Chapter XXI: The Completion of Italian Unity

Italy in 1814 was scarcely aroused to a national consciousness;
in 1849 that consciousness was a dominant fact. Out of
Carbonari plottings to mitigate the tyranny of local despots,
out of the failures of 1820, ’21 and ’31, out of Mazzini’s
Young Italy, and the preachings of Gioberti, had developed a
strong and abiding desire not only for liberty, not only for
independence, but also for unity, without which these could
not endure. The idea of Nationality had sprung up in Italian
hearts. The race which had given Christendom a religion, which
had expressed itself in literature and in art and in science,
and which had once led the world in commerce and industry,
this race had at length set itself to win what it had hitherto
lacked,--political freedom. Italy was to be no longer a
geographical expression, but a nation.--THAYER.[b]

[Sidenote: [1867-1878 A.D.]]

The minister Ricasoli, who had the good fortune to associate his name with the union of Venetia to the kingdom of Italy, lived only a few months after the conclusion of peace with Austria. He had decided to reopen negotiations with the Roman court to determine at least those matters which had a purely ecclesiastical character. To this end he sent Tonello to Rome to treat on the business of the vacant episcopal seats. The affair was successful from the point of view of the Italian government; but it was not equally so with regard to that of the interest of the country.

[Sidenote: [1867 A.D.]]

Encouraged by this success the minister composed a plan of laws in which the relations of the church with the state were regulated upon the principle of the entire independence of the two powers. This hybrid law managed by Ricasoli with the ministers of finance and justice was presented to the chamber on the 17th of January, 1867. Before it was pronounced the country had expressed its discontent by means of the press. The Venetian provinces protested in public reunions, but the government prohibited these meetings. At the elections, however, the abstention of the clericals from the voting brought in a majority of the new chamber for the party opposed to the ecclesiastical law, and the minister, seeing the parliamentary party, sent in his resignation which was accepted.

Then Rattazzi reappeared upon the scene “like the doctor _in extremis_,” to use the phrase of Princess Rattazzi,[c] the author of his memoir. With him there returned those seditious and equivocal circumventions which again distressed Italy as the work of that fatal man. Borne upon the shields of the party of action which regarded him as its mind, as it had looked upon Garibaldi as its arm, he suddenly prepared for the work. And in the meantime while Sicily was a martyr to cholera and parliament was occupied in the important business of the liquidation of the Ecclesiastical Act, the party of action was agitating for hastening the solution of the Roman question. This question, as aforesaid, entered upon a new phase after the departure of the French from Rome and a short time after the solution of the Venetian question.

THE REVOLT OF GARIBALDI

The first announcement of the new proposals of the party of action was a proclamation from Garibaldi, published in July of 1867, which invited the Romans to rebel and the Italians to hold themselves in readiness to help him. The agitation once created, it was increased and fomented by every means; and as the waves rose the words of the great patriot became more ardent and violent. At Geneva at the council of peace, and at Balgirate before a maddened multitude the hero incited them against “the covey of vipers” which had made its nest at Rome; and on the 16th of September he published an address to Romans in which he promised them the aid of 100,000 youths “who feared they were too many to share the miserable glory of expelling from Italy the mercenaries and jugglers.” The deeds followed the words. At Florence and other places secret preparations were made for an armed expedition into the Roman states and many young men were sent towards the frontier.

What was the government doing meanwhile?

The words of the government were clear, but its deeds were obscure, and in fact the orders given by Rattazzi to the political authorities were so flaccid and vague that it would have been thought they were only a show, and that the minister secretly approved the designs of Garibaldi. What a difference between Cavour and Rattazzi! With Cavour as an ally Garibaldi made an epic, with Rattazzi a double tragedy. Two ways were open to Rattazzi, either to act according to the declaration made in the official diary of the 21st of September, or to act in the opposite way; sooner a war with France than a Mentana. He followed neither the one nor the other course but steered between the two, and brought fresh disaster upon his unhappy country.

When Garibaldi left Florence for Arezzo, to assume command of the volunteers stationed on the borders, the government, which had let him go so far, removed him from command and had him taken to the fortress of Alessandria. But it did nothing to disperse the volunteers who had received from Garibaldi himself the word of command to prosecute the undertaking; and soon afterwards terrified at his ardour the government sent the prisoner free to Caprera, without even exacting a promise to remain quietly there, thinking it was sufficient guarantee to have the island watched by a few warships. Meanwhile a band of Garibaldians of about 200 men entered Viterbo and there instituted a provisionary government under the name of “committee of insurrection.” At the same time two other companies passed the frontier.

