When Cavour and the French were all ready to strike, it was not hard to find an excuse for a war.  Austria declared war on Sardinia, and, as had been arranged, France rushed to the aid of the Italians.  Austria was speedily beaten, but no sooner was the war finished than the French emperor repented of his bargain.  He was afraid that it would make trouble for him with his Catholic subjects if the Italians were allowed to take all the northern half of the peninsula, including the pope’s lands, into their kingdom.  Accordingly, the Sardinians received only Lombardy in return for Savoy and Nice, which they gave to France, and the Austrians kept the county of Venetia.  A fire once kindled, however, is hard to put out.  No sooner did the people of the other states of northern Italy see the success of Sardinia, than, one after another, they revolted against their Austrian princes and voted to join the new kingdom of Italy.  In this way, Parma, Modena, Tuscany, and part of the “States of the Church” were added.  All of this happened in the year 1859.

These “States of the Church” came to be formed in the following way:  The father of the great king of the Franks, Charlemagne, who had been crowned western emperor by the pope in the year 800, had rescued northern Italy from the rule of the Lombards.  He had made the pope lord of a stretch of territory extending across Italy from the Adriatic Sea to the Mediterranean.  The inhabitants of this country had no ruler but the pope.  They paid their taxes to him, and acknowledged him as their feudal lord.  It was part of this territory which revolted and joined the new kingdom of Italy.

You will remember the name of Garibaldi, the Italian patriot, who with Mazzini had been stirring up trouble for the Austrians.  They finally pursued him so closely that he had to leave Italy.  He came to America and set up a fruit store in New York City, where there were quite a number of his countrymen.  By 1854, he had made a great deal of money in the fruit business, but had not forgotten his beloved country, and was anxious to be rich only in order that he might free Italy from the Austrians.  He sold out his business in New York, and taking all his money, sailed for Italy.  When the war of 1859 broke out, he volunteered, and fought throughout the campaign.

But the compromising terms of peace galled him, and he was not satisfied with a country only half free.  In the region around Genoa, he enrolled a thousand men to go on what looked like a desperate enterprise.  Garibaldi had talked with Cavour, and between them, they had schemed to overthrow the kingdom of the Two Sicilies and join this land to the northern country.  Of course, Cavour pretended not to know anything about Garibaldi, for the king of Naples and Sicily was supposed to be a friend of the king of Sardinia.  Nevertheless, he secretly gave Garibaldi all the help that he dared, and urged men to enroll with him.

[Illustration:  The First Meeting of Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel]