although the bargain of the preceding year had not been exactly
fulfilled, as the Austrians were still in Venice, he again brought
forward the question of Nice and Savoy. To Cavour no less than to the
king the loss of these two provinces was a cruel wrench, but it was a
choice between them and central Italy. The plebiscites in the latter
region had unanimously declared in favour of union with Piedmont, and
Napoleon became more pressing, going so far as to threaten that unless
the cession were made, the French troops would leave Lombardy at the
mercy of Austria and occupy Bologna and Florence. On the 24th of March
the treaty was signed and the emperor's opposition to the annexation of
central Italy withdrawn. On the 2nd of April the parliament representing
Piedmont, the duchies of Parma and Modena, Tuscany and Romagna, met, and
Cavour had the difficult and ungrateful task of explaining the cession
of Nice and Savoy. In spite of some opposition, the agreement was
ratified by a large majority.

The situation in the kingdom of Naples was now becoming critical, but
there seemed as yet little chance of union with upper Italy, for the
Bourbon government was a more or less regular one, and, although risings
had broken out, there was no general revolution. Cavour therefore had
to follow a somewhat double-faced policy, on the one hand negotiating
with the Bourbon king (Francis II.), suggesting a division of Italy
between him and Victor Emmanuel, and on the other secretly backing up
the revolutionary agitation. Having now learnt that Garibaldi was
planning an expedition to Sicily with his volunteers, he decided, after
some hesitation, not to oppose its departure; on the 5th of May it
sailed from Quarto near Genoa, and Cavour was only deterred from
declaring war on Naples by the fear of foreign complications. Garibaldi
with his immortal Thousand landed at Marsala, and the whole rotten
fabric of the Bourbon government collapsed. At Palermo they were
welcomed by the Piedmontese admiral Persano, and soon the whole island
was occupied and Garibaldi proclaimed dictator. The general now proposed
to cross over to the mainland, and this placed Cavour in a serious
dilemma; Russia and Austria protested against the expedition, France and
Prussia were unfriendly, Great Britain alone remained warmly
pro-Italian. He still hoped for a revolution in Naples, so that King
Victor's authority might be established before Garibaldi's arrival, but
this p