But grave news arrived at that time from France. The French journals announced that preparations for a fresh Roman expedition were in progress at the port of Toulon, and following this announcement there came a note (October 19th) from the government saying that France would intervene with her forces if the Italian government did not put a stop to the Garibaldian movement. And whilst the government was discussing the course to take in such a contingency the news came that Garibaldi had fled from Caprera. It was the _coup de grace_ of the minister Rattazzi. The same evening that Garibaldi arrived at Florence he sent in his resignation, and the king deputed Cialdini to form a new ministry (October 20th). Now followed the strange events which showed the embarrassment of the government. On one side it strove by means of the marquis Pepoli to persuade the emperor Napoleon that it was strong enough to suppress the Garibaldian movement; and on the other it let Garibaldi speak in public, stir the people, and go to Terni to head the movement raised by him. The central committee of Florence became a true war committee, although it continued to call itself one of succour, and it announced to all Italy in its proclamation of the 22nd of October that the insurrection had broken out in Rome.

But the news was not true. The reported Roman insurrection consisted in an attempt at rebellion by a hundred youths led by Cairoli, which, not being seconded by the people, was easily quelled. The misfortune of the first attempt did not quench the ardour of the patriots nor temper the audacity of the leaders of the enterprise. A victory gained October 25th by Garibaldi at Monterotondo over the papal troops fomented the enthusiasm of the insurgent youths so that they feared no danger, nor were they checked by any obstacle.

THE FRENCH INTERVENE AGAIN: MENTANA, OCTOBER 31ST

The dangers and obstacles increased immeasurably. After long vacillation the emperor seeing the impotence of the Italian government to end the Garibaldian invasion had determined on French intervention in the Roman state. Cialdini’s attempt having failed, the king committed to General Menabrea the task of forming a new administration. The new ministry made known its intentions in a royal proclamation dated October 27th, in which it repudiated the flag raised in the papal states, and invited the volunteers to enlist at once in the royal army. This proclamation aimed at a double result, the crushing of the Garibaldian invasion and the prevention of French intervention. But neither the one nor the other was achieved.

When the Italian government learned that the French had disembarked at Civitavecchia, they then decided to intervene and the royal troops occupied several places in the pontifical states. Although resolved to intervene, the government thought it well to offer to Garibaldi an opportunity of retiring with honour from an enterprise which, in the present state of affairs, could not be carried on without useless bloodshed and the exposing of the country to grave peril. But Garibaldi, far from accepting this anchor of salvation, as soon as he knew that the French had landed at Civitavecchia issued a proclamation to his followers encouraging them to remain intrepid in the struggle and inviting them to unite with him at Tivoli so that the unification of the country might be compassed by some means (October 31st). The volunteer column had scarcely passed Mentana when Garibaldi received the news of a vigorous attack on his vanguard by the papal zouaves. Hearing this the general returned to Mentana to avoid the danger of having his left flank turned and endeavoured to keep in his rear the rest of the troops that were in the district (November 3rd). He did not go far before the enemy appeared. Repulsed at the first attack, they shortly returned with formidable reinforcements among which were 1,500 Frenchmen. The volunteers could ill stand against an enemy so superior in numbers and armed with good weapons. The châssepots did horrible execution. Garibaldi ordered a retreat, took leave of his followers, and, having taken steps for disbanding the volunteer corps, he recrossed the frontier. The Italian government ignorant of his intentions had him arrested and kept in custody until the excitement had calmed down.

The châssepots had conquered; the compact of September was destroyed; Rome was once more in the hands of the French, and Turin wept for a sacrifice which had been in vain. The royal troops commanded by Cadorna remained in the pontifical territories, but the French minister having protested against this occupation, the government, not wishing further to aggravate an already strained situation, ordered them to be recalled and the king took advantage of this act of abnegation to send a letter to the emperor Napoleon in which he conjured him, in the interest of the Napoleonic dynasty, to break definitely with the clerical party and order the immediate recall of the troops from Rome.

