INNEpR ROME:
POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.
BY THE
REV. C. M. BUTLER, D.D.,
PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN THE DIVINITY SCHOOL, PHILADELPHIA;
AUTHOR OF "THE BOOK OF COMMIION PRAYER INTERPRETED BY
ITS HISTORY;" "LECTURES ON THE APOCALYPSE;"
c' ST. PAUL IN ROME," ETC. ETC.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT  & CO.
18 66.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT  &  CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania.




PREFATORY NOTE.
THE author of this work has no explanations to make
additional to those contained in the introductory chapter, except to state that the last three chapters were
contributed by a lady, a member of his family, whose
opportunities for observation of the subjects of which
she treats were greater than his owni.
WEST PI-IILADELPH IA,
Dec. lst, 1865.
(iii)








CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Introductory.
Reasons for the title. New sources of information recently
opened. Facilities for personal observation. Popular
character of the work...........................................   9
CHAPTER II.
Internal Administration of the Papal Government,
The Papal theory of the origin of the temporal power; The
Roman States an ecclesiastical benefice. Alienation
of any part of the patrimony of St. Peter a sacrilege.
The fundamental law of the State enacted by the
Council of Trent. The regulations of an Inquisitor
General for Pesaro, Rimini, and Fano. The oppressive
character, and the frightful results of these regulations. Administration of justice in Rome. the case
of Locatelli. Slight evidence on which he was condemned and executed. His innocence subsequently
proved.................................................................    14
(V)




V1                     CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
The External Policy of the Papal Government,
The Pope's hostility to constitutional governments on his
return to Rome from Gaeta.  His relation to Leopold,
Duke of Tuscany. Advises the Duke to violate the
Constitution by disfranchising all the Jews in his dominions. The Duke hesitates, and humbly states the
difficulties and the probable evils of such a proceeding. The Pope rejoins, and repeats his request; to
which in a modified form the Duke yields.  The arrogance on the one side, and the abjectness upon the
other..................................................................    25
CHAPTER IV.
Persecution for Political Opinion.
The Pope's dread and hatred of the National Committee at
Rome. Banishment from Rome for liberal opinions.
Cruelty and imprisonment on mere suspicion. Arrest
of a young physician; and the death of his wife.
Brutality of the Gendarmes.  Imprisonment and
death of a Roman youth. The story of a Roman Count.
The imprisonment of a Roman gentleman.................   35
CHAPTER V.
The Imprisonment of the Advocate and Deputy, Signore
Vincenzo Tergolina.
Show prison in Rome. The real political prisons-San
Michele and Paliano. S. Tergolina, a Venetian patriot.




CONTENTS.                         Vii
His history. His imprisonment at Rome. His cruel
treatment.  His pretended trial.  Romaln law.  Sent
to S. Michele. Treatment of those who are condemned
to death.  Examination before the tribunal of the
Sacra Consulta. Transfer to the fortress of Paliano.
Punishment for political offenses.  Case of Henry
Ruspoli. Of the sculptor Rinaldi.  Four years of imprisonment. Hardships and horrors. Inferences from
this  history.................5...................................    52
CHAPTER  VI.
The Secret Nlational Society and Committee.
The dread of the National Committee felt by the Papal
Government. Its object. Its present political character.  Its inscrutable secrecy.  Vain efforts to discover and destroy it.  The efforts of the police and
the priests. Peculiar character of the organization
which makes its betrayal and detection almost impossible. The arrest, trial, and imprisonment of the
private Secretary of Cardinal Antonelli as a member
of the  Secret Society..........................................   67
CHAPTER VII.
The Secret lNational Society and Committee.
Patriotic demonstrations of members of the Society. Garibaldi coming to Rome!  Alarm  among the priests.
Frequent arrests. Continued demonstrations. Patriotic satires and epigrams.....S.................................   82




Viii                   CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Government of Priests, and its Anomalies.
The Papal Government is a government of priests. A
crowned priest is its King. All the high offices occupied by priests. Testimony of the official Annual
Almanac. Statements of the partisans of the Papacy
on this subject. Reasons for the preference shown to
the clergy. The laymen incompetent. The peculiar
character of the prelatura.  Arrogance of the priesthood.  Personal experience.  Monsignore Talbot's
treatment of an English party.  The anomalies of
this priestly government. Incompatibility of priestly
and political offices. Connivance of the priestly government with legalized licentiousness at Bologna....... 94
CHAPTER IX.
The Papal Government after the Restoration.
Despotism a religious duty. The temporal power in the
service of the spiritual. The Papal Government a
most cruel and unrighteous despotism. The abolition
of the Constitution on the return of the Pope from
Gaeta. The vindictiveness of the Government.  The
death of Garibaldi's wife, and the persecution of those
who gave her shelter at Ravenna. Persecutions at
Ferraras. Personal histories of suffering, persecution,
and death. The stupid and illogical cruelty of the
Papal Government. Precious official documents. The
Council of Censure. Horrors of the prisons of Ravenna. Beneficial effect of Napoleon's intervention... 110




CONTENTS.                      iX
CHAPTER X.
Rome and Brigandage,
Complicity of Rome with brigandage generally believed.
Regions whence brigands are recruited.  Visits to
these scenes.  "The back-bone" of Italy.  Monte
Cassino.  A story of brigandage.  Adventure upon
the Campagna. A night at a tenuta with a priest.
His hospitality. His account of the Contadini. Suspected and detained by a Gendarme. Compelled to
walk to Rome. The Neapolitan princes have always
fostered brigandage as an instrument of reaction
when they have been overthrown............................ 128
CHAPTER XI.
Rome and Brigandage.
The nucleus of brigand bands found in the disbanded Neapolitan army. Committee of the Italian Parliament
to examine and report upon brigandage. Report of
Massari. Extract from the report. The "briggantaggio
del Conte Alessandro Bianco di Saint Joirez" demonstrates the complicity of the Papal Government with the
Neapolitan brigandage. Brigands recruited in Rome.
Bourbon "plan of reaction." Story of Battistone. The
effort to effect a military organization abortive. Documentary proof of the complicity of the Papal Government with the brigands. The atrocity of this proceeding. Mere robbery and murder. The responsibility of
Rome for its continuance.............................    143




x                      CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Napoleon III. and Rome,
The first relation of Napoleon to the Pope. In arms against
the Papal Government.  On his escape from Ham,
watchedl for by the Papal police.  Instructions to
arrest him and description of his person. When President of the French Republic destroyed the Roman
Republic, occupied Rome, and reinstated and protected the Pope. Solferino and Villa Franca. Anomalous position of the Emperor toward the Papacy. His
book on Napoleonic ideas subjected to censorship of
the Roman police. Great schemes and dreams of Napoleon. A new empire of a new Charlemagne. The
plans of Napoleon I. for the settlement of the Roman
Question. The temporal power to have been taken
from him. Draft of decrees for this object. Failure of
the plan.  Aspirations and policy of Napoleon III.
When will he remove his troops from Rome?............ 165
CHAPTER XIII.
The Issue, the Situation, and the Solution.
The Government of the Pope detested by the Roman people.
The issue between the Pope and the people a thousand
years old. Sketch of events since the year A.D. 1815.
A reforming Pope. The character and popularity of
Pius IX. The failure of his efforts to connect the Papacy with popular institutions.  His retreat to Gaeta.
Reaction of his mind against liberal ideas. The present




CONTENTS.                        xi
issue between the Pope and the people. Forces on
either side......................................................... 183
CHAPTER XIV.
Intolerance toward Jews and Protestants at Rome,
Romanists in this country claim that the Pope sets a beatiful example of toleration in Rome, in the case of the
Jews and foreign Protestants. Case of the Jews. Statement of their treatment by a Roman Jew. Toleration
of the services of the English Church a hateful necessity. Refusal to extend its present privileges. The
services of the American Church limited to the parlor
of the Ambassador. The injustice of these restrictions,
and the duty of Protestant governments in reference to
this subject......................~................   204
CHAPTER XV.
Indclgences.
Difficulty of comprehending the present Romish doctrine of
indulgences. The practice of the church in the sale
of indulgences less gross than in the days of Luther.
Yet bad enough.  Case of Signore M.'s marriage with
his niece.  Obscurity of the doctrine of plenary indulgence.  Profuse exemptions promised at privileged
altars.  Authoritative statements of the Holy Congregation of Indulgences. Their vagueness, and the nullity
of the Pope's power.  It is after all only a power to
proclaim and not to effect a release from purgatory...... 214




Xii                     CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
Lay Confraternities,
The lay Confraternities founded on a right principle, and
salutary in their operation. Fostered by the priesthood. Patriotic Romans join them to escape suspicion.
Three Confraternities described. 1. The Sacconi, composed of persons of the higher ranks. Their costume.
A procession of them met at the Basilica Santa Croce.
Striking scene. Strong contrasts. 2. The Confraternita de Giovanni decollato. Its origin and functions.
Ministers to prisoners condemned to death. A prerogative of pardon conferred on the fraternity. Description of the manner in which it is exercised.
3. Confraternity of the dead. Its office to secure honorable and Christian burial to the dead who perish from
accident or violence. Its zeal and benevolence......... 224
CHAPTER XVII.
A Chapel of Dead Men's Bones.
Church of the Confraternity of the dead. Subterranean
chapel. Its walls, and ornaments, and altar composed
of dead men's bones. Detailed description. Purchase
of masses for the souls in purgatory. Appeals in their
behalf, and clinking of the money boxes presented for
the offerings. Curious scenes of devotion and emotion.
A death saloon. Exhibition of wax figures. King
Judas represented in wax as sending treasures to Jerusalem to pay for prayers for the dead. Service for




CONTENTS.                      Xiii
souls in the Church.  Ingenuity of the priests in slipping a number of names into one mass. Sanction
of this holy economy of masses by the "Congregation of Indulgences." Story of the wonderful and
sure efficacy of masses and prayers for souls in purgatory.................................................................. 234
CHAPTER XVIII.
Flagellation.
Scene at the church in the via Cara vita in Lent. The
church darkened.  The prayer in  the  darkness.
The flagellation and the simultaneous chanting. A
strange and impressive scene. Substitution for it on
the following year of a colloquy between two priests.. 247
CHAPTER XIX.
The Sacred Image of the Sancta Sanctorum.
Luther on the Scala Santa. Privileges granted to those
who mount it upon their knees. Enormous extent of
this privilege. The image of Christ in the Sancta
Sanctorum.  Its miraculous history. Sketched by St.
Luke at the request of the Virgin Mary. Completed
by angels. Its history. Transfer from Jerusalem to
Pella, and from Pella to Constantinople. The Bishop
of Constantinople, driven away by the Iconoclasts,
commits it to the sea.  It passes over to Ostia in
twenty-four hours. The Pope admonished in a dream,
proceeds to Ostia with his clergy to welcome it, to
Rome. It flies into his hands.  Its transfer to Rome.
Its miracles.  The veneration in which it is held.




rxiv                     CONTENTS.
Brought out for adoration only in critical emergencies.
Never exposed since the French Revolution until this
occasion. The present crisis in the Papacy regarded
as extremely critical. Description of the ceremonies
connected with the exposition................................ 253
CHAPTER XX.
A Visit to Loretto.
Aspect of the City of Loretto. The Saturday evening service and sermon in the church. Picturesque costumes
of the Contadini. The Sunday services and ceremonies.
Their number and variety. Curious objects of special
veneration. Description of the church. History of
the Casa.  The house of Mary carried by angels
through the air to Loretto.  Its migrations and final
settlement.  Interior of the Casa.  Image of the Madonna. Jewelry and millinery. Wealth of the church.
Cabinets of treasures. The edifice which incloses the
Casa-its exquisite beauty, and the admirable art with
which it is adorned.............................................. 264
CHAPTER XXI.
Morals of the Priesthood.
Unjust and uncharitable judgments. The Roman opinion
of the priesthood.  Stories afloat in the community.
Scandals in nunneries and monasteries. The order of
the Ignoranti at Turin.  Evils of the celibacy of the
clergy. Influence of priests as the governing class.
Dowries for poor girls.  The order of the "Amantate."
Character of this order................................... 276




CONTENTS.                         XV
CHAPTER XXII.
Sickness and Death,
Cruel treatment of sick strangers at Rome. Horror of the
dead in Italy. Desertion of the dying by their friends
and relatives. The Roman explanation of this custom.
Abandonment of the dead. The injustice and unkindness of landlords to the sick, and their friends. An
instance described.............................................. 292
CHAPTER XXIII.
Sickness and Death.
Personal experience.  Sickness and death of a young
American in my apartment. Painful circumstances
connected with his burial. Brutality and extortion of
the landlord. His demand for indemnity refused. Resort to law.  Regulations for fumigations in the case
of consumptives.  The landlord defeated.  Painful
impressions left by these events............................. 301
CHAPTER XXIV.
A Ohapter of Fragments.
Singular spectacle in the Church of St. Ignatius. Beggars.
The winking Virgin at Vico Varo. No book stores in
the Roman towns. Theories and practices in reference
to baptism.  Absolving the dead.  A winking virgin
in Rome.  Roman schools and colleges.  The Court
del Spoglia. Anecdotes. Number of priests, and extent of church property.  Papal representation of
Protestantism...................................................... 316




xvi                     CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
Habits and Manners.
Industry, domestic cares, an Italian cook, wine drinking... 328
CHAPTER XXVI.
Habits and Manners.
Nobility. Contadini. Middle class. Economy. Honesty.
Lingerings of heathen customs. Amusements. Young
girls. Married women......................................... 335
CHAPTER XXVII.
Sketches from Italian Life.
Love and marriage.  Country home.  Love of children.
Roman patriotism...........................   3 44




INNER ROME.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
I GALL my book " Inner Rome," because it professes to disclose more of the real inner character
of Rome-its government and administration, its
religious and social state-than can be obtained
from a temporary sojourn in the city, or from
information to be found in the ordinary guide
books, and works of travel and description. Of
making books on Rome there is no end. Descriptions of its art, its religious ceremonies, its
ruins, its customs, and its costumes, abound and
superabound. I do not touch these topics, except in an incidental way, and as illustrative of
other subjects which I may have in hand. My
aim is to answer some of the queries which arise
in many minds as to what lies beneath the surface of what is seen, after the eye and the mind
have been satiated with the wonders of art and
the splendors of ceremonial. I wish to convey
to my countrymen a true picture of the actual
2           (9)




10             INNER ROME:
workings of the Papacy and of the state of religion and society which it produces, such as is
not to be found in the books of tourists, and cannot be obtained by those who have access to only
English sources of information. I wish to demonstrate that the usual impression which prevails
that Rome is, of all civilized States, the most
wretchedly, cruelly, and stupidly misgoverned,
and undergoes an unparalleled amount of mental
terror and torture, is well founded, and rather
falls short of than transcends the truth. I desire
to create or to increase an interest in that noble
RonIman people, who are exhibiting heroic traits
of character under circumstances well calculatedto debase and crush themn, and in the triumph of
that grand cause of United Italy, with Rome for
its capital, which would lead to the downfall of
the temporal power of the Papacy, and to the
renovation of the entire Italian peninsula.
The conquest of the AEmelia and Romagna,
by Victor Emmanuel, and their annexation to
the Kingdom of Italy, put the Italian Government in possession of many archives of the Papacy, which furnish the most damaging demonstrations of its atrocious character. It would be
difficult for an enemy to invent anything worse
than what Rome officially proclaims of herself.
It is true that these documents were not intended
for Protestant eyes, and it was not supposed that
irreverent heretics would ever see them. They
would all have been destroyed had not the ra



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    11
pidity of the revolution, in many cases, prevented
the attempt. In Faenza, the populace rose in a
rage and destroyed the archives. From Ravenna,
the documents connected with "tlhe great causes"
were sent to Rome. In Ferrara, a secretary-general, Tellarini, spent three days in burning papers.
But a greater loss to history occurred in the disappearance of all the minutes and decisions of
the tremendous Council of Censure, of which
some account is given in Chapter IX., and of the
" most reserved" correspondence contained in
registers marked P. P., and kept by the legates
themselves.
Yet, notwithstanding the disappearance of
these documents, enough remain to show unmistakably the dreadful character of the Papal despotism.  Two ponderous volumes, containing
sixteen hundred pages, have already seen the
light. Others will follow. They were published
by the direction of Farini, Dictator of AEmelia,
accompanied with notes and explanations by the
editor, Cavaliere Gennarelli. My statements of
the character and administration of the Papacy
are drawn, for the most part, from these documents, or from the works of Car. Gennerelli,
which are based upon and confirmed by them.
They are therefore official and authentic. Nothing can be more fair and satisfactory as evidences of the character of the Papal Government. They have not been translated into English, and the only book in which I know that




12             INNER ROME:
they have been made use of, to a certain extent,
is "Italy in Transition, by the Rev. Wm. Arthur," published in London in 1861.
More than two years' residence in Rome, it
may well be believed, has afforded the author
some peculiar facilities for penetrating to the
knowledge of the inner religious and social state
of Rome. The truth of his statements on such
subjects derived from Roman friends, and from
the friends and the banished citizens of Rome in
other parts of Italy, must rest upon his own character. A citizen of the United States is more
readily admitted into the confidence of a Roman
patriot than one of any other country.  It is
believed that he will be thoroughly in sympathy
with the Italian aspirations for Independence,
and that he will be less liable, than a citizen of
any European State, to make disclosures which
might tend to compromise individuals, or the
cause to which they are devoted.
Such have been the author's facilities for studying the "Roman question" and the state of the
Roman Government and Church and people.
While he trusts that his work may not be without interest for the statesman and the theologian,
it is essentially popular in its character and form.
It enters into no elaborate political or religious
disquisitions. It describes rather than discusses.
It is narrative and descriptive rather than polemic or didactic. Without observing any very
strict system of arrangement, the author finds




POLITICAL,  RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    13
that his miscellaneous chapters fall naturally into
the threefold division of political, religious, and
social, and that what may probably be regarded
by readers generally as the most entertaining,
though not perhaps the most instructive portion
of the work, will be the later chapters. With
these preliminaries as to my purpose, I proceed
in the next chapter to speak of the internal administration of the Papal Government.




14             INNER ROME:
CHAPTER II.
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE PAPAL
GOVERNMENT.
THE Papal theory of the origin of its temporal power makes the Pope's grant to the
Roman people of a constitution in 1848 a sacrilege. The Roman State, in all its parts and as
a whole, is a religious property, an ecclesiastical
benefice. As such, the separate parts of which it
is composed have been given to Popes in trust,
for the benefit of the church. It is a vast estate,
given at various times, consisting of many farms
and houses, and property of every kind, and of
3,000,000 of tenants, who are not indeed slaves
or serfs in the ordinary meaning of those terms,
but who can hold and transmit property and enjoy civil rights, only on the conditions affixed by
the infallible head of the church for her welfare,
and not their own. Whatever benefits the inhabitants of this domain may enjoy, are not rights, but
only gracious privileges and immunities granted
by their sacred sovereign, and to be withdrawn
when demanded by the interests of the church.
The sovereign has no right to grant any privileges
inconsistent with the purposes of the original do



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    15
nation. The people have no right to demand or
expect them. Infallibility, therefore, slumbered
for a moment, when, in forgetfulness of this solemn deposit, it granted a constitution to the Roman people. But the sin has been expiated by the
after-suffering. The Pope has resolved to sin no
more. Infallibility is wide awake, and will never
more sleep nor slumber. -The Pope cannot and
will not permit the sacrilege of alienating any
part of the sacred deposit. No portion of the Ro_
mlan States is in fact alienated. It is true that
the AEmelia and the Romagna are nowin the possession of an excommunicated and sacrilegious
robber, by the name of Victor Emmanuel; but
this is only a temporary and forced withdrawal.
The Papacy has survived darker crises than the
present.  The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. At every appeal to alienate any part
of his sacred estate, or to grant any privileges
to his subjects, on the ground of their inherent
rights, the Pope talks of Constantine and Pepin
and Charlemagne and the blessed Countess Matilda, and shaking his infallible head, doggedly
thunders "NVon possumus."
This solemn formula is not always treated by
the Roman people with the reverence which the
government and the priesthood think it should
receive. On one occasion, while I was in Rome,
a priest endeavored to induce a hackman to takle
him at a lower than his usual fare. The man
majestically waved his whip, and said, "non pos



16              INNER ROME:
sumuls," and drove off. lie paid, however, for
his irreverent wit the penalty of several weeks
of imprisonment. It is thus that the priests of
Rome make the people love them.
In the statement of the above theory of the
Papal power, it is forgotten that some portions
of the Sacred States were acquired by the rapine
and treachery of the remorseless Borgias, and
the ambitious Julius II. But, no doubt, being
mixed with the holy Papal lump, they too have
become equally sacred and inalienable.
The government of these States is certainly
peculiar. When bachelors and old maids and
childless persons assume the government of children, we sometimes admire their theories, but
we always pity the children. When priests assume civil powers —woe to the people!
If the Roman States constitute a benefice, then
it is subject to the conditions of a benefice. Its
fundamental law is not a written constitution;
not a series of precedents; not even the collected
decrees and bulls of the supreme authority, but
it is the laws which regulate church property
and endowments. This is logical. The Papacy
does not shirk this conclusion. It broadly allnounces it. It actually refers its fundamental
law to the Cotncil of Trent —the eleventh chapter of
the twenty-second session.  Let no man say that
the Roman States are destitute of a fundamental
law!
As a specimen of the style of government




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    17
adopted by those who place the throne upon the
altar, I refer to two documents, not of the dark
ages, but, as it were, of yesterday.  One is from
Fra Filippo Bertolotti, "'IInquisitor-General of
tlhe Holy See," in the Dioceses of Pesaro, Rimini,
Fano, and the adjoining territory, and "special
delegate against heretical pravity," and is addressed to those under his jurisdiction. The
document bears the date of September 15, 1851,
at Pesaro.
In an interminable sentence, in what may be
called the Papal style, the Inquisitor strictly commands, under all the penalties prescribed in "'the
canons, decrees, constitutions, and bulls" of the
Popes, those whom he addresses to make known
to him such persons and crimes as he proceeds
to specify.  Among them are the following:
"All heretics, or persons suspected or reported to
be heretics, or who have favored, or defended, or
described and explained heresies."
"Those who have done, or do, acts from which
can be inferred a comp2act, express or tacit, with the
Devil."
"Those who have hindered, or hinder in any
manner whatever, the proceedings of the office of the
Holy Inquisition."
"Those who have composed satires, or divulged writings against the High Priest, the
Sacred  College, Superiors, Ecclesiastics,  or
against the Regular orders."
2*




18              INNER ROME:
"Those who without license retain writings
and prints, which contain heresies, or the books
of heretics."
"Those who without necessity or license have
eaten, or given to others to eat, meat, eggs, latticini (the products of milk), on forbidden days, in
contempt of the precepts of the Church."
Whoever fails to denounce the above crimi
nals to the Holy Inquisitor and special delegate
against "heretical pravity," shall be subject to
excommunication.
This frightful document was to be hung up in
all taverns, coffee-houses, shops, book-stands,
and frequented places of every kind. What a
horrible instrument placed in the hands of evil
and revengeful men! What an agency for disseminatinog distrust and terror and deception. and
degradation through a community!  What tortures of mind and heart, what struggles between
compassion and a sense of justice on the one side,
and a misinstructed conscience or an inevitable
terror on the other!
The other document to which I refer is an
edict issued by the Cardinal Archbishop, Cardinal Bishop, and other Archbishops and Bishops
of the Marches and of the province of Umbria,
as recently as 1850.  It refers to the sins of
"blasphemy, inobservance of the sacred days,
profanation of the churches, and violation of
fasts, and immorality," and reminds the faithful
that the penalty of these crimes, according to the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    19
degree of delinquency, and according to the circumrstances and, the times, are "exconmmunication, or imprisonment, or fines, or castigation, or
exile, or even death."  But, without following
all these provisions, in which there is an absurd
confusion of civil and ecclesiastical crimes and
penalties, I notice one feature of the edict, which
runs through the whole Roman administration,
and is the source of untold woes and gross injustice to the citizens of the Roman States.'"Art. 54. In all the cases above mentioned,
where a penalty merely correctional is to be applied, a speedy and summary process shall take
place, when the character of the delinquency shall
be established, and the names of the informer and
the witnesses shall be kept secret."
"Art. 55. Half of the fines imposed shall be
applied to the benefit of holy places, and the
other half shall be divided between the informer
and the officers who shall have executed the law.'
Nothing could exemplify better than these
provisions the evils of the priestly.government.
In the first place, under the head of immoralities, are mentioned crimes which come properly
under the cognizance of the civil power. But
as the Cardinals and Archbishops, representing
the Pope, are the civil power as well as the
spiritual, they mix together in most admired confusion, violations of the moral, canonical, and
civil law, and distribute penalties pell-mell, penances and prayers, imprisonments and fines.




20              INNER ROME:
Indeed, it is the constant policy of the Papal
Government to obliterate the distinction between
violations of the laws of the Church and the
moral laws of God, and the civil laws of man.
Authority is one-crime is one-penalty is one.
The Pope concentrates authority; disobedience
to him as Pope or king, or Pope-king, is crime
which bears the character of blasphemy. Punishment is equally a holy penalty, whether it be
in its form a prayer-repeating penance, or long
fasts, or imprisonments, or fines, or death. Such
is the Papal theory.
Again, provision is made that when a penalty
merely correctional is to be applied, the punishment is to be speedy. This provision enables
Archbishops and Bishops, when they will, to dispense with all the forms of law. They are to
judge whether a merely correctional penalty will
suffice.  They may make such a penalty more
severe, if they please, than a penalty strictly
penative might be. Moreover, the names of informners and witnesses are to be secret! False
informers run no risk of contradiction, exposure,
confutation, or the revenge of their injured and
slandered victims. If they have enemies, here
is a means of cheap and safe revenge. If they
are needy, or greedy of baiocchi, here is a means
of obtaining them-for a quarter of all fines go
to the informer! Nothing can be conceived
worse than the position of a citizen of the Papal
States under such a system. If he fails to ob



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    21
serve any of the rules of the Church, he is in a
worse position than the violator of the civil laws
of other States. His position is worse, because
he is subject to both civil and spiritual penalties.
It is worse, because he may find himself convicted, without having been tried, on secret testimony, which he cannot meet and confute; and
he may be punished as severely on the plea of
a merely correctional penalty, without trial and
condemnation. And, above all, his position is
immeasurably worse, because a direct premium
is offered to needy and malignant spies and informers, and to brutal carbinieri,-many of whom
are convicts pardoned in order to be made the
instruments of Papal justice,-to conspire together to ruin the innocent, and especially to
persecute those who are suspected of a want of
bigoted devotion to the Church. It is a horrible
system.
A  case of the administration of justice at
Romne, which was due directly to the Pope,
which occurred the year before my arrival in the
city, produced a profound impression throughout Italy. The history of the case is briefly as
follows:
On the evening of the 29th of June, 1861,
there was a great crowd in the Corso and in
Monte Citorio, who raised the cries of "C Viva
Italia! Viva Vittorio Emnanuele!" The gendarmes
rushed into the midst of the crowd, and struck
and fired right and left. A man by the name of




22              INNER ROME-:
Locatelli, well known to the police as a partisan
of Victor Emmnanuel, -Was in the crowd. A gendarme was stabbed in the melee. Locatelli was
struck down and arrested by the gendarmes as
the author of the crime. But he constantly and
loudly denied it. He declared that he was arrested
only because the police could not find the author
of the deed, andwere determined to have a victim. He testified that he had just left the Corso,
and was going toward Monte Citorio, when he
was set upon by several of the pontifical gendarmes. But he was put on trial for the crime.
The witnesses were "ten pontfical gendtrmes,"
three French and one pontifical soldier-a Swiss.
In the official account of this trial, the names of
the witnesses are not given. They are designated
by initials.  They testified that the murder took
place in a general and crowded melee. They
agreed that it was about ten o'clock at night,
cloudy, and the moon in her fourth quarter.
They differed in their account of the height and
size of the murderer. They found in his pocket,
when arrested, his knife closed, and with no
marks of blood; while one of the witnesses testified that the knife of the murderer fell to the
ground, and was taken up from' the ground by
the gendarme Z.  This gendarme Z. testified
that he found a knife, but did not see it fall from
Locatelli's hand, who was four or five steps from
him when he took it up.
It was on this vague and contradictory testir




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    23
mony that Locatelli was executed.  Ite died
crying Viva Italia! -
A correspondent of La Presse, in Paris, after
an account of this trial, wrote: "There is no man
of sense, who, upon reading the principal depositions of the witnesses, does not declare that
this condemnation is monstrous. But in Rome,
everything is done en famille; they have a horror of publicity. They judge everything with
closed doors; witnesses are examined privately,
interrogated separately, and never confronted
with each other, or with the accused."
To show how exceedingly unsatisfactory this
proof must have been, nothing more is needed
than the fact that the President of the Sacra
Consulta himself addressed these words to Pius
IX., when he presented to him the sentence of
death:
"Your Holiness, here is the sentence of death
against Locatelli. I believe that I discharge a
duty of conscience when I observe that the crime
was committed at night, in the midst of a crowd,
so that witnesses Imight easily have been deceived,
or have seen imperfectly, and that consequently
this is a case in vwhich to exercise clemency, which may
relieve us from the danger of committing a great injustice."
The warning was in vain. The Pope, who
cannot sign a sentence of death, laid over this
document the fatal black ribbon.
It had been well if Pius IX, had listened to the




24              INNER ROME:
representations of M. Sagretti, the President of
the Sacra Consulta, for a few days after the execution, the following statement appeared in the
Siecle of Paris, from its correspondent at Florellce:
" The  Nazione of Florence announces that
Jacques de Castrucci, a Roman emigrant, presented himself before the commissioner of the
king, and avowed himself the author of the
homicide committed upon the Papal gendarme
in the conflict on the 29th of June. The object
of this declaration was to prevent the execution
of Locatelli. The news arrived at Rome too
late. Locatelli had been already executed."
Such are some specimens of Papal administration and Papal justice,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    25
CHAPTER III.
THE EXTERNAL POLICY OF THE PAPAL GOVERNMENT.
WE have seen that the form of the Papal Government permits the exercise of excessive tyranny.  But some governments are worse, and
some better, in their administration than in their
theory. A great poet has not hesitated to write:
For forms of government let fools contest;
That which is best administered is best!
It is certain, at least, that a bad theory and a
good practice is better than the opposite. [But
when the theory is bad, and the practice worse,
the case is grievous for a nation.
Let us see in what spirit, and according to what
maxims and modes the Papal Government is
administered.
When Pius IX. fled to Gaeta, he carried with
him the conviction, never since shaken, that the
exercise of absolute despotism is the first duty
of popes and kings, and submission to it the
chief right of nations. The Tuscan Ambassador, in a dispatch to his court from Gaeta, wrote:
"All here is hesitancy and perplexity. In one




26                INNER ROME:
thing only there is firmness, and that is in the
absolute determination not to hear a word in
reference to a constitution or guarantees."  And
again, in a conversation with him, the Holy
Father declared that "the pretended rights which
constitute the foundation of Constitutional Governments, are utterly irreconcilable with his convictions, which are decidedly averse to a constitution."*
-Ience, on his return to Rome, the Pope not
only annulled the " Statuto " in the Roman States,
but exerted his influence to banish all such pestilent documlents from  Italy.- In a diplomatic
note addressed by Prince Schwarzemberg, from
Vienna, to Baron Hagel, at Florence, in which
he exhorts the Tuscan Government to abolish
the Statuto Constitutionale, we find that one of
his most urgent arguments is, that the Pope desires it.  He writes thus: "The Pontifical Government avows that its repugnances (to constitutional governments in Italy) have, moreover,
foundation in reasons which refer particularly to
its own well-being. The Pope does not seek
to disguise the fact that constrained as he feels
by duty to- recognize and declare every form  of
parliamentary government as directly threatening to the free exercise of the spiritual power,
* Le dottrine civili e religiose della corte di Roma, in ordine
al dominio temporale. Considerazioni e documenti, etc. del Car.
Achille Gennarelle, Avo. nella curia Romana. Firenze, 1862.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    27
he cannot without alarm observe the constitutional principles, which are the ordinary fruits
of revolutions, propagated  and embodied all
around his States, nor even the most mitigated
forms of representative government, the contagion of which seems not less inevitable and disastrous."
That is sufficiently explicit! All representative governments are, by' theirvery nature, hostile to the free exercise of the Pope's spiritual
power. To enjoy the free exercise of that power
is the first right and the highest duty of the Pope
and all his faithful subjects. Hence he, and all
his subj ects who are logical and consistent, should
exert themselves to prevent and destroy constitutional and representative governments.  Such
faithful and logical and loyal children of the
Pope as the Emperor of Austria, Francis of
Naples, Leopold of Tuscany, and divers little
princelings of Modena and Parma, are consistent,
and have done their utmost not only to keep
all constitutional institutions out of their own
kingdoms, but from all conterminous States, in
order that the "' contagion" of this pest may not
infect the atmosphere of holy despotism, which
was wont to rest so peacefully over those favored
lands.
How much perplexed these faithful subjectmonarchs of the Pope sometimes are in reconciling their supreme duty to him with the subordinate duty which they owe to themselves and




28             INNER ROME:
their subjects, appears conspicuously in the case
of the poor Duke Leopold of Tuscany. Among
the secret archives of the Grand Duke, which
were thrown open to the cognizance of the Italian Government when Tuscany became part of
the Kingdom of Italy, there was found a remarkable correspondence, of which I will give a brief
account.
By the revolution of 1848, Tuscany obtained
a constitution.  By that constitution, all Tuscans, without distinction of religions, were
equally admitted to civil and military appointments. The Holy Father communicated to the
Duke his disapproval of this provision. "The
Holy Father," said the note of Monls. Massoni in
his name, "is decidedly of opinion that an organic law should be proclaimed declaring the intrinsic incapacity of the Jews to discharge any
offices whatever which have any relation to the
Catholic religion. If, however, there should be
a difficulty on the part of the Duke to issue such
a laxw, his Sanctity is comforted by the thought
that inasmuch as to him (the Duke) is referred
the confirmation of all appointments, he will not
sanction those to which he (the Pope) has referred."  Inasmuch also as such persons might,
according to the Statuto, belofig to the Senate or
House, or even the Council of the Duke, the
Holy Father advises the Duke of the absolute
necessity that they should be prohibited by an
organic law from having any voice in matters




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    29
pertaining to religion and the IIoly Catholic
Church.
To this note a timid and submissive reply is
sent, in which the Grand Duke declares that up
to the period of the dispatch he has admitted to
employments which have any relation to the
Catholic religion, none but good Catholics.
Again, a month later, another representation
is made to the effect that by the Statuto, "Ecclesiastical persons in causes, civil and crimincd, may
be called before judges, who are not Catholics,
nor even Christians," and the Duke is earnestly
desired,-nay, is rather commanded,-to prevent
this dreadful scandal.
Observe in the tone of the reply the obedient
spirit of a true son of the Church. "'The undersigned (Monsignor Boninsegni) begs to assure
your most religious Eminence, that his Imperial
and Royal Highness, the Grand Duke, protests
that in the use of his prerogative he has constantly remembered not to admit those exercising
a worship different from the Catholic, to any employments which have, or can have, any relation
to the religion of the State, or to the discipline
of the Church. And this, it seems, ought to
tranquilize the HIoly See in reference to the
apprehension which it has conceived, that civil
causes regarding the Church and ecclesiastical
persons may be called before judges who are
not Catholics nor even Christians."
[But, notwithstanding this assurance, it seems




30              INNER ROME:
that the Pope's anxieties continued, and were
increased after his return from Gaeta. In February, 1852, he wrote personally to his son Leopold. It seems that Leopold hated the constitution as cordially as the Pope.  Stimulated, no
doubt, by the Pope's creatures, he wrote to the
Holy Father asking his advice.  The poor
Duke was in much perplexity. The letter of
Pius IX. opens with a precious specimen of the
style of- address to sovereigns which prevailed
in the days of Hildebrand and Innocent the
Third.
"The gratefill memory which your Highness
is pleased to preserve of my counsels given on
another grave contingency is full proof of your
right-mindedness; and the fidelity with which
you now resort to the Head of the Church for
enlightenment in a moral doubt, is perfectly consistentwith those decided sentiments of religion
and piety with which we know you to be pervaded."
The Duke thought that other than Catholics
might be admitted to all functions, except the
judicial. The Pope is alarmed by this laxity.
He advises the Duke that the true spirit of the
Church is always "'to keep as far as possible
aloof from contact with unbelievers." Faithful
rulers "should regard as full of danger those associations which take place between clients and
lawyers, the sick and their physicians, which
create and foster a respectful esteem and confi



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    31
dence in the former toward the latter." Nothing,
it seems, is more dangerous to the faithful than:
to entertain esteem and respect for heretics.
Hence the Pope, inexorably logical, counsels the
Duke to abolish, by-a sovereign act, "pure and
simple," that article of the constitution, in order
that affairs may be restored to their old condition.
The bewildered Duke professes, and is yet
afraid to obeythe Pope. HI-e writes: "It was my
design to except from the new laws of the Constitution, promulgated 15th of July, 1848, the
first article, which makes equal before the laws
the heterodox and Catholics. Your Sanctity will
observe that I coulcl not be tranquil in conscience
if I should sanction this article, and you explain
the embarrassments to which the sanction of this
article would expose me, by making it necessary
for me to sanction other equal privileges with the
faithful which the heterodox would claim.  I
will, therefore, cheerfully annul this article, and
by this means the former state of things will be
restored."
Yet the perplexed Duke begs indulgence especially for the physicians, who have been admitted
under the Constitution since 1848. He would have
these permitted still to exercise their functions.
"No more shall be appointed, but please allow
Ihern still to exercise their profession." Such is the
representation to the Father.  He assures the
Pope that they are extensively employed, that




32              INNER ROME:
they have, according to the regulations, always
advised the friends of the dying in time to have
the offices of the Church.performed.. That, because of their skill and high reputation, many
persons, "profoundly pious," have preferred
them; that they have never taken an undue
advantage of their position. The Duke hints to
his Holiness that as these persons adopted this
profession in reliance upon the fundamental law
of the State, it would scarcely be just to dispossess them. And then he adds the following
words, the abjectness of which could not have
been surpassed in the darkest mediteval days:;"To abolish the Sta~tuto of the 15th of July,
1848, a special decree of the Government is necessary, and this shall be done in accordance with
the desire and command of your Holiness.  But,.
before I promulgate such a decree, I beg your
Holiness to reflect that having made it the subject of consultation, I anticipate serious divisions,
great diversities of opinion, and momentous
consequences. It is my duty to make this observation, while I leave the decision of the matter to the
enlightened prudence of your Holiness."
But the minister of King Leopold saw that it
would be madness to adopt this course; that
another revolution would be the inevitable result.
He drew up another letter, in which the inconveniences of obeying the Pope's injunctions were
meekly represented.  But Leopold refused to
adopt and send it.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    33
In answer to the submissive and deprecating
suggestions of Leopold, the Pope consented that
those admitted to the profession of law and medicine under the Constitution of 1848, should be
permitted to retain and exercise them on condition that the Jews in these professions should be
employed only by Jews! He adds: "It grieves me
greatly to observe that the opposition made to
your Highness in the Cabinet, has become
bruited abroad, and that it seeks support through
the whole of your kingdom, and even beyond it,
exciting anew passions which are scarcely calmed,
and exaggerating, falsifying, and villifying for
the purpose of producing a breach between you
and the Ininistry."
Comment on this correspondence is not needed.
It shows what is the relation of the Pope to
princes, when affairs are in what his Holiness
considers a normal condition. It is on the one
side a relation of authority and dictation; and on
the other of awed and reverent submission.
There was once a prophet riding upon a faithful ass, who seeing an angel with a drawn sword
in his hand, recoiled, and bruised his master
against a wall, and who, when abused for thus
starting back, addressed to his master a gentle
and affectionate remonstrance. They all-prophet and ass and angel-have their counterparts
in Pius and Leopold and the avenging angel of
Revolution. We hear repeated the reproach and
3




34             INNER ROME:
the acknowledgment that it was undeserved,
which is recorded in the sacred story.
"And the ass said unto Balaam, Am I not
thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since
I was thine ass until this day? Was I ever wont
to do so to thee? And he said, WNay."




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    35
CHAPTER IV.
PERSECUTION FOR POLITICAL OPINIONS.
IN the effort to detect political plots, and to
discover some clew to the hated and dreaded
National Committee at Rome, the Papal Government proceeds with an infatuation and a disregard of humanity and right and common sense
which are truly astounding. It ignores all law
and all the ordinary forms of justice under which
decent despotisms usually veil their outrages,
and blind to all that stands out distinctly in the
sunlight of modern civilization, is sharp-sighted
only in those dark labyrinths where intrigue and
espionage track and entrap their victims.
The Papal Government is the only one in the
world where men are banished and imprisoned,
simply because their sentiments and feelings are
known or surmised to be adverse to the Government. In other governments such persons are
watched, and not put in offices of trust; but by
none other are they banished or disfranchised
simply because their general influence is' dreaded
as unfavorable to the policy of the State. But
this is done constantly by the Papal Government.
In many cases which have come to my per



36             INNER ROME:
sonal knowledge, gentlemen have been banished
from Rome with no charge made against them,
and with the explicit or implied admission that
there were no charges to be made, on the single
ground that they were unfriendly to the Government, and exercised an influence against it. Now
when it is remembered that in Rome there is no
press in which political hostility can express a
syllable of dissatisfaction, no rostrum from which
a whisper of discontent is ever heard, no permitted clubs or gatherings where public affairs
are canvassed, it will be evident that gentlemen
are banished from Rome, not for saying or doing
anything disloyal, but from simply being liberal
in politics and dissatisfied with the Government,
and being unable to seem contented. The influence
of silent disapprobation is counted as a crime.
And, as a matter of course, the higher is the
moral and social position of this negative offender, the greater is his offense.
The Government seems to have a special spite
against physicians. It knows that the influence
of a beloved physician in the family is second
only to that of a venerated pastor. It knows,
moreover, that in common with all the educated
and intelligent population of Rome, the physicians almost unanimously detest the Government. Hence the persecutions and banishments
of this class have been numerous, incessant, and
irritating, no less to the people than to themselves. The banishment of no individual could




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    37
create such wide-spread dissatisfaction as that of
a popilar physician. The celebrated Dr. Panteleone was banished for no other cause than that of
acting in behalf of a city, of which I believe he
was a native, in presenting to the Government a
petition for the redress of some grievances to
which they were subjected. Another, Dr. Maggiorani, Professor of high standing for many
years in the medical school at Rome, after suffering tortures from the successive banishment and
imprisonment of several of his sons, was at
length banished, and now holds a distinguished
position under the Italian Government, as professor in the same department at Palermo.  I
remember to have read a bitter review in the
" Osservatore Romcano" of his inaugural address,
which called out replies from Palerrno, in which
the Roman organ of the Government was challenged to produce any reason for the banishment
of the Professor, which would justify it in the
eyes of any other despotism in the world. I remember no less the squirmings, and the malignant insinuations, and the poor evasions of the
organ, which could make out no other case
against the Professor than that he was suspected
to be an enemy, and known not to be an earnest
friend of the Government. The case of the excellent Dr. Franco, now practicing at Paris, is
quite the same. The Government alleges nothing against him, and admits virtually that there
is nothing to be alleged. He was a man of well



38             INNER ROME:
known prudence in reference to the expression
of his political sentiments, even with most foreigners, as no doubt some of his American patients will remember. He has in vain petitioned
to pass one day at Rome to assist at the nuptials
of a beloved relative. He was a man of high
character and of wide influence, and hence his
silent disapprobation of the Priestly Government could not be tolerated.  Never was the
rule, "He that is not with us is against us," more
rigidly applied. And these banished Romans,
how they pine for their home!
In some cases a course of procedure is adopted
more cruel than that of banishment.  A case
occurred early last winter which will illustrate
the remark. A young physician was subjected
to a domiciliary visit of the police, who expected
to find papers which would show him to be connected with that dreaded secret organization,
the thought of which is a terror when they wake
and a nightmare when they sleep to the priests
and the officials of the Government. It is impossible for the Papal police to act otherwise
than brutally, for they are brutal. INo Roman
will enter into this hated service. 1No Roman
would probably be trusted in it. It is made up
of foreigners of various nations. Many of them
are criminals and disbanded soldiers of Francis II.
So detested are they by the Roman people that
it is not considered safe for them to make arrests
during the day. They are made at night or in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    39
the early dawn. Indeed, they are in such peril
from the indignation of the Roman people that
regulations were made a few years since, after
the assassination of several of them, that they
should never go on their rounds alone. Every
recent visitor at Rome will remember always to
have seen them in groups of from two to five.
At night it is exceedingly ludicrous to see a Pontifical gendarme, with his cocked hat and large
military cloak, looking as stately as a field-marshal, slowly stalking through the streets, protecting the city, while three or four little, lithe French
soldiers walk some distance behind this majestic
personage in order to protect him. He protects
the citizens from thieves and robbers, and the.French soldiers protect him from the citizens.
The visit of the police to this young physician
was made in their usual mode of mixed cruelty
and cunning.  His wife was within a week of
her first confinement.  In the early morning, as
the maid unlocked the door of the apartment to
go out for milk, she found four men standing
ready to enter.  They were policemen in citizen's dress. They pushed by her and entered
into the bed-room of the physician and his wife,
and ordered them to rise and aid them in the
search they were about to institute. They would
not leave the chamber to allow the physician and
his wife to dress lest they should take that opportunity to destroy or secrete some papers. Two
of the men hurried the physician off to prison




40             INNER ROME:
before the search was begun, and the other two
remained for the examination. They emptied
all drawers and closets, and tore up cushions and
mattresses, and found only one prohibited article
in the apartment, and that was a printed life of
Cavour. The terror of the young wife can only
be conceived by those who know how often persons thus hurried off to prison, with no crime,
and no real political offense, but only on suspicion or false information of spies or enemies,
have languished in some unknown cell or dungeon for years without being permitted to receive or send a message.  The effect of this
shock upon the poor lady was fatal. Much interest was made to have her husband restored to
her until after her confinement. He was released
after thirty-six hours, but it was too late! She
never rallied, and died a few days after in childbed! With such memories in Roman homes,
who can wonder at the intensity of hatred and
indignation with which the Government is regarded! Nothing more was done. The Government had killed an innocent wife, embittered,
as we may suppose, almost to madness, one of
its citizens, had offended all of his friends, and,
as a compensation, had secured a copy of the
life of Count Cavour. It cost too much.
But worse things than these sometimes occur.
Besides petty persecutions of lads and youthssuch as seizing cravats and breast-pins and tearing
them off in the street, when the device or color is




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    41
supposed to have a political meaning, they too
are sometimes subjected to the rigor with which
grown men are treated. Innumerable instances
I have heard in which a youth, belonging to a
family of whites or liberals, has been made to
suffer disabilities in school or college. In one case,
a youth, who wore a Victor Emmanuel breastpin, was not only dismissed from college, but had
every avenue to an education in any institution
in Rome closed to him. One of the young sons
of Professor Maggiorani, only seventeen years
of age, was imprisoned for a considerable period,
and for what was not known. But another case,
the story of which I give in the words of my
wife, on whose mind it made a painfully indelible impression, is still more harrowing.
"Spending the evening with an English acquaintance in Rome, my attention was arrested
by the countenance of one of the casual visitors,
as being very intellectual but profoundly sad.
Finding strangers with our host he sought a
quiet corner near one of the ladies whom he
knew, which brought him accidentally near to
me also, and I soon heard her ask him what had
happened to depress him to such a degree. At
first he seemed uhwilling to speak in my hearing,
but introducing him to me she assured him that
he might safely say in my hearing whatever he
could say in hers.  Then he poured out his
grief. A youth, I think of seventeen years of
age, a mere boy, the son of a dear friend, had
3*




