The Roman Question | Page 9

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