1-150-263 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The Real Italian Brigand Chief', 1861. Count Cavour, the Italian Nationalist politician who had fought for the unification of Italy, became the first prime minister of that country in March 1861, but died only three months later. In his last days, he had been at odds with Pope Pius IX in an argument that had its origins in Cavour's annexation of a large proportion of the Papal States in 1859 and 1860. Here, just after Cavour's death, we see the Pope depicted as the real brigand chief, handing out weapons to a shaggy crew of fighters as he prepares to challenge Napoleon III of France who was preparing to break from the Catholic Church. A cardinal loads a gun on the right, by a door leading to the Powder Magazine. From Punch, or the London Charivari, August 24, 1861.