The Life Giuseppe Garibaldi - Forgotten Books

TH E L IFE

G IUSEPPE GARIBALDI

J. THEODORE BENT, RA. 0o .

Ammo: or‘Amm: or nunou, onm: nuunuc or anmxo

’

‘mm; now runmute non AND nu.

’

SE COND ED I TI ON

LONDON

L O N G M A N S, G R E E N, A N D C O.

1882

A l l '

r ig !“nurvcc

C O N T E N T S .

( H A P ? B R

INTRODUCT ION

EAR LY LIFE

GAR IBALDI’S EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE .

THE S IEGE OE R OME .

THE W ANDEEEE

GAR IBALDI AT CAPRERA

TIIE CAMPA IGN OF I859 .

COMMENCEMENT OF THE S ICI LIAN CAMPA IGN

V I II. FROM PALERMO TO NAPLES

CLOSE OF THE CAMPA IGNASPROMONTEW OUNDED GAR IBALDI

GAR IBALDI ’S VISIT TO ENG LAND

X III. THE CAMPAIGN IN THE LAKES .

MEN’I‘ANA

THE CAMPA IGN IN THE VOSG ES

LATTER DAYS

L I F E

G IUSEPPE GAR IBALD I.

INTRODUCTION.

FEW MEN have been judged more d i fferently by d if ferentmi nds than General Garibald i. Enthusiastic hero-worshippers clothe himwith the virtuaO f infallibility. sach aschampions of the Chmch of Rome clairned for his enemyPope Pius IX. : onflte other hani his opponents painthhninthe vilest colours t to themhe is an atheist acommunist, a harmto society at large. Bardly aneventoccurs i n the whole of Garibaldi ’s career—a career i nwhich one event succeeds another in startl ing rapid itywhich is not keen ly contested by friend or foe : eye-witnesses of the same scene wil l give diametrical ly oppositeaccounts according to the party-feel ing which influences

As an instance Of this we need go no farther backthan the winter Of 1880-8 1. which Garibaldi spent atAlassio ina house lent to himby an ardent admirer. lnthemwnof Genoanot somany mi les distanc es/e ry

one oonfidefl tly afl'

irmed that the General had left this‘B

2

house wi thout so much as a present to hishad not paid a single bil l, and that his wifehad destroyed everything in the house.his friends would say apologetical ly, ‘he isgrave ; he is not to blame for this.

’

BuAlassio to confront the story, so to speak, face toa very different account was given . Garibaldi hadsented the owner Of the house with a diamondwhich amply compensated himfor thewarded his physician and his chemist

,

unpaid and furthermore hadmoney amongst the poor

,and

had accompan ied him to

accounts Of an eventit is doubly difi cult to learn the truth of those factshave now somewhat passed from the memory ofkind , and are not yet sufficiently digested to bematters O f history. The former statement, as fuma good paragraph for the papers, and beingpleasing to Garibald i 's enemies the priests

,wil

less be widely accredited moreover, if a manofhaldi ’s stamp were to pay his debts, he would bedoing what others do who are in receipt O f agovernment salary, and people do notGaribaldi acts like other men, for inthe O ld Gena'al receives 3 year by way offrom Government Hence he deserves but smaif he pays his bi l ls, and gives away a bit in chariYet when stripped of all the glamourwh

him,Garibaldi ’s character is simple and straigh

Throughout his aroer he has been as easy to

achi ld he has not merely bana

INTRODUCTION. 3

but as a statesman throughout he has proved himse lfonly a chi ld . From first to last he has been influencedby those around him . Keep but this fact in mind, andwe have the key to his l ife ; if only act ion was suggested

,Garibald i was content, and would strenuously

follow up the plan before him , regard less Of any personal ri sk.

The in fl uence exerc ised over him in early l ife byManini and the idea O f a free and united I taly, laid thefoundation of his character and determined his career.I t was but necessary to whisper any plan for the furtherance O f his l i fe

’

s dream , and the warrior was doci leas a lamb : when once this cord was touched he couldbe led as by a magnet. The story Of his second marriageis perhaps the most apt i llustration O f this trai t. Thesomewhat precocious daughter of the Marquis Raymondiadmired the warrior whilst fighting in the Lakes in 18 59 .

The Marquis himsel f had every reason to wish hisdaughter to wed ; so G iuseppina Raymondi appearedone day in the volunteers

’ camp with letters which,as

she M ed, had been intercepted from the Austrians.Garibaldi received her intel l igence thankful ly, but without having any sentiments O f love k ind led in h is breast.Next day the father appeared in the camp, and explainedM his daughter wished to marry the General. Garibaldi, somewhat electrified and taken aback, repl ied ,Impossible. I never intend to wed again . S ince An ita’sdeath my heart has withered and besides, S ignor Marchese. it is imposs ible that your daughter can feel anyattachment for me, she has met me but once.

’ The Marquis then cunningly touched the right cord in Garibaldi ’sheart. I t is wi th freedom , and with I tal ian uni ty that

my daughter is enamoured , and with youas the embodiwen t Of it in I taly.

’

Enough. Garibaldi immediately

4 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

consented to an union with so high-minded a girl , onlyfinding out on the steps O f the altar the depths of he:treachery and dishonour.When influenced for good, no character was more

glorious than Garibaldi ’s. For example, throughoutthe S ici l ian campaign his bark was guided over thosetroubled waters wi th Cavour at the helm . Cavour hadto combat at that time the Massim’

an I'

dea,’ and for a

whi le the two great pol itical stars O f I talian freedomthe Constitutional ist and the Republ ican—fought withoccul t weapons for the control over Garibald i , who re

presented the power. Even tual ly Cavour gained the day.and it was the proudest moment O f Garibald i ’s l ife whenhe presented his constitutional sovereign wi th two crownsA word from Cavour could have arrested the ex pedition at i ts very outset, but he suffered i t to proceed . A

word from Cavour could have restored the Bourbomto Naples, and have roused al l Europe against Gariba ld i ;but he determined otherwise, and then when he had usedGaribald i ’s power to the utmost l im its , Cavour knew whento step in and prevent the rash fol ly with which Garibakfiwould have marched on Rome and embroi led himselfwith France and Austria.Having lost Cavour as his guiding star, though per

haps nobody would be more annoyed than Garibal di tohave that name given to the man who sold N i ce andSavoy to France, and having lost wi th him that occulti nfluence which Cavour knew how to exercise

,and which

raised l ittle P iedmont from a mere speck i n Europe tothe kingdom O f I taly, Garibaldi has lived from that dayto th is a l i fe which may be regarded as l ittle more thana success ion Of disasters. There was the eager determination to make Rome before i ts time the capi tal ofI taly ; there was the foolhardy bravery wh ich wished to

INTRODUCTION. 5

cas t the gauntlet at Austria for the recovery O f Ven ice,

jus t three years after Austria had held her own againstthe joint arms of France and I taly. Al l th is led to thedisaster of Aspromonte, when Ratazzi, Cavour

’

s successor, knew not how to control this wayward patriotexcept by keeping himin prison .

Then there was the disastrous campaign of Mentana,the events of which , now wel l known in Ital ian circles,

go far to prove how supine Garibald i was i n the manageafl

'

airs, and how incapable O f contendingning O f th is world . As i l lustrative Of hiswi l l briefly trace these events here. Gari

close on Rome, onlygovernor Of the Castle

Rome would have been within hisajor Wol ff was head Of Garibald i 'sMajor Wol ff had been suspected

but Garibald i would

be keptway,which MajorVVOlffthe Tyrolese campaign .

Well , the was subscribed for Garibaldi, throughthe instrumental ity of his Engl ish admi rers, and lettersconcerning it were addressed to him at his camp, i n thecipher which the Major at the post-O ffice knew rightwel l. Suddenly, the day before the premed itated attackonRome and the delivery Of S t. Angelo, al l the officialsin the castle were changed , and the French ,marching upf romCivita Vecchia, joi ned the Papal troops in attacking the invad ing army. Everyone concerned in the plotfel t sure there had been treachery, everyone exceptGaribaldi suspected the Major ; but i t was not til l afterthe fall of the Empi re that papers were found i n the

6 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE CAR IBALDL

Prefecture O f Pol ice at Paris, proving that Major Woldhad beeni n receipt of 401. a month from La G range aa Bonapartist spy, since the year I 863. Those who wishfor further proof can find this out for themsel ves byappl ication at the Prefecture Of Pol ice.In the campaign in the Vosges, Garibald i , grown Old

and en feebled by disease, was not l ikely to be more onhis guard against the treachery Of would-be patriots

,

who spoke to him Of freedom . Fi rmly bel ievi ng i n therighteousness Of his cause, he bel ieved , too, al l that wastold him by anyone who professed patriotism. H e wasprobably unaware O f the rapine and tyranny exerc isedi n his name onthe French clergy in every to wn throughwhich the Garibald ian continge nt passed, and whichgained for them the just hatred Of the French. For thelast ten years Of his l ife, the glorious hero O f M ilazzo.Calatafrmi, and countless other battles less known to

fame, has un fortunately done much, through the influenceOf those around him , to mar the fair name which madehim at the time the idol Of I taly and the admiration of

al l Europe. That palsied hand , now scarce able to holda pen

,denounces kings and principal i ties as Obj ects for

derision and contempt ; proclamations brimming withcommunism and blasphemy are the production O f thispen, which even in writing has to be guided by one ofthose comrades who have got the General in to their power,and use himas an instrument to further their plans.This is the man who in his bright days could say

,I care

not whether we have a republ ic or a monarchy so longas united I taly is free to choose what governmen t shewishes

,

’ and whose earl iest writings Show a redundancyO f that wild enthusiastic rel igion , which believed in nopriesthood as med iators between God and man , butwhich accepted gospel truths as the common bas is on

INTRODUCTION 7

which all Christian creeds were formed . I n his earl ierdays it was only against the priesthood of the RomanCatholic Church that his bitterest satires were level led ;they were the bugbears of his ex istence

,against whom

he wielded his sword success fu lly, and his pen to thebest of his abi l ity. No language is strong enough forhimto use against them, one and all, and of a truthGaribaldi was not one of the most delicate authors i nhis choice of l anguage.

Perhaps we may form a better insight into the character of the man by a perusal of his writings. Let ustake the Rule of the Monk,

’ which he wrote when athis prime. I t appeared to the world shortly after hisitnprisonment at Varignano, and was wri tten in the formof a novel to i l lustrate the evi ls of the Romish priesthood , ih a strain of the wildest fantasy, such as a schoolboy would write in imitation o f Mayne Reid, ful l of

adventure possible, or impossible. Asin his works, Garibald i was simpl icity itself,by no laws and this, coupled with a poeticalh passes through al l his wri tings, and emanates

doubtless from the romantic episodes of his career, isthe chief characteristic of this book. The rec l use ofCaprera

,the sylvan marriages, the vi rtuous brigands, are

all more the creation of the poet than of the romancist.A certain young Roman hero one day made his wayin to a n unnery by a stratagem, and compelled the ladysuperior,under threats of instant death, to guide him to

was imer, the Lady Superior escapes,and on,- by mysterious paswalls, until, guided partly by

ns access to a real chamber o f horrors.the wal l hang several human beings sus

8 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI.

pended by the neck, the waist the arms ; al l but onearedead and more or l ess decomposed. This soli tary ex»ceptionwas a young man , once of a fine form, but nowan emaciated phantom .

’ Nothing but instruments oftorture are at hand to free him— i nstrume nts employedby the nuns i n morti fying the flesh of their victims.’

This young man when l iberated recovers in a wonder.

ful ly rapid manner, and relates woeful stories of moralcorruption within the wal ls of the nunnery, sta ti ng thathis own misfortunes were due to the partial i ty he hadshown to the young recluses, of which the Lady Superiorhad grown jealous. Without rest or repose this ‘ ema~

ciated phantom ’ is equal to any hardsh ips whi ch hisl iberator may impose upon him , and at once becomesalead ing patriot for the emancipation of Rome.

Every one of these Roman patriots, by the way.is the quintessence of al l that is admirable in humannature. Occasional ly they repai r to the woods , owi ng tothe stress put on them for pol i ti cal reasons, and live al i fe of freedom with certain vi rtuous bandits in a stateof Arcad ian innocence ; and here we are introd uced to

Garibaldi ’s views onmarriage—views which he has putinto practice himsel f more than once, and which haveled to more than one scandal i n the Garibaldian domestic economy.

In the woods near Rome, Garibaldi describes amarriage ceremony : how the ‘ solemn act of wed lock ’

was brought about by the outlaw’s wife join ing thehands of the contracting parties, and pronouncing themto be man and wi fe, before a sylvan al tar raised underan aged oak for the occasion , and no other church thanthat provided them by the blue canopy of heaven.

To this book we are l ikewise indebted to Garibal d ifor his views onthe priesthood . The priests

,

’ he says,

INTRODUCTION. 9

have changed the fi rst o f nations into one of the mostabject and unhappy and our beloved I taly has becomethe very lowest in the social scale : there hypocri tessurround themselves wi th a profus ion of luxury andvo lupmousness. Not only do we aim at freeing ourbeloved I taly, but at freeing the enti re world also fromthe incubus of the Papacy, which everywhere opposeseducat ion, protects ignorance, and is the nurse of vice.

’

I t is a pity that salutary sentiments such as theseshould be given to the world in such a form , for thebook i tself, as far as any interest in the story is concerned, i s hardly readable. I n spite of the wi ldest andmost hair-breadth escapes, none of the vi rtuous perishor are seriously injured un ti l the last chapter, when aperfec t holocaust of R oman patriots is off ered up forthe reader’s benefit, and the virtuous widows o f the

for England to await better days and aI taly.

the spare moments of GaribaldI s campaign1870) he wrote another novel , purporting onit to be an account of his conquest of the

the adven tures of the famed Thousand .

wonderful heroines who go throughof danger than do the braveI t is indeed a great pity that

ly l ucid accounts of th is eventing ficti tious characters, which leavewonder as to whether the battlei and Palermo were not quite as

con fronted hisulsory conversion at Rome.haldi’s chief l i terary producand proclamations are, how.

to LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

give great i nsight into his character, and we shall haveoccasion to quotemany of them during the course ofthese pages. One or two wemay notice here as beariqon the subject of his rel igious opinions. A t Padua,before a large audience, he said : ‘ I t is invain that myenemies try to make me out an atheist, a blasphemer.I bel ieve in God : I am of the rel igion of Ch rist, not ofthe rel igion of the Popes. I do not admit any intermed iary between God and man . Priests have thrustthemselves in, i n order to make a shop of rel igion.

’

Another time, speaking ofmarriage, he said Marriageis a sacred act ; by it a man imposes upon h imself theduty to love, protect, and support his wif e, and thechi ldren she may bear h im. The priest, being noother than a meddler and an impostor, is consequentlyunworthy o f celebrating that most important rite. Themunicipal authorities who ought to be cogn isant of allthat concerns the citizens, and register al l accounts,should preside at the ceremony of marriage.’

Garibald i ’s pol i tical sentiments as expressed i n hiswritings are many and var ied in early days they weremoderate and salutary. At one time he would speak ofEngland and the Engl ish as the pattern onwhich hewould wish al l governments to be framed ; but as he goeson in l if e and comes under di ff erent influences

,these

opinions change. He becomes utopian in his views,communistical

,and to the deep regret of his Engl ish

friends now speaks of regicides as martyrs in the causeof l iberty.

