Chapter IV: , VII (137)

"The revolution of 1831, which affected the States of the
Church, Modena, and Parma, had been suppressed, like the still
earlier rebellions in Naples and Piedmont, by Austrian
intervention. … Hence, all the hatred of the Italians was
directed against foreign rule, as the only obstacle to the
freedom and unity of the peninsula. … The secret societies,
and the exiles in communication with them—especially Joseph
Mazzini, who issued his commands from London—took care that
the national spirit should not be buried beneath material
interests, but should remain ever wakeful. Singularly, the
first encouragement came from" Rome. "Pope Gregory XVI., …
had died June 1st, 1846, and been succeeded by the
fifty-four-year-old Cardinal Count Mastai Ferretti, who took
the name of Pius IX. If the pious world which visited him was
charmed by the amiability and clemency of its new head, the
cardinals were dismayed at the reforms which this new head
would fain introduce in the States of the Church and in all
Italy. He published an amnesty for all political offences;
permitted the exiles to return with impunity; allowed the
Press freer scope; threw open the highest civil offices to
laymen; summoned from the notables of the provinces a council
of state, which was to propose reforms; bestowed a liberal
municipal constitution on the city of Rome; and endeavored to
bring about an Italian confederation. … After the French
revolution of 1848 he granted a constitution. There was a
first chamber, to be named by the Pope, and a second chamber,
to be elected by the people, while the irresponsible college
of cardinals formed a sort of privy council. A new era
appeared to be dawning. The old-world capital, Rome, once the
mistress of the nations, still the mistress of all Roman
Catholic hearts, was to become the central point of Italy. …
But when the flames of war broke out in the north [see below],
and the fate of Italy was about to be decided between Sardinia
and Austria on the old battle fields of Lombardy, the Romans
demanded from the Pope a declaration of war against Austria,
and the despatch of Roman troops to join Charles Albert's
army. Pius rejected their demands as unsuited to his papal
office, and so broke with the men of the extreme party. … In
this time of agitation Pius thought that in Count Pellegrino
Rossi, of Carrara, … he had found the right man to carry out
a policy of moderate liberalism, and on the 17th of September,
1848, he set him at the head of a new ministry. The anarchists
… could not forgive Rossi for grasping the reins with a firm
hand." On the 15th of November, as he alighted from his
carriage at the door of the Chambers, he was stabbed in the
neck by an assassin, and died on the spot. He was about, when
murdered, to open the Chambers with a speech, in which he
intended "to promise abolition of the rule of the cardinals
and introduction of a lay government, and to insist upon
Italy's independence and unity. … The next day an armed
crowd appeared before the Quirinal and attacked the guard,
which consisted of Swiss mercenaries, some of the bullets
flying into the Pope's antechamber. He had to accept a radical
ministry and dismiss the Swiss troops. … Pius fled in
disguise from Rome to Gaeta, November 24th, and sought shelter
with the King of Naples. Mazzini and his party had free scope.
A constitutional convention was summoned, which declared the
temporal power of the Pope abolished (February 5th, 1849), and
Rome a republic. To them attached itself Tuscany. Grand-duke
Leopold II. had granted a constitution, February 17th, 1848,
but nevertheless the republican-minded ministry of Guerrazzi
compelled him to join the Pope at Gaeta, February 21st, 1849.
The republic was then proclaimed in Tuscany and union with
Rome resolved upon." But Louis Napoleon, President of the
French republic, intervened. "Marshal Oudinot was despatched
with 8,000 men. He landed in Civita Vecchia, April 26th, 1849,
and appeared before the walls of Rome on the 30th, expecting
to take the city without any trouble. But … after a fight of
several hours, he had to retreat to Civita Vecchia with a loss
of 700 men.
{1862}
A few days later the Neapolitan army, which was to attack the
rebels from the south, was defeated at Velletri; and the
Spanish troops, the third in the league against the red
republic, prudently avoided a battle. But Oudinot received
considerable re-enforcements, and on June 3d he advanced
against Rome for the second time, with 35,000 men, while the
force in the city consisted of about 19,000, mostly volunteers
and national guards. In spite of the bravery of Garibaldi and
the volunteers, into whom he breathed his spirit, Rome had to
capitulate, after a long and bloody struggle, owing to the
superiority of the French artillery. On the 4th of July
Oudinot entered the silent capital. Garibaldi, Mazzini, and
their followers fled. … Pius, for whose nerves the Roman
atmosphere was still too strong, did not return until the 4th
of April, 1850. His ardor for reform was cooled. … In the
Legations they had to protect themselves by Austrian bayonets,
and in Rome and Civita Vecchia by French. This lasted in the
Legations until 1859, and in Rome and Civita Vecchia until
1866 and 1870. Simultaneously with Rome the south of Italy had
entered into the movement so characteristic of the year 1848.
The scenes of 1820 and 1821 were repeated." The Sicilians
again demanded independence; expelled the Neapolitan garrison
from Palermo; refused to accept a constitution proffered by
King Ferdinand II., which created a united parliament for
Naples and Sicily; voted in a Sicilian parliament the
perpetual exclusion of the Bourbon dynasty from the throne,
and offered the crown of Sicily to a son of the king of
Sardinia, who declined the gift. In Naples, Ferdinand yielded
at first to the storm, and sent, under compulsion, a force of
