July 25, 2025 • 13 mins
Embark on a journey through the life of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, a pivotal figure in the Italian unification movement. Born a nobleman in Turin, Cavour went on to establish the influential political newspaper Il Risorgimento. A fervent admirer of Britains constitutional monarchy, he built robust diplomatic ties with British statesmen, eventually ascending to the role of prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia under King Victor Emmanuel II. Through his shrewd diplomacy, Cavour managed to secure the military assistance of Emperor Napoleon III of France to liberate the Italian states from Austrian oppression. Joining forces with the military strategist Giuseppe Garibaldi, albeit in an uneasy alliance, he masterminded the creation of the modern Italian state. - Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section nineteen of Cavor by the Countess Evelyn Marteneno Cesaresco.
This librovox recording is in the public domain recording by Pamelinagami,
Chapter ten Savoy and Niece, Part one. The dissolution of
Parliament by Lord Darby and June led to the return
(00:23):
of a Liberal majority and the resumption of power by
men who were open advocates of Italian unity. Cochute believed
to his last day that this result was due to him,
an opinion which English readers are not likely to share.
The gain for Italy was inestimable. The Whigs had supported
(00:45):
Lord Malmsbury and his unprofitable efforts as a peacemaker, but
when the war broke out, they had no further reason
to restrain their natural sympathies. Lord Palmston especially wished the
new kingdom to be strong enough to be independent of
French influences. Had the Conservatives remained in office, there is
(01:06):
no doubt that they would have supported the plan to
constitute Venetia a separate state under the Archduke Maximilian, which
was regarded with much favor by that prince's father in law,
King Leopold, and hence by the Prince Consort, the Liberal
ministry would have nothing to do with it. Napoleon hoped,
(01:28):
in the first instance, to shift the onus of stopping
the war from himself to the English government. He wished
the programme of Villa Franca to emanate from England. But
as Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord John Russell, why should
they incur the opprobrium of leaving Italy laden with Austrian
(01:48):
chains and of having betrayed the Italians at the moment
of their brightest hopes. In the same letter July sixth,
he pointed out that if a single Austrian rulery may Italy,
whatever was the form of his administration, the excuse and
even the fatal necessity of Austrian interference would remain or return.
(02:11):
They were asked to parcel out the peoples of Italy
as if they belonged to them. The Earl of Malmesbury
once remarked that on any question affecting Italy, Lord Palmerston
had no scruples. Had the Conservative Statesmen continued in office
six months longer, in spite of his wish to see
(02:33):
Italy happy, the scruples of which he spoke would have
probably induced him to try and force her back under
the Austrian yoke. Whether Kavor's life work was to succeed
or fail depended henceforth largely on England. Now it is
England's turn, he said frequently to his relations in Switzerland,
(02:55):
where he went to recover his health and spirits. Soon
all traces of depression disappeared, while Europe thought that it
had assisted. At his political funeral, he was engaged not
in thinking how things might be remedied, but how he
was going to remedy them. It was not the King
(03:16):
Piedmont Italy that would prevent the treaty from being carried out.
It was I The road was cut, he would take another.
He would occupy himself with Naples. People might call him
a revolutionist or what they pleased, but they must go on,
and they would go on. There exists proof that after Villafranca,
(03:40):
Cahor expected Napoleon to demand Savoy and Nice, or at
least Savoy, notwithstanding that Venetia was not freed. The Emperor
considered it necessary, however, to go through the form of
renouncing the two provinces. He is reported to have said
to Victor Emmanuel, before leaving for Paris, your government will
(04:03):
pay me the cost of the war, and we shall
think no more about niss and Savoy. Now we shall
see what the Italians can do by themselves. Velevsky confirmed
this by stating that the simple annexation of Lombardy was
not a sufficient motive for demanding a sacrifice on the
part of our ally in the interest of the safety
(04:26):
of our frontiers, and in August he formally repeated to
Ratazzi that they did not dream of an nexing Savoy.
