Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Outlook, 1872, Vol. 1: A Monthly Magazine, Devoted to a Pure Literature, Popular Science, and Progressive Art
Statute or constitution, granted in March, 1848, to the kingdom of Pied mont by her then reigning sovereign, Charles Albert. It was not, by any means, the only constitution given to the people of Italy about that time. On the contrary, the Austrian Government of Lombardy and Venetia, the rulers also of Tuscany, the Roman States, and Naples, all granted similar liberties of a constitutional kind; but each one of these governments got rid of those liberties as soon as they had power to do so. Nor did they hesitate to enforce the arbitrary rule which they substituted for free institutions, by calling to their aid foreign bayonets. In Piedmont alone the constitution was maintained in all its integrity from the date of its first promulgation. While all other Italian rulers proved false to their peo ple's freedom, King Victor Emmanuel, the son and successor of Charles Albert, remained true to the constitution grant ed by his father and sworn to by him self. In vain were promises and threats alike employed to turn him from his plighted word. This fidelity to the liberties of the people won for him the title of 11 Re Galantuomo the honest king. It was, moreover, the reason which led each portion of the Italian people, as opportunity offered, to place themselves under his rule. He had been tried, and found faithful; the other Italian rulers had been tried, and found faithless. These unfaithful ones and their abettors feared the effect which would be produced by the spec tacle of an Italian people (the Pied montese) living under a free constitu tion, and their fear was largely mingled with hatred. Nor did this alarm exist without good reason, for the liberty of Piedmont soon became the guiding star to whose light all other Italians turned. As for the hatred, it was but natural, for dishonesty ever hates uprightness.
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