Napoleon had been drawn into this
campaign without really knowing the state of Italian public opinion; he
wished Italy to be free "from the Alps to the Adriatic," but did not
want Italian unity; rather did he desire the formation of a confederacy
wherein France could always make her own predominance felt in the
peninsula. Scarcely had he arrived in Italy when he was forced to see
that Italian ideals were very different from what he had imagined them
to be. Trials had but ripened the virtues of prudence and wisdom in
men's minds: in 1859 the people were little likely to repeat the
blunders of 1848 or 1849, and there were now no longer discussions over
forms of government, but everywhere a unanimous resolve to rally round
the liberal monarchy of Savoy.
On the first proclamation of the war the Grand Duke of Tuscany had been
compelled to fly from his States (April 27th). Napoleon had imagined
that in this Province--the ancient stronghold of Italian
municipalism--it would be easy to form a new kingdom with a Bonaparte to
wear its crown.
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