But Napoleon III was deaf to this advice, which was nevertheless wise; he would not break the hybrid union with the clerical party, and reaped from it, as recompense, the union in the same grave of the papal monarchy and the Napoleonic empire. The answer to Pepoli’s letter was given by the French minister of foreign affairs, Rouher, the faithful executor and interpreter of his masters’ policy. In the discussion which took place in the legislative assembly on the new expedition to Rome, this minister said that the Italians had “never had Rome.”

“We will show him his ‘Never (_jamais_),’” exclaimed Victor Emmanuel in good Piedmontese, and he was not satisfied until the petulant minister had apologised for the unfortunate word, saying it had escaped him in the heat of an impromptu speech.

[Sidenote: [1868-1869 A.D.]]

The king asked the same Menabrea to form a new ministry under his presidency. Of the old ministers seven remained. The truce, which by tacit consent was now enjoyed, gave the new ministry an opportunity of occupying themselves seriously with financial questions, which since the war of 1866 had again become very grave. This war had in fact cost Italy six hundred millions besides the debt contracted by the acquisition of Venetia; the forced tariff had raised the price of gold to fifteen per cent., causing grave damage to private contracts, and to the state, which was obliged each year to acquire gold for the payment of the interest of government securities abroad; and with the increase of the tax on gold had come the depression of Italian consols, which had fallen to 36 per cent., and in consequence sinister rumours were circulating in the country and abroad to the effect that Italy would soon be bankrupt. In the midst of the lugubrious prognostications made about her she displayed fresh activity and vigour; and in the act which enabled her to support the new subsidies imposed by the diminished finances of the state, she initiated a new era of economical prosperity, which was soon to bring forth splendid and unexpected fruit.

The Florentine, Cambrai Digny, was then at the head of the financial department. He made himself the defender of the threatened honour of his country, and demanded that for great evils extreme remedies should be employed.

THE ROMAN QUESTION RENEWED

While parliament was occupied with the financial question, the minister, Menabrea, was working to induce the French government to put in force again the September convention, and to recall her troops from Rome. The Italian minister offered to guarantee to the pope perfect liberty for the exercise of his spiritual power, and to assume for Italy a considerable part of the pontifical debt. In guarantee of the serious nature of his offer, he pointed to the elements of the authority to be henceforth recognised in the kingdom, which would lead to the disappearance of all traces of agitation and to the closing forever of the era of factious revolutions, of conspiracies and of individual initiative. But the French government did not share these rose-coloured visions of the Italian minister, and brought forward information proving the existence of Mazzinian workings in the peninsula. Menabrea, seeing there was nothing more to do, resigned his diplomatic position in the chamber of deputies at the end of March, 1869.

No better effect resulted from another much more important attempt, made this time by the king, Victor Emmanuel. Moved by the desire of re-establishing with Napoleon III the friendly relations interrupted by the events of 1867, and of assuring the preservation of peace in Europe, which the strained relations existing between France and Prussia threatened to disturb, he took the initiative of proposing a triple alliance between Italy, France, and Austria, of which the fundamental condition was the evacuation of Rome by the French troops, and the formal recognition of the principle of non-intervention in Italian affairs. The three contracting powers would then have acted together in all important questions of European politics, guaranteeing reciprocally the integrity of their respective territories and not taking any resolution of general importance without the consent of all. But neither the persuasions of the emperor of Austria nor those of his cousin, Prince Jerome, were able to influence Napoleon’s decision. He held firm to his refusal with regard to the evacuation of Rome, and as this was the fundamental, the whole plan was abortive, and this on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War.

The year 1868 was celebrated by the marriage of the crown prince to his cousin Margaret of Savoy. The fiancée of Prince Humbert, an archduchess of Austria, having died, the minister Menabrea proposed to the king the granddaughter of the duke of Genoa as a wife for his son. The proposal pleased the king and the prince, and on the 22nd of April the marriage was celebrated. The new year opened with painful events, the application of the tax on flour giving rise to tumults and seditious movements which obliged the government to use measures of great severity. In Emilia and Roumania scenes of bloodshed and destruction occurred. General Cadorna, sent to this province to re-establish order, fulfilled his thankless task in such a way as to merit the praise of parliament.

