Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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tution. The municipalities of Turin, Alles-sandria and Novara took up the demand and the king was forced to grant a constitution on February 8, 1848. A ministry was formed by Balbo. Cavour was left off the ministry because of his too liberal tendencies. Revolts in Venice and Milan, and the setting up of republics in these two cities caused Austrian troops to pour into Lombardy-Venetia. Cavour urged the king and ministry to go to the aid of the cities, and to take the opportunity of fighting Austria and forever expelling her from Italian soil. Piedmont declared war on Austria and sent armies to help Milan and Venice in their struggle for freedom. This was a momentous step in relation to future events. Piedmont's position in the war made her appear as the savior of Italy, and this stand was made stronger by the fact that she was the only part of the peninsula which enjoyed a national independent government. The battle of Novara, in 1849, settled the fate of Piedmont and Lombardy-Venetia. The Italians were crushed, and the defeated Charles Albert abdicated his throne immediately after the disaster of Novara, his son Victor Emanuel II taking his place. But Cavour was not discouraged by the turn of events. He maintained that so long as the constitution was kept intact in Piedmont, the cause of Italian liberty and union was safe. Meantime another part of Italy resounded with the clash of arms. A revolt in Rome in 1849 resulted in the setting up of a republic of which Mazzini was the head. The Pope called upon the powers to aid him. Spain, Austria and France responded, and the French re-established the Pope's rule, after being obstinately opposed by Garibaldi's volunteers. Louis Napoleon was President of France, and he persuaded the French Assembly that France s', oid 1 fight the growing power of Austria in ltdy. The French troops remained in Rome as the protectors of the Pope's government. In Piedmont Cavour was constantly obtaining concessions for the people. He loomed up as the leader of the new movement for Italian nationalism, with Piedmont at the head. He was elected to the Parliament in 1849, and in 1850 became Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce. A year later he also assumed the office of Minister of Finance. He reorganized the finances of Piedmont, and his offices gave him predominance in the Cabinet, because of his bold schemes and his courageous frankness in stating his views. He left office for a few months because of a disagreement with the Premier d’Azeglio. When he returned to the Cabinet he took up the premiership. In the interval he visited England and France. At London he became intimate with Lord Palmerston, who told him that if the constitutional experiment in Piedmont succeeded, the Italian despots were doomed. Sir James Hudson, who later became British Minister at Turin also became a close friend of Cavour’s. In Paris Cavour had a long interview with Louis Napoleon, President of France. He returned to his native land filled with new vigor and encouragement. He assumed the office of Premier in 1852, and also took the Ministry of Finance. He increased taxation, drawing popular censure on himself. But he satisfied the people that the extra money was being devoted to the strengthening of the State, commercially, industrially and in a military way. He built railroads and many public works. An event now occurred which gave him the opportunity for action in the plan of bringing on another struggle with Austria. The Austrian authorities at Milan confiscated the properties of some Lombards who had become naturalized Piedmontese citizens. Cavour protested to the Powers, whose indifference prompted Austria to reply unfavorably. Cavour at once recalled the Piedmontese minister from Vienna, causing astonishment among the European courts. Things remained in this condition until the Crimean war approached. England and France declared war on Russia in 1855. They tried to get the help 10

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Allesandria in the same year was crushed without any thing having been gained by the revolutionists. Genoa was the hot bed of liberalism. The city had been formerly a republic, but by the terms of the Congress of Vienna it had come under the rule of the House of Savoy. The people always maintained a hatred for the Piedmontese government. In Genoa was born that most radical and energetic of the Italian republican partisans, Joseph Maz-zini, who became one of the leading spirits of the Carbonari, and lived most of his life as an exile from ;Italy on account of his out-spoken opposition to all the forms of government in existence in Italy. Such was the State of affairs into which Cavour entered to begin his public career. At the age of ten he had entered a military Academy in Turin, from which he had graduated at sixteen. He had served five years in the engineer corps of the army at Ventimiglia. Meanwhile the revolutions of 1820 had made strong impressions on the precocious mind of Cavour. He developed Liberal tendencies, which were nourished by visits