746 LIFE OF COBDEN. oma®:
1860. said had amounted to 300,000,000 francs), and the cession
air. 56. of Savoy and Nice. These terms were assented to, in
general way, by the Government of Sardinia. The result
of the war had been less decisive than he had expected ; 29
acquired only Lombardy, which he had annexed to Piedmont,
 without the intention of claiming Savoy, and nob
intending to ask for more than a portion of the expenses of
the war. The subsequent events, which had induced hin
to change his views, were wholly unexpected by him, and
they were brought about in spite of his efforts to prevent
them. Central Italy refused to take back its former rulers;
and insisted on annexation to Piedmont, which gave the
latter power as large an acquisition of territory, and as g¥ eal
a population in Italy (about 11,000,000), as if Venetia had
been added to its dominions, Under these circumstance?
he had felt justified in claiming the cession of Savoy.
« After finishing this narrative, he again recurred to the
attacks and misrepresentations to which he was exposed:
He said he was quite désolé to find that, in spite of his frank
and loyal policy towards other Powers, he was still exposed
to such unjust charges. I remarked that too much im
portance was sometimes attached to the strictures of a news”
paper writer, or the language of a member of the House of
Commons; that he knew the state of things in England
too well to require to be told that any writer could publish
whatever he pleased anonymously, and that a member of
the House could utter whatever opinions he liked; thab
people sometimes fell into the error of regarding the utter”
ances of an individual, who was perhaps actuated by vers
unworthy personal motives, as the expression of a larg®
public opinion ; and I added the declaration of my pelief
that this misunderstanding between the two countries would
be of an evanescent character; that it would admit of
planations which would remove all grounds of serious dis