13,000 Neapolitan troops, commanded by the old revolutionist,
General Pepé, to join the Sardinians against Austria. This was
in April, 1848. A month later he crushed the revolution with
his Swiss mercenaries, recalled his army from northern Italy,
and was master, again, in his capital and his peninsular
kingdom. The following summer he landed 8,000 troops in
Sicily; his army bombarded and stormed Messina in September;
defeated the insurgents at the foot of Mount Etna; took
Catania by storm in April, 1849, and entered Palermo, after a
short bombardment, on the 17th of May, having gained for its
master the nickname of "King Bomba." "He ordered a general
disarmament, and established an oppressive military rule over
the whole island; and there was no more talk of parliament and
constitution. All these struggles in central and southern
Italy stood in close connection with the events of 1848 and
1849 in upper Italy. … In the north the struggle was to
shake off the Austrian yoke. … During the month of January,
1848, there was constant friction between the citizens and the
military in Milan and the university cities of Pavia and
Padua. … March 18th, Milan rose. All classes took part in
the fight; and the eighty-two-year-old field-marshal Count
Joseph Radetzky … was obliged, after a street fight of two
days, to draw his troops out of the city, call up as quickly
as possible the garrisons of the neighboring cities, and take
up his position in the famous Quadrilateral, between
Peschiera, Verona, Legnano, and Mantua. March 22d, Venice,
where Count Zichy commanded, was lost for the Austrians," who
yielded without resistance, releasing their political
prisoners, one of whom, the celebrated Daniel Manin, a
Venetian lawyer, took his place at the head of a provisional
government. "Other cities followed the lead of Venice. The
little duchies of Modena and Parma could hold out no longer;
Dukes Francis and Charles fled to Austria, and provisional
governments sprung up behind them. Like Naples, the duchies
and Tuscany also sent their troops across the Po to help the
Sardinians in the decisive struggle. The hopes of all Italy
were centred on Sardinia and its king. … Charles Albert,
called to the aid of Lombardy, entered Milan to win for
himself the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom and the hegemony of
Italy. He presented himself as the liberator of the peninsula,
but it was not a part for which he was qualified by his
antecedents. … He was a brave soldier, but a poor captain.
… His opponent, Radetzky, was old, but his spirit was still
young and fresh. … Radetzky received re-enforcements from
Austria, and on the 6th of May repelled the attack of the
Sardinian king south-west of Verona [at Santa Lucia]. May
29th, he carried the intrenchments at Cartatone; but as the
Sardinians were victorious at Goito and took Peschiera, while
Garibaldi with his Alpine rangers threatened the Austrian
rear, he had to desist from further advances, and limit his
operations to the recapture of Vicenza and the other cities of
the Venetian main-land. In the mean time the Austrian court,
chiefly at the instigation of the British embassy, had opened
negotiations with the Lombards, and offered them their
independence on condition of their assuming a considerable
share of the public debt, and concluding a favorable
commercial treaty with Austria. But, as the Lombards felt sure
of acquiring their freedom more cheaply, they did not accept
the proposition. Radetzky was now in a position to assume an
active offensive. He won a brilliant victory at Custozza, July
25th. The Sardinians attempted to make a stand at Goito and
again at Volta, but were driven back, and Radetzky advanced on
Milan. Charles Albert had to evacuate the city," and on the
9th of August he concluded an armistice, withdrawing his
troops from Lombardy and the duchies. But in the following
March (1849) he was persuaded to renew the war, and he placed
his army under the command of the Polish general Chrzanowski.
It was the intention of the Sardinians to advance again into
Lombardy, but they had no opportunity. "Radetzky crossed the
Ticino, and in a four days' campaign on Sardinian soil
defeated the foe so completely—March 21st at Mortara, and
March 23d at Novara—that there could be no more thought of a
renewal of the struggle. … Charles Albert, who had vainly
sought death upon the battle-field, was weary of his throne
and his life. In the night of March 23d, at Novara, he laid
down the crown and declared his eldest son king of Sardinia,
under the title of Victor Emmanuel II. He hoped that the
latter would obtain a more favorable peace from the Austrians.
… Then, saying farewell to his wife by letter, attended by
but two servants, he travelled through France and Spain to
Portugal. He died at Oporto, July 26th, 1849, of repeated
strokes of apoplexy." After long negotiations, the new king
concluded a treaty of peace with Austria on the 6th of August.
"Sardinia retained its boundaries intact, and paid 75,000,000
lire as indemnity. The false report of a Sardinian victory at
Novara had caused the population of Brescia to fall upon the
Austrian garrison and drive them into the citadel.
{1863}
General Haynau hastened thither with 4,000 men well provided
with artillery. The city was bombarded, and on the 1st of
April it was reoccupied, after a fearful street fight, in
which even women took part; but Haynau stained his name by
inhuman cruelties, especially toward the gentler sex. Venice
was not able to hold out much longer. It had at first attached
itself to Sardinia, but after the defeat of the Sardinians the
republic was proclaimed. Without the city, in Haynau's camp,
swamp fever raged; within, hunger and cholera. On the news of
the capitulation of Hungary, August 22d, it surrendered, and
the heads of the revolution, Manin and Pepe, went into exile.
All Italy was again brought under its old masters."

