mix up with the people there,
it might be possible for their descendants in the course of time to
amount to something.

"I don't see any hope except perhaps in one plan, which would be no
doubt impossible for these lazy and dreamy Italians to carry out.
It is this: Let this poor, brokendown, bankrupt Government make an
inventory of its whole stock of jewels, gold, gems, pictures, and
statues. I understand that the nobility throughout Europe would
be willing to pay immense sums of money for these ornaments. If they
are fools enough to do so, then in Heaven's name let them have the
chance. Clear out the whole stock of rubbish, and let the hard cash
come in to replace it. That would be a good beginning, with something
tangible to start from. I am told that the ornaments of St. Peter's
Cathedral cost ever so many millions of dollars. In the name of
goodness why not sell out the stock and realize instead of issuing
those ragged notes for twenty-five cents, which circulate among
the people here at a discount of about seventy-five per cent?

"Then let them run a railroad north to Florence and south to Naples.
It would open up a fine tract of county which is capable of growing
grain; it would tap the great olive-growing districts, and originate
a vast trade of oil, wine, and dried fruits.

"The country around Rome is uninhabited, but not barren. It is sickly
in summer-time, but if there was a population on it who would
cultivate it property I calculate the malaria would vanish, just as
the fever and ague do from many Western districts in our country by
the same agencies. I calculate that region could be made one of the
most fertile on this round earth if occupied by an industrious class
of emigrants.

"But there is a large space inside the walls of the city which could
be turned to the best of purposes.

"The place which used to be the Roman Forum is exactly calculated
to be the terminus of the railroad which I have suggested. A
commodious depot could be made, and the door-way might be worked up
out of the arch of Titus, which now stands blocking up the way, and
is of no earthly use.

"The amount of crumbling stones and old mined walls that they
leave about this quarter of the city is astonishing. It ought not
to be so.

"What the Government ought to do after being put in funds by the
process mentioned above is this:

"The Government ought to tear down all those unsightly heaps of
stone and erect factories and indu