Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III ITALIAN SENTIMENT AND PARTIES Unrest of the Peninsula—Kingdom of Sardinia—The Austrian provinces and regime — The writers — Double current of nationalist sentiment—Mazzini and the Giovane Italia—Rise and fall of his popularity—Gioberti—His correspondence with Mazzini — The Primato — A remarkable prophecy — Balbo —D'Azeglio—His interview with Charles Albert—Antagonism of democrats and Albertists. Central and southern Italy were the worst governed parts of the Peninsula, and from Bologna to Palermo a state of perpetual unrest had long existed. !In the northern section less unsatisfactory conditions prevailed, and political thought and education had made some progress since the territorial resettlement effected by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The kingdom of Sardinia had since 1831 been under the rule of Charles Albert, and although not enjoying the advantages of a representative system, was reasonably well administered. The King, who had as regent played a conspicuous part in the unsuccessful constitutional movement that preceded the accession of his uncle Charles Felix in 1821, had long been looked on by many as at least a moderate liberal; in many quarters it was even asserted that he had once been affiliated to the Carbonari. Be that as it may, notwithstanding the severity of the police repression that marked the early years of his reign, notwithstanding his Austrian marriage1 and bigoted religious views, he was thought by many to unite such qualities and advantages as were to be looked for in a leader of the Italian people. Among these qualities were noted his simplicity, integrity, and sense of duty, together with his scarcely veiled ambition and dislike of the House of Hapsburg ; among these advantages, the complete independence of the kingdom of Sardini... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.