rals rose
high and the so-called neo-Guelph party, represented by such men as
Vincenzo Gioberti and Cesare Balbo, believed that an Italian
confederation might be formed under the presidency of the pope. Cavour,
although he realized that a really Liberal pope was an impossibility,
saw the importance of the movement and the necessity of profiting by it.
Together with Balbo, P. di Santa Rosa, and M. Castelli, he founded a
newspaper at Turin called _Il Risorgimento_, which advocated the ideas
of constitutional reform in Piedmont, with a view to preparing that
country for an important role in the upheaval which seemed imminent. In
January 1848 the revolution first broke out in Sicily. Cavour, in a
speech before a delegation of journalists, declared that the king must
take a decided line and grant his people a constitution. Strong pressure
was brought to bear on Charles Albert, and after much hesitation he was
induced to grant a charter of liberties (February 8, 1848). Cesare Balbo
was called upon to form the first constitutional ministry; but Cavour
was not offered a seat in it, being suspected by Liberals and
Conservatives alike. He continued his journalistic activity, and his
articles in the _Risorgimento_ came to exercise great influence both on
the king and on public opinion. When the news of the revolt of the
Milanese against the Austrians, known as the Five Days, reached Turin on
the 19th of March, Cavour felt that the time for Piedmont to act with
energy had come, and advocated war against Austria. "After deliberately
weighing each word," he wrote, "we are bound in conscience to declare
that only one path is open to the nation, the government, and the king:
war, immediate war!" Piedmont was the only part of Italy enjoying a
government at once national and independent, and if it did not hasten to
the assistance of the Milanese in their desperate struggle, if possible
before the Austrians were expelled, the monarchy could not survive. The
situation was most critical, and even the British government was not
friendly to Piedmont; but Cavour was prepared to face any danger rather
than see his country inactive. In an article in the _Risorgimento_ he
declared that, while he never believed that material help was to be
expected from England, he was convinced that she would not actively help
Austria to crush the revolution, but that if she did "she would have
against her a coalition not of princes, but of peoples." Cavour's
arti