Ruins of a Temple of Minerva
Neither the curses of the Vatican nor the wrath of the ultramontanes all over Europe could retard in the least degree the march of events. Although the confederation decided upon at Villafranca and Zurich was never made a fact, owing to the disinclination of Austria and the pope to institute the necessary reforms, the neutral attitude maintained by England and France yet materially assisted Italy to realise her dream of national unity. Towards the end of 1859 a pamphlet published in Paris entitled Pope and Congress first startled the world with the thought that it was time the temporal power of the pope should cease, that his rule ought hereafter to be confined to the precincts of Rome itself. This naturally threw the whole Catholic world in an uproar, and elicited from the pope repeated violent denunciations, yet in the course of time the idea became an accomplished fact. Napoleon had never forgotten that the holy father had refused him consecration at the time of his coronation.
[1860-1861 A.D.]
The union of the middle Italian state’s with Sardinia was the forerunner of all those “annexations” which was soon to transform completely the character of the peninsula. Napoleon was willing to permit the expansion of the upper Italian kingdom provided Savoy and the countship of Nice be ceded to France. From the time of Cavour’s resumption of his place in the ministry in January, Napoleon and the crafty minister exerted every art known to diplomacy to bring about the end they had in view. At last in March, 1860, the popular vote was obtained which gave Savoy and Nice to France and made Tuscany, Parma, Modena, and the Roman legations a part of the kingdom of Sardinia. The pope excommunicated all who had taken part or even connived at this despoliation of Rome; but the papal bull, once so formidable a weapon, had in the course of time lost much of its early terrors. The 2nd of April witnessed the opening of the first Italian parliament, in which were representatives not only from Sardinia and Lombardy, but from Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and the Roman legations. “Our fatherland is no longer the Italy of Rome,” declared the crown speech, “nor of the Middle Ages; neither shall it be the arena wherein shall meet for combat the ambitions of all nations. Now and forever it is the Italy of the Italians.”
GARIBALDI DRIVES THE BOURBONS FROM SICILY
With the Peace of Zurich and the “annexation” that followed closed the first act in the drama of Italy’s freedom. The way had been paved thereto by the conviction that had gained ground among the cultivated classes since 1848 that only by a union of the whole country under the constitutional monarchy of Sardinia could any stable and permanent national position be obtained. To accomplish this end all the revolutionary and nationalist forces made common cause, and chose as their scene of action the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which had lately passed into the hands of Francis II, the inexperienced son of Ferdinand II. The French and Russian ambassadors had in vain endeavoured, after the Peace of Villafranca, to bring about an alliance between Naples and Piedmont, thinking thus to frustrate all the efforts of the revolutionists; but the policy of tradition, which persisted in placing trust in Austria, prevailed even with the new king. By his refusal to espouse the cause of Italian unity Francis II precipitated the fall of the Bourbon dynasty and the dissolution of the Neapolitan-Sicilian kingdom.
The project of attacking a kingdom that had at its command a well-organised military force of 150,000 men was indeed a bold one; but tyranny had prepared the ground for the operations of the secret societies, and the indifference with which the warnings of the French and Russian ambassadors were received, together with the dismissal of the Swiss mercenaries, robbed the throne of its strongest and most trustworthy support at the precise moment when Garibaldi and his associates had planned to strike a decisive blow.
On the 6th of May Garibaldi set sail with 1,062 volunteers from Genoa without suffering any hinderance from the Sardinian authorities, and on the 11th of May landed at Marsala, on the west coast of Sicily. To the protest of the king of Naples and of the German courts against the impunity allowed a band of “sea-robbers,” Turin made reply that since the expedition was a private enterprise undertaken by Garibaldi and his associates, the Piedmontese authorities had no right to interfere. Before Garibaldi’s departure, however, Cavour had written to Persano: “We must support the revolution, but it must have all the appearance, in the eyes of Europe, of a volunteer enterprise.”[34]
Lay Capuchine Friar