Of course if anybody
gains it is the priesthood. If the Pope were removed from Rome, or if a
lay government were established (the two hypotheses are practically
identical), the number of the Clergy would undoubtedly be much
diminished. A large portion of the convents and clerical endowments
would be suppressed, and the present generation of priests would be heavy
sufferers. This result is inevitable. Under no free government would or
could a city of 170,000 inhabitants support 10,000 unproductive persons
out of the common funds; for this is substantially the case at Rome in
the present day. Every sixteen lay citizens, men, women, and children,
support out of their labour a priest between them. The Papal question
with the Roman priesthood is thus a question of daily bread, and it is
surely no want of charity to suppose that the material aspect influences
their minds quite as much as the spiritual. Still even with regard to
the priests there are two sides to the question. The system of political
and social government inseparable from the Papacy, which closes up almost
every trade and profession, drives vast numbers into the priesthood for
want of any other occupation. The supply of priests is, in consequence,
far greater than the demand, and, as the laws of political economy hold
good even in the Papal States, priest labour is miserably underpaid.
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