upon by the allied sovereigns. It was not
resolved upon because any particular state had unworthy or sordid
views, or from any interest or feeling in favour of the King of
Sardinia, but solely to make him, as far as was necessary, the
instrument of the general policy of Europe.'

A better defence might have been made. Piedmont was destined to serve
as a bulwark, not so much against France, which for the time was not
to be feared, as against Austria, absolute except for the subalpine
kingdom in all Italy. But this belongs to the shaping of rough-hewn
ends, which is in higher hands than those of English ministers. The
ends then looked very rough-hewn.

Piedmont was a hotbed of reaction and bigotry. True, she had a history
differing vastly from that of the other Italian states, but the facts
of the hour presented her in a most unattractive light. The Genoese
felt the keenest heart-burnings in submitting to a decision in which
they had no voice, and which came to them as a mandate of political
extinction from the same powers that confirmed the sentence of death
on Genoa's ancient and glorious rival. The seeds were laid of
disaffection, always smouldering among the Genoese, till Piedmont's
king became King of Italy. It might almost be said that the
reconciliation was not consummated till the day when the heir and
namesake of Humbert of the White Hands received the squadrons of
Europe in the harbour of Genoa, and the proud republican city showed
what a welcome she had prepared for her sovereign of the Savoy race.

After the Congress of Vienna finished its labours, there were, as has
been remarked, ten states in Italy, but out of Sardinia (whose
subjugation Prince Metternich esteemed a mere matter of time) there
was one master. The authority of the Emperor Francis was practically
as undisputed from Venice to the Bay of Naples as it was in the Grand
Duchy of Austria. The Austrians garrisoned Piacenza, Ferrara and
Commacchio; Austrian princes reigned in Tuscany, Parma, Modena and
Lucca; the King of Naples, who paid Austria twenty-six million francs
for getting back his throne, thankfully agreed to support a German
army to protect him against his subjects. In the secret treaty
concluded between himself and the Emperor of Austria, it was
stipulated that the King of the Two Sicilies should not introduce into
his government any principles irreconcilable with those adopted by His
Imperial Majesty in the government of his Italian