scudi;* 1,000,000 scudi in base money and small notes might have been created by law, but the Commissioners had not circulated more than 775,565 scudi; therefore, if we take the sum total both of base coin and paper money, the Commissioners having had the power of putting into circulation 6,000,000 scudi, they had only issued 2,738,565 scudi, or rather, as they left 184,315 scudi in the exchequer, which was consigned to the French, these honourable Commissioners only circulated 2,554,249 scudi of base coin and paper money [2,554,250?].

Lunati sent in his resignation in the course of a few days, and Angelo Galli, that tangler of accounts, of whom I have made mention elsewhere, was appointed Commissioner of Finance. As an old accountant of the Treasury, he had created such confusion by means of his arithmetic, that none but himself could put it to rights; treasurers and ministers were obliged to have recourse to himself to interpret his inexplicable hieroglyphics. The good Cardinal Tosti had no esteem for him, and had retained him in office only because he had become an indispensable instrument. The crafty Antonelli, successor of Tosti, could do no less, though he confessed he did not like him; the Consulta of Pius IX., which esteemed him at his real value, had been obliged to apply to him that they might not get bewildered in the labyrinth of his figures. Monsignor Morichini, when he wished to make up a balance-sheet for 1847,

*The sum total of the sums here given is 8,214,000 scudi, the 385,700 scudi which is deducted by Signor Farini may possibly be that portion of the assets remaining in the Treasury (406,287 scudi), which consisted of bank-notes.-TR.

was obliged to trust to Galli's statement of accounts for the previous ten years, during which he had spent much time and gained much money without rendering an account; the lay Ministry, whether Constitutional or Republican, had been obliged to apply to Galli when they wished to have any information respecting the peculiar system of arithmetic, which was his secret, his magic mystery, his good genius. Thus he had always been able to keep afloat, or had never completely sunk; thus he afterwards became the head of the Pontifical Finance, though every one knew that there was not a grain of sound political science in his confused brain, and that he had gained no very honourable name by having been once discovered in the act of smuggling; by giving large sums of money to his relatives; by mixing himself up with Government contractors, and by having got into his hands the property of an unfortunate nephew of whom he was guardian.

It was with displeasure that Gaeta had seen M. de Courcelles setting himself about the primary acts of the restoration in a conciliatory spirit. It could not bear with patience that the French should delay to restore the arms and forms of the Pontifical Government with public solemnity, and place in office the men who were its devoted adherents. The Ambassadors of France, in the meantime, were urgent that the Pope should publish a Manifesto of a moderate and mild, if not of a liberal, Government; but the Pope, who, prior to the taking of Rome, had constantly replied to similar requests by saying that the respect due to his own dignity and authority would not allow him to take any

steps which the world at large might impute to the foreigners who were counselling and assisting him, answered that he could not publish a Manifesto for his people, until the French had completely restored his Government in the city now occupied by their army. "It would not appear," he said, "the spontaneous provision of a free and independent Sovereign, but a condition imposed by his protectors; let them complete their work first, and he would speak afterwards; let them destroy all the relics of the Revolution, for it was quite time to do so; let them restore the Papal Government in reality, and then the Pope would do his part, as became a Pope." The French, impatient to get him back to Rome, and fearful lest he might throw himself into the arms of the Austrians, thought of nothing now but how to please him and the Court, which was already raising its head to the skies, and aiming at absolute dominion in its heart. The Parisian Government had undertaken the task of conquering Rome for two purposes. One was to hinder the influence of Austria from preponderating throughout the whole of Italy, and to find means for enabling the counsels, or, as they say, the influence, of France in some degree to prevail; the other to moderate the return of the past system, and to establish a form of government which might restore the people to tranquillity. If France had, from the beginning, persevered in carrying out both these objects with sagacity, she would either have succeeded or she would, at least, have secured her own reputation and dignity. But that required patience, modesty, and prudence,

qualities in which the French are especially deficient, for they are always impatient to cut all difficulties with the sword, and finish in hot haste deeds which time alone can bring to completion. Before consenting to the Roman crusade, the French Government (and here it would have had England on its side, if not its associate) might have demanded that the terms of the restoration should be agreed upon. In that case, neither Austria, Spain, nor Naples would have been able to attempt or carry out any violent measures against the will of France. Having landed at Cività Vecchia without any stipulation, and made the other invaders understand, as indeed they did, that they were determined not to be interfered with in the taking of Rome, the French might have warned the Court at Gaeta that they would not retake Rome for the Pope, unless honourable and moderate conditions of government were first conceded. I know well that the Papal Court would not have easily yielded; perhaps, indeed, it would have raised a noise in the world, certainly it would have procrastinated obstinately, according to its wont; but if the French in their turn had also procrastinated obstinately, they would at last have triumphed over the obstinacy of the Court, for they had arms, and against arms complaints are of no avail, and the other crusaders did not wish, nor had they the power, to make war against France, merely to please the clergy. Instead of this, the French wanted to hurry on too fast: "To Rome! to Rome!" they cried; "when we are at Rome, the Pope-excellent man that he is-will yield to our wishes from gratitude; he will be benevolent to

the people from his love of justice, and humane and liberal for conscience sake; and if he should yield, in spite of us, to the arts of his counsellors, we shall still be masters of Rome." So they went to Rome; and that which, in their opinion, was to be a triumph over Austria, over Naples and Gaeta, turned out to be a defeat for France. And so it ought to have been; for as they had conquered Rome for the Pope, they were obliged to give it up to the Pope-and as he wanted to have uncontrolled power over it, it was necessary to restore it to him at his pleasure, unless it pleased France to recommence the Revolution, which she neither wished nor could. In short, the French having brought themselves, by their own mistakes, under the necessity of either offending against the sovereignty of the Pope to please the people, and secure the preservation of their own dignity, or of oppressing the people and giving themselves a bad name in order to please the Pope, the triumph of the Gaetan Court was secured.

It was already known in Rome that the Pontifical Government would be restored in its integrity; the Speranza dell' Epoca, a journal which had demanded the restitution of the Statute, was condemned to silence; all liberal writings prohibited; priests and monks and their followers went about seeking suffrages, woe to those who gave or asked for liberal votes. French Generals and French Commissioners seemed turned into puppets of the priests; a long robe, a little silk mantle, a hood, threw them into ecstacies; there were bowings and scrapings and grimaces without