42             INNER ROME:
been suspected of connection with the unknown
and much-dreaded National Committee. Hoping,
as some supposed, to get at some information
through the confession which he might make, he
was arrested, deprived of the usual blessings of
life and light ahd home, and thrown into a solitary cell, noisome and damp, seven feet by nine.
Here, denying all knowledge of anything treasonable, he was kept until four wretched months
had passed, when, worn out by confinement, bad
air, and bad food, and intolerable distress of
mind, he had become ill. Begging the jailer to
send the prison physician to him, that worthy
had made him a short visit, and said that he
would send him something. In due time medicine came marked with the number of another
cell, not his own. He waited for the jailer,
pointed out the mistake, showed him that the
patient in the other cell must have his medicine,
and that an exchange had been made. It was
all uselessly spent breath.  The surly, cruel
wretch would do nothing. Very ill, the poor
lonely boy concluded to take the medicine, right
or wrong. Its effect upon him was terrible, and
when, at length, the attention of the authorities
was directed to him, he was pronounced to be
dying. Then, inasmuch as nothing had been
found against him, and as he prayed so earnestly
to be taken home to die in his family, and as
their grief, overcoming their fear, was making
itself clamorously heard, his prayer was granted,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    43
and he was conveyed to his home. The gentleman who mentioned these facts had just
come from  his bedside.'WVill he live?''I
think not.' Innocent, amiable, intelligent, most
affectionate, guilty only of desiring with all the
youth of Italy a free government, he dies, murdered! And the gentleman who narrates the
story, although to a group of friends, seems
either afraid or too much accustomed to such
scenes to be indignant, and appears to be impressed
by the tragedy, as by a fate, only with a profound
sadness."
Another history, which also came to the knowledge of my wife, and is told in her words, is as
profoundly affecting as the former. It shows
that where the interests of the King of Naples
and his cherished brigands are involved, the
rights and the lives of Romans are held in small
regard.'"In the summer of 1862 I formed one of a
party, mounted on donkeys, going from Albano
to the fair at Grotta Ferrata. The hot sun and
the fatigue had made me unequal to the return
journey on the donkey, and my friends had introduced me to an Italian gentleman, who kindly
invited me to take a seat in his carriage. IHe was
about thirty years of age, of noble connections,
and pleasing manners. Shortly after leaving
Grotta Ferrata, this gentleman, who had been
thoughtful heretofore, and had said only what
kindness had rendered necessary, suddenly turned




44             INNER ROME:
to me and said,'And so, madam, you are the
wife of a priest-a Protestant priest?''Yes,'
said I,'that strange thing in Rome. I suppose
I am a great curiosity to you.'' Madam,' said
he, most energetically,'would to God that every
priest in Rome had his own wife and family!' I
was surprised, and said,' St. Peter certainly had
his, but your church has made many laws and introduced many customs since the time of St.
Peter. Whether such innovations are right or
wrong, we must decide for ourselves.'' Decide!
Yes; and I assure you that all Italy is Protest-ant
at this moment-that is, all thinking Italy-and
especially upon this matter of the celibacy of
the clergy. There is scarcely a man in the country but would be glad if every priest were married.'  After a good deal of conversation, all
tending to the same point, he added:' The less
the priests have to do with our domestic and
political affairs, the better for us.' Frightened
by such bold utterances, I remarked that he and
I were quite strangers to each other, and that in
view of the present condition of public affairs I
wondered that he should talk thus to me, and I
wondered that he had no fear of imprudent disclosures on my part.'Fear,' he said,'I have
passed long ago; I have left it far behind me,'
waving his hand with expressive gesticulation.
As this, however, was by no means my own case,
as I had a horror of Papal spies, and as I could
not be sure that the coachman or the footman, or




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    45
both, had not understood every word which had
been or might be uttered, though we spoke in
French, I resolutely changed the subject of conversation.
"I afterward asked of my friends his history.
With lowered voices they told me a terrible story
of brigand horrors. The young men of the
family were all known as liberal, or anti-temporal
power men, or in the common language of Rome,
as whites, as distinguished from the priestly party
known from the prevailing color of their dress
as blacks. They had, however, taken no offensive steps and indulged in no offensive words.
No cause for their arrest could be ascertained,
though it was diligently searched for. A party
of pleasure was at this time formed for a visit, I
think to Naples. If I remember rightly it was
a bridal party.  Among the number was this
gentleman with whom I had been riding, his
favorite brother (and only those who know the
Italians intimately can know how strong are
their family affections), and a young sister and
brother-in-law. On the road they were stopped
by a party of brigands, robbed, and subjected to
frightful outrages. The young sister succeeded
in escaping into the woods, and, after great hardships, reached a town, from whence she could
return to Rome. The two brothers were soon
overpowered, pinioned, and threatened with
death. In an agony of distress the elder brother
offered to save the life of the younger by a ran



46             INNER ROME:
som, and to bring the money in person, and then
give himself up to the threatened death. The
offer was accepted, the elder brother left, obtained the money, and returned. But something
had occurred to change the plans of the band.
Perhaps they had heard of soldiers in pursuit of
them in the neighborhood. At all events they
had disappeared, but the mutilated remains of
their poor victims were strewn upon the ground,
here a hand, there an ear, further on a mutilated
trunk. Worn out by fatigue and anxiety, the
sight was too much for him. He was carried
back to Rome in a state of insensibility, and a
long and terrible attack of brain fever ensued.
After many months of gradual recovery his every
other feeling seemed to be merged in a desire to
avenge the murder of his innocent, beloved
brother. To this end he laid the whole affair
before the Papal Government, but was met at
every turn by political accusations against himself and family, concerning which he challenged
the fullest examination, and was obliged at length
to desist from all further effort as worse than
useless, convinced that the Papal officials were in
league with the system of brigandage, and that
he saw in them the real murderers of his brother and his friends. Despairing of anything
good in Rome, so long as it was swayed by priests
and haunted by ghastly memories, life had become worthless to him, and hence his remark to
me that he was past all fear. His friends were,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    47
however, striving to distract his mind and to
engage his attention to the ordinary occupations of life, and to some extent they had succeeded."
I conclude this series of individual histories
with another, of which I was also personally
cognizant.  Well acquainted myself with the
gentleman whose painful history is here described, but knowing that all American friend
had been longer and more intimately acquainted
with him, and was probably better informed of
the details of the events which I wish to describe
than myself, I requested him to furnish me with
his recollections. In answer to ny request he
has kindly sent me the following information:
"'DEAR SIR, —I take great pleasure in sending
you, as you requested, the facts connected with
the arrest and imprisonment of Signor, as
far as I can remember them.' "In the latter part of the winter of 1852 and'53, we received a visit, in our rooms on the
Corso, from  Signor, who had, that very
morning, been liberated from one of the subterranean prisons of Rome, devoted exclusively to
political offenders. The sudden change from the
dark prison to the bright light of day, the joy of
seeing once more his family and friends, and the
effects'of several months of imprisonment had
so unstrung his nervous system that his hands
were in constant agitation, and his voice trem



48             INNER ROME:
bled in telling us the history of his arrest and
imprisonment.
"He was driving in his carriage from the city
to his country-place, and had almost reached one
of the gates of the city, when suddenly several
gendarmes presented themselves, stopped the
horses, and ordered him  to dismount immediately. Thinking that they had mistaken him
for some one else, he mentioned his name, and
expostulated with them for having stopped him
so arbitrarily. Instead of an answer to his expostulation he was ordered to follow them. HIe
was conducted immediately to prison and placed
in a small, dark cell, entirely alone, without
having any accusation preferred against him,
and without any reason being assigned for his
imprisonment. For several weeks he saw no
one but the jailer who made his regular rounds in
distributing bread and water to the prisoners.
The minutes seemed like hours and the hours
like weeks. To break the dreadful solitude, he
begged the jailer to send for his favorite flute,
but he met with a surly denial. He then petitioned the inspector, the chief of the prison, that
he might be permitted to have some musical instrument, as he was very fond of music. He
was again refused. He was soon transferred,
however, from his solitary cell to a part of the
prison where a large number of political prisoners were confined. The air was so unhealthy,
and so little attention paid to cleanliness, that




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    49
many were ill. Notwithstanding the liberty they
enjoyed of seeing each other and of talking together, and of playing different kinds of games
allowed by the regulations of the prison; the
time hung so heavily upon their hands that they
were reduced to all kinds of shifts to fill up the
hours of the day. One of the number, perhaps
of a more delicate organization than the others,
yielding to the influences of the place, became
exceedingly melancholy. His companions, fearing the fatal consequences of the continued depression of mind, attempted in vain to arouse
him. Their effbrts commenced too late. His
reason, already unsettled, soon abandoned him
completely. To the dangers of illness and fear
of death was now added something worse than
either, the fear of the loss of reason. They
immediately bound themselves by a solemn
agreement to do everything in their power to
prevent a recurrence of this dreadful calamity.
_As soon as one of their number became pensive,
the rest combined immediately to distract his
thoughts and cheer his spirits in every possible
way that they could devise. After several months'
imprisonment, Signor -    was visited by a lawyer employed by the Government for his defense.
He was not allowed to choose his own advocate.
After considerable delay he was brought before
a tribunal composed of priests, and as no charge
was brought against him, and as he was only suspected of liberal sentiments, he was liberated




50             INNER ROME:
from prison with the condition that he would
remain but one day in Rome, and then go to his
house in the country to remain there until he received other orders from the Government. It was
on this day that we first saw him. A few hours
after our interview, and after taking leave of his
family, he set out for his country-place, escorted
by some of the Papal police.
" Ten years afterward we were again in Rome,
and again saw Signor.., who, freed from his
condition of remaining upon his farm in the
country, was allowed the privilege of coming to
Rome, with the condition, however, annexed,
that he was never to go outside of the walls of
the city. To see that this condition was not
broken, the police visited his house constantly,
and very often woke him up at midnight in
order to be certain that he was still in Rome.
Constantly watched by the Papal spies, a prisoner
within the circuit of the walls of Rome, with
most of his property either confiscated by the
Government or paid in fees to his advocate, he
was, the last time we saw him, still cheerful,
with the hopes that the time is not far distant
when Rome freed will become the capital of a
united Italy.
"Yours very truly,      R. N. T."
The facts as above narrated correspond to my
own less perfect recollection of them. In one
point, however, I am persuaded my friend has




POLITICAL,  RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    51
fallen short of the full statement of the case.
He says that itwas "after considerable delay"
that his case was brought before the tribunal.
That which is most distinctly impressed upon my
mind in connection with this case was the fact
that this gentleman's hair was turned prematurely gray, and that his eyes wore that blanched
aspect which plants acquire which are deprived
of light, and which was due to his long imprison.
ment in a dim prison.




52             INNER ROME:
CHAPTER V.
THE IMPRISONMENT OF THE ADVOCATE AND DEPUTY,
SIGNORE VINCENZO DI TERGOLINI.
THE apologists of the Roman Government
deny that political prisoners are treated with severity. Last winter, the Hon. Mr. Corcoran, a
member of Parliament, inserted a letter in the
London Times, in which he declared that he had
visited the political prisoners, and that their number was less than fifty, and that nothing could be
more comfortable than their situation. Ile had
conversed with them, and they had declared that
they had nothing to complain of, and admitted
that the delay in their trial was generally due to
their own remissness. It was quite a fascinating
picture which he drew of the life of a political
prisoner in Rome. Some of my English and
Scotch friends went with himn and confirmed his
statements. They were surprised at what they
saw, and feared that the good Pope and his kind
government were the victims of political and
Protestant slanders.
It was a shotw prison which they saw. It is
possible that Mr. Corcoran believed that it included all the political prisoners of Rome. If so,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    53
it proves that his charity was greater than his sagacity and knowledge. It may be that his unconsciousness of the hundreds of political prisoners
in San Michele, in the horrid fortress of Paliano
in the Sabine Hills, and of various lonely prisons
on the sea-shore, did not arise from his being
"willingly ignorant."
Let us turn from this rose-colored account of
a Catholic partisan, who only saw one prison for
a few moments, to a story of a political prisoner,
a man of high character, education, and position,
who had a bitter experience of several of them
for the space of four years.
Signore Vincenzo di Tergolini has published
an account of his imprisonment by the Roman
Government. It bears all the marks of truthfulness. It is dedicated to the Rev. Mr. Gu'rney,
of Paris, a friend of the author, and well known
as a gentleman of high character and standing.
His father was for many years a highly honored judge in Padua, Vicenza, and Venice. He
became an advocate, a doctor of law, a judge,
and finally a deputy to the Venetian Parliament.
In 1848, Venice became independent of Austria. Signore Tergolini became prominent by
his patriotic writings and speeches, and self-sacrificing pecuniary colltributions for the Republic.
Sent as a commissioner to Florence, to establish with her a firm and friendly alliance, he was
just on the eve of a successful termination of his
mission, when the reaction in favor of the Grand




54              INNER ROME:
Duke broke forth in that city. It was part of
that general movement which restored Venice to
Austria, Rome to the Pope, and Florence to Leopold. He was compelled to escape. Unable to
return to Venice, he concluded, for precisely
what reason does not appear, to take refuge in
IRome. It was for him a fatal determination.
It was impossible that his history should remain unknown. He was suspected and watched
by the police. At length he was denounced to
the authorities. To escape from the city without
a passport was impossible.  To remain undetected within the city seemed to be impracticable. And yet he baffled the police for months,
sheltered by his friends, and sleeping in coffeehouses, theaters, stables, in the dark angles of
remote quarters, and among the ruins. In October, 1851, he was at length arrested.
He was a political prisoner. Hie was a gentleman of high education and position. Certainly he did not fare like those favored prisoners
whom Mr. Corcoran saw, surrounded with comforts and books and the society of equals. The
brutality which he experienced was such as no
Christian Government should exhibit to thieves
and murderers, and the utter disregard of all
legal forms of which he was the victim could have
a parallel only in the despotism of the worst of
the Cmsars.
He was thrust into a little, dark, and filthy
watch-house, in which common criminals and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    55
thieves and murderers were temporarily placed
previous to their imprisonment. It was exceedingly damp as well as dark. A voice accosted
him,-" Who are you?" "An unfortunate creature like yourself," was the reply. His companion kindled a match. By the fleeting light he
saw a man of middle age lying on a bare table,
supported by iron feet. I-e observed, also, the
disgusting filthiness of the floor. As night drew
on, he expected food and a bed, or a transfer to
another prison. In vain! His companion, a servant of a marquis, committed for an alleged
theft, kindly relinquished his table to the newcomer. At four o'clock in the morning five other
persons were thrust into the same vile hole. One
of them brutally demanded and obtained his
resting-place. His little money had been taken
from him. For three days he was left without
food. During this period other prisoners came
and went and were provided for. At length, on
the fourth day, he was allowed eight baiocchi a
day for food. In this dreadful place he remained
thirty-two days. A constant succession of thieves
and assassins came and were again removed in
the course of a few hours. He alone was compelled to remain. And the captain of this band
of carabinieri, as one of those who showed him
some kindness assured him, had himself been a
robber, and bore upon his shoulder the brand
with which it is the custom of the Roman Government to mark such criminals. Such is Roman




56             INNER ROME:
justice. Thieves and robbers promoted and put
in charge of political prisoners.  And why?
Because no upright citizen will discharge this
hateful function.
The Roman law, for there is law in Rome, requires that an accused person should undergo
a preliminary examination within twenty-four
hours after his arrest. But itwas not until ten days
had elapsed, that Signore Tergolini was examined. Even then it was not properly an examination. No evidence, written or oral, was produced
against him. He was simply questioned. Hope
was held out to him that if he would give certain
information to the Government, he should be released. But he declares that he was absolutely
ignorant of the matters concerning which he was
questioned. The Government knew his history.
They inferred that he must be connected with
those secret societies which have for their object
the overthrow of the Papal Government. They
hoped by cruelty and imprisonment, and the
despair produced by them, to extort information.
A system this, worthy of Tiberius or the Borgias.
It is not at all improbable that some other prisoner, weaker or less honorable than himself, had
thus been induced, by suffering and the desire to
escape horrible imprisonment, to give on mere
suspicion or pure invention the name of Signore
Tergolini, as one of those conspirators which
the Roman Government so earnestly seeks and
never finds. Who can tell how many persons in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    57
Rome, liberal indeed in sentiment and longing for
a change in the Government, but utterly free from
conspiring against it, are the victims of secret
informers! Who can tell the agony and selfreproach of those informers, who, in hours of
weakness and temptation and despair, have saved
themselves by the sacrifice of others equally innocent with themselves of the crimes imputed to
them!
Signore Tergolina, still hoping for release and
exile, was struck with horror upon finding that
he was to be sent to the prison of San Michele.
Conducted thither in the garb that he had not
changed for thirty-two days, he was placed in a
little cell, narrow and dirty, and swarming with
vermin. It was six feet high and five feet broad,
with a window three feet wide, into which the
sun shone but a few minutes in the morning.
"God must have restrained me," he writes,
"from dashing my head against the wall, and
thus putting an end to my uneasiness and suffering of body, and the tortures of my almost
broken heart." In the cell next to his own there
was a young man, of about twenty years of age,
condemned to death. He heard his groans by
night and day.  Communicating with him as
they were marched from the cells to the yard
each day, he was assured by him that he had
committed the murder of a liberal, at the solicitation of his parish priest, with the promise of
impunity and absolution. In such a cell, and
4




58             INNER ROME:
with such accompaniments, he continued to share
all the pains and penalties inflicted upon robbers
and murderers and assassins. It is characteristic
of the policy of the RIoman Government, the
fact which he mentions, that on one occasion he
heard the voice of some English person praising
the commodiousness and airiness of the large
hall around which the cells were ranged. "But,"
he adds, "none of the doors of the cells were
opened, where he would have found a scene revolting to humanity."
In this connection I cannot omit Signore Tergolina's account of the Papal law in the case of
those who are condemned to death. Persons accused of crimes whose penalty is death, are
closely confined until that penalty is pronounced.
Then they enjoy greater privileges. They are
placed in a larger prison, and with other prisoners. Their straw sack is changed for a mattress of wool, and this is called the bed of death.
Better food and wine are furnished for them, and
this is called the food of death. Four baiocchi a
day are paid to them, and this is called the wages
of death. Thus they pass days, weeks, months, and
sometimes years, not knowing but each day may
be their last. On the day of execution the lock
of their cell is oiled, and at night six men enter
noiselessly, spring upon the prisoner, put him in
chains, drag him to a priest to confess, and then,
the execution! The author declares that he knew
several prisoners whose death had been delayed




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    59
in this manner, from two to seven years. What a
cruel and wanton aggravation of the already sufficient agonies of the condemned!
It was not until seven months after his first imprisonment that he was again examined. The
judge announced to him that nothing was elicited
by the examination.  He knew not for what
reason he was arrested. He could not answer
and disprove charges, for none were made. He
simply answered questions.
Political crimes, after this first examination,
come before the tribunal of the Sacra Consulta,
from which there is no appeal. It is composed
of six monsignori, and the procurator, who corresponds to our attorney-general, or district attorney. They sit on an elevated platform, before a large table, on which is placed a crucifix.
The accused stands before them, guarded by a
soldier, and with his advocate by his side. The
advocate has no power to control the proceedings, to elicit the charges, and to confine the inquiry to the indictment. The accused is asked
all sorts of questions which the suspicions of
his judges or the tales of informers may suggest.
The advocate dare not demand a strict indictment, or a close adherence to the question, before
this awe-inspiring tribunal. He can but timidly
suggest explanations of the conduct of his client,
from which his innocence maybe inferred. The
accused, after such a process, waits for his written
sentence, which is delayed sometimes ten months,




60             INNER ROME:
and which renders no reason for his condemnation, and which is without appeal. Signore Tergolina declares that as he writes he has under his
eye a sentence of the 31st of Dec. 1851, of ninety
persons of Senigallia (the Pope's native province),
of every condition in life, upon which are printed
the words "Sacra Consulta," "Invocato ii nome
santissimo di Dio." Of these ninety persons, ten
were condemned to ten, fifteen, twenty, and forty
years in the galleys, and twenty-four to death.
And yet the Pope-the minister of God's mercy
to the world —cannot sign a sentence of death.
But when it is submitted to him for ratification
or pardon, he places upon the sentence, if he approves of it, a black ribbon, and if he reverses
it, a red ribbon.
It was before this tribunal that Signore Tergolina was at length brought, after nine months of
delay, for trial. The advocate assigned him came
to him and made many inquiries, and expressed
his conviction that he could not be condemned.
He was brought before his judges with his hands
bound in irons, between two soldiers. His indignation at thus being led as a common crinlinal with thieves and murderers through the
streets overcame his prudence. He broke out
against his judges with earnest remonstrances.
"Certainly,' he said, "God enabled me to hurl
just invectives against these malignant hypocrites
in that tremendous hour. Notwithstanding the
feebleness produced by poor and meager food,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    61
and broken sleep upon a bed of straw for so long
a period, besides my agony of mind, I did not
allow myself to forget what was due to the dignity of man."  One would like to have witnessed that scene, and heard that invective!
Matteucci, cruel and stealthy and soft as a
tiger, asked him many questions in a gentle and
insinuating way. Signore Tergolina freely admitted his agency as a Venitian patriot. But his
conduct in that respect was not a matter for the
jurisdiction of Rome. Only one point was made
against him. He was in Rome without a passport. H-Ie proved that he had deposited it in the
police office, according to law, and had been refused the ordinary card of sojourn. HIe was dismissed with the assurance that his trial would be
resumed.  But, no! He was removed to the
"Carceri Nouve."  On the 3d of August he received his sentence, following that trial in which
only one slight offense was charged, and that disproved. He was condemned to the galleys for
twenty years. They professed in the sentence,
although the charge was not made in the trial, to
have found in his possession a prohibited paper,
relative to a secret society. Signore Tergolina
solemnly declares that he never had such a paper,
and never belonged to such a society.
Such was the treatment and trial of a political
prisoner, not a citizen of Rome; a man of high
position and distinction; a patriotic, learned, and
religious man.




62              INNER ROME:
I cannot dwell upon the cruel and revolting
circumstances of his imprisonment at the Carceri
Nouve, and subsequently of his transfer to the
dreadful fortress of Paliano, among the Sabine
hills. When, on a pleasant summer evening, a
year ago, I sat at Oleavano, opposite to this grim
old medieval fortress, I heard from an artist who
had visited this region for many summers, some
harrowing tales of the treatment of political
prisoners within its walls. I was assured by him
that they were mixed with other criminals, and
fared worse rather than better, and that they
were there by the hundred. And now this book,
"Quattro Anni delle prigione del S. Padre," of the
Avvocato Tergolina, confirms the statement that
I then heard.
It would be a matter of painful interest, if my
space permitted me, to give some of the details of
his continued imprisonment for more than three
years after his condemnation. He was never consigned to the galleys. He made himself exceedingly useful to his fellow-prisoners by giving them
regular instructions, and by preparing memorials
for them to the Government. He occupied much
of his time in legal and moral writings. His
mind received in prison those first impressions of
religious truth which were subsequently matured
in England into the full conviction of the great
truths of the Gospel as they are set forth in the
Church of England. His book is written in a
spirit of almost childlike Christian simplicity. It




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    63
was by his exemplary conduct, and his unwearied
representations of his innocence, that he at length
obtained his freedom.
I conclude this account with the statement of
some other punishments for political offenses, of
which Signore Tergolina was cognizant, and with
a description of his food and his condition at
Paliano.
On the 30th of April, 1850, five young men
sent up from the roof of a house the tricolor of
Italy in Bengal lights, in commemoration of the
victory gained over the French troops on that
day of the previous year. For this offense they
were arrested, imprisoned, and condemned to the
galleys for twenty years.  At the date of his
writing (1860) Signore Tergolina knew that one
of them was still undergoing that sentence.
The young man, Henry Ruspoli, cousin of the
prince of that name, fell under the suspicion of
having taken part in that demonstration. Walking with his young wife in the streets, he was
suddenly struck by carabinieri, and separated from
her. As she raised a loud cry, one of these brutes
struck her with his hand and silenced her, while
another prostrated her husband with his baton.
He was conducted first to the guard-house, and
thence to San Michele, where he was detained
several months, and whence he was at length released for want of any evidence against him, and
from the influence of his illustrious relative.
In the same year, 1850, the celebrated sculptor




64              INNER ROME:
Rinaldi was suspected of having received a Lombard exile in his house. The carabinieri having
searched his house and not founcd the person for
whom they were in search, conducted to the
prison all the inmates of the house at that time.
Rinaldi, his wife and sons and daughters and
domestics, a lady visitor, a physician, then making
a professional call, fourteen persons in all, were
detained eight days in prison. Truly does Signore Tergolina remark that the Papal Government at that time was like a famished tiger
whose appetite it seemed impossible to satisfy.
After mentioning other similar cases, Signore
Tergolina remarks that he cannot refrain from
describing two ridiculous instances of Papal persecution which show the extent to which priestly
fear proceeded.
A poll-parrot, who had been taught to utter
disrespectful words concerning the Pope, was
banished; and another which sang a patriotic
song was killed by the police.
The manner of living to which Signore Tergolina, equally with the vilest criminals, was subjected, is thus described:
"In fact many died there, and none can say in
consequence of what disorder. Our daily food
was such as to leave us half famished, and often,
when half famished, it was impossible for us to
eat. Black bread, which was half full of dark,
heavy matter; soup, which was filthy and only
half cooked; rice of the most inferior quality,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    65
with gravel and nameless impurities mixed with
it; beans, with ashes carelessly mixed in, and so
old and decayed as to be full of great black'bugs, and the other vegetables in like manner
filled with vermin; and water, bad and full of extraneous matter, and sometimes swarming with
little living fish,-such was our sustenance at Paliano."  "For four years I suffered the horrors
of famine, and after my liberation for a whole
year, it seemed as if my hunger never was satisfied. For all that period I had not seen nor
tasted a piece of pure bread nor a drop of pure
water."
After this testimony of a man of pure and
honorable character, singularly void of a spirit
of bitterness and revenge, as his whole book
shows him to have been, we can judge whlat
value is to be attached to the testimony of those
visitors, who are led by sleek monsignori and
zealous perverts through a clean and cheerful and
well-furnished show prison, and are told that it is
thus that the Roman Government treats political
offenders.
The story proves several points which place
Rome far in advance of all other civilized despotisms in cruelty, and put her by the side of the
worst of Oriental and ancient tyrannies.
It proves that men are arrested in Rome on
the mere suspicion that they may belong to secret
societies against the Government, or on the information of spies, or of prisoners, who invent
4*




66              INNER ROME:
crimes for others, to escape penalties, just or unjust, inflicted upon themselves.
It proves that not only Roman citizens, but the
citizens of other States, who have been known as
the friends of freedom, are regarded as criminals
at Rome, and as destitute of the rights, which
belong even to the guiltiest wretches, of an accusation and trial, and opportunity for defense.
It proves that political prisoners are treated
not with less but with greater inhumanity than
any other class.
It proves that arrests are made of many persons not so much for the purpose of punishing
them as of extorting from them information.
It proves that in the case of political offenders
all the ordinary maxims and forms and proceedings of law are utterly and arbitrarily set aside.
It proves that for the purpose of guarding the
temporal power of the Pope, every dictate of
common humanity and of decent respect to our
common nature, is set aside, and that the poor
victim, often entirely innocent, is given up to a
malignant, remorseless, unchecked, omnipotent
will..All this in the name of the religion of the
blessed Saviour!
Oh Lord-how long? how long?




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    67
CHAPTER VI.
THE. SECRET NATIONAL SOCIETY AND COMMITTEE.
THE Pope and the Priests may be afraid of the
Devil, but they are not so much afraid of him as
they are of the Secret Society and its committee,
which lie under the whole of the Roman population as the catacombs lie under Rome - dark,
sinister, penetrating everywhere, and everywhere
charged like a mine, with explosive materials. It
is indeed a marvel, a master-piece of Italian subtlety-the Secret Society. It is everywhere felt,
and nowhere seen. The wonder is that so impulsive a people can keep such a mighty and
wide-spread secret so close that all the appliances
of Papal power and priestly craft are utterly unable to get any clew to it. Of course, a mere
visitor who at once described it as absolutely
inscrutable, and professed to know much about
it, would stultify himself. And yet, from some
facts well known, and from others fairly deduced,,
and from special information derived from friends
who, I was morally certain, belonged to it, I felt
that I had acquired a pretty correct general notion of its character, objects, and operations.
Its object is well known firom  its own pub



68              INNER ROME:
lished annals. The National Committee has its
press, and publishes, from time to time, its manifestoes. It indicates its policy and the duty of
its members, and publishes its appeals, its warnings, and its words of encouragement to its
friends in Italy and throughout Europe. These
are facts well known. But who the committee
are, and where the printing-press is, are facts not
known, and, so far, not discoverable. The efforts
to get a clew to that press are incessant and unavailing. The police, the confessional, the whole
army of Jesuits, the Serventi and Servente, all are
employed in vain in the hopeless task. During
the last winter that I was in Rome, the police
fancied that it could be found in some subterranean chambers within the gardens of the
French Academy of Arts.  They claimed the
right to examine. The French authorities were
indignant. But the Papal Government insisted
that the examination should be made. It was
made, and nothing was found, and the French
were more angry than before. It is just as likely
to be in some old Roman chamber under the
palace of a Cardinal who is searching for it as
anywhere else. It may be under the special
charge of the minister of police who professes to
make frantic efforts for its discovery. Or it may
be in some catacomb, or some wine vault of a
ruined Roman villa, on the Campagna.  But
wherever it is, the entire power and craft of the
Papacy are insufficient to find it.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    69
The present National Committee has for its
watchword, " United Italy under Victor Emmanuel, with Rome for its Capital."  After the
restoration of the Pope in 1849, the Secret Society which was formed was republican, and contemplated the unity of Italy as a Republic. When
the masterly policy of Count Cavour made Napoleon's triumphs inure to the unification of Italy
under a constitutional monarchy, a new society
in the interests of Victor Emmanuel was formed.
It gradually absorbed the best portion of the
Roman patriots.  At length, within the past
year, knowing well, what the Papal Government
in vain endeavored to discover, the locale of the
rival Republican committee, it threw it open to
the light, destroyed its printing-press, and put an
end to its existence. There is now but one patriotic organization in Rome which has any real
power. The old friends of Mazzini have, for the
most part, joined the new organization, and
adopted the new watchword. Its object is utterly
to destroy the temporal power of the Pope, and
to make Rome the capital of United Italy. It
is in constant communication of course with the
Italian Government.
There is probably nothing more remarkable in
history than the absolute inscrutableness of this
wide-spread association, under a government
which has unrivaled instrumentalities for espionage. Men lie imprisoned for years under the
suspicion that they belong to it-mere boys are




70              INNER ROME:
seized and cast into narrow dungeons-property
is confiscated, rewards are offered, the police
stimulated to its utmost, the confessional plies its
subtlest and most terrifying agencies, spies are
paid to join it and disclose it-and yet not one
person has hitherto betrayed it.  This is certainly most remarkable. When I have expressed
my wonder at this state of things, and my doubt
of its possibility, and therefore of the existence
of any extensive association of this kind, I have
been referred to considerations such as the following:
I have been reminded that ever since the
period of the French Revolution the Italians have
had constant experience in secret societies, and
have learned, after many failures and disclosures
and betrayals, the secret of guarding them  on
every side from discovery by treachery or indiscretion. The Italians have a genius for subtle secrecies and intrigues; and it has been sharpened
by the societies of the Carbonari and of the arboai and of Young
Italy which have existed all over Italy for more
than fifty years.  Their organizations and operations have been miracles of skill.  Their long
training in secret societies, and this perfect knowledge of the sources of danger and betrayal, it is
contended, are sufficient to account for the marvelous immunity with which this wide-spread
association carries on its work.
I have been told too, that the leaders of this
organization have studied in the Society of Jesus




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    71
such models and methods of secret operations as
have enabled them to put to defiance all efforts
for its discovery. Three hundred years of keen
study, by the sharpest wits in Europe, of all possible methods of disguise-study which penetrates into the deepest mysteries of human
thought and motive and passion —have, no doubt,
brought this evil skill to its utmost perfection.
Yet, notwithstanding these explanations, it still
seems a wonder that this million-eyed Roman
Government, with the training of centuries in
esp2ionage, has never been able to detect and bring
to light this remarkable organization. The utmost
that it has ever accomplished has been to obtain
moral, or even in some cases absolute certainty,
that certain individuals belonged to it; but from
none of them  have they been able to learn what
it is, where it is, and who are its leaders and
members. They have found the key-hole to this
adamantine safe, but they cannot find the key;
and they cannot penetrate into and possess its
archives by breaking it or burning it. The fact
seems incredible, when we remember what is
involved in this obstinate secrecy.
In the first place, it is evident that all the
thousands of Romans who belong to this association must be guilty of constant and repeated
perjury. Simple falsehood, it must be confessed,
comes easy to an Italian. But this is in cases
which his religion will either sanction in advance
or subsequently absolve. But perjury to the




72              INNER ROME:
priest-perjury which cannot be confessed and
absolved-it would seem as if no Romanist could
possess a patriotism robust and daring enough to
confront this awful sin. And yet nothing is more
clear than that the priesthood make searching
inquisition for this society in the confessional.
The sacraments of thle church are refused to
those who do not disavow all connection with
the new order of things in Italy, and express their
readiness to co-work for its destruction.  Secret
instructions were issued by the Grand Penitentiary, in the early period of the revolution, to this
effect. A copy of this doculment found its way
into the Italian press and was the subject of much
and indignant comment.
This curious paper bore the date of the 10th of
December, 1860. Its directions were stringent
and peremptory. The confessor was commanded
to regard every act of political adhesion, however
remote, to the new Government, as a sin which
needed special expiation before the guilty party
could be admitted to enjoy any religious privileges or consolation. The expiation demanded
was a solemn engagement to turn, at the first
favorable opportunity, against the Italian Government. The penitent was permitted to defer
active opposition to the Government until he
could do it with personal safety. Thus persons
in the employment of the Italian Government
might be permitted to remain as secret foes and
prospective traitors. The soldier might continue




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    73
to serve until an opportunity should offer to surrender his post or his command.  The clerk
might remain in office, if he would betray the
secrets of the Government.
When such instructions were given to the
priesthood in the Italian Kingdom, we may be
sure that others, still more monstrous, would be
issued at Rome. I have heard repeatedly, and
from  sources entitled to my entire confidence,
that constant inquisition was made at the confessional into political opinions, and that the expression of doubt as to the lawfulness of the
Pope's temporal power was treated as the sin of
sins. But I confirm my own testimony by that
of an able writer in the North British Review for
June (1865), who is evidently thoroughly conversant with the "state and prospects of Italy."
He writes thus:
"Confessors were not content with imposing a
special penance on those who stood convicted of
connection with political authorities deemed unholy. They were directed to constitute themselves inquisitors, not into the acts but into the
speculative opinions, on political matters, of their
penitents.  During Lent, 1862, in Rome, the
question came to be addressed to penitents, What
they thought of thought of the Pope's temporal dominion?
and absolution was refused to such as either declined replying to what they considered a question affecting a point foreign to religion, or
answered in a spirit not in accordance with the




74             INNER ROME:
view that it was a divine institution. It is to be
expected that our statement will be set clown as
an Exeter Hall fancy by those who make it their
business to cry up the court of Rocme. The facts
we allude to are of too private a nature to be
given in detail, but we stake our credit on the
perfect authenticity of the statement; and we
k-now that one of the most eminent members of
the Roman Catholic hierarchy who then happened
to be in Rome inveighed in unmeasured terms of
reprobation against this -monstrous proceeding.
Since then the system has not been abandoned.
It has only been modified."
It should be remembered, in this connection,
that it is not possible for any Roman to avoid this
perjury, by abstaining from confession. He must
confess at stated festivals, or a certain number of
times during the year. The city is divided into
a certain number of Rioni, or wards. Every
householder is compelled to return to the police,
and to the parish priests, the name of every inmate of his house. The first ceremony, which
even every foreigner undergoes, upon hiring an
apartment or a room, is the rendition to the police department of an accurate account of his
name, profession, age, and country.  There is
every day at the police department in Rome a
precise knowledge of how every chamber, large
enough to contain a bed, is to be occupied on
that night, in hotels as well as in private apartments, in the case of all persons except those




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    75
who may have arrived in the city later than three
o'clock. Now as every priest knows of every
Roman citizen within the bounds of his parish,
so he is under bonds to see that every one comes
to confession. If he should neglect that duty, he
would soon find himself in the priest's prison,
near Civita Vecchia, or subjected to some other
hard discipline.  In like manner every citizen of
Rome is compelled to present to the authorities
a certificate of the priest to the effect that he has
confessed, and is a good Christian, and has been
absolved. If he should fail to do this, he will be
fined, and if he persist he will be imprisoned or
sent to the galleys; if he should die unshriven
through obstinacy, he will be denied Christian
burial, and his property will be forfeited to the
State. It is true that these rigorous exactions are
occasionally somewhat relaxed through the kindness or treachery or corruption of the priest.
There are also cases in which confession is
evaded by collusion with the priests.  A  poor
man is hired to personate one whose repugnance
to the confessional or to sacrilegiou's falsehood is
unconquerable, and the priest, for a consideration, or from  sympathy with the patriotism  of
the party (for there are some such priests) sends
him a certificate that he has made an excellent
confession.  I was told that this system of substitutes for confession is quite common, but I am
inclined to think it is rare, although I know of
instances in which it was adopted.




76              INNER ROME:
Now in view of this enforced confession, and
this inquisition into political opinions, and this
consequent necessity for perjury, which from its
very nature cannot be confessed and absolved,
and which therefore it would seem would create
a superstitious terror in a Catholic conscience, it
certainly seems passing strange that this great
secret society should remain so long utterly unbetrayed. It indicates either a very enfeebled
religious principle, or a conviction that, under
the circumstances in which the Romans are
placed, patriotism is itself a religion of higher
sanctions and obligations. Both of these reasons
may operate, but the latter is probably most effective. The Roman patriot no doubt satisfies
his conscience by the plea that the priest has no
right to penetrate into his political convictions
and actions, and to brand that as sin which is for
him lofty duty, and hence, that what the priest
in his spiritual character has no right to demand
to know, he himself has a perfect right to conceal. Such questions are not always easy to be
resolved. In our own war, patriotic spies and
religious soldiers escaping from bondage, have
felt it a solemn duty, or at least an unquestioned
privilege, to lie fearfully to the enemy. In a
land of casuistry and of Jesuits, there is no lack
of high authority for conscientious deception
and dishonesty. Rome has taught her children
how to deceive her, and yet retain a good conscience.




POLITICAL, ]RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    77
But however difficult it may be to account for
this marvelous secrecy, there can be no doubt of
the fact of the existence of the National Committee, of its numerous membership, of its effective working, and of the utter inability of the
Government to discover its leaders, or break up
its press, or impede its operations.
That which is most unaccountable in the whole
matter is, not that multitudes have been found
faithful, but that there has not been a single person to betray the association, and that no spies of
the Government have been able so to connect
themselves with it as to disclose its secrets.
Doubtless enormous bribes and rewards have
been offered. Rome would count a million of
scudi cheaply spent if she could lay her hand on
the head, or even on the members of this organization. [Nor do we doubt that there are many
connected with it, who, for high pay, or under
the terror of imprisonment, or the stings of conscience, or from superstitious fears, would betray
it-if they could.
If they could!  Here we believe that we hit
the true secret of this impenetrable society. The
organization of the association is said to be new
and peculiar. The Freemasons and the Carbonari and the Illuminati were societies of individuals known to each other through secret signs
and watchwords.  Their obj ect was to make
known to each other the members and the officers
of the society, and to combine for associated action.




78             INNER ROME:
Each member was acquainted with the authority
directly above him, and with a group of co-members with whom he was to act. The liability,
however, to discovery and betrayal involved in
this arrangement gr~adually led to a new method,
by which only so much of mutual knowledge of
the personelle of the association was allowed, as
was essential to efficient action. The problem to
be resolved was to bring to bear the momentum
of the entire combined association, and yet to
keep each member so isolated as that he should
not know personally and positively any other
member. An analogy to this may be found in
material substances whose particles, however compact they may appear, are said never actually to
touch each other. In order to a perfect security
against betrayal, it was necessary that no member
should have knowledge or proof, though he inight
have a moral certainty to his own mind, that any
other particular individual was a member of the
same association. This system the National Committee is said to have brought to marvelous perfection.  The committee is small, and its personelle is unknown to the members. It has an
absolute power of direction. Its double work is,
on the one hand, to increase the number of partisans of the Italian Government, to advise them
of such a policy in its interests as they can safely
pursue, to obtain from them such information as
will forward its objects, and to have all things
ready for united action when the hour of deliver



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    79
ance shall strike, and, on the other hand, to confer with the Italian Government, conveying to it
the secrets of the Papacy, advising it of the
state of the Roman mind, and accepting from it
counsels and suggestions as to the method and
policies which it should pursue.
The advantages of such a system, if practicable, are obvious. He would be a bold man
who should say that it is not practicable in the
deft hands of these most subtle masters of finesse and craft.  Moreover, it is evident that
the thing to be accomplished needs nothing more.
The immunity from betrayal induces the most
timid patriots to join the organization. If the
Government obtains moral or positive proof that
an individual citizen belongs to it, even then it
can do no more.  Racks and screws cannot
squeeze out of a man what is not in him, and
even the utmost that can be found against him is
that he received a printed communication from
the National Committee, or that he wrote " Viva
Vittorio Emmawtuele!" on the walls of a cardinal's
palace; or that he threw a harmless bomb between the legs of a particularly black and obnoxious priest, or that he tossed into a carriage
in the Corso, during the Carnival, a bouquet with
squibs against the Government, or that a picture
of Garibaldi was found fixed in a frame behind
that of the Pope or the Madonna, or something
equally atrocious. It is sufficient for the!National
Committee to know who are its friends, on whom




80             INNER ROME:
it can rely in the decisive hour, and to keep them
encouraged and faithful to the cause by advising
them of the situation and the prospects, and permitting them to make such occasional demonstrations as shall keep the Government in a state
of alarm, and shall amuse them by the mixture
of the comic with the serious which always attends these little patriotic escapades.
How pervasive and intangible and terrifying to
the Government this national organization is
appears from an incident that occurred just before I left Rome, in the winter of 1864. The
city was startled one morning by the report that
the long-trusted and confidential private secretary
of Cardinal Antonelli had been arrested. He
was charged with being in communication with
the Italian Government and in complicity with
the National Committee. An agent of Victor
Emmanuel at the very source and center of the
Papal power, in the midst of its innermost penetralia, and in the person of the private secretary
and inner confidante of the Pope's Pope!  Could
anything be more mortifying or alarming? And
it proved to be true! He was tried by the court
of the Sacra Consulta, and convicted on evidence
that was vague, and which led to nothing and to
nobody beyond himself, and was sentenced to
many years, I have forgotten how many, of close
imprisonment.  This august court, of about
twenty judges and officials, held secret sessions,
and each member was strictly forbidden to pub



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    81
lish or reveal a word of its proceedings. And
now mark the result! Lo! on the day after the
trial closed, a record of all the proceedings,
printed by the -Vational Committee, was laid upon
the table of every cardinal and high church dignitary in Rome! The impalpable National Comnlittee and association were no more affected
by this blow than Milton's loyal angels were by
the swords of the hosts of Lucifer, which passed
through their ethereal bodies and left them as
they were.
Which of these officials was a member of the
National Association, or from the cabinet of
which of the cardinals or officials these records
were nightly abstracted and copied through the
agency of another secretary, or cook, or majordomo, or mistress; or where they were printed,
or through whom the delicate attention of presenting them to the cardinals was paid, are points
on which the Government is far more in doubt
than it is as to the authenticity of the handkerchief of St. Veronica and the resting-place of the
bones of St. Peter.
In another chapter on the same subject I will
give some incidents which will illustrate the
mode in which this Committee and its agents
operate.
5




82             INNER ROME:
CHAPTER VII.
THE SECRET NATIONAL SOCIETY AND COMMITTEE.
THE work of the National Committee, and the
society which it directs, is, as was seen from the
last chapter, one of preparation and readiness to
act in the future, rather than of present action.
Yet the irrepressible patriotism of the Romans
often breaks forth in most hazardous and useless,
yet withal often comical manifestations. Although
parties are frequently arrested and imprisoned on
mere suspicion, the hatred of the patriots to the
Government and the priests often finds imprudent and laughable expression.
When I arrived in Rome in June of 1862, just
after the canonization of the Japanese saints, the
air was full of whispers of tile new designs of
Garibaldi.  The hopes of the patriots were at
their height. The belief in Garibaldi's star was
unbounded. The Romans were fully aware of
the determination of the French Emperor to protect Rome and the Pope. But they knew as well
that Napoleon had been opposed to the liberation
of Naples and its union to the Kingdom of Italy
-but it had been done by the irresistible Garibaldi. They knew of the diplomatic bonds which




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    83
tied Victor Emmanuel-but they had been cut by
the victorious hero. Hence they believed that
the stern attitude of opposition and threatening
which the Italian Government assumed toward
Garibaldi was a comedy well understood by both
parties. They were convinced that in some way,
quite out of the usual tenor of European politics,
but perfectly in harmony with Garibaldi's romantic career, the Emperor would be propitiated
or baffled; and that the red shirt of the Liberator
would soon be seen ascending the Quirinal, and
heralding the victorious entrance of the stalwart
King of Italy into the long-designated palace
where many Pope-kings had been made, but
which was henceforth to hold a King of Popes!
WVhat a day for Rome that would be! What a
passion of patriotic joy would shake the seven
hills! The thought almost set the Romans wild.
Self-restraint was difficult in the extreme. Hope
and exultation would escape in some form of expression. Patriotic demonstrations became rash
and frequent.  The patrols of French soldiers
through the streets of Rome were increased.
Murders of obnoxious gens-d'armes were multiplied. Terrifying messages were sent to many
priests. They went softly and spoke gently, and
recalled the horrors of the French Revolution,
and looked pale and frightened. The patriots
were at that time particularly exasperated with
the Government and the priesthood, because they
knew well that the canonization of the martyrs




84             INNER ROME:
was only a pretense for assembling and reanimating the partisans of the temporal power, and
rallying to its support with new zeal the Catholic
powers of Europe. It was a period of intense
suppressed excitement, of anxious expectation, of
high hope on the one hand, and of a fearful looking for of wrath and vengeance on the other.
Such was the state of feeling during the summer months which I spent at Albano. Walking
often under the grand old avenue of Ilexes which
led to the Pope's summer residence, or strolling
on the borders of the blue, deep-down dimpled
lake, in company wTith an Irish-American priest,
our talk was alternately of "the situation" at
home, and at Rome. He was at the same timhe a
high ultramontane as a Catholic, and a strong
patriotic Unionist as an American; and the singular combination often produced perplexities of
feeling and opinion which were peculiarly and
deliciously absurd. He was spending the summer at a convent which overlooked the lake, and
looked like an abode of tranquillity which no
mundane anxieties could disturb. But the rumor
of Garibaldi hovering on the Papal border created such a flutter among these nested Francis,
cans, as the appearance of a hawk on the horizon
produces in a cote of doves. But the talk of the
good fathers was not dove-like. Their common
name for the King of Italy was "the Piedmontese Hog;" for Garibaldi, " The Brigand;"
and for Napoleon III. any and every objurgatory




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    85
and villifying epithet that came to hand. It is a
curious fact that the priests hate their Imperial
protector more even than those formidable foes
from whom he is supposed to protect them. The
good fathers were alarmed from observing on the
Alban and Sabine hills signal-fires, which burned
into their souls like an anticipated purgatory.
These signal-fires could be traced all the way
along the central mountain chain, the back-bone
of Italy, from the neighborhood of Rome to the
region where the daring Liberator had begun his
adventurous and disastrous march. My location
would not permit me to see these fires by night;
but I saw their smoke by day. Intense as was
my interest in the fortunes of my own land at
that time, my heart bounded at the thought that
I might possibly see Garibaldi enter Rome in
triumph. Yet it was a hope rather than an expectation. From the first I have always believed
that Napoleon would never relinquish his hold
on Rome until he should be constrained by force,
or by irresistible, and long-resisted, political necessities.
From time to time we heard of the anxious
and troubled state of Rome-of the number of
arrests, which on one day amounted to forty, and
of the still continued, ill-judged, irritating and
damaging demonstrations of the Roman patriots.
On one occasion a dog was painted in the colors
of the Pope, and with a tin pail tied to his tail,
was sent down the Corso, and went out of the




86              INNER ROME:
Porto del Popolo —tle same gate from which
Pius IX. escaped in 1848, and from which, according to this symbolical representation, he
would soon be compelled to escape again. At
the opera, in the midst of the performance, a
number of birds suddenly flew about the area
with the Italian tricolor ribbons fluttering from
their necks.  This dreaded and hated tricolor
was flaunted everywhere in the face of the priests
and the police. Young men were stopped in the
Corso, and their breast-pins and cravats torn from
them. Ladies whose toilets combined the three
colors, were peremptorily bidden to return home
and change their dresses. Even the bouquets for
sale at the corners of the streets often breathed
treason; and the very vegetables lay under suspicion of conspiracy and rebellion. One of the
regular occupations of the police in the morning
was to efface from the walls patriotic, watchwords, and the national emblem. The mischievous patriots delighted particularly in thus marking the walls of priests and princes, and conspicuous partisans of the black party.  One of
its most frequent demonstrations was in the
evening to throw bombs made of stout pasteboard, and with an alarming charge of powder,
between the legs of priests as they paused to
talk with a friend or sip a glass of lemonade at
the open stalls; and the delight of seeing the
agile jumping of those consecrated legs must
have been immense, for it was a dangerous




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    87
pastime, and when discovered, severely punished.
Men who leaned long against a wall were closely
watched-for it was discovered that they often
left a printed or a painted tricolor behind them.
One method of baffling the effacing operations of
the police was curious. Eggs weire emptied, and
then filled with tricolored paints, and thrown at
night high upon the walls of buildings, and at
points difficult of access. It made it necessary
for the police often to procure ladders, and the,
sight of these majestic gens-d'armes, with their
cocked hats, high up on ladders scraping off these
~moral plague-spots, must have been a matter of
huge glee to these childlike and playful, even
when earnest, Romans. Until the time of my
departure, I noticed in my walks past the Coliseum, that there were some of these marks high
upon the walls, which the police had never
effaced, and which no doubt still proclaimed to
the undying faith of the Roman patriots-" Garibaldi is coming!"
At this period and subsequently, there were
other demonstrations which were peculiarly annoying to the Government.  The Government
insists that the great body of the Roman people
are extremely contented and happy. It is accustomed to contrast their favored and peaceful
state under the paternal government of the Pope,
with that of the wretched and degraded population of Protestant nations.  1Ience it loves to
show off the hilarity of the people on festivals and




88              INNER ROME:
at the carnival. But the great body of the respectable Roman citizens take no part in, and do
not even witness the festivities of the carnival.
They are given up to foreigners, to French soldiers, and to the lowest of the populace. There
is no heart, no abandon, no genuine fun, no characteristic national life in them. It is a dreary
gibbering ghost of past hilarity. It annoys the
patriotic Romans to see this farce enacted in the
eyes of foreigners, and the modes which they
employ to give their testimony against it have
an air of decorous and solemn absurdity which is
very diverting. Notice may be given in some
way to which no clew can be obtained, or by
little printed slips of paper with unintelligible
figures and letters scattered in the street, to the
effect that it is the purpose of many citizens to
take a walk-that is all!-on the Pincian Hill, or
at the Coliseum, or in the via Porta Pia. Accordingly, at the height of the carnival at one
season, an immense number of citizens, gentlemen and ladies, in black, or in very sober suits,
were seen solemnly walking —that was all — on
the Pincian! The police dispersed them, when
suddenly the Piazza San Lorenzo was filled with
the same somber and meditative crowd, to be dispersed again. At another time the same thing
occurred at the Coliseum; and at still another at
the Porta Pia. On the anniversaries of the Pope's
accession, or of his birth-day, there is an immense turn-out of the people and of carriages;




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    89
and in spite of all the precaution of the baffled
police, some demonstration is usually contrived
which testifies unmistakably that the only anniversary which they would keep with their whole
heart would be that of the Pope's passage into
purgatory. On such occasions it is astonishing
to see the imprudence with which demonstrations
are made from which no good practical result can
come, and which subject those who make them
to espionage or arrest.
A remarkable instance of this imprudence on
the one hand, and of the severity of the Government on the other, occurred on the opening of
the railroad from Rome to Naples.  It was a
whole year after the Rolman road was ready to
be connected, before the Pope could be induced
to consent that the road should be opened.
Shortly after it was opened, a party of about
forty Romans obtained permission to mnake a
trip to Naples. When they crossed the Roman
frontier and came in sight of the flag of the
Italian kingdom-the view was too much for
their prudence and self-restraint.  They broke
forth into enthusiastic and irrepressible cheers.
Only one of the party was permitted to return!
Many of them were married and business men;
and for this imprudent act they were not only
banished but beggared!
The patriots of Rome are not without their
poets. Many satires and epigrams and patriotic
odes in manuscript are circulated among them.
5*




90'                 INNER ROME:
I have in my possession two of them, written in
a round clear hland.  One of them  is on "The
Excommunication of the King of Italy." I translate, as well as I am able, a few of the verses.
THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE KING OF ITALY.
To the lucent dawn of a Roman day,
Our mitred and white-robed Sovereign turns,
And a dreadful awe in his heart makes way,
And a thought of fire within him burns.
Be still-for the lips of our holy Jove
Are moving with words divine and high;
Be still-lest the prayer of faith and love,
Marr'd by your noise, shall not reach yon sky!
Perchance he pleads with earnest zeal,
That our sins may be all forgiven;
That the angel Grace may come and seal
To our troubled hearts the peace of heaven.
Perchance he commits to God's kind care
The welfare of peoples new born and free,
And prays that Italy, one and fair,
Like our Rome of olden time may be.
What I Italy one? that league of hell?
It makes him fume, and threaten, and fret,
And hurl at Victor Emmanuel
The bolts-that have never hit him yet!
They are shinin  nothining nothings in the air;
They can break no more a monarch's crown;
Our God does not hear a cursing prayer,
But strikes the black anathema down.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    91
And thus the poem continues through a dozen
stanzas more with increasing vehemence, reproaching the Pope for employing mercenaries
to persecute and murder his own subjects, and
for subjecting to foreign nations that Italy which
it was his first duty to emancipate.
Another poem, entitled the "Adieu of Rome
to the Hero of Niagara," is much more spirited.
It is impossible for me to transfer to a translation
the ease and point and sarcastic ring of these
mocking and biting verses.  The hero of Niagara, Blondin, had drawn immense multitudes
to witness his performance in the old Pretorian
Camp-ground of Tiberius.  It was one of the
few allowable frivolities in which the Romans
could be indulged; because it was one which
could not be turned to any political account.
But it will be seen that Blondin's performances
did something more than amuse the people and
add several thousand scudi, in the form of tax
for licenses, to the Papal treasury.
The following is a close and faithful, if not a
happy, rendering of this sharp doggerel:
Great Quirinal Father!
In mercy pray bend,
And to this bad world
A moment attend.
Surely our Frenchman
A Canon should be
Of John Laterano,
Oh, Holy Padre!




92                 INNER ROME:
He's the genius of Rome
For twisting and turning,
And sets all the city
To gazing and learning.
The people, astounded,
Admire every squirm
Of this quick, bright-spotted
And flexible worm,
Which France the renowned
Of heroes the nurse,
Has sent for our joyAnd also our purse.
We are but poor creatures
Of song and of dance,
And hence all our heroes
Are sent us from France!
Applaud, ye great people!
Crowd all in one bunch,
And throw up your caps
To Blondin and Punch!
Since hero and robber
In French mean the same,
Our hero shall be
A creature more tame.
A brave lofty tumbler,Economical too,
Whose cost will not be
Beyond a few sous.
Hero of Gymnasts!
The old land of Brutus
Returns the gay greeting
With which you salute us.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.         93
We hail your grand advent,
For well we remember
You're like the great hero
"Del due decembre I"
Your feats are the same;
You are not strangers!
Alike in your fame,
Alike in your dangers.
We dub you a Canon;
You have enough grace,
And your prince will do better
Than you in your place.
Our rulers and tumblers,
While they walk the tight rope,
Expect not to fallAt least so they hope!




94              INNER ROME:
CHAPTER  VIII.
THE GOVERNMENT OF PRIESTS, AND ITS
ANOMALIES.
WHEN the Papal Government is spoken of as
a government of priests, it is said by its partisans
to be a gross and conscious misrepresentation.
The number of lay persons in the employment
of the'Government, compared with that of
priests, is adduced as a triumphant confutation
of the charge. The statistics, for instance, of
the year 1856, prove that the entire administration of the Roman States was conducted by 7157
persons, of whom only 303 were ecclesiastics,
and the remaining 6854 laics. We may allow
the figures to be true, and yet adhere to the
statement that the Government of the Roman
States is a government of priests.
A crowned priest is at the head of the State.
He constantly proclaims it as the first and most
sacred of his duties, as a civil ruler, to administer the affairs of the State with a view to the
welfare of the Church. He is supreme, in the
sense and to a degree that no other ruler in the
world claims to be. He is directly empowered
and is infallibly directed by the Spirit of God to




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    95
govern the Church for its best interests; and
hence, as the interests of the Church are inseparably bound up with those of the State, he is
equally directed and empowered in the Government of the State.  This fact makes the administration of the Roman States a priestly government.
But it is, moreover, a government by priests,
as well as a priestly government.  The governing
is done by priests. Let us see.
All the high offices, in which the governing
functions are discharged, are in the hands of the
priests. The heads of departments govern; the
subordinate officers serve. It would be a singular confusion of things that differ to call Earl
Russell the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the
tide-waiters and the porters at the custom-houses
the governing class of Great Britain. We are accustomed to say that the aristocracy constitute
the governing class in Great Britain. And yet, if
we should count all the clerks and laborers in
the employment of Government, who are, equally
with Lords Palmerston and Russell, officers under
the Queen, and decide the question by preponderance of numbers, we should conclude that the
middle or the lowest class is the governing class
of Great Britain.
If we turn to the official Annual Almanac published at Rome, we find the following positions
occupied by ecclesiastics.  They are at the head
of all the departments (as we should term them),




96               INNER ROME:
including, at this time, the ministry of war.
They occupy the prefectures, or legations of the
provinces; the  embassies, ana all diplomatic
functions; the principal offices at court (such as
Maggiordomo, Maestro di Camera, etc.); the
higher judicial tribunals of the Sacra Consulta,
the Rota, the Segnatura di Justicia, il Tribunale
Lauretano, and in part the criminal Tribunals.
They are at tile head of the congregation or
committee of public instruction; occupy the
presidency and vice-presidency of the Council
of State; of the consulte of the finances, of the
police, of the public health, and of prisons; of
the committee on the public land, the presidency
of the commission of agriculture, etc. They are,
in short, at the head, and in the controlling position, of all the departments and all the agencies
of the State. Wherever there is honor, influence,
control, profit, there they are! Wherever there
is labor, subordination, service, no honor, small
pay, there they are not! Where the carcass is,
there the-crows-are gathered together.
Again: the total amount of money paid to the
laity in office has been contrasted with that paid
to ecclesiastics, and the inference drawn from the
figures that the former receive far the greater
benefit from the Government.  But we find that
the average of the salaries of ecclesiastics is about
four times that of the laics. The truth is, that
the offices held by the laity are such as the priests
would not accept, or the duties of which they




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    97
could not discharge with any decent regard to
propriety, and to the respect which they expect
from the people. They could not or would not
become clerks in custom-houses, laborers upon
the public roads, or servants and custodi in palaces
and museums, at prices below what they receive
for the easier and more honored function of saying mass.
And yet the partisans of the Church insist
that it is a perversion of the truth to say that
laymen are excluded from  high offices at the
Papal court. The author of the "Storia degli
Stati della Chiesa," etc., issued at Rome in 1860,
as an elaborate vindication of the Papacy, refers
to the fact that, after the Pope's return from
Gaeta, provision was made that laymen might be
employed in some high functions. But we do
not need the testimony of Mons. About to the
effect that in point of fact very few are thus employed. My author, with charming naivetd, admits the fact, and accounts for it on the ground
that very few laymen equal to their posts can be
found; and, moreover, that it would have been
very difficult to have passed by prelates "who
had hitherto administered affairs with as much
prudence as disinterestedness."  Hear himnt!
"Gregory XVI., and his Secretaries of State,
Bernetti and Laimbruschini, acted upon the principle that no concession should be made to liberalism, which when it obtains one privilege becomes emboldened to demand others which




98              INNER ROME:
cannot be granted. In this sentiment they were
confirmed by Austria. If we can confide in the
statements of Coppi, Gregory XVI. absolutely refused to establish a Council of State composed of
laymen, in order that there should be no infringement of the prerogatives of the cardinals; in
like manner he rejected the device of allowing
the people to elect their municipal and provincial counselors. Neither Gregory XVI. nor
Pius IX. permitted a lay administration. Even
the lay ministry instituted by Pius IX. before the
revolution, was presided over by the Cardinal
Secretary of State. In the lay ministry, if we
except Mamiani, who was a demagogue ruled by
his imagination, and Rossi, who was so ignominiously massacred, there remained not a single
one who by capacity or education was fit for a
high position. Ambitious men, indeed, who
were continually seeking for office, were not
wanting-Italian liberals, of superficial knowledge, and having no capacity but for declamation and intrigue, but wanting in firmness and
intellectual sobriety, and in that self-abnegation
which is essential to the right conduct of political affairs. Besides these there were some
subaltern funlctionaries who are familiar with
subordinate branches of administration, but are
utterly unfit for comprehensive views. Besides
this, it would have been very difficult to pass by
prelates who had administered public affiirs with
equal prudence and disinterestedness."




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    99
Now it certainly seems a little singular that
while laymen are found quite equal to the administration of the vast affairs of such large
kingdoms as France and Austria and Russia and
Great Britain, there are not found in the Roman
States men capable of holding high offices, even
under an infallible head, in a kingdom which
numbers less than a million and a half of inlhabitants. This is especially unaccountable when
we are told that they have been trained by the
best of systems, administered by the holiest of
men. But Rome is full of these practical contradictions, which while they confound reason,
give ample scope and development to faith.
Moreover, our author proceeds to show that
the laymen are largely employed in those subordinate offices for which they are fit. The Gendarmerie, the Guarda Nobile, the clerks of the
departments, employees in post-offices, railroads,
and telegraph offices, the firemen, the postillions,
the street scavengers, are they not all officers of
the Government? Do they not all wear certain
uniforms and gilded badges, some of them a foot
square? Unreasonable men! what more can you
desire? You shoulld not aspire to an equality
with the officials of the Heaven - designated
Theocracy. Do you not know that even when
you die your feet are placed toward the altar,
whereas the priest's head, when he is dead, occupies that position? If the priest enters heaven
head foremost and you can enter it only feet fore



100            INNER ROME:
most, would it not be utterly incongruous that
you should occupy any other than a subordinate
position upon earth?
This double government, spiritual and temporal, has made it necessary to invent a class of
men who have no counterpart in any other nation or government in the world. The prelatura
are not laymen; they are not priests. They are
a tertium quid  a combination of the two. They
have the training and the dress and some of the
restrictions of priests,-such as the inability to
marry while in the service of the Pope,-and
they have the functions and the freedom and the
worldly life of laymen.  The problem  to be
resolved was to secure men who would discharge,
in a thoroughly priestly spirit, civil functions
which it might not be suitable for the priesthood
to perform, or which might need a special training for their discharge. Young men, if they
have an income of 1000 or 1500 scudi a year,
are employed in some subordinate position in a
court of justice, or in the office of a cardinal
connected with the Papal Court, or as secretary
or clerk to a Papal Nuncio. Hence they are
for the most part from the ranks of the aristocracy, or from the new rich men who appear
even in Rome in the character of "the country
merchants."  A way is then opened to the prelatutra. They are in the line of the highest dignities. Yet even while fulfilling those functions
which are not priestly, they are not permitted to




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   101
marry. It is difficult to describe this class, because they are a species so peculiar. They can
occupy the office of monsigniore, which can be
held also by priests and bishops and archbishops;
and they can, if they please, advance from their
inchoate or initial orders to the diaconate or
priesthood, or the episcopate, if attractive preferments are presented to them. They cannot be
advanced to the cardinalate, unless they are ordained deacons. But they can remain in that
order as cardinals, and never perform mass or
any of the functions of the priesthood. Cardinal
Antonelli was a deacon until recently, having
been ordained priest and performed mass for the
first time last winter.  Those who look for reasons in his conduct were malicious enough to
suggest that they were to be found in the fact
that the health of Pius IX. was failing, and that
no one below the order of priest could be elected
Pope. As monsigniori they hold many of the
highest offices of the State. They are in the judicial, financial, and executive departments. Yet
none the less do priests and bishops hold those
offices, which are indiscriminately assigned to
the prelatura and the priesthood. The association is calculated and intended to priestify the
prelatura, and mnake them  equally in spirit and
feeling consecrated to the interests and policy of
the Pope-King. It is possible for them, while
they remain in an order below that of deacon, to
marry; but, in that case, they cease to belong to.




102             INNER ROME:
the pprelatura, and to exercise the functions they
have hitherto discharged.  They pass into the
class of laics. The regular militia of the Pope
must have no interests but those of the Papacy.
They must be without wife and family. By this
contrivance, some of the anomalies arising from
the exercise of civil functions by priests are
avoided; and yet those functions are discharged
in the full priestly spirit.  They belong to the
priesthood in feeling and in interest. They have
their bigotry, if not their piety. The laity feel
that this class is more distant from them than
the priesthood are, for with the latter they have
some sacred associations and some affection and
respect, arising from the offices which they have
rendered, and the good character which many of
them sustain; while with the latter they have no
other associations than that they are the agents
of that priestly government which they detest
They see in them only that side of the priestly
character which they abhor, and not that other
side which they respect. Hence, so far as their
agency in public affairs is concerned, it is preeminently priestly; though in their personal
character they are almost universally destitute
of that purity of character and life which attract
reverence and regard for many members of the
priesthood, and especially for those who confine
theniselves to their sacred functions.
Farini thus gives his judgment upon this class
of mongrel priests: "The prelatzera, and especi



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   103
ally that part whose functions are connected with
the court and with politics, and which is composed of men too laic to be ecclesiastics, and too
ecclesiastic to be laymen, merit no consideration
for their knowledge, and no respect for their
manners. Their reputation is very indifferent.
They are accused of making use of their power
of patronage to corrupt the fanlilies of their dependents. They are the objects of the special
detestation of the Roman people. It is obvious
that their character and position must have a
tendency to induce in them the faults of both
the clergy and laity, without the virtues of
either."
In estimating the relative emoluments of the
clergy and the laity, it should be remembered
that while the average of the salaries of the former is four times greater than that of the latter,
they are, at the same time, in possession of rich
benefices, dotations, abbacies, canonries, and of
unnumbered offices of profit and honor without
labor, connected with hospitals, museums, convents, and other institutions.
Whoever else may doubt whether the government of the Roman States is a government of
priests, it is very clear that they at least have no
doubts upon the subject.  Their bearing and relation to Romans and to strangers indicate their
consciousness that they are a governing class.
Their insolence to strangers and visitors sometimes passes all endurable bounds. On one oc



104            INNER ROME:
casion I was standing in a group toward which a
procession, carrying the host, was approaching.
On such occasions it was my customl to take off
my hat, but not to kneel. A little priest by my
side, observing that I did not uncover at the precise moment that he did, rudely snatched my
hat from my head, with violent expressions and
gesticulations. After the procession passed, I
turned to him and told him, as well as my scant
Italian would permit, that he was an impertinent
fellow; that he was not a policeman, and had no
right to assume his functions; and that if he
should do this thing to some of my countrymen,
instead of a mere rebuke for his insolence, he
would be likely to receive a castigation. He
was livid with astonishment and rage, and replying not a word, went and spoke to two gendarmes that were standing near. They, however, seemed to think it was no case for their
interference, and I passed on. A party of English and Scotch friends were in the crypt of St.
Peter's, and, as the air was chill, and they did
not suppose it was a consecrated place, the two
gentlemen, who were clergymen, retained their
hats. While there, the notoriously bigoted and
violent Monsignore Talbot met them, and in a
great rage accused them of purposely insulting
the sacred place, and the feelings of the faithful;
and insisted upon their immediately leaving the
place. I-e would not listen to the assurances of
these gentlemen-who gave him their cards



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   105
that they were unconscious that it was expected
of them  to uncover; that the custode did not
advise them  of the fact; that they had seen
other parties doing the same thing, and that they
were incapable of consciously insulting the convictions and feelings of any one. The arrogant
priest gave no heed to their assurances, but turned
them out with rudeness and indignity, and ordered that they should not be again admitted.
The anomalies of this priestly government are
almost ludicrous. Think of bishops and archbishops passing from sacred functions to regulate
the war department, the lotteries, the theater,
the police, and the prisons. Imagine a venerable
ecclesiastic, with his spectacles on his nose, reading that lightest of all trash, a Roman comedy,
and deciding how much of indecency and innuendo he could allow to remain, in consistency
with the claims of morals on the one hand, and
the interest of the prince-proprietor of the theater and of a government which must allow the
people to be amused, on the other!  Imagine another signing an order to a detachment of troops
to proceed at once —for instance to Perugia-and
shoot the unfaithful and disloyal children of the
Holy Father back into loyalty and love!  The
absurdity of this government, as well as its tyranny, is profoundly felt by the Roman people.
They are mortified and humiliated, as well as indignant, to be the only people in the world governed by priests. It is something like the feeling
6




106             INNER ROME:
which men have who are under a petticoat re'gime, from which they fain would but cannot
break.
The priests are a privileged class, not only in
securing to themselves the best emoluments of
the State, but also in the right which they enjoy
of being judged by an ecclesiastical tribunal,
even in criminal cases. When the interests of
a class are different from those of the rest of the
community, and its crimes are to be tried and
condemned only by itself, we may well expect a
lenient judgment. The priesthood have exclusive jurisdiction in regard to all crimes committed by ecclesiastics of every grade.
But the anomaly of their functions in civil life
is most perceptible when we observe the questions and associations into which they are introduced.
c" The Cardinal Vicar of Rome, with the assistance of lieutenants and assessors, and every bishop
in his diocese, with the assistance of his vicar,
and one or more assessors, are judges in certain
civil and criminal causes. Their jurisdiction extends to matters and persons,-that is to say, all
contests which concern properties, whether ecclesiastical, or administered by ecclesiastics, or
involving the interests of the tonsured class,
come under their cognizance. Moreover, they
exercise the police of morals, and judge all
cases which have reference to them. Thus the
priest is mixed with a crowd of courtezans and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   107
those abandoned persons who minister to vice
and sell their own children for purposes of lust;
thus he penetrates all the secrets of illegitimacy
and of impure amours; thus he diminishes his
own dignity and exposes himself to temptation
which feeble human nature knows not always
how to flee; thus he draws upon himself suspicions, murmurs, calumnies, and sometimes deserved outrages if it happens that the censor and
judge of the irregularities of others yields to his
perilous enticements, or if, by an unwisely directed zeal, he provokes scandal in families and
cities, and introduces suspicion and discord where
there existed previously, if not the reality at least
the appearance of an honorable and respected
union. The episcopal judge takes cognizance of
all causes of rape and of illegitimate pregnancy,
giving sentence according to the formula: either
endow or marry, or-to the cgalleys:-a formula
which often does nothing but subserve the purposes of abandoned women; a sentence which,
in making the origin of the family to be comlpulsion, violates the moral principles of love and
esteem and choice, which are its only true basis.
Moreover, these inquests and condemnations for
evil manners are very frequent; there are scarcely
any bishops who have not cases of adultery of
which to make trial and example."*
And this is the class of men to whom the in* Farini.




108            INNER ROTME:
spired injunction is addressed -- "Preach the
Word; be instant in season, out of season"!
A striking instance of the inconvenience, to say
the least of it, of the exercise of civil power by
the Pope, was brought to light by the publication
of the documents that were found in Bologna,
after it came in possession of Victor Emmanuel,
to which we have had, and shall have, frequent
occasion to refer. Among these documents is a
copy of the license given by the municipal authority, which was at the time directly under the
control of the Cardinal Legate, the well-known
Bedini, to women of bad life to ply their trade.
Immediately on the entrance of the Austrian
troops into Bologna (in 1854), the military commandant of the city, having regard, as he declared, "to the health of the troops," demanded
that the Government should assume the direction
of these women, and provide medical care for
them. Although licenses had been issued by
the municipal authority to this class of persons,
and although the municipality was under the
direct control of Cardinal Bedini, and although
the sick among them were received into the
"l'Ospital Civico" (a municipal institution), yet
there did seem to be some awkwardness in completing this system at the demand of the Austrianl authorities, by the payment of salaries to
doctors for the special purpose of attending to
such cases. Hence ":Excellenza Reverendissima,"
the Secretary of State at Rome, was addressed




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   109
upon the subject, and the inconvenience of this
state of things was represented. Lo! behold the
devices of holy infallibility. The "Illustrissimo
and Reverendissimno Signore," at Bologna, was
addressed in this wise: "The sanctity of our Lord
has benignantly deigned, at an audience held
this morning, to nominate the Doctor Pietro
Zuola to be the first fiscal surgeon of Bologna,
with the monthly allowance of 15 scudi permonth,
and in place of Zuola has nominated Dr. Giselio
Bergazi, with the pay of 12 scudi per month, on
condition that both shall render services gratuitously to the care of women of bad life, the extraordinary gratuity which they have hitherto received for
this service no longer being allowed." How beautiful and profound! WVhat holy alchemy to turn
leaden vice into golden goodness! It would not
do for the "sanctity of our Lord" to permit
physicians to be paid for attending those who
had been licensed under his authority, to lead
the life which brought on disease; but he could
give them  a nominal office with a salary and
then direct them  to discharge gratuitously the
service for which they had hitherto been paid.
Such are the positions and the necessities imposed upon the Papacy, by becoming a kingdom
of this world, and, as such, subjecting herself to
the dictation of a power like that of Austria.




110            INNER ROME:
CHAP TER IX.
THE PAPAL GOVERNMENT AFTER THE RESTORATION.
THE form of the Papal Government admits of
the most absolute despotism in case policy or
passion prompt to its exercise. There are indeed
laws, but they are only the rules of ordinary administration, which can be set aside at the pleasure of the Pope.
But in truth the principles of the Papacy make
civil despotism a religious duty.
The first dogma of the Papacy is that God has
revealed and bestows salvation only within one
form of truth, in one church, under one head.
It claims that temporal power has also been bestowed on this one infallible head of the church,
in order that it may second and secure this great
blessing of the salvation of those committed to
its care. It becomes then the duty of the temporal power, in the service of the spiritual, not
to permit any other dogma or church or ministry
to exist within the range of this authority. This
duty Rome most faitlfully discharges. It becomes equally the duty of the temporal power
to watch and regulate and coerce the whole life,
outward and inward, of thought and speech and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   111
action of all its subjects, in order that they may
be preserved from  the danger to which their
souls may be exposed. Its first duty is to the
soul. As a spiritual power it must furnish it
with truth, and put it in the Ark of Safety. As
a temporal power it must keep it there by laws
and pains and penalties. Hence, because of the
object for which it exercises temporal power, it
assumes the same sort of sanctity as the spiritual
power. Its exercise is an obvious duty on the part
of the Pope, and submission to it an equal duty
on the part of his subjects. This is the theory
of the Papacy. It claims to be absolute. It declares that in this fact lies its efficiency and blessing. But it contends that in practice it is a merciful and paternal power.
We do not pause to confute this theory; but
we propose to show that in practice it is not holy
and beneficent, but that on the contrary it is one
of the most unrighteous, cruel, remorseless, and
disgusting despotisms that the world ever saw.
This is not the conviction alone of Protestants
and Liberals, but no less that of a vast majority
of those who admit the spiritual claims of the
Papacy.  Says one of the last and most able of
the advocates of Rome as it is: "It is reserved
for our age, the worthy child of Voltaire, to be
the witness of another scandal; to see children
arming against their mother; independent Catholics, that is to say, hypocrites employing against
Rome their venomous fangs, recoiling before no




112            INNER ROTME:
violence, no calumny, no infamy. They have
represented the Holy City as the sinkl of all the
vices, as the rampart of despotism, as the Babylon, and the prostitute of nations."
We are quite aware that suichcharges should
not be made on the authority of vague rumors.
They should not rest even on individual testimony. They should have the support of authentic documents. We have related circumstances
which have come to our own knowledge, on
testimony that is to our mind perfectly satisfactory. [But we have, moreover, conclusive documentary evidence that similar things, and worse
things, by the hundreds, are constantly going on
in Rome and the Roman States.
Pius IX. abolished the Statuto or Constitution
of the Roman States, by his own arbitrary decree, soon after his return from  Gaeta.  The
French occupation of Rome, and the Austrian
occupation of the provinces, enabled him fully to
carry out his system, notwithstanding that French
honor often felt itself wounded, and even Austrian brutality was shocked by the remorseless
cruelty of his Government. There was no revenge too small and brutal, there was no cruelty
too wide-reaching, for the rage for punishing and
repressing, with which the Papal Government
seemed to be possessed.
The touching story of the heroic Garibaldi's
wife has been often told. When he left her dead,
in eharge of a family of laborers, and rushed in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   113
agony into the woods to escape from his pursuers,
with the charge that they should give her decent
burial, even he, with all his knowledge of priestly
vindictiven ess, could not have imagined that these
poor people would have been persecuted for an
act of humlanity which it would have been brutal
to have declined. But they were persecuted. The
delegate of Ravenna, the representative of the
Pope, ordered them to be imprisoned, and the
order was executed. But, so revolting even to
an Austrian military governor was this proceeding, that General Marziani, then exercising that
office, ordered their release, in the following rebuking words: " Considering that the brief reception of Garibaldi and his dying wife in the
house of the brothers IRavaglia was granted
through a sense of humanitv, the delegate of
Ravenna is ordered immediately to release the
brothers Ravaglia firom  prison!"*  WVhen an.
Austrian general in Italy rebukes an official for
inhumanity, the case must be bad indeed!
7No city seems to have suffered more cruelly
from Papal rule than Ferrara. WVe remember
its gloomy, desolate, depressed aspect, as we saw
it in 1853. Since we have read these documents
we understand the reason. It had been, and was
then, the scene of atrocities which filled its inhabitants with horror. Not long previous to that
visit, the Austrians had arrested, on a rumor of
*I lutti dello Stato Romano, by Cav. A. Gennarelli. p. 14.
6*




114             INNER ROME:
conspiracy, forty of the citizens. These persons,
arrested on suspicion, were subjected to tortures
in the stocks, by hunger, and by bastinading, to
force them into confession of a conspiracy of
which they knew nothing, and which was never
proved to have had any other existence than in
the fears and imaginations of the priests. It is
now known by the documents to which I have
referred, that the Papal Government, instead of
repressing, lent its aid to this cruel outrage. The
Austrian general demanded and received the aid
of the Pontifical police, and of three "taciturn
an d firm priests!"*
One of those priests has left an account of his
interview with some of these persons who had
been thus tortured into confession of crimes of
which they had not been guilty, and who solemnly, in their last hours before execution, declared to him that they were innocent. Succi
declared the confession was wrung from him by
bastinading, under which he believed that he
would die. Malagatti declared that he confessed
what was put into his mouth, because his tortures
were so horrible that they caused a violent hemorrhage of blood. Parmeggiani gave a similar
testimony.  This priest, and one of the Confraternity of the Dead, related these facts to the
Papal authorities. They were not conveyed to
the Austrian governor!  These poor men, inno* 11 Governo Pontificio, etc., vol. ii. p. 550.




POLITICAL) RELIGIOUS) AND SOCIAL.   115
cent, but not strong enough for martyrs, were
executed.
No one in Ferrara believed them guilty. On
the day of the execution in the fortress, the city
looked deserted as if smitten by the plague. A
student of the University, Annibale Bonaccioli,
hearing, as he left his home, of the execution,
persuaded some of his fellow-students to absent
themselves with him from the University, and
return to their homes. He and his father were
tried, condemned, and imprisoned for this crime.
Released and permitted to go to Turin, on condition of returning no more, they unwisely did
return. Monisignor Matteucci, Governor of Rome,
directed that the young man should be imprisoned
for a year. The poor youth pined and failed in
health, and a fellow-student wrote a most touching application to be permitted to visit and spend
the nights with him. No notice was taken of
this application. After a few months, this young
man, only eighteen years of age, died in prison.
What the means of torture were which were
employed to extort these confessions, appear
from the statements of some of the forty, who,
notwithstanding them, were able to stand firm.
"The Brigadier Paganini took me to the grates
where I could hear every night the beating of
some of the other prisoners; and he called my
attention to the barking of his great mastiff,
whom he loosed against these poor captives, and
who bit them. I was beaten by whips, which




116             INNER RON nE:
have left indelible marks upon me. Armed with
a knife, he threatened to cut my throat; and did
mnake some slight wounds in it.  To make me
confess crimes of which I knew nothing, he
pulled me by the hair, and kicked and beat me
most unmercifully."*  All this only ten years
ago! All this in behalf of and with the sanction
of a Government which professes to wield the
power of the Saviour of tle world!
One of the persons arrested, Gaetano TUngarelli, underwent the most frightful tortures by the
bastinado (a banished barbarity which Cardinal
Antonelli has the credit of reintroducing) t with
heroic fortitude. His account of his examination
by this torture, and of his manly, indignant, and
spirited replies to his tormentors, is extremely
interesting.T
The conclusion of that account we translate
below. And let the reader remember that he
had been convicted of no crime-except that of
heroically refusing to confess one of which he
was not guilty! 2Not one particle of proof-only
suspicion-l was ever adduced against him.
"Bound to the same chain with convicted
malefactors, I was confined for eighteen months
in the bagno of Ancona; then transported to
Paliano, a castle of infamous memories, where I
remained little less than four years. I was then
* Documenti, I lutti dello Stato Romano, p 87.
t Idem, p. 123.              Idclem, p. 113.




POLITICAL,. RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   117
liberated, but my vexations did not cease, for I
was forbidden to pursue my studies in my native
place, or in the Roman States; and when I had
resolved to go to Piedmont to continue them
there, and demanded my passport, it was given
to me on the condition of perpetual exile, and
under the penalty of imprisonment if I should
return.
"I will say a few words of some others more
unfortunate than myself.  Succi and Parmeggiani, fathers of families, were shot, together
with Malagutti.  The prosecutor, Grau-Shak,
bore a particular hatred to Battara because he
had been a Pontifical soldier, and he felt spiteful
toward him because on account of a grave disease with which he was afflicted, he could not -be
bastinadoed. Battara was condemned to fifteen
years of forced labor. He is still at Paliano,
notwithstanding that the Pope, on occasion of
his journey to Ferrara, pardoned him. It is pretended that he only substituted a penalty of three
years for the fifteen.
"Signora Annetta Banardi, mother of a family,
a lady of masculine understanding, has defied the
rage of these tyrants, who could not overcome
her constancy. She also has sustained four years
of imprisonment.
"I might narrate also the trials at Bologna, in
which many were condemned to death, which
sentence was afterward commuted by Radetzky,
into forced labor for a time. Frederico Com



118             INNER ROME:
andini de Censena, seeing that he was likely to
undergo the bastinaclo, endeavored with the
fraglment of a glass goblet to destroy his life.
He is now wasting away in Paliano.
"Behold a single brief page of that ten years'
chronicle of two governments, one of which
arrogates to itself the title of jzust, and the other
that of holy!"
At Bologna the cruelties exercised against the
citizens were, if possible, still greater than at
Ferrara. A blind frenzy of cruelty and revenge,
a headlong and indiscriminating rage to find
victims and make victims, in punishment of the
well-known detestation by the Bolognese of the
Papal Government, seemed to have taken possession of the ruling power at Rome. The tribunal of the first instance at Bologna, composed
of persons devoted to the Papacy, protested
against the action of the Papal police, for inflicting tortures upon the accused, for extorting confessions by tortures, beatings, and by acts degrading to humanity against prisoners who were
only accused, but against whom no evidence had
been adduced. They even accuse them of stimulating persons to the commission of crime, as a
means of discovering the crimes of others.*
Gennarelli declares that it would take a volume
succinctly to tell the story of the atrocities of the
Papal Government in Bologna, from the period
* Ilutti, p. xxxvi. Documenti, p. 91.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   119
of its restoration, until it was destroyed and
superseded by that of Victor Emmanuel.
One of the most revolting of all these histories
is that of the murder of three young men in
Fermo.
A venerated old priest, Corsi, was stabbed in
Fermo, in 1849, while the Republic was still in
power. He was beloved and honored by all the
citizens. Public fame accused two wretches of this
crime, and they were put in prison. After the
Papal restoration, although many persons were
subjected to surveillance, imprisonment, and the
galleys by Cardinal D'Angelis, the Government
was not satisfied.  It seemed to crave blood.
Three young men, known to be earnest liberals,
were especially obnoxious to the ruling power.
They were arrested as accomplices in the murder
of the old priest Corsi. One of the two criminals
already in prison, Testori, was well known to be
steeped in crime. It was soon seen that he had
become a favorite of the police; and was allowed
the luxury of a mattress, wine, and cigars. He
had been induced to give evidence against these
three young men, on the promise of pardon. One
of them proved that on the evening when the
crime was committed he was lying ill of a fever.
The doctor and his nurse testified to the fact.
The doctor was won by Papal promises of patronage, but the faithful girl, and old chemist who
had supplied his medicine, stood firm to their
first testimony.  Yet all this availed nothing.




120            INNER ROME:
The three young men were shot. A cry of grief
and indignation went up from the city. Testori
felt sure of his release. But finding that he too
was about to be executed, he confessed to some
of the "Confraternity of Pity," whose function
it is to attend the condemned in their last hour,
and to a priest, Castiglioni, that he had betrayed
innocent blood. This confession was not conveyed to the Government. The "Confraternity
of Pity" dared not, the priest would not give the
information.  "I am here," the latter declared,
"to take confessions, not depositions."  Yet at
the execution he commenced his exhortation
with the strange words: "It is not always the
guilty who die!"  The inhabitants that (lay left
the city, or shut themselves up in their houses;
and it was afterward reported that a monk from
Florence coming into the city, traversed its whole
length without finding any one to inform him of
the location of his convent!
These are horrors which it seems impossible
could have occurred in our day. But, though
now happily ended in the  ]mnelia and Rormagna,
they still continue in what remains of the Roman
States. When we turn from the endless details
of similar cases which are found in the " Governo
Pontificio" to the more general accounts of the
same transactions, we can readily imagine how
many similar horrors are included under the cold
statistics.
The Court of Rome, in the ten years after its




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   121
restoration, consigned from its little States more
persons to punishment and death than all the
other States of Europe together-if Austria be
excluded.* And yet a Roman journal complains
of its too great clemency. The Roman Government vindicated itself from that charge in the
following words: "We propose to expose things
in their true aspect, not regarding vague rumors,
but stating facts. It is perhaps forgotten that in
the provinces of Faenza and of Imola, in consequence of only two procedures, eighty-two individuals -were shot, while ten others obtained
commutation of similar punishment in the galleys, and thirty others were condemned to temporary or perpetual imprisonment." Surely this
is a triumphant refutation of too great lenity!
Another judge at Ravenna, Cardinal IRivarola,
condemned eight hundred persons at a single
sentence! No wonder that the joy of the inhabitants of the Romlagna and iEmelia seemed
almost frantic when they escaped from the Papal
sway!
Surely there was never anything in the world
like this priestly government-so shameless, so
stupid, so illogical in its cruelty!  What other
government on the face of the earth would permit
such records as the following to be made: " Censura.-In view of the present report and the
absence of proof upon which to proceed equitably
I lutti, p. xxxviii.




122             INNER ROME:
in a judicial process in the case of Giovanni
Ricci, it is ordered that the arrested shall be retained in prison for correction for eight days, with
the usual prison fare, and one day he shall have
only bread and water.-The Governor of the
District, Bevilacqua."  It seems as if the Government punished persons for the disappointment of not finding them guilty. It seems to
say to them, "You rogues, if you are not guilty
you ought to be; and because you will otherwise
make us obnoxious for having arrested you, we
will make you smart for your inconvenient innocence!"
Here is another precious document from  a
Cardinal Secretary of State:
4"Sig. Cardinale Commissario Strordinario of
Bologna. The injuries and threats against a carabiniere on account of which L. A. was arrested,
not hcaving been proved, and in view of other circumstances, and of the imprisonment already
long which he has suffered, the sanctity of our
Lord has benignantly deigned to condescend to release
him from prison with the injunction, however,
that he shall receive a formal injunction to live
well hereafter, coupled with the other condition
which your Eminence will feel it to be necessary
to add, that a penalty of public labor for five years
will be inflicted upon him, for any offense which
he mav commit, independently of greater penalties provided by law in the cases of other criminals.                          BERNETTI."




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   123
The world may be challenged for such another
document outside of the Roman Archives! It
goes to the heart of the Roman authorities to release a man, though perfectly innocent, -who has
been accused of having wounded and insulted one
of those dear carabinieri!  But inasmuch as the
provokingly innocent wretch has already been
imprisoned for some time, the sanctity of our
Lord graciously condescends to release him from
prison; but he must be admonished, just as if he
had been guilty, to live well hereafter, and if he
should not, then over and above the other penalties provided by the law, he shall labor for five
years on the public works-as his punishment
for having been accused of having injured a carabiniere! 
"' The Council of Censure," whose proceedings
were for the most part destroyed, was an instrument of tyranny such as has had no equal since
the days of the Venitian Council of Ten. This
tribunal, created in all the provinces, had jurisdiction over all the employees of the Government, and could at once remove therm by proceedings, in which they were governed by no
law, and for reasons which seemed to themselves
satisfactory. What an instrument of corruption
this-the threat of dismissal held over the heads
of those the support of whose families depended
upon the pittance which they received from Government. What a means of tempting or coercing
wives and daughters-to whom the choice of




124             INNER ROME:
starvation or of sin miglht be proposed! It was
a suitable thing that a bigotedcl Spaniard, Monsignor De Avelli, should be placed at t;he head
of the Censura. To the honor of the R.omans it
should be recorded that it was difficult to get any
citizens to serve in this hateful office.
The reasons for which persons were ejected
from office and thrown penniless upon the world
are often supremely absurd. From a multitude
of them gathered from various decrees, we copy
the following:
"For having voted for the Constitution-for
excessive loquacity-for having been one of the
persons who in the time of the Republic raised a
tree of liberty in the piazza-because he read
with a loud voice the public journal, varying his
voice when he read anything injurious to the
Pontifical Government and against the priestsbecause he is not decisive enough for the Pontifical Government, etc., etc., etc."
With one more record from this mass of documents I close this painful chapter. The Governor
of Faenza, a city of the province of Ravenna,
addressed a letter to Mons. Bedini, in which
these remarkable expressions occur:
" I have just come from a special examination
of the prisons.  Grief overwhelms my heart.
Without counting other prisoners in other prisons, I find in one, ninety-one. Very few are
under indictments. Some of them are the subjects of Austria; others are amenable to the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   125
sacra consulta. Many of them  are imprisoned
from precaution, without examination, without
indictment, and perhaps without even suspicion
-and these groan in captivity, some for months,
some for years, and some for tellns of years. This
is an angry wound, and is the chief origin of that
evil temper which prevails against authority, and
of hatred against the Government. Crime is not
restrained by striking at it thus in the mass; the
people are not by this means drawn in love toward their august sovereign.
"By the last sanguinary acts of the late Governor and Gonfaloniere, three individuals were
arrested by the mandate of the prosecutor, and
these were only examined, and, as I know personally, were without fault. By order of Monsignor the delegate, twelve others were arrested
for precaution. The outcry is universal. It will
be necessary that firm  and vigorous, but just
measures, should be adopted in regard to them.
But I declare to you that I do not know how to
dry the tears of a hundred families, who mourn
over the imprisonment of fathers, husbands, and
sons, and which themselves languish in want and
wretchedness, but by abandoning the arrest.
"]Finally, turning my regards to the Cancellaria, I find there a still more painful scene.
There are processes pending there of four or five
years' standing, to the number of four hundred
and fifty."
Such is the picture of one small city of one




126            INNER ROME:
province! If an enemy of the Roman Government had stated these facts, there would have
been a loud outcry of denial. They were made
by a comparatively humane official, who did not
suppose that they would ever see the light.
But enough. Dreary and painful page after
page of the same kind of records could be written. The mind refuses to take in such a mass of
misery, or to believe that such transactions are
possible in our day and in a Christian land.
It may be thought that these persecutions were
the result of the impulse of revenge when the
banished Papacy was first restored. Alas! the
City of Rome and the States that remain to Rome
are undergoing now, as they have been ever
since the restoration, the same experience. If
Victor Emmanuel shall ever get possession of
the archives of the Vatican, a book written without and within with woes will then be opened.
When the Court of Rome, on the eve of the battle of Solferino, looked for the destruction of the
Franco-Italian army, many arrests were made in
Fermo, in Jesi, in Ancona; consternation spread
through the cities of the Roman States, and no
one felt secure of rising free in the morning. The
telegram was anxiously plied at the Vatican, and
it was known through Rome that the Holy Father
had ominously whispered that the moment approached for the punishment of the partisans of
revolutions.
Napoleon III. is much censured for the good




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   127
which he has not done in Italy. But when one
remembers what evils he has prevented, and
what habitations of cruelty have been broken up,
through the influences set in motion by the victories of Magenta and Solferino, he will bless
him as the first if not the greatest of the benefactors of Italy. Napoleon is much blamed for
not leaving Rome and allowing Victor E13mmanuel
to come in; but the perilous question to be settled is,-If he should leave could Francis Joseph
be kept out? It is bad enough to have a house
inhabited by one evil spirit, but it is worse to
allow that spirit to go forth and bring in seven
other spirits more evil than itself.




128             INNER ROME:
CHAPTER X.
ROME AND BRIGANDAGE.
THESE words are often connected. It is very
generally believed that the Pope and the Papal
Government encourage brigandage in the Kingdom of Italy. It is a very serious imputation to
bring against a Christian bishop.  Call it be
true? Our readers will have no doubt upon this
point when they shall have perused the following
pages.
Since Naples has passed into the hands of
Victor Emmanuel, brigandage of the most frightful and atrocious sort has raged along the frontier. No region can be conceived better adapted
for the purpose. On the one side of the valley
which runs from Frascati and spreads out into
the lovely plain of Capua, between it and the
sea, is a range of wild, barren mountains; and
on the other side, in the Abruzzi, there is a still
wilder, loftier, and more extensive range, stretching toward the Adriatic. From  both ranges,
bands of brigands swoop like vultures into the
valley and into the villages on the slopes of the
mountains, and rob and murder and levy contributions, and bind many by terror and interest to




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   129
silence or connivance, and then retire with bread
and wine and booty to rest and revel. It is just
on and near the border of the Papal and Italian
territories that these mountains are most wild and
savage and best suited to the purposes of sudden
attacks, and retreats to inaccessible fastnesses.
It so happens that on three separate occasions
I have been on the Papal borders on the south
and west, and on the Italian border on the north
-on the very edges of the scenes of brigandage
and of conflict with the Italian troops, —but
never on the range that runs between the valley
and the sea. With the exception of the Papal
border south of Subiaco, which is extremely picturesque and lovely, they are stern and savage
regions; they are either thickly wooded or bare
and rugged.  The western range is wild and
desolate to the last degree.  I passed over it
at a more northern point than has been of late
years the scene of brigandage. As, however,
I wound all day in and out among the vertebroe of this backbone, as it is familiarly called,
of Italy, in a drizzling rain, and rested at night
in a lonely locanda in the very heart of the
mountains, I thought I had never seen anything so sinister and dreary.  I had been
somewhat startled by the suggestion of the old
man, who drove my little one-horse carriage
over the mountains, that my baggage would be
more secure if I placed it by my side than if it




130            INNER ROME:
were strapped behind. But he assured me that
there had been very few incursions of brigandage
in that quarter since it had become part of the
Italian Kingdom; it raged farther to the south
and west. But he remembered-he was a very
old man-that in the time of the first Napoleon,
after his conquest of the country, it had been
carried on in this region with indiscriminating
and savage ferocity. When a boy-he can
never forget it-he saw three hundred brigands
shot by order of Napoleon. Since that period
there has been scarcely any brigandage in that
region.
On another occasion I made an excursion to
Frosinone and Alatri on the Papal border, and
to San Germano,' Monte Casino, and Santa
Maria on the Italian border. Alatri is near
Sora, the neighborhood of which has been the
very center of brigand intrigues and atrocities.
The whole region is very interesting. In Alatri
are found the best preserved and most massive
Pelasgic walls in Italy. Near by is Arpino, the
birthplace of Cicero.  In the same neighborhood are the birthplaces of Sylla, Juvenal, and
Varro. The scenery of this region is wild and
picturesque, but not savage. At the time of my
visit, in the middle of May, there had been an
unusual activity and daring on the part of the
brigands, and also on the part of the army sent to
extirpate them as well as on the part of the local
national guards. The latter body, hitherto so




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   131
inert and inefficient, either through sympathy or
fear, or both, had recently been reorganized, and
seemed emulous to rival the army in energy and
zeal. The consequence was that many captures
had been made. San Germano and Santa Maria
(old Capua) were the stations to which brigands
were brought from the ranges of the mountains
on either side of the valley. The recent trial of
Ciprano and Gola had been published, and their
ferocity and brutality, extending even to the
crime of cannibalism, had sent a thrill of horror through all Italy, albeit long familiar with
the atrocities of the brigands, and made it impossible for the most devoted partisans of Francis
II. to claim a military or political character for
these assassins. While walking in the street in
Santa Maria, I saw a young brigand brought ill
by the soldiers and marched into the prison.
He seemed surprisingly unconcerned. The next
morning my friend walked out before breakfast,
and beyond the walls he came unexpectedly
upon a scene which, it seems, had been of late
very frequently enacted in that place. Two files
of soldiers were drawn up in the field; a carriage with two priests and a condemned brigand
came upon the ground; the adjutant read the
record of the crimes of which he had been convicted,-twelve murders and several other atrocities; and then, kneeling with his back to the
soldiers, he was pierced by many bullets, and
dropped-dead!




