and continually in opposition to the King and his ministers. There were
too many hot-headed representatives of Mazzini's "Young Italy," which,
as D'Azeglio said, "Being young cannot be expected to have much sense,
and certainly has little." The King fell ill of a fever, and for a time
it seemed possible he might not recover and that the country would have
to endure a regency during his son's minority. Most providentially for
Italy he did recover, and shortly after the National Assembly was again
dissolved, and a popular appeal made to the people. The King issued a
royal proclamation which was heeded by the electors, and as a result of
which more moderate men were sent to the succeeding Parliament.
The new government boldly took up the question of whether the clergy
were entitled to special ecclesiastical tribunals under the constitution
to which Victor Emmanuel had just sworn. The ministers proposed to do
away with such courts as unconstitutional. Immediately the bishops were
up in arms, and a conflict between State and Church began. The King
was besought by his mother not to oppose the Church, to be a true son
of the Church as his ancestors had been, but Victor Emmanuel, although
always grieved at the need to oppose the clergy, stood by his ministers.
The Church courts were abolished, and the people, long tired of
ecclesiastical overlorddom, acclaimed King and ministry as true lovers
of liberty.
This firm stand of the new government immediately caused the greatest
ill-will on the part of the Catholic Church, an ill-will which was shown
in a multitude of ways. A member of the ministry, the Cavalier Santa
Rosa, a devout Roman Catholic, became very ill, and asked his confessor
to administer the sacrament to him. The priest was forbidden to do this
at the express command of the bishop, and although every effort was
made by Santa Rosa's friends to obtain for him what he wished, not only
did the bishop remain obdurate, but the curate in attendance actually
insulted the dying man until he was forced to leave the house. Santa
Rosa died without having received the sacrament, and the history of
the event inflamed the minds of Piedmont more than ever against the
narrowness of the Church. The offending bishop was imprisoned, and an
exchange of notes followed between Victor Emmanuel and the Pope. The
latter complained of the freedom of speech allowed by the Sardinian
King to his people, and in reply D'Azeglio issued a pamphlet setting
forth his views of the unwarranted assumption of civil authority by
the Church. The death of Santa Rosa left a vacancy in the ministry
which D'Azeglio filled by inviting the Count Camille Cavour to take the
portfolio of Agriculture and Commerce. It was known that the new man was
bold and original, but not even D'Azeglio realized what a commanding
spirit he had invited into his official family. The King alone seems to
have gauged Cavour correctly. "Take care," he said to D'Azeglio, "this
Cavour will rule you all, he will dispose of you; he must become Prime
Minister." Fortunate it was for Italy that the King's prediction was to
be fulfilled.
Meanwhile Victor Emmanuel, the only constitutional sovereign in Italy,
was bitterly assailed by the Bourbon rulers. Ferdinand, King of Naples,
once more secure upon his throne, lost no opportunity to express his
disapproval of a king who was both a nationalist and a liberal. There
was continual friction between Turin and Vienna, largely because of the
outspoken views of the Piedmontese press with regard to the Austrian
treatment of Lombardy. The European Powers, with the exception of
England, looked upon Piedmont as an unruly child continually making
trouble. England alone was sincerely friendly to the House of Savoy, and
keenly interested in Victor Emmanuel's hopes for a united country.
New troubles arose between the Papacy and Piedmont over the latter's
advocacy of a civil marriage law. D'Azeglio and Cavour disagreed, and
the ministry resigned. The King asked D'Azeglio to form a new Cabinet,
leaving out Cavour, whom, he said, "we will want later, but not yet."
The new ministry was formed, but only a few months later D'Azeglio,
harassed by the trouble with Rome, and still suffering from his old
wound, resigned, and advised the King to summon Cavour. Victor Emmanuel
hesitated, fearing that Cavour would push matters forward too fast. When
finally approached, Cavour said that he could not take office in view of
the Church's exorbitant demands, but he at last consented. The King had
relegated his personal desire not to antagonize the clergy farther, to
his conviction that his country needed a strong hand at the helm, and,
the decision once made, trusted his new minister completely.
