le Europe.

Dark stories were told of the part Napoleon played in the Crimean War,
when Turkey demanded help against Russia, which was crippling her army
and her fleet. Many suspected that the French Emperor used England as
his catspaw, and saw that the English troops bore the brunt of all the
terrible disasters which befell the invaders of the south of Russia.
Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman were victories ever memorable, because
the heroes of those battles had to fight against more sinister foes
than the Russian troops they defeated in the field. Stores of food and
clothes were delayed too long before they reached the exhausted
soldiers, and there was suspicion of unjust favour shown to the French
soldiers when their English allies sought a healthy camping-ground.
The war ended in 1855 with the fall of Sebastopol, and it was notable
afterwards that the Napoleonic splendour increased vastly, that the
sham royalty seemed resolved to entertain the royal visitors who had
once looked askance at him.

France began to believe that no further Revolution could disturb the
Second Empire, which was secure in pride at least. Yet Austria was
crushed by Prussia at the great battle of Sadowa in 1866, and the
Prussian state was advancing rapidly under the government of {210} a
capable minister and king. There were few Frenchmen who had realized
the importance of King Wilhelm's act when he summoned Herr Otto von
Bismarck from his Pomeranian estates to be his chief political adviser.
The fast increasing strength of the Prussian forces did not
sufficiently impress Napoleon, who had embarked on a foolish expedition
to Mexico to place an Austrian archduke on the throne, once held by the
ancient Montezumas. The news of Sadowa wrung "a cry of agony" from his
court of the Tuileries, where everyone had confidently expected the
victory of Austria. Napoleon might have arbitrated between the two
countries, but he let the golden opportunity slip by in one of those
half-sullen passive moods which came upon him when he felt the
depression of his bodily weakness. Prussia began to lay the foundation
of German unity, excluding Austria from her territory.

Napoleon handed over Venice to Italy when it was ceded to him at the
close of the Austrian war, and Garibaldi followed up this cession by an
attempt on Rome, which he resolved should be the capital of Italy. He
defeated the Papal troops at Monte Rotondo, which commanded Rome on the
north, bu