VICTOR EMMA.NUEL.*

NEARLY "sixty years ago," when Italy was a loose geographical expression, and when the various States of the Italian peninsula were a prey to popes and priests, and patriots and plotters, and Carbonari and Sanfedisti, to Bourbon monarchs and Austrian viceroys ; at the time when the least liberal govern- ments and institutions that have ever flourished in modern times attracted so many celebrated Englishmen who found their opinions and their practice too liberal for their own country, when Italy was the home of Byron, and Leigh Hunt, and Keats, and Shelley, and Tom Moore, and Lady Blessmgton, and Count D'Orsay, and Charles Mathews, there was born in a little dub-Alpine capital, out of the way and little regarded, a prince with a great future. For he was destined to weld together, within less than half-a- century, all the States and cities of the peninsula . into one country ; and under enormous difficulties, amid gigantic con- flicts with both temporal and spiritual forces, with friends as well as with enemies, to fashion the whole into a first-class European Power. Victor Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, the eldest son of Charles Albert, of Savoy Carignano, King of Piedmont and Sardinia, was born on March 14th, 1814, at the Carignano Palace, iu Turin. As far as "breeding" was concerned, the young Prince * A Life of Victor Emmanuel 11., First King of nair. By G. s. Goma. London Macmillan. 1879.

had everything in his favour. The House of Savoy was .not only one of the " oldest " families in Europe, but its members had ever been distinguished for honour and courage. And the- Duke of Savoy was not merely proud of his ancestors, which is in itself a harmless vanity enough, but he took them, or the best among them, for his examples, which is a very different thing; and he determined that he would do nothing that should. disgrace the

House of the Sabauds. Strange to say, the man who united Italy

under his own sway had but little Italian blood in his veins. His mother, indeed, was a daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany,. but his grandmother was a Saxon Princess, and the Dukes of the House of Savoy were neither Italian nor French but were descended from a Teutonic Prince, the namesake of the present King of Italy, " Humbert of the White Hand," a Saxon of the tenth century, who, banished by his uncle, the Emperor Otho. HI., acquired and ruled over large territories in Savoy. In the course of the thirteenth century, we find the brave, ambitious, and gifted Dukes of Savoy intermarrying with the most powerful royalties in Europe, and commanding extraordinary respect' and consideration. Emmanuel Philibert, after resisting the encroachments of the Swiss, the Spanish, and the French on his father's little State, attached himself to the Emperor Charles V., and followed the Imperial standard over half Europe. He was offered the hand of Elizabeth. Tudor of England, but hearing that the Princess herself was not quite agreeable to the match, he declined. He then married. the Duchess de Berry, sister of the King of France—this marriage being part of the treaty by which his dominions were restored—and he had one son, who succeeded him..

Victor Amadeo was the first Prince of the Sabaud family who assumed the title of King, in 1703, and having married a niece of Louis XIV.—which gave the French an excuse for in- terfering in the affairs of Savoy—he had the temerity to declare• war against the Grand Monarque, and after a successful campaign, to conclude a most favourable treaty of peace..

Victor Emmanuel's father, Carlo Alberto, was born in 1798, and was educated in Liberal principles by his mother, a Saxon princess, and served in the army under Napoleon. In 1831 he came to the throne,his uncle having abdicated rather than reform, his government, and his father, who immediately succeeded him„

having been devoted .to the Austrian power. Carlo Alberta him- self lived in troubloos times, and it was ever his hard fate to be misunderstood. He was execrated as a tyrant and a Tedesclw,. while Pio IX., the new Pope, was the hero of the Liberal:party in Italy. But Massimo Azeglio knew better, and to him is due:

the honour of steering the frail bark of Italian liberty through the stormy seas of the time immediately preceding 1848. The

granting of the Constitution to Piedmont ; the mortal offence, given to Austria by the royal proclamation of February 7th, 1848, while the hymn of Pio Nano was snug at every theatre

in Italy, amid rapturous applause ; the declaration of war by

Italy against the 8traniero ; Mazzini, the Pope, the King of Naples, and Carlo Alberto fighting nominally under the same.

banner,—these are burning pages of modern history connected with the early days of Victor Emmanuel, who distinguished himself as a soldier in victory and in defeat—at Santa Lucia. and at Goito, at Custozza and at Novara----and who succeeded to the apparently tottering throne of his ancestors, not in the ordinary course of nature and of history, but on the abdication. of his father after the disastrous defeat of his army, and the• still more disastrous destruction of his hopes by the break-up of the unreal and false Italian league, and the Austrian victory. over Piedmont left alone at Novara.

On March 20th, 1849, Italian Unity seemed a dream of a madman, while the very existence of Piedmont itself seemed doubtful. Present and future seemed alike hopeless. And this was the time when Victor Emmanuel, by abdication sovereign of a little nook of a kingdom, shook his sword at Marshal Radetsky and the victorious Austrians, and shouted, " Per Dio, 'Italia sari), !" It was no idle boast. But no one who heard it on that day could have foretold how soon the bold prophecy was to be fulfilled.

