The Pope Who Would Be King, page 47
25. Spada 1868–69, vol. 3, pp. 429–30; Foramiti 1850, p. 94.
26. Rayneval à Drouyn, Gaëte, 28 mai 1849, n. 131, MAEC, PAR; Balleydier 1851, vol. 2, pp. 153–55. Both French ambassadors in Gaeta were making known their displeasure with Lesseps and hinted that he might soon be recalled by the French government. Bargagli al ministro, Mola di Gaeta, 31 maggio 1849, in Bianchi 1869, vol. 6, p. 547.
27. Severini 2002a, pp. 142–43; Cass to Clayton, Rome, May 23, 1849, in Stock 1933, pp. 39–40. Margaret Fuller pictured the mood in Rome even more starkly: “When I first arrived in Italy, the vast majority of this people had no wish beyond limited monarchies, constitutional governments….It required King Bomba…it required Pio IX…and finally the imbecile Louis Bonaparte…to convince this people that no transition is possible between the old and the new. The work is done; the revolution in Italy is now radical, nor can it stop till Italy become independent and united as a republic. Protestant she already is.” Fuller, report of May 27, 1849, Rome, in Fuller 1991, p. 278. Or as the Dutch ambassador’s informant in Rome put it on May 22, “Our excellent pope and the upper clergy are fooling themselves, or they have been fooled by false reports, if they ignore the immense change that, in these last months, has altered the views of the great majority of the Roman population.” Liedekerke au Monsieur le Ministre, Mola-de-Gaëte, 6 juin 1849, doc. XCIX in Liedekerke 1949, p. 191n.
28. Leone Paladini, Roma, 25 maggio 1849, in Paladini 1897, pp. 37–40.
29. Harcourt à Drouyn, Gaëte, 28 mai 1849, n. 48, MAEN, RSS 410. Some sense of the pressure on the French comes from the report sent by the London Times correspondent with the French army outside Rome on May 29. The army, the Times reporter argued, was in a dishonorable position. “Austria and Naples have been openly deceived, the Roman people deluded, the Pope treated as if he were a fool, a French army has been ignominiously repulsed.” Only an immediate occupation of Rome could begin to repair the damage. “The French Intervention in the Papal States,” TL, June 6, 1849.
30. Lesseps à Drouyn, quartier général devant Rome, 29 mai 1849, MAEC, CP, Rome, vol. 991, ff. 77r–78r; Lesseps 1849, pp. 36–37.
31. Bittard des Portes 1905, pp. 179–82; Bourgeois and Clermont 1907, p. 143.
32. Repubblica romana 1849, pp. 78–79.
33. Diesbach 1998, pp. 102–3; Repubblica romana 1849, pp. 100–101. In a colorful account, the London Times correspondent reported that Oudinot told Lesseps he should be shot, while Lesseps replied by telling the general that he would pay dearly for his action. “Papal States,” TL, June 12, 1849.
34. Drouyn à Lesseps, Paris, 29 mai 1849, MAEC, CP, Rome, vol. 991, f. 102r; Drouyn à Oudinot, Paris, 28 mai 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis; Drouyn à Oudinot, Paris, 1 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis; Drouyn à Oudinot, Paris, 29 mai 1849, n. 5, MAEN, RSS 537 bis. In two sharply worded letters to Lesseps, Drouyn chastised him for exceeding the authority he had been given. “The government of the Holy Father never ceased being the Roman government in our eyes,” wrote the French foreign minister. Drouyn à Lesseps, Paris, 25 mai 1849 and 26 mai 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis.
35. Briffault 1846, pp. 171–83; Niel 1961, p. 470.
36. Clough 1888, p. 154; James 1903, pp. 156–57.
37. Severini 2006, p. 111n; Monsagrati 2014, p. 123.
CHAPTER 15: BATTLING FOR ROME
1. Tocqueville 2004, pp. 678–904; Senior 1872, vol. 1, pp. iv–v.
2. Tocqueville’s letter, dated June 15, was written to Paul Clamorgan. Reverso 2009, p. 309n.
3. Tocqueville 1893, pp. 313–18.
4. Tocqueville 1893, pp. 318–21; Lesseps à Tocqueville, Paris, 7 juin 1849, MAEC, CP, Rome, vol. 991, ff. 137r–137v. Adding to the sense of crisis, Paris was in the midst of a terrible outbreak of cholera. Hundreds were dying each day. Pierre 1878, pp. 159–60; “The Cholera in Paris,” TL, June 13, 1849.
