26 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



unfavourable circumstances in which the Government 

 started upon its career. 



"It followed upon a long anarchy inherent in the 

 organisation of the Government which preceded it. 

 The agitations which are inseparable from all great 

 transformations, and which were at the same time 

 fomented by the crisis of the Italian question and by 

 the efforts of the retrograde party, had thrown it into 

 a state of feverish excitement which rendered it acces- 

 sible to any bold attempt, to any appeal to interests 

 and passions. We had no army, no repressive powers. 

 As a consequence of previous waste our finances were 

 impoverished, not to say exhausted. The religious 

 question, in the hands of able and interested persons, 

 was available as a pretext to work upon the feelings 

 of a population of gentle instincts and peaceful aspira- 

 tions, but not very enlightened. 



"And yet no sooner had the Eepublican principle 

 been proclaimed than order prevailed. The Papal 

 Government does not tell us anything about its insur- 

 rections : there has not been one under the Republic. 

 The assassination of M. Eossi a deplorable but an 

 isolated event, an individual act reproved and con- 

 demned by us all, provoked it may be by an imprudent 

 attitude, and the source of which has never been traced 

 was followed by the most perfect order. 



" The financial crisis reached its highest pitch ; there 

 was a brief period during which the paper money 

 of the Eepublic was reduced, through dishonourable 



