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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/17284-h.zip b/17284-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3c2f2d --- /dev/null +++ b/17284-h.zip diff --git a/17284-h/17284-h.htm b/17284-h/17284-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4e89f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/17284-h/17284-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5214 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Rome in 1860</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Rome in 1860, by Edward Dicey</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rome in 1860, by Edward Dicey + + +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: Rome in 1860 + + +Author: Edward Dicey + + + +Release Date: December 11, 2005 [eBook #17284] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME IN 1860*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by from the 1861 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<h1>ROME IN 1860.<br /> +By<br /> +EDWARD DICEY.</h1> +<p>Cambridge:<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +AND 23, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN,<br /> +London.<br /> +1861.</p> +<p>[The right of Translation is reserved.]</p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>Cambridge:<br /> +<span class="smcap">printed by c. j. clay, m.a.<br /> +at the university press</span></p> +<p>* * * * *</p> +<p>TO<br /> +MR. AND MRS ROBERT BROWNING</p> +<h2><!-- page 1--><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>CHAPTER I. +THE ROME OF REAL LIFE.</h2> +<p>My first recollections of Rome date from too long ago, and from too +early an age, for me to be able to recall with ease the impression caused +by its first aspect. It is hard indeed for any one at any time +to judge of Rome fairly. Whatever may be the object of our pilgrimage, +we Roman travellers are all under some guise or other pilgrims to the +Eternal City, and gaze around us with something of a pilgrim’s +reverence for the shrine of his worship. The ground we tread on +is enchanted ground, we breathe a charmed air, and are spellbound with +a strange witchery. A kind of glamour steals over us, a thousand +memories rise up and chase each other. Heroes and martyrs, sages +and saints and sinners, consuls and popes and emperors, people the weird +pageant which to our mind’s eye hovers ever mistily amidst the +scenes around us. Here <!-- page 2--><span class="pagenum">p. 2</span>above +all places in God’s earth it is hard to forget the past and think +only of the present. This, however, is what I now want to do. +Laying aside all memory of what Rome has been, I would again describe +what Rome is now. And thus, in my solitary wanderings about the +city, I have often sought to picture to myself what would be the feelings +of a stranger who, caring nothing and knowing nothing of the past, should +enter Rome with only that listless curiosity which all travellers feel +perforce, when for the first time they approach a great capital. +Let me fancy that such a traveller—a very Gallio among travellers—is +standing by my side. Let me try and tell him what, under my mentorship, +he would mark and see.</p> +<p>It shall not be on a bright, cloudless day that we enter Rome. +To our northern eyes the rich Italian sun-light gives to everything, +even to ruins and rags and squalor, a deceptive grandeur, and a beauty +which is not due. No, the day shall be such a day as that on which +I write; such a day in fact as the days are oftener than not at this +dead season of the year, sunless and damp and dull. The sky above +is covered with colourless, unbroken clouds, and the outline of the +Alban <!-- page 3--><span class="pagenum">p. 3</span>and the Sabine +hills stands dimly out against the grey distance. It matters little +by what gate or from what quarter we enter. On every side the +scene is much the same. The Campagna surrounds the city. +A wide, waste, broken, hillock-covered plain, half common, half pasture +land, and altogether desolate; a few stunted trees, a deserted house +or two, here and there a crumbling mass of shapeless brickwork: such +is the foreground through which you travel for many a weary mile. +As you approach the city there is no change in the desolation, no sign +of life. Every now and then a string of some half-dozen peasant-carts, +laden with wine-barrels or wood faggots, comes jingling by. The +carts so-called, rather by courtesy than right, consist of three rough +planks and two high ricketty wheels. The broken-kneed horses sway +to and fro beneath their unwieldy load, and the drivers, clad in their +heavy sheepskin jackets, crouch sleepily beneath the clumsy, hide-bound +framework, placed so as to shelter them from the chill Tramontana blasts. +A solitary cart is rare, for the neighbourhood of Rome is not the safest +of places, and those small piles of stone, with the wooden cross surmounting +them, bear witness to the fact that a murder <!-- page 4--><span class="pagenum">p. 4</span>took +place not long ago on the very spot you are passing now. Then, +perhaps, you come across a drove of wild, shaggy buffaloes, or a travelling +carriage rattling and jilting along, or a stray priest or so, trudging +homewards from some outlying chapel. That red-bodied funereal-looking +two-horse-coach, crawling at a snail’s pace, belongs to his Excellency +the Cardinal, whom Papal etiquette forbids to walk on foot within the +city, and whom you can see a little further on pottering feebly along +the road in his violet stockings, supported by his clerical secretary, +and followed at a respectful distance by his two attendant footmen with +their threadbare liveries. At last, out of the dreary waste, at +the end of the interminable ill-paved sloughy road, the long line of +the grey tumble-down walls rises gloomily. A few cannon-shot would +batter a breach anywhere, as the events of 1849 proved only too well. +However, at Rome there is neither commerce to be impeded nor building +extension of any kind to be checked; the city has shrunk up until its +precincts are a world too wide; and the walls, if they are useless, +are harmless also; more, by the way, than you can say for most things +here. There is no stir or bustle at the gates. Two French +soldiers, <!-- page 5--><span class="pagenum">p. 5</span>striding across +a bench, are playing at picquet with a pack of greasy cards. A +pack-horse or two nibble the blades of grass between the stones, while +their owners haggle with the solitary guard about the “octroi” +duties. A sentinel on duty stares listlessly at you as you pass,—and +you have entered Rome.</p> +<p>You are coming, I will suppose, from Ostia, and enter therefore by +the “Porta San Paolo;” the gate where legends tell that +Belisarius sat and begged. I have chosen this out of the dozen +entrances as recalling fewest of past memories and leading most directly +to the heart of the living, working city. You stand then within +Rome, and look round in vain for the signs of a city. Hard by +a knot of dark cypress-trees waves above the lonely burial-ground where +Shelley lies at rest. A long, straight, pollard-lined road stretches +before you between high walls far away; low hills or mounds rise on +either side, covered by stunted, straggling vineyards. You pass +on. A beggar, squatting by the roadside, calls on you for charity; +and long after you have passed you can hear the mumbling, droning cry, +“Per l’amore di Dio e della Santa Vergine,” dying +in your ears. On the wall, from time to time, you see a rude <!-- page 6--><span class="pagenum">p. 6</span>painting +of Christ upon the cross, and an inscription above the slit beneath +bids you contribute alms for the souls in purgatory. A peasant-woman +it may be is kneeling before the shrine, and a troop of priests pass +by on the other side. A string of carts again, drawn by bullocks, +another shrine, and another troop of priests, and you are come to the +river’s banks. The dull, muddy Tiber rolls beneath you, +and in front, that shapeless mass of dingy, weather-stained, discoloured, +plaster-covered, tile-roofed buildings, crowded and jammed together +on either side the river, is Rome itself. You are at the city’s +port, the “Ripetta” or quay of Rome. In the stream +there are a dozen vessels, something between barges and coasting smacks, +the largest possibly of fifty tons’ burden, which have brought +marble from Carrara for the sculptors’ studios. There is +a Gravesend-looking steamer too, lying off the quay, but she belongs +to the French government, and is employed to carry troops to and from +Civita Vecchia. This is all, and at this point all traffic on +the Tiber ceases. Though the river is navigable for a long distance +above Rome, yet beyond the bridge, now in sight, not a boat is to be +seen except at rare intervals. It is the Tiber surely, <!-- page 7--><span class="pagenum">p. 7</span>and +not the Thames, which should be called the “silent highway.”</p> +<p>A few steps more and the walls on either side are replaced by houses, +and the city has begun. The houses do not improve on a closer +acquaintance; one and all look as if commenced on too grand a scale, +they had ruined their builders before their completion, had been left +standing empty for years, and were now occupied by tenants too poor +to keep them from decay. There are holes in the wall where the +scaffolding was fixed, large blotches where the plaster has peeled away; +stones and cornices which have been left unused lie in the mud before +the doors. From the window-sills and from ropes fastened across +the streets flutter half-washed rags and strange apparel. The +height of the houses makes the narrow streets gloomy even at midday. +At night, save in a few main thoroughfares, there is no light of any +kind; but then, after dark at Rome, nobody cares much about walking +in out-of-the-way places. The streets are paved with the most +angular and slippery of stones, placed herringbone fashion, with ups +and downs in every direction. Foot-pavement there is none; and +the ricketty carriages drawn by the tottering horses <!-- page 8--><span class="pagenum">p. 8</span>come +swaying round the endless corners with an utter disregard for the limbs +and lives of the foot-folk. You are out of luck if you come to +Rome on a “Festa” day, for then all the shops are shut, +and the town looks drearier than ever. However, even here the +chances are two to one, or somewhat more, in favour of the day of your +arrival being a working-day. When the shops are open there is +at any rate life enough of one kind or other. In most parts the +shops have no window-fronts. Glass, indeed, there is little of +anywhere, and the very name of plate-glass is unknown. The dark, +gloomy shops varying in size between a coach-house and a wine-vault, +have their wide shutter-doors flung open to the streets. A feeble +lamp hung at the back of every shop you pass, before a painted Madonna +shrine, makes the darkness of their interiors visible. The trades +of Rome are primitive and few in number. Those dismembered, disembowelled +carcases, suspended in every variety of posture, denote the butchers’ +shops; not the pleasantest of sights at any time, least of all in Rome, +where the custom of washing the meat after killing it seems never to +have been introduced. Next door too is an open stable, crowded +with mules and horses. Those black, <!-- page 9--><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span>mouldy +loaves, exposed in a wire-work cage, to protect them from the clutches +of the hungry street vagabonds, stand in front of the bakers, where +the price of bread is regulated by the pontifical tariff. Then +comes the “Spaccio di Vino,” that gloomiest among the shrines +of Bacchus, where the sour red wine is drunk at dirty tables by the +grimiest of tipplers. Hard by is the “Stannaro,” or +hardware tinker, who is always re-bottoming dilapidated pans, and drives +a brisk trade in those clumsy, murderous-looking knives. Further +on is the greengrocer, with the long strings of greens, and sausages, +and flabby balls of cheese, and straw-covered oil-flasks dangling in +festoons before his door. Over the way is the Government depôt, +where the coarsest of salt and the rankest of tobacco are sold at monopoly +prices. Those gay, parti-coloured stripes of paper, inscribed +with the cabalistic figures, flaunting at the street corner, proclaim +the “Prenditoria di Lotti,” or office of the Papal lottery, +where gambling receives the sanction of the Church, and prospers under +clerical auspices to such an extent that in the city of Rome alone, +with a population under two hundred thousand, fifty-five millions of +lottery tickets are said to be taken annually. <!-- page 10--><span class="pagenum">p. 10</span>Cobblers +and carpenters, barbers and old clothes-men, seem to me to carry on +their trades much in the same way all the world over. The peculiarity +about Rome is, that all these trades seem stunted in their development. +The cobbler never emerges as the shoemaker, and the carpenter fails +to rise into the upholstery line of business. Bookselling too +is a trade which does not thrive on Roman soil. Altogether there +is a wonderful sameness about the streets. Time after time, turn +after turn, the same scene is reproduced. So having got used to +the first strangeness of the sight you move on more quickly.</p> +<p>There is no lack of life about you now, at the shop-doors whole families +sit working at their trades, or carrying on the most private occupations +of domestic life; at every corner groups of men stand loitering about, +with hungry looks and ragged garments, reminding one only too forcibly +of the “Seven Dials” on a summer Sunday; French soldiers +and beggars, women and children and priests swarm around you. +Indeed, there are priests everywhere. There with their long black +coats and broad-brimmed shovel hats, come a score of young priests, +walking two and two together, with downcast eyes. How, without +<!-- page 11--><span class="pagenum">p. 11</span>looking up, they manage +to wend their way among the crowd, is a constant miracle; the carriages, +however, stop to let them pass, for a Roman driver would sooner run +over a dozen children than knock down a priest. A sturdy, bare-headed, +bare-footed monk, not over clean, nor over savoury, hustles along with +his brown robe fastened round his waist by the knotted scourge of cord; +a ghastly-looking figure, covered in a grey shroud from head to foot, +with slits for his mouth and eyes, shakes a money-box in your face, +with scowling importunity; a fat sleek abbé comes sauntering +along, peeping into the open shops or (so scandal whispers) at the faces +of the shop-girls. If you look right or left, behind or in front, +you see priests on every side,—Franciscan friars and Dominicans, +Carmelites and Capuchins, priests in brown cloth and priests in serge, +priests in red and white and grey, priests in purple and priests in +rags, standing on the church-steps, stopping at the doorways, coming +down the bye-streets, looking out of the windows—you see priests +everywhere and always. Their faces are, as a rule, not pleasant +to look upon; and I think, at first, with something of the “old +bogey” belief of childhood, you feel more comfortable <!-- page 12--><span class="pagenum">p. 12</span>when +they are not too close to you; but, ere long, this feeling wears away, +and you gaze at the priests and at the beggars with the same stolid +indifference.</p> +<p>You are getting, by this time, into the heart of the city, ever and +anon the streets pass through some square or piazza, each like the other. +In the centre stands a broken fountain, moss-grown and weedy, whence +the water spouts languidly; on the one side is a church, on the other +some grim old palace, which from its general aspect, and the iron bars +before its windows, bears a striking resemblance to Newgate gone to +ruin. Grass grows between the flag-stones, and the piazza is emptier, +quieter, and cleaner than the street, but that is all. You stop +and enter the first church or two, but your curiosity is soon satisfied. +Dull and bare outside, the churches are gaudy and dull within. +When you have seen one, you have seen all. A crippled beggar crouching +at the door, a few common people kneeling before the candle-lighted +shrines, a priest or two mumbling at a side-altar, half-a-dozen indifferent +pictures and a great deal of gilt and marble everywhere, an odour of +stale incense and mouldy cloth, and, over all, <!-- page 13--><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>a +dim dust-discoloured light. Fancy all this, and you will have +before you a Roman church. On your way you pass no fine buildings, +for to tell the honest truth, there are no fine buildings in Rome, except +St Peter’s and the Colosseum, both of which lie away from the +town. Fragments indeed of old ruins, porticoes built into the +wall, bricked-up archways and old cornice-stones, catch your eye from +time to time; and so, on and on, over broken pavements, up and down +endless hills, through narrow streets and gloomy piazzas, by churches +innumerable, amidst an ever-shifting motley crowd of peasants, soldiers, +priests, and beggars, you journey onwards for two miles or so; you have +got at last to the modern quarter, where hotels are found, and where +the English congregate. There in the “Corso,” and +in one or two streets leading out of it, there are foot-pavements, lamps +at night, and windows to the shops. A fair sprinkling of second-rate +equipages roll by you, bearing the Roman ladies, with their gaudy dresses, +ill-assorted colours, and their heavy, handsome, sensual features. +The young Italian nobles, with their English-cut attire, saunter past +you listlessly. The peasants are few in number now, <!-- page 14--><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>but +the soldiers and priests and beggars are never wanting. These +streets and shops, brilliant though they seem by contrast with the rest +of the city, would, after all, only be third-rate ones in any other +European capital, and will not detain you long. On again by the +fountain of Treves, where the water-stream flows day and night through +the defaced and broken statue-work; a few steps more, and then you fall +again into the narrow streets and the decayed piazzas; on again, between +high walls, along roads leading through desolate ruin-covered vineyards, +and you are come to another gate. The French sentinels are changing +guard. The dreary Campagna lies before you, and you have passed +through Rome.</p> +<p>And when our stroll was over, that sceptic and incurious fellow-traveller +of mine would surely turn to take a last look at the dark heap of roofs +and chimney-pots and domes, which lies mouldering in the valley at his +feet. If I were then to tell him, that in that city of some hundred +and seventy thousand souls, there were ten thousand persons in holy +orders, and between three and four hundred churches, of which nearly +half had convents and schools attached; <!-- page 15--><span class="pagenum">p. 15</span>if +I were to add, that taking in novices, scholars, choristers, servitors, +beadles, and whole tribes of clerical attendants, there were probably +not far short of forty thousand persons, who in some form or other lived +upon and by the church, that is, in plainer words, doing no labour themselves, +lived on the labour of others, he, I think, would answer then, that +a city so priest-infested, priest-ruled and priest-ridden, would be +much such a city as he had seen with me; such a city as Rome is now.</p> +<h2><!-- page 16--><span class="pagenum">p. 16</span>CHAPTER II. +THE COST OF THE PAPACY.</h2> +<p>In foreign discussions on the Papal question it is always assumed, +as an undisputed fact, that the maintenance of the Papal court at Rome +is, in a material point of view, an immense advantage to the city, whatever +it may be in a moral one. Now my own observations have led me +to doubt the correctness of this assumption, which, if true, forms an +important item in the whole matter under consideration. It is +no good saying, as my “Papalini” friends are wont to do, +Rome gains everything and indeed only exists by the Papacy. The +real questions are, What class at Rome gain by it, and what is it that +they gain? There are four classes at Rome: the priests, the nobles, +the bourgeoisie, and the poor. Of course if anybody gains it is +the priesthood. If the Pope were removed from Rome, or if a lay +government were established (the two hypotheses are practically identical), +the <!-- page 17--><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span>number of the Clergy +would undoubtedly be much diminished. A large portion of the convents +and clerical endowments would be suppressed, and the present generation +of priests would be heavy sufferers. This result is inevitable. +Under no free government would or could a city of 170,000 inhabitants +support 10,000 unproductive persons out of the common funds; for this +is substantially the case at Rome in the present day. Every sixteen +lay citizens, men, women, and children, support out of their labour +a priest between them. The Papal question with the Roman priesthood +is thus a question of daily bread, and it is surely no want of charity +to suppose that the material aspect influences their minds quite as +much as the spiritual. Still even with regard to the priests there +are two sides to the question. The system of political and social +government inseparable from the Papacy, which closes up almost every +trade and profession, drives vast numbers into the priesthood for want +of any other occupation. The supply of priests is, in consequence, +far greater than the demand, and, as the laws of political economy hold +good even in the Papal States, priest labour is miserably underpaid. +It is a Protestant delusion that the priests in Rome <!-- page 18--><span class="pagenum">p. 18</span>live +upon the fat of the land. What fat there is is certainly theirs, +but then there are too many mouths to eat it. The Roman priests +are relatively poorer than those in any other part of Italy. It +is one of the great mysteries in Rome how all the priests who swarm +about the streets manage to live. The clue to the mystery is to +be found inside the churches. In every church here, and there +are 366 of them, some score or two of masses are said daily at the different +altars. The pay for performing a mass varies from a “Paul” +to a “Scudo;” that is, in round numbers, from sixpence to +a crown. The “good” masses, those paid for by private +persons for the souls of their relatives, are naturally reserved for +the priests connected with the particular church; while the poor ones, +which are paid for out of the funds of the church, are given to any +priest who happens to apply for them. So somehow or other, what +with a mass or two a day, or by private tuition, or by charitable assistance, +or in some cases by small handicrafts conducted secretly, the large +floating population of unemployed priests rub on from day to day, in +the hope of getting ultimately some piece of ecclesiastical patronage. +Yet the distress and want amongst them are often pitiable, <!-- page 19--><span class="pagenum">p. 19</span>and, +in fact, amongst the many sufferers from the artificial preponderance +given to the priesthood by the Papal system, the poorer class of priests +are not among the least or lightest.</p> +<p>The nobility as a body are sure to be more or less supporters of +the established order of things. Their interests too are very +much mixed up with those of the Papacy. There is not a noble Roman +family which has not one or more of its members among the higher ranks +of the priesthood, and to a considerable degree their distinctions, +such as they are, and their temporal prospects are bound up with the +Popedom. Moreover, in this rank of the social scale the private +and personal influence of the priests, through the women of the family, +is very powerful. The more active, however, and ambitious amongst +the aristocracy feel deeply the exclusion from public life, the absence +of any opening for ambition, and the gradual impoverishment of their +property, which are the necessary evils of an absolute ecclesiastical +government.</p> +<p>The “Bourgeoisie” stand on a very different footing. +They have neither the moral influence of the priesthood nor the material +wealth of the nobility to console them for the loss of liberty; they +form indeed the “Pariahs” of Roman society. <!-- page 20--><span class="pagenum">p. 20</span>“In +other countries,” a Roman once said to me, “you have one +man who lives in wealth and a thousand who live in comfort. Here +the one man lives in comfort, and the thousand live in misery.” +I believe this picture is only too true. The middle classes, who +live by trade or mental labour, must have a hard time of it. The +professions of Rome are overstocked and underpaid. The large class +of government officials or “impiegati,” to whom admirers +of the Papacy point with such pride as evidence of the secular character +of the administration, are paid on the most niggardly scale; while all +the lucrative and influential posts are reserved for the priestly administrators. +The avowed venality of the courts of justice is a proof that lawyers +are too poorly remunerated to find honesty their best policy, while +the extent to which barbers are still employed as surgeons shows that +the medical profession is not of sufficient repute to be prosperous. +There is no native patronage for art, no public for literature. +The very theatres, which flourish in other despotic states, are here +but losing speculations, owing to the interference of clerical regulations. +There are no commerce and no manufactures in the Eternal city. +In a back street near the Capitol, <!-- page 21--><span class="pagenum">p. 21</span>over +a gloomy, stable-looking door, you may see written up “Borsa di +Roma,” but I never could discover any credible evidence of business +being transacted on the Roman change. There is but one private +factory in Rome, the Anglo-Roman Gas Company. What trade there +is is huckstering, not commerce. In fact, so Romans have told +me, you may safely conclude that every native you meet walking in the +streets here, in a broadcloth coat, lives from hand to mouth, and you +may pretty surely guess that his next month’s salary is already +overdrawn. The crowds of respectably-dressed persons, clerks and +shopkeepers and artizans, whom you see in the lottery offices the night +before the drawing, prove the general existence not only of improvidence +but of distress.</p> +<p>The favourite argument in support of the Papal rule in Rome, is that +the poor gain immensely by it. I quite admit that the argument +contains a certain amount of truth. The priests, the churches, +and the convents give a great deal of employment to the working classes. +There are probably some 30,000 persons who live on the priests, or rather +out of the funds which support them. Then, too, the system of +clerical charity operates favourably for the very poor. Any Roman +<!-- page 22--><span class="pagenum">p. 22</span>in distress can get +from his priest a “buono,” or certificate, that he is in +want of food, and on presenting this at one of the convents belonging +to the mendicant orders, he will obtain a wholesome meal. No man +in Rome therefore need be reduced to absolute starvation as long as +he stands well with his priest; that is, as long as he goes to confession, +never talks of politics, and kneels down when the Pope passes. +Now the evil moral effects of such a system, its tendency to destroy +independent self-respect and to promote improvidence are obvious enough, +and I doubt whether even the positive gain to the poor is unmixed. +The wages paid to the servants of the Church, and the amount given away +in charity, must come out of somebody’s pockets. In fact, +the whole country and the poor themselves indirectly, if not directly, +are impoverished by supporting these unproductive classes out of the +produce of labour. If prevention is better than cure, work is +any day better than charity. After all, too, the proof of the +pudding is in the eating, and nowhere are the poor more poverty-stricken +and needy than in Rome. The swarms of beggars which infest the +town are almost the first objects that strike a stranger here, though +strangers have <!-- page 23--><span class="pagenum">p. 23</span>no notion +of the distress of Rome. The winter, when visitors are here, is +the harvest-time of the Roman poor. It is the summer, when the +strangers are gone and the streets deserted, which is their season of +want and misery.</p> +<p>The truth is, that Rome, at the present day, lives upon her visitors, +as much or more than Ramsgate or Margate, for I should be disposed to +consider the native commerce of either of these bathing-places quite +as remunerative as that of the Papal capital. The Vatican is the +quietest and the least showy of European courts; and of itself, whatever +it may do by others, causes little money to be spent in the town. +Even if the Pope were removed from Rome, I much doubt, and I know the +Romans doubt, whether travellers would cease to come, or even come in +diminished numbers. Rome was famous centuries before Popes were +heard of, and will be equally famous centuries after they have passed +away. The churches, the museums, the galleries, the ruins, the +climate, and the recollections of Rome, would still remain equally attractive, +whether the Pope were at hand or not. Under a secular government +the city would be far more lively and, in many respects, more pleasant +for strangers. An <!-- page 24--><span class="pagenum">p. 24</span>enterprising +vigorous rule could probably do much to check the malaria, to bring +the Campagna into cultivation, to render the Tiber navigable, to promote +roads and railways, and to develop the internal resources of the Roman +States. The gain accruing from these reforms and improvements +would, in Roman estimation, far outweigh any possible loss in the number +of visitors, or from the absence of the Papal court. Moreover, +whether rightly or wrongly, all Romans entertain an unshakeable conviction +that in an united Italian kingdom, Rome must ultimately be the chief, +if not the sole capital of Italy.</p> +<p>These reasons, which rest on abstract considerations, naturally affect +only the educated classes who are also biassed by their political predilections. +The small trading and commercial classes are, on somewhat different +grounds, equally dissatisfied with the present state of things. +The one boon they desire, is a settled government and the end of this +ruinous uncertainty. Now a priestly government supported by French +bayonets can never give Rome either order or prosperity. For the +sake of quiet itself, they wish for change. With respect to the +poor, it is very difficult to judge what their feelings or wishes <!-- page 25--><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>may +be. From what I have seen, I doubt, whether in any part of Italy, +with the exception of the provinces subject to Austrian oppression, +the revolution is, strictly speaking, a popular one. I suspect +that the populace of Rome have no strong desire for Italian unity or, +still less for annexation to Sardinia, but I am still more convinced +that they have no affection or regard whatever for the existing government; +not even the sort of attachment, valueless though it be, which the lazzaroni +of Naples have for their Bourbon princes. It is incredible, if +any such a feeling did exist, that it should refuse to give any sign +of its existence at such a time as the present.</p> +<p>With respect to the actual pecuniary cost of the Papal government, +it is not easy to arrive at any positive information; I have little +faith in statistics generally, and in Roman statistics in particular; +I have, however, before me the official Government Budget for the year +1858. Like all Papal documents, it is confused and meagre, but +yet some curious conclusions may be arrived at from it. The year +1858 was as quiet a year, be it remembered, as there has been in Italy +for ten years past. It was only on <!-- page 26--><span class="pagenum">p. 26</span>new +year’s day, in 1859, that Napoleon dropped the first hint of the +Italian war. The year 1858 may therefore be fairly regarded as +a normal year under the present Papal system. For this year the +net receipts of the Government were,</p> +<pre> Scudi. +Direct Taxes . . . . 3,011571 +Customs . . . . . . 5,444729 +Stamps . . . . . . . 947184 +Post . . . . . . . . 111848 +Lottery . . . . . . 392813 +Licences for Trade . . 174525 +Total 10,082670</pre> +<p>Now the census, taken at the end of 1857, showed a little over 600,000 +families in the Papal States. The head therefore of every family +had, on an average, to pay about 16 sc. and a half, or £3. 7<i>s</i>. +9<i>d</i>. annually for the expenses of the Government, which for so +poor a country is pretty well. Let us now see how that money is +professed to have been spent,</p> +<p><!-- page 27--><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>The net expenses +are,</p> +<pre> Scudi. +Army . . . . . . . . 2,014047 +Public Debt . . . . 4,217708 +Interior . . . . . . 1,507235 +Currency . . . . . . 15115 +Public Works . . . . 681932 +Census . . . . . . . 88151 +Grant for special + purposes to Minister + of Finance . . . 1,415404 +Total 9,949592</pre> +<p>Now the Pontifical army is kept up avowedly not for purposes of defence, +but to support the Government. The public debt of 66 millions +of scudi has been incurred for the sake of keeping up this army. +The expenses of the Interior mean the expenses of the police and spies, +which infest every town in the Papal dominions, and the grant for Special +Purposes, whatever else it may mean, which is not clear, means certainly +some job, which the Government does not like to avow. The only +parts, therefore, of the expenditure which can be fairly said to be +for the benefit of the nation, are the expenses of the <!-- page 28--><span class="pagenum">p. 28</span>Currency, +Census and Public Works, amounting altogether to 785198 scudi, or not +a twelfth of the net income raised by taxation. Commercially speaking, +whatever may be the case theologically, I am afraid the Papal system +can hardly be said to pay.</p> +<h2><!-- page 29--><span class="pagenum">p. 29</span>CHAPTER III. +THE MORALITY OF ROME.</h2> +<p>We all know the story of “Boccaccio’s” Jew, who +went to Rome an unbeliever, and came back a Christian. There is +no need for alarm; it is not my intention to repeat the story. +Indeed the only reason for my alluding to it, is to introduce the remark +that, at the present day, the Jew would have returned from Rome hardened +in heart and unconverted. The flagrant profligacy, the open immorality, +which in the Hebrew’s judgment supplied the strongest testimony +to the truth of a religion that survived such scandals, exist no longer. +Rome is, externally, the most moral and decorous of European cities. +In reality, she may be only a whited sepulchre, but at any rate, the +whitewash is laid on very thick, and the plaster looks uncommonly like +stone. From various motives, this feature is, I think, but seldom +brought prominently forward in descriptions <!-- page 30--><span class="pagenum">p. 30</span>of +the Papal city. Protestant and liberal writers slur over the facts, +because, however erroneously, they are deemed inconsistent with the +assumed iniquity of the Government and the corruptions of the Papacy. +Catholic narrators know perhaps too much of what goes on behind the +scenes to relish calling too close an attention to the apparent proprieties +of Rome. Be the cause what it may, the moral aspect of the Papal +city seems to me to be but little dwelt upon, and yet on many accounts +it is a very curious one.</p> +<p>As far as Sabbatarianism is concerned, Rome is the Glasgow of Italy. +All shops, except druggists’, tobacconists’, and places +of refreshment, are hermetically closed on Sundays. Even the barbers +have to close at half-past ten in the morning under a heavy fine, and +during the Sundays in Lent cafés and eating-houses are shut throughout +the afternoon, because the waiters are supposed to go to catechism. +The English reading-rooms are locked up; there is no delivery of letters, +and no mails go out. A French band plays on the Pincian at sunset, +and the Borghese gardens are thrown open; but these, till evening, are +the only public amusements. At night, it is true, the theatres +are open, but then in Roman Catholic countries, <!-- page 31--><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span>Sunday +evening is universally accounted a feast. To make up for this, +the theatres are closed on every Friday in the year, as they are too +throughout Lent and Advent; and once a week or more there is sure to +be a Saint’s day as well, on which shops and all are closed, to +the great trial of a traveller’s patience. All the amusements +of the Papal subjects are regulated with the strictest regard to their +morals. Private or public gambling of any kind, excepting always +the Papal Lottery, is strictly suppressed. There are no public +dancing-places of any kind, no casinos or “cafés chantants.” +No public masked balls are allowed, except one or two on the last nights +of the Carnival. The theatres themselves are kept under the most +rigid “surveillance.” Every thing, from the titles +of the plays to the petticoats of the ballet-girls, undergoes clerical +inspection. The censorship is as unsparing of “double entendres” +as of political allusions, and “Palais Royal” farces are +‘Bowdlerized’ down till they emerge from the process innocuous +and dull; compared with one at the “Apollo,” a ballet at +the Princess’s was a wild and voluptuous orgy.</p> +<p>The same system of repression prevails in everything. In the +print-shops one never sees a <!-- page 32--><span class="pagenum">p. 32</span>picture +which even verges on impropriety. The few female portraits exhibited +in their windows are robed with an amount of drapery which would satisfy +the most prudish “sensibilities.” All books, which +have the slightest amorous tendency, are scrupulously interdicted without +reference to their political views. The number of wine-shops seems +to me small in proportion to the size of the city, and in none of them, +as far as I could learn, are spirits sold. There is another subject, +which will suggest itself at once to any one acquainted with the life +of towns, but on which it is obviously difficult to enter fully. +It is enough to say, that what the author of “Friends in Council” +styles, with more sentiment than truth, “the sin of great cities,” +does not “apparently” exist in Rome. Not only is public +vice kept out of sight, as in some other Italian cities, but its private +haunts and resorts are absolutely and literally suppressed. In +fact, if priest rule were deposed, and our own Sabbatarians and total-abstinence +men and societies for the suppression of vice, reigned in its stead, +I doubt if Rome could be made more outwardly decorous than it is at +present.</p> +<p>This then is the fair side of the picture. What is the aspect +of the reverse? In the first place, <!-- page 33--><span class="pagenum">p. 33</span>the +system requires for its working an amount of constant clerical interference +in all private affairs, which, to say the least, is a great positive +evil. Confession is the great weapon by means of which morality +is enforced. Servants are instructed to report about their employers, +wives about their husbands, children about their parents, and girls +about their lovers. Every act of your life is thus known to, and +interfered with, by the priests. I might quote a hundred instances +of petty interference: let me quote the first few that come to my memory. +No bookseller can have a sale of books without submitting each volume +to clerical supervision. An Italian gentleman, resident here, +had to my own knowledge to obtain a special permission in order to retain +a copy of Rousseau’s works in his private library. The Roman +nobles are not allowed to hunt because the Pope considers the amusement +dangerous. Profane swearing is a criminal offence. Every +Lent all restaurateurs are warned by a solemn edict not to supply meat +on fast days, and then told that “whenever on the forbidden days +they are obliged to supply rich meats, they must do so in a separate +room, in order that scandal may be avoided, and that all may know they +are in the capital of the catholic <!-- page 34--><span class="pagenum">p. 34</span>world.” +Forced marriages are matters of constant occurrence, and even strangers +against whom a charge of affiliation is brought are obliged either to +marry their accuser, or make provision for the illegitimate offspring. +In the provinces the system of interference is naturally carried to +yet greater lengths. Nine years ago certain Christians at Bologna, +who had opened shops in the Jewish quarter of the town, were ordered +to leave at once, because such a practice was in “open opposition +to the Apostolic laws and institutions.” Again, Cardinal +Cagiano, Bishop of Senigaglia, published a decree in the year 1844, +which has never been repealed, to promote morality in his diocese. +In that decree the following articles occur:</p> +<blockquote><p>“All young men and women are strictly forbidden, +under any pretext whatever, to give or receive presents from each other +before marriage. All persons who have received such presents before +the publication of this decree, are required to make restitution of +them within three months, or to become betrothed to the donor within +the said period. Any one who contravenes these regulations is +to be punished by fifteen days imprisonment, during which he is to support +himself <!-- page 35--><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>at his own +expense, and the presents will be devoted to some pious purpose to be +determined on hereafter.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I could multiply instances of this sort indefinitely, but I know +of none more striking than the last.</p> +<p>So much for the mode in which the system is worked, and now as to +its practical result. To judge fully, it is necessary to get behind +the scenes, a thing not easy for a stranger anywhere, least of all here. +There is too the further difficulty, that when you have got behind the +scenes, it is not very easy to narrate your esoteric experiences to +the public. Even if there were no other objection, it would be +useless to quote individual stories and facts which have come privately +to my knowledge, and which would show Rome, in spite of its external +propriety, to be one of the most corrupt, debauched, and demoralized +of cities. Each separate story can be disputed or explained away, +but the weight of the general evidence is overpowering. In these +matters it is best to keep to the old Latin rule, “Experto crede.” +I have talked with many persons, Romans, Italians, and foreign residents, +on the subject, and from one and all I have heard similar <!-- page 36--><span class="pagenum">p. 36</span>accounts. +Every traveller I have ever met with, who has made like inquiries, has +come to a like conviction. In a country where there is practically +neither press nor public courts, nor responsible government, where even +no classified census is allowed to be taken, statistics are hard to +obtain, and of little value when obtained. Personal evidence, +unsatisfactory as it is, is after all the best you can arrive at. +With regard then to what, in its strictest sense, is termed the “morality” +of Rome, I must dismiss the subject with the remarks, that the absence +of recognized public resorts and agents of vice may be dearly purchased +when parents make a traffic in their own houses of their children’s +shame, and that perhaps as far as the state is concerned the debauchery +of a few is a less evil than the dissoluteness of the whole population. +More I cannot and need not say. With respect to other sins against +the Decalogue, it is an easier task to speak. There is very little +drunkenness in Rome I freely admit, but then the Italians, like most +natives of warm countries, are naturally sober. Rome is certainly +not superior in this respect to other Italian cities; since the introduction +of the French soldiery probably the contrary. At the street corners +you <!-- page 37--><span class="pagenum">p. 37</span>constantly see +exhortations against profane swearing, headed “Bestemmiatore orrendo +nome,” but in spite of this, the amount of blasphemies that any +common Roman will pour forth on the slightest provocation, is really +appalling. Beggars too are universal. Everybody begs; if +you ask a common person your way along the street, the chances are that +he asks you for a “buono mano.” Now, even if you doubt +the truth of Sheridan’s dictum, that no man could be honest without +being rich, it is hard to believe in a virtuous beggar. The abundance, +also, of lotteries shakes one’s faith in Roman morality. +A population amongst whom gambling and beggary are encouraged by their +spiritual and temporal rulers is not likely in other respects to be +a virtuous or a moral one. The frequency of violent crimes is +in itself a startling fact.</p> +<p>To my eyes, indeed, the very look of the city and its inhabitants, +is a strong <i>primâ facie</i> ground of suspicion. There +is vice on those worn, wretched faces—vice in those dilapidated +hovel-palaces—vice in those streets, teeming with priests and +dirt and misery. In fact, if you only fancy to yourself a city, +where there are no manufactures, no commerce, no public life of any +kind; <!-- page 38--><span class="pagenum">p. 38</span>where the rich +are condemned to involuntary idleness, and the poor to enforced misery; +where there is a population of some ten thousand ecclesiastics in the +prime of life, without adequate occupation for the most part, and all +vowed to celibacy; where priests and priest-rule are omnipotent, and +where every outlet for the natural desires and passions of men is carefully +cut off—if you take in fully all these conditions and their inevitable +consequences, you will not be surprised if to me, as to any one who +knows the truth, the outward morality of Rome seems but the saddest +of its many mockeries.</p> +<h2><!-- page 39--><span class="pagenum">p. 39</span>CHAPTER IV. +THE ROMAN PEOPLE.</h2> +<p>“Senatus Populusque Romanus.” The phrase sounds +strangely, in my ears, like the accents of an unknown language or the +burden of a half-forgotten melody. In those four initial letters +there seems to me always to lie embodied an epitome of the world’s +history—the rise and decline and fall of Rome. On the escutcheons +of the Roman nobles, the S.P.Q.R. are still blazoned forth conspicuously, +but where shall we look for the realities expressed by that world-famed +symbol? It is true, the Senate is still represented by a single +Senator, nominated by the Pope, who drives in a Lord Mayor’s state +coach on solemn occasions; and regularly, on the first night of the +opera season, sends round ices, as a present to the favoured occupants +of the second and third tiers of boxes at the “Apollo.” +This gentleman, by all the laws of senatorial succession, <!-- page 40--><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>is +the undoubted heir and representative of the old Roman Senate, who sat +with their togas wrapped around them, waiting for the Gaul to strike; +but alas, the “Populus Romanus” has left behind him neither +heir nor descendant.</p> +<p>Yet surely, if anything of dead Rome be still left in the living +city, it should be found in the Roman people. In the <i>Mystères +du Peuple</i> of Eugêne Sue, there is a story, that to the Proletarian +people, the sons of toil and labour, belong genealogies of their own, +pedigrees of families, who from remote times have lived and died among +the ranks of industry. These fabulous families, I have often thought, +should have had their home in the Eternal City. Amongst the peasants +that you meet, praying in the churches, or basking in the sun-light, +or toiling in the deadly Campagna plains, there must be some, who, if +they knew it, descend in direct lineage from the ancient “Plebs.” +It may be so, or rather it must be so; but of the fact there is little +outward evidence. You look in vain for the characteristic features +of the old Roman face, such as you behold them when portrayed in ancient +statues. The broad low brow, the depressed skull, the protruding +under-jaw, and the <!-- page 41--><span class="pagenum">p. 41</span>thin +compressed lips, are to be seen no longer. Indeed, though I make +the remark with the fear of the artist-world before my eyes, I should +hardly say myself, that the Romans of the present day were a very handsome +race; and of their own type they are certainly inferior both to Tuscans +and Neapolitans. The men are well formed and of good height, but +not powerful in build or make, and their features are rather marked +than regular. As for the women, when you have once perceived that +hair may be black as coal and yet coarse as string, that bright sparkling +eyes may be utterly devoid of expression, and that an olive complexion +may be deepened by the absence of washing, you grow somewhat sceptical +as to the reality of their vaunted beauty. All this, however, +is a matter of personal taste, about which it is useless to express +a decided opinion. I must content myself with the remark, that +the Roman peasantry as depicted, year after year, on the walls of our +academy, bear about the same resemblance to the article provided for +home consumption, as the ladies in an ordinary London ball-room bear +to the portraits in the “Book of Beauty.” The peasants’ +costumes too, like the smock-frocks and <!-- page 42--><span class="pagenum">p. 42</span>scarlet +cloaks of Old England, are dying out fast. On the steps in the +“Piazza di Spagna,” and in the artists’ quarter above, +you see some score or so of models with the braided boddices, and the +head-dresses of folded linen, standing about for hire. The braid, +it is true, is torn; the snow-white linen dirt-besmeared, and the brigand +looks feeble and inoffensive, while the hoary patriarch plays at pitch +and toss: but still they are the same figures that we know so well, +the traditional Roman peasantry of the “Grecian” and the +“Old Adelphi.” Unfortunately, they are the last of +the Romans. In other parts of the city the peasants’ dresses +are few and far between; the costume has become so uncommon, as to be +now a fashionable dress for the Roman ladies at Carnival time and other +holiday festivals. On Sundays and “Festas” in the +mountain districts you can still find real peasants with real peasants’ +dresses; but even there Manchester stuffs and cottons are making their +way fast, and every year the old-fashioned costumes grow rarer and rarer. +A grey serge jacket, coarse nondescript-coloured cloth trousers, and +a brown felt hat, all more or less ragged and dusty, compose the ordinary +dress of the Roman working man. Female dress, in <!-- page 43--><span class="pagenum">p. 43</span>any +part of the world, is one of those mysteries which a wise man will avoid +any attempt to explain; I can only say, therefore, that the dress of +the common Roman women is much like that of other European countries, +except that the colours used are somewhat gayer and gaudier than is +common in the north.</p> +<p>Provisions are dear in Rome. Bread of the coarsest and mouldiest +quality costs, according to the Government tariff, by which its price +is regulated, from a penny to three halfpence for the English pound. +Meat is about a third dearer than in London, and clothing, even of the +poorest sort, is very high in price. On the other hand, lodgings, +of the class used by the poor, are cheap enough. There is no outlay +for firing, as even in the coldest weather (and I have known the temperature +in Rome as low as eight degrees below freezing-point), even well-to-do +Romans never think of lighting a fire; and then, in this climate, the +actual quantity of victuals required by an able-bodied labourer is far +smaller than in our northern countries, while, from the same cause, +the use of strong liquors is almost unknown. Tobacco too, which +is all made up in the Papal factories and chiefly grown in the <!-- page 44--><span class="pagenum">p. 44</span>country, +is reasonable in price, though poor in quality. In the country +and the poorer parts of the city, the dearest cigar you can buy is only +a baioccho, or under one halfpenny; and from this fact you may conclude +what the price of the common cheap cigars is to a native. From +all these causes, I feel no doubt that the cost of living for the poor +is comparatively small, though of course the rate of wages is small +in proportion. For ordinary unskilled labour, the day-wages, at +the winter season, are about three pauls to three pauls and a half; +in summer about five pauls; and in the height of the vintage as much +as six or seven pauls, though this is only for a very few weeks. +I should suppose, therefore, that from 1<i>s</i>. 6<i>d</i>. to 1<i>s</i>. +9<i>d</i>. a day, taking the paul at 5<i>d</i>., were the average wages +of a good workman at Rome. From these wages, small as they are, +there are several deductions to be made.</p> +<p>In the first place, the immense number of “festas” tells +heavily on the workman’s receipts. On the more solemn feast-days +all work is strictly forbidden by the priests; and either employer or +labourer, who was detected in an infraction of the law, would be subject +to heavy <!-- page 45--><span class="pagenum">p. 45</span>fines. +Even on the minor festivals, about the observance of which the Church +is not so strict, labour is almost equally out of the question. +The people have got so used to holiday keeping, that nothing but absolute +necessity can induce them to work, except on working days. All +over Italy this is too much the case. I was told by a large manufacturer +in Florence, that having a great number of orders on hand, and knowing +extreme distress to prevail among his workmen’s families, he offered +double wages to any one who came to work on a “festa” day, +but that only two out of a hundred responded to his offer. I merely +mention this fact, as one out of many such I have heard, to show how +this abuse must prevail in Rome, where every moral influence is exerted +in favour of idleness against industry, and where the observance of +holy days is practised most religiously.</p> +<p>Then, too, the higher rate of wages paid in summer is counterbalanced +by the extra risk to which the labourer is exposed. The ravages +created by the malaria fevers amongst the ill-bred, ill-clothed, and +ill-cared-for labourers, are really fearful. Indeed it is hardly +an exaggeration <!-- page 46--><span class="pagenum">p. 46</span>to +say, that the whole working population of Rome is eaten up with malaria. +I feel myself convinced that the misery and degradation of the Papal +States are to be attributed to two causes, the enormous burden of the +priesthood, and the ravages of the malaria. How far these two +causes are in any way connected with each other, I have never been able +to determine. It is one of the rhetorical exaggerations which +have impaired the utility of the <i>Question Romaine</i>, that M. About, +in his remarkable work, always treats the malaria as if it was solely +due to the inefficiency of the Papal Government, and would disappear +with the deposition of the Pope. This unphilosophical view is +generally adopted by liberal opponents of the Papacy, who lay the malaria +to its doors, while Papal advocates, on the contrary, always treat the +malaria as a mysterious scourge which can never be removed or even palliated; +a view almost as unphilosophical as the other. For my own part, +I have only been able to arrive at three isolated conclusions on the +subject. First, that mere cultivation of the Campagna, as shown +by Prince Borghese’s unsuccessful experiments, does not at any +rate immediately affect the virulence of the miasma, <!-- page 47--><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>or +whatever the malaria may be. Secondly, that the malaria can actually +be built out, or, in other words, if the Campagna was covered with a +stone pavement, the disease would disappear—a remedy obviously +impracticable; and lastly, that though the existence of the malaria +cannot be removed, as far I can see, yet that its evil effects might +be immensely lessened by warm clothing, good food, and prompt medical +aid at the commencement of the malady. Whatever tends to improve +the general condition of the Roman peasantry will put these remedies +more and more within their reach, and will therefore tend to check the +ravages of the malaria. Thus, the inefficient and obstructive +Government of the Vatican, which checks all material as well as all +moral progress, increases indirectly the virulence of the fever-plague; +but this, I think, is the most that can fairly be stated.</p> +<p>I trust that, considering the importance of the subject, this digression, +unsatisfactory as it is, may be pardoned; and I now turn to the third +curse, which eats up the wages of the working man at Rome—a curse +even greater, I think, than the “festas” or the malaria—I +mean, the universality of the middle-man system. If you <!-- page 48--><span class="pagenum">p. 48</span>require +any work done, from stone carving to digging, you seldom or never deal +with the actual workman. If you are a farmer and want your harvest +got in, you contract months beforehand with an agent, who agrees to +supply you with harvest-men in certain numbers, at a certain price, +out of which price he pockets as large a percentage as he can, and has +probably commissions to pay himself to some sub-contractor. If +you are a sculptor and wish a block of marble chiselled in the rough, +the man you contract with to hew the block at certain day-wages brings +a boy to do the work at half the above amount or less, and only looks +in from time to time to see how the work is proceeding. It is +the same in every branch of trade or business. If you wish to +make a purchase, or effect a sale, or hire a servant, you have a whole +series of commissions or brokerages to pay before you come into contact +with the principal.</p> +<p>If you inquire why this system is not broken through, why the employer +does not deal directly with his workmen, you are told that the custom +of the country is against any other method; that amongst the workmen +themselves there is so much terrorism and intimidation and <i>espionnage</i>, +that <!-- page 49--><span class="pagenum">p. 49</span>any single employer +or labourer, who contracted for work independently, would run a risk +of annoyance or actual injury; of having, for example, his block of +marble split “by a slip of the hand,” or his tools destroyed, +or a knife stuck into him as he went home at night, and, more than all, +that, without the supervision of the actual overseer, your workmen would +cheat you right and left, no matter what wages you paid. After +all it is better to be cheated by one man than by a dozen, and being +at Rome you must do as the Romans do.</p> +<p>It may possibly have been observed that, in the foregoing paragraph, +I have spoken of the “workmen at Rome,” not of the Roman +workmen. The difference, though slight verbally, is an all-important +one. The workmen in Rome are not Romans, for the Romans proper +never work. The Campagna is tilled in winter by groups of peasants, +who come from the Marches, in long straggling files, headed by the “Pifferari,” +those most inharmonious of pipers. In summer-time the harvest +is reaped and the vintage gathered in by labourers, whose homes lie +far away in the Abruzzi mountains. In many ways these mountaineers +bear a decided resemblance to the swarms <!-- page 50--><span class="pagenum">p. 50</span>of +Irish labourers who come across to England in harvest-time. They +are frugal, good-humoured, and, compared to the native Romans, honest +and hard-working. A very small proportion too of the working-men +in Rome itself are Romans. Certain trades, as that of the cooks +for instance, are almost confined to the inhabitants of particular outlying +districts. The masons, carpenters, carvers, and other mechanical +trades, are filled by men who do not belong to the city, and who are +called and considered foreigners. Of course the rule is not without +exceptions, and you will find genuine Romans amongst the common workmen, +but amongst the skilled workmen hardly ever. There is a very large, +poor, I might almost say, pauper population in Rome, and in some form +or other these poor must work for their living, but their principle +is to do as little work as possible. There still exists amongst +the Romans a sort of debased, imperial pride, a belief that a Roman +is <i>per se</i> superior to all other Italians. For manual work, +or labour under others, they have an equal contempt and dislike. +All the semi-independent trades, like those of cab-drivers, street-vendors, +petty shopkeepers, &c. are eagerly sought after and monopolized +by Romans. The <!-- page 51--><span class="pagenum">p. 51</span>extent +to which small trades are carried on by persons utterly without capital +and inevitably embarrassed with debt, is one of the chief evils in the +social system which prevails here. If the Romans also, like the +unjust steward, are too proud to dig, unlike that worthy, to beg they +are <i>not</i> ashamed. Begging is a recognized and a respected +profession, and if other trades fail there is always this left. +The cardinal principle of Papal rule is to teach its subjects to rely +on charity rather than industry. In order to relieve in some measure +the fearful distress that existed among the poor of Rome in the early +spring, the Government took some thousand persons into their employment, +and set them to work on excavating the Forum. The sight of these +men working, or, more correctly speaking, idling at work, used to be +reckoned one of the stock jokes of the season. Six men were regularly +employed in conveying a wheelbarrow filled with two spadefuls of soil. +There was one man to each handle, two in front to pull when the road +rose, and one on each side to give a helping hand and keep the barrow +steady. You could see any day long files of such barrows, so escorted, +creeping to and from the Forum. It is hardly necessary to say +<!-- page 52--><span class="pagenum">p. 52</span>that little progress +was ever made in the excavations, or, for that matter, intended to be +made. Yet the majority of these workmen were able-bodied fellows, +who received tenpence a day for doing nothing. Much less injury +would have been inflicted on their self-respect by giving them the money +outright than in return for this mockery of labour. Moreover the +poor in Rome, as I have mentioned elsewhere, are not afraid of actual +starvation. “Well-disposed” persons, with a good word +from the priests, can obtain food at the convents of the mendicant friars. +I am not saying there is no good in this custom; in fact, it is almost +the one good feature I know of connected with the priestly system of +government; but still, on an indolent and demoralised population like +that of Rome, the benefit of this sort of charity, which destroys the +last and the strongest motive for exertion, is by no means an unmixed +one.</p> +<p>The amusements of the people are much what might be expected from +their occupations. To do them justice, they drink but moderately; +but whenever they can spare the time and money, they crowd out into +the roadside “Osterias,” and spend hours, smoking and sipping +<!-- page 53--><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>the red wine lazily. +Walking is especially distasteful to them; and on a Sunday and festa-day +you will see hundreds of carriages filled with working people, though +the fares are by no means cheap. Whole families will starve themselves +for weeks before the Carnival, and leave themselves penniless at the +end, to get costumes and carriages to drive down the “Corso” +with on the gala days. The Romans, too, are a nation of gamblers. +Their chief amusement, not to say their chief occupation, is gambling. +In the middle of the day, at street-corners and in sunny spots, you +see groups of working-men playing at pitch halfpenny, or gesticulating +wildly over the mysterious game of “Moro.” Skittles +and stone-throwing are the only popular amusements which require any +bodily exertion; and both of these, as played here, are as much chance +as skill. The lottery, too, is the great national pastime.</p> +<p>This picture of the Roman people may not seem a very favourable or +a very promising one. I quite admit, that many persons, who have +come much into contact with them, speak highly of their general good +humour, their affectionate feelings and their sharpness of intellect. +At the same time, I have observed that these eulogists <!-- page 54--><span class="pagenum">p. 54</span>of +the Roman populace are either Papal partizans who, believing that “this +is the best of all possible worlds,” wish to prove also that “everything +here is for the best,” or else they are vehement friends of Italy, +who are afraid of damaging their beloved cause by an admission of the +plain truth, that the Romans are not as a people either honest, truthful +or industrious. For my own part, my faith is different. +A bad government produces bad subjects, and I am not surprised to find +in the debasement and degradation of a priest-ruled people the strongest +condemnation of the Papal system.</p> +<h2><!-- page 55--><span class="pagenum">p. 55</span>CHAPTER V. +TRIALS FOR MURDER.</h2> +<p>The idler about the streets of Rome may, from time to time, catch +sight, on blank walls and dead corners, of long white strips of paper, +covered with close-printed lines of most uninviting looking type, and +headed with the Papal arms—the cross-keys and tiara. If, +being like myself afflicted with an inquisitive turn of mind, he takes +the trouble of deciphering these hieroglyphic documents, his labour +would not be altogether thrown away. Those straggling strips, +stuck up in out-of-the-way places, glanced at by a few idle passers-by, +and torn down by the prowling vagabonds of the streets after a day or +two for the sake of the paper, are the sole public records of justice +issued, or allowed to be issued, under the Pontifical government. +Trials are carried on here with closed doors; no spectators are admitted; +no reports of the proceedings are <!-- page 56--><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>published. +In capital cases, however, <i>after</i> the execution of the criminal +has taken place a sort of <i>Procès verbal</i> of the case and +of the trial is placarded on the walls of the chief towns.</p> +<p>During the period of my stay at Rome there were three executions +in different parts of the Papal territory. Whether by accident +or by design I cannot say, but all these executions occurred within +a short period of each other, and, in consequence, three such statements +were issued almost at the same time by the Government. With considerable +difficulty I succeeded in obtaining copies of these statements, not, +I am bound to say, because there seemed to be any reluctance in furnishing +them, but because the fact of anybody wishing to obtain copies was so +unusual, that there was no preparation made for supplying them; and, +at last, I only succeeded in procuring them from a printer’s devil +to the Stanperia Apostolica. The facts narrated in them, and the +circumstances alluded to, seem to me to throw a strange light on the +administration of justice, and the daily life of this priest-ruled country. +It is as such that I wish to comment on them. In these statements, +be it remembered, there is no question of political or clerical bias. +<!-- page 57--><span class="pagenum">p. 57</span>The facts stated are +all facts, admitted by the authorities of their own free will and pleasure; +and if, as I think, these facts tell most unfavourably on the judicial +system of our clerical rulers, it is, at any rate, out of their own +mouths they are convicted. All, therefore, that I propose to do +is, having these official statements before me, to tell the stories +that they contain, as shortly and as clearly as I can, adding no comment +of my own but what is necessary to explain the facts in question. +Let me take first the case, which is entitled “Cannara contro +Luigi Bonci;” the township of Cannara, where the crime was committed, +being what we should call in a civil suit the plaintiff, and the accused +Bonci the defendant.</p> +<h3><!-- page 58--><span class="pagenum">p. 58</span>CHAPTER V.—continued. +THE “BONCI” MURDER.</h3> +<p>Some three years ago, then, there lived in the hamlet of Cannara, +near Perugia, a family called Bonci. They belonged to the peasant +class, and were poor, even among the Papal peasantry. The family +consisted of the father and mother, and of their son and daughter, both +grown up. Between the father and son there had long been ill-blood. +The cause of this want of family harmony is but indistinctly stated, +but apparently it was due to the irregular habits of the son, and to +the severity of the father; while all this domestic misery was rendered +doubly bitter by the almost abject want of the household. On the +night of November the 9th, 1856, Venanzio Bonci, the father, Maria Rosa, +his wife, and their daughter, Caterina, were at supper in the miserable +room, which formed the whole of their dwelling, waiting for the return +of the son, <!-- page 59--><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span>Luigi, +who had been absent ever since the morning. There had been frequent +quarrels before between father and son about Luigi’s stopping +out late, and now it was past midnight. There was no light in +the room except a faint flicker from the embers, and the feeble glimmering +of the starlight which entered through the open windows. A noise +was heard in the stable underneath the room, and the father, thinking +it was the son, called out three or four times, but got no answer. +A few minutes after Luigi entered without the lantern, which he had +left below in the stable, and although his sister bade him good night +he made no reply. As he entered the room his father called to +him, “A fine time of night to come home.” “What +then?” was the only answer given by Luigi. “You have +never been home since morning,” went on the father. “What +then?” was still the only answer. The father then told the +son to hold his tongue, and again received the same reply. At +last Venanzio, losing his temper, called out, “Be quiet, or I’ll +break your head;” or, according to the story, “I’ll +murder you:” to which Luigi only answered, “I may as well +die to-day as to-morrow.” After that there was a short scuffle +heard, and Venanzio <!-- page 60--><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>suddenly +cried out as if in pain, “My God! my God!” The mother +and daughter screamed for help, but by the time the neighbours had come +in with lights, Luigi had run off. Venanzio was found reeling +to and fro, with blood pouring from several wounds, and, in spite of +medical aid, he died in the course of a few hours. Almost immediately +after the commission of the crime Luigi was found by the gendarmes in +the cottage of an uncle, and arrested on the spot.</p> +<p>These, as far as I can learn from the very confused documents before +me, are all the facts admitted without question; or, more strictly speaking, +which the Government states to have been unquestioned. Luigi was +arrested on the night of the murder. Such small evidence as there +was could have been ascertained in twenty-four hours, and yet the prisoner +was never brought to trial till the 3rd of May, 1858; that is, eighteen +months afterwards. On that day Luigi Bonci was arraigned before +the civil and criminal court of Perugia, on the two counts of parricide, +and of having illegal arms in his possession. The Court was composed +of the President, Judge, Assistant Judge, and Deputy Judge of the district. +These gentlemen (all, I should state, lay officials) were <!-- page 61--><span class="pagenum">p. 61</span>assisted +by the public prosecutor and the Government counsel for the defence. +The course of proceedings is stated to have been as follows: prayers +were first offered up for the Divine guidance, the prisoner was introduced +and identified, the written depositions were read over, a narrative +of the facts was given by the president, the prisoner was called upon +to reply to the charges alleged against him, the witnesses for the crown +and for the prisoner were heard respectively, the counsel for the prosecution +called upon the court to condemn the prisoner, and was replied to by +the counsel for the defence; the discussion was then declared closed, +and after the judges had retired and deliberated, their sentence was +given.</p> +<p>All the facts I have been able to put together about the case are +gathered from this sentence and from those of the courts of appeal. +These sentences, however, are extremely lengthy, very indistinct, and +encumbered with a great deal of legal phraseology. As they are +all alike I may as well give an abstract of this one as a specimen of +all. The sentence begins with the following moral remarks: “Frequent +paternal admonitions, alleged scarcity of daily food, and the evil counsels +of others, had alienated the heart of the <!-- page 62--><span class="pagenum">p. 62</span>prisoner +to such an extent, that feelings of affection and reverence towards +his own father, Venanzio, had given place to contempt, disobedience, +ill-will, and even worse.” No one, however, would have supposed +that he “was capable of becoming a parricide, as was too clearly +proved on the fatal night in question.” After these preliminary +reflections comes a narration of the facts much in the words in which +I have given them. This is followed by a statement of the arguments +for the prosecution and for the defence, consisting of a number of verbose +paragraphs, each beginning, “considering that,” &c. +The case of the prosecution was clear enough. The medical evidence +proved that the father died of the wounds received on the above-named +night. The fact that the wounds were inflicted by the prisoner, +was established by the evidence of his mother and sister, who overheard +the quarrel between him and his father, by the flight after commission +of the crime, by the discovery of a blood-stained knife dropped on the +threshold, by the deposition of the father before death, and lastly, +by the confession of the prisoner himself, who admitted the crime, though +under extenuating circumstances. The fact that the sister never +heard the knife <!-- page 63--><span class="pagenum">p. 63</span>open, +although it had three clasps, was asserted to be evidence that the prisoner +entered the room with his knife open and intending to commit the crime. +This charge of <i>malice prepense</i> was supported by the son’s +refusal to answer his father, by the insolence of his language, and +by the number and vehemence of the stabs he inflicted.</p> +<p>The prisoner’s defence was also very simple. According +to his own story, he was half drunk on his return home. His father +not only taunted and threatened him, but at last seized the door-bar +and began knocking him about the head; and then, at last, maddened with +pain and passion, he drew out a knife he had picked up on the road, +and stabbed his father, hardly knowing what he did. On the bare +statement of facts, I should deem this version of the story the more +probable of the two, but as no details whatever are given of the evidence +on either side, it is impossible to judge. The court at any rate +decided that there was no proof of the prisoner having been drunk, and +that the evidence of his father having struck him was of a suspicious +character, “while,” they add, “it would be absurd +and immoral to maintain, that a father, whose right and duty it is to +correct his children (and indeed on this occasion <!-- page 64--><span class="pagenum">p. 64</span>correction +was abundantly deserved by the insolent demeanour of Luigi) could be +considered to provoke his son by a slight personal chastisement.” +The son, by the way, was over one and twenty, a fact to which no allusion +is made. As “a forlorn hope,” in the words of the +sentence, the counsel for the defence asserted, that whatever the crime +of the prisoner might be, it was not parricide, from the simple fact +that Luigi was not Venanzio’s son. The facts of the case +appear to have been, that Maria Rosa Battistoni being then unmarried, +gave birth in July 1835 to a son, who was the prisoner at the bar; that +shortly afterwards the vicar of Cannara gave information to the Episcopal +court of Assisi, that Maria Rosa had been seduced by Venanzio Bonci +and had had an illegitimate child by him; that, in consequence, a formal +requisition was addressed by the above court to Venanzio, and that he +thereupon acknowledged the paternity of the child, and expressed his +readiness to marry the mother. The marriage was therefore solemnized, +and the child entered in the church-books as the legitimized son of +Venanzio and Maria Bonci, in June, 1836. Against this strong presumptive +evidence of paternity, and the natural inference to be drawn from <!-- page 65--><span class="pagenum">p. 65</span>the +child having been brought up and educated as Venanzio’s son, there +were only, we are told, to be set, alleged expressions of doubt on the +father’s part, when in a passion, as to his being really the father, +and also certain confessions of the mother to different parties, that +Luigi was not the child of her husband. All these confessions +however, so it is asserted, were proved to be subsequent in date to +the son’s arrest, and therefore, probably, made with a view to +save his life. The plea is in consequence rejected.</p> +<p>No defence was attempted to the second count. Both charges +are therefore declared fully proved; and as the punishment for parricide +is public execution, and the penalty for having in one’s possession +(a lighter offence by the way, than using) any weapon without special +license, consists of imprisonment from two to twelve months, and of +a fine from five to sixty scudi, therefore the court “condemns +Luigi Bonci for the first count, to be publicly executed in Cannara, +and to make compensation to the heirs of the murdered man, according +to the valuation of the civil tribunals, and to pay the cost of the +trial; and on the second count, the court” (with a pedantic mockery +of mercy) “considers the first three months of the <!-- page 66--><span class="pagenum">p. 66</span>incarceration +the prisoner has already undergone to be sufficient punishment, coupled +with a fine of five scudi and the loss of the weapon.”