Mendicity is all the more flourishing, as is apparent to every one.

From 1827 to 1858, the subjects of the Holy Father paid L1,600,000 in mischievous alms, among the injurious effects of which, the principal was to deprive labour of the hands it required.

The Cardinal who presides over the Commission takes L2,400 a year for his private charities.
L16,000 defrays poorly enough the cost of the public education, which, moreover, is wholly in the hands of the clergy.

Add this moderate sum, and the L80,000 devoted to the administration of justice, to a part of the L100,000 spent on public works, and you have all that can fairly be set down as money spent in the service of the nation.

The remainder is of no use but to the Government,--in other words, to a parcel of priests.
The Pope and the partners of his power must be indifferent financiers, when, after spending such a pittance on the nation, they contrive to wind up every year with a deficit.