Sincere or not, these disclaimers released Victor Emmanuel from the
secret bond into which Kavor had persuaded him to enter.
The contract was recognized as null. Ratazzi was notoriously opposed
(04:48):
to any session of territory, and had he known how
to play his game, it is at least open to
argument that the House of Savoy might have been spared
losing its birth rite, as the Houses of Orange and
lorent had lost theirs. But his weak policy landed Italian
affairs in a chaos, which made Napoleon once more master
(05:11):
of the situation. The populations of central Italy desired Victor
Emmanuel for their king. Was he to accept or refuse
Ratazzi tried to steer between acceptance and refusal. A great
many people thought then that acceptance outright would have brought
the armed intervention of France, or of Austria, or of
(05:34):
both combined. The sagacious historian ought not likely to set
aside the current conviction of contemporaries. Those who come after
are much better informed as to data, But they failed
to catch the atmospheric tendency, the beginning to drift, of
which witnesses are sensible. The scare was universal. The British
(05:58):
government sent a formal note to France and Austria stating
that the employment of Austrian or French forces to repress
the clearly expressed will of the people of central Italy
would not be justifiable. Toward the government of the Queen Lord,
Palmiston made the remark that the French formula of Italy
(06:18):
given to herself had been transformed into Italy soul to Austria.
He grew every day more distrustful of Napoleon, and more
regretful that the only man whom he believed able to
cope with him was out of office. They talk a
great deal in Paris of Cavour's intrigues. He wrote to
(06:40):
Lord Cowley. This seems to me unjust. If they mean
that he has worked for the aggrandizement and for the
emancipation of Italy from foreign yoke and Austrian domination, this
is true, and he will be called a patriot in history.
The means he has employed be good or bad. I
(07:01):
do not know what they have been. But the object
in view is, I am sure, the good of Italy.
The people of the Duchies have as much right to
change their sovereigns as the English people, or the French,
or the Belgian or the Swedish. The annexation of the
Duchies of Piedmont will be an unfathomable good for Italy
(07:23):
at the same time as for France and for Europe.
I hope Valevsky will not urge the Emperor to make
the slavery of Italy the denoument of a drama which
had for its first seen the declaration that Italy shall
be free from Alps to Adriatic. If the Italians are
(07:43):
left to themselves, all will go well. And when they
say that if the French garrison were recalled from Rome,
all the priests would be assassinated, one can cite the
case of Bologna, where the priests have not been molested
and where perfect order is maintained. However much Austria might
(08:04):
dislike the turn which events had taken in the center,
it was generally admitted that she would not or could
not intervene even single handed, without the tacit consent of France,
which had still five divisions in Lombardy. The issue therefore
hung on France. There is no doubt that Napoleon told
(08:27):
all the Italians, or presumably Italian sympathizers, who came near him,
that he would not allow the union of Tuscany with Piedmont.
He said to Lord Cowley, the annexation of Tuscany is
a real impossibility. He told the Marquis Pepali that if
the annexations crossed the Apennines, unity would be achieved, and
(08:51):
he did not want unity, He wanted only independence. Velevsky
echoed these sentiments, and in his case it is certain
that he meant what he said. But did Napoleon mean
what he said? Evidence has come to light that all
this time he was speaking in an entirely different key.
Whenever his visitor was a reactionist or a clerical. To
(09:14):
these he invariably said that he was obliged to let
events take their course, though contrary to his interests, because
having given the blood of his soldiers for Italian independence,
he could not fire a shot against it. To Monsieur
de Fallou, he said that he had always been bound
to the cause of Italy, and it was impossible for
(09:35):
him to turn his guns against her. What becomes then,
of his threats, might not an Italian minister relying on
the support of England have ignored them and passed on
his way. Though Ratazzi's timidity prevented Victor Emmanuel from accepting
the proffered crowns, the king declared on his own account
(09:57):
that if these people who trusted in him were attached,
he would break his sword and go into exile, rather
than leave them to their fate. He wrote to Napoleon
that misfortune might turn to fortune, but that the apostases
of princes were irreparable. The Peace of Zurich, signed on
November tenth, did nothing to relax the strain. It merely
(10:21):
referred the settlement of Italy to the usual Napoleonic panacea.
