he could not but be bitterly disappointed by
Napoleon withdrawing his help when the struggle had just begun and when the
freedom of Lombardy alone had been won. Cavour resigned in a passion of
resentment that Victor Emmanuel should have countenanced such a peace.
"Siamo traditi" was the cry at Milan and Turin. Yet Napoleon had already
done much for the union of Italy; in fact, he had done more than he knew,
and far more than he ever intended. Though no one at first fully realized
it, the stipulation that Austria should not attempt to use force to restore
the fugitive Dukes, and that France should abstain from similar
interference, really opened a path for the union of Italy. This was the
first important juncture at which Lord John brought valuable assistance to
the cause of "Italy for the Italians," since he kept Napoleon to his
promise, after he had good reasons to regret it, and bent the whole weight
of England's influence towards persuading reluctant Austria to accept on
her side the principle of complete non-intervention.

It must be remembered that the terms of Villafranca, in so far as the
question of armed intervention was concerned, had never been finally
ratified; and it was Napoleon's wish that the European Powers should form a
Congress at Zuerich, at which the Convention would acquire the stability of
a European treaty, and the nature of the proposed Italian Federation be
finally defined. Lord John and Palmerston, while protesting against the
clause of the treaty which, by including Venice in the Federation, still
left Austria a preponderating influence in Italian affairs, refused to take
part in this Congress unless Napoleon promised beforehand to withdraw his
army from Italy as soon as possible, and to join England in insisting that
no Austrian troops should be allowed in future to cross the borders of
their own Venetian territory.

At home the English Court did its best to prevent its Ministers exacting
these promises. It was the Queen's strong wish that the Federation of Italy
and the restoration of the Dukes of Parma and Modena should stand as
Austria's compensation for yielding Lombardy to Italy, and that the
Congress at Zuerich should insist upon these conditions forming part of the
ultimate European treaty. She objected to the pressure which Lord John was
applying to France, on the ground that in making England's presence
conditional upon an assurance that Napoleon would consider terms more
favourable