1-150-310 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'A Good Offer', 1860. Garibaldi remarks to the pope Take to this cap, Papa Pius. You will find it more comfortable than your own. Garibaldi shows Pope Pius IX the cap of Liberty which, he assures him, will fit him more comfortably than the papal crown with which Pius is burdened. This is a reference to Count Cavour, an Italian Nationalist politician who had recently marched an army into the pope's territory. The papal army had been defeated by Cavour's troops at Castelfidardo on 18th September 1860. So, the offer is that if the pope permits Italy to unite without further fighting, he too can assume the cap of Liberty. Garibaldi was an Italian soldier who played a central role in the unification of Italy by conquering Sicily and Naples in 1860. From Punch, or the London Charivari, September 29, 1860.