ther heroes, who
afterwards fell at Rome, were there to lead. In the first straits for
want of arms the museums of the Uboldi and Poldi-Pozzoli families were
emptied of their rare treasures by permission of the owners; the crowd
brandished priceless old swords and specimens of early firearms. More
serviceable weapons were obtained by degrees from the Austrian killed
and wounded, and from the public offices which fell into their hands.
Bolza, long the hated agent of the Austrian police, was discovered by
the people, but they did not harm him. Throughout the five days, the
Milanese showed a forbearance which was the more admirable, because
there can be no doubt that when the Austrians found they were getting
the worst of it, they vented their rage in deplorable outrages on
non-combatants. That Radetsky was personally to blame for these
excesses has never been alleged, and it was perhaps beyond the power
of the officers to keep discipline among soldiers who, towards the
end, were wild with panic.

'The very foundations of the city were torn up,' wrote the
Field-Marshal in his official report; 'not hundreds, but thousands of
barricades crossed the streets. Such circumspection and audacity were
displayed that it was evident military leaders were at the head of the
people. The character of the Milanese had become quite changed.
Fanaticism had seized every rank and age and both sexes.'

As always happens with street-fighting, the number of the slain has
never been really known; the loss of the citizens was small compared
with that of the Austrians, who, according to some authorities, lost
5000, between killed and wounded.

Radetsky ordered the evacuation of the town and citadel on the night
of Wednesday, the 22nd of March. The Milanese had won much more than
freedom--they had won the right to it. And what they had done they had
done alone. When the news that the capital was up in arms spread
through Lombardy, there was but one gallant impulse, to fly to its
aid. But the earliest to arrive, Giuseppe Martinengo Cesaresco, with
his troop of Brescian peasants, found when he reached Milan that they
were a few hours too late to share in the last shots fired upon the
retreating Austrians.

Nowhere, except in Milan, did the revolution meet with a Radetsky. The
Austrian authorities became convinced that their position was
untenable, and they desired to avoid a useless sacrifice of life.
This, rather than cowardly fears, was the mo