Tory–papal rapprochement

The Tory government's policy, as formulated in Malmesbury's statements to his ambassadors early in January 1859, could not easily be construed as friendly to the papacy. Of all the states of Italy he had singled out the States of the Church as the root of the trouble and had proposed to France and Austria that the solution of Italy's ills lay in making changes in the papal government and perhaps partially redistributing the Papal States.

Malmesbury decided not to reveal this proposal directly to the papal government, but instead prepared a special version to guide Odo Russell in his relations with Cardinal Antonelli and Pius IX. This version was meant to appeal to the pope to consider the effect of the current international crisis on the temporal power. It talked of the just discontent of the peoples of Italy, warned of a revolution which would overthrow the entire Italian social system, and described his formula that France and Austria together press for changes in the papal government. But, remarkably, the statement sent to Odo stopped there. Unlike the letters to Cowley, Hudson and Loftus, it contained no reference to the papal government as the core of the problem, and implied that all the Italian states needed reform and not merely the Papal States. It also relativized England's role in Italian affairs by claiming that England had no ‘material interests’ involved, cared only for the maintenance of the general peace of Europe, and, as a Protestant state, would remain a ‘spectator’ of papal affairs, offering only occasional advice.