ht not to have the souls of footmen. Give them
a place in the state; throw around their uniform some of the
_prestige_ which is now the exclusive privilege of the
clerical garb."

"Do you know what you are asking for?"

"Nothing but what is absolutely necessary. Remember,
Monsignore, that this army, raised to act in the interior of
the Pontifical States, will serve you less frequently by the
force of its arms, than by the moral authority of its
presence. And pray what authority can it possess in the eyes
of your subjects, if the Government affect to despise it?"

"But, admitting that it obtain all the pay and all the
consideration that you claim for it, still it will remain
open to the remark of the President de Brosses, 'What are
warriors who have never in their lives made war?'"

"I admit it. The consideration accorded by all Frenchmen to
the soldier, takes its source in the idea of the dangers he
has encountered or may encounter. We behold in him a man who
has sacrificed his life beforehand, in engaging to shed
every drop of his blood at a word from his chiefs. If the
little children in our country respectfully salute the
colours--that steeple of the regiment--it is because they
think on the brave fellows who have fallen round it."

"Perhaps, then, you think we ought to send our soldiers to
make war, before employing them as guardians of the peace?"

"It is certain, Monsignore, that whenever one sees an old
Crimean soldier who has strayed into one of the Pope's
foreign regiments, the medal he wears on his breast makes
him look quite a different man from any of his comrades. The
corps of your army which the people has treated with the
greatest respect, is the Pontifical Carabineers, because it
was originally formed of Napoleon's old soldiers."

"My friend, you do not answer my question. Do you require us
to declare war against Europe for the sake of teaching our
gendarmes to keep the peace at home?"

"Monsignore, the government of his Holiness is too prudent
to go in search of adventures. We are no longer in the days
of Julius II., who donned the cuirass, and buckled on the
sword of the flesh, and sprang himself into the breach. But
why should not the Head of the Church do as Pius V., who
sent his sailors with the S