The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-28
THE ITALIAN CAPITAL.


There is a sort of glamour inseparable
from the popular idea arespecting Rome which,
at first blush seems to justify the selection
OF that city as the future seat of government
for the Kingdom of Italy. The very name
calls up train of recollections and associa-
tions to every mind such as cluster around
and cling to no other city in the world. The
scholar, the artist, the antiquarian, the ira
weller, the enthusiast, each and all alike, has
place in his memory which is, so to speak,
a shrine, whereat he almost worships some
cherished relic of classic or Christian Rome.
And in their choice of a capital it was natural
that the eyes of the King and people of Italy
should turn toward the seven-hilled city with
a fondness no less marked than that which
fills the breast of the cosmopolite. But Rome
itself has drawbacks which must detract from
its attractiyeness as a central seat of govern
ing power.
In the first place, Rome is notoriously in
salubrious as a place of residence. Such has
been the reputation of the city for centuries,
and no lapse of time appears to have wrought
any perceptble change for the better. From
the days of Horace, Cicero, and Livy-in
whose writings may be found illusions to its
unhealthiness-down to the visits of the
most recent traveller, Rome has been uni
formly portrayed as place dangerous alike
to native and foreigner, to resident and
NlSllOr. Lie ubldrld WOulu lueVltaDly prove
a disagreeable, if not a dangerous, draw
back to all comfort and all enjoyment,
in capital whose political attractions
must necessarily soon crowd its streets
and houses with persons for the
most part strangers to the climate, and thus
the more exposed to that terrible fever which
even the oldest resident is continually obliged
to guard against. 1t is the custom to say
that, were the surrounding country put under
H.
This is by no means certain, even if the ex-
pertinent were tried and that any systematic,
thorough trial is likely to be made, nothing
in the history of the country or in the char
acter of the population gives us much assur-
ance. AT all events, it may be deemed proba-
BILE that too many other subjects and enter
prises will occupy the King and his courtiers
for some time to come, to allow of much
attention being paid to the vital questions of
health and life.
The long continued occupancy and control
of Rome by hybrid power, in which the
religious and the secular were in no sense
symmetrically scombined, has contributed to
fasten upon the citizenship "a general condi-
tion of decentralization which cannot augur
well for the engraftment thereupon of
royal court and the unbridled secularities
(not to say corruption), belonging to it.
Two or three generations must pass way be-
fore the old traditions and long settled
conventionalisms of the "Holy City can
be expected to fade sufficiently for the esta-
blishment there of homogeneous and har-
monious capital. The questions of defense,
commerce, convenience of access, incite-
ment to enterprise and progress, and local
sentiment also, naturally have a part in de-
termining the wise selection of permanent
seat of government; and as answered by the
choice of Rome, the response cannot seem
wholly satisfactory to thoughtful men.