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diff --git a/old/14078.txt b/old/14078.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6a33ad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14078.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13553 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Liberation of Italy, by Countess Evelyn +Martinengo-Cesaresco + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Liberation of Italy + +Author: Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco + +Release Date: November 17, 2004 [eBook #14078] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIBERATION OF ITALY*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Jayam, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE LIBERATION OF ITALY 1815-1870 + +by the + +COUNTESS EVELYN MARTINENGO CESARESCO + +Author of 'Italian Characters In The Epoch Of Unification' (_Patriotti +Italiani_), etc. + +With Portraits + +London + +Seeley And Co, Limited +Essex Street, Strand + +1895 + + + + + + + +[FRONTISPIECE: GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI] + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The old figure of speech 'in the fulness of time' embodies a truth too +often forgotten. History knows nothing of spontaneous generation; the +chain of cause and effect is unbroken, and however modest be the +scale on which an historical work is cast, the reader has a right to +ask that it should give him some idea, not only of what happened, but +of why it happened. A catalogue of dates and names is as meaningless +as the photograph of a crowd. In the following retrospect, I have +attempted to trace the principal factors that worked towards Italian +unity. The Liberation of Italy is a cycle waiting to be turned into an +epic. + +In other words, it presents the appearance of a series of detached +episodes, but the parts have an intimate connection with the whole, +which, as time wears on, will constantly emerge into plainer light. +Every year brings with it the issue of documents, letters, memoirs, +that help to unravel the tangled threads in which this subject has +been enveloped, and which have made it less generally understood than +the two other great struggles of the century, the American fight for +the Union, and the unification of Germany. + +I cannot too strongly state my indebtedness to the voluminous +literature which has grown up in Italy round the _Risorgimento_ since +its completion; yet it must not be supposed that the witness of +contemporaries published from hour to hour, in every European tongue, +while the events were going on, has become or will ever become +valueless. I have had access to a collection of these older writings, +formed with much care between the years 1850-1870, and some +authorities that were wanting, I found in the library of Sir James +Hudson, given by him to Count Giuseppe Martinengo Cesaresco after he +left the British legation at Turin. + +There are, of course, many books in which the affairs of Italy figure +only incidentally, which ought to be consulted by anyone who wishes to +study the inner working of the Italian movement. Of such are Lord +Castlereagh's _Despatches and Correspondence_, and the autobiographies +of Prince Metternich and Count Beust. + +Perhaps I have been helped in describing the events clearly, by the +fact that I am familiar with almost all the places where they +occurred, from the heights of Calatafimi to the unhappy rock of Lissa. +Wherever the language of the _Si_ sounds, we tread upon the history of +the Revolution that achieved what a great English orator once called, +'the noblest work ever undertaken by man.' + +The supreme interest of the re-casting of Italy arises from the new +spectacle of a nation made one not by conquest but by consent. Above +and beyond the other causes that contributed to the conclusion must +always be reckoned the gathering of an emotional wave, only comparable +to the phenomena displayed by the mediaeval religious revivals. +Sentiment, it is said, is what makes the real historical miracles. A +writer on Italian Liberation would be indeed misleading who failed to +take account of the passionate longing which stirred and swayed even +the most outwardly cold of those who took part in it, and nerved an +entire people to heroic effort. + +Salo, Lago di Garda. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +RESURGAM + +Italy from the Battle of Lodi to the Congress of Vienna + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WORK OF THE CARBONARI + +Revolutions in the Kingdom of Naples and in Piedmont--The Conspiracy +against Charles Albert + + +CHAPTER III + +PRISON AND SCAFFOLD + +Political Trials in Venetia and Lombardy--Risings in the South and +Centre--Ciro Menotti + + +CHAPTER IV + +YOUNG ITALY + +Accession of Charles Albert--Mazzini's Unitarian Propaganda--The +Brothers Bandiera + + +CHAPTER V + +THE POPE LIBERATOR + +Events leading to the Election of Pius IX.--The Petty Princes--Charles +Albert, Leopold and Ferdinand + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE YEAR OF REVOLUTION + +Insurrection in Sicily--The Austrians expelled from Milan and +Venice--Charles Albert takes the Field--Withdrawal of the Pope and +King of Naples--Piedmont defeated--The Retreat + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE DOWNFALL OF THRONES + +Garibaldi arrives--Venice under Manin--The Dissolution of the Temporal +Power--Republics at Rome and Florence + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT BAY + +Novara--Abdication of Charles Albert--Brescia crushed--French +Intervention--The Fall of Rome--The Fall of Venice + + +CHAPTER IX + +'J'ATTENDS MON ASTRE' + +The House of Savoy--A King who Keeps his Word--Sufferings of the +Lombards--Charles Albert's death + + +CHAPTER X + +THE REVIVAL OF PIEDMONT + +Restoration of the Pope and Grand-Duke of Tuscany--Misrule at Naples-- +The Struggle with the Church in Piedmont--The Crimean War + + +CHAPTER XI + +PREMONITIONS OF THE STORM + +Pisacane's Landing--Orsini's Attempt--The Compact of +Plombieres--Cavour's Triumph + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR FOR LOMBARDY + +Austria declares War--Montebello--Garibaldi's Campaign--Palestro-- +Magenta--The Allies enter Milan--Ricasoli saves Italian Unity-- +Accession of Francis II.--Solferino--The Armistice of Villafranca + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHAT UNITY COST + +Napoleon III. and Cavour--The Cession of Savoy and Nice--Annexations +in Central Italy + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE MARCH OF THE THOUSAND + +Origin of the Expedition--Garibaldi at Marsala--Calatafimi--The Taking +of Palermo--Milazzo--The Bourbons evacuate Sicily + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MEETING OF THE WATERS + +Garibaldi's March on Naples--The Piedmontese in Umbria and the +Marches--The Volturno. Victor Emmanuel enters Naples + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BEGINNINGS OF THE ITALIAN KINGDOM + +The Fall of Gaeta--Political Brigandage--The Proclamation of the +Italian Kingdom--Cavour's Death + + +CHAPTER XVII + +'ROME OR DEATH!' + +Cavour's Successors--Aspromonte--The September Convention--Garibaldi's +Visit to England + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WAR FOR VENICE + +The Prussian Alliance--Custoza--Lissa--The Volunteers--Acquisition of +Venetia + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE LAST CRUSADE + +The French leave Rome--Garibaldi's Arrest and Escape--The Second French +Intervention--Monte Rotondo--Mentana + + +CHAPTER XX + +ROME THE CAPITAL + +M. Rouher's 'Never!'--Papal Infallibility--Sedan--The Breach in Porta +Pia--The King of Italy in Rome + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI (Frontispiece) + + GIUSEPPE MAZZINI + + KING VICTOR EMMANUEL + + COUNT CAVOUR + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +RESURGAM + +Italy from the Battle of Lodi to the Congress of Vienna. + + +The unity of Italy, which the statesmen of Europe and all save a small +number of the Italians themselves still regarded as an utopia when it +was on the verge of accomplishment, was, nevertheless, desired and +foreseen by the two greatest intellects produced by the Italian race. +Dante conceived an Italy united under the Empire, which returning from +a shameful because self-imposed exile would assume its natural seat in +Rome. To him it was a point of secondary interest that the Imperial +Lord happened to be bred beyond the Alps, that he was of Teutonic, not +of Latin blood. If the Emperor brought the talisman of his authority +to the banks of the Tiber, Italy would overcome the factions which +rent her, and would not only rule herself, but lead mankind. Vast as +the vision was, Dante cannot be called presumptuous for having +entertained it. The Rome of the Caesars, the Rome of the Popes, had +each transformed the world: Italy was transforming it for a third time +at that moment by the spiritual awakening which, beginning with the +Renaissance, led by inevitable steps to the Reformation. The great +Florentine poet had the right to dream that his country was invested +with a providential mission, that his people was a chosen people, +which, by its own fault and by the fault of others, had lost its way, +but would find it again. Such was Dante's so-called Ghibelline +programme--less Ghibelline than intensely and magnificently Italian. +His was a mind too mighty to be caged within the limits of partisan +ambitions. The same may be said of Machiavelli. He also imagined, or +rather discerned in the future, a regenerate Italy under a single +head, and this, not the advancement of any particular man, was the +grand event he endeavoured to hasten. With the impatience of a heart +consumed by the single passion of patriotism, he conjured his +fellow-countrymen to seize the first chance that presented itself, +promising or unpromising, of reaching the goal. The concluding passage +in the _Principe_ was meant as an exhortation; it reads as a prophecy. +'We ought not therefore,' writes Machiavelli, 'to let this occasion +pass whereby, after so long waiting, Italy may behold the coming of a +saviour. Nor can I express with what love he would be received in all +those provinces which have suffered from the foreign inundations; with +what thirst of vengeance, with what obstinate faith, with what +worship, with what tears! What doors would be closed against him? What +people would deny him obedience? What jealousy would oppose him? What +Italian would not do him honour? The barbarous dominion of the +stranger stinks in the nostrils of all.' + +Another man of genius, an Italian whom a fortuitous circumstance made +the citizen and the master of a country not his own, grasped both the +vital necessity of unity from an Italian point of view, and the +certainty of its ultimate achievement. Napoleon's notes on the +subject, written at St Helena, sum up the whole question without +rhetoric but with unanswerable logic:--'Italy is surrounded by the +Alps and the sea. Her natural limits are defined with as much +exactitude as if she were an island. Italy is only united to the +Continent by 150 leagues of frontier, and these 150 leagues are +fortified by the highest barrier that can be opposed to man. Italy, +isolated between her natural limits, is destined to form a great and +powerful nation. Italy is one nation; unity of customs, language and +literature must, within a period more or less distant, unite her +inhabitants under one sole government. And Rome will, without the +slightest doubt, be chosen by the Italians as their capital.' + +Unlike Dante and Machiavelli, who could only sow the seed, not gather +the fruit, the man who wrote these lines might have made them a +reality. Had Napoleon wished to unite Italy--had he had the greatness +of mind to proclaim Rome the capital of a free and independent +state instead of turning it into the chief town of a French +department--there was a time when he could plainly have done it. +Whether redemption too easily won would have proved a gain or a loss +in the long run to the populations welded together, not after their +own long and laborious efforts, but by the sudden exercise of the will +of a conqueror, is, of course, a different matter. The experiment was +not tried. Napoleon, whom the simple splendour of such a scheme ought +to have fascinated, did a very poor thing instead of a very great one: +he divided Italy among his relations, keeping the lion's share for +himself. + +Napoleon's policy in Italy was permanently compromised by the +abominable sale of Venice, with her two thousand years of freedom, to +the empire which, as no one knew better than he did, was the pivot of +European despotism. After that transaction he could never again come +before the Italians with clean hands; they might for a season make him +their idol, carried away by the intoxication of his fame; they could +never trust him in their inmost conscience. The ruinous consequences +of the Treaty of Campo Formio only; ceased in 1866. The Venetians have +been severely blamed, most of all by Italian historians, for making +Campo Formio possible by opening the door to the French six months +before. Napoleon could not have bartered away Venice if it had not +belonged to him. The reason that it belonged to him was that, on the +12th of May 1797, the Grand Council committed political suicide by +dissolving the old aristocratic form of government, in compliance with +a mere rumour, conveyed to them through the ignoble medium of a petty +shopkeeper, that such was the wish of General Buonaparte. In +extenuation of their fatal supineness, it may be urged that they felt +the inherent weakness of an oligarchy out of date; and in the second +place, that the victor of Lodi, the deliverer of Lombardy, then in the +first flush of his scarcely tarnished glory, was a dazzling figure, +calculated indeed to turn men's heads. But, after all, the only really +valid excuse for them would have been that Venice lacked the means of +defence, and this was not the case. She had 14,000 regular troops, +8000 marines, a good stock of guns--how well she might have resisted +the French, had they, which was probable, attacked her, was to be +proved in 1849. Her people, moreover, that _basso popolo_ which +nowhere in the world is more free from crime, more patient in +suffering, more intelligent and public-spirited than in Venice, was +anxious and ready to resist; when the nobles offered themselves a +sacrifice on the Gallic altar by welcoming the proposed democratic +institutions, the populace, neither hoodwinked nor scared into +hysterics, rose to the old cry of San Marco, and attempted a righteous +reaction, which was only smothered when the treacherous introduction +of French troops by night on board Venetian vessels settled the doom +of Venice's independence. + +'Under all circumstances,' Napoleon wrote to the Venetian Municipality, +'I shall do what lies in my power to prove to you my desire to see your +liberty consolidated, and miserable Italy assume, at last, a glorious +place, free and independent of strangers.' On the 10th of the following +October he made over Venice to Austria, sending as a parting word the +cynical message to the Venetians 'that they were little fitted for +liberty: if they were capable of appreciating it, and had the virtue +necessary for acquiring it well and good; existing circumstances gave +them an excellent opportunity of proving it.' At the time, the act of +betrayal was generally regarded as part of a well-considered plot laid +by the French Directory, but it seems certain that it was not made known +to that body before it was carried out, and that with Napoleon himself +it was a sort of after-thought, sprung from the desire to patch up an +immediate peace with Austria on account of the appointment of Hoche to +the chief command of the army in Germany. The god to which he immolated +Venice was the selfish fear lest another general should reap his German +laurels. + +Venice remained for eight years under the Austrians, who thereby +obtained what, in flagrant perversion of the principles on which the +Congress of Vienna professed to act, was accepted in 1815 as their +title-deeds to its possession. Meanwhile, after the battle of +Austerlitz, the city of the sea was tossed back to Napoleon, who +incorporated it in the newly-created kingdom of Italy, which no more +corresponded to its name than did the Gothic kingdom of which he +arrogated to himself the heirship, when, placing the Iron Crown of +Theodolinda upon his brow, he uttered the celebrated phrase: 'Dieu me +l'a donnee, gare a qui la touche.' + +This is not the place to write a history of French supremacy in Italy, +but several points connected with it must be glanced at, because, +without bearing them in mind, it is impossible to understand the +events which followed. The viceroyalty of Eugene Beauharnais in North +Italy, and the government of Joseph Buonaparte, and afterwards of +Joachim Murat, in the South, brought much that was an improvement on +what had gone before: there were better laws, a better administration, +a quickening of intelligence. 'The French have done much for the +regeneration of Italy,' wrote an English observer in 1810; 'they have +destroyed the prejudices of the inhabitants of the small states of +Upper Italy by uniting them; they have done away with the Pope; they +have made them soldiers.' But there was the reverse side of the medal: +the absence everywhere of the national spirit which alone could have +consolidated the new _regime_ on a firm basis; the danger which the +language ran of losing its purity by the introduction of Gallicisms; +the shameless robbery of pictures, statues, and national heirlooms of +every kind for the replenishment of French museums; the bad impression +left in the country districts by the abuses committed by the French +soldiery on their first descent, and kept alive by the blood-tax +levied in the persons of thousands of Italian conscripts sent to die, +nobody knew where or why; the fields untilled, and Rachel weeping for +her children: all these elements combined in rendering it difficult +for the governments established under French auspices to survive the +downfall of the man to whose sword they owed their existence. Their +dissolution was precipitated, however, by the discordant action of +Murat and Eugene Beauharnais. Had these two pulled together, whatever +the issue was it would have differed in much from what actually +happened. Murat was jealous of Eugene, and did not love his +brother-in-law, who had annoyed and thwarted him through his whole +reign; he was uneasy about his Neapolitan throne, and, in all +likelihood, was already dreaming of acquiring the crown of an +independent Italy. Throwing off his allegiance to Napoleon, he +imagined the vain thing that he might gain his object by taking sides +with the Austrians. It must be remembered that there was a time when +the Allied Powers had distinctly contemplated Italian independence as +a dyke to France, and there were people foolish enough to think that +Austria, now she felt herself as strong as she had then felt weak, +would consent to such a plan. Liberators, self-called, were absolutely +swarming in Italy; Lord William Bentinck was promising entire +emancipation from Leghorn; the Austrian and English allies in Romagna +ransacked the dictionary for expressions in praise of liberty; an +English officer was made the mouthpiece for the lying assurance of the +Austrian Emperor Francis, that he had no intention of re-asserting any +claims to the possession of Lombardy or Venetia. + +In 1814, Napoleon empowered Prince Eugene to adopt whatever attitude +he thought best fitted to make head against Austria; for himself, he +resigned the Iron Crown, and his Italian soldiers were freed from +their oaths. It was not, therefore, Eugene's loyal scruples which +prevented him from throwing down a grand stake when he led his 60,000 +men to the attack. It was want of genius, or of what would have done +instead, a flash of genuine enthusiasm for the Italian idea. In place +of appealing to all Italians to unite in winning a country, he +appealed to one sentiment only, fidelity to Napoleon, which no longer +woke any echo in the hearts of a population that had grown more and +more to associate the name of the Emperor with exactions which never +came to an end, and with wars which had not now even the merit of +being successful. It is estimated that although the Italian troops +amply proved the truth of Alfieri's maxim, that 'the plant man is more +vigorous in Italy than elsewhere,' by bearing the hardships and +resisting the cold in Russia better than the soldiers of any other +nationality, nevertheless 26,000 Italians were lost in the retreat +from Moscow. That happened a year ago. Exhausted patience got the +better of judgment; in April 1814, the Milanese committed the +irremediable error of revolting against their Viceroy, who commanded +the only army which could still save Italy: the pent-up passions of a +long period broke loose, the peasants from the country, who had always +hated the French, flooded the streets of Milan, and allying themselves +unimpeded with the dregs of the townsfolk, they murdered with great +brutality General Prina, the Minister of Finance, whose remarkable +abilities had been devoted towards raising funds for the Imperial +Exchequer. Personally incorruptible, Prina was looked upon as the +general representative of French voracity; he met his death with the +utmost calmness, only praying that he might be the last victim. No one +else was, in fact, killed, and next day quiet was resumed, but the +affair had another victim--Italy. You cannot change horses when you +are crossing a stream. Prince Eugene was in Mantua with a fine army, +practically intact, though it had suffered some slight reverses; the +fortress was believed to be impregnable; by merely waiting, Eugene +might, if nothing else, have exacted favourable terms. But the news of +Prina's murder, and the blow dealt at his own authority in Milan, +caused him to give over the fortress and the army to the Austrians +without more ado; an act which looked like revenge, but it was most +likely prompted by moral cowardice. The capitulation signed with +Field-Marshal Bellegarde on the 23rd of April, so exasperated the army +that the officers in command of the garrison decided to arrest Eugene, +but it was found that he was already on his way to Germany, taking +with him his treasure, in accordance with a secret agreement entered +into with the Austrian Field-Marshal. Such was the end to the Italian +career of Eugene Beauharnais. + +For the _Beau Sabreur_ another ending was in store. Back on Napoleon's +side in 1815, his Austrian allies having given him plenty of reason +for suspecting their sincerity, he issued from Rimini, on the 30th of +March, the proclamation of an independent Italy from the Alps to +Sicily. There was no popular reply to his call. Italy, prostrate and +impoverished, was unequal to a great resolve. The Napoleonic legend +was not only dead, but buried; Napoleon had literally no friends left +in Italy except those of his old soldiers who had managed to get back +to their homes, many of them deprived of an arm or a leg, but so +toughened that they lived to great ages. These cherished to their last +hour the worship of their Captain, which it was his highest gift to be +able to inspire. 'I have that feeling for him still, that if he were +to rise from the dead I should go to him, if I could, wherever he +was,' said the old conscript Emmanuele Gaminara of Genoa, who died at +nearly a hundred in a Norfolk village in 1892: the last, perhaps, of +the Italian veterans, and the type of them all. + +But a few scattered invalids do not make a nation, and the Italian +nation in 1815 had not the least wish to support any one who came in +the name of Napoleon. So Murat failed without even raising a strong +current of sympathy. Beaten by the Austrians at Tolentino on the 3rd +of May, he retreated with his shattered army. In the last desperate +moment, he issued the constitution which he ought to have granted +years before. Nothing could be of any avail now; his admirable Queen, +the best of all the House of Buonaparte, surrendered Naples to the +English admiral; and Murat, harried by a crushing Austrian force, +renounced his kingdom on the 30th of May. After Waterloo, when a price +was set on his head in France, he meditated one more forlorn hope; +but, deserted by the treachery of his few followers, and driven out of +his course by the violence of the waves, he was thrown on the coast of +Calabria with only twenty-six men, and was shot by order of Ferdinand +of Naples, who especially directed that he should be only allowed +half-an-hour for his religious duties after sentence had been +delivered by the mock court-martial. His dauntless courage did not +desert him: he died like a soldier. It was a better end for an Italian +prince than escaping with money-bags to Germany. Great as were Murat's +faults, an Italian should remember that it was he who first took up +arms to the cry which was later to redeem Italy: independence from +Alps to sea; and if he stand on the ill-omened shore of Pizzo, he +need not refuse to uncover his head in silence. + +When Mantua surrendered, the Milanese sent a deputation to Paris with +a view of securing for Lombardy the position of an independent kingdom +under an Austrian prince. They hoped to obtain the first by +acquiescing in the second. They were aroused from their unheroic +illusions with startling rapidity. Lord Castlereagh, to whom they went +first (for they fancied that the English were interested in liberty), +referred them 'to their master, the Austrian Emperor.' The Emperor +Francis replied to their memorial that Lombardy was his by right of +conquest; they would hear soon enough at Milan what orders he had to +give them. Even after that, the distracted Lombards hoped that the +English at Genoa would befriend them. All uncertainty ceased on the +23rd of May 1814, when Field-Marshal Bellegarde formally took +possession of Lombardy on behalf of his Sovereign, dissolved the +Electoral Colleges, and proclaimed himself Regent. There was no +question of reviving the conditions under which Austria ruled Lombardy +while there was still a German Empire: conditions which, though +despotic in theory, were comparatively easy-going in practice, and did +not exclude the native element from the administration. Henceforth the +despotism was pure and simple; for Italians to even think of politics +was an act of high treason. + +It is not generally known that a British army ultimately sent to Spain +was intended for Italy,[1] but its destination was changed because the +Italians showed so little disposition to rise against Napoleon. The +English Government was continually advised by its agents in Italy to +make Sicily, which was wholly in its power, the _point d'appui_ for a +really great intervention in the destinies of the peninsula. 'The +grand end of all the operations in the Mediterranean,' wrote one of +Lord Castlereagh's correspondents, 'is the emancipation of Italy, and +its union in one great state.' Lord William Bentinck urged that if +Sicily were reunited to Naples under the Bourbons, liberty, +established there by his own incredible efforts, would be crushed, and +the King would wreck vengeance on the Constitution and its supporters. +Universal terror, he said, was felt at 'the unforgiving temper of +their Majesties.' He strongly supported a course proposed for her own +reasons by Queen Caroline: the purchase of Sicily by the English +Government which could make it 'not only the model but the instrument +of Italian independence.' + +This way of talking was not confined to private despatches, and it was +no wonder if the Italians were disappointed when they found that +England declined to plead their cause with the Allies in Paris, and +afterwards at Vienna. When charged directly with breach of faith +before the House of Commons, Lord Castlereagh said that Austria, being +'in truth the great hinge on which the fate of mankind must ultimately +depend,' had to be paid (this was exactly the sense, though not the +form, of his defence) by letting her do what she liked with Italy. +There is a certain brutal straightforwardness in the line of argument. +Lord Castlereagh did not say that independence was not a good thing. +He had tried to obtain it for Poland and had failed; he had not tried +to obtain it for Italy, because he was afraid of offending Austria. At +least he had the courage to tell the truth, and did not prate about +the felicity of being subjects of the Austrian Emperor, as many +English partisans of Austria prated in days to come. + +The political map of Italy in the summer of 1814 showed the Pope (Pius +VII.) reinstated in Rome, Victor Emmanuel I. at Turin, Ferdinand III. +of Hapsburg-Lorraine in Tuscany, the Genoese Republic for the moment +restored by the English, Parma and Piacenza assigned to the Empress +Marie-Louise, and Modena to the Austrian Archduke Francis, who was +heir through the female line to the last of the Estes. Murat was still +at Naples, Ferdinand IV. in Sicily, Austria acknowledged supreme in +Lombardy and Venetia, and the island of Elba ironically handed over to +Napoleon. These were the chief features, so far as Italy was +concerned, of the Treaty of Paris, signed on the 30th of May 1814. +Next year the Congress of Vienna modified the arrangement by providing +that the Spanish Infanta Maria Louisa, on whom had been bestowed the +ex-republic of Lucca, should have the reversion of Parma and Piacenza, +while Lucca was to go in the end to Tuscany. Murat having been +destroyed, the Neapolitan Bourbons recovered all their old +possessions. San Marino and Monaco were graciously recognised as +independent, which brought the number of Italian states up to ten. The +Sardinian monarchy received back the part of Savoy which by the Treaty +of Paris had been reserved to France. It was also offered a splendid +and unexpected gift--Genoa. + +Lord William Bentinck entered Genoa by a convention concluded with the +authorities on the 18th of April 1814. A naval demonstration following +an ably-conducted operation, by which Bentinck's hybrid force of +Greeks and Calabrese, with a handful of English, became master of the +two principal forts, hastened this conclusion, but the Genoese had no +reluctance to open their gates to the English commander, who inspired +them with the fullest confidence. He came invested with the halo of a +constitution-maker-under-difficulties; it was known that he had +stopped at nothing in carrying out his mission in Sicily; not even at +getting rid of the Queen, who found in Bentinck the Nemesis for having +led a greater Englishman to stain his fame in the roads of Naples. +Driven rather than persuaded to leave Sicily, Marie Antoinette's +sister encountered so frightful a sea voyage that she died soon after +joining her relations at Vienna. Lord William had acquired the art of +writing the finest appeals to the love of freedom; a collection of his +manifestoes would serve as handy-book to anyone instructed to stir up +an oppressed nationality. He immediately gave the Genoese some +specimens of his skill as a writer, and by granting them at once a +provisional constitution, he dispelled all doubts about the future +recognition of their republic. What was not, therefore, their dismay, +when they were suddenly informed of the decision of the Holy Alliance +to make a present of them to the people whom, of all others, they +probably disliked the most. Italians had not ceased yet from reserving +their best aversion for their nearest neighbours. + +Bentinck did not mean to deceive; perhaps he thought that by going +beyond the letter of his instructions he should draw his government +after him. That he did, in effect, deceive, cannot be denied; even +Lord Castlereagh, while necessarily refusing to admit that definite +promises had been made, yet allowed that, 'Of course he would have +been glad if the proclamation issued to the Genoese had been more +precisely worded.' The motive of the determination to sacrifice the +republic was, he said, 'a sincere conviction of the necessity of a +barrier between France and Italy, which ought to be made effectual on +the side of Piedmont. The object was to commit the defence of the Alps +and of the great road leading round them by the Gulf of Genoa, between +France and Italy, to the same power to which it had formerly been +entrusted. On that principle, the question relating to Genoa had been +entertained and decided upon by the allied sovereigns. It was not +resolved upon because any particular state had unworthy or sordid +views, or from any interest or feeling in favour of the King of +Sardinia, but solely to make him, as far as was necessary, the +instrument of the general policy of Europe.' + +A better defence might have been made. Piedmont was destined to serve +as a bulwark, not so much against France, which for the time was not +to be feared, as against Austria, absolute except for the subalpine +kingdom in all Italy. But this belongs to the shaping of rough-hewn +ends, which is in higher hands than those of English ministers. The +ends then looked very rough-hewn. + +Piedmont was a hotbed of reaction and bigotry. True, she had a history +differing vastly from that of the other Italian states, but the facts +of the hour presented her in a most unattractive light. The Genoese +felt the keenest heart-burnings in submitting to a decision in which +they had no voice, and which came to them as a mandate of political +extinction from the same powers that confirmed the sentence of death +on Genoa's ancient and glorious rival. The seeds were laid of +disaffection, always smouldering among the Genoese, till Piedmont's +king became King of Italy. It might almost be said that the +reconciliation was not consummated till the day when the heir and +namesake of Humbert of the White Hands received the squadrons of +Europe in the harbour of Genoa, and the proud republican city showed +what a welcome she had prepared for her sovereign of the Savoy race. + +After the Congress of Vienna finished its labours, there were, as has +been remarked, ten states in Italy, but out of Sardinia (whose +subjugation Prince Metternich esteemed a mere matter of time) there +was one master. The authority of the Emperor Francis was practically +as undisputed from Venice to the Bay of Naples as it was in the Grand +Duchy of Austria. The Austrians garrisoned Piacenza, Ferrara and +Commacchio; Austrian princes reigned in Tuscany, Parma, Modena and +Lucca; the King of Naples, who paid Austria twenty-six million francs +for getting back his throne, thankfully agreed to support a German +army to protect him against his subjects. In the secret treaty +concluded between himself and the Emperor of Austria, it was +stipulated that the King of the Two Sicilies should not introduce into +his government any principles irreconcilable with those adopted by His +Imperial Majesty in the government of his Italian provinces. As for +the Roman States, Austria reckoned on her influence in always +securing the election of a Pope who would give her no trouble. Seeing +herself without rivals and all-powerful, she deemed her position +unassailable. She forgot that, by giving Italy an unity of misery, she +was preparing the way for another unity. Common hatred engendered +common love; common sufferings led on to a common effort. If some +prejudices passed away under the Napoleonic rule, many more still +remained, and possibly, to eradicate so old an evil, no cure less +drastic than universal servitude would have sufficed. Italians felt +for the first time what before only the greatest among them had +felt--that they were brothers in one household, children of one mother +whom they were bound to redeem. Jealousies and millennial feuds died +out; the intense municipal spirit which, imperfect as it was, had yet +in it precious political germs, widened into patriotism. Italy was +re-born. + +Black, however, was the present outlook. Total commercial stagnation +and famine increased the sentiment of unmitigated hopelessness which +spread through the land. The poet Monti, who, alas! sang for bread the +festival songs of the Austrians as he had sung those of Napoleon, said +in private to an Englishman who asked him why he did not give his +voice to the liberties of his country which he desired, though he did +not expect to see them: 'It would be _vox clamantis in deserto_; +besides, how can the grievances of Italy be made known? No one dares +to write--scarcely to think--politics; if truth is to be told, it must +be told by the English; England is the only tribunal yet open to the +complaints of Europe.' A greater poet and nobler man, Ugo Foscolo, had +but lately uttered a wail still more despondent: 'Italy will soon be +nothing but a lifeless carcass, and her generous sons should only +weep in silence without the impotent complaints and mutual +recriminations of slaves.' That as patriotic a heart as ever beat +should have been afflicted to this point by the canker of despair +tells of the quagmire--not only political but spiritual--into which +Italy was sunk. The first thing needful was to restore the people to +consciousness, to animation of some sort, it did not matter what, so +it were a sign of life. Foscolo himself, who impressed on what he +wrote his own proud and scornful temperament, almost savage in its +independence, fired his countrymen to better things than the +despairing inertia which he preached. Few works have had more effect +than his _Letters of Jacobo Ortis_. As often happens with books which +strongly move contemporaries, the reader may wonder now what was the +secret of its power, but if the form and sentiment of the Italian +_Werther_ strike us as antiquated, the intense, though melancholy +patriotism that pervades it explains the excitement it caused when +patriotism was a statutory offence. Such mutilated copies as were +allowed to pass by the censor were eagerly sought; the young read it, +women read it--who so rarely read--the mothers of the fighters of +to-morrow. Foscolo's life gave force to his words: when all were +flattering Napoleon, he had reminded him that no man can be rightly +praised till he is dead, and that his one sure way of winning the +praise of posterity was to establish the independence of Italy. The +warning was contained in a 'discourse' which Foscolo afterwards +printed with the motto from Sophocles: 'My soul groans for my country, +for myself and for thee.' Sooner than live under the Austrians, he +went into voluntary exile, and finally took refuge in England, where +he was the _feted_ lion of a season, and then forgotten, and left +almost without the necessaries of life. No one was much to blame; +Foscolo was born to misunderstand and to be misunderstood; he hid +himself to hide his poverty, which, had it been known, might have been +alleviated. His individual tragedy seemed a part of the universal +tragedy. + +With Foscolo, his literary predecessor Alfieri must be mentioned as +having helped in rekindling the embers, of patriotic feeling, because, +though dead, he spoke; and his plays, one of which was prophetically +dedicated _al libero Popolo Italiano_, had never been so much read. +The _Misogallo_, published for the first time after the fall of +Napoleon, though aimed at the French, served equally well as an +onslaught on every foreign dominion or even moral or intellectual +influence. 'Shall _we_ learn liberty of the Gauls, _we_ who taught +every lofty thing to others?' was a healthy remonstrance to a race +that had lost faith in itself; and the Austrians were wise in +discountenancing the sale of a work that contained the line which gave +a watchword to the future:-- + + _Schiavi or siam si; ma schiavi almen frementi_. + +Like Foscolo's, Alfieri's life was a lesson in independence: angry at +the scant measure of freedom in Piedmont, he could never be induced to +go near his sovereign till Charles Emmanuel was staying at Florence as +a proscript. Then the poet went to pay his respects to him, and was +received with the good-humoured banter: 'Well, Signor Conte, here am +I, a king, in the condition you would like to see them all.' + +Against the classical, not to say pagan, leanings of these two poets, +a reaction set in with Alessandro Manzoni, the founder of Italian +Romanticism, to which he gave an aspect differing from that which the +same movement wore in France, because he was an ardent Catholic at a +time when Christianity had almost the charm of novelty. His religious +outpourings combine the fervour of the Middle Ages with modern +expansion, and he freed the Italian language from pedantic +restrictions without impairing its dignity. It was once the fashion to +inveigh against Manzoni for, as it was said, inculcating resignation; +but he did nothing of the kind. As a young man he had sung of the +Italians as 'Figli tutti d'un solo Riscatto,' and though he was not of +those who fight either with the sword or the pen, yet that 'Riscatto' +was the dream of his youth and manhood, and the joy of his old age. +His gentleness was never contaminated by servility, and the love for +his country, profound if placid, which appears in every line of his +writings, appealed to a class that could not be reached by fiery +turbulence of thought. + +In an age when newspapers have taken the place of books, it may seem +strange to ascribe any serious effect to the works of poets and +romancists; but in the Italy of that date there were no newspapers to +speak of; the ordinary channels of opinion were blocked up. Books were +still not only read, but discussed and thought over, and every slight +allusion to the times was instantly applied. In the prevailing +listlessness, the mere fact of increased mental activity was of +importance. A spark of genius does much to raise a nation. It is in +itself the incontrovertible proof that the race lives: a dead people +does not produce men of genius. Whatever awakes one part of the +intelligence reacts on all its parts. You cannot lift, any more than +you can degrade, the heart of man piecemeal. In this sense not +literature only but also music helped, who can say how effectually, to +bring Italy back to life. The land was refreshed by a flood of purely +national song, full of the laughter and the tears of Italian +character, of the sunshine and the storms of Italian nature. Music, +the only art uncageable as the human soul, descended as a gift from +heaven upon the people whose articulate utterance was stifled. And + + ... No speech may evince + Feeling like music. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WORK OF THE CARBONARI + +1815-1821 + +Revolutions in the Kingdom of Naples and in Piedmont--The Conspiracy +against Charles Albert. + + +Considering what the state of the country was after 1815, and how +apparently inexhaustible were the resources of the Empire of which the +petty princes of the peninsula were but puppets, it is remarkable that +political agitation, with a view to reversing the decisions of Vienna, +should have begun so soon, and on so large a scale. Not that the +nation, as a whole, was yet prepared to move; every revolution, till +1848, was partial in the sense that the mass of the people stood +aloof, because unconvinced of the possibility of loosening their +chains. But, during that long succession of years, the number of +Italians ready to embark on enterprises of the most desperate +character, accounting as nothing the smallness of the chance of +success, seems enormous when the risks they ran and the difficulties +they faced are fully recognised. Among the means which were effective +in first rousing Italy from her lethargy, and in fostering the will to +acquire her independence at all costs, the secret society of the +Carbonari undoubtedly occupies the front rank. The Carbonari acted in +two ways; by what they did and by what they caused to be done by +others who were outside their society, and perhaps unfavourable to it, +but who were none the less sensible of the pressure it exercised. The +origin of Carbonarism has been sought in vain; as a specimen of the +childish fables that once passed for its history may be noticed the +legend that Francis I. of France once stumbled on a charcoal burner's +hut when hunting 'on the frontiers of his kingdom next to Scotland,' +and was initiated into the rites similar to those in use among the +sectaries of the nineteenth century. Those rites referred to vengeance +which was to be taken on the wolf that slew the lamb; the wolf +standing for tyrants and oppressors, and the lamb for Jesus Christ, +the sinless victim, by whom all the oppressed were represented. The +Carbonari themselves generally believed that they were heirs to an +organisation started in Germany before the eleventh century, under the +name of the Faith of the Kohlen-Brenners, of which Theobald de Brie, +who was afterwards canonised, was a member. Theobald was adopted as +patron saint of the modern society, and his fancied portrait figured +in all the lodges. That any weight should have been attached to these +pretensions to antiquity may appear strange to us, as it certainly did +not matter whether an association bent on the liberation of Italy had +or had not existed in German forests eight hundred years before; age +and mystery, however, have a great popular attraction, the first as an +object of reverence, the second as food for curiosity with the +profane, and a bond of union among the initiated. The religious +symbolism of the Carbonari, their oaths and ceremonies, and the axes, +blocks and other furniture of the initiatory chamber, were well +calculated to impress the poorer and more ignorant and excitable of +the brethren. The Vatican affected to believe that Carbonarism was an +offshoot of Freemasonry, but, in spite of sundry points of +resemblance, such as the engagements of mutual help assumed by +members, there seems to have been no real connection between the two. +Political Freemasonry remained somewhat of an exotic in Italy, and was +inclined to regard France as its centre. As far as can be ascertained, +it gave a general support to Napoleon, while Carbonarism rejected +every foreign yoke. The practical aims of the Carbonari may be summed +up in two words: freedom and independence. From the first they had the +penetration to grasp the fact that independence, even if obtained, +could not be preserved without freedom; but though their predilections +were theoretically republican, they did not make a particular form of +government a matter of principle. Nor were they agreed in a definite +advocacy of the unity of Italy. + +A Genoese of the name of Malghella, who was Murat's Minister of +Police, was the first person to give a powerful impetus to +Carbonarism, of which he has even been called the inventor, but the +inference goes too far. Malghella ended miserably; after the fall of +Murat he was arrested by the Austrians, who consigned him as a new +subject to the Sardinian Government, which immediately put him in +prison. His name is hardly known, but no Italian of his time worked +more assiduously, or in some respects more intelligently, for the +emancipation of Italy. Whatever was truly Italian in Murat's policy +must be mainly attributed to him. As early as 1813 he urged the King +to declare himself frankly for independence, and to grant a +constitution to his Neapolitan subjects. But Malghella did not find +the destined saviour of Italy in Murat; his one lasting work was to +establish Carbonarism on so strong a basis that, when the Bourbons +returned, there were thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of +Carbonari in all parts of the realm. The discovery was not a pleasant +one to the restored rulers, and the Prince of Canosa, the new Minister +of Police, thought to counteract the evil done by his predecessor by +setting up an abominable secret society called the Calderai del +Contrapeso (Braziers of the Counterpoise), principally recruited from +the refuse of the people, lazzaroni, bandits and let-out convicts, who +were provided by Government with 20,000 muskets, and were sworn to +exterminate all enemies of the Church of Rome, whether Jansenists, +Freemasons or Carbonari. This association committed some horrible +excesses, but otherwise it had no results. The Carbonari closed in +their ranks, and learnt to observe more strictly their rules of +secrecy. From the kingdom of Naples, Carbonarism spread to the Roman +states, and found a congenial soil in Romagna, which became the focus +whence it spread over the rest of Italy. It was natural that it should +take the colour, more or less, of the places where it grew. In +Romagna, where political assassination is in the blood of the people, +a dagger was substituted for the symbolical woodman's axe in the +initiatory rites. It was probably only in Romagna that the +conventional threat against informers was often carried out. The +Romagnols invested Carbonarism with the wild intensity of their own +temperament, resolute even to crime, but capable of supreme impersonal +enthusiasm. The ferment of expectancy that prevailed in Romagna is +reflected in the Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, whom young Count +Pietro Gamba made a Carbonaro, and who looked forward to seeing the +Italians send the barbarians of all nations back to their own dens, as +to the most interesting spectacle and moment in existence. His lower +apartments, he writes, were full of the bayonets, fusils and +cartridges of his Carbonari cronies; 'I suppose that they consider me +as a depot, to be sacrificed in case of accidents. It is no great +matter, supposing that Italy could be liberated, who or what is +sacrificed. It is a grand object--the very poetry of politics. Only +think--free Italy!!! Why, there has been nothing like it since the +days of Augustus.' + +The movement on which such great hopes were set was to begin in the +kingdom of Naples in the spring of 1820. The concession of the +hard-won Spanish Constitution in the month of March encouraged the +Neapolitans to believe that they might get a like boon from their own +King if they directed all the forces at their command to this single +end. To avoid being compromised, they sought rather to dissociate +themselves from the patriots of other parts of Italy than to +co-operate with them in an united effort. The Carbonari of the +Neapolitan kingdom, who were the entire authors of the revolution, +which, after many unfortunate delays, broke out on the 1st of July, +had good cause for thinking that they were in a position to dictate +terms; the mistake they made was to suppose that a charter conceded by +a Bourbon of Naples could ever be worth the paper on which it was +written. Not only among the people, but in the army the Carbonari had +thousands of followers on whom they could rely, and several whole +regiments were only waiting their orders to rise in open revolt. The +scheme was to take possession of the persons of the King and the royal +family, and retain them as hostages till the Constitution was granted. +Such extreme measures were not necessary. The standard of rebellion +was raised at Monteforte by two officers named Morelli and Silvati, +who had brought over a troop of cavalry from Nola, and by the priest +Menechini. In all Neapolitan insurrections there was sure to be a +priest; the Neapolitan Church, much though there is to be laid to its +account, must be admitted to have frequently shown sympathy with the +popular side. Menechini enjoyed an immense, if brief, popularity which +he used to allay the anger of the mob and to procure the safety of +obnoxious persons. The King sent two generals and a body of troops +against the Chartists, but when the Carbonari symbols were recognised +on the insurgent flags, the troops showed such clear signs of wishing +to go over to the enemy that they were quietly taken back to Naples. +The cry of 'God, the King, and the Constitution,' was taken up through +the land; General Pepe, who had long been a Carbonaro in secret, was +enthusiastically hailed as commander of the Chartist forces, which +practically comprised the whole army. The King was powerless; besides +which, when pushed up into any corner people who do not mind breaking +their word have a facility for hard swearing. On the 13th of July, +Ferdinand standing at the altar of the royal chapel, with his hand on +the Bible, swore to defend and maintain the Constitution which he had +just granted. If he failed to do so, he called upon his subjects to +disobey him, and God to call him to account. These words he read from +a written form; as if they were not enough, he added, with his eyes on +the cross, and his face turned towards heaven: 'Omnipotent God, who +with Thine infinite power canst read the soul of man and the future, +do Thou, if I speak falsely, or intend to break my oath, at this +moment direct the thunder of Thy vengeance on my head.' + +The Neapolitans had got their liberties, but they soon found +themselves face to face with perplexities which would have taxed the +powers of men both wiser and more experienced in free government than +they were. In the first place, although a revolution may be made by a +sect, a government cannot be carried on by one. The Carbonari who had +won the day were blind to this self-evident truth; and, to make +matters worse, there was a split in their party, some of them being +disposed to throw off the Bourbon yoke altogether; a natural desire, +but as it was only felt by a minority, it added to the general +confusion. Then came, as it was sure to come, the cry for separation +from Sicily. The Sicilians wanted back the violated constitution +obtained for them by the English in 1812, and would have nothing to do +with that offered them from Naples. In every one of the struggles +between Sicily and Naples, it is impossible to refuse sympathy to the +islanders, who, in the pride of their splendid independent history, +deemed themselves the victims of an inferior race; but it is equally +impossible to ignore that, politically, they were in the wrong. In +union, and in union alone, lay the only chance of resisting the +international plot to keep the South Italian populations in perpetual +bondage. The Sicilian revolt was put down at first mildly, and +finally, as mildness had no effect, with the usual violence by the +Neapolitan Constitutional Government, which could not avoid losing +credit and popularity in the operation. Meanwhile, the three persons +who traded under the name of Europe met at Troppau, and came readily +to the conclusion that 'the sovereigns of the Holy Alliance exercised +an incontestable right in taking common measures of security against +states which the overthrow of authority by revolt placed in a hostile +attitude towards every legitimate government.' The assumption was too +broadly stated, even for Lord Castlereagh's acceptance; but he was +contented to make a gentle protest, which he further nullified by +allowing that, in the present case, intervention was very likely +justified. France expressed no disapproval. Only the Netherlands, +Switzerland, Sweden and Spain gave the Constitutional _regime_ tacit +support by recognising it. The Emperor of Russia was very anxious to +take part in the business, and would have sent off an army instantly +had not his royal brother of Prussia hesitated to consent to the +inconvenience of a Cossack march through his territory. The work was +left, therefore, to the Emperor of Austria. Before entering upon it, +it occurred to these three to invite the King of Naples to meet them +at Laybach. They knew his character. + +Ferdinand assured his Parliament that he was going to Laybach solely +to induce the Holy Alliance to think better of its opposition, and to +agree, at least, to all the principal features of the new state of +things. Most foolishly the Parliament, which, according to the +Constitution, might have vetoed his leaving the country, let him go. +Before starting he wrote an open letter to his dear son, the Duke of +Calabria, who was appointed Regent, in which he said: 'I shall defend +the events of the past July before the Congress. I firmly desire the +Spanish Constitution for my kingdom; and although I rely on the +justice of the assembled sovereigns, and on their old friendship, +still it is well to tell you that, in whatever circumstance it may +please God to place me, my course will be what I have manifested on +this sheet, strong and unchangeable either by force or by the flattery +of others.' + +Brave words! News came in due time of the sequel. On the 9th of +February 1821, the Regent received a letter from the King, in which he +gave the one piece of advice that the people should submit to their +fate quietly. He was coming back with 50,000 Austrians, and a Russian +army was ready to start if wanted. Nevertheless, to prevent a sudden +outbreak before the foreign troops arrived, the Regent carried on a +game of duplicity to the last, and pretended to second, whilst he +really baulked, the preparations for resistance decreed by Parliament. +Baron Poerio, the father of two patriot martyrs of the future, +sustained the national dignity by urging Parliament to yield only to +force, and to defy the barbarous horde which was bearing down on the +country. The closing scene is soon told. On the 7th of March, in the +mountains near Rieti, General Guglielmo Pepe, with 8000 regular troops +and a handful of militia, encountered an overwhelmingly superior force +of Austrians. The Neapolitans stood out well for six hours, but on the +Austrian reserves coming up, they were completely routed, and obliged +to fly in all directions. + +'Order reigned' in the kingdom of Naples. In Sicily, a gallant attempt +at insurrection was begun, but there was not the spirit to go on with +it, and General Rossaroll, its initiator, had to fly to Spain. The +afterpiece is what might have been expected; an insensate desire for +vengeance got hold of Ferdinand, and the last years of his life were +spent in hunting down his enemies, real or imaginary. Morelli and +Silvati were hung, the fugitives, Pepe and Rossaroll, were condemned +to death, but this was only the beginning. The Austrian commander +counselled mercy, but in this respect the King showed an independent +mind. A court-martial was instituted to examine the conduct of +ecclesiastics, public functionaries and soldiers, from the year 1793 +downwards. No one was safe who had expressed a dislike of absolutism +within the last thirty years. A blameless gentleman who was a +Carbonaro, was conducted through Naples on the back of an ass, and +beaten with a whip, to which nails were attached. Eight hundred +persons are said to have perished at the hands of the state in one +year. Ferdinand himself expired on the 3rd of January 1825, after +misgoverning for sixty-five years. + +The Neapolitan revolution had just collapsed, when another broke out +in Piedmont, which, though short in duration, was to have far-reaching +consequences. + +At that time, the King of Sardinia was Victor Emmanuel I., who +succeeded his brother Charles Emmanuel in 1802, when the latter +abdicated and retired to Rome, where he joined the Society of Jesus. +Victor Emmanuel's only son was dead, and the throne would devolve on +his youngest brother, Charles Felix, Duke of Genoa, whom reasons of +state led to abandon the wish to become a monk, which he had formed as +a boy of eleven, on being taken to visit a convent near Turin. But +Charles Felix, though married, was without children, and the +legitimate heir-presumptive was Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, +who represented the younger branch of the family, which divided from +the main line in the early part of the seventeenth century. Charles +Albert's father was the luckless Prince Charles of Carignano, who, +alone of his house, came to terms with Napoleon, who promised him a +pension, which was not paid. His mother, a Saxon Princess, paraded the +streets of Turin, dressed in the last republican fashion, with her +infant son in her arms. Afterwards, she gave him a miscellaneous +education, that included a large dose of Rousseau from a Swiss +professor. The boy was shifted from place to place, happier when his +mother forgot him, than when, in temporary recollection of his +existence, she called him to her. Once when he was travelling with the +Princess and her second husband, M. de Montleart, Charles Albert was +made to sit on the box of the carriage, in a temperature many degrees +below zero. + +His uncles (as the King and Charles Felix called themselves, though +they were his cousins) heard with natural horror of the vagaries of +the Princess of Carignano, and they extended their antipathy from the +mother to the son, even when he was a child. In Victor Emmanuel, this +antipathy was moderated by the easy good-nature of his character; in +Charles Felix, it degenerated into an intense hatred. + +It is a singular thing that Prince Metternich, from the very first, +had an instinctive feeling that the unfortunate boy, who seemed the +most hopeless and helpless of human creatures, would prove the evil +genius of the Austrian power. He therefore set to work to deprive him +of his eventual rights. He was confident of success, as fortune had +arranged matters in a manner that offered a ready-made plan for +carrying out the design. Victor Emmanuel had four daughters, precluded +from reigning by the Salic law, which was in force in Piedmont. His +wife, the Queen Maria Teresa, a woman of great beauty and insatiable +ambition, was sister to the Austrian Archduke Francis d'Este, Duke of +Modena. Francis had never married, having been robbed of his intended +bride, the Archduchess Marie-Louise, by her betrothal to Napoleon. +What simpler than to marry the eldest of the Sardinian princesses to +her uncle, abrogate the Salic law, and calmly await the desired +consummation of an Austrian prince, by right of his wife, occupying +the Sardinian throne? + +The first step was soon taken; princesses came into the world to be +sacrificed. The plot ran on for some time, the Queen, who was in the +habit of calling Charles Albert 'that little vagrant,' giving it her +indefatigable support. Victor Emmanuel was weak, and stood in +considerable awe of his wife, who had obtained a great ascendancy over +him in the miserable days of their residence in the island of +Sardinia. His nephew, who was almost or wholly unknown to him, partook +of the nature of a disagreeable myth. Nevertheless he had a sense of +justice, as well as Savoy blood, in his veins--he resisted; but the +day came when his surrender seemed probable. Just at that moment, +however, the Duke of Modena prematurely revealed the project by asking +through his representative at the Congress of Vienna for the port of +Spezia, in order that he might conveniently connect his own state with +his prospective possession, the island of Sardinia. Prince Talleyrand +was alarmed by the vision of Austria supreme in the Mediterranean, and +through his opposition the conspiracy, for the time, was upset, and +the rights of Charles Albert were recognised. + +Curiously enough, Prince Metternich had insisted on the young Prince, +then seventeen, visiting the headquarters of the Allies. Charles Felix +(who was unconnected with the Modena scheme) wrote a letter to the +King on this subject, in which he stated it as his belief that the +Austrian plan was to get Charles Albert accidentally killed, or to +plunge him in vice, or to make him contract a discreditable marriage. +This was why they had invited him to their camp. He adds the +characteristic remark that their nephew would be in no less danger at +the headquarters of the Duke of Wellington 'a cause de la religion.' +Have him home and have him married, is his advice. 'We are well +treated, because there is the expectation of soon devouring our +remains by extinguishing the House of Savoy. It is the habit of the +cabinet of Vienna; it was thus they made an end of the House of Este.' + +These counsels were the more likely to impress Victor Emmanuel from +his knowledge that they were inspired by no shadow of personal +interest in 'the little vagrant,' but by the race-feeling alone. The +Queen contrived to prevent the immediate recall of the Prince of +Carignano, but she was obliged to give way, and he was definitely +established in Piedmont. In 1818 he was married at Florence to the +Archduchess Maria Teresa of Tuscany, who, on the 14th of March 1820, +gave birth to the child that was to become the first King of Italy. + +Very soon after his return to his country, the hopes of the Liberal +party began to centre in the young Prince, whom some of their more +ardent spirits already saluted as the rising sun. Those who made his +acquaintance were fascinated by the charm of manner which he could +always exert when he chose, and were confirmed in their hopes by his +evident susceptibility to the magnetism of new ideas and fatalistic +ambitions. What they did not perceive was, that in his nature lay +that ingrained tendency to drift before the wind, which is the most +dangerous thing in politics. In the mid-sea of events he might +change his course without conscious insincerity, but with the +self-abandonment of a mind which, under pressure, loses the sense of +personal responsibility. + +In Piedmont, Carbonarism had made great way among the upper classes +and among the younger officers; the flower of the country was enrolled +in its ranks, and the impatience to take some action towards procuring +free institutions for themselves, and doing something for their +Lombard brothers, had reached fever heat in the spring of 1821, when +the affairs of Naples were creating much excitement. The principal +conspirators, noble young men, full of unselfish ardour, were the +chosen friends and companions of the Prince of Carignano. It was +formerly the opinion that they made him the confidant of their plans +from the first, that he was one of them, in short--a Carbonaro bound +by all the oaths and obligations of the society. The judgment of his +conduct afterwards is, of course, much affected by this point; were +the assumption correct, the invectives launched against him, not by +any means only by republican writers, would hardly seem excessive. But +by the light of documents issued in recent times, it appears more just +as well as more charitable to suppose that Charles Albert's complicity +was of a much less precise character. A little encouragement from a +prince goes a long way. + +According to his own account, he was taken by surprise when, on the +and or 3rd of March, his friends Carail, Collegno, Santa Rosa and +Lisio came to tell him in secret that they belonged to societies +which had been long working for the independence of Italy, and that +they reckoned on him, knowing well his affection for his country, to +aid them in obtaining from the King some few first concessions, which +would be the prelude of a glorious future. It is clear that he ought +either to have broken with them altogether from that moment or to have +cast his lot with them for good or evil. He tried a middle course. He +induced the conspirators to put off the revolution by which they +intended to enforce their demands, and he conveyed to the King +information of what had happened, asking at the same time that no +measures should be taken against incriminated persons. + +In fact, no precautions of any kind seem to have been taken. Victor +Emmanuel, frightened at first, was soon reassured. The revolution, which +was to have begun on the 8th, actually broke out on the 10th of March at +Alessandria, where the counter orders issued at Charles. Albert's +request, after the interview just described, were not obeyed. The +garrison 'pronounced' in favour of the Spanish Constitution. It was now +impossible to draw back. From Alessandria the revolution spread to the +capital. The bulk of the army sympathised with the movement, and relied +on the support of the people. The greatest ladies mixed with the crowds +which gathered under the Carbonaro flag--black, blue and red. On the +other hand, there were a few devoted servants of the House of Savoy who +beheld these novelties with the sensations of a quiet person who sees +from his window the breaking loose of a menagerie. Invincibly ignorant +of all that was really inspiring in this first breath of freedom, they +saw nothing in it but an unwarrantable attack on the authority of their +amiable, if weak, old King, for whom they would gladly have shed every +drop of their blood--not from the rational esteem which the people of +Italy, like the people of England, now feel for their sovereign, but +from the pure passion of loyalty which made the cavalier stand blindly +by his prince, whether he was good or bad, in the right or in the wrong. +Men of their type watched the evolution of Piedmont into Italy from +first to last with the same presentiment of evil, the same moral +incapacity of appreciation. A handful of these loyal servitors hurried +to Victor Emmanuel to offer their assistance. They marshalled their +troop in battle-array in the courtyard of the palace. Their arms were +antiquated pistols and rapiers, and they themselves were veterans, some +of them of eighty years, mounted on steeds as ancient. The King thanked +them, but declined their services; nor would he give _carte blanche_ to +Captain Raimondi, who assured him that with his one company he could +suppress the insurrection if invested with full powers. Soon after this +refusal, a firing of guns announced that the citadel was in the hands +of the insurgents. The troops within and without fraternised; it was a +fine moment for those who knew history and who were bent in their hearts +on driving the foreigner out of Italy. Here at the citadel of Turin, +during the siege of 1706, occurred the memorable deed of Pietro Micca, +the peasant-soldier, who, when he heard the enemy thundering at the door +of the gallery, thought life and the welcome of wife and child and the +happy return to his village of less account than duty, and fired the +mine which sent him and three companies of French Grenadiers to their +final reckoning. + +After vacillating for two or three days, Victor Emmanuel abdicated on +the 13th of March. The Queen desired to be appointed regent, but, to +her intense vexation, the appointment was given to Charles Albert. A +more unenviable honour never fell to the lot of man. + +Deserted by the ministers of the crown, who resigned in a body, alone +in the midst of a triumphant revolution, appealed to in the name of +those sentiments of patriotism which he could never hear invoked +unmoved, the young Prince uttered the words which were as good as a +surrender: 'I, too, am an Italian!' That evening he allowed the +Spanish Constitution to be proclaimed subject to the arrival of the +orders of the new King. + +The new King! No one remembered that there existed such a person. Nor +had anyone recollected that the Spanish Constitution abrogated the +Salic law, and that hence, instead of a new King, they had a new +Queen--the wife of the Duke of Modena! An eminent Turinese +jurisconsulist, who was probably the only possessor of a copy of the +charter in the town which was screaming itself hoarse for it, divulged +this awkward discovery.--Several hours were spent in anxious +discussion, when the brilliant suggestion was made that the article +should be cancelled. The article was cancelled. + +But Charles Felix could not be disposed of so easily. The news of the +late events reached him at Modena of all places in the world, the +rallying-point of the Prince of Carignano's bitterest foes. He was not +long in sending his orders. He repudiated everything that had been +done, and commanded Charles Albert, 'if he had a drop of our royal +blood left in his veins,' to leave the capital instantly for Novara, +where he was to await his further instructions. + +Charles Albert obeyed. He was accompanied on his journey--or, as it +may be called, his flight--by such of the troops as remained loyal. +At Novara he found a sentence of exile, in a fresh order, to quit +Piedmontese territory. Tuscany was indicated as the state where he was +to reside. + +The Austrians crossed the frontier with the consent of the King. +Charles Felix's opinion of Austria has been already given; another +time he said: 'Austria is a sort of bird-lime which, if you get it on +your fingers, you can never rub off.' If anything was needed to +increase his loathing for the revolution, it was the necessity in +which it placed him, as he thought, of calling in this unloved ally. +But Charles Felix was not the man to hesitate. Not caring a straw for +the privilege of wearing a crown himself, his belief in the divine +right of kings, and the obligation to defend it, amounted to +monomania. The Austrian offer was therefore accepted. On her part +Austria declined the obliging proposal of the Czar of a loan of +100,000 men. She felt that she could do the work unaided, nor was she +mistaken. + +On the 8th of April the Constitutionalist troops which marched towards +Novara, sanguine that the loyal regiments there quartered would end by +joining them, were met by an armed resistance, in which the +newly-arrived Austrians assisted. Their defeat was complete, and it +was the signal of the downfall of the revolution. The leaders retired +from Turin to Alessandria, and thence to Genoa, that had risen last +and was last to submit. Thus most of them escaped by sea, which was +fortunate, as Charles Felix had the will to establish a White Terror, +and was only prevented by the circumstance that nearly all the +proposed victims were outside his kingdom. Capital sentences were sent +after them by the folio: there was hardly a noble family which had not +one of its members condemned to death. When his brother, Victor +Emmanuel, recommended mercy, he told him that he was entirely ready +to give him back the crown, but that, while he reigned, he should +reign after his own ideas. He seems to have had thoughts of hanging +the Prince of Carignano, and for a long time he seriously meant to +devise the kingdom to his son, the infant Prince Victor. Thus a new +set of obstacles arose between Charles Albert and the throne. + +Of the personal friends of that ill-starred Prince all escaped. One of +them, the noble-minded Count Santorre di Santa Rosa, died fighting for +liberty in Greece. In the miseries of exile and poverty he had never +lost faith in his country, but fearlessly maintained that 'the +emancipation of Italy was an event of the nineteenth century.' To +another, Giacinta di Collegno, it was reserved to receive the dying +breath of Charles Albert, when as an exiled and crownless king he +found rest, at last, at Oporto. + +There were deeper reasons than any which appear on the surface for the +failure of the revolutionary movements of this period. North and +south, though the populations exhibited a childish delight at the +overthrow of the old, despotic form of government, their effervescence +ended as rapidly as it began. They did not really understand what was +going on. 'By-the-bye, what _is_ this same constitution they are +making such a noise about?' asked a lazzarone who had been shouting +'Viva la Costituzione' all the day. Within a few weeks of the +breakdown at Novara, Count Confalonieri wrote wisely to Gino Capponi +that revolutions are not made by high intelligences, but by the masses +which are moved by enthusiasm, and for a possibility of success, the +word Constitution, the least magical of words, should have been +replaced by the more comprehensible and stirring call: 'War to the +stranger.' But this, instead of sounding from every housetop, was +purposely stifled at Naples, and kept a mysterious secret in +Piedmont. + + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +PRISON AND SCAFFOLD + +1821-1831 + +Political Trials in Venetia and Lombardy--Risings in the South and +Centre--Ciro Menotti. + + +The Austrians fully expected a rising in Lombardy in the middle of +March, and that they were not without serious fears as to its +consequences is proved by the preparations which they quietly made to +abandon Milan, if necessary. The Court travelling-carriages were got +ready, and the younger princes were sent away. Carbonarism had been +introduced into Lombardy the year before by two Romagnols, Count +Laderchi and Pietro Maroncelli. It was their propaganda that put the +Austrian Government on the alert, and was the cause of the Imperial +decree which denounced the society as a subversive conspiracy, aiming +at the destruction of all constituted authority, and pointed to death +and confiscation of property as the penalty for joining it. There was +the additional clause, destined to bear terrible fruit, which declared +accomplices, punishable with life-imprisonment, all who knew of the +existence of lodges (_Vendite_, as they were called) or the names of +associates, without informing the police. In the autumn of 1820, +Maroncelli and many others, including Silvio Pellico, the young +Piedmontese poet, were arrested as Carbonari, while the arrest of the +so-called accomplices began with Count Giovanni Arrivabene of Mantua, +who had no connection with the society, but was charged with having +heard from Pellico that he was a member. Pellico and his companions +were still lying untried in the horrible Venetian prisons, called, +from their leaden roofs, the 'Piombi,' when the events of 1821 gave +rise to a wholesale batch of new arrests. As soon as they knew of a +movement in Piedmont, the Lombard patriots prepared to co-operate in +it; that they were actually able to do nothing, was because it broke +out prematurely, and also, to some extent, because their head, Count +Confalonieri, was incapacitated by severe illness. But though their +activity profited not at all to the cause, it was fatal to +themselves. The Austrian Government had, as has been stated, a +correct general notion of what was going on, but at the beginning it +almost entirely lacked proofs which could inculpate individuals. In +the matter of arrests, however, there was one sovereign rule which all +the despotic Governments in Italy could and did follow in every +emergency: it was to lay hands on the most intelligent, distinguished +and upright members of the community. This plan never failed; these +were the patriots, the conspirators of those days. The second thing +which the Austrians made a rule of doing, was to extort from the +prisoners some incautious word, some shadow of an assent or admission +which would place them on the track of other compromised persons, and +furnish them with such scraps of evidence as they deemed sufficient, +in order to proceed against those already in their power. In their +secret examination of prisoners, they had reduced the system of +provocative interrogation to a science. They made use of every +subterfuge, and, above all, of fabricated confessions fathered on +friends of the prisoner, to extract the exclamation, the nod of the +head, the confused answer, which served their purpose. The prisoners, +men of good faith, and inexperienced in the arts of deception, were +but children in their hands, and scarcely one of them was not doomed +to be the involuntary cause of some other person's ruin--generally +that of a dear and intimate friend. + +The first to be arrested was Gaetano De-Castillia, who went with the +Marquis Giorgio Pallavicini on a mission to Piedmont while the +revolution there was at its height. They even had an interview with +the Prince of Carignano, 'a pale and tall young man, with a charming +expression' (so Pallavicini describes him), but had obtained from him +no assurance, except the characteristic parting word: 'Let us hope in +the future.' When De-Castillia was arrested, Pallavicini, then a youth +of twenty, and full of noble sentiments, rushed to the director of the +police with the avowal: 'It was I who induced De-Castillia to go to +Piedmont; if the journey was a crime, the fault is mine; punish me!' +No error could have proved more calamitous; till that moment the +Austrians were in ignorance of the Piedmontese mission; De-Castillia +was arrested on some far more trifling charge. Pallavicini's generous +folly was rewarded by fourteen years' imprisonment, and its first +consequence was the arrest of Count Confalonieri, at whose instance +the visit to Turin had been made. For months the Austrians had desired +to have a clue against him; the opportunity was come at last. + +Federico Confalonieri, brilliant, handsome, persuasive, of great +wealth and ancient lineage, innately aristocratic, but in the best +sense, was morally at the head of Lombardy, by the selection of the +fittest, which at certain junctures makes one man pre-appointed leader +while he is still untried. When in England, the Duke of Sussex +prevailed upon him to become a Freemason, but he was not a Carbonaro +in the technical sense, though both friends and foes believed him to +be one. He knew, however, more about this and the other secret +societies then existing in Italy--even those of the reactionary +party--than did most of the initiated. In an amusing passage in his +memoirs he relates how, when once forcibly detained in a miserable +hostelry in the Calabrian Mountains, a den of brigands, of whom the +chief was the landlord, he guessed that this man was a Calderaio, and +it occurred to him to make the sign of that bloodthirsty sect. Things +changed in a second; the brigand innkeeper was at his feet, the +complete household was set in motion to serve him. In 1821, he +founded at Milan, not a secret society, but an association in which +all the best patriots were enrolled, and of which the sole engagement +was the formula, repeated on entering its ranks: 'I swear to God, and +on my honour, to exert myself to the utmost of my power, and even at +the sacrifice of my life, to redeem Italy from foreign dominion.' + +Knowing to what extent he was a marked man, Confalonieri would have +only exercised common prudence in leaving the country, but he could +not reconcile himself to the idea of flight. Anonymous warnings rained +upon him: most likely they all came from the same quarter, from Count +Bubna, the Austrian Field-Marshal, with whom Confalonieri was +personally on friendly terms. On the 12th of December the Countess +Bubna made a last effort to save him; her carriage was ready, she +implored him to take it and escape across the frontier. He refused, +and next day he was arrested. + +Austrian legal procedure was slow; the trial of the first Carbonari, +Silvio Pellico and his companions, did not take place till 1822. On +the 22nd of February the sentence of death was read to Silvio Pellico +in his Venetian prison, to be commuted to one of fifteen years' +imprisonment at Spielberg, a fortress converted into a convict prison +in a bleak position in Moravia. To that rock of sorrow, consecrated +for ever by the sufferings of some of the purest of men, Silvio +Pellico and Pietro Maroncelli, with nine or ten companions, condemned +at the same time, were the first Italians to take the road. Here they +remained for the eight years described by the author of _Francesca da +Rimini_, in _Le Mie Prigioni_, a book that served the Italian cause +throughout the world. Even now some Italians are indignant at the +spirit of saintly resignation which breathes upon Silvio Pellico's +pages, at the veil which is drawn over many shocking features in the +treatment of the prisoners; they do not know the tremendous force +which such reticence gave his narrative. _Le Mie Prigioni_ has the +reserve strength of a Greek tragedy. + +Maroncelli contracted a disease of the leg through the hardships +endured; amputation became necessary, but could not be performed till +permission was received from Vienna--a detail showing the red-tapism +which governed all branches of the Austrian administration. This +patriot went, after his release, to America, where he died, poor, +blind and mad. Pellico, crushed in soul, devoted his latter years +entirely to religion. Only men of iron fibre could come out as they +went in. The Spielberg prisoners wore chains, and their food was so +bad and scanty that they suffered from continual hunger, with its +attendant diseases. Unlike the thieves and assassins confined in the +same fortress, the State prisoners were given no news of their +families. Such was Spielberg, 'a sepulchre without the peace of the +dead.' + +The State trials of the Lombard patriots in 1823 resulted in seven +capital sentences on the Milanese, thirteen on the Brescians, and four +on the Mantuans. The fate of the other prisoners depended on that of +Count Confalonieri. If the sentence on him were not carried out, the +lives at least of the others might be regarded as safe, since he was +looked upon as the head. It is certain that the authorities, and the +Emperor himself, had the most firm intention of having him executed; +the more merciful decision was solely due to the Countess +Confalonieri's journey to Vienna. Accompanied by the prisoner's aged +father, this beautiful and heroic woman, a daughter of the noble +Milanese house of Casati, went to Vienna before the conclusion of the +trial, to be ready for any eventuality. When the sentence of death was +passed, it was announced by the Emperor to old Count Confalonieri, +whom he advised to return with the Countess Teresa as fast as possible +if they wished to see the condemned man alive. Undaunted by the news, +the brave wife sought an interview with the Empress, in whom she found +a warm advocate, but who was obliged to own, after several attempts to +obtain a reprieve, that she despaired of success. Teresa Confalonieri +hurried back to Milan through the bitter winter weather, in doubt +whether she should arrive before the execution had taken place. But +the unceasing efforts of the Empress won the day. The respite was +granted on the 13th of January; life-imprisonment was substituted for +death. The countess sent her husband the pillow which she had bathed +with her tears during her terrible journey; needless to say that it +was not given to him. She died broken-hearted with waiting before he +was set at liberty in the year 1836. + +When Count Confalonieri reached Vienna on his way to Spielberg, he was +surprised to find himself installed in a luxurious apartment, with +three servants to wait upon him. Though too ill to touch solid food, a +sumptuous breakfast and dinner were daily set before him; and but for +the constant jingle of his chains, he would have thought himself in a +first-class hotel on a journey of pleasure. The object of these +attentions was clear when one evening Prince Metternich came to see +him, and stayed for three hours, endeavouring by every exquisite +flattery, by every promise and persuasion, to worm out of him the +secrets of which he alone was believed to be the depositary. The +Austrian Government had spent L60,000 on the Milan Commission, and, +practically, they were no wiser than when it began. Would Confalonieri +enlighten them? Whatever scruples he might have felt during the trial +could be now laid aside; there was no question of new arrests. It was +from pure, abstract love of knowledge that the Government, or, rather, +the Emperor, desired to get at the truth. If he preferred to open his +mind to the Emperor in person, His Majesty would grant him a secret +audience. Above all, what was the real truth about the Prince of +Carignano? + +All the rest was a blind; it was the wish to have some damnatory +evidence against Charles Albert, such as would for ever exclude him +from the throne, that had induced the Emperor and his astute minister +to make this final attempt. + +'Confalonieri need never go to Spielberg,' said the Prince; 'let him +think of his family, of his adored wife, of his own talents, of his +future career, which was on the brink of being blotted out as +completely as if he were dead!' Confalonieri was worthy of his race, +of his class, of himself; he stood firm, and next morning, almost with +a sense of relief, he started for the living grave. + +'The struggle was decided,' Prince Metternich had said in the course +of the interview, 'and decided not only for our own, but for many +generations. Those who still hoped to the contrary were madmen.' + +Some years of outward quiet doubtless confirmed him in the first +opinion, while the second was not likely to be shaken by the next +attempt that was made to take up arms for freedom. On the 28th of June +1828, several villages in the province of Salerno rose in obedience to +the harangues of two patriotic ecclesiastics, Canon de Luca and Carlo +da Celle, superior of a capuchin convent. This was meant to develop +into a general insurrection, but it was nowhere followed up, and the +sword of vengeance fell speedily on the wretched villagers. Surrounded +by the royal troops, they were forced into submission, many were shot +on the spot, others were dragged in chains to Salerno, not even a drop +of water being allowed them during the journey under the scorching +sun. The village of Bosco was rased to the ground. The priest, the +monk, and twenty-two insurgents were shot after the repression. The +heads of the victims were cut off and placed in iron cages where their +wives or mothers were likely to see them. A woman went to Naples to +beg for the pardon of her two grandsons, by name Diego and Emilio. The +King, with barbarous clemency, told her to choose one. In vain she +entreated that if both could not be saved the choice should be left to +chance, or decided by someone else. But no; unless she chose they +would both be shot. At last she chose Diego. Afterwards she went mad, +and was constantly heard wailing: 'I have killed my grandson Emilio.' +This anecdote gives a fair notion of Francis I., whose short reign +was, however, less signalised by acts of cruelty, though there were +enough of these, than by a venality never surpassed. The +grooms-in-waiting and ladies-of-the-bedchamber sold the public offices +in the daylight; and the King, who was aware of it, thought it a +subject for vulgar jokes with his intimates. Francis died in 1830 of +bad humour at the Paris revolution, and was succeeded by Ferdinand +II., to be known hereafter as Bomba--then a clownish youth, one of +whose first kingly cares was to create St Ignatius Loyola a +Field-Marshal. + +The revolution which upset the throne of Charles X., and ushered in +the eighteen years' reign of the Citizen King, seemed likely to have +momentous consequences for Italy. The principle of non-intervention +proclaimed by French politicians would, if logically enforced, sound +the death-knell of the Austrian power in Italy. Dupin, the Minister of +War, enlarged on the theme in a speech which appeared to remove all +doubt as to the real intentions of the Government. 