</p> +<p>This summary will, I fear, give the reader too favourable an opinion +of the original sentence. In order to make the story at all intelligible, +I have had to pick out my facts, from a perfect labyrinth of sentences +and parentheses. All I, or any one else can state is, that these +seem to be the facts, which seem to have been proved by the witnesses. +What the character of the evidence was, or what was the relative credibility +of the witnesses, whose very names I know not, or how far their assertions +were borne out or contradicted by circumstantial proof, are all matters +on which (though the whole character of the crime depends on them) I +can form no opinion whatever.</p> +<p>The trial occupied but one day, and yet the above sentence, it appears, +was not communicated to the prisoner till the 15th of October, 1858, +that is, over five months afterwards. When the official announcement +of the sentence was made, the prisoner declared his intention of appealing +against its justice. By the Papal law, every person condemned +for a criminal offence, by the lay tribunals, has the right of appealing +to the Supreme Pontifical <!-- page 67--><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span>Court. +It is, therefore, needless to say, that in all cases where sentence +of death is passed, an appeal is made on any ground, however trivial, +as the condemned culprit cannot lose by this step, and may gain. +The practical and obvious objection to this unqualified power of appeal, +is that the supreme ecclesiastical court is the real judge, not the +nominal lay court, which does little more than register the fact, that +the crime is proved <i>prima facie</i>.</p> +<p>On the 15th of February, 1859, after a delay of four months more +from the time of appeal, the court of the supreme tribunal of the Consulta +Sacra, assembled at the Monte Citorio in Rome, to try the appeal. +The court was composed of six “most illustrious and reverend Judges,” +all “Monsignori” and all dignitaries of the Church, assisted +by a public prosecutor and counsel for the defence, attached to the +Papal exchequer. The course of proceedings appears to be much +the same as in the inferior courts, except that no witnesses, save the +prisoner, were examined orally, and the whole evidence was taken from +written depositions. At last, after “invoking the most sacred +name of God,” the court pronounce their sentence. This sentence +is in a great measure a <!-- page 68--><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>recapitulation +of the preceding one. Either no new facts were adduced, or none +are alluded to. The grounds for the defence are the same as on +the previous occasion, namely, the provocation given by the father, +and the doubt as to the son’s paternity. There were, in +fact, two questions before the court. First, whether the crime +committed was murder or manslaughter; and, if it was murder, whether +the murderer was or was not the son of the murdered man. Instead, +however, of facing either of these questions of fact, the court seems +to enter upon abstract considerations, which to our notions are quite +irrelevant. The degree to which paternal corrections can be carried +without abuse, and the problem whether a man who kills a person, whom +he believes and has reason to believe to be his father, but who is not +so in fact, is guilty or not of the sin of parricide, seem rather questions +for clerical casuistry than considerations which bear upon facts. +The final conclusion drawn from these various reflections is, that the +court confirms the judgment of the Perugian tribunal, in every respect.</p> +<p>The rejection of the appeal is not communicated for two months more, +that is, not till the 22nd of April, to the prisoner, who at once <!-- page 69--><span class="pagenum">p. 69</span>appeals +again against the execution of the verdict to the Upper Court of the +Supreme Tribunal. On the 13th of May the case comes on for its +third and last trial. The court is again composed of six ecclesiastics +of high rank, assisted by the same official counsel as before; the same +course of proceeding is adopted, except that the prisoner is not brought +into court or examined. Again, after “invoking the most +holy name of God,” the tribunal pronounces, not its sentence this +time, but its judgment. This judgment alludes only to the two +grounds on which the appeal is based. The first is the question +of paternity, which is at once dismissed, as being a matter of evidence +that has been already decided. The second ground of appeal is +a technical and a legal one. The defence appears to have pleaded, +that the original arrest was illegal, and that, by this fact, the whole +trial was vitiated. On both sides it was admitted that the prisoner +was arrested without a warrant, and not in “flagrante delicto,” +and that therefore the arrest was, strictly speaking, illegal. +The court, however, decides, that though the prisoner was not taken +in the act, yet his guilt was so manifest, that the gendarmes were justified +in acting as if <!-- page 70--><span class="pagenum">p. 70</span>they +had caught him perpetrating the crime, while in offences of great atrocity +the police have also a discretionary power to arrest offenders, even +without warrants. Though in this particular instance the result +is not much to be regretted, yet it is obvious, that the admission of +such a principle, and such an interpretation of the law, gives the police +unlimited power of arrest, subject to the approval of their superiors: +whether right or wrong, therefore, the appeal is dismissed, and the +final sentence of death pronounced.</p> +<p>It seems that this verdict was submitted on the 24th of May by the +President of the Supreme Court to the consideration of his Holiness +the Pope, who offered no objection to its execution. The prisoner’s +last chance was now gone, but, with a cruel mercy, he was left to linger +on for eight months more in uncertainty. It was only on the 3rd +of January, 1860, that orders were sent from Rome to Perugia, for the +execution to take place there instead of at Cannara, on the 13th. +On that day the verdict of the court is conveyed to the unhappy wretch. +On the 14th, so the last paragraph informs us, “The condemned” +Luigi Bonci “was beheaded by the public executioner, in the market-place +<!-- page 71--><span class="pagenum">p. 71</span>of Perugia, and his +head was there exposed for an hour to the gaze of the assembled multitude.”</p> +<p>On the 18th the report, from which these facts are taken, was placarded +on the walls of Rome. The murder is committed in November, 1856; +the murderer is arrested on the night of the crime; for that crime he +is not tried at all till May, 1858; his final trial does not come off +till May, 1859, and his execution is deferred till January, 1860. +For three years and a quarter after the commission of the murder no +report is published. These facts need no comment.</p> +<h3><!-- page 72--><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>CHAPTER V.—continued. +THE “UGOLINI” MURDER.</h3> +<p>Of late years, round and about Viterbo, there was a well-known character, +Giovanni Ugolini by name, a sort of itinerant “Jack-of-all-trades,” +who wandered about from place to place, picking up any odd job he could +find, and begging when he could turn his hand to nothing else. +He is described in the legal reports as a Tinker and Umbrella-mender, +but his especial line of industry, novel to us at any rate, seems to +have been that of a scraper and cleaner of old tombstones. By +these various pursuits, he scraped together a good bit of money for +a man in his position, and at the end of his winter circuit, in the +year 1857, he had saved up by common report as much as 70 scudi, or +about £14 odd. On the 4th of May in that year, Ugolini left +the little town of Castel Giorgio, with the avowed intention of going +to Viterbo, to change his monies into Tuscan coin. Being belated +on his road, he resolved to stop over the <!-- page 73--><span class="pagenum">p. 73</span>night +at the house of a certain Andrea Volpi which lay on his road, and where +he had often slept before. On the following morning, about eight +o’clock, he left Volpi’s house and went on his journey towards +Viterbo. Nothing more is positively known about him, except that +on the same day his body was found on a bye-path, a little off the direct +Viterbo road, covered with wounds. No money was discovered about +his person, while there was every indication of his clothes and pack +having been rummaged and rifled.</p> +<p>Assuming, as one must, the correctness of these facts, there can +be no doubt that a very brutal murder and robbery had been committed. +For some reasons, what, we are not told, the suspicions of the police +fell at once on one of Volpi’s sons, called Serafino, a lad of +about 22, and on a friend of his, Bonaventura Starna, about two years +older than himself. Both of these persons, who were common labourers, +were, in consequence, arrested on the 7th of May. They were not +tried, however, till the 27th of April, in the year following, when +they were arraigned for the murder before the lay criminal and civil +court of Viterbo.</p> +<p><!-- page 74--><span class="pagenum">p. 74</span>The two prisoners, +nevertheless, are not tried on the same charge. Volpi is arraigned +by the public prosecutor on a charge of wilful murder, accompanied with +treachery and robbery, while Starna is only brought to trial as an accomplice +to the crime, not as a principal. Before the actual guilt of either +prisoner is ascertained, the public prosecutor, that is, the Government, +decides the relative degree of their respective hypothetical guilt. +The justice of this proceeding may be questioned, but its motive is +palpable enough. There was little or no direct evidence against +the prisoners, and to convict either of them, it was necessary to rely +upon the testimony of the other.</p> +<p>“With both the prisoners,” so runs the sentence of the +court, “a criminal motive could be established in the fact of +their avowed poverty, as they each clearly admitted, that neither they +nor their families possessed anything in the world, and that they derived +the means of their miserable sustenance from their daily labour alone.” +A very close intimacy was proved to have existed between the prisoners, +so much so, indeed, that Starna had frequently been reproved by his +parents for his friendship with a <!-- page 75--><span class="pagenum">p. 75</span>man +who stood in such ill repute as Volpi. The fact that the murdered +man was, or was believed to be in possession of money, was shown to +be well known amongst the Volpi family. Two of Serafino Volpi’s +brothers were reported to have spoken to third parties of Ugolini’s +savings, and one of them expressed a wish to rob him. Why this +brother was neither arrested nor apparently examined, is one of the +many mysteries, by the way, you come across in perusing these Papal +reports. Serafino too had mentioned himself, to a neighbour, his +suspicion of the tinker’s having saved money. On the morning +of the murder, Starna was known to have come to the Volpi’s cottage, +to have talked with Serafino, and to have left again in his company, +shortly after Ugolini’s departure. After about an hour’s +absence, Serafino Volpi returned home, and therefore had time enough +to commit the murder. He was shown, moreover, to have been in +possession of a knife, about which he could give no satisfactory account, +and which might have inflicted the wounds found on the corpse.</p> +<p>These appear to have been all the facts which could be established +against either Volpi <!-- page 76--><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span>or +Starna by positive evidence, and, at the worst, such facts could only +be said to constitute a case for suspicion. Previously, however, +to the trial, Starna turned, what we should call, “King’s +evidence,” and, in contradiction to his foregoing statements, +made a confession, on which the prosecution practically rested the whole +of its case. According to this confession of Starna’s, on +the morning of the murder he called by accident at the Volpi’s, +and stopped there, till after the tinker, who was an entire stranger +to him, had left the house. Serafino Volpi then offered to accompany +him to his (Starna’s) house, on the pretence of borrowing some +tool or other. They walked quickly to avoid the rain, which was +falling heavily, and shortly overtook Ugolini, who exchanged a few words +with Volpi about the weather, and then turned off along a bye-road. +Thereupon Volpi proposed that they should follow the old man and rob +him, adding, “he has got a whole lot of coppers.” +Starna, according to his own story, refused to have anything to do with +the matter; on which Volpi said, in that case he should do it alone, +and asked Starna to go and fetch the tool he wanted, and bring it to +him where <!-- page 77--><span class="pagenum">p. 77</span>they were +standing. Starna then left Volpi running across the fields to +overtake the tinker, and went home to find the tool. In a very +short time afterwards, as he was coming back to the appointed meeting-place, +he met Volpi in a great state of agitation, who told him that the job +was finished, and Ugolini’s throat cut, but that only 20 pauls’ +worth of copper money, about eight shillings, were found upon him. +Starna admitted that he then took eight pauls as his own share in the +booty, and told Volpi to wash off some spots of blood visible on his +sleeve. He also added, that later on the same day he met Volpi +again, and then expressed his alarm at what had happened; on which he +received the answer, “If you had been with me, you would not be +alive now.”</p> +<p>One can hardly conceive a more suspicious story, or one more clearly +concocted to give the best colour to the witness’s own conduct, +at the expense of his fellow-prisoner. No evidence whatever appears +to have been brought in support of this confession. The court, +notwithstanding, decides that the truth of this statement is fully established +by internal and external testimony, and therefore declares that the +<!-- page 78--><span class="pagenum">p. 78</span>alleged crimes are +clearly proved against both the prisoners. “Considering,” +nevertheless, “that though Starna was an accomplice in the crime, +from his having assisted Volpi, and from having, by his own confession, +shared in the booty, yet that his guilt was less, both in the conception +and in the perpetration of the crime, there being no proof that he had +taken any active part in the murder of Ugolini,” therefore, “in +the most holy name of God,” the court sentences Volpi to public +execution, and Starna to twenty years at the galleys.</p> +<p>Of course, both the prisoners resorted to their invariable right +of appeal, but their case did not come on before the lower court of +the Supreme Clerical Tribunal at Rome for upwards of a year, namely, +on the 17th of May, 1859. At this trial, no new facts whatever +appear to have been adduced. I gather indistinctly, that Volpi’s +defence was that he had not left his father’s house at all on +the morning of the murder, but that his attempt to prove an “alibi” +was unsuccessful. The chief object indeed of the very lengthy +sentence of the court, recapitulating the evidence already stated, is +to establish the comparative innocence of Starna, who, for some cause +or other, <!-- page 79--><span class="pagenum">p. 79</span>seems to +have been favourably regarded. We are told, that “the confession +of Starna is confirmed by a thousand proofs;” that “it is +clearly shown” that Starna “in this confession did not deny +his own responsibility; a fact which gives his statement the character +of an incriminative and not of an exonerative confession; and that though +he might possibly have wished, in his statement of the facts, to modify +and extenuate his own share in the crime, yet there was no reason to +suspect that he wished gratuitously to aggravate the guilt of his comrade;” +and that also taking into consideration the villainous character of +Volpi, it cannot be doubted, that he was the principal in the crime. +The court at Viterbo had decided that the crime of the prisoners was +murder, coupled with robbery and treachery. The Court of Appeal +decides, on what seem sufficient grounds, that there is no proof of +treachery, and therefore, the crime not being of so heinous a character, +reduces the period of Starna’s punishment from twenty to fifteen +years, while it simply confirms the sentence of death on Volpi.</p> +<p>Again, as a matter of course, there is an appeal from this sentence +to the upper court of the Supreme Tribunal, which appeal comes off <!-- page 80--><span class="pagenum">p. 80</span>after +four months’ delay, on the 9th of September, 1859. The only +ground of appeal brought forward is one which, according to our notions +of law, should have been brought forward from the first, namely, that +the guilt of Volpi is not adequately proved by the unsupported statement +of his accomplice Starna, and “that the evidence which corroborates +this statement, only constitutes an <i>à priori</i> probability +of his guilt.” The court, however, dismisses this plea at +once, on the ground that it is not competent to take cognizance of an +argument based on the abstract merits of the case, and therefore confirms +the verdict.</p> +<p>On the 25th of November the sentence is submitted to, and approved +by, the Pope. On the 3rd of January, 1860, orders are issued from +Rome for the execution to take place. On the 17th the authorities +of Viterbo notify to the prisoner that his last appeal has been dismissed, +and “call on the military to lend their support to the execution +of the sentence,” and on the following day, two years and eight +months after his arrest, Volpi is executed for the murder of Ugolini +on the Piazza della Rocca at Viterbo. On that day, too, appears +the first report of his crime and trial.</p> +<h3><!-- page 81--><span class="pagenum">p. 81</span>CHAPTER V.—continued. +THE “AVANZI” MURDER.</h3> +<p>In July, 1859, there were in the Bagnio of Civita Vecchia two galley +slaves, Antonio Simonetti and Domenico Avanzi. Simonetti was a +man of thirty, whose life, short as it was, seemed to have been one +long career of crime. He had enlisted at an early age in the Pontifical +dragoons, and served for seven years; on leaving the army, he became +a porter, and within a few months was guilty of a highway robbery, and +sentenced to the galleys for life, then to five years’ hard labour +for theft, and again to seven years at the galleys for an attempt to +escape, though how the last punishment could be super-added to the first, +is a fact I cannot hope to explain. Of Avanzi nothing is mentioned, +except that he was an elderly <!-- page 82--><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>man +condemned to a lengthened term of imprisonment for heavy crimes. +Prisoners, it seems, condemned for long periods, are not sent out of +doors to labour at the public works, but are employed within the prison. +Both Simonetti and Avanzi were set to work in the canvas factory, and +according to a system adopted in many foreign gaols, they received a +certain amount of pay for their labour. An agreement had been +made between the pair, that one should twist and the other spin the +hemp; and the price paid for their joint work was to be divided between +them in certain proportions. About a fortnight before the murder +this sort of partnership was dissolved at the proposal of Simonetti, +and some days after Avanzi made a claim on his late partner for the +price of two pounds of hemp not accounted for. There seems to +have been no particular dispute about this, but on the morning of the +murder, Simonetti was summoned before the overseer of the factory, on +the ground of his refusal to pay the sum claimed by Avanzi of fifteen +baiocchi, or seven pence halfpenny. Simonetti did not deny that +Avanzi had some claim upon him, but disputed the amount. At last, +the overseer proposed, as an amicable compromise, <!-- page 83--><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>that +Simonetti should pay down seven baiocchi as a settlement in full, sooner +than have a formal investigation. Both parties adopted the suggestion +readily, and returned to their work apparently satisfied. An hour +and a half after, while Avanzi was sitting at his frame, with his face +to the wall, Simonetti entered the room with an axe he had picked up +in the carpenter’s store, and walking deliberately up to Avanzi, +struck him with the axe across the neck, as he was stooping down. +Almost immediate death ensued, and on the arrival of the guard, Simonetti +was arrested at once, and placed in irons. Probably, as a matter +of policy, so daring a crime required summary punishment; at any rate, +Papal justice seems to have been executed with unexampled promptitude. +With what the report justly calls “laudable celerity,” the +case was got ready for trial in a week, and on the 30th of July, the +civil and criminal court of Civita Vecchia met to try the prisoner. +There could be no conceivable question about the case. The murder +had been committed during broad daylight, in a crowded room, and indeed, +the prisoner confessed his guilt, and only pleaded gross provocation +as an excuse. There was no <!-- page 84--><span class="pagenum">p. 84</span>proof, +however, that Avanzi had used irritating language; and even if he had, +too long a time had elapsed between the supposed offence and the revenge +taken, for the excuse of provocation to hold good. Indeed, as +the sentence of the court argues, in somewhat pompous language, “Woe +to civil intercourse and human society, if, contrary to every principle +of reason and justice, an attempt to enforce one’s just and legal +rights by honest means, were once admitted as an extenuating circumstance +in the darkest crimes, or as a sufficient cause for exciting pardonable +provocation in the hearts of criminals.” The tribunal too +considers, that the crime of the prisoner was aggravated by the fact, +that his mind remained unimpressed “by the horrors of his residence, +or the dreadful aspect and sad fellowship of his thousand unfortunate +companions in guilt, or by the flagrant penalties imposed upon him, +for so many crimes.” On all these grounds, whether abstract +or matter-of-fact, the court declares the prisoner guilty of the wilful +murder of Avanzi, and sentences him to death.</p> +<p>On the morrow this sentence is conveyed to Simonetti, who appeals. +With considerable expedition the Supreme Tribunal meet to hear <!-- page 85--><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span>the +case on the 23rd of September. The prisoner alleged before this +court that his indignation had been excited by improper proposals made +to him by the murdered man, and it was on this account their partnership +had been dissolved. Besides certain inherent improbabilities in +this story, the court decides that it was incredible that, if true, +Simonetti should not have made the statement at his previous trial. +The appeal was therefore dismissed, and the sentence of death confirmed. +This decision was notified to the prisoner on the 18th of November, +who again appeals to the higher Court, which meets to try the appeal +on the 29th of the same month. This court at once decided that +there was no ground for supposing the crime was not committed with “malice +prepense,” or for modifying the verdict. It is not stated +when the sentence was submitted to the Pope, but on the 20th of January, +1860, the rejection of his final appeal is communicated to the prisoner, +and on the 21st the execution takes place, and the report is published.</p> +<p>Now, if I had wished solely to decry the Papal system of justice, +I should not have given the report of the last trial, which seems to +me far the most favourable specimen of the set I have <!-- page 86--><span class="pagenum">p. 86</span>come +across. I am inclined to believe, from the meagre narratives before +me, that all the criminals whose cases I have narrated were guilty of +the crimes alleged against them, and fully deserved the fate they met +with. My object, however, has been to point out certain features +which must, I think, force themselves on any one who has read these +cases carefully. The disregard for human life, the abject poverty, +the wide-spread demoralization in the rural districts indicated by these +stories, are startling facts in a country which has been for centuries +ruled by the vicegerents of Christ on earth. At the same time, +the great protraction of the trials and the utter uncertainty about +the date of their occurrence, the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence, +the want of any cross-examination, the manner in which strict law is +disregarded from a clerical view of justice, and the identity between +the court and the prosecution, the abuse of the unlimited power of appeal, +and the extent to which this appeal from a lay to a clerical court places +justice virtually in the hands of the priesthood; and finally, the secret +and private character of the whole investigation, coupled with the utter +absence of any check on injustice through publicity, are all matters +patent <!-- page 87--><span class="pagenum">p. 87</span>even to a casual +observer. If such, I ask, is Papal justice, when it has no reason +for concealment and has right upon its side, what would it be in a case +where injustice was sought to be perpetrated and concealed?</p> +<h3><!-- page 88--><span class="pagenum">p. 88</span>CHAPTER V.—continued. +THE “SANTURRI” MURDER.</h3> +<p>Some months after I had written the question which closes the last +chapter, I was fortunate enough to obtain a partial answer to it. +During the present year the Cavaliere Gennarelli, a Roman barrister, +and a member of the Roman parliament in 1848, has published a series +of official documents issued by the Papal authorities during the last +ten years; the most damning indictment, by the way, that was ever recorded +against a Government. Amongst those documents there appears the +official sentence which, as usual, was published after the execution +of a certain Romulo Salvatori in 1851. The trial possesses a peculiar +momentary interest from the fact that Garibaldi is one of the persons +implicated in the charge, and that the gallant general, if captured +on Roman territory, would be liable to the judgment passed on him in +default. It is, however, <!-- page 89--><span class="pagenum">p. 89</span>rather +with a view to show how the Papal system of justice works, when political +bias comes into play, that I propose to narrate this story as a sequel +to the others. The words between inverted commas are, as before, +verbal translations from the sentence. From that sentence I have +endeavoured to extract first the modicum of facts which seem to have +been admitted without dispute.</p> +<p>During the death-struggle of the Roman Republic, when the Neapolitan +troops had entered the Papal territory on their fruitless crusade, the +country round Velletri was occupied by Garibaldi’s soldiery. +Near Velletri there is a little town called Giulianello, of which a +certain Don Dominico Santurri was the head priest. Justly or unjustly, +this priest, and two inhabitants of the town, named De Angelis and Latini, +were accused of plotting against the Republic; arrested by order of +one of Garibaldi’s officers; imprisoned for a couple of days, +and, after a military examination (though of what nature is a matter +of dispute) found guilty of treason against the state. The priest +was sentenced to death and shot at once; the other two prisoners were +dismissed with a reproof. Subsequently <!-- page 90--><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>orders +were issued for their re-arrest. One of them, Latini, had made +his escape meanwhile; the other, De Angelis, being less fortunate, was +arrested again and executed.</p> +<p>Now, how far these persons were really guilty or not of the offence +for which they suffered, I of course have no means of knowing. +Common sense tells one that a nation, fighting for dear life against +foes abroad and traitors within, is obliged to deal out very rough and +summary justice, and can hardly be expected to waste much time in deliberation. +At any rate, when the Papal authority was restored, the Pope, on the +demand of the French, declared a general amnesty for all political offences. +This promise, however, of an amnesty, like many other promises of Pius +the Ninth, was made with a mental reservation. The Pope pardoned +all political offenders, but then the Pope alone was the judge of what +constituted a political offence.</p> +<p>In accordance with this system the execution of Santurri and De Angelis +was decided not to have been a political offence, but a case of private +vengeance, and “the indignation of the public was so strong,” +that Government could not refuse the imperative call for justice. +Within <!-- page 91--><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>a few weeks, +therefore, of the Papal restoration, seven inhabitants of Giulianello +were arrested on the charge of being concerned in the murders of Santurri +and De Angelis.</p> +<p>On the 4th of April, 1851, the Supreme Court of the Sacra Consulta +met to try the prisoners—nearly two years after the date of their +arrest. The court, as usual, was composed of six high dignitaries +of the Church, and throughout the mode of procedure differed in nothing +that I can learn from what I have described in the former trials, except +that there is no allusion to any preliminary trial before the ordinary +lay courts. Whether this omission is accidental, or whether, as +in other instances during the Papal “Vendetta” after ’49, +the ordinary forms of justice were dispensed with, I cannot say. +Garibaldi, De Pasqualis, and David, “self-styled” General, +Colonel, and auditor respectively of the Roman army, were summoned to +appear and answer to the charge against them, or else to allow judgment +to go by default. The prisoners actually before the bar were</p> +<blockquote><p>Romolo Salvatori,<br /> +Vincenzo Fenili,<br /> +Luigi Grassi,<br /> +<!-- page 92--><span class="pagenum">p. 92</span>Francesco Fanella,<br /> +Dominico Federici,<br /> +Angelo Gabrielli,<br /> +Teresa Fenili.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is curious, to say the least, that all the prisoners appear to +have been leading members of the liberal party at Giulianello. +Salvatori was elected Mayor of the town during the Republic, and the +next four prisoners held the office there of “Anziani” at +the same period, an office which corresponds somewhat to that of Alderman +in our old civic days. The chief witnesses for the prosecution +were Latini, who so narrowly escaped execution, and the widow of De +Angelis, persons not likely to be the most impartial of witnesses.</p> +<p>The whole sentence is in fact one long “ex parte” indictment +against Salvatori. The very language of the sentence confesses +openly the partizanship of the court. I am told that, in May 1849, +“The Republican hordes commanded by the adventurer Garibaldi, +after the battle with” (defeat of?) “the Royal Neapolitan +troops at Velletri, had occupied a precarious position in the neighbouring +towns,” and a good number of <!-- page 93--><span class="pagenum">p. 93</span>these +troops were stationed at Valmontone, under the command of the so-called +Colonel De Pasqualis; that at this period, when “an accusation +sent to the commanders of these freebooters was sufficient to ruin every +honest citizen,” Salvatori, in order to gratify his private animosity +against Santurri, De Angelis, and Latini, forwarded to De Pasqualis +an unfounded accusation against them of intriguing for the overthrow +of the Republic; and in order to give it a “colour of probability,” +induced the above-named Anziani to sign it; and that, in order to accomplish +his impious design, he wrote a private letter to De Pasqualis, telling +him how the arrest of the accused might be effected. Again, I +learn that a search, instituted by Salvatori into the priest Santurri’s +papers, produced no “evidence favourable to his infamous purpose,” +that the accused were never examined, though “a certain David, +who pretended to be a military auditor, made a few vague inquiries of +Santurri, and noted the answers down on paper with a pencil.” +Then we have a queer story how, when Santurri implored for mercy, David +replied, “Priests may pardon, but Garibaldi never,” though +the very next minute <!-- page 94--><span class="pagenum">p. 94</span>David +is represented as announcing to De Angelis and Latini, that Garibaldi +had granted them their pardon. Then I am informed that Salvatori +used insulting language to Santurri on his arrest; that it was solely +owing to Salvatori’s remonstrances that orders were issued for +the re-arrest of Latini and De Angelis; and that though Salvatori ultimately, +at the prayer of De Angelis’ wife, gave her a letter to De Pasqualis +interceding for her husband, yet he purposely delayed granting it till +he knew it would be too late.</p> +<p>Such are the heads of the long string of accusations against Salvatori, +of which practically the sentence is composed. The evidence, as +far as it is given in the sentence on which the accusations rest, is +vague in the extreme. The proof of any personal ill-will against +the three victims of the Republic, on the part of any of the prisoners, +is most insufficient. Salvatori is said to have had an old grudge +against Santurri, about some wood belonging to the Church, to which +he had made an unjust claim. De Angelis was stated to have once +threatened to shoot Salvatori; but this, even in Ireland, could hardly +be construed into evidence that <!-- page 95--><span class="pagenum">p. 95</span>therefore +Salvatori was resolved to murder De Angelis. The only ground of +ill-will that can be suggested, as far as Latini is concerned, is that +he was a partizan of the priesthood. The act of accusation against +Santurri and his fellow-victims, forwarded by the authorities of Giulianello, +though essential to the due comprehension of the story, is not forthcoming; +and no explanation even is offered of the motives which induced the +four “Anziani” to sign a charge which, by the Papal hypothesis, +they knew to be utterly unfounded. The bare idea, that Santurri +or the others were really guilty of any intrigues against the Republic, +is treated as absurd; the fact that any trial or investigation ever +took place is slurred over; and yet, with a marvellous inconsistency, +Salvatori is accused of being in reality the guilty author of these +executions, because some witness—name not given—reports +that he heard a report from a servant of Garibaldi, that Santurri was +only executed, in opposition to Garibaldi’s own wish, in consequence +of Salvatori’s representations.</p> +<p>What was the nature of Salvatori’s defence cannot be gathered +from the sentence. From another source, however, I learn that +it was <!-- page 96--><span class="pagenum">p. 96</span>such as one +might naturally expect. During 1849, the mayors of the small country +towns were entrusted with political authority by the Government. +In the exercise of his duty, as mayor, Salvatori discovered that Santurri +and the others were in correspondence with the Neapolitans, who were +then invading the country, and reported the charge to the officer in +command. The result of a military perquisition was to establish +convincing proof of the charge of treason. Santurri was tried +by a court martial, and sentenced at once to execution; as were also +his colleagues, on further evidence of guilt being discovered. +Salvatori, therefore, pleaded, that his sole offence, if offence there +was, consisted in having discharged his duty as an official of the Republican +Government, and that this offence was condoned by the Papal amnesty. +This defence, as being somewhat difficult to answer, is purposely ignored; +and a printed notice, published on the day of Santurri’s execution, +and giving an account of his trial and conviction, is rejected as evidence, +because it is not official!</p> +<p>Considering the tone of the sentence it will not be matter of surprise, +that the court sums <!-- page 97--><span class="pagenum">p. 97</span>up +with the conclusion, that “Not the slightest doubt can be entertained +that the wilful calumnies and solicitations of the prisoner Salvatori +were the sole and the too efficacious causes of the result he had deliberately +purposed to himself” (namely, the murder of Santurri); and therefore +unanimously condemns him to public execution at Anagni. Vincenzo +Fenili and Grassi, who had co-operated in the arrest of Santurri, are +sentenced to 20 years’ labour on the hulks. There not being +sufficient evidence to convict Fanella, Federici, and Teresa Fenili, +they are to be—not acquitted, but kept in prison for six months +more, while Gabrielli, whose only offence was, that he told Salvatori +where the priest Santurri was to be found, though without any evil motive, +is to be released provisionally, having been, by the way, imprisoned +already for 18 months, while Garibaldi and De Pasqualis are to be proceeded +against in default.</p> +<p>Salvatori was executed on the 10th of September, 1851; Fenili and +Grassi are probably, being both men in the prime of life, still alive +and labouring in the Bagnio of Civita Vecchia, where, at their leisure, +they can appreciate the mercies of a Papal amnesty. It seems to +me <!-- page 98--><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>that I should have +called this chapter the Salvatori rather than the Santurri murder, and +then the question asked at the end of the last would have required no +answer.</p> +<h2><!-- page 99--><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span>CHAPTER VI. +THE PAPAL PRESS.</h2> +<p>At Rome there is no public life. There are no public events +to narrate, no party politics to comment on. Events indeed will +occur, and politics will exist even in this best regulated of countries; +but as all narration of the one, and all manifestation of the other, +are equally interdicted for press purposes, neither events nor politics +have any existence. To one, who knows the wear and tear of the +London press, to whom the very name of a newspaper recalls late hours +and interminable reports, despatches and telegrams, proof-sheets, parliamentary +debates and police intelligence, leading articles and correspondents’ +letters; a very series of Sisyphean labours, without rest or end; to +such an one the position of the Roman journalist seems a haven of rest, +the most delightful of all sinecures. There are many mysteries +indeed about the Papal Press. <!-- page 100--><span class="pagenum">p. 100</span>Who +writes or composes the papers is a mystery; who reads or purchases them +is perhaps a greater mystery; but the bare fact of their existence is +the greatest mystery of all. Even the genius of Mr Dickens was +never able to explain satisfactorily to the readers of <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i>, +why Squeers, who never taught anything at Dotheboys Hall, and never +intended anything to be taught there, should have thought it necessary +to engage an usher to teach nothing; and exactly in the same way, it +is an insoluble problem why the Pontifical Government, which never tells +anything and never intends anything to be told, should publish papers, +in order to tell nothing. The greatest minds, however, are not +exempt from error; and it must be to some hidden flaw in the otherwise +perfect Papal system, that the existence of newspapers in the sacred +city is to be ascribed. The marvel of his own being must be to +the Roman journalist a subject of constant contemplation.</p> +<p>The Press of Rome boasts of three papers. There is the <i>Giornale +di Roma</i>, the <i>Diario Romano</i>, and, last and least, the <i>Vero +Amico del Popolo</i>. The three organs of Papal opinion bear a +suspicious resemblance to each other. The <i>Diary</i> is a feeble +reproduction of the <i>Journal</i>, <!-- page 101--><span class="pagenum">p. 101</span>and +the <i>Peoples True Friend</i>, which I never met with, save in one +obscure café, is a yet feebler compound of the two; in fact, +the <i>Giornale di Roma</i> is the only one of the lot that has the +least pretence to the name of a newspaper; it is, indeed, the official +paper, the London Gazette of Rome. It consists of four pages, +a little larger in size than those of the <i>Examiner</i>, and with +about as much matter as is contained in two pages of the English journal. +The type is delightfully large, and the spaces between the lines are +really pleasant to look at; next to a Roman editor, the position of +a Roman compositor must be one of the easiest berths in the newspaper-world. +Things are taken very easily here, and the <i>Giornale</i> never appears +till six o’clock at night, so that writers and printers can take +their pleasure and be in bed betimes. There is no issue on Sundays +and Feast-days, which occur with delightful frequency. This ideal +journal, too, has no fixed price. The case of any one being impatient +enough about news to buy a single number seems hardly to be contemplated. +The yearly subscription is seven scudi, which comes to between a penny +and five farthings a number; but for a single copy you are asked half +a paul, or twopence halfpenny. <!-- page 102--><span class="pagenum">p. 102</span>This +however must be regarded as a fancy price, as single copies are not +an article on demand; they can only be obtained, by the way, at the +office of the Gazette in the Via della Stamperia, and this office is +closed from noon, I think, to sunset.</p> +<p>Suppose, for the sake of argument, there was an English newspaper +at Rome. Let us consider what would be its summary of contents, +this day on which I write. Putting aside foreign topics altogether, +what might one naturally suppose would be the Roman news? There +is the revolution in the Romagna; if private reports are not altogether +false, there have been disturbances in the Marches; there is the question +of the Congress, the rumoured departure of the French troops, the state +of the adjoining kingdoms, the movements of the Pontifical army, and +the promised Papal reforms. Add to all this, there is the recent +mysterious attempt at murder in the Minerva hotel, about which all kinds +of strange rumours are in circulation. Suppose too, which heaven +forbid, that I was a Roman citizen, and had no means of catching sight +of foreign newspapers, which is extremely probable, or understood no +foreign language, which is more probable still; <!-- page 103--><span class="pagenum">p. 103</span>what +in this case should I learn from my sole source of information, my <i>Giornale +di Roma</i>, about my own city and my own country, on this 19th of January, +in the year of grace 1860?</p> +<p>The first fact brought before my eager gaze on taking up the paper, +would be that yesterday was the feast of St Peter’s chair. +Solemn mass was, I learn, performed in the cathedral, in the presence +of “our Lord’s Holiness,” and a Latin oration pronounced +in honour of the Sacred Chair. After the ceremony was over, it +seems that the Senator of Rome, Marquis Mattei, presented an address +to the Pope, with a copy of which I am kindly favoured. The Senator, +in his own name and in that of his colleagues in the magistracy, declares, +that “if at all times devotion to the Pontiff and loyalty to the +Sovereign was the intense desire of his heart, it is more ardent to-day +than ever, since he only re-echoes the sentiment of the whole Catholic +world, which with wonderful unanimity proclaims its veneration for the +august Father of the faithful, and offers itself, as a shield, to the +Sovereign of Rome.” He adds, that “his mind revolts +from those fallacious maxims, which some persons try to insinuate into +the feeble minds <!-- page 104--><span class="pagenum">p. 104</span>of +the people, throwing doubts on the incontestable rights of the Church, +and that he looks with contempt on such intrigues.” As however +both the Senator and his colleagues are nominees of the Pope, and as +a brother of the Marquis is a Cardinal, I feel sceptical as to the value +of their opinion. The next paragraph tells me, that in order to +testify their devotion to the Papacy the inhabitants of Rome illuminated +their houses last night in honour of the feast. Unfortunately, +I happened to walk out yesterday evening, and observed that the lamps +were very few and far between, while in the only illuminated house I +entered I found the proprietor grumbling at the expense which the priests +had insisted on his incurring. I have then a whole column about +the proceedings at the “Propaganda” on the festival of the +Epiphany, now some days ago. The Archbishop of Thebes, I rejoice +to learn, excited the pupils of the Academy to imitate the virtues manifested +in the “Magi,” by an appropriate homily, drawing a striking +parallel between the simplicity, the faith and honesty of the three +kings, and the disbelief and hypocrisy of the wicked king Herod. +I wonder if I have ever heard of Herod under a more modern name, and +pass on to a passage, <!-- page 105--><span class="pagenum">p. 105</span>written +in italics, in order to attract my special attention. The “Propaganda” +meeting is, I am informed, “a noble spectacle, which Rome alone +can offer to the world; that Rome, which God has made the capital of +His everlasting kingdom.” This concludes the whole of my +domestic intelligence; all that I know, or am to know, about the state +of my own country.</p> +<p>Then follows the foreign intelligence, under the heading of “Varieties.” +Seventy pro-papal works have, I read, been published in France; indeed, +the zeal in behalf of the Pontifical cause gains, day by day, so rapidly +in that country, that “every one,” so some provincial paper +says, “who can hold a pen in hand uses it in favour of justice +and religion, upon the question of the Papacy.” So much +for France. All I learn about Italy is that all writings in defence +of the Pope are eagerly sought after and perused. Spanish affairs +meet with more attention. An English vessel has been captured, +it seems, freighted with 14,000 bayonets for Tangiers; and the shipwrecked +crew of a French brig were all but massacred by the Moors, or rather, +if they were not massacred, it was from no want of malignity on the +part of the infidels. I have next an account of the opening <!-- page 106--><span class="pagenum">p. 106</span>of +the Victoria Bridge, Canada, interesting certainly, though I confess +that some account, when the sewers in the Piazza di Spagna are likely +to be closed, would possess more practical interest for myself. +This paragraph is followed by two columns long of the American President’s +letter to Congress; a subject on which, as a Roman citizen, I do not +feel keenly excited.</p> +<p>The next heading is the “Morning’s News.” +This news is made up of small short extracts from, or more correctly +speaking, small paragraphs about—extracts from—the foreign +newspapers. If I have not heard any rumours at my café, +these paragraphs are commonly unintelligible; if I have heard any such +reports of agitation or excitement abroad in reference to the Papacy +I always find from the paragraphs, that these reports were utterly erroneous. +There is a good deal about the new French free-trade tariff, and the +pacific intentions of the emperor. There are grave discussions, +it appears, in the cabinets of London and Turin; and the return of the +conservative Count Walewski to office is confidently expected in Paris. +Lord Cowley’s journey to London is now known to have no political +signification, and the idea that any accord between <!-- page 107--><span class="pagenum">p. 107</span>France +and England betokened a desertion of the Villa-Franca stipulations, +is asserted, on the best authority, to be an entire delusion.</p> +<p>This concludes my budget of news. A whole page is covered with +quotations from Villemain’s pamphlet, <i>La France, l’Empire +et la Papauté</i>; but as my own personal experience must of +course be the best evidence as to the blessings of a Papal government, +this seems to me to be carrying coals to Newcastle. I have then +a list of the strangers arrived at Rome, one advertisement of some religious +work, <i>The Devotions of Saint Alphonso Maria de Liguori</i>, a few +meteorological observations from the Pontifical observatory, and half-a-dozen +official notices of legal judgments, in cases about which, till now, +I have never been allowed to hear a single allusion. I have, however, +the final satisfaction of observing that my paper was printed at the +office of the Holy Apostolic Chamber.</p> +<p>“Ex uno,” my Roman friend might truly say, “disce +omnes.” The number I have taken as a sample is one of more +than average interest. I know, indeed, no greater proof of the +anxiety and alarm of the Papal government than that so much intelligence +should be allowed to ooze out <!-- page 108--><span class="pagenum">p. 108</span>through +the Roman press. I know also of no greater proof of its weakness. +A strong despotic government may ignore the press altogether; but a +despotism which tries to defend itself by the press, and such a press, +must be weak indeed. None but a government of priests, half terrified +out of their senses, would dream of feeding strong men with such babes’ +meat as this. There are Signs of the Times even in the <i>Giornale +di Roma</i>.</p> +<h2><!-- page 109--><span class="pagenum">p. 109</span>CHAPTER VII. +THE POPE’S TRACT.</h2> +<p>If it has ever been the fortune of my readers to mix in tract-distributing +circles, they will, doubtless, have become acquainted with a peculiar +style of literature which, for lack of a more appropriate appellation, +I should call the “candid inquirer” and “intelligent +operative” style. The mysteries of religion, the problems +of social existence, the intricate casuistries of contending duties, +are all explained, in a short and simple dialogue between a maid-servant +and her mistress; or a young, a very young man, and his parochial pastor, +or a ne’er-do-weel sot and a sober, industrious artisan. +The price is only a penny (a reduction made on ordering a quantity), +and the logic is worthy of the price.</p> +<p>In its dire distress and need the Papacy has resorted, as a forlorn +hope, to the controversial <!-- page 110--><span class="pagenum">p. 110</span>tract +system. As an abstract matter this is only fair play. The +Pope has had so many millions of tracts published against him, that +it is hard if he may not produce one little one in his own defence. +His Holiness may say with truth, in the words of Juvenal,</p> +<blockquote><p>Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam,<br /> +Vexatus toties?</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But, as a matter of policy, if he has got so very little to say for +himself, it would be perhaps wiser if he held his tongue. Be that +as it may, the Vatican has thought fit to bring out a small brown paper +tract, in answer to the celebrated, too-celebrated, pamphlet, <i>Le +Pape et le Congrès</i>. The tract is of the smallest bulk, +the clearest type, the best paper, and the cheapest price. Mindful +of the Horatian dictum, it plunges at once “in medias res,” +and starts, out of breath, with the following interjections: “The +end of the world has come. Some want a Pope and not a King; others +half a Pope and half a King; and others again, no Pope and no King. +And who are these persons—Catholics or Protestants, Jews or Phalansterians, +believers or unbelievers? Men who have once believed, <!-- page 111--><span class="pagenum">p. 111</span>and +believe no longer, or men who have never believed at all? Which +are the most sincere of these classes? The last, who say, ‘God +and the people,’ and who mean to say, ‘No more Popes, and +no more Kings.’ Which are the most hypocritical? The +second, the men of half measures, who wish for half a Pope and half +a King, trusting the while, that either Pope or King may die of inanition, +or at any rate that the King will. Which are the greatest dupes? +The first, who, Pharisee-like, offering up their prayers, and going +to church once a year, deceive themselves with the idea, that the Pope +will be more powerful and more free in the vestry of St Peter’s +than in the palace of the Vatican.”</p> +<p>The above view of the devotional habits prevalent amongst the Pharisees +may appear somewhat novel, but let that pass. Meanwhile, any one +experienced in tract lore will feel certain that this outburst will +be followed by the appearance of the “candid inquirer,” +who comes upon the boards at once, in obedience to the call, and addresses +the eloquent controversialist with the stereotyped phrases.</p> +<p>“These three classes of persons, who raise an outcry against +the temporal power of the Pope, <!-- page 112--><span class="pagenum">p. 112</span>are +of different stamps; for I understand well whom you allude to; you mean +the sincere, the moderate and the devout opponents of the Papacy. +I have, however, one or two questions, I should like to ask you; would +you be kind enough to answer me?”</p> +<p>X of course replies, that nothing in the world would give him so +much pleasure; and during the first dialogue the candid inquirer appears +in the character of D, the devout opponent. The pamphlet is much +too long and too tedious to give in full. Happily the arguments +are few in number; and such as they are, I shall be able to pick them +out without much difficulty, quoting the exact words of the dialogue, +wherever it rises to peculiar grandeur. X opens the discussion +by carrying an assault at once into the enemy’s weak places: “You +devout believers say that a Court is not fitting for a priest. +Everybody, however, knows that, at the Papal Court, the time and money +of the public are not frittered away in parties and fetês and +dances. Everybody knows too that women are not admitted to the +Vatican, and therefore the habits of the court are not effeminate, while +the whole of its time is spent in transacting state affairs; and the +due <!-- page 113--><span class="pagenum">p. 113</span>course of justice +is not disturbed by certain feminine passions.” After this +statement, startling to any one with a knowledge of the past, and still +more to an inhabitant of Rome at the present day, the devout inquirer +wisely deserts the domain of stern facts, and betakes himself to abstract +considerations. His first position, that the Vicar of Christ ought +to follow the example of his master, who had neither court nor kingdom, +nor where to lay his head, is upset at once by the <i>argumentum ad +hominem</i>, that, according to the same rule, every believer ought +to get crucified. No escape from this dilemma presenting itself +to our friend D’s devout but feeble mind, X follows up the assault, +by asking him, as a <i>deductio ad absurdum</i>, whether he should like +to see the Pope in sandals like St Peter. The catechumen falls +into the trap at once; flares up at the idea of such degradation being +inflicted on the “Master of kings and Father of the faithful;” +and asks indignantly if, for a “touch of Italianita,” he +is to be suspected of having “washed away his baptism from his +brow.” Henceforth great D, after “Charles Reade’s” +style, becomes little d. Logically speaking, it is all over with +him. If the Pope be the master of <!-- page 114--><span class="pagenum">p. 114</span>kings, +he must by analogy have the rights of a master, liberty to instruct +and power to correct. The old parallel of a schoolmaster and his +scholars is adduced. D feels he is caught; states, in the stock +formula, “that this parallel between the master of kings and the +master of scholars puzzles me, because it is unimpeachable; and yet +I don’t want to concede everything, and cannot deny everything.” +As a last effort, he suggests with hesitation, that “after all, +a law which secured the Pope perfect liberty of speech, action and judgment, +would fulfil all the necessities of the case; and that in other respects +the Pope might be a subject like anybody else.” On this +suggestion X tramples brutally. D is asked, how the observance +of this law is to be enforced, and can give no answer, on which X bursts +into the most virulent abuse of all liberal governments in terms commensurate +with the offence. “Praised be God, the days of Henry the +VIIIth are passed, and Catholics and Bishops, and all men of great and +free intellects need no longer lose their heads beneath the British +axe. But are you ignorant that the ‘most catholic France’ +has had proclaimed from her tribunes, that the law is of no creed? +Are you ignorant of the Josephian laws <!-- page 115--><span class="pagenum">p. 115</span>of +Austria? Glory be now to her young and most devout of catholic +sovereigns! but are you not aware, that in the reign of Joseph the bishops +in that empire were not allowed to write to, or correspond freely with, +the Pope? . . . I suppose, forsooth, you expect observance of the law +from those liberal governments of yours, which make the first use of +their liberty to destroy liberty itself; who exile bishops, and who, +in the face of all the world, break the plighted faith of treaties and +concordats—oh yes, those governments, who spy into the most secret +recesses of family life, and create the monstrous and tyrannical <i>Loi +des suspects</i>, oh yes, <i>they</i> are sure to respect the liberty +and the independence of the Bishop of Rome! and are you baby enough +to believe or imagine it?” D cowers beneath the moral lash; +and hints rather than proposes, that if one country did not respect +the Pope’s freedom, he could move into another, though he admits +at the same time, he can see grave difficulties in the project. +Even this admission is unavailing to protect him from X’s savage +onslaught, who winds up another torrent of vituperation with these words: +“Yes! This is no question of the Pope and the Pope’s +person, but <!-- page 116--><span class="pagenum">p. 116</span>of the +liberty of all the Church, and of all the Episcopate, of your liberty +and mine, of the liberty of princes, peoples, and all Christian souls. +Miserable man, have you lost all common sense, all catholic sense, even +the ordinary sense of language?” In vain D confesses his +errors, owns that he is converted, and implores mercy. “No,” +X replies in conclusion, “this is not enough; your tongue has +spread scandal; and even, if innocent itself, has sown discord. +The good seed is obedience and reverence to the Pope our father and +the Church our mother. Woe to the tares of the new creed! +Woe to the proud and impious men, who under the cloak of piety raise +their hands and tongues against their father and mother! The crows +and birds of prey shall feed upon their tongues, and the wrath of God +shall wither up their hands.”</p> +<p>The demolition of D, the devout, only whets X’s appetite; and +heedless of his coming doom, M, the moderate, enters the lists. +As a specimen of Papal mild facetiousness, I quote the commencement +of the second dialogue.</p> +<p>M. “Great news! a great book!”</p> +<p>X. “Where from?”</p> +<p>M. “From Paris.”</p> +<p><!-- page 117--><span class="pagenum">p. 117</span>X. “A +dapper-dandy then, I suppose?”</p> +<p>M. “No, a political pamphlet.”</p> +<p>X. “Well, that is the same as a political dandy.”</p> +<p>M. “A pamphlet explaining the policy of the Moderates.”</p> +<p>X. “You mean, of the Moderate intellects?”</p> +<p>M. “No, I mean the policy of the Moderates, a policy +of compromise, between the Holy Father and, and—”</p> +<p>X. “Say what you really mean,—between the Holy +Father and the Holy Revolution.”</p> +<p>After this test of M’s intellectual calibre, I am not surprised +to learn that he is treated throughout with the most contemptuous playfulness. +He is horror-struck at learning that, in fact, he is nothing better +“than a mediator between Christ and Beelzebub.” He +is joked about the <i>fait accompli</i>; and asked whether he would +consider a box on his ears was excused and accounted for by a similar +denomination of the occurrence; questioned, whether he would like himself +to be deprived of all his property; and at last dumbfounded by the inquiry, +whether the reasoning of his beloved pamphlet is anything but rank communism. +M, in fact, after this tirade ceases <!-- page 118--><span class="pagenum">p. 118</span>any +attempt at argument, and contents himself with feeble suggestions, which +afford to X fertile openings for the exercise of his vituperative abilities. +For instance, M drops a hint that the Pope might be placed under the +guarantee and protection of the Catholic powers; on which X retorts: +“The Catholic powers indeed! First of all, you ought to +be sure whether the Catholic powers will not co-operate with the Jew, +in the disgraceful act of plundering Christ through his Vicar, in order +to guarantee him afterwards the last shreds of his garment.” +(Another somewhat novel view, by the way, of Gospel history.) +“Secondly, you should learn whether any tribunal in the world, +in the name of common justice, would place the victim under the protection +and guarantee of his spoiler.” When M expresses a doubt +whether there is any career for a soldier or statesman under the Papal +Government, his doubts are removed by the reflection that the Roman +statesmen are no worse off than the French, and that, if Roman soldiers +don’t fight, and Roman orators don’t speak, it is because +the exertion of their faculties would not prove beneficial to themselves +or others. Then follows one of those ejaculatory paragraphs, which +<!-- page 119--><span class="pagenum">p. 119</span>tract-controversialists +generally, and X especially, delight in. “You! yes, you! +applaud that Parisian insult-monger, who after having robbed Rome of +the provinces, that give her power and splendour, and having left her +a city maimed of hands and feet, with a frontier two fingers’-length +from the Vatican, then speaks of Rome thus degraded; he, I say, this +author of yours—this legislator of yours—this Parisian of +yours, speaks in the words of <i>Le Pape et le Congrès</i>,”—and +so on, through a labyrinth of exclamatory parentheses. “Moderate” +is overwhelmed by all this; becomes convinced and converted; and, after +the fashion of Papal converts, out-Herods Herod in the ardour of his +zeal. He volunteers to X the following original view of French +politics: “I can understand the anger of the (French) journals +because France has been so unfortunate in her Italian enterprise. +She promised, she advised, she threatened; and promises, advice, and +threats are alike dispersed in air. She promised and placarded +on all the walls the independence of Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic. +Where is her promise now? She promised and published through all +the Churches the freedom and integrity of the Papal <!-- page 120--><span class="pagenum">p. 120</span>dominions. +Where is her promise now? She advised Piedmont, she advised the +Duchies, she advised the Romagna, and her advice was neither received +nor accepted. Where is her advice now? Then came the threats +of the 31st of December last, and, with profound respect, she threatened +the Pope to sacrifice the Romagna; and her prayers or her threats, as +you like, where are they now?” Again, of his own accord, +M asserts, as a self-evident fact, that “morality and justice +have no better sanctuary and no purer inspirations than are to be found +in the Court of the Vatican.” What slight difficulties he +still entertains are removed at once. He asks X candidly to tell +him whether the Papal government is really a bad one or not, and is +satisfied with the quotation “Sunt bona mixta malis;” he +then inquires, in all simplicity, why there are so many complaints and +outbreaks against the Papal rule? and is told, in explanation, that +the Pope is persecuted because he is weak. X, emboldened by his +easy triumph, ridicules the notion of any reforms being granted by the +Papacy, states that what is wanted is a reform in the Papal subjects, +not in the Papal rulers, and finally falls foul of poor M, in such language +as this:—<!-- page 121--><span class="pagenum">p. 121</span>“What +good can we ever expect from this race of Moderates, who in all revolutions +are sent out as pioneers, who have ruined every state in turn by shutting +their eyes to every danger, and parleying with every revolution, and +who would propose a compromise even with fire or fever, or plague itself.” +After this, X repeats the old fable of the horse and the man, and then +launches into a tirade against France: “You refused to believe +that Italy replaced foreign influence by foreign dominion on the day +on which France crossed the Alps. Do you still disbelieve in the +treason which is plotting against Italy, by depriving her of her natural +bulwarks, Savoy, Nice, and the maritime Alps? Do you not see, +that while you are lulled to sleep by the syren song of Italian independence, +Italy is weakened, dismembered and enslaved?” A last suggestion +of M, that possibly the language of the encyclical letter was a little +too strong, brings forth the following retort: “It was strong, +and tasted bitter to diseased and vitiated palates, but to the lips +of justice the taste was sweet and satisfying. Poor nations! +What have politics become? What filth we are obliged to swallow! +What scandal to the people; what a lesson of immorality is this fashion +<!-- page 122--><span class="pagenum">p. 122</span>of outraging every +principle of right, with sword, tongue and pen! In this chaos, +blessed be Providence, there is one free voice left, the voice of St +Peter, which is raised in defence of justice, despised and disregarded.” +Hereupon M confesses, “on the faith of a Moderate,” that +the refusal of the Pope to accept the advice of the Emperor was “an +act worthy of him, both as Pope and Italian sovereign,” and then +retires in shame and confusion.</p> +<p>S, the sincere opponent, then enters and announces with foolish pride, +that “Italy shall be free, and the gates of hell shall prevail.” +Pride cometh before a fall, and S is shortly convinced that his remark +was profane, and that, by his own shewing, liberty was a gift of hell. +S then repeats a number of common-places about the rights of men, the +voice of the people, and the will of the majority; and as, in every +case, he quotes these common-places incorrectly and inappropriately, +X upsets him without effort. As a specimen of the style of logic +adopted, I will take one case at hazard. S states that “his +reason of all reasons is, that Italy belongs to the Italians, and that +the Italians have the right of dividing it, uniting it, and governing +it, as seems <!-- page 123--><span class="pagenum">p. 123</span>good +in their own sight.” To this X answers, “I adopt and +apply your own principle. Turin, with its houses, belongs to the +Turinese; therefore the Turinese have the right to divide or unite the +houses of Turin, or drive out their possessors, as seems good in their +own sight.” The gross disingenuousness, the palpable quibble +in this argument, need no exposure. Logically, however, the argument +is rather above the usual range. X then proceeds to frighten S +with the old bugbears;—the impossibility of real union between +the Italian races; the absorption of the local small capitals in the +event of a great kingdom, and the certainty that the European powers +will never consent to an Italian monarchy. This conclusion is +a short <i>resumé</i> of Papal history, which will somewhat surprise +the readers of Ranke and Gibbon.</p> +<p>“After the death of Constantine, the almost regal authority +of the Popes in reality commenced. Gregory the Great, created +Pope 440 <span class="smcap">a.d. </span>was compelled for the safety +of Italy to exercise this authority against the Lombards on one hand, +and the rapacious Exarchs on the other. About 726 <span class="smcap">a.d. +G</span>regory II. declined the offer of Ravenna, Venice, and the other +Italian States, who conferred upon him, in name as well as in fact, +<!-- page 124--><span class="pagenum">p. 124</span>the sovereignty of +Italy. At last, in 741 <span class="smcap">a.d. </span>when Italy +was not only deserted in her need, but threatened from Byzantium with +desolation and heresy, Gregory III. called in the aid of Charles Martel, +that Italy might not perish; and by this law, a law of life and preservation, +and through the decree of Providence, the Popes became Italian sovereigns, +both in right and fact.” On this very lucid and satisfactory +account of the origin of the Papal power, S is convinced at once, and +is finally dismissed shamefaced, with the unanswerable interrogation, +“whether the real object of the Revolution is not to create new +men, new nations, new reason, new humanity, and a new God?”</p> +<p>The three abstractions, S, M, D, then re-assemble to recant their +errors. One and all avow themselves confuted, and convicted of +folly or worse. X gives them absolution with the qualified approval, +that “he rejoices in their moral amendment, and trusts the change +may be a permanent one,” and then asks them, as an elementary +question in their new creed, “What is the true and traditional +liberty of Italy, the only one worthy to be sought and loved by all +Italians?” To this question with one voice S and <!-- page 125--><span class="pagenum">p. 125</span>M +and D make answer, “Liberty with law, law with religion, and religion +with the Pope.” The course of instruction is completed, +and if anybody is still unconvinced by the arguments of the all-wise +X, I am afraid that his initial letter must be a Z.</p> +<p>So much for the <i>Independenza e Papa</i>, as the pamphlet is styled. +I have given, I fear, a somewhat lengthy account of it; not for its +literary merits, which are small, but as being the best native defence +of the Papacy I have come across. The dull dead <i>vis inertiæ</i> +which formed the real strength of the Papacy has been of late exchanged +for a petty useless fussiness. Ever since Guerronière’s +pamphlet fell like a bomb upon the Vatican there has been a perfect +array of paper-champions, sent forth to do battle for the Papal cause. +They are mostly, it is true, of foreign growth. Extracts from +Montalembert, De Falloux, and Berryer’s speeches, patched together +and re-garnished; reprints of the Episcopal charges in France; editions +of Count Sola della Margherita’s much be-praised work; and, I +regret to say, translations of Lord Normanby’s speeches in the +House of Lords, are advertised daily on the walls of Rome. Of +native and original productions there <!-- page 126--><span class="pagenum">p. 126</span>have +been but few. Literary talent does not flourish in Rome, and what +little there is, is all retained against the Government. The <i>Eye-glance +at the Encyclical</i>, the <i>Widow’s Mite</i>, and the <i>Tears +of St Peter</i>, are the titles of some of the anonymous pro-Papal tracts +published under Government patronage; of these the <i>Independenza e +Papa</i>, which is sold at the printing-office of the <i>Giornale di +Roma</i>, is decidedly the ablest and most respectable.</p> +<h2><!-- page 127--><span class="pagenum">p. 127</span>CHAPTER VIII. +PAPAL LOTTERIES.</h2> +<p>If ever anybody had cause to regret the suppression of lotteries, +it is the whole tribe of play-writers and authors. Never will +there be found again a “Deus ex Machina,” so serviceable +or so unfailing as the lottery. If your plot wanted a solution, +or your intrigue a <i>dénoûment</i>, or your novel a termination, +you could always cut through all your difficulties by the medium of +a lottery-ticket. The virtuous but impoverished hero became at +once a very Crœsus, and the worldly-minded parent bestowed his +daughter and his blessing on the successful gambler, who, by the way, +never purchased his own ticket, but always had it bequeathed to him +as a legacy. Alas, lottery-tickets, like wealthy uncles and places +under government, have gone out of date. The fond glance of <!-- page 128--><span class="pagenum">p. 128</span>memory +turns in vain towards the good old times, when the lottery was in its +glory. It is, however, some comfort to reflect, that if, as devout +Catholics assert, the Papacy is eternal, then in Rome, at least, lotteries +are eternal also. In truth, the lottery is a great, I might almost +say <i>the</i> great Pontifical institution. It is a trade not +only sanctioned, but actively supported, by the Government. Partly, +therefore, as a matter of literary interest, and partly as a curious +feature in the economics of the Papal States, I have made various personal +researches into the working of the lottery-system, and shall endeavour +to give the theoretical not the practical result of my investigations; +the latter result being, I am afraid, of a negative description.</p> +<p>Murray, who knows everything, states that in Rome alone fifty-five +millions of lottery-tickets are taken annually. Now though I would +much sooner doubt the infallibility of the Pope than that of the author +of the most invaluable of hand-books, I cannot help thinking there is +some strange error in this calculation. The whole population of +Rome is under 180,000, and therefore, according to this statement, every +living soul in the city, man, woman, priest and child, <!-- page 129--><span class="pagenum">p. 129</span>must, +on an average, take one ticket a day, to make up the amount stated. +If, however, without examining the strict arithmetical correctness of +this statement, you take it, just as the old Romans used “sex +centi” for an indefinite number, as an expression of the fact, +that the number of the lottery-tickets taken annually in Rome is quite +incredible, you will not be far wrong. During the year 1858 the +receipts of the lottery (by which I suppose are meant the net, not the +gross receipts) are officially stated to have been 1,181,000 scudi, +or about an eleventh of the whole Pontifical revenue. It is true +the expenses of the Lottery are charged amidst the state expenditure +for the year at 788,987 scudi, but then a large portion of this expense +is directly repaid to the Government, and the remainder is paid to the +lottery-holders, who all have to pay heavily for the privilege of keeping +a lottery-office, and who form also the most devoted of the Papal adherents, +more especially since the liberal party have set their faces against +the lottery. Common estimation too assigns a far larger profit +to the lotteries than Papal returns give it credit for, and, I own that, +from the system on which they are conducted, of which I shall speak +presently, <!-- page 130--><span class="pagenum">p. 130</span>I suspect +the profit must be very much beyond the sum mentioned; anyhow, this +source of income is a very important one, and is guarded jealously as +a Government monopoly. Private gambling tables of any kind are +rigidly suppressed. If you want to gamble, you must gamble at +the tables and on the terms of the Government. The very sale of +foreign lottery-tickets is, I believe, forbidden. To this rule +there is one exception, and that is in favour of Tuscany. Between +the Grand Ducal and the Papal Governments there long existed an <i>entente +cordiale</i> on the subject of lotteries. There is no bond, cynics +say, so powerful as that of common interest; and this saying seems to +be justified in the present instance. Though the Court of Rome +is at variance on every point of politics and faith with the present +revolutionary Government of Tuscany, yet in matters of money they are +not divided; and so the joint lottery-system flourishes, as of old. +The lottery is drawn once a fortnight at Rome, and once every alternate +fortnight at Florence or Leghorn; and as far as the speculator is concerned, +it makes no difference whether his ticket is drawn for in Rome or in +Tuscany, though the gains and losses of each branch are, I understand, +<!-- page 131--><span class="pagenum">p. 131</span>kept separate. +These lotteries are not of the plain, good old English stamp, in which +there were, say, ten thousand tickets, and ten prizes of different value +allotted to the holders of the ten first numbers drawn, while the remaining +nine thousand nine hundred and ninety ticket-holders drew blanks. +The system of speculation in vogue here is far more hazardous and complicated. +To any one acquainted with the German gambling-places it is enough to +say, that the Papal lottery-system is exactly like that of a <i>roulette</i> +table, with the one important exception, that the chances in the bank’s +favour, instead of being about thirty-seven to thirty-six, as they are +at Baden or Hamburgh, are in the proportion of three to one. For +the benefit of those to whom these words convey no definite meaning, +I will endeavour to explain the system as simply as I can.</p> +<p>In a Papal or Tuscan lottery there are ninety numbers, from one up +to ninety, and of these numbers, five are drawn at each drawing. +You may, therefore, stake your money on any one or two or three or four +or five of the ninety numbers being drawn, which is termed playing at +the “eletto,” “ambo,” “terno,” “quaterno,” +and <!-- page 132--><span class="pagenum">p. 132</span>“tombola” +respectively, or you may finally play “al estratto,” that +is, you may not only speculate on the particular numbers drawn, but +on the order in which they may happen to be drawn. Practically, +people rarely play upon any except the three first-named chances, and +they will be sufficient for my explanation. Now a very simple +arithmetical calculation will show you, that the chances against your +naming one number out of the five drawn is eighteen to one; against +your predicting two, four hundred to one; and against your hitting on +three, nearly twelve thousand to one. Supposing, therefore, the +game was played with ordinary fairness, and even as much as 25 per cent. +were deducted for profit and working expenses off the winnings, you +ought, if you staked a scudo, for instance, and won an “eletto,” +“ambo” or “terno,” to win in round numbers 14, +300, and 9000 scudi respectively. If in reality you did win (a +very great “if” indeed), you would not be paid in these +instances more than 4, 25 and 3600 scudi. In fact, if ever there +was invented in this world a game, of which the old saying, “Heads +I win, and tails you lose” held true, it would be of the Papal +Lottery. If the numbers you back do not happen to turn <!