to accumulate a little money, his first thought
has been to place his family beyond the reach of the insults of the
Ghetto. He has realized his little fortune, and has gone to seek
liberty and consideration in some less Catholic country. This accounts
for the fact that the Ghetto was no richer at the accession of Pius
IX. than it was in the worst days of the Middle Ages.

History has made haste to write in letters of gold all the good deeds
of the reigning Pope, and, above all, the enfranchisement of the Jews.

Pius IX. has removed the gates of the Ghetto. He allows the Jews to go
about by night as well as by day, and to live where they like. He has
exempted them from the municipal kick and the 800 scudi which it cost
them. He has closed the little church where these poor people were
catechized every Saturday, against their will, and at their own
expense. His accession may be regarded, then, as an era of deliverance
for the people of Israel who have set up their tents in Rome.

Europe, which sees things from afar, naturally supposes that under so
tolerant a sway as that of Pius IX., Jews have thronged from all parts
of the world into the Papal States. But see how paradoxical a science
is that of statistics. From it we learn that in 1842, under Gregory
XVI., during the captivity of Babylon, the little kingdom of the Pope
contained 12,700 Jews. We further learn that in 1853, in the teeth of
such reforms, such a shower of benefits, such justice, and such
tolerance, the Israelites in the kingdom were reduced to 9,237. In
other words, 3,463 Jews--more than a quarter of the Jewish
population--had withdrawn from the paternal action of the Holy Father.

Either this people is very ungrateful, or we don't know the whole
state of the case.

While I was at Rome, I had secret inquiries on the subject made of two
notables of the Ghetto. When the poor people heard the object I had in
view in my inquiries, they expressed great alarm. "For Heaven's sake
don't pity us!" they cried.

"Let not the outer world learn through your book that we are
unfortunate--that the Pope shows by his acts how bitterly he
regrets the benefits conferred upon us in 1847--that the
Ghetto is closed by doors invisible, but impassable--and
that our condition is worse than ever! All you say in our
favour will turn against us, and that which you intend for
our good will do us infinite harm."

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