expostulated with Ney, complained of the ingratitude to which he had been subjected, and said that instead of the generous policy, worthy of the French nation, which he had followed, it was intended to substitute a rash, menacing, and oppressive policy. Ney went back to Rostolan, and, in the name of military discipline, urged him anew to publish the document, but the General repeated that it was a private letter, which had neither the form nor the value of an order; that he was persuaded it would not only spoil all negotiations, but that it would produce most serious mischief; that he would neither publish it nor allow it to be published. It was of no avail for Ney to accuse him of flagrant disobedience, and render him responsible for the consequences which his contumacy might produce in Rome and Paris; the General remained firm to his opinion, and wrote to the Minister of War, explaining the reasons which had induced him to disregard the document. CHAPTER III. THE CARDINAL TRIUMVIRS.- SUSPENSE.-REPORTS.-COMMUNICATIONS PROCEEDINGS. FROM BARROT TO ROSTOLAN.-ANSWER FROM ROSTOLAN RESPECT- -ORSINI, MINISTER OF WAR.--DISCONTENT THE Cardinals, who had got scent of Ney's commission, had been alarmed by it at first, but were reassured when they had heard General Rostolan give vent to expressions calculated to convince them of his intentions not to obey the President of the Republic, of whom he spoke by no means respectfully. But, in the meantime, Ney having communicated the letter to the Romans, and having caused it to be published in a Florence newspaper, the city was excited, and waited in expectation of something new. Reports were spread about that the Triumvirs were making preparations for their departure; some said that the French wished to restore the Statute; others, that authority would be given to the Municipal body to carry out the wishes of the President of the Republic; but as days passed on without anything fresh occurring, the hopes of the one party began to vanish by degrees, as well as the fears of the other, for the clergy had become greatly alarmed. And although news arrived afterwards that Barrot had written to Rostolan, to desire him to publish Bonaparte's letter, every one was of opinion that the Minister only intended thereby to make a show of submission to the President, but not to support his policy by his authority, for if it had been otherwise he would have given the office of executing it to some one else than the General who had disregarded it. Rostolan was, in fact, maintained in command, though he did not change his course of action, and had written to Barrot that he was ready to resign the command of the army rather than have anything to do with an act against which his conscience rebelled, as against an injustice which might set Europe on fire. A few days before the French Government took away the command of the army from General Oudinot, the Municipal body, which he himself had instituted, passed a resolution to confer upon him the rank of a citizen of Rome, and to strike a medal in his honour, and they arranged that the resolution should be inscribed on marble over his bust in a chamber of the Capitol. So, on the 23rd of August he went to the Capitol, when the Muse of Prince Odelscalchi did not blush to sing of him as a rival of the deeds of the Scipios, of Marcus Aurelius, of Alexander the Great, of Alcibiades and Pompey, whose busts ornamented the hall. To this address the General replied that, through the inscription of his name in the Capitol by the side of names which were immortal, he was certain they meant to honour France, the army, and their enterprise, and not himself, therefore he would accept the honour as a citizen of Rome; he would consider himself a French-Roman, and he would deem it a glory to devote himself to the service of his second country. The festival concluded with a splendid banquet, and the banquet with mirthful toasts; thus triumphs are celebrated now-a-days in the Capitol, amidst the indignant shades of the ancient Romans! The conqueror had other honours bestowed upon him; a sword was presented to him, bearing this inscription, "To General Oudinot, Duke de Reggio, the Friends of Order in Rome, Anno MDCCCXLIX." The Catholic party in Lyons presented him with another sword; Nicholas, the Emperor of Russia, wrote him a congratulatory letter; the Pope created in his honour a superior rank in the order of knighthood of Pius IX. Before returning to France he went to Gaeta, to pay his respects to the Pontiff and the Court, who were suffering great anxiety, and he endeavoured to employ such terms as were best calculated to convince them that the President's letter would not produce the bad results which they feared, promising to do everything they wished on his return to Paris. But Pius IX., who had intimated to him a little while before that he would proceed immediately to Castel Gondolfo, declared that, after that ill-omened epistle, he could not think of putting himself into the power of the French soldiers, and had decided on going to Portici. The French Ambassadors were greatly annoyed when they heard this, and endeavoured, by all the means in their power, to conciliate the Court of Gaeta; they guaranteed that the Parisian Government would not act as harshly as the President's letter implied; at the same time they wrote to Paris, and recommended measures which were best calculated, in their opinion, to prevent the Pope from being entirely alienated from France, and the Court from dragging him into the midst of the Austrians, of whom it was enamoured. The Parisian Ministry had not only to moderate the anger and check the desires of Bonaparte, who, having publicly declared his own intentions, demanded the satisfaction which was due to his rank, but was also obliged to steer such a course as was most likely to soothe the Assembly. Barrot, who had made so many promises, and such public boasting of his liberal intentions, could not honourably exhort it to accommodate itself with a good grace to Gaetan liberality. Even Falloux himself was of opinion that the irritation of the Assembly would not be softened unless the Pope would accommodate himself to the measures which the position of the French Government required. Therefore, whilst his colleagues wrote to Messrs. de Rayneval and de Courcelles, complaining of the obstinacy and ingratitude of the Court, and of the persevering silence of the Pope, he, even he, Falloux, wrote |