The Grand Duke Was Indemnified With
A Principality In Germany, Where He Remained Until The Downfall Of Napoleon
In 1814;
Subsequent arrangements again restored him to the sway of the land
he loved so well, and he returned to Florence
As if he had only been absent
on a tour, finding scarcely any change in the laws and customs and habits
of the country; for tho' Tuscany was first erected into a Kingdom by the
title of Etruria, and afterwards annexed to the French Empire, the
institutions and laws laid down by Leopold and followed strictly by his
successor were preserved; very little innovation took place, and the few
innovations that were effected were decided ameliorations; for the Emperor
Napoleon had too much tact not to preserve and protect the good he found,
tho' he abolished all old abuses. The improvements introduced by the French
have been preserved and confirmed by the Grand Duke on his return, for he
is a man of too much good sense, and has too much love of justice, to think
of abolishing the good that has been done, merely because it was done by
the French. Tuscany has now a respectable military force of 8,000 men well
armed, clothed and equipped in the French manner.
Tuscany is the only part of Italy where the downfall of Napoleon was not
regretted; the inhabitants of Leghorn indeed rejoiced at it, for the
commerce of Tuscany being chiefly maritime, Leghorn suffered a good deal
from the continental system.
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