The I ta l ian hero in many respects remindsusof Don

Quixote in real l ife, too good in many respects, in otherstoo si l ly for his age. Wherever he hears of a peerlessdamsel ca lled L iberty ’ being in distress he is ready tofly to her assistance w i th sword and pen. As Don

INTRODUCTION . t t

Q uixote would speak of the caiti ffs who opposed him ,so

G aribaldi speaks of Napoleon I I I ., the Austrians, theRomish priesthood . There is a great deal of truth inwhat the hero o f Cervantes says, and so there is in Garihaldi

’s wri tings and proclamations ; but throughout heseems obl ivious to the fact that a state of anarchy is prod

duced, if even the greatest of subjects can overrule thepol icy of a government elected by the wil l of the people.Onthe Eastern Question he lately wrote, Let us leaveAustria , whose Emperor ought to be treated l ike hisbrother Emperor of Mex ico, and which ex ists only

the dissensions of the national ities checkmatinge ff orts towards emancipation . Let us travelCosmopol itan as I am , and a bel iever i n

that God who des ires not factions and d iscords, but onthe contrary that men should love each other as brethren

(wh ich fratern isation can only be possible, however, whenwe send the Dervish to the spade, and the Romish

priest to themattock) —bel ieving al l this, I can make nodi ff erence between the natives of the plains of Tartaryand my countrymen born onthe sunny hil ls of Rome.’

As to Garibald i ’s natural tenderness of disposi tionf riends and foes are al ike agreed . H is bland, winn ingsmile, his love for everyth ing an imate, have wonfor himgeneral admiration through l ife. No one refuses tobel ieve that he shed bitter tears when a boy on theaccidental slaughter of a grasshopper, or that one n ightat Caprera, hearing the bleating of a sickly lamb, hewe nt out into the cold and rain to fetch the su fferer into share with it the warmth of his ownbed. H is friendand fer some time secretary tel ls us Garibaldi believesin everything animate and inan imate being but thevariedmanifestationof one Essence. The great Spi ri t of

eternal lifie,’ says he, is in everything : these plants, these

r: LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

f ruit trees, even these hard gran ite rocks have a sou l, itmay be rudimen tary, but there i t is.

’

I t may be his very tenderness which has madeGaribald i the idol of the fai r sex inall parts of theworld . After his wound at Aspromonte c rowds of

women came to visit him in his prison at Varignano :Engl ish , German, I tal ian , each and all eager to do somel i ttle offi ce, however menial, i n his service, each and alleager for some memento to carry home. So importurrate were these daily visi tors, that al l kinds of deviceshad to he invented by those in charge of the sufferer toavoid in trusion . Autographs were traced on the wi ndowpanes by scores for distribution ; a young sold ier inattendance

,whose hair was of a simi lar shade to that of

Garibaldi’s,was shaven almost bald to supply the demandfor locks of hair ; and one day even Dr. Prand ina, ofChiavari

,who was attending the General , dressed him.

self in a red shirt, and laid himself ona bed i n a darkroom to personify the General , for so eager were somevisitors that nothing would induce them to go away

,and

they threatened , moreover, to write to the papers andsay that Garibald i was surrounded by a cl ique,who keptout al l others. Dr. Frandina was nearly smothered withkisses onthis occasion , his only satisfaction for undergoing such anordeal being the knowledge that undersuch enthusiastic treatment as this his i l lustrious patientmust have succumbed .

‘G ive me the mothers of the nation to educate.and you may do what you l ike wi th the boys,

’ i s oneo f Garibaldi

’

s favouri te max ims ; i ndeed , when notengaged as a warrior, or in the pol i ti cal world , GeneralGaribaldi occupies himsel f much in the promot ion of

education.At the ne ighbouring town of La Maddalena, he has

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I4 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

of I taly, she expressed a wish for some wi ld flowersandroots from the herm it of Caprera. ’ Indirectly this factwas communicated to Garibald i. Love begets Iove,

’

he

remarked on receiving the message , and plucking witllhis ownhands the roots desired

,he gave his Scotch

gardener directions with regard to the preparation dthe bouquet, ‘and should th is poor chi ld ever want af riend , she shal l find one always in me.’ The Princesstreasured these roots most careful ly, and has alwaystaken a l ively interest i n the welfare of the donor, forsomehow the Princess Margueri te has managed to

emancipate hersel f from the thraldom of her ultramonotane teachers, and thereby has won the just approval ofour anti-papistical General .

Driven into dreams by the pressure of terrible andrevolting real i ties, Garibald i is one of those who bel ievethat the tyranny of princes and the corruptions of

superstition can be replaced by an universa l Republicand the rel igion of humanbrotherhood . We are ful lyaware

,

’ he once wrote to Cassel l’s Magaz ine,’ that an

agreement may ex ist between people o f a d i fferentrace

,but among clergymen of a different creed neven’

H imself a l inguist o f no ord inary cal ibre, speakingnearly every I tal ian d ialect wi th fluency, besids

Span ish,Engl ish

,and French with considerable ease.

Garibaldi bel ieves that one of the greatest steps towardsgain ing this un iversal brotherhood would be to undo themisfortunes which we are told fel l upon the human racefor their aspi rations at Babel . This is just another of

his wi ld Quixotic dreams, the fulfi lment of which is outof the sphere of human power : yet Garibald i winreasonthereon at great length from time to time, andalmost hOpe for i ts fulfi lment, as he once hoped for theday when Rome shou ld be the cap ita l of I taly at g

INTRODUCTION. I 5

the accompl ishment of that too lockeddistant.days what enthusiasm was kind led in his

very mention of Rome ! He tel lshis writings, how he loved to hear

from the l ips of his elderchild that he was, instead of

mass when onhis fi rst visitran off to go and look at some ofplace. The same enthusiasm was

inthe man. He seemed lost to al l naturalprudence, and his m il itary ski l l was bl indedthe name of Rome was men tioned . He was ,repared to fight for i ts freedom with a few

the legions of France, or Austria,

many, he was the man required forthout himwould never have been

man of action , if Cavour wasd Victor Emmanuel the ac

knowledged object forwhom they both fought. Centuriesago Machiavel l i gave us a picture of what Garibald ihas been , a picture which almost speaks l ike a prophecy.

The advent of such a l iberator is all uded to whenMachiao

vellisays z' I cannot express w ith what love he would be

received in al l the provinces which have sufl'

ered fromforeign inundations ; with what a th irst for vengeance,with what steadfast fidel i ty, with what affection , withwhat tears ! What gates would close themselves againsthim? What people would ref use him obed ience Whatenvy wou ld oppose itself to him What I talian woulddeny himhomage This domin ion of the barbarianstinks inthe nostrils of every one of us.

’

I6 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI .

I t was Petrarch who warned I taly against being disunited,against petty jealousies, tel l ing them that hungrywolves would come across the Alps to devour and laywaste their fair fields. I t was Garibald i in thi s n ineteenth century, who, i n undoing the very evi l of whidlPetrarch had prophesied , addmed his fellow-countrymen inwords expressing the same sentiment. I f I taly.

instead of being a Pantheon of memories and great works.were a l i ttle less rich in art, but more robust, and if shehad strong and industrious ci tizens, she certai n ly wouldcease to be the slave of the foreigner, stronger and morei ndustrious than hersel f.’

S ince the days of ancient Rome, I taly has never untflthe last few years known the joys of nationality andunity. Her medie val history is wi thout those heartsti rring patriotic bal lads so associated with the outburstof l iberty in other countries. Garibald i , i n fact , is I talWil l iam Tel l and Robin Hood , of whom the bards ofl iberty wi l l sing. Everyone knows Arditi’s l ife-ethyri ng hymn to the tune of which the Garibald ians havemarched and conquered. Yet everyone does not knowthe poetry of some of those less widely circulated pomto which the revival of l iberty gave rise. Giovan ni Pradof Dasindo in the I tal ian Tyrol was a poet imbued wthe love of his country : and though he saw nothll‘but the d isastrous blood-mist c f l 84g, Prati prophd ed

the coming glories of his regenerated country. A later

poemof his carries its hero fromMarsalato Palermo inthe glorious wake of Garibaldi : i t numbers in i ts dms

man'

s perm Ki ng Bomba, Card inal Antonel li, andothers. The lash of his satire fel l heavily onthe loosel iv ing clergy, and his works won for themselves the disti nction of beingenumerated in the Index Expurgahorius.

The fol lowing is a spec imen cf his verses

IN TRODUCTION. 17

Andngaimt theoe pitilmBeasts of the north

Fendmly forth.

Stop us nog stayusnot,Mother or friend,

Passed is the f rontier line.

Three are our championsTonnmmthe sod

Hate for the Germnns.Our country, our God.

G iuseppe G iusti , another of these poets , died before hesaw the accompl ishment of his hopes

,yet he was one

o f the foremost and bravest pioneers onthe path of thecountry's progress. These two were the poets of theearly burst of freedom , which Garibald i insured and ina measure d irected ; no wonder he was ofttimes thehero of their lay.

The homage bestowed on Garibald i would haveturned the heads of n inemenout of ten . Yet Garibald ithroughout remained simple and unaffected . Surely his

character is one not en ti rely for indiscriminate admiration or for indisc riminate abuse. He is, at one and thesame time, great, good , and gu i lty,—great, because hehas done great things and has the simpl icity and tenderness of soul which belongs to greatness,—good, inasmuch as he has l ived amongst a corrupt people andthrough daily life has been brought into contact withevery species of corruption, yet his publ ic l ife is notstained by one single blot of that sort

,—guilty

,because

i n his obst inacy and wi lful ness he has set at nought andmaligned with unmi tigated abuse men who have

,with

the same object in view, expressed views di fferent to hisown, and because he has been from time to time theadvocate of anarchy and rebel l ion instead of being

‘c


content calm ly to weigh circumstances in the balance.and abide events, which more far-seeingmenperceivedwould gain the desired object. When foiled inmarching on Rome, he heaped abuse on the heads of VictorEmmanuel ’s m in isters, whereas if he had beenal lowedto continue in his career, he would have probablydeferred the accompl ishment of that which Cavour sawmust in the course of events occur.

Now that these events have happened,and we canmore calmly view the chain of causes which havewrought the un ion of I taly, we can better real ise theparts of the great actors in the drama. We can understand how Garibaldi urged on the too reluctant Cavour,forming plans which Cavour deemed almost the rankof madness, whilst Cavour in his place guided andchecked the onward progress of the too eager Garibaldi.

Such is the career we now propose to trace : that ofa man whose fanatical admirers have been h is worstenemies a career, indeed , more diversified ini ts colour»

ing and events than any other of contemporary history.For Garibaldi was a man as George Sand expressed him:Quine ressembleapersonne, et il y a en lu i une sortede mystere

,qui fai t réfléchi r.’

CHAPTER I.

EARLY LIFE.

NOTH ING ever annoyed General Garibald i more thanthe fact that A lexandre Dumas wrote a memoir of him ,

whenhe was in the prime of l ife, and at a time when hehoped to do sti l l greater things before his death . ThatGaribaldi considered the events of his early career wel lworth recording is testified by the fact that he kept anaccurate journal , and that when embarking on hisSicil i an campaign he entrusted this precious documentto the charge of Madame Schwabe, with directions forpubl ication incase of his death. Bertan i

,the inde fatig

able organ iser of revolutionary schemes , the heart andsoul of the Neapol itan D ictatorship in 1860, got hold o f

it : he represented to Madame Schwabe how careful hewould be to restore it to i ts owner, but, cunning manthat he was, he al lowed the author o f ‘Monte Christoto have one good look at i t i n the meantime. Dumaswas natural ly charmed with i ts contents. I t was justone of those del icious backwoods stories which

,with a

l ittle insertion here, and an incident put in at hap

hazard there, would constitute a romance with a greatdeal of substantial fact about i t, the hero of which sti l l

lived and moved as a demagogue in Europe.

Be Garibald i ’s virtues many, as doubtless they are,according to the sentiments o f then inadmitting that the General has

C 2

20 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE CAR IBALDL

in tention of Dumas to publ ish an account of

publ icly d isavowing any complicity in the work.

From this it wi l lthe early days of Gariunder three unusual lythe accounnature o f

tially one-sidedto nobody

,on this side o f the Atlanticmtel l us that

other side, which undoubtedly there have been

gayest o f colours by an able romancist.Yet any episodes which wi l l illustramw

and train ing,which produced for I taly uof the gueri l la order known in European annals, cannov

romance they are in themselvespast bel ief.G iuseppe Garibald i was the son of h

at N ice,born in 1807. The Garibald i had been

for generations, and hailed original ly from thetown of Chiavari . In fact, the name of Caribaland has beenfor centuries, a common one inal l ranks of l i fe, from the patricianinserted in the Golden Book ofwho traced his origin from onewar

,analmost mythical Duke of

century, down to the humblelower on the ladder of society


22 LIFE OF GIL’SEP I’E GARIBALDI .

more than runwild over the hil ls. O f two masters hehad, he speaks of one Father johmwhomhe could notendure, and from whom he would always run away whenhe could ; whereas a second master, S ignor Arena, wasmore fortunate in winning his pupi l ’s af fect ion , and tohim he attributes his early taste for study. To the

instructions of this man ,’ wri tes Garibald i , ‘ and to the

inci tement given me by my eldest brother Angelo , whowrote to me from America to study my native languageI am indebted for such knowledge as I possess o f thatmost beautiful of languages.’ For even then the yomrgNizzards were more conversant with French , and spokebut an I tal ian patois .G iuseppe, moreover, was a wild youth. gu i lty d

many an escapade. He loved at his supper-table atCaprera, which was the time he generally chose for cornmunications about his past l ife, to relate how he andsome kindred spirits , grown tired of their seden taryroutine

,set off i n a fishing boat for Genoa, with the idea

of embarking on some adventu rous career in the EastLuckily the truants were pursued , and brought back to

their desks and lesson books. When a boy he wentwith his father to Rome, of which city he speaks witha strange enthusiasm . Hermonuments of past gloryandthe evidences of present abasement left an indel ible im~pression on his mind, which , j oined with his subsequentin tercourse with Greece, then in all the fervour of herdear-bought l iberty, decided the bent of his principles.Garibald i’s father destined him for a clerical careet.

try ing al l he could to discourage his passion for the sea;but the son early showed a disincl ination for the Wfessionagainst which al l the energies of his future life

EARL Y LIFE. 33

fact that pressure was put upon h im in the con trarydirection . Arnongst other accompl ishments not commonto seafaring men , Garibald i became an expert swimmer,and he relates how at the age o f th irteen he gave hisfi rst i nstance of intrepid ity by swimming in a rough seato the rel ief of some of his compan ions who had beenupset in a squal l. A rumour current that he saved awasherwoman from drown ing at the age of eight is however incred ible, un less the good woman had only fal leninto her tub.

When he was twenty-one he found himsel f on boardthe brig Carma, second in command , and bound for theBlack Sea. Three times, he tel ls us,‘during this voyagethey were attacked and plundered by Greek pirates.The fi rst occasion was of f Cape Matapan ,when they werelef t with the barest necessities to sustain l ife. On landingto revictual at S t. N icholas without so much as shoes tothei r feet, an Engl ishman, onseeing Garibaldi

’s destitution,

gave him a pair o f shoes his gratitude for th is hethus expresses When I look back upon it nowI cannot help remembering that it was the fi rst of themany acts of kindness which bind me with such strongand l asting ties of gratitude to your noble nation .

