The new King of Italy has made a decided impression
on his people. He took the oath before his Chambers, his Court, and the Ambassadors in the Senate Hall on August 11th, and made a speech which excited a tempest of enthusiasm. The Italians present quite lost their self. control; some wept, some almost shrieked applause, and all followed each sentence with salvoes of cheers that reached the great crowd outside. Some of the principal sentences of the speech will be found textually elsewhere, but its total drift was that the King would guard both liberty and the Monarchy, which were both essential to Italy, with all his personal energies. It was not, however, the words which excited the illustrious audience so much as the evidence which shines through them that a genuine and original King was speaking, a clear-minded man of courage, will, and capacity for leadership. The enthusiasm, which profoundly impressed the diplomatists present, is fully shared by the people, and is said to have lifted them at a blow out of a certain depression into which they had fallen. The impres- sion of the King's manliness was increased two days after by an unusual incident. Hearing that a night train with relatives on board had met with an accident outside Rome, the King, who was sleeping, rose, and with his Queen drove in hired cabs to the spot, worked all night with the rescue gang, and by his presence and decided orders greatly increased their efficiency. The Italians say " There is a King of nee."