There were many difficulties to be met. Austria accused Piedmont of
fostering the small revolts which were continually breaking out in
Lombardy, the war indemnity--eighty million francs--was heavy and had
to be raised by new taxation which was of course universally unpopular.
Both at home and abroad the time was trying, but Victor Emmanuel found
that in Cavour he had a man who was not afraid of unpopularity, who
knew the art of steering between the radicals and the conservatives,
and who could make use of the politicians of all the different schools.
In Parliament he could more than hold his own with any opponent, in his
management of foreign affairs he already showed that extraordinary
diplomatic skill which at no late day was to win him the reputation of
the first statesman in Europe. Both King and Minister were imperious by
nature, but both also wise enough to sink their individual wills when
they realized that the cause which they had so much at heart required it
of them. So events led to the outbreak of the Crimean War.
The steps which led up to Sardinia's alliance with England and France
against Russia belong to the story of Cavour's diplomacy. Sufficient
it is to say here that Victor Emmanuel was heartily in favor of the
alliance, and would, if he could, have proceeded to it by more direct
means than Cavour deemed essential. The King was anxious to redeem the
glory of Piedmont's arms, but the Minister, with his cabinet opposed
to him on the ground that the war was a purely foreign one, had to
consider popular sentiment. Finally, however, Cavour gave the word that
the treaty might be signed in safety, and the King, his mind made up
long in advance, set his name to the important document that was to send
his army to foreign battle-fields. The instance was one in which Victor
Emmanuel's firmness of purpose aided and abetted Cavour's diplomacy.
Dabormida resigned as Foreign Minister, and Cavour immediately took his
post.
At the same time the King had heavy burdens to bear in his immediate
family. His mother, to whom he was devoted, died, bidding him stand fast
by the conservative traditions of his father. His wife, the beautiful
Queen Adelaide, died shortly afterwards, and the King lost an adviser
who had always counseled him wisely and helpfully, and whom he had
worshiped as an ideal wife and mother of his sons. Less than a month
later his brother Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, died, a man intensely
high-spirited and brave, the constant companion of Victor Emmanuel's
youth. No wonder that the King felt that he was left solitary. He
had small time to give to his feelings, however. "They tell me," he
said, "that God has struck me with a judgment, and has torn from me my
mother, my wife, and my brother, because I consented to those laws, and
they threaten me with greater punishments. But do they not know that
a sovereign who wishes to secure his own happiness in the other world
ought to labor for the happiness of his people on this earth?"
There were more trials immediately in store. The Church owned more than
a tenth part of the landed property of Piedmont, and the religious
houses were extravagantly wealthy. The government, planning reforms,
decided that some modification of this condition must be made, and so
Rattazzi, then Minister of Grace and Justice, introduced his bill for
the suppression of certain of the religious houses and other similar
reforms. Immediately the bishops and the conservatives were up in arms,
and Victor Emmanuel had to bear the brunt of an attack which proclaimed
him an infidel, an enemy of religion, and which predicted the direst
punishments to him should he persist in his course. The ministry were
firm, however, and the people were with them. Certain bishops offered to
pay over the amount which would be derived from the suppression of the
religious houses, and the offer was tempting to the King, who could not
forget his mother's wishes, and the close ties that bound his house to
Rome. A breach with his ministers followed, and the King sought counsel
of his own subjects and of the French and English envoys. All advised
him to trust the decision to Cavour. Finally he did so, and the Rattazzi
measure, somewhat modified, became law.
The Sardinian army meantime was winning victories in the Crimea, and
La Marmora was proving himself a match for the great generals of the
allied Powers. The thought of his troops was the King's one solace at
this time, which was so trying to him both personally and politically.
He was passionately fond of military glory, and would have preferred
the opportunity to lead his soldiers to any gift fortune could have
bestowed. The soldiers knew this, the people were growing more and more
attached to their "Rè galantuomo," and the King, always quickly touched
by the affection of his people, grew stronger in his resolve never to
dim their hopes of him. He said of his uncle, the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
who was ruling according to the accepted code of an Austrian Prince,
"How could he, by his own act, sacrifice the affections of his people?
If I reigned over not a little state like Piedmont, but over an empire
vast as America, and had to do what he has done to preserve the little
throne of Tuscany, I would not hesitate a moment, I would renounce the
empire."
In order that France and England might learn to know the true Victor
Emmanuel from the false one created by the slanders of the clerical
party, the King, accompanied by Cavour and D'Azeglio, in December, 1855,
visited Paris and London. In both cities he was warmly greeted, and made
much of, and as he was about to leave the French capital Napoleon asked
the significant question, "What can I do for Italy?" England gave the
King the welcome she has always in store for the hero who is fighting
despotic claims, and the brief visit gave the statesmen and people
the opportunity to show openly the warmth of their regard for Italy.
Victor Emmanuel and Cavour were both known to have great admiration
for the English government, and a liking for English characteristics
which was common to most leading Italians of the time. December 11 the
King returned to Turin, to be welcomed by his people with the warmest
expressions of affectionate regard.
The fall of Sebastopol brought the war in the Crimea to a close, and
led to the Congress at Paris in 1856. The result of that Congress was
one of the signal triumphs of Cavour. He succeeded in introducing a
general discussion of Italian affairs, and in placing Victor Emmanuel in
the position of champion of all the subject Italian states, a position
which, once so publicly assumed, he never afterwards gave over. The
King showed the deepest gratitude to his great Minister on the latter's
return from the Congress, and realized that through his diplomacy
affairs were rapidly being shaped towards a new conclusion of strength
with Austria. Soon afterwards the Sardinian army returned from the
Crimea, and the King welcomed them home as heroes who had yet greater
triumphs in store for them, and linked the general who had led them,
Alfonzo La Marmora, with Cavour as the two chief agents in his rising
hopes.
King and Minister had many obstacles to overcome during those years
of waiting that were more difficult to surmount successfully than
actual battles of armies or statesmen. Austria and the Church lost
no opportunity to direct public sentiment against Sardinia, the
revolutionary element, led by men whose fiery ardor never cooled, were
continually urging the government at Turin to attack the Austrians in
Lombardy, the other states were turbulent and continually in trouble
with their Princes, and the people looked to Victor Emmanuel as their
preserver and the Princes upon him as their arch enemy. Moreover at this
time England, doubtful of French sincerity, entered into an alliance
with Austria, and shortly after the Italian, Felice Orsini, made an
attempt on the life of Louis Napoleon. Fortunately neither event had
as disastrous results to Piedmont's hopes as many predicted, the
Anglo-Austrian alliance proved lukewarm, and Orsini's appeal to Napoleon
to succor Italy touched a responsive chord in the French Emperor's heart.
As the ten years' armistice with Austria drew to a close, Victor
Emmanuel found reason to believe that the day was not far distant when
he should have his chance to redeem Novara. Napoleon and Cavour had
reached a tacit agreement in July, 1858, at Plombières. When Parliament
opened in 1859 the King made his memorable speech from the throne,
including in it the words long and carefully considered by Cavour,
"While we respect treaties, we are not insensible to the cry of anguish
that comes up to us from many parts of Italy." The words "_grido di
dolore_," cry of anguish, became famous forthwith. An eye-witness of the
scene, the Neapolitan Massari, thus describes it: "At every period the
speech was interrupted by clamorous applause, and cries of 'Viva il Rè!'
But when he came to the words _grido di dolore_, there was an enthusiasm
quite indescribable. Senators, deputies, spectators, all sprang to their
feet with a bound, and broke into passionate acclamations. The ministers
of France, Russia, Prussia, and England were utterly astonished and
carried away by the marvelous spectacle. The face of the Ambassador of
Naples was covered with a gloomy pallor. We poor exiles did not even
attempt to wipe away the tears that flowed copiously, unrestrainedly
from our eyes, as we frantically clapped our hands in applause of that
King who had remembered our sorrows, who had promised us a country.
Before the victories, the plebiscites, and the annexations conferred on
him the crown of Italy, he reigned in our hearts; he was our King!"
