o_, for the setting sun has just lit up the magnificent
range of windows in the Palazzo Barberini, and then faded tenderly,
sadly away, and the mellow bells have chimed the Ave Maria. Rome looks
as Roman, that is to say as tranquil, as ever, despite the trouble
that tugs at her heart-strings. There is a report that Mazzini is to
be made Dictator, as Manin is in Venice, for a short time, so as to
provide hastily and energetically for the war. Ave Maria Sanissima!
when thou didst gaze on thy babe with such infinite hope, thou didst
not dream that, so many ages after, blood would be shed and curses
uttered in his name. Madonna Addolorata! hadst thou not hoped peace
and good-will would spring from his bloody woes, couldst thou have
borne those hours at the foot of the cross. O Stella! woman's heart of
love, send yet a ray of pure light on this troubled deep?

LETTER XXX.

THE STRUGGLE IN ROME.--POSITION OF THE FRENCH.--THE
AUSTRIANS.--FEELING OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE.--THE FRENCH TROOPS.--EFFECTS
OF WAR.--HOSPITALS.--THE PRINCESS BELGIOIOSO.--POSITION OF MR. CASS AS
ENVOY.--DIFFICULTIES AND SUGGESTIONS.--AMERICA AND ROME.--REFLECTIONS
ON THE ETERNAL CITY.--THE FRENCH: THE PEOPLE.

Rome, May 27, 1849.

I have suspended writing in the expectation of some decisive event;
but none such comes yet. The French, entangled in a web of falsehood,
abashed by a defeat that Oudinot has vainly tried to gloss over, the
expedition disowned by all honorable men at home, disappointed at
Gaeta, not daring to go the length Papal infatuation demands, know not
what to do. The Neapolitans have been decidedly driven back into their
own borders, the last time in a most shameful rout, their king flying
in front. We have heard for several days that the Austrians were
advancing, but they come not. They also, it is probable, meet with
unexpected embarrassments. They find that the sincere movement of the
Italian people is very unlike that of troops commanded by princes
and generals who never wished to conquer and were always waiting to
betray. Then their troubles at home are constantly increasing, and,
should the Russian intervention quell these to-day, it is only to
raise a storm far more terrible to-morrow.

The struggle is now fairly, thoroughly commenced between the principle
of democracy and the old powers, no longer legitimate. That struggle
may last fifty years, and the earth be watered with the blood and
tears of more than one generatio