or
which he gave security to a much larger amount.

But the order by which the Minister gave him permission to draw from
the coffers of the Monte di Pieta was so loosely drawn up, that he was
enabled to take, without any fresh authority, a trifle of something
like L106,000. This he took between the 12th of April, 1854, and the
1st of December 1856, a period of nineteen months and a half.

There was no concealment in the transaction; it certainly was
irregular, but it was not clandestine. Campana paid himself the
interest of the money he had lent himself. In 1856 he was paternally
reprimanded. He received a gentle rap over the knuckles, but there was
not the least idea of tying his hands. He stood well at Court.

The unfortunate man still went on borrowing. They had not even taken
the precaution to close his coffers against himself. Between the 1st
of December, 1856, and the 7th of November, 1857, he took a further
sum of about L103,000. But he gave grand parties; the Cardinals adored
him; testimonies of satisfaction poured in upon him from all sides.

The real truth is that a national pawnbroking establishment is of no
use to the Church, it is only required for the nation. Campana might
have borrowed the very walls of the building, without the Pontifical
Court meddling in the matter.

Unluckily for him, the time came when it answered the purpose of
Antonelli to send him to the galleys. This great statesman had three
objects to gain by such a course. Firstly, he would stop the mouth of
diplomacy, and silence the foreign press, which both charged the Pope
with tolerating an abuse. Secondly, he would humiliate one of those
laymen who take the liberty to rise in the world without wearing
violet hose. Lastly, he should be able to bestow Campana's place upon
one of his brothers, the worthy and interesting Filippo Antonelli.

He took a long time to mature his scheme, and laid his train silently
and secretly. He is not a man to take any step inconsiderately. While
Campana was going and coming, and giving dinners, and buying more
statues, in blissful ignorance of the lowering storm, the Cardinal
negotiated a loan at Rothschild's, made arrangements to cover the
deficit, and instructed the Procuratore Fiscale to draw up an
indictment for peculation.

The accusation fell like a thunderbolt upon the poor Marquis. From his
palace to his prison was but a step. As he entered there, he rubbed
his eyes, and asked himself, ingenuo