"Should the Pope still be at Gaeta, and the Minister have occasion to repair thither to pay his respects, he may take the opportunity to let drop some expressions of amity and affection likewise before the King of Naples; may prove to him, that the stability of his throne and the safety of his person depend on the Italian Federation, which alone can restore to him the attachment of his subjects, and the moral influence that does not depend upon the material

an army.

power of

"To sum up in few words what has been said, the efforts of the Minister should be wholly conciliatory, and they are to aim chiefly at bringing the Italian Federation into existence, by detaching from the plan of it whatever can render it hateful or formidable to the Sovereigns and their Govern

ments.

"Turin, December 30. 1848."

"GIOBERTI.

Inasmuch, however, as allusion has been made to other envoys and functionaries of the Sardinian Government at Florence and Rome, about whom the Holy Father complained in his conversations with the Marquis Montezemolo and Monsignor Riccardi, it is fit to extend my account of the proceedings of that Government. In its anxiety at once to provide for the security of the States of Central Italy, which Austria might attack, and to gain influence over both the people and the rulers of Tuscany and of Romagna, as well as power to modify or control probable contingencies, it dispatched the Deputy Pasquale Berghini to request leave of the Florentine Government to send ten or twelve thousand Piedmontese troops into Tuscany, which might either remain quartered there, or pass into Romagna, as might

please and suit that Government, or as might be serviceable for the common defence. Guerrazzi received Berghini with courtesy, but said the question was very grave, and took time to reply. Montanelli abruptly refused leave to the Piedmontese force to quarter in Tuscany, unless the King's Government should first give satisfaction in respect of certain occurrences at Parana, which, as he thought, infringed the authority and dignity of Tuscany; and unless the negotiations for a Constituent should first be brought to a completion. Leave to pass, he said, might be given; but he must first ask the Sovereign, and the Ministers his colleagues. Shortly afterwards he denied even passage, alleging that he had not ventured to mention it to the Grand Duke, because he was too much incensed with the Sardinian Government. Two days later, however, Berghini managed by fresh applications to obtain permission for passage into Romagna; and so he told Gioberti, announcing to him, that he was but ill able to place reliance on the Tuscan Government, "the mere puppet" (such is his expression) "of the Mazzinians, and the foe to the establishment of the Kingdom of Upper Italy: that they never would forego the idea of a Constituent with unlimited powers, because by its means they hoped to make a puppet of Piedmont too; and because, as it was the toy with which they had risen to power, they feared they might tumble down again if they flung it away; that, lastly, however gross the affectation and the pretensions of these Tuscan Ministers, they had

not a stiver, nor a man, to contribute to the War of Independence."

It was not then for the Italian Constituent that Berghini was concerned, but for the War of Independence, and for the means of introducing a Piedmontese force into the centre of Italy. After he had gone from Florence to Rome, he let it get abroad that he was commissioned to negotiate an agreement for the Constituent; but he actually addressed himself to obtaining leave for the Piedmontese force to take up its quarters in Romagna. This raised great difficulties at Rome: nor could Berghini effect more than the conclusion of an agreement, under which the Piedmontese corps might set foot on Roman ground, so soon as war with Austria should be proclaimed anew. The Agreement was couched in the

following terms:

"Dated the 18th of January, in the year 1849, at Rome. "Agreement concluded between the Provisional Committee of Government for the Roman States and the Advocate Pasquale Berghini, Commissioner Extraordinary of H. M. Charles Albert, King of Upper Italy, for the entry and continuance of a corps of Sardinian troops within the frontier provinces of the Roman State.

"Art. 1. The Government of His said Majesty, so soon as he shall have proclaimed anew the war against Austria, may order the Royal forces to enter, and temporarily to quarter for strategical operations in, the frontier provinces of the Roman State; with the double purpose of securing it against foreign invasion, and of being enabled freely to attack the common enemy upon any spot of Italian ground, and expel him from it.

"Art. 2. So long as the Royal forces shall have occasion

to quarter in the Roman territories, the Government thereof engages to provide them with convenient barrack-room and lodgment at its own care and charge, and, moreover, to supply them with the requisite provisions and provender, the cost whereof shall, however, as well as the entire pay of the said troops, be for account of the Government of His Majesty.

"With this view the Roman Government, on due notice. from that of His Majesty, will expedite the establishment, in the city of Bologna, or in some other convenient locality, of a commissariat, so that the requisite arrangements and supplies may be provided with suitable promptitude and regularity.

"Art. 3. The Roman Government engages to co-operate in this Holy War with the entire force of the State, and upon notice, to place forthwith at the disposal of His Majesty an army of not less than 15,000 men, which shall absolutely obey the orders of such General as His said Majesty shall please to entrust with the command-in-chief for that war. The whole contingent of the Roman Government shall be armed, provisioned, and supplied with all necessaries, by it exclusively.

"Art. 4. The commandants of the Royal forces shall not be authorised in any manner to mix in the domestic questions of the Roman State: since they are to consider their temporary presence as having reference solely to a favourable issue for the war.

"Art. 5. The present Convention shall on both sides be kept most scrupulously secret: and in no case shall its publication be allowed but with the knowledge and consent of the two parties.

"Art. 6. The above-named Commissioner, the Advocate. Berghini, undertakes to obtain for it the ratification of his Government.

"All this was drawn out in duplicate parts by the Advocate Francesco Borgatti, Deputy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and acting Secretary, on the day and year above mentioned, at the Palace of the Quirinal: and after perusal

and subscription by the parties one part was retained by

The Agreement was kept secret, as was indispensable, to enable Piedmont to prosecute its designs to completion, and the Government of Rome to shield themselves against the imputations of the Mazzinians, who held the Government of Piedmont in hatred and suspicion. The rulers at Rome had neither plan of their own nor any constancy of purpose; and they allowed themselves to bend sometimes towards the Mazzinians at the pleasure of Accursi, sometimes this way or that, under the hand of Sterbini, himself a perfect weathercock, swayed by popular whim, vulgar rumour, and his own restless mind. And because they possessed neither strength of will, sagacity, nor any certain policy, they never were sincere: they paid off every body in fair words: underhand they courted Piedmont, then said, or let others say for them, that no reliance could be placed on her. Often they declared their resolution to prosecute to its completion the demolition of the temporal power of the Popes, yet after having subscribed the Convention above given, Muzzarelli addressed the following letter to Berghini:

"Sir,

66

(Department of Foreign Affairs.)

"The Roman Government, happy to possess in you a trustworthy exponent of your principles and policy, cannot