FINANCES.
"The subjects of the Pope are necessarily poor--but then they pay
hardly any taxes. The one condition is a compensation for the other!"
This is what both you and I have often heard said. Now and then, too,
it is put forth upon the faith of some statistical return or another
of the Golden Age, that they are governed at the rate of 7s. 6d. per
head.
This calculation is a mere fable, as I can easily prove. But supposing
it to be correct, the Romans would not be the less deserving of pity.
It is a miserable consolation to people who have nothing, to be told
that their taxes are low. For my part, I would much rather have heavy
taxes to pay, and a good deal to pay them with, like the English. What
would be thought of the Queen's government, if after having ruined
trade, manufactures, and agriculture, and exhausted all the sources of
public prosperity, it were to say to the people, "Rejoice, good
people, for henceforth your taxes will not exceed 7s. 6d. a head all
round!" The English people would answer with great reason, that they
would much prefer to pay £40 a head, and be able to make £400.
It is not this or that particular sum per head on a population which
constitutes moderate or excessive taxation; but the relation which the
sum annually taken for the service of the State bears to the revenues
of the nation. It is just to take much from him who has much;
monstrous to attempt to take anything--be it never so little--from him
who has nothing. If you examine the question from this common sense
point of view, you will agree with me that taxation at the rate of 7s.
6,d. a head, is pretty heavy for the poor Romans.
But 7s. 6,d. a head is _not_ the rate at which they are taxed; nor
even double that amount. The Budget of Rome is £2,800,000, which is to
be assessed upon three million taxpayers.
Assessed, moreover, not according to the laws of reason, justice, and
humanity, but in such a manner that the heaviest burdens fall upon the
most useful, laborious, and interesting class of the nation, the small
proprietors.
And I do not allude here to the taxes paid directly to the State, and
admitted in the budget. Besides these, there are the provincial and
municipal charges, which, under the title of additional per-centage,
amount to more than double the direct taxes. The province of Bologna
pays £80,900 of property-tax, and £96,812 of provincial and municipal
charges, making together £177,712. This sum distributed over the whole
population of 370,107, brings the taxation to a fraction under 10s. a
head. But observe, that instead of being borne by the whole
population, it is borne by no more than 23,022 proprietors.
But mark a further injustice! It does not bear equally upon the
proprietors of the towns and those of the country. The former has a
great advantage over the latter. A town property in the province of
Bologna pays 2s. 3d. per cent., a country property of the same value
5s. 3d. per cent., not upon the income, but the capital.
In the towns, it is not the palaces, but the houses of the middle
class that are the most heavily rated. Take the palace of a nobleman
in Bologna, and a small house belonging to a citizen, which adjoins
it. The palace is valued at the trifling sum of £1,100, on the ground
that the apartments inhabited by the owner are not included in the
income. The actual rent of which the owner is in the receipt for the
part left off is about £280 a year: his taxes are £18 a year. The
small house adjoining is valued at £200. The rent derived from it is
£10 a year, and the taxes paid on it are £3. 7s. 6d. Thus we find the
palace paying something like 5s. 6d. per cent. on its income, and the
small house £1 7s.
The Lombards justly excite our compassion. But the proprietors of the
province of Bologna are taxed to the annual amount of £1,400 more than
those of the province of Milan.
To this crushing taxation are added heavy duties on articles of
consumption. All the necessaries of life are liable to these taxes,
such as flour, vegetables, rice, bread, etc. They are heavier than in
almost any other European city. Meat is charged at the same rate as in
Paris. Hay, straw, and wood, at still higher rates.
The town dues of Lille amount to 10s. per head on the population;
those of Florence, about the same; and those of Lyons 12s. 6d. At
Bologna they are 14s. 2d. Observe, town dues alone. We are already a
long way from the 7s. 6d. of the Golden Age!
I am bound in justice to admit that the nation has not always been so
hardly dealt with. It was not till the reign of Pius IX. that the
taxation became insupportable. The budget of Bologna was more than
doubled between 1846 and 1858.
Something might be said, if at least the money taken from the nation
were spent for the good of the nation!
