Assembly to proclaim the republic; and if the chief of the provisional government continued to oppose himself to the wishes of the people, justice demanded that he should be hurled down from the windows of the hall, to meet the fate that awaited the enemies of liberty. Excited by the furious declamations of their tribune, the people burst into the hall of the Assembly, threatening death to Guerrazzi if the republic were not instantly proclaimed; and the witnesses of that fearful scene expected every moment to see the menace carried into execution.

But the ready wit of the statesman saved himself from the deadly peril, and his country from the impending evil. He replied that he was willing to proclaim the republic as soon as two thousand Florentines should appear in arms to support the new form of government. The people replied, with loud acclamations, that thirty thousand were ready to take up arms in the cause. "Two thousand are enough," replied Guerrazzi. But in accordance with his sagacious anticipation, two thousand were not found willing to fight for a republic.

After the capitulation of Milan, Venice had withdrawn herself from the union with Piedmont; the commissioners who had been sent there by Charles Albert were driven out of the town; and Manin was re-established in his former authority, as chief of the republic. In the autumn of 1848, Manin had restored the fortifications of Venice; and, with the aid of the Roman and Neapolitan reinforcements, the garrison had been able not only to hold out the town, but had repulsed the Austrians, with the loss of seven hundred men and eight pieces of artillery. The rich voluntarily contributed their money, their jewels, and their plate to supply the expenses of the war; but the recal of the Neapolitan troops greatly weakened the means of defence.

In February, 1849, some changes had been made in the form of government, which was, however, still conducted by Manin, aided by a responsible council.

The 12th of March, 1849, was the term of the armistice concluded between the King of Sardinia and Marshal Radetzky. Gioberti was now at the head of the Piedmontese ministry, which warmly advocated the prosecution of the war with Austria. The Chambers hesitated at the renewal of the unequal contest; but, after a dissolution, the new Assembly, composed of much less moderate elements than the last Chamber, eagerly entered into the views of the ministry. But Gioberti's government terminated abruptly, through a division in the cabinet, consequent upon a proposed intervention in Tuscany. Gioberti, a zealous constitutionalist, diligently strove to avert the chances of an Austrian occupation of the Tuscan States; Piedmontese troops were offered to the grand-duke in support of his authority in Florence; and the agents of foreign courts counselled the acceptance of this succour, which at once offered a guarantee against Austrian intervention, and for the protection of the constitution. But Gioberti's colleagues in office, of far more extreme opinions than himself, refused to sanction an interference of which the object was the restoration of Leopold II. The Chamber upheld the extreme party in the administration; and Gioberti was compelled to retire from the government. He was sent on a mission to Paris, where he continued to reside; and, four years after, he died in that city.

The Grand-Duke of Tuscany delayed and hesitated for a while at San

Stefano; gave the most positive assurances to the foreign diplomatists who attended him that he would not leave the country; and within a few hours after he had made that promise, embarked on board an English war-steamer which had been placed at his disposal, and sailed for Naples. Various pretexts were adduced for the adoption of this step, which probably formed the completion of his plan. A letter from the Pope was said to have advised it; and it has also been affirmed that he was compelled to fly by the advance of a column of the civic guard, sent against him by Pigli, the governor of Leghorn. But nothing is more certain than the fact that the grand-duke, at that moment, incurred no danger whatever from any quarter. An English frigate was anchored opposite to San Stefano; a war-steamer lay close to land; under the guns of the English ships no hostile troops would have ventured to attack him; and in the event of danger presenting itself from any quarter, Captain Codrington had offered to land the marines of the Thetis for his protection.

A renewal of the war was the immediate result of the triumph of the ultra-liberal party in Piedmont. The king, aware of his deficiency in the necessary means for prosecuting a successful contest against the renovated powers of the Austrian Empire, but unable to resist the pressure of the factions that dominated the public mind, resigned himself to the fate which he foresaw, and resumed the war with the melancholy hope that the first battle-field that witnessed his defeat would offer him the shelter of a grave.

Charles Albert found himself at the head of an army which has been differently estimated at a hundred and twenty and at a hundred and thirty-five thousand men, but he was ill supplied with money, or the necessary means for carrying on a lengthened struggle. He repaired to Alexandria, the head-quarters of his army, and at the news of this first step towards the opening of a fresh campaign Brescia rose at once, and drove the Austrians from her walls, after performing prodigies of valour, which excited the admiration even of General Nugent, the Austrian commander, who was severely wounded in the combat.

The Piedmontese army had been demoralised by the acts of the revolutionary agents, who, whilst they urged the troops to shed the last drop of their blood in the endeavour to expel the German oppression, instigated them equally to mistrust the king, in order to deprive him of their allimportant support, when the hour of contest should come between the monarchical party and the promoters of anarchy.

