Deserted by the ministers of the crown, who resigned in a body, alone in the midst of a triumphant revolution, appealed to in the name of those sentiments of patriotism which he could never hear invoked unmoved, the young Prince uttered the words which were as good as a surrender:  ‘I, too, am an Italian!’ That evening he allowed the Spanish Constitution to be proclaimed subject to the arrival of the orders of the new King.

The new King!  No one remembered that there existed such a person.  Nor had anyone recollected that the Spanish Constitution abrogated the Salic law, and that hence, instead of a new King, they had a new Queen—­the wife of the Duke of Modena!  An eminent Turinese jurisconsulist, who was probably the only possessor of a copy of the charter in the town which was screaming itself hoarse for it, divulged this awkward discovery.—­Several hours were spent in anxious discussion, when the brilliant suggestion was made that the article should be cancelled.  The article was cancelled.

But Charles Felix could not be disposed of so easily.  The news of the late events reached him at Modena of all places in the world, the rallying-point of the Prince of Carignano’s bitterest foes.  He was not long in sending his orders.  He repudiated everything that had been done, and commanded Charles Albert, ’if he had a drop of our royal blood left in his veins,’ to leave the capital instantly for Novara, where he was to await his further instructions.

Charles Albert obeyed.  He was accompanied on his journey—­or, as it may be called, his flight—­by such of the troops as remained loyal.  At Novara he found a sentence of exile, in a fresh order, to quit Piedmontese territory.  Tuscany was indicated as the state where he was to reside.

The Austrians crossed the frontier with the consent of the King.  Charles Felix’s opinion of Austria has been already given; another time he said:  ’Austria is a sort of bird-lime which, if you get it on your fingers, you can never rub off.’  If anything was needed to increase his loathing for the revolution, it was the necessity in which it placed him, as he thought, of calling in this unloved ally.  But Charles Felix was not the man to hesitate.  Not caring a straw for the privilege of wearing a crown himself, his belief in the divine right of kings, and the obligation to defend it, amounted to monomania.  The Austrian offer was therefore accepted.  On her part Austria declined the obliging proposal of the Czar of a loan of 100,000 men.  She felt that she could do the work unaided, nor was she mistaken.