Italy. 1 19 



princes for all the ravages which the French had committed on the 

 royal domains and on the national treasury. 



Italy, having now been freed from the iron but glorious sceptre of 

 Napoleon, became the prey of despotic Austria, of intolerant Rome, 

 and of its royal Harpagons. Austria possessed itself directly of the 

 Lornbardo- Venetian kingdom, spreading over an area'of 17,800 square 

 miles, with 5,072,000 inhabitants. The ex-empress Marie Louise, 

 an Austrian archduchess, obtained the states of Parma, Placentia, 

 and Guastalla, with 6,324 square miles of territory, and 424,000 in- 

 habitants. Ferdinand of Este, another Austrian archduke, took 

 possession with absolute power of Modena and Massa, spreading 

 over an area of 1,571 square miles, with 385,000 inhabitants. Tus- 

 cany returned under its ancient Austrian absolute masters, with its 

 6,324 square miles of territory and 1,465,200 inhabitants. Piedmont 

 and Sardinia, with 17,800 square miles of territory and 4,271,000 

 inhabitants, were again submitted to the despotic monacal govern- 

 ment of Victor Emmanuel of Savoy. The papal see received its patri- 

 mony and the legations, with 13,000 square miles of territory and 

 2,600,000 inhabitants. Lucca, with its 312 square miles of territory 

 and 183,000 inhabitants, was given to the absolute ex-queen of 

 Etruria and her heirs. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with its 

 31,800 square miles of territory and 8,000,000 inhabitants, was again 

 submitted to the absolute sway of its ignorant superstitious Bourbons. 

 The small republic of St. Marino, with its 17 square miles of terri- 

 tory and 8,500 peaceful and industrious citizens, was alone allowed 

 to continue in the enjoyment of its patriarchal constitution. 



In this wretched oppressed state, Italy groaned under its rulers 

 from 1815 to 1820, but in the mean time the Italians were endea- 

 vouring to find the opportunity of shaking off their degrading yoke, 

 and a permanent secret conspiracy existed between the patriots of 

 the whole peninsula. At last, in 1820, both from the south and 

 north, a movement took place in order to liberate the country from 

 the ignominious yoke of ignorance, superstition, and slavery. The 

 Neapolitans unexpectedly effected a glorious bloodless revolution, 

 and compelled Ferdinand I. to sanction a constitutional government, 

 which was not only officially acknowledged, but also solemnly sworn 

 to by the king, royal family, and his ministers. The Piedmontese 

 in the mean time raised also the standard of liberty and civilization, 

 and the present king of Sardinia, then prince of Carignano, joined 

 and openly encouraged the patriotic efforts of his countrymen in 

 behalf of the future welfare of Italy. But the Neapolitan and Sar- 

 dinian monarchs, although apparently satisfied with the extraordi- 

 nary changes that had taken place in their possessions, were secretly 

 intriguing and conspiring with the despots of the Holy Alliance, in 

 order to re-establish their absolutism; and as the Roman Pontiffis always 

 ready to grant his absolution to crowned heads, whenever they may 

 choose to perjure themselves, in 1821 Naples and Piedmont were 

 replaced under the yoke of their perjured absolute tyrants, through 

 the instrumentality of the bayonets of Austria, sanctioned at the 

 Congress of Laybach by Russia, Prussia, France, and England. Then 

 the unfortunate patriots, who had spared the lives and trusted to the 



