ill say there should be
no war, and his people did not engage in the contest. A few among the
Roman youth took the field. But, as effeminate as they were ardent, their
courage cooled at the first sight of a _barbarian_ camp. They returned to
their hearths, and there talked magniloquently of the tented fields which
they had traversed, the savage hordes which they had encountered, and the
dangers they had escaped. The party succeeded, however, in forcing a
ministry on the reluctant Pontiff. Such a thing, when done through the
representative body, however unreasonable, does not so much shock our idea
of constitutional government. Neither can we approve the conduct of a
faction which, whilst it was anything but constitutional, imposed a
minister who held its principles, on the prince who had, of his own
accord, become a constitutional monarch. Count Mamiani was one of those
whom the clemency of Pius IX. had restored to their country, of all the
parties thus favored, he alone refused to become bound in honor to the
Holy Father never to abuse the favor, but to remain always a good and
faithful subject. He was not without ability; was well informed, cool and
resolute, but without any fixed principle in politics. He would as readily
have set up a Red Republic as a constitutional monarchy. His political
conduct was guided more by events and circumstances than by any
well-conceived idea of what is right and fitting. He was one of those
Italian Liberals who might be compared to the Necker of the French
Revolution, whilst Mazzini and his followers were the ultra-radicals--the
Robespierres of Roman politics. The Mamiani ministry necessarily arose out
of the popular commotions, and was a protest of the excited masses against
the Encyclical of 29th April. Its policy was no secret. In the days of
popular turmoil they immediately preceded his nomination. Mamiani had
declared distinctly in his harangues to the people that no priest should
be appointed to any public office; that although Pius IX. should remain at
the head of the government, they ought to obtain from him the revocation
of his Encyclical of 29th April, and a declaration of war against Austria;
that a new expedition should be speedily organized, and that an official
bulletin of the war should be published daily. The warlike and
revolutionary pronunciamentos, thus pompously made, could not fail to
arouse the enthusiasm of the multitude, whose excitement was already so
great. In