’

The second and third captures le ft them more destitube stil l sai ls, compasses, charts, everything was taken ,every rag the sai lors had on their backs, so that theywere glad to cover themselves with some matting, whi chchanced to he left in the hold of the ship. Thus quaintlyattired , they fel l a second time upon a friendly Engl ishman, one Captain Taylor, who gave them some requ isites

,and enabled them to continue their voyage to

These voyages to the East were successful only in

WeirGaribaldi‘s letter to Cam”: Magazine.

24 ups or“GIUSEPPE GARIBALD}.

so far as they developed an abil ity for fighting inouryoung hero. P i rates always crossed his path and theni t occurred to him that a government which could notkeep in check such lawlessness was rotten to the coreH is letters and rude snatches of verses wri tten about thistime show a kindl ing affection for national l iberty, whichhis intercourse wi th the despotic nations of the Eastserved to develop and matu re. To no one ci rc umstancein particular does Garibald i attribute th is growth of

feel ing for l iberty— to no romantic intercourse , as Dumasrelates, with some stray fol lowers of St. S imon , but to ani nward consciousness growing stronger the more hemof the world , that despotism over body and soul, asbrought before his notice both at Rome and in the Emwas the bane of mankind . I

A fter h is Greek adventures he was i l l for some timeat Constantinople, where he was kindly rece ived andnursed in the family of an Ital ian ex i le. A physicianthere was kind in attend ing to him, and got him , onhisrecovery

,a place as tutor to the three sons of the widow

Tanioni. Of these boys he grew very fond,and kept up icorrespondence wi th them long after he left the Turkishcapital . H is leisure moments he spent in wri ting scrapof diary and so forth, from which we can gather the tumhis mind was taking. As an example we take the fol lowi ng extract Those noble vict ims of Greek brigandageand thosewho fal l a prey every day to Imust be added to the huge columnEuropean despotism for ever contractsHaving thus glanced at Garibald i ’s early

we shal l the better be able to understand thewhich he was in 1834 induced to take a part inmovement which was going on i n I taly ud irec tion of Mazzin i, the young advocate of Genoa.

EARL y LIFE. 25

i nsti tuted the society of Young I taly,’

overtures to crowned heads in the fi rstviolen tly round when Charles Albertto their terms, and waged war againstsovereign by ways and means whichwel l how to organ ise. Several i l l-timed

put down,and in one of

r of St. Jul ien ,’ Garibald i took so

he had to bid farewel l to I taly and toa year to come. On January 31, twoz in i and Kamorino, met at Geneva anda plan for occupying the vi l lage oftal ian and French ex i les could unite,the flag of revol t. This expeditionIt is said that Mazzin i was betrayed

e Kamorino, who disclosed the plot toand gave up the names. At al l events ,

Gariba ldi, who had been intrusted with a

ion in this affai r (namely, that of enl ist ingEmydice as a common sailor wi th some

ion, with a view to trying, by fairpossession of the ship for the R encluded i n this l ist. Whenhe heardin Genoa, Garibaldi had left thefriends, and landed in that town .

barracks on the hil l ofof explosive materi al s.oung Garibaldi arriveddiscovered and himsel f

he succeeded in reachingroutes

,after numerous ad

he tel ls us that during this


tak ing a hurried farewel l of his mother, hemat to Marvsei l les

,where for the first o f many times he saw his name

i n print onthe l ist of those condemned to death for theircomplicity in Mazz in i ’s rash enterprise.A hurried glance at the Governments in I taly at this

time, wel l on in the n ineteen th century, wil l convinceusthat there was every excuse for those who attempted ihsurrection against the rul ing powers. A t Naples Ferdinarl lI I . ruled wi th a rod o f iron ; many citizens, for but smalloffences, died under the lash inthe publ ic squares exc

cutions and prosecutions both here and in the Pontifical States had reduced the population very considerably.I n Modena

,the duke having trified with the liberal

leader C i ro Menott i in order to draw him in to a sumhad to fight hard for his l ife in a sudden outbmof

rebel l ion but with Austrian assistance this was putdown

,and Menotti , whose namesake Garibaldi

's eltsonis,was strangled in prison . Even the Government OfCharles A lbert, the most l iberal sovereign in I taly, wasas tyrannical and arbitrary as the Governmen t afkt1848 became enl ightened and constitutional.This was the Italy which Garibald i left i n

a condi tion always bordering on revolution , yetupheld by the Austrian power, which was everassist each petty prince in h is tyranny byhis insurrections for him . Garibald i left i theart, but with a conviction thatcome when he could retu rn under happierFor fourteen long years he now l ived the l iex i le—al ife which, if lost to sight amongst the irepubli cs of South America, was by no meansfor during this time he acqui red sk i l l i n gueri l lawi th the prai ses of which Europe sti l l rings.

EARL Y LIFE. 27

baldi continued to make voyages to and fro in theMedi terranean— to Odessa, Tunis,and so forth—onboardFrench merchant ships. On one occasion he saved aboy from drowning in the harbour at Marsei l les, and thenhe tel ls us how he became a nurse in the cholera hospi talthere during the ravages of that disease, and he sti l lprides himself on a quack medicine, which he affirmsstood him in good stead onthis and other occasionswhen brought into contact wi th the cholera.

Feeling at length the hopelessness,for the present at

least, of renewing any struggle on behal f of his country ,he embarked onboard the brig Nantonm'

er of Nantes assecond in command, bound for R io Janeiro. At thistown he found many

,of his fellow-countrymen, ex il es

l ike himself for pol i tical intrigues,and wi th their assist

ance he was enabled to purchase a smal l trad ing vesse lwi th which to start inl ife as a trader between that portand Cape Frio, an old friend of his from Genoa advancingthe larger part o f the sum and persuad ing others to subscribe by recounting how Garibaldi had fought or rathertried to fight for the freedom of his country. Certainlythrough l ife our hero was never wanting in friends tohelp him wi th their purse-strings. Y et Garibaldi , l ike hisfather, never prospered as atrader. From the fol lowingparagraph in a letter to a friend about this period wecan gather that our hero was not altogether succeed ingas he could wish : Of myself, I can only say that asyet fortune does not smile upon my endeavours. Whatchiefly afflicts me, however, i s the consciousness thatI am do ing nothing towards furthering ourcause. I amweary of dragging on an existence so useless to ourcountry, while compelled to devote my energies to thispaltry trade Be assured weare destined for betterthings—we are out of our element here


After nine months of this somewhat monotonouswork, Garibaldi entered the service of the patriotic DooGonzales, President of the Republic of R io Grande.which he had organised and set up against the authorityof the Emperor of Braz i l . Rio Grande in i tself was hmsmal l , i ts resources but few, and Garibaldi as a com»

mander of no mean sk i l l was received by the insmgents with openarms. Again inthe harbour of Rio

G rande Garibaldi had an opportuni ty o f adding to thtl ist of the drowning whom he had saved : this time itwas a negro who had fal len into a rough sea amidst theships which were swaying at anchor, and whi chmthe task of saving him by no means an easy one.

By way of servi ng his newly-adopted country Garibald i turned privateer. He was entrusted wi th the con»mand of a smal l ship, which for associations

’

sake htchristened the Maxim, and wi th only six teen of his

comrades onboard he set sai l under the Republic !flag of R io Grande to declare war against an empire.Thei r first encounter with the enemy wasmost en

couraging. They captured a ship bigger than their own.belonging to an Austrian merchant settled in Brad .

‘which ,’ says Garibaldi , ‘ added a great rel ish to the

capture, i nasmuch as it belonged to one of the bi tter“enemies of my country.

’

Very proud of their conquest,they then went on to Montevideo

,where poor Garibafi

nearly lost some of the jewels taken from the abovenamed Austrian ; he had parted with them to ashowlceeper in the town who had not paid for them , knowhgthat the departure of the ship was imminent. But therewas sti l l an hour to spare, so Garibaldi strolled leisurdginto the town , with his pistol i n his belt, and poin ted itat the terrified shopman . I t is needless to say that Gari~

baldi walked off with the money without any furtheradu


30 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI .

l i ttle food . A horrible ordeal was in store for himonhis retu rn to Gualeguay, about which he cannot nowspeak without an involun tary shudder, and than whichthere is no better known episode in Garibald i ’s career.Every paper has i l lustrated it for us, each accoun t giveno f i t is more thri l l ing than the last, unti l we thi nk wemalmost see him there, suspended by his wris ts for thespace of two hours, determined not to denounce any ofhis fol lowers, or breathe a word o f in formation con cerningthe plans of his leader. We can see the taun ti ng crowdassembled round the shan ty at the door of which this

pun ishment was infl icted we can almost hear his heavybreath ing, and see his parched tongue eagerly imbibinga drop of moisture admin istered by some one less bruwi n the crowd ; and then we see him at length takendown , and tended by the loving hands of MadameAl leman , for Garibaldi never fai led to sof ten the hemof the fair ; and no wonder if he spoke to her intheendearing terms he makes use o f i n his diary generousangel of goodness,

’ he tel ls us she was. We feel Wthat this episode in his l ife is beyond dispute

, for the

old General can sti l l show the mark onone of his wristl ef t by the cord gnawing into the flesh, and themaidenwas wel l known and talked about by al l the Italiancolony in those parts, and the arm for mon ths aka.

wards was quite disabled .

After undergoing this torture, Gfor two months in prison , after the lapse of which timethe governor, finding i t impossible to get any infmtion out of him , gave him permission to depart whimever having been brought to trial , andhaving heard anyth ing more of his ind

'

against the i llegal i ty of his deten tion .

Freedom and heath

EARL Y LIFE. 31

i t was inGualeguay or in Italy after Asproe wonderful metal of which he was made soonthe effects of wounds and long imprisonment .

gaily sai l ing about the lagunes

of Los Patos, after having received an enthusiastic reception on his return to R io, now tak ing a prize f rom the

standing out against apparently over

g a few land battles under the standardaribaldi again returned to his native

entrusted wi th the command ofin company wi th a new

made, an estimable American, by nameThe first prize they took was exceedingly

well laden , and the di vis ion of booty rejoiced the heartsof the crew not a l i ttle, after a certai n portion had beensetas ide for the purchase of uniforms for the men. By

razilians began to entertain a wholesomename of Garibald i both by sea and land

,

to time the commander would take hisand carry the war right into the heart of

the country, if they chanced to land on an unprotectedspot, hastily retreating on the advance of a superiornumber of troops. Thus it was that Garibald i acquiredthat ski l l inhastymane uvres, which was to stand himingood stead in the Tyrol, the I tal ian Lake district, andinS ici ly.

Every one of these adventures would be worth re

cording ; each merits a separate chapter in the l ife of ourhero, just as much as, if not more than , events in hisEuropean career ; but, narrow-minded as we are, we areapt to take but casual interest in even ts which are notbrought under our immediate notice

,and the resul ts of

which do not material ly affect ourselves. So we must

3s LIFE or GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

reluctantly leave unno ticedmany an incident in SoutlAmericawhich would show off the talents of our herofor war just as well as his defence of Rome

,h is rout

of the Neapol i tans, or any other of his exploi ts.Occasional ly this wandering crew would leave their

wo rk, and put up for a time at some as » !

where Garibald i would invariably enter into a vigorousfl irtation with some peerless Dulcina, the daughter ofhis host. At Camacuahe fel l des u

the adored Manuela but as she was barothed to theson of the President Gon zales, and was not wi l ling togive up so grand a match for the penniless Garibaldi.he could do no more than spak of her in rapture“terms, and lament in his diary thesuit.Then he wou ld embark again,

dull care and fair faces fromhh rum-nary fer the while:he would be hotly pursued by a Bmidie size of his ownvessel into a lagunever expected pursui t, and then , dwould , as a last extremity, run hispare an ambuscade, from whenceBraz i l ians, and defend his ship.

could not escape, the Braz i liansthe n ight, and next morn ing tofind their prize had flown ; for during the

of the n ight Garibald i had with diflicultyafloat, and, gl id ing past the Brazi lians, had d

'

from sight long before the enemy had ari f rom theii

mbina. Such anmape as th is wil l recal l thecl ever washe managed to elude the Austrian UrbanAl l

y LIFE . 33

whi lst out onamaraoding expeditionon land, he wassurprised in hism shanty by a Brazi lian coloneland xso horse. Hismenwere out of camp foraging.hiscook alone was with him; but he had agoodly arrayof loaded muskets. So together these two kept their

opponents at bay unfi l themery attruted hy the firing,

hasti ly returned to the camp, and attacking the enemyinthe rear, put them eff ectually to the rout.

The struggle between the l ittle Republ ic of Rio

against the Imperial troops, almost hopeless, seem ingly,at the outseh begannow to declare rather infavour ofthe Republ icans.VGaribaldi, meanwhile, was fighting onbut the loss o f two of his vessels by shipwrec lc,and thedeath of many of his bravest followers , began to tel lrather heavily onhis spirits. Of the grie f and the dis

couragement which he fel t, he of ten speaks, and saysthat this period was one o f the darkest of his life.

during which he fel t incl ined to succumb before therelentless fate which seemed to follow him.

Such seasons as these are not un favourable to thedevelopment of domestic affections , and so it provedwith Garibaldi. Though the Brazil ian general wasmaking a last and desperate effort to crush the rebel

lions inhabtmms of Rio, though the town was blockaded

,

managed to t’

all in love . One day he saw the farfamed Anita wash ing clothes, some say, at the riverside“Anitawho was to be his partner in life formanyyears to come. Shc was dauntless and daring as herhusband. She loved the battlefie ld ; any scene o f

danger was but a pleasi ng ex ci tement to her. Ani tawas p

’

flaed withastrength equal to hermascul ine tastes.


back . She belonged to another ! But in those remoted istricts of the earth, where society at i ts best is butprimitive, inthose days more so even than now, th is ohstacle was easi ly overcome and Anita sail ed away withGaribald i to a honeymoon of war. ‘ I t is a pity

,

’ saysGaribald i

,that two hearts so un ited as ours should be

the cause o f sorrow to some poor innocent man .

’

Anita’s father was rich,and she had but one elder

sister,twenty years her senior and by anothermother:

i n after years this elder sister married too, but had nochi ldren . She spoke at one time o f adopting An ita'syoungest son

,and corresponded with Garibald i on the

subject ; but Ricciotti Garibald i did not feel i ncl i ned togo to South America to pay attentions to h i s rich oldaunt : so the aunt died and lef t her money elsewhere.Anita’s father was natural ly incensed at her conductand refused to have her in his house again but i n afteryears he forgave her

,when Garibaldi’s fame was este

blished,and wrote her a letter of forgiveness be fore her

death.

Anita was dark, l ike a tropical Creole, possessed ofsingul ar grace and perfect physique. She poi n ted thefirst gun in the coming attack on the Braz i l ian s, andrefused to go below, though the bul lets were wh izzingaround her. If I do

,

’

she said ,‘ i t wi l l be but to drive

out those cowards who have sought concealment downthere. ’ The ship which bore the bride and bridegroomwas i tsel f almost down to the gunwales

,whilst the other

ships were perfectly riddled with shot. But they didnot give way unti l the Imperial squadron drew o ff , justas the Garibaldians were at their last gasp.

