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Then follows the foreign intelligence , under the heading of " Varieties . " Seventy prorpapal works have , I read , been published in Trance : indeed , " the zeal . in behalf pf the pontifical cause gams day by day so rapidly in that country , that every one—so some paper says- —who can hofcTa 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 m defence _ the Pope are eagerly sought after and perused . Spanish affairs mteet with more attention . An English vessel has been captured , it seems freihted with fourteen thousand bayonets for Tangiers , and
g 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 inalignitv on the part of the Infidels . I have next an account of the openin « - " of the Victoria Bridge , Canada—interesting certainly , though I confess that some account when the sewers m the Piazza diSpaena are likely to be closed would possess more practical interest for mvself . This paragraph is followed by two columns long- of the American President ' s letter to Congress , which is not a subject on which , as a Roman citizen , I feel keenly excited . The next heading is " The Morning ' s News . ' 1 his hews is made oout extracts
up of small short extracts from , or rather paragraphs a from the foreign newspapers . If I have not heard any rumours at my cafe , these paragraphs are utterly unintelligible ; if I have heard such , reports of agitation or excitement abroad in reference to the papacy , I always find from these paragraphs that they were utterly erroneous . There is a good deal about the new French freetrade tM-iff , and the pacific intentions of the Emperor . There are «; rave dissensions ^ it appears , in the cabinets of London and lunn , and the return of Count Waiewski 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 signified a desertion of the Villafrariea stipulations is asserted , oil the best authority , to be an ontire delusion . . . . . ..
This concludes my budget of news . A whole page is eoverea with quotations from " Vii / lemain's" pamphlet , " La France * VJEtnpire , et la JPapazitS , " which , as my own personal observation and daily life must of course be the best testimonies to the blessings < Vf a Papal government , seems to me carrying coals to Newcastle . 1 liave then a list of the * strangers arrived at Rome ; one advertisement of some religious book , the " Devotions of Saint Alphonso Maria oFSignoii , '' Whoever he may have been ; a few meteorological observations fn > m the pontifical observatory , and half-a-dozen official notices of legal judgments in cases to 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 friend
office of the Holy Apostolic Chamber . * ' E x uno , " my Roman might truly say , " disce omnes . " This number I have taken as a sample , as one of more than average interest . I know , indeed , no greater proof of the anxiety and alarm of the Papal Government at the present crisis ., than the fact that so much intelligence should be allowed to ooze out through the Roman press . I know , also , no greater proof of its weakness . A strong despotic government may ignore the press altogether , but a government 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 < lrcam of feeding strong men with such babes' meat as this . There are signs of the times even in the Roman journal .
ROMAN RUMOURS ' . Rome , 2 Gth January , 1860 . At last there is a break in the dull uniformity of Roman life . There is a ripple on the waters , whether the precursor of si tempest , or to be followed by a dead calm , it is hard to tell . Meanwhile it is gome « ain , at any rate , that the old corpse-like city should show signs of life , however transient . Feeble as those symptoms arc , let us make the most of them . Since the Imperial occupation of Rome , the building in the " Piazza Colonnn , " which old Roman travellers remember as the abode of the post-office , has been confiscated to the service of the Wrench army . It forms , in fact , a sort of military head quarters .
All the bureaux of the different departments of the service are to bo found here . The office of the electric telefjrnph is contained under the same rqof , and the front windows of the civil town-hall-looking 1 building 1 , lit up so brightly and so latent night , are those of the liVonch military circle , The " Piazza Colbnna , " where stands the column of Makk Antony , openB out of the " Oorso , " and is perhaps the moat central position in nil Rome . At the corner ia the onfd , monopolized by the French non-commissioned officers ; and iioxt door is the great French bookseller ' s ., Altogether the " Piazza Oolonna" and its vicinity is the French quartier of Rome . At Kjvon o ' clock every evening , the detachments who are to bo on gunrd ( hiring the night , at the different military posts , are drawn up in front
«> f the Bitfd building , receive the pass-word , and then , headed by the drums and fifea , inarch off to thoir respective stations . Every Hunday and Thursday evenings too , at this hour , tho French band plays for a short time in tho Piazza . Generally , this ceremony ] ms » 6 H off in perfect quiet , and in truth attracts as little attention Worn bystanders aa &w , file of ; guardsmen passing on their daily round from-Charing Cross to , tho Towei ; . On Sunday evening 1 Jast , a considerable crowd , aa far as I can learn , of some two or thrco i housand persons ,, chiefly rnon and boys , assembled round the band , md as the patrols inarched off down tho Corso , and towards the Oftfltleof Saint Angelo , followed thorn with shouts of " Viva l'ltulia , " " VivaNapq&konnw , " and most ominous of » ll " Viva Gavouh . " As man an tin * patrol * had punned tho < t . » w 1 dinnowd , and there
