CHAPTER XII.
PRIESTLY GOVERNMENT.
If the Pope were merely the head of the Roman Catholic Church; if, limiting his action to the interior of temples, he would renounce the sway over temporal matters about which he knows nothing, his countrymen of Rome, Ancona, and Bologna might govern themselves as people do in London or in Paris.

The administration would be lay, the laws would be lay, the nation would provide for its own wants with its own revenues, as is the custom in all civilized countries.
As for the general expenses of the Roman Catholic worship, which in point of fact no more _specially_ concern the Romans than they do the Champenois, a voluntary contribution made by one hundred and thirty-nine millions of men would amply provide for them.

If each individual among the faithful were to give a halfpenny _per annum_, the head of the Church would have something like L300,000 to spend upon his wax tapers and his incense, his choristers and his sacristans, and the repairs of the basilica of St.Peter's.

No Roman Catholic would think of refusing his quota, because the Holy Father, entirely separated from worldly interests, would not be in a position to offend anybody.

This small tax would, therefore, restore independence to the Romans without diminishing the independence of the Pope.
Unfortunately the Pope is a king.