Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, was an Italian statesman born in Turin in 1810, from an Italian noble family. Having left the army clue to his liberal ideas, he created in 1847 the Risorgimento, a moderate newspaper which upheld the idea of a constitution, which was in fact accepted by King Carlo Alberto in February 1848. That same year, Count Cavour was elected to the Turin Parliament and in 1849 became the Head of the Centre-Right. He put forward a bill which reduced the powers of the Church's jurisdiction. By 1850 Count Cavour was Finance Minister and, although he had brought in more favorable tax distribution and customs duties, he was forced to resign in 1852 due to his alliance with the Left. I-Iowever, only months later, Vittorio Emanuele II called him back urgently as President of the Council and Finance Minister. For the next seven years he was the true master of politics in Piedmont and then in Italy. He attended the Congress in Paris in 1856 where he was able to state his grievances against Austria. Napoleon III, who was little by little convinced about the necessity of driving out the Habsburgs from Italian territory, met Cavour in July 1858 and promised him his help towards the creation of a new kingdom of Northern Italy, in exchange for Nice and Savoie. Cavour, no longer isolated, provoked Austria into war, winning the battles of Magenta and Solferino, but the Villafranca armistice led to his resignation. I-Ie returned to power in January 1860 as President of the Council as well as Minister of Finance, Foreign and Home Affairs. While he gave Nice and Savoie to France, he annexed Emilia and Tuscany to Piedmont. I-Ie then gave military support to the expedition of Garibaldi's Mille. Principal leader of the movement for the unification of Italy, he was unable to see his work completed, since, despite the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on March 14, 1861, his death, soon after that, left the Roman question unresolved.