the well-to-do citizen in uniform who, if the weather looked
threatening, mounted guard with an umbrella. The Holy
Father's army would present a good appearance in any country
in the world; and there are some of your soldiers whom--at a
little distance--I should take for our own."

"Yes," he said,

"their appearance is good enough, and if factions could be
kept down by mere appearances, I should feel tolerably easy.
But I know many things respecting the army that make me very
uncomfortable--and yet I don't know all. I know there is
great difficulty in recruiting not only soldiers, but
officers; that young men of good family scorn to command,
and ploughboys to serve, in our army. I know that more than
one mother would rather see her son at the hulks than with
the regiment. I know that our soldiers, for the most part
drawn from the dregs of the people, have neither confidence
in their comrades, nor respect for their officers, nor
veneration for their colours. You would vainly look to find
among them devotion to their country, fidelity to their
sovereign, and all those high and soldierly virtues which
make a man die at his post. To the greater number the laws
of duty and honour are a dead letter. I know that the
gendarme does not always respect private property. I know
that the factions rely at least much as we ourselves do on
the support of the army. What good is it to us to have
fourteen or fifteen thousand men on foot, and to spend some
millions of scudi annually, if after such efforts and
sacrifices, foreign protection is now more necessary to us
than it was the first day?"

"Monsignore," I replied,

"you place things in the worst light, and you judge the
situation somewhat after the manner of the Prophet Jeremiah.
The Holy Father has several excellent officers, both in the
special corps and in the regiments of the line; and you have
also some good soldiers. Our officers, who are competent
men, render justice to yours, both as regards their
intelligence and their goodwill. If I am astonished at
anything, it is that the pontifical army has made so much
progress as it has in the deplorable conditions in which it
is placed. We can discuss it freely because the whole system
is under examination, and about to be reorganized by