A congress not intended to meet a congress would have
done nothing for Italy, but neither would it have given
Napoleon savoyan nice. But the proposal had one important result.
It brought Kvour back on the scene. A duel was
(10:43):
going on between him and the Ratazzi. He was accused,
perhaps truly, of moving heaven and earth to upset the ministry,
while the Ratazzi's friends were spreading abroad every form of
abuse and calumny to keep him out of office. When
the Congress was an announced, the popular demand for the
appointment of Kavour as Sardinian plenipotentiary was too strong to
(11:06):
be resisted. The Ratazzi yielded, and the King, though still
remembering with bitter feelings the scene at Villa Franca, sacrificed
his pride to his patriotism. Kavor did not like the
idea of serving under Ratazzi, but he agreed to accept
the post in order to prevent an antagonism which would
have proved fatal to Italy. Napoleon astutely uttered no word
(11:31):
of protest. The Congress hung fire, and Kavour remained at Larry,
occupied with his cows and his fields, but secretly chafing
at the sight of Italy. In a perilous crisis, abandoned
to men whom he believed incapable. From the moment that
he had been called back to the public service, his
(11:52):
own return to the premiership could only be a question
of time, and he wished that time to be short.
The fall of the ministry was inevitable, for it was
unpopular on all sides, but no one had foreseen how
it would fall. La Marmara, who was the nominal president
of the Council that Ratazzi, having taken his old post
(12:15):
of Home Minister, somehow discovered that a draft of Kavour's
letter of acceptance of the appointment of Plenipotentiary existed in
Sir James Hudson's handwriting. Though it was true that the
British government was most anxious that Cavour should figure in
the Congress if there was one, the fact that Sir
(12:36):
James Hudson had written down a copy of the letter
as it was composed was only an accident which happened
through the intimate relations between them. La Marmora saw it
in a different light, and, angrily, declaring that he would
not put up with foreign pressure, he sent in his resignation,
which was accepted. Thus in January eighteen six, Cavor became
(13:01):
once more the helmsman of Italian destinies. The new ministry
consisted principally of himself, as he held the Home and
Foreign offices, as well as the presidency of the Council
and of Section nineteen
Section nineteen of Cavor by the Countess Evelyn Marteneno Cesaresco.
This librovox recording is in the public domain recording by Pamelinagami,
Chapter ten Savoy and Niece, Part one. The dissolution of
Parliament by Lord Darby and June led to the return
(00:23):
of a Liberal majority and the resumption of power by
men who were open advocates of Italian unity. Cochute believed
to his last day that this result was due to him,
an opinion which English readers are not likely to share.
The gain for Italy was inestimable. The Whigs had supported
(00:45):
Lord Malmsbury and his unprofitable efforts as a peacemaker, but
when the war broke out, they had no further reason
to restrain their natural sympathies. Lord Palmston especially wished the
new kingdom to be strong enough to be independent of
French influences. Had the Conservatives remained in office, there is
(01:06):
no doubt that they would have supported the plan to
constitute Venetia a separate state under the Archduke Maximilian, which
was regarded with much favor by that prince's father in law,
King Leopold, and hence by the Prince Consort, the Liberal
ministry would have nothing to do with it. Napoleon hoped,
(01:28):
in the first instance, to shift the onus of stopping
the war from himself to the English government. He wished
the programme of Villa Franca to emanate from England. But
as Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord John Russell, why should
they incur the opprobrium of leaving Italy laden with Austrian
(01:48):
chains and of having betrayed the Italians at the moment
of their brightest hopes. In the same letter July sixth,
he pointed out that if a single Austrian rulery may Italy,
whatever was the form of his administration, the excuse and
even the fatal necessity of Austrian interference would remain or return.
