VIII. 1821. CHAP. communities in different stages of civilisation, be the inevitable destiny of the species; for every republican state would seek to revolutionise its neighbours, and every despotic one to surround itself with a girdle of absolute monarchies. Each party loudly invokes the principle of non-intervention, when its opponents are acting on the opposite principle, and as certainly follows their example, when an opportunity occurs for establishing elsewhere a regime conformable to its own wishes or example. Perhaps it is impossible to draw the line more fairly than by saying, that no nation has a right to interfere in the internal concerns of another nation, unless that other is adopting measures which threaten its own peace and tranquillity in a word, that intervention is only justifiable when it is done for the purposes of self-defence. Yet is this a very vague and unsatisfactory basis on which to rest the principle; for who is to judge when internal tranquillity is threatened, and external intervention has become indispensable? It is much to be feared that here, as elsewhere, in the transactions of independent states, which acknowledge no superior, much must depend on the moderation of the stronger; and that "might makes right" will be the practice, whatever may be the law of nations, to the end of the world. But one thing is clear, that it is with the democratic party that the chief-indeed, of late years, the entire-blame of intervention The monarchical powers have never moved since 1789 but in self-defence. Every war which has desolated Europe and afflicted humanity since that time has been provoked by the propagandism of republican states; if left to themselves, the absolute monarchs would have been too happy to slumber on, reposing on their laurels, weighed down by their debt, recovering from their fatigue. rests. It was the circumstance of the three powers which had signed the Holy Alliance appearing banded together to VIII. 1821. 75. had the this? crush the revolution in Italy, which caused that Alliance CHAP. to be regarded as a league of sovereigns against the liberties of mankind, and to become the object of such unmeasured obloquy to the whole liberal party throughout What share the world. There never was a greater mistake. The Holy AlHoly Alliance became a league, and it proved a most line in efficient one, against the progress of revolution; but it was not so at first. It was forced into defensive measures by the aggressions of its political antagonists in Spain and Italy. Not one shot has been fired in Europe, nor one sabre drawn, from any contest which it commenced, though many have been so from those into which it has been driven. In truth, this celebrated Alliance, which was the creation of the benevolent dreams of the Emperor Alexander, and the mystical conceptions of Madame Krudener, was, as already explained, a philanthropic effusion, amiable in design, but unwise in thought, and 1 Vide Ante, incapable of application in a world such as that in which c. iii. § 51. we are placed.1 It is evident, however, that it was impossible for Eng- 76. on the oc land to have acted otherwise than as she did on this Attitude taken by occasion, and that the line which Lord Castlereagh took England was such as alone befitted the minister of a free people. casion. Being the representative of a country which had progressively extorted its liberties from its sovereigns, and at length changed the dynasty on the throne to secure them, he could not be a party to a league professing to extinguish popular resistance: placed at a distance from the theatre of danger, the plea of necessity could not be advanced to justify such a departure from principle. He took the only line which, on such an occasion, was consistent with his situation, and dictated by a due regard to the national interest ;-he abstained from taking any part in the contest, and contented himself with protesting against any abuse of the pretension on which it was rested. CHAP. 1821. 77. War declared against the revolution in Naples. Feb. 4. Feb. 8. The contest in Italy was of very short duration. The revolutionists proved incapable of defending themselves against an Austrian army, little more than half of their own strength; they were formidable only to their own sovereign. The Minister at War announced to the parliament at Naples, on the 2d January, that the regular army amounted to fifty-four thousand men, and the national guards to a hundred and fifty thousand more; that the fortresses were fully armed and provisioned, and in the best possible state of defence; and that everything was prepared for the most vigorous resistance. But already serious divisions had broken out in the army, especially between the guards and the troops of the line; and dissensions of the most violent kind had arisen between the leaders of the revolt, especially the Cardinal Ruffo and the chiefs of the Carbonari. The consequence was, that when the moment of action arrived, scarce any resistance was made. On 8th February a courier from Laybach announced at Naples that all hope of accommodation was at an end, and that the sovereigns assembled there would in no shape recognise the revolutionary authorities at Naples. The effect of this announcement was terrible; it did not rouse resistance-it overpowered it by fear. In vain the assembly ordered fifty thousand of the national guards to be called out, and moved to the frontier; nothing efficient was done-terror froze every heart. The ministers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, left Naples; the presence of ten French and eight English sail of the line in the bay rather excited alarm than inspired confidence. On the 4th February, General Frimont published from his headquarters at Padua a proclamation, announcing that his army was about to cross the Po, to assist in the pacification of Italy; and ii. 419, 424; on the following day the troops, nearly fifty thousand iv. 319, 320. strong, commenced the passage of that river at five points between Cremona and St Benedetto.1 1 Colletta, Ann. Hist. VIII. 1821. 