Their language is not
Italian, neither are their habits, the proof of which is found in the
fact, that they have the true military and monarchical spirit, unknown
to the rest of Italy. According to this, it would be far easier to
prove that the Alsacians and the Bretons are not French; the first,
because they are the best soldiers in the empire, and because they say
_Meinherr_ when we should say _Monsieur_; the second, because they
have the true monarchical spirit, and because they call _butun_ what
we call _tabac_. But all the soldiers of Italy are not in Piedmont.
The King of Naples has a good army. The Grand Duke of Tuscany has a
sufficient one for his defence; the small Duchies of Modena and Parma
have a smart regiment or two. Lombardy, Venice, Modena, and one-half
of the Papal States, have given heroes to France. Napoleon remembered
it at St. Helena; it has been so written.
As for the spirit of association, I know not where it is to be found,
if not in Italy. By what is the Catholic world governed? By an
Association. What is it but an Association that wastes the revenue of
the poor Romans? Who monopolizes their corn, their hemp, their oil?
Who lays waste the forests of the State? An Association. Who take
possession of the highways, stop diligences, and lay travellers under
contribution? Five or six Associations. Who keeps up agitation at
Genoa, at Leghorn, and, above all, at Home? That secret Association
known as the Mazzinists.
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