THE ROMAN STATE, FROM 1815 TO 1850. BY LUIGI CARLO FAEINI. TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN BY THE RIGHT HON, W, E. GLADSTONE, M.P. rOK THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFOHI). VOLUME II. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1K51. London : Si'ottiswoodes and Shaw, New-street-Square. CONTENTS THE SECOND VOLUME. BOOK III. FROM THE PROMULGATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE TO THE DEPARTURE OF THE POPE FROM ROME. CHAPTER I. Page Critical Notices of the Fundamental Statute - 1 Demonstrations of public Satisfaction - - 3 Expressions of Pius IX. to the Municipality of Rome - 3 The Jesuits ..--... 4 Proclamation of the Pope - - - - - 4 Acts of the Ministry - - - - .5 Exciting Intelligence - - - - 6 Revolution at Vienna - - - - - 7 Public Agitation - - - - - -7 The Imperial Arms tumultuously pulled down - 7 Organisation of the Army - - - - - 8 Revolution at Milan - - - - 9 In Lombardy - - - - - -11 At Venice - - - - - - 12 Effect of the Tidings of these Revolutions - - -15 Measures taken by the Government - - 1(> The Banishment of the Jesuits - - - 17 Language of the Government Gazette on this Subject - 17 Reflections - - - - - 19 Fresh Proclamation of the Pope - - 2\ Departure of the Force - 22 IV CONTENTS. Page Proclamation of Charles Albert - - - -23 The prevailing Enthusiasm - - - - 24 General Stir in favour of the War of Independence - 24 CHAPTER II. New Position of the Kingdom of Naples - - - 29 Misgivings - - - - - - 29 Disorders - - - - - - -30 Proclamation of the King - - - - - 30 The Volunteers set out with the Princess Belgioioso - 32 The 10th Regiment of the Line sets out - - - 32 Sicily ------- 32 Tuscany - - - - - - -33 Proclamation of the Grand Duke - - - - 35 Modena ------- 36 Excesses of the Police -• - - - - 36 Stir at Bologna - - - - - - 36 The Duke of Modena's Concessions - - - 37 He leaves the Place, as do the Austrians - - 37 The Revolution consummated - - - - 37 Parma - - - - - - -37 The Duke's Autograph Proclamation - - - 38 His Son arrested at Milan - - - - - 39 The Duke cpiits Parma - - - - - 39 And emigrates from Italy - - - - 39 The War in Lombardy - - - - - 40 First Movements of the Army of Piedmont - 40 Action at Goito - - - - - - 41 Monzambano - - - - - -41 The Volunteers at Castelnovo - - - -43 Attempt on Peschiera - - - - - 44 Attempt on Mantua - - - - - 45 Quality and Strength of the Piedmontese Army - - 46 Generous Exertions of Piedmont - - - - 47 CHAPTER HI. Reasons for introducing Remarks on the other Italian States, and on the Events of the War - - 49 Provisional Regulations for the Election of Deputies - 50 CONTENTS. V Page Proceedings of the Ministry - - - -52 The Changes of Public Functionaries - - -52 Nomination of three Lay Presidents - - - 53 Notices and Statistics of the Papal Finances - - 54 The Notes of the Bank of Rome made a legal Tender - 56 Simonetti Minister of Finance - - - - 57 Treasury Bonds - - - - - - 57 The Volunteers - - - - - - 58 Comacchio taken - - - - - - 59 The Fortress of Ferrara - - - - - 59 Murmuring at Durando's Procrastination - - - 60 Orders sent him from Rome - - - 61 Monsignor Corboli Legate to the King's Camp - - 61 His Commission - - - - - -61 Ideas of the Pope and of his Ministers on the Passage of the Troops beyond the Po - - - - - 62 Resolution taken - - - - - - 63 Proclamation of Durando - - - - - 63 The Pope's Displeasure - - - - - 64 Nature, Leanings, and Plans of Pius IX. - - - 67 CHAPTER IV. Difficulties of the Lay Administration - - - 72 The Sovereign - - - - - - 73 The Sacred College - - - - - 73 The Prelacy - - - - - - 74 The Sanfedists - •• - - - - 74 The Lay Functionaries - - - - - 74 Applicants and Duns - - - - - 75 Effects of the War of Independence - - - 76 Mazzini's National Association - - - 77 The Republicans of the Papal States - - .77 The Journals Labaro, Epoca, Contemporaneo - - 77 The Agitators - - - - - .73 Disturbances of April 1 1. - - - - .7;) The Provinces - - - - - so Passage of the Po - - - - - - 82 Fatal Contempt towards the Enemy - - - 83 Ancient Dominions of the Church - - - HI a :f VI CONTENTS. - The Papal Troops on the Way to the Piave - - 85 The Neapolitan Troops in the Roman States - - 86 Attempt on Peschiera - - - - - 86 Battle of Pastrengo - - - - 87 The Volunteers in the Tyrol - - - 90 Happy Anticipations - - - - - 91 The "Walls of the Ghetto, at Rome, knocked clown - 92 CHAPTER V. ^ Erroneous Ideas about Pius IX. - - - 93 Rumours of a Schism in Germany - - - - 94 Perturbation of the Pope - - - - - 94 Piedmont declines to send Deputies for the League to Rome - 97 Embarrassments - - - - - 97 Weight of the Popedom in Italy - - - - 98 Evils resulting from the non-conclusion of the League - 98 Reports about the coming Consistory - - - 99 Opinions of the Ministry upon going to War - - 99 Opinion of Pellegrino Rossi - 100 Unanimous Decision of the Ministry - - - 100 Remonstrance presented by them to the Pope - - 103 Incidents antecedent to the Consistory - - - 105 The Allocution of April 29. - - - - 106 CHAPTER VI. Effect of the Allocution at Rome - - - - 113 Resignation of the Ministry - - - - 113 Agitation there - - - - - -114 The Clubs - - - - - - 114 Negotiations for the Formation of a new Administration - 115 Deputations to the Pope - - - - -115 The Civic Guard - - - - - -116 Perturbation of the Pope - - - - - 116 Idea of his repairing to Milan - - - 1 1 7 Intention of the Clubs - - - - - 118 Fresh Negotiations for forming a Government - - 1 19 Deputations from the Clubs - - - - 119 The Ministry of March 10. restored provisionally - - 119 CONTENTS. VU Page Incessant Commotion - - - - - 120 A Legate dispatched to Charles Albert - - - 121 Proclamation by the Pope - - - - - 122 The Ministry resigns finally - - - - 125 Composition of the Mamiani Administration - - 125 The Provinces - - - - - - 127 Orders to the Presidents - - - - - 127 Bologna - - - - - - - 128 CHAPTER VII. Effects of the Allocution outside the Papal States - - 132 Monsignor Corboli at the Camp - - - - 132 False Accusations - - - - - -133 Plans of the Pope - - - - - - 134 Letter of Cardinal Antonelli - - - - 135 Letter of Pius IX. to the Emperor of Austria ■• - 136 Limited Effect therefrom - - - - 137 Reflections - 137 The Piedmontese Army - - - - 140 Action at Santa Lucia - - - - -141 Movements of Nugent --.-.. 145 Action at Cornuda - 147 Disorder and Want of Discipline consequent on it - - 148 Death and Mutilation of three Prisoners - 150 Ferrari attempts to rally the Force for Action - - 150 Disorder and Want of Discipline aggravated - - 151 Operations of Ferrari and Durando - - - 152 Nugent about Trcviso - - - - - 152 Preachers of Disorder and Republican Orators - - 154 CHAPTER VIIL First Miscarriages of the Mamiani Ministry - - 156 Festivities in Honour of the Pope's Brothers - - 157 Thanks returned to the Pope for his Letter to the Emperor of Austria - - - - - - 158 Mission of Monsignor Morichini to the Emperor - - 158 Language of the Minister Pisseldorf - - - 15!) Arrangement with Charles Albert about the Command of the Pontifical Force ----- 160 A. 4 Vlll CONTENTS. Page Misgivings of the new Foreign Minister Marchetti, about that Arrangement - - - - - 160 The Austrian Ambassador quits Rome - - - 161 The Pope and the Court mistrustful - - - 161 Ideas of Mamiani about the Pope's temporal Authority - 162 His Difficulties - - - - - - 162 Notices of the Consulta - - - - - 163 Nomination of the Council of State, and of the High Council - 165 Election of the Deputies - - - - - 166 Cardinal Soglia President of the Council of Ministers - 167 Acts of the Ministry .._-- 167 Neapolitan Affairs - - - - - 168 The 15th of May at Naples - - - - 171 The King's Proclamation - - - - 176 Eecall of the Neapolitan Troops - - - - 177 Consequences of it - - - - - 178 Exasperation of the public Mind - 180 Tactics of Parties - - - - -181 Their Condition in the Roman States - - - 182 CHAPTER IX. Speech prepared by the Minister for the Opening of the Parliament - - - - - -185 Corrections and Objections made by the Pope - 188 Disagreements ------ 190 The Law upon the Press - - - - - 190 Celebration of the Opening of the Parliament - 191 Conference of the Ministers with the Pope - - 191 The Pope's sharp Language - - - - 192 Cardinal Altieri's Speech in his Name - - - 192 Programme of the Administration ... 193 Its Text - - - - - - - 195 The Pope's Autograph Notes and Corrections - - 202 Praise and Blame, and dangerous Humours, consequent on the Programme ------ 203 Gioberti in Italy ------ 204 Mazzini and his Republicans in Upper Italy - - 204 Gioberti in Rome ------ 208 I lis Language _----_ 209 CONTENTS. • IX Page Charges of the Retrogradists and Sanfedists - - 209 His Proceedings - - - - -211 Judgment upon Gioberti's Journey - - - 212 CHAPTER X. Action of May 20. at Vicenza - - - - 214 Fresh Actions of the 23rd and 24th - - - 215 Application to Charles Albert for Aid - - - 216 The Neapolitan Force counted on- - - -217 Peschiera - - - - - -217 The Siege - - - - - - 218 The Attacks - - - - - - 218 Idea of Radetzki - - - - - - 219 Order of the Piedmontese Army - - - - 219 Movement of Radetzki - 219 Action at Curtatone on May 29. - - - - 220 Action at Colmasino - - - - - 221 Surrender of Peschiera ----- 221 Battle of Goito - - - - - - 223 Consequent Movements of the Austrians and Piedmontese - 226 Plans - 227 Battle of Vicenza, on June 10. - 229 Capitulation of the Papal Troops - 233 Surrender of Padua - 235 Capitulation of Treviso ----- 236 Capitulation of Palmanuova - 236 The Piedmontese at Rivoli and round Verona - - 237 CHAPTER XI. The Officers of the Council of Deputies in Rome, and its Committees _---__ 240 Occurrences of the first Sittings - 241 Effect of the News that Vicenza had capitulated - - 241 Debate in the Council ----- 242 Resolution taken ------ 242 The like in the High Council - - - 243 Anniversary of the Pope's Election - 243 X CONTENTS. Page Complimentary Address of the President of the Chamber of Deputies to the Pope - 243 The Pope's Reply ---._. 244 The Prince of Canino in Parliament ... 244 Questions of Pantaleoni about Venice - 245 Debates ensuing ----._ 246 The High Council ------ 247 Financial Proposals at the Meeting of June 23. - - 247 Debates on the Form of Acts - 248 Debate of the High Council on Secret Voting - - 249 The Journals ----__ 249 Questions between the Pope and Mamiani - 250 Negotiations for the Construction of a New Ministry - 250 Address of the Council of Deputies to the Pope - - 252 The Pope's Reply - - - - - -257 Reflections ------ 259 Address of the High Council to the Pope - 2G0 The Pope's Reply ------ 264 CHAPTER XII. The French Republic ----- 2G6 Its Plans and Acts with reference to Italy - - - 266 Marauding Invasion of Savoy - 266 Ideas of M. de Lamartine ----- 267 His Language ------ 267 Government of Cavaignac ----- 269 Hummelauer's Proposals for a Peace ... 269 Lord Palmerston's Answer - 269 Adverse Opinion in Vienna - - - _ 270 Plans of the French Government - - - - 271 Plan of Bastide - - - - - -271 1'ublic Opinion in Italy adverse to Peace - - - 27 i Strength and Quality of the Piedmontese Army - - 271 Ideas of the King ---... 272 Mantua ------- 272 Order of Battle near Mantua - 272 Movements and Arrangements of the Austrians - - 273 Bava at Oovernolo _ - 273 The two Annies -._-.. 274 CONTENTS. XI Page Action of July 22. - - - - - - 274 Movements of the Austrians - 275 Engagement of the 23rd ----- 275 Engagements of the 24th - 277 Of the 25th - - - - - - 278 Of the 26th - - - - - - 280 Custoza - - - - - - - 281 Retreat upon Goito - - - - - 281 Action at Volta ------ 282 Results --.---.- 283 Proposals for an Armistice - 283 Retreat towards Milan ----- 283 Engagement before Milan ----- 285 Proposal for Capitulation ----- 286 The 5th of August ----- 286 Capitulation ..---_ 287 Fury in Milan - - - - - - 287 The Armistice of Salasco ----- 288 CHAPTER XIII. State of Affairs in Rome - 289 The Provinces ------ 290 Bologna - - - - - - -291 Pellegrino Rossi - - - - - - 291 His fruitless Efforts to construct a Ministry .. - 292 Popular Demonstration at Mamiani's House - - 293 Lichten stein at Ferrara - - - - 293 Commotion at Rome ----- 094 The Pope's Protestation set out - 295 Debate in the Council of Deputies - - - - 296 Address of the Council of Deputies to the Pope - - 297 Address of the High Council - 298 Petition of the Clubs, and Disturbance - - - 300 Debate ------- ;j()() Incidents of it - - - - - - 301 Answer of the Pope to the Speech of the Deputies - - :5()2 His Answer to the High Council - - 302 Public Excitement on receiving the ill News of the Sardinian Army - - - - - 303 Xll CONTENTS. Page Representation of the Deputies to the Pope - - 304 Insults offered to the President Sereni - - - 305 His Resignation and Departure - 305 Proposals of the Council of Deputies - 305 Close of the Mamiani Ministry - 306 Proclamation by the Pope ----- 306 Remarks ------- 307 New Ministry _-_--- 308 Notices of Mamiani's Intentions and Proceedings - - 309 CHAPTER XIV. Condition of the States of Central Italy after the Disasters of the Piedmontese Army - - - - 315 Welden ; his Language and Proceedings - - - 315 Alpi - - - - - - - 316 Protestation of the Pope - - - - - 317 Declaration of the Ministry - - - - 318 Envoys sent to Welden - - - - - 3 1 8 Occupation of Bologna - 320 Action of August 8. - - - - - 320 Stir in the neighbouring Cities and Provinces - - 322 Preparations for Defence ----- 322 The Minister Campello discharged by the Pope - - 322 Proclamation by the Ministry to the Inhabitants of the Papal States - - - - - - 323 Circumstances of Rome - ... - 323 Questions and Proposals in the Council of Deputies - 325 Prorogation of the Parliament ... - 327 Observations on the Deputies ... - 328 On the High Council - 330 State of Bologna, and its Consternation after August 8. - 330 Zambianchi in Romagna - 333 Urgency of the Bolognese Deputies with the Ministry - 33 1 Assassinations at Bologna ----- 335 Its dreadful Condition - 335 Repressive Measures _____ 335 Results - - - - - - - 337 Resignation of the Fabbri Ministry - 340 Formation of the Rossi Ministry - - - 340 CONTENTS. Xll CHAPTER XV. Pago Peschiera ------- 342 Osopo - - - - - - -342 The Volunteers - - - - - - 342 Attempt of Garibaldi ----- 343 Venice ------- 343 The Piedmontese Fleet ; retrospect - 343 Observations .__.-_ 346 Germany ------- 349 France - - - - - - - 350 Policy of France and England - - - - 351 Negotiations for Peace ----- 352 Notices of Naples ------ 354 Of Tuscany ; Leghorn ----- 355 Guerrazzi ------- 356 Notices of Sicily ------ 359 Of Venice - - - - - - - 360 Temper of Piedmont ----- 362 CHAPTER XVI. Rossi's Opponents ------ 363 His Supporters ------ 363 First Proceedings and first Cares of the Administration •• 364 Article by Pellegrino Rossi - 364 His other Proceedings ----- 368 Another Article ------ 369 Notices of the Negotiations for the Italian League - - 371 Mission of Rosmini to Rome - 372 His Plan of a Federative League - 373 His Resignation _-_.-_ 376 His Letter to Gioberti ----- 376 Article of Pellegrino Rossi on the League - - 380 Comment ------- 385 Further Remarks on the Disturbances at Leghorn - 386 Montanelli again at Florence - 386 Montanelli at Leghorn - 386 Montanelli in the Ministry with Guerrazzi - - - 386 Notices of the Congress at Turin for a Federation - - 386 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. Page Rosmini in Rome ------ 388 Some of his Opinions objected to - - - - 388 His Victory 389 His Nomination to the Congregations of the Index and of the Holy Office - - - - - - 389 He is named Cardinal - 389 Measures taken by the Rossi Ministry - 390 Rossi chosen Deputy for Bologna - - - - 392 Opposition to Rossi ----- 392 Zucchi at Rome ------ 393 111 Temper - - - - - - 393 Outbreak against the Jews ... - 394 Proclamation by Rossi - 394 Canino and Sterbini in Rome - 396 Garibaldi at Bologna ----- 396 Zucchi Commissioner there - 396 His Proceedings ------ 397 Exasperation in Rome ----- 397 The Carabineers summoned thither - 397 Review ------- 398 The 14th of November - - - - - 399 Article in the Roman Gazette - 400 Some Parts of the Article of the Contemporaneo on the loth. 401 CHAPTER XVIII. Morning of the 15th of November - - - - 403 Aspect of the City ... - - 403 Rossi - - - - - - - 404 Incidents and rumours ----- 404 Anonymous Letters and other warnings - - - 404 The Scpuare ------ 405 The Court of the Palace of the Cancelleria - - 405 Incidents ------- 406 Assassination of Rossi . - - 406 Hall of the Council - - - - - 407 Sequel - - - - - 407 CONTENTS. XV Page The City - - . - - - 408 The Quirinal - - - - - - 409 Next following Occurrences - 409 Colonel Calderari - - - - - -410 Execrable Rejoicings - - - - -412 The Night - - - - - - 413 The Morning of the 16th - - - - - 415 Plans - - - - - - - 415 Galletti - - - - - - - 417 The Rioters - - - - - - 418 Attack on the Quirinal ----- 419 Scuffle - - - - - - - 419 Protest of the Pope before the Diplomatic Body - - 420 The New Ministry - - - - - 421 Its Programme - - - - - - 422 Next following Occurrences - 423 The Parliament ------ 425 Proposal of Potenziani ----- 425 Language of Canino - 425 The Vote - - - - - - - 426 Language of Pantaleoni ----- 426 Resignations of Deputies ----- 427 Mamiani declines to be Minister - 427 Comment - - ----- - 427 The Pope sets out from Rome - - - - 431 HISTORY OF THE ROMAN STATE, FROM 1815 TO 1850. BOOK III. FROM THE PROMULGATION OF THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE TO THE DEPARTURE OF THE FOPE FROM ROME. CHAPTER I. CRITICAL NOTICES OF THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. DEMON- STRATIONS OF PUBLIC SATISFACTION. — EXPRESSIONS OF F1US IX. TO THE MUNICIPALITY OF ROME. THE JESUITS. PROCLA- MATION OF THE POPE. ACTS OF THE MINISTRY. EXCITING INTELLIGENCE. REVOLUTION AT VIENNA. — PUBLIC AGITATION. THE IMPERIAL ARMS TUMULTUOUSLY PULLED DOAVN. ORGA- NISATION OF THE ARMY. REVOLUTION AT MILAN. IN LOM- BARDY. — AT VENICE. EFFECT OF THE TIDINGS OF THESE REVOLUTIONS. MEASURES TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT. THE BANISHMENT OF THE JESUITS. LANGUAGE OF THE <;o- VERNMENT GAZETTE ON THIS SUBJECT. REFLECTIONS. — FRESH PROCLAMATION OF THE POPE. DEPARTURE OF THE FORCE. THE PREVAILING ENTHUSIASM. PROCLAMATION OF CHARLES ALBERT. — GENERAL STIR IN FAVOUR OF THE WAR OF INDE- PENDENCE. However the Fundamental Statute enacted by Pope Pius IX. for the temporal government of the States of Holy Church might wear the semblance of the VOL. II. B 2 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. modern constitutions of lay States, yet it differed essentially from them. In fact, as it provided that every law carried in Parliament should be submitted to the Consistory of Cardinals, it followed that the Sacred College was to have the authority of a political Senate ; and, thus, that there were three deliberative Assemblies. The Senate of Cardinals, the perpetual depositary of the Sovereignty, bound alike by affec- tion and allegiance to the clerical caste, and, having both impersonated and centred in itself the spiritual and temporal princedom, was to preserve its ancient concern in the Government of the State. Again, since while the Ministers and the Parliament were to act in public, it alone, the Sacred College, was to vote in secresy, it thus came to be privileged with political irresponsibility. It might contend against the Par- liament without giving even information of it, much less reasons. It might likewise contend in the dark against the Sovereign, and in reality exercise that right which is called the Veto : and hence it might easily occur, that, through their secret decision, the Pope might have to encounter the collisions sure to result from the imprudent or unwarranted use of that right. To this we may add, that unlimited scope was opened for yet greater conflicts, through the prohibition laid upon the Parliament against sending up any bills which either touched upon mixed matter, or were contrary to the canons and to ecclesiastical discipline. For, in the Court of Rome, multitudinous are the questions which are mixed either in nature or in name ; and, without at all seek- Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 3 ing to refine, canonical obstructions may be met with even in the matter of taxes ; while the canon law has such a pre-eminence in Home, that the Parliament was liable to be entangled in it at every step that it might take in the way of judicial reforms, just in the same manner as the Commission on Codes was pre- vented from effecting any good. Lastly, the prohibi- tion to open or continue the Parliamentary Session in the vacancy of the See might involve this result, that the State should frequently and for long periods be in an exceptional condition. But in the times that then were, so great was the heat of men's minds and spirits, that every one jested at difficulty and vicissitude, and merrily dashed on for freedom. Hence the Statute, such as it was, was greeted with the accustomed signs of satisfaction. The Civic Guards and the commonalty gave the wonted expression of their thanks in the Piazza of the Quirinal, and the Pope presented himself to them, at the wonted balcony, to bless them. In the pro- vinces, the Civic Guard and the people sang " Glory to God" in the churches ; and glorified Pius IX. with prose, verse, and merry-makings. The Municipality of Pome sent envoys to thank him, whom he answered in these terms : — " The demonstrations yesterday made to me by the good people of Home, and to-day confirmed by you, their legiti- mate representatives, assure me of the gratitude they feel. J accept these manifestations of it with unbounded pleasure ; and I pray you, gentlemen, to make it known in liome and in the State, that I have done all I was able, and that the » 2 4 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. whole of the Sacred College has concurred both readily and with unanimity. If some, who are guided rather by whim than reason, should not be content, yet I am persuaded that the people in general are pleased : while, I repeat, I have done all I was able, and I can do no more. I desire that these sentiments of mine should be plain to every one, in order that calm may be re-established ; and that those troubles, which in some places have disturbed public order, may not have to befall us here. From order liberty cannot be disjoined : order it is, that produces happiness ; from order flows the union, so necessary to secure to every citizen the en- joyment of his freedom in tranquillity, and to gather in fruit from the seed that has been sown in the soil of our polity- Order is blessed of God and man, and conduces to those ob- jects of the universal desire, justice, and peace for each man in the bosom of his own family." The excesses, however, against the Jesuits caused grief to the Pope. They had become aggravated, since Naples had set the example of violence, by driving them away with a rage scarcely human. On this account, while he gratified his subjects by the Statute, he sought also to warn them by the follow- ing proclamation : — " Pius Papa IX. " Romans, and all Sons and Subjects of the Pope ! " Hear yet once more the voice of a Father, who loves you, and desires to see you both loved and respected by all the world. Home is the seat of Religion, where Her Mini- sters have always had their abode ; constituting, under their manifold forms, that marvellous variety which is the ornament of the Church of Jesus Christ. We invite you all, and en- join you, to respect her ; and never to provoke the dreadful curse of God's indignation, that would launch His holy ven- Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 5 geancc against the assailants of His anointed. Sparc them a scandal, at which the whole world would stand aghast, and the greater part of your fellow-subjects would be shocked and grieved. Refrain from overcharging that bitterness of soul with which the Pontiff is alread}' harassed, by reason of events of the same kind, that have recently occurred elsewhere. For if even among the members of any establishment belong- ing to the Church of God, there should be found those whose conduct warrants mistrust or censure, the road is always open to legal representations, which, when they are just, We, as Supreme Pontiff, shall be ready to entertain, in order to apply the proper remedy. These words, We are per- suaded, will suffice to bring back to their right mind all those, (We trust they are few,) that may have formed any ill design; of which the execution, while it would cause acute sorrow to our heart, would bring down upon their heads the scourges that God always aims at the ungrateful. But if what We have said should most unhappily not suffice to restrain the misguided, We intend to make proof of the fidelity of the Civic Guard, and of all the forces, which We have appointed to maintain public order. We confidently expect to witness the good effect of these our declarations, and to see agitation throughout the State displaced by repose, as well as by those practical sentiments of Religion, which ought to be held by a people eminently Catholic, and one that other nations ought to be able to follow as a pattern. We will not cm- bitter our own soul, and the heart of all good men, by fore- casting the resolutions which AVe should be constrained to take in order to avert the spectacle of the visitations with which God is wont to call back His people from their errors, and We will rather hope that the Apostolic Benediction, which We now shed over you all, will avert every evil omen." The Ministry named on the 10th of March had put forth a document through the press, declaring u 3 6 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. how they had it at heart to give thorough effect and development to the Statute; to entrust the admini- stration of public business to functionaries of assured fidelity ; to organise armaments and preparations for defence, and to replenish the exhausted treasury by accepting for its behoof the generous offers of the municipalities, and the patriotic gifts which were anticipated from the religious Congregations ; lastly, it expressed the wish for a firm union with the con- stitutional thrones of Italy, with a view to insuring her independence, and to the benefit of the nation. And with these objects, although the times grew violent and rude, the Ministry, from the first days of its existence, discharged the political duties of govern- ment with forethought. It published the balance- sheet of the Bank of Rome, in order to re-establish the tottering credit of its notes ; it opened a schedule for the redemption of feu-duties, and of other burdens imposed upon property for the Church ; it announced the offers of assistance made to the Tope by the religious Congregations ; it permitted the exportation of Indian corn ; it removed from office the most odious of the judges who had been members of the political Commissions under Gregory ; it called into council the Piedmontese General Giovanni Durando, who Avas in Rome ; it dispatched Captain Lopez to Naples, in search of arms and ammunition ; it caused troops to march for Pesaro; and, on the 20th of March, it ordered that the Papal banners should be decorated with pennons of the Italian tricolor. lUit from day to day, and from hour to hour, news Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 7 arrived which applied fresh stimulants to the fiery temper of the public mind. By the middle of the month, it became known in Rome that the Govern- ment of the canton of Neufchatel had been subverted by an insurrection, that the Diet of Frankfort had enacted the liberty of the press for the States of the Germanic Confederation, and that, in Bavaria, the King had extended the basis of its popular institu- tions. Then there arrived successively news of the commotions and confusions of Hamburgh, Wittem- berg, Saxony, and the other German Provinces ; and, to waive further detail, on the 21st of March, there came the tidings of the revolution at Vienna, which was magnified by report, as it was stated that the dynasty was hurled from the throne, and the capital of the Empire governed by a democracy. The public excitement now knew no bounds. Every bell in the city pealed for joy ; from palace and from hovel, from magazine and workshop, the townspeople poured in throngs into the streets and squares ; some took to letting off fire-arms, some to strewing flowers, some hoisted flags on the towers, some decked with them their balconies ; everybody was shouting " Italia, Italia ! " and cursing the Empire. In an access of fury, the Austrian arms were torn down, dashed to pieces, and befouled, amidst the applause of the crowd, and in spite of the dissuasion of the public functionaries and of prudent persons. Trains of the populace, headed by Ciceruacchio and by townsmen of every class, together with priests, friars, and women, started from the Piazza del Popolo and n 4 8 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. marched to the palace of the Austrian embassy, which bears the name of Venice, once its mistress : some inscribed the walls with the name of the Diet of Italy. At length, after much carolling and mad merriment, the multitude ascended to the Capitol, and sang their hymn of thanks to the Lord in the church of Ara Coeli. They then repaired to the Coliseum, where Father Gavazzi and Doctor Masi fired their patriotism with sermons and verses. When at length it was evening, they illuminated, and the rejoicing ended with the carnival frolic called that of the moccoletti, which the Romans had denied themselves on the last day of Carnival, in token of mourning for the bloody events of Milan. Amidst that flame of the spirit of nationality, various citizens of the Roman and other Italian States, distinguished men for the most part, not indeed all of the very same views either then or afterwards, yet united at the time in a common hope and joy, subscribed an address to Pius IX., in which they intreated him to give vitality and strength to the work of the resurrection of Italy, by convoking in Rome a national Diet. The insult offered to the Imperial arms was publicly condemned through the medium of the Government Gazette ; and the Ministry then decreed the immediate formation of an army, or, as they phrased it, of a corps of operation, composed of four regiments of native infantry, of the Swiss regiments, two regiments of cavalry, three battalions of field artillery, two companies of engineers, and a company of sappers and miners. It also nominated a supreme Ciiap.L] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 9 Council of War, in which it gave General Durando a seat. The next day it issued a decree for the en- rolment of volunteers, and placed at their head Colonel Ferrari, a brave Neapolitan in the service of France; while Durando was appointed to command the army in chief. While all this was sroin^ on in Rome, as I have related, there happened in Upper Italy events of far greater moment. I made succinct mention, in the last Book, of those who died in Milan by the sword of Austria, and of the complaints with which Lombardy and Italy were filled, of the aggravation of hatred, and of the vows of revenge. Milan had come to such a pass, that at any moment the slightest accident might have caused a serious collision. The young men had left their studies, and were frequenting secret haunts, to handle arms and get ammunition ready. In these pursuits they spent the money, which they had saved by refraining from their ordinary re- creations ; and thus they inured their fervid spirits for the conflict, into which they anticipated that they must plunge, to achieve the liberty of their country. With that confidence in daring which belongs to their age, by the fashion of their dress, and by various ornaments and gestures of the person, they bid defi- ance to the police, so easily driven crazy by such bagatelles: the Government, too, suspicious and un- easy, stooped from its high function to the business of the milliner, prohibiting now this, now that whim of the mode; while at the same time the press groaned in printing its loads of intimidatory decrees, 10 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. and partisans toiled in tracking and detecting plots. But the intelligence of the changes in Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Piedmont, inflamed the spirits of the Liberals ; the report of the Revolution at Paris, with that of the confusions in Germany, stimulated their desires and hopes ; and the unexpected news of the Viennese Revolution, gave the final impulse. On the 18th of March, a band of youths, some of them having their minds fortified by the rites of Religion, came down in arms into the streets of Milan with shouts of " Italy!" of " Freedom! " and of that name of Pius IX., at which God Himself then seemed to descend from heaven, and to do battle for freedom and for Italy. Strong in their enthusiasm, those daring fellows pro- ceeded to gather round the tricolor flag the brawny commons, always quick to anger and to vengeance against the stranger, as beino; men who are not emas- dilated and subdued by what we call refinement of manners, and who will neither pardon him for the harshness of his tongue, nor for the pollution of their women. So the crowd, swelling as it went, and attended by the curious, drew towards the palace of Government, at once menacing and festive. There the Austrian soldiers that were on guard offered resistance. Upon this the Milanese attacked them, and in an in- stant they had killed some, thrashed others, and dis- armed the whole. After their rusted arms had thus been furbished with blood, that frenzy burst out which blood alone can quench. The multitude broke into the palace, and casting away the scabbard, trusted the fortunes of their country to the sword alone : nor Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 11 did advice avail to restrain them, nor the Archbishop's words of peace, although he too greeted them, and gave them his blessing, decked with the national colours. And now the die was cast. Either Milan must again be in ashes, or again the heirs of Barbarossa are to fl) T . And fly they did ! I will not detail the vicissi- tudes of the conflict, the prowess of the Milanese, and that kindness towards the vanquished which added lustre to their victory. I will not speak of the men burnt alive, the corpses mutilated, the women and children butchered, by the defeated stranger, that heaped disgrace on his discomfiture. For five days they underwent the anxieties of battle, or the more harrowing; anxieties of some faithless and ambiguous truce. They fought for liberty, with such arms as accident and fury ministered, from houses, from roofs, from the barricades which they had suddenly con- structed. On the Imperial side there fought from twelve to fifteen thousand Austrians, organised, dis- ciplined, supplied with rockets, and all the enginery that the art of manslaying has been able to invent. But the disconnected citizens triumphed over the disciplined army ; and on the night of the 22nd, Radetzki, the General in command, finding his force thinned and exhausted, and knowing that the Pied- montese host was on its way, gave orders for a clan- destine retreat. Nor was it only at Milan that the townspeople were triumphant : for at Monza an Austrian battalion was captured, at Como the garri- son was compelled to surrender, in Brescia to capi- tulate, and to retire from Bergamo. Three battalions 12 . FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of Italians, who were at Cremona and Pizzighettone, united with the insurgents ; and thus, thanks to the hardihood of the inhabitants and the advance of the Piedmontese army and Ligurian volunteers, in a few days the cities of Lombardy were free, and the Austrians in confusion betook themselves for safety to the fortresses of Mantua, Legnago, Peschiera, and Verona. Mantua itself had nearly fallen into the hands of the inhabitants: and if it did not, the failure seemed rather owing to the want of daring on their part, or to the craft of the Governor, than to the courage of the defenders. On the same day, the 22nd of March, the first of Milanese freedom, Venice set herself at liberty in a signal manner. The Common Council of the city as- sembled, together with some respectable citizens, to consider of such concessions as might be likely to give satisfaction to the community, which had been roused by the news of the events at Vienna ; and they deputed to the Austrian authorities one of their number, who announced the intention of the townspeople not to rest until they should have in their own power all the arms and fortifications. In the meantime, the workmen of the Arsenal had put Colonel Marinovich to death, and, in conjunction with the Civic Gilard, had taken possession of the place, and of the ship called the harbour-guardship. When this was known, the Common Council sent fresh messengers to Palify, the Civil Governor of Venice, who, sur- rounded by his Council, received them with com- plaints and upbraidings. Hereupon Avesani, an Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 1 3 advocate, who had already once cut short his harsh address, subjoined that they were not come there to receive reprimands, but to conclude some arrangement for peace ; and that peace was only to be had on these terms, that the Austrians should resign the govern- ment. Palffy indignantly replied, that he would give over his authority, according to his orders, into the hands of Zichi, the Military Governor : and so he did, recommending the fair city to his tender mercies. Zichi, in his turn, declared, that he was fond of the fair city, but that with him duty must overbear affec- tion, and that if it would not keep quiet, he would hold it to its allegiance by main force. On this Avesani turned round to go ; but then checked him- self, and compressing his words in small space, stated the following conditions of peace : — that all non- Italian troops should go, and all Italian remain. "War, then!" was the reply of the xVustrian. "And to war let us go ! " said the Venetian, moving to depart : and then to the other, who took his oath it would go hard with his life if he gave in, lie replied, that at that game they were playing for heads on both sides ; that they had already had too many words, as it was time for action ; and he repeated the demand, that the Austrian troops should set out for Trieste forthwith. The Imperialist hesitated, then gave way. Upon this the Venetian asked that all the munitions of war should remain in Venice. Here came a new refusal and new hesitation; then the point was yielded: so that, desire increasing in proportion to the conces- sions, it was next required that the whole of the public 14 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. money should be left with the Venetians. This too the Austrian denied. He then agreed to be satisfied with three months' pay for his troops, and enough cash to meet the expenses of their march. To sum up all : it was stipulated that the Austrian rule, civil and military, as well by sea as by land, should cease ipso facto; that all the Austrian troops should quit the town and the fortifications, all the Italians remain in the service of Venice ; the Austrians were to get their pay and start immediately for Trieste ; to the public functionaries and their families life was pro- mised, with freedom to depart ; Count Zichi was to remain the last man in Venice, as guarantee or hostage, and, when the conditions fixed on should have been fulfilled, was to have a steamboat to go off in. They were fulfilled ; and Venice then, raising the cry of " Saint Mark ! " and of " Italy ! " constituted a Provisional Government, under the Republican form, from among its most respected citizens. Of all these, the greatest favourites in the common opinion were Manin and Tommaseo, who had been liberated by the people from imprisonment, inflicted on them for reasons of state, as Austria understands the phrase. Almost at the very same time, similar events oc- curred at Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, Udine, and in the other considerable cities of the Venetian territory ; the fort of Osopo fell unexpectedly into the hands of the Italians, as did Palmanova, where General Zucchi, who was imprisoned there for life on account of the insurrections of 1831, took the command. It seemed as if God's all-powerful finger bade the Empire Chap. I] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 15 crumble, such were the miracles of hardihood and surprise, such the power of a name and of a flag such the feebleness of the men and the means that are denominated military force. Even in Trieste, the ever- faithful, some slight touch of an Italian spirit was evinced. When the report of the events I have now related reached the inhabitants of the Roman States, they awakened a pleasure not to be exceeded. All who were accustomed to spend themselves for the liberty and independence of their country, experienced the delight of men consoled after many toils and many sorrows. Those who had hitherto shrunk, or lived exempt, from political cares, kindled into an unwonted warmth. Those who were opposed to change, and hated its friends, stood as if bewitched. Great as were the rejoicings, never were they more natural and spontaneous : great was the mental intoxication, and never more excusable, for there can be no intoxi- cation more excusable, than that which takes its rise in the unexpected good fortune of one's country, and no day of better fortune, than that in which the stranger bites the dust of our long-polluted land. And if I have often had to record with wearied pen our rejoicings and our intoxications, and have marked not without disgust all that were idle and ill advised, so 1 now could wish for the command of speech to portray the image of that pure enthusiasm, and I should not deem it beneatli the dignity of history to yield my soul to its sway, and, even as then I wept for joy, so now to weep anew. 16 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. The Government of Rome, as I have already said, had providently made such preparations as the stress for time and treasure, and the inefficiency of its arrangements, would permit; so that, when the ex- citing news arrived, it had only to continue its exer- tions, and address itself to governing the impetus of the public mind, and shaping it for the advantage of the nation. Nor did it attend solely to those military cares which were due and urgent, but to the civil also. Thus it decreed that the fines and taxes, which had usually been squandered without any audit, should thenceforward be brought into the Exchequer, and stated in the estimates and the accounts. It ap- pointed the Council of State to examine the projects for railroads, an inquiry in which the Commissions had wasted all their time. It settled that the pay- ments charged upon the consolidated fund of Rome should be disbursed half-yearly, and it improved the public credit by ensuring the liquidation on July the 1st of the dividend that fell due at the end of June. It ordered all the magistrates and public functionaries to remain at or return to their posts, and exhorted them to give effect to the laws, to repress crime, and to respect the liberties guaranteed by the Statute. It announced the principles of free competition for industry and commerce. It directed that the results of the judicial inquiry into the famous plot of July should be completed and published within the term of twenty days. And it obtained from the Pope the pardon of twenty-five persons detained at Civita, Castellana, who had been excluded from the amnesty Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 17 on the ground of armed resistance to authority. Finally, it sought without ceasing for the means of replenishing the impoverished Exchequer. The hostility to the Jesuits was still constantly threatening to break out into violence ; and the more, since they had become the object of the resentment of all Europe, and had been driven from every State whose government had been changed. A certain Father Rossi had one day, by preaching I know not what imprudent sentences, provoked scandals in the Church. From this there sprang many complaints and noisy demonstrations. Nor was it only in Rome that breaches of public order occurred, or were appre- hended, on account of the Jesuits, but in all the towns where they had an establishment. Both in Rome and elsewhere, the cliency, that they knew how to keep organised and bound to them, gave some tokens of a change of mood for the worse. As this might have begot civil disagreements and conflicts, it was needful to provide for removing the possible occasion of greater scandals and more serious disturbances. Hence it was resolved to close their houses and their schools; and the Government Gazette of March 30, under the head of official religious intelligence, printed the following declaration : "Representations have repeatedly been addressed to His Holiness our Lord by the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, set- ting forth the anxieties by which their Company is beset even here in the capital, and the consequent need of making provision for their personal safety. The Holy Father, who has always regarded the above-named Religious with the VOL. II. v. 1 8 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book ITT. deepest interest, as indefatigable fellow-labourers in the vineyard of the Lord, could not but experience fresh and keener pain at so unhappy a circumstance. Still, by reason of the constantly growing agitation of the public mind, and because the violence of parties threatened serious conse- quences, He was constrained to take seriously into view the gravity of the question. Accordingly, the clay before yester- day, He was pleased to make known these sentiments to the Reverend Father the General of the Company above honour- ably mentioned, through the medium of a person of consi- deration, and herewith the uneasiness He felt at the diffi- culties of the times and the hazard of some serious mishap. The Father General, upon this communication, summoned the Fathers Consultors of the Order to deliberate : and they re- solved to yield to the urgency of the circumstances, as they did not wish to let their presence serve as a pretext for any serious disorder, or for the shedding of blood. After all this, the necessary arrangements were made with the Reverend Father the General, both as to the mode of giving effect to their resolution, and as to making provision for the schools of the Culle(/io Romano, for the religious houses in which they are lodged, and for the care of their properties and effects, in order that in this manner special and adequate measures for their maintenance might be insured." Cardinal Castruccio Castracane was appointed to conduct the communications with Padre Roothan, the General of the Company, and Cardinal Vizzar- delli took charge of its matters of business : provision was made for the schools by means of teachers of the clerical order, and the Jesuits dispersed without any fresh occurrence of an untoward kind. But those words, which the Government Gazette had printed, left on record an evidence of the reasons upon which the act was grounded ; or rather they evinced the Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 19 intimidation which masters and tramples upon all reason. The Government perhaps had no choice, so swiftly and impetuously did the torrent of popular commotion roll. I will not then affirm that the Pope and the Government ought to have exposed to the last hazard the security of the State for an ineffectual defence of a hated fraternity. What I wish is to ob- serve, that if there were among the Jesuits men stained with guilt, and mischievous plotters, they ought to have been watched and punished as bad citizens ; but it was incompatible with propriety or justice to condemn and punish a religious association, as such, in a place where the Pope held both his own seat and the supreme authority of the Church. None but the Pope had power to condemn the Society as a whole, and no condemnation but his could be just or valid in the opinion and conscience of the Catholics, or produce the desired political effects. But when the chief of the Church, and of the whole clerical soldiery, was deploring the wrongs suffered by those "indefatigable fellow-labourers in the vineyard of the Lord," as he termed the Jesuits, — when their banish- ment bore the appearance of a protection and not a punishment, — it followed that the Church was still upholding these noted Fathers in the capacity of workmen in the Lord's vineyard, and that, exiled by the tyranny of the State, they stood in the position of victims. And if the Jesuits were the dangerous foes to free institutions that they were reputed, it was plain that they would not cease to be such when dissolved, nay, that, on the contrary, dispersing 20 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book TIT. themselves through town and country under assumed habits, and heated by the wrong they had under- gone, they would be so much the more industrious, and would be in a state to move the compassion of all those that habitually sympathise with the op- pressed. Some few learned and some few profound men, with many that were simple-minded, we drove a-wandering through the world: the cunning ones, the meddlers, remained and skulked, or removed only to a short distance ; while we offended the Pope, terrified the other religious Congregations, and the partisans, both male and female, of the famous Com- pany, supplied the anti-liberal cliques with a pretext, and embittered the minds of that numerous class which in the midst of revolutions stands mute, re- mains hidden, nay, seems dead, but which afterwards, when they are on the wane, revives, and is found active, tenacious, and powerful in a degree not commonly imagined or believed. On these grounds I do not scruple to aver, that the expulsion of the Jesuits from the States of the Church, effected against the Pope's will, was an unwise proceeding, productive of no advantage at the time, of much and certain mischief both then and afterwards. But I must not close this discussion on the far- famed Fathers without taking into account, how an institution must inevitably encounter popular violence, when it has so fallen from repute that its mere name carries the sound and meaning of an insulting bye- word, unless it come to amendment and reform, either by its own vigour, or by some act of extrinsic Chap. I.J THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 2 1 authority. Such violences history cannot justify, but it shows that they are invariable. The Pope, in the midst of the most wide-spreading political tempest ever witnessed within the memory of man, was intent, above all things, upon saving the bark of St. Peter ; and by the very great weight that his name had then acquired, he hoped to navigate it into a glorious future. From time to time he thrilled with the inspiration of ideas that exalted the Papacy to a new and astonishing elevation, and uttered sen- tences such that from his lips we seemed to hear the voice of God. Godlike words were these : " Pius Papa IX., to the people of the States of Italy, Health and Apostolic benediction. " The events, which the last two months have witnessed, following and thronging one another in such rapid succession, are no work of man. Woe to him that does not discern the Lord's Voice in this blast that agitates, uproots, and rends the cedar and the oak ! Woe to the pride of man, if he shall refer these marvellous changes to any human merit or any human fault, instead of adoring the hidden designs of Providence, whether manifested in the paths of His justice, or of His mercy : of that Providence, in whose hands are all the ends of the earth And We, who arc endowed with speech in order to interpret the dumb eloquence of the works of God, We cannot be mute, amidst the longings, the fears, and the hopes, which agitate the minds of our children. " And first, it is our duty to make known to you, that if our heart has been moved at hearing how, in a part of Italy, the consolations of Religion have preceded tin' perils of battle, and nobleness of mind has been displayed in works of charity, « :i 22 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. We nevertheless could not and cannot but deeply grieve over the injuries which, in other places, have been done to the Ministers of that same Religion, — injuries which, even if, contrary to our duty, We were silent concerning them, our silence could not hinder from impairing the efficacy of our Benedictions. " Neither can We refrain from telling you, that to use victory well is a greater and more difficult achievement, than to be victorious. If the present day recalls to you any other period of your history, let the children profit by the errors of their forefathers. Remember that all stability and all prosperity has its main earthly ground in concord : that it is God alone Who maketh of one mind them that dwell in an house : that He grants this reward only to the humble and the meek, to those that respect His laws, in the liberty of His Church, in the order of society, in charity towards all mankind. Remember that righteousness alone can build, that passion destroys, and He that adopts the name of King of Kings, entitles himself likewise the Ruler of Nations. " May our prayers have strength to ascend into the pre- sence of the Lord, and to bring down upon you that spirit of counsel, of strength, and of wisdom, of which the fear of God is the beginning ; that so our eyes may behold peace over all this land of Italy, which if our love towards the whole Catholic world docs not allow us to call the most beloved, yet God has willed to be to Ourselves, the most near. " Given in Rome, at Santa Maria Maggiore, on the 30th of March, 1848, in the second year of Our Pontificate." This language more and more increased the fervent love of Pius IX., of liberty, and of Italy ; so that every one as he repaired to arms felt himself a champion of Religion, of Liberty, and of Italy. On the 24th of March, the whole regular force Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 23 marched out from Rome, and at night General Du- rando set forth with his aides-de-camp, Massimo d' Azeglio and Count Casanova, both Piedmontese, and with the Intendent-General, Count Pompeo di Cam- pello of Spoleto. On the night of the 25th and mor- ning of the 26th, the legions of the Civic Guards and of the Volunteers followed, under the command of Colonel Ferrari, who was subsequently created General. Rome was listening to this unwonted clang of arms, and witnessed the unwonted movement of an armed force, when, on the evening of the 28th, Count Rignon arrived there from Turin, bringing the news of the entry of the Piedmontese into Lombardy, and the following proclamation of King Charles Albert : " People of Lombardy and of Venetia ! " The destinies of Italy are growing ripe ; and an happy fortune smiles on the intrepid defenders of rights long tram- pled on. From attachment to our common stock, from com- prehension of the times, from a community of wishes, We have been the first to conform ourselves to that unanimous admiration of which Italy pays you the tribute. " People of Lombardy, and of Venetia ! our arms, which already were being concentrated upon your frontier, when you anticipated them by the liberation of glorious Milan, arc now come to lend you that aid in your further efforts which brother expects from brother, and friend from friend. We will second your just desires, trusting in the assistance of that God, Who is visibly with us; of that (iod, who has given Pius IX. to Italy; of that (iod, Who, by such wondrous impulses, has placed her in a condition to act for herself. " In order the better to show by outward signs our senti- ment of Italian unity, We ordain that our troops, in enterintr r 4 24 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. on the territory of Lombardy and of Venice, shall bear the shield of Savoy mounted on the tricolor flag of Italy. "Turin, March 23. 1848. " Carlo Alberto." This proclamation was instantly reprinted and dis- seminated throughout Borne, amidst great public rejoicings. The streets were illuminated ; the mul- titude repaired to the palace of the Sardinian mission with acclamations for the King of Sardinia ; and his minister Pareto, in return, made them a speech re- plete with thankfulness, and with national sentiments. Those days were among the brightest that the seasons can bring round ; the last blaze of her sun was shining upon Italy. The stranger poet could no more have called her the land of the dead ; nor could the overbearing inhabitants of the northward coun- tries, and speakers of the guttural tongues, any longer have confined their eulogies to blue skies, soft melo- dies, and miracles of art. Those who were then com- ing into Italy from beyond Alps and beyond seas did not alone admire those paintings and statues, which are her wealth and too much her pride. They saw freemen in arms flinging themselves upon the track of the stranger, to drive him back within the confines which God appointed for him, and from which, in despite of God and nature, he had come down to con- taminate for ages the loveliest portion of the earth. And he would have seen our towns converted into families, whom one common affection soothes and warms ; those able to bear arms exercising upon parade, women inspiriting their husbands and their Chap. I.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 25 sons, priests blessing the banners, and citizens bring- ing gifts to the altar of their country : many, too, are the examples of generosity and of self- sacrifice, which he would have had to commend. The Pope and the religious Congregations made rich contributions ; the Princes of Rome vied in liberality with the citizens ; every one joyfully and spontaneously paid the tribute of free bounty to their country ; the people emulated them, if not in the magnificence yet in the multitude of their gifts, and in the fervour of their feelings; the very mendicant, stretching out his hand to passengers, begged of them for Italy ; the ladies deprived themselves of their most precious ornaments, and women of the lower class gave up those pledges of love and faith which record the happiest moments of life for those that on earth have no other happiness. In Bologna, a girl of that class, having no valuables, presented the treasure of her beautiful head of hair. Cardinals and Princes presented horses for the artillery ; and Princes, Dukes, nobles, citizens, commons, set out for the camp, all as brethren : among them were two nephews of the Pope ; within a few days there were at least twelve thousand volunteers from the Papal States. The Pope gave his benediction, letting it be understood that it descended upon warriors, who Avere on their way to defend the confines of the States of the Church ; the cities were all in jubilee ; even the country folks greeted merrily the Papal legions. The Pontifical ensigns were blended with the colours of the nation; the Cross surmounted the Italian flag. Italy had no longer any enemies among her sons ; 26 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. even the hearts which did not throb for her freedom, throbbed for the grandeur of the Popedom. The war was deemed an holy one ; and holy it was, because it was a war of independence. Pru- dent or imprudent, it was holy, and if imprudent all the more holy, because daring and sacrifices mag- nify and sanctify the deeds of man. It was holy, because a war of independence is at all times holy ; it is legitimate war, just as self-defence is legitimate, and as a man is entitled to slay his assailant. More- over, it is always a war of defence alone ; because to repulse or expel the stranger from our country means, to defend our property, our honour, our sepulchres, all that a man holds dearest and most sacred, from the altar of God to the kiss of her he loves. The stranger in ruling must always be a tyrant ; he cannot be otherwise ; even his civilisation, his gentle- ness, his liberality, are a refinement of tyranny. Holy, then, was the war of independence, holy the enthusiasm that warmed the people of the Roman States towards it in the spring of 1 848 ; holy the gifts and the sacrifices that they made. Every Italian mind admits it ; nor can the calamities and disgraces that ensued desecrate that which was essen- tially sacred : even at this day, every Italian, while he deplores the subsequent misfortunes and shame, exults in spirit as he recurs to those blessed recol- lections. And no foreigner who may recollect the generous passion and the hardihood of his own nation in fighting against the domination of strangers, who chants the glories of Moscow and of Saragoza, who Chaf.L] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 27 boils at the remembrance of Vienna scoured by the lightning-like conqueror, * or of Paris trampled by the horses of the Cossacks, can deny to Italy the right to aim at similar glory, or to avenge kindred insults. An evil and a mournful fact it is, of destiny and of man, that the Christian nations should live racked by continual suspicions, and should stand under arms to assail one another from time to time, and to exhaust themselves in bloody conflicts. A miserable thing it is, that generous and civilised races should exist in perpetual enmity, when they were created by God for loving and reciprocally aiding one another in the never-ceasing progress of improvement. But until the powerful shall amend their practices of overbearing force, and shall respect God and nature in the eternal laws of creation and of justice, these hatreds, these feuds, these wars, will still and ever continue; and the responsibility for the blood that is shed, and for the souls that are lost, will ever fall, not on the oppressed, but on the op- pressors, before the tribunal of reason and of God. And ye, brave German race ! persevering Austrian people, in the knowledge of your own valour and tenacity, in the love of your own inde- pendence, and in the pride of the triumphs which that love has achieved, you cannot but discover and recognise the reason and the justice of our Avar: you * Dall' Alpi alle Piramidi Dal Mansanarc al Reno, Di <[uel bicuro il fuhninc Tuiea diotro al baleno. Muuzoni 's Ode on. (he Death of Napoleon. Tr. 28 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. should honour our purposes, past, present, and to come. And all you, foreigners of noble mind, to whom these purposes may be made known through my rude pages, you, too, should honour the feeling that animates them ; you cannot disown and upbraid in us what you feel to be virtue in yourselves. Time or violence may snap the thread of life for the present generation of Italians, but they cannot alter the es- sence of eternal justice, nor destroy a nation which is the handiwork of God. You ought then to feel how we, the vanquished, the more because we are van- quished utterly, are bound to fortify ourselves with resolution : and if it be not allowed us to bequeath to our children a country already freed, we ought at least to bequeath to them our religious determination to free it. This is our duty ; now reflect on yours : and if the idea of duty be corrupted in you, yet even then look upon it as our fate ; for the fate of Italy it cannot be, that she should remain eternally your slave. Chap. TL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 29 CHAP. II. NEW POSITION OF THE KINGDOM OF NAPLES. MISGIVINGS. DIS- ORDERS. PROCLAMATION OF THE KING. — THE VOLUNTEERS SET OUT WITH THE PRINCESS BELGIOIOSO. THE TENTH REGIMENT OF THE LINE SETS OUT.— SICILY. — TUSCANY. — PROCLAMATION OF THE GRAND DUKE. — MODENA. EXCESSES OF THE POLICE. STIR AT BOLOGNA. THE DUKE OF MODENA's CONCESSIONS. HE LEAVES THE PLACE, AS DO THE AUSTRIAN'S. — THE REVOLUTION CONSUM- MATED. PARMA. — THE DUKE'S AUTOGRAPH PROCLAMATION. HIS SON ARRESTED AT MILAN. THE DUKE QUITS PARMA. AND EMI- GRATES FROM ITALY. — THE WAR IN LOMBARDY. FIRST MOVEMENTS OF THE ARMY OF PIEDMONT. ACTION AT GOITO. — MONZAMBANO. THE VOLUNTEERS AT CASTEL-NUOVO. ATTEMPT ON PESCHIERA. ATTEMPT ON MANTUA. QUALITY AND STRENGTH OF THE PIED- MONTESE ARMY. — GENEROUS EXERTIONS OF PIEDMONT. The Kingdom of Naples, having suddenly changed the form and character of its government, was a prey to those passions which give to a people licence but not liberty. There went a report through the cities and the Courts of Italy, little credible, but yet be- lieved, that the King, when he gave the Constitution, entertained and avowed the intention of letting loose his subjects, in order to punish the reforming Princes, to contaminate reform with revolution, and to combat freedom with licentiousness. Truly, in Naples, the transition was immediate from the licentiousness of royal and courtly will to the licentiousness of the caprice of an unbridled multitude. That multitude was uneasy from mistrust; nor did the royal oaths 30 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book ITT. suffice to reassure it in that country, habituated to royal perjuries. The administrations which were called, the first from Serra Capriola, the second from the Prince of Cariati, both derived their plans and their spirit from Bozzelli, and made no provision either for their own good fame or for the tranquillity of the State. The intelligence of the events of Upper Italy inflamed the public mind, and the dis- orders daily increased in magnitude. Nor did it avail to give out that the King of Naples would cast his lot with the Princes of Italy ; nor that Count Ludolf, his Minister at Rome, professed by language and by other indications the most ardent love of liberty, and proposed, in the name of his master, to convoke Deputies, that they might fix the permanent conditions of the Italian League : nor did the cringing flatteries of the King suffice, for the rioters of Naples did not desist from uproar, from abuse of the Minis- ters, with or without reason, or from shouting for war with Austria. On the 27th of March, when there was great tumult, with loud cries for war, the King came out bowing, beckoned his assent, and said to the envoys of the people that he was for war too, and would proceed to wage it. The Ministry was then dismissed. With some difficulty a new one was formed, of which the distinguished Troja was Presi- dent ; and the King published, on the 7th of April, the following Proclamation : — " My dearly beloved People, " Your King shares with you the lively interest which the Italian cause awakens in every mind ; and is moreover de- Chap. IT.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 31 termined to contribute to its security and its triumph, with all the material means that our peculiar position in one por- tion of the kingdom leaves at his disposal. Although it be not yet embodied in definite and permanent stipulations, We consider the Italian League as substantially existing ; inas- much as the universal assent of the Princes and subjects of the Peninsula leads us to regard it as already concluded, now that the Congress is about to meet in Rome, which We were the first to propose, and to which We are the first to send re- presentatives of this portion of the great Italian family. Al- ready We have dispatched an expedition by sea ; and one division is in motion by land along the coast of the Adriatic, to act in concert with the army of Central Italy. The fortunes of our common country are about to be decided on the plains of Lombardy ; and every Prince and people of the Peninsula is bound to hasten and share in the struggle which is to secure her independence, liberty, and glory. Although We are pressed by other special necessities, which occupy a large part of our army, We intend to participate in that struggle, with all our land and sea forces, with our arsenals, and with the treasures of the nation. Our brethren expect U3 on the field of honour ; and We will not fail them there, where the contest will be for the mighty interest of Italian nationality. People of the Two Sicilies, throng around your Prince ; let us stand united, in order to be strong and to be feared ; and let us make ready for the conflict with the calm that springs from the con- sciousness of strength and bravery. We trust in the valour of the army to take that part in the lofty enterprise which befits the largest Principality of the Peninsula. In order to lay out all our vigour abroad, concord and tranquillity are requisite at home ; and We count on the admirable spirit of our fine National Guard, and on the attachment of our people, lor the maintenance of order, and the observance of the laws; just as our people may always reckon upon our good faith and our love to the 1'vvc, institutions which Wc have solemnly sworn, and which We intend, to uphold at the cost of every sacrifice, however great. 32 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. " Let there be union, self-devotion, and fortitude : and the independence of our lovely Italy will be obtained. Be this our single care: so generous a passion will silence every other less noble one, and twenty-four millions of Italians will shortly have a country of their own, a powerful, a common, and most rich inheritance of glory, and a nationality the object of respect, which will weigh for much in the political balance of the world. " Ferdinand." On the 29th of March, two hundred volunteers had set out for Upper Italy : they were enrolled by the Princess Cristina de' Trivulzi, married to a Belgioioso, a Milanese lady. She had lived as an exile in France, and was at first enthusiastic for the Giovine Italia ; she afterwards became averse to it, and sided with Guizot, Duchatel, and Mignet, her intimate friend. She was greatly versed, or mixed herself much, in literature, politics, the study of theology, and journalism ; a woman that had some of the feelings and anxieties of men, together with all those of her own sex, and who was now travelling through Italy, intent upon manly business, but after woman's fashion. Other volunteers afterwards started, and a vessel set sail for Leghorn, which carried them, along with the Tenth Regiment of the li le. In the mean time the Seventh Regiment moved through the Abbruzzi towards the Roman frontier ; and other forces were in course of getting ready, the Neapolitan Government having requested from those of Florence and Rome leave to pass through into Lombardy. The Sicilian Parliament had met at Palermo on the 2Gth of March. Through the delays and haughti- Chap. II.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 33 ness of Naples, and the heats in the island, the attempts at any pacific composition failed ; and the mediation of the respected Lord Minto, who, at the instance of the King of Naples, had applied himself to bring about an accommodation, failed also. The venerable Ruggero Settimo was thereupon named Regent of Sicily ; the separation of the island from Naples, and the fall of the Bourbon dynasty from the Sicilian throne, were declared ; and thus all the ability and spirit, the arms and wealth, of that powerful island, were applied to the effort for insular inde- pendence, and drawn off from that for the inde- pendence of the nation. Without disputing where the greater fault lay, and perhaps it was not on the side of Sicily, Italy can only lament that persevering strife, — Italy, who was entitled to all the blood, all the treasure of her sons. A very few Sicilian volunteers, led by Lamasa, set out for the war of Italian independence. In consequence of the fury of the war in Sicily, the Neapolitan fleet was afterwards fired upon from the shores of Messina, as it was passing the Faro, to sail, as was then hoped and said, up the Adriatic, and to share in the fortunes of Italy. Palermo, notwith- standing, evinced an Italian spirit, and sent Carlo Gemelli as its envoy to Rome and to the other Governments of Italy, to convey the assurance of it. In polished Tuscany, where much heat had shown itself in the public mind ever since the spring of 1817, this excitement had increased progressively, in proportion to the movement of the times and the development of events; and although worried with VOL. II. d 34 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. the miserable madness of Leghorn, yet, as all her high-minded and distinguished citizens held to- gether, notwithstanding what she suffered through the dismal fatuity of that town, she was still anxious to contribute all she could, both in material means and in counsel, to the freedom and glory of Italy. Against Guerrazzi, who was deemed responsible for these excesses, were arrayed all the men of long- established attachment to Italy, and the distinguished youths, such as Ridolfi, Capponi, Centofanti, and Salvagnoli ; and with them at that time, and no less resolute than any one of them, was Montanelli. Hence public opinion could hardly be, and in fact it was not, doubtful ; it was against Guerrazzi, and in favour of his opponents. And when all needful dili- gence had been used to secure Leghorn against yet more serious evils, the Tuscans were solicitous for the union of Italy, and for the alliance of its Princes together. So soon as the clash of the Italian with the Austrian arms was heard, they were prompt to enrol volunteers, and to put in motion their small and feeble standing force. The Ministry, which de- rived its name and lustre from Iiidoln, strengthened itself, on the 18th of March, with new members, among whom Don Neri Corsini was in favour with the people, because he had urged upon the Sovereign the necessity of a constitutional organisation, before others mentioned or requested it. Two legions of volunteers started upon the 22nd of the month, whom the Grand Duke had reviewed in the fort of San Giovanni Battista. They marched towards the Chap. II.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 35 frontier of Pistoia and Pietra Santa. Those legions, united to the troops of the line, carried the Tuscan flag, decorated, by a decree of the Duke, with tricolor pennons, at Massa, at Carrara, at Fivizzano, which be- longed to Modena, and of which the sovereignty had previously been contested, and then at Pontremoli, in the State of Parma. There set out from Tuscany for the war of independence about three thousand volun- teers, and perhaps as many more regulars. If they were not more numerous, it is not to be imputed to any lukewarmness in the affection for Italy and free- dom, which was as great there as elsewhere ; but it was owing to want of power, and to all the other wants which are the result and the fault of Govern- ments, when either corruptors and themselves cor- rupt, or deadened and deadening their subjects. The language of the Prince sank into the heart of the people to warm and reinvigorate it ; for Leopold II. published, on the 5th of April, the following pro- clamation : " Soldiers, " The holy cause of the independence of Italy is now to be decided upon the plains of Loinbardy. Already the citi- zens of Milan have purchased their own freedom with their blood, and with a heroism of which history offers few ex- amples. Already the Sardinian army is on the march for the great conflict, led by its magnanimous King, under whose orders fight the Royal Princes. " Sons of Italy, inheritors of the military glory of their ancestors, the Tuscans cannot, ought not, to remain in shame- ful apathy at a moment so solemn. Fly then, together with the brave citizens who have flocked as volunteers beneath our i> 2 36 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. flag, to the succour of our Lombard brothers. Let patriotism arouse in you that valour, of which at every period the Tus- can warriors have given proof. " Let discipline impart to you the strength not always de- rived from numbers, and victory will be yours. Honour to the Italian arms ! "Long life to the independence of Italy! " Leopold." At Modena, the youthful Duke shared in the Austrian resistance with obstinacy equal to hers. His suspicious police misbehaved as usual ; and in proportion as day after day brought fresh tidings of innovation, so much the more did it insult and annoy those inclined to innovate. On the 20th of March it proceeded to violence against the townspeople : hence arose an uproar, of which an exaggerated report flew to the neighbouring city of Bologna. Bologna was at that time a sure refuge to the persecuted Modenese that resorted to her; and directly she knew that Modena was grievously oppressed, and still more grievously menaced, she raised the cry of succour. The Modenese refugees, the youth of her schools, and the lower class generally, demanded arms, and re- solved to rush to Modena. The Cardinal Legate, Amat, thought he might keep them in bounds by ordering to the Modenese frontier two hundred Swiss and forty dragoons, with those legions of the Civic Guard and volunteers that were ready and eager to set out. He sent to the Modenese Government intel- ligence of the stir at Bologna, and of the risks that impended over it, by Aglebert, Captain of the Civic Chap. II.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 37 Guard. That Government then stooped to conces- sions, few, late, and unacceptable. Next, the Duke, on the 21st, appointed a Regency in the language of contrition, empowering it to grant a constitutional Statute, modelled on that of Piedmont. Afterwards he went off with his family in the midst of the Austrian forces, who did the same; and he was deposed by the Modenese, who determined to keep the go- vernment provisionally in the democratic form. Then the inhabitants of Modena and of Reggio, alike abounding in intelligence and in courage, hardily threw themselves into the Italian enterprise ; and subsequently, when Milan was set free, and the war had broken out, they sent all the assistance in their power. The Bolognese, who, according to the Car- dinal Legate's injunction and language, had gone to guard the confines of Modena, did not halt there : the regulars, indeed, remained ; but the volunteers, commanded by Zambeccari, a Major of the Civic Guard, pushed right on to Modena, where, finding the city was keeping holiday for the recovery of its. freedom, they continued for awhile, and then went back to Bolojrna. The Duke of Parma and his son, who conducted themselves as their fears counselled and as Austria wished, had, during the few months of their new reign at Parma, added to the memorials, which their characters, at once effeminate and malig- nant, had left at Lucca, new and revolting trophies. When they were overtaken by the whirlwind of that March of revolutions, it hurled them ignominiously down. They shed blood, or caused it to be shed, at i> 3 38 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III Parma; for fear is the most sanguinary of all the forms of rage. But, upon the 20th, the Duke ap- pointed a Regency, which he empowered to concede all the institutions they might consider seasonable; and, on the 25th, he addressed to them a letter, in which he found fault with their delays, and urged them to publish the Constitution at once, in order, as he said, that the people might not fluctuate in uncer- tainty, or doubt of. his sincere and fixed intention to govern in conformity with it, and to join himself to the Italian League. Afterwards, when the basis of the Constitution had been promulgated, he caused the following document, written in autograph, to be printed : — " Having had regard to the sudden revolutions that are taking place in this and the neighbouring States, and like- wise being desirous, whatever may be my own future destinies, to show how much I have at heart the well-being and strength of Italy, and how much I lament that, during a short interval, necessity, and the geographical and political position of these States, brought me under a foreign influence, I formally declare that I place my own fortunes henceforward at the disposal of His Holiness Pius IX., of His Majesty Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, and of His Royal Highness Leopold II., Grand Duke of Tuscany ; who shall decide all questions touching these States, and their future condition, in the manner which shall most conduce to the welfare and strength of Italy: I offering, for my own part, to accept such compensation as the equity of those Princes shall think fit. " In the mean time, anxious still to show how much I long for the happiness of my people, I approve the Funda- mental Statute of a Representative Government, which has been proposed to me by the Supreme Regency that I ap- pointed for the purpose ; and that I now confirm, with its CiiAr.Il.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 39 existing powers, until the lot of these States shall have been fixed : and I hereby authorise it to join to itself one other inhabitant, whom the board of Aldermen of this city shall select. " Let then Piacenza, let Pontremoli, return meanwhile to their allegiance ; I will forget their unseasonable heats, so hurtful to their own and to the public interest ; let Parma remain faithful, with the other portions of my States ; and let them reflect, that the happiness of a country is not mea- sured by its magnitude. " I shall swear to the Statute, and shall send a battalion of the line to aid the Lombards. My son Ferdinand too, at the head of a troop of such brave citizens as may volunteer to follow him, offers you his right arm ; and, as I trust, will show that the blood of the gallant House of Savoy is still running, and that likewise of Henry IV. still warm, in his veins. " Carlo." The son set off, accordingly, for Milan, where he gave out that he wished to fight for Italy ; but the Milanese did not believe or heed him, and there was too good cause for believing him little, and heeding him less. They held him as a hostage, and then let him go to find his father, who had now migrated from Parma and from Italy. He went, because at Parma he was neither believed nor loved : he was a burden both to himself and to others; and, as he left it, he wrote on the 9th of April to the Regency, accept- ing their resignation, empowering the municipality to name a Provisional Government, confirming the refer- ence to the Italian Princes, committing the State of Parma to the guardianship of Charles Albert, and re- commending his own person and family to the honour D 4 40 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of the National Guard, and of the citizens at large. He then betook himself to Bologna, where he enjoyed the hospitality of the Cardinal Legate at his palace. When he had been there for some days, he grew afraid of some inhabitants of Parma who were in the town, and set out clandestinely for distant parts. So disappeared from Italy and from his throne this phantom of a Duke ; and the men of Parma, now free, applied their thoughts and strength to working out the independence of Italy. For this object the contest was being prosperously carried on in Lombardy. When the stranger had been worsted at Milan, the greater part of the youth of the place, headed by some gallant companions, among whom Luciano Ma- nara was then and afterwards conspicuous, devoted themselves to pursuing him. From other Lombard cities there likewise hastened volunteers, who were strong, not indeed in numbers and discipline, but in daring and enthusiasm ; aids, these, not firm and durable, yet effective in the first rush of insurrection. When Cesare Balbo was President of the Ministry, King Charles Albert, attended by his two sons, a gallant offspring from a gallant stock, hastened into Lombardy with such troops as were ready and near at hand, about twenty-three or twenty-four thousand men. On the 29th of March, when he had occupied Pavia and advanced to Lodi, he learned that Padetzki was at Montechiaro, a place naturally strong, which had commonly been used as a camp of instruction for the Austrian troops. Having determined to wheel to the Chap. II.