The next point of contention was restoring the Papal States to its territorial boundaries before the last war. Located in the center of the Apennine Peninsula, once the Papal States regained its former lands, it could cut Italy cleanly in half at the waist.
Friedrich said, "The Papal States holds a transcendent position, yet through repeated schemes and machinations, the Kingdom of Italy has continuously nibbled away at its territory. We should place the Papal States in a special position. It will not participate in international affairs, but no country may invade it either. Otherwise, the invader will be an enemy of God, and anyone will have the right to destroy them."
In other words, the Papal States would be turned into a vase—or rather, a permanently neutral state. This would affect no other country; only those forces within Italy seeking unification would suffer, as though a fishbone were lodged in their throats.
Gamour naturally objected. "The Kingdom of Italy does not recognize the existence of the Papal States. It is merely a puppet of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."
Friedrich said, "Even being a puppet is better than being destroyed by an evil country like Sardinia! Is this how your Kingdom of Sardinia treats the Pope—and God?"
Once religion was involved, the Austro-Hungarian Empire gained the upper hand. After all, the Papal States still wielded some influence among believers around the world.
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Earl Granville said, "Enough. Since there are differences, let us analyze and discuss them point by point."
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's ideal outcome for Italy was to carve it apart while recovering the Venice-Lombardy region. The Kingdom of Italy's wishes no longer mattered; everything now depended on the attitudes of Britain and Russia.
Britain had interests in the Kingdom of Sardinia,