He had forbidden Piedmont to accept the fusion,[66] and therefore Piedmont must refuse.

The consequence of which would be that there must be another vote in Tuscany, which would favor Prince Napoleon, and that we, having accepted the first vote, must accept the second, the Emperor throwing up his hands and crying, '_Who would have thought it ?_' We told him that he and the English Government were so far out in their conclusions, that Piedmont, instead of refusing, would accept conditionally; but he sighed, 'hoped it might be so,' in the way in which preposterous opinions are civilly put away.
Scarcely was he gone, when the conditional acceptance was known.
How much more I could tell you.

But one can't write all.

The first battle in the north of Italy freed Italy _potentially_ from north to south.

Our political life here in the centre is a proof of this.