'One phrase,' he +remarked, 'has made a general impression; it expresses the true +position of a loyal and generous Government. Not only has the +President of the Council laid down the principle that France should +abstain from intervention; he has declared that she would not tolerate +intervention on the part of others. France might have shut herself up +in a cold egotism, and simply said that she would not intervene; this +would have been contemptible, but the proclamation of not suffering +the interventions of others is the noblest attitude a strong and +magnanimous people can assume; it amounts to saying: Not only will I +not attack or disturb other nations, but I, France, whose voice is +respected by Europe and by the whole world, will never permit others +to do so. This is the language held by the ministry and by the +ambassadors of Louis Philippe; and it is this which the army, the +National Guard, France entire, is ready to maintain.' + +Truly language was invented to travesty the truth, and when French +politicians say they are going to the right it is an almost sure sign +that they are going to the left; nevertheless, is it possible to blame +the Italians who read in these assurances a positive promise affecting +their own case? + +The same assurances were repeated again and again through the winter +of 1830-31; they were repeated authoritatively as late as March in the +latter year. Well may a French writer inquire: 'Was it insanity or +treachery?' + +The good tidings were published by the Italian exiles, who, living +close to the great centres of European politics, were the first to +intoxicate themselves with the great delusion. From London, Gabriele +Rossetti sent the exultant summons: + + Cingi l'elmo, la mitra deponi, + O vetusta Signora del mondo: + Sorgi, sorgi dal sonno profondo, + Io son l'alba del nuovo tuo di. + + Saran rotte le vostre catene, + O Fratelli che in ceppi languite; + O Fratelli che il giogo soffrite + Calcherete quel giogo col pie. + +The child beside whose cradle the ode was written, was to grow to +manhood while Italy still remained 'the weeping, desolate mother.' The +cry of the poet was not, however, without an echo. In 1831, Romagna, +Parma and Modena rose in rebellion. + +Things had been going, without much variation, from bad to worse in +the Roman states, ever since 1815. Pius VII. (Chiaramonti), who died +in 1823, was succeeded by Leo XII. (Genga), an old man who was in such +enfeebled health that his death was expected at the time of his +election, but, like a more famous pontiff, he made a sudden recovery, +which was attributed to the act of a prelate, who, in prayer, offered +his own life for the Pope's, and who died a few days after resolving +on the sacrifice. During this Pope's reign, the smallpox was rife in +Rome, in consequence of the suppression of public vaccination. The +next conclave, held in 1829, resulted in the election of Pius VIII. +(Castiglioni da Cingoli), who died on the 30th of November 1830, and +was followed by Gregory XVI. (Cappellari). In each conclave, Austria +had secured the choice of a 'Zealot,' as the party afterwards called +Ultramontane was then designated. The last traces of reforms +introduced by the French disappeared; criminal justice was again +administered in secret; the police were arbitrary and irresponsible. +All over the Roman states, but especially in Romagna, the secret +society of the Sanfedesti flourished exceedingly; whether, as is +probable, an offshoot of the Calderai or of indigenous growth, its +aims were the same. The affiliated swore to spill the last drop of the +blood of the Liberals, without regard to sex or rank, and to spare +neither children nor old men. Many Romagnols had left their country +after the abortive agitation of 1821, and amongst these were the +Gambas. Count Pietro died in Greece, where he had gone on the service +of freedom. Had he lived, this young man would have been sure to win a +fair name in the annals of Italian patriotism; he should not, as it +is, be quite forgotten, as it was chiefly due to him that Byron's life +took the redeeming direction which led to Missolonghi. + +In February 1831, Romagna and the Marches of Ancona threw off the +Papal Government with an ease which must have surprised the most +sanguine. The white, red and green tricolor was hoisted at Bologna, +where, as far as is known, this combination of colours first became a +political badge. Thirty-six years before Luigi Zamboni and Gian +Battista De Rolandis of Bologna had distributed rosettes of white, red +and green ribbon; Zamboni was arrested, and strangled himself, afraid +of betraying his friends; De Rolandis was hung on the 23rd of April +1796. Such was the origin of the flag, but, until 1831, the Carbonaro +red, blue and black was the common standard of the revolution. From +that year forth, the destinies of Italy were accomplished under the +colours of better augury, so fit to recall her fiery volcanoes, her +wooded Apennines, her snow-crowned Alps; colours which in one sense +she receives from Dante, who clothes in them the vision of the +glorified Beatrice. + +The rising at Parma requires but little comment. The Empress +Marie-Louise neither hated her subjects, nor was hated by them, but +her engagements with Austria prevented her from granting the demanded +concessions, and she abandoned her state, to return to it, indeed, +under Austrian protection, but without the odious corollary of +vindictive measures which was generally meant by a restoration. + +Much more important is the history of the Modenese revolution. +Apologists have been found for the Bourbons of Naples, but, if anyone +ever said a good word for Francesco d'Este, it has escaped the notice +of the present writer. Under a despotism without laws (for the edicts +of the Prince daily overrode the Este statute book which was supposed +to be in force), Modena was far more in the power of the priests, or +rather of the Jesuits, than any portion of the states of the Church. +Squint-eyed, crooked in mind and bloodthirsty, Francis was as ideal a +bogey-tyrant as can be discovered outside fiction. In 1822, he hung +the priest Giuseppe Andreoli on the charge of Carbonarism; and his +theory of justice is amusingly illustrated by the story of his sending +in a bill to Sir Anthony Panizzi--who had escaped to England--for the +expenses of hanging him in effigy. + +Francis felt deeply annoyed by the narrow limits of his dominions, and +his annoyance did not decrease with the decreasing chances of his +ousting the Prince of Carignano from the Sardinian throne. He was +intensely ambitious, and one of his subjects, a man, in other +respects, of high intelligence, thought that his ambition could be +turned to account for Italy. It was the mistake over again that +Machiavelli had made with Cesare Borgia. + +Ciro Menotti, who conceived the plan of uniting Italy under the Duke +of Modena, was a Modenese landed proprietor who had exerted himself to +promote the industry of straw-plaiting, and the other branches of +commerce likely to be of advantage to an agricultural population. He +was known as a sound philanthropist, an excellent husband and father, +a model member of society. Francis professed to take an interest in +industrial matters; Menotti, therefore, easily gained access to his +person. In all the negotiations that followed, the Modenese patriot +was supported and encouraged by a certain Dr Misley, who was of +English extraction, with whom the Duke seems to have been on familiar +terms. It appears not doubtful that Menotti was led to believe that +his political views were regarded with favour, and that he also +received the royal promise that, whatever happened, his life would be +safe. This promise was given because he had the opportunity of saving +the Duke from some great peril--probably from assassination, though +the particulars were never divulged. + +Misley went to Paris to concert with the Italian committee which had +its seat there; the movement in Modena was fixed for the first days of +February. But spies got information of the preparations, and on the +evening of the 3rd, before anything had been done, Menotti's house was +surrounded by troops, and after defending it, with the help of his +friends, for two hours, he was wounded and captured. Next day the Duke +despatched the following note to the Governor of Reggio-Emilia: 'A +terrible conspiracy against me has broken out. The conspirators are in +my hands. Send me the hangman.--Francis.' + +Not all, however, of the conspirators were in his hands; the movement +matured, in spite of the seizure of Menotti, and Francis, 'the first +captain in the world,' as he made his troops call him, was so overcome +with fright that on the 5th of February he left Modena with his +family, under a strong military escort, dragging after him Giro +Menotti, who, when Mantua was reached, was consigned to an Austrian +fortress. + +Meanwhile, the revolution triumphed. Modena chose one of her citizens +as dictator, Biagio Nardi, who issued a proclamation in which the +words 'Italy is one; the Italian nation is one sole nation,' testified +that the great lesson which Menotti had sought to teach had not fallen +on unfruitful ground. Wild as were the methods by which, for a moment, +he sought to gain his end, his insistance on unity nevertheless gives +Menotti the right to be considered the true precursor of Mazzini in +the Italian Revolution. + +Now that the testing-time was come, France threw to the winds the +principle announced in her name with such solemn emphasis. 'Precious +French blood should never be shed except on behalf of French +interests,' said Casimir Perier, the new President of the Council. A +month after the flight of the Duke of Modena, the inevitable Austrians +marched into his state to win it back for him. The hastily-organised +little army of the new government was commanded by General Zucchi, an +old general of Napoleon, who, when Lombardy passed to Austria, had +entered the Austrian service. He now offered his sword to the Dictator +of Modena, who accepted it, but there was little to be done save to +retire with honour before the 6000 Austrians. Zucchi capitulated at +Ancona to Cardinal Benvenuti, the Papal delegate. Those of the +volunteers who desired it were furnished with regular passports, and +authorised to take ship for any foreign port. The most compromised +availed themselves of this arrangement, but the vessel which was to +bear Zucchi and 103 others to Marseilles, was captured by the Austrian +Admiral Bandiera, by whom its passengers were kidnapped and thrown +into Venetian prisons, where they were kept till the end of May 1832. +This act of piracy was chiefly performed with a view to getting +possession of General Zucchi, who was tried as a deserter, and +condemned to twenty years' imprisonment. Among the prisoners was the +young wife of Captain Silvestro Castiglioni of Modena. 'Go, do your +duty as a citizen,' she had said, when her husband left her to join +the insurrection. 'Do not betray it for me, as perhaps it would make +me love you less.' She shared his imprisonment, but just at the moment +of the release, she died from the hardships endured. + +By the end of the month of March, the Austrians had restored Romagna +to the Pope, and Modena to Francis IV. In Romagna the amnesty +published by Cardinal Benvenuti was revoked, but there were no +executions; this was not the case in Modena. The Duke brought back +Ciro Menotti attached to his triumphal car, and when he felt that all +danger was past, and that the presence of the Austrians was a +guarantee against a popular expression of anger, he had him hung. + +'When my children are grown up, let them know how well I loved my +country,' Menotti wrote to his wife on the morning of his execution. +The letter was intercepted, and only delivered to his family in 1848. +The revolutionists found it in the archives of Modena. On the +scaffold he recalled how he was once the means of saving the Duke's +life, and added that he pardoned his murderer, and prayed that his +blood might not fall upon his head. + +During the insurrection in Romagna, an event occurred which was not +without importance to Europe, though it passed almost unnoticed at the +time. The eldest son of Queen Hortense died in her arms at Forli, of a +neglected attack of measles; some said of poison, but the report was +unfounded. He and his brother Louis, who had been closely mixed up +with Italian conspiracies for more than a year, went to Romagna to +offer their services as volunteers in the national army. By the death +of the elder of the two, Louis Napoleon became heir to what seemed +then the shadowy sovereignty of the Buonapartes. + +No sooner had the Austrians retired from the Legations in July 1831, +than the revolution broke out again. Many things had been promised, +nothing performed; disaffection was universal, anarchy became chronic, +and was increased by the indiscipline of the Papal troops that were +sent to put it down. The Austrians returned and the French occupied +Ancona, much to the Pope's displeasure, and not one whit to the +advantage of the Liberals. This dual foreign occupation of the Papal +states lasted till the winter of 1838. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +'YOUNG ITALY' 1831-1844 + +Accession of Charles Albert--Mazzini's Unitarian Propaganda--The +Brothers Bandiera. + + +On 27 April 1831, Charles Albert came to the throne he had so nearly +lost. His reconciliation with his uncle, Charles Felix, had been +effected after long and melancholy preliminaries. To wash off the +Liberal sins of his youth, or possibly with a vague hope of finding an +escape from his false position in a soldier's death, he joined the Duc +d'Angouleme's expedition against the Spanish Constitutionalists. His +extraordinary daring in the assault of the Trocadero caused him to be +the hero of the hour when he returned with the army to Paris; but the +King of Sardinia still refused to receive him with favour--a +sufficiently icy favour when it was granted--until he signed an +engagement, which remained secret, to preserve intact during his reign +the laws and principles of government which he found in force at his +accession. If there had been an Order of the Millstone, Charles Felix +would doubtless have conferred it upon his dutiful nephew; failing +that, he presented to him for signature this wonderful document, the +invention of which he owed to Prince Metternich. At the Congress of +Verona in 1822, Charles Albert's claims to the succession were +recognised, thanks chiefly to the Duke of Wellington, who represented +England in place of Lord Londonderry (Castlereagh), that statesman +having committed suicide just as he was starting for Verona. Prince +Metternich then proposed that the Prince of Carignano should be called +upon to enter into an agreement identical with the compact he was +brought to sign a couple of years later. In communicating the proposal +to Canning, the Duke of Wellington wrote that he had demonstrated to +Prince Metternich 'the fatality of such an arrangement,' but that he +did not think that he had made the slightest impression on him. So the +event proved; baffled for the moment, the Prince managed to put his +plan in execution through a surer channel. + +With the accession of Charles Albert appears upon the political scene +a great actor in the Liberation of Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini. Young and +unknown, except for a vague reputation for restlessness and for talent +which caused the government of Charles Felix to imprison him for six +or seven months at Savona, Mazzini proposed to the new King the terms +on which he might keep his throne, as calmly as Metternich had +proposed to him the terms on which he might ascend it. The contrast is +striking; on the one side the statesman, who still commanded the armed +force of three-fourths of Europe, doing battle for the holy alliance +of autocrats, for the international law of repression, for all the +traditions of the old diplomacy; on the other, the young student with +little money and few friends, already an exile, having no allies but +his brain and his pen, who set himself, certain of success, to +dissolve that mighty array of power and pomp. All his life Charles +Albert was a Faust for the possession of whose soul two irreconcilable +forces contended; the struggle was never more dramatically represented +than at this moment in the person of these two champions. + +Mazzini's letter to Charles Albert, which was read by the King, and +widely, though secretly, circulated in Piedmont, began by telling him +that his fellow-countrymen were ready to believe his line of conduct +in 1821 to have been forced on him by circumstances, and that there +was not a heart in Italy that did not quicken at his accession, nor an +eye in Europe that was not turned to watch his first steps in the +career that now unfolded before him. Then he went on to show, with the +logical strength in developing an argument which, joined to a novel +and eloquent style, caused his writings to attract notice from the +first, that the King could take no middle course. He would be one of +the first of men, or the last of Italian tyrants; let him choose. Had +he never looked upon Italy, radiant with the smile of nature, crowned +with twenty centuries of sublime memories, the mother of genius, +possessing infinite means, to which only union was lacking, girt round +with such defences that a strong will and a few courageous breasts +would suffice to defend her? Had it never struck him that she was +created for a glorious destiny? Did he not contemplate her people, +splendid still, in spite of the shadow of servitude, the vigour of +whose intellect, the energy of whose passions, even when turned to +evil, showed that the making of a nation was there? Did not the +thought come to him: 'Draw a world out of these dispersed elements +like a god from chaos; unite into one whole the scattered members, and +pronounce the words, "It is mine, and it is happy"?' + +Mazzini in 1831 was twenty-six years of age. His father was a Genoese +physician, his mother a native of Chiavari. She was a superior woman, +and devoted more than a mother's care to the excitable and delicate +child, who seemed to her (mothers have sometimes the gift of prophecy) +to be meant for an uncommon lot. One of the few personal reminiscences +that Mazzini left recorded, relates to the time and manner in which +the idea first came to him of the possibility of Italians doing +something for their country. He was walking with his mother in the +Strada Nuova at Genoa one Sunday in April 1821, when a tall, +black-bearded man with a fiery glance held towards them a white +handkerchief, saying: 'For the refugees of Italy.' Mazzini's mother, +gave him some money, and he passed on. In the streets were many +unfamiliar faces; the fugitives from Turin and Alessandria were +gathered at Genoa before they departed by sea into exile. The +impression which that scene made on the mind of the boy of sixteen was +never effaced. + +Owing to his delicate health, Mazzini's early education was carried on +at home, where the social atmosphere was that of one of those little +centres in a provincial capital which are composed of a few people, +mostly kindred, of similar tastes, who lead useful and refined lives, +content with moderate ease. The real exclusiveness of such centres +exceeds any that exists in the most aristocratic sphere in the world. +The Mazzinis were, moreover, Genoese to the core; and this was another +reason for exclusiveness, and for holding aloof from the governing +class. Mazzini was born a few days after Napoleon entered Genoa as its +lord. He had not, therefore, breathed the air of the ancient Republic; +but there was the unadulterated republicanism of a thousand years in +his veins. + +When he grew to manhood his appearance was striking. The black, +flowing hair, the pale, olive complexion, the finely-cut features and +lofty brow, the deep-set eyes, which could smile as only Italian eyes +can smile, but which could also flash astral infinitudes of scorn, the +fragile figure, even the long, delicate, tapering fingers, marked him +for a man apart--though whether a poet or an apostle, a seer or a +saint, it was not easy to decide. Yet this could be said at once: if +this man concentrated all his being on a single point, he would wield +the power, call it what we will, which in every age has worked +miracles and moved mountains. + +Mazzini became a Carbonaro, though the want of clear, guiding +principles in Carbonarism made him misdoubt its efficacy, and its +hierarchical mysteries and initiatory ordeals repelled him by their +childishness. Then followed his arrest, and his detention in the +fortress of Savona, which was the turning-point in his mental life. +Before that date he learnt, after it he taught. From his high-perched +cell he saw the sea and the sky--with the Alps, the sublimest things +in Nature. The voices of the fishermen reached his ears, though he +could not see them. A tame goldfinch was his companion. Here, in a +solitude and peace which he remembered with regret in the stormy and +sorrowful years that were to come, he conceived his message and the +mission, in which he believed to the last day of his life. + +He resolved to found a new association on broader and simpler lines than +the secret societies of the past, which should aim not only at the +material freeing of Italy from her present bondage, but at her moral and +religious regeneration. To aim at material progress of any kind, without +at the same time aiming at a higher moral progress, seemed to Mazzini +absurd; to attempt to pull down without attempting to build up seemed to +him criminal. Thus he accused the Socialists of substituting the +progress of humanity's kitchen for the progress of humanity. He believed +that Italy, united and redeemed, was destined to shed through the world +the light of a new moral unity, which should end the reign of +Scepticism, triumphant among discordant creeds. Mazzini's religious +belief was the motor of his whole being. The Catholicism in which he was +outwardly brought up never seems to have touched his inner nature; he +went through no spiritual wrench in leaving a faith that was never a +reality to him. The same is true of innumerable young Italians, who, +when they begin to read and study, drift out of their childhood's +religion without a struggle or a regret. But thought and study brought +Mazzini what it rarely brings to these young men--the necessity to find +something in which he could believe. He had not long to seek for a basis +to his creed, because he was one of the men from the prophets of old to +Spinoza, from Spinoza to Gordon, to whom the existence of God is a +matter of experience rather than an object of faith. Starting from this +point, he formed his religion out of what he regarded as its inevitable +deductions. If God existed, his creatures must be intended for +perfection; if this were the Divine scheme, man's one business was to +carry it out. He considered the idea of duty separated from the idea of +God to be illogical. Either the development of human things depended on +a providential law, or it was left to chance and passing circumstance, +and to the dexterity of the man who turned these to most account. God +was the sole source of duty; duty the sole law of life. Mazzini did not +denounce Catholicism or any other religion as false. He saw in it a +stepping-stone to purer comprehension, which would be reached when man's +intellect was sufficiently developed for him to be able to do without +symbols. + +[Illustration: GIUSEPPE MAZZINI] + +The conscience of humanity is the last tribunal. Ideas, as well as +institutions, change and expand, but certain fundamental principles +are fixed. The family would always exist; property would always exist. +The first, 'the heart's fatherland,' was the source of the only true +happiness, the only joys untainted by grief, which were given to man. +Those who wished to abolish the second were like the savage who cut +down the tree in order to gather the fruit. In the future, free +association would be the great agent of moral and material progress. +The authority which once rested in popes and emperors now devolved on +the people. Instead of 'God and the King,' Mazzini proposed the new +formula 'God and the People.' By the people he understood no caste or +class, whether high or low, but the universality of men composing the +nation. The nation is the sole sovereign; its will, expressed by +delegates, must be law to all its citizens. + +By degrees certain words acquired more and more a mystical +significance in Mazzini's mind; the very name of Rome, for instance, +had for him a sort of talismanic fascination, not unlike that +possessed by Jerusalem for the mediaeval Christian. When he spoke of +the people or the republic he frequently used those terms in an ideal +and visionary sense (as theologians use the Church) rather than in one +strictly corresponding with the case of any existing nation, or any +hitherto tried form of government. This does not alter the fact that +his theories, which have been briefly summarised, are not hard to +comprehend, as has been said by those who did not know in what they +consisted, nor, taken one by one, are they novel. What was new in the +nineteenth century was the appearance of a revolutionary leader, who +was before all things a religious and ethical teacher. And though +Mazzini never founded the Church of Precursors, of which he dreamt, +his influence was as surely due to his belief in his religious +mission, as was the influence of Savonarola. The Italians are not a +mystical people, but they have always followed mystical leaders. The +less men are prone to ideal enthusiasm the more attracted are they by +it; Don Quixote, as Heine remarked, always draws Sancho Panza after +him. + +Mazzini had a natural capacity for organisation, and the Association +of Young Italy which he founded at Marseilles, the first nucleus being +a group of young, penniless refugees, soon obtained an astonishing +development. Up to the time of his 'Letter to Charles Albert,' his +exile had been so far voluntary that he might have remained in +Piedmont had he agreed to live in one of the smaller towns under the +watchful care of the police, but he declined the terms, and the first +effect of the 'Letter' was a stringent order to arrest him if he +recrossed the frontier. He was not surprised at that result. Mazzini's +attitude towards the Sardinian monarchy was perfectly well defined. +Republican himself, even to fanaticism, he placed the question of +unity, which for him meant national existence, above the question of +the republic. He did not believe that the House of Savoy would unite +Italy, but if unity could only be had under what he looked upon as the +inauspicious form of monarchy, he would not reject it. He was like the +real mother in the judgment of Solomon, who, because she loved her +child, was ready to give it up sooner than see it cut in two. + +Apart from personal hereditary instincts and predilections, Mazzini +thought that he saw in the glorious memories of the Italian republics +a clear indication that the commonwealth was the form of government +which ought and would be adopted by the Italy of the future. But, +unlike most politicians, he laid down the principle that, after all, +when free, the nation must decide for itself. 'To what purpose,' he +asks, 'do we constantly speak of the sovereignty of the people, and of +our reverence for the national will, if we are to disregard it as soon +as it pronounces in contradiction to our wishes?' + +He did not succeed in making the majority of his countrymen +republicans, but he contributed more than any other man towards +inspiring the whole country with the desire for unity. Herein lies his +great work. Without Mazzini, when would the Italians have got beyond +the fallacies of federal republics, leagues of princes, provincial +autonomy, insular home-rule, and all the other dreams of independence +reft of its only safeguard which possessed the minds of patriots of +every party in Italy and of nearly every well-wisher to Italian +freedom abroad? + +In 1831, most educated Italians did not even wish for unity, and this +is still truer of the republicans than of the monarchists. Some, like +Manzoni, did wish for it, but, like him, said nothing about it, for +fear of being thought madmen. A flash of the true light illuminated +the mind of Giro Menotti, but that was extinguished on the scaffold. +Then it was that Mazzini came forward with the news that Italy could +_only_ be made free and independent by being united; unity was the +ruling tendency of the century, and, as far as Italy went, no Utopia, +but a certain conclusion. This was repeated over and over again, +wherever there were Italians, over the inhabited globe. By means of +sailors, 'Young Italy' spread like lightning. Giuseppe Garibaldi was +made a member by a sailor on the shores of the Black Sea. + +With the masses, unity proved the wonder-working word which +Confalonieri had said was the one thing needful--a word yet fitter to +work wonders than 'War to the Stranger.' Among the cultivated classes, +it was much slower in gaining ground, and particularly among statesmen +and diplomatists. But in the end it was to convert them all. + +'"Young Italy,"' writes Mazzini, 'closed the period of political +sects, and initiated that of educational associations.' 'Great +revolutions,' he says again, 'are the work of principles rather than +of bayonets.' It was by the diffusion of ideas that 'Young Italy' +became a commanding factor in the events of the next thirty years. +The insurrectional attempts planned under its guidance did not +succeed, nor was it likely that they should succeed. Devised by +exiles, at a distance, they lacked the first elements of success. The +earliest of these attempts aimed at an invasion of Savoy; it was hoped +that the Sardinian army and people would join the little band of +exiles in a movement for the liberation of Lombardy. The revolution of +1821 had evidently suggested this plan to Mazzini, but it was +foredoomed to misfortune. The Piedmontese authorities got wind of it, +and a hunt followed for the members of 'Young Italy'; most severe +measures were taken; there were eleven executions, and numberless +sentences to long terms of imprisonment. Jacobo Ruffini, the younger +brother of the author of _Dr Antonio_, and Mazzini's most beloved +friend, committed suicide in prison, fearing to reveal the names of +his associates. The apologists for Charles Albert say that if he had +not shown the will and ability to deal severely with the conspirators, +Austria would have insisted on a military occupation. Whatever were +his motives, this is the saddest page of his unhappy reign. + +Checked in 1833, the descent on Savoy was actually attempted in 1834, +with Mazzini's consent, though not by his wish. An officer who had won +some celebrity in the Polish revolution, General Ramorino, a Savoyard +by origin, was given the command. Ramorino was a gambler, who could +not be trusted with money, but Mazzini's suspicion that on this +occasion he played the part of traitor is not proved. However that may +be, the expedition ended almost as soon as it began. Ramorino crossed +the frontier of Savoy at the head of the column, but when he heard +that a Polish reinforcement had been stopped on the Lake of Geneva, he +retreated into Switzerland, and advised the band to follow him. + +After these events, Mazzini could no longer carry on his propaganda in +France. He took refuge in England, where a great part of his life was +to be passed, and of which he spoke, to the last, as his second +country. The first period of his residence in England was darkened by +the deep distress and discouragement into which the recent events had +plunged him; but his faith in the future prevailed, and he went on +with his work. His endeavours to help his fellow-exiles reduced him to +the last stage of poverty; the day came when he was obliged to pawn a +coat and an old pair of boots. These money difficulties did not +afflict him, and by degrees his writings in English periodicals +brought some addition to the small quarterly allowance which he +received from his mother. It seems strange, though it is easily +explained, that it was in London that he first got to know the Italian +working classes. He was surprised and gladdened by the abundance of +good elements which he found in them. No country, indeed, has more +reason to hope in her working men than the land whose sons have +tunnelled the Alps, cut the most arduous railway lines in America and +India, brought up English ships from the deep, laid the caissons (a +task of extreme danger) which support the great structure of the +Bridge of the Firth of Forth, and left their bones to whiten at +Panama. 'It is the universal testimony,' writes a high American +authority, 'that no more faithful men have come among us.' What was +the cause of the slaughter of the Aigues Mortes? That the Italians +worked too well. + +Mazzini wrote for his humble friends the treatise on _The Duties of +Man_, in which he told them that he loved them too well to flatter +them. Another work that occupied him and consoled him was the rescue +and moral improvement of the children employed by organ-grinders, and +he was the first to call attention to the white slavery to which many +of them were subjected. He opened a school in Hatton Garden, in which +he taught, and which he mainly supported for the seven years from 1841 +to 1848. + +The enterprise of the Brothers Bandiera belongs to the history of +'Young Italy,' though Mazzini himself had tried to prevent it, +believing that it could only end in the sacrifice of all concerned. +Nor, at the last, did the actors in it expect anything else. They had +hoped for better things; for a general movement in the South of Italy, +or at least for an undertaking on a larger and less irrational basis. +But promises failed, money was not forthcoming, and it was a choice +between doing nothing or a piece of heroic folly. Contrary to +Mazzini's entreaties, they chose the second alternative. + +Attilio and Emilio Bandiera were sons of the Austrian admiral who, in +1831, arrested Italian fugitives at sea. Placed by their father in the +Austrian navy, they renounced every prospect of a brilliant career to +enter the service of their down-trodden country. When they deserted, +strong efforts were made by the Archduke Rainieri, through their +mother, to win them back, but neither the offers of pardon nor the +poor woman's tears and reproaches turned them from their purpose. +Another deserter was with them, Lieutenant Domenico Moro, a youth of +great charm of person and disposition, who had been employed with a +mixed force of Englishmen and Austrians in the Lebanon, where he +formed a warm friendship with Lieutenant, now Admiral, Sir George +Wellesley, who still preserves an affectionate remembrance of him. +Nicola Ricciotti, a Roman subject who had devoted all his life to +Italy, and Anacarsi Nardi, son of the dictator of Modena, were also +of the band, which counted about twenty. + +The Bandieras and their companions sailed from Corfu for the coast of +Calabria on the 11th of June 1844. 'If we fall,' they wrote to +Mazzini, 'tell our countrymen to imitate our example, for life was +given to us to be nobly and usefully employed, and the cause for which +we shall have fought and died is the purest and holiest that ever +warmed the heart of man.' It was their last letter. After they landed +in Calabria one of their number disappeared; there is every reason to +suppose that he went to betray them. They wandered for a few days in +the mountains, looking for the insurgent band which they had been +falsely told was waiting for them, and then fell into an ambush +prepared by the Neapolitan troops. Some died fighting; nine were shot +at Cosenza, including the Bandieras, Mori, Ricciotti and Nardi. +Boccheciampi the Corsican, whom they suspected of treason, was brought +up to be confronted with them during the trial; when asked if he knew +who he was, Nardi replied: 'I know no word in my divine Italian +language that can fitly describe that man.' Boccheciampi was condemned +to a nominal imprisonment; when he came out of prison he wrote to a +Greek girl of Corfu, to whom he was engaged, to join him at Naples, +that they might be married. The girl had been deeply in love with him, +and had already given him part of her dowry, but she answered: 'A +traitor cannot wed a Greek maiden; I bear with me the blessing of my +parents; upon you rests the curse of God.' + +The martyrdom of the Bandieras made a great impression, especially in +England, where the circumstance came to light that their +correspondence with Mazzini had been tampered with in the English +Post Office, and that information as to their plans had reached the +Austrian and Neapolitan Governments through the British Foreign +Office. The affair was brought before the House of Commons by Thomas +Duncombe. The Home Secretary repeated a calumny which had appeared +many years before in a French newspaper, to the effect that the murder +of an Italian in Rodez by two of his fellow-countrymen was the result +of an order from the Association of Young Italy. Sir James Graham had +to apologise afterwards for 'the injury inflicted on Mr Mazzini' by +this statement, which he was obliged to admit was supported by no +evidence, and was contrary to the opinion of the Judge who tried the +case. + +The _Times_ having observed in a leading article that the gravity of +the fact in question, the violation of private correspondence in the +Post Office, was not affected by the merits or demerits of Mr Mazzini, +of whom it professed to 'know nothing,' Thomas Carlyle wrote next day +a letter containing words which may be quoted as some of the best and +truest ever written about the great Italian: 'I have had the honour to +know Mr Mazzini for a series of years, and, whatever I may think of +his practical insight and skill in worldly affairs, I can with great +freedom testify that he, if I have ever seen one such, is a man of +genius and virtue, one of those rare men, numerable unfortunately but +as units in this world, who are worthy to be called martyr souls; who +in silence, piously in their daily life, understand and practise what +is meant by that.' [2] + + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE POPE LIBERATOR + +1844-1847 + +Events leading to the Election of Pius IX.--The Petty Princes--Charles +Albert, Leopold and Ferdinand. + + +The day is drawing near when the century which witnessed the +liberation of Italy will have passed away. Already a generation has +grown up which can but faintly realise the passionate hopes and fears +with which the steps that led through defeat to the ultimate victory +were watched, not only by Italians, but by thousands who had never set +foot in Italy. Never did a series of political events evoke a sympathy +so wide and so disinterested, and it may be foretold with confidence +that it never will again. Italy rising from the grave was the living +romance of myriads of young hearts that were lifted from the common +level of trivial interests and selfish ends, from the routine of work +or pleasure, both deadening without some diviner spark, by a sustained +enthusiasm that can hardly be imagined now. There were, indeed, some +who asked what was all this to them? What were the 'extraneous +Austrian Emperor,' or the 'old chimera of a Pope' (Carlyle's +designations) to the British taxpayer? Some there were in England who +were deeply attached still to the 'Great Hinge on which Europe +depended,' and even to the most clement Spanish Bourbons of Naples, +about whom strangely beautiful things are to be read in old numbers of +the _Quarterly Review_. But on the whole, English men and women--in +mind half Italian, whether they will it or not, from the day they +begin to read their own literature from Chaucer to Shakespeare, from +Shakespeare to Shelley, from Shelley to Rossetti and Swinburne--were +united at that time in warmth of feeling towards struggling Italy as +they have been united in no political sentiment relating to another +nation, and in few concerning their own country. + +It would be vain to expect that the record of Italian vicissitudes +during the years when the fate of Italy hung in the balance can awake +or renew the spellbound interest caused by the events themselves. The +reader of recent history is like the novel reader who begins at the +last chapter--he is too familiar with how it all ended to be keenly +affected by the development of the plot. Yet it is plain that we are +in a better position to appreciate the process of development than was +the case when the issue remained uncertain. We can estimate more +accurately the difficulties which stood in the way, and judge more +impartially the means that were taken to remove them. One outcome of +this fuller knowledge is the conviction that patriotism was the +monopoly of no single Italian party. The leaders, and still more their +henchmen, were in the habit of saying very hard things about each +other. It was natural and unavoidable; but there is no excuse now for +failing to recognise that there were pure and devoted patriots on the +one side as well as on the other--men whose only desire was the +salvation of Italy, to effect which no sacrifice seemed too great. Nor +were their labours unfruitful, for there was work for all of them to +do; and the very diversity of opinion, though unfortunate under some +aspects, was not so under all. If no one had raised the question of +unity before all things, Italy might be still a geographical +expression. If no one had tried to wring concessions from the old +governments, their inherent and irremediable vices would never have +been proved; and though they might have been overturned, they would +have left behind a lasting possibility of ignorant reaction. + +The Great Powers had presented to the Court of Rome in 1831 a +memorandum, in which various moderate reforms and improvements were +proposed as urgently necessary to put an end to the intolerable abuses +which were rife in the states of the Church, and, most of all, in +Romagna. The abolition of the tribunal of the Holy Office, the +institution of a Council of State, lay education, and the +secularisation of the administration were among the measures +recommended. In 1845 a certain Pietro Renzi collected a body of +spirited young men at San Marino, and made a dash on Rimini, where he +disarmed the small garrison. The other towns were not prepared, and +Renzi and his companions were obliged to retire into Tuscany; but the +revolution, partial as it had been, raised discussion in consequence +of the manifesto issued by its promoters, in which a demand was made +for the identical reforms vainly advocated by European diplomacy +fourteen years before. If these were granted, the insurgents engaged +to lay down their arms. The manifesto was written by Luigi Carlo +Farini, who was destined to play a large part in future affairs. It +proved to Europe that even the most conservative elements in the +nation were driven to revolution by the sheer hopelessness of the +dead-lock which the Italian rulers sought by every means to prolong. +Massimo d'Azeglio, who was then known only as a painter of talent and +a writer of historical novels, first made his mark as a politician by +the pamphlet entitled _Gli ultimi casi di Romagna_, in which his +arguments derived force from the fact that, when travelling in the +district, he had done all in his power to induce the Liberals to keep +within the bounds of legality. But he confessed that, when someone +says: 'I suffer too much,' it is an unsatisfactory answer to retort: +'You have not suffered enough.' Massimo d'Azeglio had lived for many +years an artist's life in Rome and the country round, where his +aristocratic birth and handsome face made him popular with all +classes. The transparent integrity of his nature overcame the +diffidence usually inspired by strangers among a somewhat suspicious +people, and he got to know more thoroughly than any other North +Italian the real aspirations of the Pope's subjects. He listened to +their complaints and their plans, and if they asked his advice, he +invariably replied: 'Let us speak clearly. What is it that you wish +and I with you? You wish to have done with priestly rule, and to send +the Teutons out of Italy? If you invite them to decamp, they will +probably say, "No, thank you!" Therefore you must use force; and where +is it to be had? If you have not got it, you must find somebody who +has. In Italy who has it, or, to speak more precisely, who has a +little of it? Piedmont, because it, at least, enjoys an independent +life, and possesses an army and a surplus in the treasury.' His +friends answered: 'What of Charles Albert, of 1821, of 1832?' Now, +there was no one who felt less trust in Charles Albert than Massimo +d'Azeglio; he admitted it with something like remorse in later years. +But he believed in his ambition, and he thought it madness to throw +away what he regarded as the sole chance of freeing Italy on account +of private doubts of the King of Sardinia's sincerity. + +Charles Albert had reigned for fourteen years, and still the mystery +which surrounded his character formed as impenetrable a veil as ever. +The popular nickname of _Re Tentenna_ (King Waverer) seemed, in a +sense, accepted by him when he said to the Duke d'Aumale in 1843: 'I +am between the dagger of the Carbonari and the chocolate of the +Jesuits.' He chose, as bride for his eldest son, an Austrian princess, +who, however, had known no country but Italy. His internal policy was +not simply stationary, it was retrograde. If his consent was obtained +to some progressive measure, he withdrew it at the last moment, or +insisted on the introduction of modifications which nullified the +whole. His want of stability drove one of his ministers to jump out of +a window. In spite of the candid reference to the Jesuit's cup of +chocolate, he allowed the Society of Jesus to dictate its will in +Piedmont. Victor Amadeus, the first King of Sardinia, took public +education out of the hands of the Jesuits, after receiving the +following deathbed communication from one of the Order who was his own +confessor: 'Deeply sensible of your many favours, I can only show my +gratitude by a final piece of advice, but of such importance that +perhaps it may suffice to discharge my debt. Never have a Jesuit for +confessor. Do not ask me the grounds of this advice, I should not be +at liberty to tell them to you.' The lesson was forgotten now. Charles +Albert was not content to wear a hair-shirt himself; he would have +liked to see all his subjects furnished with the same garment. The +result was, that Piedmont was not a comfortable place for Liberals to +live in, nor a lively place for anyone. Yet there is hardly anything +more certain than that all this time the King was constantly dreaming +of turning the Austrians out of Italy. His government kept its +attention fixed on two points: the improvement of the army, and the +accumulation of a reserve fund to be available in case of war. Drill +and thrift, which made the German Empire out of Prussia, if they did +not lead straight to equally splendid results south of the Alps, were +still what rendered it possible for Piedmont to defy Austria when the +time came. In 1840, Charles Albert wrote to his Minister of War: 'It +is a fine thing to win twenty battles; as for me, I should be content +to win ten on behalf of a cause I know of, and to fall in the +tenth--then, indeed, I would die blessing the Lord.' A year or two +later, he unearthed and reassumed the ancient motto of the House of +Savoy: 'J'attends mon astre.' Nevertheless, to the outward world his +intentions remained enigmatical, and it was therefore with extreme +surprise that Massimo d'Azeglio (who, on his return from the Roman +states, asked permission to inform the King of the impressions made on +him by his travels) received the injunction to tell his Liberal +friends 'that when the occasion presented itself, his life, the life +of his sons, his treasure, and his army would all be spent for the +Italian cause.' + +The fifteen years' pontificate of Gregory XVI. ended on the 1st June +of 1846. In spite of the care taken by those around him to keep the +aged pontiff in a fool's paradise with regard to the real state of his +dominions, a copy of _The Late Events in Romagna_ fell into his hands, +and considerably disturbed his peace of mind. He sent two prelates to +look into the condition of the congested provinces, and their tour, +though it resulted in nothing else, called forth new protests and +supplications from the inhabitants, of which the most noteworthy was +an address written by Count Aurelio Saffi, who was destined to pass +many honourable years of exile in England. This address attacked the +root of the evil in a passage which exposed the unbearable vexations +of a government based on espionage. The acknowledged power of an +irresponsible police was backed by the secret force of an army of +private spies and informers. The sentiment of legality was being +stamped out of the public conscience, and with it religion and +morality. 'Bishops have been heard to preach civil war--a crusade +against the Liberals; priests seem to mix themselves in wretched party +strife, egging on the mob to vent its worst passions. There is not a +Catholic country in which the really Christian priest is so rarely +found as in the States of the Church.' + +If Gregory XVI. was not without reasons for disquietude in his last +hours, he could take comfort in the fact that he had succeeded in +keeping railways out of all parts of his dominions. Gas and suspension +bridges were also classed as works of the Evil One, and vigorously +tabooed. Among the Pope's subjects there was a young prelate who had +never been able to make out what there was subversive to theology in a +steam-engine, or why the safety of the Papal government should depend +on its opposing every form of material improvement, although in +discussing these subjects he generally ended by saying: 'After all I +am no politician, and I may be mistaken.' This prelate was Cardinal +Mastai-Ferretti, Bishop of Imola. Born in 1792 at Sinigaglia, of a +good though rather needy family, Count Giovanni Maria Mastai was +piously brought up by his mother, who dedicated him at an early age to +the Virgin, to whom she believed that she owed his recovery from an +illness which had been pronounced fatal. Roman Catholic writers +connect the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception +with this incident of childhood. After entering the priesthood, young +Mastai devoted most of his energies to active charity, and remained, +as he said, 'no politician,' being singularly ignorant of the world +and of public affairs, though full of amiable wishes that everyone +should be happy. Some years spent in missionary work in South America +failed to enlarge his practical knowledge, the limits of which he was +the first to recognise--a fact that tended to make him all his life +the instrument, not of his own will, but of the wills of men whom he +honestly thought cleverer and more experienced than himself. His chief +friends in his Romagnol diocese, friends on the intimate basis of +social equality and common provincial interests, were sound patriots, +though not revolutionists, and the future Pio Nono involuntarily +adopted their ideas and sympathies. He saw with his eyes certain +abuses so glaring that they admitted of no two opinions, and these +helped to convince him of the truth of his friends' arguments in +favour of a completely new order of things. One such abuse was the +encouragement given by government to the Society of the Centurioni, +the latest evolution of the Calderai; the Centurions, recruited among +roughs and peasants, were set upon the respectable middle classes, +over which they tyrannised by secret accusations or open violence: it +was well understood that anyone called a Liberal, or Freemason, or +Carbonaro could be beaten or killed without inquiries being made. + +The Bishop of Imola was frequently in the house of the Count and +Countess Pasolini, who kept their friend well supplied with the new +books on Italian affairs; thus he read not only D'Azeglio's _Cast di +Romagna_, but also Cesare Balbo's _Le Speranze d'Italia,_ which +propounded a plan for an Italian federation, and Gioberti's _Primato +morale e civile degli Italiani_, in which this plan was elaborately +developed. Gioberti indicated the Supreme Pontiff as the natural head +of the Italian Union, and the King of Sardinia as Italy's natural +deliverer from foreign domination. The eternal fitness of things, and +the history of many centuries, proved the Pope to be the proper +paramount civil authority in Italy, 'which is the capital of Europe, +because Rome is the religious metropolis of the world.' An ex-member +of 'Young Italy,' a Piedmontese by birth, a priest by ordination, +Gioberti's profession of faith was derived from these three sources, +and it attracted thousands of Italians by its apparent reconciliation +of the interests of the papacy, and of the Sardinian monarchy, with +the most advanced views of the newest school. History, to which +Gioberti appealed, might have told him that a reversal of the law of +gravity was as likely to happen as the performance by the papacy of +the mission he proposed to it; but men believe what they wish to +believe, and his work found, as has been said, thousands of admirers, +among whom none was more sincere than Cardinal Mastai. The day on +which Count Pasolini gave him a copy of _Il Primato_ he created that +great, and under some aspects pathetic illusion, the reforming Pope. + +The Conclave opened on the 14th of June 1846. During the Bishop of +Imola's journey to Rome a white pigeon had perched several times on +his carriage. The story became known; people said the same thing had +occurred to a coming Pope on former occasions, and the augury was +accepted with joy and satisfaction. He was, in fact, elected after the +Conclave had lasted only two days, while the Conclave which elected +his predecessor lasted sixty-four. The brevity of that to which Pius +IX. owed the tiara was looked upon by the populace as something +miraculous, but it was the result of the well-considered determination +of the Italian Cardinals not to allow time for Austrian intrigues to +obtain the election of a Pope who would be ruled from Vienna. When the +new Pope appeared on the balcony of the Quirinal to give his first +benediction, the people, carried away by his youthful yet majestic +bearing, and by the hopes which already centred in him, broke into +frantic cries of: 'We have a Pope! He loves us! He is our Father!' If +they had cried: 'We have a new heaven and a new earth,' they would but +have expressed the delirium which, starting from Rome, spread +throughout Italy. + +On the night of the 6th of December 1846, the whole line of the +Apennines from Liguria to Calabria was illuminated. A hundred years +before, a stone thrown by the child Balilla had given the signal for +the expulsion of the Austrians from Genoa: this was the memory +flashed from height to height by countless beacons, but while +celebrating the past, they were the fiery heralds of a greater +revolution. + +The upheaval of Europe did not become a fact, however, for another +year. Meantime, the Roman States attracted more attention than any +other part of the peninsula, from the curiosity awakened by the +progress of the experiment of which they were the scene. It is not +doubtful that at the first moment Pius IX. was under the impression +that the problem he had taken in hand was eminently simple. A little +goodwill on the part of everybody, an amnesty to heal old sores, and a +few administrative reforms, ought, he thought, to set everything +right. Such was not the opinion of intelligent onlookers who were +students of politics--especially if they were foreigners, and could +therefore keep their heads moderately cool in the prevailing +excitement. The wave of a wand may seem to effect marvels, but long +and silent causes prepare the way for each event. Now what had been +going on for years in the Roman States was not the process of gradual +growth, but the process of rapid disintegration. The Temporal Power of +the Popes had died without anyone noticing it, and there was nothing +left but a body in the course of dissolution. Every foreigner in Rome +during the reign of Gregory XVI. bore witness that his government +depended for its existence absolutely on the Swiss Guards. In 1845, +Count Rossi told Guizot that without the Swiss regiments the +government in the Legations and the Marches 'would be overthrown in +the twinkling of an eye.' The British agent in Rome, writing during +the Conclave, bore this out by the statement, which applied not to one +portion of the Roman states, but to all, that 'the government could +not stand without the protection of Austria and the immediate +presence of the Swiss.' On the accession of Pius IX., the props, such +as they were, which had prevented an earlier collapse of the Temporal +Power, were either removed or rendered useless. The Swiss might as +well have been disbanded at once as retained merely to be a bone of +contention between the new government and the people, since it was +understood that a vigorous use of their services would never be +resorted to; while Austrian protection was transferred from the Pope +to the disaffected party in the Church, which consisted in a large +proportion of the cardinals and of the inferior clergy who were afraid +that, with the reform of abuses, they would lose their influence over +the lower class of their flocks. The English diplomatic agents in +Italy also firmly believed that Austria coupled with her support of +the ultramontane malcontents the direct encouragement of the +disorderly elements of the population. To resist all these contrary +forces, Pius IX. had only a popularity which, though for the time +immense, was founded almost completely on imagination. 'It was,' said +Mr Petre, 'the name and known views of Pius, rather than his acts, +which aroused so much interest.' If for 'known views' be substituted +'supposed views,' the remark exactly describes the situation. + +Popularity is very well, but a government cannot long subsist on the +single fact of the popularity of the sovereign. When the Roman mob +began to cry: 'Viva Pio Nono _solo_,' the fate of the experiment was +sealed. Real control slipped from the hands that nominally wielded it. +'The influence,' Mr Petre wrote to Sir George Hamilton, 'of one +individual of the lower class, Angelo Brunetti, hardly known but by +his nickname of Ciceruacchio, has for the last month kept the peace of +the city more than any power possessed by the authorities, from the +command which he exerts over the populace.' It was Ciceruacchio who +preserved order when in July 1847 the air was full of rumours of a +vast reactionary plot, which aimed at carrying off the Pope, and +putting things back as they were under Gregory. That such a plot was +ever conceived, or, at anyrate, that it received the sanction of the +high personages whose names were mentioned in connection with it, is +generally doubted now; but it was believed in by many of the +representatives of foreign Powers then in Italy. The public mind in +Rome was violently disturbed. Austria made the excitement the excuse +for occupying the town of Ferrara, where, by the accepted +interpretation of the Treaty of Vienna, she had only the right to +garrison the fortress. This aggression called forth a strong +remonstrance from the Pope's Secretary of State, Cardinal Ferretti; +and though a compromise was arrived at through the mediation of Lord +Palmerston, the feeling against Austria grew more and more exasperated +in the Roman states, and the Pope consented, not, it seemed, much +against the grain, to preparations being taken in hand with a view to +the possible eventuality of war. + +At this date the Italian question was better apprehended at Vienna +than in any other part of Europe. A man of Prince Metternich's talents +does not devote a long life to statecraft without learning to +distinguish the real drift of political currents. While Lord +Palmerston still felt sure that reforms, and nothing but reforms, were +what Italy wanted, Prince Metternich saw that two real forces were at +work from the Alps to the Straits of Messina, and two only: desire for +union, hatred of Austria. Nor was it his fault if the English Cabinet +or the rest of the world remained unenlightened. Besides enlarging on +this truth in frequent diplomatic communications, he caused it to be +continually dwelt upon in the Vienna _Observer_, the organ of the +Austrian Government, which printed illustrative quotations from the +writings of Mazzini, of whom it said that 'he has the one merit of +despising hypocrisy, and proceeding firmly and directly to his true +end. Persons who are versed in history will know that this is exactly +the same end as that at which Arnold of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi +formerly aimed. The only difference is, that the revolutionary dream +has in the course of centuries gained in self-reliance and +confidence.' It may truly be affirmed after this that Metternich 'had +the one merit of despising hypocrisy.' Exactly the same end as Arnold +of Brescia and Cola di Rienzi--who better could have described the +scheme of Italian redemption? + +In the course of the summer of 1847, the Prince said more than once to +the British Ambassador: 'The Emperor is determined not to lose his +Italian dominions.' It was no idle boast, the speaker felt confident, +that the troops in Lombardy and Venetia could keep those provinces +from taking an active part in the 'revolution' which he declared to be +already complete over all central Italy, though the word revolution +had never yet been mentioned. Nor was it only in the Austrian army +that he trusted; Metternich was persuaded that neither in Lombardy nor +in Venetia was there any fear of a really popular and, therefore, +formidable movement. He believed that Austria's only enemy was the +aristocracy. He even threw out hints that if the Austrian Government +condescended to do so, it could raise a social or peasants' war of the +country people against their masters. This is the policy which has +been elaborately followed by the Russians in Poland. The Austrians +pointed to their virtue in not resorting to it; but some tentative +experiments in such a direction had not given results of a kind to +encourage them to go on. The Italian peasant, though ignorant, had a +far quicker innate intelligence than his unfortunate Polish brother. +He did not dislike his masters, who treated him at least with easy +familiarity, and he detested foreigners--those foreigners, no matter +of what nation, who for two thousand years had brought the everlasting +curse of war upon his fields. The conscription, which carried off his +sons for eight years into distant lands, of which he could not +pronounce the name, was alone enough to alienate him from the Austrian +Government. In hoping to find a friend in the Italian peasant, +Metternich reckoned without his host. On the other hand, he was +strictly correct in his estimate of the patriotism of the aristocracy. +The fact always seemed to the Prince a violation of eternal laws. +According to him, the fore-ordained disaffected in every country were +drawn from the middle classes. What business had noblemen with ancient +names and fine estates to prefer Spielberg to their beautiful palaces +and fairy-like villas on the Lombard lakes? Was it on purpose to spite +the best of governments, and the one most favourable to the +aristocratic principle, which had always held out paternal hands to +them? Could anything be imagined more aggravating? + +This feature in Italian liberation has been kept mostly in the +background. Democratic chroniclers were satisfied to ignore it, and to +the men themselves their enormous sacrifices seemed so natural that +they were very willing to let them pass out of mind. It is in the +works of those who, while sympathising with Italy, are not Italians, +that the best record of it is to be found; nowhere better than in a +recent book by a French writer, M. Paul Bourget, in which occurs the +following just and eloquent tribute: 'We must say in praise of the +aristocracy on this side of the Alps that the best soldiers of +independence were nobles. If Italy owes the final success to the +superior capabilities of Victor Emmanuel and Cavour, and to the +agitating power of the General of the Thousand, it is well not to +forget the struggles sustained for years by gentlemen whose example +did so much to raise partisans among the humble. These aristocrats, +passionate for liberty, have (like our own of the eighteenth century) +done more for the people than the people itself. The veritable history +of this _Risorgimento_ would be in great part that of the Italian +nobility in which the heroic blood of feudal chiefs revolted against +the oppressions and, above all, the perpetual humiliation, born of the +presence of the stranger.' + +When Prince Metternich looked beyond the borders of those provinces +which he said that his Sovereign did not intend to lose, he saw sooner +than most people that a ball was set rolling which would not stop half +way down the hill. The one element in the situation which came as a +surprise to him, was that introduced by Pius IX. 'A liberal Pope is an +impossible being!' he exclaimed. Nevertheless this impossible being was +a reality which had to be dealt with. He hoped all along, however, that +Pius would fall a victim to the Frankenstein he had called into +existence, and his only real anxiety lay where it had always lain--on +the side of Piedmont. 'Charles Albert ought to let us know,' he wrote to +the Austrian Minister at Turin, 'whether his reign has been only a mask +under which was hidden the Prince of Carignano, who ascended the throne +through the order of succession re-established in his favour by the +Emperor Francis.' Considering all things, the endeavour to make it +appear that the King was indebted for his crown to Austria was somewhat +venturesome. Charles Albert, Metternich went on to say, had to choose +between two systems, the system now in force, or 'the crassest +revolution.' He wrote again: 'The King is sliding back upon the path +which he enters for the second time in his life, _and which he will +never really quit_.' Words of a bitter enemy, but juster than the +'Esecrato o Carignano,' hurled for a quarter of a century at Charles +Albert by those who only saw in him a traitor. + +The constant invocation of the revolutionary spectre by the Austrian +statesman convinced the King that the wish was father to the thought, +and, afraid of introducing the thin end of the wedge, he showed +himself more than ever averse to reforming the antiquated machinery of +the Sardinian Government. Instead of being the first of Italian +princes to yield to popular demands, he was almost the last. He +believed that the question of nationality, of independence, could be +separated from the question of free institutions. Of all the +chimerical ideas then afloat, this was the most chimerical. Even the +example of the Pope, for whom Charles Albert felt a romantic devotion, +was not enough to induce him to open the road to reforms. The person +who seems first to have impressed him with their absolute necessity +was Lord Minto, whose visit to Turin, in October 1847, coincided with +the dismissal of Count della Margherita, the minister most closely +associated with the absolutist and Jesuitical _regime_. Lord Minto was +sent to Italy to encourage in the ways of political virtue those +Italian princes who were not entirely incorrigible. His mission +excited exaggerated hopes on the part of the Liberals, and exaggerated +wrath in the retrograde party--both failing to understand its +limitations. The hopes died a natural death, but long afterwards, +reactionary writers attributed all the 'troubles' in Italy to this +estimable British diplomatist. What is not doubtful is, that, +accustomed as they were to being lectured and bullied by foreign +courts, the Italians derived the greatest encouragement from the +openly expressed sympathy of well-known English visitors, whether they +came in an official capacity like Lord Minto, or unofficially like Mr +Cobden, who travelled as a missionary of Free Trade, and was received +with rapture--with which, it is to be feared, Free Trade had little to +do--by the leading Liberals in Italy: Massimo d'Azeglio at Genoa, +Mancini at Naples Cavour and Scialoja at Turin, Minghetti at Bologna, +Ridolfi at Florence, and Manin and Tommaseo at Venice. + +Towards the end of 1847, there was a curious shuffling of the cards in +the small states of Lucca and Parma, resulting in much irritation, +which, in an atmosphere so charged with revolutionary electricity, was +not without importance. The dissolute Bourbon prince who reigned in +Lucca, Charles Ludovico, had but one desire, which was to increase his +civil list. He hit upon an English jockey named Ward, who came to +Italy in the service of a German count, and this person he made his +Chancellor of the Exchequer. By various luminous strokes, Ward +furthered his Sovereign's object without much increasing the taxation, +and when matters began to grow complicated, and here, too, a cry was +raised for a Constitution (which had been solemnly guaranteed to the +people of Lucca at the Congress of Vienna, but had never been heard of +since), he proposed the sale of the Duchy off-hand to Tuscany, with +which it would, in any case, be united, when, on the death of the +ex-Empress Marie-Louise, the Duchy of Parma devolved on the Duke of +Lucca. At the same time, by a prior agreement, a district of Tuscany +called the Lunigiana was consigned, one-half to the Duchess of Parma, +and the other to the Duke of Modena. The indignation of the +population, which was made, by force, subject to the Duke of Modena, +was intense, and the whole transaction of handing about Italians to +suit the pleasure of princes, or to obey the articles of forgotten +treaties, reminded the least sensitive of the everyday opprobrium of +their lot. + +The bargain with Tuscany had been struck only eight days when +Marie-Louise died--unlamented, since the latter years of her reign +formed a sad contrast to the earlier. Marie-Louise had not a bad +disposition, but she always let her husband of the hour govern as he +chose; of the four or five of these husbands, the last two, and +particularly the hated Count de Bombelles, undid all the good done by +their more humane predecessors. The Parmese petitioned their new Duke +to send the man away, and to grant them some measure of freedom. The +answer he gave was the confirmation of Bombelles in all his honours, +and the conclusion of a treaty with Austria, securing the assistance +of her arms. A military force had been sent to Parma to escort the +body of the late Duchess to Vienna; but on the principle that the +living are of more consequence than the dead, it remained there to +protect the new Duke from his subjects. Marie-Louise and her lovers, +Charles Ludovico and his jockey-minister, are instructive +illustrations of the scandalous point things had reached in the small +states of Italy. + +There was, indeed, one state in which, though the dynasty was +Austrian, the government was conducted without ferocity and without +scandal. This was Tuscany. The branch of the Hapsburg-Lorraine family +established in Tuscany produced a series of rulers who, if they +exhibited no magnificent qualities, were respectable as individuals, +and mild as rulers. Giusti dubbed Leopold II. 'the Tuscan Morpheus, +crowned with poppies and lettuce leaves,' and the clear intelligence +of Ricasoli was angered by the languid, let-be policy of the +Grand-Ducal government, but, compared with the other populations of +Italy, the Tuscans might well deem themselves fortunate. Only on one +occasion had the Grand Duke given up a fugitive from the more favoured +provinces, and the presence of distinguished exiles lent brilliancy to +his capital. Leopold II. hesitated between the desire to please his +subjects and the fear of his Viennese relations, who sent him through +Metternich the ominous reminder, 'that the Italian Governments had +only subsisted for the last ten years by the support they received +from Austria'--an assertion at which Charles Albert took umbrage, but +he was curtly told that he was not intended. In spite of his fears, +however, the Grand Duke instituted a National Guard on the 4th of +September, which was correctly judged the augury of further +concessions. In August, the Austrian Minister had distinctly +threatened to occupy Tuscany, or any other of the Italian duchies +where a National Guard was granted; its institution was therefore +interpreted as a decisive act of rebellion against the Imperial +dictatorship. The red, white and green tricolor, not yet permitted in +Piedmont, floated already from all the towers of the city on the Arno. + +Where there were no signs of improvement was in the government of the +Two Sicilies. King Ferdinand undertook a journey through several parts +of the country, but as Lord Napier, the British Minister, expressed +it: 'Exactly where the grace of the royal countenance was principally +conferred, the rebels sprung up most thickly.' A revolution was +planned to break out in all the cities of the kingdom, but the project +only took effect at Messina and at Reggio, and in both places the +movement was stifled with prompt and barbarous severity. When the +leader of the Calabrian attempt, Domenico Romeo, a landed proprietor, +was caught on the heights of Aspromonte, his captors, after cutting +off his head, carried it to his young nephew, whom they ordered to +take it to Reggio with the cry of 'Long live the King.' The youth +refused, and was immediately killed. In the capital, Carlo Poerio and +many patriots were thrown into prison on suspicion. Settembrini had +just time to escape to Malta. + +The year 1847 closed amid outward appearances of quiet. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE YEAR OF REVOLUTION + +1848 + +Insurrection in Sicily--The Austrians expelled from Milan and +Venice--Charles Albert takes the Field--Withdrawal of the Pope and King +of Naples--Piedmont defeated--The Retreat. + + +On the 12th of January, the birthday of the King of the Two Sicilies, +another insurrection broke out in Sicily; this time it was serious +indeed. The City of the Vespers lit the torch which set Europe on +fire. + +So began the year of revolution which was to see the kings of the +earth flying, with or without umbrellas, and the principle of monarchy +more shaken by the royal see-saw of submission and vengeance than ever +it was by the block of Whitehall or the guillotine of the Place Louis +XV. + +In Italy, the errors and follies of that year were not confined to +princes and governments, but it will remain memorable as the time when +the Italian nation, not a dreamer here or there, or a handful of +heroic madmen, or an isolated city, but the nation as a whole, with an +unanimity new in history, asserted its right and its resolve to exist. + +King Ferdinand sent 5000 soldiers to 'make a garden,' as he described +it, of Palermo, if the offers sent at the same time failed to pacify +the inhabitants. These offers were refused with the comment: 'Too +late,' and the Palermitans prepared to resist to the death under the +guidance of the veteran patriot Ruggiero Settimo, Prince of Fitalia. +'Separation,' they said, 'or our English Constitution of 1812.' +Increased irritation was awakened by the discovery in the head office +of the police at Palermo of a secret room full of skeletons, which +were supposed to belong to persons privately murdered. The Neapolitans +were compelled to withdraw with a loss of 3000 men, but before they +went, the general in command let out 4000 convicts, who had been kept +without food for forty-eight hours. The convicts, however, did not +fulfil the intentions of their liberator, and did but little mischief. +Not so the Neapolitan troops, who committed horrors on the peasantry +as they retreated, which provoked acts of retaliation almost as +barbarous. In a short time all Sicily was in its own hands except the +citadel of Messina. + +It is not possible to follow the Sicilians in their long struggle for +their autonomy. They stood out for some fourteen months. An English +Blue-book is full of the interminable negotiations conducted by Lord +Napier and the Earl of Minto in the hope of bringing the strife to an +end. When the parliament summoned by the revolutionary government +declared the downfall of the House of Bourbon, all the stray princes +in Europe, including Louis Napoleon, were reviewed as candidates for +the throne. The choice fell on the Duke of Genoa; it was well received +in England, and the British men-of-war were immediately ordered to +salute the Sicilian flag. But the Duke's reign never became a reality. +After an heroic struggle, the islanders were subjugated in the spring +of 1849. + +So stout a fight for independence must win admiration, if not +approval. The political reasons against the course taken by the +Sicilians have been suggested in a former chapter. In separating their +lot from that of Naples, in rejecting even freedom unless it was +accompanied by disruption, they hastened the ruin of the Neapolitans +and of themselves, and surely played into the hands of the crafty +tyrant who desired nothing better than to fish in the troubled waters +of his subjects' dissensions. + +In the gathering storm of January 1848, the first idea that occurred +to Ferdinand II. was the good old plan of calling in Austrian +assistance. But the Austrians were told by Pius IX. that he would not +allow their troops to pass through his territory. Had they attempted +to pass in spite of his warning, events would have taken a different +turn, as the Pope would have been driven into a war with Austria then +and there; perhaps he would have been glad, as weak people commonly +are, of the compulsion to do what he dared not do without compulsion. +The Austrian Government was too wise to force a quarrel; it was easy +to lock up Austrian subjects for crying 'Viva Pio Nono,' but the +enormous importance of keeping the Head of the Church, if possible, in +a neutral attitude could not be overlooked. All thoughts of going to +Ferdinand's help were politely abandoned, and he, seeing himself in a +defenceless position, and pondering deeply on the upsetting of Louis +Philippe's throne, which was just then the latest news, decided on +that device, dear to all political conjurors, which is known as taking +the wind out of your enemy's sails. The Pope, the Grand Duke of +Tuscany and the King of Sardinia, had worried him for six months with +admonitions. 'Very well,' he now said; 'they urge me forward, I will +precipitate them.' Constitution, representative government, unbridled +liberty of the press, a civic guard, the expulsion of the Jesuits; +what mattered a trifle more or less when everything could be revoked +at the small expense of perjury? Ferdinand posed to perfection in the +character of Citizen King. He reassured those who ventured to show the +least signs of apprehension by saying: 'If I had not intended to carry +out the Statute, I should not have granted it.' + +Not many days later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the King of +Sardinia each promulgated a Charter. In the case of Charles Albert, it +had been formally promised on the 8th of February, after sleepless +nights, severe fasts, much searching of the heart--contrasting +strangely with the gay transformation scene at Naples; but promises +have a more serious meaning to some persons than to others. Nor did +Charles Albert take any pleasure in the shouts of a grateful people. +'Born in revolution,' he once wrote, 'I have traversed all its phases, +and I know well enough what popularity is worth--_viva_ to-day, +_morte_ to-morrow.' + +In the Lombardo-Venetian provinces all seemed still quiet, but the +brooding discontent of the masses increased with the increasing +aggressiveness of the Austrian soldiers, while the refusal to grant +the studiously moderate demands of men like Nazari of Bergamo and +Manin and Tommasco of Venice, who were engaged in a campaign of legal +agitation, brought conviction to the most cautious that no measure of +political liberty was obtainable under Austrian rule. + +At the Scala Theatre some of the audience had raised cries of 'Viva +Pio Nono' during a performance of _I Lombardi._[3] This was the excuse +for prohibiting every direct or indirect public reference to the +reigning Pontiff. Nevertheless, a few young men were caught singing +the Pope's hymn, upon which the military charged the crowd. On the 3rd +of January the soldiers fell on the people in the Piazza San Carlo, +killing six and wounding fifty-three. The parish priest of the Duomo +said that he had seen Russians, French and Austrians enter Milan as +invaders; but a scene like that of the 3rd of January he had never +witnessed; 'they simply murdered in the streets.' + +The _Judicium Statuarium_, equivalent to martial law, was proclaimed +in February; but the Viennese revolution of the 8th of March, and +Prince Metternich's flight to England, were followed by promises to +abolish the censure, and to convoke the central congregations of the +Lombardo-Venetian kingdom. The utmost privilege of these assemblies +was consultative. In 1815 they were invested with the right to 'make +known grievances,' but they had only once managed to perform this +modest function. It was hardly worth while to talk about them on the +18th of March 1848. + +On the morning of that day, Count O'Donnel, the Vice-Governor of +Milan, announced the Emperor's concessions. Before night he was the +hostage of the revolution, signing whatever decrees were demanded of +him till in a few hours even his signature was dispensed with. The +Milanese had begun their historic struggle. + +Taking refuge in the Citadel, Radetsky wrote to the Podesta, Count +Gabrio Casati (brother of Teresa Confalonieri), that he acknowledged +no authority at Milan except his own and that of his soldiers. Those +who resisted would be guilty of high treason. If arguments did not +avail, he would make use of all the means placed in his hands by an +army of 100,000 men to bring the rebel city to obedience. Unhappily +for Radetsky, there were not any such 100,000 men in Italy, though +long before this he had told Metternich that he could not guarantee +the safety of Lombardy with less than 150,000. In spite of partial +reinforcements, the number did not amount to more than from 72,000 to +75,000, while at Milan it stood at between 15,000 and 20,000. But if +we take the lower estimate, 15,000 regular troops under such a +commander, who, most rare in similar emergencies, knew his own mind, +and had no thought except the recovery of the town for his Sovereign, +constituted a formidable force against a civilian population, which +began the fight with only a few hundred fowling-pieces. The odds on +the side of Austria were tremendous. + +If the Milan revolt had been one of the customary revolutions, +arranged with the help of pen and paper, its first day would have been +certainly its last. But even more than the Sicilian Vespers, it was +the unpremeditated, irresistible act of a people sick of being slaves. +At the beginning Casati tried to restrain it; so, with equal or still +stronger endeavours, did the republican Carlo Cattaneo, whose +influence was great. 'You have no arms,' he said again and again. Not +a single man of weight took upon himself the awful responsibility of +urging the unarmed masses upon so desperate an enterprise; but when +the die was cast none held back. Initiated by the populace, the revolt +was led to its victorious close by the nerve and ability of the +influential men who directed its course. + +Towards nightfall on the 18th, during which day there had been only +scuffles between the soldiers and the people, Radetsky took the +Broletto, where the Municipality sat, after a two hours' siege, and +sent forthwith a special messenger to the Emperor with the news that +the revolution was on a fair way to being completely crushed. +Meanwhile, he massed his troops at all the entrances to the city, so +that at dawn he might strangle the insurrection by a concentric +movement, as in a noose. The plan was good; but to-morrow does not +belong even to the most experienced of Field-Marshals. + +In all quarters of the city barricades sprang up like mushrooms. +Everything went, freely given, to their construction; the benches of +the Scala, the beds of the young seminarists, the court carriages, +found hidden in a disused church, building materials of the +half-finished Palazzo d'Adda, grand pianofortes, valuable pieces of +artistic furniture, and the old kitchen table of the artisan. Before +the end of the fight the barricades numbered 1523. Young nobles, +dressed in the velvet suits then in vogue, cooks in their white +aprons, even women and children, rushed to the defence of the +improvised fortifications. Luciano Manara and other heroes, who +afterwards fell at Rome, were there to lead. In the first straits for +want of arms the museums of the Uboldi and Poldi-Pozzoli families were +emptied of their rare treasures by permission of the owners; the crowd +brandished priceless old swords and specimens of early firearms. More +serviceable weapons were obtained by degrees from the Austrian killed +and wounded, and from the public offices which fell into their hands. +Bolza, long the hated agent of the Austrian police, was discovered by +the people, but they did not harm him. Throughout the five days, the +Milanese showed a forbearance which was the more admirable, because +there can be no doubt that when the Austrians found they were getting +the worst of it, they vented their rage in deplorable outrages on +non-combatants. That Radetsky was personally to blame for these +excesses has never been alleged, and it was perhaps beyond the power +of the officers to keep discipline among soldiers who, towards the +end, were wild with panic. + +'The very foundations of the city were torn up,' wrote the +Field-Marshal in his official report; 'not hundreds, but thousands of +barricades crossed the streets. Such circumspection and audacity were +displayed that it was evident military leaders were at the head of the +people. The character of the Milanese had become quite changed. +Fanaticism had seized every rank and age and both sexes.' + +As always happens with street-fighting, the number of the slain has +never been really known; the loss of the citizens was small compared +with that of the Austrians, who, according to some authorities, lost +5000, between killed and wounded. + +Radetsky ordered the evacuation of the town and citadel on the night +of Wednesday, the 22nd of March. The Milanese had won much more than +freedom--they had won the right to it. And what they had done they had +done alone. When the news that the capital was up in arms spread +through Lombardy, there was but one gallant impulse, to fly to its +aid. But the earliest to arrive, Giuseppe Martinengo Cesaresco, with +his troop of Brescian peasants, found when he reached Milan that they +were a few hours too late to share in the last shots fired upon the +retreating Austrians. + +Nowhere, except in Milan, did the revolution meet with a Radetsky. The +Austrian authorities became convinced that their position was +untenable, and they desired to avoid a useless sacrifice of life. +This, rather than cowardly fears, was the motive which induced Count +Palffy and Count Zichy, the civil and military governors of Venice, to +yield the city without deluging it in blood. The latter had been +guilty of negligence in leaving the Venetian arsenal in charge of +troops so untrustworthy that Manin could take it on the 22nd of March +by a simple display of his own courage, and without striking a blow, +but after this first success on the side of the revolution, which +supplied the people with an unlimited stock of arms and ammunition, +the Austrians did well to give way even from their own point of view. +At seven o'clock on the evening of the 22nd of March, the famous +capitulation was signed. Manin's prediction of the previous day, +'To-morrow the city will be in my power, or I shall be dead,' had been +realised in the first alternative. + +Daniel Manin, who was now forty-four years of age, was by profession a +lawyer, by race a Jew. His father became a Christian, and, according +to custom, took the surname of his godfather, who belonged to the +family of the last Doge of Venice. Manin and the Dalmatian scholar, +Niccolo Tommaseo, had been engaged in patiently adducing proof after +proof that Austria did not even abide by her own laws when the +expression of political opinion was concerned. At the beginning of the +revolution they were in prison, and Palffy's first act of surrender +was to set them free. Henceforth Manin was undisputed lord of the +city. It is strange how, all at once, a man who was only slightly +known to the world should have been chosen as spokesman and ruler. It +did not, however, happen by chance. The people in Italy are observant; +the Venetians had observed Manin, and they trusted him. The power of +inspiring trust was what gave this Jewish lawyer his ascendancy, not +the talents which usually appeal to the masses. He had not the +advantage of an imposing presence, for he was short, slight, with blue +eyes and bushy hair; in all things he was the opposite to a demagogue; +he never beguiled, or flattered, or told others what he did not +believe himself. But, on his side, he _knew_ the people, whom most +revolutionary leaders know not at all. 'That is my sole merit,' he +used to say. It was that which enabled him to cleanse Venice from the +stain of having bartered her freedom for the smile of a conqueror, and +give her back the name and inheritance of 'eldest child of liberty.' + +It was a matter of course that emancipated Venice should assume a +republican form of government. Here the republic was a restoration. At +Milan the case was different; there were two parties, that of +Cattaneo, which was strongly republican, that of Casati, which was +strongly monarchical. There was a third party, which thought of +nothing except of never again seeing a soldier with a white coat. By +mutual agreement, the Provisional Government declared that the +decision as to the form of government should be left to calmer days. +For a time this compromise produced satisfactory results. + +The revolution gained ground. Francis of Modena executed a rapid flight, +and the Duke of Parma presently followed him. By the end of March, +Lombardy and Venetia were free, saving the fortresses of the +Quadrilateral. The exception was of far greater moment than, in the +enchantment of the hour, anyone dreamt of confessing. Mantua, Legnano, +Peschiera and Verona were so many cities of refuge to the flying +Austrian troops, where they could rest in safety and nurse their +strength. Still, the results achieved were great, almost incredible; +with the expectation that Rome, Naples, Tuscany and Piedmont would send +their armies to consolidate the work already done, it was natural to +think that, whatever else might happen, Austrian dominion was a thing of +the past. Alessandro Bixio (brother of the General), who was a +naturalised Frenchman, wrote to the French Government on the 7th of +April from Turin: 'In the ministries, in meetings, in the streets, you +only see and hear people to whom the question of Italian independence +seems to be one of those historical questions about which the time is +past for talking. According to the general opinion, Austria is nothing +but a phantom, and the army of Radetsky a shadow.' Such were the hopes +that prevailed. They were vain, but they did not appear so then. + +Pius IX. seemed to throw in his lot definitely with the revolution +when, on the 19th of March, he too granted a Constitution, having +previously formed a lay ministry, which included Marco Minghetti and +Count Pasolini, under the presidency of Cardinal Antonelli, who thus +makes his first appearance as Liberal Premier. That the Roman +Constitution was an unworkable attempt to reconcile lay and +ecclesiastical pretensions, that the proposed Chamber of Deputies, +which was not to make laws affecting education, religious +corporations, the registration of births and marriages; or to confer +civil rights on non-catholics, or to touch the privileges and +immunities of the clergy, might have suited Cloud-cuckoo-town, but +would not suit the solid earth, were facts easy to recognise, but no +one had time to pause and consider. It was sufficient to hear Pius +proclaim that in the wind which was uprooting oaks and cedars might be +clearly distinguished the Voice of the Lord. Such utterances, mingled +with blessings on Italy, brought balm to patriotic souls. The Liberals +had no fear that the Pope would veto the participation of his troops +in the national war, for they were blind to the complications with +which a fighting Pope would find himself embarrassed in the middle of +the nineteenth century. But the other party discerned these +complications from the first, and knew what use to make of them. + +The powers of reaction had only to catch hold of a perfectly modern +sentiment, the doctrine that ecclesiastics should be men of peace, in +order to dissipate the myth of a Pope liberator. It was beside the +question that, from the moment he accepted such a doctrine, the Pope +condemned the institution of prince-bishoprics, of which he +represented the last survival. Nor was it material that, if he adopted +it, consistency should have made him carry it to its logical +consequence of non-resistance. By aid of this theory of a peaceful +Pontiff, with the threat, in reserve, of a schism, Austria felt +confident that she could avoid the enormous moral inconvenience of a +Pope in arms against her. + +Either, however, the full force of the influence which caused Pius IX. +to draw back was not brought to bear till somewhat late in the day, or +the part acted by him during the months of March and April can be +hardly acquitted of dissimulation. War preparations were continued, +with the warm co-operation of the Cardinal President of the Council, +and when General Durando started for the frontier with 17,000 men, he +would have been a bold man who had said openly in Rome that they were +intended not to fight. + +While the Pope was still supposed to favour the war, Ferdinand of +Naples did not dare to oppose the enthusiasm of his subjects, and the +demand that a Neapolitan contingent should be sent to Lombardy. The +first relay of troops actually started, but the generals had secret +orders to take the longest route, and to lose as much time as +possible. + +Tuscany had a very small army, but such assistance as she could give +was both promised and given. The fate of the Tuscan corps of 6000 men +will be related hereafter. The Grand Duke Leopold identified himself +with the Italian cause with more sincerity than was to be found at +Rome or Naples; still, the material aid that he could offer counted as +next to nothing. + +There remained Piedmont and Charles Albert. Now was the time for the +army which he had created (for Charles Felix left no army worthy of +the name) to assert upon the Lombard fields the reason of its +existence. War with Austria was declared on the 23rd of March. It was +midnight; a vast crowd waited in silence in Piazza Castello. At last +the windows of the palace were opened, a sudden flood of light from +within illuminating the scene. Charles Albert stepped upon the balcony +between his two sons. He was even paler than usual, but a smile such +as no one had seen before was on his lips. He waved the long +proscribed tricolor slowly over the heads of the people. + +The King said in his proclamation that 'God had placed Italy in a +position to provide for herself ('in grado di fare da se'). Hence the +often repeated phrase: 'L'Italia fara da se.' He told the Lombard +delegates, who met him at Pavia that he would not enter their capital, +which had shown such signal valour, till after he had won a victory. +He declared to all that his only aim was to complete the splendid work +of liberation so happily begun; questions of government would be +reserved for the conclusion of the war. Joy was the order of the day, +but the fatal mistakes of the campaign had already commenced; there +had been inexcusable delay in declaring war; if it was pardonable to +wait for the Milanese initiative, it was as inexpedient as it seemed +ungenerous to wait till the issue of the struggle at Milan was +decided. Then, after the declaration of war, considering that the +Sardinian Government must have seen its imminence for weeks, and +indeed for months, there was more time lost than ought to have been +the case in getting the troops under weigh. Still, at the opening of +the campaign, two grand possibilities were left. The first was +obviously to cut Radetsky off in his painful retreat, largely +performed along country by-roads, as he had to avoid the principal +cities which were already free. Had Charles Albert caught him up while +he was far from the Quadrilateral, the decisive blow would have been +struck, and the only man who could save Austria in Italy would have +been taken prisoner. Radetsky chose the route of Lodi and the lower +Brescian plains to Montechiaro, where the encampments were ready for +the Austrian spring manoeuvres: from this point an easy march carried +him under the walls of Verona. Here he met General d'Aspre, who had +just arrived with the garrison of Padua. D'Aspre, by skill and +resolution, had brought his men from Padua without losing one, having +refused the Paduans arms for a national guard, though ordered from +Milan to grant them. 