which he shall pursue it; he must never give it up, except when all hope of carrying it out has vanished. In the end, Fortune still honors men of courage."

II

Historians and publicists who have been interested in the political views of Cardinal Alberoni have concerned themselves, as a rule, with the book published at Lausanne in 1753, entitled TESTAMENT POLITIQUE DU CARDINAL JULES ALBERONI, recueilli de divers mémoires, lettres et entretiens de Son Eminence par Monsignor A. M.; translated by C. de R. B. M. But, for a long time we have known that this is a spurious work.7

Much more interesting, according to authentic probability, is the brochure which was simultaneously published in German and English in 1736, during the life-time of the Cardinal, bearing this title: DES WELTBERÜHMTEN CARDINALS ALBERONI VORSCHLAG DAS TÜRKISCHE REICH UNTER DER CHRISTLICHEN POTENTATEN BOTMÄSSIGKEIT ZU BRINGEN, Samt der Art und Weise wie dasselbe nach der Ueberwindung unter sie zu Vertheilen, etc., etc., Gedruckt im Jahre, 1736. The English title of the book is even fuller and represents better both the content and the ideas therein expounded. It is as follows: CARDINAL ALBERONI'S SCHEME FOR Reducing tHE TURKISH EMPIRE TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRISTIAN PRINCES, Together with a scheme of a perpetual diet for establishing the public tranquility * * * London, Printed for J. Torbuck in

7 Writers of that time did not question the authenticity of this TESTAMENT POLITIQUE. The Göttingische Anzeigen von Gelehrten Sachen of June 2, 1753 (pp. 610-613) calls attention to the book and discusses it earnestly. In the DIZIONARIO DI OPERE ANONIME E PSEUDONIME DI SCRITTORI ITALIANI (Milan, 1859, vol. III, p. 141) we read that the manuscript was bought in Madrid and thence brought to Lausanne! It is also referred to in the DICTIONNAIRE DES OUVRAGES ANONYMES ET PSEUDONYMES (Paris, vol. III, p. 312). And yet it is the work of two French publicists, Duray de Morsant (1717-1795) and Maubert de Gouveste (1721-1767), two of the many intellectual adventurers who thrived at that time. Maubert de Gouveste also wrote HISTOIRE POLITIQUE DU SIÈCLE during his sojourn in England, and in turn became chief editor of the Journal Officiel in Brussels (1759) and director of an itinerant French theatrical troop on its passage through Wurtemberg. He left a large number of works. Writing about this Testament Politique, Sabatier says: "It is impossible to read it, and not be impressed by the depth of thought, the elegance of reflection and the precision of reasoning!"

Clarc-Court, Drury Lane, and sold at the Pamphlet-Shops at the Royal Exchange, Temple-Bar and Charing-Cross, 1736. Two editions of this English publication were printed in the same year. In addition, both the German and English editions state that they are translations from the Italian: the former, that the original is in the hands of a minister who belongs to the nobility, while the latter is more definite; for it states that the original manuscript is in the possession of the Prince de Torella, Sicilian ambassador to the French court. And it is true that a Sicilian ambassador of that name had about this time resided for about two years in Paris. After a search of more than ten years, we have at last succeeded in finding an Italian manuscript of this work. It is preserved in the Museo Civico Correr, in Venice (Codice Correr 1206/2643), and is entitled: PROGETTO DEL CARDINALE ALBERONI, per ridurre l'Impero Turchesco alla Obedienza dei Principi Cristiani, e per dividere tra di essi la conquista del Medesimo. The last part of the manuscript contains a Progetto di una Dieta Perpetua.

