No. 280.
[Confidential.]
Mr. George P. Marsh to Mr. Fish.
Sir: The Italian troops entered Rome yesterday, after a short resistance, and are now in full possession of the entire Roman territory. It is worth noticing that on the approach of the Italian forces the Baron von Arnim, Prussian minister at Rome, came out to the headquarters of the commanding general, at the instance of the Papal government, and informed him that the Pope did not wish resistance to be made, but that “the militia were masters of the situation and would not lay down their arms as long as they could hold the city.”
The Italian government believed that this was merely an evasion of the Papal government to throw the responsibility of shedding blood upon other shoulders than its own, and the fact now known that the garrison ceased firing and surrendered, when ordered by the Pope, shows that the soldiers were throughout under the authority of the Vatican.
The Italian government, which in this matter appears to have acted from the beginning in obedience to popular dictation and the pressure from Piedmont, proposes a plebiscite on the question of annexation, but whether it will submit, at the same time, that of the transfer of the capital, I am unable to say. In any case, the Parliament will be convoked as soon as possible, and the policy of the ministry will then be accommodated to what is believed to be the will of the nation, the cabinet having no longer a policy of its own on any subject.
Indeed, the purposes, or at least professions, of the ministry have changed very suddenly, although it pledged itself to carry out the “national programme” at the session of the senate three weeks ago; the president of the council solemnly assured the senate that the government would in no case resort to force, and the minister of foreign affairs, only last week, declared, in the most explicit manner, to eminent statesmen opposed to the movement, that the Italian troops could never enter Rome, and that they would simply occupy strategic points, none of which would probably be within twenty miles of the city.
The terms proposed by the government to the Papacy have not been authoritatively promulgated, but one of them is believed to be the offer of the independent sovereignty of the Città Leonina, or right bank of the Tiber, and of all the ecclesiastical establishments in the city on the left bank. I do not think it improbable that such a proposal has been made, but I cannot believe that the ministry really supposes such a modus vivendi could possibly be carried out. Thus far the Pope refuses to treat at all, and his obstinacy may seriously embarrass both the King and the Parliament, but so far as I can now judge it seems altogether probable that the removal of the seat of government to Rome at an early day will be voted by a large majority. This will be a hard measure for Florence, which has incurred a debt of forty millions of francs in city improvements not yet half finished, to fit it for a national capital, and it will involve in ruin hundreds, if not thousands, of capitalists who have invested largely in city funds, and still more largely in building houses for the accommodation of a rapidly augmenting population, which will now as rapidly diminish.
[Page 452]The restoration of the French empire is still hoped for by the French party in Italy, and I was told yesterday, on excellent authority, that the Italian minister believed that in that event Austria will coöperate with Italy in compelling the people of France to accept the fallen dynasty.
The force sent to the Roman territory, instead of forty thousand men, is now stated to have amounted to not less than seventy or eighty thousand. The probable object of this accumulation of troops in that region is to disarm suspicion as to the real motives of the government in calling out so large levies, by avoiding, for the moment, the concentration of a considerable army near the French frontier.
The action of the ministry toward Rome has, for the time, completely disarmed the opposition, and the tranquillity of the kingdom—leaving out of view the probable effect of the successful establishment of a republic in France—will depend much on the form which shall be given to the relations between the Italian Crown and the Papacy.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,