All hushed and solemn, as a thought of God Held them suspended,-was I not, that hour, The lady of the world, princess of life, Mistress of feast and favor? Could I touch A rose with my white hand, but it became A moment underneath a cornel-tree, Because I stood there? Could I turn to look With these twain eyes of mine, w weeping fast, Now good for only weeping,-upon man, Angel, or beast, or bird, but each rejoiced Because I looked on him? Alas, alas! And is not this much wo, to cry "alas!" Speaking of joy? And is not this more shame, To have made the wo myself, from all that joy? To have stretched mine hand, and plucked it from the tree, And chosen it for fruit? Nay, is not this Still most despair,-to have halved that bitter fruit, And ruined, so, the sweetest friend I have, Turning the GREATEST to mine enemy? Adam. I will not hear thee speak so. Hearken, Spirits! Our God, who is the enemy of none, With unpermitted and extreme reproach; us, Of sovranty by reason and freewill; Sinning against the province of the Soul To rule the soulless. Reverence her estate; And promise set upon me, that henceforth, Only my gentleness shall make me great, My humbleness exalt me. Awful Spirits, Be witness that I stand in your reproof But one sun's length off from my happi ness Happy, as I have said, to look aroundClear to look up!-And now! I need not speak Ye see me what I am; ye scorn me so,Because ye see me what I have made myself From God's best making! Alas,-peace forgone, Love wronged,-and virtue forfeit, and tears wept Upon all, vainly! Alas, me! alas, Who have undone myself from all that's best, Fairest and sweetest, to this wretchedest, Saddest and most defiled-cast out, cast down What word metes absolute loss? let absolute loss Suffice you for revenge. For 1, who lived Beneath the wings of angels yesterday, Wander to-day beneath the roofless world! I, reigning the earth's empress, yesterday, Put off from me, to-day, your hate with prayers! I, yesterday, who answered the Lord God, Composed and glad, as singing-birds the sun, Might shriek now from our dismal desert, "God," And hear Him make reply, "What is thy need, Thou whom I cursed to-day ?" Eve! I, at last, Grow up betwixt us, as a tree might grow When presently ye shall behold us dead, And pass out from her presence with no For the poor sake of our humility, words. Eve. O dearest Heart, have patience with my heart,— O Spirits, have patience, 'stead of rever ence, And let me speak; for, not being innocent, It little doth become me to be proud; Breathe out your pardon on our breathless lips, And drop your twilight dews against our brows; And stroking with mild airs, our harmless hands Left empty of all fruit, perceive your love (To be concluded in our next.) OUTLINE SKETCH OF THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF ROME AND THE PAPAL STATES. BY J. H. HEADLEY. THE subject here indicated is one on which few travellers inquire or report, and few readers know anything. Its novelty will, we trust, make the sketch we propose to give in some degree acceptable to the readers of the Democratic Review. Nothing is more common than to overlook the present policy and character of those cities which are linked, by such strong associations, with all that is great in the history of the past. Rome has her ruins-her Forum, Coliseum, Capitoline and Palatine hills; she has also her St. John in Laterano, Maria Maggiore, and St. Peter's, all imposing and full of interest. But Rome has also her schools, her courts of justice, and her politics; and, amid all, her magnificent edifices and great histories. It is not of least interest to look into her secret policy, and see how it goes, in practical matters, with what is left of the Old Empire. state, either spiritual or temporal, and The provinces mentioned above are each subdivided into districts, having their own peculiar local government, subject, however, to these head Legates, or Delegates. The government of the kingdom is an elective hierarchy, the Pope being its head. He is chosen by the College of Cardinals, whose number is limitAuthors differ as to the number of ed to seventy, though it has never yet square miles in the Papal States. The reached, we believe, that number. government generally make the super- When the Pope dies, they are shut up ficial area about 13,000 Italian square in the papal palace on the Quirinal, and miles, of sixty to a degree. The are not allowed to come out or commuRaccolta, or census, of 1833, makes nicate with each other, except to cast the population of this territory 2,732,- their ballots, until the Pope is elected. 736. Poor as the inhabitants are, only A majority of two-thirds is necessary one-third of this territory is cultivated. to a choice, Austria, France and Spain The dominions of the Pope are di- having the power to put each its veto vided into twenty provinces, the larg on one candidate. During the nine est of which is the Comarea of Rome, days between the Pope's death and fuincluding in its limits Tivoli, Rome neral, the chief power is exercised by and Subiaco. The remaining nine- the Cardinal Chamberlain, who can teen are divided into two different coin money during that time in his own classes, called Legations and Delega- name, impressed with his own coat of tions, the former of which are gov- arms, and the way he rattles it off does erned by Cardinals, and the latter by great credit to his business qualities. Prelates. And here, by the way, I During that time the edicts go forth might say, that the office of Prelate is from St. John's, it being the Mother confined to the Papal States, and he Church. may or may not be a bishop. Indeed, it is not at all necessary he should be in holy orders, and if he does not take ordination he goes back into the rank of laymen, when he retires from office. He is a sort of under secretary of The administration of the government is carried on, under the Pope, by a Cardinal Secretary of State, and several