion of +the times, when men, being merely the live-stock of the land, were +thrown into the bargain. If they were generous, it was not because +they thought, with M. Thiers, that the Pope could not be independent +without being a King; they had seen him in his poverty more +independent and more commanding than almost any monarch on the earth. +They enriched him from motives of friendship, calculation, gratitude, +or it might even be to disinherit their relations, as we sometimes see +in our own time. Since the days of the Countess Matilda, the Pope, +having acquired a taste for possession, has gone on rounding his +estate. He has obtained cities by capitulation, as in the case of +Bologna; he has won others at the cannon's mouth, as Rimini; while +some he has appropriated, by treachery and stealth, as Ancona. Indeed +so well have matters been managed, that in 1859 the Bishop of Rome is +the temporal sovereign of about six millions of acres, and reigns over +three millions one hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and +sixty-eight men, who are all crying out loudly against him. + +What do they complain of? Only listen, and you will soon learn. + +They say--that the authority to which, without having either asked or +accepted it, they are subject, is the most fundamentally absolute that +was ever defined by Aristotle; that the legislative, executive, and +judicial powers are united, confounded, and jumbled together in one +and the same hand, contrary to the practice of civilized states, and +to the theory of Montesquieu; that they willingly recognize the +infallibility of the Pope upon all religious questions, but that in +civil matters it appears to them less easy to tolerate; that they do +not refuse to obey, because, all things considered, man is not placed +here below to follow the bent of his own inclinations, but that they +would be glad to obey laws; that the good pleasure of any man, however +good it may be, is not so good as the _Code Napoléon_; that the +reigning Pope is not an evil-disposed man, but that the arbitrary +government of one man, even admitting his infallibility, can never be +anything but a bad government. + +That in virtue of an ancient and hitherto ineradicable practice, the +Pope is assisted in the temporal government of his States by the +spiritual chiefs, subalterns, and spiritual _employés_ of his Church; +that Cardinals, Bishops, Canons, Priests, forage pell-mell about the +country; that one sole and identical caste possesses the right of +administering both sacraments and provinces; of confirming little boys +and the judgments of the lower courts; of ordaining subdeacons and +arrests; of despatching parting souls and captains' commissions; that +this confusion of the spiritual and the temporal disseminates among +the higher offices a multitude of men, excellent no doubt in the sight +of God, but insupportable in that of the people; often strangers to +the country, sometimes to business, and always to those domestic ties +which are the basis of every society; without any special knowledge, +unless it be of the things of another world; without children, which +renders them indifferent to the future of the nation; without wives, +which renders them dangerous to its present; and to conclude, +unwilling to hear reason, because they believe themselves +participators in the pontifical infallibility. + +That these servants of a most merciful but sometimes severe God, +simultaneously abuse both mercy and justice; that, full of indulgence +for the indifferent, for their friends, and for themselves, they treat +with extreme rigour whoever has had the misfortune to become obnoxious +to power; that they more readily pardon the wretch who cuts a man's +throat, than the imprudent citizen who blames an abuse. + +That the Pope, and the Priests who assist him, not having been taught +accounts, grossly mismanage the public finances; that whereas +maladministration or malversation of the public finances might have +been tolerated a hundred years ago, when the expenses of public +worship and of the papal court were defrayed by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics, it is a widely different affair +now, when they have to be supported by 3,124,668 individuals. + +That they do not complain of paying taxes, because it is a universally +established practice, but that they wish to see their money spent upon +terrestrial objects; that the sight of basilicas, churches, and +convents built or maintained at their expense, rejoices them as +Catholics, but grieves them as citizens, because, after all, these +edifices are but imperfect substitutes for railways and roads, for the +clearing of rivers, and the erection of dykes against inundations; +that faith, hope, and charity receive more encouragement than +agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; that public simplicity is +developed to the detriment of public education. + +That the law and the police are too much occupied with the salvation +of souls, and too little with the preservation of bodies; that they +prevent honest people from damning themselves by swearing, reading bad +books, or associating with Liberals, but that they don't prevent +rascals from murdering honest people; that property is as badly +protected as persons; and that it is very hard to be able to reckon +upon nothing for certain but a stall in Paradise. + +That they are made to pay heavily for keeping up an army without +knowledge or discipline, an army of problematical courage and doubtful +honours, and destined never to fight except against the citizens +themselves; that it is adding insult to injury to make a man pay for +the stick he is beaten with. That they are moreover obliged to lodge +foreign armies, and especially Austrians, who, as Germans, are +notoriously heavy-fisted. + +To conclude, they say all this is not what the Pope promised them in +his _motu proprio_ of the 19th of September; and it is sad to find +infallible people breaking their most sacred engagements. + +I have no doubt these grievances are exaggerated. It is impossible to +believe that an entire nation can be so terribly in the right against +its masters. We will examine the facts of the case in detail before we +decide. We have not yet arrived at that point. + +You have just heard the language, if not of the whole 3,124,668 +people, at least of the most intelligent, the most energetic, and the +most interesting part of the nation. Take away the conservative +party,--that is to say, those who have an interest in the +government,--and the unfortunate creatures whom it has utterly +brutalized,--and there will remain none but malcontents. + +The malcontents are not all of the same complexion. Some politely and +vainly ask the Holy Father to reform abuses: this is the moderate +party. Others propose to themselves a thorough reform of the +government: they are called radicals, revolutionists, or +Mazzinists--rather an injurious term. This latter category is not +precisely nice as to the measures to be resorted to. It holds, with +the Society of Jesus, that the end justifies the means. It says, if +Europe leaves it _tête-à-tête_ with the Pope, it will begin by cutting +his throat; and if foreign potentates oppose such criminal violence, +it will fling bombs under their carriages. + +The moderate party expresses itself plainly, the Mazzinists noisily. +Europe must be very stupid, not to understand the one; very deaf, not +to hear the other. + +What then happens? + +All the States which desire peace, public order, and civilization, +entreat the Pope to correct some abuse or other. "Have pity," they +say, "if not upon your subjects, at least upon your neighbours, and +save _us_ from the conflagration!" + +As often as this intervention is renewed, the Pope sends for his +Secretary of State. The said Secretary of State is a Cardinal who +reigns over the Holy Father in temporal matters, even as the Holy +Father reigns over a hundred and thirty nine millions of Catholics in +spiritual matters. The Pope confides to the Cardinal Minister the +source of his embarrassment, and asks him what is to be done. + +The Cardinal, who is the minister of everything in the State, replies, +without a moment's hesitation, to the old sovereign:-- + + "In the first place, there are no abuses: in the next place, + if there were any, we must not touch them. To reform + anything is to make a concession to the malcontents. To give + way, is to prove that we are afraid. To admit fear, is to + double the strength of the enemy, to open the gates to + revolution, and to take the road to Gaeta, where the + accommodation is none of the best. Don't let us leave home. + I know the house we live in; it is not new, but it will last + longer than your Holiness--provided no attempt is made to + repair it. After us the deluge; we've got no children!" + +"All very true," replies the Pope. + + "But the sovereign who is entreating me to do something, is + an eldest son of the Church. He has rendered us great + services. He still protects us constantly. What would become + of us if he abandoned us?" + +"Don't be alarmed," says the Cardinal. "I'll arrange the matter +diplomatically." And he sits down, and writes an invariable note, in a +diplomatically tortuous style, which may thus be summed up:-- + + "We want your soldiers, and not your advice, seeing that we + are infallible. If you were to show any symptom of doubting + that infallibility, and if you attempted to force anything + upon us, even our preservation, we would fold our wings + around our countenances, we would raise the palms of + martyrdom, and we should become an object of compassion to + all the Catholics in the universe. You know we have in your + country forty thousand men who are at liberty to say + everything, and whom you pay with your own money to plead + our cause. They shall preach to your subjects, that you are + tyrannizing over the Holy Father, and we shall set your + country in a blaze without appearing to touch it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + + "For the Pontificate there is no independence but + sovereignty itself. Here is an interest of the highest + order, which ought to silence the particular interests of + nations, even as in a State the public interest silences + individual interests." + +These are not my words, but the words of M. Thiers: they occur in his +report to the Legislative Assembly, in October 1849. I have no doubt +this Father of the temporal Church expressed the wishes of one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics. It was all Catholicity which +said to 3,124,668 Italians, by the lips of the honourable reporter: + + "Devote yourselves as one man. Our chief can only be + venerable, August, and independent, so long as he reigns + despotically over you. If, in an evil hour, he were to cease + wearing a crown of gold; if you were to contest his right to + make and break laws; if you were to give up the wholesome + practice of laying at his feet that money which he disburses + for our edification and our glory, all the sovereigns of the + universe would look upon him as an inferior. Silence, then, + the noisy chattering of your individual interests." + +I flatter myself that I am as fervent a Catholic as M. Thiers himself; +and were I bold enough to seek to refute him, I should do it in the +name of our common faith. + +I grant you--this would be the tenor of my argument--that the Pope +ought to be independent. But could he not be so at a somewhat less +cost? Is it absolutely necessary that 3,124,668 men should sacrifice +their liberty, their security, and all that is most precious to them, +in order to secure the independence which makes us so happy and so +proud? The Apostles were certainly independent at a cheaper rate, for +they did nobody harm. The most independent of men is he who has +nothing to lose. He pursues his own path, without troubling himself +about powers and principalities, for the simple reason that the +conqueror most bent on acquisition can take nothing from him. + +The greatest conquests of Catholicism were made at a time when the +Pope was not a ruler. Since he has become a king, you may measure the +territory won from the Church by inches. + +The earliest Popes, who were not kings, had no budgets. Consequently +they had no annual deficits to make up. Consequently they were not +obliged to borrow millions of M. de Rothschild. Consequently they were +more independent than the crowned Popes of more recent times. + +Ever since the spiritual and the temporal have been joined, like two +Siamese powers, the most August of the two has necessarily lost its +independence. Every day, or nearly so, the Sovereign Pontiff finds +himself called upon to choose between the general interests of the +Church, and the private interests of his crown. Think you he is +sufficiently estranged from the things of this world to sacrifice +heroically the earth, which is near, to the Heaven, which is remote? +Besides, we have history to help us. I might, if I chose, refer to +certain bad Popes who were capable of selling the dogma of the Holy +Trinity for half-a-dozen leagues of territory; but it would be hardly +fair to argue from bad Popes to the confusion of indifferent ones. +Think you, however, that when the Pope legalized the perjury of +Francis the First after the treaty of Madrid, he did it to make the +morality of the Holy See respected, or to stir up a war useful to his +crown? + +When he organized the traffic in indulgences, and threw one-half of +Europe into heresy, was it to increase the number of Christians, or to +give a dowry to a young lady? + +When, during the Thirty Years' War, he made an alliance with the +Protestants of Sweden, was it to prove the disinterestedness of the +Church, or to humble the House of Austria? + +When he excommunicated Venice in 1806, was it to attach the Republic +more firmly to the Church, or to serve the rancour of Spain against +the first allies of Henry IV.? + +When he suppressed the Order of the Jesuits, was it to reinforce the +army of the Church, or to please his master in France? + +When he terminated his relations with the Spanish American provinces +upon their proclaiming their independence, was it in the interest of +the Church, or of Spain? + +When he held excommunication suspended over the heads of such Romans +as took their money to foreign lotteries, was it to attach their +hearts to the Church, or to draw their crown-pieces into his own +treasury? + +M. Thiers knows all this better than I do; but he possibly thought +that when the spiritual sovereign of the Church and the temporal +sovereign of a little country, wear the same cap, the one is naturally +condemned to minister to the ambition or the necessities of the other. + +We wish the chief of the Catholic religion to be independent, and we +make him pay slavish obedience to a petty Italian prince; thus +rendering the future of that religion subordinate to miserable local +interests and petty parish squabbles. + +But this union of powers, which would gain by separation, compromises +not only the independence, but the dignity of the Pope. The melancholy +obligation to govern men obliges him to touch many things which he had +better leave alone. Is it not deplorable that bailiffs must seize a +debtor's property in the Pope's name?--that judges must condemn a +murderer to death in the name of the Head of the Church?--that the +executioner must cut off heads in the name of the Vicar of Christ? +There is to me something truly scandalous in the association of those +two words, _Pontifical lottery_! And what can the hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics think, when they hear their +spiritual sovereign expressing, through his finance minister, his +satisfaction at the progress of vice as proved by the success of the +lotteries? + +The subjects of the Pope are not scandalized at these contradictions, +simply because they are accustomed to them. They strike a foreigner, a +Catholic, a casual unit out of the hundred and thirty-nine millions; +they inspire in him an irresistible desire to defend the independence +and the dignity of the Church. But the inhabitants of Bologna or +Viterbo, of Terracina or Ancona, are more occupied with national than +with religious interests, either because they want that feeling of +self-devotion recommended by M. Thiers, or because the government of +the priests has given them a horror of Heaven. Very middling +Catholics, but excellent citizens, they everywhere demand the freedom +of their country. The Bolognese affirm that they are not necessary to +the independence of the Pope, which they say could do as well without +Bologna as it has for some time contrived to do without Avignon. Every +city repeats the same thing, and if they were all to be listened to, +the Holy Father, freed from the cares of administration, might devote +his undivided attention to the interests of the Church and the +embellishment of Rome. The Romans themselves, so they be neither +princes, nor priests, nor servants, nor beggars, declare that they +have devoted themselves long enough, and that M. Thiers may now carry +his advice elsewhere. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +The Papal States have no natural limits: they are carved out on the +map as the chance of passing events has made them, and as the +good-nature of Europe has left them. An imaginary line separates them +from Tuscany and Modena. The most southerly point enters into the +kingdom of Naples; the province of Benevento is enclosed within the +states of King Ferdinand, as formerly was the Comtat-Venaissin within +the French territory. The Pope, in his turn, shuts in that Ghetto of +democracy, the republic of San Marino. + +I never cast my eyes over this poor map of Italy, capriciously rent +into unequal fragments, without one consoling reflection. + +Nature, which has done everything for the Italians, has taken care to +surround their country with magnificent barriers. The Alps and the sea +protect it on all sides, isolate it, bind it together as a distinct +body, and seem to design it for an individual existence. To crown all, +no internal barrier condemns the Italians to form separate nations. +The Apennines are so easily crossed, that the people on either side +can speedily join hands. All the existing boundaries are entirely +arbitrary, traced by the brutality of the Middle Ages, or the shaky +hand of diplomacy, which undoes to-morrow what it does to-day. A +single race covers the soil; the same language is spoken from north to +south; the people are all united in a common bond by the glory of +their ancestors, and the recollections of Roman conquest, fresher and +more vivid than the hatreds of the fourteenth century. + +These considerations induce me to believe that the people of Italy +will one day be independent of all others, and united among themselves +by the force of geography and history, two powers more invincible than +Austria. + +But I return _à mes moutons_, and to their shepherd, the Pope. + +The kingdom possessed by a few priests, covers an extent, in round +numbers, of six millions of acres, according to the statistics +published in 1857 by Monsignor, now Cardinal, Milesi. + +No country in Europe is more richly gifted, or possesses greater +advantages, whether for agriculture, manufacture, or commerce. + +Traversed by the Apennines, which divide it about equally, the Papal +dominions incline gently, on one side to the Adriatic, on the other to +the Mediterranean. In each of these seas they possess an excellent +port: to the east, Ancona; to the west, Civita Vecchia. If Panurge had +had Ancona and Civita Vecchia in his Salmagundian kingdom, he would +infallibly have built himself a navy. The Phoenicians and the +Carthaginians were not so well off. + +A river, tolerably well known under the name of the Tiber, waters +nearly the whole country to the west. In former days it ministered to +the wants of internal commerce. Roman historians describe it as +navigable up to Perugia. At the present time it is hardly so as far as +Rome; but if its bed were cleared out, and filth not allowed to be +thrown in, it would render greater service, and would not overflow so +often. The country on the other side is watered by small rivers, +which, with a little government assistance, might be rendered very +serviceable. + +In the level country the land is of prodigious fertility. More than a +fourth of it will grow corn. Wheat yields a return of fifteen for one +on the best land, thirteen on middling, and nine on the worst. Fields +thrown out of cultivation become admirable natural pastures. The hemp +is of very fine quality when cultivated with care. The vine and the +mulberry thrive wherever they are planted. The finest olive-trees and +the best olives in Europe grow in the mountains. A variable, but +generally mild climate, brings to maturity the products of extreme +latitudes. Half the country is favourable to the palm and the orange. +Numerous and thriving flocks roam across the plains in winter, and +ascend to the mountains in summer. Horses, cows, and sheep live and +multiply in the open air, without need of shelter. Indian buffaloes +swarm in the marshes. Every species of produce requisite for the food +and clothing of man grows easily, and as it were joyfully, in this +privileged land. If men in the midst of it are in want of bread or +shirts, Nature has no cause to reproach herself, and Providence washes +its hands of the evil. + +In all the three states raw material exists in incredible abundance. +Here are hemp, for ropemakers, spinners, and weavers; wine, for +distillers; olives, for oil and soap makers; wool, for cloth and +carpet manufacturers; hides and skins, for tanners, shoemakers, and +glovers; and silk in any quantity for manufactures of luxury. The iron +ore is of middling quality, but the island of Elba, in which the very +best is found, is near at hand. The copper and lead mines, which the +ancients worked profitably, are perhaps not exhausted. Fuel is +supplied by a million or two of acres of forest land; besides which, +there is the sea, always open for the transport of coal from +Newcastle. The volcanic soil of several provinces produces enormous +quantities of sulphur, and the alum of Tolfi is the best in the world. +The quartz of Civita Vecchia will give us kaolin for porcelain. The +quarries contain building materials, such as marble and pozzolana, +which is Roman cement almost ready-made. + +In 1847, the country lands subject to the Pope were valued at about +£34,800,000 sterling. The province of Benevento was not included, and +the Minister of Commerce and Public Works admitted that the property +was not estimated at above a third of its real value. If capital +returned its proper interest, if activity and industry caused trade +and manufactures to increase the national income as ought to be the +case, it would be the Rothschilds who would borrow money of the Pope +at six per cent. interest. + +But stay! I have not yet completed the catalogue of possessions. To +the present munificence of nature must be added the inheritance of the +past. The poor Pagans of great Rome left all their property to the +Pope who damns them. + +They left him gigantic aqueducts, prodigious sewers, and roads which +we find still in use, after twenty centuries of traffic. They left him +the Coliseum, for his Capuchins to preach in. They left him an example +of an administration without an equal in history. But the heritage was +accepted without the responsibilities attached to it. + +I will no longer conceal from you that this magnificent territory +appeared to me in the first place most unworthily cultivated. From +Civita Vecchia to Rome, a distance of some sixteen leagues, +cultivation struck me in the light of a very rare accident, to which +the soil was but little accustomed. Some pasture fields, some land in +fallow, plenty of brambles, and, at long intervals, a field with oxen +at plough, this is what the traveller will see in April. He will not +even meet with the occasional forest which he finds in the most desert +regions of Turkey. It seems as if man had swept across the land to +destroy everything, and the soil had been then taken possession of by +flocks and herds. + +The country round Rome resembles the road from Civita Vecchia. The +capital is girt by a belt of uncultivated, but not unfertile land. I +used to walk in every direction, and sometimes for a long distance; +the belt seemed very wide. However, in proportion as I receded from +the city, I found the fields better cultivated. One would suppose that +at a certain distance from St. Peter's the peasants worked with +greater relish. The roads, which near Rome are detestable, became +gradually better; they were more frequented, and the people I met +seemed more cheerful. The inns became habitable, by comparison, in an +astonishing degree. Still, so long as I remained in that part of the +country towards the Mediterranean, of which Rome is the centre, and +which is more directly subject to its influence, I found that the +appearance of the land always left something to be desired. I +sometimes fancied that these honest labourers worked as if they were +afraid to make a noise, lest, by smiting the soil too deeply and too +boldly, they should wake up the dead of past ages. + +But when once I had crossed the Apennines, when I was beyond the reach +of the breeze which blew over the capital, I began to inhale an +atmosphere of labour and goodwill that cheered my heart. The fields +were not only dug, but manured, and, still better, planted and sown. +The smell of manure was quite new to me. I had never met with it on +the other side of the Apennines. I was delighted at the sight of +trees. There were rows of vines twining around elms planted in fields +of hemp, wheat, or clover. In some places the vines and elms were +replaced by mulberry-trees. What mingled riches were here lavished by +nature! How bounteous is the earth! Here were mingled together, in +rich profusion, bread, wine, shirts, silk gowns, and forage for the +cattle. St. Peter's is a noble church, but, in its way, a +well-cultivated field is a beautiful sight! + +I travelled slowly to Bologna; the sight of the country I passed +through, and the fruitfulness of honest human labour, made me happy. I +retraced my steps towards St. Peter's; my melancholy returned when I +found myself again amidst the desolation of the Roman Campagna. + +As I reflected on what I had seen, a disquieting idea forced itself +upon me in a geometrical form. It seemed to me that the activity and +prosperity of the subjects of the Pope were in exact proportion to the +square of the distance which separated them from Rome: in other words, +that the shade of the monuments of the eternal city was noxious to the +cultivation of the country. Rabelais says the shade of monasteries is +fruitful; but he speaks in another sense. + +I submitted my doubts to a venerable ecclesiastic, who hastened to +undeceive me. "The country is not uncultivated," he said; "or if it be +so, the fault is with the subjects of the Pope. This people is +indolent by nature, although 21,415 monks are always preaching +activity and industry to them!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +On the 14th of May, 1856, M. de Rayneval, then French ambassador at +Rome, a warm friend to the cardinals, and consequently a bitter foe to +their subjects, thus described the Italian people:-- + + "A nation profoundly divided among themselves, animated by + ardent ambition, possessing none of the qualities which + constitute the greatness and power of others, devoid of + energy, equally wanting in military spirit and in the spirit + of association, and respecting neither the law nor social + distinctions." + +M. de Rayneval will be canonized a hundred years hence (if the present +system continue) for having so nobly defended the oppressed. + +It will not be foreign to my purpose to try my own hand at this +picture; for the subjects of the Pope are Italians like the rest, and +there is but one nation in the Italian peninsula. The difference of +climate, the vicinity of foreigners, the traces of invasions, may have +modified the type, altered the accent, and slightly varied the +language; still the Italians are the same everywhere, and the middle +class--the _élite_ of every people--think and speak alike from Turin +to Naples. Handsome, robust, and healthy, when the neglect of +Governments has not delivered them over to the fatal _malaria_, the +Italians are, mentally, the most richly endowed people in Europe. M. +de Rayneval, who is not the man to flatter them, admits that they have +"intelligence, penetration, and aptitude for everything." The +cultivation of the arts is no less natural to them than is the study +of the sciences; their first steps in every path open to human +intellect are singularly rapid, and if but too many of them stop +before the end is attained, it is because their success is generally +barred by deplorable circumstances. In private as well as public +affairs, they possess a quick apprehension and sagacity carried to +suspicion. There is no race more ready at making and discussing laws; +legislation and jurisprudence have been among their chief triumphs. +The idea of law sprang up in Italy at the time of the foundation of +Rome, and it is the richest production of this marvellous soil. The +Italians still possess administrative genius in a high degree. +Administration went forth from the midst of them for the conquest of +the world, and the greatest administrators known to history, Cæsar and +Napoleon, were of Italian origin. + +Thus gifted by nature, they have the sense of their high qualities, +and they at times carry it to the extent of pride. The legitimate +desire to exercise the faculties they possess, degenerates into +ambition; but their pride would not be ludicrous, nor would their +ambition appear extravagant, if their hands were free for action. +Through a long series of ages, despotic Governments have penned them +into a narrow area. The impossibility of realizing high aims, and the +want of action which perpetually stirs within them, has driven them to +paltry disputes and local quarrels. Are we to infer from this that +they are incapable of becoming a nation? I am not of that opinion. +Already they are uniting to call upon the King of Piedmont, and to +applaud the policy of Count Cavour. If this be not sufficient proof, +make an experiment. Take away the barriers which separate them; I will +answer for their soon being united. But the keepers of these barriers +are the King of Naples, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Austria, the Pope, +and the rest. Are such keepers likely to give up the keys? + +I know not what are "the qualities which constitute the greatness and +power of other nations"--as, for example, the Austrian nation,--but I +know very few qualities, physical, intellectual, or moral, which the +Italians do not possess. Are they "devoid of energy," as M. de +Rayneval declares? I should rather reproach them with the opposite +excess. The absurd but resolute defence of Rome against the French +army, may surely be regarded as the act of an energetic people. We +must be extremely humble, if we admit that a French army was held in +check for two months by men wanting in energy. The assassinations +which occur in the streets of Rome, prove rather the inefficiency of +the police than the effeminacy of the citizens. I find, from an +official return, that in 1853 the Roman tribunals punished 609 crimes +against property, and 1,344 against the person. These figures do not +indicate a faultless people, but they prove little inclination for +base theft, and look rather like a diabolical energy. In the same year +the Assize Courts in France pronounced judgment upon 3,719 individuals +charged with theft, and 1,921 with crimes against the person. The +proportion is reversed. Robbers have the majority with us. And yet we +are rather an energetic people. + +If the Italians are so also, there will not be much difficulty in +making soldiers of them. M. de Rayneval tells us, they are "entirely +wanting in military spirit." No doubt he echoed the opinion of some +Cardinal. Indeed! Were the Piedmontese in the Crimea, then, wanting in +the military spirit? + +M. de Rayneval and the Cardinals are willing to admit the courage of +the Piedmontese, but then, they say, Piedmont is not in Italy; its +inhabitants are half Swiss, half French. Their language is not +Italian, neither are their habits, the proof of which is found in the +fact, that they have the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown +to the rest of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to +prove that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French; the first, +because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and because they say +_Meinherr_ when we should say _Monsieur_; the second, because they +have the true monarchical spirit, and because they call _butun_ what +we call _tabac_. But all the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont. +The King of Naples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has a +sufficient one for his defence; the small Duchies of Modena and Parma +have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, Venice, Modena, and one-half +of the Papal States, have given heroes to France. Napoleon remembered +it at St. Helena; it has been so written. + +As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to be found, +if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world governed? By an +Association. What is it but an Association that wastes the revenue of +the poor Romans? Who monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil? +Who lays waste the forests of the State? An Association. Who take +possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travellers under +contribution? Five or six Associations. Who keeps up agitation at +Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, at Home? That secret Association +known as the Mazzinists. + +I grant that the Romans have but a moderate respect for the law. But +the truth is, there is no law in the country. They have a respect for +the Code Napoléon, since they urgently ask for it. What they do not +respect is, the official caprice of their masters. I am certainly no +advocate of disorder; but when I think that a mere fancy of Cardinal +Antonelli, scribbled on a sheet of paper, has the force of law for the +present and the future, I can understand an insolent contempt of the +laws, to the extent of actual revolt. + +As for social distinctions, it strikes me that the Italians respect +them even too much. When I have led you for half an hour through the +streets of Rome, you will ask yourselves to what a Roman prince can +possibly be superior. Nevertheless the Romans exhibit a sincere +respect for their princes: habit is so strong! If I were to conduct +you to the source of some of the large fortunes among my +acquaintances, you would rise with stones and sticks against the +superiority of wealth. And yet the Romans, dazzled by dollars, are +full of respect for the rich. If I were to--But I think the Italian +nation is sufficiently justified. I will but add, that if it is easily +led to evil, it is still more easily brought back to good; that it is +passionate and violent, but not ill-disposed, and that a kind act +suffices to make it forget the most justifiable enmities. + +I will add in conclusion, that the Italians are not enervated by the +climate to such a degree as to dislike work. A traveller who may +happen to have seen some street porters asleep in the middle of the +day, returns home and informs Europe that these lazy people snore from +morning till night; that they have few wants, and work just enough to +keep themselves from one day to another. I shall presently show you +that the labourers of the rural districts are as industrious as our +own peasants (and that, too, in a very different temperature), as +economical, provident, and orderly, though more hospitable and more +charitable. If the lower orders in the towns have become addicted to +extravagance, idleness, and mendicity, it is because they have +discovered the impossibility, even by the most heroic efforts and the +most rigid economy, of gaining either capital or independence or +position. Let us not confound discouragement with want of courage, nor +tax a poor fellow with idleness, merely because he has had the +misfortune to be knocked down and run over by a carriage. + +The Pope reigns over 3,124,668 souls, as I have already observed more +than once. This population is unequally distributed over the surface +of the country. The population in the provinces of the Adriatic is +nearly double that in the Mediterranean provinces, and more +immediately under the Sovereign's eyes. + +Those pious economists who insist upon it that all is for the best +under the most sacred of governments, will not scruple to tell you:-- + + "Our State is one of the most populous in Europe: + _therefore_ it must be one of the best governed. The average + population of France is 67 ½ inhabitants to the square + kilomètre; that of the States of the Church 75 7/10. It + follows from this that if the Emperor of the French were to + adopt our mode of administration, he would have 8 2/10 + inhabitants more on each square kilomètre! + + "The province of Ancona, which is occupied by the Austrians, + and governed by priests, has 155 inhabitants to the square + kilomètre. The Bas-Rhin, which is the fourth department of + France, has but 129, consequently it is evident that the + Bas-Rhin will continue to be relatively inferior, so long as + it is not governed by priests, and occupied by the + Austrians. + + "The population of our happy country became increased by + one-third between the years 1816 and 1853, a space of + thirty-seven years. Such a grand result can only be + attributed to the excellent administration of the Holy + Father, and the preaching of 38,320 priests and monks, who + protect youth from the destructive influence of the + passions.[1] + + "You will observe that the English have a passion for moving + about the country. Even in the interior they change their + residence and their county with an incredible mobility; no + doubt this is because their country is unhealthy and badly + administered. In the El Dorado which we govern, no more than + 178,943 individuals are known to have changed their abode + from one province to another: _therefore_ our subjects are + all happy in their homes." + +I do not deny the eloquence of these figures, and I am not one of +those who think statistics prove everybody's case. But it seems to me +very natural that a rich country, in the hands of an agricultural +people, should feed 75 inhabitants to the square kilomètre, under any +sort of government. What astonishes me is that it should feed no more; +and I promise you that when it is better governed it will feed many +more. + +The population of the States of the Church has increased by one-third +in thirty-seven years. But that of Greece has trebled between 1832 and +1853. Nevertheless Greece is in the enjoyment of a detestable +government; as I believe I have pretty correctly demonstrated +elsewhere.[2] The increase of a population proves the vitality of a +race rather than the solicitude of an administration. I will never +believe that 770,000 children were born between 1816 and 1853 by the +intervention of the priests. I prefer to believe that the Italian race +is vigorous, moral, and marriageable, and that it does not yet despair +of the future. + +Lastly, if the subjects of the Pope stay at home, instead of moving +about, it may be because communication between one place and another +is difficult, or because the authorities are close-fisted in the +matter of passports; it may be, too, because they are certain of +finding, in whatever part of the country they move to, the same +priests, the same judges, and the same taxes. + +Out of the population of 3,124,668 souls, more than a million are +agricultural labourers and shepherds. The workmen number 258,872, and +the servants exceed the workmen by about 30,000. Trade, finance, and +general business occupy something under 85,000 persons. + +The landed proprietors are 206,558 in number, being about +one-fifteenth of the entire population. We have a greater proportion +in France. The official statistics of the Roman State inform us that +if the national wealth were equally divided among all the proprietors, +each of the 206,558 families would possess a capital of £680 sterling. +But they have omitted to state that some of these landed proprietors +possess 50,000 acres, and others a mere heap of flints. + +It is to be observed that the division of land, like all other good +things, increases in proportion to the distance from the capital. In +the province of Rome there are 1,956 landed proprietors out of 176,002 +inhabitants, which is about one in ninety. In the province of +Macerata, towards the Adriatic, there are 39,611, out of 243,104, or +one proprietor to every six inhabitants, which is as much as to say +that in this province there are almost as many properties as there are +families. + +The Agro Romano, which it took Rome several centuries to conquer, is +at the present time the property of 113 families, and of 64 +corporations.[3] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OF THE PLEBEIANS. + + +The subjects of the Holy Father are divided by birth and fortune +into three very distinct classes,--nobility, citizens, and people, or +plebeians. The Gospel has omitted to consecrate the inequality of men, +but the law of the State--that is to say, the will of the +Popes--carefully maintains it. Benedict XIV. declared it honourable +and salutary in his Bull of January 4, 1746, and Pius IX. expressed +himself in the same terms at the beginning of his _Chirografo_ of May +2, 1853. + +If I do not reckon the clergy among the classes of society, it is +because that body is foreign to the nation by its interests, by its +privileges, and often by its origin. The Cardinals and Prelates are +not, properly speaking, the Pope's subjects, but rather his ghostly +confederates, and the partners of his omnipotence. + +The distinction of class is more especially perceptible at Rome, near +the Pontifical throne. It gradually disappears, together with many +other abuses, in proportion to their distance from their source. There +are bottomless abysses between the noble Roman and the citizen of +Rome, between the citizen of Rome and the plebeian of the city. The +plebeian himself discharges a portion of the scorn expressed by the +two superior classes for himself, upon the peasants he meets at +market: it is a sort of cascade of contempt. At Rome, thanks to the +traditions of history, and the education given by the Popes, the +inferior thinks he can get out of his nothingness, and become +something, by begging the favour and support of a superior. A general +system of dependence and patronage makes the plebeian kneel before the +man of the middle class, who again kneels before the prince, who in +his turn kneels more humbly than all the others before the sovereign +clergy. + +At twenty leagues' distance from Rome there is very little kneeling; +beyond the Apennines none at all. When you reach Bologna you find an +almost French equality in the manners: for the simple reason that +Napoleon has left his mark there. + +The absolute value of the men in each category increases according to +the square of the distance. You may feel almost certain that a Roman +noble will be less educated, less capable, and less free than a +gentleman of the Marches or of the Romagna. The middle class, with +some exceptions which I shall presently mention, is infinitely more +numerous, more enlightened, and wealthier, to the east of the +Apennines, than in and about the capital. The plebeians themselves +have more honesty and morality when they live at a respectful distance +from the Vatican. + +The plebeians of the Eternal City are overgrown children badly brought +up, and perverted in various ways by their education. The Government, +which, being in the midst of them, fears them, treats them mildly. It +demands few taxes of them; it gives them shows, and sometimes bread, +the _panem et circenses_ prescribed by the Emperors of the Decline. It +does not teach them to read, neither does it forbid them to beg. It +sends Capuchins to their homes. The Capuchin gives the wife +lottery-tickets, drinks with the husband, and brings up the children +after his kind, and sometimes in his likeness. The plebeians of Rome +are certain never to die of hunger; if they have no bread, they are +allowed to help themselves from the baker's basket; the law allows it. +All that is required of them is to be good Christians, to prostrate +themselves before the priests, to humble themselves before the rich, +and to abstain from revolutions. They are severely punished if they +refuse to take the Sacrament at Easter, or if they talk +disrespectfully of the Saints. The tribunal of the Vicariates listens +to no excuses on this head; but the police is enough as to everything +else. Crimes are forgiven them, they are encouraged in meanness; the +only offences for which there is no pardon are the cry for liberty, +revolt against an abuse, the assertion of manhood. + +It is marvellous to me that with such an education there is any good +left in them at all. The worst half of the people is that which dwells +in the Monti district. If, in seeking the Convent of the Neophytes, or +the house of Lucrezia Borgia, you miss your way among those foul +narrow streets, you will find yourself in the midst of a strange +medley of thieves, sharpers, guitar-players, artists' models, beggars, +_ciceroni_, and _ruffiani_. If you speak to them, you may be sure they +will kiss your Excellency's hand, and pick your Excellency's pocket. I +do not think a worse breed is to be found in any city in Europe, not +even in London. All these people _practise_ religion, without the +least believing in God. The police does not meddle much with them. To +be sure they are sent to prison now and then, but thanks to a +favourable word in the right quarter, or to the want of prison +accommodation, they are soon set at liberty. Even the honest workmen +their neighbours occasionally get into scrapes. They have made plenty +of money in the winter, and spent it all in the Carnival--as is the +common custom. Summer comes, the foreign visitors depart; no more work +and no more money. Moral training, which might sustain them, is wholly +wanting. The love of show, that peculiar disease of Rome, is their +bane. The wife, if she be pretty, sells herself, or the husband does +what he had better leave undone. + +Judge them not too harshly. Remember, they have read nothing, they +have never been out of Rome; the example of ostentation is set them by +the Cardinals, of misconduct by the prelates, of venality by the +different functionaries, of squandering by the Finance Minister. And +above all, remember that care has been taken to root out from their +hearts, as if it were a destructive weed, that noble sentiment of +human dignity which is the principle of every virtue. + +The blood which flows in Italian veins must be very generous, or so +notable a portion of the plebeians of Rome as the people of the +_Trastevere_, could never have preserved their manly virtues, as is +notoriously the case with them. I have met with men in this quarter of +the city, coarse, violent, sometimes ferocious, but really _men_; nice +as to their honour, to the extent of poniarding any one who is wanting +in respect to them. They are fully as ignorant as the people of the +Monti; they have learnt the same lessons, and witnessed the same +examples; they have the same improvidence, the same love of pleasure, +the same brutality in their passions; but they are incapable of +stooping, even to pick anything up. + +A government worthy of the name would make something of this ignorant +force, first taming, and then directing it. The man who stabs his +fellow in a wineshop might prove a good soldier on a battle-field. But +we are in the capital of the Pope. The Trasteverini neither attack God +nor the Government; they meddle neither with theology nor politics; no +more is asked of them. And in token of its appreciation of their good +conduct, a paternal administration allows them to cut one another's +throats _ad libitum_. + +Neither the people of the Trastevere nor of the Monti give the least +sign of political existence, whereat the Cardinals rub their hands, +and congratulate themselves upon having kept so many men in profound +ignorance of all their rights. I am not quite certain that the theory +is a sound one. Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees +of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers into the +Pope's capital. An honest, mild, enlightened plebeian would reflect +twice before enrolling himself. He would weigh the pros and the cons, +and balance for a long time between the vices of the government, and +the dangers of revolution. But the mob of the Monti would take fire +like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, while the +Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the Papal despotism were +represented to them as an attack upon their honour. It would be better +to have in these plebeians foes capable of reasoning. The Pope might +often have to reckon with them, but he need never tremble before them. + +I trust the masters of the country may never more be obliged to fight +with the plebeians of Rome. They were easily carried away by the +leaders of 1848, although the name of Republic resounded for the first +time in their ears. Have they forgotten it? No. They will long +remember that magic word, which abased the great, and exalted the +humble. Moreover, the hidden Mazzinists, who agitate throughout the +city, don't collect the workmen in the quarter of the _Regola_ to +preach submission to them. + +I have said that the plebeians of the city of Rome despise the +plebeians of the country. Be assured, however, the latter are not +deserving of scorn, even in the Mediterranean provinces. In this +unhappy half of the Pontifical States, the influence of the Vatican +has not yet quite morally destroyed the population. The country people +are poor, ignorant, superstitious, rather wild, but kind, hospitable, +and generally honest. If you wish to study them more closely, go to +one of the villages in the province of Frosinone, towards the +Neapolitan frontier. Cross the plains which malaria has made dreary +solitudes, take the stony path which winds painfully up the side of +the mountain. You will come to a town of five or ten thousand souls, +which is little more than a dormitory for five or ten thousand +peasants. Viewed from a distance, this country town has an almost +grand appearance. The dome of a church, a range of monastic buildings, +the tower of a feudal castle, invest it with a certain air of +importance. A troop of women are coming down to the fountain with +copper vessels on their heads. You smile instinctively. Here is +movement and life. Enter! You are struck with a sensation of coldness, +dampness, and darkness. The streets are narrow flights of steps, which +every now and then plunge beneath low arches. The houses are closed, +and seem to have been deserted for a century. Not a human being at the +doors, or at the windows. The streets, silent and solitary. + +You would imagine that the curse of heaven had fallen on the country, +but for the large placards on the house-fronts, which prove that +missionary fathers have passed through the place. "_Viva Gesù! Viva +Maria! Viva il sangue di Gesù! Viva il cor di Maria! Bestemmiatori, +tacetevi per l'amor di Maria!_" + +These devotional sentences are like so many signboards of the public +simplicity. + +A quarter of an hour's walk brings you to the principal square. +Half-a-dozen civil officials are seated in a circle before a café, +gaping at one another. You join them. They ask you for news of +something that happened a dozen years ago. You ask them in turn, what +epidemic has depopulated the country? + +Presently some thirty market-men and women begin to display on the +pavement an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Where are the buyers +of these products of the earth? Here they come! Night is approaching. +The entire population begins to return at once from their labour in +the fields; a stalwart and sturdy population; the thew and sinew of +some fine regiments. Every one of these half-clad men, armed with +pickaxe and shovel, rose two hours before the sun this morning, and +went forth to weed a little field, or to dig round a few olive-trees. +Many of them have their little domains several miles off, and thither +they go daily, accompanied by a child and a pig. The pig is not very +fat, and the man and his child are very lean. Still they seem +light-hearted and merry. They have plucked some wild flowers by the +roadside. The boy is crowned with roses, like Lucullus at table. The +father buys a handful of vegetables, and a cake of maize, which will +furnish the family supper. They will sleep well enough on this +diet--if the fleas allow them. If you like to follow these poor people +home, they will give you a kindly welcome, and will not fail to ask +you to partake of their modest meal. Their furniture is very simple, +their conversation limited; their heads are as well furnished as their +dwellings. + +The wife who has been awaiting the return of her lord, will open the +door to you. Of all useful animals, the wife is the one which the +Roman peasant employs most profitably. She makes the bread and the +cakes; she spins, weaves, and sews; she goes every day three miles for +wood, and one and a half for water; she carries a mule's load on her +head; she works from sunrise to sunset, without question or complaint. +Her numerous children are in themselves a precious resource: at four +years old they are able to tend sheep and cattle. + +It is vain to ask these country people what is their opinion of Rome +and the government: their idea of these matters is infinitely vague +and shadowy. The Government manifests itself to them in the person of +an official, who, for the sum of three pounds sterling per month, +administers and sells justice among them. This individual is the only +gift Rome has ever conferred upon them. In return for the great +benefit of his presence, they pay taxes on a tolerably extensive +scale: so much for the house, so much for the livestock, so much for +the privilege of lighting a fire, so much on the wine, and so much on +the meat--when they are able to enjoy that luxury. They grumble, +though not very bitterly, regarding the taxes as a sort of periodical +hailstorm falling on their year's harvest. If they were to learn that +Rome had been swallowed up by an earthquake, they certainly would not +put on mourning. They would go forth to their fields as usual, they +would sell their crops for the usual price, and they would pay less +taxes. This is what all towns inhabited by peasants think of the +metropolis. Every township lives by itself, and for itself; it is an +isolated body, which has arms to work, and a belly to fill. The +cultivator of the land is everything, as was the case in the Middle +Ages. There is neither trade, nor manufactures, nor business on any +extended scale, nor movement of ideas, nor political life, nor any of +those powerful bonds which, in well-governed countries, link the +provincial towns to the capital, as the members to the heart. + +If there be a capital for these poor people, it is Paradise. They +believe in it fervently, and strive to attain it with all their might. +The very peasant who grudges the State two crowns for his hearth-tax, +willingly pays two and a half to have _Viva Maria_ scrawled over his +door. Another complains of the £3 per month paid to the Government +official, without a murmur at the thirty priests supported by the +township. There is a gentle disease which consoles them for all their +ills, called Faith. It does not restrain them from dealing a stab with +a knife, when the wine is in their brains, or rage in their hearts; +but it will always prevent them from eating meat on a Friday. + +If you would see them in all the ardour of their simplicity, you must +visit the town on the day of a grand festival. Everybody, men, women, +and children are rushing to the church. A carpet of flowers is spread +along the road. Every countenance is glowing with excitement. What is +the meaning of it all? Don't you know?--It is the festival of Sant' +Antonio. A musical Mass is being performed in honour of Sant' Antonio. +A grand procession is being formed in honour of that Saint, probably +the patron of the place. There are little boys dressed up as angels, +and men arrayed in the sack-like garment of their brotherhoods: here +we have peasants of _The Heart of Jesus_; here, those of _The Name of +Mary_; and here come _The Souls of Purgatory_. The procession is +formed with some little confusion. The people embrace one another, +upset one another, and fight with one another--all in the name of +Sant' Antonio. But see! The statue of the worthy Saint is coming out +of the church: a wooden doll, with flaming red cheeks. _Victoria_! Off +go the petards! The women weep with joy--the children cry out at the +top of their shrill voices, "_Viva Sant' Antonio_!" At night there are +fireworks: a balloon shaped in the semblance of the Saint ascends amid +the shouts of the people, and bursts in grand style right over the +church. Verily, unless Sant' Antonio be very difficult to please, such +homage must go straight to his heart. And I should think the plebeians +of the country very exacting, if, after such an intoxicating festival, +they were to complain of wanting bread. + +Let us seek a little repose on the other side of the Apennines. +Although the population may not be sufficiently sheltered by a chain, +of mountains, you will find in the towns and villages the stuff for a +noble nation. The ignorance is still very great; the blood ever +boiling, and the hand ever quick; but already we find men who reason. +If the workman of the towns be not successful, he guesses the reason; +he seeks a remedy, he looks forward, he economizes. If the tenant be +not rich, he studies with his landlord the means of becoming so. +Everywhere agriculture is making progress, and it will ere long have +no further progress to make. Man becomes better and greater by dint of +struggling with Nature. He learns his own value, he sees whither he is +tending; in cultivating his field, he cultivates himself. + +I am compelled in strict truth to admit that religion loses ground a +little in these fine provinces. I vainly sought in the towns of the +Adriatic for those mural inscriptions of _Viva Gesù! Viva Maria!_ and +so on, which had so edified me on the other side of the Apennines. At +Bologna I read sonnets at the corners of all the streets,--sonnet to +Doctor Massarenti, who cured Madame Tagliani; sonnet to young +Guadagni, on the occasion of his becoming Bachelor of Arts, etc., etc. +At Faenza, these mural inscriptions evinced a certain degree of +fanaticism, but the fanaticism of the dramatic art: _Viva la Ristori! +Viva la diva Rossi!_ At Rimini, and at Forlì, I read _Viva Verdi!_ +(which words had not then the political significance they have +recently attained,) _Viva la Lotti!_ together with a long list of +dramatic and musical celebrities. + +While I was visiting the holy house of Loretto, which, as all the +world knows, or ought to know, was transported by Angels, furniture +and all, from Palestine, to the neighbourhood of Ancona, a number of +pilgrims came in upon their knees, shedding tears and licking the +flags with their tongues. I thought these poor creatures belonged to +some neighbouring village, but I found out my mistake from a workman +of Ancona, who happened to be near me. "Sir," he said, "these unhappy +people must certainly belong to the other side of the Apennines, since +they still make pilgrimages. Fifty years ago we used to do the same +thing; we now think it better to work!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MIDDLE CLASSES. + + +The middle class is, in every clime and every age, the foundation of +the strength of States. It represents not only the wealth and +independence, but the capacity and the morality of a people. Between +the aristocracy, which boasts of doing nothing, and the lower orders +who only work that they may not die of hunger, the middle class +advances boldly to a future of wealth and consideration. Sometimes the +upper class is hostile to progress, through fear of its results; too +often the lower class is indifferent to it, from ignorance of the +benefits it confers. The middle class has never ceased to tend towards +progress, with all its strength, by an irresistible impulse, and even +at the peril of its dearest interests. A great statesman who must be +judged by his doctrines, and not by the chance of circumstances, M. +Guizot, has shown us that the Roman Empire perished from the want of a +middle class in the fifth century of our era, and we ourselves know +with what impetuosity France has advanced in progress since the middle +class revolution of 1789. + +The middle class has not only the privilege of bringing about useful +revolutions, it also claims the honour of repressing popular +outbreaks, and opposing itself as a barrier to the overflow of evil +passions. + +It is to be desired, then, that this honourable class should become as +numerous and as powerful as possible in the country we are now +studying; because, while on the one hand it is the lawful heir of the +temporal power of the Popes, on the other, it is the natural adversary +of Mazzinist insurrection. + +But the ecclesiastical caste, which sets this fatal principle of +temporal power above the highest interests of society, can conceive +nothing more prudent or efficacious than to vilify and abuse the +middle class. It obliges this class to support the heaviest share of +the budget, without being admitted to a share in the benefits. It +takes from the small proprietor not only his whole income, but a part +of his capital, while the people and the nobility are allowed all +sorts of immunities. It demands heavy concessions in exchange for the +humblest official posts. It omits no opportunity of depriving the +liberal professions of all the importance they enjoy in other +countries. It does its best to accelerate the decline of science and +art. It imagines that nothing else can be abased, without its being +proportionately elevated. + +This system has succeeded (according to priestly notions) tolerably +well at Home and in the Mediterranean provinces, but very badly at +Bologna, and in the Apennine provinces. In the metropolis of the +country the middle class is reduced, impoverished, and submissive; in +the second capital it is much more numerous, wealthy, and independent. +But evil passions, far more fatal to society than the rational +resistance of parties, have progressed in an inverse direction. They +predominate but little at Bologna, where the middle class is strong +enough to keep them under; they triumph at Home, where the middle +class has been destroyed. Thence it follows that Bologna is a city of +opposition, and Rome a socialist city; and that the revolution will be +moderate at Bologna, sanguinary at Rome. This is what the clerical +party has gained. + +Nothing can equal the disdain with which the prelates the princes, the +foreigners of condition, and even the footmen at Rome, judge the +middle class, of _mezzo ceto_. + +The prelate has his reasons. If he be a minister, he sees in his +offices some hundred clerks, belonging to the middle class. He knows +that these active and intelligent, but underpaid men, are for the most +part obliged to eke out a livelihood by secretly following some other +occupation: one keeps the books of a land-steward, another those of a +Jew. Whose fault is it? They well know that neither excellence of +character nor length of service are carried to the credit of the civil +functionary, and that, after having earned advancement, he will be +obliged either to ask it himself as a favour, or to employ the +intercession of his wife. It is not these poor men whom we should +despise, but the dignitaries in violet stockings who impose the burden +upon them. + +Should Monsignore be a judge of a superior tribunal, of the _Sacra +Rota_ for instance, he need know nothing about the law. His secretary, +or assistant, has by dint of patient study made himself an +accomplished lawyer, as indeed a man must be who can thread his way +through the dark labyrinths of Roman legislation. But Monsignore, who +makes use of his assistant's ability for his own particular profit, +thinks he has a right to despise him, because he is ill paid, lives +humbly, and has no future to look forward to. Which of the two is in +the wrong? + +If the same prelate be a Judge of Appeal, he will profess a most +profound contempt for advocates. I must confess they are to be pitied, +these unfortunate Princes of the Bar, who write for the blind, and +speak to the deaf, and who wear out their shoes in treading the +interminable paths of Rotal procedure. But assuredly they are not men +to be despised. They have always knowledge, often eloquence. +Marchetti, Rossi, and Lunati might no doubt have written good sermons, +if they had not preferred doing something else. + +Between ourselves, I think the prelates affect to despise them, in +order that they may not have to fear them. They have condemned some of +them to exile, others to silence and want. Hear what Cardinal +Antonelli said to M. de Gramont:-- + +"The advocates used to be one of our sores; we are beginning to be +cured of it. If we could but get rid of the clerks in the offices, all +would go well." + +Let us hope that, among modern inventions, a bureaucratic machine may +be made by which the labour of men in offices may be superseded. + +The Roman princes affect to regard the middle class with contempt. The +advocate who pleads their causes, and generally gains them, belongs to +the middle class. The physician who attends them, and generally cures +them, belongs to the middle class. But as these professional men have +fixed salaries, and as salaries resemble wages, contempt is thrown +into the bargain. Still the contempt is a magnanimous sort of +contempt--that of a patron for his client. At Paris, when an advocate +pleads a prince's cause, it is the prince who is the client: at Rome, +it is the advocate. + +But the individual who is visited by the most withering contempt of +the Roman princes is the farmer, or _mercante di campagna_; and I +don't wonder at it. + +The _mercante di campagna_ is an obscure individual, usually very +honest, very intelligent, very active, and very rich. He undertakes to +farm several thousand acres of land, pasture or arable as may be, +which the prince would never be able to farm himself, because he +neither knows how, nor has the means to do so. Upon this princely +territory the farmer lets loose, in the most disrespectful manner, +droves of bullocks, and cows, and horses, and flocks of sheep. Should +his lease permit him, he cultivates a square league or so, and sows it +with wheat. When harvest-time arrives, down from the mountains troop a +thousand or twelve hundred peasants, who overrun the prince's land in +the farmer's service. The corn is reaped, threshed in the open field, +put into sacks, and carted away. The prince sees it go by, as he +stands on his princely balcony. He learns that a man of the _mezzo +ceto_, a man who passes his life on horseback, has harvested on his +land so many sacks of corn, which have produced him so much money. The +_mercante di campagna_ comes, and confirms the intelligence, and then +pays the rent agreed upon to the uttermost baioccho. Sometimes he even +pays down a year or two in advance. What prince could forgive such +aggravated insolence? It is the more atrocious, since the farmer is +polite, well-mannered, and much better educated than the prince; he +can give his daughters much larger fortunes, and could buy the entire +principality for his own son, if by chance the prince were obliged to +sell it. The cultivation of estates by means of these people is, in +the eyes of the Roman princes, an attack upon the rights of property. +Their passion for incessant work is a disturbance of the delightful +Roman tranquillity. The fortunes they acquire by personal exertion, +energy, and activity, are a reproach by inference to that stagnant +wealth which is the foundation of the State, and the admiration of the +Government. + +This is not all: the _mercante di campagna_, who is not nobly born, +who is not a priest, who has a wife and children, thinks he has a +right to share in the management of the affairs of his country, upon +the ground that he manages his own well. He points out abuses; he +demands reforms. What audacity! The priests would cast him forth as +they would a mere advocate, were it not that his occupation is the +most necessary of all occupations, and that by turning out a man they +might starve a district. + +But the insolence of these agricultural contractors goes still +further. They presume to be grand in their ideas. One of them, in +1848, under the reign of Mazzini, when the public works were suspended +for want of money, finished the bridge of Lariccia, one of the finest +constructions of our time, at his own expense. He certainly knew not +whether the Pope would ever return to Rome to repay him. He acted like +a real prince; but his audacity in assuming a part which was not +intended for his caste, merited something more than contempt. + +I, who have not the honour to be a prince, have no reason to despise +the _mercanti di campagna_. Quite the contrary. I have solid ones for +esteeming them highly. I have found them full of intelligence, +kindness, and cordiality: middle-class men in the best sense of the +term. My sole regret is that their numbers are so few, and that their +scope of action is so limited. + +If there were but two thousand of them, and the Government allowed +them to follow their own course, the Roman Campagna would soon assume +another aspect, and fever and ague take themselves off. + +The foreigners who have inhabited Rome for any length of time, speak +of the middle-class as contemptuously as the princes. I once made the +same mistake as they do, so my testimony on the subject is the more +worthy of acceptation. + +Perhaps the foreigners in question have lived in furnished lodgings, +and have found the landlady a little less than cruel. No doubt +adventures of this kind are of daily occurrence elsewhere than in +Rome; but is the middle-class to be held responsible for the light +conduct of some few poor and uneducated women? + +Or they may have had to do with the trade of Rome, and have found it +extremely limited. This is because there is no capital, nor any +extension of public credit. They are shocked to see the shopkeepers, +during the Carnival, riding in carriages, and occupying the best boxes +at the theatres; but this foolish love of show, so hurtful to the +middle-class, is taught them by the universal example of those above +them. + +Perhaps they have sent to the chemist's for a doctor, and have fallen +upon an ignorant professor of the healing art. This is unlucky, but it +may happen anywhere. The medical body is not recruited exclusively +among the eagles of science. For one Baroni, who is an honour at once +to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, you naturally expect to find many +blockheads. If these are more plentiful at Rome than at Paris or +Bologna, it is because the priests meddle with medical instruction, as +with everything else. I never shall forget how I laughed when I +entered the amphitheatre of Santo Spirito, to see a vine-leaf on 'the +subject' on which the professor was going to lecture to the students. + +In this land of chastity, where the modest vine is entwined with every +branch of science, a doctor in surgery, attached to an hospital, once +told me he had never seen the bosom of a woman. "We have," he said, + + "two degrees of Doctor to take; one theoretical, the other + practical. Between the first and the second, we practise in + the hospitals, as you see. But the prelates who control our + studies, will not allow a doctor to be present at a + confinement until he has passed his second, or practical + examination. They are afraid of our being scandalized. We + obtain our practical knowledge of midwifery by practising + upon dolls. In six months I shall have taken all my degrees, + and I may be called in to act as accoucheur to any number of + women, without ever having witnessed a single accouchement!" + +The Roman artists would endow the middle-class with both fame and +money, if they were differently treated. The Italian race has not +degenerated, whatever its enemies and its masters may say: it is as +naturally capable of distinction in all the arts as ever it was. Put a +paint-brush into the hands of a child, and he will acquire the +practice of painting in no time. An apprenticeship of three or four +years enables him to gain a livelihood. The misfortune is, that they +seldom get beyond this. I think, nay, I am almost sure, they are not +less richly gifted than the pupils of Raphael; and they reach the same +point as the pupils of M. Galimard. Is it their fault? No. I accuse +but the medium into which their birth has cast them. It may be, that +if they were at Paris, they would produce masterpieces. Give them +parts to play in the world, competition, exhibitions, the support of a +government, the encouragement of a public, the counsels of an +enlightened criticism. All these benefits which we enjoy abundantly, +are wholly denied to them, and are only known to them by hearsay. + +Their sole motive for work is hunger, their sole encouragement the +flying visits of foreigners. Their work is always done in a hurry; +they knock off a copy in a week, and when it is sold, they begin +another. + +If some one, more ambitious than his fellows, undertakes an original +work, whose opinion can he obtain as to its merits or demerits? The +men of the reigning class know nothing about it, and the princes very +little. The owner of the finest gallery in Rome said last year, in the +salon of an Ambassador, "I admire nothing but what you French call +_chic_" Prince Piombino gave the painter Gagliardi an order to paint +him a ceiling, and proposed to pay him by the day. The Government has +plenty to attend to without encouraging the arts: the four little +newspapers which circulate at remote periods amuse themselves by +puffing their particular friends in the silliest manner. + +The foreigners who come and go are often men of taste, but they do not +make a public. In Paris, Munich, Düsseldorf, and London, the public +has an individuality; it is a man of a thousand heads. When it has +marked a rising artist, it notes his progress, encourages him, blames +him, urges him on, checks him. It takes such a one into its favour, is +extremely wroth with such another. It is, of course, sometimes in the +wrong; it is subject to ridiculous infatuations, and unjust revulsions +of feeling; yet it lives, and it vivifies, and it is worth working +for. + +If I wonder at anything, it is that under the present system such +artists are to be found at Home as Tenerani and Podesti, in statuary +and painting; Castellani, in gold-working; Calamatta and Mercuri, in +engraving, with some others. It is a melancholy truth, however, that +the majority of Roman artists are doomed, by the absence of +encouragement, to a monotonous and humiliating round of taskwork and +trade; occupied half their time in re-copying copies, and the +remainder in recommending their goods to the foreign purchaser. + +In truth, I had myself quitted Rome with no very favourable idea of +the middle class. A few distinguished artists, a few advocates of +talent and courage, some able medical men, some wealthy and skilful +farmers, were insufficient, in my opinion, to constitute a middle +class. I regarded them as so many exceptions to a rule. And as it is +certain that there can be no nation without a middle class, I dreaded +lest I should be forced to admit that there is no Italian nation. + +The middle class appeared to me to thrive no better in the +Mediterranean provinces than at Rome. Half citizen, half clown, the +people representing it are plunged in a crass ignorance. Having just +sufficient means to live without working, they lounge away their time +in homes comfortless and half-furnished, the very walls of which seem +to reek with _ennui_. Rumours of what is passing in Europe, which +might possibly rouse them from their torpor, are stopped at the +frontier. New ideas, which might somewhat fertilize their minds, are +intercepted by the Custom House. If they read anything, it is the +Almanack, or by way of a higher order of literature, the _Giornale di +Roma_, wherein the daily rides of the Pope are pompously chronicled. +The existence of these people consists, in short, of a round of +eating, drinking, sleeping, and reproducing their kind, until death +arrive. + +But beyond the Apennines matters are far otherwise. There, instead of +the citizen descending to the level of the peasant, it is the peasant +who rises to that of the citizen. Unremitting labour is continually +improving both the soil and man. A smuggling of ideas which daily +becomes more active, sets custom-houses and customs officers at +defiance. Patriotism is stimulated and kept alive by the presence of +the Austrians. Common sense is outraged by the weight of taxation. The +different fractions of the middle class--advocates, physicians, +merchants, farmers, artists--freely express among one another their +discontent and their hatred, their ideas and their hopes. The +Apennines, which form a barrier between them and the Pope, bring them +nearer to Europe and liberty. I have never failed, after conversing +with one of the middle class in the Legations, to inscribe in my +tablets, _There is an Italian Nation_! + +I travelled from Bologna to Florence with a young man whom I at first +took, from the simple elegance of his dress, for an Englishman. But we +fell so naturally into conversation, and my companion expressed +himself so fluently in French, that I supposed him to be a +fellow-countryman. When, however, I discovered how thoroughly he was +versed in the state of the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, laws, +the administration, and the politics of Italy, I could no longer doubt +that he was an Italian and a Bolognese. What I chiefly admired in him +was not so much the extent and variety of his knowledge, or the +clearness and rectitude of his understanding, as the elevation of his +character, and the moderation of his language. Every word he uttered +was characterized by a profound sense of the dignity of his country, a +bitter regret at the disesteem and neglect into which that country had +fallen, and a firm hope in the justice of Europe in general and of one +great prince in particular, and a certain combination of pride, +melancholy, and sweetness which possessed an irresistible attraction +for me. He nourished no hatred either against the Pope or any other +person; he admitted the system of the priests, although utterly +intolerable to the country, to be perfectly logical in itself. His +dream was not of vengeance, but deliverance. + +I learnt, some time afterwards, that my delightful travelling +companion was a man of the _mezzo ceto_, and that there are many more +such as he in Bologna. + +But already had I inscribed in my tablets these words, thrice +repeated, dated from the Court of the Posts, Piazza del Gran' Duca, +Florence:-- + +_"There is an Italian Nation! There is an Italian Nation! There is an +Italian Nation!"_ + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NOBILITY. + + +An Italian has said with pungent irony, "Who knows but that one of +these days a powerful microscope may detect globules of nobility in +the blood?" + +I am too national not to applaud a good joke, and yet I must confess +these "globules of nobility" do not positively offend my reason. + +There is no doubt that sons take after their fathers. The Barons of +the Middle Ages transmitted to their children a heritage of heroic +qualities. Frederick the Great obtained a race of gigantic grenadiers +by marrying men of six feet to women of five feet six. The children of +a clever man are not fools, provided their mother has not failed in +her duties; and when the Crétins of the Alps intermarry, they produce +Crétins. We know dogs are slow or fast, keen-scented or keen-sighted, +according to their breed, and we buy a two-year-old colt upon the +strength of his pedigree. Can we consistently admit nobility among +horses and dogs, and deny it among men? + +Add to this, that the pride of bearing an illustrious name is a +powerful incentive to well-doing. Noblemen have duties to fulfil both +towards their ancestors and their posterity. They must walk uprightly +under the penalty of dishonouring an entire race. Tradition obliges +them to follow a path of honour and virtue, from which they cannot +stray a single step without falling. They never sign their names +without some elevated thought of an hereditary obligation. + +I must admit that everything degenerates in the end, and that the +purest blood may occasionally lose its high qualities, as the most +generous wine turns to molasses or vinegar. But we have all of us met +in the world a young man of loftier and prouder bearing, more +high-minded and more courageous, than his fellows; or a woman so +beautiful and simple and chaste, that she seemed made of a finer clay +than the rest of her sex. We may be sure that both one and the other +have in their blood some globules of nobility. + +These precious globules, which no microscope will ever be powerful +enough to detect, but which the intelligent observer sees with the +naked eye, are rare enough in Europe, and I am not aware of their +existence out of it. A small collection of them might be brought +together in France, in Spain, in England, in Russia, in Germany, in +Italy. Rome is one of the cities in which the fewest would be found. +And yet the Roman nobility is surrounded with a certain prestige. + +Thirty-one princes or dukes; a great number of marquises, counts, +barons, and knights; a multitude of noble families without titles, +sixty of whom were inscribed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.; a vast +extent of signiorial domains; a thousand palaces; a hundred +picture-galleries, large and small; a considerable revenue; a prodigal +display of horses, carriages, servants, and armorial bearings; some +almost royal entertainments in the course of every winter; the remains +of feudal privileges; and the respect of the lower orders: such are +the more remarkable features which distinguish the Roman nobility, and +expose it to the admiration of all the travelling cockneys of the +universe. + +Ignorance, idleness, vanity, servility, and above all incapacity; +these are the pet vices which place it below all the aristocracies in +Europe. Should I meet with any exceptions on my road, I shall consider +it my duty to point them out. + +The roots of the Roman nobility are very diverse. The Orsini and the +Colonna families descend from the heroes or brigands of the Middle +Ages. That of Caetani dates from 730. The houses of Massimo, +Santa-Croce, and Muti, go back to Livy in search of their founders. +Prince Massimo bears in his shield the trace of the marchings and +counter-marchings of Fabius Maximus, otherwise called Cunctator. His +motto is, _Cunctando restituit_. Santa-Croce boasts of being an +offshoot of Valerius Publicola. The Muti family counts Mutius Scævola +among its ancestors. This nobility, whether authentic or not, is at +all events very ancient, and is of independent origin. It has not been +hatched under the robes of the Popes. + +The second category is of Pontifical origin. Its titles and fortunes +have their origin in nepotism. In the course of the seventeenth +century, Paul V., Urban VIII.; Innocent X., Alexander VII., Clement +IX., and Innocent XI. created the houses of Borghese, Barberini, +Pamphili, Chigi, Rospigliosi, and Odescalchi. They vied with one +another in aggrandising their humble families. The domains of the +Borghese house, which make a tolerably large spot on the map of +Europe, testify that Paul V. was by no means an unnatural uncle. The +Popes have kept up the practice of ennobling their relations, but the +scandal of their liberalities ceases with Pius VI., another of the +Braschi family (1775-1800). + +The last batch includes the bankers, such as Torlonia and Kuspoli, +monopolists like Antonelli, millers like the Macchi, bakers like the +Dukes Grazioli, tobacconists like the Marchese Ferraiuoli, and farmers +like the Marchese Calabrini. + +I add, by way of memorandum, strangers, noble or not, as may be, who +purchase an estate, get a title thrown into the bargain. A short time +ago a French petty country gentleman, who had a little money, woke up +a Roman Prince one fine morning, the equal of the Dorias, Torlonias, +and of the baker Duke Grazioli. + +For they are all equal from the hour when the Holy Father has signed +their parchments. Whatever be the origin of their nobility and the +antiquity of their houses, they go arm in arm, without any disputes as +to precedence. The names of Orsini, Colonna, and Sforza, are jumbled +together in the family of a former _domestique de place_. The son of a +baker marries the daughter of a Lante de La Rovère, granddaughter of a +Prince Colonna, and a Princess of Savoie-Carignan. There is no fear +that the famous quarrel of the princes and dukes, which so roused the +indignation of our stately St. Simon, will ever be repeated among the +Roman aristocracy. + +To what purpose should it be, gracious Heavens! Don't they well +know--dukes and princes--that they are all alike inferior to the +shabbiest of the cardinals? The day that a Capuchin receives the red +hat, he acquires the right to splash the mud in their faces as he +rides past in his gilded coach. + +In all monarchical States, the king is the natural head of the +nobility. The strongest term that a gentleman can make use of, in +alluding to his house, is that it is as noble as the King. _As noble +as the Pope_ would be simply ludicrous, since a swineherd, the son of +a swineherd, may be elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity +from all the Roman princes. They may well then consider themselves +upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, seeing that +they are equally looked down upon by a few priests. + +They console themselves with the thought that they are superior to all +the laymen in the world. This soothing vanity, neither noisy nor +insolent, but none the less firmly rooted in their hearts, enables +them to swallow the daily affront of conscious inferiority. + +I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior to the +upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority to other men is +less evident to me. + +As to their courage. Some years have elapsed since they had the +opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.[4] + +Heaven forbids duelling. The Government inculcates the gentler +virtues. + +They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and theatrical +liberality. A Piombino sent his ambassador to the conference at +Vienna, allowing £4,000 for the expenses of the mission. A Borghese +gave the mob of Rome a banquet that cost £48,000, to celebrate the +return of Pius VII. Almost all the Roman princes open their palaces, +villas, and galleries to the public. To be sure, old Sciarra used to +sell permission to copy his pictures, but he was a notorious miser, +and has found no imitators. + +They practise generally the virtue of charity, in a somewhat +indiscriminate manner, from the love of patronage, from pride, habit, +and weakness, because they are ashamed to refuse. They are by no means +badly disposed, they are good--I stop at this word, lest I should go +too far. + +They are not wanting in sense or intelligence. Prince Massimo is +quoted for his good sense, and the two Caetani for their puns. +Santa-Croce, though a little cracked, is no ordinary man. But what a +wretched education the Government gives them! When they are not the +children, they are the pupils of priests, whose system principally +consists in teaching them nothing. Get hold of a student of St. +Sulpice, wash him tolerably clean, have him dressed by Alfred or +Poole, and bejewelled by Castellani or Hunt and Roskel, let him learn +to thrum a guitar, and sit upon a horse, and you'll have a Roman +prince as good as the best of them. + +You probably think it natural that people brought up at Rome, in the +midst of the finest works of art in the world, should take a little +interest in art, and know something about it. Pray be undeceived. This +man has never entered the Vatican except to pay visits; that one knows +nothing of his own gallery, but through the report of his +house-steward. Another had never visited the Catacombs till he became +Pope. They profess an elegant ignorance, which they think in good +taste, and which will always be fashionable in a Catholic country. + +I have said enough about the heart, mind, and education of the Roman +nobility. A few words as to the fortunes of which they dispose. + +I have before me a list which I believe to be authentic, as I copied +it myself in a sure quarter. It comprises the net available incomes of +the principal Roman families. I extract the most important:-- + + Corsini ....... £20,000 + Borghese....... 18,000 + Ludovisi....... 14,000 + Grazioli....... 14,000 + Doria.......... 13,000 + Rospigliosi.... 10,000 + Colonna........ 8,000 + Odescalchi..... 8,000 + Massimo........ 8,000 + Patrizi........ 6,000 + Orsini......... 4,000 + Strozzi........ 