Bonaparte could not bear the idea that the dignity of France should be trampled beneath the feet of the Roman Court, and his name calumniated; he laid, and justly, the blame of many of the evils on General Oudinot, and desired that the command should be taken from him; nor would he adopt the views and measures of the Ministry, but, as he wished above all things that his own name should be prominent, in order to the advancement of the designs which he was pertinaciously pursuing, he sent Edouard Ney, a confidential officer, to Rome with the following letter, which he was to show to General Rostolan, the officer selected to supersede the Duke de Reggio:

"My dear Edouard,

"Paris, 18th August, 1849.

"The Republic of France did not send an army to Rome to trample on Italian liberty, but, on the contrary, to regulate it, to preserve it from its own excesses, and to give it a solid basis, by restoring to his throne the Prince who had put himself so boldly at the head of all useful reforms.

"It grieves me to hear that the benevolent intentions of the Holy Father, and our endeavours, have been frustrated by hostile passions and influences. It is evidently desired to base the return of the Pope on proscription and tyranny. Now, you will say to General Rostolan from me, that he must not permit any act contrary to the nature of our intervention to be committed under the shadow of the tricoloured flag.

"It is thus I epitomise the temporal Government of the Pope; a general armistice; the secularisation of the Administration; the Code of Napoleon, and a liberal Govern

ment.

"When I read the Manifesto of the three Cardinals, I considered it a personal affront, that they did not even mention the name of France, or the sufferings of our brave soldiers. Any

insult shown to our flag or our uniform goes straight to my heart; and I beg you to make it known, that though France does not sell her services, she at least requires that gratitude should be shown for her sacrifices and self-abnegation. When our armies made the circuit of Europe they left everywhere, as traces of their passage, the destruction of feudal abuses, and the germs of liberty. It shall never be said that, in 1849, a French army acted in an opposite manner, and produced contrary results. Request the General to offer thanks in my name to the whole army for its noble conduct. I have learnt with regret, that it it is not treated, even physically, as it deserves. No means must be neglected by which to provide for the comforts of our troops. Receive, my dear Edouard, the assurance of my sincere friendship.

"LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE."

As soon as Ney arrived in Rome, he went to General Rostolan, executed his commission, and insisted that the letter of the President of the Republic should be printed and circulated in the City, and amongst the army. But the General, who was more yielding even than Oudinot to the desires of the clergy, complained that such an office should have been entrusted to him, and said that the French Government was running great risks, by pursuing a course different from that which had been followed up to the present day, by the Duke de Reggio, and the Ambassadors, with great honour to France. When the messenger of the President required that his orders should be executed without wasting time and talk in discussing them, the General replied that he must take time to consider; that the President's letter was not countersigned by the Ministers; that he did not conceive himself bound to obey the President. The day after the Duke de Reggio

expostulated with Ney, complained of the ingratitude to which he had been subjected, and said that instead of the generous policy, worthy of the French nation, which he had followed, it was intended to substitute a rash, menacing, and oppressive policy. Ney went back to Rostolan, and, in the name of military discipline, urged him anew to publish the document, but the General repeated that it was a private letter, which had neither the form nor the value of an order; that he was persuaded it would not only spoil all negotiations, but that it would produce most serious mischief; that he would neither publish it nor allow it to be published. It was of no avail for Ney to accuse him of flagrant disobedience, and render him responsible for the consequences which his contumacy might produce in Rome and Paris; the General remained firm to his opinion, and wrote to the Minister of War, explaining the reasons which had induced him to disregard the document.

CHAPTER III.

THE CARDINAL TRIUMVIRS.—SUSPENSE.-REPORTS.-COMMUNICATIONS

FROM BARROT TO ROSTOLAN.-ANSWER FROM ROSTOLAN RESPECTING THE LETTER ΤΟ NEY.-HONOURS SHOWN IN THE CAPITOL TO GENERAL OUDINOT.-HIS SPEECHES.-BANQUET.-OTHER HONOURS. JOURNEY OF OUDINOT TO GAETA.-HIS PROCEEDINGS.DECLARATION MADE BY THE POPE.-PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRENCH AMBASSADORS.-DIFFERENT OPINIONS OF THE FRENCH MINISTRY. ADVICE OF M. FALLOUX.-THE POPE GOES TO PORTICI.-MANIFESTO OF THE POPE TO THE PEOPLE.-FRENCH COMMISSIONERS AND EMISSARIES IN THE ROMAN STATES.-THEIR INCONSISTENT PROCEEDINGS.-DIFFERENT OPINIONS OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT ON THE MOTU PROPRIO OF PORTICI.-VOTE OF THE ASSEMBLY.REMARKS ON THE MOTU PROPRIO.-MANIFESTO OF THE CARDINAL TRIUMVIRS.-REMARKS.-EFFECTS OF THE SO-CALLED AMNESTY.— REMARKS ON CERTAIN CASUISTS.-ACTS AND EXERTIONS OF THE CARDINALS.-VANNICELLI THE PUNISHMENT OF THE CAVALETTO. -ORSINI, MINISTER OF WAR.--DISCONTENT PRODUCED BY THE MOTU PROPRIO.--CARDINAL ANTONELLI.

THE Cardinals, who had got scent of Ney's commission, had been alarmed by it at first, but were reassured when they had heard General Rostolan give vent to expressions calculated to convince them of his intentions not to obey the President of the Republic, of whom he spoke by no means respectfully. But, in the meantime, Ney having communicated the letter to the Romans, and having caused it to be published in a Florence newspaper, the city was excited, and waited in expectation of something new. Reports were spread

about that the Triumvirs were making preparations for their departure; some said that the French wished to restore the Statute; others, that authority would be given to the Municipal body to carry out the wishes of the President of the Republic; but as days passed on without anything fresh occurring, the hopes of the one party began to vanish by degrees, as well as the fears of the other, for the clergy had become greatly alarmed. And although news arrived afterwards that Barrot had written to Rostolan, to desire him to publish Bonaparte's letter, every one was of opinion that the Minister only intended thereby to make a show of submission to the President, but not to support his policy by his authority, for if it had been otherwise he would have given the office of executing it to some one else than the General who had disregarded it. Rostolan was, in fact, maintained in command, though he did not change his course of action, and had written to Barrot that he was ready to resign the command of the army rather than have anything to do with an act against which his conscience rebelled, as against an injustice which might set Europe on fire.

A few days before the French Government took away the command of the army from General Oudinot, the Municipal body, which he himself had instituted, passed a resolution to confer upon him the rank of a citizen of Rome, and to strike a medal in his honour, and they arranged that the resolution should be inscribed on marble over his bust in a chamber of the Capitol. So, on the 23rd of August he went to the Capitol, when the Muse of Prince Odelscalchi did not blush to sing of him