Sardinia and the War - Part 2

But even in the Sardinian Kingdom itself there was opposition to their entrance into the coalition. This opposition came from both the left and the right extremities of the political spectrum, and from the republicans of Genoa. Right from the announcement of an agreement - and from Dabormida’s resignation onwards - serious discussions and attacks popped up in the newspapers, which were an ideal outlet for the prominent political leaders to publicise their opinions and comments. As always, when extreme nationalist standpoints had to be formulated, Mazzini and the ’Mazzinians’ were unbeatable.

For Mazzini, Cavour was betraying the Italian cause. He went so far as to make a statement to the subalterns in the Sardinian Army about their ‘deportation to the Crimea’ from which not a single one would return. Their main argument -not unjustified- was that France and England only sought the co-operation of Sardinia in order to put Austria under pressure. If, once Austria entered their coalition, Sardinia could forget any compensation in Italy for their effort in the Crimea, as mentioned in the Treaty or April 10th 1854.

On the extreme right, a coalition of conservatives and clerics also opposed to the Treaty. Here, the clerics joined the conservatives in an effort to fight against the proposal of the Cavour cabinet to abolish religious congregations. The conservatives still being angry at Cavour’s change in political partners some years before, mainly attacked the way the Cavour cabinet was outmanoeuvred by the French and the English into a ‘forced’ unconditional adherence to their Treaty. The Genoese found that joining the coalition would jeopardise their commercial interests in the East. All in all, in the newspapers and in the House of Representatives, from both the extreme left and right, reaction was hostile.

The supporters of the Cavour cause were found in the centre: centre-right was headed by Cavour himself, center-left by Rattazzi. Violent attacks were launched against the Cavour cabinet, in which the position of Count Ottavio Thaon di Revel was extremely difficult. In the Chamber he had to attack the Treaty, knowing that Cavour knew that he was asked by the King to replace Cavour and to speed up the negotiations for an unconditional entrance into the Treaty. He circumvented this trap by concentrating his attacks on the financial and military demands. As a matter of fact this was the only subject that reasonably could be discussed, since the entering into

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