o the Clericals or to the old Piedmontese
party. His house was attacked by the mob in 1853, and had not his
servants barred the entrance, something serious might have occurred.
Happily the King and the majority in the Chamber and in the country
had, if not much love for Cavour, a profound conviction that he could
not be done without, and that, consequently, he must be allowed to do
what he liked. Thus the large sacrifices he demanded of the taxpayers
were regularly voted, and Cavour could afford to despise the abuse
heaped upon himself since he saw his policy advancing to maturity
along a steady line of success.

When, in 1854, Cavour resolved that Piedmont should join France and
England in the coming war with Russia, it seemed to a large number of
his countrymen that he had taken leave of his senses, but the firm
support which in this instance he found in the King enabled him next
year to equip and despatch the contingent, 15,000 strong, commanded
by General La Marmora, which not only won the respect of friends and
foes in the field, but offered an example of efficiency in all
departments that compared favourably with the faulty organisation of
the great armies beside which it fought. Its gallant conduct at the
battle of the Tchernaja flattered the native pride, and when, in due
time, 12,000 returned of the 15,000 that had gone forth, the increased
credit of Piedmont in Europe was already felt to compensate for the
heavy cost of the expedition.

Among the Italians living abroad, Cavour's motives in taking part in
the Crimean War were, from the first, better understood than they were
at home. Piedmont, by qualifying for the part of Italian advocate in
the Councils of Europe, gave a guarantee of good faith which patriots
like Daniel Manin and Giorgio Pallavicini accepted as a happy promise
for the future. It was then that a large section of the republican
party frankly embraced the programme of Italian unity under Victor
Emmanuel. They foresaw that a repetition of the discordant action of
1848 would end in the same way. Manin wrote to Lorenzo Valerio in
September 1855: 'I, who am a republican, plant the banner of
unification; let all who desire that Italy should exist, rally round
it, and Italy will exist.' The ex-dictator of Venice was eking out a
scanty livelihood by giving lessons in Paris; he had only three years
left to live, and was not destined to see his words verified. But,
poor and sick and obscure though he