should calm itself at the sources of national suffrage. I hope that it has there derived a consciousness of the grave necessities of the country, and the strength to provide for them.

We have had the time for bold propositions and daring enterprises. I met them confident in the sanctity of the cause which God had called me to defend. The nation replied eagerly to my voice. With harmony and persevering labour we acquired independence and we maintain liberty.

1

But now that her existence is assured, Italy requires that we do not, in intemperate rivalries, lose the vigour of mind and soul which is necessary to give her wise and stable laws; so that, in peace and tranquillity, those elements of prosperity which Providence bestows so largely, may have time to fructify. The nation expects that Parliament and government will undertake resolutely this work of reparation. The people love and prize institutions in proportion to the benefits they bring them. It is necessary to show that our institutions satisfy the noblest aspirations of efficiency and national dignity, while at the same time affording a guarantee for the good order of the state and the well-being of the population, that in them their faith in the liberty which is the honour and the strength of our constitution may not be diminished.

For the attainment of this object my government will present for your deliberation a complete scheme for the improvement of the administration, which

will strengthen at the same time both liberty and authority.

The necessities and engagements of the state hinder me for the present from lightening as I could wish the heavy imposts which weigh upon my people. But a legitimate liquidation of the ecclesiastical assets, a severe economy in the expenses, a diligent application of the new laws, an austere morality maintained in all parts of the public administration, will operate so that the taxes may become less burdensome. Only the prompt discussion and efficacious execution of the proposed reforms can restore our credit and remove the necessity of new taxes. To-day the question of the finances is for Italy not only a question of supreme interest, but also a question of honour and of national dignity. I doubt not the Parliament will turn all its attention to solve it.

On solemn occasions we have promised to Europe that when once we were complete in our entity as a nation, she would find in us a power given to civilisation, to order, and to peace. It now rests with us to maintain that promise, and to respond to the hopes that we have taught her to conceive of us.

Gentlemen Senators,—Gentlemen Deputies,-The honour, the welfare, and the future of Italy are in your hands. If it was a glory to have, with so many sacrifices, conducted to fulfilment the work of our independence, and impressed on the nation the movement and vigour of life, it will be no less glory to

set her in order within, to make her sure of herself, respected, prosperous and strong.

Another ministerial crisis followed on the opening of Parliament. Baron Ricasoli resigned, and Signor Ratazzi was called to form a new ministry.

In the April of this year died, comparatively young, Baron Carlo Poerio, to the great grief of the king and the nation. Poerio was the Silvio Pellico of Naples; he had suffered indescribable martyrdom in the prisons, in the galleys, in exile; but so far from making a merit of this, he shrank with a painful modesty from any mention of his trials. His simple, beautiful character had won the admiration of Victor Emmanuel, who had conceived for him an immense regard, and felt his death as a national misfortune.

On May 30, Victor Emmanuel's second son, Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, married Maria Vittoria, daughter of Prince Pozzo della Cisterna,-the head of a rich and very ancient Piedmontese family, devoted to the national

cause.

The prince was not much past twenty-one, but his youth was full of promise which his manhood has since fulfilled. As ruler of the most disordered country in Europe, his firmness, courage, and rectitude of purpose were acknowledged even by those who rejected his authority. The bitterest enemies of monarchy find it difficult to pick a hole in the character of Amadeo of Savoy-save only that he has a slight dash of the superstition of his fathers. The bride was in every way

worthy of the noble prince who had chosen her, and the marriage was—for a royal marriage-a wonderfully happy one. The princess being Italian made this matrimony particularly acceptable to the nation, and there were great rejoicings and demonstrations of loyalty on the occasion.

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CHAPTER XXVII.

MENTANA. A.D. 1867.

MEANTIME things were going from bad to worse in Rome. The hatred between the governing and the governed was becoming fiercer and more uncontrollable. The Inquisition was at work to discover treason as well as heresy, seditious acts and words were punished with extreme rigour, the sentences passed being in many cases unjust; the soldiers of the foreign legion were insolent and overbearing, and the patience of the Romans was quite exhausted. The immense number of ecclesiastics congregated in the capital and filling every office of the state, and the close connection which many of them had with the old nobility, made the clerical party still formidable, supported as it was by a strong military force. Nevertheless, the citizens resolved to appeal to arms once more, though many of their most daring spirits were in prison, in the galleys, or in exile.

The liberator, who had listened to the 'cry of anguish' from the provinces, seemed deaf to all their entreaties, and preached patience to them while the rest of Italy was congratulating herself on being 'made.' So they turned their hopes to the rash but generous chief who