along the line of the Volturno, about twenty- | raised his cap, and added in a voice that five miles from Naples. They were attacked trembled with emotion, "King of Italy." by Garibaldi on the 2nd of October, at the Victor Emmanuel raised his hand to his head of an army of only half that number, cap, and then stretched out his hand to and after an engagement which lasted the Garibaldi, and with equal emotion replied, whole day they were completely defeated, "I thank you.' mainly by the gallantry of the insurgent leader, who exposed himself with reckless courage where the struggle was fiercest. A fortnight after the Neapolitans had suffered this crushing defeat the Piedmontese Chambers adopted, by an overwhelming majority, a bill to authorize the incorporation of the Neapolitan Kingdom and the Papal Provinces with Sardinia, and Garibaldi proclaimed that as soon as Victor Emmanuel reached the Neapolitan territory he would resign into his hands the Dictatorship of the Kingdom which the nation had previously conferred upon himself.

The united forces of the patriots, and the Piedmontese army under Victor Emmanuel in person, lost no time in attacking the Royalist troops in their new position on the Garigliano, with the King himself at their head. On the 3rd of November they came into collision, and after a sharp but short engagement the Neapolitans fell back in confusion upon Gaeta, in which Francis II. had taken refuge. Capua had previously surrendered, and the garrison, about 9000 strong, had been made prisoners of war. Gaeta, the last asylum of the Bourbon dynasty of Naples, was immediately invested by land, but its blockade by sea was prevented by the French fleet, which was anchored in the middle of the roadstead in front of the fortress. But for this ill-timed and unwarrantable interposition, the Piedmontese fleet would have enfiladed the road by which the defeated Royalists fell back upon Gaeta, and cut off their retreat. It enabled Francis to send off 14,000 of his troops to Civita Vecchia, and thus to relieve him of the difficulty of maintaining so large a force in Gaeta. The professed reason of the French Emperor for this proceeding was 'to give the King an opportunity of making an honourable capitulation, and of saving His Majesty from becoming the prisoner of the King of Sardinia.'

Count Cavour was now assured that though the Northern Powers might protest against the annexation, they would take no active steps to prevent it, and France having emphatically declared that an organized and powerful Italy is henceforth for the interest of Europe,' he had no hesitation in assisting to suppress the last efforts of the Royalists on behalf of their expelled sovereign. He accordingly sent a strong body of Piedmontese troops under General Cialdini across the frontier into the Abruzzi. They were attacked by the Royalists on the 21st of October on the heights of Macerone, but the contest was quickly decided, and the Neapolitans were completely defeated with a heavy loss, and compelled to retire behind the Garigliano. No one, however, gave him credit for On the 26th Victor Emmanuel, who was being actuated by such a motive, and it is advancing at the head of his troops, was much more probable that he was somewhat met between Teano and Speranzano by irritated at the complete overthrow of his Garibaldi. 'Seeing the red-shirts,' says an favourite project of a great Italian Coneye-witness of the meeting, 'the King took federation, and that he hoped that by a glass, and having recognized Garibaldi, prolonging the struggle he might claim gave his horse a touch of the spur and some additional compensation from Sargalloped towards him. At ten paces dis-dinia for allowing it to be brought to a tant the officers of the King and those of close, or that in the interval something Garibaldi shouted," Viva Victor Emmanuel!" might happen favourable to the dynastic Garibaldi made another step in advance, views of the Napoleon family in the 4

VOL. IV.

south of Italy. The only result, however, | one may have to encounter by the way.' of his interference at this stage was to He made it known, therefore, that while he prolong the siege, to cause useless blood- held to the opinion that Rome, and only shed, and to postpone the restoration of the Rome, should be the capital of Italy, he country to tranquillity. The delay gave would not countenance any violent measFrancis II. time to make another and final ures to secure this desirable end. His appeal to the Great European Powers for colleague and successor, Baron Ricasoli, exhelp in this last imminent crisis of his pressed a similar opinion in very decided monarchy,' and to find that none of them terms. Opportunity,' he said, 'will open were willing or able to come to his rescue. our way to Venice. In the meantime we The French fleet was not withdrawn until think of Rome. This is for the Italians the 19th of January, 1861, when the not merely a right, but an inexorable neblockade of the fortress was made complete. cessity. We do not want to go to Rome On the 13th of February the garrison of by insurrectionary movements-unreasonGaeta capitulated, and Francis II. and his able, rash, mad attempts--which may enqueen embarked on board a French steamer, danger our former acquisitions and spoil and took up their residence at Rome. A the national enterprise. We will go to few days after the fall of Gaeta the first Rome hand in hand with France.' In no Parliament of the new Italian kingdom met long time these expectations or predictions in Turin. The proceedings were opened were fulfilled to the letter. Meanwhile by King Victor Emmanuel by an address, Britain, 'acting on the principle of respectin which the political position of the new ing the independence of the nations of kingdom was clearly explained. Reference Europe,' at once recognized the new kingwas made in a manly spirit to the recall of dom. It was not till the following June, the French ambassador and the protest of however, that this example was followed by Russia against the annexation of the Papal the Emperor of the French, and in July, territory and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 1862, the same course was adopted by the With regard to the Russian protest, the Courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin. King had replied to it in the significant words soon to be realized, 'In acting as I have done, I set an example which probably at no very distant period Russia will be very glad to imitate.' But the Russian Chamber of Deputies passed a resolution that it was not, in their opinion, 'the interest either of Russia or Germany to oppose the progress of the consolidation of Italy.'

