Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/472

 454 ITALY opened with Prussia aiming at an alliance which should eventually compel Austria to give up Venetia. On April 8 a conditional treaty of alliance was concluded with Prussia, and the most active preparations were made for war. The king and Gen. Lamarmora joined the army on June 17; on the 20th war was declared; the Italian army crossed the Mincio June 23, and on the following day was defeated with great loss at Custozza ; Garibaldi and his vol- unteers were also beaten by the Austrians at Monte Suello in Tyrol, July 3 ; and on the 20th the Italian fleet under Persano was defeated with great loss at Lissa in the Adriatic, by the Austrian admiral Tegetthoff. But in the mean while the war in its general aspects had been decided against Austria by the battle of Sa- dowa (July 3), and Francis Joseph, in order to conciliate Italy, had vainly renounced his Ital- ian possessions. (See AUSTRIA, vol. ii., p. 150.) By the peace concluded Oct. 3, Venetia was ceded to the kingdom of Italy, and the king made his public entry into Venice Nov. 7. At this time the friendly relations existing be- tween Italy and France were imperilled by the attack made on Rome by volunteers under Gari- baldi. France had withdrawn her troops from the Roman territory, leaving temporary garri- sons in Rome and Civitd Vecchia ; but at the same time she encouraged the pope to raise an army for the defence of Rome, allowed a legion to be recruited on her soil for that purpose, and permitted her own soldiers to enlist in the pon- tifical service. To this legion were soon added bodies of volunteers from every Catholic coun- try, even Lower Canada furnishing a contin- gent. The advance of Garibaldi, only appa- rently opposed by the cabinet under Rattazzi, was condemned by a proclamation of the new ministry under Menabrea, Oct. 27, 1867, and government troops were sent forward into the papal territory to control his movements ; and on the 28th a body of French troops debarked at Civitd Vecchia, which defeated the Garibal- dian forces at Mentana, Nov. 3. In the prece- ding month of May the financial situation had become so critical, that the king in a message to parliament gave up his own share of the civil list, and proposed the sale of church lands and the reduction of the public expendi- ture. A few days afterward French capitalists advanced $86,000,000 for the proposed sale, and in August a bill was passed legalizing the sale. These and similar measures, inaugurated chiefly under the Lanza cabinet, helped to main- tain the national credit ; but the political situ- ation consequent upon the presence of French troops and other foreign soldiers in Rome con- tinued to become more and more embarrassing. There were frequent risings and disturbances throughout the country, and the general unea- siness, increased by the presence and appeals of Mazzini, at length induced the king, in Septem- ber, 1870, to address a letter to the pope an- nouncing that the occupation of Rome by Ital- ian troops was indispensable to the public tran- quillity. At the beginning of the Franco-Ger- man war the French emperor had withdrawn his last soldier from Italy (Aug. 21) ; on Sept. 12 the government troops took possession of Viterbo, and on the 20th, after a brief resis- tance, they entered Rome. This event was notified to the European courts by a circular of Oct. 18. In the beginning of December the Italian parliament met and declared Rome the capital of Italy. On the 26th of that month the Mont Cenis tunnel was completed, and hailed as inaugurating an era of great com- mercial prosperity for the peninsula. On May 13, 1871, the Italian parliament, still sitting at Florence, passed the act known as the bill of the papal guarantees, which defined the situa- tion of the sovereign pontiff and regulated the relations of church and state. The pope was to remain in possession of the Vatican with its dependencies, known as the " Leonine City," and of the Lateran and Castel Gandolfo. On July 2 Victor Emanuel made his solemn entry into Rome, and took up his residence at the Qui- rinal. The opening of the Mont Cenis tunnel to traffic was celebrated at Turin on Sept. 17. On Nov. 27 the king opened the first Italian parliament held in Rome, and at the close of his inaugural discourse announced that the tunnel- ling of Mont St. Gothard would be speedily undertaken. During 1872 Italy enjoyed com- parative political and social tranquillity, and was only visited by a fearful eruption of Mount Vesuvius, beginning April 24, lasting a week, and causing great destruction of life and prop- erty, and by autumnal inundations in the basin of the Po, which left 80,000 persons dependent upon public charity. The debates of the par- liament in May were rendered memorable by an attempt of the government to introduce a bill granting privileges to the heads of religious corporations in Rome, and by the vehement opposition offered to it by the party of the left, headed by Prince Emmanuele Ruspoli. The debates were attended by popular demon- strations, rioting, and bloodshed. On Oct. 20 the Jesuits were expelled from the Roman col- lege and the three other houses occupied by them in Rome ; and on the same day the first scientific congress held in Rome met in the capitol under the presidency of Count Mamiani. (See VICTOR EMAXVEL.) The most impor- tant historical works on Italy are : Guicciar- dini, Storia $ Italia (10 vols., Pisa, 1819-'20; English translation by A. P. Goddard, 10 vols., London, 1763); Muratori, Annali d 1 Italia (12 vols., Milan, 1741-'9) ; Botta, Storia d? Italia dal 1789 al 1814 (Paris, 1824), and Storia d 'Italia dal 1490 al 1814 (Paris, 1832) ; Gual- terio, Oli ultimi rivolgimenti italiani (6 vols., Palermo, 1869); Lebret, GesMchtevonltalien (1778-'87); Leo, Oesehichte der italienuchen Staaten (1829-'32) ; Reumont, Beitrilge zur italienischen Geschiehte (1853-'7); Fantin des Odoards, Histoire d'ltalu (1802-'3) ; Sismon- di, Hutoire des republique* italiennes (16 vols., Paris, 1807-'18 ; later eds. in 10 and 8 vols. ;