[Footnote 1:  “He who defended her with open face” (Dante).]

The position of Piedmont after the Congress of Paris was one to which it would be difficult to find a parallel.  States are commonly at peace or at war; if at peace, even where there are smouldering enmities, an appearance is kept up of mutual toleration.  But in Piedmont the king, government, and people were already morally at war with Austria.  When Cavour said in the Chamber that the two months during which he sat side by side with the Austrian plenipotentiaries had left in his mind no personal animus against them, as he was glad to admit their generally courteous conduct, but the most intimate conviction that any understanding between the two countries was unattainable, he was certainly aware of the grave significance of his words.  Great solutions were not the work of the pen, and diplomacy was powerless to change the fate of peoples:  these were the conclusions which he brought away from Congress.  Every one knew that they meant war.  Except for the order for marching, the truce imposed by Novara was broken.  Those who had been edified by Cavour’s cautious language in Paris stood aghast.  It was well enough that Piedmont should protest in a calm, academic way, but protest was now abandoned for defiance.  The change was the more unwelcome, because both in France and England the pendulum of the clock was swinging towards Austria.  Napoleon disliked to commit himself to any policy, and after seeming to adopt one side he invariably swayed to the other.  There was not the same intentional inconsistency in England, but the fact that Austria was undergoing a detachment from Russia improved her relations with England.  Lord Palmerston suspected Cavour of being too friendly with Russia.  In addition to this, there was a real fear in England lest Piedmont should pay dearly for what was considered its rashness.  The British Government put the question to Cavour, whether it would not be better to disarm the opposition of Austria by depriving her of every plausible reason for combating the policy of Piedmont?  He replied that only Count Solaro de la Margherita and his friends could live on amicable terms with the oppressors of Italy; England was at liberty to renew her old alliance with Austria if she chose, but upon that ground he could not follow her; Lord Palmerston might end where Lord Castlereagh began, but they would remain faithful to their principles whatever happened.

Two causes tended to prolong a coldness that was new in the intercourse between England and Piedmont.  One was the frontier question of Bolgrad, in which, however, Cavour finally acted as mediator, his suggestion being accepted both by the English and the Russian Governments.  The other was the Cagliari affair:  the Cagliari, a Sardinian merchant ship, which carried the ill-fated expedition of Pisacane to Sapri, was captured by the Neapolitan Government, and the crew, two of whom were English, were taken