But one-third of the amount raised in taxation remains in the hands of
the officials who collect it. This is incredible, but true. The cost
of collecting the revenue amounts, if I mistake not, in England, to 8
per cent.; in France, to 14 per cent.; in Piedmont, to 16 per cent.;
and in the States of the Church, to 31 per cent.
If you marvel at a system of extravagance which obliges the people to
pay £4 for every £2. 15s. 10d. required for their mis-government, here
is a fact which will enlighten you on the subject.
Last year the place of municipal receiver was put up to auction in the
city of Bologna. An offer was made by an honourable and responsible
man to collect the dues for a commission of 1-1/2 per cent. The
Government gave the preference to Count Cesare Mattei, one of the
Pope's Chamberlains, who asked two per cent. So this piece of
favouritism costs the city £800 a year.
The following is the mode in which the revenue (after the abstraction
of one-third in the course of collecting it) is disposed of.
£1,000,000 goes to pay the interest of a continually accumulating
debt, contracted by the priests, and for the priests, annually
increasing through the bad administration of the priests, and carried
by the priests to the debit of the nation.
£400,000 is devoured by a useless army, the sole duty of which has
hitherto been to present arms to the Cardinals, and to escort the
procession of the Host.
£120,000 is devoted to those establishments which of all others are
the most indispensable to an unpopular government: I mean, the
prisons.
£80,000 is the cost of the administration of justice. The tribunals of
the capital absorb half the amount, because they enjoy the distinction
of being for the most part composed of prelates.
The very modest sum of £100,000 is devoted to public works. This is
chiefly spent in embellishing Rome, and repairing churches.
£60,000 goes in the encouragement of idleness in the city of Rome. A
Charity Commission, presided over by a Cardinal, distributes this sum
among a few thousand incorrigible idlers, without accounting for it to
anybody. Mendicity is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to
every one. From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid
£1,600,000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects of which,
the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it required. The
Cardinal who presides over the Commission takes £2,400 a year for his
private charities.
£16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public education, which,
moreover, is wholly in the hands of the clergy. Add this moderate sum,
and the £80,000 devoted to the administration of justice, to a part of
the £100,000 spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly
be set down as money spent in the service of the nation. The remainder
is of no use but to the Government,--in other words, to a parcel of
priests.
The Pope and the partners of his power must be indifferent financiers,
when, after spending such a pittance on the nation, they contrive to
wind up every year with a deficit. The balance of 1858 showed a
deficit of nearly half a million sterling, which does not prevent the
government from promising a surplus in the estimates of 1859.
In order to fill up the gaps in the budget, the Government has
recourse to borrowing, sometimes openly, by a loan from the house of
Rothschild, sometimes secretly, by an issue of stock.
In 1857 the Pontifical Government contracted its eleventh loan with
Rothschild's house; it was a trifle, something under £700,000.
Nevertheless there were quiet issues of stock from 1851 to 1858, to
the tune of £1,320,000. The capital of the debt for which its subjects
are liable, amounts to £14,376,150. 5s. If you will take the trouble
to divide this grand total by the figure which represents the
population, you will find that every little subject born to the Pope
comes into the world a debtor of something like £4. 10s., whereof he
will contribute to pay the interest all his life, although neither he
nor his ancestors have ever derived the least benefit from the outlay.
It is true these fourteen millions and a half (in round numbers) have
not been lost for all the world. The nephews of the Popes have
pocketed a good round sum. About a third has been swallowed up by what
is called the general interests of the Roman Catholic faith. It has
been proved that the religious wars have cost the Popes at least four
millions; and the farmers of Ancona and Forlì are still paying out of
the produce of their fields for the faggots used to burn the
Huguenots. The churches of which Rome is so proud have not been paid
for entirely by the tribute of Catholicism at large. There are certain
remnants of accounts, which were at the cost of the Roman people. The
Popes have made more than one donation to those poor religious
establishments, which possess no more than £20,000,000 worth of
property in the world. The expenses lumped together under the head of
Allocations for Public Worship add something short of £900,000
sterling to the national debt. Foreign occupation, and more
particularly the invasion of the Austrians in the north, has burdened
the inhabitants with a million sterling. Add the money squandered,
given away, stolen, and lost, together with £1,360,000 paid to bankers
for commission on loans, and you have an account of the total of the
debt, excepting perhaps a million and a half or so, of which the
unexplained and inexplicable disbursement does immortal honour to the
discretion of the ministers.