5. Candeloro 1972, p. 446. On June 1, Captain Key (1898, p. 202) observed, “The Romans are evidently aware that nothing decided will be attempted by the French until the opinion of the new National Assembly is ascertained, and they are so elated with the flight of the King of Naples to his own dominions…that their confidence in their own strength has passed all reasonable bounds.”
6. Garibaldi 1889, p. 101.
7. Oudinot himself had briefly detained the Lombard volunteers at Civitavecchia as they appeared in the port city shortly after his own arrival in April. “You are Lombards, and so what do you have to do with the affairs of Rome?” Oudinot asked Manara. To this, the young Milanese leader replied with a question of his own: “And you, General, are you from Paris, Lyon, or Bourdeaux?” Farini 1850–53, vol. 4, pp. 3–4. Although they would pay a heavy price for their role in defending the Roman Republic, the Lombard Volunteers were in fact not generally well disposed to Mazzini or republicanism. Rather, they claimed allegiance to the Savoyard monarchy. Dandolo 1851; Hoffstetter 1851, pp. 22–25.
8. The assemblyman’s remarks are by D. Pantaleoni. Demarco 1944, pp. 339–40. Vaure’s letter, from Civitavecchia on June 1, is found in Bourgeois and Clermont 1907, p. 170.
9. Farini 1850–53, vol. 4, pp. 168–69; Borie 1851, pp. 239–40; Severini 2011, p. 148.
10. Johnston 1901, p. 299; Vaillant au ministre de la guerre, au quartier général de Santucci, 2 juin 1849, in Gaillard 1861, pp. 467–68.
11. Delmas 1849, pp. 5–6; Thiry 1851, pp. 31–38; Hoffstetter 1851, pp. 120–23; Hibbert 1965, pp. 81–83; Trevelyan 1907, pp. 189–90; Dandolo 1851, pp. 239–41; Rusconi 1879, pp. 127–32; Freeborn to Palmerston, Rome, June 8, 1849, doc. 66 in Parliament 1851, p. 43. In an effort to reassure the Romans, the day after the initial assault the triumvirate put up notices claiming that on June 3, only three of the defenders had been killed and fewer than a hundred injured. “Cittadini,” Roma, 4 giugno 1849, MCRR, ms. 129/10, Nicola Roncalli, “Cronaca di Roma,” documenti a stampa, 1849.
12. “His fiery speeches and his bravery in the face of death surprised everyone,” observed one of Garibaldi’s volunteers of the monk, adding, “No handshake ever did me as much good as did his!” Rusconi 1879, pp. 132–33; Lancellotti 1862, p. 136; D’Ambrosio 1852, p. 60; Hoffstetter 1851, p. 272.
13. Cesare Balbo al ministro degli affari esteri [Torino], Mola di Gaeta, 3 giugno 1849, doc. 121 in DRS 1949–51, vol. 2, pp. 501–2.
14. It would be necessary, advised Harcourt, to “reduce this mass of Italian cardinals, who come to their positions not through any merit, but solely because their name ends in an ‘o’ or an ‘i,’ and who would like to make their religion into a sort of Italian sect.” One day, he speculated, the church would decide instead to draw its cardinals from the most distinguished and honest Catholics around the world. But in the sorry state in which the church now found itself, the Sacred College, observed Harcourt, consisted of Italy’s “most ignorant and most retrograde.” Harcourt au ministre des affaires étrangères, Gaëte, 4 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 410. Harcourt wrote this letter before learning that Tocqueville had replaced Drouyn as French foreign minister.
15. Antonelli al nunzio, Madrid, 3 giugno 1849, Gaeta, ASV, ANM, b. 313, ff. 860r–861r; Cesare Balbo al ministro degli affari esteri, Mola di Gaeta, 9 giugno 1849, doc. 123 in DRS 1949–51, vol. 2, p. 504. At the same time, the papal nuncio in Vienna wrote to offer his strong support for Antonelli’s suggestion that the pope should go not to Rome but to another city in the Papal States. Placing the pope in a city under French control, he thought, would be too risky. Viale a Antonelli, Vienna, 5 giugno 1849, ASV, ANV, b. 322, ff. 34r–34v.
16. Rosmini’s opinion of the pontiff had dimmed. Pius, he observed several months later, “is prone to both likes and dislikes, and for this reason has little consistency. He has little education and for that reason feels obligated to remain noncommittal and vague so as not to go out on a limb, which nonetheless he frequently does.” Radice 1972, p. 24.
17. Tocqueville à Rayneval et Harcourt, Paris, 6 juin 1849, n. 39 and 40, MAEC, CP, Rome, vol. 989, ff. 261r–263r, 264r.
18. On the same day, Tocqueville also sent this news to General Oudinot, instructing him to defer to the new envoy on measures to adopt in Rome once it was taken. Tocqueville à Oudinot, Paris, 6 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis.
19. That the new envoy was someone Tocqueville felt very close to is evident from the fact that from the time of Corcelle’s first reports, he addressed a separate stream of private letters to Tocqueville, which he began with the salutation “My dear friend” and, in the case of the first letter, closed with “Je vous aime de tout mon coeur” (I love you with all my heart). Corcelle à Tocqueville, Civitavecchia, 12 juin 1849, doc. 101 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 15/2, pp. 253–55. Eight years earlier the two men had toured Algiers and its hinterland together. Tocqueville 2004, p. 896. In a dispatch to the Austrian prime minister telling of Corcelle’s appointment, Austria’s ambassador in Paris reported that the French government had replaced Lesseps—“who became crazy”—with Corcelle, “belonging to the Catholic party.” Hübner à Schwarzenberg, Paris, 6 juin 1849, doc. 97 in Blaas 1973, p. 276.
20. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 6 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 274. As Corcelle made his way to Rome, Tocqueville, eagerly awaiting word from Oudinot, thought that the city had likely already fallen. If it had not, he worried, the government might not be able to survive the outrage another botched attack would trigger in Paris. On June 10, Tocqueville wrote his ambassador in Vienna to inform him of the invasion, adding “one can assume that Rome is in the hands of our troops.” He added that the French had a moral responsibility not to allow the return of the “detestable regime” of the kind that Pius IX’s predecessor had presided over. Tocqueville à La Cour, Paris, 10 juin 1849, MAEN Vienne, Article 33, ff. 147r–151r.
21. “Our nuns of Sant’Egidio, placing their faith in Divine Providence,” read the message to Rome’s vice gerent, “were determined not to abandon their Convent. But seeing that the ruins are constantly growing, with 28 cannon balls and bombs already having fallen on them, causing much damage to the Convent, they have decided to…join their sisters in our other Convent of Santa Teresa at the Four Fountains.” P. Preposito Generale de’ Carm.ni Scalzi a Mons. Francesco Anivitti, Pro-Vicegerente di Roma, 7 giugno 1849, ASVR, Segreteria, Atti, b. 62, fasc. 3.
22. Roncalli 1997, p. 159; Foramiti 1850, p. 121; Fuller 1991, p. 299; Koelman 1963, vol. 2, pp. 333–42, 352–53, 367–68. The active role taken by Rome’s women in the city’s defense was especially striking to the men who came from farther north in Italy. In mid-June, one of the Lombard volunteers observed that “although the women of the lower classes are uncouth and ignorant, they nonetheless demonstrate and flaunt a virile courage. Roman pride shines in their eyes.” Paladini 1897, p. 59.
23. Giuseppe Avezzana, ministro di guerra, Roma, 8 giugno 1849, in République romaine 1849, pp. 139–40; République romaine 1849, pp. 150–54; Lancellotti 1862, p. 163; Trevelyan 1907, p. 196; Deiss 1969, p. 259; Koelman 1963, vol. 2, p. 331.
