the Emperor wince, and showed him that it was impossible,
even with French bayonets, to crush the aspirations of a nation.
Napoleon met Francis Joseph at Villafranca, and the preliminaries of
peace were arranged on July 11 in a high-handed fashion, and without
even the presence of Victor Emmanuel. Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia,
though Austria was allowed to keep Venetia and the fortress of Mantua.
France afterwards took Nice and Savoy; and the Grand Duke of Tuscany and
the Duke of Modena were restored to power. The Treaty of Zurich ratified
these terms in the month of November. Meanwhile it was officially
announced that the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of the French
would 'favour the creation of an Italian Confederation under the
honorary presidency of the Holy Father.'

The Countess Martinengo Cesaresco, in a brilliant book published within
the last few months on 'The Liberation of Italy,' in describing Lord
John Russell's opposition to the terms of peace at Villafranca, and the
vigorous protest which, as Foreign Minister, he made on behalf of
England, says: 'It was a happy circumstance for Italy that her unity had
no better friends than in the English Government during those difficult
years. Cavour's words, soon after Villafranca, "It is England's turn
now," were not belied.'[39] With Lord John at the Foreign Office,
England rose to the occasion. Napoleon III. wished to make a cat's-paw
of this country, and was sanguine enough to believe that Her Majesty's
Government would take the proposed Italian Confederation under its wing.
Lord Palmerston, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord John Russell, were not,
however, the men to bow to his behests, and the latter in particular
could scarcely conceal his contempt for the scheme of the two emperors.
'We are asked to propose a partition of the peoples of Italy,' he
exclaimed, 'as if we had the right to dispose of them.'

[Sidenote: FRANCE AND AUSTRIA]

Lord John contended that if Austria, by virtue of her presence on
Italian soil, was a member of the suggested confederation, she, because
of the Vatican, the King of Naples, and the two dukes, would virtually
rule the roost. He wrote to the British Minister at Florence in favour
of a frank expression on the part of the people of Tuscany of their own
wishes in the matter, and declared in the House of Commons that he could
have neither part nor lot with any attempt to deprive the people of
Italy of their right to choose their own r