-- page 133--><span class="pagenum">p. 133</span>up, +you lose the whole of your stake; if they do, you are docked of more +than seventy-five per cent. of your winnings. For my part, I would +sooner play at thimble-rig on Epsom Downs, or dominoes with Greek merchants, +or at “three-cards” with a casual and communicative fellow-passenger +of sporting cast: I should infallibly be legged, but I should hardly +be plundered so ruthlessly or remorselessly. Still the Vatican, +like all gentlemen who play with loaded dice or marked cards, may have +a run of luck against it. Spiritual infallibility itself cannot +determine whether a halfpenny tossed into the air will come down man +or woman, and the law of chances cannot be regulated by a <i>motu proprio</i>. +It is possible, though not probable, that on any one occasion the majority +of the gamblers might stake their money fortuitously on one series of +numbers, and if that series did happen to be drawn, then the loss to +the Lottery, even with all deductions, would be a heavy one, and the +Roman exchequer is by no means in a position to bear a heavy drain. +In consequence, measures are taken to avert this calamity; each office +reports daily what sums have been staked on what numbers; and, if any +numbers are regarded with undue partiality, orders are issued from the +head <!-- page 134--><span class="pagenum">p. 134</span>department to +receive no more money on these numbers or series. I have assumed +all along that the numbers are drawn fairly, and, without a very high +opinion of the integrity of our Papal rulers, I am disposed to think +they are. In the first place, any general impression of unfairness +would greatly damage the future profits of the speculation; and, secondly, +by the usual rule of averages it will be found that, on the whole, people +stake pretty equally on one combination as another, and therefore the +question, which particular numbers are drawn, is of less practical importance +to the lottery management than might at first be supposed. In +spite, however, of these abstract considerations, the virtue of the +Papal Lotteries, unlike that of Cæsar’s wife, is not above +suspicion; and I have often heard Romans remark, that the only possible +explanation of there being one blank day between the closing the lottery-offices +and the drawing was the obvious one, that time was required to calculate, +from the state of the stakes, what combination of winning numbers will +be most beneficial, or least hurtful, to the Papal pockets.</p> +<p>Whatever mathematicians may assert, your regular gamblers always +believe in luck, and <!-- page 135--><span class="pagenum">p. 135</span>therefore +it is not surprising that a nation, whose great excitement is the lottery, +should be devout worshippers of the blind goddess. It may be that +some memories of the Pythagorean doctrines still exist in the land of +their birth, but be the cause what it may, it is certain that in the +southern Peninsula a belief in the symbolism of numbers is a received +article of faith. Every thing, name, or event, has its numerical +interpretation. Suppose, for instance, a robbery occurs; forthwith +the numbers or sequences of numbers corresponding to the name of the +robber or the robbed, the day or hour of the crime, the articles stolen, +or a dozen other coincident circumstances, are eagerly sought after +and staked upon in the ensuing lottery. Then there are the <i>numeri +simpatici</i>, or the numbers in each month or year which are supposed +to be fortunate, and lists of which are published in the popular almanacs. +The “sympathetic number for instance for the month of March is +88,” why or wherefore I have never been able to discover. +Let me assume now, that having dreamt a dream, or heard of a death, +or I care not what, you wish to stake your money on the arithmetical +signification of the occurrence. You will have no difficulty in +discovering a lottery-office; <!-- page 136--><span class="pagenum">p. 136</span>in +well nigh every street there are one or more “Prenditoria di Lotti.” +In fact, begging and gambling are the only two trades that thrive in +Rome, or are pushed with enterprise or energy. When the drawing +takes place in Tuscany, the result is communicated at once by the electric +telegraph, a fact unparalleled in any other branch of Roman business. +Over each office are placed the Papal arms, the cross keys of St Peter +and the tiara. Outside their aspects differ, according to the +quarter of the city. In the well-to-do streets, if such an appellation +applied to any street here be not an absurdity, the exterior of the +lottery-offices are neat but not gaudy. A notice, printed in large +black letters on a white placard, that this week the lottery will be +drawn for in Rome, or where-ever it may be, and a simple glass frame +over the door, in which are slid the winning numbers of last week, form +the whole outward adornment. In the poor and populous parts the +lotteries flaunt out in all kinds of shabby finery: the walls about +the door are pasted over with puffing inscriptions; from stands in front +of the shop flutter long stripes of parti-coloured paper, inscribed +with all sorts of cabalistic figures. If you like <!-- page 137--><span class="pagenum">p. 137</span>you +may try the “Terno della fortuna,” which is certain, morally, +to turn up this week or next. If you are of a philosophical disposition, +you may stake your luck on the numbers 19 and 42, which have not been +drawn for ever so long a time, and must therefore be drawn sooner—or +later; or if you like to cast in your lot with others, you may back +that “ambo” which has “sold” marked against +it; at any rate, you will not be the only fool who stands to lose or +win on that chance, which, after all, is some slight consolation. +If none of these inducements are sufficient, you may fix on your choice +by spinning round the index on the painted dial-plate, and choosing +the numbers opposite to which the spin stops, thus making chance determine +chance. Having, at last, selected your combination somehow or +other, you enter the office with something of that shamefaced feeling +which, I suppose, a man must be conscious of the first time that he +ever enters the back-door of a pawnbroker’s establishment.</p> +<p>The interior of these offices is the same throughout. A low, +dark room, with a long ink-stained desk at one side, behind which, pen +in ear, is seated an official, more grimy even, and more snuffy than +the run of his tribe. Opposite <!-- page 138--><span class="pagenum">p. 138</span>the +desk there is sure to be a picture of the Madonna with a small glass +lamp before it, wherein a feeble wick floats and flickers in a pool +of rancid oil. On the wall you may read a list of the virtuous +maidens who are to receive marriage portions of from £5 downwards, +on the occasion of the lottery being drawn at some religious festival. +Indeed, throughout, the lottery is conducted on a strictly religious +footing. The <i>impiegati</i>, or officials who keep them, are +all men of sound principles and devotional habits, fervent adherents +of the Pope, and habitual communicants. Lotteries too can be defended +on abstract religious grounds, as encouraging a simple faith in providence, +and dispelling any overwhelming confidence in your own unsanctified +exertions. When you have made these reflections, you have only +got to tell the clerk what sum of money you want to stake, and on what +numbers. The smallest contribution (from eleven baiocchi or about +sixpence upwards) will be thankfully received. A long whity-brown +slip of paper is given you, with the numbers written on it, and the +sum you may win marked opposite. No questions whatever, about +name or residence or papers, are asked, as they are whenever <!-- page 139--><span class="pagenum">p. 139</span>you +want to transact any other piece of business in Rome; and all you have +to do, is to keep your slip of paper, and come back on the Saturday +to learn whether your numbers have been drawn or not.</p> +<p>There is, in truth, a ludicrous side to the Papal Lotteries; but +there is also a very sad one. It is sad to see the offices on +a Thursday night, when they are kept open till midnight, hours after +every other shop is closed, and to watch the crowds of common humble +people who hurry in, one after the other; servants and cabmen and clerks +and beggars, and, above all, women of the poorer class, to stake their +small savings—too often their small pilferings—on the hoped-for +numbers. When one speaks of the disgrace and shame that this authorized +system of gambling confers on the Papal Government; of the improvidence +and dishonesty and misery it creates too certainly among the poor, one +is always told, by the advocates of the Papacy, that the people are +so passionately attached to the lottery, that no Government could run +the risk of abolishing it. If this be true, which I do not believe, +I can only say—shame upon the rulers, who have so demoralized +their subjects!</p> +<h2><!-- page 140--><span class="pagenum">p. 140</span>CHAPTER IX. +THE STUDENTS OF THE SAPIENZA.</h2> +<p>There is no University properly speaking in Rome. The constant +and minute interference of the priests in the course of study; the rigid +censorship extended over all books of learning, and the arbitrary restrictions +with which free thought and inquiry are hampered, would of themselves +be sufficient to stop the growth of any great school of learning at +Rome, even if there existed a demand for such an institution, which +there does not. Still in these days, even at Rome, young men must +receive some kind of education, and to meet this want the Sapienza College +is provided. Both in the age of the scholars and the nature of +the studies it bears a much closer resemblance to a Scotch high school +than to an University, but still, such as it is, it forms the great +lay-place of education in the Papal States. There is a separate +theological faculty; <!-- page 141--><span class="pagenum">p. 141</span>the +head of the college is a Cardinal, and the whole course of study is +under the control and supervision of the priests. Many, however, +of the professors are laymen, the majority of the pupils are educated +for secular pursuits, and the families from whom the students come, +form as a body the <i>élite</i> in point of education and intelligence +amongst the mercantile and professional classes in the Papal States.</p> +<p>At the commencement of the year a great attempt was made by the Government +to get up addresses of loyalty and devotion to the Pope. Not even +Pius the Ninth himself believed one single word in any of these purchased +testimonials. Indeed, on one occasion, when an address was presented +by the officers of the army, he informed the deputation with more candour +than prudence, that he knew perfectly well not one of them would raise +his hand to save the Papacy. But abroad, and more especially in +France, it was conceived that such addresses would be accepted as genuine +testimonials to the contentment of the Roman people with their rulers. +In obedience to these tactics, it was resolved to have an address from +the students of the Sapienza. Such an address, containing <!-- page 142--><span class="pagenum">p. 142</span>the +stock terms of fulsome adulation and unreasoning reverence, was drawn +up by the authorities. Only a dozen students out of the 400 to +500 of whom the college consists volunteered to sign it. The students +were then summoned in a body before the rector, and requested to add +their signatures. For this purpose the address was left in their +hands, but instead of being signed it was torn to pieces, and the fragments +scattered about the lecture-room, amidst a chorus of shouts and groans. +With the sort of senile folly which characterized all the proceedings +of the Vatican at this period, the affair, instead of being passed unnoticed, +was taken up seriously, and assumed in consequence an utterly uncalled-for +notoriety. The college was closed for the day, several of the +pupils were summoned before the police, an official inquiry was instituted +into the demonstration, and the matter became the talk of Rome.</p> +<p>Of course at once a dozen contradictory rumours were in circulation, +and it was with considerable difficulty that I obtained the above narrative +of the occurrence, which I know to be substantially correct. As +a curious instance of how facts are perverted at Rome by theological +<!-- page 143--><span class="pagenum">p. 143</span>bias, I would mention +here that when I made some inquiries on the subject from an English +gentleman, a recent convert, and I need hardly add a most virulent partizan +of the Papal rule, who was in a position to know the truth about the +matter, I was told by him, that there had undoubtedly been a demonstration +at the Sapienza, but that the truth was, the students were so indignant +at the outrages committed against his Holiness, that they drew up an +address of their own accord, expressive of their devotion to the Pope, +and that upon the rector refusing his consent to the presentation of +the address, on the ground that they were too young to take any part +in political matters, they vented by tumultuous shouts their dissatisfation +at this somewhat ill-timed interference. Now, not only was there +such an inherent improbability about this story, to any one at all acquainted +with Roman feelings or Papal policy, that it scarcely needed refutation, +but subsequent events proved it to be entirely devoid of foundation +in fact, and yet it was told me in good faith by a person who had every +means of knowing the truth if he had chosen. The anecdote thus +forms a curious illustration of the manner in <!-- page 144--><span class="pagenum">p. 144</span>which +stories are got up and circulated in Rome.</p> +<p>The result of the inquiry was that seven or eight of the students, +who whether justly or unjustly were regarded as ringleaders in the demonstration, +were either expelled or suspended from prosecuting their studies. +Amongst the expelled students was the son of the medical Professor, +Dr Maturani, who, considering his son unjustly used, resigned, or rather +was obliged to resign his post. The Pope then made a state visit +to the college, but was very coldly received, and held out no hopes +of the offenders being pardoned. The partizans of the Government +talked much about the good effect produced by the Papal visit, but within +a day or two the students assembled in a body at the Sapienza, and demanded +of the rector that the medical professor should be reinstated in his +office, and that the sentences of expulsion should be rescinded, as +all were equally guilty or equally guiltless. On receiving these +demands the rector requested the students, as a personal favour, to +make no further demonstration till he had had time to lay their sentiments +before Cardinal Roberti, the president of the Congregation of Studies, +which he promised to do at <!-- page 145--><span class="pagenum">p. 145</span>once. +The students thereupon retired, but on their return next morning received +no reply whatever. The following day was Sunday, when the college +is closed, and on Monday the new medical professor was to deliver his +inaugural lecture. It was expected that the students would take +this opportunity of venting their dissatisfaction, and the government +actually resolved to send the Roman gendarmes into the lecture-room +in order to suppress any expression of feeling by force. At the +time this act was considered only a piece of almost incredible folly, +but the events of St Joseph’s day shewed clearly enough that the +Vatican was anxious to bring about a collision between the troops and +the malcontents. A little blood-letting, after Lord Sidmouth’s +dictum, was considered wholesome for the Pope’s subjects. +Fortunately the intention came to the knowledge of the French authorities, +who interfered at once, and said if troops were required they must be +French and not Papal ones, as otherwise it was impossible to answer +for the result. On the Monday therefore a detachment of French +troops was sent down to the college. The lecture-room was crowded +with students, who greeted the new Professor on his entry with a volley +of hisses, <!-- page 146--><span class="pagenum">p. 146</span>and then +left the room in a body. The French officer in command was appealed +to by the authorities to interfere, but refused doing so, and equally +declined receiving an address which the students wished to force upon +him. His orders he stated were solely to suppress any actual riot, +but nothing further. Some 400 of the students then proceeded to +the residences of Cardinal Antonelli, of General Goyon, and the Duc +de Gramont, and presented an address, a copy of which they requested +might be forwarded to the Emperor. These were the words of the +address;</p> +<blockquote><p>“Your Excellency—Some of our comrades have +been removed from us. United to them in our studies, united, too, +in our sentiments, we protest against a punishment so unjust and so +partial. When adulation and servility suggested to some amongst +us the utterance of a falsehood which insulted the Pontiff, while it +did no service to the Sovereign, we all rose in union to denounce those +who, without our consent, constituted themselves the interpreters of +our wishes. This act was not the caprice of a section. It +was the vast majority amongst us who thus spoke out the truth. +The punishment, if punishment there is to be for speaking the truth, +should not fall upon a few alone.</p> +<p><!-- page 147--><span class="pagenum">p. 147</span>“We confess +it openly, the act was the act of all; the measure of our conduct was +the same for all. We therefore demand from your Excellency that +the expelled students should be allowed to return, or else that we should +all be united with them in one common punishment, as we are proud of +being united with them in a common love of truth and of our country.</p> +<p>“The presence of our 400 students supplies the place of signatures.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The last clause is open to question. The plain fact is, that +the students could not get their courage up to signing point. +A government of priests never forgives or forgets, and their vengeance +though slow is very sure. Any student who had actually affixed +his signature to the address would have been a marked man for life; +and instead of wondering that the whole body had not sufficient moral +resolution to express their sentiments in writing, I am surprised that +they had the courage to protest at all, even anonymously. This +hesitation, however, afforded the government a loop-hole, which they +were wise enough to take advantage of; Cardinal Antonelli declined at +once to give any reply to the address, on the ground that he could take +no notice of <!-- page 148--><span class="pagenum">p. 148</span>an unsigned +and unauthentic document; so the matter rested. Logically, the +Cardinal had the best of the dispute; but, practically, the remonstrants +triumphed. The students kept away from the classes, and after +a short time the Sapienza college had to be closed, in order, if possible, +to weed out the liberal faction amongst the pupils. Numbers of +the students were arrested or exiled. As instances of Papal notions +of justice and law, I may mention two instances connected with the government +inquiry, which came to my knowledge. One student was sent for +to the police-office and asked if he was one of those who presented +the address; on his replying in the negative, he was asked further, +whether, if he had been on the spot, he would have joined in the presentation. +To this question, he replied, that the police had no right to question +him as to a matter of hypothesis, but only as to facts. The magistrate’s +sole answer to this objection consisted in an order to leave Rome within +twenty-four hours. Another student was arrested by a gendarme +in the street, and brought to the police-office; it was past five o’clock, +and the magistrate informed him it was too late to enter on the charge +that day, and therefore he must remain in the custody of the <!-- page 149--><span class="pagenum">p. 149</span>police +for the night. In vain the student requested to be informed of +the charge against him, and protested against the illegality of detaining +a person in custody without there being any charge even alleged; but +to all this the magistrate remained obdurate, and the student was sent +home under the care of the gendarme. Happily for himself, he managed +to give his guardian the slip in the streets, and left the Papal States +that night without awaiting the result of an inquiry which had commenced +under such auspices.</p> +<p>It is true that the political opinions of a parcel of boys may have +very little intrinsic value; but straws shew which way the wind blows, +and so this exhibition of the students’ sentiments shews how deep-rooted +is the disaffection to the Papacy throughout Roman society, and also +how strong the conviction is, that the days of priest-rule are numbered.</p> +<h2><!-- page 150--><span class="pagenum">p. 150</span>CHAPTER X. +A PAPAL PAGEANT.</h2> +<p>The Papacy is too old and too feeble even to die with dignity. +Of itself the sight of a falling power, of a dynasy <i>in extremis</i>, +commands something of respect if not of regret; but the conduct of the +Papacy deprives it of the sympathy that is due to its misfortunes. +There is a kind of silliness, I know of no better word to use, about +the whole Papal policy at the present day, which is really aggravating. +It is silly to rave about the martyr’s crown and the cruel stake, +when nobody has the slightest intention of hurting a hair of your head; +silly to talk of your paternal love when your provinces are in arms +against your “cruel mercies;” silly to boast of your independence +when you are guarded in your own capital against your own subjects by +foreign troops; silly, in fact, to bark when you cannot bite, to lie +when you cannot deceive. No power <!-- page 151--><span class="pagenum">p. 151</span>on +earth could make the position of the Pope a dignified one at this present +moment, and if anything could make it less dignified than before, it +is the system of pompous pretensions and querulous complaints and fulsome +adulation which now prevails at the Vatican. I know not how better +to give an idea of the extent to which this system is carried, than +by describing a Papal pageant which occurred early in the year.</p> +<p>To enter fully into the painful absurdity of the whole scene, one +should bear in mind what were the prospects of Papal politics at the +commencement of February. The provinces of the Romagna were about +to take the first step towards their final separation, by electing members +for the Sardinian Parliament. The question, whether the French +troops could remain in Rome, or in other words, whether the Pope must +retire from Rome, was still undecided; the streets of the city were +thronged with Pontifical Sbirri and French patrols, to suppress the +excitement caused by a score of lads, who raised a shout of <i>Viva +l’Italia</i> a week before. The misery and discontent of +the Roman populace was so great that the coming Carnival time was viewed +with the gravest apprehensions, and anxious doubts were <!-- page 152--><span class="pagenum">p. 152</span>entertained +whether it was least dangerous to permit or forbid the celebration of +the festival. Bear all this in mind; fancy some <i>Mene, mene, +tekel, upharsin</i>, is written on all around, telling of disaffection +and despair, and revolt and ruin; and then listen to what was said and +done to and by the Pope on that Sunday before Septuagesima.</p> +<p>Some months ago a college was founded at Rome for the education of +American youths destined to the priesthood; there were already an English, +an Irish, and a Scotch college, not to speak of the Propaganda. +However, in addition to all these, a college reserved for the United +States, was projected and established by the present Pontiff. +Indeed, this American college, the raised Boulevard, which now disfigures +the Forum, and the column erected in the Piazza di Spagna to the dogma +of the Immaculate Conception, appear to be the only material products +of the Pontificate of Pius the Ninth. For some reason or other, +which I am not learned enough in theological lore to determine, the +feast of St Francis de Sales was celebrated as a sort of inauguration +festival by the pupils of the new college. The Pope honoured the +ceremony with his presence; <!-- page 153--><span class="pagenum">p. 153</span>and, +for a wonder, a very full account of the proceedings was published in +the <i>Giornale di Roma</i>; the quotations I make are literal translations +from the official reports.</p> +<p>“The day,” so writes the <i>Giornale</i>, “was +in very truth a blessed and a fortunate one, not only for the pupils +themselves, who yearned for an opportunity of bearing solemn witness +to their gratitude and devotion towards their best and highest father +and most munificent benefactor, but also for all those who have it upon +their hearts to share in those great works which form the most striking +proof of the perpetual growth and spread of our most sacred religion.”</p> +<p>Apparently the number of the latter class is not extensive, as the +visit of the Pope attracted but little crowd, and the lines of French +soldiers who were drawn up on his way to salute him as he passed, were +certainly not collected in the first instance by a spirit of religious +zeal. The <i>Giornale</i>, however, views everything with the +eyes of faith, not of “pure reason.” Mass was performed +at the Holy Church of Humility, and “from early dawn, as soon +as the news of the holy father’s visit was circulated, an immense +<!-- page 154--><span class="pagenum">p. 154</span>crowd assembled there +which filled not only the church, but the adjoining rooms and corridors. +The crowd was composed of the flower of Roman rank and beauty, and the +<i>élite</i> of the strangers residing in Rome, both French, +English, and American, who desired the blessing of assisting at the +bloodless sacrifice celebrated by the Vicar of Christ, and who longed +to receive from his hands the angels’ food.” I am +sorry truth compels me to state, that the whole of this immense crowd +consisted of some two hundred people in all, and that the only illustrious +personages of special note amongst the crowd not being priests, were +General Goyon, the American Minister and Consul, and the Senator of +Rome. The Pope arrived at eight o’clock, and then proceeded +to celebrate the communion, assisted by Monsignors Bacon, bishop of +Portland, U.S., and Goro, bishop of Liverpool. “The rapt +contemplation, the contrition of heart, the spirit of ardent faith which +penetrated the whole assembly, more especially while the holy father +distributed the sacred bread, were all things so sublime that they are +easier to conceive than to describe.”</p> +<p>After mass was over the Pope entered the college. Above the +door the following inscription <!-- page 155--><span class="pagenum">p. 155</span>was +written in Latin, composed, I can safely say, by an Hiberno-Yankee pen:</p> +<p>“Approach, O mighty Pius, O thou the parent of the old world +and the new, approach these sanctuaries, which thou hast founded for +thine American children devoted to the science of the church! +To thee, the whole company of pupils; to thee, all America, wild with +exultation, offer up praise! For thee, they implore all things +peaceful and blessed.”</p> +<p>In the hall prepared for his holiness’ reception there was +hung up, “beneath a gorgeous canopy, a marvellous full-length +likeness of the august person of the holy Pontiff, destined to recall +his revered features. Around the picture a number of appropriate +Latin mottos were arranged, of which I give one or two as specimens +of the style of adulation adopted:</p> +<p>“Come, O youth, raise up the glad voice, behold, the supreme +shepherd is present, blessing his children with the light of his countenance. +Hail, O day, shining with a glorious light, on which his glad children +receive within their arms the best of parents!</p> +<p>“As the earth beams forth covered with the sparkling sun-light, +so the youths rejoice with <!-- page 156--><span class="pagenum">p. 156</span>gladness, +while thou, O father, kindly gladdenest them with thy most pleasant +presence!”</p> +<p>Refreshments were then presented to the guests, which I am glad to +say were much better than the mottos. The pupils of the Propaganda, +who were all present, sang a hymn; addresses were made to the Pope by +the pro-rector of the college in the name of the pupils, by Bishop Bacon +on behalf of catholic America, and by Cardinal Barnabo, the superior +of the Propaganda, all of them in terms of the most fervent adoration. +Each of the American pupils then advanced with a short poem which he +had composed, or was supposed to have composed, in expression of the +emotions of his heart on this joyful occasion, and requested permission +to recite it. At such a time the best feature in the Pope’s +character, a sort of feeble kindliness of nature, was sure to show itself. +I cannot but think indeed that the sight of the young boyish faces, +whose words of reverence might possibly be those of truth and honesty, +must have given an unwonted pleasure to the worn out, harassed, disappointed +old man. “The holy father,” I read, “receiving +with agitated feelings so many tokens of homage, was delighted beyond +measure.” When the English poems were <!-- page 157--><span class="pagenum">p. 157</span>recited +to him, he called out, “can’t understand a word, but it +seems good, very good.” He spoke to each of the lads in +turn, and, when he was shown the statue of Washington, told them to +give a cheer for their country, to cry <i>Viva la Patria</i> (the very +offence, by the way, for which ten days before he had put his own Roman +fellow-countrymen into prison), and then when the boys cheered, he raised +his hands to his ears, and told them laughingly, they would drive him +deaf. Now all this is very pleasant, or in young-lady parlance, +very nice, and I wish, truly, I had nothing more to tell. I trust, +indeed, that the long abstinence from food (as a priest who is about +to celebrate the communion is not allowed to touch food from midnight +till the time when Mass is over, and in these matters of observance +Pius IX. is reputed to be strictly conscientious) or else the excitement +of the scene had been too much for the not very powerful mind of the +Pontiff; otherwise I know not how you can excuse an aged man, on the +brink of the grave, to say nothing of the Vicegerent of Christ, using +such language as he employed.</p> +<p>“After much affectionate demonstration, the Holy Father could +no longer restrain his lips <!-- page 158--><span class="pagenum">p. 158</span>from +speaking, and, turning his penetrating glance around, spoke as follows,” +in the words of the <i>Giornale</i>:</p> +<p>“One of the chief objects of the most high Pontiffs has ever +been, the propagation and maintenance of the faith throughout the world. +Their efforts therefore have always been directed towards the establishment +of colleges in this sovereign city, in order that the youth of all nations, +who would have to preach the faith in the different Catholic countries, +might receive their education here. In the foundation then of +this new college, he had only followed in the steps of his illustrious +predecessors. It thus seemed to him that he had rather performed +a simple duty, than an act deserving praise. After his Holiness +had pointed out, what a great blessing the faith was, how indeed it +was a true gift of Heaven, the sole solace and comfort vouchsafed to +us throughout the vicissitudes of fortune, he then expressed his extreme +distress, that in these days, this very faith should be made an especial +object of attack, and added that this fact alone was the cause of his +deep and profound dejection. There is no need, he stated, to refer +now, to the prisons and tortures <!-- page 159--><span class="pagenum">p. 159</span>and +persecutions of old, when we are all witnesses to the onslaught which +is now being made against the Catholic faith and against whosoever seeks +to maintain its purity and integrity. There was no cause however +for wonder: such from the cradle had been the heritage of the faith, +which was born and bred amidst persecution and adversity, and which +under the same lot still continues its glorious progress. The +Gospel of the day recalled this truth only too appropriately; although +his Holiness continued in the midst of persecution, it was his duty +only to arm himself with greater courage, yet the grief of his heart +was nevertheless rendered more bitter still, by beholding that in this +very peninsula—so highly privileged by God, not only endowed with +the faith, and with possessing the most august throne on earth,—that +even here, the minds and hearts of men were hopelessly perverted. +No, his fears were not caused by the arms or armies, or the forces of +any power, be it what it might. No, it was not the loss of temporal +dominion, which created in his heart the bitterest of afflictions. +Those who have caused this loss must, alas! bear the censure of the +Church, and must henceforth be given over to the wrath of God, as long +as <!-- page 160--><span class="pagenum">p. 160</span>they refuse to +repent, and cast themselves on His loving mercy. What afflicted +and terrified him far more than all this, was the perversion of all +ideas, this fearful evil, the corrupting of all notions; vice, in truth, +is taken for virtue, virtue counted for vice. At last, in some +cities of this unhappy Italy, men have come to make in truth an apotheosis +of the cut-throat and the assassin. Praise and honour are lavished +on the most villainous of men and actions, while at the same time endurance +in the faith and even episcopal resolution in maintaining the holy rights +of that faith, and its provident blessings, are stigmatized with a strange +audacity, by the names of hypocrisy, fanaticism, and perversion of religion. +He then went on to say, that now, more than ever, it was high time to +take vengeance in the name of God, and that the vengeance of the priesthood +and the Vicariate of Christ Jesus consisted solely in prayer and supplication, +that all might be converted and live. That, moreover, the chief +of all these evils was only too truly the corruption of the heart and +the perversion of the intellect, and that this evil could only be overcome +by the greatest of miracles, which must be wrought <!-- page 161--><span class="pagenum">p. 161</span>by +God and interceded from him by prayer. After this, the Holy Father, +in language which seemed inspired, as though he were raised out of himself, +exhorted all present, and especially the young men destined to carry +the faith to their distant countries.”</p> +<p>Even amongst the audience, who all belonged more or less to the Papal +faction, the intemperate and injudicious character of this speech, delivered +in the presence of the French commander-in-chief, and the allusions +which could not but be intended for the Emperor Napoleon, Cavour, and +Victor Emmanuel, created great consternation, and was but coldly received. +The <i>Giornale</i> however reports, that “where his Holiness, +with agitated voice, bestowed his apostolic benediction, awe and admiration +could be read on every countenance; all hearts beat aloud; and no eyelid +was left dry. The whole assembly pressing forward, bent in turn +before the august personage, touching, some his hands and some his dress, +while others again cast themselves at his feet, in order to impress +thereon a reverent and affectionate kiss.”</p> +<p>After having examined the building, the Pope went on foot to the +neighbouring convent of <!-- page 162--><span class="pagenum">p. 162</span>the +Augustine nuns, called “The Convent of the Virgins,” the +whole of the religious community were “permitted to kiss the sacred +foot,” and then “having comforted the virgins with paternal +and loving words,” he returned to the Vatican, past the files +of French troops, through the beggar-crowded streets, amidst cold, sullen +glances and averted obeisances, back to his dreary palace, there to +wait wearily for orders from Paris.</p> +<h2><!-- page 163--><span class="pagenum">p. 163</span>CHAPTER XI. +THE CARNIVAL SENZA MOCCOLO.</h2> +<p>There are things in the world which allow of no description, and +of such things a true Roman carnival is one. You might as well +seek to analyze champagne, or expound the mystery of melody, or tell +why a woman pleases you. The strange web of colour, beauty, mirth, +wit, and folly, is tangled so together that common hands cannot unravel +it. To paint a carnival without blotching, to touch it without +destroying, is an art given unto few, I almost might say to none, save +to our own wondrous word-wizard, who dreamt the “dream of Venice,” +and told it waking. For my own part, the only branch of art to +which, even as a child, I ever took kindly, was the humble one of tracing +upon gritting glass, with a grating pencil, hard outlines of coarse +sketches squeezed tight against the window-pane. After the manner +in which I used to draw, I <!-- page 164--><span class="pagenum">p. 164</span>have +since sought to write; for such a picture-frame then as mine, the airy, +baseless fabric of an Italian revel is no fitting subject, and had the +Roman Carnival for 1860 been even as other carnivals are, I should have +left it unrecorded. It has been my lot, however, to witness such +a carnival as has not been seen at Rome before, and is not likely to +be seen again. In the decay of creeds and the decline of dynasties +there appear from time to time signs which, like the writing on the +wall, proclaim the coming change, and amongst these signs our past Carnival +is, if I err not, no unimportant one. While then the memory of +the scene is fresh upon me, let me seek to tell what I have seen and +heard. The question whether we were to have a Carnival at all, +remained long doubtful; the usual time for issuing the regulations had +long passed, and no edict had appeared; strange reports were spread +and odd stories circulated. Our rulers were, it seems, equally +afraid of having a carnival and not having it; and with their wonted +wisdom decided on the middle course, of having a carnival which was +not a carnival at all. One week before the first of the eight +fête-days, the long-delayed edict was posted on the walls; the +festival <!-- page 165--><span class="pagenum">p. 165</span>was to be +celebrated as usual, except that no masks were to be allowed; false +beards and moustaches, or any attempt to disguise the features, were +strictly forbidden. Political allusions, or cries of any kind, +were placed under the same ban; crowds were to disperse at a moment’s +notice, and prompt obedience was to be rendered to any injunction of +the police. Subject to these slight restraints, the wild revel +and the joyous licence of the Carnival was to rule unbridled. +In the words of a Papal writer in the government gazette of Venice: +“The festival is to be celebrated in full vigour, except that +no masks are allowed, as the fashion for them has lately gone out. +There will be, however, disguises and fancy dresses, confetti, bouquets, +races, moccoletti, public and private balls, and, in short, every amusement +of the Carnival time.” What more could be required by a +happy and contented people? Somehow, the news does not seem to +be received with any extraordinary rejoicing; a group of idlers gaze +at the decree and pass on, shrugging their shoulders listlessly. +Along the Corso notice-boards are hung out of balconies to let, but +the notices grow mildewed, and the balconies remain untaken. The +carriage-drivers <!-- page 166--><span class="pagenum">p. 166</span>don’t +pester you, as in former years, to engage them for the Carnival; and +the fancy dresses exposed in the shop-windows are shabby and few in +number. There is no appearance of unnecessary excitement; but +“still waters run deep;” and in order to restrain any possible +exuberance of feeling, on the very night before the Carnival the French +general issues a manifesto. “To prevent painful occurrences,” +so run General Guyon’s orders, “the officer commanding each +detachment of troops which may have to act against a crowd, shall himself, +or through a police-officer, make it a summons to disperse. After +this warning the crowd must disperse instantly, without noise or cries, +if it does not wish to see force employed.” Still no doubts +are entertained of the brilliancy of the Carnival; the Romans (so at +least their rulers say, and who should know them better?) will enjoy +themselves notwithstanding; the Carnival is their great holiday, the +one week of pleasure counted on the long, dull year through, and no +power on earth, still less no abstract consideration, will keep them +from the Corso revels. From old time, all that they have ever +cared for are the <i>panem et circenses</i>; and the Carnival gives +them both. It is the <!-- page 167--><span class="pagenum">p. 167</span>Roman +harvest-time, when the poor gather in their gleanings. Flower-sellers, +vendors of confetti, hawkers of papers, letters-out of chairs and benches, +itinerant minstrels, perambulating cigar-merchants, pedlars, beggars, +errand-boys, and a hundred other obscure traders, pick up, heaven knows +how! enough in Carnival time to tide them over the dead summer-season. +So both necessity and pleasure, want and luxury, will combine to swell +the crowd; and the pageant will be gay enough for the Vatican to say +that its faithful subjects are loyal and satisfied.</p> +<p>The day opens drearily, chilly, and damp and raw, with a feeble sun +breaking through the lowering clouds; soon after noon the streets begin +to fill with soldiers. Till this year the Corso used to be guarded, +and the files of carriages kept in order, by the Italian pontifical +dragoons, the most warlike-looking of parade regiments I have ever seen. +Last spring, however, when the war broke out, these bold dragoons grew +ashamed of their police duties, and began to ride across the frontier +without leave or license, to fight in behalf of Italy. The whole +regiment, in fact, was found to be so disaffected that it was disbanded +without delay, and at present <!-- page 168--><span class="pagenum">p. 168</span>there +are only some score or so left, who ride close behind the Pope when +he goes out “unattended,” as his partisans profess. +So the dragoons having disappeared, the duty of keeping order is given +to the French soldiers. There are soldiers ranged everywhere: +along the street pavements there is one long line of blue overcoats +and red trousers and oil-skin flowerpot hats covering the short, squat, +small-made soldiers of the 40th Foot regiment, whose fixed bayonets +gleam brightly in the rare sun-light intervals. At every piazza +there are detachments stationed; their muskets are stacked in rows on +the ground, and the men stand ready to march at the word of order. +In every side-street sentinels are posted. From time to time orderlies +gallop past. Ever and anon you hear the rub-a-dub of the drums, +as new detachments pass on towards the Corso. The head-quarters +at the Piazza Colonna are crowded with officers coming and going, and +the whole French troops off duty seem to have received orders to crowd +the Corso, where they stroll along in knots of three or four, alone +and unnoticed by the crowd around them. The heavy guns boom forth +from the Castle of St Angelo, and the Carnival has begun.</p> +<p><!-- page 169--><span class="pagenum">p. 169</span>Gradually and +slowly the street fills. One day is so like another that to see +one is to have seen all. The length of the Corso there saunters +listlessly an idle, cloak-wrapt, hands-in-pocket-wearing, cigar-smoking, +shivering crowd, composed of French soldiers and the rif-raff of Rome, +the proportion being one of the former to every two or three of the +latter. The balconies, which grow like mushrooms on the fronts +of every house, in all out-of-the-way places and positions, are every +now and then adorned with red hangings. These balconies and the +windows are scantily filled with shabbily-dressed persons, who look +on the scene below as spectators, not as actors. At rare intervals +a carriage passes. The chances are that its occupants are English +or Americans. On the most crowded day there are, perhaps, at one +time, fifty carriages in all, of which more than half belong to the +<i>forestieri</i>. Indeed, if it were not for our Anglo-Saxon +countrymen, there would be no carnival at all. We don’t +contribute much, it is true, to the brilliancy of the <i>coup d’œil</i>. +Our gentlemen are in the shabbiest of coats and seediest of hats, while +our ladies wear grey cloaks, and round, soup-plate bonnets. However, +if we are not ornamental, we are useful. We pelt each other with +<!-- page 170--><span class="pagenum">p. 170</span>a hearty vigour, +and discharge volleys of <i>confetti</i> at every window where a fair +English face appears. The poor luckless nosegay or sugar-plum +boys look upon us as their best friends, and follow our carriages with +importunate pertinacity. Fancy dresses of any kind are few. +There are one or two very young men—English, I suspect,—dressed +as Turks, or Greeks, or pirates, after Highbury Barn traditions, looking +cold and uncomfortable. Half a dozen tumble-down carriages represent +the Roman element. They are filled with men disguised as peasant-women, +and <i>vice versâ</i>; but, whether justly or unjustly, they are +supposed to be chartered for the show by the Government, and attract +small comment or notice. Amongst the foot-crowd, with the exception +of a stray foreigner, there is not a well-dressed person to be seen. +The fun is of the most dismal character. Boys with bladders whack +each other on the back, and jump upon each other’s shoulders. +Harlequins and clowns—shabby, spiritless, and unmasked—grin +inanely in your face, and seem to be hunting after a joke they can never +find. A quack doctor, or a man in crinoline, followed by a nigger +holding an umbrella over his head, or a swell with pasteboard collars, +and a chimney-pot on his head, pass <!-- page 171--><span class="pagenum">p. 171</span>from +time to time and shout to the bystanders, but receive no answer. +Give them a wide berth, for they are spies, and bad company. The +one great amusement is pelting a black hat, the glossier the better. +After a short time even this pleasure palls, and, moreover, victims +grow scarce, for the crowd, contrary to the run of Italian crowds, is +an ill-bred, ill-conditioned one, and take to throw nosegays weighted +with stones, which hurt and cut. So the long three hours, from +two to five, pass drearily. Up and down the Corso, in a broken, +straggling line, amidst feeble showers of chalk (not sugar) plums, and +a drizzle of penny posies to the sound of one solitary band, the crowd +sways to and fro. At last the guns boom again. Then the +score of dragoons—of whom one may truly say, in the words of Tennyson’s +“Balaclava Charge,” that they are “all that are left +of—not the ‘twelve’ hundred”—come trotting +down the Corso from the Piazza del Popolo. With a quick shuffling +march the French troops pass along the street, and form in file, pushing +back the crowd to the pavements. With drawn swords and at full +gallop the dragoons ride back through the double line. Then there +is a shout, or rather a long murmur. All faces are turned up the +<!-- page 172--><span class="pagenum">p. 172</span>street, and half +a dozen broken-kneed, riderless, terror-struck shaggy ponies with numbers +chalked on them, and fluttering trappings of pins and paper stuck into +their backs, run past in straggling order. Where they started +you see a crowd standing round one of the grooms who held them, and +who is lying maimed and stunned upon the ground, and you wonder at the +unconcern with which the accident is treated. Another gun sounds. +The troops form to clear the street, the crowd disperses, and the Carnival +is over for the day. A message is sent to the Vatican, to inform +the Pope that the festival has been most brilliant, and along the telegraphic +wires the truth is flashed to Paris that the day has passed without +an outbreak.</p> +<p>On the last day of the Carnival the Porto Pia road was full as usual, +and the Corso filled as usual with soldiers, and spies, and rabble. +An order was published, that any person appearing out of the Corso with +lighted tapers would be arrested, and therefore the idea of an evening +demonstration outside the gates was dropped. Not all the efforts, +however, of the police could light the Moccoletti in the Corso. +House after house, window after window, were <!-- page 173--><span class="pagenum">p. 173</span>left +unlighted. The crowd in the streets carried no candles, and there +were only sixteen carriages or so, all filled with strangers. +Of all the dreary sights I have ever witnessed that Moccoletti illumination +was the dreariest. At rare intervals, and in English accents, +you heard the cry of “Senza Moccolo,” which used to burst +from every mouth as the tiny flames flickered, and glared, and fell. +Before the sight was half over the spectators began to leave, and while +I pushed my way through the dispersing crowds, I could still hear the +faint cry of “Senza Moccolo.” As the sound still died +away, the cry still haunted me; and in my recollection, the Carnival +of 1860 will ever remain as the dullest and dismalest of Carnivals—the +Carnival without mirth, or sun, or gaiety—the Carnival Senza Moccolo.</p> +<h2><!-- page 174--><span class="pagenum">p. 174</span>CHAPTER XII. +ROMAN DEMONSTRATIONS. THE PIAZZA COLONNA CROWDS. THE PORTA +PIA MEETINGS. THE ANTI-SMOKE MOVEMENT.</h2> +<p>Straws show which way the wind blows, and so, though the straws themselves +are valueless, yet as indications of what is coming, their motions are +worth noting. It is thus that I judge of the series of demonstrations +which marked the spring of this year in Rome, and which ended in the +outrage of St Joseph’s day. Of themselves they were less +than worthless, but as tokens of the future they possess a value of +their own. In recent Papal history they form a strange page. +Let me note their features briefly, as I wrote of them at the time.</p> +<h3>January 28.</h3> +<p>At last there is a break in the dull uniformity of Roman life.—There +is a ripple on the waters, whether the precursor of a tempest, or to +be <!-- page 175--><span class="pagenum">p. 175</span>followed by a +dead calm, it is hard to tell. Meanwhile it is some gain at any +rate, that the old corpse-like city should show signs of life, however +transient. Feeble as those symptoms are, let us make the most +of them.</p> +<p>Since the Imperial occupation of Rome, the building in the Piazza +Colonna, which old Roman travellers remember as the abode of the Post +Office, has been confiscated to the service of the French army. +It forms, in fact, a sort of military head-quarter. All the bureaux +of the different departments of the service are to be found here. +The office of the electric telegraph is contained under the same roof, +and the front windows of the town-hall-looking building, lit up so brightly +and so late at night, are those of the French military “circle.” +The Piazza Colonna, where stands the column of Mark Antony, opens out +of the Corso, and is perhaps the most central position in all Rome. +At the corner is the café, monopolized by the French non-commissioned +officers; and next door is the great French bookseller’s.</p> +<p>Altogether the Piazza and its vicinity is the French <i>quartier</i> +of Rome. At seven o’clock every evening, the detachments +who are to be <!-- page 176--><span class="pagenum">p. 176</span>on +guard, during the night, at the different military posts, are drawn +up in front of the said building, receive the pass-word, and then, headed +by the drums and fifes, march off to their respective stations. +Every Sunday and Thursday evening too, at this hour, the French band +plays for a short time in the Piazza. Generally, this ceremony +passes off in perfect quiet, and in truth attracts as little attention +from bystanders as our file of guardsmen passing on their daily round +from Charing Cross to the Tower. On Sunday evening last, a considerable +crowd, numbering, as far as I can learn, some two or three thousand +persons, chiefly men and boys, assembled round the band, and as the +patrols marched off down the Corso, and towards the Castle of Saint +Angelo, followed them with shouts of “Viva l’Italia,” +“Viva Napoleone,” and, most ominous of all, “Viva +Cavour.” As soon as the patrols had passed the crowd dispersed, +and there was, apparently, an end of the matter. The next night +poured with rain, with such a rain as only Rome can supply; and yet, +in spite of the rain, a good number of people collected to see the guard +march off, and again a few seditious or patriotic cries (the two terms +are here synonymous) were <!-- page 177--><span class="pagenum">p. 177</span>heard. +Such things in Italy, and in Rome especially, are matters of grave importance, +and the Government was evidently alarmed. Contrary to general +expectation, and I suspect to the hopes of the clerical party, the French +general has issued no notice, as he did last year, forbidding these +demonstrations. However, the patrols have been much increased, +and great numbers of the Pontifical gendarmes have been brought into +the city. On Tuesday night the Papal police made several arrests, +and a report was spread by the priests that the French troops had orders +to fire at once, if any attempt was made to create disturbance. +On the same night, too, there was a demonstration at the Apollo. +I have heard, from several quarters, that on some of the Pontifical +soldiers entering the house, the whole audience left the theatre, with +very few exceptions. However, in this city one gets to have a +cordial sympathy with the unbelieving Thomas, and not having been present +at the theatre myself, I cannot endorse the story.</p> +<p>Last night I strolled down the Corso to see the guard pass. +The street was very full, at least full for Rome, where the streets +seem empty at their fullest, and numerous groups of men were <!-- page 178--><span class="pagenum">p. 178</span>standing +on the door-steps and at the shop windows. Mounted patrols passed +up and down the street, and wherever there seemed the nucleus of a crowd +forming, knots of the Papal <i>sbirri</i>, with their long cloaks and +cocked hats pressed over their eyes, and furtive hang-dog looking countenances, +elbowed their way unopposed and apparently unnoticed. In the square +itself there were a hundred men or so, chiefly, I should judge, strangers +or artists, a group of young ragamuffins, who had climbed upon the pedestals +of the columns, and seemed actuated only by the curiosity natural to +the boy genus, and a very large number of French soldiers, who, at first +sight, looked merely loiterers. The patrol, of perhaps four hundred +men, stood drawn up under arms, waiting for the word to march. +Gradually one perceived that the crowds of soldiers who loitered about +without muskets were not mere spectators. Almost imperceptibly +they closed round the patrol, pushed back by the bystanders not in uniform, +and then retreated, forming a clear ring for the guard to move in. +There was no pushing, no hustling, no cries of any kind. After +a few minutes the drums and fifes struck up, the drum-major whirled +his staff round in the air, the ring of <!-- page 179--><span class="pagenum">p. 179</span>soldier-spectators +parted, driving the crowd back on either side, and through the clear +space thus formed the patrol marched up the square, divided into two +columns, one going to the right, and the other to the left, and so passed +down the length of the Corso. The crowd made no sign, and raised +no shout as the troops went by, and only looked on in sullen silence. +In fact, the sole opinion I heard uttered was that of a French private, +who formed one of the ring, and who remarked to his comrade that this +duty of theirs was <i>sacré nom de chien de métier</i>, +a remark in which I could not but coincide. As soon as the patrol +had passed, the crowd retreated into the cafés or the back-streets, +and in half-an-hour the Corso was as empty as usual, and was left to +the <i>sbirri</i>, who passed up and down slowly and silently. +Even in the small side-streets, which lead from the Corso to the English +quarters, I met knots of the Papal police accompanied by French soldiers, +and the suspicious scrutinizing glance they cast upon you as you passed +showed clearly enough they were out on business.</p> +<h3>18 February.</h3> +<p>The present has been a week of demonstrations, both Papal and anti-Papal. +Last Thursday <!-- page 180--><span class="pagenum">p. 180</span>was +the Giovedi Grasso, the great people’s day of the carnival. +In other years, from an early hour in the afternoon, there is a constant +stream of carriages and foot-passengers setting from all parts of Rome +towards the Corso. The back-streets and the ordinary promenades +are almost deserted. The delight of the Romans in the carnival +is so notorious, that persons long resident in Rome possessed the strongest +conviction beforehand, that no human power could ever keep the natives +from the Corso upon Thursday. The day, unlike its predecessors, +was brilliantly bright. The Corso was decked out as gaily as hangings +and awnings could make it. The sellers of bouquets and “confetti” +were at their posts. A number of carriages were sent down filled +with adherents of the Government, dressed in carnival attire, to act +as decoy-ducks. All officials were required to take part in the +festivities. The influence of the priests was exerted to beat +up carnival recruits amongst their flocks, and yet the people obstinately +declined coming. The revel was ready, but the revellers were wanting. +The stiff-necked Romans were not content with stopping away, but insisted +on going elsewhere. By one of those tacit understandings, which +are always the characteristic <!-- page 181--><span class="pagenum">p. 181</span>of +a country without public life or liberty, a place of rendezvous was +fixed upon. Without notice or proclamation of any kind, everybody +knew somehow, though how, nobody could tell, that the road beyond the +Porta Pia was the place where people were to meet on the day in question. +The spot was appropriate on various grounds. Along the Via Nomentana, +which leaves Rome through this gate, lies the Mons Sacer, whither the +Plebs of old seceded from the city, to escape from the tyranny of their +rulers. The gate too, which was commenced by Michael Angelo, was +completed by the present Pontiff, and there is an irony dear to an Italian’s +mind in the idea of choosing the Porta Pia for the egress of a demonstration +against the Pope Pius. Perhaps, after all, the fact that the road +is one of the sunniest and pleasantest near Rome may have had more to +do with its selection than any abstract considerations. Be the +cause what it may, one fact is certain, that from the time when the +Corso ought to have been filling, a multitude of carriages and holiday-dressed +people set out towards the Porta Pia. The Giovedi Grasso is a +feast-day in Rome, and all the shops are shut, and their owners at liberty. +All Rome, in consequence, seemed to be wending <!-- page 182--><span class="pagenum">p. 182</span>towards +the Porta Pia. From the gate to the convent of St Agnese, a distance +of about a mile, there was a long string of carriages, chiefly hired +vehicles, but filled with well-dressed persons. As far as I could +judge, the number of private and aristocratic conveyances was small. +The prince of Piombino, who is married to one of the half-English Borghese +princesses, was the only Roman nobleman I heard of, as being amongst +the crowd. But if the nobility were not present on the Via Nomentana, +they were equally absent from the Corso. The footpaths were thronged +with a dense file of orderly respectable people. There were, perhaps, +half-a-dozen carriages, the owners of which had some sort of carnival-dress +on, but that was all. There were no cries, no throwing of confetti, +no demonstration of feeling, except in the very fact of the assemblage. +As far as I could guess from my own observation, there were about 6000 +people present, and from 400 to 500 carriages; though persons who ought +to be well informed have told me that there were double these numbers. +No attempt at interference was made on the part of the French. +There were but few French soldiers about, and what there were, were +evidently mere spectators. Pontifical gendarmes <!-- page 183--><span class="pagenum">p. 183</span>passed +along the road at frequent intervals, and, not being able to arrest +a multitude, consoled themselves with the small piece of tyranny of +closing the <i>osterias</i>, which, both in look and character, bear +a strong resemblance to our London tea-gardens, and are a favourite +resort of thirsty and dusty pedestrians. The crowd, nevertheless, +remained perfectly orderly and peaceful, and as soon as the carnival-time +was over, returned quietly to the city. As I came back from the +gate I passed through the Corso just before the course was cleared for +the races. I have never seen in Italy a rabble like that collected +in the street. The crowd was much such a one as you will sometimes +meet, and avoid, in the low purlieus of London on Guy Faux day. +Carriages there were, some forty in all, chiefly English. One +hardly met a single respectable-looking person, except foreigners, in +the crowd; and I own I was not sorry when I reached my destination, +and got clear of the mob. Yet the report of the police of the +Pope was, that the carnival was <i>brilliante, e brilliantissimo</i>.</p> +<p>On the following day (Friday) much the same sort of demonstration +took place in the Corso. There being no carnival, the whole street, +from <!-- page 184--><span class="pagenum">p. 184</span>the Piazza del +Popolo to the Capitol, was filled with a line of carriages, going and +returning at a foot’s pace. The balconies and windows were +filled with spectators, and the rabble of the previous day was replaced +by the same quiet, decent crowd I had seen at the Porta Pia. The +carriages, from some cause or other, were more aristocratic in appearance; +while the number of spectators was much smaller—probably because +it was a working day, and not a “festa.” By seven +o’clock the assemblage dispersed, and the street was empty. +Meanwhile, Friday afternoon was chosen for the time of a counter-demonstration +at the Vatican. All the English Roman Catholics sojourning in +Rome received notice that it was proposed to present an address to the +Pope, condoling with him in his afflictions. Cardinal Wiseman +was the chief promoter, and framed the address. Many Roman Catholics, +I understand, abstained from going, because they were not aware what +the terms of the address might be, and how far the sentiments expressed +in it might be consistent with their position as English subjects. +The demonstration outwardly was not a very imposing one; about fifty +cabs and one-horse vehicles drove up at three o’clock to the Vatican, +and <!-- page 185--><span class="pagenum">p. 185</span>altogether some +150 persons, men, women, and children, of English extraction, mustered +together as representatives of Catholic England. The address was +read by Cardinal Wiseman, expressing in temperate terms enough the sympathy +of the meeting for the tribulations which had befallen his Holiness. +The bearing of the Pope, so his admirers state, was calm, dignified, +and resolute. As however, I have heard this statement made on +every occasion of his appearance in public, I am disposed to think it +was much what it usually is—the bearing of a good-natured, not +over-wise, and somewhat shaky old man. In reply to the address, +he stated that “if it was the will of God that chastisement should +be inflicted upon his Church, he, as His vicar, however unworthy, must +taste of the chalice;” and that, “as becomes all Christians, +knowing that though we cannot penetrate the motives of God, yet that +He in his wisdom permits nothing without an ulterior object, we may +safely trust that this object must be good.” All persons +present then advanced and kissed the Pope’s hand, or foot, if +the ardour of their devotion was not contented by kissing the hand alone. +When this presentation was over, the Pope requested the company to kneel, +and then prayed <!-- page 186--><span class="pagenum">p. 186</span>in +Italian for the spiritual welfare of England, calling her the land of +the saints, and alluding to the famous <i>Non Angli, sed angeli</i>. +He exhorted all present “to look forward to the good time when +justice and mercy should meet and embrace each other as brothers;” +and finally, with faltering voice, and tears rolling down his cheeks, +gave his apostolical benediction. Of course, if you can shut your +eyes to facts, all this is very pretty and sentimental. If the +Romans could be happy enough to possess the constitution of Thibet, +and have a spiritual and a temporal Grand Llama, they could not have +fixed on a more efficient candidate for the former post than the present +Pope; but the crowds of French soldiers which lined the streets to coerce +the chosen people, formed a strange comment on the value of pontifical +piety. It is too true that the better the Pope the worse the ruler. +Probably the thousands of Romans who thronged the Corso knew more about +the blessings of the Papal sway than the few score strangers, who volunteered +to pay the homage to the Sovereign of Rome which the Romans refuse to +render.</p> +<p>To-day the demonstration was repeated on the Porta Pia; and the Vatican, +indignant at its <!-- page 187--><span class="pagenum">p. 187</span>powerlessness +to suppress these symptoms of disaffection, is anxious to stir up the +crowd to some overt act of insurrection, which may justify or, at any +rate, palliate the employment of violent measures. So in order +to incense the crowd, the public executioner was sent out in a cart +guarded by gendarmes to excite some active expression of anger on the +part of the mob. It is hard for us to understand the feeling with +which the Italians, and especially the Romans, regard the <i>carnefice</i>. +He is always a condemned murderer, whose life is spared on condition +of his assuming the hated office, and, except on duty, he is never allowed +to leave the quarter of St Angelo, where he dwells, as otherwise his +life would be sacrificed to the indignation of the crowd, who regard +his presence as a contamination.</p> +<p>The poor fellow looked sheepish and frightened enough, as he patrolled +slowly with his escort up and down the crowded Porta Pia thoroughfare; +but even this insult failed to effect its object. The device was +too transparent for an Italian crowd not to detect it, and the ill-omened +<i>cortége</i> of the “Pope’s representative,” +as the Romans styled the executioner, passed by without any comment.</p> +<h3><!-- page 188--><span class="pagenum">p. 188</span>march 7.</h3> +<p>The system of silent legal opposition which was carried on formerly +at Milan, and now at Venice, is being organised here against the Papal +rule. By one of those mystical compacts to which I have before +alluded, it has been resolved to suppress smoking and lottery-gambling. +Our anti-tobacconists, or our moral reformers, must not suppose that +the Romans have suddenly become alive to the iniquity of either of these +pursuits. I wish, indeed, with regard to the latter, I could conscientiously +assert that the Liberal faction had decreed its extinction from any +conviction of the degradation and corruption inflicted by it upon their +country. I fear, however, from the extent to which lotteries are +still encouraged by the Tuscan Government, that such is not the case. +The reason of the movement is, indeed, a very simple and material one. +From the lotteries and the tobacco monopoly the government derives a +very large part of its revenues, and a part, too, which does not excite +unpopularity in the same way as direct taxation. Any extinction, +therefore, or indeed any serious diminution of these sources of revenue, +would place the Holy See in great difficulties. The profits on +the lottery go directly <!-- page 189--><span class="pagenum">p. 189</span>into +the pockets of the Government, who are also supplied with very extensive +and important patronage by the vast number of petty posts which the +system employed for collecting tickets places at their disposal. +The tobacco monopoly is farmed out to a company, on whom any loss would +fall in the first instance; but if the abstention from tobacco were +continued long, the Government would soon feel the effects, through +the inability of the company to keep up their present rate of payment.</p> +<p>Whether rightly or wrongly, an attempt to cut off the funds of the +Papal exchequer in this manner is certainly being made. Strangers, +of course, are not interfered with; but Italians are warned at the doors +of the cigar-shops and the lottery-offices not to enter and buy. +The sudden diminution in the number of people you meet smoking in the +streets is quite remarkable, and, I am sure, would strike any observer +who had never heard of the movement. There have been already several +disturbances between smokers and non-smokers. The story goes, +that in a quarrel arising out of this subject, a man was stabbed in +the street the night before last; but in Rome it is almost impossible +to make out <!-- page 190--><span class="pagenum">p. 190</span>the truth +in a matter of this kind. At several lottery-offices gendarmes +have been placed to hinder purchasers of tickets from being molested; +and a bitter feeling seems growing up on every side. How long +the Romans may have strength of mind enough to abstain from their favourite +amusements of smoking and gambling, it is impossible to say; but since +I witnessed their resolute abstention from the delights of the Carnival, +I think better of their courage than I did before.</p> +<p>On Sunday evening, when the great promenade takes place along the +Corso, where, a week ago, there was hardly a male mouth without a cigar +or cheroot or cigarette inserted in it, I only noticed four smokers +in the Corso crowd, and they were all foreigners. The practice +is suppressed not only in the streets but in the cafés. +For the benefit of the weaker brethren, who cannot screw up their patriotism +to total abstinence, pipes are allowed, as the Government profit on +tobacco is very small compared with that on cigars. The Italians, +however, are not much of pipe-smokers, and the tobacconists are in despair +at the total absence of customers. Of course, the partisans of +the Government <!-- page 191--><span class="pagenum">p. 191</span>prophesy +that the movement will end in smoke, but at present the laugh is on +the other side.</p> +<h3>March 10.</h3> +<p>The Society for the Suppression of Smoking, who by the way send their +tracts to the reading-rooms here, of all places in the world, will regret +to learn that the Roman Anti-Tobacco Crusade is to expire on and after +Sunday next. The leaders of the liberal party have, I think, acted +wisely in contenting themselves with an exhibition of their union and +power and then withdrawing from the contest. The loss to the Government +by the discontinuance of smoking was only an indirect and eventual one; +on the other hand, the company, who farm the Tobacco monopoly, would +have been ruined by the progress of the movement, and had already been +obliged to dismiss a large proportion of their work-people. The +tobacconists and street-hawkers of cigars were deprived of their livelihood, +and the misery and consequent ill-will created amongst the poor of Rome +by keeping up the prohibition would have been serious. Then, too, +perhaps it was thought advisable not to impose too heavy a trial on +patriotic ardour. Smoke is meat and <!-- page 192--><span class="pagenum">p. 192</span>drink +to a Roman, his first care in the morning, his occupation by day, and +his last thought at night. Yet you may truly say, that during +the time of its prohibition the whole city willingly gave up smoking. +If, in order to testify political dissatisfaction, the whole of London +were to leave off beer-drinking by private agreement, the expression +of feeling would be hardly a more remarkable one.</p> +<h2><!-- page 193--><span class="pagenum">p. 193</span>CHAPTER XIII. +THE ÉMEUTE OF ST JOSEPH’S DAY.</h2> +<p>The feast of San Giuseppe is the only <i>festa</i> day in Lent, when +the Romans eat fried fish in honour of the occasion,—St Joseph +alone knows why. Henceforth the day will have other and less pleasing +associations. The garland-wreathed stalls, with the open ovens +and the frizzling fritters, were reared as usual at every corner; the +shops were closed; the <i>osterias</i> were full; the streets were crowded +with holiday-people in holiday-attire, and the day was warm and bright +like an early summer-day in England, though it was only the 19th of +March. The news of the Romagna elections, with their overwhelming +majority in favour of annexation to Sardinia, had been just received +in Rome with general exultation. No doubt the festive appearance +which marked the city throughout the day was not altogether accidental, +but was meant for, and <!-- page 194--><span class="pagenum">p. 194</span>regarded +as, an expression of public sympathy with the revolted provinces. +St Joseph happens to be the patron saint of the two great Italian popular +heroes, Garibaldi and Mazzini, and a demonstration on this day was therefore +considered to be in honour of the Three Josephs, the Saint and his two +protegés. It was known generally that the adherents of +the Liberal party would muster, as usual, on the Porta Pia road, and +that the more courageous partizans of the popular cause would be distinguished +by wearing a violet in their button-holes.</p> +<p>The Government had, it seems, decided that even these tacit expressions +of disaffection must be suppressed at all costs. With a happy +irony of cruelty which appears to distinguish a priestly despotism above +every other, the holiday of St Joseph was chosen as the opportunity +for striking terror into the hearts of the disloyal Romans; and as the +policy which sent out the executioner to excite the populace had not +been crowned with its coveted success, it was resolved to create a collision +between the police and the people. In the morning, five Roman +gentlemen of position and fortune, suspected of sympathy with the liberal +cause, received notice that they were exiled <!-- page 195--><span class="pagenum">p. 195</span>from +the Papal States, and must leave the city within twenty-four hours. +Amongst these gentlemen was St Angeli, who, not long ago, was arrested +and imprisoned without charge or trial, and who was but lately released +on the remonstrance of the French authorities. There was also +Count Silverstrelli, a brother of the gentleman of that name so well +known to English sportsmen at Rome. The news of these arrests +did not check the proposed demonstration. Towards four o’clock +a considerable number of carriages and persons on foot assembled outside +the gates on the Via Nomentana; some patrols, however, of French soldiers +were found to be stationed along the road; and as it is the great object +of the liberal leaders at Rome to avoid any possibility even of collision +between the people and the French troops, it was resolved to adjourn +the place of assemblage to the Corso. Whether this was a thought +suggested on the moment, or whether it was the result of a preconcerted +plan, is a mooted question not likely to be decided; the resolution, +however come to, was acted on at once. Neither here, nor elsewhere, +I may observe, was there anything of a tumultuous crowd, or the slightest +apparent approach to agitation <!-- page 196--><span class="pagenum">p. 196</span>on +the part of the multitude. All a spectator could observe was, +that the carriages turned homewards somewhat nearer to the gates than +usual, and that the stream of people who sauntered idly along the footpath, +as on any other <i>festa</i> day, set out earlier than they are wont +to do on their return to the city.</p> +<p>About six o’clock the crowd from the Porta Pia had reassembled +in the Corso. Six o’clock is always the fullest time in +that street; private carriages are coming back from the Pincio promenade, +and strangers are driving back to their hotels from the rounds of sight-seeing. +The Corso, without doubt, was unusually and densely crowded; the footpaths +swarmed with passengers, and, what was peculiarly galling to the Government, +after the failure of the Carnival, there was a double line of aristocratic +carriages passing up and down; still everything was perfectly peaceable +and orderly. At the hour of the <i>Ave Maria</i> the crowd was +at its fullest, and this was the time selected for the outrage. +In a scene of general terror and confusion it is impossible to ascertain +exact details of the order in which events occurred, but I believe the +following account is fairly exact.</p> +<p><!-- page 197--><span class="pagenum">p. 197</span>There were a great +number of the Pontifical police, or <i>sbirri</i>, as the Romans call +them, scattered in knots of two or three about the Corso; there were +also several mounted patrols of the Papal gendarmes. The police +did everything in their power to excite the people, hustled the crowd +in every direction, used the most opprobrious epithets, and pushed their +way along with insulting gestures. There are various stories afloat +as to the immediate cause of the outbreak; one, that as a patrol passed +the crowd hissed; another, that a cry was heard of “Viva Vittorio +Emmanuele!” and a third, the Papal version, that on a young man +of the name of Barberi being asked by a gendarme why he wore a violet +flower on his coat, he answered rudely, and, on the officer trying to +arrest him, his comrades pulled him away. All stories agree, that +the provocation to the police was given in the Piazza Colonna; and the +disturbance, if any, was so trivial, that a friend of mine, who was +on the spot at the time, perceived nothing of it, and only fancies he +heard a murmur as the police rode by. The provocation, whatever +it was, was sufficient as a pretext for the premeditated outrage. +The <i>sbirri</i> drew their swords, and slashing <!-- page 198--><span class="pagenum">p. 198</span>right +and left, charged the dense crowds of men, women and children. +The word was given, and a band of some twenty Papal dragoons, who had +been drawn up hard by at the Monte Citorio, waiting under arms for the +signal, galloped down the Corso, clearing their way with drawn swords. +The <i>sbirri</i> along the street pulled out their cutlass-knives; +the dragoons rode on the footway, and struck out at the carriages filled +with ladies as they passed by, while the police ran a-muck (I can use +no other word) amongst the terror-stricken crowd. The cries of +the crushed and wounded, the terror of the women, and the savage, brutal +fury of the police, added to the panic and confusion of the scene. +Not the slightest attempt at resistance was made by the unarmed crowd; +in a few minutes the Corso was cleared as if by magic, and order reigned +in Rome.