The establishment of the Roman republic on 9 February 1849 presented Britain with a dilemma. How should she respond to this new regime? The preferred policy was to attempt to find some way of reconciling the pope with the Roman people by restoring him to power, but at the same time insisting upon the necessity of constitutional government. However it was not easy to achieve this goal because a matter as important as the future of the head of the Catholic Church was clearly not an issue that would be settled simply through negotiations between the pope and his former subjects; it had international ramifications. Due to Pius' request for foreign assistance, the British government was under pressure from the Catholic powers to intervene in Rome in some way in order to restore the pope and to ensure social and political order in the Papal States. Britain however was uncertain about the whole issue of intervention, whether diplomatic or military. Traditionally in this period Britain always hesitated between choosing a policy aimed at encouraging social tranquillity through reform, or one of intervening to suppress internal insurrection in order to avoid a general war in Europe. In this case the British government's choice was even more difficult than usual, for this crisis raised the very real prospect of military confrontation between France and Austria.

The other major issue raised by the establishment of the Roman republic was how to deal with the consequences of the loss of the pope's temporal power.