But as early as 1735, the Mercure historique et politique, The Hague (vol. XCIX, pp. 467-476), published an extended Paris correspondence for October of the same year, in which we find printed in full a SYSTÈME DE PACIFICATION GÉNÉRALE, DANS LA PRÉSENTE CONJONCTURE, translated from the Italian, preceded by these few lines:

"My friend, professor G. Dalla Santa, Assistant Director of the Archives of Venice, informed me that the manuscript came from a collection brought together by the Venetian senator Theodor Carrer, born at Venice, December 12, 1750 and dying there in 1830, whose mother, Marie-Anne Pettagno, of the princely family di Trebisaccia, had been a Neapolitan, a fact which, to a certain extent, associates the manuscript with the princely de Torella family. The Venice manuscript is doubtless a copy. I have taken great pains to find the original (supposing that it was still in existence); but so far these efforts have not been rewarded. The distinguished director of the State Archives of Naples, Professor Casanova, has upon my request, devoted himself actively to this task, and we have not given up hope of finding some day the final clue to this point.

The larger portion of this manuscript was published in Venice (Stabil. typ., di P. Naratovich, 1806, 8°-32), by a Mr. Tipaldo Foresti, on the occasion of the marriage of a friend, and entitled: Per le auspicantissime Nozze del Signor GIULIO SQUETAROLI COLLA SIGN GIUSEPPINA SARTORI. This accounts for the fact that public libraries, even in Italy, are uninformed concerning this publication. Still, in his day Casati called attention to it in the Revue des Questions Historiques (1869, vol. VI, p. 582).

Everyone is lending a hand in the building of the grand structure (Peace), and as a result we have several projects of pacification. This one is readable both by reason of the form which the author gives to the system he sets forth, and because of the position he occupied and which gives him rank among the ministers and the greatest politicians (in a note: "l'eminentissime Cardinal Alberoni"). We are all the more pleased to give here a translation of it, because it merely represents a project as such, and because throughout the author shows due regard for the Powers to which he refers.

Before taking up the real subject of our study, which is the very project contained in the English and German editions and in the Italian manuscript, it may be profitable and interesting to reproduce right now this "Système de Pacification." This exposition seems to us the more necessary because it is our impression that we are dealing with two distinct manuscripts; and it is quite possible that both go back to the same source, provided they are of different dates.9

The author of the project as given in this correspondence begins thus: To be just, a war must aim at correcting wrongs which it is found can not be remedied except by a resort to arms; and such a war must lead to the establishment of a peace whose duration shall be made permanent by the help of a number of Powers whose interests shall be served by it. The war which has presently broken out between the Imperial and Bourbon families is of such an extraordinary nature that it encompasses the two extremities of Europe from the north to the south; it brings before our eyes interests hitherto unsuspected; and there is not a state in Christian Europe but is more or less affected by it. It has roused so many pretensions of every kind and description that it would seem impracticable to conciliate them, if divine Providence does not intervene in some special manner. Without this divine favor, we are on the eve of beholding Europe involved in a general conflagration whose consequences seem clear enough to make us tremble, and the end of which the human mind is unable to forecast. In order that there might be hope for reconciliation, these two great families should lay aside their old pretensions in the interest of public welfare and Christianity. A

Cantu and, after him, Bersani (pp. 385-386) believe that these projects were written about 1724. The latter adds: "An alliance between all the princes and the Italian republics was subsequently proposed for the purpose of driving all foreigners from Italy. But I know nothing as to that, except that some writer may by way of diversion have sought to hold up to ridicule these ideas of Alberoni as vaporings and chimeras of a demented and unhealthy mind." These two authors are mistaken: the reader will readily judge for himself in the course of this study that the main project at least could not have been written before 1730.

definite basis must be found on which this reconciliation can be worked out, so that through their agreement a settlement of all other pretensions may be reached in conformity with equity and public weal.

Since there is little likelihood of curing unusual diseases by ordinary remedies, and the very foundations of Europe have been shaken in the present conjuncture, it seems necessary to devise a system likely to strengthen them. It would seem to be for the absolute interest of whole Christian Europe that the attention of the emperors of Germany should be directed solely to the defense of their territory against the power of the Ottoman Empire, and to seek to extend their dominions in that direction only. This will give them a wide enough field for action in all that is praiseworthy and interesting in ambition. Their alliances with the Russian Empire and Poland, which would render them terrible to the remainder of Christianity, if they were to enforce their pretensions on this side, might be profitably exploited on the other side. They would have the means to induce the Princes of the Empire to combine all their forces for the purpose of conquering Turkish territory by rewarding these Princes with some of the domains belonging to the House of Austria, in Germany, as they were making progress toward the Orient. All the other Powers of Christianity, being certain that they need no longer fear encroachment by the emperors upon their rights, would assist them in their efforts to extend their dominions at the expense of the infidels. In such action, each would find his interest and security, it being true that the different possessions heretofore occupied by the House of Austria in various quarters have been the main cause of the troubles in Europe.