boards, or, as they are called, Congregazioni, viz., the Camera Apostolica, or Financial Department, the Cancelleria, the Diatara, and the Penitenziera or Secret Inquisition. The only life office under the Pope, is that of Cardinal Chamberlain, the rest being at the disposal of his Holiness. The Governor of Rome possesses great power, and cannot be deprived of his office. He can, however, be promoted into the College of Cardinals, if he should exercise his power too freely; and thus cease to be governor. If he becomes too fractious, his promotion is certain. He has control over all the Comarea, unlimited power over the police, and can himself inflict capital punishment. It is the Auditor's business to examine the titles of all candidates for bishoprics, and decide cases of appeal to the Pope. The Cancelleria, mentioned above, is the Chancery Court, and the Dataria, a court for ecclesiastical benefices. To these might be added the Buon Governo for the Municipal Police, the Congregazione de Monti for the public debts, and the Sacra Consulta. The Legates and Delegates, who administer the government of the provinces, are assisted by a Council (called Congregazione di Governo), composed of the Mayor of the principal town, called the Gonfaloniere, and from two to four Councillors, designated by the Pope, and holding office two years. The number of Councillors corresponds to the rank of the provinces-the first class having four, the second three, and the third two. These Councillors, however, have but little power. They have no vote on questions, and can only send to the Pope their written objections to a decision of the Delegate. The Delegate has also two Assessors, who are judges in civil cases, in the principal towns, but they must not be natives of the province. So, also, eleven of the Delegations are cut up into districts, each ruled by a Governor, who cannot be a native of the province, and who is subject to the Delegate. These Governors sit as judges in certain civil and criminal cases in the districts. These districts are again divided into communes, with their Council, corresponding to our Common Councils, presided over by the town Gonfaloniere, or Mayor, elected out of the Council, and holding his place for two years. He is assisted by Anziani, or Aldermen, from two to six, according to the size of the town, half of whom retire every two years with the Gonfaloniere, or Mayor. This Council assess the rates, &c., and an annual budget is presented to them by the Mayor, which, after it receives their sanction, is submitted to the Delegate, who in his turn sends it to the Buon Governo, which is composed of twelve Cardinals and Prelates, after which it is returned to the commune, and becomes law. The municipal authorities can discharge no account without this formality, and not a dollar can be raised without it, even for local purposes. This is not, perhaps, an ill-balanced system on the whole, and were it not in a tyrannical government, might work well, though slowly. But the difficulty is, one spirit pervades the whole, and the checks on the people are not from the people, but from the Pope, so that there is the semblance of freedom, without its enjoyment. There is no use in legislating, when men are not allowed to legislate except in one way. The veto power of the Pope is, after all, by this very system, extended to the minutest matters. The Pope receives less as a monarch, than most men imagine. The average revenue of the Papal States is less than $10,000,000. It costs simply to collect this sum, about $2,220,000. Then there goes to pay the interest of the public debt $2,547,555. The government and state expenses are nearly $500,000, and about the same amount goes to the Cardinals, Foreign Ministers, &c., to say nothing of hospitals, festivals, &c., &c. The expenses of the Court are about $300,000, of which the Pope gets only a small portion. Many an English bishop is better secured in his pecuniary emoluments than the Pope himself. There is one thing to be taken into consideration, however; the ecclesiastical revenue does not enter at all into the State returns, and its amount is known only to his Holiness, and his advisers. Indeed, we think that the Pope derives very little pecuniary profit from his temporal power; what he has, be it more or less, comes in the shape of church revenue. But what a miserable state of civil and municipal government must a kingdom be in, when it takes more than one-fifth of the entire receipts to collect the revenue! On some of the revenue, the cost of collecting is 60 per cent. on lotteries 69 per cent. The interest of the public debt is nearly 38 per cent. on the whole nett revenue of the kingdom. Part of this interest is paid at Milan, the rest at Paris for French loans. The Papal navy consists of two steamers, and a few gun brigs, and the standing army is only about 14,000 men, which constitute no effective force, either for offence or defence. The King of Sardinia alone, has a standing army of 80,000. His Holiness leans on Austria in all belligerent matters, and although it is contrary to a Papal decree that any foreign army should quarter in the kingdom, Austria keeps a garrison in Ferrara. Without this constant overshadowing of the Austrian army, Italy would be convulsed in three months by her internal agitations. Justice is administered on the Canon law, and the laws of the "Corpus Juris." The Pope appoints the Judges, who must be 30 years of age, doctors of law, and five years practising advo cates. We have noticed before that the Governor of a country district has jurisdiction over both civil and criminal cases, of a minor character; in civil cases for any sum up to $300, in criminal cases, for slight offences; though his decisions can be appealed from. In the large towns, small offences, as we have already remarked before, are decided upon by the assessors of the delegate. In every province there is a court, called the Collegiate Court, having