24. Fuller 1991, pp. 298–300.
25. Hübner à Esterházy, Paris, 13 juin 1849, doc. 97 in Blaas 1973, pp. 274–75.
26. On his trips to Paris seeking to gain French support for the Roman Republic, Carlo Rusconi, the republic’s foreign minister, visited Ledru-Rollin in his home. He was shocked by its magnificence: “satin and gold everywhere, not an object on which one passed one’s eye that was not valuable, splendid paintings in gilded frames on the walls….Turkish carpets under foot.” Rusconi 1883, p. 100.
27. Ledru-Rollin, observed Victor Hugo, a fellow member of the Assembly, was “a sort of bastard Danton,” having “a certain lawyerly tact mixed with the violence of a demagogue.” Barrot, who was the object of Ledru-Rollin’s ire, was no more charitable in his description. The leader of the left was, said the prime minister, “a vehement orator in whom the demagogue and the statesman combined in such a way as to make him a redoubtable adversary….He belonged to that class of men,” he added, “in whom ambition and pride are restrained neither by the brain nor by the heart.” Calman 1922, p. 250n, 256–57, 264; Senior 1871, vol. 1, p. 122. The text of Ledru-Rollin’s June 11 remarks is found in Assemblée nationale 1849b, pp. 191–92.
28. In Calman 1922, p. 389.
29. Three months earlier, shortly after Mazzini had made his way to Rome, Ledru-Rollin had sent him a letter offering his advice: “Tell our brothers: Do you want to live? Then know how to die!” Now he seemed disinclined to take his own advice. Calman 1922, pp. 374–96; Pierre 1878, pp. 169–200; Agulhon 1983, p. 79; Beghelli 1874, vol. 2, pp. 100–101. Barrot’s depiction of the events of June 13, cast in terms of an abortive insurrection, can be found in his memoirs. Barrot 1876, pp. 297–312. For Tocqueville’s account, see Tocqueville à Harcourt, Paris, 15 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 274.
30. Freeborn to Palmerston, Rome, June 16, 1849, doc. 67 in Parliament 1851, pp. 43–44; Niel 1961, p. 473; République romaine 1849, p. 167; Rusconi a Pinto, Roma, 13 giugno 1849, n. 55, MCRR, “Archivio Michelangelo Pinto,” b. 884, fasc. 5, f. 11r.
31. Cass to Clayton, Rome, June 14, 1849, pp. 42–44. In a June 12 dispatch, Rusconi reported that the French “have cut off an extremely useful, not to say indispensable, aqueduct.” MCRR, “Archivio Michelangelo Pinto,” b. 884, fasc. 5, f. 10r.
32. Gabussi 1851–52, vol. 3, p. 465; Farini 1850–53, vol. 4, pp. 183–84. Tocqueville himself thought that when news of the French left’s defeat reached Rome, it would severely undercut the will to continue the fight. Tocqueville à Oudinot, Paris, 20 juin 1849, MAEC, CP, Rome, vol. 993, f. 127r; Monsagrati 2014, p. 169.
33. Foramiti 1850, p. 125; De Longis 2001, p. 265; Paladini 1897, pp. 59–60; Severini 2002c, pp. 179–80.
34. Hearing a report that the Romans had mined St. Peter’s Basilica, Margaret Fuller went to ask Mazzini if this were true. That even Fuller, one of the people in Rome he felt most fond of, would think such a thing possible of him was more than the Italian prophet could bear. “It is written that none will trust me,” he replied. “You too! Can you believe for a single moment such nonsense as that of St. Peter being mined, whilst I am here? Have I proved a vandal?” Two days after Mazzini’s outburst, a priest, disguised in the uniform of a National Guardsman, was found with a map showing republican positions and numbers. Garibaldi ordered him taken out and shot. Capograssi 1941, pp. 152–53; Lodolini 1970, p. 75; D’Ambrosio 1852, p. 71; Deiss 1969, p. 264; Roncalli 1997, p. 181.
35. “The Papal States,” datelined Monte Mario, June 19, TL, June 30, 1849; Hoffstetter 1851, pp. 240–41; Harcourt à Tocqueville, Fiumicino, 20 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 410.
36. Gaillard 1861, p. 274; Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 20 juin 1849, doc. 108 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 275–78.
