389] THE REVIVAL OF THE PLEBISCITE IN ITALY 9I 



by the Government of the King of Sardinia in order to 

 obtain at any cost manifestations in its favour by the in- 

 habitants of the Duchy ; . . . against the annexation of 

 the states of our most beloved son to the dominions of the 

 House of Savoy . . . , a flagrant violation of European 

 treaties, of all the principles of the Law of Nations, and of 

 the inviolability of States and Crowns."^^ 



The Pope protested against " the aggrandizement of 

 Piedmont by the spoils of their [the rebellious central 

 states] legitimate sovereigns " and " in consequence. His 

 Holiness, through the obligations incumbent upon him to 

 preserve and defend the rights of his temporal power, has 

 given orders to the undersigned Cardinal Secretary of State 

 to protest against the accomplished spoliation and violation 

 of the incontestable rights of the Holy See, rights which 

 His Holiness intends to maintain in their integrity ; and 

 not recognizing, but, on the contrary, declaring as null, 

 because usurped and illegal, everything that has been done, 

 and may hereafter be done, by Piedmont in the said 

 provinces. "^^ 



These protests, however, did not change the course which 

 events had taken nor did they prevent the continuance of 

 the process of annexation of the remaining Italian states 

 and Papal legations. 



In the same year the Neapolitans and Sicilians, having, 

 with the aid of Garibaldi, deposed the House of Bourbon, 

 held a plebiscite and, according to Orsi, "thereby unani- 

 mously declared their wish to support the monarchy as rep- 

 resented by Victor Emmanuel."*" The plebiscite had taken 

 place on October 21. While "the ballot seems to have been 

 not really secret, and there was no opportunity given to 

 vote for a separate kingdom without the Bourbons," there 

 was at the same time " no open attempt at pressure ; in 

 Naples, at all events there was perfect order, and the voting 

 was heavy. . . ." "On the mainland 1,310,000 voted for 



•8 Ibid., pp. 1432-1434. 

 *" Il)i(l., pp. 1422-1423. 

 *" Orsi, p. 282 ; Hcrtslet, vol. ii, pp. 1458-1459. 