</p> +<p>Short as the time was, the havoc wrought was very considerable. +Nearer two than one hundred persons were injured in all. Of course +the greater number of these persons were not actually wounded, but crushed, +or stunned, or thrown down. There was no respect of persons in +the use made of their swords by the police. <!-- page 199--><span class="pagenum">p. 199</span>Three +French officers of the 40th, who were in plain clothes amongst the crowd, +were cut down and severely wounded. An Irish gentleman, the brother +of the member for Fermanagh, narrowly escaped a sabre-cut by dodging +behind a pillar. The son of Prince Piombino was pursued by a gendarme +beneath the gateway of his own palace, and only got off with his hat +slit right in two. Persons were hunted down by the soldiery even +out of the Corso. One gentleman, an Italian, was chased up the +Via Condotti by a dragoon with his sword drawn, and saved himself from +a sabre-cut by taking refuge in a passage. Some of the dragoons +rode down the Via Ripetta, when they had come to the top of the Corso, +and cut down a woman who was passing by. As soon as the Corso +was cleared, the gendarmes went into the different cafés along +the street, and ordered all persons, who were found in them, to go home +at once. In one case an infirm old man, who could not make off +fast enough, had his face cut open by a sabre-blow; while the backs +of the gendarmes’ swords were used plentifully to expedite the +departure of the café frequenters. The exact number of +wounded it is of course impossible to ascertain. Persons who <!-- page 200--><span class="pagenum">p. 200</span>received +injuries were afraid to show themselves, and still more to call attention +to their injuries, for fear of being arrested for disaffection and immured +in prison. If I believed the stories I heard on good authority +and on most positive assurance, I should put down the number of persons +who died from wounds or injuries received during the mêlée +at from twelve to fifteen. Still, long experience has led me to +place very little reliance on any Roman story I cannot test; and I am +bound to say, I could not sift any one of these stories to the bottom. +On the other hand, this fact by no means causes me to disbelieve that +fatal injuries may have been received. The extreme difficulty, +if not impossibility, of obtaining true information on such a point +may be realized from the circumstance, that a government official was, +within my knowledge, dismissed from his post for merely visiting one +of the victims who had been wounded by the police. By all accounts, +even by that of the Papal partizans, the number of severe injuries inflicted +was very considerable; indeed it is impossible it should have been otherwise, +when one considers that along a street so crowded that the carriages +could only move at a foot’s <!-- page 201--><span class="pagenum">p. 201</span>pace, +the gendarmes on horse and foot charged recklessly, cutting at every +one they could reach. In my statement, however, of the casualties, +I have sought to assert, not what I believe, but only what (as far as +one can speak with certainty of what one did not actually see) I know +to be the truth.</p> +<p>The worst part of the whole story, in my opinion, was the subsequent +conduct of the Government. These outrages, which might have been +excused as the result of an unforeseen disturbance, obtained in cold +blood the deliberate sanction of the Vatican. The Papal gendarmes +received the personal acknowledgments of the Pope for their conduct. +The six horsemen who distinguished themselves by clearing the Piazza +Colonna were promoted for their services, and all the police on duty +that day received extra pay. With unusual promptitude, in fact +not more than a week after the event, the <i>Giornale di Roma</i> contained +an official statement of the occurrence. After alleging that hitherto +they had considered the unpleasant event of too small importance to +deserve notice, they proceed to give the following narrative.</p> +<blockquote><p>“On Monday, the 19th instant, in the course <!-- page 202--><span class="pagenum">p. 202</span>of +the afternoon, the revolutionary faction proposed to make a demonstration +in the Corso against the Pontifical Government, by an assemblage of +persons hired for the express purpose. On the discovery of these +designs, fitting arrangements were made in concert with the French police; +and the French troops, as well as the Papal gendarmes, were drawn up, +so that in case of need they might suppress any disturbance whatever.</p> +<p>“In fact, about five o’clock in the afternoon crowds +were formed in the streets, directed by leaders, and amongst these leaders +were two hide-tanners, whom the gendarmes arrested with promptitude. +The crowd, thus raked together, then began to hoot at and insult the +gendarmes, and at last attempted to rescue the prisoners. Not +succeeding in this attempt, the rioters, whose numbers had now been +swollen by a lot of idle fellows from the vilest rabble, crowded together +into the Piazza Colonna, and continued to outrage the officers of public +justice with every kind of insult. Thereupon a handful of police +advanced courageously against the rioters, and proved quite sufficient +to disperse and rout them.</p> +<p><!-- page 203--><span class="pagenum">p. 203</span>“The friends +of order applauded the gallant gendarmes in the execution of their duty. +In less than an hour the most perfect quiet reigned around, and in the +affray a very few persons were injured, whose injuries have proved to +be of slight consequence.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Throughout the whole of this document the <i>suppressio veri</i> +reigns supreme. It is ludicrous describing the <i>émeute</i> +as an event unworthy of special mention, when rewards and praises have +been heaped by the Government on the heroes who distinguished themselves +in the suppression of this contemptible fracas. In a city like +Rome a crowd which filled the whole Corso’s length cannot be described +as a faction, while the occupants of the aristocratic carriages which +lined both sides of the street are not likely to have had two hide-tanners +for their leaders. The size of the crowd disposes at once of the +idea that the persons who composed it were bribed to be present; and +the attempt to identify the action of the French troops with that of +the Papal gendarmes, is upset by the plain and simple fact, that the +French patrols were on the Porta Pia road, and not in the Corso at all. +Indeed, if the whole matter was not too <!-- page 204--><span class="pagenum">p. 204</span>serious +to laugh at, there would be something actually comical in the notion +of the friends of order, or any person in their senses, stopping to +applaud the gendarmes as they trampled their way through the helpless, +screaming, terror-stricken crowd, striking indiscriminately at friend +or foe. The statement has this value, and this value only, that +it gives the formal approval of the Government to the brutal outrages +of the Papal police.</p> +<p>For a time the Pro-Papal party were in a state of high exultation. +A popular demonstration had been suppressed by a score or so of Pontifical +troops. The stock stories about the cowardice of the Italians +were revived, and the more intemperate partizans of the Government asserted +that the support of the French army was no longer needed, and that the +Pope would shortly be able to rely for protection on his own troops +alone. There was in these exultations a certain sad amount of +truth. I am no blind admirer of the Romans, and I freely admit +that no high-spirited crowd would have submitted to be cut down by a +mere handful of gendarmes. I admit, too, that this blood-letting +stopped for the time the fashion of demonstrations. <!-- page 205--><span class="pagenum">p. 205</span>It +is however at best a doubtful compliment to a government that it has +succeeded in crushing the spirit and energy of a nation; but to this +compliment, I fear, the Papal rule is only too well entitled. +“The lesson given on St Joseph’s day,” so wrote the +organ of the Papacy in Paris, “has profited;” how, and to +whom, time will show. Hardly, I think; at any rate, to the religion +of love and mercy, or to those who preach its doctrines, and enforce +its teachings by lessons such as this.</p> +<h2><!-- page 206--><span class="pagenum">p. 206</span>CHAPTER XIV. +A COUNTRY FAIR.</h2> +<p>Far away among the Sabine hills, right up the valley of the Teverone, +as the Romans now-a-days call the stream which once bore the name of +Anio, hard by the mountain frontier-land of Naples, lies the little +town of Subiaco. I am not aware that of itself this out-of-the-world +nook possesses much claim to notice. Antiquarians, indeed, visit +it to search after the traces of a palace, where Nero may or may not +have dwelt. Students of ecclesiastical lore make pilgrimages thereto, +to behold the famous convent of the Santo Speco, the home of the Benedictine +order. In summer-time the artists in Rome wander out here to take +shelter from the burning heat of the flat Campagna land, and to sketch +the wild Salvator Rosa scenery which hems in the town on every side. +I cannot say, however, that it was love of antiquities or divinity, +<!-- page 207--><span class="pagenum">p. 207</span>or even scenery, +which led my steps Subiaco-wards. The motive of my journey was +of a less elevated and more matter-of-fact character. Some few +days beforehand a yellow play-bill-looking placard caught my eye as +I strolled down the Corso. A perusal of its contents informed +me, that on the approaching feast-day of St Benedict there was to be +held at Subiaco the great annual <i>Festa e fiera</i>. Many and +various were the attractions offered. There was to be a horse-race, +a <i>tombola</i>, or open lottery, an illumination, display of fire-works, +high mass, and, more than all, a public procession, in which the sacred +image of San Benedetto was to be carried from the convent to the town. +Such a bill of fare was irresistible, even had there not been added +to it the desire to escape from the close muggy climate of Rome into +the fresh mountain-air,—a desire whose intensity nothing but a +long residence here can enable one to appreciate.</p> +<p>Subiaco is some forty odd miles from Rome, and amongst the petty +towns of the Papal States is a place of some small importance. +The means, however, of communication with the metropolis are of the +scantiest. Two or three times a week a sort of Italian <i>eil-wagen</i>, +a funereal and <!-- page 208--><span class="pagenum">p. 208</span>tumble-down, +flea-ridden coach, with windows boarded up so high that, when seated, +you cannot see out of them, and closed hermetically, after Italian fashion, +shambles along at jog-trot pace between the two towns, and takes a livelong +day, from early morning to late at night, to perform the journey. +Other public mode of transit there is none; and therefore, not having +patience for the diligence, I had to travel in a private conveyance, +and if there had been any one else going from the fair to Rome, which +there was not, they must perforce have done the same. As to the +details of the journey, and the scenery through which you pass, are +they not written in the book of Murray, wherein whoso likes may read +them? It is enough for me to note one or two facts which tell +their own story. Throughout the forty and odd miles of the road +I traversed, I never passed through a single village or town, with the +exception of Tivoli; and between that town and Rome, a distance of some +twenty miles, never even caught sight of one. After Tivoli, when +the road enters the mountains, there are a dozen small towns or so, +all perched on the summits of high hills, under which the road winds +in passing. Detached <!-- page 209--><span class="pagenum">p. 209</span>houses +or cottages there are, as a rule, none—certainly not half a dozen +in all—the whole way along. There was little appearance +of traffic anywhere. A few rough carts, loaded with charcoal or +wood for the Roman markets; strings of mules, almost buried beneath +high piles of brushwood, which were swung pannier-wise across their +backs; and a score of peasant-farmers mounted on shaggy cart-horses, +and jogging towards the fair, constituted the way-bill of the road. +The mountain slopes were apparently altogether barren, or at any rate +uncultivated. In the plain of the valley, bearing traces of recent +inundation from the brook-torrent which ran alongside the road in strange +zig-zag windings, were a number of poorly tilled fields, half covered +with stones. The season was backward, and I could see no trace +of anything but hard, fruitless labour; and the peasants, who were working +listlessly, seemed unequal to the labour of cultivating such unprofitable +lands. Personally the men were a vigorous race enough, but the +traces of the malaria fever, the sunken features and livid complexion, +were painfully common; their dress too was worn ragged and meagre, while +the boys working in the fields constantly left their work to beg as +I <!-- page 210--><span class="pagenum">p. 210</span>passed by, a fact +which, considering how little frequented this district is by travellers, +struck me unpleasantly. With my English recollections of what +going to the fair used to be, I looked but in vain for farmers’ +carts or holiday-dressed foot-folk going towards Subiaco. I did +not meet one carriage of any description, except the diligence without +a passenger, and could not have guessed, from the few knots of peasants +I passed, that there was anything unusual going on in what I suppose +I might call the county town of the district.</p> +<p>By the time I reached Subiaco, the first day of the fair was at its +height. The topography of the place is of the simplest description,—a +narrow street running up a steep hill, with a small market-place; on +the summit stands a church; half a dozen <i>cul-de-sac</i> alleys on +the right, terminated by the wall that hems in the river at their feet; +a long series of broken steps on the left, leading to a dilapidated +castle, where the Legate ought to reside, but does not; such are the +main features of the town. In fact, if you fancy Snow Hill, Holborn, +shrunk to about a quarter of its width, all its houses reduced to much +such a condition as that gaunt <!-- page 211--><span class="pagenum">p. 211</span>corner-building +which for years past has excited my ungratified curiosity; Newgate gaol +replaced by the façade of a dingy Italian church; the dimensions +of the locale considerably diminished; and a small section of the dark +alleys between the prison and Farringdon Street, bounded by the Fleet-ditch +uncovered; you will have a very fair impression of the town of Subiaco.</p> +<p>The fair, such as it was, was confined to this High Street and to +the little square at its head. The street was filled with people, +chiefly men, bartering at the doors of the un-windowed shops. +A very small crowd would fill so small a place, but I think there could +hardly have been less than a thousand persons. Cutlery and hosiery +of the rudest kind seemed to be the great articles of commerce. +There were, of course, an office of the Pontifical Lottery, which was +always crammed, an itinerant vendor of quack medicines and a few scattered +stalls (not a single booth by the way), where shoes and caps and pots +and pans and the “wonderful adventures of St Balaam” were +sold by hucksters of Jewish physiognomy. Lean, black-bristled +pigs ran at every step between your legs, and young kids, slung across +their owners’ shoulders with their heads downwards, bleated <!-- page 212--><span class="pagenum">p. 212</span>piteously. +The only sights of a private description were a series of deformed beggars, +drawn in go-carts, and wriggling with the most hideous contortions; +but the fat woman, and the infant with two heads, and the learned dog, +whom I had seen in all parts of Europe, were nowhere to be found. +There was not even an organ boy or a hurdy-gurdy. Music, alas! +like prophecy, has no honour in its own country. The crowd was +of a very humble description; the number of bonnets or hats visible +might be counted on one’s fingers, and the fancy peasant costumes +of which Subiaco is said to be the great rendezvous, were scarcely more +in number. There was very little animation apparent of any kind, +very little of gesticulation, or still less of shouting; indeed the +crowd, to do them justice, were perfectly quiet and orderly, for a holiday +crowd almost painfully so. The party to which I belonged, and +which consisted of four Englishmen, all more or less attired in those +outlandish costumes which none but Englishmen ever wear, and no Englishman +ever dreams of wearing in his own country, excited no comment whatever, +and scarcely attracted a passing glance. Fancy what the effect +would be of four bloused and bearded Frenchmen <!-- page 213--><span class="pagenum">p. 213</span>strolling +arm-in-arm through a village wake in an out-of-the-way English county? +By the time I had strolled through the fair, the guns, or rather two +most dilapidated old fowling-pieces, were firing as a signal for the +race. The horses were the same as those run at the Carnival races +in Rome, and as the only difference was, that the course, besides being +over hard slippery stones, was also up a steep hill-street, and the +race therefore somewhat more cruel, I did not wait to see the end, but +wandered up the valley to hear the vespers at the convent of the Santo +Speco. I should have been sorry to have missed the service. +Through a number of winding passages, up flights of narrow steps, and +by terrace-ledges cut from the rock, over which I passed, and overhanging +the river-side, I came to a vault-like chapel with low Saracenic arches +and quaint old, dark recesses, and a dim shadowy air of mystery. +Round the candle-lighted altar, standing out brightly from amidst the +darkness, knelt in every posture some seventy monks; and ever and anon +the dreary nasal chanting ceased, and a strain of real music burst from +out the hidden choir, rising and dying fitfully. The whole scene +was beautiful enough; but,—what a pity <!-- page 214--><span class="pagenum">p. 214</span>there +should be a “but” in everything,—when you came to +look on the scene in the light of a service, the charm passed away. +There were plenty of performers but no audience; the congregation consisted +of four peasant-women, two men, and a child in arms. The town +below was crowded. The service was one of the chief ones in the +year, but somehow or other the people stopped away.</p> +<p>When the music was over, I was shown through the convent. There +were, as usual, the stock marvels: a hole through which you looked and +beheld a—shall I call it sacred?—picture of Satan with horns +and hoof complete; a small plot of ground, where used to grow the thorns +on which St Benedict was wont to roll himself in order to quench the +desires of manhood, and where now grow the roses into which St Francis +transformed the said thorns, in honour of his brother saint. The +monk who showed me the building talked much about the misery of the +surrounding poor. At the convent’s foot lies a little wood +of dark green ilexes, of almost unknown age, valued on account of some +tradition about St Benedict, and perhaps still more as forming a kind +of oasis on the barren, bare mountain-side. Armed guards have +to <!-- page 215--><span class="pagenum">p. 215</span>be placed at night +around this wood, to save it from the depredations of the peasantry; +every tree belonging to the convent and not guarded was sure to be cut +down. No one, so my informant told me, would believe the sums +of money the convent had spent of late on charity, and how for this +purpose even their daily supplies of food had been curtailed; but alas! +it was only like pouring water into a sieve, for the people were poorer +than ever. I own that when the old priest pointed out the number +of churches and convents you could see in the valley below, and spoke, +with regret, of the time when there were twelve convents round Subiaco +alone, I felt that the cause of this hopeless misery was not far to +seek, though hard to remedy.</p> +<p>On my way homewards to the town I beheld the half dozen sky-rockets +which composed the display of fire-works, and also the two rows of oil-lamps +on the cornices over the church-door, which formed the brilliant illuminations. +Neither sight seemed to collect much crowd or create much excitement. +As the dusk came on the streets emptied fast, and by night-time the +town was almost deserted; and, except that the wine-shops were still +filled with a few hardened topers, <!-- page 216--><span class="pagenum">p. 216</span>every +sign of the fair had vanished. There was not even a trace of drunkenness +apparent. The next morning the same scene was repeated with little +difference, save that the crowd was rather greater, and a band of military +music played in the market-place. About noon the holy procession +was seen coming down the winding road which leads from the convent to +the town. I had taken up my position on a roadside bank, and enjoyed +a perfect view. There were a number of shabby flags and banners +preceded by a hundred able-bodied men dressed in dirty-white surplices, +rather dirtier than the colour of their faces. A crowd of ragged +choristers followed swinging incense-pots, droning an unintelligible +chant, and fighting with each other. Then came a troop of monks +and scholars with bare heads and downcast eyes. All these walked +in twos and twos, and carried a few crucifixes raised aloft. The +monks were succeeded by a pewter-looking bust, which, I suppose, was +a likeness of St Benedict, and the bust was followed by a mule, on which, +in a snuff-coloured coat, black tights, white neckcloth, and a beef-eater’s +hat, the whole sheltered beneath a green carriage umbrella, rode His +Excellency the Governor of the <!-- page 217--><span class="pagenum">p. 217</span>district. +Behind him walked his secretary, the Syndic of Subiaco, four gendarmes, +and three broken-down, old livery-clad beadles, who carried the umbrellas +of these high dignitaries. In truth, had it not been for the unutterable +shabbiness of the whole affair, I could have fancied I saw the market +scene in “Martha,” and “The Last Rose of Summer” +seemed to ring unbidden in my ears. Not a score of un-official +spectators accompanied the procession from the convent, and the interest +caused by it appeared but small; the devotion absolutely none. +The fact which struck me most throughout was the utter apathy of the +people. Not a person in the place I spoke to—and I asked +several—had any notion who the governor was. The nearest +approach that I got to an answer was from one of the old beadles, who +replied to my question, “Chi sa?” “É una roba +da lontano;” and with this explanation that the governor was “a +thing that came from a distance,” I was obliged to rest satisfied. +When the procession reached the town the band joined in, the governor +got off his mule, room was made for our party in the rank behind him, +I suppose, as “distinguished foreigners;” and so with banners +flying, crosses nodding, drums <!-- page 218--><span class="pagenum">p. 218</span>beating, +priests and choristers chanting, we marched in a body into the church, +where the female portion of the crowd and all the beggars followed us. +I had now, however, had enough of the “humours of the fair,” +and left the town without waiting to try my luck at the <i>tombola</i>, +which was to come off directly High Mass was over.</p> +<h2><!-- page 219--><span class="pagenum">p. 219</span>CHAPTER XV. +THE HOLY WEEK.</h2> +<p>The <i>nil admirari</i> school are out of favour. In our earnest +working age, it is the fashion to treat everything seriously, to find +in every thing a deep hidden meaning, in fact, to admire everything. +Since the days of Wordsworth and Peter Bell, every petty poet and romantic +writer has had his sneer at the shallow sceptic to whom a cowslip was +a cowslip only, and who called a spade a spade. I feel, therefore, +painfully that I am not of my own day when I express my deliberate conviction, +that the ceremonies of Holy Week at Rome are—the word must come +out sooner or later—an imposture. This is not the place +to enter into the religious aspect of the Catholic question, nor if +it were, should I have any wish to enter the lists of controversy as +a champion of either side. I can understand that for some minds +the ideas of Church unity, <!-- page 220--><span class="pagenum">p. 220</span>of +a mystic communion of the faithful, and of an infallible head of a spiritual +body have a strange attraction, nay, even a real existence. I +can understand too, that for such persons all the pomps and pageantry +of the Papal services present themselves under an aspect to me unintelligible. +Whether these ideas be right or wrong, I am not able, nor do I care, +to argue. The Pontifical ceremonies, however, have not only a +spiritual aspect, but a material and very matter-of-fact one. +They are after all great spectacles got up with the aid of music and +upholstery and dramatic mechanism. Now, how far in this latter +point of view the ceremonies are successful or not, I think from some +small experience I am pretty well qualified to judge; and if I am asked +whether, as ceremonies, the services of the Church of Rome are imposing +and effective, I answer most unhesitatingly, No. I know that this +assertion upsets a received article of faith in Protestant England as +to the seductive character of the Papal ceremonies. I remember +well the time when I too believed that the shrines of the old faith +were the haunts of sense-enthralling grandeur, of wild enchantment and +bewitching beauty; when I too dreamt how <!-- page 221--><span class="pagenum">p. 221</span>amidst +crowds of rapt worshippers, while unearthly music pealed around you +and the fragrant incense floated heavenwards, your soul became lost +to everything, save to a feeling of unreasoning ecstasy. In fact, +I believed in the enchantments of Papal pageantry, as firmly as I believed +that a Lord Mayor’s feast was a repast in which Apicius would +have revelled, or that an opera ball was a scene of oriental and voluptuous +delight. Alas! I have seen all, and known all, and have found +all three to be but vanity.</p> +<p>Now the question as to the real aspect of the Papal pageantry, and +the effects produced by it upon the minds, not of controversialists, +but of ordinary spectators, is by no means an unimportant one with reference +to the future prospects of Italy and the Papacy. Let me try then, +not irreverently or depreciatingly, but as speaking of plain matters +of fact, to tell you what you really do see and hear at the greatest +and grandest of the Roman ceremonies. Of all the Holy Week services +none have a more European fame, or have been more written or sung about, +than the Misereres in the Sistine Chapel. Now to be present at +these services <!-- page 222--><span class="pagenum">p. 222</span>you +have to start at about one o’clock, or midday, in full evening +costume, dress-coat and black trowsers. Any man who has ever had +to walk out in evening attire in the broad daylight, will agree with +me that the sensation of the general shabbiness and duskiness of your +whole appearance is so strong as to overcome all other considerations, +not to mention your devotional feelings. In this attire you have +to stand for a couple of hours amongst a perspiring and ill-tempered +crowd, composed of tourists and priests, for the Italians are too wise +to trouble themselves for such an object. During these two mortal +hours you are pushed forward constantly by energetic ladies bent on +being placed, and pushed back by the Swedish guards, who defend the +entrance. The conversation you hear around you, and perforce engage +in, is equally unedifying, both religiously and intellectually, a sort +of <i>réchauffé</i> of Murray’s handbook, flavoured +with discussions on last Sunday’s sermon. When you are reduced +to such a frame of mind and body as is the natural result of time so +employed, the doors of the chapel are opened, and you have literally +to fight your way in amidst a crowd of ladies hustling, screaming, and +fainting. If you <!-- page 223--><span class="pagenum">p. 223</span>are +lucky, you get standing room in a sort of open pen, whence, if you are +tall, you can catch a sight of the Pope’s tiara in the distance; +or, if you belong to the softer sex, you get a place behind the screen, +where you cannot see, but, what is much better, can sit. The atmosphere +of the candle-lighted, crammed chapel is overpowering, and occupation +you have none, except trying in the dim light to decipher the frescoes +on the roof, with your head turned backwards. For three long hours +you have a succession of dreary monotonous strains, forming portions +of a chant, to you unintelligible, broken at intervals by a passage +of intonation. There is no organ or instrumental music, and the +absence of contralto voices is poorly compensated for by the unnatural +accents of the Papal substitutes for female vocalists.</p> +<p>The music itself may be very fine,—competent critics declare +it is, and I have no doubt they are right; but I say, unhesitatingly, +it is not music that addresses itself to popular tastes, or produces +any feeling save that of weariness on nine-tenths of its hearers. +You can mark clearly the expression of satisfaction which steals over +every face as candle after candle of the stack of <!-- page 224--><span class="pagenum">p. 224</span>wax-lights +before the altar is put out successively, at intervals of some twenty +minutes. If the ceremony were reduced to one-tenth of its length, +it might be impressive, but a dirge which goes on for three hours, and +a chandelier which takes the same time to have its lights snuffed out, +become an intolerable nuisance. The dying cadence of the Miserere +is undoubtedly grand; but, in the first place, it comes when your patience +is exhausted; and, in the second, it lasts so long, that you begin to +wonder whether it will ever end. The slavery to conventional rules +in England, which causes one to shrink from the charge of not caring +about music as zealously as one could, and from pleading guilty to personal +cowardice, makes Englishmen, and still more Englishwomen, profess to +be delighted with the Miserere; but, in their heart of hearts, their +feeling is much such as I have given utterance to.</p> +<p>The ceremonies in St Peter’s itself are, as sights, much better; +but yet I often think that the very size and grandeur of the giant edifice +increases the <i>mesquin-ness</i> (for want of an English word I must +manufacture a French one) of the whole ceremony. At the exposition +of the relics, for instance, you see in a very lofty gallery <!-- page 225--><span class="pagenum">p. 225</span>two +small figures, holding up something—what, you cannot tell—set +up in a rich framework of gold and jewels; it may be a piece of the +cross, or a martyr’s finger-bone, or a horse’s tooth—what +it is neither you nor any one else can guess at that distance. +If the whole congregation knelt down in adoration, the artistic effect +would unquestionably be fine, but then not one person in seven does +kneel, and therefore the effect is lost. So it is with the washing +of the high altar. If one priest alone went up and poured the +wine and oil over the sacred stone, and then cleansed the shrine from +any spot or stain, the grandeur of the idea would not be marred by the +monotony of the performance; but when some four hundred priests and +choristers defile past, each armed with a chip besom, like those of +the buy-a-broom girls of our childhood, and each gives a dab to the +altar as he passes, the whole scene becomes tiresome, if not absurd. +The same fatal objection applies to the famous washing of the feet at +the Trinita dei Pellegrini. As a mere matter of simple fact, there +is nothing very interesting in seeing a number of old women’s +feet washed, or in beholding a number of peasants who would be much +better if the washing extended <!-- page 226--><span class="pagenum">p. 226</span>above +their feet, engaged in gulping down an unsavoury repast. The whole +charm of the thing rests in the idea, and this idea is quite extinguished +by the extreme length and tediousness of the whole proceeding. +The feet have too evidently been washed before, and the pilgrims are +too palpably got up for the occasion.</p> +<p>The finest ceremony I have ever witnessed in Rome is the High Mass +at St Peter’s on Easter-day; but as a theatrical spectacle, in +which light alone I am now speaking of it, it is marred by many palpable +defects. Whenever I have seen the Pope carried in his chair in +state, I can never help thinking of the story of the Irishman, who, +when the bottom and seat of his sedan-chair fell out, remarked to his +bearers, that “he might as well walk, but for the honour of the +thing.” One feels so strongly that the Pope might every +bit as well walk as ride in that ricketty, top-heavy chair, in which +he sits, or rather sways to and fro, with a sea-sick expression. +Then the ostrich feathers are so very shabby, and the whole get-up of +the procession is so painfully “not” regardless of expense. +You see Cardinals with dirty robes, under the most gorgeous stoles, +while the surplices are as yellow as the stained gold-worked <!-- page 227--><span class="pagenum">p. 227</span>bands +which hang across them. There is, indeed, no sense of congruity +or the inherent fitness of things about the Italian ceremonials. +A priest performs mass and elevates the host with muddy boots on, while +the Pope himself, in the midst of the grandest service, blows his nose +on a common red pocket-handkerchief. The absence of the organ +detracts much from the impressiveness of the music in English ears, +while the constant bowings and genuflexions, the drawling intonations, +and the endless monotonous psalms, all utterly devoid of meaning for +a lay-worshipper, added to the utter listlessness of the congregation, +and even of the priests engaged in celebration of the service, destroy +the impression the gorgeousness of the scene would otherwise produce.</p> +<p>The insuperable objection, however, to the impressiveness of the +whole scene is the same as mars all Papal pageants,—I mean the +length and monotony of the performance. One chant may be fine, +one prostration before the altar may be striking, one burst of the choral +litany may act upon your senses; but, when you have chant after chant, +prostration after prostration, chorus after chorus, each the twin brother +to the other, <!-- page 228--><span class="pagenum">p. 228</span>and +going on for hours, without apparent rhyme or reason, you cease to take +thought of anything, in order to speculate idly when, if ever, there +is likely to be an end. There is no variety, and little change, +too, about the ceremonies. When you have seen one you have seen +all; and when you have seen them once, you can understand how to the +Romans themselves these sights have become stale and dull, till they +look upon them much as I fancy the musician in the orchestra of the +old Princess’s must have looked upon one of Kean’s Shaksperian +revivals when the season was far spent.</p> +<h2><!-- page 229--><span class="pagenum">p. 229</span>CHAPTER XVI. +ISOLATION OF ROME.</h2> +<p>There is, I think, no city in the world where Pilate’s question, +“What is truth?” would be so hard to answer as in Rome. +In addition to the ordinary difficulties which everywhere beset the +path of the foreigner in search of knowledge, there are a number of +obstacles peculiar and special to Rome alone.</p> +<p>The whole policy of the government is directed towards maintaining +the country in a state of isolation, towards drawing, in fact, a moral +<i>cordon sanitaire</i> round the Papal dominions. Indeed, if +one lived long in Rome, one would get to doubt the reality of anything. +When I last came to Rome straight from Tuscany, seething in the turmoil +of its new-bought liberties, I could hardly believe that only six months +ago there had been war in Italy within two hundred miles from the Papal +city, that the fate of Italy still hung <!-- page 230--><span class="pagenum">p. 230</span>trembling +in the balance, and that the chief province of the country was still +in open revolt against its rulers. There was no sign, no trace, +scarce a symptom even of what had passed or was passing in the world +without. We all seemed spellbound in a dull, dead, dreary circle. +There were no advertisements in the streets, except of devotional works +for the coming season of Lent; no pamphlets or books placed in the booksellers’ +windows, which by their titles even implied the existence of the war +and the revolution; no prints for sale of the scenes of the campaign, +or the popular heroes of the day. This was the normal state of +Rome, such as I had seen it in former years. Later on, indeed, +either the force of events, or a change in the counsels of the Vatican, +induced the Papacy to drop the defensive passive attitude which constituted +its real strength, and to adopt an active offensive policy, which served +rather to show the greatness of the dreaded danger than to avert its +occurrence. Still the increased animation, though perceptible +enough to a Roman, appeared to a stranger but a step above absolute +stagnation. I never could get over my astonishment at our utter +ignorance of what went on around and amongst us. About <!-- page 231--><span class="pagenum">p. 231</span>the +state of affairs in our two neighbouring countries, whether in free +Tuscany or in despotic Naples, we were entirely in the dark. What +little news we got was derived from chance reports of stray travellers, +or from the French and English newspapers. The <i>Giornale di +Roma</i> gave us now and then a damnatory paragraph about the Tuscan +Government, from which, out of a mass of vituperation, we could pick +up an odd fact or so; but during the first four months of this year, +throughout which period I perused the <i>Giornale</i> pretty carefully, +I do not remember to have seen a single allusion, good, bad or indifferent, +to the kingdom of Naples. The Tuscan papers were naturally enough +forbidden, as are almost all the journals of the free Italian states, +and could only be obtained by private hands. The Neapolitan Gazette, +the <i>Monitore del Regno delle Due Sicilie</i>, was never seen by any +chance, though I cannot suppose its circulation was directly interdicted. +The communication between Rome and Naples was, and is, scanty in the +extreme. During the last ten years, about ten miles of the Pio-Centrale +Railroad, the Neapolitan line, have been opened. At present beyond +Albano the works are entirely at a stand-still, and there <!-- page 232--><span class="pagenum">p. 232</span>are +still some thirty miles of line, between Rome and the frontier, of which +hardly a sod has been turned. The Civita Vecchia line has only +been completed in consequence of the pressure of the French authorities, +and the Ancona-Florence line is still in <i>statu quo</i>. Three +times a week there are diligences between Rome and Naples. The +local steam-boats, which used to run along the coast from Porto d’Anzio +to the Neapolitan capital have been given up, and in fact there is no +ready means of transit, save by the foreign steamers, which touch at +Civita Vecchia. Whether purposely or not, everything has been +done to check free communication between the Papal and Neapolitan States, +and in this respect the Government has been eminently successful. +The two countries are totally distinct. A Neapolitan is a <i>forestiere</i> +in Rome, and <i>vice versâ</i>. The <i>divide et impera</i> +has been the motto of all the petty Italian despots and of the Papacy +in particular, and hitherto has proved successful. Even now, as +far as I could see and learn, the desire for Italian unity does not +penetrate very low down. It is the desire, I freely grant, of +all the best and wisest Italians, but scarcely, I suspect, the wish +of the Italian people. In truth, Italy at this <!-- page 233--><span class="pagenum">p. 233</span>moment +is very much what Great Britain would be, if Scotland, Ireland, Wales +and the States of the Saxon Heptarchy had remained to this day separate +petty kingdoms, ruled by governments who fostered and developed every +local and sectional jealousy. The broad fact, that for some weeks +at Rome we were in utter ignorance whether there had been a revolution +or not in the capital of the frontier kingdom, not thirty miles away, +and should have been quite surprised if we had learnt anything about +the matter, is a sufficient commentary on our state of isolation.</p> +<p>This artificial isolation too is increased by a sort of general apathy +and almost universal ignorance, which are characteristic of all classes +in Rome. How far this intellectual apathy is caused by, or causes, +the material isolation of the city, would be a curious question to determine. +The existence, however, of this fact, which none acquainted with Rome +will question, constitutes one of the chief difficulties in ascertaining +accurate information about facts. The most intelligent and the +most liberal amongst the Romans (the two terms are there synonymous) +never seem to know the value of positive facts, and even in matters +susceptible of proof prefer general statements. <!-- page 234--><span class="pagenum">p. 234</span>Then, +too, the absence of social meetings, or means of intercourse, is one +of the most striking features about Roman society. There is no +public life, no current literature, little even of free conversation. +Of course, among the English and foreign residents there are plenty +of parties and gaieties of every kind. At these parties you meet +a few Anglicised Italians, who have picked up a little of our English +language and a good deal of our English dress. The nobility of +Rome who come into contact with the higher class of English travellers +give a good number of formal receptions, but amongst the middle and +professional classes there is very little society at all. The +summer is the season for what society there is, but even then there +is but little. There are no saloons in the Roman theatres, and +the miserable refreshment-rooms, with their bars even more shabby and +worse provided than our English ones, are, as you may suppose, not places +of meeting. Even at the Opera there seemed to be little visiting +in the boxes. With the exception of the strangers’ rooms, +there are no reading-rooms or clubs in Rome, if I may exclude from this +category a miserable <i>Gabinetto di Lettura</i>, chiefly frequented +by priests, and whose current <!-- page 235--><span class="pagenum">p. 235</span><i>lettura</i> +consisted of the <i>Tablet</i>, the <i>Univers</i>, the <i>Armonia</i>, +and the <i>Courier des Alpes</i>. The only real places of meeting, +or focuses of news, are the cafés. At best, however, they +are <i>triste</i>, uncomfortable places. There is no café +in all Rome equal to a second-rate one in an ordinary French provincial +town. There are few newspapers, little domino playing, and not +much conversation. The spy system is carried to such an extent +here, that even in private circles the speakers are on their guard as +to what they say, and still more as to what they repeat. As an +instance of this, I may mention a case that happened to me personally. +On the morning before the demonstrations at the Porta Pia a Roman gentleman, +with whom I was well acquainted, wished to give me information of the +proposed meeting, of which, it happened, I was well aware; but though +we were alone in a room together, the nearest approach on which my friend +ventured to a direct information, which might be considered of a seditious +character, was to tell me that I should find the Porta Pia road a pleasant +walk on an afternoon.</p> +<p>In fact, paradoxical as the assertion may appear, you learn more +about Rome from foreigners <!-- page 236--><span class="pagenum">p. 236</span>than +from natives. Unfortunately, such information as you may acquire +in this way is almost always of a suspicious character. Almost +every one in Rome judges of what he sees or hears according, in German +phrase, to some stand-point of his own, either political or artistic +or theological, as the case may be. As to the foreign converts, +it is only natural that, as in most cases they have sacrificed everything +for the Papal faith, they should therefore look at everything from the +Papal point of view. If, however, they abuse and despise the Romans +on every occasion, it is some satisfaction to reflect that the Romans +lose no opportunity of despising or abusing them in turn. English +Liberals who see a good deal of Roman society, see it, I think, under +too favourable circumstances, and also attach undue importance to the +wonderful habit all Italians have of saying as their own opinion whatever +they think will be pleasing to their listener. On the other hand, +the persons who are best qualified to judge of Rome, the ordinary residents +of long standing, who care little about Italy and less about the Pope, +are, I fancy, unduly influenced by the advantages of their exceptional +position. There are few places in the world where a stranger, +especially <!-- page 237--><span class="pagenum">p. 237</span>an English +stranger, is better off than in Rome. As a rule, he has perfect +liberty to do and say and write what he likes, and almost inevitably +he gets to think that a government which is so lenient a one for him +cannot be a very bad one for its own subjects. The cause, however, +of this exceptional lenity is not hard to discover. Much as we +laugh at home about the <i>Civis Romanus</i> doctrine, abroad it is +a very powerful reality. Whether rightly or wrongly, foreign governments +are afraid of meddling with English subjects, and act accordingly. +Then, too, Englishmen as a body care very little about foreign politics, +and are known to live almost entirely among themselves abroad, and seldom +to interfere in the concerns of foreigners; and lastly, I am afraid +that the moral influence of England, of which our papers are so fond +of boasting, is very small indeed on the continent generally, and especially +in Italy. All the articles the <i>Times</i> ever wrote on Italian +affairs did not produce half the effect of About’s pamphlet or +Cavour’s speeches. I am convinced that the influence of +English newspapers in Italy is most limited. The very scanty knowledge +of the English language, and the utter want of comprehension of our +English modes of thought and <!-- page 238--><span class="pagenum">p. 238</span>feeling, +render an English journal even more uninteresting to the bulk of Italians +than an Italian one is to an Englishman; and the Roman rulers are well +aware of this important fact. Hard words break no bones, and the +Vatican cares little for what English papers say of it, and looks upon +the introduction of English Anti-Papal journals as part of the necessary +price to be paid for the residence of the wealthy heretics who refuse +to stop anywhere where they cannot have clubs and churches and papers +of their own. The expulsion of M. Gallenga, the <i>Times</i> correspondent, +was in reality no exception to this policy. It was not as the +correspondent of an English newspaper, but as an ex-Mazzinian revolutionist +and the author of <i>Fra Dolcino</i>, that this gentleman was obnoxious +to the Papal authorities. Though a naturalized English subject, +he had not ceased to be an Italian, and his personal influence amongst +Roman society might have been considerable, though the effect of his +English correspondence, however able, would have been next to nothing.</p> +<p>From all these causes it is very hard to learn anything at Rome, +and harder yet to learn anything with accuracy. It is only by +a process of <!-- page 239--><span class="pagenum">p. 239</span>elimination +you ever arrive at the truth. Out of a dozen stories and reports +you have to take one, or rather part of one, and to reject the eleven +and odd remaining. It has been my object, therefore, in the following +descriptions of the scenes which marked the period of my residence in +Rome, to give as much as possible of what I have known and seen myself, +and as little of what I heard and learnt from others. What my +narrative may lose in vividness, it will, I trust, gain in accuracy.</p> +<h2><!-- page 240--><span class="pagenum">p. 240</span>CHAPTER XVII. +THE PAPAL QUESTION SOLVED BY NAPOLEON I.</h2> +<p>About half a century ago the Papal question was the order of the +day. Another Napoleon was seated on the throne of France, in the +full tide of success and triumph of victory; another Pius was Pontiff +at the Vatican, under the patronage of French legions, and, strange +to say, another Antonelli was the leading adviser of the Pope. +The city of Rome, too, and the Papal States were in a condition of general +discontent and disaffection; but, unfortunately, this latter circumstance +is one of too constant occurrence to afford any clue as to the date +of the period in question.</p> +<p>In the year of grace 1806, the enemies of Napoleon were <i>ipso facto</i> +our friends; and in consequence the Pope, who was known to be hostile +to France, became somewhat of a popular character amongst us. +Indeed Pius VII. was <!-- page 241--><span class="pagenum">p. 241</span>looked +on at home rather in the light of a martyr and a hero. It is only +of late years that this feeling has worn off, and that we, as a nation, +have begun to doubt whether, in his struggle with the Papacy, the Corsican +usurper, as it was the fashion then to style him, may not have been +in the right after all. Considerable light has been thrown upon +this question by the recent publications of certain private State papers, +which remained in the possession of Count Aldini, the minister of Italian +affairs under the great Emperor.</p> +<p>There had long been subjects of dissension between the Papal and +the Imperial Governments. At last, in 1806, these dissensions +came to an open rupture. On the 1st of June in that year, Count +Aldini wrote a despatch, by order of the Emperor, to complain of the +avowed hostility displayed by the Papal Court against the system of +legislation introduced into the Kingdom of Italy, and of the private +intrigues carried on by Cardinal Antonelli. In this despatch occur +these words, which at the present day read strangely appropriate:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“His Majesty cannot behold without indignation, +how that authority, which was appointed by God to maintain order and +obedience on earth, <!-- page 242--><span class="pagenum">p. 242</span>employs +the most perilous weapons to spread disorder and discord.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This appeal to the conscience of the Vatican remained of course without +effect, and things only grew worse. At the end of the same year +Napoleon published at Berlin his famous decrees for the blockade of +England, and the exclusion of all English merchandise. Whether +justly or unjustly, the Court of Rome was suspected by Buonaparte of +not keeping up the blockade (the most unpardonable of all political +offences in his eyes). At last, by a decree of the 2nd of April +1808, he removed the Marches from the Papal Government, and annexed +them to the Kingdom of Italy. The legations, by the way, had formed +part of that kingdom since the treaty of Tolentino. This experiment +proved unsuccessful. Napoleon soon discovered, what his successor +is also likely to learn, that the real evil of the Papal Government +consisted not in its territorial extent, but in the admixture of temporal +and spiritual authority; that, in fact, its power of working mischief +was, if anything, in inverse proportion to its size. With that +rapidity of resolution which formed half his power, he resolved at once +to suppress the temporal power of the Popes, and <!-- page 243--><span class="pagenum">p. 243</span>gave +instructions to Count Aldini to draw up the necessary decrees. +The Emperor was then on the eve of departure for the Spanish peninsula; +and it was during the harassing reverses of his fortunes in Spain, that +the following report of Aldini was perused by him:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Sire,—Your Imperial and Royal Majesty has +considered that the time is come to fix the destinies of Rome.</p> +<p>“You have directed me to examine which, amidst the diverse +governments that Rome has had during modern times, is most adapted for +her actual circumstances, while retaining the character of a free government. +It appears from history, that Crescenzius governed Rome for many years +with the title of Patrician and Consul.</p> +<p>“Pope John XV. having appealed against him to the Emperor Otho, +the appeal was dismissed, and Crescenzius was confirmed in his office, +and caused to swear allegiance to the Emperor.</p> +<p>“The supreme dominion of the Emperors over Rome was exercised +without contradiction throughout all the dynasty of the Othos and Conrads, +and only became assailed under Frederick I.</p> +<p>“Afterwards, amidst the multitude of Italian republics, the +Roman republic was restored for <!-- page 244--><span class="pagenum">p. 244</span>a +time; and, in the 13th century, had for the head of its government a +Matteo of the Orsini family with the title of Senator, in honour of +whose memory a medal was struck.</p> +<p>“For a long period the Kings of Naples, of the Anjou race, +were Senators of Rome.</p> +<p>“Pope Nicholas III. retained the senatorial dignity for himself; +and, by a bull of 1268, forbade the election of any Senator, without +the sanction of the Pope.</p> +<p>“From this date all the Senators of Rome have been nominated +by the Popes, and were never permitted to be foreigners.</p> +<p>“Besides the Senator, there was a council, called the Conservatori. +The members of this council were chosen from amongst the first families +of Rome; proposed by the Senator, and approved by the Pope.</p> +<p>“From time to time the Pontiffs have endeavoured to diminish +the jurisdiction and the prerogatives of the Senators, so that in latter +times their office has been reduced to a mere honorary charge.</p> +<p>“It has appeared to me that the restoration of this form of +government, replacing the Senator in his old authority, would be a step +at once <!-- page 245--><span class="pagenum">p. 245</span>adapted to +the circumstances of the present day, and acceptable to the Roman people.</p> +<p>“To declare Rome a free Imperial city, and to reserve a palace +there for your Majesty and your court, cannot but produce the most favourable +effect on the minds of the Romans.</p> +<p>“In the other dispositions of the proposed statute I have confined +myself to following the precedents adopted by your Majesty on former +occasions, under similar circumstances.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This report was accompanied by the minutes of three decrees. +The first referred to the future government of the Eternal City, and +was sketched out in the following articles:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Art. 1. Rome is a free Imperial city.</p> +<p>“Art. 2. The Palace of the Quirinal, with its dependencies, +is declared to be an Imperial Palace.</p> +<p>“Art. 3. The confines between the territory of Rome and +the Kingdom of Italy are to be determined by a line, which, starting +from Arteveri, passes through Baccano, Palestrina, Marino, Albano, Monterotondo, +Palombara, Tivoli, and thence, keeping always at a distance of two miles +inland from the sea, returns to Arteveri.</p> +<p>“Art. 4. The lands of all communes intersected <!-- page 246--><span class="pagenum">p. 246</span>by +the above line form the territory of Rome, excepting all lands that +lie between the line and the sea coast.</p> +<p>“Art. 5. A Senator and a Magistracy of forty Conservators +are to form the Government of the City and its territory.</p> +<p>“Art. 6. The executive power resides in the Senator; +the legislative with the Magistracy of the Conservators. The Senator +has the initiative in all projects of law.</p> +<p>“Art. 7. The office of the Senator is for life; that +of the Conservators for four years. The Magistracy is to be renewed +every year for one-fourth of its members. In the first three years, +lot is to decide who go out; afterwards, the members shall retire by +rotation.</p> +<p>“Art. 8. Ten Conservators, at least, shall be chosen +from the different communes which compose the territory of Rome.</p> +<p>“Art. 9. The Senator is always to be nominated by us +and our successors. For the first election alone we reserve to +ourselves the right of nominating the Magistracy of the Conservators. +Hereafter, as vacancies occur, the Senator shall nominate the Conservators +from a double list presented to him by the Magistracy.</p> +<p><!-- page 247--><span class="pagenum">p. 247</span>“Art. 10. +The judicial functions are to be exercised in the name of the Senator, +by judges nominated by him. Their appointment shall be for life. +They cannot be removed except for fraud or neglect of duty, recognised +as such by the Magistracy, or on being sentenced to any disgraceful +or penal punishment.</p> +<p>“Art. 11. Five Ædiles, nominated after the same +fashion as the Conservators, shall superintend the preservation of the +ancient monuments and the repairs of the public buildings. For +this purpose a special fund (the amount to be determined by the Government) +shall be placed yearly at their disposal.</p> +<p>“Art. 12. Between the kingdom of Italy and the Roman +State, there shall be no intermediate line of customs or duties. +The Government of Rome may, however, impose an <i>octroi</i> duty on +victuals at the gates of the city.</p> +<p>“Art. 13. For . . . years no ecclesiastic can hold a +civil office in Rome or its territory.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The second decree declares that the Papal States, with the exception +of the Roman territories above described, are irrevocably and in perpetuity +annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, and that the <i>Code Napoleon</i> is +to be the law of the land.</p> +<p><!-- page 248--><span class="pagenum">p. 248</span>The third is headed, +“Dispositions with regard to his Holiness,” and disposes +of the Papal question in this somewhat summary manner.</p> +<blockquote><p>“We Napoleon, by the grace of God, and by the Constitution, +Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Rhenish Confederation,</p> +<p>“Having regard to our first decree concerning Rome, have decreed, +and decree as follows:—</p> +<p>“Art. 1. The Church and the Piazza of St Peter, the palace +of the Vatican and that of the Holy Office, with their dependencies, +are a free possession of his Holiness the Pope.</p> +<p>“Art. 2. All the property of the Capitol and the Basilica +of St Peter are preserved to those institutions under whatever administration +the Pope may please to appoint.</p> +<p>“Art. 3. His Holiness shall receive a yearly income of +one million Italian francs, and shall retain all the honorary privileges +he has enjoyed in past times.</p> +<p>“Given at our Imperial Palace of St Cloud, this --- day of +Sept. 1808.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>In the midst of the Spanish campaigns, these documents were perused +and approved by the Emperor, who wrote to Aldini, at that time in <!-- page 249--><span class="pagenum">p. 249</span>Italy, +and told him to make private inquiries as to whether the time was opportune +for the promulgation of these decrees, and whether it was expedient +to require the clergy to take an oath of allegiance to the new constitution. +Aldini’s reply contains the following remarkable passage:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“The Pope, who has never enjoyed the good opinion +of the Roman public, has succeeded in these latter days in winning the +sympathy of a few fanatics, who call his obstinacy heroic constancy, +and wait every day for a miracle to be worked by God in his defence.</p> +<p>“Except these bigots and a few wealthy persons who dread the +possibility, that, under a change of government, their privileges might +be destroyed, and the taxes on property increased, all classes are of +one mind in desiring a new order of things, and all alike long for its +establishment.</p> +<p>“I must not, however, conceal from you that this universal +sentiment is chiefly due to two causes:—Firstly, to the idea that +the payment of the interest on the public debt will be resumed; as, +in truth, a great number of Roman families depend on these payments +for their income; and secondly, to the hope that Rome will <!-- page 250--><span class="pagenum">p. 250</span>become +the capital of a great state, a hope which the Romans know not how to +renounce.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Under these circumstances, Count Aldini goes on to recommend that +hopes should be held out of an early resumption of payments on the national +debt, and that a provisional air should be given to the proposed arrangement, +so as to keep alive the prospect of a great kingdom, of which Rome should +be the centre. He deprecates enforcing an oath of allegiance on +the clergy, on the ground that “all priests will consent to obey +the civil government; but all will not consent to swear allegiance to +it, because they consider obedience an involuntary act, and an oath +a voluntary act which might compromise their conscience.” +He finally recommends delay, under present circumstances, till some +decisive victory has crushed the hopes of the priest party. This +delay was fatal to the scheme. After the battle of Wagram, Napoleon +resumed the project, and resolved to encrease the Pope’s income +to two millions of francs. Then, however, there came unfortunately +the protests of Pius VII. the bull of excommunication hurled against +the Emperor, and a whole series of petty insults and annoyances on the +part of the Pope; such, for <!-- page 251--><span class="pagenum">p. 251</span>instance, +as walling up the doors of his palace, and declaring, like his successor +and namesake, his anxiety to be made a martyr. Passion seems to +have prevailed over Napoleon’s cooler and better judgment. +The Pope was carried off to Savona, Rome was made part of the French +empire, and Aldini’s project slumbered till, in after years, it +has been revived, though without acknowledgement, by M. Guerronière, +in his pamphlet of <i>Le Pape et le Congrès</i>.</p> +<p>Now this project I have quoted not for its intrinsic value, but because +I think it one likely to be realized. Napoleon III. (the fact +both for good and bad is worth minding) and not the Italians has to +decide on Rome’s future, and any one who has watched the Emperor’s +career will be aware how carefully he follows out the cooler and wiser +ideas of his great predecessor. The Papal question is not one +to be settled by the sword, and I know not whether amongst all the plans +that I have seen, the solution of Napoleon I. does not present the fewest +difficulties.</p> +<h2><!-- page 252--><span class="pagenum">p. 252</span>CHAPTER XVIII. +TWO PICTURES.</h2> +<p>Within the space of a few days, some three weeks in all, it was my +fortune to be present at two demonstrations forming two pictures of +Italian story, or rather two aspects of one picture. In both the +subject-matter was the feelings of Italians towards their rulers; in +both that feeling was expressed legibly, though in diverse fashions; +and from both one and the same lesson—that lesson, which I have +sought to express in these loose sketches of mine—may be learned +easily. Let me first, then, write of these pictures as I saw them +at the time, so that my moral may speak for itself to those who care +to learn it.</p> +<p>The 12th of April is the anniversary of Pio Nono’s return to +Rome from Gaeta, that refuge of destitute sovereigns. It is also, +by a strange coincidence, the anniversary of the day on which <!-- page 253--><span class="pagenum">p. 253</span>his +Holiness and General Goyon narrowly escaped being killed by the falling +of a scaffold, from which they were inspecting the repairs at the church +of St Agnese. On that day, in honour of the doubly joyful event, +the Pope went to celebrate mass at the convent of St Agnese. The +time was one when a popular demonstration in favour of the Pope was +urgently required. It was in fact the beginning of the end. +Victor Emmanuel was about to enter Bologna as king; the news of the +Sicilian insurrection had just reached Rome; the Imperial Government +had sent one of its periodical intimations, that the French occupation +could not be prolonged indefinitely; and General De La Moricière +had assumed the command of the Papal army, on his ill-fated and Quixotic +crusade. At such a time it was deemed necessary to show Europe, +that the Pope still reigned in the hearts of his people, and every effort +was made to secure a demonstration. Government clerks and official +personages received orders to be present at the ceremony; and all persons, +over whom the Priests had influence, were urged to attend and swell +the crowd. And yet what came of it all? Along the road between +the Convent of Santa Agnese and the Porta <!-- page 254--><span class="pagenum">p. 254</span>Pia, +where the great demonstrations took place some weeks ago, there was +little sign of crowd or excitement. The day was chilly and cheerless; +but the chilliness of the wind itself precluded the idea of rain, so +that it was not the weather which deterred the concourse of the faithful. +The Patrizzi Villa, just outside the gate, had a few festoons hung over +the garden wall, which fronts the road; but one of the Patrizzi family, +I should mention, is a Cardinal. The villas on the road exhibited +no decorations or signs of festivity whatever. Indeed, I only +observed three houses in all which had placed hangings before their +windows, or made any preparations in honour of the event. There +were not many persons outside the gates. Every few steps you met +patrols of six French soldiers headed by a gendarme. These patrols +had been sent by General Goyon to keep the crowd in order; but, unfortunately, +there was no crowd to keep in order; so that the soldiers looked and +seemed to feel as if they were sent on a fool’s errand. +At St Agnese there were some 150 carriages collected, almost all hired +ones, of the poorer sort. The private vehicles were very few indeed; +not a quarter of the muster at most. <!-- page 255--><span class="pagenum">p. 255</span>The +church itself was gaily filled, but not crowded in any part. Priests, +monks, and women formed nine-tenths of the congregation. The sacrament +was administered by the Pope himself to a number of communicants, amongst +whom the English converts visiting Rome were as usual conspicuous. +After mass was over the Pope had breakfast at the Convent, and returned +about noon to the city. Meanwhile, something approaching to a +crowd, that is about 600 people, half of whom were priests and the rest +<i>impiegati</i>, were collected at the gates; and as the Pope passed +to his coach and four, each of this crowd, with somewhat suspicious +unanimity, drew a handkerchief from his pocket, and raised a feeble +cheer. Inside the gates, and along the streets through which the +Papal procession passed, there was no appearance of any unusual concourse +of people. By the corner of the Gualtro Fontane street, near the +new palace of Queen Christina, a large body of nuns and school-children, +decked out in white, were drawn up on the pavement, who waved their +hats, and threw flowers as the Pope went by; but this was all; and even +the Pope himself could hardly have supposed what demonstration there +was to be spontaneous. It is true the <!-- page 256--><span class="pagenum">p. 256</span><i>Giornale</i> +made the most of it. Their narrative ran thus: “About half-past +eleven in the morning his Holiness, accompanied by the applause of all +who had joined to escort him, entered his carriage, and took the road +towards his residence at the Vatican. Words are insufficient to +express the enthusiastic affection, the joyous demonstrations, which, +for the length of three miles from St Agnese to the Quirinal, were manifested +towards him by the good people of this Sovereign City, who had crowded +to behold his passage; and who, by any means in their power, expressed +the tender affection which they could not but entertain for his sacred +person. Infinite, too, was the number of carriages which followed +the Royal cortége to the Pontifical palace of St Peter’s.”</p> +<p>To this I can only say, that many things are visible to the eye of +faith, and hidden to the common world. To my unenlightened vision, +the crowd of three miles in length was composed of a thousand persons +in all; and the infinite number of carriages looked uncommonly like +sixty.</p> +<p>And now for the converse picture.</p> +<h3><!-- page 257--><span class="pagenum">p. 257</span>The “Promised +Land.”</h3> +<p>Out of chill clouds and dull gloom, I passed into summer sunshine. +Across barren moor-land and more barren mountains, by the side of marshy +lakes, deserted and malaria-haunted, through squalid villages and decayed +cities, my journey brought me into a rich garden-country, studded with +thriving towns swarming with life, and watered with endless streams. +I came into a land such as children of Israel never looked upon from +over Jordan, after their weary wanderings in the wilderness; a land +rich in oil and corn, and vineyards and cattle; a very “land of +promise.” This, indeed, is the true Italy, the Italy of +which all poets of all time have sung; and whose likeness all artists +have sought to draw, and sought in vain. The sight, however, of +this wondrous beauty was not new to me who write; still less is its +record new to you who read. With this much of tribute let it pass +unnoticed. Fortunately, it was my lot to see the promised land +of Italy as for centuries past she has not been seen. I saw her +free, and rejoicing in her freedom. Then let me seek to recall +such of the epochs in that right royal progress—when <!-- page 258--><span class="pagenum">p. 258</span>the +chosen King came to take possession of his promised land—as stand +most clearly forth.</p> +<p>I remember once seeing a collection of Indian portraits. There +were rajahs and dervishes, jugglers and dancing-girls, depicted in every +variety of garb and posture. For the whole set, however, there +was but one face. Each portrait had a hole where the face should +have been, and the picture was completed by placing the one head beneath +the blank opening. In fact, you had one face beneath a hundred +different draperies. So also, in my wanderings, I saw but one +picture in a dozen frames; one sight in many cities. At some, +the flags may have waved more gaily; at some again the lamps may have +sparkled more brilliantly, and at others the crowd may have cheered +more lustily; but the substance of the sight was the same throughout. +Everywhere, some half-dozen of dusty open carriages, filled with officers +in uniform, passing through crowded streets festooned with flowers, +dressed out with banners—everywhere, the one figure of a plain, +rough Soldier-king, bowing stiffly and slowly from time to time—everywhere, +a surging, heaving, shouting crowd. Such is the one subject of +my picture-gallery.</p> +<p><!-- page 259--><span class="pagenum">p. 259</span>I am in the Duomo +of Florence. Around and about me there is a great crowd. +Every niche and cornice where foot can stand is occupied. A deep +gloom hangs around the darkened church, and from out the lofty vaulted +roof thousands of lamps hang glimmering like stars upon a moonless sky. +Ever and anon the organ peals forth triumphantly, and the clouds of +incense rise fitfully; and as the bell rings, and the host is raised +on high, you see above the bowed heads of the swaying crowd the figure +of the excommunicated King, kneeling on the altar-steps. Then, +when the service is over, and the royal procession passes down the nave, +through the double line of soldiers, who keep the passage clear, I am +carried onwards to the front of the grand cathedral, which for centuries +has stood bare and unfinished, and which is to date its completion from +the time when the city of Dante and Michael Angelo is to date her freedom, +too long delayed.</p> +<p>The next scene present to my memory is a dark gloomy night. +I am at Pisa, in the city of the Campo Santo, where hang the chains +of the ancient port which the Genoese carried off in triumph centuries +ago, in the days of the old Republic, and have brought back to day, +in <!-- page 260--><span class="pagenum">p. 260</span>honour of the +new brotherhood. The great festival of the Luminara is to be held +to-night, in the presence of the King. I have come from Florence +through the pleasant Arno valley, shining in the glory of an Italian +sunset, and the night has come on, and dark, rain-laden clouds are rolling +up from the sea; but neither wind nor rain are heeded now. Through +narrow streets, which a year ago were silent and deserted, I follow +a great multitude pressing towards the river-side. A sudden turn +brings me to the quay, and an illuminated city rises before me across +the Arno. The glare is so strong that at first I can scarcely +distinguish anything save the one grand blaze of light. Then, +by degrees, I see that every house and palace-front along those mile-long +quays is lit up by rows on rows of lamps, scattered everywhere. +Arches and parapets and bridges are all marked out against the dark +back-ground of the sky by the long lines of light, and in the depths +of the dull stream that rolls at my feet a second inverted city sparkles +brightly. Along either quay a great, countless multitude keeps +moving to and fro, casting a dark hem of shadow at the foot of the houses +which line the river. Then of a sudden the low, <!-- page 261--><span class="pagenum">p. 261</span>ceaseless +hum of ten thousand voices is exchanged for a loud cheer, and the bands +begin to play, and the royal carriages, escorted by a running crowd, +pass along the quays; and wherever the throng is thickest, you can tell +that Victor Emmanuel is to be found, with Ricasoli by his side. +Then, as the King and his party pass out of sight, the storm comes on +in its fury, and the gusts of wind blow out the lamps, as if after doing +honour to the King their work was ended.</p> +<p>Another scene which I remember well was on a long day’s journey +through the Val di Chiana, a day’s journey by fertile fields and +smiling villages, and on pleasant country roads. The King was +coming in the course of the day along the same route. At every +corner, at every bridge and roadside house, there were groups of peasants +standing waiting to see <i>Il padrone nuovo</i>, the new sovereign and +master. The children had flags in their little hands, and the +cottagers had hung out their coloured bed-quilts, and the roadside crosses +were decked out with flowers. The church-bells were ringing, country +bands were playing lustily, and the national guard of every little town +I passed stood under arms, to the admiration of all beholders. +It was a holiday <!-- page 262--><span class="pagenum">p. 262</span>everywhere; +the fields were left untilled, the carts were taken up to carry whole +peasant families to the market-town of Arezzo, where the King was to +spend the night. Man, woman, and child wore the national colours +in some part of their Sunday dress; and about everything and everybody +there was a look of happiness, hard indeed to describe, but one not +often seen nor easily forgotten.</p> +<p>Let us turn northwards. The old streets of Bologna, with their +endless rows of colonnades, are filled with people. The dead Papal +city is alive again. The priests have disappeared; friars, monks, +Jesuits, and nuns have vanished from their old haunts. St Patrick +did not clear the land of Erin more thoroughly and more suddenly of +the genus reptile than the presence of Victor Emmanuel has cleared Bologna +of the genus priest. It is whispered that out of top windows, +and from behind blinds and shutters, priests are peeping out at the +strange sight of a glad and a free people, with glances the reverse +of friendly; but neither the black robe nor the brown serge cowl, nor +the three-cornered, low-crowned hat, are to be seen amongst the crowd. +Well, perhaps the scene looks none the less gay for their absence. +The flags and flowers glitter beneath <!-- page 263--><span class="pagenum">p. 263</span>the +blue, cloudless sky, and the burning sun of a hot summer day gives an +unwonted brightness to the grey colours of the grim, gaunt houses. +Down the steep, winding road leading from the old monastery of St Michael, +where the King is lodged, through the dark, narrow, crowded streets, +a brilliant cavalcade comes riding slowly; half a horse’s length +in front rides Victor Emmanuel. Amongst the order-covered staff +who follow, there is scarcely one of not more royal presence than their +leader; there are many whose names may stand before his in the world’s +judgment, but the crowd has its eye fixed on the King, and the King +alone. For three days this selfsame crowd has followed him, and +stared at him, and cheered him, but their ardour remains undiminished. +All the school-children of the city, down to little mites of things +who can scarcely toddle, have been brought out to see him. Boy-soldiers, +with Lilliputian muskets, salute him as he passes. A mob of men, +heedless of the gendarmes or of the horses’ hoofs, run before +the cavalcade, in the burning heat, and cheer hoarsely. Every +window is lined with ladies in the gayest of gay dresses, who cast glances +before the King, and try, like true daughters of Eve, to catch a smile +from that <!-- page 264--><span class="pagenum">p. 264</span>plain, +good-humoured face. So amidst flowers and smiles and cheers the +procession passes on. There is no pause, indeed, in the ceaseless +cheering, save where the band of exiles stands with the flags of Rome, +and Naples, and Venice, covered with the black veil; or when the regiments +defile past with the tattered colours which were rent to shreds at San +Martino and at Solferino, and then the cry of “Viva Vittorio Emmanuele” +is changed for that of “Viva l’Italia!”