banner inscribed:
'Citta Leonina Si.' As the Government had not supplied the inhabitants
with an official urn, it occurred to them to provide themselves with
an unofficial one in which they duly deposited their votes. The Roman
plebiscite yielded the results of 133,681 affirmative and 1507
negative votes.

In December the Italian Parliament met for the last time in the Hall
of the Five Hundred. 'Italy,' said the King in the speech from the
throne, 'is free and united; it depends on us to make her great and
happy.' Of this last session at Florence the principal labour was the
Act embodying the Papal guarantees which was intended to safeguard the
legitimate independence and decorum of the Holy See on the lines
formerly advocated by Cavour. Neither extreme party was satisfied, but
it seemed at first not unlikely that the Pope would tacitly acquiesce
in the arrangement. The first monthly payment of the national
dotation, calculated to correspond with his civil list, was accepted.
But though the influence of Cardinal Antonelli and the Italian
prelates had been sufficient to keep the Pope in Rome, the influence
of those who wished him to leave it was strong enough to establish at
the Vatican the intransigent policy which has been pursued till now.

During the flood of the Tiber which devastated the city that winter,
the King of Italy paid a first informal visit to his capital,
accompanied only by a few attendants, and bent on bringing help to
the suffering population. In July 1872, he made his solemn entry, and
at the same time the seat of Government was transferred to the Eternal
City.

* * * * *

Victor Emmanuel could say what few men have been able to say of so
large a promise: 'I have kept my word.' He gathered up the Italian
flag from the dust of Novara, and carried it to the Capitol. In spite
of the grandeur of republican tradition in Italy, and the lofty
character of the men who represented it during the struggle for unity,
a study of these events leaves on the mind the conviction that, at
least in our time, the country could neither have been freed from the
stranger nor welded into a single body-politic without a symbol which
appealed to the imagination, and a centre of gravity which kept the
diverse elements together by giving the whole its proper balance. The
Liberating Prince whom Machiavelli sought was found in the Savoyard
King. 'Quali porte se gli serrerebbono? Quali popoli gl