broke out almost into open mutiny. They scrupled not to accuse the prince of treachery; they declared his whole conduct to have been the result of a deep-laid scheme for his own aggrandisement; and they called to mind the words of Grenier, the commander of the French forces, who, when leaving Mantua with his army, is reported to have said to the prince, "You want to be king of Italy-you will be nothing." The dismissal of that French army was charged against him as one of the sacrifices by which he hoped to propitiate the triumphant allies. His frequent communications with Bellegarde were also remembered. His abortive proclamation, and his surrender of Mantua, left him without party, and without support of any kind, "deformitas exitus misericordiam abstulerat." Such was the indignation of the garrison, that General Palombini proposed to arrest him. It was too late; he had left Mantua, and his treasure was conveyed through a gate guarded by an officer whom the public voice accused of having accepted a large bribe for suffering it to pass.

It cannot be denied that great abilities, or undoubted probity, perhaps a union of both, were requisite to extricate Eugene from the difficulties of his position. It is equally certain that the friends of independence at Milan were deplorably ignorant of their own interests, when, instead of joining with the prince and the army, they chose to act in opposition to them, and added to the general embarrassment. This, however, is no excuse for the prince. Botta hands him over to the per

petual scorn of posterity for his surrender of Mantua: "Atto veramente biasimevole del quale perpetuamente la posterità accuserà Eugenio;" and Guicciardi, somewhat his apologist, drily remarks that he left the reestablishment of order to the troops of his Apostolic Majesty.*

Mantua being given to the Austrians, the Italian army was broken up, and General Sommariva, arriving at Milan on the 25th of April, put himself at the head of the regency as commissary for the high allies. Some faint hopes, however, were still entertained from the efforts of the deputies at Paris. The Electoral Colleges continued their sittings, and even on the day of Sommariva's arrival passed some decrees which his excellency condescended to overlook. The Civic Guard protected the capital. "Independence or Death" was still the pass-word of the citizens; and the official journal, describing the entrance of the Austrian troops into Milan on the 28th of April, announced that they were received with the noble reserve becoming a nation whose first wish was Independence."

It was soon known that the deputies at Paris had not to complain of the misery of suspense. At their first interview with the representative of that power to which principally they looked for deliverance, Lord Castlereagh told them to address themselves to their master,

A futile attempt has recently been made to relieve Prince Eugene from this stigma by a legal process in Paris (1858).

the Emperor of Austria. His Imperial Majesty's answer was explicit enough, although somewhat ironical: "Rispose, anche lui essere Italiano; i suoi soldati avere conquistato la Lombardia: udirebbero a Milano quanto loro avesse a comandare;"* and Humboldt told them the painful truth, that they "should have brought their twenty-five thousand soldiers to negotiate for them."

Nevertheless the Electoral Colleges continued to legislate for the forthcoming king and kingdom of Italy. Their last sitting was on the 2nd of May, when "their patriotism did not forget to limit the manorial rights of the royal villa of Monza:" so says Guicciardi with bitter irony. Some of their body were deputed to Marshal Bellegarde, a few days afterwards (on the 10th of May), still to pray for political existence. The Regency also gave signs of life. They made some military promotions, for an army now disbanded; amongst them, Ugo Foscolo was created Brigadier-General. This was not all despair suggested a wild scheme of insurrection, which the unhappy patriots, whom no experience could disabuse, thought would be countenanced by the English, at that time masters of Genoa; † and these hopes and projects were entertained only a day or two previously to the 23rd of May, when FieldMarshal Bellegarde issued a proclamation, announcing that Lombardy was taken possession of for the Emperor

Botta, vol. iv. p. 499.

+ Surrendered to Lord William Bentinck on the 15th of April.

of Austria, that the Electoral Colleges were dissolved, and that Bellegarde himself was now president of the Regency.

When Lord Byron and myself visited Milan two years after these scenes, the mistakes committed by the principal actors in them were acknowledged by all parties; but concerning the revolution or insurrection of the 20th of April, all were silent, because all were ashamed. A formal denial in a French journal attempted at the time to exempt the Milanese from all share in the follies and atrocities of that unhappy day; but if the assassins of Prina were not inhabitants of the city, they were not unknown to some of the citizens; in fact, they were peasants from the estates of some of the higher nobles, admitted during the night, and instructed what part they were to perform; and as the murder was not punished, it is but a fair conclusion that it was not thought safe to inquire as to the real instigators of the excesses which led to so unprofitable a crime.

I WOULD say something more of those whom we saw at Milan in 1816, and first of the Abate di Breme, to whom we were introduced by a letter from Madame de Staël. He was one of the most amiable of men, and the high station he had held under the French (he was one of the almoners, "aumônier vicaire," of the Italian court of the kingdom of Italy) gave authority to his account of events in which he had borne a part, and which were, at the time of our visit, much more the object of curiosity than they are at this day. His father was Minister of the Interior for the Emperor Napoleon at Turin, and his family influence would have raised him to the highest dignities in the church, a profession, indeed, which at first he seems to have adopted of his own accord. Subsequently his disposition seems to have undergone a change, for although he was offered a mitre three times, he refused to occupy a position not at all suitable to his altered taste, nor congenial with his opinions. There was, however, no laxity of principle, nor neglect of moral propriety, to influence his refusal, for he had a high character in every respect,