66 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



selves the sole masters of the city. In this way we 

 do not compromise our Government by a premature 

 entry into Eome, by remaining in a city which even 



its inhabitants abandon in summer We shall 



be the real masters of Eome if we surround it with 

 troops, and the Government of the Eepublic, which does 

 not desire our entry into Eome except l>y agreement with 

 the inhabitants, will thank you for having contributed, 

 by the wisdom of your counsels, to bring about the 

 triumph of the true and only policy stripped from all 

 petty questions of amour propre and vainglory." 



At three o'clock the same day (that is, nine hours 

 before the expiration of the delay agreed upon) I re- 

 ceived the replies of the President of the Eoman 

 Assembly and the members of the municipality to 

 terminate the negotiations, to prevent France assum- 

 ing towards Eome the part of Austria, and to put an 

 end to the misfortunes with which a peaceful city, the 

 home of so many monuments and of the arts, was 

 threatened. At the same time the Triumvirate sent me 

 a note and a set of counter proposals. It was evident 

 that the General-in-chief and myself could take the 

 counter project of the Eoman authorities into consi- 

 deration, discuss it, and only break off all negotiations, 

 pending instructions from Paris, in the event of our 

 finding it impossible to come to an understanding. 

 The simple dictates of humanity would have led us to 

 do so, even if this course had not been indicated by 