The agitation by which the country was disturbed in 1869, was the work of the Mazzinians. Mazzini had proclaimed from London, “Italy must free herself from a monarchy, since it has shown that it will not and cannot give to Italy, either unity, independence, or liberty.” And the disciples of the prophet speedily translated the republican words into action, raising tumults and discussions in all the principal cities of Italy. As we have seen, the French government had given warning of the Mazzinian sect, deriving from thence a reason for refusing the evacuation of Rome by the French troops. The Mazzinians, to insure success, had endeavoured to corrupt the army, especially making their insidious advances to inferior officers. A few allowed themselves to be drawn into the trap and expiated their perjury with their lives. The case of Corporal Barsanti aroused general interest. He was a young man of twenty, the support and hope of his aged parents, but the minister of war Govone declared that if the army were not to be demoralised an example must be made, and Barsanti was shot August 27th, 1870, in the neighbourhood of Milan. A few days before this execution Mazzini by Govone’s orders had been arrested in Milan and brought under a strong guard to the fortress of Gaeta. With the removal of the chief, the republican agitation died away to give place to another and a very different one, which was that of the restoration of Rome to Italy and the final fall of the pope’s temporal power.

PAPAL INFALLIBILITY PROCLAIMED (1869 A.D.)

The ministry of Lanza and Sella found itself from its birth face to face with extraordinary circumstances, demanding the greatest secrecy on the part of the Italian government if dangers and misfortunes were to be averted from the state. The convocation of the Vatican council was fixed for December 8th, 1869. In the speech from the crown, Victor Emmanuel had expressed the hope that from this assembly would issue some expression conciliating faith and science, religion and civil life. The assembly proclaimed instead the dogma of papal infallibility, thus setting the seal to the antithesis between church and state. As with the preceding ministry so with the new; the financial question was their principal care. The Franco-Prussian War broke out about the middle of July, 1870.

ROME TAKEN FROM THE POPE (1870 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1870-1871 A.D.]]

The ruin of the Napoleonic principality in 1870 removed half of the obstacles which had hitherto prevented Italy from solving the Roman question in a manner conformable to national interests. At the first French reverses the imperial government had recalled the garrison from Rome, declaring that they trusted to their loyalty for the faithful observance of the convention of September 15th. This was a strange appeal to the loyalty of the Italian government regarding what had been so disloyally set aside by the imperial government. However, the minister Lanza kept faithfully to the convention, impelled by a sentiment of noble honesty, so that it might not seem that Italy had taken advantage of the powerlessness caused by the defeats sustained by her ancient ally, to lay hands upon Rome. But when the empire fell and was succeeded by a republic all causes for scruples vanished and the duty of the government to settle the Roman question for the good of the nation could no longer be delayed.

In vain had Victor Emmanuel sent his envoy to Rome with an autograph letter in which he appealed to the heart of the pope “with the affection of a son, the loyalty of a king, and the soul of an Italian,” that he would permit the royal troops, already posted in the outskirts of Rome, to enter and occupy such positions in the Roman territory as was necessary for the maintenance of order and the safe-guarding of the pontiff. Pius IX held firmly to his refusal, saying he would yield to force but not to injustice.

Then it was necessary to resort to force. The government gave orders to General Raffaelle Cadorna to pass the borders with his troops, at the same time informing the European governments, by means of a circular letter, of the resolution taken and justifying its action by pointing out the impossibility of reconciling Italy with papal Rome and the necessity of procuring peace and security for Italy. The note then reassured the powers as to the steps Italy would take for the safeguard of the pope’s spiritual power so that his liberty and independence might be complete. On September 11th Cadorna entered the pontifical territories. On the 17th the Italian soldiers were at Civitavecchia, and on the 19th under the walls of Rome.

But Pius IX had determined on his course of conduct and was resolved to pursue it at any cost. His views were expressed in his letter written September 19th to General Kanzler, the commander-in-chief of the papal forces. In it Pius IX ordered Kanzler to treat with the enemy on the slightest breach of the walls of Rome “as the defence was solely to be sufficient to serve as proof of an act of violence and nothing more.” And so it happened; at half-past five on the morning of September 21st the Italian soldiers opened fire between the Pia and the Sorlara gates and at the gate of St. John and St. Pancras, and hardly was a breach made when the papal troops ceased fire and hoisted the white flag on all the batteries. A messenger was sent to Cadorna and it was speedily agreed that Rome should surrender all but the Leonine city,[36] which should for the present remain under the jurisdiction of the pope. Then the papal troops were awarded the honours of war, but were obliged to lay down arms and flags. The peasant soldiers were sent back to their homes and all foreigners despatched to their respective countries at the expense of the Italian government.[37]