to relatives in Geneva, Switzerland, where the different forms of religion and government opened his eyes to better possibilities for his native country. His ideas differed widely from those of his family, who were all reactionary. For this reason it was a relief to both himself and family when he was sent to Genoa, on the engineering staff of that city. The atmosphere of opposition to the government of Sardinia, in which he lived at Genoa, convinced Cavour more firmly that1 the old political institutions had to be changed. His enthusiasm led him to express his convictions too openly and he came under the sun eil-lance of the police. He left the military service in 1831, disgusted with the retrograde policy of the new Sardinian king, Charles Albert. He traveled in France, Austria and England. In the latter country he studied the English constitution. On his return he found life very monotonous since he could not engage in his favorite pursuit of politics, the king being decidedly unfriendly to him. lie settled down to the management of his fathers farm estate at Leri in 1835, remaining there about ten years, occasionally taking a trip to France and England. He spent much time in the study of political economy and languages, and evolved many schemes for the betterment of the industries and agriculture of the country, which he later put in practice when he came to power. Meanwhile Mazzini was stirring the Italian people with his fiery pamphlets, advocating revolution and the setting up of republican forms of government. Other patriotic writers, such as Gioberti, Balbo and d’Azeg-lio, advanced new ideas of political reform and protests against existing evils. The secret society, “Young Italy, flourished widely throughout Italy, spreading the seeds of revolt and educating the peasantry in the needs of new government and a unified Italy. A new era began when Pope Pius was elected in 1846. He was a man of kindly disposition and was animated by the best intentions. The people of Italy welcomed his promises for reform, and expected much from him. He was prevented from accomplishing any real results by the reactionary opposition of the Roman Curia and the representatives of the Powers. Yet the awakening was having its effects. In Sardinia, the king, Charles Albert, was impelled by the popular clamor to give certain privileges to his people; free election of communal and provincial councillors, improved police justice and a measure of liberty to the press. Political journals sprang up into existence. The first of these was “II Risorgimento,” (The Resurrection), which was founded by Cavour, in Turin. This paper at once advocated constitutional reform in Piedmont. Cavour’s plans now became evident. He wanted to prepare Piedmont for the leadership of the impending struggle of the Italian States against foreign domination. In a speech before a congress of journalists, Cavour declared that the king must take a decided stand and give the people a consti- 9

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of Austria, which was naturally opposed to any increase of Russian control in the Balkans. Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, hesitated between this natural inclination and the alternative of appearing ungrateful to the Czar, who had helped him to put down the Hungarian insurrection in 1849. While Francis Joseph wavered, Cav-our watched the negotiations anxiously. He realized that if the Western Powers and Austria reached an agreement, the Austrian power would be supreme thenceforth in Italy. At last Cavour was able to bring France and England to acceptance of the aid of Piedmont in the war, the offer of which he had made in a desperate effort to thwart Austria’s opportunity. In January, 1855, Cavour made a treaty with England and France, by which he agreed to send troops to Crimea against Russia. The treaty offered Cavour no rewards, except the friendship of the Powers. The reasons he gave for joining the war on the side of England and France were: that it was an opportunity to make the Italian question.an international one; the Western Powers would be put under obligations to Piedmont for its aid; that he believed the Italian question to be closely bound up with the Near-Eastern problem; that he felt it was an opportunity to show Europe that Italy could send forth an army when necessary—R. B. Merrapace. (To be continued). %[}t Omuent of urpljn (D’ osermubc The great sun rises, red, red, red, The great sun sets in a fiery blaze, When the sun leaps up or sinks to bed My clear voice I in triumph raise. In a wired coop I restless strut, There is something wrong in the ominous air, Could they be planning the throat to cut, Of the great cock Murphy (they'd never dare.) Whose comb is like a budding rose. And wears on his leg a band of lead, That I am King Murphy each chicken knows, And all obey what I have said. My voice is ever raised in song, At morning, evening, and at noon, No others crow so clear and strong, No others greet the rising moon. That my end is near I cannot think 'Tho my comrades were taken one by one, Surely, man's baseness cannot sink, To take the -songster of the sun. —Phoebe Hoffman. 11