132            INNER ROME:
It seems that, while my friend and I were visiting the famous old Benedictine monastery of
Monte Casino, and enjoying the society and the
hospitality of an intelligent Benedictine Father
from the United States, who had seen no fellowcountryman within a year, a case of brigandage
of the most daring character was enacted within
two miles of the monastery, and in the open day.
I afterward saw an account of it in Naples. The
story reads more like a romance of a hundred
years ago than an incident of our day, which
transpired within four miles of the railroad
which transports crowds of tourists' from Rome
to Naples. A band of mounted brigands dashed
down the mountains' and seized an Italian gentleman, a proprietor, driving on the road. They
demanded a ransom of 40,000 ducats. His rela-.
tives, unable or unwilling to do more, offered
10,000.  They refused, and made the usual
threat (alas, too often executed!) of sending to
them one of his ears or hands if the money
should not be sent within a given time. They
promised to make the effort, and in the mean
time devised an eminently Italian scheme for his
rescue. An imprisoned brigand, who knew the
band and its haunts, was employed to put himself at the head of forty supposititious brigands,
who were soldiers of the army or of the National
Guard, to go into the mountains and fraternize
with his old friends, under the pretense that he
had escaped and raised a new band, and at a pro



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   133
pitious moment to make a rush and rescue the
prisoner. The scheme succeeded.  After the
supposed new band had been with the party for
three days, they took an opportunity when the
prisoner was poorly guarded, and seized him and
some of his guards, and returned in triumph to
San Germano. The brigand who conducted the
enterprise was released, and I believe admitted
into the army.
But with all this has the Pope and the Papal
Government anything to do? Before considering that question it may be well to show how
easily the ex-King Francis II. might wield this
instrument if he were inclined, or if he conceived it to be for his interest.
The great mass of the inhabitants of this wild
mountain region come directly under the influence of King Francis for a large portion of the
year. All the way from Rieti to Gaeta, with the
exception of a few intervals, the country consists
of enormous masses of volcanic rock, hard as flint.
No fruit trees, no vines, no arable land,-how is
it possible for the wretched inhabitants of these
mountain wildernesses to live? They can wring
no bread and press no wine out of those flint
hills. Consequently they have been accustomed
to emigrate en masse to the Pontifical territory
and cultivate the Campagna which stretches
from eighty and ninety miles in length to from
twenty to forty miles in breadth. Besides this
Campagna, valleys run up from it between the




134            INNER ROME:
Alban, Sabine, and Volscian hills, into which
they also migrate.  There they remain from
early spring until October. They then return to
their cabins in companies, each company being
under the direction of a superintendent appointed by the proprietors of the land, or the
"country merchants," who cultivate large tracts,
which they rent for a term of years from the
Roman princes. Each of these superintendents
is authorized to look after these laborers during
the winter, and to supply their wants and engage
them for the following year. From their necessities they are frequently compelled to draw their
scanty pay for a whole season in advance. This
is not slavery indeed, but is it not essential serfdom? Could anything be conceived more convenient for King Francis than this arrangement,
which enables him so readily to confer with so
many of his still faithful and loving subjects,
though in bondage under the hated Government
of Victor Emmanuel?  Could any arrangement
put this population more completely under the
direct control, if not of King Francis himself,
yet of his bosom friends, the Roman princes, the
Pope, and Antonelli?
It seems, then, clear that if Francis wishes to
engage these men in brigandage, he has an excellent opportunity. Aind when one comes to
know the condition of these poor creatures, he
does not wonder that recruits for the wild, adventurous life of the mountains, with the promise




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   135
of booty, the release from crushing toils in the
pestilential Campagna, and with opportunities
for obtaining abundance of food and wine, and
for revel and license, could easily be secured.
They are extremely poor, ignorant, and degraded. They are subjected to excessive toil, scanty
food, and frequent disease. A harder lot than
theirs can scarcely be conceived. As during the
harvest I often traced them with my glass from
the Alban hills, in large troops, scattered over
the wide Campagna, I could not but feel that
they had reason to envy the "dumb driven cattle," fat and sleek, and proof against all malaria,
which were toiling with them.  Indeed, the
cattle are better housed and cared for than
they are!
I had once an opportunity to observe and ascertain something of their situation while on the
Campagna, which I would readily have avoided.
As the whole incident was characteristic, and illustrates my present topic, and has, moreover,
its amusing side, I venture to narrate it at a little
length.
My excellent friend, Mr. Brown, the vice-consul of the United States at Rome, and a young
friend, took the occasion of a Roman festa-day
to visit with me the old Etruscan city of Caere.
My passport was in his office, but as he could
not find it, and time pressed, he concluded to
throw himself on his official character on my
behalf, and try whether he could thus pass me




136            INNER ROME:
on the railroad. The gendarme made no objections, and we went joyfully on our way, and
spent a most interesting day among the tombs.
On our return we walked ten miles to Palo, a
station on the railway, about half way between
Rome and Civita Vecchia, expecting to take the
six o'clock return train. But, lo! the official influence of my friend did not extend as far as
Palo! The stolid gendarme doggedly refused to
let me go. His logic was simple, and, to him,
conclusive: "Three persons and two passports.
Ergo, the two can go and the one cannot." He
planted himself on that logical rock, and he
could not be dislodged. My friend and I attempted several styles-the severely argumentative, the declamatory, the pathetic, the solemn,
the minatory. Mr. Brown even brought out the
majestic American eagle, but it made no more
impression than if it had been a sparrow: "Two
passports and three persons. Two can go; one
must remain."  Luther did not stand more
firmly on his theses at Worms than this faithful
official stood on this formula. It was all in vain
to reason or expostulate or plead. My friend's
distress was amusing. He would not leave me.
The cars came, my young friend got in, and Mr.
Brown and I were left, half amused and half
disconsolate, at that lonely station, twenty miles
from Rome, at the approach of night, on the
wild and desolate and unwholesome Campagna.
What to do? It proved to be a more awkward




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   137
situation than we at first supposed. We learned
on inquiry that there was not a single locanda or
osterica at which a bed could be obtained on the
whole line of the road from Rome to Civita
Vecchia-forty-four miles. There was none of
any kind within less than eight miles. WVe knew
there was none at Caere. Moreover, it might
not be safe for us at that hour to be traversing
this lonely road. It would certainly expose us
to malaria and the fever. What to do?  There
was an immense tenatc —a sort of headquarters,
orlarge farm-house, with its barns and out-houses
not far off, and surely we could get shelter and
lodging there. Our informant did not know.
There was no one in it but a priest and his servant, and he had but one bed. It seems that
this great establishment, which could have been
made to accommodate a hundred persons, had
been long unoccupied except by a priest who
was employed to perform mass for the laborers
and to prepare them for death, and bury them
when dead; and that even he deserted it in August, September, and October, and only made
hasty visits on Sundays during those months,
and returned to Rome before the fatal sunset!
It had one furnished suite of rooms for the great
country merchant who farmed all the estates in
this neighborhood, and spent one week there in
the healthiest season. But it was inexorably
closed; and the suggestion of having it thrown
open for us, which we subsequently made to the
7*




138            INNER ROME:
priest, seemed to fill him with horror and disgust. lie would as soon have thrown open to us
the gates of Paradise! We felt, however, that
we could surely get shelter somewhere among
those buildings, if not in the house, at least in a
barn. But the priest was not in. lie was out
hunting quails with a friend from Rome.
We sat down on the steps of the little chapel
connected with the tenatea to wait for his worship
the priest. The laborers were returning with
their oxen and horses and mules, which were all
comfortably housed, and then they departedwe could not see whither. We supposed that
they would occupy this vast empty house, or
some of the large out-houses, but not one of
them remained. They lingered awhile in the
court-yard, where the servant of the priest gave
them  each a little wine, played dominos a few
moments, and then glided away. It was a singular scene. In no respect did they seem to us
superior to our slaves, in themselves or in their
conditions. 2Not until it was fairly dark did the
priest return. lie wore a linen blouse, stained
with the blood of quails, and looked exceedingly like a butcher. Our reception was not
gracious. A' Of course we could come in, but he
had no bed for us."  He swung his bag of quails
over his shoulder, and we followed him up the
dark passage into a room which was at once his
dining-room, sitting-room, and kitchen.  No
Irish laborer in New York has one more bare




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   139
and filthy! It seemed incredible that a priest,
and Archiprete, too, as he afterward proved to be,
could live in this fashion. He went directly to
his cupboard and helped himself and friend to a
large draught of wine, but offered none to us.
My official friend saw "the situation," and diplomatically and incidentally let it appear that we
expected to pay for our entertainment. Either
that suggestion or the wine made our host more
gracious. He stirred about to prepare supper.
His servant assisted, but he cooked-alas! no
quails, but only an omelette with unsavory herbs.
The seventy-two quails were to be sold at Rome
at five bajocci each! Nothing but a brave and
strong appetite could have run the gauntlet of
that cooking and that supper. Our host and his
friend were no Pharisees-they ate with unwashed hands. I do not in the least exaggerate.:No Irish laborer in our cities have a more squalid
home. I hope few of them have so poor a supper. Such is the life of an Archiprete on the
Campagna.
It was after the supper that we learned from
the priest many particulars concerning the laborers on the Campagna. The great country merchant farmed a tract of the Campagna, stretching
in one direction, toward the lake Bracciano, ten
miles. He employed these laborers by the hundreds. There were more than a thousand in his
pay. They were from the mountain region of
Naples, which I have described, and from the




140            INNER ROME:
Sabine and Alban hills. Their wages were
about twenty cents a day. They slept-where
they chose! Some of the more provident brought
with them little tents. Others crept into the
round straw huts constructed for the cattle on
the Campagna and slept there-the cattle, of
course, having the best place.  Others-many
others-slept in the old tombs and in the substructions of the ruined Roman villas which
abound on the Campagna. When we suggested
that they should be admitted into this large unoccupied tenudta, or at least into the adjoining
barns, the suggestion that these creatures should
occupy respectable barns, and above all a tenrta
in which a priest lived, struck him as almost as
profane and audacious as our proposal to occupy the apartment of the majestic country
merchant. I have no doubt he considered it a
striking illustration of the want of reverence in
the Protestant mind. "'But how do these people
live?" "What do they eat?" "Do they ever have
meat?"  At the latter question he was as much
surprised as if we had asked him if they lived
upon ambrosia. They lived upon bread and polenta. Polenta is the same as our Indian-meal.
Polenta was the staple and bread was the luxury.
The bread was brought from Bracciano or Rome,
the one twelve and the other twenty miles distant. On Sundays, some of the hardier members of a party walk this distance, buy bread,
put it in a sack, or string the loaves together like




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   141
beads, sleep upon the piazzas in the noon, and
toward evening swing the bread upon their
shoulders, and return to resume their toil at three
or four o'clock in the morning. Such is that
population of Contadini in the Papal and Neapolitan States which the Pope and the priests
would persuade us are almost Arcadian in the
simplicity, ease, and innocence of their lives.
In such a life there can be nothing but squalor,
degradation, and vile and brutal passions. From
such a population it is easy to see how readily
brigands could be made, especially when these
poor creatures were made to feel that by it they
were serving both their God and King.
The priest afterward discovered that he had
another bed. But such a bed! I will not describe it. In the morning, with our pay in his
pocket, he endeavored to persuade the gendarme
to allow me to go in the railroad to Rome. In
vain! we delicately suggested to the priest —a
scudo! In vain! He was incorruptible. He
evidently had an impression that I was a dangerous person. I was compelled to walk to Rome
in a nmelting sirocco day, was stopped at the gate,
and detained at the guard-house until Mr, Brown
could prove that I was nothing but a harmless
American citizen, and had a passport! It was
knowledge rather dearly bought, but I had
learned how the Contadini live upon the Campagna.
To foster brigandage in the Neapolitan States




142             INNER ROME:
has always been the policy of the dethroned
Neapolitan princes. It is indeed a stupid, brutal,
suicidal policy,-but all the more likely for that
reason to be adopted by a Bourbon, and especially by this Francis, who is the Bourbonest of
the tribe. No doubt his object would be to organize a nucleus of reaction on the frontier,
which might assume a quasi-military form, and
which, he might hope, would ultimately spread
into a general revolt and replace him upon the
throne. If this scheme should fail, he would
still be able, by fostering brigandage, to represent to foreign powers that the kingdom  of
Naples was in a disturbed and dissatisfied condition, and would never be happy until it should
receive again its own sweet king. This is the
use which is made of this state of things by the
journals in Rome. They chronicle all these disorders in what they still call the "Kingdom of
the two Sicilies," as evidences of the dissatisfaction of the people and of the inability of the
new government to maintain the public peace.
It is a circumstance which in no degree disturbs
this father of his people, that it is his own subjects whom this atrocious policy subjects to pillage and mutilation, torture and murder.
In another chapter I will adduce direct proofs
of the complicity of Francis and of the Papal
Government in this awful crime.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   143
CH HAPTER  XI.
ROME AND BRIGANDAGE.
IMMEDIATELY after the conquest of the kingdom
of Naples, brigandage, for political purposes, was
organized at Rome. The materials for chiefs
and for subordinate officers were found in abundance in the old Neapolitan arrny,-which it is
now generally admitted was too hastily disbanded, and thrown without resources upon the
country by the Italian Government,-and in that
body of Neapolitan troops which escaped fiom
Gaeta to the Pontifical territory, and were disbanded by Francis at Velletri and Albano. From
these were formed the nuclei of various bands.
They were organized on a large scale, with a
view to the occupation of the northern frontier
of the:Neapolitan territory.
The Italian Parliament sent a committee of
inquiry into the matter of brigandage to Naples
and to the frontier, who have made, through
their chairman, Massari, a voluminous report
upon the subject. I have read this document
since my arrival in this country, and I find that
it demonstrates abundantly and superabundantly
both the agency of the King of Naples, and the




144            INNER ROME:
complicity of the Papal Government, in this infamous business. It refers to proofs of the fact
without number, similar to those which it produces,-which are contained in the military and
police archives of Naples and Gaeta.
From this document of 200 pages, filled with
proofs of the complicity of the Papal Government in this business, I translate the following
passage:
1" It is said that the asylum granted in Rome
to Francis II. has had for its motive an impulse
of gratitude, and that Pins IX. has wished to
return the hospitality extended to him in Gaeta
in 1848 and 1849. It may be so. Let it be
granted that no political considerations have entered into this proceeding, and that it arises
wholly from a sentiment of gratitude. What
then?  This sentiment-should it impose silence upon that of justice, of humanity, of
charity? Abusing the hospitality of the Holy
Father, Francis II. has rendered himself unworthy of it, and hence it should be withdrawn.
This has not been done; and tolerance of the
abuse has finally resolved itself into incontestable
complicity. B3ut facts prove that the connivance
and complicity of the Pontifical Government
with brigandage are not limited to the regions
which we have described, but that there is a deliberate and conscious connivance with it-an
active, constant, and most effective co-operation.
Francis II. was said constantly at Sora to be the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   145
pivot of brigandage; but the Pontifical Government was openly its support.
"The root of brigandage," says the Senator
Ferrigini, Advocate General of the Court of Cassation at Naples "is at Rome. Until this shall
be unearthed, brigandage will not be extirpated."
"From Rome," says the Senator Niutti, president of the same court, "comes the principal
support of brigandage."  "The greatest incitement to it," says the illustrious Luigi Settembrini, "comes from Rome, from whence even
more than the money comes the idea that it and
the King of the two Sicilies are its prime movers
and supports."
"Facts demonstrate (continues the report) that
these authoritative opinions are founded in truth.
At Rome there is a regular enrollment of a band
as of an army which prepares for conflict with
an enemy. The Convents of Trisulti and Casimari are notorious receptacles of brigands and are
their chosen headquarters. In 1861, Monsignore
Montieri, Bishop of the Diocese of Sora, now
deceased, had taken a chamber in the Convent
of Casimari, and there, with the assistance of the
Father Abbot of the monastery and of several
legitimist foreigners, organized that band of
brigands, headed by De Christen, who were followed and overcome by the troops commanded
by a brave colleague, General Maurizio de Sonnaz. The Pontifical police naturally adopt every
imaginable precaution to disguise their compli



146            INNER ROME:
city with these miscreants. But their cunning,
their caution, their astuteness are neutralized by
facts.  Bands are organized upon the Roman
territory without molestation or interference.
Tristany lays in supplies of bread and other food
fromn the Roman territory with no opposition on
the part of the Roman authorities. In the month
of March, 1862, there were sent daily from Veroli
one hundred and twenty-one rations of bread to
the brigands assembled in the Convent of Trisulti,
and no obstacles were interposed to this daily
operation. Two natives of Selva de Sora lived
at Veroli, and acted as guides to Tristany and
the Pontifical police. The provinces of Frosinone and Velletri are those in which the bands
are most frequently formed; none of the Contadini of these two provinces join them; they
are foreign adventurers, generally worthless and
wretched fellows from the Neapolitan provinces.
Those who compose the band of Tristany are,
for the most part, clothed in a military habit;
and those who act as officers receive distinct
military titles. The Pontifical police have no
eye to see these preparations for hostility, and
allow them tranquilly to complete their arrangements, without giving them the least disturbance.
"At the end of the summer of 1861, the band
headed by Chiavone, often defeated and as often
reorganized, assurmed formidable proportions. It
was divided into eight companies of fifty men




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   147
each, and enrolled its officers with the titles
which belong to a military organization. Among
them were Spanish adventurers, French, Swiss,
Irish, and the Belgian Traziuy.  This band
ranged unimpeded along the frontier of Sora,
between S. Francesca and Casimare, with advance
posts and videttes; and it never suffered any molestation up to the time when beaten by our troops
in the fights at Imola and San Govanni Incarico,
it resolved to pass the frontier on the 11th of
November, 1861.
"Whenever the brigands have abandoned the
frontier and have been met and defeated by our
troops, they have always been able to recruit and
reorganize by passing over into the Roman territory. At the Campo di Fiori and at the piazza
Montanara in Rome there are persons notoriously employed to recruit the bands of brigands.
They select and find their recruits among the
Contadini of the Alrazzo Aquilana, who have
fled to avoid the levy of the Italian Government,
or to escape the punishment of their crimes. The
Pontifical Government assists them with arms
and money, and adopts every sort of artifice to
avoid being detected. At one time, for instance,
it furnishes several hundreds of military coats;
and the Minister of War gives notice of a public
sale by auction of these coats. A French priest
presents himself at the auction and professes to
buy them. Then he consigns them to those for
whom they are intended. The Bourbon Conz



148            INNER ROME:
mittees of Alatri, of Frosinone of Ceccano, of
Velletri, of Pratica, bestir themselves to aid the
brigands in every possible way. On the Committee of Frosinone there is a Judge, a Chancellor of the Bishop, two Canons and the Curate.
On that of Ceccano is a person who is attached
to the household of Cardinal Antonelli. On that
of Yelletri there are several Canons. On that of
Pratica, the Archiprete who sometimes accompanies the brigands in person. At the Abbey of
the Passionists in Ceccano reside a Pontifical
gendarme and two others who serve as guides
to these murderous miscreants."
Page after page of such distinct specifications
could be quoted from this authentic document.
No serious attempt has ever been made to confute its undeniable testimonies.
A more recent elaborate work upon this subject, "I1 ]Brigantaggio alla frontiera Pontificia
dal, 1860 al 1863, del Conte Alessandro Bianco
di Saint-Jorioz," an officer who was long employed in this difficult and repulsive service, and
enjoyed the best opportunities for gaining correct
information, is replete with the results of his own
observation, and with facts gathered in the course
of his wide and varied journeyings and expeditions. The work has been received with great
favor in Italy, and is very damaging to the parties
who have been engaged in this most nefarious
business. After reading this work, it is impossible to disbelieve in the direct agency of both




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   149
the ex-King and the Pope in the Neapolitan
brigandage. It is a crime which deserves the
execration of the world.  Wars of guilty ambition are not unfrequent; but they always profess to promote the glory and prosperity of the
nations in whose behalf they are waged, and are
not without their pleas and promises in furtherance of the general good. But a system of pillaging, terrifying, torturing, and murdering one's
own subjects, for the purpose of making a dead
lie seem to be alive, which could be of no avail
even if it were, is an infamy which only a Bomba
or a Bombino (the nickname of Francis) could
commit, and which only a Pope smitten with
Bourbonic blindness and infatuation could bless
and foster.
INo effort of course would be spared, by the
parties involved in this crime, to keep all proofs
of it from the public eye. ]3ut murder will out.
The enterprise was on too large a scale, and involved too many persons and too many interests,
to make it possible that it should be kept from
the Argus-eyed National Committee at Rome.
Those who are familiar with the city will remember the Campo di Fiori andc the Piazza Montenara. They will recollect what crowds of Contadini are accustomed to throng there on festas
and Sundays, and how characteristic and alive
these piazzas are on such occasions. But they
probably did not suspect that they were marts of
muzrder,-that brigands and robbers were there




150            INNER ROME:
enrolled in the service of the ex-King of Naples.
Yet this is what the National Committee charge,
and charge with specifications of persons and
times and places. They point out by name the
individuals who are agents in this affair. Relying
upon such information, as well as upon that which
he has collected from the archives of Gaeta and
from  individuals, and challenging denial, the
author makes such distinct specifications as the
following. If they are not true, he should be
delivered up to trial for as atrocious slanders
upon private and public characters as were ever
uttered. But there is no probability that he will
be called for or disturbed:
" The brigands are publicly recruited in Rome
by the druggist Vagnozzi, in Campo di Fiori,
and by a certain Picarilli, ex-sergeant in the exarmy of the ex-I(ing, and captain in the band of
Chiavone; by the Abbe Ricci, and the priest
Gonella, formerly Sacristan of Santa Restituta,
in Sora, who was named Colonel by the ex-KIing,
Francis II., and took command of a band of
brigands which unsuccessfully attacked Acqua
Santa; and by many others whose names it is
difficult to ascertain. These brigands, united and
enrolled in bands in the Piazza Montenara in
Rome, are afterward assigned to various captains,
and by them paid, clothed, and accompanied to
the frontier."
The author then proceeds to give the names of
those who acted as guides to these parties to the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   151
frontier, and the names of persons in various
places on the Italian frontier who aided them,many of whom were subsequently convicted and
condemned for the crime of complicity with the
brigands. How largely the Roman Government
lent itself to this wholesale organized pillage and
murder appears fromn the following record:
"In the hospital of the Commune at Ciprano
there is a part used as barracks, occupied by
twelve gendarmi of the Papal cavalry, and fifty
brigands (20th February, 1862). Toward Fabraterra, the brigands occupy another barrack.
Others, also, are in like manner occupied at
Campolungo, toward Monte San Giovanni, by
brigands. A man by the name of Battaglia has
the care of them and pays them."
At that period the effbrts to organize a band
so large as that it should seem like a small army,
had reached their highest point of success. There
is no more reason to doubt the general correctness of the information which the Italian military
authorities possessed of the organization and
numbers and movements of the brigands, than
there is of the usual information collected by
armies of the movements of their enemies. The
information is obtained by the same methods,by the employment of spies and scouts. On this
principle the following telegram from Captain
Gregorio Ximines, of the 43d Infantry, of February 28th, from Isoletta, should be accepted in
the same manner as are all other. military messages:




152            INNER ROME:
"After the departure from Rome of about
2000 brigands, followed by another the day before yesterday (26th February, 1862), to-day I
have some information as to the distribution of
these forces. Yesterday (27th of February) two
hundred from Pofi and from Ripi joined them,
those from Ripi proceeding in the direction of
Casimari, those from Pofi hiding in the retreats
of Ceccano, the property of the Passionist
Brothers. On this side (of the frontier) other
columns may be also on the march in little bands,
to be united at a designated point. About 600
departed this morning from Velletri for Fondi,
where, in twxo or three days, the whole number
may be found in line. A Swiss and a Spaniard,
whose names I do not know, joined them yesterday at Trisulti."
On the 2d of March, 1862, Chiavone (the commander-in-chief of all the brigands) wrote to the
Comandante of the Papal Gendarmi at Frosinone that he should provide for the passage of
three hundred brigands coming fromn Terracina,
and the Comandante answered that he would do
so, but that it was necessary to beware of the
French soldiers!
Among the discoveries made by the National
Committee was that of a "plan of reaction,"
devised at Rome by the Bourbon committees,
presided over by the ex-generals of Francis, Vial
and Clary. It was sent to Colonel Lopez, at
Sora, in September, 1861. The whole scheme




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   153
can be seen in "II Brigantaggio" (pp. 244, 245).
It provides for the formation of five bands, and
for four officers of direction at Rome, Velletri,
Agnani, and in the Convent of Scifelli. It provides for a secret police of espionage, and regulates the rank of the officers, and assigns to the
several bands their respective fields of operation.
In order to show how such information as is
given in this work has been obtained, and to
prove that it is authentic anid reliable, I translate
one account of a secret mission of an agent of
the Italian Government, and one intercepted official document of a comandante of Papal gendarmes:
"In August, 1862, a: certain Battista Achille,
called Battistone, a shrewd and enterprising
young man, who had already rendered various
confidential services to the general commanding
the military division of Chieti, and who was- rewarded with the post of the Keeper of the
Prisons at Pescara, was engaged: in a secret ser-,vice, under the direction of the Major-General
-Cav. Reccagni, in Lancianese, and there came in
contact with another young man, Gorgio Acqui,
employed by Raffaele di Tagliacozzo, in the pay
of the Reactionists. Insinuating himself cautiously into his confidence,.he learned from him
that he often went to Rome, to convey information, and to bring back instructions, and; that if
he (Battistone) desired it, he should be introduced to King Francis.: Having obtained per8




154            INNER ROME:
mission and money from the general, he went to
Rome with Gorgio, and on his, return gave the
following account of his journey. In consideration of the good services already rendered by
Battistone, and his subsequent fidelity, his depositions are worthy of being believed.
"When he reached Rome he was introduced
to D. Paolo Resta da Tagliacozzo, by whom Battistone had been formerly known as a maker of
toys. Resta, one of the most confidential rea ctionary instruments of the ex-King, told him
that the King was at that time in Albano, and
would not return within ten days, but assured
him that he himself had full authority to act on
behalf of his master. In consequence of this,
Battistone declared that his aversion to the new
government had determined him in favor of the
old; and receiving encouragement and promises
of assistance at the future certain restoration of
the old government, he was conducted by him to
the Monte Cavallo, that he might see the numerous disbanded soldiers and deserters from the
Italian army who held themselves in readiness
for action.'We could have,' he said,'many
more, but his Majesty, although he is the richest
sovereign in the world, does not wish to waste
his money, as, at the decisive moment, a large
amount of it will be required. Moreover, already
a large number of the old army who are in the
new, are friends of the King; and it is better
that they should live, in the mean time, at the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    155
expense of the usurping government, and remain where they can render better service to his
Majesty.'"
Battistone saw full five hundred of these disbanded soldiers,* among whom  he recognized
the seven grenadiers who had deserted from
Rieti on the 16th of September. (This information was subsequently confirmed.)  Resta knew
that a meditated general attack upon Lanciano
within a few days had been deferred, in consequence of the presence of regular troops at that
place.  This, however, would soon be effected
through directions to a Pontifical captain, who
was at the head of a numerous band in the
Abruzzi.  (WVe had in fact, at that time, information of the captain of a band whose uniformz  was different from  others, and who wore
decorations.)   From   Monte  Cavallo, Resta,
saying that he was about to visit the Archbishop of Chieti, left him for a time, and put
him in charge of a certain Paolino Ventura
da Carsoli, whose office was that of paymaster to these disbanded soldiers.  I-ie inquired
if Battistone knew  a certain D. Raffaele Torano da Popoli, officer of the National Guard,
* A friend of mine in Rome informed me that he was told
by a high official of the Papal Government, at the time when
the frequent robberies and murders last winter excited so
much apprehension, that there were 1100 disbanded soldiers
of the ex-King of Naples at that time in the city, and most
of them without occupation or means of support.




156            INNER ROME:
and hearing that he did, said:'" Salute him from
me, and tell him that I shall shoot him first, and
then Camillo d'Aquila."
At this point Resta reappeared, and took him
in a carriage and returned to the Pallazzo Farness. As they rode, he asked Battistone if he
desired to remain in Rome; and the latter declaring that he could serve his King better in a
field of action, Resta added: "lMatters are now
in such train that there can be no doubt of the
result. We are about to clothe more than two
thousand in the guise of French Zouaves, and
while the Reactionists attack Avezanno, to which
the forces of Tagliacozzo and Ciccolano will be
joined, the way will be opened by them to the
entrance of his Majesty into his kingdom. You
must return, and confer with the Contadini in
your neighborhood, assuring them that his Majesty will recompense with gold and protection
as many as prove faithful. I will inform you by
letter of the precise day of the movement, which
will be between the 28th and 29th of August.
I will then write you where you- are to receive
money, in order to distribute it in the coffeehouses. Be faithful; spoil and murder as many
of the Piedmontese as possible. We have written the same things also to Signore Romeo at
Pescara (the same who surrendered the fortress
of Pescara in 1860), and if you meet him you
may safely confer with him, for he hopes to retake the fort, and writes that the comnandante of




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   157
the fort has already an understanding with him.
(He alludes probably to the second-lieutenant,
Dupretis, already convicted as a partisan of the
reactionary party.) If you have need of any
counsel in any region where there are patri, you
may trust them all, except those Cappuchini who
wear a moustache. Do not doubt that when we
get to Naples his Majesty will make you rich."
(pp. 245-248.)
I have copied the whole of this account, with
all details and names in full, because it has every
internal mark of genuineness and probability.
These projects, indeed, proved abortive. The
author adds: "So much pertinacity, so much
sacrifice of money, such unconquerable fervor in
an impracticable undertaking, such subtlety in
the use of means, such capacity of insinuations,
such a genius for intrigue, such astuteness in the
adaptation of:;means, in manners, in blandishments, in promises,-all were employed always
in the same fruitless efforts, and with the same
inefficient operations, attempts, movements, and
designs.  To invade a wild, empty Icountry;
to commit robberies and crimes; to rush like
Cossacks upon innocent persons and unprotected
villages; to burn and plunder; to enjoy the
puerile satisfaction of crying' Viva PFrancesco II!'
and then to leap back like goats into the mountains,-these were the conceptions of the committee and of the ringleaders at Rome; and to this
excessive poverty of military ideas and of stra



158            INNER ROME:
tegetical designs, are due the wretched results
obtained by the Reactionists after so much expenditure of activity and of money."
In-the night of the 30th of May, 1862, ten
brigands presented themselves to Fontini, Comandante of the Pontifical Gendarmi in Torre tre
Ponte, situated on the Appian Way, about eighteen miles from Terracina, who demanded means
of transport to Ceccano, the place of gathering
for their band.  The comanudante consented.
This is history. The proof of it is in the following document, the original of which was sent
by the Italian military authority, by whom it was
intercepted, to the general commanding the French
forces in BRome.
The letter is addressed to his captain, Signore
Car. Fabo, at Vellatri.
"Illustrious Signore Captain:-I make known
to you by this present writing, that yesterday
evening there presented themselves to this detachment the officers of the Sicilian troops, whose
names are herewith written, who go to join the
Spanish column in the mountains of Ceccano;
and hence, I have thought that I should give
them a reception for this day also, inasmuch as
the guide has not joined them whom they are
expecting to accompany them."
Then follow the names of a captain, a lieutenant, two sub-lieutenants, two standard-bearers,
and one medical officer. Then the letter continues:




POLITICAL, -RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   159
"I have felt that I should retain them, more
especially as by doing so, I should be able to save
them from encountering the French column. Torre
tre Ponte, 13 May, 1862. The commander of
the detachment.  S. FONTINI."
This precious document shows the singular
and anomalous position of the French.  The
forces of the Emperor protect the Pope from his
subjects. The forces of the Pope protect the
brigands from the French!
I think no one can doubt, after reading the
above pages, the complicity of the Pope with the
brigandage of Francis.  But, indeed, one who
resides in, or ever visits Rome, and knows the
character of the parties, and their history, and
their hereditary and traditional policy, does not
need any specific proofs. It seems proved by
these facts, and by all that he hears and sees
around hlim. The perfect accord between Francis and the Pope, their identical views of policy,
their belief that liberty is sin and despotism duty,
the exultant tones of the journals at the prevalence of brigandage, the conversation of the partisans of the Pope and Francis, the swarms of
self-exiled, sympathizing priests and partisans of
Francis, the agents of reaction in Rome, and the
high favor which they enjoy, the knowledge of
individual histories of brigands which he hears,
and the stories which are told to him if he travels upon the frontiers,-all these make the conmplicity of the Papal Government with this awful




160            INNER ROME:
crime a thing felt and seen and known, rather
than a thing that needs formal proof.
And it is a thing so atrocious that there is no
word hot enough and sharp enough in the whole
vocabulary of indignation to be hurled against
those by whom it is fostered and protected. And
he who sanctions and promotes this thing is
called his "Holiness," and "the HIoliness of our
Lord!"  It may be safely said that there is no
Christian sovereign now in Europe, who would
not scorn to adopt such means to recover a throne,
even if they were certain to succeed, except KI~ing
Francis; and there is no other sovereign, except
the one who professes to be at the same time the
Vicar of Christ, who would not look upon it with
loathing. For if, at the beginning, this brigandage might seem to promise to be the nucleus of
a political and military reaction which would ultimately replace King Francis upon the throne;
if it is conceivable that in the proverbially Bourbonic ignorance of the real state of things in this
period of the world, the ex-King might for a time
have flattered himself that he was waging war,
and not organizing the assassination and robbery
of his subjects, the time for that delusion has
long since passed. He allows this awful system
of crime to go on, in order that he may keep up
the mere seeming and the pretense of what he
has an absolute demonstration is untrue,-of a
general and irrepressible dissatisfaction with the
present government and a desire for the restora



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   161
tion of the old. And so long as this system continues, Francis is responsible for it,-the blood of
his subjects cries against him. For he has but
to intimate to the Pope that this warfare is useless and should cease-to withdraw  his own
countenance from it-to request the Papal Government not to foster but to repress it —to obtain,
through the Pope, the co-operation of the French
and Italian military authorities in connected and
combined plans of operation, upon the mountains, and not one month would pass before this
brigandage would be extirpated! And if Francis were not steeped in Bourbonic stupidity, he
would see that his present course is arraying the
civilized world against him, as a monster utterly
unfit to occupy any Christian throne.
Indeed it tasks our faith to believe that he ever
expected with such instruments to advance his
pretensions to the throne. We have seen that
brigandage is indigenous in Italy-that it arises
from the poverty, ignorance, and brutality of the
people in the wild mountain regions-that its
chief recruits are to be found among the poor,
half-starved Contadini, who migrate to and from
Naples and the Cainpagna and the adjoining territory of the Papal States. Now it was from brigands already in the field, and from such recruits
as these, that Francis was to organize a band of
champions of legitimacy, and of prescriptive tyrannies and wrongs. It seems incredible that he
8*




162            INNER ROME:
could ever have believed that he was doing anything' more than fostering, enlarging, and sanctifying the atrocious system of robbery and nuurder which had long been the scourge of his
dominions. For notwithstanding that the "plan
of reaction" seems to have contemplated regularly commissioned officers as in an army, and
notwithstanding that the plan was devised by
high ex-officers of the Neapolitan army, it does
not appear that a single respectable officer was
ever connected with these marauding and murdering bands; notwithstanding that loyalty and
patriotism were loudly invoked, there was but
one of the three leaders, and he a Spaniard
(Borjis), who seemed to have been animated by
a genuine but mistaken spirit of chivalrous loyalty to "throne and altar." The remainder were
mere vulgar robbers and murderers. The common brigandage of the country was employed as
a fraudulent instrument of pretended military
and political objects. These wretches plied their
old vocation, under the benediction of the Pope,
and with the pay of Francis added to their
plunder. They had no new duty to perform
except to cry' Viva EFrancesco!" and to murder
and plunder, particularly the Syndics of the villages into which they made irruptions, and to
pull down the pictures of Victor Emmanuel.
No doubt they were pleased to be converted,
without a change, into paid and holy crusaders
The military organization was a farce. The cap



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   163
tains and lieutenants and standard-bearers were
at the same time the rank and file. They were
all officers, except a few of the newly-recruited
Contadini. The leader of the whole band, Chiavone, was an ignorant and brutal but cunning
Bourbon soldier, who plundered Francis on the
one hand and his subjects on the other; and who
so revolted the brigands themselves by his plundering of them, that he lost at last all authority
with his followers, and all influence in every direction. Since the summer of 1862 this system
of brigandage has been increasing in its atrocity,
as it has been narrowed in its field. And now it
may be truly said that, under the fostering care
and protection of the Pope, it has reached a
height of horror in its character, such as in all
the ages of Italy it never reached before. The
trial of Gola and Ciprano and their companions,
which the Osservatore BRomano was compelled by
the French authority at Rome to publish in full,
exhibits such a picture of revolting and wanton
and ferocious cruelty as in our age has nowhere
else been witnessed. And thus this Pio Nono,
whose throne, when he first ascended it, was enthusiastically upheld by the most noble, pure,
gifted,'and patriotic spirits of the age, —who was
hailed with rapture as the Regenerator of Rome
and Italy, and as the Preserver, because the reformer of the periled Papacy, —whose beautiful
presence and sweet voice and glorious words and
corresponding deeds shed hope and joy and bless



164           INNER ROME:
ing all around, and converted all the days of
happy Rome into festas,-this Pope and KIing
of hearts will have, when he shall rest upon
his dishonored bier, for his chief, if not his
only mourners-Francis and Antonelli and the
brigands!




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   165
CHAPTEIR XII.
NAPOLEON III. AND ROME.
THE relations of Napoleon III. to the Government of the Pope have been singular and varied.
His first act as a man was to appear in arms, a
rebel against the Government of the Pope, and
to escape with difficulty from its power. Possibly,
the Pope would prefer now to have him in one
of the dungeons of St. Angelo, rather than to
have that fortress manned by his soldiers, and
himself occupying the most splendid and powerful throne in Europe.
A second time Napoleon escaped the vigilance
of the Papal police, who were in eager watch for
him. When he escaped from Ham, the Papal
Government believed that he was again about to
enter the Roman States with a political design.
The police were strictly enjoined to watch for
and seize him. Instructions were issued that he
should be "arrested and closely confined."  The
authorities were in a fever to secure this " soyetto."
The word is not a complimentary one, and is
difficult to translate without the use of some such
slang expression as " bad subj ect," or " hard case."
They thought that he had been tracked. The




166             INNER ROME:
higher police authority at Bologna writes to an
inferior at Porretta, and says: "It has come to
our knowledge, that on the night of the 21st
(June, 1846), a young stranger laden with arms
and money, who took lodgings at the hotel of
Luigi Ferrari, under a feigned name, was recognized by an English lady as the son of Jerome
Bonaparte."  This stranger sent a letter to a
member of the Bonaparte family in Bologna, the
Count Canmarata, who came to Porretta at eleven
A.M. on the 22d. The stranger met the Count a
mile from town, and they walked in together.
They afterward set off for Tuscany, having a
Tuscan subject for their guide. Then the official
at Porretta is rebuked for his remissness, because
it is reported that the stranger was Louis Napoleon, the "soqetto" of whom they were in search.
It proved however that the stranger was not
Louis Napoleon, but his cousin, the son of Jerome.
At a later date the Government had obtained a
precise description of the Prince, which was transmitted to the police-agent at Porretta. The description had been sent through the agency of the
Legation of the Grand Duke of Tuscany in Paris,
and is as follows:
" Personal marks of Prince Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte. Age, 38 years. HIeight, a metre and
sixty-six centilmnetres. I-air, chestnut. Eyebrows,
ditto. Forehead, middling. Eyes, gray and small.
Nose, big. Mouth, micdling. Lips, thick. Beard,
brown. Moustaches, fair. Chin, pointed. Visage,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   167
oval. Complexion, pale. Special characteristics
are, —head stuck down between the shouldersshoulders broadc-back round-some gray hair."*
This must be pleasant reading at the Vatican,
now that it is known to be in the library of the
Tuileries!
The next prominent relation of Louis Napoleon
to the Papal Government was when, as President
of the French Republic, he sent his army to Rome,
under General Oudinot;, and destroyed the Roman
Republic, and reinstated the Pope. It, would seem
as if this were a service to endear the " sogetto" to
his HIoliness. But it placed him under a painful
obligation.  HIe would have preferred that this
service should have been rendered by the younger
and more beloved son of the Church-the Joseph
of his heart-Francis Joseph. Ile preferred the
aid of thoroughly Catholic and retrograde Austria to enlightened and progressive France. It
was a singular relation wMich Louis Napoleon
then sustained, and has since sustained, to the
Papal Government. In one aspect protector, and
in another protected-sustaining the Pope and
yet angry with him for his stupid and obstinate
resistance to all reform-sustained by the Pope,
who was angry with him for his presumption in
suggesting reforms and interfering with his internal adm.ninistration - Napoleon's position toward the Pope has been one of anomialy, humilia* Documents, part I., 55-63.




