'Leave the matter to me,' said he, adding, 'the officials must be recompensed, you know.' That of course; and, to be reasonable, he inquired if I would give three dollars, for which sum he would guarantee their safety. I consented to this in preference to losing them, or being obliged to send them out of the country. Notwithstanding the agent's assurance, I felt naturally anxious at the barefaced transaction, which was coolly gone about. When the trunk should have been examined, the attention of the officials was voluntarily directed to some other article, while the agent's porters turned the trunk upside down, chalked it, and replied to the query, that it had been examined, and was not even opened, which the officials well knew, and for the consideration of three dollars they betrayed trust. The trunk might have contained jewellery, or even _screw-nails_,--both pay a high duty. The latter especially, being made at Tivoli, are prohibited, or admitted at the prohibitive duty of twenty-five baiocchi the Roman pound,--sufficient to illustrate what might have been the result of this transaction in a mercantile point of view, not to speak of the opportunity afforded for introducing the _Bible_. The officials are all indifferently remunerated, and thus do business for themselves at the cost of the Government. They are also very incapable for the discharge of their duty. For example, the _Governor_ of the custom-house seriously asked me, preparatory to making a declaration for a _steam-boiler_, whether it was made of _wood_ or of _iron_. The boiler was not before him; but the idea of a steam-boiler of wood from the lips of the Governor of a custom-house was astounding." "Books of all kinds are taken to the land custom-house, where the _Revisore_ is stationed for books alone. The _Revisore_ speaks English tolerably well." CHAPTER XXV. INFLUENCE OF ROMANISM ON TRADE--(CONTINUED). Why does the Church systematically discourage Trade?--Railways--Much needed--Church opposes them--Could not a man take a journey of twenty or two hundred miles and be a good Catholic?--Motion is Liberty--Motion contributed to overthrow the Serfdom of the Middle Ages--Popes understand the connection between Motion and Liberty--Romans chained to the Soil--Gregory XVI. and the Iron-bridge--Gas in Rome--Spread of the Malaria--The Pontine Marshes--Neglect of Soil--Number of Paupers--How the Church prevents the Cultivation of the Campagna--Church Lands in England and Scotland--The price which Italy pays for the Papacy--Whether would the old Roman Woman or an old Scotch Woman make the better Ruler?