The system, which begins here, seems evidently to have been that of Emperor Charles the Fifth, when, with the bestowal of the Imperial Crown upon him, he restricted the authority of his brother Ferdinand to the hereditary states of the House of Austria in Germany, that is, to the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary, although at that time these did not extend as far as at present. Providence seems to have prompted the birth of an occasion that would revive this system. The fact that the Emperor leaves only a female and contested succession should make him dread the prospect of leaving his states in dispute, in case he should unfortunately die in the tumult into which the war has brought the affairs of Europe: it would be reasonable of him, in regard to his elder daughter, intended to be married to the Duke de Lorraine, if he should conclude to content himself with the bequest which Charles the Fifth made to Emperor Ferdinand; and that, as to his younger daughter, he should give her in marriage to Don Carlos, by acknowledging him as King of Naples and of Sicily. It would be expedient to induce the Emperor to renounce all his pretensions to Italy, and to enact a law to the effect that the two princesses, his daughters, or their children may never inherit from each other.

Italy has for centuries been a constant source of trouble between the

Christian Princes, and an evident occasion for the infidels to push their conquests in Europe. History shows that the insistence with which the emperors pressed their Italian pretensions has on various occasions contributed to the aggrandizement of the Ottomans. It was for the purpose of putting an end to the fatal consequences of these pretensions that Charles the Fifth left not a foot of ground to his brother Ferdinand in Italy, in conferring the Imperial dignity upon him. The same reasons still prevail; and it seems expedient for the peace of Europe to enact a statute to the effect that no foreign Power may ever possess a state in Italy; that the various principalities composing Italy should form a government modelled after the Germanic body, with a General Diet, to decide upon all matters concerning the common weal; that every right of investiture and of foreign dependence should be abolished; and that the Italic body, in all matters coming within its sphere of competency, should be clothed with the same authority of decision as that possessed by the Germanic body.

Italian security established under this form of government would require the guaranty of the contracting Powers: it would also require very close relations with the Helvetic body for guarding the Alpine barriers. The barrier on the side of France concerns of course, the King of Sardinia; and the possession of the Duchy of Milan would tend to increase both his vigilance and his power. The fortress of Tortone should, however, be taken from him, so that it might serve as a defense for the Duchy of Parma. The barrier on the side of Germany would have to be guarded by the Venetians and the Princes whose states are bordering on the Lower-Pô, and on whom it would devolve, at common expense to guard every entrance and to keep a strong Swiss garrison in Mantua. The Pope, the King of the Two Sicilies and the other maritime sovereigns, would all be taxed so that they might have a strong fleet, ever ready to watch over the defense of Italy from the sea with the help of the Grand-Master of Malta: and all these things would come to pass in consequence of the resolutions which the General Diet would pass in regard to these matters. According to these arrangements it seems that Italy would not only enjoy complete tranquility, but also be able to contribute by her united forces to the humiliation of the infidels. Complete freedom of her commerce would strengthen the guaranty which the Christian Powers had engaged to insure to her.

By the constitution, inviolably established to exclude every foreign. sovereignty from the possession of any state in Italy, it would follow, that if the King of the Two Sicilies should die childless, or be called to the throne of Spain, the crown which he wears would be declared transferred to his brother Don Philippe, to whom, for greater certainty, there may be granted even now a domain in Italy. The number of principalities of which the Italic body is to be composed shall be determined, and it shall be agreed upon that if it so happened that any one of them should leave a female succession, it shall then be the duty of the