did not furnish for this sacred war, so
long the object of her aspirations and her prayers, a body of volunteers
one-fourth as large as the army which the King of Sardinia brought into
the field, though it was probable that he was moved from the first only
by the hope of personal aggrandizement. He invaded Lombardy with an army
of fifty-five thousand men, expecting thereby to win, with the aid of
the national enthusiasm, the sceptre of all Italy for himself and his
descendants. A terrible disappointment awaited him; instead of glory,
shame and defeat were his portion; and having abdicated his paternal
throne in despair he died in exile, literally of a broken heart. Pius IX
was hardly more fortunate; to him also this fatal war brought dishonor
and exile, the loss of the affection of his subjects, and of the
admiration of the civilized world. The reluctance of the Pope to engage,
when unprovoked, in a war with Austria is no cause for wonder. He
earnestly desired the welfare of his people and the independence of his
native land; but all his desires were subject to the interests of the
Church, of which he was the recognized head throughout Christendom. The
republicans in his dominions, including Mazzini and his party, were
aware of this reluctance, and determined to make use of it and of the
passions of the people in order to get rid of him altogether. No
opportunity was lost to compromise him in the war, both in his temporal
and ecclesiastical character; and the misfortune of his twofold position
did not allow him to resist these machinations with success. General
Durando, the commander of the papal forces, issued a flaming
proclamation to his army when they passed the Po, announcing to them
that their swords were blessed by the venerable head of the Church, and
that they should all wear the cross on their bosoms, as beseemed those
who were engaged in a holy war. This act naturally gave great uneasiness
to the Pope, and Farini censures it as an unwise attempt to obtain the
sanctions of religion for merely political objects--the very conduct
which the Liberal party had previously censured in their opponents. If
Italian minds, he argues, "were not capable of warming with the simple
fire of patriotism for the noble and even holy enterprise of liberating
Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts so frozen up in
indifference could kindle with religious faith." In the mean time the
Germans, who were speculating abo