Consolidating Italy: Great Britain and the Culmination of the Risorgimento, 1868–70

Wright, O. J.

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59397-9_6

O. J. Wright⁵

Part of the book series: Britain and the World ((BAW))

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Abstract

The year 1868 was an unusually quiet one so far as Italian affairs were concerned. At its close, the first British general election to take place under the rules introduced by the 1867 Reform Act returned the Liberals to power. Great Britain’s Italian policy therefore passed back into the hands of men who had been far more enthusiastic about the Italian national cause than the Conservatives who had been at the helm during the previous two years. The new government was, however, a very different administration from the earlier Liberal administrations of Palmerston and Russell, which had taken such a keen interest in the unifying of Italy through the first half of the 1860s. The new regime was headed by the principled reformist William Gladstone, who had taken the lead in mustering British sympathy for the Italian national cause in Britain during the 1850s. The vastly experienced Lord Clarendon returned to the Foreign Office, occupying the position until his death in June 1870, shortly before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July. He was replaced by Lord Granville, who served as Gladstone’s foreign secretary through the Roman crisis which brought about the culmination of the Risorgimento, and the realisation of a much more complete Kingdom of Italy, in September 1870. Broadly speaking, this new Liberal administration’s policy on Italy aimed to provide moral support regarding the country’s development, to advocate the incorporation of Rome into the kingdom by whatever peaceful means seemed possible, and to keep the Italians out of any war that might result from the increasingly fractious international climate.