Rome, however, continued to be a serious difficulty to the new kingdom, and Cavour was quite well aware that if he hesitated to take steps to make that famous city the capital of Italy, he would strengthen the hands of the Republicans; and if, on the other hand, he joined them, he would give deep offence to the Roman Catholic Powers of Europe. But, as he said, 'when there are only two roads open, one must choose the least dangerous, whatever precipices

At this critical period the great statesman to whom Italy was mainly indebted, under God, for her unity and her liberty, was suddenly removed in the full vigour of his powerful frame, and in the hour of his proudest and most successful activity. Cavour died on the morning of the 6th of June. Worn out as he was by his incessant toil and anxiety, he might nevertheless have thrown off the disease under which he sank, but for the mistaken treatment to which he was subjected through the ignorance and incompetency of his physicians. His death, as Prince Albert said, ' was an immeasurable loss for Italy.' When it became known that the great Minister was in danger, 'crowds watched round his dwelling night and day, and when they learned that he was no more, the despair which swept over Turin was likened to that by which it was agitated when the tidings arrived of

The

the fatal defeat of Novara in 1849.' mourning throughout Italy was unusual and profound, for all classes felt that they had lost in Count Cavour the noble, able, and illustrious representative of their national regeneration, whose mind was formed not only to guide the fortunes of Italy at a period of great perplexity, but to leave its mark on generations yet unborn.

stitutional, legal, social, and indeed in all the internal affairs of Italy, which will long survive live and those who are to come hereafter. Of him him, and confer inestimable benefits on those who it may be truly said that he has left a name to "point a moral and adorn a tale." The moral is this-that a man of transcendent talents, of indomitable energy, and of unextinguishable patriotism, may, by the impulses which his own single mind may give to his countrymen, aiding a righteous cause, and seizing favourable opportunities, notwithstanding difficulties that appear at first sight insurmountable, confer upon his country the greatest and most inestimable benefits... The tale with which Count Cavour's

A combination of qualities of the highest order, rarely found in union, were embodied in Count Cavour-prescient sagacity, sound common sense, fearless intrepidity alike in council and in action, indefatigable in-memory will be associated is one of the most exdustry, strong practical intelligence, a presence of mind never at fault, a fertility of invention never exhausted, and an instinct of marvellous soundness. By the happy alliance in him of these sterling qualities, which he derived from his Genevan mother, with the 'more fiery impulses of that subtle intelligence proper to Italian genius,' he was enabled to steer the vessel of the state amid conflicting elements and through difficult channels with consummate skill.

In the touching tribute paid to the lamented statesman in the House of Commons, which elicited a cordial response from men of all parties and from the country at large, Lord Palmerston said

'It should be remembered that Count Cavour laid the foundation of improvements in the con

traordinary-I may say the most romantic-that is recorded in the annals of the world. Under his influence and guidance we have seen a people who were supposed to have become torpid in the enjoyment of luxury, to have been enervated by the pursuit of pleasure, and to have had no knowledge or feeling in politics except what may have been derived from the traditions of their history and the jealousies of rival States-we have seen that people, under his guidance and at his call, rising from the slumber of ages, breaking that spell by which they had so long been bound, and displaying on great occasions the courage of heroes, the sagacity of statesmen, the wisdom of philosophers, and obtaining for themselves that unity of political existence which for centuries had been denied

them. I say these are great events in history, and tion with them to posterity, whatever may have been the period of his death, however premature it may have been for the hopes of his countrymen, cannot be said to have died too soon for his glory and fame.'

that the man whose name will go down in connec

CHAPTER II.