4,000 + Torlonia....... Unlimited. + Antonelli....... Ditto. + +It is not to be supposed that Grazioli, for instance, has himself +alone nearly as large a gross income as Prince Borghese and his two +brothers Aldobrandini and Salviati together. But the fact is that all +the more ancient families are burdened with heavy hereditary charges, +which enormously reduce their incomes. They are obliged to keep up +chapels, churches, hospitals, and whole chapters of fat canons, while +the nobles of yesterday are not called upon to pay for either the fame +or the sins of their ancestors. + +At all events the foregoing list proves the mediocrity as to wealth, +as in everything else, of the Roman nobility. Not only are they unable +to compete with the hard-working middle classes of London, Bâle, or +Amsterdam, but they are infinitely less wealthy than the nobility of +Russia or of England. + +Is this because, as with us in France, an equitable law is constantly +subdividing large properties? No. The law of primogeniture is in full +vigour in the kingdom of the Pope, like every other abuse of the good +old times. They provide for their younger sons as they can, and for +their daughters as they please. It is not parental justice that ruins +families. I have even heard it said that the elder brother is not +obliged to put on mourning when the younger dies; which is a clear +saving of so much black cloth. + +This being the case, why are not the Roman princes richer than they +are? It is to be accounted for by two excellent reasons,--the love of +show, and bad management. + +Ostentation, the Roman disease, requires that every nobleman should +have a palace in the city, and a palace in the country: carriages, +horses, lacqueys and liveries. They can do without mattresses, linen, +and armchairs, but a gallery of pictures is indispensable. It is not +thought necessary to have a decent dinner every Sunday, but it is to +have a terraced garden for the admiration of foreigners. These +imaginary wants swallow up the income, and not unfrequently eat into +the capital. + +And yet I could point out half-a-dozen estates which could suffice for +the prodigalities of a sovereign, if they were managed in the English, +or even in the French fashion,--if the owner were to interfere +personally, and see with his own eyes, instead of allowing a host of +middlemen to come between him and his property, who of course enrich +themselves at his expense. + +Not that the Roman princes knowingly allow their affairs to go to +ruin. They must by no means be confounded with the _grands seigneurs_ +of old France, who laughed over the wreck of their fortunes, and +avenged themselves upon a steward by a _bon mot_ and a kick. The Roman +prince has an office, with shelves, desks, and clerks, and devotes +some hours a day to business, examining accounts, poring over +parchments, and signing papers. But being at once incapable and +uneducated, his zeal serves but to liberate the rogues about him from +responsibility. I heard of a nobleman who had inherited an enormous +fortune, who condemned himself to the labor of a clerk at £50 a year, +who remained faithful to his desk even to extreme old age, and who, +thanks to some blunder or other in management, died insolvent. + +Pity them if you please, but cast not the stone at them. They are such +as education has made them. Look at those brats of various ages from +six to ten, walking along the Corso in double file, between a couple +of Jesuits. They are embryo Roman nobles. Handsome as little Cupids, +in spite of their black coats and white neckcloths, they will all grow +up alike, under the shadow of their pedagogue's broad-brimmed hat. + +Already are their minds like a well-raked garden, from which ideas +have been carefully rooted out. Their hearts are purged alike of good +and evil passions. Poor little wretches, they will not even have any +vices. + +As soon as they shall have passed their last examinations, and +obtained their diplomas of ignorance, they will be dressed in the +latest London fashions, and be turned out into the public promenades. +They will pace for ever the pavement of the Corso, they will wear out +the alleys of the Pincian Hill, the Villa Borghese, and the Villa +Pamphili. They will ride, drive, and walk about, armed with a whip, +eye-glass, or cane, as may be, until they are made to marry. Regular +at Mass, assiduous at the theatre, you may see them smile, gape, +applaud, make the sign of the cross, with an equal absence of emotion. +They are almost all inscribed on the list of some religious fraternity +or other. They belong to no club, play timidly, rarely make a parade +of social irregularities, drink without enthusiasm, and never ruin +themselves by horse-racing. In short, their general conduct is beyond +all praise; and the life of dolls made to say "Papa!" and "Mama!" is +equally irreproachable. + +One fine day they attain their twenty-fifth year. At this age, an +American has already tried his hand at a dozen trades, made four +fortunes, and at least one bankruptcy, has gone through a couple of +campaigns, had a lawsuit, established a new religious sect, killed +half-a-dozen men with his revolver, freed a negress, and conquered an +island. An Englishman has passed some stiff examinations, been +attached to an embassy, founded a factory, converted a Catholic, gone +round the world, and read the complete works of Walter Scott. A +Frenchman has rhymed a tragedy, written for two newspapers, been +wounded in three duels, twice attempted suicide, vexed fourteen +husbands, and changed his politics nineteen times. A German has +slashed fifteen of his dearest friends, swallowed sixty hogsheads of +beer and the Philosophy of Hegel, sung eleven thousand couplets, +compromised a tavern waiting-maid, smoked a million of pipes, and been +mixed up with, at least, two revolutions. + +The Roman prince has done nothing, seen nothing, learnt nothing, loved +nothing, suffered nothing. His parents or guardians open a cloister +gate, take out a young girl as inexperienced as himself, and the pair +of innocents are bidden to kneel before a priest, who gives them +permission to become parents of another generation of innocents like +themselves. + +Probably you expect to find them living unhappily together. Not at +all. And yet the wife is pretty. The monotonous routine of her convent +education has not so frozen her heart that she is incapable of loving; +her uncultivated mind will spontaneously develope itself when it comes +in contact with the world. She will not fail, ere long, to discover +the inferiority of her husband. The more her education has been +neglected, the greater is her chance of remaining womanly, that is to +say, intelligent, tender, and charming. In truth, the harmony of their +household is less likely to be disturbed at Rome than it would be at +Paris or Vienna. + +Yes, the huge extinguisher which Heaven holds suspended over the city +of Rome, stifles even the subtle spark of passion. If Vesuvius were +here, it would have been cold for the last forty years. The Roman +princesses were not a little talked of up to the end of the thirteenth +century. Under the French rule their gallantry assumed a military +complexion. They used to go and see their admirers play billiards at +the Cafè Nuovo. But hypocrisy and morality have made immense progress +since the restoration. The few who have afforded matter for the +scandalous chronicles of Rome are sexagenarians, and their adventures +are inscribed on the tablets of history, between Austerlitz and +Waterloo. + +The young princess whom we have just seen entering upon her married +life, will begin by presenting her husband with sundry little princes +and princesses; and there is no rampart against illicit affection like +your row of little cradles. + +In five or six years, when she might have leisure for evil thoughts, +she will be bound hand and foot by the exigencies of society. You +shall have a specimen of the mode in which she spends her days during +the winter season. Her morning is devoted to dressing, breakfasting, +her children, and her husband. From one to three she returns the +visits she has received, in the exact form in which they were paid to +her. The first act of politeness is to go and see your acquaintance; +the second, to leave your card in person; the third, to send the same +bit of pasteboard by a servant _ad hoc_. At three, all the world +drives to the Villa Borghese, where there is a general salutation of +acquaintances with the tips of the fingers. At four, up the Pincio. At +five, it files backwards and forwards along the Corso. Everybody who +is anybody is condemned to this triple promenade. If a single +woman--who is anybody--were to absent herself, it would be inferred, +as a matter of course, that she was ill, and a general inquiry as to +the nature of her complaint would be instituted. + +At close of day all go home. After dinner another toilette, and out +for the evening. Every house has its particular reception-night. And a +pure and simple reception indeed it is, without play, without music, +without conversation; a mere interchange of bows and curtsies, and +cold commonplaces. At rare intervals a ball breaks the ice, and shakes +off the _ennui_ generated by this system. Poor women! In an existence +at once so busy and so void, there is not even room for friendship. +Two who may have been friends from childhood, brought up in the same +convent, married into the same world, may meet one another daily and +at all hours, and yet may not be able to enjoy ten minutes of intimate +conversation in the whole year. The brightest, the best, is known but +by her name, her title, and her fortune. Judgments are passed on her +beauty, her toilet, and her diamonds, but nobody has the opportunity +or the leisure to penetrate into the depths of her mind. A really +distinguished woman once said to me, "I feel that I become stupid when +I enter these drawing-rooms. Vacancy seizes me at the very threshold." +Another, who had lived in France, regretted, with tears, the absence +of those charming friendships, so cheerful and so cordial, that exist +between the young married women of Paris. + +When the Carnival arrives, it mingles everything without uniting +anything. In truth, one is never more solitary than in the midst of +noise and crowds. Then comes Lent; and then the grand comedy of +Easter; and after that the family departs for the country, which +means, economizing for some months in a huge half-furnished mansion. +In short, the romance of a Roman Princess is made up of a certain +number of noisy winters, and dull summers, and plenty of children. If +there be, by chance, any more exciting chapters, they are doubtless +known to the confessor. + +"Ce ne sont pas là mes affaires." + +You must go far from Rome to find any real nobility. Here and there in +the Mediterranean provinces some fallen family may be met with, living +poorly upon the produce of a small estate, and still looked up to with +a certain respect by its wealthier neighbours. The lower orders +respect it because it has been something once, and even because it is +nothing under the present hated government. These little provincial +aristocrats, ignorant, simple, and proud, are a sort of relic of the +Middle Ages left behind in the middle of the nineteenth century. I +only mention them to recall the fact of their existence. + +But if you will accompany me over the Apennines, into the glorious +cities of the Romagna, I can show you more than one nobleman of great +name and ancient lineage, who cultivates at once his lands and his +intellect; who knows all that we know; who believes all that we +believe, and nothing more; who takes an active interest in the +misfortunes of Italy, and who, looking to free and happy Europe, +hopes, through the sympathy of nations and the justice of sovereigns, +to obtain the deliverance of his country. I met in certain palaces at +Bologna a brilliant writer, applauded on every stage in Italy; a +learned economist, quoted in the most serious reviews throughout +Europe; a controversialist, dreaded by the priests; and all these +individualities united in the single person of a Marquis of +thirty-four, who may, perhaps, one of these days play an important +part in the Italian revolution. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FOREIGNERS. + + +Permit me to open this chapter by recalling some recollections of the +golden age. + +A century or two ago, when old aristocracies, old royalties, and old +religions imagined themselves eternal; when Popes innocently assured +the fortunes of their nephews, and the welfare of their mistresses; +when the simplicity of Catholic countries regilt annually the +pontifical idol; when Europe contained some half-million of +individuals who deemed themselves created for mutual understanding and +amusement, without any thought of the classes beneath them, Rome was +the Paradise of foreigners, and foreigners were the Providence of +Rome. + +A gentleman of birth took it into his head to visit Italy, for the +sake of kissing the Pope's toe, and perhaps other local curiosities. +He managed to have a couple of years of leisure,--put three letters of +introduction into one pocket, and 50,000 crowns into the other, and +stepped into his travelling carriage. + +In those days people did not go to Rome to spend a week there and away +again; for it was a month or two's journey from France. The crack of +the postilions' whips used to announce to the Eternal City in general +the arrival of a distinguished guest. _Domestiques de place_ flocked +to the call. The luckiest of them took possession of the new comer by +entering his service. In a few days he provided his master with a +palace, furniture, footmen, carriages, and horses. The foreigner +settled himself comfortably, and then presented his letters of +introduction. His credentials being examined, the best society at once +opened its arms to him, and cried, "You are one of us!" From that +moment he was at home wherever he went. He was a guest at every house. +He danced, supped, played, and made love to the ladies. And of course, +in his turn, he opened his own palace to his liberal entertainers, +adding a new feature to the brilliancy of a Roman winter. + +No foreigner failed to carry away with him some recollection of a city +so fertile in marvels. One bought pictures, another ancient marbles, +this one medals, that one books. The trade of Rome prospered by this +circulation of foreign money. + +The heats of summer drove away foreigners as well as natives; but they +never went far. Naples, Florence, or Venice offered them agreeable +quarters till the return of the winter season. And they had excellent +reasons for returning to Rome, which is the only city in the world in +which one has never seen everything. Some of them so entirely forgot +their own countries, that death overtook them between the Piazza del +Popolo and the Piazza de Venizia. If any exiled themselves to their +native land, they did it in sheer self-defence, when their pockets +were empty. Rome bade them a tender adieu, piously keeping their +likeness in its memory and their money in its coffers. + +The Revolution of 1793 somewhat disturbed this agreeable order of +things; but it was a mere storm between two fine summer days. Neither +the Roman aristocracy, nor its constant troop of guests, took this +brutal overthrow of their elegant pleasures in earnest. The exile of +the Pope, the French occupation, and many similar accidents, were +supported with a noble resignation, and forgotten with the readiness +of good taste. 1815 passed a sponge over some years of very foul +history. All the inscriptions which recalled the glory or the +beneficence of France were conscientiously erased. It was even +proposed to do away with the lighting of the streets, not only because +they threw too strong a light upon certain nocturnal matters, but +because they dated from the time of Miollis and De Tournon. Even now, +in 1859, the fleur-de-lis points out what is French property. A marble +table in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi promises indulgence to +those who will pray for the king of France. The French convent of the +Trinità dei Monti--that worthy claustral establishment which sold us +the picture of Daniel di Volterra and then took it back--possesses the +portraits of all the kings of France, from Pharamond to Charles X. +There you see Louis XVII. between Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII.; but in +this historical gallery there is no more mention of Napoleon or of +Louis-Philippe, than of Nana-Sahib or Marat. + +A city so respectful to the past, so faithful to the worship of bygone +recollections, is the natural asylum of sovereigns fallen from their +thrones. It is to Rome that they come to foment their contusions, and +to heal the wounds of their pride. They live there agreeably, +surrounded by the few followers who have remained faithful to them. A +miniature court, assembled in their antechamber, crowns them in +private, hails them on rising with epithets of royalty, and pours +forth incense in their dressing-room. The Roman nobility, and +foreigners of distinction, live with them in an unequal intimacy, +humbling themselves in order that they may be raised; and sowing a +great deal of veneration to reap a very light crop of familiarity. The +Pope and his Cardinals, upon principle, are lavish of attentions which +they would perhaps refuse them on the throne. In short, the king who +has been the most battered and shaken by his fall, and the most +ill-used by his ungrateful subjects, has but to take refuge in Rome, +and by the double aid of a vivid imagination and a well-filled purse, +he may persuade himself that he is still reigning over an absent +people. + +The reverses of royalty which ended the eighteenth and commenced the +nineteenth centuries, sent to Rome a colony of crowned heads. The +modifications which European society has undergone have more recently +brought many less illustrious guests, not even members of the +aristocracy of their own country. It is certain that for the last +fifty years, wealth, education, and talent have shared the rights +formerly belonging to birth alone. Rome has seen foreigners arriving +in travelling carriages who were not born great,--distinguished +artists, eminent writers, diplomatists sprung from the people, +tradesmen elevated to the rank of capitalists, men of the world who +are in their place everywhere, because everywhere they know how to +live. The best society did not receive them without submitting them to +careful inquiry, in order to ascertain that they brought no dangerous +doctrines; and then it seemed to say to them: "You cannot be our +relations--be our masonic brothers!" + +I have said that the Roman princes are, if not without pride, at least +without arrogance. This observation extends to the princes of the +Church. They welcome a foreigner of modest condition, provided he +speaks and thinks like themselves upon two or three capital questions, +has a profound veneration for certain time-honoured lumber, and curses +heartly certain innovations. You must show them the white paw of the +fable, if you wish them to open their doors to you. + +On this point they are immovable. They will not listen to rank, to +fortune, or even to the most imperious political necessities. If +France were to send them an ambassador who failed to show them the +white paw, the ambassador of France would not get inside the doors of +the aristocratic _salons_. If Horace Vernet were named director of the +Academy, neither his name nor his office would open to him certain +houses where he was received as a friend previously to 1830. And why? +Because Horace Vernet was one of the public men of the Revolution of +July. + +Do not imagine, however, that paying respect to Cardinals involves +paying respect to religion, or that it is necessary to attend Mass in +order to get invited to balls. What is absolutely indispensable is, to +believe that everything at Rome is good, to regard the Papacy as an +arch, the Cardinals as so many saints, abuses as principles, and to +applaud the march of the Government, even though it stand still. It is +considered good taste to praise the virtues of the lower orders, their +simple faith, and their indifference as to political affairs, and to +despise that middle-class which is destined to bring about the next +revolution. + +I conversed much with some of the foreigners who live in Rome, and who +mix with its best society. One of the most distinguished and the most +agreeable of them often gave me advice which, though I have not +followed, I have not forgotten. + +"My dear friend," he used to say, + + "I know but two ways of writing about Rome. You must choose + for yourself. If you declaim against the priestly + government, its abuses, vices, and injustice; against the + assassinations, the uncultivated lands, the bad air, the + filthiness of the streets; against the many scandals, the + hypocrisies, the robberies, the lotteries, the Ghetto, and + all that follows as a matter of course, you will earn the + somewhat barren honour of having added the thousand and + first pamphlet to those which have appeared since the time + of Luther. All has been said that can be said against the + Popes. A man who pretends to originality should not lend his + voice to the chorus of brawling reformers. Remember, too, + that the Government of this country, though very mild and + very paternal, never forgives! Even if it wished to do so, + it cannot. It must defend its principle, which is sacred. + Don't close the gates of Rome against yourself. You will be + so glad to revisit it, and we shall be so happy to receive + you again! If you wish to support a new and original theme, + and to gain fame which will not be wholly unprofitable, dare + to declare boldly that everything is good--even that which + all agree to pronounce bad. Praise without restriction an + order of things which has been solidly maintained for + eighteen centuries. Prove that everything here is firmly + established, and that the network of pontifical institutions + is linked together by a powerful logic. Bravely resist those + aspirations after reform which may haply urge you to demand + such and such changes. Remember that you cannot disturb old + constitutions with impunity; that the displacement of a + single stone may bring down the whole edifice. How do you + know, that the particular abuse which most offends you is + not absolutely necessary to the very existence of Rome? Good + and evil mixed together form a cement more durable than the + elaborately selected materials of which modern utopias are + made. I who tell you this have been here many years, and am + quite comfortable and contented. Whither should I go if Rome + were to be turned topsy-turvy? Where should we establish our + dethroned sovereigns? Where would a home be found for Roman + Catholic worship? You have no doubt been told that some + people are dissatisfied with the administration: but what of + that? They are not of _our_ world. You never meet them in + the good society you frequent. If the demands of the middle + class were to be complied with, everything would be + overturned. Have you any wish to see manufactories erected + round St. Peter's and turnip fields about the fountain of + Egeria? These native shopkeepers seem to imagine the country + belongs to them because they happen to be born in it. Can + one conceive a more ridiculous pretension? Let them know + that Rome is the property in copartnership of people of + birth, of people of taste, and of artists. It is a museum + confided to the guardianship of the Holy Father; a museum of + old monuments, old pictures, and old institutions. Let all + the rest of the world change, but build me a Chinese wall + round the Papal States, and never let the sound of the + railway-whistle be heard within its sacred precincts! Let us + preserve for admiring posterity at least one magnificent + specimen of absolute power, ancient art, and the Roman + Catholic religion!" + +This is the language of foreign inhabitants of Rome of the old +stamp,--estimable people, and sincere believers, who have gone on year +after year witnessing the ceremonies of St. Peter's, and the _Fête des +Oignons_ in the St. John Lateran, till they have acquired an +ecclesiastical turn of thought and expression, a habit of seeing +things through the spectacles of the Sacred College, and a faith which +has no sympathy with the outer world. I do not share their opinions, +and I have never found their advice particularly useful; but they +interest me, I like them, and I sincerely pity them. Who can tell what +events they are destined to witness in their time? Who can foresee the +spectacles which the future reserves for them, and the changes that +their habits will be made to undergo by the Italian revolution? +Already their hearing is distracted by the locomotives that rush +between Rome and Frascati; already the shriek of the steam-blast daily +and nightly hisses insolently at the respectable comedy of the past +between Rome and Civita Vecchia. Steamboats, another engine of +disorder, furnish the bi-weekly means of an invasion of the most +dangerous character. Those dozens of travellers who throng the streets +and the squares are about as much like our good old foreign tourists, +as the barbarians of Attila were like the worthy Spaniard who came to +Rome on purpose to see Titus Livius. + +Examine them carefully; they are of every possible condition; for now +that travelling costs next to nothing, everybody is able to afford +himself a sight of Rome. Briefless barristers, physicians without +practice, office-clerks, poor students, apprentices, and shop-boys +drop down like hail on the Eternal City, for the sake of saying that +they have taken the Communion in it. The Holy Week brings every year a +swarm of these locusts. Their entire _impedimenta_ consist of a +carpet-bag and an umbrella, and of course they put up at a hotel. In +fact hotels have been built on purpose to receive them. When everybody +hired houses, there was no need of hotels. The 'Minerva' is the type +of the modern Roman caravansary. Your bed is charged half-a-crown per +night; you dine in a refectory with a traveller at each elbow. The +character of the travelling class which invades Rome about Easter is +illustrated by the conversation which you hear going on around you at +the _table d'hôte_ of the 'Minerva.' The following is a specimen:-- + +One says triumphantly, "I have _done_ two museums, three galleries, +and four ruins, to-day." + +"I stuck to the churches," says another, "I had floored seventeen by +one o'clock." + +"The deuce you had! You keep the game alive." + +"Yes, I want to have a whole day left for the suburbs." + +"Oh, burn the suburbs! I've got no time to see them." + +If I have a day to spare, I must devote it to _buying chaplets_."[5] + +"I suppose you've seen the Villa Borghese?" + +"Oh yes, I consider that in the city, although it is in fact outside +the walls." + +"How much did they charge you for going over it?" + +"A paul." + +"I paid two--I've been robbed." + +"As for that, they're all robbers." + +"You're right, but the sight of Rome is worth all it costs." + +Shades of the travellers of the olden time--delicate, subtle, genial +spirits--what think you of conversations such as this? Surely you must +opine that your footmen knew Rome better, and talked more to the +purpose about it. + +Across the table I hear a citizen of London town narrating to a +curious audience how he has to-day seen the two great lions of +Rome,--the Coliseum, and Cardinal Antonelli. The conclusion he arrives +at is, that the first is a very fine ruin, and the second a very +clever man. + +A provincial dowager of the devotee class, is worth listening to. She +has toiled through the entire ceremonies of the Holy Week. She has +knelt close to the Pope, and declares his mode of giving the +Benediction the most sublime thing on earth. The good lady has spared +neither time nor money in order to carry home a choice collection of +_relics_. Among other objects of adoration she has a bone of St. +Perpetua, and a real bit of the real Cross. Not satisfied with these, +she is bent on obtaining the Pope's palm-branch, the very identical +palm-branch which his Holiness has carried in his own sacred hand. +This is with her a fixed idea, a positive question of salvation. The +poor old soul has not the smallest doubt, that this bit of stick will +open for her the gates of Paradise. She has made her request to a +priest, who will transmit it to a Monsignore, who will forward it to a +Cardinal. Her importunity and her simplicity will, doubtless, move +somebody. She will get the precious bough, and she is convinced that +when she arrives at home with it, all the devotees in the province +will burst with envy. + +Among these batches of ridiculous travellers, you are certain to find +some ecclesiastics. Here is one from our own country. You have known +him in France. Does not he strike you as being somewhat changed? Not +in his looks, but his manner. Beneath the shadow of his own church +tower, in the midst of his own flock, he used to be the mildest, the +meekest, and most modest of parish priests. He bowed low to the Mayor, +and to the most microscopic of the authorities. At Rome, his hat seems +glued to his head. I almost think--Heaven forgive me!--it is a trifle +cocked. How jauntily his cassock is tucked up! How he struts along the +street! Is not his hand on his hip? Something very like it. The reason +of this change is as clear as the sun at noon. He is in a kingdom +governed by his own class. He inhales an atmosphere impregnated with +clerical pride and theocratic omnipotence. Phiz! It is a bottle of +champagne saluting him with the cork. By the time he has drunk all the +contents of the intoxicating beverage, he will begin to mutter between +his teeth that the French clergy does not get its deserts, and that we +are a long time in restoring to it the property taken away by the +Revolution. + +I actually heard this argument maintained on board the steamer which +brought me back to France. The principal passengers were Prince +Souworf, Governor of the province of Riga, one of the most +distinguished men in Europe; M. de la Rochefoucauld, attached to the +French embassy; M. de Angelis, a highly educated and really +distinguished _mercante di campagna_; M. Oudry, engineer of the Civita +Vecchia railway: and a French ecclesiastic of a respectable age and +corpulence. This reverend personage, who was nowise disinclined to +argumentation, and who had just left a country where the priests are +never wrong, took to holding-forth after dinner upon the merits of the +Pontifical Government. I answered as well as I could, like a man +unaccustomed to public speaking. Driven to my last entrenchments, and +called upon to relate some fact which should not redound to the Pope's +credit, I chose, at hazard, a recent event then known to all Rome, as +it was speedily about to be to all Europe. My honourable interlocutor +met my statement with the most unqualified, formal, and unhesitating +denial. He accused me of impudently calumniating an innocent +administration, and of propagating lies fabricated by the enemies of +religion. His language was so sublimely authoritative, that I felt +confounded, overpowered, crushed, and, for a moment, I asked myself +whether I had not really been telling a lie. + +The story I had related was that of the boy Mortara. + +But I return to Rome and our travellers in the trumpery line. Those we +overheard before are already gone. But their places have been quickly +filled. They follow one another, like vapours rising from the ocean, +and they are as much like one another as one sea-wave is to its +predecessor. See them laying-in their stocks of Roman _souvenirs_ at +the shops in the Corso and the Via Condotti. Their selections are +principally from the cheap rosaries, coarse mosaics, and gilt +jewellery, and generally those articles of which a lot may be had for +a crown-piece. They care little for what is really good in its way; +all they want is something which can be bought nowhere but at Rome, +and which will serve to their descendants as the evidence of their +visit to the Eternal City. They haggle as if they were at market, and +yet, when they get back to the 'Minerva,' they wonder they have so +little to show for their money. + +If they took home nothing worse than their cheap rosaries, I should +not find fault with them; but they carry opinions and impressions. +Don't tell them of the abuses which swarm throughout the kingdom of +the Pope. They will bridle up, and answer that for their parts they +never saw a single one. As the surface of things is smooth, at least +in the best quarter of the town--the only quarter these good folks are +likely to have seen--they assume, as a matter of course, that all is +well. They have seen the Pope and the Cardinals in all their glory and +all their innocence at the Sistine Chapel; and of course it is not on +Easter Sunday, and in the eyes of the whole multitude, that Cardinal +Antonelli occupies himself with his business or his pleasures. When +Monsignore B---- dishonoured a young girl, who died of the outrage, +and then sent her affianced bridegroom to the galleys, he did not +select the Sistine Chapel as the theatre of his exploits. + +You must not attempt to extract pity for the Italian nation from these +foreign pilgrims of the Holy Week. The honest souls have marked the +uncultivated waste which extends from Civita Vecchia to Rome, and they +have at once inferred that the people are idle. They have been +importuned for alms by miserable-looking objects in the streets, and +they conclude that the lower class is a class of beggars. + +The cicerone who took them about, whispered some significant words in +their ears, and they are persuaded that every Italian is in the habit +of offering his wife or his daughter to foreigners. You would astonish +these profound observers immeasurably, if you were to tell them that +the Pope has three millions of subjects who in no way resemble the +Roman rabble. + +Thus it happens that the flying visitor, the superficial traveller, +the communicant of the Holy Week, the guest of the 'Minerva,' is a +ready-made foe to the nation, a natural defender of the clerical +government. + +As for the permanent foreign visitors, if they be men enervated by the +climate or by pleasure, indifferent to the fate of nations, strangers +to political chicane, they will, in the natural order of events, +become converted to the ideas of the Roman aristocracy, between a +quadrille and a cup of chocolate. + +If they be studious men, or men of action, sent for a specific object, +charged to unravel certain mysteries, or to support certain +principles, their conversion will be undertaken in due form. + +I have seen officers, bold, frank, off-hand men, nowise suspected of +Jesuitism, who have allowed themselves to be gently carried away into +the by-paths of reaction by an invisible influence, until they have +been heard swearing, like pagans, against the enemies of the Pope. +Even our own generals, less easy to be caught, are sometimes laid hold +of. The Government cajoles them without loving them. + +No effort is spared to persuade them that all is for the best. The +Roman princes, who think themselves superior to all men, treat them +upon a footing of perfect equality. The Cardinals caress them. These +men in petticoats possess marvellous seductions, and are irresistible +in the art of wheedling. The Holy Father himself converses now with +one, now with the other, and addresses each as "My dear General!" A +soldier must be very ungrateful, very badly taught, and have fallen +off sadly from the old French chivalry, if he refuses to let himself +be killed at the gates of the Vatican where his vanity has been so +charmingly tickled. + +Our ambassadors, too, are resident foreigners, exposed to the personal +flatteries of Roman society. Poor Count de Rayneval! He was so petted, +and cajoled, and deceived, that he ended by penning the _Note_ of the +14th of May, 1856. + +His successor, the Duke de Gramont, is not only an accomplished +gentleman, but a man of talent, with a highly cultivated mind. The +Emperor sent him from Turin to Rome, so it was to be expected that the +Pontifical Government would appear to him doubly detestable, first, +from its own defects, and then by comparison with what he had just +quitted. I had the honour of conversing with this brilliant young +diplomatist, shortly after his arrival, when the Roman people expected +a great deal of him. I found him opposed to the ideas of the Count de +Rayneval, and very far from disposed to countersign the _Note_ of the +14th of May. Nevertheless, he was beginning to judge the +administration of the Cardinals, and the grievances of the people, +with something more than diplomatic impartiality. If I were to express +what appeared to be his opinion, in common parlance, I should say he +would have put the governors and the governed in a bag together. I +would wager that, three months afterwards, the bag would contain none +but the governed, and that he would think it only fit to be flung into +the water. Such is the influence of ecclesiastical cajoleries over +even the most gifted minds. + +What can the Romans hope from our diplomacy, when they see one of the +most notorious lacqueys of the Pontifical coterie lording it at the +French Embassy? The name of the upright man I allude to is Lasagni; +his business is that of a consistorial advocate; we pay him for +deceiving us. He is known for a _Nero_,--that is, a fanatical +reactionist. The secretaries of the embassy despise him, and yet are +familiar with him; tell him they know he is going to lie, and yet +listen to what he says. He smirks, bends double, pockets his money and +laughs at us in his sleeve. Verily, friend Lasagni, you are quite +right! But I regret the eighteenth century--there were then such +things as canes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE. + + +The Counsellor de Brosses, who wished no harm to the Pope, wrote in +1740:--"The Papal Government, although in fact the worst in Europe, is +at the same time the mildest." + +The Count de Tournon, an honest man, an excellent economist, a +Conservative as to all existing powers, and a judge rather too much +prejudiced in favour of the Popes, said, in 1832:-- + + "From this concentration of the powers of pontiff, bishop, + and sovereign, naturally arises the most absolute authority + possible over temporal affairs; but the exercise of this + authority, tempered by the usages and forms of government, + is even still more so by the virtues of the Pontiffs who for + many years have filled the chair of St. Peter; so that this + most absolute of governments is exercised with extreme + mildness. The Pope is an elective sovereign; his States are + the patrimony of Catholicism, because they are the pledge of + the independence of the chief of the faithful, and the + reigning Pope is the supreme administrator, the guardian of + this domain." + +Finally, the Count de Rayneval, the latest and least felicitous +apologist of the Papacy, made in 1856 the following admissions:-- + + "_Not long ago_ the ancient traditions of the Court of Rome + were faithfully observed. All modifications of established + usages, all improvements, even material, were viewed with an + evil eye, and seemed full of danger. Public affairs were + exclusively managed by prelates. The higher posts in the + State were by law interdicted to laymen. In practice the + different powers were often confounded. The principle of + pontifical infallibility was applied to administrative + questions. The personal decision of the Sovereign had been + known to reverse the decision of the tribunals, even in + civil matters. The Cardinal Secretary of State, first + minister in the fullest extent of the term, concentred in + his own hands all the powers of the State. Under his supreme + direction the different branches of the administration were + confided to clerks rather than ministers. These neither + formed a council, nor deliberated together upon the affairs + of the State. The public finances were administered in the + most profound secrecy. No information was communicated to + the nation as to the mode in which its revenues were spent. + Not only did the budget remain a mystery, but it was + afterwards discovered that the accounts were frequently not + made up and balanced. Lastly, municipal liberties, which are + appreciated above all others by the Italians, and which more + particularly respond to their real tendencies, had been + submitted to the most restrictive measures. _But from the + day on which Pope Pius IX. ascended the throne_" etc. etc. + +Thus we find that the _not long ago_ of the Count de Rayneval is an +exact date. It means, in good French, "before the election of Pius +IX.," or again, "up to the 16th of June, 1846." + +Thus also M. de Brosses, if he could have returned to Rome in 1846, +would have found there, by the admission of the Count de Rayneval +himself, the worst government in Europe. + +And thus the most absolute of governments, as M. de Tournon calls it, +still existed in Rome in 1846. + +Up to the 16th of June, 1846, Catholicity owned the six millions of +acres of which the Roman territory consists; the Pope was the +administrator, the guardian, the steward; and the citizens of the +State seem to have been the ploughmen. + +Up to this era of deliverance, a systematic despotism had deprived the +subjects of the Pope, not only of all participation in public affairs, +but of the simplest and most legitimate liberties, of the most +innocuous progress, and even--I shudder as I write it--of recourse to +the laws. The whim of one man had arbitrarily reversed the decisions +of the courts of law. And lastly, an incapable and disorderly caste +had wasted the public finances without rendering an account to any +one, occasionally even without rendering it to themselves. All these +statements must be believed, because it is the Count de Rayneval who +makes them. + +Before proceeding, I maintain that this state of things, now admitted +by the apologists of the Papacy, justifies all the discontent of the +subjects of the Pope, all their complaints, all their recriminations, +all their outbreaks previous to 1846. + +But let me ask this question. Is it true that, since 1846, the Papal +Government has ceased to be the worst in Europe? + +If you can show me a worse, I will go and announce the discovery at +Rome, and I rather fancy I shall considerably astonish the Romans. + +Is the absolute authority of the Papacy limited in any way but by the +individual virtues of the Pope? No. + +Does the Constitution of 1848, or the _Motu Proprio_ of 1849, set +limits to this authority? No. The first has been torn up, the second +never observed. + +Has the Pope renounced his title of administrator, or irresponsible +guardian of the patrimony of Catholicism? Never. + +Is the management of public affairs exclusively in the hand of +prelates? As much so as ever. + +Are the higher posts in the State still by law interdicted to laymen? +Not by law, but in fact they are. + +Are the different powers still confounded in practice? More so than +they ever were. The governors of cities act as judges, and the bishops +as public administrators. + +Has the Pope abandoned any portion of his infallibility as to worldly +matters? None whatever. + +Has he deprived himself of the right of overruling the decisions of +the Courts of Appeal? No. + +Has the Cardinal Secretary of State ceased to be a reigning Minister? +He reigns as absolutely as ever; and the other ministers are more like +footmen than clerks to him. They may be seen any morning waiting in +his antechamber. + +Is there a Council of Ministers? Yes, whereat the Ministers attend to +receive the Cardinal's orders. + +Are the public finances publicly administered? No. + +Does the nation vote the taxes, or are they taken from the nation? The +old system still exists. + +Are municipal liberties at all extended? They were greater in 1816 +than they are at present. + +At the present day, as in the days of the most extreme pontifical +despotism, the Pope is all in all; he has all; he can do all; he +exercises a perpetual dictatorship, without control or limit. + +I own no systematic aversion to the exceptional exercise of a +dictatorship. The ancient Romans knew its value, often had recourse to +it, and derived benefit from it. When the enemy was at the gates, and +the Republic in danger, the Senate and the people, usually so +suspicious, placed all their rights in the hands of one man, and +cried, "Save us!" Some grand dictatorships are to be found in the +history of all times and all peoples. If we examine the different +stages of humanity, we shall find almost at every one a dictator. One +dictatorship created the unity of France, another its military +greatness, and a third its prosperity in peace. Benefits so important +as these, which nations cannot acquire alone, are well worth the +temporary sacrifice of every liberty. A man of genius, who is at the +same time an honest man, and who becomes invested with a boundless +authority, is almost a God upon earth. + +But the duties of the dictator are in exact proportion to the extent +of his powers. A parliamentary sovereign, who walks in a narrow path +traced out by two Chambers, and who hears discussed in the morning +what he is to do in the evening, is almost innocent of the faults of +his reign. On the contrary, the less a dictator is responsible for his +actions by the terms of the Constitution, the more does he become so +in the eyes of posterity. History will reproach him for the good he +has failed to do, when he could do everything; and his omissions will +be accounted to him for crimes. + +I will add, that under no circumstances should the dictatorship last +long. Not only would it be an absurdity to attempt to make it +hereditary, but the man who should think of exercising it perpetually +would be insane. A sick patient allows himself to be bound by the +surgeon who is about to save his life; but when the operation is over +he demands to be set at liberty. Nations act in a like manner. From +the day when the benefits conferred by the master cease to compensate +for the loss of liberty, the nation demands the restoration of its +rights, and a wise dictator will comply with the demand. + +I have often conversed in the Papal States with enlightened and +honourable men, who rank as the heads of the middle class. They have +said to me almost unanimously:-- + + "If a man were to drop down from Heaven among us with + sufficient power to cut to the root of abuses, to reform the + administration, to send the priests to church and the + Austrians to Vienna, to promulgate a civil code, make the + country healthy, restore the plains to cultivation, + encourage manufactures, give freedom to commerce, construct + railways, secularize education, propagate modern ideas, and + put us into a condition to bear comparison with the most + enlightened countries in Europe, we would fall at his feet, + and obey him as we do God. You are told that we are + ungovernable. Give us but a prince capable of governing, and + you shall see whether we will haggle about the conditions of + power! Be he who he may, and come he whence he may, he shall + be absolutely free to do what he chooses, so long as there + is anything to be done. All we ask is, that when his task is + accomplished, he shall let us share the power with him. Rest + assured that even then we shall give him good measure. The + Italians are accommodating, and are not ungrateful. But ask + us not to support this everlasting, do-nothing, tormenting, + ruinous dictatorship, which a succession of decrepit old men + transmit from one to another. Nor do they even exercise it + themselves; but each in his turn, too weak to govern, + hastens to shift a burden which overpowers him, and delivers + us, bound hand and foot, to the worst of his Cardinals!" + +It is too true that the Popes do not themselves exercise their +absolute power. If the _White Pope_, or the Holy Father, governed +personally, we might hope, with a little aid from the imagination, +that a miracle of grace would make him walk straight. He is rarely +very capable or very highly educated: but as the statue of the +Commendatore said, "He who is enlightened by Heaven wants no other +light." Unfortunately the _White Pope_ transfers his political +functions to a _Red Pope_, that is to say, an omnipotent and +irresponsible Cardinal, under the name of a Secretary of State. This +one man represents the sovereign within and without,--speaks for him, +acts for him, replies to foreigners, commands his subjects, expresses +the Pope's will, and not unfrequently imposes his own upon him. + +This second-hand dictator has the best reasons in the world for +abusing his power. If he could hope to succeed his master, and wear +the crown in his turn, he might set an example, or make a show, of all +the virtues. But it is impossible for a Secretary of State to be +elected Pope. Not only is custom opposed to it, but human nature +forbids it. Never will the Cardinals in conclave assembled agree among +one another to crown the man who has ruled them all during a reign. +Old Lambruschini had taken all his measures to secure his election. +There were very few Cardinals who had not promised him their voices, +and yet it was Pius IX. who ascended the throne. The illustrious +Consalvi, one of the great statesmen of our age, made the same attempt +with as little success. After such instances it is clear that Cardinal +Antonelli has no chance of attaining the tiara; and therefore no +interest in doing good. + +If he could at least hope that the successor of Pius IX. would retain +him in his functions, he might observe a little caution. But it has +never yet happened that the same Secretary of State has reigned under +two Popes. Such an event never will occur, because it never has +occurred. We are in a land where the future is the very humble servant +of the past. Tradition absolutely requires that a new Pope should +disgrace the favourite of his predecessor, by way of initiating his +Papacy with a stroke of popularity. + +Thus every Secretary of State is duly warned that whenever his master +takes the road heavenward, he must become lost again in the common +herd of the Sacred College. He feels, therefore, that he ought to make +the best possible use of his time. + +He has, moreover, the comfortable assurance that after his disgrace, +he will not be called upon for any account of his past deeds; for the +least of the Cardinals is as inviolable as the twelve Apostles. +Surely, then, he would be a fool to refuse anything while he has the +power to take it. + +This is the place to sketch, in a few pages, the portraits of the two +men,--one of whom possesses, and the other exercises, the dictatorship +over three millions of unfortunate beings. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PIUS IX. + + +Old age, majesty, and misfortune have a claim to the respect of all +right-minded persons: fear not that I shall be wanting in such +respect. + +But truth has also its claims: it also is old, it is majestic, it is +holy, and it is sometimes cruelly ill-treated by men. + +I shall not forget that the Pope is sixty-seven years of age, that he +wears a crown officially venerated by a hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics, that his private life has ever been exemplary, +that he observes the most noble disinterestedness upon a throne where +selfishness has long held sway, that he spontaneously commenced his +reign by conferring benefits, that his first acts held out the fairest +hopes to Italy and to Europe, that he has suffered the lingering +torture of exile, that he exercises a precarious and dependent royalty +under the protection of two foreign armies, and that he lives under +the control of a Cardinal. But those who have fallen victims to the +efforts made to replace him on his throne, those whom the Austrians +have, at his request, shot and sabred, in order to re-establish his +authority, and even those who toil in the plague-stricken plains of +the Roman Campagna to fill his treasury, are far more to be pitied +than he is. + +Giovanni-Maria, dei Conti Mastai Ferretti, born the 13th May, 1792, +and elected Pope the 16th June, 1846, under the name of Pius IX., is a +man who looks more than his actual age; he is short, obese, somewhat +pallid, and in precarious health. His benevolent and sleepy +countenance breathes good-nature and lassitude, but has nothing of an +imposing character. Gregory XVI., though ugly and pimply, is said to +have had a grand air. + +Pius IX. plays his part in the gorgeous shows of the Roman Catholic +Church indifferently well. The faithful who have come from afar to see +him perform Mass, are a little surprised to see him take a pinch of +snuff in the midst of the azure-tinted clouds of incense. In his hours +of leisure he plays at billiards for exercise, by order of his +physicians. + +He believes in God. He is not only a good Christian, but a devotee. In +his enthusiasm for the Virgin Mary, he has invented a useless dogma, +and disfigured the Piazza di Spagna by a monument of bad taste. His +morals are pure, as they always have been, even when he was a young +priest: such instances are common enough among our clergy, but rare, +not to say miraculous, beyond the Alps. + +He has nephews, who, wonderful to relate, are neither rich nor +powerful, nor even princes. And yet there is no law which prevents him +from spoiling his subjects for the benefit of his family. Gregory +XIII. gave his nephew Ludovisi £160,000 of good paper, worth so much +cash. The Borghese family bought at one stroke ninety-five farms with +the money of Paul V. A commission which met in 1640, under the +presidence of the Reverend Father Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits, +decided, in order to put an end to such abuses, that the Popes should +confine themselves to entailing property to the amount of £16,000 a +year upon their favourite nephew and his family (with the right of +creating a second heir to the same privileges), and that the portion +of each of their nieces should not exceed £36,000. + +I am aware that nepotism fell into desuetude at the commencement of +the eighteenth century; but there was nothing to prevent Pius IX. from +bringing it into fashion again, after the example of Pius VI., if he +chose; but he does not choose to do so. His relations are of the +second order of nobility, and are not rich: he has done nothing to +alter their position. His nephew, Count Mastai Ferretti, was recently +married; and the Pope's wedding present consisted of a few diamonds, +worth about £8000. Nor did this modest gift cost the nation one +baioccho. The diamonds came from the Sovereign of Turkey. Some ten +years ago the Sultan of Constantinople, the Commander of the Faithful, +presented the commander of the unfaithful with a saddle embroidered +with precious stones. The travellers in the restoring line, who used +to flock to Gaeta and Portici, carried off a great number of them in +their bags; what they left are in the casket of the young Countess +Ferretti. + +The character of this respectable old man, is made up of devotion, +simplicity, vanity, weakness, and obstinacy, with an occasional touch +of rancour. He blesses with unction, and pardons with difficulty; he +is a good priest, and an insufficient king. + +His intellect, which has raised such great hopes, and caused such +cruel disappointment, is of a very ordinary capacity. I can hardly +think he is infallible in temporal matters. His education is that of +the average of cardinals in general. He talks French pretty well. + +The Romans formed an exaggerated opinion of him at his accession, and +have done so ever since. In 1847, when he honestly manifested a desire +to do good, they called him a great man, whereas in point of fact he +was simply a worthy man who wished to act better than his predecessors +had done, and thereby to win some applause from Europe. In 1859, he +passes for a violent re-actionist, because events have discouraged his +good intentions: and above all, because Cardinal Antonelli, who +masters him by fear, violently draws him backwards. I consider him as +meriting neither past admiration nor present hatred. I pity him for +having loosened the rein upon his people, without possessing the +firmness requisite to restrain them seasonably. I pity still more that +infirmity of character which now allows more evil to be done in his +name than he has ever himself done good. + +The failure of all his enterprises, and three or four accidents which +happened in his presence, have given rise to the popular belief that +the Vicar of Jesus Christ is what the Italians call _jettatore_--in +other words, that he has the _evil eye_. When he drives along the +Corso, the old women fall down on their knees, but they snap their +fingers at him beneath their cloaks. + +The members of the Italian secret societies impute to him--though for +other reasons--all the evils which afflict their country. It is +evident that the Italian question would be greatly simplified, if +there were no Pope at Rome; but the hatred of the Mazzinists against +Pius IX. is to be condemned in all its personal aspects. They would +kill him to a certainty, if our troops were not there to defend him. +This murder would be as unjust as that of Louis XVI., and as useless. +The guillotine would deprive a good old man of his life, but it would +not put an end to the bad principle of sacerdotal monarchy. + +I did not seek an audience of Pius IX.; I neither kissed his hand nor +his slipper; the only mark of attention I received from him was a few +lines of insult in the _Giornale di Roma_. Still, I never can hear him +accused without defending him. + +Let my readers for a moment put themselves in the place of this too +illustrious and too unfortunate old man. After having been for nearly +two years the favourite of public opinion, and the _lion_ of Europe, +he found himself obliged to quit the Quirinal palace at a moment's +notice. At Gaeta and Portici he tasted those lingering hours which +sour the spirit of the exile. A grand and time-honoured principle, of +which the legitimacy is not doubtful to him, was violated in his +person. His advisers unanimously said to him: + + "It is your own fault. You have endangered the monarchy by + your ideas of progress. The immobility of governments is the + _sine quâ non_ of the stability of thrones. You will not + doubt this, if you read again the history of your + predecessors." + +He had had time to become converted to this belief, when the armies of +the Catholic powers once more opened for him the road to Rome. +Overjoyed at seeing the principle saved, he vowed to himself never +again to compromise it, but to reign without progress, according to +papal tradition. But these very foreign powers who had saved his +crown, were the first to impose on him the condition of advancing! +What was to be done? He was equally afraid to promise everything, and +to refuse everything. After a long hesitation, he promised in spite of +himself; then he absolved himself, for the sake of the future, from +the engagements he had made for the sake of the present. + +Now he is out of humour with his people, with the French, and with +himself. He knows the nation is suffering, but he allows himself to be +persuaded that the misfortunes of the nation are indispensable to the +safety of the Church. Those about him take care that the reproaches of +his conscience shall be stifled by the recollections of 1848 and the +dread of a new revolution. He stops his eyes and his ears, and +prepares to die calmly between his furious subjects on one hand, and +his dissatisfied protectors on the other. Any man wanting in energy, +placed as he is, would behave exactly in the same manner. The fault is +not his, it is that of weakness and old-age. + +But I do not undertake to obtain the acquittal of his Minister of +State, Cardinal Antonelli. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ANTONELLI. + + +He was born in a den of thieves. His native place, Sonnino, is more +celebrated in the history of crime than all Arcadia in the annals of +virtue. This nest of vultures was hidden in the southern mountains, +towards the Neapolitan frontier. Roads, impracticable to mounted +dragoons, winding through brakes and thickets; forests, impenetrable +to the stranger; deep ravines and gloomy caverns,--all combined to +form a most desirable landscape, for the convenience of crime. The +houses of Sonnino, old, ill-built, flung pell-mell one, upon the +other, and almost uninhabitable by human beings, were, in point of +fact, little else than depots of pillage and magazines of rapine. The +population, alert and vigorous, had for many centuries practised armed +robbery and depredation, and gained its livelihood at the point of the +carbine. New-born infants inhaled contempt of the law with the +mountain air, and drew in the love of others' goods with their +mothers' milk. Almost as soon as they could walk, they assumed the +_cioccie_, or mocassins of untanned leather, with which they learned +to run fearlessly along the edge of the giddiest mountain precipices. +When they had acquired the art of pursuing and escaping, of taking +without being taken, the knowledge of the value of the different +coins, the arithmetic of the distribution of booty, and the principles +of the rights of nations as they are practised among the Apaches or +the Comanches, their education was deemed complete. They required no +teaching to learn how to apply the spoil, and to satisfy their +passions in the hour of victory. + +In the year of grace 1806, this sensual, brutal, impious, +superstitious, ignorant, and cunning race endowed Italy with a little +mountaineer, known as Giacomo Antonelli. + +Hawks do not hatch doves. This is an axiom in natural history which +has no need of demonstration. Had Giacomo Antonelli been gifted at his +birth with the simple virtues of an Arcadian shepherd, his village +would have instantly disowned him. But the influence of certain events +modified his conduct, although they failed to modify his nature. His +infancy and his childhood were subjected to two opposing influences. +If he received his earliest lessons from successful brigandage, his +next teachers were the gendarmerie. When he was hardly four years old, +the discharge of a high moral lesson shook his ears: it was the French +troops who were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonnino. After +the return of Pius VII. he witnessed the decapitation of a few +neighbouring relatives who had often dandled him on their knees. Under +Leo XII. it was still worse. Those wholesome correctives, the wooden +horse and the supple-jack, were permanently established in the village +square. About once a fortnight the authorities rased the house of some +brigand, after sending his family to the galleys, and paying a reward +to the informer who had denounced him. St. Peter's Gate, which adjoins +the house of the Antonellis, was ornamented with a garland of human +heads, which eloquent relics grinned dogmatically enough in their iron +cages. If the stage be a school of life, surely such a stage as this +is a rare teacher. Young Giacomo was enabled to reflect upon the +inconveniences of brigandage, even before he had tasted its sweets. +About him some men of progress had already engaged in industrial +pursuits of a less hazardous nature than robbery. His own father, who, +it was whispered, had in him the stuff of a Grasparone or a Passatore, +instead of exposing himself upon the highways, took to keeping +bullocks, he then became an Intendant, and subsequently was made a +Municipal Receiver; by which occupations he acquired more money at +considerably less risk. + +The young Antonelli hesitated for some time as to the choice of a +calling. His natural vocation was that of the inhabitants of Sonnino +in general, to live in plenty, to enjoy every sort of pleasure, to +make himself at home everywhere, to be dependent upon nobody, to rule +others, and to frighten them, if necessary, but, above all, to violate +the laws with impunity. With the view of attaining so lofty an end +without exposing his life, for which he ever had a most particular +regard, he entered the great seminary of Rome. + +In our land of scepticism, a young man enters the seminary with the +hope of being ordained a priest: Antonelli entered it with the +opposite intention. But in the capital of the Catholic Church, young +Levites of ordinary intelligence become magistrates, prefects, +councillors of state, and ministers, while the "dry fruit[6] is +thought good enough for making priests." + +Antonelli so distinguished himself, that (with Heaven's help) he +escaped the sacrament of Ordination. He has never said mass: he has +never confessed a penitent; I won't swear he has even confessed +himself. He gained what was of more value than all the Christian +virtues--the friendship of Gregory XVI. He became a prelate, a +magistrate, a prefect, Secretary General of the Interior, and Minister +of Finance. No one can say he has not chosen the right path. A finance +minister, if he knows anything of his business, can lay by more money +in six months than all the brigands of Sonnino in twenty years. + +Under Gregory XVI. he had been a reactionist, to please his sovereign. +On the accession of Pius IX., for the same reason, he professed +liberal ideas. A red hat and a ministerial portfolio were the +recompense of his new convictions, and proved to the inhabitants of +Sonnino that liberalism itself is more lucrative than brigandage. What +a practical lesson for those mountaineers! One of themselves clothed +in purple and fine linen, actually riding in his gilt coach, passed +the barracks, and their old friends the dragoons presenting arms, +instead of firing long shots at him! + +He obtained the same influence over the new Pope that he had over the +old one, thus proving that people may be got hold of without stopping +them on the highway. Pius IX., who had no secrets from him, confided +to him his wish to correct abuses, without concealing his fear of +succeeding too well. He served the Holy Father, even in his +irresolutions. As President of the Supreme Council of State, he +proposed reforms, and as Minister he postponed their adoption. Nobody +was more active than he, whether in settling or in violating the +constitution of 1848. He sent Durando to fight the Austrians, and +disavowed him after the battle. + +He quitted the ministry as soon as he found there were dangers to be +encountered, but assisted the Pope in his secret opposition to his +ministers. The murder of Count Rossi gave him serious cause for +reflection. A man don't take the trouble to be born at Sonnino, in +order to let himself be assassinated: quite the contrary. He placed +the Pope--and himself--in safety, and then went to Gaeta to play the +part of Secretary of State _in partibus_. + +From this exile dates his omnipotence over the will of the Holy +Father, his reinstatement in the esteem of the Austrians, and the +consistency in his whole conduct. Since then no more contradictions in +his political life. They who formally accused him of hesitating +between the welfare of the nation and his own personal interest are +reduced to silence. He wishes to restore the absolute power of the +Pope, in order that he may dispose of it at his ease. He prevents all +reconciliation between Pius IX. and his subjects; he summons the +cannon of Catholicism to effect the conquest of Rome. He ill-uses the +French, who are willing to die for him; he turns a deaf ear to the +liberal counsels of Napoleon III.; he designedly prolongs the exile of +his master; he draws up the promises of the _Motu Proprio_, while +devising means to elude them. At length, he returns to Rome, and for +ten years continues to reign over a timid old man and an enslaved +people, opposing a passive resistance to all the counsels of diplomacy +and all the demands of Europe. Clinging tenaciously to power, reckless +as to the future, misusing present opportunities, and day by day +increasing his fortune--after the manner of Sonnino. + +In this year of grace 1859, he is fifty-three years of age. He +presents the appearance of a well-preserved man. His frame is slight +and robust, and his constitution is that of a mountaineer. The breadth +of his forehead, the brilliancy of his eyes, his beak-like nose, and +all the upper part of his face inspire a certain awe. His countenance, +of almost Moorish hue, is at times lit up by flashes of intellect. But +his heavy jaw, his long fang-like teeth, and his thick lips express +the grossest appetites. He gives you the idea of a minister grafted on +a savage. When he assists the Pope in the ceremonies of the Holy Week +he is magnificently disdainful and impertinent. He turns from time to +time in the direction of the diplomatic tribune, and looks without a +smile at the poor ambassadors, whom he cajoles from morning to night. +You admire the actor who bullies his public. But when at an evening +party he engages in close conversation with a handsome woman, the play +of his countenance shows the direction of his thoughts, and those of +the imaginative observer are imperceptibly carried to a roadside in a +lonely forest, in which the principal objects are prostrate +postilions, an overturned carriage, trembling females, and a select +party of the inhabitants of Sonnino! + +He lives in the Vatican, immediately over the Pope. The Romans ask +punningly which is the uppermost, the Pope or Antonelli? + +All classes of society hate him equally. Concini himself was not more +cordially detested. He is the only living man concerning whom an +entire people is agreed. + +A Roman prince furnished me with some information respecting the +relative fortunes of the nobility. When he gave me the list he said, + + "You will remark the names of two individuals, the amount of + whose property is described as unlimited. They are Torlonia + and Antonelli. They have both made large fortunes in a few + years,--the first by speculation, the second by power." + +The Cardinals Altieri and Antonelli were one day disputing upon some +point in the Pope's presence. They flatly contradicted one another; +and the Pope inclined to the opinion of his Minister. "Since your +Holiness," said the noble Altieri, "accords belief to a _ciociari_[7] +rather than to a Roman prince, I have nothing to do but to withdraw." + +The Apostles themselves appear to entertain no very amicable feelings +towards the Secretary of State. The last time the Pope made a solemn +entry into his capital (I think it was after his journey to Bologna), +the Porta del Popolo and the Corso were according to custom hung with +draperies, behind which the old statues of St. Peter and St. Paul were +completely hidden. Accordingly the people were entertained by finding +the following dialogue appended to the corner of the street:-- + +_Peter to Paul_. "It seems to me, old fellow, that we are somewhat +forsaken here." + +_Paul to Peter_. "What would you have? We are no longer anything. +There is but James in the world now." + +I am aware that hatred proves nothing--even the hatred of Apostles. +The French nation, which claims to be thought just, insulted the +funeral procession of Louis XIV. It also occasionally detested Henri +IV. for his economy, and Napoleon for his victories. No statesman +should be judged upon the testimony of his enemies. The only evidence +we should admit either for or against him, is his public acts. The +only witnesses to which any weight should be attributed are the +greatness and the prosperity of the country he governs. + +Such an inquiry would, I fear, be ruinous to Antonelli. The nation +reproaches him with all the evils it has suffered for the last ten +years. The public wretchedness and ignorance, the decline of the arts, +the entire suppression of liberty, the ever-present curse of foreign +occupation,--all fall upon his head, because he alone is responsible +for everything. + +It may be alleged that he has at least served the reactionary party. I +much doubt it. What internal factions has he suppressed? Secret +societies have swarmed in Rome during his reign. What remonstrances +from without has he silenced? Europe continues to complain +unanimously, and day by day lifts up its voice a tone or two higher. +He has failed to reconcile one single party or one single power to the +Holy father. During his ten years' dictatorship, he has neither gained +the esteem of one foreigner nor the confidence of one Roman. All he +has gained is time. His pretended capacity is but slyness. To the +trickery of the present he adds the cunning of the red Indian; but he +has not that largeness of view without which it is impossible to +establish firmly the slavery of the people. No one possesses in a +greater degree than he the art of dragging on an affair, and +manoeuvring with and tiring out diplomatists; but it is not by +pleasantries of this sort that a tottering tyranny can be propped up. +Although he employs every subterfuge known to dishonest policy, I am +not quite sure that he has even the craft of a politician. + +The attainment of his own end does not in fact require it. For after +all, what is his end? In what hope, with what aim, did he come down +from the mountains of Sonnino? + +Do you really believe he thought of becoming the benefactor of the +nation?--or the saviour of the Papacy?--or the Don Quixote of the +Church? Not such a fool! He thought, first, of himself; secondly, of +his family. + +His family is flourishing. His four brothers, Filippo, Luigi, +Gregorio, and--save the mark!--Angelo, all wore the _cioccie_ in their +younger days; they now, one and all, wear the count's coronet. One is +governor of the bank, a capital post, and since poor Campana's +condemnation he has got the Monte di Pietà. Another is Conservator of +Rome, under a Senator especially selected for his incapacity. Another +follows openly the trape of a monopolist, with immense facilities for +either preventing or authorizing exportation, according as his own +warehouses happen to be full or empty. The youngest is the commercial +traveller, the diplomatist, the messenger of the family, _Angelus +Domini_. A cousin of the family, Count Dandini, reigns over the +police. This little group is perpetually at work adding to a fortune +which is invisible, impalpable, and incalculable. The house of +Antonelli is not pitied at Sonnino. + +As for the Secretary of State, all who know him intimately, both men +and women, agree that he leads a pleasant life. If it were not for the +bore of making head against the diplomatists, and giving audience +every morning, he would be the happiest of mountaineers. His tastes +are simple; a scarlet silk robe, unlimited power, an enormous fortune, +a European reputation, and all the pleasures within man's reach--this +trifle satisfies the simple tastes of the Cardinal Minister. Add, by +the bye, a splendid collection of minerals, perfectly classified which +he is constantly enriching with the passion of an amateur and the +tenderness of a father. + +I was saying just now that he has always escaped the sacrament of Holy +Orders. He is Cardinal Deacon. The good souls who will have it that +all goes well at Rome, dwell with fervour on the advantage he +possesses in not being a priest. If he is accused of possessing +inordinate wealth, these indulgent Christians reply, that he is not a +priest! If you charge him with having read Machiavelli to good +purpose; admitted--what then?--he is no priest! If the tongue of +scandal is over-free with his private life; still the ready reply, +that he is not a priest! If Deacons are thus privileged, what latitude +may we not claim who have not even assumed the tonsure? + +This highly-blest mortal has one weakness--truly a very natural one. +He fears death. A certain fair lady, who had been honoured by his +Eminence's particular attentions, thus illustrated the fact, + + "Upon meeting me at our rendezvous, he seized me like a + madman, and with trembling eagerness examined my pockets. It + was only when he had assured himself that I had no concealed + weapon about me that he seemed to remember our friendship." + +One man alone has dared to threaten a life so precious to itself, and +he was an idiot. Instigated by some of the secret societies, this poor +crazed wretch concealed himself beneath the staircase of the Vatican, +and awaited the coming of the Cardinal. When the intended victim +appeared, the idiot with much difficulty drew from beneath his +waistcoat--a table-fork! Antonelli saw the terrible weapon, and +bounded backwards with a spring which an Alpine chamois-hunter might +have envied. The miserable assassin was instantly seized, bound, and +delivered over to justice. The Roman tribunals, so often lenient +towards the really guilty, had no mercy for this real innocent. He was +beheaded. The Cardinal, full of pity, fell--officially--at the Pope's +feet, and asked for a pardon which he well knew would be refused. He +pays the widow a pension: is not this the act of a clever man? + +Since the day when that formidable fork glittered before his eyes, he +has taken excessive precautions. His horses are broken to gallop +furiously through the streets, at considerable public risk. +Occasionally, his carriage knocks down and runs over a little boy or +girl. With characteristic magnanimity, he sends the parents fifty +crowns. + +Antonelli has been compared to Mazarin. They have, in common, the fear +of death, inordinate love of money, a strong family feeling, utter +indifference to the people's welfare, contempt for mankind, and some +other accidental points of resemblance. They were born in the same +mountains, or nearly so. One obtained the influence over a woman's +heart which the other possesses over the mind of an old man. Both +governed unscrupulously, and both have merited and obtained the hatred +of their contemporaries. They have talked French comically, without +being insensible to any of the delicate niceties of the language. + +Still there would be manifest injustice in placing them in the same +rank. The selfish Mazarin dictated to Europe the treaties of +Westphalia, and the Peace of the Pyrenees: he founded by diplomacy the +greatness of Louis XIV., and managed the affairs of the French +monarchy, without in any way neglecting his own. + +Antonelli has made his fortune at the expense of the nation, the Pope, +and the Church. Mazarin may be compared to a skilful but rascally +tailor, who dresses his customers well, while he contrives to cabbage +sundry yards of their cloth; Antonelli, to those Jews of the Middle +Ages, who demolished the Coliseum for the sake of the old iron in the +walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT. + + +If the Pope were merely the head of the Roman Catholic Church; if, +limiting his action to the interior of temples, he would renounce the +sway over temporal matters about which he knows nothing, his +countrymen of Rome, Ancona, and Bologna might govern themselves as +people do in London or in Paris. The administration would be lay, the +laws would be lay, the nation would provide for its own wants with its +own revenues, as is the custom in all civilized countries. + +As for the general expenses of the Roman Catholic worship, which in +point of fact no more _specially_ concern the Romans than they do the +Champenois, a voluntary contribution made by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of men would amply provide for them. If each +individual among the faithful were to give a halfpenny _per annum_, +the head of the Church would have something like £300,000 to spend +upon his wax tapers and his incense, his choristers and his +sacristans, and the repairs of the basilica of St. Peter's. No Roman +Catholic would think of refusing his quota, because the Holy Father, +entirely separated from worldly interests, would not be in a position +to offend anybody. This small tax would, therefore, restore +independence to the Romans without diminishing the independence of the +Pope. + +Unfortunately the Pope is a king. In this capacity he must have a +Court, or something approaching to it. He selects his courtiers among +men of his own faith, his own opinions, and his own profession: +nothing can be more reasonable. These courtiers, in their turn, +dispose of the different offices of state, spiritual or temporal, just +as it may happen. Nor can the Sovereign object to this pretension as +being ridiculous. Moreover he naturally hopes to be more faithfully +served by priests than laymen; while he feels that the salaries +attached to the best-paid places are necessary to the splendour of his +Court. + +Thence it follows that to preach the secularization of the government +to the Pope, is to preach to the winds. Here you have a man who would +not be a layman, who pities laymen simply because they are laymen, +regarding them as a caste inferior to his own; who has received an +anti-lay education; who thinks differently to laymen on all important +points; and you expect this man will share his power with laymen, in +an empire where he is absolute master of all and everything! You +require him to surround himself with laymen, to summon them to his +councils, and to confide to them the execution of his behests! + +Supposing, however, that for some reason or other he fears you, and +wishes to humour you a little, see what he will do. He will seek in +the outer offices of his ministers some lay secretary, or assistant, +or clerk, a man without character or talent; he will employ him, and +take care that his incapacity shall be universally known and admitted. +After which, he will say to you sadly, "I have done what I could." But +if he were to speak the honest truth, he would at once say, "If you +wish to secularize anything, begin by putting laymen in _my_ place." + +It is not in 1859 that the Pope will venture to speak so haughtily. +Intimidated by the protection of France, deafened by the unanimous +complaints of his subjects, obliged to reckon with public opinion, he +declares that he has secularized everything. "Count my functionaries," +he says: + + "I have 14,576 laymen in my service. You have been told that + ecclesiastics monopolize the public service. Show me these + ecclesiastics! The Count de Rayneval looked for them, and + could find but ninety-eight; and even of those, the greater + part were not in priests' orders! Be assured we have long + since broken with the clerical _régime_. I myself decreed + the admissibility of laymen to all offices but one. In order + to show my sincerity, for some time I had lay ministers! I + entrusted the finances to a mere accountant, the department + of justice to an obscure little advocate, and that of war to + a man of business who had been intendant to several + Cardinals. I admit that for the moment we have no laymen in + the Ministry; but my subjects may console themselves by + reflecting that the law does not prevent me from appointing + them. + + "In the provinces, out of eighteen prefects, I appointed + three laymen. If I afterwards substituted prelates for those + three, it was because the people loudly called for the + change. Is it my fault if the people respect nothing but the + ecclesiastical garb?" + +This style of defence may deceive some good easy folk; but I think if +I were Pope, or Secretary of State, or even a simple supporter of the +Pontifical administration, I should prefer telling the plain truth. +That truth is strictly logical, it is in conformity with the principle +of the Government; it emanates from the Constitution. Things are +exactly what they ought to be, if not for the welfare of the people, +at least for the greatness, security, and satisfaction of its temporal +head. + +The truth then is that all the ministers, all the prefects, all the +ambassadors, all the court dignitaries, and all the judges of the +superior tribunals, are ecclesiastics; that the Secretary of the +_Brevi_ and the _Memoriali_ the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +Council of State and the Council of Finances, the Director-General of +the Police, the Director of Public Health and Prisons, the Director of +the Archives, the Attorney-General of the Fisc, the President and the +Secretary of the _Cadastro_ the Agricultural President and Commission, +are _all ecclesiastics_. The public education is in the hands of +ecclesiastics, under the direction of thirteen Cardinals. All the +charitable establishments, all the funds applicable to the relief of +the poor, are the patrimony of ecclesiastical directors. Congregations +of Cardinals decide causes in their leisure hours, and the Bishops of +the kingdom are so many living tribunals. + +Why seek to conceal from Europe so natural an order of things? + +Let Europe rather be told what it did when it re-established a priest +on the throne of Rome. + +All the offices which confer power or profit belong first to the Pope, +then to the Secretary of State, then to the Cardinals, and lastly to +the Prelates. Everybody takes his share according to the hierarchical +order; and when all are satisfied, the crumbs of power are thrown to +the nation at large; in other words, the 14,596 places which no +ecclesiastic chooses to take, particularly the distinguished office of +_Guardia Campestre_, a sort of rural police. Nobody need wonder at +such a distribution of places. In the government of Rome, the Pope is +everything, the Secretary of State is almost everything, the Cardinals +are something, and the priests on the road to become something. The +_lay nation_, which marries and gives in marriage, and peoples the +State, is nothing--never will be anything. + +The word _prelate_ has fallen from my pen; I will pause a moment to +explain its precise meaning. Among us it is a title sufficiently +respected: at Rome it is far less so. We have no prelates but our +Archbishops and Bishops. When we see one of these venerable men +driving slowly out of his palace in an old-fashioned carriage drawn by +a single pair of horses, we know, without being told it, that he has +spent three-fourths of his existence in the exercise of the most +meritorious works. He said Mass in some small village before he was +made the cure of a canton. He has preached, confessed, distributed +alms to the poor, borne the viaticum to the sick, committed the dead +to their last narrow home. + +The Roman prelate is often a great hulking fellow who has just left +college, with the tonsure for his only sacrament. He is a Doctor of +something or other, he owns some property, more or less, and he enters +the Church as an amateur, to see if he can make something out of it. +The Pope gives him leave to style himself _Monsignore_, instead of +_Signore_, and to wear violet-coloured stockings. Clad in these he +starts on his road, hoping it may lead him to a Cardinal's hat. He +passes through the courts of law, or the administration, or the +domestic service of the Vatican, as the case may be. All these paths +lead in the right direction, provided the traveller pursuing them has +zeal, and professes a pious scorn for liberal ideas. The +ecclesiastical calling is by no means indispensable, but nothing can +be achieved without a good stock of retrograde ideas. The prelate who +should take the Emperor's letter to M. Edgar Ney seriously, would be, +in vulgar parlance, done for; the only course open to him would be--to +marry. At Paris, a man disappointed in ambition takes prussic acid; at +Rome, he takes a wife. + +Sometimes the prelate is a cadet of a noble house, one in which the +right to a red hat is traditional. Knowing this he feels that the +moment he puts on his violet stockings, he may order his scarlet ones. +In the meanwhile he takes his degrees, and profits by the occasion to +sow his wild oats. The Cardinals shut their eyes to his conduct, so he +does but profess wholesome ideas. Do what you please, child of +princes, so your heart be but clerical! + +Finally, it is not uncommon to find among the prelates some soldiers +of fortune, adventurers of the Church, who have been attracted from +their native land by the ambition of ecclesiastical greatness. This +corps of volunteers receives contingents from the whole Catholic +world. These gentlemen furnish some strange examples to the Roman +people; and I know more than one of them to whom mothers of families +would on no account confide the education of their children. It has +happened to me to have described in a novel[8] a prelate who richly +deserved a thrashing; the good folks of Rome have named to me three or +four whom they fancied they recognized in the portrait. But it has +never yet been known that any prelate, however vicious, has given +utterance to liberal ideas. A single word from a Roman prelate's lips +in behalf of the nation would ruin him. + +The Count de Rayneval has laboured hard to prove that prelates, who +have not received the sacrament of Ordination, form part of the lay +element. At this rate, a province should deem itself fortunate, and +think it has escaped priestly government, if its prefect is simply +tonsured. I cannot for the life of me see in what tonsured prelates +are more laymen than they are priests. I admit that they neither +follow the calling nor possess the virtues of the priesthood; but I +maintain that they have the ideas, the interests, the passions of the +ecclesiastical caste. They aim at the Cardinal's hat, when their +ambition does not soar to the tiara. Singular laymen, truly, and well +fitted to inspire confidence in a lay people! 'Twere better they +should become Cardinals; for then they would no longer have their +fortunes to make, and they would not be called upon to signalize their +zeal against the nation. + +For that is, unhappily, the state at which things have arrived. This +same ecclesiastical caste, so strongly united by the bonds of a +learned hierarchy, reigns as over a conquered country. It regards the +middle class,--in other words, the intelligent and laborious part of +the nation,--as an irreconcilable foe. The prefects are ordered, not +to govern the provinces, but to keep them in order. The police is +kept, not to protect the citizens, but to watch them. The tribunals +have other interests to defend than those of justice. The diplomatic +body does not represent a country, but a coterie. The educating body +has the mission not to teach, but to prevent the spread of +instruction. The taxes are not a national assessment, but an official +foray for the profit of certain ecclesiastics. Examine all the +departments of the public administration: you will everywhere find the +clerical element at war with the nation, and of course everywhere +victorious. + +In this state of things it is idle to say to the Pope, "Fill your +principal offices with laymen." You might as well say to Austria, +"Place your fortresses under the guard of the Piedmontese." The Roman +administration is what it must be. It will remain what it is as long +as there is a Pope on the throne. + +Besides, although the lay population still complains of being +systematically excluded from power, matters have reached such a point, +that an honest man of the middle class would think himself dishonoured +by accepting a high post. It would be said that he had deserted the +nation to serve the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +POLITICAL SEVERITY. + + +It is admitted that the Popes have always been remarkable for a senile +indulgence and goodness. I do not pretend to deny the assertions of M. +de Brosses and M. de Tournon that this government is at once the +mildest, the worst, and the most absolute in Europe. + +And yet Sixtus V., a great Pope, was a still greater executioner. That +man of God delivered over to the gallows a Pepoli of Bologna, who had +bestowed upon him a kick instead of a piece of bread when he was a +mendicant friar. + +And yet Gregory XVI., in our own times, granted a dispensation of age +to a minor for the sake of having him legally executed. + +And yet the punishment of the wooden horse was revived four years ago +by the mild Cardinal Antonelli. + +And yet the Pontifical State is the only one in Europe in which the +barbarous practice of placing a price upon a man's head is still in +use. + +Never mind. Since, after all, the Pontifical State is that in which +the most daring crimes and the most open assassinations have the +greatest chance of being committed with perfect impunity, I will +admit, with M. de Brosses and M. de Tournon, that it is the mildest in +Europe. I am about to examine with you the application of this +mildness to political matters. + +Nine years ago Pius IX. re-entered his capital, as the father of a +family his house, after having the door broken open. It is not likely +that either the Holy Father, or the companions of his exile, were +animated by very lively feelings of gratitude towards the chiefs of +the revolution which had driven them away. A priest never quite +forgets that he was once a man. + +This is why two hundred and eighty-three individuals[9] were excluded +from the general amnesty recommended by France and promised by the +Pope. It is unfortunate for these two hundred and eighty-three that +the Gospel is old, and forgiveness of injuries out of date. Perhaps +you will remind me that St. Peter cut off one of the ears of Malchus. + +By the clemency of the Pope, fifty-nine of these exiles were pardoned, +during a period of nine years, if men can be said to be pardoned who +are recalled provisionally, some for a year, others for half a year, +or who are brought home only to be placed under the surveillance of +the police. A man who is forbidden to exercise the calling to which he +was bred, and whose sole privilege is that of dying of starvation in +his native land, is likely rather to regret his exile sometimes. + +I was introduced to one of the fifty-nine privileged partakers of the +pontifical clemency. He is an advocate; at least he was until the day +when he obtained his pardon. He related to me the history of the +tolerably inoffensive part he had played in 1848; the hopes he had +founded on the amnesty; his despair when he found himself excluded +from it; some particulars of his life in exile, such, for instance, as +his having had recourse to giving lessons in Italian, like the +illustrious Manin, and so many others. + +"I could have lived happily enough," he said, + + "but one day the home-sickness laid my heart low; I felt + that I must see Italy, or die. My family took the necessary + steps, and it fortunately happened that we knew some one who + had interest with a Cardinal. The police dictated the + conditions of my return, and I accepted them without knowing + what they were. If they had told me I could not return + without cutting off my right arm, I would have cut it off. + The Pope signed my pardon, and then published my name in the + newspapers, so that none might be ignorant of his clemency. + But I am interdicted from resuming my practice at the Bar, + and a man can hardly gain a livelihood by teaching Italian + in a country where everybody speaks it." + +As he concluded, the neighbouring church-bells began to sound the _Ave +Maria_. He turned pale, seized his hat, and rushed out of my room, +exclaiming, "I knew not it was so late! Should the police arrive at my +house before I can reach it, I am a lost man!" + +His friends explained to me the cause of his sudden alarm: the poor +man is subject to the police regulation termed the _Precetto_. + +He must always return to his abode at sunset, and he is then shut in +till the next morning. The police may force their way in at any time +during the night, for the purpose of ascertaining that he is there. He +cannot leave the city under any pretence whatever, even in broad day. +The slightest infraction of these rules exposes him to imprisonment, +or to a new exile. + +The Pontifical States are full of men subject to the _Precetto_: some +are criminals who are watched in their homes, for want of prison +accommodation; others are _suspected persons_. The number of these +unfortunate beings is not given in the statistical tables, but I know, +from an official source, that in Viterbo, a town of fourteen thousand +souls, there are no less than two hundred. + +The want of prison accommodation explains many things, and, among +others, the freedom of speech which exists throughout the country. If +the Government took a fancy to arrest everybody who hates it openly, +there would be neither gendarmes nor gaolers enough; above all, there +would be an insufficiency of those houses of peace, of which it has +been said, that "their protection and salubrity prolong the life of +their inmates."[10] + +The citizens, then, are allowed to speak freely, provided always they +do not gesticulate too violently. But we may be sure no word is ever +lost in a State watched by priests. The Government keeps an accurate +list of those who wish it ill. It revenges itself when it can, but it +never runs after vengeance. It watches its occasion; it can afford to +be patient, because it thinks itself eternal. + +If the bold speaker chance to hold a modest government appointment, a +purging commission quietly cashiers him, and turns him delicately out +into the street. + +Should he be a person of independent fortune, they wait till he wants +something, as, for instance, a passport. One of my good friends in +Rome has been for the last nine years trying to get leave to travel. +He is rich and energetic. The business he follows is one eminently +beneficial to the State. A journey to foreign countries would complete +his knowledge, and advance his interests. For the last nine years he +has been applying for an interview with the head of the passport +office, and has never yet received an answer to his application. + +Others, who have applied for permission to travel in Piedmont, have +received for answer, "Go, but return no more." They have not been +exiled; there is no need of exercising unnecessary rigour; but on +receiving their passports, they have been compelled to sign an act of +voluntary exile. The Greeks said, "Not every one who will goes to +Corinth." The Romans have substituted Turin for Corinth. + +Another of my friends, the Count X., has been, for years, carrying on +a lawsuit before the infallible tribunal of the _Sacra Rota_. His +cause could not have been a bad one, seeing that he lost and gained it +some seven or eight times before the same judges. It assumed a +deplorably bad complexion from the day the Count became my friend. + +When once the discontented proceed from words to actions you may +indeed pity them. + +A person charged with a political offence summoned before the _Sacra +Consulta_ (for everything is holy and sacred, even justice and +injustice), must be defended by an advocate, not chosen by himself, +against witnesses whose very names are unknown to him. + +In the capital (and under the eyes of the French army) the extreme +penalty of the law is rarely carried out. The government is satisfied +with quietly suppressing people, by shutting them up in a fortress for +life. The state prisons are of two sorts, healthy and unhealthy. In +the establishment coming within the second category, perpetual +seclusion is certain not to be of very long duration. + +The fortress of Pagliano is one of the most wholesome. When I walked +through it there were two hundred and fifty prisoners, all political. +The people of the country told me that in 1856 these unfortunate men +had made an attempt at escape. Five or six had been shot on the roof +like so many sparrows. The remainder, according to the common law, +would be liable to the galleys for eight years; but an old ordinance +of Cardinal Lante was revived, by which, God willing, some of them may +be guillotined. + +It is, however, beyond the Apennines that the paternal character of +the Government is chiefly displayed. The French are not there, and the +Pope's reactionary police duty is performed by the Austrian army. The +law there is martial law. The prisoner is without counsel; his judges +are Austrian officers, his executioners Austrian soldiers. A man may +be beaten or shot because some gentleman in uniform happens to be in a +bad temper. A youth sends up a Bengal light,--the galleys for twenty +years. A woman prevents a smoker from lighting his cigar,--twenty +lashes. In seven years Ancona has witnessed sixty capital executions, +and Bologna a hundred and eighty. Blood flows, and the Pope washes his +hands of it. He did not sign the warrants. Every now and then the +Austrians bring him a man they have shot, just as a gamekeeper brings +his master a fox he has killed in the preserves. + +Perhaps I shall be told that this government of priests is not +responsible for the crimes committed in its service. + +We French have also experienced the scourge of a foreign occupation. +For some years soldiers who spoke not our language were encamped in +our departments. The king who had been forced upon us was neither a +great man nor a man of energy, nor even a very good man; and he had +left a portion of his dignity in the enemy's baggage-waggons. But +certain it is that, in 1817, Louis XVIII. would rather have come down +from his throne than have allowed his subjects to be legally shot by +Russians and Prussians. + +M. de Rayneval says, "The Holy Father has never failed to mitigate the +severity of judgments." + +I want to know in what way he has been enabled to mitigate these +Austrian fusillades. Perhaps he has suggested a coating of soft cotton +for the bullets. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. + + +The Roman State is the most radically Catholic in Europe, seeing that +it is governed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ himself. It is also the +most fertile in crimes of every description, and above all, of violent +crimes. So remarkable a contrast cannot escape observation. It is +pointed out daily. Conclusions unfavorable to Catholicism have even +been drawn from it; but this is a mistake. Let us not set down to +religion that which is the necessary consequence of a particular form +of government. + +The Papacy has its root in Heaven, not in the country. It is not the +Italian people who ask for a Pope,--it is Heaven that chooses him, the +Sacred College that nominates him, diplomacy that maintains him, and +the French army that imposes him upon the nation. The Sovereign +Pontiff and his staff constitute a foreign body, introduced into Italy +like a thorn into a woodcutter's foot. + +What is the mission of the Pontifical Government? To what end did +Europe bring Pius IX. from Gaeta to re-establish him at the Vatican? +Was it for the sake of giving three millions of men an active and +vigorous overseer? The merest brigadier of gendarmerie would have done +the work better. No; it was in order that the Head of the Church might +preside over the interests of religion from the elevation of a throne, +and that the Vicar of Jesus Christ might be surrounded with royal +splendour. The three millions of men who dwell in his States are +appointed by Europe to defray the expenses of his court. In point of +fact, we have given them to the Pope, not the Pope to them. + +On this understanding, the Pope's first duty is to say Mass at St. +Peter's for 139,000,000 of Roman Catholics; his second is to make a +dignified appearance, to receive company, to wear a crown, and to take +care it does not fall off his head. But it is a matter of perfect +indifference to him that his subjects brawl, rob, or murder one +another, so long as they don't attack either his Church or his +government. + +If we examine the question of the distribution of punishments in the +Papal States from this point of view, we shall see that papal justice +never strikes at random. + +The most unpardonable crimes in the eyes of the clergy are those which +are offensive to Heaven. Rome punishes sins. The tribunal of the +Vicariate sends a blasphemer to the galleys, and claps into goal the +silly fellow who refuses to take the Communion at Easter. Surely +nobody will charge the Head of the Church with neglecting his duty. + +I have told you how the Pope defends and will continue to defend his +crown, and I have no fear of your charging him with weakness. If +Europe ventured to allege that he suffers the throne on which it has +placed him to be shaken, the answer would be a list of the political +exiles and the prisoners of state, present and past--the living and +the dead. + +But the crimes and offences of which the natives are guilty towards +one another affect the Pope and his Cardinals very remotely. What +matters it to the successors of the Apostles that a few workmen and +peasants should cut one another's throats after Sunday Vespers? There +will always be enough of them left to pay the taxes. + +The people of Rome have long contracted some very bad habits. They +frequent taverns and wine-shops, and they quarrel over their liquor; +the word and the blow of other people is with them the word and the +knife. The rural population are as bad as the townspeople. Quarrels +between neighbours and relatives are submitted to the adjudication of +cold steel. Of course they would do better to go before the nearest +magistrate; but justice is slow in the States of the Church; lawsuits +cost money, and bribery is the order of the day; the judges are either +fools or knaves. So out with the knife! its decisions are swift and +sure. Giacomo is down: 'tis clear he was in the wrong. Nicolo is +unmolested: he must have been in the right. This little drama is +performed more than four times a day in the Papal States, as is proved +by the Government statistics of 1853. It is a great misfortune for the +country, and a serious danger for Europe. The school of the knife, +founded at Rome, establishes branches in foreign lands. We have seen +the holiest interests of civilization placed under the knife, and all +the honest people in the world, the Pope himself included, shuddered +at the sight. + +It would cost his Holiness very little trouble to snatch the knife +from the hands of his subjects. We don't ask him to begin over again +the education of his people, which would take time, or even to +increase the attractions of civil justice, so as to substitute +litigants for assassins. All we require of him is, that he should +allow criminal justice to dispose of some few of the worst characters +who throng to these evil haunts. But this very natural remedy would be +utterly repugnant to his notions. The tavern assassin is seldom a foe +to the Government. + +Not that the Pope absolutely refuses to let assassins be pursued; that +would be opposed to the practice of all civilized countries. But he +takes care that they shall always get a good start of their pursuers. +If they reach the banks of a river the pursuit ceases, lest they +should jump into the water and be drowned without confession and +absolution. If they seize hold of the skirts of a Capuchin Friar--they +are saved. If they get into a church, a convent, or a hospital--saved +again. If they do but set foot upon an ecclesiastical domain, or upon +a clerical property (of which there is to the amount of £20,000,000 in +the country), justice stands still, and lets them move on. A word from +the Pope would reform this abuse of the right of asylum, which is a +standing insult to civilization. On the contrary, he carefully +preserves it, in order to show that the privileges of the Church are +above the interests of humanity. This is both consistent and legal. + +Should the police get hold of a murderer by accident, and quite +unintentionally, he is brought up for trial. Witnesses of the crime +are sought, but never found. A citizen would consider himself +dishonoured if he were to give up his comrade to the natural enemy of +the nation. The murdered man himself, if he could be brought to life, +would swear he had seen nothing of the affair. The Government is not +strong enough to force the witnesses to say what they know, or to +protect them against the consequences of their depositions. This is +why the most flagrant crime can never be proved in the courts of +justice. + +Supposing even that a murderer lets himself be taken, that witnesses +give evidence against him, and that the crime be proved, even then the +tribunal hesitates to pronounce the sentence of death. + +The shedding of blood--legally--saddens a people; the Government has +no fault to find with the murderer, so he is sent to the galleys. He +is pretty comfortable there; public consideration follows him; sooner +or later he is certain to be pardoned, because the Pope, utterly +indifferent to his crime, finds it more profitable, and less +expensive, to turn him loose than to keep him. + +Put the worst possible case. Imagine a crime so glaring, so monstrous, +so revolting, that the judges, who happen to be the least interested +in the question, have been compelled to condemn the criminal to death. +You probably imagine that, for example's sake, he will be executed +while his crime is yet fresh in the popular recollection. Nothing of +the sort. He is cast into a dungeon and forgotten; they think it +probable he will die naturally there. In the month of July, 1858, the +prison of the small town of Viterbo contained twenty-two criminals +condemned to death, who were singing psalms while waiting for the +executioner. + +At length this functionary arrives; he selects one out of the lot and +decapitates him. The populace is moved to compassion. Tears are shed, +and the spectators cry out with one accord, "_Poveretto!_" The fact +is, his crime is ten years old. Nobody recollects what it was. He has +expiated it by ten years of penitence. Ten years ago his execution +would have conveyed a striking moral lesson. + +So much for the severity of penal justice. You would laugh if I were +to speak of its leniency. The Duke Sforza Cesarini murders one of his +servants for some act of personal disrespect. For example's sake, the +Pope condemns him to a month's retirement in a convent. + +Ah! if any sacrilegious hand were laid upon the holy ark; if a priest +were to be slain, a Cardinal only threatened, then would there be +neither asylum, nor galleys, nor clemency, nor delay. Thirty years ago +the murderer of a priest was hewn in pieces in the Piazza del Popolo. +More recently, as we have seen, the idiot who brandished his fork in +the face of Cardinal Antonelli, was beheaded. + +It is with highway robbery as with murder. I am induced to believe +that the Pontifical court would not wage a very fierce war with the +brigands, if those gentry undertook to respect its money and +despatches. The occasional stopping of a few travellers, the clearing +out of a carriage, and even the pillaging a country house, are neither +religious nor political scourges. The brigands are not likely to scale +either Heaven or the Vatican. + +Thus there is still good business to be done in this line, and +particularly beyond the Apennines, in those provinces which Austria +has disarmed and does not protect. The tribunal of Bologna faithfully +described the state of the country in a sentence of the 16th of June, +1856. + + "Of late years this province has been afflicted by + innumerable crimes of all sorts: robbery, pillage, attacks + upon houses, have occurred at all hours, and in all places. + The numbers of the malefactors have been constantly + increasing, as has their audacity, encouraged by impunity." + +Nothing is changed since the tribunal of Bologna spoke so forcibly. +Stories, as improbable as they are true, are daily related in the +country. The illustrious Passatore, who seized the entire population +of Forlimpopoli in the theatre, has left successors. The audacious +brigands who robbed a diligence in the very streets of Bologna, a few +paces from the Austrian barracks, have not yet wholly disappeared. In +the course of a tour of some weeks on the shores of the Adriatic, I +heard more than one disquieting report. Near Rimini the house of a +landed proprietor was besieged by a little army. In one place, all the +inmates of the goal walked off, arm-in-arm with the turnkeys; in +another a diligence came to grief just outside the walls of a city. If +any particular district was allowed to live in peace, it was because +the inhabitants subscribed and paid a ransom to the brigands. Five +times a week I used to meet the pontifical courier, escorted by an +omnibus full of gendarmes, a sight which made me shrewdly suspect the +country was not quite safe. + +But if the Government is too weak or too careless to undertake an +expedition against brigandage, and to purge the country thoroughly, it +sometimes avenges its insulted authority and its stolen money. When by +chance the Judges of Instruction are sent into the field, they do not +trifle with their work. Not only do they press the prisoners to +confess their crimes, but they press them in a thumbscrew! The +tribunal of Bologna confessed this fact, with compunction, in 1856, +alluding to the measures employed as _violenti e feroci_. + +But simple theft, innocent theft, the petty larceny of snuff-boxes and +pocket-handkerchiefs, the theft which seeks a modest alms in a +neighbour's pocket, is tolerated as paternally as mendicity. Official +statistics give the number of the beggars in Rome, I believe, somewhat +under the mark; it is a pity they fail to give the number of +pickpockets, who swarm through the city; this might easily have been +done, as their names are all known to the authorities. No attempt is +made to interfere with their operations: the foreign visitors are rich +enough to pay this small tax in favour of the national industry; +besides, it is not likely the pickpockets will ever make an attempt +upon the Pope's pocket-handkerchief. + +A Frenchman once caught hold of an elegantly dressed gentleman in the +act of snatching away his watch; he took him to the nearest post, and +placed him in the charge of the sergeant. "I believe your statement," +said the official, + + "for I know the man well, and so would you, if you were not + very new to the country. He is a Lombard; but if we were to + arrest all his fellows, our prisons would never be half + large enough. Be off, my fine fellow, and take better care + for the future!" + +Another foreigner was robbed in the Corso at midnight, on his return +from the theatre. All the consolation he got from the magistrate to +whom he complained was, "Sir, you were out at an hour when all honest +people should be in bed." + +A traveller was stopped between Rome and Civita Vecchia, and robbed of +all the money he had about him. When he reached Palo, he laid his +complaint before the political functionary who taxes travellers for +the trouble of fumbling with their passports. The observation of this +worthy man was, "What can you expect? the people are so very poor!" + +On the eve of the grand fêtes, however, all the riffraff are bound to +go to prison, lest the religious ceremonies should be disturbed by +evil-doers. They go of their own accord, as an amicable concession to +a paternal government: and if any professional thief were by chance to +absent himself, he would be politely sent for about midnight. But in +spite even of these vigilant measures, it is seldom that a Holy Week +goes by without a watch or two going astray; and to any complaint the +police would be sure to reply: + + "You must not blame us; we have taken every necessary + precaution against such accidents. We have got all the + thieves who are inscribed on our books under lock and key. + For any new comers we are not responsible." + +The following incident occurred while I was at Rome; it serves to +illustrate the pleasing fraternal tie which unites the magistrates +with the thieves. + +A former secretary to Monsignor Vardi, by name Berti, had a gold +snuff-box, which he prized highly, it having been given him by his +master. One day, crossing the Forum, he took out his snuff-box, just +in front of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and solaced himself +with a pinch of the contents. The incautious act had been marked by +one of the pets of the police. He had hardly returned the box to his +pocket ere he was hustled by some quoit-players, and knocked down. It +is needless to add, that, when he got up, the precious snuff-box was +gone. + +He mentioned the affair to a judge of his acquaintance, who at once +told him to set his mind at rest, adding, + + "Pass through the Forum again to-morrow. Ask for _Antonio_; + anybody will point him out to you; tell him you come from + me, and mention what you have lost. He will put you in the + way of getting it back." + +Berti did as he was desired; Antonio was soon found. He smiled +meaningly when the judge's name was mentioned, protested that he could +refuse him nothing, and immediately called out, "Eh! Giacomo!" + +Another bandit came out of the ruins, and ran up to his chief. + +"Who was on duty yesterday?" asked Antonio. + +"Pepe." + +"Is he here?" + +"No, he made a good day of it yesterday. He's drinking it out." + +"I can do nothing for your Excellency to-day," said Antonio. "Come +here to-morrow at the same hour, and I think you'll have reason to be +satisfied." + +Berti was punctual to the appointment. Signor Antonio, for fear of +being swindled, asked for an accurate description of the missing +article. This having been given, he at once produced the snuff-box. +"Your Excellency will please to pay me two scudi," he said; "I should +have charged you four, but that you are recommended to me by a +magistrate whom I particularly esteem." + +It would appear that all the Roman magistrates are not equally +estimable; at least to judge from what happened to the Marquis de +Sesmaisons. He was robbed of half-a-dozen silver spoons and forks. He +imprudently lodged a complaint with the authorities. Being asked for +an exact description of the stolen articles, he sent the remaining +half-dozen to speak for themselves to the magistrate who had charge of +the affair. It is chronicled that he never again saw either the first +or the second half-dozen! + +The malversations of public functionaries are tolerated so long as +they do not directly touch the higher powers. Officials of every +degree hold out their hands for a present. The Government rather +encourages the system than the reverse. It is just so much knocked off +the salaries. + +The Government even overlooks embezzlement of public money, provided +the guilty party be an ecclesiastic, or well affected to the present +order of things. The errors of friends are judged _en famille_. If a +Prelate make a mistake, he is reprimanded, and dismissed, which means +that his situation is changed for a better one. + +Monsignor N---- gets the holy house of Loretto into financial trouble. +The consequence is that Monsignor N---- is removed to Rome, and placed +at the head of the hospital of the Santo Spirito. Probably this is +done because the latter establishment is richer and more difficult to +get into financial trouble than the holy house of Loretto. + +Monsignor A---- was an Auditor of the Rota, and made a bad judge. He +was made a Prefect of Bologna. He failed to give satisfaction at +Bologna, and was made a Minister, and still remains so. + +If occasionally officials of a certain rank are punished, if even the +law is put in force against them with unusual vigour, rest assured the +public interest has no part in the business. The real springs of +action are to be sought elsewhere. Take as an example the Campana +affair, which created such a sensation in 1858. + +This unfortunate Marquis succeeded his father and his grandfather as +Director of the Monte di Pietà, or public pawnbroking establishment. +His office placed him immediately under the control of the Finance +Minister. It was that Minister's duty to overlook his acts, and to +prevent him from going wrong. + +Campana went curiosity mad. The passion of collecting, which has +proved the ruin of so many well-meaning people, drove him to his +destruction. He bought pictures, marbles, bronzes, Etruscan vases. He +heaped gallery on gallery. He bought at random everything that was +offered to him. Rome never had such a terrible buyer. He bought as +people drink, or take snuff, or smoke opium. When he had no more money +of his own left to buy with, he began to think of a loan. The coffers +of the Monte di Pietà were at hand: he would borrow of himself, upon +the security of his collection. The Finance Minister Galli offered no +difficulties. Campana was in favour at Court, esteemed by the Pope, +liked by the Cardinals; his principles were known, he had proved his +devotion to those in power. The Government never refuses its friends +anything. In short Campana was allowed to lend himself £4,000, for +which he gave security to a much larger amount. + +But the order by which the Minister gave him permission to draw from +the coffers of the Monte di Pietà was so loosely drawn up, that he was +enabled to take, without any fresh authority, a trifle of something +like £106,000. This he took between the 12th of April, 1854, and the +1st of December 1856, a period of nineteen months and a half. + +There was no concealment in the transaction; it certainly was +irregular, but it was not clandestine. Campana paid himself the +interest of the money he had lent himself. In 1856 he was paternally +reprimanded. He received a gentle rap over the knuckles, but there was +not the least idea of tying his hands. He stood well at Court. + +The unfortunate man still went on borrowing. They had not even taken +the precaution to close his coffers against himself. Between the 1st +of December, 1856, and the 7th of November, 1857, he took a further +sum of about £103,000. But he gave grand parties; the Cardinals adored +him; testimonies of satisfaction poured in upon him from all sides. + +The real truth is that a national pawnbroking establishment is of no +use to the Church, it is only required for the nation. Campana might +have borrowed the very walls of the building, without the Pontifical +Court meddling in the matter. + +Unluckily for him, the time came when it answered the purpose of +Antonelli to send him to the galleys. This great statesman had three +objects to gain by such a course. Firstly, he would stop the mouth of +diplomacy, and silence the foreign press, which both charged the Pope +with tolerating an abuse. Secondly, he would humiliate one of those +laymen who take the liberty to rise in the world without wearing +violet hose. Lastly, he should be able to bestow Campana's place upon +one of his brothers, the worthy and interesting Filippo Antonelli. + +He took a long time to mature his scheme, and laid his train silently +and secretly. He is not a man to take any step inconsiderately. While +Campana was going and coming, and giving dinners, and buying more +statues, in blissful ignorance of the lowering storm, the Cardinal +negotiated a loan at Rothschild's, made arrangements to cover the +deficit, and instructed the Procuratore Fiscale to draw up an +indictment for peculation. + +The accusation fell like a thunderbolt upon the poor Marquis. From his +palace to his prison was but a step. As he entered there, he rubbed +his eyes, and asked himself, ingenuously enough, whether this move was +not all a horrible dream. He would have laughed at any one who had +told him he was seriously in danger. He charged with peculation! Out +upon it! Peculation meant the clandestine application by a public +officer of public funds to his private profit: whereas he had taken +nothing clandestinely, and was ruined root and branch. So he quietly +occupied himself in his prison by writing sonnets, and when an artist +came to pay him a visit, he gave him an order for a new work. + +In spite of the eloquent defence made in his behalf by a young +advocate, the tribunal condemned him to twenty years' hard labour. At +this rate, the Minister who had allowed him to borrow the money should +certainly have been beheaded. But the lambs of the clergy don't eat +one another. + +The advocate who had defended Campana was punished for having pleaded +too eloquently, by being forbidden to practise in Court for three +months. + +You may imagine that this cruel sentence cast a stigma upon Campana. +Not a bit of it. The people, who have often experienced his +generosity, regard him as a martyr. The middle class despises him much +less than it does many a yet unpunished functionary. His old friends +of the nobility and of the Sacred College often shake him by the hand. +I have known Cardinal Tosti, at once his gaoler and his friend, let +him have the use of his private kitchen. + +Condemnations are a dishonour only in countries where the judges are +honoured. All the world knows that the pontifical magistrates are not +instruments of justice, but tools of power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TOLERANCE. + + +If crimes against Heaven are those which the Church forgives the +least, every man who is not even nominally a Catholic, is of course in +the eyes of the Pope a rogue and a half. + +These criminals are very numerous: the geographer Balbi enumerates +some six hundred millions of them on the surface of the globe. The +Pope continues to damn them all conformably with the tradition of the +Church; but he has given up levying armies to make war upon them here +below. + +Things are improved when we daily find the Head of the Roman Catholic +Church in friendly intercourse with the foes of his religion. He +partakes of the liberality of a Mussulman Prince; he receives a +schismatic Empress as a loving father; he converses familiarly with a +Queen who has abjured Catholicism to marry a Protestant; he receives +with distinction the aristocracy of the New Jerusalem; he sends his +Majordomo to attend upon a young heretic prince[11] travelling +_incognito_. I hardly know whether Gregory VII. would approve this +tolerance; nor can I tell how it is judged in the other world by the +instigators of the Crusades, or by the advisers of the Massacre of St. +Bartholomew. For my own part, I should award it unbounded praise, if I +could believe it took its source in a spirit of enlightenment and +Christian charity. I should regard it differently, if I thought it was +to be traced to calculations of policy and interest. + +The difficulty is to penetrate the secret thoughts of the Sovereign +Pontiff; to find a key to the real motive of his tolerance. Natural +mildness and interested mildness resemble each other in their effects, +but differ widely in their causes. When the Pope and the Cardinals +overwhelm M. de Rothschild with assurances of their highest +consideration, are we to conclude that an Israelite is equal to a +Roman Catholic in their eyes, as he is in yours or mine? Or are we to +conclude that they deem it expedient to mask their real sentiments +because M. de Rothschild has millions to spare? + +This delicate problem is not difficult to solve. We have but to seek +out a Jew in Rome who is _not_ the possessor of millions, and to ask +him how he is considered and treated by the Popes. If the Government +really make no difference between this citizen who is a Jew, and +another who is a Catholic, I will say the Popes have become tolerant +in earnest. If, on the contrary, we find that the administration +accords this poor Jew a social position somewhere between man and the +dog, then I am bound to set down the fine speeches made to M. de +Rothschild, as proceeding from calculations of interest, and as +inferring a sacrifice of dignity. + +Now mark, and judge for yourselves. There were Jews in Italy before +there were Christians in the world. Roman polytheism, which tolerated +everything except the kicks administered by Polyeucte to the statue of +Jupiter, gave a place to the God of Israel. Afterwards came the +Christians, and they were tolerated till they conspired against the +laws. They were often confounded with the Jews, because they came from +the same corner of the East. Christianity increased by means of pious +conspiracies; enrolled slaves braved their masters, and became master +in its turn. I don't blame it for practising reprisals, and cutting +the pagans' throats; but in common justice it has killed too many +Jews. + +Not at Rome. The Popes kept a specimen of the accursed race to bring +before God at the last judgment. The Scripture had warned the Jews +that they should live miserably till the consummation of time. The +Church, ever mindful of prophecy, undertook to keep them alive and +miserable. She made enclosures for them, as we do in our _Jardin des +Plantes_ for rare animals. At first they were folded in the valley of +Egeria, then they were penned in the Trastevere, and finally cribbed +in the Ghetto. In the daytime they were allowed to go about the city, +that the people might see what a dirty, degraded being a man is when +he does not happen to be a Christian; but when night came they were +put under lock and key. The Ghetto used to close just as the Faithful +were on their way to damnation at the theatre. + +On the occasion of certain solemnities the Municipal Council of Rome +amused the populace with _Jew races_. + +When modern philosophy had somewhat softened Catholic manners, horses +were substituted for Jews. The Senator of the city used annually to +administer to them an official kick in the seat of honour: which token +of respect they acknowledged by a payment of 800 scudi. At every +accession of a Pope, they were obliged to range themselves under the +Arch of Titus, and to offer the new Pontiff a Bible, in return for +which he addressed to them an insulting observation. They paid a +perpetual annuity of 450 scudi to the heirs of a renegade who had +abused them. They paid the salary of a preacher charged to work at +their conversion every Saturday, and if they stayed away from the +sermon they were fined. But they paid no taxes in the strict sense of +the word, because they were not citizens. The law regarded them in the +light of travellers at an inn. The license to dwell in Rome was +provisional, and for many centuries it was renewed every year. Not +only were they without any political rights, but they were deprived of +even the most elementary civil rights. They could neither possess +property, nor engage in manufactures, nor cultivate the soil: they +lived by botching and brokage. How they lived at all surprises me. +Want, filth, and the infected atmosphere of their dens, had +impoverished their blood, made them wan and haggard, and stamped +disgrace upon their looks. Some of them scarcely retained the +semblance of humanity. They might have been taken for brutes; yet they +were notoriously intelligent, apt at business, resigned to their lot, +good-tempered, kind-hearted, devoted to their families, and +irreproachable in their general conduct. + +I need not add that the Roman rabble, bettering the instruction of +Catholic monks, spurned them, reviled them, and robbed them. The law +forbade Christians to hold converse with them, but to steal anything +from them was a work of grace. + +The law did not absolutely sanction the murder of a Jew; but the +tribunals regarded the murderer of a man in a different light from the +murderer of a Jew. Mark the line of pleading that follows. + + "Why, Gentlemen, does the law severely punish murderers, and + sometimes go the length of inflicting upon them the penalty + of death? Because he who murders a Christian murders at once + a body and a soul. He sends before the Sovereign Judge a + being who is ill-prepared, who has not received absolution, + and who falls straight into hell--or, at the very least, + into purgatory. This is why murder--I mean the murder of a + Christian--cannot be too severely punished. But as for us + (counsel and client), what have we killed? Nothing, + Gentlemen, absolutely nothing but a wretched Jew, + predestined for damnation. You know the obstinacy of his + race, and you know that if he had been allowed a hundred + years for his conversion, he would have died like a brute, + without confession. I admit that we have advanced by some + years the maturity of celestial justice; we have hastened a + little for him an eternity of torture which sooner or later + must inevitably have been his lot. But be indulgent, + Gentlemen, towards so venial an offence, and reserve your + severity for those who attempt the life and salvation of a + Christian!" + +This speech would be nonsense at Paris. It was sound logic at Rome, +and, thanks to it, the murderer got off with a few months' +imprisonment. + +You will ask why the Jews have not fled a hundred leagues from this +Slough of Despond. The answer is, because they were born there. +Moreover, the taxation is light, and rent is moderate. Add that, when +famine has been in the land, or the inundations of the Tiber have +spread ruin and devastation around, the scornful charity of the Popes +has flung them some bones to gnaw. Then again, travelling costs money, +and passports are not to be had for the asking in Rome. + +But if, by some miracle of industry, one of these unfortunate children +of Israel has managed to accumulate a little money, his first thought +has been to place his family beyond the reach of the insults of the +Ghetto. He has realized his little fortune, and has gone to seek +liberty and consideration in some less Catholic country. This accounts +for the fact that the Ghetto was no richer at the accession of Pius +IX. than it was in the worst days of the Middle Ages. + +History has made haste to write in letters of gold all the good deeds +of the reigning Pope, and, above all, the enfranchisement of the Jews. + +Pius IX. has removed the gates of the Ghetto. He allows the Jews to go +about by night as well as by day, and to live where they like. He has +exempted them from the municipal kick and the 800 scudi which it cost +them. He has closed the little church where these poor people were +catechized every Saturday, against their will, and at their own +expense. His accession may be regarded, then, as an era of deliverance +for the people of Israel who have set up their tents in Rome. + +Europe, which sees things from afar, naturally supposes that under so +tolerant a sway as that of Pius IX., Jews have thronged from all parts +of the world into the Papal States. But see how paradoxical a science +is that of statistics. From it we learn that in 1842, under Gregory +XVI., during the captivity of Babylon, the little kingdom of the Pope +contained 12,700 Jews. We further learn that in 1853, in the teeth of +such reforms, such a shower of benefits, such justice, and such +tolerance, the Israelites in the kingdom were reduced to 9,237. In +other words, 3,463 Jews--more than a quarter of the Jewish +population--had withdrawn from the paternal action of the Holy Father. + +Either this people is very ungrateful, or we don't know the whole +state of the case. + +While I was at Rome, I had secret inquiries on the subject made of two +notables of the Ghetto. When the poor people heard the object I had in +view in my inquiries, they expressed great alarm. "For Heaven's sake +don't pity us!" they cried. + + "Let not the outer world learn through your book that we are + unfortunate--that the Pope shows by his acts how bitterly he + regrets the benefits conferred upon us in 1847--that the + Ghetto is closed by doors invisible, but impassable--and + that our condition is worse than ever! All you say in our + favour will turn against us, and that which you intend for + our good will do us infinite harm." + +This is all the information I could obtain as to the treatment of this +persecuted people. It is little enough, but it is something. I found +that their Ghetto, in which some hidden power keeps them shut up just +as in past times, was the foulest and most neglected quarter of the +city, whence I concluded that nothing was done for them by the +municipality. I learnt that neither the Pope, nor the Cardinals, nor +the Bishops, nor the least of the Prelates, could set foot on this +accursed ground without contracting a moral stain--the custom of Rome +forbids it: and I thought of those Indian Pariahs whom a Brahmin +cannot touch without losing caste. I learnt that the lowest places in +the lowest of the public offices were inaccessible to Jews, neither +more nor less than they would be to animals. A child of Israel might +as well apply for the place of a copying-clerk at Rome as one of the +giraffes in the Jardin des Plantes for the post of a Sous-Préfet. I +ascertained that none of them are or can be landowners, a fact which +satisfies me that Pius IX. has not yet come quite to regard them as +men. If one of their tribe cultivates another man's field, it is by +smuggling himself into the occupation under a borrowed name; as though +the sweat of a Jew dishonoured the earth. Manufactures are forbidden +them, as of old; not being of the nation, they might injure the +national industry. To conclude, I have observed them myself as they +stood on the thresholds of their miserable shops, and I can assure you +they do not resemble a people freed from oppression. The seal of +pontifical reprobation is not removed from their foreheads. If, as +history pretends, they had been liberated for the last twelve years, +some sign of freedom would be perceptible on their countenances. + +I am willing to admit that, at the commencement of his reign, Pius IX. +experienced a generous impulse. But this is a country in which good is +only done by immense efforts, while evil occurs naturally. I would +liken it to a waggon being drawn up a steep mountain ascent. The joint +efforts of four stout bullocks are required to drag it forward: it +runs backwards by itself. + +Were I to tell you all that M. de Rothschild has done for his +co-religionists at Rome, you would be astounded. Not only are they +supported at his expense, but he never concludes a transaction with +the Pope without introducing into it a secret article or two in their +favour. And still the waggon goes backwards. + +The French occupation might be beneficial to the Jews. Our officers +are not wanting in good will; but the bad will of the priests +neutralizes their efforts. By way of illustrating the operation of +these two influences, I will relate a little incident which recently +occurred. + +An Israelite of Rome had hired some land in defiance of the law, under +the name of a Christian. As everybody knew that the Jew was the real +farmer, he was robbed right and left in the most unscrupulous manner, +merely because he _was_ a Jew. The poor man, foreseeing that before +rent-day he should be completely ruined, applied for leave to have a +guard sworn to protect his property. The authorities replied that +under no pretext should a Christian be sworn in the service of a +Jew. Disappointed in his application, he mentioned the fact to +some French officers, and asked for the assistance of the French +Commander-in-Chief. It was readily promised by M. de Goyon, one of the +kindest-hearted men alive, who undertook moreover to apply personally +to the Cardinal in the matter. The reply he received from his Eminence +was, + + "What you ask is nothing short of an impossibility. + Nevertheless, as the Government of the Holy Father is unable + to refuse you anything, we will do it. Not only shall your + Jew have a sworn guard, but out of our affection for you, we + will select him ourselves." + +Delighted at having done a good action, the General warmly thanked the +Cardinal, and departed. Three months elapsed, and still no sworn guard +made his appearance at the Jew's farm. The poor fellow, robbed more +than ever, timidly applied again to the General, who once more took +the field in his behalf. This time, in order to make the matter sure, +he would not leave the Cardinal till he held in his own hand the +permission, duly filled up and signed. The delighted Jew shed tears of +gratitude as he read to his family the thrice-blessed name of the +guard assigned to him. The name was that of a man who had disappeared +six years back, and never been heard of since. + +When the French officers next met the Jew, they asked him whether he +was pleased with his sworn guard. He dared not say that he had no +guard: the police had forbidden him to complain. + +The Jews of Rome are the most unfortunate in the Papal States. The +vicinity of the Vatican is as fatal to them as to the Christians. Far +from the seat of government, beyond the Apennines, they are less poor, +less oppressed, and less despised. The Israelitish population of +Ancona is really a fine race. + +It is not to be inferred from this that the agents of the Pope become +converts to tolerance by crossing the Apennines. + +It is not a year since the Archbishop of Bologna confiscated the boy +Mortara for the good of the Convent of the Neophytes. + +Only two years ago the Prefect of Ancona revived the old law, which +forbids Christians to converse publicly with Jews. + +It is not ten years since a merchant of considerable fortune, named P. +Cadova, was deprived of his wife and children by means as remarkable +as those employed in the case of young Mortara, although the affair +created less sensation at the time. + +M.P. Cadova lived at Cento, in the province of Ferrara. He had a +pretty wife, and two children. His wife was seduced by one of his +clerks, who was a Catholic. The intrigue being discovered, the clerk +was driven from the house. The faithless wife soon joined her lover at +Bologna, and took her children with her. + +The Jew applied to the courts of law to assist him in taking the +children from the adulteress. + +The answer he received to his application was, that his wife and +children had all three embraced Christianity, and had consequently +ceased to be his family. + +The Courts further decreed that he should pay an annual income for +their support. + +On this income the adulterous clerk also subsists. + +Some months later Monsignore Oppiszoni, Archbishop of Bologna, himself +celebrated the marriage of M.P. Cadova's wife and M.P. Cadova's +ex-clerk. + +Of course, you'll say, P. Cadova was dead. Not a bit of it. He was +alive, and as well as a broken-hearted man could be. The Church, then, +winked at a case of bigamy? Not so. In the States of the Church a +woman may be married at the same time to a Jew and a Catholic, without +being a bigamist, because in the States of the Church a Jew is not a +man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. + + +All the world knows, and says over and over again, that education is +less advanced in the Papal States than in any country in Europe. It is +a source of universal regret that the nation which is, perhaps, of all +others the most intelligent by God's grace, should be the most +ignorant by the will of priests. This people has been compared to a +thorough-bred horse, reduced from racing to walking blindfolded, round +and round, grinding corn. + +But people who talk thus take a partial view of the question. They +don't, or they won't, see how entirely the development of public +ignorance is in conformity with the principles of the Church, and how +favourable it is to the maintenance of priestly government. + +Religions are founded, not upon knowledge, or science, but upon faith, +or, as some term it, credulity. People have agreed to describe as an +"act of faith" the operation of closing one's eyes in order to see +better. It is by walking with faith,--in other words, with one's eyes +shut,--that the gates of Paradise are reached. If we could take from +afar the census of that locality, we should find there more of the +illiterate than of the learned. A child that knows the catechism by +heart is more pleasing in the sight of Heaven than all the five +classes of the Institute. The Church will never hesitate between an +astronomer and a Capuchin friar. Knowledge is full of dangers. Not +only does it puff up the heart of man, but it often shatters by the +force of reasoning the best-constructed fables. Knowledge has made +terrible havoc in the Roman Catholic Church during the last two or +three hundred years. Who can tell how many souls have been cast into +hell through the invention of printing. + +Applied to the industrial pursuits of this sublunary sphere, science +engenders riches, luxury, pleasure, health, and a thousand similar +scourges, which tend to draw us away from salvation. Science cures +even those irreligious maladies wherein religion used to recognize the +finger of God. It no longer permits the sinner to make himself a +purgatory here below. There is danger lest it should one of these days +render man's terrestrial abode so blessed, that he may conceive an +antipathy to Heaven. The Church, having the mission to conduct us to +that eternal felicity which is the sole end of human existence, is +bound to discourage our dealings with science. The utmost she can +venture to do is to let a select number of her most trustworthy +servants have free access to it, in order that the enemies of the +faith may find somebody whom they can speak to. + +This is why I undertake to show you in Rome a dozen men of high +literary and scientific acquirements, to a hundred thousand who don't +know their ABC. + +The Church is but the more flourishing for it, and the State by no +means the less so. The true shepherds of peoples, they who feed the +sheep for the sake of selling the wool and the skins, do not want them +to know too much. The mere fact of a man's being able to read makes +him wish to meddle with everything. The custom-house may be made to +keep him from reading dangerous books, but he'll be sure to take the +change out of the laws of the kingdom. He'll begin to inquire whether +they are good or bad, whether they accord with or contradict one +another, whether they are obeyed or broken. No sooner can he calculate +without the help of his fingers, than he'll want to look up the +figures of the Budget. But if he has reached the culminating point of +knowing how to use his pen, the sight of the smallest bit of paper +will give him a sort of political itching. He will experience an +uncontrollable desire to express his sentiments as a man and a +citizen, by voting for one representative, and against another. And, +gracious goodness! what will become of us if the refractory sheep +should get as high as the generalities of history, or the speculations +of philosophy?--if he should begin to stir important questions, to +inquire into great truths, to refute sophisms, to point out abuses, to +demand rights? The shepherd's occupation is assuredly not all roses +from the day he finds it necessary to muzzle his flock. + +Sovereigns who are not Popes have nothing to fear from the progress of +enlightenment, for their interest does not lie in the fabrication of +saints, but in the making of men. In France, England, Piedmont, and +some other countries, the Governments urge, or even oblige the people +to seek instruction. This is because a power which is based on reason +has no fear of being discussed. Because the acts of a really national +administration have no reason to dread the inquiry of the nation. +Because it is not only a nobler but an easier task to govern +reflecting beings than mere brutes,--always supposing the Government +to be in the right. Because education softens men's manners, +eradicates their evil instincts, reduces the average of crime, and +simplifies the policeman's duty. Because science applied to +manufactures will, in a few years, increase a hundredfold the +prosperity of the nation, the wealth of the State, and the resources +of power. + +Because the discoveries of pure science, good books, and all the +higher productions of the mind, even when they are not sources of +material profit, are an honour to a country, the splendour of an age, +and the glory of a Sovereign. + +All the princes in Europe, with the single exception of the Pope, +limit their views to the things of the earth; and they do wisely. +Without raising a doubt as to a future existence in another and a +better world, they govern their subjects only with regard to this +life. They seek to obtain for them all the happiness of which man is +capable here below; they labour to render him as perfect as he can be +as long as he retains this poor "mortal coil." We should regard them +as _mauvais plaisants_ if they were to think it their duty to make for +us the trials of Job, while showing us a future prospect of eternal +bliss. + +But the fact is that our emperors and kings and lay sovereigns are men +with wives and children, personally interested in the education of the +rising generation, and the future of their people. A good Pope, on the +contrary, has no other object but to gain Heaven himself, and to drag +up a hundred and thirty millions of men after him. Thus it is that his +subjects can with an ill grace ask of him those temporal advantages +which secular princes feel bound to offer their subjects +spontaneously. + +In the Papal States the schools for the lower classes are both few and +far between. The government does nothing to increase either their +number or their usefulness, the parishes being obliged to maintain +them; and even this source is sometimes cut off, for not unfrequently +the minister disallows this heading in the municipal budget, and +pockets the money himself. In addition to this, secondary teaching, +excepting in the colleges, exists but in name; and I should advise any +father who wishes his son's education to extend beyond the catechism, +to send him into Piedmont. + +But on the other hand, I am bound to urge in the Pope's behalf that +the colleges are numerous, well endowed, and provided with ample means +for turning out mediocre priests. The monasteries devote themselves to +the education of little monks. They are taught from an early age to +hold a wax taper, wear a frock, cast down their eyes, and chant in +Latin. If you wish to admire the foresight of the Church, you should +see the procession of Corpus Christi day. All the convents walk in +line one after the other, and each has its live nursery of little +shavelings. Their bright Italian eyes, sparkling with intelligence, +and their handsome open countenances, form a curious contrast with the +stolid and hypocritical masks worn by their superiors. At one glance +you behold the opening flowers and the ripe fruit of religion,--the +present and the future. You think within yourselves that, in default +of a miracle, the cherubs before you will ere long be turned into +mummies. However, you console yourselves for the anticipated +metamorphosis by the reflection that the salvation of the monklings is +assured. + +All the Pope's subjects would be sure of getting to Heaven if they +could all enter the cloisters; but then the world would come to an end +too soon. The Pope does his best to bring them near this state of +monastic and ecclesiastical perfection. Students are dressed like +priests, and corpses also are arrayed in a sort of religious costume. +The Brethren of the Christian Doctrine were thought dangerous because +they dressed their little boys in caps, tunics, and belts; so the Pope +forbade them to go on teaching young Rome. The Bolognese (beyond the +Apennines) founded by subscription asylums under the direction of lay +female teachers. The clergy make most praiseworthy efforts to reform +such an abuse. + +There is not a law, not a regulation, not a deed nor a word of the +higher powers, which does not tend to the edification of the people, +and to urge them on heavenward. + +Enter this church. A monk is preaching with fierce gesticulations. He +is not in the pulpit, but he stands about twenty paces from it, on a +plank hastily flung across trestles. Don't be afraid of his treating a +question of temporal ethics after the fashion of our worldly +preachers. He is dogmatically and furiously descanting on the +Immaculate Conception, on fasting in Lent, on avoiding meat of a +Friday, on the doctrine of the Trinity, on the special nature of +hell-fire. + + "Bethink you, my brethren, that if terrestrial fire, the + fire created by God for your daily wants and your general + use, can cause you such acute pain at the least contact with + your flesh, how much more fierce and terrible must be that + flame of hell-fire which ever devours without consuming + those who ... etc. etc." + +I spare you the rest. + +Our sacred orators for the most part confine themselves to preaching +on such subjects as fidelity, to wives; probity, to men; obedience, to +children. They descend to a level with a lay congregation, and +endeavour to sow, each according to his powers, a little virtue on +earth. Verily, Roman eloquence cares very much for virtue! It is +greatly troubled about the things of earth! It takes the people by the +shoulders and forces them into the paths of devotion, which lead +straight to Heaven. And it does its duty, according to the teachings +of the Church. + +Open one of the devotional books which are printed in the country. +Here is one selected at random, 'The Life of St. Jacintha.' It lies on +a young girl's work-table. A knitting-needle marks the place at which +the gentle reader left off this morning. Let us turn to the passage. +It is sure to be highly edifying. + + "_Chapter V.--She casts from her heart all natural affection + for her relations._ + + "Knowing from the Redeemer himself that we ought not to love + our relations more than God, and feeling herself naturally + drawn towards hers, she feared lest such a love, although + natural, if it should take root and grow in her heart, might + in the course of time surpass or impede the love she owed to + God, and render her unworthy of him. So she formed the very + generous determination of casting from herself all affection + for the persons of her blood. + + "Resolved on conquering herself by this courageous + determination, and on triumphing over opposing nature + itself,--powerfully urged thereto by another word of Christ, + who said that in order to go to him we must hate our + relations, when the love we bear them stands in the + way,--she went and solemnly performed a great act of + renunciation before the altar of the most holy Sacrament. + There, flinging herself on her knees, her heart kindling + with an ardent flame of charity towards God, she offered up + to Him all the natural affections of her heart, more + especially those which she felt were the strongest within + her for the nearest and dearest of her relations. In this + heroic action she obtained the intervention of the most holy + Virgin, as may be seen by a letter in her handwriting + addressed to a regular priest, wherein she promises, by the + aid of the holy Virgin, to attach herself no more either to + her relations, or to any other earthly object. This + renunciation was so resolutely courageous and so sincere + that from that hour her brothers, sisters, nephews, and all + her kindred became to her objects of total indifference; and + she deemed herself thenceforth so much an orphan and alone + in the world, that she was enabled to see and converse with + her aforesaid relations when they came to see her at the + convent, as if they were persons utterly unknown to her. + + "She had made herself in Paradise an entirely spiritual + family, selected from among the saints who had been the + greatest sinners. Her father was St. Augustin; her mother + St. Mary the Egyptian; her brother St. William the Hermit, + ex-Duke of Aquitaine; her sister St. Margaret of Cortona; + her uncle St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles; her nephews + the three children of the furnace of Babylon." + +Now here is a book that you, probably, attribute to the monkish ages; +a book expressing the isolated sentiments of a mind obscured by the +gloom of the cloisters. + +In order to convince you of your error, I will give you its title and +date, and the opinion concerning it expressed by the rulers of Rome. + + "Life of the Virgin Saint Jacintha Mariscotti, a professed + Nun of the Third Order of the Seraphic Father St. Francis, + written by the Father Flaminius Mary Hanibal of Latara, + Brother Observant of the Order of the Minors. Rome, 1805. + Published by Antonio Fulgoni, by permission of the + Superiors. + + "Approbation.--The book is to the glory and honour of the + Catholic Religion and the illustrious Order of St. Francis, + and to the spiritual profit of those persons who desire to + enter into the way of perfection. + + "Brother Thomas Mancini, of the Order of Preachers, Master, + ex-Provincial, and Consultor of Sacred Rites. + + "Imprimatur. Brother Thomas Vincent Pani, of the Order of + Preachers, Master of the Sacred Apostolical Palace." + +Now here we have a woman, a writer, a censor, and a Master of the +Palace, who are ready to strangle the whole human race for the sake of +hastening its arrival in Paradise. These people are only doing their +duty. + +Just look out into the street. Four men of different ages are kneeling +in the mud before a Madonna, whining out prayers. Presently, fifteen +or twenty others come upon you, chanting a canticle to the glory of +Mary. Perhaps you think they are yielding to a natural inspiration, +and freely working out their salvation. I thought so myself, till I +was told that they were paid fifteen-pence for thus edifying the +bystanders. This comedy in the open air is subsidized by the +Government. And the Government does its duty. + +The streets and roads swarm with beggars. Under lay governments the +poor either receive succour in their own homes, or are admitted to +houses of public charity; they are not allowed to obstruct the public +thoroughfares, and tyrannize over the passengers. But we are in an +ecclesiastical country. On the one hand, poverty is dear to God; on +the other, alms-giving is a deed of piety. If the Pope could make one +half of his subjects hold out their hands, and the other half put a +halfpenny into each extended palm, he would effect the salvation of an +entire people. + +Mendicity, which lay sovereigns regard as an ugly sore in the State, +to be healed, is tended and watered as a fair flower by a clerical +government. Pray give something to yonder sham cripple; give to that +cadger who pretends to have lost an arm; and be sure you don't forget +that blind young man leaning on his father's arm! A medical man of my +acquaintance offered yesterday to restore his sight, by operating for +the cataract. The father cried aloud with indignant horror at the +proposal; the boy is a fortune to him. Drop an alms for the son into +the father's bowl; the Pope will let you into Paradise, of which he +keeps the keys. + +The Romans themselves are not duped by their beggars. They are too +sharp to be taken in by these swindlers in misery. Still they put +their hands into their pockets; some from weakness or humanity, some +from ostentation, some to gain Paradise. If you doubt my assertion, +try an experiment which I once did, with considerable success. One +night, between nine and ten o'clock, I begged all along the Corso. I +was not disguised as a beggar. I was dressed as if I were on the +Boulevards at Paris. Still, between the Piazza del Popolo and the +Piazza di Venezia, I _made_ sixty-three baiocchi (about three +shillings). If I were to try the same joke at Paris, the +_sergents-de-ville_ would very properly think it their duty to walk me +off to the nearest police-station. The Pontifical Government +encourages mendicity by the protection of its agents, and recommends +it by the example of its friars. The Pontifical Government does its +duty. + +Prostitution flourishes in Rome, and in all the large towns of the +States of the Church. The police is too paternal to refuse the +consolations of the flesh to three millions of persons out of whom +five or six thousand have taken the vow of celibacy. But in proportion +as it is indulgent to vice, it is severe in cases of scandal. It only +allows light conduct in women when they are sheltered by the +protection of a husband.[12] It casts the cloak of Japhet over the +vices of the Romans, in order that the pleasures of one nation may not +be a scandal to others. Rather than admit the existence of the evil, +it refuses to place it under proper restraint: lay governments appear +to sanction the social evil, when they place it under the control of +the law. The clerical police is perfectly aware that its noble and +wilful blindness exposes the health of an entire people to certain +danger. But it rubs its hands at the reflection that the sinners are +punished by the very sin itself. The clerical police does its duty. + +The institution of the lottery is retained by the Popes, not as a +source of revenue only. Lay governments have long since abolished it, +because in a well-organized state, where industry leads to everything, +citizens should be taught to rely upon nothing but their industry. But +in the kingdom of the Church, where industry leads to nothing, not +only is the lottery a consolation to the poor, but it forms an +integral part of the public education. The sight of a beggar suddenly +enriched, as it were by enchantment, goes far to make the ignorant +multitude believe in miracles. The miracle of the loaves and fishes +was scarcely more marvellous than the changing of tenpence into two +hundred and fifty pounds. A high prize is like a present from God; it +is money falling from Heaven. This people know that no human power can +oblige three particular numbers to come out together; so they rely on +the divine mercy alone. They apply to the Capuchin friars for lucky +numbers; they recite special prayers for so many days; they humbly +call for the inspiration of Heaven before going to bed; they see in +dreams the Madonna stuck all over with figures; they pay for masses at +the Churches; they offer the priest money if he will put three numbers +under the chalice at the moment of the consecration. Not less humbly +did the courtiers of Louis XIV. range themselves in the antechamber he +was to pass through, in the hope of obtaining a look or a favour. The +drawing of the lottery is public, as are the University lectures in +France. And, verily, it is a great and salutary lesson. The winners +learn to praise God for his bounties: the losers are punished for +having unduly coveted worldly pelf. Everybody profits--most of all the +Government, which makes £80,000 a year by it, besides the satisfaction +of having done its duty. + +Yes, the holy preceptors of the nation fulfil their duty towards God, +and towards themselves. But it does not necessarily follow that they +always manage the affairs of God and of the Government well. + + "On rencontre sa destinée + Souvent par les chemins qu'on prend pour l'eviter." + +La Fontaine tells us this, and the Pope proves it to us. In spite of +the attention paid to religious instruction, the sermons, the good +books, the edifying spectacles, the lottery, and so many other good +things, faith is departing. The general aspect of the country does not +betray the fact, because the fear of scandal pervades all society; but +the devil loses nothing by that. Perhaps the citizens have the greater +dislike to religion, from the very fact of its reigning over them. Our +master is our enemy. God is too much the master of these people not to +be treated by them in some degree as an enemy. + +The spirit of opposition is called atheism, where the Tuileries are +called the Vatican. A young ragamuffin, who drove me from Rimini to +Santa Maria, let slip a terrible expression, which I have often +thought of since: "God?"--he said, "if there be one, I dare say he's a +priest like the rest of 'em." + +Reflect upon these words, reader! When I examine them closely, I start +back in terror, as before those crevices of Vesuvius, which give you a +glimpse of the abyss below. + +Has the temporal power served its own interests better than it has +those of God? I doubt it. The deputation of Rome was Red in 1848. It +was Rome that chose Mazzini. It is Rome that still regrets him in the +low haunts of the Regola, on that miry bank of the Tiber, where secret +societies swarm at this moment, like gnats on the shores of the Nile. + +If these deplorable fruits of a model education were pointed out to +the philosopher Gavarni, he would probably exclaim, "Bring up nations, +in order that they may hate and despise you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FOREIGN OCCUPATION. + + +The Pope is loved and revered in all Catholic countries--except his +own. + +It is, therefore, perfectly just and natural that one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of devoted and respectful men should render him +assistance against three millions of discontented ones. It is not +enough to have given him a temporal kingdom, or to have restored that +kingdom to him when he had the misfortune to lose it; one must lend +him a permanent support, unless the expense of a fresh restoration is +to be incurred every year. + +This is the principle of the foreign occupation. We are one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics, who have violently delegated to +three millions of Italians the honour of boarding and lodging our +spiritual chief. If we were not to leave a respectable army in Italy +to watch over the execution of our commands, we should be doing our +work by halves. + +In strict logic, the security of the Pope should be guaranteed at the +common expense of the Catholic Powers. It seems quite natural that +each nation interested in the oppression of the Romans should furnish +its contingent of soldiers. Such a system, however, would have the +effect of turning the castle of St. Angelo into another Tower of +Babel. Besides, the affairs of this world are not all regulated +according to the principles of logic. + +The only three Powers which contributed to the re-establishment of +Pius IX. were France, Austria, and Spain. The French besieged Rome; +the Austrians seized the places of the Adriatic; the Spaniards did +very little, not from the want either of goodwill or courage, but +because their allies left them nothing to do. + +If a private individual may be permitted to probe the motives upon +which princes act, I would venture to suggest that the Queen of Spain +had nothing in view but the interests of the Church. Her soldiers came +to restore the Pope to his throne; they went as soon as he was +reseated on it. This was a chivalrous policy. + +Napoleon III. also considered the restoration of the Pope to a +temporal throne necessary to the good of the Church. Perhaps he thinks +so still--though I couldn't swear to it. But his motives of action +were complicated. Simple President of the French Republic, heir to a +name which summoned him to the throne, resolved to exchange his +temporary magistracy for an imperial crown, he had the greatest +possible interest in proving to Europe how republics are put down. He +had already conceived the idea of playing that great part of champion +of order, which has since caused him to be received by all Sovereigns +first as a brother, and afterwards as an arbitrator. Lastly, he knew +that the restoration of the Pope would secure him a million of +Catholic votes towards his election to the imperial crown. But to +these motives of personal interest were added some others, if +possible, of a loftier character. The heir of Napoleon and of the +liberal Revolution of '89, the man who read his own name on the first +page of the civil code, the author of so many works breathing the +spirit of new ideas and the passionate love of progress, the silent +dreamer whose busy brain already teemed with the germs of all the +prosperity we have enjoyed for the last ten years, was incapable of +handing over three millions of Italians to reaction, lawlessness, and +misery. If he had firmly resolved to put down the Republic at Rome, he +was not less firm in his resolution to suppress the abuses, the +injustice, and all the traditional oppressions which drove the +Italians to revolt. In the opinion of the head of the French Republic, +the way to be again victorious over anarchy, was to deprive it of all +pretext and all cause for its existence. + +He knew Rome; he had lived there. He knew, from personal experience, +in what the Papal government differed from good governments. His +natural sense of justice urged him to give the subjects of the Holy +Father, in exchange for the political autonomy of which he robbed +them, all the civil liberties and all the inoffensive rights enjoyed +in civilized States. + +On the 18th of August, 1849, he addressed to M. Edgar Ney a letter, +which was, in point of fact, a _memorandum_ addressed to the Pope. +_AMNESTY, SECULARIZATION, THE CODE NAPOLEON, A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT_: +these were the gifts he promised to the Romans in exchange for the +Republic, and demanded of the Pope in return for a crown. This +programme contained, in half-a-dozen words, a great lesson to the +sovereign, and a great consolation to the people. + +But it is easier to introduce a Breguet spring into a watch made when +Henri IV. was king, than a single reform into the old pontifical +machine. The letter of the 18th of August was received by the friends +of the Pope as an "insult to his rights, good sense, justice, and +majesty!"[13] Pius IX. took offence at it; the Cardinals made a joke +of it. This determination, this prudence, this justice, on the part of +a man who held them all in his hand, appeared to them immeasurably +comical. They still laugh at it. Don't name M. Edgar Ney before them, +or you'll make them laugh till their sides ache. + +The Emperor of Austria never committed the indiscretion of writing +such a letter as that of the 18th of August. The fact is, the Austrian +policy in Italy differs materially from ours. + +France is a body very solid, very compact, very firm, very united, +which has no fear of being encroached upon, and no desire to encroach +on others. Her political frontiers are nearly her natural limits; she +has little or nothing to conquer from her neighbours. She can, +therefore, interfere in the events of Europe for purely moral +interests, without views of conquest being attributed to her. One or +two of her leaders have suffered themselves to be carried somewhat too +far by the spirit of adventure; the nation has never had, what may be +called, geographical ambition. France does not disdain to conquer the +world by the dispersion of her ideas, but she desires nothing more. +That which constitutes the beauty of our history, to those who take an +elevated view of it, is the twofold object, pursued simultaneously by +the Sovereign and the nation, of concentrating France, and spreading +French ideas. + +The old Austrian diplomacy has been, for the last six hundred years, +incessantly occupied in stitching together bits of material, without +ever having been able to make a coat. It does not consider either the +colour or the quality of the cloth, but always keeps the needle going. +The thread it uses is often white, and it not infrequently +breaks--when away goes the new patch! Then another has to be found. + +A province is detached--two more are laid hold of. The piece gets rent +down the middle--a rag is caught up, then another, and whatever comes +to hand is sewn together in breathless haste. The effect of this +stitching monomania has been, to keep constantly changing the map of +Europe, to bring together, as chance willed it, races and religions of +every pattern, and to trouble the existence of twenty peoples, without +making the unity of a nation. Certain Machiavellic old gentlemen +sitting round a green cloth at Vienna, direct this work, measure the +material, rub their hands complacently when it stretches, snatch off +their wigs in despair when a piece is torn, and look on all sides for +another wherewith to replace it. In the Middle Ages, the sons of the +house used to be sent to visit foreign princesses: they made love to +their royal and serene highnesses in German, and always brought back +with them some shred of territory. But now that princesses receive +their dowers in hard cash, recourse is had to violent measures in +order to procure pieces of material; they are seized by soldiers; and +there are some large stains of blood upon this harlequin's cloak! + +Almost all the states of Italy, the kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, +Sicily, Modena, Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, have been in turn +stitched to the same piece as Bohemia, Transylvania, and Croatia. Rome +would have shared the same fate, if papal excommunications had not +broken the thread. In 1859 it is Venice and Milan that pay for +everybody, till it comes to the turn of Tuscany, Modena, and Massa, to +be patched on in virtue of certain reversionary rights. + +What must have been the satisfaction of Austrian diplomatists when +they were enabled to throw their troops into the kingdom of the Pope, +without remonstrances from anybody! Beyond all doubt, the interests of +the Church were those which least occupied them. And as for taking any +interest in the unfortunate subjects of Pius IX., or demanding for +them any rights, or any liberties, Austria never thought of it for a +moment. The old Danaïde only saw an opportunity for pouring another +people into her ill-made and unretentive cask. + +While the French army cautiously cannonaded the capital of the arts, +spared public monuments, and took Rome, so to speak, with gloved +hands, the Austrian soldiers carried the beautiful cities of the +Adriatic--_à la Croate_! As victors, we treated gently those we had +conquered, from motives of humanity; Austria, those she had conquered, +brutally, from motives of conquest. She regarded the fair country of +the Legations and the Marches as another Lombardy, which she would be +well disposed to keep. + +We occupied Rome, and the port of Civita Vecchia; the Austrians took +for themselves all the country towards the Adriatic. We established +our quarters in the barracks assigned to us by the municipality; the +Austrians built complete fortresses, as is their practice, with the +money of the people they were oppressing. For six or seven years their +army lived at the expense of the country. They sent their regiments +naked, and when poor Italy had clothed them, others came to replace +them. + +Their army was looked upon with no very favourable eye; neither indeed +was ours: the radical party was opposed both to their presence and +ours. Some stray soldiers of both armies were killed. The French army +defended itself courteously, the Austrian army revenged itself. In +three years, from the first of January, 1850, to the 1st of January, +1853, we shot three murderers. Austria has a heavier hand: she has +executed not only criminals, but thoughtless, and even innocent +people. I have already given some terrible figures, and will spare you +their repetition. + +From the day when the Pope condescended to return home, the French +army withdrew into the background; it hastened to restore to the +pontifical government all its powers. Austria has only restored what +it could not keep. She even still undertakes to repress political +crimes. She feels personally wronged if a cracker is let off, if a +musket is concealed: in short, she fancies herself in Lombardy. + +At Rome, the French place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for +the maintenance of order and public security. Our soldiers have too +much honesty to let a murderer or a thief who is within their reach +escape. The Austrians pretend that they are not gendarmes, to arrest +malefactors; each individual soldier considers himself the agent of +the old diplomatists, charged with none but political functions: +police matters are not within his province. What is the consequence? +The Austrian army, after carefully disarming the citizens, delivers +them over to malefactors, without the means of protection. + +At Bologna, a merchant of the name of Vincenzio Bedini was pointed out +to me, who had been robbed in his warehouse at six o'clock in the +evening. An Austrian sentinel was on guard at his door. + +Austria has good reasons for encouraging disorders in the provinces +she occupies: the greater the frequency of crime, and the difficulty +of governing the people, the greater is the necessity for the presence +of an Austrian army. Every murder, every theft, every burglary, every +assault, tends to strike the roots of these old diplomatists more deep +into the kingdom of the Pope. + +France would rejoice to be able to recall her troops. She feels that +their presence at Rome is not a normal state of things: she is herself +more shocked than anybody else at this irregularity. She has reduced, +as much as possible, the effective force of her occupying army; she +would embark her remaining regiments, were she not aware that to do so +would be to deliver the Pope over to the executioner. Mark the extent +to which she carries her disinterestedness in the affairs of Italy. In +order to place the Holy Father in a condition to defend himself alone, +she is trying to create for him a national army. The Pope possesses at +the present time four regiments of French manufacture; if they are not +very good, or rather, not to be relied upon, it is not the fault of +the French. The priestly government has itself alone to blame. Our +generals have done all in their power, not only to drill the Pope's +soldiers, but to inspire them with that military spirit which the +Cardinals carefully endeavour to stifle. Is it likely that we shall +find the Austrian army seeking to render its presence needless, and +spontaneously returning home? + +And yet I must admit, with a certain shame, that the conduct of the +Austrians is more logical than ours. They entered the Pope's +dominions, meaning to stay there; they spare no pains to assure their +conquest in them. They decimate the population, in order that they may +be feared. They perpetuate disorder, in order that their permanent +presence may be required. Disorder and terror are Austria's best arms. + +As for us, let us see what we have done. In the interest of France, +nothing; and I am glad of it. In the interest of the Pope, very +little. In the interest of the Italian nation, still less. + +The Pope promised us the reform of some abuses, in his _Motu Proprio_ +of Portici. It was not quite what we demanded of him; still his +promises afforded us some gratification. He returned to his capital, +to elude their fulfilment at his ease. Our soldiers awaited him with +arms in their hands. They fell at his feet as he passed them. + +During nine consecutive years, the pontifical government has been +retreating step by step,--France, all the while, politely entreating +it to move on a little. Why should it follow our advice? What +necessity was there for yielding to our arguments? Our soldiers +continued to mount guard, to present arms, to fall down on one knee, +and patrol regularly round all the old abuses. + +In the end, the pertinacity with which we urged our good counsels +became disagreeable to his Holiness. His retrograde court has a horror +of us; it prefers the Austrians, who crush the people, but who never +talk of liberty. The Cardinals say, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes +even aloud, that they don't want our army, that we are very much in +their way, and that they could protect themselves--with the assistance +of a few Austrian regiments. + +The nation, that is the middle class, says, our good-will, of which it +has no doubt, is of little use to it; and declares it would undertake +to obtain all its rights, to secularize the government, to proclaim +the amnesty, to introduce the Code Napoléon, and to establish liberal +institutions, if we would but withdraw our soldiers. This is what it +says at Rome. At Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona, it believes that, in +spite of everything, the Romans are glad to have us, because, although +we let evil be done, we never do it ourselves. In this we are admitted +to be better than the Austrians. + +Our soldiers say nothing. Troops don't argue under arms. Let me speak +for them. + + "We are not here to support the injustice and dishonesty of + a petty government that would not be tolerated for + twenty-four hours with us. If we were, we must change the + eagle on our flags for a crow. The Emperor cannot desire the + misery of a people, and the shame of his soldiers. He has + his own notions. But if, in the meantime, these poor devils + of Romans were to rise in insurrection, in the hope of + obtaining the Secularization, the Amnesty, the Code, and the + Liberal Government, which we have taught them to expect, we + should inevitably be obliged to shoot them down." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS. + + +I paid a visit to a Roman Prelate well known for his devotion to the +interests of the Church, the temporal power of the Popes, and the +August person of the Holy Father. + +When I was introduced to his oratory I found him reading over the +proof-sheets of a thick volume, entitled _Administration of the +Military Forces_. + +He threw down his pen with an air of discouragement, and showed me the +two following quotations which he had inscribed on the title-page of +the book: + + "Every independent State should suffice to itself, and assure its + internal security by its own forces."--_Count de Rayneval; note of + 14th May_, 1855. + + "The troops of the Pope will always be the troops of the Pope. What + are warriors who have never made war?"--_De Brosses_. + +After I had reflected a little upon these not very consoling passages, +the Prelate said, + + "You have not been very long at Rome, and your impressions + ought to be just, because they are fresh. What do you think + of our Romans? Do the descendants of Marius appear to you a + race without courage, incapable of confronting danger? If it + be indeed true that the nation has retained nothing of its + patrimony, not even its physical courage, all our efforts to + create a national force in Rome are foredoomed to failure. + The Popes must for ever remain disarmed in the presence of + their enemies. Nothing is left for them but to entrench + themselves behind the mercenary courage of a Swiss garrison + or the respectful protection of a great Catholic power. What + becomes of independence? What becomes of sovereignty?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "I already know the Romans too well to judge them by the + calumnies of their enemies. I daily see with what + intemperate courage this violent and hot-blooded people + gives and receives death. I know the esteem expressed by + Napoleon I. for the regiments he raised here. And we can say + between ourselves that there were many of the subjects of + the Pope in the revolutionary army which defended Rome + against the French. I am persuaded, then, that the Holy + Father has no need to go abroad to find men, and that a few + years would serve to make these men good soldiers. What is + much less evident to me is the real necessity for having a + Roman army. Does the Pope want to aggrandise himself by war? + No. Does he fear lest some enemy should invade his States? + Certainly not. He is better protected by the veneration of + Europe than by a line of fortresses. If, by a scarcely + possible eventuality, any difference were to arise between + the Holy See and an Italian Monarchy, the Pope has the means + of resistance at hand, without striking a blow; for he + counts more soldiers in Piedmont, in Tuscany, and in the Two + Sicilies, than the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the + Piedmontese would well know how to send against him. So much + for the exterior; and the situation is so clear, that your + Ministry of War assumes the modest and Christian title of + 'the Ministry of Arms.' As for the interior, a good + gendarmerie is all you want.' + + "Eh! my dear son," cried the Prelate, "we ask nothing + better. A people which is never destined to make war does + not want an army, but it ought to keep on foot the forces + necessary for the maintenance of the public peace. An army + of police and internal security is what we have been + endeavouring to create since 1849. Have we succeeded? Do we + suffice for ourselves? Are we in a position to ensure our + tranquillity by our own forces? No! no! certainly not." + + "Pardon me, Monsignore, if I think you a little severe. + During the three months I have loitered as an observer in + Rome, I have had time to see the pontifical army. Your + soldiers are fine-looking men, their general appearance is + good, they have a martial air, and, as far as I can judge, + they go through their manoeuvres pretty well. It would be + difficult to recognize in them the old soldier of the Pope, + the fabulous personage whose duty it was to escort + processions, and to fire off the cannon on firework nights; + the well-to-do citizen in uniform who, if the weather looked + threatening, mounted guard with an umbrella. The Holy + Father's army would present a good appearance in any country + in the world; and there are some of your soldiers whom--at a + little distance--I should take for our own." + +"Yes," he said, + + "their appearance is good enough, and if factions could be + kept down by mere appearances, I should feel tolerably easy. + But I know many things respecting the army that make me very + uncomfortable--and yet I don't know all. I know there is + great difficulty in recruiting not only soldiers, but + officers; that young men of good family scorn to command, + and ploughboys to serve, in our army. I know that more than + one mother would rather see her son at the hulks than with + the regiment. I know that our soldiers, for the most part + drawn from the dregs of the people, have neither confidence + in their comrades, nor respect for their officers, nor + veneration for their colours. You would vainly look to find + among them devotion to their country, fidelity to their + sovereign, and all those high and soldierly virtues which + make a man die at his post. To the greater number the laws + of duty and honour are a dead letter. I know that the + gendarme does not always respect private property. I know + that the factions rely at least much as we ourselves do on + the support of the army. What good is it to us to have + fourteen or fifteen thousand men on foot, and to spend some + millions of scudi annually, if after such efforts and + sacrifices, foreign protection is now more necessary to us + than it was the first day?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "you place things in the worst light, and you judge the + situation somewhat after the manner of the Prophet Jeremiah. + The Holy Father has several excellent officers, both in the + special corps and in the regiments of the line; and you have + also some good soldiers. Our officers, who are competent + men, render justice to yours, both as regards their + intelligence and their goodwill. If I am astonished at + anything, it is that the pontifical army has made so much + progress as it has in the deplorable conditions in which it + is placed. We can discuss it freely because the whole system + is under examination, and about to be reorganized by the + Head of the State. You complain that young gentlemen of good + family do not throng to the College of Cadets in the hope of + gaining an epaulette. But you forget how little the + epaulette is honoured among you. The officer has no rank in + the state. It is a settled point that a deacon shall have + precedence of a sub-deacon; but the law and custom of Rome + do not allow a Colonel to take precedence even of a man + having the simple tonsure. Pray, what position do you assign + to your Generals? What is their rank in the hierarchy?" + + "Instead of having our Generals in the army, we have them at + the head of the religious orders. Imagine the sensations of + the General of the Jesuits at hearing a soldier announced by + the honourable ecclesiastical title of _General_!" + +"Well! there's something in that." + + "In order to have commanders for our troops, without at the + same time creating personages of too much importance, we + have imported three foreign Colonels, who are permitted to + perform the functions of General. They even appear in the + disguise of Generals, but they will never have the audacity + to assume the title." + + "Capital! Well, now with us there is not a scamp of eighteen + who would engage in the army if he were told that he might + become a Colonel, but never a General; or even a General, + but never a Marshal of France. Who, or what, could induce a + man to rush into a career in which there is at a certain + point an impassable barrier? You regret that all your + officers are not _savants_. I admit that they have learnt + something. They enter the College without competition or + preliminary examination, sometimes without orthography or + arithmetic. The first inspection made by our Generals + discovers future lieutenants who cannot do a sum in + division, a French class without either a master or pupils, + and an historical class in which, after seven months of + teaching, the professor is still theologically expounding + the creation of the world. It must indeed be a powerful + spirit of emulation which can induce these young men to make + themselves capable of keeping up a conversation with French + officers. You are astonished that they allow the discipline + of their men to become somewhat relaxed. Why, discipline is + about the last thing they have been taught. In the time of + Gregory XVI. an officer refused to allow a Cardinal's + carriage to pass down a certain street. Such were his + orders. The coachman drove on, and the officer was sent to + the castle of St. Angelo, for having done his duty. A single + instance of this sort is quite enough to demoralize an army. + But the King of Naples shows the Pope his mistake. He had a + sentry mentioned in the order of the day, for giving a + bishop's coachman a cut with his sword. You are scandalized + because certain military administrators curtail the + soldiers' poor allowance of bread; but they have never been + told that peculation will be punished by dismissal." + + "Well, the scheme of reorganization is in hand; you will see + a new order of things in 1859." + + "I am glad to hear it, Monsignore; and I will answer for it + that a judicious, well-considered reform--slowly + progressive, of course, as everything is at Rome--will + produce excellent results in a few years. It is not in a day + that you can expect to change the face of things; but you + know the gardener is not discouraged by the certainty that + the tree he plants to-day will not produce fruit for the + next five years. The morals of your soldiers are, as you + say, none of the best: I hear it said everywhere that an + honest peasant thinks it a dishonour to wear your uniform. + When you can hold out a future to your men, you need no + longer recruit them from the dregs of the population. The + soldier will have some feeling of personal dignity when he + ceases to find himself exposed to contempt. These poor + fellows are looked down upon by everybody, even by the + servants of small families. They breathe an atmosphere of + scorn, which may be termed the _malaria_ of honour. Relieve + them, Monsignore; they ask nothing better." + + "Do you think, then, the means are to be found of giving us + an army as proud and as faithful as the French army? That + were a secret for which the Cardinal would pay a high + price." + + "I offer it to you for nothing, Monsignore. France has + always been the most military country in Europe; but in the + last century the French soldier was no better than yours. + The officers are pretty much the same, with this difference + only,--that formerly the King selected them from the + nobility, whereas now they ennoble themselves by zeal and + courage. But a hundred years ago the soldiery, properly so + called, consisted in France of what it now does with + you--the scum of the population. Picked up in low taverns, + between a heap of crown-pieces and a glass of brandy, the + soldier made himself more dreaded by the peasantry than by + the enemy. He seemed to be overpowered beneath the weight of + the scorn of the country at large, the meanness of his + present condition, and the impossibility of future + promotion; and he revenged himself by forays upon the cellar + and the farmyard. He had his place among the scourges which + desolated monarchical France. Hear what La Fontaine says,-- + + "La faim, les créanciers, _les soldats_, la corvée, Lui font + d'un malheureux la peinture achevée." + + You see that your soldiers of 1858 are angels in comparison + with our _soudards_ of the monarchy. If, with all this, you + still find them, not absolutely perfect, try the French + recipe: submit all your citizens to a conscription, in order + that your regiments may not be composed of the refuse of the + nation, Create--" + +"Stop!" cried the prelate. + +"Monsignore?" + + "I stopped you short, my son, because T perceive that you + are getting beyond the real and the possible. _Primo_, we + have no citizens; we have subjects. _Secundo_, the + conscription is a revolutionary measure, which we will not + adopt at any price; it consecrates a principle of equality + as much opposed to the ideas of the Government as to the + habits of the country. It might possibly give us a very good + army, but that army would belong to the nation, not to the + Sovereign. We will at once put away, if you please, this + dangerous utopia." + +"It might gain you some popularity." + +"Far from it. Believe me, the subjects of the Holy Father have a deep +antipathy to the principle of the conscription. The discontent of La +Vendée and Brittany is nothing to that which it would create here." + +"People become accustomed to everything, Monsignore. I have met +contingents from La Vendée and Brittany singing merrily as they went +to join their corps." + +"So much the better for them. But let me tell you the only grievance +of this country against the French rule is the conscription, which the +Emperor had established among us." + +"So you negative my proposal of the conscription." + +"Absolutely!" + +"I must think no more about it?" + +"Quite out of the question." + +"Well, Monsignore, I'll do without it. Let us have recourse to the +system of voluntary enlistment, but with the condition that you secure +the prospects of the soldier. What bounty do you offer to recruits?" + +"Twelve scudi; but for the future we mean to go as high as twenty." + + "Twenty scudi is fair enough; still I'm afraid even at one + hundred and seven francs a head you won't get picked men. + Now, you will allow, Monsignore, a peasant must be badly off + indeed when a bounty of twenty scudi tempts him to put on a + uniform which is universally despised? But if you want to + attract more recruits round every barrack than there were + suitors at Penelope's gate, endow the army, offer the Roman + citizens--pardon me, I mean the Pope's _subjects_--such a + bounty as is really likely to tempt them. Pay them down a + small sum for the assistance of their families, and keep the + balance till their period of service has expired. Induce + them to re-engage after their discharge by promises + honourably and faithfully observed; arrange that with every + additional year of service the savings which the soldier has + left in the hands of the state shall increase. Believe me, + when the Romans know that a soldier, without assistance, + without education, without any brilliant action, or any + stroke of good fortune, by the mere faithful performance of + his duty, can, after twenty-five years' service, secure an + income of £20 or £25 a year, they will snatch at the + advantage of entering the ranks; and I warrant you, the + personal interest of each will attach them more firmly to + the Government, as the depository of their savings. When the + house of a notary is on fire you will see the most immovable + and indifferent of shopkeepers running like a cat on the + tiles, to put out the fire and save his own papers. On the + same principle, a Government will always be served with zeal + in proportion to the interest its servants have in its + security." + +"Of course," said the Prelate, + + "I understand your argument perfectly. Man requires some + object in life. A hundred and twenty scudi a year is not an + unpleasant bed to lie upon after a term of military service. + At this price we should not want candidates. Even the middle + class would solicit employment in the military as much as it + now does the civil service of the state; and we should be + able to pick and choose our men. What frightens me in the + matter is the expense." + + "Ah! Monsignore, you know a really good article is never to + be had cheap. The Pontifical Government has 15,000 soldiers + for £400,000. France would pay half as much again for them: + but then she would have the value of the extra cost. The men + who have completed three or four terms of service, are those + who cost the most money; and yet there is an economy in + keeping them, because every such man is worth three + conscripts. Do you then, or do you not, wish to create a + national force? Have you made up your mind on the subject? + If you do wish for it, you must pay for it, and make the + sacrifices necessary to obtain it. If, on the contrary, your + Government prefers economy to security, begin by saving the + £400,000, and sell to some foreign country the 15,000 + muskets, more dangerous than useful, since you don't know + whether they are for you or against you. The question may be + summed up in two words: safety, which will cost you money; + or economy, which may cost you your existence!" + +"You are proposing an army of Prætorians." + +"The name is not the thing. I only promise you that if you pay your +soldiers well, they'll be faithful to you." + +"The Prætorians often turned against the Emperors." + +"Because the Emperors were silly enough to pay them ready money." + +"But is there no motive in this world nobler than interest? And is +money the only lasting tie that binds soldiers to their standard?" + + "I should not be a Frenchman, if I held such a belief. I + advised you to increase your soldiers' pay, because hitherto + your army has been recruited by money alone; and also + because money is that which it costs you the least to + obtain, and consequently that which you will the most + willingly part with. Well then, now that you have given me + the few millions I required for the purpose of attaching + your soldiers to the Pontifical Government, furnish me with + the means of raising them in their own estimation and in + that of the people. Honour them, in order that they may + become men of honour. Prove to them, by the consideration + with which you surround them, that they are not footmen, and + that they ought not to have the souls of footmen. Give them + a place in the state; throw around their uniform some of the + _prestige_ which is now the exclusive privilege of the + clerical garb." + +"Do you know what you are asking for?" + + "Nothing but what is absolutely necessary. Remember, + Monsignore, that this army, raised to act in the interior of + the Pontifical States, will serve you less frequently by the + force of its arms, than by the moral authority of its + presence. And pray what authority can it possess in the eyes + of your subjects, if the Government affect to despise it?" + + "But, admitting that it obtain all the pay and all the + consideration that you claim for it, still it will remain + open to the remark of the President de Brosses, 'What are + warriors who have never in their lives made war?'" + + "I admit it. The consideration accorded by all Frenchmen to + the soldier, takes its source in the idea of the dangers he + has encountered or may encounter. We behold in him a man who + has sacrificed his life beforehand, in engaging to shed + every drop of his blood at a word from his chiefs. If the + little children in our country respectfully salute the + colours--that steeple of the regiment--it is because they + think on the brave fellows who have fallen round it." + + "Perhaps, then, you think we ought to send our soldiers to + make war, before employing them as guardians of the peace?" + + "It is certain, Monsignore, that whenever one sees an old + Crimean soldier who has strayed into one of the Pope's + foreign regiments, the medal he wears on his breast makes + him look quite a different man from any of his comrades. The + corps of your army which the people has treated with the + greatest respect, is the Pontifical Carabineers, because it + was originally formed of Napoleon's old soldiers." + + "My friend, you do not answer my question. Do you require us + to declare war against Europe for the sake of teaching our + gendarmes to keep the peace at home?" + + "Monsignore, the government of his Holiness is too prudent + to go in search of adventures. We are no longer in the days + of Julius II., who donned the cuirass, and buckled on the + sword of the flesh, and sprang himself into the breach. But + why should not the Head of the Church do as Pius V., who + sent his sailors with the Spaniards and Venetians to the + battle of Lepanto? Why should you not detach a regiment or + two to Algeria? France would, perhaps, give them a place in + her army; they might join us in advancing the holy cause of + civilization. Rest assured that when those troops returned, + after five or six campaigns, to the more modest duty of + preserving the public peace, everybody would obey them + courteously. Vulgar footmen would no longer dare to make use + of such expressions as one I heard yesterday evening at the + door of a theatre,--'Stick to your soldiering, and leave + servant's work to me!' They who despise them now, would be + proud to show them respect; for nations have a tendency to + admire themselves in the persons of their armies." + + "For how long?" + + "For ever. Acquired glory is a capital which can never be + exhausted. And these regiments would never lose the spirit + of honour and discipline which they would bring back from + the seat of war. You know not, Monsignore, what it is to + have an idea become incarnate in a regiment. There is a + whole world of recollections, traditions, and virtues, + circulating, seen and unseen, through this band of men. It + is the moral patrimony of the corps; the veterans don't + carry it away when they retire from the service, while the + conscripts inherit it from the day of their joining the + regiment. The colonel, the officers, and the privates, + change one after the other, and yet it is the same regiment + that ever remains, because the same spirit continues to + flutter amid the folds of the same colours. Have four good + regiments of picked men, well paid, properly respected, and + that have been under fire, and they will last as long as + Rome, and Mazzini himself will not prevail against their + courage." + + "So be it! And may Heaven hear you!" + + "The business is half done, Monsignore, when you have heard + me. We are not far from the Vatican, where sits the real + Minister of Arms." + + "He will urge another objection." + + "What will it be?" + + "That if he send our regiments to serve their apprenticeship + in Africa, they will bring back French ideas." + + "That is an accident, impossible to prevent. But console + yourself with the reflection that it is perfectly immaterial + whether the French ideas are brought into your country by + your soldiers or by ours. Besides, this is an article which + so easily eludes the vigilance of the custom-house, that the + railways are already bringing it in daily, and you will soon + have a large stock on hand. And after all, where's the great + evil? All men who have studied us without prejudice, know + that French ideas are ideas of order and liberty, of + conservatism and progress, of labour and honesty, of culture + and industry. The country in which French ideas abound the + most is France, and France, Monsignore, is in good health." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MATERIAL INTERESTS. + + +"For my part," said a great fat Neapolitan, + + "I don't care the value of a bit of orange-peel for + politics. I am willing to believe we've got a bad + government, because all the world says we have, and because + our King never dare show himself in public. All I can say + is, that my grandfather made 20,000 ducats as a + manufacturer; that my father doubled his capital in trade; + and that I bought an estate which, in my tenants' hands, + pays me six per cent. for the investment. I eat four meals a + day, I'm in vigorous health, and I weigh fourteen stone. So + when I toss off my third glass of old Capri wine at supper, + I can't for the life of me help crying, 'Long live the + King!'" + +A huge hog which happened to cross the street as the Neapolitan +reached his climax, gave a grunt in token of approbation. + +The "hog" school is not numerous in Italy, whatever superficial +travellers may have told you on that head. The most highly-gifted +nation in Europe will not easily be persuaded that the great end of +human existence is to eat four meals a day. + +But let us suppose for an instant that all the Pope's subjects are +willing to renounce all liberty,--religious, political, municipal, and +even civil,--for the sake of growing sleek and fat, without any higher +aim, and are content with the merely animal enjoyments of health and +food; do they find in their homes the means of satisfying their wants? +Can they, on that score at least, applaud their Government? Are they +as well treated as beasts in a cage? Are the people fat and thriving? +I answer, No! + +In every country in the world the sources of public wealth are three +in number: agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. All governments +which do their duty, and understand their interests, emulate one +another in favouring, by wholesome administrative measures, the farm, +the workshop, and the counting-house. Wherever the nation and its +rulers are united, trade and manufactures will be found clinging round +the government, and increasing even to excess the population of the +capital cities; while agriculture works her greatest miracles in the +circuit which is the most immediately subject to the influence of +authority. + +Borne is the least industrious and commercial city in the Pontifical +States, and its suburbs resemble a desert. You must travel very far to +find any industrial experiment, or any attempt at trade. + +Whose fault is this? Industrial pursuits require, above all things, +liberty. Now in the States of the Church all the manufactures of any +importance constitute privileges bestowed by the government upon its +friends. Not only tobacco and salt, but sugar, glass, wax, and +stearine, are objects of privilege. Privilege here--privilege +there--privilege everywhere. An Insurance Company is established, of +course by special privilege. The very baskets used by the +cherry-vendors are the monopoly of a privileged basket-maker. The +Inspector of the Piazza Navona[14] would seize any refractory basket +which had failed to pay its tribute to monopoly. The grocers of +Tivoli, the butchers of Frascati, all the retail dealers in the +suburbs of Rome, are privileged. The system of privileges and +monopolies is universal, and of course commerce shares the common lot. + +Commerce cannot flourish without capital, facilities of credit, easy +communication, and, above all, personal safety. I have shown you what +the roads are as to safety. I have not yet shown you how wretchedly +bad and insufficient they are. Now for a few facts. + +In June, 1858, I travelled through the Mediterranean provinces, taking +notes as I went along. I established the fact that in one township the +bread cost nearly three-halfpence a pound, while in another, some +twelve miles off, it was to be had for a penny. It follows that the +carriage of goods along twelve miles of road cost a farthing a pound. +At Sonnino bad wine was sold for sevenpence the _litre_, while the +same quantity of passable wine might be had at Pagliano, thirty miles +off, for twopence halfpenny; so the cost of carrying an article +weighing some two pounds for thirty miles was fourpence halfpenny. +Wherever governments make roads, prices naturally find their level. + +I may be told that I explored remote and out-of-the-way districts. If +we approach the capital, we find the matters still worse. The nearest +villages to Rome have not roads fit for carriages from one to the +other. What would be said of the French administration, if people +could not get from Versailles to St. Germain without passing through +Paris? This, however, has been for centuries the state of things near +the Pope's capital. If you want a still more striking instance, here +it is. Bologna, the second city in the Pontifical States, is in rapid +and frequent communication with the whole world--except Rome. It +despatches seven mails a week to foreign countries--only five to Rome. +The letters from Paris arrive at Bologna some hours before those from +Rome; the letters from Vienna are in advance of those from Rome by a +day and a night. The Papal kingdom is not very extensive, but it seems +to me even too extensive, when I see distances trebled by the +carelessness of the Government and the inadequacy of the public works. +As to railways, there are two, one from Rome to Frascati, and one from +Rome to Civita Vecchia; but the Adriatic provinces, which are the most +populous, the most energetic, and the most interesting in the country, +will not hear the whistle of the locomotive and the rush of the train +for a long time to come. The nation loudly demands railways. The lay +proprietors, instead of absurdly asking fancy prices for their land, +eagerly offer it to companies. The convents alone raise barricades, as +if they thought the devil was trying to break in at their gates. The +erection of a railway station in Rome gave rise to some comical +difficulties. Our unfortunate engineers were utterly at a loss for the +means of effecting an opening. On all sides the way was blocked up by +obstructive friars. Black friars--white friars--grey friars--and brown +friars. They began with the Lazarists. The Holy Father personally came +to their rescue. "Ah, Mr. Engineer, have mercy on my poor Lazarists! +The good souls are given to prayer and meditation; and your +locomotives do make such a hideous din!" So Mr. Engineer is fain to +try the neighbouring convent. New difficulties there. The next attack +is made upon a little nunnery founded by the Princess de Bauffremont. +But I have neither time nor space for episodical details. It suffices +for our purpose to state that the construction of railways will be a +terribly long-winded affair, and that in the meantime trade languishes +for want of crossroads. The budget of public works is devoted to the +repair of churches, and the building of basilicas. Nearly +half-a-million sterling has already been sunk in the erection of a +very grey and very ugly edifice on the Ostia road.[15] As much more +will be required to finish it, and the commerce of the country will be +none the better. + +Half a million sterling! Why the entire capital of the bank of Rome is +but £400,000; and when merchants go there to have their bills +discounted, they can get no money. They are obliged to apply to +usurers and monopolists, and the governor of the bank is one. Rome has +an Exchange. I discovered its existence by mere chance, in turning +over a Roman almanack. This public establishment opens _once a week_, +a fact which gives some idea of the amount of business transacted +there. + +If trade and manufactures offer but small resources to the subjects of +his Holiness, they fortunately find some compensation in agriculture. +The natural fertility of the soil, and the stubborn industry of those +who cultivate it, will always suffice to keep the nation from +starvation. While it pays away a million sterling annually for foreign +manufactures, the surplus of its agricultural produce brings back some +£800,000. Hemp and corn, oil and wool, wine, silk, and cattle, form +its substantial wealth. + +How do we find the Government acting in this respect? Its duties are +very simple, and may be summed up in three words,--protection, +assistance, and encouragement. + +The budget is not heavily burdened under the head of encouragement. +Some proprietors and land stewards, residing in Rome, ask permission +to found an Agricultural Society. The authorities refuse. In order to +attain their object, they steal furtively into a Horticultural +Society, already established by authority. They organize themselves, +raise subscriptions, exhibit to the Romans a good collection of cattle +and distribute some gold and silver medals offered by Prince Cesarini. +Is it not curious that an exhibition of cattle, in order to be +tolerated, is obliged to smuggle itself in under the shelter of +camellias and geraniums? + +Lay sovereigns not only openly favour agriculture, but they encourage +it at a heavy cost, and do not consider their money thrown away. They +are well aware that to give a couple of hundred pounds to the inventor +of a good plough, is to place a small capital out at a heavy interest. +The investment will render their kingdom more prosperous, and their +children more wealthy. But the Pope has no children. He prefers sowing +in his churches, in order to reap the harvest in Paradise. + +Might he not at least assist the unfortunate peasants who furnish the +bread he eats? + +An able and truthful statistician (the Marchese Pepoli) has proved +that in the township of Bologna, the rural proprietors actually pay +taxes to the amount of £6. 8s. 4d. upon every £4-worth of taxable +income. The fisc is not content with absorbing the entire revenue, but +it annually eats into the capital. What think you of such moderation? + +In 1855 the vines were diseased everywhere. Lay governments vied with +each other in assisting the distressed proprietors. Cardinal Antonelli +seized the opportunity to impose a tax of £74,680 upon the vines; and +as there were no grapes that year to pay it, the amount was charged +upon the different townships. Now which has proved the heaviest +scourge--the _Oidium_ or the Cardinal Minister? Certainly not the +_Oidium_, for that has disappeared. The Cardinal remains. + +All the corn harvested in the _Agro Romano_ pays a fixed duty of +twenty-two pauls per rubbio. The rubbio is worth, on an average, from +80 to 100 pauls; so that the government taxes the harvest to the +amount of at least 22 per cent. Here is a moderate tax. Why it is more +than double the tithe. So much for the assistance rendered to the +growers of corn. + +Every description of agricultural produce pays a tax on export. There +are governments which give a premium to exporters: one may call that +encouraging the national industry. There are others, and they are +still more numerous, which allow a free export of the surplus produce +of the land: this is not merely to encourage, it is to assist the +labourers. The Pope levies an average tax of 22 per thousand on the +total amount of exports, 160 per thousand on the value of imports. The +Piedmontese government is satisfied with 13 per thousand on exports, +and 58 per thousand on imports. Of the two countries, I should prefer +farming in Piedmont. + +Cattle are subject to vexatious taxes, which add from twenty to thirty +per cent. to their cost. They pay when at pasture; they pay nearly +twenty-three shillings per head at market; they pay on exportation. +And yet the breeding of cattle is one of the most valuable resources +of the State, and one of those which ought to be the most assisted. + +The horses raised in the country pay five per cent. on their value +every time they change hands. By the time a horse has passed through +twenty different hands, the Government has pocketed as much as the +breeder. When I say the Government, I am wrong; the horse-tax is not +included in the Budget. It is an ecclesiastical prebend. Cardinal +della Dateria throws it in with general episcopal revenues. + +"The good shepherd should shear, and not flay his sheep." These are +the words of an Emperor, not a Pope, of Rome. + +And now I dare not ask of the Holy Father certain protective measures +which could not fail to double the revenue of his crown and the number +of his subjects. + +According to the statistical returns of 1857, the territorial wealth +of the Romans is estimated at £104,400,000. The gross produce of this +capital does not reach more than £116,563. 11s. 8d., or about ten per +cent. This is little. In Poland, and some other great agricultural +countries, the land pays a net revenue of twelve per cent., which +represents at least twenty per cent. gross. The Roman soil would +produce the same if the Roman government did its duty. + +The country is divided into cultivated and uncultivated lands. The +former, that is to say those planted with useful trees, enriched by +manure, regularly submitted to manual labour, and sown every year, lie +chiefly in the provinces of the Adriatic, far beyond the ken of the +Pope. In this half of the States of the Church (the most worthy of +attention, and the least known) twenty years of French occupation have +left excellent traditions. The system of primogeniture is abolished, +if not by law, at least in practice. The equality of rights among the +children of the same father necessitates the subdivision of property +so favourable to agricultural progress. There are some large landed +proprietors here, as there are everywhere; but instead of abandoning +their estates to the rapacity of an intendant, they divide them into +different occupations, which they confide to the best farmers. The +landlord supplies the land, the buildings, and the cattle, and pays +the property-tax. The tenant supplies the labour, and pays the other +taxes, and the produce is equally shared between the landlord and the +tenant. The system answers well, and the Adriatic provinces would +hardly seem deserving of pity, if it were not for the brigands, the +inundations of the Po and the Reno, and the crushing taxation I have +described. + +These taxes are lighter on the other side of the Apennines. There are +even in the neighbourhood of Rome some landowners who pay scarcely any +at all. In 1854 the _Consulta di Stato_ valued the privileged lands at +£360,000. But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands. + +Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west of Rome, and +wherever the Papal benediction extends, the flat country, which covers +an immense extent, is at once uninhabited, uncultivated, and +unhealthy. Various are the modes in which experienced persons have +attempted to account for the wretched condition of this fine country. + +One says, + + "It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. How can you + cultivate without men? It is uninhabited because it is + unwholesome. How can you expect men to inhabit it at the + risk of their lives? Make it healthy, and it will populate + itself, and the population will cultivate it, for there is + not a finer soil in the world." + +Another replies, + + "You are wrong. You confound cause with effect. The country + is unhealthy because it is uncultivated. The decayed + vegetable matter accumulated by centuries ferments under the + summer sun. The wind blows over it, and raises up a + provision of subtle miasma, imperceptible to the smell, and + yet destructive to life. If all these plains were ploughed + or dug up three or four times, so as to let the air and + light penetrate into the depths of the soil, the fever which + lies dormant under the rank vegetation would speedily + evaporate, and return no more. Hasten then to bring ploughs, + and your first crop will be one of health." + +A third replies to the two first, + + "You are both right. The country is unhealthy because it is + uncultivated, and uncultivated because it is unhealthy. The + question lies in a vicious circle, from which there is no + escape. Let us therefore leave things as they are; and when + the fever-season arrives, we can go and inhale the fresh + mountain air under the tall trees of Frascati." + +The last speaker, if I am not greatly mistaken, is a Prelate. But have +a care, Monsignore! Frascati, once so renowned for the purity of its +air, now no longer deserves its reputation; and I may say the same of +Tivoli. The quarters of Rome most remarkable for healthiness, such for +instance as the Pincian, have of late become unhealthy. Fever is +gaining ground. It is equally worthy of observation that at the same +time the cultivation of the land is diminishing; and that the estates +in mortmain--that is to say, delivered into the hands of the +priesthood--have been increasing at the yearly rate of from £60,000 to +£80,000 a year. Is _mortmain_ indeed the hand which kills? + +I submitted this delicate question to a very intelligent, very +honourable, and very wealthy man, who farms several thousand acres of +Church property. He is one of the _Mercanti di Campagna_, mentioned in +a former chapter (Chap. VI.). The following is the substance of his +reply. + + "Six-tenths of the Agro Romano are held in mortmain. + Three-tenths belong to the princely families, and the + remaining tenth to different individuals. + + "I hold under a religious community. I have a three-years' + lease of the bare land. The live and dead farm-stock is my + own property. It represents an enormous capital, which is + liable to all sorts of accidents. But in our dear country + one must risk a great deal to gain a little. + + "If the land, which is almost all of fine quality, were my + own, I should bring nearly the whole of it under the plough; + but I am expressly forbidden by a clause in my lease to + break up the best land, for fear of exhausting it by growing + corn. No doubt such would be the result in the course of + time, because we apply no manure; but of course the inferior + land which I _am_ allowed to break up will be worn out much + sooner, and will in the end become almost worthless. The + monks knowing this, take care that the best land shall not + lose its quality, and oblige me to keep it in pasture for + cattle. Thus I grow little corn merely because the good + fathers will not let me grow a great deal. I cultivate first + one piece of land, then another. On my farm, as throughout + the Agro Romano, cultivation is but a passing accident; and + so long as this continues, the country will be unhealthy. + + "I raise cattle, which, as you will presently see, is + sometimes a profitable pursuit, sometimes quite the + contrary. On the whole of my farm I have no shelter for my + cattle. I asked the monks to build me some sheds, offering + to pay an increased rent in proportion to outlay. The monk + who acts as the man of business of the convent, shrugged his + shoulders. 'What can you be thinking of?' he said; 'you know + we have only a life interest in the property. To comply with + your request, we must spend our income for the benefit of + our successors: and what care we for our successors? No, we + look to the present usufruct; the future is no concern of + ours--we have no children!' And the friar is right. Well, he + went on to say that I was at liberty to build at my own cost + as many sheds as I liked, which of course would belong to + the convent at the expiration of my lease. I replied that I + had no objection to erect the sheds, if the convent would + grant me a lease of reasonable length. But just then it + occurred to me very opportunely, that the canon law does not + recognize leases for more than three years, and that on the + very day when my sheds were completed, the pious fathers + might find it convenient to pick a quarrel with me. So here + the matter dropped. Although our cattle are naturally hardy + they are bound to suffer from exposure to the weather. A + hundred cows under shelter will yield the same quantity of + milk through the winter as five hundred in the open air, at + half the cost. A large portion of the hay we strew about the + pastures for the cattle, is trodden underfoot and spoilt + instead of being eaten; and if rain falls, the whole is + spoilt. Calculate the loss of milk, the cost of cartage over + a wide range of land, the damage done to the pastures by the + trampling of heavy cattle in wet weather, all caused by the + want of a few sheds, which it is impossible to have under + the present system, and you will appreciate the position of + a farmer holding under landlords who are careless as to the + future, and merely live from hand to mouth. + + "There is another improvement, which I offered to make at my + own expense. I asked permission to dam up a little stream, + dig some trenches, and irrigate the fields, by which I could + have doubled the produce both in quantity and quality. You + will hardly imagine the answer I received. The monks + declared the extraordinary fertility which would result from + the irrigation, would be a sort of violence done to nature, + by which in the end the soil could not fail to be + impoverished. What could I reply to such reasoning? These + good fathers only think of nursing their income. I tax them + neither with ignorance nor bad intentions. I only regret + that the land should be in their hands." + + "Pasture-farming under such conditions as these is a + terribly hazardous pursuit. A single year of drought will + suffice to ruin a breeder completely. In the years 1854-5 we + lost from twenty to forty per cent. of our cattle; in 1856-7 + from seventeen to twenty per cent: and bear in mind that + every beast, before it died, had been taxed." + +A champion of the Pontifical system offered to prove to me _by +figures_ that all is for the best even in the ecclesiastical estates. + +"We have our reasons," he said, + + "for preferring pasture to arable land. Here is a property + consisting of a hundred _rubbia_[16] (not quite three + hundred acres). If it were farmed on the proprietor's own + account, the cultivation, harvesting, threshing, and storing + would amount to the value of 13,550 days' labour. The wages, + seed, keep of horses and cattle, the interest of capital + invested in stock, cost of superintendence, wear and tear of + tools, etc., would stand him in 8,000 scudi, or 80 scudi per + rubbio. The earth returns sevenfold on the seed sown. If 100 + measures of seed are sown, the return will be 700. The + average price of the measure of corn may be taken at 10 + scudi. Thus the value of the crop will be 7,000 scudi, + whereas the same crop cost to raise 8,000 scudi. Here are + 1,000 scudi (about £215) flung clean into the gutter; and + all for the pleasure of cultivating 100 rubbia of land. Is + it not much better to let the 100 rubbia to a + cattle-breeder, who will pay a rent of thirty or forty + shillings per rubbio? On one side we have a clear loss of + £215, and on the other a clear income of £160 or £184." + +This reasoning is founded upon the calculations of Monsignore Nicolai, +a prelate of considerable ability[17]: but it proves nothing, because +it attempts to prove too much. If the cultivation of corn be really so +ruinous an operation, it is strange that farmers should continue to +grow it merely to spite the government. + +But although it is quite true that the cultivation of a rubbio of land +costs 80 scudi, it is false that the earth only yields sevenfold on +the seed sown. According to the admission of the farmers +themselves--and they are notoriously not in the habit of exaggerating +their profits--it yields thirteen-fold on the seed sown. Thirteen +measures of corn are worth thirteen times ten scudi, or 130 scudi. +Deduct 80, the cost of cultivation, and 50 remain. Multiply by 100, +the result is 5,000 scudi (about £1,070), which will be the net income +arising from the 100 rubbia cultivated in corn. The same extent of +land under pasturage will produce £160 or £180. + +Consider, moreover, that it is not the net, but the gross income, +which constitutes the wealth of a country. The cultivation of 100 +rubbia, before it puts 5,000 scudi into the farmer's pockets, has put +some 8,000 scudi in circulation. These eight thousand scudi are +distributed among a thousand or fifteen hundred poor creatures who are +sadly in want of them. Pasture-farming, on the contrary, is only +profitable to three persons, the landlord, the breeder, and the +herdsman. Add to this, that in substituting arable for pasture +farming, you substitute health for disease, a more important +consideration than any other. + +But churchmen who hold or administer lands in mortmain, will never +consent to such a salutary resolution. It does not profit them +directly enough. As long as they have the upper hand, they will prefer +their own ease, and the certainty of their income, to the future +welfare of the people. + +Pius VI., a Pope worthy to have statues erected to him, conceived the +heroic project of forcing a change upon them. He decided that 23,000 +rubbia should be annually cultivated in the Agro Romano, and that all +the land should in turn be subjected to manual labour. Pius VII. did +still better. He decided that Rome, the _origo mali_, should be the +first to apply the remedy. He had a circuit of a mile traced round the +capital, and ordered the proprietors to cultivate it without further +question. A second, and then a third, were to succeed to the first. +The result would have been the disappearance, in a few years, of +malaria, and the gradual population of the solitudes. The purification +of the atmosphere would, too, be further promoted by planting trees +round the fields. Excellent measures these, although tinged by +despotism. Enlightened despotism repairs the errors of clumsy +despotism. But what could the will of two men avail against the +passive resistance of a caste? The laws of Pius VI. and Pius VII. were +never enforced. Cultivation, which had extended over 16,000 rubbia +under the reign of Pius VI., is reduced to an annual average of 5,000 +or 6,000 under the paternal inspection of Pius IX. Not only is the +planting of young trees abandoned, but the sheep are allowed to nibble +down the tender shoots of the old ones. Besides this, speculators are +tolerated, who burn down whole forests, for the production of potash. + +The estates of the Roman princes are somewhat better cultivated than +those of the Church: but they are involved in the same movement, or, +more strictly speaking, enchained in the same stagnation. The law, +which retains immense domains for ever in the hands of the same +family, and custom, which obliges the Roman nobles to spend so large a +portion of their incomes upon show, are equally obstacles to the +subdivision and to the improvement of the land. + +And while the richest plains in Italy are thus lying dormant, a +vigorous, indefatigable, and heroic population cultivates with the +pickaxe the arid sides of mountains, and exhausts its strength in +attempting to extract vegetation from flints. + +I have described the small mountain proprietors who form the +populations of the towns of 10,000 inhabitants towards the +Mediterranean. You have seen with what indomitable resolution they +combat the sterility of their meagre domains, without any hope of ever +becoming rich. These poor people, who spend their lives in getting +their living, would fancy themselves transported to Paradise, if +anybody were to give them a long lease of half-a-dozen acres in the +country about Rome. Their labour would then have a purpose, their +existence an aim, their family a future. + +Perhaps you think they would refuse to labour in an unhealthy country. +Why, these are the very men who at present cultivate the Roman +Campagna to such extent as it is allowed to be cultivated. They it is +who, every spring, come down in large companies from their native +mountains, to break up the heavy clods with pickaxes, and complete the +work of the plough. It is they, too, who return to harvest the crop +under the fatal heat of the summer sun. They attack a field waving +with golden corn. They reap from dawn to dusk, with no food more +nourishing than bread and cheese. They sleep in the open field, +regardless of the nocturnal exhalations which float around them--and +some of them never rise again. Those who survive ten days of a harvest +more destructive than many a battle, return to their native village +with some four or five scudi in their pockets. + +If these men could obtain a long lease, or merely take the land from +year to year, they would make more money, and the dangers to be +encountered would be no greater. They might be established between +Home and Montepoli, Rome and Civita Castellana, in the valley of +Ceprano, on the hills extending round the _Castelli_ of Rome, where +they would breathe an air as wholesome as that of their own mountains; +for fever does not always spare them even there. In course of time, +the colonizing system, advancing slowly and gradually, might realize +the dream of Pius VII., and would inevitably drive before it pauperism +and disease. + +I dare not hope that such a miracle will ever be wrought by a Pope. +The resistance to be encountered is too great, and the power is too +inert. But if it should ever please Heaven, which has given them ten +centuries of clerical government, to accord them, by way of +compensation, ten blessed years of lay administration, we should +perhaps see the Church property placed in more active and abler hands. + +Then, too, we should see the law of primogeniture and the system of +entails abolished, large estates divided, and their owners reduced, by +the force of circumstances, to the necessity of cultivating their +properties. Good laws on exportation, well enforced, would enable +spirited farmers to cultivate corn on a large scale. A network of +country roads, and main lines of railway, would convey agricultural +produce from one end of the country to the other. A national fleet +would carry it all over the world. Public works, institutions of +credit, police--But why plunge into such a sea of hopes? + +Suffice it to say, that the subjects of the Pope will be as prosperous +and as happy as any people in Europe--as soon as they cease to be +governed by a Pope! + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +FINANCES. + + +"The subjects of the Pope are necessarily poor--but then they pay +hardly any taxes. The one condition is a compensation for the other!" + +This is what both you and I have often heard said. Now and then, too, +it is put forth upon the faith of some statistical return or another +of the Golden Age, that they are governed at the rate of 7s. 6d. per +head. + +This calculation is a mere fable, as I can easily prove. But supposing +it to be correct, the Romans would not be the less deserving of pity. +It is a miserable consolation to people who have nothing, to be told +that their taxes are low. For my part, I would much rather have heavy +taxes to pay, and a good deal to pay them with, like the English. What +would be thought of the Queen's government, if after having ruined +trade, manufactures, and agriculture, and exhausted all the sources of +public prosperity, it were to say to the people, "Rejoice, good +people, for henceforth your taxes will not exceed 7s. 6d. a head all +round!" The English people would answer with great reason, that they +would much prefer to pay £40 a head, and be able to make £400. + +It is not this or that particular sum per head on a population which +constitutes moderate or excessive taxation; but the relation which the +sum annually taken for the service of the State bears to the revenues +of the nation. It is just to take much from him who has much; +monstrous to attempt to take anything--be it never so little--from him +who has nothing. If you examine the question from this common sense +point of view, you will agree with me that taxation at the rate of 7s. +6,d. a head, is pretty heavy for the poor Romans. + +But 7s. 6,d. a head is _not_ the rate at which they are taxed; nor +even double that amount. The Budget of Rome is £2,800,000, which is to +be assessed upon three million taxpayers. + +Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, justice, and +humanity, but in such a manner that the heaviest burdens fall upon the +most useful, laborious, and interesting class of the nation, the small +proprietors. + +And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to the State, and +admitted in the budget. Besides these, there are the provincial and +municipal charges, which, under the title of additional per-centage, +amount to more than double the direct taxes. The province of Bologna +pays £80,900 of property-tax, and £96,812 of provincial and municipal +charges, making together £177,712. This sum distributed over the whole +population of 370,107, brings the taxation to a fraction under 10s. a +head. But observe, that instead of being borne by the whole +population, it is borne by no more than 23,022 proprietors. + +But mark a further injustice! It does not bear equally upon the +proprietors of the towns and those of the country. The former has a +great advantage over the latter. A town property in the province of +Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per cent., a country property of the same value +5s. 3d. per cent., not upon the income, but the capital. + +In the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the middle +class that are the most heavily rated. Take the palace of a nobleman +in Bologna, and a small house belonging to a citizen, which adjoins +it. The palace is valued at the trifling sum of £1,100, on the ground +that the apartments inhabited by the owner are not included in the +income. The actual rent of which the owner is in the receipt for the +part left off is about £280 a year: his taxes are £18 a year. The +small house adjoining is valued at £200. The rent derived from it is +£10 a year, and the taxes paid on it are £3. 7s. 6d. Thus we find the +palace paying something like 5s. 6d. per cent. on its income, and the +small house £1 7s. + +The Lombards justly excite our compassion. But the proprietors of the +province of Bologna are taxed to the annual amount of £1,400 more than +those of the province of Milan. + +To this crushing taxation are added heavy duties on articles of +consumption. All the necessaries of life are liable to these taxes, +such as flour, vegetables, rice, bread, etc. They are heavier than in +almost any other European city. Meat is charged at the same rate as in +Paris. Hay, straw, and wood, at still higher rates. + +The town dues of Lille amount to 10s. per head on the population; +those of Florence, about the same; and those of Lyons 12s. 6d. At +Bologna they are 14s. 2d. Observe, town dues alone. We are already a +long way from the 7s. 6d. of the Golden Age! + +I am bound in justice to admit that the nation has not always been so +hardly dealt with. It was not till the reign of Pius IX. that the +taxation became insupportable. The budget of Bologna was more than +doubled between 1846 and 1858. + +Something might be said, if at least the money taken from the nation +were spent for the good of the nation! + +But one-third of the amount raised in taxation remains in the hands of +the officials who collect it. This is incredible, but true. The cost +of collecting the revenue amounts, if I mistake not, in England, to 8 +per cent.; in France, to 14 per cent.; in Piedmont, to 16 per cent.; +and in the States of the Church, to 31 per cent. + +If you marvel at a system of extravagance which obliges the people to +pay £4 for every £2. 15s. 10d. required for their mis-government, here +is a fact which will enlighten you on the subject. + +Last year the place of municipal receiver was put up to auction in the +city of Bologna. An offer was made by an honourable and responsible +man to collect the dues for a commission of 1-1/2 per cent. The +Government gave the preference to Count Cesare Mattei, one of the +Pope's Chamberlains, who asked two per cent. So this piece of +favouritism costs the city £800 a year. + +The following is the mode in which the revenue (after the abstraction +of one-third in the course of collecting it) is disposed of. + +£1,000,000 goes to pay the interest of a continually accumulating +debt, contracted by the priests, and for the priests, annually +increasing through the bad administration of the priests, and carried +by the priests to the debit of the nation. + +£400,000 is devoured by a useless army, the sole duty of which has +hitherto been to present arms to the Cardinals, and to escort the +procession of the Host. + +£120,000 is devoted to those establishments which of all others are +the most indispensable to an unpopular government: I mean, the +prisons. + +£80,000 is the cost of the administration of justice. The tribunals of +the capital absorb half the amount, because they enjoy the distinction +of being for the most part composed of prelates. + +The very modest sum of £100,000 is devoted to public works. This is +chiefly spent in embellishing Rome, and repairing churches. + +£60,000 goes in the encouragement of idleness in the city of Rome. A +Charity Commission, presided over by a Cardinal, distributes this sum +among a few thousand incorrigible idlers, without accounting for it to +anybody. Mendicity is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to +every one. From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid +£1,600,000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects of which, +the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it required. The +Cardinal who presides over the Commission takes £2,400 a year for his +private charities. + +£16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public education, which, +moreover, is wholly in the hands of the clergy. Add this moderate sum, +and the £80,000 devoted to the administration of justice, to a part of +the £100,000 spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly +be set down as money spent in the service of the nation. The remainder +is of no use but to the Government,--in other words, to a parcel of +priests. + +The Pope and the partners of his power must be indifferent financiers, +when, after spending such a pittance on the nation, they contrive to +wind up every year with a deficit. The balance of 1858 showed a +deficit of nearly half a million sterling, which does not prevent the +government from promising a surplus in the estimates of 1859. + +In order to fill up the gaps in the budget, the Government has +recourse to borrowing, sometimes openly, by a loan from the house of +Rothschild, sometimes secretly, by an issue of stock. + +In 1857 the Pontifical Government contracted its eleventh loan with +Rothschild's house; it was a trifle, something under £700,000. +Nevertheless there were quiet issues of stock from 1851 to 1858, to +the tune of £1,320,000. The capital of the debt for which its subjects +are liable, amounts to £14,376,150. 5s. If you will take the trouble +to divide this grand total by the figure which represents the +population, you will find that every little subject born to the Pope +comes into the world a debtor of something like £4. 10s., whereof he +will contribute to pay the interest all his life, although neither he +nor his ancestors have ever derived the least benefit from the outlay. + +It is true these fourteen millions and a half (in round numbers) have +not been lost for all the world. The nephews of the Popes have +pocketed a good round sum. About a third has been swallowed up by what +is called the general interests of the Roman Catholic faith. It has +been proved that the religious wars have cost the Popes at least four +millions; and the farmers of Ancona and Forlì are still paying out of +the produce of their fields for the faggots used to burn the +Huguenots. The churches of which Rome is so proud have not been paid +for entirely by the tribute of Catholicism at large. There are certain +remnants of accounts, which were at the cost of the Roman people. The +Popes have made more than one donation to those poor religious +establishments, which possess no more than £20,000,000 worth of +property in the world. The expenses lumped together under the head of +Allocations for Public Worship add something short of £900,000 +sterling to the national debt. Foreign occupation, and more +particularly the invasion of the Austrians in the north, has burdened +the inhabitants with a million sterling. Add the money squandered, +given away, stolen, and lost, together with £1,360,000 paid to bankers +for commission on loans, and you have an account of the total of the +debt, excepting perhaps a million and a half or so, of which the +unexplained and inexplicable disbursement does immortal honour to the +discretion of the ministers. + +Since the restoration of Pius IX., an approach to respect for public +opinion has forced the Pontifical Government to publish some sort of +accounts. It does not render them to the nation, but to Europe, +knowing that Europe is not curious in the matter, and will be easily +satisfied. A few copies of the annual Budget are published; they are +certainly not in everybody's reach. The statement of receipts and +expenditure is prodigiously laconic. I have now before me the +estimates prepared for 1858, in four pages, the least blank of which +contains just fourteen lines. The Finance Minister sums up the +receipts and the outgoings, both ordinary and extraordinary. Under the +head of Receipts, he lumps the whole of "the direct contributions, and +the State property, 3,201,426 scudi." + +Under the head of Expenditure, we read "Commerce, Fine Arts, +Agriculture, Manufactures, and Public Works, 601,764 scudi." A +tolerable lump, this. + +This powerful simplification of accounts enables the Minister to +perform some capital tricks of financial sleight of hand. Supposing, +for instance, the Government wants half a million of scudi for some +mysterious purpose, nothing is easier than to bring their direct +contributions in as having paid half a million less than they really +have. What will Europe ever know about the matter? + + "Speech is silver, but silence is gold." + +Successive Finance Ministers at Rome have all adopted this device, +even when they are forced to speak, they have the art of not saying +the very thing the country wants to hear. + +In almost all civilized countries the nation enjoys two rights which +seem perfectly just and natural. The first is that of voting the +taxes, either directly or through the medium of its deputies; the +second, that of verifying the expenditure of its own money. + +In the Papal kingdom, the Pope or his Minister says to the citizens, +"Here is what you have to pay!" And he takes the money, spends it, and +never more alludes to it except in the vaguest language. + +Still, in order to afford some sort of satisfaction to the conscience +of Europe, Pius IX. promised to place the finances under the control +of a sort of Chamber of Deputies. Here is the text of this promise, +which figured, with many others, in the _Motu Proprio_ of the 12th of +September, 1849. + + "_A Consulta di Stato_ for the Finances is established. It + will be _heard_ on the estimates of the forthcoming year. It + will examine the balance of accounts for the previous year, + and sign the vote of credit. It will give its advice on the + establishment of new, or the reduction of old taxes; on the + better distribution of the general taxation; on the measures + to be taken for the improvement of commerce, and in general + on all that concerns the interests of the public Treasury. + + "The Councillors shall be selected by Us from lists + presented by the Provincial Councils. Their number shall be + fixed in proportion to the provinces of the State. This + number may be increased within fixed limits by the addition + of some of our subjects, whom we reserve to ourselves the + right to name." + +Now, allow me to dwell briefly upon the meaning of this promise, and +the results which have followed it. Who knows whether diplomacy may +not ere long be again occupied in demanding promises of the +Pope?--whether the Pope may not again think it wise to promise +mountains and marvels?--whether these new promises may not be just as +hollow and insincere as the old ones? This short paragraph deserves a +long commentary, for it is fraught with instruction. + +"It is established!" said the Pope. But the _Consulta di Stato_ of +Finances, established the 12th of September, 1849, only gave signs of +life in December, 1853. Four years afterwards! This is what I call +drawing a bill at a pretty long date. It is admitted that the nation +needs some guarantees, and that it is entitled to tender some advice, +and to exercise some control. And so the nation is requested to call +again in four years. + +The members of the _Consulta_ of the Finances are a sort of sham +deputies; very sham ones, I assure you, although the Count de +Rayneval, to suit his purpose, is pleased to call them "the +Representatives of the Nation." They represent the nation as Cardinal +Antonelli represents the Apostles. + +They are elected by the Pope from a list presented by the Communal +Councils. The Communal Councillors are elected by their predecessors +of the Communal Council, who were chosen directly by the Pope from a +list of eligible citizens, each of whom must have produced a +certificate of good conduct, both religious and political. In all this +I cannot for the life of me see more than one elector--the Pope. + +We'll begin this progressive election again, and start from the very +bottom--that is, the nation. The Italians have a peculiar fancy for +municipal liberties. The Pope knows this, and, as a good prince, he +resolves to accommodate them. The township or commune wishes to choose +its own councillors, of which there are ten to be elected. The Pope +names sixty electors--six electors for every councillor. And observe, +that in order to become an elector, a certificate from the parish and +the police is necessary. But they are not infallible; and, moreover, +it is just possible that in the exercise of a novel right they may +fall into some error; so the Sovereign determines to arrange the +election himself. Then, his Communal Councillors--for they are indeed +_his_--come and present him with a list of candidates for the +Provincial Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father +may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the province of +Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hundred and fifty-six; he +must be unlucky indeed not to be able to pick out eleven men devoted +to him. These eleven Provincial Councillors, in their turn, present +four candidates, out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the +nation is _represented_ in the Financial Council. + +Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father adds to the +list of representatives some men of his own choice, his own caste, and +who are in habits of intimacy with him. The councillors elected by the +nation are eliminated by one-third every two years. The councillors +named directly by the Pope are irremovable. + +Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to power, it was +this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope does not trust to it. He +has given the presidence to a Cardinal, the vice-presidence to a +Prelate; and still he is only half re-assured. A special regulation +places all the councillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal +President. It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the +bureaux, and makes the reports to the Pope. Without his permission no +papers or documents are communicated to the councillors. So true is it +that the reigning caste sees in every layman an enemy. + +And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay councillors, +selected among the most timid, submissive, and devoted of the Pope's +subjects, could not forget that they were men, citizens, and Italians. +On the day after their installation they manifested a desire to begin +doing their duty, by examining the accounts of the preceding year. +They were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in their +demands. A search was instituted. A few documents were produced; but +so incomplete that the Council was not able in six years to audit and +pass them. + +The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on the new taxes +decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, that is to say, since the +Council of Finances has entered upon its functions, the Government has +contracted foreign loans, inscribed consolidated stock in the great +book of the national debt, alienated the national property, signed +postal conventions, changed the system of taxation at Benevento, and +taxed the diseased vines, without even taking the trouble to ascertain +its opinion. + +The Government proposed some other financial measure to the Council, +and the answer was in the negative. In spite of this, the Government +measures were carried into execution. The _Motu Proprio_ says the +_Consulta di Stato_ shall be heard, but not that it shall be listened +to.[18] + +Every year, at the end of the session, the _Consulta_ addresses to the +Pope a humble petition against the gross abuses of the financial +system. The Pope remits the petition over to some Cardinals. The +Cardinals remit it over to the Greek Kalends. + +The Count de Rayneval greatly admired this mechanism. The Emperor +Soulouque did more--he imitated it. + +But M. Guizot tells us that "there is a degree of bad government which +no people, whether great or little, enlightened or ignorant, will +tolerate at the present day."[19] + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +The Count de Rayneval, after having proved that all is for the best in +the dominions of the Pope, winds up his celebrated _Note_ by a +desponding conclusion. According to him, the Roman Question is one +which cannot possibly be definitively solved; and the utmost that can +be effected by diplomacy is the postponement of a catastrophe. + +I am not such a pessimist. It appears to me that all political +questions may be solved, and all catastrophes averted. I am sanguine +enough to believe that war is not absolutely indispensable to the +salvation of Italy and the security of Europe, and that it is possible +to extinguish a conflagration without firing guns. + +You have seen the intolerable misery and the legitimate discontent of +the subjects of the Pope. You know enough of them to understand that +Europe ought without delay to bring them succour, not only from the +love of abstract justice, but in the interest of the public peace. I +have proved to you that the misfortunes which afflict these three +millions of men must be attributed neither to the weakness of the +sovereign, nor even to the perversity of minister, but are the logical +and necessary deductions from a principle. All that Europe has to do +is to protest against the consequences. The principle must either be +admitted or rejected. If you approve the temporal sovereignty of the +Pope, you are bound to applaud everything, even the conduct of +Cardinal Antonelli. If you are shocked by the offences of the +Pontifical Government, it is against the ecclesiastical monarchy that +you must seek your remedy. + +Diplomacy, without staying to discuss the premises, has from time to +time protested against the deductions. In profoundly respectful +_Memoranda_ it has implored the Pope to act inconsistently, by +administering the affairs of his States upon the principles of lay +governments. Should the Pope turn a deaf ear, the diplomatists have no +right to complain, because they recognize his character, as an +independent sovereign. Should he promise all they ask and afterwards +break his word, diplomacy is equally without a ground of complaint. Is +it not the admitted right of the Sovereign Pontiff to absolve men even +from the most solemn oaths? And finally, should he yield to the +solicitation of Europe, and enact liberal laws one day, only to let +them fall into desuetude the next, diplomatists are once more +disarmed. To violate its own laws is a special privilege of absolute +monarchy. + +I entertain a very high respect for our diplomatists of 1859; nor were +their predecessors of 1831 wanting either in good intentions or +capacity. They addressed to Gregory XVI. a MEMORANDUM, which is a +master-piece of its kind. They extorted from the Pope a real +constitution,--a constitution which left nothing to be desired, and +which guaranteed all the moral and material interests of the Roman +nation. In a few years this same constitution had entirely +disappeared, and abuses again flowed from the ecclesiastical +principle, like a river from its source. + +We renewed the experiment in 1849. The Pope granted us the _Motu +Proprio_ of Portici, and the Romans gained nothing by it. + +Shall our diplomatists repeat in 1859 this same part of dupes? A +French engineer has demonstrated that dykes erected along the banks of +rivers liable to inundation are costly, in constant need of repair, +and ineffectual; and that the only real protection against those +devastations is the construction of a dam at the source. To the +source, then, gentlemen of the diplomatic guild! Ascend straight to +the temporal power of the Papacy. + +And yet I dare neither hope for, nor ask of Europe the immediate +application of this grand panacea. Gerontocracy is still too powerful, +even in the youngest governments Besides, we are now at peace, and +radical reforms are only to be effected by war. The sword alone enjoys +the privilege of deciding great questions by a single stroke. +Diplomatists, a timid army of peace, proceed but by half-measures. + +There is one which was proposed in 1814 by Count Aldini, in 1831 by +Rossi, in 1855 by Count Cavour. These three statesmen, comprehending +the impossibility of limiting the authority of the Pope within the +kingdom in which it is exercised, and over the people who are +abandoned to it, advised Europe to remedy the evil by diminishing the +extent of, and reducing the population subjected to, the States of the +Church. + +Nothing is more just, natural, or easy than to free the Adriatic +provinces, and to confine the despotism of the Papacy between the +Mediterranean and the Apennines. I have shown that the cities of +Ferrara, Ravenna, Bologna, Rimini, and Ancona are at once the most +impatient of the Pontifical yoke and the most worthy of liberty. +Deliver them. Here is a miracle which may be wrought by a stroke of +the pen: and the eagle's plume which signed the treaty of Paris is as +yet but freshly mended. + +There would still remain to the Pope a million of subjects, and +between three and four millions of acres; neither the one nor the +other in a very high state of cultivation, I must admit; but it is +possible that the diminution of his revenue might induce him to manage +his estates and utilize his resources better than he now does. One of +two things would occur: either he would enter upon the course pursued +by good governments, and the condition of his subjects would become +endurable, or he would persist in the errors of his predecessors, and +the Mediterranean provinces would in their turn demand their +independence. + +At the worst, and as a last alternative, the Pope might retain the +city of Rome, his palaces and temples, his cardinals and prelates, his +priests and monks, his princes and footmen, and Europe would +contribute to feed the little colony. + +Rome, surrounded by the respect of the universe, as by a Chinese wall, +would be, so to speak, a foreign body in the midst of free and living +Italy. The country would suffer neither more nor less than does an old +soldier from the bullet which the surgeon has left in his leg. + +But will the Pope and the Cardinals easily resign themselves to the +condition of mere ministers of religion? Will they willingly renounce +their political influence? Will they in a single day forget their +habits of interfering in our affairs, of aiming princes against one +another, and of discreetly stirring up citizens against their rulers? +I much doubt it. + +But on the other hand, princes will avail themselves of the lawful +right of self-defence. They will read history, and they will there +find that the really strong governments are those which have kept +religious authority in their own hands; that the Senate of Rome did +not grant the priests of Carthage liberty to preach in Italy; that the +Queen of England and the Emperor of Russia are the heads of the +Anglican and Russian religions; and they will see that by right the +sovereign metropolis of the churches of France should be in Paris. + + + + + + +NOTES + + + + 1: Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 64. + + 2: 'La Grèce Contemporaine.' + + 3: Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Comte de Tournon. + + 4: A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and + deserved well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful + struggle of 1848, soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope, + under happier auspices, and with a very different result. + + Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a _corps d' + armée_ of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby + he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat + at Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Nugent, and + prevented the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President + Manin acknowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved + Venice, and immediately sent him the commission of a full General. + On the 16th of May, General Nugent arrived before Treviso with + 16,000 men, and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to + surrender, giving General Lante till noon on the following day for + consideration. At four the same evening, Lante sent for reply, + "Come this evening. I shall expect you at six. We are here to + fight, not to surrender!" After threatening the town for some + days, Nugent retired from before it, and joined Radetzky. + + Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General + Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli + served as a _private soldier_ in the Roman Legion; he was one of + the three Commissioners who were sent to the camp of Radetzky to + treat for the capitulation of Vicenza. + + Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of + Grenadiers. + + Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly + Officer to Durando. + + Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Don Ludovico Lante (a younger brother of Filippo) was Captain in + the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's _Guardia Nobile_ for a Colonelcy + of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Republic: he was an + excellent officer. + + Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young + students.--_Transl_. + + 5: The ordinary British tourist must not look for his portrait in the + witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the + pilgrims are all assumed to be true sons of _the_ + Church.--_Transl_. + + 6: An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those + students who are unable to pass their examinations; tantamount to + our English _plucked_. + + 7: A man who has worn _cioccie_. + + 8: _'Tolla_.' 1 vol. 12mo. + + 9: 'The Victories of the Church,' by the Priest Margotti. 1857. + +10: 'Proemio della Statistica,' pubblicata nel 1857, dall' + Eminentissimo Cardinale Milesi. + +11: H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. + +12: Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of + morality) occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive + caused him to be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He + had a habit, too, of ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether + any incidents of more than ordinary interest in domestic life were + passing in the palaces of his noble, or the houses of his citizen + subjects. His medium for the attainment of this end was a powerful + telescope, placed at one of his upper windows! The principal + minister to his gossiping propensities was one Captain C----, a + man of great learning, but doubtful morality, selected, of course, + for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his experiences in + what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term "life." When, + between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the + Captain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite + amount of evidence against any offending party, the mode of + procedure was sudden, swift, and sure, fully bearing out the + Author's assertion that in Rome the will of an individual is a + substitute for the law of the State. There was no nonsense about + _Habeas Corpus_, or jury, or recorded judgment. The supposed + delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the night, to + avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as it + was phrased _prigione ed altre pene a nostro arbitrio_. One day + C---- brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced + by his Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly + respected and able _Avocato_ B---- (a stout lady of fifty), who + was at the same time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in + the habit of driving out daily in the carriage, and by the side of + the old bachelor Duke C----, Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal + decision on the case was instant. The act was of such frequent + occurrence, so audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public + morality demanded the strongest measures. That very night a + descent was made upon the dwelling of the unconscious _Avocato_. + The sanctity of the connubial chamber was invaded. The sleeping + beauty of fifty was ordered to rise, and was dragged off to--the + Convent of Repentant Females! B---- knew, and none better, what + manner of thing law was in Rome, so instead of wasting time in + reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of the case--urging the + argument that, even supposing his wife to have been of a + susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he himself + made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody + else had any right to interfere--and other similar appeals to + common sense, he at once requested the interference of the French + Ambassador. This was promptly and effectively given. The + incarceration of the peccant dame was brief; and a shower of + ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. But the Sovereigns of Rome + are accustomed to, and regardless of, such irreverent + demonstrations.--_TRANSL._ + +13: Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849. + +14: The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza. + +15: The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls. + +16: The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity. + +17: Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a + sort of model farm, known as the _Albereto Nicolai_, near the + Basilica of St. Paul Without the Walls. He was an able + administrator, and a man of superior attainments; and had he only + possessed common honesty, he would have been in time a great + man--as greatness is understood in Rome. He was a _Prelato di + Fiochetto_, and held the post of _Uditore della R.C. Apostolica_, + one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to Red Hats. + Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI for the promotion, and had + actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately Monsignore + Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He was a + _bon vivant_, and a _viveur_. He loved money, and he was utterly + unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career + in the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was + very near its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which, + although he was nearly eighty years of age, he played the + principal part. He colluded with a notary, named Bachetti, to + falsify the will of one Vitelli, a wealthy contractor, inserting + in the place of the testator's two orphan nieces that of _his own + natural son_. The affair having been dragged to light, Gregory + XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in disgrace + and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in his + very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered some + gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to + watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he + had ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law + could take possession. + + It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of + Justice in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of + the will produced as that of Vitelli, his nieces were never able + to recover the whole of his property. They were compelled to make + terms with Grossi, the defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this + day remains in the enjoyment of one-half of Vitelli's property! + +18: All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from + the works of the Marchese Pepoli. + +19: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293. + + + * * * * * + + +RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF D. APPLETON & COMPANY, + +346 & 343 BROADWAY. + + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan, 1 vol. 12mo. +cloth, $1. + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents. + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (daughter of Barry +Cornwall.) 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + +Shakers. Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. +75 cents. + +The Banks of New York. Their Dealers; the Clearing House, and the +Panic of 1807. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With thirty +illustrations. By Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages, cloth, $1.50. + +The Manual of Chess. Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, Recent Games, and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 volume, 18mo. 50 cents. + +Le Cabinet des Fées; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the express +use of Students in French. By George Gerard, A.M. 1 volume, 12mo. +$1. + +Halleck's Poetical Works. In blue and gold. 24mo. 88 cents. + +Letters from Spain and other Countries. By Wm. Cullen Bryant. 1 +volume, 12mo. Cloth. + +The Foster Brothers. Being the History of the School and College Life +of Two Young Men. 1 volume, 12mo. + +Life of James Watt. The Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine. With +Selections from his Private Correspondence. By James P. Muirhead. +Portrait and Wood Cuts. + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. 1, 1636 to 1700. 8vo. Price, $2.60 + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, Designed for Schools, +Colleges and Seminaries in the United States. By Henry Goadby, M.D. +Embellished with 450 illustrations. (A new edition.) Price, $2 + +Meta Gray; or, What Makes Home Happy. By Maria J. McIntosh, Author +of "Aunt Kitty's Tales." 1 vol., 12mo. 75 cents. + +The Emancipation of Faith. By the late Henry Edward Schedel, M.D. +Edited by George Schedel. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $4 + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +"Ministering Children." 1 volume, 12mo. Cloth, with 2 engravings, $1 + +Bertram Noel: A Story of Youth. By E.J. May, Author of "Edgar +Clifton." 1 volume, 16mo. Illustrated, 75 cents. + +Benton's Thirty Years' View; or, A History of the Working of the +American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850. New edition, +with Autobiography and a General Index. 2 volumes, 8vo. Cloth, $5. + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. Third Edition. 1 volume, half morocco, $3.50. + +New York to Delhi, by the way of Rio de Janeiro, Australia, and China. +By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 volume, 12mo. Illustrated with a Map, +$1.25. (Second edt.) + +History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vol. 1, +8vo. 677 pages. From the 2d London edt., $2.50. + +Rational Cosmology; or, The Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws +of the Universe. By Laurens P. Hickock, D.D. 1 volume, 8vo. 397 +pages, $1.75. + +Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences. First American, from the +third London edition. 2.vols, 8vo. Cloth, $4. + +The Coopers; or. Getting Under Way. By Alice B Haven. 1 volume, +12mo. 336 page, 75 cents. + +Appleton's New American Cyclopædia. A Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge. Volume V. Just published. To be completed in fifteen +volumes. Cloth, $3; leather, $3.50; hf. mor. $4; hf. Russia, $4.50. +Published by subscription. + +Benton's Abridgment of the Congressional Debates. Volume X. Just +published. Sold by Subscription. Cloth, $3; law sheep, $3.50; half +morocco, $4. Each volume payable as delivered. + +Burton's Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humor. Two large volumes, 8vo. +Profusely illustrated with Wood Engravings and twenty-four Portraits +on Steel. Extra cloth, $7; sheep extra, $8; hf mor. $9; hf calf, $10 + + + + +NEW PUBLICATIONS AND NEW EDITIONS + +PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +346 and 348 Broadway. + + * * * * * + +The Foster Brothers: Being the HISTORY of the SCHOOL and COLLEGE LIFE +of TWO YOUNG MEN. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "As fresh as the morning.... It abounds in fun, and in + relish of the activities, competitions, and sports of boyish + and adolescent life."--DAILY NEWS. + + "Full of life, and fun, and vigor.... These sketches of + school and college life are among the happiest of their + kind. Particularly well written is the account of life at + Cambridge."--EXAMINER. + + * * * * * + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan. 1 vol. 12mo. +$1. + + "This volume brims with sense, cleverness, and humor. A + lively and entertaining collection of great men's thought + and quick woman's observation; a book to be read now for + amusement, and to be sought hereafter for + reference."--_London Athenæum._ + + "A charming book. It is long since the reading public has + been admitted to so great a treat as this fascinating + collection of wit, anecdote and gossip. It is a delightful + reminiscence of a brilliant past, told by one of the best + wits still extant."--_London Daily News_. + + * * * * * + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. I vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + CONTENTS.--LOOKING UPWARDS; COLIN AND JEANIE; THE FAMILY AT + ALLEYNE; OFF! OFF! AND AWAY; ENDEAVORING; EDWARD ARNOLD; + POOR, YET NOBLE; LITTLE HARRY; POOR JAMIE CLARK; FIELDS + WHITE UNTO THE HARVEST; THE SAND HUTS; THE DRUNKARD'S + COTTAGE; THE INFANT'S MINISTRY; STAND STILL; OLD MOSES AND + LITTLE ADAH; THE ROCKY GLEN; SALOME; WIDOW M'LEOD; STAFFA + AND IONA; CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE; FAITH'S CONFLICT; FAITH'S + VICTORY; REUNION; SUMMER DAYS; THE FADING FLOWER; THE + UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL, A. WEDDING DAY; THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS + APPEARING; HASTENING ON; THE SIRE'S BIRTHDAY; THE SUMMIT + GAINED. + + * * * * * + +Shakers: Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, with Biographies of Ann Lee, +William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknett, J. Mescham, and Lucy Wright. +By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + * * * * * + +Cyclopædia of Wit and Humor, Comprising a Unique Collection of +Complete Articles, and specimens of Written Humor from Celebrated +Humorists of America, England, Ireland and Scotland. Illustrated with +upwards of 600 Characteristic Original Designs, and 24 Portraits, from +Steel Plates. Edited by William E. Burton, the Celebrated Comedian. +Two vols., 8vo., cloth, $7. sheep, $8; halfmor., $9; half calf, $10. + + "As this task is a labor of love to Mr. Burton, we are sure + of its being well performed."--_New York Times_. + + "The editor has raked many old pieces out of the dust, + while he has drawn freely from the great masters of humor in + modern times."--_N.Y. Tribune_. + + "We do not see how any lover of humorous literature can + help buying it." _Phila. Pennsylvanian_. + + "Mr. Burton is the very man to prepare this Cyclopædia of + Fun."--_Louis. Journal_. + + "We do not know how any family fond of the ludicrous can + afford to dispense with this feast of fun and humor."--_New + Bedford Mercury_. + + * * * * * + + + +From New York to Delhi. By the way of RIO DE JANEIRO, AUSTRALIA AND +CHINA. By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 vol. 12mo. With a Map. $1.25. + + "Mr. Minturn's volume is very different from an ordinary + sketch of travel over a well-beaten road. He writes with + singular condensation. His power of observation is of that + intuitive strength which catches at a glance the salient and + distinctive points of every thing he sees. He has shown rare + cleverness, too, in mingling throughout the work, agreeably + and unobtrusively, so much of the history of India, and yet + without ever suffering it to clog the + narrative."--_Churchman_. + + "This book shows how much can be accomplished by a + wide-awake, thoughtful man in a six months' tour. The + literary execution of Mr. Minturn's book is of a high order, + and, altogether, we consider it a timely and important + contribution to our stock of meritorious works."--_Boston + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +Le Cabinet des Feés; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the Express +Use of Students in French. By George S. Gerard, A.M., Prof, of +French and Literature. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "After an experience of many years in teaching, we are + convinced that such works as the Adventures of Telemachus + and the History of Charles XII., despite their incontestable + beauty of style and richness of material, are too difficult + for beginners, even of mature age. Such works, too, + consisting of a continuous narrative, present to most + students the discouraging prospect of a formidable + undertaking, which they fear will never be + completed."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Banks of New York; Their Dealers; The Clearing-House; and the +Panic of 1857. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With Thirty +Illustrations, by Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages. Cloth, $1.50. + + + A book for every Man of Business, for the Bank Officer and + Clerk; for the Bank Stockholder and Depositor; and, + especially for the Merchant and his Cash Manager; also for + the Lawyer, who will here find the exact Responsibilities + that exist between the different officers of Banks and the + Clerks, and between them and the Dealers. + + The operations of the Clearing-House are described in + detail, and illustrated by a financial Chart, which + exhibits, in an interesting manner, the fluctuations of the + Bank Loans. + + The immediate and exact cause of the Panic of 1857 is + clearly demonstrated by the records of the Clearing-House, + and a scale is presented by which the deviation of the + volume of Bank Loans from an average standard of safety can + be ascertained at a single glance. + + * * * * * + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. I. 1636-1700. 1 vol. 8vo. 574 pages. +$2.50. + + "To trace the rise and progress of a State, the offspring + of ideas that were novel and startling, even amid the + philosophical speculations of the Seventeenth Century; whose + birth was a protest against, whose infancy was a struggle + with, and whose maturity was a triumph over, the retrograde + tendency of established Puritanism; a State that was the + second-born of persecution, whose founders had been doubly + tried in the purifying fire; a State which, more than any + other, has exerted, by the weight of its example, an + influence to shape the political ideas of the present day, + whose moral power has been, in the inverse ratio with its + material importance; of which an eminent Historian of the + United States has said that, had its territory 'corresponded + to the importance and singularity of the principles of its + early existence, the world would have been filled with + wonder at the phenomena of its history,' is a task not to be + lightly attempted or hastily performed."--_Extract from + Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +_Ministering Children_. 1 vol., 12mo., with Two Eng's., $1. Of the +_Ministering Children_, (the author's previous work,) 50,000 copies +have been sold. + + "The higher walks of life, the blessedness of doing good, + and the paths of usefulness and enjoyment, are drawn out + with beautiful simplicity, and made attractive and easy in + the attractive pages of this author. To do good, to teach + others how to do good, to render the home circle and the + neighborhood glad with the voice and hand of Christian + charity, is the aim of the author, who has great power of + description, a genuine love for evangelical religion, and + blends instruction with the story, so as to give charm to + all her books."--_N.Y. Observer_. + + * * * * * + +The Coopers; or, Getting Under Way. By Alice B. Haven, Author of _No +Such Word as Fail_, _All's Not Gold that Glitters_, etc., etc. 1 vol. +12mo. 336 pages. 75 cents. + + "To grace and freshness of style, Mrs. Haven adds a genial, + cheerful philosophy of Life, and Naturalness of Character + and Incident, in the History of the Cooper Family." + + * * * * * + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology. Designed for the use +of Schools, Seminaries and Colleges in the United States. By Henry +Goadby, M.D., Professor of Vegetable and Animal Physiology and +Entomology, in the State Agricultural College of Michigan, &c. A new +edition. One handsome vol., 8vo., embellished with upwards of 450 wood +engravings (many of them colored,) Price, $2 + + "The attempt to teach only Human Physiology, like a similar + proceeding in regard to Anatomy, can only end in failure; + whereas, if the origin (so to speak) of the organic + structures in the animal kingdom, be sought for and steadily + pursued through all the classes, showing their gradual + complication, and the necessity for the addition of + accessory organs, till they reach their utmost development + and culminate in man, the study may be rendered an agreeable + and interesting one, and be fruitful in profitable results. + + "Throughout the accompanying pages, this principle has been + kept steadily in view, and it has been deemed of more + importance to impart solid and thorough instruction on the + subjects discussed, rather than embrace the whole field of + physiology, and, for want of space, fail to do justice to + any part of it."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewis, Author of +_Seaside Studies_, _Life of Goethe_, etc. No. 1. Just Ready. Price 10 +cents. + +EXTRACT FROM PROSPECTUS. + + No scientific subject can be so important to Man as that of + his own Life. No knowledge can be so incessantly appealed to + by the incidents of every day, as the knowledge of the + processes by which he lives and acts. At every moment he is + in danger of disobeying laws which, when disobeyed, may + bring years of suffering, decline of powers, premature + decay. Sanitary reformers preach in vain, because they + preach to a public which does not understand the laws of + life--laws as rigorous as those of Gravitation or Motion. + Even the sad experience of others yields us no lessons, + unless we understand the principles involved. If one Man is + seen to suffer from vitiated air, another is seen to endure + it without apparent harm; a third concludes that "it is all + chance," and trusts to that chance. Had he understood the + principle involved, he would not have been left to + chance--his first lesson in swimming would not have been a + shipwreck. + + The work will be illustrated with from 20 to 25 woodcuts, to + assist the exposition. It will be published in monthly + numbers, uniform with Johnston's _Chemistry of Common + Life_. + + * * * * * + +The History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thos. Buckle. Vol. +I. 8vo. Cloth. $2.50 + + Whoever misses reading this book, will miss reading what + is, in various respects, to the best of our judgment and + experience, the most remarkable book of the day--one, + indeed, that no thoughtful, inquiring mind would miss + reading for a good deal. Let the reader be as adverse as he + may to the writer's philosophy, let him be as devoted to the + obstructive as Mr. Buckle is to the progress party, let him + be as orthodox in church creed as the other is heterodox, as + dogmatic as his author is sceptical,--let him, in short, + find his prejudices shocked at every turn of the argument, + and all his prepossessions whistled down the wind,--still, + there is so much in this extraordinary volume to stimulate + reflection, and excite to inquiry, and provoke to earnest + investigation, perhaps (to this or that reader) on a track + hitherto untrodden, and across the virgin soil of untilled + fields, fresh woods and pastures new--that we may fairly + defy the most hostile spirit, the most mistrustful and least + sympathetic, to read it through without being glad of having + done so, or, having begun it, or even glanced at almost any + one of its 854 pages, to pass it away unread.--_New Monthly + (London) Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (Daughter of the Poet, +Barry Cornwall.) One very neat volume, 12mo. Second edition. 75 cents. + + This is the charming volume of fresh and tender poems, by + the daughter of one of England's most honored and popular + poets, which has lately been received with so hearty a + welcome in England and America. Choice portions of it, + copied by the press with lively praises, have found their + way to the firesides. + + * * * * * + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. 1 vol. 8vo. 793 pages. Third edition. In half morocco. Gilt +top. $3.50. + + As the New-York correspondent of The Boston Transcript + enthusiastically writes, 'The elegiac composition, the + exquisite sonnet, the genuine pastoral, the war-song and + rural hymn, whose cadences are as remembered music, and the + couplets whose chime rings out from the depths of the heart; + whatever the old English dramatists, the ode writers of the + reign of Anne and Charles, the purest disciples of heroic + verse, the Lakists, the Byronic school--Wordsworth and + Dryden, Mrs. Hemans and Scott, Shakespeare and Hartley + Coleridge have made precious to soul and sense, are herein + brought together; and more than this--the many isolated + single notes, whose lingering harmony embalms their author's + name, with the numerous fugitive "brilliants," heretofore of + unknown parentage, cut from newspapers for the last half + century--the deep, soulfull utterances of heroes and + mourners, lovers and exiles, devotees of nature and + worshippers of art--are here elegantly garnered and + chronicled.' + + "It is just such a volume as a man may give to a woman, + albeit that woman is his mother, his sister, or his wife, + and is richly worth the place it claims on a lower shelf + within arm's length, in the most select library."--_Chicago + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +The Handy-Book on Property Law, in a series of Letters. By Lord St. +Leonards, (Sir Edward Sugden.) 1 vol., 16mo., Cloth, 75 cents. + + "This excellent little work gives the plainest inspections + in all matters connected with selling, buying, mortgaging, + leasing, settling and devising estates; and informs us of + our relations to our properties, our wives, our children, + and our liabilities as trustees, executors, &c., + &c."--_Tribune_. + + * * * * * + +The Manual of Chess; Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, recent Games and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 vol. 12mo. Price 50 cents. + + "Within the compass of this work I have included all that + is necessary for the beginner to learn. In recommendation of + this Manual, I can safely assert that it contains more than + any publication of the same dimensions. The Problems + contained herein, as also one of the 'Games actually + played,' are original, and have never been published." + + * * * * * + +The Book of Chess; Containing the Rudiments of the Game, and +Elementary Analysis of the most Popular Openings, exemplified in games +actually played by the great masters, including Staunton's Analysis of +the Kings and Queens, Gambits, numerous Positions and Problems on +Diagrams, both original and selected; also, a series of Chess Tales, +with illustrations from original designs. The whole extracted and +translated from the best sources. New Edition. By H.R. Agnel. $1.25. + + * * * * * + +Sixty Years' Gleanings from Life's Harvest. A Genuine Autobiography. +By John Brown. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1. + + "A remarkable book in every respect, and curiously + interesting from beginning to end. John Brown lived with + 'all his might,' and the 'Life' he writes is, in its + abundance and variety of tragic and comic ups-and-downs, as + good as a play. His experiences partook of all the quick + changes and boisterous bustle, and rude humor of an old + English fair; and as they are presented in this volume they + afford a picture of the times he lived and incessantly moved + in, which, in much of its bold handling, is not to be + surpassed by less spirited pencils than those of Fielding + and De Foe. The moral, even as you trace it through the + bustling table of contents, is of unmistakable application + for every fine young fellow of sound natural principles who + has to shoulder his own way to good citizenship and a share + of social influence. + + "As a neglected child, a 'juvenile offender,' an ingenious + vagabond, a, shoemaker, a soldier, an actor, a sailor, a + publican, a billiard-room keeper, a Town Councillor, and an + author, Mr. Brown has seen the world for sixty years, and he + unhesitatingly describes all that he has seen, with fidelity + of memory and straightforward simplicity of style." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN QUESTION*** + + +******* This file should be named 14381-8.txt or 14381-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/8/14381 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/14381-8.zip b/old/14381-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..340bbe3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14381-8.zip diff --git a/old/14381.txt b/old/14381.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..137f909 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14381.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7682 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Roman Question, by Edmond About, +Translated by H. C. Coape + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Roman Question + +Author: Edmond About + +Release Date: December 19, 2004 [eBook #14381] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN QUESTION*** + + +E-text prepared by Curtis Weyant, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE ROMAN QUESTION + +by + +E. ABOUT + +Translated From The French By H. C. Coape + +New York: +D. Appleton and Company, +346 & 348 Broadway + +1859 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I +travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all +opinions, examined things very closely, and collected my information +on the spot. + +My first impressions, noted down from day to day without any especial +object, appeared, with some necessary modifications, in the _Moniteur +Universel_. These notes, truthful, somewhat unconnected, and so +thoroughly impartial, that it would be easy to discover in them +contradictions and inconsistencies, I was obliged to discontinue, in +consequence of the violent outcry of the Pontifical Government. I did +more. I threw them in the fire, and wrote a book instead. The present +volume is the result of a year's reflection. + +I completed my study of the subject by the perusal of the most recent +works published in Italy. The learned memoir of the Marquis Pepoli, +and the admirable reply of an anonymous writer to M. de Rayneval, +supplied me with my best weapons. I have been further enlightened by +the conversation and correspondence of some illustrious Italians, whom +I would gladly name, were I not afraid of exposing them to danger. + +The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to write more rapidly +than I could have wished; and this enforced haste has given a certain +air of warmth, perhaps of intemperance, even to the most carefully +matured reflections. It was my intention to produce a memoir,--I fear +I may be charged with having written a pamphlet. Pardon me certain +vivacities of style, which I had not time to correct, and plunge +boldly into the heart of the book. You will find something there. + +I fight fairly, and in good faith. I do not pretend to have judged the +foes of Italy without passion; but I have calumniated none of them. + +If I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I had an excellent one +in Paris, it is not because I feel any alarm on the score of the +regulations of our press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the +Pope has a long arm, which might reach me in France, I have gone a +little out of the way to tell him the plain truths contained in these +pages. + +May 9, 1859. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE POPE AS A KING + + II. NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + III. THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + IV. THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER + + V. OF THE PLEBEIANS + + VI. THE MIDDLE CLASSES + + VII. THE NOBILITY + + VIII. FOREIGNERS + + IX. ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE + + X. PIUS IX + + XI. ANTONELLI + + XII. PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT + + XIII. POLITICAL SEVERITY + + XIV. THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME + + XV. TOLERANCE + + XVI. EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE + + XVII. FOREIGN OCCUPATION + +XVIII. WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS + + XIX. MATERIAL INTERESTS + + XX. FINANCES + + CONCLUSION + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE POPE AS A KING. + + +The Roman Catholic Church, which I sincerely respect, consists of one +hundred and thirty-nine millions of individuals--without counting +little Mortara. + +It is governed by seventy Cardinals, or Princes of the Church, in +memory of the twelve Apostles. + +The Cardinal-Bishop of Rome, who is also designated by the name of +Vicar of Jesus Christ, Holy Father, or Pope, is invested with +boundless authority over the minds of these hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics. + +The Cardinals are nominated by the Pope; the Pope is nominated by the +Cardinals; from the day of his election he becomes infallible, at +least in the opinion of M. de Maistre, and the best Catholics of our +time. + +This was not the opinion of Bossuet; but it has always been that of +the Popes themselves. + +When the Sovereign Pontiff declares to us that the Virgin Mary was +born free from original sin, the hundred and thirty-nine millions of +Catholics are bound to believe it on his word. This is what has +recently occurred. + +This discipline of the understanding reflects infinite credit upon the +nineteenth century. If posterity does us justice, it will be grateful +to us therefor. It will see that instead of cutting one another's +throats about theological questions, we have surveyed lines of +railway, laid telegraphs, constructed steam-engines, launched ships, +pierced isthmuses, created sciences, corrected laws, repressed +factions, fed the poor, civilized barbarians, drained marshes, +cultivated waste lands, without ever having a single dispute as to the +infallibility of a man. + +But the busiest age, the age which the best knows the value of time, +may be obliged for a moment to neglect its business. If, for instance, +it should remark around Rome and its Bishop a violent agitation, which +neither the trickery of diplomacy nor the pressure of armies can +suppress; if it perceive in a little corner of a peninsula a +smouldering fire, which may at any moment burst forth, and in +twenty-four hours envelope all Europe, this age, prudent from a sense +of duty, on account of the great things it has to accomplish, turns +its attention to the situation of Rome, and insists upon knowing what +it all means. + +It means that the simple princes of the middle ages, Pepin the Brief, +Charlemagne, and the Countess Matilda, behaved with great liberality +to the Pope. They gave him lands and men, according to the fashion of +the times, when men, being merely the live-stock of the land, were +thrown into the bargain. If they were generous, it was not because +they thought, with M. Thiers, that the Pope could not be independent +without being a King; they had seen him in his poverty more +independent and more commanding than almost any monarch on the earth. +They enriched him from motives of friendship, calculation, gratitude, +or it might even be to disinherit their relations, as we sometimes see +in our own time. Since the days of the Countess Matilda, the Pope, +having acquired a taste for possession, has gone on rounding his +estate. He has obtained cities by capitulation, as in the case of +Bologna; he has won others at the cannon's mouth, as Rimini; while +some he has appropriated, by treachery and stealth, as Ancona. Indeed +so well have matters been managed, that in 1859 the Bishop of Rome is +the temporal sovereign of about six millions of acres, and reigns over +three millions one hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and +sixty-eight men, who are all crying out loudly against him. + +What do they complain of? Only listen, and you will soon learn. + +They say--that the authority to which, without having either asked or +accepted it, they are subject, is the most fundamentally absolute that +was ever defined by Aristotle; that the legislative, executive, and +judicial powers are united, confounded, and jumbled together in one +and the same hand, contrary to the practice of civilized states, and +to the theory of Montesquieu; that they willingly recognize the +infallibility of the Pope upon all religious questions, but that in +civil matters it appears to them less easy to tolerate; that they do +not refuse to obey, because, all things considered, man is not placed +here below to follow the bent of his own inclinations, but that they +would be glad to obey laws; that the good pleasure of any man, however +good it may be, is not so good as the _Code Napoleon_; that the +reigning Pope is not an evil-disposed man, but that the arbitrary +government of one man, even admitting his infallibility, can never be +anything but a bad government. + +That in virtue of an ancient and hitherto ineradicable practice, the +Pope is assisted in the temporal government of his States by the +spiritual chiefs, subalterns, and spiritual _employes_ of his Church; +that Cardinals, Bishops, Canons, Priests, forage pell-mell about the +country; that one sole and identical caste possesses the right of +administering both sacraments and provinces; of confirming little boys +and the judgments of the lower courts; of ordaining subdeacons and +arrests; of despatching parting souls and captains' commissions; that +this confusion of the spiritual and the temporal disseminates among +the higher offices a multitude of men, excellent no doubt in the sight +of God, but insupportable in that of the people; often strangers to +the country, sometimes to business, and always to those domestic ties +which are the basis of every society; without any special knowledge, +unless it be of the things of another world; without children, which +renders them indifferent to the future of the nation; without wives, +which renders them dangerous to its present; and to conclude, +unwilling to hear reason, because they believe themselves +participators in the pontifical infallibility. + +That these servants of a most merciful but sometimes severe God, +simultaneously abuse both mercy and justice; that, full of indulgence +for the indifferent, for their friends, and for themselves, they treat +with extreme rigour whoever has had the misfortune to become obnoxious +to power; that they more readily pardon the wretch who cuts a man's +throat, than the imprudent citizen who blames an abuse. + +That the Pope, and the Priests who assist him, not having been taught +accounts, grossly mismanage the public finances; that whereas +maladministration or malversation of the public finances might have +been tolerated a hundred years ago, when the expenses of public +worship and of the papal court were defrayed by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics, it is a widely different affair +now, when they have to be supported by 3,124,668 individuals. + +That they do not complain of paying taxes, because it is a universally +established practice, but that they wish to see their money spent upon +terrestrial objects; that the sight of basilicas, churches, and +convents built or maintained at their expense, rejoices them as +Catholics, but grieves them as citizens, because, after all, these +edifices are but imperfect substitutes for railways and roads, for the +clearing of rivers, and the erection of dykes against inundations; +that faith, hope, and charity receive more encouragement than +agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; that public simplicity is +developed to the detriment of public education. + +That the law and the police are too much occupied with the salvation +of souls, and too little with the preservation of bodies; that they +prevent honest people from damning themselves by swearing, reading bad +books, or associating with Liberals, but that they don't prevent +rascals from murdering honest people; that property is as badly +protected as persons; and that it is very hard to be able to reckon +upon nothing for certain but a stall in Paradise. + +That they are made to pay heavily for keeping up an army without +knowledge or discipline, an army of problematical courage and doubtful +honours, and destined never to fight except against the citizens +themselves; that it is adding insult to injury to make a man pay for +the stick he is beaten with. That they are moreover obliged to lodge +foreign armies, and especially Austrians, who, as Germans, are +notoriously heavy-fisted. + +To conclude, they say all this is not what the Pope promised them in +his _motu proprio_ of the 19th of September; and it is sad to find +infallible people breaking their most sacred engagements. + +I have no doubt these grievances are exaggerated. It is impossible to +believe that an entire nation can be so terribly in the right against +its masters. We will examine the facts of the case in detail before we +decide. We have not yet arrived at that point. + +You have just heard the language, if not of the whole 3,124,668 +people, at least of the most intelligent, the most energetic, and the +most interesting part of the nation. Take away the conservative +party,--that is to say, those who have an interest in the +government,--and the unfortunate creatures whom it has utterly +brutalized,--and there will remain none but malcontents. + +The malcontents are not all of the same complexion. Some politely and +vainly ask the Holy Father to reform abuses: this is the moderate +party. Others propose to themselves a thorough reform of the +government: they are called radicals, revolutionists, or +Mazzinists--rather an injurious term. This latter category is not +precisely nice as to the measures to be resorted to. It holds, with +the Society of Jesus, that the end justifies the means. It says, if +Europe leaves it _tete-a-tete_ with the Pope, it will begin by cutting +his throat; and if foreign potentates oppose such criminal violence, +it will fling bombs under their carriages. + +The moderate party expresses itself plainly, the Mazzinists noisily. +Europe must be very stupid, not to understand the one; very deaf, not +to hear the other. + +What then happens? + +All the States which desire peace, public order, and civilization, +entreat the Pope to correct some abuse or other. "Have pity," they +say, "if not upon your subjects, at least upon your neighbours, and +save _us_ from the conflagration!" + +As often as this intervention is renewed, the Pope sends for his +Secretary of State. The said Secretary of State is a Cardinal who +reigns over the Holy Father in temporal matters, even as the Holy +Father reigns over a hundred and thirty nine millions of Catholics in +spiritual matters. The Pope confides to the Cardinal Minister the +source of his embarrassment, and asks him what is to be done. + +The Cardinal, who is the minister of everything in the State, replies, +without a moment's hesitation, to the old sovereign:-- + + "In the first place, there are no abuses: in the next place, + if there were any, we must not touch them. To reform + anything is to make a concession to the malcontents. To give + way, is to prove that we are afraid. To admit fear, is to + double the strength of the enemy, to open the gates to + revolution, and to take the road to Gaeta, where the + accommodation is none of the best. Don't let us leave home. + I know the house we live in; it is not new, but it will last + longer than your Holiness--provided no attempt is made to + repair it. After us the deluge; we've got no children!" + +"All very true," replies the Pope. + + "But the sovereign who is entreating me to do something, is + an eldest son of the Church. He has rendered us great + services. He still protects us constantly. What would become + of us if he abandoned us?" + +"Don't be alarmed," says the Cardinal. "I'll arrange the matter +diplomatically." And he sits down, and writes an invariable note, in a +diplomatically tortuous style, which may thus be summed up:-- + + "We want your soldiers, and not your advice, seeing that we + are infallible. If you were to show any symptom of doubting + that infallibility, and if you attempted to force anything + upon us, even our preservation, we would fold our wings + around our countenances, we would raise the palms of + martyrdom, and we should become an object of compassion to + all the Catholics in the universe. You know we have in your + country forty thousand men who are at liberty to say + everything, and whom you pay with your own money to plead + our cause. They shall preach to your subjects, that you are + tyrannizing over the Holy Father, and we shall set your + country in a blaze without appearing to touch it." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +NECESSITY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + + "For the Pontificate there is no independence but + sovereignty itself. Here is an interest of the highest + order, which ought to silence the particular interests of + nations, even as in a State the public interest silences + individual interests." + +These are not my words, but the words of M. Thiers: they occur in his +report to the Legislative Assembly, in October 1849. I have no doubt +this Father of the temporal Church expressed the wishes of one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics. It was all Catholicity which +said to 3,124,668 Italians, by the lips of the honourable reporter: + + "Devote yourselves as one man. Our chief can only be + venerable, August, and independent, so long as he reigns + despotically over you. If, in an evil hour, he were to cease + wearing a crown of gold; if you were to contest his right to + make and break laws; if you were to give up the wholesome + practice of laying at his feet that money which he disburses + for our edification and our glory, all the sovereigns of the + universe would look upon him as an inferior. Silence, then, + the noisy chattering of your individual interests." + +I flatter myself that I am as fervent a Catholic as M. Thiers himself; +and were I bold enough to seek to refute him, I should do it in the +name of our common faith. + +I grant you--this would be the tenor of my argument--that the Pope +ought to be independent. But could he not be so at a somewhat less +cost? Is it absolutely necessary that 3,124,668 men should sacrifice +their liberty, their security, and all that is most precious to them, +in order to secure the independence which makes us so happy and so +proud? The Apostles were certainly independent at a cheaper rate, for +they did nobody harm. The most independent of men is he who has +nothing to lose. He pursues his own path, without troubling himself +about powers and principalities, for the simple reason that the +conqueror most bent on acquisition can take nothing from him. + +The greatest conquests of Catholicism were made at a time when the +Pope was not a ruler. Since he has become a king, you may measure the +territory won from the Church by inches. + +The earliest Popes, who were not kings, had no budgets. Consequently +they had no annual deficits to make up. Consequently they were not +obliged to borrow millions of M. de Rothschild. Consequently they were +more independent than the crowned Popes of more recent times. + +Ever since the spiritual and the temporal have been joined, like two +Siamese powers, the most August of the two has necessarily lost its +independence. Every day, or nearly so, the Sovereign Pontiff finds +himself called upon to choose between the general interests of the +Church, and the private interests of his crown. Think you he is +sufficiently estranged from the things of this world to sacrifice +heroically the earth, which is near, to the Heaven, which is remote? +Besides, we have history to help us. I might, if I chose, refer to +certain bad Popes who were capable of selling the dogma of the Holy +Trinity for half-a-dozen leagues of territory; but it would be hardly +fair to argue from bad Popes to the confusion of indifferent ones. +Think you, however, that when the Pope legalized the perjury of +Francis the First after the treaty of Madrid, he did it to make the +morality of the Holy See respected, or to stir up a war useful to his +crown? + +When he organized the traffic in indulgences, and threw one-half of +Europe into heresy, was it to increase the number of Christians, or to +give a dowry to a young lady? + +When, during the Thirty Years' War, he made an alliance with the +Protestants of Sweden, was it to prove the disinterestedness of the +Church, or to humble the House of Austria? + +When he excommunicated Venice in 1806, was it to attach the Republic +more firmly to the Church, or to serve the rancour of Spain against +the first allies of Henry IV.? + +When he suppressed the Order of the Jesuits, was it to reinforce the +army of the Church, or to please his master in France? + +When he terminated his relations with the Spanish American provinces +upon their proclaiming their independence, was it in the interest of +the Church, or of Spain? + +When he held excommunication suspended over the heads of such Romans +as took their money to foreign lotteries, was it to attach their +hearts to the Church, or to draw their crown-pieces into his own +treasury? + +M. Thiers knows all this better than I do; but he possibly thought +that when the spiritual sovereign of the Church and the temporal +sovereign of a little country, wear the same cap, the one is naturally +condemned to minister to the ambition or the necessities of the other. + +We wish the chief of the Catholic religion to be independent, and we +make him pay slavish obedience to a petty Italian prince; thus +rendering the future of that religion subordinate to miserable local +interests and petty parish squabbles. + +But this union of powers, which would gain by separation, compromises +not only the independence, but the dignity of the Pope. The melancholy +obligation to govern men obliges him to touch many things which he had +better leave alone. Is it not deplorable that bailiffs must seize a +debtor's property in the Pope's name?--that judges must condemn a +murderer to death in the name of the Head of the Church?--that the +executioner must cut off heads in the name of the Vicar of Christ? +There is to me something truly scandalous in the association of those +two words, _Pontifical lottery_! And what can the hundred and +thirty-nine millions of Catholics think, when they hear their +spiritual sovereign expressing, through his finance minister, his +satisfaction at the progress of vice as proved by the success of the +lotteries? + +The subjects of the Pope are not scandalized at these contradictions, +simply because they are accustomed to them. They strike a foreigner, a +Catholic, a casual unit out of the hundred and thirty-nine millions; +they inspire in him an irresistible desire to defend the independence +and the dignity of the Church. But the inhabitants of Bologna or +Viterbo, of Terracina or Ancona, are more occupied with national than +with religious interests, either because they want that feeling of +self-devotion recommended by M. Thiers, or because the government of +the priests has given them a horror of Heaven. Very middling +Catholics, but excellent citizens, they everywhere demand the freedom +of their country. The Bolognese affirm that they are not necessary to +the independence of the Pope, which they say could do as well without +Bologna as it has for some time contrived to do without Avignon. Every +city repeats the same thing, and if they were all to be listened to, +the Holy Father, freed from the cares of administration, might devote +his undivided attention to the interests of the Church and the +embellishment of Rome. The Romans themselves, so they be neither +princes, nor priests, nor servants, nor beggars, declare that they +have devoted themselves long enough, and that M. Thiers may now carry +his advice elsewhere. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PATRIMONY OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +The Papal States have no natural limits: they are carved out on the +map as the chance of passing events has made them, and as the +good-nature of Europe has left them. An imaginary line separates them +from Tuscany and Modena. The most southerly point enters into the +kingdom of Naples; the province of Benevento is enclosed within the +states of King Ferdinand, as formerly was the Comtat-Venaissin within +the French territory. The Pope, in his turn, shuts in that Ghetto of +democracy, the republic of San Marino. + +I never cast my eyes over this poor map of Italy, capriciously rent +into unequal fragments, without one consoling reflection. + +Nature, which has done everything for the Italians, has taken care to +surround their country with magnificent barriers. The Alps and the sea +protect it on all sides, isolate it, bind it together as a distinct +body, and seem to design it for an individual existence. To crown all, +no internal barrier condemns the Italians to form separate nations. +The Apennines are so easily crossed, that the people on either side +can speedily join hands. All the existing boundaries are entirely +arbitrary, traced by the brutality of the Middle Ages, or the shaky +hand of diplomacy, which undoes to-morrow what it does to-day. A +single race covers the soil; the same language is spoken from north to +south; the people are all united in a common bond by the glory of +their ancestors, and the recollections of Roman conquest, fresher and +more vivid than the hatreds of the fourteenth century. + +These considerations induce me to believe that the people of Italy +will one day be independent of all others, and united among themselves +by the force of geography and history, two powers more invincible than +Austria. + +But I return _a mes moutons_, and to their shepherd, the Pope. + +The kingdom possessed by a few priests, covers an extent, in round +numbers, of six millions of acres, according to the statistics +published in 1857 by Monsignor, now Cardinal, Milesi. + +No country in Europe is more richly gifted, or possesses greater +advantages, whether for agriculture, manufacture, or commerce. + +Traversed by the Apennines, which divide it about equally, the Papal +dominions incline gently, on one side to the Adriatic, on the other to +the Mediterranean. In each of these seas they possess an excellent +port: to the east, Ancona; to the west, Civita Vecchia. If Panurge had +had Ancona and Civita Vecchia in his Salmagundian kingdom, he would +infallibly have built himself a navy. The Phoenicians and the +Carthaginians were not so well off. + +A river, tolerably well known under the name of the Tiber, waters +nearly the whole country to the west. In former days it ministered to +the wants of internal commerce. Roman historians describe it as +navigable up to Perugia. At the present time it is hardly so as far as +Rome; but if its bed were cleared out, and filth not allowed to be +thrown in, it would render greater service, and would not overflow so +often. The country on the other side is watered by small rivers, +which, with a little government assistance, might be rendered very +serviceable. + +In the level country the land is of prodigious fertility. More than a +fourth of it will grow corn. Wheat yields a return of fifteen for one +on the best land, thirteen on middling, and nine on the worst. Fields +thrown out of cultivation become admirable natural pastures. The hemp +is of very fine quality when cultivated with care. The vine and the +mulberry thrive wherever they are planted. The finest olive-trees and +the best olives in Europe grow in the mountains. A variable, but +generally mild climate, brings to maturity the products of extreme +latitudes. Half the country is favourable to the palm and the orange. +Numerous and thriving flocks roam across the plains in winter, and +ascend to the mountains in summer. Horses, cows, and sheep live and +multiply in the open air, without need of shelter. Indian buffaloes +swarm in the marshes. Every species of produce requisite for the food +and clothing of man grows easily, and as it were joyfully, in this +privileged land. If men in the midst of it are in want of bread or +shirts, Nature has no cause to reproach herself, and Providence washes +its hands of the evil. + +In all the three states raw material exists in incredible abundance. +Here are hemp, for ropemakers, spinners, and weavers; wine, for +distillers; olives, for oil and soap makers; wool, for cloth and +carpet manufacturers; hides and skins, for tanners, shoemakers, and +glovers; and silk in any quantity for manufactures of luxury. The iron +ore is of middling quality, but the island of Elba, in which the very +best is found, is near at hand. The copper and lead mines, which the +ancients worked profitably, are perhaps not exhausted. Fuel is +supplied by a million or two of acres of forest land; besides which, +there is the sea, always open for the transport of coal from +Newcastle. The volcanic soil of several provinces produces enormous +quantities of sulphur, and the alum of Tolfi is the best in the world. +The quartz of Civita Vecchia will give us kaolin for porcelain. The +quarries contain building materials, such as marble and pozzolana, +which is Roman cement almost ready-made. + +In 1847, the country lands subject to the Pope were valued at about +L34,800,000 sterling. The province of Benevento was not included, and +the Minister of Commerce and Public Works admitted that the property +was not estimated at above a third of its real value. If capital +returned its proper interest, if activity and industry caused trade +and manufactures to increase the national income as ought to be the +case, it would be the Rothschilds who would borrow money of the Pope +at six per cent. interest. + +But stay! I have not yet completed the catalogue of possessions. To +the present munificence of nature must be added the inheritance of the +past. The poor Pagans of great Rome left all their property to the +Pope who damns them. + +They left him gigantic aqueducts, prodigious sewers, and roads which +we find still in use, after twenty centuries of traffic. They left him +the Coliseum, for his Capuchins to preach in. They left him an example +of an administration without an equal in history. But the heritage was +accepted without the responsibilities attached to it. + +I will no longer conceal from you that this magnificent territory +appeared to me in the first place most unworthily cultivated. From +Civita Vecchia to Rome, a distance of some sixteen leagues, +cultivation struck me in the light of a very rare accident, to which +the soil was but little accustomed. Some pasture fields, some land in +fallow, plenty of brambles, and, at long intervals, a field with oxen +at plough, this is what the traveller will see in April. He will not +even meet with the occasional forest which he finds in the most desert +regions of Turkey. It seems as if man had swept across the land to +destroy everything, and the soil had been then taken possession of by +flocks and herds. + +The country round Rome resembles the road from Civita Vecchia. The +capital is girt by a belt of uncultivated, but not unfertile land. I +used to walk in every direction, and sometimes for a long distance; +the belt seemed very wide. However, in proportion as I receded from +the city, I found the fields better cultivated. One would suppose that +at a certain distance from St. Peter's the peasants worked with +greater relish. The roads, which near Rome are detestable, became +gradually better; they were more frequented, and the people I met +seemed more cheerful. The inns became habitable, by comparison, in an +astonishing degree. Still, so long as I remained in that part of the +country towards the Mediterranean, of which Rome is the centre, and +which is more directly subject to its influence, I found that the +appearance of the land always left something to be desired. I +sometimes fancied that these honest labourers worked as if they were +afraid to make a noise, lest, by smiting the soil too deeply and too +boldly, they should wake up the dead of past ages. + +But when once I had crossed the Apennines, when I was beyond the reach +of the breeze which blew over the capital, I began to inhale an +atmosphere of labour and goodwill that cheered my heart. The fields +were not only dug, but manured, and, still better, planted and sown. +The smell of manure was quite new to me. I had never met with it on +the other side of the Apennines. I was delighted at the sight of +trees. There were rows of vines twining around elms planted in fields +of hemp, wheat, or clover. In some places the vines and elms were +replaced by mulberry-trees. What mingled riches were here lavished by +nature! How bounteous is the earth! Here were mingled together, in +rich profusion, bread, wine, shirts, silk gowns, and forage for the +cattle. St. Peter's is a noble church, but, in its way, a +well-cultivated field is a beautiful sight! + +I travelled slowly to Bologna; the sight of the country I passed +through, and the fruitfulness of honest human labour, made me happy. I +retraced my steps towards St. Peter's; my melancholy returned when I +found myself again amidst the desolation of the Roman Campagna. + +As I reflected on what I had seen, a disquieting idea forced itself +upon me in a geometrical form. It seemed to me that the activity and +prosperity of the subjects of the Pope were in exact proportion to the +square of the distance which separated them from Rome: in other words, +that the shade of the monuments of the eternal city was noxious to the +cultivation of the country. Rabelais says the shade of monasteries is +fruitful; but he speaks in another sense. + +I submitted my doubts to a venerable ecclesiastic, who hastened to +undeceive me. "The country is not uncultivated," he said; "or if it be +so, the fault is with the subjects of the Pope. This people is +indolent by nature, although 21,415 monks are always preaching +activity and industry to them!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER. + + +On the 14th of May, 1856, M. de Rayneval, then French ambassador at +Rome, a warm friend to the cardinals, and consequently a bitter foe to +their subjects, thus described the Italian people:-- + + "A nation profoundly divided among themselves, animated by + ardent ambition, possessing none of the qualities which + constitute the greatness and power of others, devoid of + energy, equally wanting in military spirit and in the spirit + of association, and respecting neither the law nor social + distinctions." + +M. de Rayneval will be canonized a hundred years hence (if the present +system continue) for having so nobly defended the oppressed. + +It will not be foreign to my purpose to try my own hand at this +picture; for the subjects of the Pope are Italians like the rest, and +there is but one nation in the Italian peninsula. The difference of +climate, the vicinity of foreigners, the traces of invasions, may have +modified the type, altered the accent, and slightly varied the +language; still the Italians are the same everywhere, and the middle +class--the _elite_ of every people--think and speak alike from Turin +to Naples. Handsome, robust, and healthy, when the neglect of +Governments has not delivered them over to the fatal _malaria_, the +Italians are, mentally, the most richly endowed people in Europe. M. +de Rayneval, who is not the man to flatter them, admits that they have +"intelligence, penetration, and aptitude for everything." The +cultivation of the arts is no less natural to them than is the study +of the sciences; their first steps in every path open to human +intellect are singularly rapid, and if but too many of them stop +before the end is attained, it is because their success is generally +barred by deplorable circumstances. In private as well as public +affairs, they possess a quick apprehension and sagacity carried to +suspicion. There is no race more ready at making and discussing laws; +legislation and jurisprudence have been among their chief triumphs. +The idea of law sprang up in Italy at the time of the foundation of +Rome, and it is the richest production of this marvellous soil. The +Italians still possess administrative genius in a high degree. +Administration went forth from the midst of them for the conquest of +the world, and the greatest administrators known to history, Caesar and +Napoleon, were of Italian origin. + +Thus gifted by nature, they have the sense of their high qualities, +and they at times carry it to the extent of pride. The legitimate +desire to exercise the faculties they possess, degenerates into +ambition; but their pride would not be ludicrous, nor would their +ambition appear extravagant, if their hands were free for action. +Through a long series of ages, despotic Governments have penned them +into a narrow area. The impossibility of realizing high aims, and the +want of action which perpetually stirs within them, has driven them to +paltry disputes and local quarrels. Are we to infer from this that +they are incapable of becoming a nation? I am not of that opinion. +Already they are uniting to call upon the King of Piedmont, and to +applaud the policy of Count Cavour. If this be not sufficient proof, +make an experiment. Take away the barriers which separate them; I will +answer for their soon being united. But the keepers of these barriers +are the King of Naples, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Austria, the Pope, +and the rest. Are such keepers likely to give up the keys? + +I know not what are "the qualities which constitute the greatness and +power of other nations"--as, for example, the Austrian nation,--but I +know very few qualities, physical, intellectual, or moral, which the +Italians do not possess. Are they "devoid of energy," as M. de +Rayneval declares? I should rather reproach them with the opposite +excess. The absurd but resolute defence of Rome against the French +army, may surely be regarded as the act of an energetic people. We +must be extremely humble, if we admit that a French army was held in +check for two months by men wanting in energy. The assassinations +which occur in the streets of Rome, prove rather the inefficiency of +the police than the effeminacy of the citizens. I find, from an +official return, that in 1853 the Roman tribunals punished 609 crimes +against property, and 1,344 against the person. These figures do not +indicate a faultless people, but they prove little inclination for +base theft, and look rather like a diabolical energy. In the same year +the Assize Courts in France pronounced judgment upon 3,719 individuals +charged with theft, and 1,921 with crimes against the person. The +proportion is reversed. Robbers have the majority with us. And yet we +are rather an energetic people. + +If the Italians are so also, there will not be much difficulty in +making soldiers of them. M. de Rayneval tells us, they are "entirely +wanting in military spirit." No doubt he echoed the opinion of some +Cardinal. Indeed! Were the Piedmontese in the Crimea, then, wanting in +the military spirit? + +M. de Rayneval and the Cardinals are willing to admit the courage of +the Piedmontese, but then, they say, Piedmont is not in Italy; its +inhabitants are half Swiss, half French. Their language is not +Italian, neither are their habits, the proof of which is found in the +fact, that they have the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown +to the rest of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to +prove that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French; the first, +because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and because they say +_Meinherr_ when we should say _Monsieur_; the second, because they +have the true monarchical spirit, and because they call _butun_ what +we call _tabac_. But all the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont. +The King of Naples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has a +sufficient one for his defence; the small Duchies of Modena and Parma +have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, Venice, Modena, and one-half +of the Papal States, have given heroes to France. Napoleon remembered +it at St. Helena; it has been so written. + +As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to be found, +if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world governed? By an +Association. What is it but an Association that wastes the revenue of +the poor Romans? Who monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil? +Who lays waste the forests of the State? An Association. Who take +possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travellers under +contribution? Five or six Associations. Who keeps up agitation at +Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, at Home? That secret Association +known as the Mazzinists. + +I grant that the Romans have but a moderate respect for the law. But +the truth is, there is no law in the country. They have a respect for +the Code Napoleon, since they urgently ask for it. What they do not +respect is, the official caprice of their masters. I am certainly no +advocate of disorder; but when I think that a mere fancy of Cardinal +Antonelli, scribbled on a sheet of paper, has the force of law for the +present and the future, I can understand an insolent contempt of the +laws, to the extent of actual revolt. + +As for social distinctions, it strikes me that the Italians respect +them even too much. When I have led you for half an hour through the +streets of Rome, you will ask yourselves to what a Roman prince can +possibly be superior. Nevertheless the Romans exhibit a sincere +respect for their princes: habit is so strong! If I were to conduct +you to the source of some of the large fortunes among my +acquaintances, you would rise with stones and sticks against the +superiority of wealth. And yet the Romans, dazzled by dollars, are +full of respect for the rich. If I were to--But I think the Italian +nation is sufficiently justified. I will but add, that if it is easily +led to evil, it is still more easily brought back to good; that it is +passionate and violent, but not ill-disposed, and that a kind act +suffices to make it forget the most justifiable enmities. + +I will add in conclusion, that the Italians are not enervated by the +climate to such a degree as to dislike work. A traveller who may +happen to have seen some street porters asleep in the middle of the +day, returns home and informs Europe that these lazy people snore from +morning till night; that they have few wants, and work just enough to +keep themselves from one day to another. I shall presently show you +that the labourers of the rural districts are as industrious as our +own peasants (and that, too, in a very different temperature), as +economical, provident, and orderly, though more hospitable and more +charitable. If the lower orders in the towns have become addicted to +extravagance, idleness, and mendicity, it is because they have +discovered the impossibility, even by the most heroic efforts and the +most rigid economy, of gaining either capital or independence or +position. Let us not confound discouragement with want of courage, nor +tax a poor fellow with idleness, merely because he has had the +misfortune to be knocked down and run over by a carriage. + +The Pope reigns over 3,124,668 souls, as I have already observed more +than once. This population is unequally distributed over the surface +of the country. The population in the provinces of the Adriatic is +nearly double that in the Mediterranean provinces, and more +immediately under the Sovereign's eyes. + +Those pious economists who insist upon it that all is for the best +under the most sacred of governments, will not scruple to tell you:-- + + "Our State is one of the most populous in Europe: + _therefore_ it must be one of the best governed. The average + population of France is 67 1/2 inhabitants to the square + kilometre; that of the States of the Church 75 7/10. It + follows from this that if the Emperor of the French were to + adopt our mode of administration, he would have 8 2/10 + inhabitants more on each square kilometre! + + "The province of Ancona, which is occupied by the Austrians, + and governed by priests, has 155 inhabitants to the square + kilometre. The Bas-Rhin, which is the fourth department of + France, has but 129, consequently it is evident that the + Bas-Rhin will continue to be relatively inferior, so long as + it is not governed by priests, and occupied by the + Austrians. + + "The population of our happy country became increased by + one-third between the years 1816 and 1853, a space of + thirty-seven years. Such a grand result can only be + attributed to the excellent administration of the Holy + Father, and the preaching of 38,320 priests and monks, who + protect youth from the destructive influence of the + passions.[1] + + "You will observe that the English have a passion for moving + about the country. Even in the interior they change their + residence and their county with an incredible mobility; no + doubt this is because their country is unhealthy and badly + administered. In the El Dorado which we govern, no more than + 178,943 individuals are known to have changed their abode + from one province to another: _therefore_ our subjects are + all happy in their homes." + +I do not deny the eloquence of these figures, and I am not one of +those who think statistics prove everybody's case. But it seems to me +very natural that a rich country, in the hands of an agricultural +people, should feed 75 inhabitants to the square kilometre, under any +sort of government. What astonishes me is that it should feed no more; +and I promise you that when it is better governed it will feed many +more. + +The population of the States of the Church has increased by one-third +in thirty-seven years. But that of Greece has trebled between 1832 and +1853. Nevertheless Greece is in the enjoyment of a detestable +government; as I believe I have pretty correctly demonstrated +elsewhere.[2] The increase of a population proves the vitality of a +race rather than the solicitude of an administration. I will never +believe that 770,000 children were born between 1816 and 1853 by the +intervention of the priests. I prefer to believe that the Italian race +is vigorous, moral, and marriageable, and that it does not yet despair +of the future. + +Lastly, if the subjects of the Pope stay at home, instead of moving +about, it may be because communication between one place and another +is difficult, or because the authorities are close-fisted in the +matter of passports; it may be, too, because they are certain of +finding, in whatever part of the country they move to, the same +priests, the same judges, and the same taxes. + +Out of the population of 3,124,668 souls, more than a million are +agricultural labourers and shepherds. The workmen number 258,872, and +the servants exceed the workmen by about 30,000. Trade, finance, and +general business occupy something under 85,000 persons. + +The landed proprietors are 206,558 in number, being about +one-fifteenth of the entire population. We have a greater proportion +in France. The official statistics of the Roman State inform us that +if the national wealth were equally divided among all the proprietors, +each of the 206,558 families would possess a capital of L680 sterling. +But they have omitted to state that some of these landed proprietors +possess 50,000 acres, and others a mere heap of flints. + +It is to be observed that the division of land, like all other good +things, increases in proportion to the distance from the capital. In +the province of Rome there are 1,956 landed proprietors out of 176,002 +inhabitants, which is about one in ninety. In the province of +Macerata, towards the Adriatic, there are 39,611, out of 243,104, or +one proprietor to every six inhabitants, which is as much as to say +that in this province there are almost as many properties as there are +families. + +The Agro Romano, which it took Rome several centuries to conquer, is +at the present time the property of 113 families, and of 64 +corporations.[3] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +OF THE PLEBEIANS. + + +The subjects of the Holy Father are divided by birth and fortune +into three very distinct classes,--nobility, citizens, and people, or +plebeians. The Gospel has omitted to consecrate the inequality of men, +but the law of the State--that is to say, the will of the +Popes--carefully maintains it. Benedict XIV. declared it honourable +and salutary in his Bull of January 4, 1746, and Pius IX. expressed +himself in the same terms at the beginning of his _Chirografo_ of May +2, 1853. + +If I do not reckon the clergy among the classes of society, it is +because that body is foreign to the nation by its interests, by its +privileges, and often by its origin. The Cardinals and Prelates are +not, properly speaking, the Pope's subjects, but rather his ghostly +confederates, and the partners of his omnipotence. + +The distinction of class is more especially perceptible at Rome, near +the Pontifical throne. It gradually disappears, together with many +other abuses, in proportion to their distance from their source. There +are bottomless abysses between the noble Roman and the citizen of +Rome, between the citizen of Rome and the plebeian of the city. The +plebeian himself discharges a portion of the scorn expressed by the +two superior classes for himself, upon the peasants he meets at +market: it is a sort of cascade of contempt. At Rome, thanks to the +traditions of history, and the education given by the Popes, the +inferior thinks he can get out of his nothingness, and become +something, by begging the favour and support of a superior. A general +system of dependence and patronage makes the plebeian kneel before the +man of the middle class, who again kneels before the prince, who in +his turn kneels more humbly than all the others before the sovereign +clergy. + +At twenty leagues' distance from Rome there is very little kneeling; +beyond the Apennines none at all. When you reach Bologna you find an +almost French equality in the manners: for the simple reason that +Napoleon has left his mark there. + +The absolute value of the men in each category increases according to +the square of the distance. You may feel almost certain that a Roman +noble will be less educated, less capable, and less free than a +gentleman of the Marches or of the Romagna. The middle class, with +some exceptions which I shall presently mention, is infinitely more +numerous, more enlightened, and wealthier, to the east of the +Apennines, than in and about the capital. The plebeians themselves +have more honesty and morality when they live at a respectful distance +from the Vatican. + +The plebeians of the Eternal City are overgrown children badly brought +up, and perverted in various ways by their education. The Government, +which, being in the midst of them, fears them, treats them mildly. It +demands few taxes of them; it gives them shows, and sometimes bread, +the _panem et circenses_ prescribed by the Emperors of the Decline. It +does not teach them to read, neither does it forbid them to beg. It +sends Capuchins to their homes. The Capuchin gives the wife +lottery-tickets, drinks with the husband, and brings up the children +after his kind, and sometimes in his likeness. The plebeians of Rome +are certain never to die of hunger; if they have no bread, they are +allowed to help themselves from the baker's basket; the law allows it. +All that is required of them is to be good Christians, to prostrate +themselves before the priests, to humble themselves before the rich, +and to abstain from revolutions. They are severely punished if they +refuse to take the Sacrament at Easter, or if they talk +disrespectfully of the Saints. The tribunal of the Vicariates listens +to no excuses on this head; but the police is enough as to everything +else. Crimes are forgiven them, they are encouraged in meanness; the +only offences for which there is no pardon are the cry for liberty, +revolt against an abuse, the assertion of manhood. + +It is marvellous to me that with such an education there is any good +left in them at all. The worst half of the people is that which dwells +in the Monti district. If, in seeking the Convent of the Neophytes, or +the house of Lucrezia Borgia, you miss your way among those foul +narrow streets, you will find yourself in the midst of a strange +medley of thieves, sharpers, guitar-players, artists' models, beggars, +_ciceroni_, and _ruffiani_. If you speak to them, you may be sure they +will kiss your Excellency's hand, and pick your Excellency's pocket. I +do not think a worse breed is to be found in any city in Europe, not +even in London. All these people _practise_ religion, without the +least believing in God. The police does not meddle much with them. To +be sure they are sent to prison now and then, but thanks to a +favourable word in the right quarter, or to the want of prison +accommodation, they are soon set at liberty. Even the honest workmen +their neighbours occasionally get into scrapes. They have made plenty +of money in the winter, and spent it all in the Carnival--as is the +common custom. Summer comes, the foreign visitors depart; no more work +and no more money. Moral training, which might sustain them, is wholly +wanting. The love of show, that peculiar disease of Rome, is their +bane. The wife, if she be pretty, sells herself, or the husband does +what he had better leave undone. + +Judge them not too harshly. Remember, they have read nothing, they +have never been out of Rome; the example of ostentation is set them by +the Cardinals, of misconduct by the prelates, of venality by the +different functionaries, of squandering by the Finance Minister. And +above all, remember that care has been taken to root out from their +hearts, as if it were a destructive weed, that noble sentiment of +human dignity which is the principle of every virtue. + +The blood which flows in Italian veins must be very generous, or so +notable a portion of the plebeians of Rome as the people of the +_Trastevere_, could never have preserved their manly virtues, as is +notoriously the case with them. I have met with men in this quarter of +the city, coarse, violent, sometimes ferocious, but really _men_; nice +as to their honour, to the extent of poniarding any one who is wanting +in respect to them. They are fully as ignorant as the people of the +Monti; they have learnt the same lessons, and witnessed the same +examples; they have the same improvidence, the same love of pleasure, +the same brutality in their passions; but they are incapable of +stooping, even to pick anything up. + +A government worthy of the name would make something of this ignorant +force, first taming, and then directing it. The man who stabs his +fellow in a wineshop might prove a good soldier on a battle-field. But +we are in the capital of the Pope. The Trasteverini neither attack God +nor the Government; they meddle neither with theology nor politics; no +more is asked of them. And in token of its appreciation of their good +conduct, a paternal administration allows them to cut one another's +throats _ad libitum_. + +Neither the people of the Trastevere nor of the Monti give the least +sign of political existence, whereat the Cardinals rub their hands, +and congratulate themselves upon having kept so many men in profound +ignorance of all their rights. I am not quite certain that the theory +is a sound one. Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees +of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers into the +Pope's capital. An honest, mild, enlightened plebeian would reflect +twice before enrolling himself. He would weigh the pros and the cons, +and balance for a long time between the vices of the government, and +the dangers of revolution. But the mob of the Monti would take fire +like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, while the +Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the Papal despotism were +represented to them as an attack upon their honour. It would be better +to have in these plebeians foes capable of reasoning. The Pope might +often have to reckon with them, but he need never tremble before them. + +I trust the masters of the country may never more be obliged to fight +with the plebeians of Rome. They were easily carried away by the +leaders of 1848, although the name of Republic resounded for the first +time in their ears. Have they forgotten it? No. They will long +remember that magic word, which abased the great, and exalted the +humble. Moreover, the hidden Mazzinists, who agitate throughout the +city, don't collect the workmen in the quarter of the _Regola_ to +preach submission to them. + +I have said that the plebeians of the city of Rome despise the +plebeians of the country. Be assured, however, the latter are not +deserving of scorn, even in the Mediterranean provinces. In this +unhappy half of the Pontifical States, the influence of the Vatican +has not yet quite morally destroyed the population. The country people +are poor, ignorant, superstitious, rather wild, but kind, hospitable, +and generally honest. If you wish to study them more closely, go to +one of the villages in the province of Frosinone, towards the +Neapolitan frontier. Cross the plains which malaria has made dreary +solitudes, take the stony path which winds painfully up the side of +the mountain. You will come to a town of five or ten thousand souls, +which is little more than a dormitory for five or ten thousand +peasants. Viewed from a distance, this country town has an almost +grand appearance. The dome of a church, a range of monastic buildings, +the tower of a feudal castle, invest it with a certain air of +importance. A troop of women are coming down to the fountain with +copper vessels on their heads. You smile instinctively. Here is +movement and life. Enter! You are struck with a sensation of coldness, +dampness, and darkness. The streets are narrow flights of steps, which +every now and then plunge beneath low arches. The houses are closed, +and seem to have been deserted for a century. Not a human being at the +doors, or at the windows. The streets, silent and solitary. + +You would imagine that the curse of heaven had fallen on the country, +but for the large placards on the house-fronts, which prove that +missionary fathers have passed through the place. "_Viva Gesu! Viva +Maria! Viva il sangue di Gesu! Viva il cor di Maria! Bestemmiatori, +tacetevi per l'amor di Maria!_" + +These devotional sentences are like so many signboards of the public +simplicity. + +A quarter of an hour's walk brings you to the principal square. +Half-a-dozen civil officials are seated in a circle before a cafe, +gaping at one another. You join them. They ask you for news of +something that happened a dozen years ago. You ask them in turn, what +epidemic has depopulated the country? + +Presently some thirty market-men and women begin to display on the +pavement an assortment of fruit and vegetables. Where are the buyers +of these products of the earth? Here they come! Night is approaching. +The entire population begins to return at once from their labour in +the fields; a stalwart and sturdy population; the thew and sinew of +some fine regiments. Every one of these half-clad men, armed with +pickaxe and shovel, rose two hours before the sun this morning, and +went forth to weed a little field, or to dig round a few olive-trees. +Many of them have their little domains several miles off, and thither +they go daily, accompanied by a child and a pig. The pig is not very +fat, and the man and his child are very lean. Still they seem +light-hearted and merry. They have plucked some wild flowers by the +roadside. The boy is crowned with roses, like Lucullus at table. The +father buys a handful of vegetables, and a cake of maize, which will +furnish the family supper. They will sleep well enough on this +diet--if the fleas allow them. If you like to follow these poor people +home, they will give you a kindly welcome, and will not fail to ask +you to partake of their modest meal. Their furniture is very simple, +their conversation limited; their heads are as well furnished as their +dwellings. + +The wife who has been awaiting the return of her lord, will open the +door to you. Of all useful animals, the wife is the one which the +Roman peasant employs most profitably. She makes the bread and the +cakes; she spins, weaves, and sews; she goes every day three miles for +wood, and one and a half for water; she carries a mule's load on her +head; she works from sunrise to sunset, without question or complaint. +Her numerous children are in themselves a precious resource: at four +years old they are able to tend sheep and cattle. + +It is vain to ask these country people what is their opinion of Rome +and the government: their idea of these matters is infinitely vague +and shadowy. The Government manifests itself to them in the person of +an official, who, for the sum of three pounds sterling per month, +administers and sells justice among them. This individual is the only +gift Rome has ever conferred upon them. In return for the great +benefit of his presence, they pay taxes on a tolerably extensive +scale: so much for the house, so much for the livestock, so much for +the privilege of lighting a fire, so much on the wine, and so much on +the meat--when they are able to enjoy that luxury. They grumble, +though not very bitterly, regarding the taxes as a sort of periodical +hailstorm falling on their year's harvest. If they were to learn that +Rome had been swallowed up by an earthquake, they certainly would not +put on mourning. They would go forth to their fields as usual, they +would sell their crops for the usual price, and they would pay less +taxes. This is what all towns inhabited by peasants think of the +metropolis. Every township lives by itself, and for itself; it is an +isolated body, which has arms to work, and a belly to fill. The +cultivator of the land is everything, as was the case in the Middle +Ages. There is neither trade, nor manufactures, nor business on any +extended scale, nor movement of ideas, nor political life, nor any of +those powerful bonds which, in well-governed countries, link the +provincial towns to the capital, as the members to the heart. + +If there be a capital for these poor people, it is Paradise. They +believe in it fervently, and strive to attain it with all their might. +The very peasant who grudges the State two crowns for his hearth-tax, +willingly pays two and a half to have _Viva Maria_ scrawled over his +door. Another complains of the L3 per month paid to the Government +official, without a murmur at the thirty priests supported by the +township. There is a gentle disease which consoles them for all their +ills, called Faith. It does not restrain them from dealing a stab with +a knife, when the wine is in their brains, or rage in their hearts; +but it will always prevent them from eating meat on a Friday. + +If you would see them in all the ardour of their simplicity, you must +visit the town on the day of a grand festival. Everybody, men, women, +and children are rushing to the church. A carpet of flowers is spread +along the road. Every countenance is glowing with excitement. What is +the meaning of it all? Don't you know?--It is the festival of Sant' +Antonio. A musical Mass is being performed in honour of Sant' Antonio. +A grand procession is being formed in honour of that Saint, probably +the patron of the place. There are little boys dressed up as angels, +and men arrayed in the sack-like garment of their brotherhoods: here +we have peasants of _The Heart of Jesus_; here, those of _The Name of +Mary_; and here come _The Souls of Purgatory_. The procession is +formed with some little confusion. The people embrace one another, +upset one another, and fight with one another--all in the name of +Sant' Antonio. But see! The statue of the worthy Saint is coming out +of the church: a wooden doll, with flaming red cheeks. _Victoria_! Off +go the petards! The women weep with joy--the children cry out at the +top of their shrill voices, "_Viva Sant' Antonio_!" At night there are +fireworks: a balloon shaped in the semblance of the Saint ascends amid +the shouts of the people, and bursts in grand style right over the +church. Verily, unless Sant' Antonio be very difficult to please, such +homage must go straight to his heart. And I should think the plebeians +of the country very exacting, if, after such an intoxicating festival, +they were to complain of wanting bread. + +Let us seek a little repose on the other side of the Apennines. +Although the population may not be sufficiently sheltered by a chain, +of mountains, you will find in the towns and villages the stuff for a +noble nation. The ignorance is still very great; the blood ever +boiling, and the hand ever quick; but already we find men who reason. +If the workman of the towns be not successful, he guesses the reason; +he seeks a remedy, he looks forward, he economizes. If the tenant be +not rich, he studies with his landlord the means of becoming so. +Everywhere agriculture is making progress, and it will ere long have +no further progress to make. Man becomes better and greater by dint of +struggling with Nature. He learns his own value, he sees whither he is +tending; in cultivating his field, he cultivates himself. + +I am compelled in strict truth to admit that religion loses ground a +little in these fine provinces. I vainly sought in the towns of the +Adriatic for those mural inscriptions of _Viva Gesu! Viva Maria!_ and +so on, which had so edified me on the other side of the Apennines. At +Bologna I read sonnets at the corners of all the streets,--sonnet to +Doctor Massarenti, who cured Madame Tagliani; sonnet to young +Guadagni, on the occasion of his becoming Bachelor of Arts, etc., etc. +At Faenza, these mural inscriptions evinced a certain degree of +fanaticism, but the fanaticism of the dramatic art: _Viva la Ristori! +Viva la diva Rossi!_ At Rimini, and at Forli, I read _Viva Verdi!_ +(which words had not then the political significance they have +recently attained,) _Viva la Lotti!_ together with a long list of +dramatic and musical celebrities. + +While I was visiting the holy house of Loretto, which, as all the +world knows, or ought to know, was transported by Angels, furniture +and all, from Palestine, to the neighbourhood of Ancona, a number of +pilgrims came in upon their knees, shedding tears and licking the +flags with their tongues. I thought these poor creatures belonged to +some neighbouring village, but I found out my mistake from a workman +of Ancona, who happened to be near me. "Sir," he said, "these unhappy +people must certainly belong to the other side of the Apennines, since +they still make pilgrimages. Fifty years ago we used to do the same +thing; we now think it better to work!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MIDDLE CLASSES. + + +The middle class is, in every clime and every age, the foundation of +the strength of States. It represents not only the wealth and +independence, but the capacity and the morality of a people. Between +the aristocracy, which boasts of doing nothing, and the lower orders +who only work that they may not die of hunger, the middle class +advances boldly to a future of wealth and consideration. Sometimes the +upper class is hostile to progress, through fear of its results; too +often the lower class is indifferent to it, from ignorance of the +benefits it confers. The middle class has never ceased to tend towards +progress, with all its strength, by an irresistible impulse, and even +at the peril of its dearest interests. A great statesman who must be +judged by his doctrines, and not by the chance of circumstances, M. +Guizot, has shown us that the Roman Empire perished from the want of a +middle class in the fifth century of our era, and we ourselves know +with what impetuosity France has advanced in progress since the middle +class revolution of 1789. + +The middle class has not only the privilege of bringing about useful +revolutions, it also claims the honour of repressing popular +outbreaks, and opposing itself as a barrier to the overflow of evil +passions. + +It is to be desired, then, that this honourable class should become as +numerous and as powerful as possible in the country we are now +studying; because, while on the one hand it is the lawful heir of the +temporal power of the Popes, on the other, it is the natural adversary +of Mazzinist insurrection. + +But the ecclesiastical caste, which sets this fatal principle of +temporal power above the highest interests of society, can conceive +nothing more prudent or efficacious than to vilify and abuse the +middle class. It obliges this class to support the heaviest share of +the budget, without being admitted to a share in the benefits. It +takes from the small proprietor not only his whole income, but a part +of his capital, while the people and the nobility are allowed all +sorts of immunities. It demands heavy concessions in exchange for the +humblest official posts. It omits no opportunity of depriving the +liberal professions of all the importance they enjoy in other +countries. It does its best to accelerate the decline of science and +art. It imagines that nothing else can be abased, without its being +proportionately elevated. + +This system has succeeded (according to priestly notions) tolerably +well at Home and in the Mediterranean provinces, but very badly at +Bologna, and in the Apennine provinces. In the metropolis of the +country the middle class is reduced, impoverished, and submissive; in +the second capital it is much more numerous, wealthy, and independent. +But evil passions, far more fatal to society than the rational +resistance of parties, have progressed in an inverse direction. They +predominate but little at Bologna, where the middle class is strong +enough to keep them under; they triumph at Home, where the middle +class has been destroyed. Thence it follows that Bologna is a city of +opposition, and Rome a socialist city; and that the revolution will be +moderate at Bologna, sanguinary at Rome. This is what the clerical +party has gained. + +Nothing can equal the disdain with which the prelates the princes, the +foreigners of condition, and even the footmen at Rome, judge the +middle class, of _mezzo ceto_. + +The prelate has his reasons. If he be a minister, he sees in his +offices some hundred clerks, belonging to the middle class. He knows +that these active and intelligent, but underpaid men, are for the most +part obliged to eke out a livelihood by secretly following some other +occupation: one keeps the books of a land-steward, another those of a +Jew. Whose fault is it? They well know that neither excellence of +character nor length of service are carried to the credit of the civil +functionary, and that, after having earned advancement, he will be +obliged either to ask it himself as a favour, or to employ the +intercession of his wife. It is not these poor men whom we should +despise, but the dignitaries in violet stockings who impose the burden +upon them. + +Should Monsignore be a judge of a superior tribunal, of the _Sacra +Rota_ for instance, he need know nothing about the law. His secretary, +or assistant, has by dint of patient study made himself an +accomplished lawyer, as indeed a man must be who can thread his way +through the dark labyrinths of Roman legislation. But Monsignore, who +makes use of his assistant's ability for his own particular profit, +thinks he has a right to despise him, because he is ill paid, lives +humbly, and has no future to look forward to. Which of the two is in +the wrong? + +If the same prelate be a Judge of Appeal, he will profess a most +profound contempt for advocates. I must confess they are to be pitied, +these unfortunate Princes of the Bar, who write for the blind, and +speak to the deaf, and who wear out their shoes in treading the +interminable paths of Rotal procedure. But assuredly they are not men +to be despised. They have always knowledge, often eloquence. +Marchetti, Rossi, and Lunati might no doubt have written good sermons, +if they had not preferred doing something else. + +Between ourselves, I think the prelates affect to despise them, in +order that they may not have to fear them. They have condemned some of +them to exile, others to silence and want. Hear what Cardinal +Antonelli said to M. de Gramont:-- + +"The advocates used to be one of our sores; we are beginning to be +cured of it. If we could but get rid of the clerks in the offices, all +would go well." + +Let us hope that, among modern inventions, a bureaucratic machine may +be made by which the labour of men in offices may be superseded. + +The Roman princes affect to regard the middle class with contempt. The +advocate who pleads their causes, and generally gains them, belongs to +the middle class. The physician who attends them, and generally cures +them, belongs to the middle class. But as these professional men have +fixed salaries, and as salaries resemble wages, contempt is thrown +into the bargain. Still the contempt is a magnanimous sort of +contempt--that of a patron for his client. At Paris, when an advocate +pleads a prince's cause, it is the prince who is the client: at Rome, +it is the advocate. + +But the individual who is visited by the most withering contempt of +the Roman princes is the farmer, or _mercante di campagna_; and I +don't wonder at it. + +The _mercante di campagna_ is an obscure individual, usually very +honest, very intelligent, very active, and very rich. He undertakes to +farm several thousand acres of land, pasture or arable as may be, +which the prince would never be able to farm himself, because he +neither knows how, nor has the means to do so. Upon this princely +territory the farmer lets loose, in the most disrespectful manner, +droves of bullocks, and cows, and horses, and flocks of sheep. Should +his lease permit him, he cultivates a square league or so, and sows it +with wheat. When harvest-time arrives, down from the mountains troop a +thousand or twelve hundred peasants, who overrun the prince's land in +the farmer's service. The corn is reaped, threshed in the open field, +put into sacks, and carted away. The prince sees it go by, as he +stands on his princely balcony. He learns that a man of the _mezzo +ceto_, a man who passes his life on horseback, has harvested on his +land so many sacks of corn, which have produced him so much money. The +_mercante di campagna_ comes, and confirms the intelligence, and then +pays the rent agreed upon to the uttermost baioccho. Sometimes he even +pays down a year or two in advance. What prince could forgive such +aggravated insolence? It is the more atrocious, since the farmer is +polite, well-mannered, and much better educated than the prince; he +can give his daughters much larger fortunes, and could buy the entire +principality for his own son, if by chance the prince were obliged to +sell it. The cultivation of estates by means of these people is, in +the eyes of the Roman princes, an attack upon the rights of property. +Their passion for incessant work is a disturbance of the delightful +Roman tranquillity. The fortunes they acquire by personal exertion, +energy, and activity, are a reproach by inference to that stagnant +wealth which is the foundation of the State, and the admiration of the +Government. + +This is not all: the _mercante di campagna_, who is not nobly born, +who is not a priest, who has a wife and children, thinks he has a +right to share in the management of the affairs of his country, upon +the ground that he manages his own well. He points out abuses; he +demands reforms. What audacity! The priests would cast him forth as +they would a mere advocate, were it not that his occupation is the +most necessary of all occupations, and that by turning out a man they +might starve a district. + +But the insolence of these agricultural contractors goes still +further. They presume to be grand in their ideas. One of them, in +1848, under the reign of Mazzini, when the public works were suspended +for want of money, finished the bridge of Lariccia, one of the finest +constructions of our time, at his own expense. He certainly knew not +whether the Pope would ever return to Rome to repay him. He acted like +a real prince; but his audacity in assuming a part which was not +intended for his caste, merited something more than contempt. + +I, who have not the honour to be a prince, have no reason to despise +the _mercanti di campagna_. Quite the contrary. I have solid ones for +esteeming them highly. I have found them full of intelligence, +kindness, and cordiality: middle-class men in the best sense of the +term. My sole regret is that their numbers are so few, and that their +scope of action is so limited. + +If there were but two thousand of them, and the Government allowed +them to follow their own course, the Roman Campagna would soon assume +another aspect, and fever and ague take themselves off. + +The foreigners who have inhabited Rome for any length of time, speak +of the middle-class as contemptuously as the princes. I once made the +same mistake as they do, so my testimony on the subject is the more +worthy of acceptation. + +Perhaps the foreigners in question have lived in furnished lodgings, +and have found the landlady a little less than cruel. No doubt +adventures of this kind are of daily occurrence elsewhere than in +Rome; but is the middle-class to be held responsible for the light +conduct of some few poor and uneducated women? + +Or they may have had to do with the trade of Rome, and have found it +extremely limited. This is because there is no capital, nor any +extension of public credit. They are shocked to see the shopkeepers, +during the Carnival, riding in carriages, and occupying the best boxes +at the theatres; but this foolish love of show, so hurtful to the +middle-class, is taught them by the universal example of those above +them. + +Perhaps they have sent to the chemist's for a doctor, and have fallen +upon an ignorant professor of the healing art. This is unlucky, but it +may happen anywhere. The medical body is not recruited exclusively +among the eagles of science. For one Baroni, who is an honour at once +to Rome, to Italy, and to Europe, you naturally expect to find many +blockheads. If these are more plentiful at Rome than at Paris or +Bologna, it is because the priests meddle with medical instruction, as +with everything else. I never shall forget how I laughed when I +entered the amphitheatre of Santo Spirito, to see a vine-leaf on 'the +subject' on which the professor was going to lecture to the students. + +In this land of chastity, where the modest vine is entwined with every +branch of science, a doctor in surgery, attached to an hospital, once +told me he had never seen the bosom of a woman. "We have," he said, + + "two degrees of Doctor to take; one theoretical, the other + practical. Between the first and the second, we practise in + the hospitals, as you see. But the prelates who control our + studies, will not allow a doctor to be present at a + confinement until he has passed his second, or practical + examination. They are afraid of our being scandalized. We + obtain our practical knowledge of midwifery by practising + upon dolls. In six months I shall have taken all my degrees, + and I may be called in to act as accoucheur to any number of + women, without ever having witnessed a single accouchement!" + +The Roman artists would endow the middle-class with both fame and +money, if they were differently treated. The Italian race has not +degenerated, whatever its enemies and its masters may say: it is as +naturally capable of distinction in all the arts as ever it was. Put a +paint-brush into the hands of a child, and he will acquire the +practice of painting in no time. An apprenticeship of three or four +years enables him to gain a livelihood. The misfortune is, that they +seldom get beyond this. I think, nay, I am almost sure, they are not +less richly gifted than the pupils of Raphael; and they reach the same +point as the pupils of M. Galimard. Is it their fault? No. I accuse +but the medium into which their birth has cast them. It may be, that +if they were at Paris, they would produce masterpieces. Give them +parts to play in the world, competition, exhibitions, the support of a +government, the encouragement of a public, the counsels of an +enlightened criticism. All these benefits which we enjoy abundantly, +are wholly denied to them, and are only known to them by hearsay. + +Their sole motive for work is hunger, their sole encouragement the +flying visits of foreigners. Their work is always done in a hurry; +they knock off a copy in a week, and when it is sold, they begin +another. + +If some one, more ambitious than his fellows, undertakes an original +work, whose opinion can he obtain as to its merits or demerits? The +men of the reigning class know nothing about it, and the princes very +little. The owner of the finest gallery in Rome said last year, in the +salon of an Ambassador, "I admire nothing but what you French call +_chic_" Prince Piombino gave the painter Gagliardi an order to paint +him a ceiling, and proposed to pay him by the day. The Government has +plenty to attend to without encouraging the arts: the four little +newspapers which circulate at remote periods amuse themselves by +puffing their particular friends in the silliest manner. + +The foreigners who come and go are often men of taste, but they do not +make a public. In Paris, Munich, Duesseldorf, and London, the public +has an individuality; it is a man of a thousand heads. When it has +marked a rising artist, it notes his progress, encourages him, blames +him, urges him on, checks him. It takes such a one into its favour, is +extremely wroth with such another. It is, of course, sometimes in the +wrong; it is subject to ridiculous infatuations, and unjust revulsions +of feeling; yet it lives, and it vivifies, and it is worth working +for. + +If I wonder at anything, it is that under the present system such +artists are to be found at Home as Tenerani and Podesti, in statuary +and painting; Castellani, in gold-working; Calamatta and Mercuri, in +engraving, with some others. It is a melancholy truth, however, that +the majority of Roman artists are doomed, by the absence of +encouragement, to a monotonous and humiliating round of taskwork and +trade; occupied half their time in re-copying copies, and the +remainder in recommending their goods to the foreign purchaser. + +In truth, I had myself quitted Rome with no very favourable idea of +the middle class. A few distinguished artists, a few advocates of +talent and courage, some able medical men, some wealthy and skilful +farmers, were insufficient, in my opinion, to constitute a middle +class. I regarded them as so many exceptions to a rule. And as it is +certain that there can be no nation without a middle class, I dreaded +lest I should be forced to admit that there is no Italian nation. + +The middle class appeared to me to thrive no better in the +Mediterranean provinces than at Rome. Half citizen, half clown, the +people representing it are plunged in a crass ignorance. Having just +sufficient means to live without working, they lounge away their time +in homes comfortless and half-furnished, the very walls of which seem +to reek with _ennui_. Rumours of what is passing in Europe, which +might possibly rouse them from their torpor, are stopped at the +frontier. New ideas, which might somewhat fertilize their minds, are +intercepted by the Custom House. If they read anything, it is the +Almanack, or by way of a higher order of literature, the _Giornale di +Roma_, wherein the daily rides of the Pope are pompously chronicled. +The existence of these people consists, in short, of a round of +eating, drinking, sleeping, and reproducing their kind, until death +arrive. + +But beyond the Apennines matters are far otherwise. There, instead of +the citizen descending to the level of the peasant, it is the peasant +who rises to that of the citizen. Unremitting labour is continually +improving both the soil and man. A smuggling of ideas which daily +becomes more active, sets custom-houses and customs officers at +defiance. Patriotism is stimulated and kept alive by the presence of +the Austrians. Common sense is outraged by the weight of taxation. The +different fractions of the middle class--advocates, physicians, +merchants, farmers, artists--freely express among one another their +discontent and their hatred, their ideas and their hopes. The +Apennines, which form a barrier between them and the Pope, bring them +nearer to Europe and liberty. I have never failed, after conversing +with one of the middle class in the Legations, to inscribe in my +tablets, _There is an Italian Nation_! + +I travelled from Bologna to Florence with a young man whom I at first +took, from the simple elegance of his dress, for an Englishman. But we +fell so naturally into conversation, and my companion expressed +himself so fluently in French, that I supposed him to be a +fellow-countryman. When, however, I discovered how thoroughly he was +versed in the state of the agriculture, manufactures, commerce, laws, +the administration, and the politics of Italy, I could no longer doubt +that he was an Italian and a Bolognese. What I chiefly admired in him +was not so much the extent and variety of his knowledge, or the +clearness and rectitude of his understanding, as the elevation of his +character, and the moderation of his language. Every word he uttered +was characterized by a profound sense of the dignity of his country, a +bitter regret at the disesteem and neglect into which that country had +fallen, and a firm hope in the justice of Europe in general and of one +great prince in particular, and a certain combination of pride, +melancholy, and sweetness which possessed an irresistible attraction +for me. He nourished no hatred either against the Pope or any other +person; he admitted the system of the priests, although utterly +intolerable to the country, to be perfectly logical in itself. His +dream was not of vengeance, but deliverance. + +I learnt, some time afterwards, that my delightful travelling +companion was a man of the _mezzo ceto_, and that there are many more +such as he in Bologna. + +But already had I inscribed in my tablets these words, thrice +repeated, dated from the Court of the Posts, Piazza del Gran' Duca, +Florence:-- + +_"There is an Italian Nation! There is an Italian Nation! There is an +Italian Nation!"_ + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NOBILITY. + + +An Italian has said with pungent irony, "Who knows but that one of +these days a powerful microscope may detect globules of nobility in +the blood?" + +I am too national not to applaud a good joke, and yet I must confess +these "globules of nobility" do not positively offend my reason. + +There is no doubt that sons take after their fathers. The Barons of +the Middle Ages transmitted to their children a heritage of heroic +qualities. Frederick the Great obtained a race of gigantic grenadiers +by marrying men of six feet to women of five feet six. The children of +a clever man are not fools, provided their mother has not failed in +her duties; and when the Cretins of the Alps intermarry, they produce +Cretins. We know dogs are slow or fast, keen-scented or keen-sighted, +according to their breed, and we buy a two-year-old colt upon the +strength of his pedigree. Can we consistently admit nobility among +horses and dogs, and deny it among men? + +Add to this, that the pride of bearing an illustrious name is a +powerful incentive to well-doing. Noblemen have duties to fulfil both +towards their ancestors and their posterity. They must walk uprightly +under the penalty of dishonouring an entire race. Tradition obliges +them to follow a path of honour and virtue, from which they cannot +stray a single step without falling. They never sign their names +without some elevated thought of an hereditary obligation. + +I must admit that everything degenerates in the end, and that the +purest blood may occasionally lose its high qualities, as the most +generous wine turns to molasses or vinegar. But we have all of us met +in the world a young man of loftier and prouder bearing, more +high-minded and more courageous, than his fellows; or a woman so +beautiful and simple and chaste, that she seemed made of a finer clay +than the rest of her sex. We may be sure that both one and the other +have in their blood some globules of nobility. + +These precious globules, which no microscope will ever be powerful +enough to detect, but which the intelligent observer sees with the +naked eye, are rare enough in Europe, and I am not aware of their +existence out of it. A small collection of them might be brought +together in France, in Spain, in England, in Russia, in Germany, in +Italy. Rome is one of the cities in which the fewest would be found. +And yet the Roman nobility is surrounded with a certain prestige. + +Thirty-one princes or dukes; a great number of marquises, counts, +barons, and knights; a multitude of noble families without titles, +sixty of whom were inscribed in the Capitol by Benedict XIV.; a vast +extent of signiorial domains; a thousand palaces; a hundred +picture-galleries, large and small; a considerable revenue; a prodigal +display of horses, carriages, servants, and armorial bearings; some +almost royal entertainments in the course of every winter; the remains +of feudal privileges; and the respect of the lower orders: such are +the more remarkable features which distinguish the Roman nobility, and +expose it to the admiration of all the travelling cockneys of the +universe. + +Ignorance, idleness, vanity, servility, and above all incapacity; +these are the pet vices which place it below all the aristocracies in +Europe. Should I meet with any exceptions on my road, I shall consider +it my duty to point them out. + +The roots of the Roman nobility are very diverse. The Orsini and the +Colonna families descend from the heroes or brigands of the Middle +Ages. That of Caetani dates from 730. The houses of Massimo, +Santa-Croce, and Muti, go back to Livy in search of their founders. +Prince Massimo bears in his shield the trace of the marchings and +counter-marchings of Fabius Maximus, otherwise called Cunctator. His +motto is, _Cunctando restituit_. Santa-Croce boasts of being an +offshoot of Valerius Publicola. The Muti family counts Mutius Scaevola +among its ancestors. This nobility, whether authentic or not, is at +all events very ancient, and is of independent origin. It has not been +hatched under the robes of the Popes. + +The second category is of Pontifical origin. Its titles and fortunes +have their origin in nepotism. In the course of the seventeenth +century, Paul V., Urban VIII.; Innocent X., Alexander VII., Clement +IX., and Innocent XI. created the houses of Borghese, Barberini, +Pamphili, Chigi, Rospigliosi, and Odescalchi. They vied with one +another in aggrandising their humble families. The domains of the +Borghese house, which make a tolerably large spot on the map of +Europe, testify that Paul V. was by no means an unnatural uncle. The +Popes have kept up the practice of ennobling their relations, but the +scandal of their liberalities ceases with Pius VI., another of the +Braschi family (1775-1800). + +The last batch includes the bankers, such as Torlonia and Kuspoli, +monopolists like Antonelli, millers like the Macchi, bakers like the +Dukes Grazioli, tobacconists like the Marchese Ferraiuoli, and farmers +like the Marchese Calabrini. + +I add, by way of memorandum, strangers, noble or not, as may be, who +purchase an estate, get a title thrown into the bargain. A short time +ago a French petty country gentleman, who had a little money, woke up +a Roman Prince one fine morning, the equal of the Dorias, Torlonias, +and of the baker Duke Grazioli. + +For they are all equal from the hour when the Holy Father has signed +their parchments. Whatever be the origin of their nobility and the +antiquity of their houses, they go arm in arm, without any disputes as +to precedence. The names of Orsini, Colonna, and Sforza, are jumbled +together in the family of a former _domestique de place_. The son of a +baker marries the daughter of a Lante de La Rovere, granddaughter of a +Prince Colonna, and a Princess of Savoie-Carignan. There is no fear +that the famous quarrel of the princes and dukes, which so roused the +indignation of our stately St. Simon, will ever be repeated among the +Roman aristocracy. + +To what purpose should it be, gracious Heavens! Don't they well +know--dukes and princes--that they are all alike inferior to the +shabbiest of the cardinals? The day that a Capuchin receives the red +hat, he acquires the right to splash the mud in their faces as he +rides past in his gilded coach. + +In all monarchical States, the king is the natural head of the +nobility. The strongest term that a gentleman can make use of, in +alluding to his house, is that it is as noble as the King. _As noble +as the Pope_ would be simply ludicrous, since a swineherd, the son of +a swineherd, may be elected Pope, and receive the oath of fidelity +from all the Roman princes. They may well then consider themselves +upon an equality among themselves, these poor grandees, seeing that +they are equally looked down upon by a few priests. + +They console themselves with the thought that they are superior to all +the laymen in the world. This soothing vanity, neither noisy nor +insolent, but none the less firmly rooted in their hearts, enables +them to swallow the daily affront of conscious inferiority. + +I am quite aware of the points in which they are inferior to the +upstarts of the Church, but their affected superiority to other men is +less evident to me. + +As to their courage. Some years have elapsed since they had the +opportunity of proving it on the field of battle.[4] + +Heaven forbids duelling. The Government inculcates the gentler +virtues. + +They are not wanting in a certain ostentatious and theatrical +liberality. A Piombino sent his ambassador to the conference at +Vienna, allowing L4,000 for the expenses of the mission. A Borghese +gave the mob of Rome a banquet that cost L48,000, to celebrate the +return of Pius VII. Almost all the Roman princes open their palaces, +villas, and galleries to the public. To be sure, old Sciarra used to +sell permission to copy his pictures, but he was a notorious miser, +and has found no imitators. + +They practise generally the virtue of charity, in a somewhat +indiscriminate manner, from the love of patronage, from pride, habit, +and weakness, because they are ashamed to refuse. They are by no means +badly disposed, they are good--I stop at this word, lest I should go +too far. + +They are not wanting in sense or intelligence. Prince Massimo is +quoted for his good sense, and the two Caetani for their puns. +Santa-Croce, though a little cracked, is no ordinary man. But what a +wretched education the Government gives them! When they are not the +children, they are the pupils of priests, whose system principally +consists in teaching them nothing. Get hold of a student of St. +Sulpice, wash him tolerably clean, have him dressed by Alfred or +Poole, and bejewelled by Castellani or Hunt and Roskel, let him learn +to thrum a guitar, and sit upon a horse, and you'll have a Roman +prince as good as the best of them. + +You probably think it natural that people brought up at Rome, in the +midst of the finest works of art in the world, should take a little +interest in art, and know something about it. Pray be undeceived. This +man has never entered the Vatican except to pay visits; that one knows +nothing of his own gallery, but through the report of his +house-steward. Another had never visited the Catacombs till he became +Pope. They profess an elegant ignorance, which they think in good +taste, and which will always be fashionable in a Catholic country. + +I have said enough about the heart, mind, and education of the Roman +nobility. A few words as to the fortunes of which they dispose. + +I have before me a list which I believe to be authentic, as I copied +it myself in a sure quarter. It comprises the net available incomes of +the principal Roman families. I extract the most important:-- + + Corsini ....... L20,000 + Borghese....... 18,000 + Ludovisi....... 14,000 + Grazioli....... 14,000 + Doria.......... 13,000 + Rospigliosi.... 10,000 + Colonna........ 8,000 + Odescalchi..... 8,000 + Massimo........ 8,000 + Patrizi........ 6,000 + Orsini......... 4,000 + Strozzi........ 