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 41 flank, the King went first to Crema, then to Cremona, and on the 5th of April was at Bozzolo. As the vanguard was at Marcaria, on the left of the Oglio, it was surprised by a band formed of Lancers and Ty- rolese chasseurs, who had marched from Mantua ; but, notwithstanding, it had time to get under arms, and was able, when reinforced, to repel the assailants. The enemy did not make head at Montechiaro, but fell back on the Mincio. The Mincio is crossed between Mantua and Peschiera by the bridges of Goito, Yalleggio, and Monzambano. The King, being resolved to pass it, sent, on the 8th, a division of the army, commanded by General Darvillars, to attack the village of Goito, where the Austrians had an en- trenchment to defend the bridge. The battle lasted four hours : the Austrians were worsted, left on the field an hundred dead and wounded, with one gun, and retired to Yalleggio. Many of the Italian soldiers deserted their colours and enlisted under those of Italy. Noble was the ardour of our men at the pas- sage of the river by Goito ; and well was it proved by their throwing themselves upon the ruins of the bridge, which had been mined and so broken down, and leaping impetuously to the opposite bank, from whence the enemy kept up a close and deadly tire. On the next day, the division of Geneial Droglia advanced in three columns to Monzambano, where the enemy, having passed the river and burnt the bridge, intrenched himself in the line of houses lying along the left bank, and there made a stand, but without effect ; for the l'iedmontesc restored the 42 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. bridge, crossed, and compelled the Austrians to re- treat upon Borglietto, a village that stands between Goito and Monzambano, opposite to Yallcggio. Bor- ghetto, in a short time, fell into the power of our army ; and the enemy having here also broken the bridge, retreated. The repair of this bridge was begun, and the work nearly completed, when the cannon balls of the enemy destroyed it : the Austrians seeing this, redoubled their fire ; and the Piedmontese fell back behind Borghetto. On the 10th, the former tried an attack, but, finding the latter steady and well appointed, they desisted ; and our army, having repaired the bridges of Monzambano and Borghetto so far that the artillery might cross them, marehed the next day in the direction of Valleggio, which was abandoned by the enemy. Thus the King came to encamp at Volta, fixing himself on the line of the Mincio, which Radetzki had but faintly defended. If thus, at the commencement of a campaign, there was no brilliant action, yet important advantages had been gained. Our men gave proof of abundant courage, and, having won every time they fought, got into high spirits. In the mean time, the Piedmontese army was acquiring strength on the line of the Mincio, both in guns and in men, that were in course of being enrolled and embodied. On the days of the above-mentioned actions, it chanced that live or six hundred volunteers, who were at Salo, upon the Lago di Garda, on their way to the Tyrol, having had orders to make a demonstration behind the Austrians between Lazise and Bardolino, pushed forward on the Chap. II.} THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 43 10th of the month, nearly to Peschiera, and gained possession of a powder magazine in the neighbourhood, that belonged to the fortress. Having acquired this prize by daring, they formed a design to attack Castel- Nuovo, a village of two thousand inhabitants, situated on the road to Verona, with a garrison of about two hundred Austrians; and, in a short time, they made themselves masters of it. Not content, however, with this, they staid there, and with great mischief both to themselves and to the inhabitants, because the next day three thousand Austrians sallied forth out of Verona, attacked the place, and, notwithstanding their vigorous defence, slew or captured many of those who made it, and put the rest to flight. They then burnt the village, and cruelly punished the inhabitants for the joyful greeting they had given to the Italians, by slaughtering four or five hundred of them, as they fled from their flaming houses. It was at the time a very common opinion, that the Austrians were so cowed in spirits and relaxed in discipline, that under a slight pressure they would yield the fortified places in which they had taken shelter. Those who pro- claimed the miracles of the insurrection were now beginning to murmur that the Piedmontese arms had produced little fruit, since they had not got pos- session of the fortresses, in which, as they gave out, the garrisons were weak, and the Governors ready to surrender on the first attack. The King, for whom it was necessary to inure his troops to war, and who, perhaps, was unable to take any thing else in hand, left a considerable guard at the bridges of the Mincio 4t FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book IH. and at Yalleggio, and wished to make an attempt against Peschiera, an important fortress, which covers Brescia and Milan towards the Alps, and is the key of Lombardy to an army descending from the Tyrol or coming from beyond the Mincio. It was of moment, moreover, to win it quickly, in order to make of it a refuge for the sick, for the victuals, and for the heavy artillery, and to command the Lago di Garda, so as to facilitate the transport along it of provisions and forage, which were scarce upon the unproductive hills of the Mincio. On these grounds, the daring of the enterprise was warranted by its great utility ; and on the other hand, if the blow should miss, no evil would result ; rather, indeed, it would prepare the way for a blockade, because, in the mean time, the troops were taking, on the right of the river, a position suited for that operation. They had no siege artillery, and were consequently obliged to make use of their field-train ; when they had dug four suitable trenches, and com- pleted other fitting works and operations, they placed a battery of sixteen guns, with a few howitzers, on the summit of the hills that command Peschiera. When tins was accomplished, on the 13th, the King ordered the attack. The Austrians repelled it with batteries of thirty-two pounders, placed in lunettes that cover the fortress ; but they did us no harm, because they missed the line of our guns, and killed none of our men. On the contrary, by better aim and handling, we were able to dismount various guns of the enemy, and for a short time to silence his fire, during which interval the King sent a message to the Chap.IT.] the fundamental statute. 45 Governor, desiring him to surrender. But he an- swered, that he had orders to defend the fortress, that he felt this to be his duty, and would fulfil it ; also, that he hoped that Radetzki would relieve him ; he then recommenced firing with the guns of the main part of the place. The King saw that the defenders were determined, and the defences strong ; for the detached lunettes were strengthened with masonry, and the walls were so constructed, that they could not be battered without siege artillery, while between the outlying works and the body of the fortress, there was a broad moat, full of water. Accordingly he ordered the retreat ; but left one brigade on the right bank by way of commencing a regular siege. Only the com- pany of Griffini had had three men wounded. This attempt was serviceable, as a test of the strength of the defences, and of the spirit of the enemy ; as also by way of practice for our own men. The garrison of Mantua had an outpost in Rivalta, and sent out to forage and victual in the environs, with much damage to the population, and many com- plaints. There was continual talk of probable risings in all the cities garrisoned by Austria, and it was given out that these would easily be effected, as soon as ever the Piedmontese should make a stir in the neighbourhood, and show themselves ready to assist. So the King determined to try afresh a surprise upon the outpost garrison detached from the fortress of Mantua, to attack them in front and flank, to cut off their retreat, and then to show himself under the walls of the place. With this view, at dawn on the 46 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. 19th, lie moved four columns, each three thousand strong, from Sacca, Gazzoldo, Ceresara, and Piubega. But it was without avail, because the enemy had drawn in their detachments; so that when our troops had come within the range of the guns of Mantua, they remained there some time without any sign of movement within, and they had to face about ac- cordingly. Then the Austrians began to fire their cannon, and attempted a sally. We drove them back at first, defending ourselves easily and without loss, but afterwards only with effort and with loss. These affairs at Peschiera and Mantua were censured by persons versed in military matters, as rash undertak- ings without any good ground of hope, and as an use- less waste of both time and strength. But those, who then and afterwards condemned them by the rules of the art of war, did not sufficiently observe, that that particular war could only be conducted with reference to political considerations, and to assistance from insurrection. Nor did they reflect that, at the outset, it was warrantable to hope for success on the side of insurgents, and feeble opposition to them from the enemy, as remarkable examples had actually been seen of both. The commander of the army was not in a condition wholly to slight the opinions and the plans of those who counted upon insurrection, be- cause, in fact, it was in order to support it that he had thrown himself into Lombardy. During the progress of these events, there arrived upon the Mincio all the troops that Piedmont had been able to supply. They were about 55,000 men, Chap. IT.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 47 and were distributed in two corps-d'armee, with a di- vision in reserve ; the two first were commanded by Generals Bava and Sonnaz, the last by the Duke of Savoy, eldest son of the King. The artillery was com- manded by his second son, the Duke of Genoa ; and the King commanded in chief. The Tuscans likewise arrived upon the Mincio, together with the Tenth Nea- politan Regiment of the line, a force of from five to six thousand men between regulars and volunteers. But, as these forces were inadequate, Piedmont, setting thereby an admirable example of self-sacrifice, com- manded new levies, to form a fresh reserve, which might reinforce the army in the course of the cam- paign. Piedmont in truth emptied her wealthy treasury; and, under the guidance of her King and the Princes, she set about the noble enterprise of in- dependence with a marvellous enthusiasm. The army was brave, for the Piedmontese soldier, as history and even the enemies and maligners of Italy bear witness, does not yield in bravery to the soldier of any other country. The organisation of the infantry, in the judgment of the skilful, was bad, both because the in- adequacy of the complements in time of pence made it difficult to pass with expedition to the war establish- ment, and because the men were enlisted upon such a system, that, although bound to military service for sixteen years, they actually served for only fourteen months, remaining thereafter liable to resume arms at any period during the sixteen years when the State might call upon them. The artillery and the horse were capital, but few ; the Staff of the army had little 48 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. knowledge, and no experience. Such was the Pied- niontese army, in quality and in numbers. Nor did Piedmont, expose to hazard only her land force, for she likewise sent her ships into the Adriatic, under the command of Admiral Albini. Rare fact in the history of Italy ; an Italian regular army and fleet, fighting under the Italian flag, and that without fo- reign aid, for the independence of their country ! Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 49 CHAP. III. REASON FOR INTRODUCING REMARKS ON THE OTHER ITALIAN STATES, AND OX THE EVENTS OF THE WAR. PROVISIONAL REGULATIONS FOR THE ELECTION OF DEPUTIES. — PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINISTRY THE CHANGES OF PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES. NOMINATION OF THREE LAY PRESIDENTS. NOTICES AND STATISTICS OF THE PAPAL FINANCES. — THE NOTES OF THE BANK OF ROME MADE A LEGAL TENDER. SIMONETTI MINISTER OF FINANCE. — TREASURY BONDS. THE VOLUNTEERS. — CO- MACCHIO TAKEN. THE FORTRESS OF FERRARA. MURMURING AT DURANDO'S PROCRASTINATION. ORDERS SENT HIM FROM ROME MONSIGNOR CORBOLI LEGATE TO THE CAMP. HIS COMMISSION. IDEAS OF THE POPE AND OF HIS MINISTERS ON THE PASSAGE OF THE TROOPS BEYOND THE PO. RESOLUTION TAKEN. PROCLAMATION OF DURANDO. — THE POPE'S DIS- PLEASURE. NATURE, LEANINGS, AND PLANS OF PIUS IX. It may possibly appear to the readers of these pages, that one, who is writing upon the affairs of Rome, ought not to enlarge his work by recounting events which have occurred in other Italian provinces. Nevertheless I have not omitted, and shall not omit, briefly to notice them ; because, although I am not writing the history of Italy, I cannot think lit to forego reference to any facts, by which the history of the Roman States may be elucidated, and may both gain in interest, and be better understood. Rather, indeed, at the juncture which my narrative has now reached, the material events of each Italian province form a considerable part of tin; history of every other; and the most considerable part of all is VOL. II. !■: 50 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. found in the events of the war of independence, as being those decisive of the future destiny of every State in Italy. The first and most energetic sentiment, that stirred the people of her respective States, was the desire to attain to the position of a free and independent nation. Their hopes, their efforts, their destinies, were all in common. Just then as the condition and political vicissitudes of Rome ought by me, in virtue of the duty I am fulfilling, to be described with espe- cial diligence, and to be considered with especial attention by those interested in Italian history, on account of the great importance of Rome and of the Popedom to Italy, even so I must keep an eye on the war of independence, whatever its seat ; and my readers must look well into its bearings on the Pope- dom and on Rome. Resuming, therefore, the thread of the narrative on Roman affairs, I will now proceed to state, that, on the 1st of April, the Council of Ministers published, according to the terms of the Statute, a provisional order for the election of Deputies to the Parlia- ment. It appointed to be electors all the municipal Magistrates, the Mayors, Aldermen, Common Coun- cilmen, Syndics, and all the provincial and municipal Councillors, without reference to property; all citi- zens enrolled in the public registry as having a capi- tal of three hundred Roman crowns ; and those who, though not having any registered capital, paid in annual taxes, whether general or provincial, not less than twelve crowns ; the Professors of the Colleges of Chap. ITI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 51 Faculties, and the Professors of the Universities ; the members of the Councils of Management * ; of the Advocates and of the Proctors practising before the Collegiate Courts ; Doctors in theology, in philosophy, and in philology, of six years' standing ; advocates and proctors of six years' standing on the roll of their colleges or courts; doctors, surgeons, notaries, and engineers, of six years' standing ; honorary doc- tors of the Universities ; parish priests ; members of the Chambers of Commerce ; heads of manufactories and industrial establishments ; master tradesmen employing at least twenty workmen ; principals or agents of associations or partnerships, of whatever nature, if rated at three hundred crowns of capital, or paying twelve crowns in taxes. In those Colleges where the number of electors registered under these heads should not amount to an hundred, that number was to be made up by taking in citizens of inferior substance. The following persons were declared qualified to sit: citizens standing on the register for a capital of three thousand crowns, or paying in taxes one hundred crowns a year ; municipal and provincial Councillors and Magistrates ; doctors of six years' standing, and honorary doctors ; parish priests ; members of the Chambers of Commerce ; heads of manufactories and industrial establishments ; partner- ships, trades and handicrafts, if enrolled for a capital of fifteen hundred crowns, or else paying in taxes fifteen crowns a-year ; members of the Colleges of * Sre Vol. I. f> 375. 1 2 52 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. the several Faeulties ; honorary Professors of the Uni- versities, and Advocates and Proctors of the Collegiate Courts. The property of sons, being minors, was put down to the father; while the widow might qualify her son with her own capital. The State was divided into one hundred electoral colleges, each of which was to send a deputy to the Chamber. The rules for the elections were of the kind usual in constitutional States. The Presidents of the respective provinces were ordered to see to it that the municipal Magis- trates should duly prepare the electoral lists. This provisional law of elections gave satisfaction, as showing that the Ministry had it at heart to construe the Statute in the largest sense. So did the decree of Aldobrandini, the Minister of War, by which the troops were ordered to combine the tricolor cockade with the Pontifical. The circulars, too, of Kecchi were commended, some of which forbade the servants of public functionaries to go about begging presents, according to an inveterate usage ; and while others ordered the separation in the prisons of young crimi- nals from adults, and of those under sentence from the untried, there were others, again, by which the Magistrates were admonished to pay no regard to anonymous complaints and accusations, an abuse very prevalent, as having been the delight of men in poAver, the tool of political inquisitors, and the luxury of the Sanfeclists. The Ministry was also desirous to appoint governors of the provinces on whom it could rely ; and this wish was reasonable and just, because, in truth, no Ministers can be responsible for faithful Chap. ITL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 53 administration, if tliey are not in a condition to rely upon the subordinate authorities, and have not the power to select them at their will. But there were still serious obstacles to this arrangement, because the Pope wished that regard should be had to his Ecclesiastical Governors, the Legates and Delegates, most of whom were so enamoured of their temporal functions, that, if any one of them were touched, they all set up their backs, and threw the Court and the Clerical body into uproar. Three laymen only had, by the 10th of April, been put in charge of pro- vinces : Count Francesco Lovatelli, at Ravenna ; Count Eduardo Fabbri, at Pesaro ; the Cavaliere Andrea Bonfigli, at Rieti. Ravenna had remained without a President from the time when the Legate Cardinal Ferretti had suddenly quitted it, on the first announcement of the revolution at Paris, and had repaired to an abbacy of his to ask the Pope's pardon for what he himself called a singular desertion. Lo- vatelli, who succeeded him in office, had been for some months Councillor of Legation in Ravenna, his native place, — a person of good understanding and temperate opinions, and one of those included in the amnesty of Pius IX., as having been obliged, in 1843, to emigrate on account of suspected complicity in a plot. Count Eduardo Fabbri, of Cesena, was an old man of high spirit, and unblemished character, who had some time before suffered a long imprison- ment under a sentence of Rivarola, at Pesaro. lie succeeded the good-natured Cardinal Ficschi, who had governed so remissly that free course was given i; 3 54 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to the criminal passions of the licentious populace, which, as it was said, was rather coaxed than watched or corrected by one Gabussi, that Galletti had sent to manage the police. Bonfigli, of Osimo, a man of integrity, and long conversant in the practice of public business, succeeded at Rieti Monsignor Badia, translated to Frosinone. Monsignor Pilla had held that post, who was one of the Prelates then in bad odour, and afterwards one of those that could not brook being displaced from office by laymen. The Ministry encountered less difficulty in changing those lay governors of districts or municipalities of whom I spoke in the first Book : not, however, that it was enabled to make all the changes that were necessary to restore the greatly and justly impaired reputation of such a class of Magistrates, and to give stability to the new political arrangements. The finances furnished matter for very serious re- flection. Although, at the end of the first Book, I treated summarily of their condition, yet I do not conceive it superfluous to make here a further statement in order that it may be clear to what a pass they had come, when laymen were, for the first time, invited to take a share in the management of the State. Returning to the early period of the Pontifical Restoration, that commenced in 1815, we find that for two years the income exceeded the expenditure by about half a million crowns a-year ; that for the two next years taken together, the expenditure exeeeded the income by a hundred thousand crowns. There was then Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 55 again an excess of income, which for seven years amounted on the average to 450,000 crowns a-year. In the years 1828, 1829, and 1830, the land-tax was diminished one fourth by a decree of Leo XII. : and, at the end of the three years, there was an aggregate deficiency of 400,000 crowns. In the three years from 1831 to 1833 inclusive, the deficiency amounted to 8,187,574 crowns. And the mean of the annual de- ficit in the thirteen following years of the reign of Gregory was about 566,000 crowns. In 1846 the public debt amounted exactly to 38,974,757 Roman crowns, and it was made up of 19,363,521 crowns of funded and consolidated stock; of 1,000,000 of consoli- dated stock, authorised to be funded, being compensa- tion money of the religious Congregations ; of 501,304 crowns of stock created for the redemption of feu duties and rent-charges ; of 15,000,000 of loans con- tracted at Paris, including the sinking fund ; and of 2,000,000 of loan contracted at Genoa. The annual interest of the whole of this debt amounted to 2,126,237 crowns. In the budget of the year 1848, a deficiency of about a million was anticipated. The Government had in the month of January contracted, as I have stated, for a loan of 1,000,000 crowns with the bank of Lahante, which had bound itself to pay the stipu- lated sum in monthly instalments of 168,000 crowns, and had paid down 100,000 as earnest-money. Imt the financial disorders which ensued upon the revolution of February became a cause or a plea lor the failure of Lahante to fulfil his obligation, and lor his not K I 56 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. paying more than 90,000 crowns on account of the first instalment. Hereupon the Government, having remonstrated, as it was entitled to do, and not being able, amidst the universal decline of credit in Europe, to arrange for any other loan, studied expedients to meet its expenses, which, since the troops had taken the field, had gone greatly beyond their estimated amount. They went a-begging now from the Roman Bank, now from some wealthy citizen ; but this pro- duced very little, in comparison with the greatness of their wants ; nor could they possibly get on without in- creasing the amount of the circulation, or without ex- traordinary aids for the treasury. Accordingly, as no other remedy offered, it was enacted upon the 11th of April, that for a term of three months the notes of the Roman Bank should be a legal tender to the amount of 800,000 crowns : while the holders of them should be entitled to exchange them for bonds of the treasury bearing interest, secured upon real property of the Ecclesiastical Congregations, and falling due at terms to be specified. In default of payment, the holders of the bonds were to have the right of selling the securities forthwith, by auction. These bonds were to be put into circulation by the Government within fifteen days. Meantime the Pope, by an au- tograph deed, constituted the security upon the es- tates of the religious Congregations, nor did he appear to have any scruple in the matter ; whether because he had learned that the inquiries of the Council of State (in which his own nephew Luigi had taken an active share) had proved them to have received Chap. III.] TIIE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 57 as compensation more than the amount really owed them by the State : or because he thought it con- ducive to the safety of their property that they should give of their good will a part of what revolutions are wont to take by force. The notes, therefore, of the Bank of Rome came at once into forced circulation, and commerce, which had experienced great diffi- culties, was relieved by them, without their falling in the least below par. During this period, Monsignor Morichini resigned the department of Finance, and Don Annibale de' Principi Simonetti, of Ancona, was appointed to suc- ceed him. Monsignor Morichini had already ordered, that three twelfths of the direct tax of one year should be paid extra by anticipation in three equal sums, and should be returned in like manner in the payment of the tax for the three succeeding years. The Govern- ment then published the ordinance, which created the treasury bonds for two millions of crowns, secured, according to the Pope's decree, upon property belong- ing to ecclesiastical establishments and religious Con- gregations, and for half a million more upon property of the Monte di Pieta, and of the Hospital of the Santo S/nrito, which had occasion for aid from the Govern- ment to this amount. The bonds bore interest at the rate of three crowns and sixty bajocchi (3j) per cent per annum : they were to be retired in ten quarterly payments, beginning the 1st of January, 1849, and ending the 1st of April, 1851. The turns of liquida- tion for each bond were to be determined by lot. The religious Congregations were to open, in the Register 58 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of the public debt, a credit for the aggregate income : and they might at any time they pleased redeem the mortgage by cashing the bonds. The Minister of Finance had authority to sell the properties mortgaged, if the money should not be forthcoming to retire them at the dates specified : in the meantime he began to put out the notes. When they had gone into cir- culation, they were in such credit as to be more in demand, and more popular, than metallic money ; nor did they impair the credit of the notes of the Bank. The new Minister of Finance provided for the benefit of the merchants, that the ad valorem stamp duties, which used to be payable before protesting bills of exchange between persons in trade, should become so only on the registry of the sentence of condemnation. The Ministry likewise made provision for the daily transmission of the posts. The legions of volunteers, after they had set out from Home, were swelled as they went along by comrades whom every city and town contributed ; and when they reached Foligno, they remained there for some days, because General Ferrari was trying to organise them, as well as the circumstances admitted. Then, pursuing their march towards Bologna, they were greeted all the way with much glee and kindness, and had offers and presents of every sort. The Marquis Filippo Gualterio, of Orvieto, the Intendent General, recommended to the bounty of the citizens that most noble cause, on behalf of which those legions were about to face discomfort and danger, and thus he procured for them the loan or contribution of horses, clothes, and Chap. HL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 59 money. Even some priests and monks, who had gone in the capacity of chaplains, discharged the office of asking alms for their country : Padre Gavazzi giving the example, who set up his pulpit in every market- place, and made himself conspicuous, not only by his majestic person and the power of his deep voice, but by his rash language. For, in some places, not content with preaching up the war against the stranger, he also preached down the rich, the priests, and the Sanfedists, an office unworthy of any educated citizen, much more of a priest. About that time, other volunteers, under Montanari of the Engineers, Major of the Civic Guard, set out from Ravenna and Lower Romagna, and marching to Comacchio, they made the Austrians yield the forts to them, by one of the capitulations which at that moment surprise or fortune used to dictate. About 1000 Bolognese, under Lieutenant- Colonel Cesare Mattei, of the Civic Guard, with a vanguard under Zambeccari, proceeded to Ferrara to assist the citizens, conformably with their request, in the acquisition of the citadel. The Austrians, aban- doning the barracks, which they still occupied in the city, had, on the 2Gth, shut themselves up in the fortress with a resolution to resist, nor could they be induced to bend either by menaces, intervention of the authorities, or demonstrations for an attack; for the Commandant declared he would not give way until he had used every means in his power for main- taining the fortress and damaging the city. Of those who hud flocked thither, there were sonic who de- sired to make the attempt at all costs, but in this GO FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. daring wish few of the Ferrarese were sharers ; indeed the greater part dissuaded it, from fear of the serious injury which threatened the city. Durando and the military authorities affirmed, that the fortress could not betaken without guns fit to batter it; but the youths, full of hardihood, and raw in arms, conceived that enthusiasm would do instead. Hence they took it ill that the enterprise was broken off, and both at that time and afterwards, they complained because all possible diligence and effort was not employed for the purpose, and because our troops, throwing themselves beyond the Po, left the Ferrarese with that fortress, which might become either a base, or an object, of the enemy's operations, for a bit in their teeth. The troops that left Rome on the 23rd of March had to perform a journey of about 400 Roman miles to reach the frontier ; and, accomplishing it more ex- peditiously than could have been expected, they arrived at Ferrara on the 20th of April. At Bologna and at Ferrara, General Durando applied himself to reorganising them, and to giving some kind of order to the new legions : but already murmurs had begun that he was losing time, and they wished him to proceed beyond the Po without further delay. On the 29th of March, he had exhorted his men to deeds of valour, but those impatient of procrastination had censured him for temperance in language and slow- ness in action. On leaving Rome, he had orders to march to the frontier of the State, to encamp there, defend himself if attacked, and wait for further orders. But when the Roman Government had heard of the Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 61 entry of the Piedmontese into Lombardy, Cardinal Antonelli wrote on the 27th of March to the Cardinal Legate of Bologna, that he was to apprise the General of Charles Albert's desire that our force should re- main at the confines, and should there assemble the largest numbers practicable, in order to overawe the Austrians ; giving him to understand that he, as President of the Council of Ministers, conceived it necessary to convey to Durando, as Commander of the Pontifical corps of operation, this information "both for his guidance, and also in consideration that a different attitude" (such are the words of the dispatch) " might hamper the operations of the King of Piedmont." Aldobrandini, the Minister of War, wrote on the 28th to the self-same General Durando, " enjoining him at once to place himself in communication with the head-quarters of His Majesty, and to act in con- cert with him." Hereupon, Durando sent Massimo d'Azeglio, who had the rank of Colonel in the Papal army, to the King's camp, that he might give him information of its number and quality, as well as of the orders received from Pome, and might arrange for such concert as was requisite. At the beginning of April, the Pope sent Monsignor Corboli Kussi as his Legate Extraordinary to Charles Albert. The Government Gazette stated vaguely, that he had a commission for Upper Italy. The com- mission was really this: to repair to the King's camp, remain there, and move together with it, in the capacity of the Pope's representative; to hasten the adjustment of the' terms for the Italian League; and G2 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to request that with this view Piedmont would send deputies to Rome ; finally, after having felt his way, he was to request a loan of money to defray the charges of our army. Let it then stand for a fact, that, after the war had broken out in Lombardy, the Pope sent a person to represent him in the Italian camp ; that this person was an Ecclesiastic, the most distinguished man of the Prelacy of Rome, the dearest, too, and most devoted to Pius IX.; that same person who, a few months before, had gone as Com- missioner for the conclusion of the Customs' League : and, further, let this stand, that the Roman Govern- ment ordered the Commander of the Papal troops " at once to place himself in communication with the head-quarters of His Majesty, and to act in concert with him." Durando did not conceal from the Government, that it was the very ardent wish of the volunteers to throw themselves across the Po, and a very difficult business to keep them from it any longer : on the other hand, it was known by unquestionable signs that all those, and they were then many, who were hotly for the war of independence, were disgusted with the actual procrastination. But the Ministry would not determine upon ordering Durando to act on the offensive without the Pope's explicit order. Accord- ingly they pointed out to his Holiness into what peril the peace of the country would be brought, if that uncertainty should continue longer ; and gave him to understand, that they must resign office, rather than undertake to abstain from giving countenance to the Chap. IIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 63 war. To this the Pope replied, that he had not as yet taken any final resolution ; that he was waiting for intelligence from Piedmont about the proposal of a League, and that the Ministers therefore should not resign, but should act " according to circumstances." One of the Ministers remarked, that the question was not simply about sending our troops across the Po, but about sharing in a war which would necessarily in- volve the shedding of human blood, a responsibility which the conscience of a Christian statesman could not assume without the consent of his Sovereign. Upon this the Pope guaranteed him against every scruple, by saying, that there would always be time to recall the troops, in case he should decide upon taking no part in the war. Aldobrandini, the Minis- ter of War, a frank and high-minded gentleman, who sought in any case to set his own conscience at ease, heard such language more than once, so that he was encouraged to give orders to Durando to en- camp beyond the Po, and, under date of the 18th of April, wrote to him as follows : " I have to acknowledge the receipt of your acceptable letter of the 14th current, which I have forthwith submitted to the Holy Father: and he has deigned to answer me, that you are authorised to do all that you may judge requisite for the tranquillity and the advantage of the Pontifical States. Accordingly, I hasten to send you this intelligence by ex [tress. " The application to the Government of Venice for funds meets with our entire approval : you are authorised, more- over, to conclude a loan with that Government for the largest sum you can manage to obtain, as well as to cause 64 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. the contract for Hungarian horses to be carried into effect in the best manner you shall find possible ; and I anticipate receiving, at the earliest moment, good tidings of all the operations you have so sagaciously planned." When Durando had thus received orders to put himself in concert with Charles Albert, then in the field against Austria, he published, on the 5th of April, the following proclamation : " Soldiers ! The noble land of Lombardy, in times past the glorious theatre of a war of independence, when Alex- ander III. gave his blessing to the oath of Pontida, is now trodden anew by heroes, with whom we are about to divide their perils and their triumphs. They too, and we like them, have been blessed by the right hand of a great Pontiff, as were our progenitors of old. He, holy, just, and gentle above all men as he is, yet has recognised the last remedy of arms, as the only one just or possible against one who tram- ples on every right and law, both divine and human. That heavenly heart of his could not but be saddened by the thought of the evils accompanying war ; could not forget, that all those now descending into the field, whatever be their flag, are his children. He sought to give time for re- pentance : and the word, that was to become the instrument of the divine vengeance, lingered on his august lip. But the moment arrived, when gentleness would have turned into a culpable connivance at iniquity. That man of God, who had wept over the massacres of the 3rd of January, but at the same time had hoped that they were simply the result of the brutal, but passing, excess of a licentious soldiery, has now found reason to own, that Italy, unless she can defend herself, is doomed by the Government of Austria to pillage, to rape, to the ferocity of a savage military, to fire, to massacre, to total destruction. He has seen Radetzki make war against the Cross of Christ, beat down the gates of the sanctuary, dash into it with his horse, profane the altar, and violate the Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 65 ashes of our fathers with his foul band of Croats. The Holy Pontiff has blessed your swords, which, when united to those under Charles Albert, are to work concurrently for the extermination of the enemies of God and of Italy, of the men who have outraged Pius IX. and the Church at Mantua, have assassinated our Lombard brothers, and by their enormi- ties have placed themselves beyond every law. Such a war of civilisation against barbarism is not only national, but eminently Christian. It is fitting then, soldiers, and I have determined, that we shall all, as we march for it, be decorated with the Cross of Christ. All, who belong to this corps of operation, will carry that symbol over the heart, of the pat- tern which they will see on mine. With this, and by this, we shall conquer, as our fathers did. Be this our cry of war : God wills it." And so forth. This Proclamation fixed the minds which had wa- vered, and every one in arms decked his breast with a tricolor Cross, from whence the force had afterwards the name of Crusaders. But that Proclamation, and that sign of the Cross, begot great uneasiness in the mind of the Pope, who complained of the mention of himself, and of religion, in a manner calculated to wound the scrupulous consciences among Catholics. ITe complained, and declared he could not remain silent ; the Catholic world would be scandalised and disturbed at such words from the Pope's General ; he must address the Catholic world. The Ministers betook themselves to pacifying him, and thought, they had succeeded, by inserting at his desire the following words in the Government Gazette of April the 10th: " An order of the day dated, Bologna, .jth of April, to the VOL. II. F 66 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. army, expresses certain ideas and sentiments as if they had come from the mouth of His Holiness. The Pope, when he wishes to make known his sentiments, speaks ex se, and never by the mouth of any subordinate person." But the Pope was not so entirely pacified, as not to murmur repeatedly at that Proclamation, and let it be understood that he entertained an idea of calming, by some public act, the consciences which it might have vexed. And indeed, on considering now with dispassionate mind the document in question, it ought not to seem strange that the Pope should murmur, when a General of his took occasion from the cruelties and profanations said to have been per- petrated by the Austrian troops, which in part were true, but in part exaggerations, to proclaim an Holy War, and to rear the Cross of Christ, in the name of his Vicar, as its ensign. It was a gross error on the part of Liberals thus to drag religion into politics. The old use and craft of Sanfedism was now become the use and craft of Liberalism. No one, it seemed, could speak of his country, of freedom, of indepen- dence, unless he garnished his discourse with mysti- cism and recollections of the middle ages. In the matter of the occupation of Ferrara, so soon as July, 1847, we had invoked excommunication on the head of the Austrians ; and the Pope had taken us at our word by giving out, on the 10th of March, that 200,000,000 Catholics would hasten to defend the dwelling of their common Father, should it be attacked. We have since seen, that both the Pope and the Catholics have kept faith. In 1848, when we were waging the Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 67 war of independence, men did not fail to crave the aid of an excommunication for our arms. So it went on, and we fell into the very fault which we rebuke with reason in the clergy, who mix up to- gether politics and religion, — a practice unwise, if sincere ; wicked, if not ; and injurious in either case. To raise the Popedom, not only to the propitious eminence of a Supremacy for religion and civilisation, but to the pride of a temporal sway over Kings and peoples, and to urge upon it the use of spiritual weapons in order to gain a Primacy over the world, was nothing less than denuding the foundations of every modern State, and wishing to make the Pope- dom turn, or return, to be a fountain of sedition. If, on the other hand, our minds were not capable of warming with the simple fire of patriotism, for the noble and also holy enterprise of liberating Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts, so frozen up in indifference, could kindle with religious faith ; and hoping it was a proof of inadequate knowledge of the constitution of man and of modern society. Ill were they acquainted with the Court of Rome, who thought it would dismiss its slow and circumspect ha- bitudes, and head the movement of this venturesome age. Ill did they know Pius IX., who believed he would assent to doctrines which lead the people, intoxicated with the name of their Sovereignty, only into sove- reign excess. But, before proceeding with the account of the boisterous portion of the reign of Pius IX., it will be well to give the fairest account 1 can of the character, temper, and views of this Pontiff, over- 68 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. flattered and over-censured, ill understood and ill judged, by every party. Pius IX. had applied himself to political reform, not so much for the reason that his conscience as an honourable man and a most pious Sovereign enjoined it, as because his high view of the Papal office prompted him to employ the temporal power for the benefit of his spiritual authority. A meek man and a benevolent Prince, Pius IX. was, as a PonthT, lofty even to sternness. With a soul not only devout, but mystical, he referred everything to God, and re- spected and venerated his own person as standing in God's place. He thought it his duty to guard with jealousy the temporal Sovereignty of the Church, because he thought it essential to the safe keeping and the apostleship of the Faith. Aware of the nu- merous vices of that temporal Government, and hos- tile to all vice and all its agents, he had sought, on mounting the throne, to effect those reforms which justice, public opinion, and the times required. He hoped to give lustre to the Papacy by their means, and so to extend and to consolidate the Faith. He hoped to acquire for the clergy that credit, which is a great part of the decorum of religion, and an efficient cause of reverence and devotion in the people. His first efforts were successful in such a degree, that no Pontiff ever got greater praise. By this he was greatly stimulated and encouraged, and perhaps he gave into the seduction of applause and the temptations of popularity, more than is fitting for a man of decision, or for a prudent Prince. But Chap. III.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 69 when, after a little, Europe was shaken by universal revolution, the work he had commenced was in his view marred ; he then retired within himself, and took alarm. In his heart, the Pontiff always came before the Prince, the Priest before the citizen : in the secret struggles of his mind, the Pontifical and priestly conscience always outweighed the conscience of the Prince and citizen. And as his conscience was a very timid one, it followed that his inward conflicts were frequent, that hesitation was a matter of course, and that he often took resolutions even about temporal affairs more from religious intuition or impulse, than from his judgment as a man. Add that his health was weak and susceptible of nervous excitement, the dregs of his old complaint. From this he suffered most, when his mind was most troubled and uneasy; another cause of wavering and changefulness. When the frenzy of the revolution of Paris, in the Days of February, bowed the knee before the sacred image of Christ, and amidst its triumph respected the altars and their ministers, Pius IX. anticipated more favour to the Church from the new political order, than it had had from the in- devout monarchy of Orleans. Then he took pleasure in the religious language of M. Forbin Janson, Envoy of the infant Republic, and in his fervent reverence for the Papal person ; and he rejoiced to learn, and to tell others, that he was the nephew of a pious French Bishop. At the news of the violence suffered by the Jesuits in Naples, and threatened in his own States, he was troubled, and his heart conceived resentment against t 3 70 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. the innovators. Afterwards he was cheered, by learn- ing that one of the rulers of the new Republic of Venice was Tommaseo, whom he valued as a zealous Catholic. He had a tenderness towards the dynasty of Savoy, illustrious for its saints, and towards Charles Albert, who was himself most devout. He learnt with exultation, that Venice and Milan had emancipated their Bishops from the censorship and scrutiny of the Government in their correspondence with Rome. It seemed as if God were using the Revolution to free the Church from the vexations en- tailed by the laws of Joseph II., which Pius IX. ever remembered with horror, and considered to be a curse weighing down the Empire. Where he did not foresee or suspect injury to Religion, he was in accor- dance with the friends of change. But everything disturbed his mind and soul, which impugned or gave any token of impugning it, or imported dispa- ragement to spiritual discipline or persons. And if from his vacillating nature, and his inborn mildness, he did not adopt strong resolutions, which would have given proof of his uneasy thoughts and feelings, yet they wrought on him in secret, and he had no peace till he could find some way to set his conscience at ease. He had fondled the idea of making the people happy with guarded freedom, in harmony with their Sovereigns; of bringing both into harmony with the Papal See ; of a Popedom presiding over the League of Italian States ; of internal repose and agreement; of civilising prosperity, and of splen- dour for Religion. But events, as they proceeded Chat. IH.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 71 from day to day, shattered this design. When in the name of freedom and of Italy, and by the acts of the innovators, priests were insulted, excesses perpe- trated, the Popedom or the ecclesiastical hierarchy assailed, Pius IX. ceased to trust them : then he began to regret and repent of his own work; then he doubted, whether by his mildness and liberality he had not encouraged a spirit irreverent to the Church, rebellious to the Popedom ; then he com- plained of the ingratitude of mankind, faltered in his political designs, and prognosticated calamity. i 4 72 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. IV. DIFFICULTIES OF THE LAY ADMINISTRATION. — THE SOVEREIGN. THE SACRED COLLEGE. THE PRELACY. — THE SANFEDISTS. THE LAY FUNCTIONARIES. — APPLICANTS AND DUNS. — EFFECTS OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE MAZZLNl's NATIONAL ASSO- CIATION. THE REPUBLICANS OF THE PAPAL STATES. THE JOURNALS "LABARO," " EPOCA," " CONTEMPORANEO." — THE AGITA- TORS. — DISTURBANCES OF APRIL 11. THE PROVINCES. — PAS- SAGE OF THE PO. FATAL CONTEMPT TOWARDS THE ENEMY. ANCEENT DOMINIONS OF THE CHURCH. THE PAPAL TROOPS ON THE WAY TO THE PIAVE. — THE NEAPOLITAN TROOPS IN THE ROMAN STATES. — ATTEMPT ON PESCHIERA. — BATTLE OF PASTRENGO. TnE VOLUNTEERS IN THE TYROL. HAPPY OMENS. THE WALLS OF THE GHETTO, AT ROME, KNOCKED DOWN. The subjects thus far treated of show, that the lay Ministers, strange to the business of governing, and most strange to the Court, were beset with grave and peculiar difficulties. In order better to apprehend them, it is fitting to reflect, how all the ordinary cri- teria of reason, experience, public opinion, and utility, lose their power, whenever the Sovereign, being also Pope, conceives that some temporal affair of his State has to do with the spiritual power. When the Sove- reign, Guardian of the Faith and Guide of consciences, gives such a judgment, then any such affair is through him drawn within the sphere of that infallible will, which does not admit of influence or advice in a con- trary sense. In questions of such a nature, laymen arc always and throughout impotent in dealing with Chap.IV.] the fundamental statute. 73 ecclesiastics ; because these last are always prone to contemn human wisdom, and readily find means to oust and proscribe it with the metaphysics of theo- logy, and with the doctrines of the canons and the bulls. And the priestly class has invariably such a mistrust of the laity as perverts their logic ; so that discussion assumes the character, if not the form, of bitter contest. There was no evidence, since the new measures were adopted, that the Sacred College had continued its interference in the administration of the State. The Pope was in frequent conference with those Car- dinals only that held the chief ecclesiastical dignities, such as Vizzardelli, Prefect of the Sacred Congrega- tion of Studies ; Orioli, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars ; Patrizi, Vicar of Rome ; and Ferretti, Secretary of Memorials ; and these had not the character of political meddlers. Those who in the reign of Gregory had enjoyed power, now kept themselves, or were kept, aloof from the palace : some, for example (not to name any other) Delia Genga, were ill regarded there. Yet the Sacred College was still, in virtue of the Statute, the political Senate of the Sovereign : and hence it cannot be presumed to have laid aside all concern, every wish, or every habit, related to government : rather, we may with reason surmise, that it was no friend to lay administration ; for, in truth, the Liberal party both acted and spoke in a maimer ill suited to conciliate the Cardinals to the new political system. Nothing could be more sottisli and imprudent, than to cry a crusade all day 74 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. against the College of Cardinals — which, after all, was a constitutional organ, and which, moreover, was by law the perpetual and sole Electoral Assembly of the Sovereignty, as well as by custom the list of per- sons exclusively capable of being elected — and then to think of consolidating the new system in Rome. The Prelates, except a few, who certainly were the best, such as Corboli, Morichini, and Pentini, had no influence in the City, and little at Court : but the Prelature in general, envious of the recent advance- ment of the laity, combated them with that sort of finesse in which the clerical courtier vies with women, nay, beats them. Nor should we forget, that there still subsisted the relics of Sanfedism, and of the cliques devoted to the Gregorian system, which was deeply rooted in the Court, and by its abundant off- shoots, through ways shrouded in intricacy, figment, and insinuation, was always mining under the new order of things. The lay functionaries, and especially those of the old department of the Secretary of State, who all remained in office, could ill adapt themselves to a system of audit, accountability, and publicity, or to those prompt, vigorous, and determined modes of governing, which the times demanded. A race brought up, fed, and trained in an Ecclesiastical Court, they were masters of trick, most accomplished in winking, smirking, twisting phrases, above all, in wasting away time, or rather in wasting away other men by means of time ; sheer buttresses of inertia, on which broke in vain every effort of volition. Procras- tination is a preeminent accomplishment with the Chap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 75 clever pupils of the Court of Rome, where knowing how to wait is in great part knowing how to act. Certain obstreperous politicians affect to make the world anew, by their creative word, in five days : but Rome teaches to a marvel, how by taking time, and standing with arms a-kimbo, if not the world, yet the fortunes of parties, may be restored. Ministries at Rome had to undergo another most signal infliction, I mean the beleaguering of appli- cants and duns. The flood of this fry amounts to a very deluge : they swarm incessantly and by myriads in the antechambers, to ask for offices, pensions, in- dulgences, and favours : and there is a gainful trade, which is called that of an agent, and consists in dun- ning to obtain them. Repulsed hundreds of times over from one waiting-room to another, they return imperturbably to the attack upon the influential man : they work from far, they examine into the attach- ments, the enmities, and the weak points of the man in power, to make of them their tool and their profit ; and every smile, every civil word, they set down for an earnest of his favour. This is owing to the fact, that in Rome there is a large class accustomed from time immemorial to live and revel in jobs, and with the money both of the public and of the Church ; sycophants of such as are rich and powerful, be they what else they may ; a greedy and slothful herd, re- cruited from every class and rank of the population. This swarm of hangers-on by habit, tradition, and practice, had become all alive in consequence of the changes in men and measures ; and, amidst the 76 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. loudest vaunts of freedom, it never relaxed its beg- ging and importuning for favours on the strength of anterior promises. Some assumed the attitude of victims of former Governments ; some put forward their claim as men amnestied, or men persecuted, and so by degrees as Liberals ; or, if they had no other plea, they then made that of want. To hear them, they were all Liberals afflicted by the Gregorian Government ; all of them covered their mishaps, real or invented, with some political pretext: some, in order to beg favours from the Government of Pius IX., bragged that they had betrayed the confidence of that of Gregory. Even some notorious Sanfedists puffed themselves to the Ministry, alleging they had always sighed for the new order of things. One Bisoni, of Faenza, the very soul of Sanfedism and of its in- trigues, and the manager of the vilest acts of the vile Gregorian police, wrote to the Minister Recchi in the capacity of a Liberal. It is right to brand with infamy such turpitude, too common in an age that bootlessly craves the praise of liberality ; and it is useful, thus to analyse the materials, out of which some pretend they can construct, forsooth, the Republic of Plato. The cry of the war of independence appeared to have been advantageous to internal tranquillity in this respect, that the spirits most given to stirring in party struggles had been for the most part caught with that noble design. Mazzini, after the revolution of February, had betaken himself from London to Paris, where he made himself the founder of a Na- tional Association for Italy, giving out that its exclu- Chap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 77 sive aim would be to assist Italy in attaining to inde- pendent existence, while it would put aside every question as to its future arrangements and the form of constitution. In token of his conciliatory inten- tions, Mazzini admitted into the association those refugees of moderate opinions, who were known as friends to constitutional monarchy ; and, among them, the distinguished Canuti held the office of Vice- President. It thus seemed as if even the sectaries, after following for many years the most unlimited and, as they are now termed, radical doctrines, were recommending by example and by advice temperance and harmony. In the Roman State the Republicans were few, the Mazzinians fewer : and the greater por- tion of the one and the other had quitted all political intrigue, to follow up in arms the fortunes of Italy. "We also saw some journalists lay down the pen and grasp the sword; among whom Berti-Pichat, of Bo- logna, is honourably recorded, who ceased to publish his journal, the Italiano, and became a soldier. In Rome, however, still abode those Professors of agita- tion who are the most dangerous ; not the enthusiasts for an idea, but those who take pleasure in subverting, because subversion in other ways ministers to their pleasures. The journalism of Rome, after the Bilancia had dropped, went down hill ; and in proportion as refined and high-minded persons retired from the city, the newspapers found it more easy to arouse the passions. Some priests, both learned and cultivated, edited the Labaro with warmth of feeling and mode- rate opinions. The Epoca, which had started re- 78 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. cently, showed temperance enough : but neither the one nor the other had many readers and admirers among the herd of Liberals, which fed upon the pages of the Contemporaneo, now that, upon the departure of Gazzola for Bologna, and of the gallant Torre and Masi for the war, it had come under the exclusive controul of Sterbini, an adept at moving rude minds by the language of the passions, and at applying the match to the mine, while keeping his own person in safety. Sterbini, without being either loved or respected, yet had great weight in the clubs and in the streets ; because, when passion is aroused, it always submits to the controul of the turbulent and restless, the loudest in declaiming and in imprecation. The agitators had now for a good while been used to govern with the streets, and in them ; they had got into the Palace while Cardinal Ferretti was Minister : Monsignor Morandi, when Director of the Police, had courted them : Monsignor Savelli had not interfered with them : Don Michele Gaetano, Prince of Teano, who for a short time was in office, had actually mixed with them : Galletti was their idol. They entered at all hours into the offices of Government, brought news, magnified, or invented it, went to ask for it, wanted to know everything, that the Government knew, or was about : they would stop the couriers in the streets of Rome, attend them to the public offices, hasten from thence to the clubs, and so they passed their restless life. It had now become a common pursuit to make use of political agitation, and of its leaders, to rise or to keep aloft ; because the recom- Chap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 79 mendation of the clubs was enough to carry a favour, and the old monster, jobbing, had merely shifted thither from antichambers and sacristies; nor had morality or equity gained anything by the change. The very merchants sought to use political agitation for their own purposes, and blew the trumpet of the clubs in order to urge on the Government to have prompt recourse to the financial expedients of which I spoke in the last chapter. Already the phantom notion of monopoly was circulating among the lower class ; the idea borrowed, together with the name, from France, the grand manufactory of popular bug- bears: from thence, too, began to rain down that profusion of rights for labour, and of remedies for want, which create it where it does not exist, and enhance it where it does. In Rome it is customary to maintain at the public charge a swarm of people disabled chiefly by their own indolence, and wanting work through wanting will, who make a show of moving the soil about, or of cleansing the streets, while really doing nothing; impersonations of sloth and indolence, that desecrate the work and name of charity. The agitators mingled with this herd ; and on the 11th of April they led a body of them, not numerous, into the heart of the city to cry for bread and employment. The Civic Guard hastened to the spot, and arrested forty : some confessed that they were paid for making that uproar, and told in what money, and by whom. A judicial inquiry was set on foot, which was to have been carried through, and so the Council of Ministers wished ; but sonic of the 80 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. mob-leaders then in vogue were implicated, and they were backed by persons of station : thanks, therefore, to the Minister of Police, the inquiry was broken off, and the attempt remained unpunished. A fine dis- coyery this indeed, for urging the Government to provide for the necessities of finance and commerce ! Such was the state of the Ministry and of Rome. The provinces, on the other hand, were far more tranquil than the capital, and reposed confidence in the men in power. The northern ones, in which the fire of revolution had smouldered for so many years, had in such wise attached themselves to the reforms and the Constitution, that they were much more calm and contented than the capital, which afforded an often-recurring example of dissatisfaction and dis- turbance. But it must not be overlooked, that the old aversion to priestly government was ever in vigour among them ; and they keenly desired the cessation of the privileges and preferences which that class still enjoyed. The germs of misgiving and mistrust were always there ; and it might easily be seen, that a small matter would bring them to flower and fruit. Herein lies the wretchedness of States governed by a caste, that when its name has become a byeword for bad faith, unless it be entirely ousted, the moral weight of Government hardly admits of being restored. Now, the Constitution had been essentially altered ; the civil equality of citizens established ; the avenues to public employment laid open for all ; yet still the privileges of the clergy subsisted : we had clergy in the political departments, clergy in the supreme Ciiap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 81 courts, clergy in the governments of Provinces. And doubtless the Provinces wished the temporal Sove- reignty of the Pontiff to be respected and entire ; but wished the Statute to be entire too, in its spirit ; and public offices to be entrusted to citizens, according, not to their class, but to their competency. The priest, as a civil governor, had so utterly fallen in the affection and estimation of the governed, that the miracles of Pius IX. availed little to lift him up again. I do not say this was always and absolutely rational and just ; but it was the effect of a reaction according to nature, whence wrong was done even to worthy men that belonged to the misliked caste. Apart from such grounds of complaint, the northern Provinces did not furnish the Government with grounds for npprehension : rather this difference was remarked between the capital and the Provinces, that in the first the spirit of agitation, which nurtures revolu- tions, was in the ascendant; whereas with the latter there was a fixed intention to settle down in the con- stitutional system, and to give it a basis and security by means of the requisite civil reforms. There was, too, this further difference, that the Romagnols, glowing with the love of Italian independence more than with any other affection, were less susceptible of those incentives which proved so powerful in Rome for begetting distemper and disturbances. The llo- magnols appeared to have forgotten the misgovcrn- ment of Rome, although they had been the main suf- ferers by it ; and had become cordially reconciled to the dominion of the Pope, since Pius IX. had blessed VOL. ir. G 82 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. the cause of Italy, and his legions had been making ready to support the attempt at independence : since it had appeared that that dominion offered no ob- stacle to the union of the Nation, and that the acts of the reigning Pontiff belied the aphorisms, and the auguries, of Dante and of Macchiavello. At the commencement of April, General Durando had given officers, as well as the character and desig- nation of military corps, to the volunteers of Bologna, Ferrara, and the other provinces of Romagna; and he sent Captain Aglebert to Yenice, to concert with the Provisional Government whatever might be re- quisite for getting ready victuals, pay, and quarters. Meantime Zambeccari, who commanded the corps called that of the Upper Rhine, impatient of procras- tination, and in a fury to lead his men to support the insurrection, pushed beyond the Po, and nearly to Legnago ; went to Badia, and next to Bevilacqua ; had a slight and successful skirmish with the Austrians, but then, halting at the last-named place, was in great danger of being surrounded by the enemy, who drove out our men and proceeded to burn it. The chasseurs, too, of the Upper Rhine crossed the Po on the 8th, and took the direction of Ostiglia. On the 16th and 17th, they were followed by the volunteers of Lower Romagna under the old Romagnol soldier Colonel Costante Ferrari ; and by the riflemen of the Po, under the highminded and enthusiastic Count Most! of Ferrara. The populations, headed by their priests, flocked, as in festivity, to receive their allies with acclamations and embraces, but they meddled Chap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 83 little with arms, which nowadays were the only festi- vity suitable to Italy. The Croats were now making a stir towards the Tagliamento and the Isonzo, firing the towns, and striking terror into the inhabitants ; and the report ran, that in the end of March a force of regulars and volunteers, strong in numbers and in artillery, had marched from Vienna. Few gave credit or importance at the time to this and other sinister intelligence ; the greater part of those who beheld the first marvellous smiles of fortune relied upon the star of Italy, and thought the Empire was dismembered. We Italians are too susceptible of the impulses of passion, and of heat in the imagination; with a small matter we are drunken, and think to leap over the moon. Deadly intoxication, most deadly fault, that of undervaluing an enemy, which lets our enthusiasm too easily evaporate, and gives him every facility for showing that he is as gallant as we are, and more resolute ; that he has much of per- severance and of discipline, qualities more effectual and valuable than simple courage. It comes to this : we must cither send about their business the dreams of poets, and educate ourselves in those severe and masculine virtues, or must yet remain long in a position to chant many more elegies to assuage our sorrow, than hymns of triumph : we must either rest assured that with the tenacious, the disciplined, and the resolute, only the tenacious, disciplined, and resolute can cope, and must therefore leave oil* despi- sing the Austrians and imitate them in their steadi- ness and their attention to the military spirit; or (i 2 84 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. else, we must be doomed to the disgrace of seeing them masters of our country. A stern truth ; but the only one that an Italian freeman can utter to Italians free in mind. He, who wants compliments and adulation, may fling these volumes from him. Durando had not such trust in fortune, as to prevent his deeming the work one of far more dif- ficulty, than it was generally considered. This he stated in conversation and in writing ; and, aware of the great dangers menaced by the fresh Austrian legions descending upon Yenezia, he designed to march to the Tao'liamento and the Isonzo as soon as he could obtain a sufficient force. But King Charles Albert thought it advisable to keep watch about Mantua, in order to hinder the enemy from scouring the territory of Parma, and threatening that of the Pope ; so, after dispatching a supply of gunners to Palmanova, he ordered Durando to pass the Po, and encamp about Ostiglia and Governolo, which was done about the 20th of the month. Thus the fla? of the sacred Keys was carried beyond the confines of the Papal States. But here I ought to mention, that at one period these States went beyond the Po into the Polesine di Rovigo ; and that Rome had never relinquished her claim to that fragment of territory, which had been taken from her by the treaties of 1815. Rome, as I have already remarked, acquiesces, but never yields; and before acquiescing she protests in order to make good her title, and does not abandon the idea of insisting on it at some time or other. Accordingly, although she scrupled to take part in CHAr. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 85 the war of Italian independence, yet conceiving the time had come to stand upon her protests of other times against the severance of any portion of the territory of the Church, she made no difficulty about carrying the Papal flag into the district in question. Nay she began to ruminate upon other claims, other protests of earlier date, relating to the dominions of Modena and Parma ; and she would not have been ill pleased to see them annexed afresh, by a popular vote, to the Pontifical State. While Durando was at Ostiglia, the Modenese legions repulsed an Austrian squadron from Gover- nolo; but, on the other hand, Nugent, who had passed the Isonzo, was laying waste Friuli with fire and sword, so that the Republic of Venice became urgent in the demand for succours. So Durando caused two battalions of grenadiers, and two of chas- seurs, to be carried with expedition to Treviso. Gene- ral Alberto La Marmora, commander of the defences of Venezia, placed them on the Piavc, the only line that could be held, now that the enemy were masters of those of the Livenza and the Tagliamento, and had destroyed all the bridges on the road from Treviso to Udine. During that interval General Ferrari, having passed the Po with his legions of volunteers, was moving towards Treviso from Rovigo, which lie had reached on the 27th of April. Nor was it long before Charles Albert ordered Durando to march his whole force upon the Piavc ; so that about seven thousand Papal regulars and ten thousand volunteers went to cope, on the Piave, with the Austrian force of SQ FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. from fifteen to twenty thousand, under Nugent, which had come down from the Isonzo. Fourteen thousand Neapolitans had now entered the Roman States. This powerful auxiliary force was reckoned on to make up an army of about forty thousand men, which would have been able, not merely to make head against Nugent, but utterly to crush him. The inhabitants of the Roman States received them with the same, or even more, joyous and festive greetings, than our own legions. Even the name of Kino; Ferdinand was cheered with cordial acclama- tions, because Italy, to whom it seemed he was at last stretching out the hand of succour, generously returned every benediction, and threw her sacred mantle over every one who came to it for shelter, and with simis of loving and defending her. Peschiera is traversed by the Mincio. The Pied- montese were encamped on the right bank. To complete the blockade it was necessary to pass over to the left, and to deprive the enemy of the posts he held between Peschiera and Verona, so that he might not be able to molest the siege operations. The cap- ture of it was eagerly desired, with a view to gaining free access to the Upper Adige, and to an attack upon A r erona. The important position of Goito was adequately garrisoned ; the Tuscan force encamped at Le Grazie, Curtatone, and Montanara, observed the garrison of Mantua. On the 26th and 27th of April the residue of the army crossed to the left bank of the Mincio at Goito, Vallcggio, Monzambano, as well as by a bridge of boats thrown over the stream near Ciiap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 87 Volta, without any other incident than a slight skirmish that occurred on the 26th near Villafranca, from which point our troops drove the enemy as far as Somma-Campagna. He had occupied the important positions on that chain of hills, which, a spur of Monte Baldo, reaches obliquely from Pastrengo to Valleggio between the Mincio and the Adige. The first Piedmontese corps-cVarmee, composed of the Darvillars and Ferrere divisions, occupied Custoza, Somma-Campagna, and Sacca, without opposition. The second, formed of the Broglia and Federici divisions, encamped at Castelnuovo and in the neigh- bourhood. On the 28th General Bes, commanding the Piedmont Brigade, after a short scuffle drove the Austrians from the village of Cola, and the Broglia division halted at Sandra: at ei<2;ht in the morning of the 29th the enemy, commanded by the Prince of Tour Taxis, swept down in several columns from Piovezzano and Pastrengo, in order to give battle. Two regiments of the Savoy Brigade were encamped in front of Sandra, and extended over the hills of Santa Giustina. Two regiments of the Brigade Cuneo formed the second line ; the third, which was at Cola, received tidings that the attack was immi- nent. Commencing at nine in the morning it con- tinued until half-past four in the afternoon, when the enemy, sharply repulsed, retired upon Pastrengo. Marshal Radetzki was resolved tenaciously to contest the positions called by the name of Pastrengo, as being those which command the Adige at the bend in its course ; and thus to secure the communications G 4 88 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. with Rivoli and the Tyrol on the right bank, with the aid of bridges of boats fixed at Pescantina and at Pontone below Bussolengo ; three divisions under General D'Aspre, a force of 25,000 men, defended Pastrengo. On the 30th the King gave orders for battle with the divisions of General Broglia and the Duke of Savoy, the Brigade Piedmont, and a brigade of cavalry. At eleven in the morning, the division Broglia moved from Santa Giustina to the right along the hills on the side of Piovezzano ; that of the Duke of Savoy, moving from Sandra, directed itself against the centre of the enemy ; the Brigade Pied- mont advanced from Cola to wheel round Pastrengo by the left ; the horse, posted on the right flank of the line of battle, went to support the movement, and to observe the Verona road, by which the Austrians might arrive and attempt a diversion. The King, who on that day had by him Cesare Balbo, the Presi- dent of his Council of Ministers, halted opposite Sandra, on a height which commanded the field of battle. The enemy was strong on all the hills which rise opposite Pastrengo. The Brigade Piedmont drove him back with great vehemence and courage from one of them to another; but that of Cuneo, which at the same moment engaged on the right, found its advance obstructed by a deep and muddy canal. When the King saw this, he hastened to the spot to quicken and encourage them. In a short time this Brigade, too, readied the foot of the lull over Pastrengo, to which the Brigade Piedmont had got already, and they combined in making the Chap. IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 89 ascent. The right pushed on with a courage and impetus equalling those of the left, and the enemy could not hold their ground. However, he tried a last effort, and suddenly flung himself on the two brigades of the left. Our men hesitated for an instant, and the horses of the carabineers, who formed the King's escort, took fright and recoiled ; but the third regiment of infantry kept its place, when Major S. Front, commanding the carabineers of the King's escort, gave the word to charge, and, himself heading them impetuously, he led them up the slope at a gal- lop, followed by the whole body, the King with the rest. Almost at the same moment, the foot, at a run, reached the slope, and broke the enemy, who in dis- order retired to the bridges. While this battle was in progress, General Manno, of the division Federici, attacked the outworks of Peschiera, and beat back the garrison, which had tried a sally : while General Sala, with his brigade of cavalry and a company of foot from Aosta, on our flank, drove a body, formed of the enemy's foot and lancers, towards Verona ; and Som- mariva repulsed about three thousand men, who had marched from Verona upon Somma-Campagna and Sacca. In this battle, which took its name from Pastrengo, and lasted six hours, our troops behaved admirably, both for valour and discipline, and suf- fered little loss: the Austrians lost 1,200 men be- tween dead and wounded, and from four to five hundred prisoners. But, according to the allegations of military men, all the use which might and should have been made of the victory was not made. There 90 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. were still two hours of day ; and they aver there was time to reach the Adige along with the enemy in re- treat, to annoy him, to plunge into the valley, and to cut off his communications. The King passed the night at Santa Giustina, and the next day at Busso- lengo, which had been occupied by the division Broglia: he then pushed his force on to Pontone, where he saw the right bank of the Adige abandoned by the enemy, and the bridges drawn over to the left. Those volunteers, who on the 10th of April had fought at Castelnuovo, received orders to march for the Tyrol, which had been entered a few days before with some skirmishing by other legions of them under Arcioni and Longheni, and had taken the castle of Toblino, defended by 500 Austrians. The inhabitants of the Italian Tyrol had at first received these volun- teers with much glee: but there were planted, as usual, in the midst of the choicest youth of Lombardy, those vagabonds who use the opportunity of political con- vulsion to sate their depraved appetites; and hence by degrees it came about, that their profligacy exas- perated the country folks, and filled the district with scandal and complaint. Arcioni encamped at Stenico, a village on the road to Trent, and Manara was at Tione. The enemy pushed forward on the 19th of April ; on which Arcioni summoned Manara to his aid, and ordered him to march out and meet them, lie did so, at night, with his own legion, with another under one Tibaldi, and with two companies of Tici- nese carabineers of the legion Arcioni. Without the precautions that regular soldiery are wont to use, Ciiap.IV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 91 they marched in the direction of Sclemo, a village threatened by the Austrian s. When they had pro- ceeded a little way, they were unexpectedly assailed by a force of Styrian volunteers and Tyrolese chas- seurs. Manara was on the right, Tibaldi in the centre, the companies of Arcioni on the left. The two first made head, but not so the last, who abandoned the post on the left, which was to defend Sclemo ; so that the Austrian s, after a three hours' skirmish, won the place. Arcioni went off to Tione, and Manara fol- lowed him with all the volunteers, to Avhom orders came from General Allemandi to retreat to Brescia; at which place a part of them were reorganised, but a larger part disbanded. The intelligence of the happy achievements of the Piedmontese army caused great glee among the in- habitants of the Roman States. Glad hopes were likewise quickened from the knowledge that Admiral Cosa was conducting the Neapolitan fleet into the Adriatic, to strengthen the Sardinian fleet under Admiral Albini. Austria had no navy equipped which could outmatch one of the Italian fleets, much less the two together ; and her sea force, small at best, had been reduced and disorganised at the time of the Venetian insurrection. It seemed, then, as if our ships could not only worst the enemy at sea, but might also, by keeping abreast of the army, assist popular risings along the Adriatic coasts, and annoy the enemy in divers other ways. 1 shall hereafter mention how these hopes were frustrated. The friends of social progress uere highly gratified 92 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. by the decision of Pius IX. to raze in Rome the walls and gates which shut up the Jews in the Ghetto. He had already, at the commencement of his Pontificate, softened some of the rigours with which they were afflicted, and had directed that they might spread beyond that ignominious precinct : nor, however great was the outcry about it among the mob, did he at any time forego the idea of bettering the condition of the followers of the Mosaic law. He was disposed to give them civil rights ; and if he did not think of extending his concessions even to political privileges, yet he would give this as the main reason for it, that, in a constitutional country, every one who enjoys them may rise to the highest stages of power ; whereas a Pope could not have any except Catholic Ministers. In the meantime he raised them out of the abjectness of their isolation, although the Roman vulgar censured him for it bitterly, most of all because it took effect in the Holy Week. When it was known in the city, that the walls and fasten- ings of the Ghetto were to be pulled down at night by order of the Cardinal Yicar, Ciceruacchio hastened with his companions, or subjects, to share in the work ; and they shared in it so largely, that it seemed as though the thins: were effected more as their boon than by the will of the Pope. Pius IX. was vexed at this : whether because noise had been made about what he wanted done quietly, or because it was brought about in such a manner, that it might seem the popular party had had more to say to it, than the authority of the Head of Religion. Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 93 CHAP. V. ERRONEOUS IDEAS ABOUT PIUS IX. — RUMOURS OP A SCHISM IN GER- MANY. PERTURBATION OF THE POPE. — PIEDMONT DECLINES TO SEND DEPUTIES FOR THE LEAGUE TO ROME. EMBARRASSMENTS. MIGHT OF THE POFEDOM IN ITALY.- -EVILS RESULTING FROM THE NON-CONCLUSION OF THE LEAGUE. — REPORTS ABOUT THE COMING CONSISTORY. — OPINIONS OF THE MINISTRY UPON GOING TO WAR. OPINION OF PELLEGRINO ROSSI. —UNANIMOUS DECISION OF THE MINISTRY. — REMONSTRANCE PRESENTED BY THEM TO THE POPE. — INCIDENTS ANTECEDENT TO THE CONSISTORY. THE ALLO- CUTION OF APRIL 29. The absolute Governments of Europe, and their adherents, had long ago given out that Pius IX. was a giddy innovator. And as the Revolution ran wild, they laid the fault at his door, with a great deal either of malice or of simplicity. On the other hand, there were not wanting Liberals who passed the same senseless judgment, only ascribing to him as a rare merit what others imputed for a fault. Hence, when the war of independence had broken out, there were on the one side some who thought that Pius IX. would, or ought to be, at the least an Alexander IIP or a Julius IP, a Pontiff on the white mule at the head of the new Crusaders, with the sword and the thunder- bolts of the Vatican at the backs of the iocs of Italy; while, on the other hand, the Austrians cursed him as a very demon of revolution. In tin; meantime the Germans, who were speculating about the unity of their own stock and nation, and were straining 94 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. every nerve in that difficult enterprise, could not excuse the desire of independence in the Italians, and contended for the boasted rights of Austria and of Germany over the lands and the coasts of Italy, with the people that inhabit them. When it became known in Germany that the Pontifical troops were hastening to the legitimate defence of Italy, it greatly affected the public feeling, and the name of Pius IX. was branded with censure, not by laymen only, but by some Bishops and high ecclesiastics. Monsignor Viale, Nuncio at Vienna, and Monsignor Sacconi, Nuncio at Munich, were assiduous and eager in de- tailing the sinister reports touching Rome and the Pope, and coloured them in such a way as to create an apprehension of schism, the most serious one that could arise for a Pope, and that Pope too Pius IX. He had before this, as I have said, been greatly troubled by the Proclamation of General Durando: still he had hoped, that the Italian League would be shortly concluded, and that, when he had furnished the quota of troops that might be due from him as a temporal Sovereign, he would then have been able, in the capacity of Pontiff, to use those good offices which lie considered requisite to assure the consciences of Catholics. But the intelligence which he received from Piedmont, by no means set him at ease on this head. For the Piedmontese Government not only refused to send its legates to Pome, in order to fix upon the terms of the League, as Naples had already done, and Tuscany was about to do, but it likewise asked the Pope to send deputies to a military Con- Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 95 gress in Upper Italy, to agree upon mere terms of alliance for the war, remarking that so long as it should rage, it only could be the subject for dis- cussion and settlement. It appeared to Pius IX. an unjust pretension, that he, an High Priest of peace, with limited and feeble military resources as a Prince, should take part in a Congress of belligerents ; and he already began to doubt, whether the idea of an union of Italian Sovereignties under the patronage of the Roman Pontiff, might not peradventure give place to that of the Primacy of some military, nay militant Sovereign. By these causes, infinite material for in- trigues was supplied to the enemies of freedom and of Italy, who were aware of the timidity of the Pontiff's mind. The sect of the Sanfedists had, thanks to the new measures, been ousted from power, and the clerical caste were in the way to lose it ; so that the more worldly portion of the clergy was attracted towards that sect by the sentiment of a common adversity. And because the Sanfedists and the clergy, greedy of power, had not for a long time had, and could not have, any other prop for their ascendancy than the force of Austria, they were thus drawn into both wishes and intrigues, with a view to her triumphing in Italy, and into promoting the machinations which the diplomatists of Austria, Germany, and Russia carried on with much finesse, to withdraw from the cause of national independence the powerful assistance of the Popedom, and the in- fluence of the name of Pius IX. Towards such an end this clandestine alliance directed its exertions, 96 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. each in his own way. Some alarmed the conscience of the Pope with the risk of schisms, others incited the jealousy of both Prince and Court against the fortune of Charles Albert. Greatly did those err, on whatever side they stood, who at that moment thought it well to trust wholly to chance for the reinstatement of our nationality, rather than to adjust it forthwith themselves in the best manner that was possible. It was of far more mo- ment to constitute a League and union of some of the States upon fixed terms, than to speculate upon the ideal beauty of more comprehensive combinations ; far better to agree upon an union, in which the Pontiff should have both seat and authority, than to leave at large that power, not less strong in the moral sphere, or in Catholic influences, than it is weak in the sphere of things material. We forgot, in 1848, that human affairs are best transacted one at a time, and with the intention first to accomplish those, on which the succeeding ones are to be founded ; nor did we comprehend, that Italian independence must fail to find for itself a basis, except upon elements of ascertained strength, both moral and material ; and that in the absence of any single State so supplied with force as of itself to suffice for offence, defence, and recovery, and to become a centre and a nucleus for the dispersed members and forces, we ought with- out delay to have combined together the greatest pos- sible numbers of those States which, whether rightly or wrongly, had grown up, the creations of time, circumstance, or treaty. An old State, however ChapV.] the fundamental statute. 97 feeble and rickety it may be, is stronger than a State similar in other respects, but new. People are ever better trained under the systems, the plans, the men, to whom they are accustomed to conform, than under fresh ones ; and in matters of actual warfare, better are old methods, though defective, than new ones devised on a sudden, and for the ends of popularity. I mean by this, that in 1848 it was of more conse- quence to unite firmly with small States, having limited material resources, than to aim at aggregating populations together without a State. And it was most of all important at once to conclude secure arrangements with Rome. There may have been men who did not understand that the Popedom, whatever might be the nature of its institutions in regard to the temporal power, could not but have great weight in the reorganisation of Italy ; and who failed to see that Pius IX., both by the acts of his brief reign, and by the marked prestige witli which the praises of the whole world had encircled him, had greatly augmented the importance of the Popedom and of Pome ; but such persons were indeed far from clear-sighted. As, however, with all our just anxiety for civil progress, we had practieally run after the most attrac- tive forms of liberty rather than stable institutions ; so is it the fact, that no sooner had God and destiny, more than our own merit, appeared to give us our Italy again, than we all, of all parties, began to conjure up a new-fashioned Italy, to be shaped after our own caprice. A few months before, we thought the vol. II. II 98 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Customs' League a great boon, the political Union a surpassing one ; but when events put arms into our hands, we no longer minded the one or the other, and, leaving the Italian Thrones dissevered from one another, we hazarded dissevering both the thrones from Italy, and their subjects from the thrones. And by leaving Rome to herself, we risked seeing her throw herself on the side, towards which she could not but be drawn by the traditions of her poli- tical history, and by a preponderance of spiritual interests. The Popedom existed in Italy ; it existed, actually embodied in a temporal sovereignty; and it had been magnified in the opinions and consciences of men by a Pope, whom we ourselves most of all had eulogised. For these reasons we should have led Rome, as we best could, to bind up her fortunes with those of Italy. It is unquestionable that the omission to send envoys to Rome to conclude the League was an error, that in no small degree contributed to the jealousies, suspicions, and subsequent resolutions of the Papal Court. And though it may be objected, and may be believed, nay, may be true, that at that time such a Congress in Rome would have done no good, and would have made talk only without progress ; still, it was most important to encircle the Roman Throne with delegates for Italy, who might have qualified the cosmopolitan atmosphere in which it dwells ; most important, to facilitate the change in its temporal at- tributes by means of a constitution for Italy at large. Naples, reluctant and slow in aiding Italy, jealous and envious towards Piedmont, yet inspired Rome Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 99 with some misgivings on her account. The King, willingly or not, had allowed himself to go the length of conceding that his troops should begin the march for Upper Italy: acquainting Count Toffetti, Envoy from the Provisional Government of Milan, that he granted to the Lombards the aid he had denied to Piedmont, which had sought it through the medium of Count Rignon. But in the meantime Naples signified, that she would wish to occupy the fortress of Ancona with her forces, and thus she gave token, and caused suspi- cion, that she was rekindling her old desires and old ideas, of taking occasion, from the changes in Italy, to enlarge her own dominions at the expence of the Roman State. In short, cause of uneasiness was thus ministered to the Court of Rome, both on religious and on political grounds ; and facilities for making mischief were given to the enemies of Italy. On Wed- nesday in Holy Week, the Pope had taken up his lodging in the V r atican, to remain there during the so- lemn functions of the Holy Week and of Easter. It was reported in Court and City, that in an early Con- sistory of Cardinals he would allude to the war of independence. His Ministers, in speaking to him on the subject, showed their apprehension lest he should use language that might do harm to the cause of Italy ; but the Pope sought to reassure them by affirming, that his sole object was to tranquillise the consciences of Catholics, wrought upon, as they had been, by those who were endeavouring to bring about schisms and scandal in the Catholic Church. Hut (lie Ministers, who, after tin,- die had once been thrown, 100 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. saw no hope of good for any part of Italy except in the prosecution of the war that had been begun, had much reason to fear, that opposition to the national senti- ment would put to hazard the security of the State, and the future existence of the ecclesiastical So- vereignty. They were moreover confirmed in these ideas and views, by the weighty judgment of Pelle- grino Rossi, who, reasoning about the war and about the necessity of taking a share in it, was accustomed to give his proof in this figurative expression : " The national sentiment, and its ardour for war, are a sword, a weapon, a mighty force : either Pius IX. must take it resolutely in hand, or the factions hostile to him will seize it, and turn it against him, and against the Popedom." Accordingly the Ministers resolved with unanimity to declare to the Pope their senti- ments in writing. I say with unanimity, for Cardinal Antonelli, their President, had no advice or language at variance with theirs ; rather, in these discussions, ho sometimes used words even warmer than those of his colleagues. And although, in the capacity of a Cardinal, he was bound to obey the Pope, yet he was the first to sign the remonstrance, on which they determined, and which I print in this place : " The Undersigned Ministers, reverently prostrate before Your Holiness, entreat that You will deign to turn your benign attention to this paper, in which they propose to dis- cuss the actual position of the country and the Government, relatively to peace or war ; and that You will believe that our words arc not prompted by presumption or pride, but solely by profound conviction and our conscientious duty. Chap. V,] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 101 " When the Lombard insurrection took place, and the war of Italian independence began, a most ardent spirit of na- tionality awoke among all the inhabitants of the Pontifical States, as well as in the rest of the' Peninsula. Every- where there was a call for arms, assemblages fbr t? l aii«.ing; a'nd parties setting out to succour those Italians who were already in the field against the stranger. To curb this movement, had it been wished, would have been impossible. The Govern- ment of Your Holiness has aimed at tempering and directing it ; has given it arms, rules, and leaders ; and this operation, which appeared so hazardous, succeeded to a marvel, without the occurrence of any disorder in the country. Up to this point the Government was enabled to construe the circum- stances in the following sense : that the troops, and the volun- teer legions, were gone to guard the Papal frontiers. " But an idea such as this, which did not come up to the spirit of the public and the national sentiment, could not fail to be of its own nature short-lived ; and, as a matter of course, it disappeared, when the army, having reached the confines, sent for leave to pass beyond them. " In spite of this it remained still possible once for all to escape from an explicit declaration of war by replying, according to the view of Your Holiness, that, in the grave circumstances of the case, they should do what might be requisite for the security and advantage of the State. But here it is necessary to state frankly, that, in sending this in- struction to the Generals, the Ministers were unable to conceal from themselves, that it was in fact equivalent to authorising their passage of the Po, and their entry into Lombardy ; nor could they conceal this from the country, to which the intelligence that had arrived had been communi- cated ; nor did they dissemble it from Your Holiness, since this would have been to betray the confidence, with which they saw themselves honoured. " But from that precise tunc, and on several recent occasions, the Undersigned have addressed, sometimes indi- vidually, sometimes together, through the medium of the u 3 102 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. President of the Council, their most earnest prayers to Your Holiness, that you would deign to make a precise declara- tion of your sentiments concerning the war, and to determine the rules of policy which were to be followed. Such a dc'elar ; ai:c-n : becomes every, day more necessary ; whether considered in' respect to the tranquillity of the country, the dignity of the Government, or the actual condition of the Ministry and the army. Upon this cardinal act depends, in great part, the future of the State, and of Italy at large. "Now, most blessed Father, You have condescended to assure us, that your words were on the point of being uttered. We wait for them, then, with the most lively solicitude, and we shall receive them, be they what they may, with devout obedience ; but befoi'e they reach us, permit, O most blessed Father, that we should bring before You certain considerations with respectful freedom. " The determination of Your Holiness is derived from a double order of ideas, according to the double capacity of Your Blessedness, as Head of the Catholic Church, and as Prince of these States. " As regards the first, while the Ministry cannot but be profoundly moved by the importance of the subject, and the very delicate position of Your Holiness, they must at the same time admit that they have no authority either to form or to express a judgment. In this sphere, wholly separated from our office, Your Holiness will draw your ideas from God and your own conscience. " But in the temporal sphere, however it may by an infinite distance be secondary to the first, it is, notwithstand- ing, our duty to examine of what solution the question is capable, and what consequences it may produce. " The question may be resolved in three modes : " Your Holiness will either allow your subjects to make war ; " Or declare your will absolutely against their making war ; " Or, finally, announce that, though desirous of peace, You cannot prevent their making war. Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 103 " As for the first of these declarations, it is the opinion of the Ministry, that it is demanded by the spirit of the public, and by the necessity of the times ; that it would elevate the material and moral authority of the Government ; and that, paramount in sway over the present, it would also lay the ground for a thoroughly efficient course of future policy. Although the Ministry, even speaking from a point of view solely temporal, regard the war as an evil, yet, under the existing circumstances, they regard it as the least of several evils, rather indeed as the single means of restoring to dis- organised Italy that natural and durable peace, which can only be derived from the righteous recovery of our nationality. " It is the firm opinion of the Ministry, that, on the con- trary, the second solution would entail all the evils opposite to the advantages already described, and would most seriously compromise the temporal dominion of the Holy See. Nor can they reflect without a shudder, what reaction, what dis- orders might occur, if not in the capital, yet to a certainty in the Provinces, from a decision directly in conflict with the enthusiasm that has caught possession of the people. " The third hypothesis remains : namely, that Your Holi- ness, while avowing yourself averse to the war, not only on general grounds, but also specifically, yet should admit an incapacity to prevent it. Such a declaration, when para- phrased and clothed in the plainest language, would come to this point, that the war, which Your Holiness yourself acknowledges it to be impossible to avoid, has notwithstand- ing been waged, against your consent and will, and is the re- sult of an anarchical tendency which the Government is unable to arrest. Assuming this, and without taking into account that the moral weight of the Government is wholly annulled, it is plain, that with respect to the country the very same consequences we have noticed under the head of the second declaration, would, at least in part, proceed from the third. The Italian Sovereigns and their subjects will feel their zeal for the cause of independence become cool. A portion ol tin.- volunteers will return to their homes, another portion will ii ; 104 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. remain in doubt whether they ought, in the teeth of their Prince, to keep the field. As to those who will be for re- maining under all circumstances, the tie of respect, devotion, and affection, which now unites them to the Sovereign, will have been unbound, perhaps for ever. On the other hand, the stranger will not scruple malignantly to misconstrue this act in his own interest. He will say, that a deception lies in these words : because, if the Government cannot prevent this anarchical movement, it should at least show its good faith by putting into operation all such means as it possesses for that purpose ; but since, on the contrary, it furnishes arms and stores to the volunteers, and moreover finds Generals to command them, these are proofs of its secretly wishing well to the war which it ostensibly repudiates. The Papal authority will be no less assailed by the perfidious, than it would be in the case of an open declaration of war. Lastly, both the regular troops and the volunteers, who, after such a manifesto, might continue beyond the Po, would find them- selves wholly stripped of those rights which the law of nations grants even in the hottest wars, provided they have been declared in the first instance. They would, on the contrary, be treated as outlaws, assassins, and brigands : and yet they are Pontifical subjects, serving under Generals chosen by Your Holiness, wearing the Papal uniform, carry- ing your flag, and the Cross. These considerations the Un- dersigned lay at the feet of Your Holiness, and bowing profoundly before Your Blessedness they kiss your sacred foot. " Your most humble and devoted subjects, " Antonelli. Simonetti. Recchi. Pasolini. MlNGHETTl. STURBINETTI. Aldobrandini. Galletti. "Pvome, 25. April, 1848." Tt followed of necessity from this declaration, that, Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 105 if the language of the Pope should sound hostile to the war, the Ministers must resign their offices. This the lay Ministers did not keep back from his Holiness, and if it did not appear at the conclusion of the docu- ment, it was from consideration for Antonelli, who did not think it became him, in the capacity of a Cardinal, to abandon in express words a charge which the Sovereign might, by his authority as Pontiff, enjoin him to retain. Now, any one who reads this paper of the Ministers of the 10th of March, will be perhaps in no small mnrvel if he happen to have read and heard it repeated, in more languages than one, that they sought to take advantage of the general excite- ment to drive the Pope into a declaration of war. Still more will he wonder that this should be said and repeated, and allowed to be said and repeated, while Pius IX. is alive, and while that same Cardinal An- tonelli, who subscribed the remonstrance, is anew in power. Upon the perusal of it, the Pope appeared to be disturbed, and to stand in some suspense : but he made no reply. The day before the Consistory, a person friendly to the Ministers stated it to be within his knowledge, that both BouteniefF, the Minister of Russia, and the Minister of Austria, had with some other diplomatists expressed at a confidential meeting their high satisfaction, saying they knew the Pope was going to do an act of a nature to produce much benefit to the eause of Austria. One belonjrinjr to the Ministry, without loss of time, informed Pius IX. of this in writing. At last the 2!»th of April arrived, 106 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. and the Consistory was held. The Allocution had al- ready been printed, but either no one knew, or no one would tell what it contained. Cardinal Antonelli was not privy to it, and he stated that those about the Court did not breathe on it : even the nephew of the Pope, Avho had much of his affection, knew nothing of it, and asked others for information ; circumstances, these, that are well worthy to be known and reflected on. The meeting of the Consistory was hardly over, when Cardinal Antonelli looked for me with the paper containing the Allocution in his hand : and as I was wild with eagerness to know the contents, and asked him for it, he told me that he had not been able to form an adequate idea of them from the single reading aloud, which he had scarcely heard ; so we set our- selves to peruse it together. The Allocution was published forthwith, and it stands thus when trans- a ted from the Latin into the vulgar tongue: — " Allocution of His Holiness Pope Pius IX., delivered in the Secret Consistory of April 29. 1848. " Venerable Brothers ! " More than once have We, in this our Assembly, de- nounced the audacity of some persons who, Venerable Brothers, had not scrupled to inflict wrong upon Us, and through Us upon this Holy See, by concluding falsely that We had de- parted, and not in one point alone, from the ever sacred maxims of our Predecessors ; nay, horrible to say, from the very doctrine of the Church. Nor, in truth, at this day are there wanting men who thus speak of Us, as though We had been the especial authors of the public commotions which have recently occurred, not only in other parts of Europe, but likewise in Italy. And, particularly, we have learned, Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 107 from the Austrian dominions in Germany, that it is there bruited and disseminated among the people, that the Roman Pontiff has dispatched emissaries, and has by the employment of other arts excited the populations of Italy to introduce strange alterations into the course of public affairs. We have learned, furthermore, that some enemies of the Catholic reli- gion have hence taken occasion to inflame the minds of the Germans, and to separate themselves in the heat of resent- ment from the unity of this Holy See. We, indeed, have not the smallest doubt that the people of Catholic Germany, and the highly distinguished Bishops who govern it, vehe- mently abhor the wickedness of such men. Yet We appre- hend that it appertains to Us to repair, or prevent, the offence that might be taken by some precipitate and somewhat simple persons, as well as to rebut the calumny which redounds not only to the contempt of our own person, but also of the supreme Apostolate which We exercise, and of this Holy See. And because those our accusers themselves, being unable to produce any proof of the machinations which they lay to our charge, labour to bring into ill odour the acts done by Us upon assuming the temporal government of the Pontifical dominions ; accordingly, to cut off this handle for evil speak- ing, We intend this day to explain, clearly and unreservedly, before your Assembly, the whole causes of those proceedings. " It is not unknown to you, Venerable Brethren, that ever since the later years of our Predecessor) Pius VII., the chief Sovereigns of Europe have sought to induce the Apostolic Sec to adopt, in the administration of civil affairs, such and such modes of proceeding, as more conciliatory, and more conform- able to the wishes of the laity, than those in use. At a later period, in 1831, these their desires and recommendations wen: put formally, and in the clearest light, by that famous Mono- randum, which the Emperors of Austria and Russia, and the Kings of Erance, Great Britain, and Prussia, thought fit to address to Rome, through their Ambassadors. Among other matters discussed in that Note, were the question of convok- ing at Home a Consulta from the whole of the Pontifical 108 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. dominions, of founding or enlarging a Constitution for the Municipalities, of establishing Provincial Councils, and thus of introducing these and other measures in each of the Pro- vinces, for the joint benefit of all ; furthermore, of rendering accessible to laymen all the offices which were connected either with the administration of public affairs, or with the course of justice. These two heads were put prominently forward as vital principles of government for this country. In other ambassadorial Notes, was opened the question of granting more ample indulgence to all, or almost all, those who, in the Papal States, had swerved from their allegiance to the Prince. " Nor can it have escaped any one, that effect was given to some of these measures by Gregory XVI., our Predeces- sor, while others of them were promised by the Edicts pro- mulgated under his orders in 1831. But these boons of our Predecessor were not thought to meet fully the desires of the Sovereigns, or to suffice for securing the public welfare and tranquillity throughout the temporal dominions of Holy Church. " Accordingly, when, by the inscrutable decree of God, We were put in his place, We at the outset, not stimulated by encouragements or advice, but prompted by our own sin- gular affection towards the people placed under the temporal dominion of the Church, granted more large indulgence to those who had departed from their duty of allegiance to the Pontifical Government ; and We subsequently made speed to adopt certain measures, which We had judged conducive in themselves to the prosperity of that people. And the whole of the acts which We have thus performed at the very com- mencement of our Pontificate, are in thorough correspondence with those most anxious desires of the European Sovereigns. " But after that, by the help of God; our plans had been brought to effect, not only our own people but those of neigh- bouring States manifested an exulting joy, and applauded Us with public congratulations and testimonials of respect, in such a mode as made it our duty to take care, even in this Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 109 exalted City, to keep within due bounds popular outbursts, acclamations, and assemblages, that broke forth with an excess of vehemence. " Furthermore, Venerable Brothers, the words of the Al- locution which We addressed to you in the Consistory of the 4th of October in the past year, are known to all. By them We commended the benevolence, and the affectionate solicitude, of the Princes towards their subjects, and exhorted the subjects to the faith and obedience due to their Princes. Nor did We thereafter omit warning and exhorting all, most energetically, so far as in Us lay, in firm adherence to Catholic doctrine, and observation of the precepts of God and his Church, to study mutual concord, with peace and love towards all men. " And Oh ! would that it had been the pleasure of God that the desired success should have answered to our fatherly words and exhortations ! But every one is well aware of those public commotions in the Italian States, to which We have already referred ; as well as of the other events which, out of Italy or within it, had, or have since, happened. If, then, any one will pretend, that what We did in good will and kindness at the commencement of our reign has at all opened the way for tluse events, he can in no way ascribe this to our doing, since our acts have been none other than such as, not We alone, but likewise the Sovereigns before- mentioned, had judged to be seasonable for the Avell-being of our temporal dominions. Next, in respect to those who in these our territories have misused our very boons, We, fol- lowing the example of the Divine Prince of Shepherds, pardon them from the heart, and most affectionately recall them to sounder counsels: and We humbly supplicate of God, the Father of mercies, that in His mercy He will avert from their heads the scourges which hang over the ungrateful. " Besides which, the above-mentioned people of Germany could not be incensed with Us, if it has been absolutely im- possible for Us to restrain the ardour of those persons, within our temporal sway, who have thought fit to applaud the 110 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. acts done against them in Upper Italy, and who, caught by the same ardour as others for the cause of their own Nation, have, together with the subjects of other Italian States, exerted themselves on behalf of that cause. " For several other European Potentates, greatly excelling Us in the number of their troops, have been unable at this particular epoch to resist the impetus of their people. " Moreover, in this condition of affairs, We have declined to allow the imposition of any other obligation on our soldiers, dispatched to the confines of the Pontifical State, except that of maintaining its integrity and security. " But, seeing that some at present desire that We too, along with the other Princes of Italy and their subjects, should engage in war against the Austrians, We have thought it convenient to proclaim clearly and openly, in this our solemn Assembly, that such a measure is altogether alien from our counsels, inasmuch as We, albeit unworthy, are upon earth the vicegerent of Him that is the Author of Peace and the Lover of Charity, and, conformably to the function of our supreme Apostolate ; We reach to and embrace all kindreds, peoples, and nations, w r ith ecpml solicitude of pater- nal affection. But if, notwithstanding, there are not wanting among our subjects those who allow themselves to be carried away by the example of the rest of the Italians, in what manner could We possibly curb their ardour? " And in this place We cannot refrain from repudiating, before the face of all nations, the treacherous advice, pub- lished moreover in journals, and in various works, of those who would have the Roman Pontiff to be the head and to preside over the formation of some sort of novel llepublic of the whole Italian people. Pather, on this occasion, moved hereto by the love We bear them, We do urgently warn and exhort the said Italian people to abstain with all diligence from the like counsels, deceitful and ruinous to Italy herself, and to abide in close attachment to their respective Sove- reigns, of whose good-will they have already had experience, so as never to let themselves be torn away from the obc- Chap. V.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. Ill dience they owe them. For if they should do otherwise, they not only would fail in their own duty, but would also run a risk of rending Italy herself, every day more and more, with fresh discords and intestine factions. As to what con- cerns Us, AA e declare again and again, that the Roman Pontiff bestows all his thoughts, cares, and anxiety, towards quick- ening the daily increase of the Kingdom of Christ, which is the Church : not towards the enlargement of the boundaries of the temporal Sovereignty, which it has pleased Divine Providence to confer on this Holy See, for its own dignity, and in order to secure the free exercise of the Supreme Apostolate. In grievous error, then, are those involved, who imagine that our mind can be seduced, by the alluring gran- deur of a more extended temporal sway, to plunge into the midst of war and its tumults. This on the contrary would be most delightful to our paternal heart, if it were granted to Us to contribute ever so little by our exertions, our cares, and our zeal, towards quenching the incentives to discord, reconciling the minds that are in mutual conflict, and restor- ing harmony among them. " In the meantime AYe have, indeed, learned, to our no small mental consolation, that in various places, not only within but also out of Italy, in the midst of so much disturb- ance in public affairs, our children have not fallen short in the reverence due to sacred things and to the Ministers of Religion : yet do AVe grieve with our whole soul, that this respect should not have been maintained by them everywhere alike. Nor can AVe, lastly, abstain from deploring, in your Assembly, that most deadly practice, which has become so peculiarly obstinate in these times, of bringing to the light pestilent books of every class, in which the fiercest warfare is waged against our most Holy Religion, and against purity of morals ; or eivil disturbances and discords are inflamed; or the property of the Church assailed ; or her most sacred privileges impugned; or the best of characters are torn with false accusations. 112 FKOM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. " Thus much, Venerable Brothers, We have thought it our duty this day to impart to you. It remains that We should in the same breath, and in the lowliness of our heart, offer up our constant and fervent prayer to God the Most Good and Great, that He may be pleased to keep His Holy Church from all adversaries, and may deign benignly to look down upon Us, and to defend Us from out of Sion, and to bring back all Sovereigns and their subjects to the pursuit of the peace and concord We so much desire." Chai\ VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 113 CHAP. VI. EFFECT OF THE ALLOCUTION AT ROME. — AGITATION THERE. — THE CLUBS. RESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY. NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW ONE. DEPUTATIONS TO THE FOPE. THE CIVIC GUARD PERTURBATION OF THE POPE IDEA OF HIS REPAIRING TO MILAN. INTENTION OF THE CLUBS. FRESH NE- GOTIATIONS FOR FORMING A GOVERNMENT. DEPUTATIONS FROM THE CLUBS. THE MINISTRY OF MARCH 10. RESTORED PROVISION- ALLY. — INCESSANT COMMOTION. — PROCLAMATION BY THE POPE. A LEGATE DISPATCHED TO CHARLES ALBERT. THE MINISTRY RESIGNS FINALLY. — COMPOSITION OF THE MAMIANI ADMINISTRA- TION. — THE PROVINCES. — ORDERS TO THE PRESIDENTS.— BOLOGNA. The Allocution of the Pope very soon became the subject of every conversation ; but whether because, from its being written in Latin, many could not at once collect its meaning, or from any other reason, there was no sign of great excitement visible on the evening of the 29th. On the next day it became known in the city, that the Ministry had resigned on account of it ; and at the same time, whether by accident or malice, a report was spread about cruel- ties perpetrated by the Austrians in the Friuli. The tale, too, of a young painter was reprinted, who, having a few months before been in Rome, had repaired thither, it being his native district ; and who, having plunged into the operations of the war, had fallen into the hands of the Croats, attired as he was in the uniform of the Civic Guard of Rome, and had been hanged by the neck upon a tree, with this vol. n. I 114 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. inscription on his breast: " So fare the soldiers of Pius IX." Hereupon the recollection of the Romans flew in terror after those dear to them, engaged in the war with Austria ; and the spectre of the soldier of Pius IX. hanged by the Croats filled every mind with terror and compassion, and lighted up their indignation against the Allocution, which, as they considered, went to place the combatants beyond those laws of fair war, which civilisation has established. Accordingly, the impulse of these private emotions was blended with the national sentiment ; the public mood became distempered, and the minds of men were greatly inflamed. Then, too, prowled abroad a class of men, hardened in every license of word and action, and applied themselves to those contrivances which ease the road to revolution. The perturbed multitude thronged to the Clubs, at the heels of Ciceruacchio, and of its other enraged leaders. There Sterbini was holding forth, and Pier Angelo Fiorentino, who had unhappily reached Rome just at the time. All the old passions, hostile to the Court of Rome, were ex- asperated afresh, and all the resentment against Pope and Cardinals rekindled. The Roman Princes and Dukes, Doria, Rignano, the Senator Corsini, mingled with the unruly mass, possibly led by the hope of controuling them. Orioli, and also Mamiani, who had recently returned to Rome, went round the Clubs, and studied by word and deed to prevent the commotion from breaking out into rebellion and outrage. Loudly rang the menaces against the Cardinals, and especially against Lambruschini and Delia Genga, and there Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 115 were men who, grasping the dagger in their clenched hands, swore that they would dye it in their veins. Others kept no bounds in their assumptions, no measure in their desires, and proposed to make short work, as they called it, with the government of the priests, those traitors to Italy, and to place Rome under popular sway. But those honourable men, who discharged the office of moderators, held so temperate a course, that, while they did justice to the national sentiment, they yet showed that, in order to avoid inflicting on the national cause a wound more severe than that dealt to it by the Allocution, all idea what- ever of overturning the Government must be aban- doned. Inasmuch, however, as scandals, easy to stir, are difficult to arrest, these moderators of the multi- tude, if they succeeded in preventing a transition to rebellion and bloodshed, could not so far succeed in tranquillising the minds of men, as not to leave them resolved upon practices, which must drive the Govern- ment and the Pope out of that field on which the battle was being fought for Italy. The Ministers, who had resigned, still remained at the Quirinal, and intreated Rignano, Doria, and Corsini to accept from the Pope the commission to form a new Govern- ment ; but they declined, alleging the impossibility of calming the city, and managing the State, while in conflict with the sentiment of nationality; and they besought the outgoing Ministers rather to remain in office, as men in whom the people trusted. Mainiani and Sterbini, with one or two more, arrived at the palace as iJelegates from the Clubs; and, having been 116 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book. III. admitted to Cardinal Antonelli's presence, they spoke of the popular displeasure, and of the necessity of con- tinuing the war in order to soothe it. Sterbini then allowed himself to break into hot language, to which his temper led him, and sought to signify, that, if satisfaction were not given to the people, the action would be suited to the word. Here Mamiani, inter- posing, observed, that he conceived himself to have assumed the office of a moderator and conciliator, not that of uttering threats : he averred, that he would never swerve from legality ; and that, if any one in- tended otherwise, they must not count on him for an associate. The Civic Guard was under arms at the time ; but it was disturbed by the same spirit which had thrown the city into commotion, and it was much more under the influence of that spirit, than of an anxiety to watch over the maintenance of order. The Pope was uneasy, and could ill understand how his Allocution should have produced all this disturb- ance, which he imputed to the ingratitude of the people, and to the criminal activity of the seditious : he declared his resolution not to give way, and ex- claimed that, if they proceeded further in tormenting him, he might very likely some day or other quit Rome, and leave it a prey to the violence of its pas- sions. But at the same time he declared that, if the people would be quiet, and if he could find any pro- per mode of making it known, without being subject to contradiction, that he had at no time entertained the idea of abandoning the Italian cause, he would do it with cheerfulness. M. Forbin Janson, Minister of Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 117 France, went to the Pope with a tender of every de- scription of good offices, and thus imparted great comfort to his agitated mind. The Ministers did not stir from the Quirinal ; except Galletti, who, accord- ing to his own account, was detained elsewhere by the duties of his office. The 30th passed in fruitless messages, and in vain efforts at the formation of a Ministry. After nightfall, a particular person belong- ing to the Ministry conceived the idea, that, as the Pope in his Allocution had intimated his love of peace, he might offer himself to mediate a peace founded on the re-assertion of Italian freedom, and that, for such a purpose, he ought to repair to Milan forthwith. The person who formed this idea thought that, now the Allocution was published, the best course would be to allay its mischievous effects by some other startling act on the part of the Pope : and such would be his travelling to Milan. He also imagined, that the re- establishment of tranquillity at Rome was more rea- sonably to be anticipated from the Pope's making a sacrifice of his own comfort for the good of Italy, than from reliance on any of those compromises, neither spontaneous nor sincere, which are the usual expe- dients of Governments and parties at such junctures. Lastly, he thought it advantageous to the cause of freedom and of Italy, to move the Pope beyond the hazard of any kind of violence, as well as from the dregs of an hostile diplomacy, and from the intrigues of the retrograde party; and to take him to Milan, where the mere fact of his presence would be a great moral bulwark, and a great grief and discouragement 118 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to the troops of the enemy. Pius IX. was not dis- pleased at the idea, and made no objections, except as to the mode of giving effect to it, wishing that Signor Piazzoni, representative of the Provisional Govern- ment of Milan, should forthwith be spoken to on the subject. The night was half over; and when persons went in search of him, he was in bed. When he had heard what was the notion of his visitors, which he could very easily divine to be also that of the Pope, inasmuch as they were among the Pope's advisers, he replied in words broken and equivocal, nay more, not only broken and equivocal, but actually discouraging. The Clubs had prolonged their debate until mid- night, and had resolved to meet afresh on the following day at a very early hour, to frame a petition to the Pope, in which they were to ask for assistance, on the largest practicable scale, to the war of independence. This resolution had been carried by the assiduity of the persons, who were exerting themselves to give a lesral direction to the still continuing commotion. But while this was going on, the Pope, in despair of being able to form an Administration, had given a commis- sion to Cardinal Ferretti to take into his own hands on the morrow, the general direction of public affairs, and to commence it by a proclamation. When Car- dinal Antonelli learned the little success that had at- tended the interview held with the Milanese Envoy, and knew what were the decisions to which the Clubs had come, he thought it an act of discretion to recom- mend Cardinal Ferretti to waive any further step or act, unless the Pope should give him fresh orders. Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 119 When it was day, and the Pope had been apprised of the state of affairs, he desired that some mode should be discovered of preventing the representation, which the Clubs had designed to make, from being brought to him. Accordingly, under his orders, Ma- miani was invited by the Ministers to the Quirinal, from the Club of the Commercianti, where he had been with Orioli, and with others appointed to pre- side over and to temper it. Being invited to take a share in the Government, he declined, stating his belief, that the public mind would be quieted, if the Ministry, which had resigned, would return to power, and would devise means of giving some security for its continuance in the course it had followed theretofore in respect to the Italian cause. When, behold ! after a little, Sterbini and Pier Angelo Fiorentino, with others, came before the Ministers, to demand information about the resolutions of the Sovereign and the Go- vernment, to insist upon the rights and the will of the people, now wrathful and menacing, to denounce Cardinal Antonelli as a traitor, and to demand the formation of a Government, in which neither he, nor any other Cardinal or ecclesiastic, should have a place. Efforts were made to bring these envoy s rather of their own passions than of the people to reason : and, after much working backwards and for- wards, and many words, it was agreed, that the out- going Ministers should return provisionally to office, and should promulgate, with the consent of the Pope, a notification in these terms : i i 120 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. " Rome, May 1. The Ministry, on the evening of April 29., laid its resignation at the foot of the throne of His Holi- ness. Our Lord's Holiness has accepted it, and has given instructions for the formation of a new Administration. But as the communications respecting it are not yet brought to issue, His Holiness has signified to the outgoing Ministers his design that they should remain at their posts, and has authorised them to continue unreservedly in the exercise of their functions. The Under-Secretary of State for the In- terior, who likewise had given in his resignation, retains office together with the Ministry. And the Ministry with its President, unanimous now, as heretofore, upon every question, is busying itself in an Italian spirit about the pro- visions which, in the actual state of circumstances, it holds in its conscience needful for the good of the State, and of the cause of Italy." Matters were proceeding thus at the Quirinal, while the rioters, surrounded but not kept in by the Civic Guard, laid hands at the Post Office on the letters ad- dressed to Cardinal Antonelli, and to other Cardinals and Prelates, and crying that they wanted to discover treachery and traitors, brought them to the Capitol, the seat of the municipal body, to be perused. There the Senator Corsini was on the point of humouring them in this unworthy wish, when Simonetti, Minister of Finance, whose province included the administra- tion of the Posts, was drawn thither in haste by the rumour, and, flinging himself into the midst of the rioters, addressed strong language both to them and to the Senator, and ordered them to have done with such an indignity. - Then, exhibiting rare presence of mind, he boldly laid hold upon the letters, took them to himself amidst their murmurs, and kept and saved Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 121 them from violation. Such was the love of these men for liberty, such their idea of securing it, and Italy along with it, that there was no act of injustice, avarice, or cruelty, they would not venture to propose. Some went to close the gates of the city, and forbid egress to every citizen not having a pass from Rospi- gliosi, the Commander of the Civic Guard ; some put sentinels at the doors of the Cardinals ; some ob- structed the courier's setting out at the usual hour ; and the Civic Guard, meanwhile, either allowed or abetted all this: it assumed the police of the city, and kept it in military fashion, that is, with the air of soldiers, but without their discipline, and in violation of every rule of civilised society. Meanwhile, the Pope decided upon sending to Charles Albert a Legate of his own, commissioned to conclude a treaty for conferring on the King the command of all the Pontifical troops beyond the Po: to give such ex- planations as might mitigate any sinister impressions made by the Allocution, and to continue at the camp of the King, in the stead of Monsignor Corboli, who was recalled to Rome. This mission was intrusted by the Pope to the Author; and I likewise received from him, and from the Ministers, authority to take measures in regard to any disorders which might chance to have occurred in the portion of the country which I should have to traverse in order to get to Lombardy. Rut Rome could not rest. Insults were offered to Cardinal Lambruschini, and there was so much disorder, that the Pope conceived his own word, the word once so potent, might be an effectual lenitive. 122 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Accordingly, in the evening, without the privity of his Ministers, he published the following proclamation. " Pius Papa IX. " "When God, by His marvellous decree, summoned Us to succeed, albeit unworthy, to a long line of Pontiffs illustrious for sanctity, for learning, for prudence, and for other virtues, We at once perceived the importance, the peculiar weight, and the very serious difficulties, of the great charge which Pie entrusted to Us ; and lifting up to Him the eyes of our mind, abashed and overwhelmed as We will freely own, We besought Him to succour Us with an extraordinary abundance of lights and graces of every kind. We were not ignorant of the difficulties, in every respect, of the position in which We found ourselves : it was therefore indeed a prodigy of the Lord's, that in the first months of our Pontificate We did not sink under the mere view of such evils, which seemed as though it was gradually but sensibly wearing away our life. Xor were our apprehensions adequately allayed through the tokens of affection lavished upon Us by a People, that, as We had every reason to believe, loved its own Father and Sove- reign, and for whose sake We applied with increased energy to imploring the aid of God, through the intercession of His most holy Mother, of the Holy Apostles Guardians of Home, and of the other beatified inhabitants of Heaven. With these prefaces, W r e scrutinised the rectitude of our own in- tentions: and so, after taking counsel from some, and at times from all, of the Cardinals our Brothers, We promulgated all those measures, relating to the organisation of the State, which have successively appeared, down to this day. They were greeted with the satisfaction and the applause which are notorious to all, and which served for an ample recom- pense to our heart. Meanwhile were supervening the great events not of Italy alone, but of nearly all Europe, which engendered heat and gave rise to the design of forming Italy into a single Nation, more united and compact, so that she might stand upon a level with others of the first rank. This Chap. VI.] TUE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 123 sentiment prompted a portion of Italy to rise, panting for emancipation. The populations rushed to arms, and in arms the parties are still measuring their strength. A part of our own subjects could not refrain from embodying themselves, under a resistless impulse, in military order : but, having been organised and provided with leaders, they were enjoined to halt at the confines of the State. In accordance with these instructions were the explanations which We imparted to the Representatives of foreign nations, nay, further, the most earnest exhortations to those troops themselves, whose wish it was to be presented to Us previously to their march. All are aware of the words pronounced by Us in our last Allocution, namely, that We are averse to declaring war; but at the same time We avow our inability to restrain the ardour of that portion of our subjects, which is stirred by the spirit of nationality in common with the rest of Italy. And here We will not withhold from you, that, even under these cir- cumstances, We have not forgotten the cares of a Father and Sovereign, and have provided, in the mode that We thought most effectual, for the greatest attainable security to those of our children and subjects, who now, without our will, find themselves exposed to the vicissitudes of war. Our words above-mentioned have, however, given rise to a commotion, which threatens to break out into acts of violence, and which, not even respecting personal inviolability, and trampling on every right, attempts (O Great God, our heart is frozen in uttering it!) to bathe the streets of the capital of the Catholic world in the blood of venerable individuals, marked out for victims, guiltless as they arc, to satiate the ungovernable thirst of those who will not hear reason. And is this, then, the reward that a Sovereign Pontiff was to expect, for the multiplied indications of his love towards his people? Papule meus, quid feci tibi ? Do not these unhappy beings perceive that, besides the enormous crime with which they would be stained, and the incalculable scandal they would give to the whole world, they would only injure the cause they make pre- tensions to conduct, while filling Koine, these States, and all 121 FROJI THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Italy, with an infinite train of evils ? And in these or the like contingencies, which may God avert ! how could the Spiritual Power, that He has given Us, remain idle in our hands ? Let all know, once for all, that We are conscious of the greatness of our office, and the efficacy of our power. " Preserve, O Lord ! Thine own Rome from such catastro- phes ; enlighten those who will not hearken to the voice of Thy Vicar ; reclaim all to a sounder mind ; so that, in obedience to their Ruler, they may spend their days the more happily in the discharge of their duties as good Christians, without which they cannot be either good subjects or good citizens. " Given in Rome, at Santa Maria Maggiore, on the 1st of May, 1848, in the second year of our Pontificate. « Pius PP. IX." But the word of Pius was no longer a talisman of persuasion and of peace, because it no longer went forth on behalf of Italy, and because while all the ancient hatred against ecclesiastical governors was exacerbated, all the ancient suspicions revived ; their real faults and liabilities were magnified, and false ones invented ; and both kinds were believed alike by that excited class which habitually mistrusted and abhorred them. Hence it proved, that the Procla- mation rather inflamed than tempered the malignant humours: it was torn and flung down, while the dis- order and outcries increased. The Clubs became masters of the city, which was a prey to ungoverned licence both of words and of projects; while the Pontiff, who from love of peace had resolved not to trouble himself in the Italian war, except inasmuch as he thought he could procure an accommodation be- tween the parties, now found, at his own doors, a contest more hazardous than that one at a distance, Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 125 from which he chose to abstain. Nor could the Ministers act for the purposes of repression with effect ; partly because their authority, as being tem- porary, and reinstated only to make a shift with, had no root in itself; partly because the Civic Guard, the only prop of authority in Rome, sided with the Clubs. They were moreover greatly disheartened and worn out both by the street disorders, and by the reserve of the Court, as well as by the singular nature of a Government, where a Constitution had actually been given before the Ministers knew what it was, and where, just now, the question of peace and war had been settled by the Sovereign without and against the advice of his Ministers, and that Sovereign had issued proclamations accordingly to the people of his own motion. They therefore renewed their appli- cation to be discharged forthwith ; and Mainiani, who seemed to lead the Liberal sentiment, was deputed to construct a fresh Administration. Mamiani accepted, on condition that he should be allowed to adhere to the policy of his predecessors in what concerned the cause of Italy, and that the administration of foreign affairs should, so far as regarded the temporal in- terests of the country, be taken away from the Car- dinal Secretary of State, and given to a layman, with the title of Minister of Foreign Lay Affairs. These conditions were accepted or acquiesced in (for in such arrangements it is no easy matter to distinguish ac- quiescence from acceptance) by the Pope; and the Ministry was constituted, on the 4th of May, as follows : — 126 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Cardinal Ciacchi, President of the Council, and Minister of Foreign Ecclesiastical Affairs, with Car- dinal Orioli as his temporary substitute during ab- sence. Count Giovanni Marchetti, Minister of Foreign Lay Affairs. Count Terenzio Mamiani, Minister of the Interior. Professor Pasquale de Rossi, Minister of Grace and Justice. The Advocate Giuseppe Lunati, Minister of Finance. Prince Filippo Doria Panfili, Minister of War. Don Mario Massimo, Duke of Rignano, Minister of Public AYorks, and of Agriculture and Commerce. Galletti, Minister of Police. Cardinal Ciacchi stood favourably in public opinion, for the reasons stated in the last Book. Count Mar- chetti, of Sinigallia, a resident at Bologna, and an elegant writer of small pieces in verse, had an es- tablished character as a moderate Liberal and a most upright man. De Rossi, Teacher of Jurisprudence in the University of Rome, was likewise esteemed for his Liberalism and his rectitude. Lunati, standing hio'h among the distinguished advocates of Rome, had equal reputation for temperate opinions and for sin- gular integrity. Prince Doria, first in wealth and splendour among the Roman Princes, a high-spirited young man, was at that time popular. The Duke of Rignano, a man of talent improved by useful studies, was conspicuous by his care for the public welfare, and by his constant solicitude for civil progress. Galletti kept or resumed his place, because he was Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 127 hurraed by the Clubs, and they would have him re- tained at the head of the Police. Mamiani, from whom the new Government took its name and its lustre, came into the Roman Court under evil aus- pices, both as to the mode and circumstances of his ascent to power, and as to his own personal character. Agitation and disorder raised him, and, as the Court thought, forced him on it ; he was an old proscript, who had come back without accepting the conditions of the amnesty in the form which it provided, and he had printed one or more works condemned by the Congregation of the Index ; weighty, nay supera- bundant reasons for distrust and dislike from the Court of Rome. The Allocution of April the 29th, and the intel- ligence of the disorders at Rome, had caused great excitement in the Provinces, which rendered it ne- cessary to instruct the Presidents as to the mode, in which they were invariably to act, for the security of order, and of the constitutional throne. Accordingly, I was careful to give directions forthwith, that they should endeavour to occupy the public attention with the free election of Deputies; that they should let the municipalities continue to make every preparation requisite for continuing their supplies to the war of independence ; should remove from office every public functionary whomsoever, that might mix in the prac- tices of the more violent parties; should fill the vacancies in the magistracy of the municipalities with upright and resolute citizens, devoted to the Sove- reign and to the new measures; that wherever indi- 128 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. cations of antagonism to the Government and of extravagant ideas were plainly shown, they should endeavour to divert them into a pacific and legal channel, counselling the municipal magistrates to fa- cilitate and recommend proceeding by petitions to Parliament. Further, that in case of any infringe- ment of the Papal Sovereignty, or of the Statute, or of the independence of the country, whether brought about by the one intestine faction or by the other, or whether effected or assisted by foreign force, the authorities should exert themselves resolutely in re- pression and resistance, and if they found occasion to yield to force, should protest and remove the seat of Government, as they could, to a place of security. Lastly, they were warned to be strenuous in the con- servation of order and tranquillity, and in making known to the Central Government any new incident. At Bologna, the Allocution had disturbed the public mind more seriously than in any other city; and, but for the exertions of Cardinal Amat, effective because lie was justly beloved and revered there, together with the good offices of the distinguished Senator Zuc- chini, and other judicious management, there would have been some outbreak hostile to Rome. Bologna is a city singularly civilised ; and, accordingly, extra- vagant minds and ideas do not exercise much in- fluence there. Further, it is a city friendly to liberty, and therefore aware that the prime foundation of liberty is civil order. But Bologna is moreover the city, which, more than any other, has old grounds of complaint against Pome, and which, situated at the ex- Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 129 tremity of the Pontifical States, lives the life rather of the northern than of the southern Italian race ; so that, thoroughly laical as she is, she thinks meanly of the habits and of the effeminate and relaxed manners prevailing towards the south. Bologna, having sub- sisted in comfort, as a part of the Kingdom of Italy, under French protection, had used herself to a mas- culine tone of government, and subsequently could very ill put up with that sort of clerical republic, which, after the restoration, had continued the old patriarchal negligence with respect to the demands of civilisation and public security, at the same time imi- tating the new States in their worrying system of police employed by one political faction against the other. Although political sects had always been far less rank and crude at Bologna than in the rest of Romagna, yet the government of clergymen had uni- formly been held there in a more unanimous aversion. But Pius IX. had brought her to live in cordial har- mony with Rome, and although she always desired, more than any other city, that the Pontifical Govern- ment should be administered by laymen, and should establish civil equality and sound institutions, yet she had cordially promoted agreement between the So- vereign and the people, and had brought the prin- ciples of authority and of reverence for the law into credit and honour. In proportion sis Pius IX. gave pledges of befriending Italy, so did that generous city, ardent in the national cause, cling the more fondly to Pius IX. Now, when it appeared that he was thwarting the war, the foundation of every hope VOL. II. K 130 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of freedom and of future glory, her love grew cool, the public mind became suddenly estranged from Rome, and turned to the point, towards which both attachments and recollections of long- standing, and a newly begotten confidence, attracted her. When her heart had been torn away from Rome, to which she had given it mainly through love of Italy at large, Bologna grew enamoured of an union with the people of the north, whose neighbour she was, and of the prospect of government by laymen ; and in spirit she flew to greet that Kingdom of Upper Italy, which was then the very common subject alike of wishes, hopes, and conversation. They spoke of forming a popular, or, if the term be preferred, a municipal Government, and at all events of keeping themselves independent of the Government of Rome, until, when Italy should come to be reconstructed, those Provinces should more thoroughly adjust their position. But, according to my duty and commission, I gave the Bolognese the assurance that his Holiness would not abandon the Italian cause: that I was on my way to the camp of Charles Albert, to offer him, in the Pope's name, the command of our forces ; and that the Allocution would not involve a change in policy. Upon this calm returned; yet, to speak truly, rather the calm of expectation than of assurance. The Pope learned, through a trusty messenger, what was the condition of Bologna, about which I myself addressed to him, on the 5th of May, these words : — Chap. VI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 131 " When I reached Bologna, it was in a critical state. So soon as the Allocution of Your Holiness became known, with the intelligence of the retirement of the Ministry, and with letters, which imported that there were ideas of establishing a Provisional Government at Rome, meetings took place here, at which every kind of proposal was agitated. I ought, however, to add that, in the midst of all these proposals, the sentiment of veneration towards Your Holiness prevailed amonfj the Bolognese ; that the most eminent Cardinal Amat and the Senator Sig. Zucchini had made, and were continuing to make, effective exertions to maintain order and legality; that the notice of my mission to H. M. the King of Sardinia greatly composed the public mind : and that a Proclamation of the most eminent Cardinal Amat yet more powerfully soothed it. Yet I will not keep back from Your Holiness, that a suspicion full of danger lingers in the minds of the generality, and it is the suspicion that the cause of Italy will not be supported with alacrity by the Government of Your Holiness. With a Ministry that inspires confidence, and aids, or lets others aid, the war, order may be preserved. In the contrary contingency, anything is possible, nay, rather it is most probable that the attempt will be made to establish a Provisional Government here, in the name indeed of Your Holiness, but with the view of waging the very war which Your Holiness has declared you will not wage. The example of Bologna would in all probability be followed by llomanrna." 132 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. VII. EFFECTS OF THE ALLOCUTION OUTSIDE THE PAPAL STATES. MONSIGNOR CORBOLI AT THE CAMP. FALSE ACCUSATIONS. PLANS OF THE POPE. LETTER OF CARDINAL ANTONELLI. LETTER OF PIUS IX. TO THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. LIMITED EFFECT THEREFROM. REFLECTIONS. THE PIEDMONTESE ARMY. ACTION AT SANTA LUCIA. MOVEMENTS OF NUGENT. ACTION AT CORNUDA. DISORDER AND WANT OF DISCIPLINE CONSEQUENT ON IT. DEATH AND MUTILATION OF THREE PRISONERS. FERRARI ATTEMPTS TO RALLY THE FORCE FOR ACTION. DISORDER AND WANT OF DISCIPLINE AGGRAVATED. OPERATIONS OF FERRARI AND DURANDO. NUGENT ABOUT TREVISO. PREACHERS OF DISORDER AND REPUBLICAN ORATORS. The Allocution had likewise saddened the minds of men in Piedmont, in Lombardy, and in the camp of King Charles Albert, to such a degree, that, in writing to his Holiness from thence, on the 7th of May, at Somma-Campagna, I did not scruple to let him know that the King, and also his Ministers and his forces, were greatly troubled at it. It afflicted Monsignor Corboli as much as any person whomsoever, for he was one in whom the strength of religion and sincere devotion to Pius IX. were not dissociated from a keen love of Italy, and a sound judgment on what might contribute to the promotion of religion, the fame of the Pontiff, and the good of the nation. Monsignor Corboli set out from the camp, in the direction of Rome, leaving behind him great regrets, and a name honoured among all who had had the opportunity of Chap. VII] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 133 appreciating his angelic temper, his noble sentiments, and his cultivated understanding. Strange and false rumours had circulated respecting this excellent Prelate : some of the Liberals, doubtful of his loyalty to the cause of Italian freedom, murmured about the intrigues which, as they supposed, he was conducting at the camp ; others said that in Lombardy he fa- voured republican opinions ; his rivals and adver- saries, who were many at Rome and in the Court, because many were envious of his learning and gifts, gave out that he was a hot Liberal, little less than a Sectarian, and that he openly incited the Lombard clergy to aid the effort for freedom. These were rumours and charges destitute of all foundation in fact, because he never either did or said what was unfitting for the Legate of the Pope, or at variance with the intention and scope of his mission. The practices of some republicans contributed to accredit the report, that the Pontifical Legate loved republics. They, in their anxiety to overpower the monarchical interest, had, or gave it to be understood they had, the idea either of a Federation of Republics, or of a Republic one and indivisible under the presidency of the Roman Pontiff. Mazzini himself had, before this time, turned his regards and attention to Pius IX., and had written him a letter of the mystical purport which is his usual style. In this letter, after encou- raging him to undertake the emancipation of Italy, he seemed to intimate that he, a republican, would wish to make the Pope founder and leader, if not Sovereign, of the Italian Republic. I say lie seemed, because, K 3 134 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. on the other hand, in strange phraseology, he exhorted him to have faith ; thus leaving it doubtful whether he did not rather expeet to make of him an Apostle of his new religion. It is indeed curious that Maz- zini should have hoped and tried to convert the Pope to his own faith, and to employ him as an instrument for I know not what social metamorphoses : he, the man that from his lofty eminence looked with a pity- ing eye upon us paltry mortals, who hoped and sought to reform the temporal system of the Roman Sove- reignty, and to render the friendship and patronage of the Pope profitable to Italy. It is, however, a fact, that the phantasm of making one republic, or many republics, in the Pope's name, or under his patronage, did pass through men's minds ; and that Pius IX. himself has since expressly declared, that there were those in Rome who ventured to speak to him undis- guisedly upon the subject. Pius IX. had not conceived that his Allocution would produce so great and so general an excite- ment, because lie thought, that he merited the grati- tude of Italians for offering to mediate a peace ; and because he hoped they would be pleased with his intention, which was to promote the cause of nation- ality by such pacific means, as were suitable to his supreme spiritual capacity. lie was, however, firm in these ideas, as he was in the plan of repairing to Lombardv, should there be occasion, in order to ne- gotiate a peace for Italy; of which statements I can give no stronger proof, than the letter which Cardinal Antonelli addressed to me at Soinma-Campagna on the 12th of May. It was as follows : — Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 135 " Most esteemed Signor Farini, " The Holy Father gives me the honourable commission to reply to the letter, which you addressed to him under date of the 7th current, from the camp of II. M. King Charles Albert. I do not disguise from you, that His Holi- ness is unable to comprehend how an interpretation, different from that which the true sense of his Allocution carries, can be given to it. In that Allocution, the Holy Father has not shown himself hostile in the slightest degree to Italian nationality, and has only said, that as he is the Prince of Peace, and the common Father of the Faithful, his mind re- coiled from sharing in the war, but yet that he did not per- ceive in what manner it was in his power to restrain the ardour of his subjects. He then testified the satisfaction he would have experienced, if he could instead have undertaken to mediate a peace. From this idea, which is well unfolded in the Allocution, you think that the Holy Father might now opportunely interpose his mediation as a pacific Sove- reign, always in the sense of establishing the nationality of Italy. You know how I, especially before your departure from Home, dwelt upon this idea ; you may therefore well believe how I should be gratified if I could see it properly carried into execution, with a prosperous result. Now, with reference to the expression of it, which you have laid before the Holy Father, His Holiness has authorised me to com- municate to you in strict confidence a letter which, within these last days, he has addressed, in that very sense, to II. M. the Emperor of Austria, in order that you also may see that such an idea had not escaped the wisdom of 1 1 is Holiness, and the love he cherishes for Italy. I have to ap- prise you, that His Holiness is about to write to II. M. King Charles Albert, with a similar view. You may well imagine, in ease that I lis Holiness should perceive a disposition to negotiations with a view to peace, in the sense of stipulating for the Italian nationality, how inclined lie would be to bestir himself energetically for the purpose, at the cost of whatever personal inconvenience. The Holy K 4 136 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Father earnestly recommends to your activity and skill a suitable arrangement for the Pontifical troops now beyond the Po. Together with the present letter, you will receive one from His Holiness to H. M. King Charles Albert, which you will deliver to His Majesty, &c, &c. " Cardinal Antonelli." The letter, which the Pope addressed to the Em- peror of Austria, and of which a copy was sent, by Cardinal Antonelli to me, and another by the Pope himself to King Charles Albert, was of the following tenour : — " Your Majesty, " It has ever been customary, that a word of peace should go forth from this Holy See amidst the wars Avhich have bathed Christian lands with blood : and, in the Allocution of the 29th of April, while We have said that our paternal heart shrinks from declaring war, We have expressly stated our ardent desire to contribute towards a peace. Let it not then be distasteful to Your Majesty, that We should appeal to your piety and devotion, and with paternal sentiments should exhort You to withdraw your arms from the contest, which, without any possibility of again subduing to your empire the spirit of the Lombards and the Venetians, draws with it the fatal series of calamities that are wont to attend on war, and that without doubt are by You detested and abhorred. " Let not, then, the generous German nation take it in ill part, if We invite them to lay resentment aside, and to con- vert into the beneficial relations of friendly neighbourhood a domination, which could never be prosperous or noble while it depended solely on the sword. " Thus then We trust that the said Xation, honourably proud of its own nationality, will not think its honour to consist in bloody efforts against the Italian Xation, but rather in generously acknowledging her for a sister, even as both arc daughters to Us, and most dear to our heart; that so Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 137 each may confine itself to reside within its natural limits, upon honourable terms, and with the blessing of the Lord. In the meantime we entreat the Giver of every light, and Author of every good, to inspire Your Majesty with holy counsel ; while from the inmost of our heart we impart to You, to H. M. the Empress, and to the Imperial family, the Apostolic Benediction. " Given in Rome, at Santa Maria Maggiore, on the 3rd of May, 1848, in the second year of our Pontificate." This very noble letter obtained commendation, but did not really avail to correct the ill effect produced, by the Allocution. Charles Albert answered the letter of Pius IX., which I delivered to him, but gave no indication of placing confidence in the course of policy that the Pontiff intended to follow ; nor did public opinion favour the notion of a Papal mediation. In 1848, the Italians showed themselves wanting in that gift, for which they are over praised or over blamed by foreigners, I mean flexibility in the con- duct of weighty affairs of State. To bend the mind, to depart from principle, to alter in feeling, on ac- count of altered circumstances, is a moral fault, and worthy of blame ; but to change the mode of giving effect to preconceived ideas, in conformity with changes in events, not only is not a vice, but is the duty and the merit of a statesman. Because political science is practically governed according to particular facts and to opportunities, rather than by general and absolute propositions ; whatever may be argued to the contrary by those, who condemn and revile the study of the possible and the seasonable, in regard both to means and ends. Doubtless it is material to 138 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. have fixed principles and predetermined aims, but it is not less material in the choice of means to be governed by occasion, otherwise the risk is run of losing all from not submitting to what is inevitable. Politics do not greatly differ from the other sciences and arts of men, except in this, that, being the most complex and the most difficult, they require greater prudence and greater acuteness. While supremely governed by the eternal principles of justice and reason, this science is governed, subordinately, by events and hazards near hand, by the traditions of the past, and by that slow movement in time and in men, which escapes immediate perception, and yet in an instant bursts out with strength and heat, as if it were the stroke of some hidden but resistless force, which man could not create, and has no power or knowledge to repress. The wise statesman distin- guishes himself from the vulgar one in this very point, that he knows how to catch the meaning, and gauge the prospective value, of these slow processes of time and of human opinions and pursuits, so that upon this knowledge he founds his reckoning of what is most likely to happen, and accordingly directs his own exertions with a view to controuling those fu- ture probable events. The men who thus know and thus act, are those who see far forward, and make provision accordingly, so as at times to appear pro- phetic ; but they are not prophetic, they are only wise, through their knowledge of times, of men, of the trains of events, and the relations of those trains to times and men. To divine and to under- Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 139 stand such relations, is a great part of the science by which the present is united to the past and to the future. This is called, and is, genuine speculation, far different from that which is also called speculation, but which means standing amidst the clouds to view human nature and the world, through the prism of our own affections and sentiments ; this is duly called, and is, the genuine business of the visionary. The contemplators of phantasms, those who always reason in general and absolute forms, call the ponderers of opportunity and disciples of the possible, empirics. Be it so ; the answer to them is, that empiricism, that is to say, observation and experience, are a main basis of all knowledge. Moreover they call them doctrinaires. Be this so too : if by doctrinaires they mean those who seek to realise the doctrines best suited to gain well being for societies of men. But if by doctrinaires they mean to be understood specu- lators upon abstractions, the epithet tits to a hair those who contemn the study of opportunities and possibilities, and who, founding themselves on the absolute, and on notions of the mind and aspirations of the feelings, give themselves out for men of the future, while in the meantime they mar the present, and handle poor human nature as though it were but a worthless material for their experiments. Away, I say, with such philanthropists as thc.