i, carried thither by the enthusiasm of humanity and the justice
of his cause, entered Naples in triumph on September 7, 1860, the day
after the ignominious flight of Francis II. Victor Emmanuel was
proclaimed King of Italy two days later, and when he met the new
Parliament of his widened realm at Turin he was able to declare: 'Our
country is no more the Italy of the Romans, nor the Italy of the Middle
Ages: it is no longer the field for every foreign ambition, it becomes
henceforth the Italy of the Italians.'

Lord John's part in the struggle did him infinite credit. He held
resolutely to the view all through the crisis, and in the face of the
censure of Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, that the Italians were
the best judges of their own interests, and that the Italian revolution
was as justifiable as the English revolution of 1688. He declared that,
far from censuring Victor Emmanuel and Count Cavour, her Majesty's
Government preferred to turn its eyes to the 'gratifying prospect of a
people building up the edifice of their liberties, and consolidating the
work of their independence, amid the sympathies and good wishes of
Europe.' Foreign Courts might bluster, protest, or sneer, but England
was with her Foreign Minister; and 'Punch' summed up the verdict of the
nation in generous words of doggerel verse:

'Well said, Johnny Russell! That latest despatch
You have sent to Turin is exactly the thing;
And again, my dear John, you come up to the scratch
With a pluck that does credit to you and the Ring.'

[Sidenote: ITALY'S GRATITUDE]

The utmost enthusiasm prevailed in Italy when the terms of Lord John's
despatch became known. Count Cavour and General Garibaldi vied with each
other in emphatic acknowledgments, and Lord John was assured that he was
'blessed night and morning by twenty millions of Italians.' In the
summer of 1864 Garibaldi visited England, and received a greater popular
ovation in the streets of the metropolis than that which has been
accorded to any crowned head in the Queen's reign. He went down to
Pembroke Lodge to thank Lord John in person for the help which he had
given to Italy in the hour of her greatest need. Lord John received a
beautiful expression of the gratitude of the nation, in the shape of an
exquisite marble statue by Carlo Romano, representing Young Italy
holding in her outstretched arms a diadem, inscribed with the arms of
its united States. During subsequent vi