At another battle, near the town of Coritibani, Anitawas takenprisoner whi lst attending to the wounded

, buteffected her escape, and galloped over a wi ldernessof

EAR L y LIFE. 35

giant reeds for sixty miles to join Garibaldi,for she was

driven to f renzy by hearing that he had been ei therki l led or wounded. To her great del ight, she found himsafe and sound.

I ncredible seem some of the feats performed by th iswonderful woman during the first year of her marriedl i fe

,ass isting the man of her choice in sieges and on the

battlefield,going for days without food

,fulfill ing to the

letter the requiremen ts of an ancient Amazon . I n short,the stories

'

of Anita’s l ife, if col lected into a volume,would equal in romance any o f the backwoods’ storieswhich schoolboys devour wi th avid ity : how i n her fl ightf rom capti vi ty she gal loped al l n ight over rocky ground

,

and if she chanced to meet an enemy he forthwi th fledth inking her uncanny ; how she swam a river

,laying

hold of the tail of her horse, and subsisted for four dayson nothing but a cup of cof fee : and nevertheless

,says

her husband, she was am iable in domestic l i fe.

’ Whyhas Mayne Reid passed over so sui table a heroine forh is tales ?Colonel Moringue was at hand threaten ing them

wi th an attack ; Anita had just presented Garibald i, onSeptember 16, 1840, with his firstbomson, cal led Menotti ,a fter Ciro Menott i the hero o f Modena

,yet she flinched

not f rom her task. Sooner than fal l i nto the enemy’shand, only twelve days after the bi rth o f Menotti

,she

mounted her saddle and with her babe across her lap tookrefuge in the woods in a piti less storm,

rid ing through aco un try whichwas ful l of poisonous snakes . Whilst manyo f Garibald i’s men died of hunger and fever around her,Anita never gave way.

I n order to secure clothes for this youth ful progenyo f his, Garibaldi undertook a hazardous journey toSettembrina, amidst pistol-shots, floods, and other hor

o z .

36 umor GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

tors. “Having reached the town ,’ quaintly writes theGeneral in his diary,

‘ I bought some little articles (1clothi ng and set out onmy return .

’

Not long after this Garibald i determined to bring hisl i fe in the troubled Republ ic of R io Grande to a closeA war of principle had degenerated into a conflict ofind ividual ambition , when the enemy was gone ; andthis was not suited to Garibaldi ’s notions o f what arepubl ic should be. So after six years of fai thf ul servicei n th is republ ic, Garibaldi lef t i t and i ts party squabblebehind him he bought a drove of cattle 900 innumber.and set out by road to Montevideo with his wife andchi ld , prepared to start l i fe anew, and in a mannermorebefi tt ing a husband and a father. But as a cattle-drove!Garibald i’s experience was not a pleasant one : out ofhis sphere of fighting, Garibald i never did, and newwill succeed . Moumfully he sums up th is episode of hisl i fe thus : ‘ I arrived at Montevideo wi th a few hidesthe only remains of my 900 oxen—thwe I sold for 0d}a few hundred dol lars , which served but scantily toclothe my l itt le family.

’



struggle wi th Rosas, d ictator of Buenos Ayres,wen

only too glad of his assistance.When the Buenos Ayreans are old enough and in

portant enough to wish to write a history o f themselves.how confl icting wil l the author find the accoun ts of Rosaswhen he searches amongst their annals. Dumas givesman account o f his d ictatorship whichmakes one’s bloodrun cold wi th horrors, before which those o f a N ero or :Borgia grow pale whi lst, on the other hand , we are told‘

that the eff ects of the power wielded wi th vigour byGeneral Rosas are evident in the securi ty o f the interior of the city and country ; executions take place attimes, but murders at present are not even in the ratioof one to a hundred of those that were comm itted befbuRosas was invested wi th the supreme power and thenwe are told too that papers were edi ted by Rivera, Indarte, and other enemies of the d ictator, called the“Tables of Blood ,

” and the National ,”

profew edlyal ist of the deeds of blood committed by Rosas, inc l udingthe names of many people who had died a natural deem.but also of many then l iving.

’

Doubtless Rosas was an arbi trary ruler in a statedistracted and torn by factions ; but it was suflicientfor Garibald i to hear the fain test rumour o f any arbitrary ru le and he was ready to take up arms at onceMoreover, he was wi l l ing to do a good turn for theMontevideans, i ndependently of their cause, as a na

quital for the hospitable reception they had given tohimsel f and his family. So he buckled on hismomwith right good wi l l , leaving Anita behind this mto domestic occupations more in character with her

sex.

Garibald i ’s fi rst naval exped i tioni n his new employ

Nor-IA30:0 3amRadar.

39

c orvette, a brig, and a cutter, with which he forced thee ntrance of the river Parana, def ended on ly by somewretched batteries. Plew ed with this beginn ing, he proceeded up the river, but unacquainted with its navigation, he found himsel f entangled in sand-banks, andthen con fronted by the Buenos Ayreanfleet of ten sai l .

the def ensive for three days, Garibald ion blowing up his ships he ordered al lboats, remain ing on board himsel f to

the last to l ight the train which communicated with themagazine, and then managed to escape to land , where,after much fighting and many adventures, he succeededin cutting his way through the enemy, and reachingMontevideo in safety by circui tous routes .Just at that time the city was being menaced by sea

by Admiral Brown , and by land by General Oribe, andwas preparing for a gal lant defence hence Garibaldi 's

return was hailed with del ight in spite o f his defeat.He was chosen by the Montevideans to superintend thefo rtification of the Island of Los Ratos , which l ies in thebay of Montevideo and commands the entrance to theharbour, and for this purpose he formed his Ital ianlegion,which gained for i tsel f great reputation in South America.

There were many I tal ians in Montevideo,who had come,some for commerce, others from pol itical emergencies athome and to these Garibald i issued a proclamation ,cal ling upon them to arm and defend a state which hadoffered them hosp ital ity. To this invitation no less than

800 responded , wi l l ing to fight under Garibaldi ’s banner.Now this banner had been made expressly for him by

co. I t was of black stuff with atationof Vesuvi us in i rruption worked


upon i t. Garibaldi brought it back with himto Europeand lost i t i n the Sicil ian campaign . I t was eventualhrecovered

,and after figuring at Caprera f or somr

time,now adorns the drawing-room of Signor Canxiq

Garibald i ’s son-in-law, i n Genoa, tattered and tomindeed, but preserved under a handsome f rame andglass.In l ike manner the French and the Spaniards too

formed a legion, but some months later the Spaniardswent over to the enemy. Owing to crippled resources.the exploits of the I tal ian legion were not very maritalat first. They occupied themselves with watching theblockading squadron , faci l i tating the entrance of ships.bringing suppl ies to the beleaguered ci ty, and occasional ly capturing some craf t laden wi th stores for the

besiegers ; and then , when he had got his resourwtogether, Garibald i made an attack on the BuenmAyreanfleet, which refused to come to close quarters andsai led away, whilst al l Montevideo was out on the half»

con ies and terraces to witness the encounter, and all theforeign vessels in the harbour had their riggings crowdedwith eager beholders.O f the exploits of this I tal ian legion under theh

eflicient leader I tal ians are justly proud they served forno pay, they would receive no gran t of l and for theirservices ; i n short, they every way merited the praisewhi ch has been accorded them . Although a detailedaccount of the bri l l iant sorties, desperate charges, anddesultory ski rmishing in which they were constantlyengaged would prove wearisome to an Engl ish reader;nevertheless we cannot pass over i n sil ence the oncecelebrated engagement which made Garibaldi 's namefamous in America, and the report of whichin Italy fi lled the I tal

'

4 1

the Atlantic would come to

nglish intervention the blockade ofhad been raised , and the Republic now med i

tated an exped ition into U ruguay. Garibald i and hislegionwere accord ingly entrusted by the Montevideangovernment wi th an expedition the object of whichwas to d islodge the enemy f rom a province onthe confines of Brazi l , and then to possess themselves of Sal to

better to open a communication wi th

i had with himonth is occasion only 184 of

s, and a hand ful of caval ry, whi lst the enemyencounter were strong. They met ono f St. Antonio. My men

,

’ said Garibald i as

vanced,‘we are few

,the enemy are many,

wil l be the victory. Be steady, reservethey are close on you, then fi re, and atbayonet .’ For eight hours the l ittle handagainst these odds un ti l n ight came on

,

that they had lost th i rty-five and had5 0 Garibald i ordered a retreat into a

fighting the whi le, and refusing to

n the field . These were placed bythrees on any horses which could be found .the wearied men made their way to his headwhere Garibald i was able to ral ly his forces

The enemy, who had lostand wounded in the bloody battle o f0 longer thought fi t to oppose him;gained . Such was the celebratedAnton io

,

’ which won for our heroI t was indeed a victoryworthy of renown, than


‘

any of Garibald i s battles in the Old World, yet Cala

tafimi and M ilazzo wil l live for ever in the memory ofI tal ians, and Salto St. Antonio is al ready hal f forgotten.The Montevideans received their victo rious hero

with open arms . They had the date of the battl e, namelyFebruary 8

,1846, i nscribed in golden letters on the

above-mentioned banner,and ev en the Fren ch Admiral

Lainé, commanding the station o f Rio de la Plata.thought it necessary to address him a compl imentaryletter declaring that ‘ such achievements would havecon ferred add itional lustre even on the sold iers of theGrand Army o f Napoleon .

’

I n the autumn of this year the Montevideans madeGaribald i a general , an honour which he at fi rst decl ined ;but so eager were they to bestow some dis ti n ction onhim that he was constrained to accept i t

,and henceforth

was known on both sides o f the Atl anti c as Ge neralGiuseppe Garibald i . When the Montev idean commander-in-chief Rivera placed lands at the d isposal ofthe I tal ian legion

,Garibald i refused the gift for them

i n the fol lowing words : ‘ I n obedience to the cause ofl iberty alone did the Ital ians of Montevideo take uparms

,and not wi th any views of gain or advancement.’

Doubtless Garibaldi himself was sincere in th is refusal.but why should a husband and a father spend his timeand substance on other people’s business

,and accept

noth ing for i t ? O f a truth Garibald i was not themanto thrive in this world , and with a rapid ly increasingfamily Anita found i t extremely hard to get on . Thefami ly of Garibald i reti red to bed at sunset becausecandles did not form a part of their domestic expenditure . For a long time the newly-elected General wentwi thout a shirt, having given his away to a needy friend.until his col league Anzan i gave him one, and his best

H IS EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE. 43

pai r of breeches into the bargain . For weeks together,

’

said Garibald i in a speech at Newcastle, ‘ I never wasi n bed , sleeping in the saddle or in the field .

’ WhenGaribald i’s poverty became known, the MontevideanM in ister of War sent him a present of 201. Hal f thissum the General accepted for the necessities of his household the other hal f he begged might be given to a widowwhose d i fficul ties were more pressing than his own.

I n private l i fe in Montevideo everybody had a goodword for Garibaldi : the government placed the greatestconfidence in him , and frequently consulted him onimportant matters ; yet he never asked for any remuneration for his services, save perhaps the pardon of someprisoner, or alms for the needy.

The celebri ty of the I tal ian legion attracted to Montevideo many I tal ians f rom the Old World , who camethither hoping to reap laurels under Garibald i . Amongthem was Medici, who became in after years very celebrated i n I tali an campaigns, and is now a distinguishedofi cer in the service of King Humbert. But for thepresent there was not much going on in Montevideo.

War was at an end , and nothing worthy o f note took

place until Garibald i s departure to fight the battles ofhi s native country.

Whilst at Montevideo An ita increased his family tofour. Theresi ta

,Ricc iotti , and a daughter cal led Rosa

after Garibald i’s mother, were born there. This last child ,

however,met with a melancholy death . The nurse and

the child were sleeping in a room with the door lockedby somemischance the bed caught fi re, and they wereboth burnt to death before the door could be opened .

If a visi tor goes now to stay at Caprera wi th the General ,and locks his bedroom door, Garibald i next morn ing

will remark in rather an angry tone, What do you fear

44 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI .

i n the house of Garibaldi that makes you lock youdoor ? ’ I t is the memory of this sad even t inMontevideo which sti l l haunts him, and about which he isloath to speakAnd now having rapidly traced our hero’s career

during his ex ile, l et us glance at the great events whichwere going on in I taly and whi ch led to his returnThe history of th is rise of national spiri t in Itabv forthe few years prior to the revolution of 184 8 we canbest read in the Marquis d’

Azegiio’

s records o f his life.D

’

Azeglio was the l i fe and soul of this spiri t : he travelledeverywhere with the cry on his l ips,

‘

fiwn'

£1 54m.

f uon’

lo rtmm'

ero he was,however, a moderate reformer,

and represented the constitutional wi l l of I taly as apartfrom the Mazz inian ideas and their secret societiesAs yet there was a di fficulty about getting a consumetional king to head this party. Every ruler i n Italy.except the new Pope P ius IX . and the King of Sardinia,was a mere Viceroy o f Austria hence d’

Azeglio'

s choicefel l onCharles Albert as the man to lead his partyand to perfect his scheme.Mauini’s party of Young I taly, however.was ex ceedo

ingly hard to cope with, urging on the nation to acts of

rashness before the time was ripe for instance, inRome

they were anxious to get P ius to commi t himself irretrievably to the Liberal party. Ciceruacchio was Maszini’s agent in Rome, always urging the people to

applaud the Pope and to lead him on to further concessions by flattering his vani ty ; and in very truthPi us IX . ascended the Papal throne wi th noble aspirations for regenerating not the Roman states alone , butthe whole of I taly, thus shining out bril l ian tly whencontrasted wi th his narrow-minded predecessors.D

’

Azeglio, however, did not believe inthis wondrous



ness by offering our blood There remains for usbut to beg your il l ustrious and venerable lordship to forgive us for thus troubl ing you , and to accept the expression of the deep esteem and unbounded respect withwhich we subscribe ourselves,your very devoted servants,

G. GAR IBALDI, F. ANZAN I.’

But they waited in vain for a response. The PapalNuncio gave them but a flattering and evasive reply.saying he would place thei r request before his holinem:and this was the last that the aspi ring patriots heard oftheir letter, which , if not consigned to the waste paperbasket, may interest some future student of the Vaticanarchives. Waiting patiently was not one of Garibaldi’scharacteristics so when the friends found that they couldget no definite reply from the Pope, they took the lawi nto their own hands, and prepared to organ ise an ex

pedition to Italy. Garibald i forthwith opened a subscription l ist amongst his compatri ots, and i ssued a proclamation, urging al l the members of the I tal ian legialto follow him . But whether i t was that the Montev ideansdissuaded them , or whether they looked doubtft onthe success of Garibald i's expedition , we know net.Certain , however, i t is, that out of the lot Garibaldicould find only eighty-five who were ready to followhim , and of these twenty-n ine abandoned h im

,when

the time for embarcation came.Though the banner al l rad iant in its representation

of the flaming Vesuvius adorned the mast of the ship,and though they fel t that their country l ike i ts embica

matic mountain was boi l ing over wi th enthusiasm, the

I tal ians of Montevideo were pusi l lanimous ; they didnot wish their leader Garibald i to embark on the

Esperanza. Every possible obstacle was thrown i n his

H IS EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE. 47

way by them , and by the government of the countryfor which he had fought so wel l . The merchants didnot care to lose their protector, and meanwhi le Garibald i cha fed at the delay and complained that theywould arrive too late,

‘when there would be nothi nglef t for them to do.

