CHAPTER XVIII

KING OF ELEVEN MILLION SUBJECTS. A.D. l86o.

Victor Emmanuel was now at the head of a kingdom containing about eleven million inhabitants, as the emperor had calculated in a conversation with the Sardic ambassador before the annexations, to which he was a consenting party, had been effected. It was a glorious triumph to be made ruler of those provinces which had forced themselves, so to speak, into his kingdom— to gain the jurisdiction of which not a drop of blood had been shed ; and no man could enjoy more thoroughly such a triumph than King Victor. But there is no rose without a thorn. The price had to be paid for French aid in the recovery of Lombardy and the tacit consent of the emperor to the annexation of the Central Provinces. Victor Emmanuel had already sacrificed his daughter on the altar of Italian independence ; she, filled with the enthusiasm of her family, like Jephtha’s daughter surrendered herself willingly ; nevertheless the sacrifice wrung the paternal heart.

And now the second instalment of the debt to his ‘ august and générons ally ’ had to be rendered in the cession of Nice and Savoy — the latter the dearest pro-

vince of ail his kingdom — the cradle of his race. Besides his personal feelings, which were very strong on the subject, England — who had openly approved of the annexation of the duchies, and had been very kind and encouraging with regard to the encroachments on the patrimony of the Church — did not like this proposition of taking a slice oflf Italy and putting it on to • France ; and Victor always liked to be on good terms with England. On the other hand, France had given active and efficient aid to the national cause, when England had withheld hers. He undoubtedly owed a great debt to the emperor, who represented to him that the enlargement of the frontier was necessary to persuade Frenchmen that there was nothing to be feared from the increasing power of the Sardinian king. This was true enough, for there was a great dread in France of a powerful rival kingdom growing up at her door. M. Thiers and others spoke strongly against Italian unity, and warned the country to bewarc of the insatiable ambition of ‘the Wolf of Savoy.’ Distinguished Italians sojourning in France, who had an opportunity of judging of the State of feeling, urged Cavour to assent, saying that if the treaty were not signed they would lose ail French sympathy and friendship. Cavour wanted to save the provinces by putting the case to arbitration and paying a large sum, but he found it was impossible ; and ail he and the king could do was to stipulate for the people the right of giving their opinion. The emperor could not object to a plébiscite ; so Victor Emmanuel was able to say to the