THE RISORGIMENTO As the result of the Vienna treaties, Austria came to be the predominant power in Italy—Lombardy and Venetia she ruled directly, the duchies through Austrian princes, and the other states by indirect influence and alliances. Victor Emmanuel I. of Sar dinia was more independent than the other Italian rulers and his dynasty was popular, but he was determined to restore the an tiquated laws, institutions and conditions preceding the French revolution and to introduce the most bigoted reaction. In the Lombardo-Veneto, the Austrian administration was honest and effi cient, but politically oppressive. Duke Francis of Modena was a reactionary tyrant ; in Parma there was little oppression under Marie-Louise, and in Tuscany the rule of Ferdinand was mild, but demoralizing. The papal government was an incompetent theocracy with a corrupt administration and a police which, al though barbarously tyrannical, was unable to cope with the an archy and brigandage prevalent in some provinces. In Naples King Ferdinand retained some of the institutions and officials of Murat's regime, but a degrading bigotry became the basis of government and social life, while in Sicily, converted into a Nea politan province and deprived of its constitution, Bourbon rule was particularly unpopular.
The newly-restored governments might easily have achieved popularity among peoples worn out by the terrible drain of men and money caused by the Napoleonic wars. But in their terror of revolution they failed to realize that the past regime had wafted a breath of new life into Italy, and that the new-born idea of Italian unity was a force to be reckoned with. The masses were still politically indifferent, but in the upper classes there was a sense of despair at Italy's degradation and an incipient hatred of foreign rule, which found expression in the secret so cieties, particularly the Carbonari (q.v.). In 1820 a Carbonarist mutiny broke out in the Neapolitan army to the cry of "God, the king and the constitution." The king, in a panic, granted the constitution, which he swore to respect ( July, 1820), but immedi ately after he repaired to the congress of Laibach (see LAIBACH, CONGRESS OF) and applied for military assistance with which to crush the revolution. Austria was entrusted with the task, and an Austrian army defeated the Neapolitan Liberals under Gen. Pepe at Riet (March 7, 1821), and restored Ferdinand's autoc racy. The same year a Carbonarist mutiny broke out in Pied mont. Prince Charles Albert, the heir presumptive, felt a certain interest in Liberal ideas and was above all anti-Austrian, and when on the abdication of Victor Emmanuel and in the absence of the new king, Charles Felix, he was appointed regent, he granted the constitution; but Charles Felix returned, abrogated the con stitution and crushed the revolution with Austrian assistance. He exiled Charles Albert, but resented Austria's attempt to have him excluded from the succession.
There had been some mild plotting against Austria in Lombardy, in consequence of which Count F. Confalonieri, the poet Silvio Pellico, and others, were imprisoned in the Spielberg for many years; the sufferings and heroism of the prisoners and Pellico's famous account of his imprisonment (Le mie prigioni) enlisted wide sympathy for the Italian cause throughout Europe.
The July revolution in Paris aroused great hopes among the Italian patriots, and in Feb. 1831 the Romagna and the March rose in revolt against the papal authorities who were expelled with out difficulty; Louis Napoleon, afterwards emperor of the French, was among the insurgents. Similar risings broke out at Parma and Modena, but Austrian intervention restored papal and ducal rule, and Austrian forces remained for some years in occupation of Ferrara, while France occupied Ancona. The Powers addressed a memorandum to Pope Gregory XVI. recommending moderate re forms, but he paid no attention to it. Although the character of these agitations showed that the masses were still not yet ripe for a national movement, they proved the inability of the despotic governments to hold their own without foreign arms.
On the death of Gregory XVI. in 1846, Cardinal Mastai Fer retti was elected pope as Pius IX. He was a kindly man of in ferior intelligence, but the interest he evinced in Liberalism and the amnesty and administrative reforms which he granted aroused high hopes among the Italian patriots. Austria was much dis turbed by his attitude and immediately reoccupied Ferrara, to the great indignation of the pope. Charles Albert had little sympathy with revolution, and was dominated by religious fervour, but he hated Austria and the advent of an apparently anti-Austrian pope conciliated his two strongest feelings.
Charles Louis, duke of Lucca, in 1847 sold his duchy to Leopold II. of Tuscany (the successor of Ferdinand III. since 1824) to whom it would have reverted in any case at the death of the duchess of Parma. At the same time Leopold ceded Lunigiana to Parma and Modena in equal parts, an arrangement which pro voked the indignation of the inhabitants of the district. In Sept. 1847 Leopold gave way to the popular agitation for a national guard, in spite of Metternich's threats, and allowed greater free dom of the press.
Ferdinand I. of the Two Sicilies had died in 1825, and was succeeded by Francis I. At the latter's death in 1830 Ferdinand II. succeeded, an ignorant bigot who concentrated the whole of the executive in his own hands. On Jan. 12, 1848 a revolution broke out at Palermo under the leadership of Ruggiero Settimo, and the insurgents demanded the constitution of 1812 or complete inde pendence. Disturbances occurred at Naples also, and the king, who could not obtain Austrian help, granted a constitution ( Jan. 28).