Since the restoration of Pius IX., an approach to respect for public
opinion has forced the Pontifical Government to publish some sort of
accounts. It does not render them to the nation, but to Europe,
knowing that Europe is not curious in the matter, and will be easily
satisfied. A few copies of the annual Budget are published; they are
certainly not in everybody's reach. The statement of receipts and
expenditure is prodigiously laconic. I have now before me the
estimates prepared for 1858, in four pages, the least blank of which
contains just fourteen lines. The Finance Minister sums up the
receipts and the outgoings, both ordinary and extraordinary. Under the
head of Receipts, he lumps the whole of "the direct contributions, and
the State property, 3,201,426 scudi."
Under the head of Expenditure, we read "Commerce, Fine Arts,
Agriculture, Manufactures, and Public Works, 601,764 scudi." A
tolerable lump, this.
This powerful simplification of accounts enables the Minister to
perform some capital tricks of financial sleight of hand. Supposing,
for instance, the Government wants half a million of scudi for some
mysterious purpose, nothing is easier than to bring their direct
contributions in as having paid half a million less than they really
have. What will Europe ever know about the matter?
"Speech is silver, but silence is gold."
Successive Finance Ministers at Rome have all adopted this device,
even when they are forced to speak, they have the art of not saying
the very thing the country wants to hear.
In almost all civilized countries the nation enjoys two rights which
seem perfectly just and natural. The first is that of voting the
taxes, either directly or through the medium of its deputies; the
second, that of verifying the expenditure of its own money.
In the Papal kingdom, the Pope or his Minister says to the citizens,
"Here is what you have to pay!" And he takes the money, spends it, and
never more alludes to it except in the vaguest language.
Still, in order to afford some sort of satisfaction to the conscience
of Europe, Pius IX. promised to place the finances under the control
of a sort of Chamber of Deputies. Here is the text of this promise,
which figured, with many others, in the _Motu Proprio_ of the 12th of
September, 1849.
"_A Consulta di Stato_ for the Finances is established. It
will be _heard_ on the estimates of the forthcoming year. It
will examine the balance of accounts for the previous year,
and sign the vote of credit. It will give its advice on the
establishment of new, or the reduction of old taxes; on the
better distribution of the general taxation; on the measures
to be taken for the improvement of commerce, and in general
on all that concerns the interests of the public Treasury.
"The Councillors shall be selected by Us from lists
presented by the Provincial Councils. Their number shall be
fixed in proportion to the provinces of the State. This
number may be increased within fixed limits by the addition
of some of our subjects, whom we reserve to ourselves the
right to name."
Now, allow me to dwell briefly upon the meaning of this promise, and
the results which have followed it. Who knows whether diplomacy may
not ere long be again occupied in demanding promises of the
Pope?--whether the Pope may not again think it wise to promise
mountains and marvels?--whether these new promises may not be just as
hollow and insincere as the old ones? This short paragraph deserves a
long commentary, for it is fraught with instruction.
"It is established!" said the Pope. But the _Consulta di Stato_ of
Finances, established the 12th of September, 1849, only gave signs of
life in December, 1853. Four years afterwards! This is what I call
drawing a bill at a pretty long date. It is admitted that the nation
needs some guarantees, and that it is entitled to tender some advice,
and to exercise some control. And so the nation is requested to call
again in four years.
The members of the _Consulta_ of the Finances are a sort of sham
deputies; very sham ones, I assure you, although the Count de
Rayneval, to suit his purpose, is pleased to call them "the
Representatives of the Nation." They represent the nation as Cardinal
Antonelli represents the Apostles.
They are elected by the Pope from a list presented by the Communal
Councils. The Communal Councillors are elected by their predecessors
of the Communal Council, who were chosen directly by the Pope from a
list of eligible citizens, each of whom must have produced a
certificate of good conduct, both religious and political. In all this
I cannot for the life of me see more than one elector--the Pope.
We'll begin this progressive election again, and start from the very
bottom--that is, the nation. The Italians have a peculiar fancy for
municipal liberties. The Pope knows this, and, as a good prince, he
resolves to accommodate them. The township or commune wishes to choose
its own councillors, of which there are ten to be elected. The Pope
names sixty electors--six electors for every councillor. And observe,
that in order to become an elector, a certificate from the parish and
the police is necessary. But they are not infallible; and, moreover,
it is just possible that in the exercise of a novel right they may
fall into some error; so the Sovereign determines to arrange the
election himself. Then, his Communal Councillors--for they are indeed
_his_--come and present him with a list of candidates for the
Provincial Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father
may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the province of
Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hundred and fifty-six; he
must be unlucky indeed not to be able to pick out eleven men devoted
to him. These eleven Provincial Councillors, in their turn, present
four candidates, out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the
nation is _represented_ in the Financial Council.
Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father adds to the
list of representatives some men of his own choice, his own caste, and
who are in habits of intimacy with him. The councillors elected by the
nation are eliminated by one-third every two years. The councillors
named directly by the Pope are irremovable.
Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to power, it was
this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope does not trust to it. He
has given the presidence to a Cardinal, the vice-presidence to a
Prelate; and still he is only half re-assured. A special regulation
places all the councillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal
President. It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the
bureaux, and makes the reports to the Pope. Without his permission no
papers or documents are communicated to the councillors. So true is it
that the reigning caste sees in every layman an enemy.
And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay councillors,
selected among the most timid, submissive, and devoted of the Pope's
subjects, could not forget that they were men, citizens, and Italians.
On the day after their installation they manifested a desire to begin
doing their duty, by examining the accounts of the preceding year.
They were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in their
demands. A search was instituted. A few documents were produced; but
so incomplete that the Council was not able in six years to audit and
pass them.
The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on the new taxes
decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, that is to say, since the
Council of Finances has entered upon its functions, the Government has
contracted foreign loans, inscribed consolidated stock in the great
book of the national debt, alienated the national property, signed
postal conventions, changed the system of taxation at Benevento, and
taxed the diseased vines, without even taking the trouble to ascertain
its opinion.
The Government proposed some other financial measure to the Council,
and the answer was in the negative. In spite of this, the Government
measures were carried into execution. The _Motu Proprio_ says the
_Consulta di Stato_ shall be heard, but not that it shall be listened
to.[18]
Every year, at the end of the session, the _Consulta_ addresses to the
Pope a humble petition against the gross abuses of the financial
system. The Pope remits the petition over to some Cardinals. The
Cardinals remit it over to the Greek Kalends.
The Count de Rayneval greatly admired this mechanism. The Emperor
Soulouque did more--he imitated it.
But M. Guizot tells us that "there is a degree of bad government which
no people, whether great or little, enlightened or ignorant, will
tolerate at the present day."[19]
CONCLUSION.
The Count de Rayneval, after having proved that all is for the best in
the dominions of the Pope, winds up his celebrated _Note_ by a
desponding conclusion. According to him, the Roman Question is one
which cannot possibly be definitively solved; and the utmost that can
be effected by diplomacy is the postponement of a catastrophe.
I am not such a pessimist. It appears to me that all political
questions may be solved, and all catastrophes averted. I am sanguine
enough to believe that war is not absolutely indispensable to the
salvation of Italy and the security of Europe, and that it is possible
to extinguish a conflagration without firing guns.
You have seen the intolerable misery and the legitimate discontent of
the subjects of the Pope. You know enough of them to understand that
Europe ought without delay to bring them succour, not only from the
love of abstract justice, but in the interest of the public peace. I
have proved to you that the misfortunes which afflict these three
millions of men must be attributed neither to the weakness of the
sovereign, nor even to the perversity of minister, but are the logical
and necessary deductions from a principle. All that Europe has to do
is to protest against the consequences. The principle must either be
admitted or rejected. If you approve the temporal sovereignty of the
Pope, you are bound to applaud everything, even the conduct of
Cardinal Antonelli. If you are shocked by the offences of the
Pontifical Government, it is against the ecclesiastical monarchy that
you must seek your remedy.