_W. Müller,
Political History of Recent Times,
section 16._

The siege of Venice, "reckoning from April 2, when the
Assembly voted to resist at any cost, lasted 146 days; but the
blockade by land began on June 18, 1848, when the Austrians
first occupied Mestre. During the twenty-one weeks of actual
siege, 900 Venetian troops were killed, and probably 7,000 or
8,000 were at different times on the sick-list. Of the
Austrians, 1,200 were killed in engagements, 8,000 succumbed
to fevers and cholera, and as many more were in the hospitals:
80,000 projectiles were fired from the Venetian batteries;
from the Austrian, more than 120,000. During the seventeen
months of her independence, Venice raised sixty million
francs, exclusive of patriotic donations in plate and
chattels. When Gorzkowsky came to examine the accounts of the
defunct government he exclaimed, 'I did not believe that such
Republican dogs were such honest men.' With the fate of Venice
was quenched the last of the fires of liberty which the
Revolution had kindled throughout Europe in 1848. Her people,
whom the world had come to look down upon as degenerate,—mere
trinket-makers and gondoliers,—had proved themselves second
to none in heroism, superior to all in stability. At Venice,
from first to last, we have had to record no excesses, no
fickle changes, no slipping down of power from level to level
till it sank in the mire of anarchy. She had her demagogues
and her passions, but she would be the slave of neither; and
in nothing did she show her character more worthily than in
recognizing Manin and making him her leader. He repaid her
trust by absolute fidelity. I can discover no public act of
his to which you can impute any other motive than solicitude
for her welfare. The common people loved him as a father,
revered him as a patron saint; the upper classes, the
soldiers, the politicians, whatever may have been the
preferences of individuals or the ambition of cliques, felt
that he was indispensable, and gave him wider and wider
authority as danger increased. … The little lawyer, with the
large, careworn face and blue eyes, had redeemed Venice from
her long shame of decadence and servitude. But Europe would
not suffer his work to stand; Europe preferred that Austria
rather than freedom should rule at Venice. At daybreak on
August 28 a mournful throng of the common people collected
before Manin's house in Piazza San Paterniano. 'Here is our
good father, poor dear fellow,' they were heard to say. 'He
has endured so much for us. May God bless him!' They escorted
him and his family to the shore, whence he embarked on the
French ship Pluton, for he was among the forty prominent
Venetians whom the Austrians condemned to banishment. At six
o'clock the Pluton weighed anchor and passed through the
winding channel of the lagune, out into the Adriatic. Long
before the Austrian banners were hoisted that morning on the
flagstaffs of St. Mark's, Venice, with her fair towers and
glittering domes, had vanished forever from her Great
Defender's sight. Outwardly, the Revolutionary Movement had
failed; in France it had resulted in a spurious Republic, soon
to become a tinsel Empire; elsewhere, there was not even a
make-believe success to hide, if but for a while, the failure.
In Italy, except in Piedmont, Reaction had full play. Bomba
filled his Neapolitan and Sicilian prisons with political
victims, and demonstrated again that the Bourbon government
was a negation of God. Pius IX., having loitered at Naples
with his Paragon of Virtue until April, 1850, returned to
Rome, to be henceforth now the puppet and now the accomplice
of Cardinal Antonelli in every scheme for oppressing his
subjects, and for resisting Liberal tendencies. He held his
temporal sovereignty through the kindness of the Bonapartist
charlatan in France; it was fated that he should lose it
forever when that charlatan lost his Empire. In Tuscany,
Leopold thanked Austria for permitting him to rule over a
people the intelligent part of which despised him. In Modena,
the Duke was but an Austrian deputy sheriff. Lombardy and
Venetia were again the prey of the double-beaked eagle of
Hapsburg. Only in Piedmont did Constitutionalism and liberty
survive to become, under an honest king and a wise minister,
the ark of Italy's redemption."

_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 5, chapter 6 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_W. E. Gladstone,
Gleanings of Past Years,
volume 4, chapters 1-4._

_L. C. Farini,
The Roman State from 1815 to 1850,
books 2-7 (volumes 1-4)._

_H. Martin,
Daniel Manin and Venice in 1848-49._

_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
period 2 (volumes 1-2)._

_L. Mariotti,
Italy in 1848_.

_E. A. V.,
Joseph Mazzini,
chapters 4-5._

_The Chevalier O'Clery,
History of the Italian Revolution,
chapters 6-7._

ITALY: A. D. 1855.
Sardinia in the alliance of the Crimean War against Russia.

See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854-1856.

ITALY: A. D. 1856-1859.
Austro-Italy before Europe in the Congress of Paris.
Alliance of France with Sardinia.
War with Austria.
Emancipation of Lombardy.
Peace of Villa-franca.