'You come to tell me all is lost,' said the +Field-Marshal when they met 'No,' rejoined the younger general, 'I +come to tell you all is saved.' + +This great chance missed, there was another which could have been +seized. Mantua, extraordinary to relate, was defended by only three +hundred artillerymen and a handful of hussars. It would have fallen +into the hands of its own citizens but for the presence of mind of its +commandant, the Polish General Gorzhowsky, who told them that to no +one on earth would he deliver the keys of the fortress except to his +Emperor, and that the moment he could no longer defend it he would +blow it into the air, with himself and half Mantua. He showed them the +flint and the steel with which he intended to do the deed. Enemy +though he was, that incident ought to be recorded in letters of gold +on the gates of Mantua, as a perpetual lesson of that most difficult +thing for a country founded in revolution to learn: the meaning of a +soldier's duty. + +It is easy to see that, if Charles Albert had made an immediate dash +on Mantua, the fortress, or its ruins, would have been his, to the +enormous detriment of the Austrian position. But this chance too was +missed. On the 31st of March, the 9000 men sent with all speed by +Radetsky to the defenceless fortress arrived, and henceforth Mantua +was safe. Charles Albert only got within fifteen or sixteen miles of +it five days later, to find that all hope of its capture was gone. + +The campaign began with political as well as with military mistakes. +At the same time that the King of Sardinia was declaring in the +Proclamation addressed to the Lombards that, full of admiration of the +glorious feats performed in their capital, he came to their aid as +brother to brother, friend to friend, his ambassadors were trying to +persuade the foreign Powers, and especially Austria, Prussia and +Russia, that the only object of the war was to avoid a revolution in +Piedmont, and to prevent the establishment of a republic in Lombardy. +No one was convinced or placated by these assurances; far better as +policy than so ignominious an attempt at hedging would have been the +acknowledgment to all the world of the noble crime of patriotism. But, +as Massimo d'Azeglio once observed, Charles Albert had the incurable +defect of thinking himself cunning. It was, moreover, only too true +that, although in these diplomatic communications the King allowed the +case against him to be stated with glaring exaggeration, yet they +contained an element of fact. He _was_ afraid of revolution at home; +he _was_ afraid of a Lombard republic; these were not the only, nor +were they the strongest, motives which drove him into the war, but +they were motives which, associated with deeper causes, contributed +to the disasters of the future. + +The Piedmontese force was composed of two _corps d'armee,_ the first +under General Bava and the second under General Sonnaz: each amounted +to 24,000 men. The reserves, under the Duke of Savoy, numbered 12,000. +Radetsky, at first (after strengthening the garrisons in the +fortresses), could not put into the field more than 40,000 men. As has +been stated, the King assumed the supreme command, which led to a +constant wavering between the original plan of General Bava, a capable +officer, and the criticisms and suggestions of the staff. The greatest +mistake of all, that of never bringing into the field at once more +than about half the army, was not without connection with the supposed +necessity, based on political reasons, of garrisoning places in the +rear which might have been safely left to the care of their national +guards. + +Besides the royal army, there were in the field 17,000 Romans, 3000 +Modenese and Parmese, and 6000 Tuscans. There were also several +companies of Lombard volunteers, Free Corps, as they were called, +which might have been increased to almost any extent had they not been +discouraged by the King, who was believed to look coldly on all these +extraneous allies, either from doubt of their efficiency, or from the +wish to keep the whole glory of the campaign for his Piedmontese army. + +The first engagements were on the line of the Mincio. On the 8th of +April the Sardinians carried the bridge of Goito after a fight of four +hours. The burning of the village of Castelnuovo on the 12th, as a +punishment for its having received Manara's band of volunteers, +excited great exasperation; many of the unfortunate villagers perished +in the flames, and this and other incidents of the same kind did much +towards awakening a more vivid hatred of the Austrians among the +peasants. + +After easily gaining possession of the left (Venetian) bank of the +Mincio, Charles Albert employed himself in losing time over chimerical +operations with a view to taking the fortresses of Peschiera and +Mantua, now strongly garrisoned, and impregnable while their +provisions lasted. This object governed the conduct of the campaign, +and caused the waste of precious months during every day of which +General Nugent, with his 30,000 men, was approaching one step nearer +from the mountains of Friuli, and General Welden, with his 10,000, +down the passes of Tyrol. If, instead of playing at sieges, Charles +Albert had cut off these reinforcements, Radetsky would have been +rendered powerless, and the campaign would have had another +termination. Never was there a war in which the adoption of Napoleon's +system of crushing his opponents one by one, when he could not +outnumber them if united, was more clearly indicated. + +General Durando crossed the Po on the 21st of April with 17,000 men, +partly Pontifical troops and partly volunteers, to which weak corps +fell the task of opposing Nugent's advance in Venetia. The colours of +the Pontifical troops were solemnly blessed before they left Rome, but +as the order was only given to go to the frontier, and nothing was +said, though everything was understood, about crossing it, the Pope +was technically able to assert that the war was none of his making. +His ministry ventured to suggest to him that the situation was +peculiar. Now it was that Catholic Austria and Russia, herself +schismatic, flourished in the face of the Pope the portentous scare of +a new schism. It is said that the Pope's confessor, a firm Liberal, +died just at this time, not without suspicion of poison. Thoroughly +alarmed in his spiritual capacity, the Pope issued his Encyclical +Letter of the 29th of April--when his ministers and the whole country +still hoped from day to day that he would formally declare war--in +which he protested that his sacred office obliged him to embrace all +nations in an equal paternal love. If his subjects, he added, followed +the example of the other Italians, he could not help it: a +half-hearted admission which could not mitigate the indignation which +the document called forth. With regard to Durando's corps, the Pope +did what was the best thing under the altered circumstances; he sent +L.C. Farini as envoy to the King of Sardinia, with the request that he +would take the Roman troops under his supreme command, the Papal +Government agreeing to continue the pay of such of them as belonged to +the regular army. Pius IX. made one last effort to help his +fellow-countrymen which people hardly noticed, so futile did it +appear, but which was probably made in profound seriousness. He wrote +a letter to the Emperor of Austria begging him to make all things +right and pleasant by voluntarily withdrawing from his Italian +dominions. Popes had dictated to sovereigns before now; was there not +Canossa? Besides, if a miracle was sought, why should not a miracle +happen? Pope and Emperor shaking hands over a free Italy and a world +reconciled--how delightful the prospect! Who can doubt that when the +Pope wrote that letter all the beautiful dreams of Cardinal Mastai +carried him once more away (it was the last time) in an ecstasy of +blissful hopes? 'Let not your Majesty take offence,' ran the appeal, +'if we turn to your pity and religion, exhorting you with fatherly +affection to desist from a war which, powerless to re-conquer the +hearts of the Lombards and Venetians, can only lead to a dark series +of calamities. Nor let the generous Germanic nation take offence if +we invite it to abandon old hatreds, and convert into useful relations +of friendly neighbourhood a dominion which can be neither noble nor +happy if it depend only on the sword. Thus we trust in the nation +itself, honestly proud of its own nationality, to no longer make a +point of honour of sanguinary attempts against the Italian nation, but +rather to perceive that its true honour lies in recognising Italy as a +sister.' + +The Emperor received the bearer of the letter with coldness, and +referred him to his ministers, who simply called his attention to the +fact that the Pope owed the Temporal Power to the same treaties as +those which gave Austria the possession of Lombardy and Venetia. + +The day after the publication of the Encyclical, that is to say, the +30th of April, the Piedmontese obtained their first important success +in the battle of Pastrengo, near Peschiera. Fighting from daybreak to +sundown, they drove the enemy back into Verona, with a loss of 1200 +killed and wounded. The Austrians were in rather inferior numbers; but +the victory was highly creditable to the hitherto untried army of +Piedmont, and showed that it contained excellent fighting material. It +was not followed up, and might nearly as well have never been fought. + +The Neapolitan troops, of whom 41,000 were promised, 17,000 being on +the way already, were intended to reinforce Durando's corps in +Venetia. With the two or three battalions which Manin could spare from +the little army of Venice, the Italian forces opposed to Nugent's +advance would have been brought up to 60,000 men; in which case not +even Charles Albert's 'masterly inactivity' could have given Austria +the victory. + +The Neapolitan Parliament convoked under the new Constitution was to +meet on the 15th of May. A dispute had been going on for several days +between the Sovereign and the deputies about the form of the +parliamentary oath, the deputies wishing that the Chambers should be +left free to amend or alter the Statute, while the King desired that +they should be bound by oath to maintain it as it was presented to +them. It was unwise to provoke a disagreement which was sure to +irritate the King. However, late on the 14th, he appeared to yield, +and consented that the wording of the oath should be referred to the +discussion of Parliament itself. It seems that, at the same time, he +ordered the troops of the garrison to take up certain positions in the +city. A colonel of the National Guard raised the cry of royal treason, +calling upon the people to rise, which a portion of them did, and +barricades were constructed in the Toledo and other of the principal +streets. A more insane and culpable thing than this attempt at +revolution was never put in practice. It was worse even than that 20th +of May at Milan, which threw Eugene into the arms of Austria. Its +consequences were those which everyone could have foreseen--a two +days' massacre in the streets of Naples, begun by the troops and +continued by the lazzaroni, who were allowed to pillage to their +hearts' content; the deputies dispersed with threats of violence, +Parliament dissolved before it had sat, the original Statute torn up, +and (by far the most important) the Neapolitan troops, now at Bologna, +recalled to Naples. This was the pretty work of the few hundred +reckless rioters on the 15th of May. + +Had not Pius IX. by this time repudiated all part in the war, the King +of the Two Sicilies would have thought twice before he recalled his +contingent, though the counsels of neutrality which he received from +another quarter--from Lord Palmerston in the name of the English +Government--strengthened his hand not a little in carrying out a +defection which was the direct ruin of the Italian cause. When the +order to return reached Bologna, the veteran patriot, General Pepe, +who had been summoned from exile to take the chief command, resolved +to disobey, and invited the rest to follow him. Nearly the whole of +the troops were, however, faithful to their military oath. The +situation was horrible. The choice lay between the country in danger +and the King, who, false and perjured though he might be, was still +the head of the State, to whom each soldier had sworn obedience. One +gallant officer escaped from the dilemma by shooting himself. Pepe, +with a single battalion of the line, a company of engineers, and two +battalions of volunteers, went to Venice, where they fought like +heroes to the end. + +On the 27th of May, Radetsky, taking the offensive with about 40,000 +men, marched towards Mantua, near which was stationed the small Tuscan +corps, whose commander only received when too late General Bava's +order to retire from an untenable position. On the 29th the Austrians, +in overwhelming numbers, bore down upon the 6000 Tuscans at Montanara +and Curtatone, and defeated them after a resistance of six hours. The +Tuscan professor, Giuseppe Montanelli, fell severely wounded while +holding the dead body of his favourite pupil, but he recovered to show +less discretion in politics than he had shown valour in the field. + +Peschiera, where the supplies were exhausted, capitulated on the 30th, +and the day after found 22,000 Piedmontese ready to give Radetsky +battle at Goito, whence, after a severe contest, they drove him back +to Mantua. The Austrians lost 3000 out of 25,000 men. The honours of +the day fell to the Savoy brigade, which was worthy of its own fame +and of the future King of Italy, who was slightly wounded while +leading it. Outwardly this seemed the most fortunate period of the war +for Charles Albert, but that had already happened which was to cause +the turning of the tide. Nugent, with his 30,000 men, had joined +Radetsky. His march across Venetia was harassed by the inhabitants, +who left him no peace, especially in the mountain districts, but the +poor little force of Romans and volunteers under Durando and Ferrari +was unable to seriously check his progress in the open country, though +he failed in the attempt to take the towns of Treviso and Vicenza in +his passage. The repulse of the Austrians, 18,000 strong, from Vicenza +on the 23rd of May, did great credit to Durando, who only had 10,000 +men, most of them _Crociati_, as the volunteers were called, whose +ideas about fighting were original. It is hard to see how this General +could have done more than he did with the materials at his disposal, +or in what way he merited the abuse which was heaped upon him. The +case would have been very different if his hybrid force had been +supported by the Neapolitan army. + +Nugent was ordered by Radetsky to let the intermediate places alone, +and to come on to him as fast as circumstances would admit. The +junction of their troops was, the Field-Marshal saw, of vital +necessity, but when this was achieved, and when Welden had also +brought his 15,000 fresh men from Tyrol, he turned his attention to +Vicenza, since, as long as that town remained in Durando's hands, +Venetia would still be free. He conceived the bold plan of making an +excursion to Vicenza with his complete army, while Charles Albert +enjoyed the pleasant illusion that the Austrians were in full retreat +owing to his success at Goito. The result of Radetsky's attack was not +doubtful, but the defence of the town on the 10th of June could not +have been more gallant; the 3500 Swiss, the Pontifical Carabineers, +and the few other troops belonging to the regular army of the Pope did +wonders. Cialdini, the future general, and Massimo d'Azeglio, the +future prime minister, fought in this action, and the latter was +severely wounded. After several hours' resistance there was nothing to +be done but to hoist the white flag; Radetsky's object was +accomplished, the Venetian _terra firma_ was practically once more in +the power of Austria. On the 14th he was back again at Verona without +the least harm having happened in his absence. + +Only military genius of the first order could now have saved the +Piedmontese, and what prevailed was the usual infatuation. Charles +Albert's lines were extended across forty miles of country, from +Peschiera to Goito. On the 23rd of July the Austrians fell upon their +weakest point, and obliged Sonnaz' division to cross over to the right +bank of the Mincio. On the 24th, the King succeeded in dislodging the +Austrians from Custozza after four hours' struggle; but next day, +which was spent entirely in fighting, Radetsky retook Custozza, and +obliged the King to fall back on Villafranca. Now began the terrible +retreat on Milan, performed under the ceaseless fire of the pursuers, +who attacked and defeated the retreating army for the last time, close +to Milan, on the 4th of August. Radetsky had with him 45,000 men; +Charles Albert's forces were reduced to 25,000. He had lost 5000 since +he recrossed the Mincio. He begged for a truce, and, defeated and +undone, he entered the city which he had vowed should only receive him +victorious. + +To suppose that anything could have been gained by subjecting Milan to +the horrors of a siege seems at this date the veriest madness; +whatever Charles Albert's sins were, the capitulation of Milan was not +among them. The members of a wild faction, however, demanded +resistance to the death, or the death of the King if he refused. It is +their severest censure to say that their pitiless fury is not excused +even by the tragic fate of a population which, having gained freedom +unaided less than six months before, saw itself given back to its +ancestral foe by the man in whom it had hoped as a saviour. They saw +crimes where there were only blunders, which had brought the King to a +pass only one degree less wretched than their own. Crushed, +humiliated, his army half destroyed, his personal ambition--to rate no +higher the motive of his actions--trodden in the dust; and now the +name of traitor was hissed in his ears by those for whom he had made +these sacrifices. + +Stung to the heart, the King instructed General Bava to tell the +Milanese that if they were ready to bury themselves under the ruins of +the city, he and his sons were ready to do the same. But the +Municipality, convinced of the desperateness of the situation, had +already entered into negotiations with Radetsky, by which the +capitulation was ratified. On this becoming known, the Palazzo Greppi, +where Charles Albert lodged, was the object of a new display of rage; +an attempt was even made to set it on fire. During the night, the King +succeeded in leaving the palace on foot, guarded by a company of +Bersaglieri and accompanied by his son, the Duke of Genoa, who, on +hearing of his father's critical position, disobeyed the order to stay +with his regiment, and came into the city to share his danger. + +The next day, the 6th of August, the Austrians reentered Milan. They +themselves said that the Milanese seemed distraught. The Municipality +was to blame for having concealed from the people the real state of +things, by publishing reports of imaginary victories. Had the +unthinking fury of the mob ended, as it so nearly ended, in an +irreparable crime, the authors of these falsehoods would have been, +more than anyone else, responsible for the catastrophe. + +The campaign of 1848 was finished. From the frontier, Charles Albert +issued a proclamation to his people, calling upon the Piedmontese to +render the common misfortunes less difficult to bear by giving his +army a brotherly reception. 'In its ranks,' he concluded, 'are my sons +and I, ready, as we all are, for new sacrifices, new hardships, or for +death itself for our beloved fatherland.' + +The political and diplomatic transactions connected with the war in +Lombardy were the subject after it closed of much discussion, and of +some violent recriminations. Even from the short account given in +these pages, it ought to be apparent that the supreme cause of +disaster was simply bad generalship. Contemporaries, however, judged +otherwise; if they were monarchists, they attributed the failure to +the want of whole-hearted co-operation of the Provisional Governments +of Lombardy with the liberating King; if they were republicans, they +attributed it to the King's want of trust in the popular element, and +anxiety lest, instead of receiving an increase of territory, he should +find himself confronted with a new republic at his door. Both parties +were so far correct that the strain of double purposes, or, at least, +of incompatible aspirations which ran through the conduct of affairs, +militated against a fortunate ending. The Piedmontese Government, +even had it wished, would have found it difficult to adhere strictly +to the programme of leaving all political matters for discussion after +the war. What actually happened was that the union, under the not +altogether attractive form of Fusion with Piedmont (instead of in the +shape of the formation of an Italian kingdom), was effected at the end +of June and beginning of July over the whole of Lombardy and Venetia, +including Venice, where, perhaps alone, the feeling against it was not +that of a party, but of the bulk of the population. Manin shared that +feeling, but his true patriotism induced him to push on the Fusion in +order to avoid the risk of civil war. He retired into private life the +day it was accomplished, only to become again by acclamation Head of +the State when the reverses of Sardinia obliged the King's Government +to renounce the whole of his scarcely--acquired possessions, not +excepting Modena, which had been the first, by a spontaneous +plebiscite, to elect him Sovereign. + +The diplomatic history of the war is chiefly the history of the +efforts of the English Cabinet to pull up a runaway horse. Lord Minto +had been sent to urge the Italian princes to grant those concessions +which Austria always said (and she was perfectly right) would lead to +a general attack upon her power, but when the attack began, the +British Government strained every nerve to limit its extension and +diminish its force. That Lord Palmerston in his own mind disliked +Austria, and would have been glad to see North Italy free, does not +alter the fact that he played the Austrian game, and played it with +success. He strongly advised every Italian prince to abstain from the +conflict, and it is further as certain as anything can well be, that +his influence, exercised through Lord Normanby, alone averted French +intervention in August 1848, when the desperate state of things made +the Italians willing to accept foreign aid. What would have happened +if the French had intervened it is interesting to speculate, but +impossible to decide. Their help was not desired, except as a last +resource, by any party in Italy, nor by any man of note except Manin. +The republicans wished Italy to owe her liberation to herself; Charles +Albert wished her to owe it to him. The King also feared a republican +propaganda, and was uneasy, not without reason, about Savoy and Nice. +Lamartine would probably have been satisfied with the former, but it +is doubtful if Charles Albert, though capable of giving up his crown +for Italy, would have been capable of renouncing the cradle of his +race. When Lamartine was succeeded by Cavaignac, perhaps Nice would +have been demanded as well as Savoy. That both the King and Mazzini +were right in mistrusting the sentiments of the French Government, is +amply testified by a letter written by Jules Bastide to the French +representative at Turin, in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs +speaks of the danger to France of the formation of a strong monarchy +at the foot of the Alps, that would tend to assimilate the rest of +Italy, adding the significant words: 'We could admit the unity of +Italy on the principle and in the form of a federation of independent +states, each balancing the other, but never a unity which placed the +whole of Italy under the dominion of one of these states.' + +Whether, in spite of all this, a political mistake was not made in not +accepting French aid when it was first offered (in the spring of 1848) +must remain an open question. When the French came eleven years later, +they were actuated by no purer motives, but who would say that Cavour, +instead of seeking, should have refused the French alliance? + +One other point has still to be noticed: the proposal made by Austria +in the month of May to give up Lombardy unconditionally if she might +keep Venetia, which was promised a separate administration and a +national army. Nothing shows the state of mind then prevailing in a +more distinct light than the scorn with which this offer was +everywhere treated. Lord Palmerston declined to mediate on such a +basis 'because there was no chance of the proposal being entertained,' +which proved correct, as when it was submitted to the Provisional +Government of Milan, it was not even thought worth taking into +consideration. No one would contemplate the sacrifice of Venice by a +new Campo Formio. + +Far, indeed, was Austria the victorious in August from Austria the +humiliated in May. On the 9th of August, Hess and Salasco signed the +armistice between the lately contending Powers. The next day the +Emperor Ferdinand returned to his capital, from which he had been +chased in the spring. He might well congratulate himself upon the +marvellous recovery of his empire; but the revolution in Hungary was +yet to be quelled, and another rising at Vienna in October tried his +nerves, which were never of the strongest. On the 2nd of December he +abdicated in favour of his young nephew, the Archduke Francis Joseph, +who had been brought face to face more than once on the Mincio with +the Duke of Savoy, whom he rivalled in personal courage. + +On the 10th of December, another event occurred which placed a new +piece on the European chess-board: Louis Napoleon was elected to the +Presidency of the French Republic. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE DOWNFALL OF THRONES + +1848-1849 + +Garibaldi Arrives--Venice under Manin--The Dissolution of the Temporal +Power--Republics at Rome and Florence. + + +While the remnant of the Piedmontese army recrossed the bridge over +the Ticino at Pavia, crushed, though not though want of valour, +outraged in the person of its King, surely the saddest vanquished host +that ever retraced in sorrow the path it had traced in the wildest +joy, a few thousand volunteers in Lombardy still refused to lay down +their arms or to recognise that, after the capitulation of Milan, all +was lost. Valueless as a fact, their defiance of Austria had value as +a prophecy, and its prophetic aspect comes more clearly into view when +it is seen that the leader of the little band was Garibaldi, while its +standard-bearer was Mazzini. These two had lately met for the first +time since 1833, when Garibaldi, or 'Borel,' as he was called in the +ranks of 'Young Italy,' went to Marseilles to make the acquaintance of +the head and brain of the society which he had joined, as has been +mentioned, on the banks of the Black Sea. + +'When I was young and had only aspirations,' said Garibaldi in London +in April 1864, 'I sought out a man who could give me counsel and guide +my youthful years; I sought him as the thirsty man seeks water. This +man I found; he alone kept alive the sacred fire, he alone watched +while all the world slept; he has always remained my friend, full of +love for his country, full of devotion for the cause of freedom: this +man is Joseph Mazzini.' + +The words spoken then--when the younger patriot was the chosen hero of +the greatest of free nations, while the elder, still misunderstood by +almost all, was shunned and calumniated, and even called 'the worst +enemy of Italy'--gave one fresh proof, had one been wanting, that, +though there have been more flawless characters than Garibaldi, never +in a human breast beat a more generous heart. Politically, there was +nearly as much divergence between Mazzini and Garibaldi as between +Mazzini and Cavour; the master thought the pupil lacked ideality, the +pupil thought the master lacked practicalness; but they were at one in +the love of their land and in the desire to serve her. + +On parting with Mazzini in 1833, Garibaldi, then captain of a sailing +vessel, went to Genoa and enrolled himself as a common sailor in the +Royal Piedmontese Navy. The step, strange in appearance, was certainly +taken on Mazzini's advice, and the immediate purpose was doubtless to +make converts for 'Young Italy' among the marines. Had Garibaldi been +caught when the ruthless persecution of all connected with 'Young +Italy' set in, he would have been shot offhand, as were all those who +were found dabbling with politics in the army and navy. He escaped +just in time, and sailed for South America. + +The _Gazzetta Piemontese_ of the 17th of June 1834 published the +sentence of death passed upon him, with the rider which declared him +exposed to public vengeance 'as an enemy of the State, and liable to +all the penalties of a brigand of the first category.' He saw the +paper; and it was the first time that he or anyone else had seen the +name of Giuseppe Garibaldi in print; a name of which Victor Emmanuel +would one day say that 'it filled the furthest ends of the earth.' + +Profitable to Italy, over nearly every page of whose recent history +might be written 'out of evil cometh forth good,' was the banishment +which threw Garibaldi into his romantic career of the next twelve +years between the Amazon and the Plata. Soldier of fortune who did not +seek to enrich himself; soldier of freedom who never aimed at power, +he always meant to turn to account for his own country the experience +gained in the art of war in that distant land, where he rapidly became +the centre of a legend, almost the origin of a myth. Antique in +simplicity, singleness, superabundance of life, and in a sort of +naturalism which is not of to-day; unselfconscious, trustful in +others, forgiving, incapable of fear, abounding in compassion, +Garibaldi's true place is not in the aggregation of facts which we +call history, but in the apotheosis of character which we call the +_Iliad_, the _Mahabharata_, the _Edda_, the cycles of Arthur and of +Roland, and the _Romancero del Cid_. + +In childhood he rescued a drowning washerwoman; in youth he nursed men +dying of cholera; as a veteran soldier he passed the night among the +rocks of Caprera hunting for a lamb that was lost. No amount of habit +could remove the repugnance he felt at uttering the word 'fire.' Yet +this gentle warrior, when his career was closed and he lay chained to +his bed of pain, endorsed his memoirs with the Spanish motto: 'La +guerra es la verdadera vida del hombre.' War was the veritable life of +Garibaldi; war, not conspiracy; war, not politics; war, not, alas! +model farming, for which the old chief fancied in his later years that +he had discovered in himself a vocation. + +Riding the wild horses and chasing the wild cattle of the Pampas, his +eyes covering the immense spaces untrodden by man, this corsair of +five-and-twenty drank deep of the innocent pleasures of untamed +nature, when not occupied in fighting by land or sea, with equal +fortune; or rather, perhaps, with greater fortune and greater proof of +inborn genius as commander of the naval campaign of the Paran[=a] than +as defender of Monte Video. No adventures were wanting to him; he was +even imprisoned and tortured. In South America he found the one woman +worthy to bear his name, the lion-hearted Anita, whom he carried off, +she consenting, from her father and the man to whom her father had +betrothed her. Garibaldi in after years expressed such deep contrition +for the act which bore Anita away from the quiet life in store for +her, and plunged her into hardships which only ended when she died, +that, misinterpreting his remorse, many supposed the man from whom he +took her to have been already her husband. It was not so. Shortly +before the Church of San Francisco at Monte Video was burnt down (some +twenty years ago), the marriage register of Garibaldi and Anita was +found in its archives, and a legal copy was made. In it she is +described as 'Dona Ana Maria de Jesus, unmarried daughter of Don +Benito Rivevio de Silva, of Laguna, in Brazil.' The bridegroom, who +during all his American career had scarcely clothes to cover him, +parted with his only possession, an old silver watch, to pay the +priest's fees. Head of the Italian Legion, he only took the rations of +a common soldier, and as candles were not included in the rations, he +sat in the dark. Someone reported this to the Government, who sent him +a present of L20, half of which he gave to a poor widow. + +When the first rumours that something was preparing in Italy reached +Monte Video, Garibaldi wrote a letter offering his services to the +Pope, still hailed as Champion of Freedom, and soon embarked himself +for the Old World, with eighty-five of his best soldiers, among whom +was his beloved friend, Francesco Anzani. Giacomo Medici had been +despatched a little in advance to confer with Mazzini. At starting, +the Legion knew nothing of the revolution in Milan and Venice, or of +Charles Albert having taken the field. Great was their wonder, +therefore, on reaching Gibraltar, to see hoisted on a Sardinian ship a +perfectly new flag, never beheld by them out of dreams--the Italian +tricolor. + +So Garibaldi returned at forty-one years of age to the country where +the sentence of death passed upon him had never been revoked. Before +the law he was still 'a brigand of the first category.' Nor was he +quite sure that he would not be arrested, and, as a precaution, when +he cast anchor in the harbour of his native Nice, he ran up the Monte +Videan colours. It was needless. Throngs of people crowded the quays +to welcome home the Ligurian captain, who had done great things over +sea. Anita was there; she had preceded him to Europe with their three +children, Teresita, Menotti and Ricciotti. There, also, was his old +mother, who never ceased to be beautiful, the 'Signora Rosa,' as the +Nizzards called her. She was almost a woman of the people, but the +simple dignity of her life made all treat her as a superior being. To +her prayers, while she lived, Garibaldi believed that he owed his +safety in so many perils, and after her death the soldiers used to say +that on the eve of battles he walked apart communing with her spirit. + +From Nice, Garibaldi went to Genoa, where he took a last leave of his +friend Anzani, who returned from exile not to fight, as he had hoped, +but to die. The day before he expired, Medici arrived at Genoa; he was +very angry with the Chief, in consequence of some disagreement as to +the place of landing. Anzani said to him entreatingly: 'Do not be +hard, Medici, on Garibaldi; he is a predestined man: a great part of +the future of Italy is in his hands.' The counsel from dying lips sank +deep into Medici's heart; he often disagreed with Garibaldi, but to +his last day he never quarrelled with him again. Long years after, if +friction arose between Garibaldi and his King, it was Medici's part to +throw oil on the waters. + +Garibaldi sought an interview with Charles Albert, and offered him his +arms and the arms of his Legion, 'not unused to war.' Pope or prince, +little it mattered to him who the saviour of Italy should be. But +Charles Albert, though he was polite, merely referred his visitor to +his ministers, and the inestimable sword of the hero went begging for +a month or more, till the Provisional Government of Milan gave him the +command of the few thousand volunteers with whom we saw him at the +conclusion of the campaign. The war was over before he had a chance of +striking a blow. His indignant cry of defiance could not be long +sustained, for Garibaldi never drove men to certain and useless +slaughter; when the real position of things became known to him, he +led his band over the Swiss confines, and bid them wait for a better +and not distant day. + +Under Manin's wise rule, which was directed solely to the preservation +of peace within the city, and resistance to the enemy at its gates, +Venice remained undaunted by the catastrophes in Lombardy, after all +the Venetian _terra firma_ had been restored to Austria. (Even the +heroic little mountain fort of Osopo in the Friuli was compelled to +capitulate on the 12th of October.) The blockade of the city on the +lagunes did not prevent Venice from acting not only on the defensive +but on the offensive; in the sortie of the 27th of October, 2500 +Venetians drove the Austrians from Mestre with severe losses, carrying +back six captured guns, which the people dragged in triumph to the +Doge's palace. A cabin-boy named Zorzi was borne on the shoulders of +the soldiers enveloped in the Italian flag; his story was this: the +national colours, floating from the mast of the pinnace on which he +served, were detached by a ball and dropped into the water; the child +sprang in after them, and with a shout of _Viva l'Italia,_ fixed them +again at the masthead under a sharp fire. Zorzi was, of course, the +small hero of the hour, especially among the women. General Pepe +commanded the sortie, with Ulloa, Fontana and Cosenz as his +lieutenants; Ugo Bassi, the patriot monk of Bologna, marched at the +head of a battalion with the crucifix, the only arms he ever carried, +in his hand. The success cost Italy dear, as Alessandro Poerio, poet +and patriot, the brother of Baron Carlo Poerio of Naples, lost his +life by a wound received at Mestre. But the confidence of Venice in +her little army was increased a hundredfold. + +The most important event of the autumn of 1848 was the gradual but +continuous break-up of the Papal authority in Rome. The meeting of the +new Parliament only served to accentuate the want of harmony between +the Pope and his ministers; assassinations were frequent; what law +there was was administered by the political clubs. In Count Terenzio +Mamiani, Pius IX. found a Prime Minister who, for eloquence and +patriotism, could hardly be rivalled, but hampered as he was by the +opposition he encountered from the Sovereign, and by the absence of +any real or solid moderate constitutional party in the Chamber of +Deputies, Mamiani could carry out very few of the improvements he +desired to effect, and in August he retired from an impracticable +task, to be replaced by men of less note and talent than himself. + +Wishing to create fresh complications for the Pope, the Austrians +invaded the Legations, regardless of his protests, and after the fall +of Milan, General Welden advanced on Bologna, where, however, his +forces were so furiously attacked by the inhabitants and the few +carabineers who were all the troops in the town, that they were +dislodged from the strong position they had taken up on the +Montagnola, the hill which forms the public park, and obliged to fly +beyond the city walls. Radetsky disapproved of Welden's movements on +Bologna, and ordered him not to return to the assault. + +Had the Austrians returned and massacred half the population of +Bologna, the Pope might have been saved. When Rome heard that the +stormy capital of Romagna was up in arms, once more, for a moment, +there were united counsels. 'His Holiness,' ran the official +proclamation, 'was firmly resolved to repel the Austrian invasion with +all the means which his State and the well-regulated enthusiasm of his +people could supply.' The Chamber confirmed the ministerial proposal +to demand French help against Austria. But all this brave show of +energy vanished with the pressing danger, and Bologna, which, by its +manly courage, had galvanised the whole bloodless body-politic, now +hastened the hour of dissolution by lapsing into a state of deplorable +anarchy, the populace using the arms with which they had driven out +the Austrians, to establish a reign of murder and pillage. L.C. Farini +restored something like order, but the general weakness of the power +of government became every day more apparent. + +The Pope made a last endeavour to avert the catastrophe by calling to +his counsels Count Pellegrino Rossi, a man of unyielding will, who was +as much opposed to demagogic as to theocratic government. Rossi, +having been compromised when very young in Murat's enterprises, lived +long abroad, and attained the highest offices under Louis Philippe, +who sent him to Rome to arrange with the Pope the delicate question of +the expulsion of the Jesuits from France, which he conducted to an +amicable settlement, though one not pleasing to the great Society. +Not being one of those who change masters as they change their boots +according to the state of the roads, the ambassador retired from the +French service when Louis Philippe was dethroned. As minister to the +Pope, he made his influence instantly felt; measures were taken to +restore order in the finances, discipline in the army, public security +in the streets, and method and activity in the Government offices. The +tax on ecclesiastical property was enforced; fomenters of anarchy, +even though they wore the garb of patriots, and perhaps honestly +believed themselves to be such, were vigorously dealt with. If anyone +could have given the Temporal Power a new lease of life, it would have +been a man so gifted and so devoted as Pellegrino Rossi, but the +entire forces, both of subversion and of reaction, were against him, +and most of all was against him the fatality of dates. Not at human +bidding do the dead arise and walk. The most deeply to be regretted +event that happened in the course of the Italian revolution gave his +inevitable failure the appearance of a fortuitous accident. + +Parliament, which had been prorogued on the 26th of August, was to +open on the 15th of November. Anarchy, black and red, was in the air. +Though disorders were expected, Rossi made no provision for keeping +the space clear round the palace where Parliament met; knots of men, +with sinister faces, gathered in all parts of the square. Rossi was +warned in the morning that an attempt would be made to assassinate +him; he was entreated not to go to the Chamber, to which he replied +that it was his duty to be present, and that if people wanted his +blood they would have it sooner or later, whether he took precautions +or not. Two policemen to keep the passage free when he reached the +Chamber would, nevertheless, have saved his life. As he walked from +his carriage to the stairs, an unknown individual pushed against him +on the right side, and when he turned to see who it was, the assassin +plunged a dagger in his throat. He fell, bathed in blood, to expire +without uttering a word. + +In the Chamber, the deputies proceeded to business; not one raised an +indignant protest against a crime which violated the independence of +the representatives of the nation. The mere understanding of what +liberty means is absolutely wanting in most populations when they +first emerge from servitude. + +After the craven conduct of the deputies, it is no wonder if the dregs +of the people went further, and paraded the streets singing songs in +praise of the assassin. The Pope summoned the Presidents of the two +Chambers and Marco Minghetti, whom he requested to form a new +ministry. But the time for regular proceeding was past; the city was +in the hands of the mob, which imposed on the Pope the acceptance of a +ministry of nonentities nominated by it. The Swiss Guard fired on the +crowd which attempted to gain access to the Quirinal; the crowd, +reinforced by the Civic Guard, returned to the attack and fired +against the walls, a stray shot killing Monsignor Palma, who was in +one of the rooms. The Pope decided on flight. He left Rome in disguise +during the evening of the 25th of November. After gaining the +Neapolitan frontier, he took the road to Gaeta. The illusion of the +Pope Liberator ended with the Encyclical; the illusion of the +Constitutional Pope ended with the flight to Gaeta. Pius IX. was only +in a limited degree responsible for his want of success, because the +task he had set before him was the quadrature of the circle in +politics. + +The weight of a less qualified responsibility rests upon him for his +subsequent actions. On the 3rd of December Parliament voted a proposal +to send a deputation to the Pope, praying him to return to his States. +To give the deputation greater authority, the Municipality of Rome +proposed that the Syndic, the octogenarian Prince Corsini, should +accompany it. It also comprised two ecclesiastics, and thus +constituted, it left Rome for Gaeta on the 5th of December. On the +borders of the Neapolitan kingdom its passage was barred by the +police, and it was obliged to retrace its steps to Terracina. Here the +deputation drew up a letter to Cardinal Antonelli (no longer the +patriotic minister of the spring), in which an audience with the +Sovereign Pontiff was respectfully requested. The answer came that the +Pope would not receive the deputation. It was an answer that he was at +liberty to make, but it should have meant abdication. If, called back +by the will of the Parliament of his own making, the Sovereign deigned +not even to receive the bearers of the invitation, in what way did he +contemplate resuming the throne? It was only too easy to guess. The +Head of Christendom had become a convert of King Ferdinand of Naples, +otherwise Bomba. By a path strewn with the sinister flowers of war did +Pius IX. meditate returning to his subjects--by that path and no +other. + +The Galetti-Sterbini ministry, appointed by the Pope under popular +pressure a few days before his departure, remained in charge of +affairs, somewhat strengthened by the adhesion of Terenzio Mamiani as +Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mamiani at first declined to form part of +the ministry, but joined it afterwards with self-sacrificing +patriotism, in the hope of saving things from going to complete rack +and ruin during the interregnum caused by the withdrawal of the Head +of the State. He only retired from the ungrateful office when he saw +the imminence of a radical change in the form of government, which was +not desired by him any more than it had been by Rossi. + +The mass of the population of the Roman States had desired such a +change ever since the days of Gregory; the temporary enthusiasm for +Pius, if it arrested the flow of the stream, did not prevent the +waters from accumulating beyond the dyke. One day the dyke would +burst, and the waters sweep all before them. + +A Constituent Assembly was convoked for the 5th of February 1849. The +elections, which took place on the 21st of January, were on this +basis: every citizen of more than twenty-one years was allowed to +vote; every citizen over twenty-five could become a deputy; the number +of deputies was fixed at two hundred; a candidate who received less +than 500 votes would not be elected. On the 9th of February, the +Constituent Assembly voted the downfall of the Temporal Power (free +exercise of his spiritual functions being, at the same time, assured +to the Supreme Pontiff), and the establishment of a republican form of +government. The Roman Republic was proclaimed from the Capitol. + +Ten votes were given against the republic. No government ever came +into existence in a more strictly legal manner. Had it not represented +the true will of the people, the last Roman Commonwealth could not +have left behind so glorious, albeit brief, a record. + +A youthful poet, descendant of the Doges of Genoa, Goffredo Mameli, +whose 'Fratelli d'Italia' was the battle-hymn to which Italy marched, +wrote these three words to Mazzini: 'Roma, Repubblica, Venite.' So +Mazzini came to Rome, which confided her destinies to him, as she had +once confided them to the Brescian Arnold and to Cola di Rienzi. Not +Arnold--not Rienzi in his nobler days--dreamed a more sublime dream of +Roman liberty than did Giuseppe Mazzini, or more nearly wrote down +that dream in facts. + +Originally the executive power was delegated to a committee, but this +was changed to a Triumvirate, the Triumvirs being Armellini, Saffi and +Mazzini. Mazzini's mind and will directed the whole. + +On the 18th of February, Cardinal Antonelli demanded in the Pope's +name the armed intervention of France, Austria, Spain and Naples, 'as +in this way alone can order be restored in the States of the Church, +and the Holy Father re-established in the exercise of his supreme +authority, in compliance with the imperious exigencies of his august +and sacred character, the interests of the universal Church, and the +peace of nations. In this way he will be enabled to retain the +patrimony which he received at his accession, and transmit it in its +integrity to his successors.' + +The Pope, who could not bring himself to stain his white robes with +the blood of the enemies of Italy, called in four armies to shoot down +his subjects, because in no other way could he recover his lost +throne. + +Pius IX. was the twenty-sixth Pontiff who called the foreigner into +Italy. + +The final conquest of the Pope by the party of universal reaction +could only be effected by his isolation from all but one set of +influences; this is precisely what happened at Gaeta. There are +reasons for thinking that his choice of the hospitality of the King of +the Two Sicilies, rather than that of France or Spain or Sardinia, was +the result of an intrigue in which Count Spaur, the Bavarian minister +who represented the interests of Austria in Rome after that power +withdrew her ambassador, played a principal part. Even after Pius +arrived at Gaeta, it is said that he talked of it as the first stage +of a longer journey. He had never shown any liking for the Neapolitan +Bourbons, and the willingness which he expressed to Gioberti to crown +Charles Albert King of Italy if his arms were successful, was probably +duly appreciated by Ferdinand II. To save the Pope from absorption by +the retrograde party, and to avoid the certainty of a foreign +invasion, Gioberti, who became Prime Minister of Piedmont in November +1848, was anxious to occupy the Roman states with Sardinian troops +immediately after the Pope's flight, when his subjects still +recognised his sovereignty. Gioberti resigned because this policy was +opposed by Rattazzi and other of his colleagues in the ministry. It +would have been a difficult _role_ to play; Sardinia, while +endeavouring to checkmate the reaction, might have become its +instrument. The failure of Gioberti's plan cannot be regretted, but +his forecast of what would happen if it were not attempted proved to +be correct. + +Soon after the arrival of his exalted guest, King Ferdinand with his +family, a great number of priests, and a strong escort, moved his +residence from the capital to Gaeta. The modified Constitution, +substituted for the first charter after the events of the 15th of May, +was still nominally in force; Parliament had met during the summer, +but the King solved the riddle of governing through his ministers, on +purely retrograde principles, without paying more heed to the +representatives of the nations than to the benches on which they sat. +Prorogued on the 5th of September, Parliament was to have met on the +30th of November, but when that date approached, it was prorogued +again to the 1st of February. 'Our misery has reached such a climax,' +wrote Baron Carlo Poerio, 'that it is enough to drive us mad. Every +faculty of the soul revolts against the ferocious reactionary +movement, the more disgraceful from its execrable hypocrisy. We are +governed by an oligarchy; the only article maintained is that +respecting the taxes. The laws have ceased to exist; the Statute is +buried; a licentious soldiery rules over everything, and the press is +constantly employed to asperse honest men. The lives of the deputies +are menaced. Another night of St Bartholomew is threatened to all who +will not sell body and soul.' Ferdinand only waited till he had +recovered substantial hold over Sicily to do away with even the +fiction of parliamentary government. Messina had fallen in September, +though not till half the city was in flames, the barbarous cruelties +practised on the inhabitants after the surrender exciting the +indignation of the English and French admirals who witnessed the +bombardment. This was the first step to the subjection of Sicily, but +not till after Syracuse and Catania fell did the King feel that there +was no further cause for anxiety--the taking of the capital becoming a +mere question of time. He was so much pleased at the fall of Catania +that he had a mock representation of the siege performed at Gaeta in +presence of the Pope and of half the sacred college. + +On the 13th of March Prince Torelli handed the President of the +Neapolitan Chamber of Deputies a sealed packet which contained a royal +decree dissolving Parliament. Naples was once more under an +irresponsible despotism. The lazzaroni of both the lower and higher +classes, if by lazzaroni may be understood the born allies of +ignorance, idleness and bigotry, rejoiced and were glad. Nor were they +few. Unlike the Austrians in the north, Ferdinand had his party; the +'fidelity of his subjects' of which he boasted, was not purely +mythical. Whether, considering its basis, it was much to boast of, +need not be discussed. + +In March, the happy family at Gaeta was increased by a new arrival. +Had he been better advised, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, would have +never gone to breathe that malarious atmosphere. He had played no +conjuror's tricks with his promises to his people; Austrian though he +was, he had really acted the part of an Italian prince, and there was +nothing to show that he had not acted it sincerely. But a persistent +bad luck attended his efforts. Though the ministers appointed by him +included men as distinguished as the Marquis Gino Capponi, Baron +Ricasoli and Prince Corsini, they failed in winning a strong popular +support. Leghorn, where the population, unlike that of the rest of +Tuscany, is by nature turbulent, broke into open revolution. In the +last crisis, the Grand Duke entrusted the government to the extreme +Liberals, Montanelli the professor, and Guerrazzi the novelist; both +were honourable men, and Guerrazzi was thought by many to be a man of +genius. The vigorous rhetoric of his _Assedio di Firenze_ had warmed +the patriotism of many young hearts. But, as statesmen, the only +talent they showed was for upsetting any _regime_ with which they were +connected. + +The Grand Duke was asked to convoke a Constituent Assembly, following +the example of Rome. If every part of Italy were to do the same, the +constitution and form of government of the whole country could be +settled by a convention of the various assemblies. The idea was worthy +of respect because it pointed to unity; but in view of the existing +situation, Tuscany's solitary adhesion would hardly have helped the +nation, while it was accompanied by serious risks to the state. The +Grand Duke seemed about to yield to the proposal, but, on receiving a +strong protest from the Pope, he refused to do so on the ground that +it would expose himself and his subjects to the terrors of +ecclesiastical censure. He still remained in Tuscany, near Viareggio, +till he was informed that a band of Leghornese had set out with the +intention of capturing his person. Then he left for Gaeta on board the +English ship _Bull Dog._ The republic had been already proclaimed at +Florence, with Montanelli and Guerrazzi as its chief administrators. +It succeeded in pleasing no one. Civil war was more than once at the +threshhold of Florence, for the peasants rose in armed resistance to +the new government. In less than two months the restoration of the +Grand. Ducal authority was accomplished almost of itself. +Unfortunately, the Grand Duke who was to come back was not the same +man as he who went away. The air of Gaeta did its work. + + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AT BAY + +1849 + +Novara--Abdication of Charles Albert--Brescia crushed--French +Intervention--The Fall of Rome--The Fall of Venice. + + +In the spring of 1848, a date might be found when every Italian ruler +except the Duke of Modena wore the appearance of a friend to freedom +and independence. In the spring of 1849 no Italian prince preserved +that appearance except the King of Sardinia. Many causes contributed +to the elimination, but most of all the logic of events. It was a case +of the survival of the fittest. What seemed a calamity was a step in +advance. + +Early in March, the Marquis Pallavicini, prisoner of Spielberg, had a +long interview with Charles Albert. They sat face to face talking over +Italian matters, and the King said confidently that the army was now +flourishing; if the die were cast anew, they would win. At parting he +embraced the Lombard patriot with the words: 'Dear Pallavicini, how +glad I am to have seen you again! You and I had always the same +thought; the independence of Italy was the first dream of my youth; it +is my dream still, it will be till I die.' + +Some characters grow small in misfortune, others grow great. The +terrible scene at the Palazzo Greppi, the charge of treason, the +shouts of 'death,' had left only one trace on Charles Albert's mind: +the burning desire to deliver his accusers. + +The armistice was denounced on the 12th of March, a truce of eight +days being allowed before the recommencement of hostilities. There is +such a thing in politics as necessary madness, and it may be doubted +if the Sardinian war of 1849 was not this thing. The programme of +_fare da se_ had now to be carried out in stern earnest. Sardinia +stood alone, neither from south of the Apennines nor from north of the +Alps could help be hoped for. France, which was meditating quite +another sort of intervention, refused the loan even of a general. +'They were not going to offend Austria to please Piedmont,' said the +French Cabinet. Worse than this, the army was not in the flourishing +state of which the King had spoken. The miseries of the retreat, but +infinitely more, the incidents of Milan, though wiped out by the King +from his own memory, were vividly recollected by all ranks. Affection +was not the feeling with which the Piedmontese soldiers regarded the +'fratelli Lombardi.' Did anyone beside the King believe that this +army, which had lost faith in its cause, in its leaders and in itself, +was going to beat Radetsky? The old Field-Marshal might well show the +wildest joy when the denunciation of the armistice was communicated to +him. And yet the higher expediency demanded that the sacrifice of +Piedmont and of her King for Italy should be consummated. + +Rattazzi announced the coming campaign to the Chambers on the 14th of +March; the news was well received; there was a general feeling that, +whatever happened, the present situation could not be prolonged. With +regard to the numbers they could put in the field, Austria and +Sardinia were evenly balanced, each having about 80,000 disposable +men. The request for a French marshal having been refused, the chief +command was given to Chrzanowski, a Pole, who did not know Italian, +had not studied the theatre of the war, and was so little favoured by +nature that, to the impressionable Italians, his appearance seemed +ludicrous. This deplorable appointment was made to satisfy the outcry +against Piedmontese generalship; as if it was not enough, the other +Polish general, Ramorino, accused of treachery by the revolutionists +in 1832, but now praised to the skies by the democratic party, was +placed in command of the fifth or Lombard division. + +Though Radetsky openly gave the word 'To Turin!' Chrzanowski seems to +have failed to realise that the Austrians intended to invade Piedmont. +He ordered Ramorino, however, with his 8000 Lombards, to occupy the +fork formed by the Po and the Ticino, so as to defend the bridge at +Pavia, if, by chance, any fraction of the enemy tried to cross it. +What Ramorino did was to place his division on the right bank of the +Po, and to destroy the bridge of boats at Mezzana Corte _between_ +himself and the enemy. The Austrians crossed the Ticino in the night +of the 20th of April, not with a fraction, but with a complete army. +Ramorino was deprived of his command, and was afterwards tried by +court-martial and shot. Whether his treason was intentional or +involuntary, it is certain that, had he stemmed the Austrian advance +even for half a day, the future disasters, if not averted, would not +have come so rapidly, because the Piedmontese would have been +forewarned. On the evening of the 21st, General D'Aspre, with 15,000 +men, took a portion of the Sardinian army unawares near Mortara, and, +owing to the scattered distribution of the Piedmontese, who would have +outnumbered him had they been concentrated, he succeeded in forcing his +way into Mortara by nightfall. The moral effect of this first reverse +was bad, but Chrzanowski rashly decided staking the whole fate of the +campaign in a field-day, for which purpose he gathered what troops he +could collect at La Biccocca, a hill capped with a village about a +mile and a half from Novara. Not more than 50,000 men were collected; +some had already deserted, and 20,000 were doing nothing on the other +side of the Po. + +Towards eleven o'clock D'Aspre arrived, and lost no time in beginning +the attack. He sent post-haste to Radetsky, Appel and Thurn to bring +all the reinforcements in their power as fast as possible. D'Aspre's +daring was rewarded by his carrying La Biccocca at about mid-day, but +the Duke of Genoa retook the position with the aid of the valorous +'Piemonte' brigade, and by two p.m. D'Aspre's brave soldiers were so +thoroughly beaten, that nothing could have saved his division from +destruction, as he afterwards admitted, had Chrzanowski joined in the +pursuit instead of staying behind with more than half the army, in +accordance with a preconceived plan of remaining on the defensive. + +At two o'clock on the 23rd of March, the news started on the wings of +the wind, and, as great news will do, swiftly reached every part of +the waiting country, that the Sardinians were getting the best of it, +that the cause was saved. Men who are not very old remember this as +the first strong sensation of their lives--this, and its sequel. + +Appel and Thurn, and Wratislaw and the old Field-Marshal were on the +march, and by four o'clock they were pouring their fresh troops upon +the Piedmontese, who had not known how to profit by their success. +Heroism such as few battlefields have seen, disorder such as has +rarely disgraced a beaten army, were displayed side by side in Charles +Albert's ranks. At eight in the evening, the whole Sardinian army +retired into Novara; the Austrians bivouacked on La Biccocca. The +Sardinians had lost 4000 in dead and wounded; the losses of the +victors were a thousand less. + +All the day long the King courted death, pressing forward where the +balls fell like hail and the confusion was at its height, with the +answer of despair to the devoted officers who sought to hold him +back: 'Let me die, this is my last day.' But death shuns the seeker. +Men fell close beside him, but no charitable ball struck his breast. +In the evening he said to his generals: 'We have still 40,000 men, +cannot we fall back on Alessandria and still make an honourable +stand?' They told him that it could not be done. Radetsky was asked on +what terms he would grant an armistice; he replied: 'The occupation of +a large district in Piedmont, and the heir to the throne as a +hostage.' Then Charles Albert knew what he must do. 'For eighteen +years,' he said, 'I have made every effort for the good of the people; +I grieve to see that my hopes have failed, not so much for myself as +for the country. I have not found death on the field of battle as I +ardently desired; perhaps my person is the only obstacle to obtaining +juster terms. I abdicate the crown in favour of my son, Victor +Emmanuel.' And turning to the Duke of Savoy he said: 'There is your +King.' + +In the night he left Novara alone for Nice. As he passed through the +Austrian lines, the sentinels were nearly firing upon his carriage; +General Thurn, before whom he was brought, asked for some proof that +he was in fact the 'Count de Barge' in whose name his passport was +made out. A Bersagliere prisoner who recognised the King, at a sign +from him gave the required testimony, and he was allowed to pass. At +Nice he was received by the governor, a son of Santorre di Santa Rosa, +and to him he addressed the last words spoken by him on Italian +ground: 'In whatever time, in whatever place, a regular government +raises the flag of war with Austria, the Austrians will find me among +their enemies as a simple soldier.' Then he continued his journey to +Oporto. + +The principal side-issue of the campaign of 1849 was the revolution at +Brescia. Had the original plan been carried out, which was to throw +the Sardinian army into Lombardy (and it is doubtful whether, even +after Radetsky's invasion of Piedmont, it would not have been better +to adhere to it), a corresponding movement on the part of the +inhabitants would have become of the greatest importance. To Brescia, +which was the one Lombard town where the Piedmontese had been received +in 1848 with real effusion, the Sardinian Minister of War despatched +Count Giuseppe Martinengo Cesaresco with arms and ammunition, and +orders to reassume the colonelcy of the National Guard which he held +in the previous year, and to take the general control of the movement +as far as Brescia was concerned. Martinengo succeeded in transporting +the arms through the enemy's country from the Piedmontese frontier to +Iseo, and thence to his native city. When he reached Brescia, he found +that the Austrians had evacuated the town, though they still occupied +the castle which frowns down upon it. This was the 23rd of March: +Novara was fought and lost, Piedmont was powerless to come to the +assistance of the people she had commanded to rise. What was to be +done? Plainly common sense suggested an honourable compromise with the +Austrian commandant, by which he should be allowed to reoccupy the +city on condition that no hair of the citizens' heads was touched. +This is what Bergamo and the other towns did, nor are they to be +blamed. + +Not so Brescia. Here, where love of liberty was an hereditary instinct +from the long connection of Brescia with free Venice, where hatred of +the stranger, planted by the ruthless soldiery of Gaston de Foix, had +but gone on maturing through three centuries, where the historical +title of 'Valiant,' coming down from a remote antiquity, was still no +fable; here, with a single mind, the inhabitants resolved upon as +desperate a resistance as was ever offered by one little town to a +great army. + +The Austrian bombardment was begun by the Irish General, +Nugent-Lavall, who, dying in the midst of it, left all his fortune to +the heroic city which he was attacking. The Austrians, flushed with +their victory over Charles Albert's army of 80,000, were seized with +rage at the sight of their power defied by a town of less than half +that number of souls. But with that rage was mingled, even in the mind +of Haynau, an admiration not to be repressed. + +Haynau who was sent to replace Nugent, was already known at Brescia, +where he had been appointed military governor after the resumption of +Austrian authority in 1848. In order to punish the 'persistent +opposition manifested to the legitimate Imperial and Royal +Government,' and as an example to the other towns, he had imposed on +the Brescian householders and the landed proprietors of the province a +fine of half a million francs. + +He now returned, and what he did may be best read in his own report on +the operations. 'It was then,' he wrote, 'that began the most murderous +fight; a fight prolonged by the insurgents from barricade to barricade, +from house to house, with extraordinary obstinacy. I should never have +believed that so bad a cause could have been sustained with such +perseverance. In spite of this desperate defence, and although the +assault could only be effected in part, and with the help of cannons of +heavy calibre, our brave troops with heroic courage, but at the cost of +great losses, occupied a first line of houses; but as all my columns +could not penetrate into the town at the same time, I ordered the +suspension of the attack at nightfall, limiting myself to holding the +ground conquered. In spite of that, the combat continued late into the +night. On the 1st of April, in the earliest morning light, the tocsin +was heard ringing with more fury than ever, and the insurgents reopened +fire with an entirely new desperation. Considering the gravity of our +losses, as well as the obstinacy and fury of the enemy, it was +necessary to adopt a most rigorous measure. I ordered that no prisoners +should be taken, but that every person seized with arms in his hand +should be immediately put to death, and that the houses from which shots +came should be burnt. It is thus that conflagrations, partly caused by +the troops, partly by the bombardment, broke out in various parts of the +town.' + +During the ten days' struggle, the citizens did not flinch for a +moment. Count Martinengo was the guiding spirit of the defence, and +scarcely left the most exposed of the barricades night or day. From +the nobles to the poorest of the people, all did their duty. A youth +named Tito Speri led and animated the populace. The horrors of the +repression make one think of the fall of Khartoum. Not even in +Hungary, where he went from Brescia to continue his 'system,' did +Haynau so blacken his own and his country's name as here. In a boys' +school kept by a certain Guidi, the master's wife, his mother and ten +of his pupils were slaughtered. A little hunchback tailor was carried +to the barracks to be slowly burnt alive. But stray details do not +give the faintest idea of the whole. And for all this, Haynau was in a +far higher degree responsible than the actual executants of the +vengeance to which he hounded on his ignorant soldiers, maddened with +the lust of blood. + +Such was General Haynau, 'whose brave devotion to his master's service +was the veteran's sole crime,' said the _Quarterly Review_ (June +1853), but who was judged otherwise by some in England. Wherefore was +he soundly beaten by the brewers in the employment of Messrs Barclay & +Perkins; and the nice words of the _Quarterly_ could not undo that +beating, redress for which Lord Palmerston blandly advised the +complainant to seek 'before the common tribunals.' He thought it best +to neglect the advice, and to leave the country. + +Among the curious taxes levied at Brescia during the six months after +its fall was one of L500 for 'the expenses of the hangman.' Count +Martinengo escaped after the Austrians were in possession of the town +through the courageous assistance given to him by a few young men of +the working class. Camozzi's band of Bergamasques, which started for +the relief of the sister city, was driven back with loss. + +The end was come, but woe to the victors. + +Following the Italian flag to where it still floated, we pass from +Brescia in the dust to Rome still inviolate, though soon to be +assailed by the bearers of another tricolor. A few days after Novara, +the Triumvirate issued a proclamation, in which they said: 'The +Republic in Rome has to prove to Italy and to Europe that our work is +eminently religious, a work of education and of morality; that the +accusations of intolerance, anarchy and violent upturning of things +are false; that, thanks to the republican principle, united as one +family of good men under the eye of God, and following the impulse of +those who are first among us in genius and virtue, we march to the +attainment of true order, law and power united.' Englishmen who were +in Rome at the time attest how well the pledge was kept. Peace and +true freedom prevailed under the republican banner as no man +remembered them to have prevailed before in Rome. The bitter +provocation of the quadruple attack was not followed by revengeful +acts on the parts of the government against those who were politically +and religiously associated with him at whose bidding that attack was +made. Nothing like a national party was terrorised or kept under by +fear of violence. 'That at such a time,' writes Henry Lushington, who +was not favourable to Mazzini, 'not one lawless or evil deed was done +would have been rather a miracle than a merit, but on much concurrent +testimony it is clear that the efforts of the government to preserve +order were incessant, and to a remarkable degree successful.' He adds +that the streets were far safer for ordinary passengers under the +Triumvirs than under the Papacy. + +Of great help in quieting the passions of the lower orders was the +people's tribune, Ciceruacchio, who had not put on black cloth +clothes, or asked for the ministry of war, or of fine arts, according +to the usual wont of successful tribunes. Ciceruacchio had the sense +of humour of the genuine Roman _popolano_, and it never came into his +head to make himself ridiculous. His influence had been first acquired +by works of charity in the Tiber floods. Being a strong swimmer, he +ventured where no one else would go, and had saved many lives. At +first a wine-carrier, he made money by letting out conveyances and +dealing in forage, but he gave away most of what he made. He opposed +the whole force of his popularity to a war of classes. 'Viva chi c'ia +e chi non c'ia quattrini!'[4] was his favourite cry. Once when a young +poet read him a sonnet in his honour he stopped him at the line 'Thou +art greater than all patricians,' saying that he would not have that +published: 'I respect the nobility, and never dream of being higher +than they. I am a poor man of the people, and such I will always +remain.' + +When the siege came, Ciceruacchio was invaluable in providing the +troops with forage, horses, and even victuals, which he procured by +making private sorties on his own account during the night; his +intimate knowledge of every path enabling him to go unobserved. He +planned the earthworks, at which he laboured with his hands, and when +fighting was going on, he shouldered a musket and ran with his two +sons, one of them a mere child, to wherever the noise of guns directed +him. No picture of Rome in 1849 would be complete without the burly +figure and jocund face of Angelo Brunetti. + +The republican government found Rome with a mere shadow of an army; +the efforts to create one had been too spasmodic to do anything but +make confusion worse confounded by changes and experiments soon +abandoned. Perseverance and intelligence now had a different result, +and the little army, called into existence by the republic, proved +admirable in discipline, various and fantastic as were its components. + +Towards the end of April, Garibaldi, who had been stationed at Rieti, +was ordered to bring his legion to Rome. Those who witnessed the +arrival saw one of the strangest scenes ever beheld in the Eternal +City. The men wore pointed hats with black, waving plumes; thin and +gaunt, their faces dark as copper, with naked legs, long beards and +wild dark hair hanging down their backs, they looked like a company of +Salvator Rosa's brigands. Beautiful as a statue amidst his +extraordinary host rode the Chief, mounted on a white horse, which he +sat like a centaur. 'He was quite a show, everyone stopping to look at +him,' adds the sculptor Gibson, to whom these details are owed. +'Probably,' writes another Englishman, 'a human face so like a lion, +and still retaining the humanity nearest the image of its Maker, was +never seen.' Garibaldi wore the historic red shirt, and a small cap +ornamented with gold. + +The origin of the red shirt might have remained in poetic uncertainty +had it not been mentioned a few years ago in a volume of reminiscences +published by an English naval officer. The men employed in the +Saladeros or great slaughtering and salting establishments for cattle +in the Argentine provinces wore scarlet woollen shirts; owing to the +blockade of Buenos Ayres, a merchant at Monte Video had a quantity of +these on his hands, and as economy was a great object to the +government, they bought the lot cheap for their Italian legion, little +thinking that they were making the 'Camicia Rossa' immortal in song +and story. + +The coming to Rome of the 1200 legionaries aroused private fears in +the hearts of the more timid inhabitants, but Garibaldi knew how to +keep his wild followers in hand, and gallant was the service they +rendered to Roman liberty. + +That liberty was now on the eve of its peril. The preliminaries of the +French intervention in Rome are tolerably well known; here it suffices +to say that every new contribution to a more precise knowledge of the +facts only serves to confirm the charge of dissimulation, or, to use a +plainer and far better adapted word, of dishonesty, brought against +the French government for their part in the matter. White, indeed, do +Austria, Spain and Naples appear--the avowed upholders of priestly +despotism--beside the ruler of republican France and his ministers, +whose plan it was not to fight the Roman republic: fighting was far +from their counsels, but to betray it. It is proved that the +restoration of the Temporal Power was the aim of the expedition from +the first; it is equally proved that the French sought to get inside +Rome by distinct disclaimers of any such intention. 'We do not go to +Italy,' they said, 'to impose with our arms a system of government, +but to assure the rights of liberty, and to preserve a legitimate +interference in the affairs of the peninsula.' They adopted a curious +method of assuring the rights of liberty. + +The Pope would not have anything to do with the affair. 'If you say +openly that you are going to give me back my Temporal Power, well and +good; if not, I prefer the aid of Austria.' So he replied to the +flattering tales whispered in his ear, while tales no less flattering +were being whispered in the ear of Mazzini. He declined to give the +French any guarantees as to his future mode of governing; it cannot be +said, therefore, that they were under the delusion that they were +restoring a constitutional sovereign. + +Efforts have been made to cast the responsibility of the Roman +intervention entirely on Louis Napoleon. Even Mazzini favoured that +view, but it is impossible to separate the President of the Republic +from the 325 deputies who voted the supplies for the expedition on the +2nd of April. Does anyone pretend that they were hoodwinked any more +than Ledru Rollin was hoodwinked, or the minority, which, roused by +his vigorous speech, voted against the grant? Louis Napoleon was far +less Papal in his sentiments than were most of the assenting deputies; +his own opinion was more truly represented by the letter which, as a +private citizen, he wrote to the 'Constitutionnel' in December 1848 +than by his subsequent course as President. In this letter he declared +that a military demonstration would be perilous even to the interests +which it was intended to safeguard. He had but one fixed purpose: to +please France, so as to get himself made Emperor. France must be held +answerable for the means taken to please her. + +General Oudinot landed at Civitavecchia on the 25th of April, his +friendly assurances having persuaded the local authorities to oppose +no resistance, an unfortunate error, but the last. The correct +judgment formed by the Roman Government of the designs of the invaders +was considerably assisted by a French officer, Colonel Leblanc, who +was sent to Rome by Oudinot to come to an agreement with Mazzini for +the amicable reception of the French, and who, losing his temper, +revealed more than he was meant to reveal. His last words, 'Les +Italiens ne se battent pas,' unquestionably expressed the belief of +the whole French force, from the general-in-chief to the youngest +drummer. They were soon going to have a chance of testing its +accuracy. + +The Roman Assembly passed a vote that 'force should be repelled by +force.' Well-warned, therefore, but with the proverbial _coeur leger_, +Oudinot advanced on Rome with 8000 men early on the 30th of April. At +eleven o'clock the two columns came in sight of St Peter's, and soon +after, the first which moved towards Porta Angelica was attacked by +Colonel Masi. Garibaldi attacked the second column a mile out of Porta +San Pancrazio. At the first moment the superior numbers of the French +told, and the Italians fell back on Villa Pamphilli, but Colonel +Galetti arrived with reinforcements, and before long Garibaldi drove +the French from the Pamphilli Gardens and had them in full retreat +along the Civitavecchia road. Oudinot was beaten, Rome was victorious. +'This does not surprise us Romans; but it will astonish Paris!' ran a +manifesto of the hour; the words are a little childish, but men are +apt to be childish when they are deeply moved. And as to the +astonishment of Paris, all the words in the world would fail to paint +its proportions. Paris was indeed astonished. + +Garibaldi had not the chief command of the Roman army, or he would +have done more; there was nothing to prevent the Italians from driving +Oudinot into the sea. The Triumvirate, when appealed to directly by +Garibaldi, refused their sanction, either fearing to leave the capital +exposed to the Neapolitans who were advancing, or (and this seems to +have been the real reason) still hoping that France would repudiate +Oudinot and come to terms. Garibaldi was right on this occasion, and +Mazzini was wrong. When you are at war, nothing is so ruinous as to be +afraid of damaging the enemy. + +The French ministers, bombarded with reproaches by friends and foes, +and most uneasy lest their troops in Italy should be destroyed before +they could send reinforcements, did disown Oudinot's march on Rome, +and Ferdinand de Lesseps was despatched nominally 'to arrange matters +in a pacific sense,' but actually to gain time. + +In a sitting in the French Assembly, a member of the opposition said +to the President of the Council: 'You are going to reinstate the +Pope!' 'No, no,' ejaculated Odilon Barrot. 'You are going to do the +same as Austria,' cried Lamoriciere. 