Diplomacy, without staying to discuss the premises, has from time to
time protested against the deductions. In profoundly respectful
_Memoranda_ it has implored the Pope to act inconsistently, by
administering the affairs of his States upon the principles of lay
governments. Should the Pope turn a deaf ear, the diplomatists have no
right to complain, because they recognize his character, as an
independent sovereign. Should he promise all they ask and afterwards
break his word, diplomacy is equally without a ground of complaint. Is
it not the admitted right of the Sovereign Pontiff to absolve men even
from the most solemn oaths? And finally, should he yield to the
solicitation of Europe, and enact liberal laws one day, only to let
them fall into desuetude the next, diplomatists are once more
disarmed. To violate its own laws is a special privilege of absolute
monarchy.
I entertain a very high respect for our diplomatists of 1859; nor were
their predecessors of 1831 wanting either in good intentions or
capacity. They addressed to Gregory XVI. a MEMORANDUM, which is a
master-piece of its kind. They extorted from the Pope a real
constitution,--a constitution which left nothing to be desired, and
which guaranteed all the moral and material interests of the Roman
nation. In a few years this same constitution had entirely
disappeared, and abuses again flowed from the ecclesiastical
principle, like a river from its source.
We renewed the experiment in 1849. The Pope granted us the _Motu
Proprio_ of Portici, and the Romans gained nothing by it.
Shall our diplomatists repeat in 1859 this same part of dupes? A
French engineer has demonstrated that dykes erected along the banks of
rivers liable to inundation are costly, in constant need of repair,
and ineffectual; and that the only real protection against those
devastations is the construction of a dam at the source. To the
source, then, gentlemen of the diplomatic guild! Ascend straight to
the temporal power of the Papacy.
And yet I dare neither hope for, nor ask of Europe the immediate
application of this grand panacea. Gerontocracy is still too powerful,
even in the youngest governments Besides, we are now at peace, and
radical reforms are only to be effected by war. The sword alone enjoys
the privilege of deciding great questions by a single stroke.
Diplomatists, a timid army of peace, proceed but by half-measures.
There is one which was proposed in 1814 by Count Aldini, in 1831 by
Rossi, in 1855 by Count Cavour. These three statesmen, comprehending
the impossibility of limiting the authority of the Pope within the
kingdom in which it is exercised, and over the people who are
abandoned to it, advised Europe to remedy the evil by diminishing the
extent of, and reducing the population subjected to, the States of the
Church.
Nothing is more just, natural, or easy than to free the Adriatic
provinces, and to confine the despotism of the Papacy between the
Mediterranean and the Apennines. I have shown that the cities of
Ferrara, Ravenna, Bologna, Rimini, and Ancona are at once the most
impatient of the Pontifical yoke and the most worthy of liberty.
Deliver them. Here is a miracle which may be wrought by a stroke of
the pen: and the eagle's plume which signed the treaty of Paris is as
yet but freshly mended.
There would still remain to the Pope a million of subjects, and
between three and four millions of acres; neither the one nor the
other in a very high state of cultivation, I must admit; but it is
possible that the diminution of his revenue might induce him to manage
his estates and utilize his resources better than he now does. One of
two things would occur: either he would enter upon the course pursued
by good governments, and the condition of his subjects would become
endurable, or he would persist in the errors of his predecessors, and
the Mediterranean provinces would in their turn demand their
independence.
At the worst, and as a last alternative, the Pope might retain the
city of Rome, his palaces and temples, his cardinals and prelates, his
priests and monks, his princes and footmen, and Europe would
contribute to feed the little colony.
Rome, surrounded by the respect of the universe, as by a Chinese wall,
would be, so to speak, a foreign body in the midst of free and living
Italy. The country would suffer neither more nor less than does an old
soldier from the bullet which the surgeon has left in his leg.
