his return. When reform was in vogue, he wrote for the Bilancia newspaper, and was long an applicant to the Pope for office. He became Director of Police at Pesaro, and was turned out because of his bad name and bad example. He again importuned ministers, cardinals, and Pope, to be replaced. At last he determined on going all lengths, devoted himself to the agitators and the Clubs, and strove to win their favour by the violence of his language and his counsels. He, too, tried to confute Mamiani. He said there was no danger in proclaiming the Republic, nor any formidable opponents at home; nor were the Italian Kings powerful, though certainly they were hostile. Naples was not in a condition to take up arms against Rome; the war of Sicily, the murmurs of the capital, the menacing attitude of the Abbruzzi and the Calabrias, would prevent it. The Grand Duke of Tuscany had more need of their indulgence, than vigour for war. The King of Sardinia was undoubtedly adverse, nor could they rely on him, but his army was not so firm in its allegiance to the throne, as to admit of being pushed against the Romans, while Genoa was the most liberal and democratic of Italian cities; Austria was falling to pieces; and France was ready to assist them. He concluded in favour of pronouncing at once the deposition of the Pope, and of proclaiming the Republic. The Prince of Canino, anxious to prove the impossibility of reconciling the Popedom with Italian freedom, recited the fruitless efforts which, as Minister of Pius IX., Mamiani had made for that purpose: he

denied that the Italian Constituent would be competent to reimpose the yoke of the Popes on the neck of the Romans; his fancy carried him as far as the Empire of Japan; he compared the dispatch of Gioberti to the famous Brunswick proclamation, and here, raising his voice, he ended with these words: "Do you not then feel this consecrated soil vibrate beneath your feet? It is the spirits of your ancestors, boiling with impatience, and shouting in your ears 'The Roman Republic for ever!'" This shout of his was clamorously taken up by the public in the gallery.

After this, a member called for a division on the motion of Filopanti; but Mamiani rose to demand that the vote might be taken on his, which was in the following terms:—

"The National Assembly declares, that it refers to the Constituent for Italy the choice of a political organization for the Roman States."

In support of this motion, an argument was begun by Cesari da Osimo, Municipal Secretary in his own country, where he was universally esteemed and beloved. He had to speak amidst the uproar of the public galleries and interruptions from those who did not choose to endure patiently any further delay; but he did not allow himself to lose heart, and he gave solid reasons to show the certain danger of such courses as had been urged; that they would beget an increase of dissension in Italy, and serious detriment to her independence, the first and greatest of goods; the evils were sure and close at hand; the hopes of universal revolution vague, nor could persons of pru

dence stake upon them the destinies of a people and a nation. The speech of Cesari concluded the debate. Monghini of Ravenna, a young banker, who had gained popularity as a liberal since he had taken to speechifying at the clubs, cried out: "either the Pope, or the Provisional Government, or the Republic. Of the first I should blush to speak; the second would only be a protracted agony; accordingly there is nothing left but the Republic." This was certainly a short cut. The common herd of auditors applauded such eloquence furiously. Sterbini saw which way the wind of popular favour blew; and, fearing to lose his influence if he did not improve upon the faltering language he had previously uttered, he nimbly wheeled about, and launched into this strange language: "I propose that, the moment we have voted on the form of government, we decide upon the solemn proclamation of the Republic to-morrow; to-morrow, from the great balcony of the Capitol." Thus he became the first to give his voice for the Republic; and knowing the humour of his flock, he pleased them with the promise of a spectacle. He then began a disquisition about the motion introduced by Mamiani and improved upon by Audinot, for declaring, as the latter had put it in his speech, that no government was possible, except one which should recognise the sovereignty of the nation. Saffi, of Forlì, then said a few words: a young man endowed with high gifts of disposition and of intellect, known, up to that time, for his mo derate opinions, and generally eulogised and esteemed. He said, the question of the Pope's deposition seemed

to him to be already resolved, ipso facto, by the convocation of the Constituent Assembly. By this he meant to imply that the proposals of Mamiani and Audinot were mere surplusage. But President Galletti remarked that the vote ought to be taken on them all; and he put the question on that of Mamiani. While some of the members were rising in the affirmative, roars of disapprobation issued from the public galleries, to such a degree that Canino appealed to the authority of the President, who admonished the disorderly in a few milk-and-water words. But De Rossi, formerly minister to Pius IX., boldly said, that if every one were not allowed to express his own opinions freely, he would that instant leave the Assembly and Ercolani of Bologna, whom I have already had occasion to name with honour, cried, in spite of the yells, that, being convinced of the evils threatened by a Republic, he at that very moment gave his voice audibly against it. This declaration was adopted by Cristofori, also a Bolognese, of steadfast liberal opinions and of noted honesty; and by Tranquilli of Ascoli, an honourable and staid person. When Mamiani's motion had been lost, Armellini tried to prevent that of Audinot from being put to the vote; but, as his reasons were not good, it was put notwithstanding, and twenty-seven members voted in its favour. Then came in turn Filopanti's motion; and, after a brief conversation on its various heads, and calling the names of the 142 members present, the vote was taken aloud by Ayes and Noes. The Noes were ten. Twelve declined voting. All the

members of the Provisional Government voted Aye, and Monsignor Muzzarelli amidst loud applause. President Galletti then said he had to announce, in the name of the Assembly, a Decree which (such were his words) "fixes a great epoch, establishes a right of the people, establishes the principle so long coveted in Italy, but never before the present moment embodied in a public act:" and he went on to read —

"Art. I. The Popedom is deposed, de facto and de jure, from the temporal government of the Roman State.

"Art. II. The Roman Pontiff shall enjoy all the guarantees necessary for his independence in the exercise of his spiritual power.

"Art. III. The form of Government for the Roman State shall be a pure democracy, and it shall assume the glorious appellation of the Republic of Rome.

"Art. IV. The Republic of Rome shall bear towards the rest of Italy the relations demanded by the common nationality."

The whole audience huzzaed for the Republic; and the sitting closed at two in the morning of the ninth. Next day, the Deputies ascended to the Capitol in great pomp; and there President Galletti proclaimed anew the Republic. I need not describe the spectacle: the account, that History has to render, is too serious; and the mind, too intent upon other thoughts, cannot stoop to blow bubbles with the mob, who, drunk with fumes of freedom, can caper on the very brink of servitude, and who put up hymns of joy and glory to God, at a moment when His Almightiness is preparing obsequies for distracted Italy.