The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-11-21

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France controlled some. while both
Spain and Austria placed their own
princes over others. Naples fell
under Spanish influence. The
states of the church cut across the
middle of the peninsula and were
ruled directly by the Pope. By
the end of the eighteenth century,
Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic,
had fallen into weakness and dis
grace. It was called a republic,
but was ruled by a senate of heredi-
tary mobiles under the presidency
of a doge. OF its three million
population only twenty-five hum
dred were entitled to the rights of
citizenship.
The awakening of the Italian
people to a real consciousness of
their strength undoubtedly dates
from its invasion by Napoleon in
1895. At this time there we're al
most a dozen little separate states
in the Italian peninsula, of which
the richest ones belonged to the
Hapsburg family of Austria. His
first great victory was in driving
the Austrians out of Piedmont
Northwestern Italy,, which gave
over to France the coast region
now known as the Rivera. A new
and revolutionizing set of political
and legal institutions replaced the
medievalism of the Hapsburgs. A
constitution appeared in Italian
history for the first time.
I'VE are the friends of every
people," said Napoleon, "and es-
pecially of the descendants of
Brutus, Scipio, and the other
great men whom we have taken
for examples. To restore the capi-
tol, to place there the statues of
the heroes who have made it i'm
mortal, to rouse the Romans from
centuries of slavery will be
the first of our victories" The
italian people, painting for liberty
and independence, greeted these
words with unbounded joy. To
them Napoleon appeared as the
regenerator of Italy, and the en-
thusiasm with which the Italians
crowded around him has never
been paralleled. For a couple of
decades the destiny of Italy was
ruled by Napoleon. It cannot be
said his rule was good in all re-
spects, but the things that he did,
and the promises that he made,
most of which were never carried
out, aroused the aspirations of the
masses of the people so that they
were never again satisfied with the
narrow and selfish rule of their
old princes. It would be difficult
to think of any place for the i'm
provement of Italy that did not
appear in the plans of Napoleon.
Naples was established into king
dom, and then republic, and lastly
into a monarchy with his brother
Joseph on the throne. When
Joseph was given the throne of
Spain, Murat. who had married
Napoleon's sister, was placed on
the throne of Naples. They did
many good things. Northern Italy
was twisted about in the same way,
and the old iron crown of the
Lombards was placed upon his
own forehead. In this way the
geography of the country was
nodded and remolded during the
Napoleonic regime.
If the rise of the French power
in Italy was brilliant, its collapse
was as speedy and complete. This
followed his abdication in 1914.
The dukelets and prlncelets came
trooping back to their thrones. A
general adjustment of the Italian
affairs was then made at the Con-
gress of Vienna in 1915 and ten
Italian states were established.
For the next three or four dec
ades the most influential power
was Austria, and her will was inn
posed ON all those states from
Cl I