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most demure personages on the most solemn of occasions. At the funeral of the Earl of Chatham, on June the 9th, 1798, in the presence of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Pitt, Burke, Dunning, &c., the Bishop of Rochester read the following epitaph after the funeral service in Westminster Abbey, "with an energy truly pathetic:"

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Such, then, being the state of popular feeling, we may easily conceive to what excesses it arose during the protracted period of a parliamentary election at that time. We have before us a whole volume of lampoons, squibs, and political pasquinades, preserved from the great contested election for Yorkshire, in March, 1784, between Duncombe and Wilberforce on the Bute side, and Foljambe and Weddel, whose hand-bills denounced at one fell swoop, "North, Fox, Coalition, and the India Bill.” Another and thicker volume contains the squibs and songs written for the election for the City of York, for which Lord John Cavendish and Sir William Milner came forward in the Fox interest, and Lord Galway and R. S. Milnes in opposition. We may quote one or two (by no means the most intemperate of the collection), by way of sample:

"No Bribery, No Corruption, No Bludgeons, No Colliers, No Aristocratical Blows, No Threats, No Compulsion, No Fox, No Coalition; but Freedom of Election, Independence, the Peace of the City, and Galway and Milnes for ever. Huzza!"

Here is another, levelled personally against Lord John Cavendish: "York, March 26th, 1784.-Received of my Constituents of the City of York, their hearty and unfeigned disapprobation of my Conduct, which, not being of the Value of Forty Shillings, is not, according to Act of Parliament,' liable to the tax.-J. C."*

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"York, April 8th, 1784.-To be Sold by the Kidnapping Parson,†

This was a sly hit at the new Receipt Stamp Act, of which Lord John Cavendish was in favour.

+ The Reverend Mr. Marsh, accused of kidnapping Galway and Milnes's voters.

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in the Apollo,' at the 'George,' in Coney-street, on Wednesday, the 7th instant, at twelve o'clock at noon precisely, a large lot of firm and lasting Resentment against Lord North (the property of Lord John Cavendish). As it has been basely adulterated by a mixture of the Coalition, it will be Sold so Cheap that a Stamp Receipt will not be necessary. N.B.-His Lordship's friends advised him to put up his Duplicity in the above Lot, but, as he thinks that may yet be of Service to him, he was not willing to part with it."

"To be Sold by Auction! Who bids more than the Comptroller? Agoing! Agoing! A fine, smart, dapper, Hibernian Orator, at the shameful price of a turnspit to the Jacobites! Agoing, gentlemen, agoing!-shameful little busybody! View him! Hear him harangue the mob! Gentlemen, consider he is worth more than that to pay his expenses in the Diligence, and send him round the country to talk as much in favour of Addresses as he has heretofore calumniated them. Fine change! Besides, gentlemen, if you do not bid more honourably, he will possibly tack about and endeavour to gain a petition for the removal of those he now calls his friends. Nobody bids more-Knock the Doctor off!"

The different species of threats had recourse to are illustrated in the following handbills :

"Mr. Mollett,—I desire you will give me one vote at least for the ensuing election; that is, either for Lord John Cavendish or Sir William Milner. If you refuse, you must give up being my tenant.-R. Sykes. Tuesday, March 30th. (Addressed) Mr. Mollett, Swinegate."

"In a few days will be published, The Black List: an account of such freemen of York as promised their votes to Lord John Cavendish and Sir William Milner, or one of them, and afterwards polled for Lord Galway and Mr. Milnes. By which will be proved that the inhabitants of this city possess the greatest share of consistency, veracity, gratitude, and public spirit of any men on earth.”

The elections in which John Wilkes figured as a candidate, and was returned in defiance of the House of Commons which had rejected him, were productive of still more paper warfare; but we must go to Hogarth after all for the best illustration of a parliamentary election of the last century. In his admirable series of The Feast, The Canvass, The Polling, and The Chairing, he has described all that can be described of a contested election. But there is little to point out which is peculiar to the period, beyond the costume. Let our readers carefully scan them, and say whether every feature of bribery, corruption, intimidation, personation, and perjury have done more than fade in a similar scene of modern days-they have yet to disappear. Are they not all still practised, though, perhaps, not so openly nor so boldly? Is not very nearly the same amount of corruption going on, though invisibly, and for a shorter space of time?