(02:11):
They were asked to parcel out the peoples of Italy
as if they belonged to them. The Earl of Malmesbury
once remarked that on any question affecting Italy, Lord Palmerston
had no scruples. Had the Conservative Statesmen continued in office
six months longer, in spite of his wish to see
(02:33):
Italy happy, the scruples of which he spoke would have
probably induced him to try and force her back under
the Austrian yoke. Whether Kavor's life work was to succeed
or fail depended henceforth largely on England. Now it is
England's turn, he said frequently to his relations in Switzerland,
(02:55):
where he went to recover his health and spirits. Soon
all traces of depression disappeared, while Europe thought that it
had assisted. At his political funeral, he was engaged not
in thinking how things might be remedied, but how he
was going to remedy them. It was not the King
(03:16):
Piedmont Italy that would prevent the treaty from being carried out.
It was I The road was cut, he would take another.
He would occupy himself with Naples. People might call him
a revolutionist or what they pleased, but they must go on,
and they would go on. There exists proof that after Villafranca,
(03:40):
Cahor expected Napoleon to demand Savoy and Nice, or at
least Savoy, notwithstanding that Venetia was not freed. The Emperor
considered it necessary, however, to go through the form of
renouncing the two provinces. He is reported to have said
to Victor Emmanuel, before leaving for Paris, your government will
(04:03):
pay me the cost of the war, and we shall
think no more about niss and Savoy. Now we shall
see what the Italians can do by themselves. Velevsky confirmed
this by stating that the simple annexation of Lombardy was
not a sufficient motive for demanding a sacrifice on the
part of our ally in the interest of the safety
(04:26):
of our frontiers, and in August he formally repeated to
Ratazzi that they did not dream of an nexing Savoy.
Sincere or not, these disclaimers released Victor Emmanuel from the
secret bond into which Kavor had persuaded him to enter.
The contract was recognized as null. Ratazzi was notoriously opposed
(04:48):
to any session of territory, and had he known how
to play his game, it is at least open to
argument that the House of Savoy might have been spared
losing its birth rite, as the Houses of Orange and
lorent had lost theirs. But his weak policy landed Italian
affairs in a chaos, which made Napoleon once more master
(05:11):
of the situation. The populations of central Italy desired Victor
Emmanuel for their king. Was he to accept or refuse
Ratazzi tried to steer between acceptance and refusal. A great
many people thought then that acceptance outright would have brought
the armed intervention of France, or of Austria, or of
(05:34):
both combined. The sagacious historian ought not likely to set
aside the current conviction of contemporaries. Those who come after
are much better informed as to data, But they failed
to catch the atmospheric tendency, the beginning to drift, of
which witnesses are sensible. The scare was universal. The British
(05:58):
government sent a formal note to France and Austria stating
that the employment of Austrian or French forces to repress
the clearly expressed will of the people of central Italy
would not be justifiable. Toward the government of the Queen Lord,
Palmiston made the remark that the French formula of Italy
(06:18):
given to herself had been transformed into Italy soul to Austria.
He grew every day more distrustful of Napoleon, and more
regretful that the only man whom he believed able to
cope with him was out of office. They talk a
great deal in Paris of Cavour's intrigues. He wrote to
(06:40):
Lord Cowley. This seems to me unjust. If they mean
that he has worked for the aggrandizement and for the
emancipation of Italy from foreign yoke and Austrian domination, this
is true, and he will be called a patriot in history.
The means he has employed be good or bad. I
(07:01):
do not know what they have been. But the object
in view is, I am sure, the good of Italy.
The people of the Duchies have as much right to
change their sovereigns as the English people, or the French,
or the Belgian or the Swedish. The annexation of the
Duchies of Piedmont will be an unfathomable good for Italy
(07:23):
at the same time as for France and for Europe.
