What is the consequence?
The Austrian army, after carefully disarming the citizens, delivers
them over to malefactors, without the means of protection.
At Bologna, a merchant of the name of Vincenzio Bedini was pointed out
to me, who had been robbed in his warehouse at six o'clock in the
evening. An Austrian sentinel was on guard at his door.
Austria has good reasons for encouraging disorders in the provinces
she occupies: the greater the frequency of crime, and the difficulty
of governing the people, the greater is the necessity for the presence
of an Austrian army. Every murder, every theft, every burglary, every
assault, tends to strike the roots of these old diplomatists more deep
into the kingdom of the Pope.
France would rejoice to be able to recall her troops. She feels that
their presence at Rome is not a normal state of things: she is herself
more shocked than anybody else at this irregularity. She has reduced,
as much as possible, the effective force of her occupying army; she
would embark her remaining regiments, were she not aware that to do so
would be to deliver the Pope over to the executioner. Mark the extent
to which she carries her disinterestedness in the affairs of Italy. In
order to place the Holy Father in a condition to defend himself alone,
she is trying to create for him a national army. The Pope possesses at
the present time four regiments of French manufacture; if they are not
very good, or rather, not to be relied upon, it is not the fault of
the French.
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