ord John offered
were: (1) that Austria and France should both agree to abstain from
intervention, except at the invitation of the five Great Powers; (2) that
another vote should be taken in those States which had desired to
amalgamate with Piedmont before the King should be free to enter their
territories. The other provisions dealt with the preservation of the
_status quo_ in Venetia and the withdrawal of the French troops from
Rome and Northern Italy.

It will be seen that the first clause was merely a reiteration, a
reinforcement with Europe to back it, of the clause which Napoleon, blind
to its results, had attempted to induce the Emperor of Austria to put upon
paper at Villafranca. Having failed then, he had contented himself with
announcing that he would not interfere himself, nor allow Austria to
interfere, by force of arms in Italy, a promise to which English diplomacy
had from that moment firmly held him. We have seen, too, that before Lord
John had consented to take part in the Zurich Congress, he had exacted from
Napoleon an assurance that he would consider, as an alternative to the
Federation proposed at Villafranca, the formation of an Italian Federation
in which Venice (or in other words Austria) should have no part whatever.
Such a Federation would not have been very different from the amalgamation
with Piedmont which the other States had just proposed of their own accord;
and consequently the Emperor of the French could not well protest against
Lord John's proposals without repudiating all his earlier negotiations.
Thus England and Italy now held France on their side, an unwilling ally in
diplomacy, and Austria, on whom Lord John had endeavoured all along to
force the principle of non-intervention, at last gave way. She refused,
however, to commit herself for the future, or to admit that she had not the
right to interfere at any time in Italy's affairs; but she let it be known
that, for the present, reluctance to renew war with France and Piedmont
would determine her actions. Of course the people of the States confirmed
their vote in favour of annexation, and on April 2, 1860, the first
Parliament representing Piedmont and Central Italy met at Turin.

This was the first stage in the making of Italy. When it was completed
there remained only three independent Powers (excluding Austrian Venice)
dividing the peninsula among them--in the north the new kingdom of
Piedmont; in the centre the diminished Papal