Page:Life in the Old World - Vol. II.djvu/304

314 all the Italian States, the States of the church was the most severe in its punishment of the political offenders; but in any case, it seems to me that the greatest responsibility of this falls upon the Pope. It would have become him, as Christ's representative on earth, rather to die than to let thousands of men perish, or be imprisoned for his sake. From this time, 1848, Pio Nino has remained tranquil in the chair of St. Peter, but he is no longer loved, and the belief in him is—past. And what, indeed, has he done to regain it?

When he ascended the pontifical throne, he promised amnesty—and that promise he kept,—organization of the municipal body; representation of the provinces; improvement in education; conventual reform; revision of the laws; railways; increased liberty of the press; a council of ministers; city-guard, and many other liberal institutions. After ten years' government, what of all this has been accomplished? One little railway, that to Frascati;—on the road between Civita Vecchia and Rome, there are still occasional robberies of the diligences;—some few insignificant conventual reforms, as I have