e else. But no; unless she chose they
would both be shot. At last she chose Diego. Afterwards she went mad,
and was constantly heard wailing: 'I have killed my grandson Emilio.'
This anecdote gives a fair notion of Francis I., whose short reign
was, however, less signalised by acts of cruelty, though there were
enough of these, than by a venality never surpassed. The
grooms-in-waiting and ladies-of-the-bedchamber sold the public offices
in the daylight; and the King, who was aware of it, thought it a
subject for vulgar jokes with his intimates. Francis died in 1830 of
bad humour at the Paris revolution, and was succeeded by Ferdinand
II., to be known hereafter as Bomba--then a clownish youth, one of
whose first kingly cares was to create St Ignatius Loyola a
Field-Marshal.

The revolution which upset the throne of Charles X., and ushered in
the eighteen years' reign of the Citizen King, seemed likely to have
momentous consequences for Italy. The principle of non-intervention
proclaimed by French politicians would, if logically enforced, sound
the death-knell of the Austrian power in Italy. Dupin, the Minister of
War, enlarged on the theme in a speech which appeared to remove all
doubt as to the real intentions of the Government. 'One phrase,' he
remarked, 'has made a general impression; it expresses the true
position of a loyal and generous Government. Not only has the
President of the Council laid down the principle that France should
abstain from intervention; he has declared that she would not tolerate
intervention on the part of others. France might have shut herself up
in a cold egotism, and simply said that she would not intervene; this
would have been contemptible, but the proclamation of not suffering
the interventions of others is the noblest attitude a strong and
magnanimous people can assume; it amounts to saying: Not only will I
not attack or disturb other nations, but I, France, whose voice is
respected by Europe and by the whole world, will never permit others
to do so. This is the language held by the ministry and by the
ambassadors of Louis Philippe; and it is this which the army, the
National Guard, France entire, is ready to maintain.'

Truly language was invented to travesty the truth, and when French
politicians say they are going to the right it is an almost sure sign
that they are going to the left; nevertheless, is it possible to blame
the Italians who read in these assurances a positive promise