'We should be culpable if we +did,' was the answer. Lesseps' instructions, very vague, for the rest, +were given to him in this spirit. That Lesseps acted in good faith has +been generally admitted, and was always believed by Mazzini. It was to +the interest of the French Government to choose a tool who did not +see how far he was a tool. But if Lesseps had no suspicions, if he had +not strong suspicions of the real object of his employers, then he was +already at this date a man singularly easy to deceive. + +The French envoy was commissioned to treat, not with the Triumvirate, +but with the Roman Assembly: a piece of insolence which the former +would have done well to reply to by sending him about his business. +Lesseps, however, thought that he would gain by speaking in person to +Mazzini, and in order that the interview should remain a secret, he +decided to go to him alone in the dead of the night and unannounced. +Having made the needful inquiries, he proceeded to the palace of the +Consulta, the doors of which seem to have been left open all night; +there were guards, but they were asleep, and the French diplomatist +traversed the long suite of splendid apartments, opening one into the +other without corridors. At last he reached the simply-furnished room +where, upon an iron bedstead, Mazzini slept. Lesseps watched him +sleeping, fascinated by the beauty of his magnificent head as it lay +in repose. He still looked very young, though there was hardly a state +in Europe where he was not proscribed. When Lesseps had gazed his +full, he called 'Mazzini, Mazzini!' The Triumvir awoke, sat up and +asked if he had come to assassinate him? Lesseps told him his name, +and a long conversation followed. One thing, at least, that Lesseps +said in this interview was strictly true, namely, that Mazzini must +not count on the French republican soldiers objecting to fire on +republicans: 'The French soldier would burn down the cottage of his +mother if ordered by his superiors to do so.' The discipline of a +great army is proof against politics. + +Lesseps was himself in much fear of being assassinated. He believed +that his footsteps were dogged by three individuals, one of whom was +an ex-French convict. He complained to Mazzini, who said that he could +do nothing, which probably shows that he gave no credence to the +story. Then Lesseps had recourse to Ciceruacchio, 'a man of the people +who had great influence on the population, and who had organised the +revolution.' The tribune seems to have quieted his fears and +guaranteed his safety. + +The French envoy could not help being struck by the tender care taken +of his wounded fellow-countrymen by the Princess Belgiojoso and other +noble ladies who attended the hospitals. Of prisoners who were not +wounded there were none, as they had been sent back scot-free to their +general a few days after the 30th of April. He was struck also by the +firm resolve of all classes not to restore the Pope. Some liked the +existing government, some did not, but all prayed heaven to be +henceforth delivered from the rule of an infallible sovereign. + +Whatever was the measure of confidence which Mazzini felt in Lesseps, +he was firm as iron on the main point--the non-admittance of the +'friendly' French troops into Rome. Lesseps dragged on the +negotiations till his government had finished the preparations for +sending to Rome a force which should not be much less than twice in +number the whole military resources of the republic. Then they +recalled him, and, in order not to be bound by anything that he might +have said, they set about the rumour that he was mad. Indignant at +such treatment, Lesseps left the diplomatic service, and turned his +attention to engineering. This was the origin of the Suez Canal. + +While all these things were going on, the Austrians moved from Ferrara +and Modena towards Bologna, the Spaniards landed at Fiumicino, and +16,000 Neapolitans, commanded by Ferdinand II., encamped near Albano. +Garibaldi was attacked on the 9th of May by the Neapolitan vanguard, +which he obliged to fall back. On the 18th, he completely defeated +King Ferdinand's army near Velletri, and the King ordered a general +retreat into his own dominions, which was accomplished in haste and +confusion. + +By the end of May, Oudinot's forces were increased to over 35,000 men. +The defenders of Rome, under the chief command of General Rosselli, +were about 20,000, of whom half were volunteers. Colonel Marnara's +Lombard Legion of Bersaglieri was, in smartness of appearance and +perfect discipline, equal to any regular troops; in its ranks were the +sons of the best and richest Lombard families, such as Dandolo, +Morosini and many others. Medici's legion was also composed of +educated and well-to-do young men. The Bolognese, under the Marquis +Melara, had the impetuous daring of their race, and Count Angelo +Masina did wonders with his forty lancers. Wherever Garibaldi was--it +was always in the hottest places--there were to be seen, at no great +distance, the patriot monk, Ugo Bassi, riding upon a fiery horse, and +the young poet of Free Italy, Goffredo Mameli, with his slight, boyish +figure, and his fair hair floating in the breeze. Nor must we omit +from the list of Garibaldi's bodyguard Forbes, the Englishman, and +Anghiar, the devoted negro, who followed his master like a dog. + +Oudinot formally disavowed all Lesseps' proceedings from first to +last, and announced, on the 1st of June, that he had orders to take +Rome as soon as possible. Out of regard, however, for the French +residents, he would not begin the attack 'till the morning of Monday +the 4th.' Now, though no one knew it but the French general, that +Monday morning began with Sunday's dawn, when the French attacked +Melara's sleeping battalion at the Roman outposts. It was easy for the +French to drive back these 300 men, and to occupy the Villa Corsini +('Villa,' in the Roman sense, means a garden) and the position +dominating Porta San Pancrazio; but Galetti came up and retook them +all, to lose them again by nine o'clock. Then Garibaldi, who was ill, +hurried to the scene from his sick-bed, and thrice that day he retook +and thrice he lost the contested positions--a brief statement, which +represents prodigies of valour, and the oblation of as noble blood as +ever watered the earth of Rome. Melara, Masina, Daverio, Dandolo, +Mameli: every schoolboy would know these names if they belonged to +ancient, not to modern, history. Bright careers, full of promise, cut +short; lives renounced, not only voluntarily, but with joy, and to +what end? Not for interest or fame--not even in the hope of winning; +but that, erect and crowned with the roses of martyrdom, Rome might +send her dying salutation to the world. + +At sunset the French had established their possession of all the +points outside the Gate of San Pancrazio, except the Vascello, a villa +which had been seized from their very teeth by Medici, who held it +against all comers. Monte Mario was also in their hands. + +Mazzini, whose judgment was obscured by his attribution of the Italian +policy of France to Louis Napoleon alone, hoped for a revolution in +Paris, but Ledru Rollin's attempt at agitation completely failed, and +the country applauded its government now that the mask was thrown +away. The reasons for revolutions in Paris have always been the same; +they have to do with something else than the garrotting of +sister-republics. + +Oudinot tightened his cordon; on the 12th of June he invited the city +to capitulate. The answer was a refusal; so, with the aid of his +excellent artillery, he crept on, his passage contested at each step, +but not arrested, till, on the 27th, the Villa Savorelli, Garibaldi's +headquarters, fell into the hands of the enemy, and, on the night of +the 29th, the French were within the city walls. St Peter's day is the +great feast of Rome, and this time, as usual, the cupola of St Peter's +was illuminated, the Italian flag flying from the highest point. The +thunderstorm, which proverbially accompanies the feast, raged during +the night; the French shells flew in all directions; the fight raged +fiercer than the storm; Medici held out among the crumbling walls of +the Vascello, which had been bombarded for a week; the heroic Manara +fell fighting at Villa Spada; Garibaldi, descending into the _melee_, +dealt blows right and left: he seemed possessed by some supernatural +power. Those around him say that it is impossible that he would have +much longer escaped death, but suddenly a message came summoning him +to the Assembly--it saved his life. When he appeared at the door of +the Chamber, the deputies rose and burst into wild applause. He seemed +puzzled, but, looking down upon himself, he read the explanation; he +was covered with blood, his clothes were honeycombed by balls and +bayonet thrusts, his sabre was so bent with striking that it would not +go more than half into its sheath. + +What the Assembly wanted to know was whether the defence could be +prolonged; Garibaldi had only to say that it could not. They voted, +therefore, the following decree: 'In the name of God and of the +People: the Roman Constituent Assembly discontinues a defence which +has become impossible, and remains at its post.' At its post it +remained till the French soldiers invaded the Capitol, where it sat, +when, yielding to brute force, the deputies dispersed. + +Mazzini, who would have resisted still, when all resistance was +impossible, wandered openly about the city like a man in a dream. He +felt as though he were looking on at the funeral of his best-beloved. +How it was that he was not killed or arrested is a mystery. At the end +of a week his friends induced him to leave Rome with an English +passport. + +On the 2nd of July, before the French made their official entry, +Garibaldi called his soldiers together in the square of the Vatican, +and told them that he was going to seek some field where the foreigner +could still be fought. Who would might follow him; 'I cannot offer you +honours or pay; I offer you hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles, +death.' + +Three thousand followed him. Beside her husband rode Anita; not even +for the sake of the child soon to come would she stay behind in +safety. Ugo Bassi was there; Anghiar was dead, Mameli was dying in a +hospital, but there was 'the partisan or brigand Forbes,' as he was +described in a letter of the Austrian general D'Aspre to the French +general Oudinot, with a good handful of Garibaldi's best surviving +officers. Ciceruacchio came with his two sons, and offered himself as +guide. No one knew what the plan was, or if there was one. Like +knights of old in search of adventures, they set out in search of +their country's foes. It was the last desperate venture of men who did +not know how to yield. + +After wandering hither and thither, and suffering severe hardships, +the column reached the republic of San Marino. The brave hospitality +of that Rock of freedom prevented Garibaldi from falling into the +clutches of the Austrians, who surrounded the republic. He treated +with the Regent for the immunity of his followers, who had laid down +their arms; and, in the night, he himself escaped with Anita, Ugo +Bassi, Forbes, Ciceruacchio and a few others. They hoped to take their +swords to Venice, but a storm arose, and the boats on which they +embarked were driven out of their course. Some of them were stranded +on the shore which bounds the pine-forest of Ravenna, and here, hope +being indeed gone, the Chief separated from his companions. Of these, +Ugo Bassi, and an officer named Livraghi, were soon captured by the +Austrians, who conveyed them to Bologna, where they were shot. +Ciceruacchio and his sons were taken in another place, and shot as +soon as taken. The boat which contained Colonel Forbes was caught at +sea by an Austrian cruiser: he was kept in Austrian prisons for two +months, and was constantly reminded that he would be either shot or +hung; but the English Government succeeded in getting him liberated, +and he lived to take part in more fortunate fights under Garibaldi's +standard. + +Meanwhile, Anita was dying in a peasant's cottage, to which Garibaldi +carried her when the strong will and dauntless heart could no longer +stand in place of the strength that was finished. This was the 4th of +August. Scarcely had she breathed her last breath when Garibaldi, +broken down with grief as he was, had to fly from the spot. The +Austrians were hunting for him in all directions. All the Roman +fugitives were proclaimed outlaws, and the population was forbidden to +give them even bread or water. Nevertheless--aided in secret by +peasants, priests and all whose help he was obliged to seek--Garibaldi +made good his flight from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean, the whole +route being overrun by Austrians. When once the western coast was +reached, he was able, partly by sea and partly by land, to reach the +Piedmontese territory, where his life was safe. Not even there, +however, could he rest; he was told, politely but firmly, that his +presence was embarrassing, and for the second time he left +Europe--first for Tunis and then for the United States. + +While the French besieged Rome, the Austrians had not been idle. They +took Bologna in May, after eight days' resistance; and in June, after +twenty days' attack by sea and land, Ancona fell into their hands. In +these towns they pursued means of 'pacification' resembling those +employed at Brescia. All who possessed what by a fiction could be +called arms were summarily slaughtered. At Ancona, a woman of bad +character hid a rusty nail in the bed of her husband, whom she wished +to get rid of; she then denounced him to the military tribunal, and +two hours later an English family, whose house was near the barracks, +heard the ring of the volley of musketry which despatched him. Austria +had also occupied the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; and when, in July, +Leopold II. returned to his state, which had restored him by general +consent and without any foreign intervention, he entered Florence +between two files of Austrian soldiery, in violation of the article of +the Statute to which he had sworn, which stipulated that no foreign +occupation should be invited or tolerated. The Grand Duke wrote to the +Emperor of Austria, from Gaeta, humbly begging the loan of his arms. +Francis Joseph replied with supreme contempt, that it would have been +a better thing if Leopold had never forgotten to whose family he +belonged, but he granted the prayer. Such was the way in which the +House of Hapsburg-Lorraine, that had done much in Tuscany to win +respect if not love, destroyed all its rights to the goodwill of the +Tuscan people, and removed what might have been a serious obstacle to +Italian unity. + +Austria, unable alone to cope with Hungary, committed the immeasurable +blunder of calling in the 200,000 Russians who made conquest certain, +but the price of whose aid she may still have to pay. Venice, and +Venice only, continued to defy her power. Since Novara, the first +result of which was the withdrawal of the Sardinian Commissioners, who +had taken over the government after the Fusion, Venice had been ruled +by Manin on the terms which he himself proposed: 'Are you ready,' he +asked the Venetian Assembly, 'to invest the Government with unlimited +powers in order to direct the defence and maintain order?' He warned +them that he should be obliged to impose upon them enormous +sacrifices, but they replied by voting the order of the day: 'Venice +resists the Austrians at all costs; to this end the President Manin is +invested with plenary powers.' All the deputies then raised their +right hand, and swore to defend the city to the last extremity. They +kept their word. + +It is hard to say which was the most admirable: Manin's fidelity to +his trust, or the people's fidelity to him. To keep up the spirits, to +maintain the decorum of a besieged city even for a few weeks or a few +months, is a task not without difficulty; but when the months run into +a second year, when the real pinch of privations has been felt by +everyone, not as a sudden twinge, but as a long-drawn-out pain, when +the bare necessities of life fail, and a horrible disease, cholera, +enters as auxiliary under the enemy's black-and-yellow, +death-and-pestilence flag; then, indeed, the task becomes one which +only a born leader of men could perform. + +The financial administration of the republic was a model of order and +economy. Generous voluntary assistance was afforded by all classes, +from the wealthy patrician and the Jewish merchant to the poorest +gondolier. Mazzini once said bitterly that it was easier to get his +countrymen to give their blood than their money; here they gave both. +The capable manner in which Manin conducted the foreign policy of the +republic is also a point that deserves mention, as it won the esteem +even of statesmen of the old school, though it was powerless to obtain +their help. + +The time was gone when France was disposed to do anything for Venice; +no one except the Archbishop of Paris, who was afterwards to die by +the hand of an assassin, said a word for her. + +In the past year, Lord Palmerston, though he tried to localise the +war, and to prevent the co-operation of the south, abounded in good +advice to Austria. He repeated till he was tired of repeating, that +she would do well to retire from her Italian possessions of her own +accord. If the French did not come now, he said, they would come some +day, and then her friends and allies would give her scanty support. As +for Lombardy, it was notorious that a considerable Austrian party was +in favour of giving it up, including the Archduke Ranieri, who was +strongly attached to Italy, which was the land of his birth. As for +Venice, Austria had against her both the principle of nationality, now +the rallying cry of Germany, and the principle of ancient prescription +which could be energetically invoked against her by a state to which +her title went back no farther than the transfer effected by +Buonaparte in the treaty of Campo Formio. These were his arguments; +but he was convinced, by this time, that arguments unsupported by big +battalions might as well be bestowed on the winds as on the Cabinet of +Vienna. From the moment that Radetsky recovered Lombardy for his +master, the Italian policy of the Austrian Government was entirely +inspired by him, and he was determined that while he lived, what +Austria had got she should keep. It was thus that, in reply to Manin's +appeal to Lord Palmerston, he only received the cold comfort of the +recommendation that Venice should come to terms with her enemy. + +The Venetian army of 20,000 men was reduced by casualties and sickness +to 18,000 or less. It always did its duty. The defence of Fort +Malghera, the great fort which commanded the road to Padua and the +bridge of the Venice railway, would have done credit to the most +experienced troops in the world. The garrison numbered 2500; the +besiegers, under Haynau, 30,000. Radetsky, with three archdukes, came +to see the siege, but, tired with waiting, they went away before it +was ended. The bombardment began on the 4th of May; in the three days +and nights ending with the 25th over 60,000 projectiles fell on the +fort. During the night of the 25th the Commandant, Ulloa, by order of +Government, quietly evacuated the place, and withdrew his troops; only +the next morning the Austrians found out that Malghera was abandoned, +and proceeded to take possession of the heap of ruins, which was all +that remained. + +After the beginning of July, an incessant bombardment was directed +against the city itself. Women and children lived in the cellars; fever +stalked through the place, but the war feeling was as strong as +ever--nay, stronger. Moreover, the provisions became daily scarcer, the +day came when hunger was already acutely felt, when the time might be +reckoned by hours before the famished defenders must let drop their +weapons, and Venice, her works of art and her population, must fall a +prey to the savage vengeance of the Austrians, who would enter by force +and without conditions. + +And this is what Manin prevented. The cry was still for resistance; +for the first time bitter words were spoken against the man who had +served his country so well. But he, who had never sacrificed one iota +to popularity, did not swerve. His great influence prevailed. The +capitulation was arranged on the 22nd, and signed on the 24th of July. +Manin had calculated correctly; on that day there was literally +nothing left to eat in Venice. + +In the last sad hours that Manin spent in Venice all the love of his +people, clouded for an instant, burst forth anew. Not, indeed, in +shouts and acclamations, but in tears and sobs; 'Our poor father, how +much he has suffered!' they were heard saying. He embarked on a French +vessel bound for Marseilles, poor, worn out and exiled for ever from +the city which he had guided for eighteen months; if, indeed, no spark +of his spirit animated the dust which it was the first care of +liberated Venice to welcome home. The Austrians broke up his doorstep +on which, according to a Venetian custom, his name was engraved. +Another martyr, Ugo Bassi, had kissed the stone, exclaiming: + +'Next to God and Italy--before the Pope--Manin!' The people gathered +up the broken fragments and kept them as relics, even as in their +hearts they kept his memory, till the arrival of that day of +redemption which, in the darkest hour, he foretold. + + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +'J'ATTENDS MON ASTRE' + +1849-1850 + +The House of Savoy--A King who keeps his Word--Sufferings of the +Lombards--Charles Albert's Death. + + +Circumstances more gloomy than those under which Victor Emmanuel II. +ascended the throne of his ancestors it would be hard to imagine. + +An army twice beaten, a bankrupt exchequer, a triumphant invader +waiting to dictate terms; this was but the beginning of the inventory +of the royal inheritance. The internal condition of the kingdom, even +apart from the financial ruin which had succeeded to the handsome +surplus of two years before, was full of embarrassments of the gravest +kind. There was a party representing the darkest-dyed clericalism and +reaction whose machinations had not been absent in the disaster of +Novara. Who was it that disseminated among the troops engaged in the +battle broadsides printed with the words: 'Soldiers, for whom do you +think you are fighting? The King is betrayed; at Turin they have +proclaimed the republic'? There were other broadsides in which Austria +was called the supporter of thrones and altars. The dreadful +indiscipline witnessed towards the end of, and after the conflict was +due more to the demoralising doctrines that had been introduced into +the army than to the insubordination of panic. There was another party +strengthened by the recent misfortunes and recruited by exiles from +all parts of Italy, which was democratic to the verge of republicanism +in Piedmont and over that verge at Genoa, where a revolution broke out +before the new King's reign was a week old. Constitutional government +stood between the fires of these two parties, both fanned by Austrian +bellows, the first openly, the second in secret. + +Victor Emmanuel was not popular. The indifference to danger which he +had shown conspicuously during the war would have awakened enthusiasm +in most countries, but in Piedmont it was so thoroughly taken for +granted that the Princes of the House of Savoy did not know fear, that +it was looked on as an ordinary fact. The Austrian origin of the +Duchess of Savoy formed a peg on which to hang unfriendly theories. It +is impossible not to compassionate the poor young wife who now found +herself Queen of a people which hated her race, after having lived +since her marriage the most dreary of lives at the dismallest court in +Europe. At first, as a bride, she seemed to have a desire to break +through the frozen etiquette which surrounded her; it is told how she +once begged and prayed her husband to take her for a walk under the +Porticoes of Turin, which she had looked at only from the outside. The +young couple enjoyed their airing, but when it reached Charles +Albert's ears, he ordered his son to be immediately placed under +military arrest. The chilling formalism which invaded even the private +life of these royal personages, shutting the door to 'good +comradeship' even between husband and wife, may have had much to do +with driving Victor Emmanuel from the side of the Princess, whom, +nevertheless, he loved and venerated, to unworthy pleasures, the habit +of indulgence in which is far easier to contract than to cure. + +[Illustration: VICTOR IMMANUEL] + +The King's address at this time was not conciliatory, and, indeed, it +never lost a bluntness which later harmonised well enough with the +reputation he gained for soldierly integrity, but which then passed +for aristocratic haughtiness. His personal friends were said to belong +to the aristocratic or even the reactionary party. In the perplexities +which encompassed him, he could not reckon on the encouragement of any +consensus of good opinion or confidence. He was simply an unknown man, +against whom there was a good deal of prejudice. + +Radetsky did not refuse to treat with Charles Albert, as has been +sometimes said, but the intolerably onerous terms first proposed by +him showed that he wished to force the abdication which Charles Albert +had always contemplated in the event of new reverses of fortune. +Radetsky was favourably disposed to the young Duke of Savoy, as far as +his personal feeling was concerned, a fact which was made out in +certain quarters to be almost a crime to be marked to the account of +Victor Emmanuel. The Field-Marshal did not forget that he was the +son-in-law of the Austrian Archduke Ranieri; it is probable, if not +proved, that he expected to find him pliable; but Radetsky, besides +being a politician of the purest blood-and-iron type, was an old +soldier with not a bad heart, and some of his sympathy is to be +ascribed to a veteran's natural admiration for a daring young officer. + +On the 24th of March, Victor Emmanuel, with the manliness that was +born with him, decided to go and treat himself for the conditions of +the armistice. It was the first act of his reign, and it was an act of +abnegation; but of how much less humiliation than that performed by +his father twenty-eight years before, when almost on the same day, by +order of King Charles Felix, the Prince of Carignano betook himself to +the Austrian camp at Novara, to be greeted with the derisive shout of: +'Behold the King of Italy!' Little did Radetsky think that the words, +addressed then in scorn to the father, might to-day have been +addressed in truthful anticipation to the son. + +The Field-Marshal took good care, however, that nothing but respect +should be paid to his visitor, whom he received half-way, surrounded +by his superb staff, all mounted on fine horses and clad in splendid +accoutrements. As soon as the King saw him coming, he sprang from his +saddle, and Radetsky would have done the same had not he required, +owing to his great age, the aid of two officers to help him to the +ground. After he had laboriously dismounted, he made a military +salute, and then embraced Victor Emmanuel with the greatest +cordiality. The King was accompanied by very few officers, but the +presence of one of these was significant, namely, of the Lombard Count +Vimercati, whom he particularly pointed out to Radetsky. + +While observing the most courteous forms, the Field-Marshal was not +long in coming to the point. The negotiations would be greatly +facilitated, nay, more, instead of beginning his reign with a large +slice of territory occupied by a foreign enemy for an indefinite +period, the King might open it with an actual enlargement of his +frontier, if he would only give the easy assurance of ruling on the +good old system, and of re-hoisting the blue banner of Piedmont +instead of the revolutionary tricolor. The moment was opportune; +Victor Emmanuel had not yet sworn to maintain the Constitution. But he +replied, without hesitation, that though he was ready, if needs be, to +accept the full penalties of defeat, he was determined to observe the +engagements entered into by his father towards the people over whom he +was called to reign. + +One person had already received from his lips the same declaration, +with another of wider meaning. During the previous night, speaking to +the Lombard officer above mentioned, the King said: 'I shall preserve +intact the institutions given by my father; I shall uphold the +tricolor flag, symbol of Italian nationality, which is vanquished +to-day, but which one day will triumph. This triumph will be, +henceforth, the aim of all my efforts.' In 1874, on the twenty-fifth +anniversary of Novara, Count Vimercati wrote to the King of Italy from +Paris to remind him of the words he had then spoken. + +When the King started for his capital, Radetsky offered to draw up his +troops as a guard of honour over the whole extent of occupied +territory between Novara and Turin. The offer was declined, and Victor +Emmanuel took a circuitous route to avoid observation. His journey was +marked throughout by a complete absence of state. Before he arrived, a +trusty hand consigned to him a note written in haste and in much +anguish by the Queen, in which she warned him to enter by night, as he +was likely to have a very bad reception. On the 27th of March he +reviewed the National Guard in the Piazza Castello on the occasion of +its taking the oath of allegiance. The ceremony was attended by Queen +Maria Adelaide in a carriage with her two little boys, the Princes +Umberto and Amedeo. There was no hostile demonstration, but there was +a most general and icy coldness. + +That evening, the terms of the armistice were communicated to the +Chamber. As was natural, they evoked the wildest indignation, a part +of which fell undeservedly on the King. Twenty thousand Austrians were +to occupy the district between the Po, Sesia and Ticino and half the +citadel of Alessandria. The excitement rose to its height when it was +announced that the Sardinian Fleet must be recalled from Venetian +waters, depriving that struggling city of the last visible sign of +support from without. The Chamber sent a deputation to the King, who +succeeded in persuading its members that, hard though the terms were, +there was no avoiding their acceptance, and that the original +stipulations were harder still. + +On the 29th, Victor Emmanuel took the oath to observe the Statute, to +exercise the royal authority only in virtue of the laws, to cause +justice to be fairly and fearlessly administered, and to conduct +himself in all things with the sole view to the interest, honour and +prosperity of the nation. + +A trifling accident occurred which might have been far from trifling; +one of the ornaments of the ceiling of the Palazzo Madama, where the +Parliament assembled, fell close to the King. As it was of great +weight, it would have killed anyone on whom it had fallen. 'Never mind +that,' said the King in Piedmontese dialect to Colonel Menabrea, who +was near him, 'it will not be the last!' + +The ministry which held office under the late King resigned; a new +one was formed, in which General Delaunay was President of the +Council, and Gioberti minister without a portfolio. The King was +advised to dissolve the Chamber, which had been elected as a war +parliament, and was ill-constituted to perform the work now required. +General La Marmora had orders to quell the insurrection at Genoa, the +motive of which was not nominally a change of government, but the +continuance of the war at all costs. Its deeper cause lay in the old +irreconcilability of republican Genoa with her Piedmontese masters, +breaking out now afresh under the strain of patriotic disappointment. +Like the 15th of May at Naples, the Genoese revolution was a folly +which can hardly be otherwise described than as a crime; it happened, +however, that in Piedmont there was a King who had not the slightest +intention of turning it into an excuse for a royal hark-back. Austria +and France offered Victor Emmanuel their arms to put down the +revolution, but, declining the not exactly disinterested attention, he +made a wise choice in La Marmora, who accomplished the ungrateful +task with expedition and humanity. An amnesty was granted to all but a +very few participators in the revolt. On the brief black list when it +was submitted to the King was the name of the Marquis Lorenzo Pareto, +who at one time had held the Foreign Office under Charles Albert. As +Colonel of the Genoese National Guard, his responsibility in joining +the insurrection was judged to be particularly heavy; but the King +refused to confirm his exclusion from the amnesty. 'I would not have +it said,' he objected, 'that I was harsh to one of my father's old +ministers.' + +The conception of Victor Emmanuel as a bluff, easy-going monarch is +mistaken. Very few princes have had a keener sense of the royal +dignity, or a more deeply-rooted family pride, or, when he thought fit +to resort to it, a more decisive method of preventing people from +taking liberties with him. But he knew that, in nearly all cases, +pardon is the best of a king's prerogatives. + +An instance to the point happened when he came to the throne. Two +officers of the royal household had caused him annoyance while he was +Duke of Savoy by telling tales of his unconventionality to his +easily-scandalised father. To them, perhaps, he owed the condign +punishment he had undergone for the famous promenade under the +Porticoes. At anyrate, they had procured for the Duke many bad +quarters-of-an-hour, but the King, when he became King, chose to be +completely oblivious of their conduct, and they remained undisturbed +at their posts. To those who pointed to King Leopold of the Belgians, +or to any other foreign example of a loyal sovereign who understood +the needs of his people as a model for Victor Emmanuel to imitate, he +was in the habit of replying: 'I remember the history of my fathers, +and it is enough.' + +'The Persians,' says the Greek historian, 'taught their children to +ride and to speak the truth.' In a land that had seen as much of +enthroned effeminacy and mendacity as Italy had seen, a prince fond of +manly exercise and observant of his word was more valuable than a +heaven-sent genius, and more welcome than a calendar saint. Piedmont +only could give such a prince to Italy. Its kings were not Spaniards +who, by way of improvement, became lazzaroni, nor were they Austrians +condemned by a fatal law to revert to their original type; they were +children of the ice and snow, the fellow-countrymen of their subjects. +All their traditions told of obstinacy and hardihood. They brought +their useful if scarcely amiable moral qualities from Maurienne in the +eleventh century. The second Count of Savoy, known as Amadeus with the +Tail, son of Humbert of the White Hands, founder of the House, went to +the Holy Roman Emperor with such a body of retainers that the guards +refused them entrance to the Council Chamber. 'Either I shall go in +with my Tail or not at all,' said Humbert, and with his Tail he went +in. This was the metal of the race. Even at the time when they were +vassals of the Empire, they expected to dictate rather than to obey. +They studiously married into all the great royal houses of Europe. +Though they persecuted their Vaudois subjects, who were only in 1848 +rewarded by emancipation for centuries of unmerited sufferings and +splendid fidelity, yet the Princes of Savoy had from the first, from +the White-Handed Humbert himself, held their heads high in all +transactions with the Holy See, between which and them there was an +ever-returning antagonism. Not to the early part of the nineteenth +century, when the rebound from revolutionary chaos did not suffice to +denationalise the Kings of Sardinia, but sufficed to ally them with +reaction, ought we to turn if we would seize the true bearings of the +development of the Counts of Maurienne into Kings of Italy. At that +moment the mission of Piedmont, though not lost, was obscured. What +has rather to be contemplated is the historic tendency, viewed as a +whole, of both reigning house and people. No one has pointed out that +tendency more clearly than the anonymous author of a pamphlet entitled +_Le Testament politique du Chevalier Walpole_ (published at Amsterdam +in 1769), who was able to draw the horoscope of the House of Savoy +with a correctness which seems almost startling. He was not helped by +either sympathy or poetic imagination, but simply by political logic. +Sardinia, he said, was the best governed state in Europe. Instead of +yielding to the indolent apathy in which other reigning families were +sunk, its princes sought to improve its laws and develop its resources +according to the wants of the population and the exigences of the +climate. Finance, police, the administration of justice, military +discipline, presented the picture of order. From the nature of the +situation, a King of Sardinia must be ambitious, and to satisfy his +ambition he had only to bide his time. Placed between two great Powers +he could choose for his ally whichever would give him the most, and by +playing this mute _role_, it was impossible that he would not +hereafter be called upon to play one of the most important parts in +Europe. Italy was the oyster disputed by Austria and France; might it +not happen that the King of Sardinia, becoming judge and party, would +devour the oyster and leave the shells to the rival aspirants? It was +unlikely, added this far-seeing observer, that the Italian populations +should have got so innured to their chains as to prefer the harsh, +vexatious government of Austria to the happy lot which Sardinian +domination would secure to them, but even if they had become +demoralised to this extent, they could not resist the providential +advance of a temperate, robust and warlike nation like Piedmont, led +by a prince as enlightened as the King (Charles Emmanuel) who then +reigned over it. + +The metaphor of the oyster recalls another, that of Italy being an +artichoke which the House of Savoy was to devour, a leaf at a time. +Whether or not a Duke of Savoy really invented this often-quoted +comparison, it is certain that power was what the rulers of Piedmont +cared for. They were no more a race of scholars and art patrons than +their people was a people of artists and poets. There is a story to +the effect that one Duke of Savoy could never make out what poetry +was, except that it was written in half lines, which caused a great +waste of paper. The only poet born in Piedmont found the country +unlivable. Recent research among the archives at Turin revealed facts +which were thought to be not creditable to certain princely persons, +and a gleaning was therefore made of documents to which the historical +student will no longer have access. The step was ill advised; what can +documents tell us on the subject that we do not know? Did anyone +suppose that the Savoy princes were commonly saints? Sainthood has +been the privilege of the women of the family, and they have kept it +mostly to themselves. But peccable and rough though the members of +this royal house may have been, very few of them were without the +governing faculty. 'C'est bien le souverain le plus fin que j'ai connu +en Europe,' said Thiers of Victor Emmanuel, whose acquaintance he made +in 1870, and in whom he found an able politician instead of the common +soldier he had expected. The remark might be extended back to all the +race. They understood the business of kings. A word not unlike the 'Tu +regere imperio populos, Romane, memento' of Virgil was breathed over +the cradle at Maurienne. If it did not send forth sons to rule the +world, its children were, at least, to be enthroned in the capital of +the Caesars, and to make Italy one for the first time since Augustus. + +From April to August 1849, the peace negotiations dragged on. The +pretensions of Austria were still exorbitant, and she resisted the +demand which Piedmont, weak and reduced though she was, did not fear +to make, that she should amnesty her Italian subjects who had taken +part in the revolution. Unequal to cope with the difficulties of the +situation, the Delaunay ministry fell, and Massimo d'Azeglio was +appointed President of the Council. This was a good augury for +Piedmont; D'Azeglio's patriotism had received a seal in the wound +which he carried away from the defence of Vicenza. Honour was safe in +his hands, whatever were the sacrifices to which he might be obliged +to consent. + +Some pressure having been put on Austria by France and England, she +agreed in July to evacuate Alessandria, and to reduce the war +indemnity from 230,000,000 francs to 75,000,000, which Piedmont +undertook to pay, onerous though the charge was in her deplorable +financial condition. But the amnesty question was the last to be +settled, and in this Piedmont stood alone. France and her. The +Piedmontese special envoy at Milan, Count Pralormo, wrote to Prince +Schwarzenberg on the 2nd of July that his Government could not give up +this point. It was a conscientious duty so universally and strongly +felt, that they were readier to submit to the consequences, whatever +they might be, than to dishonour themselves by renouncing it. In other +words, they were ready to face a new war, abandoned to their fate by +all Europe, to undergo a new invasion, which meant the utter +destruction of their country, rather than leave their Lombard and +Venetian fellow-countrymen to the revenge of Austria. Count Pralormo +added that he was speaking not only in the name of the ministry, but +of the King and the whole nation. The risk was no imaginary one; there +were many in Austria who desired an excuse for crushing the life out +of the small state which was the eternal thorn in the side of that +great Empire. Few remember now the sufferings of Piedmont for Italy, +or the perils, only too real, which she braved again and again, not +from selfish motives--for the Piedmontese of the old, narrow school, +who said that their orderly little country had nothing to gain from +being merged in a state of 25,000,000 were by no means in error--but +from genuine Italian fellow-feeling for their less happy compatriots +beyond their confines. + +At last, when the armistice concluded on the morrow of Novara had been +prolonged for five months, the treaty of peace was signed. Prince +Schwarzenberg offered to further reduce the indemnity, 75,000,000 to +71,000,000, but D'Azeglio having agreed to the former figure, +preferred to abide by his agreement. He thought, probably, that he +would thus gain some concession as to the amnesty, and, in fact, +Austria finally consented to pardon all but a small number of the +persons compromised in the late events. D'Azeglio still stood out, but +finding that there was no shadow of a chance of obtaining more than +this, he reluctantly accepted it. The great mass, the hundred thousand +and more fugitives who had left their homes in Lombardy and Venetia, +were, at any rate, promised a safe return. The city of Venice, as yet +undominated, though on the brink of her fall, was totally excluded. +The list of those whose banishment from Lombardy was confirmed, +comprises the noblest names in the province; with the exception of a +few who were excluded from the amnesty on the score that, before the +revolution, they were Austrian functionaries, nearly every unpardoned +Lombard was noble: Casati, Arese, Borromeo, Litta, Greppi, +Pallavicini, and the Princess Cristina Belgiojoso of Milan, the two +Camozzis of Bergamo, and G. Martinengo Cesaresco of Brescia. + +It must not be imagined that this amnesty ushered in a reign of +oblivion and mildness. It seemed, rather, that Austria, afraid of the +moral consequences of the return of so many unloving subjects, +redoubled her severity. The day following the promulgation of the +amnesty was the 18th of August, the Emperor of Austria's birthday. In +the morning, placards dissuading the citizens from taking part in the +official rejoicings were to be seen on the walls of Milan. The persons +who put these up were not caught, but in the course of the day a +crowd, consisting of all classes, made what the official report called +'a scandalous and anti-politic demonstration,' raising revolutionary +cries, and even saying uncomplimentary things of His Majesty, and +worse still, of the Austrian soldiers. During this 'shameful scene,' +of which the above is the Austrian and hence the most highly-coloured +description, the military arrested at hazard some of the crowd, who, +by a 'superior order,' were condemned to the following pains and +penalties:-- + + 1. Angelo Negroni, of Padua, aged thirty, proprietor, forty + strokes; + + 2. Carlo Bossi, watchmaker, aged twenty-two, forty strokes; + + 3. Paolo Lodi, of Monza, student, aged twenty-one, thirty strokes; + + 4. Giovanni Mazzuchetti, Milanese, barrister, aged twenty-four, + thirty strokes; + + 5. Bonnetti, Milanese, lithographer, aged thirty-one, fifty + strokes; + + 6. Moretti, Milanese, domestic servant, aged twenty-six, fifty + strokes; + + 7. Cesana, artist, aged thirty-two, forty strokes; + + 8. Scotti, shopkeeper, of Monza, fifty strokes; + + 9. Vigorelli, Milanese, proprietor, fifty strokes; + + 10. Garavaglia, of Novara, aged thirty-nine, thirty strokes; + + 11. Giuseppe Tandea, Milanese, aged forty, twenty-five strokes; + + 12. Rossi, Milanese, student, thirty strokes; + + 13. Carabelli, workman, forty strokes; + + 14. Giuseppe Berlusconi, fifty strokes; + + 15. Ferrandi, bookseller, thirty strokes; + + 16. Ernestina Galli, of Cremona, operatic singer, aged twenty, + forty strokes; + + 17. Maria Conti, of Florence, operatic singer, aged eighteen, + thirty strokes. + +There were other sentences of imprisonment in irons and on bread and +water, but the roll of the bastinado, extracted from the official +_Gazzetta di Milano_ may be left to speak for all the rest, and to +tell, with a laconicism more eloquent than the finest rhetoric, what +the Austrian yoke in Italy really meant. + +A few days after, the military commandant sent the Milanese +Municipality a bill for thirty-nine florins, the cost of rods broken +or worn-out, and of ice used to prevent gangrene, in the punishment +administered to the persons arrested on the 18th of August. Sixty +strokes with the Austrian stick were generally enough to prove fatal. +Women were flogged half-naked, together with the men, and in the +presence of the Austrian officers, who came to see the spectacle. + +When the treaty of peace with Austria was signed, there arose a new +difficulty; the Sardinian Chamber of Deputies refused to approve it. +Some of the deputies asked why they should be called upon either to +accept or reject it, on which they were reminded of the 75,000,000 +francs indemnity, funds for the discharge of which could not be +legally raised without a parliamentary vote. The reluctance to share +in an odious though necessary responsibility made these novices in +representative government anxious to throw away the greatest, if not +the sole guarantee of constitutional freedom. Brofferio, by far the +ablest man of the extreme radical party, who had opposed all peace +proposals as long as Rome and Venice still resisted, now advised his +friends to bow before the inevitable. But they did not comply, and the +ministers had no other alternative than to resort to a fresh appeal to +the country. + +The crisis was serious, because no amount of loyalty on the part of +the head of the state can save liberty when the representatives of a +nation, taking the bit between their teeth, set themselves +deliberately to work to make government impossible. People are too +fond of talking of liberty as if it were something locked up in a box +which remains safe as long as the guardian of the box does not steal +it or sell it. Liberty is in the charge of all and at the mercy of +all. There were not wanting persons who blamed the new dissolution as +unconstitutional, and who called the proclamation of Moncalieri which +announced it an act of despotism and of improper interference with the +independence of the electors. It is hardly too much to say that it was +this royal proclamation that saved Piedmont. The King appealed to +Italy and to Europe for judgment on the conduct of the late Chamber. +Having signed, he said, a 'not ruinous' treaty with Austria, which the +honour of the country and the sanctity of his word required to be +faithfully executed, the majority sought to make that execution +legally impracticable. He continued: 'I have promised to save the +nation from the tyranny of parties, whatever be the name, scope and +position of the men who constitute them. These promises I fulfil by +dissolving a Chamber which had become impossible, and by convoking the +immediate assemblage of another parliament; but if the electors of the +country deny me their help, not on me will fall henceforth the +responsibility of the future; and if disorders follow, let them +complain, not of me, but of themselves. Never, up till now, has the +House of Savoy had recourse in vain to the faithfulness, wisdom and +honour of its peoples. I have therefore the right to trust in them on +the present occasion, and to hold for certain that, united together, +we shall save the constitution and the country from the dangers by +which they are menaced.' + +The Proclamation produced a great effect, and the parliament which met +on the 20th of December contained a working majority of men who were +not only patriotic, but who were also endowed with common sense. When +the ratification of the peace came on for discussion, there was, +indeed, one deputy who spoke in favour of immediate war, which, in a +fortnight, was to effect the liberation, not only of Lombardy and +Venetia, but also of Hungary, a speech worth recalling, as it shows +how far madness will go. The debate concluded with a vote authorising +the King's government to fully carry out the treaty of peace which was +concluded at Milan on the 6th of August 1849, the ayes being 137 +against 17 noes. Piedmont had learnt the bitter but useful lesson, +that if you play and lose, you must pay the cost. + +He who had played and lost his crown had already paid the last fee to +fortune. Charles Albert was now a denizen of the Superga--of all +kings' burial places, the most inspiring in its history, the most +sublime in its situation. Here Victor Amadeus, as he looked down on +the great French army which, for three months, had besieged his +capital, vowed to erect a temple if it should please the Lord of Hosts +to grant him and his people deliverance from the hands of the enemy. +Five days later the French were in flight. All the Alps, from Mon Viso +to the Simplon, all Piedmont, and beyond Piedmont, Italy to the +Apennines, can be scanned from the church which fulfilled the royal +vow. + +To the Superga the body of Charles Albert was brought from the place +of exile. Before the coffin, his sword was carried; after it, they led +the war-horse he had ridden in all the battles. After the war-horse +followed a great multitude. He had said truly that it was an opportune +time for him to die. The pathos of his end rekindled the affections of +the people for the dynasty. + +As in the Mosque of dead Sultans in Stamboul, so in the Mausoleum of +the Superga, each sovereign occupied the post of honour only till the +next one came to join him. But the post of honour remains, and will +remain, to Charles Albert. His son lies elsewhere. + + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE REVIVAL OF PIEDMONT + +1850-1856 + +Restoration of the Pope and Grand Duke of Tuscany--Misrule at +Naples--The Struggle with the Church in Piedmont--The Crimean War. + + +The decade from 1849 to 1859 may seem, at first sight, to resemble an +interregnum, but it was an evolution. There is no pause in the life of +nations any more than in the life of individuals: they go forward or +they go backward. In these ten years Piedmont went forward; the other +Italian governments did not stand still, they went backward. The +diseases from which they suffered gained daily upon the whole +body-politic, and even those clever foreign doctors who had been the +most convinced that this or that remedy would set them on their feet, +were in the end persuaded that there was only one place for them--the +Hospital for Incurables. After the fall of Rome, Pius IX. issued a +sort of canticle from Gaeta, in which he thanked the Lord at whose +bidding the stormy ocean had been arrested, but he did not even so +much as say thank you to the French, without whom, nevertheless, the +stormy ocean would have proceeded on its way. To all suggestions from +Paris that now that victory had been won by force the time was come +for the Sovereign to give some guarantee that it would not be abused, +the Pope turned a completely deaf ear. 'The Pope,' said M. Drouyn +de Lhuys, 'prefers to return to Rome upon the dead bodies of his +subjects rather than amidst the applause which would have greeted him +had he taken our advice.' That advice referred in particular to the +secularisation of the public administration, and this was exactly what +the Pope and the ex-Liberal Cardinal Antonelli, now and henceforth his +most influential counsellor, were determined not to concede. They had +grown wise in their generation, for a priest whose ministers are +laymen is as much an anomaly as a layman whose ministers are priests. +The French government desired that the Statute should be maintained, +and demanded judicial reforms and an amnesty for political offenders. +None of these points was accepted except the last, and that only +nominally, as the amnesty of the 18th of September did not put a stop +to proscriptions and vindictive measures. Count Mamiani, whose +stainless character was venerated in all Italy, and who had devoted +all his energies to the attempt to save the Papal government after the +Pope's flight, was ruthlessly excluded, and so were many other persons +who, though liberal-minded, had shown signal devotion to the Holy See. +All sorts of means were used to serve the ends of vengeance; for +instance, Alessandro Calandrelli, a Roman of high reputation, who held +office under the republic, was condemned to death for high treason, +and to twenty years at the galleys, on a trumped-up charge of theft, +which was palpably absurd; but the Pope, while quashing the first +sentence, confirmed the second, and Calandrelli would have remained in +prison till the year of grace 1870, as many others did, but for the +chance circumstance that his father had been a friend of the King of +Prussia, who took up his cause so warmly that after two years he was +let out and sent to Berlin, where the King and A. von Humboldt +received him with open arms. + +These were the auspices under which Pius IX. returned to Rome after +seventeen months' absence. A four-fold invasion restored the Temporal +Power, which Fenelon said was the root of all evil to the Church, but +which, according to Pius IX., was necessary to the preservation of the +Catholic religion. The re-established _regime_ was characterised by +Lord Clarendon at the Congress of Paris as 'the opprobrium of Europe.' +The Pope tried to compensate for his real want of independence (for a +prince who could not stand a day without foreign bayonets, whatever +else he was, was not independent) by laughing at the entreaties of +France to relieve that advanced nation from the annoyance of having +set up a government fit for the Middle Ages. He rated at its correct +value the support of Napoleon, and believing it to be purely +interested, he believed in its permanence. The President had thought +of nothing in the world but votes, and he thought of them still. The +Roman Expedition secured him the services of M. de Falloux as +minister, and won over to him the entire Clerical Party, including +Montalembert and the so-called Liberal Catholics. Thus, and thus only, +was the leap from the Presidential chair to the Imperial throne made +possible. The result was flattering, but still there are reasons to +think (apart from Prince Jerome Napoleon's express statement to that +effect) that Napoleon III. hated the whole business from the bottom of +his soul, and that of his not few questionable acts, this was the only +one of which he felt lastingly ashamed. Seeing that the communications +of his ministers failed in their object, he tried the expedient of +writing a private letter to his friend Edgar Ney, couched in the +strongest terms of disapproval of the recalcitrant attitude of the +Papal Government. This letter was published as it was intended to be, +but in the Roman States, except that its circulation was forbidden, no +notice was taken of it. Though the incident may be regarded as a +stroke of facing-both-ways policy, the anger expressed was probably as +sincere as any of Napoleon's sentiments could be, and the letter had +the effect of awakening the idea in many minds that something of the +former Italian conspirator still existed in the ruler of France. The +question arose, What sort of pressure would be needed to turn that +germ to account for Italy? + +In the kingdom of Naples, where the laws, to look at them on paper, +were incomparably better than those in force in the Roman States, the +administration was such as would have disgraced a remote province of +the Turkish Empire. The King's naturally suspicious temperament was +worked upon by his courtiers and priests till he came to detect in +every Liberal a personal antagonist, whose immunity from harm was +incompatible with his own, and in Liberalism a plague dangerous to +society, which must be stamped out at all costs. Over 800 Liberals +were sent to the galleys. The convictions were obtained, in a great +proportion of cases, by false testimony. Bribes and secret protection +in high quarters were the only means by which an innocent man could +hope to escape; 50,000 persons were under police supervision, to be +imprisoned at will. The police often refused to set at liberty those +whom the judges had acquitted. The government had a Turkish or Russian +fear of printed matter. A wretched barber was fined 1000 ducats for +having in his possession a volume of Leopardi's poems, which was +described as 'contrary to religion and morals.' + +What was meant by being an inmate of a Neapolitan prison was told by +Mr Gladstone in his two 'Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen,' which the +latter sent to Prince Schwarzenberg, the Austrian Prime Minister, with +a strong appeal to him to make known their contents to the King of the +Two Sicilies, and to use his influence in procuring a mitigation of +the abuses complained of. Prince Schwarzenberg did nothing, and it was +then that the 'Letters' were published. The impression created on +public opinion was almost without a parallel. The celebrated phrase, +'The negation of God erected into a system of government,' passing +into currency as a short history of Bourbon rule at Naples, kept +alive the wrathful feelings which the 'Letters' aroused, even when +these ceased to be read. Some small errors of fact (such as that of +stating that all the prisoners were chained, whereas an exception was +made of those undergoing life sentences) were magnified by the +partisans of Ferdinand II.; but the truth of the picture as a whole +was amply confirmed from independent sources. Baron Carlo Poerio +(condemned to nineteen years' imprisonment) _was_ chained to a common +malefactor, the chain never being undone, and producing in the end a +disease of the bone from which he never recovered. His case was that +of all the political prisoners in the same category with himself. +Luigi Settembrini and the others on whom sentence of death had been +passed, but commuted into one of life imprisonment, were not chained, +but they were put to associate with the worst thieves and assassins, +while their material surroundings accorded with the moral atmosphere +they were forced to breathe. + +The Neapolitan prisoners did more than suffer for freedom; they +delivered the name of their country from being a reproach among the +nations. They showed what men the South of Italy can produce. Those +who wish to know what types of probity, honour and ideal patriotism +may grow out of that soil, which is sometimes charged with yielding +only the rank weeds planted by despotism, may read the letters and +memoirs of the noble Poerios, of Settembrini, gentlest but most +fearless of human souls, of the Calabrian Morellis, all patriots and +martyrs; of the Duke of Castromediano, who lately, in his old age, has +set down a few recollections of the years he spent at the Neapolitan +galleys. He records in these notes what he calls the most perilous +moment in his life. It was when he was summoned, with six +fellow-prisoners who had asked for and obtained freedom, to hear, as +he feared, his own pardon pronounced. For pardon was equivalent to +dishonour; it was granted either in consequence of real submission and +retraction, or in order to be able to blacken the character of the +pardoned man by falsely asserting that such submission had been made. +His fear was groundless. He had been led out, perhaps, in the hope +that the example of the others would prove contagious. He was not +pardoned. As he returned to his prison, he thanked Divine Providence +for the chains which left him pure. + +Strange to tell, Ferdinand II. rendered one considerable service to +the national cause; not that he saw it in that light, but the service +was none the less real because its motive was a narrow one. Austria +proposed a defensive league between the Italian Sovereigns: defensive +not only with the view to outward attack, but also and chiefly against +'internal disorder.' Piedmont was to be invited to join as soon as she +had renounced her constitutional sins, which it was sanguinely +expected she would do before very long. Meanwhile Parma, Modena, +Tuscany and Rome embraced the idea with enthusiasm, but the King of +the Two Sicilies, who dimly saw in it an opening for interference in +his own peculiar governmental ways, boldly declined to have anything +to do with it. And so, to Prince Schwarzenberg's serious +disappointment, the scheme by which he had hoped to create an +absolutist Italian federation, came to an untimely end. + +The Grand Duke of Tuscany timidly inquired of the Austrian premier if +he might renew the constitutional _regime_ in his state. Schwarzenberg +replied with the artful suggestion that he should hear what the Dukes +of Modena and Parma, the Pope, and King Ferdinand had to say on the +subject. Their advice was unanimously negative: Cardinal Antonelli +going so far as to declare that Constitutionalism in Tuscany would be +regarded as a constant menace and danger to the States of the Church. +The different counsels of Piedmont, conveyed by Count Balbo, weighed +little against so imposing an array of opinion, backed as it was by +the Power which still stabled its horses in the Convent of San Marco. +The Tuscan Statute was formally suspended in September 1850. + +From that day forth, Tuscany sank lower and lower in the slough. To +please the Pope, havoc was made of the Leopoldine laws--named after +the son of Maria Theresa, the wise Grand Duke Leopold I.--laws by +which a bridle was put on the power and extension of the Church. The +prosecution and imprisonment of a Protestant couple who were accused +of wishing to make proselytes, proclaimed the depth of intolerance +into which what was once the freest and best-ordered government in +Italy had descended. + +The ecclesiastical question became the true test question in Piedmont +as well as in Tuscany, but there it had another issue. + +It had also a different basis. In Piedmont there were no Leopoldine +laws to destroy; what was necessary was to create them. To privileges +dating from the Middle Ages which in the kingdom of Sardinia almost +alone had been restored without curtailment after the storm of the +French Revolution, were added the favours, the vast wealth, the +preponderating influence acquired during Charles Felix' reign, and the +first seventeen years of that of Charles Albert. Theoretically, the +Statute swept away all privileges of classes and sects, and made +citizens equal before the law, but to put this theory into practice +further legislation was needed, because, as a matter of fact, the +clergy preserved their immunities untouched and showed not the +slightest disposition to yield one jot of them. The Piedmontese +clergy, more numerous in proportion to the population than in any +state except Rome, were more intransigent than any ecclesiastical body +in the world. The Italian priest of old days, whatever else might be +said about him, was rarely a fanatic. The very nickname 'Ultramontane' +given by Italians to the religious extremists north of the Alps, shows +how foreign such excesses were to their own temperaments. But the +Ultramontane spirit had already invaded Piedmont, and was embraced by +its clergy with all the zeal of converts. There was still a _Foro +Ecclesiastico_ for the arraignment of religious offenders, and this +was one of the first privileges against which Massimo d'Azeglio lifted +his 'sacrilegious' hand. To go through all the list would be tedious, +and would demand more explanation regarding the local modes of +acquisition and tenure of religious property than would be interesting +now. The object of the Siccardi laws, as they were named after the +Minister of Grace and Justice who introduced them, and of the stronger +measures to which they led up, was to make the priest amenable to the +common law of the land in all except that which referred to his +spiritual functions; to put a limit on the amassment of wealth by +religious corporations; to check the multiplication of convents and +the multiplication of feast days, both of which encouraged the people +in sloth and idleness; to withdraw education from the sole control of +ecclesiastics; and finally, to authorise civil marriage, but without +making it compulsory. The programme was large, and it took years to +carry it out. The Vatican contended that it was contrary to the +Concordat which existed between the Holy See and the Court of +Sardinia. Massimo d'Azeglio replied that the maintenance of the +Concordat, in all its parts, meant the ruin of the state; that he had +tried every means of conciliation, made every effort towards arriving +at a compromise, and that since his endeavours had failed in +consequence of the refusal of the Vatican to abate pretensions which +it neither could nor did enforce in Austria, Naples or Spain, heaven +and the world must judge between Rome and Piedmont, between Cardinal +Antonelli and himself. + +The struggle throughout was bitter in the extreme, but its most +striking incident was the denial of the last Sacraments to a member of +the Government, the Minister of Agriculture, Santa Rosa, who happened +to die soon after the passing of the Act abolishing the _Foro +Ecclesiastico_. Santa Rosa was a sincerely religious man, but he +resisted all the attempts of the priest to extort a retractation, and +died unabsolved rather than leave a dishonoured name to his children. + +The popular indignation excited by this incident was in proportion +with the importance attached to outward observances of religion in +Catholic countries; the government had to protect the Archbishop of +Turin from violence, while, at the same time, they sent him for a +month to the Citadel for having forbidden his clergy to obey the law +on the _Foro Ecclesiastico_. He and one or two of the other bishops +were afterwards expelled from the kingdom. An unwelcome necessity, but +whose was the fault? In other countries, where the privileges claimed +by the Piedmontese clergy had been abolished for centuries, did the +bishops dictate revolt against the law? If not, why should they do so +in Piedmont? + +The successor of Santa Rosa in the ministry was Count Cavour, who +thus in 1850 for the first time became an official servant of the +state. When D'Azeglio submitted the appointment to the King, Victor +Emmanuel remarked that, though he did not object to it in the least, +they had better take care, as this man would turn them all out before +long. This man was, in fact, to stand at the helm of Piedmont, with +short intervals, till he died, and was to carve out from the block of +formless marble, not the Italy of sublime dreams, which, owing her +deliverance to her sons alone, should arise immaculate from the grave +a Messiah among the nations, but the actual Italy which has been +accomplished; imperfect and peccable as human things mostly are, +belonging rather to prose than to poetry, to matter than to spirit, +but, for all that, an Italy which is one and is free. + +Fifty years ago a great English writer pointed out what the real Italy +would be, if it were to be; 'The prosperity of nations as of +individuals,' wrote Mr Ruskin in one of his earliest papers, 'is cold +and hard-hearted and forgetful. The dead lie, indeed, trampled down by +the living; the place thereof shall know them no more, for that place is +not in the hearts of the survivors, for whose interest they have made +way. But adversity and ruin point to the sepulchre, and it is not +trodden on; to the chronicle, and it does not decay. Who would +substitute the rush of a new nation, the struggle of an awakening power, +for the dreamy sleep of Italy's desolation, for the sweet silence of +melancholy thought, her twilight time of everlasting memories?' + +[Illustration: COUNT CAVOUR] + +There is the case, stated with beautiful lucidity, of the somewhat +ghoulish dilettantism which, enjoying tombs, would condemn all +mankind to breathe their atmosphere. It is not, however, in order to +discuss that view that the passage is quoted, but because of its +relevancy to what Cavour attempted and what he did. Never was there a +mind which cherished fewer illusions. He believed that the pursuit of +the unattainable was still more a political crime than a political +blunder. He was, in this, what is now called an opportunist, and he +was also an opportunist in believing that though in politics you can +choose your aim, you can very rarely choose your means. He held (and +this was the reason that he was so profoundly hated by men of very +different parties) that to accomplish great changes you have to make +sacrifices, not only of the higher sort, but, in a certain sense, also +of the lower. As he thought that the Austrians could not be expelled +from Italy for good and all without foreign help, he contemplated from +the first securing that foreign help, though no one would have been +more glad than he to do without it. He thought that Italian freedom +could not be won without a closer alliance with the democratic party +than politicians like D'Azeglio, who had the fear of the ermine, of +tarnishing its whiteness, would have ever brought themselves to +acquiesce in, and he therefore immediately took steps to establish +that alliance. Cavour had no faith in the creation of ideally perfect +states, such as the Monarchy of Dante or the Republic of Mazzini, but +he did think that a living land was better than a dead one, that the +struggle of an awakening power, the rush of a new nation, was +infinitely to be preferred to the desolation of dreamy sleeps, sweet +silences, and everlasting memories that spelt regrets. + +It may be possible now to see clearly that if no one had tried for the +unattainable, Cavour would not have found the ground prepared for his +work. The appreciation of his rank among Italian liberators rests on a +different point, and it is this: without a man of his positive mould, +of his practical genius, of his force of will and force of patience, +would the era of splendid endeavours have passed into the era of +accomplished facts? If the answer to this is 'No,' then nothing can +take from Cavour the glory of having conferred an incalculable boon on +the country which he loved with a love that was not the less strong +because it lacked the divinising qualities of imagination. + +An aristocrat by birth and the inheritor of considerable wealth, +Cavour was singularly free from prejudices; his favourite study was +political economy, and in quiet times he would probably have given all +his energies to the interests of commerce and agriculture. He was an +advocate of free trade, and was, perhaps, the only one of the many +Italians who _feted_ Mr Cobden on his visit to Italy who cared in the +least for the motive of his campaign. Cavour understood English +politics better than they have ever been understood by a foreign +statesman; his article on Ireland, written in 1843, may still be read +with profit. Before parliamentary life existed in Piedmont, he took +the only way open of influencing public opinion by founding a +newspaper, the _Risorgimento,_ in which he continued to write for +several years. In the Chamber of Deputies he soon made his power +felt--power is the word, for he was no orator in the ordinary sense; +his speeches read well, as hard hitting and logical expositions, but +they were not well delivered. Cavour never spoke Italian with true +grace and ease though he selected it for his speeches, and not French, +which was also allowed and which he spoke admirably. His presence, +too, did not lend itself to oratory; short and thickset, and careless +in his dress, he formed a contrast to the romantic figure of +D'Azeglio. Yet his prosaic face, when animated, gave an impressive +sense of that attribute which seemed to emanate from the whole man: +power. + +It needed a more wary hand than D'Azeglio's to steer out of the +troubled waters caused by the ecclesiastical bills, and to put the +final touches to the legislation which he, to his lasting honour be it +said, had courageously and successfully initiated. In the autumn of +1852 D'Azeglio resigned, and Cavour was requested by the King to form +a ministry. He was to remain, with short breaks, at the head of public +affairs for the nine following years. + +At this time the government of Lombardy and Venetia was vested in +Field-Marshal Radetsky, with two lieutenant-governors under him, who +only executed his orders. Radetsky resided at Verona. Politically and +economically the two provinces were then undergoing an extremity of +misery; the diseases of the vines and the silkworms had reached the +point of causing absolute ruin to the great mass of proprietors who, +reckoning on having always enough to live on, had not laid by. Many +noble families sank to the condition of peasants. The taxation was +heavier than in any other part of the Austrian Empire; in proof of +which it may be mentioned that Lombardy paid 80,000,000 francs into +the Austrian treasury, which, had the Empire been taxed equally, would +have given an annual total of 1,100,000,000, whereas the revenue +amounted to only 736,000,000. The landtax was almost double what it +was in the German provinces. Italians, however, have a great capacity +for supporting such burdens with patience, and it is doubtful whether +the material aspect of the case did much to increase their hatred of +foreign dominion. Its moral aspect grew daily worse; the terror became +chronic. The possession of a sheet of printed paper issued by the +revolutionary press at Capolago, on the lake of Lugano, was enough to +send a man to the gallows. These old, badly printed leaflets, with no +name of author or publisher attached, but chiefly written in the +unmistakable style of Mazzini, can still be picked up in the little +booksellers' shops in Canton Ticino, and it is difficult to look at +them without emotion. What hopes were carried by them. What risks were +run in passing them from hand to hand. Of what tragedies were they not +the cause! In August 1851, Antonio Sciesa, of Milan, was shot for +having one such leaflet on his person. The gendarmes led him past his +own house, hoping that the sight of it would weaken his nerve, and +make him accept the clemency which was eagerly proffered if he would +reveal the names of others engaged in the patriotic propaganda. +'Tiremm innanz!' ('come along') he said, in his rough Milanese +dialect, and marched incorruptible to death. On a similar charge, +Dottesio and Grioli, the latter a priest, suffered in the same year, +and early in 1852 the long trial was begun at Mantua of about fifty +patriots whose names had been obtained by the aid of the bastinado +from one or two unhappy wretches who had not the fortitude to endure. +Of these fifty, nine were executed, among whom were the priests +Grazioli and Tazzoli, Count Montanari of Verona, and Tito Speri, the +young hero of the defence of Brescia. Speri had a trifling part in the +propaganda, but the remembrance of his conduct in 1849 ensured his +condemnation. He was deeply attached to the religion in which he was +born, and his last letters show the fervour of a Christian joined to +the calmness of a stoic. If he had a regret, it was that he had been +unable to do more for his country; but here too his simple faith +sustained him. Surely the Giver of all good would not refuse to listen +to the prayers of the soul which passed to Him through martyrdom. +'To-morrow they lead me forth,' he wrote. 'I have done with this +world, but, in the bosom of God, I promise you I will do what I can.' +So did this clear and childlike spirit carry its cause from the +Austrian Assizes to a higher tribunal. + +In the spring of 1853 there was an attempt at a rising in Milan from +which the mass of the citizens stood aloof, if they even knew of it +till it was over; an attempt ill-considered and not easily justified +from any point of view, the blame for which has been generally cast on +Mazzini; but though he knew of it, he was unwilling that its authors +should choose the time and mode of action which they chose. He was, +moreover, misinformed as to the extent of the preparations, since no +Milanese of any standing gave his support to the plan. + +On the plea that the Lombard emigration was concerned in the abortive +movement, which was by no means consistent with facts, the Austrian +Government sequestered the landed property of the exiles and voluntary +emigrants, reducing them and their families (which in most instances +remained behind) to complete beggary. Nine hundred and seventy-eight +estates were placed under sequestration. The Court of Sardinia held +the measure to be a violation of the amnesty, which was one of the +conditions of the peace of 1850. The Sardinian Minister was recalled +from Vienna, and the relations between the two governments were once +more on a footing of open rupture. + +Not less important was the moral effect of the sequestrations in +France and England, but particularly in England. They acted as the +last straw, coming as they did on the top of the flogging system which +had already enraged the English public mind to the highest degree. The +Prince Consort wrote in March to his brother: 'To give you a +conception of the maxims of justice and policy which Austria has been +lately developing, I enclose an extract of a report from Turin which +treats of the decrees of confiscation in Italy. People here will be +very indignant.' He goes on to say (somewhat too broadly) that the +English upper classes were till then thoroughly Austrian, but that she +had succeeded in turning the whole of England against her, and there +was now no one left to defend her. + +Austria, through Count Buol, complained that she was 'dying of +legality,' but England took the Sardinian view that the sequestrations +directly violated the treaty between the two Powers. In the Austrian +Note of the 9th of March, it was distinctly declared that Piedmont +would be crushed if she did not perform the part of police-agent to +Austria. Cavour's uncowed attitude at this crisis was what first fixed +upon him the eyes of European diplomacy. + +In the course of the summer, the Duke of Genoa, Victor Emmanuel's +brother, paid a visit to the English Court, where the Duke of +Saxe-Coburg was also staying, by whom he was described as 'one of the +cleverest and most amiable men of our time.' Sunny Italy, adds Duke +Ernest, seemed to have sent him to England so that by his mere +presence alone, in the prime of his age, he might make propaganda for +the cause of his country. The Queen presented her guest with a +handsome riding-horse, and when he thanked her in warm and feeling +terms, she spoke the memorable words, the effect of which spoken at +that date by the Queen of England can hardly be imagined: 'I hope you +will ride this horse when the battles are fought for the liberation of +Italy.' + +The battle-day was indeed to come, but when it came the sword which +the young Duke wielded with such gallantry in the siege of Peschiera +would be sheathed for ever. The Prince Charming of Casa Savoia died in +February 1855, leaving a daughter to Italy, the beloved Queen +Margaret. + +In the space of a few weeks, Victor Emmanuel lost his brother, his +mother, and his wife. The King, who felt keenly when he did feel, was +driven distraught with grief; no circumstance was wanting which could +sharpen the edge of his sorrow. The two Queens, both Austrian +princesses, had never interfered in foreign politics; what they +suffered they suffered in silence. But they were greatly influenced by +the ministers of the religion which had been a comfort of their not +too happy lives, and they had frequently told Victor Emmanuel that +they would die of grief if the anti-papal policy of his government +were persisted in. Now that they were dead, every partisan of the +Church declared, without a shadow of reticence, that the mourning in +which the House of Savoy was plunged was a clear manifestation of +Divine wrath. Victor Emmanuel had been brought up in superstitious +surroundings; it was hardly possible that he should listen to these +things altogether unmoved. But on this as on the other occasions in +his life when he was to be threatened with ghostly terrors, he did not +belie the name of 'Re Galantuomo,' which he had written down as his +profession when filling up the papers of the first census taken after +his accession--a jest that gave him the title he will ever be known +by. Harassed and tormented as the King was, when the law on religious +corporations had been voted by the Senate and the Chamber, and was +presented to him by Cavour for signature, he did his duty and signed +it. The commentary which came from the Vatican was the decree of +major excommunication promulgated in the Consistory of the 27th of +July against all who had approved or sanctioned the measure, or who +were concerned in putting it into execution. + +The law was known as the 'Rattazziana,' from Urbano Rattazzi, whom +Cavour appointed Minister of Grace and Justice, thereby effecting a +coalition between the Right Centre, which he led himself, and the Left +Centre, which was led by Rattazzi; an alliance not pleasing to the +Pure Right or to the Advanced Left, but necessary to give the Prime +Minister sufficient strength to command the respect, both at home and +abroad, which can only be won by a statesman who is not afraid of +being overturned by every whiff of the parliamentary wind. The 'Legge +Rattazziana' certainly aimed at asserting the supremacy of the state, +but in substance it was an arrangement for raising the stipend of the +poorer clergy at the expense of the richer benefices and corporations, +and save for the bitter animosity of Rome, it would not have excited +the degree of anger that descended upon its promoters. In a country +where the Church had a rental of 15,000,000 francs, there were many +parish priests who had not an income of L20; a state of things seen to +be anomalous by the best ecclesiastics themselves, but their efforts +at conciliation failed because the Holy See would not recognise the +right of the civil authority to interfere in any question affecting +the status or property of the clergy, and this right was the real +point at issue. + +In these days, Cavour came to an understanding with a friendly monk in +order that when his last hour arrived, he should not, like Santa Rosa, +go unshriven to his account. In 1861, Fra Giacomo performed his part +in the agreement, and was duly punished for having saved his Church +from a scandal which, from the position of the great minister, would +have reached European dimensions. + +Cavour's work of bringing into order the Sardinian finances, which, +from the flourishing state they had attained prior to 1848, had fallen +into what appeared the hopeless confusion of a large and steadily +increasing deficit, is not to the ordinary observer his most brilliant +achievement, but it is possibly the one for which he deserves most +praise. It could not have been carried through except by a statesman +who was completely indifferent to the applause of the hour. During all +the earlier years that he held office, Cavour was extraordinarily +unpopular. The nickname of 'la bestia neira' conferred on him by +Victor Emmanuel referred to the opinion entertained of him by the +Clerical party, but he was almost as much a 'bestia neira' to a large +portion of the Liberals as to the Clericals or to the old Piedmontese +party. His house was attacked by the mob in 1853, and had not his +servants barred the entrance, something serious might have occurred. +Happily the King and the majority in the Chamber and in the country +had, if not much love for Cavour, a profound conviction that he could +not be done without, and that, consequently, he must be allowed to do +what he liked. Thus the large sacrifices he demanded of the taxpayers +were regularly voted, and Cavour could afford to despise the abuse +heaped upon himself since he saw his policy advancing to maturity +along a steady line of success. + +When, in 1854, Cavour resolved that Piedmont should join France and +England in the coming war with Russia, it seemed to a large number of +his countrymen that he had taken leave of his senses, but the firm +support which in this instance he found in the King enabled him next +year to equip and despatch the contingent, 15,000 strong, commanded +by General La Marmora, which not only won the respect of friends and +foes in the field, but offered an example of efficiency in all +departments that compared favourably with the faulty organisation of +the great armies beside which it fought. Its gallant conduct at the +battle of the Tchernaja flattered the native pride, and when, in due +time, 12,000 returned of the 15,000 that had gone forth, the increased +credit of Piedmont in Europe was already felt to compensate for the +heavy cost of the expedition. + +Among the Italians living abroad, Cavour's motives in taking part in +the Crimean War were, from the first, better understood than they were +at home. Piedmont, by qualifying for the part of Italian advocate in +the Councils of Europe, gave a guarantee of good faith which patriots +like Daniel Manin and Giorgio Pallavicini accepted as a happy promise +for the future. It was then that a large section of the republican +party frankly embraced the programme of Italian unity under Victor +Emmanuel. They foresaw that a repetition of the discordant action of +1848 would end in the same way. Manin wrote to Lorenzo Valerio in +September 1855: 'I, who am a republican, plant the banner of +unification; let all who desire that Italy should exist, rally round +it, and Italy will exist.' The ex-dictator of Venice was eking out a +scanty livelihood by giving lessons in Paris; he had only three years +left to live, and was not destined to see his words verified. But, +poor and sick and obscure though he was, his support was worth +legions. + +It was not the first time that Italian republicans had said to the +House of Savoy: If you will free Italy we are with you; but the +circumstances of the case were completely changed since Mazzini wrote +in somewhat the same language to Charles Albert a quarter of a +century before. Both times the proposal contained an ultimatum as well +as an offer, but Manin made it without second thoughts in the +strongest hope that the pact would be accepted and full of +anticipatory joy at the prospect of its success; while by the Genoese +republican it was made in mistrust and in the knowledge that were it +accepted (which he did not believe), its acceptance, though bringing +with it for Italy a state of things which he recognised as preferable +to that which prevailed, would bring to him personally nothing but +disappointment and the forfeiture of his dearest wishes. + +It is difficult to say what were at this date Cavour's own private +sentiments about Italian unity. Though he once confessed that as a +young man he had fancied himself Prime Minister of Italy, whenever the +subject was now discussed he disclaimed any belief in the feasibility +of uniting all parts of the peninsula in one whole. He even called +Manin 'a very good man, but mad about Italian unification.' It wanted, +in truth, the prescience of the seer rather than the acumen of the +politician to discern the unity of Italy in 1855. All outward facts +seemed more adverse to its accomplishment than at any period since +1815. Yet it was for Italy that Cavour always pleaded; Italy, and not +Piedmont or even Lombardy and Venetia. He invariably asserted the +right of his King to uphold the cause of all the populations from the +Alps to the Straits of Messina. If he adopted the proverb 'Chi va +piano va sano,' he kept in view the end of it, 'Chi va sano va +lontano.' In short, if he did not believe in Italian unity, he acted +in the same way as he would have acted had he believed in it. + +It is evident that one thing he could not do. Whatever was in his +thoughts, unless he was prepared to retire into private life then and +there, he could not proclaim from the house-tops that he espoused the +artichoke theory attributed to Victor Amadeus. There were only too +many old diplomatists as it was, who sought to cripple Cavour's +resources by reviving that story. The time was not come when, without +manifest damage to the cause, he could plead guilty to the charge of +preparing an Italian crown for his Sovereign. 'The rule in politics,' +Cavour once observed, 'is to be as moderate in language as you are +resolute in act.' + +At the end of 1855, Victor Emmanuel, with Cavour and Massimo +d'Azeglio, paid a visit to the French and English Courts. He was +received with more marked cordiality at the English Court than at the +French. No Prince Charming, indeed, but the ideal of a bluff and burly +Longobard chief, he managed to win the good graces of his +entertainers, even if they thought him a trifle barbaric. The Duchess +of Sutherland declared that of all the knights of St George whom she +had ever seen, he was the only one who would have had the best of it +in the fight with the dragon. The Queen rose at four o'clock in the +morning to take leave of him. Cavour was so much struck by the +interest which Her Majesty evinced in the efforts of Piedmont for +constitutional freedom, that he did not hesitate to call her the best +friend his country possessed in England. + +It is not generally known, but it is quite true, that Victor Emmanuel +wished to contract a matrimonial alliance with the English royal +family. He did not take Cavour into his confidence, but a high English +personage was sounded on the matter, a hint being given to him to say +nothing about it to the Count. The lady who might have become Queen of +Italy was the Princess Mary of Cambridge. The negotiations were +broken off because the young Princess would not hear of any marriage +which would have required her living out of England. + +The Congress which met in Paris in February 1856 for the conclusion of +the peace between the Allies and Russia was to have far more momentous +results for Italy than for the countries more immediately concerned in +its discussions, but, contrary to the general impression, it does not +appear that these results were anticipated by Cavour. He even said +that it was idle for Sardinia to send delegates to a congress in which +they would be treated like children. Cavour feared, perhaps, to lose +the ground he had gained in the previous year with Napoleon III., when +the Emperor's rather surprising question: 'Que peut-on faire pour +l'Italie?' had suggested to the Piedmontese statesman that definite +scheme of a French alliance, which henceforth he never let go. In any +case, when D'Azeglio, who was appointed Sardinian representative, +refused at the last moment to undertake a charge for which he knew he +was not fitted, it was only at the urgent request of the King that +Cavour consented to take his place. When once in Paris, however, he +warmed to the work, finding an unexpectedly strong ally in Lord +Clarendon. He won what was considered in all Europe a great diplomatic +triumph, by getting a special sitting assigned to the examination of +Italian affairs, which had as little to do with the natural work of +the Congress as the affairs of China. The chief points discussed at +the secret sitting of the 8th of April were the foreign occupations in +Central Italy, and the state of the Roman and Neapolitian governments, +which was stigmatised by Lord Clarendon in terms much more severe than +Cavour himself thought it prudent to use. Count Buol, the chief +Austrian representative, grew very angry, and his opposition was +successful in reducing the sitting to a mere conversation; but what +had been said had been said, and Cavour prepared the way for his +future policy by remarking to everyone: 'You see that diplomacy can do +nothing for us; the question needs another solution.' Lord Clarendon's +vigorous support made him think for a moment that England might take +an active part in that other solution, and with this idea in his mind +he hurried over the Channel to see Lord Palmerston, but he left +England convinced that nothing more than moral assistance was ever to +be expected from that quarter. The Marquis Emmanuel d'Azeglio, who for +many years represented Sardinia, and afterwards Italy, at the Court of +St James, has placed it on record that the English Premier repeatedly +assured him that an armed intervention on behalf of Italian freedom +would have been much to his taste, but that the country would not have +been with him. It is certain that Cavour would have preferred an +English to a French alliance; as it was not to be had, he reposed his +sole hopes in the Emperor Napoleon, who had not the French people +really more with him in this matter than Lord Palmerston had the +English--nay, he had them less with him, for in England there would +have been a party of Italian sympathisers favourable to the war, and +in France, there was no one except Prince Napoleon and the workmen of +Paris. But the French Emperor was a despotic sovereign, and not the +Prime Minister of a self-governing country. After all, some good may +come out of despotism. + +Upon Cavour's return to Turin, he received not only the approval of +the King and Parliament, but also congratulations from all parts of +Italy. His position had gained immensely in strength, both at home and +abroad. Yet the power of the Clerical party in Piedmont was still such +that, in the elections of 1857--the first that had taken place since +the legislation affecting the Church--they obtained seventy seats out +of a total of two hundred. Cavour did not conceal his alarm. What if +eight years' labour were thrown away, and the movement of the State +turned backward? 'Never,' he said, 'would he advise a _coup d'etat,_ +nor would his master resort to one; but if the King abdicated, what +then?' Victor Emmanuel said to his Prime Minister: 'Let us do our +duty; stand firm, and we shall see!' He often declared that, sooner +than beat a retreat from the path he had entered on, he would go to +America and become plain _Monsu Savoia_; but he never lost faith in +the predominating patriotism and good sense of his subjects; and at +this time, as at others, he proved to be right. The crisis was +surmounted. On the one hand, some elections were invalidated where the +priests had exercised undue influence; and, on the other, Rattazzi, +who was especially obnoxious to the Clerical party, retired from +office. Cavour thus found himself still able to command the Chamber. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +PREMONITIONS OF THE STORM + +1857-1858 + +Pisacane's Landing--Orsini's Attempt--The Compact of +Plombieres--Cavour's Triumph. + + +In spite of the accusation of favouring political assassination which +was frequently launched against the Italian secret societies, only one +of the faithless Italian princes came to a violent death, and his +murder had no connection with politics. Charles III., Duke of Parma, +was mortally stabbed in March 1854; some said that the assassin was a +groom whom he had struck with a riding-whip; others, that he was the +father or brother of one of the victims of the Duke's dissolute +habits. The Duchess, a daughter of the Duke de Berry, assumed the +Regency on behalf of her son, who was a child. She began by initiating +many reforms; but a street disturbance in July gave Austria the +desired excuse for meddling in the government, when all progress was, +of course, arrested. + +In December 1856, a soldier named Ageslao Milano attempted to +assassinate the King of the Two Sicilies at a review. He belonged to +no sect, but he had long premeditated the act. A few days later an +earthquake occurred in the kingdom of Naples, by which over ten +thousand persons lost their lives. Ferdinand II. grew morose, and shut +himself up in the royal palace of Caserta. The constant lectures of +France and England annoyed him without persuading him to take the +means to put a stop to them. Not till 1859 did he open the doors of +the prisons in which Poerio, Settembrini and their companions were +confined. Many plans were made, meanwhile, for their liberation, and +English friends even provided a ship by which they were to escape; but +the ship foundered: perhaps fortunately, as Garibaldi, with +characteristic disinterestedness, had agreed to direct the enterprise, +which could not have been otherwise than perilous, and was not +unlikely to end in the loss of all concerned. + +Disaster attended Baron Bentivegna's attempt at a rising at Taormina +in 1856, and Carlo Pisacane's landing at Sapri in the summer of the +following year had no better result. Pisacane, a son of the Duke +Gennaro di San Giovanni of Naples, had fought in the defence of Rome +and was a firm adherent of Mazzini, in conjunction with whom he +planned his unlucky venture. Pisacane watched the growing ascendency +of Piedmont with sorrow; he was one of the few, if not the only one of +his party to say that he would as soon have the dominion of Austria as +that of the House of Savoy. But if he was an extremist in politics, +none the less he was a patriot, who took his life in his hands and +offered it up to his country in the spirit of the noblest devotion. He +had the slenderest hope of success, but he believed that only by such +failures could the people be roused from their apathy. 'For me,' he +wrote, 'it will be victory even if I die on the scaffold. This is all +I can do, and this I do; the rest depends on the country, not on me. I +have only my affections and my life to give, and I give them without +hesitation.' + +With the young Baron Nicotera and twenty-three others, Pisacane +embarked on the _Cagliari_, a steamer belonging to a Sardinian +mercantile line, which was bound for Tunis. When at sea, the captain +was frightened into obedience, and the ship's course was directed to +the isle of Ponza, where several hundred prisoners, mostly political, +were undergoing their sentences. The guards made little resistance, +and Pisacane opened the prisons, inviting who would to follow him. The +first plan had been to make a descent on San Stefano, the island where +Settembrini was imprisoned, but that good citizen had refused to admit +the liberation of the non-political prisoners, which was an +unavoidable feature in the scheme. With the addition of about three +hundred men, Pisacane left Ponza for the mainland and disembarked near +the village of Sapri, in the province of Salerno. From information +received, he imagined that a revolutionary movement was on the point +of breaking out in that district. Nothing could be further from the +fact. The country people did all the harm they could to the band, +which, after making a brave stand against the local militia, was cut +to pieces by the royal troops. Pisacane fell fighting; those who were +not killed were taken, and amongst these was Nicotera, who was kept in +prison till set free by Garibaldi. + +The _Cagliari_ was captured and detained with its crew. As two of the +seamen were British subjects, the English Government joined Sardinia +in demanding its restitution, which, after long delays, was conceded. + +In 1857, the Emperor of Austria relieved Field-Marshal Radetsky, then +in his ninety-third year, of the burden of office. He was given the +right of living in any of the royal palaces, even in the Emperor's own +residence at Vienna, but he preferred to spend the one remaining year +of his life in Italy. At the same time, the Archduke Maximilian was +appointed Viceroy of Lombardy and Venetia. A more naturally amiable +and cultivated Prince never had the evil fate forced upon him of +attempting impossible tasks. Just married to the lovely Princess +Charlotte of Belgium, he came to Italy radiant with happiness, and +wishing to make everyone as happy as he was himself. Not even the +chilling welcome he received damped his enthusiasm, for he thought the +aversion of the population depended on undoubted wrongs, which it was +his full intention to redress. He was to learn two things; firstly, +that the day of reconciliation was past: there were too many ghosts +between the Lombards and Venetians, and the House of Hapsburg. +Secondly, that an unseen hand beyond the Brenner would diligently +thwart each one of his benevolent designs. The system was, and was to +remain, unchanged. It was not carried out quite as it was carried out +in the first years after 1849. The exiles were allowed to return and +the sequestrations were revoked. It should be said, because it shows +the one white spot in Austrian despotism, its civil administration, +that on resuming their rights of ownership the proprietors found that +their estates had not been badly managed. But the depressing and +deadening influence of an anti-national rule continued unabated. +Lombardy and Venetia were governed not from Milan, but from Vienna. +Very small were the crumbs which the Viceroy obtained, though he went +on a journey to Austria expressly to plead for concessions. It is sad +to think what an enlightened heir to the great Austrian empire was +lost, when Napoleon III. and his own family sent Maximilian of +Hapsburg to Queretaro. + +While Cavour had come to the conclusion that the aid which he believed +essential for the expulsion of the Austrians could only come from the +French Emperor, this sovereign was regarded by a not inconsiderable +party of Italians as the greatest, if not the sole, obstacle to their +liberation. All those, in particular, who came in contact with the +French exiles, were impressed by them with the notion that France, the +real France, was only waiting for the disappearance of the Man of +December to throw herself into their arms. Among the Italians who held +these opinions, there were a few with whom it became a fixed idea that +the greatest service they could render their country was the removal +of Napoleon from the political scene. They conceived and nourished +the thought independently of one another; they belonged to no league, +but for that reason they were the more dangerous; somewhere or other +there was always someone planning to put an end to the Emperor's life. +It is not worth while to pause to discuss the ethics of political +assassination; civilisation has decided against it, and history proves +its usual failure to promote the desired object. What benefit did the +Confederate cause derive from the assassination of the good President +Lincoln, or the cause of Russian liberty from that of Alexander II.? +What will Anarchy gain by the murder of Carnot? It is certain, +however, that never were men more convinced that they were executing a +wild kind of justice than were the men who plotted against Napoleon +III. They looked upon him as one of themselves who had turned traitor. +There is a great probability that, in his early days when he was +playing at conspiracy in Italy, he was actually enrolled as a +Carbonaro. At all events, he had conspired for Italian freedom, and +afterwards, to serve his own selfish interests, he extinguished it in +Rome. The temporal power of the Pope was kept alive through him. + +A true account of the attempts on Napoleon's life will never be written, +because the only persons who were able and willing to throw light on the +subject, ex-police agents and their kind, are authorities whose word is +worth a very limited acceptance. It is pretty sure that there were more +plots than the public ever knew of, and that in some cases the plotters +were disposed of summarily. Most of them were poor, ignorant creatures, +but in January 1858 an attempt was made by a man of an entirely +different stamp, Felice Orsini. + +Born at Meldola in Romagna in 1819, he was of the true Romagnol type +in mind and body; daring, resourceful, intolerant of control. From his +earliest youth all his actions had but one object, the liberation of +his country. His youthful brain was enflamed by Alfieri and Foscolo, +who remained his favourite authors. He hated Austria well, and he +hated the Papal government as no one but one of its own subjects could +hate it. 