But will the Pope and the Cardinals easily resign themselves to the
condition of mere ministers of religion? Will they willingly renounce
their political influence? Will they in a single day forget their
habits of interfering in our affairs, of aiming princes against one
another, and of discreetly stirring up citizens against their rulers?
I much doubt it.
But on the other hand, princes will avail themselves of the lawful
right of self-defence. They will read history, and they will there
find that the really strong governments are those which have kept
religious authority in their own hands; that the Senate of Rome did
not grant the priests of Carthage liberty to preach in Italy; that the
Queen of England and the Emperor of Russia are the heads of the
Anglican and Russian religions; and they will see that by right the
sovereign metropolis of the churches of France should be in Paris.
NOTES
1: Preface to the Official Statistical Returns of 1853, page 64.
2: 'La Grèce Contemporaine.'
3: Etudes Statistiques sur Rome, par le Comte de Tournon.
4: A few of them did good service in the cause of liberty, and
deserved well of their country, in the glorious but unsuccessful
struggle of 1848, soon about to be renewed, and, let us hope,
under happier auspices, and with a very different result.
Duke Filippo Lante Montefeltro, Colonel in command of a _corps d'
armée_ of the Roman Volunteers, occupied and held Treviso, whereby
he at once assured the retreat of the Roman army, after its defeat
at Cornuda on the 9th of May, 1848, by General Nugent, and
prevented the advance of the Austrians upon Venice. The President
Manin acknowledged that by his courage and patriotism he had saved
Venice, and immediately sent him the commission of a full General.
On the 16th of May, General Nugent arrived before Treviso with
16,000 men, and siege artillery. He at once summoned the place to
surrender, giving General Lante till noon on the following day for
consideration. At four the same evening, Lante sent for reply,
"Come this evening. I shall expect you at six. We are here to
fight, not to surrender!" After threatening the town for some
days, Nugent retired from before it, and joined Radetzky.
Duke Bonelli, Captain of Dragoons, was Orderly Officer to General
Durando at the capitulation of Vicenza. Prince Bartolomeo Ruspoli
served as a _private soldier_ in the Roman Legion; he was one of
the three Commissioners who were sent to the camp of Radetzky to
treat for the capitulation of Vicenza.
Count Antonio Marescotti commanded the 1st Roman regiment of
Grenadiers.
Count Bandini, son of a Princess Giustiniani, was also Orderly
Officer to Durando.
Count Pianciani commanded the 3d regiment of Roman Volunteers.
Don Ludovico Lante (a younger brother of Filippo) was Captain in
the 1st regiment of Roman Volunteers.
Adriano Borgia quitted the Pope's _Guardia Nobile_ for a Colonelcy
of Dragoons, in the service of the Roman Republic: he was an
excellent officer.
Marquis Steffanoni commanded a company of young
students.--_Transl_.
5: The ordinary British tourist must not look for his portrait in the
witty Author's picture. It is clear that here and elsewhere the
pilgrims are all assumed to be true sons of _the_
Church.--_Transl_.
6: An expression in use among collegians in France, to describe those
students who are unable to pass their examinations; tantamount to
our English _plucked_.
7: A man who has worn _cioccie_.
8: _'Tolla_.' 1 vol. 12mo.
9: 'The Victories of the Church,' by the Priest Margotti. 1857.
10: 'Proemio della Statistica,' pubblicata nel 1857, dall'
Eminentissimo Cardinale Milesi.
11: H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.
