ved in a city which
they had bombarded, and where twelve hundred men were lying wounded
by their assault. To say nothing of the justice or injustice of the
matter, it could not be supposed that the Roman people, if it had any
sense of dignity, would welcome them. I did not appear in the street,
as I would not give any countenance to such a wrong; but an English
lady, my friend, told me they seemed to look expectingly for the
strong party of friends they had always pretended to have within the
walls. The French officers looked up to the windows for ladies, and,
she being the only one they saw, saluted her. She made no reply. They
then passed into the Corso. Many were assembled, the softer
Romans being unable to control a curiosity the Milanese would have
disclaimed, but preserving an icy silence. In an evil hour, a foolish
priest dared to break it by the cry of _Viva Pio Nono!_ The populace,
roused to fury, rushed on him with their knives. He was much wounded;
one or two others were killed in the rush. The people howled then, and
hissed at the French, who, advancing their bayonets, and clearing the
way before them, fortified themselves in the piazzas. Next day the
French troops were marched to and fro through Rome, to inspire awe in
the people; but it has only created a disgust amounting to loathing,
to see that, with such an imposing force, and in great part fresh, the
French were not ashamed to use bombs also, and kill women and children
in their beds. Oudinot then, seeing the feeling of the people, and
finding they pursued as a spy any man who so much as showed the way
to his soldiers,--that the Italians went out of the cafes if Frenchmen
entered,--in short, that the people regarded him and his followers in
the same light as the Austrians,--has declared martial law in Rome;
the press is stifled; everybody is to be in the house at half past
nine o'clock in the evening, and whoever in any way insults his men,
or puts any obstacle in their way, is to be shot.

The fruits of all this will be the same as elsewhere; temporary
repression will sow the seeds of perpetual resistance; and never
was Rome in so fair a way to be educated for a republican form of
government as now.

Especially could nothing be more irritating to an Italian population,
in the month of July, than to drive them to their homes at half past
nine. After the insupportable heat of the day, their only enjoyment
and refreshment are found in evening walks, a