4,000 + Torlonia....... Unlimited. + Antonelli....... Ditto. + +It is not to be supposed that Grazioli, for instance, has himself +alone nearly as large a gross income as Prince Borghese and his two +brothers Aldobrandini and Salviati together. But the fact is that all +the more ancient families are burdened with heavy hereditary charges, +which enormously reduce their incomes. They are obliged to keep up +chapels, churches, hospitals, and whole chapters of fat canons, while +the nobles of yesterday are not called upon to pay for either the fame +or the sins of their ancestors. + +At all events the foregoing list proves the mediocrity as to wealth, +as in everything else, of the Roman nobility. Not only are they unable +to compete with the hard-working middle classes of London, Bale, or +Amsterdam, but they are infinitely less wealthy than the nobility of +Russia or of England. + +Is this because, as with us in France, an equitable law is constantly +subdividing large properties? No. The law of primogeniture is in full +vigour in the kingdom of the Pope, like every other abuse of the good +old times. They provide for their younger sons as they can, and for +their daughters as they please. It is not parental justice that ruins +families. I have even heard it said that the elder brother is not +obliged to put on mourning when the younger dies; which is a clear +saving of so much black cloth. + +This being the case, why are not the Roman princes richer than they +are? It is to be accounted for by two excellent reasons,--the love of +show, and bad management. + +Ostentation, the Roman disease, requires that every nobleman should +have a palace in the city, and a palace in the country: carriages, +horses, lacqueys and liveries. They can do without mattresses, linen, +and armchairs, but a gallery of pictures is indispensable. It is not +thought necessary to have a decent dinner every Sunday, but it is to +have a terraced garden for the admiration of foreigners. These +imaginary wants swallow up the income, and not unfrequently eat into +the capital. + +And yet I could point out half-a-dozen estates which could suffice for +the prodigalities of a sovereign, if they were managed in the English, +or even in the French fashion,--if the owner were to interfere +personally, and see with his own eyes, instead of allowing a host of +middlemen to come between him and his property, who of course enrich +themselves at his expense. + +Not that the Roman princes knowingly allow their affairs to go to +ruin. They must by no means be confounded with the _grands seigneurs_ +of old France, who laughed over the wreck of their fortunes, and +avenged themselves upon a steward by a _bon mot_ and a kick. The Roman +prince has an office, with shelves, desks, and clerks, and devotes +some hours a day to business, examining accounts, poring over +parchments, and signing papers. But being at once incapable and +uneducated, his zeal serves but to liberate the rogues about him from +responsibility. I heard of a nobleman who had inherited an enormous +fortune, who condemned himself to the labor of a clerk at L50 a year, +who remained faithful to his desk even to extreme old age, and who, +thanks to some blunder or other in management, died insolvent. + +Pity them if you please, but cast not the stone at them. They are such +as education has made them. Look at those brats of various ages from +six to ten, walking along the Corso in double file, between a couple +of Jesuits. They are embryo Roman nobles. Handsome as little Cupids, +in spite of their black coats and white neckcloths, they will all grow +up alike, under the shadow of their pedagogue's broad-brimmed hat. + +Already are their minds like a well-raked garden, from which ideas +have been carefully rooted out. Their hearts are purged alike of good +and evil passions. Poor little wretches, they will not even have any +vices. + +As soon as they shall have passed their last examinations, and +obtained their diplomas of ignorance, they will be dressed in the +latest London fashions, and be turned out into the public promenades. +They will pace for ever the pavement of the Corso, they will wear out +the alleys of the Pincian Hill, the Villa Borghese, and the Villa +Pamphili. They will ride, drive, and walk about, armed with a whip, +eye-glass, or cane, as may be, until they are made to marry. Regular +at Mass, assiduous at the theatre, you may see them smile, gape, +applaud, make the sign of the cross, with an equal absence of emotion. +They are almost all inscribed on the list of some religious fraternity +or other. They belong to no club, play timidly, rarely make a parade +of social irregularities, drink without enthusiasm, and never ruin +themselves by horse-racing. In short, their general conduct is beyond +all praise; and the life of dolls made to say "Papa!" and "Mama!" is +equally irreproachable. + +One fine day they attain their twenty-fifth year. At this age, an +American has already tried his hand at a dozen trades, made four +fortunes, and at least one bankruptcy, has gone through a couple of +campaigns, had a lawsuit, established a new religious sect, killed +half-a-dozen men with his revolver, freed a negress, and conquered an +island. An Englishman has passed some stiff examinations, been +attached to an embassy, founded a factory, converted a Catholic, gone +round the world, and read the complete works of Walter Scott. A +Frenchman has rhymed a tragedy, written for two newspapers, been +wounded in three duels, twice attempted suicide, vexed fourteen +husbands, and changed his politics nineteen times. A German has +slashed fifteen of his dearest friends, swallowed sixty hogsheads of +beer and the Philosophy of Hegel, sung eleven thousand couplets, +compromised a tavern waiting-maid, smoked a million of pipes, and been +mixed up with, at least, two revolutions. + +The Roman prince has done nothing, seen nothing, learnt nothing, loved +nothing, suffered nothing. His parents or guardians open a cloister +gate, take out a young girl as inexperienced as himself, and the pair +of innocents are bidden to kneel before a priest, who gives them +permission to become parents of another generation of innocents like +themselves. + +Probably you expect to find them living unhappily together. Not at +all. And yet the wife is pretty. The monotonous routine of her convent +education has not so frozen her heart that she is incapable of loving; +her uncultivated mind will spontaneously develope itself when it comes +in contact with the world. She will not fail, ere long, to discover +the inferiority of her husband. The more her education has been +neglected, the greater is her chance of remaining womanly, that is to +say, intelligent, tender, and charming. In truth, the harmony of their +household is less likely to be disturbed at Rome than it would be at +Paris or Vienna. + +Yes, the huge extinguisher which Heaven holds suspended over the city +of Rome, stifles even the subtle spark of passion. If Vesuvius were +here, it would have been cold for the last forty years. The Roman +princesses were not a little talked of up to the end of the thirteenth +century. Under the French rule their gallantry assumed a military +complexion. They used to go and see their admirers play billiards at +the Cafe Nuovo. But hypocrisy and morality have made immense progress +since the restoration. The few who have afforded matter for the +scandalous chronicles of Rome are sexagenarians, and their adventures +are inscribed on the tablets of history, between Austerlitz and +Waterloo. + +The young princess whom we have just seen entering upon her married +life, will begin by presenting her husband with sundry little princes +and princesses; and there is no rampart against illicit affection like +your row of little cradles. + +In five or six years, when she might have leisure for evil thoughts, +she will be bound hand and foot by the exigencies of society. You +shall have a specimen of the mode in which she spends her days during +the winter season. Her morning is devoted to dressing, breakfasting, +her children, and her husband. From one to three she returns the +visits she has received, in the exact form in which they were paid to +her. The first act of politeness is to go and see your acquaintance; +the second, to leave your card in person; the third, to send the same +bit of pasteboard by a servant _ad hoc_. At three, all the world +drives to the Villa Borghese, where there is a general salutation of +acquaintances with the tips of the fingers. At four, up the Pincio. At +five, it files backwards and forwards along the Corso. Everybody who +is anybody is condemned to this triple promenade. If a single +woman--who is anybody--were to absent herself, it would be inferred, +as a matter of course, that she was ill, and a general inquiry as to +the nature of her complaint would be instituted. + +At close of day all go home. After dinner another toilette, and out +for the evening. Every house has its particular reception-night. And a +pure and simple reception indeed it is, without play, without music, +without conversation; a mere interchange of bows and curtsies, and +cold commonplaces. At rare intervals a ball breaks the ice, and shakes +off the _ennui_ generated by this system. Poor women! In an existence +at once so busy and so void, there is not even room for friendship. +Two who may have been friends from childhood, brought up in the same +convent, married into the same world, may meet one another daily and +at all hours, and yet may not be able to enjoy ten minutes of intimate +conversation in the whole year. The brightest, the best, is known but +by her name, her title, and her fortune. Judgments are passed on her +beauty, her toilet, and her diamonds, but nobody has the opportunity +or the leisure to penetrate into the depths of her mind. A really +distinguished woman once said to me, "I feel that I become stupid when +I enter these drawing-rooms. Vacancy seizes me at the very threshold." +Another, who had lived in France, regretted, with tears, the absence +of those charming friendships, so cheerful and so cordial, that exist +between the young married women of Paris. + +When the Carnival arrives, it mingles everything without uniting +anything. In truth, one is never more solitary than in the midst of +noise and crowds. Then comes Lent; and then the grand comedy of +Easter; and after that the family departs for the country, which +means, economizing for some months in a huge half-furnished mansion. +In short, the romance of a Roman Princess is made up of a certain +number of noisy winters, and dull summers, and plenty of children. If +there be, by chance, any more exciting chapters, they are doubtless +known to the confessor. + +"Ce ne sont pas la mes affaires." + +You must go far from Rome to find any real nobility. Here and there in +the Mediterranean provinces some fallen family may be met with, living +poorly upon the produce of a small estate, and still looked up to with +a certain respect by its wealthier neighbours. The lower orders +respect it because it has been something once, and even because it is +nothing under the present hated government. These little provincial +aristocrats, ignorant, simple, and proud, are a sort of relic of the +Middle Ages left behind in the middle of the nineteenth century. I +only mention them to recall the fact of their existence. + +But if you will accompany me over the Apennines, into the glorious +cities of the Romagna, I can show you more than one nobleman of great +name and ancient lineage, who cultivates at once his lands and his +intellect; who knows all that we know; who believes all that we +believe, and nothing more; who takes an active interest in the +misfortunes of Italy, and who, looking to free and happy Europe, +hopes, through the sympathy of nations and the justice of sovereigns, +to obtain the deliverance of his country. I met in certain palaces at +Bologna a brilliant writer, applauded on every stage in Italy; a +learned economist, quoted in the most serious reviews throughout +Europe; a controversialist, dreaded by the priests; and all these +individualities united in the single person of a Marquis of +thirty-four, who may, perhaps, one of these days play an important +part in the Italian revolution. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +FOREIGNERS. + + +Permit me to open this chapter by recalling some recollections of the +golden age. + +A century or two ago, when old aristocracies, old royalties, and old +religions imagined themselves eternal; when Popes innocently assured +the fortunes of their nephews, and the welfare of their mistresses; +when the simplicity of Catholic countries regilt annually the +pontifical idol; when Europe contained some half-million of +individuals who deemed themselves created for mutual understanding and +amusement, without any thought of the classes beneath them, Rome was +the Paradise of foreigners, and foreigners were the Providence of +Rome. + +A gentleman of birth took it into his head to visit Italy, for the +sake of kissing the Pope's toe, and perhaps other local curiosities. +He managed to have a couple of years of leisure,--put three letters of +introduction into one pocket, and 50,000 crowns into the other, and +stepped into his travelling carriage. + +In those days people did not go to Rome to spend a week there and away +again; for it was a month or two's journey from France. The crack of +the postilions' whips used to announce to the Eternal City in general +the arrival of a distinguished guest. _Domestiques de place_ flocked +to the call. The luckiest of them took possession of the new comer by +entering his service. In a few days he provided his master with a +palace, furniture, footmen, carriages, and horses. The foreigner +settled himself comfortably, and then presented his letters of +introduction. His credentials being examined, the best society at once +opened its arms to him, and cried, "You are one of us!" From that +moment he was at home wherever he went. He was a guest at every house. +He danced, supped, played, and made love to the ladies. And of course, +in his turn, he opened his own palace to his liberal entertainers, +adding a new feature to the brilliancy of a Roman winter. + +No foreigner failed to carry away with him some recollection of a city +so fertile in marvels. One bought pictures, another ancient marbles, +this one medals, that one books. The trade of Rome prospered by this +circulation of foreign money. + +The heats of summer drove away foreigners as well as natives; but they +never went far. Naples, Florence, or Venice offered them agreeable +quarters till the return of the winter season. And they had excellent +reasons for returning to Rome, which is the only city in the world in +which one has never seen everything. Some of them so entirely forgot +their own countries, that death overtook them between the Piazza del +Popolo and the Piazza de Venizia. If any exiled themselves to their +native land, they did it in sheer self-defence, when their pockets +were empty. Rome bade them a tender adieu, piously keeping their +likeness in its memory and their money in its coffers. + +The Revolution of 1793 somewhat disturbed this agreeable order of +things; but it was a mere storm between two fine summer days. Neither +the Roman aristocracy, nor its constant troop of guests, took this +brutal overthrow of their elegant pleasures in earnest. The exile of +the Pope, the French occupation, and many similar accidents, were +supported with a noble resignation, and forgotten with the readiness +of good taste. 1815 passed a sponge over some years of very foul +history. All the inscriptions which recalled the glory or the +beneficence of France were conscientiously erased. It was even +proposed to do away with the lighting of the streets, not only because +they threw too strong a light upon certain nocturnal matters, but +because they dated from the time of Miollis and De Tournon. Even now, +in 1859, the fleur-de-lis points out what is French property. A marble +table in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi promises indulgence to +those who will pray for the king of France. The French convent of the +Trinita dei Monti--that worthy claustral establishment which sold us +the picture of Daniel di Volterra and then took it back--possesses the +portraits of all the kings of France, from Pharamond to Charles X. +There you see Louis XVII. between Louis XVI. and Louis XVIII.; but in +this historical gallery there is no more mention of Napoleon or of +Louis-Philippe, than of Nana-Sahib or Marat. + +A city so respectful to the past, so faithful to the worship of bygone +recollections, is the natural asylum of sovereigns fallen from their +thrones. It is to Rome that they come to foment their contusions, and +to heal the wounds of their pride. They live there agreeably, +surrounded by the few followers who have remained faithful to them. A +miniature court, assembled in their antechamber, crowns them in +private, hails them on rising with epithets of royalty, and pours +forth incense in their dressing-room. The Roman nobility, and +foreigners of distinction, live with them in an unequal intimacy, +humbling themselves in order that they may be raised; and sowing a +great deal of veneration to reap a very light crop of familiarity. The +Pope and his Cardinals, upon principle, are lavish of attentions which +they would perhaps refuse them on the throne. In short, the king who +has been the most battered and shaken by his fall, and the most +ill-used by his ungrateful subjects, has but to take refuge in Rome, +and by the double aid of a vivid imagination and a well-filled purse, +he may persuade himself that he is still reigning over an absent +people. + +The reverses of royalty which ended the eighteenth and commenced the +nineteenth centuries, sent to Rome a colony of crowned heads. The +modifications which European society has undergone have more recently +brought many less illustrious guests, not even members of the +aristocracy of their own country. It is certain that for the last +fifty years, wealth, education, and talent have shared the rights +formerly belonging to birth alone. Rome has seen foreigners arriving +in travelling carriages who were not born great,--distinguished +artists, eminent writers, diplomatists sprung from the people, +tradesmen elevated to the rank of capitalists, men of the world who +are in their place everywhere, because everywhere they know how to +live. The best society did not receive them without submitting them to +careful inquiry, in order to ascertain that they brought no dangerous +doctrines; and then it seemed to say to them: "You cannot be our +relations--be our masonic brothers!" + +I have said that the Roman princes are, if not without pride, at least +without arrogance. This observation extends to the princes of the +Church. They welcome a foreigner of modest condition, provided he +speaks and thinks like themselves upon two or three capital questions, +has a profound veneration for certain time-honoured lumber, and curses +heartly certain innovations. You must show them the white paw of the +fable, if you wish them to open their doors to you. + +On this point they are immovable. They will not listen to rank, to +fortune, or even to the most imperious political necessities. If +France were to send them an ambassador who failed to show them the +white paw, the ambassador of France would not get inside the doors of +the aristocratic _salons_. If Horace Vernet were named director of the +Academy, neither his name nor his office would open to him certain +houses where he was received as a friend previously to 1830. And why? +Because Horace Vernet was one of the public men of the Revolution of +July. + +Do not imagine, however, that paying respect to Cardinals involves +paying respect to religion, or that it is necessary to attend Mass in +order to get invited to balls. What is absolutely indispensable is, to +believe that everything at Rome is good, to regard the Papacy as an +arch, the Cardinals as so many saints, abuses as principles, and to +applaud the march of the Government, even though it stand still. It is +considered good taste to praise the virtues of the lower orders, their +simple faith, and their indifference as to political affairs, and to +despise that middle-class which is destined to bring about the next +revolution. + +I conversed much with some of the foreigners who live in Rome, and who +mix with its best society. One of the most distinguished and the most +agreeable of them often gave me advice which, though I have not +followed, I have not forgotten. + +"My dear friend," he used to say, + + "I know but two ways of writing about Rome. You must choose + for yourself. If you declaim against the priestly + government, its abuses, vices, and injustice; against the + assassinations, the uncultivated lands, the bad air, the + filthiness of the streets; against the many scandals, the + hypocrisies, the robberies, the lotteries, the Ghetto, and + all that follows as a matter of course, you will earn the + somewhat barren honour of having added the thousand and + first pamphlet to those which have appeared since the time + of Luther. All has been said that can be said against the + Popes. A man who pretends to originality should not lend his + voice to the chorus of brawling reformers. Remember, too, + that the Government of this country, though very mild and + very paternal, never forgives! Even if it wished to do so, + it cannot. It must defend its principle, which is sacred. + Don't close the gates of Rome against yourself. You will be + so glad to revisit it, and we shall be so happy to receive + you again! If you wish to support a new and original theme, + and to gain fame which will not be wholly unprofitable, dare + to declare boldly that everything is good--even that which + all agree to pronounce bad. Praise without restriction an + order of things which has been solidly maintained for + eighteen centuries. Prove that everything here is firmly + established, and that the network of pontifical institutions + is linked together by a powerful logic. Bravely resist those + aspirations after reform which may haply urge you to demand + such and such changes. Remember that you cannot disturb old + constitutions with impunity; that the displacement of a + single stone may bring down the whole edifice. How do you + know, that the particular abuse which most offends you is + not absolutely necessary to the very existence of Rome? Good + and evil mixed together form a cement more durable than the + elaborately selected materials of which modern utopias are + made. I who tell you this have been here many years, and am + quite comfortable and contented. Whither should I go if Rome + were to be turned topsy-turvy? Where should we establish our + dethroned sovereigns? Where would a home be found for Roman + Catholic worship? You have no doubt been told that some + people are dissatisfied with the administration: but what of + that? They are not of _our_ world. You never meet them in + the good society you frequent. If the demands of the middle + class were to be complied with, everything would be + overturned. Have you any wish to see manufactories erected + round St. Peter's and turnip fields about the fountain of + Egeria? These native shopkeepers seem to imagine the country + belongs to them because they happen to be born in it. Can + one conceive a more ridiculous pretension? Let them know + that Rome is the property in copartnership of people of + birth, of people of taste, and of artists. It is a museum + confided to the guardianship of the Holy Father; a museum of + old monuments, old pictures, and old institutions. Let all + the rest of the world change, but build me a Chinese wall + round the Papal States, and never let the sound of the + railway-whistle be heard within its sacred precincts! Let us + preserve for admiring posterity at least one magnificent + specimen of absolute power, ancient art, and the Roman + Catholic religion!" + +This is the language of foreign inhabitants of Rome of the old +stamp,--estimable people, and sincere believers, who have gone on year +after year witnessing the ceremonies of St. Peter's, and the _Fete des +Oignons_ in the St. John Lateran, till they have acquired an +ecclesiastical turn of thought and expression, a habit of seeing +things through the spectacles of the Sacred College, and a faith which +has no sympathy with the outer world. I do not share their opinions, +and I have never found their advice particularly useful; but they +interest me, I like them, and I sincerely pity them. Who can tell what +events they are destined to witness in their time? Who can foresee the +spectacles which the future reserves for them, and the changes that +their habits will be made to undergo by the Italian revolution? +Already their hearing is distracted by the locomotives that rush +between Rome and Frascati; already the shriek of the steam-blast daily +and nightly hisses insolently at the respectable comedy of the past +between Rome and Civita Vecchia. Steamboats, another engine of +disorder, furnish the bi-weekly means of an invasion of the most +dangerous character. Those dozens of travellers who throng the streets +and the squares are about as much like our good old foreign tourists, +as the barbarians of Attila were like the worthy Spaniard who came to +Rome on purpose to see Titus Livius. + +Examine them carefully; they are of every possible condition; for now +that travelling costs next to nothing, everybody is able to afford +himself a sight of Rome. Briefless barristers, physicians without +practice, office-clerks, poor students, apprentices, and shop-boys +drop down like hail on the Eternal City, for the sake of saying that +they have taken the Communion in it. The Holy Week brings every year a +swarm of these locusts. Their entire _impedimenta_ consist of a +carpet-bag and an umbrella, and of course they put up at a hotel. In +fact hotels have been built on purpose to receive them. When everybody +hired houses, there was no need of hotels. The 'Minerva' is the type +of the modern Roman caravansary. Your bed is charged half-a-crown per +night; you dine in a refectory with a traveller at each elbow. The +character of the travelling class which invades Rome about Easter is +illustrated by the conversation which you hear going on around you at +the _table d'hote_ of the 'Minerva.' The following is a specimen:-- + +One says triumphantly, "I have _done_ two museums, three galleries, +and four ruins, to-day." + +"I stuck to the churches," says another, "I had floored seventeen by +one o'clock." + +"The deuce you had! You keep the game alive." + +"Yes, I want to have a whole day left for the suburbs." + +"Oh, burn the suburbs! I've got no time to see them." + +If I have a day to spare, I must devote it to _buying chaplets_."[5] + +"I suppose you've seen the Villa Borghese?" + +"Oh yes, I consider that in the city, although it is in fact outside +the walls." + +"How much did they charge you for going over it?" + +"A paul." + +"I paid two--I've been robbed." + +"As for that, they're all robbers." + +"You're right, but the sight of Rome is worth all it costs." + +Shades of the travellers of the olden time--delicate, subtle, genial +spirits--what think you of conversations such as this? Surely you must +opine that your footmen knew Rome better, and talked more to the +purpose about it. + +Across the table I hear a citizen of London town narrating to a +curious audience how he has to-day seen the two great lions of +Rome,--the Coliseum, and Cardinal Antonelli. The conclusion he arrives +at is, that the first is a very fine ruin, and the second a very +clever man. + +A provincial dowager of the devotee class, is worth listening to. She +has toiled through the entire ceremonies of the Holy Week. She has +knelt close to the Pope, and declares his mode of giving the +Benediction the most sublime thing on earth. The good lady has spared +neither time nor money in order to carry home a choice collection of +_relics_. Among other objects of adoration she has a bone of St. +Perpetua, and a real bit of the real Cross. Not satisfied with these, +she is bent on obtaining the Pope's palm-branch, the very identical +palm-branch which his Holiness has carried in his own sacred hand. +This is with her a fixed idea, a positive question of salvation. The +poor old soul has not the smallest doubt, that this bit of stick will +open for her the gates of Paradise. She has made her request to a +priest, who will transmit it to a Monsignore, who will forward it to a +Cardinal. Her importunity and her simplicity will, doubtless, move +somebody. She will get the precious bough, and she is convinced that +when she arrives at home with it, all the devotees in the province +will burst with envy. + +Among these batches of ridiculous travellers, you are certain to find +some ecclesiastics. Here is one from our own country. You have known +him in France. Does not he strike you as being somewhat changed? Not +in his looks, but his manner. Beneath the shadow of his own church +tower, in the midst of his own flock, he used to be the mildest, the +meekest, and most modest of parish priests. He bowed low to the Mayor, +and to the most microscopic of the authorities. At Rome, his hat seems +glued to his head. I almost think--Heaven forgive me!--it is a trifle +cocked. How jauntily his cassock is tucked up! How he struts along the +street! Is not his hand on his hip? Something very like it. The reason +of this change is as clear as the sun at noon. He is in a kingdom +governed by his own class. He inhales an atmosphere impregnated with +clerical pride and theocratic omnipotence. Phiz! It is a bottle of +champagne saluting him with the cork. By the time he has drunk all the +contents of the intoxicating beverage, he will begin to mutter between +his teeth that the French clergy does not get its deserts, and that we +are a long time in restoring to it the property taken away by the +Revolution. + +I actually heard this argument maintained on board the steamer which +brought me back to France. The principal passengers were Prince +Souworf, Governor of the province of Riga, one of the most +distinguished men in Europe; M. de la Rochefoucauld, attached to the +French embassy; M. de Angelis, a highly educated and really +distinguished _mercante di campagna_; M. Oudry, engineer of the Civita +Vecchia railway: and a French ecclesiastic of a respectable age and +corpulence. This reverend personage, who was nowise disinclined to +argumentation, and who had just left a country where the priests are +never wrong, took to holding-forth after dinner upon the merits of the +Pontifical Government. I answered as well as I could, like a man +unaccustomed to public speaking. Driven to my last entrenchments, and +called upon to relate some fact which should not redound to the Pope's +credit, I chose, at hazard, a recent event then known to all Rome, as +it was speedily about to be to all Europe. My honourable interlocutor +met my statement with the most unqualified, formal, and unhesitating +denial. He accused me of impudently calumniating an innocent +administration, and of propagating lies fabricated by the enemies of +religion. His language was so sublimely authoritative, that I felt +confounded, overpowered, crushed, and, for a moment, I asked myself +whether I had not really been telling a lie. + +The story I had related was that of the boy Mortara. + +But I return to Rome and our travellers in the trumpery line. Those we +overheard before are already gone. But their places have been quickly +filled. They follow one another, like vapours rising from the ocean, +and they are as much like one another as one sea-wave is to its +predecessor. See them laying-in their stocks of Roman _souvenirs_ at +the shops in the Corso and the Via Condotti. Their selections are +principally from the cheap rosaries, coarse mosaics, and gilt +jewellery, and generally those articles of which a lot may be had for +a crown-piece. They care little for what is really good in its way; +all they want is something which can be bought nowhere but at Rome, +and which will serve to their descendants as the evidence of their +visit to the Eternal City. They haggle as if they were at market, and +yet, when they get back to the 'Minerva,' they wonder they have so +little to show for their money. + +If they took home nothing worse than their cheap rosaries, I should +not find fault with them; but they carry opinions and impressions. +Don't tell them of the abuses which swarm throughout the kingdom of +the Pope. They will bridle up, and answer that for their parts they +never saw a single one. As the surface of things is smooth, at least +in the best quarter of the town--the only quarter these good folks are +likely to have seen--they assume, as a matter of course, that all is +well. They have seen the Pope and the Cardinals in all their glory and +all their innocence at the Sistine Chapel; and of course it is not on +Easter Sunday, and in the eyes of the whole multitude, that Cardinal +Antonelli occupies himself with his business or his pleasures. When +Monsignore B---- dishonoured a young girl, who died of the outrage, +and then sent her affianced bridegroom to the galleys, he did not +select the Sistine Chapel as the theatre of his exploits. + +You must not attempt to extract pity for the Italian nation from these +foreign pilgrims of the Holy Week. The honest souls have marked the +uncultivated waste which extends from Civita Vecchia to Rome, and they +have at once inferred that the people are idle. They have been +importuned for alms by miserable-looking objects in the streets, and +they conclude that the lower class is a class of beggars. + +The cicerone who took them about, whispered some significant words in +their ears, and they are persuaded that every Italian is in the habit +of offering his wife or his daughter to foreigners. You would astonish +these profound observers immeasurably, if you were to tell them that +the Pope has three millions of subjects who in no way resemble the +Roman rabble. + +Thus it happens that the flying visitor, the superficial traveller, +the communicant of the Holy Week, the guest of the 'Minerva,' is a +ready-made foe to the nation, a natural defender of the clerical +government. + +As for the permanent foreign visitors, if they be men enervated by the +climate or by pleasure, indifferent to the fate of nations, strangers +to political chicane, they will, in the natural order of events, +become converted to the ideas of the Roman aristocracy, between a +quadrille and a cup of chocolate. + +If they be studious men, or men of action, sent for a specific object, +charged to unravel certain mysteries, or to support certain +principles, their conversion will be undertaken in due form. + +I have seen officers, bold, frank, off-hand men, nowise suspected of +Jesuitism, who have allowed themselves to be gently carried away into +the by-paths of reaction by an invisible influence, until they have +been heard swearing, like pagans, against the enemies of the Pope. +Even our own generals, less easy to be caught, are sometimes laid hold +of. The Government cajoles them without loving them. + +No effort is spared to persuade them that all is for the best. The +Roman princes, who think themselves superior to all men, treat them +upon a footing of perfect equality. The Cardinals caress them. These +men in petticoats possess marvellous seductions, and are irresistible +in the art of wheedling. The Holy Father himself converses now with +one, now with the other, and addresses each as "My dear General!" A +soldier must be very ungrateful, very badly taught, and have fallen +off sadly from the old French chivalry, if he refuses to let himself +be killed at the gates of the Vatican where his vanity has been so +charmingly tickled. + +Our ambassadors, too, are resident foreigners, exposed to the personal +flatteries of Roman society. Poor Count de Rayneval! He was so petted, +and cajoled, and deceived, that he ended by penning the _Note_ of the +14th of May, 1856. + +His successor, the Duke de Gramont, is not only an accomplished +gentleman, but a man of talent, with a highly cultivated mind. The +Emperor sent him from Turin to Rome, so it was to be expected that the +Pontifical Government would appear to him doubly detestable, first, +from its own defects, and then by comparison with what he had just +quitted. I had the honour of conversing with this brilliant young +diplomatist, shortly after his arrival, when the Roman people expected +a great deal of him. I found him opposed to the ideas of the Count de +Rayneval, and very far from disposed to countersign the _Note_ of the +14th of May. Nevertheless, he was beginning to judge the +administration of the Cardinals, and the grievances of the people, +with something more than diplomatic impartiality. If I were to express +what appeared to be his opinion, in common parlance, I should say he +would have put the governors and the governed in a bag together. I +would wager that, three months afterwards, the bag would contain none +but the governed, and that he would think it only fit to be flung into +the water. Such is the influence of ecclesiastical cajoleries over +even the most gifted minds. + +What can the Romans hope from our diplomacy, when they see one of the +most notorious lacqueys of the Pontifical coterie lording it at the +French Embassy? The name of the upright man I allude to is Lasagni; +his business is that of a consistorial advocate; we pay him for +deceiving us. He is known for a _Nero_,--that is, a fanatical +reactionist. The secretaries of the embassy despise him, and yet are +familiar with him; tell him they know he is going to lie, and yet +listen to what he says. He smirks, bends double, pockets his money and +laughs at us in his sleeve. Verily, friend Lasagni, you are quite +right! But I regret the eighteenth century--there were then such +things as canes. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ABSOLUTE CHARACTER OF THE TEMPORAL POWER OF THE POPE. + + +The Counsellor de Brosses, who wished no harm to the Pope, wrote in +1740:--"The Papal Government, although in fact the worst in Europe, is +at the same time the mildest." + +The Count de Tournon, an honest man, an excellent economist, a +Conservative as to all existing powers, and a judge rather too much +prejudiced in favour of the Popes, said, in 1832:-- + + "From this concentration of the powers of pontiff, bishop, + and sovereign, naturally arises the most absolute authority + possible over temporal affairs; but the exercise of this + authority, tempered by the usages and forms of government, + is even still more so by the virtues of the Pontiffs who for + many years have filled the chair of St. Peter; so that this + most absolute of governments is exercised with extreme + mildness. The Pope is an elective sovereign; his States are + the patrimony of Catholicism, because they are the pledge of + the independence of the chief of the faithful, and the + reigning Pope is the supreme administrator, the guardian of + this domain." + +Finally, the Count de Rayneval, the latest and least felicitous +apologist of the Papacy, made in 1856 the following admissions:-- + + "_Not long ago_ the ancient traditions of the Court of Rome + were faithfully observed. All modifications of established + usages, all improvements, even material, were viewed with an + evil eye, and seemed full of danger. Public affairs were + exclusively managed by prelates. The higher posts in the + State were by law interdicted to laymen. In practice the + different powers were often confounded. The principle of + pontifical infallibility was applied to administrative + questions. The personal decision of the Sovereign had been + known to reverse the decision of the tribunals, even in + civil matters. The Cardinal Secretary of State, first + minister in the fullest extent of the term, concentred in + his own hands all the powers of the State. Under his supreme + direction the different branches of the administration were + confided to clerks rather than ministers. These neither + formed a council, nor deliberated together upon the affairs + of the State. The public finances were administered in the + most profound secrecy. No information was communicated to + the nation as to the mode in which its revenues were spent. + Not only did the budget remain a mystery, but it was + afterwards discovered that the accounts were frequently not + made up and balanced. Lastly, municipal liberties, which are + appreciated above all others by the Italians, and which more + particularly respond to their real tendencies, had been + submitted to the most restrictive measures. _But from the + day on which Pope Pius IX. ascended the throne_" etc. etc. + +Thus we find that the _not long ago_ of the Count de Rayneval is an +exact date. It means, in good French, "before the election of Pius +IX.," or again, "up to the 16th of June, 1846." + +Thus also M. de Brosses, if he could have returned to Rome in 1846, +would have found there, by the admission of the Count de Rayneval +himself, the worst government in Europe. + +And thus the most absolute of governments, as M. de Tournon calls it, +still existed in Rome in 1846. + +Up to the 16th of June, 1846, Catholicity owned the six millions of +acres of which the Roman territory consists; the Pope was the +administrator, the guardian, the steward; and the citizens of the +State seem to have been the ploughmen. + +Up to this era of deliverance, a systematic despotism had deprived the +subjects of the Pope, not only of all participation in public affairs, +but of the simplest and most legitimate liberties, of the most +innocuous progress, and even--I shudder as I write it--of recourse to +the laws. The whim of one man had arbitrarily reversed the decisions +of the courts of law. And lastly, an incapable and disorderly caste +had wasted the public finances without rendering an account to any +one, occasionally even without rendering it to themselves. All these +statements must be believed, because it is the Count de Rayneval who +makes them. + +Before proceeding, I maintain that this state of things, now admitted +by the apologists of the Papacy, justifies all the discontent of the +subjects of the Pope, all their complaints, all their recriminations, +all their outbreaks previous to 1846. + +But let me ask this question. Is it true that, since 1846, the Papal +Government has ceased to be the worst in Europe? + +If you can show me a worse, I will go and announce the discovery at +Rome, and I rather fancy I shall considerably astonish the Romans. + +Is the absolute authority of the Papacy limited in any way but by the +individual virtues of the Pope? No. + +Does the Constitution of 1848, or the _Motu Proprio_ of 1849, set +limits to this authority? No. The first has been torn up, the second +never observed. + +Has the Pope renounced his title of administrator, or irresponsible +guardian of the patrimony of Catholicism? Never. + +Is the management of public affairs exclusively in the hand of +prelates? As much so as ever. + +Are the higher posts in the State still by law interdicted to laymen? +Not by law, but in fact they are. + +Are the different powers still confounded in practice? More so than +they ever were. The governors of cities act as judges, and the bishops +as public administrators. + +Has the Pope abandoned any portion of his infallibility as to worldly +matters? None whatever. + +Has he deprived himself of the right of overruling the decisions of +the Courts of Appeal? No. + +Has the Cardinal Secretary of State ceased to be a reigning Minister? +He reigns as absolutely as ever; and the other ministers are more like +footmen than clerks to him. They may be seen any morning waiting in +his antechamber. + +Is there a Council of Ministers? Yes, whereat the Ministers attend to +receive the Cardinal's orders. + +Are the public finances publicly administered? No. + +Does the nation vote the taxes, or are they taken from the nation? The +old system still exists. + +Are municipal liberties at all extended? They were greater in 1816 +than they are at present. + +At the present day, as in the days of the most extreme pontifical +despotism, the Pope is all in all; he has all; he can do all; he +exercises a perpetual dictatorship, without control or limit. + +I own no systematic aversion to the exceptional exercise of a +dictatorship. The ancient Romans knew its value, often had recourse to +it, and derived benefit from it. When the enemy was at the gates, and +the Republic in danger, the Senate and the people, usually so +suspicious, placed all their rights in the hands of one man, and +cried, "Save us!" Some grand dictatorships are to be found in the +history of all times and all peoples. If we examine the different +stages of humanity, we shall find almost at every one a dictator. One +dictatorship created the unity of France, another its military +greatness, and a third its prosperity in peace. Benefits so important +as these, which nations cannot acquire alone, are well worth the +temporary sacrifice of every liberty. A man of genius, who is at the +same time an honest man, and who becomes invested with a boundless +authority, is almost a God upon earth. + +But the duties of the dictator are in exact proportion to the extent +of his powers. A parliamentary sovereign, who walks in a narrow path +traced out by two Chambers, and who hears discussed in the morning +what he is to do in the evening, is almost innocent of the faults of +his reign. On the contrary, the less a dictator is responsible for his +actions by the terms of the Constitution, the more does he become so +in the eyes of posterity. History will reproach him for the good he +has failed to do, when he could do everything; and his omissions will +be accounted to him for crimes. + +I will add, that under no circumstances should the dictatorship last +long. Not only would it be an absurdity to attempt to make it +hereditary, but the man who should think of exercising it perpetually +would be insane. A sick patient allows himself to be bound by the +surgeon who is about to save his life; but when the operation is over +he demands to be set at liberty. Nations act in a like manner. From +the day when the benefits conferred by the master cease to compensate +for the loss of liberty, the nation demands the restoration of its +rights, and a wise dictator will comply with the demand. + +I have often conversed in the Papal States with enlightened and +honourable men, who rank as the heads of the middle class. They have +said to me almost unanimously:-- + + "If a man were to drop down from Heaven among us with + sufficient power to cut to the root of abuses, to reform the + administration, to send the priests to church and the + Austrians to Vienna, to promulgate a civil code, make the + country healthy, restore the plains to cultivation, + encourage manufactures, give freedom to commerce, construct + railways, secularize education, propagate modern ideas, and + put us into a condition to bear comparison with the most + enlightened countries in Europe, we would fall at his feet, + and obey him as we do God. You are told that we are + ungovernable. Give us but a prince capable of governing, and + you shall see whether we will haggle about the conditions of + power! Be he who he may, and come he whence he may, he shall + be absolutely free to do what he chooses, so long as there + is anything to be done. All we ask is, that when his task is + accomplished, he shall let us share the power with him. Rest + assured that even then we shall give him good measure. The + Italians are accommodating, and are not ungrateful. But ask + us not to support this everlasting, do-nothing, tormenting, + ruinous dictatorship, which a succession of decrepit old men + transmit from one to another. Nor do they even exercise it + themselves; but each in his turn, too weak to govern, + hastens to shift a burden which overpowers him, and delivers + us, bound hand and foot, to the worst of his Cardinals!" + +It is too true that the Popes do not themselves exercise their +absolute power. If the _White Pope_, or the Holy Father, governed +personally, we might hope, with a little aid from the imagination, +that a miracle of grace would make him walk straight. He is rarely +very capable or very highly educated: but as the statue of the +Commendatore said, "He who is enlightened by Heaven wants no other +light." Unfortunately the _White Pope_ transfers his political +functions to a _Red Pope_, that is to say, an omnipotent and +irresponsible Cardinal, under the name of a Secretary of State. This +one man represents the sovereign within and without,--speaks for him, +acts for him, replies to foreigners, commands his subjects, expresses +the Pope's will, and not unfrequently imposes his own upon him. + +This second-hand dictator has the best reasons in the world for +abusing his power. If he could hope to succeed his master, and wear +the crown in his turn, he might set an example, or make a show, of all +the virtues. But it is impossible for a Secretary of State to be +elected Pope. Not only is custom opposed to it, but human nature +forbids it. Never will the Cardinals in conclave assembled agree among +one another to crown the man who has ruled them all during a reign. +Old Lambruschini had taken all his measures to secure his election. +There were very few Cardinals who had not promised him their voices, +and yet it was Pius IX. who ascended the throne. The illustrious +Consalvi, one of the great statesmen of our age, made the same attempt +with as little success. After such instances it is clear that Cardinal +Antonelli has no chance of attaining the tiara; and therefore no +interest in doing good. + +If he could at least hope that the successor of Pius IX. would retain +him in his functions, he might observe a little caution. But it has +never yet happened that the same Secretary of State has reigned under +two Popes. Such an event never will occur, because it never has +occurred. We are in a land where the future is the very humble servant +of the past. Tradition absolutely requires that a new Pope should +disgrace the favourite of his predecessor, by way of initiating his +Papacy with a stroke of popularity. + +Thus every Secretary of State is duly warned that whenever his master +takes the road heavenward, he must become lost again in the common +herd of the Sacred College. He feels, therefore, that he ought to make +the best possible use of his time. + +He has, moreover, the comfortable assurance that after his disgrace, +he will not be called upon for any account of his past deeds; for the +least of the Cardinals is as inviolable as the twelve Apostles. +Surely, then, he would be a fool to refuse anything while he has the +power to take it. + +This is the place to sketch, in a few pages, the portraits of the two +men,--one of whom possesses, and the other exercises, the dictatorship +over three millions of unfortunate beings. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PIUS IX. + + +Old age, majesty, and misfortune have a claim to the respect of all +right-minded persons: fear not that I shall be wanting in such +respect. + +But truth has also its claims: it also is old, it is majestic, it is +holy, and it is sometimes cruelly ill-treated by men. + +I shall not forget that the Pope is sixty-seven years of age, that he +wears a crown officially venerated by a hundred and thirty-nine +millions of Catholics, that his private life has ever been exemplary, +that he observes the most noble disinterestedness upon a throne where +selfishness has long held sway, that he spontaneously commenced his +reign by conferring benefits, that his first acts held out the fairest +hopes to Italy and to Europe, that he has suffered the lingering +torture of exile, that he exercises a precarious and dependent royalty +under the protection of two foreign armies, and that he lives under +the control of a Cardinal. But those who have fallen victims to the +efforts made to replace him on his throne, those whom the Austrians +have, at his request, shot and sabred, in order to re-establish his +authority, and even those who toil in the plague-stricken plains of +the Roman Campagna to fill his treasury, are far more to be pitied +than he is. + +Giovanni-Maria, dei Conti Mastai Ferretti, born the 13th May, 1792, +and elected Pope the 16th June, 1846, under the name of Pius IX., is a +man who looks more than his actual age; he is short, obese, somewhat +pallid, and in precarious health. His benevolent and sleepy +countenance breathes good-nature and lassitude, but has nothing of an +imposing character. Gregory XVI., though ugly and pimply, is said to +have had a grand air. + +Pius IX. plays his part in the gorgeous shows of the Roman Catholic +Church indifferently well. The faithful who have come from afar to see +him perform Mass, are a little surprised to see him take a pinch of +snuff in the midst of the azure-tinted clouds of incense. In his hours +of leisure he plays at billiards for exercise, by order of his +physicians. + +He believes in God. He is not only a good Christian, but a devotee. In +his enthusiasm for the Virgin Mary, he has invented a useless dogma, +and disfigured the Piazza di Spagna by a monument of bad taste. His +morals are pure, as they always have been, even when he was a young +priest: such instances are common enough among our clergy, but rare, +not to say miraculous, beyond the Alps. + +He has nephews, who, wonderful to relate, are neither rich nor +powerful, nor even princes. And yet there is no law which prevents him +from spoiling his subjects for the benefit of his family. Gregory +XIII. gave his nephew Ludovisi L160,000 of good paper, worth so much +cash. The Borghese family bought at one stroke ninety-five farms with +the money of Paul V. A commission which met in 1640, under the +presidence of the Reverend Father Vitelleschi, General of the Jesuits, +decided, in order to put an end to such abuses, that the Popes should +confine themselves to entailing property to the amount of L16,000 a +year upon their favourite nephew and his family (with the right of +creating a second heir to the same privileges), and that the portion +of each of their nieces should not exceed L36,000. + +I am aware that nepotism fell into desuetude at the commencement of +the eighteenth century; but there was nothing to prevent Pius IX. from +bringing it into fashion again, after the example of Pius VI., if he +chose; but he does not choose to do so. His relations are of the +second order of nobility, and are not rich: he has done nothing to +alter their position. His nephew, Count Mastai Ferretti, was recently +married; and the Pope's wedding present consisted of a few diamonds, +worth about L8000. Nor did this modest gift cost the nation one +baioccho. The diamonds came from the Sovereign of Turkey. Some ten +years ago the Sultan of Constantinople, the Commander of the Faithful, +presented the commander of the unfaithful with a saddle embroidered +with precious stones. The travellers in the restoring line, who used +to flock to Gaeta and Portici, carried off a great number of them in +their bags; what they left are in the casket of the young Countess +Ferretti. + +The character of this respectable old man, is made up of devotion, +simplicity, vanity, weakness, and obstinacy, with an occasional touch +of rancour. He blesses with unction, and pardons with difficulty; he +is a good priest, and an insufficient king. + +His intellect, which has raised such great hopes, and caused such +cruel disappointment, is of a very ordinary capacity. I can hardly +think he is infallible in temporal matters. His education is that of +the average of cardinals in general. He talks French pretty well. + +The Romans formed an exaggerated opinion of him at his accession, and +have done so ever since. In 1847, when he honestly manifested a desire +to do good, they called him a great man, whereas in point of fact he +was simply a worthy man who wished to act better than his predecessors +had done, and thereby to win some applause from Europe. In 1859, he +passes for a violent re-actionist, because events have discouraged his +good intentions: and above all, because Cardinal Antonelli, who +masters him by fear, violently draws him backwards. I consider him as +meriting neither past admiration nor present hatred. I pity him for +having loosened the rein upon his people, without possessing the +firmness requisite to restrain them seasonably. I pity still more that +infirmity of character which now allows more evil to be done in his +name than he has ever himself done good. + +The failure of all his enterprises, and three or four accidents which +happened in his presence, have given rise to the popular belief that +the Vicar of Jesus Christ is what the Italians call _jettatore_--in +other words, that he has the _evil eye_. When he drives along the +Corso, the old women fall down on their knees, but they snap their +fingers at him beneath their cloaks. + +The members of the Italian secret societies impute to him--though for +other reasons--all the evils which afflict their country. It is +evident that the Italian question would be greatly simplified, if +there were no Pope at Rome; but the hatred of the Mazzinists against +Pius IX. is to be condemned in all its personal aspects. They would +kill him to a certainty, if our troops were not there to defend him. +This murder would be as unjust as that of Louis XVI., and as useless. +The guillotine would deprive a good old man of his life, but it would +not put an end to the bad principle of sacerdotal monarchy. + +I did not seek an audience of Pius IX.; I neither kissed his hand nor +his slipper; the only mark of attention I received from him was a few +lines of insult in the _Giornale di Roma_. Still, I never can hear him +accused without defending him. + +Let my readers for a moment put themselves in the place of this too +illustrious and too unfortunate old man. After having been for nearly +two years the favourite of public opinion, and the _lion_ of Europe, +he found himself obliged to quit the Quirinal palace at a moment's +notice. At Gaeta and Portici he tasted those lingering hours which +sour the spirit of the exile. A grand and time-honoured principle, of +which the legitimacy is not doubtful to him, was violated in his +person. His advisers unanimously said to him: + + "It is your own fault. You have endangered the monarchy by + your ideas of progress. The immobility of governments is the + _sine qua non_ of the stability of thrones. You will not + doubt this, if you read again the history of your + predecessors." + +He had had time to become converted to this belief, when the armies of +the Catholic powers once more opened for him the road to Rome. +Overjoyed at seeing the principle saved, he vowed to himself never +again to compromise it, but to reign without progress, according to +papal tradition. But these very foreign powers who had saved his +crown, were the first to impose on him the condition of advancing! +What was to be done? He was equally afraid to promise everything, and +to refuse everything. After a long hesitation, he promised in spite of +himself; then he absolved himself, for the sake of the future, from +the engagements he had made for the sake of the present. + +Now he is out of humour with his people, with the French, and with +himself. He knows the nation is suffering, but he allows himself to be +persuaded that the misfortunes of the nation are indispensable to the +safety of the Church. Those about him take care that the reproaches of +his conscience shall be stifled by the recollections of 1848 and the +dread of a new revolution. He stops his eyes and his ears, and +prepares to die calmly between his furious subjects on one hand, and +his dissatisfied protectors on the other. Any man wanting in energy, +placed as he is, would behave exactly in the same manner. The fault is +not his, it is that of weakness and old-age. + +But I do not undertake to obtain the acquittal of his Minister of +State, Cardinal Antonelli. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ANTONELLI. + + +He was born in a den of thieves. His native place, Sonnino, is more +celebrated in the history of crime than all Arcadia in the annals of +virtue. This nest of vultures was hidden in the southern mountains, +towards the Neapolitan frontier. Roads, impracticable to mounted +dragoons, winding through brakes and thickets; forests, impenetrable +to the stranger; deep ravines and gloomy caverns,--all combined to +form a most desirable landscape, for the convenience of crime. The +houses of Sonnino, old, ill-built, flung pell-mell one, upon the +other, and almost uninhabitable by human beings, were, in point of +fact, little else than depots of pillage and magazines of rapine. The +population, alert and vigorous, had for many centuries practised armed +robbery and depredation, and gained its livelihood at the point of the +carbine. New-born infants inhaled contempt of the law with the +mountain air, and drew in the love of others' goods with their +mothers' milk. Almost as soon as they could walk, they assumed the +_cioccie_, or mocassins of untanned leather, with which they learned +to run fearlessly along the edge of the giddiest mountain precipices. +When they had acquired the art of pursuing and escaping, of taking +without being taken, the knowledge of the value of the different +coins, the arithmetic of the distribution of booty, and the principles +of the rights of nations as they are practised among the Apaches or +the Comanches, their education was deemed complete. They required no +teaching to learn how to apply the spoil, and to satisfy their +passions in the hour of victory. + +In the year of grace 1806, this sensual, brutal, impious, +superstitious, ignorant, and cunning race endowed Italy with a little +mountaineer, known as Giacomo Antonelli. + +Hawks do not hatch doves. This is an axiom in natural history which +has no need of demonstration. Had Giacomo Antonelli been gifted at his +birth with the simple virtues of an Arcadian shepherd, his village +would have instantly disowned him. But the influence of certain events +modified his conduct, although they failed to modify his nature. His +infancy and his childhood were subjected to two opposing influences. +If he received his earliest lessons from successful brigandage, his +next teachers were the gendarmerie. When he was hardly four years old, +the discharge of a high moral lesson shook his ears: it was the French +troops who were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonnino. After +the return of Pius VII. he witnessed the decapitation of a few +neighbouring relatives who had often dandled him on their knees. Under +Leo XII. it was still worse. Those wholesome correctives, the wooden +horse and the supple-jack, were permanently established in the village +square. About once a fortnight the authorities rased the house of some +brigand, after sending his family to the galleys, and paying a reward +to the informer who had denounced him. St. Peter's Gate, which adjoins +the house of the Antonellis, was ornamented with a garland of human +heads, which eloquent relics grinned dogmatically enough in their iron +cages. If the stage be a school of life, surely such a stage as this +is a rare teacher. Young Giacomo was enabled to reflect upon the +inconveniences of brigandage, even before he had tasted its sweets. +About him some men of progress had already engaged in industrial +pursuits of a less hazardous nature than robbery. His own father, who, +it was whispered, had in him the stuff of a Grasparone or a Passatore, +instead of exposing himself upon the highways, took to keeping +bullocks, he then became an Intendant, and subsequently was made a +Municipal Receiver; by which occupations he acquired more money at +considerably less risk. + +The young Antonelli hesitated for some time as to the choice of a +calling. His natural vocation was that of the inhabitants of Sonnino +in general, to live in plenty, to enjoy every sort of pleasure, to +make himself at home everywhere, to be dependent upon nobody, to rule +others, and to frighten them, if necessary, but, above all, to violate +the laws with impunity. With the view of attaining so lofty an end +without exposing his life, for which he ever had a most particular +regard, he entered the great seminary of Rome. + +In our land of scepticism, a young man enters the seminary with the +hope of being ordained a priest: Antonelli entered it with the +opposite intention. But in the capital of the Catholic Church, young +Levites of ordinary intelligence become magistrates, prefects, +councillors of state, and ministers, while the "dry fruit[6] is +thought good enough for making priests." + +Antonelli so distinguished himself, that (with Heaven's help) he +escaped the sacrament of Ordination. He has never said mass: he has +never confessed a penitent; I won't swear he has even confessed +himself. He gained what was of more value than all the Christian +virtues--the friendship of Gregory XVI. He became a prelate, a +magistrate, a prefect, Secretary General of the Interior, and Minister +of Finance. No one can say he has not chosen the right path. A finance +minister, if he knows anything of his business, can lay by more money +in six months than all the brigands of Sonnino in twenty years. + +Under Gregory XVI. he had been a reactionist, to please his sovereign. +On the accession of Pius IX., for the same reason, he professed +liberal ideas. A red hat and a ministerial portfolio were the +recompense of his new convictions, and proved to the inhabitants of +Sonnino that liberalism itself is more lucrative than brigandage. What +a practical lesson for those mountaineers! One of themselves clothed +in purple and fine linen, actually riding in his gilt coach, passed +the barracks, and their old friends the dragoons presenting arms, +instead of firing long shots at him! + +He obtained the same influence over the new Pope that he had over the +old one, thus proving that people may be got hold of without stopping +them on the highway. Pius IX., who had no secrets from him, confided +to him his wish to correct abuses, without concealing his fear of +succeeding too well. He served the Holy Father, even in his +irresolutions. As President of the Supreme Council of State, he +proposed reforms, and as Minister he postponed their adoption. Nobody +was more active than he, whether in settling or in violating the +constitution of 1848. He sent Durando to fight the Austrians, and +disavowed him after the battle. + +He quitted the ministry as soon as he found there were dangers to be +encountered, but assisted the Pope in his secret opposition to his +ministers. The murder of Count Rossi gave him serious cause for +reflection. A man don't take the trouble to be born at Sonnino, in +order to let himself be assassinated: quite the contrary. He placed +the Pope--and himself--in safety, and then went to Gaeta to play the +part of Secretary of State _in partibus_. + +From this exile dates his omnipotence over the will of the Holy +Father, his reinstatement in the esteem of the Austrians, and the +consistency in his whole conduct. Since then no more contradictions in +his political life. They who formally accused him of hesitating +between the welfare of the nation and his own personal interest are +reduced to silence. He wishes to restore the absolute power of the +Pope, in order that he may dispose of it at his ease. He prevents all +reconciliation between Pius IX. and his subjects; he summons the +cannon of Catholicism to effect the conquest of Rome. He ill-uses the +French, who are willing to die for him; he turns a deaf ear to the +liberal counsels of Napoleon III.; he designedly prolongs the exile of +his master; he draws up the promises of the _Motu Proprio_, while +devising means to elude them. At length, he returns to Rome, and for +ten years continues to reign over a timid old man and an enslaved +people, opposing a passive resistance to all the counsels of diplomacy +and all the demands of Europe. Clinging tenaciously to power, reckless +as to the future, misusing present opportunities, and day by day +increasing his fortune--after the manner of Sonnino. + +In this year of grace 1859, he is fifty-three years of age. He +presents the appearance of a well-preserved man. His frame is slight +and robust, and his constitution is that of a mountaineer. The breadth +of his forehead, the brilliancy of his eyes, his beak-like nose, and +all the upper part of his face inspire a certain awe. His countenance, +of almost Moorish hue, is at times lit up by flashes of intellect. But +his heavy jaw, his long fang-like teeth, and his thick lips express +the grossest appetites. He gives you the idea of a minister grafted on +a savage. When he assists the Pope in the ceremonies of the Holy Week +he is magnificently disdainful and impertinent. He turns from time to +time in the direction of the diplomatic tribune, and looks without a +smile at the poor ambassadors, whom he cajoles from morning to night. +You admire the actor who bullies his public. But when at an evening +party he engages in close conversation with a handsome woman, the play +of his countenance shows the direction of his thoughts, and those of +the imaginative observer are imperceptibly carried to a roadside in a +lonely forest, in which the principal objects are prostrate +postilions, an overturned carriage, trembling females, and a select +party of the inhabitants of Sonnino! + +He lives in the Vatican, immediately over the Pope. The Romans ask +punningly which is the uppermost, the Pope or Antonelli? + +All classes of society hate him equally. Concini himself was not more +cordially detested. He is the only living man concerning whom an +entire people is agreed. + +A Roman prince furnished me with some information respecting the +relative fortunes of the nobility. When he gave me the list he said, + + "You will remark the names of two individuals, the amount of + whose property is described as unlimited. They are Torlonia + and Antonelli. They have both made large fortunes in a few + years,--the first by speculation, the second by power." + +The Cardinals Altieri and Antonelli were one day disputing upon some +point in the Pope's presence. They flatly contradicted one another; +and the Pope inclined to the opinion of his Minister. "Since your +Holiness," said the noble Altieri, "accords belief to a _ciociari_[7] +rather than to a Roman prince, I have nothing to do but to withdraw." + +The Apostles themselves appear to entertain no very amicable feelings +towards the Secretary of State. The last time the Pope made a solemn +entry into his capital (I think it was after his journey to Bologna), +the Porta del Popolo and the Corso were according to custom hung with +draperies, behind which the old statues of St. Peter and St. Paul were +completely hidden. Accordingly the people were entertained by finding +the following dialogue appended to the corner of the street:-- + +_Peter to Paul_. "It seems to me, old fellow, that we are somewhat +forsaken here." + +_Paul to Peter_. "What would you have? We are no longer anything. +There is but James in the world now." + +I am aware that hatred proves nothing--even the hatred of Apostles. +The French nation, which claims to be thought just, insulted the +funeral procession of Louis XIV. It also occasionally detested Henri +IV. for his economy, and Napoleon for his victories. No statesman +should be judged upon the testimony of his enemies. The only evidence +we should admit either for or against him, is his public acts. The +only witnesses to which any weight should be attributed are the +greatness and the prosperity of the country he governs. + +Such an inquiry would, I fear, be ruinous to Antonelli. The nation +reproaches him with all the evils it has suffered for the last ten +years. The public wretchedness and ignorance, the decline of the arts, +the entire suppression of liberty, the ever-present curse of foreign +occupation,--all fall upon his head, because he alone is responsible +for everything. + +It may be alleged that he has at least served the reactionary party. I +much doubt it. What internal factions has he suppressed? Secret +societies have swarmed in Rome during his reign. What remonstrances +from without has he silenced? Europe continues to complain +unanimously, and day by day lifts up its voice a tone or two higher. +He has failed to reconcile one single party or one single power to the +Holy father. During his ten years' dictatorship, he has neither gained +the esteem of one foreigner nor the confidence of one Roman. All he +has gained is time. His pretended capacity is but slyness. To the +trickery of the present he adds the cunning of the red Indian; but he +has not that largeness of view without which it is impossible to +establish firmly the slavery of the people. No one possesses in a +greater degree than he the art of dragging on an affair, and +manoeuvring with and tiring out diplomatists; but it is not by +pleasantries of this sort that a tottering tyranny can be propped up. +Although he employs every subterfuge known to dishonest policy, I am +not quite sure that he has even the craft of a politician. + +The attainment of his own end does not in fact require it. For after +all, what is his end? In what hope, with what aim, did he come down +from the mountains of Sonnino? + +Do you really believe he thought of becoming the benefactor of the +nation?--or the saviour of the Papacy?--or the Don Quixote of the +Church? Not such a fool! He thought, first, of himself; secondly, of +his family. + +His family is flourishing. His four brothers, Filippo, Luigi, +Gregorio, and--save the mark!--Angelo, all wore the _cioccie_ in their +younger days; they now, one and all, wear the count's coronet. One is +governor of the bank, a capital post, and since poor Campana's +condemnation he has got the Monte di Pieta. Another is Conservator of +Rome, under a Senator especially selected for his incapacity. Another +follows openly the trape of a monopolist, with immense facilities for +either preventing or authorizing exportation, according as his own +warehouses happen to be full or empty. The youngest is the commercial +traveller, the diplomatist, the messenger of the family, _Angelus +Domini_. A cousin of the family, Count Dandini, reigns over the +police. This little group is perpetually at work adding to a fortune +which is invisible, impalpable, and incalculable. The house of +Antonelli is not pitied at Sonnino. + +As for the Secretary of State, all who know him intimately, both men +and women, agree that he leads a pleasant life. If it were not for the +bore of making head against the diplomatists, and giving audience +every morning, he would be the happiest of mountaineers. His tastes +are simple; a scarlet silk robe, unlimited power, an enormous fortune, +a European reputation, and all the pleasures within man's reach--this +trifle satisfies the simple tastes of the Cardinal Minister. Add, by +the bye, a splendid collection of minerals, perfectly classified which +he is constantly enriching with the passion of an amateur and the +tenderness of a father. + +I was saying just now that he has always escaped the sacrament of Holy +Orders. He is Cardinal Deacon. The good souls who will have it that +all goes well at Rome, dwell with fervour on the advantage he +possesses in not being a priest. If he is accused of possessing +inordinate wealth, these indulgent Christians reply, that he is not a +priest! If you charge him with having read Machiavelli to good +purpose; admitted--what then?--he is no priest! If the tongue of +scandal is over-free with his private life; still the ready reply, +that he is not a priest! If Deacons are thus privileged, what latitude +may we not claim who have not even assumed the tonsure? + +This highly-blest mortal has one weakness--truly a very natural one. +He fears death. A certain fair lady, who had been honoured by his +Eminence's particular attentions, thus illustrated the fact, + + "Upon meeting me at our rendezvous, he seized me like a + madman, and with trembling eagerness examined my pockets. It + was only when he had assured himself that I had no concealed + weapon about me that he seemed to remember our friendship." + +One man alone has dared to threaten a life so precious to itself, and +he was an idiot. Instigated by some of the secret societies, this poor +crazed wretch concealed himself beneath the staircase of the Vatican, +and awaited the coming of the Cardinal. When the intended victim +appeared, the idiot with much difficulty drew from beneath his +waistcoat--a table-fork! Antonelli saw the terrible weapon, and +bounded backwards with a spring which an Alpine chamois-hunter might +have envied. The miserable assassin was instantly seized, bound, and +delivered over to justice. The Roman tribunals, so often lenient +towards the really guilty, had no mercy for this real innocent. He was +beheaded. The Cardinal, full of pity, fell--officially--at the Pope's +feet, and asked for a pardon which he well knew would be refused. He +pays the widow a pension: is not this the act of a clever man? + +Since the day when that formidable fork glittered before his eyes, he +has taken excessive precautions. His horses are broken to gallop +furiously through the streets, at considerable public risk. +Occasionally, his carriage knocks down and runs over a little boy or +girl. With characteristic magnanimity, he sends the parents fifty +crowns. + +Antonelli has been compared to Mazarin. They have, in common, the fear +of death, inordinate love of money, a strong family feeling, utter +indifference to the people's welfare, contempt for mankind, and some +other accidental points of resemblance. They were born in the same +mountains, or nearly so. One obtained the influence over a woman's +heart which the other possesses over the mind of an old man. Both +governed unscrupulously, and both have merited and obtained the hatred +of their contemporaries. They have talked French comically, without +being insensible to any of the delicate niceties of the language. + +Still there would be manifest injustice in placing them in the same +rank. The selfish Mazarin dictated to Europe the treaties of +Westphalia, and the Peace of the Pyrenees: he founded by diplomacy the +greatness of Louis XIV., and managed the affairs of the French +monarchy, without in any way neglecting his own. + +Antonelli has made his fortune at the expense of the nation, the Pope, +and the Church. Mazarin may be compared to a skilful but rascally +tailor, who dresses his customers well, while he contrives to cabbage +sundry yards of their cloth; Antonelli, to those Jews of the Middle +Ages, who demolished the Coliseum for the sake of the old iron in the +walls. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT. + + +If the Pope were merely the head of the Roman Catholic Church; if, +limiting his action to the interior of temples, he would renounce the +sway over temporal matters about which he knows nothing, his +countrymen of Rome, Ancona, and Bologna might govern themselves as +people do in London or in Paris. The administration would be lay, the +laws would be lay, the nation would provide for its own wants with its +own revenues, as is the custom in all civilized countries. + +As for the general expenses of the Roman Catholic worship, which in +point of fact no more _specially_ concern the Romans than they do the +Champenois, a voluntary contribution made by one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of men would amply provide for them. If each +individual among the faithful were to give a halfpenny _per annum_, +the head of the Church would have something like L300,000 to spend +upon his wax tapers and his incense, his choristers and his +sacristans, and the repairs of the basilica of St. Peter's. No Roman +Catholic would think of refusing his quota, because the Holy Father, +entirely separated from worldly interests, would not be in a position +to offend anybody. This small tax would, therefore, restore +independence to the Romans without diminishing the independence of the +Pope. + +Unfortunately the Pope is a king. In this capacity he must have a +Court, or something approaching to it. He selects his courtiers among +men of his own faith, his own opinions, and his own profession: +nothing can be more reasonable. These courtiers, in their turn, +dispose of the different offices of state, spiritual or temporal, just +as it may happen. Nor can the Sovereign object to this pretension as +being ridiculous. Moreover he naturally hopes to be more faithfully +served by priests than laymen; while he feels that the salaries +attached to the best-paid places are necessary to the splendour of his +Court. + +Thence it follows that to preach the secularization of the government +to the Pope, is to preach to the winds. Here you have a man who would +not be a layman, who pities laymen simply because they are laymen, +regarding them as a caste inferior to his own; who has received an +anti-lay education; who thinks differently to laymen on all important +points; and you expect this man will share his power with laymen, in +an empire where he is absolute master of all and everything! You +require him to surround himself with laymen, to summon them to his +councils, and to confide to them the execution of his behests! + +Supposing, however, that for some reason or other he fears you, and +wishes to humour you a little, see what he will do. He will seek in +the outer offices of his ministers some lay secretary, or assistant, +or clerk, a man without character or talent; he will employ him, and +take care that his incapacity shall be universally known and admitted. +After which, he will say to you sadly, "I have done what I could." But +if he were to speak the honest truth, he would at once say, "If you +wish to secularize anything, begin by putting laymen in _my_ place." + +It is not in 1859 that the Pope will venture to speak so haughtily. +Intimidated by the protection of France, deafened by the unanimous +complaints of his subjects, obliged to reckon with public opinion, he +declares that he has secularized everything. "Count my functionaries," +he says: + + "I have 14,576 laymen in my service. You have been told that + ecclesiastics monopolize the public service. Show me these + ecclesiastics! The Count de Rayneval looked for them, and + could find but ninety-eight; and even of those, the greater + part were not in priests' orders! Be assured we have long + since broken with the clerical _regime_. I myself decreed + the admissibility of laymen to all offices but one. In order + to show my sincerity, for some time I had lay ministers! I + entrusted the finances to a mere accountant, the department + of justice to an obscure little advocate, and that of war to + a man of business who had been intendant to several + Cardinals. I admit that for the moment we have no laymen in + the Ministry; but my subjects may console themselves by + reflecting that the law does not prevent me from appointing + them. + + "In the provinces, out of eighteen prefects, I appointed + three laymen. If I afterwards substituted prelates for those + three, it was because the people loudly called for the + change. Is it my fault if the people respect nothing but the + ecclesiastical garb?" + +This style of defence may deceive some good easy folk; but I think if +I were Pope, or Secretary of State, or even a simple supporter of the +Pontifical administration, I should prefer telling the plain truth. +That truth is strictly logical, it is in conformity with the principle +of the Government; it emanates from the Constitution. Things are +exactly what they ought to be, if not for the welfare of the people, +at least for the greatness, security, and satisfaction of its temporal +head. + +The truth then is that all the ministers, all the prefects, all the +ambassadors, all the court dignitaries, and all the judges of the +superior tribunals, are ecclesiastics; that the Secretary of the +_Brevi_ and the _Memoriali_ the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the +Council of State and the Council of Finances, the Director-General of +the Police, the Director of Public Health and Prisons, the Director of +the Archives, the Attorney-General of the Fisc, the President and the +Secretary of the _Cadastro_ the Agricultural President and Commission, +are _all ecclesiastics_. The public education is in the hands of +ecclesiastics, under the direction of thirteen Cardinals. All the +charitable establishments, all the funds applicable to the relief of +the poor, are the patrimony of ecclesiastical directors. Congregations +of Cardinals decide causes in their leisure hours, and the Bishops of +the kingdom are so many living tribunals. + +Why seek to conceal from Europe so natural an order of things? + +Let Europe rather be told what it did when it re-established a priest +on the throne of Rome. + +All the offices which confer power or profit belong first to the Pope, +then to the Secretary of State, then to the Cardinals, and lastly to +the Prelates. Everybody takes his share according to the hierarchical +order; and when all are satisfied, the crumbs of power are thrown to +the nation at large; in other words, the 14,596 places which no +ecclesiastic chooses to take, particularly the distinguished office of +_Guardia Campestre_, a sort of rural police. Nobody need wonder at +such a distribution of places. In the government of Rome, the Pope is +everything, the Secretary of State is almost everything, the Cardinals +are something, and the priests on the road to become something. The +_lay nation_, which marries and gives in marriage, and peoples the +State, is nothing--never will be anything. + +The word _prelate_ has fallen from my pen; I will pause a moment to +explain its precise meaning. Among us it is a title sufficiently +respected: at Rome it is far less so. We have no prelates but our +Archbishops and Bishops. When we see one of these venerable men +driving slowly out of his palace in an old-fashioned carriage drawn by +a single pair of horses, we know, without being told it, that he has +spent three-fourths of his existence in the exercise of the most +meritorious works. He said Mass in some small village before he was +made the cure of a canton. He has preached, confessed, distributed +alms to the poor, borne the viaticum to the sick, committed the dead +to their last narrow home. + +The Roman prelate is often a great hulking fellow who has just left +college, with the tonsure for his only sacrament. He is a Doctor of +something or other, he owns some property, more or less, and he enters +the Church as an amateur, to see if he can make something out of it. +The Pope gives him leave to style himself _Monsignore_, instead of +_Signore_, and to wear violet-coloured stockings. Clad in these he +starts on his road, hoping it may lead him to a Cardinal's hat. He +passes through the courts of law, or the administration, or the +domestic service of the Vatican, as the case may be. All these paths +lead in the right direction, provided the traveller pursuing them has +zeal, and professes a pious scorn for liberal ideas. The +ecclesiastical calling is by no means indispensable, but nothing can +be achieved without a good stock of retrograde ideas. The prelate who +should take the Emperor's letter to M. Edgar Ney seriously, would be, +in vulgar parlance, done for; the only course open to him would be--to +marry. At Paris, a man disappointed in ambition takes prussic acid; at +Rome, he takes a wife. + +Sometimes the prelate is a cadet of a noble house, one in which the +right to a red hat is traditional. Knowing this he feels that the +moment he puts on his violet stockings, he may order his scarlet ones. +In the meanwhile he takes his degrees, and profits by the occasion to +sow his wild oats. The Cardinals shut their eyes to his conduct, so he +does but profess wholesome ideas. Do what you please, child of +princes, so your heart be but clerical! + +Finally, it is not uncommon to find among the prelates some soldiers +of fortune, adventurers of the Church, who have been attracted from +their native land by the ambition of ecclesiastical greatness. This +corps of volunteers receives contingents from the whole Catholic +world. These gentlemen furnish some strange examples to the Roman +people; and I know more than one of them to whom mothers of families +would on no account confide the education of their children. It has +happened to me to have described in a novel[8] a prelate who richly +deserved a thrashing; the good folks of Rome have named to me three or +four whom they fancied they recognized in the portrait. But it has +never yet been known that any prelate, however vicious, has given +utterance to liberal ideas. A single word from a Roman prelate's lips +in behalf of the nation would ruin him. + +The Count de Rayneval has laboured hard to prove that prelates, who +have not received the sacrament of Ordination, form part of the lay +element. At this rate, a province should deem itself fortunate, and +think it has escaped priestly government, if its prefect is simply +tonsured. I cannot for the life of me see in what tonsured prelates +are more laymen than they are priests. I admit that they neither +follow the calling nor possess the virtues of the priesthood; but I +maintain that they have the ideas, the interests, the passions of the +ecclesiastical caste. They aim at the Cardinal's hat, when their +ambition does not soar to the tiara. Singular laymen, truly, and well +fitted to inspire confidence in a lay people! 'Twere better they +should become Cardinals; for then they would no longer have their +fortunes to make, and they would not be called upon to signalize their +zeal against the nation. + +For that is, unhappily, the state at which things have arrived. This +same ecclesiastical caste, so strongly united by the bonds of a +learned hierarchy, reigns as over a conquered country. It regards the +middle class,--in other words, the intelligent and laborious part of +the nation,--as an irreconcilable foe. The prefects are ordered, not +to govern the provinces, but to keep them in order. The police is +kept, not to protect the citizens, but to watch them. The tribunals +have other interests to defend than those of justice. The diplomatic +body does not represent a country, but a coterie. The educating body +has the mission not to teach, but to prevent the spread of +instruction. The taxes are not a national assessment, but an official +foray for the profit of certain ecclesiastics. Examine all the +departments of the public administration: you will everywhere find the +clerical element at war with the nation, and of course everywhere +victorious. + +In this state of things it is idle to say to the Pope, "Fill your +principal offices with laymen." You might as well say to Austria, +"Place your fortresses under the guard of the Piedmontese." The Roman +administration is what it must be. It will remain what it is as long +as there is a Pope on the throne. + +Besides, although the lay population still complains of being +systematically excluded from power, matters have reached such a point, +that an honest man of the middle class would think himself dishonoured +by accepting a high post. It would be said that he had deserted the +nation to serve the enemy. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +POLITICAL SEVERITY. + + +It is admitted that the Popes have always been remarkable for a senile +indulgence and goodness. I do not pretend to deny the assertions of M. +de Brosses and M. de Tournon that this government is at once the +mildest, the worst, and the most absolute in Europe. + +And yet Sixtus V., a great Pope, was a still greater executioner. That +man of God delivered over to the gallows a Pepoli of Bologna, who had +bestowed upon him a kick instead of a piece of bread when he was a +mendicant friar. + +And yet Gregory XVI., in our own times, granted a dispensation of age +to a minor for the sake of having him legally executed. + +And yet the punishment of the wooden horse was revived four years ago +by the mild Cardinal Antonelli. + +And yet the Pontifical State is the only one in Europe in which the +barbarous practice of placing a price upon a man's head is still in +use. + +Never mind. Since, after all, the Pontifical State is that in which +the most daring crimes and the most open assassinations have the +greatest chance of being committed with perfect impunity, I will +admit, with M. de Brosses and M. de Tournon, that it is the mildest in +Europe. I am about to examine with you the application of this +mildness to political matters. + +Nine years ago Pius IX. re-entered his capital, as the father of a +family his house, after having the door broken open. It is not likely +that either the Holy Father, or the companions of his exile, were +animated by very lively feelings of gratitude towards the chiefs of +the revolution which had driven them away. A priest never quite +forgets that he was once a man. + +This is why two hundred and eighty-three individuals[9] were excluded +from the general amnesty recommended by France and promised by the +Pope. It is unfortunate for these two hundred and eighty-three that +the Gospel is old, and forgiveness of injuries out of date. Perhaps +you will remind me that St. Peter cut off one of the ears of Malchus. + +By the clemency of the Pope, fifty-nine of these exiles were pardoned, +during a period of nine years, if men can be said to be pardoned who +are recalled provisionally, some for a year, others for half a year, +or who are brought home only to be placed under the surveillance of +the police. A man who is forbidden to exercise the calling to which he +was bred, and whose sole privilege is that of dying of starvation in +his native land, is likely rather to regret his exile sometimes. + +I was introduced to one of the fifty-nine privileged partakers of the +pontifical clemency. He is an advocate; at least he was until the day +when he obtained his pardon. He related to me the history of the +tolerably inoffensive part he had played in 1848; the hopes he had +founded on the amnesty; his despair when he found himself excluded +from it; some particulars of his life in exile, such, for instance, as +his having had recourse to giving lessons in Italian, like the +illustrious Manin, and so many others. + +"I could have lived happily enough," he said, + + "but one day the home-sickness laid my heart low; I felt + that I must see Italy, or die. My family took the necessary + steps, and it fortunately happened that we knew some one who + had interest with a Cardinal. The police dictated the + conditions of my return, and I accepted them without knowing + what they were. If they had told me I could not return + without cutting off my right arm, I would have cut it off. + The Pope signed my pardon, and then published my name in the + newspapers, so that none might be ignorant of his clemency. + But I am interdicted from resuming my practice at the Bar, + and a man can hardly gain a livelihood by teaching Italian + in a country where everybody speaks it." + +As he concluded, the neighbouring church-bells began to sound the _Ave +Maria_. He turned pale, seized his hat, and rushed out of my room, +exclaiming, "I knew not it was so late! Should the police arrive at my +house before I can reach it, I am a lost man!" + +His friends explained to me the cause of his sudden alarm: the poor +man is subject to the police regulation termed the _Precetto_. + +He must always return to his abode at sunset, and he is then shut in +till the next morning. The police may force their way in at any time +during the night, for the purpose of ascertaining that he is there. He +cannot leave the city under any pretence whatever, even in broad day. +The slightest infraction of these rules exposes him to imprisonment, +or to a new exile. + +The Pontifical States are full of men subject to the _Precetto_: some +are criminals who are watched in their homes, for want of prison +accommodation; others are _suspected persons_. The number of these +unfortunate beings is not given in the statistical tables, but I know, +from an official source, that in Viterbo, a town of fourteen thousand +souls, there are no less than two hundred. + +The want of prison accommodation explains many things, and, among +others, the freedom of speech which exists throughout the country. If +the Government took a fancy to arrest everybody who hates it openly, +there would be neither gendarmes nor gaolers enough; above all, there +would be an insufficiency of those houses of peace, of which it has +been said, that "their protection and salubrity prolong the life of +their inmates."