quicker down the declivity of reaction, instead of stopping them; therefore, I do not know whether the peaceful demonstration designed by the many, or the armed insurrection attempted by a few, was the more ill judged. The fact is that Changarnier pointed the sword at those who pointed to the Constitution, and trod beneath his horse's feet those who proclaimed it. The Assembly and the Government, threatened but not attacked, on the 13th of June, were exasperated, and thus the conspirators, the violent, the peaceful, and the curious, dispersed, beaten, arrested, and proscribed, facilitated by their imprudent conduct the schemes of the reactionists, and above all the designs of the Catholic party, who wished to restore the Pope, and with him their own fortunes and authority in Rome. The spectre which had raised its head afresh in the streets of Paris on the 13th of June, strode over Europe, magnified by distance, by fame, and by fear; Rome was the last asylum of the monster. Europe hastens thither. Rome is making war on God and on society; there are no longer any jealousies between Governments the Cossack is the brother of the Parisian. Let Rome perish, or return to its fidelity to the Pope, who is God upon earth; and God is religion, and religion is the primary bond of society. Thus the restoration of the Pope and the clergy became throughout Europe an enterprise undertaken for the preservation of civil and social order, because Governments, as well as individuals, make these illogical syllogisms; both the one and the other thus blaspheme God, as well as rebel against reason.

The events of the 13th of June, predicted and expected in Rome with so much anxiety, and announced at first as a great victory, as soon as the truth became known, produced extreme disappointment. Rusconi, who had written word, previously to their taking place, that no trust should be placed in those revolutionary demonstrations, wrote afterwards, that whilst he was engaged in devising measures which might enable him to aid the cause of Rome by negotiations, "the fatal movement of the 13th had precipitated everything. Ledru Rollin," he said, "had wished to make a pacific demonstration, after having called the people to arms, and a sanguinary reaction is all which has resulted from it. All negotiations are interrupted. The French Government will no longer listen to advice."

And in another letter he said, "After so many days of oscillation and of hopes, all negotiations are broken off, the late movement in France has rendered them impossible."

This last hope taken away, it was clear to every one that the knell of the Mazzinian Republic had inevitably tolled. The city was disheartened, resigned, no longer strong, even in appearance; the zeal of those who laboured at the defences damped; the Republicans themselves discouraged; even the bravest among the combatants wearied; for now they saw that they had risked their lives, and wasted their strength in an enterprise which would bring no advantage to their country, but only increased distress upon Rome. Yet Mazzini could not resolve upon coming to terms, because he was of opinion that the French, even in the

extreme case of conquest by force, would not observe towards him and towards the city the usages of conquering armies; and therefore he wanted to enjoy the sweets of empire to the last, and afterwards, when he had secured his own safety, to proclaim the virtue of his system, and to boast that kingdoms, not republics, condescend to terms. For which obstinacy, which may be characterised as sheer barbarity, since it costs a people their blood, and not even a scratch or a single discomfort to those who harden their hearts, he was lauded by those who deem it an honourable and holy act to sacrifice the lives of men at the shrine of capricious factions, to save, as they say, the honour of their flag, just as formerly it appeared to other fanatics, and still appears to some, a holy thing to burn men's bodies, in order to save their souls. Wherefore the faithful bravos of the Triumvir, the braggadocios and the crack-brained, did not give themselves up for conquered, but, on the contrary, went about making an ostentatious boast of security, as if by violent protestations they could defy fortune, and command victory. They were heard to say that they would lay a train under St. Peter's, and blow it up, together with the Vatican and all the monuments of Catholic faith, and of the empire of the Popes-a mark of hatred which degenerates into madness when it descends from men and institutions to hurl menaces on stones, and on the monuments of the arts. But they were, after all, only signs of fatuity, those daily vows made by the Government, the Assembly, and the Mazzinians, to bury themselves beneath the ruins of Rome,

VOL. IV.

because superhuman resolves and heroic exhibitions of despair are the fruits of silent and not of loquacious resolutions; they are examples either of pure barbarism or of perfect civilisation, not of a civilisation such as ours, refined in its epithets, feeble in its affections; and I note this, because I think Italians ought to be corrected not only for other vices, but also for this, of employing the resounding phrases of the Homeric muse, which harmonises but ill with the effeminate and mercantile phraseology of modern prose. An age more eager for riches than for liberty and national honour, can still admire savage deeds and cruel devastations, when perpetrated to save the liberty and the honour of a country, but it laughs at resounding vows and at stage heroes. And when it sees that these proclaimers of wonders and of horrors, content themselves, after all, with destroying hedges, gardens, and country-houses, as they did in Rome, and that the most violent amongst them neither lay trains nor set fire to them, but at last slink off to a land of safety, to promise new wonders, and preach new cataclysms, the world looks on and smiles. Away, then, once for all, with these mountebank follies! Mature, Italian youths, your designs in silence, mature them in wisdom and virtue. Study, grow in religion, in purity of life, in health of body and of mind; exercise yourselves in arms, and in that day which the Lord shall send, revenge Italy, and do wonders, and, if it be necessary, make the world tremble by your heroic deeds, but cease to look upon the perils of your country as a show, on its misfortunes as a spectacle! Modest words and proud deeds!·

Even the pretext of waiting until the French Government should pronounce publicly upon the articles proposed by Lesseps had no longer any foundation, since M. de Courcelles, the new Envoy of France, had written to M. Degerando the following letter, which was sent by him to the Triumvirs, and by them to the Assembly:

"Mr. Secretary,

"Head-quarters, Villa Santucci, "13th June, 1849.

"When I arrived at Head-quarters I found that the Roman Government, in its answer of yesterday to the last intimation made by General Oudinot, had declared that, in its opinion, the renewal of hostilities, before it could be made acquainted with the will of the French Government, relative to the articles agreed upon with M. Lesseps, would be a violation of the rights of nations.

"I maintain that the proceedings of M. Lesseps have been officially condemned ever since the 26th of May, by a letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that another letter of the 29th of the same month entirely took away all authority from the mission entrusted to M. Lesseps. And if M. Lesseps was recalled on the 29th of May, how could it be in his power, on the 31st of May, to conclude articles, which in any case required ratification, with the Roman Government?

"This is the simple fact as regards the ratification. A new Ministry called into office at the beginning of June, did me the honour to invest me with the mission extraordinary in which I am engaged at the present moment. I left Paris on the 6th of June, a little while after the return of M. Lesseps, and I can therefore affirm anew, that the Government of which I am the interpreter, did not hesitate for a moment to reject the articles of which I speak.

"The narration of these facts, my presence in the camp, the powers with which I am accredited, sufficiently testify that the Roman Government would be very much mistaken, if it ima