Cavour doubted Gari

• April 1860, a revolt started in Palermo against King of Naples. It had been organised by followers of Mazzini - urged Garibaldi to take his men to the island and it was supported by the National Society
• Garbaldi was preparing for an armed expedition to recover Nice from France - this would include blowing up the ballot boxes to voting - where Nice should remain or leave - most likely rigged
• Garibaldi prepared to collect more volunteers
• By early May 1860, had a force of about 1200, mostly very young men - The Thousand . He had his current mistress and 1000 rifles but no ammunition
• Common sense suggested to Cavour that the expedition would fail -it had been put together too quickly, the number of men was too small and their resources too poor. it was known that enemy forces were too large and previous expeditions failed
• Cavour believed that Sicily was too poor and backwards to be taken over by Piedmont - he refused Garibaldi’s request for arms and equipment and made it clear that no Piedmont supported would be given