. Mediæval and modern history . of the national heroGaribaldi. Count Cavour was one of thosegreat men who during this formativeperiod in the life of the Europeanpeoples have earned the title ofNation Makers. He was lacking inoratorical and poetic gifts. I can-not make a sonnet, he said, ^but Ican make Italy,—an utterance sug-gested doubtless by that of the Athenian statesman (Themistocles)who boasted that though he knew nothing of music and song, hedid know how of a mean city to make a great one. Cavour wasthe real maker of modern Italy. Garibaldi, the hero of the red shirt, the knight-errant
. Mediæval and modern history . of the national heroGaribaldi. Count Cavour was one of thosegreat men who during this formativeperiod in the life of the Europeanpeoples have earned the title ofNation Makers. He was lacking inoratorical and poetic gifts. I can-not make a sonnet, he said, ^but Ican make Italy,—an utterance sug-gested doubtless by that of the Athenian statesman (Themistocles)who boasted that though he knew nothing of music and song, hedid know how of a mean city to make a great one. Cavour wasthe real maker of modern Italy. Garibaldi, the hero of the red shirt, the knight-errant ofItalian independence, was a most remarkable character. Thoughyet barely past middle life, he had led a career singularly crowdedwith varied experience and romantic adventures. Because of hisviolent republicanism he had already been twice exiled from Italy. 624. Sardinia in the Crimean War. In 1855, in pursuance ofa far-sighted policy, Cavour sent a Sardinian contingent to aid 1 Sardinia had received a constitution in Fig. 101. Count Cavuuk(From an engraving) § 625] CAVOUR AND THE WAR WITH AUSTRIA 545 England and France against Russia in the Crimean War (), with the two chief aims of giving Sardinia a standing amongthe powers of Europe, and of earning the gratitude of England andFrance, so that the Italians in their future struggles with Austriashould not have to fight their battles alone. A little incident in the trenches of the allies before Sevastopolshows in what spirit the Sardinians had gone to the war. A soldier,covered with mud and wearied with the everlasting digging, com-plained to his superior officer. Never mind, was the consolingreply; it is with this mud that Italy is to be made. At the Treaty of Paris, which closed the Crimean War, therepresentatives of Sardinia sat for the first time as peers amongpeers at a congress of the European states. Nothing was actuallydone for Italy by the Paris commissioners ; nevertheless, much hadbeen gained. Cavo
Size: 1324px × 1888px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubje, booksubjectmiddleages
