Battle of never to occur again. In the first engage ments at Montebello and Palestro the advantage rested decidedly with the allies. It was at this last-named battle that Victor Emmanuel, by his bold bearing and courage, excited the admiration not only of his own soldiers, but also of the French Zouaves, who were among the best troops of France. On the 4th Magenta. of June, the French fought the battle of Magenta, which ended, though not without a hard struggle, in the defeat of the Austrians. On the 8th, the Emperor Napoleon and King Victor Emmanuel entered Milan, where they were received with a welcome as sincere as it was enthusiastic. The rich Lombard capital hastened to recognize the King as its sovereign. While there he met in person Garibaldi, who was in command of the volunteer corps, whose members had flocked from all parts of Italy to carry on, under his command, the war in the mountainous districts of the north against Austria. The cordial and frank Meeting bearing of the monarch and his single-hearted devotion to the national cause made the deepest impression on the Italian patriot. Indeed, Garibaldi felt from that moment the utmost confidence in the King; nor was it ever shaken throughout the difficulties, dangers, and trials which beset the progress of Italian freedom until its final victory in Rome. of Napo leon and Garibaldi. The allied troops pursued their march onward toward the river Mincio, upon whose banks two of the fortresses of the famous Quadrilateral are situated. On the 24th of June they encountered the Austrian army at Solferino and San Martino. French, Piedmontese, and Austrians fought with courage and determination. Nor was it until after Battle of ten or eleven hours of hard fighting that the allies forced their enemy to retreat and took possession of the positions they had occupied in the morning. The French and Piedmontese armies had won the battle of Solferino, and driven the enemy across the Mincio; their fleets were off the lagoons of Venice, and were even visible from the lofty Campanile of St. Mark's. Italy was throbbing with a movement of national life daily gathering volume and force. Europe was impatiently expecting the next move. It took the unexpected form of an armistice, which the Emperor of the French proposed, on his sole responsibility, to the Emperor Francis Joseph on the 8th of July. On the 12th, the preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. Victor Emmanuel was opposed to this act of his ally, but was unable to prevent it. [In 1860, Napoleon obtains Savoy and Nice. Spain gains territory from Morocco. The second Maori war breaks out. The Druses massacre the Maronites, the Mohammedans massacre the Damascus Christians, Solferino. The Peace of Villa franca. South secedes. and order is restored by a French army. South Carolina dissolves its union with the United States. Speke and Grant determine the Victoria Nyanza to be the true source of the Nile. Garibaldi invades Sicily.] END OF THE POPE'S TEMPORAL POWER AND UNIFICATION OF ITALY A ROBERT MACKENZIE kingdom T the close of the war, Naples, containing a population of nine million, was still ruled by a Bourbon, who maintained State of the over the unhappy people a shameful despot-of Naples. ism. The Neapolitans were quick, intelligent, and good-natured-a people capable of high civilization, but cruelly debased by centuries of wicked government. They were ignorant, idle, superstitious, and without just ideas of right and wrong. nand's Ferdinand II. was then King, the last of a Ferdiline of tyrants. His government was regarded despotism. with abhorrence by his subjects, and with strong disapproval by Europe. Some years before an eminent English statesman, Mr. Gladstone, had visited Naples. He was led to make inquiry into the relations maintained by the government with those of its subjects who stone's were supposed to be disaffected. He gave to the world the result of his researches in letters addressed to Lord Aberdeen. He showed that there were probably twenty thousand persons Mr. Glad letters. Prison horrors. The held in prison by the Neapolitan government for political reasons; that men were habitually arrested without any offence being charged, simply because the government desired to have them out of the way; that unoffending citizens were imprisoned for years, without trial, among the vilest criminals, often in heavy irons, which were never for a moment removed; that the dungeons were dark, airless, crowded, inexpressibly filthy, and often so low-roofed that the prisoners could not stand erect; that the doctors refused to enter these loathsome cells, and caused such prisoners as required medical care to be brought out to them; that the police habitually inflicted torture; that trial was a mockery of justice; that prisoners who had the rare good fortune to be acquitted were liberated only if the government pleased. These revelations brought upon Naples the reprobation of the civilized world, and left her, in an age of revolution, without a friend. Lord Palmerston sent copies of Mr. Gladstone's letters to the British ministers at all Neapolitan European courts. The Neapolitan Government replies ment felt so acutely the damage done to its reputation that it caused a reply to be prepared, which, as Mr. Gladstone showed, virtually admitted the substantial accuracy of his statements. Govern to Glad stone. The great events which had come to pass in northern and central Italy sent their thrill |