These matters are, however, now managed differently; we hear no such public offers made as in the following advertisement, which we extract from the London Evening Post of October the 1st, 1774, on the issuing of the writs for the new parliament:

"Borough.-A gentleman of character and fortune, who wishes to avoid contention and trouble, would be glad of a compromise against an ensuing period. A line to Mr. Dormer, at 24, Ludgate-hill, will meet with the most honourable attention." -Verbum sap.!

Aug.-VOL. CIV. NO. CCCCXVI.

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SKETCHES OF THE ITALIAN REVOLUTION.

BY AN EYE-WITNESS.

On the 17th of February, General de Laugier raised the standard of revolt against the provisional government in the province of Massa, and published a proclamation in the name of the grand-duke, of which the statements were immediately falsified by the acts of the prince. The proclamation assured the people that Leopold II. had not abandoned Tuscany, but would remain at San Stefano, under the protection of an English guard of honour; that he had named a provisional government before he left Sienna; that twenty thousand Piedmontese troops were then passing the frontier to support him; and lastly, that the sovereign still continued ardently devoted to liberty, and to the independence of Italy. Guerrazzi's government replied by immediately ordering the magistrate of the province to announce to the grand-duke the hopelessness of attempting to bring about a reaction, which at that moment could only lead to civil war. Meanwhile, Guerrazzi proceeded to put himself at the head of the national guard, and of such troops as remained at his disposal, in order to put down the intended movement of De Laugier. At the same time, he sent his family and luggage to Leghorn, prepared to embark at that port for a foreign country, if the return of the grand-duke were effected by the means then employed.

These measures of Guerrazzi's are the acts for which he has been most severely censured, as proofs of his enmity to the sovereign, and his determination to prevent the restoration. But it appears conclusively, from the reasons which he has himself made public, that he was not averse to an eventual restoration, which he could not but recognise as inevitable, after the defeat of Charles Albert had rendered the ultimate ill-success of the Italian cause a matter of certainty. But, in the condition to which the country was reduced by the act of the grand-duke himself, in having abandoned the affairs of state in spite of the urgent entreaties of his government that he would return to the capital, and the extreme exasperation of party feeling which arose in consequence, Guerrazzi believed that the attempt to restore by force of arms an authority now held in detestation by the dominant faction, would only lead to civil contests if left to the arbitrament of the people, or to the loss of independence if effected by the aid of a Piedmontese army. He was persuaded that the moment was not yet arrived to retrieve the evil effects of the prince's illadvised acts, without shedding the blood of the citizens in an enterprise of uncertain success. Nor is it unnatural to suppose that, after the undisguised mistrust and open animosity displayed by the grand-duke towards the ministers who now formed the provisional government, that his own personal security had considerable influence in inducing Guerrazzi to oppose this method of restoring the former government. A vote of the Chamber and of the country, whilst it saved the constitution, would at the same time protect the constitutional ministry, to whose agency the prince would then be indebted for his return to the throne, which he had vacated in spite of their remonstrances.

In this emergency the clubs did not remit their accustomed activity.

They sent commissioners into the provinces to organise other clubs, and to excite the people to arms; and in a meeting of the principal club at Florence, it was decreed that some of its members should be sent to require the provisional government immediately to proclaim the republic, and the union of Tuscany with the Roman State. From Leghorn, Lucca, Pisa, and all the surrounding cities, the clubs sent to urge the government to the immediate adoption of those measures, on pain of being compelled to it by an insurrection of the people. Mazzini harangued the inhabitants of the capital, and after his exhortations the republic was loudly proclaimed in the streets. Large deputations arrived from the clubs of Leghorn, and after the excitement of popular banquets, at which the most inflammatory language was employed, trees of liberty were planted in every street, every remaining insignia of legitimate royalty was destroyed, and the republic was repeatedly announced by the mob but never by the government. At Leghorn, ever foremost in every democratic demonstration, Pigli, the governor, proclaimed the new form of government.

At Florence, large assemblages of the people decreed the deposition of the grand-duke, denounced De Laugier as a traitor, and insisted that the attempted reaction should be put down. Guerrazzi replied: “I have faithfully served the constitutional sovereign; I will serve the people with equal fidelity." But as Guerrazzi advanced to oppose De Laugier, the troops of the royalist general, either ill-disposed to the cause, or unwilling to shed the blood of their fellow-citizens in civil strife, disbanded and dispersed, and their leader took refuge in Piedmont.

