170 



ITALY (HISTORY.) 



only the citadel of Palermo continued to be occupied 

 by Austrian troops. The last detachment left the 

 kingdom in 1827. The influence of Austria on the 

 internal administration was likewise every where felt. 

 The police of each state adopted the strictest mea- 

 sures for maintaining internal tranquillity. Secret 

 societies were strictly prohibited (for example, in the 

 Austrian Italian states, by a proclamation of August 

 80, 1820) ; tribunals were erected, and, in Naples, 

 supported by moveable columns, to punish the authors 

 of revolutions ; executions, proscription, and banish- 

 ment ensued. Some condemned Neapolitans and 

 Lombards were carried to the Austrian fortresses of 

 Spielberg and Munkatsch. The Neapolitan govern- 

 ment proceeded with the utmost rigour against poli- 

 tical criminals, as did also the Sardinian and Moden- 

 ese. Both Naples and Sardinia, nevertheless, issued 

 decrees of amnesty, from which only the authors and 

 leaders of the insurrection were excluded. Notwith- 

 standing this severity, political offences were so 

 numerous, that, in Naples, in January, 1824, a more 

 summary form of judicial proceeding was prescribed 

 to the criminal courts. This was the fourth time, 

 since 1821, that the government had been compelled, 

 on account of the crowded state of the prisons, to 

 have recourse to extraordinary expedients. The 

 Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, Lucca, Parma, Tus- 

 cany, and the church displayed the same anxiety in 

 relation to secret associations. In Venice, the court 

 of justice condemned thirty-two, and in Milan six- 

 teen persons to death ; but the emperor, in 1823, 

 and January, 1824, transmuted the sentence into that 

 of perpetual or temporary imprisonment. In Sep- 

 tember, 1821, the pope excommunicated the sect of 

 the Carbonari, and all similar associations, as 

 branches of the long prohibited freemasons ; but in 

 the Roman state, Tuscany, Parma, and Lucca, no 

 punishments were inflicted for participation in foi-mer 

 political societies. In general, the papal govern- 

 ment, under the direction of the cardinal Gonsalvi, 

 was distinguished from the others for conciliatory 

 measures, and for moderation in establishing internal 

 tranquillity. The influence of the apostolic see on 

 the states convulsed by revolutions was thus, in some 

 degree, increased. The press, universities, and 

 schools, were, in particular, closely watched. In 

 the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and in Piedmont, 

 strict measures were taken for the purification and 

 discipline of the literary institutions ; the Jesuits were 

 restored, and rendered influential in the education of 

 youth, by having committed to them, at Rome, and 

 other places, the schools, colleges, and oratories, 

 which they had before conducted. On the other 

 hand, numerous banditti disturbed the public secu- 

 rity, especially in Naples and the States of the 

 Church. One of them got in their power (January, 

 1822), an Austrian colonel, for whose liberation they 

 had the audacity to demand 40,000 Roman dollars ; 

 but they released him on seeing themselves sur- 

 rounded by Austrian troops. In January, 1824, 

 according to the Diario di Roma, a numerous band 

 of roving youths was discovered in Italy, who had 

 run away from their parents, organized themselves 

 into companies, and subsisted by frauds and robbery. 

 Among the single events, important for the history 

 of Italy in late times, we must mention the death of 

 pope Pius VII., in consequence of fracturing his leg, 

 August 20, 1823. After a short conclave (from 3d 

 to 27th September), he was succeeded by cardinal 

 Annibal della Genga, born in 1760, at the family 

 =astle of the same name, near Spoleto, a prelate dis- 

 tinguished for his diplomatic services; he assumed the 

 name of Leo XII., September 27, 1823.* In the 



Leo XII. died Feb., 10, 1829, and cardinal Castiglione 



year 1825, Leo caused a jubilee to br celebrated in 

 the States of the Church. (See Jubilee.) The friend 

 and secretary of Pius VII., the statesman cardina. 

 Gonsalvi, who effected great changes in the system 

 of internal administration, died at Rome, Jan'., 24, 

 1824. He had bestowed the presents received from 

 the European sovereigns (upwards of 100,000 scudi 

 in value), on the college de propaganda fide, of which 

 he was the last prefect; and a treat sum of money 

 for rebuilding St Paul's church, burned in Rome, in 

 1823. A somewhat milder spirit prevailed in the 

 Two Sicilies, after the accession of Francis I. (Jan. 4, 

 1825.) 



Italy depends almost solely on its agriculture for 

 subsistence; the sources from which it formerly drew 

 its support, the arts, manufactures, and commerce, 

 being almost dried up. Commerce with foreign 

 countries, which, in Naples especially, is altogether 

 stagnant, is, for the most part, in the hands of 

 foreigners, and, in a great measure, dependent on 

 the British ; thence the universal want of specie, the 

 financial embarrassments of the governments, and 

 the loans negotiated with Rothschild. Italy no longer 

 lives, as formerly, on her cities, but on her soil. And 

 even this source of prosperity maintains but a feeble 

 existence, while taxes and tariffs impede the exporta- 

 tion of the staple productions to foreign countries, or 

 bands of banditti and the want of good roads obstruct 

 internal intercourse, as in Sicily and Calabria. The 

 natural advantages of Italy entitle her to the highest 

 rank in agriculture, commerce, and the arts ; but all 

 branches of industry groan under political oppression. 

 The government and people look on each other with 

 jealousy and hate, and the ecclesiastical establishment 

 poisons the springs of national activity. A political 

 excitement is continually kept up by means of secret 

 societies, which are found also in Spain and Switzer- 

 land, under different appellations Consistoriales, 

 Crocesignati, Crociferi, Societd della Santa Fede, 

 Societd del Anello, and of the Bruti. The noted 

 count Le Maistre was, for a long time, in Piedmont, 

 the head of these malcontents, who sought to accom- 

 plish desperate, ambitious plans, while apparently 

 zealous in the cause of religion or morality. Even 

 the Calderari, in Naples, whose head was the ex- 

 minister of the police of Naples, prince Canosa, have 

 become one with the Sanfedists, who were connected 

 with the gouvernement occulte (as it was denominated , 

 of France. These ultras hate even Austria, because 

 it seems to act with too great moderation. The 

 grand duke of Tuscany is a man of lenient principles, 

 and, in that country, not a single Tuscan has been 

 brought to account for political transgressions. Like 

 the rest of Europe, Italy is on the eve of momentous 

 events ; but the convulsions in that country will be 

 more violent than in many others, in consequence of 

 its having to struggle at once for unity and indepen- 

 dence, against a deeply rooted and obnoxious ecclesi- 

 astical establishment, the ignorance of a vast number 

 of the people, and powerful enemies. 



For the general history of Italy, previous to the 

 last period, see Muratori's invaluable works : Jlnnali 

 d 'Italia (12 vols. 4to); Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, 

 (28 vols. folio); and Sismondi's Histoire des Repub- 

 liques Italiennes (third edition, 16 vols. 1825). A 

 continuation of Guicciardini's Storia d'ltalia, until 

 1789, by C. Botta, has lately been announced. 

 Percival's History of Italy, (2 vols.), contains a 

 shorter view of the modern history of that country. 

 For further information on the modern history and 

 the statistics of Italy, see Carlo Botta's Storia d' Italia 



was elected pope, March 31. He took the name of Piu* 

 VIII., and died in December, 1830. Early in 1831, cardinal 

 Cappellari was elected pope, and assumed the name of 

 Gregory XVI. 



