In summer, Rome is much less crowded than before, but there are still no visible people.
The French played a large part in the cause of all this.
Even at the Quirinale Palace, where the royal family is located, you can still see crowds carrying Italian flags.
On an open-air balcony of the palace, Carlo looked at the crowd of people outside who had been reluctant to leave for a long time and asked.
"What are you doing right now, Prime Minister?"
The captain of the guard stood behind Carlo. His Excellency the Baron certainly knew what Carlo wanted to ask.
"Prime Minister Despretis is currently negotiating with France."
Of course Carlo knew what the captain of the bodyguard said, and of course he was not the only one. There were so many people in Rome who were not watching every move of Despretis, the newly appointed prime minister.
Apart from anything else, how to restore Italian interests in Tunisia is worthy of concern.
But Carlo cared about different things than others. He was more concerned about the situation on the other side.
"How is Mr. Garibaldi doing in Palermo now?"
Hearing that Carlo cared about him, Baron Felicius, the captain of the bodyguard, showed an inexplicable smile.
"Mr. Garibaldi may not be too happy in Palermo at the moment."
Hearing the answer from the captain of the guard, Carlo asked curiously. "What's wrong?"
"Your Majesty, it's like this..."
From the captain of the guard's narration, Carlo finally learned about the current situation of this national hero. Indeed, as he said, Garibaldi was not happy at all in Palermo.
If we want to divide it by time, then the resignation of former Prime Minister Cairoli is the standard. Before that, everything was going very smoothly for Garibaldi in Palermo. The government not only strongly supported his rally speech, but also provided funds for his preparation.
Form a new red shirt army.
However, all this came to an abrupt end after Prime Minister Cairoli resigned. After that, the national hero could not get any support from the Palermo government, whether it was financial or other aspects, all with various excuses.
If you really can't find an excuse, just give it a small amount, just like squeezing out toothpaste.
This made Garibaldi's work of forming the Red Shirt Army extremely slow. Before Cairoli stepped down, he had already formed a team of more than 1,500 people. Now it is only more than 1,600 people. This can be seen from
Efforts of the Palermo government.
However, Garibaldi is worthy of being a national hero of Italy. With his unique personality charm, he still ensured that the fighting spirit of the red-shirted soldiers who were short of food and clothing remained undiminished and their momentum was high.
After Carlo listened to what the captain of the guard said, he thought for a while and then ordered. "In the name of the royal family, donate 1 million lire to Garibaldi."
After hearing Carlo's order, the captain of the guard did not do it immediately as before, but hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, is this appropriate?"
Faced with the dissuasion of the captain of the guard, Carlo reached out to stop what he wanted to say.
"Chief Guard, I know what you want to say. Such behavior that goes against the government will bring displeasure to the government, but I have my own ideas. You can go ahead and do it."
Seeing that His Majesty knew the consequences of what he had done, His Excellency the Baron stopped talking, because he had fulfilled his obligations as a minister.
Carlo did not look back at the departing captain of the guard, but still looked at the anti-French crowd gathering in the square. Of course he did not know the consequences of opposing the government, but he did not always oppose the government, but made friends with Gary.
Purdy didn't have many opportunities, and he was unwilling to give up such an opportunity.
While Carlo was doing his best to make good friends with Garibaldi, Despretis walked out of the French Embassy exhausted.
The French ambassador Danny Dyer has a good relationship with him, but this time he is not just here to promote their personal relationship.
Yes, this time he came to discuss protecting Italian interests in Tunisia. Although France had not taken action against Italian industries in Tunisia before, it was just a delaying tactic to appease Italy and reduce its resistance to incorporating Tunisia into a French colony.
After the Tunisia crisis has passed, Italy's interests in Tunisia will not be at the mercy of the French. Although we are all European countries, this will only make France pay attention to its appearance, but it will not change France's desire to expel Italy from Tunisia.
idea.
Of course, Depretis also knows this, so he hopes to preserve Italy's interests in Tunisia as much as possible. After all, after investing hundreds of millions of lire, it would be better to get back a little more.
However, the negotiation with the French Ambassador Danny Dyer did not go smoothly. The gap between the two was too big, which made Depretis physically and mentally exhausted.
With the help of a servant, Despretis climbed into the carriage.
"Prime Minister, should we go to the Prime Minister's Office now or go home?"
Depretis thought for a moment and then replied, "Go to the Prime Minister's Office."
The carriage carrying him started slowly and ran towards the Prime Minister's Office.
Depretis looked out the window and thought about the future of Italy.
Although diplomatic isolation can allow Italy to pay less attention to the outside world and focus more on domestic construction. However, after experiencing the Tunisia crisis, Italy's diplomatic isolation policy can no longer go on. Whether it is passive or active, Italy must look for solutions in Europe.
ally.
So when looking for allies, who is the most suitable candidate?
If you ask Depretis, he will definitely tell you that Britain is the most suitable candidate for Italy. But unfortunately, everyone knows how difficult it is to be an ally of Britain. It relies on the fact that the British Isles are separated from the mainland by the strait.
As well as a strong national power, they have always believed in diplomatic isolation. Except during the Napoleonic period, in order to threaten French hegemony in Europe, they looked for allies everywhere. At other times, you can see when the British have found allies, even in Crimea.
During the war, Britain and France worked together to deal with Russia. This was just a short-term alliance of interests. After the war, as soon as the peace treaty was signed, they separated immediately.
Moreover, the British continental policy is not unknown, ensuring that there is no hegemon in the European continent, and anyone who takes over this position will be suppressed.
Therefore, it is not difficult for Britain to become an ally, but it requires timing and luck. However, it seems that Britain currently does not have any interest in Italy becoming an ally.
Apart from the UK, Italy has another choice and that is Germany. Unlike the UK, Germany under the leadership of Bismarck has a different approach to alliances than the UK. As long as it is beneficial to Germany, then it is easy to talk about alliances.
However, for Italy, there is one country that cannot be avoided when forming an alliance with Germany, and that is Austria.
Needless to say, there is no need to talk about the relationship between Italy and Austria. Italy's reunification was only achieved by war with Austria. In addition, Italy and Austria still have territorial disputes so far, so the relationship between the two countries has always been tense.
If Italy wants to form an alliance with Germany, Austria is an unavoidable topic. For this reason, Depretis plans to test Germany's attitude first. If there is a chance, Depretis does not mind turning the war with Austria into friendship.
Of course, for him, negotiations with the French still need to be the main focus, otherwise the Italian government will not be able to devote its energy to the country, and the drought in the south has reached a point where there is no need to delay.
