iament
assembled. The minister had reached the stairs, and was ascending when a
group of conspirators came around him. At first they insulted him. Then
one of the assassins struck him on the shoulder. As he turned indignantly
towards this assassin, his neck was exposed to the poniard of another,
who, availing himself of the opportune moment, dealt the fatal blow. The
minister fell, bedewing with his blood the steps at the very threshold of
the legislative chamber. As the details of the murder were related to the
members, they remained ominously silent. Not one of them uttered a word in
condemnation of this monstrous crime. They proceeded at once to the
business of the day. Although in the open space at the foot of the stairs
which led to the assembly hall the civic guard was stationed in arms,
nobody arrested, or showed the slightest inclination to arrest, the
murderer. On the contrary, the criminal was conducted, not only unpunished
but in triumph, through the streets of the city by his accomplices. A new
hymn was sung--"Blessed be the hand that slew Rossi." The dagger of the
assassin was enwreathed with flowers and exposed for public veneration in
the _cafe_ of the Fine Arts. The populace, in the excess of their phrenzy,
insulted the widow of the murdered minister; and, by an extravagance of
irony, they required that she should illuminate her house. The newspapers
expressed approval of the crime, as it was, they pretended, the necessary
manifestation of the general sentiment. The whole people, by their
silence, although not by actual participation in such demon-like
rejoicings, declared themselves accomplices in the deed of blood.

Together with the noble Rossi perished, for the time, the cause of Rome,
the cause of Italy. What might not have been the gain to both, if the
devoted minister had been allowed to fulfil his appointed mission?
Constitutional government would have been established on a solid and
permanent basis; the wild agitation of the streets would have been brought
to an end, and the excited passions of the revolution, beholding the
sound, regular and beneficial working of free political institutions,
would have been awed into composure. But, sad reflection! by an act which
history will never cease to stigmatize, the only man who, by the authority
of his reputation, abilities and experience, was equal to the stupendous
labor of building up on sure foundations the social fabric was struck
down, and the nat