[10] + +The citizens, then, are allowed to speak freely, provided always they +do not gesticulate too violently. But we may be sure no word is ever +lost in a State watched by priests. The Government keeps an accurate +list of those who wish it ill. It revenges itself when it can, but it +never runs after vengeance. It watches its occasion; it can afford to +be patient, because it thinks itself eternal. + +If the bold speaker chance to hold a modest government appointment, a +purging commission quietly cashiers him, and turns him delicately out +into the street. + +Should he be a person of independent fortune, they wait till he wants +something, as, for instance, a passport. One of my good friends in +Rome has been for the last nine years trying to get leave to travel. +He is rich and energetic. The business he follows is one eminently +beneficial to the State. A journey to foreign countries would complete +his knowledge, and advance his interests. For the last nine years he +has been applying for an interview with the head of the passport +office, and has never yet received an answer to his application. + +Others, who have applied for permission to travel in Piedmont, have +received for answer, "Go, but return no more." They have not been +exiled; there is no need of exercising unnecessary rigour; but on +receiving their passports, they have been compelled to sign an act of +voluntary exile. The Greeks said, "Not every one who will goes to +Corinth." The Romans have substituted Turin for Corinth. + +Another of my friends, the Count X., has been, for years, carrying on +a lawsuit before the infallible tribunal of the _Sacra Rota_. His +cause could not have been a bad one, seeing that he lost and gained it +some seven or eight times before the same judges. It assumed a +deplorably bad complexion from the day the Count became my friend. + +When once the discontented proceed from words to actions you may +indeed pity them. + +A person charged with a political offence summoned before the _Sacra +Consulta_ (for everything is holy and sacred, even justice and +injustice), must be defended by an advocate, not chosen by himself, +against witnesses whose very names are unknown to him. + +In the capital (and under the eyes of the French army) the extreme +penalty of the law is rarely carried out. The government is satisfied +with quietly suppressing people, by shutting them up in a fortress for +life. The state prisons are of two sorts, healthy and unhealthy. In +the establishment coming within the second category, perpetual +seclusion is certain not to be of very long duration. + +The fortress of Pagliano is one of the most wholesome. When I walked +through it there were two hundred and fifty prisoners, all political. +The people of the country told me that in 1856 these unfortunate men +had made an attempt at escape. Five or six had been shot on the roof +like so many sparrows. The remainder, according to the common law, +would be liable to the galleys for eight years; but an old ordinance +of Cardinal Lante was revived, by which, God willing, some of them may +be guillotined. + +It is, however, beyond the Apennines that the paternal character of +the Government is chiefly displayed. The French are not there, and the +Pope's reactionary police duty is performed by the Austrian army. The +law there is martial law. The prisoner is without counsel; his judges +are Austrian officers, his executioners Austrian soldiers. A man may +be beaten or shot because some gentleman in uniform happens to be in a +bad temper. A youth sends up a Bengal light,--the galleys for twenty +years. A woman prevents a smoker from lighting his cigar,--twenty +lashes. In seven years Ancona has witnessed sixty capital executions, +and Bologna a hundred and eighty. Blood flows, and the Pope washes his +hands of it. He did not sign the warrants. Every now and then the +Austrians bring him a man they have shot, just as a gamekeeper brings +his master a fox he has killed in the preserves. + +Perhaps I shall be told that this government of priests is not +responsible for the crimes committed in its service. + +We French have also experienced the scourge of a foreign occupation. +For some years soldiers who spoke not our language were encamped in +our departments. The king who had been forced upon us was neither a +great man nor a man of energy, nor even a very good man; and he had +left a portion of his dignity in the enemy's baggage-waggons. But +certain it is that, in 1817, Louis XVIII. would rather have come down +from his throne than have allowed his subjects to be legally shot by +Russians and Prussians. + +M. de Rayneval says, "The Holy Father has never failed to mitigate the +severity of judgments." + +I want to know in what way he has been enabled to mitigate these +Austrian fusillades. Perhaps he has suggested a coating of soft cotton +for the bullets. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE IMPUNITY OF REAL CRIME. + + +The Roman State is the most radically Catholic in Europe, seeing that +it is governed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ himself. It is also the +most fertile in crimes of every description, and above all, of violent +crimes. So remarkable a contrast cannot escape observation. It is +pointed out daily. Conclusions unfavorable to Catholicism have even +been drawn from it; but this is a mistake. Let us not set down to +religion that which is the necessary consequence of a particular form +of government. + +The Papacy has its root in Heaven, not in the country. It is not the +Italian people who ask for a Pope,--it is Heaven that chooses him, the +Sacred College that nominates him, diplomacy that maintains him, and +the French army that imposes him upon the nation. The Sovereign +Pontiff and his staff constitute a foreign body, introduced into Italy +like a thorn into a woodcutter's foot. + +What is the mission of the Pontifical Government? To what end did +Europe bring Pius IX. from Gaeta to re-establish him at the Vatican? +Was it for the sake of giving three millions of men an active and +vigorous overseer? The merest brigadier of gendarmerie would have done +the work better. No; it was in order that the Head of the Church might +preside over the interests of religion from the elevation of a throne, +and that the Vicar of Jesus Christ might be surrounded with royal +splendour. The three millions of men who dwell in his States are +appointed by Europe to defray the expenses of his court. In point of +fact, we have given them to the Pope, not the Pope to them. + +On this understanding, the Pope's first duty is to say Mass at St. +Peter's for 139,000,000 of Roman Catholics; his second is to make a +dignified appearance, to receive company, to wear a crown, and to take +care it does not fall off his head. But it is a matter of perfect +indifference to him that his subjects brawl, rob, or murder one +another, so long as they don't attack either his Church or his +government. + +If we examine the question of the distribution of punishments in the +Papal States from this point of view, we shall see that papal justice +never strikes at random. + +The most unpardonable crimes in the eyes of the clergy are those which +are offensive to Heaven. Rome punishes sins. The tribunal of the +Vicariate sends a blasphemer to the galleys, and claps into goal the +silly fellow who refuses to take the Communion at Easter. Surely +nobody will charge the Head of the Church with neglecting his duty. + +I have told you how the Pope defends and will continue to defend his +crown, and I have no fear of your charging him with weakness. If +Europe ventured to allege that he suffers the throne on which it has +placed him to be shaken, the answer would be a list of the political +exiles and the prisoners of state, present and past--the living and +the dead. + +But the crimes and offences of which the natives are guilty towards +one another affect the Pope and his Cardinals very remotely. What +matters it to the successors of the Apostles that a few workmen and +peasants should cut one another's throats after Sunday Vespers? There +will always be enough of them left to pay the taxes. + +The people of Rome have long contracted some very bad habits. They +frequent taverns and wine-shops, and they quarrel over their liquor; +the word and the blow of other people is with them the word and the +knife. The rural population are as bad as the townspeople. Quarrels +between neighbours and relatives are submitted to the adjudication of +cold steel. Of course they would do better to go before the nearest +magistrate; but justice is slow in the States of the Church; lawsuits +cost money, and bribery is the order of the day; the judges are either +fools or knaves. So out with the knife! its decisions are swift and +sure. Giacomo is down: 'tis clear he was in the wrong. Nicolo is +unmolested: he must have been in the right. This little drama is +performed more than four times a day in the Papal States, as is proved +by the Government statistics of 1853. It is a great misfortune for the +country, and a serious danger for Europe. The school of the knife, +founded at Rome, establishes branches in foreign lands. We have seen +the holiest interests of civilization placed under the knife, and all +the honest people in the world, the Pope himself included, shuddered +at the sight. + +It would cost his Holiness very little trouble to snatch the knife +from the hands of his subjects. We don't ask him to begin over again +the education of his people, which would take time, or even to +increase the attractions of civil justice, so as to substitute +litigants for assassins. All we require of him is, that he should +allow criminal justice to dispose of some few of the worst characters +who throng to these evil haunts. But this very natural remedy would be +utterly repugnant to his notions. The tavern assassin is seldom a foe +to the Government. + +Not that the Pope absolutely refuses to let assassins be pursued; that +would be opposed to the practice of all civilized countries. But he +takes care that they shall always get a good start of their pursuers. +If they reach the banks of a river the pursuit ceases, lest they +should jump into the water and be drowned without confession and +absolution. If they seize hold of the skirts of a Capuchin Friar--they +are saved. If they get into a church, a convent, or a hospital--saved +again. If they do but set foot upon an ecclesiastical domain, or upon +a clerical property (of which there is to the amount of L20,000,000 in +the country), justice stands still, and lets them move on. A word from +the Pope would reform this abuse of the right of asylum, which is a +standing insult to civilization. On the contrary, he carefully +preserves it, in order to show that the privileges of the Church are +above the interests of humanity. This is both consistent and legal. + +Should the police get hold of a murderer by accident, and quite +unintentionally, he is brought up for trial. Witnesses of the crime +are sought, but never found. A citizen would consider himself +dishonoured if he were to give up his comrade to the natural enemy of +the nation. The murdered man himself, if he could be brought to life, +would swear he had seen nothing of the affair. The Government is not +strong enough to force the witnesses to say what they know, or to +protect them against the consequences of their depositions. This is +why the most flagrant crime can never be proved in the courts of +justice. + +Supposing even that a murderer lets himself be taken, that witnesses +give evidence against him, and that the crime be proved, even then the +tribunal hesitates to pronounce the sentence of death. + +The shedding of blood--legally--saddens a people; the Government has +no fault to find with the murderer, so he is sent to the galleys. He +is pretty comfortable there; public consideration follows him; sooner +or later he is certain to be pardoned, because the Pope, utterly +indifferent to his crime, finds it more profitable, and less +expensive, to turn him loose than to keep him. + +Put the worst possible case. Imagine a crime so glaring, so monstrous, +so revolting, that the judges, who happen to be the least interested +in the question, have been compelled to condemn the criminal to death. +You probably imagine that, for example's sake, he will be executed +while his crime is yet fresh in the popular recollection. Nothing of +the sort. He is cast into a dungeon and forgotten; they think it +probable he will die naturally there. In the month of July, 1858, the +prison of the small town of Viterbo contained twenty-two criminals +condemned to death, who were singing psalms while waiting for the +executioner. + +At length this functionary arrives; he selects one out of the lot and +decapitates him. The populace is moved to compassion. Tears are shed, +and the spectators cry out with one accord, "_Poveretto!_" The fact +is, his crime is ten years old. Nobody recollects what it was. He has +expiated it by ten years of penitence. Ten years ago his execution +would have conveyed a striking moral lesson. + +So much for the severity of penal justice. You would laugh if I were +to speak of its leniency. The Duke Sforza Cesarini murders one of his +servants for some act of personal disrespect. For example's sake, the +Pope condemns him to a month's retirement in a convent. + +Ah! if any sacrilegious hand were laid upon the holy ark; if a priest +were to be slain, a Cardinal only threatened, then would there be +neither asylum, nor galleys, nor clemency, nor delay. Thirty years ago +the murderer of a priest was hewn in pieces in the Piazza del Popolo. +More recently, as we have seen, the idiot who brandished his fork in +the face of Cardinal Antonelli, was beheaded. + +It is with highway robbery as with murder. I am induced to believe +that the Pontifical court would not wage a very fierce war with the +brigands, if those gentry undertook to respect its money and +despatches. The occasional stopping of a few travellers, the clearing +out of a carriage, and even the pillaging a country house, are neither +religious nor political scourges. The brigands are not likely to scale +either Heaven or the Vatican. + +Thus there is still good business to be done in this line, and +particularly beyond the Apennines, in those provinces which Austria +has disarmed and does not protect. The tribunal of Bologna faithfully +described the state of the country in a sentence of the 16th of June, +1856. + + "Of late years this province has been afflicted by + innumerable crimes of all sorts: robbery, pillage, attacks + upon houses, have occurred at all hours, and in all places. + The numbers of the malefactors have been constantly + increasing, as has their audacity, encouraged by impunity." + +Nothing is changed since the tribunal of Bologna spoke so forcibly. +Stories, as improbable as they are true, are daily related in the +country. The illustrious Passatore, who seized the entire population +of Forlimpopoli in the theatre, has left successors. The audacious +brigands who robbed a diligence in the very streets of Bologna, a few +paces from the Austrian barracks, have not yet wholly disappeared. In +the course of a tour of some weeks on the shores of the Adriatic, I +heard more than one disquieting report. Near Rimini the house of a +landed proprietor was besieged by a little army. In one place, all the +inmates of the goal walked off, arm-in-arm with the turnkeys; in +another a diligence came to grief just outside the walls of a city. If +any particular district was allowed to live in peace, it was because +the inhabitants subscribed and paid a ransom to the brigands. Five +times a week I used to meet the pontifical courier, escorted by an +omnibus full of gendarmes, a sight which made me shrewdly suspect the +country was not quite safe. + +But if the Government is too weak or too careless to undertake an +expedition against brigandage, and to purge the country thoroughly, it +sometimes avenges its insulted authority and its stolen money. When by +chance the Judges of Instruction are sent into the field, they do not +trifle with their work. Not only do they press the prisoners to +confess their crimes, but they press them in a thumbscrew! The +tribunal of Bologna confessed this fact, with compunction, in 1856, +alluding to the measures employed as _violenti e feroci_. + +But simple theft, innocent theft, the petty larceny of snuff-boxes and +pocket-handkerchiefs, the theft which seeks a modest alms in a +neighbour's pocket, is tolerated as paternally as mendicity. Official +statistics give the number of the beggars in Rome, I believe, somewhat +under the mark; it is a pity they fail to give the number of +pickpockets, who swarm through the city; this might easily have been +done, as their names are all known to the authorities. No attempt is +made to interfere with their operations: the foreign visitors are rich +enough to pay this small tax in favour of the national industry; +besides, it is not likely the pickpockets will ever make an attempt +upon the Pope's pocket-handkerchief. + +A Frenchman once caught hold of an elegantly dressed gentleman in the +act of snatching away his watch; he took him to the nearest post, and +placed him in the charge of the sergeant. "I believe your statement," +said the official, + + "for I know the man well, and so would you, if you were not + very new to the country. He is a Lombard; but if we were to + arrest all his fellows, our prisons would never be half + large enough. Be off, my fine fellow, and take better care + for the future!" + +Another foreigner was robbed in the Corso at midnight, on his return +from the theatre. All the consolation he got from the magistrate to +whom he complained was, "Sir, you were out at an hour when all honest +people should be in bed." + +A traveller was stopped between Rome and Civita Vecchia, and robbed of +all the money he had about him. When he reached Palo, he laid his +complaint before the political functionary who taxes travellers for +the trouble of fumbling with their passports. The observation of this +worthy man was, "What can you expect? the people are so very poor!" + +On the eve of the grand fetes, however, all the riffraff are bound to +go to prison, lest the religious ceremonies should be disturbed by +evil-doers. They go of their own accord, as an amicable concession to +a paternal government: and if any professional thief were by chance to +absent himself, he would be politely sent for about midnight. But in +spite even of these vigilant measures, it is seldom that a Holy Week +goes by without a watch or two going astray; and to any complaint the +police would be sure to reply: + + "You must not blame us; we have taken every necessary + precaution against such accidents. We have got all the + thieves who are inscribed on our books under lock and key. + For any new comers we are not responsible." + +The following incident occurred while I was at Rome; it serves to +illustrate the pleasing fraternal tie which unites the magistrates +with the thieves. + +A former secretary to Monsignor Vardi, by name Berti, had a gold +snuff-box, which he prized highly, it having been given him by his +master. One day, crossing the Forum, he took out his snuff-box, just +in front of the temple of Antoninus and Faustina, and solaced himself +with a pinch of the contents. The incautious act had been marked by +one of the pets of the police. He had hardly returned the box to his +pocket ere he was hustled by some quoit-players, and knocked down. It +is needless to add, that, when he got up, the precious snuff-box was +gone. + +He mentioned the affair to a judge of his acquaintance, who at once +told him to set his mind at rest, adding, + + "Pass through the Forum again to-morrow. Ask for _Antonio_; + anybody will point him out to you; tell him you come from + me, and mention what you have lost. He will put you in the + way of getting it back." + +Berti did as he was desired; Antonio was soon found. He smiled +meaningly when the judge's name was mentioned, protested that he could +refuse him nothing, and immediately called out, "Eh! Giacomo!" + +Another bandit came out of the ruins, and ran up to his chief. + +"Who was on duty yesterday?" asked Antonio. + +"Pepe." + +"Is he here?" + +"No, he made a good day of it yesterday. He's drinking it out." + +"I can do nothing for your Excellency to-day," said Antonio. "Come +here to-morrow at the same hour, and I think you'll have reason to be +satisfied." + +Berti was punctual to the appointment. Signor Antonio, for fear of +being swindled, asked for an accurate description of the missing +article. This having been given, he at once produced the snuff-box. +"Your Excellency will please to pay me two scudi," he said; "I should +have charged you four, but that you are recommended to me by a +magistrate whom I particularly esteem." + +It would appear that all the Roman magistrates are not equally +estimable; at least to judge from what happened to the Marquis de +Sesmaisons. He was robbed of half-a-dozen silver spoons and forks. He +imprudently lodged a complaint with the authorities. Being asked for +an exact description of the stolen articles, he sent the remaining +half-dozen to speak for themselves to the magistrate who had charge of +the affair. It is chronicled that he never again saw either the first +or the second half-dozen! + +The malversations of public functionaries are tolerated so long as +they do not directly touch the higher powers. Officials of every +degree hold out their hands for a present. The Government rather +encourages the system than the reverse. It is just so much knocked off +the salaries. + +The Government even overlooks embezzlement of public money, provided +the guilty party be an ecclesiastic, or well affected to the present +order of things. The errors of friends are judged _en famille_. If a +Prelate make a mistake, he is reprimanded, and dismissed, which means +that his situation is changed for a better one. + +Monsignor N---- gets the holy house of Loretto into financial trouble. +The consequence is that Monsignor N---- is removed to Rome, and placed +at the head of the hospital of the Santo Spirito. Probably this is +done because the latter establishment is richer and more difficult to +get into financial trouble than the holy house of Loretto. + +Monsignor A---- was an Auditor of the Rota, and made a bad judge. He +was made a Prefect of Bologna. He failed to give satisfaction at +Bologna, and was made a Minister, and still remains so. + +If occasionally officials of a certain rank are punished, if even the +law is put in force against them with unusual vigour, rest assured the +public interest has no part in the business. The real springs of +action are to be sought elsewhere. Take as an example the Campana +affair, which created such a sensation in 1858. + +This unfortunate Marquis succeeded his father and his grandfather as +Director of the Monte di Pieta, or public pawnbroking establishment. +His office placed him immediately under the control of the Finance +Minister. It was that Minister's duty to overlook his acts, and to +prevent him from going wrong. + +Campana went curiosity mad. The passion of collecting, which has +proved the ruin of so many well-meaning people, drove him to his +destruction. He bought pictures, marbles, bronzes, Etruscan vases. He +heaped gallery on gallery. He bought at random everything that was +offered to him. Rome never had such a terrible buyer. He bought as +people drink, or take snuff, or smoke opium. When he had no more money +of his own left to buy with, he began to think of a loan. The coffers +of the Monte di Pieta were at hand: he would borrow of himself, upon +the security of his collection. The Finance Minister Galli offered no +difficulties. Campana was in favour at Court, esteemed by the Pope, +liked by the Cardinals; his principles were known, he had proved his +devotion to those in power. The Government never refuses its friends +anything. In short Campana was allowed to lend himself L4,000, for +which he gave security to a much larger amount. + +But the order by which the Minister gave him permission to draw from +the coffers of the Monte di Pieta was so loosely drawn up, that he was +enabled to take, without any fresh authority, a trifle of something +like L106,000. This he took between the 12th of April, 1854, and the +1st of December 1856, a period of nineteen months and a half. + +There was no concealment in the transaction; it certainly was +irregular, but it was not clandestine. Campana paid himself the +interest of the money he had lent himself. In 1856 he was paternally +reprimanded. He received a gentle rap over the knuckles, but there was +not the least idea of tying his hands. He stood well at Court. + +The unfortunate man still went on borrowing. They had not even taken +the precaution to close his coffers against himself. Between the 1st +of December, 1856, and the 7th of November, 1857, he took a further +sum of about L103,000. But he gave grand parties; the Cardinals adored +him; testimonies of satisfaction poured in upon him from all sides. + +The real truth is that a national pawnbroking establishment is of no +use to the Church, it is only required for the nation. Campana might +have borrowed the very walls of the building, without the Pontifical +Court meddling in the matter. + +Unluckily for him, the time came when it answered the purpose of +Antonelli to send him to the galleys. This great statesman had three +objects to gain by such a course. Firstly, he would stop the mouth of +diplomacy, and silence the foreign press, which both charged the Pope +with tolerating an abuse. Secondly, he would humiliate one of those +laymen who take the liberty to rise in the world without wearing +violet hose. Lastly, he should be able to bestow Campana's place upon +one of his brothers, the worthy and interesting Filippo Antonelli. + +He took a long time to mature his scheme, and laid his train silently +and secretly. He is not a man to take any step inconsiderately. While +Campana was going and coming, and giving dinners, and buying more +statues, in blissful ignorance of the lowering storm, the Cardinal +negotiated a loan at Rothschild's, made arrangements to cover the +deficit, and instructed the Procuratore Fiscale to draw up an +indictment for peculation. + +The accusation fell like a thunderbolt upon the poor Marquis. From his +palace to his prison was but a step. As he entered there, he rubbed +his eyes, and asked himself, ingenuously enough, whether this move was +not all a horrible dream. He would have laughed at any one who had +told him he was seriously in danger. He charged with peculation! Out +upon it! Peculation meant the clandestine application by a public +officer of public funds to his private profit: whereas he had taken +nothing clandestinely, and was ruined root and branch. So he quietly +occupied himself in his prison by writing sonnets, and when an artist +came to pay him a visit, he gave him an order for a new work. + +In spite of the eloquent defence made in his behalf by a young +advocate, the tribunal condemned him to twenty years' hard labour. At +this rate, the Minister who had allowed him to borrow the money should +certainly have been beheaded. But the lambs of the clergy don't eat +one another. + +The advocate who had defended Campana was punished for having pleaded +too eloquently, by being forbidden to practise in Court for three +months. + +You may imagine that this cruel sentence cast a stigma upon Campana. +Not a bit of it. The people, who have often experienced his +generosity, regard him as a martyr. The middle class despises him much +less than it does many a yet unpunished functionary. His old friends +of the nobility and of the Sacred College often shake him by the hand. +I have known Cardinal Tosti, at once his gaoler and his friend, let +him have the use of his private kitchen. + +Condemnations are a dishonour only in countries where the judges are +honoured. All the world knows that the pontifical magistrates are not +instruments of justice, but tools of power. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TOLERANCE. + + +If crimes against Heaven are those which the Church forgives the +least, every man who is not even nominally a Catholic, is of course in +the eyes of the Pope a rogue and a half. + +These criminals are very numerous: the geographer Balbi enumerates +some six hundred millions of them on the surface of the globe. The +Pope continues to damn them all conformably with the tradition of the +Church; but he has given up levying armies to make war upon them here +below. + +Things are improved when we daily find the Head of the Roman Catholic +Church in friendly intercourse with the foes of his religion. He +partakes of the liberality of a Mussulman Prince; he receives a +schismatic Empress as a loving father; he converses familiarly with a +Queen who has abjured Catholicism to marry a Protestant; he receives +with distinction the aristocracy of the New Jerusalem; he sends his +Majordomo to attend upon a young heretic prince[11] travelling +_incognito_. I hardly know whether Gregory VII. would approve this +tolerance; nor can I tell how it is judged in the other world by the +instigators of the Crusades, or by the advisers of the Massacre of St. +Bartholomew. For my own part, I should award it unbounded praise, if I +could believe it took its source in a spirit of enlightenment and +Christian charity. I should regard it differently, if I thought it was +to be traced to calculations of policy and interest. + +The difficulty is to penetrate the secret thoughts of the Sovereign +Pontiff; to find a key to the real motive of his tolerance. Natural +mildness and interested mildness resemble each other in their effects, +but differ widely in their causes. When the Pope and the Cardinals +overwhelm M. de Rothschild with assurances of their highest +consideration, are we to conclude that an Israelite is equal to a +Roman Catholic in their eyes, as he is in yours or mine? Or are we to +conclude that they deem it expedient to mask their real sentiments +because M. de Rothschild has millions to spare? + +This delicate problem is not difficult to solve. We have but to seek +out a Jew in Rome who is _not_ the possessor of millions, and to ask +him how he is considered and treated by the Popes. If the Government +really make no difference between this citizen who is a Jew, and +another who is a Catholic, I will say the Popes have become tolerant +in earnest. If, on the contrary, we find that the administration +accords this poor Jew a social position somewhere between man and the +dog, then I am bound to set down the fine speeches made to M. de +Rothschild, as proceeding from calculations of interest, and as +inferring a sacrifice of dignity. + +Now mark, and judge for yourselves. There were Jews in Italy before +there were Christians in the world. Roman polytheism, which tolerated +everything except the kicks administered by Polyeucte to the statue of +Jupiter, gave a place to the God of Israel. Afterwards came the +Christians, and they were tolerated till they conspired against the +laws. They were often confounded with the Jews, because they came from +the same corner of the East. Christianity increased by means of pious +conspiracies; enrolled slaves braved their masters, and became master +in its turn. I don't blame it for practising reprisals, and cutting +the pagans' throats; but in common justice it has killed too many +Jews. + +Not at Rome. The Popes kept a specimen of the accursed race to bring +before God at the last judgment. The Scripture had warned the Jews +that they should live miserably till the consummation of time. The +Church, ever mindful of prophecy, undertook to keep them alive and +miserable. She made enclosures for them, as we do in our _Jardin des +Plantes_ for rare animals. At first they were folded in the valley of +Egeria, then they were penned in the Trastevere, and finally cribbed +in the Ghetto. In the daytime they were allowed to go about the city, +that the people might see what a dirty, degraded being a man is when +he does not happen to be a Christian; but when night came they were +put under lock and key. The Ghetto used to close just as the Faithful +were on their way to damnation at the theatre. + +On the occasion of certain solemnities the Municipal Council of Rome +amused the populace with _Jew races_. + +When modern philosophy had somewhat softened Catholic manners, horses +were substituted for Jews. The Senator of the city used annually to +administer to them an official kick in the seat of honour: which token +of respect they acknowledged by a payment of 800 scudi. At every +accession of a Pope, they were obliged to range themselves under the +Arch of Titus, and to offer the new Pontiff a Bible, in return for +which he addressed to them an insulting observation. They paid a +perpetual annuity of 450 scudi to the heirs of a renegade who had +abused them. They paid the salary of a preacher charged to work at +their conversion every Saturday, and if they stayed away from the +sermon they were fined. But they paid no taxes in the strict sense of +the word, because they were not citizens. The law regarded them in the +light of travellers at an inn. The license to dwell in Rome was +provisional, and for many centuries it was renewed every year. Not +only were they without any political rights, but they were deprived of +even the most elementary civil rights. They could neither possess +property, nor engage in manufactures, nor cultivate the soil: they +lived by botching and brokage. How they lived at all surprises me. +Want, filth, and the infected atmosphere of their dens, had +impoverished their blood, made them wan and haggard, and stamped +disgrace upon their looks. Some of them scarcely retained the +semblance of humanity. They might have been taken for brutes; yet they +were notoriously intelligent, apt at business, resigned to their lot, +good-tempered, kind-hearted, devoted to their families, and +irreproachable in their general conduct. + +I need not add that the Roman rabble, bettering the instruction of +Catholic monks, spurned them, reviled them, and robbed them. The law +forbade Christians to hold converse with them, but to steal anything +from them was a work of grace. + +The law did not absolutely sanction the murder of a Jew; but the +tribunals regarded the murderer of a man in a different light from the +murderer of a Jew. Mark the line of pleading that follows. + + "Why, Gentlemen, does the law severely punish murderers, and + sometimes go the length of inflicting upon them the penalty + of death? Because he who murders a Christian murders at once + a body and a soul. He sends before the Sovereign Judge a + being who is ill-prepared, who has not received absolution, + and who falls straight into hell--or, at the very least, + into purgatory. This is why murder--I mean the murder of a + Christian--cannot be too severely punished. But as for us + (counsel and client), what have we killed? Nothing, + Gentlemen, absolutely nothing but a wretched Jew, + predestined for damnation. You know the obstinacy of his + race, and you know that if he had been allowed a hundred + years for his conversion, he would have died like a brute, + without confession. I admit that we have advanced by some + years the maturity of celestial justice; we have hastened a + little for him an eternity of torture which sooner or later + must inevitably have been his lot. But be indulgent, + Gentlemen, towards so venial an offence, and reserve your + severity for those who attempt the life and salvation of a + Christian!" + +This speech would be nonsense at Paris. It was sound logic at Rome, +and, thanks to it, the murderer got off with a few months' +imprisonment. + +You will ask why the Jews have not fled a hundred leagues from this +Slough of Despond. The answer is, because they were born there. +Moreover, the taxation is light, and rent is moderate. Add that, when +famine has been in the land, or the inundations of the Tiber have +spread ruin and devastation around, the scornful charity of the Popes +has flung them some bones to gnaw. Then again, travelling costs money, +and passports are not to be had for the asking in Rome. + +But if, by some miracle of industry, one of these unfortunate children +of Israel has managed to accumulate a little money, his first thought +has been to place his family beyond the reach of the insults of the +Ghetto. He has realized his little fortune, and has gone to seek +liberty and consideration in some less Catholic country. This accounts +for the fact that the Ghetto was no richer at the accession of Pius +IX. than it was in the worst days of the Middle Ages. + +History has made haste to write in letters of gold all the good deeds +of the reigning Pope, and, above all, the enfranchisement of the Jews. + +Pius IX. has removed the gates of the Ghetto. He allows the Jews to go +about by night as well as by day, and to live where they like. He has +exempted them from the municipal kick and the 800 scudi which it cost +them. He has closed the little church where these poor people were +catechized every Saturday, against their will, and at their own +expense. His accession may be regarded, then, as an era of deliverance +for the people of Israel who have set up their tents in Rome. + +Europe, which sees things from afar, naturally supposes that under so +tolerant a sway as that of Pius IX., Jews have thronged from all parts +of the world into the Papal States. But see how paradoxical a science +is that of statistics. From it we learn that in 1842, under Gregory +XVI., during the captivity of Babylon, the little kingdom of the Pope +contained 12,700 Jews. We further learn that in 1853, in the teeth of +such reforms, such a shower of benefits, such justice, and such +tolerance, the Israelites in the kingdom were reduced to 9,237. In +other words, 3,463 Jews--more than a quarter of the Jewish +population--had withdrawn from the paternal action of the Holy Father. + +Either this people is very ungrateful, or we don't know the whole +state of the case. + +While I was at Rome, I had secret inquiries on the subject made of two +notables of the Ghetto. When the poor people heard the object I had in +view in my inquiries, they expressed great alarm. "For Heaven's sake +don't pity us!" they cried. + + "Let not the outer world learn through your book that we are + unfortunate--that the Pope shows by his acts how bitterly he + regrets the benefits conferred upon us in 1847--that the + Ghetto is closed by doors invisible, but impassable--and + that our condition is worse than ever! All you say in our + favour will turn against us, and that which you intend for + our good will do us infinite harm." + +This is all the information I could obtain as to the treatment of this +persecuted people. It is little enough, but it is something. I found +that their Ghetto, in which some hidden power keeps them shut up just +as in past times, was the foulest and most neglected quarter of the +city, whence I concluded that nothing was done for them by the +municipality. I learnt that neither the Pope, nor the Cardinals, nor +the Bishops, nor the least of the Prelates, could set foot on this +accursed ground without contracting a moral stain--the custom of Rome +forbids it: and I thought of those Indian Pariahs whom a Brahmin +cannot touch without losing caste. I learnt that the lowest places in +the lowest of the public offices were inaccessible to Jews, neither +more nor less than they would be to animals. A child of Israel might +as well apply for the place of a copying-clerk at Rome as one of the +giraffes in the Jardin des Plantes for the post of a Sous-Prefet. I +ascertained that none of them are or can be landowners, a fact which +satisfies me that Pius IX. has not yet come quite to regard them as +men. If one of their tribe cultivates another man's field, it is by +smuggling himself into the occupation under a borrowed name; as though +the sweat of a Jew dishonoured the earth. Manufactures are forbidden +them, as of old; not being of the nation, they might injure the +national industry. To conclude, I have observed them myself as they +stood on the thresholds of their miserable shops, and I can assure you +they do not resemble a people freed from oppression. The seal of +pontifical reprobation is not removed from their foreheads. If, as +history pretends, they had been liberated for the last twelve years, +some sign of freedom would be perceptible on their countenances. + +I am willing to admit that, at the commencement of his reign, Pius IX. +experienced a generous impulse. But this is a country in which good is +only done by immense efforts, while evil occurs naturally. I would +liken it to a waggon being drawn up a steep mountain ascent. The joint +efforts of four stout bullocks are required to drag it forward: it +runs backwards by itself. + +Were I to tell you all that M. de Rothschild has done for his +co-religionists at Rome, you would be astounded. Not only are they +supported at his expense, but he never concludes a transaction with +the Pope without introducing into it a secret article or two in their +favour. And still the waggon goes backwards. + +The French occupation might be beneficial to the Jews. Our officers +are not wanting in good will; but the bad will of the priests +neutralizes their efforts. By way of illustrating the operation of +these two influences, I will relate a little incident which recently +occurred. + +An Israelite of Rome had hired some land in defiance of the law, under +the name of a Christian. As everybody knew that the Jew was the real +farmer, he was robbed right and left in the most unscrupulous manner, +merely because he _was_ a Jew. The poor man, foreseeing that before +rent-day he should be completely ruined, applied for leave to have a +guard sworn to protect his property. The authorities replied that +under no pretext should a Christian be sworn in the service of a +Jew. Disappointed in his application, he mentioned the fact to +some French officers, and asked for the assistance of the French +Commander-in-Chief. It was readily promised by M. de Goyon, one of the +kindest-hearted men alive, who undertook moreover to apply personally +to the Cardinal in the matter. The reply he received from his Eminence +was, + + "What you ask is nothing short of an impossibility. + Nevertheless, as the Government of the Holy Father is unable + to refuse you anything, we will do it. Not only shall your + Jew have a sworn guard, but out of our affection for you, we + will select him ourselves." + +Delighted at having done a good action, the General warmly thanked the +Cardinal, and departed. Three months elapsed, and still no sworn guard +made his appearance at the Jew's farm. The poor fellow, robbed more +than ever, timidly applied again to the General, who once more took +the field in his behalf. This time, in order to make the matter sure, +he would not leave the Cardinal till he held in his own hand the +permission, duly filled up and signed. The delighted Jew shed tears of +gratitude as he read to his family the thrice-blessed name of the +guard assigned to him. The name was that of a man who had disappeared +six years back, and never been heard of since. + +When the French officers next met the Jew, they asked him whether he +was pleased with his sworn guard. He dared not say that he had no +guard: the police had forbidden him to complain. + +The Jews of Rome are the most unfortunate in the Papal States. The +vicinity of the Vatican is as fatal to them as to the Christians. Far +from the seat of government, beyond the Apennines, they are less poor, +less oppressed, and less despised. The Israelitish population of +Ancona is really a fine race. + +It is not to be inferred from this that the agents of the Pope become +converts to tolerance by crossing the Apennines. + +It is not a year since the Archbishop of Bologna confiscated the boy +Mortara for the good of the Convent of the Neophytes. + +Only two years ago the Prefect of Ancona revived the old law, which +forbids Christians to converse publicly with Jews. + +It is not ten years since a merchant of considerable fortune, named P. +Cadova, was deprived of his wife and children by means as remarkable +as those employed in the case of young Mortara, although the affair +created less sensation at the time. + +M.P. Cadova lived at Cento, in the province of Ferrara. He had a +pretty wife, and two children. His wife was seduced by one of his +clerks, who was a Catholic. The intrigue being discovered, the clerk +was driven from the house. The faithless wife soon joined her lover at +Bologna, and took her children with her. + +The Jew applied to the courts of law to assist him in taking the +children from the adulteress. + +The answer he received to his application was, that his wife and +children had all three embraced Christianity, and had consequently +ceased to be his family. + +The Courts further decreed that he should pay an annual income for +their support. + +On this income the adulterous clerk also subsists. + +Some months later Monsignore Oppiszoni, Archbishop of Bologna, himself +celebrated the marriage of M.P. Cadova's wife and M.P. Cadova's +ex-clerk. + +Of course, you'll say, P. Cadova was dead. Not a bit of it. He was +alive, and as well as a broken-hearted man could be. The Church, then, +winked at a case of bigamy? Not so. In the States of the Church a +woman may be married at the same time to a Jew and a Catholic, without +being a bigamist, because in the States of the Church a Jew is not a +man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. + + +All the world knows, and says over and over again, that education is +less advanced in the Papal States than in any country in Europe. It is +a source of universal regret that the nation which is, perhaps, of all +others the most intelligent by God's grace, should be the most +ignorant by the will of priests. This people has been compared to a +thorough-bred horse, reduced from racing to walking blindfolded, round +and round, grinding corn. + +But people who talk thus take a partial view of the question. They +don't, or they won't, see how entirely the development of public +ignorance is in conformity with the principles of the Church, and how +favourable it is to the maintenance of priestly government. + +Religions are founded, not upon knowledge, or science, but upon faith, +or, as some term it, credulity. People have agreed to describe as an +"act of faith" the operation of closing one's eyes in order to see +better. It is by walking with faith,--in other words, with one's eyes +shut,--that the gates of Paradise are reached. If we could take from +afar the census of that locality, we should find there more of the +illiterate than of the learned. A child that knows the catechism by +heart is more pleasing in the sight of Heaven than all the five +classes of the Institute. The Church will never hesitate between an +astronomer and a Capuchin friar. Knowledge is full of dangers. Not +only does it puff up the heart of man, but it often shatters by the +force of reasoning the best-constructed fables. Knowledge has made +terrible havoc in the Roman Catholic Church during the last two or +three hundred years. Who can tell how many souls have been cast into +hell through the invention of printing. + +Applied to the industrial pursuits of this sublunary sphere, science +engenders riches, luxury, pleasure, health, and a thousand similar +scourges, which tend to draw us away from salvation. Science cures +even those irreligious maladies wherein religion used to recognize the +finger of God. It no longer permits the sinner to make himself a +purgatory here below. There is danger lest it should one of these days +render man's terrestrial abode so blessed, that he may conceive an +antipathy to Heaven. The Church, having the mission to conduct us to +that eternal felicity which is the sole end of human existence, is +bound to discourage our dealings with science. The utmost she can +venture to do is to let a select number of her most trustworthy +servants have free access to it, in order that the enemies of the +faith may find somebody whom they can speak to. + +This is why I undertake to show you in Rome a dozen men of high +literary and scientific acquirements, to a hundred thousand who don't +know their ABC. + +The Church is but the more flourishing for it, and the State by no +means the less so. The true shepherds of peoples, they who feed the +sheep for the sake of selling the wool and the skins, do not want them +to know too much. The mere fact of a man's being able to read makes +him wish to meddle with everything. The custom-house may be made to +keep him from reading dangerous books, but he'll be sure to take the +change out of the laws of the kingdom. He'll begin to inquire whether +they are good or bad, whether they accord with or contradict one +another, whether they are obeyed or broken. No sooner can he calculate +without the help of his fingers, than he'll want to look up the +figures of the Budget. But if he has reached the culminating point of +knowing how to use his pen, the sight of the smallest bit of paper +will give him a sort of political itching. He will experience an +uncontrollable desire to express his sentiments as a man and a +citizen, by voting for one representative, and against another. And, +gracious goodness! what will become of us if the refractory sheep +should get as high as the generalities of history, or the speculations +of philosophy?--if he should begin to stir important questions, to +inquire into great truths, to refute sophisms, to point out abuses, to +demand rights? The shepherd's occupation is assuredly not all roses +from the day he finds it necessary to muzzle his flock. + +Sovereigns who are not Popes have nothing to fear from the progress of +enlightenment, for their interest does not lie in the fabrication of +saints, but in the making of men. In France, England, Piedmont, and +some other countries, the Governments urge, or even oblige the people +to seek instruction. This is because a power which is based on reason +has no fear of being discussed. Because the acts of a really national +administration have no reason to dread the inquiry of the nation. +Because it is not only a nobler but an easier task to govern +reflecting beings than mere brutes,--always supposing the Government +to be in the right. Because education softens men's manners, +eradicates their evil instincts, reduces the average of crime, and +simplifies the policeman's duty. Because science applied to +manufactures will, in a few years, increase a hundredfold the +prosperity of the nation, the wealth of the State, and the resources +of power. + +Because the discoveries of pure science, good books, and all the +higher productions of the mind, even when they are not sources of +material profit, are an honour to a country, the splendour of an age, +and the glory of a Sovereign. + +All the princes in Europe, with the single exception of the Pope, +limit their views to the things of the earth; and they do wisely. +Without raising a doubt as to a future existence in another and a +better world, they govern their subjects only with regard to this +life. They seek to obtain for them all the happiness of which man is +capable here below; they labour to render him as perfect as he can be +as long as he retains this poor "mortal coil." We should regard them +as _mauvais plaisants_ if they were to think it their duty to make for +us the trials of Job, while showing us a future prospect of eternal +bliss. + +But the fact is that our emperors and kings and lay sovereigns are men +with wives and children, personally interested in the education of the +rising generation, and the future of their people. A good Pope, on the +contrary, has no other object but to gain Heaven himself, and to drag +up a hundred and thirty millions of men after him. Thus it is that his +subjects can with an ill grace ask of him those temporal advantages +which secular princes feel bound to offer their subjects +spontaneously. + +In the Papal States the schools for the lower classes are both few and +far between. The government does nothing to increase either their +number or their usefulness, the parishes being obliged to maintain +them; and even this source is sometimes cut off, for not unfrequently +the minister disallows this heading in the municipal budget, and +pockets the money himself. In addition to this, secondary teaching, +excepting in the colleges, exists but in name; and I should advise any +father who wishes his son's education to extend beyond the catechism, +to send him into Piedmont. + +But on the other hand, I am bound to urge in the Pope's behalf that +the colleges are numerous, well endowed, and provided with ample means +for turning out mediocre priests. The monasteries devote themselves to +the education of little monks. They are taught from an early age to +hold a wax taper, wear a frock, cast down their eyes, and chant in +Latin. If you wish to admire the foresight of the Church, you should +see the procession of Corpus Christi day. All the convents walk in +line one after the other, and each has its live nursery of little +shavelings. Their bright Italian eyes, sparkling with intelligence, +and their handsome open countenances, form a curious contrast with the +stolid and hypocritical masks worn by their superiors. At one glance +you behold the opening flowers and the ripe fruit of religion,--the +present and the future. You think within yourselves that, in default +of a miracle, the cherubs before you will ere long be turned into +mummies. However, you console yourselves for the anticipated +metamorphosis by the reflection that the salvation of the monklings is +assured. + +All the Pope's subjects would be sure of getting to Heaven if they +could all enter the cloisters; but then the world would come to an end +too soon. The Pope does his best to bring them near this state of +monastic and ecclesiastical perfection. Students are dressed like +priests, and corpses also are arrayed in a sort of religious costume. +The Brethren of the Christian Doctrine were thought dangerous because +they dressed their little boys in caps, tunics, and belts; so the Pope +forbade them to go on teaching young Rome. The Bolognese (beyond the +Apennines) founded by subscription asylums under the direction of lay +female teachers. The clergy make most praiseworthy efforts to reform +such an abuse. + +There is not a law, not a regulation, not a deed nor a word of the +higher powers, which does not tend to the edification of the people, +and to urge them on heavenward. + +Enter this church. A monk is preaching with fierce gesticulations. He +is not in the pulpit, but he stands about twenty paces from it, on a +plank hastily flung across trestles. Don't be afraid of his treating a +question of temporal ethics after the fashion of our worldly +preachers. He is dogmatically and furiously descanting on the +Immaculate Conception, on fasting in Lent, on avoiding meat of a +Friday, on the doctrine of the Trinity, on the special nature of +hell-fire. + + "Bethink you, my brethren, that if terrestrial fire, the + fire created by God for your daily wants and your general + use, can cause you such acute pain at the least contact with + your flesh, how much more fierce and terrible must be that + flame of hell-fire which ever devours without consuming + those who ... etc. etc." + +I spare you the rest. + +Our sacred orators for the most part confine themselves to preaching +on such subjects as fidelity, to wives; probity, to men; obedience, to +children. They descend to a level with a lay congregation, and +endeavour to sow, each according to his powers, a little virtue on +earth. Verily, Roman eloquence cares very much for virtue! It is +greatly troubled about the things of earth! It takes the people by the +shoulders and forces them into the paths of devotion, which lead +straight to Heaven. And it does its duty, according to the teachings +of the Church. + +Open one of the devotional books which are printed in the country. +Here is one selected at random, 'The Life of St. Jacintha.' It lies on +a young girl's work-table. A knitting-needle marks the place at which +the gentle reader left off this morning. Let us turn to the passage. +It is sure to be highly edifying. + + "_Chapter V.--She casts from her heart all natural affection + for her relations._ + + "Knowing from the Redeemer himself that we ought not to love + our relations more than God, and feeling herself naturally + drawn towards hers, she feared lest such a love, although + natural, if it should take root and grow in her heart, might + in the course of time surpass or impede the love she owed to + God, and render her unworthy of him. So she formed the very + generous determination of casting from herself all affection + for the persons of her blood. + + "Resolved on conquering herself by this courageous + determination, and on triumphing over opposing nature + itself,--powerfully urged thereto by another word of Christ, + who said that in order to go to him we must hate our + relations, when the love we bear them stands in the + way,--she went and solemnly performed a great act of + renunciation before the altar of the most holy Sacrament. + There, flinging herself on her knees, her heart kindling + with an ardent flame of charity towards God, she offered up + to Him all the natural affections of her heart, more + especially those which she felt were the strongest within + her for the nearest and dearest of her relations. In this + heroic action she obtained the intervention of the most holy + Virgin, as may be seen by a letter in her handwriting + addressed to a regular priest, wherein she promises, by the + aid of the holy Virgin, to attach herself no more either to + her relations, or to any other earthly object. This + renunciation was so resolutely courageous and so sincere + that from that hour her brothers, sisters, nephews, and all + her kindred became to her objects of total indifference; and + she deemed herself thenceforth so much an orphan and alone + in the world, that she was enabled to see and converse with + her aforesaid relations when they came to see her at the + convent, as if they were persons utterly unknown to her. + + "She had made herself in Paradise an entirely spiritual + family, selected from among the saints who had been the + greatest sinners. Her father was St. Augustin; her mother + St. Mary the Egyptian; her brother St. William the Hermit, + ex-Duke of Aquitaine; her sister St. Margaret of Cortona; + her uncle St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles; her nephews + the three children of the furnace of Babylon." + +Now here is a book that you, probably, attribute to the monkish ages; +a book expressing the isolated sentiments of a mind obscured by the +gloom of the cloisters. + +In order to convince you of your error, I will give you its title and +date, and the opinion concerning it expressed by the rulers of Rome. + + "Life of the Virgin Saint Jacintha Mariscotti, a professed + Nun of the Third Order of the Seraphic Father St. Francis, + written by the Father Flaminius Mary Hanibal of Latara, + Brother Observant of the Order of the Minors. Rome, 1805. + Published by Antonio Fulgoni, by permission of the + Superiors. + + "Approbation.--The book is to the glory and honour of the + Catholic Religion and the illustrious Order of St. Francis, + and to the spiritual profit of those persons who desire to + enter into the way of perfection. + + "Brother Thomas Mancini, of the Order of Preachers, Master, + ex-Provincial, and Consultor of Sacred Rites. + + "Imprimatur. Brother Thomas Vincent Pani, of the Order of + Preachers, Master of the Sacred Apostolical Palace." + +Now here we have a woman, a writer, a censor, and a Master of the +Palace, who are ready to strangle the whole human race for the sake of +hastening its arrival in Paradise. These people are only doing their +duty. + +Just look out into the street. Four men of different ages are kneeling +in the mud before a Madonna, whining out prayers. Presently, fifteen +or twenty others come upon you, chanting a canticle to the glory of +Mary. Perhaps you think they are yielding to a natural inspiration, +and freely working out their salvation. I thought so myself, till I +was told that they were paid fifteen-pence for thus edifying the +bystanders. This comedy in the open air is subsidized by the +Government. And the Government does its duty. + +The streets and roads swarm with beggars. Under lay governments the +poor either receive succour in their own homes, or are admitted to +houses of public charity; they are not allowed to obstruct the public +thoroughfares, and tyrannize over the passengers. But we are in an +ecclesiastical country. On the one hand, poverty is dear to God; on +the other, alms-giving is a deed of piety. If the Pope could make one +half of his subjects hold out their hands, and the other half put a +halfpenny into each extended palm, he would effect the salvation of an +entire people. + +Mendicity, which lay sovereigns regard as an ugly sore in the State, +to be healed, is tended and watered as a fair flower by a clerical +government. Pray give something to yonder sham cripple; give to that +cadger who pretends to have lost an arm; and be sure you don't forget +that blind young man leaning on his father's arm! A medical man of my +acquaintance offered yesterday to restore his sight, by operating for +the cataract. The father cried aloud with indignant horror at the +proposal; the boy is a fortune to him. Drop an alms for the son into +the father's bowl; the Pope will let you into Paradise, of which he +keeps the keys. + +The Romans themselves are not duped by their beggars. They are too +sharp to be taken in by these swindlers in misery. Still they put +their hands into their pockets; some from weakness or humanity, some +from ostentation, some to gain Paradise. If you doubt my assertion, +try an experiment which I once did, with considerable success. One +night, between nine and ten o'clock, I begged all along the Corso. I +was not disguised as a beggar. I was dressed as if I were on the +Boulevards at Paris. Still, between the Piazza del Popolo and the +Piazza di Venezia, I _made_ sixty-three baiocchi (about three +shillings). If I were to try the same joke at Paris, the +_sergents-de-ville_ would very properly think it their duty to walk me +off to the nearest police-station. The Pontifical Government +encourages mendicity by the protection of its agents, and recommends +it by the example of its friars. The Pontifical Government does its +duty. + +Prostitution flourishes in Rome, and in all the large towns of the +States of the Church. The police is too paternal to refuse the +consolations of the flesh to three millions of persons out of whom +five or six thousand have taken the vow of celibacy. But in proportion +as it is indulgent to vice, it is severe in cases of scandal. It only +allows light conduct in women when they are sheltered by the +protection of a husband.[12] It casts the cloak of Japhet over the +vices of the Romans, in order that the pleasures of one nation may not +be a scandal to others. Rather than admit the existence of the evil, +it refuses to place it under proper restraint: lay governments appear +to sanction the social evil, when they place it under the control of +the law. The clerical police is perfectly aware that its noble and +wilful blindness exposes the health of an entire people to certain +danger. But it rubs its hands at the reflection that the sinners are +punished by the very sin itself. The clerical police does its duty. + +The institution of the lottery is retained by the Popes, not as a +source of revenue only. Lay governments have long since abolished it, +because in a well-organized state, where industry leads to everything, +citizens should be taught to rely upon nothing but their industry. But +in the kingdom of the Church, where industry leads to nothing, not +only is the lottery a consolation to the poor, but it forms an +integral part of the public education. The sight of a beggar suddenly +enriched, as it were by enchantment, goes far to make the ignorant +multitude believe in miracles. The miracle of the loaves and fishes +was scarcely more marvellous than the changing of tenpence into two +hundred and fifty pounds. A high prize is like a present from God; it +is money falling from Heaven. This people know that no human power can +oblige three particular numbers to come out together; so they rely on +the divine mercy alone. They apply to the Capuchin friars for lucky +numbers; they recite special prayers for so many days; they humbly +call for the inspiration of Heaven before going to bed; they see in +dreams the Madonna stuck all over with figures; they pay for masses at +the Churches; they offer the priest money if he will put three numbers +under the chalice at the moment of the consecration. Not less humbly +did the courtiers of Louis XIV. range themselves in the antechamber he +was to pass through, in the hope of obtaining a look or a favour. The +drawing of the lottery is public, as are the University lectures in +France. And, verily, it is a great and salutary lesson. The winners +learn to praise God for his bounties: the losers are punished for +having unduly coveted worldly pelf. Everybody profits--most of all the +Government, which makes L80,000 a year by it, besides the satisfaction +of having done its duty. + +Yes, the holy preceptors of the nation fulfil their duty towards God, +and towards themselves. But it does not necessarily follow that they +always manage the affairs of God and of the Government well. + + "On rencontre sa destinee + Souvent par les chemins qu'on prend pour l'eviter." + +La Fontaine tells us this, and the Pope proves it to us. In spite of +the attention paid to religious instruction, the sermons, the good +books, the edifying spectacles, the lottery, and so many other good +things, faith is departing. The general aspect of the country does not +betray the fact, because the fear of scandal pervades all society; but +the devil loses nothing by that. Perhaps the citizens have the greater +dislike to religion, from the very fact of its reigning over them. Our +master is our enemy. God is too much the master of these people not to +be treated by them in some degree as an enemy. + +The spirit of opposition is called atheism, where the Tuileries are +called the Vatican. A young ragamuffin, who drove me from Rimini to +Santa Maria, let slip a terrible expression, which I have often +thought of since: "God?"--he said, "if there be one, I dare say he's a +priest like the rest of 'em." + +Reflect upon these words, reader! When I examine them closely, I start +back in terror, as before those crevices of Vesuvius, which give you a +glimpse of the abyss below. + +Has the temporal power served its own interests better than it has +those of God? I doubt it. The deputation of Rome was Red in 1848. It +was Rome that chose Mazzini. It is Rome that still regrets him in the +low haunts of the Regola, on that miry bank of the Tiber, where secret +societies swarm at this moment, like gnats on the shores of the Nile. + +If these deplorable fruits of a model education were pointed out to +the philosopher Gavarni, he would probably exclaim, "Bring up nations, +in order that they may hate and despise you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +FOREIGN OCCUPATION. + + +The Pope is loved and revered in all Catholic countries--except his +own. + +It is, therefore, perfectly just and natural that one hundred and +thirty-nine millions of devoted and respectful men should render him +assistance against three millions of discontented ones. It is not +enough to have given him a temporal kingdom, or to have restored that +kingdom to him when he had the misfortune to lose it; one must lend +him a permanent support, unless the expense of a fresh restoration is +to be incurred every year. + +This is the principle of the foreign occupation. We are one hundred +and thirty-nine millions of Catholics, who have violently delegated to +three millions of Italians the honour of boarding and lodging our +spiritual chief. If we were not to leave a respectable army in Italy +to watch over the execution of our commands, we should be doing our +work by halves. + +In strict logic, the security of the Pope should be guaranteed at the +common expense of the Catholic Powers. It seems quite natural that +each nation interested in the oppression of the Romans should furnish +its contingent of soldiers. Such a system, however, would have the +effect of turning the castle of St. Angelo into another Tower of +Babel. Besides, the affairs of this world are not all regulated +according to the principles of logic. + +The only three Powers which contributed to the re-establishment of +Pius IX. were France, Austria, and Spain. The French besieged Rome; +the Austrians seized the places of the Adriatic; the Spaniards did +very little, not from the want either of goodwill or courage, but +because their allies left them nothing to do. + +If a private individual may be permitted to probe the motives upon +which princes act, I would venture to suggest that the Queen of Spain +had nothing in view but the interests of the Church. Her soldiers came +to restore the Pope to his throne; they went as soon as he was +reseated on it. This was a chivalrous policy. + +Napoleon III. also considered the restoration of the Pope to a +temporal throne necessary to the good of the Church. Perhaps he thinks +so still--though I couldn't swear to it. But his motives of action +were complicated. Simple President of the French Republic, heir to a +name which summoned him to the throne, resolved to exchange his +temporary magistracy for an imperial crown, he had the greatest +possible interest in proving to Europe how republics are put down. He +had already conceived the idea of playing that great part of champion +of order, which has since caused him to be received by all Sovereigns +first as a brother, and afterwards as an arbitrator. Lastly, he knew +that the restoration of the Pope would secure him a million of +Catholic votes towards his election to the imperial crown. But to +these motives of personal interest were added some others, if +possible, of a loftier character. The heir of Napoleon and of the +liberal Revolution of '89, the man who read his own name on the first +page of the civil code, the author of so many works breathing the +spirit of new ideas and the passionate love of progress, the silent +dreamer whose busy brain already teemed with the germs of all the +prosperity we have enjoyed for the last ten years, was incapable of +handing over three millions of Italians to reaction, lawlessness, and +misery. If he had firmly resolved to put down the Republic at Rome, he +was not less firm in his resolution to suppress the abuses, the +injustice, and all the traditional oppressions which drove the +Italians to revolt. In the opinion of the head of the French Republic, +the way to be again victorious over anarchy, was to deprive it of all +pretext and all cause for its existence. + +He knew Rome; he had lived there. He knew, from personal experience, +in what the Papal government differed from good governments. His +natural sense of justice urged him to give the subjects of the Holy +Father, in exchange for the political autonomy of which he robbed +them, all the civil liberties and all the inoffensive rights enjoyed +in civilized States. + +On the 18th of August, 1849, he addressed to M. Edgar Ney a letter, +which was, in point of fact, a _memorandum_ addressed to the Pope. +_AMNESTY, SECULARIZATION, THE CODE NAPOLEON, A LIBERAL GOVERNMENT_: +these were the gifts he promised to the Romans in exchange for the +Republic, and demanded of the Pope in return for a crown. This +programme contained, in half-a-dozen words, a great lesson to the +sovereign, and a great consolation to the people. + +But it is easier to introduce a Breguet spring into a watch made when +Henri IV. was king, than a single reform into the old pontifical +machine. The letter of the 18th of August was received by the friends +of the Pope as an "insult to his rights, good sense, justice, and +majesty!"[13] Pius IX. took offence at it; the Cardinals made a joke +of it. This determination, this prudence, this justice, on the part of +a man who held them all in his hand, appeared to them immeasurably +comical. They still laugh at it. Don't name M. Edgar Ney before them, +or you'll make them laugh till their sides ache. + +The Emperor of Austria never committed the indiscretion of writing +such a letter as that of the 18th of August. The fact is, the Austrian +policy in Italy differs materially from ours. + +France is a body very solid, very compact, very firm, very united, +which has no fear of being encroached upon, and no desire to encroach +on others. Her political frontiers are nearly her natural limits; she +has little or nothing to conquer from her neighbours. She can, +therefore, interfere in the events of Europe for purely moral +interests, without views of conquest being attributed to her. One or +two of her leaders have suffered themselves to be carried somewhat too +far by the spirit of adventure; the nation has never had, what may be +called, geographical ambition. France does not disdain to conquer the +world by the dispersion of her ideas, but she desires nothing more. +That which constitutes the beauty of our history, to those who take an +elevated view of it, is the twofold object, pursued simultaneously by +the Sovereign and the nation, of concentrating France, and spreading +French ideas. + +The old Austrian diplomacy has been, for the last six hundred years, +incessantly occupied in stitching together bits of material, without +ever having been able to make a coat. It does not consider either the +colour or the quality of the cloth, but always keeps the needle going. +The thread it uses is often white, and it not infrequently +breaks--when away goes the new patch! Then another has to be found. + +A province is detached--two more are laid hold of. The piece gets rent +down the middle--a rag is caught up, then another, and whatever comes +to hand is sewn together in breathless haste. The effect of this +stitching monomania has been, to keep constantly changing the map of +Europe, to bring together, as chance willed it, races and religions of +every pattern, and to trouble the existence of twenty peoples, without +making the unity of a nation. Certain Machiavellic old gentlemen +sitting round a green cloth at Vienna, direct this work, measure the +material, rub their hands complacently when it stretches, snatch off +their wigs in despair when a piece is torn, and look on all sides for +another wherewith to replace it. In the Middle Ages, the sons of the +house used to be sent to visit foreign princesses: they made love to +their royal and serene highnesses in German, and always brought back +with them some shred of territory. But now that princesses receive +their dowers in hard cash, recourse is had to violent measures in +order to procure pieces of material; they are seized by soldiers; and +there are some large stains of blood upon this harlequin's cloak! + +Almost all the states of Italy, the kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, +Sicily, Modena, Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla, have been in turn +stitched to the same piece as Bohemia, Transylvania, and Croatia. Rome +would have shared the same fate, if papal excommunications had not +broken the thread. In 1859 it is Venice and Milan that pay for +everybody, till it comes to the turn of Tuscany, Modena, and Massa, to +be patched on in virtue of certain reversionary rights. + +What must have been the satisfaction of Austrian diplomatists when +they were enabled to throw their troops into the kingdom of the Pope, +without remonstrances from anybody! Beyond all doubt, the interests of +the Church were those which least occupied them. And as for taking any +interest in the unfortunate subjects of Pius IX., or demanding for +them any rights, or any liberties, Austria never thought of it for a +moment. The old Danaide only saw an opportunity for pouring another +people into her ill-made and unretentive cask. + +While the French army cautiously cannonaded the capital of the arts, +spared public monuments, and took Rome, so to speak, with gloved +hands, the Austrian soldiers carried the beautiful cities of the +Adriatic--_a la Croate_! As victors, we treated gently those we had +conquered, from motives of humanity; Austria, those she had conquered, +brutally, from motives of conquest. She regarded the fair country of +the Legations and the Marches as another Lombardy, which she would be +well disposed to keep. + +We occupied Rome, and the port of Civita Vecchia; the Austrians took +for themselves all the country towards the Adriatic. We established +our quarters in the barracks assigned to us by the municipality; the +Austrians built complete fortresses, as is their practice, with the +money of the people they were oppressing. For six or seven years their +army lived at the expense of the country. They sent their regiments +naked, and when poor Italy had clothed them, others came to replace +them. + +Their army was looked upon with no very favourable eye; neither indeed +was ours: the radical party was opposed both to their presence and +ours. Some stray soldiers of both armies were killed. The French army +defended itself courteously, the Austrian army revenged itself. In +three years, from the first of January, 1850, to the 1st of January, +1853, we shot three murderers. Austria has a heavier hand: she has +executed not only criminals, but thoughtless, and even innocent +people. I have already given some terrible figures, and will spare you +their repetition. + +From the day when the Pope condescended to return home, the French +army withdrew into the background; it hastened to restore to the +pontifical government all its powers. Austria has only restored what +it could not keep. She even still undertakes to repress political +crimes. She feels personally wronged if a cracker is let off, if a +musket is concealed: in short, she fancies herself in Lombardy. + +At Rome, the French place themselves at the disposal of the Pope for +the maintenance of order and public security. Our soldiers have too +much honesty to let a murderer or a thief who is within their reach +escape. The Austrians pretend that they are not gendarmes, to arrest +malefactors; each individual soldier considers himself the agent of +the old diplomatists, charged with none but political functions: +police matters are not within his province. What is the consequence? +The Austrian army, after carefully disarming the citizens, delivers +them over to malefactors, without the means of protection. + +At Bologna, a merchant of the name of Vincenzio Bedini was pointed out +to me, who had been robbed in his warehouse at six o'clock in the +evening. An Austrian sentinel was on guard at his door. + +Austria has good reasons for encouraging disorders in the provinces +she occupies: the greater the frequency of crime, and the difficulty +of governing the people, the greater is the necessity for the presence +of an Austrian army. Every murder, every theft, every burglary, every +assault, tends to strike the roots of these old diplomatists more deep +into the kingdom of the Pope. + +France would rejoice to be able to recall her troops. She feels that +their presence at Rome is not a normal state of things: she is herself +more shocked than anybody else at this irregularity. She has reduced, +as much as possible, the effective force of her occupying army; she +would embark her remaining regiments, were she not aware that to do so +would be to deliver the Pope over to the executioner. Mark the extent +to which she carries her disinterestedness in the affairs of Italy. In +order to place the Holy Father in a condition to defend himself alone, +she is trying to create for him a national army. The Pope possesses at +the present time four regiments of French manufacture; if they are not +very good, or rather, not to be relied upon, it is not the fault of +the French. The priestly government has itself alone to blame. Our +generals have done all in their power, not only to drill the Pope's +soldiers, but to inspire them with that military spirit which the +Cardinals carefully endeavour to stifle. Is it likely that we shall +find the Austrian army seeking to render its presence needless, and +spontaneously returning home? + +And yet I must admit, with a certain shame, that the conduct of the +Austrians is more logical than ours. They entered the Pope's +dominions, meaning to stay there; they spare no pains to assure their +conquest in them. They decimate the population, in order that they may +be feared. They perpetuate disorder, in order that their permanent +presence may be required. Disorder and terror are Austria's best arms. + +As for us, let us see what we have done. In the interest of France, +nothing; and I am glad of it. In the interest of the Pope, very +little. In the interest of the Italian nation, still less. + +The Pope promised us the reform of some abuses, in his _Motu Proprio_ +of Portici. It was not quite what we demanded of him; still his +promises afforded us some gratification. He returned to his capital, +to elude their fulfilment at his ease. Our soldiers awaited him with +arms in their hands. They fell at his feet as he passed them. + +During nine consecutive years, the pontifical government has been +retreating step by step,--France, all the while, politely entreating +it to move on a little. Why should it follow our advice? What +necessity was there for yielding to our arguments? Our soldiers +continued to mount guard, to present arms, to fall down on one knee, +and patrol regularly round all the old abuses. + +In the end, the pertinacity with which we urged our good counsels +became disagreeable to his Holiness. His retrograde court has a horror +of us; it prefers the Austrians, who crush the people, but who never +talk of liberty. The Cardinals say, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes +even aloud, that they don't want our army, that we are very much in +their way, and that they could protect themselves--with the assistance +of a few Austrian regiments. + +The nation, that is the middle class, says, our good-will, of which it +has no doubt, is of little use to it; and declares it would undertake +to obtain all its rights, to secularize the government, to proclaim +the amnesty, to introduce the Code Napoleon, and to establish liberal +institutions, if we would but withdraw our soldiers. This is what it +says at Rome. At Bologna, Ferrara, and Ancona, it believes that, in +spite of everything, the Romans are glad to have us, because, although +we let evil be done, we never do it ourselves. In this we are admitted +to be better than the Austrians. + +Our soldiers say nothing. Troops don't argue under arms. Let me speak +for them. + + "We are not here to support the injustice and dishonesty of + a petty government that would not be tolerated for + twenty-four hours with us. If we were, we must change the + eagle on our flags for a crow. The Emperor cannot desire the + misery of a people, and the shame of his soldiers. He has + his own notions. But if, in the meantime, these poor devils + of Romans were to rise in insurrection, in the hope of + obtaining the Secularization, the Amnesty, the Code, and the + Liberal Government, which we have taught them to expect, we + should inevitably be obliged to shoot them down." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WHY THE POPE WILL NEVER HAVE SOLDIERS. + + +I paid a visit to a Roman Prelate well known for his devotion to the +interests of the Church, the temporal power of the Popes, and the +August person of the Holy Father. + +When I was introduced to his oratory I found him reading over the +proof-sheets of a thick volume, entitled _Administration of the +Military Forces_. + +He threw down his pen with an air of discouragement, and showed me the +two following quotations which he had inscribed on the title-page of +the book: + + "Every independent State should suffice to itself, and assure its + internal security by its own forces."--_Count de Rayneval; note of + 14th May_, 1855. + + "The troops of the Pope will always be the troops of the Pope. What + are warriors who have never made war?"--_De Brosses_. + +After I had reflected a little upon these not very consoling passages, +the Prelate said, + + "You have not been very long at Rome, and your impressions + ought to be just, because they are fresh. What do you think + of our Romans? Do the descendants of Marius appear to you a + race without courage, incapable of confronting danger? If it + be indeed true that the nation has retained nothing of its + patrimony, not even its physical courage, all our efforts to + create a national force in Rome are foredoomed to failure. + The Popes must for ever remain disarmed in the presence of + their enemies. Nothing is left for them but to entrench + themselves behind the mercenary courage of a Swiss garrison + or the respectful protection of a great Catholic power. What + becomes of independence? What becomes of sovereignty?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "I already know the Romans too well to judge them by the + calumnies of their enemies. I daily see with what + intemperate courage this violent and hot-blooded people + gives and receives death. I know the esteem expressed by + Napoleon I. for the regiments he raised here. And we can say + between ourselves that there were many of the subjects of + the Pope in the revolutionary army which defended Rome + against the French. I am persuaded, then, that the Holy + Father has no need to go abroad to find men, and that a few + years would serve to make these men good soldiers. What is + much less evident to me is the real necessity for having a + Roman army. Does the Pope want to aggrandise himself by war? + No. Does he fear lest some enemy should invade his States? + Certainly not. He is better protected by the veneration of + Europe than by a line of fortresses. If, by a scarcely + possible eventuality, any difference were to arise between + the Holy See and an Italian Monarchy, the Pope has the means + of resistance at hand, without striking a blow; for he + counts more soldiers in Piedmont, in Tuscany, and in the Two + Sicilies, than the Neapolitans, the Tuscans, and the + Piedmontese would well know how to send against him. So much + for the exterior; and the situation is so clear, that your + Ministry of War assumes the modest and Christian title of + 'the Ministry of Arms.' As for the interior, a good + gendarmerie is all you want.' + + "Eh! my dear son," cried the Prelate, "we ask nothing + better. A people which is never destined to make war does + not want an army, but it ought to keep on foot the forces + necessary for the maintenance of the public peace. An army + of police and internal security is what we have been + endeavouring to create since 1849. Have we succeeded? Do we + suffice for ourselves? Are we in a position to ensure our + tranquillity by our own forces? No! no! certainly not." + + "Pardon me, Monsignore, if I think you a little severe. + During the three months I have loitered as an observer in + Rome, I have had time to see the pontifical army. Your + soldiers are fine-looking men, their general appearance is + good, they have a martial air, and, as far as I can judge, + they go through their manoeuvres pretty well. It would be + difficult to recognize in them the old soldier of the Pope, + the fabulous personage whose duty it was to escort + processions, and to fire off the cannon on firework nights; + the well-to-do citizen in uniform who, if the weather looked + threatening, mounted guard with an umbrella. The Holy + Father's army would present a good appearance in any country + in the world; and there are some of your soldiers whom--at a + little distance--I should take for our own." + +"Yes," he said, + + "their appearance is good enough, and if factions could be + kept down by mere appearances, I should feel tolerably easy. + But I know many things respecting the army that make me very + uncomfortable--and yet I don't know all. I know there is + great difficulty in recruiting not only soldiers, but + officers; that young men of good family scorn to command, + and ploughboys to serve, in our army. I know that more than + one mother would rather see her son at the hulks than with + the regiment. I know that our soldiers, for the most part + drawn from the dregs of the people, have neither confidence + in their comrades, nor respect for their officers, nor + veneration for their colours. You would vainly look to find + among them devotion to their country, fidelity to their + sovereign, and all those high and soldierly virtues which + make a man die at his post. To the greater number the laws + of duty and honour are a dead letter. I know that the + gendarme does not always respect private property. I know + that the factions rely at least much as we ourselves do on + the support of the army. What good is it to us to have + fourteen or fifteen thousand men on foot, and to spend some + millions of scudi annually, if after such efforts and + sacrifices, foreign protection is now more necessary to us + than it was the first day?" + +"Monsignore," I replied, + + "you place things in the worst light, and you judge the + situation somewhat after the manner of the Prophet Jeremiah. + The Holy Father has several excellent officers, both in the + special corps and in the regiments of the line; and you have + also some good soldiers. Our officers, who are competent + men, render justice to yours, both as regards their + intelligence and their goodwill. If I am astonished at + anything, it is that the pontifical army has made so much + progress as it has in the deplorable conditions in which it + is placed. We can discuss it freely because the whole system + is under examination, and about to be reorganized by the + Head of the State. You complain that young gentlemen of good + family do not throng to the College of Cadets in the hope of + gaining an epaulette. But you forget how little the + epaulette is honoured among you. The officer has no rank in + the state. It is a settled point that a deacon shall have + precedence of a sub-deacon; but the law and custom of Rome + do not allow a Colonel to take precedence even of a man + having the simple tonsure. Pray, what position do you assign + to your Generals? What is their rank in the hierarchy?" + + "Instead of having our Generals in the army, we have them at + the head of the religious orders. Imagine the sensations of + the General of the Jesuits at hearing a soldier announced by + the honourable ecclesiastical title of _General_!" + +"Well! there's something in that." + + "In order to have commanders for our troops, without at the + same time creating personages of too much importance, we + have imported three foreign Colonels, who are permitted to + perform the functions of General. They even appear in the + disguise of Generals, but they will never have the audacity + to assume the title." + + "Capital! Well, now with us there is not a scamp of eighteen + who would engage in the army if he were told that he might + become a Colonel, but never a General; or even a General, + but never a Marshal of France. Who, or what, could induce a + man to rush into a career in which there is at a certain + point an impassable barrier? You regret that all your + officers are not _savants_. I admit that they have learnt + something. They enter the College without competition or + preliminary examination, sometimes without orthography or + arithmetic. The first inspection made by our Generals + discovers future lieutenants who cannot do a sum in + division, a French class without either a master or pupils, + and an historical class in which, after seven months of + teaching, the professor is still theologically expounding + the creation of the world. It must indeed be a powerful + spirit of emulation which can induce these young men to make + themselves capable of keeping up a conversation with French + officers. You are astonished that they allow the discipline + of their men to become somewhat relaxed. Why, discipline is + about the last thing they have been taught. In the time of + Gregory XVI. an officer refused to allow a Cardinal's + carriage to pass down a certain street. Such were his + orders. The coachman drove on, and the officer was sent to + the castle of St. Angelo, for having done his duty. A single + instance of this sort is quite enough to demoralize an army. + But the King of Naples shows the Pope his mistake. He had a + sentry mentioned in the order of the day, for giving a + bishop's coachman a cut with his sword. You are scandalized + because certain military administrators curtail the + soldiers' poor allowance of bread; but they have never been + told that peculation will be punished by dismissal." + + "Well, the scheme of reorganization is in hand; you will see + a new order of things in 1859." + + "I am glad to hear it, Monsignore; and I will answer for it + that a judicious, well-considered reform--slowly + progressive, of course, as everything is at Rome--will + produce excellent results in a few years. It is not in a day + that you can expect to change the face of things; but you + know the gardener is not discouraged by the certainty that + the tree he plants to-day will not produce fruit for the + next five years. The morals of your soldiers are, as you + say, none of the best: I hear it said everywhere that an + honest peasant thinks it a dishonour to wear your uniform. + When you can hold out a future to your men, you need no + longer recruit them from the dregs of the population. The + soldier will have some feeling of personal dignity when he + ceases to find himself exposed to contempt. These poor + fellows are looked down upon by everybody, even by the + servants of small families. They breathe an atmosphere of + scorn, which may be termed the _malaria_ of honour. Relieve + them, Monsignore; they ask nothing better." + + "Do you think, then, the means are to be found of giving us + an army as proud and as faithful as the French army? That + were a secret for which the Cardinal would pay a high + price." + + "I offer it to you for nothing, Monsignore. France has + always been the most military country in Europe; but in the + last century the French soldier was no better than yours. + The officers are pretty much the same, with this difference + only,--that formerly the King selected them from the + nobility, whereas now they ennoble themselves by zeal and + courage. But a hundred years ago the soldiery, properly so + called, consisted in France of what it now does with + you--the scum of the population. Picked up in low taverns, + between a heap of crown-pieces and a glass of brandy, the + soldier made himself more dreaded by the peasantry than by + the enemy. He seemed to be overpowered beneath the weight of + the scorn of the country at large, the meanness of his + present condition, and the impossibility of future + promotion; and he revenged himself by forays upon the cellar + and the farmyard. He had his place among the scourges which + desolated monarchical France. Hear what La Fontaine says,-- + + "La faim, les creanciers, _les soldats_, la corvee, Lui font + d'un malheureux la peinture achevee." + + You see that your soldiers of 1858 are angels in comparison + with our _soudards_ of the monarchy. If, with all this, you + still find them, not absolutely perfect, try the French + recipe: submit all your citizens to a conscription, in order + that your regiments may not be composed of the refuse of the + nation, Create--" + +"Stop!" cried the prelate. + +"Monsignore?" + + "I stopped you short, my son, because T perceive that you + are getting beyond the real and the possible. _Primo_, we + have no citizens; we have subjects. _Secundo_, the + conscription is a revolutionary measure, which we will not + adopt at any price; it consecrates a principle of equality + as much opposed to the ideas of the Government as to the + habits of the country. It might possibly give us a very good + army, but that army would belong to the nation, not to the + Sovereign. We will at once put away, if you please, this + dangerous utopia." + +"It might gain you some popularity." + +"Far from it. Believe me, the subjects of the Holy Father have a deep +antipathy to the principle of the conscription. The discontent of La +Vendee and Brittany is nothing to that which it would create here." + +"People become accustomed to everything, Monsignore. I have met +contingents from La Vendee and Brittany singing merrily as they went +to join their corps." + +"So much the better for them. But let me tell you the only grievance +of this country against the French rule is the conscription, which the +Emperor had established among us." + +"So you negative my proposal of the conscription." + +"Absolutely!" + +"I must think no more about it?" + +"Quite out of the question." + +"Well, Monsignore, I'll do without it. Let us have recourse to the +system of voluntary enlistment, but with the condition that you secure +the prospects of the soldier. What bounty do you offer to recruits?" + +"Twelve scudi; but for the future we mean to go as high as twenty." + + "Twenty scudi is fair enough; still I'm afraid even at one + hundred and seven francs a head you won't get picked men. + Now, you will allow, Monsignore, a peasant must be badly off + indeed when a bounty of twenty scudi tempts him to put on a + uniform which is universally despised? But if you want to + attract more recruits round every barrack than there were + suitors at Penelope's gate, endow the army, offer the Roman + citizens--pardon me, I mean the Pope's _subjects_--such a + bounty as is really likely to tempt them. Pay them down a + small sum for the assistance of their families, and keep the + balance till their period of service has expired. Induce + them to re-engage after their discharge by promises + honourably and faithfully observed; arrange that with every + additional year of service the savings which the soldier has + left in the hands of the state shall increase. Believe me, + when the Romans know that a soldier, without assistance, + without education, without any brilliant action, or any + stroke of good fortune, by the mere faithful performance of + his duty, can, after twenty-five years' service, secure an + income of L20 or L25 a year, they will snatch at the + advantage of entering the ranks; and I warrant you, the + personal interest of each will attach them more firmly to + the Government, as the depository of their savings. When the + house of a notary is on fire you will see the most immovable + and indifferent of shopkeepers running like a cat on the + tiles, to put out the fire and save his own papers. On the + same principle, a Government will always be served with zeal + in proportion to the interest its servants have in its + security." + +"Of course," said the Prelate, + + "I understand your argument perfectly. Man requires some + object in life. A hundred and twenty scudi a year is not an + unpleasant bed to lie upon after a term of military service. + At this price we should not want candidates. Even the middle + class would solicit employment in the military as much as it + now does the civil service of the state; and we should be + able to pick and choose our men. What frightens me in the + matter is the expense." + + "Ah! Monsignore, you know a really good article is never to + be had cheap. The Pontifical Government has 15,000 soldiers + for L400,000. France would pay half as much again for them: + but then she would have the value of the extra cost. The men + who have completed three or four terms of service, are those + who cost the most money; and yet there is an economy in + keeping them, because every such man is worth three + conscripts. Do you then, or do you not, wish to create a + national force? Have you made up your mind on the subject? + If you do wish for it, you must pay for it, and make the + sacrifices necessary to obtain it. If, on the contrary, your + Government prefers economy to security, begin by saving the + L400,000, and sell to some foreign country the 15,000 + muskets, more dangerous than useful, since you don't know + whether they are for you or against you. The question may be + summed up in two words: safety, which will cost you money; + or economy, which may cost you your existence!" + +"You are proposing an army of Praetorians." + +"The name is not the thing. I only promise you that if you pay your +soldiers well, they'll be faithful to you." + +"The Praetorians often turned against the Emperors." + +"Because the Emperors were silly enough to pay them ready money." + +"But is there no motive in this world nobler than interest? And is +money the only lasting tie that binds soldiers to their standard?" + + "I should not be a Frenchman, if I held such a belief. I + advised you to increase your soldiers' pay, because hitherto + your army has been recruited by money alone; and also + because money is that which it costs you the least to + obtain, and consequently that which you will the most + willingly part with. Well then, now that you have given me + the few millions I required for the purpose of attaching + your soldiers to the Pontifical Government, furnish me with + the means of raising them in their own estimation and in + that of the people. Honour them, in order that they may + become men of honour. Prove to them, by the consideration + with which you surround them, that they are not footmen, and + that they ought not to have the souls of footmen. Give them + a place in the state; throw around their uniform some of the + _prestige_ which is now the exclusive privilege of the + clerical garb." + +"Do you know what you are asking for?" + + "Nothing but what is absolutely necessary. Remember, + Monsignore, that this army, raised to act in the interior of + the Pontifical States, will serve you less frequently by the + force of its arms, than by the moral authority of its + presence. And pray what authority can it possess in the eyes + of your subjects, if the Government affect to despise it?" + + "But, admitting that it obtain all the pay and all the + consideration that you claim for it, still it will remain + open to the remark of the President de Brosses, 'What are + warriors who have never in their lives made war?'" + + "I admit it. The consideration accorded by all Frenchmen to + the soldier, takes its source in the idea of the dangers he + has encountered or may encounter. We behold in him a man who + has sacrificed his life beforehand, in engaging to shed + every drop of his blood at a word from his chiefs. If the + little children in our country respectfully salute the + colours--that steeple of the regiment--it is because they + think on the brave fellows who have fallen round it." + + "Perhaps, then, you think we ought to send our soldiers to + make war, before employing them as guardians of the peace?" + + "It is certain, Monsignore, that whenever one sees an old + Crimean soldier who has strayed into one of the Pope's + foreign regiments, the medal he wears on his breast makes + him look quite a different man from any of his comrades. The + corps of your army which the people has treated with the + greatest respect, is the Pontifical Carabineers, because it + was originally formed of Napoleon's old soldiers." + + "My friend, you do not answer my question. Do you require us + to declare war against Europe for the sake of teaching our + gendarmes to keep the peace at home?" + + "Monsignore, the government of his Holiness is too prudent + to go in search of adventures. We are no longer in the days + of Julius II., who donned the cuirass, and buckled on the + sword of the flesh, and sprang himself into the breach. But + why should not the Head of the Church do as Pius V., who + sent his sailors with the Spaniards and Venetians to the + battle of Lepanto? Why should you not detach a regiment or + two to Algeria? France would, perhaps, give them a place in + her army; they might join us in advancing the holy cause of + civilization. Rest assured that when those troops returned, + after five or six campaigns, to the more modest duty of + preserving the public peace, everybody would obey them + courteously. Vulgar footmen would no longer dare to make use + of such expressions as one I heard yesterday evening at the + door of a theatre,--'Stick to your soldiering, and leave + servant's work to me!' They who despise them now, would be + proud to show them respect; for nations have a tendency to + admire themselves in the persons of their armies." + + "For how long?" + + "For ever. Acquired glory is a capital which can never be + exhausted. And these regiments would never lose the spirit + of honour and discipline which they would bring back from + the seat of war. You know not, Monsignore, what it is to + have an idea become incarnate in a regiment. There is a + whole world of recollections, traditions, and virtues, + circulating, seen and unseen, through this band of men. It + is the moral patrimony of the corps; the veterans don't + carry it away when they retire from the service, while the + conscripts inherit it from the day of their joining the + regiment. The colonel, the officers, and the privates, + change one after the other, and yet it is the same regiment + that ever remains, because the same spirit continues to + flutter amid the folds of the same colours. Have four good + regiments of picked men, well paid, properly respected, and + that have been under fire, and they will last as long as + Rome, and Mazzini himself will not prevail against their + courage." + + "So be it! And may Heaven hear you!" + + "The business is half done, Monsignore, when you have heard + me. We are not far from the Vatican, where sits the real + Minister of Arms." + + "He will urge another objection." + + "What will it be?" + + "That if he send our regiments to serve their apprenticeship + in Africa, they will bring back French ideas." + + "That is an accident, impossible to prevent. But console + yourself with the reflection that it is perfectly immaterial + whether the French ideas are brought into your country by + your soldiers or by ours. Besides, this is an article which + so easily eludes the vigilance of the custom-house, that the + railways are already bringing it in daily, and you will soon + have a large stock on hand. And after all, where's the great + evil? All men who have studied us without prejudice, know + that French ideas are ideas of order and liberty, of + conservatism and progress, of labour and honesty, of culture + and industry. The country in which French ideas abound the + most is France, and France, Monsignore, is in good health." