cle made such an impression that it put an end to the king's
vacillations, and a few days after its appearance war was declared
(March 25).

For a few months patriotic and revolutionary enthusiasm carried all
before it. In Hungary, in Germany, in Paris, in Vienna itself the
revolution was triumphant; constitutions were granted, dynasties
tottered and fell, and provisional governments were set up. In all parts
of Italy, too, revolts broke out against the established order. But the
Piedmontese army, although the troops behaved with gallantry, was no
match for Austria's veteran legions, and except in a few minor
engagements, in one of which Cavour's nephew Gustavo was killed, it was
generally unsuccessful, and an armistice was concluded in the summer. In
the meanwhile the elections were being held in Piedmont. Cavour himself
was not returned until the supplementary elections in June, and he took
his seat in parliament on the right as a Conservative. His parliamentary
career was not at first very successful; he was not a ready speaker; his
habit of talking French made Italian difficult for him, and, although
French was at that time allowed in the chamber, he preferred to speak
Italian. But he gradually developed a strong argumentative power, his
speeches became models of concise reasoning, and he rose at times to the
highest level of an eloquence which was never rhetorical. After the
dissolution in January 1849, Cavour was not re-elected. The new
parliament had to discuss, in the first instance, the all-important
question of whether the campaign should be continued now that the
armistice was about to expire. The king decided on a last desperate
throw, and recommenced hostilities. On the 23rd of March the Piedmontese
were totally defeated at Novara, a disaster which was followed
immediately by the abdication of Charles Albert in favour of his son
Victor Emmanuel II.

Although the new king was obliged to conclude peace with Austria and the
Italian revolution was crushed, Cavour nevertheless did not despair; he
believed that so long as the constitution was maintained in Piedmont,
the Italian cause was safe. There were fresh elections in July, and this
time Cavour was returned. He was still in the difficult position of a
moderate Liberal at a time when there seemed to be room for none but
reactionaries and conspirators, but by his consummate ability he
convinced men that his attitude was the right one, and he made it
triumph.