are quagmires when they do not consist
of pointed stones. I was struck by the paucity of the children and the
absence of new houses. The population of Normandy is diminishing.

We conversed on the subject of Italy.

'If we are in Rome next winter,' I asked, 'shall we find the French
there?'

'I think not,' said Ampere; 'I think that you will find only the
Piedmontese.

'Every day that Louis Napoleon holds Rome is a day of danger to him, a
danger slight perhaps now, but serious if the occupation be prolonged.
The Anti-papal party, and it includes almost all that are liberal and all
that are energetic, are willing to give him time, but not an indefinite
time. They are quiet only because they trust him. He is a magician who
has sold himself to the Devil. The Devil is patient, but he will not be
cheated. The Carbonari will support Louis Napoleon as long as he is doing
their work, and will allow him to do it in his own way and to take his
own time, as long as they believe he is doing it. But woe to him if they
believe that he is deceiving them. I suspect that they are becoming
impatient, and I suspect too, that he is becoming impatient. This quarrel
between Merode and Goyon is significative. I do not believe that Goyon
used the words imputed to him. We shall probably keep Civita Vecchia, but
we shall give up Rome to the Piedmontese.'

'And will the Pope,' I asked, 'remain?'

'Not this Pope,' said Ampere, 'but his successor. Nor do I see the great
evil of the absence of the Pope from Rome. Popes have often been absent
before, sometimes for long periods.'

'Most of my French friends,' I said, 'are opposed to Italian Unity as
mischievous to France.'

'I do not believe,' he answered, 'in the submission of Naples to this
Piedmontese dynasty, but I shall be delighted to see all Italy north of
the Neapolitan territory united.

'I do not think that we have anything to fear from the kingdom of Italy.
It is as likely to be our friend as to be our enemy. But the Neapolitans,
even if left to themselves, would not willingly give up their
independence, and _Celui-ci_ is trying to prevent their doing so.'

'What do _they_ wish,' I asked, 'and what does _he_ wish?'

'I believe,' he answered, 'that _their_ wishes are only negative.

'They do not wish to recall the Bourbons, and they are resolved not to
keep the Piedmontese. _His_ wish I believe to be to put his cousin there.
Prince Napoleon himself refused Tuscany. It is too s