Page:Margaret Fuller by Howe, Julia Ward, Ed. (1883).djvu/202

Rh which had, for. the moment, the upper hand, was her own, and these very days were such as she had longed for, not, we may be sure, for their accompaniments of bloodshed and violence, but for the outlook which was to her and her friends one of absolute promise.

The "good time coming" did then seem to have come for Italy. Her various populations had risen against their respective tyrants, and had shown a disposition to forget past divisions in the joy of a country reconciled and united.

In the principal churches of Rome, masses were performed in commemoration of the patriotic men who fall at this time in various struggles with existing governments. Thus were honoured the "victims” of Milan, of Naples, of Venice, of Vienna.

Not long after the assassination of Rossi, the Pope, imploring the protection of the King of Naples, fled to Gaeta.

“No more of him," writes Margaret; "his day is over. He has been made, it seems unconsciously, an instrument of good which his regrets cannot destroy." The political consequences of this act were scarcely foreseen by the Romans, who, according to Margaret's account, remained quite cool and composed, saying only: “The Pope, the cardinals, the princes are gone, and Rome is perfectly tranquil. One does not miss anything, except that there are not so many rich carriages and liveries."

In February Margaret chronicles the opening of the Constitutional Assembly, which was heralded by a fine procession, with much display of banners. In this, Prince Canino, a nephew of Napoleon, walked side by side with Garibaldi, both having been chosen deputies. Margaret saw this from a balcony in the Piazza di