Under a secular government the city would be far more lively and, in many respects, more pleasant for strangers.

An enterprising vigorous rule could probably do much to check the malaria, to bring the Campagna into cultivation, to render the Tiber navigable, to promote roads and railways, and to develop the internal resources of the Roman States.

The gain accruing from these reforms and improvements would, in Roman estimation, far outweigh any possible loss in the number of visitors, or from the absence of the Papal court.

Moreover, whether rightly or wrongly, all Romans entertain an unshakeable conviction that in an united Italian kingdom, Rome must ultimately be the chief, if not the sole capital of Italy.
These reasons, which rest on abstract considerations, naturally affect only the educated classes who are also biassed by their political predilections.

The small trading and commercial classes are, on somewhat different grounds, equally dissatisfied with the present state of things.
The one boon they desire, is a settled government and the end of this ruinous uncertainty.