substituting anything better instead; some were in favor of a pure
democracy, and others of representative governments; some wanted a
republic, and others a constitutional monarchy: but all wanted a change.

There was one cry, one watchword common to all,--_Personal
liberty_!--freedom to act and speak without the fear of inquisitions,
spies, informers, prisons, and exile. In Naples, in Rome, in Bologna, in
Venice, in Florence, in Milan, in Turin, there was this universal desire
for personal liberty, and the resolution to get it at any cost. It was
the soul of Italy going out in sympathy with all liberators and patriots
throughout the world, intensified by the utterances of poets and
martyrs, and kept burning by all the traditions of the past,--by the
glories of classic Rome; and by the aspirations of the _renaissance_,
when art, literature, and commerce revived. The common people united
with their intellectual leaders in seeking something which would break
their chains. They alike responded to the cries of patriotism, in some
form or other. "Emancipate us from our tyrants, and we will follow you
wherever you choose to lead," was the feeling of all classes. "We don't
care who rules us, or what form government may take, provided we are
personally free."

In addition to this passion for personal liberty was also the desire for
a united Italy,--a patriotic sentiment confined however to men of great
intelligence, who scarcely expected such a boon, so great were the
difficulties and obstacles which stared them in the face. It was
impossible for the liberators of Italy to have effected so marvellous a
movement if the material on which they worked had not been so impulsive
and inflammable.

It required an uncommon degree of patriotic ardor on the part of the