"The year 1856 brought an armistice between the contending
powers [in the Crimea—see RUSSIA: A. D. 1853-1854 to
1854-1856], followed by the Congress of Paris, which settled
the terms of peace. At that Congress Count Cavour and the
Marquis Villamarina represented their country side by side
with the envoys of the great European States. The Prime
Minister of Piedmont, while taking his part in the
re-establishment of the general peace with a skill and tact
which won him the favour of his brother plenipotentiaries,
never lost sight of the further object he had in view, namely,
that of laying before the Congress the condition of Italy. …
His efforts were rewarded with success.
{1864}
On the 30th March, 1856, the treaty of peace was signed, and
on the 8th April Count Walewski called the attention of the
members of the Congress to the state of Italy. … Count Buol,
the Austrian plenipotentiary, would not admit that the
Congress had any right to deal with the Italian question at
all; he declined courteously, but firmly, to discuss the
matter. … But although Austria refused to entertain the
question, the fact remained that the condition of Italy now
stood condemned, not by revolutionary chiefs, nor by the
rulers of Piedmont alone, but by the envoys of some of the
leading powers of Europe speaking officially in the name of
their respective sovereigns. It was in truth a great
diplomatic victory for Italy. … No one in Europe was more
thoroughly convinced than Napoleon III. that the discontent of
Italy and the plots of a section of Italians had their origin
in the despotism which annihilated all national life in the
Peninsula with the single exception of Piedmont. He felt
keenly, also, how false, was his own position at Rome. …
France upheld the Pope as a temporal sovereign, but,
nevertheless, the latter ruled in a manner which pleased
Austria and which displeased France. … Count Cavour went
privately to meet the French Emperor at Plombières in July,
1858. During that interview it was arranged that France should
ally herself actively with Piedmont against Austria. … The
first public indication of the attitude taken up by France
with regard to Austria and Italy was given on the 1st January,
1859, when Napoleon III. received the diplomatic corps at the
Tuileries. Addressing Baron Hubner, the Austrian Ambassador,
the French Emperor said: 'I regret that the relations between
us are bad; tell your sovereign, however, that my sentiments
towards him are not changed.' … The ties which united France
to Piedmont were strengthened by the marriage, in the end of
January, 1859, of the Princess Clotilde, the eldest daughter
of Victor Emmanuel, with Prince Napoleon, the first cousin of
the French Emperor. … An agreement was made by which the
Emperor Napoleon promised to give armed assistance to Piedmont
if she were attacked by Austria. The result, in case the
allies were successful, was to be the formation of a northern
kingdom of Italy. … Both Austria and Piedmont increased
their armaments and raised loans in preparation for war. Men
of all ranks and conditions of life flocked to Turin from the
other States of Italy to join the Piedmontese army, or enrol
themselves among the volunteers of Garibaldi, who had hastened
to offer his services to the king against Austria. …
Meanwhile, diplomacy made continual efforts to avert war. …
The idea of a European Congress was started. … Then came the
proposition of a general disarmament by way of staying the
warlike preparations, which were taking ever enlarged
proportions. On the 18th April, 1859, the Cabinet of Turin
agreed to the principle of disarmament at the special request
of England and France, on the condition that Piedmont took her
seat at the Congress. The Cabinet of Vienna had made no reply
to this proposition. Then suddenly it addressed, on the 23rd
April, an ultimatum to the Cabinet of Turin demanding the
instant disarmament of Piedmont, to which a categorical reply
was asked for within three days. At the expiration of the
three days Count Cavour, who was delighted at this hasty step
of his opponent, remitted to Baron Kellerberg, the Austrian
envoy, a refusal to comply with the request made. War was now
inevitable. Victor Emmanuel addressed a stirring proclamation
to his army on the 27th April, and two days afterwards another
to the people of his own kingdom and to the people of Italy.
… On the 30th April some French troops arrived at Turin. On
the 13th May Napoleon III. disembarked at Genoa. … Although
the Austrian armies proceeded to cross the Ticino and invade
the Piedmontese territory, they failed to make a decisive
march on Turin. Had Count Giúlay, the Austrian commander, done
so without hesitation, he might well have reached the capital
of Piedmont before the French had arrived in sufficient force
to enable the little Piedmontese army to arrest the invasion.
As it was, the opportunity was lost never to occur again. In
the first engagements at Montebello and Palestro [May 20, 30
and 31] the advantage rested decidedly with the allies. … On
the 4th June the French fought the battle of Magenta, which
ended, though not without a hard struggle, in the defeat of
the Austrians. On the 8th the Emperor Napoleon and King Victor
Emmanuel entered Milan, where they were received with a
welcome as sincere as it was enthusiastic. The rich Lombard
capital hastened to recognise the king as its sovereign. While
there he met in person, Garibaldi, who was in command of the
volunteer corps, whose members had flocked from all parts of
Italy to carry on under his command the war in the mountainous
districts of the north against Austria. … The allied troops
pursued their march onwards towards the River Mincio, upon
whose banks two of the fortresses of the famous Quadrilateral
are situated. On the 24th June they encountered the Austrian
army at Solferino and San Martino. French, Piedmontese, and
Austrians, fought with courage and determination. Nor was it
until after ten or eleven hours of hard fighting that the
allies forced their enemy to retreat and took possession of
the positions he had occupied in the morning. While victory
thus crowned the efforts of France and Piedmont in battle,
events of no little importance were taking place in Italy.
Ferdinand II. of Naples died on the 22nd May, just after he
had received the news of the successes of the allies at
Montebello and Palestro. He was succeeded by his son, Francis
II. … Count Salmour was at once despatched by the
Piedmontese Government … with the offer of a full and fair
alliance between Turin and Naples. The offer was rejected.
Francis determined to follow his father's example of
absolutism at home while giving all his influence to Austria.
Thus it was that the young Neapolitan king sowed, and as he
sowed so he reaped. Leopold, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, had in
April refused the proffered alliance of Piedmont. … Finally
he left Florence and took refuge in the Austrian camp. A
provisional Government was formed, which placed the Tuscan
forces at the disposal of Victor Emmanuel. This change was
effected in a few hours without bloodshed or violence. The
Duchess of Parma went away to Switzerland with her young son,
Duke Robert. Francis Duke of Modena betook himself, with what
treasures he had time to lay his hands on, to the more
congenial atmosphere of the head-quarters of the Austrian
army. … 'The deputations which hastened from Tuscany, Parma,
and Modena, to offer their allegiance to Victor Emmanuel, were
received without difficulty. It was agreed that their complete
annexation should be deferred until after the conclusion of
peace.
{1865}
In the meanwhile the Piedmontese Government was to assume the
responsibility of maintaining order and providing for military
action. … The French and Piedmontese armies had won the
battle of Solferino, and driven the enemy across the Mincio;
their fleets were off the lagoons of Venice, and were even
visible from the lofty Campanile of St. Mark. Italy was
throbbing with a movement of national life daily gathering
volume and force. Europe was impatiently expecting the next
move. It took the unexpected form of an armistice, which the
Emperor of the French proposed, on his sole responsibility, to
the Emperor Francis Joseph on the 8th July. On the 12th the
preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. Victor
Emmanuel was opposed to this act of his ally, but was unable
to prevent it. The Italians were bitterly disappointed, and
their anger was only too faithfully represented by Cavour
himself. He hastened to the headquarters of the king,
denounced in vehement language the whole proceeding, advised
his majesty not to sign the armistice, not to accept Lombardy
[see below], and to withdraw his troops from the Mincio to the
Ticino. But Victor Emmanuel, though sympathising with the
feelings of Italy and of his Minister, took a wiser and more
judicious course than the one thus recommended. He accepted
Cavour's resignation and signed the armistice, appending to
his signature these words:—'J'accepte pour ce qui me
concerne.' He reserved his liberty of action for the future
and refused to pledge himself to anything more than a
cessation of hostilities."

