Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . s tohim as the most enviable jewel in a sovereigns people reproach the King with ingratitude. I do notbelieve that he wished France to be defeated in 1870, but I (153) 154 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. am certain that his feelings toward France would have beenentirely different had the latter been victorious on any occa-sion durino- the war. The one thino^ he could not forg-ive was that she shouldhave allowed her-self to be beatenAnother reasonwhy he does notlike F
Within royal palaces : a brilliant and charmingly written inner view of emperors, kings, queens, princes and princesses ... . s tohim as the most enviable jewel in a sovereigns people reproach the King with ingratitude. I do notbelieve that he wished France to be defeated in 1870, but I (153) 154 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. am certain that his feelings toward France would have beenentirely different had the latter been victorious on any occa-sion durino- the war. The one thino^ he could not forg-ive was that she shouldhave allowed her-self to be beatenAnother reasonwhy he does notlike France is inconsequence of theill-dissembledhopes of the Frenchclerical party, thathe may soon bedriven out ofRome. At Naples, dur-ing- the cholera, hisconduct was splen-did, and arousedthe greatest enthu-siasm on the part ofthe people. Whenhe fearlessly visitedthe worst cases, thedirtiest slums, hewas extremelyamazed to find his conduct praised. Aeain and ao-ain herepeated, almost impatiendy, I have done nothing butmy duty. Again when Passanante attempted to assas-sinate him, he showed the oreatest coolness and UMBERTO I, SECOND KING OF ITALY. THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 155 A thorough Piedmontese, he is a perfect g-entleman inevery sense of the word, a splendid cavalry officer, serious,grave, and reserved. He has a holy horror of brag, exag-geration, and superlative epithets. The difference be-tween the characters of the people in the North and Southof Italy is that of fire and water, and this will go far to ex-plain His Majestys lack of sympathy for the Southern por-tions of his dominions. Like his grandfather and his father,his education has been exclusively military, and like them hehas never really understood ihe real meaning of various political parties are considered more in the lightof a game of cards, and parliamentarism is only liked onaccount of the excitement of the game. The misfortune ofthis is that notwithstanding the cleverness which he dis
Size: 1304px × 1917px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcourtsandcourtiers
