644 



MARIA LOrisA. 



that you give lessons of continence to the glowing 

 bosoms of the sons of Italy ? Is it to set such 

 examples, that Heaven bestowed upon you a 

 sceptre, a succession of illustrious ancestors, the 

 glory of a beautiful name? Is it for such an oc- 

 cupant that we kneel before the throne, nnd bring 

 the fruit of our toil to its feet ; that we address 

 prayers to Heaven for its security?" 



Such discontents were not always expressed in 

 whisper?. The people of Parma have, in the 

 worst of times, been famous for boldness of speech. 

 Maria Louisa could hear their murmurs, and read 

 their lampoons. Unequivocal marks of disrespect 

 met her everywhere. She was indignant at it. 

 She changed her manner towards her subjects ; her 

 subjects changed their feelings towards her; and, 

 when the general vicissitudes of the peninsula in 

 1-31 arrayed all the population in war against their 

 governments, Maria Louisa had already become an 

 object of contemptuous dislike. 



The public revenues being totally exhausted, 

 the successors of General Neipperg, worthless em- 

 issaries of Austria, had recourse to the desperate 

 expedient of paper currency. A tremendous riot 

 of the labouring people forced the government to 

 abandon that measure. Tumults and mutinies 

 sprang up among the students of the university, 

 and several young men of the best families were 

 arrested, and sent to a fortress in the heart of the 

 Appenines. The pride of the highest and the in- 

 terests of the lowest classes were thus equally 

 wounded, when the national tricolor standard ap- 

 peared on the bridge of the Enza, on the Modenese 

 boundary, five miles east of Parma. The roads to 

 the bridge were covered with people of all ranks, 

 men, women, and children, walking, riding, driving 

 to salute the rainbow of liberty. The young women 

 cut up green, red, and white ribands, to make tri- 

 colored cockades and scarfs. The young men 

 loaded their guns, and whetted the point of their 

 poniards. Maria Louisa armed her twelve hundred 

 grenadiers, levelled her six cannon, and harangued 

 her troops on the square of her palace. Day and 

 night her dragoons, with drawn swords and lighted 

 torches, ran madly in different directions to clear 

 the streets. There was a dead silence ; no move- 

 ment of the people betokened that they had any 

 thing at stake. But horses cannot run, nor soldiers 

 watch, for ever. After three days of such vigorous 

 patrolling, men and beasts were exhausted and 

 sleepy. Maria Louisa asked a reinforcement of 

 the Austrian garrison at Placentia ; the Austrian 

 garrison replied, They had no orders. 



The people peeped out at the windows. From the 

 windows they began to shoot the dragoons as they 

 passed ; then they sallied out into the streets, and, 

 joining in formidable bands, drove those weary 

 squadrons before them ; square after square, and 

 row after row, the ducal troops lost ground, and 

 the scene of the skirmishing was transferred to the 

 doors of the palace. There the two factions stood 

 confronting each other, each in their ranks, each 

 un.ler leaders measuring with their eyes the chances 

 of the day. In that dreadful suspense, the duchess, 

 terrified, all bathed in tears, appeared on her bal- 

 cony appealing to the generous feelings of the mul- 

 titude. The sight of her produced a wonderful 

 sensation ; the people started in a single mass like 

 a single body, rushed against her guards and ar- 

 tillery, and drove them against the palace walls. 

 Her army was disarmed and dispersed under her 

 eyes; and, without firing a gun, or levelling a 



bayonet, she found herself af the mercy of lit r 

 people. 



The day being thus won for the liberals, a na- 

 tional guard and a provisional regency were organ- 

 ized. The state prisoners were liberated, and the 

 former rulers proscribed. Maria Louisa was forced 

 to sanction all acts by her name. After two days 

 of feverish anxiety, betaking herself to her natural 

 defence of tears and swoons, she obtained her re- 

 lease. In vain the shrewd policy of the old Car- 

 bonari remonstrated against a measure, by winch 

 the people would be deprived of an important bo* 

 tage, placed by providence in their hands in case of 

 a rupture with Austria. The chivalrous hearts of 

 the youth who governed the insurgents were not 

 proof against the aspect of feminine sorrow. A 

 squadron of national guards was drawn up; one of 

 her carriages was brought forward ; and, surrounded 

 by armed citizens in a formidable array, with tii- 

 coloured banners waving around her, and national 

 songs making the air ring, she was escorted for 

 twelve miles, to the banks of the Po. There she 

 bade farewell to subjects who loved her better, 

 the greater the distance from which they viewed 

 her. 



Meanwhile Austria had leisure to come to an 

 arrangement with Louis Philippe. Louis Philippe 

 said ; " Let me alone, and I will leave others to 

 take care of themselves." The Austria battalions 

 advanced. The first blood was shed in the terri- 

 tory of Parma. It had Austrian garrisons on all 

 sides. A detachment of national guards had ad- 

 vanced as far as Fiorenzuola, a little town ten miles 

 from Placentia. They were two hundred young 

 students from the colleges, half soldiers, half de- 

 magogues, sent to stir up the spirits of the ignorant 

 peasantry. Attacked in their sleep, in the dark, 

 by a whole Hungarian regiment, with horse and 

 artillery, surprised, drowsy, in disorder, they fought 

 for two hours, with severe loss to their enemies. 

 Several of them died the death of the brave. A 

 large number surrendered, and, with a rope round 

 their necks, were led to Placentia, to which place 

 Maria Louisa had received orders to repair with the 

 remains of her court. 



The people of Parma were awoke from their 

 happy dream by the news of the breach of the non- 

 intervention. But they were not dismayed. Eight 

 young men set out in disguise with postchaises, 

 went across a portion of disputed territory, and, 

 by a daring camisado, laid hands on the person of 

 the bishop of Guastallo, an Austrian prelate, the 

 confessor of Maria Louisa, and one of her favour- 

 ites; and from the heart of his diocese, from the 

 quiet of his palace, they drove him in triumph to 

 Parma, where he was surrounded with guard>, and 

 kept as a hostage. He was compelled to write a 

 letter to the duchess, in which he assured her on 

 the part of the rebels, that the touching of a huir 

 of the head of one of her prisoners, would be the 

 signal for him to ascend the gallows. Maria 

 Louisa, out of kindness to her spiritual director, 

 set her captives at liberty, and his eminence was 

 accordingly dismissed. He took his flight beyond 

 the Alps, not stopping until he saw himself among 

 his friends at home, whence he could never be in- 

 duced to return. 



The provisional governments ruled with wisdom 

 and moderation, but answered very timidly to the 

 enthusiastic confidence of the young. They saw 

 how hopeless any resistance to Austria must prove 

 They made all efforts to persuade the most rcso 