78. march of trians to 24. The march of the Austrian army met with so little CHAP. opposition that the events which followed could not be called a campaign. When they arrived at Bologna, the troops were separated into two divisions; one of which, Unresisted under the command of Count Walmoden, crossed the the AusApennines, and advanced, by Florence and Rome, by the wards Nagreat road to Naples; while the other moved by the left ples, Feb. to the sea-side, and reached Ancona. The first corps passed Rome, without entering it, on February 28th; the second occupied Ancona on the 19th. Meanwhile the preparations of the Neapolitans were very extensive, and seemed to presage a serious resistance. Their forces, too, were divided into two corps; the first of which, forty thousand strong, under General Carascosa, occupied the strong position of St Germans, with its left on the fortress of Gaeta, within the Neapolitan territory; while the second, under General Pepe, of thirty thousand, chiefly militia, was opposed to the corps advancing along the Adriatic, and charged with the defence of the Abruzzi. But it was all in vain. Pepe, finding that his battalions were disbanding, and his troops melting away before they had even seen the enemy, resolved to hazard an attack on the Austrians at Reidi. But no sooner did they come in sight of the German vanguard, consisting of a splendid regiment of Hungarian cavalry, than a sudden panic seized them. The new levies disbanded and fled, with the cry of "Tradimento; salvarsi chi può!” The contagion spread to the old troops. Soon the whole army was a mere mob, every one trying to outrun his neighbour. Cannon, ammunition, standards, were alike abandoned. Pepe himself was carried away by the torrent, and the 1 Colletta, Abruzzi were left without any defence but the impediments ii. 435, 438; arising from the wreck of the army, whose implements of iv. 322, 325. war strewed the roads over which it had fled. 1 * * "Vacillarono le nostre giovani bande, si ritirarono le prime, non procederono le seconde, si confusero le ordinanze. Ed allora avanzò prima lentamente, Ann. Hist. CHAP. VIII. 1821. 79. and return March 12. This catastrophe was a mortal stroke to the insurrection; for, independent of the moral influence of such a discreditable scene succeeding the warm appeals and conSubjugation fident predictions of the revolutionists, the position of of Naples, their main army, and on which alone they could rely for of the king the defence of Naples at St Germans, under Carascosa, was liable to be turned by the Abruzzi, and was no longer tenable. The broken remains of Pepe's army dispersed in the Apennines, and sought shelter in its fastnesses; some made their appearance in Naples, where they excited universal consternation. In this extremity the parliament, assembled in select committee, supplicated the Prince Vicar to mediate between them and the king; and, above all, to arrest the march of the Austrian troops. But it was all in vain. The Imperial generals, seeing their advantage, only pressed on with the more vigour on the disorderly array of their opponents. Walmoden advanced without opposition through the Abruzzi. Aquila March 10. opened its gates on the 10th March, its castle on the 12th; and Carascosa, seeing his right flank turned by the mountains, gave orders for his troops to retire at all points from the position they occupied on the Garigliones. This was the signal for a universal dissolution of the force. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery, alike disbanded and fled. A few regiments of the royal guard alone preserved any semblance of military array, and the main Austrian army advanced without opposition towards Naples, where terror was at its height, securities of all sorts unsaleable, and the revolutionary government powerposcia incalzando i passi, ed alfine in corsa un superbo reggimento di cavalleria Ungherese, sì che nell' aspetto del crescente pericolo le milizie civili, nuove alla guerra, trepidarono, fuggirono, strascinarono coll' impeto e coll' esempio qualche compagnia di più vecchi soldati, si ruppero gli ordini, si udirono le Voci di tradimento, e salvarsi chi può: scomparve il campo.-Proseguirono nella succedente notte i disordini dell' esercito: Antrodoco fu abbandonata; il General Pepe seguiva i fuggitivi.-Miserando spettacolo! gettate le armi e le insegne; le macchine di guerra, fatte inciampo al fuggire, rovesciate, spezzate; gli argini, le trincere, opere di molte menti e di molte braccia, aperte, abbandonate; ogni ordine scomposto: esercito poco innanzi spaventoso al nemico, oggi vôlto in ludibrio."-COLLETTA (a liberal historian), ii. 437,438. |