plomatic body
who were seen at the Garibaldi _fetes_ were the representatives of the
United States and of the Sublime Porte. The Emperor Napoleon was said
to be angry. Lord Palmerston assured the House of Commons that no
remonstrance had been received from France or from any foreign
government, and that if it had been received, it would not have been
heeded. Yet the English Government took the course of hinting to the
guest of England that his visit had lasted long enough. In some
quarters it was reported that they feared disturbances among the Irish
operatives in the manufacturing towns, had he gone, as he intended,
to the north. Whatever were the motives that inspired it, their action
in the matter cannot be remembered with complacency, but it was
powerless to undo the significance of the great current of enthusiasm
which had passed through the English land.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE WAR FOR VENICE

1864-1866

The Prussian Alliance--Custoza--Lissa--The Volunteers--Acquisition of
Venetia.

The change of capital was carried out in 1865, and the lull which
followed gave an appearance of correctness to the surmise that if the
September Convention had not solved the Roman question, it had,
anyhow, reduced it to a state of quiescence. But there were other
reasons why Rome was kept, for the moment, not indeed out of mind, but
out of sight. The opinion grew that the emancipation of Venice, too
long delayed, ought to take precedence of every other political
object. On this point there was no disagreement among the 22,000,000
free Italians, who felt the servitude of Venice to be an hourly
disgrace and reproach; no one even ventured to preach patience. A
curious chapter might be written on the schemes woven between the
Peace of Villafranca and the year 1866, for the realisation of the
unfulfilled promise of freedom from Alps to sea. Foremost among the
schemers was Victor Emmanuel, and if some persons may be shocked by
the idea of a royal conspirator, more will admire the patriotism which
made the King hold out his hand to Mazzini, whose sentiments about
monarchy, and especially about the Savoy dynasty, were a secret to no
one, least of all to him. But as Mazzini placed those sentiments on
second rank to the grand end of Italian unity, so the King, to serve
the same end, showed himself superior to prejudices which in most men
would have proved insuperable. The fact that Victor Emmanuel opened
negotiations with Mazzi