168            INNER ROME:
tion, and of apparent injustice to the Roman
States which can have no other explanation or
vindication but that, bad as the present state of
things is, it would have been much worse but
for his interference. Of this fact there can be
no doubt.
The next singular chapter in the history of his
relations to the Pope is that of Solferino and the
treaty of Villa Franca, and of the events which
followed. That the eldest son of the Church
should have beaten back the younger son, in the
interests of that excommunicated outcast, Victor
Emmanuel, and that he should have allowed that
impious robber to have laid hands upon some of
the most precious States of the Church, those are
crimes for which his impracticable scheme of confederated Italy, with a Pope at the head, furnishes
no compensation. Louis Napoleon is now as cordially, though not as openly, detested by the
Government of Rome as Victor Emmanuel. The
priests of Rome speak of him with frightful bitterness.
Hence the Emperor occupies the position of
protecting the Pope against his own subjectsagainst Victor Emmanuel, to whom he gave
Lombardy —against the earnest, impatient, passionate desire of all Italy to constitute Rome the
capital of the kingdom of Italy-and against the
desires and convictions of the liberal part of his
own subjects, of Europe, and of the world. To
explain such a proceeding on the part of one who




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   169
courts the glory of inaugurating in Europe the
era of monarchies based on the will of the people,
is a difficult task. It is the subject of many theories, conjectures, and explanations.  By some
persons he is thought to have had no policy, and
to have been brought through a complication of
expedients, in the place of a policy, to a dead
lock, in which motion in any direction is impossible. Others believe that he is forced to protect
the Pope from the single consideration of the
safety of his own throne and dynasty. Others
suppose his Roman policy is dictated by the desire
to obtain supremacy over Austria in the affairs
of Europe. Others regard it as really in the interest of the kingdom of Italy, which would be
likely to be overwhelmed in a single-handed conflict with Austria. Othersbelieve that itis dynastic
ambition-the hope still entertained that Rome
shall remain, whatever its -form of government,
at first under the protection, and afterward under
the direct sway of that Imperial France, which is
ultimately to absorb all Europe. Whether any
of these conjectures, or several of them combined,
explain the present position of Napoleon, the result, so far as the feelings of the Court of Rome
are concerned, is the same. He is detested by
the Pope, and is himself irritated by him, yet he
upholds him, though often insulted by him, and
often rebukes him, only to be rebuked in return
in the tone of an Hildebrand or an Innocent III.
We find a curious illustration of the anomalous




170             INNER ROME:
position of the Emperor in reference to the Papal
Government, in the fact that his own production,
"The Napoleonic Ideas," has been made the
object of the surveillance of the Pontifical police,
since he ascended the throne, and at the very
moment when his army was protecting the Pope
at Rome. In 1852 an agent of the police addressed the illustrious Rev. Rector of the University of Bologna, and reviser of books at the
custom-house, in reference to a book then circulating at Bologna, entitled "Delle idee Napoleoniche; Pensieri del Principi Luigi Napoleone
Bonaparte; prima versione Italiana," etc. Iie
writes that some persons declare that this work
contains sentiments hostile to the policy of the
Pontifical States. He begs information and direction upon the subject. The Rev. Rector evidently
wishes that the too zealous agent of the police
had not touched the matter. HIe admits that he
had pernmitted the booksellers Rocchi and Romanogli to sell the book, but with "the express
indjunction to sell it only to unexceptionable persons, and
under their responsibility."  The Rev. Rector evidently feels the awkwardness of pronouncing
direct censure, and of forbidding the circulation
of a work by the eldest son of the Church. tIe
declines to haizard a judgment on a work which
treats of' the past, and forecasts the future. Ite
then inquires whether there is any proof that this
is really the production of Louis Napoleon. Does
it contain the real thoughts of the President of




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   171
France? If so, do they agree with the present
thoughts of the Emperor of the French? He
professes himself incompetent to penetrate these
difficult questions. And so the matter remains
as it was. The booksellers were permitted to
dispose of it-but only to unexceptionable persons.
It 1may be conjectured that they found all who
wished it unexceptionable!
It is believed that Napoleon III. cherishes all
the great "Napoleonic ideas" of his uncle, and
aims at their ultimate realization by slower, safer,
and less startling processes.  Now it is known
that, at one period of his career, the first Napoleon entertained the scheme of constituting Italy
a confederation, under the Presidency of the
Pope, wliich the third Napoleon proposed at a
time, and under circumstances, which, if he were
sincere, led persons to make a low estimate of
his practical sagacity. If it were a bigoted attachment to a "Napoleonic idea." which led him
to make this proposition, which nothing in the
then condition of the Italian mind, or in the state
of the country seemed to render feasible, it is
possible that another "Napoleonic idea" subsequently adopted, and which appears to the public
for the first time in the recent publication of
Documents by the Cavaliere Gennarelli, may also
commend itself to his mind. Whether or no this
may prove true, it will be interesting to see in
this plan of the first Napoleon for the solution of
the Roman Question, a considerable similarity to




172            INNER ROME:
some of those recommended by the;friends of
united Italy.
The drafts of decrees from the archives of the
first Napoleon came very directly into the hands
of the Cavaliere Gennarelli, editor of the Government Documents, and are published by him
in the "Lutti dello Stato Romano."  The manner
in which he became possessed of them was this:
In 1814 Austria took possession of the archives
of the kingdom of Italy, but the more secret
papers were secured by Napoleon's minister, Aldini.  He left them  by will to his secretary,
Vincenzo Cristini, who committed them to the
friend and relation of his principal, Gennarelli,
who now for the first time (1860) brings them to
the.light.
From these documents it will plainly appear
that the first Napoleon was persuaded of the
incompatibility of the union of the temporal and
spiritual power,: and had resolved to withdraw
the Roman States from Papal rule, and unite
them, not to the Empire, but to other Italian
provinces. If the third Napoleon should adopt
this "Napoleonic idea," the unity of Italy might
be delayed, but would ultimately be secured.
When Napoleon at Berlin issued the famous
decrees for closing all the ports of Europe against
English merchandise, he found that the Pope
stubbornly refused.  Napoleon  addressed an
angry remonstrance to the Cardinal Ambassador
fiom the Holy See, to be transmitted to the Gov



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   173
ernment at Rome. It was quite in vain. The
authorities encouraged the people to evade and
violate these decrees.
It was then that Napoleon devised the scheme
of leaving to the Pope his spiritual supremacy
and stripping him of temporal power. He communicatecl his design to his secretary, Aldini, and
ordered him to present a report and draft decrees
to put the plan in execution.
Aldini soon prepared them for the Emperor,
as they now are published. Napoleon was then
just on. the point of hurrying to Spain, to recover
the ground that had been lost there by his marshals, and he directed Aldini to transmit them to
Murat, Imperial Secretary of State, who would
accompany him.
In the report of Aldini to the Emperor preceding the decrees, he makes, among others, the
following statements.  He declares that Crescentius governed Rome for many years under the
title of Patrician or Consul; that the Emperor
Otho con-firmed him in that title, and made him
swear fealty to him; that during all the period
of the dominion of the Emperors over Rome,
they, and not the Popes, exercised the temporal
power; that afterward a Senator of Rome exercised the civil authority; and that it was not
until th6 beginning of the fourteenth century
that the office of the Senator became one of civil
subordination to the Pope. The report concluded
with recommending three decrees in reference to
the three following points:




174             INNER ROME:
1. The nomination of a Senator and a determinate number of Conservators.
2. The reunion to the Kingdom of Italy of the countries comprising the Roman States.
3. Various dispositions relative to his Holiness.
Then follow the drafts of the decrees.  Omitting a portion of the grand introductory verbiage,
I copy some of the principal provisions of these
decrees:'iNAPOLEON, by the grace of God and by the
Constitution, Emperor of the French, IKing of
Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the
XKingdom,"To all those to whom these presents shall
come, greeting:
"C Wishing to restore to the Roman people that
form of government which in former times they enjoyed, we have ordered and decreed and do order
and decree as follows:
"ART. I. Rome is a free Imperial City.
"'ART. II. The Palace of the Quirinal and its
dependencies is declared an Imperial Palace.
"ART. V. A Senator and a Magistracy of forty
Conservators form the Government of the city
and its territories.
"ART. VI. The Executive power is vested in a
Senator, the Legislative in the Magistracy of
Conservators; the Senator initiates laws.  The
office of Senator is for life; that of Conservator
for four years.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   175
"AART. LYX. The Senator is always appointed
by ourselves and our successors. For this present
time we reserve also the right to appoint the
Magistracy of Conservators. IHlereafter, when
they nmust be replaced, the Senator fills up vacancies from a double list presented to him by the
Magistracy. "
The next decree, with a similar introduction,
has the following provisions:
"ART. I. All the districts composing the Roman States, with the exception of Rome and its
territory as described in the first Roman Statute,
are irrevocably and in perpetuity united to our
Kingdom of Italy.
"ART. II. Possession of these districts will be
formally taken on     day, and the arms of the
Kingdom will be set up.
"'ART. III. On the same day the Code Napoleon will be published."
A third decree names Prince Borgese Senator,
and then follows the decree entitled "Measures
with regard to his Holiness:"
" Considering our First Roman Statute, we
have decreed and do decree as follows:
"ART. I. The Church and Square of St. Peter's, the Palace of the Vatican, and that of the
Holy Office, with their dependencies, freely belong to his Ifoliness.
"ART. II. The Chapter and the Building Committee of St. Peter's have preserved to thenm all
their property, under such an administration as




176             INNER ROME:
the Pope shall be pleased to appoint. Iis Holiness shall receive an annual revenue of a million
of Italian livres, and shall preserve all the honor
which he has enjoyed in the past."
These are certainly interesting documents in
reference to this unsettled Roman  Question.
Napoleon, in the heat of the Spanish war, wrote
to Aldini, then in Milan, to observe things narrowly at Rome, and to learn-whether the time
had come to put these decrees into operation.
The answer of Aldini contains expressions in
reference to the hopes and wishes of the Romans.
"The Pope, who has never enjoyed in Rome
the public favor, has yet succeeded recently in
interesting some fanatics, who call his obstinacy
heroic resolution, and expect every day a miracle
in his favor.
"With the exception of a few rich men who
fear in the change of the Government the destruction of their privileges and the increase of
taxation, all classes agree in desiring a new order of
things, and all long for the moment when it shall
come..
"I oulght not to dissemble from you that this
general disposition arises from two causes, viz.:
the hope that they may receive regularly the interest of the public debt, which forms the support of a great number of families, and the hope
of seeing. Rome become the capital of a great State, a
hope which the -Romans seem unable to relinquish."
Aldini then ventures to suggest some cautions




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   177
to his Imperial Master. He says that the English have exaggerated his want of success in
Spain. Hence it will be better to delay the execution of these decrees until after a decisive victory. He moreover declares, in case his Majesty
shall persist in assigning to Rome only a small
territory, that this provision should wear the air
of being only temporary, that the citizens may
still indulge their hopes of being the capital of a
great kingdom.
And finally, he feels bound to tell Napoleon
that the Pope, "obstinately, and against the custom:of his predecessors," persists in living in the
Quirinal Palace, and protests that he will never
leave it, and has had some of the entrances of it
walled up. No doubt some spies had advised
him of the purpose of Napoleon.
The Emperor followed the counsel of Aldini,
and temporized. Afterward, having conquered
Austria at Wagram, he believed the time was
ripe for this project, and he proposed to increase
the Pope's stipend to two millions. But after
the protest of Pius VII., and the excommunication launched against himself, he yielded to
anger, and annexed Rome to France, and made
the Pope a prisoner.
The purpose of the first Napoleon was to
unite the Roman States to the other States of
Italy, and to confine the power of the Pope to
spirituals, and to limit him to the occupancy of
9




178            INNER ROME:
the Vatican and St. Peter's, and what is now
called the Borgo, and was formerly known as
the Leonine City.  This portion constitutes
about half of what is known as the Trastavere.
Now if Napoleon III. should adopt a similar
idea of limiting the Pope to the Vatican and St.
Peter's in. the interest of the King of Italy, the Roman' Question would soon be happily settled.
But although we grant that the opinion of one
who is not admitted into the arcana of European
politics, on this obscure question, is of little
value, we cannot resist the conviction that Napoleon still clings to the old "Napoleonic idea"' of
bringing the power of the Papacy, whatever may
be its extent, and whether purely spiritual or
mixed, in aid and support of the Empire. It is
not probable that he indulges the hope that the
grand vision of the renewal of the Empire of
Charlemagne, which dazzled the first Napoleon,
will be realized in his own person; but it is quite
possible that he has the conviction, that the
French civilization and the French language and
French thought, and the superiority of French
administration, will gradually, in connection
with occasional French conquests, bring all Europe, by a willing annexation or absorption (like
that of Savoy and Nice, which are known to
have desired the transfer) into the Empire; and
that then a second Napoleonic Charlemagne, not
swaying Europe by conquest, but by the wills of
consentient nations, shall be crowned at Rome,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   179
by a Pope whose universal spiritual supremacy
shall at once uphold and be upheld by the temporal power of the new COesar of the Nations.
We do not believe that the present policy of the
Emperor of the French can be comprehended,
except upon the theory that he is revolving vast
designs, and laying deep and broad in his present
policy the foundations of a future gigantic empire, constructed not like the Empire of Charlemagne, of ill-cemented feudal fragments, nor
like that of the first N-apoleon of heterogeneous
nationalities, held together by the mere pressure
of military power, but of nations homogeneous
in civilization and assimilated in manners, and
approximating to each other in the administration of justice through the wide-spread influence
of the Code Napoleon, and penetrated with that
sentiment and that gratification of being part
and parcel of a magnificent empire, which made
the boast, " I am a Roman citizen!" the proudest
prerogative of the ancient world, from the confines of Britain to the remotest regions of the
East. We do not believe that either the character or policy or designs of Napoleon can be
understood except upon the supposition, that in
connection with his astuteness and practical wisdom in the detail of administration, there is also
something dreamy and vast and theoretical in
his nature, which, running beyond the present
possibilities of things, finds expression in such
schemes as that of confederated Italy under the




180            INNER ROME:
presidency of the Pope, and of a national congress in which Prussia should be expected to be
humane, and Austria unselfish.
Hence, we can find no other explanation of
his tenacious hold on Rome than in some unrelinquished Napoleonic dream of a future ascendency in the center of Italy, with a view to still
more vast results in the future. This impression
seems to derive countenance from the following
facts:
His evident unwillingness that Victor Emmanuel should have any other portion of Italy
united to his kingdom than that which he turned
over to him by the Treaty of Villa Franca.
That this reluctance was not a comedy played
between himself and the Government of Turin,
is evident from the fact of Count Cavour's real
indignation-of his profound depression, and of
his undisguised reprehension of the Emperor as
having been false to his promises, and false to
the cause of Italy.
The unnecessarily long delay of his army in
Italy-and his scarcely disguised desire of having
a Napoleon placed over the Government of Tuscany-and the exertion of all his power, short of
actual war, to prevent the lesser States of Italy
from becoming absorbed in Sardinia.
The discontent which he evinced at the revolution of Naples, and the half-support which he
granted to its beleagured King.
The same diplomatic opposition which he




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   181
showed to the annexation of the zEmelia and
Romagna to the kingdom of Italy.
Hience, we cannot but surmise that, over and
above the Emperor's determination to keep Austria out of Pome, and his sincere desire to exert
his influence for some amelioration to its dcreadfully oppressed population, there is also the reluctance to relinquish a vast and cherished hope
of empire, which the spontaneous uprising of the
great Italian nation must have sadly shaken, but
to which he clings with his characteristic calm
tenacity, and which he may suppose future European complications may still make possible.
To the question therefore, —"WIhen will Napoleon withdraw his troops from Rome?"-I believe the true answer to be, " Not until he is comrn
pelled to do so by the pressure of some eventslike that, for instance, of the rescue of Venice
from  Austria by Victor Emmanuel-such as
would subject him to the execration of the civilized world if he should refuse."
The recent arrangement between France and
Italy, by which it is understood that the capital
of Italy is to be transferred to Florence, and that
in two years Napoleon will withdraw his troops
from Rome, may seem to conflict with this statement. So far as Napoleon is invoib ed in this arrangement, we believe that he has come into it
most reluctantly, and only because he could no
longer retain his present position at Rome with
self-respect, and with a due reference to the rep



182             INNER ROME:
utation which he covets. We regard the movement as the victory of Italian statesmanship,
unity, patriotism, patience, and firmness, over
Napoleonic ideas and Napoleonic policy. As
to the abandonment of Rome by the French
troops, two years yet remain before that is to
take place. We cherish the conviction that this
too will be accomplished; but that it will cause a
mighty pang to the Imperial heart, and that the
pen which is to sign that decree will be long
held over it suspended-we have no doubt. But
that which constitutes the most hopeful augtry
in this movement is, that it has been made quite
irrespective of the feelings or wishes or remonstrances of the Pope.  He may thunder "non
possumus' as loudly as he will, but whereas the
phrase once meant'"we will not," it will mean
hereafter " we cannot he!p? ourselves."




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   183
CHAPTER  X1II.
TIHE ISSUE, THE SITUATION, AND THE SOLUTION.
THAT the government of the Pope is heartily
detested by all the people of tihe Roman Statesthat it is sustained solely by foreign force-that
emancipation from it would be as rapturously
welcomed by them as it was by the inhabitants
of Bologna, Perugia, Ravenna, and Ancona, when
they were incorporated into the kingdom of Italy,
needs no proof. None but the blindest partisans
of the Pope deny the fact.
But many persons suppose that this issue between the Pope and his subjects is recent. On
the contrary, it is a thousand years old. During
all that period, at intervals, the Romans have
struggled against the temporal power of the
Pope. They have never accepted it otherwise
than as a necessity, except when adherence to
the Pontiff was the rally of Italian patriotism,
against German or French or Spanish invasions.
The French historians deny that Pepin, when
he rescued the Bishop of Rome from the domination of the Iconoclastic Emperors of Constantinople, whose seat was at Ravenna, conferred
upon him, the temporal government of Rome, of




184            INNER ROME:
Ravenna, and of the Pentapolis. They contend
that he retained the government for himself
under the title of the Patrician of Rome. They
declare that the Pope, under cover of certain
donations for the benefit of the Church, subsequently claimed civil jurisdiction over the provinces in which they were situated.
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor at Rome
by Leo III. IHe gave many benefices and estates
to the Church; but where is the proof that he relinquished his own temporal sovereignty? From
Aix-la-Chapelle he continued to govern and collect taxes from the Roman States, as from all the
other portions of his dominions, and bequeathed
them to his son Louis le Debonnaire. His successors pursued the same line of policy.
From the beginning of the ninth to the eleventh
century, there was a constant struggle between
the Popes and the nobles for supremacy, in which
the nobles, represented usually by the family of
the Dukes of Tuscu]um, generally prevailed.
The German Emperors renewed that strife,
and until the fourteenth century, the Roman
people were on the side of the Popes only when
and because resistance to the Emperors became a
struggle against foreign domination.
During the absence of the Popes at Avignon,
the Senators of Rome exercised virtual sovereignty.
The spirit of the Roman people found its expression in the effort of Rienzi to restore an absolute
municipal independence of Pope and Emperor.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   185
It was not until the Cardinals, after the death
of Martin V., A.D. 1447, organized and buttressed the
Papal power that it became firmly established.
Since then, until the period of the French revolution, the Roman States, knowing that the
great powers of Europe were leagued to support
the Pope's temporal power, have made few efforts
to resist and overcome it.
But, since the restoration of 1815, the Roman
States have impatiently borne the Papal yoke,
and have constantly made known to the Popes
and to the world, that if left to themselves they
would immediately throw off the hated and oppressive temporal power.
That issue, vaguely involved in the struggles
of a thousand years' duration, has now become
distinctly defined. The history of the Papacy,
since the restoration in 1815, and especially the
events of the last four years, have clearly revealed
that issue to Pope and people. Each party, admonished by long experience, understands at this
time, more clearly than ever before, what it aims
at, what it should cling to, and what it must secure.
I will strive briefly to indicate how that issue
has been evolved, since 1815, what it is, and what
is now the relative position of the parties.
I.
At the restoration of the Papacy in 1815, it
was so guaranteed by all the powers of Europe,
9*




186             TNNER ROME:
that it had an opportunity freely to adopt such a
line of policy as it should judge best and wisest.
If by its long disasters it had learned new lessons
of impr'oved administration, of reforms adapted
to the progress of society, of wise concessions
which strengthen governments, by bringing to
themn their best supports, the confidence and
affection of the people, there was no obstacle to
their practical realization. It was hoped that in
the school of adversity where Pius VII. had
learned so well the lessons of heroic and Christian
patience, he had also learned some lessons of
practical wisdom.
But he proved to be as weak upon the throne
as he had been firm in prison and exile. He gave
himself up to the extreme clerical party.  Their
opinions were another name for their resentments. All that was new was hated and proscribed. It was associated with their suffering
and persecution. Disappointment and reaction
were inevitable.  The secret associations of the
Carbonari and young Italy, having for their objects the overthrow of the Pope's temporal power,
and the independence and emancipation of Italy,
spread over the Roman States. The clerical sect
of the Sanfedisti (holy believers) counterworked
therm. It was a bitter war of local aund fruitless
revolutionary outbreaks, of secret intrigues, and
of conspiracies and assassinations.
After the revolution of 1821, in Naples and
Piedmont, had been crushed by Austrian and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   187
French intervention, the Governments of France
and Austria earnestly recommended to the Pope
reforms in the Papal administration. They hinted
to him that his Government was a scandal in the
eyes of the nations, and compromised all the
respectable despotisms of Europe.  In vain;
" Non possumus."
The successor of Pius, Leo XII. (1823-1829),
with even more bigotry and bitterness, pursued
the same line of policy, and at his death, the
people were more discontented, and the liberals
nore enraged, than at his accession.
Pius VIII., who reigned but little more than a
year, was a tool of Austria and of the Sanfedisti.
The death of his successor, Gregory XVI., in
1846, closed the irst era of the new trial of the
Papacy on the old system, which looked back to
the middle age as the golden age, regarded despotism as profitable godliness, bigotry as the
first of duties, and all progress and innovation
as devices of the devil. What was the result?
The liberals were panting for an opportunity
for vengeance, and the Sanfedisti, drunk with
power, had abandoned all moderation.
Commerce was exceedingly depressed, and
high restrictive duties had organized smuggling
int6 a system as extensive as the regular trade.
The native troops were few and poor, and
badly disciplined and paid, while the foreign
regiments, better organized and rewarded, were
a heavy burden upon the treasury, and hated by
the people.




188             INNER ROME:
The police vexed the liberals and were keen
in the scent of heretics, but allowed bandits to
desolate the country, and were notoriously inefficient in arresting thieves and murderers.
The contributions and taxes were very heavy
and unequally distributed.
The development of public wealth was repressed by laws which forbid improvements,
such as the introduction of gas and railroads,
enjoyed by other States.
The administration of justice was so complicated that right became tangled and strangled in a
net-work of civil and canonical enactments, often
contradictory, and always difficult to be understood and reconciled.
A debt of 37,000,000 of sctni and an annual
deficit of half a million.
- The career of arms dishonored and closed to
the Roman youth, and closed equally diplomacy,
politics, and magistracy, which were absorbed by
the ecclesiastics.
A rigid censorship of the press, and, consequently, no free play to intellectual life.
Thousands of citizens warned, and, consequently, unable to hold any offices of profit or
of honor.
Such are some of the prominent specifications
of the indictment which impartial history brings
against the Papacy, after a new trial of thirty
years of its character and capacities under circumstances of peculiar advantage.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   189
It taught the Romnian people that it was the essential and unalterable nature of the Papal and
priestly power to be despotic, to be repressive of
all progress, to keep the people depressed, ignorant, inert, and in the rear of all the civilized and
Christian communities in the world.
Hence, abandoning all hope of modification or
reformation of the Government of the Pope,
they directed themselves to the destruction of
the temporal power, by associations, some of
which contemplated united Republican Italy;
some, Italy united under a constitutional monarchy; and others, only the independence and the
Constitutional Government of the RPoman States.
These were the convictions and aims of a large
majority of the Romans, although the Papacy has
never failed to have many bigoted adherents
among them.
II.
A new thing appeared in the world-a reforming Pope-a Pope who took the initiative in relaxing the restrictions of the Ruoman people; in
admitting them to a participation in the Government, and in setting forward many schemes of
municipal, social, and governmental reform.
This proceeding awakened, stimulated, and sanctified popular movements and demonstrations in
every country in Europe. It may be questioned
whether it was not the primum mobile of the revolutions which took place in every great European nation in 1848.




190             INNER ROME:
That the movement was individual, spontaneous, and sincere on the part of Pius IX. can
scarcely admit of doubt. At first, a gay young
man of noble birth, then, wholly changed, an
earnest, single-minded, godly ecclesiastic, diligent in every position in which he was placed,
he at length reached the cardinalate with a high
reputation for purity and zeal. Elected Pope,
as unexpectedly to himself as to the world, he
entered upon office with few trammels, and free
to follow his own convictions. - aving been a
practical rather than a political ecclesiastic, he
evidently did not know, at the commencement of
his reign, that the system was stronger than any
individual Pope, unless, indeed, he were a liberal
lHildebrand, of giant power and equal will; and
he seemed honestly to suppose that he could both
accomplish and place bounds to the reformation
of the Papacy. But while he was utterly unequal to the task, there was mnuch in him to inspire hope and popular enthusiasm.  In the vigor
of life, with an eminently beautiful and noble
person, of which one of his admirers says, that
"there is nothing more glorious than his presence except that of the Holy Sacrament;" with a
sweet and rich voice and exquisite elocution; with
a history most honorable for zeal and benevolence, he was hailed by the Romans and by Europe in his first sincere efforts at reconciling the
Papacy with the prevailing aspirations for liberty
and progress, with a rapture of admiration and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   191
affection. For several months his life was a perpetual ovation. But he had no fixed policy; he
was no statesman; he had no firmness; he soon
became bewildered between the warnings and
threats of the partisans of the old system on the
one hand, and the claims and the growing irresistible progress of the innovators on the other.
Soon his real character appeared.
Prompt to suggest but dilatory to perform;
feeble in intellect but confident in his own judgment; benevolent, but vain and greedy of popular applause; obstinate in adhering to his purposes while they lasted, and yet often changing
them suddenly and capriciously; believing himself superior to all influence and dictation, and
yet easily managed by those who flattered his
fancied independence; loving to excite transports
of popular hope which he was afraid to fulfill,such was Pius IX. at the beginning of his reign.
His effort to connect with the spiritual and
temporal power of the Papacy popular and constitutional institutions, was soon seen to be a
failure. The Pope, still retaining his absolute
authority, wished the people to accept certain
liberties and immunities as his gffts. He desired
of his own will to specify them, to set bounds to
them, and also to be gratefully and rapturously
regarded as a generous nlaster, who had spontaneously turned over some of his own rights to the
people. But the people would not so regard
them.  They counted them  to be their own




192            INNER ROME:
rights, given by God, unlawfully filched from
them for ages, and now, with tardy justice, restored. Of course misunderstandings speedily
ensued. The people assumed more rights than
the Pope had designed to give. The Pope became alarmed.' Austria threatened and rebuked
him, and occupied Ferrara. From that period
the Pope was dragged on reluctantly by the enthusiastic and unanimous national feeling in the
way of reform. He consented, with a bad grace,
to the constitution and to the expulsion of the
Jesuits. When national illdependence made
war with Austria indispensable, the Pope retired to Gaeta, and the Roinans, advancing in
the line of popular progress, proclaimed that the
temporal power of the Pope was at an end, and
organized the Republic.
From that moment the Pope repented in sackcloth and ashes of his liberal sins, reconciled himself to Austria and Spain and the extreme Papal
party, took Antonelli as his chief counselor, and
has become as narrow-minded, bigoted, intolerant, and obstinate in his vindication of the high,
old Hildebrandic claims for the Papacy, and in
resistance of all amelioration in his government
as he had previously proved himself vacillating,
vain, and incompetent as a reformer. Since his
restoration he has acted, upon the maxims of his
predecessors in the Papacy since 1815, and never
has the true Papal theory of the absolute authority'of the Pope, in temporals and spirituals, been
more completely and rigorously executed.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   193
III.
And now the issue between the Pope and the
Roman people is distinctly made. It is simple,
intelligible, and patent to all the world.
The Pope and the partisans of the Papal
power are now fully and finally convinced, that
to yield anything to the people as their own
right, or as a concession, will be fatal to the
existence of the Papacy. They are persuaded
that a small reform creates a dangerous and inextinguishable thirst for more. They believe that
the only safety for the Papacy, and the only temporal and spiritual salvation of the people, lies in
an absolute double despotism of the throne and
the altar. They contend that it is a blessed and
paternal and sacred domination, and that it is
only felt like the divine government itself, to be
grievous when it is resisted.
The people are persuaded that the above is the
conviction of the present Pope and Papal Government, and, moreover, that it results inevitably
from the first principles of the Papal system.
Logically and historically it has been proved to
them that the Papacy cannot continue to be itself unless in temporals and spirituals it is absolutely despotic.
Hence they will never again be deluded as in
the first days of Pius IX. with the dream that
the Pope may connect a constitutional temporal government with the administration of the




194            INNER ROME:
spiritual supremacy as it is understood and
wielded by the Papacy. They have answered
for themselves the question asked by the author
of "The Pope and Congress"-"How can thle
chief of a church which excomnmlunicates heretics
be the chief of a state which protects liberty of
conscience?"  They will, hereafter, believe no
promises of reform made under the pressure of
fear of themselves, or of deference to the Emperor who carried the Papacy back into Rome
upon thle bayonets that were reeking with the
blood of Romans. They will be satisfied with
no concessions; for experience has proved to
them that they are always temporary and illusive,
and often treacherous.
The Papacy says, "We must exist, and hence
there must be no liberty."
The people say, "We mnust have constitutional
liberty, and hence the temporal power of the
Papacy must cease."
Such is the issue. It is between the people
and the temporal power of the Pope. It is not
between the people and the spiritual supremacy.
Some persons may believe that the two powers
are inseparably conjoined, and that the one
cannot be abdicated and the other retained;
and that, therefore, both should be at once destroyed. But this is not the present issue. It
may be hereafter.  At present, thousands of
Romans make no question of, but rather imagnify, the Pope's spiritual supremacy, and believe




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   195
that it is damaged and weakened by association
with the temporal power, who are consequently
earnest and enthusiastic for the destruction of
the latter.
The Pope says, with that bland smile and that
sweet voice for which he is celebrated, "My dear,
poor, infatuated children, come and rest in security and peace under my triple power. My temporal scepter shall protect you as citizens; my
pastoral crook shall guide you in the ways of
sacred peace; and my keys shall open to you the
gates of paradise."  And the poor, dear, infatuated children answer: "Ah, my father! that
scepter has been used as a bludgeon to bastinade
us; that crook is pointed with temporal penalties
and is dripping with our blood; and those keyswe are not quite so sure that they open paradise
as we are that they lock the cells of San Michele
and the dungeons of Paliano!"
And what is to be the end?  It would be rash
to prophesy. The question is one of exceeding
complications. I find that those who have resided long in Europe, and studied the question
most profoundly, are the most loathe to commit
themselves to a decisive judgment as to the solution, or the time and means of its accomplishment. One can see what are sonme of the prominent forces which enter into this struggle, but
he can by no means precisely estimate their
power, nor can he be sure but that there are
other and hidden powers which are greater than




196            INNER ROME:
any of which he is aware, and which will prove
in the end decisive.
IV.
On the side of the Pope are: The present possession of absolute power, thoroughly organized,
with agents and instruments skillful and experienced,-many of them unprincipled and remorseless, and all of them committed by interest and
safety to the preservation of the Government as
it is.
The support and sympathy of the princes and
many of their dependents; of the employees of
the Government, and of some of the relatives of
the priests; and of large numbers of ignorant
Contadini of the Campagna and the mountains.
The reserved hold which the Papacy is found,
in times of crisis and of trouble, still to have, from
religious and hereditary feelings and associations,
on the minds of those whose convictions are decidedly adverse to the temporal power. Many
persons who would contend earnestly against the
temporal power while the Pope exercised it at
Rome, would have fearful and superstitious misgivings when they should see the Holy Father
in exile at Gaeta; and would tremble when they
should hear his voice of appeal, rebuke, and exconmmunication. This is a state of mind which
it is difficult for a Protestant and Anglo-Saxon
to comprehend; but it is real, and it always has
been, and is always calculated upon as one of the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   197
great elements of the Papal power in times of difficulty and disaster.
Add to these the thorough sympathy and support of the great Catholic powers; and especially
of Austria and Spain, who have always been
ready to uphold and restore the Pope by fleets
and armies.
But above all, and perhaps more effective than
all besides, is the presence of the French army,
the sure support and guarantee, while it continues, of the preservation of the Pope's temporal
power. When we add to the mere fact of that
presence, which is a pledge of the whole power
of the Empire in support of the Papacy, the
words uttered by Napoleon on his return from
the battle of Solferino, and never since revoked,
we seem to have an absolute security, so far as
human force can give it, that the Pope's power
will not be disturbed while the Emperor shall
live, or his policy prevail. His -memorable declaration was, "' I hope that a new era of glory
will begin for the Church on the day when every
one shall share with me the conviction that the
temporal power of the Pope is not contrary to
the liberty and independence of Italy."
As we see that this protection is the most
powerful support of the Papacy, so can we discern some great reasons for its continuance. It
satisfies the strong partisans of the Pope in
France; and thus rallies them to the support of
the Imperial dynasty. It secures the preponder



198             INNER ROME:
ance of France over Austria in the counsels of
Europe.
Whether there be deeper and ulterior reasons
in the mind of the Emperor-whether, when he
announced that Italy should be rid of Austrians
from the Alps to the Adriatic, he meant Northern Italy for Victor Emmanuel and Central Italy,
including Tuscany, for a Bonaparte, and Rome,
with its Pope under his protection, for himself;
T7whether, loath to relinquish such a scheme, he
still hopes for its realization; or whether he
believes all Italy, united under a Constitutional
Government, would not be a good and edifying
neighbor to France, held under a tight Imperial
rule, and would stand in the way of her great
ulterior destiny; or whether it be that Victor
Emmanuel has not another Savoy and Nice to
exchange for Rome: whether one or all of these
reasons are in the mind of Napoleon to confirm
his present purpose of retaining the French army
as the support of the Papal throne,-who can
tell?
However this may be, we should not fail to
mention as a circumstance which strengthens the
Pope's position, that notwithstanding the very
many times that he has been beaten, driven away,
and his power apparently at an end, he has still
reappeared with all his old pretellsions, and with
the complete restoration of his power.
On the other side —the side of the Roman
people-there are forces of prodigious power,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   199
though, at present, some of them are chained and
imprisoned.
There is the intense hatred of the Papal Government, and the burning desire to become the
capital of the kingdom of Italy on the part of the
vast majority in numbers, intelligence, activity,
and power of the IRoman population. It is as
vain to repress its manifestations as it would be
to shut up the fires of Vesuvius. When it is not
pouring from the crater of revolution, it is shaking the soil on which society reposes, and rumbling in the caverns of conspiracy, and gleaming
out in jets of patriotic fire from the crevices which
it makes for itself, and which no despotism can
close. It is impossible that one who knows anything of the state of feeling in Rome can seriously
deny this fact.
There is the enthusiastic, and yet calm  and
patient, determination of a great UJnited Kingdom
of 22,000,000 of inhabitants, that sooner or later
Romne, occupying the very moral and local center
of that Kingdom, shalt be its capital. The people
are intelligent, united, resolute, and ready for the
most patriotic sacrifices for this great object.
Their king is one of the first soldiers.of the day;
their marshals have no superiors in military capacity; their army numbers nearly 500,000 men
in the vigor of life, and possessed with that patriotic passion, which, when guided by military
discipline and knowledge, doubles an army's effective force. There is a patriotic surrender of




200             INNER ROME:
individual convictions, whether for a United or
Confederate Republic, and a hearty rally around
the Constitutional throne of Victor Emmanuel.
There are all around the remnant of the Roeman
States which is left to the Pope, those who were
formerly under the Pa.pal bondage, the contrast
of whose liberty, prosperity, and joy, constantly
stimulates their brethren still in bonds to desire
to join them; and who constitute their sleepless
and energetic allies, ready to counsel and aid
them in preparation for that coming deliverance
which both parties confidently expect.
There is, moreover, the dissatisfaction if not
irritation of the great protector of the Pope, the
Emperor of the French, at the ingratitude of the
Papacy for the immense services which he has
rendered to it, and its obstinate and haughty refusal to listen to his counsels to save and consolidate his power by introducing ameliorations and
reforms in his administration. If the policy or
kindness of the Emperor had not mastered his
just indignation, he would long since have left
the Papacy to its fate.
There is also a growing obloquy attaching
itself to the name of the Emperor because of his
Italian policy, under which he may not long be
content to rest.
And'a reason which it would seem  would
weigh heavily with the Pope if he were not infatuated-it is obvious that all Italy is becoming
not only alienated but bitterly hostile to the Pa



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   201
pacy, because of its desperate tenacity in clinging to worldly power.  He is fast losing his
spiritual hold on Italy by holding on to the mere
tatters of the old robe which covered power,
while the power itself has fled. The Pope contends that the possession of his principate is
essential to his exercise of spiritual supremacy,
while all the world sees that he is fast destroying
his spiritual influence by clinging to the mere
shadow of temporal power. Will he not at
length see this, and conciliate Italy, at least for
a time, by welcoming Victor Emmanuel to
Rome?
And lastly, I am not certain but that it should
be regarded as the most hopeful of the elements
which enter into this issue-the fact that the
Pope is stubbornly resolute not to attempt to
save his spiritual, at the sacrifice of his temporal
power. Many persons, friends and enemies of
the Pope, believe that he would strengthen and
preserve his spiritual power over all the Church
by ceasing to be the king of a petty nation. The
Pope does not think so. The temporal power
originally sprang -from the roots of the spiritual
supremacy; but the old decayed original trunk
has long been propped up by the offshoot, and
if that support should be withdrawn, it would
immediately fall a rotten ruin, to the ground.
This is evidently the Papal conviction. I believe
it is just. A true spiritual power, not of this
10




202            INNER ROME:
world, such as Christ gave to his Church, would
indeed be strengthened by casting off all connection with a worldly kingdom. But the Pope's
idea and claim of spiritual power is that men
should be coerced into the faith, and punished,
imprisoned, tortured, and destroyed for heresy.
Such spiritual power could be upheld only by his
own possession of temporal power. He knows
that Victor Emmanuel would not exert it in his
behalf. lHe knows that heresies would be rampant and unpunished at Rome. He knows that
his little kingdom is almost the last refuge where
this system, pure and simple, still prevails. No
one but the Queen of Spain will now obey his
behests to punish and imprison men for reading
the Bible. He is therefore logical in determining
that his temporal and spiritual power shall stand
or fall together. And this may be ultimately
well for the cause of the complete emancipation
of United Italy from the Papal power, and the
complete separation of Church and State. It may
be well for the future of Rome and Italy that the
poor old Pope, crying and cursing at the same
time, should continue to fulminate his uncommonly tedious allocutions against Victor Emmanuel, and against all progress and reform.
United Italy may at length say to him: "If you
are so obstinate in the resolution that both your
temporal and spiritual supremacy shall stand or
fall together, we will destroy them both, and
at the same time that we install a just king in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   203
the Quirinal, we will put a Christian Bishop in
the place of an Anti-Christian Pope in the
Vatican!"
We have forborne to prophesy, but we cannot
but hope that this blessed consummation is nigh
at hand.




204            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XIV.
INTOLERANCE TOWARD JEWS AND PROTESTANTS AT
ROME.
THERE are Romanists in this country who claim
that the Pope sets a beautiful example of toleration in Rome. If, however, he does so, it is in
direct opposition to what he announces to be his
solemn duty.  But is it indeed true that his
charity thus overcomes his principles? The instances referred to are, his toleration of the
Jews, and his permission to the English to hold
services without, and to Americans to hold services within the walls.
Toleration of the Jews! Alas! that this bitter mockery should be added to the dreadful
persecutions, ages long, which they have endured
from the Pope in Rome. The bulls of the Popes
in the ages all along constantly claim that they
are directly authorized to inflict the divine judgments pronounced upon them for the crucifixion
of the Saviour!
In another work, "St. Paul in Rome," I have
entered somewhat fully into a description of the
present condition of Jews in Rome. I will here
confine myself to making a few extracts from a




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   205
paper presented to me, at my request, by an intelligent Jew in Rome, concerning the present
condition of his people in that city. It will be
seen that he writes in the English language, with
some degree of constraint, though with gralmmatical correctnesss.
"The Jews have always been considered in
Rome in the light of things wholly at the mercy
of those who governed them, and who had the
power of imposing pecuniary exactions, casual
or permanent, personal loans, and acts of servility; to confine them to close, unhealthy quarters; to subject them to the double jurisdiction
of both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities; to
impede by every kind of vexatious obstacle the
exercise of their industry; to expel them from
several towns and boroughs belonging to the
State; to interdict their applying for aid or protection to the constituted authorities in any contingency; to compel them forcibly to listen to
sermons composed purposely to convert them;
to prohibit them from acting as servants to
Christians, or from employing Christian servants
for themselves; finally, to segregate them from
all fellowship or society, so as to render their
lives wearisome and miserable."
Such are the disabilities which always have
been imposed upon the Jews. That they have
not diminished, but have rather increased during
the last half century, would appear from the fact
that the population has diminished since 1812




206            INNER ROME:
from about 12,000 to 4000. The paper of my
Jewish friend ends thus:
"The state of uncertainty consequent on the
obscurity and instability of the laws, the frequency of the'interregnum' (vacant see), the
different views of the successor of the Pontiff,
and the private interests of those who surround
him, have had the effect of deciding those Jews
who, with much labor and difficulty, had gathered
together a patrimony sufficient to enable them to
live quietly elsewhere, to emigrate to other countries. Instances of such expatriation have occurred even very lately, whenever new tribulations threatened to annoy the Roman Jews.
We will not speak here of many rich Jewish
families expatriated from  the marches, from
Ferrara, and other communities; we shall confine ourselves to Rome alone.
"After the re-establishment of the Pontifical
Government in 1814, several Roman Jews emigrated, who, during the dominion of the French,
had been the objects of universal respect.
" Others followed their example after the publication of the rigorous orders by Leo XII. in
1824 and 1825.
"Others again were led to take the same step
in consequence of the unfavorable disposition
manifested toward the Jews by the Government
in 1850, and at present some are known to be
about to quit this city, their intentions being well
understood.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   207
"The above-mentioned emigrants all have refuge in the Lomnbardo-Venetian States and in
Tuscany, where they have generally made investments of capital in real estate, and where
they exercise creditably banking and other important business. Such emigration may seem a
matter of indifference to others, but it cannot be
so regarded by the class of men to which they
(the emigrants) belong, for the excessive number
of poor (3000 in a population of 4000 individuals) increases in the same proportion as the diminished means of providing for them; and to
those persons of more limited means who are
obliged by their position to stay where they are,
the weight has become insupportable.
" Such emigrations, more forced than voluntary,
produce also the greatest disorder in the administration of the affairs of the Jewish community,
depriving the population of its best support, as
the most affluent families are those which emigrate. Thus the forced contributions, the expenses of worship, the alms and help to the infirm, etc. instituted without the existence of any
fund established to provide for the poor, now fall
entirely on individuals of limited means who
have it not in their power to increase their own
contributions so as to meet the deficiency caused
by the loss of those payments of taxes, etc. formerly paid by the members of the community
who have expatriated themselves.
"To the great misfortune of the Jews, de



208             INNER ROME:
prived as they are of every other resource, they
must devote themselves to traffic in all its various ramifications, and their subtlety is put to the
utmost trial to gain a livelihood, to support the
indigent, relieve the sick, and to encounter the
expenses inherent to their condition. Yet bankruptcies rarely occur among them; the number of
persons imprisoned is very small, and those all
for slight offenses, none for murder or assassination, for forgery or felony, or for any great
crimes; and this can be proved by a reference to
the registers of the criminal tribunals.
"Notwithstanding this, the Jews are pointed
at as beings altogether depraved, confined like
criminals, and exposed or subjected to a moral
torture and a cruel punishment,-that is, they
are treated with contempt, with disdain, and the
most active and industrious are rewarded by the
hatred generated by envy."
Such is the toleration extended to the Jews!
Permission to live in suffering, disability, persecution, and contempt!
As to the toleration of the services of the English Church at Rome, it may be said to be a bitter necessity. Rome could not exist without the
money expended by the ten or fifteen thousand
English visitors that resort to it every winter and
sojourn there for a longer or shorter period.
They would not thus throng to it without this
permission. The English Government would
stretch all her power and influence to force this




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   209
concession.  Even as it is, the permission is
given with circumstances of indignity which
justly raise the haughty Briton's wrath. It is
not generally known, as we know directly from
one of the officials of the English congregation
at Rome, that no permission has ever been
granted to the English to hold their services
outside of the Porto del Popolo. The affair is
simply ignored. It is not a matter of treaty or
of expressly granted privilege.  Rome has a
convenient way of not seeing sins or inconsistency, if they drop scudi at her feet. But no
more is granted, even in this ungracious way,
than is just sufficient to secure the English
visitors and their gold. The service is not permitted within the walls. When the Government
heard-it was an unfounded rumor-that the
trustees were about to give something of atn external churchlike aspect to the old warehouse
which they occupy, they were warned that it
would not be permitted.  This is the extent of
their toleration. It is permitted as a profitable
nuisance —nothing more.
IWe know some facts which fully confirm this
statement. In the summer of 1862, the assistant of that church spent the hot months at
Rocca del Papa, a lovely position, about twenty
miles back of Rome, on the Alban hills. Our
own place of sojourn was distant from his but
six miles, at Albano. With him  and around
hiem was gathered a little group of English and
10*




210            INNER ROME:
American families, consisting in all of less than
twenty persons. The chaplain was accustomed
to hold a morning service, without a sermon, in
the apartment of an American lady. Nothing
could be more quiet and less demonstrative. Yet
as soon as it was discovered by the Gens d'armes it
was broken up. Perhaps it was betrayed by the
excessive loyalty of the padrone. I-e had been
a poor and humble citizen. One summer evening, the Pope, making an excursion from Castle
Gondolpho, was overtaken by a violent storm,
and compelled to spend the night at his humble
home.  But the Pope cannot sleep under the
roof of an untitled citizen. Hence he made the
poor man a Roman noble before going to bedand slept with a good conscience. It was all so
precisely like St. Peter's method! It was, indeed, dreadful that Protestant services should be
held in the apartment that the Pope had once
occupied. That desecration may have had something to do with the breaking up of a heretical
service so repugnant to this solemn event-commemorated in a marble tablet, and signalized by
the gift, by the Pope, of his bust to the privileged host.
During the last winter the throng of English
visitors was unusually great.  Three separate
services for three separate sets of worshipers
did not accommodate the crowd that streamed
out of the Porto del Popolo every Sunday. The
celebrated Dean Alvord spent the winter in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   211
Rome; and a strong effort was made by Odo
Russell, the British diplomatic agent, seconded
by the Governmeunt at home, to induce the Pope
to permit him to hold services in the British
Consulate. It was peremptorily and rudely refused. The Russian Ambassador had in like
manner failed to obtain the permission of the
Pope to erect a small chapel for the Greek
Church in Rome. If such is the extent of the
toleration granted to the indispensable, thoroughly heretical English, we may be sure that
the Pope is never guilty of the deliriumr (see the
last Encyclical) of permitting freedom of conscience to his own subjects.  Gens d'armes guard
the door of the English chapel to see that none of
the faithful stray into those poisoned pastures. On
one occasion a member of the Pope's guard, curious to see the English service, disguised himself
in a civilian's garb and attempted to pass in, but
the quick eye of the official at the door detected
him and sent him back. The haughty scion of
a princely house was compelled to submit and to
leave the English lady whom  he was escorting
at the door. Two years previous, the Rev. Mr.
Blood, an English clergyman  whom I saw at
Paris, was banished from Rome for circulating a
narrative tract, in Italian, of a shipwreck, in
which there was nothing controversial, but in
which, it is true, there was included a distinct
statement of the Gospel of free salvation through
faith in Christ.




212            INNER ROME:
The case of American citizens is quite the
same. It cannot be said that they are permitted
to hold service within the walls; because it is
the right of an ambassador to hold such service
in his own apartment, which, however distasteful, cannot be refiused. But it has been distinctly
stated by Cardinal Antonelli, to one of our ambassadors, that it would be tolerated nowhere
else within the walls. During the early part of
winter, before the arrival of General King, the
services were held for a time by the chaplain in
his own apartment. He did not venture, however, to have any singing on those occasions, and
always required his audience to go out and come
in one by one. When he had reason to fear that
the fact that he held this service was known, and
that it might be broken up (for he occupied an
apartment next to that of the now  Cardinal
Archbishop Manning), he thought it advisable
to hold it-as he did-at the apartments of his
parishioners, changing from  one to another,
until the arrival of the ambassador at the close
of the year. Such is the toleration of the Pope
to the citizens of a nation, in the midst of whom
his own church and people have not only toleration, protection, and absolute equality before the
laws, but often preference and aid. WVe deeply
felt this gross injustice when in Rome. We
thought, and think now, that it is a matter in
behalf of which all civilized governments should
interfere. If the Pope calls himself a king,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   213
then he should be made to conform to the
usages of civilized and decent kings in relation
to other powers. If he chooses, and is able, to
prevent his subjects from  reading any other
books, or attending any other religious services, or
holding any other opinions than those he dictates,
this is a matter with which it does not become
other powers to interfere. But it is insufferable
that he should not permit the citizens of other
countries to meet and worship while sojourning
in his States, in accordance with their own convictions. It is an insult to which the nations
should not submit. England fand France and
the United States should combine and force the
Pope to cease this outrage against the rights and
the comity of nations. There need be no fear of
war on that behalf. -France would not uphold
him on that issue. Austria would not interfere.
Even the Queen of Spain, and Maximilian of
Mexico, would not send a dollar or a man for
such an object. I-Iis own subjects, even the most
bigoted, would rejoice.   The  Romans feel
ashamed of the indignity and inhospitality to
which strangers, on whoim so much of their
prosperity depends, are subjected. At least this
injustice is enough. It is a little too much to
add to it the claim on behalf of the Pope, that
after enjoining intolerance as the most sacred of
duties, he yet charitably sins by its violation.




214            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XV.
INDULGENCES.
THERE is no doctrine of the Church of Rome
upon which it is so difficult to obtain clear ideas
as upon that of indulgences. In truth the Church
has no definite system of doctrine on the subject.
It is all a muddle; and its pecuniary interests are
best served by keeping it in its present tangled
and opaque condition.
In one respect, the practice of the Church in
the sale of indulgences is not quite so bad as it
was in the days of Tetzel. The Church does not
so openly as then sell indulgences, or exemptions,
for present, or prospective, or meditated sin.
But in the sale of indulgences for the dead, the
Church is not one whit behind what it was in
the worst days of Leo.
Yet the present practice of indulgences is bad
enough. The Pope assumes to set aside, for a
consideration in money, not only canonical oftenses and ecclesiastical discipline for the violation of the laws of the Church, but also of the law
of God. The Church of Rome has set forth a
table of consanguinity within which marriage is
prohibited by the law of God. The table is made




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   215
to extend to slight and remote relationships, apparently for no other purpose than to multiply
the opportunities to extend dispensations, and to
put the price into the Papal treasury. One would
suppose that a claim upon the part of the Pope
to dispense with the law of God would startle the
most devout Romanist. But it does not do so. I
was much struck with a case that came under my
own observation.
Signore M    was an Italian teacher who had
been employed in my family. He was a widower
of middle age, handsome, and with those beautifully courteous mlaners which are common to
Italian gentlemen, and in which they have no
superiors. He was also a superb singer, and was
accustomed, with two or three other Italian gentlemen who were musical, kindly to come to my
Tuesday evening receptions and regale my
Amlerican friends and visitors, and others who
called upon me at that time, with his really superior performances. I doubt not that some of
my friends who read these lines will remember his
spirited rendering of some portions of "Figcaro."
On my return to Rome after the summer vacation, he called upon me in full dress, and beaming with satisfaction. He hlad just been married
— and to his niece! Of course, I could not avoid
looking and expressing my surprise. He spoke
of the matter very freely and answered all my
questions with great good nature. "Was it not
difficult to get a dispensation from the Pope?"