’

Anzan i,too , backed himup in his endeavour, but he

was fast giving way to the disease which devoured him,

and Ani ta was there too, to aid her husband and nursehis f riend ,

and the desire once more to reach his nativeshore kep t the spark of l i fe burn ing. Thus they sai led

,

and left the Montevideans to do as best they couldw i thout them . The voyage was uneventful . At Al icanteGaribald i went ashore to get a goat and some orangesfor the inval id, and there he learnt how events had beenproceed ing inI taly. He heard how events had crowdedone onthe other in rapid succession during the last fewweeks how CharlesA lbert had on February 7 , 1848, byroyal proclamation made publ ic his consent to the muchlonged for S tatuto, and how the people of Turin, wildwi th joy , had run to the royal palace singi ng the hymnof Pio Nono,

’ thenthe national song.

All I taly was thereat aroused . Lombardy and Ven icewere al ready in arms, and the Milanese, after theirglorious five days,

’had driven the Austrians out of theircity on March 23. So the declaration of the war of

i ndependence could no longer be postponed , and thoughfor months past war had been pending, yet the government of Turin was not prepared for so sudden a burst offeeling ; they .

had not expected the cry . of Viva lacamdr

'

Savor'

ato te-echo so quickly through the north of

Italy.

Garibald i learnt, too, from the consul at Alicante,further news of the outbreak of a revolution in Paris of


insurrections at Vienna and Berl in ; how Tuscany andRome were sending thousands of volunteers to fight inthe national cause ; how even Ferd inand of Naples wasconstrained to promise his people a consti tution . The

exciting news which he brought back to An zan i onboard the Esperanza did the inval id far more goodthan the goat and oranges and other del icacies whichGaribald i had procured .

On leaving Al ican te, Garibald i set up aloft the Sard in ian flag, constructed by Anita out of hal f a counter.

pane, a red shirt , and a bit of old green un i form theychanced to have on board, and onJ une 24, 184 8 , withthis tricoloured banner floating in the air

,the ship sailed

gai ly into the harbour of Nice, bringing our hero to hisnative town , af ter an absence of fourteen years.All the crew were against Garibald i’s l and ing here

with a sentence of death sti ll hanging over'

his head buthe would not l isten to them , and when his arri val becameknown i n the town his greeting was warm i ndeed.

Garibaldi ’s old mother was sti l l l iving there , and goingto her house, he handed over Anita and her youngchi ldren to her charge. But old Signora Garibald i wasrather scandal ised at the unorthodox way wi th whichher son Giuseppe had presented her with a daughterin-law. Hearing, however, that Anita was now freeto bestow her hand on her son , she was somewhatappeased , and insisted on their going to church withal l speed , before she gave her consent to shelter themunder her roo f.Garibald i does not represent h is mother i n quite

such glowing terms of fi l ial a ffection as Dumas wouldhave us bel ieve. He cal ls her a good woman , a goodwi fe, and a good mother, yet entirely under the controlof the priests. He admits to having had f requent and

HIS EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE. 49

bitter arguments wi th her on the subject of rel igion,and was under the impression that he had brought herround to his way of th inking ; but Signora Garibald i,during the absence of their parents, sent her grandchi ld ren to be educated in a Jesu itical school of themost orthodox order, which does not lead us to th inkthat Garibald i ’s arguments had taken any very deephold o f h is mother ; moreover she never took kindly toher daughter-in-law, and led her such a l i fe that poorAni ta was driven to go and join her husband in hisdefence o f Rome.Anzani d ied soon af ter they landed at N ice, much to

Garibaldi's sorrow. But the din of war which he heardonhisarrival lef t him but l ittle time for domestic affairsthere was much more to learn which had not been knownat Al i cante . Early in May al l the bri l l iant picture of

en thusiasm seemed to be blotted out. If P ius IX . hadonce blessed the banners of freedom, by his encycl icalletter of Apri l the 29th, he bl ighted the hopes of hisfriends for ever. He had grown so alarmed at the position he had taken up, that he wrote thus : ‘

I have forsome time observed my name used as a pretext for anenterprise I have never contemplated.

‘ In short, he abandoned the party of f reedom, and flatly refused to takeup arms against Austria.I t was a dread ful blow to the Ital ian l iberals

,thus to

have thei r idol thrown down , thei r hopes blasted . Againother d isappointments were in store for them ; the Kingo f Naplfl took as long to reach Lombardy with hisarmy, as if he had been going to the Holy Land ; i nfact his forces never got beyond Bologna, where theyreceived orders to return home. The Lombards, too ,

after the ir five days’ struggle became divided amongstthemselves and so did the Veneti ans, fighting as to what

E

so LIFE or GIUSEPPE 0.4mmform of Government they should have, whilst Austriawas sti l l in possession , and Mazzin i was busy too, runningdown monarchies the whi le, and spread ing libels aboutthe King o f Sardin ia. Thus P iedmont, assisted bynoncsave the volunteers, was left al l alone to fight the battleof I tal ian independence. For a short space of time thebattle of Goito onMay 30, and the fall of Peschiera.one of the quadri lateral fortresses , dispel led theseclouds there were wi ld rejoicings at Turin , there was nolonger any disafl

'

ectionat Mi lan . But, alas ! i t was ashort-l ived triumph. The P iedmontese knew not how tofollow up a vi ctory, but, instead of pursu ing the Austriansin thei r retreat, Charles Albert allowed General Radetzkyto cross the Adige, and effect a junction with rein forcements sent f rom Austria. Hence General Durando andthe Roman volunteers had to capi tulate at Vicenza onJune 8, and Radetzky threw himsel f into Verona, justas the Piedmontese were thinking of déing the samething. Charles Albert then set to work to lose his timeand waste his forces by the siege of Mantua, saying thathe could do nothing unti l reinforc ements came.I t was j ust then that a vis itor was announced at his

camp, a stranger f rom across the seas, bearing the nameof Giuseppe Garibaldi, who craved an audience with hissovereign . Charles Albert received this pilgrim soldierwith a hearty shake of the hand, and compl imented himon the name he had made for himsel f i n South America.Modestly Garibald i repl ied that he had done his duty.and that ‘a heart was beating in him full of love forI taly, which craved for leave to act with his men for thehonour of the King’s name, and the advantage of the

coun try.

’ Charles Albert repl ied that he must consulthis ministers ; that he grieved to be able to give himnoresponse at present, but urged him to go to Turin. Nov

HIS EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE. 5 1

Garibaldi had just come f rom Turin, where he had consui ted those very min isters, who had referred him to theK ing.

Medici had meanwhile been sent to organise a tebellion in the Tuscan States

,and to col lect volunteers .

5 0 the rejection of his services by the King in no waydeterred Garibaldi from entering actively into the warundoubtedly, as far as Charles Albert was concerned,this was one of the many errors of the campaign . AnAustrian general , speaking of Garibaldi , remarked : Theman of al l others who could have served your cause thebest you refused to recogn ise and, furthermore, thisthrew Garibald i at once into the hands of the revolutionary party. Mazz in ians ‘ go the length of sayingthat it was principal ly due to the exertions of theirleader that Garibaldi retu rned to Europe at al l ; thatMazz in i had spread his fame as a guardian) of renownamongst the l

’

tal ians, and so when the consti tutional partyhad repulsed Garibaldi ’s offer o f assistance, there wereonly two courses for him to pursue— either to remaininactive, or to throw in his lot wi th the republ ican party.

By experience we know that Garibald i chose the latterwi thout a second thought. Charles Albert could notforget that Garibaldi had once been a rebel against himGaribald i could not easi ly forget that it was CharlesAlbert who had sentenced himto death, and sent himinto exi le.Daunted in no way by the coldness of his reception ,

Garibaldi hurried to Milan,where he was welcomed with

en thusiasm by the people—awelcome which contrasted

favourably wi th the one he had received from the King.

The committee for publ ic defence which had beenorgan ised in Milan to meet the contingencies of an

5: LIFE or GIUSEPPE e.4mAustrian retu rn , empowered himto raise vo lun teers forthe protection o f Bergamo, and ere long Garibald i foundh imself at the head o f no less than ardent volunteers

,and the fi rst battal ion which he formed of these

he christened the battagl ione Anzan i,’ i n memory of his

departed f riend .

A few weeks later Garibald i rece ived asummons to ‘

protect M ilan i tself f rom the Austrians for the armymfCharlesAlbert, demoralised,out-manceuvred and defatedat every point by Radetzky, was under the necessity of

fal l ing back on M ilan . The victory of Staffalo had beenwon

,indeed,under great di fficu lties, and the army,m

i ng away under a burn ing J uly sun, encamped intuihealthy spots, was now unequal to a second encounter.and the battle fought at Custozzalef t i t almost crushedand demoral ised . D

’

Azeglio says at this j uncture :‘ Since Lombardy and Venice wil l not un i te

,I told

the King that h is duty, the good of I taly,the wei

fare o f the cause , required that he should retreat toP iedmont and defend it wi th one army alone weshould not risk it but Charles Albert d id risk i t

,and

,

l ike Garibaldi,went to the aid of Milan . But the Milanae.urged on by the party with in their wal ls, received CharlaAlbert wi th curses instead of thanks ; and from theagents of Mazzin i the King, who had been fighting forthe cause of I taly, had to flee for his very li fe. Noperiod is more miserable than th is in the history of

I tal ian regeneration , when pol it ical sects, to gain theirend , used every weapon that was fatal to the independence of I taly ; so on August the 9th, 1848, the Kingcame to terms with the Austrians, and surrenderedMilan .

Meanwhile Garibald i . hurrying by forced manhuntlength reached Monza, on ly twel ve miles f rom the



exerc ised authori ty over the descendants of the Spamiards i n the Western World .

An eye-witness, Giul io Dandolo,‘ thus describes theappearance of his troops : ‘ P icture to yoursel f an ihcongruous assemblage of i ndividuals of al l descriptions— b0ys of twelve or fourteen , veteran sold iers attractedby the fame of the celebrated chieftain of Montevideo ;some st imulated by ambition , others seeking for impunity and l icence in the con fusion of war, yet so restrai ned by the inflexible severi ty of their leader

,that

courage and daring alone could find a ven t, whilstmore lawless passions were curbed beneath his willThe General and his staff al l rode on American saddles .

wore scarlet blouses, with hats of every possibl e form.without distinction o f any kind , or pretension to military ornamen t. Fol lowed by thei r orderl ies

,most of

whom had come from America,they might be seen

hurrying to and fro,now dispersing, then again col.

leeting— active, rapid , and indefatigable. Garibald i, ifthe encampment was far from the scene o f danger

,would

stretch himsel f under h is tent ; if , on the contrary, theenemy were near at hand , he remained constan tly onhorseback, giving orders, and visiting the outposts.

O ften d isguised as a peasant, he risked his ownsa fety indaring reconnaissances ; but most frequently, seated onsome commanding elevation , he would pass whole hoursexam in ing the environs wi th his tel escope. When theGeneral ’s trumpet gave the signal to prepare for departure lassos secured the horses, which had been l eft tograze in the meadows. The order of march was alwaysarranged onthe preced ing day, and the corps set outwithout so much as knowing where the ev ening wouldfind them. Owing to this patriarchal simplicity, pushed

1115 COMES TO A CLOSE. 55

sometimes too far, Garibald i appeared more l ike thech ief of a tribe of I ndians than a general ; but at theapproach of danger and in the heat of combat his presence of mind was admirable and then by the aston ishi ng rapidity o f his movements he made up in a greatmeasure for his deficiency in those qual iti es whi ch aregeneral ly supposed to be absolutely essential to a mil itary commander.’This red shirt, about which we hear so much ,what was

it but the ordinary dress o f an American sai lor ? Pro

bably when Garibald i took the command of a ship atMontevideo

,he invested in a couple, and finding them

both cheap and com fortable, has stuck to them ever since.On the Lago Maggiore one day Garibaldi contrived

to surprise and capture two Austrian steamers, and ,

putting men upon them, he suddenly appeared atLuino. Af ter gaining this important position he set06

°

by n ight,and executed one o f those rapid and

skilful mane uvres which form the very soul of hisstrategy, and reached Morazzone, from which place anattack on the Austrians, who were encamped with

men under General d'

Aspre, was meditated .

Somehow Garibald i ’s intention became known,and

Austrians were detached to attack Morazzone,where for eleven hours the Garibald ians held out.Unwil l ing, however, to subject the town to the horrorsof asiege, and seeing the overwhelmi ng numbers thatwere crossi ng against him , the General executed aretreat by despatching his men in smal l bod ies to thePiedmontese territory, and by keeping a certain numberi n fro nt to dece ive the enemy by a continuous fire.Final ly at Arona he got his forces together a fter are treat as peri lous as it was ski l fully executed and, ifresul ting innothing else, atall events this desultory war

56 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARh eum.

fare in the Lakes had accompl ished one th i ng— it hadestabl ished Garibald i ’s European prestige. I taly recognised his talents for that l ight warfare in which heexcel led , and henceforth put that bl ind confidence inher hero, which to a great extent she has never lo st.At Arona, the straits to which the volunteers were

put were pitiable. The men were destitute o f cloth ingand food even Garibald i th is time was obl iged to askfor aims from the municipal i ty. They gave him280! tofurnish his men with immed iate necessaries, and theAustri ans the whi le were busy publ ishi ng proclamationsdenouncing h im as an outlaw and freebooter.Convinced at length that further resistance was

f utile, Garibaldi determined to cross over into Switzerland . At the close o f the campaign be was attackedwith a marsh fever, which had proved fatal to so manyo f the I tal ian army. This soon turned to typhus

,and , ashe lay i l l at Lu ino, his l i fe was despai red o f. No thingcould arouse him from a state of lethargy except thecry that the Austrians were coming ; i n fact, once theAustrians real ly did come and attack his camp—the feverwas forgotten , he put himsel f at the head of his men,and conducted a retreat on Varese.Garibald i was much shattered by this illness, which

would have proved fatal to a less vigorous consti tut ionso after leaving Swi tzerland he sought a l i ttle reposewi th h is fam ily at N ice, to re establ ish his heal th, andthen he passed onto Genoa for the remainder of theautumn .

Whi lst at Genoa, Charles Albert recognised Garihald i’s claims to honour and posi tion, and repented him,

though too late, of the cold shoulder he had turned tohim . He offered him a high rank in the Sardin ian army ;but Garibald i wasnow himself again, and his desire for

ms EXILE COMES TO A CLOSE. 57

action aroused by the reports of the val iant resistancewhich was being made against the Austrians at Venice,under Daniele Man in

,caused him to throw in his lot

again with the revolutionists,i n preference to enjoying

atriumarmdr'gm’

tate i n the P iedmontese army.

Two hundred and fi fty volun teers started with himfor Venice ; but at Ravenna news reached him fromRome—Rome, which had been the goal of Garibald i

’searl iest days so, abandoning his intention o f proceed ingto the ci ty o f the Lagunes, he bent his course towardsthe E ternal City, to swel l wi th men , who hadmeanwhi le flocked to his standard

,the number o f the

rebel l ious subjec ts o f the lately ‘ very i l lustrious andrespected Lord Pope,

’ to whom Garibald i had written soobsequiously, and who had now deserted his l iberalp ri nciples of the previous year.


CHAPTER I I I .

THE SIEGE OF ROME.