THE PLEBISCITE

General Cadorna’s first act was to nominate a provisional government which should direct the affairs of the state until the people had decided which form of government they wished to have. October 2nd was fixed for the plebiscite. The people of the Roman provinces were called upon to answer whether they wished to be united under the constitutional government of Victor Emmanuel and his royal descendants. Out of 167,548 inscribed, 135,291 responded to the appeal; the ballot gave 133,681 ayes and 1,507 noes. Thus the Roman people placed with their own hands the burial stone on the kingdom of the popes.[38]

Victor Emmanuel in receiving the plebiscite declared that he was firmly resolved to uphold the liberty of the church and the independence of the sovereign pontiff. Thus was accomplished the last act of the redemption of Italy. The generation which had in its youth beheld Italy downtrodden, now in its maturer years had the joy of seeing her rise again a nation, free and united. And whoever writes the history of this great event can add to the ancient glories of liberty this new and more splendid triumph that under her ægis a nation arose and a principle made it one.

This year so fruitful in events closed with another extraordinary fact,--the offer of the Spanish crown to Prince Amadeo the second son of the Italian king. Having obtained the consent of his august father the young prince accepted a crown, which, offered to him under the most favourable auspices, was soon to become a crown of thorns. Two years had scarcely passed after his accession to the throne when as described in the history of Spain the young king surrounded by traitorous ministers and generals abdicated (February 11th, 1873) having miraculously escaped an attempt to assassinate him (February 18th, 1872).

Towards the end of 1870 Rome was visited by a terrible inundation of the Tiber which submerged a great part of the city. The clericals declared it to be the finger of God. Victor Emmanuel hastened to the scene of the disaster bestowing on the unfortunate Romans the comfort of his presence, his deeds, and his help. It is by such means that kings gain the love of their people and kingdoms are fortified.

While Gadda was preparing in Rome the premises for the transfer of the ministry, parliament was occupied with the law of the guarantees, thanks to which the co-existence in Rome of the two powers and the two governments each having complete liberty and independence of the other, was rendered possible. This was something quite new in history, and many, not all clericals, thought it impossible; but it became necessary when Pius IX who had rejected the advice of the Jesuits counselling him to leave Rome, voluntarily elected to stay.[e]

The taking possession of Rome by King Victor Emmanuel and the voluntary retirement of Pius IX to the Vatican closes the revolutionary era to which these two personages have given their names. It had led on the one hand to the constitutional unity of Italy, and on the other to the suppression of the states of the church,--the last vestige of ecclesiastical immunities of the Middle Ages to the exclusively spiritual constitution of the sovereign pontiff of universal Catholicism,--two of the most important changes accomplished in the history of politics and European civilisation.

The last years of the king’s and the pope’s lives spent behind the walls of the same city, have no further interest than what is offered by the application of the principles of a successful revolution and the experiment of the co-existence of two powers, rivals for long years, under new conditions of proximity and the dying down of the tempest.[f]

The law of guarantees voted by the chamber April 5th, 1871, declared that the person of the pontiff was sacred and inviolable, and royal honours were to be paid to him in the territory of his kingdom; that the holy see should have an annual donation of 3,225,000 lire; that the apostolic palaces of the Vatican and the Lateran neighbourhood, and Castel Gondulfo, with all their appurtenances and dependencies, should be at his disposal; that the pontiff should have complete liberty to perform the functions of his spiritual ministry; that the envoys from foreign countries to the holy see should enjoy all the usual prerogatives and immunities, according to international custom, regarding diplomatic agents; that the seminaries, academies, colleges, and Catholic institutions founded in Rome and the suburbs for the education of ecclesiastics should continue to be subservient to the holy see alone without any control from the scholastic authorities of the kingdom.

By this same law the relations of the state with the church were also regulated. All restriction on the right of the meeting of members of the Catholic clergy was abolished. The government of the kingdom renounced the right of nomination and preferment to the greater benefices. The bishops were exempted from taking the oath of allegiance to the king and the _exequatur_ and the royal _placet_ were abolished, and every other form of governmental assent in the publication and execution of acts of ecclesiastical authority. For hitherto there had been no separate provision for such acts, and these acts of authority regarding the disposal of ecclesiastical funds and the preferment to benefices great or small, excepting to those of Rome and the suburban sees, had been subject to the _exequatur_ and royal _placet_. These were the principal enactments of the law of papal guarantees.

