A government worthy of the name would make something of this ignorant
force, first taming, and then directing it. The man who stabs his
fellow in a wineshop might prove a good soldier on a battle-field. But
we are in the capital of the Pope. The Trasteverini neither attack God
nor the Government; they meddle neither with theology nor politics; no
more is asked of them. And in token of its appreciation of their good
conduct, a paternal administration allows them to cut one another's
throats _ad libitum_.
Neither the people of the Trastevere nor of the Monti give the least
sign of political existence, whereat the Cardinals rub their hands,
and congratulate themselves upon having kept so many men in profound
ignorance of all their rights. I am not quite certain that the theory
is a sound one. Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees
of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers into the
Pope's capital. An honest, mild, enlightened plebeian would reflect
twice before enrolling himself. He would weigh the pros and the cons,
and balance for a long time between the vices of the government, and
the dangers of revolution. But the mob of the Monti would take fire
like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, while the
Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the Papal despotism were
represented to them as an attack upon their honour. It would be better
to have in these plebeians foes capable of reasoning.
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