I am not quite certain that the theory is a sound one.

Suppose, for example, that the democratic committees of London and Leghorn were to send a few recruiting officers into the Pope's capital.

An honest, mild, enlightened plebeian would reflect twice before enrolling himself.

He would weigh the pros and the cons, and balance for a long time between the vices of the government, and the dangers of revolution.

But the mob of the Monti would take fire like a heap of straw at the mere prospect of a scramble, while the Trastevere savages would rise to a man, if the Papal despotism were represented to them as an attack upon their honour.