_J. W. Probyn,
Italy from 1815 to 1890,
chapters 9-10._

ALSO IN:
_C. Bossoli,
The War in Italy._

_C. de Mazade,
Life of Count Cavour,
chapters 2-5._

_C. Arrivabene,
Italy under Victor Emmanuel,
chapters 1-13 (volume 1)._

_C. Adams,
Great Campaigns, 1796-1870,
pages 271-340._

_L. Kossuth,
Memories of My Exile._

_Countess E. M. Cesaresco,
Italian Characters in the Epoch of Unification._

[Image: Two maps of Italy, A. D. 1815 to 1859, and 1861.]

ITALY: A. D. 1859-1861.
The Treaty of Zurich and its practical negation.
Annexation of Central Italy to Sardinia by Plebiscite.
Revolution in Sicily and Naples.
Garibaldi's great campaign of liberation.
The Sardinian army in the Papal States.
The new Kingdom of Italy proclaimed.

"The treaty concluded at Zurich in November [1859] between the
ambassadors of France, Austria, and Sardinia substantially
ratified the preliminaries arranged at Villafranca. Lombardy
passed to the king of Sardinia; Venetia was retained by
Austria. The rulers of Modena and Parma were to be restored,
the papal power again established in the Legations, while the
various states of the peninsula, excepting Sardinia and the
Two Sicilies, were to form a confederation under the
leadership of the Pope. According to the terms of the treaty
Lombardy was the only state directly benefited by the war. …
The people of central Italy showed no inclination to resume
the old régime. They maintained their position firmly and
consistently, despite the decisions of the Zurich Congress,
the advice of the French emperor, and the threatening attitude
of Naples and Rome. … The year closed without definite
action, leaving the provisional governments in control. In
fact, matters were simply drifting, and it seemed imperative
to take some vigorous measures to terminate so abnormal a
condition of affairs. Finally the project of a European
congress was suggested. There was but one opinion as to who
should represent Italy in such an event. … Cavour …
returned to the head of affairs in January. This event was
simultaneous with the removal of M. Walewski at Paris and a
change in the policy of the French government. The emperor no
longer advised the central Italians to accept the return of
their rulers. His influence at Rome was exercised to induce
the Pope to allow his subjects in the Legations to have their
will. … The scheme of a European congress was abandoned.
With France at his back to neutralize Austria, Cavour had
nothing to fear. … He suggested to the emperor that the
central Italians be allowed to settle their fate by
plebiscite. This method was to a certain extent a craze with
the emperor, … and Cavour was not surprised at the
affirmative reply he received to his proposal. The elections
took place in March, and by an overwhelming majority the
people of Parma, Modena, Tuscany, and the Legations declared
for annexation to Sardinia. Austria protested, but could do no
more in the face of England and France. Naples followed the
Austrian example, while almost simultaneously with the news of
the elections there arrived at Turin the papal excommunication
for Victor Emmanuel and his subjects. On the 2d of April the
king opened the new parliament and addressed himself to the
representatives of 12,000,000 Italians. The natural enthusiasm
attending the session was seriously dampened by the royal
announcement that, subject to the approval of their citizens
and the ratification of parliament, Nice and Savoy were to be
returned to France. It was, in fact, the concluding
installment of the price arranged at Plombières to be paid for
the French troops in the campaign of the previous year. …
General Garibaldi, who sat in the parliament for Nice, was
especially prominent in the angry debates that followed. …
When the transfer had been ratified he withdrew to a humble
retreat in the island of Caprera. … But the excitement over
the loss of Nice and Savoy was soon diminished by the
startling intelligence which arrived of rebellion in the
Neapolitan dominions. Naples was mutinous, while in Sicily,
Palermo and Messina were in open revolt. Garibaldi's time had
come. Leaving Caprera, he made for Piedmont, and hastily
organized a band of volunteers to assist in the popular
movement. On the night of May 6, with about a thousand
enthusiastic spirits, he embarked from the coast near Genoa in
two steamers and sailed for Sicily. Cavour in the mean time
winked at this extraordinary performance. He dispatched
Admiral Persano with a squadron ostensibly to intercept the
expedition, but in reality 'to navigate between it and the
hostile Neapolitan fleet.' On the 11th Garibaldi landed safely
at Marsala under the sleepy guns of a Neapolitan man-of-war.
On the 14th he was at Salemi, where he issued the following
proclamation: 'Garibaldi, commander-in-chief of the national
forces in Sicily, on the invitation of the principal citizens,
and on the deliberation of the free communes of the island,
considering that in times of war it is necessary that the
civil and military powers should be united in one person,
assumes in the name of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, the
Dictatorship in Sicily.'" On the 26th Garibaldi attacked
Palermo; on the 6th of June he was in possession of the city
and citadel; on the 25th of July Messina was surrendered to him.
{1866}
"Perhaps the excitement at Turin during these days was second
only to that which animated the great Sicilian cities. The
guns of Bomba's fleet at Palermo were no more active than the
diplomatic artillery which the courts of Central Europe
trained upon the government at Turin. … Cavour's position at
this time was a trying, delicate, and from some points of view