I hope Valevsky will not urge the Emperor to make
the slavery of Italy the denoument of a drama which
had for its first seen the declaration that Italy shall
be free from Alps to Adriatic. If the Italians are
(07:43):
left to themselves, all will go well. And when they
say that if the French garrison were recalled from Rome,
all the priests would be assassinated, one can cite the
case of Bologna, where the priests have not been molested
and where perfect order is maintained. However much Austria might
(08:04):
dislike the turn which events had taken in the center,
it was generally admitted that she would not or could
not intervene even single handed, without the tacit consent of France,
which had still five divisions in Lombardy. The issue therefore
hung on France. There is no doubt that Napoleon told
(08:27):
all the Italians, or presumably Italian sympathizers, who came near him,
that he would not allow the union of Tuscany with Piedmont.
He said to Lord Cowley, the annexation of Tuscany is
a real impossibility. He told the Marquis Pepali that if
the annexations crossed the Apennines, unity would be achieved, and
(08:51):
he did not want unity, He wanted only independence. Velevsky
echoed these sentiments, and in his case it is certain
that he meant what he said. But did Napoleon mean
what he said? Evidence has come to light that all
this time he was speaking in an entirely different key.
Whenever his visitor was a reactionist or a clerical. To
(09:14):
these he invariably said that he was obliged to let
events take their course, though contrary to his interests, because
having given the blood of his soldiers for Italian independence,
he could not fire a shot against it. To Monsieur
de Fallou, he said that he had always been bound
to the cause of Italy, and it was impossible for
(09:35):
him to turn his guns against her. What becomes then,
of his threats, might not an Italian minister relying on
the support of England have ignored them and passed on
his way. Though Ratazzi's timidity prevented Victor Emmanuel from accepting
the proffered crowns, the king declared on his own account
(09:57):
that if these people who trusted in him were attached,
he would break his sword and go into exile, rather
than leave them to their fate. He wrote to Napoleon
that misfortune might turn to fortune, but that the apostases
of princes were irreparable. The Peace of Zurich, signed on
November tenth, did nothing to relax the strain. It merely
(10:21):
referred the settlement of Italy to the usual Napoleonic panacea.
A congress not intended to meet a congress would have
done nothing for Italy, but neither would it have given
Napoleon savoyan nice. But the proposal had one important result.
It brought Kvour back on the scene. A duel was
(10:43):
going on between him and the Ratazzi. He was accused,
perhaps truly, of moving heaven and earth to upset the ministry,
while the Ratazzi's friends were spreading abroad every form of
abuse and calumny to keep him out of office. When
the Congress was an announced, the popular demand for the
appointment of Kavour as Sardinian plenipotentiary was too strong to
(11:06):
be resisted. The Ratazzi yielded, and the King, though still
remembering with bitter feelings the scene at Villa Franca, sacrificed
his pride to his patriotism. Kavor did not like the
idea of serving under Ratazzi, but he agreed to accept
the post in order to prevent an antagonism which would
have proved fatal to Italy. Napoleon astutely uttered no word
(11:31):
of protest. The Congress hung fire, and Kavour remained at Larry,
occupied with his cows and his fields, but secretly chafing
at the sight of Italy. In a perilous crisis, abandoned
to men whom he believed incapable. From the moment that
he had been called back to the public service, his
(11:52):
own return to the premiership could only be a question
of time, and he wished that time to be short.
The fall of the ministry was inevitable, for it was
unpopular on all sides, but no one had foreseen how
it would fall. La Marmara, who was the nominal president
of the Council that Ratazzi, having taken his old post
(12:15):
of Home Minister, somehow discovered that a draft of Kavour's
letter of acceptance of the appointment of Plenipotentiary existed in
Sir James Hudson's handwriting. Though it was true that the
British government was most anxious that Cavour should figure in
the Congress if there was one, the fact that Sir
(12:36):
James Hudson had written down a copy of the letter
as it was composed was only an accident which happened
through the intimate relations between them. La Marmora saw it
in a different light, and, angrily, declaring that he would
not put up with foreign pressure, he sent in his resignation,
which was accepted. Thus in January eighteen six, Cavor became
(13:01):
once more the helmsman of Italian destinies. The new ministry
consisted principally of himself, as he held the Home and
Foreign offices, as well as the presidency of the Council
and of Section nineteen
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