</p> +<p>It is a Sunday afternoon, and at three o’clock I have turned +out of the broiling streets into the vast, crowded theatre of Reggio. +Every place is occupied, every box is crammed; rows of lights sparkle +around the darkened house, and the heat is a thing to be remembered +afterwards. There is a gorgeous ballet being acted on the stage, +and Cæsar is being tempted by every variety of female art and +posture, in a way which never happens except to ballet heroes, and to +Saint Anthony of Padua. The dancing girls, however, dance in vain, +and the orchestra plays to deaf ears, for all voices are raised at once, +and all eyes are turned from the stage. The King has entered the +royal box, and every lady in the long tiers of boxes unfurls the tricolor-flag +she bears in her <!-- page 265--><span class="pagenum">p. 265</span>hands +and waves it bravely. The whole house keeps rising, shouting, +cheering. The musicians lay down their instruments, and the ballet-girls +drop their postures and Cæsar forgets his dignity, and one and +all crowd forward on the stage and join in the general cheering; and +when the king leaves, the curtain drops upon the unfinished ballet, +and the whole house rush into the piazza to see Victor Emmanuel again +as he drives away.</p> +<p>The last time that my path comes across the kingly progress is at +a railway station. The long street of Parma, leading to the station, +is lined with a dense crowd; and the flowers and flags and triumphal +arches are to be seen in greater profusion here than even I have been +accustomed to before. The royal carriages have to move at a foot’s +pace, on account of the multitude which presses round them. Amidst +playing of bands and throwing of flowers, the King, accompanied by his +vast escort, has reached the station, and enters it with his suite, +but the eager enthusiasm of the multitude is not sated yet. Regardless +of all railway rules and penalties, they clamber over palings and run +up embankments, and manage to force their way at last to the platform +itself, as the royal train is moving on. Even the iron nerve <!-- page 266--><span class="pagenum">p. 266</span>of +Victor Emmanuel seems affected by this last greeting of farewell; and +while the train remains in sight I can see the King bowing kindly to +the crowd on either side.</p> +<p>Never, I think, in the world’s history was the promised land +entered with more of promise.</p> +<p>When, in the old fairy tale, the sleeping princess of the slumber-bound +palace awoke to light and life; when of a sudden the horses began to +neigh, and the clocks to tick, and the spits to turn, the brightness +and suddenness of the change could scarcely have been more complete +than that through which I passed. From chill, cheerless, ceaseless +rain into bright warm sun-light; from a country fever-haunted, barren, +and desolate, into a land swarming with life, rich and fertile as a +garden; from a gloomy priest-ridden people, kept down by force of arms, +hating their rulers and hated by them, into the presence of a free people +rejoicing in their freedom: such has been my change as I passed from +the States of the Church into those of Victor Emmanuel.</p> +<p>Surely the moral of these two pictures speaks for itself. Put +aside abstract political considerations, put aside, too, theological +questions, and look at broad facts patent to all. If anybody can +<!-- page 267--><span class="pagenum">p. 267</span>see Rome and the +Papal States, and still believe that the people are happy or prosperous +or faring with good prospects either for this world or the next, I can +say nothing more. His eyes are not my eyes, nor his judgment mine. +For those to whom this ocular testimony is denied, I have written these +papers. I have sought to make present to them the utter dreariness, +the hopeless discontent, the abject demoralization, which strike a resident +in Rome, unless he refuses wilfully to see the truth. In the dead +Rome of real life; in the universal spiritless immorality of Roman society; +in the decay of what once was the Roman people; in the squalid misery +of the country towns, miserable even in their merriment; in the utter +isolation of the Papal States, a moral lazaretto amongst European kingdoms, +you see only too plainly the permanent condition of the country. +As to the present misery, you can read its signs in those pageants which +impose on no one; in the Carnivals, where there are no revellers; in +the solemn ceremonies, where the worshippers are sought in vain; and +in the sad, sullen, hopeless demonstrations, whereby a people protest +constantly that they are weary of their fate. If you look for +causes, you may find them <!-- page 268--><span class="pagenum">p. 268</span>perhaps +in those trials without law or justice; in that Press without liberty +or truth; in those Church-sanctioned lotteries; in the presence of that +multitude of priests, and in the policy which dictated the outrage of +St Joseph’s day, and the Bull of excommunication. How far +these causes are sufficient to explain the fact, is a matter of opinion. +I can understand a fervent believer in the Catholic Faith saying, that +the people of the Papal States ought to be happy and prosperous under +Papal rule. It may be so, but the fact is they are not; and that +they are both prosperous and happy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel +ever since the great Lombard campaign, when the French armies at Solferino +destroyed the Austrian power, the key-stone of the whole priest-despot +rule in Italy. I have been living, with but short intervals, in +different parts of this Italian land. Wherever the free national +government has spread, I can see the growth of prosperity and happiness. +There have been, there are, and there will be partial reactions, petty +disturbances; but they are but eddies in the great, deep, resistless +current. Go to Bologna, or Ferrara, or Ancona, and you will find +them, as I have, passed from dead desolation into active life. +Commerce is <!-- page 269--><span class="pagenum">p. 269</span>flourishing, +order prevails, and the people are free and full of life. These +are facts on which both Protestant and Catholic can judge; and Catholics, +as well as Protestants, will tell you the same thing. Then if +this be so, and that it is so I assert fearlessly, in what right, human +or divine, are a number of God’s creatures to be forced to live +out that one short life of ours in dull, abject misery? If you +tell me that their misery is necessary to the maintenance of a religious +creed, be that creed Protestant or Catholic, I reply that the sooner +then that creed disappears, the better for mankind and for faith in +God.</p> +<p>And now, a few words in parting about the future. The end I +believe is coming on so rapidly, has indeed advanced so far, since first +I began to write these letters, little more than a year ago, that I +hesitate to make prophecies which to-morrow may render vain. The +whole Italian revolution is eminently a political one, not a religious +one. It is possible a religious change, whether reformation-like +or otherwise, may follow in its steps, but that time is not come. +There is no wish in the Italian people, unless I err much, to alter +the national faith, or to dispense <!-- page 270--><span class="pagenum">p. 270</span>with +the Pope, as a spiritual potentate. Before long Pius IX., having +caused as much misery as one man can well cause in one lifetime, must +depart from this world; and then, if not sooner, some arrangement must +be come to between the Pope and the Italian people, if the Papacy is +to last at all. In some form or other I hold that the compromise +will be of the nature of the “Napoleonic Solution,” to which +I have therefore given a place amongst these papers. Whether it +is possible for a Pope to remain permanently at Rome as a spiritual +prince in a free city, time alone can show, but ere long the experiment +will be made.</p> +<p>If in these letters I have said aught to wound the faith of either +Protestant or Catholic, I have said it unwillingly, and regret that +it should be so. This however I believe, and would have others +believe it too, that the misery of the Roman people is a real misery, +be its cause what it may, and like all real misery in this world, calls +to God for justice, and not in vain.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME IN 1860***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 17284-h.htm or 17284-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/2/8/17284 + + + +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. 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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: Rome in 1860 + + +Author: Edward Dicey + + + +Release Date: December 11, 2005 [eBook #17284] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME IN 1860*** + + + + + +Transcribed by from the 1861 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +ROME IN 1860. +By +EDWARD DICEY. + + +Cambridge: +MACMILLAN AND CO. +AND 23, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, +London. +1861. + +[The right of Translation is reserved.] + +* * * * * + +Cambridge: +PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A. +AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS + +* * * * * + +TO +MR. AND MRS ROBERT BROWNING + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE ROME OF REAL LIFE. + + +My first recollections of Rome date from too long ago, and from too early +an age, for me to be able to recall with ease the impression caused by +its first aspect. It is hard indeed for any one at any time to judge of +Rome fairly. Whatever may be the object of our pilgrimage, we Roman +travellers are all under some guise or other pilgrims to the Eternal +City, and gaze around us with something of a pilgrim's reverence for the +shrine of his worship. The ground we tread on is enchanted ground, we +breathe a charmed air, and are spellbound with a strange witchery. A +kind of glamour steals over us, a thousand memories rise up and chase +each other. Heroes and martyrs, sages and saints and sinners, consuls +and popes and emperors, people the weird pageant which to our mind's eye +hovers ever mistily amidst the scenes around us. Here above all places +in God's earth it is hard to forget the past and think only of the +present. This, however, is what I now want to do. Laying aside all +memory of what Rome has been, I would again describe what Rome is now. +And thus, in my solitary wanderings about the city, I have often sought +to picture to myself what would be the feelings of a stranger who, caring +nothing and knowing nothing of the past, should enter Rome with only that +listless curiosity which all travellers feel perforce, when for the first +time they approach a great capital. Let me fancy that such a traveller--a +very Gallio among travellers--is standing by my side. Let me try and +tell him what, under my mentorship, he would mark and see. + +It shall not be on a bright, cloudless day that we enter Rome. To our +northern eyes the rich Italian sun-light gives to everything, even to +ruins and rags and squalor, a deceptive grandeur, and a beauty which is +not due. No, the day shall be such a day as that on which I write; such +a day in fact as the days are oftener than not at this dead season of the +year, sunless and damp and dull. The sky above is covered with +colourless, unbroken clouds, and the outline of the Alban and the Sabine +hills stands dimly out against the grey distance. It matters little by +what gate or from what quarter we enter. On every side the scene is much +the same. The Campagna surrounds the city. A wide, waste, broken, +hillock-covered plain, half common, half pasture land, and altogether +desolate; a few stunted trees, a deserted house or two, here and there a +crumbling mass of shapeless brickwork: such is the foreground through +which you travel for many a weary mile. As you approach the city there +is no change in the desolation, no sign of life. Every now and then a +string of some half-dozen peasant-carts, laden with wine-barrels or wood +faggots, comes jingling by. The carts so-called, rather by courtesy than +right, consist of three rough planks and two high ricketty wheels. The +broken-kneed horses sway to and fro beneath their unwieldy load, and the +drivers, clad in their heavy sheepskin jackets, crouch sleepily beneath +the clumsy, hide-bound framework, placed so as to shelter them from the +chill Tramontana blasts. A solitary cart is rare, for the neighbourhood +of Rome is not the safest of places, and those small piles of stone, with +the wooden cross surmounting them, bear witness to the fact that a murder +took place not long ago on the very spot you are passing now. Then, +perhaps, you come across a drove of wild, shaggy buffaloes, or a +travelling carriage rattling and jilting along, or a stray priest or so, +trudging homewards from some outlying chapel. That red-bodied funereal- +looking two-horse-coach, crawling at a snail's pace, belongs to his +Excellency the Cardinal, whom Papal etiquette forbids to walk on foot +within the city, and whom you can see a little further on pottering +feebly along the road in his violet stockings, supported by his clerical +secretary, and followed at a respectful distance by his two attendant +footmen with their threadbare liveries. At last, out of the dreary +waste, at the end of the interminable ill-paved sloughy road, the long +line of the grey tumble-down walls rises gloomily. A few cannon-shot +would batter a breach anywhere, as the events of 1849 proved only too +well. However, at Rome there is neither commerce to be impeded nor +building extension of any kind to be checked; the city has shrunk up +until its precincts are a world too wide; and the walls, if they are +useless, are harmless also; more, by the way, than you can say for most +things here. There is no stir or bustle at the gates. Two French +soldiers, striding across a bench, are playing at picquet with a pack of +greasy cards. A pack-horse or two nibble the blades of grass between the +stones, while their owners haggle with the solitary guard about the +"octroi" duties. A sentinel on duty stares listlessly at you as you +pass,--and you have entered Rome. + +You are coming, I will suppose, from Ostia, and enter therefore by the +"Porta San Paolo;" the gate where legends tell that Belisarius sat and +begged. I have chosen this out of the dozen entrances as recalling +fewest of past memories and leading most directly to the heart of the +living, working city. You stand then within Rome, and look round in vain +for the signs of a city. Hard by a knot of dark cypress-trees waves +above the lonely burial-ground where Shelley lies at rest. A long, +straight, pollard-lined road stretches before you between high walls far +away; low hills or mounds rise on either side, covered by stunted, +straggling vineyards. You pass on. A beggar, squatting by the roadside, +calls on you for charity; and long after you have passed you can hear the +mumbling, droning cry, "Per l'amore di Dio e della Santa Vergine," dying +in your ears. On the wall, from time to time, you see a rude painting of +Christ upon the cross, and an inscription above the slit beneath bids you +contribute alms for the souls in purgatory. A peasant-woman it may be is +kneeling before the shrine, and a troop of priests pass by on the other +side. A string of carts again, drawn by bullocks, another shrine, and +another troop of priests, and you are come to the river's banks. The +dull, muddy Tiber rolls beneath you, and in front, that shapeless mass of +dingy, weather-stained, discoloured, plaster-covered, tile-roofed +buildings, crowded and jammed together on either side the river, is Rome +itself. You are at the city's port, the "Ripetta" or quay of Rome. In +the stream there are a dozen vessels, something between barges and +coasting smacks, the largest possibly of fifty tons' burden, which have +brought marble from Carrara for the sculptors' studios. There is a +Gravesend-looking steamer too, lying off the quay, but she belongs to the +French government, and is employed to carry troops to and from Civita +Vecchia. This is all, and at this point all traffic on the Tiber ceases. +Though the river is navigable for a long distance above Rome, yet beyond +the bridge, now in sight, not a boat is to be seen except at rare +intervals. It is the Tiber surely, and not the Thames, which should be +called the "silent highway." + +A few steps more and the walls on either side are replaced by houses, and +the city has begun. The houses do not improve on a closer acquaintance; +one and all look as if commenced on too grand a scale, they had ruined +their builders before their completion, had been left standing empty for +years, and were now occupied by tenants too poor to keep them from decay. +There are holes in the wall where the scaffolding was fixed, large +blotches where the plaster has peeled away; stones and cornices which +have been left unused lie in the mud before the doors. From the window- +sills and from ropes fastened across the streets flutter half-washed rags +and strange apparel. The height of the houses makes the narrow streets +gloomy even at midday. At night, save in a few main thoroughfares, there +is no light of any kind; but then, after dark at Rome, nobody cares much +about walking in out-of-the-way places. The streets are paved with the +most angular and slippery of stones, placed herringbone fashion, with ups +and downs in every direction. Foot-pavement there is none; and the +ricketty carriages drawn by the tottering horses come swaying round the +endless corners with an utter disregard for the limbs and lives of the +foot-folk. You are out of luck if you come to Rome on a "Festa" day, for +then all the shops are shut, and the town looks drearier than ever. +However, even here the chances are two to one, or somewhat more, in +favour of the day of your arrival being a working-day. When the shops +are open there is at any rate life enough of one kind or other. In most +parts the shops have no window-fronts. Glass, indeed, there is little of +anywhere, and the very name of plate-glass is unknown. The dark, gloomy +shops varying in size between a coach-house and a wine-vault, have their +wide shutter-doors flung open to the streets. A feeble lamp hung at the +back of every shop you pass, before a painted Madonna shrine, makes the +darkness of their interiors visible. The trades of Rome are primitive +and few in number. Those dismembered, disembowelled carcases, suspended +in every variety of posture, denote the butchers' shops; not the +pleasantest of sights at any time, least of all in Rome, where the custom +of washing the meat after killing it seems never to have been introduced. +Next door too is an open stable, crowded with mules and horses. Those +black, mouldy loaves, exposed in a wire-work cage, to protect them from +the clutches of the hungry street vagabonds, stand in front of the +bakers, where the price of bread is regulated by the pontifical tariff. +Then comes the "Spaccio di Vino," that gloomiest among the shrines of +Bacchus, where the sour red wine is drunk at dirty tables by the grimiest +of tipplers. Hard by is the "Stannaro," or hardware tinker, who is +always re-bottoming dilapidated pans, and drives a brisk trade in those +clumsy, murderous-looking knives. Further on is the greengrocer, with +the long strings of greens, and sausages, and flabby balls of cheese, and +straw-covered oil-flasks dangling in festoons before his door. Over the +way is the Government depot, where the coarsest of salt and the rankest +of tobacco are sold at monopoly prices. Those gay, parti-coloured +stripes of paper, inscribed with the cabalistic figures, flaunting at the +street corner, proclaim the "Prenditoria di Lotti," or office of the +Papal lottery, where gambling receives the sanction of the Church, and +prospers under clerical auspices to such an extent that in the city of +Rome alone, with a population under two hundred thousand, fifty-five +millions of lottery tickets are said to be taken annually. Cobblers and +carpenters, barbers and old clothes-men, seem to me to carry on their +trades much in the same way all the world over. The peculiarity about +Rome is, that all these trades seem stunted in their development. The +cobbler never emerges as the shoemaker, and the carpenter fails to rise +into the upholstery line of business. Bookselling too is a trade which +does not thrive on Roman soil. Altogether there is a wonderful sameness +about the streets. Time after time, turn after turn, the same scene is +reproduced. So having got used to the first strangeness of the sight you +move on more quickly. + +There is no lack of life about you now, at the shop-doors whole families +sit working at their trades, or carrying on the most private occupations +of domestic life; at every corner groups of men stand loitering about, +with hungry looks and ragged garments, reminding one only too forcibly of +the "Seven Dials" on a summer Sunday; French soldiers and beggars, women +and children and priests swarm around you. Indeed, there are priests +everywhere. There with their long black coats and broad-brimmed shovel +hats, come a score of young priests, walking two and two together, with +downcast eyes. How, without looking up, they manage to wend their way +among the crowd, is a constant miracle; the carriages, however, stop to +let them pass, for a Roman driver would sooner run over a dozen children +than knock down a priest. A sturdy, bare-headed, bare-footed monk, not +over clean, nor over savoury, hustles along with his brown robe fastened +round his waist by the knotted scourge of cord; a ghastly-looking figure, +covered in a grey shroud from head to foot, with slits for his mouth and +eyes, shakes a money-box in your face, with scowling importunity; a fat +sleek abbe comes sauntering along, peeping into the open shops or (so +scandal whispers) at the faces of the shop-girls. If you look right or +left, behind or in front, you see priests on every side,--Franciscan +friars and Dominicans, Carmelites and Capuchins, priests in brown cloth +and priests in serge, priests in red and white and grey, priests in +purple and priests in rags, standing on the church-steps, stopping at the +doorways, coming down the bye-streets, looking out of the windows--you +see priests everywhere and always. Their faces are, as a rule, not +pleasant to look upon; and I think, at first, with something of the "old +bogey" belief of childhood, you feel more comfortable when they are not +too close to you; but, ere long, this feeling wears away, and you gaze at +the priests and at the beggars with the same stolid indifference. + +You are getting, by this time, into the heart of the city, ever and anon +the streets pass through some square or piazza, each like the other. In +the centre stands a broken fountain, moss-grown and weedy, whence the +water spouts languidly; on the one side is a church, on the other some +grim old palace, which from its general aspect, and the iron bars before +its windows, bears a striking resemblance to Newgate gone to ruin. Grass +grows between the flag-stones, and the piazza is emptier, quieter, and +cleaner than the street, but that is all. You stop and enter the first +church or two, but your curiosity is soon satisfied. Dull and bare +outside, the churches are gaudy and dull within. When you have seen one, +you have seen all. A crippled beggar crouching at the door, a few common +people kneeling before the candle-lighted shrines, a priest or two +mumbling at a side-altar, half-a-dozen indifferent pictures and a great +deal of gilt and marble everywhere, an odour of stale incense and mouldy +cloth, and, over all, a dim dust-discoloured light. Fancy all this, and +you will have before you a Roman church. On your way you pass no fine +buildings, for to tell the honest truth, there are no fine buildings in +Rome, except St Peter's and the Colosseum, both of which lie away from +the town. Fragments indeed of old ruins, porticoes built into the wall, +bricked-up archways and old cornice-stones, catch your eye from time to +time; and so, on and on, over broken pavements, up and down endless +hills, through narrow streets and gloomy piazzas, by churches +innumerable, amidst an ever-shifting motley crowd of peasants, soldiers, +priests, and beggars, you journey onwards for two miles or so; you have +got at last to the modern quarter, where hotels are found, and where the +English congregate. There in the "Corso," and in one or two streets +leading out of it, there are foot-pavements, lamps at night, and windows +to the shops. A fair sprinkling of second-rate equipages roll by you, +bearing the Roman ladies, with their gaudy dresses, ill-assorted colours, +and their heavy, handsome, sensual features. The young Italian nobles, +with their English-cut attire, saunter past you listlessly. The peasants +are few in number now, but the soldiers and priests and beggars are never +wanting. These streets and shops, brilliant though they seem by contrast +with the rest of the city, would, after all, only be third-rate ones in +any other European capital, and will not detain you long. On again by +the fountain of Treves, where the water-stream flows day and night +through the defaced and broken statue-work; a few steps more, and then +you fall again into the narrow streets and the decayed piazzas; on again, +between high walls, along roads leading through desolate ruin-covered +vineyards, and you are come to another gate. The French sentinels are +changing guard. The dreary Campagna lies before you, and you have passed +through Rome. + +And when our stroll was over, that sceptic and incurious fellow-traveller +of mine would surely turn to take a last look at the dark heap of roofs +and chimney-pots and domes, which lies mouldering in the valley at his +feet. If I were then to tell him, that in that city of some hundred and +seventy thousand souls, there were ten thousand persons in holy orders, +and between three and four hundred churches, of which nearly half had +convents and schools attached; if I were to add, that taking in novices, +scholars, choristers, servitors, beadles, and whole tribes of clerical +attendants, there were probably not far short of forty thousand persons, +who in some form or other lived upon and by the church, that is, in +plainer words, doing no labour themselves, lived on the labour of others, +he, I think, would answer then, that a city so priest-infested, priest- +ruled and priest-ridden, would be much such a city as he had seen with +me; such a city as Rome is now. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE COST OF THE PAPACY. + + +In foreign discussions on the Papal question it is always assumed, as an +undisputed fact, that the maintenance of the Papal court at Rome is, in a +material point of view, an immense advantage to the city, whatever it may +be in a moral one. Now my own observations have led me to doubt the +correctness of this assumption, which, if true, forms an important item +in the whole matter under consideration. It is no good saying, as my +"Papalini" friends are wont to do, Rome gains everything and indeed only +exists by the Papacy. The real questions are, What class at Rome gain by +it, and what is it that they gain? There are four classes at Rome: the +priests, the nobles, the bourgeoisie, and the poor. Of course if anybody +gains it is the priesthood. If the Pope were removed from Rome, or if a +lay government were established (the two hypotheses are practically +identical), the number of the Clergy would undoubtedly be much +diminished. A large portion of the convents and clerical endowments +would be suppressed, and the present generation of priests would be heavy +sufferers. This result is inevitable. Under no free government would or +could a city of 170,000 inhabitants support 10,000 unproductive persons +out of the common funds; for this is substantially the case at Rome in +the present day. Every sixteen lay citizens, men, women, and children, +support out of their labour a priest between them. The Papal question +with the Roman priesthood is thus a question of daily bread, and it is +surely no want of charity to suppose that the material aspect influences +their minds quite as much as the spiritual. Still even with regard to +the priests there are two sides to the question. The system of political +and social government inseparable from the Papacy, which closes up almost +every trade and profession, drives vast numbers into the priesthood for +want of any other occupation. The supply of priests is, in consequence, +far greater than the demand, and, as the laws of political economy hold +good even in the Papal States, priest labour is miserably underpaid. It +is a Protestant delusion that the priests in Rome live upon the fat of +the land. What fat there is is certainly theirs, but then there are too +many mouths to eat it. The Roman priests are relatively poorer than +those in any other part of Italy. It is one of the great mysteries in +Rome how all the priests who swarm about the streets manage to live. The +clue to the mystery is to be found inside the churches. In every church +here, and there are 366 of them, some score or two of masses are said +daily at the different altars. The pay for performing a mass varies from +a "Paul" to a "Scudo;" that is, in round numbers, from sixpence to a +crown. The "good" masses, those paid for by private persons for the +souls of their relatives, are naturally reserved for the priests +connected with the particular church; while the poor ones, which are paid +for out of the funds of the church, are given to any priest who happens +to apply for them. So somehow or other, what with a mass or two a day, +or by private tuition, or by charitable assistance, or in some cases by +small handicrafts conducted secretly, the large floating population of +unemployed priests rub on from day to day, in the hope of getting +ultimately some piece of ecclesiastical patronage. Yet the distress and +want amongst them are often pitiable, and, in fact, amongst the many +sufferers from the artificial preponderance given to the priesthood by +the Papal system, the poorer class of priests are not among the least or +lightest. + +The nobility as a body are sure to be more or less supporters of the +established order of things. Their interests too are very much mixed up +with those of the Papacy. There is not a noble Roman family which has +not one or more of its members among the higher ranks of the priesthood, +and to a considerable degree their distinctions, such as they are, and +their temporal prospects are bound up with the Popedom. Moreover, in +this rank of the social scale the private and personal influence of the +priests, through the women of the family, is very powerful. The more +active, however, and ambitious amongst the aristocracy feel deeply the +exclusion from public life, the absence of any opening for ambition, and +the gradual impoverishment of their property, which are the necessary +evils of an absolute ecclesiastical government. + +The "Bourgeoisie" stand on a very different footing. They have neither +the moral influence of the priesthood nor the material wealth of the +nobility to console them for the loss of liberty; they form indeed the +"Pariahs" of Roman society. "In other countries," a Roman once said to +me, "you have one man who lives in wealth and a thousand who live in +comfort. Here the one man lives in comfort, and the thousand live in +misery." I believe this picture is only too true. The middle classes, +who live by trade or mental labour, must have a hard time of it. The +professions of Rome are overstocked and underpaid. The large class of +government officials or "impiegati," to whom admirers of the Papacy point +with such pride as evidence of the secular character of the +administration, are paid on the most niggardly scale; while all the +lucrative and influential posts are reserved for the priestly +administrators. The avowed venality of the courts of justice is a proof +that lawyers are too poorly remunerated to find honesty their best +policy, while the extent to which barbers are still employed as surgeons +shows that the medical profession is not of sufficient repute to be +prosperous. There is no native patronage for art, no public for +literature. The very theatres, which flourish in other despotic states, +are here but losing speculations, owing to the interference of clerical +regulations. There are no commerce and no manufactures in the Eternal +city. In a back street near the Capitol, over a gloomy, stable-looking +door, you may see written up "Borsa di Roma," but I never could discover +any credible evidence of business being transacted on the Roman change. +There is but one private factory in Rome, the Anglo-Roman Gas Company. +What trade there is is huckstering, not commerce. In fact, so Romans +have told me, you may safely conclude that every native you meet walking +in the streets here, in a broadcloth coat, lives from hand to mouth, and +you may pretty surely guess that his next month's salary is already +overdrawn. The crowds of respectably-dressed persons, clerks and +shopkeepers and artizans, whom you see in the lottery offices the night +before the drawing, prove the general existence not only of improvidence +but of distress. + +The favourite argument in support of the Papal rule in Rome, is that the +poor gain immensely by it. I quite admit that the argument contains a +certain amount of truth. The priests, the churches, and the convents +give a great deal of employment to the working classes. There are +probably some 30,000 persons who live on the priests, or rather out of +the funds which support them. Then, too, the system of clerical charity +operates favourably for the very poor. Any Roman in distress can get +from his priest a "buono," or certificate, that he is in want of food, +and on presenting this at one of the convents belonging to the mendicant +orders, he will obtain a wholesome meal. No man in Rome therefore need +be reduced to absolute starvation as long as he stands well with his +priest; that is, as long as he goes to confession, never talks of +politics, and kneels down when the Pope passes. Now the evil moral +effects of such a system, its tendency to destroy independent +self-respect and to promote improvidence are obvious enough, and I doubt +whether even the positive gain to the poor is unmixed. The wages paid to +the servants of the Church, and the amount given away in charity, must +come out of somebody's pockets. In fact, the whole country and the poor +themselves indirectly, if not directly, are impoverished by supporting +these unproductive classes out of the produce of labour. If prevention +is better than cure, work is any day better than charity. After all, +too, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and nowhere are the poor +more poverty-stricken and needy than in Rome. The swarms of beggars +which infest the town are almost the first objects that strike a stranger +here, though strangers have no notion of the distress of Rome. The +winter, when visitors are here, is the harvest-time of the Roman poor. It +is the summer, when the strangers are gone and the streets deserted, +which is their season of want and misery. + +The truth is, that Rome, at the present day, lives upon her visitors, as +much or more than Ramsgate or Margate, for I should be disposed to +consider the native commerce of either of these bathing-places quite as +remunerative as that of the Papal capital. The Vatican is the quietest +and the least showy of European courts; and of itself, whatever it may do +by others, causes little money to be spent in the town. Even if the Pope +were removed from Rome, I much doubt, and I know the Romans doubt, +whether travellers would cease to come, or even come in diminished +numbers. Rome was famous centuries before Popes were heard of, and will +be equally famous centuries after they have passed away. The churches, +the museums, the galleries, the ruins, the climate, and the recollections +of Rome, would still remain equally attractive, whether the Pope were at +hand or not. Under a secular government the city would be far more +lively and, in many respects, more pleasant for strangers. An +enterprising vigorous rule could probably do much to check the malaria, +to bring the Campagna into cultivation, to render the Tiber navigable, to +promote roads and railways, and to develop the internal resources of the +Roman States. The gain accruing from these reforms and improvements +would, in Roman estimation, far outweigh any possible loss in the number +of visitors, or from the absence of the Papal court. Moreover, whether +rightly or wrongly, all Romans entertain an unshakeable conviction that +in an united Italian kingdom, Rome must ultimately be the chief, if not +the sole capital of Italy. + +These reasons, which rest on abstract considerations, naturally affect +only the educated classes who are also biassed by their political +predilections. The small trading and commercial classes are, on somewhat +different grounds, equally dissatisfied with the present state of things. +The one boon they desire, is a settled government and the end of this +ruinous uncertainty. Now a priestly government supported by French +bayonets can never give Rome either order or prosperity. For the sake of +quiet itself, they wish for change. With respect to the poor, it is very +difficult to judge what their feelings or wishes may be. From what I +have seen, I doubt, whether in any part of Italy, with the exception of +the provinces subject to Austrian oppression, the revolution is, strictly +speaking, a popular one. I suspect that the populace of Rome have no +strong desire for Italian unity or, still less for annexation to +Sardinia, but I am still more convinced that they have no affection or +regard whatever for the existing government; not even the sort of +attachment, valueless though it be, which the lazzaroni of Naples have +for their Bourbon princes. It is incredible, if any such a feeling did +exist, that it should refuse to give any sign of its existence at such a +time as the present. + +With respect to the actual pecuniary cost of the Papal government, it is +not easy to arrive at any positive information; I have little faith in +statistics generally, and in Roman statistics in particular; I have, +however, before me the official Government Budget for the year 1858. Like +all Papal documents, it is confused and meagre, but yet some curious +conclusions may be arrived at from it. The year 1858 was as quiet a +year, be it remembered, as there has been in Italy for ten years past. It +was only on new year's day, in 1859, that Napoleon dropped the first hint +of the Italian war. The year 1858 may therefore be fairly regarded as a +normal year under the present Papal system. For this year the net +receipts of the Government were, + + Scudi. +Direct Taxes . . . . 3,011571 +Customs . . . . . . 5,444729 +Stamps . . . . . . . 947184 +Post . . . . . . . . 111848 +Lottery . . . . . . 392813 +Licences for Trade . . 174525 +Total 10,082670 + +Now the census, taken at the end of 1857, showed a little over 600,000 +families in the Papal States. The head therefore of every family had, on +an average, to pay about 16 sc. and a half, or 3 pounds. 7_s_. 9_d_. +annually for the expenses of the Government, which for so poor a country +is pretty well. Let us now see how that money is professed to have been +spent, + +The net expenses are, + + Scudi. +Army . . . . . . . . 2,014047 +Public Debt . . . . 4,217708 +Interior . . . . . . 1,507235 +Currency . . . . . . 15115 +Public Works . . . . 681932 +Census . . . . . . . 88151 +Grant for special + purposes to Minister + of Finance . . . 1,415404 +Total 9,949592 + +Now the Pontifical army is kept up avowedly not for purposes of defence, +but to support the Government. The public debt of 66 millions of scudi +has been incurred for the sake of keeping up this army. The expenses of +the Interior mean the expenses of the police and spies, which infest +every town in the Papal dominions, and the grant for Special Purposes, +whatever else it may mean, which is not clear, means certainly some job, +which the Government does not like to avow. The only parts, therefore, +of the expenditure which can be fairly said to be for the benefit of the +nation, are the expenses of the Currency, Census and Public Works, +amounting altogether to 785198 scudi, or not a twelfth of the net income +raised by taxation. Commercially speaking, whatever may be the case +theologically, I am afraid the Papal system can hardly be said to pay. + + + + +CHAPTER III. THE MORALITY OF ROME. + + +We all know the story of "Boccaccio's" Jew, who went to Rome an +unbeliever, and came back a Christian. There is no need for alarm; it is +not my intention to repeat the story. Indeed the only reason for my +alluding to it, is to introduce the remark that, at the present day, the +Jew would have returned from Rome hardened in heart and unconverted. The +flagrant profligacy, the open immorality, which in the Hebrew's judgment +supplied the strongest testimony to the truth of a religion that survived +such scandals, exist no longer. Rome is, externally, the most moral and +decorous of European cities. In reality, she may be only a whited +sepulchre, but at any rate, the whitewash is laid on very thick, and the +plaster looks uncommonly like stone. From various motives, this feature +is, I think, but seldom brought prominently forward in descriptions of +the Papal city. Protestant and liberal writers slur over the facts, +because, however erroneously, they are deemed inconsistent with the +assumed iniquity of the Government and the corruptions of the Papacy. +Catholic narrators know perhaps too much of what goes on behind the +scenes to relish calling too close an attention to the apparent +proprieties of Rome. Be the cause what it may, the moral aspect of the +Papal city seems to me to be but little dwelt upon, and yet on many +accounts it is a very curious one. + +As far as Sabbatarianism is concerned, Rome is the Glasgow of Italy. All +shops, except druggists', tobacconists', and places of refreshment, are +hermetically closed on Sundays. Even the barbers have to close at half- +past ten in the morning under a heavy fine, and during the Sundays in +Lent cafes and eating-houses are shut throughout the afternoon, because +the waiters are supposed to go to catechism. The English reading-rooms +are locked up; there is no delivery of letters, and no mails go out. A +French band plays on the Pincian at sunset, and the Borghese gardens are +thrown open; but these, till evening, are the only public amusements. At +night, it is true, the theatres are open, but then in Roman Catholic +countries, Sunday evening is universally accounted a feast. To make up +for this, the theatres are closed on every Friday in the year, as they +are too throughout Lent and Advent; and once a week or more there is sure +to be a Saint's day as well, on which shops and all are closed, to the +great trial of a traveller's patience. All the amusements of the Papal +subjects are regulated with the strictest regard to their morals. Private +or public gambling of any kind, excepting always the Papal Lottery, is +strictly suppressed. There are no public dancing-places of any kind, no +casinos or "cafes chantants." No public masked balls are allowed, except +one or two on the last nights of the Carnival. The theatres themselves +are kept under the most rigid "surveillance." Every thing, from the +titles of the plays to the petticoats of the ballet-girls, undergoes +clerical inspection. The censorship is as unsparing of "double +entendres" as of political allusions, and "Palais Royal" farces are +'Bowdlerized' down till they emerge from the process innocuous and dull; +compared with one at the "Apollo," a ballet at the Princess's was a wild +and voluptuous orgy. + +The same system of repression prevails in everything. In the print-shops +one never sees a picture which even verges on impropriety. The few +female portraits exhibited in their windows are robed with an amount of +drapery which would satisfy the most prudish "sensibilities." All books, +which have the slightest amorous tendency, are scrupulously interdicted +without reference to their political views. The number of wine-shops +seems to me small in proportion to the size of the city, and in none of +them, as far as I could learn, are spirits sold. There is another +subject, which will suggest itself at once to any one acquainted with the +life of towns, but on which it is obviously difficult to enter fully. It +is enough to say, that what the author of "Friends in Council" styles, +with more sentiment than truth, "the sin of great cities," does not +"apparently" exist in Rome. Not only is public vice kept out of sight, +as in some other Italian cities, but its private haunts and resorts are +absolutely and literally suppressed. In fact, if priest rule were +deposed, and our own Sabbatarians and total-abstinence men and societies +for the suppression of vice, reigned in its stead, I doubt if Rome could +be made more outwardly decorous than it is at present. + +This then is the fair side of the picture. What is the aspect of the +reverse? In the first place, the system requires for its working an +amount of constant clerical interference in all private affairs, which, +to say the least, is a great positive evil. Confession is the great +weapon by means of which morality is enforced. Servants are instructed +to report about their employers, wives about their husbands, children +about their parents, and girls about their lovers. Every act of your +life is thus known to, and interfered with, by the priests. I might +quote a hundred instances of petty interference: let me quote the first +few that come to my memory. No bookseller can have a sale of books +without submitting each volume to clerical supervision. An Italian +gentleman, resident here, had to my own knowledge to obtain a special +permission in order to retain a copy of Rousseau's works in his private +library. The Roman nobles are not allowed to hunt because the Pope +considers the amusement dangerous. Profane swearing is a criminal +offence. Every Lent all restaurateurs are warned by a solemn edict not +to supply meat on fast days, and then told that "whenever on the +forbidden days they are obliged to supply rich meats, they must do so in +a separate room, in order that scandal may be avoided, and that all may +know they are in the capital of the catholic world." Forced marriages +are matters of constant occurrence, and even strangers against whom a +charge of affiliation is brought are obliged either to marry their +accuser, or make provision for the illegitimate offspring. In the +provinces the system of interference is naturally carried to yet greater +lengths. Nine years ago certain Christians at Bologna, who had opened +shops in the Jewish quarter of the town, were ordered to leave at once, +because such a practice was in "open opposition to the Apostolic laws and +institutions." Again, Cardinal Cagiano, Bishop of Senigaglia, published +a decree in the year 1844, which has never been repealed, to promote +morality in his diocese. In that decree the following articles occur: + + "All young men and women are strictly forbidden, under any pretext + whatever, to give or receive presents from each other before marriage. + All persons who have received such presents before the publication of + this decree, are required to make restitution of them within three + months, or to become betrothed to the donor within the said period. + Any one who contravenes these regulations is to be punished by fifteen + days imprisonment, during which he is to support himself at his own + expense, and the presents will be devoted to some pious purpose to be + determined on hereafter." + +I could multiply instances of this sort indefinitely, but I know of none +more striking than the last. + +So much for the mode in which the system is worked, and now as to its +practical result. To judge fully, it is necessary to get behind the +scenes, a thing not easy for a stranger anywhere, least of all here. +There is too the further difficulty, that when you have got behind the +scenes, it is not very easy to narrate your esoteric experiences to the +public. Even if there were no other objection, it would be useless to +quote individual stories and facts which have come privately to my +knowledge, and which would show Rome, in spite of its external propriety, +to be one of the most corrupt, debauched, and demoralized of cities. Each +separate story can be disputed or explained away, but the weight of the +general evidence is overpowering. In these matters it is best to keep to +the old Latin rule, "Experto crede." I have talked with many persons, +Romans, Italians, and foreign residents, on the subject, and from one and +all I have heard similar accounts. Every traveller I have ever met with, +who has made like inquiries, has come to a like conviction. In a country +where there is practically neither press nor public courts, nor +responsible government, where even no classified census is allowed to be +taken, statistics are hard to obtain, and of little value when obtained. +Personal evidence, unsatisfactory as it is, is after all the best you can +arrive at. With regard then to what, in its strictest sense, is termed +the "morality" of Rome, I must dismiss the subject with the remarks, that +the absence of recognized public resorts and agents of vice may be dearly +purchased when parents make a traffic in their own houses of their +children's shame, and that perhaps as far as the state is concerned the +debauchery of a few is a less evil than the dissoluteness of the whole +population. More I cannot and need not say. With respect to other sins +against the Decalogue, it is an easier task to speak. There is very +little drunkenness in Rome I freely admit, but then the Italians, like +most natives of warm countries, are naturally sober. Rome is certainly +not superior in this respect to other Italian cities; since the +introduction of the French soldiery probably the contrary. At the street +corners you constantly see exhortations against profane swearing, headed +"Bestemmiatore orrendo nome," but in spite of this, the amount of +blasphemies that any common Roman will pour forth on the slightest +provocation, is really appalling. Beggars too are universal. Everybody +begs; if you ask a common person your way along the street, the chances +are that he asks you for a "buono mano." Now, even if you doubt the +truth of Sheridan's dictum, that no man could be honest without being +rich, it is hard to believe in a virtuous beggar. The abundance, also, +of lotteries shakes one's faith in Roman morality. A population amongst +whom gambling and beggary are encouraged by their spiritual and temporal +rulers is not likely in other respects to be a virtuous or a moral one. +The frequency of violent crimes is in itself a startling fact. + +To my eyes, indeed, the very look of the city and its inhabitants, is a +strong _prima facie_ ground of suspicion. There is vice on those worn, +wretched faces--vice in those dilapidated hovel-palaces--vice in those +streets, teeming with priests and dirt and misery. In fact, if you only +fancy to yourself a city, where there are no manufactures, no commerce, +no public life of any kind; where the rich are condemned to involuntary +idleness, and the poor to enforced misery; where there is a population of +some ten thousand ecclesiastics in the prime of life, without adequate +occupation for the most part, and all vowed to celibacy; where priests +and priest-rule are omnipotent, and where every outlet for the natural +desires and passions of men is carefully cut off--if you take in fully +all these conditions and their inevitable consequences, you will not be +surprised if to me, as to any one who knows the truth, the outward +morality of Rome seems but the saddest of its many mockeries. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE ROMAN PEOPLE. + + +"Senatus Populusque Romanus." The phrase sounds strangely, in my ears, +like the accents of an unknown language or the burden of a half-forgotten +melody. In those four initial letters there seems to me always to lie +embodied an epitome of the world's history--the rise and decline and fall +of Rome. On the escutcheons of the Roman nobles, the S.P.Q.R. are still +blazoned forth conspicuously, but where shall we look for the realities +expressed by that world-famed symbol? It is true, the Senate is still +represented by a single Senator, nominated by the Pope, who drives in a +Lord Mayor's state coach on solemn occasions; and regularly, on the first +night of the opera season, sends round ices, as a present to the favoured +occupants of the second and third tiers of boxes at the "Apollo." This +gentleman, by all the laws of senatorial succession, is the undoubted +heir and representative of the old Roman Senate, who sat with their togas +wrapped around them, waiting for the Gaul to strike; but alas, the +"Populus Romanus" has left behind him neither heir nor descendant. + +Yet surely, if anything of dead Rome be still left in the living city, it +should be found in the Roman people. In the _Mysteres du Peuple_ of +Eugene Sue, there is a story, that to the Proletarian people, the sons of +toil and labour, belong genealogies of their own, pedigrees of families, +who from remote times have lived and died among the ranks of industry. +These fabulous families, I have often thought, should have had their home +in the Eternal City. Amongst the peasants that you meet, praying in the +churches, or basking in the sun-light, or toiling in the deadly Campagna +plains, there must be some, who, if they knew it, descend in direct +lineage from the ancient "Plebs." It may be so, or rather it must be so; +but of the fact there is little outward evidence. You look in vain for +the characteristic features of the old Roman face, such as you behold +them when portrayed in ancient statues. The broad low brow, the +depressed skull, the protruding under-jaw, and the thin compressed lips, +are to be seen no longer. Indeed, though I make the remark with the fear +of the artist-world before my eyes, I should hardly say myself, that the +Romans of the present day were a very handsome race; and of their own +type they are certainly inferior both to Tuscans and Neapolitans. The +men are well formed and of good height, but not powerful in build or +make, and their features are rather marked than regular. As for the +women, when you have once perceived that hair may be black as coal and +yet coarse as string, that bright sparkling eyes may be utterly devoid of +expression, and that an olive complexion may be deepened by the absence +of washing, you grow somewhat sceptical as to the reality of their +vaunted beauty. All this, however, is a matter of personal taste, about +which it is useless to express a decided opinion. I must content myself +with the remark, that the Roman peasantry as depicted, year after year, +on the walls of our academy, bear about the same resemblance to the +article provided for home consumption, as the ladies in an ordinary +London ball-room bear to the portraits in the "Book of Beauty." The +peasants' costumes too, like the smock-frocks and scarlet cloaks of Old +England, are dying out fast. On the steps in the "Piazza di Spagna," and +in the artists' quarter above, you see some score or so of models with +the braided boddices, and the head-dresses of folded linen, standing +about for hire. The braid, it is true, is torn; the snow-white linen +dirt-besmeared, and the brigand looks feeble and inoffensive, while the +hoary patriarch plays at pitch and toss: but still they are the same +figures that we know so well, the traditional Roman peasantry of the +"Grecian" and the "Old Adelphi." Unfortunately, they are the last of the +Romans. In other parts of the city the peasants' dresses are few and far +between; the costume has become so uncommon, as to be now a fashionable +dress for the Roman ladies at Carnival time and other holiday festivals. +On Sundays and "Festas" in the mountain districts you can still find real +peasants with real peasants' dresses; but even there Manchester stuffs +and cottons are making their way fast, and every year the old-fashioned +costumes grow rarer and rarer. A grey serge jacket, coarse nondescript- +coloured cloth trousers, and a brown felt hat, all more or less ragged +and dusty, compose the ordinary dress of the Roman working man. Female +dress, in any part of the world, is one of those mysteries which a wise +man will avoid any attempt to explain; I can only say, therefore, that +the dress of the common Roman women is much like that of other European +countries, except that the colours used are somewhat gayer and gaudier +than is common in the north. + +Provisions are dear in Rome. Bread of the coarsest and mouldiest quality +costs, according to the Government tariff, by which its price is +regulated, from a penny to three halfpence for the English pound. Meat +is about a third dearer than in London, and clothing, even of the poorest +sort, is very high in price. On the other hand, lodgings, of the class +used by the poor, are cheap enough. There is no outlay for firing, as +even in the coldest weather (and I have known the temperature in Rome as +low as eight degrees below freezing-point), even well-to-do Romans never +think of lighting a fire; and then, in this climate, the actual quantity +of victuals required by an able-bodied labourer is far smaller than in +our northern countries, while, from the same cause, the use of strong +liquors is almost unknown. Tobacco too, which is all made up in the +Papal factories and chiefly grown in the country, is reasonable in price, +though poor in quality. In the country and the poorer parts of the city, +the dearest cigar you can buy is only a baioccho, or under one halfpenny; +and from this fact you may conclude what the price of the common cheap +cigars is to a native. From all these causes, I feel no doubt that the +cost of living for the poor is comparatively small, though of course the +rate of wages is small in proportion. For ordinary unskilled labour, the +day-wages, at the winter season, are about three pauls to three pauls and +a half; in summer about five pauls; and in the height of the vintage as +much as six or seven pauls, though this is only for a very few weeks. I +should suppose, therefore, that from 1_s_. 6_d_. to 1_s_. 9_d_. a day, +taking the paul at 5_d_., were the average wages of a good workman at +Rome. From these wages, small as they are, there are several deductions +to be made. + +In the first place, the immense number of "festas" tells heavily on the +workman's receipts. On the more solemn feast-days all work is strictly +forbidden by the priests; and either employer or labourer, who was +detected in an infraction of the law, would be subject to heavy fines. +Even on the minor festivals, about the observance of which the Church is +not so strict, labour is almost equally out of the question. The people +have got so used to holiday keeping, that nothing but absolute necessity +can induce them to work, except on working days. All over Italy this is +too much the case. I was told by a large manufacturer in Florence, that +having a great number of orders on hand, and knowing extreme distress to +prevail among his workmen's families, he offered double wages to any one +who came to work on a "festa" day, but that only two out of a hundred +responded to his offer. I merely mention this fact, as one out of many +such I have heard, to show how this abuse must prevail in Rome, where +every moral influence is exerted in favour of idleness against industry, +and where the observance of holy days is practised most religiously. + +Then, too, the higher rate of wages paid in summer is counterbalanced by +the extra risk to which the labourer is exposed. The ravages created by +the malaria fevers amongst the ill-bred, ill-clothed, and ill-cared-for +labourers, are really fearful. Indeed it is hardly an exaggeration to +say, that the whole working population of Rome is eaten up with malaria. +I feel myself convinced that the misery and degradation of the Papal +States are to be attributed to two causes, the enormous burden of the +priesthood, and the ravages of the malaria. How far these two causes are +in any way connected with each other, I have never been able to +determine. It is one of the rhetorical exaggerations which have impaired +the utility of the _Question Romaine_, that M. About, in his remarkable +work, always treats the malaria as if it was solely due to the +inefficiency of the Papal Government, and would disappear with the +deposition of the Pope. This unphilosophical view is generally adopted +by liberal opponents of the Papacy, who lay the malaria to its doors, +while Papal advocates, on the contrary, always treat the malaria as a +mysterious scourge which can never be removed or even palliated; a view +almost as unphilosophical as the other. For my own part, I have only +been able to arrive at three isolated conclusions on the subject. First, +that mere cultivation of the Campagna, as shown by Prince Borghese's +unsuccessful experiments, does not at any rate immediately affect the +virulence of the miasma, or whatever the malaria may be. Secondly, that +the malaria can actually be built out, or, in other words, if the +Campagna was covered with a stone pavement, the disease would disappear--a +remedy obviously impracticable; and lastly, that though the existence of +the malaria cannot be removed, as far I can see, yet that its evil +effects might be immensely lessened by warm clothing, good food, and +prompt medical aid at the commencement of the malady. Whatever tends to +improve the general condition of the Roman peasantry will put these +remedies more and more within their reach, and will therefore tend to +check the ravages of the malaria. Thus, the inefficient and obstructive +Government of the Vatican, which checks all material as well as all moral +progress, increases indirectly the virulence of the fever-plague; but +this, I think, is the most that can fairly be stated. + +I trust that, considering the importance of the subject, this digression, +unsatisfactory as it is, may be pardoned; and I now turn to the third +curse, which eats up the wages of the working man at Rome--a curse even +greater, I think, than the "festas" or the malaria--I mean, the +universality of the middle-man system. If you require any work done, +from stone carving to digging, you seldom or never deal with the actual +workman. If you are a farmer and want your harvest got in, you contract +months beforehand with an agent, who agrees to supply you with harvest- +men in certain numbers, at a certain price, out of which price he pockets +as large a percentage as he can, and has probably commissions to pay +himself to some sub-contractor. If you are a sculptor and wish a block +of marble chiselled in the rough, the man you contract with to hew the +block at certain day-wages brings a boy to do the work at half the above +amount or less, and only looks in from time to time to see how the work +is proceeding. It is the same in every branch of trade or business. If +you wish to make a purchase, or effect a sale, or hire a servant, you +have a whole series of commissions or brokerages to pay before you come +into contact with the principal. + +If you inquire why this system is not broken through, why the employer +does not deal directly with his workmen, you are told that the custom of +the country is against any other method; that amongst the workmen +themselves there is so much terrorism and intimidation and _espionnage_, +that any single employer or labourer, who contracted for work +independently, would run a risk of annoyance or actual injury; of having, +for example, his block of marble split "by a slip of the hand," or his +tools destroyed, or a knife stuck into him as he went home at night, and, +more than all, that, without the supervision of the actual overseer, your +workmen would cheat you right and left, no matter what wages you paid. +After all it is better to be cheated by one man than by a dozen, and +being at Rome you must do as the Romans do. + +It may possibly have been observed that, in the foregoing paragraph, I +have spoken of the "workmen at Rome," not of the Roman workmen. The +difference, though slight verbally, is an all-important one. The workmen +in Rome are not Romans, for the Romans proper never work. The Campagna +is tilled in winter by groups of peasants, who come from the Marches, in +long straggling files, headed by the "Pifferari," those most inharmonious +of pipers. In summer-time the harvest is reaped and the vintage gathered +in by labourers, whose homes lie far away in the Abruzzi mountains. In +many ways these mountaineers bear a decided resemblance to the swarms of +Irish labourers who come across to England in harvest-time. They are +frugal, good-humoured, and, compared to the native Romans, honest and +hard-working. A very small proportion too of the working-men in Rome +itself are Romans. Certain trades, as that of the cooks for instance, +are almost confined to the inhabitants of particular outlying districts. +The masons, carpenters, carvers, and other mechanical trades, are filled +by men who do not belong to the city, and who are called and considered +foreigners. Of course the rule is not without exceptions, and you will +find genuine Romans amongst the common workmen, but amongst the skilled +workmen hardly ever. There is a very large, poor, I might almost say, +pauper population in Rome, and in some form or other these poor must work +for their living, but their principle is to do as little work as +possible. There still exists amongst the Romans a sort of debased, +imperial pride, a belief that a Roman is _per se_ superior to all other +Italians. For manual work, or labour under others, they have an equal +contempt and dislike. All the semi-independent trades, like those of cab- +drivers, street-vendors, petty shopkeepers, &c. are eagerly sought after +and monopolized by Romans. The extent to which small trades are carried +on by persons utterly without capital and inevitably embarrassed with +debt, is one of the chief evils in the social system which prevails here. +If the Romans also, like the unjust steward, are too proud to dig, unlike +that worthy, to beg they are _not_ ashamed. Begging is a recognized and +a respected profession, and if other trades fail there is always this +left. The cardinal principle of Papal rule is to teach its subjects to +rely on charity rather than industry. In order to relieve in some +measure the fearful distress that existed among the poor of Rome in the +early spring, the Government took some thousand persons into their +employment, and set them to work on excavating the Forum. The sight of +these men working, or, more correctly speaking, idling at work, used to +be reckoned one of the stock jokes of the season. Six men were regularly +employed in conveying a wheelbarrow filled with two spadefuls of soil. +There was one man to each handle, two in front to pull when the road +rose, and one on each side to give a helping hand and keep the barrow +steady. You could see any day long files of such barrows, so escorted, +creeping to and from the Forum. It is hardly necessary to say that +little progress was ever made in the excavations, or, for that matter, +intended to be made. Yet the majority of these workmen were able-bodied +fellows, who received tenpence a day for doing nothing. Much less injury +would have been inflicted on their self-respect by giving them the money +outright than in return for this mockery of labour. Moreover the poor in +Rome, as I have mentioned elsewhere, are not afraid of actual starvation. +"Well-disposed" persons, with a good word from the priests, can obtain +food at the convents of the mendicant friars. I am not saying there is +no good in this custom; in fact, it is almost the one good feature I know +of connected with the priestly system of government; but still, on an +indolent and demoralised population like that of Rome, the benefit of +this sort of charity, which destroys the last and the strongest motive +for exertion, is by no means an unmixed one. + +The amusements of the people are much what might be expected from their +occupations. To do them justice, they drink but moderately; but whenever +they can spare the time and money, they crowd out into the roadside +"Osterias," and spend hours, smoking and sipping the red wine lazily. +Walking is especially distasteful to them; and on a Sunday and festa-day +you will see hundreds of carriages filled with working people, though the +fares are by no means cheap. Whole families will starve themselves for +weeks before the Carnival, and leave themselves penniless at the end, to +get costumes and carriages to drive down the "Corso" with on the gala +days. The Romans, too, are a nation of gamblers. Their chief amusement, +not to say their chief occupation, is gambling. In the middle of the +day, at street-corners and in sunny spots, you see groups of working-men +playing at pitch halfpenny, or gesticulating wildly over the mysterious +game of "Moro." Skittles and stone-throwing are the only popular +amusements which require any bodily exertion; and both of these, as +played here, are as much chance as skill. The lottery, too, is the great +national pastime. + +This picture of the Roman people may not seem a very favourable or a very +promising one. I quite admit, that many persons, who have come much into +contact with them, speak highly of their general good humour, their +affectionate feelings and their sharpness of intellect. At the same +time, I have observed that these eulogists of the Roman populace are +either Papal partizans who, believing that "this is the best of all +possible worlds," wish to prove also that "everything here is for the +best," or else they are vehement friends of Italy, who are afraid of +damaging their beloved cause by an admission of the plain truth, that the +Romans are not as a people either honest, truthful or industrious. For +my own part, my faith is different. A bad government produces bad +subjects, and I am not surprised to find in the debasement and +degradation of a priest-ruled people the strongest condemnation of the +Papal system. + + + + +CHAPTER V. TRIALS FOR MURDER. + + +The idler about the streets of Rome may, from time to time, catch sight, +on blank walls and dead corners, of long white strips of paper, covered +with close-printed lines of most uninviting looking type, and headed with +the Papal arms--the cross-keys and tiara. If, being like myself +afflicted with an inquisitive turn of mind, he takes the trouble of +deciphering these hieroglyphic documents, his labour would not be +altogether thrown away. Those straggling strips, stuck up in out-of-the- +way places, glanced at by a few idle passers-by, and torn down by the +prowling vagabonds of the streets after a day or two for the sake of the +paper, are the sole public records of justice issued, or allowed to be +issued, under the Pontifical government. Trials are carried on here with +closed doors; no spectators are admitted; no reports of the proceedings +are published. In capital cases, however, _after_ the execution of the +criminal has taken place a sort of _Proces verbal_ of the case and of the +trial is placarded on the walls of the chief towns. + +During the period of my stay at Rome there were three executions in +different parts of the Papal territory. Whether by accident or by design +I cannot say, but all these executions occurred within a short period of +each other, and, in consequence, three such statements were issued almost +at the same time by the Government. With considerable difficulty I +succeeded in obtaining copies of these statements, not, I am bound to +say, because there seemed to be any reluctance in furnishing them, but +because the fact of anybody wishing to obtain copies was so unusual, that +there was no preparation made for supplying them; and, at last, I only +succeeded in procuring them from a printer's devil to the Stanperia +Apostolica. The facts narrated in them, and the circumstances alluded +to, seem to me to throw a strange light on the administration of justice, +and the daily life of this priest-ruled country. It is as such that I +wish to comment on them. In these statements, be it remembered, there is +no question of political or clerical bias. The facts stated are all +facts, admitted by the authorities of their own free will and pleasure; +and if, as I think, these facts tell most unfavourably on the judicial +system of our clerical rulers, it is, at any rate, out of their own +mouths they are convicted. All, therefore, that I propose to do is, +having these official statements before me, to tell the stories that they +contain, as shortly and as clearly as I can, adding no comment of my own +but what is necessary to explain the facts in question. Let me take +first the case, which is entitled "Cannara contro Luigi Bonci;" the +township of Cannara, where the crime was committed, being what we should +call in a civil suit the plaintiff, and the accused Bonci the defendant. + + + +CHAPTER V.