WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1299: ITALY.
By Edward Farr
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

History - BritishHistory - Modern (1750+)History - RoyaltyHistory - Warfare

About This Book

The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.





ITALY.

All Italy felt the shock of the French revolution, although, in point of time, the revolutionary feeling developed itself in Italy before it burst forth in France. Throughout the year 1847 all Switzerland, and Austrian and Papal Italy, were uneasy; and in January, six weeks before the dethronement of Louis Philippe, there were disturbances in Milan. Indeed, from the moment Pius IX. ascended the papal throne, a change came over the people of Italy: it was supposed that the pope was a patriot, and would favour the struggle for Italian liberty, and this delusion was not dispelled until after the battle of Novara. It was then found that the pope and the kasir were allies, even while the troops of the former were marching forth ostensibly to do battle for Italy.

When the tidings of the revolt in Paris reached Italy, the people flew to arms. General Radetzsky and his Austrian troops were driven from Milan; a provisional government was formed, and all Italy was called upon to arm. The King of Sardinia, who had proclaimed a most liberal constitution for his own kingdom, marched an army into Lombardy; Venice revolted; and Radetzsky retired upon Verona. The Austrian lines along the Mincio were forced, and the position of Radetzsky’s forces was dangerous. Two circumstances, however, favoured him—the supineness of the papal troops, and the junction of Nugent, an Irish marshal in the Austrian service, with the troops under his command. After various fortunes, the allied Italians were beaten; Lombardy and Venice were entirely subjected to the Austrian arms; and but for English and French diplomacy, Sardinia also would have fallen before the victorious Austrian. The English government was desirous to see Italy freed from Austrian domination, and would not have submitted to see Sardinia overthrown by an invasion of the kasir’s army. France, also, regarded events there with views similar to those entertained by England, but it did not suit the policy of either country to interfere beyond the diplomatic interposition by which Sardinia was saved. Probably they were also influenced by the suspicion that the royal house of Sardinia was more actuated by ambition than by a desire for the liberties of Italy. The fact of the king having granted a constitution did not altogether prevent such suspicions, because that was his only hope of gaining ascendancy in Italy; and the general tone of the Sardinian court and cabinet gave a colour to the impression that their policy was not entirely disinterested. His majesty was glad to consent to an armistice with Radetzsky, and to fall back behind the shields of France and England for safety. The king, however, was obliged to abdicate; shame, the defeat of his armies, the failure of his policy, and the certainty that if he remained upon the throne, the kasir would seize the first opportunity to make war upon him, determined him to abdicate.