d
into the Cispadane Republic, destined soon to be merged into a yet
larger creation. A new life breathed from Modena and Bologna into
Central Italy. The young republic forthwith abolished all feudal laws,
decreed civic equality, and ordered the convocation at Bologna of a
popularly elected Assembly for the Christmas following. These events
mark the first stage in the beginning of that grand movement, _Il
Risorgimento,_ which after long delays was finally consummated in
1870.

This period of Bonaparte's career may well be lingered over by those
who value his invigorating influence on Italian life more highly than
his military triumphs. At this epoch he was still the champion of the
best principles of the Revolution; he had overthrown Austrian
domination in the peninsula, and had shaken to their base domestic
tyrannies worse than that of the Hapsburgs. His triumphs were as yet
untarnished. If we except the plundering of the liberated and
conquered lands, an act for which the Directory was primarily
responsible, nothing was at this time lacking to the full orb of his
glory. An envoy bore him the welcome news that the English, wearied by
the intractable Corsicans, had evacuated the island of his birth; and
he forthwith arranged for the return of many of the exiles who had
been faithful to the French Republic. Among these was Salicetti, who
now returned for a time to his old insular sphere; while his former
_protege_ was winning a world-wide fame. Then, turning to the affairs
of Central Italy, the young commander showed his diplomatic talents to
be not a whit inferior to his genius for war. One instance of this
must here suffice. He besought the Pope, who had broken off the
lingering negotiations with France, not to bring on his people the
horrors of war.[64] The beauty of this appeal, as also of a somewhat
earlier appeal to the Emperor Francis at Vienna, is, however,
considerably marred by other items which now stand revealed in
Bonaparte's instructive correspondence. After hearing of the French
defeats in Germany, he knew that the Directors could spare him very
few of the 25,000 troops whom he demanded as reinforcements.

He was also aware that the Pope, incensed at his recent losses in
money and lands, was seeking to revivify the First Coalition. The
pacific precepts addressed by the young Corsican to the Papacy must
therefore be viewed in the light of merely mundane events and of his
secret advice to the French age