1822.] 
parties, although its principles and 
consequences were probably very im- 
perfectly foreseen or understood. The 
presumed infallibility of its amelio- 
rating the condition of man was the 
general notion that gained it converts, 
which, together with the repugnatce 
of many of their institutions to reason 
and common-sense, seduced men to 
begin to question the routine of their 
forefathers. Those few who read, and 
were capable of drawing a conclusion, 
could not fail to be aware how faulty 
their government was in all its princi- 
ples and details. 
The records of Reman fame were 
open to their researches ; and, in pe- 
rusing the recital of the heroic acts of 
their ancestors, it became impossible 
not to observe the humiliating contrast 
between the past and the present. 
They all knew that their country once 
gave laws to the world, and they all 
perceived that their country had now 
become the land of promise, for which 
all nations contended by turns for a 
share, whilst they themselves were the 
passiye spectators of the struggle, and 
sometimes the principal instruments 
n the ruin, of their delightful country. 
., Roused by. these reflections, the 
Piedmontese began to awaken from 
their lethargic slumber ; but, like Sam- 
son, found themselves in chains with- 
out the power of breaking them. The 
propitious moment, however, soon ar- 
rived: the French armics entered 
Italy. 
“The House of Savoy, regardless of 
the new interests that had arisen, of 
the changes that had been taking 
place gradually in the minds of men, 
and of the powerful and irresistible 
effect of the two-fold attack it would 
have to sustain of war and of opinion, 
continued to govern on the plan of its 
ancestors, without attempting any re- 
form in the institutions of the country 
adapted to the circumstances and de- 
mands of the times. A fraudulentand 
Sraheeineas of paper-money, which 
ended in a national bankruptcy, and 
plunged almost every family of the 
con Ry in ruin and distress, together 
with the. pusillanimous and ill-com- 
bined military operations, produced 
an indifference in the minds of the na- 
tion towards its chief, which ended in 
Re. conquest of Piedmont, and the 
a of the royal family to Sardinia. 
e French, as soon as they found 
themselves in firm possession of Pied- 
mont, employed themselves seriously, 
On the late Revolutions in Piedmont. 
483 
and as effectually as time-serving ex- 
pedients could accomplish, in repair- 
ing the havoc that war, and the na- 
tional bankruptcy, had occasioned. 
The suppression of the convents, and 
the sale of their property, partially 
remedied the latter, and the’ abolition 
of the feudal system, and the general 
promotion of industry, still more suc- 
cessfully repaired the ravages of the 
former. They introduced their own 
code of laws, and they were adminis- 
tered with an impartiality never before 
known in the country. The roads, 
cleared from robbers and assassins, 
were kept in repair, and new ones 
were commenced. The morals of the 
people were amended, and the mur- 
ders that formerly disgraced every 
country fair and saints’ day, were no 
longer heard of. Internal commerce 
and prosperity universally increased, 
particularly as partaking of the im- 
mense circulation of a large empire. 
Even the conscription had its advan- 
tages, parents and relatives were un- 
der the necessity of learning that be- 
yond the Alps there were other coun- 
tries; and obliged, when thinking of 
their absent soldier, to extend their 
thoughts to Madrid orto Moscow; and, 
when he returned, he returned free 
from the rust which his countrymen 
had been contracting for centuries un- 
der his ancient line of kings: 
Under this system, the middle class 
made rapid progress; the division of 
property increased their numbers ; 
and, in fact, they became the power- 
ful party, not only from their numbers, 
but likewise from their activity, and 
the policy of their government, to pro- 
tect them as a counterpoise to the 
royalist nobility, ever and naturally ini- 
mical to the French system. ‘To form 
a just notion of the state of society in 
Piedmont, it will be necessary to con- 
sider attentively how powerfully it has 
been influenced by the French Revyo- 
lution and! the government of Bona- 
parte, which was only a continuation 
of the same under another name. 
This, although despotism itself, was 
still a democratic despotism. It was 
eminently favourable to the increase of 
a middle class of men, and to the 4n- 
nibilation of ‘the ancient nobility. 
Those were, in fact, continually moul- 
dering away, since the prejudices of 
their class prevented them from en- 
gaging in any active employment or 
speculation of a commercial or manu- 
facturing nature, the only sources of a 
rapid 
