Not many days later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of Sardinia each promulgated a Charter.  In the case of Charles Albert, it had been formally promised on the 8th of February, after sleepless nights, severe fasts, much searching of the heart—­contrasting strangely with the gay transformation scene at Naples; but promises have a more serious meaning to some persons than to others.  Nor did Charles Albert take any pleasure in the shouts of a grateful people.  ‘Born in revolution,’ he once wrote, ’I have traversed all its phases, and I know well enough what popularity is worth—­viva to-day, morte to-morrow.’

In the Lombardo-Venetian provinces all seemed still quiet, but the brooding discontent of the masses increased with the increasing aggressiveness of the Austrian soldiers, while the refusal to grant the studiously moderate demands of men like Nazari of Bergamo and Manin and Tommasco of Venice, who were engaged in a campaign of legal agitation, brought conviction to the most cautious that no measure of political liberty was obtainable under Austrian rule.

At the Scala Theatre some of the audience had raised cries of ’Viva Pio Nono’ during a performance of I Lombardi.[3] This was the excuse for prohibiting every direct or indirect public reference to the reigning Pontiff.  Nevertheless, a few young men were caught singing the Pope’s hymn, upon which the military charged the crowd.  On the 3rd of January the soldiers fell on the people in the Piazza San Carlo, killing six and wounding fifty-three.  The parish priest of the Duomo said that he had seen Russians, French and Austrians enter Milan as invaders; but a scene like that of the 3rd of January he had never witnessed; ‘they simply murdered in the streets.’

The Judicium Statuarium, equivalent to martial law, was proclaimed in February; but the Viennese revolution of the 8th of March, and Prince Metternich’s flight to England, were followed by promises to abolish the censure, and to convoke the central congregations of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom.  The utmost privilege of these assemblies was consultative.  In 1815 they were invested with the right to ’make known grievances,’ but they had only once managed to perform this modest function.  It was hardly worth while to talk about them on the 18th of March 1848.

On the morning of that day, Count O’Donnel, the Vice-Governor of Milan, announced the Emperor’s concessions.  Before night he was the hostage of the revolution, signing whatever decrees were demanded of him till in a few hours even his signature was dispensed with.  The Milanese had begun their historic struggle.