In order ourselves to appreciate the difficulties in the way of its accomplishment, we must try and realise the condition of Italy at the time. Living in history, as it were, we are apt to lose sight of the greatness of contemporary changes,. the eternal importance of contemporary events. It is almost as hard for a King to be a hero to his century as for a gentleman to be a hero to his valet-de-chambre. The special corre- spondents who write modern history, and form modern opinions,. cannot have great deeds to recount in every letter ; but small gossip, and amusing anecdotes, even if more or less disparaging, are easily collected, or invented, and are sure of pleasing the public taste. And there are few among us, in these busy days,

who have time to pause and look back, or to take comprehen-• sive views of the career of a personage, of the fate of a policy, of the growth of a kingdom, or of an idea. Sufficient unto the

day is the news thereof. And so it comes to pass that Victor Emmanuel II., first King of Italy, who lived and died in the life-time of so many of us, and who fought and won in the re- collection of almost all, is to us scarcely what may be called a his- torical character. We know more of the bluff physiognomy, the exaggerated moustachios, and the many gallantries of the eager sportsman,—the flit galantuomo, than of the keen-witted and single-minded statesman, who devoted his whole life to the accomplishment of one great object ; and who after years of wonderful patience, and of still more wonderful self-restraint, mercilessly harassed by his many enemies, constantly foiled by his friends, and compelled to bear arms against his beloved, but too impetuous subjects ; misunderstood by the Liberals, ana- thematised and excommunicated by the Clericals., hampered by want of money, restrained by doubtful alliances, succeeded in accomplishing that object, and making for himself a name which will live in the history of Europe when those of so many of the more honoured of his contemporaries will have been long and deservedly forgotten.'

In the biography of Victor Emanuel which has just been published by Messrs. Macmillan, Mr. Godkin has done his work thoroughly and well. He has succeeded in compressing into the limits of two very handy volumes all the principal events of the public life of the late King of Italy. He has, further- more, given us in a few pages a view of the condition of the peninsula at the time of Victor Emmanuel's birth, which is both interesting and valuable. We are apt to forget by how very few years we are removed from dungeons and fetters, from clerical despotism and official tyranny, from the horrors of the Inquisition and the dark cells of Austrian prisons, Bourbon executions, and Papal tortures.

Mr. Godkin has written a history of the public career of the Piedmontese King, and while he does not attempt to deny the immorality of his private life, be indulges no idle or prurient curiosity, by dressing up the details of ' that one side of his cheroot& which no one can admire, but with which the world at large has nothing whatever to do. And this is all the more commendable in the author, inasmuch as he is by no means a one-sided admirer of the King of Italy—one of those injudicious friends who can see nothing wrong in their pet hero. He tells us indeed that he wishes to present an impartial view of a man who is alternately painted in the strongest colours as an angel or a demon ; and we think he has succeeded in doing so. But the temptation to make his work more piquant by the introduction of scandalous stories, or glimpses of the loose private life of the royal hero of many a love-adventure, must have been strong ; and we admire Mr. Godkin all the more for resisting it. But

his work is very far from being dull. From that one unpardon- able fault it is completely free, and the natural interest of the stirring events of Victor Emmanuel's life easily and pleasantly treated, is enhanced by many characteristic anecdotes and many -touches of local colour. Too many speeches perhaps are introduced

and printed verbatim, but they are none of them very long. Still, although at first they give a certain reality and vividness

to the story, after a time they become somewhat wearisome. Mr. Godkin's own style is curiously simple, and constantly reminds us of that of Lamb's Tales from Shalcespoaro. The following, passage will show what we mean :- " The King promoted Alfonzo La Marmora to the highest rank, and loaded him with honours ; but ho did not wish the General to resume his place in the Cabinet, because on some points they differed strongly. Cavour, however, persuaded the King that the uncompromising soldier's services were necessary, and ho yielded. ' The King loves and esteems you sincerely,' wrote the Count to his friend. And La Marmona loved and esteemed Victor Emmanuel ; nevertheless, they often disagreed. ' Now that you have resumed office,' said the King,

I hope you will do as I wish.'—' Sire, I will do my duty now, as always,' was the proud reply."

But Mr. Godkin is not merely a printer of speeches and a chronicler of . stirring events. He has arranged his materials with taste and judgment, and without obtruding his views upon Italian politics, he allows us to read very clearly between the lines, and see the causes and the consequences of many events, the why and the how of many a puzzling line of policy.

Of the King's firm and valued friends, of those good

men and true who did yeoman's service in the work their master bed in hand, of Cavour and La Marmora, of Balbo and Azeglio, there is abundant mention in Mr. Godkin's work. And while he avoids the popular and plausible idea that the "maker of Italy" was not Victor Emmanuel, but Cavour alone, he is at all times ready to do ample justice to the important assistance which the King and the cause of the King's country received from the King's friends. And no one could have admitted or proclaimed this more fully, more loudly, or more generously than Victor Emmanuel himself. His bio- grapher should do no less. Altogether, we think Mr. Godkin's work is not only a bit of very pleasant reading for the general reader, but is worthy of a permanent place on our book-shelves. We only regret that want of space prevents us from giving some longer extracts from its spirited and interesting pages. The following anecdotes are sufficiently characteristic " One of his Ministers warned him that an Interdict could not take effect in his State, upless the document were put into the hands of the Sovereign. ' If that is the ease,' replied tho King,' you may be content. Whenever I see a priest who looks as if ho wanted to speak to me, I will put my hands in my pockets, and never take them out till he is gone"' " When the King went to hear service in the Cathedral of Pisa one day, with all his Court, and a following of citizens which numbered some thousands, he found the great entrance closed against hint. Some one proposed forcing the door, and the indignant people only wanted the slightest assent to give ex- pression to their feelings by some overt act against the priestly autho- rity. But the King, seeing a side-door open, said, smiling, ' Let us pass in here, my friends ; it is a narrow way that loads to Paradise.' Very soon after the same thing happened at Bologna. The King, on visiting the Duomo, was received by one or two inferior clergy at a side-entrance. Groat indignation was expressed by the citizens, so much so, that the Bishop was somewhat alarmed, nud came to apolo- gise to the King, excusing his absence on the plea of illness. The

King replied You were quite right not to inconvenience yourself, my lord. I do not go to church to visit priests, but to worship God.' "