Reorganization of Italy

REORGANIZATION OF ITALY Bonaparte procured the cession to France of Parma; while the duke of Parma (husband of an infanta of Spain) was promoted by him to the duchy of Tuscany, now renamed the kingdom of Etru ria; and on Sept. 21, 1802, Piedmont was incorporated in the French republic. Besides copying the Roman habit of planting military colonies, the First Consul imitated the old conquerors of the world by extending and completing the road system of his outlying districts, especially at those important passes, the Mont Cenis and Simplon; and public works in various parts of Pied mont, and the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics, attested to his foresight and wisdom. The universities of Pavia and Bologna were reopened and made great progress in this time of peace and growing prosperity. Somewhat later the construction of the Pavia canal was begun in order to connect Lake Como with the Adriatic for barge-traffic.

Bonaparte, now First Consul for life, felt strong enough to im pose his will on the Cisalpine republic, and on the pretext of consolidating it, he invited 450 of its leading men to come to Lyons to a consulta. In reality he and his agents had already provided for the passing of proposals which were agreeable to him. It remained to find a chief. Talleyrand and French agents set to work on behalf of their master, with the result that he was elected president for ten years. He accepted that office with the Lombard count, Melzi, as vice-president. The constitution com prised a consulta charged with executive duties, a legislative body of 150 members and a court charged with the maintenance of the fundamental laws. In practice, the whole constitution was as auto cratic as that of France after the changes brought about by Bona parte in Aug. 1802. The Cisalpine now took the name of the Italian republic, and the Ligurian republic and that of Lucca remodelled their constitutions in a similar fashion.

The Kingdom of Italy.

The complete disregard shown by Napoleon for one of the chief conditions of the Treaty of Lune ville (Feb. I8oi )—that stipulating for the independence of the Ligurian and Cisalpine republics—became more and more apparent every year. Finally, after the proclamation of the French empire (May 18, 1804) Napoleon decided to accept the crown of Italy which Melzi, Marescalchi, Serbelloni and others begged him to assume. Accordingly, on May 26, 1805, in the cathedral at Milan, he crowned himself with the iron crown of the old Lombard kings, using the traditional formula, "God gave it me : let him beware who touches it." On June 7 he appointed his step-son, Eugene Beauharnais, to be viceroy. Eugene soon found that his chief duty was to enforce the will of Napoleon. The republic of Lucca. along with Piombino, was awarded as a principality by the em peror to Elisa Bonaparte and her husband, Felice Baciocchi. In June 1805, the French emperor, at the supposed request of the doge of Genoa, declared the Ligurian republic to be an integral part of the French empire. As a result of this defiance to the sovereigns of Russia and Austria, the Third Coalition was formed between Great Britain, Russia and Austria, Naples soon joining its ranks.

Napoleon's victories forced Austria to make peace by the treaty of Pressburg, ceding to the kingdom of Italy her part of Venetia along with the provinces of Istria and Dalmatia. Napoleon next sent Joseph Bonaparte and Massena southwards with a strong column, and compelled the Anglo-Russian forces to evacuate Naples. The Bourbon court sailed away to Palermo, where it re mained for eight years under the protection afforded by the Brit ish. On Feb. 15, 1806, Joseph Bonaparte entered Naples in tri umph, his troops capturing there 200 pieces of cannon. Gaeta, however, held out stoutly against the Fi encl. Sir Sidney Smith

with a British squadron captured Capri (Feb. 1806) and the peas ants of the Abruzzi and Calabria soon began to give trouble. Worst of all was the arrival of a small British force in Calabria under Sir John Stuart, which defeated the French with heavy loss near the village of Maida (July 4). Calabria rose in revolt, and the peasants dealt out savage reprisals to the French troops. On July 18, however, Gaeta surrendered to Massena, who crushed the Bourbon rising in Calabria with great barbarity, and compelled the British force to re-embark for Sicily. Under Joseph, who had been duly proclaimed king of Naples on March 3o, 1806, great progress was made in abolishing feudal laws and customs, in reforming the judicial procedure and criminal laws on the model of the Code Napoleon, and in attempting elementary education.

The peace of Tilsit (July 7, 1807) enabled Napoleon to press on his projects for securing the command of the Mediterranean. He failed to capture Sicily; Capri, however, fell to the French on Oct. 18, 1808, shortly after the arrival at Naples of the new king, Joachim Murat, Joseph Bonaparte being transferred from Naples to Madrid. Joseph left Naples on May 23, 1808; but it was not until Sept. 6 that Murat made his entry. A fortnight later his consort Caroline, Napoleon's sister, arrived, and soon showed a vigour and restlessness of spirit which frequently clashed with the dictates of her brother, the emperor, and the showy, unsteady policy of her husband. Early in 1808 Elisa Bonaparte and her husband, Baciocchi, rulers of Lucca and Piombino, became the heads of the administration in Tuscany, Elisa showing decided governing capacity.

Napoleon and the Papacy.

For some time past the relations between Napoleon and the pope, Pius VII., had been severely strained, chiefly because the emperor insisted on controlling the Church, both in France and in the kingdom of Italy, but also because the pontiff refused to grant the divorce between Jerome Bonaparte and the former Miss Patterson on which Napoleon early in the year i8o6 laid so much stress. His desire further to extend the continental system, that great engine of commercial war by which he hoped to assure the ruin of England, prompted the annexation of Tuscany and his intervention in the affairs of the Papal States, and in Feb. 18°8 a French column under Miollis occupied Rome and deposed the papal authorities. Against this violence Pius VII. protested in vain. Napoleon, on April 2, an nexed to the kingdom of Italy the papal provinces of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata and Camerino. After the occupation of Vienna the conqueror dated from that capital on May 17, 1809, a decree virtually annexing Rome and the Patrimonium Petri to the French empire. In reply the pope prepared a bull of excommunication against those who should infringe the prerogatives of the Holy See in this matter. Thereupon the French general, Miollis, who still occupied Rome, caused the pope to be arrested and carried him away northwards into Tuscany, thence to Savona; finally he was taken, by Napoleon's orders, to Fontainebleau. Thus, a sec ond time, fell the temporal power of the papacy. By an imperial decree of Feb. 17, 181o, Rome and the neighbouring districts, in cluding Spoleto, became part of the French empire ; the Code Napoleon was introduced, public works were set on foot and great advance was made in the material sphere. Napoleon intended to make the city the second capital of the empire. Nevertheless the harshness with which the emperor treated the Roman clergy and suppressed the monasteries caused deep resentment to the ortho dox.