At Rome there is no public life. There are no public events to narrate,
no party politics to comment on. Events indeed will occur, and politics
will exist even in this best regulated of countries; but as all narration
of the one, and all manifestation of the other, are equally interdicted
for press purposes, neither events nor politics have any existence. To
one, who knows the wear and tear of the London press, to whom the very
name of a newspaper recalls late hours and interminable reports,
despatches and telegrams, proof-sheets, parliamentary debates and police
intelligence, leading articles and correspondents' letters; a very series
of Sisyphean labours, without rest or end; to such an one the position of
the Roman journalist seems a haven of rest, the most delightful of all
sinecures. There are many mysteries indeed about the Papal Press. Who
writes or composes the papers is a mystery; who reads or purchases them
is perhaps a greater mystery; but the bare fact of their existence is the
greatest mystery of all. Even the genius of Mr Dickens was never able to
explain satisfactorily to the readers of _Nicholas Nickleby_, why
Squeers, who never taught anything at Dotheboys Hall, and never intended
anything to be taught there, should have thought it necessary to engage
an usher to teach nothing; and exactly in the same way, it is an
insoluble problem why the Pontifical Government, which never tells
anything and never intends anything to be told, should publish papers, in
order to tell nothing. The greatest minds, however, are not exempt from
error; and it must be to some hidden flaw in the otherwise perfect Papal
system, that the existence of newspapers in the sacred city is to be
ascribed. The marvel of his own being must be to the Roman journalist a
subject of constant contemplation.
The Press of Rome boasts of three papers. There is the _Giornale di
Roma_, the _Diario Romano_, and, last and least, the _Vero Amico del
Popolo_. The three organs of Papal opinion bear a suspicious resemblance
to each other. The _Diary_ is a feeble reproduction of the _Journal_,
and the _Peoples True Friend_, which I never met with, save in one
obscure cafe, is a yet feebler compound of the two; in fact, the
_Giornale di Roma_ is the only one of the lot that has the least pretence
to the name of a newspaper; it is, indeed, the official paper, the London
Gazette of Rome. It consists of four pages, a little larger in size than
those of the _Examiner_, and with about as much matter as is contained in
two pages of the English journal. The type is delightfully large, and
the spaces between the lines are really pleasant to look at; next to a
Roman editor, the position of a Roman compositor must be one of the
easiest berths in the newspaper-world. Things are taken very easily
here, and the _Giornale_ never appears till six o'clock at night, so that
writers and printers can take their pleasure and be in bed betimes. There
is no issue on Sundays and Feast-days, which occur with delightful
frequency. This ideal journal, too, has no fixed price. The case of any
one being impatient enough about news to buy a single number seems hardly
to be contemplated. The yearly subscription is seven scudi, which comes
to between a penny and five farthings a number; but for a single copy you
are asked half a paul, or twopence halfpenny. This however must be
regarded as a fancy price, as single copies are not an article on demand;
they can only be obtained, by the way, at the office of the Gazette in
the Via della Stamperia, and this office is closed from noon, I think, to
sunset.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, there was an English newspaper at
Rome. Let us consider what would be its summary of contents, this day on
which I write. Putting aside foreign topics altogether, what might one
naturally suppose would be the Roman news? There is the revolution in
the Romagna; if private reports are not altogether false, there have been
disturbances in the Marches; there is the question of the Congress, the
rumoured departure of the French troops, the state of the adjoining
kingdoms, the movements of the Pontifical army, and the promised Papal
reforms. Add to all this, there is the recent mysterious attempt at
murder in the Minerva hotel, about which all kinds of strange rumours are
in circulation. Suppose too, which heaven forbid, that I was a Roman
citizen, and had no means of catching sight of foreign newspapers, which
is extremely probable, or understood no foreign language, which is more
probable still; what in this case should I learn from my sole source of
information, my _Giornale di Roma_, about my own city and my own country,
on this 19th of January, in the year of grace 1860?
The first fact brought before my eager gaze on taking up the paper, would
be that yesterday was the feast of St Peter's chair. Solemn mass was, I
learn, performed in the cathedral, in the presence of "our Lord's
Holiness," and a Latin oration pronounced in honour of the Sacred Chair.
