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It is a reasonable tax. Don Francesco, who
had notions of political economy and knew something of English life,
having preached to thousands of Catholic miners in Wales and confessed
hundreds of Catholic ladies in Mayfair--an occupation in which he might
still be engaged, but for a little CONTRETEMPS which brought him into
collision with the Jesuits of Mount Street--Don Francesco, who could
voice the Southerner's one-sided point of view, often adverted to this
match-tax when proving the superiority of his country's administrative
methods over those of England. This is what he would say to his
intimate friends:
"The Russian has convictions but no principles. The Englishman has
principles but no convictions--cast-iron principles, which save him the
trouble of thinking out anything for himself. This is as much as anyone
can ever hope to grasp concerning this lymphatic, unimaginative race.
They obey the laws--a criminal requires imagination. They never start a
respectable revolution--you cannot revolt without imagination.


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