CAVOUR, GUSTAVO BENSO, marquis. — Born on 27 January 1806 in Turin, died there on 26 February 1864. The elder brother of Camillo C., he inherited from his father, by right of primogeniture, the marquisate. Endowed with an excellent memory and broad culture, he was naturally inclined toward liberal institutions; yet, although opposed to absolutism, he was disposed toward measures of a reformist character rather than radical policies.
Bound to his brother by genuine friendship, he admired his intellectual gifts and urged him to devote himself to writing. Having lost his wife at a very young age, when he was twenty-seven, he immersed himself in study, especially philosophy, and became acquainted with Rosmini in 1836, whom he loved and with whom he maintained close relations. C. became an enthusiastic propagator of Rosminianism in Piedmont, Switzerland, and France. He published in the Bibliothèque universelle de Genève a series of three articles introducing the study of the doctrines of the philosopher from Rovereto (Des ouvrages philosophiques de M. Fabbé Rosmini, new series, 11, 14, 15 [1837–38]). Three years later, he expanded this exposition, producing a small volume entitled Fragments philosophiques. His admiration for Rosmini also made him the protagonist of a very lively controversy with Gioberti. During a stay in Paris, having found in the Catholic newspaper Cuiwars an article opposed to Rosminian doctrines and favorable to Gioberti’s, Marquis Gustavo replied in the same paper in harsh terms; nor did he confine the controversy to the purely scholarly field, but made personal judgments about Gioberti that were untrue and deeply wounded him. C. continued his writing activity in subsequent years, publishing a philosophical essay on communist ideas (Des idées communistes et des moyens d'en combattre le développement, in Bibliothèque universelle, 4th series, 1 [1846], pp. 5–59), along with other writings. He also contributed to Armonio della religione con la civiltà.
He was elected deputy in the fourth legislature of the Subalpine Parliament (1852–53) and retained his seat in subsequent elections until his death. Highly esteemed by his colleagues for his zeal in the work of the assembly, he intervened effectively on several occasions in the Chamber’s debates.
During the discussion of the bill on civil marriage, presented by the Minister of Justice Boncompagni, C. declared that he was not opposed to the law itself and acknowledged the necessity of separating canon law from civil legislation, but that he could not approve certain amendments proposed by the Left, which might cause believers scruples of conscience. “As a sincere Catholic,” he said on that occasion, “I believe that Catholicism has nothing to fear from a true law of freedom. As one sincerely devoted to constitutional freedom, I consider that a law which offends, even in the smallest matters, a scrupulous conscience can never be called truly liberal” (sitting of 1 July 1852). Consistent with this position was the speech delivered by the marquis on 9 and 10 January 1855 during the discussion of the bill for the suppression of religious communities. After asserting that the provisions of the bill appeared to him contrary “to the principles of justice and rectitude,” he went on to define the liberalism of the bill’s supporters: “For many, the person who, loving freedom for himself and for others, decisively wants it for everyone, is not already liberal; in their eyes, to be liberal, one must possess at least a suitable measure of priest-phobia, one must harbor a more or less embellished animosity toward those peaceful associations in which a person, sheltered from the terrible play of the passions, at the very least harms no one, and very often still finds a way to render splendid and truly great services to his fellow men.” He voted against the law presented by the ministry headed by his brother. He was also in opposition during the debate on the treaty of alliance concluded with France and England for the Crimean War.