The Austrians in Milan

Foscolo had already decided to leave Milan in the summer of 1814, but his departure was delayed because he did not want to hamper his brother Giulio, who had embarked on a military career, and because he was waiting for the decisions of the Congress of Vienna, which started in November. In October he asked General Bellegarde for an eloquence professorship, giving Padua as his desired location, but his request was not satisfied.

The stay in Milan became increasingly insidious for the writer; between the end of 1814 and the start of 1815 an anti-Austrian plot was discovered which Foscolo had not directly participated in, but for which many of his closest friends and collaborators, such as Giovanni Rasori and Ugo Brunetti, were arrested.

The writer's position became even more delicate after the publication of a pamphlet on the revolt of April 20 1814, in which Foscolo was accused of being an accomplice of the extremists who slay Minister Prina. In response to these accusations, he started to write Della servitù dell’Italia .

In the meantime he accepted a proposal from the Austrian government, forwarded by Count Ficquelmont, to become the editor of a literary magazine that the Austrians intended to start to help conciliation and to pacify political tensions. In February Foscolo wrote Parere sulla istituzione di un giornale letterario  and made agreements with the publisher Stella. Despite the secrecy with which the talks with the Austrians has started, news of the magazine went around Milan and raised indignant reactions from some Milanese, such as Count Confalonieri, who accused Foscolo of betrayal.

The situation had become unsustainable; before having to swear the oath of loyalty to Austria that all officials were required to take, Foscolo left Italy definitively on March 30 1815.