jurisdiction over the whole province, both in civil and criminal cases. This court is composed of the delegate of the province, his two assessors, a judge, and a member of the common council. All appeals from the local governors and assessors, are carried to this court; but its decisions are not final. The provinces have three courts of appeal from the Collegiate Court; one at Bologna, another at Macerata, and a third the Segnatura of Rome. If, on appeal, the first decision be sustained, the thing is settled for ever; but, if it is reversed, then the case is carried to the Segnatura, whose business it is to decide whether further prosecution may or may not be permitted. If it be decided that the suit may still be prosecuted, it goes into the Sacra Ruota, formerly the Supreme Court of Christendom, on whose decisions the civilized world waited with awe and deference. Probably no court of the world has ever had such sway, and commanded such respect, as this Sacra Ruota. It still overshadows the Papal States, and extends its influence into the Catholic countries of Europe. It is composed of twelve prelates. Six of these are appointed by the popethe other six by different kingdoms of Europe. France appoints one, Spain two, Germany and Milan each of them one, and Tuscany and Perugia alternately the remaining member. This court gives the reasons of its decisions, which can be reviewed by itself, or carried to the Supreme Court' of the Camera Apostolica. No great cause is considered settled until two judgments, agreeing with each other, have been pronounced upon it, that is, either a second judgment on review by the Sacra Ruota, or judgment by the Camera Apostolica. Before all this process is gone through with, death often pronounces sentence on the poor prosecutor himself. Thus a case which the government may not care to have acted on at all, can be as effectually laid to rest in the very heart of its magnificent courts, as the most despotic king could wish. In criminal cases, the depositions are written down, and the whole cause carried on and completed with closed doors. Government provides a sort of attorney-general, whose services the accused can always command. He is appointed by the Pope, and supported by a salary, and called the Avvocato dei Poveri (advocate of the poor). This would not be a bad plan for us to adopt. An attorney-general to defend the poor, rather than one to accuse them, would, we think, better subserve the ends of justice. In the Segnatura and Sacra Ruota, the advocates are compelled to address the court in Latin, a practice certainly tending to secure short speeches, and allow very little rhetoric. This system, faulty as it is, could be borne with, were it not that in all criminal offences, the suspected person may be imprisoned merely on suspicion, ad indefinitum. The accused may languish his life away, without the power of bringing his case to trial. This gives to those exercising authority the power of shutting up in prison an ene my, or any humble individual that stands in their way, without answering for it to any earthly tribunal. Under such a system, there can be no end or limits to the injustice that may be practised. The poor are perfectly in the power of the public officers, to be used, frightened, or imprisoned, as they like. What makes it still worse is, that men are imprisoned on the slightest offences, while bail is never allowed. This keeps the prisons choked with victims, and the innocent man is more likely to stay there than the guilty, for his accuser will not be inclined to risk his character, or expose his tyranny, by allowing the man he has injured to appear in his own defence. It is a burning disgrace to the administration of the Papal States, that this injustice is allowed to exist. The practical results of so vile a system are such as one would expect. It is estimated that 6000 are imprisoned in the Papal States every year, which is about one to every four hundred and fifty-five of the entire population. Crime, or unjust imprisonment, must be frequent, to have one out of every five hundred and fifty see the inside of a prison annually. In addition to the Courts we have mentioned, are the Ecclesiastical Courts, whose duty it is to decide on all matters that come under the jurisdiction of the church. The chief Ecclesiastical Court is the Penitenziera, or Secret Inquisition, composed of thirteen Cardinals, one acting as President, and a prelate acting as assessor. No advocate is allowed here, and no appeal granted. We have extended this article so much farther than we anticipated, that we can give but a word to the subject of Education. The educational system of the Papal States is divided into three parts; Universities, Bishops' schools, and common schools. The character of the Universities is well known; the Bishops' schools answer somewhat in rank to our academies, and the parish schools are similar to our own, except that the education is chiefly religious. The Government furnishes the means of education to about one in fifty of the entire population. About three-fourths of the children of Rome receive gratuitous instruction; and there are 372 common schools in the city, containing in all 14,000 scholars. Parish priests are the teachers, and corporeal punishment is strictly forbidden. There is no provision for educating the females. Those of the higher classes go into the convents, while the poor are taught in some of the charitable institutions, called Conservatori. Education is in a low state, and the ignorance of the poor most deplorable. In the above article we have had no reference to the Catholic religion, but have spoken of the Pope's dominions as a political State; giving simply an outline of its civil and municipal institutions, and the manner in which the government is carried on. WORK. BY ELIZABETH B. BARRETT. WHAT are we set on earth for? Say, to toil- From thy hands, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer, |
