From 1856 to 1858 he devoted his attention to the Rumanian nationality, and supported Alexander Cuza. But it was above all the deliverance of Italy which haunted his imagination. But the Catholics feared that the Italian national movement, when once started, would entail the downfall of the papacy; and in opposi tion to the emperor's Italian advisers, Arese and Prince Jerome Napoleon, they pitted the empress, who was frivolous and capri cious, but an ardent Catholic. Napoleon III. was under his wife's influence, and could not openly combat her resistance. It was the Italian Orsini who, by attempting to assassinate him as a traitor to the Italian nation on Jan. 14, 1858, gave him an opportunity to impose his will indirectly by convincing his wife that in the inter ests of his own security he must "do something for Italy." Events followed each other in quick succession, and now began the diffi culties in which the Empire was to be irrevocably involved. Not only did the Italian enterprise lead to strained relations with Great Britain, the alliance with whom had been the emperor's chief support in Europe, and compromised its credit ; hut the claims of parties and classes again began to be heard at home.
The Italian war aroused the opposition of the Catholics. After Magenta (June 4, it was the fears of the Catholics and the messages of the empress which, even more than the threats of Prussia, checked him in his triumph and forced him into the armistice of Villafranca (July 11, 1859). But the spread of the Italian revolution and the movement for annexation forced him again to intervene. He appealed to the Left against the Catholics by the amnesty of April 17, 1859. His consent to the annexation of the Central Italian states, in exchange for Savoy and Nice (Treaty of Turin, March 24, 186o) exposed him to violent at tacks on the part of the ultramontanes, whose slave he had prac tically been since 1848. At the same time, the free-trade treaty with Great Britain (January 5, 186o) aroused a movement against him among the industrial bourgeoisie.
From this time onward, in face of a growing opposition, anxiety for the future of his regime paralysed his initiative. Placed be tween his Italian counsellors and the empress, he was ever of two minds. His plans for remodelling Europe had a certain generosity and grandeur; but internal difficulties forced him into endless manoeuvre and temporization, which led to his ruin. Thus in October 1862, after Garibaldi's attack on Rome, the clerical coterie of the Tuileries triumphed. But the replacing of M. Thouvenel by M. Drouin de Lhuys did not satisfy the more vio lent Catholics, who in May 1863 joined the united opposition. Thirty-five opposers of the government were appointed, Re publicans, Orleanists, Legitimists or Catholics. The emperor dismissed Persigny, and summoned moderate reformers such as Duruy and Behic. But he was still possessed with the idea of settling his throne on a firm basis, and uniting all France in some glorious enterprise which should appeal to all parties equally, and "group them under the mantle of imperial glory." From January
to June 1863 he sought this appearance of glory in Poland, but only succeeded in embroiling himself with Russia. Then, after Syria and China, it was the "great inspiration of his reign," the establishment of a Catholic and Latin empire in Mexico, en thusiasm for which he tried in vain from 1863 to 1867 to com municate to the French.
But while the strength of France was wasting away at Puebla in Mexico, Bismarck was founding German unity. In August 1864 the emperor, held back by French public opinion, which was favourable to Prussia, and by his idea of nationality, allowed Prussia and Austria to seize the duchies of Schleswig and Hol stein. After his failure in Poland and Mexico and in face of the alarming presence of Germany, only one alliance remained pos sible for Napoleon III., namely with Italy. He obtained this by the convention of the 15th of September 1864 (involving the with drawal of the French troops from Rome). But the Catholic party redoubled its violence, and the pope sent out the encyclical Quanta Curd and the Syllabus, especially directed against France. In vain the emperor sought in German affairs a definitive solution of the Italian question. At Biarritz he prepared with Bismarck the Franco-Prussian alliance of April 1866; and hoped to become arbiter in the tremendous conflict which was about to begin. But Koniggratz came as a bolt from the blue to ruin his hopes. French interests called for an immediate intervention. But he resigned himself to the annexation by Prussia of northern Ger many. "Now," said M. Drouin de Lhuys, "we have nothing left but to weep." The Third Party.—Henceforth the brilliant dream, a moment realized, the realization of which he had thought durable, was at an end. The Empire had still an uncertain and troubled brilliancy at the Exhibition of 1867. But Berezowski's pistol shot, which accentuated the estrangement from the tsar, and the news of the death of Maximilian at Queretaro, cast a gloom over the later fetes. In the interior the industrial and socialist movement, horn of the new industrial development, added fresh strength to the Republican and Liberal opposition. The moderate Imperialists felt that some concessions must be made to public opinion. In opposition to the absolutist "vice-emperor" Rouher, whose in fluence over Napoleon had become stronger and stronger since the death of Morny, Emile 011ivier grouped the Third Party. Anxious, changeable and distraught, the emperor made the Liberal concessions of Jan. 19, 1867 (right of interpellation), and then, when 011ivier thought that his triumph was near, he exalted Rouher (July) and did not grant the promised laws concerning the press and public meetings till 1868. The opposition gave him no credit for these tardy concessions. There was an epidemic of violent attacks on the emperor ; the publication of the Lan terne and the Baudin trial, conducted by Gambetta, were so many death-blows to the regime. The Internationale developed its propaganda. The election of May 1869 resulted in 4,438,000 votes given for the government, and 3,355,000 for the opposition, who also gained 90 representatives. The emperor, disappointed and hesitating, was slow to return to a parliamentary regime. It was not till December that he instructed 011ivier to "form a homogeneous cabinet representing the majority of the Corps Legislate (ministry of the 2nd of January 187o). But, em barrassed between the Arcadiens, the partisans of the absolute regime, and the republicans, 011ivier was unable to guide the Empire in a constitutional course. At the Tuileries Rouher's counsel still triumphed. It was he who inspired the ill and wearied emperor, now without confidence or energy, with the idea of resorting to the plebiscite. "To do away with the risk of a revo lution," "to place order and liberty upon a firm footing," "to ensure the transmission of the crown to his son," Napoleon III. again sought the approbation of the nation. He obtained it with brilliant success, for the last time, by 7,358,786 votes against 1,571,939, and his work now seemed to be consolidated.