THAT P i us IX . should have retracted his l iberal concessions was not a very astonishing fact in itself . Theywere opposed to the code o f laws which had governedthe hierarchy since the days of Hildebrand they were,moreover, given to a people who were not easi ly satisfiedwi th l iberal ity in moderation— to a people backed upby men l ike Mazz in i and Ciceruacchio, who t aughtthem not to cease clamouring for more.Nevertheless, P ius IX . did wrong in abandoning

Rome. Giving way to his feel ings of terror on theassassination of his Prime M in ister Rossi, and to thepersuas ions of foreign diplomatists, who urged himto

fly to Gaeta, and throw himsel f into the arms o f thedetested King Bomba, the Pope turned his back onRome

,leaving instructions to his Swiss guard to go

and throw that great band it, Garibald i , i nto the sea.Completely changed now i n h is sentiments, Pope Piruz

pronounced King Bomba to be a ‘model monarch,’ a

pattern for the rest of Europe, whilst the deeds of thatmodel k ing were even then disgusting the whole civil isedworld

,and are now facts of history beyond dispute. Of

the dungeons excavated beneath the level o f the sea,through the crevices of which the foulest water trickled,wi thout ei ther air or l ight ; of the brutal tortures ; of

THE SIEGE OF R OME. 59

the del ight the king took inwi tnessing with h is eyeglassthe anguish of his victims—o f al l these Poerio gives usa description in his account of the Neapol i tan prisons.Such was the model sovereign with whom the so latelylibe ral Pope now took refuge.Before this act of the Pope there was no real Repub

l ican party in Rome. The agi tation was so far f romhaving any real revolutionary object in view, that Mazzini wrote reprov ingly : Whi le he was anxiously expecting f rom Rome a mighty sound worthy of her ancientgreatness

,nothing reached him but the feeble voices o f

parl iamentary academicians, who appeared utterly nuw nsdous of what the four letters which composed thename of their city meant for I taly and the world .

"When, however, i t became apparent that the Pope

was not to return from Gaeta except as an absolutemaster in the rear of foreign sold iers, then the Republ ican element stepped in . The Pope's encycl ical lettertold them his present views onGovernments in generalEvery authority comes f rom God ; every Government,dc farm, is a government of right obey, or, res isting, becondemned .

'

OnFebruary the 9th the Romans met i nconclave ; and Garibald i himsel f , sitting as deputy forMac erata in the consti tuen t assembly, wh ich had metto d

'

wcuss themeasures then to be taken,was the fi rst tocry, Long live the Republ ic l

’ Mazzin i was elected inMarch as a member of the same assembly, and by h is

presence infused a determination into the hearts of al lRomans to def end to the last any attempt to restore theformer Government.Whilst preparing for her struggle, Rome, i ndeed ,

M us but a pitiable picture, in which men of lof tyconceptions and true patrioti sm were m ixed up irretriev o

M oi, Open, vol .m. p. r8r.


ably with despicable adventurers, who prosti tuted the

name of l iberty and justice to the furtherance of selfishness. Garibald i was the champion of the former and, ifMazz in i belonged to them too, certain it is that mostof his adherents belonged to the latter class . Garibaldirepresented the wil l of the Roman army, to which werenow flocking crowds of volunteers from al l pars of

I taly. He had reached the capital at the close of theyear, and was forthwi th entrusted wi th the defince of

the f rontier menaced by the army of theHe forti fied and took up his position

volunteers joined him ; and amongst themthepriest Ugo Bassi, who pre ferred to be a common soldieri n the revolutionaryposition of chaplain-in-chief ofthough yet scarcely recovered from his recent i l lness.Garibald i spent the winter months exposed to cold andfatigue with dauntless energy.

When the new Government wasits object was to preparewith Sardin ia ; for Charles Alberttaken up arms agai n in a hope]Austria

, to save his country, thenpubl ican fanaticism , to which al l IS ici ly

,nay even P iedmont, were now verging.

sion onMarch the a3rd. The whoplaced at the feet of Austria. Hadless precipitate in his movemen ts;no very inconsiderable ass istancetroops who had reached Ancona when

the defeat of Novara.



that the President of the French Republic would rejoiceat the formation of a sister Republ ic in the RomanState ? But Louis Napoleon had in tentions of anotherkind .

So at Mazz in i ’s instigation the Roman Assemblyvoted by 143against 5 for the perpetual down fal l of thetemporal government of the Pope, and onApri l the 18th,

1849 , a mani festo was admin istered to the Governments

of England and France, stating ‘ that the Roman peoplehad a right to give themselves the form of Governmentwhich pleased them , that they had sanctioned the inde

pendence and free exercise of the spi ri tual authori ty ofthe Pope, and that they trusted that England and Francewould not ass ist in restoring a Government i rreconci lableby its nature with l iberty and civi l isation , and morallydestitute of al l authori ty for many years past , andmaterial ly so during the previous five months. ’

But the fai lure of this mission soon d isclosed i tsel f.General Oudinot landed at Civita Vecchia onApri l the29th with a French army, evasively declaring that the flaghe had hoisted was one of peace and order ; yet up tomelast the Romans would not bel ieve that France wouldever proceed to hosti l i ties. Commissioners were constantly going and return ing between Civi ta Vecch ia andRome but though some hasty measures were taken forthe defence, though Garibald i was summoned from thefrontier, no one real ly antic ipated war wi th France.Garibald i ’s reception in Rome was most enthusiastic.This mysterious conqueror,

’ says Biagio M iragl ia, surrounded by abri l l iant halo of glory, who entered Romeon the eve of the very day on which the Republ i c wasabout to be attacked, was in the minds of the Romanpeople the only man capable of maintaining the damof mirtam; therefore the mul titudes on them

ms SIEGE OF ROME. 63

instant un ited themselves with the man who person ifiedthe wants of the moment and who was the hope of al l .’

So, when the real in tentions of the French becameknown, the Roman people arose with a courage worthyof their best days, and resolved to give the French areception on which they had l i ttle counted .

Early onApri l the 3oth the great bel ls of the Capitolgave the signal of al arm ; the roar of cannon from thewal l s, and the d ischarge of musketry in the plain

,an

nounced that the contest had begun . Immediately thestre ets were fi l led wi th eager crowds, who, issu ing forthf rom lanes and workshops, armed with weapons of everyage and construction, hurried towards the Porta Cavalleggieri , which from its posi tion was the first point ofattack , whilst women from the balconies and house-roofsurged them on with gestures and applause.So violent was this fi rst onset that the French legion

to their amazement were obl iged to give way, and finallyby concentrating their forces, amounting in al l tomen

,d irected thei r attack on the Porta San Pancrazio

,

where Garibald i was stationed . Without awaiting thei rattack Garibald i at once charged them with al l his might ;for several hours the issue was doubtful , but at lengththe French had again to give way. On this memorable

day the I tal ians lost but 100 ki lled and wounded , andbut one prisoner was made—poor Ugo Bassi , Garibald i

’schapl ain , who, having refused to leave a dying man hewas supporting in his arms, became the only prisonerwho adorned the French retreat ; whereas the Frenchlost 300 between kil led and wounded , and 500 prisonerswere brought back to the Eternal Ci ty. FurthermoreGeneral Oud inot was put to the humil iation of applyingto Garibaldi for surgical aid for his wounded , which was

ELIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

In his proclamation to the people o f Rome nexteven ing the head of the barricade commission describedth is victory in a tone partly heroic, partly bombastic.People ! yesterday commenced the en trance o f theFrench into Rome. They entered by the Porta 5 . Pancrazio—as prisoners ! To us, ci tizens, this is no surprise,but it wi l l astonish ParisDuring this day’s fighting considerable damage had

been done by the French arti l lery to works o f art inRome- the dome of St. Peter’s was greatly injured andthe Vatican riddled . French wri ters excuse this defeatby saying that their sold iers had only med itated a reconnaissance and fel l into a snare ; but they forget to statethat a plan o f their attack was found on the body of aFrench offi cer ki l led in the battle, which proves beyonda doubt that the attack was predeterm ined and thatthey signal ly fai led ; and , furthermore, they said theyspared the city for fear of destroying her works o f art.whereas the fi ring was di rected chiefly agai nst St. Peter’s.The transport of joy i n Rome that even ing was

indescribable ; and indeed i t was a feat to be proud of.for only men had fought ontheir side, for the mostpart volunteers of a few months’ standing, and they hadrepulsed some of the first European troops. Garibaldi,o f course, was the l ion of the day, and to him the laurelswere unan imously assigned .

Considerably crestfal len , the French general withdrew his men to Palo, onthe road to Civita Vecchia

,

where their posi tion was exceedingly cri ti cal . forGaribald i

,only al lowing h is men a few hours’ repose, set

o ff i n pursuit of them the Romans had the advantageof position , and the stimulus of victory, whereas theFrench were dejected and demoral ised Garibaldihastily despatched a messenger to General Avizzana,as

THE S IEGE or R OME. 65

101m1 Send {af resh troops, and as I prom ised to beatthe French, and have kept my prom ise, so now I promise

their vessels.’

o f a second attack,

for an armistice, consenti ng as a proof of his good intentions to give up Ugo Bassithe prisoner. The Triumvirate m Rome accordingly sentorders forthwi th to Garibald i to withd raw, for Mazzin istil l cl ung to his hopes o f assistance from the Frenchdemocratical party, and d id not wish to destroy al lchance of this by infl icti ng on the French another defeat.I t was in vai n Garibald i remonstrated , stati ng that hefelt sure the armistice was merely an excuse to al low of

reinforcements arriving from France ; but the Triumvi ratewould not l isten to him , and moreover released the 500prisoners i n exchange for poor Ugo Bassi .So Garibald i was forced to wi thdraw into the city

,

and abide the result of f resh negotiations which werebeing set on foot, M . de Lesseps was despatched fromParis wi th a special mission to Rome, and f resh tr00psmeanwhile poured in from France to the assistance of

General Oudinot. During this time Mazz in i continuedto wri te eager letters to LedruRol l in , and to hi s agentselsewhere, basing al l his hopes ondiplomacy.

OnMay the 7th there was an an imated d iscuss ion inthe French National Assembly on the Roman question .

M . j ules Favre denounced French intervention as conresi

ot, Ourmil itary

be assai led.


despatched to treat favourably wi th the Romans ; butNapoleon had his own ideas on the subject, and actedaccordingly ; his only object now was to save time,until Oudinot should be in a position to conquer.Garibaldi , meanwhile, was not idle. Ferd inand of

Naples was advancing onRome f rom the south with alarge army

,with the intention of restoring h is pontifical

guest to his possessions. Ten thousand stro ng the

Neapol i tan army was, and with twenty pieces o f cannontoo ; they had marched even as far as Albano , beforeGaribald i was despatched to meet them . On the eveningo f May the 4th, Garibald i ,with l ight troops secretlyleft Rome,his destination being unknown. They arrivedearly next morn ing at Tivol i , where they encampedamong the grey ruins of the Emperor Adrian ’s villa:the numerous fi res that gl istened amongst the ru i ns

,and

l ighted up their subterranean caverns, produced a strangeand picturesque effect. The singul ar aspect of the campseemed in unison with the wildness o f the scene. Garibald i and his staff were dressed as usual in scarlet blouses.they rode on South American saddles, which were madeto open and unrol l and form a kind of small ten t. Thisset up, their personal arrangements for the n ight werecomplete.On May the

‘

8th they halted at Palestrina, and Garibald i despatched numerous exploring parties to put thedetached Neapol i tan companies to fl ight, and the Romansacquitted themselves to their General ’s satisfaction inthis their first experience of this kind of warfare . Abody of Neapol i tans he confiden tly expectedwould attack him on the fol lowing day. Nor was bemistaken, for on the oth the enemy advanced to closequarters, but immed iately fel l into con fusion, notwithstanding the superiori ty of their numbers. Three hours

THE $15 05 or R OME. 67

0 complete the rout. The Neapol itans attriignominious defeat to the terror which theGaribald i inspi red in thei r men , and to the

uncanny appearance of the red-shi rted troops. Theyvinced, said their general , that the devi l h imcommanding i n person , for even sabres whichhad blessed shivered to bits against him, and

ore probably thisvei l for mutinyby so general ly

sovereign as King Bomba.o, the chief of Garibald i

’s staff , sent the fol lowof the victory to the Roman Government

Palestrina was a perfect rout, not ain the Roman Republ ic

,

Gaeta to pour his sorrows intoThe success, however, nearlywas wounded in the hand andreal ity only went as far as

for h imsel f, ordering abe sung in Naples.1 1th Garibald i and his sta ff occupied theo f the Augustine monks in Palestrina ;

had fled . and some of the volunteersdonn ing their three-cornered hats

,

hghfing a"tagging outthe candles

ese documen ts they discovered that thePalestrina were perfect Don Juans inone can imagine the efl

'

ect a discoveryhave on Garibaldi whose love for thelate received so great a shock, and howthe groundwork, coupled wi th what he

3 3

6 8 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI .

saw in the Inquisi tion cells of Rome, for his future novel.The Rule of the Monk.

’

Finding the Neapol i tans d isincl ined to encounterhim again , Garibald i imagined there m ight be someunderstanding between them and the French jo intly tosurprise Rome during his absence, so he set out for thecapital , passing with in two miles o f the enemy, wi ndinghis way th rough rough by-roads for twenty-eight mileswi th perfect s ilence and order throughout his ranks,andwithout halting for a moment.Meanwhile M . de Lesseps, as envoy f rom Franc e.dis

pel led al l fear of any immediate attack on the part of Oudinot

,and the Romans were f ree again to turn their attention

to the danger threatening them f rom the side of NaplesI t is unaccountable that at this juncture, after the success he had j ust gained , Garibald i should be supersededi n the command of the Roman army by an officer ofin ferior rank

,one Colonel Rosel l i, who on the occasion

was made General . Doubtless the demagogues i n Romewere growing jealous of Garibald i ’s popularity . and wereafraid o f his determination to push a victory 00 theend ; Mazz in i judged rightly, Garibald i d id not evencomplain at this injustice.

‘Some of my f riends,’ he

wrote, ‘ urged me not to accept a secondary posi tionunder a man who, only the day before, was my in ferior.but I con fess these questions o f sel f-love never yettroubled me whoever gives me a chance of fighting, ifonly as a common soldier. against the enemy o f mycountry, him wi l l I thank .

’

The Neapol itan forces had now ral li ed , they had te~

occupied Palestrina after Garibaldi ’s departure, fromwhich, being on the d irect road to Rome, the Govermment deemed it necessary to have themdislodged. The

whole Roman army, now smug, marched out to


70 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR /BALDL

great credi t to himsel f for the unexampled rapidity andsafety of his retreat.The way the Neapol itan troops conducted themselves

in this campaign reminds one forcibly of the repetitionof the same pantomime in 1860. Before Garibaldi'svolunteers they were in truth a miserable, degraded lot,barely worth the trouble Garibaldi took for them , andevennow, after twenty years

’ union wi th the more enl ightened north, they are a far greater thorn in the

crown of the Sard in ian dynasty than I reland is intheQueen o f England ’s.Garibald i pursued the flying enemy when dayl ight

convinced him of the truth o f thei r departure ; but asthey had got too good a start to let him catch them up.he returned and joined General R oselli’s column nearerRome

,with the view o f clearing the province o f Frasi

none f rom the armed bands o f Zucchi, onestanchest adheren ts of the Papal Governmen t.a few days he was again entrusted with a di visarmy wi th a view to carrying the war into the kingdomof Naples i tsel f. Pursuing his way along the old Samnite road to the banks of the Volturnus, he was preparing for an immediate attack on the capital , with everyprospect of success, when he was summoned back to

Rome again with al l speed , where the final act in thedrama of the short-l ived Roman Republ ic was aboutto be played , and onMay the a4th hEternal City amidst the rejoicings of

hai led him with the wi ldest enthusiasm.