a questionable one. He had publicly expressed regret for
Garibaldi's expedition, while privately he encouraged it. …
Cavour's desire to see Garibaldi in Calabria was changed, a
little later. La Farina was at Palermo in behalf of the
Sardinian government, to induce Garibaldi to consent to the
immediate annexation of Sicily to the new Italian kingdom.
This Garibaldi declined to do, preferring to wait until he
could lay the entire Neapolitan realm and Rome as well at the
feet of Victor Emmanuel. This altered the aspect of affairs.
It was evident that Garibaldi was getting headstrong. It was
Cavour's constant solicitude to keep the Italian question in
such a shape as to allow no foreign power a pretext for
interference. Garibaldi's design against Rome garrisoned by
French troops would be almost certain to bring on foreign
complications and ruin the cause of Italian unity." On the
19th of August, Garibaldi crossed his army from Sicily to the
mainland and advanced on Naples. "On the evening of September
6 the king embarked on a Spanish ship, and leaving his
mutinous navy at anchor in the bay, quit forever those
beautiful shores which his race had too long defiled. On the
morning of September 7 Garibaldi was at Salerno; before night
he had reached Naples, and its teeming thousands had run mad.
… The Neapolitan fleet went over en masse to Garibaldi, and
by him was placed under the orders of the Sardinian admiral.
The Garibaldian troops came swarming into the city, some by
land and others by sea. … Francis II. had shut himself up in
the fortress of Gaeta with the remnants of his army, holding
the line of the Volturno. … At Turin the state of unrest
continued. Garibaldi's presence at Naples was attended with
grave perils. Of course his designs upon Rome formed the
principal danger, but his conspicuous inability as an
organizer was one of scarcely less gravity. … Sardinian
troops had become a necessity of the situation. … There was
no time to lose. There could be no difficulty in finding an
excuse to enter papal territory. The inhabitants of Umbria and
the Marches, who had never ceased to appeal for annexation to
the new kingdom, were suppressed by an army of foreign
mercenaries that the Pope had mustered beneath his banner. …
Cavour had interceded in vain with the Vatican to alter its
course toward its disaffected subjects. At last, on September
7, the day Garibaldi entered Naples, he sent the royal
ultimatum to Cardinal Antonelli at Rome. … On the 11th the
unfavorable reply of Antonelli was received, and the same day
the Sardinian troops crossed the papal frontier. … Every
European power except England, which expressed open
satisfaction, protested against this action. There was an
imposing flight of ambassadors from Turin, and an ominous
commotion all along the diplomatic horizon. Cavour had not
moved, however, without a secret understanding with Napoleon.
… The Sardinian army advanced rapidly in two columns.
General Fanti seized Perugia and Spoleto, while Cialdini on
the east of the Apennines utterly destroyed the main papal
army under the French general Lamoricière at Castelfidardo
[September 17]. Lamoricière with a few followers gained
Ancona, but finding that town covered by the guns of the
Sardinian fleet, he was compelled to surrender. 'The
pontifical mercenary corps' became a thing of the past, Cavour
could turn his whole attention to Naples. He had obtained from
parliament an enthusiastic permission to receive, if tendered,
the allegiance of the Two Sicilies. The army was ordered
across the Neapolitan frontier, and the king left for Ancona
to take command. In the mean time on October 1 Garibaldi had
inflicted another severe defeat to the royal Neapolitan army
on the Volturno. The Sardinian advance was wholly unimpeded.
… On November 7 the king entered Naples, and on the
following day was waited upon by a deputation to announce the
result of the election that Garibaldi had previously decreed.
'Sire,' said their spokesman, 'The Neapolitan people,
assembled in Comitia, by an immense majority have proclaimed
you their king.' … Then followed an event so sublime as to
be without parallel in these times of selfish ambition.
Garibaldi bade farewell to his faithful followers, and,
refusing all rewards, passed again to his quiet home in
Caprera. … The people of Umbria and the Marches followed the
lead of Naples in declaring themselves subjects of Victor
Emmanuel. Except for the patrimony of St. Peter surrounding
the city of Rome and the Austrian province of Venetia, Italy
was united under the tricolor. While Garibaldi returned to his
humble life, Cavour went to Turin to resume his labors. … On
the 18th of February, 1861, the first national parliament
representing the north and south met at Turin. Five days
before, the last stronghold of Francis II. had capitulated,
and the enthusiasm ran high. The kingdom of Italy was
proclaimed, and the king confirmed as 'Victor Emmanuel II., by
the grace of God and the will of the nation King of Italy.'
… The work was almost done. The scheme that a few years
before would have provoked a smile in any diplomatic circle in
Europe had been perfected almost to the capstone. But the man
who had conceived the plan and carried it through its darkest
days was, not destined to witness its final consummation.
Cavour was giving way. On May 29 he was stricken down with a
violent illness." On June 6 he died. "To Mazzini belongs the
credit of keeping alive the spirit of patriotism; Garibaldi is
entitled to the admiration of the world as the pure patriot
who fired men's souls; but Cavour was greater than either, and
Mazzini and Garibaldi were but humble instruments in his
magnificent plan of Italian regeneration."