37. Hoffstetter 1851, pp. 242–49; Clough 1888, pp. 158–59; Beghelli 1874, vol. 2, pp. 373–74; Adolphe Niel, San Carlo devant Rome, 22 juin 1849, doc. 8 in Niel 1961, p. 474.
CHAPTER 16: THE CONQUEST
1. The text of the pope’s letter from Gaeta to Cardinal Lambruschini in Naples, dated June 26, 1849, is reproduced in Manzini 1960, pp. 405–6.
2. Schwarzenberg à Esterházy, Vienne, 16 juin 1849, doc. 99 in Blaas 1973, p. 282.
3. Esterházy à Schwarzenberg, Gaëte, 27 juin 1849, doc. 103 in Blaas 1973, pp. 288–90; Martina 1974, p. 347. “The pope and the cardinal,” observed the Sardinian ambassador, shortly after meeting with them in late June, “are more stubborn than ever and do not want to speak of a Constitution, at least for the time being.” Balbo al ministro degli affari esteri, Mola di Gaeta, 28 giugno 1849, doc. 133 in DRS 1949–51, vol. 2, p. 515.
4. Harcourt à Tocqueville, Quartier général Santucci, 29 juin 1849, n. 53, MAEN, RSS 410. Following a long meeting with Harcourt and Rayneval on June 29 to discuss how to go about reestablishing papal authority, Corcelle sent what he termed a “delicate question” to Tocqueville. Which pontifical flag were they supposed to raise? Would the one adopted by the pope in 1847 be acceptable? Along with its venerable white papal emblem that flag contained the tricolored symbol of a united Italy. Corcelle à Tocqueville, Civitavecchia, 25 juin 1849, doc. 113 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, p. 291.
5. Corcelle à Tocqueville, Civitavecchia, 25 juin 1849, n. 5, MAEN, RSS 411.
6. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 23 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 411; Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 26 juin 1849, doc. 111 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 284–85.
7. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 23 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 411. He wrote separately to Oudinot and Harcourt with the same instruction, adding, “Take the necessary measures to inspire that large portion of the population that desires the Holy Father’s return, but is afraid of compromising itself, with the courage to organize a clear demonstration.” Tocqueville à Harcourt, Paris, 26 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 274; Tocqueville à Oudinot, Paris, 26 juin 1849, MAEN, RSS 537 bis.
8. Tocqueville à Corcelle, Paris, 24 juin 1849, doc. 111 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 280–81. The London Times reported a letter from Rome, dated June 26, telling of the departure of a deputation from Bologna bound for Gaeta to convince the pope to move to Bologna until better times allowed his return to Rome. “Rome,” TL, July 5, 1849.
9. Roncalli 1997, p. 179; Polidori’s diary entry for June 23 makes a similar observation about the French bombardment of the city that night. Severini 2002a, p. 205.
10. République romaine 1849, pp. 161–62.
11. Oudinot’s text, dated June 25, is found in Torre 1851–52, vol. 2, pp. 253–54.
12. If anyone should be the object of the consuls’ denunciations, argued Corcelle, it was not the French but the “enemy bands” in Rome who, in digging in to face the French outside Porta San Pancrazio, had, he claimed, devastated the famous basilica of the same name that stood there. The savages had “mutilated all the statues of St. Pancrazio…lacerated the paintings, opened the tombs, overturned the altars, and made latrines at the entry of the catacombs, indeed in the middle of the church in the place where, tradition has it, the saint was martyred.” There seemed to be no limit, in Corcelle’s view, to the depravity of the men who stubbornly held out against the highly principled forces of the French army. He sent two letters to Tocqueville on this matter on the same day: Corcelle à Tocqueville, Civitavecchia, 27 juin 1849, n. 6, MAEN, RSS 411; Corcelle à Tocqueville, Civitavecchia, 27 juin 1849, doc. 112 in Tocqueville 1983, vol. 1, pp. 285–88. Corcelle blamed the British consul, Freeborn, for instigating the protest. Freeborn and most of the other consuls, claimed Corcelle, were businessmen who were profiting from the current government in Rome and were motivated purely by the desire for personal gain.
