In Central Italy the crisis came at once.  This had been foreseen by Cavour all along.  At Plombieres he made no secret of his expectation that the defeat of the Austrians would entail the immediate union of Parma, Modena, and Romagna, with Piedmont.  Napoleon did not then seem to object.  To him Cavour did not speak of Tuscany, but he expected that there, too, the actual government would be overthrown; what he doubted was what would happen after.  Many well-informed persons thought that the Grand Duke, who would have maintained the constitution of 1848 but for the threats of Austria, would seize the first opportunity of restoring it.  Fortunately Leopold II. looked beneath the surface:  he saw that an Austrian prince in Italy was henceforth an anachronism.  The indignities which he suffered when his Italian patriotism—­possibly quite sincere—­caused him to be disowned by his relations were not forgotten.  He had no heart for a bold stroke, and the exhortations of the English Government to remain neutral were hardly needed.  If he wavered, it was only for a moment; nor did he care to place his son in the false position he declined for himself.  The Grand Duke left Florence, openly, at two o’clock on April 27, 1859, carrying with him the personal good wishes of all.  The chief boulder in the path of Italian unity was gone, but for reasons internal and external much would have to be done before Tuscany became the corner-stone of New Italy.  The Tuscans clung to their autonomy.  Though Victor Emmanuel was invited to assume the protectorate, it was explained that this was only meant to last during the war.  The French Emperor thought that there was an opening for a new kingdom of Etruria with Prince Napoleon at the head.  All sorts of intrigues were set afoot by all the great powers except England to re-erect Tuscany as a dam to stem the flood of unity midway.  Cavour was determined to defeat them.  It was against his rule to discuss remote events.  He once said to a novice in public life, “If you want to be a politician, for mercy’s sake do not look more than a week ahead.”  Every time, however, that there arose a present chance of making another step towards unity, Cavour was eagerly impatient to profit by it.  He now strove with all the energy he possessed to procure the immediate annexation of Tuscany to Piedmont.  The object was good, but what he did not see was, that the slightest appearance of wishing to “rush” Tuscany would so offend the municipal pride and intellectual exclusiveness of the polished Tuscans, that the seeds would be laid of a powerful and, perhaps, fatal reaction.  It was at this critical juncture that Baron Bettino Ricasoli began his year of autocracy.  His programme was:  neither fusions nor annexations, but union of the Italian peoples under the constitutional sceptre of Victor Emmanuel.  It was Tuscany’s business, he said, to make the new kingdom of Italy.  He looked upon himself as providentially appointed to carry that business into effect.  He was called