Some murmurs of dissent were drowned in cries of "Go on!" "Speak!"

"Silence!"

"Foremost and grandest of the teachings of Christ are two inseparable

truths--the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. But in Italy,

as elsewhere, the people are starved that king may contend with king,

and when we appeal to the Pope to protest in the name of the Prince of

Peace, he remembers his temporalities and passes on!"

At these words the emotion of the crowd broke into loud shouts of

approval, with which some groans were mingled.

Roma had turned her face aside from the speaker, and her profile was

changed--the gay, sprightly, airy, radiant look had given way to a

serious, almost a melancholy expression.

"We have two sovereigns in Rome, brothers, a great State and a great

Church, with a perishing people. We have soldiers enough to kill us,

priests enough to tell us how to die, but no one to show us how to

live."

"Corruption! Corruption!"

"Corruption indeed, brothers; and who is there among us to whom the

corruptions of our rulers are unknown? Who cannot point to the wars made

that should not have been made? to the banks broken that should not have

broken? And who in Rome cannot point to the Ministers who allow their

mistresses to meddle in public affairs and enrich themselves by the ruin

of all around?"

The little Princess on the balcony was twisting about.

"What! Are you deserting us, Roma?"

And Roma answered from within the house, in a voice that sounded strange

and muffled: "It was cold on the balcony, I think."

The little Princess laughed a bitter laugh, and David Rossi heard it and

misunderstood it, and his nostrils quivered like the nostrils of a

horse, and when he spoke again his voice shook with passion.

"Who has not seen the splendid equipages of these privileged ones of

fortune--their gorgeous liveries of scarlet and gold--emblems of the

acid which is eating into the public organs? Has Providence raised this

country from the dead only to be dizzied in a whirlpool of scandal,

hypocrisy, and fraud--only to fall a prey to an infamous traffic without

a name between high officials of low desires and women whose reputations

are long since lost? It is men and women like these who destroy their

country for their own selfish ends. Very well, let them destroy her; but

before they do so, let them hear what one of her children says: The

Government you are building up on the whitened bones of the people shall

be overthrown--the King who countenances you, and the Pope who will not

condemn you, shall be overthrown, and then--and not till then--will the

nation be free."




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