S.A. Bent, comp. Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men. 1887.

Charles Albert

[Carlo Alberto, king of Sardinia; born 1798; ascended the throne, 1831; made liberal reforms in the government; granted a constitution, and put himself at the head of the movement for Italian independence, 1848; after gaining several victories over the Austrians, was defeated at Novara, March 23, 1849; and abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel; died July of the same year.]

I await my star (J’attends mon astre).

The motto of his house. When Victor Emmanuel opened the first Parliament in Rome in November, 1871, the common people sought all day in an unclouded sky for the “star of Savoy,” which they were told was visible.

The proud answer of Italian patriotism, “Italy will finish it alone” (L’Italia farà da se), given to French republicans in 1848, who favored the intervention of their country to assist Italy against Austria, has been attributed to others than Charles Albert: by Reuchlin (“History of Italy,” II. 1, 55) to Pareto, then minister of foreign affairs; to Cesare Balbo, a writer and liberal statesman of that time; and to Gioberti, an even more distinguished patriot. Gregorovius (“Rome in the Middle Ages,” VI. 259) dates it from Cola di Rienzi; but only properly, says Büchmann, in so far as it expresses the main idea of Rienzi’s career. The assistance which was refused in 1848–49 was accepted, with a result not prejudicial to Italian pride, in 1859.

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