,
it is just possible that in the exercise of a novel right they may
fall into some error; so the Sovereign determines to arrange the
election himself. Then, his Communal Councillors--for they are indeed
_his_--come and present him with a list of candidates for the
Provincial Council. The list is long, in order that the Holy Father
may have scope for his selection. For instance, in the province of
Bologna he chooses eleven names out of one hundred and fifty-six; he
must be unlucky indeed not to be able to pick out eleven men devoted
to him. These eleven Provincial Councillors, in their turn, present
four candidates, out of whom the Pope chooses one. And this is how the
nation is _represented_ in the Financial Council.

Still, with a certain luxury of suspicion, the Holy Father adds to the
list of representatives some men of his own choice, his own caste, and
who are in habits of intimacy with him. The councillors elected by the
nation are eliminated by one-third every two years. The councillors
named directly by the Pope are irremovable.

Verily, if ever constituted body offered guarantees to power, it was
this Council of Finances. And yet, the Pope does not trust to it. He
has given the presidence to a Cardinal, the vice-presidence to a
Prelate; and still he is only half re-assured. A special regulation
places all the councillors under the supreme control of the Cardinal
President. It is he who names the commissioners, organizes the
bureaux, and makes the reports to the Pope. Without his permission no
papers or documents are communicated to the councillors. So true is it
that the reigning caste sees in every layman an enemy.

And the reigning caste is quite right. These poor lay councillors,
selected among the most timid, submissive, and devoted of the Pope's
subjects, could not forget that they were men, citizens, and Italians.
On the day after their installation they manifested a desire to begin
doing their duty, by examining the accounts of the preceding year.
They were told that these accounts were lost. They persisted in their
demands. A search was instituted. A few documents were produced; but
so incomplete that the Council was not able in six years to audit and
pass them.

The advice of the Council of Finances was not taken on the new taxes
decreed between 1849 and 1853. Since 1853, that is to say, since the
Council of Finances has entered upon its functions, the Government has
contracted foreign loans, ins