Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

La rivoluzione veneziana vista dal Console inglese 737
/.ione. Il suo verdetto in proposito doveva in seguito essere smentito in gran parte dagli eventi, e fu per questo, oltre che per ovvie ragioni di discrezione, che i suoi commenti al riguardo furono di solito omessi nella stampa dei car­teggi parlamentari. H 25 marzo 1848 egli scrisse:
I have reason to believe that the Venetian Nobility are by no means pleased with the turn things have laken here. They would have been well contented to accept the Constitutional Reforms promised front Vienna, which would probably in course oftime have led to their independence, and are far from-satisfied with the democratic aspects of the Provisionai Government.l)
Tre giorni dopo scrisse ancora:
Wliile in Milan the Provisionai Government is composed of noblemen-, in Vertice it is composed ofpersons of lotally different class. The Venetian aristo-cracy is annoyed, and now that the expulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy seems to befor the moment near entertainment, the union witt soon cease.2)
H 20 aprile osservò: Austria has many secret partisans here .3) Sa­rebbe difficile confutare con certezza quest'affermazione, ma, giudicando dagli avvenimenti che seguirono, essa sembra altamente improbabile Per una strana coincidenza, il giorno medesimo in cui Dawkins scriveva le parole ora citate, Palmerston stava scrivendo a Vienna: The events which have... hap-pened in Lombardy and Venice have shown that Count Fiquelmont was entirely mistaken in supposing that there was ariy Party in those Provinces favourable to Austria. *)
A sentii Dawkins, mentre le classi elevate erano segretamente austrofile, le classi inferiori non erano che anarchica plebaglia. Il 4 giugno egli scriveva:
J am sorry to say, some ofthe advocates ofthe Republic, who are rather the partisans of disorder than of order, are not scrupulous in their endeavours to intimidate its opponents; and bands ofthe loiver rabbie known to he in the pay of the former parade the town with impunity, armed with sticks, shouting ' Long live Republic ! '. i Death to the rich V and similar cries.s)
Quando, il 5 luglio, l'Assemblea provvisoria votò l'unione col Piemonte, Dawkins abbandonò la sua tesi che la nobiltà fosse austrofila; l'analisi che dà delle reazioni presentate dai vari ceti all'unione con il Piemonte è tipi­camente cinica, ma probabilmente più vicina alla realtà che le sue afferma­zioni precedenti:
This change of scene is viewed with complacency by the Venetian nobility, who hope that in the event offorming a pari ofthe Piedmontese Dominions, their birth may procure them that distinction under a Monarchy, which their talenta would never have earned for them under the Republic.
By the middle classes it is viewed with hope, because they see that it would never have been possible to go under the Republic, and they persuade themselves that it is sufficient to annui that form of Government and givo in their adhesion to the King of Piedmont, to procure the immediate arrivai ofsecours in men and money from thence.
i) JF.O.17/356, No. 37.
*> FiÓ. 7/356, No. 40.
3) F:Ò. 7/356, No. 56.
g A. P.vVoL LVH (1849), p- 711, No. 267.
M F.O. 7/356, No. 81.