n 1846 of Pius IX., who appeared to be a
Liberal and an Italian patriot, the eyes of all Italy were turned on him
as the heaven-born leader who was to rescue the country from the
foreigner. This to some extent reconciled the king to the Liberal
movement, for it accorded with his religious views. "I confess," he
wrote to the marquis of Villamarina, in 1847, "that a war of national
independence which should have for its object the defence of the pope
would be the greatest happiness that could befall me." On the 30th of
October he issued a decree granting wide reforms, and when risings broke
out in other parts of Italy early in 1848 and further liberties were
demanded, he was at last induced to grant the constitution (8th
February).

When the news of the Milanese revolt against the Austrians reached Turin
(19th of March) public opinion demanded that the Piedmontese should
succour their struggling brothers; and after some hesitation the king
declared war. But much time had been wasted and many precious
opportunities lost. With an army of 60,000 Piedmontese troops and 30,000
men from other parts of Italy the king took the field, and after
defeating the Austrians at Pastrengo on the 30th of April, and at Goito
on the 30th of May, where he was himself slightly wounded, more time was
wasted in useless operations. Radetzky, the Austrian general, having
received reinforcements, drove the centre of the extended Italian line
back across the Mincio (23rd of July), and in the two days' fighting at
Custozza (24th and 25th of July) the Piedmontese were beaten, forced to
retreat, and to ask for an armistice. On re-entering Milan Charles
Albert was badly received and reviled as a traitor by the Republicans,
and although he declared himself ready to die defending the city the
municipality treated with Radetzky for a capitulation; the mob, urged on
by the demagogues, made a savage demonstration against him at the
Palazzo Greppi, whence he escaped in the night with difficulty and
returned to Piedmont with his defeated army. [** amended from armp] The
French Republic offered to intervene in the spring of 1848, but Charles
Albert did not desire foreign aid, the more so as in this case it would
have had to be paid for by the cession of Nice and Savoy. The
revolutionary movement throughout Italy was breaking down, but Charles
Albert felt that while he possessed an army he could not abandon the
Lombards and Venetians, and determined to stake all