at in
Savoy not one person in fifty was in favour of annexation to France. But
this is an extreme case.

'The Bourbons are deservedly hated and despised by the Neapolitans, the
Piedmontese are not despised, but are hated still more intensely. There
is no native royal stock. The people are obviously unfit for a Republic.
It would be as well, I think, to let them select a King as to impose one
on them. The King whom Piedmont, without a shadow of right, is imposing
on them is the one whom they most detest.'

'If I go to Rome,' I asked, 'in the winter, whom shall I find there?'

'I think,' he answered, 'that it will be the Piedmontese. The present
state of things is full of personal danger to Louis Napoleon. As his
policy is purely selfish, he will, at any sacrifice, put an end to it.
That sacrifice may be the unity of Catholicism. The Pope, no longer a
sovereign, will be under the influence of the Government in whose
territory he resides, and the other Catholic Powers may follow the
example of Greece and of Russia, and create each an independent Spiritual
Government. It would be a new excitement for _Celui-ci_ to make himself
Head of the Church.'

'Assassinations,' I said, 'even when successful have seldom produced
important and permanent effects, but Orsini's failure has influenced and
is influencing the destinies of Europe.'

'If I were an Italian liberal,' said Beaumont, 'I would erect a statue to
him. The policy and almost the disposition of Louis Napoleon have been
changed by the _attentat_. He has become as timid as he once was
intrepid. He began by courting the Pope and the clergy. He despised the
French assassins, who were few in number and unconnected, and who had
proved their unskilfulness on Louis Philippe; but Orsini showed him that
he had to elect between the Pope and the Austrians on one side, and the
Carbonari on the other. He has chosen the alliance of the Carbonari. He
has made himself their tool, and will continue to do so.

'They are the only enemies whom he fears, at least for the present.

'France is absolutely passive. The uneducated masses from whom he holds
his power are utterly indifferent to liberty, and he has too much sense
to irritate them by wanton oppression. They do not know that he is
degrading the French character, they do not even feel that he is wasting
the capital of France, they do not know that he is adding twenty millions
every year to the national debt. They think of his loan