92 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [39O 



annexation, and 10,000 against it;" in Sicily 432,000 voted 

 for it. and the opposition shrank to a poor 600."" " A few 

 days later," so King relates, "the plebiscites were held in 

 the Marches and Umbria. In the former the vote for an- 

 nexation was 133,000 to 1,200, in the latter 97,000 to 380," 

 and "even the province of Viterbo [in Latium], though re- 

 occupied( by French troops, recorded its vote in their 

 despite."" 



By the royal decrees of December 17, i860, the Neapoli- 

 tan-Sicilian provinces, the Marches, and Umbria were de- 

 clared integral parts of the Italian state on the strength 

 of " the ' Plebiscito ' submitted to universal suffrage in the 

 Neapolitan Provinces convoked in the Comitia on the 21st 

 of October last, ... in the Sicilian Provinces convoked 

 in the Comitia on the 21st of October last, . . . submitted 

 to universal and direct suffrage in the Provinces of Umbria 

 in the Comitia the 5th of November, ... in the Provinces 

 of the Marches . . . the 4th and 5th of November 

 last. . . ."** 



However, the Peace Treaty of Zurich had left the Vene- 

 tian provinces under Austrian rule. Cavour now began to 

 lay his plans for their incorporation in the new Kingdom of 

 Italy. ^'^ His idea of an alliance with Prussia" was realized 

 after his death and led to Italy's participation in the war 

 of 1866. Although Italian arms did not achieve any vic- 

 tories through which Italy could lay claims to the coveted 

 provinces, Austria's defeat at the hands of Prussia was 

 sufficiently effective to secure for Italy the price for which 

 she had given her military aid. 



Napoleon, who was asked by Austria to mediate, gladly 



^1 King, vol. ii, p. 175; Mohl, vol. ii, p. 294, gives 1,102,499 affirma- 

 tive and 9381 negative votes for Naples. 



*- King, vol. ii, p. 175. 



" Ibid. 



**Hertslet, vol. ii, pp. 1458-1461. Hertslet does not include any 

 protests on the part of the former Bourbon rulers of Naples and 

 Sicily, nor a new protest by the Pope. 



■••'' Victor Emmanuel II adopted the title of King of Italy by decree 

 March 17, 1861 (Hertslet, vol. ii, p. 1468). 



*^ Secret treaty signed April 8, 1866; see Orsi, p. 303. 