Revolutions of 1848.—The news from Naples strengthened the demand for a constitution in Piedmont. Count Camillo Cavour, then editor of a new and influential paper called ll Risor gimento, had advocated it strongly, and monster demonstrations were held every day. Although the king disliked the idea, he granted (March 4, 1848) the hastily drafted charter destined to be the constitution of the future Italian kingdom. It provided for a nominated senate and an elective chamber of deputies, the king retaining the right of veto ; the press censorship was abolished, and freedom of meeting, of the press and of speech were guaran teed. Balbo was called upon to form the first constitutional min istry. Three days later the grand-duke of Tuscany promised sim ilar liberties, and a charter was promulgated on the i7th.
At Milan, where there was a division of opinion between the mon archists under Casati and the republicans under Cattaneo, a pro visional administration was formed and the question of the form of government postponed for the moment. Provisional govern ments were set up in Parma and Modena, and in Rome Pius, after calling down God's blessing on Italy, promulgated a constitution on Feb. 11.
Meanwhile, on July 7, the Venetian assembly declared in favour of fusion with Piedmont, and Manin, who had been elected presi dent, resigned his powers to the royal commissioners. Soon after Custoza, however, the Austrians blockaded the city. In Rome the pope's authority weakened day by day, and disorder increased. The Mamiani ministry having failed to achieve anything, Pius summoned Pellegrino Rossi, a learned jurist who had long been exiled in France, to form a cabinet. On Nov. 15 he was assassi nated, and the terrified pope fled in disguise to Gaeta (Nov. 25) ; when parliament requested him to return he refused even to receive the deputation. On Feb. 5, 1849, a constituent ass .mbly was summoned, and on the 9th it voted the downfall of the tem poral power and proclaimed the republic. Mazzini hurried to Rome and was chosen head of the triumvirate. On the i8th Pius invited the armed intervention of France, Austria, Naples and Spain to restore his authority. In Tuscany the government drifted from the moderates to the extreme democrats, and in Oct. 1848, Leopold reluctantly consented to a democratic ministry led by Guerrazzi and Montanelli. He refused, however, to concede a con stituent assembly, and left Florence. On Feb. 8, 1849, the repub lic was proclaimed, and on the 21st, at the pressing request of the pope and the king of Naples, Leopold went to Gaeta.
Ferdinand did not openly break his constitutional promises until Sicily was reconquered. He now prorogued parliament, enacted stringent measures against the Liberals, an" retired to Gaeta, the haven of refuge for deposed despots.
Charles Albert was determined that so long as he had an army in being he could not abandon the Lombards and the Venetians, whom he had encouraged in their resistance, without one more effort, though he knew full well that he was staking all on a des perate chance. On March 12, 1849, he denounced the armistice. His forces amounted to 8o,000 men, including a Lombard corps and other volunteers. But the discipline and morale of the army were shaken and its organization faulty, and after some prelimi nary fighting Radetzky won the decisive battle of Novara (March 23) which broke up the Piedmontese army. The king, who had sought death in vain all day, had to ask terms of Radetzky ; these proving extremely onerous, he abdicated in favour of his son Vic tor Emmanuel II., and departed at once for Portugal, where he died in a monastery a few months later.
In Rome the triumvirate decided to defend the republic to the last ; the defenders received a priceless addition to their strength in the person of Garibaldi, who in April, 1849, entered Rome with some Soo men. At this time France, as a counterpoise to Austrian intervention in other parts of Italy, decided to restore the pope. On April 25 Gen. Oudinot landed with 8,000 men at Civitavecchia, and on the 3oth attempted to capture Rome by surprise, but was completely defeated by Garibaldi. The French republican Govern ment, while pretending to treat with Mazzini, increased Oudinot's force to 35,000 men. At the same time, Austrian, Neapolitan and Spanish troops were converging on Rome. The Roman army (20, 00o men) included, besides Garibaldi's red-shirted legionaries, vol unteers from all parts of Italy, many of them wealthy young men of noble family. The Neapolitans were ignominiously beaten in May and retired to the frontier ; but by the end of May, after desperate fighting, the French penetrated within the walls ( June 29). Garibaldi quitted the city, followed by 4,000 of his men, and attempted to join the defenders of Venice. In spite of the fact that he was pursued by the armies of four Powers, he suc ceeded in reaching San Marino, whence, his force having melted away, he reached Piedmont and eventually America, to await a new call to fight for Italy.
After a heroic defence, conducted by Guiseppe Martinengo, Brescia was recaptured in April by the Austrians under Gen. Haynau, his atrocities earning him the name of "the Hyena of Brescia." In May they seized Bologna, and Ancona in June. Venice alone still held out ; the assembly voted : "Venice resists the Austrians at all costs," and the citizens and soldiers, strength ened by the arrival of volunteers from all parts of Italy, showed the most splendid devotion in their hopeless task. By the end of May Venice was blockaded by land and sea, and on the 24th the city, reduced by famine, capitulated on favourable terms. Manin and a few others were excluded from the amnesty and went into exile.
The Italian cause had been crushed, but revolution and war had strengthened the feeling of unity, for Neapolitans had fought for Venice, Lombards for Rome, Piedmontese for all Italy. Pied mont was shown to possess the qualities necessary to constitute the nucleus of a great nation. It was now evident that the federal idea was impossible, for none of the princes except Victor Emman uel could be trusted, and that unity and freedom could not be achieved under a republic, for nothing could be done without the Piedmontese army, which was royalist to the core. All reasonable men were thus convinced that the question of the ultimate form of the Italian government was secondary, and that the national efforts should be concentrated on the task of expelling the Aus trians.