ible
enough to a Roman, appeared to a stranger but a step above absolute
stagnation. I never could get over my astonishment at our utter
ignorance of what went on around and amongst us. About the state of
affairs in our two neighbouring countries, whether in free Tuscany or in
despotic Naples, we were entirely in the dark. What little news we got
was derived from chance reports of stray travellers, or from the French
and English newspapers. The _Giornale di Roma_ gave us now and then a
damnatory paragraph about the Tuscan Government, from which, out of a
mass of vituperation, we could pick up an odd fact or so; but during the
first four months of this year, throughout which period I perused the
_Giornale_ pretty carefully, I do not remember to have seen a single
allusion, good, bad or indifferent, to the kingdom of Naples. The Tuscan
papers were naturally enough forbidden, as are almost all the journals of
the free Italian states, and could only be obtained by private hands. The
Neapolitan Gazette, the _Monitore del Regno delle Due Sicilie_, was never
seen by any chance, though I cannot suppose its circulation was directly
interdicted. The communication between Rome and Naples was, and is,
scanty in the extreme. During the last ten years, about ten miles of the
Pio-Centrale Railroad, the Neapolitan line, have been opened. At present
beyond Albano the works are entirely at a stand-still, and there are
still some thirty miles of line, between Rome and the frontier, of which
hardly a sod has been turned. The Civita Vecchia line has only been
completed in consequence of the pressure of the French authorities, and
the Ancona-Florence line is still in _statu quo_. Three times a week
there are diligences between Rome and Naples. The local steam-boats,
which used to run along the coast from Porto d'Anzio to the Neapolitan
capital have been given up, and in fact there is no ready means of
transit, save by the foreign steamers, which touch at Civita Vecchia.
Whether purposely or not, everything has been done to check free
communication between the Papal and Neapolitan States, and in this
respect the Government has been eminently successful. The two countries
are totally distinct. A Neapolitan is a _forestiere_ in Rome, and _vice
versa_. The _divide et impera_ has been the motto of all the petty
Italian despots and of the Papacy in particular, and hitherto has proved
successful. Even now, as far as I could see and le