THE SUBJECTS OF THE TEMPORAL POWER.
On the 14th of May, 1856, M. de Rayneval, then French ambassador at
Rome, a warm friend to the cardinals, and consequently a bitter foe to
their subjects, thus described the Italian people:--
"A nation profoundly divided among themselves, animated by
ardent ambition, possessing none of the qualities which
constitute the greatness and power of others, devoid of
energy, equally wanting in military spirit and in the spirit
of association, and respecting neither the law nor social
distinctions."
M. de Rayneval will be canonized a hundred years hence (if the present
system continue) for having so nobly defended the oppressed.
It will not be foreign to my purpose to try my own hand at this
picture; for the subjects of the Pope are Italians like the rest, and
there is but one nation in the Italian peninsula. The difference of
climate, the vicinity of foreigners, the traces of invasions, may have
modified the type, altered the accent, and slightly varied the
language; still the Italians are the same everywhere, and the middle
class--the _élite_ of every people--think and speak alike from Turin
to Naples. Handsome, robust, and healthy, when the neglect of
Governments has not delivered them over to the fatal _malaria_, the
Italians are, mentally, the most richly endowed people in Europe. M.
de Rayneval, who is not the man to flatter them, admits that they have
"intelligence, penetration, and aptitude for everything." The
cultivation of the arts is no less natural to them than is the study
of the sciences; their first steps in every path open to human
intellect are singularly rapid, and if but too many of them stop
before the end is attained, it is because their success is generally
barred by deplorable circumstances. In private as well as public
affairs, they possess a quick apprehension and sagacity carried to
suspicion. There is no race more ready at making and discussing laws;
legislation and jurisprudence have been among their chief triumphs.
The idea of law sprang up in Italy at the time of the foundation of
Rome, and it is the richest production of this marvellous soil. The
Italians still possess administrative genius in a high degree.
Administration went forth from the midst of them for the conquest of
the world, and the greatest administrators known to history, Cæsar and
Napoleon, were of Italian origin.
Thus gifted by nature, they have the sense of their high qualities,
and they at times carry it to the extent of pride. The legitimate
desire to exercise the faculties they possess, degenerates into
ambition; but their pride would not be ludicrous, nor would their
ambition appear extravagant, if their hands were free for action.
Through a long series of ages, despotic Governments have penned them
into a narrow area. The impossibility of realizing high aims, and the
want of action which perpetually stirs within them, has driven them to
paltry disputes and local quarrels. Are we to infer from this that
they are incapable of becoming a nation? I am not of that opinion.
Already they are uniting to call upon the King of Piedmont, and to
applaud the policy of Count Cavour. If this be not sufficient proof,
make an experiment. Take away the barriers which separate them; I will
answer for their soon being united. But the keepers of these barriers
are the King of Naples, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Austria, the Pope,
and the rest. Are such keepers likely to give up the keys?
I know not what are "the qualities which constitute the greatness and
power of other nations"--as, for example, the Austrian nation,--but I
know very few qualities, physical, intellectual, or moral, which the
Italians do not possess. Are they "devoid of energy," as M. de
Rayneval declares? I should rather reproach them with the opposite
excess. The absurd but resolute defence of Rome against the French
army, may surely be regarded as the act of an energetic people. We
must be extremely humble, if we admit that a French army was held in
check for two months by men wanting in energy. The assassinations
which occur in the streets of Rome, prove rather the inefficiency of
the police than the effeminacy of the citizens. I find, from an
official return, that in 1853 the Roman tribunals punished 609 crimes
against property, and 1,344 against the person. These figures do not
indicate a faultless people, but they prove little inclination for
base theft, and look rather like a diabolical energy. In the same year
the Assize Courts in France pronounced judgment upon 3,719 individuals
charged with theft, and 1,921 with crimes against the person. The
proportion is reversed. Robbers have the majority with us. And yet we
are rather an energetic people.
If the Italians are so also, there will not be much difficulty in
making soldiers of them. M. de Rayneval tells us, they are "entirely
wanting in military spirit." No doubt he echoed the opinion of some
Cardinal. Indeed! Were the Piedmontese in the Crimea, then, wanting in
the military spirit?
M. de Rayneval and the Cardinals are willing to admit the courage of
the Piedmontese, but then, they say, Piedmont is not in Italy; its
inhabitants are half Swiss, half French. Their language is not
Italian, neither are their habits, the proof of which is found in the
fact, that they have the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown
to the rest of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to
prove that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French; the first,
because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and because they say
_Meinherr_ when we should say _Monsieur_; the second, because they
have the true monarchical spirit, and because they call _butun_ what
we call _tabac_. But all the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont.
The King of Naples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has a
sufficient one for his defence; the small Duchies of Modena and Parma
have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, Venice, Modena, and one-half
of the Papal States, have given heroes to France. Napoleon remembered
it at St. Helena; it has been so written.
As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to be found,
if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world governed? By an
Association. What is it but an Association that wastes the revenue of
the poor Romans? Who monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil?
Who lays waste the forests of the State? An Association. Who take
possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travellers under
contribution? Five or six Associations. Who keeps up agitation at
Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, at Home? That secret Association
known as the Mazzinists.
I grant that the Romans have but a moderate respect for the law. But
the truth is, there is no law in the country. They have a respect for
the Code Napoléon, since they urgently ask for it. What they do not
respect is, the official caprice of their masters. I am certainly no
advocate of disorder; but when I think that a mere fancy of Cardinal
Antonelli, scribbled on a sheet of paper, has the force of law for the
present and the future, I can understand an insolent contempt of the
laws, to the extent of actual revolt.
