The emperor had once held close relations with the Italian patriots, had even been a member of an Italian secret society, and now, regarded by his former associates as a traitor to their cause, he was condemned by them to death. In February a letter written by Orsini was made public in which he adjured the emperor to restore to Italy the independence it had lost in 1849 through France’s fault; to free it forever from the Austrian yoke. “Without Italian independence,” the letter closed, “the peace of Europe, even your majesty’s own safety is but an empty dream. Free my unhappy fatherland and the blessings of twenty-five million people will follow you into the next world.”
On the 13th of March Orsini and Pieri perished on the scaffold, the two remaining accomplices having been deported to America. The courage with which Orsini met death, and the love of country he manifested up to his last breath aroused universal sympathy. What Orsini living had failed to bring about, he accomplished dead. While the murderous attempt was made the pretext for robbing France of all freedom by means of the security law of the 28th of January, Napoleon in conjunction with Cavour—who with artful smoothness calmed his imperial associate’s anger toward Italy, the hotbed of conspiracies—proceeded to carry out the wishes of Orsini.
Several weeks later Cavour held a secret conference with Napoleon at which plans regarding Italy were perfected. “Italy to be free as far as Adria; the whole of upper Italy to be united in a kingdom, France to be enlarged by the annexation of Savoy,” these were the terms agreed upon in the interview. It was further proposed that the bond between the two reigning houses should be made still firmer by the betrothal of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte with Clotilde, the daughter of Victor Emmanuel.[32]
AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR: MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO
In 1859 war was brought close in sight by Victor Emmanuel’s announcement at the opening of the chamber of deputies in Turin that Sardinia could no longer remain insensible to the cries for help that were arising on all sides. Austria proceeded at once to strengthen her army, to place the whole of Lombardy under martial law, and by every means possible sought to secure her power and possessions in Italy. Austria was severely blamed by the neutral powers for beginning hostilities, and it seemed as though with the death of Field Marshal Radetzky Austria’s military star had set forever. To Franz Gyulay, a member of the Hungarian nobility who had filled many offices but had in none of them given proofs of marked ability, fell the command.
[1859 A.D.]
By shameful inactivity the Austrians allowed the Sardinians time to concentrate their 80,000 men around the fortress of Alessandria, where they were joined in May by several divisions of French troops, Garibaldi, meanwhile, with his “Alpine hunters” guarding the foot of the mountain whence he could harass the right wing of the Austrians and support the operations of the main army. The popularity of his name drew volunteers to his banner in flocks, and his appearance in the northern lake-region aroused the wildest enthusiasm among the people. About the middle of May Napoleon himself arrived in Italy; although he left the actual lead to able and experienced generals, he took his place at the head of the troops.
Count Stadion, sent out to reconnoitre with 12,000 men, came upon the French near Montebello May 20th, 1859, and was forced to retreat. The battle of Magenta followed, June 4th, in which the victory fell to the French.[33] The bravery of the Austrians in this engagement, although they suffered from the greatest lack of necessary equipments, excited the admiration even of the enemy. Never did the defects of the Austrian administration become so glaringly apparent as during the campaign in Italy. Lombardy was the prize at stake in this battle of Magenta. Gyulay, incapable of rallying his scattered forces for a new attempt, immediately gave orders for a general retreat. Milan was evacuated in the next two days so hastily that the movement bore the character of a flight, the fortifications around Pavia and Piacenza were blown up, and the army of occupation was recalled from all its garrisons.
On the 8th of June, Napoleon, at the side of Victor Emmanuel, made a triumphal entry into Milan, where he addressed the people in high-sounding speeches, the Austrians, meanwhile, continuing their retreat as far as the Mincio, where they took up a new position in the middle of a quadrangle of fortifications, Peschiera, Verona, Mantua, and Legnago.
The misfortunes that had befallen Austria confirmed and strengthened Sardinia in its ideal of Italian unity, and helped to bring about the fall of the lesser Italian sovereignties. In April the archduke Leopold of Tuscany had been forced to leave Florence and place himself under the protection of Austria. A provisory government was established under the protectorate of the king of Piedmont. But this arrangement did not meet Napoleon’s views. His secret design was to give the Tuscan throne to his cousin, Louis Napoleon, the son-in-law of Victor Emmanuel, that there might gradually grow up in Italy a circle of states tributary to France which would hinder the dream of Italian unity from ever being realised.