ned a great ascendancy over
him in the miserable days of their residence in the island of
Sardinia. His nephew, who was almost or wholly unknown to him, partook
of the nature of a disagreeable myth. Nevertheless he had a sense of
justice, as well as Savoy blood, in his veins--he resisted; but the
day came when his surrender seemed probable. Just at that moment,
however, the Duke of Modena prematurely revealed the project by asking
through his representative at the Congress of Vienna for the port of
Spezia, in order that he might conveniently connect his own state with
his prospective possession, the island of Sardinia. Prince Talleyrand
was alarmed by the vision of Austria supreme in the Mediterranean, and
through his opposition the conspiracy, for the time, was upset, and
the rights of Charles Albert were recognised.

Curiously enough, Prince Metternich had insisted on the young Prince,
then seventeen, visiting the headquarters of the Allies. Charles Felix
(who was unconnected with the Modena scheme) wrote a letter to the
King on this subject, in which he stated it as his belief that the
Austrian plan was to get Charles Albert accidentally killed, or to
plunge him in vice, or to make him contract a discreditable marriage.
This was why they had invited him to their camp. He adds the
characteristic remark that their nephew would be in no less danger at
the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington 'a cause de la religion.'
Have him home and have him married, is his advice. 'We are well
treated, because there is the expectation of soon devouring our
remains by extinguishing the House of Savoy. It is the habit of the
cabinet of Vienna; it was thus they made an end of the House of Este.'

These counsels were the more likely to impress Victor Emmanuel from
his knowledge that they were inspired by no shadow of personal
interest in 'the little vagrant,' but by the race-feeling alone. The
Queen contrived to prevent the immediate recall of the Prince of
Carignano, but she was obliged to give way, and he was definitely
established in Piedmont. In 1818 he was married at Florence to the
Archduchess Maria Teresa of Tuscany, who, on the 14th of March 1820,
gave birth to the child that was to become the first King of Italy.

Very soon after his return to his country, the hopes of the Liberal
party began to centre in the young Prince, whom some of their more
ardent spirits already saluted as the rising sun. Those who made his
acquainta