The speech was like a war-cry to patriots throughout Italy, and no
sooner were its tidings known than men of all ranks flocked to
Piedmont, weapons in hand, in order to be ready when the great hour
should strike. Meantime Victor Emmanuel had to make two sacrifices as
the price of French alliance in case of an Austrian war, he had to
consent to the marriage of his daughter Clotilde, then about sixteen,
with the French Emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon Jerome, a man more
than twice her age. The King was very loath to agree to the marriage, it
required the strongest of Cavour's arguments to induce him to consent.
Finally, however, he did. "You have convinced me of the political
reasons which render this marriage useful and necessary to our cause. I
yield to your arguments, but I make a sacrifice in so doing. My consent
is subject to the condition that my daughter gives hers freely." Having
won over the father, Cavour succeeded in winning over the daughter, and
the marriage was solemnized on January 29, 1859.
The second sacrifice to France, one which was considered at this time
but not made until later, was the cession of Nice and Savoy. This was
a hard concession for the King to make, for Savoy was the first home
of his family, and linked by the closest ties to the traditions of his
house. He was willing, however, to make even this sacrifice for the
liberation of northern Italy, all he wanted now was the chance to
loose his soldiers and place himself at their head. Still his advisers
counseled patience. "We must wait, sire," said General Neil. "I have
been waiting for ten years, general," was the King's reply.
Fortunately for the King's spirits, he was not to be forced to wait much
longer. A European Congress for the adjustment of Italian difficulties
was planned, and the notes of the various governments in reference
thereto gave Cavour the chance he wanted. He insisted that Sardinia
should be admitted to the Congress on an equal footing with the Powers,
but this Austria opposed. The Court of Vienna insisted that Sardinia
should only be allowed to treat of the question of disarmament. Then
Austria insisted that Sardinia be made to disarm immediately. This would
have caused the gravest setback to Piedmont's hopes, but when England
came forward with the suggestion that Austria as well as Sardinia
disarm, the King at Turin and his minister felt that they must consent.
Fortune favored them, they had no sooner agreed to the English proposals
than Austrian envoys arrived at Turin with an ultimatum, immediate
disarmament or war, a decision to be given in three days. Thus Austria
became the aggressor, and Napoleon's promise to aid Piedmont in such
case fell due.
A refusal to accept the Austrian terms was given to the envoys, and on
April 23 the Sardinian Parliament ordered that the troops start for
Lombardy and confided the supreme command to Victor Emmanuel. He issued
a royal proclamation, commencing, "Austria assails us with a powerful
army, which, while simulating a desire for peace, she had collected
for our injury in the unhappy provinces subject to her domination,"
and concluding, "We confide in God and in our concord; we confide in
the valor of the Italian soldiers, in the alliance of the noble French
nation; we confide in the justice of public opinion. I have no other
ambition than to be the first soldier of Italian Independence. Viva l'
Italia!--Victor Emmanuel."
"Italy shall be!" Victor Emmanuel had sworn on the field of Novara ten
years before; now, with all the ardor restrained during those long
years of waiting, he flamed to make his promise true. He was an heroic
figure as he reviewed his troops at Alessandria, he was some king of
the Middle Ages to whom horse and arms were incomparably dearer than
pomp and ease at home. He said that he should lead his troops in battle,
and he did, proving himself so absolutely reckless of safety that both
generals and soldiers were constantly alarmed. Yet it was that same wild
recklessness of his which made his soldiers fight as they did; they saw
that their King was never afraid to face what he commanded them to face.
The French Emperor landed at Genoa May 13, 1859, amid loud Italian
plaudits, and the two sovereigns set out together for the field of war.
Napoleon the Third had many shortcomings, and Italians scarcely knew
whether to bless or curse him in those years when he played so large a
part in their history, but he did have the art of inspiring warm and
lasting friendships, and Victor Emmanuel, whose nature was always open
to admiration for those about him, had known him but a short time before
he gave him the deepest and sincerest personal trust.