The king resigned the command of the forces to General Chrzanowsky, a Pole, under whose orders the two young princes and the Sardinian generals were placed. On the 21st of March, the two armies were in presence of each other at Montara. The Piedmontese general, Bes, obtained brilliant success in a partial engagement at Sforzesca, and took a great number of prisoners. The Savoyard troops distinguished themselves by their gallant conduct at Gembolo, and repulsed General Wratislaw. But Generals Durando and La Marmora were less successful, and experienced a defeat from the corps with which they were engaged. The army fell back upon Novara on the 22nd, with considerable loss in prisoners, and five pieces of cannon; whilst the despatch of the general commanding in chief announced the treason of Romarino, who had allowed the Austrians to cross the Tessino unopposed.

The 23rd of March witnessed the disastrous battle of Novara. The action commenced at eleven o'clock in the morning, at La Bicocca, when the fire opened along the whole line. The two brigades of Savoy and Savona fought with the utmost spirit, although suffering great fatigue from the combats of the two preceding days. Every position upon that hard-fought field was lost and retaken repeatedly during the day. At La Bicocca, the most important post for the Piedmontese defence, the contest raged with the greatest fury. The body of reserve, under the command of the Duke of Genoa, fought there with the most determined bravery; the prince had several horses killed under him, but continued to direct his troops on foot. Till half-past four o'clock victory seemed secured to the Sardinian arms; but at five o'clock the Austrians succeeded in obtaining possession of La Bicocca, broke through the centre of the Piedmontese line, and the army retreated in disorder on Novara.

Chrzanowsky had shown no ability in command, but the unfortunate king had not omitted any exertion; with his accustomed heroism, he was continually to be seen in the thickest of the fight, and beneath the most destructive fire, seeking a soldier's grave on his last battle-field, when General Durando seized him by the arm, and dragged him forcibly out of the range of fire. The death he sought was refused him in the fight; and he retired within the walls of Novara, where, in the presence of his sons, of his staff, and of such of his ministers as were present with him, he renounced his crown in favour of the Duke of Savoy. He embraced the sons whom he was never to see again; thanked his faithful followers for the fidelity they had shown him; and announced his determination to depart immediately, to die in a foreign and a distant land. The tears of his children and the prayers of his servants failed to shake his resolution; and, in the night of the fatal day that followed his defeat, he set forth, accompanied only by a single attendant, to his place of exile. A few months later, the lonely and melancholy death-bed of Oporto terminated the career of a patriot prince, and affixed a lasting stigma to the misconduct of a people for whom he had hazarded and lost so much.

The night after the battle which decided the fate of Italy, great disorder broke out amongst the Piedmontese soldiery, furious at their defeat, and maddened by the treachery of the Milanese, through which the fruits of so many gallant efforts had been destroyed. The troops attacked the inhabitants of Novara, pillaged their houses, and threatened to burn the town. The young sovereign, who had just mounted a throne under such disastrous auspices, was compelled to employ force to reduce the mutineers to submission, and the conquerors of Pastrengo and Goito were with difficulty taught to bear the hard lessons of defeat and subjection.

An armistice was immediately signed with Radetzky, stipulating the security of the Piedmontese territory. Radetzky then took possession of Parma, and restored it to the hereditary prince, in whose favour the reigning duke resigned the sovereignty. Brescia, Bergamo, Como, were subdued in a few days; and the whole of Northern Italy was again reduced beneath the Austrian yoke. Venice alone held out; and Genoa, taking advantage of the defeat of the king, revolted, and proclaimed the old republican form of government, which flattered the people by the reminiscences of former glory, and the hope of future independence.

General La Marmora was sent against the place, and, after a stout resistance, Genoa was compelled to give up the hopeless contest, and to submit again to the power of Sardinia.

Meanwhile the French government, jealous of German ascendancy in Italy, had resolved to send an army to Rome, for the double purpose of restoring the papacy and of preventing the occupation of that city by the Austrians. The republicans of Rome protested energetically against the destruction of their infant government by a sister republic, self-constituted like themselves; and they prepared to resist the French forces to the last extremity. The famous Garibaldi, an adventurer, who, banished from Italy for political offences, had conducted a partisan warfare in the contests of South America, arrived in Italy at the first intelligence of a renewal of the struggle for liberty, and offered to Charles Albert the services of a sword to which he had given celebrity by fearless intrepidity, and an uncompromising devotion to the cause of freedom. Fearing the republican predilections of his new ally, Charles Albert declined his aid; and Garibaldi now threw himself into Rome with his band, determined to assist in holding out the city to the last.