_H. Murdock,
The Reconstruction of Europe,
chapter 13._

ALSO IN:
_C. de Mazade,
Life of Count Cavour,
chapters 5-7._

_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
3d period (volume 2)._

_E. Dicey,
Victor Emmanuel,
chapters 27-34._

_E. About,
The Roman Question._

_The Chevalier O'Clery,
The Making of Italy,
chapters 7-12._

{1867}

ITALY: A. D. 1862-1866.
The Roman question and the Venetian question.
Impatience of the nation.
Collision of Garibaldi with the government.
Alliance with Prussia.
War with Austria.
Liberation and annexation of Venetia.

"The new ministry was formed by Baron Ricasoli. … In the
month of July, Russia and Prussia followed the example of
England and France, and acknowledged Italian unity. … Baron
Ricasoli only held office about nine months; not feeling equal
to the difficulties he had to encounter, he resigned in March,
1862, and Signor Ratazzi was empowered to form a new ministry.
… The volunteer troops had become a source of serious
embarrassment to the government. … It was found disagreeable
and dangerous to have two standing armies under separate heads
and a separate discipline, and it was proposed to amalgamate
the Garibaldians with the royal troops. Endless disagreements
arose out of this question. … As soon as this question was
in a manner accommodated, a more serious one arose. The
central provinces lost all patience in waiting so long for a
peaceful solution of the Roman question. The leaders of the
Young Italy party became more warlike in their language, and
excited the peasantry to riotous proceedings, which the
government had to put down forcibly, and this disagreeable
fact helped to make the Ratazzi ministry unpopular.
Garibaldi's name had been used as an incentive to those
disturbances, and now the hot-headed general embarked for
Sicily, to take the command of a troop who were bound for the
Eternal City, resolved to cut with the sword the Gordian knot
of the Roman question. The government used energetic measures
to maintain its dignity, and not allow an irregular warfare to
be carried on without its sanction. The times were difficult,
no doubt, and the ministry had a hard road to tread. … The
Garibaldians were already in the field, and having crossed
from Sicily, were marching through Calabria with
ever-increasing forces and the cry of 'Rome or death' on their
lips. Victor Emmanuel had now no choice left him but to put
down rebellion by force of arms. General Cialdini's painful
duty it was to lead the royal troops on this occasion. He
encountered the Garibaldians at Aspromonte, in Calabria, and
on their refusing to surrender to the king, a fight ensued in
which the volunteers were of course defeated, and their
officers arrested. Garibaldi, with a ball in his foot, from
the effects of which he has never recovered, was carried a
state prisoner to Piedmont. … This unhappy episode was a
bitter grief to Victor Emmanuel. … Aspromonte gave a final
blow to the Ratazzi ministry. Never very popular, it was
utterly shaken by the reaction in favour of Garibaldi. …
After a good deal of worry and consultation, the king decided
to call Luigi Carlo Farini to office. … Unhappily his health
obliged him to retire very soon from public life, and he was
succeeded by Minghetti. On the whole this first year without
Cavour had been a very trying one to Victor Emmanuel. …
Meantime the Roman question remained in abeyance—to the great
detriment of the nation, for it kept Central and Southern
Italy in a state of fermentation which the government could
not long hold in check. The Bourbon intrigues at Rome,
encouraging brigandage in the Two Sicilies, destroyed all
security of life and property, and impeded foreigners from
visiting the country. The Emperor of the French, occupying the
false position of champion of Italian independence and
protector of the temporal power of the Pope, would not do
anything, nor let the Italian Government do anything, towards
settling the momentous question. … Victor Emmanuel, who had
his eye on Venice all the time, having a fixed impression that
if it could be recovered he would find less difficulty in
getting rid of the foreign occupation in Rome, now adopted
energetic measures to bring about a settlement of this
Venetian question, urging the English Government to use its
influence with Austria to induce her to accept some compromise
and surrender the Italian province peaceably. … Meantime the
Italian Government continued to invite the French to withdraw
their forces from the Roman States, and leave the Pope face to
face with his own subjects without the aid of foreign
bayonets. This the emperor, fearing to offend the papal party,
could not make up his mind to do. But to make the road to Rome
easier for the Italians, he proposed a transfer of the capital
from Turin to some more southern town, Florence or Naples—he
did not care which. The French minister, M. Drouyn de Lhuys,
said:—'Of course in the end you will go to Rome. But it is
important that between our evacuation and your going there,
such an interval of time and such a series of events should
elapse as to prevent people establishing any connection
between the two facts. France must not have any
responsibility.' … The king accepted the conditions, which
provided that the French were to evacuate Rome in two years,
and fixed on Florence as the residence of the court. … On
November 18, 1860, the first Parliament was opened in
Florence. … The quarrel between Austria and Prussia [see
GERMANY: A. D. 1861-1866] was growing all this time, and Italy
proposed an alliance defensive and offensive with the latter
power. … The treaty was concluded April 8, 1866. When this
fact became known, Austria, on the brink of war with Prussia,
began to think that she must rid herself in some way of the
worry of the Italians on her southern frontier, in order to be
free to combat her powerful northern enemy. The cabinet of
Vienna did not apply directly to the cabinet of Florence, but
to that arbiter of the destinies of nations, Napoleon III.,
proposing to cede Venetia on condition that the Italian
government should detach itself from the Prussian alliance.
… After an ineffectual attempt to accommodate matters by a
congress, war was declared against Austria, on June 20, 1866,
and La Marmora, having appointed Ricasoli as his deputy at the
head of the council, led the army northwards. … Victor
Emmanuel appointed his cousin regent, and carried his sons
along with him to the seat of war. … The forces of Austria
were led by the able and experienced commander, the Archduke
Albert, who had distinguished himself at Novara. On the
ill-omened field of Custozza, where the Italians had been
defeated in 1849, the opposing armies met [June 24]; and both
being in good condition, well disciplined and brave, there was
fought a prolonged and bloody battle, in which the Italians
were worsted, but not routed. … On July 20 the Italian navy
suffered an overwhelming defeat at Lissa in the Adriatic, and
these two great misfortunes plunged Victor Emmanuel into the
deepest grief. He felt disabled from continuing the war: all
the sacrifice of life had been in vain: national unity was as
far off as ever. … Meantime the Prussian arms were
everywhere victorious over Austria, and about ten days after
the battle of Custozza it was announced in the Moniteur that
Austria had asked the Emperor Napoleon's mediation, offering
to cede him Venice, and that he was making over that province
to the King of Italy.
{1868}
Italy could not accept it without the consent of her ally
Prussia; and while negotiations were going forward on the
subject, the brief seven weeks' campaign was brought to a
conclusion by the great victory of Sadowa, and on July 26 the
preliminaries of peace were signed by the Austrian and
Prussian plenipotentiaries. … Venice was restored to Italy
by the Emperor of France, with the approval of Prussia. There
was a sting in the thought that it was not wrung from the
talons of the Austrian eagle by the valour of Italian arms,
but by the force of diplomacy; still it was a delightful fact
that Venice was free, with the tricolour waving on St. Mark's.
The Italian soil was delivered from foreign occupation. … As
soon as the treaty was signed at Vienna, October 2, the
Venetian Assemblies unanimously elected Victor Emmanuel with
acclamations, and begged for immediate annexation to the
Kingdom of Italy. On November 4, in the city of Turin, Victor
Emmanuel received the deputation which came to proffer him the
homage of the inhabitants of Venetia. … On November 7 Victor
Emmanuel made a solemn entry into the most beautiful, and,
after Rome, the most interesting city of the Italian
peninsula. … Hot upon the settlement of the Venetian
question, came the discussion of that of Rome, which after the
evacuation of the French troops [November, 1866] seemed more
complicated than ever. The Catholic powers were now anxious to
accommodate the quarrel between Italy and the Pope, and they
offered to guarantee him his income and his independence if he
would reconcile himself to the national will. But Pius IX. was
immovable in his determination to oppose it to the last."