216           INNER ROME:
"Oh, no! it required a delay of only about a
month, in order that it might pass through the
customary formalities." I asked how much it
cost him. He replied that it cost 80 scudi to
get the documents to present to the Vicar-General, and that the Vicar-General's fee was about
the same amount. He was a good and devout
Catholic. He discussed the subject with me in
the evident full conviction that though it had
been prohibited by God, the prohibition had
been removed by the authority of the Pope; that
it was right for the Pope to take money for the
dispensation; and that he himself was fully acquitted in the forum of conscience of any wrong.
The act had ceased to be wrong, and had become
right, through the agency of the Pope. It was
a new and startling thing for me to be actually
in the presence of this state of mind, and to find
that propositions which were self-evident to me
could gain no assent from him. I would speak
to him in this wise: "You admit that this thing
is forbidden by the law of God, and that it is not
an old ceremonial law, but one of moral and perpetual obligation. Now how can any man set
aside God's law, and make that morally right
which is morally wrong-and that not in the interests of pity and mercy toward others, but for
the sake of pecuniary advantage to himself?
How comes it that you can get this done for 160
scudi, whereas you say that if you were rich, or
a prince, it would cost you from one to twenty




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   217
thousand scudi?"  He would answer me in this
fashion: "It is true that this is forbidden by the
law of God. But the Pope is divinely commissioned to execute the law of God. He has full
authority-just as a human governor has over
the laws of his kingdom-to execute them
strictly, or to relax them according to his good
pleasure, or from the promptings of his benevolence. This then is God's own relaxing of his
laws-because God has put them into the hands
of the Pope to administer them for him. That
the price, or the consideration for such an exercise of benevolence, should vary with the
wealth of the individual is perfectly natural and
just. The Pope needs money to carry on the
government of God in this world, and every man
should contribute, when he receives a favor from
God's Vicegerent, according to his ability." My
friend was evidently and devoutly sincere. He
mixed God and the Pope up in his mind in such
a fashion, that any change or modification which
the Pope might make in the law of God, was in
his view God's own change or relaxation, througqh
himn. It was a very repulsive and Protestant view
of God, which supposed that although He had
expressly forbidden such a marriage, he would
yet adhere to such a prohibition, and be so hard
on a poor fellow who had fallen in love with an
extremely pretty niece, as to forbid him to marry
her! Such a harsh view of the character of God,
as unfeeling and unsympathetic with man, he
scouted with scorn!




218            INNER ROME:
Yet why should we wonder at this? At the
canonization of the Japanese martyrs, the Pope
lamented to the assembled prelates the decay of
religion through the world. They answered him:
" Thou art Peter and upon this rock Christ has
built his Church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. When thou speakest, we hear
St. Peter, and when thou commandest, we obey Christ."
WVhen the assembled prelates thus teach, it would
surely be the height of presumption and blasphemy on the part, of a poor teacher to doubt the
Pope's power to allow him to marry a nieceespecially considering that she is so uncommonly
pretty!
But the most remarkable feature of the case
to me was the fact that my friend has not the
slightest reason for supposing that the case ever
came to the Pope's knowledge. "Have you his
signature? Do you know that it was brought
before him, and considered and decided by him?
Do you even believe that it was?" To all these
questions my friend was constrained to reply in
the negative. It was all done by the Pope's
Vicar-General. To the Pope alone is committed
this prerogative of relaxing and changing the
law of God; and in probably ninety-nine cases
in a hundred in which these dispensations are
pronounced in his name, he knows nothing more
of them than the Queen of England does of the
thousand crimes which are prosecuted and decided in her name!




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   219
I have spoken of the difficulty of ascertaining
what the present doctrine of indulgences is. This
is particularly the case in reference to the doctrine of "plenary indulgences for the dead."
Over innumerable churches and altars in Rome
is placed the announcement that certain prayers
and offerings will purchase "plenary indulgence
for the living and the dead." And yet I have in
vain endeavored to obtain a clear definition of
what a plenary indulgence for the decad is. I do
not mean that I have failed to get a definition of
it which was reasonable and consistent; but I
mean that I never received one that I could understand. I could not get at the meaning. I
know what the Romanists mean by transubstantiation-but not what they mean by plenary indulgences for the dead. I asked a Roman friend
to get for me from his confessor a simple and
short statement of the doctrine.  Neither my
friend nor I could understand it. I asked an intelligent American priest in my parlor, in the
presence of a group of friends, to explain it;
assuring him that my purpose was not to cavil
and object, but simply to understand. He set
off famously and confidently on the general subject of indulgences for the dead-but upon the
meaning and effect of the plenary indulgence lihe
evidently knew notlhilg, and explained the matter
into completer confusion than it had worn before;
and after he left, the "variations of Protestants"
as to what he did say, or did mean, were amusing.




220            INNER ROME:
I have asked Protestant clergymen who have
spent years in Rome if they understood this
dogma, and I have found them as completely in
the dark as myself.
The general doctrine of the Roman Church on
this subject is quite intelligible. It asserts that besides the eternal punishment denounced against
sin, there are also temporal penalties attached to
it, which are still due to the justice of God; and
that these penalties may be inflicted in this world
in part, and the remainder in purgatory hereafter.
It teaches that to the Pope has been assigned
power over souls in purgatory-in what is called
in the modern phrase at Rome la chiesa puryante,
the purifying church, to lessen or remove their
pains. The Pope, in the exercise of this power,
has granted indulgences to the suffering souls in
purgatory, which they may enjoy through the
prayers and offerings, and especially the masses
(paid for) of the faithful. Certain prayers in certain churches, and at certain altars-certain
offerings and masses shall purchase an exemption of a certain number of days, or months, or
years of purgatory. They will shorten so much
the period of the sufferings of those who dwell
in that drear abode. These holy merits of the
faithful shall be applied first to the souls of their
relatives, next to those of their friends, and then
to those of others who shall stand most in need.
Nothing is more remarkable than the magnificent profusion with which these indulgences




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   221
for certain periods are given by the Pope. I
have before me a manual of the "Pia Confraternita di Maria Santissima assunto in Cielo," in
which so many indulgences are provided that if
all the faithful at Rome would turn out on some
specially favored day and diligently devote themselves to prayers and masses all the day, they
could run the account up to billions of years of
exemptions. I have been doing a little cyphering on the subject, and I have found a series of
prayers called the Corona, which, if an earnest
Catholic should repeat for ten hours, would give
20,000 years of release to some poor soul. If
some statistical controversialist should take this
matter in hand, he would be able to prove that,
unless the period of purgatorial sufferings is
billions upon billions of years, the souls of the
departed must long ago have been prayed out
of purgatory, and that it must be empty, and
that there must be such a stock of meritorious
prayers on hand in that void abode as to meet
all the souls which shall approach it until the
day of judgment, and waft them immediately to
heaven!
And all this quite independent of plenary indulgences-which are just as profusely granted!
What is a plenary indulgence? I asked my
American friend how it came to pass that masses
were constantly offered for the souls of those who
had already, over and over again, received plenary indulgence-as was the case for instance with




222             INNER ROME:
many of the Popes?  How could it be plenary,
if it needed to be renewed? He turned very red,
and declared that the meaning was that it was
complrete for the lime specified. " But do not most
of your people understand by the word a complete release from purgatory, and an entrance
into heaven?" "The Church," he replied, "was
responsible for her doctrines and not for the misapprehensions of her children." But enough. An
examination of this subject would lead us into a
tangle of absurdities and contradictions into
which we have no wish to enter. Suffice it to
say that the whole doctrine is an appeal to the
sympathies and superstitions of the people with a
view to extract money from them; and that in
her eagerness to stimulate offerings and devotions, the Church has committed herself with
reckless and shameless disregard to even an appearance of consistency or probability. Before
dismissing, however, the doctrinal question, I
will copy from a manual* which was published
at Rome for the purpose of furnishing prayers
and directions for the relief of souls in purgatory, something which promises to be a satisfactory explanation upon the subject, but which
utterly fails to assure the faithful on the point
which is most important and fundamental, and
always taken for granted —and that is the power
* Manuale della pia Confraternita di Maria Santissima
assunto in Cielo, per suffragare le anime del purgatorio.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   223
of the Pope to effect the liberation of a soul from
purgatory.
The chapter is "a summary of some decisions
of the Holy Congregation (or Committee) of indulgences."  It thus opens: "In order to form
a just idea of the value and effect of plenary indulgence, annexed to a privileged altar, which
liberates a soul from purgatory, it is necessary to
bear in mind the following decision of the Holy
Congregation of indulgences, made to declare
this important point. Its words are as follows:'By the indulgence annexed to a privileged altar,
if regard be had to the intention of the grantor (viz.
the Pope), and the use of the power of the keys,
we find that by plenary indulgence is to be understood the sudden liberation of a soul from all
the pains of purgatory; if then regard be had to
the efect of the application of the same, an indulgence should be understood to be of such an extent as corresponds to the good pleasure and placability
of the divine mercy!''
So then, after all, the Holy Congregation of
indulgences, the highest authority upon this subject, decided in its session of July 28, 1840, that
the Pope has only power to pronounce absolute
indulgences, and to make them absolute only in
intention; and that the effect of the Pope's intended action cannot be known, and that it
depends upon the good pleasure and placability
of God! But we turn from these absurdities of
doctrine to those of practice.




224             INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XVI.
LAY CONFRATERNITIES.
THE Lay Confraternities of the Church of
Rome are interesting and salutary institutions.
They are founded on a right principle.  They
involve the acknowledgment of the duty of the
people as well as of the priests, to render strictly
religious and spiritual services to each other.
They give the laity something to do. In a state
where there are so few spheres of activity, aside
from their professions and business, opened to
them, this is an immense boon.
In every parish there are confraternities, connected with general associations, for various
benovelent and ecclesiastical objects. There are
confraternities for burying the dead, for releasing
souls from purgatory through prayers and masses
and offerings, for collecting alms for the prisoners, for visiting hospitals, for the restoration and
consecration of shrines and holy places, for
keeping in order the vestments and paraphernalia of crosses and banners for public processions,
and for various other purposes. These associations are greatly favored and fostered by the
priests. They absorb an activity and interest




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   225
which might find vent in mischievous and revolutionary schemes.
I am told that many patriotic Roman s are very
zealous in them as the best method of escaping
suspicion. On the )ther hand, they are said to
be great i nstrumenis of influence and espionage
in the hands of the priests, who have over them
an absolute control.  The more bigoted members of these associations act as spies for the
priesthood and the police. In seeking to enroll
members, they learn who are cool and who are
ardent in the interests of the Church. They
learn, or they surmise, the sentiments of those
to whom they apply, or who are associated with
them. The parish priests are careful, of course,
to place the most devoted sons of the Church in
positions of trust and honor. Thus the leading
members are imbued with a priestly spirit.
Many others, in order to escape suspicion, profess to be equally devoted. While, therefore,
the work of these associations is often benevolent, and must tend to keep alive a fraternal
spirit, and to develop the ethical element of religion, and is thus far salutary and comforting
to the Roman people, they are yet capable of
being made instruments of priestly domination.
There are three of these confraternities of
which I will give a little account: 1. the Sacconi;
2. the "Confraternita de Giovanni Decollato;" and
3. the "Confraternita dei illorti."
11




226            INNER ROME:
Every visitor at Rome has been startled by the
apparition in the Corso of a strange being,
clothed in a coarse linen sack, which entirely
covers him  from head to foot, with only two
openings for his eyes, with a heavy rope around
his loins, and dangling to his heels, and with
rude sandals on his stockingless feet. He walks
rapidly from door to door, rattles his tin money
box for alms, asks no questions, pauses not for a
moment, has rather a peremptory than a supplicating gait, and gives you the impression of one
who is pushing through an unwelcome task with
nervous energy.  If you catch a sight of his
hand you will see it to be soft and white, and
possibly flashing with a diamond which he forgot to lay aside when he assumed his rough
covering.  He is one of the Sacconi.  Every
Friday he is compelled by the rules of his order
to go out and collect almls for the poor. It is a
society composed of patricians and persons high
in office. That long, bare-legged, hideous-looking object may be the cardinal whose stately
bearing and splendid robes you admired in the
functions at St. Peter's on the day before. The
object of the association is to benefit themselves
and the poor by this voluntary humility, these
good works, these self-imposed penances. One
of their principal duties is to check and reprove
profanity. As they make their rounds they
enter into wine-shops, where they overhear the
name of God or of the saints taken in vain.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   227
They throw themselves upon their knees, exclaiming, "Praised be the Lord!"  "Let the
holy and dreadful name of God be blessed and
praised!"  Then humbly and solemnly they
exhibit the evil of profanity, declare that God is
present, and hears and sees all that is done, and
has prepared a very warm place in purgatory for
blasphemers; and if they are reviled and derided
they answer in meekness, and leave behind them
words of love.
On the afternoon of a warm summer day I was
strolling near the Basilica Santa Croce, when I
saw a procession of these Sacconi approaching.
They were making the round of the Basilicas,
and devoting the day to praying at privileged
altars for the release of souls from purgatory.
It was the first time that I had ever seen any
considerable number of them together; indeed
they are rarely so seen. It was odd, picturesque,
impressive, weird almost, to see and hear this
collection of solemn headless sacks, moving and
chanting in a wild, fitful way, up the road.
There were not more than three or four persons
beside myself near them. Before they entered
into the church they were permitted to pause
in the shadow of the convent wall and drink
from the fountain and cool themselves. When
they lowered their hideous visors, they presented
a collection of faces that had no appearance of
mortification.  They were, evidently, elegant
gentlemen, who took good care of their whisk-.




228            INNER ROME:
ers and moustaches. While they rested and
chatted, there was a most ludicrous contrast
between their faces and manners on the one
hand, and their sacks and sandals and their late
ultra-monkish aspect on the other; and when
again they put on their sacred character it
seemed incredible that those silent, sanctimonious, awfully erenmetical-looking beings, who seemed just to have stepped out of the fourth century and the deserts and caves of Egypt, could
be the pleasant and comfortable-looking gentlemen whom I had seen chatting with each other, in
free and easy way, a few moments before. But,
a presto! the ranks were formed, they filed into
the church, they chanted a most mournful dirge
before a privileged altar, they seemed to be
wrought up to a high pitch of devotional fervor, and, all at once, at a signal from  their
leader, they all prostrated themselves at length
on the marble floor, with their faces downward,
as if in an agony of silent prayer, and remained,
amid a stillness which could be felt, for some
minutes, and then rose and marched off rapidly
to finish the devotions of the day at the Basilica
of San Lorenzo. The scene was very impressive, and when they disappeared behind an angle
of the wall of Rome, I seemed to have had a
medieval dream.
The Confraternita de Giovanni decollato dates
from the Pontificate of Innocent VIII., toward
the close of the fifteenth century. Its object is




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   229
to furnish consolation to those who are condemned to death, to be with them at the last
moment, to bury their bodies, and to pray and
furnish masses for their souls. On the day preceding the execution they place printed placards
over all the city, in which they exhort the faithful to pray to God for the happy transition of the
soul of the condemned to the other world. On
the night of the execution, five or six of the
brothers of this fraternity, together with a priest
and a chaplain of the prisons, assemble in a
neighboring church. There they pray for God's
assistance to enable them rightly to discharge
their painful mission; they agree upon their
respective duties, and then, two by two, preceded
by lanterns and in silence, they proceed to the
prison of the condemned.
Entered into the chapel of the prison, which
bears the name of the Chapel of Consolation,
they clothe themselves with a black sack, bound
with a cord, and give themselves to prayer. At
the designated moment the jailors bring the
prisoner, with his hands bound, and conduct
him before the chapel, where a notary reads
aloud the sentence of death. As he passes the
threshold of the chapel, two of the brothers meet
him, embrace him, and holding in their hands
an image of the Saviour crucified, or of the
mater dolorosa, they render him every kindness in
their power. He thus prepares himself for the
confession and the viaticum.  After this he




230            INNER ROME:
makes his will if he desires, asks pardon of all
whom he has wronged, and assists at his last
mass.
While these proceedings take place at the
prison, the other members of the fraternity assemble in the Church of San Giovanni decollato
(near the Forum), and at sunrise proceed, two by
two, covered with their black sacks, and preceded by an enormous black cross, toward the
prison, and when the prisoner mounts the tunmbril the whole procession moves toward the
place of execution. The brothers selected for
that purpose stand by him to the last moment,
holding up their images, and addressing to him
words of cheer and consolation. After the execution they take possession of his body, consign
it to the grave with the accustomed religious
rites, and for several days provide that masses
shall be said for the repose of his soul.
A  bull of Benedict XIV. has added to the
privileges conferred on this society the prerogative of pardoning every year one criminal condemned to death. After he has been selected,
the pardon is conferred with some striking and
characteristic ceremonies. The whole fraternity
march in procession to the prison. A beadle
precedes them, carrying in one hand a black
baton, and in the other a tunic of red taffeta and
a torch of white wax, which he is to present to
the liberated prisoner. After the beadle follow
two brothers with lanterns, and six others bear



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   231
ing lighted candles and a crucifix. The crucifix
which serves on this occasion has upon its feet
a garland of olive, gilded, which is to be placed
upon the head of the elected prisoner. The
prison is ornamented with draperies, and the
space before it is strewn with box and flowers.
When the procession arrives, and the liberated
prisoner appears, he prostrates himself before the
crucifix, and the beadle places the garland upon
his brow, and the whole procession returns to the
church and chants a Te Deum. After mass he
dines with the chaplain, and is accompanied to
his home amid the congratulation and applause
of the people. The whole scene is very characteristic and national. It is said that the recent
policy of the Government is to give less and less
publicity to public executions and to the ceremonies above described. But they still take
place, and whoever resides in Rome, and makes
the acquaintance of an old citizen, will be able
to learn where and when such executions occur.
But the Roman journals will give him no information on the subject. From the Roman journals
it would appear that the Pope was the chief
shepherd in a happy Arcadia, where crimes are
all unknown.
The Confraternity of the Dead was instituted
toward the middle of the sixteenth century. Its
object was to give honorable and Christian burial
to the dead, especially to those who were carried




232            INNER ROME:
off by the fevers of the Campagna, or who perished in the inundations of the Tiber. It is a
society which has always been distinguished by
the self-denying zeal and heroism with which it
has discharged its painful duty. It has a high
place in the regards of the citizens of Rome.
Its members belong to the nobility and to the
highest class of citizens. Their official costume
is a black sack, sandals without stockings, and
a cord for a girdle. They are permitted to
travel, when on official duty, only on foot.
When any of them receives news that a dead
body has been found in the fields or in the woods,
he immediately communicates the news to his
fellow-members. Those on whom the lot falls
for this office, immediately put on their sack, and
start upon the journey to the dead, whatever
may be the hour, the season of the year, or the
distance to be traversed. It is not unusual for
them  to go fifteen or twenty miles. Under
Clement VIII., in consequence of an excessive
inundation, they proceeded to the mouth of the
Tiber and to Ostia, where they were engaged
for several days and nights in recovering the
dead bodies borne down by the current.
This fraternity have devoted much zeal to the
obj ect of securing masses for the relief of the souls
of those whose bodies they recover. This seems
now to be the primary, and its original single
object to be now the secondary end they have in




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   233
view. The means which they have taken to accomlplish this object are so peculiar, and my
visit to their church in the Via Gulia was such
an unique experience, that I must make it the
subject of a separate chapter.




234            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XVII.
A CHAPEL OF DEAD MEN'S BONES.
IMMEDIATELY in the rear of the Palazzo _Farnase
runs the via Gulia. In the days of Leo X. it
was the most splendid street in Rome. Some of
the finest specimens of the older palatial and domestic architecture are still to be found there.
Whoever has failed to ride or walk through itand thousands of visitors never enter it-has
missed seeing one of the most characteristic and
suggestive portions of the city. As one strolls
through the quiet street, under the stately old
palaces of the cardinals, it is not a difficult feat
of the imagination to repeople it with the quaint
gay costumes and equipages of the time, which
the art of Rome has made as familiar to the
mind as those which belong to the present era,
and to see again the plump, easy, and elegant
Leo, or the keen-eyed, strong, imperious Julius
II., as they live in the canvas of Raphael, passing, in all the magnificence of that gorgeous
period of the Papacy, through that crowded and
brilliant thoroughfare.
The street is still and sleepy now, but dignified
and impressive. The Church of the "Confrater



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   235
nita dei Morti," immediately in the rear of the
palace of Francis II., has nothing in its external
appearance or its interior to distinguish it from
a hundred other handsome churches. It is not
mentioned by Murray; and yet it contains something more remarkable than almost anything
which the guide-boolks have described. I refer
to the chapel below the church, and the services
for the relief and repose of souls in purgatory
which are performed there every year during the
Octave or first eight days of November. As I saw
the chapel in connection with the ceremonies
performed there, I shall connect them in my description.
Through a covered entrance, at the side of the
church, we proceeded with an eager group of
devotees toward the steps which descend into the
chapel. Over the door were death's head effigies,
and the ubiquitous verse from Maccabees which
constitutes Rome's Scriptural argument for prayers for the dead: "_Duodicimn millia drachmas
argenti misit Jerusolymam offeri pro peecatis mnortuorum sacrificium: 2 Macc. xii. 43." As we went
down-down-we heard the rattle of moneyboxes and loud appeals for pity on the poor souls
in purgatory. On reaching the foot of the stairs
we found four or five of the brothers, in their
black sacks, with death-heads and cross-bones,
and crosses worked in white upon them, vigorously rattling their boxes and making their appeals for the poor suffering souls in purgatory to




236            INNER ROME:
each new-comer. To avoid unpleasant observation, my friend and I dropped a few baiocchi
in the box. It was a strange and ghastly sight
that presented itself. The chapel was about fifty
feet long and half as broad. The walls were
constructed wholly of human bones and skulls.
The architecture was elaborate and elegant-in
a far higher style of art, if I may so express myself, than the well-known cloister of a similar
kind in the convent of the Cappucini.  The
pilasters were ornamented with little curved
bones, in the style that prevailed in the days of
Hadrian, and were in admirable taste. The bones
and skulls in the walls were arranged in the
picturesque architectonic forms which prevailed
during the early Imperial era of Rome. The
chandeliers depending from the ceiling, itself
wrought into ogives of human bones, were finely
fashioned from the smaller bones of the hands
and feet. In each of the four arches there was
an entire skeleton, which held in its fleshless
hand some solemn appeal in behalf of the dead,
or some startling warning to the living. Close
by the foot of the stairs, at a table covered with
black, and having a grinning skull in the middle,
sat three brothers in black, one of whom received
money, and two of whom gave receipts for masses
that were to be said for souls. There seemed to
be no uniform price-for I heard chaffering about
it between the women and the salesman, just of
the sort that one would hear at the stalls of meat




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   237
or vegetables. I was strongly tempted to purchase a mass for some living friend, and thus
repeat an experiment of the Rev. Mr. Seymour;
but my friend, an older Roman than I, dissuaded
me on the ground that it might lead to our
ejection. The two clerks and the money-changer
performed their functions in a very business way,
in strong contrast to the lugubrious appeals of
those who shook the boxes and made the baiocchi
clink in a very importunate fashion. They had
their quiet jokes, and their little subdued laughs
in the face of the skeleton that grinned upon
them from the table. That perpetual appeal for
the dead, and that rattling of the money-boxes
constantly reminded me of Tetzel and his loud
cry. "As soon as the money clinks at the bottom of the box, a soul escapes from purgatory!"
At the other end of the room was an altar,
separated by a heavy rail, at which three priests
were saying masses with impetuous rapidity. The
altar was composed entirely of human skulls. A
large number of devotees were kneeling and
joining in the service, or " assisting at the mass,"
as the phrase is. One sight particularly attracted
my attention. On many of the skulls the name
of the persons to whom they belonged, and the
mode of their death and of their recovery, were
inscribed. One of the brothers told me that
these were often presented to the fraternity by
the surviving relatives and friends as pious offerings for the adornment and solemnization of the




238             INNER ROME:
chapel, and as evidences of their gratitude to the
good brothers. Many of the common people
prefer to see the bones of their friends consecrated to a pious use, and thus carefully preserved, rather than to have them thrust into
those lime-pits where they are soon resolved into
the great death-heap into which the dead are
kneaded in the vaults of San Lorenzo. Before
one of these skulls a respectable middle-aged
woman was kneeling and praying in an agony of
grief. She would occasionally kiss the smooth
forehead with passionate affection, and then resume her prayer. No one but ourselves seemed
to be surprised or particularly to notice these
outbursts of love and sorrow. It was the skull
of her husband!  How odd it seemed! how
touching, and yet how horrible too! I did not
know how to feel about it-except to be sure
that the whole exhibition was one which could
have taken place nowhere but at Rome!
Passing out of a door near the rail of the
altar, and ascending a few steps, we emerge into
a truly beautiful apartment. It may be called a
saloon, in which devotees rest after paying their
devotions in the chapel. One can sit in the deep
embrasure of the window, and look directly
down into the Tiber. In this parlor of the dead,
art has done its best to convert the horrible into
the elegant.  Like the chapel, it is made up
wholly of dead men's bones-but there is no uncleanness.  It is recherche and cheerful in its




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   239
aspect, and no grim  skulls and skeletons are
there to interfere with the general effect.
But the most remarkable thing connected
with this saloon is what we should call in our
country "an exhibition of wax figures," in a
deep recess as broad as the saloon itself. The
Contadini and the common people gaze upon it
with an admiration and awe which know no
bounds. It is a representation of the scene described in the verse of the Maccabees already
quoted, and consists of five wax figures, as large
as life, in the ancient Roman costume. The
King Judas stands in an attitude of regal majesty, giving directions to two soldiers, who have
each a box of treasure, to take them to Jerusalem; and two other soldiers, in shining helmets,
and exaggerated wax-figury martial attitudes,
stand by as attendants of the King. I have before me as I write, a print of this wax-work
proof of the doctrine of purgatory, and of prayers for the dead, which I bought upon the spot.
It vividly recalls the absurd scene, which evidently produced a profound impression upon the
minds of the people. Embody an idea, a doctrine, or a legend for the uneducated Italian, and
then it is to him for evermore true. Did he not
see it with his own eyes?
From the chapel we ascended to the church.
It was crowded, and the smoke of candles and
the clouds of incense made the air thick and
sickening. An immense amount of mass-work




240            INNER ROME:
was going on. Brothers of the fraternity were
receiving money and giving receipts as below.
A high mass was in the process of being chanted
for one whose body rested in a coffin elevated
upon a high, altar-like structure, around which
were grouped about a dozen priests with lighted
candles, who chanted lustily. Other masses were
at the same time performed at other altars. The
whole scene was a perfect Babel. All solemnity
seemed lost in the rush and hurry of the crowd
of holy business which pressed upon the wearylooking brothers and the priests.
I subsequently learned from my old Roman
friend, who suggested to me to go to this service, and who had studied all the tricks of the
priesthood with intense curiosity and bitter prejudice, some very curious facts with regard to the
method which the priests adopt to discharge the
obligation to say the innumerable masses which
are paid for during the week.  The receipts
which are given for the masses which are to be
said, are all numbered. I have one of them
lying before me, which acknowledges that forty
baiocchi have been received, for which two masses
are due. It is a small slip of paper, printed, but
with blanks left for the date and name and
amount paid, which are filled up in writing. It
is surmounted by a picture of the seal of the
society, which is a skull and cross-bones, resting
on hour-glasses, and surmounted by a cross, and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   241
circled with the motto "In hoe signo vinces."
The following is a copy of the document:
"Number 896. Venerabile Archiconfraternita
di S. Maria dell' orazioni e morti di Roma; Received from Sig. Giacomo de Sextis,      scudi,
forty baj., of offerings for two masses to be said
in our church. This 6th of Nov. 1863. The
Deputy, C. Restori."
Now it seems that when the priests perform a
mass which has been paid for, they are in the
habit of adding, to the name of the person for
whom it is offered, as many of the numbers of
these receipts as they can run over illn their
minds without interrupting the continuity of the
service. When a grand mass is offered in the
church a large number of cases can thus be summarily disposed of. Now, my friend considers
this to be unfair as a commercial transaction.
He insists that as these people have paid for a
whole mass, they are entitled to it, and that it is
not fair to give them but a joint stock interest
of only a tenth or twentieth part of that the
whole of which has been paid for. But inexhaustible are the resources of pious ingenuity
sharpened with anxiety for suffering souls in
purgatory! I find in the "Manual" of this confraternity some of the decisions of the holy congregation for indulgences which sanction such
proceedings on the part of the priests.  It is not,
therefore, a dishonesty, but a holy economical




242             INNER ROME:
desire of the Church to save time, and to turn its
spiritual treasures to the best account. Among
these decisions of "the holy congregation of indulgences" is the following:
"No. 4. The priests who celebrate the holy
mass for offerings received, may, with the same
communion, obtain a plenary indulgence for whoever
demands a mass, and aply it for himself or for the
dead. In like manner the priests who celebrate
for the dead and apply to themn the plenary indulgence of a privileged altar, may, in the same communion, obtain another plenary indulgence for
which a mass is necessary, and apply it to whomsoever they may please."
But the most astounding part of this proceeding remains to be told. At the end of the octave
the priests of this church of the dead find themselves under an obligation to say such a number
of masses as it is literally imposible for them to
do if the whole staff should occupy every altar and
do nothing else but mass-work day and night for
the ensuing year. In this emergency they go to
the Pope, and he graciously gives them a dispensation.  HIere again my friend contends that
there is a cruel cheat inflicted upon the living
and the dead. The masses have been paid for.
The souls burning in purgatory are panting for
release, or for the cooling efficacy and refreshment which come from this relief, which was
publicly offered for sale, fairly purchased, and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   243
honestly paid for, and yet never given. And it
is the Pope himself that inflicts this wrong. But
my friend evidently does not understand the extent of the Pope's power. The Pope does not dispense them from performing this service; but by
his plenary and miraculous power makes it in fact
to have been done, or at least provides that the efficacy of acts never performed shall not be wanting! That this is the true explanation of the
Pope's agency, and that it is not a violation of
the contract, appears from another portion of the
decisions of the holy congregation of indulgences.
"No. 11. It is to be observed, finally, that
during the year of universal jubilee, commonly
called the Anno Santo, all indulgences shall be suspended. Notwithstanding this, various Popes,
in order not to deprive the souls in purgatory of
the benefits of the offerings of the faithful, have
decided that indulgences may be extended to
them through the agency of prayers!"  Here the
Popes decree that prayers shall be just as efficacious as masses-shall perform the same function. He who can change prayers into masses,
or make the one do the duty of the other by his
word and will, can he not as well give to masses
which have not been said, or have been said
only in promise or intention, the same efficacy as
to masses duly performed?  Why not?  What
is a Pope good for if he cannot do things like
these?




244            INNER ROME:
This manual is a wonderful little book. No
one can conceive the heights and depths and
lengths and breadths of absurdity and blasphemy
and contradiction and degradation of Rome in
connection with this doctrine, who does not study
some such work as this. Among other things it
contains devotional thoughts for each day in November, in connection with the dead, and the
duty of praying and offering for them; and to
these devotional meditations is added some wonderful history which shows the benefits of
prayers and masses for the souls in purgatorv.
As a specimen of them I translate the Esempio
attached to the meditations for the first of November.
"A conspicuous and rich Englishman passed
into the other world. His son went to the certosa
where his father was buried, and offered to the
prior a great sum of silver and gold, praying him
to make supplications for the soul of the dead.
Then the good fathers, in full choir, with one
voice, sang alone'Requiescat in pace,' to which
the prior responded Amen! and then, doing
nothing more except bowing their knee to the
altar, they retired in silence to their several cells.
Seeing this, the young man said in his heart,-'Alas! that such a sum of gold should be paid for
this short prayer, " requiescat in pace."' Whence
he gathered courage, and ingenuously and humbly made his complaints to the prior.' So then,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   245
my father, your monks do so little as this for my
father for the large sum of money which I have
paid!'  To whom  the prudent superior answered,-'Do you think then, my dear sir, to
compare the value of your offering in gold with
the prayers, however brief, of my monks? Wait
a little, and you shall see how much our prayers
are superior to your offerings.'
" Then, having given orders that every monk
should write upon a slip of paper in his cell the
words requieseat in pace, and carry it in his hand,
he produced a balance, in one side of which he
placed the silver and the gold given by the
young man, which, of course, weighed down the
scale. Then kneeling, and invoking the divine
aid, he said to the offerer,'You shall now see
what is the weight of the brief prayer requiescat
in pace, written on these little bits of paper,
which I shall place upon the other scale of the
balance.'  Oh, great prodigy!  The mass of
gold rose on high like the lightest down, and
the pieces of paper, like the heaviest lead, precipitated the scale suddenly to the bottom!
"At this miracle all made the sign of the cross
in their astonishment, and soon the fame of it
spread, and gave great value to the prayers of
that religious community. He who had made
this offering was particularly impressed, and with
tears in his eyes demanded pardon for his little
faith, and afterward had engraved in large let



246            INNER ROME:
ters upon a precious stone the words requiescat in
pace upon the tomb of his father, and considered
it certain that these few words had insured the
perfect liberation of the soul of his parent from
the pains of purgatory."
A charming story! The moral so simple and
edifying!  Little praying by the priests and
much money for it by the people!




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   247
CHAPTER XVIII.
FLAGELLATION.
IT is not generally known that the ceremonyshall I call it?-of flagellation is practiced in one
of the churches of Rome on every Saturday
evening during Lent. I was informed of the
fact by an earnest Prussian Protestant, who has
a singular fancy for collecting the instruments
of penance and mortification which are in use
among the Romanists of our day. It is painful
to think that it is just the most conscientious and
pure who suffer most from these self-inflicted
pains. My friend has an odd collection of hairbelts, and shoes with sharp points upon the inner
sole, and leathern scourges with knots, and other
devices for punishing one's self into holiness.
Following the direction of my friend, I found
myself in a little church in the via Cara Vita near
the Corso at six o'clock in the evening. The
lamps had just been lighted upon the Corso. I
seemed to be the second person in the church.
One dim lamp was burning on the altar. Shortly
after two more were lighted before the image of
the Virgin.  Gradually persons came in and
moved like shadows in the dim uncertain light.




248            INNER ROME:
A large black cross was placed against the chancel, and most of the persons who came in kissed
it, and then prostrated themselves with their
faces on the marble pavement of the church.
After the lapse of half an hour, there seemed to
be between fifty and seventy-five men within the
church. No women are admitted. A priest
entered and read a litany to the Virgin. Another
followed and chanted magnificently some hymn
or psalm of praise. During this performance a
man moved around among the kneeling worshipers, with a string of leathern thongs upon his arm
-arranged in a way to remind me of the railroad checks on leathern straps which are seen
on the arms of our railroad baggage-mastersand offered them to all, except those who like
myself had taken seats on the raised benches
against the walls of the church. I was evidently
the solitary Protestant spectator of the scene. I
strained my eyes in the dim light to see what
precisely the thongs were.  They all had, or
seemed to have, one large knot at the end and a
little loop for a handle. After the hymn ceased
-presto — the lights were at once extinguished,
and the blackest darkness prevailed. There was
no hint of light anywhere, except as one looked
up to the altar he could see a dim rim of inferior
darkness, behind a lantern which inclosed the
one unextinguished light. After a pause of what
may be called black silence, the voice of the
priest was heard in tones slow, solemn, and se



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   249
pulchral. He commenced, in that utter darkness,
a confession and supplication to the Virgin, which
grew  every moment more passionate in its
avowals of sin, and more vehement in its pleadings for pardon. His voice, which was at first
plaintive, became choked with real or feigned
emotion. He confessed sins of the most aggravated character on behalf of the worshipers.
He confessed the awful sins of Romans against
themselves, against each other, against the
church, and against the Pope. He continued in
this strain for perhaps fifteen minutes in a prayer
evidently extempore, and which resembled not
a little such as are heard at our camp meetings,
and which became sublime in its vehemence
and passion. The effect of such a performance,
under these circumstances, on the sensitive and
excitable minds of Italians, many of whom had
perhaps resorted to the church under the pressure
of intolerable self-reproach for sin, can well be
imagined. Certainly that solemn and impressive
voice in that dark place, now vibrating and now
broken with intense emotion, was well calculated
to produce a profound impression. When the
prayer ceased, the flagellation began. There was
a loud noise from the blows. Some of them I
confess sounded marvelously as if they were inflicted upon the marble pavement of the church.
Whether any of them could have produced much
pain through the thick coats and cloaks which
12




250            INNER ROME:
are worn at this season, may well admit of
doubt.
But the sincerity of some of them could not
well be called in question. My next neighbor
laid it on his back with a rapidity and energy
truly edifying, but a little alarming, lest in some
access of penitent enthusiasm his cord should
take too wide a sweep and hit me-who felt
altogether unworthy of exercising so exalted a
style of penitence. But I dared not move on the
other side, lest another brother who was applying his scourge in that quarter might make some
eccentric devotional deviation in my direction. I
was the more uncomfortable too in finding myself so close to such earnest devotees, when I
was sure that they were not so near me when
the darkness set in, and I remembered the warning of an old Roman friend as to the pocketpicking which often attends this act of excessive
devotion. Fortunately I had left my purse and
watch at home. But nothing occurred to annoy
me, and the big knot continued to come down
with that peculiar thunk with which the ears of
the school-boys of my generation were familiar,
upon the shoulders of my penitent neighbor. He
was too busy or too much out of breath to sing;
but from every part of the church, while this
lashing was in progress, there arose such pealing
litanies, mingling with the noise of the flagellation, that the effect was exceedingly exciting and
altogether peculiar. This mingled noise of the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   251
lashing and chanting continued about ten minutes, and ceased suddenly at the ringing of a bell
at the altar. Then again-presto! like the shifting of a scene in a theater-the altar was lighted,
the doors were unlocked, and the ceremony
closed. How much of reality there was in it is
known only unto God. But this at least may be
said of it-that it is not one of the ceremonies
gotten up for Protestants; for it is not even mentioned in the Diario Romano, and very few persons who visit Rome are aware of it.
In the following year I went with two newvcomers-clerical friends-to see, or rather hear,
again, this strange performance. But the programme was entirely changed. An old Roman
friend subsequently informed me that it was
dropped, because it was frequented by such
thieves and cut-throats that it was not considered
safe; and that it had already been the scene of
theft and robbery. Instead of tragedy there was
comedy. Two priests took their seats upon an
open platform and began to discuss some of the
fundamental doctrines of Christianity and of the
church. The objector stated his doubts and difficulties with great freedoiM, but with equal vagueness and want of point. The respondent answered
him with much ingenuity, and with such wit and
sarcasm, as made the discomfited objector confess himself defeated and convinced, and called
forth laughter and expressions of applause fiom
the audience.  They became very warm  and




252             INNER ROME:
animated-they professed to be indignant at
each other's sentiments-they interrupted each
other constantly and loudly-they rose from
their seats and gestured energetically-and altogether acted very well. I was told by the same
old friend that this custom prevailed formerly to
a great extent, but that it is now almost extinct.
It is a relic and specimen of that scenic and
histrionic mode of presenting facts and dogmas
which is so congenial to the genius of the Romish
system.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   253
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SACRED IMAGE OF THE SANCTA SANCTORUM.
EVERY one has heard of the scala santa at
Rome, and of Luther's hearing a voice-"the
just shall live by faith" —as he toiled up on them
upon his knees. It is set forth upon the authority
of the Church that these holy stairs were brought
to Rome under the protection of the Empress
Helena, about the year 326, and placed in the
chapel connected with the Lateran Basilica, called
the Sancta Sanctorum. Great religious privileges
were connected with acts of devotion on these
holy steps, mounted often by our blessed Lord
in the last hours of his life.:iLeo the IV. in 850,
and Pascal the II. in 1100, granted nine years'
indulgence for each of the twenty-eight steps of
the aforesaid holy stairs, once in the Pretor's
house of Pontius Pilate, when mounted on the
knees with devout prayers and meditations on
the passion of our Lord. Pius VII. in 1817 renewed this indulgence, and declared that it might
be applied to souls in purgatory. An active
person can then in ten minutes abbreviate the
term of the suffering of a soul in purgatory 252
years. If he should spend five hours a day at




254             INNER ROME:
this holy work, he would shorten those sufferings
each day 7560 years!  Surely, unless the duration of the pains of purgatory are interminable,
no pious person who visits Rome should allow
the soul of a relative to remain there, when he
can cut down the term  of his suffering, by a
month's devotion, 226,800 years; and by continuing at the same pious work for one year, can
diminish it 2,721,600 years! Are the pains of
purgatory likely to continue much longer than
this? Ve cannot tell-for Rome is never specific
in its statements on this head.
There is still another priceless treasure in the
chapel of the SanCta Sanctorumn. It is the miraculous picture of the Saviour attributed to St.
Luke. Murray's guide-book is in error in stating
that it is said to be an exact likeness of our Lord
at the age of twelve. I have an engraving,
set forth by authority, which is a copy of the
picture, and is called a "vera effigies" of the
original, which represents a man in full maturity, and with an ample beard and mustache.
Although the picture is rude, there is great
power in the face; and I do not wonder that in
contrast with that feeble and crushed type of the
Saviour that prevails at Rome, this old vigorous
Byzantine picture should produce a great impression on the minds of Romans. Indeed, the
only representations of the Saviour which I saw
in Rome, which have any dignity, strength, and
divine manhood in them, are Byzantine. This




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   255
miraculous image is very similar to the large
Byzantine Mosaic of the Saviour in the apse of
S. Maria Maggiore.
The wonderful and miraculous history of this
picture is set forth in a printed document scattered profusely over Rome at the timre of the
exposition of the picture, entitled "origine della
S. Imagine," and concluding with the words
"Con permesso."  The account given of it is that
the Disciples, and especially the Virgin, wishing
to have a faithful picture of the Saviour three
days after his ascension, requested St. Luke to
paint it. St. Luke drew an outline of the picture
-and lo! in the morning it was found to have
been colored and completed by the hands of
angels! During the siege of Jerusalemn it was
carried to Pella, and subsequently to Constantinople.  In the seventh century it was taken
away from the Iconoclasts of Constantinople by
the persecuted bishop of that see. Not knowing how else to save it, the bishop tied a description of the picture to it, and committed it to the
sea. Traveling with a rapidity which far transcends that of a modern steamship, it passed
over the waters, in a perpendicular position, to
Ostia in twenty-four hours! I cannot refrain
from translating at this point a portion of this
authentic narrative, sanctioned and attested by
the Church.
"Now, while the Pope reposed in the same
night, in a divine dream he felt himself stimu



256            INNER ROME:
lated to the duty of going immediately to meet
the Supreme King, who was thus approaching
him. Early in the morning the High Priest ordered that the clergy should follow him with
candles and censors, and should proceed along
the banks of the Tiber to the sea; and having
arrived at the point where they unite, he saw far
off' the sacred image coming rapidly toward the
shore, and remaining until it approached nearer,
he was overwhelmed with wonder, and inundated
at once with joy and fear, and falling upon his
knees, and resorting to prayer, adored it, and
shed copious tears, and exclaimed:'Oh! Lord,
can it be that you will to lodge with us, all unworthy, and is it to the City of Rome that your
journey is directed? Since you thus walk upon
the waters, deign, we beseech you, to approach
us, because we dare not assume to draw nigh to
you, since as you walk upon the waters so your
counsels are as the great deep.' These things
said the Supreme Pontif; moved thereto by an
unswerving faith. Then the sacred picture suddenly rose from the waves, and flying through
the air, came and placed itself in his hands.
And who can ever sufficiently express the greatness of this miracle? And who can tell the
excessive joy of the Pontiff; and of all the crowd
of people who accompanied him, and indeed of
all Rome? The Pontiff mounted upon a coach
to the end that the picture might be seen of all,
carried the sacred image in his hands, thus pro



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   257
ceeding to the Sacred City, all the clergy and
the people advancing with joyful songs of praise
and hymns to the majesty of the Lord."
The remainder of the narrative describes
briefly the history of the sacred image in the
Holy City. It was for many years an object of
immense veneration. It wrought many miracles.
It was brought out and carried with a procession
of all the Roman priesthood to S. Maria Maggiore only on occasion of the most momentous
emergency in the fortunes of the Papacy. The
last occasion of its exhibition was during that
period of the French Revolution when it was at
its height, and threatened to sweep away all
religion in the abyss of Atheism. The Pope,
judging that a crisis of almost equal peril to the
Papacy had now  arrived, determined that it
should again be exposed for the veneration of the
faithful and the salvation of the Church. In the
judgment of the Papal Government no crisis of
equal danger had occurred to the Papacy during
the whole period which intervened from the
French Revolution to the present time. The
captivity of Pope Pinus VII., and the capture of
Rome, and the establishment of the Kingdom
of Italy were not so injurious to the interests
of the Papacy as the events of the last few
years. It is a striking testimony to the importance of those events; and we believe that is no
more than just.
INothing was wanting to give the greatest pos12*




258            INNER ROME:
sible eclat to this exposition. As it occurred before my return to Rome, I have availed myself
of the description of a friend who witnessed it,
and whose judgment upon the date of the picture
is worth much more than my own would have
been.
"Arriving at the Church of Sta. Giovanni ELaterano some time before the hour (4 P.M.) named
in the Proclamation for the starting of the procession, I found the doors closed, the picture
having been removed to the church from the
chapel called Sancta Sanctorum at the head of
the Santa Scala, during the night previous.
There were then few people in the piazza; gradually the number increased, and about 3 o'clock
a French regiment, with its band playing a lively
march, swept round to the front of the church
and commenced forming'the hedge' on each
side of the intended route of the procession, to
Sta. Maria Maggiore, about one mile.  Some
regiments of the Pope's troops, in addition, completed the line, the men standing at some distance apart. Gendarmes were of course plentifully sprinkled about.  Various bodies of the
clergy now began to arrive, and one after another
entered the church. Whether the whole were
able to find standing-room inside, I am unable
to say. By 3~ a very large crowd had gathered
in the piazza adjoining, and, wishing to see the
arrangements along the line of march, I left
before the hour of starting and walked toward




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS7 AND SOCIAL.   2)59
Sta. Maria. All along the road, which runs most
of the way between the walls of vineyards and
gardens, the people were gathered; in some
places so densely that it was difficult to pass.
The tops of the walls were in many places
crowded with spectators. Reaching the Square
in front of Sta. Maria by making a detour, I found
it thronged with people on foot and in carriages,
representing apparently all classes of the population of Rome and the neighboring country.
Hawkers of medals, pictures, and books representing and describing the miraculous picture,
mingled their cries with those of the usual
venders of nick-nacks sold on public occasions,
shouting'lUn baiocco, Un baiceo pe'l Santo
Salvatore, Un baiocco,' and similar inducements
to buy. At length the drums in the distance
announced the approach of the procession, which
slowly made its way up the avenue, across the
Square, and into the church. Those who have
seen that of the Corpus Domini, can form a good
idea of the arrangement. With the exception
of two charitable confraternities connected with
the custody of the painting, it was composed exclusively of the clergy. There was the same
display of banners, padiglioni, lighted candles,
and other paraphernalia. The whole clergy of
Rome, regular and secular (about 5000 by
census), were directed by the Proclamation to
be present, and I presume most of them were.
It was long before the picture, which was carried




260            INNER ROME:
near the end of the procession, came in sight:
when it appeared, all hats were taken off and the
more devout fell on their knees and remained
until it had passed. There was, however, less
appearance of devotion in the multitude than I
had expected, the majority of whom seemed to
be drawn out more by curiosity and the Roman
love of spectacle. The picture was borne aloft
and erect upon the shoulders of members of the
two Archiconfraternite to which its keeping is
intrusted. This is said to have been its first exposure to the public view since the first French
Revolution. It was incased in a gorgeous frame
with open doors, richly sculptured in relievo and
gilded; the painting itself is so covered by an
ornamented screen, apparently of medieval work,
that only the face could be dimly seen through
the glass. From a careful later examination I
should suppose it a production of the lowest
period of Byzantine art, i.e. about the time that
it is said to have made its extraordinary voyage
to Rome. The frame and doors are of later and
better workmanship. The procession was escorted by detachments of French and Papal
troops.
"After remaining exposed on the great altar
of Sta. Maria during the week, the painting was,
with the same pomp and ceremony, carried back
to San Giovanni Laterano to remain according
to the first proclamation until Wednesday. Before that day, however, a second proclamation




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   261
appeared, stating in substance that on account
of the immense spiritual benefit already obtained
by its exhibition, and to allow further opportunity
to those who had been prevented from availing
themselves of the privilege of visiting and adoring the thaumaturgic image, S. S. had graciously
directed that it should remain on view until the
following Sunday.
"During the two weeks, from early morning
until sunset, the churches were thronged by
worshipers, confessing and receiving the sacrament, and kneeling before the picture, and were
visited at different times by all the so-called
Archi-confraternities in procession with banners,
candles, etc., and dressed in their strange costumes. The Pope and other high clerical and
civic dignitaries, in great state, repeatedly visited
the picture and presented to it their most elaborate devotions.
"During the last days, the press toward the
picture, of people with rosaries, crosses, jewels,
handkerchiefs, books, and other articles, kept
two priests constantly employed in touching
these to the glass in front by which a miraculous
virtue was supposed to be imparted to them; and
the soldiers could with difficulty keep the crowd
back from the altar."
It seems wonderful that such a ceremony
should be gravely proposed in our day as the last
reserved and most potent of the resources of the
Church, to arrest the evils of the times, and avert




262            INNER ROME'
the wrath of God. But this is the ground taken
by the Cardinal Vicar in his invito sacro appointing this performance. "This sacred effigy," he
remarks, "is not to be removed from the place
in which it has been deposited except in the
most momentous and extraordinary circumstances, and when there is the most pressing
necessity to satisfy the justice of God, and to obtain special grace for the people. Now, not
many words are needed to persuade every one
that in the unhappy times in which we live, in
which, in addition to the languor of faith are
added many positive iniquities, it is more than
ever necessary to adopt extraordinary means to
placate the wrath of God, justly angry with us,
and to avert those scourges which our sins have
deserved. And, indeed, already we have a foretaste of these castigations in the contagious disease which has fallen upon our cattle, which we
should accept as immediately from the hand of
God, without seeking for any secondary cause,
as the chastisement of our rebellion against his
laws." — " The obsequious homage, however,
which we shall render to the revered image of
the God-Man, the Saviour of men, will serve as
a compensation for the outrages offered to his
divine Person by the recent Publication of a sacrilegious pen."
The Vicar then laments the condition of poor
Italy and Poland-both of them overrun by the
enemies of the Papacy and of the faith, and antici



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   263
pates an arrest to be laid upon the progress of
evil over all the world by this propitiation of the
Divine wrath through the exposition and worship of the sacred image.
Alas! the Pope has brought forth from his
storehouse his most powerful instrument of regeneration, and since then Victor Emmanuel has
made Florence his capital, Spain has recognized
the Kingdom of Italy, Maximilian has proved
undutiful, Francis Joseph indifferent, and Napoleon III. has designated the day for withdrawing
his army from Rome! What now remains?