State of the Continent-Distrust of France by the British Government and people-Fortifications erected-Reasons for this step-Establishment of a Volunteer Force in Britain-National Rifle Association-Volunteer Reviews in Hyde Park and at Holyrood-Their great success-Treaty of Commerce with France-Its effects-Abolition of Passports by the French Government-Rejection by the Lords of the Bill to Repeal the Paper Duties-It is carried next SessionRenewal of hostilities with China-Repulse of the British Force at the Peiho-British and French Plenipotentiaries sent out-Defeat of the Chinese-Their barbarous treatment of French and British officers-Surrender of PekinIndemnity exacted from the Chinese Government-Destruction of the Emperor's Summer Palace-Treaty concludedMassacre of the Maronites in Syria by the Druses-Disgraceful conduct of the Turkish authorities-Interposition of the European Powers-Punishment of the murderers-Occupation of the country by French troops.

'The main question,' he says, 'is whether our | ure was adopted for the national protection naval arsenals and some other important points the establishment of a Volunteer force in should be defended by fortifications or not; and I England and Scotland. The military authorities of the red-tape school had great doubts as to the usefulness of such additions to our armed forces, 'on account of the want of discipline of such troops, the danger they might occasion in time of peace to the internal security of the country, and the probability that their irregular efforts would produce confusion at a time when strict order, method, and unity of purpose are of most importance.' The people, however, were not to be turned aside by such considerations as these from their determination to train themselves to defend their country against the invasion of a foreign enemy, and the Government and the War Office found they had no resource but to promote and endeavour to regulate the movement. A circular was accordingly issued (12th May, 1859) by the Secretary of State for War, announcing that the Queen had given permission for the estab

can hardly imagine two opinions on that question. It is quite clear that if, by a sudden attack by an army landed in strength, our dockyards were to be destroyed, our maritime power would for more than half a century be paralyzed, and our colonies, our commerce, and the subsistence of a large part of our population would be at the mercy of our enemy, who would be sure to show us no mercy. We should be reduced to the rank of a third-rate power, if no worse happened to us. That such a landing is in the present state of things possible must be manifest. No naval force of ours can effectually prevent it. Blockades of a hostile port are no longer possible as of yore. The blockading squadron must be under sail, because there would be no means of supplying it with coals enough to be always steaming, while the outrushing fleet would come steaming on with great advantage, and might choose its moment when an inshore wind had compelled the blockaders to haul off. One night is enough for the passage to our coast, and 20,000 might be landed at any point before our fleet knew that the enemy was out of harbour. There could be no security against the simultaneous landing of 20,000 for Portsmouth, 20,000 for Plymouth, and 20,000 for Ireland. Our troops would necessarily be scattered about the lishment of Volunteer Rifle Corps, and United Kingdom; and with Portsmouth and Ply-Instructions to Lord-Lieutenants' were mouth as they now are, those two dockyards and all they contain would be entered and burned before 20,000 men could be brought together to defend either of them. Then again, suppose the manœuvre of the first Napoleon repeated, and a large French fleet, with troops on board, to start for the West Indies, what should we do? Would the nation be satisfied to see our fleet remain at anchor at Torbay or Portland, leaving our colonies to their fate. And if we pursued the French they

prepared and published respecting the organization and working of these bodies. The movement for some time proceeded somewhat slowly, but by the end of the year it was evident that it had taken a firm hold of the country, and by the spring of 1860 upwards of 70,000 men, the elite of the population of Britain, had been formed into regularly organized bodies under military training, and had already attained considerable proficiency in their drill and the use of their arms. Her Majesty was of opinion that the time had come when the men who, at so much trouble and expense, had made themselves efficient defenders of their native land should receive recognition and encouragement, and on the 23rd of June a great Volunteer Review was held in Hyde Park. It was attended by 20,000 volunteers, who were pronounced on high authority to be 'a finer body of men than our infantry of the line.' 'We have witAnother and much more judicious meas-nessed this day,' said Prince Albert, 'a scene

might be found to have doubled back, to have returned to the channel, and for ten days or a fortnight to have the command of the narrow seas. Now the use of fortifications is to establish for a

certain number of days, twenty-one to thirty, an equation between a smaller inside and a larger force outside, and this to give time for a relieving force to arrive; this, in our case, would make the difference between safety and destruction. But if these defensive works are necessary, it is manifest that they ought to be made with the least possible delay. To spread their completion over twenty or thirty years would be folly, unless we could come to an agreement with a chivalrous antagonist not to molest us till we could inform him we were quite ready to repel his attack.'