AT THE ZENITH

triumph there was a general truce to the hostilities of party, ail uniting in testimonies of admiration and gratitude to the sovereign whose brave, firm hand had guided the ship of state into port. It is sometimes said of constitutional sovereigns that they reign but do not govern. Victor Emmanuel never was a royal puppet of this sort. As head of the state, he exercised his authority judiciously, and assisted his ministers with his wise, moderate counsels, balancing the extremes of opinion. Not long ago he was asked by a distinguished foreigner if his ministers were not Radical. To which he replied with a smile, ‘ And if they were, what matter ? Am I not here } If, instead of Radicals, as you say, I had a ministry of Cardinals, things should go on in the same way.’ And when some one hoped that on the occasion of the expected conclave, public matters would be conducted with tolérance and modération, he said, ‘ Be tranquil; ail will go well. Remember that the leader of the choir is always the same.’

Victor Emmanuel was now at the zénith of his glory; his utmost ambition was attained. He had found Italy oppressed by a host of petty tyrants, dominated by Austria, torn by lawless combinations, misjudged and condemned by the other countries of Europe. She was now a free united nation, tranquil and lawabiding, respected everywhere. At peace with ail the World, beloved and honoured by his people, what was left for him to désiré.^ He might say with the poet —

I hâve touched the highest point of ail my greatness.

But he was not happy ; and during the last few ' months he had been subject to unaccountable fits of melancholy. That this gloom had its origin in a feeling of dissatisfaction with himself is very probable. Notwithstanding his long and resolute struggle against clérical pretensions, Victor Emmanuel had preserved a simple child-like faith in the religion he had been taught at his mother’s knee : and through ail the stormy passions of his fitful career he had preserved sacred the image of his pure young wife, whose memory he revered as that of a saint. In Turin, where he passed the autumn of this year, having gone there to inaugurate a monument to his brother, the Duke of Genoa, he was heard to sa5>^ more than once, ‘ I am not a good man, but I cannot die a bad death ; she who is in heaven would not permit it.’

In the middle of November the king returned to the capital for the reopening of Parliament. Then in December hc made a hasty joumey to Turin to see the Countess Mirafiore, who was ill, and returned for the festivities of Christmas and New Year’s day, with the intention of going back as soon as they were over. On the last day of the year 1877 Victor Emmanuel received ail the foreign ministers who waited on him to exchange the compliments of the season in the name of their respective sovereigns. The following day he gave audience to députations from both Housesof Parliament and others who presented congratulatory addresses. The king spoke cheerfully and hopefully of the future.