LIFE OF VICTOR EMMANUEL II. CHAPTER XVII. THE ROBBER KING. A.D. 1860. THE evening of New Year's day 1860, the king was at the theatre, and being in conversation with some gentleman of the court on public affairs, the subject of the Congress came up. Our cause is in good hands,' said the king, who knew that Cavour was near and overheard his words. 'It is confided to a very gifted advocate.' He glanced at the count with a smile, who bowed profoundly as he returned the smile. But notwithstanding this exchange of courtesies they were not reconciled. Cavour had consented to attend the Congress, but he was at variance with the ministers then in power, though both Ratazzi and La Marmora had been his personal friends; he was in favour of a more vigorous action in the national questions, and he thought they were timid and hesitating at a moment which called for a bold and resolute policy. The king's plenipotentiary had to put VOL. II. B himself in accord with the king's ministers before he was called to attend the Congress; but notwithstanding prolonged discussions no conclusion was arrived at, to Victor Emmanuel's great vexation. Fresh complications arose every day, fresh disagreements in the cabinet, and a ministerial crisis was expected. The king, more and more annoyed, begged his ministers to try to come to some sort of understanding. He felt he was drifting, in spite of himself, towards the painful necessity of calling Cavour to the head of affairs. He had consented to his representing Sardinia at the Congress, but he felt a great repugnance to replacing him in his old position as President of the Council. There was a struggle going on in Victor Emmanuel's soul which kept him in a state of painful perplexity. An accidental circumstance brought matters to a crisis. Cavour, weary of disputing with the cabinet, resolved to retire for a while to his country seat of Leri. Before starting he paid a visit to his friend Sir James Hudson, and while in the house of the English minister, a gentleman sought him in haste with a message from the ministry, begging that he would send in writing his last conditions, to see if they could come to an understanding. Time was short, and to hasten matters Sir James Hudson seated himself at a table and said he would write from the count's dictation. The condition on which Cavour expressed himself willing to attend the Congress was that Parliament should be dissolved in the month of March. (It was then January 16.) The ministers were not disposed towards a general election, and one of them in reading the letter recognised the English hand of Sir James Hudson. General La Marmora, offended at what he considered the interference of a foreign diplomatist in the internal affairs of the state, thereupon sent in his resignation. The king was ill in bed, but he did not allow a moment's time to be lost. When he had made up his mind on the right course to pursue he acted with promptitude and decision. An officer was sent in hot haste to Palazzo Cavour with orders to bring the count back with him immediately. He was just stepping into his carriage to go to the station when the royal messenger caught him. The king received him coldly, as if the memory of the Villafranca interview had come to his mind. Cavour's anger was passed; perhaps he felt he had been wrong, if not in his advice, in his manner of giving it, and that some concession was due to the king who had sacrificed his pride in sending for him; he remembered the close tie which had bound them together for seven years, labouring heart and soul for one common object; and he made the amende, which at once restored him to the old confidential footing he occupied before the war. 'Do what you think best in everything,' said the king; 'the responsibility of whatever happens will be yours.' In five days Cavour had composed a new cabinet to his own taste. The Minister of War was General Fanti, who had commanded the army of the league in Central Italy; which meant that it was the policy of the govern |