of demanding fresh orders of the King, by representing to him the wishes of the nation and the state of the country. A congress, in which were assembled men attached to such opposite opinions, could only take a palliative resolution; this kind of transaction between two parties must have augmented, in a government already so feeble and so timid, that inclination to inaction, which becomes so culpable and so fatal in revolutionary times, and which condemns those who pursue it to the just disdain of the people whom they have lost.

What were those constitutional chiefs doing, however, who were so ardent to produce the Piedmontese revolution, and who appeared so indifferent to secure the results of it? Nearly all of them were at Alexandria, where they were occupied with military preparations, in provoking the orders of the government, and anticipating them wherever they could when they judged it necessary. Ansaldi continued to preside over the provisional junta, and paid indefatigable attention to public business. None of them repaired to Turin at the moment of the installation of the constitutional government. In no way eager to exercise the power and direct events, they wished to deprive the enemies of liberty even of the pretext of calumny, and aspired only to the honor of defending their country in the rank in which the government would have placed them; Dalpozzo and Villamarina being in the ministry; Cisterna and Marentini' in the junta, while so many other friends of liberty living at Turin appeared to them at first to guranty the interests of the country. Nevertheless when the Prince proclaimed an amnesty for the troops who had taken part in the movements of the revolution, the constitutional chiefs saw with pain a measure so contrary to the principles of liberty, and sent their protestation to the Prince. Luzzi, Lisio and Baronis carried it to Turin, and were at the same time charged by the junta of Alexandria, who were left without instructions by the government, to demand positive orders of the Regent, on which they might regulate their conduct.

On their return to Alexandria they found there Charles de St. Marsan, returned from his expedition to Novaro, which had been successful. Having been received with enthusiasm at Casal and at Verceil, he had afterwards marched with 300 Infantry and

'The Abbé Marentini inspired confidence among the friends of liberty, because he was an enlightened and virtuous man, and of a great character. But M. de Beauchamp, who is very partial to "directing committees," says in his work, that Marentini and Santa-Rosa were members of that of Turin, when the Revolution burst forth. Unfortunately for M. de Beauchamp, these two individuals saw each other for the first time at the junta, on the 20th of March, ten days after that event took place.

200 Cavalry on Novaro, where the Count de la Tour, governor of the division, had shut himself up with 1500 men: the two chiefs agreed to a suspension of arms, and sent an officer to Turin with the intelligence. He brought back the news of the abdication of the King, and the installation of the Regent; the two parties then united, and St. Marsan entered Novaro in the midst of a multitude of people intoxicated with joy. He might easily have seized upon the command, as the majority of the soldiers and all the people were on his side, had he not wished to set an example to the army of returning to military discipline. He then took the orders of the governor, and submitted himself with loyalty. In this manner Novaro, which was to have become the focus of a counter revolution, and the place through which the enemy were to pass, was abandoned to the Count de la Tour; but Charles St. Marsan, saw him then freely disposed to defend the constitutional government, and did not suspect that orders, dated from Modena, would arrive in a few days to shake the fidelity of a general who defended our frontier.

The friends of liberty at Alexandria began to conceive serious alarms for the situation of the country, when Luzzi, Lisio and Baronis told them the danger of the capital, showing to them the hesitation and uncertainty in the measures of the Ministry, the discouragement among the citizens, the ill-disguised hope of the enemies of the constitution, public opinion disappointed, and the Regent embarrassed with his situation, losing all his time in useless audiences, and feeling no anxiety but that of impeding the useful projects of the Minister of War and the interior. It was then that they decided the Count Santa-Rosa to repair to Turin. He only consented in the hope of determining the Prince and the junta to declare war against Austria. Lisio and Collegno set out along with him. On their arrival they repaired to the Prince; he was shut up in his apartment, saying he was unwell. His design of abandoning his country was already conceived, and he had not sufficient resolution to encounter the looks of those three ardent and staunch patriots. The latter presented themselves before the junta, where Santa-Rosa spoke with stern frankness. They listened for the first time to a language corresponding to the gravity of the circumstances, and appeared to be moved by it.

The same day the Prince named the Count Santa-Rosa regent of the Ministry of War: Villamarina, overwhelmed with disease and labor, and disgusted with the Prince, had given in his resignation. The Chevalier Bussolino, Major-General, and assistant to the minister, was naturally called to replace him; but the Prince thought he could better disguise his projects by the choice of a manwho possessed all the confidence of the constitutional party.

The new ministry were immediately installed: it was on the evening of the 21st of March, and the rumor of the departure of the Prince had been already privately circulated. The minister of the interior mentioned it to the Prince with equal sincerity and address, but Charles Albert made a jest of it as being only an idle tale; he assigned to the two ministers an hour's labor for the next morning, and departed during the night. He was accompanied by the body guards, the light artillery, and the light horse of Savoy and Piedmont, cavalry regiments.

Here commences the second period of the constitutional government; having been abandoned by a chief, the violator of his oaths, its fall appeared certain, and its enemies thought they might now reckon upon it.

The news of the departure of Charles Albert was scarcely known, when the public gave themselves up to disappointment: Two sentiments pervaded all hearts: that of indignation against the culpable Prince, and the regret of seeing the cause of Piedmontese liberty for ever lost. The junta was on the point of being dissolved; the greater part of its members demanded their dismissal. The country was in the greatest danger of falling into anarchy, when the Chevalier Dalpozzo forcibly recalled such a situation to the members of the junta, who had the courage again to assemble on the 22d of March. The privy counsellors of the Prince, and a deputation of Decurional Body of the city of Turin,' were called to the assembly. The first declared they had no knowledge of the departure of the Prince, and were ignorant of his motives for that step; they refused besides participating in the deliberations of the junta, and withdrew; the Decurions assisted in the debates, and applauded the resolution adopted by the junta, of retaining the reins of government in their hands until the receipt of new orders should arrive from the King or the Regent.

