When Cavour died (6 June 1861), only two provinces were lacking to make Italian unity complete— Venice and Rome—and all were agreed that these should be joined to the mother country. But since the government, following in the footsteps of the great minister, wished to proceed with caution, especially as regarded the question of Rome, in order not to draw down upon the head of the young king the resentment of Catholic Europe, many Italians under the inspiration and guidance of Mazzini and of Garibaldi, formed a so-called party of action, which wished to proceed more rapidly and without so much consideration for foreign susceptibilities. Attempts were made by Garibaldi to settle the two questions by force of arms. In 1862 the government was obliged to interfere, first, to stop the general at Sarnico, near Bergamo, since with his volun teers he wished to invade those provinces still held Austria, and then to stop him at Aspro monte in Calabria, where he was advancing to take Rome from the Pope and then intending to free Venice. The final arrangements of the convention of September 1864 between France and Italy were much discussed; by its terms France was obligated to remove from Rome the garrison which had remained there since 1849, and Italy agreed not to attack nor to allow others to attack the Papal State, and also declared her willingness to move the capital of the kingdom from Turin to Florence. This change was made in 1865. In the meantime the liberation of Venetia was approaching, to accomplish which, Italy arranged an alliance with the kingdom of Prussia, which at this time appeared to be unfriendly toward Aus tria, her antagonist in Germany. In 1866 the two allies attacked their enemy at the same time, with the intention of entering Vienna to dictate there the terms of peace. But while the Prussians in Bohemia were victorious, the Italians, through mistakes of their leaders, met with two reverses, at Custoza on the land, and at Lissa by sea. So that they were obliged to consent to receive Venetia from Austria on the most humiliating terms and to leave Trentino, Trieste and Istna still in her power.
The liberation of Venice intensified the need and the desire to redeem Rome, also, and Gari baldi and his party of action set to work in the autumn of 1867. Bands of volunteers pene trated the Pontifical State (narrowed down to Lazio by the deeds of 1859-60), and while an insurrection was being arranged in Rome it self, they occupied Monterotondo. The insur rection failed; but notwithstanding a handful of 70 brave fellows, led by the Giovanni brothers and Enrico Cairoli, approached the city as near as the Villa Glom where they were overcome by the Pontifical tramps and killed or captured; and the French having landed at CivitIvecchia, because they insisted on the observation of the convention of Sep tember which had been broken by this unlucky invasion, Garibaldi betook himself to the moun tains of Tivoli in order to prolong resistance; but having arrived at the basin of Mentana, he was here attacked and defeated (3 November) by the Papal troops and the French. This glorious defeat of the Italians had innumer able consequences, since the entire nation felt that it could not any longer endure that a foreign decree could withhold from them their rightful capital. They prepared, therefore, with zeal for the supreme moment, which was not slow in presenting itself. When the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican in 1870 had proclaimed the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope, and the Franco-Prussian War had caused the downfall of Napoleon III, the Italian gov ernment held itself freed of the obligations which it had assumed personally with the em peror through the convention of September, and it decided to act. First it attempted to in
duce Pius IX to open the gates of Rome in a friendly way; upon receiving a refusal of this request, it was decided to use force. An army commanded by Gen. Raffaele Cadorna (20 Sept. 1870), made a breach in the wall near Porta Pia, entered the city and was warmly welcomed by the population. The Pope made protest and declared himself a prisoner of the Italian Revolution; but on 2 October, a plebis cite of Romans consecrated the union of Rome with Italy. The Parliament in Florence in 1871 passed a law guaranteeing the papal secu rity, and thereupon the capital was transferred into the free city without any opposition on the part of the Catholic powers, and Victor Emanuel II could declare ewe are at Rome and there we shall remain,* and Quintino Sella could say chic manebimus optime.' This uni fication of Italy was the realization of the dream of Dante, of Machiavelli, of Alfieri and of the myriads of martyrs who from 1815 to 1870 sacrificed themselves for their country. Italy had completed one of the most important efforts for liberty and for human progress; and in the years to come she could expect the development of her own resources and conse quently that prosperity and that grandeur which had been prohibited for so many centuries.
Period V.— Development and Progress of Free Italy (1870-1907).— The various members of the country being brought together in one body, the Political Resurrection was nec essarily followed as a natural consequence by an economic, intellectual and social Resurrec tion. All power after 1870 remained in the hands of that party which had had Cavour as master, and which had had the wisdom to guide Italy to unification. But this party, because of its oligarchial tendencies, lost its majority in Parliament and in the country, and political power passed in 1876 into the hands of the progressive party, which kept it for several years and did many good things, such as the ex tension of electoral rights and the abolition of the most distasteful taxes. Then the Right and Left became mixed and confused and there were no longer distinct parties with different programs. In 1862 occurred the death of Maz zini, who had been the first to preach to the nation its duty to unite; in 1878 Victor Eman uel II died in Rome, the man who had realized that which Mazzini had thought, and whose sepulchre is the Pantheon. % During the reign of Humbert I (1878-1900) the liberal institu tions continued to develop with order and regu larity, and socialism, which was spreading throughout the country and sent its representa tives to the Chamber of Deputies, was spurred to reform. Its representatives were instrumen tal in passing laws to improve the administra tive, judicial and financial regulations; they pro vided for public hygiene; they protected the rights and the interests of the laboring classes, establishing obligatory insurance against acci dents to the operatives, and limiting the hours of labor for women and children, founding a pension bureau for artisans, etc. Two very important events took place during the reign of Humbert I: the stipulations of the Triple Alli ance and the acquisition of colonies in Africa.