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Notes

1.
For the construction of the rail network, see A. Schram, Railways and the Formation of the Italian State in the Nineteenth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
2.
See Colnaghi’s enclosure in Paget to Clarendon, 22 February 1870, TNA, FO 45/161.
3.
See M. E. Chamberlain, ‘Pax Britannica’? British Foreign Policy 1789–1914 (London & New York: Pearson, 1988), pp. 123–7; K. Bourne, The Foreign Policy of Victorian England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. 81–123; K. T. Hoppen, The Mid-Victorian Generation 1846–86 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 221–36.
4.
K. Bourne, ‘The Foreign Policy of Lord Stanley July 1866–December 1868’ (unpublished PhD thesis, University of London, 1953), p. 10.
5.
W. Paget, Embassies of Other Days, And Further Recollections (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1923), p. 208. R. A. Jones, The British Diplomatic Service, 1815-1914 (Gerrard’s Cross: Smythe, 1983), p. 185.
6.
Paget, Embassies of Other Days, p. 219.
7.
Paget to Clarendon, 6 January 1868, Paget Papers, BL, Add. MS 51208.
8.
Paget to Clarendon, 27 May 1869, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
9.
Hudson to Lord Russell, 1 March 1862, Russell Papers, TNA, PRO 30/22/69.
10.
D. Mack Smith, Italy and Its Monarchy (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 42.
11.
Lacaita to Gladstone 1 February 1868, Gladstone Papers, Bodley, Add. Ms 44234
12.
D. Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 1997), p. 88; M. Clark, The Italian Risorgimento, 2nd edn (Harlow: Longman, 2009), p. 45.
13.
Paget to Clarendon, 23 December 1869, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
14.
Clarendon to Paget, 13 December 1869, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
15.
Paget to Clarendon, 23 December 1869, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
16.
Panizzi to Gladstone, 6 December 1874, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. MS 44274.
17.
Hudson to Panizzi, 21 December 1869, Correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, vol. XII, 1869–1880, BL, Add. Ms 36725. I am grateful to Nick Carter for providing this reference.
18.
See, for example, Elliot to Russell, 6 June 1865 and 16 November 1866, Paget to Clarendon, 13 March and 5 June 1869, cited in D. Mack Smith, Victor Emanuel, Cavour and the Risorgimento (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 343–4.
19.
Paget to Clarendon, 13 March 1869, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS Clar. dep. c. 488.
20.
G. W. F. Villiers, A Vanished Victorian: Being the Life of George Villiers, Fourth Earl of Clarendon, 1800–1870 (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1938), p. 345.
21.
D. Mack Smith, Victor Emanuel, Cavour, and the Risorgimento (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 355–6.
22.
Mack Smith, Victor Emanuel, Cavour, and the Risorgimento, p. 358.
23.
Clarendon to Paget, 14 December 1868, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
24.
Clarendon to Paget, 28 December 1868, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
25.
Clarendon to Paget, 25 January 1869, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
26.
Clarendon to Paget, 8 March 1869, copy, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
27.
Lacaita to Gladstone, 1 February 1868, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44234.
28.
Gladstone to Lacaita, 30 December 1868, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44234.
29.
Clarendon to Paget, 22 March 1869 (copy), Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS Clar. dep. c. 475.
30.
Paget to Clarendon, 27 March 1869, Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS Clar. dep. c. 488.
31.
Clarendon to Paget, 5 April 1869 (copy), Clarendon Papers, Bodley, MS Clar. dep. c. 475.
32.
J. L. Herkless, ‘Lord Clarendon’s Attempt at Franco-Prussian Disarmament January to March 1870’, Historical Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3 (1972), pp. 455–70.
33.
Paget to Clarendon, 10 April 1869, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS Clar. dep. c. 488.
34.
See S. W. Halperin, ‘Visconti-Venosta and the Diplomatic Crisis of July 1870’, Journal of Modern History, Vol. 31, No. 4 (1959), pp. 295–309.
35.
See J. A. Davis, Conflict and Control: Law and Order in Nineteenth-Century Italy (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 190–1.
36.
See, for example, F. Ferrara, La tassa sul macinato. Dev’ella abolirsi, mantenersi o riformarsi? (Florence: Successori di Le Monnier, 1871).
37.
Paget to Clarendon, 1 January 1869, TNA, FO 45/139.
38.
Paget to Clarendon, 6 January 1869, TNA, FO 45/139.
39.
D. Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 1997), pp. 81–2.
40.
Paget to Clarendon, 8 January 1869, TNA, FO 45/139.
41.
C. Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism 1870–1925 (London & New York: Methuen, 1969), p. 27.
42.
Paget to Clarendon, 15 January 1869, TNA, FO 45/139.
43.
Paget to Clarendon, 21 June 1869, TNA, FO 45/142.
44.
Bonham to Paget, 22 June 1869, copy in Paget to Clarendon, 24 June 1869, TNA, FO 45/142.
45.
De Thierry to Paget, 22 June 1869, copy in Paget to Clarendon, 23 June 1869, TNA, FO 45/142.