-e. I have stated, then, that the Pope's letter to the Emperor, and his proffers of mediation, were not ap- preciated by the Italians as they deserved ; because at that time one part)' was intent upon the foundation 140 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of the Kingdom of Upper Italy, another upon ex- temporising republics : some gave greater weight to Mazzini, than to Pope Pius IX.; some viewed the temporal dominion of the Popes just as they would any other Sovereignty whatever; some, who would forego nothing of all that could be desired, amused themselves with dreams of assistance from the Swiss or from the French, and all, even the most sensible and judicious, built their hopes on no other ground than the war. The army of Piedmont was now not far from Ve- rona. That is the most important of the four for- tified places that defend the double military line of the Mincio and the Adige, because it is constructed on both banks of the last-named river, at the point where it issues from the mountains to bathe the flat beneath them ; and, while it commands the course of the river, it covers the route of the Tyrol. The portion of Verona that stands on the left bank of the Adige is commanded by heights crowned with forts. That raised on the right bank, in the plain, is guarded by an intrenched camp, in front of which stand other fortifications for its protection. It has a population of 60,000 inhabitants. The Austrians occupied the entire line from Chievo to Toinba by the Croce Bianca, San Massimo, and Santa Lucia ; and they had also posts in advance as far as Camponi, Feniletto, and Dossobono. The heavy guns necessary for the siege of Peschiera had not yet reached our army. Every one urged the King to seek an opportunity of joining battle, his friends for the honour of his arms and the Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 141 benefit of his enterprise, while his enemies pressed him with calumnies and murmurs; it is said there was some correspondence and understanding with the inhabitants of Verona. Hence the King, after holding a council of war, determined to leave the division of General Federici for the blockade of Peschiera, and the defence of Pastrengo, and to place himself over against the central positions of the Croce Bianca, San Massimo, and Santa Lucia ; to make himself master of these, and then to march under the walls of Ve- rona in order to see whether any attempt at a rising would be made within, or else to draw the enemy out to battle. With this design, the army moved in the following order. Starting early in the morning from its encampments, it was to unite and con- centrate itself upon the slight elevations that are in front of Feniletto and Cabuetta ; its left was to rest on the hills of Palazzina, and its right was to stretch towards the rear, with the support of numerous guns and of a brigade of cavalry. The division of the centre, leading the movement, was to attack San Massimo : the left to assail the Croce Bianca, and the right Santa Lucia. The cavalry was to go and cut off the retreat of the enemy's troops that occupied Tomba; while the division of reserve was to remain in rear of the centre, and to follow its movements. It chanced, that the enemy had been made aware of our motions by his spies, who were numerous in those districts, lie was aecordingly in arms, and had dispatched troops to meet the division of the centre* the obstacles of every nature that occur in those 142 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. plains, ditches, torrents, thick-set trees and hedges, and perhaps also want of precision in the orders, pre- vented the divisions from reaching their posts at the hour appointed, and caused the engagement to begin, not at once over the whole ground, but in succession, and with intervals. The column of the centre, being the division of General d' Arvillars, commanded by the King and by Bava, and followed at a great distance by the division of reserve, moved against San Massimo, before the other columns were ready to second the ope- ration. But it missed the road, and was thrown upon the right towards the cemetery of Santa Lucia, so that the vanguard had here to stand, almost with- out support, the shock of the enemy, who was strong in the village, the cemetery, and places near. The village was surrounded with an entrenchment, against which the gallant efforts of our men were thrown away for a considerable time. The artillery, owing to the difficulties of the ground, could not work freely, so that the guns of the enemy, sheltered by the trenches, killed and wounded many. At last, at an hour past noon, when a portion of the division of the right had arrived, a new attack was made, and, in spite of a desperate defence by the Austrians, our troops won Santa Lucia. While the Kino; was looking from the point at which Verona and its fortifications are visible, to observe whether Radetzki would sally out to battle, and whether the inhabitants would rise, Broglia's division, which was attacking the village of Croce Bianca, encountered the same obstacles and a like resistance ; our soldiers, too, fought with Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 143 courage, yet not so but that one regiment, which had suffered heavily from the guns, broke the ranks in. retiring from the conflict. This caused the cessation of the attack, because to persist further would have been dangerous, as the enemy was all the while master of San Massimo, which had not been assaulted, and therefore able to take us in flank and rear, and break the entire column. When this was known the King ordered the army to retire, with all the pre- cautions suitable for retreating. The Brigades lieijina and Cuneo remained at Santa Lucia, with orders not to quit the post until the columns of our army had got a long way a-head. But when the Austrians had observed our retreat, they returned to the charge, would have all but beaten us, had not the gallant Duke of Savoy placed himself at the head of the Brigade Cuneo, and flung himself upon them with such vehemence, that he drove them back beyond the point to which they had already been driven in the morning. Thus it became possible to effect the retreat tranquilly and in order, so that the undaunted King, who, in the whole affair of Santa Lucia, had incessantly exposed himself to the shots that were dealing death around him, found leisure to fulfil the pious office of visiting the wounded, who had been taken to Fenilone for shelter, and to have them laid upon the waggons which were to carry them, as well as to have the dead interred. He then retreated the last man, as he had advanced the first. The gallantry of our soldiers was admirable, and 144 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. was admired by the Austrians themselves, who bore witness to it in the accounts they gave of the battle. We lost, perhaps, 1500 men between killed and wounded. The officers set the men an example of prowess ; and among them there died the gallant Colonel Caccia. The entire Austrian loss was pro- bably the same, but their dead were more than ours, and among them was General Strasoldo, while various officers of rank were severely wounded. But the action of Santa Lucia did not produce any good result, rather indeed this bad one, that the raw troops, seeing blood spilled without effect, lost courage, and the murmurs of the political meddlers somewhat relaxed the bounds of discipline. I recollect that on the evening of the 6th, when every one was trying to get the wounded into shelter, as far as was possible, at Somma-Campagna, and to assist and comfort them, there ran about among them some wretches, who thought they were doing a good work in lacerating the fame of the commanders, and denouncing the attempt on Santa Lucia : and, as it rained, and the exhausted soldiers were suffering discomfort, they affected to pity them, and abused those who had caused their losses and fatigues. And those madmen gave out that they were the warmest friends of Italy, nay, her hottest and boldest champions. They proved it in this manner, by casting the evil seed of mistrust into the minds of the soldiery, who, up to that day, had rushed into the jaws of death, shouting with enthusiasm the names of their King and of Italy. These were the spouters of the Milanese Clubs ; they Chap. VIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 145 worked their way amidst the ranks of the army, which was royalist at heart, and Italian more through its devotion to royalty, than from any political sentiment of nationality; and they set themselves to slacken that sentiment, which mainly, if not solely, kept them fast to their colours, because they did not want a King's war. A King's war ! This was one of a heap of phrases that were destined to be in vogue at the expence of Italy : may the judgment of God be light on those who invented it ; that of history must be severe. The man is blessed in his simplicity, or else hardened in his impudence, who can vent it still, and keep it in store to bloom anew when, if ever, the Most High shall be appeased, and shall give Italy her time afresh. Nugent had passed the Isonzo, and attempted Palama Nova, about the 10th of April. From thence he was constrained to fall back, and throw himself into Udine. Udine did not stand out, as it had sworn to do, but came to terms ; so that the Austrian Commander, after having experienced a weak and sho~t resistance on the Tagliamento and at Livenza, on the 30th of April was at Conegliano, not far from the Piave, where lie posted his videttes. Durando, about that time, had arrived at Treviso, as 1 before intimated ; and as he had only 7000 men with whom to make head against 10,000, which was Nugcnt's number, he sagaciously designed to interpose obstacles to his expeditious advance, rather than take the chances of an unequal battle. General Alberto La Marmora, who had some troops hastily picked up, was VOL. II. L 146 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. on the right, with 3000 men, in front of Treviso, and Durando halted at Monte Belluno, from which point he could either ascend or descend the current of the river, as he might find convenient. Belluno, and the Upper Piave, were defended both by the inhabitants and by volunteers ; still more so by nature and by art, for both the passes further up the mountains, and the bridges, were mined. Nugent advanced slowly, although it was important to him to get on before the arrival of Ferrari, who was bringing with dis- patch about 10,000 men ; but at last, cutting short delay, he passed to the right bank of the Piave, be- tween Belluno and Feltre, and, encountering no impediment, he moved in the direction of the last- named city. It was then that Durando again as- cended the Piave, and sent to Ferrari to come in his stead to Monte Belluno ; but this General had scarcely traversed half the road which leads to Feltre, when he learned that this city, notwithstanding its boastful promises of defence to the last, had opened its gates to the enemy without combat, as without condition, and that Belluno had done the same. Hence Du- rando believed that the main strength of the enemy was pushing forward, and learning that one column already held San Vittore, and that, on the 5th of May, another had marched for Serravalle, he thought it the wisest plan to retreat to Bassano, in order to close the pass by the Valley of the Brenta, which the enemy could not reach from Feltre, except by Primolano or by Poderoba. At Poderoba he had halted ; and here General Ferrari came to him, and asked for a rein- Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 147 forcement of trained soldiers in aid of his raw troops. He got, accordingly, the battalion of chasseurs, also a squadron of cavalry, and a half battery. Thus Ferrari gathered under his command about 12,000 men; that is to say, 2500 regular infantry and 300 horse, and the rest legions of Civic Guards, volunteers, and free corps ; he had likewise sixteen guns ; and with this force his business was to defend the Passes of Pode- roba and the lower Piave, posting himself, with his men, between Narvese and Ponte a Piave, in front of Conegliano. Durando, when he had sent 1200 men under Colonel Casanova to Primolano, to assist the volunteers of Bassano, remained himself there with about 2500 men, intending to take them wher- ever he might have occasion. It was the 8 th of the month. Nugent, who had extended his line between Belluno, Feltre, Conegliano, and the intermediate points, dispatched from Feltre 2000 men against Poderoba, and as many against Primolano. The Papal forces fell back from Poderoba to Cornuda, where Ferrari brought about 3000 men to support them, and at evening an engagement began, to which the night put an end, without any decided advantage on one side or on the other. Ferrari sent notice of the fact to Durando, telling him he would hold the posi- tions he had taken, and leaving it to him to act as he mijrht find best in case of a fresh attack. And he was attacked afresh on the next day, when our young soldiery held their ground firmly for many hours, but were at length obliged to turn and retreat on Monte Belluno. As they retired, they began to suffer i. 2 148 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III those troubles by which troops, that have not acquired stability through long service, are easily disturbed and broken up ; exhaustion, mistrust, and a nervous affection which prostrates even minds that give no place to fear. They then by degrees took to com- plaining of the unfortunate engagement, of the leaders, of their arms, of the failure of succours, of the regu- lar troops, who had not come into the field ; finally, as being a parcel of volunteers accustomed to hold forth and play the teacher on all subjects, they began to upbraid the Generals, and to raise the cry of betrayal. It was not possible to remain at Monte Belluno ; unruliness and disorder swayed the mass, and drove them to Treviso. They marched con- fusedly, without keeping any soldierly array, and gave the vile example which loose masses always afford. It happened that, between Monselice and La Battaglia, a band of them met with a carriage in which a Modenese recognised Disperati, who had been one of the most harsh directors of the Police in Modena. With him were two others, suspected on account of their ill company, and their moving about in a country the seat of actual war. These wretches were foraging for the Austrian troops at Verona, and probably at the same time acting as spies ; for so their way of life and their party implied. The Duke Lante di Montefeltro took them, when arrested, to Padua. There the Commission of Provisional Go- vernment demanded their persons for trial, but did not obtain them, because Duke Lante wished to keep them as prisoners of war, although the Government Chap. VIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 149 of Venice had likewise asked to have them. They were dragged to Treviso, where they arrived when discipline was at the worst. The news of the Allocu- tion of Pius IX. had arrived there, and men's minds, which had before been troubled and agitated by sus- picion, fear, and doubt, had now boiled up with indig- nation and fury. Some raised the cry of treachery, some turned their arms against General Ferrari, some spoke of the Papal Excommunication, and some averred that, after the Allocution, those who fought under the Pope's flag would no longer be considered by the enemy as soldiers in honourable war, but as rebels in the act, and would be treated independently of the rules which honourable war imposes. Even the Generals were disagreed and in dispute. Ferrari upbraided the gallant Bolognese Guidotti, a noble relic of the wars of Napoleon, with having abandoned the Piave, after the action at Cornuda ; others blamed Ferrari for having risked too much ; meantime the biers of the dead and litters of the wounded were; passing through the midst of the agitated crowd, and exciting alike their pity, terror, and vengeance. The citizens of Treviso closed their houses in alarm, giving out that the Austrians were at hand. It seemed as though death were hovering over the unhappy place, and sending all the furies before him as his harbin- gers. During this time the carriage arrived witli the prisoners whom Lante was conducting, and it be- came known who and what they were: the unbridled crowd, athirst for blood, threw itself upon the miser- able men, and vented against them all the passion, h 3 150 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. all the indignation, all the thirst for the life of their enemies, which were provoked by the rout at Cor- nuda, the Allocution of the Pope, and the losses they had undergone. Prayers and lamentations did not avail to rescue them from so much fury. Half alive, half dead under hundreds of blows, they were dragged out of the carriage, and those who could not wound them while living, mutilated their corpses, and, not satisfied to mangle them with the sword, they tore them with their hands. Nay, even this was all too little for their frenzy, unless every sense were grati- fied with the fierce delight of vengeance ; for some, not thinking it enough to have wounded and hacked them, hoisted on the points of their weapons, abominable trophy ! the palpitating entrails ; there were those, too, who would handle the dead and lacerated flesh, nay, those who would taste their blood ! General Ferrari sought to return to Monte Belluno, that he might occupy it before the Austrians could enter it ; and he gave orders the next day, which was the 1st of May, that the regular force, foot, horse, and artillery alike, should repair thither; but these troops would not obey, whether from cowardice, or whether it were the effect of the Allocution of the Pope, or whether it were a want of discipline, old, indeed, but now aggravated ; and perhaps all these causes worked in union. They denounced Ferrari as a traitor, be- cause he wished to lead them back into action, or, as they called it, to slaughter ; nay, one or more batta- lions of volunteers signified that they would disband, Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 151 and repass the Po. Nugent, finding the way clear, had gone to Monte Belluno on the 10th, and then over to Feltre, on the road to Treviso. Ferrari endea- voured to repulse him, and set out for Le Castrette, himself the first, himself at the head of his force, with the volunteers in the van, infantry and cavalry of the line, and artillery. The vanguard had already expelled the foe from a house that was upon the road, and had made some prisoners, when the enemy's guns began to thunder: the Papal troops halted, and seemed as if they would wheel about ; the General wished to lead them on, and by a sudden attack to try to carry the enemy's artillery; but they shouted treachery, and vain was the example of the General with the young officers, for they broke and fled. The horses on our side, not used to the noise of cannon and of pitched battles, wheeled and gallopped off, trampling on the fugitives; a fit reward for such wretches, to have their backs trodden down by the horses' hoofs, if the balls of the foe failed to reach those men with winged feet, those men, who, casting away their arms and every impediment, ran panting to save their dishonoured lives. The fugitives caused such a noise, and such clouds of dust, that the Austrians, too, who thought they were about to be attacked by a numerous cavalry, turned their backs. Ferrari, after that miserable en- counter, seeing that the disorder was extreme, and that his disorganised forces were not only useless but harmful to the defence of Treviso, arranged to leave there about 4000 of those troops who were thought the best. The Papal chasseurs were to go to Mar- L 4 152 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Boor III. ghera, the grenadiers to Vicenza, the Roman legions and the volunteers to Mestre. But the Commission of Government at Treviso complained, that they were re- ducing too much the garrison of the city, so that the volunteers remained under the command of Lante, with Antonini's legion and a few Lombards. On the 12th, they sallied forth, and repulsed the Austrians in one affair, in which the gallant Guidotti, wounded in his honour by the upbraidings he had endured on ac- count of the retreat from the Piave, sought for death fighting in the trenches as a private, and found what he sought. After the unhappy action at Cornuda, and the re- treat of Ferrari, Durando had abandoned Bassano ; and as he could not repair to Treviso, because the country was held by a superior Austrian force, he had betaken himself first to Cittadella, then to Piazzola, behind the river Brenta, from whence he might con- test the passage of it against the enemy either at Fon- taniva, or at Padua, the only points at which it could be effected. Treviso was a city of 15,000 inhabit- ants, with the garrison, sufficient in strength, that Ferrari had left there ; and, furthermore, fortified by nature, because the muddy banks of the Sile ren- der it on one side wholly inaccessible. It might, therefore, have long been held against Nugent, who had no siege artillery, and who in fact did not make any weighty effort to take it, but contented himself with ravaging the environs, and with causing alarm, in order to draw Durando to the scene, and induce him to abandon his strong position behind the Brenta. Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 153 Durando, who quite understood this device of his foe, remained motionless. But both Venice and Treviso plied him with numerous demands and complaints, that he might give aid to the latter place ; and, because he hesitated, charged and branded him with treason. A fine fashion truly to conduct a war by the accusations of politicians, and by the generalship of lawyers set up to govern. Durando should, perhaps, have persisted in holding them cheap, but he could not or would not, and at last, seeing that Nugent persevered in his mea- sures against Treviso, he determined to march from Piazzola to Mogliano, and subsequently to pass the Sile at Quinto, and by attacking the enemy to relieve Treviso. But Nugent, who was looking out for this movement, immediately decamped from before Treviso, traversed with rapidity the road that sepa- rates the Piave from the Brenta, occupied the posi- tions that Durando had quitted, and continued his marcli towards Vicenza. When Durando learned it, he immediately turned from Mogliano towards Mestre, to throw himself into Vicenza, making use of the railroad, which runs through Mestre on the way from Vicenza to Padua. II is van, commanded by Colonel Gallieno, arrived there on the 19th of the month. At Mestre, General Ferrari, perhaps in despair of being able to restore order among the disordered legions of volunteers, gave a conge to all who wished it. Many availed themselves of it, recrossed the Po, and, amidst the upbraid'mgs and scoffs of our generous cities, betook themselves back to their homes. Others 154 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. went to Venice, where Ferrari thought of reorganis- ing them ; but in that place they were secretly enlisted under the Venetian flag, their arms were purchased, and their disorderliness received countenance, notwith- standing the efforts and expostulations of Aglebert, the Pope's Commissary, and of Gualtieri, his Intendent General. The unfortunate actions of Cornuda and of Le Castrette did not so much contribute to the dis- solution of those Corps, the departure, and we may even say the desertion of some of the men, with the change of flag by others, as did the Allocution of the Pope, and party intrigues. Since the Allocution of the Pope, that dread of unlicensed war, to which I have alluded, had entered into their minds ; there was likewise an apprehension of committing an act of re- bellion if they remained ; there came, too, letters from their relations, either alarmed in conscience, or more tender of the life than of the honour of their children, in which they recommended them to repair to a place of safety. After the Allocution of the Pope, men began to speak of the treachery of the Sove- reigns : in this treachery the Pope was thought to have taken the lead, and his flag became detested. Then those of the corps of Ferrari, who were republi- cans, happy in an occasion, or a pretext, to lacerate the fame of Princes and destroy all confidence in their good faith, no longer refrained from murmuring at the Pope and the Sovereigns, and took to cursing Charles Albert, Durando, and Azeglio, and so getting them the name and the disrepute of Poyalists, or traitors, which for those persons was the same thing. So they Chap. VII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 155 commenced their preachments against the King's war, and tried the fortunes of those Mazzinian notions, which always prosper in the same proportion as the cause of Italy declines. The friar Gavazzi, and Bassi, another Barnabite friar, were among the hottest ha- ranguers and subverters of the rules of discipline. From all these causes, the Papal army was in great peril of entire dissolution. But the prudence of Durando, and the example of firmness set by the Swiss and Carabineers, with the exertions of many young officers of high spirit, had such effect, that with the greater part of the volunteers, the voice of honour, the love of Italy, and fidelity to the flag, prevailed over wicked calumnies and insinuations. Some re- paired to Vicenza, others to Padua; where at that time there had arrived a battalion of the Civic Guard of Bologna, admirable in its discipline, and com- manded by Colonel Bignami. 156 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. VIII. FIRST MISCARRIAGES OF THE MAMIANI MINISTRY. FESTIVITIES IN HONOUR OF THE POPE'S BROTHERS. THANKS RETURNED TO THE POPE FOR HIS LETTER TO THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. — MISSION OF MONSIGNOR MORICHINI TO THE EMPEROR. LAN- GUAGE OF THE MINISTER PISSELDORF. ARRANGEMENT WITH CHARLES ALBERT ABOUT THE COMMAND OF THE PONTIFICAL FORCE. MISGIVINGS OF THE NEW FOREIGN MINISTER MAR- CHETTI ABOUT THAT ARRANGEMENT. — THE AUSTRIAN AMBAS- SADOR QUITS ROME. — THE POPE AND THE COURT MISTRUSTFUL. IDEAS OF MAMIANI ABOUT THE POPE'S TEMPORAL AUTHORITY. HIS DIFFICULTIES. NOTICES OF THE CONSULTA. — NOMINA- TION OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE, AND OF THE HIGH COUNCIL. — ELECTION OF THE DEPUTIES. CARDINAL SOGLIA PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS. — ACTS OF THE MINISTRY. NEAPOLITAN AFFAIRS. THE FIFTEENTH OF MAY AT NAPLES. — THE KING'S PROCLAMATION. RECALL OF THE NEAPOLITAN TROOPS. CONSEQUENCES OF IT. EXASPERATION OF THE PUBLIC MIND OF PARTIES. TnEIR CONDITION IN THE ROMAN STATES. Although Mamiani had been considered among; the exiles a person of temperate opinions and a constant opponent to the doctrines and practices of Mazzini, yet as, in Rome, he was not only beloved and respected by the Liberal youth, but caressed by those of extreme opinions, and because he had been warm for the insti- tution of associations in aid of the war, as well as with a view to the election of deputies, he was by many thought to be inclined to extreme doctrines and to dangerous experiments. Hateful to the Court for the Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 157 reasons set forth elsewhere, he was its Minister, but not its adviser. His colleagues, from the Duke of llignano downwards, were considered to have neither strength of will, nor stores of political acquirement, to oppose to the illustrious man of letters, the eloquent speaker, the beloved of the people, from whom the Ministry derived its name and brilliancy. Cardinal Orioli took no great part in the Government ; he seemed to concur, but perhaps was keeping watch. The Ministry had hardly been formed, when an article, printed on the 5th of May in the Government Ga- zette, with the title of " Ministerial Programme," was censured by the Pope, because it indicated an inten- tion to support the war; hence it was necessary to declare, in the number of the next day, that that writing was not in any way a programme of policy. Another sign of dissatisfaction was this, that autho- rity was only given with a bad grace, and after delays, to Count Marchetti, Minister of Secular Foreign Affairs, to issue passports. In the meantime, the Minister of War ordered the formation of a reserve of 6000 men, in consideration, as he said, of the state of Italy, and of the exigencies of the national cause. The two brothers of the Pope, the Counts Gabriello and Giuseppe, had come to Rome about this time. The City had received them with rejoicings, because they enjoyed and deserved the character of tried integrity, of refined minds, and of temperate opinions. To the Pope moreover grateful affection was displayed, after Mamiani had given an account to the public of the wonderful letter to the 158 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Emperor of Austria, lauding it in a paper inscribed to the Sovereign, to convey the thanks of the Minis- try, and enlarging upon it, to the same effect, in the Circolo Romano. Still the Pope was not, as he should have been, seconded in his idea of dispatching to the Emperor two Envoys, one clerical and the other lay, who might labour with effect in mediating a peace for Italy according to the tenour of the letter. For the laity, who, by the way, complained so much of having no share or voice in the diplomatic service, and mistrusted the clergy, now hung back from ac- cepting that honourable charge, of which the offer had been made to Sturbinetti in particular. Accord- ingly, Monsignor Morichini went as sole Envoy. He passed by Lombardy, visited Charles Albert, and then betook himself to Innspruck, whither the Empe- ror had repaired on account of the disorders at Vienna. Here he was received by his Majesty, who was weakly both in body and in mind, as his infirmities would permit, and by the Empress somewhat austerely, if not discourteously. From thence he was referred by the Imperial Court to Vienna, to negotiate with the Ministers. These amused him at first with empty discourse, and shortly gave him to understand, that the character of his person and mission was disagree- able to the people, so that harm might happen to him. He therefore obtained, or took, his leave ; and when departing met with some insults. Some of those whose mistrust knew no bounds, then suspected that Uome was not sincere in her exertions on behalf of Italy, and that Monsignor Morichini had secret in- Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 159 structions different from those which were spoken of aloud. But Austria herself has supplied history with evidence of the injustice of such suspicions, of the sin- cere intention of the Pope, and the equally sincere pro- ceedings of his Legate. For Herr Von Pisseldorf, who was Minister of the Interior at Vienna during the time of those efforts, printed in 1849 a small work upon the events of Austria, in which he de- clared, that the Imperial Cabinet was seeking for means of conciliation in the question of Italy, and wrote respecting the mission of Monsignor Morichini the words which I here cite in a translation : — " We must not forget a circumstance which now belongs to history. At the time when England and France were doing justice to our efforts at conciliation, and showing them- selves inclined to promote them, an Ambassador of the Court of Rome, a Prelate, to whom we made them known, proposed to the Minister that informed him of them, with a coolness destitute of all consideration, that we should renounce the whole of our Italian Provinces, as the only means which, he said, Austria possessed to avert greater perils. And when the Austrian Minister reminded the Pope's Ambassador of the formal Treaties, in virtue of which Austria held those Pro- vinces, he drily rejoined, that those Treaties were of no force whatever, — a declaration so much the more strange from the lips of a Papal Legate, because the Government of Pome had no basis of legal existence outside those Treaties, and ought to have acknowledged the special care that Austria had taken to meet the views of Pome when they were negotiated." Hence it is plain, that Rome and its Legate may perhaps be justly blamed for having acted in the rigid and mal-a-droit manner, which at the moment was in fashion, but not for want of sincerity. 160 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. King Charles Albert, with the advice of his Minis- ters, resolved, on the 13th of May, to accept the com- mand, which I offered him on behalf of his Holiness, over the Papal troops in arms beyond the Po, on condition, that they should have pay from the Pon- tifical Government, and continue to use its flag. Thus was removed one of the causes of their ill humour and unruliness, I mean the fear that they were ex- cluded from the laws of honourable war. With reference to that agreement, it is fit to say that the new Ministry at Rome had some apprehension lest the instructions given me by the Pope should involve a definite cession of our troops to Charles Albert. They therefore sent me directions not to enter into any such agreement ; and by official and private letters they gave me to understand that they did not very much sympathise with the sort of policy then termed Albertist, by which was meant aid and favour to the aggrandisement of the Sardinian State. Count Mar- chetti, Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote thus to me, under date of the 17th : — " I must, with all possible earnestness, give you to under- stand it to be the intention of the entire Council of Ministers, that, whatever may have been the instructions heretofore furnished to you, most distinguished Sir, it is not now wished that the Papal troops should be subjected to the command of II. M. King Charles Albert, in such a manner as to cause a change of their ensigns, or take away from our Government any of its authority over them, so as that it should not resume the disposal of them whenever it may wish." 1 raving concluded the agreement of which I re- cently spoke, I returned to Rome about the end of Chap. VIIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 161 May. Minghetti remained at the camp for some time, in the capacity of Commissioner from the Pope's Ministry, and afterwards, Bellini Osimano went thither in the same capacity ; but the Pope himself never sent another Envoy. Lutzow, the Ambassador of Austria, who had till then remained in Rome, was dismissed by the Ministry, at the same time when the Pope was transmitting to Vienna, through the medium of Monsignor Morichini, the language of peace. The Pope placed his own troops under the command of Charles Albert, who was at war with Austria ; and this he did after having stated in his Allocution, that he would take no part in the war. A gross contradiction, both in terms and in conduct: a most marvellous manner of governing! In the meantime, both the Clubs, and the War-Com- mittees and journals, gave new vigour every day to the popular energy, and detracted from that of the Government, which likewise grew weaker daily, on account of the Pope's want of confidence in his Ministry. This confidence was so small, that the courtiers, and the Pope himself, did not abstain from showing the fact by their language and their writings; and in this manner the weight of the Government declined all the more. Mamiani would have sought to restore it by becoming moderator between the Sovereign and the people ; but on the one side the Prince misliked and suspected his interposition ; on the other, the subversive party accepted him only in so far as they believed or hoped he would be the in- strument of a popular victory. Mamiani was wont to VOL. II. M 162 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book. III. study as a philosopher, and to celebrate as a poet, the nobler parts of the spirit of man, and was more fitted to perceive what is beautiful in human nature, than the ugliness of its bad passions. Accordingly, he easily took what in many was base ambition for the genuine and pure enthusiasm of liberty. He pur- sued the purpose of separating the spiritual from the temporal authority, in the person of the Pontiff, and, intending to leave to him entire the independent ex- ercise of the first, he considered that the second ought to be intrusted to a lay executive, and to a deliberative Parliament, in that large and fixed sense that suits the practice of the most perfect lay and constitutional States. But this is an aim that is slowly reached even under lay Sovereignties, when they change from absolute to representative, and is only reached at all by tenacious endurance and straightforward energy. It was far more difficult to attain in Rome ; here the question before all others was, to define well the limits of the two distinct authorities ; and next, to deter- mine those of the temporal power of the Monarch. Between the Pontiff-Prince and the laity newly called to govern, there still stood in the midst the supreme ecclesiastical Hierarchy, a sharer in both kinds of authority. Next, there was the whole of the privileged caste, menaced with extrusion in respect of secular power; and this caste caused Pius IX. at least as much trouble in secret, as was openly given him by the persons impatient to oust them. And the busi- ness of the Ministry was so much the more difficult, because its strength lay only in the ephemeral fa- Chap. VIH.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 163 vour of the portion of the people subject to agitation, which was precisely the same that augmented the difficulties of any harmonious adjustment. Mamiani governed in the name of Pius IX., who either let him have his way, or, first resigning himself and approv- ing, afterwards murmured ; the clerical politicians conspired against Mamiani ; and the party of subver- sion against the Pope. The Consulta had been virtually dead, from the date of the promulgation of the Constitutional Statute ; and since the Revolution had driven both ideas and events so far onwards, being now near its latter end, it had no authority to bring in aid of the Government. When instituted, it was regarded as a great boon, and such indeed it was in the Pontifical State, inasmuch as it implied the novelties of the introduction of controul, and of the participation of the laity, in the adminis- tration of public affairs. The care that the Sove- reign took to choose for it the men most esteemed and loved, without regard to political opinions, had given to a purely consultive Assembly the strength of public approbation. The President and Vice President were ecclesiastics ; the other members were all lay, if we except Monsignor Pacca for Benevento ; hence the laical spirit predominated. The institution was faulty in this, that it had the character of a consultive Parliament, and at the same time of an Executive Council ; offices the widest asunder. The majority of the members were friendly to civil equality, and to opinions temperately liberal. Before the publication of the Statute, the Government encouraged the body M 2 164 FKOM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. in economical reform, in establishing audit, and in the removal of abuses, but kept a keen eye upon it and suspected it, in political investigations. It promoted and proposed principles of free exchange, the abo- lition of exemptions and monopolies, and the bring- ing of fines into the Exchequer. It matured regula- tions for its own business, considered the question of arming the country, investigated the projects of rail- ways, and recommended the loan for which Lahante contracted at 93 per cent. The accounts of the ad- ministration of the public money from the year 1834 downwards were missing: accordingly the members of the Consultah&d to undergo the labour of most per- severing searches to collect materials for their work upon the estimates, to which they applied with assi- duity. Pasolini had already completed his inquiry, and made a report on the property of the State. Minghetti had done the same on Lotteries, Mastai on the public debt, when political events and changes of Administration took away from the Consulta some of its most esteemed and active members, and therewith much of the life of the institution. These Consultori gave an admirable example of diligence, and left an honourable name. They studied the law of the Mu- nicipalities ; they prepared materials for codification ; they framed a scheme of armament ; they unani- mously condemned a contract granted by Monsignor Kusconi, Minister of War, and obtained its repeal ; they addressed some reproof to Monsignor Amici, Minister of the Interior, who excused himself, and threw the blame on his predecessor. Although there Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 165 did not appear to be any marked division of political parties in the Consulta, yet it was plain, that some of its members inclined to breadth of political institu- tions, others not, or not so much. The most dis- tinguished among the former class were, Minghetti, Recchi, Pasolini, Simonetti, and Benedetti ; among the latter, Barberini, Vannutelli, and Odcscalchi. Mastai, nephew of the Pope, approximated more to the first than the last ; Monsignor Pacca was of the latter party ; Cardinal Antonelli between the two, drawn one way by his quality and office, and the other by prudence and by the times. The members for Pome and for Comarca were of a spirit too muni- cipal, and in economical discussions they favoured the doctrines adverse to freedom of trade. As the new institutions had now to be put into operation, the Pope, on the 30th of May, named his Council of State. Its members were the distin- guished lawyers, Giuliani, Piacentini the Monsignore, Kufini, Bonacci, Sturbinetti, Pagani, and Ridolfi, the celebrated Professor Orioli, the learned physician Professor Carpi, the accomplished Marquis Potenziani, and Salvator Betti, with the Prelates Morichini, Palrna, and Alberghini. The Council of State was composed, according to the Ordinance, often ordinary and five extraordinary Councillors, presided over by the Minister of Grace and Justice, and having twenty- four Uditori, chosen by the Sovereign. It might upon request give its judgments on projects of law, or be commissioned to frame them. It was entitled to ad- vise upon the rules of the administrative depart- 166 FROM THE PEOMULGATION OF [Book III. ments ; its members, while remaining such, were incapable of holding paid offices, whether adminis- trative or judicial ; they were irremoveable, as were the Uditori, after three years of approved and unin- terrupted service. On the same day, the 13th of May, were published the names of the persons, chosen to belong to the Chamber that had, by the Funda- mental Statute, the name of the High Council. The Ministry had proposed the individuals whom it thought most worthy; but the Pope assumed the discretion of naming them at his own will, and he nominated some very worthy, others respectable men, others ob- scure and incompetent. The Electoral Colleges for the choice of Deputies were summoned for the 18th, and preparation was made, with praiseworthy spirit, for the elections. There appeared a general anxiety to engage in them with an exclusive aim to the pro- motion of the public good, by deputing to Parliament citizens considered fit to give stability to the new arrangements, and regularity to the finances ; nor was the spirit of party so busy and perverse, as to thwart this intention. The people augured well of the working of these deliberative Councils. The Ministry hoped to gain strength from their support, and thereby to acquire influence over the mind of the Sovereign. He, in his turn, trusted to find them grateful and confiding. And in fact the electoral assemblies, which went off without any breach of public tranquillity, both then, at the outset, and also in the supplementary elections, answered well ; so that the majority of the Council of Deputies was composed Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 167 of excellent citizens, either conspicuous for property, or remarkable for integrity and knowledge. Cardinal Ciacchi had not yet accepted the office of President of the Council of Ministers ; and, as Car- dinal Orioli was unwilling to hold it longer, the Pope, without consulting his Ministry, had conferred it on Cardinal Soglia, a person of rare Christian vir- tues, who had followed the illustrious Pius VII. into exile, and who, always living remote from political intrigues, had been a distinguished model of the good priest. Pius IX. made choice of Cardinal Soglia, because he was a man, who, in the capacity of Mi- nister, would obey him as Prince, with the same abne- gation of will with which, in the capacity of Bishop, he was bound to obey him as Pontiff. The Ministry made few changes. It brought the Civic Guard into dependence on the Minister of the Interior, removing it from that of the Cardinal President of the Council. It sent Count Girolamo Rota of Ravenna, whose nomination Recchi had previously obtained from the Pope, to be Governor of Perugia, instead of Mori- si gnor Consolini. It dismissed or translated a few Governors. The Pope, who did not confide in Ma- miani, was very reluctant to give offices to those who were suggested and recommended by him, and he was more than ever determined to retain eccle- siastical Presidents in the Government of the Pro- vinces. These, being bound to the Pontiff and to the Cardinal Secretary of State, by the ties of cano- nical obedience, occasionally served them in respect of orders and suggestions that went to deprive the M 4 168 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book TH. orders and suggestions of the Ministry of all force. The latter gave instructions to try and punish those who, after the unhappy affairs in the Venetian ter- ritory, had deserted from the camp ; and Aldo- brandini, commanding the Civic Guard of Rome, rebuked them in severe language ; but, in the mean- time, the Court regarded with pity their contumacy or cowardice, and wished them to escape scot free. The Ministry sent Count Pepoli of Bologna to the camp of Durando, with instructions to apply himself to confirming in the minds of the soldiers the senti- ments of honour and of discipline as matter of duty, while, in the meantime, letters from Rome were cir- culating through the ranks, which fomented disorder and unruliness. Those, who covered their own pol- troonery or insolence with the cloak of obedience to the Pope's wishes, had returned to their country, as arrogant as if they had been the heroes, and that portion of their companions rogues, who had not imi- tated them in their ignominious withdrawal. In this manner our towns were filled with murmurs and scandals. On the one hand stood the law, the will of the Ministry, military honour, and the consciences offended at the view of these deserters ; on the other seemed to stand the Allocution of the Pope, the en- couragements of the Court, and the insinuations of the Retrogradists. During the time while the affairs of Rome were proceeding thus indifferently, those of Naples grew worse. I have mentioned already, that the Neapo- litan Ministry, presided over by Troya, which stimu- Chap. VIII. ] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 169 lated King Ferdinand to enter into the Italian enter- prise, had sent Deputies to Rome for that Congress of the League, which was not to the mind of Pied- mont. The Neapolitan Deputies, who had been greeted courteously by the Pope, and boisterously by the Clubs, returned to Naples after the Allocution of the 29th of April, which had caused great joy in that place among the partisans of absolute government. It seems that Pius IX., during the painful days about the end of April and beginning of May, among other thoughts which had occurred to his mind, had enter- tained that of repairing to Naples. Aware of this, the King and Government had made suitable preparations to receive him, and the absolute party had laid its account upon the civil discords of Rome, for draw- ing the Pope over to itself, and commencing the work of its own restoration. The Neapolitan troops, when they had entered the Papal States, proceeded so slowly, that it seemed they must have orders never to reach Lombard soil ; and old General Pepe, their commander, himself eager to get there, was ob- structed by his subordinate officers, who were in the good graces and confidence of the King, now upon one pretext, and now upon another. It is said that, one day, when the King was conversing with his Ministers, he allowed himself to say, that the Italian war against Austria was unjust ; and it is known from documents that at the very time when he was sending Pietro Leopardi, an honourable and Liberal Italian, as his Envoy to Charles Albert, ho likewise sent round underhand emissaries and spies, and 170 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. among the rest one Sponzilli, an officer of engineers, who was charged to find fault with Colonel Rodriguez, commanding the 10th Regiment of the Line, for having crossed the Po, and to require him to take his orders from the commander of the army which was assembling on this side the Po. It is also known, and should be stated here, that, on the 10th of May, the Neapolitan Ministers settled with the King, that Leopardi should be instructed to negotiate an offen- sive and defensive alliance between the Crown of Naples and that of Sardinia, in order that " by the union of the strongest and most numerous Italian armies, victory might be rendered more expeditious and secure ; " but the letter, that carried this instruction, was retained in Naples by an unknown hand. It should also be stated, that Leopardi was reprimanded because he had replied to a letter from the Pro- visional Government of Milan, and was admonished not to hold correspondence with it. These things were not known at the time ; still, in Naples, mistrust of the King and Court was so great and so rooted, that men's minds were agitated by incessant sus- picion, and by restless misgivings. The tumults that frequently arose were serviceable to the retrogradism of the Court, which derived from them an argument to show the deformities of freedom, and to illustrate the follies and bad faith of the party of the move- ment. The King was accustomed to lodge the Staff, and the Commander of the troops, in the palace, and to direct them himself, either in writing or by word of mouth. After the changes in the State, it was Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 171 provided, as Constitutions usually require, that no act whatever of the King should be valid, which should not be countersigned by a Minister. But the King still retained his accustomed authority over the army ; and the remonstrances made by Saliceti, during the few days in which he held the reins of power, did not avail to reduce it to the terms of the Constitution. And in fact the army, whether through inborn aversion to Liberal institutions, or whether under secret instructions, showed itself so turbulent, that there were frequent hazards of collision with the noisy rabble. It is reported that Count Lebzeltern, Minister of Austria, who was still living at Naples, turned those intestine troubles to good account for his country ; it is also reported that, on the other hand, there were in Naples not a few emissaries of the republicans of France, and agents of the Sects, who worked hard at the business of conspiracy and sub- version. The newly chosen Deputies were now assembling in the capital, as the Parliament was to be opened on the 15th of May. Ruggiero, who had quitted the Troy a Administration from aversion to the Italian war, convoked his colleagues to a preparatory meeting on the 12th. It was reported, that the Deputies and Peers were to swear to the maintenance of the Con- stitution of the 6th of February, without having any regard to the agreements subsequently framed re- specting the mode of applying it ; hence it appeared, that the absolute form of the oatli would imply a violation of acknowledged rights. This was a puerile 172 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. fancy, and there were others yet more stupid and pernicious. They split hairs about the Chamber of Peers ; some would not have it at all, and some would not have it popularly elected; so that scarcely was the Constitution published, when they began to wish it should be changed : thus they speculated upon ideal perfection, and disregarded practicable good. On the 13th, whether owing to those who longed so ardently to extemporise the French miracle of a Republic, or whether they were the incendiaries of the King's faction, or the one and the other together, (as is prob- able, because it is often thus,) it was said and believed, that a tumult was to be got up, with cries for a Republic. The exertions of the National Guard, and those of some Deputies elect, were effectual in pre- venting any kind of popular assemblage ; but that kind of agitation remained in the public mind, from whence might easily be drawn material for scandals. The question of the oath grew continually hotter ; and men could not conceive for what reason the King, who had taken it, could wish to renew it, and himself to receive the oath of the Deputies in the Chiesa del Signore, contrary to the custom, which prescribes that Deputies should take the oath in Parliament, when their elections have been verified. There was also a fear that the solemnity, the concourse of people to the church, and the uneasiness of the public mind, might occasion some disorder ; the more so, as it was known that one of the Deputies was resolved to address the assembled people upon the rights, which the form of oath now proposed was thought to violate. CHAr. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 173 On these grounds, some of the citizens that stood in the capacity of Members elect, thought it a prudent plan to beseech the Government to follow a different course of ceremonial. To this the Ministers assented ; they cancelled from the programme all that related to the oath, and determined that it should be taken in the Chambers, after the manner usual in constitutional States. But on the 14th of May, the programme of the ceremony was published in the form originally settled, at which the Deputies took offence, and ex- postulated with the Ministers. They excused them- selves by declaring that the King would not allow of the change. Hereupon there were new expostula- tions, and new suspicions ; a new incentive to the passions and to subversion. The King first tempo- rised, and then proposed a formula which appeared ambiguous. The Deputies would not accept it ; and while they were in discussion at Monte Oliveto, with the Ministers, the revolutionary party were shouting and running wild. Gradually a rumour spread that the revolution was breaking out; then another, that the counter-revolution threatened them ; and at last, after nightfall, it was known that the Via Toledo was being blocked up, or that barricades were in course of erection, as the phrase is now-a-days, ever since Paris, marvellous inventress of the instruments of popular insurrection, sent throughout the world the example, the name, and the desire of them. One was put up opposite the palace, without resistance from the soldiery ; the citizens who toiled at the work were few, but it was suspected that the following day would 174 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. swell the number of insurgents. Yery early on the 15th, the Kin or agreed to the alteration of the cere- mony according to the desire of the meeting at Monte Oliveto ; this was notified through the press by the President, the distinguished Lanza, with an entreaty to the people to take down the barricades, and remain tranquil, so that the Parliament might be opened be- comingly, and in peace. But during the time in which matters appeared to be proceeding pacifically, the troops still retained their post in front of the people and the National Guards; when a shot, from a firelock discharged at them, gave the signal for the conflict prepared by the intrigues of the Sects, by in- toxicated factions, and by southern heat. The troops had had no orders from the Ministers to charge; but it afterwards appeared that they had them from the King, because the Ministry, which took the helm of state when the battle was over, publicly announced, that the King had personally directed by his own orders every operation of the troops from the palace, on the 14th and 15th of May. It is rumoured, that the King himself sent orders to the commanders of the castles to fire upon the city ; orders obeyed by all of them, except a certain Roberti, who, when he saw that the King's desire was not ratified by the signa- ture of a Minister, although most devoted to the Bourbons and to King Ferdinand, refused obedience ; for which he was afterwards deprived of his command. It is, in fact, certain, that the merit of the victory in the streets of Naples belonged to theKing, and that his Ministers had reason to applaud his tactics and his Chap.vlh.] the fundamental statute. 175 merit. Moreover, the King had likewise the merit of making the best use both of the occasion for fight- ing first, and of the victory afterwards : when fortune came across his path, he knew how to seize her by the forelock, and would not let her go, until he had been revenged for all the fears and humiliations he had suffered during two months of constitutional King- ship. Accordingly, when by accident there was a brief intermission of the battle, which had been very feebly fought by the insurgents, and when some of the Deputies went to supplicate him, he answered to their prayers, that " as the affair had begun, it must be finished." Hence unhappy Naples saw the Swiss, whom the suspicious race of her Kings, by inveterate custom, keeps in pay, and the Neapolitan soldiery, break out into licence, and not only take vengeance on the insurgents, but slay innocent citizens, sack and fire their houses, violate the women, and perpetrate every other work of cupidity and cruelty. The Deputies, who were assembled at Monte Oliveto, compassionated the lamentable calamity, and if they had no power to prevent the evil, they made a con- science of not enhancing it ; and abstained from every •word, which might have aggravated the heat of passion. But this did not gain for them either safety in those agonising moments, or justice afterwards ; for General Nunziante, during the heat of the conflict, led a band of soldiers with artillery against Monte Oliveto, as if he had been going to batter down a fortress. Ninety-eight were present ; those only were away that had been appointed to communicate with 176 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. the Ministers, or with the Commander of the Forces ; they held together, and, as formerly in 1821 their fathers showed an undaunted front to the Austrian liberticides, they wrote and subscribed an unanimous protest, demanding of the officer that assaulted them, that he should produce legal orders ; and only when constrained by violence did they go forth, amidst the uproar of the conflict, the howls of the soldiery, and the scurrilities of a brutalised mob. Having gained an absolute victory, the King gave a specimen of new constitutional learning, by dissolving the Chamber before it had met. He named a new Ministry, of which the Principe di Cariati was President, and Bozzelli the mainspring ; and he issued the following proclamation : — " Neapolitans ! " Profoundly afflicted by the horrible calamity of the loth of May, our most lively desire is to mitigate, as far as pos- sible, its consequences. It is our most fixed and irrevocable will to maintain the Constitution of the 10th of February, pure and free from the stain of all excess. As it is the only one compatible with the true and immediate wants of this portion of Italy, so it will be the sacro-sanct altar, upon which must rest the destinies of our most beloved people, and of our Crown. " The Legislative Chambers will be immediately convoked, and the firmness, wisdom, and prudence, that we expect in them, will give us powerful aid in all those branches of the public interest which have need of a careful and beneficial reconstruction. Resume, then, all your customary occupa- tions ; confide with the utmost fulness of your hearts in our good faith, in our sense of religion, and in our sacred and spontaneous oath ; and live in the fullest certainty that the most pressing solicitude of our mind is, to cancel at the earliest Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 177 moment, along with the exceptional and transitional state in which we stand, the very memory, as far as may be possible, of the deadly misfortune that has smitten us. " Ferdinand." The new Ministers, in a new Proclamation from themselves, and in a diplomatic Note, after detailing the facts in the shape they thought best, sustained the views of the King. In the State of Rome men's minds were still in doubt about the causes and consequences of the events of Xaples, when it became known that King Ferdi- nand had recalled to his dominions the troops which had already arrived at Bologna, as well as the fleet, which was sailing up the Adriatic. An officer, sent from Naples to Bologna, brought an absolute order for their return, and General Pepe ceded the command to General Statella. But no sooner was the sad news known, than the Bolognese were aroused to vehement anger, and tumultuously threatened to inflict punish- ment on Statella if he should obey the King, and to oppose by force the return of the troops. At last, by renewed entreaties, they induced Pepe to resume the command, in order to lead them beyond the Po. I will not relate here, for it would be too long a bu- siness, the complaints and negotiations of those days, which were many and diversified; nor will I dwell on the confusion, which was greater still. This alone is material to be known, that when Statella had been sent back to Xaples by way of Tuscan)', Pepe made, first at Bologna, and then at Ferrara, all needful pre- parations fur passing the Po; but his will and com- VOL. II. N 178 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. mands were unavailing, for nearly the whole army turned its back on the Po and on him, and moved backward in the direction of the Neapolitan Kingdom. The inhabitants of the Pontifical State despised it then, in the same proportion as they had formerly done it honour. It is said that an officer fell suddenly dead of grief in consequence. It is certain that Co- lonel Lahalla, a soldier devoted to his King, but jealous of the honour of the Neapolitan arms, was so oppressed at heart, and so disturbed in mind from it, that he put an end to his own life, on a bridge of the river Senio, in Lower Romagna. A single battery of guns, and a few officers, passed the Po. In vain did Mamiani, the friend of Bozzelli, with a friendship, too, con- tracted during a common exile, send entreaties to Naples, not to withdraw so powerful a support from the war of independence. In vain did the press, and public opinion, beseech and remonstrate ; the Neapo- litan soldiers were dispatched into the Calabrias, to combat an insurrection, which was effected at that crisis by a few republicans, Ricciardi among the rest, and which did admirable service to a crooked policy, by colouring the abandonment of the Italian cause with the appearance of legitimately defending the throne. So true it is, that the ill-advised undertakings of extreme parties, republican or other, are of marvel- lous use to dishonest and faithless Governments. Thus, then, a powerful resource failed the Italian war at the very moment when Durando wanted it, to encounter Nugent, who was working his Avay towards Verona in order to strengthen the army of Radetzki. Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 179 That force of 14,000 Neapolitans would have entirely altered the condition of the Papal troops in the Vene- tian territory ; who, from being inferior in number to the Austrians in front of them, would have become superior, and would have been able to rout the corps of Nugent, and to make up an army about 30,000 strong, with which to operate against Radetzki in concert with, and in aid of, the army of Piedmont. This, then, is the place to state plainly, that the pro- mise and expectation of the Neapolitan succours formed the unquestionable cause which led the Pied- montese leaders into certain designs calculated there- upon. The delay of those succours caused the delay in executing the designs ; and their final failure was the cause of utter ruin to the fortunes of the Papal troops in the Venetian State, while this ruin prepared the way for the ruin of the first campaign of Italian in- dependence. Hence it follows, that the King of Naples, by recalling his legions, did, on behalf of Austria, what no faithful ally could have effected better at the time. The Piedmontese commanders have had, with their beaten cause, abundant blame, while those of Austria have received liberal commendations. Suppose the one and the other may have been in a great degree deserved, yet at the same time let this be thoroughly understood, that the greatest, and perhaps the only effective cause of our misfortunes, and of the Austrian victory, in so far as the human mind can judge, was the desertion of the troops of Naples. Let him make a merit of it, or let others set it down to his blame: King Ferdinand of Bourbon, reigning 180 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. at Naples in the year of grace 1848, may write this without hesitation in the annals of his dynasty, as without hesitation I here consign it to history. And so may God pardon him ! This incident, fatal to the cause of national inde- pendence, was likewise fatal to that of constitutional Monarchy. The Republicans had been annoyed at wanting materials to draw away confidence from Monarchs and from Monarchy. The Encyclic of the 29th of April had served their ends ; but the King of Naples did their business to a marvel. The man whose understanding is formed upon solid prin- ciples, and whose mind is fed with sound doctrines, knows how to distinguish between men and systems, and to abstain from laying to the blame of the latter what is the fault of the former ; nor does he lose his faith in institutions, however wicked and despicable may be the men in whom they are impersonated. Woe to us if it were otherwise ! for neither Monar- chies, nor Republics, nor Divine Revelation itself, could stand clear in the judgment of man, if wicked Kings, and wicked republicans, and depraved priests, furnished evidence against them. The republicans, who drew arguments from the conduct of the Kino- of Naples for malediction on all Princes and all Mo- narchies, ought, if they had eyes to see at all, to have seen since, that there are liberticide republics and republicans, so inimical to Italy, that they may vie with the King of Naples in the boast of having reinstated Italian servitude. But how few are the men that, in the midst of profound social convulsion, Chap. Vm.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 181 can maintain the calm of spirit which is necessary for rectitude of judgment ; and how many could we expect to find in Italy, especially at Rome and at Naples, of men so instructed as to be capable of the dispassionate inquiries, and of the resolute self-restraint, that are adapted to grave political junctures? A Pope was showing himself lukewarm in attachment to Italy, and a King was opposing her independence : ardent minds poured on the Popedom, and on Monarchy, the contempt and hatred, with which they felt themselves possessed towards that Pope and that Monarch. The word Republic, which rouses the heart by the recollections it evokes, was no longer pronounced in a whisper, but passed from mouth to mouth among our practised agitators ; and this demo- cratic method of governing, which adapts itself to the nature of man, ever envious of the good fortune of others, this word Republic, which, among our com- monalties, accustomed to live without rule, signifies the supremacy of disorder, became the very sweetheart not only of high-minded youth, but of the greedy, of the vulgarly ambitious, and of the turbulent, to whom convulsion promises occupation, distinction, and reward. And it came about, that already much was heard in common conversation of the termination of Monarchy, and especially of the Papal Monarchy, without any regard to plighted faith or to prudence ; for when the people have become corrupted by the lonjr-continued influence of corruption in the Govern- ment, plighted faith means no more than expediency, and men avail themselves of oaths, and of professions N a 182 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of allegiance, to use them as instruments of delusion upon the people if they be of the great, upon the great if they be of the people ; while they then com- monly gain so much the more applause, as the deceit proves more safe and profitable. It is the fact that, at the end of May, it was easily perceivable that the Eevolution was advancing by stealth, and that the minds of men were fashioning themselves, some to accomplish it, others to let it be accomplished. I say to let it be accomplished, because in many, or rather in most, there was a presentiment that it was inevit- able ; so they resigned themselves to destiny. The sectarians rose in spirits, in the same proportion as sober-minded citizens flago-ed ; the orators of the Clubs continually inflated their lungs to abuse the Sovereigns, to abuse the magistrates, and to abuse moderate men ; but the people, its virtue, its strength, they extolled to the skies ; already they said, and printed in plain words, that the people alone could save itself and Italy ; and with this they vented other such sentences, very usual in the mouths of those who disguise their fanaticism as patriotic affection, and who treat politics as a trade, or as a pageant. There were many also of that quaint species of moderates or constitutionalists, who, if you dispute with them on forms of Government, premise, that they think the republican the best of all, but yet profess the consti- tutional creed from prudence, or as a middle term. Now this kind of partisans of governing according to the expediency of the moment can never be strong, either in attachment or in action, because, in politics, Chap. VIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 183 the consciousness of the goodness and utility of the doctrines and the forms of government, for which one fights, is the first condition of strength. Next came those, who accept Constitutions as a passport to the republican paradise, and, after them, the indifferentists and the sceptics ; last of all, a very large number, that, above and before everything else, desired the ousting of the clergy, and who, rather than see the power of that body elevated afresh, would have put up, not only with a republic, but with any sort of government whatsoever. The name of moderate was at this time borne both by the moderate in absolutism and the moderate in liberalism ; by all the remiss and the sluggish, the never failing and pernicious tail of all parties called moderate ; a herd of creatures that, according to the course of events, shift to the right or to the left, as fear and interest may command. The Government, which alone could have strength- ened the genuine moderates, weakened their hands, perhaps unconsciously, yet increasingly from day to day. For the Sovereign, disgusted or frightened at the extravagances of Liberalism, inclined in prefer- ence to those moderate absolutists of whom I spoke, and to that astute party, composed of clergy and of laymen their hangers-on, which kept in the back- ground its wishes for the restoration of the old sys- tem, but magnified the mischiefs and perils of the new. Mamiani, too, lifted on high by the popular favour, and ill endured by the Sovereign and the Court, relied overmuch on that favour, and on such N 4 184 FROM THE PROMULGATION OE [Book. III. symptoms as were favourable ; while he seemed more anxious for the friendship and the contentment of the pertinacious spokesmen of the excited portion of the commonalty, than for the cooperation and the prosperity of the moderate party. The Police, ad- ministered by Galletti, not only was not diligent in investigation and repression, but was slavishly sub- servient to popular caprices. Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 185 CHAP. IX. SPEECH PREPARED BY TIIE MINISTER FOR THE OPENING OF THE PAR- LIAMENT. CORRECTIONS AND OBJECTIONS MADE BY THE POPE. DISAGREEMENTS. TIIE LAW UPON TIIE PRESS CELEBRA- TION OF THE OPENING OF THE PARLIAMENT. CONFERENCE OF THE MINISTERS WITH 1UE POPE. THE POPE'S SHARP LAN- GUAGE. CARDINAL ALTIERl's SPEECH LN HIS NAME. PRO- GRAMME OF THE ADMINISTRATION. ITS TEXT. THE POPE'S AUTOGRAPH NOTES AND CORRECTIONS PRAISE AND BLAME, AND DANGEROUS HUMOURS, CONSEQUENT ON THE PROGRAMME. GIOBERTI IN ITALY. MAZZINI AND HIS REPUBLICANS IN UPPER ITALY. GIOBERTI IN ROME. HIS LANGUAGE. HIS PROCEEDINGS. CHARGES OF TIIE RETROGRADISTS AND SANFE- DISTS. — JUDGMENT UPON GIOBERTl's JOURNEY. As the 5th of June approached, when Parliament was to open, the Ministry, conforming to the usage of constitutional Governments, composed the Speech to be pronounced, with the sanction of the Sovereign, by his delegate. At the same moment, the Sovereign was causing a bill about the press to be framed, not by his Ministers, nor by the Council of State, but by the priest who was master of the sacred palaces, But- taoni, a Dominican friar, and by other ecclesiastics. The Speech, adopted in the Council of Ministers, and composed by Mamiani, was of the following tenour : 186 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. " Gentlemen of the High Council, and Gentlemen Deputies. " 1. His Holiness our Lord deputes me to you with the agreeable and honourable commission to open in his name the two Legislative Councils. " 2. The Holy Father, at the same time, desires me to signify that such an exercise of his Sovereignty as this awakens in his heart a lively and most genuine gratification. " 3. He rejoices with you, and thanks God the most good and great, for his having been enabled to effect, by orderly and pacific methods, so extensive a change in the political con- figuration of the State, in a manner such as the exigencies of the time and the maturity of public opinion require. It now, Gentlemen, belongs to you, to give fixedness to the new Statute, to carry up the grand monument to its summit. " 4. The Holy Father will not cease to entreat the Author of light to infuse into your understandings true civil wis- dom, and to fill the institutions and the laws, on which you will have to labour, with that spirit of justice and of religion which forms the proper and solid basis of all liberty, of all security, and of all progress. " 5. The Holy Father has entire and full confidence that your assiduous cooperation will effectually aid him in proving to the world that Home does not close the door against such reforms and innovations as are fruitful of certain and per- manent good to society at large. " 6. Modern science is laudably busy in bettering the condition, and lessening the discomforts and the sufferings, of the lower class. His Holiness cannot do otherwise than press upon you with earnestness a work, abundantly difficult, it is true, yet salutary and compassionate, and one that is recommended and inculcated by every page of the Gospel. " 7. The movement of the times is more than ever tem- pestuous : among the nations there is a dangerous eagerness to alter the methods, and even the principles of Government. All that ages have slowly and laboriously reared is threatened with destruction in a moment. His Holiness is confident Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 187 that you, assembled in the Eternal City, beside the immov- able chair of Peter, will be enabled to complete the very difficult task of reconstructing and restoring ; and will corro- borate the mighty truth, that nothing stable or glorious can be raised, nothing can lead to social and political prosperity or greatness, if it is not founded in the consciences of men, and cemented by self-denial and self-sacrifice. " 8. It has been a sweet consolation, Gentlemen, to the paternal and patriotic soul of His Holiness, to see Italy gra- dually and most tranquilly recovering political vitality, and her existence as a nation ; and assuredly it was not owing to him, if that movement has been deranged, and in certain parts of the Peninsula has swerved from the line of temperate and legal progress. " 9. It was, in like manner, from the mind of the Pontiff, that the first proposal sprang to bind in a fraternal League the Princes of our country ; and He continues anxious, as hereto- fore, to behold, at whatever time, that most far-sighted plan in operation. " 10. By differences of language and soil, of race and manners, God has appointed nations here below to live an independent and glorious life ; He has given, too, to Italy all these ineffaceable notes and characteristics. Others arc labouring to constitute her a Nation by the vigour and fortune of their arms. The Holy Father, abhorring wars and blood- shed, is employing himself in the attainment of the same great good by means of peace and concord. "11. Arduous and toilsome will be your duties. The Holy Father has charged his Ministers to instruct and inform you accurately respecting the state of our legislation and Government ; and especially they arc charged to give you every information with respect to the condition of the public Treasury, and to the measures best suited for its replenish- ment with the slightest possible pressure on the population. " 12. His Holiness has likewise charged his Ministers to present to you shortly the projects of law which arc promised by the Fundamental Statute. t 188 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. "13. Lastly, the August Sovereign recommends the pro- motion of internal order and harmony to your fidelity and your incessant care. By their means, Gentlemen, you will lay the foundations of freedom, of the best laws, of compre- hensive reforms, of wise institutions. Chastened by long calamity, drawn back at length to fraternal union, there ia no fulness of blessing which God will refuse you, no portion of the glory of your ancestors which you will not be able to revive." When this Speech was laid before the Pope for his approval, he made a number of objections. I herein notice the main ones, having before me the memoranda taken at the time. On the second paragraph, he stated his dissatisfaction at its speaking so absolutely of his " lively and most genuine gratification." In the third, he was not pleased with that embellishment about " carrying up the grand monument to its sum- mit," and he thought the meaning equivocal ; he showed a suspicion of its being intended to imply the enlargement of political freedom, beyond the bounds marked by the Statute. In the fourth paragraph, he indicated a desire that they should remove the epithet "civil" from the word " Avisdom," so that the mean- ing might clearly be that wisdom, which the Holy Spirit infuses into the understanding, and which is absolute and universal. In the fifth, he wished to have corrected that declaration couched in absolute terms as to " Rome who docs not close the door against reforms and innovations," and wished it should be made clear, that she left it open to those only which she considered good and productive of advan- tage, lie expressed his wish to have it affirmed, in Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 189 the sixth, that the work of improving the condition of the people " had at all periods been promoted by the supreme Pontiffs, in the way both of speech and of example." In the eighth paragraph, he thought it unsuitable to say that Italy had " most tranquilly " recovered her political vitality. He declared positively that he, as Pontiff of all the Catholics, could not agree to the sentence in the tenth respecting the distinct nationality of each people as a matter derived from divine right. And as it was observed to him, that in his own very recent letter to the Emperor of Austria, he, as Pontiff, had recognised and almost sanctified the principle and right of Italian nationality, he sub- joined, that he conceived he might with propriety recognise this, yet not generally and absolutely toss such a sentence into the midst of the Catholic nations, to whom it was his duty to recommend love and peace. Mamiani agreed to make certain corrections as follows : — In the second paragraph, instead of the "lively and most genuine gratification," it was worded thus: " awakens in his heart an exalted anticipation of seeing the whole system of public administration cor- rected and improved by your assistance." In the fourth paragraph, the epithet "civil" was taken away from the word " wisdom." In the fifth, the absolute expression of the pleasure of Rome in innovations was corrected*, by being pointed to "those which * Sic in oriy. — Tit. 190 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. are fruitful of certain and permanent good." The sixth paragraph was made to run thus : " which is inculcated by every page of the Gospel, and has been at all times promoted by the Roman Pontiffs, in the way both of speech and of example." From the eighth was erased the phrase " most tranquilly." The tenth was thus modified : " God, by marking out for the Italian race their natural confines, and by conferring upon them unity of language, and simi- larity of manners and literature, gave a clear token that they were to compose one single nation, which, by living an independent and glorious life, might the better meet the manifest aims and decrees of Provi- dence. Others are labouring to reach this consum- mation by the vigour and fortune of their arms ; the Holy Father, abhorring wars and bloodshed, is em- ploying himself in the attainment of the same great good by means of peace and concord." These amendments, however, appeared to the Pope inadequate ; and he himself set to work, or set others to work, on the Speech, keeping a few sentences as Mamiani had framed them, entirely cancelling many, and adding some new ones. These communications were prolonged to the 4th of June, when Monsignor Bedini, Under-Secretary for Foreign Ecclesiastical Affairs, brought to Mamiani the draft of the Speech, modified according to the views of the Pope. At the same time, the Law about the Press was transmitted to the Ministers, that they might sign and promulgate it. But, just as the Pope did not think fit to accept the Speech prepared by his Ministers, so they did not Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 191 choose to give their approval to that law ; and they left it to the Sovereign to enact and publish it of his own motion. It was not very different from those which had been adopted in the other constitutional States of Italy, except in this point, that a previous ecclesiastical censorship was maintained for all works, writings, and articles, which should treat concerning " Holy Scripture, Sacred Theology, Ecclesiastical History, Canon Law, Natural Theology, Ethics, and generally all that stands specially related to religion or morality ; " nor did it appoint trial by a jury. On the morning of the 5th, the City was in holiday garb, because the Municipality, and the ordinary political masters of the ceremonies, had chosen to turn the opening of Parliament into a popular spec- tacle. The Corso was to be decked with hangings, the Deputies and Lords of the High Council, assem- bling in a hall in the Piazza del Popolo, and deco- rated with tricolor scarves, were to be drawn in state carriages, with bands of music, to the Palace of the Cancelleria ; whither Cardinal Altieri was to re- pair in great pomp, as Delegate of the Pope, to open the Parliament in the hall fitted up for the sittings of the Council of Deputies. The long and ostentatious train was already on the way, when the Ministers went to the Pope, to announce that they did not mean to consent to the delivery of that Speeeh, which he had remodelled at his own pleasure: and they pro- posed, that he should cause his Delegate to read a few words of no political significancy, and that the Minister should afterwards read a speech on the first 192 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. regular day of sitting. The Pope received both the Ministers and what they said to him resentfully ; he suspected that they were using the actual pres- sure in point of time for the purposes of moral coer- cion: he broke into strong language, spoke something about treachery, and dismissed them. Accordingly, it became necessary to interpose good offices, that the Ministers might not, there and then, quit their posts, and that the Pope might acquiesce in allowing a certain interval to elapse before he should execute his reso- lution to appoint new ones ; a resolution to which it was impossible to give instant effect, without public scandal and risk. When matters had been made up as well as the case admitted, Cardinal Altieri went down to Parliament, and read the following brief Speech : — " Gentlemen of the High Council ; " Gentlemen Deputies ; " His Holiness our Lord deputes me to you with the agreeable and honourable commission to open, in His name, the two Legislative Councils. " The Holy Father at the same time desires me to signify, that such an act of Sovereignty, on His part, gratifies His heart, from His expecting to see the system of public adminis- tration improved by your assistance. " lie rejoices with you, and thanks God, for His having been enabled to effect the introduction into his States of a political system, such as is required by the exigencies of the times, and compatible with the nature of his Government as Pontiff. It now, Gentlemen, belongs to you to draw from the new institutions those advantages which His Holiness, in granting them, sought to attain. " The Holy Father will not cease to entreat the Author of Chap. IX. J THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 193 all light to pour into your understandings genuine wisdom, and to fill the institutions and the laws, on which you will have to labour, with that spirit of justice and of religion which forms the solid and true basis of all liberty, all security, and all progress. " The Holy Father has charged his Ministers to instruct and inform you principally respecting the state of the public Treasury, that they may propose the measures best suited to replenish it with the slightest possible pressure on the popu- lation. " He has also charged his Ministers to present to you those projects of law, which arc promised by the Fundamental Statute. " The Holy Father recommends the promotion of order and internal harmony to your fidelity and your incessant care. By these means, Gentlemen, freedom will prove advantageous to all ; through them will be developed the best laws, com- prehensive reforms, and wise institutions. Disciplined by a long and sharp experience, and as the champions of the Holy Religion whose seat is in this city, you may entertain the hope that God will refuse you no amplitude of blessing by which you may best emulate the glory of your ancestors." The Pope had now been persuaded, that a new Ministry could hardly be constituted forthwith, and had resolved to wait until the inclinations of Parlia- ment should appear. When his Ministers requested their discharge, he bid them continue provisionally in office ; he allowed them to set about framing the Speech they intended to deliver to Parliament, which they were to put on paper, and submit to him for approval. On the 7th, the programme of the Go- vernment, which Mamiani had been commissioned by bis colleagues to prepare, was discussed and ap- proved by the Council of Ministers. 1 was charged vol. n. o 194 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to carry it to the Holy Father for his approbation, and I must now enlarge somewhat on this topic. That office was committed to me, a few days after I had resumed my duties as Under-Secretary of State for the Interior, because the Sovereign honoured me with a confidence, of which I shall never cease to retain a grateful recollection ; and, accordingly, I was considered a fit person to keep up some kind of harmony between him and the Ministers. In the evening I had an audience of his Holiness ; and I shall relate what passed without misgiving, because my remembrance of it is fresh, and where it may fail me, I have documents to correct it. The Speech of Mamiani was read over more than once ; the Holy Father took various exceptions, which seemed to me reasonable, and I deferred to them. But I was sus- pected, by some partisans of the Ministry, of undue subserviency to the Pope : I did not therefore choose to be responsible for corrections, which might be un- favourably construed, and ascribed to my suggestion ; hence I prayed his Holiness to write on the manuscript with his own hand the amendments he desired to be made, and to mark the passages that he wished to be cancelled. The Holy Father kindly did so ; and then, dismissing me without any sign of perturbation or displeasure, he without more ado enjoined me to tell Mamiani, that he wished the Speech to be corrected as he had noted it with his own hand. I executed the commission with all promptitude and fidelity. ^n process of time, people were pleased to invent I know not how many romances in regard to these facts, and Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 195 allowed themselves to state, even in print, that the famous Speech of Mamiani either never was approved at all by his Holiness ; or, that he flung it away from him as soon as he had read a few lines of it ; or, that I extorted its approval by importunity ; or, that I falsely stated I had obtained it, and I know not how much more pleasantry of this stamp. Let the Speech, which I read in its original form before the Sove- reign, be what it may, and ever so blameworthy, let it be true that I deceived myself in not thinking it blameworthy at all; the Sovereign, as well as myself, must have been deluded; but neither was Mamiani a man to charge anybody with a business of deceit, nor am I a man to accept such a charge from any Minister, party, or Sovereign, whomsoever. In order to exhibit the falsity of those accusations, it is now high time to produce to the public, in this place, the Speech written by Mamiani, in the exact form in which I presented it to his Holiness, and the notes and corrections that he made upon it with his own hand, taken from the autograph, which is preserved. It was as follows : — " Gentlemen, " It is seemly and right, that the very first words, of which the sound is heard within this precinct, should be words of respect and gratitude to the immortal Prince, the Giver of the Statute. Pius IX. has felt, within his generous heart, that Christian charity ought to be left free to choose the greatest good, and spontaneously to enlarge it ; and that the spontaneous choice of good is not possible, where li- berty is proscribed. Accordingly in this most distinguished portion of Italy, and alter a prolonged course of ages, our Prince, upon the present day, at length inaugurates the 196 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. reign of genuine and legal freedom. The securities, granted by him to the public, this very day take effect ; the Empire of the laws and of combined counsels succeeds to despotic will, to exemptions, to a highly rigid and irresponsible tutorship. " 2. The greatness of a people is not always to be measured by the extent of its territory, or by the vigour of its arms ; for all true and solid greatness springs from the intellect and the will. Thus, in this not very wide nor powerful province of Italy, we are nevertheless charged with a very high voca- tion, and we ought to exert ourselves with a courage free of all presumption, and with high-minded energy, not to fall too greatly short of the recollections of Rome, and the august elevation of the Popedom. " 3. A vast and prolific work has here commenced, of which the final result will bear the ineffaceable stamp of modern civilisation. Our Sovereign, as the common Father of the faithful, abides in the exalted sphere of his celestial authority, dwells in the serene atmosphere of our creed, dis- penses to the world the word of God, prays, blesses, and pardons. " 4. As the Sovereign, and constitutional ruler, of this people, he leaves it to your wisdom to provide for the greater part of its temporal affairs. The Statute adding its own proper and political authority to the Catholic sanction, declares that the acts of the Prince are sacred and irresponsible ; that he is the Author only of good, and can in no wise take part in evil. Assuredly, if we view the matter in this aspect, representative Government, did it exist nowhere else, ought to be invented for these Roman provinces. " 5. You are then invited, Gentlemen, to consummate a proceeding great and advantageous to every people, by assist- ing the Sovereign to carry up to its summit the new consti- tutional fabric ; and, besides this, you will procure two other great advantages for the whole civilised world. The first of these consists in giving to the franchises and guarantees of social and political life that tone of wisdom and morality, and that elevation, purity, and durability, which religion alone stamps on things human, and of which the virtues and dis- Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 197 position of the Pontiff are a lively mirror and model. The second benefit will be this : that religion herself henceforward may flourish and increase in the midst of genuine and orderly liberty, and may attract men towards her far more effica- ciously by the gentle strength of persuasion and free-will, than she could by external instruments and material power. " 6. To us, in the mean time, Gentlemen, it will not only fall to efface the last relics of the Middle Ages, and the abuses which time necessarily gathers and accumulates, but a comprehensive and noble function is committed to us, that of discovering and consummating, in unison with the most cultivated nations, the fresh and modern forms of political life. "7. The Ministry, Gentlemen, which you now see before you, can at most but effect an infinitesimal, and a provi- sional, fraction of so great a work. Notwithstanding, it feels how immense and arduous is the object after which it must strive, and it has been anxious, to the last degree, that you should come and point out to it, at what first to aim, should encourage it by your favour, and should smooth by your judgment the very rough paths which it has to tread. When the august Prince summoned it to the management of public affairs, tranquillity and internal order appeared to be greatly shaken, and, in some places, already banished ; infant liberty itself was hence placed in great peril, and the cause of Italy was indirectly injured and exposed to a certain degree of hazard. Accordingly, the peculiar duty and the special ofliee of the Ministry, particularly when the opening of the two Councils was nearly at hand, has been that of restoring order, and of bringing back tranquillity in all quarters, of calming the public mind and will, which had been seriously disturbed, and of inclining men to that composure and equanimity which is beyond measure requisite to supply the country with good laws and well-considered institutions. God has prospered our work; and this generous people, still mindful of the seriousness and moderation of its ancestors, has resumed a tranquillity and composedness of spirit, so 198 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. marked, that perhaps none greater has been witnessed since the time when the soft voice of Pius IX. invited Home and Italy to their new and marvellous destinies. " 8. The other principal work, to which universal opinion not only invited, but rather imperiously ordered us, was to assist, in every Avay, with every kind of instrument, with every possible toil and effort, the national cause of Italy. In this point, it was not easy for us to employ ourselves better or more diligently than our predecessors had done. We pro- ceeded, accordingly, with abundant resolution in the track already marked out for us : and I do not doubt that, during the few days of our administration, we have shown, by the glaring evidence of facts, our honourable intentions, and that the object has been gained, as far as was possible in this our portion of the country, and with the means, certainly not redundant, which were at our disposal. " 9. Next, it is not unknown to you, that in special de- ference to the paternal solicitude of his Holiness, we have placed our troops and volunteers under the sagacious guar- dianship and command of Charles Albert, reserving, however, to the Pontiff and his Government all the prerogatives and rights demanded by his security and dignity, and by our own, as you will readily perceive from the terms of the con- vention; so soon as you shall be apprised of them. " 10. For the rest, we can scarcely say that we have fully kept pace with the ungovernable ardour of our cities. There are, in the history of a people, some paramount moments, in which the spirit of nationality so profoundly occupies and stirs them, that every counteracting and obstructive force not merely becomes precarious, but seems to turn into excitement and food for the onward movement. At such critical periods, all hearts are warmed and possessed by a single idea, a single sentiment, a single immoveable determi- nation; and this sudden and high-spirited unanimity, fruit- ful of so many marvels, appears a marvel to the very persons in whom it resides, and forces them to give loud utterance, with holy enthusiasm, to that motto so full of sigmficancy and force — ■" (Jod wills it." Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 199 "11. The Pontiff, on the one hand, has witnessed this so remarkable occurrence ; and as, on the other, he, by reason of his most sacred Ministry, recoils from war and bloodshed, he has with an emotion at once Apostolical and Italian, thought of interposing between the combatants, and of bringing the enemies of our common country to understand, how cruel and fruitless an attempt it would now be to contest against the Italians the possession of their natural frontiers, and the power of at length subsiding into a single and harmonious familv. " 12. The Ministry of his Holiness, immediately on being made aware of such a memorable exertion of the authority of the Pontiff, felt an absolute obligation to offer him its thanks with the sincere effusion of the heart ; both on the special ground of his having fixed this as a first and fundamental condition of agreement and peace between the belligerents, that its natural confines should be restored for ever to the Italian nation ; and likewise because it hoped, that such an implicit affirmation of the justice of the Italian cause would shed new blessings on the arms, which our populations had so generously grasped, and would stimulate the resolution of Charles Albert to prosecute his victories without the smallest intermission. " 13. In our political relations with the other Italian Pro- vinces, we have ever been absorbed in the primary duty of seconding and vivifying to the utmost the national cause, and have therefore at once evinced our great desire to enter into close and cordial amity with them all, laying aside all fatal and unworthy jealousy of the aggrandisement of others, and considering always and in every question only how our inde- pendence could Ite recovered, and our internal harmony maintained. Upon this latter point, Gentlemen, we have to state that, immediately after assuming the reins of power, we sent to renew the repeatedly interrupted correspondence respecting a political League between the various Italian Kingdoms; and we arc further able to acquaint you of our abundant and well-grounded hope, speedily to gather the fruit of our representations and cares : from which we .. 4 200 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. promise you never to desist, until that beautiful and lofty conception shall have been realised. " 14. As respects our relations with nations beyond the Alps, these, as in the hands of the chief Hierarch they are necessarily most comprehensive, and embrace all the affairs of the Catholic world, so in our lay hands, on the contrary, having commenced only within these few days, they cannot but be narrow and restricted. From this circumstance we derive for the present rather comfort than the reverse ; seeing that the object, of which we, together with all good Italians, cherish the greatest desire, is, to be let alone, and to be allowed to provide for our own fortunes with our own hands. Perhaps the chiefest of all the calamities which at this day could fall upon the nation would be, the too fervid and officious friendship of some great potentate. " 15. Next, as respects Austria and the German nation, we most freely repeat, in your presence, what we have else- where affirmed ; namely, that we bear no ill will, but rather esteem and affection, to that virtuous and most accomplished nation, and that to the very Austrians we are ready and pre- pared to proffer our friendship, on the same day and hour, when the last of their soldiers shall have evacuated the last inch of Italian territory. And as Italy is as far as possible from all lust of compiest, and from every design to overstep her own fixed limits, she accordingly has a sincere desire to bind herself, by numerous ties of good neighbourship and amity, with the people on her confines. Persuaded of this, we have solicited and besought the Sardinian Government, with these very views, to dispatch able commissioners to the brave Hungarian nation; and we have received certain intelligence, that the Foreign Department of the Sardinian Government has the more readily hailed and agreed to our proposal, because it had already (so it writes) turned its attention to that same subject. " 1 f). Resuming the consideration of our internal affairs, and the political condition of these Provinces, we find the work that remains to be done varied, ample, and most labo- Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 201 rious. For there is no part of the public administration, which does not require comprehensive reforms and useful changes ; and if the undertaking be toilsome and difficult in each of its details, it is infinitely more so when we approach it as a whole, and seek to adjust and combine its parts thoroughly and from within : a business which demands the highest ela- boration, botli civil and political, of a vast and well-considered design. " 17. "We shall respectively explain to you, Gentlemen, within a short time, the state of our several departments, and the needful and searching changes, which we think of introducing into them ; especially, the Minister of Finance will address you on the actual condition of the public Trea- sury, and will propose to you the measures which, after mature examination and the minutest diligence, he conceives the best, for restoring as well the actual balance of the Ex- chequer, as the public credit, and for effecting this purpose with the smallest possible pressure on the people. " 18. The Ministry are likewise solicitous speedily to sub- mit to your judgment and decision the projects of law pro- mised by the Statute ; main organs, as they will be, of the new constitutional system, upon which, thank God ! we have entered. Chiefest among the new and fundamental estab- lishments and laws, on which you will have to labour, will be the constitution of the Municipalities, and the effective and not illusory responsibility of the Ministers and public functionaries. I do not think it would be seasonable to in- struct and inform you to-day respecting a multitude of details of these and other such Bills. The exigencies of our office will lead us shortly to perforin this duty with the clearness and exactitude that each of the subjects respectively demands. " 19. Gentlemen, the times wax more and more tempestu- ous. Among the nations there is an excess of eagerness to alter, not only the forms, but even the principles and the foun- dations, of Government. All that ages have laboriously and slowly reared, is now threatened with destruction in ;i mo- ment. But, after having overthrown, it is requisite to I mild 202 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. again with great solidity, and with felicitous skill; and from this criterion alone can be tested the value of the civil wisdom of the day. The Ministry has full confidence that you, met in the Eternal City, beside the immoveable seat of Christianity, will seek to achieve the very arduous enterprise of restoration and re-construction ; and that in these arts of peace and re- finement, you will know how to rival the glory of our brethren in arms, who, yonder on the banks of the Mincio and the Adige, are confronting, with an heroic bravery, the insolence of the stranger, once wont to aim at our defenceless and un- happy heads the mendacious charge of bad faith, inertness, and poltroonery." The annotations and marks made by the Pope were as follows: — At the end of Paragraph (5.), where it is said, " not by external instruments and material power," he struck out the words, and wrote " not with the instruments of material power." In Paragraph (14.), where it was written, "in our lay hands," he struck out the word " lay." On the other hand, in Paragraph (15.), where the mission of Sardinian Commissioners to Hungary was alluded to, he wrote thus: — " If any Minister enter- tained this idea, it must have been his own affair, as to Us it was unknown, and never imparted. The reference, therefore, may be made simply to what the Sardinian Government has done." Now these notes, from which it is plain in what way the Holy Father commented on the Speech down to Paragraph (1G.), that is, down to the point where it ceases to turn upon general principles of politics, show his own spontaneous and deliberate agency. Add to this, that, on the following day, his Holiness Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 203 uttered no other observation or word upon the Speech, either to me or to any other person of the Ministry. Mamiani made the corrections which the Sovereign had set down ; sent Count Marchetti to apprise him of the proceedings of the Sardinian Commissioners in Hungary, retaining without change the Paragraph that referred to them; and added in the middle of Paragraph (18.), the following words: — " Chiefcst among the new and fundamental establishments and laws, on which you will have to labour, will be the constitution of the Municipalities, and the effective and not illusory responsibility of the Ministers and public functionaries." * These words were derived by implication from the very terms of the Statute. On the 9th, the Speech thus amended was delivered to the two Councils, with great applause from the hearers. The Prince of Canino inquired, whether that much-commended Speech " expressed the sen- timents of a Ministry during pleasure, or the scheme of the Prince himself, who had thought good to ac- knowledge the ever sacred and imprescriptible rights of his people?" To this Mamiani replied, that the Speech was the unanimous expression of the sen- timents of the Ministry, allowed and approved by his Holiness. The Prelates of the Court congratulated Mamiani on his fine oration ; nor did the Pope at first give any indication of displeasure, but it was not long before Tin; whole passage is translated as it stands in the original. — Tk. 204 PROM THE PROMULGATION OP [Book III. some of those Frenchmen, who have baptized a poli- tical party with the name of Catholic, took to reviling, through the press, both the Speech and the Roman Ministry, and proclaimed, that Rome was swayed by enemies of the Pope and of the Church. There was then no contumely that was not vented against Ma- miani, in the Univers, a Paris newspaper, and in some Italian journals. Upon this, the Epoca, a journal at Rome, declared itself in a condition to prove by documents, that the Pope had sanctioned the cele- brated Speech: thus, on the one side, journals of our own and of foreign countries were seen defending or assailing the Sovereign, and on the other, his Mi- nisters, with great scandal, and great disparagement to authority. In the meantime, the prosperous fortune of the Piedmontese arms, the incorporation of the Lombard people into the Monarchy of Piedmont, and the fancies of the monarchical unitarians, no less empty than those of the unitarian republicans, marred the harmony of the Governments of Italy. Naples and Rome now dreaded the fortune of Piedmont, more than the intrigues of the Republicans. And the Pope himself stood in great dread of aggressions. Gioberti, who had recently come into Italy, had spoken at Milan with great effect in favour of the Union, or, as was then said, the fusion of the Lom- bardo- Venetian Provinces with Piedmont. Mazzini and his associates, who declared their opposition to any measures about a constitution for Italy before the Avar was ended, could not brook the idea. This Giuseppe Mazzini, who worshipped the creator Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 205 of the new Italy in his own person — this Giuseppe Mazzini, the sovereign of a sect, sought to be on a footing of equality, at the least, with a King leading an army ; nor could he endure, that Italy should con- stitute herself without his good will and pleasure. He had no funds ; and, except a few companies of adven- turers, he had no force in the field ; but he managed his own people in arms by the tricks of a sect and by his mystical idea: no slight force this, amidst the indolence of a city, as being one that dissociates the minds which ought to be striving in common towards the same point. To be powerful in obstructing the good, that flows from the union of spirits, means to be powerful for effecting evil; this power Mazzini pos- sessed, and this abuse he made of it. For, when the courageous Brescia, with Bergamo and Crema, and other Lombard cities, had driven the rulers of Milan to enact, that the popular assemblies should decide the question of union with Piedmont, and further, when these assemblies, by free universal suf- frage, had carried the day in its favour, Mazzini and his party no longer kept any bounds in their hatred and abuse of Charles Albert, of Piedmont, nay, even of that army, on which all the hopes of Italy were built. Let others tell of the mad passions, the multiplied dis- orders, of which noble-hearted Milan was the unhappy scene; for me it is enough to say, that the narrow coun- sels of the Mazzinians were greatly inimical to Italian concord. They covered their dissatisfaction with this plea, that Charles Albert, and the promoters of the scheme for a Kingdom of I'pper Italy, had promised 206 FEOM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. not to set about the political reconstruction of the country, till the war was ended in their favour ; and that, accordingly, not having kept their own word, they had released others from the moral obligation to refrain from getting up a party against it. The answer to this is as follows ; if Charles Albert had committed the very serious error of omitting to take the government into his hands directly after setting foot in Lombardy, and had left to the multitude that authority free from every curb, which never worked well in peace and invariably worked ill in Avar, he still could not, without signal infatuation, have stood an inert and indifferent spectator of the intrigues of the Mazzinians, to prepare the way for the game of the Republic to be played when the King should have driven out the stranger. So that, to make good the charge of bad faith against the favourers of the Union, Alazzini and his republicans ought to prove that they themselves had been the most tranquil and demure of the sons of Italy, and had used no effort, public or covert, on their own behalf and against the King. It may further be answered, that, even if it were true that the 1 loyalists had not conducted themselves with fastidious prudence, this did not release others from the duty of foregoing, for the sake of their country, all measures whatsoever tending to discord. When after- wards the Union had been established by popular vote, every effort in the opposite sense implied rebellion against the very will of that sovereign People, to whom they offered incense, and involved effective aid to the foreign foe. Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 207 It is vain to trump up excuses. The true reason of so much outcry, so much resentment, and so much scandal, then, as now, was this: that Giuseppe Mazzini held his own self to be the man predestined to liberate Italy ; and Gould not endure that any Italian compact should be concluded, if he did not put to it his seal, and if the countries, armies, Sovereigns, and Pontiffs did not bow down before the new " his Majesty," and "his Holi- ness." Giuseppe Mazzini is a man of no common talent, remarkable for perseverance in his plans, for resolution under suffering, and for private virtues ; but, in these latest crises of the Italian Nation, he has confounded patriotism with self-love, or rather with selfish pride, and has chosen to risk seeing the temple of Italy burned down, because she would not dedicate to him its high altar. Sects have ready-made systems and oaths within which the mind abides in trammels, and the will hardens, in such a way that neither the one retains breadth for any large idea, nor the other continues open to any large affection. The leaders, accustomed to dream of Empire in their secret cliques of a few hundreds of trusted visionaries and of fana- tical hangers-on, do not submit to renounce the tiara and the sceptre in their kingdom of liberty ; and their satellites, habituated to thinking and feeling through the nerves of the masters, will invariably swear to every syllable they utter, and, while boasting them- selves the freeest of the free, have even their thoughts enslaved. Both the one and the other call obstinacy firmness, and the lessons of experience they call mar- 208 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. tyrdom ; they bring their country to the stake, but claim the palm of martyrs for themselves. Resuming the thread of my narrative respecting Gioberti, I have to mention that he first made trial at Milan of the disposition of Mazzini and his friends, to discover some mode of accommodation. But, finding all such efforts useless, he then with diligence and vigour set about thwarting the designs of that party, defending the King and the army from scurrilous falsehoods, and applauding the union of Lombardy and Venice with Piedmont. When he had gone to visit the camp, where he was greeted by the King with every sort of courtesy, and by the soldiers with plaudits, he spent a few days there, and was then both smitten with a passion to travel in the central parts of Italy, and likewise solicitous to do homage to that Liberal Pontiff, whom he first had prognosticated to the country. He went to Genoa, where he was hailed with rejoicings, and thence to Pome. Here he re- ceived the same, or rather still greater, tokens of affection and honour; because Pome is, more than any other cit}^ addicted to those ostentatious demon- strations, to which the generation of to-day is allured by the unbounded glory of her ancient name, though their degenerate habits may not admit of great achievements. Gioberti was enrolled as a Roman Citizen at the Capitol, as an honorary Master in the College, which has the boastful name of Sapienza, and in the lists of the Clubs. The Via Bonroimone, in which was the inn where he lodged, was named after him by a decree of the Municipal Senate ; lie Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 209 had a guard of honour of the Civic Militia at his door, and was cheered and attended, both at home and through the public streets, in a degree which no great man or powerful Sovereign had ever equalled. With his singular intellectual vein and copiousness, he made speeches wherever he went, and celebrated the virtues of Pius IX., the valour of the Sardinian army, the advantages of harmony between Sovereigns and sub- jects, and Italy rising anew to the position of a free nation. Finished in courtesy, he was all things to all ; he was visited by the great, by Prelates, Clergy, Liberals, and anti-liberals ; he, however, experienced at least as much annoyance from visits made out of cu- riosity or to curry favour, as encouragement from sin- cere and agreeable attentions. From these sources his adversaries, who were numerous and powerful, drew matter for their contempt and envy, bringing him into odium for conceit, and for habits and feelings not suited to a priest. The part of the clergy devoted to the company of Jesus, or tarred with the brush of Sanfedism, felt the pangs of jealousy, and of every other dark and greedy passion, and began to spread it abroad that Gioberti was the sworn enemy of the temporal dominion of the Church, and then, by degrees, of Religion itself; for that class is wont to confound the temporal dominion of the Church with the Church, and the Church with the Jesuits ; then all three alike, the temporal dominion, the Church, and the Jesuits, with Sanfedism, and Sanfedism with the; Lord Cod. They whispered, that Gioberti was sent about Italy by Charles Albert, to hire enemies and VOL. u. v 210 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. conspirators against the temporal dominion of the Popes, and against all the Italian Princes ; that with this view he had been supplied with money by the Subalpine King, and by the Sects ; and they invented all the other abominations which a corrupted age well knows how to imagine, especially for the disparagement of those who are clear of the general taint. Pius IX. himself had formerly given signs of esteem for the Catholic philosopher, the restorer of the Papacy in the opinion of this generation ; and had at first hailed his visit of respect, but now he himself contracted some suspicion, was vexed at the extraordinary honours rendered to him, and took in ill part certain expressions from his public discourses. The Diplo- matists hostile to Italy, and the anti-liberal Sects, made great use of the journey of Gioberti to cherish the seeds of mistrust, which were already bursting in the Courts of Italy, and to infuse into the Sovereigns the notion, that Charles Albert and Piedmont were plotting against their welfare. These suspicions and misgivings were further fomented by the imprudent lano;uao;e of a few unitarian monarchists, and of the flatterers of the Subalpine King; and were afterwards accredited by the decision of Sicily to choose the illustrious Duke of Genoa for her Monarch. These suspicions could never thereafter be effaced from the mind of the Courts of Pome, Naples, and Tuscany; and I know that, amidst the many and even just complaints afterwards uttered on the Pock of Gaeta, the unjust belief was prominent, that Charles Albert aimed at monopolising all the Italian thrones for him- Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 211 self and his family ; the journey of Gioberti, moreover, was cited as an irrefragable proof of it. But history is bound to bear her testimony, that Gioberti did not hold in Rome any communications unworthy of his honoured name, or of his masculine religion ; that, rather, he studied every means of reviving the confidence of the Liberals in Pius IX., and with his own mouth recommended concord be- tween the subjects and their Sovereigns, just as in his eloquent pages he had before advised it. I, too, can bear witness with a safe conscience, that, while he was residing at Koine, at the time when the disagreement between Mamiani and his Holiness about the Speech that the Pontifical Delegate was to deliver at the opening of Parliament threatened to produce a rup- ture, Gioberti used every exertion in his power to satisfy Pius IX., to whom he bore a pure affection and profound respect. I likewise know that after- wards, when he had left Home to repair to Upper Italy, and made some stay in the principal cities of the Pontifical States, he laboured most diligently for conciliation and for concord. For this, hot-brained fellows, and praters without any brains at all, ma- ligned him in those towns; just as, in Rome, Sterbini, addressing the Roman Club, in reply to a speech of Gioberti, had given it to, be understood, that lie was ;i flatterer of Princes, and so never could attach the people. T am well aware, that the enemies of Gio- berti, hunting out, in the speeches he published during that journey, such phrases as might be construed to imply those intentions that they imputed to him and 212 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to Charles Albert, saw with the eye of a suspicious mind these sinister designs, estimating them by that standard, according to which they are accustomed to theorise in the field of human motive and conscience. But with all due respect to these calumniators of the intentions of Gioberti, I asseverate, that, as they did not understand him some years before, when they lauded him to the skies for his philosophic works, and for the Primato, so neither did they, when he addressed himself to Italy in commotion ; they calum- niated him first with their eulogies, and afterwards with their abuse. Men may also say, if they please, that perhaps, upon that tour of his, he allowed himself to be elated by the breath of popular favour, more than was altogether suitable to his severe nature and profession. But the excitement of mind, so censured in him, at least extended both to the Sovereigns and to the Priests ; and perhaps the giddiness, with which they slid down the plane of popular movements, was fatal to civil order and to Italy in a degree very dif- ferent from the transitory ovations of Gioberti. And let the man who blames his discourses for excess of heat, and his demeanour for indiscretion, look, if but a little, to the discourses and the demeanour of the Kings and the Princes, of the Courtiers and of the Priests, and see, whether he does not find cause for similar and for greater blame. Gioberti has now proved to the world, that its honours have no power to tempt him beyond what befits a Christian and a virtuous man. It is time to cease from charging upon this man or that the revolutions which have Chap. IX.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 213 afflicted Italy ; it is time that, under the unfailing guidance of dispassionate reason and of eternal justice, each part}?' should acknowledge its own faults and errors, and should understand, that this great cala- mity of Italy is of itself the formal demonstration of the small amount of virtue remaining among the whole of her sons. History will judge, who, in the settle- ment of the balance of errors and of faults, stands prominent before the rest. For this account I shall continue to prepare materials, according to my con- science. 214 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. X. ACTION OF MAY 20. AT VICENZA. — FRESH ACTIONS OF THE 23RD AND 24TII. APPLICATION TO CHARLES ALBERT FOR AID. THE NEAPOLITAN FORCE COUNTED ON. FESCHIERA. — THE SIEGE. — THE ATTACKS. IDEA OF RADETZKI. ORDER OF THE PIEDMONTESE ARMY. MOVEMENT OF RADETZKI. ACTION AT CURTATONE ON MAY 29. ACTION AT COLMAS1NO. SURRENDER OF PESCHIERA. BATTLE OF GOITO. CONSEQUENT MOVE- MENTS OF THE AUSTRIANS AND PIEDMONTESE. PLANS. BATTLE OF VICENZA ON JUNE 10 CAPITULATION OF THE PAPAL TKOOPS. SURRENDER OF PADUA. CAPITULATION OF TREVISO. — CAPITULATION OF PALMANUOVA. — THE PIEDMONTESE AT RIVOLI AKD ROUND VERONA. The vanguard of General Durando, commanded by Colonel Galieno, reached Vicenza on the 19th of May ; and, on the next day, gallantly repulsed the vanguard of Nugent, which then attacked the city. Durando arrived on the 21st, with the rest of his own force, and with that legion of Italian and French volunteers, whom General Antonini had brought from France. Vicenza is situated at a point highly important in all Avars of which those countries are the seat, because many roads meet there which lead from the Tyrol and from Friuli to the Adige. Accordingly, Durando had it much at heart to keep the place, in order to obstruct the communications of the enemy on the side of the Adioe and to prevent both his drawing advantage from Chap. X.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 215 the possession of Udine and of Treviso*, and his beino- able to traverse the districts of Padua and Treviso with perfect freedom. Nugent made no weighty effort against Vicenza, as he ought to have done, before Durando arrived and halted there ; and, after the failure of his attempt on the 20th, he was satisfied to keep on the alert at Olmo, upon the road to Verona, so as to defend the baggage of his army, which looked towards the Adige. General Antonini endeavoured to dislodge him, but was repulsed, and the attempt cost both to himself his right arm, and to some of his men their lives. At that juncture Nu- gent fell ill, and gave over the command to General La Tour Taxis, whom Radetzki came to meet with some troops at San Bonifacio, expressing regret that Vicenza had not been taken, and directing him to return and assault it with 18,000 men and 40 oca was under their orders, and 250 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. in their pay. The last-named journal was managed by two youths, named Spini and Pinto, with others who had emerged from obscurity through Mamiani's aid. They plumed themselves on his friendship, and he gave more heed to them than, as a person of weight, he should have done. Out of Italy, the Univers printed letters from Rome which abused the Ministry, and which were translated, printed under- hand, and circulated in the Provinces. One of these clandestine papers was seized in the province of Pe- rugia, and it was proved, that a certain person of the Papal Court had spread it abroad. Another time a letter of Cardinal Soglia, written in cipher, was inter- cepted, no one knows where or how ; and the report was, that it gave orders to the Nuncios to disregard the instructions of the Ministry. The Pope had se- veral times declared he could no longer allow the severance of the office of Secular Foreign Affairs from the Foreign Ecclesiastical Department, which was under the Cardinal President of the Council ; and at the end of June he spoke about it to the Ministers themselves. But Mamiani would not put up with the change, and requested to retire. At- tempts were then made to constitute a new Ministry, and among other ideas was broached that of keeping the two offices apart, but giving the management of the lay affairs to an ecclesiastic, for which duty Mon- signor Corboli was suggested. The Pope, not being able to do better, had agreed to this proposal ; but Mamiani, who had likewise assented at first, afterwards dissented, because some of those friends of his, who Chap. XI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 251 thought they had influence with the populace, had dis- suaded him from it. Thus every plan of compromise was spoiled. It was, in truth, strange to contend for maintaining that separation of offices against the will of the Prince, and yet more strange to hope to con- solidate the State in the face of such a scandal as this manifest discord between the Sovereign and the Ministry. All the Nuncios, Legates, and Secretaries of Nunciature and Legation, were ecclesiastics; and therefore bound to the Pope by the tie of obedience. The wish was, that the Clergy should not meddle in secular diplomacy, and with this view, that a layman should be kept in the office of Lay Foreign Minister, lint who could hope that the Nuncios, and other ecclesiastics, would take orders from a Minister, whom the Pope did not choose to brook ? Even the majority of the Foreign Ambassadors in Pome, while they kept up the appearance of communicating with the office of the Lay Minister, in reality kept close to the Car- dinal Secretary of State. The very Due d'Harcourt, the new Ambassador of France, presented himself to him before Marchetti. Foreign Nations attach great weight to diplomatic intercourse with Rome, not cer- tainly as a temporal Sovereignty, but as the universal Catholic Sovereignty. Their Envoys naturally chose to be on good terms with the head of the Catholics, rather than with a tottering Administration. To per- sist, then, in urging the separation of the offices, despite the will of the Pope, was injurious to har- mony and tranquillity at home, and was of no sort of use abroad. 252 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. I shall not give an account, as it would be useless, of the long debates which took place in the Council of Deputies, about the Address to the Pope, in reply to the Speeches of his Delegate and of the Ministry ; but I must not omit to consign to these pages the Address itself, such as it was adopted. Here it is: — " Most blessed Father, " The first duty of your subjects, and of us all who are here to represent them, is to render solemn thanks to Your Blessedness, for having called us to the functions of public life, given effect to our rights, and laid the foundations of a liberty, genuine, just, and unchangeable. A memorable work, and one worthy of your name, it is, to have thus divided, in a single person, the authority of Pontiff, and the just prerogative of a Prince. " TV r e well know and feel, what stability the true spirit of religion imparts to public institutions ; and, as that spirit cherishes and consolidates freedom, so is it wont more readily to strike root and spread in a country which is free. " Hence the love of that faith, whose guardian and teacher You are, bids us rejoice that You, being both by the com- position of your mind, and in virtue of your supreme priest- hood, the enemy of every evil, should dispense to venerating mankind, the heavenly treasure of grace, peace, and truth, while devolving on responsible Ministers, the exercise of that temporal power which no less belongs to You. " The best energies, then, of our understandings, combined with their sagacity, will reconcile, as far and as early as is possible, our internal self-government with that national unity, which is the main object with us of every thought, and the groundwork of every undertaking. " So fixed is our aim at that object, that if we should have to pray the Government to initiate amendments of the Statute for the manifest benefit of the people, we shall ever Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 253 study, and even strain, to seal this unity by laws tending to reciprocal conformity of legislation. " We do not require to urge the Italian League upon You, who were the first to conceive, to desire, and to promote it. Ilather, we venture to promise ourselves, that we shall see it soon concluded, especially between the two Powers, the great bulwarks on which Italy relies, the conquering sword of Charles Albert, and the authority of the Popedom. These will render it solid and perpetual, not by momentary stipu- lations between Prince and Prince, but through wise and corresponding institutions. As, however, we see plainly that this League admits of no other bond, than a National Diet, we most fervently entreat You yourself to become, here in Home, its centre and mainspring ; not doubting that, together with all the rest of Italy, gallant Sicily will be ready to con- cur, and will hold it no less her boast to complete our unity, than to have gained her freedom with her blood. " The present condition of the Xeapolitan State is indeed unfavourable to so noble a design ; since its troops, unduly recalled, have brought disquiet, mischief, and extreme scandal, into our territory, after having impeded, and, as far as they could, driven back, the enterprise of Italy. For that people we desire destinies no less favourable than for ourselves ; but, if your Government has been unable to prevent the shameful desertion, it will assuredly demand an explanation of so great a wrong from those who ordered it. " It is, indeed, well to recommend to the protection of King Charles Albert those high-spirited sons of yours, who, inflamed by the national strurrirle with an uncontroulable and sacred ardour, have rushed to vindicate the Italian name in arms; but the Council desires early treaties, such as will meet the present exigencies of the war, with that Prince, with the high-minded and faithful Tuscans, ami with the other States. " It is worthy of the priestly office, and suitable to your heavenly-minded character, to pronounce between the com- batants a word of peace, having Italian nationality for its 254 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. basis and principle ; but, disdaining any imitation whatsoever of the terms of Campoformio, we too are of opinion, that your people should not, and cannot, lay down their arms, until our common country shall have regained its natural frontiers. " The right of nationality, recognised by every civilised race, most of all by instructed and generous Germany, leads us to hope, that our own forces will suffice to bring the present war to a happy conclusion; a war defensive and just, since nothing more is sought, than to resume what force alone has taken away. But should any one wish to fight upon our soil against the truths for which he has fought at home, to become the champion of those who deny that Italy can be Italy, and with our chains to rivet his own, the proffers of a courageous people might not be bootless, which, not now-a- days aspiring to unjust and hazardous conquests, might repel the hand of violence, even without bloodshed upon this sacred soil. " The man must be little alive to the state of affairs, and must idly presume upon a scanty and raw force, who could venture to answer for interior peace, order, and freedom, while making but a cursory examination of, or while unable freely and correctly to appreciate, foreign relations through the medium of a Minister no less responsible than the rest. " But this care, with us the first of all, does not make us the less anxious about our internal affairs, for which it has been the duty of the Government to mature wise provisions; and it will shortly intimate to us what methods it has found for restoring order to the Treasury, strengthening credit, and reforming every part of the public administration. Our diffi- culties are many and serious ; but if we cut off the excess of expenditure, and needless offices, if we limit pensions, and make an improved distribution of the taxes, if we turn to ac- count the national resources, and give due facilities to com- merce, we may well cherish the hope of repairing them. " We entertain a confidence, commensurate with the ne- cessity of the case, that the Police, too, may be regulated according to the refined manners of the day, and that, be- Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 255 coming the guarantee for peace and security, it may, once for all, give up prying into thoughts, vexatious suspicions, and all else that hampers personal liberty. No longer shall the mourning of bereaved families be profitable to a depraved gang, that has boasted of protecting the Government, while labouring to undermine it, and while foreclosing against it the path of all genuine civil improvement. " From a good administration of justice we may hope and promise ourselves much; greatly improved laws, and tri- bunals resembling those of the other Italian States ; trials in public, and in our own tongue ; with the appointment, more- over, of a public accuser, a reduction of charges, no privilege of Court in causes of common right, juries for a curb es- pecially upon prosecutions of the press, and the abolition of confiscation and of capital punishment. Caprice will become impossible, and rights of every kind will be fixed and conse- crated. " Next to honour and life, we desire the sanctity of pro- perty, and will use our best exertions to remove every re- striction, and to promote the increase and multiplication of the interests which uphold it. " But, inasmuch as ignorance appears to us to be the pri- mary cause both of false opinions, and of irregular life, great evil would fall upon the people, and no less blame on us, were we not anxious to give to public instruction and civil edu- cation an attention commensurate with the expanding insti- tutions of the State, and with the increase of civilisation. " We shall also apply with the utmost diligence to the regulations for Communes and Provinces, which will bear no small part in bettering the condition of the people, so soon as a new and comprehensive system of elections shall have re- stored them to the public confidence, and as the municipal revenues and jurisdictions shall have been duly severed from those of the State, while at the same time a more equitable distribution of domains shall have; laid in Communal freedom the prime foundations of political life. " W earnestness can overcome the difficulties of an under- 256 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. taking, we intend to exert ourselves efficaciously in every social improvement ; and we shall study to pluck up crime and misery by the roots. What would new laws avail, if their execution is to be intrusted to incompetent or dishonest hands? or what is the use of prisons, if, instead of the reform of the guilty, reciprocal instruction in every vice be allowed within them? That portion of the people, by whose labour human life is sustained, must be our primary care; we shall procure aids, and beat down obstacles, on behalf of the la- borious artisan and the respected farmer, in order that his bread, though earned by his sweat, may not be moistened with his tears. " An indestructible bulwark of all these reforms has been provided in the Civic Guard, to whose fidelity is intrusted their custody and defence. The people, aware of the obli- gations that bind them to this valiant force, of the perils it has averted, and of its maintenance of order, while they entrust to it with confidence their own nascent liberties, so likewise do they reward it with benedictions and thanks for such great and enduring boons. " We, most blessed Father, shall forthwith apply to our great task with a dignified resolution, and with a calm far removed from sloth ; as feeling, and revering in our own persons, the rights of the people which we represent, and the exalted duty of rearing, in conjunction with You and your Government, the glorious fabric of liberty, which we shall unitedly defend, both from the men who dream of reviving dark and irrevocable times, and also from those, who, in the exercise of their function as destroyers, thirst to heap one ruin upon another. " We shall, as far as in us lies, endeavour that the revival begun by You, and proclaimed in the priestly accents of peace and concord, shall return to its own principles, where it may have transgressed them, and shall henceforth observe them inviolably, so that the Cross may fitly surmount the national flag, as a symbol of justice and of truth, not less than of victory." Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 257 This address was read to the Pope on the 10th of July, and received from him the following reply: — - " We accept the expressions of gratitude, which the Council has addressed to Us, and We also receive the reply to the Speech delivered in our name by the Cardinal whom We expressly delegated to open the two Councils, yet de- claring that We can receive it only in so far as it does not vary from what has been prescribed in the Fundamental Statute. " If the Pontiff prays, blesses, and pardons, it is likewise his duty to bind and to loose ; and if, as Prince, with the view of more effectually protecting and strengthening the public interest, he calls the two Councils to cooperate with him, yet being Priest as well as Prince, He needs all the liberty, which will prevent his action from being paralysed in regard to any of the interests of religion or of the State. This liberty will remain to him entire while the Statute and the law on the Council of Ministers, which We have spon- taneously granted, remain, as they ought to remain, entire likewise. " If strong desires be multiplied for the greatness of the Italian Nation, it is needful, that the whole world should be apprised anew, that war cannot be on our part the means of achieving it. Our name was blessed throughout the earth for the first accents of peace that fell from our lips. It as- suredly could not be so, were those of war to proceed from I Fs. It was to Us a great surprise, when Wc learned that the Council had been invited to discuss the subject, in opposition to our public declarations, and at the moment when Wc had taken in hand negotiations for peace. Nothing but union among the Princes of the Peninsula, and agreement among their subjects, can secure the longed-for happiness; with a view to this union it is, that Wc must embrace all the Princes of Italy without distinction, in order that from such a paternal embrace may spring the harmony, which would lead to the accomplishment of the public wishes. VOL. II. s 258 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III- " Your respect for the rights and laws of the Church, and the persuasion by which you will surely be animated, that the greatness of this State, in particular, hangs upon the in- dependence of the Sovereign Pontiff, will cause you invari- ably to respect in your resolutions the limits We have marked out in the Statute. In this way let the gratitude be chiefly shown, which We ask of you in return for the ample institutions We have granted. " Your plan of busying yourselves with our internal affairs is a noble one, and with all our soul We encourage you in the undertaking. Commerce and industry require support, and our main desire, which We are sure is also yours, is that of not burdening, but relieving, the subject. Public order demands comprehensive provisions ; and, to gain them, it is indispensable that the Ministry should begin to devote to them its thoughts and cares. The public administration of Finance also requires extended and prompt provisions. Next to these vital subjects, the Government will propose to you those im- provements in the Municipalities which are thought most useful, and best suited to the wants of the day. " To the Church and to His Apostles her Divine Pounder has conceded the great right, and the duty of teaching. " Be at one among yourselves, with the High Council, with Us, and with our Ministers. Often call to mind, that Home is great, not through its temporal dominions, but mainly be- cause it is the seat of the Catholic Religion. This truth We would were engraved, not indeed on marble, but on the hearts of all who take part in the public administration, in order that each one, paying respect to this our universal Primacy, may not give in to certain narrow theories, nay sometimes even to the purposes of party. Xo one, who feels deeply on religion, can think otherwise. And if, as We believe, you are pos- sessed with these truths, you will be distinguished instruments in the hand of God, for bringing true and solid advantages to liome and to these States, of which the first will be to smother the seeds of mistrust and the terrible incendiarism of factions." Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 259 Whoever examines the address of the Deputies, and the reply of the Pope, must find in these documents a clear proof of the great confusion, in which the wishes and understandings of the public were involved. The Deputies, in their discussions and resolutions, had resigned themselves too much to cravings after ideal good, and had too little pursued the counsels of prudence in respect to good attainable ; such were the incentives to big and inflated language, that worked from without, and such the uproar created within by Canino and Sterbini. Had these persons been allowed to say and do as they liked, no one can tell with what whimsicalities they would have flavoured their speeches : Canino wanted to have it declared, that all rights proceeded from the people ; Sterbini wished the King of Naples to be mauled ; both the one and the other desired the independence of Sicily to be acknowledged. They scolded Orioli, as an untimely prophet of woe, and in vain he counselled moderation, hinted at the surmises of disagreement between the Sovereign and the Ministry, at the fear of aggravating distempered humours by heated language, and at the danger of pleading on the side of war, now that the Pope had formally declared his disapproval. On the other hand, the Sovereign wrote and de- livered his discourse in reply, without acquainting his Ministers. As he began by saying lie accepted the address of the Deputies only as far as it was a reply to the address of his Delegate, lie showed that he took for so much surplusage all that famous programme of the Ministry, to which the Deputies had mainly made s 2 260 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. their answer. Nay, he then condemned this pro- gramme, and, not content with answering the De- puties, censured it, by citing the phrases used by Mamiani about the Spiritual office of the Pope, and then referring to his duty to bind and loose. He thus entered into the spiritual field, but afterwards, straying from it, affirmed that, as Prince and Priest, he needed all his freedom for the interests of Religion and " of the State," so that nobody could understand what kind of constitutional doctrine this might be. Then he censured the Avar afresh, confounding his words of peace in the amnesty, and peace with Austria, together. Next, on the subject of the few words of the Deputies about public instruction, he enunciated the unqualified right of the Church to teach. It was curious, too, that he should recom- mend agreement with his Ministers, that is to say, with those whom he was censuring ; and shortly after should aver it was full time that the Ministers should pay attention to public order, by which he censured them again. Lastly, he ascribed equal im- portance and sacredness to the Fundamental Statute and to the motn proprio on the Council of Ministers, by which he intended to condemn the institution of a lay department of Foreign Affairs. The High Council, too, presented its address ; it was this: — " Most blessed Father : "If words of thanks and praise would enable the gratitude of the people to equal the greatness of the boon, they never could have a more worthy or more noble subject than the liberality of the Sovereign who granted to them the Funda- Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 261 mental Statute, demanded as it was by the universal want, and by the dignity of man. Persuaded, in the wisdom of your mind, that the life of nations solely consists in the greatness and security of their institutions, religious, civil, and political, it was to these, most blessed Father, that You turned your earliest care and thought, after, by divine Pro- vidence, You were seated on the Papal Throne, as Head and Father of the entire Christian family, and Sovereign ruler of no small part of Italy given into your charge. Rome recog- nised in the words of peace her Pontiff, in the institutions her regenerating Prince, in the blessings upon Italy her Angel the harbinger of her unexpected gladness, and the herald of the civil liberty she craved. All Europe was struck, and our applauses echoed throughout the earth. " In this universal rejoicing over our happy auguries, on a day ever memorable, You desired, that in this same city of liome, which for a long course of ages witnessed the waxing and waning of Empires, the vicissitudes of so many kinds of rulers and of subjects, that in this august centre of Christian Keligion and Catholic unity, which nothing except what is great and marvellous can beseem, — it was your will, most blessed Father, that within these same walls should meet, and sit assembled together, the members of the High Council, and the elected representatives of the people. " With the greatness of this memorable act the words of your worthy Delegate, the most eminent Cardinal Altieri, fitly corresponded. "He said: — " ' Our Lord's Holiness rejoices with you, and thanks God for his having been enabled to effect the introduction into his States of a political system such as is required by the exi- gencies of the times and compatible with the nature of his government as Pontiff. It now, Gentlemen, becomes you to draw from the new institutions those advantages, which his Holiness sought to attain.' " Nor did the Minister, a person of so much weight, and appointed to conduct the public affairs, dissent from these s .*? 262 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. expressions of sublime fatherhood, when, in the name of Your Holiness, he discoursed to us on the new Constitutional order. He placed the foundation of genuine civilisation in that pure and most holy religion, which, by training the people to generous and truly moral principles, renders them worthy of the institutions they have gained. lie referred, in few words, to the difficulties of the times, to the exhaustion of the Treasury, to the effective and not illusory responsibility of Ministers and functionaries, and, finally, to the necessity of useful measures, and of large reforms, for the entire State in every branch of the public administration. He likewise touched slightly on the subject of the war, which is now being waged for the national independence of Italy : he men- tioned our political relations of close and cordial friendship with the other Italian Provinces, and he cheered us with the announcement of the good success, which, for the behoof of the national cause, he trusted might flow from the renewed correspondence respecting a political League with the several States of Italy, lie said further, that, in obedience to the Paternal solicitude of Your Holiness, he had been at pains to place the regular troops and Papal volunteers under the command of H. M. King Charles Albert. " Lastly, the Administration added that, in order to mul- tiply the ties of good neighbourhood and friendship with other nations, they had used their utmost endeavours with the Sardinian Government for the prompt dispatch of qua- lified Commissioners to the brave Hungarian nation, with the view of gaining that end. And, in doing due justice to the learning and virtues of the German notion, they asse- verated publicly and solemnly, that Italy, in the subsisting movement, w r as not prompted by the lust of conquest: but sought exclusively to remain within her own natural confines, mistress of herself, and independent of foreign domination, singly intent on the prosperity of her children, and on the increase and perfection of every kind of knowledge and of arts, a work for which she appears to have been specially and always destined by Providence. Accordingly, they begged Chap. XI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 263 cooperation from the whole Council, and from us, in the name of the public good, and of our country. And, as we are assured that honourable demand will not miss its aim, we will use every exertion in our power, patriotic, eager, indefatigable ; for if, when the course of affairs is orderly and tranquil, to show sluggishness be a shame, in the highest exigencies of our country it would be an enormity. There is not one of us, who does not profoundly feel this truth, not one, who does not now solemnly proclaim it, in such a way as must deepen in ourselves the stain of inert and unpro- fitable citizenship. In this not arrogant, but sincere, opening of our minds, accept, most blessed Father? a solid proof of our unalterable devotion to your sacred person, to religion, and to the country. For her defence, for developing and consolidating liberal institutions, assuredly nothing is more effectual, than public tranquillity ; to maintain which, and to reinstate it in one or more less peaceful Provinces, our warm entreaties are now addressed to You, most blessed Father, while we invoke the responsibility of the Ministers, the Pre- sidents, and the Magistrates, the conscience of the Citizens, the affection of the people, the courage and strict discipline of the civic force. And the aim will be fully attained, when the Municipalities shall be organised throughout the State with new and provident laws ; when instruction shall be everywhere diffused, and adapted to the popular intelligence, through the machinery fittest for the work ; lastly, when the entire military establishment, in all its branches, shall corre- spond with the wants, and serve the purposes, of the State. " Our first care among all will be, to cooperate, together with the honourable Deputies, in the adjustment of the Finances, lest, through the failure of public credit and of the means of commerce and industry, paralysis should strike that vital spring which, when it gives way, stimulates a people to \\m most desperate resolves, with immense, and sometimes irreparable, mischief to property, to morals, and to freedom. May God keep far from us such miserable days! " The present times impose upon us imperious laws and a 4 264 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. conditions ; and to hope for a state of civilisation, while struggling against the age, would be an aiTogant, and perhaps an empty presumption. Every period has its own wants, passions, and object. The life of our time is an idea of inde- pendence, a fire of nationality ; it burns from of old in Italy, even as misfortune in her is old, and also glory. This flame of liberty now seizes upon Italian minds and hearts ; while the events, which have followed one another up to this point with measureless rapidity, clearly demonstrate the irresistible and marvellous power of a principle of national regeneration, which alike rejects absolute monarchy and licentious liberty. Amid such grave revolutions of fortune and events, Koine, through her special, incommunicable, and most powerful cha- racter, now witnesses the conjunction of Catholicism with nationality, and promises herself, from this source, supreme and imperishable advantages, not the last of which, we are assured, will be the desired Italian League. " Most blessed Father, our social and political regeneration is the work of your paternal will ; and as the new and wished- for era has begun from You, so in ages to come it will bear your august name. Father, Sovereign, and Pontiff! accept benignly the affection of your sons, the gratitude of your subjects, and the profound reverence with which the High Council is possessed." To this the Pope, on the 17tli of July, made the following short reply : — " It is ever delightful to our heart to see around Us men, who, inspired with the desire of the public good, have re- solved to assist the Sovereign in his difficult enterprise of improving the public administration. Accordingly, We de- clare to you our gratitude for the sentiments you have ex- pressed to Us, in the name of the High Council; and Wc are confident that you, in full accordance with the Council of Deputies, and resting always on the basis and constitutional forms which We have fixed, will succeed in attaining the Chap. XL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 265 noble aim, that you have set before you. You already know our paternal intentions. Although the course of the times be more than ever difficult, yet We feel ourselves refreshed, when We can see that We are supported by persons loving their native land, and knowing that, amidst its constitutive elements, the religious element is that which merits, beyond all others, their affection and their serious thought. In the meantime, We rely on seeing order and tranquillity, which are the sources of public confidence, and which open all the fountains of good, flourish more and more. But, to obtain all this, let Us lift up on high our heart and our eyes, because from God alone can We obtain the firm support, the needful illumination, the constancy and courage, to reach the goal." 2G6 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. XII. THE FKENCn REPUBLIC. — ITS PLANS AND ACTS WITH REFERENCE TO ITALY. MARAUDING INVASION OF SAVOY. IDEAS OF M. DE LAMARTINE. HIS LANGUAGE. GOVERNMENT OF CAVAIGNAC. IIUMMELAUER'S PROPOSALS FOR A PEACE. — LORD PALMER- STON'S ANSWER. ADVERSE OPINION IN VIENNA. PLANS OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT. PLAN OF BASTIDE. PUBLIC OPINION IN ITALY ADVERSE TO PEACE. STRENGTH AND QUALITY OF THE PIEDMONTESE ARMY. IDEAS OF THE KING. MANTUA. — ORDER OF BATTLE NEAR MANTUA. — MOVEMENTS AND AR- RANGEMENT OF THE AUSTRIAN'S. — BAVA AT GOVERNOLO. THE TWO ARMIES. — SUCCESS OF JULY 22. — MOVEMENTS OF THE AUSTRIAN'S. ENGAGEMENT OF THE 23RD. — ENGAGEMENTS OF THE 24TII — OF THE 25TH — OF THE 26tH. CUSTOZA. RETREAT UPON GOITO. ACTION AT VOLTA. RESULTS. — PROPOSALS FOR AN ARMISTICE. RETREAT TOWARDS MILAN. ENGAGEMENT BEFORE MILAN. — PROPOSAL FOR CAPITULATION. THE 5tH OF AUGUST CAPITULATION. FURY IN MILAN. THE ARMISTICE OF SALASCO. The Parisian insurrection of February, 1848, from whence the French Republic sprang, had, like all other great commotions in France, thrown Europe into confusion. It is not my business to recount the madness and orgies of Paris, and its experiments ; but it is my duty to relate, what were the acts and what the views of the new Republic in regard to Italy, then at war for her own independence. And here I am first of all reminded of the criminal at- tempt of that vile gang of the sects, picked up in the streets of the towns of France, and thrown into Savoy CuAr. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 2G7 to disturb the dominions of the Subalpine King, at the time when he was hazarding his life, and the life of his sons, in the holy enterprise. But neither the Nation, nor the new Government, shall be charged by me either with the base aggression, or the no less base flight : let the infamy fall on the name of the perpetrators, if, indeed, they have a name. The views of the first government of Republican France are clear, inasmuch as M. de Lamartine, who was the person of the greatest weight in it, has stated them through the press. It may be well, then, to peruse his words. He writes as follows in his work entitled " Le passe, le present, et Vavenir de la Re- publique : " — '•' The King of Sardinia repeatedly sought from the French Republic a word of concurrence and encouragement on behalf of the war already begun. This word was never uttered : the Government, with an inflexible reserve, grounded on political good faith, declined to utter it. The Republic de- sired to be clear of every charge of having provoked war, and of all intrigue for its own behoof, whether beyond the Alps, or beyond the Rhine. It neither gave nor owed any explanations, but it looked onwards, and prepared. To what did it look onwards? For what event did it prepare? . . . Now follow with attention the course of my statement. . . . The Republic, then, foresaw that the King of Sardinia must in Lombardy meet with signal successes or signal reverses ; in either case France must find herself concerned to interfere. She therefore created, and strengthened up t<> 02,000 men, the army of the Alps, so as to be ready for action. If the King of Piedmont drives the Austrians from Upper Italy, and incorporates into his dominions the Milanese, \ enezia, Parma, Modena, perhaps even Tuscany, France cannot allow, 268 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. or cannot allow without misgiving, that a Power of the second order, at her very door, should suddenly alter into one of the first. The frontiers of this new Kingdom of Italy would almost touch the gates of Lyons. In the event of its making a fresh alliance with Austria, such a Kingdom must entirely alter the condition of France for defence. The Alps would be of doubled value in the hands of their guardian. France, in this case, ought to lay her hands on two pledges, Nice and Savoy. But, should the Piedmontese be worsted, and pursued home by a victorious Austrian army, and should Austria wish to break up or attenuate that Kingdom, or to fetter it, or to occupy its fortresses, which indirectly are ours too, then France, by the right of vicinage, in the care of her own security, and of her legitimate influence with a State conterminous and feeble, must descend into Piedmont under the form of armed mediation. What happens next ? I will show you, not by idle conjecture, but from the facts of the first four months of the first Republican Government. This, then, will happen ; the broken army of Piedmont will re- construct itself behind the lines of ours. All Italy, reassured, will take arms on our right hand, feeling herself under the shadow of our protection. Venice will consolidate her re- sistance. The Austrian army will halt to negotiate in front of ours, which will cover the frontier of Piedmont. Europe, dreading to hear the first shot fired between them, hastens to the place of meeting, to interpose : England dispatches her Envoys to mediate between the two camps, and supports the negotiations by her fleet at Genoa and in the Adriatic. The conferences open, communications are made ; our legitimate influence is upheld and increased over Piedmont, Tuscany, Home, Naples. Political existence, constitutional and semi- national, is gained for Lombardy as well as for Venice, the prize of their blood ; it is guaranteed by the joint Protectorate of France and England, the basis of Italian emancipation. Such was the plan" (I am still quoting M. de Lamartine) " of the first Republican Government. Already three-fourths of it were achieved ; there remained nothing but the denouc- Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 269 merit, when it was itself broken and scattered by the cannon of June 23. 