apparently was an end of the matter . The next night poured , with rain , with such rain as only Rome can supply ; and yet , in spite of the rain ; . ' a ' good number of people collected to see the guard march oft , and again a few seditious or patriotic cries ( the two terms are here synonymous ) were heard . 'Such *' things , in Italy , and in Rome especially , are matters of . grave importance , and the Government was evidently alarmed . Contrary to general expectation , and I suspect to the hopes of the clerical party , the French general has issued no notice , as he did last year , forbidding these demonr strations . However , the patrols have been much increased in number , and great numbers of the Pontifical gendarmes have been brought into the city . -On Tuesday . night * the Papal police made several arrests , and a report is spread by the priests that the French troops had orders to fire at once , if any attempt is made to create disturbance . Oh the same night , too , there was a demonstration at the Apollo . I have heard , from several quarters , that on some of the Pontifical soldiers entering the house , the whole audience left the theatre , with very few exceptions . However , in this city , one gets to have a cordial sympathy with the unbelieving Thomas , and not having been present at the theatre myself , I cannot indorse the story . . Last night I strolled down the Corso to see the guard pass . The street was very full , at least full for Rome , where tho streets seem empty at their fullest , and numerous groups of men were standing on the door steps , and at the shop windows . Mounted patrols passed up and down the street , and wherever there seemed the nucleus of a crowd forming knots of ; the Papal " Sbirri" with their long cloaks and cocked hats pressed over their eyes , and furtive , hang-dog looking countenances , elbowed their way unopposed and apparently unnoticed . In the square . itself , there were a hundred men or so—chiefly , 1 should judge , strangers or artists ,, a group of young ragged ragamuffins , who climbed upon the pedestal of tho columns , and seemed actuated only by the curiosity natural to the boy genus ; and a very large number of French soldiers , who , at first sight- looked merely loiterers . The patrol of perhaps four hundred men stood drawn up under arms , waiting for the word to inarch . Gradually , one perceived that the crowds of soldiers who loitered about without ; muskets were . not mere spectators . Almost imperceptibly they closed round the patrol , pushed back the bystanders not in uniform , and then retreated , forming a clear ring for ihe guard to move in . There was no pushing , no hustling , no cries of any kind . After a few minutes the diuins and fifes = struek up , the . drum major whirled his staff round in the jur y the ring of soldier spectators parted , driving the crowd back on either side , and , through the clear space thus formed , the patrol marched lip the square ; divided into two columns , one going to the right and the other to the left ; , and so passed down the length of the , Corso . The crowd made no sign , and raised no shout as the troops went by , and only looked on in sullen silence . In fact , the sole opinion I heard tittered was that of a French private , who formed one of the ring , and who remarked to his comrade that this duty of theirs was " ' ere nom de chien de metier , " a remark in which I could not but coincide . As soon as the patrol had passed , the crowd retreated into the cafes or the back streets , and in half an hour tho Corso was as empty as usual , and was left to the " Sbirri , " who passed up and down slowly and silently . Even in the small side streets , which lead from the Corso to the English quarters , I met knots of the Papal police accompanied by French soldiers , and the suspicious scrutinizing glance they cast upon you as you passed showed clearly enough they were out on business . All this , perhaps , mny seem somewhat of the ' tempest m a teapot" character , but if you live in a teapot you must perforce chronicle its tempests . Besides , these symptoms are perhaps more serious than may at first appear . The G uerronibre" pamphlet and tho Imperial manifesto have been received here with very mixed feelings . The acknowledgment that the temporal power of tho Pope can bo , and must be , modified , has been roceived with extreme exultation ; at tho same time this exultation has been almost balanced by the mortification of learning that Rome itself is to bo exempted from the pvomised deliverance . Tho evils of tho Pontifical government are probably more acutely folt here than elsewhere , from tho imm ediate presence of the ruling priesthood , and , in consequence , ' tho bitter hatred , and personal , animosity felt towards priestcraft and pricstrule in every pnrfc of tho Pupal States , is , above all , inveterate at Rome . Tho Ron \ agna is t | io great difliculty of the Italian question , and , in like manner ,, Roino is the groat difficulty of the Romagna one . However , I mu « t not depart from my rule and indulge in political speculations . I have often said before , that it is at Paris , and at Paris alone , that tho Italian question must bo and will bo decided for tho present , and to this opinion I still adhero , and , indeed , shall adhere , till I see tho French troops not leaving Rome , but having loft Rome : a sight which , in spite of rumours and reports of every kind , I have no hope , ai yet , of . witnessing . / After nine months or so , tho Pontifical Government has thought fit to publish a sort of vindication of the " Perugia" massacres . In tho Gionmlo dl Itoma of Monday last , there appears it statement to tho effect that the whole of the Peruvian disturbances were only got up by a Macoliiavollian policy of casting- obloquy upon tho Pope , in consequence of tho means ho must take to nuppi-oss them ; and in corroboration of this view a letter is nubUshod , from an English Pnotostant ludy ^ whose name J will not repeat ) to Mr husband . It seems that this lady had a viUa some distance fpom X ' orugia , and oould see tho Swiss troops advance against t Mo city from her gardens . From this position of observation , who writes » very ru'iibiiiij * and not nvor wino luttur to hur husband : mdtiltfiiifr
Untitled Article
Feb . 4 , I 860 ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 119
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 119, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/19/
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