But the saner members of the Austrian Government had completely lost hold of affairs, and Radetzky had become the sole ruler of Milan. He harangued his troops in one of those bombastic addresses whose absurdity seemed to take even a deeper root in men's minds than the atrocity of his acts. "Let us not," he said, "be forced to open the wings of the Austrian eagle which have never yet been clipped." This calm ignoring of Austerlitz and Marengo specially tickled the fancy of the Milanese; more particularly as Radetzky was credited, whether justly or unjustly, with having played a somewhat ignominious part in the latter battle. A few utterly inadequate and trivial reforms were won from Metternich by the spectacle of the Sicilian revolution, the growing popularity of the Pope, and the Neapolitan Constitution. On January 18 it was proposed that the Viceroy should transfer himself from Milan to Verona; that he should be surrounded by persons better informed than his subordinates were; that the Government of Milan should be made more strong; and that some of the members of the Central Congregation of Milan should be summoned to Vienna. How absurdly unlike these concessions were to the real wishes and needs of the Lombard people it is scarcely necessary to point out; but, had the concessions been far more important, they would have been utterly worthless while they were accompanied by the closing of the clubs, the arrest of suspected persons, and, above all, while Radetzky still ruled Milan. It was to a population excited by this state of things that there came the news of the Neapolitan Constitution. The Milanese at once flocked to the Cathedral to return thanks, and on the walls of Milan were written up the words, "Viva il sangue Palermitano! Seguiamo l'esempio di Sicilia! Il pomo e maturo." And near these inscriptions was drawn the picture of a house in ruins, and over it, "Casa d'Austria." New riots followed, and the Universities of Pavia and Padua were closed by authority. But it was felt that the electric current had now spread right through Italy from Palermo to Milan; and, on the very day before the University of Pavia was closed, a secret circular was issued by the friends of Italy at Milan urging that further demonstrations should be abandoned for the present on the ground that "the cause of Italy is now secure."