1848, at Paris, and afterwards by the inconstant, perhaps involuntarily inconstant, policy of the succeeding Governments of the Republic." These, then, were the ideas of the Provisional Go- vernment, composed of De Lamartine, Ledru Rollin, Cremieux, Louis Blanc, Albert, and such like ; on whom, notwithstanding, the republicans of Italy have relied, and. still do rely. In sooth, M. de Lamartine, after these ingenuous confessions, will have the right anew to call Italy the land of dead men, if she shall go on trusting in the political wisdom and the attachment of friends like these ! At the end of June, Paris was the prey of a ter- rible intestine war, and the Government passed into the hands of General Cavaignac, who had put it down. We shall see what were his views in regard to Italy. AVI i en Monsignor Morichini was at Vienna to nego- tiate a peace, Austria, through the medium of Baron Ilummelauer, asked the British Ministry to mediate between herself and Italy ; and, on the 23rd of May, she offered to acknowledge the independence of Lom- bardy, giving her the choice of governing herself, or of uniting with another State of Italy, provided she would bind herself to pay a part of the National Debt of Austria. She agreed that the Duchies should be free to join with Lombardy ; and she pro- posed to concede to Venice a separate administration, with an army of her own, under the Imperial Crown. On the 3rd of June, Lord I'alinerston declared lie 270 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. could not accept the commission, unless Austria would likewise offer to cede certain Venetian Pro- vinces, and he instructed Lord Ponsonby, Minister at Vienna, who then resided with the Imperial Court at Innspruck, to use his very best exertions, and address himself towards inclining Austria to greater generosity. But public opinion at Vienna was greatly opposed to liberal and pacific counsels ; and the mili- tary men stimulated the Government to rely less on them, than on force of arms ; so that, after a short time, it not only looked coldly on the English pro- posals, but was cool even in regard to those which Baron Hummelauer had broached. As early as the beginning of July, Vienna was in good heart, from the knowledge that she could brin£ into the field a force exceeding those of the Italians, from the victory over the Papal troops in Venezia, and from our intestine quarrels. Baron Wessemberg told Lord Ponsonby, that France, governed at that time by General Ca- vaignac, had engaged to enter into those affairs, so that, consequently, it would be improper to proceed in them without her concurrence ; and it would be best not to venture for the moment on any new step. At that time, the Sardinian Government seemed inclined to treat upon the basis originally laid down. But Vienna had already broken her resolution to try the fortune of arms, and Lord Ponsonby wrote to Lord Palmerston, on the 7th of July, that the Austrians Avere persuaded King Charles Albert " had great dif- ficulties toapprehend" (such are the words of the letter) "from other causes besides the Austrian army." The Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 271 French Government, according to what Lord Normanby wrote to Lord Palmerston from Paris on the 22nd of July, had a strong desire to avoid war both in Italy and elsewhere, and, with this view, was anxious for a cordial understanding with England. M. Bastide, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the French Republic, proposed that France and England should join in recommending Austria to make peace ; and held the opinion, that she should be recommended to conclude it on the following terms : that Lombardy should be her own mistress, charging herself with a portion of the public debt ; that the Dukes should receive a compensation ; and that Yenezia should be erected into a constitutional Princedom, under the sway of an Austrian Archduke. But alas for him who, in our towns, should have talked of peace ! Already some rumour of the kind, that had been put about, had aroused the public anger; and the revolutionists were crying treachery more than ever against Charles Albert. Naples had abandoned us ; the beaten Papal forces had been obliged to recross the Po ; the Tuscans were greatly thinned : on the other hand, Radetzki received daily reinforcements, the German Constituent Assembly at Frankfort favoured Austria, the Hungarians gave her effective support; yet, despite all this, the Italians, with only the army of Piedmont in the field, would not brook the mention of peace. At the beginning of July, the army of Charles Albert had received the very utmost reinforcements that could be furnished: it was composed of five Piedmontese divisions, of 272 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. one mixed division, Piedmontese and Lombard, of one Lombard division, of a few Tuscans, Parmese, and Modenese, in all about 72,000 strong; or, de- ducting sick, wounded, and deserters, barely 70,000. Besides, the mixed division under General Visconti, and the Lombard under General Perrone, about 15,000 men, as being raw troops, ill-accoutred, ill- arranged and disciplined, could not be reckoned as so much effective force. The artillery was scanty ; only 120 guns. Our force, then, was so weak, as not to admit of our assuming the offensive ; yet from Milan, Turin, and all Italy, the King was entreated to under- take some enterprise of moment, and the newspapers charged him with remissness, cowardice, or treachery. On this account, though he ought to have stood on the defensive, he determined on the opposite course. His first idea was to attack Verona ; then abandon- ing that notion, he thought of Legnago ; and, at last, laying this too aside, he resolved to march against Mantua. Mantua is girt on one side by a lake formed from the waters of the Mincio, on the other by marshes. The bulk of the fortress is old and irregular, but substantial; two forts, each of which heads an em- bankment, stand beyond the lake ; two others, with a double entrenched camp, are placed on the left bank. The King, leaving behind only 15,000 men of the corps of Sonnaz, together with the Division Visconti, on the line bounded by Pivoli and Sommacampagna, sent forward the Divisions Ferrere and Perrone, on the 13th of July, by the right bank, towards Mantua; Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 273 and ordered the first to cross to the left bank, imme- diately after assisting the second to take its ground, and entrench itself on the right. Meantime, other troops diverged between Sacca and Castellaro to com- plete the blockade, and a bridge was thrown over at Sacca to place the two banks in communication. The corps on the left was weakly connected with the mass of the army, between Sommacampagna and Marmirolo, by means of some companies stationed at Villafranca and Koverbella. The Austrians did not molest these operations. Radetzki, apprehensive about Mantua and Ferrara, and other attempts on his left, caused Governolo, which stands at the confluence of the Po and the Mincio, to be occupied, and sent Lichtenstein with one division to victual Ferrara, ordering him to throw himself into Mantua immediately afterwards. Lichtenstein reached Ferrara on the 14th of June, and struck such terror into that and the neighbouring districts, that they urgently invoked aid from the King. Charles Albert sent Bava with 5000 foot, 500 horse, and sixteen guns to drive off Lichtenstein. Lava learned at Borgoforte, that he had quitted Fer- rara, and recrossed the To ; so he then sought to possess himself of Governolo, standing on the left bank of the Mincio. It had a garrison of 1500 Aus- trians, who had lifted the drawbridge, and who made a vigorous defence. After a conflict of an hour and a half, the Piedmontese sharpshooters, assaulting the place at a run and with loud shouts, threw the enemy into confusion; and they fled along the road to VOL. II. T 274 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Mantua, leaving on the field many dead, two guns, some colours, and 400 prisoners. On the 20th of July, the positions and force of the two armies stood as follows. The Piedmontese right was on both banks of the Lower Mincio, the centre in the plain of Roverbella, the left along the heights as far as Rivoli. A second line, if so it may be called, stretched upon the Mincio from Peschiera to Goito. Sixty thousand men were thus disposed of; namely, at Governolo 5000, Castellaro 5000, 20,000 round Mantua on the right bank, at Marmirolo and Villanova 10,000, 4000 at Villafranca and Castel Bel- forte, 15,000 between Sommacainpagna and Rivoli: 60,000 men, I say, spread along a line of 120 kilo- metres (seventy-five miles), divided by a river, and having its parts ill combined. Add to these 8000 or 9000 men between Peschiera and Goito, for the cus- tody of magazines and parks of artillery. Radetzki had 40,000 men about Verona, 20,000 at Rovcrcdo, 20,000 partly in Mantua, partly in the environs of Legnago ; thus his main strength lay opposite the weak Piedmontese left. On the 21st of July, the corps of General Tiiurn descended from Roveredo in two columns, of which one attacked Corona on the 22nd, while the other ad- vanced to debouch from Incanale upon Rivoli. The Piedmontese battalion stationed at Corona with some hill guns resisted gallantly, until, being compelled to give way to overwhelming force, it retired in good order, resting on another battalion dispatched from Rivoli. On the brow of the table-land of Rivoli, CiiAr.XIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 275 Thurn collected his 12,000 men, and pointed his cannon to dislodge our force, which, with the aid received from Sonnaz, amounted to 5000. But his plan failed, from his not knowing how to turn his favourable circumstances to account, and because the Piedmontese performed feats of extraordinary courage ; so much so, that they drove him back, and pursued one of his columns by the road of Incanale, and the other by that of Caprino. But Sonnaz was not elated upon this victory, because he knew, that the enemy might return to the attack both from those points and from Verona. He therefore wisely ordered the retreat by Pastrengo and Bussolengo, and, himself retiring upon Sandra, stood there upon the look out. And well it was that he retreated thus quietly, for Radetzki was already in motion with his whole force from Yerona against Sona and Sommacampagna ; and had also dispatched a brigade in the direction of Santa Giustina to amuse our troops, while another brigade had inarched from Legnago upon Custoza, to effect a junction with the force that had set out from Verona. The attack was to have commenced on the 23rd, at one in the morning; but a violent storm prevented the Austrians from arriving on the ground before six. The line from Santa Giustina to Sommacampagna was defended by only 10,000 men under General Broglia, and by a well-constructed entrenchment, which crossed the road from Verona to Peschiera at the Jjosco Inn, thus stopping the passage ; and it was furnished with heavy artillery. The enemy advanced T 2 276 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. in two columns, one towards the Inn, the other towards Sommacampagna, with a reserve between them, but in their rear. That on the right, heavily hit by our guns, drew back, and turned to attack Sona ; but the principal effort made w r as against Sommacampagna and the Madonna del Monte, held by a Piedmontese battalion and a regiment of Tus- cans. The battle lasted three hours before our men, who were greatly inferior in numbers, retired to San Giorgio. Sona, too, fell into the enemy's power, nor could the Inn be defended : so that Broglia stripped the whole line from the Inn to Pastrengo, and turned towards Castelnovo, while the troops at Rivoli wheeled towards Cola, followed by Thurn, but at a great dis- tance, so that it appeared he would not venture to push freely on, with such great caution and slowness did he move. So Sonnaz had all his forces assembled between Cola and Castelnovo, and putting them in motion for Peschiera, he conducted them with ad- mirable order and steadiness, and without any serious loss, under shelter of the guns of the fortress. Radetzki had managed badly, in dispatching a large part of his forces on the Mincio towards Salionze and Monzambano, in order to get quickly over to the right bank ; and in this way he had let Sonnaz escape him. The Division Visconti, which had taken no part in the action, abandoned the left bank, and guarded the bridges. The Austrian army held the line from Santa Giustina to Salionze, and reached through Sona, Sommacampagna, and Custoza towards Mon- zambano and Valleggio. Military men remark, that Cuap.XIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 277 Sonnaz and Visconti ought, without any delay, to have joined the main army. But Sonnaz had had no intelligence from head-quarters, during the two days when he was engaged with the enemy. He imagined that the King had invested the left flank of the enemy, and, in order to second him, he carried his men for- ward from Peschiera as far as Cavalcaselle, when, perceiving the risk he had incurred, he crossed in the night to the right bank. Visconti, who had quitted Yalleggio, and taken a position to guard the bridges of Borghetto and Monzambano, was aware of the preparations that the enemy was making at Salionze. He therefore planted a battalion in front of that village, and placed a number of sharpshooters in ambush along the road. On the morning of the 24th, the enemy appeared in considerable force at Salionze and over against Monzambano, to give the appearance of intending to attack the last-named place ; and Sonnaz, not seeing through the trick, left one regi- ment at Ponti, and two battalions, with four guns, at Salionze, sent a detachment to Borghetto, and betook himself to Monzambano with the main body of his force. The Austrians, throwing a bridge across at Salionze, passed rapidly to the right bank, and over- threw all they met. The regiment at Ponti, in a fright, retired with other companies to Peschiera; and Sonnaz, thinking the Austrians were at Yalleggio, and that our troops had not yet reached Yillafranca, prudently retired to Yolta. The Austrians made no pursuit, satisfied with the occupation of Ponti, Mon- zambano, and then Valleggio. 278 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. On the 23rd, the King learned at Marmirolo the news of the battle and retreat of Rivoli, and of the conflicts continued, though with little bloodshed, for three days. He thought Radetzki meant only to crush Sonnaz, and, accordingly, planned to throw himself with a part of his force on that flank of the enemy which was opposed to him. He therefore left before Mantua the troops on the right bank, and car- ried those on the left to Villafranca, 22,000 in number, who arrived there on the night of the 23rd, Sonnaz being unaware of it. The brigade of Governolo could not arrive before a very late hour on the 25th : a few companies remained at Marmirolo and Roverbella. In a council of war held by the King on the 24th, the following plan of battle was decided on : that they should gain possession of Valleggio, Custoza, and Sommacampagna, in order then to throw them- selves on the Mincio, by means of a movement to the left, of which Valleggio was to be the pivot, in order to shut in against the river, or else drive over to the right bank, the whole army of the enemy, to cut it off from Verona, and then by a desperate battle to en- sure its destruction or surrender. General Bava was charged with the command. He did not make for Valleggio at once, as would have been proper : he sent 9000 men under the Duke of Savoy against Custoza, and 5000, flanked on the right by numerous cavalry, and under the Duke of Genoa's command, against Sommacampagna ; 5000 remained in reserve at aii intermediate spot, and 2000 at Villafranca, where was the whole baggage of the army. The Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 279 enemy, who was not looking out, gave ground, offer- ing, however, a keen resistance, at the opening of the valley of Staffolo ; and as he was not more than from 5000 to 6000 strong, he turned in disorder towards the main body of his army in the direction of Oliosi, leaving on the held from four to five hundred men, besides 1800 prisoners and two colours in our hands. Nor did Bava in this case make prompt use of his easy success, by attempting to win Valleggio. The King thought, that, on the next day, their good for- tune would be completed, and that, when Valleggio was won, the enemy would remain inclosed and broken. He sent orders to Sonnaz, to make a demon- stration next day from Volta, in order to facilitate that victory. Kadetzki was aware of his danger ; and in the night he shifted his front with marvellous expedi- tion, and brought up his left and centre against the Piedmontese, calling in the four brigades which were on the right bank, and also some troops from Verona : thus he made up a body of about 25,000 men. The King had not more than 20,000 or 30,000, including those of Sonnaz. 1'ava's plan was, to attack Valleggio with the troops held in reserve on the previous day ; combining this attack with the lateral movement of the columns of Custoza and Sommacampagna, and having 3000 or 4000 men in reserve at Yillafranca, which, in the event of ill success, would be a place of refuge, iiadetzki posted on the right the corps of \V rat is! aw, one division at Horghelto and \ alleggio, the other at S. Zeno and Fornclli ; on the left the T 4 280 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. corps of D'Aspre, between Custoza and Sommacam- pagna, reaching nearly to S. Giorgio ; the reserve, to form the centre and support the right, at S. Rocco and Olioso; the corps of Thurn in the rear, near Castelnuovo, to observe Peschiera. The bridge of Monzambano was guarded by two battalions, that of Salionze bv one. The Piedrnontese moved at nine in the morning against Valleggio, commanded by the King and by Bava. Bava, when he saw the numerous guns and troops planted on the slant of the hills, fearing to be taken in the flank, halted, and designed to confine himself to skirmishing at his outposts with his sharp- shooters and artillery, till the rest of the columns had advanced. But these hung back : and in the mean- time the enemy, having concentrated his whole force, directed an attack against Custoza and Sommacam- pagna, thus frustrating the design of the Piedrnontese, who, while they were attacking Valleggio, were them- selves attacked in those positions. The two sons of the King performed feats of the highest valour, and of rare presence of mind, in repulsing the assaults of the enemy. The Duke of Genoa, who had barely 4000 men, wisely concentrated them upon La Berettara, where he held his ground till evening, and three times running repulsed the Austrians with the bayonet. In the centre, the Duke of Savoy, who had a larger force, gained some ground : a brigade of his, which was supporting the left in its attack upon Valleggio, got possession of a neighbouring hill, and all but pierced into the village; the other made an intrepid Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 281 defence at Custoza. The King and Bava remained stationary in front of Valleggio with a small force, without calling in the reserve or sending it to aid the Princes, who urgently pressed for it. Badetzki, on his side, was defending Valleggio, and endeavouring to batter Custoza and La Berettara by direct attack ; under the idea, that our force was much greater than was really the case. At length D'Aspre, after un- heard-of efforts, and after having been repulsed with the bayonet several times, reached the table-land of Custoza. Then Bava gave orders to retreat ; and the centre, which had not been able to hold Custoza any longer, managed nevertheless to contest most coura- geously every foot of ground, so that the right and the left were enabled to retire without loss, and the artillery and horse so effectually obliged the enemy to keep his distance, that the retreat to Villafranca was accomplished in complete order by eight in the evening. The battle of Custoza cost Austria, the winner, 2000 killed and wounded, and Piedmont only 1 500 ; prisoners there were none on either side. The material loss was not serious ; but the Kino; found himself critically placed at Villafranca, since lie was separated from the base of his operations, almost wholly stripped of provisions and ammunition, and in front of an enemy both victorious and so greatly superior in numbers. Add, that his troops were exhausted, and discouraged by fatiguing and fruitless efforts. Hence it was requisite to repair forthwith to Goito; and this they did after midnight, passing by Iioverbella and Marmirolo, without Pa- 282 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. detzki's making any effort, as with so many troops, and fresh ones too, he should have done, either to close the pass, or to sweep down upon the right flank and rearguard. By mid-day, the Piedmontese had reached Goito with their whole army concen- trated, as Sonnaz and Yisconti had got there in the morning, while Ferrere and Perrone were before Mantua. The Austrians had passed the river at Valleggio, Monzambano, and Salionze, so that both the armies halted on the same line along the Mincio : the one from Peschiera to Yolta, and the other from Goito to Mantua, and each had a fortress at the farther extremity. Along the right bank of the Mincio, between Pes- chiera and Goito, is a chain of hills, culminating at Yolta, the point which commands the rest. Charles Albert, fearing that the Austrians would gather in strength at Yolta to assault it, desired Sonnaz, who had retired from it, to move on and take possession of it afresh, with the Division Bror/lia, and two bat- talions of Parmese. But the corps of General D'Aspre had a lodgment there. The day was approaching its close when our men gave the assault ; the brigade of Savoy, close packed on the left in attacking columns, mounted the slope resolutely under the murderous swoop of the enemy's cannon, and, reaching the table- land at the point of the bayonet, got possession of numerous houses. At the same time, the troops on the right, supported by a very heavy fire of artillery, charged up the heights that extended towards the river, won them, and penetrated, like the left, into the Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 283 village. But a few hundreds of Austrians, entrenched in the church, made a desperate resistance, against which every exertion of the Piedmontese was thrown away. The darkness of night, which now was dense, permitted no distinction between friend and foe, so that numerous mishaps occurred in that inextricable confusion. Sonnaz, after having in vain asked to be reinforced, retired, at one in the morning, to the foot of the hills. At dawn, when the Brigade Regina arrived, he returned to the assault, but the Imperialists, too, had on their side been reinforced, and it was impos- sible to penetrate them ; indeed, it became necessary to give way. Then the Austrian cavalry charged ; but ours, which had fought admirably in all the actions of this war, had here also the glory of repel- ling that of the enemy, which, having come too near a battery of cannon, was heavily hit and riddled by grape-shot. This battle of Yolta was hotter than any other: 2000 men at least, in equal moieties, remained dead or wounded on the field. It was a fruitless effusion of the blood of our men, already disheartened and exhausted, and one that immeasurably aggra- vated their despondency. The Lombard purveyors of provisions, who were in the camp, took to flight ; food began to fail; everyone feared that Radetzki, with his whole army, would break in. The King, with the advice of his Generals, proposed an armistice, offering to retire behind the Oglio ; but Radetzki replied, he would accept only on condition of the lung's retiring beyond the Adda, yielding all fortified places within that limit, abandoning the Duchies, and restoring his 284 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. prisoners. The King, indignant at such a proposal, decided on a retreat ; and, in the evening of the 27th, he took the road to Cremona. In any other sort of war, Charles Albert would have been able, from that point, to pass beyond the Po, and use it as a screen ; and, according to circumstances, either to hold his ground in the Duchies, or to throw himself afresh into Lombardy, or to re-enter Piedmont by its proper line of defence, that is, from Alessandria to Genoa, or from the Po to the sea. But political reasons and respects were always to prevail in that war of ours : accordingly, the King designed still to cover a part of Lombardy, and to defend Milan. From the Mincio to that city, he could not make head against the enemy at any one point. The Oglio was incapable of defence. The Adda might, indeed, have been defended awhile under cover of Pizzighet- tone and Lodi, but a division, which guarded the passage, allowed it to be surprised, and, being cut off from the bulk of the army, was forced to throw itself into Piacenza. In vain was an effort made to halt and fight at Lodi, for our men would not hold their ground, and it was necessary to continue the march to Milan, which they reached on the 3rd of August. The bulk of the enemy was still in good condition, but in front of it hurried thousands upon thousands of fugitives, who flung away their arms, and carried terror among the inhabitants both of town and country, so that they too fled in distress. History shows, that an army defeated on the Mincio, or towards the Ticino, lias hardly ever been able to make head Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 285 in Lombardy. So it was this time also. Milan bad little of victuals, and less of ammunition ; the ground about it had not been cleared of numerous obstruc- tions to the defence. A few trenches had barely been dug on the bastions, and towards the Piazza cV Arme. The six or seven thousand troops who had been there, raw conscripts, had gone with Garibaldi to defend Brescia and the environs ; yet part of the National Guard and of the people panted for battle. Under the walls of Milan, the Piedmontese army was reduced to 25,000 men, having diminished by one half in seven days, for one division, with the great park of artillery, had, as I have said, crossed the Po, and 15,000 fugitives ran for their lives by the roads to the Po and the Ticino. Radetzki had left 3000 men at Cremona, and had dispatched 10,000 to Pavia. These might at any instant join the 35,000 whom, on the morning of the 4th of August, he brought before Milan, with the intention of either shutting up the King in the city, or compelling him to continue his retreat. The Piedmontese were placed in order of battle before the city, in a curved line, at ten or fifteen furlongs' distance from it. The engagement began at ten, and was well contested on both sides, until the Austrians, having broken the Piedmontese line, charged some battalions in flank, took six cannon, and obliged our men to retreat towards the city. The Piedmontese had, however, fought gallantly, and the most resolute of the citizens of Milan had like- wise shown courage and intrepidity in the highest 286 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. degree. The bells rang the alarm, barricades were erected ; there was every appearance of preparing for a desperate defence. But when the army was seen driven back upon the city, the courage of the greater part gave way. A place not very strong always, in modern wars, falls, after a short time, into the hands of an enemy, if he is in force and resolved to win it, at whatever cost, by fire and sword, and if it does not possess an army able to keep him at arms' length. But our army was already beaten, so that nothing remained but to expose it, and the city with it, to utter annihilation ; that is to say, to lose the sole nucleus of strength for Italy, without saving Milan. A formidable host of 45,000 foes, drunken with victory and revenue, were panting to chastise the rebellious city. The King designed to save it, by offering to the Marshal to give it up, and retire upon the Ticino. The Marshal assented ; allowing two days for the retreat, and one for those of the Milanese, who might wish it, to depart ; he also promised to respect property and persons. On the morning of the 5th, the arrangement was known in Milan, and a fierce tumult arose, such that the very skies rang with the shouts of treachery ; such as gave the republicans, and the partisans of Radetzki, admirable opportunity for inflaming the public mind, and stirring up the high-spirited youth and the daring commonalty against the Kino;: such as showed that those in power at Vienna were right, when they affirmed, that dangers far more serious than any from the Austrian army overhung Charles Albert. For the rioters, Chap. XII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 287 surrounding the palace of the King, and cursing him for a traitor, designed to obstruct his egress. Torn in spirit by such a spectacle, and likewise moved by the complaints of the Municipality, Charles Albert can- celled the agreement, and told the Milanese, that if they determined to die beneath the ruins of their city, he too would bury himself with them. But the Municipal Magistrates faltered, and decided on send- ing to Radetzki a request to maintain the agreement. It was then arranged, that the Austrians should enter the next day, the 6th of August, at noon. The rioters, who wished to obstruct the King's departure, grew hotter in their passion, pillaged and overturned his carriages, tried to pierce into the palace and set fire to it, fired musketry against the windows, and obliged him to wait for night in order to c;et out, and further, to have some companies of infantry to clear the way. Amidst the darkness, the roar of bells, and musket-shots, the King escaped the rage of the maniacs that menaced his life. That gang, which tried the long-suffering of God by such an enormity, deserves the brand of infamy, whether it were com- posed of the offspring of the republican sects, or of the hirelings of Austria. But what brand can be deep enough for men that, in such extremities of van- quished Italy, drew upon her God's malediction, by aiming Italian arms at the breasts of brothers, who had entered Lombardy to shed their blood for the common liberty, and by hunting out for slaughter the very first monarch, as God is witness ! that, in the round of centuries, had offered up to our unhappy 288 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. country the holocaust of his life, his fame, his throne, his children ? It is to be hoped that no party, no sect, was responsible for any deliberate contrivance of such outrages ; and that, for the less disgrace of Italy, the}^ may be imputed to the blind fury of the scum of men without a name, assorted together by terror, by the enemy's gold, by cupidity ; such dregs as are common to all nations. On the 6th of August, at noon, Radetzki entered Milan ; and, on the 9th, an armistice was concluded, which was named after Salasco, head of the Staff. The terms were these. The ancient frontier between Piedmont and Lombardy was to delimit the two armies. The Piedmontese were to abandon Peschiera, Rocca d' Anfo, and Osopo, and the city and territory of Venice, as well as the Duchies. The Sardinian ileet was to leave the Adriatic. I shall hereafter follow up this train of events ; for the present I re- sume the narrative of Roman affairs. Chap. XIII. ] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 289 CHAP. XIII. STATE OF AFFAIRS IN ROME. — THE PROVINCES. — BOLOGNA. — PELLEGRINO ROSSI. HIS FRUITLESS EFFORTS TO CONSTRUCT A MINISTRY. POPULAR DEMONSTRATION AT MAMIANl's HOUSE. LICIITENSTEIN AT FERRARA. — COMMOTION AT ROME. THE POPE'S PROTESTATION SET OUT. — DEBATE IN THE COUNCIL OF DEPUTIES. ADDRESS OF THE COUNCIL OF DEPUTIES TO THE POrE. ADDRESS OF THE HIGH COUNCIL. — PETITION OF THE CLUBS, AND DISTURBANCE. DEBATE. INCIDENTS. ANSWER OF THE POPE TO THE SPEECH OF THE DEPUTIES. HIS ANSWER TO THE HIGH COUNCIL. — PUBLIC EXCITEMENT ON RECEIVING THE ILL NEWS OF THE SARDINIAN ARMY. REPRESENTATION OF THE DEPUTIES TO THE POPE. INSULTS OFFERED TO THE PRESIDENT SERENI. HIS RESIGNATION AND DEPARTURE. PROPOSALS OF THE COUNCIL OF DEPUTIES. — CLOSE OF THE MAMIANI MINISTRY. PROCLAMATION BY THE POPE. REMARKS. NEW MINISTRY. NOTICES OF MAMIANl's INTENTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS. The disagreements of the Ministers with the Pope, the intrigues of faction, the universal feebleness of minds and timidity of consciences, with which the subjects of the Pope were troubled during the year 1848, had brought public affairs to sucli a pass, that, while there certainly were at Pome partisans of the Pope, and partisans of Mamiani, there was no genuine party for a genuine constitutional government by the Pope. Even in Parliament, many sincere constitu- tionalists clung closely to Mamiani, because they thought him the only man who, at that juncture, could and would employ his credit with the people for the purpose of curbing their menacing passions. VOL. II. u 290 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Others wished, that the Ministry could be arranged so as to meet the Pope's views, yet respected in Mamiani the name and authority of Government. Some in each Council sided openly with the Sove- reign, disliking Mamiani and his ways of governing, yet shy of bringing any charge against him. Mean- time, both Clubs and War-Committees gained strength as the Government lost it ; nor could Mamiani, who had favoured them as a private person, controul them as a Minister. The Statute did not authorise such associations ; so the mere fact of their existence im- plied disparagement to the law ; to the law, which is the prime foundation of all liberty, of all civilised government. Nor can a people void of the discipline of long-established habits of freedom, obtain their training to it from such societies, in which it readily happens, that the person of the worst intentions and the hottest passions enjoys the greatest authority. In the Provinces, too, Clubs, the copy or offspring of that of " the People" at Pome, began to govern. After the capitulation of Yicenza, the volunteers, un- steady from their want of discipline, were disbanded by Durando and by the Commissioner Canuti. In the cities to which they repaired, the sources and occasions of discord were multiplied, which Mamiani in vain endeavoured to meet by sending Pepoli as Commissioner. Add, that some Provinces were more than ever infested by political assassinations, which were perpetrated in plain mid-day, with singular audacity, at Ravenna, Faenza, Pesaro, and Fano, and yet more at Imola, Sinigaglia, and Ancona : nor did Ciiap. XIII.J THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 291 the authorities dare to arrest the murderers, nor the citizens to denounce, nor the magistrates to convict them. Bologna was the city which, thanks to the wise and honest government of Cardinal Amat, and to the good sense of its inhabitants, preserved most of calm and order, and appeared to be resolved, that the agitators should not molest her. It was rumoured that the hotter republicans were to meet there, per- haps including Mazzini. On this account the Minis- ter of Police wrote from Rome enjoining strictness ; and so it happened, that a handful of people set to scouring the city, with imprecations on republicans, and very sour looks at those citizens who were consi- dered partisans of such opinions. A vile method, that of encountering by actual scandals other scan- dals that exist in anticipation only. At that juncture it occurred to a certain person, that the paralysed Government might be invigorated by the distinguished name and the wise exertions of Pellegrino Rossi. Since the creators of the repub- lican Paradise of February had stripped him of every employment, he had resided in Rome as a private individual : liberal of his advice to the Ministry of the 10th of March, to the Duke of Rignano, his intimate friend, and to as many Deputies and Magistrates as consulted him. The people of Carrara, his fellow- townsmen, elected him Deputy to the Tuscan Par- liament. Giobcrti wished him to have citizenship, honours, and a scat in the legislative assemblies of Upper Italy. The Roman Constitutionalists were de- sirous that he should fix his abode in Rome. At that 292 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. time, Rossi had sent to the press certain letters on politics, in which, with profound knowledge, he dis- cussed the affairs of Italy, and the recent circum- stances of France and of Germany ; but, having accepted the commission to form a Ministry in Rome, he stopped the publication. He undertook that charge with reluctance. He told his friends, who urged it on him, they should reflect, that he had lived long out of Italy, had no knowledge of persons, and was con- scious of being in bad odour with the popular party. He suggested to the Pope the propriety of considering, whether he was not probably odious to the Court, on account of his previous employments, and of his writ- ings; that some would, perhaps, look more than coldly on a Minister of the Pope who had married a Protes- tant wife ; and that the French Republic might be displeased at his getting an high post in Rome. But as the Pope persisted in pressing him, Pellegrino Rossi set about forming a Ministry, with these views : to take for colleagues men of temperate opinions, but genuine appreciators and favourers of the liberal system ; to carry into effect and construe the Statute, in all its parts, according to constitutional doctrine and usage ; to counteract and repress both the parties opposed to the Statute ; to abolish exemptions, restore the finances, and reorganise the army ; to conclude a league with Piedmont and Tuscany, even should it be impossible with Naples ; to fix the contingent of troops the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any other respect mix in the war. He sought for his colleagues in the Ministry, Minghetti, Recchi, Ciiap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 293 Pasolini, and others of that party, but did not gain his end : his communications with them transpired, and murmurs began. Mediocrity took umbrage at his wisdom ; the lovers of disorder dreaded his strict- ness ; the unbridled hated one who could curb them. From murmurs men advanced to calumny, from calumny to menaces, and those not covert, but in the Clubs and open streets. One day Sterbini, in the presence of many Deputies, broke into violent lan- guage, and declared, that if the ex-minister of Louis Philippe, and friend of Guizot, dared to make his ap- pearance in Parliament as Minister of the Pope, he would be stoned. In point of fact, not on account of these threats, which could not sway his intrepid mind, but on account of some hesitation in the Pope, and of his failing to get the associates he desired, Pelle- grino Rossi at that time resigned the charge he had undertaken ; and Mamiani still continued in office. It was now that those who were, or feigned themselves to be, friends of Mamiani, paid him a tribute of noisy honour, by conducting a band of the people to cheer him at his house, as at other times they did at the Quirinal. The cheers for Mamiani alternated with abuse of the priests, at which the Pope was deeply annoyed, especially because that day was the anniver- sary of the commemoration of the amnesty. At this time, as though the Papal States had not miseries enough, that scourge, with which God is wont to punish our vices and our quarrels, descended upon us at Fcrrara ; 1 refer to the same Austrian corps under Lichtenstein, which 1 mentioned in the pre- 294 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III- ceding chapter. Count Francesco Lovatelli had re- cently taken the place of Cardinal Ciacchi in the Ferrara Legation ; leaving in the government of Ra- venna Count Francesco Manzoni, a distinguished per- son, whom both the Pope and the Ministry trusted. "When Lichtenstein had reached Ferrara, he asked the Pro-Legate to victual the fortress at the public charge, and to let the city supply his troops with all necessaries, unless they wished to have them taken by force. Lovatelli made a fitting remonstrance ; but, under constraint, and with the proper protests, he gave the provisions, and the Austrian retired, as Radetzki had bid him, beyond the Po. The intelli- gence of this entry of the Austrians roused the Pro- vinces near at hand, then by degrees the remote ones, and lastly Pome, which it reached on the 17th. The Pope, enraged, gave orders to Cardinal Soglia, his Secretary of State, to remonstrate against this violence before all the Courts of Europe. While the protest was in preparation, and the Pope was manifesting to his admirers and friends the trouble that the events of Ferrara caused him, while Rome, too, was in- dignant and exasperated against the Austrians, some courtiers and functionaries of the Secretary of State's office gave evident tokens of their joy. There was one, who did not scruple to say, it was strange that Rome should complain of the Austrians, as they were her best friends. The Pope had news of this mad language from a trustworthy person, and com- plained of it, yet would not have the persons punished, who, by speeches and proceedings opposed to the Chap. XIII.] TIIE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 295 liberal system, gave grounds of discontent and mis- trust to the public, and aggravated its distempered humours. The Protest was framed, and approved by the Pope, in these terms : — " After our Lord's Holiness, with the unbounded affection in which he has repeatedly declared that he embraces all Christian nations, amidst the general commotion of Europe, and the cries and acts of war throughout Italy inflamed by the spirit of nationality, had, in disregard of personal relations and interests, protested that he would not make war at that moment and under those circumstances : and after he had dis- patched a Legate to His Sardinian Majesty, and to the Aus- trian Court, with an aim worthy of his Supreme Priesthood, His Holiness began to harbour in his heart the hope of an early peace. But lie has this day learned, with great surprise and profound regret, that the Austrian troops, after having on the previous days impeded the navigation and passage of the Po, made attempts on the life and liberty of some of the Pope's boatmen, and seized the boats, passed the Po on the night of the 13th current: and that they have, without any notice given, violated the integrity of the territory of the Church. " This manifest invasion of rights, of which His Holiness is the jealous guardian, has been followed by acts of open hostility and enmity. For the Major of the fourth regiment of Austrian Dragoons, in the name of the Prince of Lichtcn- stein, has threatened the inhabitants of Lagoscuro with firing the place at four points, in case of resistance. Again, the Austrian troops, from six to seven thousand strong, invaded the States of the Holy See at three points, in military array ; occupied Ponte-Lagoscuro and Francolino; and, finally, ad- vanced, in the afternoon, as far as the hindormost esplanade of the Pontifical fortress of Ferrara. When they had arrived there, their acts of violence assumed a more serious charac- ter, and were directed against the chief representative of our v 4 296 PROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book. Ill* Government in that Province. The Prince of Lichtenstein required him, by military requisition, to supply provisions, and to be in readiness to furnish whatever else might be asked, giving him to understand, that if, according to his duty, he should resist, further acts of hostility would follow. And every one may know to what point violence was carried, from the terms of the following paragraph of the letter of Prince Lichtenstein, here textually transcribed : " ' To Count Lovatelli, Pro-Legate of the City of Ferrara. " ' After the refusal you have sent me to lend yourself to supplying me with two months' provisions for the Citadel, I find myself under the necessity of declaring, that I am still waiting for your final answer on the point; having made arrangements, in case of denial, for recourse to coercive measures in order to obtain my end, by using all the means at my disposal. " ' Lichtenstein.' " ' Ferrara, July 14. (Midnight.) ' " By reason of these acts, in flagrant violation of the legi- timate rights of the Holy See, His Holiness has already ordered a solemn protest to be made to the Austrian Court, in legal manner and form ; and to be communicated to all the Governments : and reserves it to himself to take every mea- sure which, according to circumstances, he may deem season- able and effective for the safe-keeping and independence of the Pontifical States. " After these declarations, which I make to your Excel- lency by express order of our Lord's Holiness, I count upon your conveying them to your Court; and meanwhile, with sentiments of distinguished consideration, I subscribe my- self, &c. " Giovanni Card. Soglia Ceroni." "Rome, July 18. 1848." On the same day, Mamiani made the Chamber of Deputies acquainted with the events of Ferrara, and Chap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 297 the Protest of the Pope ; and announced that the Ministers, who had already several times tendered their resignations, had urgently entreated the Holy Father either to grant their discharge, or else to arrange for their regular tenure of power. The Prince of Canino, according to his wont, began the debate, and in his wonted language, proposing that the Deputies should declare the State to be in peril, and their own sittings permanent, should request the Pope to proclaim Avar, to give out the crusade, and to convoke the Diet of Italy in Rome. Montanari proposed a message, with assurances of devotion, and encouragements to resist the invasion. Sterbini fed the flame: one Marcosanti, who was among the Secretaries, accustomed to babble trash, in order to let it be seen that he was at least as liberal as Canino, talked about a threatened in- vasion from Naples ; Borsari, and Mayr, of Ferrara, took up the cause of the defence of their city, and the idea of the message to the Sovereign. At length a Committee was appointed to frame an answer ; composed of Sereni, Montanari, Borsari, Sterbini, Bonaparte, and the Author. The Address framed by this Committee, and approved by the Council, was as follows : " Most Blessed Father : " The Council of Deputies unanimously tenders to Your Holiness the assurance of its gratitude for the care You have taken to order a solemn protest against the invasion, by the Austrian troops, of the territory of the Church. As Ca- tholics and Italians, the Deputies boil with pious indignation at such an outrage: as representatives of the people, they tender to You its heart and arm, which are the strength of 298 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. nations. They call to mind the crimes perpetrated in every age by the Imperialists against the Holy See, the ancient and the recent mutilations of Italy, that can no longer be a slave, now that You, O Holy Father, have given her your bene- diction. With the reverent affection of children, they implore and conjure You to provide that your Government shall, without delay, wield both offensive and defensive arms, and unite in a durable alliance with those Sovereigns who are worthy to reign over Italians, inasmuch as they are combatants for Italian independence. Thus bound by indissoluble ties to Your Holiness, in whose name Italy is resuming her primacy, and the world renewing its face, we are ready for the last sacrifices in defence of your and of our own imprescriptible rights, those of the Church, the people, the nation. Call down afresh on Italy and on us, O Holy Father, the bene- diction of God ; and utter the omnipotent word, which beats down the oppressor, and raises the oppressed. This the Council of Deputies, prostrate to kiss your sacred foot, expects with confidence." The High Council likewise appointed Monsignor Corboli, Count Mastai, Prince Odescalclii, Monsignor Gnoli, and Count Strozzi, to compile an Address to the Pope. It ran as follows : " Most Blessed Father : " It is the duty of every faithful subject and good citizen, in the paramount exigencies of his country, not only to be in readiness for, but spontaneously to expose himself to every sacrifice, which may be required for the safe-keeping and well-being of the public interest, and for the independence of the nation. Hence, no sooner had the protest of the Secretary of State to Your Holiness, against the hostile acts of the Imperial force at Fcrrara, sounded in our ears, than the High Council was profoundly sensible of its obli- gation to be second to none in tendering to Your Holiness the expression of its gratitude for the anxious care You have Ciiap.XIIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 299 taken to defend the integrity and security of the States of the Church. At the same time, with a view to every mea- sure requisite to render your cares and your protestations \ effectual, we place in the hands of Your Holiness the heart and the will of all your subjects. To them the sacrifice of their property and life will be so much the more acceptable, inasmuch as the gratitude we all feel towards the Sovereign who governs, and our devotion to the Father that blesses us, adds a delightful stimulus to the permanent force of duty. Our hope is in the justice of the cause, which will be so much the plainer to the world, as Your Holiness has been more constant in seeking peace for Italy by every mode worthy of the August Head of the Church. Justice, which has its strength from God, is unconquerable by all human violence. In the breasts of Italians, that flame will mount the higher, which was kindled a year ago by similar events ; and thus the defensive League of the Italian States, will no longer be an aspiration, but a most brilliant fact." The Parliament was assiduous in promoting calm; but its design was marred by men, who arrogated to themselves the guardianship of the public, and in whose persons, forsooth, the people, the State, and Italy, centred, and were incarnate. They consi- dered, that the Parliament ought to be an assembly auxiliary to their irresponsible assemblies, called the Clubs. When Pome was astir about the Austrian invasion, it was not enough for them that the Coun- cils should address the Prince in the language of free- dom and of courage ; that the Prince should publicly protest and complain ; that the Government should strain every nerve in preparations for defence. They also were Princes of the Clubs, and wanted to rouse the passions of the people, whereby they both wounded the 300 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. majesty of Parliament and of their Sovereign, and ag- gravated the malady of the State. On the 19th, they presented to the President of the Council of Deputies a petition, in which they asked that the country might be declared in danger, the people put in arms, and war with Austria proclaimed. The President apprised the assembled Deputies ; and, in becoming language, announced that he had sent the petition to the regu- lar Committee, in order that it might report and pronounce upon it, according to rule and practice. But the Prince of Canino wanted them to set aside both, and to discuss it forthwith ; and in this sense he was haranguing, when a loud cry to arms was heard in the piazza beneath : and at the same time the lobbies, the stairs, and the galleries of the palace, were filled with people demanding arms. The President covered himself, and suspended the sitting: then after a short interval, when the disorder was apparently composed, he reopened it; and the Prince of Canino returned to the charge, but without avail. The Deputies were intent on the debate about the regulations for the moveable Civic Guard, when Sterbini, having asked and obtained leave to speak, said, that grave events were happening in the city, that the proper thing was, to give satisfaction to the people. The Duke of Rignano, a Minister, subjoined, that a part of the Civic Guard was in uproar, seeking to occupy the gates and Castle of St. Angelo, but that the Government had given proper directions for securing public order. Montanari proposed to summon the Minister of Police to the Council: the sitting was Chap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 301 declared permanent, and meanwhile was suspended afresh, until Galletti, having arrived, mounted the tribune, and began by saying, " that the people of Rome and the Civic Guard could not commit excess:" true, the Civic Guard wanted to occupy the castle and the gates, but in this there was no danger, be- cause that force " was the palladium of our liberties ;" and all tumult was at an end. He concluded by affirming, that he was aware the people were as- sembling to petition, and that, as Minister of Police, he had not interfered, because he thought they were entitled to do it ; while, on the other hand, the acci- dent, which had broken off the sitting, was of such small moment as not to deserve mention. I wanted to get an explanation of this language, so extraordi- nary for a Minister of Police, and to demand an inquiry ; but the audience in the public galleries, and Canino, with Sterbini, Potenziani, and Marco- santi, repeatedly interrupted my speech, some of them by their cries, the others by declaring, that the people " had behaved sublimely," that no violence had been committed, and that I had no reason to complain. So I was hardly permitted to express my opinion, and claim for Parliament its freedom. The day after, when Prince Doria, the Minister of War, spoke of a Commission appointed to reorganise the army, and pronounced the name of General Durando, who had a seat in it, Livio Mariani spoke scurrilously of the General. Pantaleoni, a frank and generous per- son, mounted the tribune to defend the fame of a gal- lant soldier, in his absence, from groundless reproach, 302 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. but was prevented by shouts and hisses from pro- ceeding with his speech. Thus it was that our Club and street rulers understood and practised freedom ! The Pope replied to the Address of the Deputies in the following words : " The Holy See has ever had at heart the defence of the rights of its temporal dominions ; and the august Pontiffs, whom We have unworthily succeeded, have given repeated proofs of their firmness on this point. We therefore have thought it our duty to follow their examples, and this is the second time that we have made public our sentiments re- specting the occurrences of Ferrara. On the first protest " [the Pope here alluded to the events at Ferrara in 1847] " full justice was done Us, by the absolute resumption of the statu quo. And We flatter ourselves it will be done Us again, however widely different be the circumstances. The tidings, indeed, which reach Us, certify that the Austrian force has already evacuated the town. At any rate, We take pleasure in assuring you, that We are disposed to give all the direc- tions necessary for maintaining the right of defence ; which We have never thought of resigning, but, on the contrary, We declare that We desire, and will uphold, its inviolability. " We receive with gratitude, on this fresh occasion, the sentiments that you express, as well as the proffers you make, which tend the better to secure the rights before-mentioned. " In the meantime, We repeat our humble prayers to God, that He will avert from Italy every calamity, and, bringing our minds into unison upon her true interests, will cause lleligion and peace, the sole sources of solid felicity, to flourish here as on a favoured soil." To the High Council the Pope replied thus : " The events which have recently occurred in Ferrara, have promptly attracted our attention, with a view to the measures required by our duty, to secure the temporal domi- Chap. XIII.] T1IE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 303 nions of this Holy See. By applauding the justness of this proceeding, and by the words you employ to testify your gratitude, you impart a solace to our heart. The defence of these temporal dominions against all manner of violation, must ever be a right, which We solemnly declare our inten- tion to exercise in all fitting modes j and We accept with sincere acknowledgments the tenders that you make to Us, to enable Us the better to secure them. On this occasion, as on others, We pray for the prosperity of Italy, entreating from God His benediction, that He may keep her from every calamity, and continue His peculiar love to her, by maintain- ing the chair of His eternal truths at her centre, and the practice of them throughout all her borders." The circumstances, which I have thus far been de- tailing, suffice to explain the causes which prevented the deliberative assemblies of Rome from applying to any legislative work of importance, or giving stability to the new system. Meanwhile, the causes of public disquiet still continued, nay increased. The first news that came to Rome of the actions called by the name of Custoza, were happy rumours of a signal victory, for which the bell of the Capitol rung merrily when night arrived, and the city was turned upside down by the sudden access of joy. Rut when, shortly after, the truth was known, the public mind, oppressed with grief, became absorbed in the idea of the unfortunate war, and on the means of raising the fortunes of Italy by the mode in which they had fallen, that is to say, by arms. On the 1st of August, the Council of Deputies re- solved to send its messengers to the Pope, with a petition framed by a Committee, which was com- posed of Sereni as President, Count Cuarini of F01T1, 304 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. who had moved for it, Borsari, Montanari, Sterbini, Canino, and the Author. The representation was in these terms : " Most Blessed Father : " In the straits of our country, the Council of Deputies has recourse to Your Blessedness, in whose name Italy sprang up to defend her rights of nationality, consecrated by the divine words which You addressed to the Potentate that wrongfully seeks to found his sway on the sword alone. " The independence of no Italian State can be secure, if all Italy be not independent. Whether to be, or not to be, Italians, that is now the question for us: and for You, O Sovereign ! whether to rule a free people, or with us to be slaves to the stranger : for you, O Pontiff ! whether to defend the possessions of the Church, whose venerable head You are. The Council of Deputies desires to defend resolutely to the last all the rights of the Church, the people, the Nation. O Holy Father ! confide, confide in the representatives of your people, chosen under the law You yourself have enacted : confide in our Religion, in the love we bear You, which is itself a religion ; succour us, succour Italy, in the name of God! " We deem it necessary to call to arms an adequate number of volunteers, to put the Civic Guards into motion, to enlist a foreign legion beneath the banners of Your Holiness, and to supply the treasury of the State with extraordinary funds. We are resolutely set upon every sacrifice, in the determina- tion to save the State, with glory for You, independence for Italy, honour for all. We seek also to preserve the State from intestine quarrels and ill-omened convulsions, which menace us, unless we direct aright the popular enthusiasm, and unless You shall strengthen our authority by yours. " Oh ! listen, most Blessed Father, to the voice of your devoted sons : oh ! let it not be, that, in the reign of Pius IX., the recollection of a disaster to the Italian army, should weio-li upon our consciences with remorse." Chap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 305 The Pope received the Deputies the same evening, and told them their demands were matters of serious moment : it would be well to take time for delibera- tion : they should act in concert with the High Coun- cil : their instances did not displease him, but he must have time to mature his intentions. The Deputies returned from the Quirinal to the Palace of the Can- cetteria, where a noisy crowd, stopping the carriage of the President, demanded of him information about the Pope's decision, with abusive language and violent demeanour, which affected him with such indignation and grief, that at night he quitted Rome and resigned his office ; nor did the representations of the Council avail to alter his purpose. Next day, the Vice-President, Sturbinetti, gave an account of the Pope's words ; and the Council adopted the following resolutions : to send an envoy to every Italian Parliament, who should study means of pro- viding in concert for the safety of Italy, and should promote and favour alliances with the free nations; to invite a foreign legion, and an able commander, to the defence of the State and of Italian independence, under the Papal flag; to put in motion the Civic Guards, for the benefit of public order and of inde- pendence ; to take into pay as many volunteers as possible. The following ones were taken into con- sideration, and referred back for examination in the sections. To create Treasury bonds, secured on Papal property, for 1,000,000 crowns, and for another mil- lion on the residue of the price still due to the State from the subsequent purchasers of the estates, that the VOL. II. x 30 G FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. State had itself purchased, in the reign of Gregory, from Beauharnais, forming that appanage of which I have already spoken : to impose a forced loan of 40 per cent, on the interest of all registered mortgage, debts, payable in moieties at two and four months, and ex- changeable for consolidated stock at the market price. The Ministry was completely dissolved on the 2nd of August, after having for a long time been next thing to it. A few days before, it seemed to have ac- quired firmness ; for Mamiani had told the Council of Deputies of the Pope's having come to an understand- ing with him, and the reason why the Department of War had undergone a change by the substitution of Count Campello of Spoleto for Prince Doria. But on the 3rd of August, the following Proclamation by the Pope was posted in Pome : " Pius Papa IX. " The agitation, caused by the chequered train of recent events, which at this time has taken possession of the public mind, urgently requires to be, so far as in Us lies, allayed, by a revival of security and confidence. The Ministry, which had long given notice to retire, has to-day pressed anew for its definitive discharge. As this state of things could not con- tinue, Count Odoardo Fabbri, Pro-Legate of Urbino and Pesaro, has been summoned by Us, and has arrived in Home : he will form part of the new ministerial combination. This solicitude of ours ought to revive, in the minds of all good men, that confidence, which will be further confirmed by such provident measures as the Ministry itself may think proper to adopt. " In the meantime, some lament that the necessary steps towards reparation, in regard to the events at and near Fcr- rara, have not yet been taken : whereas AVe without delay Cn.vr. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 307 have made known our sentiments through the medium of our Cardinal Secretary of State, and have repeated them at Vienna. We have already said, and now once more say, it is our will, that the integrity of our State be defended, for which purpose We duly authorised the late Ministry to make provision. " For the rest, it is too true, that in all times and in all Governments, extrinsic dangers are turned to account by the enemies of order and of public tranquillity, so as to disturb the minds and hearts of the citizens, which We would have at all times, but now more especially, united and accordant. God, however, keeps watch over Italy, over this State, the Church, and the City ; He entrusts their immediate care to the great Protectress of Rome, Most Holy Mary, and to the Princes of the Apostles : and however more than one sacri- lege may have polluted the Capital of the Catholic world, our trust is undiminished, that the prayers of the Church will rise in the sight of God, to draw down the benedictions which may confirm the good, and reclaim His enemies to the paths of honour and of justice. " Given in Home, at S. Maria Maggiore, under the ring of the Fisherman, on the 2nd of August, 1848, in the third year of Our Pontificate. " Pius PP. IX." It was certainly far from conformable to constitu- tional doctrines and usages, that the Sovereign, him- self inviolable and irresponsible, should not only hold arguments in public on the acts of his Government, but should almost descend into polemics with their oppo- nents. But nothing strange in itself could be strange in that singular Sovereignty, singular Government, and most of all singular period. The Prince addressed the people, just as if he were still their absolute ruler, nor did he do it only in the capacity of Prince, but in 308 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. that of Pontiff too, when he alluded to the sacrileges perpetrated, and dedicated Italy, the State, and Rome, to God, the Virgin, and the Apostles. The sacrileges in question were these. A Roman legion returned from Vicenza under Colonel Galletti of Rome, after the death of Del Grande ; and on reaching the capital, it took up its quarters, by main force, in the College of the Gesu. Also a priest named Ximenes, a youth of good character, and a writer in the Labaro, had been wickedly murdered, not because he was anti-liberal, for, on the contrary, he was one of the Liberal priests, but because they said, that in some article of that journal he had censured with bitterness the Captain of the people for one of the quarters of Rome. Lastly, another priest had been wounded, and not a few more insulted, in the days of excitement. The present lan- guage of the Pope exasperated the turbulent, rather than softened them ; whence it happened that his Proclamation was torn down, and complaints ran high both in the Clubs and in the streets. The new Ministry was composed of Cardinal Soglia, President, Minister of Foreign Affairs, both eccle- siastical and secular : Count Odoardo Fabbri of Ce- sena, Minister of the Interior : Count Lauro Lauri of Macerata, Minister of Finance : Professor Pasquale de Rossi, Minister of Grace and Justice : Count Pietro Guerrini of Forli, Minister of Public Works, and pro- visionally of Industry and Commerce : and Count Campello, Minister of War. Galletti was absent from Rome : the Assessor, Francesco Perfetti, was ap- pointed to discharge his duties till his return. Odo- Chap. XIII. ] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 309 ardo Fabbri, whom I have already had to name with honour in these pages, had gained reputation as a model of firmness in the government of Pesaro, and in this way had acquired the public esteem and the attachment of the Pope. But he had turned seventy, and was weak in health ; nor had he any experience of the ways of steering States. As one strong in his virtues, and in the constancy of his love to freedom and to Italy, devoted, too, to Pius IX., as the Prince who had conferred liberty, and the Pontiff who had pronounced his blessing on Italy, Odoardo Fabbri consecrated to Pius IX., to liberty, and to Italy, a heart glowing with affection, an untainted name, an ardent mind, an upright will, and the residue of his days. Count Lauro Lauri, first a Member of the Consalta, then a Deputy, was a man of tried rectitude and of moderate Liberal opinions, a student of the physical, more than of the economical sciences. Count Guerrini was justly prized in his own country, for virtues both public and private. Campello, a well- known Liberal since 1831, had cheaply acquired the name of skill in military matters, from a set of regu- lations which, when in the Comulta, he had framed for the army. Of the honourable De Possi I have spoken elsewhere. This was the Ministry, which succeeded the one called after Mamiani. The Ministry of Mamiani, as to Italian politics, had incessantly prosecuted the idea of forming the League, and had held constant correspondence with the Piedmontese and Tuscan Governments, while it studied how to arrange and to concert with that of x 3 310 TROM THE PROMULGATION OE [Book III. Naples also. The Piedmontese Government was slow and cold in this correspondence ; but, near the end of his administration, Mamiani announced to the Council, that they were in a condition to conclude the League, which the Tuscan Government had never ceased to favour. In vain Mamiani strove, by making use of his long-established friendship with Bozzelli, to draw the Neapolitan Ministry into the Italian Union. Mamiani wished for the League, and for the Fede- ration ; nay, he was so averse to the speculations and designs of the Unitarians, that he disliked all unions unless natural and spontaneous. At the same time, he was so warm in the sentiment of nationality, that he could not bear entertaining the idea of any peace whatever, unless the whole soil of Italy were first cleared of the stranger. For this some found fault with him, being of opinion, that a statesman ought not to be ruled by feeling or by abstract ideas, but ought to accommodate both the one and the other to the consideration of what is feasible, and to the actual juncture. In regard to foreign nations, Mamiani thought, that Italy might indeed seek alliance and maintain friendship with those of them who are free, but should rely overmuch on none. Xor did he an- ticipate aid from France, on which so many laid the foundations of their hope ; nor, even if obtained, did he think it would be conducive to the true freedom and independence of Italy. In regard to the Popedom, Mamiani thought that it required some reform within the sphere of Ecclesiastical discipline, but he had no sort of intention to employ the power of his mind, or Chap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 311 his authority, in stirring any such unseasonable questions. But as far as regarded the temporal sphere of the Popedom, he thought, as I have already inti- mated, that it should be radically changed, so as to se- parate fully the two authorities residing in the single person of the Pontiff, and let him wield the spiritual one in plenary independence with the College of his Cardinals, but commit to the laity all temporal affairs, administration and policy to the Ministers and Par- liament ; keeping for himself, as Pontiff-Sovereign, only that authority, which in the most purely constitutional monarchies is exercised by the Prince. Mamiani wished ample freedom to be given to the municipalities, the press, and associations ; perhaps more ample, in some points, than was suitable to a people used to living under restraint. He thought the question of public instruction, which in every nation is found so difficult to arrange harmoniously with the Catholic Clergy, might be adjusted in Rome on a basis of compromise, by allowing to the municipalities liberty to support their schools ; to competent and respectable citizens of all classes, liberty to teach ; and to the Church religious instruction, and the charge of moral training. J n a word, the ideas and intentions of Mamiani were not essentially at variance with those accepted among such persons as in Italy had the name of moderation ; unless in so far as Mamiani, being a man rather of* deep study than of experience, was too thorough and absolute in his system. He, however, studied every mode of acquiring the Pope's love and esteem, short of truckling in his will or debasing his understanding, s 4 312 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. but did not succeed in his aim : and every way, too, of keeping in the good graces of the people, but per- haps, by leniency at excess, he contributed somewhat towards setting them free from controul; so he ended by forfeiting their favour. For in truth he was a foe to revolution, to violences, to tumult, to all extra- vagances: he despised the sects, and disliked those who plot in secret under a Liberal government. But as he clung closely to the popular part}', looked com- placently on the boisterous youngsters, and gave more heed to the opinions of the Clubs than as a man of weight he should have done, and both wrote and spoke with much of feeling and effect, he was charged as a conspirator by the Court, the clergy, and the San- fedists, and as a traitor by the Pope. The minds of the mistrustful reverted to the events of 1831, in which Mamiani had borne no small share : they placed under the Pope's view both prose and verse of his, which had been censured : they construed in the worst sense all his words and actions. In a letter of Carlo Pepoli's, the Pope thought he had met with proofs of Mamiani's treason, but Pepoli, too, was a man fixed in his devotion to constitutional monarchy, averse from all intrigue whatsoever, and a foe to revolution : while Mamiani had never entertained the idea of assailing the Sovereignty of the Pope. Much was said of that letter and that evidence ; but it was never published. Mamiani was, indeed, too much nattered by the po- pular party; by youths, by honest and generous men, out of sincere affection and respect for his brilliant talents and his virtues ; by the turbulent and by Chap. XIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 313 plotters, with the covert aim of turning his credit to their own account. He was too tolerant of this adu- lation and obsequiousness, and thus had the appear- ance of detaching himself from the men of moderate opinions, and of patronising those in extremes. He seemed to play the part of a tribune of the people, more than of the Pope's Minister. But he was more than enough upbraided, and vilely slandered ; and impartial History, if she censure in some points his proceedings as a Statesman, must vindicate his repu- tation as a most upright citizen. But the march of the times would not admit of dispassionate inquiries and solid reforms. The acts, therefore, of the Ministry named from Mamiani were not numerous. I will name the chief among them. It framed the rules of the Council of State ; pro- posed to Parliament the financial measures I have mentioned, and, besides, the abolition of the tax on ground corn. It sought to take into pay 6000 soldiers ; proposed the regulations for the moveable Civic Guard, and the foundation of a department of beneficence, which was to superintend instruction, and the teaching of the lower class, as well as to in- spect and controul charitable institutions. It pro- posed a bill to guarantee the inviolability of letters in the Post Office. It addressed to the Council of State a plan for a comprehensive municipal code, re- commended the abolition of exceptional tribunals, entails, and estates for life; the decimal system of weights and measures; and the establishment of telegraphs, in which the State was wanting. Jt 314 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. sent competent Commissioners into the Provinces, to study the causes of disorder and of irregularity in the administration of public affairs; named Com- missions for the armed force, and changed some of the public functionaries. The Mamiani Ministry promulgated one law only, which conferred the rights of citizenship on the Swiss troops ; and Galletti put forth an ordinance, which bound all servants and jour- neymen to keep a book for the police, a measure which was held invalid, because the Councils had not passed it. This Ministry left behind it a character odious in the Court, equivocal with many, admired by the Liberals and the generous youth, unpopular with the party of Mazzini. Cuap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 315 CHAP. XIV. CONDITION OF THE STATES OF CENTRAL ITALY AFTER THE DIS- ASTERS OF THE PIEDMONTESE ARMY. WELDEN. — HIS LAN- GUAGE AND PROCEEDINGS. — AL1T. — PROTESTATION OF THE POPE. — DECLARATION OF THE MINISTRY. ENVOYS SENT TO WELDEN. — OCCUPATION OF BOLOGNA. — ACTION OF AUGUSTS. STIR IN THE NEIGHBOURING CITIES AND PROVINCES. PRE- PARATIONS FOR DEFENCE. THE MINISTER CAMPELLO DIS- CHARGED BY THE POPE. — PROCLAMATION BY THE MINISTRY TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE PAPAL STATES. CIRCUMSTANCES OF ROME. — QUESTIONS AND PROPOSALS IN THE COUNCIL OF DE- PUTIES. PROROGATION OF THE PARLIAMENT. OBSERVATIONS ON THE DEPUTIES. ON THE HIGH COUNCIL. STATE OF BO- LOGNA, AND ITS CONSTERNATION AFTER AUGUST 8. ZAMBIAN- CIII IN ROMAGNA. — URGENCY OF THE BOLOGNESE DEPUTIES WITH THE MINISTRY. ASSASSINATIONS AT BOLOGNA. ITS DREADFUL CONDITION. — REPRESSIVE MEASURES CONSEQUENT OCCURRENCES. RESIGNATION OF THE FABBRI MINISTRY. FORMATION OF THE ROSSI MINISTRY. When the Piedmontese army, which, through the con- tumacy of the Bourbon Government of Naples, was now the only shield of Italy against Austrian rage, had been beaten, and had passed within its own fron- tiers, the people of Tuscany and Bomagna remained in the absolute power of the victors. The effectual interposition of the English and French Ambassadors saved lovely Tuscany ; but the northern provinces of the Roman State were menaced by Welden, who sent word from the Venetian territory, that lie was about to enter the Pope's dominions as a friend to the Pon- tiff, as a foe only to those who should venture to con- 316 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. test his ingress, or his military rule. Barbarous acts, as well as bitter words, preceded him. He boasted of the yet smoking ruins of Sermide. He had with him a disreputable train of Sanfedist refugees from Ro- magna, and Alpi, already mentioned in these pages, who, after mixing with the Austrian forces during the war of independence, now followed them as a spy and instigator of Sanfedist insurrections; and to whose rabid vein were to be ascribed those elegancies about smoking Sermide, which had such a smack of blood. To name him is to make him infamous: for every people, in every time, has devoted to infamy those accursed beings, who have guided the stranger within the blessed precincts of that common mother that every people filially calls its country. The name of Alpi, the harbinger and mate of Croats, was to Romagna the symbol, not only of Croat rapine, but of the rapine, lust, and vengeance, that, towards the end of the wars of Napoleon, saddened her through the instrumen- tality of those, who, in the holy name of Mary, either followed or preceded the Austrian legions; and who then had the name of brigands, a name that after- wards became in Italian countries synonymous with Sanfedists. Menaced both by the maniac Welden and the brigand Alpi, the Romagnols passionately rose in arms, and every man with an Italian heart in his breast, and strength in his arm, took an oath to resist to the last. AVelden began to make a stir and to scour the Pope's country : and, on the 4th of August, he gave notice from Bondeno, that his troops were on the advance, denouncing death against all persons in Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 317 arras, and laying requisitions on the municipalities. The commandant of the citadel of Ferrara simulta- neously threatened to bombard the city, if the Pope's troops did not quit it. When the Pope learned this, he was grieved and indignant ; and he ordered Car- dinal Soglia to protest, which Avas done in these words : " From the very outset of his Pontificate, our Lord's Holiness has observed, not only the condition of the Papal State, but that of the other States of Italy : and, as the com- mon Father of Princes and of people, alike averse to foreign war and to intestine discord, he devised and undertook, with a view to the general well-being of Italy, negotiations for a League among the Sovereigns of the Peninsula, as this was the only means of satisfying the wishes of his own subjects, without at all impairing the rights of the Princes, or thwarting the tendencies of their people towards a well-defined liberty. These negotiations met with some support ; but in part they have failed. The great reverses in Europe followed; and these were succeeded by the events and the war of Italy. The Holy Father, ever consistent with himself, manifested, at a heavy sacrifice, his indisposition to share in the war, with- out, however, neglecting any pacific method of attaining the aim he had originally proposed. But this conduct, inspired at once by prudence and by mildness, has, to his great surprise, failed in preventing the entrance into his States of an Aus- trian army, which has not scrupled to occupy certain of his territories, under the declaration that it was only for a tem- porary purpose. It is requisite, then, to make it universally known, that this occupation is a violation of the Sovereignty of the Holy See, and that, with whatever intention it may have been undertaken, it could not be justly carried into exe- cution, without a previous notice and the needful consent. " Under so severe a pressure, with which internal foes are seeking to combine their attempts, the Holy Father resigns 318 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book IIL himself into the hands of the Divine Justice, which will bless the employment of the means that, according to circumstances, he may think fit to use : and while, through the medium of his Secretary of State, he loudly protests against such an act, he appeals to all friendly Powers to take upon them the protection of these States, for the maintenance of their freedom and integrity, for the defence of the inhabitants, and, above all, for the independence of the Church. " Given from the Secretary of State's office, this 6th of August, 1848. "G. Cardinal Soglia." Two days later, in order to confirm the public mind as respected the intentions of the Government, the Ministers, by order of the Pope, unanimously signed and published this declaration : " His Holiness is firmly resolved to defend his States against the Austrian invasion, with all the means that the State, and the well-directed enthusiasm of his people, can sup- ply. His Holiness emphatically denies, through our medium, the words of Marshal Welden* ; protesting against any in- jurious construction whatever, that may be put upon them, and declaring that the conduct of Marshal Wclden himself is held by His Holiness to be hostile to the Holy See, and to Him ; nor can He, nor does He, mean to separate between the cause of his people and his own, but He deems every insult and injury inflicted upon them to have been done to himself." At the same time the Pope sent off to AYelden Car- dinal Marini, Prince Corsini, and the Minister Guer- rini, to demand the reasons of this violence, to desire he would forthwith depart, and to warn him that, if he did not, his Holiness w r ould use all the means at his command, to repel the invasion. * Referring to a good understanding between Austria and the Pope. Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 319 Meantime, however, the Austrians, having occupied Cento, with the open country and villages of the districts of Ferrara and Bologna, were pointing to- wards the last-named city, where, after Cardinal Amat had betaken himself to the baths of Lucca on account of weak health, Count Cesare Bianchetti, a person who had grown hoary in exile for the love of liberty, acted provisionally as Governor. Bologna, devoted with her whole soul to freedom, and a sworn enemy of the Austrians, was panting for war, but the troops in garrison there were tied to the terms of the capitulations of Vicenza and Treviso; nor were the commanders willing to break them, while the military men thought defence impracticable, and Bianchetti conjured the citizens to moderate their generous resentment, and to abstain from hopeless attempts. Accordingly, the troops went away, and there remained in Bologna, to keep order, the Civic Guard, and two hundred Carabineers; together with the revenue officers, for their own business. On the 6th of August, the Pope's Proclamation of the 2nd arrived, in which he declared his resolution to defend his States; and that Proclamation, which the agitators had torn up in Pome, elevated Bologna into enthu- siasm. The Pro-Legate Bianchetti sent to Welden Loctor Cesare Brunetti, the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Civic Guard, and Professor Filippo Martinelli, with authority to protest against the invasion, and to obtain an intimation of his intentions. Welden answered, he wished his troops to encamp around Bologna, and the city to maintain them ; he would 320 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. reduce the number gradually, as he should by degrees obtain guarantees for order and tranquillity, and would remove them all, when the public mind was at rest, provided his Holiness should ratify those gua- rantees ; he could not fix a time ; it would not be until Rome should send such a confirmation, or at any rate until the close of the terms specified at Vicenza and Treviso. The Bolognese Deputies and the Pro-Legate, assented, or bent to necessity. The troops of Welden encamped round Bologna on the 7th, and on the 8th the officers began to scour the city, and to incite its ill-bridled resentment ; whence it happened, that some of the people returned insult for insult, and blows for their bullying demeanour. Welden sent to tell the Pro-Legate, he must either hand over to him those whom he called asforessors against his men, or must give up six respectable townsmen as hostages, within the term of two hours. The venerable Bianchetti offered himself as one, and set out for the enemy's camp. But the indignant population began to ring the bells for an alarm, and trusted the honour of Bologna, and their just resent- ment, to their own arms and anger. The Austrians, who were in force at Porta San Felice, pointed and fired their guns down the street, along which the Bolognese were running to attack them. At the CD o same time, the townspeople, and rustics of the neigh- bouring districts, began to toll their bells, and the citizens to fire from the walls, arcades, and windows, so that the strangers were forced to abandon Porta San Felice, and to go by Porta Galliera, and post themselves on the Montagnola, which is an artificial Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 321 hill within the city, near that gate, a place of public recreation, with groves, hedges, and walls shaded by aged trees, having a large open space towards the city, and its back towards the walls. On that side, the Austrians, supported by the walls and by the companies they had left outside, and covered, as well as entrenched, behind the trees, discharged mus- ketry, and cannon loaded with grape-shot, against the Bolognese, who were attacking them, and struck with their cannon-balls the houses from which the assailants were firing. The conflict lasted four hours, amidst the clang of bells, the roar of artillery, the moans of the wounded, and the shouts of the infu- riated people. Cortassa, the Commandant of the Carabineers, would not let his men go to aid the citizens, who were in extreme peril, giving this as his reason, that he was bound to defend the palace of the Government. But the Carabineers were more in- fluenced by their brotherly generosity as citizens, and by resentment as Italians, than by the orders of their head; and, having joined the revenue guard, they rushed to the field of battle. Together with the commonalty, citizens, and Civic Guards, they charged up the Montagnola, and with wonderful daring and cries of " Italy and Pius IX.," they assaulted and broke the Austrians, and put them to the rout. The countrymen came down from the hills over liologna to press upon the fugitives, who descried their wounded, burned their dead, abandoned their prison- ers, and left the brave city far behind them, avenging their disgraceful (light in the sack of houses, the VOL. II. Y 322 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. slaughter of the unarmed, and outrages upon the dead corpses. When the report of these events had spread into the neighbouring cities and provinces, a sudden en- thusiasm stirred them up to rush to the defence of Bologna from new assaults, which were supposed to be threatened by the enemy, smarting under his dis- comfiture. The Civic Guards set out in haste, so did the legions of volunteers, under a Colonel Belluzzi, an old soldier that had lived long in France, and had come into Italy for the war of independence. Meantime there had been appointed in Bologna, by consent of the Pro-Legate Bianchetti, a Commission of Citizens, called the Commission of Public Safety, which addressed itself to the maintenance of order, and the preparation of means for defence. The Civic Guard, and volunteers under Belluzzi, flocked in, and, anticipating a fresh attack, all the lower people remained under arms ; the streets were barricaded, and the heights of San Micliele in Bosco entrenched. But when Cardinal Marini and the other Legates of the Pope had come to Welden, it became known that the danger was over ; indeed the report was, that Kadetzki had admonished Welden, and had ascribed to a freak of his the hostilities that had taken place. On the first news of an Austrian invasion, Cam- pelli, Minister of War, had declared for hostilities in terms distasteful to the Pope, who had accordingly dis- missed him, and had named provisionally in his place one Gaggiotti, a Commissary General; which gave rise in the Clubs to the usual complaints and accu- sations against the Government and the Sovereign. Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 323 The public mind was in suspense mingled with dissatis- faction, when the accounts of the affair at Bologna arrived, and were announced by the Council of Min- isters in a Proclamation of August the 11th; which ran thus : " People of the States of the Church ! " The Wear Department has received by express the dis- patch of the President of Bologna, dated the 8th, and written at a quarter past eight r.M. It begins, ' The people has had a battle with the Germans.' The signification of these brief words is great, nay terrible, but does not appal us. It ends, ■ The people has triumphed : ' but neither do these words in- toxicate us with childish exultation. It is steadiness which ensures success. The Ministers have hastened into the pre- sence of the Supreme Pontiff!, and have made known to him the danger of his sons. ' Do then,' He has replied, ' all that is requisite to save the country, and to keep inviolate its sacred borders.' " Already the battalions of Pomagna arc returning from La Cattolica by forced marches, to gain the field of battle. ." Those battalions, and others that will follow from the provinces and the capital, carry, and will carry, with them the benediction of Pius, of that Pius who is set upon the defence and rescue of our common country. " The Ministry hastens to execute the sovereign will, and is making provision, with all its powers, for the present exigency." Xcxt day there was a vehement stir in the city: and the Minister of the Interior thus addressed the 1 tomans in another Proclamation: " Citizens ! " The brave Bologncse persevere in the heroic defence of their city, and give an example of patriot ism, and of Italian valour, which we should copy as well as admire. You too, V - 324 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Romans, animated by a lofty spirit, are well resolved to quell the arrogance of the insolent stranger, and the Government encourages and seconds you in the magnanimous intention. Confide in the Government ; confide in me ; for in my veins there burns a fire, which years cannot suppress, when the ques- tion contested is our own freedom and the honour of Italy. The Government has already opened lists, and, so soon as it knows the number of those who enter themselves, it will give its attention to the arrangements for their setting; out, so as to facilitate rapidity of march. Meanwhile, adhere to order ; adhere to a dignified bearing, so as, by a new proof of Italian sentiment, and of Roman courage, afresh to give the lie to the stranger ; who, after having assailed the independence of Italy at large, now assails that of the Papal States. Union then, O Romans ! let us all embrace, and by the blessing of God and the Pontiff, we shall defy the rage of the enemy. " Odoardo Fabbri." As Gaggiotti, the provisional Minister, was the object of much murmuring, the Swiss General Latour was quickly nominated in his place ; but he declined the office ; and Count Lovatelli, Pro-Legate of Ferrara, was invited, but he likewise excused himself. Rome, kept uneasy by the agitators, did not listen to the words of the Ministers ; who were unpopular, because they were reported, and called, vassals of the Pope and the Court, set upon tampering with the liberal in- stitutions. The press went on, without any restraint, either of observation or of repression ; we had journals and prints of every size and style, and public criers of them; placards on the walls, caricatures, numberless in- centives to contempt for the law, and for the executive. That legion under Galletti's orders, which, as I have said, 'was quartered in the Gesu, vaunted themselves the Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 325 bulwark of the people, the scourge of the retrogra- dists, cherished insatiable cravings, and swaggered in their uniforms. The Ministry was formed of men not used to govern, it had not the favour of the bustling Liberals, and was denuded of authority : Fabbri's hoary hairs indeed were respected, but his devotion to Pius IX., and confidence in him, were pitied, and almost despised. The Treasury was poorer than ever : the legions in arms asked for cash, the merchants of Ancona and Romagna for advances : Lauri was bewil- dered in the midst of such straits, and such confusion. The posture of affairs at Bologna, the concourse of men in arms and the rising of the populace, aggravated both the confusion and the straits. The Ministry issued a Proclamation, to exhort the citizens to observe the law of the 4th of June about the press, and appointed an extraordinary Commission for the four Legations, of which Cardinal Amat was President, and Zucchini, Senator of Bologna, with Galeazzo Fabbri of Cesena, brother of the Minister, the other members, as a board to sit in Bologna, and to superintend the defence of the State, and the maintenance of public order throughout the Provinces of Romagna. The Parliament was not less roused than the citi- zens by the Austrian invasion. In the sitting of the Council of Deputies, on the 7th of August, Sterbini apostrophised both the .Ministry and the Prince, with bitterness as well of language as of manner. He re- verted to the Encyclic of April 29., demanded a de- claration of war, and proposed an application to France lor assistance, exclaiming that the French Ke- v :i 326 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. public would interfere when the people called on her for aid, and that the French Monarchy, which an- swered only to the call of Princes, was no more!! The Council sanctioned the application for assistance. The Prince of Canino, with others, proposed, that the Ministry should formally declare war against the Em- peror of Austria. To this the Minister De Rossi re- plied, that the right of making war and peace, was, by the Statute, reserved to the Sovereign ; and the pro- posal was rejected. The Council went on to choose those Deputies, who were to carry a message to the Italian Parliaments : Terenzio Mamiani for Naples, Marco Minghetti, for Turin, myself for Florence, and Giuliano Pieri for Palermo. Many questions arose out of Campello's discharge, and Gaggiotti's provi- sional authority, and these consumed the greater part of the time of the sittings ; other questions, with long debates and warm language, were occasioned by the occurrences at Bologna. I will not enlarge upon de- tails : I will only notice, with a cursory glance, that Mamiani proposed, and the Council agreed, to compli- ment Charles Albert with the title of the first citizen of Italy ; that Mamiani himself made various sugges- tions to devise a plan of rousing the people against the Austrians ; and that he keenly accused and cen- sured the Government, warning his revered friend, Fabbri, to quit it, as he valued his untainted name. The majority of the Deputies knew that it would be impossible, at that juncture, to form a new Ministry; and that Mamiani, however eloquent in opposition, was the very last man who could, do it, because he was Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 327 hateful to the Prince and the Court. Hence, though the Council were aware of the limited experience and weight of the Ministry called after Fabbri, yet they prudently sustained it, in order to avoid fresh confu- sion in that Government already so confused. A law was carried, construing the Statute in favour of the exercise of civil rights by the Jews. Through the warm opposition of Potenziani, Sterbini, and Canino, the proposal to extend the term of the inconvertible notes of the Roman Bank to the 12th of September was rejected ; the institution of a National Bank was more than once suggested; the law on weights and measures was discussed ; it was resolved to let the tax on ground corn drop after twelve months, without the proposal of any substitute to make up the conse- quent deficiency of income. The High Council, freely or otherwise, trod in the steps of the Deputies ; nor did the Parliament effect anything of moment, because, when the Ministers want power or knowledge to give an useful tendency to debate, Parliaments readily blunder and go astray. On the 26th of August, the Pope prorogued until November 15. the sittings of the two Councils ; hoping within that interval to give some stability to his Government, and to prepare materials for the substantial work of legislation. The ordinance of prorogation was, both in form and .sub- stance, perfectly accordant to constitutional law and practice: but those, who meant to make a profit from the public misgivings, abused and reviled if, as if it had been what they called it, namely, a coup d'etat. The Committee, however, which was creditably prose- 328 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. cuting its financial inquiries, continued its sittings by the decree of the Sovereign. In the Council of Deputies Mamiani was, as a speaker, fluent and refined ; Orioli was copious, some- times harsh ; Rodolfo Audinot spoke with ease and precision, Pantaleoni with learning; Borsari was wordy and insipid ; Montanari was laboured, but judicious ; Cicognani impetuous, Armellini confused ; Canino an uncontroulable talker, Mayr ready, Galletti in- flated and empty ; Lunati spoke with great perspi- cuity, De Rossi with affectation, Francesco Fiorenzi with difficulty; Giuliano Pieri spoke but once, copiously and with elegance ; the advocate Giovannardi, who had entered Parliament at the end of the session, showed himself clever in summing up a debate. Torre spoke rarely, but readily. Sterbini was a tribune in desire, in passion, and in gesture ; not in eloquence, nor in courage. Potenzi, Mariani, Bofondi, Marcelli, Marini, and Ranghiasci, used to deliver written speeches; the President Sereni several times descended from his seat, and spoke with success: he was a just and im- partial man, but not sufficiently rigid with the in- terrupters in the public galleries. Sturbinetti, who succeeded him, was still more lax. In the debates upon offices and commissions, Fusconi, Simonetti, Lauri, Potenziani, Lorenzo Fiorenzi, the two Man- zonis, Bevilacqua, Ferri, Fabbri (the professor), Marsigli, and Serafmi, distinguished themselves for sagacity, learning, and diligence. The Council of De- puties had abundance of other modest, accomplished, and most upright members. At first the political parties were ill distinguished and defined : but in the CHAr. XIV. J THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 329 course of a little time they acquired both definitive- ness and discipline. If we are content to employ the common denominations, it may be said that the extreme right was represented by Cicognani and Borghese ; the right by Orioli ; at the extreme left were only Canino and Sterbini ; on the left Torre and a few more. The two centres were well filled. Mamiani might be said to lead the left, and Simonetti, Bevilacqua, and Montanari, the right. But the right centre was nearer the right, than the left centre to the left ; as the two ordinarily voted together. There were no serious and durable resentments anion g the Deputies. Orioli, however, thought that matters would turn out ill, and was annoyed because his warnings, instead of bearing fruit, brought upon him suspicion and calumny from violent men ; hence, towards the end of July, he resigned, and retired into private life. The liberty of opinions, judgments, and expressions in the Council was great : and the only frequent and gross abuse of it, that by Canino and Sterbini, was often checked by impatience and by cries. One day J took Canino sharply to task, because he had caused a speech of mine to be altered at his pleasure in passing through the press; and in proof I appealed to the autograph reports of the shorthand writers. Grave scandal also was given in a secret Committee, where Sterbini and Canino, mutually abusing one another, bandied to and fro the epithets of spy and poltroon, upon which other reproaches followed: for each said lie had not documents to 330 FEOM THE PKOMULGATION OF [Book III. substantiate his charges, and they challenged one another to fight, but never did it. In the High Council, there sat men of great weight, few of them ready speakers, but many apt for study and judicious action. Muzzarelli, a bad President, sought to please the excited public in the galleries. Monsignor Pentini, one of the Secretaries, loved and aimed at conciliatory adjustments of every question. Pasolini spoke with an elegant facility ; Monsignor Gnoli, and a Count Gabrielli of Fano, copiously ; many more with good sense, but rarely, and briefly. After the events of the 8th of August, gallant Bologna had come , into a state of grievous distress. Those citizens and respectable members of the com- monalty, who had taken up arms in the day of battle, laid them down when the danger of a new attack had passed away; but the mob had remained in arms, both powerful and abusing its power ; amidst whom were vagabonds used to contraband, and inclined to rapine and every kind of misdeed. On the plea of saving their country, these men had gone about the houses of the citizens, levying arms, had taken them in the tu- mult from the Civic Guard, and had drawn forth from their own dens those with which they were accustomed to commit outrage. On the plea of defending their country from fresh assaults, they made exactions of wood, furniture, materials for constructing barricades, and provisions ; they got pay both as soldiers and as labourers, mry got it twice or thrice over, because it was dangerous to face those ill-tempered and in- flamed visages, and answer them no. Legions of Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 331 Civic Guards and volunteers entered Bologna, and with them crowds of nameless persons, the former at- tracted by generous sympathy, the latter by cupidity. Belluzzi, a giddy pate, humoured both alike, giving every one his head. Bologna had not wherewithal to find pay for such large numbers, and as the Go- vernment sent no funds, it was necessary to create 100,000 crowns of paper money, in the name of the municipality and the province ; as well as to get up public works, or make a semblance of giving employ- ment to the multitudes that, at any rate, it was needful to pay. The legions of the Romagnol Civic Guard, when the danger was over, returned to their homes, but the free corps remained, and went on crowing in numbers from the remains of those who, after the disasters of the Sardinian army, left Upper Italy either to resort to Venice, or to pass into Tus- cany and the Roman States in search of occupation. Thus to the ill discipline of the disordered populace of Bologna was added that of the troops from else- where ; and that city looked as though deserted by its own citizens, and peopled by nomad tribes of motley garb and arms, with one tribe more, half-naked and shoeless, which profaned the honourable name and the dignity of the Uolognese people. Those were ihe days, in which mad Discord brandished her torch over wretched Italy, in which Mazzini's republicans heaped vituperation on the head of the worsted Charles Albert, and paraded everywhere the phantom of treachery, with such glee and wantonness, thai it seemed as if Kadetzki's victor) were the victory of 332 FROxM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. their pride, their system, and their party. They tried to induce Genoa to rise, and also Leghorn : they inflamed the public mind against all Kings and all Governments, shouting " the people," " the people," " government by the people," " war by the people :" they intoxicated the young, deluded the simple, took the discontented into their ranks, and the desperadoes into their pay : they ushered in the chaos, out of Avhich their creative word was to evoke illumination, gold, armies, freedom. The glories of the 8th of August supplied an admirable occasion for celebrating the power of the people : the con- dition of Bologna furnished matter to experiment upon. Leaders, speakers, soldiers of fortune, rushed thither, and inflamed the blood, the bile, the lust, the vengeance, of the armed multitudes ; they fo- mented all the noise, all the disorder, and all the anarchy. The revered Bianchetti, and those citizens who backed him, Gherardi, Ercolani, Pedrini, Rossi, Agucchi, Piana, Conti, Biancoli, andGioachino Pepoli, used their exertions to stem that headlong torrent, but in vain ; for the free corps seconded the disor- derly populace, and in one of their gatherings they made a plan to overset that shadow of a Government by the Pro-Legate and the Committee of Public Safety. They had already used violence with Colonel Zuccari, Commandant of the Military Division, and had thus removed out of Belluzzi's way every ob- stacle to military despotism. On the 26th of August, they repaired to the Palace of the Government, to take into their own hands every other authority, and Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 333 in the name of the people, they upbraided Bianchctti and the citizens who surrounded him, and advised him to resign his office, in the manner and with the signs which implied command and menace. But afterwards the rioters split among themselves, some of them siding with the expelled Government, and annoyed at the outrage offered to its members. These began to remonstrate, and to pray they would stay in office, with which they complied, as the lesser evil for the afflicted city. That rabble, accomplished only in rapine, who had been let loose, and who felt themselves exalted and ennobled by the name of the people among whom they circulated, deemed the day come for their own dominion ; that day of liberty and empire, for which, in the criminal dreams of their gaols, they so long had sighed. They broke into the prisons, and set free their comrades ; plundered the residence of a rich gentleman that was at his villa in the environs; imposed taxes on the town, and on the country folks ; committed robbery on the highways and in the city; dipped their hands in the blood of a judge, and sought the lives alike of judges, heads of the police, judges of inquest, policemen, and turnkeys. This anarchy threatened to spread into other provinces. One Zambianchi, a native of Forli, banished since 1832, had returned to Italy in that year of universal over- throw, and alter the actions in \ enezia, had plunged into our cities, to disturb their quiet, and to stimulate ferocious revenge. lie had with him a Utter, which proved the seditious correspondence of Alpi in Uo- 334 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. magna, and with the letter the bearer of it, who confessed what was within his knowledge. Zambi- anchi set out for Eomagna, then hurried to Forli and Faenza, searched the houses of the suspected, arrested old people and women, such as Ugolini, a septuage- narian at Forli, and the Canon Laghi in Faenza, with his sister and brother, and a maid-servant, put their limbs in fetters, dragged them to Ravenna, pitched them, some headforemost, into a boat, and sent them prisoners to Ancona ; then returned to Bologna, where he had a wider and more open field for violence. When this miserable state of things became known in Rome, the members for the city of Bologna re- paired to the Pope and the Ministry, beseeching them to provide a remedy, with the utmost possible expedition and resolution. The Government, con- sidering that Cardinal Amat was in Bologna as Com- missioner for the four Legations, determined to send to assist him a person who might represent the Council of Ministers, might be charged to apply, in concert with him, to the re-establishment of order, and, should the Cardinal not have arrived, might take into his own hands the supreme authority. These commissions his Holiness and the Ministry intrusted to me. I left Rome on the 30th of August, and on the 1st of September I reached Forli, where there was a regiment of Swiss, with General Latour, who commanded them. The tidings from Bologna, current at Forli, were so gloomy and hopeless, that the Cardinal Legate Marini and Latour did not think Chav. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 335 it prudent at once to dispatch the Swiss in that direction, as they had neither cavalry nor artillery, both of which had returned to Bologna after the 8th of August. Thither I came unobserved about noon on the 2nd. The bad had increased, and were still increasing : in the streets and open places of the city, for two days, the brigands had been slaughtering every man his enemy among the Government officers, some of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable. They killed with musket-shots, and if the fallen gave signs of life, they reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers, and fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with their knives. They hunted men down like wild beasts, entered their houses, and draped them forth to slaughter. One Bianchi, an Inspector of Police, was lying in bed, reduced to agony by consumption: they came in, set upon him, and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children ; the corpses, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets. I saw it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. Cardinal Amat, who had given notice of his arrival, came the day after; and the armed commons escorted him to the palace at the very time when the villains were continuing their murders. There were no longer any judges, or any officers of the police; those, who had eseaped death, either had fled, or had hidden themselves; the Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens skulked, the few soldiers of the line either mixed with the insurgents, or were wholly without spirit; t lie Carabineers and 336 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. dragoons in hesitation, the volunteer legions and free corps a support to the rioters, not to the authority of Government. We sent to Rome for leave to de- clare Bologna in a state of siege ; but the answer was, that the Ministry, having taken the opinion of the Council of State, considered, that order might be restored without recourse to this extreme measure. All our best exertions were made to draw to the side of Government the Carabineers and dragoons, as also Belluzzi and the honest leaders of the people, but Avith little success. It was reported, that Belluzzi himself had given leave to kill what they called the spies ; one Masina came before us, proposing by way of compromise, to banish those whose lives were threatened ; armed men were in the very palace of Government, and we ourselves at their mercy. Ac- cident, however, effected at a stroke what we could only have done slowly and with difficulty. An as- sassin attempted the life of a Carabineer ; his com- panions, inflamed with anger, pursued him, and caught him in a church. They then volunteered their most resolute efforts at repression. They were ordered to sally forth, arrest, and disarm, the ruffians. The dragoons seconded them ; young Pcpoli, Com- mandant of the Civic Guard, mustered a few com- panies ; Bianchetti and the respected citizens of the Committee of Public Safety, drew close around us, and we hurried in the Swiss from Forli. The popu- lation began to regain its courage, and to applaud the Carabineers as they arrested the assassins; the Swiss made their entry amid cheers. Some free Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 337 corps, with the rioters, began an outcry against the authorities, bragged that they were the defenders of the people, and threatened to attack the palace ; but the guns ready pointed, the Swiss in array, and the resolution of the Carabineers, damped the disposition to resist. Galletti, who was at Bologna, animated and confirmed the Carabineers by a suitable address, and set his agents about reducing the populace to tranquillity. By degrees, w r e got into our hands a cannon which had been in theirs, recovered many of the arms, and put Zambianchi in prison, with a hundred other scoundrels, while many more hid or ran away ; and a free corps under Zambeccari, with other com- panies of volunteers, set out for Venczia. It was next decreed, that no one should continue in arms unless equipped as a Civic Guardsman ; all the free corps were disbanded, with permission to enlist in the regiments of the line : we then applied to reconstruct- ing the police, putting an end to the waste of public money, and reorganising the Civic Guard ; thus, by degrees, the citizens took courage, and returned to their business and diversions. But the rural parts were still infested by plunderers; soldiers on their return out of Upper Italy came down every day from Tuscany into Bologna, and the useless works of so- called public beneficence kept up thousands of idlers at the general charge: mistrust and uncertainty lorded it over the public mind ; those who had bee n In-idled champed the bit, and the swarms of (lie factious spread far and wide. It was impossible to place confidence in that seeming calm. VOL. II. V. 338 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. The Pope and the Ministry had been apprised of the state of things: the Commission at Bologna wrote to them, that the agitators had postponed their efforts until another occasion ; that the Government ought to punish the guilty, meet reasonable wishes, supply real wants, and infuse confidence into good citizens : that the real wants were, security for life and person, pre- paration for works of utility, reorganisation of the Civic Guard, a good system for public bounty, estab- lishment of a police which should not, like the old one, be the servant, to-day of the Government, and to- morrow of thieves : that the reasonable wishes were, to see adorned with a medal of honour those who had distinguished themselves on the 8th of August, the extension of the regular force, and the foundation of Military Colleges. They wrote, that it was necessary to confer public employments on upright and tried persons, and to aid industry and commerce by means of branch banks : that, on account of the subversive and of the retrograde factions, of the intrigues of Austria, the excesses of the press, and the remissness of mode- rate men, there was small confidence in the Govern- ment: that such confidence could only be earned by following a straight and luminous path in the Italian question, by excluding from office not only the advo- cates of Utopian follies, but those also in whose minds there twinkled a hope or a desire for the old modes of governing, or for a resuscitated Ghibellinism. They wrote, that the Pope could gain great glory for himself, happiness for Italy, and security for the States of the Church, if he would make a practice of giving coun- Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 339 tcnance to the cause of nationality and independence : and, finally, that plots, revolutions, and wars, would recommence and continue, unless the legitimate desire and want of liberty and independence were gratified. But the Roman Ministry did nothing to alleviate the calamities of Bologna, either by advice or funds ; and public affairs grew worse and worse. The Clubs and the journals exclaimed against the tyranny of the Commission. Many members of the free corps, whether of the Roman States or not, who did not wish to enlist in the Papal army, took their departure for the provinces of Rome, to swell the multitude of the turbulent. Galletti, the Minister, had come to Bo- logna on leave, and the Police had been left in the hands of Michele Accursi, who had shortly before been nominated Assessor. This Michele Accursi, a Roman, had been proscribed since 1831. He lived at Paris, at first acceptable, then suspected, then again beloved, by the giovine Italia. During the Milan insurrection he was devoted to Mazzini : he then came to Rome, and was at once nominated the chief officer of Police, without the knowledge of any of the Ministers except Galletti. It was said he had been recommended to the Pope by Monsignor Fornari, Nuncio at Paris; but it is not in fact clear, from what reason, advice, or re- commendation, the Pope placed confidence in him. Nor can it be distinctly made out, what the Police was about amid those grave difficulties, because every refugee or exile from the other Italian States repaired to Rome, or to the Roman territories. To the one or to the other went strangers of all nations, and of all 340 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III sorts. As a specimen of Accursi's public performances during the Fabbri Ministry, and while Galletti was away, there remains a strange Ordinance of police, dated September 13., which prohibits the exportation from the Papal States of any gold or silver money, and of any precious metal in ingots or otherwise ; while it allows travellers the favour of carrying with them no more than 250 crowns. As the credit of the Government was declining every day, and Fabbri prayed for his discharge, the Pope again thought of calling in Rossi's aid to sup- port the Government, and gave him a fresh commis- sion to form a Ministry. On the 16th of September, the Gazette of Rome printed the names of the new Ministers. Cardinal Soglia was President of the Council, and Minister of Foreign Affairs ; Pellegrino Rossi, Minister of the Interior, and provisionally of Finance ; Vizzardelli, Minister of Public Instruction ; the Advocate Felice Cicognani, Minister of Grace and Justice ; Professor Antonio Montanari, Minister of Commerce ; the Duke of Rignano, Minister of Public Works, and provisionally of War ; Count Pietro Guerrini, a Minister, but without a department ; Cavaliere Pietro Righetti, Deputy Minister of Finance. I have spoken briefly elsewhere of the qualities of Soglio, Rossi, Rignano, and Guerrini. Cardinal Viz- zardelli, a person of untainted morals, and learned in theology, had received the dignity of Prelate, with other honours, from Gregory XVI. ; from Pius IX. the purple, and the office of Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Studies. Cicognani, a consistorial Chap. XIV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 341 advocate, and a man of high probity, had been dis- tinguished in the Assembly of Deputies as an opponent of Mamiani, and had thus got the name of a retro- gradist. Montanari, of Meldola, was a youth of good abilities and very great application : he was learned, and had been a successful writer in the Felsineo. He was then Professor of History in the University of Bologna ; of a high spirit, most keen for indepen- dence, and of moderate Liberal opinions. Righetti was a writer on economical subjects, a man engaged in matters of exchange and trade, and devoted to Rossi. Before I say anything of the acts of the new Mi- nistry, I think it may be well to relate succinctly the events which followed upon the reverses of the Pied- montese army, to sketch the condition of each of the Italian States, and to notice the policy of the rest of Europe with respect to Italy. /. :\ 342 FHOM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III CHAP. XV. PESCHIERA. — OSOrO. — THE VOLUNTEERS. — ATTEMPT OF GARIBALDI — VENICE. — THE PIEDMONTESE FLEET. RETROSPECT. OB- SERVATIONS. GERMANY. FRANCE. POLICY OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND. — NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE. — NOTICES OF NAPLES — OF TUSCANY. — LEGHORN. — GUERRAZZI. — NOTICES OF SICILY OF VENICE TEMPER OF PIEDMONT. The fortress of Peschiera, with its garrison of 3000 Piedmontesc, was attacked by the Austrians on the very day of the battle of Custoza ; but its defenders repulsed the assailants. When they had heard of the surrender of Milan, they still held firm ; and did not give in, until they had certain intelligence of the armistice. The fort of Osopo, on a rock at the foot of the Alps, in the valley of the Upper Tagliamento, at the point where the road leading from Germany by the hill of Tarvis into Italy debouches, was defended by the Venetian volunteers, who, declining the terms of the armistice, held the place for two months more. The Lombard volunteers, who in May had been brought into tolerable order by the distinguished Giacomo Durando, had gallantly defended Monte Suelo, and the Pocca d' Anfo, and had fought several successful actions on the banks of the Caffaro, at the confines of the Tyrol. At the beginning of August, when the disastrous case of the Piedmontesc army had become known, Durando had drawn them back tol'rescia and Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 343 Bergamo, from which points some betook themselves to Switzerland, and others, by the direct road, to Piedmont. It was then that the party of Mazzini, denouncing the King as a traitor, and the King's war as a disgrace, and trumpeting the miracles of a people's war, sought to begin it with about 1000 men under Garibaldi, the distinguished head of an Italian legion which had become famous at Montevideo. He threw himself into the neighbourhood of Lago Maggiore, made himself master of two steamers, and commenced a Avar of detail. But he was closely pursued, and almost intercepted, by the Austrians ; so, after a short time and slight efforts, he abandoned the field, and retired into Switzerland. Venice, defended by her lagunes and by about 20,000 men, Venetian, Lombard, Neapolitan, Roman, and Piedmontese, declared the union shortly before decreed with the Kingdom of Upper Italy at an end, again became a Republic, and vowed resistance. The Piedmontese fleet, according to the terms of the truce, was to leave the Adriatic waters. I will say a few modest words on that point, such as suit a subject of no great pretensions. When the war broke out, the fleet was not ready to sail. Only on the 25th of April did there weigh an- chor from Genoa for the Adriatic three frigates, the San Michele of GO guns, the Des-Geneys and the Beroldo of 48, the brigantine Daino of 11, and the schooner Staifetta of 12. Meantime the corvette Aquila of 20, the brigantine Aurora of 10, and the steamers Tripoli and Malfatano, were under repair or equipment, and /. i 344 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. were to overtake the squadron as soon as possible. Admiral Albini, on board the S. Michele, commanded the fleet ; and the other ships were under the officers of longest standing The ships were not in perfect condition ; the small arms ill suited to marine engagements ; the equip- ments defective ; the coal for the steamers short ; the complement of officers on board each ship scanty. On the 16th of May, the corvette Aquila, the Malfa- tano, and the Tripoli, joined the squadron, and on the 21st it came in sight of Ancona. The Admiral had had news, that the enemy's fleet was cruising in the waters of Trieste, and he gave the signal to sail, leaving the steamers at Ancona. The wind was south-east, and they made sail northwards along the Italian coast. On the morning of the 22nd*, they saw ships of war at anchor in the road of Venice ; and from a suspicion that they were enemies, after a council of war, it was determined to go up to them. On coming near they were seen to be friends, namely, the Nea- politan ships : the sailing frigates Regina and Isabella ; the steamers Roberto, Yiscardo, and Carlo III. ; and the brigantines Principe Carlo, Sannite, Tancredi ; also the Venetian corvettes Lombardia and Civica, and the brigantines San Marco and Crociato. Cosa, t lie Neapolitan Admiral, hoisted his Admiral's flag on board the steam frigate Roberto ; the Venetian Ad- miral, 15ua, on the corvette Lombardia; the Pied- montese Admiral took the command of the united force, and gave orders to sail towards Trieste. The * In the original, 21st: there is apparently some error of the press. — Tr. Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 345 wind Avas north-west, and the vessels were sailing in close company, when a squadron was signalised, and proved to be the enemy. The five Neapolitan steamers went after them, but one of them afterwards came to, went up to the Piedmontese Admiral, and took him in tow. During that interval, however, the Lloyd steam- ers came out of the harbour of Trieste, and in their turn took the enemy's ships in tow, and brought them into port. On the 23rd, the Italian fleet, now joined by the two Piedmontese steamers, left at Ancona two days before, anchored in front of Trieste, just beyond the range of the guns in the forts. Xext day, the foreign Consuls resident in Trieste appeared before Admiral Albini, with the protest they usually make in such cases. On the 25th, our fleet turned its back on Trieste, and, on the 31st, cast anchor in the road of Pirano. On the 1st of June, two Lloyd steamers under the Austrian flag were stopped, visited, and set at liberty. The frigate Beroldo had had orders to take the forts of Caorle and S. Margherita, and like- wise to get possession of some vessels of the enemy with the help of the steamers Tripoli and Malfatano, and of six gunboats and twelve armed boats, all A r eno tian, together with two hundred men to disembark, in a small steamer of the Pope's, named Roma, under that worthy officer, Captain Cialdi. The Beroldo had come near Caorle, and had sent forward the steamers and the flotilla, but afterwards, as the sea got rough, hove off without .attempting anything. Only tin; Tripoli was hit, by three shot, with no damage. On the Oth of June, our (left weighed anchor from Pi- rano, and in the evening reached Trieste, coming so 346 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. near that the shot from the fort's guns struck the Admiral's vessel. Some ships advanced, others drew back : a Neapolitan steamer ran foul of another in the dark, and there was great confusion : at last the whole fleet, helped by the steamers, was able to get into open sea, and to anchor out of the range of the enemy's guns. But this unexpected aggression in- duced the Admiral to blockade the port of Trieste, of which he made a formal announcement next day, both to the Austrian authorities and to the foreign Consuls. The German Confederation afterwards remonstrated, and the blockade was raised. Persano, in command of the Daino, which was stationed in the lagunes of Venice, fired several shots on the 12th at the fort of Caorle. On the same evening, the Neapolitan squad- ron, according to orders received the day before by a steamer, set sail on its return to Naples, to the great regret of the gallant officers that commanded it. The Sardinians, thus weakened, were in no condition to act offensively, and were content to observe the enemy, and to protect the arrival of supplies at Venice. After the armistice, they repaired to Ancona ; but did not quit the Adriatic, according to the agree- ment, because the Austrians had failed to fulfil it by giving up all the Piedmontese cannon at Peschiera. Thus, after four months, there was a truce by land and sea. The war had begun at such a juncture, that the case of Austria appeared quite hopeless. A sudden insurrection had shattered her army, the sole basis of her empire and rights in Italy; and the relics of those legions, wont to dictate to us theri?id law of Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 347 servitude, abased by the justice of God and the po- pular victory, were draggling towards the fortresses to save their lives. The insurgent population made little use of its easy triumph. The roads were not broken up, nor the plains inundated : the runaways were not hard pressed, nor pursued, nay, chase was not in any manner given. The Piedmontese army hurried on, and reached the Mincio ; halted there, went forward softly, trusted more to cold tactics, than to the glow of fortune. It did not let loose its cavalry upon the track of the fugitives, did not raise the people, did not inflame the insurrection, did not perceive that the alarm bells, and the shout of multi- tudes, have power over the terrified, the smitten of God. It did not seize the moment for intercepting them, so they shut themselves into the fortresses : it did not then press beyond the Adige, nor close up the fatal passes from whence fresh hosts of foes were to descend: it fought with courage, and triumphed more than once ; but lost heart, cooled in enthusiasm, wasted its prowess on tough walls. The people pass from suspense to mistrust, from mistrust to murmurs. The cities swarm with speechifiers, the journalists outnumber the soldiers, the sects get astir; and with the speechifiers, journalists, and sects, fancies, factions, feuds, are waxing big. Political anxieties displace care for the war. The Pope, alas! refuses, nay de- nounces, assisting in the sacred conflict by his moral power: the King of Naples fails, nay deserts it: the I'iedmontese army stands single-handed, with its few Unmans and fewer Tuscans, against an enemy 348 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. reviving in courage and strengthened in numbers, yes, strengthened by our discords. This enemy, too, had been originally weak. The revolt at Vienna had taken him by surprise, those of the Italian territories had alarmed him and thinned his force. His army was composed of various and conflicting elements, German, Croat, Hungarian, Italian : it had to fight at a time when the German States had risen, when the Croats, hostile to the Hungarians, yet panted for na- tionality, the Hungarians, hostile to both Croats and Germans, ill brooked the Imperial yoke. This con- geries of soldiers formed the Austrian army, shut up in fortresses amidst an hostile population ; but it had the cement of discipline, and strengthened itself by its military order, at a time when, among us, every sort of controul was not relaxed only, but broken up. Radetzki went forth to battle, routed the Tuscans at Curtatone, flung himself upon the Piedmontese and was worsted, but never lost his spirit or his time, while we were losing our time, if not our senses. The Austrians then entered Venezia, beat the Romans at Vicenza, and, thus secured in their rear, made ready for the offensive. Our troops were dis- persed over too wide a surface. Radetzki perceived the weakness of the left, and attempted to crush it with a superior force, while dashing also upon the centre and the right ; he did not execute all his plans aright, but the Italians executed none ; in vain they strove by courage to supply the place of system : after a bloody alternation of triumphs and failures, they were defeated on the Mincio, and the name of Cuap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 349 Custoza recalls the tearful memory of an irreparable disaster to Italy. Beaten on the Mincio, the Pied- montcse army was exhausted in spirit and famished ; lost its courage, became disorganised, and retired in disorder to Milan. Again it shed its blood beneath the walls of the city, which was a prey to all the furies of anger, of despair, of alarm, and of the sects. There Italian arms, and Italian foes, pressed upon the army of Italy, and menaced the King, who scarcely escaped with life. The army abandoned the city, and retired on the Ticino. A truce put an end to figlit- iii2:, and the ensign of the two-headed ea^lc, alas ! waved again from the towers of afflicted cities. Only Venice continued her own mistress, the example and the hope of Italy, the eyesore of the stranger. So much, then, we effected by land : by sea nothing. The fleet was late in sailing from Genoa ; late in arriving at Ancona. After weighing anchor, we could not, or dared not, engage : the ships of Xaples de- serted ; fortune abandoned Italy by land and sea. What, in the meantime, was the Italian policy of Germany, of republican France, of powerful England ? Germany during many years had been astir, had plotted, speculated, and dreamed for the attainment of national unity, had even risen, such was its enthu- siasm, and had gathered a popular assembly at Frank- furt; yet it still went on speculating and dreaming. Its religious divisions, its municipal whims, the intrigues of Prussia and Austria, the rhetoric of its lawyers, the profundities of its philosophers, the theories of its historians, its poets with their era/)-, and its deina- 350 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. gogues with their sanguinary inspiration ; lastly, its dynastic schemes of cupidity and ambition, worry, derange, and split it all the more. And yet this Germany, these champions of Nationalities, these humanitarians, poets, rationalisers, transcendentalists, are the men to show their teeth against Italy. Woe to Italy, if she touches the Tyrol, if she touches Istria or Dalmatia, or that Sacrarium of Trieste : nay, even Venice, if you give ear to them, forms part of the Germanic Confederation ! Such is the just respect paid to the nationality of others, by those who are claiming it for themselves ! Their equal justice is as follows : Austria shall draw soldiers, and ships in aid of her navy, from Istria, Dalmatia, and Trieste ; and the Germanic Confederation, with the free assem- bly of Frankfort, forbid us blockades, reprisals, nay, the very possession of our own soil. But in the mean- time, unitarian whims, transcendental philosophies, religious antipathies, give Germany over to sophists, poets, unitarians, demagogues, advocates, to feed upon: until the sword takes account of those, who have helped in putting Italy to death by the sword. Be- hold here the justice of God ! And Republican France, what was she about ? Hav- ing shed her blood profusely in the streets of Paris, and menaced herself with a savage intestine war, she had veiled the statue of Liberty, and was wholly intent on the rcestablishment of order. General Cavaignac, her supreme ruler, was striving to preserve peace at home, by measures of firm repression, and a temperate po- licy; abroad, by prudence and moderation. Strict re- Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 351 gulation of the press, and the proclamation of a state of siege, had followed upon the febrile convulsion of February, the quackish eagerness to upset everything, the impotent ravings of the Provisional Government, the harlequinading phrases of Lamartine. The fears which propelled were succeeded by retrograde alarms : instead of journalists, reformers, and socialists, it was now all soldiers, soldiers, soldiers. What Lamartine sought to do with his army of the Alps, we know. Cavaignac, indeed, without having blown the trumpet of nationality and universal revolution, yet believed, that that army might become a shield to Italy, should the day of her necessity arrive. That General Oucli- not, who commanded it, seemed anxious to add to his name the triumphal epithet " Italian," so inflated was his language to the soldiers about probable achieve- ments in Italy : perhaps he foresaw the triumphs of the Capitol ! General Cavaignac had upright and sincere intentions, but he thought it his duty to avoid war, provided he could assist Italy by pacific exertions. England assiduously counselled peace, witli more sympathy for Italy than for Austria; and, fearful of an universal war, she wished that Italy should not be driven to call in French assistance, which might pro- voke it. Lord Normanby made pressing eilbrts in Paris to draw France into the views of England, and assured Lord Palmerston thai Cavaignac approxi- mated to them, and that liis only apprehension was that some disaster to the army of Italy, followed by a distinct demand for aid, might so excite the public 352 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book II I". mind, as to render refusal impossible. And in fact we see the Marquis Brignole, Sardinian Ambassador at Paris, acquainting Lord Normanby on the 7th of August, that he had just received from his Govern- ment definitive orders to ask for 50,000 men in aid of Piedmont, and 10,000 to garrison Venice : while Cavaignac, when interrogated by the English Ambas- sador, confirmed the intelligence. He was well nigh ready to accede to the demand, but afterwards said, he would do his best to prevent France from acting- alone at so grave a juncture. Next day, Lord Nor- manby, in the name of his Government, proposed, that England and France should unite in an offer of mediation, having for its aim a peace, on the basis of the terms which Hummelauer had proposed in May. This concurrence was at length agreed on ; and the bases of the mediation were as follows : a suspension of hostilities between the Sardinian and Austrian armies, each occupying the ground fixed by the truce : the formal renunciation by Austria of all right of sovereignty over Lombardy : and the constitution already granted for the Kingdom of Upper Italy. Such, I say, were the bases of the mediation : but the guarantee of the two mediating Powers was not to ex- tend beyond the treaty of peace, which was the imme- diate object of the mediation. The Austrian debt was to be equally divided between the Kingdom of Upper Italy and Lombardy : Austria was to retain the So- vereignty of Venezia, which, like Hungary, was to be organised with a separate Government and adminis- tration : Verona and Legnago to go with Venezia : a Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 353 distinct convention to be negotiated for the Duchies of Parma and Modena: private property to be re- spected, and confiscated estates restored ; with a plenary amnesty on both sides. The news of Welden's invasion of the Papal States, and of the Pope's protests, gave the French Govern- ment, for some days, the apprehension of war: but afterwards, when that danger had disappeared, the offers of mediation were made, in the name of the two Powers, to the King of Sardinia and the Emperor of Austria. On the IGtli of August, Sir R. Aber- cromby wrote to Lord Palmerston, that he, with M. Reizet, Charge d 'Affaires of France, had made the tender to Charles Albert and his Ministry; who had expressed their regret, that the condition, proposed by the mediators for the settlement of Venezia, in- volved subjection to Austria, a thing odious to the inhabitants of Italy, and a stipulation which might tarnish the fame of the Government of Piedmont. Signor Revel, Minister of Charles Albert, had like- wise taken objections on the financial arrangements comprised in the projected treaty : but, as the two Ministers of France and England had announced that they had no power to modify the proposed liases in any particular, and as they expected a prompt and decisive answer, yes or no, the Sardinian Government definitively accepted the mediation. Meantime Venice demanded aid from France: the Pope, too, .asked for a General and 4000 nun : the answer from Vienna to the offer of mediation had not arrived. Austria alleged, that she had two questions on her vol. II. A A 354 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. hands, one with the King of Piedmont for the war he had waged, the other with her own subjects : and she meant to treat them apart : that the terms of the Salasco armistice had not been fully respected by Sardinia, because Admiral Albini was still in the Adriatic waters : that the bases proposed required a mature examination : and thus the Court of Vienna showed it had no mind to put up with the mediation, and it temporised ; indeed so much so, that, at the end of August, it appeared determined to decline them, and nothing was settled. Hereafter I shall have to give a closing notice of tactics of this kind. Before, however, our reflections and our narrative revert to the affairs of Rome, from which I have for a short space digressed, I must briefly mention Xaples, Tuscany, Sicily, and Venice. The events of the 15th of May at Naples are well known, as are their deeply disastrous consequences to the war of Italy. I have spoken of a revolt in Cala- bria, which served the purposes of the Court and the King to a marvel. It was put down by a slight eflbrt, but Justice looked her sternest, or rather, Kevenge assumed her robe. Bozzelli altered the electoral law, and convoked the constituencies for the 15th of June ; the Liberals protested against the dissolution of the Chamber elected on the 15th of April, and thus they uselessly exasperated the Government, which now began to call every Liberal factious, and every friend of independence an Albertist. The day fixed for the elections came ; and they took place everywhere, ex- cept in Calabria, which had risen : the Members of the Chamber dissolved on May 15. were all re-elected. Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 355 On the 15th of June, an end was put to the state of siege at Naples : on the 1st of July, the Parliament was opened, but by the Duke of Serracapriola, not by the King. When the Assembly of the Deputies had been constituted, the questions to Ministers, on the events of Calabria, and on the condition of the King- dom, began. They were keen, and perhaps imprudent : Bozzelli's answers were keen too, and sour to boot. The Parliament had two fixed purposes ; to aid Italy, and to consolidate the constitutional system : the Government had but one, power and the excess of power : in its judgment, the love of Italy was a dream of giddy brains, or a fraud of Albertist conspirators. The Deputies signified their views in their address to the King: they were disposed to forgive the Ministers everything, if they would but feel themselves Italians. Vain hope ! The Deputies were temperate, as well as cautious : but the will of the Ministers was otherwise : and the soldiers, who should have been whetting their swords on the rocks of the liberated Alps against the Austrians, were whetting them on the marble of the Palace against the citizens. The Chamber in vain studied conciliation : the disasters of Italy emboldened the insolence of those in power. The time was now conic to rid their vision of that eyesore of public censors. On the 5th of September, they prorogued the Parliament until the 30th of November; and they turned a hired mob loose in the streets of Naples, with the Bourbon flag, to cry "Long live the King: perish the Nation." I have elsewhere referred to (he insane fury of 356 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Leghorn. The causes of disturbance there were numerous. It had a population not purely Tuscan, and a drove of people swept in from all parts of Italy, and of strangers, among the population properly its own : with a numerous class living only from hand to mouth. The paternal Government, suited to the gentle Tuscans, was unfit to educate a population like that of Leghorn in quiet times, very fit to disorganise them in times of trouble. There were the dregs of sects and sectaries, and these among that same lower class ; a crowd of tra- ders, that is to say, of citizens who care for the multiplication table, but for nothing else ; continual arrivals of every kind of person ; smuggling, easy gains ; these, and other such, were the causes of cor- ruption. There was, too, a Guerrazzi among the citizens of Leghorn ; strong in anger, ambition, bile, talent, and the faculty of speech, He had early ad- dressed himself to plotting, had mixed with the giovine Italia, and then, subsequently to the events of 1831, when he was punished only after the usual manner of the Tuscan Government, he had, or seemed to have, resigned all political cares : he wrote romances, com- pounded of an Italian spirit, republican heat, eloquent blasphemies, and hopeless scepticism, all coloured with an oriental style; and likewise panegyrics of dis- tinguished men. He acquired a literary name ; and had applied to forensic pursuits, to traffic, but, above all, to the accumulation of money. By degrees, the Liberals detached themselves from him, held him cheap, and taxed him with avarice, cupidity, and pride. He resented all this in silence, as the times Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 357 permitted nothing else. The days of reform came, and he revived : it was easy to get up agitation in Leghorn, most of all for one strong, like Guerrazzi, both in talent and in evil will. But those Liberals, who were in credit, fell upon him, for instance, Mon- tanelli, who had a vast deal of influence, and who from Pisa swayed part of the youth of Leghorn. They attacked him both through the press, and by word of mouth : and Ridolfi, the Minister, had him apprehended. Guerrazzi took note of the offence. He was set free, and that quickly. The temper of men's minds grew hotter still : Leghorn was in tumult, and Guerrazzi blew the flames. The Ridolfi Ministry, inconsiderately thwarted by a portion of its own political friends, resigned office, and Gino Capponi succeeded them. The new Ministers, like their pre- decessors, had an Italian spirit ; favoured, to the best of their power, the war of independence, and were sin- cerely anxious for the stability of the liberal system. The Sovereign, who had always been mild, and had promoted the culture of the people and the growth of civilisation, had likewise, in the recent crisis of Italian affairs, begun to tread the road of freedom, and seemed to have sacrificed his family feeling towards the Empire to the desire of satisfying his people, lie had given a Constitution, and forwarded the war ; and he made a practice of governing through the medium of his Ministers. Weighty or deep-rooted causes of popular discontent did not exist in Tus- cany ; yet Leghorn was raving. Many flocked thither on their return from Lombard)', whether Tuscans or A \ .'! 358 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. not ; and no means could be found of bringing the town to repose. On the 24th of August, the arrival of Padre Gavazzi ministered fresh excitement: his expulsion caused irritation, and the rioters burned journals, broke down the telegraphs, seized the Go- vernor Guinigi, and demanded, with a reduction in the price of salt, popular election for the officers of the National Guard, the diminution of the charges in the law courts, a reform in respect to pensions : they threatened, too, to create a Provisional Government. The Ministry, who had obtained from the Parliament extraordinary powers, named as Commissioner for Leghorn Lionetto Cipriani, a youth of great merit, who had gained singular distinction on the plains of Lombardy ; and to him they gave both authority and men. On his entry, he was neither very well nor very ill received. lie ordered the Clubs to be closed, and forbade the gathering into groups in the public streets. The ordinance was torn down. A troop of dragoons, hastening to keep the rioters in check, was surrounded, one soldier wounded, and some horses killed. Towards dusk of that day, the 2nd of Sep- tember, the artillery was drawn out, and the guns pointed, both in the Piazza and at the outlets of the principal streets. Then began a sanguinary struggle : the rioters fired on the troops from the windows and battlements ; the soldiers, except the Carabineers, did not stand firm. Cipriani was compelled to collect his men, and to retire at daybreak into the fortress of Porta Murata. Two days after, he escaped by sea from the insurgent city, and a Municipal Government was Cuap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 359 nominated, consisting of Guerrazzi, and of Petracchi, one of the commonalty. As their enterprise had thus failed, the Government got the Sovereign to call out the Tuscan National Guard, and sent them to encamp at Pisa. I will hereafter state the sequel. This summary may suffice to show what Tuscany suffered, and likewise, as I think, what was the sense, what the patriotism of those, who, while brag- ging that they were the most Italian of Italians, and the most liberal of Liberals, fanned the fire of intes- tine wrath and quarrel at the very moment of Aus- tria's triumph. The Parliament of Sicily had already, on the 13th of April, declared King Ferdinand of Bourbon and his dynasty deposed for ever, and had decreed, that the form of Government should be constitutional monarchy, and that the Crown should be conferred, so soon as the old constitution was reformed, on an Italian Prince. There was no republican party in the island. There were indeed a few republican busy- bodies, or emissaries of sects, but they made no way. England was not ill-pleased to see Sicily make herself an independent Kingdom, and inclined to recognis- ing the regular Sovereignty of the King whom the Parliament might choose. King Ferdinand boasted of his rights, and appealed to treaties ; yet those very treaties, which had once and again given him the Crown, bound him to terms that lie had failed to keep. The Sicilian people, too, had their rights un- impaired ; for Kings an; not, any more than other men, entitled to break covenants and oaths, to stand A A i 360 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. perjured before God, and to swindle their subjects : and when they found upon the sword not right, but despotism destructive of right, they themselves recog- nise the sword's supremacy. The few republicans of Sicily did not like to place a King upon the vacant throne. Padre Ventura, Envoy for Sicily in Rome, sent word that a Republic would at any rate be pro- claimed in Italy, and that, if Sicily were monarchical, it might go but ill with her ; and he advised naming the venerable Ruggero Settimo as provisional King, or Dictator. After the 15th of May, the Sicilian Parliament, hoping to give the last thrust to the throne of the Bourbons, sent an armed legion into Calabria, under the Piedmontese Colonel Rivolti, to aid the insurgents. On the failure of this enterprise, Sicily made no further attempt against Naples. It enacted its Constitution, and, on the 11th of July, it elected the Duke of Genoa, second son of Charles Albert, to be King, under the title of " Alberto Ame- deo, first King of the Sicilians, by the constitution of the Kingdom." They then sent envoys, to offer the crown to the gallant youth, who, by fighting for the independence of Italy, was teaching every scion of a royal stock in what way to earn an Italian crown, to win the hearts of a free people, and to consolidate the Italian dynasties. Of highminded Venice, thus far. I have said little. Now, among the mournful thoughts, to which the memory of our quarrels and our misfortunes gives rise, it is well to cheer the mind by reflecting how, when Venice had, as by a prodigy, acquired liberty Chap. XV.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 361 in March, and was governed by her most virtuous citizens, she appeared the most united and most civilised city of Italy. And when, by the course of events and the inclination of the Continental popula- tion, and under the idea of constituting a strong King- doin of Upper Italy, the plan of fusion won the day even with that city, the Queen of the Lagunes, it was good to see, that the republicans of Venice, numerous of course in that State, where St. Mark and the Republic are sounds so full of glory, did not break the peace. The virtue and patriotism of those illustrious men, Manin and Tommaseo, gave an example to the tur- bulent swarms in the other Italian cities. They ab- stained from every proceeding which could cause public excitement, or embitter the strife of factions. Yet more honourable was this, that when Venice had afresh asserted herself as a Republic, after the national disasters in Upper Italy, when she was seeking to keep herself safe from the Austrian in- vasion, and when Manin had again risen to the seat of power, he followed a course so tempered as to give no umbrage to the constitutional Thrones, and knew how to maintain public order, and to defend it from the wiles of the numerous fomenters of scandals to Italy, who flocked thither to make trial of their theories. Some of these, one Dallongaro, a priest, among them, were expelled, and sent elsewhere to procure their own fortunes, and calamities for their country. I shall hereafter have occasion to speak more at large of the virtues and sacrifices of the Venetians. 362 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Before, however, I close this chapter, it is the place to say, that Piedmont herself had her own internal maladies. At Genoa, ancient municipal feelings, and modern Mazzinian disorders, were the occasion of suffering : the question of the fusion with Lombardy had divided the feelings of Turin, and had created political parties in the Parliament and the State. The fear of losing the rank of a capital, the aversion of one or more classes of citizens to a popular system, the hazards of a Constituent Assembly, which must needs sit to frame a Constitution for the new State, and then the reverses of the war, the tumults of Milan, the slanders of the republicans, the unexpected truce, were powerful instruments of disturbance, and natural incentives to faction. And it was good fortune, the good sense of the people, and their un- shaken confidence in their magnanimous King and honoured dynasty, that saved Piedmont from greater evils. When the law for fusion had been carried, a Ministry was constituted, of distinguished men from the several parts of the new Kingdom, having at its head Count Casati, Mayor of Milan, and President of the Provisional Government there. But shortly after, when the truce had been concluded, that Ministry resigned ; and, while a Consulta was ap- pointed for Lombardy, a Ministry, with Count Cesare Alfieri for its President, succeeded to power, and declared, as the preceding one had done, that it held the truce of Salasco to be simply a military conven- tion. .Cuap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 303 CHAP. XVI. KOSSIS OPPONENTS. — HIS SUPPORTERS. — FIRST PROCEEDINGS AND FIRST CARES OF THE ADMINISTRATION. — ARTICLE BY PELLEGR1NO ROSSI. HIS OTHER PROCEEDINGS. ANOTHER ARTICLE. — NO- TICES OF THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR THE ITALIAN LEAGUE. — MISSION OF ROSMINI TO ROME. HIS PLAN OF A FEDERATIVE LEAGUE HIS RESIGNATION. — HIS LETTER TO GIOBEETL ARTICLE OF PELLEGRINO ROSSI OX THE LEAGUE. — COMMENT. FURTHER REMARKS ON THE DISTURBANCES AT LEGHORN". MONTANELLI AGAIN AT FLORENCE. MONTANELLI AT LEGHORN. MONTANELLI IN THE MINISTRY WITH GUERRAZZI. — NOTICES OF THE CONGRESS AT TURIN FOR A FEDERATION. The turbulent, with those who doated on a new Constitution or hated every kind of discipline and order, the presumptuous, the garrulous, the magistrates accustomed to fatten upon abuses, the Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder, and the clergymen greedy of gold and honours, could ill bear Pellegrino Rossi's having the authority of a Minister. Add to these, many ingenuous youths, to whom every one having a character for rigour was distasteful ; many, who leaned to extreme courses through an incurable distrust of priestly government; and certain journal- ists, wont to curry favour tor themselves at the cost of the good name of others. Kniptiness, too, and mediocrity, witli their satellites, saw they had missed an opportunity of rising to the seat ol power. On the other hand, all who knew the real condition of the State, were aware that, withoul the speedy and reso- lute application ol' rc.-toralives to the finances, and 364 FKOM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. to public discipline and order, all must, go to wrack ; and numbers were tired of seeing the giddy or the bad get applause for mad or disreputable actions, while the moderate and upright reaped contempt and hatred from good ones. All these thought it a great gain, that Pellegrino Rossi should take charge of the de- bilitated State. The dissatisfied were more numerous and noisy in the capital : the contented stronger in the Provinces, especially at Bologna, where an educated community wished for a liberal system, with a Go- vernment strong in the strength of the law ; where the recent terrible events had surfeited every mind with horror; and where Rossi, the proscribed of 1815, was dear to memory, and rooted in public esteem. The first act of the Ministry was, to get rid of that prodigy of absurdity, Accursi's Ordinance about the exportation of money, and to abolish the ministerial department of Police : while Rossi's first anxieties were about the finances, and the army. He sought to meet the pressing wants of the exhausted Treasury by convincing the Pope it was the time to obtain help from the clergy ; and of the army, by propo- sing the distinguished General Zucchi for Minister of War. He was then in Switzerland, and the Pope sent Count Zampieri, of the department of the Interior, to him with complimentary letters of invitation. On the 22nd of September, Pellegrino Rossi printed in the Government Gazette a paper of his, which I here insert, as it serves to explain his first acts, and the views of his Ministry. " A person attached to the department of the Interior has left Rome some days since, to deliver to General Zucchi the Chap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 365 dispatch which invites him to become War Minister of this Government. " Meanwhile, however, the Government docs not omit to use all suitable means for restoring discipline and organisa- tion in the Papal army, and for filling it up in the manner that present events, as well as permanent necessities, demand. " On these ends it is especially intent, because well aware that its own duty, like the business of the regular army, is twofold : namely, both to stand firm in the defence of the honour and rights of the Sovereign and the Nation, under whatever political circumstances, and to consolidate public order more and more, and uphold it with all its power. Upon success in these two points, the true social life of every com- munity essentially depends. Nor should the maintenance of order be partial : but as every man, in virtue of his natural or his civil condition, has rights, and also duties to fulfil towards others ; so the Government ought to mind, that these rights be peaceably enjoyed, and these duties fulfilled with the same exactitude, by all, without any respect of person, opinion, or origin. " The Ministry is bound to defend the public interest as well against the practices of those, who try to bring back the new political system to rules and usages that do not, and ought not, now to exist, as against the intrigues of men, whose heated imagination, or else sonic bad or foolish craving, would push us to exceed the bounds, marked out for us by the wisdom of the generous restorer of our freedom. " Such is the olfiee and duty of the Government of his Holiness, nor will it ever fail to fulfil them, to the utmost of its powers ; which, assuredly, would not suffice to bear the weighty charge laid upon them, if they should not be frankly sustained by the concurrence and the moral weight of all trood men. On this concurrence it. relics: nor will it be dis- o appointed, if all carry in their minds the fixed persuasion, that, in a constitutional Government lill'l'f\'<-<\ hi in l>y the deputies of its Parliament; and the (ioveriunont of Naples 376 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book IIT. seemed less averse to negotiate an arrangement with the Italian States. But the Ministry in Piedmont, called after Casati, its President, resigned : whether because disinclined to accept the Anglo-French me- diation, as hoping to drag France, with a good or an ill grace, into supporting them, or because, as being composed in great part of persons not natives, it had so little favour and credit, especially in the capital and in the army, that its orders were disobeyed, and many scandals occurred. The succeeding Ministry did not come into the plan of a Confederation framed by Rosmini ; and, without proposing any other, or continuing the negotiations, wished to negotiate a simple league, or alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Roman Government. Hence it came, that Rome anew took umbrage at Piedmont, and that Rosmini resigned his post, by no means because, as some journals stated, he was dissatisfied with the Roman Court, but rather because he was ill content with the notions of the new Piedmontese Adminis- tration. This fact I can show by the documentary proof of a letter, afterwards addressed by Rosmini himself to Gioberti, in which he summarily refers to the commencement, progress, and close of his mission, and affords proof of the falsity of the reports which, then and afterwards, were current on the subject. Here is the letter. "Rome, October 30. 1848. " Most distinguished Abate, " In No. 185. of the Contemporanco, dated October 28. 1848, it is stated that, 'in the Chamber of the Senate at Turin the Minister of Foreign Affairs was questioned, in the Ciiap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 377 sitting of the 21st, respecting the Italian League; and he answered, that a project of league for commerce, customs, and defence, under the Presidency of the Pope, had arrived from Home ; but that, as nothing was said in it of contingents of men and money to be furnished for the war, the Court of Turin had sent back a counter project, in which, among other articles tending to an effective Italian Federation, there was express mention of those points.' " However I may wish to believe, that the Contemporaneo has not reported with precision the ministerial answer to the questions of the Chamber, yet truth and my own honour require, that I should set right with you, as having been a member of the Ministry, from which I had the commission that brought me to this capital, the statements of the journal I have quoted, which might beget in the public mind an un- favourable opinion of my proceedings. The facts, then, are these. " Within the first twenty days of my stay at Home, during which I received no dispatches from the Ministry, adhering to the instructions I had received from their predecessors, I was at pains to concert privately with the Marquis Domenico Pareto, II. M.'s Minister Plenipotentiary in Home, with the Commendator Bargagli, resident Tuscan Minister, and with Monsignor Corboli Bussi, a project for an Italian Federation. This I sent to the new Ministry, in order that, when it had received their approval, I might be able to lay it officially before the Roman Government. In this project I proposed, that a preliminary Congress should frame a Federal Consti- tution, which should be the basis of a central Power in Italy, having for its first duty to declare war and peace, and both in case of war, and in time of peace, to fix the contingents required of the several States, with a view as well to external independence as to internal tranquillity. " After the laps*; of a month, I received a reply from II. E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs, stating that the present Ministry, after mature; consideration of all the facts, did not deem this the time to commence negotiations for an 378 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Italian Confederation, and sending me accordingly a project of a simple league, or offensive and defensive alliance, which I was to negotiate with this Government. " But I have a full persuasion, which I have already and repeatedly had the honour to state in my letters to the Ministry of H. M., that the plan of a league of this nature could not be accepted by the Italian Governments, because it would not constitute Italy into a nation as is desired ; and therefore it would not be Italy, which upon any fitting occasion might declare and make war for her own inde- pendence, inasmuch as, without a real Federation, Italy could have no political existence. Accordingly, in obedience to my duty as an honest man, I then found myself obliged to decline initiating communications on such a basis, with the Holy See, and to recommend the King's Ministry to entrust the commission to some other diplomatist, both more com- petent, and having the conviction, which in me was wanting, of the utility and feasibility of the ministerial project. " I beg you to accept the assurances of the profound esteem with which I have the honour to be " Your most humble and devoted servant, " A. Rosmini." In lieu of Rosmini, De Ferrari, a member of the Council, was sent to Rome as Envoy about the League. Pellegrino Rossi was then Minister there. He wished to come to some arrangement as early as possible, and being both adroit in negotiations, and intent upon expediting them by means of timely con- cessions, he sought for modes of procedure which might be acceptable to all the Italian States, even to Naples, which he used every effort to draw into concord and communion with Italy. He conceived accordingly, and put into form, with the full consent of the Pope, the following scheme. Chap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 379 "Draft of Convention. " His Holiness, &c, &c. (Titles of the contracting Parties), " Having maturely considered the present circumstances of Italy, and the natural community of interest, which exists among the independent States of the Peninsula ; and de- sirous, accordingly, of providing, by mutual agreement, for the defence of their freedom and independence ; and at the same time, of consolidating public order, and promoting the gradual and regular progi'ess of prosperity and civilisation, the chiefest element of which is the Catholic religion ; have concluded the following stipulations as a fundamental law for their respective States : — " Art 1. There shall be a League between, &c, &c. " 2. Every other independent Sovereign and State of Italy may within the space of ... . give its adhesion to the League, and become an integral part of it. " 3. The affairs of the League shall be propounded and dealt with, in a Congress of Plenipotentiaries deputed by each contracting party. Each State may choose them ac- cording to such rules as it may think most seasonable to establish for itself. "4. The number of Plenipotentiaries shall not exceed . . . for each State. Whatever the number be, the Plenipoten- tiaries of a Sovereign represent collectively the State which has sent them, express in the discussions the view of their principal, and have no more than one vote. " 5. The Congress is presided over by the Pope : and, under his authority, by such one of the lioman Plenipoten- tiaries, *as he shall select. " C). The organic regulations for the Congress of the League shall be adopted, in a preliminary Congress, to be opened at Koine not later than the . . . . and shall thereafter be ratified by the High Contracting Parties. "7. The High Contracting Parties promise not to con- clude with other States or Governments any treaty, conven- tion, or special agreement, at variance with the terms and resolution- ol tin Italian L il'Mi, and the riidit.- and obliiNi- 380 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. tions flowing from them : saving always the entire freedom of the Pope to conclude treaties and conventions directly or in- directly relating to matters of religion." But this proposal did not seem to fall in with the views of the Piedmontese Government : while in Piedmont rumours were spread and printed, that Rome was backward about any Convention for Italy ; and our journals and clubs made this matter of charge and injurious imputation on the Roman Government. Hence Pellegrino Rossi thought fit to declare openly his own feelings and intentions, in an article which he printed on the 4th of November in the Roman Gazette. It was this : "In our jSo. 187. of September 18., we stated to our readers, that the formation of the Political League among the Constitutional Monarchies of Italy, was ever the anxious de- sire of the Papal Government, and that we had a lively hope of seeing this great idea, of which Pius IX. had been the spontaneous author, and was the constant promoter, shortly brought into action. Still, we concluded with the wish, (and it was too plain that that wish was not unmixed with fear,) that we might not here, too, find human passions and private interests thwarting a sacred work, and rendering the pure patriotism, which inspired it, of none effect. But it must be plainly avowed, that obstacles are encountered in the very quarter where, according to all reason, ready consent and earnest cooperation ought to have been found. It is there, too, so unhappy are our times ! that sharp words of accusation are heard against the Pontiff, as if he no longer wished for the League, which he was the first to imagine and to broach. " And why these charges? The answer is simple, and it is this; that the Pontiff, who initiated the League, has not blindly followed the Piedmontese project. " Now, when read with care, to what did this project Chap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 381 amount ? To this : let us conclude a League in general terms : send us men, arms, and money : then, as soon as may be practicable, the Plenipotentiaries of the Parties shall meet in Home to deliberate on the organic conditions of the League. But, before all, it ought to be clearly stated, what territory Piedmont expects that Rome and Tuscany should guarantee to it : whether its old or its new, whether that it occupies, or that it hoped to be strong enough to occupy. " If the old, there can be no objection. " If the new, who does not see, that Tuscany and Rome, by making themselves sole guarantees of such splendid acces- sions, would raise laughter throughout Europe ? " Nor let it be said, this is a national compact, a condition of Italian independence: for the self-government of Italy does not of necessity require that the House of Savoy should rule from the Panaro to the Alps. If this arrangement be one of the political forms into which independent Italy might fall, it is not the only one. Nor need we here examine, whether that form be preferable to every other, or whether, if it be extended beyond Piacenza and Lombardy, it might not have something of inconvenience and excess. Be it pre- sumed, that it was the best form, at the time of its concep- tion. But now the circumstances are changed, and differ from the former, just as recovery differs from possession. However this may be, it is certain that the aggrandisement of Piedmont, and the self-government of Italy, are not equi- valent terms, or identical questions : that the second may exist without the first : that to guarantee territories not held, but only desired by Piedmont, is not a matter thus to be decided at a breath. Were it ever so good in itself and wholesome for Italy, it would not be a decision of adequate weight in the councils of Europe, as if it were the sponta- neous, common, and maturely considered work of all the inde- pendent States of our Peninsula, of the true Italian League. " It was then a crude and premature notion, to import this into the preliminary terms and conditions of a League incomplete and barely sketched. 