M . de Lesseps s igned and ratifiedwi th the Roman Assembly to the satipart ies , and then proceeded to placeOudinot the particu lars thereof ; burefused to acknowledge them , stating that M .

7‘

l SIEGE OF ROME. 7 r

had ex ceeded the powers granted to him , and that hisown instructions f rom France were of an entirely differont nature, for he had now got his rein forcements ,and longed to wipe o ff the stai n which , as Louis Napoleonhad said, rested on the arms of France. Accordingly Oudinot gave notice that he would recommencehostili ties forthwith . Only

,

’ he continued in his letterto the Roman Government, with the view o f giving ourfellow-countrymen, who are desi rous of qui tting Rome,the means of doing so with ease, I shal l , at the requestof the French Embassy, postpone the attack on theP iazzaunti l Monday morn ing.

’

All were asleep on Sunday morn ing, June the 3rd,

even the ever-wakeful Garibald i , relying ful ly on thewo rd of the French general , who was now steal ing

to the Roman outposts at the Vil la Pamfilini j ust outside the Porta San Pancrazio.

‘ I t

ys Garibald i, when al luding to this day,‘ if a

to sleep onthe faith o f a treaty he wakesnd General Garibald i on th is Sundaymomupe, for the outposts had beensuddenlytaken prisoners, and even the Ponteafter a brave but futi le resistance.

inot justified himsel f by saying that heonly not to attack the P iazza,meaning the forf, ti l l Monday, but had said nothing about theBy this somewhat doubtful means Oudinotsion of Rome, or rather precipi tated events ,never have held out long against hisard the resistance though val iant was

of the Capito l , and of al l the churches,alarm drums cal led to arms, and the

the brave Lombard volunteers,

perate confl ict. As the French coluPamfili the Romans jumped out ofgarden below, cl imbed the wal ls,Convent of San Pancraz io, yel ledarms Before Garibald i ’s arrival on thethe Vil la Corsin i had also fal len into theThis he fel t to be an i rreparable loss,formed the basis ofHence it was a question of vi tal importance whether itshould be retaken or not.bald i at once planned an attack,made by the volunteers

,up came

supply the place o f the dead andless for h

source necessary for an operationgueri l la chieftain d id not possessto the desultory ski rmishes of

which the French general could continual lyward Wherever danger seemed to threatenwould send a detachment, without ever conhis forces on one given point.Hence the close of the first day of the si

French in possession of the posi tions theyhadand it was a gloomy even ing for those insiwal ls.On Monday morn ing Garibald i changed

action ; he determined to content himsorties, and wi th just harass ing the works

TI-IE S IEGE OF R OME. 73

siegers by a continual cannonade from the wal ls. Fromthis plan he d id not deviate for days ; his cannonadecaused much annoyance to the French works, but hissorties were not very effectual owing to the inexperienceo f his vo lunteers, who grew alarmed and fired at toogreat a d istance.Garibaldi fai led again in an attempt to blow up a

bridge across the Tiber with a boatful of combustiblematerials, and also in an attempt to undermine thebatteries which the French were raising, for Oudinotdiscovered his object, and let water into the mines, whichmade it ine ffectual .Meanwhile the French batteries were rapidly in

creasing. The only hope for the Romans was M . deLesseps and his interference at Paris on their behal f.To this last straw Mazzin i sti l l cl ung, for the FrenchAmbassador had assured him that al l would be set torights when he got to Paris. So every day withouta surrender was hai led now by Mazz in i and his partyas a victory. But the arrival of M . de Corcel les soondispersed their hopes ; he came to declare that theFrench Government now disavowed any participation inthe convention ratified by M . de Lesseps. On hearingthis, the last blow to their hopes, the Roman Assemblywas furio us, but it avai led them l ittle. No matter howmuch Mazz in i m ight storm , how much Saf’fi might decl aim , or Armel l in i remonstrate— the facts were sternones— the French nation was now added to the long l istof their enemies without hope. One ci ty, wi thout asingle al ly, was holding out against two powerful nations,and wasting its blood in a vain attempt at freedom .

Maz zin i sti l l urged them to continue the resistance.Let Oudinot lay the city in ashes as he has threatenedand butyns inthem .

’ This resistance to odds so over

74 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI .

whelming was the fol ly of fanaticism, and Garibaldi toldthem so. Mazzin i bi tterly censured Garibald i for thisopin ion o f his ; he talked of him as a coward

1 as halfhearted in the cause. The i rri tation which reproachessuch as these would engender in a mind l ike Garibaldi ’smay easily be imagined , and ever after this Garibaldiand Mazz in i were anything but friends. I n those daysthey represented two di fferent classes of ideas. Garibaldisought then only to have I taly f reed f rom the fore ignerand united under one Government, republ ic or monarchical , he cared not which ; whereas Mazz in i was the acknowledged hater of al l monarchs, and would not havecared for victory if i t was only to put Victor Emmanueli n Rome instead of the Pope.

On the n ight of j une the rust, the French efl'

ected abreach i n the city wal l , and planted a battery the reon.I t was brought about by some mysterious mane uvre ;no one knew how it was done, but on that evening aRoman officer going his rounds of inspection near thegate of San Pancrazio found himsel f suddenly su rroundedand taken prisoner. The terrified sentinels brought wordthat the French had come up f rom underground, othersthat they had discovered a secret door from a subter»

raneanpassage ; suspicions of treachery too were notwanting. I t is enough for our purpose to know that theFrenchnow occupied two bastions, the secondnot withoutan obstinate res istance f rom Garibald i , who on the firsti ntel l igence of the d isaster hurried th i ther but too late.Rosel l i now recommended an immediate attack at

the point of the bayonet. Again, Garito such useless waste o f l i fe, and waspusil lan imity by his comrades ; but hewith the discouragement which pervaded al lthe whispers of treachery that were abroad,

THE 5 15 05 OF R OME. 75

ment of this kind would only accelerate the final cata~

As yet, however, there was no symptom of waveringin the troops at Rome (which some say numbered

whilst General Oudinot had outside thewall s ; these figures, however, are l ikely to have beenexaggerated onboth sides), and their leaders were dai lyperform ing deeds of heroism . Colonel Medici was ubi

quitous and second only to Garibald i in the order andcompleteness of his tact ics. Ciceruacchio the orator,the demagogue wi th blood-stained shirt, and sword sti l lreciting with the slaughter, would pour forth a torrentof eloquence, rekindl ing to the best of his abi l ity thefl i ckering flame of patriotism. Ugo Bassi too, i n hismonk’s dress, held the crucifix before the eyes o f thedying, regardless of the bul lets which showered aroundhim, always in the thickest of the fight but nevercarrying anything save his cross.The inhabitants of Rome evinced the same deter

mination , though the bombardment was constant. I none n ight 150 bombs fel l with in the city, and manypri vate houses were grievously injured . On the a7th arumour was current that Garibald i had abandoned hispost at San Pancraz io owing to a dispute with the commanderdn-chief ; a young Lombard, Manara by name,ranto him and conjured him to remain and he did so,amidst general applause.

The French by this t ime had planted twelve pieces

of cannon inthei r breach and commanded therefrom theprincipal def ences of Rome. Terrible was the havoc theymade amongst the vi l las and palaces in the western partof the city, and Garibald i who held the Vil la Savorel li

was obl iged to abandon it on the evening of the a7th.

During the attack onthis the Romans lost 400menwith


bayonetminds alone. a proof of the desperate resolu

assault began. Under cover of the darkness the Frenchforced their way in three close columns through the

Confusionreigned everywhere, the beating of drums, thechnging of bells. whilst Gan

’

baldi, sword in hand, andsingingapopular ditty, rushed forward tomeet the attackfollowed by themost determined of hismen. This indeedwas die final charge the charge of utter despair on thepart o f the Romans, which for a moment completelystaggered the French. but for the moment only ; i t wasthe last gasp of the dying. W hen fomd to re treatGaribaldi sent a message to the Tri umvi rate saying thatal l was lost, that further resistance was impossible. Ineager conclave , the Triumvirate d iscussed the course thento be pursued.

‘ Three courses are open to us'

saidMazz in i : to treat with the enemy, to defend the townfrombarricade to barricade, or to move in a body fromRome, Triumvirate and all , carrying with us the palla»diumof R oman l iberty.

’

Garibald i was then summoned befo re them , coveredwith blood

, his clothes pierced with bal ls and bayonetthrusts. To the tribune,

’ every one cried, and Garibaldi

forthwith ascended it to state how impossi ble was anyfurther defence, unless weare resolved to make o f Romea second Saragossa ;

’ and in the end the fol lowing orderwas issued : The Roman Republ ic in the name o f Godand the people gi ves up a defence which has becomeimpossible. ’

On j une the 3oth, the constituent assembly on the tesignation of the Triumvirate appointed Garibald i as theird ictator, the legal guard ian of the rights of the people.



Venice,hopelessas they were from a mil itary point of

view,had , however, done something for I taly : they had

made Ital ians proud of their country. Nor was th is allthe struggle against a foreign intruder gave the firstshock to the local jealousies, and antagonism of rivalcities

,which hitherto had been the great imped iment to

I tal ian Un ity.

CHAPTER IV.

T H E W A'

N D E R E R .

THE servant now of no State, a lawless adventurer inthe eyes of national law

,nothing but the brave leader of

a few brave men,Garibaldi started on his adventurous

way through and across Central I taly, where al l forcethat was not French was now Austrian . If song sti l ll ives in the Sabine mountains, many a future lay oughtto tel l how the outlaw of I talian l iberty left the conquered ci ty, foi led his French pursuers, and gained themountains, for ever making war support war. No legendary l ay, no wri tten or unwritten poem is richer in theelements of romance, courage, and fortitude, than themodern story of Garibald i's escape across the Apenninesf rom Tivol i to Temi , f rom Tern i to Arezzo, f rom Arezzoto the Republ ic of San Marino, and thence to the nameless cottage onthe Adriatic where Ani ta d ied .

On leaving Rome, Garibald i had taken from themilitary chest a sumsuflicient for the immediate necessities of his troops, and for his own personal expenditu rehe sold his watch ; Anita, though shortly expecting anaddition to her fam ily, could in nowise be induced to

abandon him. Now showing himsel f at one point, ihducing his pursuers to concen trate their forces on thespot,and thenby a rapid n ight march eluding thei r pur

suit,andappearing at another, Garibald i was engaged in

l o LIFE OF GIUSEPPE

just themymode of warfare inwhich hemost excelled.

At or-vietq fa examph the last columnof his troops

Thus he made his way into Tuscany. B erc hisreoeptionm anything but a cordial one ; a largeAtarian foroe was hanging abouh and the inhabitantsme mtrained to forbar any rising in favour ot

Imlian liberty. At Armo he found the gates c losed

a convent. R ecognising the useleesness of remain inghag Gan

'

baldi now had but one course left, namely, toseek some spot of safety, some neutral ground where hecould get terms for hismen, and thenmake his own

Over the Apennines hotly pursued f rom place to

plamfording fivers traversing woods he at lengthreached ahavenof rest on the borders of the littlc

Republ ic of San Marino, which ‘ l ittlemole on the faceof afair lady,

’ as the Italians call it, lies lost with itsfreedom of fi fteen centuries’ stand ing, i ndependent butpoor, amongst the Apennines behind Rimini. On reach»

ing the borders of this small speck of a republ ic,whose

motto like Garibald i’

s was ‘ l iberty,’ the General sent his

Quartermaster before himto announce to the authori tieshis arrival

,and to request a safe passage and victuals

for his troops. The Captains and Counci l of San Marino.af ter much deliberation, felt obl iged to refuse, yet i t went

feeling} but al though with the Austrians near theyquaked for their liberty, they promised to put food for

THE WANDERER . 8 !

G aribaldi saw that his only hope of sa fety was to takethe law into his ownhands Entering the territories ofSan Marino, he pitched his M p just outside their tinycapital . A curious spectacle, indeed , they presented ,wi th their red shirts all i n rags, in fantry and 300cavalry in all, for their ranks had been greatly thinnedby desertion and death since they left Rome. Demoral ised by their late misfortunes, no mil i tary discipl i ne now re igned inthe motley group of old men andboys ; some sank to the ground through exhaustion ;others stood smil ing commsedly in thei r misery, whilstthe astonished republ icans of San Marino stood byyearning inpity for them. There were many women

,

too, amongst them ,who had clung to the ir husbands

,

sons. and brothers, through al l their scenes o f misery,

Garibaldi himself and two or three of his stafl'

wentstrai ght to the Government House, where he ofl

'

ered todel iver up h is arms, and implored lodgings for his men .

‘All hai l to the fugitives,’ said the Captains of the

Republ ic ;‘ as such we wi l l receive you .

’ And theyforthwith gave orders for food to be distributed amongstthe men, whilst Garibald i and An ita were lodged withall hospital ity in the Franciscan convent near the gateo f the town.

Garibald i addressed his men , for the last time, wi thwords of af fection , and then posted up on the churchdoor the fol low ing Order of the Day : Sold iers

,we

have arrived ina land o f refuge : we must maintain anirreproachable conduct tos our generous hosts

,since

it wil l gain forus the respect merited by our m isfortunes.From the present moment I release al l my companionsin arms from every engagement, leaving them f ree tore-enter private l ife. But

Iwould remind you that it isG


better to d ie than to l ive as slaves to a foreigner.GAR lBALDI.

’

Meanwhi le the Austrians f rom the side o f Riminithreatened San Marino as conniving at Garibaldi 'sescape. So with great haste the Secretary of Statewent to intercede for a capitulation in favour of thevolunteers, and for their own safety. Archduke E rnest,the Austrian general , was obdurate on the subject ofGaribald i he ref used to allow himand his fol lowers toescape, at the same time promising not to harm the

i nhabitants of San Marino. But at length be agreedto terms of the severest nature, which should obl igeGaribddi to emk for America. Our hero , however.had no such inten tions just now. Whilst the Republic ofSan Marino was asleep he contrived to efl

'

ect his escapeunobserved wi th Anita and a few fol lowers, leaving thefol lowing lacon ic note on his bedroom table : The oon~

ditions imposed on me by the Austrians I cannot accept.and therefore we cease to encumber your territory.

GAR IBALDI.’

Great was the dismay among the Garibaldi ans nextmorning when they found thei r leader had left them.

They talked much about preferring death to capitulation.but were at length persuaded to deliver up their arms tothe authori ties o f San Marino ; each man received fromthe generous Republicans a passport for Rimini, andtwo paoli (sci ) apiece, to aid them onthei r journey :but so exasperated were the Austrians when they foundthat Garibaldi had escaped f rom their clutches, that theyrobbed his men on the road to Rimin i of thei rpaali andthei r passports, and mal treated some of them into thebargain.

