366 (1887).

By the author of _Greater Britain._] In the midst of this maze of cross-purposes this much is clear: that both Emperors had gone to work behind the backs of their Ministers, and that the military chiefs of France and Austria brought their States to the brink of war while their Ministers and diplomatists were unaware of the nearness of danger.
As we have seen, King Victor Emmanuel II.

longed to draw the sword for Napoleon III., whose help to Italy in 1859-60 he so curiously overrated.
Fortunately for Italy, his Ministers took a more practical view of the situation; but probably they too would have made common cause with France had they received a definite promise of the withdrawal of French troops from Rome and the satisfaction of Italian desires for the Eternal City as the national capital.

This promise, even after the outbreak of war, the French Emperor declined to give, though his cousin, Prince Napoleon, urged him vehemently to give way on that point[18].
[Footnote 18: See the _Rev.des deux Mondes_ for April 1, 1878, and "Chronique" of the _Revue d'Histoire diplomatique_ for 1905, p.

298; also W.H.Stillman, _The Union of Italy, 1815-1895_, p.