are the most populous, the most energetic, and the most interesting in the country, will not hear the whistle of the locomotive and the rush of the train for a long time to come.  The nation loudly demands railways.  The lay proprietors, instead of absurdly asking fancy prices for their land, eagerly offer it to companies.  The convents alone raise barricades, as if they thought the devil was trying to break in at their gates.  The erection of a railway station in Rome gave rise to some comical difficulties.  Our unfortunate engineers were utterly at a loss for the means of effecting an opening.  On all sides the way was blocked up by obstructive friars.  Black friars—­white friars—­grey friars—­and brown friars.  They began with the Lazarists.  The Holy Father personally came to their rescue.  “Ah, Mr. Engineer, have mercy on my poor Lazarists!  The good souls are given to prayer and meditation; and your locomotives do make such a hideous din!” So Mr. Engineer is fain to try the neighbouring convent.  New difficulties there.  The next attack is made upon a little nunnery founded by the Princess de Bauffremont.  But I have neither time nor space for episodical details.  It suffices for our purpose to state that the construction of railways will be a terribly long-winded affair, and that in the meantime trade languishes for want of crossroads.  The budget of public works is devoted to the repair of churches, and the building of basilicas.  Nearly half-a-million sterling has already been sunk in the erection of a very grey and very ugly edifice on the Ostia road.[15] As much more will be required to finish it, and the commerce of the country will be none the better.

Half a million sterling!  Why the entire capital of the bank of Rome is but L400,000; and when merchants go there to have their bills discounted, they can get no money.  They are obliged to apply to usurers and monopolists, and the governor of the bank is one.  Rome has an Exchange.  I discovered its existence by mere chance, in turning over a Roman almanack.  This public establishment opens once a week, a fact which gives some idea of the amount of business transacted there.

If trade and manufactures offer but small resources to the subjects of his Holiness, they fortunately find some compensation in agriculture.  The natural fertility of the soil, and the stubborn industry of those who cultivate it, will always suffice to keep the nation from starvation.  While it pays away a million sterling annually for foreign manufactures, the surplus of its agricultural produce brings back some L800,000.  Hemp and corn, oil and wool, wine, silk, and cattle, form its substantial wealth.

How do we find the Government acting in this respect?  Its duties are very simple, and may be summed up in three words,—­protection, assistance, and encouragement.