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December 22 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 1225
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efforts to induce the prince to declare himself are useless , " wrote another , later . Both time and opportunity to declare himself were given to Charles Albert when , as we have shown above , Victor Emmanuel I ., by no means elated , as his subjects professed to imagine he would be , with the chance of risking his hereditary throne for an Italian crown ; refusing to govern at all , fettered by a constitution , that bugbear of absolutism , abdicated , and appointed Charles Albert regent in the absence of Charles Felix . Three ¦ courses were open to the Prince : accepting the regency , either to learn implicitly the policy of the absent king ; or , to act on his own responsibility and fulfil the wishes of the people ( a hazardous experiment ); thirdly , to decline altogether the semblanc e of an authority which gave him no real power to act up to his principles or the dictates of his conscience . This latter course would have been the true one . Had Charles Albert told the subjects of Charles Felix , that while a constitution and an Austrian war were to him legitimate objects of demand ( that he did consider them , such was fully proved afterwards ) , he yet would not head a revolt against his lawful sovereign , all parties would have respected , even while some regretted , his scruples . But he chose neither such course . He accepted , the regency ; he granted the constitution , subject to the king ' s approval , and on the first announcement of that king ' s exceeding wrath at such proceedings , asserted that he had acted under compulsion , and that he would die in defence of the kingly interests entrusted to him . Too late ! That exile into which Charles Albert must go , loaded with the king ' s wrath , amid the execrations of the liberal party , and the taunts of the Austrian to " the King of Italy , " was but the foreshadowing of the bitter suffering by which he must atone for disobedience to the " earliest call . " Meanwhile , that the Piedmontese failed in obtaining their constitution in 1821 is by no means to be attributed to Charles Albert . The anger of the king , even his severe measures on his accession , would not haye deterred them from their purpose , had they but been united in their decision as to whether their representative constitution should consist of one or two chambers . This question had been an open one from the beginning . That proclaimed by Charles Albert was to consist of one chamber , framed after the Spanish constitution of 1812 , but when its repeal gave space for the renewal of the discussion , the leaders were so divided , and the mass of the people so dejected by the punishment of the first attempt , that the king , with Austrian support , had time and means to crush the whole struggle for the time being . Having done this , he relapsed into t the apathetic , morose state that characterised him ; shrank from any idea of reform , neglected the army , trusting to Austria to fight his battles , and with the exception of the care he bestowed on the navy , has no claim to be considered as a fair representative of that race of princes of whom he was the last in the direct line . The reactionary gloom in Piedmont was by no means a fair specimen of the spirit rife in Italy . Though Santa Rosa failed to effect much , the struggle of his few brave troops , man to man with the Austrian myriads , was no less glorious . Though Austrian bayonets put down the revolt in Naples , these were no proofs that their sway was growing palatable to the Italians . That the weak governors of the Papal States were but the tools of the Imperial throne , did not justify them in the eyes of their subjects , their steady , continued resistance shows . The massive ^ prison walls of Spielberg ; that memorable 31 st of August , 1825 , which saw " five hundred and eight individuals" sentenced to death , exile , or imprisonment in the Papal States , bear witness to the deathless protest against tyranny and oppression . The revolutions of 1830 following upon each other ' s heels in France , Poland , and Hungary , served to revivify the liberals with a definite aim . Like most influences coming from without , it took the wrong direction . With Austria always for the target , more than one scheme was set on foot for replacing her sway by one or other of the Italian princes , without reference to their individual fitness . Strange that this time one should have been fixed on to whom Austria had assigned a very different part . This was the Duke of Modena , who had married a ( laughter of Victor Emmanuel I ., and for whom his mother-in-law and the imperial court had entertained a hope of the Sardinian crown On the decease of Charles Felix . No bnscness had been wanting to convince the king
i of Charles Albert ' s rebellion , and to widen the breach between him and that prince , who having ' greatly distinguished himself in the Spanish wars , ' had returned to Piedmont , though not to the court Unfortunately for Austria and her protege * ( rather i an ungrateful one ) his plots for himself , or others ' plots for him , joined to the universal detestation in which he was held , had hurled this Duke of Modena from his throne , and the imperial patrons winking for reasons of their own , at his delinquencies , were doing their best to replace him , when Charles Felix , having completed his tomb at Hautecombe , before retiring to it , called Charles Albert to his bed-side , and resigned to his keeping his sceptre and his people ! What would the young king have given for a clear , spotless past , to which to point and say" Trust in me , my people , your welfare is my sole aim , your enemies are mine , we will combat them together , only have patience , the moment is not yet come . " He did attempt to convince them of this by the liberal measures , the desire for reforms , which he manifested immediately on his accession . It was not enough for all . The young disciples of " Young Italy , " in their first flush of hope and untried strength , must have palpable , tangible proofs that their ideas of the right and best course to set Italy free would be carried out to the uttermost and instantly . Mazzini , deeply imbued with the warnings and predictions of Foscolo , became to the enthusiasts their leader and their idol . He called loudly to Charles Albert to proclaim war there and then to Austria ; pleaded eloquently the nation ' s sorrows , and the grand position their redressor mi ght assume . The cautious prince pointed to the French expedition to Ancona ; to the Austrian troops in Lombardy ; to his own neglected and impoverished army , as potent reasons why the undertaking was for the time impossible . Mazzini could admit of no impossibility ; prudence seemed to him cowardice , and delay hypocrisy . No dispassionate student of the first outpourings of that young genius can withhold from Mazzini the homage which such genius claims . Pure patriotism , free in those days from all personal ambition , stamped his every thought . Could the