HISTORY 



123 



this Jeroboam set up rival sanctuaries with 

 visible idols, 975 B. C., but which only in- 



-ed the evil he wished to check. As 

 soon as the golden calves were set up the priests 

 ;inl Levites flocked back to Judah, where they 

 were warmly received. Jeroboam's whole policy 

 aimed singly at his own aggrandizement. To 

 supply the want of a priesthood, divine in its 

 origin, a line of prophets was raised up remark- 

 able for their purity and austerity. Jeroboam 



:ed twenty-two years; his son Nadab was 

 violently cut off after a brief reign of two years, 

 with all his house, and so ended the line of Jero- 



M. The fate of this dynasty was but a type 

 of those that followed. Domestic famine, the 



:! of the foreigner, and internal dissensions 

 hel [>el the tottering kingdom on its downward 

 way. and only one brief era of prosperity oc- 

 curred, under the sway of Jeroboam II., who 



ied forty-two years. The Syrian invasion, 

 under Phul, 771 B. C., compelled Menahem, the 

 King of Israel, to pay heavy tribute, and in the 

 reign of Pekah we find them leading many of the 



lites into captivity. In 721 Samaria was 

 taken by Shalmaneser, the ten tribes were 

 carried into captivity, and an end was put to the 

 Kingdom of Israel. See Jews for tne subse- 

 quent history of the chosen people. 



Italy. The ancient history of Italy is more 

 conveniently treated under Rome. We, there- 

 glance at more modern times, after the 

 Western Empire had fallen before a mixed 

 horde of barbarous mercenaries, chiefly com- 

 posed of the Heruli. Under the Hohenstaufen 

 dynasty. Italy enjoyed an interregnum from 

 foreign' rule of about sixty years, which, however, 

 was wasted in suicidal conflicts between the 

 tart ions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. 

 The most terrible incident of this period was 

 the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers. Not- 

 withstanding the inveterate internecine feuds 

 of Italy, it was a period of great splendor 

 and prosperity. The free cities or republics 

 of Italy rivaled kingdoms in the extent and 

 importance of their commerce and manu- 



ires, the advancement of art and science, 

 the magnificence of their public edifices and 

 monument-, and the prodigious individual 

 and national wraith to which they attained. 

 I'nhappily. a spirit of rivalry :md intolerance 

 grew up during this period of mediaeval splendor, 

 in the arbitrary attempts of these states to 

 secure supremacy over each other they gradually 

 worked their own .lest ruct ion. After the battle 



A aterloo the final rcconstitution of Italy was 

 decreed by the Congress of Vienna. The 



accession of Pins IX., in is Mi. seemed the inau- 

 ition of a new era for Italy. A generd 

 iesty was followed by \\ise, liberal meas' 

 \\hirh wen- .dso adopted by Tuscany and I 

 t, in emulation of Rome. By a Binmlt 

 outbreak in Sicily and Milan in Jann 

 -n.it revolution of 1848 was inaugurated 

 in Italy. The revolution of France in February 

 ed a strong impulse to that of Italy, and 

 :-les. Piedmont, and Rome coneeded 

 ion.il rights to the popular demand- 

 Milanese unanimously revolted ng 



i rule on the 17th of March, and after 

 days of heroic fighting the Austrians were 



expelled from the city, and Radetsky, with 

 70,000 troops, compelled to retreat from its walls. 

 On the 29th, Charles Albert entered Lombardy. 

 the avowed champion of Italian independence 

 and the leader of the national struggle. In the 

 Congress of Paris, at the close of the Russian 

 War (1856), Cavour forcibly exposed the un- 

 avoidable dangers of a continuance of Austrian 

 and papal misrule. He strongly urged the 

 expediency of a withdrawal of French and Aus- 

 trian troops from Rome and the legations. In 

 the beginning of 1859, Victor Emmanuel pro- 

 claimed! from the Sardinian Parliament his in- 

 tention of actively aiding in the deliverance of 

 the oppressed Italian population from the yoke 

 of Austria. The victories of Magenta and Sol- 

 ferino were quickly followed by the abrupt and 

 inconclusive Peace of Villafranca, July 11, 1859. 

 On the 18th of March, Parma, Modena, and the 

 Emilian provinces were incorporated with Sar- 

 dinia, and the grand-duchy of Tuscany on the 

 22d. On the 17th of March, the law by which 

 Victor Emmanuel assumed the title of King of 

 Italy was promulgated amid universal rejoicing. 

 On the 6th of the ensuing May, Garibaldi, with 

 about 1,000 volunteers, set sail from Genoa for 

 Sicily, where a revolutionary outbreak had taken 

 place. His swift and comparatively bloodless 

 conquests of the two Sicilies is one of the most 

 extraordinary incidents in modern history. At 

 the close of the German-Italian War, Venetia, 

 on the 3d of October, 1866, became part of the 

 Kingdom of Italy by treaty witn Austria. 

 Turin, the chief town of Piedmont, was the 

 capital from 1859 till 1865; the court was trans- 

 ferred to Florence during the latter year. In 

 1867, the French army was withdrawn from 

 Rome. The last detachment left the pontifical 

 territory on the 8th of August, 1870; and on 

 the 20th of the following month the Italian 

 troops, under General Cadrona, entered Rome 

 after a short resistance by the pontifical troops, 

 who ceased firing at the request of the pope. 

 On the 2d of October, 1870, the Kingdom of Italy 

 assumed the last of its extensive limits, when 

 the whole of the papal states were absorbed by 

 it, and Rome was its recognized capital. The 

 last seven years of Victor Emmanuel's reign were 

 uneventful, but were marked by the further 

 consolidation and progress of the kingdom. In 

 1878, Victor Emmanuel died, and was succeeded 

 by his son Humbert I., under whom the gei 

 history of the country has been uneventful. 

 Bank scandals drove the (liolitti ministry from 

 ollice in lx:;. and Signor Crispi was invited by 

 King Humbert to form a new cabinet. In 1896, 

 attempting to establish a protectorate 



Abyssinia, the Italians were defeated with great 

 loss, and Crispi was succeeded by Marqm 

 liudini. Humbert was assassinated July L M .. 1900; 



. eded by \ ictor I iminaiiui-l III. In 1' 

 the King and (^ueen of Kngland were received 



by I. 'or KmiiKinuel at Home. The 



of (lanbaldi was celebrated through- 

 out the kingdom on July ith of the same year. 



.I.M ohins, the members of a political club 

 which exercised a very great influence during 

 the French Revolution. It was originally 

 called the Cluh lint,,,,, and was formed at Ver- 

 sailles, when the States General assembled there 



