VII. 1820. thousand troops from Calabria, with the aid of which he CHAP. reduced Palermo to entire subjection, disarmed the inhabitants, and imposed on the city a heavy military contribution, which had a surprising effect in cooling their revolutionary ardour. Hostilities immediately ceased through the whole island, and the Sicilians soon found, to 1 Ann. Hist. their cost, that they had gained little by their change of iii. 505,506; masters, and that their revolutionary rulers at Naples 1820, 242; were more difficult to deal with than their former feeble 398, 399. monarch had been.1 Ann. Reg. Colletta, ii. the Neapo liament. Oct. 1. By the Spanish Constitution, now adopted as that of 116. Naples, there was to be one deputy for every thirty Meeting of thousand inhabitants, which gave seventy-four deputies litan par for Naples, and twenty-four for Sicily; the inhabitants of the former being 5,052,000, of the latter 1,681,000. The electors were anxiously adjured in a proclamation to choose wise and patriotic representatives—a vain recommendation in a country recently convulsed by the passions and torn by the desires of a revolution. The deputies were such as in these circumstances usually acquire an ascendancy— violent democrats, village attorneys, revolutionary leaders of the army, a few professors and literary men, and some renegade priests. The report of the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced that all the great powers had refused to recognise the revolutionary changes at Naples; that of the Minister of the Interior signalised the numerous abuses which had prevailed in the internal administration of the kingdom, and which it was proposed to remedy, and recommended the sale of a large part of the national domains to meet the deficiencies of the exchequer; that of the Minister at War, the measures which were in progress for providing for its external defence. This consisted in a regular army of 52,000 men, movable, national guards 219,000 strong, and an immovable one of 400,000 iii.399,403; men. But these forces existed on paper only, notwith- iii. 506,507; standing all the efforts of the Carbonari;2 the recruiting 1820, 242. went on extremely slowly; disorder and corruption per 2 Colletta, Ann. Hist. Ann. Reg. VII. 1820. CHAP. vaded every branch of the public administration; and, distrustful of all the vaunted means of national defence, all eyes were already turned to the congress of the allied powers at Troppau, where it was evident the real destiny of the revolution would be determined. 117. Insurrec The Roman States were too near, and too closely connected with the Neapolitan, not to participate in their the galley passions, and in some degree share their destinies. Dis tion of slaves in Civita turbances accordingly took place at an early period in the pontifical dominions; but they began in a very peculiar class, whose efforts for liberation proved of as little value as their assistance was discreditable to the Liberal cause. On the night of the 4th September a revolt broke out in the great depôt of galley-slaves at Civita Vecchia, where sixteen hundred convicts of the worst description were confined. At seven in the evening a low murmur was heard in the principal prison, and immediately a general insurrection commenced. The irons were broken, and by sheer strength and the weight of numbers the barriers were burst through, and the infuriated multitude rushed with frightful cries into the outer parts of the enclosure. The troops arrived, and the galley-slaves immediately invited them to fraternise with them, calling out "Long live the Republic! Join with us, and to-morrow we shall establish a republic in Civita Vecchia, and all will be right." But the troops were not convinced that all would be right with the aid of such allies; they did their duty several volleys fired at point-blank distance spread terror among their ranks, and at length, at seven next morning, the insurrection was suppressed, though not without considerable bloodshed. This outbreak was connected with a much more considerable conspiracy in Rome and Beneventum, which, although suppressed in 1820, 243; the capital by the vigilance of the police, succeeded in the latter town, and for a time severed it from the Ecclesiastical States.1 1 Ann. Reg. Colletta, ii. 396, 400. A more serious insurrection soon after ensued in PIED VII. 1821. 118. ment of the in Pied 1821. MONT, which, from its close vicinity to France, the long CHAP. service of its troops with the armies of that power, and the martial spirit of its inhabitants, has always been more swift to share in the revolutionary spirit, and more sturdy Commencein maintaining it, than any other of the Italian states. revolution Like Spain and Portugal, the desire for free and repre- mont. sentative institutions had there come to animate the Jan. 11, breasts of the officers in the army, and nearly the whole of the educated and intelligent classes of the people. The Carbonari numbered not only the whole of the ardent and enthusiastic, but by far the greater part of the intelligence and patriotism in the State. Unhappily, their information and experience were not equal to their vigour and spirit, and by at once embracing the Spanish Constitution they entangled themselves in all the evils and difficulties with which that absurd and perilous system was environed. On the 11th January some young stu- Jan. 11. dents appeared at the theatre of Andennes, in the