stly
and exceedingly unprofitable enterprise. Neither France nor England nor
Russia reaped much glory.

But the Crimean war did one good thing. It gave Sardinia a chance to
volunteer on the winning side and when peace was declared it gave
Cavour the opportunity to lay claim to the gratitude of both England and
France.

Having made use of the international situation to get Sardinia
recognised as one of the more important powers of Europe, the clever
Italian then provoked a war between Sardinia and Austria in June of the
year 1859. He assured himself of the support of Napoleon in exchange for
the provinces of Savoy and the city of Nice, which was really an Italian
town. The Franco-Italian armies defeated the Austrians at Magenta and
Solferino, and the former Austrian provinces and duchies were united
into a single Italian kingdom. Florence became the capital of this new
Italy until the year 1870 when the French recalled their troops from
Home to defend France against the Germans. As soon as they were gone,
the Italian troops entered the eternal city and the House of Sardinia
took up its residence in the old Palace of the Quirinal which an ancient
Pope had built on the ruins of the baths of the Emperor Constantine.

The Pope, however, moved across the river Tiber and hid behind the walls
of the Vatican, which had been the home of many of his predecessors
since their return from the exile of Avignon in the year 1377. He
protested loudly against this high-handed theft of his domains and
addressed letters of appeal to those faithful Catholics who were
inclined to sympathise with him in his loss. Their number, however, was
small, and it has been steadily decreasing. For, once delivered from the
cares of state, the Pope was able to devote all his time to questions
of a spiritual nature. Standing high above the petty quarrels of the
European politicians, the Papacy assumed a new dignity which proved
of great benefit to the church and made it an international power for
social and religious progress which has shown a much more intelligent
appreciation of modern economic problems than most Protestant sects.

In this way, the attempt of the Congress of Vienna to settle the Italian
question by making the peninsula an Austrian province was at last
undone.

The German problem however remained as yet unsolved. It proved the most
difficult of all. The failure of the revolution of the year 1848 had led
to the wholesale migration of