--continued. THE "BONCI" MURDER. + + +Some three years ago, then, there lived in the hamlet of Cannara, near +Perugia, a family called Bonci. They belonged to the peasant class, and +were poor, even among the Papal peasantry. The family consisted of the +father and mother, and of their son and daughter, both grown up. Between +the father and son there had long been ill-blood. The cause of this want +of family harmony is but indistinctly stated, but apparently it was due +to the irregular habits of the son, and to the severity of the father; +while all this domestic misery was rendered doubly bitter by the almost +abject want of the household. On the night of November the 9th, 1856, +Venanzio Bonci, the father, Maria Rosa, his wife, and their daughter, +Caterina, were at supper in the miserable room, which formed the whole of +their dwelling, waiting for the return of the son, Luigi, who had been +absent ever since the morning. There had been frequent quarrels before +between father and son about Luigi's stopping out late, and now it was +past midnight. There was no light in the room except a faint flicker +from the embers, and the feeble glimmering of the starlight which entered +through the open windows. A noise was heard in the stable underneath the +room, and the father, thinking it was the son, called out three or four +times, but got no answer. A few minutes after Luigi entered without the +lantern, which he had left below in the stable, and although his sister +bade him good night he made no reply. As he entered the room his father +called to him, "A fine time of night to come home." "What then?" was the +only answer given by Luigi. "You have never been home since morning," +went on the father. "What then?" was still the only answer. The father +then told the son to hold his tongue, and again received the same reply. +At last Venanzio, losing his temper, called out, "Be quiet, or I'll break +your head;" or, according to the story, "I'll murder you:" to which Luigi +only answered, "I may as well die to-day as to-morrow." After that there +was a short scuffle heard, and Venanzio suddenly cried out as if in pain, +"My God! my God!" The mother and daughter screamed for help, but by the +time the neighbours had come in with lights, Luigi had run off. Venanzio +was found reeling to and fro, with blood pouring from several wounds, +and, in spite of medical aid, he died in the course of a few hours. +Almost immediately after the commission of the crime Luigi was found by +the gendarmes in the cottage of an uncle, and arrested on the spot. + +These, as far as I can learn from the very confused documents before me, +are all the facts admitted without question; or, more strictly speaking, +which the Government states to have been unquestioned. Luigi was +arrested on the night of the murder. Such small evidence as there was +could have been ascertained in twenty-four hours, and yet the prisoner +was never brought to trial till the 3rd of May, 1858; that is, eighteen +months afterwards. On that day Luigi Bonci was arraigned before the +civil and criminal court of Perugia, on the two counts of parricide, and +of having illegal arms in his possession. The Court was composed of the +President, Judge, Assistant Judge, and Deputy Judge of the district. +These gentlemen (all, I should state, lay officials) were assisted by the +public prosecutor and the Government counsel for the defence. The course +of proceedings is stated to have been as follows: prayers were first +offered up for the Divine guidance, the prisoner was introduced and +identified, the written depositions were read over, a narrative of the +facts was given by the president, the prisoner was called upon to reply +to the charges alleged against him, the witnesses for the crown and for +the prisoner were heard respectively, the counsel for the prosecution +called upon the court to condemn the prisoner, and was replied to by the +counsel for the defence; the discussion was then declared closed, and +after the judges had retired and deliberated, their sentence was given. + +All the facts I have been able to put together about the case are +gathered from this sentence and from those of the courts of appeal. These +sentences, however, are extremely lengthy, very indistinct, and +encumbered with a great deal of legal phraseology. As they are all alike +I may as well give an abstract of this one as a specimen of all. The +sentence begins with the following moral remarks: "Frequent paternal +admonitions, alleged scarcity of daily food, and the evil counsels of +others, had alienated the heart of the prisoner to such an extent, that +feelings of affection and reverence towards his own father, Venanzio, had +given place to contempt, disobedience, ill-will, and even worse." No +one, however, would have supposed that he "was capable of becoming a +parricide, as was too clearly proved on the fatal night in question." +After these preliminary reflections comes a narration of the facts much +in the words in which I have given them. This is followed by a statement +of the arguments for the prosecution and for the defence, consisting of a +number of verbose paragraphs, each beginning, "considering that," &c. The +case of the prosecution was clear enough. The medical evidence proved +that the father died of the wounds received on the above-named night. The +fact that the wounds were inflicted by the prisoner, was established by +the evidence of his mother and sister, who overheard the quarrel between +him and his father, by the flight after commission of the crime, by the +discovery of a blood-stained knife dropped on the threshold, by the +deposition of the father before death, and lastly, by the confession of +the prisoner himself, who admitted the crime, though under extenuating +circumstances. The fact that the sister never heard the knife open, +although it had three clasps, was asserted to be evidence that the +prisoner entered the room with his knife open and intending to commit the +crime. This charge of _malice prepense_ was supported by the son's +refusal to answer his father, by the insolence of his language, and by +the number and vehemence of the stabs he inflicted. + +The prisoner's defence was also very simple. According to his own story, +he was half drunk on his return home. His father not only taunted and +threatened him, but at last seized the door-bar and began knocking him +about the head; and then, at last, maddened with pain and passion, he +drew out a knife he had picked up on the road, and stabbed his father, +hardly knowing what he did. On the bare statement of facts, I should +deem this version of the story the more probable of the two, but as no +details whatever are given of the evidence on either side, it is +impossible to judge. The court at any rate decided that there was no +proof of the prisoner having been drunk, and that the evidence of his +father having struck him was of a suspicious character, "while," they +add, "it would be absurd and immoral to maintain, that a father, whose +right and duty it is to correct his children (and indeed on this occasion +correction was abundantly deserved by the insolent demeanour of Luigi) +could be considered to provoke his son by a slight personal +chastisement." The son, by the way, was over one and twenty, a fact to +which no allusion is made. As "a forlorn hope," in the words of the +sentence, the counsel for the defence asserted, that whatever the crime +of the prisoner might be, it was not parricide, from the simple fact that +Luigi was not Venanzio's son. The facts of the case appear to have been, +that Maria Rosa Battistoni being then unmarried, gave birth in July 1835 +to a son, who was the prisoner at the bar; that shortly afterwards the +vicar of Cannara gave information to the Episcopal court of Assisi, that +Maria Rosa had been seduced by Venanzio Bonci and had had an illegitimate +child by him; that, in consequence, a formal requisition was addressed by +the above court to Venanzio, and that he thereupon acknowledged the +paternity of the child, and expressed his readiness to marry the mother. +The marriage was therefore solemnized, and the child entered in the +church-books as the legitimized son of Venanzio and Maria Bonci, in June, +1836. Against this strong presumptive evidence of paternity, and the +natural inference to be drawn from the child having been brought up and +educated as Venanzio's son, there were only, we are told, to be set, +alleged expressions of doubt on the father's part, when in a passion, as +to his being really the father, and also certain confessions of the +mother to different parties, that Luigi was not the child of her husband. +All these confessions however, so it is asserted, were proved to be +subsequent in date to the son's arrest, and therefore, probably, made +with a view to save his life. The plea is in consequence rejected. + +No defence was attempted to the second count. Both charges are therefore +declared fully proved; and as the punishment for parricide is public +execution, and the penalty for having in one's possession (a lighter +offence by the way, than using) any weapon without special license, +consists of imprisonment from two to twelve months, and of a fine from +five to sixty scudi, therefore the court "condemns Luigi Bonci for the +first count, to be publicly executed in Cannara, and to make compensation +to the heirs of the murdered man, according to the valuation of the civil +tribunals, and to pay the cost of the trial; and on the second count, the +court" (with a pedantic mockery of mercy) "considers the first three +months of the incarceration the prisoner has already undergone to be +sufficient punishment, coupled with a fine of five scudi and the loss of +the weapon." + +This summary will, I fear, give the reader too favourable an opinion of +the original sentence. In order to make the story at all intelligible, I +have had to pick out my facts, from a perfect labyrinth of sentences and +parentheses. All I, or any one else can state is, that these seem to be +the facts, which seem to have been proved by the witnesses. What the +character of the evidence was, or what was the relative credibility of +the witnesses, whose very names I know not, or how far their assertions +were borne out or contradicted by circumstantial proof, are all matters +on which (though the whole character of the crime depends on them) I can +form no opinion whatever. + +The trial occupied but one day, and yet the above sentence, it appears, +was not communicated to the prisoner till the 15th of October, 1858, that +is, over five months afterwards. When the official announcement of the +sentence was made, the prisoner declared his intention of appealing +against its justice. By the Papal law, every person condemned for a +criminal offence, by the lay tribunals, has the right of appealing to the +Supreme Pontifical Court. It is, therefore, needless to say, that in all +cases where sentence of death is passed, an appeal is made on any ground, +however trivial, as the condemned culprit cannot lose by this step, and +may gain. The practical and obvious objection to this unqualified power +of appeal, is that the supreme ecclesiastical court is the real judge, +not the nominal lay court, which does little more than register the fact, +that the crime is proved _prima facie_. + +On the 15th of February, 1859, after a delay of four months more from the +time of appeal, the court of the supreme tribunal of the Consulta Sacra, +assembled at the Monte Citorio in Rome, to try the appeal. The court was +composed of six "most illustrious and reverend Judges," all "Monsignori" +and all dignitaries of the Church, assisted by a public prosecutor and +counsel for the defence, attached to the Papal exchequer. The course of +proceedings appears to be much the same as in the inferior courts, except +that no witnesses, save the prisoner, were examined orally, and the whole +evidence was taken from written depositions. At last, after "invoking +the most sacred name of God," the court pronounce their sentence. This +sentence is in a great measure a recapitulation of the preceding one. +Either no new facts were adduced, or none are alluded to. The grounds +for the defence are the same as on the previous occasion, namely, the +provocation given by the father, and the doubt as to the son's paternity. +There were, in fact, two questions before the court. First, whether the +crime committed was murder or manslaughter; and, if it was murder, +whether the murderer was or was not the son of the murdered man. Instead, +however, of facing either of these questions of fact, the court seems to +enter upon abstract considerations, which to our notions are quite +irrelevant. The degree to which paternal corrections can be carried +without abuse, and the problem whether a man who kills a person, whom he +believes and has reason to believe to be his father, but who is not so in +fact, is guilty or not of the sin of parricide, seem rather questions for +clerical casuistry than considerations which bear upon facts. The final +conclusion drawn from these various reflections is, that the court +confirms the judgment of the Perugian tribunal, in every respect. + +The rejection of the appeal is not communicated for two months more, that +is, not till the 22nd of April, to the prisoner, who at once appeals +again against the execution of the verdict to the Upper Court of the +Supreme Tribunal. On the 13th of May the case comes on for its third and +last trial. The court is again composed of six ecclesiastics of high +rank, assisted by the same official counsel as before; the same course of +proceeding is adopted, except that the prisoner is not brought into court +or examined. Again, after "invoking the most holy name of God," the +tribunal pronounces, not its sentence this time, but its judgment. This +judgment alludes only to the two grounds on which the appeal is based. +The first is the question of paternity, which is at once dismissed, as +being a matter of evidence that has been already decided. The second +ground of appeal is a technical and a legal one. The defence appears to +have pleaded, that the original arrest was illegal, and that, by this +fact, the whole trial was vitiated. On both sides it was admitted that +the prisoner was arrested without a warrant, and not in "flagrante +delicto," and that therefore the arrest was, strictly speaking, illegal. +The court, however, decides, that though the prisoner was not taken in +the act, yet his guilt was so manifest, that the gendarmes were justified +in acting as if they had caught him perpetrating the crime, while in +offences of great atrocity the police have also a discretionary power to +arrest offenders, even without warrants. Though in this particular +instance the result is not much to be regretted, yet it is obvious, that +the admission of such a principle, and such an interpretation of the law, +gives the police unlimited power of arrest, subject to the approval of +their superiors: whether right or wrong, therefore, the appeal is +dismissed, and the final sentence of death pronounced. + +It seems that this verdict was submitted on the 24th of May by the +President of the Supreme Court to the consideration of his Holiness the +Pope, who offered no objection to its execution. The prisoner's last +chance was now gone, but, with a cruel mercy, he was left to linger on +for eight months more in uncertainty. It was only on the 3rd of January, +1860, that orders were sent from Rome to Perugia, for the execution to +take place there instead of at Cannara, on the 13th. On that day the +verdict of the court is conveyed to the unhappy wretch. On the 14th, so +the last paragraph informs us, "The condemned" Luigi Bonci "was beheaded +by the public executioner, in the market-place of Perugia, and his head +was there exposed for an hour to the gaze of the assembled multitude." + +On the 18th the report, from which these facts are taken, was placarded +on the walls of Rome. The murder is committed in November, 1856; the +murderer is arrested on the night of the crime; for that crime he is not +tried at all till May, 1858; his final trial does not come off till May, +1859, and his execution is deferred till January, 1860. For three years +and a quarter after the commission of the murder no report is published. +These facts need no comment. + + + +CHAPTER V.--continued. THE "UGOLINI" MURDER. + + +Of late years, round and about Viterbo, there was a well-known character, +Giovanni Ugolini by name, a sort of itinerant "Jack-of-all-trades," who +wandered about from place to place, picking up any odd job he could find, +and begging when he could turn his hand to nothing else. He is described +in the legal reports as a Tinker and Umbrella-mender, but his especial +line of industry, novel to us at any rate, seems to have been that of a +scraper and cleaner of old tombstones. By these various pursuits, he +scraped together a good bit of money for a man in his position, and at +the end of his winter circuit, in the year 1857, he had saved up by +common report as much as 70 scudi, or about 14 pounds odd. On the 4th of +May in that year, Ugolini left the little town of Castel Giorgio, with +the avowed intention of going to Viterbo, to change his monies into +Tuscan coin. Being belated on his road, he resolved to stop over the +night at the house of a certain Andrea Volpi which lay on his road, and +where he had often slept before. On the following morning, about eight +o'clock, he left Volpi's house and went on his journey towards Viterbo. +Nothing more is positively known about him, except that on the same day +his body was found on a bye-path, a little off the direct Viterbo road, +covered with wounds. No money was discovered about his person, while +there was every indication of his clothes and pack having been rummaged +and rifled. + +Assuming, as one must, the correctness of these facts, there can be no +doubt that a very brutal murder and robbery had been committed. For some +reasons, what, we are not told, the suspicions of the police fell at once +on one of Volpi's sons, called Serafino, a lad of about 22, and on a +friend of his, Bonaventura Starna, about two years older than himself. +Both of these persons, who were common labourers, were, in consequence, +arrested on the 7th of May. They were not tried, however, till the 27th +of April, in the year following, when they were arraigned for the murder +before the lay criminal and civil court of Viterbo. + +The two prisoners, nevertheless, are not tried on the same charge. Volpi +is arraigned by the public prosecutor on a charge of wilful murder, +accompanied with treachery and robbery, while Starna is only brought to +trial as an accomplice to the crime, not as a principal. Before the +actual guilt of either prisoner is ascertained, the public prosecutor, +that is, the Government, decides the relative degree of their respective +hypothetical guilt. The justice of this proceeding may be questioned, +but its motive is palpable enough. There was little or no direct +evidence against the prisoners, and to convict either of them, it was +necessary to rely upon the testimony of the other. + +"With both the prisoners," so runs the sentence of the court, "a criminal +motive could be established in the fact of their avowed poverty, as they +each clearly admitted, that neither they nor their families possessed +anything in the world, and that they derived the means of their miserable +sustenance from their daily labour alone." A very close intimacy was +proved to have existed between the prisoners, so much so, indeed, that +Starna had frequently been reproved by his parents for his friendship +with a man who stood in such ill repute as Volpi. The fact that the +murdered man was, or was believed to be in possession of money, was shown +to be well known amongst the Volpi family. Two of Serafino Volpi's +brothers were reported to have spoken to third parties of Ugolini's +savings, and one of them expressed a wish to rob him. Why this brother +was neither arrested nor apparently examined, is one of the many +mysteries, by the way, you come across in perusing these Papal reports. +Serafino too had mentioned himself, to a neighbour, his suspicion of the +tinker's having saved money. On the morning of the murder, Starna was +known to have come to the Volpi's cottage, to have talked with Serafino, +and to have left again in his company, shortly after Ugolini's departure. +After about an hour's absence, Serafino Volpi returned home, and +therefore had time enough to commit the murder. He was shown, moreover, +to have been in possession of a knife, about which he could give no +satisfactory account, and which might have inflicted the wounds found on +the corpse. + +These appear to have been all the facts which could be established +against either Volpi or Starna by positive evidence, and, at the worst, +such facts could only be said to constitute a case for suspicion. +Previously, however, to the trial, Starna turned, what we should call, +"King's evidence," and, in contradiction to his foregoing statements, +made a confession, on which the prosecution practically rested the whole +of its case. According to this confession of Starna's, on the morning of +the murder he called by accident at the Volpi's, and stopped there, till +after the tinker, who was an entire stranger to him, had left the house. +Serafino Volpi then offered to accompany him to his (Starna's) house, on +the pretence of borrowing some tool or other. They walked quickly to +avoid the rain, which was falling heavily, and shortly overtook Ugolini, +who exchanged a few words with Volpi about the weather, and then turned +off along a bye-road. Thereupon Volpi proposed that they should follow +the old man and rob him, adding, "he has got a whole lot of coppers." +Starna, according to his own story, refused to have anything to do with +the matter; on which Volpi said, in that case he should do it alone, and +asked Starna to go and fetch the tool he wanted, and bring it to him +where they were standing. Starna then left Volpi running across the +fields to overtake the tinker, and went home to find the tool. In a very +short time afterwards, as he was coming back to the appointed meeting- +place, he met Volpi in a great state of agitation, who told him that the +job was finished, and Ugolini's throat cut, but that only 20 pauls' worth +of copper money, about eight shillings, were found upon him. Starna +admitted that he then took eight pauls as his own share in the booty, and +told Volpi to wash off some spots of blood visible on his sleeve. He +also added, that later on the same day he met Volpi again, and then +expressed his alarm at what had happened; on which he received the +answer, "If you had been with me, you would not be alive now." + +One can hardly conceive a more suspicious story, or one more clearly +concocted to give the best colour to the witness's own conduct, at the +expense of his fellow-prisoner. No evidence whatever appears to have +been brought in support of this confession. The court, notwithstanding, +decides that the truth of this statement is fully established by internal +and external testimony, and therefore declares that the alleged crimes +are clearly proved against both the prisoners. "Considering," +nevertheless, "that though Starna was an accomplice in the crime, from +his having assisted Volpi, and from having, by his own confession, shared +in the booty, yet that his guilt was less, both in the conception and in +the perpetration of the crime, there being no proof that he had taken any +active part in the murder of Ugolini," therefore, "in the most holy name +of God," the court sentences Volpi to public execution, and Starna to +twenty years at the galleys. + +Of course, both the prisoners resorted to their invariable right of +appeal, but their case did not come on before the lower court of the +Supreme Clerical Tribunal at Rome for upwards of a year, namely, on the +17th of May, 1859. At this trial, no new facts whatever appear to have +been adduced. I gather indistinctly, that Volpi's defence was that he +had not left his father's house at all on the morning of the murder, but +that his attempt to prove an "alibi" was unsuccessful. The chief object +indeed of the very lengthy sentence of the court, recapitulating the +evidence already stated, is to establish the comparative innocence of +Starna, who, for some cause or other, seems to have been favourably +regarded. We are told, that "the confession of Starna is confirmed by a +thousand proofs;" that "it is clearly shown" that Starna "in this +confession did not deny his own responsibility; a fact which gives his +statement the character of an incriminative and not of an exonerative +confession; and that though he might possibly have wished, in his +statement of the facts, to modify and extenuate his own share in the +crime, yet there was no reason to suspect that he wished gratuitously to +aggravate the guilt of his comrade;" and that also taking into +consideration the villainous character of Volpi, it cannot be doubted, +that he was the principal in the crime. The court at Viterbo had decided +that the crime of the prisoners was murder, coupled with robbery and +treachery. The Court of Appeal decides, on what seem sufficient grounds, +that there is no proof of treachery, and therefore, the crime not being +of so heinous a character, reduces the period of Starna's punishment from +twenty to fifteen years, while it simply confirms the sentence of death +on Volpi. + +Again, as a matter of course, there is an appeal from this sentence to +the upper court of the Supreme Tribunal, which appeal comes off after +four months' delay, on the 9th of September, 1859. The only ground of +appeal brought forward is one which, according to our notions of law, +should have been brought forward from the first, namely, that the guilt +of Volpi is not adequately proved by the unsupported statement of his +accomplice Starna, and "that the evidence which corroborates this +statement, only constitutes an _a priori_ probability of his guilt." The +court, however, dismisses this plea at once, on the ground that it is not +competent to take cognizance of an argument based on the abstract merits +of the case, and therefore confirms the verdict. + +On the 25th of November the sentence is submitted to, and approved by, +the Pope. On the 3rd of January, 1860, orders are issued from Rome for +the execution to take place. On the 17th the authorities of Viterbo +notify to the prisoner that his last appeal has been dismissed, and "call +on the military to lend their support to the execution of the sentence," +and on the following day, two years and eight months after his arrest, +Volpi is executed for the murder of Ugolini on the Piazza della Rocca at +Viterbo. On that day, too, appears the first report of his crime and +trial. + + + +CHAPTER V.--continued. THE "AVANZI" MURDER. + + +In July, 1859, there were in the Bagnio of Civita Vecchia two galley +slaves, Antonio Simonetti and Domenico Avanzi. Simonetti was a man of +thirty, whose life, short as it was, seemed to have been one long career +of crime. He had enlisted at an early age in the Pontifical dragoons, +and served for seven years; on leaving the army, he became a porter, and +within a few months was guilty of a highway robbery, and sentenced to the +galleys for life, then to five years' hard labour for theft, and again to +seven years at the galleys for an attempt to escape, though how the last +punishment could be super-added to the first, is a fact I cannot hope to +explain. Of Avanzi nothing is mentioned, except that he was an elderly +man condemned to a lengthened term of imprisonment for heavy crimes. +Prisoners, it seems, condemned for long periods, are not sent out of +doors to labour at the public works, but are employed within the prison. +Both Simonetti and Avanzi were set to work in the canvas factory, and +according to a system adopted in many foreign gaols, they received a +certain amount of pay for their labour. An agreement had been made +between the pair, that one should twist and the other spin the hemp; and +the price paid for their joint work was to be divided between them in +certain proportions. About a fortnight before the murder this sort of +partnership was dissolved at the proposal of Simonetti, and some days +after Avanzi made a claim on his late partner for the price of two pounds +of hemp not accounted for. There seems to have been no particular +dispute about this, but on the morning of the murder, Simonetti was +summoned before the overseer of the factory, on the ground of his refusal +to pay the sum claimed by Avanzi of fifteen baiocchi, or seven pence +halfpenny. Simonetti did not deny that Avanzi had some claim upon him, +but disputed the amount. At last, the overseer proposed, as an amicable +compromise, that Simonetti should pay down seven baiocchi as a settlement +in full, sooner than have a formal investigation. Both parties adopted +the suggestion readily, and returned to their work apparently satisfied. +An hour and a half after, while Avanzi was sitting at his frame, with his +face to the wall, Simonetti entered the room with an axe he had picked up +in the carpenter's store, and walking deliberately up to Avanzi, struck +him with the axe across the neck, as he was stooping down. Almost +immediate death ensued, and on the arrival of the guard, Simonetti was +arrested at once, and placed in irons. Probably, as a matter of policy, +so daring a crime required summary punishment; at any rate, Papal justice +seems to have been executed with unexampled promptitude. With what the +report justly calls "laudable celerity," the case was got ready for trial +in a week, and on the 30th of July, the civil and criminal court of +Civita Vecchia met to try the prisoner. There could be no conceivable +question about the case. The murder had been committed during broad +daylight, in a crowded room, and indeed, the prisoner confessed his +guilt, and only pleaded gross provocation as an excuse. There was no +proof, however, that Avanzi had used irritating language; and even if he +had, too long a time had elapsed between the supposed offence and the +revenge taken, for the excuse of provocation to hold good. Indeed, as +the sentence of the court argues, in somewhat pompous language, "Woe to +civil intercourse and human society, if, contrary to every principle of +reason and justice, an attempt to enforce one's just and legal rights by +honest means, were once admitted as an extenuating circumstance in the +darkest crimes, or as a sufficient cause for exciting pardonable +provocation in the hearts of criminals." The tribunal too considers, +that the crime of the prisoner was aggravated by the fact, that his mind +remained unimpressed "by the horrors of his residence, or the dreadful +aspect and sad fellowship of his thousand unfortunate companions in +guilt, or by the flagrant penalties imposed upon him, for so many +crimes." On all these grounds, whether abstract or matter-of-fact, the +court declares the prisoner guilty of the wilful murder of Avanzi, and +sentences him to death. + +On the morrow this sentence is conveyed to Simonetti, who appeals. With +considerable expedition the Supreme Tribunal meet to hear the case on the +23rd of September. The prisoner alleged before this court that his +indignation had been excited by improper proposals made to him by the +murdered man, and it was on this account their partnership had been +dissolved. Besides certain inherent improbabilities in this story, the +court decides that it was incredible that, if true, Simonetti should not +have made the statement at his previous trial. The appeal was therefore +dismissed, and the sentence of death confirmed. This decision was +notified to the prisoner on the 18th of November, who again appeals to +the higher Court, which meets to try the appeal on the 29th of the same +month. This court at once decided that there was no ground for supposing +the crime was not committed with "malice prepense," or for modifying the +verdict. It is not stated when the sentence was submitted to the Pope, +but on the 20th of January, 1860, the rejection of his final appeal is +communicated to the prisoner, and on the 21st the execution takes place, +and the report is published. + +Now, if I had wished solely to decry the Papal system of justice, I +should not have given the report of the last trial, which seems to me far +the most favourable specimen of the set I have come across. I am +inclined to believe, from the meagre narratives before me, that all the +criminals whose cases I have narrated were guilty of the crimes alleged +against them, and fully deserved the fate they met with. My object, +however, has been to point out certain features which must, I think, +force themselves on any one who has read these cases carefully. The +disregard for human life, the abject poverty, the wide-spread +demoralization in the rural districts indicated by these stories, are +startling facts in a country which has been for centuries ruled by the +vicegerents of Christ on earth. At the same time, the great protraction +of the trials and the utter uncertainty about the date of their +occurrence, the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence, the want of any +cross-examination, the manner in which strict law is disregarded from a +clerical view of justice, and the identity between the court and the +prosecution, the abuse of the unlimited power of appeal, and the extent +to which this appeal from a lay to a clerical court places justice +virtually in the hands of the priesthood; and finally, the secret and +private character of the whole investigation, coupled with the utter +absence of any check on injustice through publicity, are all matters +patent even to a casual observer. If such, I ask, is Papal justice, when +it has no reason for concealment and has right upon its side, what would +it be in a case where injustice was sought to be perpetrated and +concealed? + + + +CHAPTER V.--continued. THE "SANTURRI" MURDER. + + +Some months after I had written the question which closes the last +chapter, I was fortunate enough to obtain a partial answer to it. During +the present year the Cavaliere Gennarelli, a Roman barrister, and a +member of the Roman parliament in 1848, has published a series of +official documents issued by the Papal authorities during the last ten +years; the most damning indictment, by the way, that was ever recorded +against a Government. Amongst those documents there appears the official +sentence which, as usual, was published after the execution of a certain +Romulo Salvatori in 1851. The trial possesses a peculiar momentary +interest from the fact that Garibaldi is one of the persons implicated in +the charge, and that the gallant general, if captured on Roman territory, +would be liable to the judgment passed on him in default. It is, +however, rather with a view to show how the Papal system of justice +works, when political bias comes into play, that I propose to narrate +this story as a sequel to the others. The words between inverted commas +are, as before, verbal translations from the sentence. From that +sentence I have endeavoured to extract first the modicum of facts which +seem to have been admitted without dispute. + +During the death-struggle of the Roman Republic, when the Neapolitan +troops had entered the Papal territory on their fruitless crusade, the +country round Velletri was occupied by Garibaldi's soldiery. Near +Velletri there is a little town called Giulianello, of which a certain +Don Dominico Santurri was the head priest. Justly or unjustly, this +priest, and two inhabitants of the town, named De Angelis and Latini, +were accused of plotting against the Republic; arrested by order of one +of Garibaldi's officers; imprisoned for a couple of days, and, after a +military examination (though of what nature is a matter of dispute) found +guilty of treason against the state. The priest was sentenced to death +and shot at once; the other two prisoners were dismissed with a reproof. +Subsequently orders were issued for their re-arrest. One of them, +Latini, had made his escape meanwhile; the other, De Angelis, being less +fortunate, was arrested again and executed. + +Now, how far these persons were really guilty or not of the offence for +which they suffered, I of course have no means of knowing. Common sense +tells one that a nation, fighting for dear life against foes abroad and +traitors within, is obliged to deal out very rough and summary justice, +and can hardly be expected to waste much time in deliberation. At any +rate, when the Papal authority was restored, the Pope, on the demand of +the French, declared a general amnesty for all political offences. This +promise, however, of an amnesty, like many other promises of Pius the +Ninth, was made with a mental reservation. The Pope pardoned all +political offenders, but then the Pope alone was the judge of what +constituted a political offence. + +In accordance with this system the execution of Santurri and De Angelis +was decided not to have been a political offence, but a case of private +vengeance, and "the indignation of the public was so strong," that +Government could not refuse the imperative call for justice. Within a +few weeks, therefore, of the Papal restoration, seven inhabitants of +Giulianello were arrested on the charge of being concerned in the murders +of Santurri and De Angelis. + +On the 4th of April, 1851, the Supreme Court of the Sacra Consulta met to +try the prisoners--nearly two years after the date of their arrest. The +court, as usual, was composed of six high dignitaries of the Church, and +throughout the mode of procedure differed in nothing that I can learn +from what I have described in the former trials, except that there is no +allusion to any preliminary trial before the ordinary lay courts. Whether +this omission is accidental, or whether, as in other instances during the +Papal "Vendetta" after '49, the ordinary forms of justice were dispensed +with, I cannot say. Garibaldi, De Pasqualis, and David, "self-styled" +General, Colonel, and auditor respectively of the Roman army, were +summoned to appear and answer to the charge against them, or else to +allow judgment to go by default. The prisoners actually before the bar +were + + Romolo Salvatori, + Vincenzo Fenili, + Luigi Grassi, + Francesco Fanella, + Dominico Federici, + Angelo Gabrielli, + Teresa Fenili. + +It is curious, to say the least, that all the prisoners appear to have +been leading members of the liberal party at Giulianello. Salvatori was +elected Mayor of the town during the Republic, and the next four +prisoners held the office there of "Anziani" at the same period, an +office which corresponds somewhat to that of Alderman in our old civic +days. The chief witnesses for the prosecution were Latini, who so +narrowly escaped execution, and the widow of De Angelis, persons not +likely to be the most impartial of witnesses. + +The whole sentence is in fact one long "ex parte" indictment against +Salvatori. The very language of the sentence confesses openly the +partizanship of the court. I am told that, in May 1849, "The Republican +hordes commanded by the adventurer Garibaldi, after the battle with" +(defeat of?) "the Royal Neapolitan troops at Velletri, had occupied a +precarious position in the neighbouring towns," and a good number of +these troops were stationed at Valmontone, under the command of the so- +called Colonel De Pasqualis; that at this period, when "an accusation +sent to the commanders of these freebooters was sufficient to ruin every +honest citizen," Salvatori, in order to gratify his private animosity +against Santurri, De Angelis, and Latini, forwarded to De Pasqualis an +unfounded accusation against them of intriguing for the overthrow of the +Republic; and in order to give it a "colour of probability," induced the +above-named Anziani to sign it; and that, in order to accomplish his +impious design, he wrote a private letter to De Pasqualis, telling him +how the arrest of the accused might be effected. Again, I learn that a +search, instituted by Salvatori into the priest Santurri's papers, +produced no "evidence favourable to his infamous purpose," that the +accused were never examined, though "a certain David, who pretended to be +a military auditor, made a few vague inquiries of Santurri, and noted the +answers down on paper with a pencil." Then we have a queer story how, +when Santurri implored for mercy, David replied, "Priests may pardon, but +Garibaldi never," though the very next minute David is represented as +announcing to De Angelis and Latini, that Garibaldi had granted them +their pardon. Then I am informed that Salvatori used insulting language +to Santurri on his arrest; that it was solely owing to Salvatori's +remonstrances that orders were issued for the re-arrest of Latini and De +Angelis; and that though Salvatori ultimately, at the prayer of De +Angelis' wife, gave her a letter to De Pasqualis interceding for her +husband, yet he purposely delayed granting it till he knew it would be +too late. + +Such are the heads of the long string of accusations against Salvatori, +of which practically the sentence is composed. The evidence, as far as +it is given in the sentence on which the accusations rest, is vague in +the extreme. The proof of any personal ill-will against the three +victims of the Republic, on the part of any of the prisoners, is most +insufficient. Salvatori is said to have had an old grudge against +Santurri, about some wood belonging to the Church, to which he had made +an unjust claim. De Angelis was stated to have once threatened to shoot +Salvatori; but this, even in Ireland, could hardly be construed into +evidence that therefore Salvatori was resolved to murder De Angelis. The +only ground of ill-will that can be suggested, as far as Latini is +concerned, is that he was a partizan of the priesthood. The act of +accusation against Santurri and his fellow-victims, forwarded by the +authorities of Giulianello, though essential to the due comprehension of +the story, is not forthcoming; and no explanation even is offered of the +motives which induced the four "Anziani" to sign a charge which, by the +Papal hypothesis, they knew to be utterly unfounded. The bare idea, that +Santurri or the others were really guilty of any intrigues against the +Republic, is treated as absurd; the fact that any trial or investigation +ever took place is slurred over; and yet, with a marvellous +inconsistency, Salvatori is accused of being in reality the guilty author +of these executions, because some witness--name not given--reports that +he heard a report from a servant of Garibaldi, that Santurri was only +executed, in opposition to Garibaldi's own wish, in consequence of +Salvatori's representations. + +What was the nature of Salvatori's defence cannot be gathered from the +sentence. From another source, however, I learn that it was such as one +might naturally expect. During 1849, the mayors of the small country +towns were entrusted with political authority by the Government. In the +exercise of his duty, as mayor, Salvatori discovered that Santurri and +the others were in correspondence with the Neapolitans, who were then +invading the country, and reported the charge to the officer in command. +The result of a military perquisition was to establish convincing proof +of the charge of treason. Santurri was tried by a court martial, and +sentenced at once to execution; as were also his colleagues, on further +evidence of guilt being discovered. Salvatori, therefore, pleaded, that +his sole offence, if offence there was, consisted in having discharged +his duty as an official of the Republican Government, and that this +offence was condoned by the Papal amnesty. This defence, as being +somewhat difficult to answer, is purposely ignored; and a printed notice, +published on the day of Santurri's execution, and giving an account of +his trial and conviction, is rejected as evidence, because it is not +official! + +Considering the tone of the sentence it will not be matter of surprise, +that the court sums up with the conclusion, that "Not the slightest doubt +can be entertained that the wilful calumnies and solicitations of the +prisoner Salvatori were the sole and the too efficacious causes of the +result he had deliberately purposed to himself" (namely, the murder of +Santurri); and therefore unanimously condemns him to public execution at +Anagni. Vincenzo Fenili and Grassi, who had co-operated in the arrest of +Santurri, are sentenced to 20 years' labour on the hulks. There not +being sufficient evidence to convict Fanella, Federici, and Teresa +Fenili, they are to be--not acquitted, but kept in prison for six months +more, while Gabrielli, whose only offence was, that he told Salvatori +where the priest Santurri was to be found, though without any evil +motive, is to be released provisionally, having been, by the way, +imprisoned already for 18 months, while Garibaldi and De Pasqualis are to +be proceeded against in default. + +Salvatori was executed on the 10th of September, 1851; Fenili and Grassi +are probably, being both men in the prime of life, still alive and +labouring in the Bagnio of Civita Vecchia, where, at their leisure, they +can appreciate the mercies of a Papal amnesty. It seems to me that I +should have called this chapter the Salvatori rather than the Santurri +murder, and then the question asked at the end of the last would have +required no answer. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE PAPAL PRESS. + + +At Rome there is no public life. There are no public events to narrate, +no party politics to comment on. Events indeed will occur, and politics +will exist even in this best regulated of countries; but as all narration +of the one, and all manifestation of the other, are equally interdicted +for press purposes, neither events nor politics have any existence. To +one, who knows the wear and tear of the London press, to whom the very +name of a newspaper recalls late hours and interminable reports, +despatches and telegrams, proof-sheets, parliamentary debates and police +intelligence, leading articles and correspondents' letters; a very series +of Sisyphean labours, without rest or end; to such an one the position of +the Roman journalist seems a haven of rest, the most delightful of all +sinecures. There are many mysteries indeed about the Papal Press. Who +writes or composes the papers is a mystery; who reads or purchases them +is perhaps a greater mystery; but the bare fact of their existence is the +greatest mystery of all. Even the genius of Mr Dickens was never able to +explain satisfactorily to the readers of _Nicholas Nickleby_, why +Squeers, who never taught anything at Dotheboys Hall, and never intended +anything to be taught there, should have thought it necessary to engage +an usher to teach nothing; and exactly in the same way, it is an +insoluble problem why the Pontifical Government, which never tells +anything and never intends anything to be told, should publish papers, in +order to tell nothing. The greatest minds, however, are not exempt from +error; and it must be to some hidden flaw in the otherwise perfect Papal +system, that the existence of newspapers in the sacred city is to be +ascribed. The marvel of his own being must be to the Roman journalist a +subject of constant contemplation. + +The Press of Rome boasts of three papers. There is the _Giornale di +Roma_, the _Diario Romano_, and, last and least, the _Vero Amico del +Popolo_. The three organs of Papal opinion bear a suspicious resemblance +to each other. The _Diary_ is a feeble reproduction of the _Journal_, +and the _Peoples True Friend_, which I never met with, save in one +obscure cafe, is a yet feebler compound of the two; in fact, the +_Giornale di Roma_ is the only one of the lot that has the least pretence +to the name of a newspaper; it is, indeed, the official paper, the London +Gazette of Rome. It consists of four pages, a little larger in size than +those of the _Examiner_, and with about as much matter as is contained in +two pages of the English journal. The type is delightfully large, and +the spaces between the lines are really pleasant to look at; next to a +Roman editor, the position of a Roman compositor must be one of the +easiest berths in the newspaper-world. Things are taken very easily +here, and the _Giornale_ never appears till six o'clock at night, so that +writers and printers can take their pleasure and be in bed betimes. There +is no issue on Sundays and Feast-days, which occur with delightful +frequency. This ideal journal, too, has no fixed price. The case of any +one being impatient enough about news to buy a single number seems hardly +to be contemplated. The yearly subscription is seven scudi, which comes +to between a penny and five farthings a number; but for a single copy you +are asked half a paul, or twopence halfpenny. This however must be +regarded as a fancy price, as single copies are not an article on demand; +they can only be obtained, by the way, at the office of the Gazette in +the Via della Stamperia, and this office is closed from noon, I think, to +sunset. + +Suppose, for the sake of argument, there was an English newspaper at +Rome. Let us consider what would be its summary of contents, this day on +which I write. Putting aside foreign topics altogether, what might one +naturally suppose would be the Roman news? There is the revolution in +the Romagna; if private reports are not altogether false, there have been +disturbances in the Marches; there is the question of the Congress, the +rumoured departure of the French troops, the state of the adjoining +kingdoms, the movements of the Pontifical army, and the promised Papal +reforms. Add to all this, there is the recent mysterious attempt at +murder in the Minerva hotel, about which all kinds of strange rumours are +in circulation. Suppose too, which heaven forbid, that I was a Roman +citizen, and had no means of catching sight of foreign newspapers, which +is extremely probable, or understood no foreign language, which is more +probable still; what in this case should I learn from my sole source of +information, my _Giornale di Roma_, about my own city and my own country, +on this 19th of January, in the year of grace 1860? + +The first fact brought before my eager gaze on taking up the paper, would +be that yesterday was the feast of St Peter's chair. Solemn mass was, I +learn, performed in the cathedral, in the presence of "our Lord's +Holiness," and a Latin oration pronounced in honour of the Sacred Chair. +After the ceremony was over, it seems that the Senator of Rome, Marquis +Mattei, presented an address to the Pope, with a copy of which I am +kindly favoured. The Senator, in his own name and in that of his +colleagues in the magistracy, declares, that "if at all times devotion to +the Pontiff and loyalty to the Sovereign was the intense desire of his +heart, it is more ardent to-day than ever, since he only re-echoes the +sentiment of the whole Catholic world, which with wonderful unanimity +proclaims its veneration for the august Father of the faithful, and +offers itself, as a shield, to the Sovereign of Rome." He adds, that +"his mind revolts from those fallacious maxims, which some persons try to +insinuate into the feeble minds of the people, throwing doubts on the +incontestable rights of the Church, and that he looks with contempt on +such intrigues." As however both the Senator and his colleagues are +nominees of the Pope, and as a brother of the Marquis is a Cardinal, I +feel sceptical as to the value of their opinion. The next paragraph +tells me, that in order to testify their devotion to the Papacy the +inhabitants of Rome illuminated their houses last night in honour of the +feast. Unfortunately, I happened to walk out yesterday evening, and +observed that the lamps were very few and far between, while in the only +illuminated house I entered I found the proprietor grumbling at the +expense which the priests had insisted on his incurring. I have then a +whole column about the proceedings at the "Propaganda" on the festival of +the Epiphany, now some days ago. The Archbishop of Thebes, I rejoice to +learn, excited the pupils of the Academy to imitate the virtues +manifested in the "Magi," by an appropriate homily, drawing a striking +parallel between the simplicity, the faith and honesty of the three +kings, and the disbelief and hypocrisy of the wicked king Herod. I +wonder if I have ever heard of Herod under a more modern name, and pass +on to a passage, written in italics, in order to attract my special +attention. The "Propaganda" meeting is, I am informed, "a noble +spectacle, which Rome alone can offer to the world; that Rome, which God +has made the capital of His everlasting kingdom." This concludes the +whole of my domestic intelligence; all that I know, or am to know, about +the state of my own country. + +Then follows the foreign intelligence, under the heading of "Varieties." +Seventy pro-papal works have, I read, been published in France; indeed, +the zeal in behalf of the Pontifical cause gains, day by day, so rapidly +in that country, that "every one," so some provincial paper says, "who +can hold a pen in hand uses it in favour of justice and religion, upon +the question of the Papacy." So much for France. All I learn about +Italy is that all writings in defence of the Pope are eagerly sought +after and perused. Spanish affairs meet with more attention. An English +vessel has been captured, it seems, freighted with 14,000 bayonets for +Tangiers; and the shipwrecked crew of a French brig were all but +massacred by the Moors, or rather, if they were not massacred, it was +from no want of malignity on the part of the infidels. I have next an +account of the opening of the Victoria Bridge, Canada, interesting +certainly, though I confess that some account, when the sewers in the +Piazza di Spagna are likely to be closed, would possess more practical +interest for myself. This paragraph is followed by two columns long of +the American President's letter to Congress; a subject on which, as a +Roman citizen, I do not feel keenly excited. + +The next heading is the "Morning's News." This news is made up of small +short extracts from, or more correctly speaking, small paragraphs +about--extracts from--the foreign newspapers. If I have not heard any +rumours at my cafe, these paragraphs are commonly unintelligible; if I +have heard any such reports of agitation or excitement abroad in +reference to the Papacy I always find from the paragraphs, that these +reports were utterly erroneous. There is a good deal about the new +French free-trade tariff, and the pacific intentions of the emperor. +There are grave discussions, it appears, in the cabinets of London and +Turin; and the return of the conservative Count Walewski to office is +confidently expected in Paris. Lord Cowley's journey to London is now +known to have no political signification, and the idea that any accord +between France and England betokened a desertion of the Villa-Franca +stipulations, is asserted, on the best authority, to be an entire +delusion. + +This concludes my budget of news. A whole page is covered with +quotations from Villemain's pamphlet, _La France, l'Empire et la +Papaute_; but as my own personal experience must of course be the best +evidence as to the blessings of a Papal government, this seems to me to +be carrying coals to Newcastle. I have then a list of the strangers +arrived at Rome, one advertisement of some religious work, _The Devotions +of Saint Alphonso Maria de Liguori_, a few meteorological observations +from the Pontifical observatory, and half-a-dozen official notices of +legal judgments, in cases about which, till now, I have never been +allowed to hear a single allusion. I have, however, the final +satisfaction of observing that my paper was printed at the office of the +Holy Apostolic Chamber. + +"Ex uno," my Roman friend might truly say, "disce omnes." The number I +have taken as a sample is one of more than average interest. I know, +indeed, no greater proof of the anxiety and alarm of the Papal government +than that so much intelligence should be allowed to ooze out through the +Roman press. I know also of no greater proof of its weakness. A strong +despotic government may ignore the press altogether; but a despotism +which tries to defend itself by the press, and such a press, must be weak +indeed. None but a government of priests, half terrified out of their +senses, would dream of feeding strong men with such babes' meat as this. +There are Signs of the Times even in the _Giornale di Roma_. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE POPE'S TRACT. + + +If it has ever been the fortune of my readers to mix in +tract-distributing circles, they will, doubtless, have become acquainted +with a peculiar style of literature which, for lack of a more appropriate +appellation, I should call the "candid inquirer" and "intelligent +operative" style. The mysteries of religion, the problems of social +existence, the intricate casuistries of contending duties, are all +explained, in a short and simple dialogue between a maid-servant and her +mistress; or a young, a very young man, and his parochial pastor, or a +ne'er-do-weel sot and a sober, industrious artisan. The price is only a +penny (a reduction made on ordering a quantity), and the logic is worthy +of the price. + +In its dire distress and need the Papacy has resorted, as a forlorn hope, +to the controversial tract system. As an abstract matter this is only +fair play. The Pope has had so many millions of tracts published against +him, that it is hard if he may not produce one little one in his own +defence. His Holiness may say with truth, in the words of Juvenal, + + Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam, + Vexatus toties? + +But, as a matter of policy, if he has got so very little to say for +himself, it would be perhaps wiser if he held his tongue. Be that as it +may, the Vatican has thought fit to bring out a small brown paper tract, +in answer to the celebrated, too-celebrated, pamphlet, _Le Pape et le +Congres_. The tract is of the smallest bulk, the clearest type, the best +paper, and the cheapest price. Mindful of the Horatian dictum, it +plunges at once "in medias res," and starts, out of breath, with the +following interjections: "The end of the world has come. Some want a +Pope and not a King; others half a Pope and half a King; and others +again, no Pope and no King. And who are these persons--Catholics or +Protestants, Jews or Phalansterians, believers or unbelievers? Men who +have once believed, and believe no longer, or men who have never believed +at all? Which are the most sincere of these classes? The last, who say, +'God and the people,' and who mean to say, 'No more Popes, and no more +Kings.' Which are the most hypocritical? The second, the men of half +measures, who wish for half a Pope and half a King, trusting the while, +that either Pope or King may die of inanition, or at any rate that the +King will. Which are the greatest dupes? The first, who, Pharisee-like, +offering up their prayers, and going to church once a year, deceive +themselves with the idea, that the Pope will be more powerful and more +free in the vestry of St Peter's than in the palace of the Vatican." + +The above view of the devotional habits prevalent amongst the Pharisees +may appear somewhat novel, but let that pass. Meanwhile, any one +experienced in tract lore will feel certain that this outburst will be +followed by the appearance of the "candid inquirer," who comes upon the +boards at once, in obedience to the call, and addresses the eloquent +controversialist with the stereotyped phrases. + +"These three classes of persons, who raise an outcry against the temporal +power of the Pope, are of different stamps; for I understand well whom +you allude to; you mean the sincere, the moderate and the devout +opponents of the Papacy. I have, however, one or two questions, I should +like to ask you; would you be kind enough to answer me?" + +X of course replies, that nothing in the world would give him so much +pleasure; and during the first dialogue the candid inquirer appears in +the character of D, the devout opponent. The pamphlet is much too long +and too tedious to give in full. Happily the arguments are few in +number; and such as they are, I shall be able to pick them out without +much difficulty, quoting the exact words of the dialogue, wherever it +rises to peculiar grandeur. X opens the discussion by carrying an +assault at once into the enemy's weak places: "You devout believers say +that a Court is not fitting for a priest. Everybody, however, knows +that, at the Papal Court, the time and money of the public are not +frittered away in parties and fetes and dances. Everybody knows too that +women are not admitted to the Vatican, and therefore the habits of the +court are not effeminate, while the whole of its time is spent in +transacting state affairs; and the due course of justice is not disturbed +by certain feminine passions." After this statement, startling to any +one with a knowledge of the past, and still more to an inhabitant of Rome +at the present day, the devout inquirer wisely deserts the domain of +stern facts, and betakes himself to abstract considerations. His first +position, that the Vicar of Christ ought to follow the example of his +master, who had neither court nor kingdom, nor where to lay his head, is +upset at once by the _argumentum ad hominem_, that, according to the same +rule, every believer ought to get crucified. No escape from this dilemma +presenting itself to our friend D's devout but feeble mind, X follows up +the assault, by asking him, as a _deductio ad absurdum_, whether he +should like to see the Pope in sandals like St Peter. The catechumen +falls into the trap at once; flares up at the idea of such degradation +being inflicted on the "Master of kings and Father of the faithful;" and +asks indignantly if, for a "touch of Italianita," he is to be suspected +of having "washed away his baptism from his brow." Henceforth great D, +after "Charles Reade's" style, becomes little d. Logically speaking, it +is all over with him. If the Pope be the master of kings, he must by +analogy have the rights of a master, liberty to instruct and power to +correct. The old parallel of a schoolmaster and his scholars is adduced. +D feels he is caught; states, in the stock formula, "that this parallel +between the master of kings and the master of scholars puzzles me, +because it is unimpeachable; and yet I don't want to concede everything, +and cannot deny everything." As a last effort, he suggests with +hesitation, that "after all, a law which secured the Pope perfect liberty +of speech, action and judgment, would fulfil all the necessities of the +case; and that in other respects the Pope might be a subject like anybody +else." On this suggestion X tramples brutally. D is asked, how the +observance of this law is to be enforced, and can give no answer, on +which X bursts into the most virulent abuse of all liberal governments in +terms commensurate with the offence. "Praised be God, the days of Henry +the VIIIth are passed, and Catholics and Bishops, and all men of great +and free intellects need no longer lose their heads beneath the British +axe. But are you ignorant that the 'most catholic France' has had +proclaimed from her tribunes, that the law is of no creed? Are you +ignorant of the Josephian laws of Austria? Glory be now to her young and +most devout of catholic sovereigns! but are you not aware, that in the +reign of Joseph the bishops in that empire were not allowed to write to, +or correspond freely with, the Pope? . . . I suppose, forsooth, you +expect observance of the law from those liberal governments of yours, +which make the first use of their liberty to destroy liberty itself; who +exile bishops, and who, in the face of all the world, break the plighted +faith of treaties and concordats--oh yes, those governments, who spy into +the most secret recesses of family life, and create the monstrous and +tyrannical _Loi des suspects_, oh yes, _they_ are sure to respect the +liberty and the independence of the Bishop of Rome! and are you baby +enough to believe or imagine it?" D cowers beneath the moral lash; and +hints rather than proposes, that if one country did not respect the +Pope's freedom, he could move into another, though he admits at the same +time, he can see grave difficulties in the project. Even this admission +is unavailing to protect him from X's savage onslaught, who winds up +another torrent of vituperation with these words: "Yes! This is no +question of the Pope and the Pope's person, but of the liberty of all the +Church, and of all the Episcopate, of your liberty and mine, of the +liberty of princes, peoples, and all Christian souls. Miserable man, +have you lost all common sense, all catholic sense, even the ordinary +sense of language?" In vain D confesses his errors, owns that he is +converted, and implores mercy. "No," X replies in conclusion, "this is +not enough; your tongue has spread scandal; and even, if innocent itself, +has sown discord. The good seed is obedience and reverence to the Pope +our father and the Church our mother. Woe to the tares of the new creed! +Woe to the proud and impious men, who under the cloak of piety raise +their hands and tongues against their father and mother! The crows and +birds of prey shall feed upon their tongues, and the wrath of God shall +wither up their hands." + +The demolition of D, the devout, only whets X's appetite; and heedless of +his coming doom, M, the moderate, enters the lists. As a specimen of +Papal mild facetiousness, I quote the commencement of the second +dialogue. + +M. "Great news! a great book!" + +X. "Where from?" + +M. "From Paris." + +X. "A dapper-dandy then, I suppose?" + +M. "No, a political pamphlet." + +X. "Well, that is the same as a political dandy." + +M. "A pamphlet explaining the policy of the Moderates." + +X. "You mean, of the Moderate intellects?" + +M. "No, I mean the policy of the Moderates, a policy of compromise, +between the Holy Father and, and--" + +X. "Say what you really mean,--between the Holy Father and the Holy +Revolution." + +After this test of M's intellectual calibre, I am not surprised to learn +that he is treated throughout with the most contemptuous playfulness. He +is horror-struck at learning that, in fact, he is nothing better "than a +mediator between Christ and Beelzebub." He is joked about the _fait +accompli_; and asked whether he would consider a box on his ears was +excused and accounted for by a similar denomination of the occurrence; +questioned, whether he would like himself to be deprived of all his +property; and at last dumbfounded by the inquiry, whether the reasoning +of his beloved pamphlet is anything but rank communism. M, in fact, +after this tirade ceases any attempt at argument, and contents himself +with feeble suggestions, which afford to X fertile openings for the +exercise of his vituperative abilities. For instance, M drops a hint +that the Pope might be placed under the guarantee and protection of the +Catholic powers; on which X retorts: "The Catholic powers indeed! First +of all, you ought to be sure whether the Catholic powers will not +co-operate with the Jew, in the disgraceful act of plundering Christ +through his Vicar, in order to guarantee him afterwards the last shreds +of his garment." (Another somewhat novel view, by the way, of Gospel +history.) "Secondly, you should learn whether any tribunal in the world, +in the name of common justice, would place the victim under the +protection and guarantee of his spoiler." When M expresses a doubt +whether there is any career for a soldier or statesman under the Papal +Government, his doubts are removed by the reflection that the Roman +statesmen are no worse off than the French, and that, if Roman soldiers +don't fight, and Roman orators don't speak, it is because the exertion of +their faculties would not prove beneficial to themselves or others. Then +follows one of those ejaculatory paragraphs, which +tract-controversialists generally, and X especially, delight in. "You! +yes, you! applaud that Parisian insult-monger, who after having robbed +Rome of the provinces, that give her power and splendour, and having left +her a city maimed of hands and feet, with a frontier two fingers'-length +from the Vatican, then speaks of Rome thus degraded; he, I say, this +author of yours--this legislator of yours--this Parisian of yours, speaks +in the words of _Le Pape et le Congres_,"--and so on, through a labyrinth +of exclamatory parentheses. "Moderate" is overwhelmed by all this; +becomes convinced and converted; and, after the fashion of Papal +converts, out-Herods Herod in the ardour of his zeal. He volunteers to X +the following original view of French politics: "I can understand the +anger of the (French) journals because France has been so unfortunate in +her Italian enterprise. She promised, she advised, she threatened; and +promises, advice, and threats are alike dispersed in air. She promised +and placarded on all the walls the independence of Italy from the Alps to +the Adriatic. Where is her promise now? She promised and published +through all the Churches the freedom and integrity of the Papal +dominions. Where is her promise now? She advised Piedmont, she advised +the Duchies, she advised the Romagna, and her advice was neither received +nor accepted. Where is her advice now? Then came the threats of the +31st of December last, and, with profound respect, she threatened the +Pope to sacrifice the Romagna; and her prayers or her threats, as you +like, where are they now?" Again, of his own accord, M asserts, as a +self-evident fact, that "morality and justice have no better sanctuary +and no purer inspirations than are to be found in the Court of the +Vatican." What slight difficulties he still entertains are removed at +once. He asks X candidly to tell him whether the Papal government is +really a bad one or not, and is satisfied with the quotation "Sunt bona +mixta malis;" he then inquires, in all simplicity, why there are so many +complaints and outbreaks against the Papal rule? and is told, in +explanation, that the Pope is persecuted because he is weak. X, +emboldened by his easy triumph, ridicules the notion of any reforms being +granted by the Papacy, states that what is wanted is a reform in the +Papal subjects, not in the Papal rulers, and finally falls foul of poor +M, in such language as this:--"What good can we ever expect from this +race of Moderates, who in all revolutions are sent out as pioneers, who +have ruined every state in turn by shutting their eyes to every danger, +and parleying with every revolution, and who would propose a compromise +even with fire or fever, or plague itself." After this, X repeats the +old fable of the horse and the man, and then launches into a tirade +against France: "You refused to believe that Italy replaced foreign +influence by foreign dominion on the day on which France crossed the +Alps. Do you still disbelieve in the treason which is plotting against +Italy, by depriving her of her natural bulwarks, Savoy, Nice, and the +maritime Alps? Do you not see, that while you are lulled to sleep by the +syren song of Italian independence, Italy is weakened, dismembered and +enslaved?" A last suggestion of M, that possibly the language of the +encyclical letter was a little too strong, brings forth the following +retort: "It was strong, and tasted bitter to diseased and vitiated +palates, but to the lips of justice the taste was sweet and satisfying. +Poor nations! What have politics become? What filth we are obliged to +swallow! What scandal to the people; what a lesson of immorality is this +fashion of outraging every principle of right, with sword, tongue and +pen! In this chaos, blessed be Providence, there is one free voice left, +the voice of St Peter, which is raised in defence of justice, despised +and disregarded." Hereupon M confesses, "on the faith of a Moderate," +that the refusal of the Pope to accept the advice of the Emperor was "an +act worthy of him, both as Pope and Italian sovereign," and then retires +in shame and confusion. + +S, the sincere opponent, then enters and announces with foolish pride, +that "Italy shall be free, and the gates of hell shall prevail." Pride +cometh before a fall, and S is shortly convinced that his remark was +profane, and that, by his own shewing, liberty was a gift of hell. S +then repeats a number of common-places about the rights of men, the voice +of the people, and the will of the majority; and as, in every case, he +quotes these common-places incorrectly and inappropriately, X upsets him +without effort. As a specimen of the style of logic adopted, I will take +one case at hazard. S states that "his reason of all reasons is, that +Italy belongs to the Italians, and that the Italians have the right of +dividing it, uniting it, and governing it, as seems good in their own +sight." To this X answers, "I adopt and apply your own principle. Turin, +with its houses, belongs to the Turinese; therefore the Turinese have the +right to divide or unite the houses of Turin, or drive out their +possessors, as seems good in their own sight." The gross +disingenuousness, the palpable quibble in this argument, need no +exposure. Logically, however, the argument is rather above the usual +range. X then proceeds to frighten S with the old bugbears;--the +impossibility of real union between the Italian races; the absorption of +the local small capitals in the event of a great kingdom, and the +certainty that the European powers will never consent to an Italian +monarchy. This conclusion is a short _resume_ of Papal history, which +will somewhat surprise the readers of Ranke and Gibbon. + +"After the death of Constantine, the almost regal authority of the Popes +in reality commenced. Gregory the Great, created Pope 440 A.D. was +compelled for the safety of Italy to exercise this authority against the +Lombards on one hand, and the rapacious Exarchs on the other. About 726 +A.D. Gregory II. declined the offer of Ravenna, Venice, and the other +Italian States, who conferred upon him, in name as well as in fact, the +sovereignty of Italy. At last, in 741 A.D. when Italy was not only +deserted in her need, but threatened from Byzantium with desolation and +heresy, Gregory III. called in the aid of Charles Martel, that Italy +might not perish; and by this law, a law of life and preservation, and +through the decree of Providence, the Popes became Italian sovereigns, +both in right and fact." On this very lucid and satisfactory account of +the origin of the Papal power, S is convinced at once, and is finally +dismissed shamefaced, with the unanswerable interrogation, "whether the +real object of the Revolution is not to create new men, new nations, new +reason, new humanity, and a new God?" + +The three abstractions, S, M, D, then re-assemble to recant their errors. +One and all avow themselves confuted, and convicted of folly or worse. X +gives them absolution with the qualified approval, that "he rejoices in +their moral amendment, and trusts the change may be a permanent one," and +then asks them, as an elementary question in their new creed, "What is +the true and traditional liberty of Italy, the only one worthy to be +sought and loved by all Italians?" To this question with one voice S and +M and D make answer, "Liberty with law, law with religion, and religion +with the Pope." The course of instruction is completed, and if anybody +is still unconvinced by the arguments of the all-wise X, I am afraid that +his initial letter must be a Z. + +So much for the _Independenza e Papa_, as the pamphlet is styled. I have +given, I fear, a somewhat lengthy account of it; not for its literary +merits, which are small, but as being the best native defence of the +Papacy I have come across. The dull dead _vis inertiae_ which formed the +real strength of the Papacy has been of late exchanged for a petty +useless fussiness. Ever since Guerroniere's pamphlet fell like a bomb +upon the Vatican there has been a perfect array of paper-champions, sent +forth to do battle for the Papal cause. They are mostly, it is true, of +foreign growth. Extracts from Montalembert, De Falloux, and Berryer's +speeches, patched together and re-garnished; reprints of the Episcopal +charges in France; editions of Count Sola della Margherita's much +be-praised work; and, I regret to say, translations of Lord Normanby's +speeches in the House of Lords, are advertised daily on the walls of +Rome. Of native and original productions there have been but few. +Literary talent does not flourish in Rome, and what little there is, is +all retained against the Government. The _Eye-glance at the Encyclical_, +the _Widow's Mite_, and the _Tears of St Peter_, are the titles of some +of the anonymous pro-Papal tracts published under Government patronage; +of these the _Independenza e Papa_, which is sold at the printing-office +of the _Giornale di Roma_, is decidedly the ablest and most respectable. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. PAPAL LOTTERIES. + + +If ever anybody had cause to regret the suppression of lotteries, it is +the whole tribe of play-writers and authors. Never will there be found +again a "Deus ex Machina," so serviceable or so unfailing as the lottery. +If your plot wanted a solution, or your intrigue a _denoument_, or your +novel a termination, you could always cut through all your difficulties +by the medium of a lottery-ticket. The virtuous but impoverished hero +became at once a very Croesus, and the worldly-minded parent bestowed his +daughter and his blessing on the successful gambler, who, by the way, +never purchased his own ticket, but always had it bequeathed to him as a +legacy. Alas, lottery-tickets, like wealthy uncles and places under +government, have gone out of date. The fond glance of memory turns in +vain towards the good old times, when the lottery was in its glory. It +is, however, some comfort to reflect, that if, as devout Catholics +assert, the Papacy is eternal, then in Rome, at least, lotteries are +eternal also. In truth, the lottery is a great, I might almost say _the_ +great Pontifical institution. It is a trade not only sanctioned, but +actively supported, by the Government. Partly, therefore, as a matter of +literary interest, and partly as a curious feature in the economics of +the Papal States, I have made various personal researches into the +working of the lottery-system, and shall endeavour to give the +theoretical not the practical result of my investigations; the latter +result being, I am afraid, of a negative description. + +Murray, who knows everything, states that in Rome alone fifty-five +millions of lottery-tickets are taken annually. Now though I would much +sooner doubt the infallibility of the Pope than that of the author of the +most invaluable of hand-books, I cannot help thinking there is some +strange error in this calculation. The whole population of Rome is under +180,000, and therefore, according to this statement, every living soul in +the city, man, woman, priest and child, must, on an average, take one +ticket a day, to make up the amount stated. If, however, without +examining the strict arithmetical correctness of this statement, you take +it, just as the old Romans used "sex centi" for an indefinite number, as +an expression of the fact, that the number of the lottery-tickets taken +annually in Rome is quite incredible, you will not be far wrong. During +the year 1858 the receipts of the lottery (by which I suppose are meant +the net, not the gross receipts) are officially stated to have been +1,181,000 scudi, or about an eleventh of the whole Pontifical revenue. It +is true the expenses of the Lottery are charged amidst the state +expenditure for the year at 788,987 scudi, but then a large portion of +this expense is directly repaid to the Government, and the remainder is +paid to the lottery-holders, who all have to pay heavily for the +privilege of keeping a lottery-office, and who form also the most devoted +of the Papal adherents, more especially since the liberal party have set +their faces against the lottery. Common estimation too assigns a far +larger profit to the lotteries than Papal returns give it credit for, +and, I own that, from the system on which they are conducted, of which I +shall speak presently, I suspect the profit must be very much beyond the +sum mentioned; anyhow, this source of income is a very important one, and +is guarded jealously as a Government monopoly. Private gambling tables +of any kind are rigidly suppressed. If you want to gamble, you must +gamble at the tables and on the terms of the Government. The very sale +of foreign lottery-tickets is, I believe, forbidden. To this rule there +is one exception, and that is in favour of Tuscany. Between the Grand +Ducal and the Papal Governments there long existed an _entente cordiale_ +on the subject of lotteries. There is no bond, cynics say, so powerful +as that of common interest; and this saying seems to be justified in the +present instance. Though the Court of Rome is at variance on every point +of politics and faith with the present revolutionary Government of +Tuscany, yet in matters of money they are not divided; and so the joint +lottery-system flourishes, as of old. The lottery is drawn once a +fortnight at Rome, and once every alternate fortnight at Florence or +Leghorn; and as far as the speculator is concerned, it makes no +difference whether his ticket is drawn for in Rome or in Tuscany, though +the gains and losses of each branch are, I understand, kept separate. +These lotteries are not of the plain, good old English stamp, in which +there were, say, ten thousand tickets, and ten prizes of different value +allotted to the holders of the ten first numbers drawn, while the +remaining nine thousand nine hundred and ninety ticket-holders drew +blanks. The system of speculation in vogue here is far more hazardous +and complicated. To any one acquainted with the German gambling-places +it is enough to say, that the Papal lottery-system is exactly like that +of a _roulette_ table, with the one important exception, that the chances +in the bank's favour, instead of being about thirty-seven to thirty-six, +as they are at Baden or Hamburgh, are in the proportion of three to one. +For the benefit of those to whom these words convey no definite meaning, +I will endeavour to explain the system as simply as I can. + +In a Papal or Tuscan lottery there are ninety numbers, from one up to +ninety, and of these numbers, five are drawn at each drawing. You may, +therefore, stake your money on any one or two or three or four or five of +the ninety numbers being drawn, which is termed playing at the "eletto," +"ambo," "terno," "quaterno," and "tombola" respectively, or you may +finally play "al estratto," that is, you may not only speculate on the +particular numbers drawn, but on the order in which they may happen to be +drawn. Practically, people rarely play upon any except the three first- +named chances, and they will be sufficient for my explanation. Now a +very simple arithmetical calculation will show you, that the chances +against your naming one number out of the five drawn is eighteen to one; +against your predicting two, four hundred to one; and against your +hitting on three, nearly twelve thousand to one. Supposing, therefore, +the game was played with ordinary fairness, and even as much as 25 per +cent. were deducted for profit and working expenses off the winnings, you +ought, if you staked a scudo, for instance, and won an "eletto," "ambo" +or "terno," to win in round numbers 14, 300, and 9000 scudi respectively. +If in reality you did win (a very great "if" indeed), you would not be +paid in these instances more than 4, 25 and 3600 scudi. In fact, if ever +there was invented in this world a game, of which the old saying, "Heads +I win, and tails you lose" held true, it would be of the Papal Lottery. +If the numbers you back do not happen to turn up, you lose the whole of +your stake; if they do, you are docked of more than seventy-five per +cent. of your winnings. For my part, I would sooner play at thimble-rig +on Epsom Downs, or dominoes with Greek merchants, or at "three-cards" +with a casual and communicative fellow-passenger of sporting cast: I +should infallibly be legged, but I should hardly be plundered so +ruthlessly or remorselessly. Still the Vatican, like all gentlemen who +play with loaded dice or marked cards, may have a run of luck against it. +Spiritual infallibility itself cannot determine whether a halfpenny +tossed into the air will come down man or woman, and the law of chances +cannot be regulated by a _motu proprio_. It is possible, though not +probable, that on any one occasion the majority of the gamblers might +stake their money fortuitously on one series of numbers, and if that +series did happen to be drawn, then the loss to the Lottery, even with +all deductions, would be a heavy one, and the Roman exchequer is by no +means in a position to bear a heavy drain. In consequence, measures are +taken to avert this calamity; each office reports daily what sums have +been staked on what numbers; and, if any numbers are regarded with undue +partiality, orders are issued from the head department to receive no more +money on these numbers or series. I have assumed all along that the +numbers are drawn fairly, and, without a very high opinion of the +integrity of our Papal rulers, I am disposed to think they are. In the +first place, any general impression of unfairness would greatly damage +the future profits of the speculation; and, secondly, by the usual rule +of averages it will be found that, on the whole, people stake pretty +equally on one combination as another, and therefore the question, which +particular numbers are drawn, is of less practical importance to the +lottery management than might at first be supposed. In spite, however, +of these abstract considerations, the virtue of the Papal Lotteries, +unlike that of Caesar's wife, is not above suspicion; and I have often +heard Romans remark, that the only possible explanation of there being +one blank day between the closing the lottery-offices and the drawing was +the obvious one, that time was required to calculate, from the state of +the stakes, what combination of winning numbers will be most beneficial, +or least hurtful, to the Papal pockets. + +Whatever mathematicians may assert, your regular gamblers always believe +in luck, and therefore it is not surprising that a nation, whose great +excitement is the lottery, should be devout worshippers of the blind +goddess. It may be that some memories of the Pythagorean doctrines still +exist in the land of their birth, but be the cause what it may, it is +certain that in the southern Peninsula a belief in the symbolism of +numbers is a received article of faith. Every thing, name, or event, has +its numerical interpretation. Suppose, for instance, a robbery occurs; +forthwith the numbers or sequences of numbers corresponding to the name +of the robber or the robbed, the day or hour of the crime, the articles +stolen, or a dozen other coincident circumstances, are eagerly sought +after and staked upon in the ensuing lottery. Then there are the _numeri +simpatici_, or the numbers in each month or year which are supposed to be +fortunate, and lists of which are published in the popular almanacs. The +"sympathetic number for instance for the month of March is 88," why or +wherefore I have never been able to discover. Let me assume now, that +having dreamt a dream, or heard of a death, or I care not what, you wish +to stake your money on the arithmetical signification of the occurrence. +You will have no difficulty in discovering a lottery-office; in well nigh +every street there are one or more "Prenditoria di Lotti." In fact, +begging and gambling are the only two trades that thrive in Rome, or are +pushed with enterprise or energy. When the drawing takes place in +Tuscany, the result is communicated at once by the electric telegraph, a +fact unparalleled in any other branch of Roman business. Over each +office are placed the Papal arms, the cross keys of St Peter and the +tiara. Outside their aspects differ, according to the quarter of the +city. In the well-to-do streets, if such an appellation applied to any +street here be not an absurdity, the exterior of the lottery-offices are +neat but not gaudy. A notice, printed in large black letters on a white +placard, that this week the lottery will be drawn for in Rome, or where- +ever it may be, and a simple glass frame over the door, in which are slid +the winning numbers of last week, form the whole outward adornment. In +the poor and populous parts the lotteries flaunt out in all kinds of +shabby finery: the walls about the door are pasted over with puffing +inscriptions; from stands in front of the shop flutter long stripes of +parti-coloured paper, inscribed with all sorts of cabalistic figures. If +you like you may try the "Terno della fortuna," which is certain, +morally, to turn up this week or next. If you are of a philosophical +disposition, you may stake your luck on the numbers 19 and 42, which have +not been drawn for ever so long a time, and must therefore be drawn +sooner--or later; or if you like to cast in your lot with others, you may +back that "ambo" which has "sold" marked against it; at any rate, you +will not be the only fool who stands to lose or win on that chance, +which, after all, is some slight consolation. If none of these +inducements are sufficient, you may fix on your choice by spinning round +the index on the painted dial-plate, and choosing the numbers opposite to +which the spin stops, thus making chance determine chance. Having, at +last, selected your combination somehow or other, you enter the office +with something of that shamefaced feeling which, I suppose, a man must be +conscious of the first time that he ever enters the back-door of a +pawnbroker's establishment. + +The interior of these offices is the same throughout. A low, dark room, +with a long ink-stained desk at one side, behind which, pen in ear, is +seated an official, more grimy even, and more snuffy than the run of his +tribe. Opposite the desk there is sure to be a picture of the Madonna +with a small glass lamp before it, wherein a feeble wick floats and +flickers in a pool of rancid oil. On the wall you may read a list of the +virtuous maidens who are to receive marriage portions of from 5 pounds +downwards, on the occasion of the lottery being drawn at some religious +festival. Indeed, throughout, the lottery is conducted on a strictly +religious footing. The _impiegati_, or officials who keep them, are all +men of sound principles and devotional habits, fervent adherents of the +Pope, and habitual communicants. Lotteries too can be defended on +abstract religious grounds, as encouraging a simple faith in providence, +and dispelling any overwhelming confidence in your own unsanctified +exertions. When you have made these reflections, you have only got to +tell the clerk what sum of money you want to stake, and on what numbers. +The smallest contribution (from eleven baiocchi or about sixpence +upwards) will be thankfully received. A long whity-brown slip of paper +is given you, with the numbers written on it, and the sum you may win +marked opposite. No questions whatever, about name or residence or +papers, are asked, as they are whenever you want to transact any other +piece of business in Rome; and all you have to do, is to keep your slip +of paper, and come back on the Saturday to learn whether your numbers +have been drawn or not. + +There is, in truth, a ludicrous side to the Papal Lotteries; but there is +also a very sad one. It is sad to see the offices on a Thursday night, +when they are kept open till midnight, hours after every other shop is +closed, and to watch the crowds of common humble people who hurry in, one +after the other; servants and cabmen and clerks and beggars, and, above +all, women of the poorer class, to stake their small savings--too often +their small pilferings--on the hoped-for numbers. When one speaks of the +disgrace and shame that this authorized system of gambling confers on the +Papal Government; of the improvidence and dishonesty and misery it +creates too certainly among the poor, one is always told, by the +advocates of the Papacy, that the people are so passionately attached to +the lottery, that no Government could run the risk of abolishing it. If +this be true, which I do not believe, I can only say--shame upon the +rulers, who have so demoralized their subjects! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE STUDENTS OF THE SAPIENZA. + + +There is no University properly speaking in Rome. The constant and +minute interference of the priests in the course of study; the rigid +censorship extended over all books of learning, and the arbitrary +restrictions with which free thought and inquiry are hampered, would of +themselves be sufficient to stop the growth of any great school of +learning at Rome, even if there existed a demand for such an institution, +which there does not. Still in these days, even at Rome, young men must +receive some kind of education, and to meet this want the Sapienza +College is provided. Both in the age of the scholars and the nature of +the studies it bears a much closer resemblance to a Scotch high school +than to an University, but still, such as it is, it forms the great lay- +place of education in the Papal States. There is a separate theological +faculty; the head of the college is a Cardinal, and the whole course of +study is under the control and supervision of the priests. Many, +however, of the professors are laymen, the majority of the pupils are +educated for secular pursuits, and the families from whom the students +come, form as a body the _elite_ in point of education and intelligence +amongst the mercantile and professional classes in the Papal States. + +At the commencement of the year a great attempt was made by the +Government to get up addresses of loyalty and devotion to the Pope. Not +even Pius the Ninth himself believed one single word in any of these +purchased testimonials. Indeed, on one occasion, when an address was +presented by the officers of the army, he informed the deputation with +more candour than prudence, that he knew perfectly well not one of them +would raise his hand to save the Papacy. But abroad, and more especially +in France, it was conceived that such addresses would be accepted as +genuine testimonials to the contentment of the Roman people with their +rulers. In obedience to these tactics, it was resolved to have an +address from the students of the Sapienza. Such an address, containing +the stock terms of fulsome adulation and unreasoning reverence, was drawn +up by the authorities. Only a dozen students out of the 400 to 500 of +whom the college consists volunteered to sign it. The students were then +summoned in a body before the rector, and requested to add their +signatures. For this purpose the address was left in their hands, but +instead of being signed it was torn to pieces, and the fragments +scattered about the lecture-room, amidst a chorus of shouts and groans. +With the sort of senile folly which characterized all the proceedings of +the Vatican at this period, the affair, instead of being passed +unnoticed, was taken up seriously, and assumed in consequence an utterly +uncalled-for notoriety. The college was closed for the day, several of +the pupils were summoned before the police, an official inquiry was +instituted into the demonstration, and the matter became the talk of +Rome. + +Of course at once a dozen contradictory rumours were in circulation, and +it was with considerable difficulty that I obtained the above narrative +of the occurrence, which I know to be substantially correct. As a +curious instance of how facts are perverted at Rome by theological bias, +I would mention here that when I made some inquiries on the subject from +an English gentleman, a recent convert, and I need hardly add a most +virulent partizan of the Papal rule, who was in a position to know the +truth about the matter, I was told by him, that there had undoubtedly +been a demonstration at the Sapienza, but that the truth was, the +students were so indignant at the outrages committed against his +Holiness, that they drew up an address of their own accord, expressive of +their devotion to the Pope, and that upon the rector refusing his consent +to the presentation of the address, on the ground that they were too +young to take any part in political matters, they vented by tumultuous +shouts their dissatisfation at this somewhat ill-timed interference. Now, +not only was there such an inherent improbability about this story, to +any one at all acquainted with Roman feelings or Papal policy, that it +scarcely needed refutation, but subsequent events proved it to be +entirely devoid of foundation in fact, and yet it was told me in good +faith by a person who had every means of knowing the truth if he had +chosen. The anecdote thus forms a curious illustration of the manner in +which stories are got up and circulated in Rome. + +The result of the inquiry was that seven or eight of the students, who +whether justly or unjustly were regarded as ringleaders in the +demonstration, were either expelled or suspended from prosecuting their +studies. Amongst the expelled students was the son of the medical +Professor, Dr Maturani, who, considering his son unjustly used, resigned, +or rather was obliged to resign his post. The Pope then made a state +visit to the college, but was very coldly received, and held out no hopes +of the offenders being pardoned. The partizans of the Government talked +much about the good effect produced by the Papal visit, but within a day +or two the students assembled in a body at the Sapienza, and demanded of +the rector that the medical professor should be reinstated in his office, +and that the sentences of expulsion should be rescinded, as all were +equally guilty or equally guiltless. On receiving these demands the +rector requested the students, as a personal favour, to make no further +demonstration till he had had time to lay their sentiments before +Cardinal Roberti, the president of the Congregation of Studies, which he +promised to do at once. The students thereupon retired, but on their +return next morning received no reply whatever. The following day was +Sunday, when the college is closed, and on Monday the new medical +professor was to deliver his inaugural lecture. It was expected that the +students would take this opportunity of venting their dissatisfaction, +and the government actually resolved to send the Roman gendarmes into the +lecture-room in order to suppress any expression of feeling by force. At +the time this act was considered only a piece of almost incredible folly, +but the events of St Joseph's day shewed clearly enough that the Vatican +was anxious to bring about a collision between the troops and the +malcontents. A little blood-letting, after Lord Sidmouth's dictum, was +considered wholesome for the Pope's subjects. Fortunately the intention +came to the knowledge of the French authorities, who interfered at once, +and said if troops were required they must be French and not Papal ones, +as otherwise it was impossible to answer for the result. On the Monday +therefore a detachment of French troops was sent down to the college. The +lecture-room was crowded with students, who greeted the new Professor on +his entry with a volley of hisses, and then left the room in a body. The +French officer in command was appealed to by the authorities to +interfere, but refused doing so, and equally declined receiving an +address which the students wished to force upon him. His orders he +stated were solely to suppress any actual riot, but nothing further. Some +400 of the students then proceeded to the residences of Cardinal +Antonelli, of General Goyon, and the Duc de Gramont, and presented an +address, a copy of which they requested might be forwarded to the +Emperor. These were the words of the address; + + "Your Excellency--Some of our comrades have been removed from us. + United to them in our studies, united, too, in our sentiments, we + protest against a punishment so unjust and so partial. When adulation + and servility suggested to some amongst us the utterance of a + falsehood which insulted the Pontiff, while it did no service to the + Sovereign, we all rose in union to denounce those who, without our + consent, constituted themselves the interpreters of our wishes. This + act was not the caprice of a section. It was the vast majority + amongst us who thus spoke out the truth. The punishment, if + punishment there is to be for speaking the truth, should not fall upon + a few alone. + + "We confess it openly, the act was the act of all; the measure of our + conduct was the same for all. We therefore demand from your + Excellency that the expelled students should be allowed to return, or + else that we should all be united with them in one common punishment, + as we are proud of being united with them in a common love of truth + and of our country. + + "The presence of our 400 students supplies the place of signatures." + +The last clause is open to question. The plain fact is, that the +students could not get their courage up to signing point. A government +of priests never forgives or forgets, and their vengeance though slow is +very sure. Any student who had actually affixed his signature to the +address would have been a marked man for life; and instead of wondering +that the whole body had not sufficient moral resolution to express their +sentiments in writing, I am surprised that they had the courage to +protest at all, even anonymously. This hesitation, however, afforded the +government a loop-hole, which they were wise enough to take advantage of; +Cardinal Antonelli declined at once to give any reply to the address, on +the ground that he could take no notice of an unsigned and unauthentic +document; so the matter rested. Logically, the Cardinal had the best of +the dispute; but, practically, the remonstrants triumphed. The students +kept away from the classes, and after a short time the Sapienza college +had to be closed, in order, if possible, to weed out the liberal faction +amongst the pupils. Numbers of the students were arrested or exiled. As +instances of Papal notions of justice and law, I may mention two +instances connected with the government inquiry, which came to my +knowledge. One student was sent for to the police-office and asked if he +was one of those who presented the address; on his replying in the +negative, he was asked further, whether, if he had been on the spot, he +would have joined in the presentation. To this question, he replied, +that the police had no right to question him as to a matter of +hypothesis, but only as to facts. The magistrate's sole answer to this +objection consisted in an order to leave Rome within twenty-four hours. +Another student was arrested by a gendarme in the street, and brought to +the police-office; it was past five o'clock, and the magistrate informed +him it was too late to enter on the charge that day, and therefore he +must remain in the custody of the police for the night. In vain the +student requested to be informed of the charge against him, and protested +against the illegality of detaining a person in custody without there +being any charge even alleged; but to all this the magistrate remained +obdurate, and the student was sent home under the care of the gendarme. +Happily for himself, he managed to give his guardian the slip in the +streets, and left the Papal States that night without awaiting the result +of an inquiry which had commenced under such auspices. + +It is true that the political opinions of a parcel of boys may have very +little intrinsic value; but straws shew which way the wind blows, and so +this exhibition of the students' sentiments shews how deep-rooted is the +disaffection to the Papacy throughout Roman society, and also how strong +the conviction is, that the days of priest-rule are numbered. + + + + +CHAPTER X. A PAPAL PAGEANT. + + +The Papacy is too old and too feeble even to die with dignity. Of itself +the sight of a falling power, of a dynasy _in extremis_, commands +something of respect if not of regret; but the conduct of the Papacy +deprives it of the sympathy that is due to its misfortunes. There is a +kind of silliness, I know of no better word to use, about the whole Papal +policy at the present day, which is really aggravating. It is silly to +rave about the martyr's crown and the cruel stake, when nobody has the +slightest intention of hurting a hair of your head; silly to talk of your +paternal love when your provinces are in arms against your "cruel +mercies;" silly to boast of your independence when you are guarded in +your own capital against your own subjects by foreign troops; silly, in +fact, to bark when you cannot bite, to lie when you cannot deceive. No +power on earth could make the position of the Pope a dignified one at +this present moment, and if anything could make it less dignified than +before, it is the system of pompous pretensions and querulous complaints +and fulsome adulation which now prevails at the Vatican. I know not how +better to give an idea of the extent to which this system is carried, +than by describing a Papal pageant which occurred early in the year. + +To enter fully into the painful absurdity of the whole scene, one should +bear in mind what were the prospects of Papal politics at the +commencement of February. The provinces of the Romagna were about to +take the first step towards their final separation, by electing members +for the Sardinian Parliament. The question, whether the French troops +could remain in Rome, or in other words, whether the Pope must retire +from Rome, was still undecided; the streets of the city were thronged +with Pontifical Sbirri and French patrols, to suppress the excitement +caused by a score of lads, who raised a shout of _Viva l'Italia_ a week +before. The misery and discontent of the Roman populace was so great +that the coming Carnival time was viewed with the gravest apprehensions, +and anxious doubts were entertained whether it was least dangerous to +permit or forbid the celebration of the festival. Bear all this in mind; +fancy some _Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin_, is written on all around, +telling of disaffection and despair, and revolt and ruin; and then listen +to what was said and done to and by the Pope on that Sunday before +Septuagesima. + +Some months ago a college was founded at Rome for the education of +American youths destined to the priesthood; there were already an +English, an Irish, and a Scotch college, not to speak of the Propaganda. +However, in addition to all these, a college reserved for the United +States, was projected and established by the present Pontiff. Indeed, +this American college, the raised Boulevard, which now disfigures the +Forum, and the column erected in the Piazza di Spagna to the dogma of the +Immaculate Conception, appear to be the only material products of the +Pontificate of Pius the Ninth. For some reason or other, which I am not +learned enough in theological lore to determine, the feast of St Francis +de Sales was celebrated as a sort of inauguration festival by the pupils +of the new college. The Pope honoured the ceremony with his presence; +and, for a wonder, a very full account of the proceedings was published +in the _Giornale di Roma_; the quotations I make are literal translations +from the official reports. + +"The day," so writes the _Giornale_, "was in very truth a blessed and a +fortunate one, not only for the pupils themselves, who yearned for an +opportunity of bearing solemn witness to their gratitude and devotion +towards their best and highest father and most munificent benefactor, but +also for all those who have it upon their hearts to share in those great +works which form the most striking proof of the perpetual growth and +spread of our most sacred religion." + +Apparently the number of the latter class is not extensive, as the visit +of the Pope attracted but little crowd, and the lines of French soldiers +who were drawn up on his way to salute him as he passed, were certainly +not collected in the first instance by a spirit of religious zeal. The +_Giornale_, however, views everything with the eyes of faith, not of +"pure reason." Mass was performed at the Holy Church of Humility, and +"from early dawn, as soon as the news of the holy father's visit was +circulated, an immense crowd assembled there which filled not only the +church, but the adjoining rooms and corridors. The crowd was composed of +the flower of Roman rank and beauty, and the _elite_ of the strangers +residing in Rome, both French, English, and American, who desired the +blessing of assisting at the bloodless sacrifice celebrated by the Vicar +of Christ, and who longed to receive from his hands the angels' food." I +am sorry truth compels me to state, that the whole of this immense crowd +consisted of some two hundred people in all, and that the only +illustrious personages of special note amongst the crowd not being +priests, were General Goyon, the American Minister and Consul, and the +Senator of Rome. The Pope arrived at eight o'clock, and then proceeded +to celebrate the communion, assisted by Monsignors Bacon, bishop of +Portland, U.S., and Goro, bishop of Liverpool. "The rapt contemplation, +the contrition of heart, the spirit of ardent faith which penetrated the +whole assembly, more especially while the holy father distributed the +sacred bread, were all things so sublime that they are easier to conceive +than to describe." + +After mass was over the Pope entered the college. Above the door the +following inscription was written in Latin, composed, I can safely say, +by an Hiberno-Yankee pen: + +"Approach, O mighty Pius, O thou the parent of the old world and the new, +approach these sanctuaries, which thou hast founded for thine American +children devoted to the science of the church! To thee, the whole +company of pupils; to thee, all America, wild with exultation, offer up +praise! For thee, they implore all things peaceful and blessed." + +In the hall prepared for his holiness' reception there was hung up, +"beneath a gorgeous canopy, a marvellous full-length likeness of the +august person of the holy Pontiff, destined to recall his revered +features. Around the picture a number of appropriate Latin mottos were +arranged, of which I give one or two as specimens of the style of +adulation adopted: + +"Come, O youth, raise up the glad voice, behold, the supreme shepherd is +present, blessing his children with the light of his countenance. Hail, +O day, shining with a glorious light, on which his glad children receive +within their arms the best of parents! + +"As the earth beams forth covered with the sparkling sun-light, so the +youths rejoice with gladness, while thou, O father, kindly gladdenest +them with thy most pleasant presence!" + +Refreshments were then presented to the guests, which I am glad to say +were much better than the mottos. The pupils of the Propaganda, who were +all present, sang a hymn; addresses were made to the Pope by the +pro-rector of the college in the name of the pupils, by Bishop Bacon on +behalf of catholic America, and by Cardinal Barnabo, the superior of the +Propaganda, all of them in terms of the most fervent adoration. Each of +the American pupils then advanced with a short poem which he had +composed, or was supposed to have composed, in expression of the emotions +of his heart on this joyful occasion, and requested permission to recite +it. At such a time the best feature in the Pope's character, a sort of +feeble kindliness of nature, was sure to show itself. I cannot but think +indeed that the sight of the young boyish faces, whose words of reverence +might possibly be those of truth and honesty, must have given an unwonted +pleasure to the worn out, harassed, disappointed old man. "The holy +father," I read, "receiving with agitated feelings so many tokens of +homage, was delighted beyond measure." When the English poems were +recited to him, he called out, "can't understand a word, but it seems +good, very good." He spoke to each of the lads in turn, and, when he was +shown the statue of Washington, told them to give a cheer for their +country, to cry _Viva la Patria_ (the very offence, by the way, for which +ten days before he had put his own Roman fellow-countrymen into prison), +and then when the boys cheered, he raised his hands to his ears, and told +them laughingly, they would drive him deaf. Now all this is very +pleasant, or in young-lady parlance, very nice, and I wish, truly, I had +nothing more to tell. I trust, indeed, that the long abstinence from +food (as a priest who is about to celebrate the communion is not allowed +to touch food from midnight till the time when Mass is over, and in these +matters of observance Pius IX. is reputed to be strictly conscientious) +or else the excitement of the scene had been too much for the not very +powerful mind of the Pontiff; otherwise I know not how you can excuse an +aged man, on the brink of the grave, to say nothing of the Vicegerent of +Christ, using such language as he employed. + +"After much affectionate demonstration, the Holy Father could no longer +restrain his lips from speaking, and, turning his penetrating glance +around, spoke as follows," in the words of the _Giornale_: + +"One of the chief objects of the most high Pontiffs has ever been, the +propagation and maintenance of the faith throughout the world. Their +efforts therefore have always been directed towards the establishment of +colleges in this sovereign city, in order that the youth of all nations, +who would have to preach the faith in the different Catholic countries, +might receive their education here. In the foundation then of this new +college, he had only followed in the steps of his illustrious +predecessors. It thus seemed to him that he had rather performed a +simple duty, than an act deserving praise. After his Holiness had +pointed out, what a great blessing the faith was, how indeed it was a +true gift of Heaven, the sole solace and comfort vouchsafed to us +throughout the vicissitudes of fortune, he then expressed his extreme +distress, that in these days, this very faith should be made an especial +object of attack, and added that this fact alone was the cause of his +deep and profound dejection. There is no need, he stated, to refer now, +to the prisons and tortures and persecutions of old, when we are all +witnesses to the onslaught which is now being made against the Catholic +faith and against whosoever seeks to maintain its purity and integrity. +There was no cause however for wonder: such from the cradle had been the +heritage of the faith, which was born and bred amidst persecution and +adversity, and which under the same lot still continues its glorious +progress. The Gospel of the day recalled this truth only too +appropriately; although his Holiness continued in the midst of +persecution, it was his duty only to arm himself with greater courage, +yet the grief of his heart was nevertheless rendered more bitter still, +by beholding that in this very peninsula--so highly privileged by God, +not only endowed with the faith, and with possessing the most august +throne on earth,--that even here, the minds and hearts of men were +hopelessly perverted. No, his fears were not caused by the arms or +armies, or the forces of any power, be it what it might. No, it was not +the loss of temporal dominion, which created in his heart the bitterest +of afflictions. Those who have caused this loss must, alas! bear the +censure of the Church, and must henceforth be given over to the wrath of +God, as long as they refuse to repent, and cast themselves on His loving +mercy. What afflicted and terrified him far more than all this, was the +perversion of all ideas, this fearful evil, the corrupting of all +notions; vice, in truth, is taken for virtue, virtue counted for vice. At +last, in some cities of this unhappy Italy, men have come to make in +truth an apotheosis of the cut-throat and the assassin. Praise and +honour are lavished on the most villainous of men and actions, while at +the same time endurance in the faith and even episcopal resolution in +maintaining the holy rights of that faith, and its provident blessings, +are stigmatized with a strange audacity, by the names of hypocrisy, +fanaticism, and perversion of religion. He then went on to say, that +now, more than ever, it was high time to take vengeance in the name of +God, and that the vengeance of the priesthood and the Vicariate of Christ +Jesus consisted solely in prayer and supplication, that all might be +converted and live. That, moreover, the chief of all these evils was +only too truly the corruption of the heart and the perversion of the +intellect, and that this evil could only be overcome by the greatest of +miracles, which must be wrought by God and interceded from him by prayer. +After this, the Holy Father, in language which seemed inspired, as though +he were raised out of himself, exhorted all present, and especially the +young men destined to carry the faith to their distant countries." + +Even amongst the audience, who all belonged more or less to the Papal +faction, the intemperate and injudicious character of this speech, +delivered in the presence of the French commander-in-chief, and the +allusions which could not but be intended for the Emperor Napoleon, +Cavour, and Victor Emmanuel, created great consternation, and was but +coldly received. The _Giornale_ however reports, that "where his +Holiness, with agitated voice, bestowed his apostolic benediction, awe +and admiration could be read on every countenance; all hearts beat aloud; +and no eyelid was left dry. The whole assembly pressing forward, bent in +turn before the august personage, touching, some his hands and some his +dress, while others again cast themselves at his feet, in order to +impress thereon a reverent and affectionate kiss." + +After having examined the building, the Pope went on foot to the +neighbouring convent of the Augustine nuns, called "The Convent of the +Virgins," the whole of the religious community were "permitted to kiss +the sacred foot," and then "having comforted the virgins with paternal +and loving words," he returned to the Vatican, past the files of French +troops, through the beggar-crowded streets, amidst cold, sullen glances +and averted obeisances, back to his dreary palace, there to wait wearily +for orders from Paris. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE CARNIVAL SENZA MOCCOLO. + + +There are things in the world which allow of no description, and of such +things a true Roman carnival is one. You might as well seek to analyze +champagne, or expound the mystery of melody, or tell why a woman pleases +you. The strange web of colour, beauty, mirth, wit, and folly, is +tangled so together that common hands cannot unravel it. To paint a +carnival without blotching, to touch it without destroying, is an art +given unto few, I almost might say to none, save to our own wondrous word- +wizard, who dreamt the "dream of Venice," and told it waking. For my own +part, the only branch of art to which, even as a child, I ever took +kindly, was the humble one of tracing upon gritting glass, with a grating +pencil, hard outlines of coarse sketches squeezed tight against the +window-pane. After the manner in which I used to draw, I have since +sought to write; for such a picture-frame then as mine, the airy, +baseless fabric of an Italian revel is no fitting subject, and had the +Roman Carnival for 1860 been even as other carnivals are, I should have +left it unrecorded. It has been my lot, however, to witness such a +carnival as has not been seen at Rome before, and is not likely to be +seen again. In the decay of creeds and the decline of dynasties there +appear from time to time signs which, like the writing on the wall, +proclaim the coming change, and amongst these signs our past Carnival is, +if I err not, no unimportant one. While then the memory of the scene is +fresh upon me, let me seek to tell what I have seen and heard. The +question whether we were to have a Carnival at all, remained long +doubtful; the usual time for issuing the regulations had long passed, and +no edict had appeared; strange reports were spread and odd stories +circulated. Our rulers were, it seems, equally afraid of having a +carnival and not having it; and with their wonted wisdom decided on the +middle course, of having a carnival which was not a carnival at all. One +week before the first of the eight fete-days, the long-delayed edict was +posted on the walls; the festival was to be celebrated as usual, except +that no masks were to be allowed; false beards and moustaches, or any +attempt to disguise the features, were strictly forbidden. Political +allusions, or cries of any kind, were placed under the same ban; crowds +were to disperse at a moment's notice, and prompt obedience was to be +rendered to any injunction of the police. Subject to these slight +restraints, the wild revel and the joyous licence of the Carnival was to +rule unbridled. In the words of a Papal writer in the government gazette +of Venice: "The festival is to be celebrated in full vigour, except that +no masks are allowed, as the fashion for them has lately gone out. There +will be, however, disguises and fancy dresses, confetti, bouquets, races, +moccoletti, public and private balls, and, in short, every amusement of +the Carnival time." What more could be required by a happy and contented +people? Somehow, the news does not seem to be received with any +extraordinary rejoicing; a group of idlers gaze at the decree and pass +on, shrugging their shoulders listlessly. Along the Corso notice-boards +are hung out of balconies to let, but the notices grow mildewed, and the +balconies remain untaken. The carriage-drivers don't pester you, as in +former years, to engage them for the Carnival; and the fancy dresses +exposed in the shop-windows are shabby and few in number. There is no +appearance of unnecessary excitement; but "still waters run deep;" and in +order to restrain any possible exuberance of feeling, on the very night +before the Carnival the French general issues a manifesto. "To prevent +painful occurrences," so run General Guyon's orders, "the officer +commanding each detachment of troops which may have to act against a +crowd, shall himself, or through a police-officer, make it a summons to +disperse. After this warning the crowd must disperse instantly, without +noise or cries, if it does not wish to see force employed." Still no +doubts are entertained of the brilliancy of the Carnival; the Romans (so +at least their rulers say, and who should know them better?) will enjoy +themselves notwithstanding; the Carnival is their great holiday, the one +week of pleasure counted on the long, dull year through, and no power on +earth, still less no abstract consideration, will keep them from the +Corso revels. From old time, all that they have ever cared for are the +_panem et circenses_; and the Carnival gives them both. It is the Roman +harvest-time, when the poor gather in their gleanings. Flower-sellers, +vendors of confetti, hawkers of papers, letters-out of chairs and +benches, itinerant minstrels, perambulating cigar-merchants, pedlars, +beggars, errand-boys, and a hundred other obscure traders, pick up, +heaven knows how! enough in Carnival time to tide them over the dead +summer-season. So both necessity and pleasure, want and luxury, will +combine to swell the crowd; and the pageant will be gay enough for the +Vatican to say that its faithful subjects are loyal and satisfied. + +The day opens drearily, chilly, and damp and raw, with a feeble sun +breaking through the lowering clouds; soon after noon the streets begin +to fill with soldiers. Till this year the Corso used to be guarded, and +the files of carriages kept in order, by the Italian pontifical dragoons, +the most warlike-looking of parade regiments I have ever seen. Last +spring, however, when the war broke out, these bold dragoons grew ashamed +of their police duties, and began to ride across the frontier without +leave or license, to fight in behalf of Italy. The whole regiment, in +fact, was found to be so disaffected that it was disbanded without delay, +and at present there are only some score or so left, who ride close +behind the Pope when he goes out "unattended," as his partisans profess. +So the dragoons having disappeared, the duty of keeping order is given to +the French soldiers. There are soldiers ranged everywhere: along the +street pavements there is one long line of blue overcoats and red +trousers and oil-skin flowerpot hats covering the short, squat, small- +made soldiers of the 40th Foot regiment, whose fixed bayonets gleam +brightly in the rare sun-light intervals. At every piazza there are +detachments stationed; their muskets are stacked in rows on the ground, +and the men stand ready to march at the word of order. In every side- +street sentinels are posted. From time to time orderlies gallop past. +Ever and anon you hear the rub-a-dub of the drums, as new detachments +pass on towards the Corso. The head-quarters at the Piazza Colonna are +crowded with officers coming and going, and the whole French troops off +duty seem to have received orders to crowd the Corso, where they stroll +along in knots of three or four, alone and unnoticed by the crowd around +them. The heavy guns boom forth from the Castle of St Angelo, and the +Carnival has begun. + +Gradually and slowly the street fills. One day is so like another that +to see one is to have seen all. The length of the Corso there saunters +listlessly an idle, cloak-wrapt, hands-in-pocket-wearing, cigar-smoking, +shivering crowd, composed of French soldiers and the rif-raff of Rome, +the proportion being one of the former to every two or three of the +latter. The balconies, which grow like mushrooms on the fronts of every +house, in all out-of-the-way places and positions, are every now and then +adorned with red hangings. These balconies and the windows are scantily +filled with shabbily-dressed persons, who look on the scene below as +spectators, not as actors. At rare intervals a carriage passes. The +chances are that its occupants are English or Americans. On the most +crowded day there are, perhaps, at one time, fifty carriages in all, of +which more than half belong to the _forestieri_. Indeed, if it were not +for our Anglo-Saxon countrymen, there would be no carnival at all. We +don't contribute much, it is true, to the brilliancy of the _coup d'oeil_. +Our gentlemen are in the shabbiest of coats and seediest of hats, while +our ladies wear grey cloaks, and round, soup-plate bonnets. However, if +we are not ornamental, we are useful. We pelt each other with a hearty +vigour, and discharge volleys of _confetti_ at every window where a fair +English face appears. The poor luckless nosegay or sugar-plum boys look +upon us as their best friends, and follow our carriages with importunate +pertinacity. Fancy dresses of any kind are few. There are one or two +very young men--English, I suspect,--dressed as Turks, or Greeks, or +pirates, after Highbury Barn traditions, looking cold and uncomfortable. +Half a dozen tumble-down carriages represent the Roman element. They are +filled with men disguised as peasant-women, and _vice versa_; but, +whether justly or unjustly, they are supposed to be chartered for the +show by the Government, and attract small comment or notice. Amongst the +foot-crowd, with the exception of a stray foreigner, there is not a well- +dressed person to be seen. The fun is of the most dismal character. Boys +with bladders whack each other on the back, and jump upon each other's +shoulders. Harlequins and clowns--shabby, spiritless, and unmasked--grin +inanely in your face, and seem to be hunting after a joke they can never +find. A quack doctor, or a man in crinoline, followed by a nigger +holding an umbrella over his head, or a swell with pasteboard collars, +and a chimney-pot on his head, pass from time to time and shout to the +bystanders, but receive no answer. Give them a wide berth, for they are +spies, and bad company. The one great amusement is pelting a black hat, +the glossier the better. After a short time even this pleasure palls, +and, moreover, victims grow scarce, for the crowd, contrary to the run of +Italian crowds, is an ill-bred, ill-conditioned one, and take to throw +nosegays weighted with stones, which hurt and cut. So the long three +hours, from two to five, pass drearily. Up and down the Corso, in a +broken, straggling line, amidst feeble showers of chalk (not sugar) +plums, and a drizzle of penny posies to the sound of one solitary band, +the crowd sways to and fro. At last the guns boom again. Then the score +of dragoons--of whom one may truly say, in the words of Tennyson's +"Balaclava Charge," that they are "all that are left of--not the 'twelve' +hundred"--come trotting down the Corso from the Piazza del Popolo. With +a quick shuffling march the French troops pass along the street, and form +in file, pushing back the crowd to the pavements. With drawn swords and +at full gallop the dragoons ride back through the double line. Then +there is a shout, or rather a long murmur. All faces are turned up the +street, and half a dozen broken-kneed, riderless, terror-struck shaggy +ponies with numbers chalked on them, and fluttering trappings of pins and +paper stuck into their backs, run past in straggling order. Where they +started you see a crowd standing round one of the grooms who held them, +and who is lying maimed and stunned upon the ground, and you wonder at +the unconcern with which the accident is treated. Another gun sounds. +The troops form to clear the street, the crowd disperses, and the +Carnival is over for the day. A message is sent to the Vatican, to +inform the Pope that the festival has been most brilliant, and along the +telegraphic wires the truth is flashed to Paris that the day has passed +without an outbreak. + +On the last day of the Carnival the Porto Pia road was full as usual, and +the Corso filled as usual with soldiers, and spies, and rabble. An order +was published, that any person appearing out of the Corso with lighted +tapers would be arrested, and therefore the idea of an evening +demonstration outside the gates was dropped. Not all the efforts, +however, of the police could light the Moccoletti in the Corso. House +after house, window after window, were left unlighted. The crowd in the +streets carried no candles, and there were only sixteen carriages or so, +all filled with strangers. Of all the dreary sights I have ever +witnessed that Moccoletti illumination was the dreariest. At rare +intervals, and in English accents, you heard the cry of "Senza Moccolo," +which used to burst from every mouth as the tiny flames flickered, and +glared, and fell. Before the sight was half over the spectators began to +leave, and while I pushed my way through the dispersing crowds, I could +still hear the faint cry of "Senza Moccolo." As the sound still died +away, the cry still haunted me; and in my recollection, the Carnival of +1860 will ever remain as the dullest and dismalest of Carnivals--the +Carnival without mirth, or sun, or gaiety--the Carnival Senza Moccolo. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. ROMAN DEMONSTRATIONS. THE PIAZZA COLONNA CROWDS. THE +PORTA PIA MEETINGS. THE ANTI-SMOKE MOVEMENT. + + +Straws show which way the wind blows, and so, though the straws +themselves are valueless, yet as indications of what is coming, their +motions are worth noting. It is thus that I judge of the series of +demonstrations which marked the spring of this year in Rome, and which +ended in the outrage of St Joseph's day. Of themselves they were less +than worthless, but as tokens of the future they possess a value of their +own. In recent Papal history they form a strange page. Let me note +their features briefly, as I wrote of them at the time. + + + +January 28. + + +At last there is a break in the dull uniformity of Roman life.--There is +a ripple on the waters, whether the precursor of a tempest, or to be +followed by a dead calm, it is hard to tell. Meanwhile it is some gain +at any rate, that the old corpse-like city should show signs of life, +however transient. Feeble as those symptoms are, let us make the most of +them. + +Since the Imperial occupation of Rome, the building in the Piazza +Colonna, which old Roman travellers remember as the abode of the Post +Office, has been confiscated to the service of the French army. It +forms, in fact, a sort of military head-quarter. All the bureaux of the +different departments of the service are to be found here. The office of +the electric telegraph is contained under the same roof, and the front +windows of the town-hall-looking building, lit up so brightly and so late +at night, are those of the French military "circle." The Piazza Colonna, +where stands the column of Mark Antony, opens out of the Corso, and is +perhaps the most central position in all Rome. At the corner is the +cafe, monopolized by the French non-commissioned officers; and next door +is the great French bookseller's. + +Altogether the Piazza and its vicinity is the French _quartier_ of Rome. +At seven o'clock every evening, the detachments who are to be on guard, +during the night, at the different military posts, are drawn up in front +of the said building, receive the pass-word, and then, headed by the +drums and fifes, march off to their respective stations. Every Sunday +and Thursday evening too, at this hour, the French band plays for a short +time in the Piazza. Generally, this ceremony passes off in perfect +quiet, and in truth attracts as little attention from bystanders as our +file of guardsmen passing on their daily round from Charing Cross to the +Tower. On Sunday evening last, a considerable crowd, numbering, as far +as I can learn, some two or three thousand persons, chiefly men and boys, +assembled round the band, and as the patrols marched off down the Corso, +and towards the Castle of Saint Angelo, followed them with shouts of +"Viva l'Italia," "Viva Napoleone," and, most ominous of all, "Viva +Cavour." As soon as the patrols had passed the crowd dispersed, and +there was, apparently, an end of the matter. The next night poured with +rain, with such a rain as only Rome can supply; and yet, in spite of the +rain, a good number of people collected to see the guard march off, and +again a few seditious or patriotic cries (the two terms are here +synonymous) were heard. Such things in Italy, and in Rome especially, +are matters of grave importance, and the Government was evidently +alarmed. Contrary to general expectation, and I suspect to the hopes of +the clerical party, the French general has issued no notice, as he did +last year, forbidding these demonstrations. However, the patrols have +been much increased, and great numbers of the Pontifical gendarmes have +been brought into the city. On Tuesday night the Papal police made +several arrests, and a report was spread by the priests that the French +troops had orders to fire at once, if any attempt was made to create +disturbance. On the same night, too, there was a demonstration at the +Apollo. I have heard, from several quarters, that on some of the +Pontifical soldiers entering the house, the whole audience left the +theatre, with very few exceptions. However, in this city one gets to +have a cordial sympathy with the unbelieving Thomas, and not having been +present at the theatre myself, I cannot endorse the story. + +Last night I strolled down the Corso to see the guard pass. The street +was very full, at least full for Rome, where the streets seem empty at +their fullest, and numerous groups of men were standing on the door-steps +and at the shop windows. Mounted patrols passed up and down the street, +and wherever there seemed the nucleus of a crowd forming, knots of the +Papal _sbirri_, with their long cloaks and cocked hats pressed over their +eyes, and furtive hang-dog looking countenances, elbowed their way +unopposed and apparently unnoticed. In the square itself there were a +hundred men or so, chiefly, I should judge, strangers or artists, a group +of young ragamuffins, who had climbed upon the pedestals of the columns, +and seemed actuated only by the curiosity natural to the boy genus, and a +very large number of French soldiers, who, at first sight, looked merely +loiterers. The patrol, of perhaps four hundred men, stood drawn up under +arms, waiting for the word to march. Gradually one perceived that the +crowds of soldiers who loitered about without muskets were not mere +spectators. Almost imperceptibly they closed round the patrol, pushed +back by the bystanders not in uniform, and then retreated, forming a +clear ring for the guard to move in. There was no pushing, no hustling, +no cries of any kind. After a few minutes the drums and fifes struck up, +the drum-major whirled his staff round in the air, the ring of soldier- +spectators parted, driving the crowd back on either side, and through the +clear space thus formed the patrol marched up the square, divided into +two columns, one going to the right, and the other to the left, and so +passed down the length of the Corso. The crowd made no sign, and raised +no shout as the troops went by, and only looked on in sullen silence. In +fact, the sole opinion I heard uttered was that of a French private, who +formed one of the ring, and who remarked to his comrade that this duty of +theirs was _sacre nom de chien de metier_, a remark in which I could not +but coincide. As soon as the patrol had passed, the crowd retreated into +the cafes or the back-streets, and in half-an-hour the Corso was as empty +as usual, and was left to the _sbirri_, who passed up and down slowly and +silently. Even in the small side-streets, which lead from the Corso to +the English quarters, I met knots of the Papal police accompanied by +French soldiers, and the suspicious scrutinizing glance they cast upon +you as you passed showed clearly enough they were out on business. + + + +18 February. + + +The present has been a week of demonstrations, both Papal and anti-Papal. +Last Thursday was the Giovedi Grasso, the great people's day of the +carnival. In other years, from an early hour in the afternoon, there is +a constant stream of carriages and foot-passengers setting from all parts +of Rome towards the Corso. The back-streets and the ordinary promenades +are almost deserted. The delight of the Romans in the carnival is so +notorious, that persons long resident in Rome possessed the strongest +conviction beforehand, that no human power could ever keep the natives +from the Corso upon Thursday. The day, unlike its predecessors, was +brilliantly bright. The Corso was decked out as gaily as hangings and +awnings could make it. The sellers of bouquets and "confetti" were at +their posts. A number of carriages were sent down filled with adherents +of the Government, dressed in carnival attire, to act as decoy-ducks. All +officials were required to take part in the festivities. The influence +of the priests was exerted to beat up carnival recruits amongst their +flocks, and yet the people obstinately declined coming. The revel was +ready, but the revellers were wanting. The stiff-necked Romans were not +content with stopping away, but insisted on going elsewhere. By one of +those tacit understandings, which are always the characteristic of a +country without public life or liberty, a place of rendezvous was fixed +upon. Without notice or proclamation of any kind, everybody knew +somehow, though how, nobody could tell, that the road beyond the Porta +Pia was the place where people were to meet on the day in question. The +spot was appropriate on various grounds. Along the Via Nomentana, which +leaves Rome through this gate, lies the Mons Sacer, whither the Plebs of +old seceded from the city, to escape from the tyranny of their rulers. +The gate too, which was commenced by Michael Angelo, was completed by the +present Pontiff, and there is an irony dear to an Italian's mind in the +idea of choosing the Porta Pia for the egress of a demonstration against +the Pope Pius. Perhaps, after all, the fact that the road is one of the +sunniest and pleasantest near Rome may have had more to do with its +selection than any abstract considerations. Be the cause what it may, +one fact is certain, that from the time when the Corso ought to have been +filling, a multitude of carriages and holiday-dressed people set out +towards the Porta Pia. The Giovedi Grasso is a feast-day in Rome, and +all the shops are shut, and their owners at liberty. All Rome, in +consequence, seemed to be wending towards the Porta Pia. From the gate +to the convent of St Agnese, a distance of about a mile, there was a long +string of carriages, chiefly hired vehicles, but filled with well-dressed +persons. As far as I could judge, the number of private and aristocratic +conveyances was small. The prince of Piombino, who is married to one of +the half-English Borghese princesses, was the only Roman nobleman I heard +of, as being amongst the crowd. But if the nobility were not present on +the Via Nomentana, they were equally absent from the Corso. The +footpaths were thronged with a dense file of orderly respectable people. +There were, perhaps, half-a-dozen carriages, the owners of which had some +sort of carnival-dress on, but that was all. There were no cries, no +throwing of confetti, no demonstration of feeling, except in the very +fact of the assemblage. As far as I could guess from my own observation, +there were about 6000 people present, and from 400 to 500 carriages; +though persons who ought to be well informed have told me that there were +double these numbers. No attempt at interference was made on the part of +the French. There were but few French soldiers about, and what there +were, were evidently mere spectators. Pontifical gendarmes passed along +the road at frequent intervals, and, not being able to arrest a +multitude, consoled themselves with the small piece of tyranny of closing +the _osterias_, which, both in look and character, bear a strong +resemblance to our London tea-gardens, and are a favourite resort of +thirsty and dusty pedestrians. The crowd, nevertheless, remained +perfectly orderly and peaceful, and as soon as the carnival-time was +over, returned quietly to the city. As I came back from the gate I +passed through the Corso just before the course was cleared for the +races. I have never seen in Italy a rabble like that collected in the +street. The crowd was much such a one as you will sometimes meet, and +avoid, in the low purlieus of London on Guy Faux day. Carriages there +were, some forty in all, chiefly English. One hardly met a single +respectable-looking person, except foreigners, in the crowd; and I own I +was not sorry when I reached my destination, and got clear of the mob. +Yet the report of the police of the Pope was, that the carnival was +_brilliante, e brilliantissimo_. + +On the following day (Friday) much the same sort of demonstration took +place in the Corso. There being no carnival, the whole street, from the +Piazza del Popolo to the Capitol, was filled with a line of carriages, +going and returning at a foot's pace. The balconies and windows were +filled with spectators, and the rabble of the previous day was replaced +by the same quiet, decent crowd I had seen at the Porta Pia. The +carriages, from some cause or other, were more aristocratic in +appearance; while the number of spectators was much smaller--probably +because it was a working day, and not a "festa." By seven o'clock the +assemblage dispersed, and the street was empty. Meanwhile, Friday +afternoon was chosen for the time of a counter-demonstration at the +Vatican. All the English Roman Catholics sojourning in Rome received +notice that it was proposed to present an address to the Pope, condoling +with him in his afflictions. Cardinal Wiseman was the chief promoter, +and framed the address. Many Roman Catholics, I understand, abstained +from going, because they were not aware what the terms of the address +might be, and how far the sentiments expressed in it might be consistent +with their position as English subjects. The demonstration outwardly was +not a very imposing one; about fifty cabs and one-horse vehicles drove up +at three o'clock to the Vatican, and altogether some 150 persons, men, +women, and children, of English extraction, mustered together as +representatives of Catholic England. The address was read by Cardinal +Wiseman, expressing in temperate terms enough the sympathy of the meeting +for the tribulations which had befallen his Holiness. The bearing of the +Pope, so his admirers state, was calm, dignified, and resolute. As +however, I have heard this statement made on every occasion of his +appearance in public, I am disposed to think it was much what it usually +is--the bearing of a good-natured, not over-wise, and somewhat shaky old +man. In reply to the address, he stated that "if it was the will of God +that chastisement should be inflicted upon his Church, he, as His vicar, +however unworthy, must taste of the chalice;" and that, "as becomes all +Christians, knowing that though we cannot penetrate the motives of God, +yet that He in his wisdom permits nothing without an ulterior object, we +may safely trust that this object must be good." All persons present +then advanced and kissed the Pope's hand, or foot, if the ardour of their +devotion was not contented by kissing the hand alone. When this +presentation was over, the Pope requested the company to kneel, and then +prayed in Italian for the spiritual welfare of England, calling her the +land of the saints, and alluding to the famous _Non Angli, sed angeli_. +He exhorted all present "to look forward to the good time when justice +and mercy should meet and embrace each other as brothers;" and finally, +with faltering voice, and tears rolling down his cheeks, gave his +apostolical benediction. Of course, if you can shut your eyes to facts, +all this is very pretty and sentimental. If the Romans could be happy +enough to possess the constitution of Thibet, and have a spiritual and a +temporal Grand Llama, they could not have fixed on a more efficient +candidate for the former post than the present Pope; but the crowds of +French soldiers which lined the streets to coerce the chosen people, +formed a strange comment on the value of pontifical piety. It is too +true that the better the Pope the worse the ruler. Probably the +thousands of Romans who thronged the Corso knew more about the blessings +of the Papal sway than the few score strangers, who volunteered to pay +the homage to the Sovereign of Rome which the Romans refuse to render. + +To-day the demonstration was repeated on the Porta Pia; and the Vatican, +indignant at its powerlessness to suppress these symptoms of +disaffection, is anxious to stir up the crowd to some overt act of +insurrection, which may justify or, at any rate, palliate the employment +of violent measures. So in order to incense the crowd, the public +executioner was sent out in a cart guarded by gendarmes to excite some +active expression of anger on the part of the mob. It is hard for us to +understand the feeling with which the Italians, and especially the +Romans, regard the _carnefice_. He is always a condemned murderer, whose +life is spared on condition of his assuming the hated office, and, except +on duty, he is never allowed to leave the quarter of St Angelo, where he +dwells, as otherwise his life would be sacrificed to the indignation of +the crowd, who regard his presence as a contamination. + +The poor fellow looked sheepish and frightened enough, as he patrolled +slowly with his escort up and down the crowded Porta Pia thoroughfare; +but even this insult failed to effect its object. The device was too +transparent for an Italian crowd not to detect it, and the ill-omened +_cortege_ of the "Pope's representative," as the Romans styled the +executioner, passed by without any comment. + + + +MARCH 7. + + +The system of silent legal opposition which was carried on formerly at +Milan, and now at Venice, is being organised here against the Papal rule. +By one of those mystical compacts to which I have before alluded, it has +been resolved to suppress smoking and lottery-gambling. Our +anti-tobacconists, or our moral reformers, must not suppose that the +Romans have suddenly become alive to the iniquity of either of these +pursuits. I wish, indeed, with regard to the latter, I could +conscientiously assert that the Liberal faction had decreed its +extinction from any conviction of the degradation and corruption +inflicted by it upon their country. I fear, however, from the extent to +which lotteries are still encouraged by the Tuscan Government, that such +is not the case. The reason of the movement is, indeed, a very simple +and material one. From the lotteries and the tobacco monopoly the +government derives a very large part of its revenues, and a part, too, +which does not excite unpopularity in the same way as direct taxation. +Any extinction, therefore, or indeed any serious diminution of these +sources of revenue, would place the Holy See in great difficulties. The +profits on the lottery go directly into the pockets of the Government, +who are also supplied with very extensive and important patronage by the +vast number of petty posts which the system employed for collecting +tickets places at their disposal. The tobacco monopoly is farmed out to +a company, on whom any loss would fall in the first instance; but if the +abstention from tobacco were continued long, the Government would soon +feel the effects, through the inability of the company to keep up their +present rate of payment. + +Whether rightly or wrongly, an attempt to cut off the funds of the Papal +exchequer in this manner is certainly being made. Strangers, of course, +are not interfered with; but Italians are warned at the doors of the +cigar-shops and the lottery-offices not to enter and buy. The sudden +diminution in the number of people you meet smoking in the streets is +quite remarkable, and, I am sure, would strike any observer who had never +heard of the movement. There have been already several disturbances +between smokers and non-smokers. The story goes, that in a quarrel +arising out of this subject, a man was stabbed in the street the night +before last; but in Rome it is almost impossible to make out the truth in +a matter of this kind. At several lottery-offices gendarmes have been +placed to hinder purchasers of tickets from being molested; and a bitter +feeling seems growing up on every side. How long the Romans may have +strength of mind enough to abstain from their favourite amusements of +smoking and gambling, it is impossible to say; but since I witnessed +their resolute abstention from the delights of the Carnival, I think +better of their courage than I did before. + +On Sunday evening, when the great promenade takes place along the Corso, +where, a week ago, there was hardly a male mouth without a cigar or +cheroot or cigarette inserted in it, I only noticed four smokers in the +Corso crowd, and they were all foreigners. The practice is suppressed +not only in the streets but in the cafes. For the benefit of the weaker +brethren, who cannot screw up their patriotism to total abstinence, pipes +are allowed, as the Government profit on tobacco is very small compared +with that on cigars. The Italians, however, are not much of +pipe-smokers, and the tobacconists are in despair at the total absence of +customers. Of course, the partisans of the Government prophesy that the +movement will end in smoke, but at present the laugh is on the other +side. + + + +March 10. + + +The Society for the Suppression of Smoking, who by the way send their +tracts to the reading-rooms here, of all places in the world, will regret +to learn that the Roman Anti-Tobacco Crusade is to expire on and after +Sunday next. The leaders of the liberal party have, I think, acted +wisely in contenting themselves with an exhibition of their union and +power and then withdrawing from the contest. The loss to the Government +by the discontinuance of smoking was only an indirect and eventual one; +on the other hand, the company, who farm the Tobacco monopoly, would have +been ruined by the progress of the movement, and had already been obliged +to dismiss a large proportion of their work-people. The tobacconists and +street-hawkers of cigars were deprived of their livelihood, and the +misery and consequent ill-will created amongst the poor of Rome by +keeping up the prohibition would have been serious. Then, too, perhaps +it was thought advisable not to impose too heavy a trial on patriotic +ardour. Smoke is meat and drink to a Roman, his first care in the +morning, his occupation by day, and his last thought at night. Yet you +may truly say, that during the time of its prohibition the whole city +willingly gave up smoking. If, in order to testify political +dissatisfaction, the whole of London were to leave off beer-drinking by +private agreement, the expression of feeling would be hardly a more +remarkable one. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE EMEUTE OF ST JOSEPH'S DAY. + + +The feast of San Giuseppe is the only _festa_ day in Lent, when the +Romans eat fried fish in honour of the occasion,--St Joseph alone knows +why. Henceforth the day will have other and less pleasing associations. +The garland-wreathed stalls, with the open ovens and the frizzling +fritters, were reared as usual at every corner; the shops were closed; +the _osterias_ were full; the streets were crowded with holiday-people in +holiday-attire, and the day was warm and bright like an early summer-day +in England, though it was only the 19th of March. The news of the +Romagna elections, with their overwhelming majority in favour of +annexation to Sardinia, had been just received in Rome with general +exultation. No doubt the festive appearance which marked the city +throughout the day was not altogether accidental, but was meant for, and +regarded as, an expression of public sympathy with the revolted +provinces. St Joseph happens to be the patron saint of the two great +Italian popular heroes, Garibaldi and Mazzini, and a demonstration on +this day was therefore considered to be in honour of the Three Josephs, +the Saint and his two proteges. It was known generally that the +adherents of the Liberal party would muster, as usual, on the Porta Pia +road, and that the more courageous partizans of the popular cause would +be distinguished by wearing a violet in their button-holes. + +The Government had, it seems, decided that even these tacit expressions +of disaffection must be suppressed at all costs. With a happy irony of +cruelty which appears to distinguish a priestly despotism above every +other, the holiday of St Joseph was chosen as the opportunity for +striking terror into the hearts of the disloyal Romans; and as the policy +which sent out the executioner to excite the populace had not been +crowned with its coveted success, it was resolved to create a collision +between the police and the people. In the morning, five Roman gentlemen +of position and fortune, suspected of sympathy with the liberal cause, +received notice that they were exiled from the Papal States, and must +leave the city within twenty-four hours. Amongst these gentlemen was St +Angeli, who, not long ago, was arrested and imprisoned without charge or +trial, and who was but lately released on the remonstrance of the French +authorities. There was also Count Silverstrelli, a brother of the +gentleman of that name so well known to English sportsmen at Rome. The +news of these arrests did not check the proposed demonstration. Towards +four o'clock a considerable number of carriages and persons on foot +assembled outside the gates on the Via Nomentana; some patrols, however, +of French soldiers were found to be stationed along the road; and as it +is the great object of the liberal leaders at Rome to avoid any +possibility even of collision between the people and the French troops, +it was resolved to adjourn the place of assemblage to the Corso. Whether +this was a thought suggested on the moment, or whether it was the result +of a preconcerted plan, is a mooted question not likely to be decided; +the resolution, however come to, was acted on at once. Neither here, nor +elsewhere, I may observe, was there anything of a tumultuous crowd, or +the slightest apparent approach to agitation on the part of the +multitude. All a spectator could observe was, that the carriages turned +homewards somewhat nearer to the gates than usual, and that the stream of +people who sauntered idly along the footpath, as on any other _festa_ +day, set out earlier than they are wont to do on their return to the +city. + +About six o'clock the crowd from the Porta Pia had reassembled in the +Corso. Six o'clock is always the fullest time in that street; private +carriages are coming back from the Pincio promenade, and strangers are +driving back to their hotels from the rounds of sight-seeing. The Corso, +without doubt, was unusually and densely crowded; the footpaths swarmed +with passengers, and, what was peculiarly galling to the Government, +after the failure of the Carnival, there was a double line of +aristocratic carriages passing up and down; still everything was +perfectly peaceable and orderly. At the hour of the _Ave Maria_ the +crowd was at its fullest, and this was the time selected for the outrage. +In a scene of general terror and confusion it is impossible to ascertain +exact details of the order in which events occurred, but I believe the +following account is fairly exact. + +There were a great number of the Pontifical police, or _sbirri_, as the +Romans call them, scattered in knots of two or three about the Corso; +there were also several mounted patrols of the Papal gendarmes. The +police did everything in their power to excite the people, hustled the +crowd in every direction, used the most opprobrious epithets, and pushed +their way along with insulting gestures. There are various stories +afloat as to the immediate cause of the outbreak; one, that as a patrol +passed the crowd hissed; another, that a cry was heard of "Viva Vittorio +Emmanuele!" and a third, the Papal version, that on a young man of the +name of Barberi being asked by a gendarme why he wore a violet flower on +his coat, he answered rudely, and, on the officer trying to arrest him, +his comrades pulled him away. All stories agree, that the provocation to +the police was given in the Piazza Colonna; and the disturbance, if any, +was so trivial, that a friend of mine, who was on the spot at the time, +perceived nothing of it, and only fancies he heard a murmur as the police +rode by. The provocation, whatever it was, was sufficient as a pretext +for the premeditated outrage. The _sbirri_ drew their swords, and +slashing right and left, charged the dense crowds of men, women and +children. The word was given, and a band of some twenty Papal dragoons, +who had been drawn up hard by at the Monte Citorio, waiting under arms +for the signal, galloped down the Corso, clearing their way with drawn +swords. The _sbirri_ along the street pulled out their cutlass-knives; +the dragoons rode on the footway, and struck out at the carriages filled +with ladies as they passed by, while the police ran a-muck (I can use no +other word) amongst the terror-stricken crowd. The cries of the crushed +and wounded, the terror of the women, and the savage, brutal fury of the +police, added to the panic and confusion of the scene. Not the slightest +attempt at resistance was made by the unarmed crowd; in a few minutes the +Corso was cleared as if by magic, and order reigned in Rome. + +Short as the time was, the havoc wrought was very considerable. Nearer +two than one hundred persons were injured in all. Of course the greater +number of these persons were not actually wounded, but crushed, or +stunned, or thrown down. There was no respect of persons in the use made +of their swords by the police. Three French officers of the 40th, who +were in plain clothes amongst the crowd, were cut down and severely +wounded. An Irish gentleman, the brother of the member for Fermanagh, +narrowly escaped a sabre-cut by dodging behind a pillar. The son of +Prince Piombino was pursued by a gendarme beneath the gateway of his own +palace, and only got off with his hat slit right in two. Persons were +hunted down by the soldiery even out of the Corso. One gentleman, an +Italian, was chased up the Via Condotti by a dragoon with his sword +drawn, and saved himself from a sabre-cut by taking refuge in a passage. +Some of the dragoons rode down the Via Ripetta, when they had come to the +top of the Corso, and cut down a woman who was passing by. As soon as +the Corso was cleared, the gendarmes went into the different cafes along +the street, and ordered all persons, who were found in them, to go home +at once. In one case an infirm old man, who could not make off fast +enough, had his face cut open by a sabre-blow; while the backs of the +gendarmes' swords were used plentifully to expedite the departure of the +cafe frequenters. The exact number of wounded it is of course impossible +to ascertain. Persons who received injuries were afraid to show +themselves, and still more to call attention to their injuries, for fear +of being arrested for disaffection and immured in prison. If I believed +the stories I heard on good authority and on most positive assurance, I +should put down the number of persons who died from wounds or injuries +received during the melee at from twelve to fifteen. Still, long +experience has led me to place very little reliance on any Roman story I +cannot test; and I am bound to say, I could not sift any one of these +stories to the bottom. On the other hand, this fact by no means causes +me to disbelieve that fatal injuries may have been received. The extreme +difficulty, if not impossibility, of obtaining true information on such a +point may be realized from the circumstance, that a government official +was, within my knowledge, dismissed from his post for merely visiting one +of the victims who had been wounded by the police. By all accounts, even +by that of the Papal partizans, the number of severe injuries inflicted +was very considerable; indeed it is impossible it should have been +otherwise, when one considers that along a street so crowded that the +carriages could only move at a foot's pace, the gendarmes on horse and +foot charged recklessly, cutting at every one they could reach. In my +statement, however, of the casualties, I have sought to assert, not what +I believe, but only what (as far as one can speak with certainty of what +one did not actually see) I know to be the truth. + +The worst part of the whole story, in my opinion, was the subsequent +conduct of the Government. These outrages, which might have been excused +as the result of an unforeseen disturbance, obtained in cold blood the +deliberate sanction of the Vatican. The Papal gendarmes received the +personal acknowledgments of the Pope for their conduct. The six horsemen +who distinguished themselves by clearing the Piazza Colonna were promoted +for their services, and all the police on duty that day received extra +pay. With unusual promptitude, in fact not more than a week after the +event, the _Giornale di Roma_ contained an official statement of the +occurrence. After alleging that hitherto they had considered the +unpleasant event of too small importance to deserve notice, they proceed +to give the following narrative. + + "On Monday, the 19th instant, in the course of the afternoon, the + revolutionary faction proposed to make a demonstration in the Corso + against the Pontifical Government, by an assemblage of persons hired + for the express purpose. On the discovery of these designs, fitting + arrangements were made in concert with the French police; and the + French troops, as well as the Papal gendarmes, were drawn up, so that + in case of need they might suppress any disturbance whatever. + + "In fact, about five o'clock in the afternoon crowds were formed in + the streets, directed by leaders, and amongst these leaders were two + hide-tanners, whom the gendarmes arrested with promptitude. The + crowd, thus raked together, then began to hoot at and insult the + gendarmes, and at last attempted to rescue the prisoners. Not + succeeding in this attempt, the rioters, whose numbers had now been + swollen by a lot of idle fellows from the vilest rabble, crowded + together into the Piazza Colonna, and continued to outrage the + officers of public justice with every kind of insult. Thereupon a + handful of police advanced courageously against the rioters, and + proved quite sufficient to disperse and rout them. + + "The friends of order applauded the gallant gendarmes in the execution + of their duty. In less than an hour the most perfect quiet reigned + around, and in the affray a very few persons were injured, whose + injuries have proved to be of slight consequence." + +Throughout the whole of this document the _suppressio veri_ reigns +supreme. It is ludicrous describing the _emeute_ as an event unworthy of +special mention, when rewards and praises have been heaped by the +Government on the heroes who distinguished themselves in the suppression +of this contemptible fracas. In a city like Rome a crowd which filled +the whole Corso's length cannot be described as a faction, while the +occupants of the aristocratic carriages which lined both sides of the +street are not likely to have had two hide-tanners for their leaders. The +size of the crowd disposes at once of the idea that the persons who +composed it were bribed to be present; and the attempt to identify the +action of the French troops with that of the Papal gendarmes, is upset by +the plain and simple fact, that the French patrols were on the Porta Pia +road, and not in the Corso at all. Indeed, if the whole matter was not +too serious to laugh at, there would be something actually comical in the +notion of the friends of order, or any person in their senses, stopping +to applaud the gendarmes as they trampled their way through the helpless, +screaming, terror-stricken crowd, striking indiscriminately at friend or +foe. The statement has this value, and this value only, that it gives +the formal approval of the Government to the brutal outrages of the Papal +police. + +For a time the Pro-Papal party were in a state of high exultation. A +popular demonstration had been suppressed by a score or so of Pontifical +troops. The stock stories about the cowardice of the Italians were +revived, and the more intemperate partizans of the Government asserted +that the support of the French army was no longer needed, and that the +Pope would shortly be able to rely for protection on his own troops +alone. There was in these exultations a certain sad amount of truth. I +am no blind admirer of the Romans, and I freely admit that no +high-spirited crowd would have submitted to be cut down by a mere handful +of gendarmes. I admit, too, that this blood-letting stopped for the time +the fashion of demonstrations. It is however at best a doubtful +compliment to a government that it has succeeded in crushing the spirit +and energy of a nation; but to this compliment, I fear, the Papal rule is +only too well entitled. "The lesson given on St Joseph's day," so wrote +the organ of the Papacy in Paris, "has profited;" how, and to whom, time +will show. Hardly, I think; at any rate, to the religion of love and +mercy, or to those who preach its doctrines, and enforce its teachings by +lessons such as this. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. A COUNTRY FAIR. + + +Far away among the Sabine hills, right up the valley of the Teverone, as +the Romans now-a-days call the stream which once bore the name of Anio, +hard by the mountain frontier-land of Naples, lies the little town of +Subiaco. I am not aware that of itself this out-of-the-world nook +possesses much claim to notice. Antiquarians, indeed, visit it to search +after the traces of a palace, where Nero may or may not have dwelt. +Students of ecclesiastical lore make pilgrimages thereto, to behold the +famous convent of the Santo Speco, the home of the Benedictine order. In +summer-time the artists in Rome wander out here to take shelter from the +burning heat of the flat Campagna land, and to sketch the wild Salvator +Rosa scenery which hems in the town on every side. I cannot say, +however, that it was love of antiquities or divinity, or even scenery, +which led my steps Subiaco-wards. The motive of my journey was of a less +elevated and more matter-of-fact character. Some few days beforehand a +yellow play-bill-looking placard caught my eye as I strolled down the +Corso. A perusal of its contents informed me, that on the approaching +feast-day of St Benedict there was to be held at Subiaco the great annual +_Festa e fiera_. Many and various were the attractions offered. There +was to be a horse-race, a _tombola_, or open lottery, an illumination, +display of fire-works, high mass, and, more than all, a public +procession, in which the sacred image of San Benedetto was to be carried +from the convent to the town. Such a bill of fare was irresistible, even +had there not been added to it the desire to escape from the close muggy +climate of Rome into the fresh mountain-air,--a desire whose intensity +nothing but a long residence here can enable one to appreciate. + +Subiaco is some forty odd miles from Rome, and amongst the petty towns of +the Papal States is a place of some small importance. The means, +however, of communication with the metropolis are of the scantiest. Two +or three times a week a sort of Italian _eil-wagen_, a funereal and +tumble-down, flea-ridden coach, with windows boarded up so high that, +when seated, you cannot see out of them, and closed hermetically, after +Italian fashion, shambles along at jog-trot pace between the two towns, +and takes a livelong day, from early morning to late at night, to perform +the journey. Other public mode of transit there is none; and therefore, +not having patience for the diligence, I had to travel in a private +conveyance, and if there had been any one else going from the fair to +Rome, which there was not, they must perforce have done the same. As to +the details of the journey, and the scenery through which you pass, are +they not written in the book of Murray, wherein whoso likes may read +them? It is enough for me to note one or two facts which tell their own +story. Throughout the forty and odd miles of the road I traversed, I +never passed through a single village or town, with the exception of +Tivoli; and between that town and Rome, a distance of some twenty miles, +never even caught sight of one. After Tivoli, when the road enters the +mountains, there are a dozen small towns or so, all perched on the +summits of high hills, under which the road winds in passing. Detached +houses or cottages there are, as a rule, none--certainly not half a dozen +in all--the whole way along. There was little appearance of traffic +anywhere. A few rough carts, loaded with charcoal or wood for the Roman +markets; strings of mules, almost buried beneath high piles of brushwood, +which were swung pannier-wise across their backs; and a score of peasant- +farmers mounted on shaggy cart-horses, and jogging towards the fair, +constituted the way-bill of the road. The mountain slopes were +apparently altogether barren, or at any rate uncultivated. In the plain +of the valley, bearing traces of recent inundation from the brook-torrent +which ran alongside the road in strange zig-zag windings, were a number +of poorly tilled fields, half covered with stones. The season was +backward, and I could see no trace of anything but hard, fruitless +labour; and the peasants, who were working listlessly, seemed unequal to +the labour of cultivating such unprofitable lands. Personally the men +were a vigorous race enough, but the traces of the malaria fever, the +sunken features and livid complexion, were painfully common; their dress +too was worn ragged and meagre, while the boys working in the fields +constantly left their work to beg as I passed by, a fact which, +considering how little frequented this district is by travellers, struck +me unpleasantly. With my English recollections of what going to the fair +used to be, I looked but in vain for farmers' carts or holiday-dressed +foot-folk going towards Subiaco. I did not meet one carriage of any +description, except the diligence without a passenger, and could not have +guessed, from the few knots of peasants I passed, that there was anything +unusual going on in what I suppose I might call the county town of the +district. + +By the time I reached Subiaco, the first day of the fair was at its +height. The topography of the place is of the simplest description,--a +narrow street running up a steep hill, with a small market-place; on the +summit stands a church; half a dozen _cul-de-sac_ alleys on the right, +terminated by the wall that hems in the river at their feet; a long +series of broken steps on the left, leading to a dilapidated castle, +where the Legate ought to reside, but does not; such are the main +features of the town. In fact, if you fancy Snow Hill, Holborn, shrunk +to about a quarter of its width, all its houses reduced to much such a +condition as that gaunt corner-building which for years past has excited +my ungratified curiosity; Newgate gaol replaced by the facade of a dingy +Italian church; the dimensions of the locale considerably diminished; and +a small section of the dark alleys between the prison and Farringdon +Street, bounded by the Fleet-ditch uncovered; you will have a very fair +impression of the town of Subiaco. + +The fair, such as it was, was confined to this High Street and to the +little square at its head. The street was filled with people, chiefly +men, bartering at the doors of the un-windowed shops. A very small crowd +would fill so small a place, but I think there could hardly have been +less than a thousand persons. Cutlery and hosiery of the rudest kind +seemed to be the great articles of commerce. There were, of course, an +office of the Pontifical Lottery, which was always crammed, an itinerant +vendor of quack medicines and a few scattered stalls (not a single booth +by the way), where shoes and caps and pots and pans and the "wonderful +adventures of St Balaam" were sold by hucksters of Jewish physiognomy. +Lean, black-bristled pigs ran at every step between your legs, and young +kids, slung across their owners' shoulders with their heads downwards, +bleated piteously. The only sights of a private description were a +series of deformed beggars, drawn in go-carts, and wriggling with the +most hideous contortions; but the fat woman, and the infant with two +heads, and the learned dog, whom I had seen in all parts of Europe, were +nowhere to be found. There was not even an organ boy or a hurdy-gurdy. +Music, alas! like prophecy, has no honour in its own country. The crowd +was of a very humble description; the number of bonnets or hats visible +might be counted on one's fingers, and the fancy peasant costumes of +which Subiaco is said to be the great rendezvous, were scarcely more in +number. There was very little animation apparent of any kind, very +little of gesticulation, or still less of shouting; indeed the crowd, to +do them justice, were perfectly quiet and orderly, for a holiday crowd +almost painfully so. The party to which I belonged, and which consisted +of four Englishmen, all more or less attired in those outlandish costumes +which none but Englishmen ever wear, and no Englishman ever dreams of +wearing in his own country, excited no comment whatever, and scarcely +attracted a passing glance. Fancy what the effect would be of four +bloused and bearded Frenchmen strolling arm-in-arm through a village wake +in an out-of-the-way English county? By the time I had strolled through +the fair, the guns, or rather two most dilapidated old fowling-pieces, +were firing as a signal for the race. The horses were the same as those +run at the Carnival races in Rome, and as the only difference was, that +the course, besides being over hard slippery stones, was also up a steep +hill-street, and the race therefore somewhat more cruel, I did not wait +to see the end, but wandered up the valley to hear the vespers at the +convent of the Santo Speco. I should have been sorry to have missed the +service. Through a number of winding passages, up flights of narrow +steps, and by terrace-ledges cut from the rock, over which I passed, and +overhanging the river-side, I came to a vault-like chapel with low +Saracenic arches and quaint old, dark recesses, and a dim shadowy air of +mystery. Round the candle-lighted altar, standing out brightly from +amidst the darkness, knelt in every posture some seventy monks; and ever +and anon the dreary nasal chanting ceased, and a strain of real music +burst from out the hidden choir, rising and dying fitfully. The whole +scene was beautiful enough; but,--what a pity there should be a "but" in +everything,--when you came to look on the scene in the light of a +service, the charm passed away. There were plenty of performers but no +audience; the congregation consisted of four peasant-women, two men, and +a child in arms. The town below was crowded. The service was one of the +chief ones in the year, but somehow or other the people stopped away. + +When the music was over, I was shown through the convent. There were, as +usual, the stock marvels: a hole through which you looked and beheld +a--shall I call it sacred?--picture of Satan with horns and hoof +complete; a small plot of ground, where used to grow the thorns on which +St Benedict was wont to roll himself in order to quench the desires of +manhood, and where now grow the roses into which St Francis transformed +the said thorns, in honour of his brother saint. The monk who showed me +the building talked much about the misery of the surrounding poor. At +the convent's foot lies a little wood of dark green ilexes, of almost +unknown age, valued on account of some tradition about St Benedict, and +perhaps still more as forming a kind of oasis on the barren, bare +mountain-side. Armed guards have to be placed at night around this wood, +to save it from the depredations of the peasantry; every tree belonging +to the convent and not guarded was sure to be cut down. No one, so my +informant told me, would believe the sums of money the convent had spent +of late on charity, and how for this purpose even their daily supplies of +food had been curtailed; but alas! it was only like pouring water into a +sieve, for the people were poorer than ever. I own that when the old +priest pointed out the number of churches and convents you could see in +the valley below, and spoke, with regret, of the time when there were +twelve convents round Subiaco alone, I felt that the cause of this +hopeless misery was not far to seek, though hard to remedy. + +On my way homewards to the town I beheld the half dozen sky-rockets which +composed the display of fire-works, and also the two rows of oil-lamps on +the cornices over the church-door, which formed the brilliant +illuminations. Neither sight seemed to collect much crowd or create much +excitement. As the dusk came on the streets emptied fast, and by night- +time the town was almost deserted; and, except that the wine-shops were +still filled with a few hardened topers, every sign of the fair had +vanished. There was not even a trace of drunkenness apparent. The next +morning the same scene was repeated with little difference, save that the +crowd was rather greater, and a band of military music played in the +market-place. About noon the holy procession was seen coming down the +winding road which leads from the convent to the town. I had taken up my +position on a roadside bank, and enjoyed a perfect view. There were a +number of shabby flags and banners preceded by a hundred able-bodied men +dressed in dirty-white surplices, rather dirtier than the colour of their +faces. A crowd of ragged choristers followed swinging incense-pots, +droning an unintelligible chant, and fighting with each other. Then came +a troop of monks and scholars with bare heads and downcast eyes. All +these walked in twos and twos, and carried a few crucifixes raised aloft. +The monks were succeeded by a pewter-looking bust, which, I suppose, was +a likeness of St Benedict, and the bust was followed by a mule, on which, +in a snuff-coloured coat, black tights, white neckcloth, and a +beef-eater's hat, the whole sheltered beneath a green carriage umbrella, +rode His Excellency the Governor of the district. Behind him walked his +secretary, the Syndic of Subiaco, four gendarmes, and three broken-down, +old livery-clad beadles, who carried the umbrellas of these high +dignitaries. In truth, had it not been for the unutterable shabbiness of +the whole affair, I could have fancied I saw the market scene in +"Martha," and "The Last Rose of Summer" seemed to ring unbidden in my +ears. Not a score of un-official spectators accompanied the procession +from the convent, and the interest caused by it appeared but small; the +devotion absolutely none. The fact which struck me most throughout was +the utter apathy of the people. Not a person in the place I spoke to--and +I asked several--had any notion who the governor was. The nearest +approach that I got to an answer was from one of the old beadles, who +replied to my question, "Chi sa?" "E una roba da lontano;" and with this +explanation that the governor was "a thing that came from a distance," I +was obliged to rest satisfied. When the procession reached the town the +band joined in, the governor got off his mule, room was made for our +party in the rank behind him, I suppose, as "distinguished foreigners;" +and so with banners flying, crosses nodding, drums beating, priests and +choristers chanting, we marched in a body into the church, where the +female portion of the crowd and all the beggars followed us. I had now, +however, had enough of the "humours of the fair," and left the town +without waiting to try my luck at the _tombola_, which was to come off +directly High Mass was over. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE HOLY WEEK. + + +The _nil admirari_ school are out of favour. In our earnest working age, +it is the fashion to treat everything seriously, to find in every thing a +deep hidden meaning, in fact, to admire everything. Since the days of +Wordsworth and Peter Bell, every petty poet and romantic writer has had +his sneer at the shallow sceptic to whom a cowslip was a cowslip only, +and who called a spade a spade. I feel, therefore, painfully that I am +not of my own day when I express my deliberate conviction, that the +ceremonies of Holy Week at Rome are--the word must come out sooner or +later--an imposture. This is not the place to enter into the religious +aspect of the Catholic question, nor if it were, should I have any wish +to enter the lists of controversy as a champion of either side. I can +understand that for some minds the ideas of Church unity, of a mystic +communion of the faithful, and of an infallible head of a spiritual body +have a strange attraction, nay, even a real existence. I can understand +too, that for such persons all the pomps and pageantry of the Papal +services present themselves under an aspect to me unintelligible. Whether +these ideas be right or wrong, I am not able, nor do I care, to argue. +The Pontifical ceremonies, however, have not only a spiritual aspect, but +a material and very matter-of-fact one. They are after all great +spectacles got up with the aid of music and upholstery and dramatic +mechanism. Now, how far in this latter point of view the ceremonies are +successful or not, I think from some small experience I am pretty well +qualified to judge; and if I am asked whether, as ceremonies, the +services of the Church of Rome are imposing and effective, I answer most +unhesitatingly, No. I know that this assertion upsets a received article +of faith in Protestant England as to the seductive character of the Papal +ceremonies. I remember well the time when I too believed that the +shrines of the old faith were the haunts of sense-enthralling grandeur, +of wild enchantment and bewitching beauty; when I too dreamt how amidst +crowds of rapt worshippers, while unearthly music pealed around you and +the fragrant incense floated heavenwards, your soul became lost to +everything, save to a feeling of unreasoning ecstasy. In fact, I +believed in the enchantments of Papal pageantry, as firmly as I believed +that a Lord Mayor's feast was a repast in which Apicius would have +revelled, or that an opera ball was a scene of oriental and voluptuous +delight. Alas! I have seen all, and known all, and have found all three +to be but vanity. + +Now the question as to the real aspect of the Papal pageantry, and the +effects produced by it upon the minds, not of controversialists, but of +ordinary spectators, is by no means an unimportant one with reference to +the future prospects of Italy and the Papacy. Let me try then, not +irreverently or depreciatingly, but as speaking of plain matters of fact, +to tell you what you really do see and hear at the greatest and grandest +of the Roman ceremonies. Of all the Holy Week services none have a more +European fame, or have been more written or sung about, than the +Misereres in the Sistine Chapel. Now to be present at these services you +have to start at about one o'clock, or midday, in full evening costume, +dress-coat and black trowsers. Any man who has ever had to walk out in +evening attire in the broad daylight, will agree with me that the +sensation of the general shabbiness and duskiness of your whole +appearance is so strong as to overcome all other considerations, not to +mention your devotional feelings. In this attire you have to stand for a +couple of hours amongst a perspiring and ill-tempered crowd, composed of +tourists and priests, for the Italians are too wise to trouble themselves +for such an object. During these two mortal hours you are pushed forward +constantly by energetic ladies bent on being placed, and pushed back by +the Swedish guards, who defend the entrance. The conversation you hear +around you, and perforce engage in, is equally unedifying, both +religiously and intellectually, a sort of _rechauffe_ of Murray's +handbook, flavoured with discussions on last Sunday's sermon. When you +are reduced to such a frame of mind and body as is the natural result of +time so employed, the doors of the chapel are opened, and you have +literally to fight your way in amidst a crowd of ladies hustling, +screaming, and fainting. If you are lucky, you get standing room in a +sort of open pen, whence, if you are tall, you can catch a sight of the +Pope's tiara in the distance; or, if you belong to the softer sex, you +get a place behind the screen, where you cannot see, but, what is much +better, can sit. The atmosphere of the candle-lighted, crammed chapel is +overpowering, and occupation you have none, except trying in the dim +light to decipher the frescoes on the roof, with your head turned +backwards. For three long hours you have a succession of dreary +monotonous strains, forming portions of a chant, to you unintelligible, +broken at intervals by a passage of intonation. There is no organ or +instrumental music, and the absence of contralto voices is poorly +compensated for by the unnatural accents of the Papal substitutes for +female vocalists. + +The music itself may be very fine,--competent critics declare it is, and +I have no doubt they are right; but I say, unhesitatingly, it is not +music that addresses itself to popular tastes, or produces any feeling +save that of weariness on nine-tenths of its hearers. You can mark +clearly the expression of satisfaction which steals over every face as +candle after candle of the stack of wax-lights before the altar is put +out successively, at intervals of some twenty minutes. If the ceremony +were reduced to one-tenth of its length, it might be impressive, but a +dirge which goes on for three hours, and a chandelier which takes the +same time to have its lights snuffed out, become an intolerable nuisance. +The dying cadence of the Miserere is undoubtedly grand; but, in the first +place, it comes when your patience is exhausted; and, in the second, it +lasts so long, that you begin to wonder whether it will ever end. The +slavery to conventional rules in England, which causes one to shrink from +the charge of not caring about music as zealously as one could, and from +pleading guilty to personal cowardice, makes Englishmen, and still more +Englishwomen, profess to be delighted with the Miserere; but, in their +heart of hearts, their feeling is much such as I have given utterance to. + +The ceremonies in St Peter's itself are, as sights, much better; but yet +I often think that the very size and grandeur of the giant edifice +increases the _mesquin-ness_ (for want of an English word I must +manufacture a French one) of the whole ceremony. At the exposition of +the relics, for instance, you see in a very lofty gallery two small +figures, holding up something--what, you cannot tell--set up in a rich +framework of gold and jewels; it may be a piece of the cross, or a +martyr's finger-bone, or a horse's tooth--what it is neither you nor any +one else can guess at that distance. If the whole congregation knelt +down in adoration, the artistic effect would unquestionably be fine, but +then not one person in seven does kneel, and therefore the effect is +lost. So it is with the washing of the high altar. If one priest alone +went up and poured the wine and oil over the sacred stone, and then +cleansed the shrine from any spot or stain, the grandeur of the idea +would not be marred by the monotony of the performance; but when some +four hundred priests and choristers defile past, each armed with a chip +besom, like those of the buy-a-broom girls of our childhood, and each +gives a dab to the altar as he passes, the whole scene becomes tiresome, +if not absurd. The same fatal objection applies to the famous washing of +the feet at the Trinita dei Pellegrini. As a mere matter of simple fact, +there is nothing very interesting in seeing a number of old women's feet +washed, or in beholding a number of peasants who would be much better if +the washing extended above their feet, engaged in gulping down an +unsavoury repast. The whole charm of the thing rests in the idea, and +this idea is quite extinguished by the extreme length and tediousness of +the whole proceeding. The feet have too evidently been washed before, +and the pilgrims are too palpably got up for the occasion. + +The finest ceremony I have ever witnessed in Rome is the High Mass at St +Peter's on Easter-day; but as a theatrical spectacle, in which light +alone I am now speaking of it, it is marred by many palpable defects. +Whenever I have seen the Pope carried in his chair in state, I can never +help thinking of the story of the Irishman, who, when the bottom and seat +of his sedan-chair fell out, remarked to his bearers, that "he might as +well walk, but for the honour of the thing." One feels so strongly that +the Pope might every bit as well walk as ride in that ricketty, top-heavy +chair, in which he sits, or rather sways to and fro, with a sea-sick +expression. Then the ostrich feathers are so very shabby, and the whole +get-up of the procession is so painfully "not" regardless of expense. You +see Cardinals with dirty robes, under the most gorgeous stoles, while the +surplices are as yellow as the stained gold-worked bands which hang +across them. There is, indeed, no sense of congruity or the inherent +fitness of things about the Italian ceremonials. A priest performs mass +and elevates the host with muddy boots on, while the Pope himself, in the +midst of the grandest service, blows his nose on a common red +pocket-handkerchief. The absence of the organ detracts much from the +impressiveness of the music in English ears, while the constant bowings +and genuflexions, the drawling intonations, and the endless monotonous +psalms, all utterly devoid of meaning for a lay-worshipper, added to the +utter listlessness of the congregation, and even of the priests engaged +in celebration of the service, destroy the impression the gorgeousness of +the scene would otherwise produce. + +The insuperable objection, however, to the impressiveness of the whole +scene is the same as mars all Papal pageants,--I mean the length and +monotony of the performance. One chant may be fine, one prostration +before the altar may be striking, one burst of the choral litany may act +upon your senses; but, when you have chant after chant, prostration after +prostration, chorus after chorus, each the twin brother to the other, and +going on for hours, without apparent rhyme or reason, you cease to take +thought of anything, in order to speculate idly when, if ever, there is +likely to be an end. There is no variety, and little change, too, about +the ceremonies. When you have seen one you have seen all; and when you +have seen them once, you can understand how to the Romans themselves +these sights have become stale and dull, till they look upon them much as +I fancy the musician in the orchestra of the old Princess's must have +looked upon one of Kean's Shaksperian revivals when the season was far +spent. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. ISOLATION OF ROME. + + +There is, I think, no city in the world where Pilate's question, "What is +truth?" would be so hard to answer as in Rome. In addition to the +ordinary difficulties which everywhere beset the path of the foreigner in +search of knowledge, there are a number of obstacles peculiar and special +to Rome alone. + +The whole policy of the government is directed towards maintaining the +country in a state of isolation, towards drawing, in fact, a moral +_cordon sanitaire_ round the Papal dominions. Indeed, if one lived long +in Rome, one would get to doubt the reality of anything. When I last +came to Rome straight from Tuscany, seething in the turmoil of its new- +bought liberties, I could hardly believe that only six months ago there +had been war in Italy within two hundred miles from the Papal city, that +the fate of Italy still hung trembling in the balance, and that the chief +province of the country was still in open revolt against its rulers. +There was no sign, no trace, scarce a symptom even of what had passed or +was passing in the world without. We all seemed spellbound in a dull, +dead, dreary circle. There were no advertisements in the streets, except +of devotional works for the coming season of Lent; no pamphlets or books +placed in the booksellers' windows, which by their titles even implied +the existence of the war and the revolution; no prints for sale of the +scenes of the campaign, or the popular heroes of the day. This was the +normal state of Rome, such as I had seen it in former years. Later on, +indeed, either the force of events, or a change in the counsels of the +Vatican, induced the Papacy to drop the defensive passive attitude which +constituted its real strength, and to adopt an active offensive policy, +which served rather to show the greatness of the dreaded danger than to +avert its occurrence. Still the increased animation, though perceptible +enough to a Roman, appeared to a stranger but a step above absolute +stagnation. I never could get over my astonishment at our utter +ignorance of what went on around and amongst us. About the state of +affairs in our two neighbouring countries, whether in free Tuscany or in +despotic Naples, we were entirely in the dark. What little news we got +was derived from chance reports of stray travellers, or from the French +and English newspapers. The _Giornale di Roma_ gave us now and then a +damnatory paragraph about the Tuscan Government, from which, out of a +mass of vituperation, we could pick up an odd fact or so; but during the +first four months of this year, throughout which period I perused the +_Giornale_ pretty carefully, I do not remember to have seen a single +allusion, good, bad or indifferent, to the kingdom of Naples. The Tuscan +papers were naturally enough forbidden, as are almost all the journals of +the free Italian states, and could only be obtained by private hands. The +Neapolitan Gazette, the _Monitore del Regno delle Due Sicilie_, was never +seen by any chance, though I cannot suppose its circulation was directly +interdicted. The communication between Rome and Naples was, and is, +scanty in the extreme. During the last ten years, about ten miles of the +Pio-Centrale Railroad, the Neapolitan line, have been opened. At present +beyond Albano the works are entirely at a stand-still, and there are +still some thirty miles of line, between Rome and the frontier, of which +hardly a sod has been turned. The Civita Vecchia line has only been +completed in consequence of the pressure of the French authorities, and +the Ancona-Florence line is still in _statu quo_. Three times a week +there are diligences between Rome and Naples. The local steam-boats, +which used to run along the coast from Porto d'Anzio to the Neapolitan +capital have been given up, and in fact there is no ready means of +transit, save by the foreign steamers, which touch at Civita Vecchia. +Whether purposely or not, everything has been done to check free +communication between the Papal and Neapolitan States, and in this +respect the Government has been eminently successful. The two countries +are totally distinct. A Neapolitan is a _forestiere_ in Rome, and _vice +versa_. The _divide et impera_ has been the motto of all the petty +Italian despots and of the Papacy in particular, and hitherto has proved +successful. Even now, as far as I could see and learn, the desire for +Italian unity does not penetrate very low down. It is the desire, I +freely grant, of all the best and wisest Italians, but scarcely, I +suspect, the wish of the Italian people. In truth, Italy at this moment +is very much what Great Britain would be, if Scotland, Ireland, Wales and +the States of the Saxon Heptarchy had remained to this day separate petty +kingdoms, ruled by governments who fostered and developed every local and +sectional jealousy. The broad fact, that for some weeks at Rome we were +in utter ignorance whether there had been a revolution or not in the +capital of the frontier kingdom, not thirty miles away, and should have +been quite surprised if we had learnt anything about the matter, is a +sufficient commentary on our state of isolation. + +This artificial isolation too is increased by a sort of general apathy +and almost universal ignorance, which are characteristic of all classes +in Rome. How far this intellectual apathy is caused by, or causes, the +material isolation of the city, would be a curious question to determine. +The existence, however, of this fact, which none acquainted with Rome +will question, constitutes one of the chief difficulties in ascertaining +accurate information about facts. The most intelligent and the most +liberal amongst the Romans (the two terms are there synonymous) never +seem to know the value of positive facts, and even in matters susceptible +of proof prefer general statements. Then, too, the absence of social +meetings, or means of intercourse, is one of the most striking features +about Roman society. There is no public life, no current literature, +little even of free conversation. Of course, among the English and +foreign residents there are plenty of parties and gaieties of every kind. +At these parties you meet a few Anglicised Italians, who have picked up a +little of our English language and a good deal of our English dress. The +nobility of Rome who come into contact with the higher class of English +travellers give a good number of formal receptions, but amongst the +middle and professional classes there is very little society at all. The +summer is the season for what society there is, but even then there is +but little. There are no saloons in the Roman theatres, and the +miserable refreshment-rooms, with their bars even more shabby and worse +provided than our English ones, are, as you may suppose, not places of +meeting. Even at the Opera there seemed to be little visiting in the +boxes. With the exception of the strangers' rooms, there are no reading- +rooms or clubs in Rome, if I may exclude from this category a miserable +_Gabinetto di Lettura_, chiefly frequented by priests, and whose current +_lettura_ consisted of the _Tablet_, the _Univers_, the _Armonia_, and +the _Courier des Alpes_. The only real places of meeting, or focuses of +news, are the cafes. At best, however, they are _triste_, uncomfortable +places. There is no cafe in all Rome equal to a second-rate one in an +ordinary French provincial town. There are few newspapers, little domino +playing, and not much conversation. The spy system is carried to such an +extent here, that even in private circles the speakers are on their guard +as to what they say, and still more as to what they repeat. As an +instance of this, I may mention a case that happened to me personally. On +the morning before the demonstrations at the Porta Pia a Roman gentleman, +with whom I was well acquainted, wished to give me information of the +proposed meeting, of which, it happened, I was well aware; but though we +were alone in a room together, the nearest approach on which my friend +ventured to a direct information, which might be considered of a +seditious character, was to tell me that I should find the Porta Pia road +a pleasant walk on an afternoon. + +In fact, paradoxical as the assertion may appear, you learn more about +Rome from foreigners than from natives. Unfortunately, such information +as you may acquire in this way is almost always of a suspicious +character. Almost every one in Rome judges of what he sees or hears +according, in German phrase, to some stand-point of his own, either +political or artistic or theological, as the case may be. As to the +foreign converts, it is only natural that, as in most cases they have +sacrificed everything for the Papal faith, they should therefore look at +everything from the Papal point of view. If, however, they abuse and +despise the Romans on every occasion, it is some satisfaction to reflect +that the Romans lose no opportunity of despising or abusing them in turn. +English Liberals who see a good deal of Roman society, see it, I think, +under too favourable circumstances, and also attach undue importance to +the wonderful habit all Italians have of saying as their own opinion +whatever they think will be pleasing to their listener. On the other +hand, the persons who are best qualified to judge of Rome, the ordinary +residents of long standing, who care little about Italy and less about +the Pope, are, I fancy, unduly influenced by the advantages of their +exceptional position. There are few places in the world where a +stranger, especially an English stranger, is better off than in Rome. As +a rule, he has perfect liberty to do and say and write what he likes, and +almost inevitably he gets to think that a government which is so lenient +a one for him cannot be a very bad one for its own subjects. The cause, +however, of this exceptional lenity is not hard to discover. Much as we +laugh at home about the _Civis Romanus_ doctrine, abroad it is a very +powerful reality. Whether rightly or wrongly, foreign governments are +afraid of meddling with English subjects, and act accordingly. Then, +too, Englishmen as a body care very little about foreign politics, and +are known to live almost entirely among themselves abroad, and seldom to +interfere in the concerns of foreigners; and lastly, I am afraid that the +moral influence of England, of which our papers are so fond of boasting, +is very small indeed on the continent generally, and especially in Italy. +All the articles the _Times_ ever wrote on Italian affairs did not +produce half the effect of About's pamphlet or Cavour's speeches. I am +convinced that the influence of English newspapers in Italy is most +limited. The very scanty knowledge of the English language, and the +utter want of comprehension of our English modes of thought and feeling, +render an English journal even more uninteresting to the bulk of Italians +than an Italian one is to an Englishman; and the Roman rulers are well +aware of this important fact. Hard words break no bones, and the Vatican +cares little for what English papers say of it, and looks upon the +introduction of English Anti-Papal journals as part of the necessary +price to be paid for the residence of the wealthy heretics who refuse to +stop anywhere where they cannot have clubs and churches and papers of +their own. The expulsion of M. Gallenga, the _Times_ correspondent, was +in reality no exception to this policy. It was not as the correspondent +of an English newspaper, but as an ex-Mazzinian revolutionist and the +author of _Fra Dolcino_, that this gentleman was obnoxious to the Papal +authorities. Though a naturalized English subject, he had not ceased to +be an Italian, and his personal influence amongst Roman society might +have been considerable, though the effect of his English correspondence, +however able, would have been next to nothing. + +From all these causes it is very hard to learn anything at Rome, and +harder yet to learn anything with accuracy. It is only by a process of +elimination you ever arrive at the truth. Out of a dozen stories and +reports you have to take one, or rather part of one, and to reject the +eleven and odd remaining. It has been my object, therefore, in the +following descriptions of the scenes which marked the period of my +residence in Rome, to give as much as possible of what I have known and +seen myself, and as little of what I heard and learnt from others. What +my narrative may lose in vividness, it will, I trust, gain in accuracy. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE PAPAL QUESTION SOLVED BY NAPOLEON I. + + +About half a century ago the Papal question was the order of the day. +Another Napoleon was seated on the throne of France, in the full tide of +success and triumph of victory; another Pius was Pontiff at the Vatican, +under the patronage of French legions, and, strange to say, another +Antonelli was the leading adviser of the Pope. The city of Rome, too, +and the Papal States were in a condition of general discontent and +disaffection; but, unfortunately, this latter circumstance is one of too +constant occurrence to afford any clue as to the date of the period in +question. + +In the year of grace 1806, the enemies of Napoleon were _ipso facto_ our +friends; and in consequence the Pope, who was known to be hostile to +France, became somewhat of a popular character amongst us. Indeed Pius +VII. was looked on at home rather in the light of a martyr and a hero. It +is only of late years that this feeling has worn off, and that we, as a +nation, have begun to doubt whether, in his struggle with the Papacy, the +Corsican usurper, as it was the fashion then to style him, may not have +been in the right after all. Considerable light has been thrown upon +this question by the recent publications of certain private State papers, +which remained in the possession of Count Aldini, the minister of Italian +affairs under the great Emperor. + +There had long been subjects of dissension between the Papal and the +Imperial Governments. At last, in 1806, these dissensions came to an +open rupture. On the 1st of June in that year, Count Aldini wrote a +despatch, by order of the Emperor, to complain of the avowed hostility +displayed by the Papal Court against the system of legislation introduced +into the Kingdom of Italy, and of the private intrigues carried on by +Cardinal Antonelli. In this despatch occur these words, which at the +present day read strangely appropriate:-- + + "His Majesty cannot behold without indignation, how that authority, + which was appointed by God to maintain order and obedience on earth, + employs the most perilous weapons to spread disorder and discord." + +This appeal to the conscience of the Vatican remained of course without +effect, and things only grew worse. At the end of the same year Napoleon +published at Berlin his famous decrees for the blockade of England, and +the exclusion of all English merchandise. Whether justly or unjustly, +the Court of Rome was suspected by Buonaparte of not keeping up the +blockade (the most unpardonable of all political offences in his eyes). +At last, by a decree of the 2nd of April 1808, he removed the Marches +from the Papal Government, and annexed them to the Kingdom of Italy. The +legations, by the way, had formed part of that kingdom since the treaty +of Tolentino. This experiment proved unsuccessful. Napoleon soon +discovered, what his successor is also likely to learn, that the real +evil of the Papal Government consisted not in its territorial extent, but +in the admixture of temporal and spiritual authority; that, in fact, its +power of working mischief was, if anything, in inverse proportion to its +size. With that rapidity of resolution which formed half his power, he +resolved at once to suppress the temporal power of the Popes, and gave +instructions to Count Aldini to draw up the necessary decrees. The +Emperor was then on the eve of departure for the Spanish peninsula; and +it was during the harassing reverses of his fortunes in Spain, that the +following report of Aldini was perused by him:-- + + "Sire,--Your Imperial and Royal Majesty has considered that the time + is come to fix the destinies of Rome. + + "You have directed me to examine which, amidst the diverse governments + that Rome has had during modern times, is most adapted for her actual + circumstances, while retaining the character of a free government. It + appears from history, that Crescenzius governed Rome for many years + with the title of Patrician and Consul. + + "Pope John XV. having appealed against him to the Emperor Otho, the + appeal was dismissed, and Crescenzius was confirmed in his office, and + caused to swear allegiance to the Emperor. + + "The supreme dominion of the Emperors over Rome was exercised without + contradiction throughout all the dynasty of the Othos and Conrads, and + only became assailed under Frederick I. + + "Afterwards, amidst the multitude of Italian republics, the Roman + republic was restored for a time; and, in the 13th century, had for + the head of its government a Matteo of the Orsini family with the + title of Senator, in honour of whose memory a medal was struck. + + "For a long period the Kings of Naples, of the Anjou race, were + Senators of Rome. + + "Pope Nicholas III. retained the senatorial dignity for himself; and, + by a bull of 1268, forbade the election of any Senator, without the + sanction of the Pope. + + "From this date all the Senators of Rome have been nominated by the + Popes, and were never permitted to be foreigners. + + "Besides the Senator, there was a council, called the Conservatori. + The members of this council were chosen from amongst the first + families of Rome; proposed by the Senator, and approved by the Pope. + + "From time to time the Pontiffs have endeavoured to diminish the + jurisdiction and the prerogatives of the Senators, so that in latter + times their office has been reduced to a mere honorary charge. + + "It has appeared to me that the restoration of this form of + government, replacing the Senator in his old authority, would be a + step at once adapted to the circumstances of the present day, and + acceptable to the Roman people. + + "To declare Rome a free Imperial city, and to reserve a palace there + for your Majesty and your court, cannot but produce the most + favourable effect on the minds of the Romans. + + "In the other dispositions of the proposed statute I have confined + myself to following the precedents adopted by your Majesty on former + occasions, under similar circumstances." + +This report was accompanied by the minutes of three decrees. The first +referred to the future government of the Eternal City, and was sketched +out in the following articles:-- + + "Art. 1. Rome is a free Imperial city. + + "Art. 2. The Palace of the Quirinal, with its dependencies, is + declared to be an Imperial Palace. + + "Art. 3. The confines between the territory of Rome and the Kingdom + of Italy are to be determined by a line, which, starting from + Arteveri, passes through Baccano, Palestrina, Marino, Albano, + Monterotondo, Palombara, Tivoli, and thence, keeping always at a + distance of two miles inland from the sea, returns to Arteveri. + + "Art. 4. The lands of all communes intersected by the above line form + the territory of Rome, excepting all lands that lie between the line + and the sea coast. + + "Art. 5. A Senator and a Magistracy of forty Conservators are to form + the Government of the City and its territory. + + "Art. 6. The executive power resides in the Senator; the legislative + with the Magistracy of the Conservators. The Senator has the + initiative in all projects of law. + + "Art. 7. The office of the Senator is for life; that of the + Conservators for four years. The Magistracy is to be renewed every + year for one-fourth of its members. In the first three years, lot is + to decide who go out; afterwards, the members shall retire by + rotation. + + "Art. 8. Ten Conservators, at least, shall be chosen from the + different communes which compose the territory of Rome. + + "Art. 9. The Senator is always to be nominated by us and our + successors. For the first election alone we reserve to ourselves the + right of nominating the Magistracy of the Conservators. Hereafter, as + vacancies occur, the Senator shall nominate the Conservators from a + double list presented to him by the Magistracy. + + "Art. 10. The judicial functions are to be exercised in the name of + the Senator, by judges nominated by him. Their appointment shall be + for life. They cannot be removed except for fraud or neglect of duty, + recognised as such by the Magistracy, or on being sentenced to any + disgraceful or penal punishment. + + "Art. 11. Five AEdiles, nominated after the same fashion as the + Conservators, shall superintend the preservation of the ancient + monuments and the repairs of the public buildings. For this purpose a + special fund (the amount to be determined by the Government) shall be + placed yearly at their disposal. + + "Art. 12. Between the kingdom of Italy and the Roman State, there + shall be no intermediate line of customs or duties. The Government of + Rome may, however, impose an _octroi_ duty on victuals at the gates of + the city. + + "Art. 13. For . . . years no ecclesiastic can hold a civil office in + Rome or its territory." + +The second decree declares that the Papal States, with the exception of +the Roman territories above described, are irrevocably and in perpetuity +annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, and that the _Code Napoleon_ is to be +the law of the land. + +The third is headed, "Dispositions with regard to his Holiness," and +disposes of the Papal question in this somewhat summary manner. + + "We Napoleon, by the grace of God, and by the Constitution, Emperor of + the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Rhenish Confederation, + + "Having regard to our first decree concerning Rome, have decreed, and + decree as follows:-- + + "Art. 1. The Church and the Piazza of St Peter, the palace of the + Vatican and that of the Holy Office, with their dependencies, are a + free possession of his Holiness the Pope. + + "Art. 2. All the property of the Capitol and the Basilica of St Peter + are preserved to those institutions under whatever administration the + Pope may please to appoint. + + "Art. 3. His Holiness shall receive a yearly income of one million + Italian francs, and shall retain all the honorary privileges he has + enjoyed in past times. + + "Given at our Imperial Palace of St Cloud, this --- day of Sept. + 1808." + +In the midst of the Spanish campaigns, these documents were perused and +approved by the Emperor, who wrote to Aldini, at that time in Italy, and +told him to make private inquiries as to whether the time was opportune +for the promulgation of these decrees, and whether it was expedient to +require the clergy to take an oath of allegiance to the new constitution. +Aldini's reply contains the following remarkable passage:-- + + "The Pope, who has never enjoyed the good opinion of the Roman public, + has succeeded in these latter days in winning the sympathy of a few + fanatics, who call his obstinacy heroic constancy, and wait every day + for a miracle to be worked by God in his defence. + + "Except these bigots and a few wealthy persons who dread the + possibility, that, under a change of government, their privileges + might be destroyed, and the taxes on property increased, all classes + are of one mind in desiring a new order of things, and all alike long + for its establishment. + + "I must not, however, conceal from you that this universal sentiment + is chiefly due to two causes:--Firstly, to the idea that the payment + of the interest on the public debt will be resumed; as, in truth, a + great number of Roman families depend on these payments for their + income; and secondly, to the hope that Rome will become the capital of + a great state, a hope which the Romans know not how to renounce." + +Under these circumstances, Count Aldini goes on to recommend that hopes +should be held out of an early resumption of payments on the national +debt, and that a provisional air should be given to the proposed +arrangement, so as to keep alive the prospect of a great kingdom, of +which Rome should be the centre. He deprecates enforcing an oath of +allegiance on the clergy, on the ground that "all priests will consent to +obey the civil government; but all will not consent to swear allegiance +to it, because they consider obedience an involuntary act, and an oath a +voluntary act which might compromise their conscience." He finally +recommends delay, under present circumstances, till some decisive victory +has crushed the hopes of the priest party. This delay was fatal to the +scheme. After the battle of Wagram, Napoleon resumed the project, and +resolved to encrease the Pope's income to two millions of francs. Then, +however, there came unfortunately the protests of Pius VII. the bull of +excommunication hurled against the Emperor, and a whole series of petty +insults and annoyances on the part of the Pope; such, for instance, as +walling up the doors of his palace, and declaring, like his successor and +namesake, his anxiety to be made a martyr. Passion seems to have +prevailed over Napoleon's cooler and better judgment. The Pope was +carried off to Savona, Rome was made part of the French empire, and +Aldini's project slumbered till, in after years, it has been revived, +though without acknowledgement, by M. Guerroniere, in his pamphlet of _Le +Pape et le Congres_. + +Now this project I have quoted not for its intrinsic value, but because I +think it one likely to be realized. Napoleon III. (the fact both for +good and bad is worth minding) and not the Italians has to decide on +Rome's future, and any one who has watched the Emperor's career will be +aware how carefully he follows out the cooler and wiser ideas of his +great predecessor. The Papal question is not one to be settled by the +sword, and I know not whether amongst all the plans that I have seen, the +solution of Napoleon I. does not present the fewest difficulties. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. TWO PICTURES. + + +Within the space of a few days, some three weeks in all, it was my +fortune to be present at two demonstrations forming two pictures of +Italian story, or rather two aspects of one picture. In both the subject- +matter was the feelings of Italians towards their rulers; in both that +feeling was expressed legibly, though in diverse fashions; and from both +one and the same lesson--that lesson, which I have sought to express in +these loose sketches of mine--may be learned easily. Let me first, then, +write of these pictures as I saw them at the time, so that my moral may +speak for itself to those who care to learn it. + +The 12th of April is the anniversary of Pio Nono's return to Rome from +Gaeta, that refuge of destitute sovereigns. It is also, by a strange +coincidence, the anniversary of the day on which his Holiness and General +Goyon narrowly escaped being killed by the falling of a scaffold, from +which they were inspecting the repairs at the church of St Agnese. On +that day, in honour of the doubly joyful event, the Pope went to +celebrate mass at the convent of St Agnese. The time was one when a +popular demonstration in favour of the Pope was urgently required. It +was in fact the beginning of the end. Victor Emmanuel was about to enter +Bologna as king; the news of the Sicilian insurrection had just reached +Rome; the Imperial Government had sent one of its periodical intimations, +that the French occupation could not be prolonged indefinitely; and +General De La Moriciere had assumed the command of the Papal army, on his +ill-fated and Quixotic crusade. At such a time it was deemed necessary +to show Europe, that the Pope still reigned in the hearts of his people, +and every effort was made to secure a demonstration. Government clerks +and official personages received orders to be present at the ceremony; +and all persons, over whom the Priests had influence, were urged to +attend and swell the crowd. And yet what came of it all? Along the road +between the Convent of Santa Agnese and the Porta Pia, where the great +demonstrations took place some weeks ago, there was little sign of crowd +or excitement. The day was chilly and cheerless; but the chilliness of +the wind itself precluded the idea of rain, so that it was not the +weather which deterred the concourse of the faithful. The Patrizzi +Villa, just outside the gate, had a few festoons hung over the garden +wall, which fronts the road; but one of the Patrizzi family, I should +mention, is a Cardinal. The villas on the road exhibited no decorations +or signs of festivity whatever. Indeed, I only observed three houses in +all which had placed hangings before their windows, or made any +preparations in honour of the event. There were not many persons outside +the gates. Every few steps you met patrols of six French soldiers headed +by a gendarme. These patrols had been sent by General Goyon to keep the +crowd in order; but, unfortunately, there was no crowd to keep in order; +so that the soldiers looked and seemed to feel as if they were sent on a +fool's errand. At St Agnese there were some 150 carriages collected, +almost all hired ones, of the poorer sort. The private vehicles were +very few indeed; not a quarter of the muster at most. The church itself +was gaily filled, but not crowded in any part. Priests, monks, and women +formed nine-tenths of the congregation. The sacrament was administered +by the Pope himself to a number of communicants, amongst whom the English +converts visiting Rome were as usual conspicuous. After mass was over +the Pope had breakfast at the Convent, and returned about noon to the +city. Meanwhile, something approaching to a crowd, that is about 600 +people, half of whom were priests and the rest _impiegati_, were +collected at the gates; and as the Pope passed to his coach and four, +each of this crowd, with somewhat suspicious unanimity, drew a +handkerchief from his pocket, and raised a feeble cheer. Inside the +gates, and along the streets through which the Papal procession passed, +there was no appearance of any unusual concourse of people. By the +corner of the Gualtro Fontane street, near the new palace of Queen +Christina, a large body of nuns and school-children, decked out in white, +were drawn up on the pavement, who waved their hats, and threw flowers as +the Pope went by; but this was all; and even the Pope himself could +hardly have supposed what demonstration there was to be spontaneous. It +is true the _Giornale_ made the most of it. Their narrative ran thus: +"About half-past eleven in the morning his Holiness, accompanied by the +applause of all who had joined to escort him, entered his carriage, and +took the road towards his residence at the Vatican. Words are +insufficient to express the enthusiastic affection, the joyous +demonstrations, which, for the length of three miles from St Agnese to +the Quirinal, were manifested towards him by the good people of this +Sovereign City, who had crowded to behold his passage; and who, by any +means in their power, expressed the tender affection which they could not +but entertain for his sacred person. Infinite, too, was the number of +carriages which followed the Royal cortege to the Pontifical palace of St +Peter's." + +To this I can only say, that many things are visible to the eye of faith, +and hidden to the common world. To my unenlightened vision, the crowd of +three miles in length was composed of a thousand persons in all; and the +infinite number of carriages looked uncommonly like sixty. + +And now for the converse picture. + + + +The "Promised Land." + + +Out of chill clouds and dull gloom, I passed into summer sunshine. Across +barren moor-land and more barren mountains, by the side of marshy lakes, +deserted and malaria-haunted, through squalid villages and decayed +cities, my journey brought me into a rich garden-country, studded with +thriving towns swarming with life, and watered with endless streams. I +came into a land such as children of Israel never looked upon from over +Jordan, after their weary wanderings in the wilderness; a land rich in +oil and corn, and vineyards and cattle; a very "land of promise." This, +indeed, is the true Italy, the Italy of which all poets of all time have +sung; and whose likeness all artists have sought to draw, and sought in +vain. The sight, however, of this wondrous beauty was not new to me who +write; still less is its record new to you who read. With this much of +tribute let it pass unnoticed. Fortunately, it was my lot to see the +promised land of Italy as for centuries past she has not been seen. I +saw her free, and rejoicing in her freedom. Then let me seek to recall +such of the epochs in that right royal progress--when the chosen King +came to take possession of his promised land--as stand most clearly +forth. + +I remember once seeing a collection of Indian portraits. There were +rajahs and dervishes, jugglers and dancing-girls, depicted in every +variety of garb and posture. For the whole set, however, there was but +one face. Each portrait had a hole where the face should have been, and +the picture was completed by placing the one head beneath the blank +opening. In fact, you had one face beneath a hundred different +draperies. So also, in my wanderings, I saw but one picture in a dozen +frames; one sight in many cities. At some, the flags may have waved more +gaily; at some again the lamps may have sparkled more brilliantly, and at +others the crowd may have cheered more lustily; but the substance of the +sight was the same throughout. Everywhere, some half-dozen of dusty open +carriages, filled with officers in uniform, passing through crowded +streets festooned with flowers, dressed out with banners--everywhere, the +one figure of a plain, rough Soldier-king, bowing stiffly and slowly from +time to time--everywhere, a surging, heaving, shouting crowd. Such is +the one subject of my picture-gallery. + +I am in the Duomo of Florence. Around and about me there is a great +crowd. Every niche and cornice where foot can stand is occupied. A deep +gloom hangs around the darkened church, and from out the lofty vaulted +roof thousands of lamps hang glimmering like stars upon a moonless sky. +Ever and anon the organ peals forth triumphantly, and the clouds of +incense rise fitfully; and as the bell rings, and the host is raised on +high, you see above the bowed heads of the swaying crowd the figure of +the excommunicated King, kneeling on the altar-steps. Then, when the +service is over, and the royal procession passes down the nave, through +the double line of soldiers, who keep the passage clear, I am carried +onwards to the front of the grand cathedral, which for centuries has +stood bare and unfinished, and which is to date its completion from the +time when the city of Dante and Michael Angelo is to date her freedom, +too long delayed. + +The next scene present to my memory is a dark gloomy night. I am at +Pisa, in the city of the Campo Santo, where hang the chains of the +ancient port which the Genoese carried off in triumph centuries ago, in +the days of the old Republic, and have brought back to day, in honour of +the new brotherhood. The great festival of the Luminara is to be held to- +night, in the presence of the King. I have come from Florence through +the pleasant Arno valley, shining in the glory of an Italian sunset, and +the night has come on, and dark, rain-laden clouds are rolling up from +the sea; but neither wind nor rain are heeded now. Through narrow +streets, which a year ago were silent and deserted, I follow a great +multitude pressing towards the river-side. A sudden turn brings me to +the quay, and an illuminated city rises before me across the Arno. The +glare is so strong that at first I can scarcely distinguish anything save +the one grand blaze of light. Then, by degrees, I see that every house +and palace-front along those mile-long quays is lit up by rows on rows of +lamps, scattered everywhere. Arches and parapets and bridges are all +marked out against the dark back-ground of the sky by the long lines of +light, and in the depths of the dull stream that rolls at my feet a +second inverted city sparkles brightly. Along either quay a great, +countless multitude keeps moving to and fro, casting a dark hem of shadow +at the foot of the houses which line the river. Then of a sudden the +low, ceaseless hum of ten thousand voices is exchanged for a loud cheer, +and the bands begin to play, and the royal carriages, escorted by a +running crowd, pass along the quays; and wherever the throng is thickest, +you can tell that Victor Emmanuel is to be found, with Ricasoli by his +side. Then, as the King and his party pass out of sight, the storm comes +on in its fury, and the gusts of wind blow out the lamps, as if after +doing honour to the King their work was ended. + +Another scene which I remember well was on a long day's journey through +the Val di Chiana, a day's journey by fertile fields and smiling +villages, and on pleasant country roads. The King was coming in the +course of the day along the same route. At every corner, at every bridge +and roadside house, there were groups of peasants standing waiting to see +_Il padrone nuovo_, the new sovereign and master. The children had flags +in their little hands, and the cottagers had hung out their coloured bed- +quilts, and the roadside crosses were decked out with flowers. The +church-bells were ringing, country bands were playing lustily, and the +national guard of every little town I passed stood under arms, to the +admiration of all beholders. It was a holiday everywhere; the fields +were left untilled, the carts were taken up to carry whole peasant +families to the market-town of Arezzo, where the King was to spend the +night. Man, woman, and child wore the national colours in some part of +their Sunday dress; and about everything and everybody there was a look +of happiness, hard indeed to describe, but one not often seen nor easily +forgotten. + +Let us turn northwards. The old streets of Bologna, with their endless +rows of colonnades, are filled with people. The dead Papal city is alive +again. The priests have disappeared; friars, monks, Jesuits, and nuns +have vanished from their old haunts. St Patrick did not clear the land +of Erin more thoroughly and more suddenly of the genus reptile than the +presence of Victor Emmanuel has cleared Bologna of the genus priest. It +is whispered that out of top windows, and from behind blinds and +shutters, priests are peeping out at the strange sight of a glad and a +free people, with glances the reverse of friendly; but neither the black +robe nor the brown serge cowl, nor the three-cornered, low-crowned hat, +are to be seen amongst the crowd. Well, perhaps the scene looks none the +less gay for their absence. The flags and flowers glitter beneath the +blue, cloudless sky, and the burning sun of a hot summer day gives an +unwonted brightness to the grey colours of the grim, gaunt houses. Down +the steep, winding road leading from the old monastery of St Michael, +where the King is lodged, through the dark, narrow, crowded streets, a +brilliant cavalcade comes riding slowly; half a horse's length in front +rides Victor Emmanuel. Amongst the order-covered staff who follow, there +is scarcely one of not more royal presence than their leader; there are +many whose names may stand before his in the world's judgment, but the +crowd has its eye fixed on the King, and the King alone. For three days +this selfsame crowd has followed him, and stared at him, and cheered him, +but their ardour remains undiminished. All the school-children of the +city, down to little mites of things who can scarcely toddle, have been +brought out to see him. Boy-soldiers, with Lilliputian muskets, salute +him as he passes. A mob of men, heedless of the gendarmes or of the +horses' hoofs, run before the cavalcade, in the burning heat, and cheer +hoarsely. Every window is lined with ladies in the gayest of gay +dresses, who cast glances before the King, and try, like true daughters +of Eve, to catch a smile from that plain, good-humoured face. So amidst +flowers and smiles and cheers the procession passes on. There is no +pause, indeed, in the ceaseless cheering, save where the band of exiles +stands with the flags of Rome, and Naples, and Venice, covered with the +black veil; or when the regiments defile past with the tattered colours +which were rent to shreds at San Martino and at Solferino, and then the +cry of "Viva Vittorio Emmanuele" is changed for that of "Viva l'Italia!" + +It is a Sunday afternoon, and at three o'clock I have turned out of the +broiling streets into the vast, crowded theatre of Reggio. Every place +is occupied, every box is crammed; rows of lights sparkle around the +darkened house, and the heat is a thing to be remembered afterwards. +There is a gorgeous ballet being acted on the stage, and Caesar is being +tempted by every variety of female art and posture, in a way which never +happens except to ballet heroes, and to Saint Anthony of Padua. The +dancing girls, however, dance in vain, and the orchestra plays to deaf +ears, for all voices are raised at once, and all eyes are turned from the +stage. The King has entered the royal box, and every lady in the long +tiers of boxes unfurls the tricolor-flag she bears in her hands and waves +it bravely. The whole house keeps rising, shouting, cheering. The +musicians lay down their instruments, and the ballet-girls drop their +postures and Caesar forgets his dignity, and one and all crowd forward on +the stage and join in the general cheering; and when the king leaves, the +curtain drops upon the unfinished ballet, and the whole house rush into +the piazza to see Victor Emmanuel again as he drives away. + +The last time that my path comes across the kingly progress is at a +railway station. The long street of Parma, leading to the station, is +lined with a dense crowd; and the flowers and flags and triumphal arches +are to be seen in greater profusion here than even I have been accustomed +to before. The royal carriages have to move at a foot's pace, on account +of the multitude which presses round them. Amidst playing of bands and +throwing of flowers, the King, accompanied by his vast escort, has +reached the station, and enters it with his suite, but the eager +enthusiasm of the multitude is not sated yet. Regardless of all railway +rules and penalties, they clamber over palings and run up embankments, +and manage to force their way at last to the platform itself, as the +royal train is moving on. Even the iron nerve of Victor Emmanuel seems +affected by this last greeting of farewell; and while the train remains +in sight I can see the King bowing kindly to the crowd on either side. + +Never, I think, in the world's history was the promised land entered with +more of promise. + +When, in the old fairy tale, the sleeping princess of the slumber-bound +palace awoke to light and life; when of a sudden the horses began to +neigh, and the clocks to tick, and the spits to turn, the brightness and +suddenness of the change could scarcely have been more complete than that +through which I passed. From chill, cheerless, ceaseless rain into +bright warm sun-light; from a country fever-haunted, barren, and +desolate, into a land swarming with life, rich and fertile as a garden; +from a gloomy priest-ridden people, kept down by force of arms, hating +their rulers and hated by them, into the presence of a free people +rejoicing in their freedom: such has been my change as I passed from the +States of the Church into those of Victor Emmanuel. + +Surely the moral of these two pictures speaks for itself. Put aside +abstract political considerations, put aside, too, theological questions, +and look at broad facts patent to all. If anybody can see Rome and the +Papal States, and still believe that the people are happy or prosperous +or faring with good prospects either for this world or the next, I can +say nothing more. His eyes are not my eyes, nor his judgment mine. For +those to whom this ocular testimony is denied, I have written these +papers. I have sought to make present to them the utter dreariness, the +hopeless discontent, the abject demoralization, which strike a resident +in Rome, unless he refuses wilfully to see the truth. In the dead Rome +of real life; in the universal spiritless immorality of Roman society; in +the decay of what once was the Roman people; in the squalid misery of the +country towns, miserable even in their merriment; in the utter isolation +of the Papal States, a moral lazaretto amongst European kingdoms, you see +only too plainly the permanent condition of the country. As to the +present misery, you can read its signs in those pageants which impose on +no one; in the Carnivals, where there are no revellers; in the solemn +ceremonies, where the worshippers are sought in vain; and in the sad, +sullen, hopeless demonstrations, whereby a people protest constantly that +they are weary of their fate. If you look for causes, you may find them +perhaps in those trials without law or justice; in that Press without +liberty or truth; in those Church-sanctioned lotteries; in the presence +of that multitude of priests, and in the policy which dictated the +outrage of St Joseph's day, and the Bull of excommunication. How far +these causes are sufficient to explain the fact, is a matter of opinion. +I can understand a fervent believer in the Catholic Faith saying, that +the people of the Papal States ought to be happy and prosperous under +Papal rule. It may be so, but the fact is they are not; and that they +are both prosperous and happy under the rule of Victor Emmanuel ever +since the great Lombard campaign, when the French armies at Solferino +destroyed the Austrian power, the key-stone of the whole priest-despot +rule in Italy. I have been living, with but short intervals, in +different parts of this Italian land. Wherever the free national +government has spread, I can see the growth of prosperity and happiness. +There have been, there are, and there will be partial reactions, petty +disturbances; but they are but eddies in the great, deep, resistless +current. Go to Bologna, or Ferrara, or Ancona, and you will find them, +as I have, passed from dead desolation into active life. Commerce is +flourishing, order prevails, and the people are free and full of life. +These are facts on which both Protestant and Catholic can judge; and +Catholics, as well as Protestants, will tell you the same thing. Then if +this be so, and that it is so I assert fearlessly, in what right, human +or divine, are a number of God's creatures to be forced to live out that +one short life of ours in dull, abject misery? If you tell me that their +misery is necessary to the maintenance of a religious creed, be that +creed Protestant or Catholic, I reply that the sooner then that creed +disappears, the better for mankind and for faith in God. + +And now, a few words in parting about the future. The end I believe is +coming on so rapidly, has indeed advanced so far, since first I began to +write these letters, little more than a year ago, that I hesitate to make +prophecies which to-morrow may render vain. The whole Italian revolution +is eminently a political one, not a religious one. It is possible a +religious change, whether reformation-like or otherwise, may follow in +its steps, but that time is not come. There is no wish in the Italian +people, unless I err much, to alter the national faith, or to dispense +with the Pope, as a spiritual potentate. Before long Pius IX., having +caused as much misery as one man can well cause in one lifetime, must +depart from this world; and then, if not sooner, some arrangement must be +come to between the Pope and the Italian people, if the Papacy is to last +at all. In some form or other I hold that the compromise will be of the +nature of the "Napoleonic Solution," to which I have therefore given a +place amongst these papers. Whether it is possible for a Pope to remain +permanently at Rome as a spiritual prince in a free city, time alone can +show, but ere long the experiment will be made. + +If in these letters I have said aught to wound the faith of either +Protestant or Catholic, I have said it unwillingly, and regret that it +should be so. This however I believe, and would have others believe it +too, that the misery of the Roman people is a real misery, be its cause +what it may, and like all real misery in this world, calls to God for +justice, and not in vain. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROME IN 1860*** + + +******* This file should be named 17284.txt or 17284.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/2/8/17284 + + + +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. 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