The next day the club desired that the Swiss should be deprived of their
arms and dismissed from the Quirinal; the Pope complied. The club then
asked that Galletti should be named general of the carbineers; and he
was appointed. "Such was the poltroonery or such the depravity of
consciences that no journal would or dared denounce the murder. But why
do I speak of denouncing? The murder was honored with illuminations and
festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States only, but beyond
them, especially at Leghorn." The Councils met on the 18th and 20th, but
not a word was said of the murder, and even a proposition for giving
assurance to the Pope "of the devotion and unalterable affection of the
Deputies" was voted down. Three of the Bolognese Deputies and a few
others then indignantly resigned their seats, and assigned their reasons
for this step in addresses to their constituents.
Early on the night of the 25th the Pope secretly left the Quirinal,
entered a carriage prepared for him by the wife of the Bavarian
ambassador, and went into exile from that city which, within two years
and a half, had worshipped, scorned, and assailed him.
(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, François P.G. Guizot and
Mme. Guizot de Witt
This outbreak marked one of the many transitions in French history,
leading to the establishment of the short-lived Second Republic, so soon
to be followed by the _coup d'état_ of Louis Napoleon and the setting up
of the Second Empire. When France passed from the rule of the Bourbons,
represented by Charles X, to that of the Orleanists, in the hands of
Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" (July, 1830), great hopes were
entertained by the constitutional party that this renewal of the
monarchy through the "July Revolution" would result in permanent
benefits. At first the new King enjoyed great popularity. In some
respects his government, compared with that of Charles X, was liberal,
and one of its early acts was an extension of the suffrage by decreasing
the amount of the property qualification for voters. The demand for
still further enlargement of popular rights became emphatic. The people
were divided mainly into three parties, and the difficulties confronting
the King were formidable. The Conservatives, who had placed him in
power, wished to prevent further changes in the State; the Moderates
asked for new reforms, especially for a still more extended suffrage;
the Radical party desired a republic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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