As might have been foreseen the pope did not accept them but the governments of Europe on the contrary acknowledged the law, recognising that it was impossible to arrange anything better calculated to secure the independence of the pontiff.

ROME AGAIN THE CAPITAL OF ITALY (1871 A.D.)

[Sidenote: [1871 A.D.]]

In June, 1871, in pursuance of the engagements given by the government the transference of the capital was effected. On Sunday, July 2nd, the king made his solemn entry into Rome. What memories must have been evolved by this entry of the king of Italy into the eternal city, for from the triumphs of the Roman rulers, republicans or cæsars, to the expeditions of the Frank and German kings of the Middle Ages, Rome was full of splendid memories. But the former came to celebrate the triumph of their violence over some unfortunate nation, and the latter to revive the cæsarean institutions under the title of their ascendency over the other Christian nations of Europe--their empire over Italy.

In Victor Emmanuel’s entry into Rome force was replaced by the right of a nation to live free under the leadership of the great mother of Italy, from whom it had till now been separated. The pope did not come to meet and bless the king, but he who has the benediction of his country is in safety, and as he reached the Quirinal he exclaimed: “At last we are here and here we will stay.”[39]

To this solemn entry of the king of Italy to Rome other memorable events quickly succeeded. The inauguration of the Mont Cenis tunnel broke down the barrier of the Alps between Italy and France. Nations overthrow the barriers which nature has placed between them to facilitate the interchange of their products to their mutual benefit. It is the eve of fraternity among nations initiated on the ruins of centuries of strife.

On November 27th the Italian parliament assembled for the first time in Rome at Montecitorio. The speech from the throne was as the circumstances demanded, majestic and solemn. “Here where our people,” it said, “after being dispersed through many centuries, are gathered for the first time in the majesty of their representatives; here where we recognise the mother-country of our dreams, all things speak to us of greatness. At the same time all things remind us of our duty.” And further on it was announced that national unity had been accomplished without the interruption of friendly relations with other countries.

[Sidenote: [1872-1874 A.D.]]

The Lanza ministry had already entered upon the fourth year of its existence; and it was the first time since the founding of the kingdom of Italy that a ministry had lasted so long. And hardly was the transfer completed when the truce between the parties was broken, and the fall of the ministry ensued. In its latter days Italy had seen the death of three great patriots--Mazzini in 1872, Manzoni and Rattazzi in the following year. The time has not yet arrived for us to judge these men with a temperate mind or with a heart free from passion. Mazzini died at Pisa, March 10th, 1872; he had lived long enough to see Italy free and united; and although this did not correspond with his ideal of Italy, he could take pleasure in the thought of having helped so much to compass her resurrection and to introduce the conception of national unity which had for centuries been the ideal of philosophers, so that it became a national idea and a historical fact. Rattazzi died at an unfortunate moment on the eve of the accession to power of the Left. He could have instilled discipline into this heterogeneous party and rendered it a useful instrument of government after having been for sixteen years the party of opposition. He was taken away just when he could have rendered such great service to the country, the country which he loved so much though bad fortune had made him seem to be its evil genius.

THE MINGHETTI MINISTRY (1873-1876 A.D.)

The task of forming a new ministry was given by the king to Marco Minghetti who was leader of the opposition which was in the majority against the fallen ministry. The first note of the new ministry was a triumph of foreign policy. The visit of Victor Emmanuel to the emperors of Austria and Germany in their respective capitals in September, 1873, had placed a seal on the friendship of the two Transalpine powers.

[Sidenote: [1874-1877 A.D.]]