'When the French landed in Italy' (he told his judges) 'it +was hoped that they were come as friends, but they proved the worst of +enemies. For a time they were repulsed, then they resumed the cloak of +friendship, but only to wait for reinforcements. When these arrived +they returned to the assault, a thousand against ten, and we were +judicially assassinated.' A succinct and true narrative. + +During the republic Orsini was sent to Ancona, where anarchy had +broken out; by vigorous measures he restored perfect order. In 1854 he +was arrested in Hungary and condemned to death, but he escaped from +Mantua under romantic circumstances and reached England, where the +story of his audacious flight won for him many sympathisers. He was +often seen in society. On one occasion he was asked to meet Prince +Lucien Buonaparte. Orsini knew Mazzini, but he was impatient of his +mystical leanings, and he disapproved of such enterprises as +Pisacane's, by which, as he thought, twenty or thirty men were +sacrificed here or there without anything coming of it. He finally +repudiated Mazzini's leadership, and in March 1857 he wrote to Cavour, +asking him for a passport to return to Italy, and placing at the +disposal of the Sardinian government 'the courage and energy which it +had pleased God to give him,' provided that government left wavering +behind, and showed its unmistakable will to achieve the independence +of Italy. Cavour sent no reply, 'because,' he said later, 'the letter +was noble and energetic, and I should have had to pay Orsini +compliments which I did not deem fitting. 'Unlike Victor Emmanuel, who +in after years carried on regular negotiations with Mazzini, Cavour, +while ready to make an alliance with the Radicals in the Chamber, was +extremely loth to have anything to do with actual revolutionists. His +not answering Orsini's letter certainly led up to the attempt of the +14th of January 1858. + +Having quarrelled with Mazzini, and receiving no encouragement from +Cavour, Orsini evolved the plan which on that day he endeavoured to +put into execution. He would have preferred to act alone, but since +that was impossible, he sought and found without much difficulty two +or three accomplices. One of these, Pieri, a teacher of languages, was +arrested by the police, who recognised him as an old conspirator, +before he threw the bomb which he was carrying. The other bombs were +thrown just as the carriage containing the Imperial party drove up to +the opera house. A number of people in the street were killed or +injured, but the Emperor and Empress escaped unhurt. When they entered +the theatre the Rutli scene of the conspirators in _Guillaume Tell_ +was being performed. Not a breath of applause greeted them, though +everyone knew what had happened. Napoleon III. had a striking proof of +how little hold he possessed on the affections of his subjects. + +When at his trial Orsini was asked what he expected would happen if he +had succeeded in killing the Emperor he answered: 'We were convinced +that the surest way of making a revolution in Italy was to excite one +in France, and that the surest way of making a revolution in France +was to kill the Emperor.' There is a good deal of curious evidence to +show that very elaborate preparations had been made for a revolution +in Paris. The French police had orders, however, to keep all this +aspect of the affair out of sight. It was to be made to appear the +isolated act of a misguided Italian patriot. 'The world possesses an +Orsini legend,' writes the late Duke of Saxe-Coburg, who was present +at the event, having been invited to join the Emperor at the opera, +'which is quite at variance with facts.' The duke clearly thinks that +the conviction of the instability of his throne which was brought home +to the Emperor on this occasion, was one of the causes which decided +him to try the diversion of public opinion into other channels by +means of a foreign war. + +Everything was done to make Orsini a hero in the eyes of the French +public, and to excite sympathy in his cause. Jules Favre by his +eloquent defence in which he pleaded not for the life, but for the +honour of his client, and still more Orsini's own letter to the +Emperor, produced a powerful impression; there was a dramatic interest +in the man who, disdaining to crave clemency for himself, tried a last +supreme effort in the service of the country he had loved too well. +'Deliver my fatherland, and the blessings of twenty-five million +citizens will be with you.' So concluded the letter in which Orsini +told Napoleon, that till Italy was free there would be no peace for +Europe--nor for him. It was whispered that the Emperor had a secret +interview with the condemned man at the Mazas prison; at any rate, +when Orsini mounted the scaffold, he was borne up, not only by his +invincible courage, but by the strongest hope, if not the certainty +that his last prayer would have only a short time to wait for +fulfilment. + +Though persons who were able to read the signs of the times no longer +doubted that Napoleon had resolved to solve the Italian question by +force of arms, it suited his purpose to occupy the public mind for the +moment with the furious agitation against England and Piedmont as +'dens of assassins,' which led to the fall of the Palmerston +administration on the Conspiracy Bill, and seemed to almost place in +jeopardy the throne of Victor Emmanuel. Napoleon sent the King of +Sardinia demands so sweeping in language so threatening, that the old +Savoy blood was fired, and Victor Emmanuel returned the answer: 'Tell +the Emperor in whatever terms you think best that this is not the way +to treat a faithful ally; that I have never tolerated violence from +anyone; that I follow the path of unstained honour, and for that +honour I am only answerable to God and to my people. That we have +carried our head high for 850 years, and no one will make me lower it; +and that, nevertheless, I desire nothing better than to remain his +friend.' This reply was benevolently received; Cavour passed through +the Chambers a bill which, though not corresponding to the extravagant +pretensions of the French Government, gave reasonable security against +the concoction of plots of a criminal nature; Napoleon expressed +himself satisfied, and three months after, despatched Dr Conneau to +Turin, to mention, quite by the way, to the Piedmontese minister, that +he would be glad to have a conversation with him on Italian affairs. +This was the preliminary of the interview of Plombieres. + +Plombieres is a watering-place in the Vosges, which became famous on +the 20th of July 1858, the day on which Napoleon III. and Cavour +entered into the compact that laid down the conditions of the Italian +war. The Emperor was to bring 200,000 men into Italy, and the King of +Sardinia undertook to furnish 100,000. The Austrians were to be +expelled from Italy. The kingdom of Upper Italy would embrace the +Legations and the Marches then under the Pope. Savoy would be ceded +to France. The marriage of the Emperor's cousin with the Princess +Clotilde was not made a condition of the war, and only in case it had +been made a condition, was Cavour empowered to agree to it. He, +therefore, left it uncertain; but he came away from Plombieres +convinced that nearly everything depended upon its happening. Napoleon +was beyond measure anxious for a marriage which would ally him with +one of the oldest reigning families in Europe. It would be a fatal +mistake, Cavour thought, to join the Emperor, and at the same time, to +offend him in a way which he would never forget. Directly after the +interview, he wrote a long letter to the King to persuade him to yield +the point. After all, where would the Princess find a more promising +match? Was it easy to provide husbands for princesses? Were not they +generally extremely unhappy in marriage? What had happened to the +King's four aunts, all charming princesses, who had married the Duke +of Modena, the Duke of Lucca, the Emperor Ferdinand of Austria, and +the King of Naples? Had they been happy? Prince Napoleon could not be +so very bad, as he was known to have hurried to Cannes to pay a last +visit to a woman whom he had loved, a great actress, then upon her +deathbed. This reminiscence was a singular one to evoke under the +circumstances, but Cavour was not an Englishman, and he was not +impressed by the propriety of drawing a veil over facts which everyone +knew. + +The King's instinct told him that his young daughter, pious and simple +and destitute even of that seasoning of vanity which is so good and +necessary a thing in a woman, but proud at heart like all her race, +would derive no compensation from the outward brilliancy of the +Imperial Court for the absence of domestic joy which would be her +wedded lot unless a surprising change came over the bridegroom. When, +however, he was persuaded of the importance, or rather, of the +essential character of the concession, he said to Cavour: 'I am making +a great sacrifice, but I yield to your arguments. Still my consent is +subordinate to the freely given consent of my daughter.' The matter +was referred to the Princess, who answered: 'It is the wish of my +father; therefore this marriage will be useful to my family and my +country, and I accept.' An answer worthy of one who, twelve years +later, when the members of the Imperial House were flying, remained +quietly in Paris, saying: 'Savoy and fear are not acquainted.' + +The marriage was celebrated at Turin in January. The King made a +present to Cavour, as a souvenir of the event, of a ring representing +two heartseases. In thanking him, the minister said: 'Your Majesty +knows that I shall never marry.' 'I know,' replied the King; 'your +bride is the country.' + +Though warlike rumours circulated off and on, the secret of the +understanding arrived at in the Plombieres interview was well +preserved, and the words spoken by Napoleon to the Austrian Ambassador +at the New Year's Day reception fell on Europe with the effect of a +bombshell. Turning to Baron Hubner, he said: 'Je regrette que les +relations entre nous soient si mauvaises; dites cependant a votre +souverain que mes sentiments pour lui ne sont pas changes.' + +Even Cavour was startled. Probably till that moment he had never felt +sure that Napoleon would not after all throw the Italian cause to the +winds. The Emperor's invariable method in dealing with men was to +mystify them. He was pleased to pose as a faithful ally, but human +intellect was insufficient to fathom what he meant. On this system, +skilfully pursued, was reared the whole fabric of Louis Napoleon's +reputation for being a profound politician. Bearing the fact in mind, +we can easily see why that reputation crumbled away almost entirely +when the present became the past. There are few cases in which there +is more disagreement between the judgment of contemporaries and that +of immediate posterity than the case of the French Emperor. + +The least surprised, and, among Italians, the most dissatisfied at the +New Year's Day pronouncement was Mazzini, who when he read it in the +_Times_ next morning felt that the Napoleonic war closed the heroic +period of Italian Liberation. To men like Mazzini failure is apt to +seem more heroic than success, and the war of 1859 did close the +period of failure. The justification for calling in foreign arms could +only be in necessity, and Mazzini denied the necessity. Charles Albert +denied it in 1848 with no less confident a voice. Then, indeed, there +did appear a chance of Italy making herself, but was there the +slightest prospect, eleven years later, of that chance being repeated? +Each student of history may answer for himself. What is plain is, that +France and Sardinia _together_ were to find it an exceedingly hard +task even to drive the Austrians out of Lombardy. + +The unconquerable dislike of men of principle, like Mazzini, to +joining hands with the author of the _coup d'etat_ was perfectly +explicable. There were doubtless some sincere Bulgarian patriots who +disliked joining hands with the Autocrat of all the Russias. The gift +of freedom from a despot means a long list of evils. Mazzini grasped +the maleficent influence which Napoleon III. would be in a position to +exercise over the young state; he knew, moreover, when only two or +three other persons in Europe knew it, that the bargain of Plombieres +was on the principle of give-and-take. How Mazzini was for many years +better informed than any cabinet in Europe, remains a secret. 'I know +positively,' he wrote on the 4th of January 1859, 'that the idea of +the war is only to hand over a zone of Lombardy to Piedmont, and the +cession of Savoy and Nice to France: the peace, upon the offer of +which they count, would abandon the whole of Venetia to Austria.' A +month before this he had disclosed what was certainly true, namely, +that Napoleon wanted to place a Murat on the throne of Naples, and to +substitute Prince Napoleon for the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The point +that is doubtful in the above revelation is the statement that the +Emperor never meant to emancipate Venetia. The probabilities are +against this. He may, however, have questioned all along whether his +troops, with those of the King of Sardinia, would display a +superiority over the Austrian forces sufficiently incontestable for +him to risk taking them into the mouse-trap of the Quadrilateral. In +this one thing Napoleon was amply justified--in having no sort of +desire to take a beaten army back to Paris. + +Mazzini, with the more extreme members of the Party of Action +(including Crispi), issued a protest against the Napoleonic war, with +the advice to have nothing to do with it or its authors. But Italy +thought otherwise, and Garibaldi, the man who of all others most +nearly represented the heart of Italy, rejoiced and was glad. He did +not believe a word about the proposed cession of Savoy and Nice; no +one did, except Mazzini and his few disciples. What he saw was, that a +great step towards independence was about to be taken. In 1856, he not +only adhered to Manin's call to all Italians to rally round the house +of Savoy, but went further than Manin in accepting unconditionally +what he called the 'Savoy Dictatorship,' to which he left full liberty +of choice in the matter of ways and means. He did justice then to +Cavour's patriotism: it was only after the sacrifice of Nice that a +feeling of bitter antagonism grew up in him for the man who he thought +had deceived Italy and himself. In December 1858, on a summons from +Cavour, he left Caprera (the island which he had bought with a little +inheritance falling to him on the death of his brother) and proceeded +to Turin, where he was informed of a plan for a rising in Massa and +Carrara, which was originally intended to be the signal of the war. +The plan was given up, but in March 1859, Garibaldi was told by Victor +Emmanuel in person of the imminence of war, and was invited to take +part in it as commander of an auxiliary corps of volunteers which took +the name of 'Cacciatori delle Alpi.' In this way, all his own +followers, not only those in arms, but the great mass of the people +which was obedient to his lead, became enrolled in the service of the +Sardinian monarchy; a fact of capital importance in the future +development of affairs. Without it, the Italian kingdom could not have +been formed. And this fact was due to Cavour, who had to fight the +arrayed strength of the old, narrow, military caste at Turin, which +had succeeded in getting Garibaldi's sword refused in 1848, and wished +for nothing in the world more than to get it refused in 1859. Near the +end of his life, Cavour said in the Chamber that the difficulties he +encountered in inducing the Sardinian War Office to sanction the +appointment were all but insurmountable. Unfortunately, the jealousy +of the heads of the regular army for the revolutionary captain never +ceased. As for Cavour, even when he opposed Garibaldi politically, he +always strove to have the highest personal honour paid to the man of +whom he once wrote 'that he had rendered Italy the greatest service +it was possible to render her.' + +True to his _role_ of mystification, one week after the shot fired on +the 1st of January, Napoleon inserted an official statement in the +_Moniteur_ to the effect that, although public opinion had been +agitated by alarming rumours, there was nothing in the foreign +relations of France to justify the fears these rumours tended to +create. He continued on this tack, with more or less consistency, to +the very verge of the outbreak of hostilities. 'The Empire was peace,' +as it was always announced to be in the intervals when it was not war; +there was no more harmless dove in Europe than the person enthroned in +the Tuileries. These assurances were given more credence than they +deserved by the Conservative Cabinet then in power in England, and the +British ministers believed to the last that war would be averted, to +which end they strained every nerve. Besides the wish felt by every +English government to preserve European peace, there was at this +juncture, not only in the Cabinet, but in the country, so much fear of +Napoleon's ambition and restlessness, that for the time being, +sympathy with Italy was relegated to a second place. + +Meanwhile there was no want of plainness in the language employed in +Piedmont. In opening the second session of the sixth Sardinian +Parliament, Victor Emmanuel pronounced, on 10th January, the historic +phrase declaring that he could not remain insensible to the cry of +grief, _il grido di dolore_, that reached him from all parts of Italy. +Every corner of the fair country where the _Si_ sounds was electrified. +The words, as has since become known, were introduced into the speech by +the King himself. As Cavour had foreseen, Austria played into his hands. +To Lord Malmesbury's appeal to evacuate the Roman Legations, and to use +Austrian influence with the Italian princes in procuring the concession +of necessary reforms, Count Buol replied in terms that were the reverse +of obliging: 'We do not mean to abdicate our right of intervention, and +if we are called upon to help the Italian sovereigns with our arms, we +shall do so. We shall not recommend their governments to undertake any +reforms. France plays the part of protectress of nationalities; we are, +and shall be, protectors of dynastic rights.' Finally, England proposed +a congress with a view to general disarmament. Piedmont, counting on the +madness of her adversary, risked agreement with this plan. Austria gave +a peremptory refusal to have anything to do with it. + +Cavour now asked Parliament to vote a war loan of L2,000,000, which +was passed by a majority of 81 out of 151 votes. No foreign banker +would undertake to negotiate the loan, but it was twice covered by +Italian buyers, nearly all small capitalists, who put their money into +it as a patriotic duty. Amongst the few deputies who opposed the loan +was the old apostle of retrogression, Count Solaro della Margherita, +who raised his solitary voice against the tide of revolution; and the +Savoyard the Marquis Costa de Beauregard whose speech was pathetic +from the melancholy foreboding which pervaded it that the making +of Italy meant the unmaking of Savoy. Speaking in the name of his +fellow-countrymen, the Marquis reconfirmed the profound love of +Savoy for her Royal House and her total lack of solidarity with the +aspirations of Italy. With time the Savoyards might have learnt to be +Italians as their king had learnt to be an Italian king. Or they might +not. Possibly the best solution would have been to join Savoy to the +Swiss Confederation, though the martial instincts of the race were not +favourable to their Conversion into peaceful Helvetic citizens. From +one point of view, that of military defence, the retention of the +province was of infinitely more moment to the future Italy than to +little Piedmont. Sardinia could keep the peace with France for an +indefinite period; Italy cannot. What is true of Savoy is far more +true of Nice. To have it in foreign keeping is to have a very +partially reformed burglar inside your house. + +'Notre roi,' said an old ragged fisherman of the Lac de Bourget to the +writer of this book,--'Notre roi nous a vendus.' Not willingly did +Victor Emmanuel incur that charge, in which the rebound from love to +hate was so clearly heard; not willingly did he give up Maurienne, +cradle of his race, Hautecombe, grave of his fathers. It was the +greatest sacrifice, he said, that Italy could have asked of him. Nor +is there any reason to doubt his word. But it is incorrect to suppose, +as many have supposed, that Cavour promised at Plombieres to give up +Savoy (Nice he did not promise) without the King's knowledge. Before +he went there, he had brought Victor Emmanuel over to his own belief, +justified or not, that without a bait Napoleon could not be got to +move. Directly after the interview, he wrote a full account of it to +the King, in which he said: 'When the future fate of Italy was +arranged, the Emperor asked me what France would have, and if your +Majesty would cede Savoy and the county of Nice?' To which Cavour +answered 'Yes' as to Savoy, but objected that Nice was essentially +Italian. The Emperor twirled his moustache several times, and only +said that these were secondary questions, about which there would be +time to think later. + +Austria was always appealing to the right of treaties and the right +of nations; not, as it happened, with much reason, for she had ridden +or tried to ride rough-shod through as many treaties and through quite +as many rights as most European Powers. In 1816 she was so determined +to possess herself of Alessandria and the Upper Novarese that Lord +Castlereagh advised Piedmont to join the Austrian Confederation, as +then and only then the Emperor might withdraw his pretensions to this +large slice of territory of a Prince with whom he was at peace. If he +did withdraw them, it was not from respect for the treaties which, a +year before, had confirmed the King of Sardinia's rights as an +independent sovereign, but from respect for the untoward results to +himself which he was afraid, on reflection, might arise from enforcing +his claims with the bayonet. But people forget; and it was of vital +consequence that virtuous Austria should figure in the coming conflict +not as the victim of aggression but as the aggressor. On all sides it +was said that the Austrian Government would never commit an error of +such magnitude; only Cavour thought the contrary. 'I shall _force_ her +to declare war against us,' he told Mr Odo Russell in December 1858. +When asked by the incredulous diplomatist at what date he expected to +perform so great a feat, Cavour quietly answered: 'In the first week +of May.' War was actually declared a few days sooner. + +For months Austria had been pouring troops into Italy, a large portion +of which were massed on the frontier line of the Ticino. Who shall +count the number of the men brought to fight and die in the Italian +plains between 1848 and 1866 to sustain for that short time the weight +of a condemned despotism? The supply was inexhaustible; they came from +the Hungarian steppes, from the green valleys of Styria, from the +mountains of Tyrol, from the woodlands of the Banat and of Bohemia; a +blind million battling for a chimera. They came, and how many did not +return? + +Austria's final refusal to adhere to the Congress scheme meant, of +course, war, and Cavour called the Chamber and demanded a vote +conferring upon Government the power to take such prompt measures as +the situation required. 'We trust,' he said, 'that the Chamber will +not hesitate to sanction the proposal to invest the King with plenary +powers. Who could be a better guardian of our liberty? Who more worthy +of the faith of the nation? He it is whose name a ten years' reign had +made synonymous with honour and loyalty; who has always held high the +tricolor standard of Italy, who now prepares to unsheath his sword for +freedom and independence.' + +When Cavour walked out of the Chamber after the vote had been taken, +he said: 'I am leaving the last sitting of the Piedmontese Parliament, +the next will be that of the Kingdom of Italy.' At that moment, if +ever in his career, the great minister who had fought so long a fight +against incalculable obstacles learnt what it is to taste the +sweetness of triumph. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR FOR LOMBARDY + +1859 + +Austria declares War--Montebello--Garibaldi's +Campaign--Palestro--Magenta--The Allies enter Milan--Ricasoli saves +Italian Unity--Accession of Francis II.--Solferino--The Armistice of +Villafranca. + + +Baron von Kellersperg reached Turin on the 23rd of April, bringing +with him the Austrian ultimatum: 'Disarmament within three days, or +war.' Cavour read the document, and then drew his watch out of his +pocket. It was half-past five in the afternoon. At the same hour on +the 26th, he gave Baron von Kellersperg the answer: 'Sardinia having +accepted the principle of a general disarmament, as formulated by +England, with the adhesion of France, Prussia and Russia, the +Sardinian Government has no other explanation to make.' The retort was +justified. Austria, which now required Sardinia to disarm, had refused +to disarm herself. She must take the consequences. + +The British Government made a last desperate effort to maintain peace, +and the Austrians always said that this was their ruin, as it delayed +the invasion of Piedmont for a week. On the 29th appeared the Emperor +Francis Joseph's Declaration of War, and on the same day the first +Austrian columns crossed the Ticino. The Austrian commander-in-chief +was Count Gyulai, who was in high favour with the aristocratic party, +by which his appointment was suggested to, if not forced upon, the +Emperor. The latter, not altogether easy in his mind about Gyulai's +capabilities, commissioned General Hess, in whom he placed full +confidence, to keep his eye on him. Hess could not, however, do much +more than take notes of one of the most remarkable and providential +series of blunders ever committed by the commander of an army. + +In spite of the delay which the Austrians ascribed to the English +peace negotiations, there was time for them to destroy the Sardinian +army before the French came up. Gyulai had 100,000 men in the theatre +of war, a number increased up to 200,000 during the campaign. Both +Sardinia and her ally mustered much fewer men than were spoken of at +Plombieres. The Piedmontese could dispose of 56,000 infantry, formed +in five divisions, one division of cavalry numbering 4,000, and one +brigade of volunteers, to which the name was given of 'Cacciatori +delle Alpi.' The enrolment of these was stopped when it had reached +the small figure of 4,500 men, a figure that looks out of all +proportion with the brilliant part they played. The same influences +which cut short the enrolment prevented Cavour from keeping his +distinct promise to give Garibaldi, now invested with the official +rank of major-general, 10,000 regulars, with a battery and a troop of +horse. + +The French army consisted of 128,000 men, including about 10,000 +cavalry. The Emperor's Government had notified beforehand to Vienna +that the passage of the Ticino by the Austrian troops would be +considered equivalent to a declaration of war, and accordingly, on the +29th of April, diplomatic relations between the two Powers were broken +off. The French forces had been really on the move for more than a +week--ever since, in fact, by what the Marquis of Normanby called 'an +unpardonable breach of confidence,' the intention of Austria to invade +Sardinia was communicated to Paris. The mobilisation was conducted +with rapidity; in spite of the snow, which lay deep on the Mont Cenis, +the first corps, under Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers, made a swift march +over the Alps, and the foremost division entered Turin on the 30th of +April. The troops of Canrobert and Niel, who commanded the third and +fourth corps, were sent by Toulon and Marseilles, while the generals +themselves went on to Turin in advance. MacMahon's corps, which was +the second, was on its way from Algiers. The fifth corps, under the +command of Prince Napoleon, was despatched at a later date to Tuscany, +where it was kept in a state of inactivity, which suggested rather a +political than a military mission. General Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angely commanded the Imperial Guard. Napoleon III assumed the +supreme command of the allied armies, with General Vaillant as head of +the staff. + +The condition of neither French nor Austrian army was satisfactory. +The former had more modern arms and a greater proportion of old +soldiers, but it was generally thought that the French cavalry, so far +superior to the Prussian in the war of 1870, was inferior to the +Austrian in 1859. The commissariat and ambulance arrangements of the +French were disgraceful, though they had this advantage, that when +there was food to be had the soldiers were allowed to eat it, while +the Austrians were limited to half-a-pound of beef a day, and were +only allowed to cook once in the twenty-four hours, which led to their +having constantly to fight fasting. In point of discipline, they were +probably superior to the French, who fought, however, and this should +always be remembered of them in Italy, with the best will in the +world. They carried about their pet monkeys and dogs, and were always +good-humoured and in good spirits, even when wounded. What would have +been the effect on them of even a single defeat is a question which it +is useless to discuss. + +In Napoleon's proclamation to the French people it was stated that the +scope of the war was to give Italy to herself, not to make her change +masters; the recompense of France would be to have upon her frontiers +a friendly people which owed its independence to her. As things stood +there were but two alternatives: Austria supreme as far as the Alps, +or Italy free to the Adriatic. On the 12th of May, the Imperial yacht, +the _Reine Hortense_, steamed into the harbour of Genoa with the +Emperor on board. A splendid reception awaited him, and amongst the +first to greet him was Cavour. 'You may well rejoice,' said Napoleon, +as he embraced the Sardinian statesman, 'for your plans are being +realised.' + +Gyulai, who had insisted on invading Piedmont, contrary to the opinion +of Hess (who counselled waiting for reinforcements on the left bank of +the Mincio), wasted his time after crossing the Ticino in making plans +and changing them while he could unquestionably have thrown himself on +Turin had he possessed more resolution, and this was the only +operation that could have justified the initial folly of the invasion. +The taking of the capital might not have altered the fortunes of the +war, but it would have had all the appearance of a triumph, and would +have raised the _moral_ of the Austrian soldiers. The allies had time +to concentrate their forces near Tortona, and it was left to them to +assume the offensive. The Austrians retired towards the Apennines, but +made a forward movement on the 20th of May with the object of seizing +the heights of Casteggio which command the road to Piacenza; they were +met by the allies at the village of Montebello where Marshal Lannes +obtained a victory in 1800. The allies were completely successful in +this first battle, the honours of the day falling to the Sardinian +cavalry, which showed great gallantry. The Austrian forces were +considerably superior in strength. + +Almost at the same time as the engagement of Montebello, Garibaldi +with his diminutive army (which through the weeding-out of men unfit +for service was reduced to about 3,500 before it took the field), +crossed the Lago Maggiore, and advanced boldly into the heart of the +enemy's country. The volunteers had no artillery, and by way of +cavalry only some forty or fifty were mounted on their own horses and +dignified with the name of 'guides.' They were badly armed and worse +equipped; the only good thing they had was an excellent ambulance +organised by Dr Bertani, Garibaldi's surgeon-general from Roman days +downwards. But they formed a picturesque sight as they marched along +gaily to the everlasting song, 'Addio, mia bella, addio'; and a +physiognomist would have been struck by their intelligent and often +distinguished faces: nobles and poets, budding doctors and lawyers, +bristled in the ranks, while the officers were the still young +veterans of 1848-1849: Cosenz, hero of Venice; Medici, the defender of +the Vascello; Bixio, Sirtori, Cairoli--all the Knights of the Legend. + +Moving swiftly from place to place, and appearing where and when he +was least expected, Garibaldi took the entire country of the Lombard +lakes. Gyulai, who at first looked upon the Garibaldian march as a +simple diversion intended to draw off his attention, now became +concerned, and dispatched Urban with 10,000 men to destroy the +volunteers, and stem the insurrection which everywhere followed in +their wake. On the 27th of May Garibaldi drove Urban from his position +near San Fermo, and that commander had his mission still unfulfilled +when he received the order to retreat after the battle of Magenta. The +volunteers were free to pursue their way to Brescia and the +Valtellina, where they performed many feats in the latter period of +the war, winning the admiration of Hayn, the Austrian general opposed +to them, which he was generous enough to express in no measured terms. + +The great war was meanwhile approaching its climax. After Montebello +the whole French army executed a secret flank movement, changing its +position from Voghera, where Gyulai believed it to be, and whence he +expected it to move on to Piacenza, to the line of the Sesia, between +Cameriano and Casale. To mask the main operations, the Sardinian +forces were sent to Palestro, on the other side of the Sesia. On the +30th of May, they drove in the outposts of the enemy, and on the 31st +fought the important engagement by which the Austrian attempt to +retake Palestro was repelled, and great damage caused to Zobel's +corps, which was obliged to leave eight guns sticking in the mud. The +French Zouaves of the 3rd regiment fought with the Piedmontese, and +made the battle famous by the reckless valour of their bayonet +charges. Victor Emmanuel, deaf to all remonstrances, placed himself at +their head, in consequence of which they elected him their corporal, +an honour once paid to the first Napoleon. + +There is reason to think that after Palestro, Gyulai, having at last +realised what Napoleon was about, wished to evacuate Lombardy, but was +prevented from doing so by strong protests sent by the Emperor Francis +Joseph, who was at Verona. The Austrian army was in full retreat when +it was pulled up near Magenta, with the object of checking the advance +of the French, who had already begun to cross the Ticino by the +bridges of San Martino and Buffalora, which the Austrians had tried to +blow up, but had not succeeded from want of proper powder. In the +great battle of the 4th of June, Austrians and French numbered +respectively about 60,000 men; no Piedmontese were engaged till the +evening, when a battalion of Bersaglieri arrived. The Imperial Guard, +with which was Napoleon, had to bear the brunt of the fight for four +hours, and ran a good chance of being annihilated; not a brilliant +proof of French generalship, but happily the Austrians also committed +grave mistakes. MacMahon's arrival at five in the afternoon prevented +a catastrophe, and the fighting, which continued far into the night, +was from this moment attended by results on the whole advantageous to +the French. Not much more can be said. Magenta was very like a drawn +battle. The Austrians are calculated to have lost 10,000 men, the +French between 4,000 and 5,000. It was expected that the Austrians +would renew the attack, but on the 5th, Gyulai ordered the retreat, +which was the last order he had the opportunity of giving, as he was +deprived of his command immediately after. + +At mid-day on the 5th, Milan, which was trembling on the verge of +revolution, made the pleasurable discovery that there were no +Austrians left in the town. The municipality sent out delegates with +the keys of the city to Victor Emmanuel. At ten a.m. on the 7th, +MacMahon's corps began to file down the streets. Words cannot describe +the welcome given to them. How MacMahon lifted to his saddle-bow a +child that was in danger of being crushed by the crowd will be +remembered from the pretty incident having passed into English poetry. +On the 8th, the King and the Emperor made their entry amidst a new +paroxysm of enthusiasm. Napoleon is reported to have exclaimed: 'How +this people must have suffered!' In his proclamation 'to the Italian +people,' which bears the same date as his entry into Milan, he renewed +the assurance of the disinterested motives which had brought him to +Italy: 'Your enemies, who are also mine, have endeavoured to diminish +the universal sympathy felt in Europe for your cause, by causing it to +be believed that I am making war for personal ambition, or to +increase French territory. If there are men who fail to comprehend +their epoch, I am not one of them. In the enlightened state of public +opinion now prevailing, true greatness lies in the moral influence +which we exercise rather than in sterile conquests.' The proclamation +ended with the words: 'To-morrow you will be the citizens of a great +country.' Not the least effusive demonstrations were reserved for +Cavour, who joined his Sovereign a few days after the battle of +Magenta. + + * * * * * + +Leaving the Milanese to put their faith in princes while yet there was +time, a glance must be taken at what had been going on in the rest of +Italy, which was becoming a great nation far more rapidly, and in a +much fuller sense than Napoleon III. expected or wished. When Austria +sent her ultimatum to Turin, the Sardinian minister at the Court of +Tuscany invited the Grand Duke's Government to take part in the war of +liberation. This they refused to do. On perceiving, however, that he +could not depend on his troops, the Grand Duke promised to co-operate +with Piedmont, but his advisers did not now think it possible to save +the grand ducal throne, unless Leopold II. abdicated in favour of his +son, who was not burdened with the fatal associations of the reaction +of ten years before. Leopold probably thought that even his abdication +would not keep out the deluge, and he took the more dignified course +of declining to yield to force. On the 27th of April, accompanied by +the Corps Diplomatique as far as the frontier, he left Tuscany. A +Provisional Government was formed with Peruzzi at its head, which +hastily raised 8000 men for immediate service under the command of +General Ulloa. Before long Prince Napoleon, with the fifth corps of +the French army, landed, for no reason that could be avowed, at +Leghorn. The real motive was to prepare the way for the fabrication +of a new kingdom of Etruria, which existed already in Napoleon's +brain. This masterpiece of folly had but a lukewarm supporter in +Prince Napoleon, who was the only Napoleon and about the only +Frenchman (if he could be called one) who grasped the idea of the +unity of Italy and sincerely applauded it. Had Jerome Napoleon been +born with the least comprehension of self-respect and personal +dignity, his strong political intelligence and clear logical +discernment must have produced something better than the most +ineffectual career of the century. + +On the 8th of May, Baron Ricasoli took office under the Provisional +Government as Minister of the Interior, and for nearly twelve months +he was the real ruler of Tuscany. He had an ally of great strength, +though of humble origin, in Giuseppe Dolfi, the baker, of whom it was +currently said that any day he could summon 10,000 men to the Piazza +della Signoria, who would obey him to the death. To Dolfi it was due +that there were no disorders after the Grand Duke left. What Italy +owes to the Lord of Brolio, history will never adequately state, +because it is well-nigh impossible fully to realise how critical was +her position during all that year, from causes external and internal, +and how disastrous would have been the slightest mistake or wavering +in the direction of Tuscan affairs, which formed the central hinge of +the whole complicated situation. Fortunate, indeed, was it that there +was a man like the Iron Baron, who, by simple force of will, outwitted +the enemies of Italy more thoroughly than even Cavour could do with +all his astuteness. Austere, aristocratic, immovable from his purpose, +indifferent to praise or blame, Ricasoli aimed at one point--the +unity of the whole country; and neither Cavour's impatience for +annexation to Piedmont, nor the scheme of Farini and Minghetti for +averting the wrath of the French Emperor by a temporary and +preparatory union of the central states, drew him one inch from the +straight road, which was the only one he had ever learnt to walk in. + +In June, the Duke of Modena and the Duchess-Regent of Parma found it +impossible to remain in their states, now that Austrian protection was +withdrawn. The latter had done what she could to preserve the duchy +for her young son, but the tide was too strong. These revolutions were +accomplished quietly; but, some months after, on the incautious return +to Parma of a man deeply implicated in the abuses of Charles III.'s +government--Colonel Anviti--he was cruelly murdered; an act of +vengeance which happily remained alone. + +After the battle of Magenta, when the Austrian troops were recalled +from the Marches and Romagna, those districts rose and demanded the +dictatorship of Piedmont. Napoleon foresaw that this would happen as +far back as the Plombieres interview, and at that date it did not +appear that he meant to oppose it. But now, in Paris, the Clerical +party were seized with panic, and the Empress-Regent, then, as always, +completely under their control, did all in her power to arouse the +Emperor's opposition. The Pope, on his part, knowing that he was +secure in Rome--thanks to the French garrison, which, though it hated +its office, as the French writer Ampere and others bore witness, was +sure to perform it faithfully--had the idea of sending his Swiss +troops to put down the growing revolution. With these, and a few Roman +troops of the line, Colonel Schmidt marched against Perugia, where, in +restoring the Papal authority, he used a ferocity which, though denied +by clerical writers, was attested by all contemporary accounts, and +was called 'atrocious' by Sir James Hudson in a despatch to Lord John +Russell. The significance of such facts, wrote the English minister at +Turin, could only be the coming fall of the Pope's Temporal Power. + +L.C. Farini was sent by Victor Emmanuel to administer the provinces of +Modena and Parma, and Massimo d'Azeglio was charged with the same +mission in Romagna. The Marches of Ancona had been recovered by the +Papal troops, which were concentrated in the district called La +Cattolica, near Rimini. A volunteer corps, under the Piedmontese +General Mezzacapo, was entrusted with the task of preventing them from +crossing into the Legations. + +In the month of May, when the allies were reaping their first +successes, an event occurred at Caserta which precipitated crisis in +the South Italy. Ferdinand II. died at forty-eight years of age of a +terrible complaint which had attacked him a few months earlier, when +he went to meet his son's bride, the Princess Maria Sofia of Bavaria, +sister of the Empress of Austria. The news from Upper Italy hastened +his end; he is said to have exclaimed not long before he died: 'They +have won the cause!' + +The accession of a youth, of whom nothing bad was known, to a throne +that had been occupied by a sovereign so out of place in modern +civilisation as Ferdinand, would appear at first sight a fortunate +circumstance for the chances of the dynasty; but it was not so. In an +eastern country it matters little whether the best of the inhabitants +loathe and detest their ruler; but it matters much whether he knows +how to cajole and frighten the masses, and especially the army, into +obedience. Naples, more Oriental than western, possessed in Ferdinand +a monarch consummately expert in this side of the art of government. +Though without the higher military virtues, his army was his favourite +plaything; he always wore uniform, never forgot a face he had once +seen, and treated the officers with a rather vulgar familiarity, +guessing at their weaknesses and making use of them on occasion. The +rank and file regarded him as a sort of supernatural being. Francis +II., who succeeded him, could scarcely appear in this light even to +the most ignorant. Popular opinion considered him not quite sound in +his mind. Probably his timorous, awkward ways and his seeming +stupidity were simply the result of an education conducted by bigoted +priests in a home that was no home: populated as it was by the +offspring of a stepmother who hated him. His own mother, the charming +Princess Cristina of Savoy, died while the city was rejoicing at his +birth. The story is well known of how, shortly after the marriage, +Ferdinand thought it diverting to draw a music-stool from under his +wife, causing her to fall heavily. It gives a sample of the sufferings +of her brief married life. An inheritance of sorrow descended from her +to her child. + +If Francis II. was not popular, neither was the new queen. Far more +virile in character and in tastes than her husband, her high spirit +was not what the Neapolitans admire in women, and those who were +devoted to the late King accused her of having shown impatience during +his illness for the moment when the crown would fall to Francis. +Malicious gossip of this kind, however false, serves its end. Thus, +from one cause or another, the young King exercised a power sensibly +weaker than that of his father, while, besides other enemies, he had +an inveterate one in his stepmother, who began weaving a conspiracy to +oust him from the throne and place on it the eldest of his +half-brothers. This plot received, however, very little popular +support. + +The Sardinian Government sought to persuade Francis to join in the +war against Austria; disinterested counsel, as in taking it lay his +only hope, but it was opposed by England, Russia and France. In July +two of the Swiss regiments at Naples mutinied. The Swiss Government, +becoming alive to the discredit cast on the country by mercenary +service, had decided that Swiss subjects serving abroad should lose +their rights as citizens of the Confederation whilst so employed, and +that they should no longer introduce the arms of their respective +cantons into their regimental colours. This was the immediate cause of +their insubordination. The mutineers, most of whom were unarmed, were +ruthlessly shot down in the Campo di Marte to the terror of the +population, and the two Swiss regiments which remained quiet were +dissolved; by which the monarchy lost the troops that were chiefly to +be depended on in emergencies. The Austrians and Bavarians imported in +their stead did not form separate regiments, but were incorporated +among the native troops, though the regiments that contained them were +commonly called 'Bavarian.' They only partially filled the place of +the Swiss. + + * * * * * + +Between the 4th and the 24th of June, no engagement of any magnitude +was fought in Lombardy except the attack on Benedek at Melegnano, a +battle in which the French lost most men, and gained no strategical +advantage. It was supposed to have been fought because Napoleon I. had +gained a victory in the same neighbourhood. The Austrians retreated to +the Mincio, destroying the bridges over the Adda, Serio, Oglio and +Mella as they went; these rivers the allies had to make repassable, +which is the excuse given for the dilatory nature of their pursuit of +the enemy. The Emperor Francis Joseph had now assumed the command, +with Hess as his principle adviser, and Wimpffen and Schlick, famous +as the 'One-eyed,' as heads of the two great corps into which the army +was divided. + +On the 22nd of June, the Austrians were ranged along the left bank of +the Mincio from Peschiera to Mantua, and the French were massed near +Montechiaro, on the Brescia road, which Napoleon had made his +headquarters. In withdrawing all their men from the right bank of the +river, the Austrians desired to create the impression that they had +finally abandoned it. It was their plan, which did not lack boldness, +to throw the whole army back upon the right bank, and to perform a +concentric movement on Montechiaro, where they hoped to fall unawares +on the French and destroy them. They were confident of success, for +they knew what a good stand they had made at Magenta, and now that +Gyulai was got rid of, and the young Emperor had taken the field, they +did not doubt that fortune would turn her wheel. To these men of many +nations, the presence of their Emperor was the one inspiration that +could rouse them, for if they were fighting for anything, it was for +him in the most personal sense; it was to secure his mastery of the +splendid land over which he looked from the castle of Valleggio, on +the 23rd of June, whilst his brilliant staff stood round, waiting for +the signal to mount and clatter down the steep road to the Mincio +bridge. The army now advanced along all its line. + +Even the soberest writers have not resisted making some reference to +the magnificent scene of to-morrow's battle. On one side, the mountain +bulwarks rising tier on tier, gorgeous with the trancendent beauty of +colour and light of the Italian summer; on the other, the vine-clad +hillocks which fall gently away from the blue lake of Garda till they +are lost in the + + ............harvest shining plain + Where the peasant heaps his grain + In the garner of his foe. + +The 24th of June was to decide how much longer the Lombard peasant +should labour to fill a stranger's treasury. + +The calculations of the Austrians were founded on the slowness which +had hitherto characterised Napoleon's movements. Hess thought that two +days might be safely allowed for the Austrian advance, and that the +enemy would remain passive on the west bank of the river Chiese, +waiting to be attacked on the 25th. If the operation could have been +performed in one day, and it is thought that it could, there would +have been more prospect of success. But even then, the original plan +of attacking the allies west of the Chiese could not have been carried +out, as on the 23rd the whole allied army moved forward, the French +occupying Castiglione and Lonato, and the Sardinians Rezzato and +Desenzano, on the lake of Garda. It is not clear how far the allies +believed in the Austrian advance; that they had warning of it from +several quarters is certain. For instance, a gentleman living at +Desenzano heard from the country people, who, for marketing or other +purposes, constantly go to and fro between that place and Peschiera, +that the Austrians had ordered a quantity of country carts and +transport waggons to be in readiness on the 23rd, and he hastened with +the intelligence to the Piedmontese General Delia Rocca, who, in a +fine spirit of red-tapism, pooh-poohed the information. The French +encountered several Austrian patrols in the course of the day, but +they were inclined to think that the Austrians were only executing a +reconnaissance. On the whole, it seems that the conflict came as a +surprise to both sides. + +The Emperor of Austria, after accompanying the advance for a short +distance, returned with Hess to Valleggio for the night. Napoleon +slept at Montechiaro. The Austrian forces bivouacked on the little +hills between Solferino and Cavriana. They rested well, still +confident that no fighting would be done next day. At two in the +morning, the French began to move in the direction of Solferino, and +the Sardinians in that of Peschiera. There is a legend, that in the +grey mists of dawn an advance party of French cavalry espied a huge +and gaunt hussar standing by the roadside. For a moment the figure was +lost sight of, but it reappeared, and after running across the road in +front of the French, it turned and dealt the officer who led the party +so tremendous a blow that he fell off his horse. Then the adventurous +Austrian fled, followed by a volley from the French troopers; the +sound vibrating through the dawn stillness gave the call to arms to +the contrasted hosts. The battle of Solferino had begun. + +The news flew to Montechiaro and to Valleggio. Napoleon started for +the scene of action with the Imperial Guard; Francis Joseph's staff +was sent forward at six a.m., but the Emperor and Hess did not start +till later. At near nine, the staff was looking for the Emperor, and +the Emperor was looking for the staff in the open country about Volta; +the sixty or seventy staff-officers dashed across ploughed fields and +over hedges and ditches, in a style which would have done credit to an +English fox-hunt. This remarkable incident was in keeping with the +general management of the battle on the part of the Austrians, who had +been fighting for many hours before the commander-in-chief arrived. +After his arrival, they continued fighting without any visible plan, +according to the expedients of the divisional generals. The particular +expedient adopted by General Zedwitz was to withdraw 15,000 men, +including six regiments of cavalry, from the field. At a critical +moment, Count Clam Gallas had the misfortune to lose his artillery +reserve, and sent everywhere to ask if anyone had seen it. The Prince +of Hesse, acting without orders, or against orders, separated his +division from Schwarzenberg's and brought it up at the nick of time to +save the Austrians, when they were threatened with actual destruction, +at two o'clock in the afternoon. + +At that hour the French were in possession of the Spia d'Italia, and +of all the heights of Solferino. They had been engaged in attacking +them since eight in the morning, Napoleon having seen at once that +they were the key to the position, and must be taken, cost what it +might. The cost was great; if there is any episode in French military +history in which soldiers and officers earned all the praise that can +be given to brave men, it is the taking of these Solferino hills. +Again and again Forey's division and Bazaine's brigade returned to the +charge; the cemetery and streets of Solferino were piled up with their +dead, mingled with the dead of the defenders, who contested every inch +of ground. The individual valour of the French soldiers in that six +hours' struggle made it possible to win the battle. + +The Austrians, however, after their desperate straits at two o'clock +recovered to so great an extent that, had Zedwitz returned with his +cavalry, as the Emperor was hoping that he would, the day might still +have been theirs. Even as it was, MacMahon's corps swerved under +Zobel's repulse of his attack on San Cassiano, and Niel, in the plain, +was dangerously hard pressed by Schwarzenberg. But, by degrees, the +French recommenced gaining and the Austrians losing ground, and at six +p.m., the latter were retreating in good order, defending each step +before they yielded it. + +In the last stage of the battle the French limbered up their guns in +the belief that a vast reserve of Austrian cavalry was galloping into +action. What made them think so was a dense yellowish wall advancing +through the air. Had they been natives, they would have recognised the +approach of one of those frightful storms which bring devastation in +their train, and which, as they move forward in what appears a solid +mass, look to the inexperienced eye exactly like the clouds of dust +raised by innumerable horsemen. The bursting of the storm hastened the +end of the fight. + +All the day another fight, separate from this, had been going on +between Benedek and the Sardinian army near the knoll of San Martino, +overlooking the lake of Garda. The battle, which began in the early +morning among the cypresses that crown the hillock, raged till seven +p.m. with a fury which cost the Piedmontese over 4,000 in dead and +wounded. It consisted largely in hand-to-hand fighting, which now gave +an advantage to the Austrians, now to the Italians; many of the +positions were lost and re-taken more than half-a-dozen times; the +issue seemed long doubtful, and when Benedek, who commanded his side +with unquestionable ability, received orders from the field of +Solferino to begin a retreat, each combatant was firmly convinced that +he was getting the best of it. Austrian writers allege that this order +saved the Sardinians from defeat, while in both Italian and French +narratives, the Piedmontese are represented as having been already +sure of success. The courage shown alike by Piedmontese and Austrians +could not be surpassed. Victor Emmanuel, as usual, set an example to +his men. + +An incident in the battle brings into striking relief what it was this +bloody strife was meant to end. An Austrian corporal fell, mortally +wounded by a Bersagliere whom he conjured, in Italian, to listen to +what he had got to say. It was this: Forced into the Austrian army, he +had been obliged to serve through the war, but had never fired his +rifle on his fellow-countrymen; now he preferred to die rather than +defend himself. So he yielded up his breath with his hand clasped in +the hand which had slain him. + +The Austrians lost, on the 24th of June, 13,000 men in killed and +wounded; the French, 10,000. It was said that the frightful scene of +carnage on the battlefield after Solferino influenced Napoleon III. in +his desire to stop the war. Had that scene vanished from his +recollection in June 1870? + +Even a field of battle, with its unburied dead, speaks only of a small +part of the miseries of a great war. Those who were at that time at +Brescia, to which town the greater portion of the French wounded and +all the worst cases were brought, still shudder as they recall the +dreadful human suffering which no skill or devotion could do more than +a very little to assuage. The noble Brescian ladies who had once +nursed Bayard, turned, with one accord, into sisters of charity; every +house, every church, became a hospital, all that gratitude and pity +could do was done; but many were to leave their bones in Italy, and +how many more to go home maimed for life, or bearing with them the +seeds of death. + +Other reasons than those of sentiment in reality decided Napoleon's +course. Though these can only be guessed at, the guess, at the present +date, amounts to certainty. In the first place, the skin-deep +rejoicings in Paris at the news of the victories did not hide the fact +that French public opinion, never genuinely favourable to the war, was +becoming more and more hostile to it. Then there was the military +question. It is true that the Fifth Corps, estimated at 30,000 men, +had, at last, emerged from its crepuscular doings in Tuscany, and was +available for future operations. Moreover, Kossuth paid a visit to the +Imperial headquarters, and held out hopes of a revolution in Hungary +which would oblige the Austrian Emperor to remove part of his troops +from the scene of the war. Nevertheless, Napoleon was by no means +convinced that his army was sufficient to take the Quadrilateral. He +realised the bad organisation and numerous shortcomings of the forces +under him so vividly that it seems incredible that, in the eleven +following years, he should have done nothing to remedy them. He +attributed his success mainly to chance, though in a less degree to a +certain lack of energy in the Austrians, joined with the exaggerated +fear of responsibility felt by their leaders. He never could +thoroughly understand why the Austrians had not won Solferino. +Naturally, he did not express these opinions to his marshals, but +there is ample proof that he held them; and if the fact stood alone, +it ought not to be difficult to explain why he was not anxious for a +continuance of the war. + +But it does not stand alone. Napoleon feared being defeated on the +Rhine as well as in the Quadrilateral. Prussia had six army corps +ready, and she was about to move them. That, after her long +hesitations, she resolved to intervene was long doubted, but it +cannot be so after the evidence which recent years have produced. + +At the time things wore a different complexion. Europe was never more +amazed than when, on the 6th of July, Napoleon the victor sent General +Fleury to Francis Joseph the vanquished with a request for an +armistice. One point only was plain; an armistice meant peace without +Venetia, and never did profound sorrow so quickly succeed national joy +than when this, to contemporaries astonishing intelligence, went +forth. But the blow fell on no Italian with such tremendous force as +on Cavour. + +There are natives of Italy who appear to be more cool, more +calculating, more completely masters of themselves, than the men of +any other nationality. Cavour was one of these. But there comes, +sooner or later, the assertion of southern blood, the explosion of +feeling the more violent because long contained, and the cool, quiet +Italian of yesterday is not to be recognised except by those who know +the race intimately well, and who know the volcano that underlies its +ice and snow as well as its luxuriant vegetation. + +On Wednesday, the 6th of June, the French army was spread out in +battle array along the left bank of the Mincio, and everything led to +the supposition that a new and immediate battle was in contemplation. +The Piedmontese were engaged in making preparations to invest +Peschiera. Napoleon's headquarters were at Valleggio, those of the +King at Monzambano. By the evening a very few persons had picked up +the information that Napoleon had sent a messenger to Verona. Victor +Emmanuel knew nothing of it, nor did any of the French generals except +Marshal Vaillant, but such things leak out, and two or three +individuals were aware of the journey to Verona, and spent that night +in racking their brains as to what it might mean. Next day at eleven +o'clock General Fleury returned; the Austrian Emperor had accepted the +armistice. Further secrecy was impossible, and like lightning the news +flashed through the world. + +Cavour rushed from Turin to Desenzano, where he arrived the day before +the final meeting between Napoleon and Francis Joseph. He waited for a +carnage in the little _cafe_ in the piazza; no one guessed who it was, +and conversation went on undisturbed: it was full of curses on the +French Emperor. Mazzini, someone said, was right; this is the way the +war was sure to end. When a shabby conveyance had at length been +found, the great statesman drove to Monzambano. There, of course, his +arrival did not escape notice, and all who saw him were horrified by +the change that had come over his face. Instead of the jovial, witty +smile, there was a look of frantic rage and desperation. What passed +between him and his Sovereign is partly a matter of conjecture; the +exact sense of the violent words into which his grief betrayed him is +lost, in spite of the categorical versions of the interview which have +been printed. Even in a fit of madness he can hardly have spoken some +of the words attributed to him. That he advised the King to withdraw +his army or to abdicate rather than agree to the peace which was being +plotted behind his back, seems past doubting. It is said that after +attempting in vain to calm him, Victor Emmanuel brought the interview +to a sudden close. Cavour came out of the house flushed and exhausted, +and drove back to Desenzano. He had resigned office. + +The King showed extraordinary self-control. Bitter as the draught was, +he saw that it must be drunk, and he was determined to drink it with +dignity. Probably no other Italian grasped as clearly as he did the +real reason which actuated Napoleon; at any rate his chivalrous +appreciation of the benefits already received, closed his lips to +reproaches. 'Whatever may be the decision of your Majesty,' he said to +the Emperor on the eve of Villafranca, 'I shall feel an eternal +gratitude for what you have done for the independence of Italy, and I +beg you to believe that under all circumstances you may reckon on my +complete fidelity.' + +If there was sadness in the Sardinian camp, so there was in that of +Austria. The Austrians by no means thought that the game was up for +them. It would be interesting to know by what arguments Napoleon +persuaded the young Emperor to renounce the hope of retrieving his +disasters, whilst he slowly pulled to pieces some flowers which were +on the table before which he and Francis Joseph sat. When they left +the house, the heir to all the Hapsburgs looked pale and sad. Did he +remember the dying counsels of 'Father' Radetsky--not to yield if he +was beaten on the Mincio, on the Tagliamento, on the Isonzo, before +the gates of Vienna. + +When, on the evening of the same day, the Emperor of Austria signed +the preliminaries of peace, he said to Prince Napoleon, who took the +document to Verona for his signature: 'I pray God that if you are ever +a sovereign He may spare you the hour of grief I have just passed.' +Yet the defeat of Solferino and the loss of Lombardy were the first +steps in the transformation of Radetsky's pupil from a despot, who +hourly feared revolution in every land under his sceptre, to a wise +and constitutional monarch ruling over a contented Empire. To some +individuals and to some states, misfortune is fortune. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +WHAT UNITY COST + +1859-1860 + +Napoleon III. and Cavour--The Cession of Savoy and Nice--Annexations +in Central Italy. + + +Napoleon's hurried journey to Turin on his way back to France was +almost a flight. Everywhere his reception was cold in the extreme. He +was surprised, he said, at the ingratitude of the Italians. It was +still possible to ask for gratitude, as the services rendered had not +been paid for; no one spoke yet of the barter of Savoy and Nice. But +Napoleon, when he said these words to the Governor of Milan, forgot +how the Lombards, in June 1848, absolutely refused to take their +freedom at the cost of resigning Venice to Austria. And if Venice was +dear to them and to Italy then, how much dearer had she not become +since the heroic struggle in which she was the last to yield. The +bones of Manin cried aloud for Venetian liberty from his grave of +exile. + +Venice was the one absorbing thought of the moment; yet there were +clauses in the brief preliminaries of peace more fraught with +insidious danger than the abandonment of Venice. If the rest of Italy +became one and free, it needed no prophet to tell that not the might +of twenty Austrias could keep Venetia permanently outside the fold. +But if Italy was to remain divided and enslaved, then, indeed, the +indignant question went up to heaven, To what end had so much blood +been shed? + +When he resolved to cut short the war, Napoleon still had it in his +power to go down to history as the supreme benefactor of Italy. He +chose instead to become her worst and by far her most dangerous enemy. +The preliminaries of peace opened with the words: 'The Emperor of +Austria and the Emperor of the French will favour the creation of an +Italian Confederation under the honorary presidency of the Holy +Father.' Further, it was stated that the Grand Duke of Tuscany and +the Duke of Modena would return to their states. Though Napoleon +proposed at first to add, 'without foreign armed intervention,' he +waived the point (Rome was in his mind) and no such guarantee was +inserted. Here, then, was the federative programme which all the +personal influence and ingenuity of the French Emperor, all the arts +of French diplomacy, were concentrated on maintaining, and which was +only defeated by the true patriotism and strong good sense of the +Italian populations, and of the men who led them through this, the +most critical period in their history. + +In England Lord Derby's administration had fallen and the Liberals +were again in power. Napoleon was so strangely deluded as to expect to +find support in that quarter for his anti-unionist conspiracy. His +earliest scheme was that the federative plan should be presented to +Europe by Great Britain. Lord John Russell answered: 'We are asked to +propose a partition (_morcellement_) of the peoples of Italy, as if we +had the right to dispose of them.' It was a happy circumstance for +Italy that her unity had no better friends than in the English +Government during those difficult years. Cavour's words soon after +Villafranca, 'It is England's turn now,' were not belied. + +One thing should have made Napoleon uneasy; a man like Cavour, when +his blood is roused, when his nature is fired by the strongest +passions that move the human heart, is an awkward adversary. If there +was an instant in which the great statesman thought that all was lost, +it was but an instant. With the quick rebound of virile characters he +recovered his balance and understood his part. It was to fight and +conquer. + +'Your Emperor has dishonoured me,' he said to M. Pietri in the +presence of Kossuth (the interview taking place at Turin on the 15th +of July). 'Yes, sir, he has dishonoured me,' and he set forth how, +after promising to hunt the last Austrian out of Italy, after secretly +exacting the price of his assistance to which Cavour had induced his +good and honest King to consent, he now left them solemnly in the +lurch; Lombardy might suffice! And, for nothing to be wanting, the +King was to be forced into a confederation with Austria and the +Italian princes under the presidency of the Pope. After painting the +situation with all the irony and scorn of which he was master, he gave +his note of warning: 'If needs be, I will become a conspirator, I will +become a revolutionist, but this treaty shall never be executed; a +thousand times no--never!' + +The routine business of the Prime Minister still fell to Cavour, as +Rattazzi, who succeeded him, had not yet formed his cabinet. He was +obliged, therefore, to write officially to the Royal Commissioners at +Modena, Bologna and Florence to abandon their posts. But in the +character of Cavour, the private citizen, he telegraphed to them at +the same time to remain and do their duty. And they remained. + +On one point there was a temporary lull of anxiety. Almost the last +words spoken by Napoleon to Victor Emmanuel before he left Turin were: +'We shall think no more about Nice and Savoy.' The mention of Nice +shows that though it had not been promised, Napoleon was all along set +upon its acquisition. It is impossible to say how far, at the moment, +he was sincere in the renunciation. That, very soon after his return +to Paris, he was diligently weaving plans for getting both provinces +into his net, is evident from the tenor of the articles and notes +published in the 'inspired' French newspapers. + +Two chief motives can be divined for Napoleon's determined opposition +to Italian unity which never ceased till Sedan. The first was his +wish, shared by all French politicians, that Italy should be weak. The +second was his regard for the Temporal Power which proceeded from his +still being convinced that he could not reign without the Clerical +vote. The French prelates were perpetually giving him reminders that +this vote depended on his keeping the Pope on his throne. For +instance, Cardinal Donnet told him at Bordeaux in October 1859, that +he could not choose a better way of showing his appreciation of the +Blessed Virgin than 'en menageant un triomphe a son Fils dans la +personne de son Vicaire.' It would be a triumph which the Catholic +world would salute with transport. Hints of this sort, the sense of +which was not hard to read, in spite of their recondite phraseology, +reached him from every quarter. He feared to set them aside. The +origins of his power were too much tainted for him to advance boldly +on an independent policy. Thus it was that bit by bit he deliberately +forfeited all title to the help of Italy when the same whirlwind that +dashed him to earth, cleared the way for the final accomplishment of +her national destinies. + +Whilst Victor Emmanuel was more alive than Cavour to the military +arguments in favour of stopping hostilities when the tide of success +was at its height, he was not one whit more disposed to stultify his +past by becoming the vassal at once of Paris and Vienna. In a letter +written to the Emperor of the French in October, in answer to a very +long one in which Napoleon sought to convert him to the plan of an +Austro-Italian Confederation, he wound up by saying: 'For the +considerations above stated, and for many others, I cannot, Sire, +second your Majesty's policy in Italy. If your Majesty is bound by +treaties and cannot revoke your engagements in the (proposed) +congress, I, Sire, am bound on my side, by honour in the face of +Europe, by right and duty, by the interests of my house, of my people +and of Italy. My fate is joined to that of the Italian people. We can +succumb, but never betray. Solferino and San Martino may sometimes +redeem Novara and Waterloo, but the apostasies of princes are always +irreparable. I am moved to the bottom of my soul by the faith and love +which this noble and unfortunate people has reposed in me, and rather +than be unworthy of it, I will break my sword and throw the crown away +as did my august father. Personal interest does not guide me in +defending the annexations; the Sword and Time have borne my house from +the summit of the Alps to the banks of the Mincio, and those two +guardian angels of the Savoy race will bear it further still, when it +pleases God.' + +The events in Central Italy to which the King alludes were of the +highest importance. L.C. Farini, the Sardinian Royal Commissioner at +Modena, when relieved of his office, assumed the dictatorship by the +will of the people. L. Cipriani became Governor of Romagna, and at +Florence Ricasoli continued at the head of affairs, undismayed and +unshaken in his resolve to defeat the combined machinations of France +and Austria. In August the populations of Modena, Reggio, Parma and +Piacenza declared their union with Piedmont by an all but unanimous +popular vote, the two last provinces placing themselves for temporary +convenience under the Dictator Farini. A few days later, Tuscany and +Romagna voted a like act of union through their Constituent +Assemblies. The representatives of the four States, Modena, Parma, +Romagna and Tuscany, formally announced to the great Powers their +choice of Victor Emmanuel, in whose rule they recognised the sole hope +of preserving their liberties and avoiding disorder. Delegates were +sent to Turin with the offer of the crown. + +Peace, of which the preliminaries only were signed at Villafranca, was +not yet definitely concluded, and a large French army was still in +Italy. The King's government feared therefore to adopt the bold course +of accepting the annexations outright, and facing the responsibilities +which might arise. Victor Emmanuel thanked the delegates, expressing +his confidence that Europe would not undo the great work that had been +done in Central Italy. The state of things, however, in these +provinces, whose elected King could not yet govern them, was +anomalous, most of all in what related to defence; they being menaced +on the Austrian side by the Duke of Modena, and on the South by the +Papal troops in the Cattolica. An armed force of 25,000 men was +organised, of which the Tuscan contingent was under the command of +Garibaldi, and the rest under that of the Sardinian General Fanti, +'lent' for the purpose. Garibaldi hoped not merely to defend the +provinces already emancipated, but to carry war into the enemy's camp +and make revolution possible throughout the States of the Church. To +the Party of Action the chance seemed an unique one of hastening the +progress of events. Unaccustomed as they were to weigh diplomatic +difficulties, they saw the advantages but not the perils of a daring +course. Meanwhile Napoleon threatened to occupy Piacenza with 30,000 +men on the first forward step of Garibaldi, who, on his side, seemed +by no means inclined to yield either to the orders of the Dictator +Farini, or to the somewhat violent measures taken to stop him by +General Fanti, who instructed the officers under his command to +disobey him. It was then that Victor Emmanuel tried his personal +influence, rarely tried without success, over the revolutionary chief, +who reposed absolute faith in the King's patriotism, and who was +therefore amenable to his arguments when all others failed. The +general was summoned to Turin, and in an audience given on the 16th of +November, Victor Emmanuel persuaded him that the proposed enterprise +would retard rather than advance the cause of Italian freedom. +Garibaldi left for Caprera, only insisting that his 'weak services' +should be called into requisition whenever there was an opportunity to +act. + +Before quitting the Adriatic coast the hero of Rome went one evening +with his two children, Menotti and Teresita, to the Chapel in the Pine +Forest, where their mother was buried. Within a mile was the farmhouse +where he had embraced her lifeless form before undertaking his +perilous flight from sea to sea. In 1850, at Staten Island, when he +was earning his bread as a factory hand, he wrote the prophetic words: +'Anita, a land of slavery holds your precious dust; Italy will make +your grave free, but what can restore to your children their +incomparable mother?' Garibaldi's visit to Anita's grave closes the +story of the brave and tender woman who sacrificed all to the love she +bore him. + +After sitting for three months, the Conference which met at Zurich to +establish the definite treaty of peace finished its labours on the +10th of November. The compact was substantially the same as that +arranged at Villafranca. Victor Emmanuel, who had signed the +Preliminaries with the reservation implied in the note: 'In so far as +I am concerned,' preserved the same liberty of action in the Treaty of +Zurich. He still hesitated, however, in assuming the government of the +central provinces, and even the plan of sending the Prince of +Carignano as governor fell through in consequence of Napoleon's +opposition. His hesitations sprang from the general apprehension that +a hint from Paris might any day be followed by a new eruption of +Austrians in Modena and Tuscany for the purpose of replacing the +former rulers of those states on their thrones. Such a fear existed at +the time, and Rattazzi's timid policy was the result; it is impossible +not to ask now whether it was not exaggerated? 'What statesman,' wrote +the Prince Consort in June 1859, 'could adopt measures to force +Austrian rule again upon delighted, free Italy?' If this was true +in June was it less true in November? For the rest, would not the +supreme ridicule that would have fallen on the French Emperor if he +encouraged the Austrians to return to Central Italy after driving +them out of Lombardy, have obliged him to support the principle of +non-intervention, whether he wished it or not? England was prepared to +back up the government of Piedmont, in which lay a great moral force. +It is plain that the long wavering about what ought to be done with +the central provinces is what cost the country Savoy and Nice, or at +any rate, Nice. Napoleon did all in his power to prevent and to retard +the annexations, especially that of Tuscany, which, as he said, 'would +make Italian unity a mere question of time,' but when he found that +neither threats nor blandishments could move the population from their +resolve to have Victor Emmanuel for their king, he decided to sell his +adhesion for a good price. Compelled for the sake of appearances to +withdraw his claim after the abrupt termination of the war, he now saw +an excellent excuse for reviving it, and he was not likely to let the +opportunity slip. + +At this period there was continual talk, which may or may not have +been intended to end in talk, of a Congress to which the affairs of +Italy were to be referred. It gave an opening to Napoleon for +publishing one of the anonymous pamphlets by means of which he was in +the habit of throwing out tentative ideas, and watching their effect. +The chief idea broached in _Le Pape et le Congres_ was the voluntary +renunciation by the Pope of all but a small zone of territory round +Rome; it being pointed out that his position as an independent +sovereign would remain unaffected by such an act, which would smooth +the way to his assuming the hegemony of the Italian Confederation. The +Pope, however, let it be clearly known that he had no intention of +ceding a rood of his possessions, or of recognising the separation of +the part which had already escaped from him. Anyone acquainted with +the long strife and millennial manoeuvres by which the Church had +acquired the States called by her name, will understand the +unwillingness there was to yield them. To do Pius IX. justice, an +objection which merits more respect weighed then and always upon his +mind. He thought that he was personally debarred by the oath taken on +assuming the tiara from giving up the smallest part of the territory +he received from his predecessor. The Ultramontane party knew that +they had only to remind him of this oath to provoke a fresh assertion +of _Non possumus._ The attitude of the Pope was one reason why the +Congress was abandoned; but there was a deeper reason. A European +Congress would certainly not have approved the cession of Nice and +Savoy, and to that object the French Emperor was now turning all his +attention. + +At Turin there was an ignoble cabal, supported not so much, perhaps, +by Rattazzi himself as by followers, the design of which was to +prevent Cavour from returning to power. Abroad, the Empress Eugenie, +who looked on Cavour as the Pope's worst foe, did what she could to +further the scheme, and its promoters counted much on the soreness +left in Victor Emmanuel's mind by the scene after Villafranca. That +soreness did, in fact, still exist; but when in January the Rattazzi +ministry fell, the King saw that it was his duty to recall Cavour to +his counsels, and he at once charged him to form a cabinet. + +That Cavour accepted the task is the highest proof of his abnegation +as a statesman. He was on the point of getting into his carriage to +catch the train for Leri when the messenger reached the Palazzo Cavour +with the royal command to go to the castle. If he had refused office +and returned to the congenial activity of his life as a country +gentleman, his name would not be attached to the melancholy sacrifice +which Napoleon was now determined to exact from Italy. The French +envoy, Baron de Talleyrand, whose business it was to communicate the +unwelcome intelligence, arrived at Turin before the collapse of +Rattazzi; but, on finding that a ministerial crisis was imminent, he +deferred carrying out his mission till a more opportune moment. + +On the 18th of January 1860, the Emperor admitted to Lord Cowley +that, though there was as yet no arrangement between himself and +Victor Emmanuel on the subject, he intended to have Savoy. After the +long series of denials of any such design, the admission caused the +most indignant feeling in the English ministers and in the Queen, who +wrote to Lord John Russell: 'We have been made regular dupes.' She +went on to say that the revival of the English Alliance, and the hymns +of universal peace chanted in Paris on the occasion of the Commercial +Treaty, had been simply so many blinds, 'to hide from Europe a policy +of spoliation.' Cavour came in for a part of the blame, as, during the +war, he denied cognisance of the proposal to give up Savoy. The best +that can be said of that denial is, that it was diplomatically +impracticable for one party in the understanding of Plombieres to make +a clean breast of the truth, whilst the other party was assuring the +whole universe that he was fighting for an idea. + +When the war was broken off, Cavour fully expected that Napoleon, of +whom he had the worst opinion, would then and there demand whole pay +for his half service; and this had much to do with his furious anger +at Villafranca; but later, in common with the best-informed persons, +he believed that the claim was finally withdrawn. When, however, +Napoleon asked again for the provinces--not as the price of the war, +but of the annexations in Central Italy--Cavour instantly came to the +conclusion that, cost what it might (and he thought that, amongst +other things, it would cost his own reputation and popularity), the +demand must be granted. Otherwise Italian unity would never be +accomplished. + +In considering whether he was mistaken, it must not be forgotten that +the French troops were still in Italy. Not to speak of those in Rome, +Marshal Vaillant had five divisions of infantry and two brigades of +cavalry in Lombardy up to the 20th of March 1860. The engagement had +been to send this army home as soon as the definite peace was +concluded; why, then, was it still south of the Alps four months +after? + +In spite of this, however, and in spite of the difficulty of judging +an act, all the reasons for which may not, even now, be in possession +of the world, it is very hard indeed to pardon Cavour for having +yielded Nice as well as Savoy to France. The Nizzards were Italians as +the lower class of the population is Italian still; they had always +shown warm sympathy with the hopes of Italy, which could not be said +of the Savoyards; and Nice was the birthplace of Garibaldi! + +England would have supported and applauded resistance to the claim for +Nice on general grounds, though her particular interest was in Savoy, +or rather in that part of the Savoy Alps which was neutralised by +treaty in 1814. It was the refusal of Napoleon to adopt the compromise +of ceding this district to Switzerland which caused the breach between +him and the British ministry. From that moment, also, Prussia began to +increase her army, and resolved, when she was ready, to check the +imperial ambition by force of arms. 'The loss of Alsace and Lorraine,' +writes an able publicist, M.E. Tallichet, 'was the direct consequence +of the annexation of Nice and Savoy.' + +If anything could have rendered more galling to Italy the deprivation +of these two provinces, it was the tone adopted in France when +speaking of the transaction. What were Savoy and Nice? A barren rock +and an insignificant strip of coast! The French of thirty-four years +ago travelled so little that they may have believed in the +description. The vast military importance of the ceded districts has +been already referred to. Some scraps on the Nice frontier were saved +in a curious way: They were spots which formed part of the favourite +playground of the Royal Hunter of the Alps, and it was pointed out to +Napoleon that it would be a graceful act to leave these particular +'barren rocks' to his Sardinian Majesty. The zig-zags in the line of +demarcation which were thus introduced are said to be of great +strategic advantage to Italy. So far, so good; but it remains true +that France is _inside_ the Italian front-door. + +At the elections for the new Chamber in March 1860, the Nizzards chose +Garibaldi; and this was their real plebiscite--not that which followed +at a short interval, and presented the phenomenon of a population +which appeared to change its mind as to its nationality in the course +of a few weeks. In voting for Garibaldi, they voted for Italy. + +The Nizzard hero made some desperate efforts on behalf of his +fellow-citizens in the Chamber, not his natural sphere, and was on the +brink of making other efforts in a sphere in which he might have +succeeded better. He had the idea of going to Nice with about 200 +followers, and exciting just enough of a revolution to let the real +will of the people be known, and to frustrate the wiles of French +emissaries and the pressure of government in the official plebiscite +of the 15th of April. The story of the conspiracy, which is unknown in +Italy, has been told by one of the conspirators, the late Lawrence +Oliphant. The English writer, who reached Turin full of wrath at the +proposed cession, was introduced to Garibaldi, from whom he received +the news of the proposed enterprise. Oliphant offered his services, +which were accepted, and he accompanied the general to Genoa, where he +engaged a diligence which was to carry the vanguard to Nice. But, on +going to Garibaldi for the last orders, he found him supping with +twenty or thirty young men; 'All Sicilians!' said the chief. 