DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0153
Ch. IL
THROUGH ITALY.
125
the town, and announce the apprehension and
the despair of its inhabitants, their attachment to
their old, and their hatred to their new govern-
ment.
The Austrians they do not and cannot love:
they are barbarians and invaders; and though
the emperor be a just and even benevolent sove-
reign, yet his right over them is that of the sword
only; and though he may be tyrannorum mitis-
simus, yet in the eyes of every Italian patriot,
still he is, as well as Buonaparte, a tyrant, and
an usurper: since, however, they are doomed to
be slaves, of the two they prefer the former.
The Austrian government is mild and equitable ;
it proceeds on fixed principles, and moves on in
the straight and beaten track; it is, and so is
the French republic, liable to the reverses of
war; but it is exempt, and so is not the French
republic, from internal change and unexpected
revolution. Hence they submit with something
like resignation, to the imperial sway; and
hence some life and activity, some share of con-
fidence, and some appearance of business, en-
liven the Austrian quarter of Verona. It is in-
deed highly probable, that if the present preca-
rious state of things lasts for any time, the·
ancient city will be almost deserted, and all the
population of Verona pass to the Austrian terri-
THROUGH ITALY.
125
the town, and announce the apprehension and
the despair of its inhabitants, their attachment to
their old, and their hatred to their new govern-
ment.
The Austrians they do not and cannot love:
they are barbarians and invaders; and though
the emperor be a just and even benevolent sove-
reign, yet his right over them is that of the sword
only; and though he may be tyrannorum mitis-
simus, yet in the eyes of every Italian patriot,
still he is, as well as Buonaparte, a tyrant, and
an usurper: since, however, they are doomed to
be slaves, of the two they prefer the former.
The Austrian government is mild and equitable ;
it proceeds on fixed principles, and moves on in
the straight and beaten track; it is, and so is
the French republic, liable to the reverses of
war; but it is exempt, and so is not the French
republic, from internal change and unexpected
revolution. Hence they submit with something
like resignation, to the imperial sway; and
hence some life and activity, some share of con-
fidence, and some appearance of business, en-
liven the Austrian quarter of Verona. It is in-
deed highly probable, that if the present preca-
rious state of things lasts for any time, the·
ancient city will be almost deserted, and all the
population of Verona pass to the Austrian terri-