After the ceremony was over, it seems that the Senator of Rome, Marquis
Mattei, presented an address to the Pope, with a copy of which I am
kindly favoured. The Senator, in his own name and in that of his
colleagues in the magistracy, declares, that "if at all times devotion to
the Pontiff and loyalty to the Sovereign was the intense desire of his
heart, it is more ardent to-day than ever, since he only re-echoes the
sentiment of the whole Catholic world, which with wonderful unanimity
proclaims its veneration for the august Father of the faithful, and
offers itself, as a shield, to the Sovereign of Rome." He adds, that
"his mind revolts from those fallacious maxims, which some persons try to
insinuate into the feeble minds of the people, throwing doubts on the
incontestable rights of the Church, and that he looks with contempt on
such intrigues." As however both the Senator and his colleagues are
nominees of the Pope, and as a brother of the Marquis is a Cardinal, I
feel sceptical as to the value of their opinion. The next paragraph
tells me, that in order to testify their devotion to the Papacy the
inhabitants of Rome illuminated their houses last night in honour of the
feast. Unfortunately, I happened to walk out yesterday evening, and
observed that the lamps were very few and far between, while in the only
illuminated house I entered I found the proprietor grumbling at the
expense which the priests had insisted on his incurring. I have then a
whole column about the proceedings at the "Propaganda" on the festival of
the Epiphany, now some days ago. The Archbishop of Thebes, I rejoice to
learn, excited the pupils of the Academy to imitate the virtues
manifested in the "Magi," by an appropriate homily, drawing a striking
parallel between the simplicity, the faith and honesty of the three
kings, and the disbelief and hypocrisy of the wicked king Herod. I
wonder if I have ever heard of Herod under a more modern name, and pass
on to a passage, written in italics, in order to attract my special
attention. The "Propaganda" meeting is, I am informed, "a noble
spectacle, which Rome alone can offer to the world; that Rome, which God
has made the capital of His everlasting kingdom." This concludes the
whole of my domestic intelligence; all that I know, or am to know, about
the state of my own country.
Then follows the foreign intelligence, under the heading of "Varieties."
Seventy pro-papal works have, I read, been published in France; indeed,
the zeal in behalf of the Pontifical cause gains, day by day, so rapidly
in that country, that "every one," so some provincial paper says, "who
can hold a pen in hand uses it in favour of justice and religion, upon
the question of the Papacy." So much for France. All I learn about
Italy is that all writings in defence of the Pope are eagerly sought
after and perused. Spanish affairs meet with more attention. An English
vessel has been captured, it seems, freighted with 14,000 bayonets for
Tangiers; and the shipwrecked crew of a French brig were all but
massacred by the Moors, or rather, if they were not massacred, it was
from no want of malignity on the part of the infidels. I have next an
account of the opening of the Victoria Bridge, Canada, interesting
certainly, though I confess that some account, when the sewers in the
Piazza di Spagna are likely to be closed, would possess more practical
interest for myself. This paragraph is followed by two columns long of
the American President's letter to Congress; a subject on which, as a
Roman citizen, I do not feel keenly excited.
The next heading is the "Morning's News." This news is made up of small
short extracts from, or more correctly speaking, small paragraphs
about--extracts from--the foreign newspapers. If I have not heard any
rumours at my cafe, these paragraphs are commonly unintelligible; if I
have heard any such reports of agitation or excitement abroad in
reference to the Papacy I always find from the paragraphs, that these
reports were utterly erroneous. There is a good deal about the new
French free-trade tariff, and the pacific intentions of the emperor.
There are grave discussions, it appears, in the cabinets of London and
Turin; and the return of the conservative Count Walewski to office is
confidently expected in Paris. Lord Cowley's journey to London is now
known to have no political signification, and the idea that any accord
between France and England betokened a desertion of the Villa-Franca
stipulations, is asserted, on the best authority, to be an entire
delusion.
This concludes my budget of news. A whole page is covered with
quotations from Villemain's pamphlet, _La France, l'Empire et la
Papaute_; but as my own personal experience must of course be the best
evidence as to the blessings of a Papal government, this seems to me to
be carrying coals to Newcastle. I have then a list of the strangers
arrived at Rome, one advertisement of some religious work, _The Devotions
of Saint Alphonso Maria de Liguori_, a few meteorological observations
from the Pontifical observatory, and half-a-dozen official notices of
legal judgments, in cases about which, till now, I have never been
allowed to hear a single allusion. I have, however, the final
satisfaction of observing that my paper was printed at the office of the
Holy Apostolic Chamber.
"Ex uno," my Roman friend might truly say, "disce omnes." The number I
have taken as a sample is one of more than average interest. I know,
indeed, no greater proof of the anxiety and alarm of the Papal government
than that so much intelligence should be allowed to ooze out through the
Roman press. I know also of no greater proof of its weakness. A strong
despotic government may ignore the press altogether; but a despotism
which tries to defend itself by the press, and such a press, must be weak
indeed. None but a government of priests, half terrified out of their
senses, would dream of feeding strong men with such babes' meat as this.
There are Signs of the Times even in the _Giornale di Roma_.