382 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. " The same must be said of the fixing of contingents, arms, and money. How can these be fixed, unless it be first known how many and of what description are the Parties, to what risks the League may be exposed, and what friendships or enmities it may have to hope or to fear ? NothiDg is said of Naples. But Naples is so large a part of Italy, that it cannot be passed by. The terms of the League must needs differ, according as Naples is a party or not ; or, according as, not being a party, she may be friendly, neutral, or hostile, in regard to it. " Plainly it would be advantageous to Piedmont to be able to call herself the head of two or three armies besides her own. It might thus become less difficult for her to obtain, in the negotiations which she brought about by capitulating at Milan, and then by accepting foreign mediation, some portion of the vast territories which she craved. And Italy, we admit, might, amidst the calamities into which the blunders and follies of so many have dragged her, experience some solace in seeing the Kingdom of Piedmont a little enlarged. " Yet, if we be really consulting for Italy more than any- thing else, it would be a more sound, sincere, and patriotic design, first to knit firmly the League, and meantime to leave to the contracting States leisure solidly to reconstitute their armies. But what are levies in mass, what is mere impulse, as a substitute for knowledge and for discipline ? Big words, which inspire no alarm, and assuredly cannot feed the hopes of reflecting men. Why, then, did Piedmont, which has added to the idea of the safety of Italy that other, and no less spirited, idea of her own grandeur, not see 100,000 volunteers combined with her regular army? The Government of Piedmont well knows what is the value of irregular against regular troops; that prowess is not enough for success in war, and that, even if she sought to draw the sword from the scabbard, and to summon Italy to arms, Italy would have a right to ask to know how, and by whom, the war was to be managed ? '• But the Government of Piedmont is prudent; its thoughts Chap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 383 are of peace ; for peace it wishes, it negotiates : and to any- one who might doubt of its sincerity in such a desire, it would, by way of proof, point to Venice, not defended by its arms. "We know not, and are not curious to know, what result it may hope or fear from these its negotiations, nor what are the conditions, upon which, in the last resort, it may be prepared to settle the question. It is, however, true, that it would be rather too strange to proceed with a League, even to the point of promising fixed contingents of men and money, while a negotiation about the destinies of Italy is in progress, of which one only among the contracting Parties knows the mysteries, and gives instructions to the chief Italian nego- tiators : we mean the Piedmontese. The Sardinian Govern- ment is so ripe both in politics and in courtesy, that assuredly it cannot but recognise the need and fitness, when it is sought to fix the most important item of all political leagues what- ever, namely, the liability for contingents, of saying first to the parties, ' Here is my point, here arc my instructions, here are the limits, within which I have thought that the discretion of the negotiators and the mediators ought to be confined: tell me your opinion, let us agree in some conclu- sion, and then we will either give to our negotiators common instructions and powers, or else to the respective negotiators of each State of the League instructions tallying together.' Either Piedmont seeks to act for herself in diplomacy too, and the League, if it can at once be concluded in principle, cannot be drawn out into details of special and positive obli- gation, until the mystery of these negotiations be unveiled, and until cither peace is concluded, or the communications at an end: or else, Piedmont intends to negotiate as one of the League; in which ease she should accelerate her adhesion to it, and the dispatch of her Plenipotentiaries to Pome. " For this, in good sooth, she does not seem particularly anxious. She will send them, she says, 'as soon as possible.' We humbly confess the: narrowness of our understanding: but we cannot comprehend this ' as soon as possible.' Put what in the world can prevent six, eight, or ten persons (let. 384 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. each State choose as many as it pleases, and choose them in its own way) from embarking at Genoa, and disembarking at Civita Vecchia ? Who can prevent them from repairing to Rome, and here deliberating upon Italian affairs? Rome, God be thanked ! can guarantee the life, effects, and freedom of her guests. That ' as soon as possible,' is to us an enigma, a riddle, and one of which we will not seek the key. To our minds, an Italian Congress in Rome is, we do not say merely a thing possible, but easy, and, at the same time, urgent and necessary. " The Papal project is most simple in plan. It may be summed up in few words. ' There is a Political League among the constitutional and independent Monarchies of Italy, adhering to the Convention. The Plenipotentiaries of each independent State shall assemble at Rome without delay, in a preliminary Congress, to deliberate upon the common interests, and to lay down the organic covenants of the League.' " A thing done cannot be undone. " By this direct and plain course, the goal may be readied. By any other, our distance from it must go on increasing. Italy, already the victim of so many errors, would have to lament one more. " In fine, Pius IX. does not swerve from his lofty idea, anxious now, as heretofore, to make effectual provision, by the Italian Political League, for the security, dignity, and pros- perity of Italy, and of its constitutional Monarchies. " Pius IX. is not prompted cither by partial interests, or by a calculating ambition ; he asks nothing, wishes nothing, beyond the happiness of Italy, and the regular development of the institutions, which he has bestowed upon his people. At the same time, lie never will forget what is due from him to the dignity of the Holy Sec, and to the glory of Rome. Any proposition whatever, incompatible with this sacred obligation, must fail of effect with the Sovereign of Rome, and the head of the Church. The Pontificate is the sole living grandeur that remains to Italy, and that makes Chap. XVI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 385 Eui'ope, and the whole Catholic world, reverent and deferential towards her. This Pius IX., whether as the supreme Hierarch, or as an Italian, never will forget." Now it is very clear from this sagacious, but oc- casionally bitter article, that the Italian Governments, and their subjects, had as yet but feebly planted their feet upon the path of concord : and it grows more and more clear, how improvident was the neglect, or backwardness, to conclude the League, and how such conduct was rife, in a yet greater degree, with mis- chief and with danger. While the Governments were taking such ill care of their own security and of the safety of Italy, by their neglect of the Federal League, other people were pursuing their seditious ends, in order to transfer political power to the populace, and to organise Italy, by means of revolutions, after the most democratic fashion. I have mentioned that Genoa was afflicted with a turbulent spirit, that Pologna was in dismay, and Leghorn incorrigible. I have said, that the Tuscan Government had called out the National Guard, and had sent them to Pisa, by w;iy of demonstration and of menace, rather than for the use of actual force. They came both few and slow, because the preachers of sedition kept back tin; waverers, slandered the eager, declared it infamy to take .arms against the people, him a, traitor, who should obey the laws and the Prince, and him a hero, who should rebel against the law, and overturn (Ik; whole order of civil society. Journals of a sensible tone were committed to the (lames; curses were VOL. II. (J c 386 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book IH. poured on Massimo d'Azeglio, who was then residing in Tuscany for the cure of the wound he had received at Vicenza, and was combatting, with singular courage, by his very striking productions, their raving madness. At Pisa, scarcely 5000 Civic Guardsmen assembled; nor was Leghorn yet tranquil. Montanelli, wounded at Curtatone, and afterwards a prisoner of the Aus- trians, had just then returned to Florence: that Montanelli, who, having been wept for dead, was embraced as one risen again and given back to the numerous friends, Avho bore him an extraordinary affection. He seemed a Godsend ; and he was dis- patched to Leghorn, by his venerated friend Capponi, to conciliate, to guide, almost to arbitrate. The future historian of Tuscany will tell, how the mission was offered, and how accepted, the reasons and the terms of each. For my purpose it is enough to say, that he went as Governor under a Constitutional Sovereign, at the choice of Capponi ; that he proclaimed the Constituent Assembly for Italy ; and that the disorders were not composed, until, instead of Capponi, Monta- nelli became President of the Council of Ministers, and brought with him into power that Guerrazzi, whom he had always loudly depreciated. Then a democratic Ministry became the fashion ; then a Constituent Assembly for Italy got into vogue, that is to say, a single Assembly, elected by universal suffrage of the entire Italian people, sovereign of the country, lord- paramount over its Princes. Of this new remedy, too, poor Italy was doomed to taste ! At Turin, on the other hand, Gioberti had invited Chap. XVI. J THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 387 the Italians to a Congress for Federation, at which, although, in fact, it turned out to be no more than an amateur meeting, the Governments took umbrage, most of all those of Naples and Rome, which dreaded the usurpations, and the supposed unitarian tenden- cies, of Piedmont. From the Roman States, but few went to Turin: Mamiani, Canino, Sterbini, and one or two more. I advert to this Congress, because much was said of it at the time, and because it was subsequently deemed by the timorous the hotbed of the Italian Revolution : while I content myself with an allusion only, because, in fact, it had no influence on opinions or events ; and if any individuals, among those met for a competition of rhetorical display, plotted in secrecy and apart, the Congress itself was of an Arcadian innocence. 388 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. CHAP. XVII. ROSMINI IN ROME. — SOME OF HIS OPINIONS OBJECTED TO. — HIS VICTORY. HIS NOMINATION TO THE CONGREGATIONS OP THE INDEX AND OF THE HOLY OFFICE. HE IS NAMED CARDINAL. MEASURES TAKEN BY THE ROSSI MINISTRY. — ROSSI CHOSEN DEPUTY FOR BOLOGNA. OPPOSITION TO ROSSI. — ZUCCHI AT ROME. ILL TEMPER. OUTBREAK AGAINST THE JEWS. PRO- CLAMATION BY ROSSI. CANINO AND STERBINI IN ROME. GARIBALDI AT BOLOGNA. — ZUCCHI COMMISSIONER THERE. — HIS PROCEEDINGS. EXASPERATION IN ROME. THE CARABINEERS SUMMONED THITHER. REVIEW, THE 14TII OF NOVEMBER ARTICLE IN THE " ROMAN GAZETTE." SOME PARTS OF THE ARTICLE OF THE " CONTEMPORANEO " ON THE 15tH. The illustrious Rosmini, who had come to Rome as Legate from Sardinia to promote an Italian Union, fixed himself there, for the glory of the Church, the Popedom, and Italy. The Pontiff had given him so much of his confidence, that he wished to raise him to the highest honours. Covert war, indeed, was waged against him by clergymen of influence, by astute courtiers, and by addleheaded friars ; but other, and eminent, ecclesiastics and friends of the Pope, and learned regulars, supported him with their cordial friendship and profound respect. The former party found fault with some of his opinions respect- ing ecclesiastical discipline, and chiefly those which he had declared through the press, upon the Wounds of the Church, and on the election of Bishops by the clergy and people. The latter affirmed, that all Rosmini's doctrines were perfectly orthodox, Chai\XVIL] the fundamental statute. 389 and they defended him, a light, as he was, both of charity and of wisdom, civil and divine, from every unjust accusation and groundless reproach. The writings attacked were submitted to the judgment of learned theologians and untainted priests, and the issue was the perfect vindication of Rosmini, and the discredit of his accusers. So much so, that in a paper printed at Rome, and entitled the Giornale di lioma, high compliments were paid to him and to his works. And before long the Government Gazette published the decree of the Pope, naming Rosmini a member of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office and of the Index, that is to say, of the very bodies which sit as guardians of the truths of the faith, and as judges of what is thought and written throughout the Catholic world. It was known soon after, that Pius IX. had nominated this distinguished philosopher a Cardinal of Holy Church, and had already, according to usage, apprised him of it, that he might make the preparations necessary for the formal assumption of the purple when the Pope should publish the election. The modest Rosmini had begun to make these preparations, and to receive the congratulations of his friends. At this every man was delighted, who anticipated lustre and advantage to the Church, tin- Popedom, and Italy, from the elevation of such a man to such an honour: and the pleasure Avas enhanced, and the hope confirmed, from the rumours current at Court, purporting that the new Cardinal Rosmini would shortly be appointed Minister of Public Instruction. For this made it 390 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. appear that, if the energy of stupendous intellects, if weight and brilliancy of name, if proved anxiety for civil progress, could, amidst such overthrows in Europe, uphold States and serve Italy, at least Rome was singularly favoured in these endowments. The names of Pellegrino Rossi, Antonio Rosmini, and Carlo Zucchi, were not only glory but pride, not only hopes but guarantees, for a civilised people ; an unrivalled boast, a truly Italian patriotism of the Sovereign, who thus from the very flower of Italy at large wove a chaplet for the Popedom, for Rome, and for his own brow. The Rossi Ministry pursued its business of putting the State in order, and placing free institutions on a firm groundwork, with views sufficiently to be gathered from the proceedings and papers, which I have presented in the preceding chapter. He pro- cured aid for the Treasury from the clergy, by a provision of the Pope's, that the Cardinal Vicar should lay a tax of 80 bajocchi for every hundred crowns rated, on all ecclesiastical property : and, thanks to the Pope, he gained this point also, that the clergy itself, which had already granted a charge of 2,000,000 crowns in return for Treasury bonds, should bind itself to make a gift to the State of 2,000,000 more. The money to pay the interest on the Rothschild loan was sent to Paris before- hand. A Commission was nominated for fiscal ar- rangement ; another for the organisation of the arm)-, and the reform of the monetary system. Facility was given for sending Rank notes and Treasury bonds by Chap. XVII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 391 post, through the reduction of the tax to a tenth per cent. The estimates of revenue and expenditure were revised with a view to economy, and the Government endeavoured to get them ready for the Parliament on its reassembling to discuss, and thus to commence the exercise of the first and most im- portant right of a free people. It also strove to conclude a contract with a company for the con- struction of a railway from Rome towards the Neapo- litan frontier, and to stimulate the people and the municipalities to associate for the construction of others, from Ponte Lagoscuro by Ferrara to Bo- logna and La Porretta, and from Bologna, through Romagna, to Ancona. It instituted a central office of Statistics in the department of Trade, and placed Ottavio Gigli at its head, with a commission of emi- nent citizens. It caused an inquiry into the best mode of augmenting and improving the manufacture and production of salt in the salt-pits of Cervia and Corneto. It decided on founding chairs of political economy and commercial law in the Universities of Rome and Bologna. It divested the Sacra Conmlta of the superintendence of sanitary concerns and of the hospitals, and set over them a physician, with the Minister of the Interior for the central authority. \t established in that Department a Direction of Police, and intrusted it to Pietro IVrieoli, a young, cultivated, and learned advocate ; while they sent Mr. Assessor Accursi on a journey into France; and Switzerland, to gather information about the reform of the penitentiary system, to which it intended to 392 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. apply. When the Special Commission for Bologna came to an end, on the 27th of October, and Car- dinal Amat was reestablished in the office of Legate, it fell out, that that excellent person asked for leave on account of weak health. Rossi appointed Count Alessandro Spada, of Macerata, to govern Bologna, a person in esteem with the moderate Liberals : and he sent to rule Ancona the distinguished advocate Zannolini of Bologna, one of the proscripts of 1831, at the same time recalling the Delegate Monsignor Ricci, who was taxed with remissness. The name of Rossi, and his financial measures, were so restoring the credit of the State, that the advances of money required for immediate wants were easily obtained, and it likewise became a simple matter to cash abroad the securities, which the clergy were to give for the payment of the promised 2,000,000. The other measures, too, of the Ministry, which I have mentioned, and the papers they printed, so met the views of the citizens, that the very journals ordinarily in opposition — such, for example, as the Pallade, a small-sized Roman news- paper, the Dieta Italiana of Bologna, and at times even the Contemporaneo — eulogised the Government. The Provinces were still better pleased than Rome ; and Bologna placed such confidence in Rossi, that, having to choose a Deputy, she conferred the wel- come honour upon him. Among the journals of Rome opposed to Rossi was the Ej>oca ; and another, lately started, the D. Pirlo?ie, a cutting and satirical print, with caricature drawings, edited and pub- Chap. XVII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 393 lislied by the very same persons as the Epoca, was much more violent against him and the Government, and highly disrespectful towards the Ecclesiastical Court. These journals in opposition founded them- selves, in default of better reasons or pleas, on the haughty deportment of Rossi, on his friendships in France, on his familiarity with Cicognani, a reputed retrogradist, on the renewed combination of the Eccle- siastical and Lay Foreign Departments, and other such matters of minor moment. Meantime, the functionaries, magistrates, and ad- ministrators, whom Rossi sternly admonished, and constrained to order and activity, began to murmur ; as did the clergy, whom he had taxed ; and at the very time when a portion of the Liberals was imputing to the illustrious Minister views retrogressive, narrow, and suited to the priestly taste, part of the clergy, with the Sanfedists, were charging him with Liberal- ism, heresy, and hostility to the Popedom. Zucchi, on his arrival, ordered all the Command- ants and subaltern officers to incur no expence without liis authority, and indicated a resolute in- tention to introduce both method into the chaos of the War Department, and discipline into the con- fusion of the military services : he used strong lan- guage at a review of those troops, who were quartered in Home: and the papalhd* among the soldiers united their complaints with those of their liberal comrades, of indolent or corrupt magistrates, of worldly clergy, and of sectarians of every hue * A nickname of the old pupal soldiery. — Tit. 394 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. Rossi wanted to apply with promptitude and deci- sion to reconstructing the Courts, according to the modes and regulations put into practice in civilised States. He wished to have two grades of jurisdic- tion (to use the phrase of the jurists), and a Court of Cassation : all the old organisation abolished, and a web of countless abuses thereby unravelled. Here- upon bristled up the privileged judges, the legal pre- lates in the long robe, the clerical lawyers in the short one ; and, with them, the whole train of proctors, of sycophants, of go-betweens, of pesterers : nay, the very bedells of the anti-chambers, the very hacks of the sacristies, even the hackney-coachmen, who were made to believe that they would lose their business of carrying advocates, clients, applicants, backwards and forwards between the Consulta, the Rota, the Segna- tura, the Governo, the Monte Citorio, and the Tribunal Vicario. A handful of the populace, wrought upon by the discontented of the retrograde faction, towards the close of October, took occasion, from some squabble between a Jew and a Catholic, to threaten the Ghetto with sacking, and its inhabitants with violence. The Civic Guard, and the Carabineers, hurried to the spot, allayed the tumult, and carried to gaol some individuals, who were only the tools of that faction. Rossi hereupon published this Proclamation : " A set of misguided men, under pretext of a quarrel, in which the Hebrew that struck the blow was at once taken up, have repaired to the Ghetto, and have perpetrated acts, which we could not characterise in terms of sufficient severity. Chap. XVIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 395 " Violences against persons, who, members of society like ourselves, are entitled to its protection, are unworthy of a cultivated and generous people, and would disgrace us in the view of other nations, unless loudly condemned by all good men, and summarily repressed. " Although the cause of public order was not actually compromised, yet, upon the mere possibility of more serious disturbances, it quickly found, in the ready muster of the Civic Guard and of the other forces, a support and security, which ought, by banishing every sinister idea, to inspire the firmest confidence, both for the present and the future. " The Government will not allow civilisation, or the laws, to be insulted with impunity. " And the people of Rome will not cease to present to the entire world the noblest example of devotion to the Sove- reign, and of love to true and honourable freedom, which never can be dissociated from reverence for the law. " The Minister of the Interior, " Rossi." But it was not this species of peccant humour that was formidable : because the Civic Guard with the other armed forces, and the sentiment of the Liberals, lax in reference to the excesses and disorders of their own party, were energetic and resolute enough against the excesses and disorders of Sanfedism. Other and more dangerous distempers were astir. Tuscany was in confusion. The democratic Mi- nistry had it at heart to make her the centre of a new Italy of the mob. All the plotters, the turbu- lent, the restless, of other parts of Italy, flocked to Florence and Leghorn, and by this time nauseated the Ministry itself, or at least Guerrazzi, who was indeed willinjr enough to be lifted into the Govern- 396 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. ment by the populace of Leghorn, but by no means wished to have any one to govern him. Canino and Sterbini met at Florence on their way back from Turin, and kept company with the democrats of the Ministry, of the Clubs, and of the streets. What they said, what they did, at Florence, I am not aware : and, as I will not state anything I do not know for certain, and cannot prove by evidence, I refrain from relating, what was then and afterwards muttered about their lamma^e and designs. But this I will state, because I know it, that no sooner had Canino and Sterbini returned to Rome, than they began, each after his own fashion, to create an uproar ; some set to lauding the democratic Ministers of Tuscany, and to prophesying wonders from a Constituent Assembly, some to denouncing and vituperating Pellegrino Rossi, the Roman Ministry, and priestly Government. Meantime Garibaldi had come from Upper Italy across Tuscany, and, having gathered a bundle of people from all countries, was aiming at Bologna. The Roman Government had cause to fear that the half-suppressed factions of that city might, at that juncture, again erect their heads, and that the re- volutionists might turn to account the name, the courage, and the temerity, of the gallant warrior of Montevideo. For this reason, the Ministry dispatched the Minister of War, General Zucchi, as Commissioner, to Bologna, and with him as his Counsellor, Count Ip- polito Gamba of Ravenna, Secretary to the Council of Deputies, that they might contrive means of hindering or repressing any kind of disorder or rising. Zucchi Chap. XVII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 397 used no force with Garibaldi : but yet required that, after resting awhile, he should set out with his men for Ravenna, from whence he might embark and pass to Venice. Garibaldi went, and, as it seemed, with a bad grace. With him, or after him, went one Masina of Bologna with a band of lisdit horse. A slight dis- turbance occurred at Comacchio, which Zucchi sent the Swiss to compose. The environs of Bologna were still infested by gangs of robbers and assassins : theft and plunder from time to time ensued, even within the city. Father Gavazzi, to tell the truth, had been careful to talk and preach temperately in September, when the dregs of the people were at the height of frenzy, but had since returned to incendiary language and ad- dresses. Zucchi disarmed all persons who had not been entered upon the rolls of the Civic Guard: and sent off Father Gavazzi towards Rome, under arrest. All these proceedings excited the anger of Rossi's enemies, the journalists, the captains of the people, and the Roman Clubs. The news, which reached the Government from Tuscany, intimated, that on the day when Parliament was to meet some attempt at disturb- ance would be made. Passion, and the designs to un- settle the State, ran too high to be dissembled. There was no opprobrium, that was not heaped upon Rossi, no charge that was not levelled at the Roman Govern- ment. If the police sent off a Neapolitan or two to the frontier, straightway rose an outcry against tyranny. If Rossi summoned Carabineers to Rome, forthwith a coujt d'etat was predicted. If the Minister 398 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. of Public Works made a fresh arrangement of the Hall of the Council of Deputies and its public gal- leries, the rumour sprang up (untruly) that they were narrowing the accommodation for the people, that they wanted to exclude it, that they were un- dermining publicity, liberty, and the Constitution. Rossi had, indeed, called to Rome a number of Cara- bineers, perhaps two or three hundred, and did not dissemble, that it was for the maintenance of order, just as the clamourers did not conceal their wishes, hopes, and cravings to disturb it. Nay, he did not dissemble his determination to repress every kind of tumult or commotion, and he thought it a wise and honest plan to make it known, lest the seditious, relying upon the usual laxity, should venture upon experiments, of the kind that had so often succeeded to their satisfaction. Accordingly, he had the Ca- rabineers reviewed, and then marched in a body, through the Corso, to their quarters. These proceed- ings exasperated all such as preferred their influence with the mob, or private interest, to the good of their country, and saw, that they could not wholly un- bridle their cupidity, till they had got rid of the bold Minister. They beset the Deputies, who now, on the eve of the opening of Parliament, were assembling in Rome, and used efforts to turn them against him, if doubtful, to inflame them, if already hostile, to inti- midate them, if friendly : and many of them remained quiet, inert, or hesitating, because, in that universal confusion, there was no crudity which might not have a chance of gaining the upper hand. After so Chap. XVII. ] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 399 much disturbance and sedition, and so many triumphs of the disturbers and the seditious, worthy citizens, and temperate men, had lost the sense of their own rights, and of their own strength ; and matters had come to such a pass, that it seemed necessary either to praise everything, said or done in the name of the people, which was infamous, or to let words and things take their course, which was cowardly. Very few were they, who dared to disapprove, to declare openly all they felt, and frankly and undisguisedly to take their position, and stand on the side of Government : be- cause they were aware, that in cities habituated to servitude, if you venture to thwart the despotism dominant, whether in the palace or the street, the pusillanimous herd will not follow you, the indifferen- tists will bray at you, the slaves in arms, when suc- cess is easy and certain, will lay upon you without mercy. And by this time Rome had been long tossed in such a storm, that every sentiment, every notion of right and wrong, was either corrupted or at fault : and the man most hostile to the Priests, the Govern- ment, the Popedom, was taken for the best citizen, the freest son of Italy. We bad now arrived at the 14th of November; and on the next day Parliament was to reopen. Possi, who had grounds for fearing that the revolutionists would make some attempt, declared lie was sure that they would not stand with folded hands: he thought they wanted to create an uproar in the Council of Deputies, to cry for the Italian Constituent Assembly, to abuse him, and present a petition to the Sovereign, 400 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. in arms : and his opinion was, that the Sanfedists, too, on their part, would conspire, by no means with the view of appearing openly in the affray, but rather so as to drive the other extreme party to excesses, which might react to their advantage. The Govern- ment Gazette of the 14th gave an indication of Rossi's ideas, in the following words : " On the 15th instant, the Councils are now about to meet, within view of one of those moments of decisive crisis, which determine the future for nations, and at which two parties, with discordant aims, nevertheless unite in the at- tempt to overthrow the constitutional form of Government. The hopes of all honest men are concentrated in their discern- ment and in their patriotism. Of those parties, one hopes to recall a past, to which return is impossible ; the other, avowedly working upon the passions and the inexperience of a portion of the people, aims at plunging society, as such, into dissolution and anarchy. Both, however they differ in their object, have, in common, disorder for their means. Let both be assured, that the constitutional Government of his Holi- ness keeps its eye upon them ; and is determined to do its duty, by manfully combatting every effort, that may be di- rected against the integrity of the State. " Each of us perceives, in the reopening of the deliberative Councils, a guarantee of public order, and the consolidation of our constitutional franchises. This happy course of affairs is, however, dependent on the harmony of the relations be- tween the Councils and the Executive Power: nor can it be fully realised, unless the ruling idea of the Councils be to re- strain those, who might try to reproduce among us scenes, which, as enacted elsewhere, do not promise the happiest re- sults, and might desire adhesion to a pact concluded amidst orgies in a neighbouring city. Facts will supply an answer. At all events, such attempts can result only in mischief to those who make them : as personal abuse and invective can Chap. XVIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 401 disgrace none but their authors. The world is well aware, that there are such things as praise that disparages, and as censure that exalts." If, now, any one desire to know the ideas and in- tentions of some among those that exercised influence in the Clubs and in the streets, let him read and weigh the number of the Contemporaneo, published on the morning of the 15th. In it are printed three violent productions, one subscribed by Sterbini, the others anonymous. I cite a few passages, which may suffice for such readers as have not the journal at hand. " In obedience to the behests of their master " (Metter- nich) " the mighty diplomatists of all Europe have set about their task. The copious effusion of the blood of citizens, the numerous bombardments of illustrious cities, bear witness to a vast conspiracy, devised against the nations, not indeed on behalf of the Monarchies (against which an immeasurable hatred, the precursor of certain ruin, is accumulating), but on behalf of an administrative clique, which has joined hands with the potent Lords of the Exchange, each reciprocally aiding the other in the combined rule of force and money. . . . " The achievements of so many centuries, the marvels of human intelligence, would soon be but ashes and ruins, if society should not rise up as one man to chain the barbarism, which the Metternichs and the Guizots are now inviting to hasten to their aid. But, until this is done, we must expect to witness the frequent renewal of the scenes of horror and desolation seen at Naples, at Messina, at Pa- lermo, at Prague, at Berlin, at F rank fort, at Vienna: and for this reason, that there is a school, which follows the same principles, employs the same arts, and has ever before its eyes the Metternich programme. Unhappily, this school has penetrated even into Italy : introduced, under bloody auspices, at Naples, to-day it threatens Koine. . . . VOL. II. 1) 1) 402 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III " Rossi is commissioned to make the experiment, in Rome, of the policy of the Metternichs and the Guizots. . . , " Amidst the laughter and the contempt of the people, he will fall : but this does not absolve us, after having called him the betrayer of the cause of Italy, from calling him also the betrayer of the Sovereign, who has raised him to his place." . . . Thus in one article ; and in another, these words : " No, it cannot continue thus : and our business is to lay down for ourselves forthwith the maxim, principiis obsta." And in a third : " It is the usual stratagem of Guizot and Co. to portend disorders, to infuse alarm into the people, and largely and ostentatiously to prepare for resistance, in order to aggravate the disturbances they desire, so that they may have ground to say to the Sovereign : 'we have saved the country, but we cannot answer for the future : the republican faction is lifting up its head: anarchy is on the advance: we have need of extraordinary powers, of a vigilant police, of secret funds, of men gifted with intelligence, like Nardoni : we must watch, visit, imprison, banish ; and more too, if the people will remain mute.' " There is yet one last and desperate resort for our Minister, rockets and bombs; but Pius IX. is not one of the Ferdinands: and, by good luck, unless Rossi fetches them from Vienna, our magazines are cleared of them : they were all used at Vicenza against Guizot's friends." These words, and others of like tenour, were printed in the Contemporaneo on the day when Par- liament opened. Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 403 CHAP. XVIII. MORNING OF THE loTH OF NOVEMBER. — 'ASPECT OF THE CITY. — ROSSI. INCIDENTS. RUMOURS. — ANONYMOUS LETTERS. PLACARDS. THE SQUARE. THE COURT OF THE PALACE OF THE CANCELLERIA. INCIDENTS. ASSASSINATION OF ROSSI. HALL OF THE COUNCIL SEQUEL. THE CITY THE QUIRINAL. NEXT FOLLOWING OCCURRENCES. COLONEL CALDERARI. — EXECRABLE REJOICINGS. THE NIGHT. THE MORNING OF THE 16Tn. — PLANS. GALLETTI. — ■ THE RIOTERS. ATTACK ON THE QUIRINAL. SCUFFLE. PROTEST OF THE POPE BEFORE THE DIPLOMATIC BODY. THE NEW MINISTRY. ITS PROGRAMME. NEXT FOLLOWING OCCURRENCES. THE PARLIAMENT. — PRO- POSAL OF POTENZIANI. LANGUAGE OF CANINO. THE VOTE. LANGUAGE OF PANTALEONI RESIGNATIONS OF DEPUTIES. MAMIANI DECLINES TO BE MINISTER. COMMENT. THE POPE SETS OUT FROM ROME. The declamations of the newspapers excited restless and turbulent minds, but did not act upon the masses. On the morning of the 15th of November, the city bore no appearance of being disturbed : and although, here and there, were knots of persons talk- ing of Parliament, of the Ministers, or of the Opposi- tion, and some few excited countenances might be met with in the streets, yet there Avas no sign, which would have hid to an apprehension of tumult or popular fury. The Government had taken the preparations it thought suitable for securing order: the troops were in their barracks, the Carabineers on the alert, and prepared to put down disturbance. Nor was there room for any other or greater precaution, 404 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III- because, in fact, nothing was known, except that the seditious were busy, and were endeavouring to find means of forcing the Sovereign to tread the path already followed by the Ministers of Tuscany. It appertained, as is usual in Constitutional States, to the President of the Council of Deputies, to regu- late its police ; nor had Rossi, who was a scrupulous observer of constitutional method and custom, any idea of having a hand or voice in it. To any person who, under an apprehension of violence, advised him to look to the matter, he replied, that he would call for armed assistance, if it were desired by the President ; but not otherwise. He had repeatedly received anonymous letters, in which his life was threatened, and he had scorned them, as every brave and wise man should. On the very morning of the 15th, he got one, which differed from the rest in this, that it brought him an intimation, rather than a mere threat, of his death. A distinguished lady, likewise, wrote to him, that her mind stood in doubt and fear of some untoward occurrence : a veteran Polish General came to him, and signified his misgivings, lest the threats should be put into execu- tion : and a pious priest warned him of the dangers, that were hanging over him. To all this he answered, that he had taken the measures he thought suitable for keeping the seditious in order : that he could not, because of risks he might personally run, forego repairing to the Council according to his duty : that, perhaps, these were idle menaces ; that, moreover, if any one thirsted for his blood, he would have the Cii.ir. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 405 means of shedding it elsewhere on some other day, even if on that day he should lose his opportunity : he would therefore go : and he repeated, again and again, that the Government was in readiness to put down any faction that might seek to lift up its head. He was cheered by the great trust which the Sovereign reposed in him, and he anticipated both trust and aid from the Parliament, to which he was so shortly to explain his ideas and intentions. He had framed a speech, with the full approbation of the Sovereign, in which he set forth the importance and beauty of free institutions, and his resolution to strengthen and secure them, by rectifying the finances, organising and enlarging the army, pro- moting public wealth, and diffusing instruction. And as he thus expressed sentiments and views agreeable to freedom and civilisation, so, in the same discourse, he spoke with an Italian spirit, and eulogised the benefits of national union and independence. When the ordinary hour of the parliamentary sitting, which was about noon, had arrived, the people began to gather in the Square of the Cancelleria, and by degrees in the courtyard, and then in the public galleries of the hall. Shortly all were full. A batta- lion of the Civic Guard was drawn up in the Square : in the court and hall, there was no guard greater than ordinary. There were, however, not a few individuals, armed with their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers returned from Vicenza, and wear- ing the medals with which the Municipality of Rome had decorated them. They stood close together, i) u :i 406 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. and formed a line from the gate up to the staircase of the palace. Sullen visages were to be seen, and ferocious imprecations heard, among them. During the time when the Deputies were slowly assembling, and business could not commence, because there was not yet a quorum present, a cry for help suddenly proceeded from the extremity of the public gallery, on which every one turned thither a curious eye, but nothing more was heard or seen, and those, who went to get some explanation of the circumstance, returned without success. In the meantime Rossi's carriage entered the court of the palace. He sat on the right, and Righetti, Deputy-Minister of Finance, on the left. A howl was raised in the court and yard, which echoed even into the hall of the Council. Rossi got out first, and moved briskly, as was his habit in walking, across the short space, which leads from the centre of the court to the staircase on the left hand. Righetti, who descended after him, re- mained behind, because the persons were in his way who raised the outcry, and who, brandishing their cutlasses, had surrounded Rossi, and were loading him with opprobrium. At this moment might be seen amidst the throng the flash of a poniard, and then Rossi losing his feet, and sinking to the ground. Alas ! he was spouting blood from a broad gash in the neck. He was raised by Righetti, but could hardly hold himself up, and did not articulate a syllable ; his eyes grew clouded, and his blood spirted in a copious jet. Some of those, whom I named as Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 407 clad in military uniform, were above upon the stairs : they came clown, and formed a ring about the un- happy man : and when they saw him shedding blood and half lifeless, they all turned, and rejoined their companions. He was borne, amidst his death-struggle, into the apartments of Cardinal Gazzoli, at the head of the stairs on the left side ; and there, after a few moments, he breathed his last. In the hall of the Council, a kind of stir had been perceptible since that cry for help was heard, and since the din which had risen from below ; when some Deputies were seen to enter, with countenances expressive of horror, and others, who were physicians or surgeons, such as Fabbri, Fusconi, Pantaleoni, to go out in haste : at the same time a report ran round the galleries, that Rossi had been wounded. Each man then begins to question his neighbour with ears intent, and by look and gesture seeks for informa- tion ; one hurriedly goes out, another as hurriedly comes in ; one mounts from hall to gallery, another descends from gallery to hall : the uncertainty still continues, the breathlessness is prolonged: some give the lie to the fatal rumour, others again declare the Minister not wounded only, but dead. Some of those present rose to demand an account of what had happened, and a reason for the stir ; to which a Deputy replied, they could not tell ; then, after a while, the President Sturbinetti takes the chair, and, though scarcely twenty-five Deputies were present, orders the minutes of the last sitting to be read. A low buzz may now be heard : the Secretary begins to 408 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. read : the Deputies stand unheeding and absorbed, or go forth : the galleries grow thin, and soon the hall is void and mute. Not one voice was raised to pro- test before God and man against the enormous crime ! Was this from fear ? Some have thought to term it prudence : by foreign nations it is named disgrace. I was no longer a Deputy at the time, but, as an eye-witness to the facts, I can now speak the truth with a mind free from prejudice of whatever kind. Possibly it was terror, disguised as prudence, and whitewashed with imperturbability, in him who desired the record of the last sitting to be read. There was no legal meeting; : no motion could be made : the few Deputies, taken by surprise and incensed, almost all went out on the instant, prompted by sympathy with Rossi, whom they thought wounded, but not dead. One worthless voice alone was heard to cry, " Why all this fuss ? one would think he was King of Rome." Truly, some other voice might have cried, " Out upon such infamy ! " and shame it was, that no such voice was heard ! In leaving the palace of the Cancellei^ia, one met some faces stark with an hellish joy, others pallid with alarm, many townspeople standing as if petri- fied, agitators running this way and that, Carabineers the same : one kind of men might be heard muttering imprecations on the assassin, but the generality faltered, in broken and doubtful accents : some, horrible to relate, cursed the murdered man. Yes, I have still before my eyes the livid countenance of one, who, as he saw me, shouted, " So fare the be- Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 409 trayers of the people ! " But the city was in the depths of gloom, as under the swoop of calamity and the scourge of God ; and wherever there were respectable persons, though of liberal and Italian opinions, they were horror-struck, and called for the resolute exertions of the authorities. To the Quirinal there came, first, a vague report of tumult, then news of Rossi's wound, next, of his death : all was doubt, agony, and terror. The Pope stood as if thunder-stricken. Oh ! on that day there was no thronging of the worshippers of good fortune to the palace ! It had become the abode of grief ; the storm was bellowing round it ; few were those in it, fewer they who repaired to it. The Sovereign ordered Montanari, the Minister of Commerce, to take the reins for the moment ; and at once sent to seek for Minghetti and Pasolini, that they might forthwith consider how to constitute a new Ministry. The Duke of liignano, who for many years had been Rossi's confidential and familiar friend, was so oppressed at heart by the weight of his affliction, that he did not feel himself equal to giving orders to the Civic Guard with the composed resolution and sagacity requisite in great emergencies: and, accordingly, he had named Colonel Gallieno, a gallant and respected youth, to act for him. The Ministers were assembled in council at Montanari's house, and were considering of measures to secure the State until their successors should be appointed. Nor did they delay to summon Colonel Calderari, Commandant of the Carabineers, in order to obtain information and 410 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. give instructions. Calderari reported, that he had no intelligence of the name or quality of the assassin or his accomplices : such officers of police, as were in the court of the palace, had been unable to see well, such was the press, and so sudden the blow : he had given orders for careful search, the city was quiet, the police on the alert, his men ready for action. lie was then warned of the necessity of arresting some noted agitators and criminals, whom the public voice marked as abettors, authors, or accomplices in the murder, and who, in their deportment and lan- guage, had betrayed both a bullying air before the fact, and exultation after it. On this he appeared to hesitate, stammered out words fitter for a constitu- tional magistrate than for a gendarme, and then ended by saying, he would execute the orders, on getting them in writing. So he went off, promising to investigate and get ready, and to return in the evening, which in those short November days was not very distant. The persons whom the Pope had called into council, and invited to take the helm of State, did not dis- semble the gravity of the case, and the difficulty of forming a Government, and fixing its policy, off-hand. But thus much must be admitted : after the Encyclic of the 29th of April and the subsequent events, the unsuccessful campaign and the convulsions of Tus- cany, amidst the din of war still audible in Italy, and in the face of the preparations going on in Piedmont, those men did not in conscience feel able to administer an Italian State, which its Sovereign Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 411 meant to stand neutral in the struggle for national independence. Hence they were tossed in extreme uncertainty ; and took time for mutual counsel before deciding, not, however, in the meanwhile withholding their advice and exertions from the Government. Count Zampieri went post to Bologna, to carry the ill-starred news to General Zucchi, with the Pope's order for his immediate return to the capital. And as the Duke of Rignano, who had the AYar Depart- ment in Zucchi's absence, was in danger of assassin- ation, and was likewise sharing the anguish of the wretched family of his murdered friend, the Swiss Colonel Lentulus, who had been his deputy, was placed provisionally at the head of that office. Night was now falling, and the darkness was favourable for revolutionary machinations, and for ensuring impunity to misdoers. The usual contri- vers of commotion traversed the city in haste, from one point to another, from one rendezvous of the Civic Guard to another, and read aloud a paper addressed " to the Carabineers," advising and invit- ing them to keep their allegiance, as it said, to the people, by fraternising with the agitators. These afterwards repaired to the quarters in the Piazza del I'opolo, where there was the largest number of Cara- bineers, cheered and caressed them, and used every effort at seduction. But they, perhaps, would not have allowed themselves to be thus caught, had not the person bound at all costs to defend the honour of the corps and the flag, stained them with scandalous baseness. For Colonel Calderari came among the 412 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. revolutionists, and swore, that he never would have executed either the stringent orders that Rossi had given him, or those which others might think of giving; he would side with the people, and would not draw his sword against them. He recommended inaction to his men, deadening those who were eager to act ; nay, he himself advised fraternisation, har- mony, and union with the Civic Guard, and with the populace. Colonel Calderari was neither a soldier of fortune, nor a Liberal, nor an officer whom the Liberals had raised to power : he was a pontifical gendarme, selected long ago, by the favour of Gre- gory, to be a guard of the Papal Palace, again by palace favour promoted to rank, and gaining his steps by patronage from the Gregorian party. Sucli are the offspring of favouritism ! Men in power use corrupting influences, thwart every free and generous emotion, persecute faithful and honourable persons, surround themselves with hired bullies, throw public honours to the dogs, and then look about for trusty champions, and expect noble sacrifices, in the day of peril! The example of their head, and the promptings of the revolutionists, perverted some of the Cara- bineers, who mixed with the seditious, and went along the Corso, carrying a tricolor flag, and uttering frenzied cries. It was a band of an hundred men at most, which grew a little by the way, and marched with songs and hymns as on a day of public festival, yes, and I shudder to add, with curses on the name of the murdered, eulogies of the assassin, and blessings Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 413 on his dagger. Amidst that horde, drunken with blood, the flag of Italy was waving, and there too, in the gloom of night, might be seen to gleam the Pon- tifical military uniform ! This was the spectacle we were doomed to witness, after so many festive move- ments, in the capital of the Catholic world, and at the close of the very year, which we had inaugurated as the first of the new life of Italy ! Nay, there were greater horrors yet : for those maniacs marched on, torch in hand, amidst the darkness, and passed in front of the house, where the family of the illustrious victim was dissolved in tears And could there not be found one company of soldiers, one chosen band among the townsmen, to put an end to these hellish orgies, which poured on Rome, on Italy, on civilisation, such a flood of infamy ? No ! for want of discipline demoralised the soldiery, terror palsied the arms of the citizens, corruption reigned supreme : and, in this perversion of reason and of conscience, in this debasement of the soul of man, Home was punished for the arrogance of her previous jubilees, and condemned to look upon the triumphal car of the bacchanal assassin. Short and slight is this retribution from historic justice ; but prolonged and weighty is the expiation due to such infamies, and thus the justice of God will have it. All the events, which followed upon this one, and which J shall mournfully relate, are one tissue of calamity, of" sorrow, and of expiation, whose measure is not yet full. As the thickening night advanced, that murky 414 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book in. procession ended. The city was silent ; in the palace all was pale Avith horror, advisers hesitating, cour- tiers in alarm, the Pontiff submissive. No new Mi- nistry was formed, while the old one was completely dissolved, for only Montanari was imperturbable, and kept at his post by the sentiment of duty. Had the Pope, instead of utterly throwing himself upon Providence, had his advisers, instead of theorising upon a policy, set aside, during those hours of night, all unseasonable debate, and, in reliance on one an- other's faithfulness, seized the helm of State, with the one fixed resolution to rescue it, in the mean while, from revolution, perhaps it was not yet too late for wholesome counsels : for example, to collect a few trusty companies of Carabineers in the Papal Palace, to give them a respected head, such as Giuseppe, the Pope's brother, formerly their comrade in arms, to bring up artillery for defence, to send for those leaders of the Civic Guard, whose fide- lity could be reckoned on ; if the Quirinal were not deemed secure, then to remove to the Vatican, from which there is a covered passage to the Castle of St. Angelo. Then if, at the dawn of day, there had been a new proclamation by the Pope, severe towards the factious, and encouraging to well-disposed citi- zens, with fresh pledges of good faith to free institu- tions, and of love to Italy ; and had Rome, together with this, heard clear and resolute language from a new Ministry, and witnessed preparations for resist- ance, the career of those events might possibly have been arrested, which thenceforward lowered so fatally Chaf. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 415 over Rome, the Papacy, and Italy. But God did not grant either to the Sovereign, or to the few faithful persons about him, so much of light and courage ; and if now History, aware of those terrible and pro- longed anxieties, which would have broken down hu- man nature in its most masculine forms, does not upbraid, neither can it commend. The deliberations were adjourned until the morrow. On the 16th, at day-break, the Pope resolved to call into Council the Presidents of the two Assem- blies, and the Senator of Rome. While they were expecting them and Minghetti, news reached the Quirinal, that preparations were going on for what was termed a popular demonstration, that is, one of the usual processions of the multitude. Lcntulus, who presided for the time over the War Department, brought word, that the Captains of the people en- treated the Commandants of the forces to take part in it, stating that the wish was, to ask of the Pope a Ministry such as would be popular, and a Constituent Assembly for Italy, but in a pacific manner, without anus, and with studious respect. These tidings, as- suredly, could not be, and were not, acceptable to the Court, still less to the Pope, who asked Lcntulus what he would advise. lie was in doubt, and excused him- self for it by saying, that he was new to IJome, most of all so to the command of the forces ; ignorant of their temper, aware that the bond of discipline was loosened, if not broken: and all this was true. He then intimated, that it seemed to him perhaps the more prudent course, at the point at which matters 416 FEOM THE PKOMULGATION OF [Book III. had then arrived, to permit the officers and men to mix with the people, in the view of preventing in- creased excesses. I cannot say exactly what was hereupon decided ; I think nothing: I think, that am- biguous words and acts gave scope for diversity of interpretation, and for subsequent criminations and excuses : I know, that time passed on, nay flew, as it is wont, where danger presses and destiny drags us on, and that the soldiers presently went among the masses, in what manner I will tell just now. The Court was in dismay, and with good cause. Some of the courtiers shook from head to foot. Some stood motionless and mute, some incensed ; others ran about the palace: bold counsels were met with accents of despair, or sighs of like meaning : a cer- tain person even said, and in my hearing, let the fury of the factious do its worst : so much the better ; it would be all the sooner over. Some committed them- selves to God, or invoked His care; some showed much of the virtue of Christians, but none of states- men; spirits of much resignation, little force. There Was, however, one, who sought to earn the help of God by being himself helpful and active : he pro- posed to summon the Carabineers with dispatch, urged the brother of the Pope to head them, and said they must either at once put the Palace in a posture of defence, or go off in haste to the Vatican, or else out of Rome, to Castel Gandolfo, or Civita Vecchia : that any plan would be better than standing inactive to await the insurgents. It was now ten in the forenoon : no Government Chap. XVIII.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 417 was formed, no resolution taken. Minghetti returned to the Pope : Montanari announced the arrival of the Presidents of the Councils, according to summons, with some persons in their company, among others, Sterbini. So, then, there was a parley to be opened in the palace, at the time when the seditious were, not parleying, but acting : and the ways of saving the State from the revolution were to be discussed with one of its chiefs and counsellors. Who could fail to see, that this was only throwing away the last moments of precious time, and of dignity too, beyond all doubt, for behoof of the revolution ? And so it proved. Meanwhile the news came, that the insurgents were assembled, and in motion. It was known they detested, and loudly proclaimed their detestation, of Minghetti, Pasolini, and others, whom, according to common report, the Pope had commissioned to form a Ministry. It was known what were the threats, and what the perils, abroad ; and, the time having now expired, which might have been useful for forming plans of resistance, nothing remained but to study some measure of conciliation, that is, to take to one of those expedients wdiich arc termed com- promises, expedients which, when adopted under compulsion, are, in my judgment, always mischievous, or at least always disreputable. Minghetti and Pasolini thought an attempt might be made to avoid the extremities of evil, by proposing to the Pope to .-(■iid for Galletti, and entrust him with the charge of forming an Administration. (Jalletti was not among VOL. II. E E 418 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF / [Book III. those, whom the insurgents had named for Ministers : still, he had always had the favour of the Circolo jjopolare, and the evening before, on its becoming known he had reached Rome, a festive crowd had greeted him with glee. He had come to Rome, be- cause, although appointed President of the Court of Appeal at Macerata, he had not yet accepted that honourable post, and he showed dissatisfaction with it, wishing that at least he might be fixed as President in Appeals at Bologna instead of Macerata. The Pope agreed to summon him ; and Minghetti, with Pasolini, went for him. He came to the Quirinal ; but no decision was taken thereupon ; and the Pope told him to come again in the evening. The insurgents moved from the Piazza del Popolo, multiplying as they marched. Common people, Civic Guards, soldiers of all arms and ranks, drew towards the palace of the Cancelleria, to find Deputies who mhrht be willing to be the bearers to the Sovereign of CO o their demands ; namely, a Constituent Assembly for Italy, and a democratic Ministry, comprising the Neapolitan Saliceti, Sterbini, and Campello. Others propounded the names of Sereni, Mamiani, and Marini : all denounced those of Recchi, Minghetti, and Pasolini. On their way from the Cancelleria palace to the Quirinal, they met Galletti, applauded him, and would have his company as a deputy to the Pope. The gates of the Palace were closed ; no guard outside, but only the Swiss sentinel with his halbert. Within, there was the usual guard of honour, the usual Swiss halberdiers, the usual hand- Chap. XV1IL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 419 ful of Carabineers, perhaps a dozen : in all, eighty or an hundred men. Galletti, Livio Mariani, and Ster- bini, with some other envoys or captains of the populace, went in. Galletti gave an account of what had occurred, and stated the demands, and the dan- gers, of the hour. The Pope indignantly refused to come to terms with insurgents. Galletti besought in vain : he had to announce to them, that the Pope would not give way in the face of violence, that he must deliberate in entire freedom. At these tidings, the tumultuous throng was maddened, and cried " to arms ! " and in a moment, the commonalty, those who had come back from Vicenza, the Civic Guardsmen, the Carabineers, the foot soldiers, run for arms, and return to the Quirinal. They surround it, press for- wards, try to get in, and, on resistance by the Swiss sentinels, become more enraged, put fire to one of the gates, mount upon the roofs and bell-towers in the vicinity, begin to fire their pieces at the walls, gates, and windows : when the Swiss fire in return. Musket-shots resound through the city, and a rumour spreads, that the Swiss are butchering the people, the soldiers of Italy, the Civic Guards ; that already some are dead, and more wounded. Hereupon, there is a fresh concourse : a strong company of Carabineers, under Calderari, reaches the spot : the insurgents suspect they may be attacked, and for a moment there is uncertainty and apprehension. Calderari receives a slight wound in the face, from what quarter does not appear, whether from the Cara- bineers or the insurgents. He keeps back the former, 420 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book HI. stretches out his hand to the latter, declares he is their friend, and is come to help them. Thus it fares on the outside ; while, within, all is hesitation, or submissiveness. Few advise the Sovereign to resist, many to yield : the diplomatists have no scheme to offer: the scuffle continues: the worthy Prelate, Monsignor Palma, falls dead by the window of his own apartment : balls reach the anti-chamber of the Pope. Then they send to find Galletti : he arrives, goes among the insurgents, returns to the Pope, devises concessions, but the Pope will not yield. The multitude, grown weary of procrastina- tion, wants to beat down the gates : already a gun is dragged into the Piazza and pointed, and but for Torri, it would be fired. The Swiss hold true: their captain swears to the Pope they will to a man make a shield of their breasts, or a bulwark of their corpses, about his sacred person ; but all resistance would now be fruitless. Some one states, that divers trusty messengers, sent to seek for succours, had effected nothing. Most of the courtiers are distracted, and weary both the Almighty and the Pope with their en- treaties to give way. Pius IX. turns to the diplomatic body, who stand around him. " Look," he says, " where We stand : there is no hope in resistance : already a Prelate is slain in my very palace : shots are aimed at it, artillery levelled. We are pressed and besieged by the insurgents. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased enormities, We give way, but as you see, Gentlemen, it is only to force : so We protest : let the Courts, let your Governments, Chap. X VTIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 421 know it : We give way to violence alone : all We concede is invalid, is null, is void." Having spoken thus, he called Cardinal Soglia, and at once ordered him to agree with Galletti about the formation of a new Ministry. Meantime, a certain class had suggested the name 7 DO of Rosmini, though many of the insurgents cried they would have no more priests. Galletti wrote it at the head of his list ; the Pope made him take out that of Saliceti ; and the Ministry was thus composed : Rosmini, President and Minister of Public Instruc- tion; Mamiani, of Foreign Affairs; Galletti, of the Interior ; Sereni, of Grace and Justice ; Sterbini, of Commerce and Public Works ; Campello, of War ; Lunati, of Finance. Cardinal Soglia drew and signed the act of nomination : messengers were sent off ex- press to Mamiani, Sereni, and Campello, who were absent. Galletti announced the glad news to the insurgents, that the Pope had named a democratic Ministry, and referred it to the Legislative Councils to deliberate, and decide, respecting a Constituent Assembly for Italy. The insurgents fired their mus- kets in token of joy, and went off with hymns for Italy, and cheers for the Italian Constituent As- sembly, and the democratic Ministry. On the next day, Rosmini declined office, not without disdain, couching his refusal in curt and highminded language. The Pope named in his stead Monsignor Muzzarelli, who was in favour of the in- surgents, and had intimated, even to the Pope, that lie held the death of Kossi to he a blessing. 422 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book in. The new Ministry printed the following mani- festo : — " Summoned to the administration amidst extraordinary cir- cumstances, and when a refusal on our part would have implied our readiness to expose to certain hazard the constitutional form of Government subsisting in this State, we could not but view with terror the gravity of these events and of the times, were we not cheered by the belief, that our scheme of policy is in perfect accordance, not only with the principles proclaimed by the people, but with those which have already been adopted, after mature consideration, by our Legislative Chambers ; principles, which will serve as a guide for all our proceedings, so long as we shall remain in power. " Of these principles, some portion have had the formal assent of the Sovereign, while, in regard to others, the promise has to-day been given, that he will place himself in concert with the new Ministry, in order that corresponding measures may be framed, and presented to the deliberative Councils for their approval. " The principle of Italian nationality, announced an hun- dred times by this people and by the Chambers, and accepted by us without reserve, was sanctioned by the Sovereign, when, with a zeal wholly patriotic, he set it before the Em- peror of Austria in his letter to that Prince. " And, as we think it essential, for the attainment of that blessing, to give effect to the decisions taken by the Council of Deputies respecting the independence of Italy, it follows, that our firm resolution to act upon those decisions is no more than a frank adhesion to the vote of the representatives of the people. Nor will any one ever question our full adop- tion of the Programme of the 5th of June, which was hailed with such enthusiasm by the country, and by the Legislative Councils. " The convocation of a Constituent Assembly in Home, and the execution of an act of Federation, arc principles and pro- positions which we find expressly declared in the vote of our Chap. XVIIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 423 Chambers, for the assembling of a Diet in Rome, charged to discuss the general interests of our country at large. " And now that to this vote and this fundamental law is added the consent of the Sovereign to refer the decision to the Deliberative Councils — of that supreme Head, whom all Italy greeted as the prime mover of her freedom and her independence — we exult from the heart to think, that the moment is at hand, in which it is permitted us to hope to witness at last the birth of that Federal Pact, which, while respecting the distinct existence of the States, and leaving intact their forms of Government, may serve to secure the freedom, union, and independence of Italy at large. " That work, in our judgment, will reach perfection, when the glory of Rome, and the revered name of a Pontiff, shall be associated with it. With this Scheme, then, we present ourselves to the people and the Chambers. The former has given us its confidence, and we shall use every effort to con- tinue to deserve it : the latter will very soon be invited to show, whether they will do the like, as we may be allowed to hope, if their principles be now the same as they have been heretofore. " C. E. Muzzarelli, President. Giuseppe Galletti. PlETRO SXERBINI. Giuseppe Llnati." These were the only Ministers present at the out- set in Rome. Two of them only were really her rulers, Galletti and Sterbini; perhaps, indeed, Ster- bini only, because the substantial authority lay with the Club of the People, which Sterbini directed, and because Galletti, with or against his will, let himself be swayed, if not by Sterbini, by the lures of popularity, and by the dread of that domineering Club. The Club desired, (hat the Swiss should be dismissed, without their arms, from (he Quirinal ; i i i 424 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. and Galletti undertook the duty of announcing it to the Pope, who could not but succumb. Even Colonel Stuart, commanding the fortress of Castel San? Angelo, had paid obedience to the Club. Again, the Club desired, that Galletti should be General of Carabineers ; and General he was. How could it be helped ? AVhere was the authority, where was the force ? The troops of all arms had either abetted, or kept gala for, the revolt. Rome was topsy-turvy ; assassination and rebellion were celebrated with triumph ! Such was the poltroonery, or such the depravity of consciences, that no journal would, or dared, denounce the murder. Pantaleoni wanted to print, in the Epoca, a paper of his, condemning and abominating it, but the managers of the journal would not consent. But why do I speak of execration ? The murder Avas honoured with illuminations and festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States exclusively, but beyond them; especially at Leghorn. ... I desist here : would that I could erase the me- mory of such abomination : that I could purge the mantle of ill-starred Italy from this taint, more murky than the mere taint of gore. To add dastard jubilee to dastard assassination ! Oh, may no single stranger lay this charge on the Italian people. Let them know, that the jubilants were few : that in the northern Provinces, and most of all at Bologna, the death of Rossi was deplored, his murder execrated. ye generous youth of Italy, whose breast is warmed by the heavenly fires of freedom and your country's independence, school your heart to such a Chap.xvhi.] the fundamental statute. 425 height of virtue, as may atone for the ignominy and infamy of those days, which have blotted our good fame ! On the 17th, the Councils did not sit. On the 18th, the High Council met, but without a word on what had happened : and yet it contained Prelates and Princes, and persons the most devoted to the PontiiF. Many Deputies, including all from Bologna, would not sit in Parliament, unless it were determined solemnly to denounce the murder, and to demand of the Government an instant and thorough inquiry. They framed a motion to be made at the first meeting : and Minghetti went to the Minister Gal- letti to apprise him, and came to an understanding. Galletti commended the idea, and said the Govern- ment itself would testify to the Council its indigna- tion, and its desire to investigate and punish. The Council met on the 20th : but the Ministers were mute. Potenziani proposed to name a Commis- sion, which should " carry, after the recent events, to the Throne of his Holiness the assurance of the devo- tion and of the unalterable affection of the Deputies." The Prince of Canino opposed this. The President put the question on it, when Canino broke in, talking and declaiming about the Italian Constituent As- sembly, and the seraphic Montanelli. Being called back to the question, he burst into this language: " I am perfectly in order, when, in resisting an ensnaring motion, J vindicate the rights of the Italian people, the true and legitimate Sovereigns of this country. The Constituent Assembly of Italy will have to dc- 426 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book hi. cide many questions, which, in its wisdom, the people, the victorious people, of Rome, has not thought fit to resolve. And now, my colleagues, do you think this a moment to take resolutions you may shortly have to repent ? Oh by this time you comprehend me .... and you appreciate what I suppress, as well as what I crudely state. It is needless for me to address myself to developing an idea, now, thank God ! become that of all Italy, which will know how to shiver both Chambers and Thrones, should they seek to fetter the generous and energetic impetus of this the first country in the world. I oppose, with all my might, the im- prudent motion of the Deputy Potenziani." The gal- leries applauded : Potenziani, in his reply, stated that the Chambers ought to express to the Sovereign their " respect and devotion ; " at which they murmured. The President put the question, and the murmurs swelled. The vote appeared to be in favour of Poten- ziani's motion, but the Deputies resumed their seats too hastily ; the negative voice was called for, the noise in the galleries increased, and the vote was unfavourable. Next day the bold Pantaleoni desired to have these words, which he pronounced from the tribune, en- tered in the Minutes : " I desire, that an explanation may be added to the Minutes, about a circumstance which accompanied the vote of yesterday on the proposition of the Deputy Potenziani. When the question was put, several voices from the galleries required the Deputies not to get up. Hereupon some Deputies, who had risen for the affirmative, rose also for the negative, and thus voted both ways ; while Chap. XVIIL] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 427 many others did not think fit to rise for either. I desire, that mention may be made of these circum- stances in the Minutes, so that it may be seen, what is the degree of freedom left to us in our debates and in our divisions." The words of Canino, and those of Pantaleoni, are so expressive, that I need not enlarge, by explaining what was now the condition of Rome. Minghetti, Bevilacqua, and Banzi, all of Bologna, indignantly relinquished their seats as Deputies, assigning the reasons to their constituents in public addresses, of which I shall have to speak in the following Book. And then, one by one, some more Deputies resigned. The Ministers Campello and Sereni had now reached Rome, and accepted office. Mamiani arrived on the evening of the 23rd, and took time for his decision. On the 24th, he went to the Pope, and showed some uncertainty about accepting, with an inclination to the negative. He asked the Pope, whether acceptance would be an act of disloyalty. The Pope said no : but intimated, that he had come to no understanding with the Ministry in any matter: upon which, Ma- miani determined not to take office, and throughout that day he continued in that intention. But how strange a Revolution ! how strange a Government ! A Minister is murdered : a few wretches get up orgies : next day follows a popular gathering, to present a petition to the Prince. The demands are, a democratic Ministry and the Constituent As- sembly : they want to impose the choice of such Ministers as they prefer. The Pope resists, violence 428 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. bursts forth, the revolution is accomplished. The Prince of Canino told it us : " the people is con- queror." And who the conquered ? The Pope. What is the fruit of victory? Sterbini and Galletti for Ministers, in lieu of Pellegrino Rossi. The People's Club issues proclamations and decrees. In Pius IX. there has been wounded the Majesty of a Pontiff, the Sovereignty of a Monarch, the sanctity of the Con- stitutional Statute: yet they still mean to govern in the name of Pius IX. ! They leave to him the purple and a sceptre, the purple, dyed in the gore of one of his Ministers and one of his Prelates, the sceptre, one of reed. The Prelate's corpse, the palace walls perforated with balls, the charred gates, the new sentries replacing the ancient historical guardians of the Pontiff, the presence of Sterbini — all tell to Pius IX. what a purple, what a sceptre, what a pa- lace, is his. Is this a Revolution ? Is that a Govern- ment ? If this be a revolution, and that a Govern- ment, can it be Pius the Ninth's Government ? It is hypocrisy, it is bloody mockery, it is infatuated baseness. Before I carry on my narrative, and pass judgment in it on men and actions, according to my conscience and opinions, I wish to open my mind in such a way, that every upright and indulgent reader, of whatever party, may comprehend me. I honour every sincere conviction : every party, and every person, who has sincere convictions, and is frank and firm in them. I honour and respect the political adversary, who frankly and conscientiously Chap. XVIH.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 429 takes part against my side. I scorn and detest hypo- crisy in all its forms. Are there republicans? Are they Mazzini's men ? I do combat, and will combat, them with resolution, and without reserve, because in conscience I think their party inimical to the con- cord of Italy, inimical to civil liberty, most fatal to independence. I do and will combat them; but if they be frank and above board, and if they make use of honourable means, I honour and respect them. Let them take the left, us the right : they are for the Republic, we for Constitutional Monarchies : they are for the amalgamation of Italy, we for her Federation. Let us give mind, tongue, arm, everything, to our party : each man to his own. The republicans, the men of Mazzini, wanted a revolution and a republic. But so they had always done. They have been, and are, a great calamity to Italy, one of her greatest, after that of foreign domination. But there is another as great again, and not only great, but loathsome. I mean the calamity of having men who belong to all parties : the calamity of a set of Liberals, who do not know how to choose their side ; the loathsomeness of men, sycophants to all Governments, the turpitude of political hypocrites ; I will describe it with a vulgar and proverbial phrase, because it is a most vulgar turpitude — the loathsomeness of political Jesuitism. In ancient Pagan society, every vice had its altar: even so, these men have a censer for every party : to-day with the Pope, to-morrow with the People's Club, to day the Ministers of Constitutional Sove- reigns, to-morrow Ministers of Republics. I will tell 430 FROM THE PROMULGATION OF [Book III. you, Gentlemen, who you are : you are the Ministers of corruption : you deprave consciences, you dishearten the honest, you outrage virtue, you whitewash vice, cowardice, ambition, and cupidity, with the sacro- sanct name of patriotism. I will tell you who you are : you are the agents of destruction : you pave the way for such destruction as ceaseless revolution has brought about in France, the destruction of all con- science in politics, that destruction, which to most noble France has been more fatal than all the havock of the axe. You pride yourselves on serving the country, the nation, your native land, but not the Prince, not dynasties, not republics ? Sheer hypo- crisy, the truism of turpitude, that ensnares the simple, and vainly seeks to make human language its accomplice, and to blunt the stings of conscience. Under whatever Government, let them be frank friends, frank foes : let men fall with the Govern- ments they serve and defend, and rise with their own party when it wins : this is true political morality. He that is or seeks to be always on his legs I will not give him his proper name : I will only say, he sets his foot upon the quagmire, and in the long run, according to the judgment of the public, he will be buried in it, and buried there alive. I ask the reader's pardon : and will close my narrative. The bitterness, with which the mind of Pius IX. was surfeited by the events of the 15th and 16th, was intense. On the evening of the 17th, a marvel- lous Aurora Borealis so inflamed the western sky, that Rome appeared as if on fire : a strange pheno- CHAP.XVHI.] THE FUNDAMENTAL STATUTE. 431 menon in that latitude, and that season. The people drew from it omens of blood : the Pope prayed fer- vently to God. A few days later, a gift from the Bishop of xivignon reached him : it was a silver box, in which Pius VI. was used to keep the consecrated Host, and to carry it about, when an exile and a wanderer, on his sacred breast. Pius IX., who was already disposed to quit Rome, now settled in that in- tention, as in one inspired by God, who sent him such a gift, at such a time, and under such circumstances. A few trusty persons of his household, or devoted to him, were aware of his resolution : it was known to Martinez de la Rosa, the Minister of Spain ; to Spaur, Minister of Bavaria ; and to the Due d'Harcourt, Minister of France. All encouraged him, and aided him by advice and exertion. Early in the night of the 25th, Pius IX. went cautiously out of the Qui- rinal, and out of Rome. He mounted a carriage pre- pared by Madame Spaur, and, taking the Terracina road, he went into banishment from that city, which, in the circle of nine-and-twenty months, had worship- ped, scorned, and assaulted him. We shall follow him on his sorrowful journey, his sorrowful exile, his sorrowful return. AVe shall lead him to fatal Gaeta, to seductive Portici : and shall detail the hesitations, the few and fruitless liberal suggestions, the libcrticide designs, the in- trigues of the courtiers, the artifices of the diplo- matists, the shame of our own and of foreign coun- tries. We shall search for the truth in irrefragable documents: shall notice the frenzies of Governments, 432 FROM PROMULGATION OF STAT¥TE. [Book III. and of their subjects : Rome republican, and the revolution incorrigible; the astounding crusade, and the restoration incorrigible too. So may God help me to give Him glory, by telling the truth, in regard to all subjects, and for the benefit of all men. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. «* t fi 1M IjOXDOX : SroTTiswoonES and Shaw, New-street- Square. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. 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