district of Novarrais, wearing the red cap of liberty, and by the violence of their conduct occasioned a tumult, Jan. 12. which was only suppressed next day by four companies of the guards from Turin, which were marched from that capital under the command of its governor. But though suppressed on this occasion, the revolutionary spirit was far from being extinct, and it soon broke out under more serious circumstances, and in a far more influential class. In the end of February, on the representation of the Austrian minister that they were engaged in a conspiracy to chase the Imperialists from Italy, several noblemen, leaders of the Liberal cause, were arrested in Piedmont, and conducted to the citadel of Fenestrelles. lution Pied This was the signal for a general movement, which it montain, appears was embraced by the highest officers in the army, Cantone and principal nobles in the State, to whose conspiracy de Santa for the establishment of a constitutional government the 24; Ann. Prince of Carignan, the heir-apparent to the throne, was 335, 336. no stranger. He at first engaged to co-operate in their 1 Le Révo par le Rosa, 19, Hist. iv. VII. 1821. CHAP. designs, but soon after, despairing of success, he drew back, and counselled the abandonment, or at least postponement, of the undertaking. But the conspirators were too far advanced to recede, and the advance of the Austrians towards Naples convinced them that not a moment was to be lost if they were ever to strike a blow for the independence of Italy. 119. Alessandria and Turin. March 10 and 11. On the morning of the 4th March, symptoms of revolt Revolt in appeared in some regiments stationed in and near Vercelli, but the conspirators failed in their object then, from the majority of the troops holding out for the royal cause. But on the 10th the constitution of Spain was openly proclaimed at Alessandria, by Count Parma and Colonel Regis, who permitted such of the troops as were opposed to the movement to return to their homes, which a great number of them, including nearly all the mountaineers from Savoy, accordingly did. With the aid of such as remained, however, and a body of ardent students, the leaders got possession of the citadel of that important fortress, and immediately hoisted the Italian tricolor flag -green, red, and blue. No sooner was the intelligence of this important success received in Turin than the whole Carbonari and conspirators were in motion. Cries of "Viva il Re !" and "Viva la Costituzione!" were heard on all sides from a motley crowd of soldiers and students who surrounded the royal troops, who were not permitted to act against them, and probably would not have done so if ordered. Emboldened by this inaction, and hearing every hour of some fresh insurrection of the troops in the March 12. vicinity, the conspirators, on the following day, ventured on still more decisive measures, which proved entirely successful. Captain Lesio, setting out early from Turin, raised the regiment of light-horse at Pignerol, who moved towards the heights of Carmagnuola, shouting "Death to the Austrians!" Their arrival at Turin, joined to the alarming 1 Ann. Hist. iv. 358; Ann. Reg. 1821, 238. intelligence received of similar insurrections in other quarters, decided the governor of the capital, the Chevalier di VII. 1821. Varas, to evacuate the town with the few troops which still CHAP. adhered to the royal cause. This was immediately done; the citadel and forts were taken possession of by the Liberals, and the Spanish Constitution proclaimed amidst the combined shouts of the military and people. 120. yields, and On receiving intelligence of this alarming and successful insurrection, the king, who was at the chateau of The King Monte-Calveri, in the neighbourhood, hastened to Turin, accepts the and a cabinet council was hurriedly assembled to consider constitu what should be done in the circumstances. At first it was intended by the monarch to put himself at the head of the guards and march upon Alessandria, which was regarded as the headquarters of the insurrection; and a proclamation was issued denying the statements which had been spread abroad that Austria had demanded the disbanding of the Piedmontese troops and the occupation of the fortresses. But the accounts which rapidly arrived from all quarters, of the general defection of the troops, rendered this a hopeless undertaking. The guards themselves were not to be relied on. Crowds, which there was no means of dispersing, collected on all sides, exclaiming, "Viva la Costituzione!" The military sent against them joined in the shouts, or remained passive spectators of the tumult. In this extremity a fresh council was held of the king's ministers, and it was there proposed to proclaim the constitution of France as a sort of mezzo-termine between monarchy and a republic. But matters had gone too far to admit now of such a compromise. While the council was sitting in the palace, and a vast crowd, with the military in their front, filled the great square adjacent, three guns were heard from the citadel, which announced that it had fallen into the hands of the conspirators; and soon the tricolor flag, hoisted on the ramparts, amidst loud cheers from all parts of the city, announced 238. that the triumph of the insurgents was complete.1 Upon receiving this stunning intelligence, the king despatched the Prince of Carignan to the citadel to 1 Ann. Hist. Ann. Reg. iv. 338,340; 1821, 237, |