264            INNER ROME:
C HIAPTER XX.
A VISIT TO LORETTO.
THE Casa Santa of Loretto, the house in
which Christ was born, and the services and the
wonders connected with it, are among the most
marvelous and characteristic things of Rome,
though not in Rome.  My description of it
shall consist of my diary as it was written upon
the spot at the close of May, 1864.
"From the moment I entered Loretto I was
made to feel that I was in the presence of a
great money-making imposition.  Prices of
everything are ridiculously high. I asked for a
newspaper, which at Ancona sells for a sous, and
the price was a franc.  I shuddered at the
thought,-' Suppose my dinner should be in the
same proportion!' The street is a bazaar for
the sale of Madonna things,-rosaries, coronals,
beads, crosses, and medals, which, when blessed
by being touched by the plate of terra cotta, which
was transported in the Casa Santa, become of
inestimable value.  The nice-looking women
and girls who attend in these shops run out of
them and importune strangers to buy their
wares, after the fashion of the apprentice boys




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   265
of London, as described in the Fortunes of
Nigel. I have seen this done in no other city,
and in reference to no other wares, except when
exhibited in booths.
"As I entered the church at six o'clock last
evening I came upon a striking scene. One of
the only two sermons delivered here during the
week occurs at this hour. A little, fat, young
priest was bellowing like a bull of Bashan about
Maria! Maria! Among the superlative adjectives constantly repeated I heard most frequently
that of bellissirnma. How did he know that the
Virgin was bellissimna? The group to which he
was preaching was very picturesque. It was a
parterre of gently moving and shifting colors
that would have charmed an artist. The costume of the men and women was unlike any
that I had seen on the other side of the mountains.  The women's dresses were very high
waisted, with a small hoop extending the dress
a little in front and not behind; and their headdresses and little shawls were always of vivid
colors. They seemed to have scarcely any jewelry, and in this respect are exceedingly unlike
the Roeman and Neapolitan women. The men
wore a white smock shirt over their pants, which
reached below their knees, with a red figured
vest, over which the large white collar of their
shirts rested in a Byronic manner. They have
a fashion of trimming their hair very close, with
the exception of a few little coquettish curls,




266             INNER ROM E:
which give a most remarkable expression to
their clear, bronzed faces. More healthy-looking
persons I have not seen in Italy. Brown and
florid, their high colors in dress, red, yellow, and
bright chestnut, harmonize well with their complexions. They were profoundly attentive to
the stentorian little donkey that was braying at
them.  He importuned them, with the vehemence of a revival preacher, to come early next
morning to the mass and matins. He represented that their absence would be a gross indignity to the Virgin, and would be regarded as
such by her, and would be likely to bring upon
them some misfortune. According to the usual
custom, as the sermon was drawing toward the
close, boys circulated among the audience, rattling contribution boxes for the offerings of the
faithful.  It is a proceeding which would be
likely to disturb a Protestant preacher. I heard
two of the Contadini discussing the sermon.
One of them said,'It hit well!'
"'This morning the church is the scene of the
liveliest activity.  Certainly among the people
the most beautiful reverence prevails. There
are no forestieri to give an air of secularity to
the scene. Even the inevitable English woman,
with her sketch-book and her brown bowl hat,
has not yet made her appearance. That swell
of chanting voices, as I write, how magnificent!
It is not a choir of singers but a chapel full of
big-lunged priests, made strong and hearty by




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   267
pure air and good living, from whom this manly
music comes. One might shut his eyes and suppose himself in the Cathedral of Milan, with St.
Ambrose at the altar, so simple, massive, and
majestic are these chants.
" It would certainly be difficult to have more
religious work transacted in a church than is
now going on here. Priests in the confessional;
priests ministering at many altars; priests robing
in the sacristy; priests robing at many of the
wardrobes in the open church near the altars;
priests seated behind counters selling consecrated
rosaries and other sacred jewelry; richly-robed
attendants and servitors looking like the flunkeys
of the cardinals at Rome; red-capped, blue-capped, and yellow-capped officials flitting around;
incense rising; worshipers kneeling and praying
in all corners,-what a scene! There must be at
least a hundred officials performing in some way.
A constant stream of Contadini, mixed with
soldiers and a few persons of the better class, are
passing through the aisles and through the Santa
Casa. In the height of the season, which this is
not, the religious business done here must be
immense!
" There is one thing that I do not understand.
Of course, anything that has special reference to
the Virgin, or any peculiar history or tradition,
is kissed by these devout people. The bell-rope
of the Casa, I know not why, seems to be an especial object of this devotion. But on one of




268             INNER ROME:
the bronzed doors and on one of those at the entrance of the church, the favorite, and, indeed,
the only figures kissed, are those of Adam as he
is driven away from Paradise, and Cain as he is
driven out from God, a vagabond over the earth.
On what principle, or from what sentiment these
figures have been selected for kissing, I cannot
comprehend. Why should not somebody kiss
Eve or some of the saints whose figures are close
by?  I wonder whether this can be a manifestation of that pity and sympathy for the guilty
which is so striking a feature of Italian character, and which makes the extirpation of brigandage so difficult.  Whatever may be the
cause, poor Adam has been kissed into the
most meager form, — destroyed by kindness!
Cain has not fared much better. His extended
arm  is almost as thin as a wafer.  I do not
doubt that these kindly creatures when they do
this, murmur povero Adamo! povero Cain/! How
queer it is,-yet how characteristic! I like them
for it!
" The church is large and imposing, but has all
the faults of the Renaissance. Many of its frescoes
have been ruined by the damp. The mosaic
copies, however, of some master-pieces will be
found fresh so long as the church shall stand.
The campanile, and the portico, and the piazza,
designed by Bramante, form  a fine ensemble.
The whole group of buildings seen from below,
crowning the hill, is striking. The angels who




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   269
placed the Casa on this beautiful isolated elevation had an eye for picturesque effect.
" The history of the Casa is briefly this. That
the house of Mary was preserved from the ravages of time and of the Mohanmmedans as by a
miracle, is proved by reference to history. The
Empress Helena saw it and built a church about
it in the fourth century.  St. Louis of France
made a pilgrimage to it in A.D. 1252. But in
1291, in order to escape the ravages of the Saracens, the house was carried away by angels, first
to Tessato, on the coast of Dalmnatia; then in
1294 it was borne across the Adriatic, to the
estate of a lady named Lauretta. Eight months
later it moved a mile inland, to the estate of two
brothers. As the brothers impiously quarreled
about it, the angels finally perched it on its present breezy elevation.
"On this marvelous history four hundred
writers have dissertated, and none more satisfactorily than the American Archbishop IKenrick.
Forty-four Popes have pledged themselves, more
or less distinctly, to the truth of the miracle.'True, no accredited historians or other writers
of the times nearest to the supposed event,' says
Mr. Hemans, a devout Catholic,' have mentioned
the event.' It is true also, as shown by Dean
Stanley in his Sinai and Palestine, that'the
walls of the so-called Virgin's house at Nazareth,
inclosed within the church, agree neither in form
nor dimensions with those at Loretto.' It is




270            INNER ROME:
true, moreover, that Eastern houses never consist of a single chamber in the form of a parallelogram. But what of that?  Roman faith
is meritorious in proportion to the difficulties
which it overcomes. When it believes the impossible and the contradictory then it is high in
merit.
"I entered within the Casa and stood some
time. It is difficult to avoid treading on the
crowd of kneeling and prostrate worshipers in
the uncertain light. The large silver lamps gave
light enough to enable me to observe the contrast between the coarse stone walls and the
splendid offerings that hang around it, and the
gorgeous jewelry that bedizened the little black
image of the Madonna and child above the altar.
The place was so dim that I wished to remain
until I could see the character of the structure
and the style of the masonry. Yet though I
waited long, and applied my eye-glass, it was
difficult to see. But to me, somewhat familiar by
my studies in Rome with the masonry of different periods, it looked like some portion of a
medieval structure. This is made up frequently
of small stones, irregular in shape and size, and
yet laid along rudely in courses. There are several specimens of precisely the same sort of
work in the middle-age ruins on the Roman Campagna. It seemed, too, to be composed of the
same sort of stone as abounds in this neighborhood. With a crowd of kneeling worshipers




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   271
all around, and a lynx-eyed soldier watching me,
I could not examine it as closely as I desired.
My belief is that it is one remaining room of a
medieval castle perched upon this height.  I
have seen a dozen of which as plausible a house
of the Virgin might be assumed.
" The revenue of the church from various
gifts is estimated to be from 60,000 to 80,000
scudi a year. This is a large sum for Italy. The
riches of the church in offerings, previous to the
French spoliations, are estimated to have been
6,000,000 scudi. Everything of value was taken
away at that period. But since then, magnificent
offerings have been presented, and Loretto is
again very rich, but less resplendent with gems
and gold.  My guide-book gives me a list of
sixty-nine cabinets in which treasures are contained, and furnishes a complete catalogue of all
the offerings.  They are of every kind and of all
values. They are contained in a sacristy larger
than an ordinary church, adorned with frescoes
of the Madonna's history, and with sybils and
prophets, after the manner of the Sistine Chapel.
Jeweled crosses, gold chalices, the necklaces of
queens, breast-pins, watches, rings, even a suit of
kingly clothes, everything in short that has excessive value in a small space, is here. More than
three hundred vessels of porcelain, painted from
the designs of Raphael, Michael Angelo, and
Giulio Romano, have had an offer of a substitute
by their weight in silver, and been refused.




272             INNER ROME:
Within the Casa the jewels on the Virgin's dress
and crown, how' priceless!
"' The edifice of white marble which incloses
the Casa and the sculptures and the bas-reliefs
upon it are most admirable. The structure is
unique. It is neither a tomb, nor a chapel, nor
an oratory, and is yet intended to have some of
the characteristics of each.  The effect as a
whole, and all the details, are in the highest
style of art. No wonder! for they were designed by Brainante and executed by Sansovino.
"It was prepared in 1510, commenced under
Leo X., continued under Clement VII., finished
under Paul III., and exposed to view in 1536.
The architecture is classic. A richly molded
basement, Corinthian columns, a highly ornate
frieze, crowned by a classic balustrade, all in
white marble of the purest kind, and all perfectly preserved and perfectly clean, presents an
ensemble which satisfies alike the eye and the
mind. In the niches are the statues of the ten
sybils and the ten principal prophets-the latter
colossal —and bas-reliefs, illustrating the history
of the Virgin, which are, beyond expression,
beautiful!  Where else is there anything so
beautiful? Nothing in St. Peter's certainly in
the way of bas-relief. The structure stands immediately below the dome.  The effect of it,
with its group of worshipers kneeling all around
it, is unsurpassed in picturesque impressiveness
and beauty. The light bathes it from the dome




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   273
above, and gives to it strong lights and shades,
and casts its broad bands of radiance over the
kneeling Contadini under the arches, and makes
their varied and vivid costumes glow like one of
their own fields of red and yellow clover, sprinkled with blazing poppies. In the season of
pilgrimage, when all its avenues are thronged,
and when worshipers crowd together fron Spain
on the west to the opposite shore of the Adriatic on the east, and from the Tyrol on the north,
there must be such opportunities for the study
by artists of costumes and groupings and effects
as are furnished in no other place in the world.
The enthusiasm on such occasions is so strong,
and the pressure so impetuous, that there would
be loss of life but for the arrangements of the
police.
In a little old guide-book about Loretto of the
date 1765, I find a description of the Casa as it
was before the French spoliations. Its interior
must have been surpassingly gorgeous. The walls
were lined with plates of silver. There were
statues of solid silver and lamps of gold set with
gems. The image of the Virgin, a little, ugly,
black, wooden affair, sculptured, of course, by
St. Luke, was adorned as no human queen in all
her glory was ever arrayed. It must have been
a very heaven to jewelers and milliners. I find,
in the catalogue, long lists of statues and lamps,
of solid silver, weighing from 100 to 250 pounds.
Opening the catalogue at random, my eye rested
13




274             INNER ROME:
on records such as these: "A regal crown, with
304 diamonds and 88 rubies, and a scepter, with
82 diamonds and 57 rubies, the whole of gold,
the gift of Christina Alexandra, Queen of Sweden."  And so the catalogue continues, page
after page. I asked the priest who conducted
me through this treasury to whoml the duty of
arranging and changing Mary's wardrobe was
assigned? " To the priests, of course!"  A dignified function!'
I find, also, in this little book, that previous to
the French Revolution there were twenty-three
chaplains maintained at Loretto to say masses for
the souls of illustrious persons, kings, queens,
and cardinals. The modern book does not say
how many are still retained. But I suspect this
must account for the immense staff of' priests
and the incessant masses.
I must not fail to record some of the terrible
judgments that have fallen on those who have
taken away the least firagment from the holy
house. In 1585, a person from Palermo took
away a stone fiom the wall. Alas! he was immediately taken ill! At every recurrence of the
season at which he had committed the sacrilege,
he suffered unspeakable torments of mind and
body. At last he sent for the priest, confessed
his crime, restored the stone, and after twenty
years of tormenting suffering was perfectly restored. Another gentleman fronm Macerato went
through the same process, except in his case the




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   275
stone escaped from the cabinet in which he had
locked it up, and placed itself in its old position
and mortared itself in.  There are several other
similar stories, the moral of which is the danger
of taking away any part of the sacred house.
There are other strange things in this little
book. It declares that Mary was constituted
"Mistress and directress of the Apostles." They
met at this Casa after the Saviour's ascension, and
received directions about their ministry.  The
Casa was converted into a chapel. The Apostles, and especially St. Peter, often said mass
here. The original altar remains at which the
prince of the Apostles officiated.
This was the house in which it is said that
Christ was born, and yet all the interest is made
to gather, not about Him, but about his mother[




276            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER  XXI.
MORALS OF THE PRIESTHOOD.
IT iS COmmon to hear sweeping assertions concerning the Roman Priesthood- especially at
Rome. A hundred times, from those who lknow
much and those who know nothing, I have heard
the assertion —" These priests do not themselves
believe the doctrines which they impose upon the
people!" The former class reach this conclusion
by a rash deduction from the partial data to which
alone peculiar circumstances or their prejudices
have directed their attention. The latter class
adopt it from a greedy credulity of everything evil.
But it is a superficial and unjust judgment. It
is indeed wonderful that any thoughtful man can
adopt the Romish system; but not so wonderful
as it would be that every one who professed to
adopt it should be insincere.
In like manner sweeping declarations are often
made with regard to the morality of the priesthood. That they are all impure and licentious is
an assertion which I have often heard. I believe
this also to be a rash and unjust judgment. As
I entered Rome with the conviction that such a
judgment against the priesthood as a class was




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   277
uniust, so I leave it with the conviction that
there are high ecclesiastics not a few, of great
purity, holiness, and zeal; and that among the
working parish clergy there are many who are
irreproachable, laborious, affectionate pastors,
who accomplish all the good which a bad system
will permit.
Yet I must allow that the longer I remained in
Rome, and the more I knew of the priesthood,
the more unfavorable my judgment of them, in
this respect, became. I do not profess to have
enjoyed any unusual facilities for information on
this subject, nor to have -made it a matter of
special inquiry. It will be better for me, therefore, rather than to give an opinion, or even to
form an opinion, as to the extent to which licentiousness prevails among the Roman priesthood,
to state some of the facts from which a judgment
upon this subject is to be formed.
One class of witnesses on this subject-and,
indeed, on every other-should be thrown aside
at once as worthless. I refer to hackmen and
commissioners, and id omne genus, who, when
they perceive that travelers are eager to hear
disparaging stories of the priesthood, are generally willing to furnish a supply of them equal
to the demand. It is- possible that they may
sometimes tell the truth; but it is certain that
they often fabricate and falsify.
There is a very general conviction among Romans themselves of the prevalence of impurity




278             INNER- ROME:
among the priesthood. In proof of the fact that
such is the conviction of the people, we have the
statement of a French Jesuit, who has written an
elaborate and able work in vindication of everything in modern Rome, and especially of the
manners of the clergy. The title of his book is
"Rome Vengee on la units sur les personnes and
les Choses."  After stating that it is not strange
that revolutionists.and unbelievers should slander
the clergy, he adds: "But that Catholics should
allow the apple of their eye to be wounded; that
they should rejoice not only in real scandals, but
in those that are chimerical; that they should
listen to these horrors without covering their
faces, and without expressions of indignation;
that they should believe them and repeat them,this is incredible, but it is trtue. I will say more:
this fault, or rather this crime, is found not only
among bad Christians, butt also among pious souls.
Without resorting to bad circles in a few hours
one will hear opinions the most rash, the most
false, the most ridiculous concerning the Roman
clergy from  the high prelates to the simple
priests."
INow it is certain that no persons can know
the character of the Roman clergy so well as the
Roman people.  If they all, the good equally
with the bad, friends as well as foes, the "pious
souls" as well as the "bad Christians" agree in
an unfavorable opinion of the morals of the
clergy, then the author has certainly a difficult




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   279
thesis to sustain when he contends that they are
in advance of all the clergy of the world in both
piety and learning. It is strange, if this be so, that
the Roman people should so unanimously labor
under this misapprehension. The people of England and Scotland and of the United States entertain no such conviction with regard to their
respective clergy.
As an evidence of the popular feeling on this
subject, I may mention the remark made to me
by a gentleman of Perugia with entire sincerity,
and as a sort of apology for the clergy, to the
effect that "if the priests were married, they
would be no worse than other men."  Pasquin
is always sharp upon them. On one occasion,
during the excitement which was created by the
rumor that Garibaldi was about to come to Rome,
mrhen it was feared that there was to be an attack
-upOn the priests, Pasquin wrote: "Beware, unhappy Romans! reflect that you may all become
parricicles!"
As a confirmation of this unfavorable impression, there are some notorious and glaring facts,
which come to the knowledge of even most of
the mere visitors to Rome. It is as well known
that somie of the most eminent Cardinals and
Monsignori have mistresses and children, as it is
that they have not wives. They will be pointed
out to one in their carriages on the Corso. N-ow
it is not strange, it is not even an evidence of a
slanderous temper, if the inference be drawnl that
the same practice prevails among the lower ranks




280             INNER ROME:
of the clergy.  Inspiration has taught us to say
— "like priest, like people!" It is an analogous
inference —" Like prelates, like priests!"
Moreover, one who has intimate Roman friends
will4hear many stories of this kind, with all the
details of time and place and name, of which he
can no more doubt than he can of any other
domestic histories which reach him direct from
persons upon whose statements he perfectly relies.  Some of them  are harrowing and revolting.  Some of them  would furnish scenes for
Mrs. Radcliff: Burials of new-born babes at midnight in the dark corners of cloisters-poisonings
to escape detection-the priest found dead from
a stiletto thrust, which is recorded as a sad evidence of political animosity, but which is in fact
a husband's revenge, into which it is politic not
too particularly to inquire,-such are the stories
which run under the surface of society at Rome.
When it is remembered that the crimes of priests
are tried alone by secret ecclesiastical tribunals,
and that the victims, and the friends of the victims of their guilt, are terrified into silence, and
that the guilty priests may either be transferred
to a prison for priests (one of which is situated
not far from Civita Vecchia), or to a new field
of labor, and that no publicity is given to such
events by the press, and that the faithful are enjoined, for the honor of the Church, not to bruit
them  abroad, it will not seem  surprising that
these stories are whispered rather than spoken,
and that the appearance of propriety is retained




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   281
in cases which, in a land of free presses and
free speech, would have convulsed society with
horror.
Moreover, there are occasionally scandals in
nunneries and monasteries of so large a kind that
they cannot be disguised. They may excite exaggerated estimates of similar crimes in others
which never come to light. The recent developments on this subject in Piedmont, however, have
certainly been alarming. The Italian Government, pursuing a policy the opposite of the Papal, have published the evidence on which a
convent of the "' Ignoranti" near Turin-an order
which devotes itself to the instruction of youthwas recently broken up, and its brothers subjected to imprisonment, after a trial in the civil
court. The details filled Turin with horror. The
head of the convent escaped. I was assured by
an Italian gentleman, an advocate at Turin, that
only enough evidence was brought forth to convict the brothers of the unnatural and horrible
crime of these teachers committed against their
pupils; and to satisfy the public of the entire
justice of their sentence; but that he was cognizant of the fact that much more could have
been adduced. It was said that if the head of the
establishment had not fled he would have been
in danger of having been torn to pieces. The
facts which this trial disclosed led the Government to institute inquiries into other establishments of the same kind in Piedmont, and five
13*




282              INNER ROME:
others had been broken up on the same grounds.
It has been a dreadful blow to the reputation of
the clergy in that part of Italy.  This order was
unusually acceptable to the people.  It was
honored, because it was regarded as engaged in
a useful and active function.  The indignation
against them, and the present distrust of all the
priesthood, is excessive. I found my friends in
Turin in no mood to accept nmy charitable judgment that a large portion of the priesthood were
men of exemplary lives and earnest characters.
Without entering into details upon this subject, which would be unbecoming, I may yet
indicate some of the causes which furnish peculiar facilities and temptations to the clergy of the
Roman States to the indulgence of this vice of
licentiousness.
It is not necessary to repeat the usual arguments which are adduced to show that the enforced celibacy of the clergy inevitably leads
many of them into sin. In the effort to lift a
body of men, miany of whom are gross and ignorant and sensual in their constitution, above nature, instead of teaching them to lift nature to
the level of spirit, of holiness, and of duty, the
Romish Church does but teach them to degrade
nature and to add to the worst crimes of sensuality those of hypocrisy and falsehood. If this
were all, the evil were far less fearful than it is.
When sensuality finds its victims within the
family circle-when it comes in the garb of holi



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   283
ness —when it destroys or perverts the religious
sentiment, and subjects the conscience to untold
toJrtures-when it ruins the purity and peace of
Christian households, and wrecks the happiness
of loving hearts,-then, indeed, it is a sin whose
devilishness no language can express. That there
is that in the Romish system of celibacy, in con,
nection with its doctrines in reference to penance
and absolution, which has a tendency to foster'
this vice, has been too often and too conclusively
shown to make it necessary that I should dwell
upon the point.
But that which I wish particularly to notice is
the fact that at Rome the government of the
priests gives them peculiar facilities, and leads
them into peculiar temptations in this respect.
In addition to the power which the priesthood
elsewhere exercises over the minds and consciences of men, it wields at Rome the immense
power of the patronage of the State. Thousands
of families are dependent upon the-m for their
civil and social status, and for their daily bread.
Those who hold office, or seek office, under the
Government must secure the patronage of their
parish priest, or of some other priest, who is
connected with a Cardinal or Monsignore, or
Bishop, or with some of the influential officials
of these great personages. Now here is a fearful double power over men, and women, and
households, which bad priests may in many cases
abuse with impunity, and which may lead priests




284             INNER ROME:
hitherto correct into temptations too powerful for
them to resist. When the alternatives are presented to families, of secret dishonor with plenty,
or per'sonal purity with starvation, and perhaps
with deadly persecution by spies and informers,
-what wonder that many yield, and that shameful connections and more shameful connivances
sometimes follow?  It is precisely such cases as
this that one hears of most frequently at Rome.
It is not so often through the Confessional; or the
Pastoral relation, as it is through the power of
patronage, direct and indirect, wielded by the
priesthood that this evil comes. Hence, too, the
charges of depravity in this respect are much
more general against the higher clergy who
wield most of this power, and against those political priests who are connected with them, in
subordinate offices, than against the working
parish clergy and the poorer priests. It is not so
much seduction as it is the pressure of power.
It is the knowledge of this shameful abuse of the
power of patronage which gives to the hatred of
the Romans an intensity and bitterness against
the priesthood which is felt in no other part of
Europe.
There is a peculiar institution in Rome which
is the boast of the priesthood as eminently conservative of morals.  That I may not fail correctly to describe it, I will use the words of the
author of Rome Vengee.
"A city which is most religious is necessarily




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   285
the most moral. To assert the contrary is more
than an error, it is a stupid and silly paradox.
Not only is piety the best safeguard of morality,
but it suggests to Christian charity the -most
efficacious means of preserving it. In the case
of many persons, for the want of objects of the
first necessity, marriage becomes a forbidden
fruit. In this perplexity the Devil suggests
speedily the only means of tasting the fatal fruit
in a method contrary to the divine law.  When
the heart speaks, often before reason, and indigence presents itself before a man and woman,
and says-' Pause! go no farther!' what will
human nature prompt? What a door is thus
opened to the most frightful disorders!
"But in view of this state of things societies
are formed, whose contributions, divided among
young girls, the most worthy, go to the establishment of families, the first duty of which is the
love of virtue. Without mentioning. the numerous individual dotations of private charity which
God alone can know, we can count at Rome every
year at least 1200, either for marriage or for a
religious profession.
"These young endowed girls form a corporation, and they have a particular costume in certtin ceremonies of the Church.  This costume
consists of a black dress and a large white veil
fastened to the hair, and falling to the shoulders,
which gives rise to their name of the'Amantate,'
or persons covered with a mantle.  Those who




286             INNER ROME:
are destined to the monastery wear with this a
crown, and a species of stomacher which hides
the lower part of their face, and their veil is retained by many pins. The crown and the stornacher are emblems of their virginity consecrated
to the Saviour; and the pins, a symbol, borrowed
from the porcupine, signify that their innocence
is defended against the assaults of the world, as
this animal is defended by the quills with which
he is bristling.
"-It is necessary, above all, that these girls
should enjoy an irreproachable reputation. Hence
they must not be employed in certain occupations, which, though not evil in themselves, have
a certain discredit, in consequence of the dissipation which is often connected with them. They
must not be grape-harvesters, innkeepers, washwomen, or servants in a hotel. Moreover, they
must be subjected to the oversight of some deputies chosen -among the most pious and the most
prudent, and after three years of trial, they are
admitted to receive their dowry. Such a novitiate, at the most critical period of life, cannot
but have a most happy influence upon public
morals."
Such an institution as this, it would seem,
must be a great and true charity. No doubt it
is. In the present state of society at Rome, it
doubtless rescues many worthy girls from poverty, and some no doubt from temptation and
vice, and promotes the welfare and morality of




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   287
the lower classes. And yet this account itself
leads to some reflections, not so favorable to the
general conclusions of the author as to the superior moral condition of Rome as he might
suppose that it would be; and other informations
with regard to this institution, not given by the
author, lead to the conviction that it is by no
means promotive of unmixed good.
I have heard it said that this institution is itself the greatest instrument, in the hands of the
priesthood of Rome, for the seduction and corruption of woman. The author of Rome Veng~e
says nothing about the relation of priests to this
institution. Like almost everything else at Rome,
it is entirely under their control. The candidate
for a dowry must be recommended by a priest.
The funds are administered and distributed by
priests.  Now it is charged that there are cases,
not a few, in which most unworthy girls, for vile
purposes, are put among the endowed; and that
worthy ones have their confidence in their
priestly benefactors abused, and their position
of dependence taken advantage of; and that
they are disposed of in marriage to worthless
persons, in order that guilty connections may
continue, undetected and unpunished.  Or another case may well be imagined in which both
parties are hurried by temptation into guilt. A
priest puts a poor worthy and attractive girl in
his parish among the endowed. She is grateful,
and he is gratified and happy to have been the




288             INNER ROME:
instrument of giving her a prospect of happiness,
comfort, and respectability in life. A relation is
at once established between them, which would
have in it no element of temptation if he were a
married man.  But with the natural channels
for his affections which would have been opened
in the family relation all closed up-in his loneliness and dreariness, and craving for affection,
he finds the gratitude and confidence and love
of this poor girl dear to him; and as the time
of the termination of her relation to him, and
dependence upon him, and of entire surrender
to another, draws near, he finds himself agitated
by contending feelings and passions. Then it is
that evil may gain a victory in his heart, and he
may fall into a sin which it will require many
other sins to cover, and from which he may not
have energy or principle enough to extricate
himself. It is a fearful moral position to which
the celibacy of the Romish clergy condemns
them!
The fact that the charity of the Romans takes
this form, is itself significant. It suggests that
the state of society exists which makes an institution necessary, which is established in no other
city, in order to preserve its young girls from
guilt.  The author of Rome Vengee, with the
utmost naivee', speaks as if the only alternative
for poor girls were guilt or marriage.  The
writers of no other nation in the world would
take this position. As the girls who are selected




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   289
for dotations are the most worthy of the class
from which they are taken, it seems strange to
hear him speak of them as inevitably consigned
to a life of vice, if provision is not made for them
to marry. This is certainly not true of the same
class in any other nation in the world —notwithstanding that the author of this book seems to
take it for granted that it is. He writes: " Twelve
hundred meritorious persons are thus endowed.
Now suppose that even a third part of them pass
into monasteries, there still remain eight hundred young girls who become the wives of brave
workmen, and qualified to transmit to their children the heritage, doubly precious, of virtue
painfully acquired. I imagine to myself, on the
contrary, that this great number of dotations are
not made, and that these girls, instead of being
at Rome, are at Paris, or at London —God guard
me fromL unfolding the scroll of their destiny!"
Now one cannot but inquire if the eight hundred best girls in Rome are only saved from ruin
by having dotations for marriage, what becomes
of the eight thousand or more, less exemplary
girls who are not endowed? If we accept the
logic of Mon. Gassiat, we must conclude that
they are all ruined. But this we should be loathe
to believe in its full extent. We rather suppose
that in the warmth of his advocacy of the unusual purity of Rome, he has been betrayed into
an exaggeration which logically concludes its unusual depravity.




290             INNER ROME:
The passage which I have quoted from I' Rome
Venge'e" leads to another observation. The representation which it gives of the endowed girls,
whose dress consists in part of a symbol of the
porcupine, to denote their armed innocence, is a
fair specimen of that constant and disgusting
harping upon virginity, to which Rome is so addicted, and which is one of the most effectual of
all methods of undermining that sweet virgin
chastity whose chief charm is an innocent unconsciousness. Think of a number of girls, marching through the streets, parading and proclaiming to the world, by a symbolism of the porcupine,
their proud consciousness of possessing, what belongs equally to all decent unmarried women! I
believe in my heart that this incessant harping
upon virginit-y, in connection with the Virgin
Mary, and with the life of monasteries, is one of
the most prolific of all the sources of corruption
to the clergy and the monastic orders. If they
would be content to be celibate and virgin, and
cease their indecent and disgusting talk about it,
they would be far purer, and the world relieved
of an immense amount of sanctimonious twaddle
which is but hypocritical prudery or pruriency
disguised.
I have indicated the sources and agencies of
the corruption of tbe priesthood; I have expressed
incidentally my conviction that there'is much of
it at Rome; and yet I conclude as I commenced
with the expression of my belief, that it is far




POLITICAL, iRELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   291
from being universal or general; and my strong
assurance that among the present Romlish clergy
there are many men, spiritual in heart, and pure
in life, and laborious'in duty.  A different or a
larger opportunity for knowledge upon the subject may lead others to a judgment more or less
unfavorable.




292            INNER ROME:
CHAPTE R XX  I.
SICKNESS AND DEATH.
THE treatment of sick and dying and dead
visitors and strangers in Rome is heartless and
cruel in the extreme.  The Romans have a
childish terror of infectious diseases, and a superstitious horror of the dying and the dead. Even
in the case of their own nearest and dearest
relatives the same feelings are manifested. At
the approach of death, all the family, except
some friend or distant relative and the priest,
abandon the house. The body is not permitted
to remain in the house over night, but is carried
to the church upon a gaudy bier, with a procession
of priests and hired Cappucini and the members of some confraternity for burying the dead,
clothed in black or gray sacks, with hideous
masks of the same color and material, and lazily,
fitfully, and out of tune, droning a funeral dirge.
No relatives are in the procession. The body remains in the church before the altar, until near
the dawn of day, when it is carried to the cemetery of San Lorenzo, and if the family are not
sufficiently rich to purchase a separate burial
place, it is thrust naked into one of those 365




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   293
lime-pits, one of which is opened every day in
the year, to receive the dead, where a dozen or
more bodies are soon mingled in one mass. Can
anything more inhuman and barbarous be conceived?  Can any perversion of "natural affection" more revolting be imagined?  Protestants,
and, indeed, all other civilized human beings,
count it as one of their dearest privileges to surround their loved dying ones, and to convey expressions -and evidences of affection to their last
glimmer of consciousness, and to receive their
last messages and sighs; and the memory of
these ministrations is a blessing and comfort to
survivors in all after-life. And who of us, whenl
he thinks of death, does not desire, above all
things, next to the presence of his Saviour, the
presence of those dear ones whom the Saviour
has given to his permitted and sanctified affection?
All these beautiful natural affections, shared
and sanctioned and purified by the Saviour, are
prevented by this dreadful system which fosters
all our natural evil and thwarts and poisons all
those inborn loves which are the most innocent
and best part of us. It is not easy to account
for the horror of a dead body which is so universal
in Rome and Italy. It may arise from the fact
that death, under the Romish system, is regarded
simply as a transit to a tormented life, and from
the thought that the body, like an accursed
thing, is to be given up to ages of purgatorial
fire.




294              INNER ROME:
The apologists for Rome and all its practices
not only defend this monstrous custom, but claim
that it is the expression of the highest style of
sanctity.  One of them, the author of Rome
Vengee, writes of it in this wise: "If death is
indeed the end of something, it is also, in another
point of view, the beginning of all things.  It is
a moment of final decision, of fearful solemnity,
in which any distraction of thoughts may open an
abyss of woe.  This is the reason why the chamber of the dying is, voluntarily or by force (i.e.
by the priests), made emp ty.  Father, mother,
sister, son, daughter, are all removed.  There
remains but some distant relative, some friend,
and the priest, who is more tender than all parents
anzd more faithful than all friends."
"I have heard," continues the author, "this
custom much blamed.  At the first view I admit
that it seems very strange, but our surprise soon
ceases. Without doubt it is much to be desired
that nature, lifted above itself by religion, should
be sufficiently strong to enable one to aid a dear
departing one to die as he ought, and to point
him  to heaven, as did that heroic mother who
said to her son,'Nate! respiee Cotelum!' and this
may sometimes take place in the families of the
pious. But, in general, if we take men as they
are, with their real or assumed sensibility, this
sublime apostolate of the family fails just at the
hour when it is most needed.  Selfishness makes
us think of what we are losing and not of that




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   295
which the dying one may lose through us. Tears
and sobs avail nothing for the life that is, and
put all eternity in peril.
"  Nature is not more strong at Rome than elsewhere, but fcith is more deverloped; and if, perchance, it seems to sleep during life, it awakes
more ardent at the view of death. It brings religion to seat herself by the pillow of the dying,
and to watch over him with a solicitude nlore
tender than that of human love, and to breathe
for him purer prayer; and thus the soul, held no
longer to the earth by human ties, gently detaches itself, and flies to the bosom of God!"
WVe need not pause to point out the fallacy of
this passage. It is false in logic, and false to the
standards of the Romish Church. It is an absolute heresy in the Church of Rome, to speak of
souls, except of those which have been canonized
as saints, as flying anywhere but into the terrific
material fire of purgatory.  That is described as
a very different place from the bosom of God.
This abandonment of the dead was often, in
former times, and is even now, in some cases,
connected with the most revolting circumstances.
The chamber of the dying man was stripped by
his attendants of its most precious contents before he lost his consciousness.  This was regarded as the just perquisite of those who rendered so abhorrent a service as that of waiting
upon the dying and watching with the dead. It
is similar to that of the executioner, who takes




296            INNER ROME:
all that is upon the person of his victim. Many
Popes have been utterly abandoned, and died
alone, after having been robbed by their attendants of everything in their chanmber.  In the
middle ages this custom sometimes proceeded so
far as to degenerate into a sacking of the palace
by the populace.
May none of my friends be dangerously ill in
Rome! It is a most painful side of Roman character which is then exhibited. I love the Romans. The higher classes are winning, gentle,
affectionate, and beautifully refined. The middle
class are friendly and good-humored. The lowest
class, I admit, are frightfully brutal. M. About
finds in them — especially among those who live
in the Trastevere-a sort of savage generosity
and grandeur which he affects to admire. I confess that my observation and some experience
of this class has left in my mind no element of
admiration. It does not enhance my estimate of
a ruffian that he looks picturesque, and wears
a red vest and sash, and a conical hat with a
feather in it. Napoleon used to say, " Scratch the
polish off from a Russian, and you will find beneath a wild Tartar."  We may say, "Come
athwart the passions of the lower Romans, resist
their extortions, rebuke them for their insolent
and peremptory demands, and up springs the
brigand." And a more horrible and cruel brute,
with nothing to redeem his brutality, than an
Italian brigand is not to be found on earth. And




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   297
we are sorry to say that there are circumstances which will start up a similar exhibition
of brutality and cruelty amid that genial and
friendly middle class with which strangers are
brought in contact in business and in hiring
apartments, and who are found in ordinary circumstances to be kind and genial. Let a friend
be dangerously ill, or dead, in the apartment
which you have hired, and you will have, in addition to the anxiety and sorrow connected with
such an event, a horror on your mind from witnessing and being subjected to one of the most
painful and pitiable exhibitions of the weakness
and cruelty of human nature that can be conceived. Your good-natured padrone will become
rude and cold, and tell you how much his apartment will suffer from having had a sick person in
it, and your round, sleek padrona, who has hitherto moved about as quietly and purred as softly
as an old tabby-cat, will be transformed into a
very tigress.
I attended many sick and some dying beds in
Rome, and such revolting exhibitions of human
nature in the same respectable classes I have certainly never known, as on these occasions. A
childish terror, partly real and partly assumed,
seizes upon the pctdrone. All pity is lost in real or
pretended fear that the sickness will injure the reputation of his apartment. He makes his feigned
or real terror subserve his interest, and gives you
early to understand that he shall demand and
14




298            INNER ROME:
insist upon increased compensation for the injury
which you have inflicted upon his apartment, and
the disgust and horror you have excited in his
mind by suggesting the thought of ugly death
to him. If the disease is of a kind which gives
him the least opportunity to claim that it was
contagious, then your situation is made as uncomfortable as possible. You will be treated as
if you were guilty of an unpardonable outrage,
and your hitherto fawning servant, whom you
nmay have loaded with benefits, will begin to be
insolent and to express his sorrow for the "poor
padrone."  I speak on this subject from painful
experience. At a moment when you need to be
calm. you will be subjected to the most irritating
and exciting annoyances. When you need and
crave and expect the sympathy of those who have
hitherto treated you with courtesy, you are subjected to insult and outrage.
Many instances of this kind occur to my memory, but I will limit myself to one. An elderly
English lady, a widow of large wealth and equal
benevolence, came to pass the winter in Rome
with two maiden sisters. There she met a woman, who, several years before, had been her
maid, but who, in the mean time, had married a
householder in Rome, and had thus become a
respectable padrona. IHer apartment was roomy
and central and well furnished, but in a dark,
narrow, and filthy street, and directly over a
court-yard in which were several stables. My




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   299
friend and parishioner (for she was both) was so
importuned by her former maid to take this
apartment that from mere kindness of heart she
yielded and gave up a cheerful home upon the
Corso. It was a sacrifice made from pure benevolence, and one which would surprise all who
did not know, as I did, her singular generosity
and unselfishness of character. Of course she
counted upon this one advantage from the change
-that she would be sure of the gratitude and
the assiduous attention of one who had been
greatly favored by her and seemed attached
to her.  All went well, until on returning
from a visit to Naples, she was taken suddenly
and alarmingly ill. The change in the paclronac
was instantaneous. She wished to have her sick
benefactress immediately removed. There was
no effort made to keep up even the appearance
of kindness and respect.  Her sisters were
treated as if they and she were guilty of the
greatest outrage against poor, unprotected householders. They were told that a large additional
remuneration would be expected whatever might
be the result of tile sickness. All this I would
have considered incredible if I had not seen and
heard it in my daily visits. It was with great
difficulty that these ladies kept the knowledge of
all these painful circumstances from their dying
sister.  If her consciousness had been more
clear it would have been impossible. In a week
she died.




300            INNER ROME:
Then, again, there was a new and greater excitement. The horror of having the dead body
in the house for some days, although it was embalmed and cased in lead ready for transportation to England, was the occasion or the pretense
of new outbreaks of cruelty and spite.  The
padrona insisted that it should be removed. The
British consul was applied to for protection by the
ladies, and succeeded in preventing its removal
until her business agent should come from England. A more painful week than those ladies
spent in the house with their dead sister and with
these heartless wretches it is difficult to conceive. When the agent of the lady arrived, a
demand of 300 scudi (more than;300) was made
for the injury inflicted from these innocent sufferers, and he was actually compelled to pay as a
compromise 150 scudi, rather than to be subjected
to the delay and annoyance of a trial of the case.
In this case there was no pretense that the disease of which the lady died was contagious. It
was a rapid fever. The- compensation demanded
was for injury done to the apartment by having
a dead body deposited in it for several days.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   301
CIHAPTER  XXIII.
SICKNESS AND DEATH.
MY own experience of the manner in which
the sick and dying are sometimes treated by Roman Padroni was very painful.
Among the visitors at Rome during the winter
of 1863-64 was a young man, a student of divinity, a son of a dear clerical friend and classmate, who was threatened with consumption. He
was a singularly pleasing, gentle, genial youth,
whose affectionate disposition and cordial manners added greatly to the interest awakened by
his evidently failing health.  He occupied a
chamber in a large house which was let out in
single rooms, and which had become quite a
gathering-place for gentlemen from the United
States, who were studious of economy, and preferred quiet quarters. Here he enjoyed the society of friends, some of them clergymen, who
became greatly attached to him, and comforted
and cheered him alike by personal attention and
religious ministrations. It was felt to be a privilege to render services to one so grateful, cheerful, and affectionate.