'We must +give up the Nice programme; the general opinion is that we shall lose +all if we try for too much.' He added that he had hoped to carry out +the Nice plan first, but now everything must be sacrificed to freeing +Sicily. And he asked Oliphant to join the Thousand, an offer which the +adventurous Englishman never ceased to regret that he did not accept. +As it was, he elected to go all the same to Nice, where he was the +spectator and became the historian of the arts which brought about the +semblance of an unanimous vote in favour of annexation to France. + +The ratification of the treaty--which, by straining the constitution, +was concluded without consulting Parliament--was reluctantly given by +the Piedmontese Chambers, the majority of members fearing the +responsibility of upsetting an accomplished fact. Cavour, when he laid +down the pen after signing the deed of cession, turned to Baron de +Talleyrand with the remark: 'Now we are accomplices!' His face, which +had been depressed, resumed its cheerful air. In fact, though +Napoleon's dislike of the central annexations was unabated, he could +no longer oppose them. Victor Emmanuel accepted the four crowns of +Central Italy, the people of which, during the long months of waiting, +and under circumstances that applied the most crucial test to their +resolution, had never swerved from the desire to form part of the +Italian monarchy under the sceptre of the _Re Galantuomo_. The King of +Sardinia, as he was still called, had eleven million subjects, and on +his head rested one excommunication the more. The Bull fulminated +against all who had, directly or indirectly, participated in the +events which caused Romagna to change hands, was published a day or +two before the opening of the new Parliament at Turin. + +Addressing for the first time the representatives of his widened +realm, Victor Emmanuel said: 'True to the creed of my fathers, and, +like them, constant in my homage to the Supreme Head of the Church, +whenever it happens that the ecclesiastical authority employs +spiritual arms in support of temporal interests, I shall find in my +steadfast conscience and in the very traditions of my ancestors, the +power to maintain civil liberty in its integrity, and my own +authority, for which I hold myself accountable to God alone and to my +people.' + +The words: 'Della quale debbo ragione a Dio solo ed ai miei popoli,' +were added by the King to the speech prepared by his ministers; it was +noticed that he pronounced them with remarkable energy. The speech +concluded: 'Our country is no more the Italy of the Romans, nor the +Italy of the Middle Ages; no longer the field for every foreign +ambition, it becomes, henceforth, the Italy of the Italians.' + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE MARCH OF THE THOUSAND + +1860 + +Origin of the Expedition--Garibaldi at Marsala--Calatafimi--The +Taking of Palermo--Milazzo--The Bourbons evacuate Sicily. + + +During the journey from Turin to Genoa, Garibaldi was occupied in +opening, reading and tearing up into small pieces an enormous mass of +letters, while his English companion spent the time in vainly +speculating as to what this vast correspondence was about. When they +approached Genoa, the floor of the railway carriage resembled a +gigantic wastepaper basket. It was only afterwards that Lawrence +Oliphant guessed the letters to be responses to a call for volunteers +for Sicily. + +The origin of the Sicilian expedition has been related in various +ways; there is the version which attributes it entirely to Cavour, and +the version which attributes it to not irresponsible personages in +England. The former was the French and Clerical official account; the +latter has always obtained credence in Germany and Russia. For +instance, the late Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg said that 'the mystery +of how 150,000 men were vanquished by a thousand Red-shirts was +wrapped in English bank-notes!' Of this theory, it need only be said +that the notion of Lord Palmerston (for it comes to that) supporting a +foreign revolution out of the British exchequer is not one that +commends itself to the belief of the average Englishman. With regard +to the other theory--namely, that Cavour 'got up' the Sicilian +expedition, it has been favoured to a certain degree, both by his +friends and foes; but it will not bear careful examination. As far as +Sicily goes (Naples is another thing), the most that can be brought +home to Cavour is a complicity of toleration; and even this statement +should be qualified by the addition, 'after the act.' It is true that, +in the early days after Villafranca, he had exclaimed: 'They have cut +me off from making Italy from the north, by diplomacy; very well, I +will make her from the south, by revolution!' True, also, that +earlier still, in 1856, he expressed the opinion, shared by every man +of common sense, that while the Bourbons ruled over the Two Sicilies +there would be no real peace for Italy. Nevertheless, in April 1860, +he neither thought the time ripe for the venture nor the means +employed adequate for its accomplishment. He was afraid that Garibaldi +would meet with the death of the Bandieras and Pisacane. No one was +more convinced than Cavour of the importance of Garibaldi's life to +Italy; and it is a sign of his true superiority of mind that this +conviction was never entertained more strongly than at the moment when +the general was passionately inveighing against him for the cession of +Nice. To Cavour such invectives seemed natural, and even justified +from one point of view; they excited in him no bitterness, and he was +only too happy that they fell upon himself and not upon the King, +since it was his fixed idea that, without the maintenance of a good +understanding between Victor Emmanuel and Garibaldi, Italy would not +be made. Few men under the sting of personal attacks have shown such +complete self-control. + +As has been stated, when Francis II. ascended the Neapolitan throne, +he was invited to join in the war with Austria, and he refused. Since +then, the same negative result had attended the reiterated counsels of +reform which the Piedmontese Government sent to that of Naples--the +young King showing, by repeated acts, that not Sardinia but Rome was +his monitress and chosen ally in Italy. The Pope had lately induced +the French General Lamoriciere to take the command of the Pontifical +troops, and he and the King of Naples were organising their armies, +with a view to co-operating at an early date against the common enemy +at Turin. In January 1860, Lord Russell wrote to Mr Elliot, the +English Minister at Naples: 'You will tell the King and his Ministers +that the Government of her Majesty the Queen does not intend to accept +any part in the responsibility nor to guarantee the certain +consequences of a misgovernment which has scarcely a parallel in +Europe.' Mr Elliot replied, early in March: 'I have used all +imaginable arguments to convince this Government of the necessity of +stopping short on the fatal path which it has entered. I finished by +saying that I was persuaded of the inevitable fall of his Majesty and +the dynasty if wiser counsels did not obtain a hearing, and requested +an audience with the King; since, when the catastrophe occurs, I do +not wish my conscience to reproach me with not having tried all means +of saving an inexperienced Sovereign from the ruin which threatens +him. The Ministers of France and Spain have spoken to the same +effect.' Even Russia advised Francis to make common cause with +Piedmont. In April, Victor Emmanuel wrote to his cousin, 'as a near +relative and an Italian Prince,' urging him to listen while there was +yet time to save something, if not everything. 'If you will not hear +me,' he said, 'the day may come when I shall be obliged to be the +instrument of your ruin!' + +It has been said that the Sardinian Government, in tendering similar +advice, hoped for its refusal and contemplated the eventuality hinted +at with the reverse of apprehension. Of course this is true. Yet the +responsibility of declining to take the only course which might by any +possibility have saved him must rest with the King of Naples and not +with Victor Emmanuel and his Ministers. The attempt to make Francis +appear the innocent victim of a diabolical conspiracy will never +succeed, however ingenious are the writers who devote their abilities +to so unfruitful a task. + +To trace the real beginning of the expedition we must go back to the +summer of 1859. When the war ended in the manner which he alone had +foreseen, Mazzini projected a revolutionary enterprise in the south +which should restore to the Italian movement its purely national +character and defeat in advance Napoleon's plans for gathering the +Bourbon succession for his cousin, Prince Murat. He sent agents to +Sicily, and notably Francesco Crispi, who, as a native of the island +and a man of resource and quick intelligence, was well qualified to +execute the work of propaganda and to elude the Bourbon police. Crispi +travelled in all parts of Sicily for several months, and in September +he was able to report to Mazzini that the insurrection might be +expected in a few weeks--which proved incorrect, but only as to date. +Mazzini forbade his agents to agitate in favour of a republic; unity +was the sole object to be aimed at; unity in whatever form and at +whatever cost. + +In March 1860 he had an interview in London with the man who was to +become the actual initiator of the revolutionary movement in South +Italy. This was Rosalino Pilo, son of the Count di Capaci, and +descended through his mother from the royal house of Anjou, whose +name, Italianised into Gioeni, is still borne by several noble +families in Sicily. Rosalino Pilo, who was now in his fortieth year, +had devoted all his life to his country's liberties. After 1849, when +he was obliged to leave Sicily, he sold his ancestral acres to supply +the wants of his fellow exiles, and help the work of revolutionary +propaganda. Handsome in person, cultivated in mind, ready to give his +life, as he had already given most of what makes life tolerable, to +the Italian cause, he won the affection of all with whom he was +brought in contact, and especially of Mazzini, from whom he parted +after that last interview radiant with hope, and yet with a touch of +sadness in his smile, as if in prevision that the place allotted to +him in the ranks of men was among the sowers, not among the reapers. + +Rosalino Pilo believed, as Mazzini believed, that Sicily was ripe for +revolution, but he realised the fact that under existing circumstances +there was an exceeding probability of a Sicilian revolution being +rapidly crushed. It was the tendency of Mazzini's mind to think the +contrary; to put more faith in the people themselves than in any +leader or leaders; to imagine that the blast of the trumpet of an +angered population was sufficient to bring down the walls of all the +citadels of despotism, however well furnished with heavy artillery. +Pilo saw that there was only one man who could give a real chance of +success to a rising in his native island, and that man was Garibaldi. +As early as February he began to write to Caprera, urging the general +to give his co-operation to the projected movement. It is notorious +that the scheme, until almost the last moment, did not find favour +with Garibaldi. In spite of his perilous enterprises, the chief had +never been a courtier of failure, and he understood more clearly than +his correspondent what failure at that particular juncture would have +meant. The ventures of the Bandieras and of Pisacane, similar in their +general plan to the one now in view (though on a smaller scale). ended +in disasters, but disasters that were useful to Italy. A disaster now +would have been ruinous to Italy. Garibaldi's hesitations do not, as +some writers of the extreme party have foolishly assumed, detract from +his merit as victorious leader of the expedition; they only show him +to have been more amenable to political prudence than most people +have supposed. + +Rosalino Pilo wrote, finally, that in any case he was determined to go +to Sicily himself to complete the preparations, and he added: 'The +insurrection in Sicily, consider it well, will carry with it that of +the whole south of the peninsula,' by which means not only would the +Muratist plots be frustrated, but also a new army and fleet would +become available for the conquest of independence and the liberation +of Venetia. The writer concluded by wishing the general 'new glories +in Sicily in the accomplishment of our country's redemption.' + +True to his word Rosalino Pilo embarked at Genoa on the 24th of March, +on a crazy old coasting vessel, manned by five friendly sailors. He +had with him a single companion, and carried such arms and ammunition +as he had been able to get together. Terrible weather and the +deplorable condition of their craft kept them at sea for fifteen days, +during which time something of great importance happened at Palermo. +On the 4th of April the authorities became aware that arms and +conspirators were concealed in the convent of La Gancia, which was to +have been the focus of the revolution. Troops were sent to besiege the +convent, which they only succeeded in taking after four hours' +resistance; its fall was the signal for a general slaughter of the +inmates, both monks and laymen. The insurrection was thus stifled in +its birth in the capital, but from this time it began to spread in the +country, and when, at last, Rosalino Pilo landed near Messina on the +10th of April, he found that several armed bands were already roving +the mountains, as yet almost unperceived by the Government, which had +gone to sleep again after its exhibition of energy on the 4th. Events +were, however, to awake it from its slumbers, and to cause it to renew +its vigilance. It required all Rosalino Pilo's skill and courage to +sustain the revolution of which he became henceforth the responsible +head, till the fated deliverer arrived. + +Pilo's letters, brought back to Genoa by the pilot who guided him to +Sicilian waters, were what decided Garibaldi to go to the rescue. +Some, like Bixio and Bertani, warmly and persistently urged him to +accept the charge; others, like Sirtori, were convinced that the +undertaking was foredoomed, and that its only result would be the +death of their beloved captain: but this conviction did not lessen +their eagerness to share his perils when once he was resolved to go. + +Like all born men of action, Garibaldi did not know what doubt was +after he came to a decision. From that moment his mental atmosphere +cleared; he saw the goal and went straight for it. In a surprisingly +short time the expedition was organised and ready to leave. 'Few and +good,' had been the rule laid down by Garibaldi for the enrolments; if +he had chosen he could have taken with him a much more numerous host. +When it was the day to start few they were (according to the most +recent computation the exact number was 1072 men), and they were +certainly good. The force was divided into seven companies, the first +entrusted to the ardent Nino Bixio, who acted in a general way as +second-in-command through both the Sicilian and Neapolitan campaigns, +and the seventh to Benedetto Cairoli, whose mother contributed a large +sum of money as well as three of her sons to the freeing of Southern +Italy. Sirtori, about whom there always clung something of the +priestly vocation for which he had been designed, was the head of the +staff; Tuerr (the Hungarian) was adjutant-general. The organisation was +identical with that of the Italian army 'to which we belong,' said +Garibaldi in his first order of the day. + +One name is missing, that of Medici, who was left behind to take the +command of a projected movement in the Papal States. By whom this plan +was invented is not clear, but simultaneous operations in different +parts of the peninsula had been always a favourite design of the more +extreme members of the Party of Action, and Garibaldi probably yielded +to their advice. All that came of it was the entry into Umbria of +Zambianchi's small band of volunteers, which was promptly repulsed +over the frontier. Medici, therefore, remained inactive till after the +fall of Palermo; he headed the second expedition of 4,000 volunteers +which arrived in time to take part in the final Sicilian battles. + +Garibaldi's political programme was the cry of the Hunters of the Alps +in 1859: _Italy and Victor Emmanuel._ Those who were strict +republicans at heart, while abstaining from preaching the republic +till the struggle was over, would have stopped short at the first word +_Italy_. But Garibaldi told Rosalino Pilo, who was of this way of +thinking, that either he marched in the King's name or he did not +march at all. This was the condition of his acceptance, because he +esteemed it the condition on which hung the success of the enterprise, +nay more, the existence of an united Italy. + +The Thousand embarked at Quarto, near Genoa, during the night of the +5th of May on the two merchant vessels, the _Piemonte_ and _Lombardo_, +which, with the complicity of their patriotic owner, R. Rubattino, had +been sequestered for the use of the expedition. On hearing of +Garibaldi's departure, Cavour ordered Admiral Persano, whose squadron +lay in the gulf of Cagliari, to arrest the expedition if the steamers +entered any Sardinian port, but to let it go free if they were +encountered on the high seas. Persano asked Cavour what he was to do +if by stress of storms Garibaldi were forced to come into port? The +answer was that 'the Ministry' decided for his arrest, which Persano +rightly interpreted to mean that Cavour had decided the contrary. He +resolved, therefore, not to stop him under any circumstances, but the +case did not occur, for the fairest of May weather favoured the +voyage, and six days after the start the men were quietly landed at +Marsala without let or hindrance from the two Neapolitan warships +which arrived almost at the same time as the _Piemonte_ and +_Lombardo_, an inconceivable stroke of good fortune which, like the +eventful march that was to follow, seems to belong far more to romance +than to history. + +On the day before, the British gunboat _Intrepid_ (Captain Marryat), +and the steam vessel _Argus_, had cast anchor in the harbour of +Marsala. Their presence was again and again spoken of by Garibaldi as +the key to the mystery of why he was not attacked. No matter how it +was done--it may have been a mere accident--but it can hardly be +doubted that the English men-of-war did practically cover the landing +of the Thousand. Lord John Russell denied emphatically to the House of +Commons that they were sent there for the purpose, as to this day is +believed by some grateful Italians, and by every Clerical writer who +handles the subject. The British Government had early information of +Italian revolutionary doings, just then, through Sir James Hudson, who +was in communication with men of all shades of opinion, and it is +credible that orders which must necessarily have been secret, were +given to afford a refuge on board English ships to the flying patriots +in the anticipated catastrophe. More than this is not credible, but +the energy shown by Captain Marryat in safeguarding the interests of +the British residents at Marsala caused the Neapolitan ships to delay +opening fire till the very last Red-shirt was out of harm's way on dry +land. Then and then only did they direct their guns on the _Piemonte_ +and _Lombardo_, and fire a few shots into the city, which caused no +other damage than the destruction of two casks of wine. + +On the 12th, Garibaldi left Marsala for Salemi, a mountain city +approached by a steep, winding ascent, where he was sure of a warm +reception, as it had already taken arms against the Bourbon king. +Hence he promulgated the decree by which he assumed the dictatorship +of Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel. + +The Neapolitan army numbered from 120,000 to 130,000 men; of these +30,000 were actually in Sicily at the time the Thousand landed at +Marsala, 18,000 being in and about Palermo, and the rest distributed +over the island. At Salemi, Garibaldi reviewed his united forces: he +had been joined by 200 fresh volunteers, and by a fluctuating mass of +Sicilian irregulars, which might be estimated to consist of 2,000 men, +but it increased or decreased along the road, because it was formed of +peasants of the districts traversed, who did not go far from their +homes. These undisciplined bands were not useless, as they gave the +Bourbon generals the idea that Garibaldi had more men than he could +ever really count upon, and also the peasants knew the country well. +When they came under fire they behaved better than anyone would have +expected. The first batch joined the Thousand half-way between Marsala +and Salemi. There might have been fifty of them, dressed in +goat-skins, and armed with the old flint muskets and rusty pistols +dear to the Sicilian heart, which he would not for the world leave +behind were he going no farther than to buy a lamb at the fair. The +feudal lord marched at the head of his uncouth retainers--a company +of bandits in an opera--yet, to Garibaldi, they seemed the blessed +assurance that this people whom he was come to save was ready and +willing to be saved. He received the poor little band with as much +rapture as if it had been a powerful army, and, in their turn, the +impressionable islanders were enraptured by the affability of the man +whom the population of Sicily soon came seriously to consider as a new +Messiah. It is a fact that the people of Southern Italy did believe +that Garibaldi had in him something superhuman, only the Bourbon +troops looked rather below than above for the source of it. The +picturesque incidents of the historic march were many; one other may +be mentioned. While the chief watered his horse at a spring a +Franciscan friar threw himself on his knees, and implored to be +allowed to follow him. Some of the volunteers thought the friar a +traitor in disguise, but larger in faith, Garibaldi said: 'Come with +us, you will be our Ugo Bassi.' Fra Pantaleo proved of no small use to +the expedition. + +A glance at the map makes clear the military situation. Garibaldi's +objective was Palermo, and if anything shows his genius as a +Condottiere it is this immediate determination to make straight for +the capital where the largest number of the enemy's troops was massed, +instead of seeking an illusionary safety for his weak army in the open +country. As the crow flies the distance from Marsala to Palermo is not +more than sixty or seventy miles, but the routes being mountainous, +the actual ground to be covered is much longer. About midway lies +Calatafimi, where all the roads leading from the eastern coast to +Palermo converge, and above it towers the immensely strong position +called Pianto dei Romani, from a battle in which the Romans were +defeated. These heights command a vast prospect, and here General +Landi, with 3,000 men and four pieces of artillery, prepared to +intercept the Garibaldians with every probability of driving them back +into the sea. + +The royal troops took the offensive towards ten o'clock on the 15th of +May. They met the Red-shirts half way down the mountain, but were +driven up it again, inch by inch, till, at about three o'clock, they +were back at Pianto dei Romani. A final vigorous assault dislodged +them from this position, and they retreated in disorder to Calatafimi. +Not wishing to tempt fortune further for that day, Garibaldi +bivouacqued on the field of battle. In a letter written to Bertani, on +the spur of the moment, he bore witness with a sort of fatherly pride +to the courage displayed by the Neapolitans: 'It was the old +misfortune,' he said, 'a fight between Italians; but it proved to me +what can be done with this family when united. The Neapolitan +soldiers, when their cartridges were exhausted, threw stones at us in +desperation.' How then, with much superior numbers and a seemingly +impregnable position, did they end in ignominious flight? The answer +may be found in the reply given to Bixio, bravest of the brave, who +yet feared, at one hotly-contested point, that retreat was inevitable. +'Here,' retorted the chief,'we _die_.' Men who really mean to conquer +or die can do miracles. + +The moral effect of the victory was tremendous. The world at large had +made absolutely sure of the destruction of the expedition. 'Garibaldi +has chosen to go his own way,' said Victor Emmanuel; 'but if you only +knew the fright I was in about him and the brave lads with him!' In +Sicily, where the insurrectionary activity of April was almost totally +spent, the news sent an electric shock of revolution through the +whole island. In the mountains Rosalino Pilo still resisted, weary of +waiting for the help that came not, discouraged or hopeless, but +unyielding. Food and ammunition were almost gone; his ragged band, +held together only by the magnetism of his personal influence, began +to feel the pangs of hunger. A price was set on his head, and he was +harassed on all sides by the Neapolitan troops, whose attacks became +more frequent now that the Government realised that there was danger. +He knew nothing of Garibaldi's movements; but he was resolved to keep +his promise as long as he could: to hold out till the chief came. At +the hour when everything looked most desperate, a messenger arrived in +his camp with a letter in Garibaldi's handwriting, which bore the date +of the 16th of May. 'Yesterday,' it ran, we fought and conquered.' +Never was unexpected news more welcome. Filled with a joy such as few +men have tasted, Rosalino read the glad tidings to his men. 'The cause +is won,' he said. 'In a few days, if the enemy's balls respect me, we +shall be in Palermo.' + +Meanwhile Garibaldi had occupied Calatafimi, and was proceeding +towards Monreale, from which side he contemplated a descent on the +capital. On the high tableland of Renda he met Rosalino Pilo with his +reanimated band. That day the Garibaldian army, all told, amounted to +5,000 men. On the 21st of May, Rosalino was ordered to make a +reconnaissance in the direction of Monreale; while carrying out this +order a Neapolitan bullet struck his forehead, causing almost +instantaneous death. 'I am happy to be able to give my blood to Italy, +but may heaven be propitious once for all,' he had written when he +first landed, words realised to the letter. + +The Neapolitans were put in high spirits by Rosalino Pilo's death; the +discomfiture of Calatafimi was forgotten; they represented Garibaldi +as a mouse that was obligingly walking into a well-laid trap. In fact, +his position could not have been more critical, but he had recourse to +a stratagem which saved him. He succeeded in placing the enemy upon a +completely false scent. Abandoning the idea of reaching Palermo from +the east (Monreale), he decided to attempt the assault from the south +(Piana de' Greci and Misilmeri), but, all the while, he continued to +throw the Sicilian _Picciotti_ on the Monreale route, and gave them +orders to fire stray shots in every direction and to light innumerable +camp-fires. These troops frequently came in contact with the +Neapolitans in trifling skirmishes, and kept their attention so well +occupied that General Colonna, in command of the force sent in search +of the 'Filibuster,' did not doubt that the whole Garibaldian army was +concentrated over Monreale. Garibaldi rapidly moved his own column by +night to its new base of operations. The ground was steep and +difficult, and a storm raged all the night; fifteen years later he +declared that none of his marches in the virgin forests of America was +so arduous as this. While the Neapolitans remained in ignorance of +these changes, three English naval officers, guided by a sort of +sporting dog's instinct, happened to be driving through the village of +Misilmeri just after Garibaldi established his headquarters in that +neighbourhood. Of course it was by chance; still, Misilmeri is an odd +place to go for an afternoon drive, and the escapade ended in the +issue of a severe warning to Her Majesty's officers and marines to +keep in future 'within the bounds of the sentinels of the royal +troops.' Luckily record exists of the experiences of Lieutenant Wilmot +and his two companions at Misilmeri. Garibaldi, on hearing that three +English naval officers were in the village, sent to invite them to the +vineyard where he was taking his dinner. They found him standing in a +large enclosure in the midst of a group of followers who all, like +himself, wore the legendary red flannel shirt and grey trousers. Fra +Pantaleo's brown habit formed the only exception. Several Hungarian +officers were present, and by his father stood Menotti, then a stout +youth of nineteen, with his arm in a sling from the severe wound he +received at Calatafimi. Around were soldiers who looked like mere +boys. They gazed with delight on the English uniforms. Garibaldi +requested his guests to be seated and to partake of some +freshly-gathered strawberries. He spoke of his affection and respect +for England, and said it was his hope soon to make the acquaintance of +the British admiral. He mentioned how he had seen and admired from the +heights the beautiful effect of the salutes fired in honour of the +Queen's birthday, two days before. He then retired into his tent, made +of an old blanket stretched over pikes; a child, under the name of a +sentry, paced before it to keep off the crowd. + +To complete the deception of the enemy the Garibaldian artillery, +under Colonel Orsini, was ordered to make a retrograde march on +Corleone previous to joining the main force at Misilmeri. Orsini +narrowly escaped getting caught while executing this movement, and for +the sake of celerity was obliged to throw his five cannon (including +one taken at Calatafimi) down deep water courses. He returned to pull +them out again when the immediate danger was past. General Colonna, +who followed him closely, was convinced that the whole of the +Garibaldians were in disorderly retreat as witnessed by the mules and +waggons purposely abandoned by Orsini along the route. For four days +Colonna believed that he had Garibaldi flying before him, and sent +intelligence to that effect to Naples, whence it was published through +the world. On the fifth day he was immeasurably surprised by hearing +that Garibaldi had entered Palermo! + +It was at early dawn on Whitsunday, the 27th of May, that Garibaldi +reached the threshold of the capital, and after overcoming the guard +at Ponte dell' Ammiraglio, pushed on to Porta Termini, the strategic +key to the city. The royalists, though taken by surprise in the first +instance, had time to dispose a strong force behind walls and +barricades before Garibaldi could reach the gate, and it required two +hours of severe fighting to take the position. Many Red-shirts were +killed, and Benedetto Cairoli received the severe wound from which he +never wholly recovered. Success, however, was complete, and the +Palermitans got up to find, to their frantic joy, the Liberator within +their gates. According to the old usage their first impulse was to run +to the belfries in order to sound the tocsin, but they found that the +royalists had removed the clappers of the bells. Nothing daunted, they +beat the bells all day with hammers and other implements, and so +produced an indescribable noise which had a material influence on the +nerves of the terrified Neapolitan troops. Being disarmed, the only +other help which the inhabitants could render to their deliverers was +the erection of barricades. + +Even after Garibaldi's entry, it is thought that General Lanza could +have crushed him in the streets by sheer force of superiority in +numbers and artillery had he made proper use of his means. However, at +about three p.m., he chose the less heroic plan of ordering the castle +and the Neapolitan fleet to bombard the city. Most of his staff +opposed the decision, and one officer broke his sword, but Lanza was +inexorable. The measure so exasperated the Palermitans that even had +it achieved its end for the moment, never after would they have proved +governable from Naples. Thirteen hundred shells were thrown into the +city. Lord Palmerston denounced the bombardment and its attendant +horrors as 'unworthy of our time and of our civilisation.' The +soldiers helped the work by setting fire to some quarters of the city. +Among the spots where the shells fell in most abundance was the +convent of the Sette Angeli. The Garibaldians escorted the nuns to a +place of safety and carried their more valuable possessions after +them. The good sisters were charmed by the courtesy with which the +young Italians performed these duties. + +Fighting in the streets went on more or less continuously, and the +liberators kept their ground, but every hour brought fresh perils. A +Bavarian regiment arrived to reinforce General Lanza, and the return +of the Neapolitan column from Corleone was momentarily expected. The +Garibaldians, and this was the gravest fact of all, had used almost +their last cartridge. The issue of the struggle was awaited with +varying sentiments on board the English, French, Austrian, Spanish and +Sardinian warships at anchor in the bay. Admiral Mundy had placed his +squadron so close to the land that the ships were in danger of +suffering from the bombardment, a course attributed to the humane +desire to afford a refuge for non-combatants, and in fact, the +officers were soon engaged in entertaining a frightened crowd of +ladies and children. The _Intrepid_ in particular, was so near the +Marina that a fair swimmer could have reached it in a few minutes; +nobody guessed, least of all Garibaldi, that her mission in the mind +of the British admiral was to save the chiefs own life in what seemed +the likely case of its being placed in peril. + +Admiral Mundy begged the authorities to stop the bombardment before +the city was destroyed, but Lanza appeared to have no intention of +yielding to his counsels, and it is still uncertain what at last +induced him on the 30th of May to sue the Filibuster, hastily +transformed into his Excellency, for an armistice of twenty-four +hours. 'God knows,' writes Garibaldi, 'if we had want of it!' The +royalists had lost nearly the whole city except the palace and its +surroundings, and, cut off from the sea, they began to feel a scarcity +of food, but not to a severe extent. It seems most probable that with +his men panic-stricken and constantly driven back in spite of the +bombardment, Lanza looked upon the game as lost, when had he known the +straits to which the Garibaldians were reduced for ammunition, he +might have considered it as won. + +An unforeseen incident now occurred; the royalist column, recalled +from Corleone, which was largely composed of Bavarians, reached Porta +Termini and opened a furious fire on the weak Garibaldian detachment +stationed there. Was it ignorance or bad faith? Lieutenant Wilmot, who +happened to be passing by, energetically waved his handkerchief and +shouted that a truce was concluded; the assailants continued the +attack till an officer of the Neapolitan staff who was in conference +with Garibaldi at the time hurried to the spot, at his indignant +request, and ordered them to desist. A few minutes later, Garibaldi +himself rode up in a wrathful mood, and while he was renewing his +protests, a shell fell close by him, thrown from a ship which +re-opened the bombardment on its own account. Lieutenant Wilmot, who +witnessed the whole affair, was convinced that there was a deliberate +plan to surprise and capture the Italian chief after he had granted +the armistice. + +At a quarter past two on this eventful day, the 30th of May 1860, +Garibaldi and the Neapolitan generals, Letizia and Chretien, stepped +on board the flag-ship _Hannibal_ which Admiral Mundy offered as +neutral ground for their meeting. Curiously enough, both parties, +reaching the mole simultaneously, were rowed out in the same ship's +boat, which was waiting in readiness. The Neapolitans insisted that +Garibaldi should go on board first, either from courtesy or, as the +admiral suspected, out of desire to find out whether he would be +received with military honours. With instinctive tact he had donned +his old and rather shabby uniform of a major-general in the Sardinian +army; the admiral's course was, therefore, marked out, and Garibaldi +received the same salute as the two generals who followed him. After a +foolish attempt on the part of the Neapolitan officers to make +themselves disagreeable, which was repressed with dignified decision +by Admiral Mundy, business began, and things went smoothly till the +fifth article of the proposed convention came under discussion: 'That +the municipality should direct a humble petition to his Majesty the +King expressing the real wants of the city.' 'No,' cried Garibaldi, +starting to his feet, 'the time for humble petitions to the King, or +to anyone else, is past; I am the municipality, and I refuse.' General +Letizia grew excited at this declaration, but afterwards he agreed to +submit the question of quashing the fifth article to his chief, +General Lanza. The armistice was prolonged till nine the next morning. + +As soon as he was back on shore, Garibaldi issued a manifesto, in +which he announced that he had refused a proposal dishonouring the +city, and that to-morrow, at the close of the armistice, he should +renew hostilities. There was a splendid audacity in the threat; his +powder was literally exhausted; nothing was left for him to do but to +die with all his men, and to do this he and they were unquestionably +ready. The conduct of the citizens was on a level with the occasion. +As soon as the manifesto came to be known, the inhabitants rushed to +the Palazzo Pretorio, where the man who had so proudly answered in +their name, addressed them in these terms: 'People of Palermo; the +enemy has made me propositions which I judged humiliating to you, and +knowing that you are ready to bury yourselves under the ruins of your +city, I refused.' Those who were present say that never did Garibaldi +seem so great as at that moment. The answer was one deafening shout, +in which the women and children joined, of 'War! war!' In the evening +the city was illuminated as on a feast-day. + +Once more in history, the game of greatly daring succeeded. Appalled +by the reports of the dreadful threats emanating from a population +without arms, and a handful of volunteers without powder, distrustful +henceforth of the courage of his soldiers, and, if the truth must +be told, of the fidelity of his fleet, Lanza sent General Letizia +to Garibaldi betimes, on the 31st of May, with an unconditional +demand for the continuance of the armistice. A convention was drawn up, +which conceded the fullest liberty to the royalists to supply their +material wants, succour the wounded, and, if they desired, embark +them on board ships with their families for Naples. Garibaldi, always +humane, had a special tenderness for the victims of that civil strife +which his soul abhorred, and he never forgot that the enemy was his +fellow-countryman. His influence sufficed to secure to the royal +troops an immunity from reprisals which was the more creditable +because some horrid crimes had been done by miscreants in their ranks +when they found that they were getting the worst of it in the +street-fighting. Unfortunately the same mercy was not extended to some +of the secret agents of Maniscalco, head of the Sicilian police, who, +discovered in hiding-places by the mob, were murdered before any +protection could be given them. At the time the act of barbarity was +judged, even by English observers, with more leniency than it deserved +(because cruelty can have _no_ excuse), so great was the disgust +excited by the most odious system of espionage ever put in practice. + +The convention bore the signatures of 'Ferdinando Lanza, +General-in-Chief,' and of 'Francesco Crispi, Secretary of State to the +Provisional Government of Sicily.' One article provided for the +consignment of the Royal Mint to the victors; a large sum was stored +in its coffers, and Garibaldi found himself in the novel position of +being able to pay his men and the Sicilian _squadre_, and to send +large orders for arms and ammunition to the Continent. + +General Letizia made two journeys to Naples, and on his return from +the second he came invested with full powers to treat with Garibaldi +for the evacuation of the city. On the 7th of June, 15,000 royal +troops marched down to the Marina to the ships that were to take them +away. At the entrance of the Toledo, the great main street of Palermo, +Menotti Garibaldi was on guard, on a prancing black charger, with a +few other Red-shirts of his own age around him, and before this group +of boys defiled the might and pomp of the disciplined army to which +King Bomba had given the thoughtful care of a life-time. + +The closing formalities which wound up these events at Palermo formed a +fitting ending to the dramatic scenes which have been briefly narrated. +On the 19th, General Lanza went on board the _Hannibal_ to take leave of +the British admiral. He was covered with decorations and attended by his +brilliant personal staff. There, in the beautiful bay, lay the ship on +board which he was to sail at sunset, and twenty-four steam transports +were also there, each filled with Neapolitan troops. The defeated +general was deeply moved as he walked on to the quarter-deck. 'We have +been unfortunate,' he said--words never spoken by one officer of +unquestioned personal courage to another without striking a responsive +chord. When he quitted the _Hannibal_, the English admiral ordered the +White Flag of the King of the Two Sicilies to be hoisted at the +foretop-gallant masthead for the last time in Sicilian waters; and a +salute of nineteen guns, the salute due to the direct representative or +_alter ego_ of a sovereign, speeded the parting guest. Thus, wrapped in +the dignity of misfortune, vanished the last semblance of the graceless +and treacherous thraldom of the Spanish Bourbons in the capital of +Sicily. The flag of Italy was run up on the tower of the Semaphore. +Everywhere the revolution triumphed except at Messina, Milazzo and +Syracuse. Even Catania, where a rising had been put down after a +sanguinary struggle, was now evacuated and left to itself. + +So the 20th of June dawned, and the Queen's ships in the harbour put +forth all their bravery of flags in commemoration of her accession, +which display was naturally interpreted by the Palermitans as a +compliment to the Dictator, who had fixed that day for calling on the +British, French and Sardinian admirals and on the captain of the +United States frigate _Iroquois_. With what honours the American +captain received him is not recorded; for certain it was with cordial +goodwill; of the others, Admiral Mundy treated him as on the previous +occasion; the French admiral affected to consider him a 'simple +monsieur' who had unexpectedly come to call, whilst Admiral Persano, +on board the _Maria Adelaide_, gave him a salute of nineteen guns, +which formed a virtual recognition on the part of Piedmont of his +assumption of the dictatorship. Cavour had ordered Persano to act on +his own responsibility as the exigencies of the hour demanded, and the +admiral knew that these vague instructions assigned him a more +vigorous policy than the other ministers would have agreed to +officially. His bold initiative was therefore justified. As some +severe words will have to be said of Persano in a later chapter, it is +well to remark here that during his Sicilian command he behaved like a +thorough patriot, although it was not in his power to render such +great moral services to freedom as were undoubtedly rendered by +Admiral Mundy, who at the same time acted with so much tact that his +neutrality was not impugned, and he even won the equal personal +gratitude of both parties. On the other hand, the Austrian commodore, +Baron von Wuellersdorf, succeeded in pleasing no one and no one pleased +him. He did not expect that the Garibaldians would lose much love to +him, but he took it unkindly that the royalists fired at his boat with +himself in it, and the Austrian flag at the stern. In high dudgeon he +related this grievance to his British colleague, who gently suggested +that since Austria had always supported the Bourbon system of +Government, it was hardly strange if the royalists were hurt at +receiving neither assistance nor even sympathy from the Austrian +squadron which witnessed their destruction. The remark was acute; even +Austria was, in fact, tired of the Bourbons of Naples; a portent of +their not distant doom. But it was not likely that the royalists +should appreciate the phlegmatic attitude of their erewhile +protectors. + +The concluding military operations in Sicily presented a more arduous +task than, in the first flush of success, might have been anticipated. +In the general panic, one, if one only, royalist officer, Colonel Del +Bosco, turned round and stood at bay. His spirited course was not far +from undoing all that had been done. Fortunately Garibaldi had +received important reinforcements. General Medici touched the Sicilian +shores three days after the evacuation of Palermo with 3500 +volunteers, well-armed and equipped out of the so-called 'Million +Rifle Fund,' which was formed by popular subscription in the north of +Italy. The Dictator went as far as Alcamo to meet the hero of the last +glorious fight of Rome, whom he greeted with delight and affection. +Later, arrived the third and last expedition, consisting of 1500 men +under Cosenz, till recently commander-in-chief of the Italian army. +The Sicilian _squadre_ had been brought into something like military +organisation; and an Englishman, Colonel Dunne, had raised a picked +corps of 400 Palermitans which contained, besides its commander, +between thirty and forty of his countrymen, and was hence called the +English Regiment. This battalion was ready to do anything and go +anywhere; it performed excellent work both in Sicily and on the +mainland.[5] + +Garibaldi arranged his forces in three divisions; one, under Tuerr, was +sent to Catania; the second, under Bixio, to Girgenti; the third, +under Medici, was to follow the northern sea-coast towards Messina, +the strongest position still in the enemy's hands. All three were +ultimately to converge with a view to the grand object of crossing +over to the mainland. Medici had 2500 men; the royalists in and about +Messina could dispose of 15,000. The Garibaldians did not expect much +opposition till they got near Messina, but when they reached +Barcelona they heard that the garrison of Milazzo had been reinforced +by Del Bosco with 4000 men, with the evident design of cutting off +their passage to Messina. It is said that this move was made in +consequence of direct communications between that officer and Francis +II., whose ministers had already decided to abandon the whole island. +But Del Bosco secretly assured his King that such a measure was not +necessary, and that he would undertake not only to bar Medici's +advance, but to march over the dead bodies of the Garibaldians to +Palermo. Milazzo is a small hilly peninsula, on which stands a fort +and a little walled city. The spot was well chosen. On the 17th of +July, Del Bosco attacked the Garibaldian right, and it was not without +difficulty that Medici retained his positions. Some further +reinforcements were sent to Del Bosco from Messina, though not so +numerous as they ought to have been, but they would have almost +ensured him the victory had not Medici also received help; Cosenz' +column, and, yet more important, Garibaldi himself with the 1000 men +he had kept in Palermo, hastening at full speed to the rescue. The +belligerents were, for once, about equally balanced in numbers when on +the 20th of July Garibaldi attacked Del Bosco with the purpose of +driving him on to the tongue of the peninsula, thus cutting him off +from Messina and leaving the road open. A desperate engagement +followed. The Neapolitans showed that they could fight if they were +properly led, and inflicted a loss of 800 in killed and wounded (heavy +out of a total of 5000) on their gallant opponents. Garibaldi's own +life was nearly sacrificed. He was standing in a field of prickly +pears in conversation with Major Missori when a party of the enemy's +cavalry rode up, the captain of which dealt a violent blow at him with +his sword, without knowing who it was. Garibaldi coolly parried the +blow, and struck down his assailant, while Missori shot the three +nearest dragoons with his revolver. Hearing the noise, other +Garibaldians hurried up, and the chief was saved. For a long time the +issue of the battle remained uncertain, and it was only after hours of +severe fighting that Del Bosco was compelled to recognise his defeat, +and to take refuge on the projecting strip of land as Garibaldi had +meant that he should do. + +A few days later, four transports arrived in the bay of Milazzo to +carry Del Bosco and his men to Naples. The ministry had prevailed, and +the complete abandonment of the island was decreed. General Clary, +commandant of Messina, informed Garibaldi that he had orders to +evacuate the town and its outlying forts; the citadel would be also +handed over if the Dictator would engage not to cross to the mainland, +but this conditional offer was declined. The citadel of Messina +therefore remained in the power of the royalists, but on agreement +that it should not resume hostilities unless attacked. It only +capitulated in March 1861. Garibaldi reigned over the rest of the +island. The convention was signed on the 28th of July by Marshal +Tommaso de Clary for the King of Naples, and Major-General Giacomo +Medici for the Dictator. + +Before following Garibaldi across the Straits, some allusion is called +for to the general political situation both in Sicily and in Italy. +And first as regards Sicily. When a government is pulled down another +must be set up, and the last task is often not the easiest. Garibaldi +appointed a ministry in which the ruling spirit was Francesco Crispi. +A Sicilian patriot from his youth, and one of the Thousand, he has +been judged the man best fitted to direct the helm of United Italy in +days of unexampled difficulty. This is enough to prove that he was not +the first-come ignoramus or madman that some people then liked to +think him. But Crispi had the art of making enemies, nor has he lost +it. Though volumes have been written on the civil administration under +the dictatorship, the writers' judgments are so warped by their +political leanings that it is not easy to get at the truth. It would +have been strange had no confusion existed, had no false steps been +made; yet some of the old English residents in Sicily say that the +island made more real progress during the few months of Garibaldi's +reign than in all the years that have followed. Towards the end of +June, Garibaldi appointed Agostino Depretis as Pro-Dictator. Of the +many decrees formulated and measures adopted at this period, +Garibaldi, who had many other things to think of, was personally +responsible only for those of a philanthropic nature. Busy as he was, +he found time to inquire minutely into the State of the population of +Palermo, and he was horrified at the ignorance and misery in which the +poorer classes were plunged. Forthwith, out came a bushel-basket of +edicts and appeals on behalf of these poor children of the sun. He +visited the orphan asylum and found that eighty per cent. of the +inmates died of starvation. One nurse had to provide for the wants of +four infants. Garibaldi wrote off an address to the ladies of Palermo, +in which he implored them to interest themselves in the wretched +little beings created in the image of God, at the sight of whose +wasted and puny bodies he, an old soldier, had wept. He had money and +food distributed every morning to the most destitute, at the gates of +the royal palace, where he lived with a frugality that scandalised the +aged servants of royalty whom he kept, out of kindness, at their +posts. Theoretically, he disapproved of indiscriminate almsgiving, but +in the misery caused by the recent bombardment, such theories could +not be strictly applied, or, at any rate, Garibaldi was not the man to +so apply them; whence it happened that though, as _de facto_ head of +the State, he allowed himself a civil list of eight francs a day, the +morning had never far advanced before his pockets were empty, and he +had to borrow small sums from his friends, which next morning were +faithfully repaid. + +When he walked about the town, the women pressed forward to touch the +hem of his _poncho_, and made their children kneel to receive his +blessing. On one occasion a convent of nuns, from the youngest novice +to the elderly abbess, insisted on giving him the kiss of peace. An +idolatry which would have made anyone else ridiculous; but Garibaldi, +being altogether simple and unselfconscious, was above ridicule. One +of the good works that he initiated was the transformation of the +Foundling Hospital, of which the large funds were turned to little +account, into a Military School under the direction of his best +officers. In less than a month the school could turn out two smart +battalions, and there were few mornings that the Dictator did not go +to watch the boys at their drill. He encouraged them with the promise +that before long he would lead them himself to the wars. + +Such actions smell sweeter from the dust, than the old story of the +antagonism that sprang up in those days between Garibaldi and Cavour, +between Crispi and La Farina. This dualism, as it was called, was the +fruit of a mutual distrust, which, however much to be deplored, was +not to be avoided. Although Cavour had a far juster idea of Garibaldi +than that entertained by his _entourage_, he was nevertheless haunted +by the fear that the general's revolutionary friends would persuade +him to depart from his programme of 'Italy and Victor Emmanuel,' and +embark upon some adventure of a republican complexion. He was also +afraid that the Government of the Dictator would, by its +unconventional methods, discredit the Italian cause in the eyes of +European statesmen. These reasons caused him to desire and to +endeavour to bring about the immediate annexation of Sicily to the +Sardinian kingdom. On the other hand, Garibaldi's faith in Cavour had +ceased with the cession of Nice, and he believed him to be even now +contemplating the cession of the island of Sardinia as a further sop +to Cerberus--a project which, if it existed nowhere else, did exist in +the mind of Napoleon III. With regard to immediate annexation, he had +no intention of agreeing to it, and for one sufficing reason: had he +consented he could not have carried the war of liberation across the +Straits of Messina. His Sicilian army must have laid down their arms +at a command from Turin were it given. And it would have been given. + +La Farina, like Crispi, a Sicilian by birth, arrived suddenly at +Palermo, representing Cavour, as everyone thought, but in reality he +represented himself. Strong-willed and prejudiced, he was, in his own +way, a perfectly good patriot, and he had done all that was in his +power (though not quite so much as in later years he fancied that he +had done) to aid and further the expedition of the Thousand. But he +tried to force the annexation scheme by means so openly hostile to the +government of the day, that Garibaldi at length sent him on board +Persano's flag-ship with a request that the admiral would forward him +to Turin. + +After the evacuation of Messina by the royal troops, Garibaldi +received persuasions of all sorts to let the kingdom of Naples alone. +On the part of King Francis an offer was made to him of 50,000,000 +francs and the Neapolitan navy in aid of a war for the liberation of +Venice. Almost simultaneously he received a letter from Victor +Emmanuel sent by the hand of Count Giulio Litta, in which the writer +said that in the event of the King of Naples giving up Sicily 'I think +that our most reasonable course would be to renounce all ulterior +undertakings against the Neapolitan kingdom.' This was the first +direct communication between the King and Garibaldi since the latter's +landing at Marsala; it is to be surmised that of indirect +communications there had been several, and that they took the form of +substantial assistance, sent, probably without Cavour being aware of +it, for Victor Emmanuel carried on his own little conspiracies with a +remarkable amount of secrecy. What induced him now to address words of +restraint to Garibaldi in the midway of his work, was the arrival of a +letter from Napoleon III. in which the Emperor urged him in the +strongest manner to use his well-known personal influence with the +general to hold him back. It was not easy for Victor Emmanuel to +refuse point blank to make the last effort on behalf of his cousin. +Francis had appointed a constitutional ministry, promised a statute, +granted an amnesty and engaged to place himself in accord with the +King of Sardinia, adopted even the tricolor flag with the royal arms +of Bourbon in the centre. Concessions idle as desperate on the 25th of +June 1860, the date which they bore. Their only consequence then was +to facilitate the fall of the dynasty, the usual result of similar +inspirations of the eleventh hour. Had all this been done on the day +of the King's accession it might have imperilled Italian unity--not +now. But the fatal words, 'Too late,' would have fallen with ill grace +from Victor Emmanuel's lips. Garibaldi answered his royal +correspondent that when he had made him King of Italy he would be only +too happy to obey him for the rest of his life. + +The King's letter, though delivered after the battle of Milazzo, was +written before it. That event convinced Cavour, and doubtless the King +with him, that it was utterly impossible to arrest the tide at Cape +Faro. It convinced him of a great deal more. He saw that if Piedmont +continued much longer a passive spectator of the march of events, she +would lose the lead forever And he prepared to act. + +Meanwhile counsels reached Garibaldi from quite a different quarter +not to abandon Naples, but to go there from Rome instead of by +Calabria. This daring scheme was favoured by Mazzini, Nicotera, +Bertani; indeed, by all the republicans. A corps of about 8000 +volunteers was ready to start for a descent on the coast of the Papal +States. At present it was in the island of Sardinia, awaiting the +arrival of Garibaldi to assume the command. And now occurred +Garibaldi's mysterious disappearance from Cape Faro, which at the time +excited endless curiosity. The truth was, that he actually went to +Sardinia, but instead of taking command of the volunteers bound for +Rome, he induced them to alter their plans and to join his Sicilian +army in the arduous undertaking before it of overthrowing the Bourbons +in the Neapolitan kingdom. Thus he gained a reinforcement of which he +knew the enormous need, for though he was willing to face +difficulties, he was not blind to them, as were many men of the +extreme party. He also prevented what would have been a step of +exceeding danger to the national cause, as it would have obliged the +Sardinian Government to break off all relations with Garibaldi and to +use force against the patriots in suppressing a movement which, if +successful, would have brought a hostile French army into Italy. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE MEETING OF THE WATERS + +1860 + +Garibaldi's March on Naples--The Piedmontese in Umbria and the +Marches--The Volturno--Victor Emmanuel enters Naples. + + +The Italian kingdom is the fruit of the alliance between the strong +monarchical principles of Piedmont and the dissolvent forces of +revolution. Whenever either one side or the other, yielding to the +influence of its individual sympathies or prejudices, failed to +recognise that thus only, by the essential logic of events, could the +unity of the country be achieved, the entire edifice was placed in +danger of falling to the ground before it was completed. + +When Garibaldi stood on Cape Faro, conqueror and liberator, clothed in +a glory not that of Wellington or Moltke, but that of Arthur or Roland +or the Cid Campeador; the subject of the gossip of the Arabs in their +tents, of the wild horsemen of the Pampas, of the fishers in ice-bound +seas; a solar myth, nevertheless certified to be alive in the +nineteenth century--Cavour understood that if he were left much longer +single occupant of the field, either he would rush to disaster, which +would be fatal to Italy, or he would become so powerful that, in the +event of his being plunged, willingly or unwillingly, by the more +ardent apostles of revolution into opposition with the King of +Sardinia, the issue of the contest would be by no means sure. To guard +against both possibilities, Cavour decided to act, and to act at once. +He said of the conjuncture in which he was placed that it was not one +of the most difficult, but the most difficult of his political life. +But he proved equal to the task, which does the more honour to his +statesmanship because his first plan failed completely. This plan was, +that the Neapolitan population should overthrow Francis II., and +proclaim Victor Emmanuel their King before Garibaldi crossed the +Straits. But the Neapolitans would not move hand or foot till +Garibaldi was among them. The fact that when Cavour was convinced +that the Bourbon dynasty at Naples was about to fall, he tried to +hasten its collapse by a few weeks or days, was made the most of by +his enemies as an example of base duplicity. At this distance of time, +it need only be said that whether his conduct of affairs was +scrupulous or unscrupulous, it deceived no one, for the Neapolitan +King and his friends were well convinced that the Filibuster of +Caprera was their less deadly foe than the Prime Minister of Piedmont. + +But of all the foes of Franceschiello, to use the diminutive by which, +half in pity, half in contempt, the people of Naples remember him, the +most irrevocably fatal was himself. Two courses were open to him when, +after losing Sicily, he saw the loss of his other kingdom and of his +throne staring him in the face. One was to go forth like a man at the +head of his troops to meet the storm. There had been such a thing as +loyalty in the Kingdom of Naples; not loyalty of the highest sort, but +still the sentiment had existed. Who knows what might not have been +the effect of the presence of their young Sovereign on the broken +_moral_ of the Neapolitan soldiers? 'Sire, place yourself at the head +of the 40,000 who remain, and risk a last stake, or, at least, fall +gloriously after an honourable battle,' was the advice given him by +his minister of war, Pianell. But his stepmother or somebody +(certainly not his wife) said that the sacred life of a king ought to +be kept in cotton wool, like other curiosities. Meanwhile his uncle, +the Count of Syracuse, proposed the other course which, though not +heroic, would have been intelligible and even patriotic. This was to +absolve his subjects from their obedience, and embark on the first +available ship for foreign parts. Fitting the action to the word, the +Count himself started for Turin. Francis awaited the doom of those +who only know how to take half measures. + +The demoralisation, not only of the troops but of every branch of the +public administration in the kingdom of Naples, was not yet a +certified fact; and the enterprise which Garibaldi at Cape Faro had +before him, of invading the dominions of a monarch who still had a +large army, and whose subjects showed not the slightest visible sign +of being disposed to strike a blow for their own freedom, looked +rather fabulous than difficult. The only part of the _Regno_ where the +people were taking action was in the furthermost region of Calabria; a +fortunate circumstance, since it was the first point to be attacked. +Calabria, which had contributed its quota to the Thousand, contained +more patriotic energy than the rest of the _Regno_ put together. On +the 8th of August, Garibaldi sent over a small vanguard of 200 men +under a Calabrian officer, with the order to join the Calabrian band +of insurgents which was hiding in the woods and gorges of Aspromonte, +and to spread the news that his own coming would not be long delayed. +The Neapolitan generals had acquired the idea that, instead of these +few men, a large force had already disembarked, and so turned their +attention to the mountains; while Garibaldi, after throwing the +war-ships in the Straits on an equally false scent by various +intentionally abortive operations, crossed in the night of the 19th +and effected a landing not far from Reggio, of which, for both moral +and strategic reasons, it was of vital importance to gain possession +as soon as possible. He took with him 4500 men, and had between 14,000 +and 15,000 more in readiness to follow. The royalist army in Calabria +numbered about 27,000, including the garrison of Reggio, 2000 men, +under the command of General Galotti. On the 20th, Bixio attacked the +outposts; and on the 21st, Garibaldi fought his way into the +city--not, however, without meeting a strong resistance on the part of +the garrison, which might have been continued longer, and even with a +different result, had not the Calabrian insurgents hurried down from +Aspromonte on hearing the sound of guns, their sudden appearance +making the Royalists think that they were being attacked on all sides. +Next day the castle surrendered, and thus a quantity of valuable war +material fell into Garibaldi's hands. His luck had not deserted him. + +Cosenz and Medici landed their divisions in the night of the 21st of +August, near Scilla, in the neighbourhood of which General Briganti +had massed his Neapolitans, 7000 strong. On the 23rd, Briganti found +himself attacked on the south and north--from Scilla by Cosenz, and +from Reggio by Garibaldi. His position was critical but not desperate +had he been able to depend upon his men, who were more numerous than +their combined opponents; but he saw at once that fighting was the +last thing they meant to do, and he had no choice but to surrender at +discretion, almost without firing a shot. Unfortunately, Garibaldi had +no power to keep prisoners of war, even if he wished to do so. Who was +to feed and guard them? Now, as subsequently, he bade the disbanded +troops go where they listed, undertaking to send to Naples by sea as +many as desired to go there. About a thousand accepted; the rest +dispersed, forming the first nucleus of the semi-political and wholly +dastardly brigandage which was later to become the scourge of Southern +Italy. Their earliest exploit was the savage murder of General +Briganti, whom they called a traitor, after the fashion of cowards. +This happened at Mileto on the 25th of August, when Briganti was on +his way to join General Ghio, who had concentrated 12,000 men on the +town of Monteleone. Garibaldi, whose sound principle it was to dispose +of his enemies one by one as they cropped up, prepared to attack Ghio +with his whole available forces, but he was spared the trouble. He +came, he saw, and he had no need of conquering, for the soldiers of +that bad thing that had been Bourbon despotism in the Italian south +vanished before his path more quickly than the mists of the morning +before the sun. No grounds that will bear scrutiny have ever been +adduced for the reactionary explanation of the marvel: to wit, that +the Neapolitan generals were bribed. By Cavour? The game would have +been too risky. By 'English bank-notes,' that useful factor in +European politics that has every pleasing quality except reality? It +is not apparent how the corruptibility of the generals gives a better +complexion to the matter, but the writers on the subject who are +favourable to Francis II. seem to think that it does. Panic-stricken +these helpless Neapolitan officers may deserve to be called, but they +were not bought. And they had cause for panic with troops of whose +untrustworthiness they held the clearest proofs, and with the country +up in arms against them; for a few days after the taking of Reggio +this was the case, and this was by far the greatest miracle operated +by Garibaldi. The populations shook off their apathy, and not in +Calabria only but in the Puglie, the Basilicata, the Abruzzi, there +was a sudden awakening as from a too long sleep. When Garibaldi got to +Monteleone he found that Ghio had evacuated the town. He pursued him +to Soveria, where, on the 30th of August, the 12,000 men laid down +their arms. A few days later, another officer, General Caldarelli, +capitulated with 4000 men. Garibaldi's onward march was a perpetual +_fete_; everywhere he was received with frantic demonstrations of +delight. Still there was one point between himself and the capital +which might reasonably cause him some anxiety. There were 30,000 men +massed near Salerno, in positions of immense natural strength, where +they ought to have been able to stop the advance of an army twice the +size of Garibaldi's. How this obstacle was removed is far more +suggestive of a scene in a comic opera than of a page in history. +Colonel Peard, 'Garibaldi's Englishman,' went in advance of the army +to Eboli, where he was mistaken, as commonly happened, for his chief. +He was past middle age; very tall, with a magnificent beard and a +stern, dictatorial air, which answered admirably to the popular idea +of what the conqueror of Sicily ought to be like, although there was +no resemblance to the real person. It happened that Eboli was a +royalist town and beyond the pale of declared revolution--a placid and +antiquated little city with a forgotten air, where life had been +probably too easy for its inhabitants to wish for a change. But the +supposed arrival of the Terrible Man turned everything upside-down. +Peard, with Commander Forbes, who was following the campaign as a +non-combatant, rode up to the house of the old Syndic, who instantly +became their devoted servant. Like wildfire spread the news--the whole +population besieged the house, brass bands resounded, chinese lanterns +were hung out; the Church, led by the bishop, hurried to the spot, the +Law, headed by a judge, closely following, while the wives of the +local officials appeared in perfectly new bonnets. They all craved an +audience, and the same answer was given to all: that General +Garibaldi was much fatigued and was asleep--so he was, but ninety +miles away. He would be pleased to receive the deputations if they +would return punctually at half-past three a.m. In the meantime, Peard +was in an inner room, engaged in cannonading Naples with telegrams. He +had sent for the telegraph master, who came trembling like an aspen, +and from whom it was elicited that he had already telegraphed to the +Home Office at Naples, and to the general commanding at Salerno, that +Garibaldi was in the town. Peard remarked casually that he supposed he +knew his life was in jeopardy, and then handed him the following +message: 'Eboli, 11.30 p.m.--Garibaldi has arrived with 5000 of his +own men, and 5000 Calabrese are momentarily expected. Disembarkations +are expected in the bay of Naples and the gulf of Salerno to-night. I +strongly advise your withdrawing the garrison from the latter place +without delay, or they will be cut off.' This was despatched to +General Ulloa, whom rumour reported to have been just made minister of +war, and was signed in the name of one of his personal friends. The +rumour was false; but the telegram, of course, reached the desired +quarter, and the name attached removed all doubt of its genuineness. +It was hardly sent off when a despatch came from the real war +minister, asking the telegraph clerk if news had been received of the +division Caldarelli? To this Peard answered that General Caldarelli +and his division had gone over to Garibaldi yesterday, and now formed +part of the national army. Similar information was sent to General +Scotti at Salerno. Finally, the Syndic of Salerno was asked if he had +seen anything of the Garibaldian expeditions by sea? + +Satisfied with his work, Colonel Peard, who knew that there were +Neapolitan troops within four miles of Eboli, and who did not think +that things looked entirely reassuring, decided to beat a somewhat +precipitous retreat. He told the Syndic that he was going to +reconnoitre in the direction of Salerno, and that his departure must +be kept a dead secret, but as soon as he was out of the town he turned +the horses' heads backwards towards the Garibaldian lines. He was +still accompanied by Commander Forbes, to whom, during their midnight +drive, he related his performance on the telegraph wires. 'What on +earth is the good of all this?' said Forbes; 'you don't imagine they +will be fools enough to believe it?' 'You will see,' answered the +colonel, 'it will frighten them to death, and to-morrow they will +evacuate Salerno.' And, in fact, at four o'clock in the morning the +evacuation was begun in obedience to telegraphic orders from Naples. + +The 30,000 men recalled from Salerno and the adjacent districts +marched towards Capua. The river Volturno, which runs by that +fortified town, was now chosen as the line of defence of the Bourbon +monarchy. + +On the 5th of September the King and Queen with the Austrian, +Prussian, Bavarian and Spanish ministers, left Naples for Gaeta on +board a Spanish man-of-war. The King issued a proclamation of which +the language was dignified and even pathetic: it is believed to have +been written by Liborio Romano, the Prime Minister, who was at the +same moment betraying his master. Be that as it may, the King's +farewell to his subjects and fellow-citizens might have touched hearts +of stone could they but have forgotten the record of the hundred and +twenty-six years of rule to which he fondly alluded. As it was, in the +vast crowds that watched him go, there was not found a man who said, +'God bless him;' not a woman who shed a tear. Had any one of the +bullets aimed at Ferdinand II. taken fatal effect, it would have been +a less striking punishment for his political sins than this leaden +weight of indifference which descended on his son. + +In the Royal Proclamation Francis II. stated that he had adhered to +the great principles of Italian nationality, and had irrevocably +surrounded his throne with free institutions; nevertheless it is +alleged on what seems good authority that in those last days he veered +round to the party of the Queen Dowager, who was doing all she could +to provoke the lazzaroni to reaction. It was also believed at Naples +that he left orders for Castel Sant' Elmo to bombard the town if +Garibaldi entered. + +The Dictator was so much pleased with Colonel Peard's telegraphic +feats at Eboli, that he sent him on to Salerno to repeat the farce. +Peard's despatches determined the departure of the Court, and it was +to him (in the belief that he was Garibaldi) that Liborio Romano, +three hours before the King embarked, addressed the celebrated +telegram invoking the 'most desired presence' of the Dictator in +Naples. With this document in his hand, Peard went out with the +National Guard to meet the real Garibaldi who was on his way from +Auletta. The Dictator hailed his double with the cry of 'Viva +Garibaldi,' in which Cosenz and the other officers cordially joined. +The entry of the Liberator into Salerno was greeted with the wildest +enthusiasm, the wonderful beauty of the surroundings seeming a fitting +setting for a scene like the vision of some freedom-loving poet. + +Next morning at half-past nine, Garibaldi, with thirteen of his staff, +started by special train for the capital. + +It must be remembered that though the army of Salerno was recalled to +the Volturno, no troops had been withdrawn from Naples. The sentries +still paced before the palaces and public offices, the barracks held +their full complement, Castel Sant' Elmo had all its guns in position. +These troops quartered in the capital, where everything contributed to +stimulate their fidelity, were of different stuff from Ghio's or +Caldarelli's frightened sheep; a White Terror, a repetition of the +15th of May 1848, would have been much to their mind. There had been +no actual revolution; nothing officially proved that Naples had thrown +off the royal allegiance. Such were the strange circumstances under +which Garibaldi, without a single battalion, came to take possession +of a city of 300,000 inhabitants. + +Courage of this sort either does not exist, or it is supremely +unconscious. It is likely, therefore, that the Dictator gave no +thought to the enormous risk he ran, but his passage from the station +to the palace of the Foresteria, where he descended, was a bad +quarter-of-an-hour to the friends who followed him, and to whom his +life seemed the point on which Italian regeneration yet hung. A chance +shot fired by some Royalist fanatic, and who could measure the result? +As he passed under the muzzle of the guns at the opening of the +Toledo, he gave the order: 'Drive slower, slower--more slowly still.' +And he rose and stood up for a moment in the carriage with his arms +crossed. The artillerymen, who had begun to make a kind of hostile +demonstration, changed their minds and saluted. The sullen looks of +the royal soldiers was the only jarring note in the display of +intoxicating joy with which the Neapolitans welcomed the bringer of +their freedom; freedom all too easily had, for if anything could have +purified the Neapolitans from the evil influences of servitude, it +would have been the necessity of paying dearly for their liberties. +The delirium in the streets lasted for several days and nights; what +the consequences would have been of such a state of madness under a +paler sky, it is not pleasant to reflect; here, at least, there were +no robberies, no drunken person was seen; if there were some murders, +a careful inquiry made by an Englishman showed that the number was the +same as the average number of street-murders through the year. At +night, when the word passed 'Il Dittatore dorme,' it was enough to +clear the streets as if by magic near the palace (a private one) where +in a sixth floor room the idol of the hour slept. The National Guard, +who were the sole guardians of order, behaved admirably. + +For a few days such of the townsfolk as had not completely lost their +heads, underwent acute anxiety as they gazed at the frowning pile of +Sant' Elmo; but finally the officers in command of the garrison +decided to capitulate, contrary, in this instance, to the wishes of +the soldiery. The royal troops marched out of the city towards Capua +on the 11th of September. + +Garibaldi's first act had been to hand over the Neapolitan fleet in +the bay to Admiral Persano, a solemn reassertion of his loyalty to +Victor Emmanuel, whom, in his every utterance, he held up to the +people as the best of kings and the father of his country. He +instructed his Neapolitan officer, Cosenz, to form a ministry, and +wrote to the Marquis Pallavicini, the prisoner of Spielberg, inviting +him to become Pro-Dictator. Had a man of authority like Pallavicini, +who also entirely possessed the Dictator's confidence, at once assumed +that office, much of the friction which followed might have been +spared. But he did not enter into his functions till October, and in +the meanwhile the 'dualism' of Sicily broke out in an exaggerated +form, each side sincerely believing the other to be on the verge of +ruining the country to which they were both sincerely attached. The +appointment of Dr Bertani as Secretary of the Dictatorship gave rise +to controversies which even now, when the grave has closed over the +actors, are hardly at rest. It is time that they should be. Apart from +the war about persons, some of them not very wise persons, and apart +from the fears entertained at Turin, that the freeing of the Two +Sicilies would drift into a republican movement: fears which were +invincible, though, as far as they regarded Garibaldi, they were +neither just nor generous, the question resolved itself, as was the +case in Sicily, into whether the unification of Italy was to go on or +whether it was to halt? Garibaldi refused to give up Sicily to the +King's government because he intended making it the base for the +liberation of Naples. Events had justified him. He now refused to hand +over Naples because he intended making it the base for the liberation +of Rome. It has been seen that he and he alone prevented an attempt at +a landing in the Papal states from being made in the month of August. +In deciding, however, that it was expedient to finish one enterprise +before beginning another, he did not give up Rome: he merely chose +what he thought a safer road to go there. And he now declared without +the least concealment that he intended to proclaim Victor Emmanuel +King of Italy from the Quirinal. + +Would events have justified him again? There was a French garrison in +Rome; this, to Cavour, seemed a conclusive answer. + +Cavour was engaged on a series of measures, unscrupulous manoeuvres as +some have called them, masterpieces of statesmanship as they have been +described by others, by which he got back the reins of the Italian +team into his own hands. The plan of an annexionist revolution in +Naples before Garibaldi arrived had failed. So much discontent was +felt at the apparent indifference, or, at least, 'masterly inactivity' +of the Sardinian government in presence of the great struggle in the +south that Cavour began to be afraid of a revolution breaking out in +quite a different quarter, in Victor Emmanuel's own kingdom. It was at +this critical juncture that he resolved to invade the Papal states, +and take possession of the Province of Umbria and the Marches of +Ancona. + +The decision was one of extreme boldness. For three months Cavour had +been stormed at by all the Foreign Ministers in Turin, excepting Sir +James Hudson, but, as he wrote to the Marquis E. D'Azeglio: 'I shall +not draw back save before fleets and armies.' + +Austria, France, Spain, Russia and Prussia now broke off diplomatic +relations with Sardinia. What would be their next act? The danger of +Austria intervening was smaller than it then appeared; Austria was too +much embarrassed in her own house, and especially in Hungary, for her +to covet adventures in Italy. But the French Government did, in the +plainest terms, threaten to intervene, and this notwithstanding that +the Emperor himself appeared to be convinced by Cavour's argument, +that the proposed scheme was the only means of checking the march of +revolution, which from Rome might spread to Paris. By announcing one +line of policy in public and another in private, Napoleon left the +door open to adopt either one or the other, according to the +development of events. In the sequel, the Papal party had a right to +say that he lured them to their destruction, as their plan of +operations, and in particular the defence of Ancona, was undertaken in +the distinct expectation of being supported by the French fleet. + +As early as April 1860, the Pope invited the Orleanist General +Lamoriciere to organise and command the forces for the defence of the +Temporal Power, which he had summoned from the four quarters of the +Catholic world. 5000 men, more or less, answered the call; they came +chiefly from France, Belgium and Ireland. Of his own subjects the Pope +had 10,000 under arms. In a proclamation, issued on assuming the +command, Lamoriciere compared the Italian movement with Islamism, a +comparison which aroused intense exasperation in Italy, where the +rally of a foreign crusade against the object which was nearest to +Italian hearts, and for which so many of the best Italians had +suffered and died, could not but call up feelings which in their turn +were expressed in no moderate language. It was a fresh illustration of +the old truth--that the Papal throne existed only by force of foreign +arms, foreign influence. Lamoriciere's 'mercenaries' did much harm to +the Pope's cause by bringing home this truth once more to the minds of +all. That the corps contained some of the bluest blood of France, that +there were good young men in it, who thought heaven the sure reward +for death in defence of dominions painfully added in the course of +centuries by devices not heavenly to the original patrimony of Peter, +did not and could not reconcile the Italians to the defiance thrown +down to them by a band of strangers in their own country. + +Before the opening of hostilities, Victor Emmanuel offered Pius IX. to +assume the administration of the Papal states (barring Rome) while +leaving the nominal sovereignty to the Pope. Nothing came of the +proposal, which was followed by a formal demand for the dissolution of +Lamoriciere's army, and an intimation that the Sardinian troops would +intervene were force used to put down risings within the Papal border. +On the 11th of September, symptoms of revolution having meanwhile +broken out in the Marches, General Fanti in command of 35,000 men +crossed the frontier. Half these forces under Fanti himself were +directed on Perugia; the other half under Cialdini marched towards +Ancona. The garrisons of Perugia and Spoleto were compelled to +surrender, and Lamoriciere found his communications cut off, so that +he could only reach the last fortress in the power of the Papal +troops, Ancona, by fighting his way through Cialdini's division, which +by rapid marches had reached the heights of Castelfidardo. His men +passed the day of the 17th in religious exercises, and in going to +confession; the vicinity of the Holy House of Loreto, brought hither +by angels from Bethlehem, filled the young Breton soldiers with +transports of religious fervour. Lamoriciere had taken from the Santa +Casa some of the flags of the victors of Lepanto to wave over his +columns. In the battle of the next day the French fought with the +gallantry of the Vendeans whose descendants they were, and the Irish +behaved as Irishmen generally behave under fire, but the Swiss and +Romans mostly fought ill or not at all. Lamoriciere excused the +conduct of the latter on the ground that they were young troops; it is +likely that they had but little eagerness to fire on their +fellow-countrymen. Being Italians, and above all being Romans, they +assuredly were not sustained by one scrap of the mystical enthusiasm +of the French: such a state of mind would have been incomprehensible +to them. They knew that so far as dogmas went Victor Emmanuel was as +good a Catholic as the Pope. It is surprising that with part of his +force demoralised Lamoriciere was still able to hold his own for three +or four hours. General Pimodan and many of the French officers were +killed; Lamoriciere could say truly: 'All the best names of France are +left on the battlefield.' + +After the victory of Castelfidardo, the Sardinian attack was +concentrated on Ancona. Admiral Persano brought the squadron from +Naples to co-operate with Fanti's land forces, and the fortress +capitulated on the 29th of September. The campaign had lasted eighteen +days. The Piedmontese held Umbria and the Marches, and a road was thus +opened for the army of Victor Emmanuel to march to Naples. During the +progress of these events Garibaldi was preparing for the final +struggle on the Volturno. He had not yet given up the hope of carrying +his victorious arms to the Capitol, and from the Capitol to the Square +of St Mark. The whole republican party, and Mazzini himself, who had +arrived in Naples, ardently adhered to this programme. Their argument +was not without force, risk or no risk, when would there be another +opportunity as good as the present? It was very well for Cavour to +look forward, as he did to the day of his death, to a pacific solution +of the Roman question; Mazzini saw--in which he was far more +clear-sighted than Cavour--that such a solution would never take +place. His arrival at Naples caused alarm at Turin, both on account of +his presumed influence over Garibaldi, the extent of which was much +exaggerated, and from the terror his name spread among European +diplomatists. The Dictator was asked to proscribe the man whose latest +act had been to give the last 30,000 francs he possessed in the world +to the expenses of the Calabrian campaign. He refused to do this. 'How +could I have insisted upon sending Mazzini into exile when he has done +so much for Italian unity?' he said afterwards to Victor Emmanuel, who +agreed that he was right. However, he allowed the Pro-Dictator +Pallavicini to write a letter to Mazzini, inviting him to show his +generosity by spontaneously leaving Naples in order to remove the +unjust fears occasioned by his presence. Mazzini replied, as he had a +perfect right to do, that every citizen is entitled to remain in a +free country as long as he does not break the laws. And so the +incident closed. + +While the Party of Action urged Garibaldi not to give up Rome, other +influences were brought to bear on him in the opposite sense, and +especially that of the English Government, which instructed Admiral +Mundy to arrange a 'chance' meeting between the Dictator and the +English Minister at Naples, Mr. Elliot, on board the flagship +_Hannibal_. Mr. Elliot pointed out the likelihood of a European war +arising from an attack on Venice, and the certainty of French +intervention in case of a revolutionary dash on Rome. Garibaldi +replied that Rome was an Italian city, and that neither the Emperor +nor anyone else had a right to keep him out of it. 