he got off with his life only by betaking himself to the fortress of San Giovanni, together with his friends from Leghorn, whom then he sent away safe by the railroad. Meantime, the Municipality had assumed the functions of Government, and though threatened by some members of the Constituent Assembly, had proclaimed the restoration of the Constitutional Throne, and had invited some of the most distinguished citizens to share in the administration, Capponi among them, who was accompanied to the Palazzo Vecchio by the people, shouting "Capponi for ever! none but honest fellows for us!" Guerrazzi, on returning to the Palazzo Vecchio, faltered, wheeled about, closed with the restoration, seemed ready to take a seat in the Provisional Executive Committee; but the country people, who had flocked in, as well as the Florentine commonalty, menaced him with death, and he was kept prisoner.

The news of these events in Tuscany came to Rome, doubtful at the first but afterwards unquestionable; and they reached the public, though the Government and its partisans took steps to keep them secret or let them go forth unintelligible. Mazzini spoke of them to the Assembly on the 14th in these terms: "Since you elected us, the Italian reaction has advanced a stage. In Piedmont and in Genoa, treason has triumphed for a time; and now the reaction has made one step in Tuscany towards triumph." He did not advise prudence, but rather denounced it; "Energy, doubled, tripled energy" was his cry, as he asked for confidence, and meantime ordained, by way

of proving energy forsooth, that the price of salt should be reduced to one halfpenny per pound, and that the contract which farmed it should be quashed by the good pleasure of the Dictators. The members present cheered at the words of the Triumvir, and at his economical provision; and Armellini rose to say, that in the councils of the Dictators they were actually maturing another measure, "which would produce immense results for the masses," namely, that "the whole of the secularised properties should be appropriated to the people, that is to say to their agricultural industry, being divided into so many long leaseholds, and assigned to occupants." Then came out Galletti too, according to his invariable wont, to offer his tribute of homage to the passions; and he cast abroad his magniloquent phrases, upon which Sterbini, resolved always to stand first in the market of excitement, cried "Let us make a solemn oath rather to be buried beneath the ruins of our country, than to recede from the republican principle we have proclaimed: we swear it!" Then rose up all the members, and shouted " Yes:" whether they swore I cannot say. Next day the following singular Decree was posted through the streets of the city : —

"Having regard to recent events in Italy, the Constituent Assembly of Rome declares, that the Roman Republic, the asylum and bulwark of Italian freedom, will never yield and never compromise. The Representatives and the Triumvirs swear in God's name and the people's, that their country shall be saved."

And the Triumvirs published this further Proclamation:

"Citizens and Italians!

"With Piedmont betrayed, Genoa fallen, Tuscany perturbed by criminal efforts at reaction, the life, the true life of Italy gathers itself in Rome. Be Rome then the heart of Italy. Be she aroused to generous thoughts, to deeds bold and worthy of your fathers. From Rome, by the power of example, vitality will flow back through the scattered members of the great Italian family. Thus shall the name of Rome, of the Rome of the people, the Rome of the Republic, be blessed in Italy, and permanently glorious in Europe.

The

"To Lombard, Genoese, and Tuscan, to all our brethren in country and in faith, Rome opens a mother's arms. soldier will find here an Italian camp, the unarmed an Italian shelter. For us nothing is altered. Strong in the commission we derive from God and from the people, strong in the approval of the majority; immovably determined never to compound with conscience, we will, upon the principles we have been elected to represent, uphold inviolate the ensign of the Republic, the ensign of virtue and of order, of power well defined, and of success. Let the good sustain us, energetic in their calm. Let the people rely on us, as we rely on them. Then shall we hold our ground. Love and blessing upon those who, with redoubled vigour, rally around our republican standard. Woe to him that would lay hands on it! Rome is the home of things eternal. Be the Republic of Rome eternal, for the defence of concord, for the honour of the people, for the salvation of Italy, which, for inspiration and encouragement, now looks to Rome alone."

They then enacted, according to the promise of Armellini, that the rural estates of the religious corporations should be divided into a given number of allotments, each sufficient to employ one or more

families of the people having no other livelihood, who should receive them in free and perpetual lease, burdened only with a moderate (and redeemable) feuduty to the Office of Public Estates. Meanwhile the Deputies, who had been commissioned to frame the Constitution of the Republic, had brought their labours to a close; and Agostini, after reading a long Preamble, laid the draft before the Assembly. The fundamental principles were, that Sovereignty resides in the people by imprescriptible right; that all citizens are free and equal; that every nationality is to be held sacred; that the Catholic Religion is the Religion of the State. One Chapter set forth the rights and duties of citizens generally; that their persons and property were inviolable; the punishments of death and confiscation abolished; the press and right of association free; the public debt guaranteed. The Second Chapter treated of the exercise of public powers; the people were to give the law through the mouth of their representatives; the executive was delegated to a Consular Magistracy; the judicial body was to render to each his right in terms of the law ; a Tribunate was to watch for the security of the fundamental laws of the Republic. The people were to elect Representatives, Consuls, and Tribunes, in general meetings; every citizen of full age to be an elector and also qualified for a seat; and to be qualified at thirty for the Consulate and Tribunate. The function of Representative to subsist for three years, of Consul for two; each year one of the two Consuls to go out. The Tribunes to be twelve, holding office

five years. In the Assembly, itself indissoluble, was to vest the legislative power, with the prerogative of peace and war. Upon a Bill, if once carried less than two-thirds of the House, the Tribunes might require a second decision; and again a third, if upon the second vote the Ayes should be less than threefourths of the whole number of members. Should the Assembly think fit to appoint a Dictatorship, the Tribunate should be permanent, and should watch for the opportunity of re-assembling the representatives the moment the country was out of danger. Each Consul was to be responsible for the other; the Consuls to have the prerogative of mercy, and the appointments to public office. Should they be impeached, then the Tribunes should choose three of their own body to discharge the consular functions. The Tribunes were to be inviolable during their term of office, and for one year after it; to be re-eligible at the end of the quinquennial term, without limit. A Council of State, comprising fifteen members selected from the various Provinces, was to form a Consultative Board for the Consuls, and to present candidates for office. The judicial body was to be independent and irremoveable; the Judges to be appointed by the Consuls on the presentation of the Council of State; the jury to be judges of the fact in criminal causes; a Court of Censorship to be erected for the political offences of Consuls. As to revision of the Constitution, the enactment was, that it should not take place until after a year, and upon the thrice repeated vote of the Assembly, with intervals of six months each time; a