_G. S. Godkin,
Life of Victor Emmanuel II.,
chapters 23-25 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_J. W. Probyn,
Italy from 1815 to 1890,
chapter 11._

_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
4th period, chapter 1 (volume 2),
and volume 3, chapter 8._

ITALY: A. D. 1867-1870.
Settlement of the Roman question.
Defeat of Garibaldi at Mentana.
Rome in the possession of the king of Italy.

Progress made by diplomacy in the settlement of the Roman
question "was too slow for Garibaldi. He had once more fallen
under the influence of the extreme republicans, and in 1867 he
declared that he would delay no longer in planting the
republican banner on the Vatican. Between these hot-headed and
fanatical republicans on the one side, the Italian
Ultramontanes on another, and the French Emperor on the third,
the position of Victor Emmanuel was anything but enviable. In
the autumn of 1867 Garibaldi was suddenly arrested by the
Government, but released on condition that he would remain
quietly at Caprera. But meanwhile the volunteers under Menotti
Garibaldi (the great chief's son) had advanced into the Papal
States. The old warrior was burning to be with them. On the
14th of October he effected his escape from Caprera, and
managed eventually to join his son in the Romagna. Together
they advanced on Rome, and won, after tremendous fighting, the
great victory at Monte Rotundo. Meanwhile an army of
occupation sent by the Government from Florence had crossed
the Roman frontier, and a French force had landed on the
coast. Garibaldi's position was already critical, but his
resolution was unbroken. 'The Government of Florence,' he
said, in a proclamation to the volunteers, 'has invaded the
Roman territory, already won by us with precious blood from
the enemies of Italy; we ought to receive our brothers in arms
with love, and aid them in driving out of Rome the mercenary
sustainers of tyranny; but if base deeds, the continuation of
the vile convention of September, in mean consort with
Jesuitism, shall urge us to lay down our arms in obedience to
the order of the 2d December, then will I let the world know
that I alone, a Roman general, with full power, elected by the
universal suffrage of the only legal Government in Rome, that
of the republic, have the right to maintain myself in arms in
this the territory subject to my jurisdiction; and then, if
any of these my volunteers, champions of liberty and Italian
unity, wish to have Rome as the capital of Italy, fulfilling
the vote of parliament and the nation, they must not put down
their arms until Italy shall have acquired liberty of
conscience and worship, built upon the ruin of Jesuitism, and
until the soldiers of tyrants shall be banished from our
land.' The position taken up by Garibaldi is perfectly
intelligible. Rome we must have, if possible, by legal
process, in conjunction with the royal arms'; but if they will
stand aside, even if they will oppose, none the less Rome must
be annexed to Italy. Unfortunately Garibaldi had left out of
account the French force despatched by Napoleon III. to defend
the Temporal dominions of the Pope, a force which even at this
moment was advancing to the attack. The two armies met near
the little village of Mentana, ill matched in every respect.
The volunteers, numerous indeed but ill disciplined and badly
armed, brought together, held together simply by the magic of
a name, the French, admirably disciplined, armed with the
fatal chassepots, fighting the battle of their ancient Church.
The Garibaldians were terribly defeated. Victor Emmanuel
grieved bitterly, like a true, warm-hearted father for the
fate of his misguided but generous-hearted sons. … To the
Emperor of the French he wrote an ardent appeal begging him to
break with the Clericals and put himself at the head of the
Liberal party in Europe, at the same time warning him that the
old feeling of gratitude towards the French in Italy had quite
disappeared. 'The late events have suffocated every
remembrance of gratitude in the heart of Italy. It is no
longer in the power of the Government to maintain the alliance
with France. The chassepot gun at Mentana has given it a
mortal blow.' At the same time the rebels were visited with
condign punishment. Garibaldi himself was arrested, but after
a brief imprisonment at Varignano was permitted to retire once
more to Caprera. A prisoner so big as Garibaldi is always an
embarrassment to gaolers. But the last act in the great drama
… was near at hand. In 1870 the Franco-German War broke out.
The contest, involving as it did the most momentous
consequences, was as brief as it was decisive. The French, of
course, could no longer maintain their position as champions
of the Temporal power. Once more, therefore, the King of Italy
attempted, with all the earnestness and with all the
tenderness at his command, to induce the Pope to come to terms
and accept the position, at once dignified and independent,
which the Italian Government was anxious to secure to him. …
{1869}
But the Pope still unflinchingly adhered to the position he
had taken up. … A feint of resistance was made, but on the
20th of September (1870) the royal troops entered Rome, and
the Tricolour was mounted on the palace of the Capitol. So
soon as might be a plebiscite was taken. The numbers are
significant—for the King, 40,788, for the Pope, 46. But
though the work was thus accomplished in the autumn of 1870,
it was not until 2d June 1871 that the King made his triumphal
entry into the capital of Italy."

_J. A. R. Marriott,
The Makers of Modern Italy,
pages 72-76._

ALSO IN:
_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
volume 3, chapters 8-9._

_G. S. Godkin,
Life of Victor Emmanuel,
chapter 32 (volume 2)._

ITALY: A. D. 1870-1894.
The tasks and burdens of the United Nation.
Military and colonial ambitions.
The Triple Alliance.