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PRINA, GIUSEPPE (1768–1814)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 343 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRINA, GIUSEPPE (1768–1814) , See also:Italian statesman. He gave See also:early proofs of rare See also:talent, and after studying at the university of See also:Pavia he passed as See also:doctor of See also:law in 1789. He was a See also:firm adherent of See also:Napoleon See also:Bonaparte, and when See also:Eugene See also:Beauharnais became See also:viceroy of See also:Italy, was appointed See also:minister of See also:finance. Genial in private See also:life, he was harsh and unyielding in his See also:official capacity, and his singular skill in devising fresh taxes to meet the enormous demands of Napoleon's See also:government made him the best-hated See also:man in See also:Lombardy, the more so that, being a Piedmontese, he was regarded as a foreigner. The See also:news of the See also:emperor's forced See also:abdication on the 11th of See also:April 1814 reached See also:Milan on the 16th, and roused hopes of See also:independence. The See also:senate assembled on the 19th and Prina's party moved that delegates should be despatched to See also:Vienna to See also:request that Eugene Beauharnais should be raised to the See also:throne of a See also:free Italian See also:kingdom. In spite of precautions this fact became public and provoked the formidable See also:riot styled " The See also:battle of the umbrellas " that See also:broke out the next See also:day. A furious See also:mob burst into the senate, pillaged its halls and sought everywhere for the execrated Prina. Not finding him there, the rioters rushed to his See also:house, which they wrecked, and seizing the doomed minister, who was discovered in a remote chamber donning a disguise, during four See also:hours dragged him about the See also:town, until wounded, mutilated, almost torn to pieces, he received his See also:death-See also:blow. The mob then insulted his miserable remains, stuffing stamped-See also:paper into his mouth. These horrors were enacted by day, in a thoroughfare crowded with " respectable " citizens sheltered from the See also:rain by umbrellas. The authorities were passive, and although some courageous persons actually rescued the victim at an early See also:stage and concealed him in a friendly house, the See also:blood-thirsty mob soon discovered his See also:refuge and were about to force an entrance, when the dying man surrendered to See also:save his deliverer's See also:property.

The riots directly contributed to the re-See also:

establishment of See also:Austrian See also:rule in Milan. See M. Fabi, Milano ed it See also:ministry Prina (See also:Novara, r86o); F. Lemmi, La Restaurazione austriaca a Milano nel 1814 (See also:Bologna, 1902) ; Ugo See also:Foscolo, Alcune See also:parole intorno alla See also:fine del regno d'Italia. The See also:story of the See also:murder of Prina forms the subject of a See also:play by G. Rovetta, entitled Principio di secolo.

End of Article: PRINA, GIUSEPPE (1768–1814)

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