VENICE AT LAST UNITED TO ITALY. II

the ncver-to-be-forgotten cry, Fuori lo Sirafticro ! which had resounded so long throughout the peninsula, was to be heard no more.

During the period of the armistice, before the treaty of peace was signed, there was an interlude which diverted the public interest from the late disasters in the form of an insurrection in Sicily, which was quickly suppressed by General Cadorna, who had with him the sympathy of the respectable portion of the community. It was conducted by those lawless adventurers who had been hitherto accustomed to live as they pleased, and prey upon their neighbours, and consequently disliked the new order of things, as tending to do away with their privilèges. This movement was the last expiring effort of the Bourbons to restore their dynasty in Italy.

As soon as the treaty was signed at Vienna, October 2, the Venetian Assemblies unanimously elected Victor Emmanuel with acclamations, and begged for immédiate annexation to the kingdom of Italy. On November 4, in the city of Turin, Victor Emmanuel received the députation which came to proffer him the homage of the inhabitants of Venetia ; and not only did the citizens greet them with démonstrations of joy, but visitors from ail parts of the Peninsula were assembled to welcome them, as brothers long separated by a cruel fate, at last reunited to the Italian family. The exiled Venetians wept for joy to think they should see again their dear native city. The king, in bestowing the Order of the SS. Annunciata upon Générais Cialdini and Menabrea, also decorated the breast of the blind Vene-

tian, Paleocapa, who had resigned with the Cavour cabinet, disgusted with the peace of Villafranca, but who was now full of joy at the thought of breathing his native air once more.

Victor Emmanuel was radiant with happiness. Who will blâme him if in that moment he fotgot Custozza and Lissa, and thought only that the labour of his life was accomplished, that the vow he made on his father’s tomb, so often renewed, was at last fulhlled ; that the foreigner was finally expelled from Italian soil, and he was no longer required to hâte anybody ? With him, the hackneyed phrase, ‘This is the happiest moment of my life,’ was no mere figure of speech, for he had never used it before in any public address.

Victor Emmanuel' s Reply to the Venetians.

Gentlemen, — This is the most beautiful day of my life. It is now nineteen years since my father proclaimed from this city the war of national independence. Today, his birthday, you, gentlemen, bring me the manifestation of the popular will of the Venetian provinces, which we now unité to the great Italian country {patria Italiana), declaring as an accomplished fact the desire of my august parent. You confirm by this solemn actthat which Venetia did in 1848, and which she maintained with such admirable constancy and self-abnegation. Let me here pay a tribute to those brave men who with their blood, and with sacrifices of every sort, kept undiminished faith to their country