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MATERIAL INTERESTS. + + +"For my part," said a great fat Neapolitan, + + "I don't care the value of a bit of orange-peel for + politics. I am willing to believe we've got a bad + government, because all the world says we have, and because + our King never dare show himself in public. All I can say + is, that my grandfather made 20,000 ducats as a + manufacturer; that my father doubled his capital in trade; + and that I bought an estate which, in my tenants' hands, + pays me six per cent. for the investment. I eat four meals a + day, I'm in vigorous health, and I weigh fourteen stone. So + when I toss off my third glass of old Capri wine at supper, + I can't for the life of me help crying, 'Long live the + King!'" + +A huge hog which happened to cross the street as the Neapolitan +reached his climax, gave a grunt in token of approbation. + +The "hog" school is not numerous in Italy, whatever superficial +travellers may have told you on that head. The most highly-gifted +nation in Europe will not easily be persuaded that the great end of +human existence is to eat four meals a day. + +But let us suppose for an instant that all the Pope's subjects are +willing to renounce all liberty,--religious, political, municipal, and +even civil,--for the sake of growing sleek and fat, without any higher +aim, and are content with the merely animal enjoyments of health and +food; do they find in their homes the means of satisfying their wants? +Can they, on that score at least, applaud their Government? Are they +as well treated as beasts in a cage? Are the people fat and thriving? +I answer, No! + +In every country in the world the sources of public wealth are three +in number: agriculture, manufactures, and commerce. All governments +which do their duty, and understand their interests, emulate one +another in favouring, by wholesome administrative measures, the farm, +the workshop, and the counting-house. Wherever the nation and its +rulers are united, trade and manufactures will be found clinging round +the government, and increasing even to excess the population of the +capital cities; while agriculture works her greatest miracles in the +circuit which is the most immediately subject to the influence of +authority. + +Borne is the least industrious and commercial city in the Pontifical +States, and its suburbs resemble a desert. You must travel very far to +find any industrial experiment, or any attempt at trade. + +Whose fault is this? Industrial pursuits require, above all things, +liberty. Now in the States of the Church all the manufactures of any +importance constitute privileges bestowed by the government upon its +friends. Not only tobacco and salt, but sugar, glass, wax, and +stearine, are objects of privilege. Privilege here--privilege +there--privilege everywhere. An Insurance Company is established, of +course by special privilege. The very baskets used by the +cherry-vendors are the monopoly of a privileged basket-maker. The +Inspector of the Piazza Navona[14] would seize any refractory basket +which had failed to pay its tribute to monopoly. The grocers of +Tivoli, the butchers of Frascati, all the retail dealers in the +suburbs of Rome, are privileged. The system of privileges and +monopolies is universal, and of course commerce shares the common lot. + +Commerce cannot flourish without capital, facilities of credit, easy +communication, and, above all, personal safety. I have shown you what +the roads are as to safety. I have not yet shown you how wretchedly +bad and insufficient they are. Now for a few facts. + +In June, 1858, I travelled through the Mediterranean provinces, taking +notes as I went along. I established the fact that in one township the +bread cost nearly three-halfpence a pound, while in another, some +twelve miles off, it was to be had for a penny. It follows that the +carriage of goods along twelve miles of road cost a farthing a pound. +At Sonnino bad wine was sold for sevenpence the _litre_, while the +same quantity of passable wine might be had at Pagliano, thirty miles +off, for twopence halfpenny; so the cost of carrying an article +weighing some two pounds for thirty miles was fourpence halfpenny. +Wherever governments make roads, prices naturally find their level. + +I may be told that I explored remote and out-of-the-way districts. If +we approach the capital, we find the matters still worse. The nearest +villages to Rome have not roads fit for carriages from one to the +other. What would be said of the French administration, if people +could not get from Versailles to St. Germain without passing through +Paris? This, however, has been for centuries the state of things near +the Pope's capital. If you want a still more striking instance, here +it is. Bologna, the second city in the Pontifical States, is in rapid +and frequent communication with the whole world--except Rome. It +despatches seven mails a week to foreign countries--only five to Rome. +The letters from Paris arrive at Bologna some hours before those from +Rome; the letters from Vienna are in advance of those from Rome by a +day and a night. The Papal kingdom is not very extensive, but it seems +to me even too extensive, when I see distances trebled by the +carelessness of the Government and the inadequacy of the public works. +As to railways, there are two, one from Rome to Frascati, and one from +Rome to Civita Vecchia; but the Adriatic provinces, which are the most +populous, the most energetic, and the most interesting in the country, +will not hear the whistle of the locomotive and the rush of the train +for a long time to come. The nation loudly demands railways. The lay +proprietors, instead of absurdly asking fancy prices for their land, +eagerly offer it to companies. The convents alone raise barricades, as +if they thought the devil was trying to break in at their gates. The +erection of a railway station in Rome gave rise to some comical +difficulties. Our unfortunate engineers were utterly at a loss for the +means of effecting an opening. On all sides the way was blocked up by +obstructive friars. Black friars--white friars--grey friars--and brown +friars. They began with the Lazarists. The Holy Father personally came +to their rescue. "Ah, Mr. Engineer, have mercy on my poor Lazarists! +The good souls are given to prayer and meditation; and your +locomotives do make such a hideous din!" So Mr. Engineer is fain to +try the neighbouring convent. New difficulties there. The next attack +is made upon a little nunnery founded by the Princess de Bauffremont. +But I have neither time nor space for episodical details. It suffices +for our purpose to state that the construction of railways will be a +terribly long-winded affair, and that in the meantime trade languishes +for want of crossroads. The budget of public works is devoted to the +repair of churches, and the building of basilicas. Nearly +half-a-million sterling has already been sunk in the erection of a +very grey and very ugly edifice on the Ostia road.[15] As much more +will be required to finish it, and the commerce of the country will be +none the better. + +Half a million sterling! Why the entire capital of the bank of Rome is +but L400,000; and when merchants go there to have their bills +discounted, they can get no money. They are obliged to apply to +usurers and monopolists, and the governor of the bank is one. Rome has +an Exchange. I discovered its existence by mere chance, in turning +over a Roman almanack. This public establishment opens _once a week_, +a fact which gives some idea of the amount of business transacted +there. + +If trade and manufactures offer but small resources to the subjects of +his Holiness, they fortunately find some compensation in agriculture. +The natural fertility of the soil, and the stubborn industry of those +who cultivate it, will always suffice to keep the nation from +starvation. While it pays away a million sterling annually for foreign +manufactures, the surplus of its agricultural produce brings back some +L800,000. Hemp and corn, oil and wool, wine, silk, and cattle, form +its substantial wealth. + +How do we find the Government acting in this respect? Its duties are +very simple, and may be summed up in three words,--protection, +assistance, and encouragement. + +The budget is not heavily burdened under the head of encouragement. +Some proprietors and land stewards, residing in Rome, ask permission +to found an Agricultural Society. The authorities refuse. In order to +attain their object, they steal furtively into a Horticultural +Society, already established by authority. They organize themselves, +raise subscriptions, exhibit to the Romans a good collection of cattle +and distribute some gold and silver medals offered by Prince Cesarini. +Is it not curious that an exhibition of cattle, in order to be +tolerated, is obliged to smuggle itself in under the shelter of +camellias and geraniums? + +Lay sovereigns not only openly favour agriculture, but they encourage +it at a heavy cost, and do not consider their money thrown away. They +are well aware that to give a couple of hundred pounds to the inventor +of a good plough, is to place a small capital out at a heavy interest. +The investment will render their kingdom more prosperous, and their +children more wealthy. But the Pope has no children. He prefers sowing +in his churches, in order to reap the harvest in Paradise. + +Might he not at least assist the unfortunate peasants who furnish the +bread he eats? + +An able and truthful statistician (the Marchese Pepoli) has proved +that in the township of Bologna, the rural proprietors actually pay +taxes to the amount of L6. 8s. 4d. upon every L4-worth of taxable +income. The fisc is not content with absorbing the entire revenue, but +it annually eats into the capital. What think you of such moderation? + +In 1855 the vines were diseased everywhere. Lay governments vied with +each other in assisting the distressed proprietors. Cardinal Antonelli +seized the opportunity to impose a tax of L74,680 upon the vines; and +as there were no grapes that year to pay it, the amount was charged +upon the different townships. Now which has proved the heaviest +scourge--the _Oidium_ or the Cardinal Minister? Certainly not the +_Oidium_, for that has disappeared. The Cardinal remains. + +All the corn harvested in the _Agro Romano_ pays a fixed duty of +twenty-two pauls per rubbio. The rubbio is worth, on an average, from +80 to 100 pauls; so that the government taxes the harvest to the +amount of at least 22 per cent. Here is a moderate tax. Why it is more +than double the tithe. So much for the assistance rendered to the +growers of corn. + +Every description of agricultural produce pays a tax on export. There +are governments which give a premium to exporters: one may call that +encouraging the national industry. There are others, and they are +still more numerous, which allow a free export of the surplus produce +of the land: this is not merely to encourage, it is to assist the +labourers. The Pope levies an average tax of 22 per thousand on the +total amount of exports, 160 per thousand on the value of imports. The +Piedmontese government is satisfied with 13 per thousand on exports, +and 58 per thousand on imports. Of the two countries, I should prefer +farming in Piedmont. + +Cattle are subject to vexatious taxes, which add from twenty to thirty +per cent. to their cost. They pay when at pasture; they pay nearly +twenty-three shillings per head at market; they pay on exportation. +And yet the breeding of cattle is one of the most valuable resources +of the State, and one of those which ought to be the most assisted. + +The horses raised in the country pay five per cent. on their value +every time they change hands. By the time a horse has passed through +twenty different hands, the Government has pocketed as much as the +breeder. When I say the Government, I am wrong; the horse-tax is not +included in the Budget. It is an ecclesiastical prebend. Cardinal +della Dateria throws it in with general episcopal revenues. + +"The good shepherd should shear, and not flay his sheep." These are +the words of an Emperor, not a Pope, of Rome. + +And now I dare not ask of the Holy Father certain protective measures +which could not fail to double the revenue of his crown and the number +of his subjects. + +According to the statistical returns of 1857, the territorial wealth +of the Romans is estimated at L104,400,000. The gross produce of this +capital does not reach more than L116,563. 11s. 8d., or about ten per +cent. This is little. In Poland, and some other great agricultural +countries, the land pays a net revenue of twelve per cent., which +represents at least twenty per cent. gross. The Roman soil would +produce the same if the Roman government did its duty. + +The country is divided into cultivated and uncultivated lands. The +former, that is to say those planted with useful trees, enriched by +manure, regularly submitted to manual labour, and sown every year, lie +chiefly in the provinces of the Adriatic, far beyond the ken of the +Pope. In this half of the States of the Church (the most worthy of +attention, and the least known) twenty years of French occupation have +left excellent traditions. The system of primogeniture is abolished, +if not by law, at least in practice. The equality of rights among the +children of the same father necessitates the subdivision of property +so favourable to agricultural progress. There are some large landed +proprietors here, as there are everywhere; but instead of abandoning +their estates to the rapacity of an intendant, they divide them into +different occupations, which they confide to the best farmers. The +landlord supplies the land, the buildings, and the cattle, and pays +the property-tax. The tenant supplies the labour, and pays the other +taxes, and the produce is equally shared between the landlord and the +tenant. The system answers well, and the Adriatic provinces would +hardly seem deserving of pity, if it were not for the brigands, the +inundations of the Po and the Reno, and the crushing taxation I have +described. + +These taxes are lighter on the other side of the Apennines. There are +even in the neighbourhood of Rome some landowners who pay scarcely any +at all. In 1854 the _Consulta di Stato_ valued the privileged lands at +L360,000. But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands. + +Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west of Rome, and +wherever the Papal benediction extends, the flat country, which covers +an immense extent, is at once uninhabited, uncultivated, and +unhealthy. Various are the modes in which experienced persons have +attempted to account for the wretched condition of this fine country. + +One says, + + "It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. How can you + cultivate without men? It is uninhabited because it is + unwholesome. How can you expect men to inhabit it at the + risk of their lives? Make it healthy, and it will populate + itself, and the population will cultivate it, for there is + not a finer soil in the world." + +Another replies, + + "You are wrong. You confound cause with effect. The country + is unhealthy because it is uncultivated. The decayed + vegetable matter accumulated by centuries ferments under the + summer sun. The wind blows over it, and raises up a + provision of subtle miasma, imperceptible to the smell, and + yet destructive to life. If all these plains were ploughed + or dug up three or four times, so as to let the air and + light penetrate into the depths of the soil, the fever which + lies dormant under the rank vegetation would speedily + evaporate, and return no more. Hasten then to bring ploughs, + and your first crop will be one of health." + +A third replies to the two first, + + "You are both right. The country is unhealthy because it is + uncultivated, and uncultivated because it is unhealthy. The + question lies in a vicious circle, from which there is no + escape. Let us therefore leave things as they are; and when + the fever-season arrives, we can go and inhale the fresh + mountain air under the tall trees of Frascati." + +The last speaker, if I am not greatly mistaken, is a Prelate. But have +a care, Monsignore! Frascati, once so renowned for the purity of its +air, now no longer deserves its reputation; and I may say the same of +Tivoli. The quarters of Rome most remarkable for healthiness, such for +instance as the Pincian, have of late become unhealthy. Fever is +gaining ground. It is equally worthy of observation that at the same +time the cultivation of the land is diminishing; and that the estates +in mortmain--that is to say, delivered into the hands of the +priesthood--have been increasing at the yearly rate of from L60,000 to +L80,000 a year. Is _mortmain_ indeed the hand which kills? + +I submitted this delicate question to a very intelligent, very +honourable, and very wealthy man, who farms several thousand acres of +Church property. He is one of the _Mercanti di Campagna_, mentioned in +a former chapter (Chap. VI.). The following is the substance of his +reply. + + "Six-tenths of the Agro Romano are held in mortmain. + Three-tenths belong to the princely families, and the + remaining tenth to different individuals. + + "I hold under a religious community. I have a three-years' + lease of the bare land. The live and dead farm-stock is my + own property. It represents an enormous capital, which is + liable to all sorts of accidents. But in our dear country + one must risk a great deal to gain a little. + + "If the land, which is almost all of fine quality, were my + own, I should bring nearly the whole of it under the plough; + but I am expressly forbidden by a clause in my lease to + break up the best land, for fear of exhausting it by growing + corn. No doubt such would be the result in the course of + time, because we apply no manure; but of course the inferior + land which I _am_ allowed to break up will be worn out much + sooner, and will in the end become almost worthless. The + monks knowing this, take care that the best land shall not + lose its quality, and oblige me to keep it in pasture for + cattle. Thus I grow little corn merely because the good + fathers will not let me grow a great deal. I cultivate first + one piece of land, then another. On my farm, as throughout + the Agro Romano, cultivation is but a passing accident; and + so long as this continues, the country will be unhealthy. + + "I raise cattle, which, as you will presently see, is + sometimes a profitable pursuit, sometimes quite the + contrary. On the whole of my farm I have no shelter for my + cattle. I asked the monks to build me some sheds, offering + to pay an increased rent in proportion to outlay. The monk + who acts as the man of business of the convent, shrugged his + shoulders. 'What can you be thinking of?' he said; 'you know + we have only a life interest in the property. To comply with + your request, we must spend our income for the benefit of + our successors: and what care we for our successors? No, we + look to the present usufruct; the future is no concern of + ours--we have no children!' And the friar is right. Well, he + went on to say that I was at liberty to build at my own cost + as many sheds as I liked, which of course would belong to + the convent at the expiration of my lease. I replied that I + had no objection to erect the sheds, if the convent would + grant me a lease of reasonable length. But just then it + occurred to me very opportunely, that the canon law does not + recognize leases for more than three years, and that on the + very day when my sheds were completed, the pious fathers + might find it convenient to pick a quarrel with me. So here + the matter dropped. Although our cattle are naturally hardy + they are bound to suffer from exposure to the weather. A + hundred cows under shelter will yield the same quantity of + milk through the winter as five hundred in the open air, at + half the cost. A large portion of the hay we strew about the + pastures for the cattle, is trodden underfoot and spoilt + instead of being eaten; and if rain falls, the whole is + spoilt. Calculate the loss of milk, the cost of cartage over + a wide range of land, the damage done to the pastures by the + trampling of heavy cattle in wet weather, all caused by the + want of a few sheds, which it is impossible to have under + the present system, and you will appreciate the position of + a farmer holding under landlords who are careless as to the + future, and merely live from hand to mouth. + + "There is another improvement, which I offered to make at my + own expense. I asked permission to dam up a little stream, + dig some trenches, and irrigate the fields, by which I could + have doubled the produce both in quantity and quality. You + will hardly imagine the answer I received. The monks + declared the extraordinary fertility which would result from + the irrigation, would be a sort of violence done to nature, + by which in the end the soil could not fail to be + impoverished. What could I reply to such reasoning? These + good fathers only think of nursing their income. I tax them + neither with ignorance nor bad intentions. I only regret + that the land should be in their hands." + + "Pasture-farming under such conditions as these is a + terribly hazardous pursuit. A single year of drought will + suffice to ruin a breeder completely. In the years 1854-5 we + lost from twenty to forty per cent. of our cattle; in 1856-7 + from seventeen to twenty per cent: and bear in mind that + every beast, before it died, had been taxed." + +A champion of the Pontifical system offered to prove to me _by +figures_ that all is for the best even in the ecclesiastical estates. + +"We have our reasons," he said, + + "for preferring pasture to arable land. Here is a property + consisting of a hundred _rubbia_[16] (not quite three + hundred acres). If it were farmed on the proprietor's own + account, the cultivation, harvesting, threshing, and storing + would amount to the value of 13,550 days' labour. The wages, + seed, keep of horses and cattle, the interest of capital + invested in stock, cost of superintendence, wear and tear of + tools, etc., would stand him in 8,000 scudi, or 80 scudi per + rubbio. The earth returns sevenfold on the seed sown. If 100 + measures of seed are sown, the return will be 700. The + average price of the measure of corn may be taken at 10 + scudi. Thus the value of the crop will be 7,000 scudi, + whereas the same crop cost to raise 8,000 scudi. Here are + 1,000 scudi (about L215) flung clean into the gutter; and + all for the pleasure of cultivating 100 rubbia of land. Is + it not much better to let the 100 rubbia to a + cattle-breeder, who will pay a rent of thirty or forty + shillings per rubbio? On one side we have a clear loss of + L215, and on the other a clear income of L160 or L184." + +This reasoning is founded upon the calculations of Monsignore Nicolai, +a prelate of considerable ability[17]: but it proves nothing, because +it attempts to prove too much. If the cultivation of corn be really so +ruinous an operation, it is strange that farmers should continue to +grow it merely to spite the government. + +But although it is quite true that the cultivation of a rubbio of land +costs 80 scudi, it is false that the earth only yields sevenfold on +the seed sown. According to the admission of the farmers +themselves--and they are notoriously not in the habit of exaggerating +their profits--it yields thirteen-fold on the seed sown. Thirteen +measures of corn are worth thirteen times ten scudi, or 130 scudi. +Deduct 80, the cost of cultivation, and 50 remain. Multiply by 100, +the result is 5,000 scudi (about L1,070), which will be the net income +arising from the 100 rubbia cultivated in corn. The same extent of +land under pasturage will produce L160 or L180. + +Consider, moreover, that it is not the net, but the gross income, +which constitutes the wealth of a country. The cultivation of 100 +rubbia, before it puts 5,000 scudi into the farmer's pockets, has put +some 8,000 scudi in circulation. These eight thousand scudi are +distributed among a thousand or fifteen hundred poor creatures who are +sadly in want of them. Pasture-farming, on the contrary, is only +profitable to three persons, the landlord, the breeder, and the +herdsman. Add to this, that in substituting arable for pasture +farming, you substitute health for disease, a more important +consideration than any other. + +But churchmen who hold or administer lands in mortmain, will never +consent to such a salutary resolution. It does not profit them +directly enough. As long as they have the upper hand, they will prefer +their own ease, and the certainty of their income, to the future +welfare of the people. + +Pius VI., a Pope worthy to have statues erected to him, conceived the +heroic project of forcing a change upon them. He decided that 23,000 +rubbia should be annually cultivated in the Agro Romano, and that all +the land should in turn be subjected to manual labour. Pius VII. did +still better. He decided that Rome, the _origo mali_, should be the +first to apply the remedy. He had a circuit of a mile traced round the +capital, and ordered the proprietors to cultivate it without further +question. A second, and then a third, were to succeed to the first. +The result would have been the disappearance, in a few years, of +malaria, and the gradual population of the solitudes. The purification +of the atmosphere would, too, be further promoted by planting trees +round the fields. Excellent measures these, although tinged by +despotism. Enlightened despotism repairs the errors of clumsy +despotism. But what could the will of two men avail against the +passive resistance of a caste? The laws of Pius VI. and Pius VII. were +never enforced. Cultivation, which had extended over 16,000 rubbia +under the reign of Pius VI., is reduced to an annual average of 5,000 +or 6,000 under the paternal inspection of Pius IX. Not only is the +planting of young trees abandoned, but the sheep are allowed to nibble +down the tender shoots of the old ones. Besides this, speculators are +tolerated, who burn down whole forests, for the production of potash. + +The estates of the Roman princes are somewhat better cultivated than +those of the Church: but they are involved in the same movement, or, +more strictly speaking, enchained in the same stagnation. The law, +which retains immense domains for ever in the hands of the same +family, and custom, which obliges the Roman nobles to spend so large a +portion of their incomes upon show, are equally obstacles to the +subdivision and to the improvement of the land. + +And while the richest plains in Italy are thus lying dormant, a +vigorous, indefatigable, and heroic population cultivates with the +pickaxe the arid sides of mountains, and exhausts its strength in +attempting to extract vegetation from flints. + +I have described the small mountain proprietors who form the +populations of the towns of 10,000 inhabitants towards the +Mediterranean. You have seen with what indomitable resolution they +combat the sterility of their meagre domains, without any hope of ever +becoming rich. These poor people, who spend their lives in getting +their living, would fancy themselves transported to Paradise, if +anybody were to give them a long lease of half-a-dozen acres in the +country about Rome. Their labour would then have a purpose, their +existence an aim, their family a future. + +Perhaps you think they would refuse to labour in an unhealthy country. +Why, these are the very men who at present cultivate the Roman +Campagna to such extent as it is allowed to be cultivated. They it is +who, every spring, come down in large companies from their native +mountains, to break up the heavy clods with pickaxes, and complete the +work of the plough. It is they, too, who return to harvest the crop +under the fatal heat of the summer sun. They attack a field waving +with golden corn. They reap from dawn to dusk, with no food more +nourishing than bread and cheese. They sleep in the open field, +regardless of the nocturnal exhalations which float around them--and +some of them never rise again. Those who survive ten days of a harvest +more destructive than many a battle, return to their native village +with some four or five scudi in their pockets. + +If these men could obtain a long lease, or merely take the land from +year to year, they would make more money, and the dangers to be +encountered would be no greater. They might be established between +Home and Montepoli, Rome and Civita Castellana, in the valley of +Ceprano, on the hills extending round the _Castelli_ of Rome, where +they would breathe an air as wholesome as that of their own mountains; +for fever does not always spare them even there. In course of time, +the colonizing system, advancing slowly and gradually, might realize +the dream of Pius VII., and would inevitably drive before it pauperism +and disease. + +I dare not hope that such a miracle will ever be wrought by a Pope. +The resistance to be encountered is too great, and the power is too +inert. But if it should ever please Heaven, which has given them ten +centuries of clerical government, to accord them, by way of +compensation, ten blessed years of lay administration, we should +perhaps see the Church property placed in more active and abler hands. + +Then, too, we should see the law of primogeniture and the system of +entails abolished, large estates divided, and their owners reduced, by +the force of circumstances, to the necessity of cultivating their +properties. Good laws on exportation, well enforced, would enable +spirited farmers to cultivate corn on a large scale. A network of +country roads, and main lines of railway, would convey agricultural +produce from one end of the country to the other. A national fleet +would carry it all over the world. Public works, institutions of +credit, police--But why plunge into such a sea of hopes? + +Suffice it to say, that the subjects of the Pope will be as prosperous +and as happy as any people in Europe--as soon as they cease to be +governed by a Pope! + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +FINANCES. + + +"The subjects of the Pope are necessarily poor--but then they pay +hardly any taxes. The one condition is a compensation for the other!" + +This is what both you and I have often heard said. Now and then, too, +it is put forth upon the faith of some statistical return or another +of the Golden Age, that they are governed at the rate of 7s. 6d. per +head. + +This calculation is a mere fable, as I can easily prove. But supposing +it to be correct, the Romans would not be the less deserving of pity. +It is a miserable consolation to people who have nothing, to be told +that their taxes are low. For my part, I would much rather have heavy +taxes to pay, and a good deal to pay them with, like the English. What +would be thought of the Queen's government, if after having ruined +trade, manufactures, and agriculture, and exhausted all the sources of +public prosperity, it were to say to the people, "Rejoice, good +people, for henceforth your taxes will not exceed 7s. 6d. a head all +round!" The English people would answer with great reason, that they +would much prefer to pay L40 a head, and be able to make L400. + +It is not this or that particular sum per head on a population which +constitutes moderate or excessive taxation; but the relation which the +sum annually taken for the service of the State bears to the revenues +of the nation. It is just to take much from him who has much; +monstrous to attempt to take anything--be it never so little--from him +who has nothing. If you examine the question from this common sense +point of view, you will agree with me that taxation at the rate of 7s. +6,d. a head, is pretty heavy for the poor Romans. + +But 7s. 6,d. a head is _not_ the rate at which they are taxed; nor +even double that amount. The Budget of Rome is L2,800,000, which is to +be assessed upon three million taxpayers. + +Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, justice, and +humanity, but in such a manner that the heaviest burdens fall upon the +most useful, laborious, and interesting class of the nation, the small +proprietors. + +And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to the State, and +admitted in the budget. Besides these, there are the provincial and +municipal charges, which, under the title of additional per-centage, +amount to more than double the direct taxes. The province of Bologna +pays L80,900 of property-tax, and L96,812 of provincial and municipal +charges, making together L177,712. This sum distributed over the whole +population of 370,107, brings the taxation to a fraction under 10s. a +head. But observe, that instead of being borne by the whole +population, it is borne by no more than 23,022 proprietors. + +But mark a further injustice! It does not bear equally upon the +proprietors of the towns and those of the country. The former has a +great advantage over the latter. A town property in the province of +Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per cent., a country property of the same value +5s. 3d. per cent., not upon the income, but the capital. + +In the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the middle +class that are the most heavily rated. Take the palace of a nobleman +in Bologna, and a small house belonging to a citizen, which adjoins +it. The palace is valued at the trifling sum of L1,100, on the ground +that the apartments inhabited by the owner are not included in the +income. The actual rent of which the owner is in the receipt for the +part left off is about L280 a year: his taxes are L18 a year. The +small house adjoining is valued at L200. The rent derived from it is +L10 a year, and the taxes paid on it are L3. 7s. 6d. Thus we find the +palace paying something like 5s. 6d. per cent. on its income, and the +small house L1 7s. + +The Lombards justly excite our compassion. But the proprietors of the +province of Bologna are taxed to the annual amount of L1,400 more than +those of the province of Milan. + +To this crushing taxation are added heavy duties on articles of +consumption. All the necessaries of life are liable to these taxes, +such as flour, vegetables, rice, bread, etc. They are heavier than in +almost any other European city. Meat is charged at the same rate as in +Paris. Hay, straw, and wood, at still higher rates. + +The town dues of Lille amount to 10s. per head on the population; +those of Florence, about the same; and those of Lyons 12s. 6d. At +Bologna they are 14s. 2d. Observe, town dues alone. We are already a +long way from the 7s. 6d. of the Golden Age! + +I am bound in justice to admit that the nation has not always been so +hardly dealt with. It was not till the reign of Pius IX. that the +taxation became insupportable. The budget of Bologna was more than +doubled between 1846 and 1858. + +Something might be said, if at least the money taken from the nation +were spent for the good of the nation! + +But one-third of the amount raised in taxation remains in the hands of +the officials who collect it. This is incredible, but true. The cost +of collecting the revenue amounts, if I mistake not, in England, to 8 +per cent.; in France, to 14 per cent.; in Piedmont, to 16 per cent.; +and in the States of the Church, to 31 per cent. + +If you marvel at a system of extravagance which obliges the people to +pay L4 for every L2. 15s. 10d. required for their mis-government, here +is a fact which will enlighten you on the subject. + +Last year the place of municipal receiver was put up to auction in the +city of Bologna. An offer was made by an honourable and responsible +man to collect the dues for a commission of 1-1/2 per cent. The +Government gave the preference to Count Cesare Mattei, one of the +Pope's Chamberlains, who asked two per cent. So this piece of +favouritism costs the city L800 a year. + +The following is the mode in which the revenue (after the abstraction +of one-third in the course of collecting it) is disposed of. + +L1,000,000 goes to pay the interest of a continually accumulating +debt, contracted by the priests, and for the priests, annually +increasing through the bad administration of the priests, and carried +by the priests to the debit of the nation. + +L400,000 is devoured by a useless army, the sole duty of which has +hitherto been to present arms to the Cardinals, and to escort the +procession of the Host. + +L120,000 is devoted to those establishments which of all others are +the most indispensable to an unpopular government: I mean, the +prisons. + +L80,000 is the cost of the administration of justice. The tribunals of +the capital absorb half the amount, because they enjoy the distinction +of being for the most part composed of prelates. + +The very modest sum of L100,000 is devoted to public works. This is +chiefly spent in embellishing Rome, and repairing churches. + +L60,000 goes in the encouragement of idleness in the city of Rome. A +Charity Commission, presided over by a Cardinal, distributes this sum +among a few thousand incorrigible idlers, without accounting for it to +anybody. Mendicity is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to +every one. From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid +L1,600,000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects of which, +the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it required. The +Cardinal who presides over the Commission takes L2,400 a year for his +private charities. + +L16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public education, which, +moreover, is wholly in the hands of the clergy. Add this moderate sum, +and the L80,000 devoted to the administration of justice, to a part of +the L100,000 spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly +be set down as money spent in the service of the nation. The remainder +is of no use but to the Government,--in other words, to a parcel of +priests. + +The Pope and the partners of his power must be indifferent financiers, +when, after spending such a pittance on the nation, they contrive to +wind up every year with a deficit. The balance of 1858 showed a +deficit of nearly half a million sterling, which does not prevent the +government from promising a surplus in the estimates of 1859. + +In order to fill up the gaps in the budget, the Government has +recourse to borrowing, sometimes openly, by a loan from the house of +Rothschild, sometimes secretly, by an issue of stock. + +In 1857 the Pontifical Government contracted its eleventh loan with +Rothschild's house; it was a trifle, something under L700,000. +Nevertheless there were quiet issues of stock from 1851 to 1858, to +the tune of L1,320,000. The capital of the debt for which its subjects +are liable, amounts to L14,376,150. 5s. If you will take the trouble +to divide this grand total by the figure which represents the +population, you will find that every little subject born to the Pope +comes into the world a debtor of something like L4. 10s., whereof he +will contribute to pay the interest all his life, although neither he +nor his ancestors have ever derived the least benefit from the outlay. + +It is true these fourteen millions and a half (in round numbers) have +not been lost for all the world. The nephews of the Popes have +pocketed a good round sum. About a third has been swallowed up by what +is called the general interests of the Roman Catholic faith. It has +been proved that the religious wars have cost the Popes at least four +millions; and the farmers of Ancona and Forli are still paying out of +the produce of their fields for the faggots used to burn the +Huguenots. The churches of which Rome is so proud have not been paid +for entirely by the tribute of Catholicism at large. There are certain +remnants of accounts, which were at the cost of the Roman people. The +Popes have made more than one donation to those poor religious +establishments, which possess no more than L20,000,000 worth of +property in the world. The expenses lumped together under the head of +Allocations for Public Worship add something short of L900,000 +sterling to the national debt. Foreign occupation, and more +particularly the invasion of the Austrians in the north, has burdened +the inhabitants with a million sterling. Add the money squandered, +given away, stolen, and lost, together with L1,360,000 paid to bankers +for commission on loans, and you have an account of the total of the +debt, excepting perhaps a million and a half or so, of which the +unexplained and inexplicable disbursement does immortal honour to the +discretion of the ministers. + +Since the restoration of Pius IX., an approach to respect for public +opinion has forced the Pontifical Government to publish some sort of +accounts. It does not render them to the nation, but to Europe, +knowing that Europe is not curious in the matter, and will be easily +satisfied. A few copies of the annual Budget are published; they are +certainly not in everybody's reach. The statement of receipts and +expenditure is prodigiously laconic. I have now before me the +estimates prepared for 1858, in four pages, the least blank of which +contains just fourteen lines. The Finance Minister sums up the +receipts and the outgoings, both ordinary and extraordinary. Under the +head of Receipts, he lumps the whole of "the direct contributions, and +the State property, 3,201,426 scudi." + +Under the head of Expenditure, we read "Commerce, Fine Arts, +Agriculture, Manufactures, and Public Works, 601,764 scudi." A +tolerable lump, this. + +This powerful simplification of accounts enables the Minister to +perform some capital tricks of financial sleight of hand. Supposing, +for instance, the Government wants half a million of scudi for some +mysterious purpose, nothing is easier than to bring their direct +contributions in as having paid half a million less than they really +have. What will Europe ever know about the matter? + + "Speech is silver, but silence is gold." + +Successive Finance Ministers at Rome have all adopted this device, +even when they are forced to speak, they have the art of not saying +the very thing the country wants to hear. + +In almost all civilized countries the nation enjoys two rights which +seem perfectly just and natural. The first is that of voting the +taxes, either directly or through the medium of its deputies; the +second, that of verifying the expenditure of its own money. + +In the Papal kingdom, the Pope or his Minister says to the citizens, +"Here is what you have to pay!" And he takes the money, spends it, and +never more alludes to it except in the vaguest language. + +Still, in order to afford some sort of satisfaction to the conscience +of Europe, Pius IX. promised to place the finances under the control +of a sort of Chamber of Deputies. Here is the text of this promise, +which figured, with many others, in the _Motu Proprio_ of the 12th of +September, 1849. + + "_A Consulta di Stato_ for the Finances is established. It + will be _heard_ on the estimates of the forthcoming year. It + will examine the balance of accounts for the previous year, + and sign the vote of credit. It will give its advice on the + establishment of new, or the reduction of old taxes; on the + better distribution of the general taxation; on the measures + to be taken for the improvement of commerce, and in general + on all that concerns the interests of the public Treasury. + + "The Councillors shall be selected by Us from lists + presented by the Provincial Councils. Their number shall be + fixed in proportion to the provinces of the State. This + number may be increased within fixed limits by the addition + of some of our subjects, whom we reserve to ourselves the + right to name." + +Now, allow me to dwell briefly upon the meaning of this promise, and +the results which have followed it. Who knows whether diplomacy may +not ere long be again occupied in demanding promises of the +Pope?--whether the Pope may not again think it wise to promise +mountains and marvels?--whether these new promises may not be just as +hollow and insincere as the old ones? This short paragraph deserves a +long commentary, for it is fraught with instruction. + +"It is established!" said the Pope. But the _Consulta di Stato_ of +Finances, established the 12th of September, 1849, only gave signs of +life in December, 1853. Four years afterwards! This is what I call +drawing a bill at a pretty long date. It is admitted that the nation +needs some guarantees, and that it is entitled to tender some advice, +and to exercise some control. And so the nation is requested to call +again in four years. + +The members of the _Consulta_ of the Finances are a sort of sham +deputies; very sham ones, I assure you, although the Count de +Rayneval, to suit his purpose, is pleased to call them "the +Representatives of the Nation." They represent the nation as Cardinal +Antonelli represents the Apostles. + +They are elected by the Pope from a list presented by the Communal +Councils. The Communal Councillors are elected by their predecessors +of the Communal Council, who were chosen directly by the Pope from a +list of eligible citizens, each of whom must have produced a +certificate of good conduct, both religious and political. In all this +I cannot for the life of me see more than one elector--the Pope. + +We'll begin this progressive election again, and start from the very +bottom--that is, the nation. The Italians have a peculiar fancy for +municipal liberties. The Pope knows this, and, as a good prince, he +resolves to accommodate them. The township or commune wishes to choose +its own councillors, of which there are ten to be elected. The Pope +names sixty electors--six electors for every councillor. And observe, +that in order to become an elector, a certificate from the parish and +the police is necessary. But they are not infallible; and, moreover, +it is just possible that in the exercise of a novel right they may +fall into some error; so the Sovereign determines to arrange the +election himself. Then, his Communal Councillors--for they are indeed +_his_--come and present him with a list of candidates for the +Provincial Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father +may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the province of +Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hundred and fifty-six; he +must be unlucky indeed not to be able to pick out eleven men devoted +to him. These eleven Provincial Councillors, in their turn, present +four candidates, out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the +nation is _represented_ in the Financial Council. + +Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father adds to the +list of representatives some men of his own choice, his own caste, and +who are in habits of intimacy with him. The councillors elected by the +nation are eliminated by one-third every two years. The councillors +named directly by the Pope are irremovable. + +Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to power, it was +this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope does not trust to it. He +has given the presidence to a Cardinal, the vice-presidence to a +Prelate; and still he is only half re-assured. A special regulation +places all the councillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal +President. It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the +bureaux, and makes the reports to the Pope. Without his permission no +papers or documents are communicated to the councillors. So true is it +that the reigning caste sees in every layman an enemy. + +And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay councillors, +selected among the most timid, submissive, and devoted of the Pope's +subjects, could not forget that they were men, citizens, and Italians. +On the day after their installation they manifested a desire to begin +doing their duty, by examining the accounts of the preceding year. +They were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in their +demands. A search was instituted. A few documents were produced; but +so incomplete that the Council was not able in six years to audit and +pass them. + +The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on the new taxes +decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, that is to say, since the +Council of Finances has entered upon its functions, the Government has +contracted foreign loans, inscribed consolidated stock in the great +book of the national debt, alienated the national property, signed +postal conventions, changed the system of taxation at Benevento, and +taxed the diseased vines, without even taking the trouble to ascertain +its opinion. + +The Government proposed some other financial measure to the Council, +and the answer was in the negative. In spite of this, the Government +measures were carried into execution. The _Motu Proprio_ says the +_Consulta di Stato_ shall be heard, but not that it shall be listened +to.[18] + +Every year, at the end of the session, the _Consulta_ addresses to the +Pope a humble petition against the gross abuses of the financial +system. The Pope remits the petition over to some Cardinals. The +Cardinals remit it over to the Greek Kalends. + +The Count de Rayneval greatly admired this mechanism. The Emperor +Soulouque did more--he imitated it. + +But M. Guizot tells us that "there is a degree of bad government which +no people, whether great or little, enlightened or ignorant, will +tolerate at the present day."[19] + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +The Count de Rayneval, after having proved that all is for the best in +the dominions of the Pope, winds up his celebrated _Note_ by a +desponding conclusion. According to him, the Roman Question is one +which cannot possibly be definitively solved; and the utmost that can +be effected by diplomacy is the postponement of a catastrophe. + +I am not such a pessimist. It appears to me that all political +questions may be solved, and all catastrophes averted. I am sanguine +enough to believe that war is not absolutely indispensable to the +salvation of Italy and the security of Europe, and that it is possible +to extinguish a conflagration without firing guns. + +You have seen the intolerable misery and the legitimate discontent of +the subjects of the Pope. You know enough of them to understand that +Europe ought without delay to bring them succour, not only from the +love of abstract justice, but in the interest of the public peace. I +have proved to you that the misfortunes which afflict these three +millions of men must be attributed neither to the weakness of the +sovereign, nor even to the perversity of minister, but are the logical +and necessary deductions from a principle. All that Europe has to do +is to protest against the consequences. The principle must either be +admitted or rejected. If you approve the temporal sovereignty of the +Pope, you are bound to applaud everything, even the conduct of +Cardinal Antonelli. If you are shocked by the offences of the +Pontifical Government, it is against the ecclesiastical monarchy that +you must seek your remedy. + +Diplomacy, without staying to discuss the premises, has from time to +time protested against the deductions. In profoundly respectful +_Memoranda_ it has implored the Pope to act inconsistently, by +administering the affairs of his States upon the principles of lay +governments. Should the Pope turn a deaf ear, the diplomatists have no +right to complain, because they recognize his character, as an +independent sovereign. Should he promise all they ask and afterwards +break his word, diplomacy is equally without a ground of complaint. Is +it not the admitted right of the Sovereign Pontiff to absolve men even +from the most solemn oaths? And finally, should he yield to the +solicitation of Europe, and enact liberal laws one day, only to let +them fall into desuetude the next, diplomatists are once more +disarmed. To violate its own laws is a special privilege of absolute +monarchy. + +I entertain a very high respect for our diplomatists of 1859; nor were +their predecessors of 1831 wanting either in good intentions or +capacity. They addressed to Gregory XVI. a MEMORANDUM, which is a +master-piece of its kind. They extorted from the Pope a real +constitution,--a constitution which left nothing to be desired, and +which guaranteed all the moral and material interests of the Roman +nation. In a few years this same constitution had entirely +disappeared, and abuses again flowed from the ecclesiastical +principle, like a river from its source. + +We renewed the experiment in 1849. The Pope granted us the _Motu +Proprio_ of Portici, and the Romans gained nothing by it. + +Shall our diplomatists repeat in 1859 this same part of dupes? A +French engineer has demonstrated that dykes erected along the banks of +rivers liable to inundation are costly, in constant need of repair, +and ineffectual; and that the only real protection against those +devastations is the construction of a dam at the source. To the +source, then, gentlemen of the diplomatic guild! Ascend straight to +the temporal power of the Papacy. + +And yet I dare neither hope for, nor ask of Europe the immediate +application of this grand panacea. Gerontocracy is still too powerful, +even in the youngest governments Besides, we are now at peace, and +radical reforms are only to be effected by war. The sword alone enjoys +the privilege of deciding great questions by a single stroke. +Diplomatists, a timid army of peace, proceed but by half-measures. + +There is one which was proposed in 1814 by Count Aldini, in 1831 by +Rossi, in 1855 by Count Cavour. These three statesmen, comprehending +the impossibility of limiting the authority of the Pope within the +kingdom in which it is exercised, and over the people who are +abandoned to it, advised Europe to remedy the evil by diminishing the +extent of, and reducing the population subjected to, the States of the +Church. + +Nothing is more just, natural, or easy than to free the Adriatic +provinces, and to confine the despotism of the Papacy between the +Mediterranean and the Apennines. I have shown that the cities of +Ferrara, Ravenna, Bologna, Rimini, and Ancona are at once the most +impatient of the Pontifical yoke and the most worthy of liberty. +Deliver them. Here is a miracle which may be wrought by a stroke of +the pen: and the eagle's plume which signed the treaty of Paris is as +yet but freshly mended. + +There would still remain to the Pope a million of subjects, and +between three and four millions of acres; neither the one nor the +other in a very high state of cultivation, I must admit; but it is +possible that the diminution of his revenue might induce him to manage +his estates and utilize his resources better than he now does. One of +two things would occur: either he would enter upon the course pursued +by good governments, and the condition of his subjects would become +endurable, or he would persist in the errors of his predecessors, and +the Mediterranean provinces would in their turn demand their +independence. + +At the worst, and as a last alternative, the Pope might retain the +city of Rome, his palaces and temples, his cardinals and prelates, his +priests and monks, his princes and footmen, and Europe would +contribute to feed the little colony. + +Rome, surrounded by the respect of the universe, as by a Chinese wall, +would be, so to speak, a foreign body in the midst of free and living +Italy. The country would suffer neither more nor less than does an old +soldier from the bullet which the surgeon has left in his leg. + +But will the Pope and the Cardinals easily resign themselves to the +condition of mere ministers of religion? Will they willingly renounce +their political influence? Will they in a single day forget their +habits of interfering in our affairs, of aiming princes against one +another, and of discreetly stirring up citizens against their rulers? +I much doubt it. + +But on the other hand, princes will avail themselves of the lawful +right of self-defence. They will read history, and they will there +find that the really strong governments are those which have kept +religious authority in their own hands; that the Senate of Rome did +not grant the priests of Carthage liberty to preach in Italy; that the +Queen of England and the Emperor of Russia are the heads of the +Anglican and Russian religions; and they will see that by right the +sovereign metropolis of the churches of France should be in Paris. + + + + + + +NOTES + + + + 1: Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 64. + + 2: 'La Grece Contemporaine.' + + 3: Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Comte de Tournon. + + 4: A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and + deserved well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful + struggle of 1848, soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope, + under happier auspices, and with a very different result. + + Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a _corps d' + armee_ of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby + he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat + at Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Nugent, and + prevented the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President + Manin acknowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved + Venice, and immediately sent him the commission of a full General. + On the 16th of May, General Nugent arrived before Treviso with + 16,000 men, and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to + surrender, giving General Lante till noon on the following day for + consideration. At four the same evening, Lante sent for reply, + "Come this evening. I shall expect you at six. We are here to + fight, not to surrender!" After threatening the town for some + days, Nugent retired from before it, and joined Radetzky. + + Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General + Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli + served as a _private soldier_ in the Roman Legion; he was one of + the three Commissioners who were sent to the camp of Radetzky to + treat for the capitulation of Vicenza. + + Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of + Grenadiers. + + Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly + Officer to Durando. + + Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Don Ludovico Lante (a younger brother of Filippo) was Captain in + the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers. + + Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's _Guardia Nobile_ for a Colonelcy + of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Republic: he was an + excellent officer. + + Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young + students.--_Transl_. + + 5: The ordinary British tourist must not look for his portrait in the + witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the + pilgrims are all assumed to be true sons of _the_ + Church.--_Transl_. + + 6: An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those + students who are unable to pass their examinations; tantamount to + our English _plucked_. + + 7: A man who has worn _cioccie_. + + 8: _'Tolla_.' 1 vol. 12mo. + + 9: 'The Victories of the Church,' by the Priest Margotti. 1857. + +10: 'Proemio della Statistica,' pubblicata nel 1857, dall' + Eminentissimo Cardinale Milesi. + +11: H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. + +12: Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of + morality) occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive + caused him to be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He + had a habit, too, of ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether + any incidents of more than ordinary interest in domestic life were + passing in the palaces of his noble, or the houses of his citizen + subjects. His medium for the attainment of this end was a powerful + telescope, placed at one of his upper windows! The principal + minister to his gossiping propensities was one Captain C----, a + man of great learning, but doubtful morality, selected, of course, + for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his experiences in + what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term "life." When, + between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the + Captain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite + amount of evidence against any offending party, the mode of + procedure was sudden, swift, and sure, fully bearing out the + Author's assertion that in Rome the will of an individual is a + substitute for the law of the State. There was no nonsense about + _Habeas Corpus_, or jury, or recorded judgment. The supposed + delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the night, to + avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as it + was phrased _prigione ed altre pene a nostro arbitrio_. One day + C---- brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced + by his Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly + respected and able _Avocato_ B---- (a stout lady of fifty), who + was at the same time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in + the habit of driving out daily in the carriage, and by the side of + the old bachelor Duke C----, Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal + decision on the case was instant. The act was of such frequent + occurrence, so audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public + morality demanded the strongest measures. That very night a + descent was made upon the dwelling of the unconscious _Avocato_. + The sanctity of the connubial chamber was invaded. The sleeping + beauty of fifty was ordered to rise, and was dragged off to--the + Convent of Repentant Females! B---- knew, and none better, what + manner of thing law was in Rome, so instead of wasting time in + reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of the case--urging the + argument that, even supposing his wife to have been of a + susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he himself + made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody + else had any right to interfere--and other similar appeals to + common sense, he at once requested the interference of the French + Ambassador. This was promptly and effectively given. The + incarceration of the peccant dame was brief; and a shower of + ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. But the Sovereigns of Rome + are accustomed to, and regardless of, such irreverent + demonstrations.--_TRANSL._ + +13: Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849. + +14: The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza. + +15: The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls. + +16: The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity. + +17: Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a + sort of model farm, known as the _Albereto Nicolai_, near the + Basilica of St. Paul Without the Walls. He was an able + administrator, and a man of superior attainments; and had he only + possessed common honesty, he would have been in time a great + man--as greatness is understood in Rome. He was a _Prelato di + Fiochetto_, and held the post of _Uditore della R.C. Apostolica_, + one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to Red Hats. + Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI for the promotion, and had + actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately Monsignore + Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He was a + _bon vivant_, and a _viveur_. He loved money, and he was utterly + unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career + in the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was + very near its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which, + although he was nearly eighty years of age, he played the + principal part. He colluded with a notary, named Bachetti, to + falsify the will of one Vitelli, a wealthy contractor, inserting + in the place of the testator's two orphan nieces that of _his own + natural son_. The affair having been dragged to light, Gregory + XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in disgrace + and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in his + very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered some + gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to + watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he + had ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law + could take possession. + + It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of + Justice in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of + the will produced as that of Vitelli, his nieces were never able + to recover the whole of his property. They were compelled to make + terms with Grossi, the defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this + day remains in the enjoyment of one-half of Vitelli's property! + +18: All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from + the works of the Marchese Pepoli. + +19: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293. + + + * * * * * + + +RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF D. APPLETON & COMPANY, + +346 & 343 BROADWAY. + + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan, 1 vol. 12mo. +cloth, $1. + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. 1 vol. 12mo., cloth, 75 cents. + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (daughter of Barry +Cornwall.) 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + +Shakers. Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. +75 cents. + +The Banks of New York. Their Dealers; the Clearing House, and the +Panic of 1807. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With thirty +illustrations. By Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages, cloth, $1.50. + +The Manual of Chess. Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, Recent Games, and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 volume, 18mo. 50 cents. + +Le Cabinet des Fees; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the express +use of Students in French. By George Gerard, A.M. 1 volume, 12mo. +$1. + +Halleck's Poetical Works. In blue and gold. 24mo. 88 cents. + +Letters from Spain and other Countries. By Wm. Cullen Bryant. 1 +volume, 12mo. Cloth. + +The Foster Brothers. Being the History of the School and College Life +of Two Young Men. 1 volume, 12mo. + +Life of James Watt. The Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine. With +Selections from his Private Correspondence. By James P. Muirhead. +Portrait and Wood Cuts. + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. 1, 1636 to 1700. 8vo. Price, $2.60 + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology, Designed for Schools, +Colleges and Seminaries in the United States. By Henry Goadby, M.D. +Embellished with 450 illustrations. (A new edition.) Price, $2 + +Meta Gray; or, What Makes Home Happy. By Maria J. McIntosh, Author +of "Aunt Kitty's Tales." 1 vol., 12mo. 75 cents. + +The Emancipation of Faith. By the late Henry Edward Schedel, M.D. +Edited by George Schedel. 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, $4 + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +"Ministering Children." 1 volume, 12mo. Cloth, with 2 engravings, $1 + +Bertram Noel: A Story of Youth. By E.J. May, Author of "Edgar +Clifton." 1 volume, 16mo. Illustrated, 75 cents. + +Benton's Thirty Years' View; or, A History of the Working of the +American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850. New edition, +with Autobiography and a General Index. 2 volumes, 8vo. Cloth, $5. + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. Third Edition. 1 volume, half morocco, $3.50. + +New York to Delhi, by the way of Rio de Janeiro, Australia, and China. +By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 volume, 12mo. Illustrated with a Map, +$1.25. (Second edt.) + +History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thomas Buckle. Vol. 1, +8vo. 677 pages. From the 2d London edt., $2.50. + +Rational Cosmology; or, The Eternal Principles and the Necessary Laws +of the Universe. By Laurens P. Hickock, D.D. 1 volume, 8vo. 397 +pages, $1.75. + +Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences. First American, from the +third London edition. 2.vols, 8vo. Cloth, $4. + +The Coopers; or. Getting Under Way. By Alice B Haven. 1 volume, +12mo. 336 page, 75 cents. + +Appleton's New American Cyclopaedia. A Popular Dictionary of General +Knowledge. Volume V. Just published. To be completed in fifteen +volumes. Cloth, $3; leather, $3.50; hf. mor. $4; hf. Russia, $4.50. +Published by subscription. + +Benton's Abridgment of the Congressional Debates. Volume X. Just +published. Sold by Subscription. Cloth, $3; law sheep, $3.50; half +morocco, $4. Each volume payable as delivered. + +Burton's Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humor. Two large volumes, 8vo. +Profusely illustrated with Wood Engravings and twenty-four Portraits +on Steel. Extra cloth, $7; sheep extra, $8; hf mor. $9; hf calf, $10 + + + + +NEW PUBLICATIONS AND NEW EDITIONS + +PUBLISHED BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +346 and 348 Broadway. + + * * * * * + +The Foster Brothers: Being the HISTORY of the SCHOOL and COLLEGE LIFE +of TWO YOUNG MEN. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "As fresh as the morning.... It abounds in fun, and in + relish of the activities, competitions, and sports of boyish + and adolescent life."--DAILY NEWS. + + "Full of life, and fun, and vigor.... These sketches of + school and college life are among the happiest of their + kind. Particularly well written is the account of life at + Cambridge."--EXAMINER. + + * * * * * + +Passages from the Autobiography of Sidney, Lady Morgan. 1 vol. 12mo. +$1. + + "This volume brims with sense, cleverness, and humor. A + lively and entertaining collection of great men's thought + and quick woman's observation; a book to be read now for + amusement, and to be sought hereafter for + reference."--_London Athenaeum._ + + "A charming book. It is long since the reading public has + been admitted to so great a treat as this fascinating + collection of wit, anecdote and gossip. It is a delightful + reminiscence of a brilliant past, told by one of the best + wits still extant."--_London Daily News_. + + * * * * * + +Onward; or, The Mountain Clamberers. A Tale of Progress. By Jane Anne +Winscom. I vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + CONTENTS.--LOOKING UPWARDS; COLIN AND JEANIE; THE FAMILY AT + ALLEYNE; OFF! OFF! AND AWAY; ENDEAVORING; EDWARD ARNOLD; + POOR, YET NOBLE; LITTLE HARRY; POOR JAMIE CLARK; FIELDS + WHITE UNTO THE HARVEST; THE SAND HUTS; THE DRUNKARD'S + COTTAGE; THE INFANT'S MINISTRY; STAND STILL; OLD MOSES AND + LITTLE ADAH; THE ROCKY GLEN; SALOME; WIDOW M'LEOD; STAFFA + AND IONA; CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE; FAITH'S CONFLICT; FAITH'S + VICTORY; REUNION; SUMMER DAYS; THE FADING FLOWER; THE + UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL, A. WEDDING DAY; THE MOUNTAIN-TOPS + APPEARING; HASTENING ON; THE SIRE'S BIRTHDAY; THE SUMMIT + GAINED. + + * * * * * + +Shakers: Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and +Regulations, Government and Doctrines of the United Society of +Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, with Biographies of Ann Lee, +William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknett, J. Mescham, and Lucy Wright. +By F.W. Evans. 1 vol. 12mo. 75 cents. + + * * * * * + +Cyclopaedia of Wit and Humor, Comprising a Unique Collection of +Complete Articles, and specimens of Written Humor from Celebrated +Humorists of America, England, Ireland and Scotland. Illustrated with +upwards of 600 Characteristic Original Designs, and 24 Portraits, from +Steel Plates. Edited by William E. Burton, the Celebrated Comedian. +Two vols., 8vo., cloth, $7. sheep, $8; halfmor., $9; half calf, $10. + + "As this task is a labor of love to Mr. Burton, we are sure + of its being well performed."--_New York Times_. + + "The editor has raked many old pieces out of the dust, + while he has drawn freely from the great masters of humor in + modern times."--_N.Y. Tribune_. + + "We do not see how any lover of humorous literature can + help buying it." _Phila. Pennsylvanian_. + + "Mr. Burton is the very man to prepare this Cyclopaedia of + Fun."--_Louis. Journal_. + + "We do not know how any family fond of the ludicrous can + afford to dispense with this feast of fun and humor."--_New + Bedford Mercury_. + + * * * * * + + + +From New York to Delhi. By the way of RIO DE JANEIRO, AUSTRALIA AND +CHINA. By Robert B. Minturn, Jr. 1 vol. 12mo. With a Map. $1.25. + + "Mr. Minturn's volume is very different from an ordinary + sketch of travel over a well-beaten road. He writes with + singular condensation. His power of observation is of that + intuitive strength which catches at a glance the salient and + distinctive points of every thing he sees. He has shown rare + cleverness, too, in mingling throughout the work, agreeably + and unobtrusively, so much of the history of India, and yet + without ever suffering it to clog the + narrative."--_Churchman_. + + "This book shows how much can be accomplished by a + wide-awake, thoughtful man in a six months' tour. The + literary execution of Mr. Minturn's book is of a high order, + and, altogether, we consider it a timely and important + contribution to our stock of meritorious works."--_Boston + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +Le Cabinet des Fees; or, Recreative Readings. Arranged for the Express +Use of Students in French. By George S. Gerard, A.M., Prof, of +French and Literature. 1 vol. 12mo. $1. + + "After an experience of many years in teaching, we are + convinced that such works as the Adventures of Telemachus + and the History of Charles XII., despite their incontestable + beauty of style and richness of material, are too difficult + for beginners, even of mature age. Such works, too, + consisting of a continuous narrative, present to most + students the discouraging prospect of a formidable + undertaking, which they fear will never be + completed."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Banks of New York; Their Dealers; The Clearing-House; and the +Panic of 1857. With a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With Thirty +Illustrations, by Herrick. 1 vol. 12mo. 400 pages. Cloth, $1.50. + + + A book for every Man of Business, for the Bank Officer and + Clerk; for the Bank Stockholder and Depositor; and, + especially for the Merchant and his Cash Manager; also for + the Lawyer, who will here find the exact Responsibilities + that exist between the different officers of Banks and the + Clerks, and between them and the Dealers. + + The operations of the Clearing-House are described in + detail, and illustrated by a financial Chart, which + exhibits, in an interesting manner, the fluctuations of the + Bank Loans. + + The immediate and exact cause of the Panic of 1857 is + clearly demonstrated by the records of the Clearing-House, + and a scale is presented by which the deviation of the + volume of Bank Loans from an average standard of safety can + be ascertained at a single glance. + + * * * * * + +History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. By +Samuel Greene Arnold. Vol. I. 1636-1700. 1 vol. 8vo. 574 pages. +$2.50. + + "To trace the rise and progress of a State, the offspring + of ideas that were novel and startling, even amid the + philosophical speculations of the Seventeenth Century; whose + birth was a protest against, whose infancy was a struggle + with, and whose maturity was a triumph over, the retrograde + tendency of established Puritanism; a State that was the + second-born of persecution, whose founders had been doubly + tried in the purifying fire; a State which, more than any + other, has exerted, by the weight of its example, an + influence to shape the political ideas of the present day, + whose moral power has been, in the inverse ratio with its + material importance; of which an eminent Historian of the + United States has said that, had its territory 'corresponded + to the importance and singularity of the principles of its + early existence, the world would have been filled with + wonder at the phenomena of its history,' is a task not to be + lightly attempted or hastily performed."--_Extract from + Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Ministry of Life. By Maria Louisa Charlesworth, Author of +_Ministering Children_. 1 vol., 12mo., with Two Eng's., $1. Of the +_Ministering Children_, (the author's previous work,) 50,000 copies +have been sold. + + "The higher walks of life, the blessedness of doing good, + and the paths of usefulness and enjoyment, are drawn out + with beautiful simplicity, and made attractive and easy in + the attractive pages of this author. To do good, to teach + others how to do good, to render the home circle and the + neighborhood glad with the voice and hand of Christian + charity, is the aim of the author, who has great power of + description, a genuine love for evangelical religion, and + blends instruction with the story, so as to give charm to + all her books."--_N.Y. Observer_. + + * * * * * + +The Coopers; or, Getting Under Way. By Alice B. Haven, Author of _No +Such Word as Fail_, _All's Not Gold that Glitters_, etc., etc. 1 vol. +12mo. 336 pages. 75 cents. + + "To grace and freshness of style, Mrs. Haven adds a genial, + cheerful philosophy of Life, and Naturalness of Character + and Incident, in the History of the Cooper Family." + + * * * * * + +A Text Book of Vegetable and Animal Physiology. Designed for the use +of Schools, Seminaries and Colleges in the United States. By Henry +Goadby, M.D., Professor of Vegetable and Animal Physiology and +Entomology, in the State Agricultural College of Michigan, &c. A new +edition. One handsome vol., 8vo., embellished with upwards of 450 wood +engravings (many of them colored,) Price, $2 + + "The attempt to teach only Human Physiology, like a similar + proceeding in regard to Anatomy, can only end in failure; + whereas, if the origin (so to speak) of the organic + structures in the animal kingdom, be sought for and steadily + pursued through all the classes, showing their gradual + complication, and the necessity for the addition of + accessory organs, till they reach their utmost development + and culminate in man, the study may be rendered an agreeable + and interesting one, and be fruitful in profitable results. + + "Throughout the accompanying pages, this principle has been + kept steadily in view, and it has been deemed of more + importance to impart solid and thorough instruction on the + subjects discussed, rather than embrace the whole field of + physiology, and, for want of space, fail to do justice to + any part of it."--_Extract from Preface_. + + * * * * * + +The Physiology of Common Life. By George Henry Lewis, Author of +_Seaside Studies_, _Life of Goethe_, etc. No. 1. Just Ready. Price 10 +cents. + +EXTRACT FROM PROSPECTUS. + + No scientific subject can be so important to Man as that of + his own Life. No knowledge can be so incessantly appealed to + by the incidents of every day, as the knowledge of the + processes by which he lives and acts. At every moment he is + in danger of disobeying laws which, when disobeyed, may + bring years of suffering, decline of powers, premature + decay. Sanitary reformers preach in vain, because they + preach to a public which does not understand the laws of + life--laws as rigorous as those of Gravitation or Motion. + Even the sad experience of others yields us no lessons, + unless we understand the principles involved. If one Man is + seen to suffer from vitiated air, another is seen to endure + it without apparent harm; a third concludes that "it is all + chance," and trusts to that chance. Had he understood the + principle involved, he would not have been left to + chance--his first lesson in swimming would not have been a + shipwreck. + + The work will be illustrated with from 20 to 25 woodcuts, to + assist the exposition. It will be published in monthly + numbers, uniform with Johnston's _Chemistry of Common + Life_. + + * * * * * + +The History of Civilization in England. By Henry Thos. Buckle. Vol. +I. 8vo. Cloth. $2.50 + + Whoever misses reading this book, will miss reading what + is, in various respects, to the best of our judgment and + experience, the most remarkable book of the day--one, + indeed, that no thoughtful, inquiring mind would miss + reading for a good deal. Let the reader be as adverse as he + may to the writer's philosophy, let him be as devoted to the + obstructive as Mr. Buckle is to the progress party, let him + be as orthodox in church creed as the other is heterodox, as + dogmatic as his author is sceptical,--let him, in short, + find his prejudices shocked at every turn of the argument, + and all his prepossessions whistled down the wind,--still, + there is so much in this extraordinary volume to stimulate + reflection, and excite to inquiry, and provoke to earnest + investigation, perhaps (to this or that reader) on a track + hitherto untrodden, and across the virgin soil of untilled + fields, fresh woods and pastures new--that we may fairly + defy the most hostile spirit, the most mistrustful and least + sympathetic, to read it through without being glad of having + done so, or, having begun it, or even glanced at almost any + one of its 854 pages, to pass it away unread.--_New Monthly + (London) Magazine_. + + * * * * * + +Legends and Lyrics. By Anne Adelaide Proctor, (Daughter of the Poet, +Barry Cornwall.) One very neat volume, 12mo. Second edition. 75 cents. + + This is the charming volume of fresh and tender poems, by + the daughter of one of England's most honored and popular + poets, which has lately been received with so hearty a + welcome in England and America. Choice portions of it, + copied by the press with lively praises, have found their + way to the firesides. + + * * * * * + +The Household Book of Poetry. Collected and Edited by Charles A. +Dana. 1 vol. 8vo. 793 pages. Third edition. In half morocco. Gilt +top. $3.50. + + As the New-York correspondent of The Boston Transcript + enthusiastically writes, 'The elegiac composition, the + exquisite sonnet, the genuine pastoral, the war-song and + rural hymn, whose cadences are as remembered music, and the + couplets whose chime rings out from the depths of the heart; + whatever the old English dramatists, the ode writers of the + reign of Anne and Charles, the purest disciples of heroic + verse, the Lakists, the Byronic school--Wordsworth and + Dryden, Mrs. Hemans and Scott, Shakespeare and Hartley + Coleridge have made precious to soul and sense, are herein + brought together; and more than this--the many isolated + single notes, whose lingering harmony embalms their author's + name, with the numerous fugitive "brilliants," heretofore of + unknown parentage, cut from newspapers for the last half + century--the deep, soulfull utterances of heroes and + mourners, lovers and exiles, devotees of nature and + worshippers of art--are here elegantly garnered and + chronicled.' + + "It is just such a volume as a man may give to a woman, + albeit that woman is his mother, his sister, or his wife, + and is richly worth the place it claims on a lower shelf + within arm's length, in the most select library."--_Chicago + Journal_. + + * * * * * + +The Handy-Book on Property Law, in a series of Letters. By Lord St. +Leonards, (Sir Edward Sugden.) 1 vol., 16mo., Cloth, 75 cents. + + "This excellent little work gives the plainest inspections + in all matters connected with selling, buying, mortgaging, + leasing, settling and devising estates; and informs us of + our relations to our properties, our wives, our children, + and our liabilities as trustees, executors, &c., + &c."--_Tribune_. + + * * * * * + +The Manual of Chess; Containing the Elementary Principles of the Game. +Illustrated with numerous Diagrams, recent Games and Original +Problems. By Charles Kenny. 1 vol. 12mo. Price 50 cents. + + "Within the compass of this work I have included all that + is necessary for the beginner to learn. In recommendation of + this Manual, I can safely assert that it contains more than + any publication of the same dimensions. The Problems + contained herein, as also one of the 'Games actually + played,' are original, and have never been published." + + * * * * * + +The Book of Chess; Containing the Rudiments of the Game, and +Elementary Analysis of the most Popular Openings, exemplified in games +actually played by the great masters, including Staunton's Analysis of +the Kings and Queens, Gambits, numerous Positions and Problems on +Diagrams, both original and selected; also, a series of Chess Tales, +with illustrations from original designs. The whole extracted and +translated from the best sources. New Edition. By H.R. Agnel. $1.25. + + * * * * * + +Sixty Years' Gleanings from Life's Harvest. A Genuine Autobiography. +By John Brown. 1 vol. 12mo. Cloth, $1. + + "A remarkable book in every respect, and curiously + interesting from beginning to end. John Brown lived with + 'all his might,' and the 'Life' he writes is, in its + abundance and variety of tragic and comic ups-and-downs, as + good as a play. His experiences partook of all the quick + changes and boisterous bustle, and rude humor of an old + English fair; and as they are presented in this volume they + afford a picture of the times he lived and incessantly moved + in, which, in much of its bold handling, is not to be + surpassed by less spirited pencils than those of Fielding + and De Foe. The moral, even as you trace it through the + bustling table of contents, is of unmistakable application + for every fine young fellow of sound natural principles who + has to shoulder his own way to good citizenship and a share + of social influence. + + "As a neglected child, a 'juvenile offender,' an ingenious + vagabond, a, shoemaker, a soldier, an actor, a sailor, a + publican, a billiard-room keeper, a Town Councillor, and an + author, Mr. Brown has seen the world for sixty years, and he + unhesitatingly describes all that he has seen, with fidelity + of memory and straightforward simplicity of style." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMAN QUESTION*** + + +******* This file should be named 14381.txt or 14381.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/3/8/14381 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/14381.zip b/old/14381.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4044ab9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14381.zip |