The Count Santa Rosa would have opposed this declaration, which was in no way dictated by constitutional principles, had he not seen the impossibility of preserving Turin, with the exception of the citadel: the constitutional government had no force there in which he could rely. The royal Carbineers and the regiment of Savoy were against him; the artillery, composed of heterogeneous elements, displayed an attitude at least vacillating, and the best citizens appeared dejected. In this state of affairs, the minister

'The city of Turin is administered by sixty magistrates called Decurions, and presided by two Syndics, who change annually. This administration (the ancient forms of which are no doubt imperfect, but greatly preferable to an organisation which makes the municipal power a blind instrument of government) had always resolutely defended its rights against several ministers of Victor Emmanuel.

I

Aosta, spoke for the first time in a clear and animated language: he promised to every one, with an air of the fullest confidence, that the Spanish Constitution should be proclaimed by the Prince the same evening. The populace assembled in the square of the Palace of Carignan; numbers of Piedmontese from the neighbouring provinces, and above all from that of Ivria, distinguished at all times for its energy and patriotism, were found mixed with the citizens of the capital. It was on this occasion that the physician Crivelli penetrated into the palace of the Regent, and represented to him with much warmth, the wishes of the people. The magistrates of the city repaired also to the Prince, and showed to him the necessity of taking a resolution which would satisfy the public opinion. The Regent consulted the ancient Ministers of the King, whom he assembled around him, and the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution,3 was the result of their deliberations.+

At eight o'clock the Prince appeared on the balcony of his Palace, and 'announced it to the people. Public joy (manifested itself in this instant, and during the rest of the evening, with the greatest vivacity, but without any of those disorders and unfortunate excesses by which popular commotions are almost always accompanied, and which might have been more reasonably dreaded at so late an hour, and after an unlooked for hesitation, which had irritated the minds of many citizens. The wisdom of the people and the pure intentions of all the friends of liberty never appeared to me with greater evidence.

The Regent took the oath to the Spanish Constitution on the

'Ivria attained the object of the Revolution before Turin. From the morning of the 13th, Count Palura, and the Marquis de Prié, scarcely come out of prison, proclaimed the Spanish Constitution, seconded by other worthy citizens, and amidst the liveliest popular enthusiasm.

This independent act of patriotism is the more remarkable, as it was unconnected with any pre-concerted design: the physician Crivelli being a stranger to the Piedmontese conspiracy.

3 M. de Beauchamp and the author of Thirty Days' agree in saying that the Spanish Constitution was unknown to the Piedmontese. Nothing can be more erroneous; since the Revolution of Naples the people have been so eager to read it, that the booksellers have been unable to supply the demands. There was not a man in Piedmont, however ill informed, who was not acquainted with it, and its principles were besides already diffused, even among the less cultivated classes of society.

4 The Chevalier de Revel, Governor of Turin, was called to this conference in his quality of Minister of State; Pietro Muschietti was charged to conduct him from his hotel to the Palace of the Prince. They relied on the attention of this young Patriot, who was dear to all the friends of liberty, to protect the person of a man who recalled the remembrance of the 12th of January. The Governor's carriage drove through the crowd. Indignation was visible in all eyes; but the spirit of wisdom and moderation prevailed, and not a cry of insult or of vengeance was heard among that irritated youth, whose wounds were, properly speaking, still bleeding.

We

14th of March. The Revolution being consummated, the business now was to support and defend it. Charles Albert might yet cover himself with glory, and obliterate his former faults. shall now see how his Regency of eight days, by a fatal inaction, and by the false measures which signalised it, prepared the misfortunes of the country.

The ministers of Victor Emmanuel having all given in their resignation, the Regent formed a new ministry. The Chevalier Ferdinand Dalpozzo was appointed minister of the interior, to which was joined that of the police, and Count Cristiani was named Direc tor-General. The Chevalier de Villamarina minister of war and marine. The advocate Gubernatis was charged with the finances, and the Marquis Arborio de Brème having refused the ministry of foreign affairs, the Chevalier Lodivico Sauli held the port-folio, in quality of the first clerk of the bureaux.

The choice of the Chevalier Dalpozzo aroused the greatest hopes, which were not only founded on the superiority of his understanding and talents, but also on the firmness of his character, and the purity of his attachment to the liberties of his country. The refusal of the Marquis de Brème caused the most melancholy reflections. It could not have been imagined that the illustrious chief of a family devoted to Italy would have shown so little courage. The Chevalier de Villamarina, an enlightened officer, would have been an excellent minister of war; but the unfortunate state of his health would not permit him to display his natural activity. The finances were very properly confided to the advocate Gubernatis, who possessed excellent principles of government, and much experience.

It will easily be conceived that a ministry without a minister of foreign affairs, and with a minister of war who was unable to perform his functions, was not suited to the circumstances of the

state.

The junta, consisting at first of fourteen members, and successively augmented to twenty-eight, was highly recommendable for the morality of all who composed it, and for their attachment to their country, which would have found it difficult to procure

Ferdinand Dalpozzo had filled the highest offices under the Imperial Government; but that which ranked him very high in the esteem of the Piedmontese, was the courage with which he had raised his voice for the interests of justice and truth since the return of the King into his dominions. His treatises on different questions of Jurisprudence powerfully contributed to form the opinion of the enlightened classes of Society. As for the rest, the Chevalier Dalpozzo was a perfect stranger to the Piedmontese conspiracy; but when his country wanted his services it found him ready. The difficulties, the dangers, the distress of our situation operated no change in his conduct; he was faithful to his duty to the last moment. NO. XXXVII.

VOL. XIX.

Pam.

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