'He was evidently,' +writes Admiral Mundy in reporting the interview, 'not to be swayed by +any dictates of prudence.' + +In Sicily, the rival factions were bringing about a state approaching +anarchy, but a flying visit from Garibaldi in the middle of September +averted the storm. At this time, Garibaldi's headquarters were at +Caserta, in the vast palace where Ferdinand II. breathed his last. The +Garibaldian and the Royal armies lay face to face with one another, +and each was engaged in completing its preparations. It might have +been expected, and for a moment it seems that Garibaldi did expect, +that after the solemn collapse of the Neapolitan army south of Naples, +the comedy was now only awaiting its final act and the fall of the +curtain. But it soon became apparent that, instead of the last act of +a comedy, the next might be the first of a tragedy. The troops +concentrated on the right bank of the Volturno amounted to 35,000, +with 6000 garrisoning Capua. About 15,000 more formed the reserves and +the garrison of Gaeta. The position on the Volturno was favourable to +the Royalists; the fortress of Capua on the left bank gave them a free +passage to and fro, while the Volturno, which is rather wide and very +deep, formed a grave impediment to the advance of their opponents. But +the chief reason why there was a serious possibility of the fortunes +of war being reversed, lay in the fact that the _moral_ of these +troops was good. All the picked regiments of the army were here, +including 2500 cavalry. The men were ashamed of the stampede from the +south, and were sincerely anxious to take their revenge. Thus the +Neapolitan plan of a pitched battle and a victorious march on Naples +was by no means foredoomed, on the face of things, to failure. + +In Garibaldi's short absence at Palermo, the Southern Army (as he now +called his forces) was left under the command of the Hungarian General +Tuerr, as brave an officer as ever lived, and a fast friend to Italy, +but his merits do not undo the fact that as soon as the Dictator's +back was turned, everything got into a muddle. Pontoon bridges had +been thrown across the river at four points; availing himself of one +of these, Tuerr crossed the Volturno with a view to taking up a +position on the right bank at a place called Caiazzo, a step which, if +attempted at all, ought to have been supported by a very strong force. +On the 19th of September, Caiazzo was actually taken, but on the 21st +the Royalists came out of Capua with 3000 men and defeated with great +loss the thousand or fewer Garibaldians charged with its defence, only +a small number of whom were able to recross the bridges and join their +companions. The saddest part of this adventure was the slaughter of +nearly the whole of the boys' company--lads under fifteen, who had run +away from home or school to fight with Garibaldi. Fight they did for +five mortal hours, with the heroism of veterans or of children. Only +about twenty were left. + +When Garibaldi returned from Sicily, this was the first news he heard, +and it was not cheering. The Royalists, who thought they had won +another Waterloo, were in the wildest spirits, and the march on Naples +was talked of in their camp as being as good as accomplished. + +Garibaldi's lines were spread in the shape of a semi-circle, of which +the two ends started from Santa Maria on the left, and Maddaloni on +the right, with Castel Morone at the apex. The country is hilly, and +this fact, together with the great distance covered, divided the +20,000 men into a number of practically distinct bodies, each of +which, in the decisive battle, had to fight its own fight. Here and +there improvised fortifications were thrown up. Garibaldi was aware +that his line of battle was perilously extended, but the necessity of +blocking all the roads and by-ways which led to Naples, dictated +tactics which he was the last to defend. + +The best policy for the Royalists would have been to bring +overwhelming numbers to bear on a single point, and, breaking the +line, to march straight on the capital. They were doubtless afraid of +an advance which would have left a portion of the Garibaldian army +unbeaten in their rear. Nevertheless, of the chances that remained to +them, this was the best. At Naples there were no Garibaldian troops to +speak of, and the powers of reaction had been working night and day to +procure for the rightful King the reception due to a saviour of +society. Perhaps they would not have completely failed. There were +nobles who were sulking, shopkeepers who were frightened, +professional beggars with whom the Dictator had opened a fierce but +unequal contest, for no blue-bottle fly is more difficult to tackle +than a genuine Neapolitan mendicant; there were priests who, though +not by any means all unpatriotic, were beginning to be scared by +Garibaldi's gift of a piece of land for the erection of an English +church, and by the sale of Diodati's Bible in the streets. And +finally, there was the Carrozzella driver whom a Garibaldian officer +had struck because he beat his horse. These individuals formed a +nucleus respectably numerous, if not otherwise respectable, of anxious +watchers for the Happy Return. + +If anyone question the fairness of this catalogue of the partisans of +the fallen dynasty, the answer is, that had their ranks contained +worthier elements, they would not have carefully reserved the +demonstration of their allegiance till the King should prove that he +had the right of the strongest. + +Towards five o'clock in the morning of the 1st of October, the +royalists, who crossed the river in three columns, fired the first +shots, and the fight soon became general. King Francis had come from +Gaeta to Capua to witness what was meant to be an auspicious +celebration of his birthday. General Ritucci held the chief command. +Of the Garibaldians, Milbitz and Medici commanded the left wing (Santa +Maria and Sant' Angelo), and Bixio the right (Maddaloni), while Castel +Morone, through which a road led to Caserta, was entrusted to Colonel +Pilade Bronzetti and three hundred picked volunteers. Garibaldi's own +headquarters was with the reserves at Caserta, but he appeared, as if +by magic, at all parts of the line during the day, sometimes bringing +up reinforcements, sometimes almost alone, always arriving at the +nick of time whenever things looked serious, to help, direct and +reanimate the men. A dozen times in these journeys by the rugged +mountain paths he narrowly escaped falling into the enemy's hands. No +trace of uneasiness was visible on his placid face; there was, +however, more than enough to make a man uneasy. In the early part of +the battle, both Medici and Bixio were pushed back from their +positions. Only Pilade Bronzetti with his handful of Lombard +Bersaglieri never swerved, and held in check an entire Neapolitan +column, whose commander (Perrone) has been blamed for wasting so much +time in trying to take that position instead of joining his 2000 men +to the troops attacking Bixio, but his object was to march on Caserta, +where his appearance might have caused very serious embarrassment. + +Up to midday the Royalists advanced, not fast, indeed, but surely. +They fired all the buildings on their path, and amongst others one in +which there were thirty wounded Garibaldians who were burned to death. +It was said to be an accident, but such accidents had better not +happen. Victory seemed assured to them. It is not disputed that on +this occasion they fought well, and they had all the advantages of +ground, numbers and artillery. But the volunteers, also, were at their +best; they surpassed themselves. If every man of them had not shown +the best military qualities, skill, resource, the power of recovery, +Francis II. would have slept that night at Naples. + +Medici acted with splendid firmness, but at the most critical moment +he had Garibaldi by his side. Bixio was left to fight his separate +battle unaided (so great was the chief's confidence in him), and +consummately well he fought it. After the middle of the day, the +Garibaldians began to retake their positions, and at some points to +assume the offensive; still it was five o'clock before Garibaldi could +send his famous despatch to Naples: 'Victory along all the line.' The +battle had lasted ten hours. + +The Sicilians and Calabrese under Dunne, who stemmed the first onset +at Casa Brucciata, and under Eber, whose desperate charge at Porta +Capua ushered in the changing fortunes of the day, rivalled the North +Italians in steadiness and in dash. The French company and the +Hungarian Legion covered themselves with glory; it was a pity there +was not the English brigade, 600 strong, which mismanaged to arrive at +Naples the day after the fair. Had they been in time for the fight, +they would doubtless have left a brighter record than the only one +which they did leave: that of being out of place in a country where +wine was cheap. + +Putting aside Dunne and a few other English officers, England was +represented on the Volturno by three or four Royal Marines who had +slipped away from their ship, the _Renown_, and were come over to see +the 'fun.' It seems that they did ask for rifles, but they did not get +them, their martial deeds consisting in the help they gave in dragging +off two captured field-pieces. Never did an exploit cause so much +discussion in proportion with its importance; the Neapolitan Minister +in London informed Lord John Russell that a body of armed men from the +British fleet had been sent by Admiral Mundy to serve pieces of +Garibaldian artillery. + +Of all the striking incidents of the day, that which should be +remembered while Italy endures, was the defence of the hillock of +Castel Morone by Bronzetti and his Lombards. Their invincible courage +contributed in no small degree to the final result. One man to eight, +they held their own for ten hours; when summoned to yield by the +Neapolitan officer, who could not help admiring his courage, Pilade +Bronzetti replied: 'Soldiers of liberty never surrender!' It was only +in the moment of victory that Perrone passed over their dead bodies +and uselessly advanced--which cost him dear on the morrow. + +The Garibaldian losses were 2000 killed and wounded and 150 prisoners; +the Neapolitans had the same number placed _hors de combat_, and lost +3000 prisoners. + +Garibaldi had none but his own men; the report that the battle had +been won by soldiers of the Sardinian army who arrived in the +afternoon was false, because they did not arrive till next day, when a +battalion of Piedmontese Bersaglieri took part in defeating Perrone's +column, which (it is hard to say with what idea) descended nearly to +Caserta, as its commander wished to do on the first. Did Perrone not +know of the defeat of yesterday? His column was surrounded and all the +men were taken prisoners. + +After the battle of the Volturno the belligerents re-occupied the +positions on the right and left banks of that river which they held +before. Military critics speculate as to why Garibaldi did not follow +up his advantage, and the opinion seems general that he did not feel +himself strong enough to do so. The fortress of Capua was a serious +obstacle, but Garibaldi was not accustomed to attach much weight to +obstacles whatever they were, and it is pretty certain that he would +have gone in pursuit had he not received a letter from Victor +Emmanuel, who bade him wait till he came. + +By this time he had abandoned all thoughts of marching on Rome. From +the moment that the King's army started for Naples he understood that +persistence in the Roman programme would lead to something graver than +a war of words with the authorities at Turin. Always positive, he +gathered some consolation from the gain to Italy of two Roman +provinces, Umbria and the Marches, and trusted the future with the +larger hope. + +Constitutional government triumphed over the old absolutism and over +the new dictatorship. And here it may be noted which Constitutional +government, which never had a more sincere and faithful votary than +Cavour, found no favour with Garibaldi at any period of his life. Its +hampering restrictions, its slow processes, irritated his mind, +intolerant of constraint, and he failed to see that this cumbersome +mechanism still gives the best, if not the only, guarantee for the +maintenance of freedom. The sudden transition of Southern Italy from a +corrupt despotism to free institutions brought with it a train of +evils, but there was no alternative. If Italy was to be one, all parts +of it must be placed under the same laws, and that at once. + +On the 11th of October the Sardinian parliament sitting at Turin +passed all but unanimously the motion authorising the King's +Government to accept the annexation of those Italian provinces which +manifested, by universal suffrage, their desire to form part of the +Constitutional Monarchy. Cavour's speech on this occasion was +memorable: 'Rome,' he said, 'would inevitably become the splendid +capital of the Italian kingdom, but that great result would be reached +by means of moral force; it was impossible that enlightened Catholics +should not end by recognising that the Head of Catholicism would +exercise his high office with truer freedom and independence guarded +by the love and respect of 22,000,000 Italians than entrenched behind +25,000 bayonets.' Of Venice, the martyr-city, he said 'that public +opinion was rapidly turning against its retention by Austria, and that +when the great majority of Germans refused to be any longer +accomplices in its subjection, that subjection would be brought to a +close either by force of arms or by pacific negotiations.' + +The words were strangely prescient at a time when the Prince Regent of +Prussia was making most melancholy wails over the fall of the +Neapolitan King. The Prussian Government issued a formal protest, +which Cavour met by observing that Prussia, of all Powers, had the +least reason to object, as Piedmont was simply setting her an example +which she ought to follow and would follow, the mission of the two +nations being identical. He already thought of Prussia as an ally: +'Never more French alliances,' he was once heard to say. + +On the same day, the 11th of October, Victor Emmanuel crossed the +Neapolitan frontier at the head of the army which Cialdini led to +victory at Castelfidardo. The King published a proclamation, in which +he said that he closed the era of revolution in Italy. Other bodies of +Piedmontese troops had been despatched by sea to Naples and +Manfredonia. The passage of the Piedmontese troops over the Abruzzi +mountains was opposed both by a division of the Bourbon army and by +armed peasants, who burnt a man alive at a place called Isernia; but +their advance was not long delayed. + +The Neapolitans now began to retire from the right bank of the +Volturno, and retreat towards the Garigliano, their last line of +defence. Garibaldi crossed the river with 5000 men, and moved in the +direction by which the vanguard of the Piedmontese was expected to +arrive. At daybreak on the 26th of October, near Teano, the +Piedmontese came in sight. Garibaldi, who had dismounted, walked up +to Victor Emmanuel and said: 'Hail, King of Italy!' + +Once before the title was given to a prince of the House of Savoy--to +Charles Albert, in the bitterest irony by the Austrian officers who +saw him flying from his friends and country by order of his implacable +uncle. A change had come since then. + +Victor Emmanuel answered simply: 'Thanks,' and remained talking for a +quarter of an hour in the particularly kind and affectionate manner he +used with Garibaldi, but at the end of the interview, when the leader +of the volunteers asked that in the imminent battle on the Garigliano +they might have the honour of occupying the front line, he received +the reply: 'Your troops are tired, mine are fresh, it is my turn now.' + +Garibaldi said sadly that evening to an English friend: 'They have +sent us to the rear.' It was the first sign of the ungenerous +treatment meted out to the Garibaldian array to which the King lent +himself more than he ought to have done. He promised to be present on +the 6th of November, when Garibaldi reviewed his volunteers, but after +keeping them waiting, sent a message to say that he could not come. +The last meeting of all between the chief and his faithful followers +was at Naples, on the occasion of the distribution of medals to as +many as were left of the Thousand--less than half. In all his farewell +addresses the same note sounded: 'We have done much in a short +time.... I thank you in the name of our country.... We shall meet +again.' + +The plebiscites in Umbria and the Marches and in the kingdoms of +Naples and Sicily took place in October. The formula adopted at Naples +was more broadly framed than in the previous plebiscites; it ran: +'The people desire an united Italy under the sceptre of the House of +Savoy.' The vote was almost unanimous. + +On the 7th of November, Victor Emmanuel made his entry into Naples, +with Garibaldi at his side. Next day, in the great throne-room of the +palace, the king-maker delivered to the King the plebiscites of the +Two Sicilies. + +Garibaldi had nothing more to do except to pay a last visit to Admiral +Mundy, whose flagship still lay at anchor in the bay. This duty was +performed in the grey dawn of the 9th of November. 'There is the ship +which is to carry me away to my island home,' he said, pointing to an +American merchant vessel, 'but, Admiral, I could not depart without +paying you a farewell visit. Your conduct to me since our first +meeting at Palermo has been so kind, so generous, that it can never be +erased from my memory; it is engraven there indelibly--it will last my +life.' + +On leaving the flagship he rowed straight to the American vessel, +which soon afterwards steamed out of the bay. The parting salute fired +by the guns of the _Hannibal_ was all the pomp that attended his +departure. Several hours later the people of Naples knew that their +liberator had gone to dig up the potatoes which he had planted in the +spring. + +By Cavour's advice, Victor Emmanuel offered Garibaldi a dukedom and +the Collar of the Annunziata, which confers the rank of cousin to the +King, besides riches to support these honours. He refused everything, +and returned to Caprera poorer than when he left it. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +BEGINNINGS OF THE ITALIAN KINGDOM + +1860-1861 + +Beginnings of the Italian Kingdom--The Fall of Gaeta--Political +Brigandage--The Proclamation of the Italian Kingdom--Cavour's Death. + + +The Neapolitan army retreated, as has been already stated, beyond the +Garigliano. Capua, isolated and surrounded, could render no material +service to the royal cause; it capitulated on the 2nd of November, +though not until the town had been bombarded for forty-eight hours. +The siege was witnessed by Victor Emmanuel, who said to General Delia +Rocca: 'It breaks my heart to think that we are sending death and +destruction into an Italian town.' Two days after the surrender of +Capua, Cialdini threw a bridge over the Garigliano near its mouth, an +operation covered by the guns of Admiral Persano's squadron. His first +attempt on the 29th of October had met with a decided repulse, another +proof that this last remnant of the Neapolitan army was not an enemy +to be despised. The second attempt, however, was successful; part of +the Neapolitans fell back upon Gaeta, and the other part fled over the +Papal frontier. + +Gaeta, the refuge of the Pope and the fugitive Princes in 1848, now +became the ultimate rock of defence of the Bourbon dynasty. The +position of the fortress is extremely strong and not unlike Gibraltar +in its main features. A headland running out into the sea and rising +to a height of three or four hundred feet, it is divided by a strip of +sand from the shore-line. The principal defences were then composed of +a triple semi-circle of ditches and ramparts one higher than the +other. Had the country been flat the difficulties of the siege would +have been much increased; its hilly character allowed Cialdini to fix +his batteries on heights which commanded the top of the Gaeta hill. +But to profit by this, the Piedmontese were obliged to make fourteen +miles of roads by which to bring up their artillery. For a month, +10,000 out of the 20,000 besiegers were at work with the spade. The +defending force amounted to 11,000 men, and was commanded by General +Ritucci. From the first, it was certain that the obstinate stand made +at Gaeta could only result in what Lord John Russell called a useless +effusion of blood; nevertheless it seems to have been prompted by a +real belief that Francis would still recover his kingdom. The +precedent of his father's return from Gaeta may have strengthened the +King's illusion; every day he received highly-coloured reports of a +gathering reaction, and as the French fleet in the bay prevented +Admiral Persano from attacking from the sea, he believed that the time +which he could hold out was indefinite. This policy of the French +Government need not have greatly cheered him, as its motive was less +to help Francis than to prepare the way, by hampering the Piedmontese, +for a little fishing in troubled waters. Prince Murat, descendant of +the _Beau Sabreur_, was busy writing proclamations to remind the world +that if Francis were impossible and Victor Emmanuel 'wanted finish,' +there was an eligible young man ready to sacrifice the charms of the +Boulevards for the cares of kingship. + +On the representations of the British Government the Emperor withdrew +his fleet in January, advising Francis II. to renounce a hopeless +resistance. But at this eleventh hour the King had adopted the +principle of 'no surrender,' and he meant to stick to it. It is +difficult to blame him; at anyrate, much more serious is the blame due +to the methods of warfare which he was to adopt or to approve +thereafter. His young Queen, who was frequently seen on the ramparts +encouraging the artillerymen at their guns, had probably much to do +with his virile resolution. The fortress was now attacked by land and +by sea, and the bursting of a powder-magazine inside the walls +hastened its doom. On the 15th of January the Neapolitans laid down +their arms, the King having left his dominions by sea. The first act +of the conquerors in the half-ruined town was to attend a mass for the +repose of the souls of the brave men, friends and foes, who had fallen +during the siege. Noisy rejoicings would have been unseemly, for the +vanquished were fellow-countrymen. + +The telegram announcing the fall of Gaeta went to Caprera; Garibaldi +read it, and a weight was taken off his mind. 'Civil war is at an +end,' he announced to the little party round the supper-table; +'Cialdini with our army is in Gaeta; now the Italians will not cut one +another's throats any more.' Later in the evening he seemed so +depressed that they thought him ill; Colonel Vecchj went to his +bedside to discover what was the matter. He found him reading the +_Times_, and inquired why he had become so suddenly sad. After a +pause, Garibaldi said: 'Poor boy! Born at the foot of a throne and +perhaps not by his own fault, hurled from it. He too will have to feel +the bitterness of exile without preparation.' 'Is that all?' asked +Vecchj. 'Do you think it nothing?' was the answer. 'Why then,' +persisted Vecchj, half in jest, 'did you go to Marsala?' 'It was the +duty of us all to go,' Garibaldi said quickly, 'else how could there +have been one Italy?' + +Francis II. would have been happy had he found counsellors to persuade +him to keep pure such titles to sympathy as he then possessed. +Decorum, if not humanity, should have urged him to retire, surrounded +by the solitary flash of glory cast on his fallen cause by the brave +defence of Gaeta. But the revolution, the new Islam, if it could not +be conquered must be made to suffer for its triumph. Hence the exiled +King was advised to call in murder, pillage and rapine as +accomplices. The political brigandage which followed the downfall of +the King of the Two Sicilies began after the battle of the Volturno +and extended over five years. Its effect on the general situation was +nil; it harassed and distracted the Italian Government and created the +odious necessity of using severe repressive measures, but it never +placed the crown in danger. One effect it did have, and that was to +raise all over Italy a feeling of reprobation for the late dynasty, +which not all the crimes and follies of the two Ferdinands and the +first Francis had succeeded in evoking. How many bright lives, full of +promise, were lost in that warfare which even the sacred name of duty +could not save from being ungrateful and inglorious! Italians who have +lost their children in their country's battles have never been heard +to complain; nowhere was the seemliness of death for native land +better understood than it has been in the Italy of this century, but +to lose son or brother in a brigand ambush by the hand of an escaped +galley-slave--this was hard. The thrust was sharpened by the knowledge +that the fomenter of the mischief was dwelling securely in the heart +of Italy, the guest of the Head of the Church. From Rome came money +and instructions; from Rome, whether with or without the cognizance of +the authorities, came recruits. The Roman frontier afforded a means of +escape for all who could reach it, however red their hands were with +blood. What further evidence was needed of the impossibility of an +indefinite duration of this state within a state? + +King Francis held back at first, but his uncle, the Count of Trapani, +who openly abetted the brigand partisans, drew him more and more into +collusion with them and their works. The Belgian ecclesiastic, Mgr. de +Merode, who had then an influence at the Vatican not possessed even +by Antonelli, looked, unless he was much belied, with a very kind eye +upon the new defenders of throne and altar. Efforts have been made to +represent the war as one carried on by loyal peasants. No one denies +that every peasants' war must assume, more or less, an aspect of +brigandage; nevertheless there have been righteous and patriotic +peasants' wars, such as that of the Klephts in Greece. The question +is, Whether the political brigandage in South Italy had any real +affinity with the wars of the Klephts, or even of the Carlists? And +the answer must be a negative. + +The partisan chiefs in the kingdom of Naples were brigands, pure and +simple, most of whom had either been long wanted by the police, or had +already suffered in prison for their crimes. They organised their +troops on the strict principles of brigand bands, and proposed to them +the same object: pillage. 'Lieut-General' Chiavone who had a mania for +imitating Garibaldi, was the least bad among them; unlike his +prototype, he did not like being under fire, but neither did he care +to spill innocent blood. What, however, can be said for Pilone, +'commander of His Majesty's forces' on Vesuvius; for Ninco Nanco, +Bianco dei Bianchi, Tardio, Palma; for Carusso, who cut the throats of +thirteen out of fourteen labourers and told the one left to go and +tell the tale; for the brothers La Gala, who roasted and ate a priest? +It was said that no horror committed during the Indian Mutiny was here +without a parallel. + +Of respectable Neapolitans who held responsible posts under the late +_regime_ not one joined the bands, but they contained French, Austrian +and Belgian officers, and one Prussian. A nephew of Mgr. de Merode, +the young Marquis de Trazegnies, was with Chiavone; the Carlist, Jose +Borjes, was with a scoundrel named Crocco. Borjes' case is a hard one. +He had been made to believe in the genuine character of the +insurrection and thought that he was giving his sword to an honourable +cause. The melancholy disillusion can be traced in the pages of a +note-book which he kept from day to day, and which fell into the hands +of the Italians when he was captured. The brief entries show a poetic +mind; he observes the fertile soil, deploring, only, that it is not +better cultivated; he admires the smiling valleys and the magnificent +woods whose kings of the forest show no mark of the centuries that +passed over their fresh verdure. At first Borjes was pleased with the +peasants who came to him, but as they were few, he was obliged to join +Crocco's large band, and he now began to see, with horror, what kind +of associates he had fallen amongst. He had no authority; the brigands +laughed at his rebukes; never in his life, he writes, had he come +across such thieves. Before the enemy they ran away like a flock of +sheep, but when it was safe to do so, they murdered both men and +women. In desperation, Borjes resolved to try and get to Rome, that he +might lay the whole truth before the King, but after suffering many +hardships, he was taken with a few others close to the Papal frontier +and was immediately shot. He died bravely, chanting a Spanish litany. + +Borjes' journal notes the opposition of all classes, except the very +poorest and most ignorant. Was it to be believed, therefore, that this +mountain warfare, however long drawn out, could alter one iota the +course of events? If Francis II. supposed the insurrection to be the +work of a virtuous peasantry, why did he allow them to rush to their +destruction? + +The task of restoring order was assigned to General Cialdini. He +found the whole country, from the Abruzzi to Calabria, terrorised by +the league of native assassins and foreign noblemen. The Modenese +general was a severe officer who had learnt war in Spain, not a gentle +school. If he exceeded the bounds of dire necessity he merits blame; +but no one then hoped in the efficacy of half measures. + +One element in the epidemic of brigandage, and looking forward, the +most serious of all, was an unconscious but profoundly real socialism. +If half-a-dozen socialistic emissaries had assumed the office of +guides and instructors, it is even odds that the red flag of communism +would have displaced the white one of Bourbon. This feature became +more accentuated as the struggle wore on, and after experience had +been made of the new political state. The economic condition of a +great part of the southern population was deplorable, but liberty, so +many thought, would exercise an instantaneous effect, filling the +mouths of the hungry, clothing the naked, providing firing in winter, +sending rain or sunshine as it was wanted. But liberty does none of +these things. The disappointment of the discovery did not count for +nothing in the difficulties of that period; it counts for everything +in the difficulties of this. + +The reorganisation of the southern provinces proceeded very slowly. The +post of Lieutenant-Governor was successively conferred on L.C. Farini, +Prince Eugene of Carignano, and Count Ponza di San Martino; for a short +time Cialdini was invested with the supreme civil as well as military +power. None of these changes met with entire success. The government was +sometimes too weak, sometimes too arbitrary; of the great number of +Piedmontese officials distributed through the south, a few won general +approval, but the majority betrayed want of knowledge and tact, and were +judged accordingly. It was a misfortune for the new administration that +it was not assisted by the steam power of moral enthusiasm which +appeared and disappeared with Garibaldi. There is a great amount of +certainty that the vast bulk of the population desired union with Italy; +but it is equally certain that the new Government, though not without +good intentions, began by failing to please anybody, and the seeds of +much future trouble were planted. + +On the 18th of February 1861, the first Italian legislature assembled +at Turin in the old Chamber, where, by long years of patient work and +self-sacrificing fidelity to principle, the possibility of +establishing an Italian constitutional monarchy had been laboriously +tested and established. Only the deputies of Rome and Venice were +still missing. The first act of the new parliament was to pass an +unanimous vote to the effect that Victor Emmanuel and his heirs should +assume the title of King of Italy. The Italian kingdom thus +constituted was recognised by England in a fortnight, by France in +three months, by Prussia in a year, by Spain in four years, by the +Pope never. + +After the merging of Naples in the Italian body-politic, one of the +thorniest questions that arose was the disposal of the Garibaldian +forces. The chief implored Victor Emmanuel to receive his comrades +into his own army, a prayer which the King had not the power, even if +he had the will, to grant, as in the constitutional course of things +the decision was referred to the ministers, who, again, were crippled +in their action by the military authorities at Turin. Though it is +natural to sympathise with Garibaldi in his eagerness to obtain +generous terms for his old companions-in-arms, it may be true that his +demand was not one that could be satisfied in its full extent. The +volunteers were not inferior to the ordinary soldier; about half of +them were decidedly his superior, but they were a political body +improvised for a special purpose, and it is easy to see how many were +the reasons against their forming a division of a conventional army +like that of Piedmont. Nevertheless, the means ought to have been +found of convincing them that their King and country were proud of +them, that their great, their incalculable services were appreciated. +That such means were not found was supposed to be the fault of Cavour. +It was only in 1885, on the publication of the fourth volume of the +Count's letters, that it became known how strenuously he had fought +for justice. Military prejudice was what was really to blame; General +Fanti, the Minister of War, even provoked Cavour into telling him +'that they were not in Spain, and that in Italy the army obeyed.' 'A +cry of reprobation would be raised,' he wrote, 'if, while the Bourbon +officers who ran away disgracefully were confirmed in their rank, the +Garibaldians who beat them were coolly sent about their business. +Rather than bear the responsibility of such an act of black +ingratitude, I would go and bury myself at Leri. I despise the +ungrateful to the point of not feeling angered by them, and I forgive +their abuse. But, by Heaven, I could not bear the merited blot of +having failed to recognise services such as the conquest of a kingdom +of 9,000,000 inhabitants.' + +Cavour, in fact, did obtain something; much more than the army +authorities wished to give, but much less than Garibaldi asked or than +the Count would doubtless have given had not his hands been tied. And, +doubtless, he would have given it with more grace. + +As it was, the volunteers were deeply offended and sent their griefs +by every post to Caprera. Garibaldi, who refused every favour and +honour for himself, was worked up into a state of fury by what he +deemed the wrongs of his faithful followers, and in April he arrived +unexpectedly at Turin to plead their cause before the Chamber of +Deputies. Perhaps by a wise presentiment he had refused to stand for +any constituency; but when Naples elected him her representative, +almost without opposition, he submitted to the popular will. At Turin +he fell ill with rheumatic fever, but on the day of the debate on the +Southern Army he rose from his bed to take his seat in the Chamber. +The case for the volunteers was opened, and this is worthy of note, by +Baron Ricasoli, aristocrat and conservative. Afterwards Garibaldi got +up--at first he tried to make out the statistics and particulars which +he had on paper, but blinded by passion and by fever, he threw down +his notes and launched into a fierce invective against 'the man who +had made him a foreigner in his own birthplace and the government +which was driving the country straight into civil war.' At the words +'civil war' Cavour sprang to his feet, unwontedly moved, and uttered +some expressions of protest, which were lost in the general uproar. +When this was quieted, Garibaldi finished his speech in a moderate +tone, and then General Bixio rose to make that noble appeal to concord +which, had he done nothing else for Italy, should be a lasting title +to her gratitude. 'I am one of those,' he said, 'who believe in the +sacredness of the thoughts which have guided General Garibaldi, but +I am also one of those who have faith in the patriotism of Count +Cavour. In God's holy name let us make an Italy superior to the +strife of parties.' He might not be making a parliamentary speech, +he added, but he would give his children and his life to see peace +established--words flowing so plainly from his honest heart that +savage indeed would have been the enmity which, for the time, at +least, was not quelled. Cavour grasped the olive branch at once; all +his momentary ire vanished. He made excuses for his adversary; from +the grief which he had felt himself when he advised the King to cede +Savoy and Nice, he could understand the general's resentment. He had +always been, he said in general terms, a friend to the volunteers. +What he did not even remotely suggest was the dissension which existed +between himself and his military colleague on the subject of the +Garibaldians. The least hint would have gained for Cavour any amount +of applause and popularity; but he preferred to bear all the blame +rather than bring the national army into disfavour. Garibaldi replied +'that he had never doubted the Count's patriotism;' but at the end of +the three days' debate he declared himself dissatisfied with the +Ministerial assurances touching the volunteers in particular and the +country's armaments as a whole. As Cavour left the Chamber after the +final night's sitting, he remarked to a friend--all his fine +equanimity returned: 'And yet, and yet, when the time comes for war, I +shall take General Garibaldi under my arm and say: "Let's go and see +what they are about inside Verona!"' + +Cialdini tried to stir up the quarrel anew by a letter full of foolish +personalities; but to this sort of attack Garibaldi was impervious. It +mattered nothing to him that a man should make rude remarks about his +wearing a red shirt. He admired the victor of Castelfidardo as one of +Italy's best soldiers. He was, therefore, perfectly ready to embrace +Cialdini at the King's request before he left Turin for Caprera. It +cost him more to consent to an interview of reconciliation with the +Prime Minister in the royal presence, because his disagreement with +Cavour was purely political and impersonal, and was rooted more deeply +in his heart than any private irritation could be; but he did consent, +and the interview took place on the 23rd of April. Probably Victor +Emmanuel in after days was never gladder of anything he had done than +of having caused his two great subjects--both his subjects born--to +part for the last time in this mortal life in peace. + +On one other memorable occasion the man who, at twenty-two, said that +he meant to be Prime Minister of Italy, and who now, at fifty-one, was +keeping his word, filled with his presence the Chamber of which he +seemed to incarnate the life and history--which may be said to have +been his only home, for Cavour hardly had a private life. Very soon +the familiar figure was to vacate the accustomed place for ever. + +An obscure deputy put a question on the 25th of May, which gave Cavour +the opportunity of expounding his views about Rome still more +explicitly than in the previous autumn. It was impossible, he said, to +conceive Italian unity without Rome as capital. Were there any other +solution to the problem he would be willing to give it due +consideration, but there was not. The position of a capital was not +decided by climatic or topographical reasons: a glance at capitals of +Europe was sufficient to certify the fact; it was decided by moral +reasons. Now Rome, alone out of the Italian cities, had an undisputed +moral claim to primacy. 'As far as I am personally concerned,' he +said, 'I shall go to Rome with sorrow; not caring for art, I am sure +that among the most splendid monuments of ancient and modern Rome I +shall regret the sedate and unpoetic streets of my native town.' It +grieved him to think that Turin must resign her most cherished +privilege, but he knew his fellow-citizens, and he knew them to be +ready to make this last sacrifice to their country. Might Italy not +forget the cradle of her liberties when her seat of government was +firmly established in the Eternal City! + +He went on to say that he had not lost the hope that France and the +Head of the Church would yield to the inexorable logic of the +situation, and that the same generation which had resuscitated Italy +would accomplish the still grander task of concluding a peace between +the State and the Church, liberty and religion. These were no formal +words; Cavour's whole heart was set on their realisation. He did not +doubt that the knot, if not untied, would be cut by the sword sooner +or later. He felt as sure as Mazzini felt that this would happen; but +more than any man of any party he had reckoned the cost of ranging the +Church with its vast potential powers for good, for order, for public +morality, among the implacable enemies of the nascent kingdom. And, +therefore, his last public utterance was a cry for religious peace. + +Always an immense worker, in these latter months Cavour had been +possessed by a feverish activity. 'I must make haste to finish my +work,' he said; 'I feel that this miserable body of mine is giving way +beneath the mind and will which still urge it on. Some fine day you +will see me break down upon the road.' On the 6th of June, after two +or three days of so-called sudden illness, he broke down upon the +road. + +Fra Giacomo, faithful to his old promise, administered the sacraments +to the dying minister, who told Farini 'to tell the good people of +Turin that he died a Christian.' After this his mind rambled, but +always upon the themes that had so completely absorbed it: Rome, +Venice, Naples--'no state of siege,' was one of his broken sayings +that referred to Naples. It was his farewell protest against brute +force in which he had never believed. 'Cleanse them, cleanse them,' he +repeated; cleanse the people of the South of their moral contagion; +that, not force, was the remedy. He was able to recognise the King, +but unable to collect the ideas which he wished to express to him. + +Cavour's death caused a profound sensation in Europe, and in Italy and +in England awakened great sorrow. Hardly any public man has received +so splendid a tribute as that rendered to his memory in the British +Houses of Parliament. The same words were on the lips of all: What +would Italy do without him? Death is commonly the great reminder that +no man is necessary. Nations fulfil their destinies even though their +greatest sons be laid under the turf. And Italy has fulfilled her +destinies, but there are Italians who believe that had Cavour lived to +complete his task, although his dream of an Eirenicon might never have +been realised, their country would not have passed through the _selva +selvaggia_ of mistakes and humiliations into which she now entered. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +ROME OR DEATH + +1861-1864 + +Cavour's Successors--Aspromonte--The September Convention--Garibaldi's +Visit to England. + + +There were two possible successors to Cavour, the Tuscan, Bettino +Ricasoli, and Urban Rattazzi, a Piedmontese barrister. The first +belonged to the right, the second to the left centre in the +Parliamentary combinations. Cavour had no very close personal +relations with either, but he knew their characters. Rattazzi formerly +held ministerial office under him, and the long Tuscan crisis of 1859, +looked at, as he looked at it, from the inside, gave him opportunities +of judging the Iron Baron who opposed even his own will on more than +one occasion in that great emergency. Ricasoli was rigid, frigid, a +frequenter of the straightest possible roads; Rattazzi, supple, +accommodating, with an incorrigible partiality for umbrageous by-ways. +He was already an 'old parliamentary hand,' and in the future, through +a series of ministerial lapses, any one of which would have condemned +most men to seclusion, he preserved his talent for manufacturing +majorities and holding his party together. Choosing between these two +candidates, Cavour before he died gave his preference to Ricasoli, who +was charged by the King with the formation of a ministry in which he +took the Treasury and the Foreign Office. + +Ricasoli was without ambition, and he rather under than over-rated his +abilities, but he went to work with considerable confidence in his power +of setting everything right. A perfectly open and honest statesman +ought to be able, he imagined, to solve the most difficult problems. Why +not, except that the world is not what it ought to be? In home politics +he offended the Party of Action by telling them plainly that if they +broke the law they would have to pay the cost, and he offended his own +party by refusing to interfere with the right of meeting or any other +constitutional right of citizens, whether they were followers of Mazzini +or of anybody else, as long as they kept within legal bounds. He wrote +an elaborate letter to Pius IX., in which he sought to persuade the +Pontiff of the sweet reasonableness of renouncing claims which, for a +very long spell, had cast nothing but discredit on religion. Ricasoli's +attitude towards the Temporal Power was unique in this century. Like +Dante's, his hatred of it was religious. He was a Catholic, not because +he had never thought or studied, but because, having thought and +studied, he assented, and from this standpoint he ascribed most of the +wounds of the Church to her subordination of her spiritual mission to +material interests. He encouraged Padre Passaglia to collect the +signatures of priests for a petition praying the Pope to cease opposing +the desires of all Italy; 8943 names were affixed in a short time. The +only result of these transactions was that Cardinal Antonelli remarked +to the French Government that the Holy See would never come to terms +with robbers, and that, although at war with the Turin Cabinet, 'the +Pope's relations with Italy were excellent.' More harmful to Ricasoli +than the fulminations of the Vatican was the veiled but determined +hostility of Napoleon III. Cavour succeeded in more or less keeping the +Emperor in ignorance of the degree to which their long partnership +resembled a duel. He made him think that he was leading while he was +being led. With Ricasoli there could be no such illusions. Napoleon +understood him to be a man whom he might break, not bend. He thought it +desirable to break him, and Imperial desires had many channels, at that +time, towards fulfilment. + +The Ricasoli ministry fell in February 1862, and, as a matter of +course, Rattazzi was called to power. The new premier soon +ingratiated himself with the King, who found him easier to get on with +than the Florentine _grand seigneur_; with Garibaldi, whom he +persuaded that some great step in the national redemption was on the +eve of accomplishment; with Napoleon, who divined in him an +instrument. Meanwhile, in his own mind, he proposed to eclipse Cavour, +out-manoeuvre all parties, and make his name immortal. This remains +the most probable, as it is the most lenient interpretation to which +his strange policy is open. + +Garibaldi was encouraged to visit the principal towns of North Italy +in order to institute the _Tiro Nazionale_ or Rifle Association, which +was said to be meant to form the basis of a permanent volunteer force +on the English pattern. For many reasons, such a scheme was not likely +to succeed in Italy, but most people supposed the object to be +different--namely, the preparation of the youth of the nation for an +immediate war. The idea was strengthened when it was observed that +Trescorre, in the province of Bergamo, where Garibaldi stopped to take +a course of sulphur baths, became the centre of a gathering which +included the greater part of his old Sicilian staff. There was no +concealment in what was done, and the Government manifested no alarm. +The air was full of rumours, and in particular much was said about a +Garibaldian expedition to Greece, for which, it was stated and +re-stated, Rattazzi had promised L40,000. That Garibaldi meant to cast +his lot in any struggle not bearing directly on Italian affairs, as +long as the questions of Rome and Venice still hung in the balance, is +not to be believed. A little earlier than this date, President Lincoln +invited him to take the supreme command of the Federal army in the war +for the Union, and he declined the offer, attractive though it must +have been to him, both as a soldier and an abhorrer of slavery, +because he did not think that Italy could spare him. But the 'Greek +Expedition,' though a misleading name, was not altogether a blind. +Before Cavour's death, there had been frequent discussion of a project +for revolutionising the east of Europe on a grand scale; Hungary and +the southern provinces of the Austrian Empire were to co-operate with +the Slavs and other populations under Turkey in a movement which, even +if only partially successful, would go far to facilitate the +liberation of Venice. It cannot be doubted that Rattazzi's brain was +at work on something of this sort, but the mobilisation, so to speak, +of the Garibaldians suggested proceedings nearer home. Trescorre was +very far from the sea, very near the Austrian frontier. + +In spite of contradictions, a plan for invading the Trentino, or South +Tyrol, almost certainly did exist. Whether Garibaldi was alone +answerable for it cannot be determined. The Government became suddenly +alive to the enormous peril such an attack would involve, and arrested +several of the Garibaldian officers at Sarnico. They were conveyed to +Brescia, where a popular attempt was made to liberate them; the troops +fired on the crowd, and some blood was shed. Garibaldi wrote an +indignant protest and retired, first to the villa of Signora Cairoli +at Belgirate, and then to Caprera. He did not, however, remain there +long. + +After this point, the thread of events becomes tangled beyond the hope +of unravelment. What were the causes which led Garibaldi into the +desperate venture that ended at Aspromonte? Recollecting his +hesitation before assuming the leadership of the Sicilian expedition, +it seemed the more unintelligible that he should now undertake an +enterprise which, unless he could rely on the complicity of +Government, had not a single possibility of success. His own old +comrades were opposed to it, and it was notorious that Mazzini, to +whom the counsels of despair were generally either rightly or wrongly +attributed, had nothing to do with inspiring this attempt. In justice +to Rattazzi, it must be allowed that, after the arrests at Sarnico, +Garibaldi went into open opposition to the ministry, which he +denounced as subservient to Napoleon. Nevertheless, with the +remembrance of past circumstances in his mind, he may have felt +convinced that the Prime Minister did not mean or that he would not +dare to oppose him by force. One thing is certain; from beginning to +end he never contemplated civil war. His disobedience to the King of +Italy had only one purpose--to give him Rome. He was no more a rebel +to Victor Emmanuel than when he marched through Sicily in 1860. + +The earlier stages of the affair were not calculated to weaken a +belief in the effective non-intervention of Government. Garibaldi went +to Palermo, where he arrived in the evening of the 28th of June. The +young Princes Umberto and Amedeo were on a visit to the Prefect, the +Marquis Pallavicini, and happened to be that night at the opera. All +at once they perceived the spectators leave the house in a body, and +they were left alone; on asking the reason, they heard that Garibaldi +had just landed--all were gone to greet him! Before the departure of +the Princes next day, the chief and his future King had an +affectionate meeting, while the population renewed the scenes of wild +enthusiasm of two years ago. Some of Garibaldi's intimate friends +assert that when he reached Palermo he had still no intention of +taking up arms. He soon began, however, to speak in a warlike tone, +and at a review of the National Guard in presence of the Prefect, the +Syndic, and all the authorities, he told the 'People of the Vespers' +that if another Vespers were wanted to do it, Napoleon III., head of +the brigands, must be ejected from Rome. The epithet was not bestowed +at random; Lord Palmerston confirmed it when he said from his place in +the House of Commons: 'In Rome there is a French garrison; under its +shelter there exists a committee of 200, whose practice is to organise +a band of murderers, the scum and dross of every nation, and send them +into the Neapolitan territory to commit every atrocity!' As a +criticism the words are not less strong; but the public defiance of +Napoleon, and the threat with which it was accompanied, dictated one +plain duty to the Italian Government if they meant to keep the +peace--the arrest of Garibaldi and his embarkation for Caprera. + +This they did not do; confining themselves to the recall of the +Marquis Pallavicini. Garibaldi went over the ground made glorious by +his former exploits--past Calatafimi to Marsala. It was at Marsala +that, while he harangued his followers in a church, a voice in the +crowd raised a cry of '_Rome or death!_' 'Yes; Rome or death!' +repeated Garibaldi; and thus the watchword originated which will +endure written in blood on the Bitter Mount and on the Plain of +Nomentum. Who raised it first? Perhaps some humble Sicilian fisherman. +Its haunting music coming he knew not whence, sounding in his ear like +an omen, was what wedded Garibaldi irrevocably to the undertaking. It +was the casting interposition of chance, or, shall it be said, of +Providence? Like all men of his mould, Garibaldi was governed by +poetry, by romance. Besides the general patriotic sentiment, he had a +peculiar personal feeling about Rome, 'which for me,' he once wrote, +'is Italy.' In 1849, the Assembly in its last moments invested him +with plenary powers for the defence of the Eternal City, and this +vote, never revoked, imposed on his imagination a permanent mandate. +'Rome or death' suggested an idea to him which he had never before +entertained, prodigal though he had been of his person in a hundred +fights: What if his own death were the one thing needful to +precipitate the solution of the problem? + +From Marsala he returned to Palermo, where, in the broad light of day, +he summoned the Faithful, who came, as usual, at his bidding, without +asking why or where?--the happy few who followed him in 1859 and 1860; +who would follow him in 1867, and even in 1870, when they gave their +lives for a people that did not thank them, because he willed it so. +He sent out also a call to the Sicilian _Picciotti_, the _Squadre_ of +last year; and it is much to their credit that they too who cared +possibly remarkably little for _Roma Capitale_, obeyed the man who had +freed them. And Rattazzi knew of all this, and did nothing. + +On the 1st of August, Garibaldi took command of 3000 volunteers in the +woods of Ficuzza. Then, indeed, the Government wasted much paper on +proclamations, and closed the door of the stable when the horse was +gone. General Cugia was sent to Palermo to repress the movement. +Nevertheless Garibaldi, with his constantly increasing band, made a +triumphant progress across the island, and a more than royal entry +into Catania. At Mezzojuso he was present at a _Te Deum_ chanted in +his honour. On the 22nd, when the royal troops were, it seems, really +ordered to march on Catania, Garibaldi took possession of a couple of +merchant vessels that had just reached the port, and sailed away by +night for the Calabrian coast with about 1000 of his men. + +By this time the Italian Government, whether by spontaneous conviction +or by pressure from without, had resolved that the band should never +get as far as the Papal frontier. If Garibaldi knew or realised their +resolution, it is a mystery why he did not attempt to effect a landing +nearer that frontier, if not actually within it. The deserted shore of +the Pontine marshes would, one would think, have offered attractions +to men who were as little afraid of fever as of bullets. A sort of +superstition may have ruled the choice of the path, which was that +which led to victory in 1860. It was not practicable, however, to +follow it exactly. The tactics were different. Then the desire was to +meet the enemy anywhere and everywhere; now the pursuer had to be +eluded, because Garibaldi was determined not to fight him. Thus, +instead of marching straight on Reggio, the volunteers sought +concealment in the great mountain mass which forms the southernmost +bulwark of the Apennines. The dense and trackless forests could have +given cover for a long while to a native brigand troop, with intimate +knowledge of the country and ways and means of obtaining +provisions--not to a band like this of Garibaldi. They wandered about +for three days, suffering from almost total want of food, and from the +great fatigue of climbing the dried-up watercourses which serve as +paths. On the 28th of August they reached the heights of Aspromonte--a +strong position, from which only a large force could have dislodged +them had they defended it. + +General La Marmora, then Prefect of Naples, and commander-in-chief of +the army in the south, reinforced the troops in Calabria to prevent +Garibaldi's advance, but the direction of the decisive operation fell +by accident to Cialdini, whom the Government despatched to Sicily +when they tardily made up their minds to take energetic measures. On +his voyage to Messina, Cialdini heard that the volunteers had already +crossed the Straits; he therefore changed his course, and hastening to +Reggio, invested himself with the command on the mainland. At Reggio +he met Colonel Pallavicini, whom he ordered in terms that might have +been more suitable had he been engaged in hunting brigands, 'to crush +Garibaldi completely, and only accept from him unconditional +surrender.' Pallavicini started with six or seven battalions of +Bersaglieri. It was the 29th of August. Garibaldi saw them coming when +they were still three miles off. He could have dispersed his men in +the forest and himself escaped, for the time, and perhaps altogether, +for the sea which had so often befriended him was not far off. But +although he did not mean to resist, a dogged instinct drove away the +thought of flight. In the official account it was stated that an +officer was sent in advance of the royal troops to demand surrender. +No such officer was seen in the Garibaldian encampment till after the +attack. The troops rapidly ascended an eminence, facing that on which +the Garibaldians were posted, and opened a violent fusillade, which, +to Garibaldi's dismay, was returned for a few minutes by his right, +consisting of young Sicilians who were not sufficiently disciplined to +stand being made targets of without replying. The contention, however, +that they were the first to fire, has the testimony of every +eye-witness on the side of the volunteers against it. All the +Garibaldian bugles sounded 'Cease firing,' and Garibaldi walked down +in front of the ranks conjuring the men to obey. While he was thus +employed, a spent ball struck his thigh, and a bullet entered his +right foot. At first he remained standing, and repeated, 'Do not +fire,' but he was obliged to sit down, and some of his officers +carried him under a tree. The whole 'feat of arms,' as General +Cialdini described it, did not last more than a quarter of an hour. + +Pallavicini approached the wounded hero bareheaded, and said that he +made his acquaintance on the most unfortunate day of his own life. He +was received with nothing but kind praise for doing his duty. The +first night was passed by the prisoner in a shepherd's hut. The few +devoted followers who were with him were strangely impressed by that +midnight watch; the moon shining on the forest, the shepherds' dogs +howling in the mountain silence, and their chief lying wounded, it +might be to death, in the name of the King to whom he had given this +land. + +Next day, in a litter sheltered from the sun with branches of wild +laurel, Garibaldi was carried down the steep rocks to Scilla, whence +he was conveyed by sea to the fort of Varignano. It was not till after +months of acute suffering, borne with a gentleness that made the +doctors say: 'This man is not a soldier, but a saint,' that, through +the skill of the French surgeon, Nelaton, the position of the ball was +determined, and its extraction rendered possible. + +A general amnesty issued on the occasion of the marriage of the King's +second daughter with the King of Portugal relieved the Government of +having to decide whether Garibaldi was to be tried, and if so, what +for; but the unpopularity into which the ministry had fallen could not +be so easily dissipated. The Minister of Foreign Affairs (Durando) +published a note in which it was stated that Garibaldi had only +attempted to realise, in an irregular way, the desire of the whole +nation, and that, although he had been checked, the tension of the +situation was such that it could not be indefinitely prolonged. This +was true, but it hardly improved the case for the Government. In Latin +countries, ministers do not cling to power; as soon as the wind blows +against them, they resign to give the public time to forget their +faults, and to become dissatisfied with their political rivals. +Usually a very short time is required. Therefore, forestalling a vote +of censure in the Chambers, where he had never yet had a real +majority, Rattazzi resigned office with a parting homily in which he +claimed to have saved the national institutions. + +The administration which followed contained the well-known names of +Farini, Minghetti, Pasolini, Peruzzi, Delia Rovere, Menabrea. When +Farini's fatal illness set in, Minghetti replaced him as Prime +Minister, and Visconti Venosta took the Foreign Office. They found the +country in a lamentable state, embittered by Aspromonte, still +infected with brigandage, and suffering from an increasing deficit, +coupled with a diminishing revenue. The administrative and financial +unification of Italy, still far from complete, presented the gravest +difficulties. The political aspect of affairs, and especially the +presence of the French in Rome, provoked a general sense of +instability which was contrary to the organisation of the new state +and the development of its resources. The ministers sought remedies or +palliatives for these several evils, and to meet the last they opened +negotiations with France, which resulted in the compromise known as +the September Convention. It was long before the treaty was concluded, +as for more than a year the French Government refused to remove the +garrison on any terms; but in the autumn of 1864 the following +arrangement was signed by both parties: that Italy should protect the +Papal frontier from all attack from the outside; that France should +gradually withdraw her troops, the complete evacuation to take place +within two years; that Italy should waive the right of protest against +the internal organisation of the Papal army unless its proportions +became such as to be a manifest threat to the Italian kingdom; that +the Italian capital should be moved to Florence within six months of +the approval of the Convention by Parliament. + +These terms were in part the same as those proposed by Prince Napoleon +to Cavour shortly before the death of that statesman, who had promised +to support them as a temporary makeshift, and in order to get the +French out of Italy. But they were in part different, and they +contained two new provisions which it is morally certain that Cavour +would never have agreed to--the prolongation of the French occupation +for two years (Cavour had insisted that it should cease in a +fortnight), and the transfer of the capital, which was now made a +_sine qua non_ by Napoleon, for evident reasons. While it was clear +that Turin could not be the permanent capital of a kingdom that +stretched to AEtna, if once the seat of government were removed to +Florence a thousand arguments and interests would spring up in favour +of keeping it there. So, at least, it was sure to seem to a foreigner. +As a matter of fact, the solution was no solution; the Italians could +not be reconciled to the loss of Rome either by the beauty and +historic splendour of the city on the Arno, or by its immunity from +malaria, which was then feared as a serious drawback, though Rome has +become, under its present rulers, the healthiest capital in Europe. +But Napoleon thought that he was playing a trump card when he dictated +the sacrifice of Turin. + +The patriotic Turinese were unprepared for the blow. They had been +told again and again that till the seat of government was established +on the Tiber, it should abide under the shadow of the Alps--white +guardian angels of Italy--in the custody of the hardy population which +had shown itself so well worthy of the trust. The ministry foresaw the +effect which the convention would have on the minds of the Turinese, +and they resorted to the weak subterfuge of keeping its terms secret +as long as they could. Rumours, however, leaked out, and these, as +usual, exaggerated the evil. It was said that Rome was categorically +abandoned. On the 20th of September crowds began to fill the streets, +crying: 'Rome or Turin!' and on the two following days there were +encounters between the populace and the military, in which the latter +resorted to unnecessary and almost provocative violence. Amidst the +chorus of censure aroused by these events, the Minghetti cabinet +resigned, and General La Marmora, who, as a Piedmontese, was fitted to +soothe the excited feelings of his fellow-citizens, was called upon to +form a ministry. + +The change of capital received the sanction of Parliament on the 19th +of November. Outside Piedmont it was not unpopular; people felt that, +after all, it rested with themselves to make Florence no final +halting-place, but a step towards Rome. The Papal Government, which +had been a stranger to the late negotiations, expressed a supreme +indifference to the whole affair, even to the contemplated departure +of the French troops, 'which concerned the Imperial Government, not +the Pope,' said Cardinal Antonelli, 'since the occupation had been +determined by French interests.' It cannot be asserted that the Pope +ever assumed a gratitude which he did not feel towards the monarch who +kept him on his throne for twenty years. + +This year, 1864, was marked by an incident which, though not a +political event, should never be forgotten in the history of Italian +liberation--Garibaldi's visit to England. He came, the prisoner of +Aspromonte, not the conqueror of Sicily: a distinction that might have +made a difference elsewhere, but the English sometimes worship +misfortune as other peoples worship success. No sovereign from oversea +was ever received by them as they received the Italian hero; a +reception showing the sympathies of a century rather than the caprice +or curiosity of an hour. Half a million throats shouted London's +welcome; the soldier of two worlds knew the roar of battle, and the +roar of the sea was familiar to the Nizzard sailor, but it is said +that when Garibaldi heard the stupendous and almost awful British roar +which greeted him as he came out of the Nine Elms station, and took +his seat in the carriage that was to convey him to Stafford House, he +looked completely disconcerted. From the heir to the throne to the +crossing-sweeper, all combined to do him honour; where Garibaldi was +not, through the breadth of the land the very poor bought his portrait +and pasted it on their whitewashed cottage walls. London made him its +citizen. The greatest living English poet invited him to plant a tree +in his garden: a memory he recalled nearly at the close of his own +honoured life:-- + + Or watch the waving pine which here + The warrior of Caprera set, + A name that earth shall not forget + Till earth has rolled her latest year. + +Garibaldi showed himself mindful of old friends; at the opera he +recognised Admiral Mundy in a box, and immediately rose and went to +offer him his respects. At Portsmouth, he not only went to see the +mother of Signora White-Mario (the providence of his wounded in many a +campaign), but also paid an unrecorded visit to two maiden sisters in +humble circumstances, who had shown him kindness when he was an exile +in England; they related ever afterwards the sensation caused by his +appearance in their narrow courtyard, where it was difficult to turn +the big carriage which the authorities had placed at his disposal. He +twice met the great Italian whom he addressed as Master: transferring, +as it were, to Mazzini's brows the crown of glory that surrounded his +own. Another exile, Louis Blanc, used to tell how, when he went to +call on Garibaldi, he found him seated on a sofa, receiving the homage +of the fairest and most illustrious members of the English +aristocracy; when the Friend of the People was announced (a title +deserved by Louis Blanc, if not for his possibly fallacious theories, +still for the rare sincerity of his life), the hero started to his +feet and most earnestly begged him to sit beside him. 'Which I could +not do!' the narrator of the scene would add with a look of comical +alarm for his threatened modesty. + +These friendly passages with the proscripts in London, as well as the +stirring appeal spoken by Garibaldi on behalf of the Poles, did not +please foreign Powers. The Austrian ambassador shut himself up in his +house; it was remarked that the only members of the diplomatic body +who were seen at the Garibaldi _fetes_ were the representatives of the +United States and of the Sublime Porte. The Emperor Napoleon was said +to be angry. Lord Palmerston assured the House of Commons that no +remonstrance had been received from France or from any foreign +government, and that if it had been received, it would not have been +heeded. Yet the English Government took the course of hinting to the +guest of England that his visit had lasted long enough. In some +quarters it was reported that they feared disturbances among the Irish +operatives in the manufacturing towns, had he gone, as he intended, +to the north. Whatever were the motives that inspired it, their action +in the matter cannot be remembered with complacency, but it was +powerless to undo the significance of the great current of enthusiasm +which had passed through the English land. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WAR FOR VENICE + +1864-1866 + +The Prussian Alliance--Custoza--Lissa--The Volunteers--Acquisition of +Venetia. + + +The change of capital was carried out in 1865, and the lull which +followed gave an appearance of correctness to the surmise that if the +September Convention had not solved the Roman question, it had, +anyhow, reduced it to a state of quiescence. But there were other +reasons why Rome was kept, for the moment, not indeed out of mind, but +out of sight. The opinion grew that the emancipation of Venice, too +long delayed, ought to take precedence of every other political +object. On this point there was no disagreement among the 22,000,000 +free Italians, who felt the servitude of Venice to be an hourly +disgrace and reproach; no one even ventured to preach patience. A +curious chapter might be written on the schemes woven between the +Peace of Villafranca and the year 1866, for the realisation of the +unfulfilled promise of freedom from Alps to sea. Foremost among the +schemers was Victor Emmanuel, and if some persons may be shocked by +the idea of a royal conspirator, more will admire the patriotism which +made the King hold out his hand to Mazzini, whose sentiments about +monarchy, and especially about the Savoy dynasty, were a secret to no +one, least of all to him. But as Mazzini placed those sentiments on +second rank to the grand end of Italian unity, so the King, to serve +the same end, showed himself superior to prejudices which in most men +would have proved insuperable. The fact that Victor Emmanuel opened +negotiations with Mazzini, and maintained them, off and on, for years, +proves amongst other things, that he knew the exiled patriot better +than the world yet knew him. He may have understood that by turning +republican sympathies into the groove of unity (not their necessary or +even their most natural groove), Mazzini made an Italian kingdom +possible. There is reason to think that the King's ministers were +kept entirely ignorant of his correspondence with the Agitator. The +letters were impersonal drafts carried to and fro by means of trusted +emissaries; each party freely expounded his views, and stated the +terms on which his support could be given. Victor Emmanuel's favourite +idea was a revolution in Galicia. When Garibaldi returned from England +he was nearly commissioned to start for Constantinople, whence he was +to lead an expedition through Roumania into Galicia. It seems to have +been due to Garibaldi's own good sense that so extremely unpromising a +project was abandoned. General Klapka was another of Victor Emmanuel's +secret revolutionary correspondents. The very wildness of the plans +that floated in the air betokened the feverish anxiety to do something +which had taken hold of all minds. + +In 1865 a scheme of a different sort, and of momentous consequences, +grew into shape. It was a scheme of which Cavour first guessed the +possibility, as well as the far-reaching results. In August 1865 Count +Bismarck asked General La Marmora whether Italy would join Prussia in +the contingency of a war with Austria? Only a year before he was still +thinking of carrying out his policy with the aid of Austria, and he +had offered to help her to wrench Lombardy from Italy (and from France +if she intervened), in payment for her consent to his designs. But +now, though the Austrians did not even remotely suspect it, his +thoughts were resolutely turned to the Italian alliance. Without this +alliance Italy might, indeed, have acquired Venice, but would the +German Empire have been founded? + +For a time the proposal was suspended, owing to the temporary +understanding concluded between Prussia and Austria at Gastein; and +in the interim, General La Marmora urged the Viennese Government to +cede Venetia in return for a compensation of five hundred million +francs. But those whom the gods would destroy they make mad. Austria +preserved her infatuated sense of security almost till the rude +awakening caused by the rifle-shots that ushered in the campaign of +Sadowa. + +One thing which contributed to keeping Europe in the dark as to the +impending cataclysm was the character and known tendencies of King +William I. of Prussia, whose conservative, not to say retrograde +sentiments made it difficult to picture him at the head of what was +really a great revolutionary movement, in spite of the militarism that +surrounded it. With consummate art, Count Bismarck little by little +concentrated all his master's ideas about royal divinity in general +into one overwhelming belief in his own divine right to be German +Emperor, and so transformed an obstacle into the corner-stone of the +edifice he wished to build. But this could hardly be foreseen. At the +New Year's Day reception of 1866, Napoleon announced an era of +universal peace; henceforth all nations were to arrange their +differences amicably, as had been done at Gastein If the illusion was +complete, it was destined to be of short duration. + +In the spring the Prussian proposal to Italy was formally renewed, and +this time it was accepted. The secret treaty of an offensive and +defensive alliance for three months was signed on the 8th of April. +Less than three weeks later, Austria, which was slowly beginning to +feel some uneasiness, proposed to Napoleon the cession of Venetia, +while exacting from Italy only a simple promise of neutrality in case +of war. General La Marmora held the honour of the country and his own +to compel fidelity to the prior arrangement with Prussia, and he +refused the tempting offer. His choice has been variously +characterised as one of common honesty and of uncommon magnanimity; at +all events, it was of incalculable advantage to Prussia, which already +gave signs of not being a particularly delicate-minded ally. When La +Marmora asked Bismarck whether, in case Austria took the initiative of +attacking Italy, Prussia would intervene, the answer was 'No.' + +The three countries now pushed on their war preparations: Austria with +less ardour than the others, as she still failed to more than faintly +realise her danger. The Italian army, which the opening of the year +found in a deplorably unserviceable condition, was rapidly placed on a +war-footing, and, considering the shortness of the time allowed for +the work, and the secrecy with which, at the outset, it had to be +conducted, it is generally agreed that La Marmora produced surprising +results. As was natural in an army which, except for the old +Piedmontese nucleus, might almost be called improvised, the weakest +points were the cavalry and the artillery. The infantry was good; not +only the picked corps of Bersaglieri, but also the line regiments were +equal to any troops likely to be opposed to them. No one can see the +fine appearance of a line regiment marching down the streets of an +Italian town without receiving the impression that, however much the +other branches of the service may have improved since the Sixties, the +fondest hopes of Italy in case of war still lie in that common soldier +who best supported the rigours of the Russian snows. + +Unfortunately, the attention paid to the army was not extended to the +fleet, which continued totally unready; nor was the organisation of +the volunteers carried out in an efficient manner. The excuse +afterwards advanced was that not more than 15,000 enrolments were +expected, while the actual figure reached 35,000. Besides being from +its very bulk less manageable than the 'few and good' of 1859, this +mass of men was ill-provided with officers who could inspire and keep +discipline. Garibaldi's own generals, Bixio, Medici, Cosenz and +Sirtori, were now all in the regular army, and therefore not free to +join him. He begged for the loan of a few regular officers, indicating +amongst other names that of Colonel Pallavicini, who commanded against +him at Aspromonte: a trait characteristic of the man. But this +assistance, though promised, was not granted, and the same was the +case with the guns which were vainly asked for. Without charging La +Marmora with a deliberate intention of neglecting the volunteers, it +must be owned that under the influence of the prejudice which holds +irregular troops in small esteem, he did not do for them what ought to +have been done if their services were accepted at all. + +The Austrian Southern Army, excellent in discipline and equipment +though weak in numbers, was commanded up to the outbreak of the war by +Field-Marshal Benedek, but he was called to Vienna to take command of +the unfortunate army of operation against Prussia, and was succeeded +in Italy by the Archduke Albrecht, with General Von John, an officer +of the first capacity, as chief of the staff. + +The numerical strength of the forces which could be put in the field +has been stated with startling divergence by different military +writers on the war, but every calculation gives the Italian side +(exclusive of the volunteers) a superiority of not less than two to +one. The Austrian mobilised army has been reckoned at as low a figure +as 63,000, certainly an understatement, as it appears that the +Archduke mustered not less than 70,000 at the battle of Custoza. That +he mustered on that day every man he could produce is probably a fact. +Had the Italian generals followed the same rule, however enormous +their other errors might have been, they would have won. Of all +conceivable faults in a military commander that which is the least +pardonable is the neglect to crush his antagonist by force of superior +numbers when he has them at his disposal. How many great military +reputations have been built up, and justly built up, on the care never +to meet an enemy without the odds being largely in your favour! + +For obvious political reasons the King of Italy assumed the supreme +command of the army, with General La Marmora as chief of the staff. +Cialdini had been offered the latter post, but he declined it, +objecting, it is said, to the arrangement by which the real head of +the army has no guarantee against the possible interference of its +nominal head. When La Marmora went to the front, Baron Ricasoli took +his place as Prime Minister; Visconti-Venosta became Minister of +Foreign Affairs; and the Ministry of the Marine was offered to +Quintino Sella, who refused it on the ground that he knew nothing of +naval matters. It was then offered to and accepted by a man who knew +still less, because he did not even know his own ignorance, Agostino +Depretis, a Piedmontese advocate. + +Before the commencement of hostilities a secret treaty was concluded +between Napoleon III. and the Austrian Government, according to which +Venetia was to be ceded to the Emperor for Italy, even if Austrian +arms were victorious both on the Mincio and on the Maine. Napoleon's +real purpose in this singular transaction is not perfectly clear; but +he was probably acting under a semi-romantic desire to have the +appearance of completing his programme of freeing Italy from the Alps +to the Adriatic which had been interrupted at Villafranca. In spite of +his enmity towards Italian unity, there is no reason to doubt that he +was in very few things as sincere as in the wish to see the Austrians +out of Italy. His reckonings at this time were all founded on the +assumption that Prussia would be defeated; he even seems to have had +some hopes of getting the Rhine bank in return for his good offices on +behalf of that Power with triumphant Austria. Be this as it may, he +inspired the Italian Government (or rather La Marmora, for there were +then two Italian Governments, and the real one was on the Mincio) with +his own expectation of Prussian disasters, and it is possible that +this expectation had a material and unfavourable influence on the +manner of conducting the war in Italy. + +Through the Prussian Minister at Florence, General La Marmora received +the draft of a plan of campaign which is known to have been prepared +by Count Moltke; in it the great feature was a descent on the +Dalmatian coast. From an independent quarter he received another plan +in which a descent on the east coast of the Adriatic was contemplated, +the main difference being that Istria, instead of Dalmatia, was +proposed for the landing-point. This second plan was modestly +submitted to him by Garibaldi, who was thus in substantial accord with +the Prussian strategist. The prospect which either of these plans +opened was one of great fascination. What Italian can look across the +sea to where the sun rises and forget that along that horizon lies a +land colonised by Rome and guarded for four hundred years by Venice? + +Istria was marked out by Dante as the frontier province of Italy: + + Si come a Pola presso del Quarnero + Che Italia chiude e i suoi termini bagna. + +It forms, with the Trentino, what is called _Italia Irredenta_. +Although the feeling of Italians for unredeemed Italy is not what +their feeling was for Lombardy or Venetia, it is a mistake to imagine +that they have renounced all aspirations in that direction. Only +fanatics of the worst kind would be disposed to attempt, in the +present situation, to win those provinces by force, but that has +nothing to do with the matter. The aspiration exists and cannot help +existing. It has always been shared by patriots of all denominations. +An English statesman who called on Pius IX. was somewhat surprised by +the Pope saying that Italian unity was very well, but it was a pity it +did not include Trento and Trieste. + +The case of Dalmatia is different; there the mass of the population is +unquestionably of a non-Italian race, though that race is one which, +whenever left to itself, seems created to amalgamate with the Italian. +Slav and Teuton are racially antagonistic, but the Slav falls into +Italian ways, speaks the Italian language and mixes his blood with +Italian blood: with what results Venice can tell. For more than two +thousand years the civilisation of Dalmatia has been exclusively +Latin; the Roman column points to the Venetian Campanile; all the +proudest memories are gathered round the Lion of St Mark, which in +every town, almost in every village, recalls the splendid though not +blameless suzerainty of the Serene Republic. The sky, the +olive-groves, the wild pomegranates make us think of Salerno; by the +spoken tongue we are often reminded of Tuscany, for few Italian +dialects are so pure. The political subjection of the country to Italy +dates from Augustus; its political subjection to Austria dates from +Napoleon. Dalmatia, with the glorious little commonwealth of Ragusa, +and the free city of Cattaro, was bartered away with Venice at Campo +Formio; and as with Venice, so with Dalmatia, the Holy Alliance +violated its own principle of restoring the proe-Napoleonic state of +things and confirmed the sale. + +At the beginning of the war, Austria did not ignore that her loss of +territory might exceed Venetia. The Archduke Albrecht, in his +proclamation to his soldiers, appealed to them to protect their +mothers, wives and sisters from being ruled by a foreign race. + +Even a successful raid upon Dalmatia or Istria need not have given +those districts to Italy, but it would have brought such an event +within the range of a moderately strong political telescope. The Slavs +(erected since into a party hostile to their Italian fellow-citizens +by a fostering of Panslavism which may not, in the long run, prove +sound policy for Austria) were then ready to make friends with anyone +opposed to their actual rulers. They would not have been easy to +govern after an Italian invasion; still less easy to govern would the +Latin element have been, which was and is _Italianissimo_. Since +Prussia became the German Empire, she has set her face against Italian +extension eastward, but in 1866, had her advice been intelligently +acted upon, it might have generated facts the logic of which none +would have had the power to stay. + +Moltke's plan more than hinted at a march on Vienna by the Semmering, +and this is what is supposed to have induced La Marmora to treat it with +scorn. With the bogey of Prussia vanquished before his eyes, he +doubtless asked what the Italians would do at Vienna if they got there? +He put the plan in his pocket, and showed it neither to his staff nor to +the King, who would certainly have been attracted by it, as he had set +his heart on the volunteers, at least, crossing the Adriatic. With +regard to the campaign at home, both Moltke and Garibaldi counselled +turning the Quadrilateral in preference to a direct attack upon +fortresses which had been proved impregnable except with the assistance +of hunger, and at present they were better provisioned than in 1848. The +turning of the Quadrilateral meant the adoption of a route into Venetia +across the Po below Mantua. An objection not without gravity to that +route was the unfavourable nature of the ground which, being marshy, is +liable after heavy rains to become impassable. But against this +disadvantage had to be weighed the advantage of keeping out of the +mouse-trap, the fatality of which needed no new demonstration. + +In Italy it is common to hear it said that it was necessary to station +a large army on the Mincio to bar the Archduke's path to Milan. But +apart from the rumoured existence of a promise to the French Emperor +not to invade Lombardy, it was unlikely that so good a general as the +Archduke would have taken his small army far from the security it +enjoyed among the four fortresses which, if the worst came to the +worst, assured him a safe line of retreat. + +The plan adopted by La Marmora is vaguely said to have been that which +was prepared by the French and Sardinian staffs for use in 1859, had +the war been continued. But in what it really consisted is not to this +day placed beyond dispute. The army, roughly speaking, was divided +into halves; one (the larger) half under the King and La Marmora was +to operate on the Mincio; the other, under Cialdini, was to operate on +the lower Po. It is supposed that one of these portions was intended +to act as a blind to deceive the enemy as to the movements of the +other portion; the undecided question is, which was meant to be the +principal and which the accessory? + +The volunteers were thrown against the precipices of the Tridentine +mountains, where a detachment of the regular army, well-armed and +properly supplied with artillery, would have been better suited for +the work. The Garibaldian headquarters was at Salo on the Lake of +Garda. Less than half of the 35,000 volunteers who appear upon paper, +were ever ready to be sent to the front. It was widely said that only +patriotism prevented Garibaldi from throwing up his command, so +dissatisfied was he with the conduct of affairs. + +Prussia invaded Hanover and Saxony on the 16th of June, and declared +war with Austria on the 21st, one day after the Italian declaration of +war had been delivered to the Archduke Albrecht. On the 23rd La +Marmora's army began to cross the Mincio. It consisted of three _corps +d'armee_ under the command of Generals Durando, Cucchiari and Delia +Rocca, each corps containing four divisions. The force under Cialdini +was composed of eight divisions forming one _corps d'armee._ An +Italian military writer rates the numbers at 133,000 and 82,000 +respectively. La Marmora acquired the belief that the Archduke's +attention was absorbed by Cialdini's movements on the Po, and that his +own operations on the Mincio would pass unobserved. + +While the Italian commander had no information of what was going on in +the enemy's camp, the Archduke's intelligence department was so +efficient that he knew quite well the disposition of both Italian +armies. Cialdini's advance, if he meant to advance, was checked by +floods. On the night of the 23rd most of La Marmora's force bivouacked +on the left (Venetian) bank of the Mincio. No reconnaissances were made; +everyone supposed that the Austrians were still beyond the Adige, and +that they intended to stay there. The King slept at Goito. + +Before the early dawn next morning the whole Italian army of the +Mincio had orders to advance. The soldiers marched with heavy +knapsacks and empty stomachs, and with no more precautions than in +time of peace. The Austrian Archduke was in the saddle at four a.m., +and watched from an eminence the moving clouds of dust which announced +the approach of his unsuspecting foe. + +La Marmora's intention had been to occupy the heights of Santa +Giustina, Sona and Somma Campagna, but the Archduke anticipated his +design, and while the Italians were moving from the Mincio, the +Austrians were ranging themselves in those positions. At half-past +five on the midsummer Sunday morning, the Austrian advance guard led +by Colonel Pulz came up with Prince Humbert's division near +Villafranca. The battle began dramatically, with a charge of the +splendid Polish and Hungarian Hussars, who dashed their horses against +the Italian squares, in one of which, opportunely formed for his +shelter, was the gallant heir to the throne. Bixio's division was also +engaged in this prelude, which augured not ill for the Italians, since +at about eight o'clock Pulz received the Archduke's orders to retire. + +The first hours of the battle were spent in fortuitous encounters +along the extensive chain of hillocks which La Marmora had intended to +occupy. As the Italians approached each position they found it in the +possession of a strong force of the enemy. On the right, however, +Custoza and the heights between it and Somma Campagna had not been +occupied by the Austrians. Here La Marmora placed the flower of his +army, the Sardinian and Lombard Grenadiers, the latter commanded by +Prince Amedeo. The fighting continued through the day over very +widely distributed ground, but from about nine in the morning the +supreme interest was concentrated at and near Custoza, in which the +Archduke promptly detected the turning-point of the battle. To wrest +Custoza from the hold of the Italians was to the Austrians on the 24th +of June 1866, what the taking of the crest of Solferino had been to +the French on the 24th of June 1859. La Marmora in person led the +Grenadiers into action; they proved worthy of their reputation, but +after losing a great many men, Prince Amedeo being among the wounded, +they were obliged to retreat. At about midday, however, the Italian +prospects improved so much that in the opinion of Austrian military +writers, with moderate reinforcements they would have had a strong +probability of winning the battle. La Marmora saw the importance of +getting fresh troops into the field, but, instead of sending for the +divisions under Bixio and Prince Humbert, which since eight a.m. had +been fretting in inaction close by, at Villafranca, he rode himself to +Goito, a great distance away, to look after the reserves belonging to +the 2nd _corps d'armee_; a task which any staff officer could have +performed as well. This inexplicable proceeding left the army without +a commander-in-chief. The generals of division followed their +individual inspirations, Govone, Pianel and Cugia especially +distinguishing themselves: it is sad to think that death has removed +these three officers from the Italian ranks. But the Austrians fatally +gained ground, and as the afternoon closed in the Archduke began to +feel sure that the Italian reinforcements whose arrival he had so much +feared, were never coming. He therefore prepared for the final effort +which was to give him the well-deserved honours of the day. Towards +seven o'clock in the evening, his soldiers succeeded in storming the +heights of Custoza, and Austria could write a second battle of that +name among her victories. + +The Italians lost 720 killed, 3112 wounded and 3608 prisoners. The +Austrian loss was 960 killed, 3690 wounded and 1000 prisoners. Both +sides were much tried by the scorching midsummer sun, but the Italians +laboured under the additional drawback of having to fight fasting. In +his report, the Archduke Albrecht mentioned that the prisoners said +they had not tasted food for twenty-four hours. In the same report, he +did ample justice to the courage of the Italian soldiers. + +As has been stated, the Archduke fought Custoza with not less, +probably with rather more, than 70,000 men. The force which La Marmora +placed in the field was actually inferior in number. The divisions of +Bixio and Prince Humbert were kept doing nothing all day at a stone's +throw from the scene of action. Of the whole 2nd _corps d'armee_ only +a trifling detachment ever reached the ground. Inexplicably little use +was made of the Italian cavalry. + +This bungling had lost the battle, but the fact that on the morrow, +six divisions of the army of the Mincio were practically fresh, might +have suggested to a general of enterprise to try again, since it was +known that the Archduke had not a single new man to fall back on. And +there was Cialdini on the Po with his eight divisions that had not +been engaged at all. But, instead of adopting a spirited course, the +Italian authorities gave way to unreasoning panic. It appears, +unfortunately, that the King was the first to be overcome by this +moral vertigo. The long and fiercely discussed question of who +telegraphed to Cialdini: 'Irreparable disaster; cover the capital,' +seems to have been settled since that general's death in 1892. It is +now alleged that the telegram, the authorship of which was disowned by +La Marmora, was signed by the King's adjutant, Count Verasio di +Castiglione. Cialdini obeyed the order and fell back on Modena. +Whether he was bound to obey an almost anonymous communication signed +by an irresponsible officer is a moot point; it is reported that he +repented having done so to the last day of his life. + +A great event now happened across the Alps; one of the decisive +battles of the world was lost and won on the 5th of July at Sadowa +near Koeniggraetz in Bohemia. The fate of Europe was shaped on that day +for decades, if not for centuries. Of the immediate results, the first +was the scattering to the wind of all calculations based upon a long +continuance of the war, the issue of which, as far as Prussia was +concerned, could not be regarded as doubtful. In respect to Italy, +Austria's first thought was to prevent her from taking a revenge for +Custoza. She attempted to compass this by ceding Venetia to Napoleon +two days after Sadowa. It was making a virtue of necessity, as she was +bound in any case to cede it at the conclusion of the war; but as the +secret of the treaty had been well kept, the step caused great +surprise, and in Italy, where the public mind had leapt from profound +discouragement to buoyant hope, the impression was one of +embarrassment and mortification. Italy was distinctly precluded by her +engagement with Prussia from accepting Napoleon's invitation to +conclude a separate peace. Meanwhile, Austria gained by the move, as +it set her at liberty to recall the larger part of her troops from +Venetia for the defence of Vienna. Her honour did not require her to +contest the ground in a province which she had already given away. +When Cialdini, at the head of the reorganised Italian army of which he +now held the chief command, advanced across the Po to Padua, he found +the path practically open. + +It was still possible for Italy to accomplish two things which would +have in a great measure retrieved her _prestige_. The first was to +occupy the Trentino; the second was to destroy the Austrian fleet. +With the means at her disposal she ought to have been able to do both. + +In the earlier phases of Italian liberation, no one disputed that if +Lombardy and Venetia were lost to the Empire the Tridentine province, +wedged in as it is between them, would follow suit. When, in 1848, +Lord Palmerston offered his services as mediator between Austria and +revolted Italy, it was on a minimum basis of a frontier north of +Trento. The arguments for the retention of Trieste--that Austria had +made it what it was; that Germany needed it as a seaport, etc.