On the 17th of March, Cicervacchio, the famous Roman demagogue, arrived at the head of a deputation from Rome, and after making a tour through the provinces, in order to excite the republican enthusiasm of the people, he reached Florence, and conveyed to the provisional government the urgent solicitations of the neighbouring state for an immediate junction, and the definite appointment of a republican government. This Guerrazzi again averted, in spite of every effort of the clubs and the republican party, by referring the question of government to the Tuscan Constituent Assembly.

On the 27th of March this Assembly met, and Guerrazzi asserts that he had obtained a certain majority of the constitutional party. But, two days after the first meeting, the fatal news of the disastrous battle of Novara reached Florence. The republicans became furious at the ruin of their cause; Montanelli, in despair, desired to withdraw from the country; and Mazzoni, the third member of the provisional government, went over at once to the republicans. On the night after the unfortunate intelligence arrived, the panic it produced caused a proposal for the instant nomination of a supreme chief to the executive power, to whose hands might be entrusted the preparations for the defence of the country against an Austrian invasion. Guerrazzi was named to the office, but the republican members of the Assembly fiercely opposed the appointment, violently accusing him of treason to the popular cause, and of having plotted for the return of the grand-duke. Montanelli defended his colleague, and assured the Assembly that Guerrazzi entertained no wish to impose upon the country any form of government that had not obtained their sanction. Guerrazzi, disgusted at the accusations directed

against him, and at the suspicions which a moderate course had drawn down on him from all parties, at first refused the dangerous office that was proffered to him, but finally yielded to the persuasions of the deputies of the constitutional party.

The extremity of the danger which now threatened Tuscany induced the new dictator to propose the postponement of the question of government until preparations were made against the certain prospect of immediate invasion. The republicans vehemently urged an immediate union with Rome; but Guerrazzi's proposition prevailed, that the Assembly should be prorogued for twelve days, and he pledged himself to take no steps to effect a change before the 15th of April, the day appointed for the reassembling of the Constituent. He proposed, during that interval, to ascertain the real opinion of the country, and to adopt the wishes of the majority, which he had always believed to be favourable to the restoration of the grand-duke.

Meanwhile, Guerrazzi employed himself diligently, not only in endeavouring to arm the country, but also in disarming those who would have controlled the vote of the Assembly. Arms were scarce, and with difficulty supplied, even to such volunteers as presented themselves; for it must be confessed that the population of Tuscany showed itself tardy and reluctant to confront the dangers that awaited the defenders of their country. Arms were everywhere sought to aid in the equipment of the troops, and heavy penalties were threatened in cases of concealment. Under this pretence the republican clubs were disarmed, and were thereby prevented from obtaining a certain triumph, by force, at the approaching deliberation of the Constituent Assembly. Volunteers arrived from the provinces; Leghorn sent a contingent of seven hundred men, which Guerrazzi has been accused, without proof, of having summoned to his aid to enable him to retain the power he possessed.

There seems to be sufficient evidence of the truth of Guerrazzi's statement, that it was, at this time, his intention to promote the return of the grand-duke to his dominions, if it proved to be the wish of a majority of the people-a fact of which little doubt remained, after the inquiries which had been instituted in the provinces. Some witnesses worthy of credit affirmed upon Guerrazzi's subsequent trial, that the chief of the government spoke at this time of the general desire for the return of the sovereign as an incontestable fact, and of the mistrust with which the Tuscan government was now regarded by that of Rome, on account of the opposition which it had offered to the establishment of a republic, and to the democratic demonstrations which marked the ebullitions of popular fanaticism at that time. It was universally believed, in the country, that Guerrazzi had accepted the absolute powers bestowed by the Constituent with a view to prepare the way for the restoration.

In the official instructions transmitted by the minister of war to General d'Apice, commanding the troops on the Piedmontese frontier, that officer is urged to use every exertion to preserve the country from dismemberment, in order that the grand-duke, at his return, "may not regard with contempt an army which had proved itself unable to preserve to Tuscany Lunigiana, Massa, and Carrara." In addition to this evidence of Guerrazzi's intentions, General d'Apice gave testimony at the trial of that minister, that, in confidential conversation with the chief of

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