302            INNER ROME:
As tile brief winter lapsed into the debilitating
spring, it was evident to all who looked upon him
that our young friend was failing. The great
ceremonies of the year were over. The visitors
at the apartment which he occupied had all departed, and left him alone. Under the pretext
of wishing to repair the apartment-but in fact
from the prevailing horror of having the death
of a consumptive occur in it-the padrone advised him that it would be necessary to seek
other quarters. He went to that great Caravanserai-the Minerva Hotel. There he was very low
-confined to his bed. His room was small and
dark, looking out on nothing but a blank wall a
few feet from the window. Nothing could be
more depressing and doleful. His physician advised me that lie could not properly be cared for
there, and that he would sink rapidly. Hence I
determined to have him removed to my apartment, although I felt certain that my brutal and
niggardly landlord would make me trouble.
It was a most cheerful apartment in the Via
del Tritone, near the Piazza Barbarini.  Five
rooms were on the sunny side, and from their
windows we looked out upon the greenery of the
gardens of the Quirinal Palace. When my wife
got our dear young friend out upon the balcony,
with his feet wrapped in a shawl, and the sunshine bathing him, and the strange picturesque
life of the Roman streets flowing below him, he
declared, that in contrast with the Hotel Minerva,




POLITICAL,'RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   303
it was like entering Paradise. He lingered with
us for a month, the most patient, cheerful, and
pleasant of invalids, unconscious of his rapid
failure, flattering himself with the hope of soon
removing to Leghorn, and yet constantly growing in grace and in meetness for the better world,
which he was so soon to enter. We had sent for his
father without his knowledge, and did everything
in our power to keep him up in the hope that he
would arrive in time to see his son alive. But
this consolation was denied him. His father did
not reach Rome until he had been a week
buried.
It was a sad satisfaction to minister to this
dear young man. He became to us as a son. His
tranquillity, his sweet and gentle gratitude were
very touching and engaging. But it involved us
in a most painful difficulty with the landlord. I-He
raged as if we had been guilty of a cruel outrage.
He denounced us as dishonestly taking into the
apartment more than had been agreed upon; and
as bringing into it wantonly and unnecessarily a
dying consumptive, not a member of our own
family, whose death in his apartment would injure its reputation, and make it difficult for him
to rent it again. His abuse of me, publicly and
loudly in the Banking House of Freeborn & Co.,
of which he was a partner, and to which I had
recommended many of my countrymen, was
savage and frightful. With the other worthy
members of this house, from whom I received




304            INNER ROME:
many courtesies, and to whom I became much
attached, I have no fault to find, but this man is
a disgrace to this otherwise respectable establishment.
Very soon after our young friend was settled
in his home I was waited upon by one of the
partners of the padrone who came to tell me of
his grievances, and to propose an amicable compromise. The compromise proposed was that I
should purchase all the furniture in the saloonfor my young friend spent most of his time there
and all the furniture of the bed-room which he
occupied-and, after his death, pay the expense
of the legal fumigations, and scrapings, and
cleansings, which would be necessary for the disinfection of the room. The alternative was, that
I should be subjected to legal proceedings, and
to the heavy damages which a Roman court
would assuredly render in such a case. There
was something so inhuman, horrible, and vulturelike in thus hovering over this innocent dying
young man for prey, that I was filled with indignation, and pronounced the whole proceeding
infamous, and utterly refused to listen to any
terms, and declared myself ready for legal proceedings. At the same time I declared that, if I
had not been so outraged by the incessant abuse
to which as I learned I was subjected by the landlord, and if he had waited with a decently restrained greediness until my young friend was
cold before he pounced upon him, I might then,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   305
knowing the usual Roman feeling in reference to
the contagious nature of consumption, have been
willing to have made such compensation as was
uusal in such cases.  But under these circumstances I told him that I should resist to the utmost a claim which was at the best an inhuman
extortion unworthy of a civilized people; and
added that it might be a good opportunity to have
it demonstrated whether indeed Roman law sanctioned such an outrage, or whether it was an old
traditional imposition of landlords upon their
tenants.
I will not dwell upon the painfulness of such
a position, and upon the difficulty of keeping a
knowledge of these circumstances from  our
young friend. Suffice it to say, that the poor
youth grew worse from day to day, but was
never confined to his bed, and rode out on the
day of the night in which he died, and in one
month from the time he joined us passed away,
with expressions of resignation and of trust in
the merits of the Redeemer.
Then began some painful experiences. I received a peremptory message that the dead body
should not be permitted to rest in the house over
night, but must be removed to the shop of the undcertaker; and buried on the following morning
in the English graveyard. I endeavored to resist
this demand; but the Roman gentleman appointed by the Government to attend to the interment of Protestant foreigners, assured me that
14*




306            INNER ROME:
it would be useless. Gens d'armes would come to
the apartmlent and enforce the removal.  The
attempt to retain the body-especially if it were
successful-would much prejudice my cause when
it should come on for trial. The superstitious
horror of iRomans at the thought of having a
dead body remain in an inhabited apartment
through the night, was excessive and universal.
It was scarcely ever permitted. He told us of
several cases which had recently occurred in
which the members of high English families who
were Protestants, had been compelled to acquiesce in the removal of the bodies of deceased
friends in a similar way. Only a few evenings
before, the body of Lady  ~ had been deposited
over night in the lumber-room of a bookstore,
because the coffin-maker's narrow shop could not
afford proper accommodation.
It was with a heavy heart that I yielded to
these representations.  At eleven o'clock, six
men, draped in black cotton coverings, came
with the official manager of funerals, and the
coffin, to prepare the body for the removal and
the interment. After they had completed their
work, they gathered around me for drink-mroney.
I turned firom them with loathing, and referred.
them to the official. The whole proceeding was
unspeakably distressing and repulsive. That we
should be compelled to put away the body of this
dear young man, a child of God, worthy of all
honor and affection, as if he were a polluted and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   307
accursed thing —that there was no place in which
the body of a Protestant could be permitted to
lie at night in Rome but in the shop of an undertaker-that the head of the Apostate Church of
Rome, the Antichrist, should place this indignity
upon one of the dear saints of God,-these things
filled me with a blended passionate sorrow and
indignation. When I walked those silent streets
of Rome at twelve o'clock at night, the solitary
attendant of that poor boy, so distant from his
friends and country, and thought of his sweet
home far away on the banks of the Connecticut,
and of the troops of loving friends and fellowstudents that would have honored his funeral
there, and of all those ministrations of Christian
affection which transform  tumultuous sorrow
into elevated peace, I could not restrain my
emotion, and walked by the side of him, who
seemed to be my own dishonored son, weeping
and sobbing like a child. It was an hour which
I never can forget, nor cease often to recall.
From this period the war with the padrone
began with new vigor. He again sent me terms
of compromnise-200 scudi, about $215.  I declined paying him anything, for I could not feel
that in justice I owed him anything. In the first
place, it is by no means a universal opinion of the
RoIman physicians that consumption, even in the
worst form, is contagious. The modern school
of physicians, for the most part, discard this
opinion. If it is ever deemed contagious, it is in




308            INNER ROME:
cases where the patient has been long confined
to his bed. Our young friend had not been confined to his bed a day, and took a ride on the
very day of his death. Moreover, my lawyer
advised me that there was no Roman law to the
effect that reparation must be made to the landlord in every case in which a consumptive dies
in an apartment-that he is to be paid for all the
furniture, and carpets, and bedding (which are
professedly burnt, but are more frequently sold
again to Jews and second-hand dealers), and for
all the absurd replastering of the walls, and
scraping of the floors, and doors, and wood-work,
by which the landlord chooses to renew and improve his apartment.  There are only general
laws, as in every other country, by which a landlord may recover for injury done to the furniture,
or to the reputation of an apartment. But it has
been the policy of landlords, and hotel-keepers,
and all their following, whose interests are connected with theirs, to represent it as undoubted
Roman law that this remuneration is to be made,
and that it is simpler and cheaper at once to
make it, than to be compelled to make it and be
subjected in addition to the expenses and annoyances of a lawsuit in a foreign land, where one
is entirely at the mercy of strangers whose interests are all interlinked. But I was resolute to
resist this series of outrages, not only for my own
satisfaction, but for that of others. I was well
known in Rome. The case would be public, and




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   309
its result would be learned by many residents and
visitors. I felt that it would be to some extent a
public benefit and protection to my countrymen,
strangers, and to others, if I should conquer. It
seemed to me my duty to test the matter, and it
was one which my indignation made me very
ready to discharge.
My excellent and courteous lawyer, active and
wide-awake, advised me that there were certain
fumigations prescribed by authority which must
be made-and these being made, he thought he
could sustain the plea that everything had been
done which the law required, in order to restore
the apartment in as good condition and reputation as it was in when I took possession. Butwe must be quick! The landlord's fumigators,
if they should come first, must not be admitted.
He hurried to the police department, obtained an
order for four Gens d'armes, who were directed not
to allow Sig. C.'s fumigators to enter the apartment if they should make the attempt. Sure
enough, Sig. C.'s fumigators were first on the
ground, but the police were at the foot of the
stairs and sent them away. My admirable counselor, Sig. Cecconi (whom I commend to all
Americans who may need legal counsel in Rome),
was radiant at this preliminary and essential triumph.
When the fumigators came and proceeded to
business, the whole proceeding struck me as
wonderfully ludicrous and absurd. The opera



310            INNER ROME:
tions could scarcely have been more thorough
had it been an admitted case of the plague or of
Asiatic cholera. Some of the bed-clothing was
taken away to be burned. The mattresses were
ripped open and their contents spread out to enjoy the fumigation, and were afterward made
over. Most penetrating and stifling disinfecting
agents were steaming in the tight-closed room
for three days. I have the solemn sealed certificate of the authorized apothecary that everything
had been done en regle, and according to the exigency of the case. And yet I received messages
from my amiable landlord to the effect that the
purification was wholly insufficient. The furniture should have been scraped and revarnished,
the plastering should have been taken down and
renewed, and the window-sashes scraped and
painted anew! And all because a young man
had died in the apartment of consumption!
It must be confessed that much of the popular
superstition and fear upon this subject, especially
among the lower classes, is genuine, and that it
has been fostered by the opinions of many eminent physicians? and increased by the regulations
which have been put forth by the authorities ill
respect to disinfection. At the same time it is
also notoriously true, that landlords and hotelkeepers affect more terror on this subject than
they feel, in order that they may extort the more
scudl from their guests or tenants; and that the
Romans themselves observe or neglect these




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   311
regulations, in ordinary cases of consumption,
according to their opinion and feeling upon the
subject. One of them told me that if such a
case as that of my young friend had occurred in
his own family, he could have omitted all these
disinfecting processes. But he owned his apartment and furniture, and no one could make anything out of him by moving in the matter!  If,
indeed, he had had a particularly timid or superstitious neighbor who threatened to enforce the
regulation, he might then have been compelled
to adopt some of the prescribed fumigations.
It seems incredible that the same regulations
should be adopted in the case of consumptives as
are prescribed in the case of plague-but I have
the printed regulations, issued by authority, to
that effect! They are entitled "Regulations approved by the Sacra Consulta, the Supreme Sanitary Magistracy, for the disinfection of the effects
and chambers of consumptives" (dei Tisici). I
translate some of these regulations. "4. Furniture of wood must be subjected to ehloric fumigations and then polished anew. Frames of beds
which are varnished, must be scraped and varnished again. Wooden furniture which is not
desired to be retained, andl the l(rapery fiames,
of the bed, may be broken and thrown into a
fire in a place apart and not public, or thrown
into the Tiber."  " 6. Pictures in oil, after having
been exposed to the fumigations of Morveau repeated for three days, ought to be scraped and




312            INNER ROME:
gummed anew. Frescoes which merit preservation
should be washed in water and in vinegar." "7.
To disinfect the chamber of a consumptive during
his life, the nitric fumigations of Smith should be
used; and after death, the first three days, those
of Gu}'ton Morveau, unfolding and exposing all
the drapery, house linen, and clothing, and
gathering together all the furniture of the deceased. Then the walls of the chamber should
be scraped as well as the floor, the ceiling, the
frames and sashes of the windows, and the doors;
and, finally, the pavement [most of the floors are
pavements of brick or a lava composition] should
be washed with water and vinegar, and polished
anew."  "These regulations are, for the most
part, used in all the Lazzaretti of Europe to disinfect goods suspected of the plague of the Levant, or of yellow fever, and hence they cannot
be defective; rather they are excessive for a disease
of doubtful contagiousness, such as is pulmonary consumption."
Now it was on the latter clause that my apothecary and lawyer rested for the sufficiency of the
fumigations, and up-ripping and burnings which
they had adopted; while the landlord demanded
that everything should be done according to the
letter of the regulations adopted for the plague!
Two or three weeks wore away in preliminary
proceedings, and in various skirmishings, real or
simulated, between the lawyers on either side.
In the mean time I received various advices from




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   313
parties apparently disinterested, after the usual
subtle Italian fashion, to the effect that it was so
unusual, and scarcely creditable a thing for a
foreigner, and especially an ecclesiastic, to go to
law in IRome, that it would be better for me to
yield the point and pay the demand. I knew
where these suggestions came from, and was
quite unmoved. I fully share that strong trait
common to an Englishman and an Americanan intense dislike to being cheated. My will, and
my principle, and my pledge were all enlisted,
and I would not vield. After a time a message
was sent to me —"Would I compromise on 150
scudi?"' No!" Shortly after —" On 100 scudi?"
"No!" Again —"On 50 scudi?" "No!"  I left
Rome with the matter unsettled, and with directions to offer only so much as the inevitable
additional expenses would be if it were carried
to the court, and we were successful. Shortly
after I reached Paris the matter was settled by
paying Sig. C. 30 scudi! There were indeed
other expenses, but nothing more went to my
grasping padrone; and when his lawyer was
paid, probably nothing was left to him but his
wrath.
I enter into all these particulars to show that
the whole system is one of mere plunder which
could be broken up, if gentlemen would resolutely resist it; and if the national representatives
at Rome would support them —as General King
kindly supported me-in the vindication of their




314             INNER ROME:
rights. It is a cruel and inhuman business. Broken-hearted relatives are in no mood of mind, at
the moment of their loss, to question such claims.
The resident physicians scarcely dare to aid the
friends of their patients in exposing and resisting
these extortions. I have known of cases at hotels
where a claim of 500 scudi has been presented
and enforced.
I had successfully resisted an outrage, but the
whole matter left a sort of horror on my mind.
The father of my young friend approved of my
proceedings, and I need not add, would not
allow me to suffer loss. That I should have been
compelled to enter into such a contest, with my
young friend dying under my eye, and after his
death, while I occupied all alone (my family
having departed for Switzerland) an apartment
which had now so many painful and repulsive
associations, was very distressing. It served to
wean me from Rome, which had been so uniformly pleasant to me heretofore. I was impatient to be gone. I needed change. I was conscious of unfitness for society and for work. One
cannot come in contact with such baseness and
resist it even successfully, without a singular
sensation of being degraded by it. Providentially
the term of my service at Rome was drawing to
a close. I left it with grateful recollections of
the uniform and extreme kindness which I had
received from the pleasant group of American
residents at Rome. If it should have seemed to




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   315
any of them- that my departure was a little abrupt and unceremonious, I trust (if any of them
should see these lines) that they will believe that
it was dcue to this state of feeling; and receive
the assurances of my regard, and of my grateful
sense of unnumbered courtesies and kindnesses
to me and inine.




316            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XXIV.
A CHAPTER OF FRAGMENTS.
MY book is growing beyond the bounds within which I promised it should be kept. I must
omit many topics in order to have even a little
space in which to speak of the social state of
Rome. This chapter, therefore, shall be one of
scraps and memoranda.
"Witnessed in the Church of S. Ignatio, on
the 21st of June, a singular spectacle. All the
children of the schools were gathered together
and filled almost the entire vast area. Each of
them addresses a letter to the saint, containing
expressions of reverence and supplication. They
are placed by a cardinal at the foot of the statue
of the saint, to the number of five or six thousand. Although they are overlooked by their
teachers, yet occasionally some mischievous
anonymous epistles are foisted in, begging the
saint to send Garibaldi as soon as possible to
IRome, or entreating him to make their teacher
somewhat less of a fool!"




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   317
"It seems that deformed beggars, by a recent
order, are forbidden to ply their trade in the
street. It will surely be an immense relief. I
find that the licensed beggars who have their
brass badges, are confined to certain localities
except on Saturday, when they have a free range
of the city. Every store has a pile of baijocci
on the counter ready for the beggars on Saturday, and never have I seen a beggar treated
harshly by a Roman."
"The journals are full of the processions and
offerings made to the winking Madonna at Vico
Varo. A friend tells me that some of my old
friends, the Contadini of Sarasanesco, drew
their tongues on the floor of the chapel from the
door to the picture upon the altar. An artist
gave me a plausible explanation of the supposed
movement of the eyes. HIe says the canvas is
loose, and the wind makes the picture move in
little waves."
"I find that I have been in more than thirty
towns in the neighborhood of Rome, which have
a range of from 1000 to 6000 inhabitants. In
not one of them, not even in Albano, the summer resort of many of the aristocracy of Rome,
is there a book-store, or a book-stall, or a place
where one can buy a newspaper. What a fact
that is! Indeed, anything more dismal, dreary,
degraded, dirty, dead, —and if there be any




318             INNER ROME:
other unpleasant adjective beginning with d,
that too,-than a Roman town, I do not believe
is anywhere to be found short of Turkey."
"' There are things in the Roman Ritual which
I cannot believe are contained in the rituals of
the Romish church in our country, especially in
reference to baptism. There must occur some
strange scenes in Roman homes if the directions
of the ritual are carried out. The doctrine of
the church is,'No baptism, no salvation!' It is
rigidly and logically applied. Hence no consideration of delicacy, or even of consistency of
doctrine, must be allowed to interfere with the
performance of the saving rite without which an
immortal soul is consigned to hell. The doctrine of the church is that to the priesthood
alone is consigned the administration of the sacraments; but in cases of peril of death to infants
or adults it gives way to the other doctrine of'No baptism, no salvation!' and it is expressly
prescribed in such cases that the baptism may
be administered by laymen,' even by the excommunicated, by believer or unbeliever, Catholic
or heretic, man or woman.' In the case of infants, provisions are made for baptism which it
is difficult, with a due regard to delicacy, to explain, but which one should know who would
learn the inexorable consistency with which
Rome carries out this dogma. The child, halfborn, if likely to die; the quick child taken




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   319
from the womb of its dead mother, —these must
be baptized. If even the yet unborn infant dies
it is not permitted to be buried in consecrated
ground. When a lusus ncaturer is born, the question is to be considered,'Is it one or two? With
one or two souls?' and according to the answer
there must be one or two baptisms.  Nay, if
there be a monster born, of which it is doubtful
whether it is human, it is to be baptized with the
formula,'if thou art human,' etc. It never
seems to occur to Rome that we can sometimes
reason backward from conclusions to premises.
She is strong in the conviction that if premises
are true, no legitimate consequences froml them
can be absurd; but she does not seem to admit
that if the conclusions are manifestly absurd, the
premises must be false."
"There is another very singular office of the
Roman church-that of absolving the exconmmunicated already dead. If the body is not buried
it is to be beaten with a rod, and then absolved.
If buried it is to be exhumed if it can conveniently be done, and the same ceremony is to be
performed. If the exhumation is very difficult,
then the tomb or the monument undergoes the
castigation, and the absolution is pronounced."
"Heard to-day that, in imitation of the Virgin in Vico Varo, a picture in a small street not




320             INNER ROME:
far from the Corso had begun to wink. Went
with my friend B. to see it. There was quite a
crowd. Some were kneeling, others gazing intently. The utmost reverence and silence prevailed. Went the next day, and the picture had
been covered by order of the Pope. That Virgin must not be allowed to be miraculous. Virgins should know how to behave themselves
better than to be winking in the crowded thoroughfares of Rome, where there are so many infidels and heretics who would deny the most
palpable and energetic rolling up of the eyes.
There are few heretics and unbelievers that
would matke a pilgrimage so far off as lonely
Vico Varo is; and when the faithful reach
there, exhausted with fatigue and with empty
stomachs, and enter the chapel where there is a
frenzy of devout excitement, it is much easier
for the Virgin to wink, and for the worshipers to
see it. I once asked a poor woman,'Suppose
she does wink? What of it? What good does it
do? What does it mean? Why does she not
speak?' She was puzzled, but afterward brought
me triumphantly a sacred ballad, in which it was
set forth that the Virgin rolled up her eyes because she was offended that so many people in
Rome favored Renan anld the revolutionists, and
were not loyal to Papa!"
"A. Roman friend overheard Mons. Manning
extolling the free schools and colleges and li



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   321
braries of Romne to one of those Puseyite Englishmen who, by one short step, so often pass
into the Roman church.'But,' said my friend,'I could have shown him that it is a wretched
education, and that there is very little of it, such
as it is; for when the summer vacation of three
months is deducted from it, there are also six
and a half months more lost to instruction in
fasts and festas and sacred ceremonials, so that
there are but two and a half months of instruction, and those not consecutive.'
"These festas are the execration of the poor
people in Rome. An artist told me that on the
nights previous to festa days the poor cobbler
who occupied the area of his apartment, always
worked all night, and slept through the festa.
The Pope will allow no work to be done on
these days, and hence the very poor are driven to
such shifts in order to put bread into their
mouths."' "I was told to-day about the court' del Spog
lia.'. It seems that priests are not permitted by
law to embark, or put their money into any business. This court,'del Spoglia,' takes cognizance
of such cases. The law is constantly evaded.
The priests carry on business through others.
Cardinal Antonelli is the greatest business man,
next to Torlonia, in Romue. But it is all through
his brother.  Now when the Roman Govern15




322             INNER ROME:
ment has proof that a priest is so engaged, it
does not interfere with him, but allows him to go
on and make money, and then when he dies,
breaks his will, because his property has been
accumulated contrary to law, and appropriates it
to herself. Truly the children of light are sometimes as wise in their generation as the children
of this world."
"Signore  ~ gave me an account of his sickness since I saw him last, previous to leaving
Rome for the summer.  He was very ill of a
fever. The doctor is obliged at a certain stage
of the sickness, when the patient is in peril, to
admonish him to send for a priest and confess.
If he refuses to do so, the doctor is obliged to
abandon him to his fate, and no other physician
would dare to take charge of the case; and if he
should die unconfessed, he would be buried in
unconsecrated ground, and his property would
be confiscated to the Church, on the ground that
he had died a heretic. The relatives of Signore
- begged him to call a priest when the physician had advised him of his perilous state, for
the purpose of saving them firom the disgrace of
having him buried in unconsecrated ground, an d,
no doubt, also with the view of succeeding to
his little patrimony. IIe consented only on the
condition that they would send for a certain
priest,-his friend, and like-minded with himself




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   323
in reference to many of the dogmas and practices of the Church. WVhen the priest arrived,
the room was cleared of all other persons. Signore    told his friend, the priest, that he confessed to God in his presence, that he was a sinner, and relied wholly on the redemption of
Christ for a full and free forgiveness. The priest
assured him that this was the true doctrine, and
that his confession was satisfactory, and he declared him to be forgiven, and made out his certificate in the usual form. But my friend recovered to tell me the story. In answer to my
question whether there were many such priests
in Rome, he answered that there were several
that he knew that played double, but this was
the only one of his acquaintance whom he would
trust."'
"A professor of the Propaganda, the Rev. Dr.
S --—, one of whose functions is evidently to
manipulate Americans when they come to Rome,
and especially to lead them into Romish dogmas
through the Catacombs, to which he acts as cicerone
and learned expositor to many parties of Americans and English, was lately caught in an absurd blunder.  He is, indeed, a blundering
Irishman, whose ignorance and assumption it is
difficult to avoid injudiciously rebuking when lhe
is engaged in this propaganda work. I-e was escorting a group of American and English people




324            INNER ROME:
through the Catacombs, and had dwelt particularly upon the fact that a peculiar form of the
cross-that one which was divinely revealed to
Constantine -is never found on monuments
earlier than toward the close of Constantine's
reign. Subsequently he was enlarging upon a
petition, which was a virtual prayer for the dead,
on another tablet, which he contended belonged
to the early part of the second century, and was,
of course, showing how fallacious was the Protestant assertion that no prayers for the dead
could be found earlier than the fourth century.
My friend S-, who told me the story (a highly
intelligeit Independent English clergyman), saw
in a corner of the tablet that precise form of the
cross which the priest had truly declared never
was met with previous to Constantine, and
pointed it out, and asked him how he reconciled
the fact with his theory, that the tablet was of
the second century. The poor man turned very
red in the face, and had not even presence of
mind enough to say that it might have been put
upon the tablet subsequently, but turned away
with the deliciously absurd observation,'that
there were exceptions to all rules!'"
"The number of priests and monks and nuns,
and the extent of ground covered by ecclesiastical buildings of various kinds, strikes me more
and'more every day. The number of these ec



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   325
clesiastical persons properly belonging to Rome
is about 7000. Since the establishment of the
Kingdom of Italy about 3000 more have flocked
in. Some of them are very poor. I have had
respectable and well-dressed priests beg a few
baijocci to buy bread. The number of Roman
citizens is about 180,000. This makes one ecclesiastical person to every 18 of the laity, including
women and children.  A  sufficient supplyenough to ruin them! I once said to my old
Roman friend that it really seemed to me that
the space covered by strictly ecclesiastical property within the walls of Rome must be half of
its whole area.  He replied that he did not
doubt it, and that as he had some large maps he
would amuse himself in making the estimate.
He did make it, and assured me that it covered
two-thirds! It will not seem at all improbable to
one who thinks of its 380 churches, some of
them like the Basilicas with large areas about
them, the convents with their extensive gardens,
the nunneries, and the Pope's three parsonages,
the Vatican and the Lateran and the Quirinal,
with their enormous adjuncts and gardens."
" The representations which the priests make
to the Romans of the condition of Protestant
nations'is ludicrous from their grotesque exaggerations. They describe them as without religion, in a state of anarchy and wretchedness that




326            INNER ROME:
is frightful. They contrast the prosperous, peaceful, and happy state of the Roman people with the
degraded and oppressed and awfully polluted
condition of the population of Great Britain and
the United States.' The Catechism of the Protestants,' a work put forth by Perrone, the foremost modern theologian of Rome, contains such
representations as show how fully he calculates
upon the absolute ignorance of the people. Here
is a specimen:
"' Disciple. Protestantism seems to me then a
perfect Babel.'"' Teacher. It would be a small matter if it
were only a Babel, but the truth is it contains
doctrines horrible in theory, immoral in practice,
an outrage to God and man, ruinous to society,
and contrary to good sense and modesty.
"' D. Can you prove the truth of these dreadful. accusations?
"' T. Certainly, with the greatest ease. It is
sufficient to open the works of Luther, of Zwingle, and of Calvin, to find it everywhere argued
that God is the author of sin; that God forces a
man to sin in order to punish him. You will find
then that whoever has faith, however great may
be the enormities which he commits, does not
cease to please God; that the elect, howmuchsoever they may sin, cannot be damned; that good
works are not necessary to salvation; that man
by original sin has become a machine deprived
of free will, etc.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.    327
"' D. These doctrines fill me with horror. Are
they not in some respects worse than those of
Pagans?
"' T. Indeed they are. Neither the Pagans nor the
Turks have ever adopted such impious doctrines.' "
We look very ugly when we see ourselves in a
]Roman mirror.




328            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XXV.
HABITS AND MANNERS.
WE have been accustomed to think of the
Italians as an idle people. The "dolce far niente,"
of which we hear so much, is synonymous, in
our minds, with laziness. An acquaintance with
the habits of the people must modify this notion,
if not change it entirely.
The women of all ranks are very conscientious
in the discharge of their duties. They all "look
well to their households," and those of the middle and lower classes are actively industrious.
Indeed a housekeeper from Boston or Baltimore
must sometimes doubt whether in this matter
her Italian sister is not more constantly employed
than herself.
Certainly, one wearisome care comes upon her
which is spared our own ladies, viz., the charge,
to a great degree, of the clothing of her domestics.
Her child's nurse expects her to provide every
article of clothing that she wears, and to have it
of good quality, and in great abundance. The
wrought muslins and laces, and bright ribbons
for summer use, and the gold-laced scarlet cloth
bodcdice for winter are costly matters. Neither




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   329
are the head-dresses insignificant items,-the
large silver or gold filigree pin by which they
are secured, costing alone from five to twenty
dollars each.
The men-servants are no less troublesome.
She must provide them all with a best suit of
clothes, with livery-if it be used-and with
gloves for table service as well'as for out-door
uses. Besides these expensive perquisites, every
domestic is entitled to ten cents a day for wine
and bread-money, in addition to other full board.
In view of all this, I think I may safely say
that wages are no lower in Italy than with us,
and that an American who keeps house there
will soon learn to prefer his own customary high
rates of money payments, to those involving so
much of annoying care. I do but justice to
Italian servants when I add, that we never saw
one of them who would admit that all had been
done for them that could have been expected!
The system is bad,-very bad,-fostering a grasping as well as a dependent spirit in all who serve,
from the cook who caters for your table, to the
coachman who expects not only wages and broadcloth, but "buono mano" fees beside.
When, therefore, a well-rounded and handsome Italian lady sinks into her carriage to enjoy her afternoon drive, one who knows, sees in
the perfect toilet of all parties inside and outside of the equipage, evidence of a vast deal of
thought and care.
15*




330            INNER ROME:
We did not find, either, that the men were any
less industrious than those of most other lands.
One would not find in their wine-shops or caf6s
more idlers than throng our own less innocent
places of refreshment; and nowhere in Italy can
one see such hosts of feeble-looking youths, and
gross-looking lounging men as continually crowd
the steps and sidewalks in front of our hotels.
The Italian of all classes rises early. He gets
a cup or two of coffee and a large piece of bread
allny time between four o'clock and seven, according to his plan of work for the day. Between
this time and his substantial and plentiful breakfast between ten and twelve o'clock, he works
industriously. And afterward again, if he be a
professional or literary man, until about three in
the afternoon. The merchants, mechanics, and
laborers rest from one to three hours in the
middle of the day, and then resume labor until
the evening.
The country people rise at about three o'clock
in the morning,-sometimes indeed just after
midnight, if the way to their fields be long-and
work steadily, only stopping for wine and water
and bread, until noon. Then comes the idleness
which tourists see, the sleeping upon their carts,
if in motion, or under them if not, or upon the
rude benches inside or outside of their wineshops.  Those men have already done a fair
day's work, in the cool of the morning, while we
who rise at nine or ten are just ready for ours.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   331
I recall, as I write, the despair of our family,
when, after a day of settling down into a beautiful summer home in Albano, we were aroused at
about two o'clock out of our soundest sleep, by
the braying of donkeys passing under our windows, the shouting of their drivers, and the loud,
prolonged, and most barbarous singing peculiar
to the peasants of that whole region. I remember too our amazement upon finding that these
were "indolent Italians" going to their day's
work! We do not contend that the Italian does
as much work in a given time as a German or a
Scotchman, but we think, that according to his
strength, and in view of the character of his
climate, he does all that is possible.
There is a saying which one finds all over the
continent which runs thus: "An Italian for a
cook, a Frenchman for a companion, an Englishmnan for a friend, and a German for a husband,"
and like almost all similar sayings, it contains
much truth in few words. Indifferent cooks are
not tolerated in respectable Italian families.
None, therefore, hire themselves as such, who do
not understand their business. They are a very
important element in the household. They buy
everything needed in kitchen and pantry,-accounting to you, daily, for every penny spent;
and the number of delicious courses that will
follow each other upon your table, in view of the
small outlay you are called upon to make, is
amazing.




332            INNER ROME:
While at Albano, we were served in this capacity by a woman. She was a grandmother,
had raised many children, was perhaps fifty-five
years of age, and somewhat portly, but possessing
singularbeauty. Daily, when the dinner was nearly
over, she would enter the room. A thin muslin
lace-edged kerchief upon her still beautiful black
hair, another crossed over her ample bosom, and
a wide white apron, were the peculiarities of her
costume.  Moving statelily around the table,
bowing and curtesying as she went, her face
beaming with smiles, she would ask whether the
dinner was satisfactory. To the invariable affirmative, she would as invariably answer, "Ah, I am
glad, but it shall be much better to-morrow."
Then the "padrone" (or master) must offer her
a glass of wine and water, which she would drink
with "many thanks, Master Mine," and, after a
last curtesy, the little ceremony ended.  Of
course, every one had something to say to the
good soul as she would make her progress
around the table, and we were delighted with
the custom, so quaint, so foreign, and so pretty.
We did not find the same thing among the cooks
who are hired by foreigners in Rome. It is probably confined to the country or only in use
among the Italians themselves.
Englishmen, accustomed to the fiery wines and
liquors used in their own cold and damp country,
find themselves able to drink large quantities of
Italian wines without intoxication, and therefore




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   333
declare them harmless.  Americans gladly believe this, and, moreover, that it is all right, and
according to native custom to drink them clear
and by the pint; while, in truth, the natives
themselves stand aghast at the amount more or
less safely imbibed by American and English
tourists.
Italian gentlemen almost invariably drink
their wine mixed with water, and we have never
seen one take more than a small tumblerful at
any one meal. Indeed, drunkenness is a vice
almost unknown among them. One who is once
seen drunk is forever thereafter disgraced, and
is shunned by his acquaintances. But we cannot
say as much for the Italian peasant, whether he
be a resident of the city or of the country. We
have heard Americans assert that there is no
drunkenness in any country where wine takes
the place of stronger liquors. Now, we have
sifted this matter thoroughly both in Italy and
Switzerland, and are bound to deny the truth
of this statement. Why is it then that so little
drunkenness is seen by strangers? Because Italian
laborers rarely begin their potations until their
day's work is done. They carouse from about
nightfall until midnight,-wvhen, money spent
or credit exhausted, they reel home, and the cries
and groans of wives and children soon tell of the
fury and brutality which mark the drunkard the
world over. Thinking it probable that brandy
did most of the mischief, I inquired as to this




334            INNER ROME:
point. In every case my questions caused surprise, and the answers were always the same:
"No! no! It is wine-always wine."  But be
glad, oh Italy, that this degrading and vulgar
vice finds no favor within your borders, save
among the poorest and most ignorant of your
people.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   835
CHAPTER XXVI.
HABITS AND MANNERS.
THE Roman nobility, whose ancestry have
generally derived their titles from their "Uncle,
His Holiness," or same lucky and generous
"Uncle, the Cardinal," comprises a small part
of the population of Rome. They are proverbially indolent, ignorant, corrupt, proud, slaves to
rank and show and fortune; and —very naturally,
considering the derivation of most of their family
importance-obsequious servants of the Pope and
his Cardinals.  Some few of the Princes are
wealthy, possessing immense estates, villas, palaces, collections of art, etc. Others are very far
from rich, and are obliged to economize to a degree scarcely credible, in order to keep up the
show they worship, and to display upon the
Pincio and Corso the absolutely necessary handsome equipage, freighted with charmingly drest
wife and children. Of this class, however, I shall
say but little. Through diplomatic intercourse
we are pretty well acquainted with its peculiarities, and there is but little that can be added to
what is already known about them.
From the nobles we turn to the peasanst,-the




336             INNER ROME:
" Contadini" of the country, and the lowest class
of citizens. We grieve to say that we doubt
whether the common people of Central and
Southern Italy are a whit more civilized now, in
the nineteenth century, than they were in any
other age, however remote. We believe that the
Coliseum of Rome could be filled to-morrow to
its utmost capacity with an audience as eager to
witness the death sports of gladiators, or the
massacre of criminals by wild beasts, as in the
worst days of Nero. We shrink from  saying
this, and yet we believe it true. The proof is
abundant.
The atrocities- mere wanton cruelties-of the
brigands which infest the country are well knowon.
They are indeed too loathsome for recital. The
frequent assassinations which occur everywhere,
and upon the smallest provocations-the fear of
each other's vengeance which renders it difficult
to secure evidence in case of crime-the cruelty
to their animals —-from their poor, patient, overladen donkeys to the little blind kittens thrown
out in the streets to perish, by being eaten by
dogs, or crushed by-wheels-their revolting sepulture of their own dead, and still more revolting
treatment of dead heretic strangers, —all these are
patent facts, and condemning proofs of the semibarbarism of the classes of which we write.
They are a beautiful race to look upon; but
do not trust them. They are pleasing enough
when it suits them to be so, but they are as vin



POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   337
dictive, revengeful, cruel, selfish, as were ever
their heathen ancestors. Why should they not
be? Their religion teaches them but little. The
Virgin Mary, who is universally the object of
their adoration, left them no precepts to guide
them, no laws to bind them. God and the Saviour are to them only angry Gods, to be propitiated through Mary, and as she is all-powerful
and ever kind, all sin is safe to her votaries.
There may be less impurity among them now
than when Venus was worshiped, but we doubt
if there is less crime of other sorts than when
the temples of Jupiter and Apollo crowned the
Capitoline and Palatine heights.
Under the head of "Brigandage," much has
already been said of these descendants of the
slaves and plebeians of ancient times, and we
gladly turn therefore to a consideration of the
large middle class of the Roman people,-its
lawyers, physicians, men of science, men of letters; its bankers, artists, and merchants. Upon
this most important and most numerous class
depends all progress in the "Rome of to-day."
The Italians of this order, though possessing
many other beautiful traits of character and manners, are neither a social nor a hospitable people
according to our definition of the terms. T"Dropping in," unannounced or uninvited, to dinner or
tea is a habit very rare among them even in the
case of blood relations. We have known a lover
and cousin to visit his fiancee daily, for more




338           INNER ROME:
than a year, and yet never take a meal under her
roof. Inquiry only proved this habit of strict
privacy while eating, universal, but failed to discover its cause.
We were very unwilling to believe it an evidence of an extreme economy, yet we sometimes
admitted the suspicion. And apropos comes a
circumstance to my mind, which looks alarmingly toward this conclusion. During a summer
spent in the beautiful hills that surround the
Campagna, a fete champetre was given by the
many Roman gentlemen who found themselves
associated there for health and pleasure. To this
fete our young people were formally invited, and
went. One of them was a young Roman lady,
very dear to us all, the other a young American.
Upon reaching the park, in whose recesses they
found a beautiful dinner spread, it proved that
our young American friend was the only foreigner
present. She was received with great cordiality,
and the place of honor at the table assigned to
her. She was toasted and complimented, and
made to feel very much at home. But imagine
our feelings, dear, generous, hospitable American
readers, when we found that the gentlemen had
ascertained the exact cost of their entertainment,
and apportioned it among all the guests equally,
and sent the bills out for collection! It was very
droll, and a great come-down to us Americans.
Certainly, it cannot but be admitted that the
Romans are very great economists, and quite too




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   339
fond of " paili."  The stranger meets this at
every turn. Yet the respectable merchants of
Rome, though willing to make a good bargain,
we rarely found dishonest; and among artists
and professional men one may feel quite as safe
as elsewhere, whether in Switzerland itself or
among our own people. Our Roman friends assured us very earnestly that dishonesty. was rare
in the dealings of Roman with Roman; but they
admitted and lamented the fact that some classes
of their people thought foreigners only fair game,
and plucked them accordingly.
Lingerings of the habits and manners of the
old heathen times may be traced, here and there,
by a careful observer, in the religion, the regulations, and the customs of the modern Romans,
and are a continual source of interest, grave or
otherwise as the case may be. Most amusing was
it to me to hear people declaring'per Bacco," or
" per Ercole," when wishing to be especially emphatic. The former expression being used oftenest by ladies, the latter by gentlemen. How it
seemed to transport us back into old Rome! How
near by seemed the times of Virgil and Horace!
Then, too, the ancient pantomimic plays seem to
have left their traces in the expressive gestures
-often used so mysteriously-which one soon
learns to understand. By- half a dozen different
movements of the features and fingers your comnpanion greets you affectionately, asks you to join
him, tells you to beware of some one, says that




340             INNER ROME:
he is penurious, untruthiful, deceitful or dishonest!
The ladies, as with us, keep up a round of
calls, during which they discuss, with charming
vivacity and grace of gesture, fashion, opera, love
and marriage. This last is a subject of intense
interest to them all. In our whole experience in
Italy we never saw or heard of an "old maid."
They are anomalies of nature-shut up in convents.
The men visit rarely, meeting each other constantly on the Corso, in the caf6s, at the banking
houses, or on the Pincio.  They spend their
evenings with their families at home, or at the
opera; for all Rome has an opera-box, and all
Rome uses it%  There the ladies display their
beautiful toilets, magnificent eyes, teeth, and
hair, and-with rare exceptions-fine figures,
and statuesque hands. There they enjoy the
music, the light, the glitter of diamonds and
sheen of pearls, as only these children of the sun
can enjoy things which appeal to the sensuous in
our nature.
There are occasional dancing parties, card
parties, soirees, and musical entertainments, at
which young girls only appear under the protecting wing of "mamma," whose maternal care
is unceasing at home as well as abroad, and who
looks into the face of every unmarried gentleman
under sixty years of age to read, if possible,
"4 eligible partie."




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   341
A young girl in Italy is strangely fettered.
She can never put her foot out of doors unless
guarded by a waiting woman or some blood relation, male or female. She cannot even cross
the street with her brother-in-law.  If she is
engaged to be married, she is never left alone
with her betrothed, nor can she ever appear in
public with him. She generally embroiders exquisitely, and makes for her future lord a great
variety of little tokens of love. If she is a musician, she practices six hours a day; if an artist,
then under some protecting Cerberus she spends
her mornings in picture galleries; if she is literary, she writes harmless verses or improvises;
but if, as is rarely the case, she chooses to dabble
in the abstract and abstruse sciences, she must
be restrained; for under no circumstances must
she reason or think —these troublesome privileges being reserved for her father confessor.
To be happy, with her means to be married, to
go to the opera, to dress well, to have a fine
carriage, and to be the mother of mally children.
The married women have more freedom, but
that social and intellectual intercourse with " the
nobler sex" which is permitted to women of mind
in other countries, and especially in France, is
unknown among them. As may be inferred from
these facts, Italian husbands are jealous and vigilant, but, to their credit be it said, they are usually
very faithful and scrupulously attentive.  Their
Italian proverb c"Chi ama, tema," who loves,




342             INNER ROME:
fears, is ever present with them!  Indeed, we
doubt whether in any other nation can be found
more married lovers, or more tender parents than
in Italy.
The Italian nature is intense rather than profound, passionate, sensitive, tenacious, quick to
resent injury, but true and sincere. When they
are faithless, they are careless of concealment.
Sorrow is shown in storms of passion and floods
of tears, and like tropical clouds, soon exhausts
itself by the process.
We have ourselves witnessed scenes almost
too exaggerated even for melodrama. For instance, a young married wonman in violent hysterics because (we could scarcely help laughing
all the while) her husband had praised another's
beauty, and had talked with her a few moments
about a game then being played by others in the
room! The hysterics were real, and the repentant husband was on his knees before his suffering
wife, kissing her hands, and recalling her to consciousness with many of those beautiful words of
endearment, so musical in the Italian tongue. It
was all foolish, but not bad, and an excess of
tenderness is greatly better than a lack of it.
The love, too, of the Italian father for his children
is a beautiful trait. IHe shares their sports, and
enters into all their pursuits, with an ingenuousness and spirit that charms one; and if they are
wakeful or sick, he shares with mother and nurse
the anxiety they feel and the care they bestow.




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   343
Certainly, whatever else they may be, the Italians
are model fathers and mothers.
At present the Roman people are little better
than slaves to their religion and to their institutions. They have no free press, no free speech.
Under the iron hand of Popery they cannot stir,
they cannot even lift a cry of oppression.  Their
wings all clipped —when they attempt to fly, what
is the result?  Long languishment in some vile
prison-house or exile from the bright land they
love. The middle class of Rome are, to a man,
in favor of the abdication of the temporal power
of the Pope-but what can they do?  The spies
of the cruel Government are everywhere within
the walls, and the soldiers of powerful France
are at every gate. The Roman nurses within his
breast a hope that will not die. I-Ie is reserved,
taciturn, dignified in his silence. But the old
Roman blood courses in his veins, and insurrectionary fires smoulder in everyhouse. To our own
mind this oppressed people are greater in their
present submission than in their past efforts to be
free. In silence they bide until their time come;
and come it will, and that soon. Then, their capability of self-government, now shown by their
patience in waiting, will be manifested in enlightened legislation, and they will once again be ready
to take the lead in the learning and civilization
of the world.




344            INNER ROME:
CHAPTER XXVII.
SKETCHES FROM ITALIAN LIFE.
WE close these chapters on Italian manners
and habits by the narration of some incidents
that occurred while we were in Rome.
Signore and Signora Matteuci have a lovely
family of six daughters and two sons. They are
wealthy, and occupy a fine old palace. The Signore is a kindly, intelligent gentleman, and in
the grain trade. The Signora, handsome and
genial, has spared no pains to bring up her family well. Her daughters are beautiful, but they
are also prudent, pious, and industrious. No
wonder they were all sought young, and that
within about eight years all the six have married
and left the stately old home. The last marriage, that of the youngest daughter, made some
trouble. The little damsel-then only twelve
years of age —was seen by a boy of seventeen,
daily coming from and going to school-always
properly escorted you may be sure. The young
gentleman fell terribly in love with her pretty
little ladyship, but nursed his affection in secret
for many a pleasant month. Love aiding his
sagacity enabled him to become acquainted with




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   345
the brothers, who invited him to visit them at
home. HIe was thus introduced into the charming family circle, but as the little lady-in pantalets still-whom he went to see was regularly
sent out of the room when young men were in
the parlors, he had no resource, at last, but to
prevail upon his mother to broach the subject
with Signora Matteuci, and to plead that he
might be allowed to converse with the Signorina.
His suit was positively declined on the score of
youth and immaturity on both sides, and poor
little Laura was sent to a convent to finish her
education and forget Raffaello's beautiful and
pleading eyes. Month after month passed by,
but though good and studious and dutiful, she
learned little, grew pale and thin, grew worse and
worse, and was at length alarmingly ill. It was
clear nothing could save her but home and Raffaello! And so the lover-children met at last-and
were formally betrothed. Laura's pretty hair
had all been cut off during her illness, and now
grew in short curls over her pretty little head,
but she had gained one grand point, she was at
once put into long dresses.
A year of engagement followed, and though
the little girl had by no means done growing,
the marriage took place in great state at the end
of that time.
"Were you at the wedding?"
"No, I could not go."
"Do tell me all about it."




346            INNER ROME:
"liow can I, when each thing was more beautiful than the other? A pair of beautiful children were married, and all the attendants were
young and beautiful too, and the dresses were in
exquisite taste. Then the Signora mother looked
so handsome, smiling through tears. The ceremony was in the family chapel, and it was lined
with flowers, as was every staircase and hall of
the palace itself. There were crowds of guests,
and tables were spread upon two floors, and
covered with good things, all elaborately ornamented. The bridal gifts were magnificent too;
and so-and so-the Signora has now married
all her daughters."
" What is the bridal trip?"
" They only went to the mountains. The family of the bridegroom  own a village up there,
and the preparations to receive them were on a
great scale, considering it was all done by the
villagers themselves. The carriages were met
by a procession of all the people, including the
convent sisters and their schools and all the
priests, and headed by the town authorities.
There were banners and chantings and bouquets
of flowers, and the gate was festooned with
bright drapery, so that it looked like a triumphal
arch, and so, too, did the gate of the villa."
"There, now, let me shut my eyes and see it
all; and, good reader, will you not try to see it
with me?"
Bathed in golden sunshine lies the wide,




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   347
prairie-like Campagna. The mountains slope up
gently from it as if reluctant to leave its rich,
green, swelling undulations.  Their bases are all
covered with luxuriant orchards of olive and
chestnut trees, and with the groves and gardens
of many villas.  Above these, gray crags and
tall cliffs uprear themselves, all glorified by the
mist of powdered sunbeams through which we
see them.
From  the great mountain side juts out a
tower-shaped mass of rugged rock, whose summit is crowned with the turreted walls and domes
of an ancient stronghold, now the peaceful little
town to which we go. Upward, along the winding gravelly road, the strong, sleek, black horses
that draw the bridal party pull steadily. The
carriage tops are thrown back, and the merry occupants lift their hats and wave their handkerchiefs to the crowd they are meeting just outside
the massive old gates. See the people in picturesque and irregular but decorous procession.
How beautiful are the soft, dark eyes and shining white teeth that smile their welcomes! Here
are the dignified town authorities, and the darkrobed priests, and "sisters" with their various
schools. How perfect to the eye is the contrast
between the simple, somber garb of all these,
and the brilliant-hued costumes of the peasantry,
the gleaming jewelry and  snow-white headdresses of the women, and the gay sashes and
feather-tipped or flower-bound hats of the men!




348            INNER ROME:
The carriages, half full of bouquets, and accompanied by merry words and hearty blessings,
pass under the ancient gateway-so ancient that
it and the massive walls in which it is set, look
as if only a natural outgrowth of the mountain
crags they dominate. Through the narrow streets
the beautiful train takes its way. On either side,
everywhere, fresh flowers and gay draperies.
The great gate of the villa has been made to resemble a triumphal arch, so festooned is it with
green. They enter the court-yard. The people
pause. The carriages pass into the lofty doorway, and the little party alight and receive the
formal welcome of the domestics of the household. The bride and groom ascend the stairs,
and from a balcony thank the people, who bless
them and disperse.  Then takes place the entrance into the suite of rooms fitted up for the
party.
We see it all! the pure white window curtains swaying in the light mountain breeze;
the glorious outlook, across the Campagna to
the sea (which lies like a silver border along
the horizon), and on either side upon the grand
old mountains with their wealth of trees and
crags and waterfalls and dark ravines; the tables
ready spread with exquisite dishes of cold meats,
confectionery, pastries, and especially of beautiful fruits; the amp]e table linen, the quaint old
china, and family silver and cut glass, the old
family servants, the old, old hall with its old, old




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   349
statues, and in touching contrast, the happy
and beautiful child-couple and their gay young
friends. What a pity these'foreign folk" are
so used to such things, that they cannot half
know how exquisite they all are!
We have said that among Italians, family ties
are very strong, yet the contrary is constantly asserted by careless and prejudiced travelers. Our
attention has recently been called to an English
work, in which the authoress affirms that nearly
every married woman has her "cavalier servente"
or lover. This is a shameful slander, and ought
not only to condemn the book in which it is
found, but to disgrace the writer whose pen wrote
and whose head indited it. As we have, however, spoken of married life in a former chapter,
we shall say nothing more about it now, but shall
turn to the love of children, which is so marked
and beautiful a trait among all Italians.
" Think how happy we all are this morning,"
said a dear young friend to us on one occasion,
" our brother Egidio's wife has another little boy."
"Impossible! why it seems to me only the
other day that the last little one came."'"Yes. It is true. She has had twelve in fifteen years. Oh, she is so happy, and my brotlher
is enchanted!"
"But are all the twelve living?"
"Ma che! yes. Why not?"
Ma che, be it understood, means something like
"Itow you talk!"




350            INNER ROME:
"Bu.t she must have three babies now?"
"Yes, but you know two of them are always
in the mountains with their nurse. They go as
soon as they are a year old, and stay two years.
It is more healthy, and the mother sees them
constantly.'"
"Is this frequently done?"
"Yes, when it can be afforded and when there
are so many."'"Ludovico mourns always for his eldest boy
who died, you know, last summer," said another
friend to us one day.'"Nothing can distract his
mind from his grief. The child had a remarkable talent for drawing, and the walls of his
play-room have many of his little sketches upon
them, done in chalk or pencil. All these his
poor father has had covered with glass, in order
to preserve them. IHe says they are more valuable to him than all the works of Raphael are
to the whole world." WVe had known all the sad
circumstances attendant upon the death of the
lovely boy of whom his aunt was speaking, and
we remember how his young uncle, a noble youth
of nineteen or twenty years, had watched night
after night by his bedside, administering the
remedies, soothing his agitation, himself growing paler and thinner each day, until his darling
little playfellow went home to heaven.  Ah!
people are very human in Italy! and are not
ashamed of it-not in the least.
What are the dark characteristics of Rome?




POLITICAL, RELIGIOUS, AND SOCIAL.   351
Ah! we know them well. They belong chiefly
to its Church and Government. Baseless suspicions, private calumnies, quick vengeance, secret
arrests, loathsome prisons, slow justice, fanaticism, persecution, secret and arbitrary powers,we know of them all, and consequent upon these
an universal distrust and fear.
But Romans prefer suffering in Rome to enjoyment away from it. It is to them the one
only place in all the wide world. No wonder!
For even strangers rethrnD again and again to its
ancient streets and wide Campagna —all haunted
by a mighty Past-feeling that nowhere else, if
we except the Holy Land, is the mind so interested, and the sensibilities so touched. " Rome
is the abode of tragic peace," say the Germans,
and we know of no shorter way of expressing
what one feels when under the influence of its
magic atmosphere.
THE END.