As for social distinctions, it strikes me that the Italians respect
them even too much. When I have led you for half an hour through the
streets of Rome, you will ask yourselves to what a Roman prince can
possibly be superior. Nevertheless the Romans exhibit a sincere
respect for their princes: habit is so strong! If I were to conduct
you to the source of some of the large fortunes among my
acquaintances, you would rise with stones and sticks against the
superiority of wealth. And yet the Romans, dazzled by dollars, are
full of respect for the rich. If I were to--But I think the Italian
nation is sufficiently justified. I will but add, that if it is easily
led to evil, it is still more easily brought back to good; that it is
passionate and violent, but not ill-disposed, and that a kind act
suffices to make it forget the most justifiable enmities.
I will add in conclusion, that the Italians are not enervated by the
climate to such a degree as to dislike work. A traveller who may
happen to have seen some street porters asleep in the middle of the
day, returns home and informs Europe that these lazy people snore from
morning till night; that they have few wants, and work just enough to
keep themselves from one day to another. I shall presently show you
that the labourers of the rural districts are as industrious as our
own peasants (and that, too, in a very different temperature), as
economical, provident, and orderly, though more hospitable and more
charitable. If the lower orders in the towns have become addicted to
extravagance, idleness, and mendicity, it is because they have
discovered the impossibility, even by the most heroic efforts and the
most rigid economy, of gaining either capital or independence or
position. Let us not confound discouragement with want of courage, nor
tax a poor fellow with idleness, merely because he has had the
misfortune to be knocked down and run over by a carriage.
The Pope reigns over 3,124,668 souls, as I have already observed more
than once. This population is unequally distributed over the surface
of the country. The population in the provinces of the Adriatic is
nearly double that in the Mediterranean provinces, and more
immediately under the Sovereign's eyes.
Those pious economists who insist upon it that all is for the best
under the most sacred of governments, will not scruple to tell you:--
"Our State is one of the most populous in Europe:
_therefore_ it must be one of the best governed. The average
population of France is 67 ½ inhabitants to the square
kilomètre; that of the States of the Church 75 7/10. It
follows from this that if the Emperor of the French were to
adopt our mode of administration, he would have 8 2/10
inhabitants more on each square kilomètre!
"The province of Ancona, which is occupied by the Austrians,
and governed by priests, has 155 inhabitants to the square
kilomètre. The Bas-Rhin, which is the fourth department of
France, has but 129, consequently it is evident that the
Bas-Rhin will continue to be relatively inferior, so long as
it is not governed by priests, and occupied by the
Austrians.
"The population of our happy country became increased by
one-third between the years 1816 and 1853, a space of
thirty-seven years. Such a grand result can only be
attributed to the excellent administration of the Holy
Father, and the preaching of 38,320 priests and monks, who
protect youth from the destructive influence of the
passions.[1]
"You will observe that the English have a passion for moving
about the country. Even in the interior they change their
residence and their county with an incredible mobility; no
doubt this is because their country is unhealthy and badly
administered. In the El Dorado which we govern, no more than
178,943 individuals are known to have changed their abode
from one province to another: _therefore_ our subjects are
all happy in their homes."
I do not deny the eloquence of these figures, and I am not one of
those who think statistics prove everybody's case. But it seems to me
very natural that a rich country, in the hands of an agricultural
people, should feed 75 inhabitants to the square kilomètre, under any
sort of government. What astonishes me is that it should feed no more;
and I promise you that when it is better governed it will feed many
more.
The population of the States of the Church has increased by one-third
in thirty-seven years. But that of Greece has trebled between 1832 and
1853. Nevertheless Greece is in the enjoyment of a detestable
government; as I believe I have pretty correctly demonstrated
elsewhere.[2] The increase of a population proves the vitality of a
race rather than the solicitude of an administration. I will never
believe that 770,000 children were born between 1816 and 1853 by the
intervention of the priests. I prefer to believe that the Italian race
is vigorous, moral, and marriageable, and that it does not yet despair
of the future.
Lastly, if the subjects of the Pope stay at home, instead of moving
about, it may be because communication between one place and another
is difficult, or because the authorities are close-fisted in the
matter of passports; it may be, too, because they are certain of
finding, in whatever part of the country they move to, the same
priests, the same judges, and the same taxes.
Out of the population of 3,124,668 souls, more than a million are
agricultural labourers and shepherds. The workmen number 258,872, and
the servants exceed the workmen by about 30,000. Trade, finance, and
general business occupy something under 85,000 persons.
The landed proprietors are 206,558 in number, being about
one-fifteenth of the entire population. We have a greater proportion
in France. The official statistics of the Roman State inform us that
if the national wealth were equally divided among all the proprietors,
each of the 206,558 families would possess a capital of £680 sterling.
But they have omitted to state that some of these landed proprietors
possess 50,000 acres, and others a mere heap of flints.
It is to be observed that the division of land, like all other good
things, increases in proportion to the distance from the capital. In
the province of Rome there are 1,956 landed proprietors out of 176,002
inhabitants, which is about one in ninety. In the province of
Macerata, towards the Adriatic, there are 39,611, out of 243,104, or
one proprietor to every six inhabitants, which is as much as to say
that in this province there are almost as many properties as there are
families.
The Agro Romano, which it took Rome several centuries to conquer, is
at the present time the property of 113 families, and of 64
corporations.[3]