character, varied abilities, unshaken
loyalty to his sovereign, and ardent devotion to the Italian cause, that
Victor Emmanuel was enabled to preserve order and law on the one hand
and Italian liberties on the other. All Italy, as well as Piedmont, had
confidence in the integrity and patriotism of the king, and in the
wisdom of his prime minister, who upheld the liberties they had sworn to
defend. D'Azeglio succeeded in making peace with Austria, while, at the
same time, he clung to constitutional liberty. Under his administration
the finances were improved and national resources were developed.
Sardinia became the most flourishing of all the States of Italy, in
which both freedom and religious toleration were enjoyed,--for Naples
and Rome had relapsed into despotisms, and the iron hand of Austria was
still felt throughout the peninsula. Among other reforms, ecclesiastics
were placed on the same footing with other citizens in respect to the
laws,--a great movement in a Catholic State. This measure was of course
bitterly opposed by the clerical and conservative party, but was ably
supported in the legislature by the member from Turin,--Count Camillo
Cavour; and this great man now became one of the most prominent figures
in the drama played by Italian patriots, since it was to his sagacious
statesmanship and devoted labors that their efforts were crowned with
final success.

Cavour was a man of business, of practical intellect, and of
inexhaustible energies. His labors, when he had once entered upon public
life, were prodigious. His wisdom and tact were equal to his industry
and administrative abilities. Above all, his patriotism blazed with a
steady light, like a beacon in a storm, as intense as that of Mazzini,
but more wisely directed.

Cavour was a younger son of a noble Piedmontese family, and entered the
army in 1826, serving in the engineers. His liberal sentiments made him
distrusted by the government of Charles Felix as a dangerous man, and he
was doomed to an inactive life in an unimportant post. He soon quitted
the army, and embarked in business operations as manager of one of the
estates of his family. For twelve years he confined himself to
agricultural labors, making himself acquainted with all the details of
business and with the science of agriculture, introducing such
improvements as the use of guano, and promoting agricultural
associations; but he was not indifferent at the same time to public
affairs