In his New Year's wishes letter to Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III of France advised him that the best interests of the Papal See would be served if the Pope were "to give up the provinces that had revolted" in Italy. Following the war with Austria, many smaller states were expressing vigorously a popular desire for unification in a wider Italy under Piedmont-Sardinia leadership. The Pope rejected this advice forcefully in a January 19, 1860 encyclical. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
The American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge (Boston: Crosby, Nichols, Lee and Company, 1861), 406.
Record Data
Type
Foreign