Successful as was the foreign policy of the government, it was counterbalanced by its unfortunate home policy. It will be forever a stain on its honour that on August 2nd, 1874, the minister Cantelli ordered the arrest and imprisonment of twenty-nine republicans who had assembled under the presidency of Aurelio Saffi in the Villa Ruffi to discuss the course to be adopted by their party with regard to questions interesting to the country and the line of conduct to be pursued in the event of a general election. However, the judicial authorities were perfectly just to the twenty-nine, and acquitting them all showed that if a police-ridden and licentious ministry was still possible in Italy, the era of partisan and corruptible magistracy was over. In 1874 the visits of the emperor of Austria to Venice and of the emperor of Germany to Milan helped to distract the attention of the country from the tumult which reigned in parliamentary parties and the revolution which they were preparing. The successor of Barbarossa came in October, 1874, to greet the king of Italy in the Lombardian metropolis and there to consecrate by his presence the elevation of the Italy which his predecessors had for so many centuries oppressed and martyrised. This splendid epilogue of the epic which had taken Italy from Novara to Rome was the fruit of the new civilisation which repeats by the will of the nation the judicial reason of its political existence; and this was primarily due to the miracle of a king in whom the glorious epic was personified.

But although the ministry had had its share in this marvellous event it had not succeeded in strengthening its existence, and already the members of the government, after having cradled themselves in rose-coloured hopes, on the eve of the reopening of parliament, in the autumn of 1875, felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. The opposition had become more audacious and more aggressive. It was the Right which had constituted the kingdom, after it had been set free by force of arms and made it really respected abroad and orderly and tranquil at home, as Minghetti said on the eve of giving up the government of it to the Left. Minghetti sent in his resignation which was accepted. The king intrusted to Depretis, the leader of the opposition, the task of forming a new cabinet. The Left, after having been the opposition for sixteen years, became the governing party.

DEATH OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND PIUS IX

Less than two years had passed since the accession to power of the Left when Italy was stunned by a calamity as great as it was unexpected. At the end of 1877 the king went to Turin to pass Christmas. Going on a hunting expedition at the foot of the Alps he remained two days defying the cold of the season. On his return to Rome he felt very unwell, having shivering fits and nausea; but he paid no attention, thinking it was a passing indisposition. He took to his bed January 6th. Three days later Victor Emmanuel was no more.

At this time Pope Pius IX was also on his death-bed. Hearing that Victor Emmanuel was at the point of death he gave his consent to the Viatico being carried to him, though the Quirinal was a forbidden spot. And when he heard that he was dead he exclaimed that he had died as a Christian, a sovereign, and an honest man. A few days later he followed him to the tomb.

What a multitude of thoughts arise in the mind as we see these two tombs open almost contemporaneously, one to receive the remains of the last pope-king, and the other those of the first king of Italy. In these two men are personified one of the greatest epochs of history, an epoch fertile in the most glorious events which can take place in a nation. It is the epoch of a free state and a risen nation. And these two men were the artificers of the prodigious event--Pius IX by the religious impulse given to the Italian revolution in its first phases; Victor Emmanuel by having constituted himself the champion of independence of unity and of the liberty of Italy. From this moment the two men drifted apart. Pius IX resumed the life traced for him by papal tradition. Victor Emmanuel remained faithful to his mission and did his duty to the last day of his life. A grateful nation by the mouth of its representatives proclaimed him “The Father of his country.”[e]

FOOTNOTES

[36] [The bombardment lasted from 5:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M., the white flag being hoisted at 10:10. Reports of the losses vary greatly, Cadorna admitting 32 killed and 143 wounded on his side, though the estimates ranged as high as 2,000; but Beauffort[g] thinks this a manifest exaggeration. According to O’Clery[h] the pontifical troops lost 16 killed and 53 wounded.]

[37] [Few dates in modern European history equal in significance that of September 20th, 1870, when the Italian troops under General Cadorna took possession of Rome in the name of the Italian nation, and completed at one stroke both the work of the Risorgimento and the destruction of the temporal power of the Roman pontiff.[d]]

[38] [O’Clery,[h] however, calls the plebiscite a “disgraceful farce,” comparing it with that by which Napoleon III secured his vote. He points out that in Rome, where several thousands took arms for the pope, only 46 voted for him. Beauffort[g] says that one foreign sculptor voted 22 times without being challenged, and that whole bands went from urn to urn.]

[39] [“The dream of his life was accomplished, and in a manner most flattering to a monarch’s pride. Yet this rose was not without its thorn either. To be all sweetness he should have had Pio Nono’s blessing, and be crowned, like Charlemagne, by the hands of the venerable pontiff in that city of glorious memories where he was henceforth to reign. But he grasped the rose, thorn and all, with the memorable exclamation, ‘_A Roma ci siamo e ci resteremo!_’”--GODKIN.[i]]