e
of Tuscany, uncle of Victor Emmanuel, was overthrown in consequence of
intrigues and plots at the house of Signor Buoncompagni, ambassador of the
Piedmontese King, a fact to which Mr. Scarlett, the British
representative, bears witness in an official despatch. The same blow was
struck, and with the like success, against the excellent and popular
Duchess of Parma. But this princess was immediately recalled by the
people, who had been taken by surprise, and remained until Piedmont took
military possession of the Duchies, which it never gave up. Prince
Napoleon, who commanded the 5th French Army Corps, looking out for the
enemy by a devious route, in the direction of Romagna, reached the
battle-field of Solferino too late to take part in the fight, but quite in
time to make it available to the revolution. The Austrian troops who
occupied Bologna, being threatened by the movement, made haste to recross
the Po, without waiting to be replaced by a Pontifical garrison, and
without even advising the Holy See. M. de Cavour's emissaries immediately
availed themselves of so good an opportunity, took possession of the city,
where there was not a soldier left, and offered its government to Victor
Emmanuel.

They were preparing at Rome to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of the
coronation of Pius IX., when the news of these sad events reached the
city. The addresses of the Pope, on this occasion, therefore, were
necessarily full of melancholy feeling. "In whatever direction I look,"
said he, in his reply to the cardinals, "I behold only subjects of sorrow;
but, '_vae homini illi per quem scandalum venit!_' Woe to that man by whom
scandal cometh! For my part, personally, I am not shaken; I place my trust
in God." Three days later, the 18th June, he announced, in a consistorial
allocution, that Cardinal Antonelli had been commissioned to protest at
the courts of all the Powers against the events in Romagna. But his
position as sovereign required of him something more than words, and he
did not shrink from any of his duties. Perugia had followed the example of
Bologna, and to the former city he despatched troops, who retook it
without any difficulty. In the contest some twelve men were either killed
or wounded, and the clamors of the revolutionary press rung throughout
Europe, denouncing the massacres and the "sack of Perugia."

Letter of the Honorable Mrs. Ross from Perugia, _vide Weekly
Register_, February 11th, 1860.