In preparing for the defence of Rome, neither order nor justice were heeded. The property of the inhabitants-the riches of the churchestreasures of art-were all sacrificed, recklessly and remorselessly, to carry out the views of the desperadoes into whose power the city had fallen.

General Oudinot commanded the French army. With the accustomed courage of that high-spirited people, and something of the presumption which equally distinguishes them, they advanced to the attack of the city with little precaution, intimately persuaded that the adventurers who opposed them could offer no effectual resistance. The result of their rashness was the signal discomfiture of the French, with the loss of from twelve to fifteen hundred men, killed, wounded, or taken prisoners.

The Roman republic was now threatened with many dangers and numerous adversaries. The King of Naples was marching upon Rome with a considerable army; and two thousand Spanish troops, under the command of General Cordova, landed near the mouth of the Tiber. On the other side, Bologna had fallen into the hands of Radetzky, and that city had displayed in its defence a determination and courage that did honour to its citizens.

After the repulse of General Oudinot, a French commissioner was despatched to treat with Mazzini, but it appeared that the views of Monsieur Lesseps, himself a republican, proved too congenial to those with whom he was sent to negotiate. He was soon recalled, reprimanded, and dismissed; and the treaty which he had prepared was annulled, as it promised to the Romans the assistance of the French army to repel the foreign invaders, who had violated their territory on every side.

Whilst the proceedings of the French were thus held in suspense, Garibaldi attacked the King of Naples, whose army was posted within sight of the Alban Hills. The contest was well sustained on both sides, but the success seems to have been doubtful, and the Neapolitan army fell back on Terracina.

Venice, with determined resolution, still repulsed the triumphant Austrians from her shores. Manin exhorted the Assembly to support him in holding out the town. The Chamber decreed that Venice should

resist to the last, and ordered a medal to be struck in commemoration of this resolution. After the defeat of Novara, General Pepe returned to aid the Venetians, and the defence was conducted with spirit and vigour. In a sortie of the garrison at Mestre, they took eight hundred prisoners, six pieces of cannon, and several standards, and glory seemed to smile once more upon the ancient city of the Doges. The fort of Malghera was defended-vainly, indeed, but with despairing courage, which one of the bitterest enemies of Italian freedom has justly named heroic; but at length the reviving strength of the enemy brought to bear upon the besieged a force which their most desperate efforts were unable to resist.

On the 2nd of June the armistice expired between the Romans and their besiegers, and the renewed attack upon the strong walls of the ancient city was sustained and repelled with a courage which it would be as unjust to deny to the defenders of Rome, as to their countrymen who so bravely held out Brescia and Vicenza, Venice and Bologna. The French army occupied the range of heights that command the town. The convent of San Pancrazio, on Mount Janiculus, and the Villa Pamfili, beyond the Vatican Hill, were posts of the utmost importance, which were desperately contested. The Villa Corsini was lost and retaken nine times during the siege. Trenches were opened, and a partial bombardment of the town was attempted; but General Oudinot, unwilling to emulate the devastations of the barbarian invaders of the old Queen of the World, omitted no precaution by which the monuments of the city and the works of art might be spared from injury; and it must be admitted that they sustained little damage from their French assailants. The same praise cannot be ascribed to the defenders of the town. Many of the pines, so long the pride and boast of the Villa Borghese, were mercilessly levelled, to prevent the besiegers from approaching the walls under their shelter; the Villa Patrizii, a beautiful residence of the family of that name, occupying the site of the Prætorian camp on the Viminal, was destroyed, and its garden sacrificed to the wild zeal of the defenders of Rome.

Terror and confusion reigned within the city. The few persons of the higher classes who had not already fled, far from displaying either courage or energy, concealed themselves at the approach of danger; the middling class, trembling for their property, sanctioned every act of the new government, which few of them in sincerity approved; and a mob of lawless men, who alone could hope to profit by the disorganisation of society, were the real actors in the excesses that were committed. Robbery and murders were frequent amongst the armed ruffians who held the mastery of the city; priests were constantly assassinated in the public streets; and all who were suspected of attachment to the former government, or a desire to restore order, were compelled to save their lives by flight or concealment. Bands of desperate adventurers, driven into exile by the revolutions of Warsaw, Milan, or Palermo, instigated the discontented to deeds of violence, and often outraged humanity by their savage

acts.

In spite of the forbearance which they displayed in their advance, the besiegers gained ground everywhere, and Mazzini soon found that the ultimate success of the French was certain. On the night of the Feast of St. Peter, the patron saint of the town, the French, after long efforts,