Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-03-07
Rome Under the New Government.

Rome Under the New Government.
The London Timess correspondent
at Rome thus describes the change in
the appearance of that city since the
temporal power of the Pope was over
thrown:
"The majority of former visitors to
Rome who return hither for the first
time since the italian capital was last
transferred expect more striking con-
trast with what it formerly was than
they really find. Still. the change is
great. In the especially foreign quar-
ter of Rome it is naturally the least
remarkable. The Corso is far more
crowded and bustling than of old, even
at seasons and hours when it used to be
empty. IT is also being cleane.l up,
and is gaining much by the purifying
process. Numbers of the houses
have had their fronts repaired
and painted, and others are
now undergoing the same improve
ment. Dirt, battered Easements, and
broken plaster, with the bricks peeping
out through the holes, do not consti-
tute antiquity or picturesqueness, and
grumblers at what is going on ignore
the fact that most of the houses thus
treated are of modern date, and can lay
NO claim either to external beauty or
to archaeological interest. One misses
the numbering carriages Of the cardi-
mails and their demure black horses, but
those holy vehicles are much more than
replaced, at least in number and out
ward show, by the equipages of pro-
fame in-comers from Florence. One is
struck by the change of uniform, and
at first almost startled to meet bersao-
lieri instead of those Pontifcal
Zouaves of which the French portion
fought so valiantly and poured out
their blood so freely in the recent cam
paigns in their own land. The clerical
element in the population is manifestly
smaller, and is less prone than formerly
to take tho crown of the causeway. Bnt
one still frequently meets those strings
of young churchmen, in long gowns and
queer brimmed hats, some all red, some
black, and others entirely in white,
which have always been q feature OF
the Roman streets. The Italians seem
to look with profound indifference on
whatever recalls the papal government,
and thus military officers in the Pope'a
service have been known to pass
through the streets in uniform unmo.
Tested and almost unnoticed. Upon
the Pincian, if one strolls thither one
of the bright mild afternoons We have
lately enjoyed, it is rather startling to
encounter Victor Emmanuel's bluff fea-
lures, and to see Prince Humbert's
phseton among the crowd of car
nages. Perhaps the greatest change
in Rome is observable only by those
who knew Florence we'll as capital Of
Italy, who now meet here 80 many old
familiar faces of persons who could
hardly have ventured hither two years
ago. Then, after midday, at Monte
Citorio and in its neighborhood, around
the building formerly the headquarters
of the papal police, it seems strange to
meet the habitual frequenters Of the
Palazzo Vecchio, members of the Ital.
ian Parliament, whom one last saw on
the Piazza della Signoria at Florence.
To sum up, there is more general move.
ment in Rome, moro people, more car
rlages, more life and activity; new
shops have come here from Florence
and Turin; with many things the city
seems bettar supplied with than O.
y0re; more theatres are open, anG
managers are no longer forced to re
name their phys and operas, and some
times to spoil them by ridiculou,
alterations before their performance
is allowed the population OF Rome n.
longer seems entirely composed O
priests and beggars, foreign visitor
and foreign soldiers."