New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-28
BAYARD TAYLOR'S LETTERS.
LIFE IN ROME.

unnecessary. The Papal censors, | should
think, have already enough on Their hands'
and must care little about iDtercepting reports
which are now so easily forwarded in other
ways. Nevertheless, having had one expert
ence of lost correspondence, which taught me
the dreary drudgery of writing the same thing
twice. postponed the saying of certain things
until after my departure.
came to Rome after an absence of more
than eleven years. Considering the changes
which have passed over Italy during that
period, the great curtailment of the States OF
the Church, and the opening of railway COM
munication with Naples, Florence, Ancona, and
Cyta Veccha, was prepared to lind the city
also changed, at least in the physiognomy OK
its modern streets and the temples OF It's peo-
pie. But the chief element upon which tho
Papal Government is based being repression,
there is no evidence, from a surface view, that
ANYTHING is other than it was The material
improvements consist of a small and shabby
railway station behind the baths of Dlocletlan,
new hotel on the site of the QuiriDal, and a
new highway winding up the Janiculan HILL
Travellers are five times as numerous as for
merly. prices are doubled and trebled, and tho
neighborhood of the Piazza di Spagna would
seem to be piece of Paris but for the perma-
nent groups of models on the steps.
Neither the native Romans, with whom
foreigners come in contact, nor the resident
foreigners themselves, care TO investigate very
profoundly the political secrets of Rome-aDd
for an evident reason If one does not mention
the subject, it will probably not be mentioned
to him. High taxes and the CONSUMPTION have
made the kingdom of Italy less popular among
Il. fa aayn.
they do not seem, for that reason, to be any
the better satisfied with the Papal Government.
Last Fall, it was the bitterest disappointment
of Garbaldi and his followers that they were
not seconded by a strong and well-concerted
uprising of the Roman people. The few DIS
turbances which took place within the city
walls were the acts of an unorganHed mob,
and only damaged the cause. 1t must be re-
membered, however that the general impression
throughout Italy was that Garibaldi's move
ment was ill-hmed; what support it received
was owing to loyalty to its leaders, not to any
belief that it could or would succeed. The
seeming apathy of the Roman people must
therefore not be mislnterpreted. 1t was not tho
10000 Papal troops in the city that prevented
rising, but France behind those troops
How the Papal Government feels toward the
people is a question more easily solved. The
comparative quiet of the city during the days
of Monte Rotondo and Montana does not seem
to have changed the suspicious attitude OF the
former No one il now allowed 10 ascend tho
dorAo &c 81 Peters or the tower of the Capt.
toll: whatever be the reason for this, everybody
saws the order was given from the fear that
the Italian tri-color might be some day IN
folded from one of those points. The grand
display of fireworks at the close OF the Easter
festivities was this year, for the first tIme'
transferred from Monte Pincio to San Pietro,
i'm Montorio beyond the Tiber. The author
ties gave as a reason for this unexpected
change that the massive terrace walls of
Monte Pincio might be injured by the concns-
sion of the ascending rockets; but everybody
said, again, tbat the true reason was to pre-
vent a gathering OF people on the Piazza del
Popolo below the hill, there being no space
under San Pietro in MOntoIio where an assem-
blage could take place. THE presence OF lO,otO
or $1,000 troops during the benedictions arbi a
oyJi was explained in the same way.
| was present at these benedictions, and
watched the bearing of the crowd. The foreign
Zouaves manifested q little enthusiasm, but
very few of the native Romans kept snelp
company. Those who knelt were mountaineeis
or shepherds from the Campagna. Here there
was everything to inspire the pe0pie-the
wonderful pillared inclosure, the mighty front
of the church, the PoDtiff, with uplifted arms
pronouncng the benedictOn in voice so ceai
and strong that every word could be dIstin'
euished and then the boom of cannon, anr
the sound of trumpet and drum-yet even !
felt more inclination to shout than the masSc'
of people around me.
No measure could have been more unpopular
than the enlistment of foreign troops for the
service of the Church. Those mongrcl bands
of Swiss, Germans, Irish, English, aud Cana
dams. 20 TO Rome with an amazing sense ol
their Importance and with hopes OF good fare
and easy times, which are soon dispelIed. IL
was curious to read of the solemnites with
which a squad was dispatched from Montreal
and to contrast it with the miserable condition
of their brethren in Rome. What the latter
lack in comfort they make mp in swaggef
Two of them will take the breadth Of
Roman street with a magnificent strut, mp
parenty quite unconscious OF the black looks
| which follow them. Their brutal ar ana ia'h
| of the ordinary forms of courtesy MAKE them
hated by the people. j saw them on Easter
Day roughly pushing and knocking the spec
totors along the line, while a prince of tia
| ,uorIja mobile following, was as kind ana
con,toous in his manner as if each beggar were
| his equal.
great deal was said at the time about the
French soldiers of the Legion d Aniibes, who
were reported to be a choice collection of the
criminals and rOwdies of Southern France. |