It is difficult to describe the sensation which this scene created, and no one was more astonished than D’Azeglio, who, with the other ministers, had been kept entirely in the dark.  By all ordinary rules Cavour ought to have communicated with his colleagues before revolutionising the parliamentary chessboard.  The more sure he felt of their opposition the less easy is it to justify him for taking so grave a step without their knowledge.  On public grounds, however (and these were the only grounds on which Cavour ever acted in his political life), it was desirable that the Connubio should be an accomplished fact before it was exposed to discussion.  D’Azeglio was very angry, but he hated scandal, and he refrained from disowning the act of his imperious colleague.  He was none the less determined never to sit in the same Cabinet with Rattazzi.  One reason he gave for it was characteristic.  The leader of the Left had debts, and was not in a hurry to pay them.  When Rattazzi, through Cavour’s instrumentality, was elected President of the Chamber, D’Azeglio felt again aggrieved.  Cavour, who began by treating his chief’s antipathy to his new ally as a prejudice to be made fun of, and in the end dispelled, came to understand that it was insuperable.  To cut short an impossible situation, he tendered his resignation, on which all the ministers resigned; but as the question was one of personal pique, the king commanded them to remain at their posts.  Cavour applauded this decision.  For the moment it was better that he, not D’Azeglio, should be sacrificed.  They parted without ceasing to be private and political friends.  Massimo d’Azeglio’s nature was too generous to hear a grudge against the man who was to eclipse him.

Cavour profited by his reconquered liberty to go to France and England, a journey that relieved him of the appearance of wishing to hamper the Cabinet, which was quickly reconstructed without himself and Farini.  On the eve of starting he went, as etiquette required, to take leave of the king, who made the not very flattering remark that he thought it would be a long while before he called him to power.  Cavour must have smiled behind his spectacles, but he naturally left time to verify or contradict the royal forecast.

CHAPTER V

THE GREAT MINISTRY

Cavour went abroad with the full intention of preparing for the day when his voice would be that of Piedmont, if not of Italy.  He attached importance to personal relations, which helped him to keep in touch with European politics and politicians, and he was anxious to find out how the Connubio was regarded by foreigners, among whom, till lately, Rattazzi had been looked upon as a revolutionary firebrand.  But thinking men abroad understood the reasons which had dictated the coalition.  In London Cavour met with a friendly reception from Lord Malmesbury, who was then Foreign Minister, and who assured him