--were +inapplicable here; and even after the defeat of Custoza, an occupation +of the Trentino, had it happened in conjunction with a naval victory, +would have opened a fair prospect to possession. But there was no time +to lose, and much time was lost by ordering Garibaldi to descend to +the southern extremity of the lake of Garda to 'cover Brescia' from an +imaginary attack. When the fear of an Austrian invasion subsided, and +Garibaldi returned to the mountains, he endeavoured to re-take the +position of Monte Suello which he had previously held, but the attempt +failed. The volunteers were forced to retire with great loss, and the +chief himself was wounded. On the 16th of July the volunteers renewed +their advance up the mountain ravines, and, after taking Fort Ampola, +reached the village of Bezzecca, where they were attacked by the +Austrians early on the 21st. Each side claimed that sanguinary day as +a victory; the Garibaldians remained masters of the ground, but the +Austrians, in retiring, took with them a large number of prisoners. +The losses of the volunteers on this and other occasions when they +were engaged were disproportionately heavy. They were spendthrift of +their lives, but in war, and especially in mountain warfare, caution +is as needful as courage, and in caution they were so deficient that +they were always being surprised. General Kuhn's numerically inferior +force of tried marksmen, supported by good artillery and favoured by +ground which may be described as one great natural fortification, had +succeeded up till now in holding the Trentino, but his position was +becoming critical, because while Garibaldi sought to approach Trento +from the west, Medici with 10,000 men detached from the main army at +Padua, was ascending the Venetian valleys that lead to the same +destination from the east. Kuhn was therefore on the point of being +taken between two fires when the armistice saved him. + +These operations on the Tridentine frontier, though not without a real +importance, passed almost unnoticed in the excitement which attended +the first calamitous appearance of United Italy as a naval power. + +When invited to assume the command of the Italian fleet, Admiral +Persano twice refused; it was only when the King pressed upon him a +third invitation that he weakly accepted a charge to which he felt +himself unequal. He had been living in retirement for some years, and +neither knew nor was known by most of the officers and men whom he was +now to command. The fleet under his orders comprised thirty-three +vessels, of which twelve were ironclads. The Austrian fleet numbered +twenty-seven ships, including seven ironclads. When the war broke out, +both fleets were far from ready for active service; but, while the +Austrian Admiral Tegethoff said nothing, but worked night and day at +Pola to make his ships and his men serviceable, Persano despatched +hourly lamentable reports to the Minister of Marine, without finding +the way to bring about a change for the better. He wasted time in +minutiae, and took into his head to paint all the Italian ships a +light grey, which was of the greatest use to the Austrians in the +battle of Lissa, as it enabled them to distinguish between them and +their own dark-coloured ships. + +After long delaying at Taranto, Persano brought his fleet to Ancona; +and, two days later, Tegethoff appeared in front of that town--not +knowing, it seems, that the Italian squadrons had arrived. Tegethoff +was bound on a simple reconnaissance, and, after firing a few shots, +he sailed away. On this occasion, Persano issued orders so hesitating +and confused that the Austrian admiral must have correctly gauged the +capacity of the man opposed to him, while the superior officers of the +Italian fleet were filled with little less than dismay. A strong +effort was made to induce Depretis to supersede Persano then and +there; he promised to do so, but it is said that the fear of offending +the King prevented him. Instead, he set about showering instructions +on the admiral, the worth of which may be easily imagined. The +mistrust felt by the fleet in its commander invaded all ranks; and if +it did not break out in open insubordination, it deprived officers and +men of all confidence in the issue of the campaign. + +Left to himself, Persano would have stayed quietly at Ancona, but the +imperative orders of a cabinet council, presided over by the King, +forced him to take some action. Against the advice of Admiral Albini, +but in agreement with another admiral, Vacca, Persano decided to +attack the fortified island of Lissa, on the Dalmatian coast. Though +Lissa is a strong position, the usual comparison of it with Gibraltar +is exaggerated. It ought to have been possible to land the Italian +troops which Persano had with him under cover of his guns, and to take +the island before Tegethoff came up. The surf caused by the rough +weather, to which he chiefly attributed his failure, would not have +proved an insuperable obstacle had the ships' crews been exercised in +landing troops under similar circumstances. + +Persano reached Lissa on the morning of the 18th of July, and began a +tremendous bombardment of the forts, which, though answered with the +highest spirit by the Austrians, did most deadly damage to their +batteries. In fact, by the evening, except one or two at a high +elevation, they were practically silenced. At six o'clock Captain +Saint Bon took the _Formidabile_ into the narrow harbour to silence +the inner works: a murderous fire rained on the corvette from Fort +Wellington, which was too high for the Italian guns to get it into +range. Though Saint Bon's attempt was not successful, the Italians had +effected most of what they aimed at, and might have effected the rest +had they continued the bombardment through the night, and so given the +Austrians no time to repair their batteries, but at sunset Persano +withdrew his fleet to a distance of eight miles. The Austrians worked +all night at mending the batteries that could still be used, and hoped +in the coming of Tegethoff. + +The telegraph cable connecting the neighbouring island of Lesina with +the coast, and so with Pola, had been cut by Persano's orders; but +either (as the writer was told on the spot last year) there was another +line that was not noticed, or before the cable was destroyed the +official in charge got off a message to Tegethoff, informing him of the +arrival of the Italian fleet. An answer, to the effect that Tegethoff +would come to the rescue as soon as possible, fell into the hands of the +Italians, but Persano appears not to have believed in it. + +The 19th was spent in attempts at landing, which the surf and the +energetic play of the repaired batteries rendered fruitless. The +bombardment was renewed, but it was not well conducted. Saint Bon, who +made another plucky entry into the harbour, was unsupported, and, +after an hour's fighting, he was obliged to retire, his ship having +suffered severely. + +Next morning there was a blinding summer storm, but at about eight +o'clock the _Esploratore_ distinguished the forms of ironclads through +the rain, and signalled to Persano: 'Suspicious vessels in sight.' +Persano answered: 'No doubt they are fishing-boats.' When obliged to +admit the truth he gave the order to unite, his ships being scattered +in all directions with everything on board at sixes and sevens. The +troops which had again been attempting to land, were in boats, tossed +about by the heavy sea. The surprise was complete. + +Persano fought the battle of Lissa with nine ironclads, most of which +had received some injuries during the bombardment. He ordered his +wooden ships to keep out of the action altogether. Tegethoff had seven +ironclads and fourteen wooden vessels, all of which he turned to the +best account. + +Just before the battle Persano left his flagship, the _Re_ _d'Italia_, +and went on board the _Affondatore_. By somebody's mistake it was a +long time before the _Affondatore_ hoisted the admiral's flag, and +the fleet continued to look to the _Re d'Italia_ for signals when he +was no longer on board. + +Contrary to a well-known rule in naval science, Persano formed his +squadron in single file, and quite at the beginning of the battle +Tegethoff managed to break the line by dashing in between the first +and second division whilst they were going at full speed, and under a +furious cannonade from their guns. This daring operation placed him +in the middle of the Italian ironclads, which, well directed, could +have closed round him and destroyed him, but they were not directed +either well nor ill--they were not directed at all. Persano put up +contradictory signals, most of which were not seen, and those which +were seen meant nothing. The plan followed by Admiral Tegethoff may be +best described in his own words: 'It was hard to make out friend from +foe, so I just rammed away at anything I saw painted grey.' Two +Italian vessels had been already damaged, but not vitally injured, by +the _Ferdinand Max_, when in the dense smoke a vast wall of grey +appeared close to the bows of the Austrian flagship, which, to the cry +of 'Ram her!' put on full steam and crashed into the enemy's flank. +The shock was so great that the crew of the _Max_ were thrown about in +indescribable confusion. The Italian ship was the _Re d'Italia,_ the +flagship which did not carry the admiral. She quivered for one, two, +some say for three minutes in her death agony, and then went down in +two hundred fathoms of water. + +After the _Re d'Italia_ was struck, one of her seamen, thinking to +assert a claim to pity, began to lower her flag, but a young officer +pushed him aside and hoisted it again; so the great ship sank with her +colours flying. The incident was noticed by the Austrians, who spoke +of it in feeling terms. Willing enough were they to help, for after +the first cheer of triumph they felt sick with horror at their own +work, the fearful work of modern naval warfare. There were 550 men on +board the doomed ship. Tegethoff shouted for the boats to be lowered, +and signalled to the despatch boat _Elisabeth_ to pick up all she +could, but two Italian ironclads were bearing down upon him, and +little could be done to save the drowning multitude either by the +Austrians or by their own people. Persano did not know of the +disaster till some hours after it happened. + +The sea had scarcely closed over the _Re d'Italia_ when another +misfortune occurred; the gunboat _Palestro_ took fire. Her captain, +Alfredo Cappellini, disembarked the sick and wounded, but remained +himself with the rest of the crew, endeavouring to put out the fire. +The ship blew up at 2.30 p.m., and over two hundred perished with her. + +Persano, still on the _Affondatore_, now led his fleet out of action, +and it was the first time he had led it during the day. Tegethoff +gazed after the vanishing squadron with anxiety, as had Persano turned +and renewed the battle from a distance, he could have revenged his +defeat at close quarters without receiving a shot, owing to the longer +range of his guns. But for such an operation skilful manoeuvring was +wanted, and also, perhaps, more precision in firing than the Italian +gunners possessed. At any rate, Persano had no mind for new +adventures. He took what remained of his fleet straight back to +Ancona, where the _Affondatore_ sank in the harbour from injuries +received during the battle. For three days the Italian people were +told that they had won a victory, then the bitter truth was known. The +admiral, tried before the Senate, was deprived of his rank and command +in the Italian navy. The politician who, when convinced of his +unfitness, yet had not the nerve to remove him from his post, died, +full of years and honours, Prime Minister of Italy. + +Lissa was fought on the 20th of July. On the 25th, Prussia signed the +preliminaries of peace with Austria without consulting her ally, who, +if unfortunate, had been eminently loyal to her. Thus the whole forces +of the Empire, not less than 350,000 men, were let loose to fall upon +Italy. Such was the wrathful disappointment of the Italians at their +defeats by land and sea, that if a vote had been taken they would +possibly have decided for a renewal of the struggle. Ricasoli was +inclined to risk war rather than bow to the Austrian demand that the +evacuation of the Trentino should precede the conclusion of an +armistice. At this crisis, La Marmora acted as a true patriot in +forcing the hand of the Ministry by ordering the recall of the troops +and sending General Petitti to treat directly with the Austrian +military authorities. 'They will say that we have betrayed the +country,' said the King in the interview in which these measures were +concerted; to which La Marmora answered: 'Come what may, I take the +whole responsibility upon myself.' 'This is too much,' replied Victor +Emmanuel with tears in his eyes; 'I, also, will have my part in it.' +In which brief dialogue the character of the two men stands revealed; +men who might fall short in talent or in judgment, not in honour. + +The volunteers, so many of whose comrades lay dead along the mountain +gorges--who believed, too, that they were in sight of the reward of +their sacrifices--were thrown into a ferment, almost into a revolt by +the order to retreat. They had expected in a day or two to shake hands +with Medici, who, after some hard fighting, was within a march of +Trento. The order was explicit: instant evacuation of the enemy's +territory. Garibaldi, to whom from first to last had fallen an +ungrateful part, took up his pen and wrote the laconic telegram: +'Obbedisco.' 'I have obeyed,' he said to the would-be mutineers, 'do +you obey likewise.' Someone murmured 'Rome.' 'Yes,' said the chief, +'we will march on Rome.' + +The armistice was signed at Cormons on the 12th of August, and the +treaty of peace on the 3rd of October at Vienna. Italy received Venice +from the hands of the French Emperor, whose interference since the +beginning of the campaign had incensed Prussia against her ally +without benefiting the Power which he affected and, perhaps, really +meant to serve. Italy would have received Venetia without his +interposition, for besides the Prussian obligation to claim it for +her, Austria had no further wish to keep it. Despite the fact that +Italian populations still remained under the rule of the Empire, the +melancholy book of Austrian dominion in Italy might be fairly said to +be closed forever. A new era was dawning for the House of Hapsburg, +which was to show that, unlike the Bourbons, it could learn and +unlearn. + +The comedy of the cession of Venice to Napoleon was enacted between +General Le Boeuf and General Alemann, the Austrian military +commandant. Among other formalities, the French delegate went the +round of the museums and galleries to see that everything was in its +place. Suddenly he came upon a most suspicious blank. 'A picture is +missing here,' he said. 'It is, blandly assented the Austrian officer. +'Well, but it must be sent back immediately--where is it?' 'In the +Louvre.' + +At last Austrians and French departed, and Italy shook off her +mourning, for however it had come about, the great object which had +cost so much blood, so many tears, was attained; the stranger was +gone! + +Out of 642,000 votes, only 69 were recorded against the union of +Venetia with the Italian kingdom. When the plebiscite was presented +to the King, he said: 'This is the greatest day of my life: Italy is +made, though not complete.' On the 7th of November he entered Venice, +and of all the pageants that greeted him in the hundred cities of +Italy, the welcome of the Bride of the Adriatic was, if not the most +imposing, certainly the fairest to see. More touching, however, than +the glorious beauty of the Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal in +their rich adornment, was the universal decoration of the poorest +quarters, which were all flagged and festooned so thickly that little +could be seen of the stones of Venice. One poor cobbler, however, +living at the end of a blind alley, had no flag, no garland to deck +his abode: he had therefore pasted three strips of coloured paper, +red, white and green, over his door, inscribing on the middle strip +these words, which in their sublime simplicity merit to be rescued +from oblivion: 'O mia cara Italia, voglio ma non posso fare piu per +te.' + +The Iron Crown of the Lombard Kings of Italy, which the Austrians had +taken away in 1859, was brought back and restored to the Cathedral of +Monza. Less presumptuous than Napoleon, Victor Emmanuel never placed +the mystical fillet upon his head, but it was carried after his coffin +to the Pantheon. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE LAST CRUSADE + +1867 + +The French leave Rome--Garibaldi's Arrest and Escape--The Second +French Intervention--Monte Rotondo--Mentana. + + +The words of Victor Emmanuel to the Venetian Deputation contained a +riddle easy to solve: what was meant by the 'completion' of Italy was +the establishment of her capital on the Tiber. In most minds there was +an intense belief in the inevitability of the union of Rome with the +rest of Italy, but no one saw how it was to be brought about. What +soothsayer foretold Sedan? + +In the first period after the war, domestic difficulties fixed the +attention of the Italian Government on the present rather than on the +future. An insurrection at Palermo assumed threatening proportions +owing to the smallness of the garrison, and might have had still more +serious consequences but for the courage and presence of mind shown by +the Syndic, the young Marquis di Rudini. Crime and poverty, republican +hankerings, the irritation of the priesthood at recent legislation, +and most of all, the feeling that little had been done since 1860 to +realise the millennium then promised, contributed to the outbreak +which was quelled when troops arrived from the mainland, but the +ministers were blamed for not having taken better precautions against +its occurrence. Another stumbling-block lay in the path of Ricasoli, +namely, the application of the law for the suppression of religious +houses, and the expropriation of ecclesiastical property. After an +unsuccessful endeavour to cope with it, he dissolved the Chamber, but +the new Parliament proved no more willing to support his measures, +which were of the nature of a compromise, than the old one, and he +finally resigned office. He was succeeded by Urban Rattazzi, under +whose administration a measure was passed which, though drastic in +appearance, has not prevented the re-establishment of a great many +convents of which the property was bought in under the name of +private individuals. Every Catholic country has seen the necessity +sooner or later of putting a check to the increase of monasticism, but +it may be a matter of regret that in Italy, the toleration granted to +the learned community of Monte Cassino was not extended to more of the +historic monasteries. The abstention of the Clerical party from the +voting urns deprived them of an influence which, on such points as +these, they might have exercised legitimately and perhaps +beneficially. To that abstention, the disequilibrium of Italian +political life, from first to last, is largely due. + +The time allowed to the French under the September Convention for the +evacuation of Rome expired in December 1866, and at the opening of the +new year, for the first time since 1849, the Eternal City was without +a garrison in the service of a foreign Power. While executing their +engagement, the French Government took occasion to say that they kept +their hands perfectly free as concerned future action. The anomalous +obligations of the September Convention now came into force, and it +was not long before their inconvenience was felt. Had Ricasoli +remained at the head of affairs the _status quo_ might have lasted for +a time; because, although he was an unflinching opponent of the +Temporal Power, he would have made it clear that since the Convention +existed he meant to respect it, and to make others respect it. He had +shown that he could dare, but that was when he bore himself the whole +responsibility of his daring. He was not the man to tolerate heroic +imprudence in others with the mental reservation of owning or +disowning the results, as might prove convenient. Rattazzi, on the +other hand, was believed to answer very closely to this description; +and patriots who were willing to bear all the blame in case of +failure and yield all the praise in case of success, began once more +to speculate on the profit to the national cause which might be +extracted from the peculiarities of his character. Aspromonte, that +should have placed them on their guard, had the contrary effect, for +it was supposed that the Prime Minister was very anxious to wipe that +stain from his reputation. + +Nevertheless, the Party of Action considered that, for the present, +the wisest course was to wait and watch the development of events. +This was Mazzini's personal view, but Garibaldi, almost alone in his +dissent, did not share it. Impelled partly, no doubt, by the +impatience of a man who sees the years going by and his own life +ebbing away without the realisation of its dearest dream, but partly +also by the deliberate belief that the political situation offered +some favourable features which might not soon be repeated, Garibaldi +decided to take the field in the autumn of 1867. His friends, who one +and all tried to dissuade him, found him immovable. It is too much to +say that he expected assistance from the Government, but that he hoped +to draw Rattazzi after him is scarcely doubtful, and he had good +reason for the hope. + +In Rattazzi's own version and defence of his policy, it is set forth +that before the die was cast he did all that was humanly possible to +prevent the expedition, but that having failed, he intended sending the +Italian army over the frontier in the wake of the broken-loose +condottiere. Though this gives a colour of consistency to his conduct, +it is not satisfactory as an explanation, and still less as an apology. + +General La Marmora, who had always opposed the Convention, though he +belonged to the party which made it, once declared that 200,000 men +would not be sufficient to hold the Papal frontier against a guerilla +invasion. True as this may be, it is impossible to resist the +conclusion that a minister who had resolutely made up his mind to +prevent any attempt from being made would not have acted as Rattazzi +acted. The Prime Minister thought that he was imitating Cavour, but in +reality he simply imitated the pendulum of a clock. + +Rattazzi's taste was for intrigue rather than for adventure in the +grand sense. An adventurous minister would have accelerated the +enterprise to the utmost, in secret or not in secret, and would then +have preceded Garibaldi to Rome before the Clerical party in France +had time to force Napoleon to act. The rest could have been left to +the Roman people. What they did in 1870 they would have done in 1867; +they were ready to acclaim any conquering liberator; they were not +ready to make a revolution on their own account, and with all their +leaders in prison or in exile, they are hardly to be blamed for it. +For such a policy Italy might have pleaded that necessity which knows +no law. Everybody allowed that if Garibaldi went to Rome the Italians +must go there too: the very security of the Pope demanded it--at +least, he said so. As to the first part of the programme, complicity +in the preparation of the movement, it would have been an infringement +of the Convention, but had France kept the Convention? French bishops +recruited soldiers for the Pope in every province of France, and the +Antibes Legion was drawn, officers and men, from the French army. When +some of the men deserted, the French War Office sent General Dumont to +Rome to look to the discipline of the regiment. Those who argued that +the spirit, if not the letter, of the agreement had been already +evaded, could make out a good case for their position. + +It has been suggested that this is what Rattazzi's policy would have +been, but for the opposition of the King. Were it so, the minister +ought to have resigned at the beginning of the proceedings instead of +at the end. That in the ultimate crisis it was the King who prevented +the troops from moving is a fact, but the propitious moment was then +past and gone. 'Do as you like, but do it quickly,' Napoleon said to +Cavour when Cialdini was to be sent to the Cattolica. And it was done +quickly. + +After letting Garibaldi make what arrangements and issue what +manifestoes he chose for six weeks, Rattazzi suddenly had him arrested +at Sinalunga on the 23rd of September. The only consequence was fatal +delay; not knowing what to do with their prisoner, the Government +shipped him to Caprera. Personally he was perfectly free; no +conditions were imposed; but nine men-of-war were despatched to the +island to sweep the seas of erratic heroes. In spite of which, +Garibaldi escaped in a canoe on the 14th of October. + +That night, between sundown and moonrise, there was only one hour's +dark, but it sufficed the fugitive to make good his passage from +Caprera to the island of Maddalena. A strong south-east breeze was +blowing; the waves, however, were rather favourable to the venture, as +they hid the frail bark from any eyes that might be peering through +the night. Garibaldi did not fear; he had often put out on this +terrible sea when lashed to fury to succour sailors in their peril. On +reaching Maddalena he scrambled over the rocks to the house of an +English lady who was delighted to give him hospitality. Next evening +he proceeded to Sardinia, from which, after several adventures, he +sailed for the Tuscan coast in a boat held in readiness by his +son-in-law, Canzio. And so, to the amazement of friends and foes, he +arrived in Florence, where, before many hours were past, he was +haranguing the enthusiastic crowd from a balcony. + +Garibaldi had escaped, but the mischief done to the movement by the +loss of nearly a month could not be remedied. Although large armed +bands under Acerbi, Nicotera and Menotti Garibaldi were gathered near +Viterbo, as usually happened in the absence of the chief, nothing +effectual was done. But it was in Paris that the delay brought the +most ruinous results. + +The history of the second French expedition to Rome will never be +satisfactorily told, because, while the outward circumstances point +one way, the inward probabilities point another. Napoleon had said +that if the Convention were not observed he would intervene, and he +did intervene; nothing could seem simpler. Yet it is not doubtful +that, in his inmost heart, he was wishing day and night that something +would turn up to extricate him from the Roman dilemma once for all. +While he hesitated, the Clerical party in France did not hesitate. Not +a moment was thrown away by them. Towards the middle of October, it +was reported that 'half royalist and half Catholic France will be in +Rome in the course of the week. Men with names belonging to the +proudest French nobility--the De Lusignans, De Clissons, De Lumleys, +De Bourbon-Chalens, etc., are chartering vessels, arriving in Rome by +scores and hundreds, and hence hurrying to the front to take their +places as privates in the Zouaves.' That, however, does not describe +the most important sphere of their activity which was the +ante-chamber, nay, the boudoir of St Cloud. In that palace, three +years later to be rased to the ground by the Germans, the net was +woven which every day closed tighter and tighter round Napoleon, till +he was enveloped in its meshes past escape. Ever since De Morny's +death, the influence nearest the throne had been increasing in +strength; it is needless to say in which direction it was exercised. +Napoleon was ill; Maximilian's ghost floated over him; he felt his +power slipping from his hands in spite of the noise and show of the +Exhibition, which was supposed to mark its zenith. The words of the +old pact with the Royalists buzzed in his ears: 'Do you keep the Pope +on his throne, and we will keep you on yours.' And he yielded. + +The 'principle' of French intervention was adopted by the council of +ministers on the 17th of October. Then, and not till then, Rattazzi +decided to send the Italian troops over the frontier. On finding that +neither the King nor several of his colleagues in the ministry would +support him, he resigned office on the 19th of the month. + +It was on the day after that Garibaldi appeared in Florence. As there +was no ministry, no one thought it his business to interfere with him. +Cialdini, whom the King had requested to form a cabinet, did go and +ask him to keep quiet till there was some properly qualified person to +arrest him; but this, not unnaturally, he declined to do. He left +Florence by special train for Terni, whence he crossed the frontier +and joined the insurgent bands near Rome. + +From the 19th to the 26th, Napoleon again and again ordered and +countermanded the departure of the transports from Toulon. On the last +date the final order was given and the ships started. The news must +have just reached Paris that the King had called upon General Menabrea +to undertake the task which had been abandoned by Cialdini, whose name +recalled Castelfidardo too strongly to have a sound welcome either in +the Vatican or at St Cloud. When Napoleon heard that Menabrea was to +be Rattazzi's successor, he knew that there was no fear that the new +Government, carried away by the popular current which was manifestly +having its effect on the King, should, after all, order the Italian +army to the front. Menabrea, the Savoyard who in 1860 chose the +Italian nationality which his son has lately cast away, was the old +opponent of Cavour in the Turinese chamber, and of all Italian +politicians he was the most lukewarm on the Roman question. All chance +of a collision between the French and Italian armies was removed. +Menabrea did occupy some positions over the Papal frontier, it would +be hard to say with what intention, unless it were to appear to fulfil +a sort of promise given by the King during the ministerial +interregnum. The troops were ordered on no account to attack the +French, and as soon as the Garibaldian campaign was at an end, they +were brought home. It was not worth while to send them with their +hands tied to almost within earshot of where other Italians were +fighting and falling. Menabrea's attitude towards the volunteers was +immediately revealed by the issue of a royal proclamation, in which +they were declared rebels. The French were free to act. + +All this time the revolution in Rome, which it was admitted on all +sides would have gone far towards cutting the knot, did not begin. +Besides the cause already assigned, the absence of the heads, there was +another, the almost total lack of arms. To remedy this, Enrico and +Giovanni Cairoli, with some seventy followers, tried to take a supply of +arms up the Tiber to Rome. Only the immense importance of the object +could have justified so desperate an attempt. Obliged to abandon their +boats near Ponte Molle, they struck off into the Monti Parioli, where +they were attacked, within sight of the promised land, at a spot called +Villa Gloria. Their assailants were three times their number, and those +who were not killed were carried prisoners to Rome. Among the killed was +the captain of the band, who fell in the arms of his young brother. As +Enrico Cairoli lay dying, the French Zouaves (was this the chivalry of +France?) charged the two brothers with their bayonets, piercing Giovanni +with ten wounds, from injuries arising from one of which he expired a +year later, after long torments. 'Dastardly French!' cried Enrico with +his last breath. They were the third and fourth sons of Adelaide Cairoli +who died for their country. One only of her five children remained to +stand by her own death-bed--Benedetto, the future Prime Minister, and +saviour of King Humbert from the knife of an assassin. + +The Papal army was composed of 13,000 men, General de Courten +commanding the portion of it which could be spared out of Rome. The +Breton, Colonel Charette, had charge of the Zouaves. Since the French +garrison left, much trouble had been taken to make this force +efficient. Under Garibaldi's own orders there were between 7000 and +8000 volunteers. Those who have made a higher estimate have included +other bands which, either from the difficulty of provisioning a larger +number, or from want of time for concentration, remained at a +distance. + +The chief's arrival soon infused new life into the camp. On the 24th +he moved towards Monte Rotondo, one of the castellated heights near +Rome, which commands the Nomentane and Tiburtine ways to the south, +and the railway and Via Salara to the west. It was generally +considered the most important military position in the Papal states. +The garrison was small, but, perched as they were on a hill crest +which looks inaccessible, the defenders might well hope to hold out +till help came from Rome. They had artillery, of which the volunteers +had none, and the old castle of the Orsini, where they made their +principal stand, was well adapted for defence. From the morning of the +25th till midnight, the Garibaldians hurled themselves against the +walls of the rock town without making much way; but at last the +resistance grew weak, and when the morning light came, the white flag +was seen flying. At four in the afternoon of the 26th a Papal column +tardily arrived upon the scene, but they perceived that all was over +at Monte Rotondo, and, after firing a few musket shots, they fled to +Rome in disorder. + +Garibaldi rode into the cathedral, where he fixed his quarters for the +night. In Italy churches have ever been applied to such uses. After +the reduction of Milan, Francesco Sforza rode into the Duomo, and when +King Ladislaus of Naples conquered Rome, he rode into the basilica of +St John Lateran. The guerilla chief bivouacked in a confessional, +while his Red-shirts slept where they could on the cathedral floor. +Four hundred of them had been killed or wounded in the assault. + +The prisoners of war were brought before Garibaldi, who praised their +valour and sent them under an escort to the Italian frontier. Two or +three were retained for the following reason. Garibaldi had heard of +the Cairolis' heroic failure, and after his victory his first thought +was of them and of their sorrowing mother. He asked Signora Mario if +there were any notabilities among the Papal prisoners. She mentioned +Captain Quatrebras and others, and he sent her into Rome on a mission +to the Papal commander with a view to exchanging these prisoners for +the wounded Giovanni and for his brother's body. The proposal was +accepted, and the compact kept after Mentana had changed the aspect of +affairs. + +'Garibaldi at the gates!' was the news that spread like wildfire +through Rome on the evening of the 26th of October. Terror, real +terror, and no less real joy filled all hearts; but the sides were +soon to be reversed. Another piece of news was not long in coming: +'The French at Civita Vecchia!' + +The French arrived on the 29th, and on the same day Garibaldi advanced +almost to the walls of Rome, still hoping for a revolutionary movement +to break out within the city; but the information which he then +received deprived him finally of this hope, and he gave the order to +return to Monte Rotondo. Volunteers have the defect of being soldiers +who _think_; on this occasion they thought that the backward march was +the beginning of the end--that, in short, the game was up. A third of +the whole number deserted, and took the road towards the Italian +frontier. Garibaldi himself seems to have had a first idea of crossing +into the Abruzzi, and there waiting to see what turn events would +take; but he did not long entertain it, and, when he again left Monte +Rotondo, it was with the fixed design of fighting a battle. He +expected, however, to fight the Papal troops alone, and not the +French. + +This was very nearly being the case. On the 1st of November, the Papal +General Kanzler called on General De Failly at Civita Vecchia, and +found him, to his concern, by no means anxious to rush into the fray. +Even when sending the troops, Napoleon seems to have hoped to escape +from being seriously compromised. He probably thought that the moral +effect of their landing would cause Garibaldi to retire, and that thus +the whole affair would collapse. But the Papal authorities did not +want it to collapse; they wanted more bloodshed, and if the words +which express the ungarnished truth as acknowledged by their own +writers and apologists, sound indecent when describing the government +of the Vicar of Christ, it only shows once more the irreconcilability +of the offices of priest and king in the nineteenth century. Kanzler +insisted that a crushing blow must be inflicted on the volunteers +before they had time to retreat. He argued so long and so well that De +Failly promised him a brigade under General Polhes to aid in the +attack which he proposed to make on Monte Rotondo. + +The Papal forces left Rome by Porta Pia, and took the Via Nomentana, +which leads to Monte Rotondo by Mentana. They were on the march at +four o'clock a.m. Garibaldi had ordered his men to be ready at dawn on +the same day (it was the 3rd of November); but Menotti suggested that, +before they started, there should be a distribution of shoes, a +consignment of which had just reached the camp. Many of the volunteers +were barefoot, which gives a notion of their general equipment. +Garibaldi, who rarely took advice, yielded to his son. Had he not done +so, before the Papal army reached Mentana, he would have been at +Tivoli. One delay brings another, and it was midday when the march +began. Garibaldi looked sad, and spoke to no one, but hummed some bars +of Riego's hymn, the Spanish song of freedom, full of a wild, sweet +pathos, to which his tanned-faced legionaries had marched under the +Monte Videan sun. Could he but have had with him those strong warriors +now! He mounted his horse, put it to a gallop, which he rarely did, +and, riding down the ranks of the column, took his place at its head. +When he arrived at the village of Mentana, he heard that the +Pontificals were close by, and he waited to give them battle. + +Mentana lies in a depression commanded by the neighbouring mounds, +not a good configuration for defence. This village in the Roman +Campagna sprang into history on a November day one thousand and +sixty-seven years before, as the meeting-place of Charlemagne and Leo +III. Here they shook hands over their bargain: that the Pope should +crown the great Charles Emperor, and that the Emperor should assure to +the Pope his temporal power. And now the ragged band of Italian youths +was come to say that of bargains between Popes and Emperors there had +been enough. + +They numbered less than 5000. General De Failly reckoned the Papal +troops engaged at 3000 and the French at 2000, but Italian authorities +compute the former at a higher figure. The most experienced of the +Garibaldian officers thought that the attackers were twice as numerous +as they were. At the first onslaught great confusion prevailed among +the volunteers. Mentana seemed lost, but the sound of the guns they +had captured at Monte Rotondo restored their _moral_, and making a +gallant rush forward they retook the principal positions with the +bayonet. As they saw the Pontificals swerve back they uttered cries of +joy. It was two o'clock. The enemy's fire slackened; something was +going on which the volunteers could not make out. All at once there +was a sharp unfamiliar detonation, resembling the whirring sound of a +machine. The French had come into action. + +A hailstorm of bullets mowed down the Garibaldian ranks. Their two +guns were useless, for the ammunition, seventy rounds in all, was +exhausted. They fought till four o'clock--till nearly their last +cartridge was gone; then they slowly retreated. Very few of them +guessed what that peculiar sound meant, or imagined that they had been +engaged with the French, but next morning Europe knew from General De +Failly's report that 'the Chassepots had done wonders.' + +Garibaldi left the field, haggard and aged, unable to reconcile +himself to a defeat which he thought that more discipline, more +steadiness in his rank and file, would have turned into a victory. He +had always demanded the impossible of his men; till now they had given +it to him. In time he judged more justly. Those miserably-armed lads +who lately had been glad to eat the herbs of the field, if haply they +found any, stood out for four hours against the pick of two regular +armies, one of which was supposed to be the finest in the world. They +had done well. + +Mentana remained that night in the hands of 1500 Garibaldians, who +still occupied the castle and most of the houses when the general +retreat was ordered. In the morning the Garibaldian officer who held +the castle capitulated, on condition that the volunteers 'shut up in +Mentana' should be reconducted across the frontier; terms which the +French and Papal generals interpreted to embrace only the defenders of +the castle. Eight hundred of the others were taken in triumph to Rome. +It would have been wiser to let them go. The Romans had been told that +the Garibaldians were cut-throats, incendiaries, human bloodhounds +waiting to fly at them. What did they behold? 'The beast is gentle,' +as Euripides makes his captors say of Dionysius. The stalwart Romans +saw a host of boys, with pale, wistful, very young-looking faces. If +anything was wanting to seal the fate of the Temporal Power it was the +sight of that procession of famished and wounded Italians brought to +Rome by the foreigner. + +The victors, however, were jubilant. Their inharmonious shouts of +_Vive Pie Neuf_ vexed the delicate Roman ears. It was the battle-cry +of the day of Mentana. Begun by the masked, finished by the unmasked +soldiers of France, Mentana was a French victory, and it was the last. + +The Garibaldian retreat continued through the night to Passo Corese on +the Italian frontier. The silence of the Campagna was only broken by +little gusts of a chilly wind off the Tiber; it seemed as if a +spectral army moved without sound. Garibaldi rode with his hat pressed +down over his eyes; only once he spoke: 'It is the first time they +make me turn my back like this,' he said to an old comrade, 'it would +have been better ...' He stopped, but it was easy to supply the words: +'to die.' + +As he was getting into the train at Figline, with the intention of +going straight to Caprera, he was placed under arrest by order of the +Italian Government. His officers had their hands on their swords, but +he forbade their using force. The arrest seemed an unnecessary slight +on the beaten man, who had loved Italy too well. But General Menabrea, +who ordered it, believes that he thereby saved Italian unity. +According to an account given by him many years after to the +correspondent of an English newspaper, Napoleon wrote at this juncture +to King Victor Emmanuel, that as he was not strong enough to govern +his kingdom, he, Napoleon, was about to help him by relieving him of +all parts of it except Piedmont, Lombardy and Venetia. The arrest of +Garibaldi, by showing that the King 'could govern,' averted the +impending danger. In communicating it to Napoleon, the King is said to +have added 'that Italians would lose their last drop of blood before +consenting to disruption,' a warning which he was not unlikely to +give, but the whole story lacks verisimilitude. It appears more +credible that an old man's memory is at fault than that a letter, so +colossally insolent, was actually written. Menabrea, and even the +King, may have feared that something of the kind was in the mind of +the Emperor. + +As after Aspromonte so after Mentana; Garibaldi was confined in the +fortress of Varignano, on the bay of Spezia. A few weeks later he was +released and sent to Caprera. As he left the fortress-prison he wrote +the words: 'Farewell, Rome; farewell, Capitol; who knows who will +think of thee, and when?' + +The last crusade was over; destiny would do the rest. + + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ROME, THE CAPITAL + +1867-1870 + +M. Rouher's 'Never'--Papal Infallibility--Sedan--The Breach in Porta +Pia--The King of Italy in Rome. + + +Mentana had its epilogue in the debate in the French Corps Legislatif, +which lasted from the 2nd to the 5th of December. Jules Favre proposed +a vote of censure on the Ministry for their Roman policy. The most +distinguished speaker who followed him was Thiers, who said that +though in opposition, he would support the Government tooth and nail +in their defence of French interests at Rome. The debate was wound up +by the memorable declaration of the Prime Minister, Rouher, that +'never' should Italy get possession of Rome. 'Is that clear?' he +asked. It was quite clear. The word escaped him, he afterwards said, +in 'the heat of improvisation.' The French Chamber confirmed it by +throwing out Favre's motion by 237 votes against 17. + +Now, indeed, the Ultramontanes were jubilant throughout the world. +Napoleon was compromised, enmeshed beyond extrication. + +Of all these events, Prussia, or rather the great man who was the +brain of Prussia, took attentive note. He was convinced that the +wonders accomplished by the Chassepot at Mentana would soon lead +France to try the effect of the new rifle on larger game. Among the +measures which he took with a view to that contingency, his +correspondence with Mazzini is not the least remarkable. It began in +November 1867, and was continued for a year. The object of both +Bismarck and Mazzini was to prevent Italy from taking sides with +France. The negotiations were carried on partly through Count +d'Usedom, Prussian Minister at Florence, and partly through other +intermediaries. Mazzini began by saying, that although the +Chancellor's methods of unification had not his sympathy, he admired +his energy, tenacity and independence; that he believed in German +unity and opposed the supremacy which France arrogated to herself in +Europe. He engaged to use his influence in Italy to make it difficult +for an Italian Government to take up arms for the victors of Mentana. +Bismarck was well aware that in speaking of his influence the writer +used no idle phrase, but possibly one of his reasons for continuing +the correspondence was to find out what Mazzini knew of the hidden +plots and counter plots then in manufacture both in Paris and at +Florence, because the Italian was more conversant with diplomatic +secrets than any man living, except, perhaps, Cardinal Antonelli. In +April 1868, Mazzini received through the Prussian Embassy at Florence, +a document which even now possesses real interest on the relative +advantages to Italy of a French or German Alliance. The whole question +turned, observed the Prussian Chancellor, on the mastery of the +Mediterranean: here France and Italy must find themselves at variance +whether they willed it or not. 'The configuration of the terrestrial +globe not being amenable to change, they will be always rivals and +often enemies.' Nature has thrown between them an apple of discord, +the possession of which they will not cease to contest. The +Mediterranean ought to become an Italian lake. 'It is impossible for +Italy to put up with the perpetual threats of France to obtain the +mastery over Tunis, which would be for her the first stage to arriving +in Sardinia.' + +At the Berlin Congress eight years later, Prince Bismarck pressed the +same views upon Count Corti, the Italian delegate. He would have been +glad to see the Italians go to Tunis, but Count Corti ingenuously +replied: 'You want to make us quarrel with France.' Meanwhile the +Englishman who represented France and the Englishman who represented +England were discussing the same subject, and out of their discussion +arose the French occupation of Tunis. Disquieting rumours got about at +once, but they were dispelled. 'No French Government would be so +rash,' said Gambetta, 'as to make Italy the _irreconcilable_ foe of +France.' M. Waddington declared that he was personally opposed to the +acquisition of Tunis, and gave his word of honour that nothing would +be done without the full consent of Italy. What was done and how it +was done is known to all. And so it happens that a great French naval +station is in course of construction almost within sight of Sicily +_and of Malta._ + +In the document communicated by Bismarck to Mazzini, there is a +curious inclusion of Trieste among Italian seaports which seems to +indicate that he was still not averse from a rectification of the +Italian north-east frontier. Whence it may be supposed that he +expected to find Austria ranged on the part of France in the struggle +for the Rhine bank. To explain how it was that this did not happen, we +must leave the Chancellor and the Revolutionist, and see what at the +same time was going on between Napoleon on the one side and Austria +and Italy on the other. + +The French Emperor was not so infatuated as to court the risk of +making war on Prussia single-handed if he could avoid it. He hoped for +a triple alliance of France, Austria and Italy, or, if that could not +be compassed, a dual alliance of France with either of these Powers. +Now, wisely or unwisely, both the Italian and Austrian Governments +were far from rejecting these proposals off-hand. The secret +negotiations lasted from 1868 till June 1869. They took the shape of +informal letters between the King of Italy and Napoleon, and of +private communications with Count Beust through Prince Metternich, the +Austrian Ambassador in Paris, who was the intimate friend and +confidant of the Emperor and Empress. General Menabrea was not let +into the secret till later. With regard to Victor Emmanuel, there is +no doubt that he wished with all his heart to be able to do a good +turn to his Imperial ally of 1859 if the occasion presented itself. +Some men see their wives even to old age as they saw them when they +were young and fair. The first print on the retina of the mental +vision was so strong that no later impression can change or efface it. +This hallucination is not confined to the marital relationship, and +Victor Emmanuel never left off seeing Napoleon in one sole light: as +the friend of Solferino. It may be that he perceived what the Italians +did not perceive: that the obligation was owed to Napoleon alone, +while all France had a part in the subsequent injuries. At any rate +the idea of refusing the Emperor's appeal was repugnant in the extreme +to the Italian King, who personally would have strained any point +rather than give that refusal. + +The King, however, and General Menabrea, who was finally admitted into +the conspiracy, could not be blind to the fact that an unpopular war +might create so great an agitation in the country that the dynasty +itself would be in danger. A war for France while the French were in +Rome would have raised one storm of indignation from Palermo to Turin. +So their ultimatum was this: Rome capital of Italy, or no alliance. + +There remained Austria, but if Napoleon ever hoped to conclude a +separate treaty with her, he was to discover his mistake. From the +moment that Austria resigned the Iron Crown, the symbol of her Italian +power, she acted towards Italy with a loyalty that has few parallels +in history. And she, too, replied to Napoleon: Rome capital of Italy, +or no alliance. + +The Vatican has never forgiven this to Austria. At the present hour, +while republican France with her open antagonism to all religion, is +the favoured daughter of the Church, Austria, the only country in +Europe except Spain where the Roman Catholic cultus retains all its +original pomp and almost all its mediaeval privileges, meets from the +Vatican a studied plan of opposition, the object of which can only be +to bring her Government to a deadlock. From France the Pope still +hopes for aid in the recovery of his temporalities; from Austria he +knows that he will never receive it. So much have politics and so +little has religion to do now, as in all ages, with the motives that +govern the Holy See. + + Ahi, Costantin, di quanto mal fu matre + Non la tua conversion, ma quella dote + Che da te prese il primo ricco patre! + +The years 1868 and 1869 passed uneventfully for Italy. In the former +year Prince Humbert married his cousin Margherita of Savoy. He was +previously engaged to the Archduchess Matilda, the only daughter of +the Victor of Custoza, but the young Princess met with a terrible +death just when the betrothal was about to be announced. No one +worthier to receive from Adelaide of Burgundy the lovely title of +Queen of Italy could have been found than the Princess Margaret, who +inherited the sunny charm which had endeared her father, the Duke of +Genoa, to all who knew him. + +In the autumn of 1869 another domestic event, the severe illness of +Victor Emmanuel, gave rise to an incident which made a deep impression +in Italy, and attached the nation by one link more to the King of its +choice. The illness which seized Victor Emmanuel at his hunting-box +of San Rossore, in a malarious part of Tuscany, proved so serious +that his life was despaired of. A priest was called to hear the King's +last confession, and to administer the Sacraments for the dying. After +hearing the confession, the priest said he could not give absolution +unless Victor Emmanuel signed a solemn retractation of all the acts +performed during his reign that were contrary to the interests of the +Church. The King answered, without a moment's hesitation, that he died +a Christian and a Catholic, and that if he had wronged anyone he +sincerely repented and asked pardon of God, but the signature demanded +was a political act, and if the priest wished to talk politics his +ministers were in the next room. Thither the ecclesiastic retired, but +he very soon returned, and administered the rite without more ado. +What had passed was this: General Menabrea, with a decision for which +he cannot be too much praised, threatened the priest with instant +arrest unless he surrendered his pretensions. Only those who know the +extraordinary terror inspired in an Italian Catholic by the prospect +of dying unshriven can appreciate the merit of the King, whose faith +was childlike, in standing as firm in the presence of supernatural +arms as he stood before the Austrian guns. + +Menabrea's administration was then upon the eve of falling. The cause +was one of those financial crises that were symptomatic of a mischief +which has been growing from then till now, when some critics think +they see in it the fatal upas tree of Italy. The process of +transforming a country where everything was wanting--roads, railways, +lines of navigation, schools, water, lighting, sanitary provisions, +and the other hundred thousand requirements of modern life--into the +Italy of to-day, where all these things have made leaps almost +incredible to those who knew her in her former state, has proved +costly without example. During the whole period it has been necessary +to spend in ever-increasing ratio on the army and navy, and this +expenditure, though emphatically not the chief, has yet been a +concomitant cause of financial trouble. The point cannot be inquired +into here of how far greater wisdom and higher character in Italian +public servants might have limited the evil and reconciled progress +with economy; but it may be said that if the path entered upon by the +man who took charge of the exchequer after Menabrea's fall, Quintino +Sella, had been rigorously followed by his successors, the present +situation would not be what it is. + +Giovanni Lanza assumed the premiership in the government in which +Sella was Minister of Finance. Both these politicians were +Piedmontese, and both were known as men of conspicuous integrity, but +Lanza's rigid conservatism made it seem unlikely that the Roman +question would take a fresh turn under his administration. In +politics, however, the unlikely is what generally happens; events are +stronger than men. + +On the 8th of December the twenty-first Ecumenical Council assembled +in Rome. From the day of its meeting, in spite of the strenuous +opposition of its most learned and illustrious members, there was no +more doubt that the dogma under consideration would be voted by the +partly astute and partly complaisant majority than that it would have +been rejected in the twenty preceding Councils. On the 18th of July +1870, the Pope was proclaimed Infallible. + +That was a moment of excitement such as has not often thrilled Europe, +but the cause was not the Infallibility of Pius IX. On the 16th, +Napoleon declared war with Prussia. War, like death, comes as a shock, +however plainly it has been foreseen; besides, it was only the +well-informed who knew how near the match had been to the +powder-magazine for two years and more. Whether the explosion, at the +last, was timed by Napoleon or by Bismarck is not of great importance; +it could have been but little delayed. Napoleon was beset alike by the +revolutionary spectre and by the gaunt King of Terrors; he knew the +throw was desperate, but with the gambler's instinct, which had always +been so strong in him, he was magnetised by it because it was +desperate. Pitiful egotist though he was, history may forgive him +sooner than it forgives the selfish Chauvinism of Thiers, who had been +goading his countrymen to war ever since Sadowa, or the insane bigotry +of the party which, having triumphed over revolution at Mentana, now +sought to triumph over heresy in what the Empress called 'Ma guerre.' + +Napoleon had the remaining sagacity to see the extreme danger of +leaving a few thousand men isolated in Rome at a time when, happen +what might, it would be impossible to reinforce them. Directly after +declaring war, notwithstanding the cries of the Ultramontanes, he +decided on recalling the French troops. He induced the Italian +Government to resume the obligations of the September Convention, by +which the inviolability of the Papal frontier was guaranteed. Lanza is +open to grave criticism for entering into a contract which it was +morally certain that he would not be able to keep. Perhaps he hoped +that Napoleon would himself release Italy from her bond. But the +'Jamais' of Rouher stood in the way. Could the Emperor, after such +boasting, coolly throw the Pope overboard the first time it suited his +convenience? Moreover, his present Prime Minister, M. Emile Olivier, +when the question was put to him, did not hesitate to renew the +declaration that the Italians must not be allowed to go to Rome. + +Napoleon made some last frantic efforts to get Austria and Italy to +befriend him unconditionally. How far he knew the real state of his +army before he declared war may be doubtful, but that he possessed +overwhelming proof of it, even before the first defeats, cannot be +doubted at all. His heart was not so light as his Prime Minister's. At +the end of July he sent General Tuerr on a secret mission to try and +obtain the help of Austria and Italy. The Hungarian general wrote from +Florence, that unless something could be done to assure Italy that the +national question would be settled in accordance with the wishes of +her people, the Italian alliance was not possible. The Convention, he +pointed out, was a bane instead of a boon to Italy. This letter was +answered by a telegram through the French Ambassador at Vienna: 'Can't +do anything for Rome; if Italy will not march, let her stand still. + +As in the former negotiations, Austria took her stand on precisely the +same ground as Italy. And thus it was that France plunged into the +campaign of 1870 single-handed. + +After Woerth, and once more after Gravelotte, the endeavour to draw +Italy into the struggle was renewed. Napoleon was aware that Victor +Emmanuel was wildly anxious to come to the rescue, and on this +personal goodwill his last hope was built. Prince Napoleon was +despatched from the camp at Chalons to see what he could do. At this +eleventh hour (19th August) Napoleon was ready to yield about Rome. At +the camp, the influence which guided him in Paris was less felt, or it +is probable that he would not have yielded even now. Prince Napoleon +carried a sheet of white paper with the Emperor's signature at the +foot. He showed it to Lanza when he reached Florence, and told him to +fill it up as he chose. Whatever he asked for was already granted. A +month before, such terms would have won both Italy and Austria--not +now. + +The Prince found his father-in-law eager to give the 50,000 men that +were asked for, but the ministers protested that the Italian army was +unprepared for war. Still, to satisfy the King, who signified his +irritation so clearly to Lanza that this good servant was on the point +of resigning, they agreed to submit the case to Austria; if Austria +would co-operate, they would re-consider their decision. Austria +replied: 'Too late.' + +When, in 1873, Victor Emmanuel paid a visit to Berlin, he caused some +sensation at a grand State banquet by saying to his host: 'But for +these gentlemen' (and he waved his hand towards the ministers who +accompanied him) 'I should have gone to war with you.' Courtiers did +not know which way to look, but the aged Emperor was not displeased by +the soldierly bluntness of the avowal. + +Prince Napoleon remained in Florence, throwing away his eloquence, +till the 2nd of September cut short the argument. When he had left his +cousin, the Emperor was resolved to fall back on Paris according to +MacMahon's plan, but the ministers and the Empress Regent forced him +to his doom. On the 2nd of September Sedan was lost; on the 4th the +Empire fell. + +'And to think,' exclaimed Victor Emmanuel when he heard the news, +'that this good man was always wanting to give me advice!' + +From the date of the declaration of war, and still more since the +evacuation of Rome by the French troops (begun on the 29th of July, +ended on the 19th of August), Italy had been too deeply agitated for +any sane person to suppose that the prescriptive right of the nation +to seize the opportunity which offered itself of completing its unity +could be resisted by the artificial dyke of a compromise which made +the Government the instrument of France. Lanza was determined to +maintain order; he had Mazzini arrested at Palermo, and suppressed +disorders where they occurred, but the rising tide of the will of the +people could not be suppressed, and had the ministry resisted it, +something more than the ministry would have fallen. + +In justification of Lanza's slowness to move, and of the apparent, if +not real, unwillingness with which he took every forward step, it is +contended that more precipitate action would have caused what most +people will agree would have been a misfortune for Italy, the +departure of the Pope from Rome. It was only on the 20th of August +that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Visconti-Venosta, sent a +memorandum to the European Powers which announced that the Government +had decided on occupying Rome at once. A week after, the fall of the +Empire came as a godsend to the ministry which had possibly hardly +deserved such a stroke of luck. They were no longer hampered by the +September Convention, because the September Convention was dead. This +was amply admitted by Jules Favre, though he declined to denounce the +treaty formally; even a French Radical, in the hour of setting up the +Republic, was afraid to proclaim aloud that France renounced all claim +to interfere in her neighbour's concerns. + +Of the other Powers, Switzerland signified her approval, and the rest +engaged to abstain from any opposition. + +The King addressed a letter to the Pope, in which, with the affection +of a son and the faith of a Catholic, he appealed to his spirit of +benevolence and his Italian patriotism to speak the word of peace in +the midst of the storm of war that was distracting Europe, and to +accept the love and protection of the people of Italy in lieu of a +sovereignty which could not stand without the support of foreign arms. +Pius IX. merely answered by saying that the letter was not worthy of +an affectionate son, and that he prayed God to bestow upon His Majesty +the mercy of which he had much need. To the bearer of the royal +appeal, Count Ponza di San Martino, he said that he might yield to +violence, but would never sanction injustice. + +This was about the time that the Pope, on his side, wrote an appeal +not, be it observed, to any Catholic monarch, but to King William of +Prussia, who would certainly not have read unmoved the complaint of +one who, like himself, was crowned with white hairs, but Count +Bismarck took the precaution of causing the letter not to reach his +master's hands till the Italians were in Rome. + +The day following the Pope's interview with Count Ponza, the 11th of +September, the Italian troops received the order to enter the Papal +states. For several weeks five divisions under General Cadorna had +been in course of concentration along the frontier; this force now +marched on Rome. Bixio was sent to Civita Vecchia where resistance was +expected, and had been ordered by Kanzler, but the native element +prevailed over the foreign in the garrison, and the Spanish +commandant, Colonel Serra, interpreting the wishes of the Roman +troops, surrendered without firing a shot. + +Great was the indignation of the French and Belgian Zouaves. They were +resolved that the same thing should not happen in Rome. That there was +a chance of avoiding bloodshed may be inferred, from Count Arnim's +numerous journeys between the Vatican and General Cadorna's +headquarters outside Porta Salara; the Prussian representative hoping +till the last moment to arrange matters in a pacific sense. Cardinal +Antonelli is said to have been nearly persuaded, when he received a +message from Colonel Charette in these terms: 'You had better go and +say mass while we look after defending you.' The war party so far +carried the day that the Pope adhered to his plan of 'sufficient +resistance to show that he yielded only to force.' + +At half-past five on the morning of the 20th of September, all +attempts at conciliation having failed, the Italian attack was opened +upon five different points, Porta San Pancrazio, Porta San Giovanni +Laterano, Porta San Lorenzo, Porta del Popolo and Porta Pia. General +Maze de la Roche's division attacked the latter gate, and the wall +near it, in which a breach was rapidly effected by the steady fire of +the Italian batteries, though it was not till past eight o'clock that +it seemed large enough to admit of an assault. Then the 41st of the +line, and the 12th and 34th Bersaglieri were ordered up, and dashed +into the breach with the cry of 'Savoia! Savoia!' The challenge was +returned by the Zouaves with their 'Vive Pie Neuf.' They had been +already ordered to desist, as the Pope's instructions were clear, 'to +stop when a breach was made;' but on the plea that the order was sent +to them verbally they continued firing. When the written order came, +they displayed a white handkerchief fastened to a bayonet, and at this +point the fight was over. Hundreds of Roman exiles poured through the +breach after the soldiers; 15,000 of them had arrived or were arriving +at the gates of the city. + +At the same time the white flag was hoisted on Porta Pia, but on the +advance of the 40th Regiment and a battalion of Bersaglieri, shots +were fired which killed and wounded several officers and men; when +they saw their companions falling, the troops could not be restrained +from scaling the barricade which had been formed to defend the gate, +and surrounding and capturing the Zouaves who were behind it. The +whole Diplomatic Corps now came out in full uniform to urge General +Cadorna to effect the occupation as quickly as possible, that order +might be maintained. By midday, the Italian troops had penetrated into +most parts of the city left of the Tiber; as yet there was no formal +capitulation on the part of the Zouaves, and their attitude was not +exactly reassuring. This did not prevent the population, both men and +women, from filling the streets and greeting the Italians with every +sign of rejoicing. They cheered, they wept, they kissed the national +flag, and the cry of _Roma Capitale_ drowned all other cries, even as +the fact it saluted closed the discords and the factions of ages. + +In the afternoon all the Papal troops were persuaded to lay down their +arms, which, in the case of the foreigners, were given back to them. +Next day they were reviewed by General Cadorna. As the Italians +presented arms to the retiring host, some of the Antibes Legion +shouted at them: 'We are French, we shall meet you again.' The Roman +troops were sent to their homes; the foreigners conducted to the +frontier, Charette and other of the French officers went to the +battlefields of their prostrate country, and thus it came to pass that +the Pope's defenders were found fighting side by side with Garibaldi; +they, indeed, only doing their simple duty, but he, acting on an +impulse of Quixotic generosity which was repaid--the world knows how! + +Cadorna received three pressing requests from the Pope to occupy the +Leonine City, and the third he granted. The idea of leaving the part +of Rome on which the Vatican stands under the Pope's jurisdiction had +been long favoured by a certain class of politicians, and Lanza made +a last effort to give it effect by excluding the Leonine City from the +plebiscite which was ordered to take place in Rome and in the Roman +province on the 2nd of October. It was in vain. The first voting urn +to arrive at the Capitol on the appointed day was a glass receptacle +borne by a huge Trasteverino, and preceded by a banner inscribed: +'Citta Leonina Si.' As the Government had not supplied the inhabitants +with an official urn, it occurred to them to provide themselves with +an unofficial one in which they duly deposited their votes. The Roman +plebiscite yielded the results of 133,681 affirmative and 1507 +negative votes. + +In December the Italian Parliament met for the last time in the Hall +of the Five Hundred. 'Italy,' said the King in the speech from the +throne, 'is free and united; it depends on us to make her great and +happy.' Of this last session at Florence the principal labour was the +Act embodying the Papal guarantees which was intended to safeguard the +legitimate independence and decorum of the Holy See on the lines +formerly advocated by Cavour. Neither extreme party was satisfied, but +it seemed at first not unlikely that the Pope would tacitly acquiesce +in the arrangement. The first monthly payment of the national +dotation, calculated to correspond with his civil list, was accepted. +But though the influence of Cardinal Antonelli and the Italian +prelates had been sufficient to keep the Pope in Rome, the influence +of those who wished him to leave it was strong enough to establish at +the Vatican the intransigent policy which has been pursued till now. + +During the flood of the Tiber which devastated the city that winter, +the King of Italy paid a first informal visit to his capital, +accompanied only by a few attendants, and bent on bringing help to +the suffering population. In July 1872, he made his solemn entry, and +at the same time the seat of Government was transferred to the Eternal +City. + + * * * * * + +Victor Emmanuel could say what few men have been able to say of so +large a promise: 'I have kept my word.' He gathered up the Italian +flag from the dust of Novara, and carried it to the Capitol. In spite +of the grandeur of republican tradition in Italy, and the lofty +character of the men who represented it during the struggle for unity, +a study of these events leaves on the mind the conviction that, at +least in our time, the country could neither have been freed from the +stranger nor welded into a single body-politic without a symbol which +appealed to the imagination, and a centre of gravity which kept the +diverse elements together by giving the whole its proper balance. The +Liberating Prince whom Machiavelli sought was found in the Savoyard +King. 'Quali porte se gli serrerebbono? Quali popoli gli negherebbono +la obbedienza? Quale invidia se gli opporrebbe? Quale Italiano gli +negherebbe l'ossequio?' To fill the appointed part Victor Emmanuel +possessed the supreme qualification, which was patriotism. Though he +came of an ambitious race, not even his enemies could with any +seriousness bring to his charge personal ambition, since every step +which took him further from the Alps, his fathers' cradle, involved a +sacrifice of tastes and habits, and of most that made life congenial. +When his work was finished, though he was not old, he had the +presentiment that he should not long survive its completion. And so it +proved. + +In the first days of January 1878, the King was seized with one of +those attacks on the lungs which his vigorous constitution had +hitherto enabled him to throw off. But in Rome this kind of illness is +more fatal than elsewhere, and the doctors were soon obliged to tell +him that there was no hope. 'Are we come to that?' he asked; and then +directed that the chaplain should be summoned. There was no repetition +of the scene at San Rossore; the highest authority had already +sanctioned the administration of the Sacraments to the dying King, nay, +it is said that the Pope's first impulse was to be himself the bearer +of them. At that hour the man got the better of the priest; Francis +drove out Dominic. The heart that had been made to pity and the lips +that had been formed to bless returned to their natural functions. +When the aged Pius heard that all was over, exclaimed: 'He died like a +Christian, a Sovereign and an honest man (galantuomo).' Very soon the +Pope followed the King to the grave, and so, almost together, these +two historical figures disappear. + +Six years before, solitary and unsatisfied, Mazzini died at Pisa, his +heart gnawed with the desire of the extreme, as the hearts have been +of all those who aspired less to change what men do, or even what they +believe, than what they are. More deep than political regrets was the +pain with which he watched the absorption of human energies, in the +race for wealth, for ease, for material happiness; he discerned that +if the egotism of capital led to oppression, the egotism of labour +would lead to anarchy. To the end he preached the moral law of which +he had been the apostle through life. His last message to his +countrymen, written when the pen was falling from his hand, was a +warning to Italian workingmen to beware of the false gods of the new +socialism. When others saw darkness he saw light; now, Cassandra-like, +he saw darkness when others saw light; yet he did not doubt the +ultimate triumph of the light, but he no longer thought that his eyes +would see it, and he was glad to close them. + +Less sad, notwithstanding his physical martyrdom, were Garibaldi's +last years. Italy showed him an unforgetting love; when he came to the +continent, the same multitudes waited for him as of old, but instead +of cheers there was a not less impressive silence now, lest the +invalid should be disturbed. Soon after the transfer of the capital he +went to Rome to speak in favour of the works by which it was proposed +to control the inundations of the Tiber, and it was curious to hear it +said on all sides that, of course, the Tiber works must be taken in +hand as Garibaldi wished it. Pius IX. summed up the situation wittily +in the remark: 'Lately we were two here; now we are three.' The old +hero invoked the day when bayonets might be turned into pruning-hooks, +but he by no means thought that it had arrived, and in the meanwhile +he urged the Italians to look to their defences, and above all, 'to be +strong on the sea, like England.' In the matter of government he +remained the impenitent advocate of the rule of one honest man--call +him Dictator or what you please, so he be one! Garibaldi died at +Caprera on the 2nd of June 1882. The play was ended, the actors +vanished: + + [Greek: Dote kroton, kai pantes hymeis meta charas ktypesate.] + +A new epoch has begun which need not detain the chronicler of Italian +Liberation. The prose of possession succeeds the poetry of desire. +Nothing, however, can lessen the greatness of the achievement. With +regard to the future, it may be allowable to recall the superstition +which, like so many other seemingly meaningless beliefs, becomes full +of meaning when read according to the spirit: that a house stands long +if its foundations be watered with the blood of sacrifice. No work of +man was ever watered with a purer blood than the restoration of Italy +to the ranks of living nations. And the last word of this book shall +be Hope. + + + * * * * * + +Colston and Company, Printers, Edinburgh. + + + + +INDEX + + + Albrecht, Archduke, 364, 369. + + Alessandria, 225. + + Alfieri, 8, 18. + + Alemann, General, 379. + + Amedeo, Prince, 169, 344, 368. + + Amadeus, Victor, 73. + + Amadeus with the Tail, 172. + + Ampere, 237. + + Andreoli, Giuseppe, 51. + + Antonelli, Cardinal, 101, 130, 184, 189, 191, 398, 409. + + Anzani, Francesco, 124. + + Appel, General, 140. + + Arnim, Count, 409. + + Aspre, d', General, 104, 139, 140. + + Aspromonte, 300, 348, 350. + + Austerlitz, 5. + + Azeglio, Massimo d', 73, 74, 113, 175, 190, 195, 206. + + + Bandiera, 67-69. + + Bassi, Ugo, 154. 163. + + Bastide, Jules, 117. + + Bava, General, 106, 114. + + Bazaine, Marshal, 243 + + Beauharnais, Eugene, 6-9. + + Beauregard, Costa de, 224. + + Bellegarde, Marshal, 9-11. + + Benedek, 240, 244, 245. + + Bentinck, Lord William, 7, 11, 13, 14. + + Bentivegna, Count, 209. + + Berlin, Congress of, 399. + + Bertani, Dr, 231, 297, 309. + + Beust, Count, 400. + + Bianchi, B. dei, 330. + + Bismarck, 358, 397-8, 408. + + Bixio, 101, 272, 301, 318, 360, 368, 408. + + Boccheciampi, 68. + + Borjes, Jose, 331. + + Brescia, Revolution at, 142, 232, 245, 343. + + Briganti, General, 301, 302, + + Brofferio, 179. + + Bronzetta, Pilade, 318, 320. + + Bubna, Count, 43. + + Brunetti, Angelo, 82. + + Buol, Count, 223. + + Buonaparte, Joseph, 6. + + Buonaparte, Lucien, 213. + + + Cadorna, Gen., 408-9, 410-11. + + Caiazzo, 316. + + Cairoli, Benedetto, 281, 380, 391. + + Calabria helps Garibaldi, 300. + + Calandrelli, 184. + + Calatafimi, 278. + + Calderai del Contrapeso, 24. + + Campo Formio, Treaty of, 4. + + Canrobert, General, 229. + + Capponi, 39, 135. + + Caprera, 221, 325, 328, 337, 385, 396. + + Capua, War around, 305, 318; + capitulation, 326. + + Carignano, Prince of, 30, 32, 37. + + Carignano. Eugene de, 333. + + Carlyle, Thomas, 69. + + Caroline, Queen, 13. + + Casati, 100. + + Caserta, 314, 318. + + Carusso, 331. + + Castelfidardo, 322, 337. + + Castelnuovo, burning of village, 107. + + Castel Sant Elmo, 306, 307. + + Castiglione, Count, 370. + + Castlereagh, Lord, 11, 12, 14, 27. + + Cattaneo, 100; party of, + + Cavour, Count, 85; + becomes minister, 192; + resolves Piedmont shall join Allies in Crimean War, 202; + visits England, 204; + meets Napoleon at Plombieres, 247; + resigns office, 249; + recalled, 260; + resolves to invade Papal States, 310; + Garibaldi's veterans, 335; + Rome to be capital, 337; + death, 339. + + Centurioni, Society of, 78. + + Charette, General, 389. + + Charles III, 208, 236. + + Charles Albert, 30, 31, 34, 36, 38, 46; + accession 56; + Re Tentenna, 74; + promulgates Charter, 94; + retreat to Milan, 114; + abdicates, 141; + burial, 181. + + Charles Emmanuel. 19, 30. + + Charles Felix, Duke of Genoa, 30, 31, 36, 56. + + Charles Ludovico, 87. + + Chiavone, General, 330. + + Chretien, General, 284, 286. + + Chrzanowski, 139, 140. + + Cialdini, General, 322, 328, 332, 348, 366, 370, 337. + + Cipriani, L., 255. + + Civita Vecchia, the French at, 391-408. + + Clam Gallas, Count, 243. + + Clarendon, Lord, 185, 206. + + Clary, General, 292. + + Clotilde, Princess, 217, 218. + + Colonna, General, 281. + + Commacchio, 16. + + Confalonieri, Count, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 64. + + Conneau, 216. + + Corsini, Prince, 130, 135. + + Corti, Count, 399. + + Cosenz, 301, 308, 360. + + Cowley, Lord, 260. + + Crispi, Francesco, 269, 292, 294. + + Cristina, Princess, 238. + + Crocco, 331. + + Custozza, 114, 370. + + + Dalmatia, sold with Venice, 364. + + Dante, 1-3, 341, 363. + + De Castillia, 42. + + Del Bosco, 290, 291. + + Depretis, Agostino, 293. + + D'Este, Francis. 31, 51. + + Dolfi, Giuseppe, 235. + + Drouyn de Lhuys, 184. + + Dunne, Colonel, 289, 319. + + Durando, General. 102, 107, 112. + + + Eboli. 303. + + Elliot, Mr, 314. + + Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, 199, 266. + + + Falloux, de, 185. + + Fanti, General, 257, 312, 334. + + Farini, L.C., 73, 127, 237, 255, 257, 333, 339. + + Faro, Cape of, 297, 298, 300. + + Favre, Jules. 215, 397. + + Ferdinand II., 48, 90, 92, 93, 102, 188, 237. + + Ferdinand III., 12, 26, 28. + + Ferdinand, Emperor of Austria, 118. + + Ferrara, Austrians in, 16. + + Ferretti, Cardinal, 82. + + Fleury, General, 247. + + Florence, capital of Italy, 352-411. + + Forbes, Commander, 304, 305. + + Foscolo, Ugo, 17, 18. + + Fra Giacomo. 201, 339. + + Francis I., 47. + + Francis II., 238, 267, 295, 299, 306, 327, 330. + + Francis Joseph, Emperor, 119, 160, 227, 240, 242, 249. + + + Gaeta, Fall of, 317-326. + + Gamba, Pietro, 24, 50. + + Gambetta, 399. + + Gaminara, Emmanuele, 9. + + Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 64, 120; + declared enemy of the State, 121; + in South America, 123; + marries Anita, 123; + in Rome, 148; + death of Anita, 158; + leaves Caprera, 221, 256-263; + Sicilian expedition, 256; + march on Naples, 298; + Battle of Solferino, 319; + of Garigliano, 323; + returns to Caprera, 325, 334, 347; + wounded, 349; arrested, 383; in Rome, 391; + defeat at Mentana, 394; death, 414. + + Garibaldi, Menotti, 257, 280, 286, 386, 392. + + Garigliano, Battle of, 323. + + Genoa, ceded to Sardinia, 13-15. + + Genoa, Charles Felix, Duke of, 30-32. + + Ghio, General, 302, 303. + + Giacinta di Collegno, 38. + + Gioberti, 78, 133. + + Gladstone, W.E., 187. + + Goito, Battle of, 112. + + Gravelotte, Battle of, 405. + + Gregory XVI., 50, 76, 77. + + Guerrazzi, 135, 136. + + Gyulai, Count, 227, 230, 231, 240. + + + Haynau, General, 145, 162. + + Hess, General, 228, 230, 242. + + Hilliers, Baraguay d', 229. + + Hoche, 5. + + Hortense, Queen, 55. + + Humbert of the White Hands, 172. + + + Immaculate Conception, Doctrine of, 77. + + + Jesuits, 51, 75, 128, 379. + + + Kanzler, General, 392. + + Kellersperg, Baron von, 227. + + Klapka, General, 357. + + Kohlen-Brenners, 22. + + Kossuth, 246, 253. + + Kuhn, General, 372. + + + Laderchi, Count, 40. + + La Farina, 295. + + La Gala, 331. + + Lamartine, 117 + + La Marmora, General, 170, 171, 202. 348, 352, + 357, 359, 361-366 + + Lamoriciere, General, 311, 313. + + Lannes, Marshal, 231. + + Lanza, General, 282, 283, 286, 403, 406, 407. + + Le Boeuf, General, 379. + + Leo XII., 49. + + Leopardi, 186. + + Leopold II., 89, 159, 234. + + Lesseps, Ferdinand, 151, 154. + + Letizia, General, 284, 286. + + Liborio Romano, 306. + + Lincoln, President, 343. + + Lissa, Battle of, 374. + + Lodi, 4. + + Lombardy, trials in, 40; Revolution, 100, 162. + + Louis Philippe, 128. + + Lucca, 16. + + + Machiavelli, 2, 3, 52, 412. + + MacMahon, Marshal, 229, 233, 244, 406. + + Magenta, Battle of, 232, 234, 236. + + Malghella, 23. + + Malmesbury, Lord, 223. + + Mamelli, Goffredo, 154, 155. + + Manin, Daniel, 99, 116, 160, 168, 203. + + Mantua, Prince Eugene in, 8-10; + gallant defence, 105. + + Manzoni, Alessandro, 19. + + Margaret, Queen, 199, 401. + + Maria Adelaide, Queen, 169. + + Maria Teresa, Queen, 31. + + Marie Louise, Empress, 12, 31; + death, 88. + + Marie Sofia, Princess, 237. + + Mamiani, Terenzio, 126, 131. + + Maroncelli, Pietro, 44. + + Marryat, Captain, 274. + + Marsala, 274, 276, 345. + + Martinengo, Count, 145. + + Mary, Princess, of Cambridge, 205 + + Mastai Ferretti, Cardinal, 77. + + Matilda, Archduchess, 401. + + Maximilian, Archduke, 211. + + Mazzini, Giuseppe, 53, 57, 58; + early life, 59; + becomes a Carbonaro, 60; + Association of Young Italy, 63; + takes refuge in England, 66; + writes 'Duties of Man,' 67; + meets Garibaldi, 120; + at Rome, 132, 157; + letters from Orsini, 214; + protests against Napoleonic war, 220; + in Naples, 313, 354-357; + corresponds with the king, 398; + arrested, 407; + death, 413. + + Medici, Giacomo, 124, 125, 155, 231, 273, 289, + 292, 301, 318, 360. + + Melegnano, Battle of, 240. + + Menabrea, General, 388-395, 400-402. + + Menechini, 25. + + Menotti, Ciro, 52, 55, 64. + + Mentana, Battle of, 392-397, 404. + + Merode, Marquis de, 330. + + Messina, held by Royal troops, 290; + evacuated, 295. + + Metternich, Prince, 15, 32, 46, 56, 83, 84, 86, + 95, 400. + + Mezzacapo, 237. + + Micca, Pietro, 36. + + Milan, revolt, 8-10; + fighting in the city, 95; + Austrians depart, 233. + + Milano, Ageslao, 208. + + Milazzo, Battle of, 290. + + Mincio, Battle of. 107, 241, 365, 366, 369. + + Minghetti, Marco, 101, 129. + + Minto, Lord, 87, 116 + + Misilmeri, 280. + + Misley, Dr, 52. + + Missori, Major. 291. + + Modena, revolution in, 53. + + Monreale, 278. + + Montalembert, 185. + + Montanelli, Giuseppe, 112, 135, 136. + + Monti, 16. + + Montebello, Battle of, 231. + + Morelli. 25, 29. + + Moro, Domenico, 68. + + Moscow, retreat from, 8. + + Mundy, Admiral, 282, 283, 287, 288, 314, 320, + 324, 354. + + Murat, Joachim, 6, 7, 10, 13, 23. + + + Napier, Lord, 90, 92. + + Naples, 25-29, 101; + massacre, 110; + misrule in, 186-187; + Garibaldi's march on, 299; + King enters, 324. + + Napoleon Buonaparte, 2-10, 240. + + Napoleon III., 55; + elected President of French Republic, 119, 149; + letter to Ney, 185; + attempt on his life, 212; + compact at Plombieres, 217, 253; + demands Nice and Savoy, 260-262; + era of peace, 358. + + Napoleon, Prince, 185, 229, 235, 351, 406. + + Nelaton, Dr, 349. + + Ney, Edgar, 185. + + Nice, cession of. 221, 224, 258, 262 + + Nicotera, 209, 297. + + Niel, 229, 244. + + Ninco-Nanco, 330. + + Normanby, Lord, 117, 228. + + Novara, 37-39; + battle of, 141, 412. + + Nugent, General, 107, 112, 113, 143. + + + O'Donnel, Count, 95. + + Oliphant, Laurence, 263, 266. + + Olivier, Emile, 405. + + Orsini, Colonel, 280. + + Orsini, Felice, 213, 216. + + Oudinot, General, 150, 156. + + + Palermo, strange discovery, 92; + Sicilian expedition, 271-290; + insurrection, 381. + + Pallavicini, Giorgio, 42, 137, 309, 314, 344, 348, 360. + + Palma, 330. + + Palmerston, Lord, 83, 111, 117: 161, 266, 282, 355, 371. + + Panizzi, Anthony, 52. + + Paris, Treaty of, 13; + Congress of, 185. + + Parma, 12-16. + + Passaglia, 341. + + Pastrengo, Battle of, 109. + + Peard, Colonel, 303-306. + + Pellico, Silvio, 40, 43. + + Pepe, Guglielmo, 29, 111, 126. + + Perier, Casimir, 53. + + Persano, Admiral, 274, 288, 308, 372, 377. + + Peschiera, 112, 240, 242, 248. + + Petitti. General, 378. + + Petre, 81, 82. + + Piacenza, garrisoned by Austrians, 16. + + Piedmont, Revolution in, 33; + struggle within the Church, 189-192. + + Pietri, 253. + + Pilone, 330. + + Pilo, Rosalino, 170, 278. + + Pisacane, Carlo, 209 + + Pius VII., 12, 49. + + Pius VIII., 50 + + Pius IX., 78; + election, 79, 93; + grants constitution, 101; + encyclical letter, 108; + flight to Gaeta, 130; + calls foreign aid to support temporal power, 132; + thanksgiving, 183, 259; + character, 311; + calls to arms, 363, 408; + death, 413. + + Plombieres, 217; + meeting between Napoleon and Cavour. + + Poerio, Carlo, 90, 126, 134. + + Pralormo, Count, 176. + + Prina, General, 8. + + Prince Consort, 198, 258. + + + Radetsky, 96, 104, 111, 139, 162, 167, 195, 249. + + Raimondi, Captain, 35 + + Rattazzi, 138, 200, 207, 252, 260, 340, 342, 350, 382, 384. + + Reggio, 301, 347. + + Renzi, Pietro, 73. + + Ricasoli, Baron, 135, 235, 236, 255, 335, 340, 361. + + Rienzi, Cola di, 132. + + Rimini, 9. + + Risorgimento, 194. + + Rolandis, de, 51. + + Romagna, Carbonarism in the, 24, 50. + + Rome, Entry of French, 157; + French depart from, 382; + declared capital, 412 + + Romeo, Domenico, 90. + + Rossaroll, General, 29. + + Rossetti, Gabriele, 49. + + Rossi, 81, 128. + + Rouher, 397, 405. + + Ruffini, Jacobo, 65. + + Ruskin, J., 192. + + Russell, Lord John, 252, 268, 274. 327. + + Russell, Odo, 225. + + + Sadowa, Battle of, 370. + + Salemi, 275. + + Salerno, 305. + + San Bon, 374. + + Sanfedesti, Secret Society of, 50. + + San Marino, 13, 73. + + San Martino, Count, 408. + + Santa Rosa, 191. + + Santorre di Santa Rosa, 38. + + Sardinia--War with Austria, 137. + + Savoy, 13; + cession of, 221, 224, 258, 259, 262. + + Schmidt, Colonel, 237. + + Schwarzenberg, Prince, 176, 187,243, 244. + + Sella, Quintino, 361. + + Settembrini, 209. + + Sicily--Insurrection, 91; + Sicilian expedition, 266. + + Silvati, 25, 29. + + Sirtori, 272, 360. + + Speri, Tito, 144. + + Spielberg, 44. + + Solaro della Margherita, 223. + + Solferino, Battle of, 243, 245. + + Superga, the, 181. + + + Talleyrand, Prince, 32, 260, 264. + + Tardio, 330. + + Tchernaja, Battle of, 202. + + Tegethoff, Admiral, 373-377. + + Theobald de Brie, 22. + + Theodolinda, Crown of, 6. + + Thiers, 175, 397, 404. + + Thurn, General, 140. + + Ticino, 120, 139, 226, 228, 233. + + Tolentino, Battle of, 10. + + Torelli, Prince, 134. + + Tortona, 230. + + Trazegnies, Marquis de, 331. + + Trentino, 343, 363, 371. + + Trescorre, 342, 343. + + Tuerr, General, 315, 405. + + + Ulloa, General, 304. + + Ultramontanes, 190, 259, 397, 404. + + Umberto, Prince, 169, 344, 367, 368, 401. + + Urban, 231, 232. + + + Vacca, Admiral, 374. + + Vaillant, General, 229, 261. + + Vecchj, Colonel, 328. + + Venice, 3-5; + political trials in, 40-44; + Austrians expelled, 99; + re-occupied by Austria, 160-163, 251, 322, 356, 371; + united to Italy, 379. + + Venosta, 350, 361, 407. + + Verona, Congress of, 56. + + Victor Amadeus, 181. + + Victor Emmanuel I., + at Turin, 12; + King of Sardinia, 30; + abdicates, 36; + recommends mercy, 38. + + Victor Emmanuel II.; + accession, 141; + unpopularity, 165-166; + visits English and French courts, 204; + invites Garibaldi to join his army, 221; + enters Milan, 234; + courage at Soferino, 245; + peace with Austria, 249; + letter to Napoleon, 255; + hailed King of Italy, 323; + entry into Naples, 324; + in Venice, 380; + illness, 402; + visit to Berlin, 406; + death, 413. + + Victoria, Queen, 261. + + Vienna, Congress of, 13, 15, 32, 10; + Treaty of, 379. + + Vimercati, Count, 168, 169. + + Volturno, 307, 313, 315; + Battle of, 319. + + + Waddington, 399. + + Welden, General, 127. + + Wellesley, Admiral, 68. + + Wellington, Duke of, 56. + + William I., Emperor, 358, 408. + + Wilmot, Lieutenant, 280, 284 + + Woerth, Battle of, 405. + + Wratislaw, 140. + + + Young Italy, Association of, founded by Mazzini, 63. + + + Zamboni, Luigi, 51. + + Zedwitz, 243, 244. + + Zobel, 232. + + Zorzi, 126. + + Zucchi, General, 54. + + Zurich, Conference of, 257; + + Treaty of, 258. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: See _Memoirs of Lord Castlereagh_, 1848, Vol. i. p. 34.] + +[Footnote 2: It is now Carlyle's turn to be aspersed. Let Mazzini +speak for him from the grave: 'I do not know if I told you,' he wrote +to the Marchesa Eleonora Curlo Ruffini, in a letter published a few +months ago, 'that I have met upon my path, deserted enough, I hope, +by choice, a Scotchman of mind and things, the first person here, up +till now, with whom I sympathise and who sympathises with me. We +differ in nearly all opinions, but his are so sincere and +disinterested that I respect them. He is good, good, good; he has +been, and I think he is still, unhappy in spite of the fame which +surrounds him; he has a wife with talent and feeling; always ailing; +no children. They live out of town, and I go to see them every now and +then. They have no insular or other prejudices that jar upon me. I +have grown more intimate with this man in consequence, I think, of an +article I wrote here, after knowing him, against an historical work of +his; perhaps, accustomed as he is to common-place praise, to which he +is indifferent, my frankness pleased him. For the rest I shall see him +rarely, and I can only give him esteem and the warmest sympathy--not +friendship, which I can henceforth give to no one.' (22nd March +1840.)] + +[Footnote 3: On the production of Verdi's opera, _I Lombardi alla +prima Crociata_, the Austrian Archbishop of Milan wished the +Commissary of Police to prohibit the performance because it treated of +sacred subjects. When it was recognised as one of the accelerating +causes of the revolution, he drily remarked that they would have done +better to take his advice. The grand chorus, 'O Signore dal tetto +natio,' in which the censor had only seen a pious chant, became the +morning-song of national resurrection.] + +[Footnote 4: Long live who has money and who has none.'] + +[Footnote 5: Of Garibaldi's foreign officers, Colonel (afterwards +General) Dunne was one of the most marked personalities. When quite a +young man he sold his commission in the English army and took to +fighting under many flags. In the Crimean War he commanded a company +of Bashi Bazouks. He had in him more than a dash of Gordon, of Burton, +and like them he could do what he chose with untamed natures. If he +was not obeyed fast enough he adopted rather strong measures. A +Sicilian company, under fire for the first time, failed to show +sufficient promptitude in executing an order to escalade a wall and +jump into a garden, from which the enemy was keeping up a brisk fire. +Dunne caught up half-a-dozen of the men into his saddle and pitched +them bodily over the wall. The effect was singular, for seeing the +Garibaldians falling from the clouds, the Neapolitans took to their +heels, exclaiming: 'They can fly! they can fly!' Generally, however, +he infused his own courage into all who served under him with a touch, +perhaps, of his own fatalistic mysticism. It was a strange experience +to hear this courteous, mild-mannered gentleman lament that Rome had +not been burnt down; the disappearance of the scene of so many awful +crimes he regarded necessary as a moral sanitary measure.] + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIBERATION OF ITALY*** + + +******* This file should be named 14078.txt or 14078.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/0/7/14078 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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