46.
Paget to Clarendon, 22 June 1869, TNA, FO 45/142.
47.
Paget to Clarendon, 14 April 1870, TNA, FO 45/163.
48.
Paget to Clarendon, 21 April 1869, TNA, FO 45/140.
49.
Elliot to Stanley, 12 October 1866, TNA, FO 45/89.
50.
J. A. Davis, Conflict and Control: Law and Order in Nineteenth-Century Italy (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988), p. 213.
51.
Herries to Clarendon, 15 October 1869, TNA, FO 45/143.
52.
Otway (for Clarendon) to Paget (telegram), 21 October 1869, TNA, FO 170/157.
53.
Hammond (for Clarendon) to Herries, 13 September 1869, TNA, FO 170/157.
54.
Clarendon to Paget, 8 October 1869, TNA, FO 170/157.
55.
Paget to Clarendon, 14 November 1869, TNA, FO 45/144.
56.
Clarendon to Paget, 13 December 1869, copy, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
57.
Paget to Clarendon, 23 December 1869, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
58.
Paget to Clarendon, 24 January 1870, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
59.
See O. J. Wright, ‘Police “Outrages” against British Residents and Travellers in Liberal Italy, 1867–77’, Crime, History and Societies, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2010), pp. 51–72.
60.
See O. J. Wright, ‘Sea and Sardinia: Pax Britannica versus Vendetta in the New Italy (1870)’, European History Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2007), pp. 398–416.
61.
Walker to Paget, 7 February 1870, enclosed in Paget to Clarendon, 12 February 1870, TNA, FO 45/161.
62.
Paget forwarded Clarendon a copy and translation of the Italian foreign minister’s note, 26 February 1870, TNA, FO 45/161.
63.
The Trinculo arrived at Cagliari just two days after Walker had requested her, and reached Terranova three days later. A copy of Commander Sander’s report of 14 March (copied erroneously as 4 March) was sent by the Admiralty to the Foreign Office, who forwarded it to Paget; see Lushington to Clarendon, 8 April 1870, in Hammond (for Clarendon) to Paget, 14 April 1870, TNA, FO 170/164. The success of the mission was confirmed when a second ship, HMS Psyche, visited the island three months later; see the extract from the letter of Lieutenant Commander John Fellowes to the Senior Officer at Malta, 16 June 1870, included in Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 7 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
64.
The extracts from La Sardegna and Il Corriere di Sardegna were enclosed in Paget to Clarendon, 22 March 1870, TNA, FO 45/162. The extract from Italie was enclosed in Paget to Clarendon, 15 March 1870, TNA, FO 45/161.
65.
Paget to Clarendon, 12 March 1870, TNA, FO 45/161.
66.
Paget to Clarendon, 23 December 1869, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
67.
D. Mack Smith, Victor Emanuel, Cavour and the Risorgimento (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 292–3.
68.
Clarendon to Paget, 25 January 1869, copy, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 475.
69.
Paget to Clarendon, 19 December 1868, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
70.
Paget to Clarendon, 23 December 1869, Bodleian Library, Clarendon Papers, MS. Clar. dep. c. 488.
71.
Lyons to Granville, 5 July 1870, copy in Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 11 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
72.
See Granville to Lyons, 6 July 1870 and Granville to Loftus, 6 July 1870, copies enclosed in Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 11 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
73.
Granville to Paget, 10 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
74.
Paget to Granville, 9 July 1870, TNA, FO 45/164; Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 11 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
75.
Lady Paget recorded that her husband overcame the opposition of the king, even though opposition came from the government rather than the monarch; W. Paget, Embassies of Other Days, and Further Recollections (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1923), p. 255.
76.
S. W. Halperin, ‘Visconti-Venosta and the Diplomatic Crisis of July 1870’, Journal of Modern History, Vol. 31 No. 4 (1959), pp. 295–309 (304–8).
77.
Hammond (for Granville) to Paget (telegram), 19 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
78.
Clarendon to Layard, 8 November 1869, Layard Papers, BL, Add. Ms 39135.
79.
Manning to Gladstone, 4 September 1861, The Correspondence of Henry Edward Manning and William Gladstone: The Complete Correspondence 1833–1891, Volume III 1861–1875 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), p. 6.
80.
E. R. Norman, ‘Cardinal Manning and the Temporal Power’, in History, Society and the Churches: Essays in Honour of Owen Chadwick, ed. D. Beales and G. Best (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), p. 255.
81.
Lacaita to Gladstone, 9 December 1869, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44233.
82.
Lacaita to Gladstone, 31 December 1869, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44233. Lacaita even described the doctrine being ‘manufactured’ at Rome as ‘Popery’; Lacaita to Gladstone, 2 January 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44233.
83.