12: Leo XII. (out of his excessive regard for the interests of
morality) occasionally departed from this rule. The same motive
caused him to be very fond of what the profane call "gossip." He
had a habit, too, of ascertaining by ocular demonstration, whether
any incidents of more than ordinary interest in domestic life were
passing in the palaces of his noble, or the houses of his citizen
subjects. His medium for the attainment of this end was a powerful
telescope, placed at one of his upper windows! The principal
minister to his gossiping propensities was one Captain C----, a
man of great learning, but doubtful morality, selected, of course,
for the office of scandalous chronicler, from his experiences in
what, in lay countries, the carnally-minded term "life." When,
between his telescopic observations, and the reports of the
Captain, the Sovereign Pontiff had accumulated the requisite
amount of evidence against any offending party, the mode of
procedure was sudden, swift, and sure, fully bearing out the
Author's assertion that in Rome the will of an individual is a
substitute for the law of the State. There was no nonsense about
_Habeas Corpus_, or jury, or recorded judgment. The supposed
delinquent was simply seized (usually in the dead of the night, to
avoid scandal), and hurried off to durance vile, to undergo, as it
was phrased _prigione ed altre pene a nostro arbitrio_. One day
C---- brought the Pope particulars of what was at once pronounced
by his Holiness a most flagrant case. The wife of the highly
respected and able _Avocato_ B---- (a stout lady of fifty), who
was at the same time legal adviser to the French Embassy, was in
the habit of driving out daily in the carriage, and by the side of
the old bachelor Duke C----, Exempt of the Noble Guard. The Papal
decision on the case was instant. The act was of such frequent
occurrence, so audaciously, so unblushingly public, that public
morality demanded the strongest measures. That very night a
descent was made upon the dwelling of the unconscious _Avocato_.
The sanctity of the connubial chamber was invaded. The sleeping
beauty of fifty was ordered to rise, and was dragged off to--the
Convent of Repentant Females! B---- knew, and none better, what
manner of thing law was in Rome, so instead of wasting time in
reasoning with the Pope as to the legality of the case--urging the
argument that, even supposing his wife to have been of a
susceptible age and an attractive exterior, so long as he himself
made no objection to her driving out with the old Duke, nobody
else had any right to interfere--and other similar appeals to
common sense, he at once requested the interference of the French
Ambassador. This was promptly and effectively given. The
incarceration of the peccant dame was brief; and a shower of
ridicule fell upon the Pontifical head. But the Sovereigns of Rome
are accustomed to, and regardless of, such irreverent
demonstrations.--_TRANSL._
13: Louis Veuillot, article of the 10th of September, 1849.
14: The principal market in Rome is held in this Piazza.
15: The Basilica of St. Paul without the walls.
16: The rubbio is a measure both of land and of quantity.
17: Monsignore Nicolai was a good practical agriculturist. He had a
sort of model farm, known as the _Albereto Nicolai_, near the
Basilica of St. Paul Without the Walls. He was an able
administrator, and a man of superior attainments; and had he only
possessed common honesty, he would have been in time a great
man--as greatness is understood in Rome. He was a _Prelato di
Fiochetto_, and held the post of _Uditore della R.C. Apostolica_,
one of the four high offices which necessarily lead to Red Hats.
Moreover, he was marked by Gregory XVI for the promotion, and had
actually ordered his scarlet apparel. But unfortunately Monsignore
Nicolai affected the good things of this life over-much. He was a
_bon vivant_, and a _viveur_. He loved money, and he was utterly
unscrupulous as to the means by which he obtained it. His career
in the direction of the Sacred College was cut short, when he was
very near its attainment, by a scandalous transaction, in which,
although he was nearly eighty years of age, he played the
principal part. He colluded with a notary, named Bachetti, to
falsify the will of one Vitelli, a wealthy contractor, inserting
in the place of the testator's two orphan nieces that of _his own
natural son_. The affair having been dragged to light, Gregory
XVI. deprived him of his office, and he ended his days in disgrace
and retirement. His fondness for worldly pelf clung to him in his
very last moments. A short time before he expired, he ordered some
gendarmes to be brought into his bedroom, and charged them to
watch over his property, lest anything should be stolen after he
had ceased to breathe, and before the representatives of the law
could take possession.
It is worthy of mention, as illustrating the administration of
Justice in Rome, that even with these proofs of the invalidity of
the will produced as that of Vitelli, his nieces were never able
to recover the whole of his property. They were compelled to make
terms with Grossi, the defunct Prelate's natural son, who to this
day remains in the enjoyment of one-half of Vitelli's property!
18: All the facts and figures contained in this chapter are taken from
the works of the Marchese Pepoli.
19: Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 293.
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