e as far as the frontier, he left Tuscany. A
Provisional Government was formed with Peruzzi at its head, which
hastily raised 8000 men for immediate service under the command of
General Ulloa. Before long Prince Napoleon, with the fifth corps of
the French army, landed, for no reason that could be avowed, at
Leghorn. The real motive was to prepare the way for the fabrication
of a new kingdom of Etruria, which existed already in Napoleon's
brain. This masterpiece of folly had but a lukewarm supporter in
Prince Napoleon, who was the only Napoleon and about the only
Frenchman (if he could be called one) who grasped the idea of the
unity of Italy and sincerely applauded it. Had Jerome Napoleon been
born with the least comprehension of self-respect and personal
dignity, his strong political intelligence and clear logical
discernment must have produced something better than the most
ineffectual career of the century.

On the 8th of May, Baron Ricasoli took office under the Provisional
Government as Minister of the Interior, and for nearly twelve months
he was the real ruler of Tuscany. He had an ally of great strength,
though of humble origin, in Giuseppe Dolfi, the baker, of whom it was
currently said that any day he could summon 10,000 men to the Piazza
della Signoria, who would obey him to the death. To Dolfi it was due
that there were no disorders after the Grand Duke left. What Italy
owes to the Lord of Brolio, history will never adequately state,
because it is well-nigh impossible fully to realise how critical was
her position during all that year, from causes external and internal,
and how disastrous would have been the slightest mistake or wavering
in the direction of Tuscan affairs, which formed the central hinge of
the whole complicated situation. Fortunate, indeed, was it that there
was a man like the Iron Baron, who, by simple force of will, outwitted
the enemies of Italy more thoroughly than even Cavour could do with
all his astuteness. Austere, aristocratic, immovable from his purpose,
indifferent to praise or blame, Ricasoli aimed at one point--the
unity of the whole country; and neither Cavour's impatience for
annexation to Piedmont, nor the scheme of Farini and Minghetti for
averting the wrath of the French Emperor by a temporary and
preparatory union of the central states, drew him one inch from the
straight road, which was the only one he had ever learnt to walk in.

In June, the Duke of Modena and the Du