THE AUSTRIAN DOMINATION IN ITALY. 403 



dentally, but while his father, Leopold II., was Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

 And, moreover, he resides a considerable time at Venice. All these cir- 

 cumstances concur to make him as much the legitimate sovereign of Italy 

 as he is of Hungary or Bohemia, or as the king of Sweden is of Norway, 

 or the king of England of Ireland or other colonies belonging to his crown, 

 or the king of Sardinia (to whom the liberals would give the new kindom of 

 Italy) of the dominions derived from the gift of Austria. And to establish 

 any other doctrine would be to upset the established doctrine of Europe 

 and the world upon the subject." 



Count Pozzo has, indeed, heard of another foundation of govern- 

 ment which has lately been preached up, namely, that sacred one of 

 barricades, founded upon the principle that every nation has a right to 

 that form of government towards which it evinces an unalterable 

 propensity. But this he maintains is only applicable to a people 

 who are sufficiently strong and united to make their whims respected 

 by their neighbours. But that a people who are not blessed with 

 this union and energy should assiduously cultivate the philosophy of 

 accommodating their minds to the necessities of things, and trying 

 to make the most of what cannot be cured, exclaim with Pangloss 

 that all " is for the better." And, indeed, we must acknowledge 

 that the spirit which has characterised the late Italian attempts at revo- 

 lution lend a fearful weight to this argument. There has been an igno- 

 rance in the " getting up," and a fool-hardiness and want of energy 

 in the execution that has only served to rivet her chains still closer, 

 and to make her ultimate liberation more problematic and difficult. 

 Nor can we find anything in the present political condition of Europe 

 to warrant us to entertain a hope that the independence of Italy can 

 be effected as long as the present combination of European policy 

 shall continue. The dreams of the liberal Italians, that Austria might 

 be induced to give up Lombardy for a good slice of Turkey are too 

 ridiculous to detain us for a moment. 



Having laid down these preliminary propositions, which un- 

 doubtedly carry with them some weight, and form by far the best 

 part of his book, Count Pozzo next proceeds to inculcate upon his 

 countrymen that the Germans are not such barbarians as they are 

 pleased to call them, but that they are a most enlightened and 

 polished nation, and have attained a high pitch of civilization. All this 

 he proves by a list of eminent men who have distinguished themselves 

 in various branches of science, and by an exposition of the improve- 

 ments in a system of general education introduced by Maria Theresa, 

 followed up and enlarged upon by Joseph II. Now, granted that 

 Joseph II. was the most philosophical monarch that ever filled a 

 throne, as Count Pozzo would have us believe, and that he laid down 

 many wise maxims for the regulation of the Austrian policy, we do 

 not see how this can tend to reconcile the Italians to the rule of his 

 successors, who,, whatever the letter of the law may be, carry the in- 

 terpretation of it in their own breasts, and execute it according to 

 their arbitrary will. Some of the wisest laws were passed by our 

 own Mary, though her executive was certainly not of the gentlest or 

 most fortunate kind.,* In this particular Count Pozzo has confined 

 himself to general propositions and assertions without once attempt- 