The war opened auspiciously for Piedmont, the people of Lombardy were
all in arms, Garibaldi was waging irregular warfare through the Lakes
with his band of volunteers called the "Hunters of the Alps," and the
allied Italian and French armies carried off their first battles with
the Austrians. May 20 was fought the battle of Montebello, and shortly
afterwards the battle of Palestro, long drawn out, but ultimately
victorious for the allies. On the last day of the battle it seemed
that the Austrians must win; the Italian troops, fighting desperately
and falling in numbers, were almost outflanked and surrounded when the
French Zouaves suddenly appeared, and with terrific fire drove the
Austrians back and seized their cannon. Victor Emmanuel led the furious
charge that followed, and was so impetuous that both Italians and
Zouaves were continually alarmed lest he should be cut off from them.
When the battle ended the Zouaves elected King Victor their captain,
declaring that he was the first of all true Zouaves because he would not
listen to reason.
On June 4 the great battle of Magenta was won by the allies, and the
memory of Novara was obliterated in this overwhelming triumph which
freed Lombardy from Austria. Immediately a Lombard delegation came to
the King of Sardinia and offered him the fealty of their state and asked
for its union with Piedmont. Thus came the first new state into united
Italy.
On June 8 the allies entered Milan, the Lombard capital, and celebrated
their victories with a splendid service at the cathedral. Meanwhile news
arrived of a French victory at Melegnano, and of Garibaldi's daring
movements among the Alps. The Lombards were beside themselves with
delight, the Austrians, so long their overlords, had at last withdrawn
across the Mincio into Venetia. Victor Emmanuel issued a proclamation
in Milan on June 9 in which occurred the stirring words of praise for
his ally so often quoted, "The Emperor of the French, our generous
ally, worthy of the name and genius of Napoleon, putting himself at the
head of the heroic army of that great nation, wishes _to liberate Italy
from the Alps to the Adriatic_. In a rivalry of sacrifices you will
second these magnanimous proposals on the field of battle, you will show
yourselves worthy of the destinies to which Italy is now called after so
many centuries of suffering."
In Milan the King first met Garibaldi, whose reputation for striking
audacity and no less remarkable simplicity had made a strong appeal to
a sovereign who could appreciate those qualities. Here their friendship
began, a mutual admiration which was to be the strongest link to bind
the general, growing yearly more and more a republican, to the future
Kingdom of Italy.
Austria was now ready for a new attack, and appeared suddenly in front
of the allied armies. The latter met them, and fought on June 24 the
great battle called Solferino by the French, and San Martino by the
Italians. San Martino is the name of a hill which commands the roads
to the Lake of Garda. The Piedmontese had held it at first, but were
dislodged by the Austrians. Then re-enforcements arrived, and the
height was retaken, but at great cost. The King sent an officer to the
general in command, saying, "Our allies are winning a great battle at
Solferino; it is the King's wish that his soldiers should win one at San
Martino." "Say to the King that his orders shall be executed," replied
General Mollard. The King succeeded in capturing Sonato, and then
went to the defense of San Martino, which was finally won after most
desperate fighting. The Italians had equaled the proud record of their
allies on that day. Between them the two armies had driven the Austrians
completely out of Lombardy. That night it did not seem unlikely that
a few more weeks would indeed see Italy free from the Alps to the
Adriatic, and Venice united to her sister cities of the north.
Napoleon, having met with the most unqualified success in Italy,
suddenly stopped short, and proceeded, almost as though panic-stricken,
to ask Austria for an armistice, as though he were the vanquished, not
the victor. Both Italians and Frenchmen heard of this determination
of the Emperor first with incredulity, then with amazement, then with
indignation. Victor Emmanuel did his utmost to induce his ally to change
his intention, but Napoleon was obdurate. Then the King, who realized to
the full what a crushing blow this step would be to the soaring hopes
of the Italian cities, resigned himself to the situation as best he
could. "Poor Italy!" he said to the French Emperor. "Whatever shall be
your Majesty's decision I shall always feel grateful for what you have
done for Italian independence, and you may count on me as a friend." It
must have been hard for a king who saw his victorious army checked in
mid-career to have spoken such dignified words.