daring poet and the prudent Savoy Prince have gone hand in hand ; the one compelling the timid acts of the other , who in turn would have reined in the too theoretical soarings of his counsellor , what might not have been the result to Italy ! How could a man of Mazzini ' s intellect have adopted the course he took , when finding that the king would not rule at his bidding , would not lead the army at his beck , the poet flung aside the pen and resolved to become ruler and general all in one ! Fatal irretrievable error . To think that a handful of malcontents , with two men at their head , neither of whom knew anything of organisation or generalship , could revolutionise Italy from the Alps downward , upset the thrones of foreign and native princes alike , and establish one vast united republic ! Never did such a wild or impossible scheme issue from the brains of the sette of any name or nation . When we hear that Ramorino betrayed , and Mazzini fainted as he strove to lead on his band , we cannot but feel more pity for the misled volunteers than for their leaders ; and this leads us to wonder at the unwarrantable , vindictive severity shown in the sentences passed by Charles Albert on all engaged , or suspected of being engaged , in the attempt . It was a bad omen for the commencement of his reign—the bloodshed and proscriptions that followed ; and some time elapsed before the king felt his way sufficiently into the hearts of his subjects , to carry on those reforms which he had promised and meant to effect . Soon , however , the recall of some of the exiles—the promulgation of such works as Balbo's " Hopes of Italy , " Gioberti ' s more expedient measures revived hone and confidence . Free institutions answered the people ' s growing demand ; freedom was permitted , if not granted , to the press ; a new code of laws was compiled in 1837 ; literature was encouraged , and the industrial arts received attention . Associations for " agriculture , " " arts and antiquities , " and " history , " were vigorously set on foot ; so that , while dissatisfaction and revolt were manifest throughout the Papal and Austrian States , progress and growing content were visible in Piedmont . Austria , beside herself with rage , launched scoffs at the reforms , and slanders at the character of her northern neighbour in v « in . Finding this useless ,
. she added outrage to insult , in the form of increased import duty on Sardinian wines , to which measure the king made firm resistance . Close on this act followed the death of old Gregory , and the accession of Pius IX ., whose manifesto of amnesty , published the day after his accession , was used as a weapon for warfare he never desired to bring upon himself . Mingling with the welcomings of this amnesty , it was whispered that a cry of " War to the foreigner * ' was heard . Austria was wrathful that the Pope did not notice this . At Genoa , also , there were wild celebrations of the centenary anniversary ^ of the expulsion of the Austrians from the Ligurian soil . All the Italian cities who dared , signalised the same exploit throughout the country , by " bonfires at night upon the Appenines ; a symbol of the name of patriotism which was smouldering beneath the gloom of servitude to the stranger . " Austria stormed , as the meaning of all this became apparent . The Pope was wilfully blind ; though papers , published in his state , spoke of the " Imperial gangs . " Tricolor flags floated in Tuscany , m acknowledgment of a constitution and a civic guard , granted by weak Leopold II . Affronts , offered by the Austrians to the Pope , brought him and Charles Albert together upon common ground . Quiet and cold as the Sardinian king ever was , the gloom and vacillation that had characterised him seemed to have given place to a hopeful fixed resolve . At length he announced to his subjects , and the subjects of other states , gathered together at a scientific association— " If Providence shall ordain a war for the independence of Italy , I will mount on horseback with my sons ; will place myself at the head of my army ; for glorious will be the day whose war-cry shall be ' Italian Nationality 1 ' " How Italy leapt up to hear those words ; then paused in admiration at the deeds that followed them . Charles Albert , " having first relaxed the bonds of the press , cancelled the fiscal exemptions ; improved the arrangements for the administration or justice ; deprived the police of that power which is termed economic , but really signifies uncontrolled discretion ; enlarged and amended the Council of State ; founded on a broader basis the institution of provincial and divisional councils ; emancipated the communes ; and invigorated those bodies with the vivifying element of popular election . " Like wild-fire spread the sentiment of nationality . Ambassadors from the Papal and Tuscan States met at Turin , to discuss the Commercial and Customs League . Naples wrung from her coward king her reforms and constitution ; and even Austrian subjects sung the praises of Pius and Charles Albert , with the bayonets within sight . The Lombards abstained from the use of tobacco , to damage the imperial finances ; and yet , says Farini : — " Austria thought that the stir in Italy was mere sham , to be combated in the usual classical manner of her police . For the books and journals , her astounding remedy was the censorship ; for the spirit of freedom , the gaol ; and for the spirit of independence , the bayonet . * * * * ? ? Italy was , in the words of Prince Metternich , " an empty name ; it was geography , not history , not life , nor a living nation . " So the year 1847 drew to a close .
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PHILOSOPHY OP ANOMALY . The Britinh public and the Britinh proas are just at prosont being groatly Bcandalisod , almoHfc indignant , witli I ' rinco Albort . Wo have had that state of things before—thrice . Wo are all very partial to the Prince ; but ifc in our peculiarity to patronise—and the fact of patronage includes tho privilege to be out of humour now and then with the jprotegf— those whom we moflt renpoot and are most in awe of . We Britons are rather proud of ournelveH j but wan over nation ho aelf-abuHed ' { The glory of our conntitutioi ) , nnd the perfection of our institutions , are notorious ; but when wan it that we did not grumble I The Prmce ua » no right to complain : tho price of popularity in this country w to bo every now and then terribly out of fuvour ; and , on tho whole , theno characteristic BritiBh reactions ) are very mlvaiitngeous to BritwU porfionageB . Arifltides in in our black books for a little while ovory year , and ho wo do not get tired of him . Let hi » Jtoyul Highnosn bo porauudod « wt bis position in all the safer for being now and then UBBuilod . . . i i . ^ Tho Prince ban boon committing an anomaly , ne , Prince Consort , with , marital authority , has been , a » officer of tho Guards , in company with , the whole
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 22, 1855, page 1225, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2120/page/13/
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