DIS IN EXTENDING GERMAN DOMINION ACROSS THE ALPS. CONTENT OF THE INHABITANTS. AGRICULTURE IN LOMINDIAN CORN. BARDY.-TENURE OF LAND.-IRRIGATION. A RICH and productive country intervenes between Padua and Vicenza. Indian corn is the staple grain; the fields being separated from each other by rows of walnut trees, upon which, in most places, the vines are carefully trained. In every plot of ground you see groups of husbandmen, hoeing the corn land, or providing for its effective irrigation. The latter operation they perform by means of the mountain streams, which are carried over the soil in artificial channels, so as to neutralise the effects of a burning sun. These rivulets in general descend from great elevations, thus acquiring in their course sufficient impetus to prevent the waters from stagnating on the plain. Vicenza stands finely on undulating ground, a little way from the base of the Tyrolese mountains. We have unpleasant recollections of the road westward from it, which has scarcely a single curve. You see many miles in a straight line ahead, on both sides are stupid willow trees, each one the exact counterpart of its neighbour, while every now and then a cloud of penetrating dust overwhelms the hapless traveller. Between the hills which form the eastern shore of the Lago di Garda, and that assemblage of rugged peaks which act as an Alpine body-guard to Monta Novegno, there is a narrow valley, through which the Adige pursues its course, after leaving Trent in the Tyrol. Stern and wild is this part of northern Italy; but at Rivoli new prospects burst upon the traveller. Suddenly he emerges from the mountain gorges, in full view of the plains of Lombardy, with the river rolling its majestic floods into that land of vineyards, one of Europe's favourite battlefields. Not far from the boundary of this champagne country, built chiefly on a commanding eminence overhanging the left bank of the Adige, stands the ancient city of Verona, once an independent capital, afterwards a Venetian dependency, then conquered by French valour, and now chief town of an Austrian province. A modern castle occupies the summit of the rising ground, and many buildings of unquestionable antiquity, scattered in streets and squares, recall the days of ducal greatness. But the lion of the place is the Roman amphitheatre, a vast pile of stones and ITS AMPHITHEATRE. 61 mortar, similar to the Colosseum, where the masters of the world feasted their eyes on infuriated beasts and dying gladiators. The arena is in wonderful preservation; it is a noble ruin, which has survived many other memorials of a bygone age. But there is another respect in which Verona is interesting to the English stranger. In addition to its historic celebrity and its venerable monument, it enjoys a fame as being the scene of Romeo's love, and the city of the Capulets. The mansions of these personages are still pointed out by all the ciceronis with as much gravity, as though romance were history. The reader will recollect that it was within the fortifications of this town that the venerable Marshal took his stand last year, and defied every effort of the Piedmontese to dislodge him. As we left Verona by the western gate, we entered upon a more uncultivated and barren district, than exists anywhere else between Milan and Venice. The fields were covered with large round stones, indicative of their having been formerly under water; the crops of maize did not seem to thrive, and were often separated from each other morasses. Before entering the fortress of Peschiera, beautifully situated at the point where the Mincio flows out of the Lago di Garda, the road is carried over several high embankments. This place has, since our visit, become famous in the records of warfare; patriot battalions have besieged it, and German regiments directed its murderous 62 AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT IN LOMBARDY. fire. We stopped at its little inn on a lovely day in July, when the sun was darting down its rays on a peaceful country, and many picturesque vessels were skimming the surface of the lake. Flowers grew in profusion at the water's edge, and groups of children amused themselves on those ramparts which have since been reddened with the blood of Austrian soldiery. We remember well the quiet loveliness of the prospect from the window of the Albergo over the broad expanse of the Italian Loch Lomond, the further extremity of which was hidden by the hills of the Tyrol. How changed that village now! With its houses levelled by cannon shot, Peschiera testifies how dreadful are the effects of war. Passing the small towns of Desenzano and Lonato, now well known to newspaper readers, we traversed a rich agricultural district before reaching Brescia. On this journey we met several bands of state criminals, escorted by troops of the imperial line, and on their way to a place of confinement. An expression of sullen determination, easily discernible on their countenances, prognosticated the late revolution; and, as they marched along in silence, the peasants stopped their work to gaze with looks of unmistakeable hate on the uniform of the military. Somehow or other an impression prevails even in free England, that Austria governs Lombardy with wisdom, equity, and intelligence. We have met parties who maintain this so positively, that it would be "casting pearls before swine" to reason with them. Without blaming the cabinet at Vienna for bad intentions, or accusing them of willingly oppressing a people of whose social state they know nothing, who appear in Germany not as they are, but as stupid functionaries represent them to be, we do maintain that the Venetian Lombards are mere vassals of the Emperor, not subjects of a liberal monarchy. One very obvious evil connected with the rule of foreigners, is the necessity of inundating the country thus held in subjection with civil officers of all kinds belonging to the governing nation, and deriving their subsistence in a great measure from voluntary or compulsory payments, extorted from the inhabitants of the occupied territory. These folks wanted places, the acquired province provided them; but work as well as pay had to be sought for. The Austrians find it in interfering with every department of private enterprise. A crowd of custom-house officials blockade all the cities, towns, and even villages to examine vehicles and passengers going in or out; military patrol the byways to watch the movements of the peasantry; no man can pass from one place to another without appearing before the authorities, and answering all sorts of questions in order to get a passport; bribes must be given right and left to save one from every species of annoyance and petty tyranny; political conversations |