Acton to Gladstone, from Rome, 24 November 1869, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
84.
Acton to Gladstone, from Rome, 19 December 1869, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
85.
Acton to Gladstone, from Rome, 1 January 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
86.
Acton to Gladstone, 2 February 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
87.
Gladstone to Acton, 16 February 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
88.
Acton to Gladstone, 20 March 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
89.
Gladstone to Acton, from Rome, 1 March 1870, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
90.
Gladstone to Acton, 27 November 1868 (copy), Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
91.
Gladstone to Acton, 1 December 1869, Gladstone Papers, BL, Add. Ms 44093.
92.
O. Wright, ‘British Foreign Policy and the Italian Occupation of Rome, 1870’, International History Review, Vol. 34, No. 1 (2012), pp. 161–76.
93.
Seton-Watson, Italy from Liberalism to Fascism, p. 35.
94.
D. Mack Smith, Victor Emanuel, Cavour and the Risorgimento (London: Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 360.
95.
J. P. T. Bury, France, 1814–1940, 6th edn (London & New York: Routledge, 2003), pp. 107–8.
96.
Paget to Clarendon, 27 March 1869, Clarendon Papers, BL, MS Clar. dep. c. 488.
97.
Paget to Granville, 16 July 1870, TNA, FO 45/164.
98.
Hammond (for Granville) to Paget (telegram), 20 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
99.
Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 27 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
100.
F. J. Coppa, The Origins of the Italian Wars of Independence (Harlow: Longman, 1995), p. 139.
101.
Hammond (for Granville) to Paget (telegram), 18 August 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
102.
Granville to Paget, 27 September 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
103.
Granville to Paget, 17 October 1870, TNA, FO 170/166.
104.
Paget to Granville, 30 August 1870, Paget Papers, BL, Add. Ms 52214.
105.
Lyons to Granville, 8 July 1870, copy in Hammond (for Granville) to Paget, 11 July 1870, TNA, FO 170/165.
106.
Lyons to Granville, 3 August 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, p. 1.
107.
Jervoise to Granville, 29 July 1870, Correspondence respecting the affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, pp. 1–2.
108.
Granville to the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty, 20 August 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, p. 4.
109.
HMS Defence Ship’s Log, 23 August 1870, TNA, ADM 53/9978.
110.
Granville to Jervoise, 21 August 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, pp. 4–5.
111.
Secretary to the Admiralty to Captain Salmon, 22 August 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, p. 5.
112.
See O. Wright, ‘British Foreign Policy and the Italian Occupation of Rome, 1870’, International History Review, Vol. 34, No. 1 (2012), pp. 161–76.
113.
Paget to Granville and enclosures, 12 September 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, pp. 26–32.
114.
D. Mack Smith, Italy and Its Monarchy (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 1989), p. 53.
115.
Proclamation of General Cadorna, enclosed in Paget to Granville, 13 September 1870, Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of Rome: 1870–71, Parliamentary Papers, 1871 LXXII 223, pp. 32–3.
116.
Granville to Paget, 22 September 1870, Paget Papers, BL, Add. Ms 51224.
117.
Paget to Granville, 22 September 1870, TNA, FO 45/166.
118.
D. Mack Smith, Modern Italy: A Political History (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 1997), p. 89.
119.
Paget to Granville, 10 October 1870, TNA, FO 45/166.
120.
Paget to Granville, 29 September 1870, TNA, FO 45/166.
121.
Paget to Hammond, 29 September 1870, Hammond Papers, TNA, FO 391/23.
122.
Gladstone to Granville, 7 December 1870, The Gladstone-Granville Correspondence, ed. A. Ramm (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), I, p. 178.
123.
The Times, 20 September 1870.
124.
Granville to Paget, 11 December 1870, Paget Papers, BL, Add. Ms 51225.
125.
Gladstone to Granville, 29 and 30 December 1870, The Gladstone-Granville Correspondence, ed. A. Ramm (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), I, pp. 197, 198.
126.
Qtd in John Gooch, The Unification of Italy (London: Routledge, 1986), p. 37.
127.
D. Schreuder, ‘Gladstone as “Troublemaker”: Liberal Foreign Policy and the German Annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, 1870–1871’, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 17, No. (1978), pp. 106–35.
128.
J. Parry, The Politics of Patriotism: English Liberalism, National Identity and Europe, 1830–1886 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 255–6.

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Wright, O.J. (2019). Consolidating Italy: Great Britain and the Culmination of the Risorgimento, 1868–70. In: Great Britain and the Unifying of Italy. Britain and the World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59397-9_6

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59397-9_6
Published: 22 November 2018
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