 by the Imperial
  Government to Lord Ponsonby, who describes him as follows:—

  _Extract from a despatch from Lord Ponsonby to Lord Palmerston._

                                          VIENNA, 28th June, 1847.

  “Baratelli was a landed proprietor in easy circumstances in the
  Legation of Ferrara; and during the period of the conquests of the
  French in Italy, their great adversary.

  “When in 1813 Austria declared war against Napoleon, the Austrian
  armies advanced rapidly beyond the Alps, and Baratelli formed
  friendly relations with General Count Nugent.

  “Baratelli always remained faithful to his principles of public
  order. In the revolutionary movements in the States of the Church,
  he always took the side of constituted authority, and was in
  consequence even persecuted by the Carbonaro party.

  “Baron Baratelli was in communication with the Austrian
  authorities, &c.”

  See “Rivolgimenti Italiani,” by the Marquis Gualterio, vol. I.,
  chap. x. Also “Gli Interventi dell' Austria nello Stato Romano,”
  by the same author.




CHAPTER XXIX.

   Accession of Pius IX.—The amnesty—His unbounded popularity—His
     reforms and concessions—Disasters entailed by the French
     Revolution—The encyclical of the 29th April—Revulsion
     of feeling—The Mazzinians gain ground—Austrian
     intrigues—Assassination of Count Rossi—The Pope's flight to
     Gaeta—Efforts of the Constitutionalists to bring about an
     accommodation—The republic is proclaimed in Rome—Excesses
     in Ancona and Senigallia—Moderation of the Bolognese—Their
     courageous resistance to General Wimpffen—Siege of
     Ancona—Extreme severities of the victors.


The amnesty to all political offenders with which, in July, 1846, Pius
IX. inaugurated his reign, spread joy and gratitude throughout the
pontifical dominions. Thousands of families received back their loved
ones from exile or captivity, and the country awoke from the lethargy
of despair. This act of grace, it wa