391^ THE REVIVAL OF THE PLEBISCITE IN ITALY 93 



accepted the opportunity in order to secure the cession of 

 Venetia which he had promised Cavour at Plombieres in 

 1858.*^ On August II, 1866, Napoleon assured the King 

 of Italy that : " My aim is to make Venetia her own arbiter 

 [rendre Venetie a elle meme] so that Italy be free from the 

 Alps to the Adriatic. Mistress of her own destinies, Venetia 

 shall soon be able to express by universal suffrage her own 

 will. . . ."*« 



Austria, however, while willing to accede to the cession, 

 was reluctant to deal with Italy directly, especially on the 

 basis of a plebiscite. After protracted discussions between 

 Vienna, Berlin, and Turin, a modus vivendi was suggested 

 by Napoleon. In the treaty of cession Venetia was ceded 

 to France, Austria agreeing to the introduction of the fol- 

 lowing passage in the Peace Treaty : 



His Majesty the Emperor of Austria having ceded to His Majesty 

 the Emperor of the French the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, His 

 Majesty the Emperor of the French on his part having declared 

 himself ready to recognize the Union of the said Lombardo-Venetian 

 Kingdom to the States of His Majesty, the King of Italy, with the 

 reservation of the consent of the Populations being duly con- 

 sulted. . . .49 



After the formal transfer of the territories to France, the 

 French General Leboeuf delivered their government into 

 the hands of the city of Venice. The vote in favor of an- 

 nexation was cast in local assemblies on October 21-22.'° 



By a royal decree of November 4, it was declared that 

 " in consideration of the result of the popular vote through 

 which the citizens of the freed Italian provinces, called to- 

 gether in the assemblies on October 21 and 22, have de- 

 clared their will to be united to the Kingdom of Italy, . . . 

 the Venetian provinces form an integral part of the King- 

 dom of Italy."" 



Now, after all the Italian principalities had come into 



*^ King, vol. ii, pp. 48-49. 



** Moiiitt'ur, Sept. i, 1866, quoted by Frcudt-nthat, p. 20. 

 4" Hcrtsict, vol. iii, p. 1750. 

 "" Freudcnthal, pp. 2\-22. 

 "1 Ibid., p. 22. 