I n vain had Garibald i tried to persuade An ita toremain behind at San Marino. Though worn out wi th

THE WANDERER. 83

fatigue and sickness she refused, and smil ingly askedher husband ‘ if he wished to abandon her so onwardshe toi led with himto the shores of the Adriatic. Onreaching the port of Cesenatico, thanks to some fishermen, who braved the anger of the Austrians by lendingthem th irteen boats , they were able to embark for

Ven ice ; but a northern cloud had spread itsel f over theAdriatic that n ight, the sea was furious, and labouringwith all their might they cou ld not succeed in gett ingout of the port unti l daybreak, when the Austrianswere just entering the town .

Sai ls were now spread, for the wind had becomefavourable, and on the fol lowing morn ing four o f thecraf t which contained Garibald i and his immediatefol lowers reached the mouth o f the Po ; i n one was theGeneral , Anita, Ciceruacchio the orator of Roman fame,his two sons, Ugo Bassi, and another. Anita, who hadsuff ered fearfully during the voyage, was borne ashoreina dying state in the arms of her husband .

The occupants of the remain ing n ine barges had notbeenso fortunate ; the Austrians had d iscovered them bythe light of a ful l moon , and had rained bul lets and grapeshot uponthem , unti l they were forced to surrender.The shore where the four boats had just put inwas

swarming with the enemy’s scouts sent to trace the fugitives. Anita was lying a l i ttle way o f f the shore conoealed in a cornfield, her head resting on her husband ’sknee,whilst Leggiero, an inhabitant of La Maddalena,anda comrade of the General in South America, was thei ronly compan ion he kept guard for them , so as to givenotice if he saw any white coated Austrians lurkingnear Garibaldi, strickenwith grie f, watched the gradualebbing away of that l i fe whose every hope and joy hadbeenso strongly bound up in his own.

' 0 2


A fter land ing at Mesoli, Garibaldi , his wi fe, UgoBassi and Ciceruacchio wandered about for some time,when Ugo Bassi exclaimed , ‘ I have red pantaloons on

(a pai r which he had received from a sold ier, his own

having been worn out), and I may betray you , I wi l l goa l ittle way and change them .

’ After this Ugo Bassiwas seen by the Austrians and captured ; Ciceruacchioalso and the n ine others were not l ong und iscovered .

The Austrians lost no time in condemning the n ine todeath immediately, reserving the two more conspicuousheroes for thei r fate in Bologna. Nine peasan ts weresummoned, and ordered to dig n ine holes in the sand,after which a discharge f rom the Austrian picketsdespatched them without further ado. The youngestof them , the sonof one of the Tribunes in that Assem o

bly in Rome, a lad of only thirteen years, moved afterthe fi re

,but a blow from the butt end of an Austrian

musket soon closed his short career.A few days later Ugo Bassi and his com rade were

without trial condemned to an ignomin ious death at Bologna ; on August the 8th , the monk and the orator wereled to the publ ic square. Bedini was the Papal Legateat Bologna just then , the same man who was sen t fiveyears later to try to establ ish the canon law of R omein the United States ; he commanded that Ugo Bassishould be ‘ desecrated ’ before his execution , and toe ffect th is, gave orders for part of his head and fingersto be flayed , under pretence that those parts had beenconsecrated by the tonsure and the wafer whil st a pr iest.Bassi was led to execution streaming with blood , with

Ciceruacchio at his side. No sign of fear or waveringdid they show before their death, they only prayed fortheir murderers. And thus perished two martyrs

,orat

least enthusiasts in the cause of f reedom,whilst the



small mortuary chapel was raised on the spot toAnita’s memory, and her remains cons igned to a morefitti ng tomb.

Garibald i and his f riend Leggiero reached Ravennain sa fety, where they lay concealed for some days in thehouse of a friend, and learn ing that it would be uselessto proceed to Venice, now in the last gasp of herstruggle

,he wrote to a friend in Florence to inqui re if

there was any chance of a revolution in that city. Hisfriend sent word how best he could travel into Tuscany,

pointing out the spots by the way where he wou ld bel ikely to obtai n food and a n ight

’

s shelter from trustedadherents to the cause. Thus fort ified with new hopes

,

the two pilgrims set out once more on their j ourneys .often taking food in wayside inns by the side o f Croatscouts . One day, whi lst Garibald i was sitt ing withhis elbows on the table of a hostelry and his faceburied in his hands, some Austrians came in in hothaste, and asked himif he had seen anything of theRed Devi l ,

’

onwhose track they had been for th reequarters of an hour ; he answered al l their quest ionswithout al lowing them to get a glance at his face, andthus avoided discovery.

On reaching Spezz ia, on the Gul f of Genoa, helearned from inqui ries that Florence was not l ikely torise just then , so he took a carriage and drove toChiavari , the cradle o f his race, whi ch place he reachedon September the 6th. The commandant o f Chiavaribegged him to create no disturbance by making known hispresence in the town , and next day the two friendswereofficial ly conducted to Genoa to the presence of Gene ralLa Marmora, who received them courteously, but formeasures of prudence detained them in prison. Whenthe Government o f Turin heard of th is they considered

THE WANDERER. 87

i t adv isable to be rid o f such a troublesome guest asGaribald i out of their territory a violent discussion onthe subject took place in the Assembly, but honourablecaptivity was at length decided upon.On giving his word of honour to return to Genoa,

Garibald i was al lowed to pay a visit to his mother atN ice and his three children . Signora Garibald i being

74 , and an inval id , he felt it probable that he should notsee her again . A fter his return to Genoa he was soonset at l iberty, and poli tely requested to absent h imsel ff rom I ta ly. But he preferred to pass over to Sard in ia,where the French made a great d isturbance about hispresence near them. So hunted , and hal f a band it,Gari bald i wandered about the mountains o f the island ,

andoccasional ly when hard pressed would pass over tothe smal l island rock of Caprera, where he would hideamongst the boulders and revel in the wildness of theplace. This was Garibald i ’s first acquaintance withhis future home, which, f rom its savage wildness androcky beauty, harmon ised with the feelings of miserywhich racked him . H is dearest wishes onearth werenow farther from their complet ion than ever ; he hadlost his compan ion in l i fe, he had not a roof tocal l his home ; no wonder the sol i tary grandeur of

Caprera made a deep impression on the wanderer,and that we shal l ere long have to return there with

Eventually, he was persuaded to ret ire f rom the Sard in ian terri tory. Find ing no hopes of a further risingin I taly, he went thence to Gibraltar, from which placehe was requested to withdraw by the Engl ish governor,and during his twenty-four hours’ stay there his movements were careful ly watched . Thence he crossed overto Tangiers, where, after staying a few weeks, he met


with a sh ip which took him to Liverpool , from wh ichport he embarked for New York.

I n the busy world of the Ameri can capital Garibaldifound many f riends, but he refused al l monetary assistance from them, and the hero of Salto San t’ Antonio,and of the siege of Rome, determined to earn his ownl ivi ng in the mercanti le world. I n America, Garibaldiwas not over-popular amongst the inhabi tants, for un l ikeKossuth he did not seek ovations. American societyo ffered him al l its advantages if only he would consent tobe l ion ised—aroom in the city hal l, wherein

'

to receivehis f riends, was put at his d isposal , but he ref used. J ustat this time New York was the general asylum for dis

appointed revolutionists, who had made their owncountry too hot for them in the affai rs of 184 8—49 .

LedruRoll in was a shore porter there, Louis Blane adancing master, Fel ix Pyat a scene shifter, Lamartinea mendicant

,whi lst a member of the German Parl iament

was a barber, and another patriotic Frenchman wasvending cabbages in the streets of New York.

Our hero Garibald i was making tal low candles in aback street in Staten Island, for eighteen months. Wehave not much to relate of this period of his ex istencehe wi l l tel l us, when asking for particulars, that bel l owmaking made him sick, and that work as hard as hecould , he never was able to become an ex pert in the

art. Nevertheless he was very popular among his com.

pan ions, and improved considerably in his Engl ish , and

got j ust a l ittle bit more extreme in his views onRepubl icanism in general . I n after years, when settledat Caprera. he received a long thin box f rom his formeremployers in New York. I t contained three giganticcand les, one of red, one of green , one of white , wi th thefollow ing note pinned to them , A pment for General

THE WANDERER . 89

Garibaldi, to make a tricoloured illumination with onthe Campidogl io when he gets to Rome. ’

After leaving New York the General betook himsel fto South America again, and at Lima entered into theservice of Don Pedro di Negro,as captain of a merchantvessel plying between Hong Kong and Peru . This wasagain but an uneven tful period of his career. Al l whosaw himthere admit that he did his duty wel l ; moreoverthere is a story told of how Don Pedro, when he drewthe contract for Garibald i’s trad ing expedition , inserteda clause fhat if his cargo was not enough to load theship on his return journey, he might make it up with afew Chinese slaves. Garibald i hesitated not a moment,but dashed his penthrough this objectionable clause,add ing, ‘Never wi l l I become a trafl

'

icker i n humanflesh.

’

This l i fe over, we again find Garibald i at New York ,but no longer in the tal low trade. He was appointedto the command of a smal l trad ing vessel cal led theCornw al l“, which though carrying the Americanflag belonged to an I tal ian owner, and the crew were al lex iled I talians, many of them educated and high-born ,awai ting a favourable turn in a ff ai rs to revisit theirnati ve country.

On board this ship Garibaldi touched at Newcastleon-Tyne to get in coals, where he had an enthusiasticreception from his Engl ish admirers. A sword anda telescope were presented to him , and at the presentation no end of pretty speeches were made to him onboard his ship at Shields by a deputation from thedonors Garibaldi was modest, and begged to be excosed from accepting them publ icly. Perhaps he fel tshy in addressing an Engl ish audience ; for he said tothe deputation : ‘ I am very weak in the Engl ish

90 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

language, and I can but imperfectly express myacknowledgment of your great kindness.’ Before thevessel left the Tyne, he wrote an autograph letter toMr. John Cowen, speaking in rapturous terms of

England and the Engl ish thus : ‘ If England at any time in a just cause may need my arm, i

am ready to unsheath in her defence this noble andsplendid sword , received at your hands.

’ On thi s visitGaribald i looks back wi th pleasure. I t was but a faintforeshadowing of that which was to take place tenyears later.The year 18 54 found Garibald i again in Genoa,

after four years of wandering. His mo ther was dead :“curiously enough,’ says Garibald i , ‘ she died on mybirthday.

"And then he wi l l tel l how he d reamt of herthat n ight, when on a voyage to China, in the m idst ofa violent storm ,

when al l good captai ns should havebeen awake, and then he heard af terwards that she diedat the very time the dream took place.

The three children were now growing up under thetu telage of old Signor and Signora Deideri, cousins of

Garibaldi 's, and were occasional ly taken to pay a visitto their uncle M ichele, Garibaldi

’

s favouri te brother.The pol i ti cal world was now much more peaceful.

The Piedmontese Government no longer looked uponGaribald i wi th such dread , and at this peri od he preachedto his fol lowers and fel low patriots : Look to P iedmont,as the hope and example of I taly.

’

A f ter cruising about onthe Med iterranean for a fewmonths, Garibald i found that he had amassed suffi cientmoney to buy himself a portion of the much-coveted

On the day of S . G iuseppe (19th March), Garibaldi’s saintly namesake. Italians eonsider this day equal. if not superior. to their birthday.Garibaldi’s birthdaymtheah of juiy.

THE WANDERER. 9 !

Island of Caprera. Hither we wil l accompany him, andsee the wanderer at rest

,afcer a rapid glance at I tal ian

pol i tics.

I taly was now, unde r the guidance of Cavour, aboutto en ter by the gates of d iplomacy into the con fratern ityof the Great Powers. The ‘Risorgimento,

’ a journalfounded by Cavour, represented the opin ions of themoderate Liberals—those who wished to main tain agood understanding with their princes, but at the sametime to regul ate without enchaining the Liberal andNational movement i n Italy. To this class, d

’

Azeglio

and Balbo belonged . As a fi rst step in his scheme,

Cavour, i n December 18 53. formed a treaty with Franceand England , i n the war against Russia, which has beendescribed as ‘ a pistol fired by Cavour in the ear of

Austria.’ I n thei r Crimean experiences, I tal ian troopslearnt to forget and repair the d iscouraging circumstancesof 1849 . At the Congress of Paris, Cavour mooted theItalian question—Rome, as wel l as Austria, was thesubject of debate. The breach between Austria andPiedmont dai ly grew wider. Whilst Cavour is thusfighti ng with his d iplomatic weapons, let us take asteamer for La Maddalena, and thence a smal l boat toCaprera. and see the hero of two worlds in his islandhome ; for wi th diplomacy Garibaldi ought never tohave meddled he spoi lt his mi l i tary prestige by doingso, and might j ust as wel l have lef t the a ffai rs of thenationto Cavour, of whom the Piedmontese of that daysaid : ‘We have chambers o f representatives, and wehave a consti tu tion,and the name of al l thi s is Cavour.

’


CHAPTER V.

GAR IBALDI AT CAPRERA.

IT would be wel l for I tal ians if they would spare someo f their admiration for Garibald i as Cam il lus, and bestowa l i ttle of i t upon him as Cinci nnatus, for if they wouldonly be as d i l igent inimproving thei r rich plai ns as hehas beeninvainly trying tomake agardenof Edenouto f abarrenseao-girt rock, Italy would be amarvel ofproductiveness. There is something stri kinglyanalogousbetween Garibald i's theories about mankind in general,and his theories about h is own property at Caprera.Amongst stubborn sel f-wi l led races he would spread peaceand brotherly love, equal ity of principle. equal i ty of

rank. yet if he had takenalessonfrom the resuls of his

owngarden and farm at Caprera, he wou ld have foundhow admirable are theories, but how futi le their resultsI n fact, though it gave him many a pleasant hour

'soccupation during his seasons of repose, Garibald i wasbound to admit that his atternpts to turnhis roclcy possession into a model farm were egregious fai lure s.All that surro unded the ‘ recluse of Caprera '

wassevere and vast. The mastic , the arbutus.the myrtle,andthe heath, and numberless aromatic plants group them.

selves amongst the rocks, and spread in wild vegetationover the turf on which by ascents more ar less steep youascend to the spot chosen by the General for his liat ion. These aromatic plants. when made into a tire.


94

Well,Caprera is but a smal l island,

i nland sea close to the coast of Sardfi fteen miles in circum ference, and five insuppose St. Stephen to have been the fi rst inhabitant.and state that the island took the form of th is martyredsain t, as he lay dead wi th the stoneshim authentic history, however,having been inhabited by a certawho fled thither and built the onlyit, j ust 150 years before the great bandit,

’

termed Garibald i,made his home thereon,

substan tial house upon it.We have seen how Garibald i visited th

the siege of Rome, when he found the out]unacceptable shelter f rom the windsceaseless hurricane aroundunder the Synd ic of Lajust a com fortable row across the l ivides these two sister islands, for Laon an island l ikewise close to theDuring the Napoleon ic wars, the king of SGal lura in Sardin ia, and whilst there hadal l barren islets surrounding the mainlandto the neighbouring parishes ; so ifthereon at al l i t is admin isteredd ign itary of the island town , where theto visit the recluse leaves the steamer that hashim from Leghorn .

When'Garibaldi retu rned to Genoa as we hin 18 54, he gave up the command of

out ona tour in Sardin ia with his son MenEngl ish f riends, travel ling under a feignedvent any disturbance. At La Maddalena,himsel f in communication wi th Signor

GAR IBALDI AT CAPRERA . 95

owned one-half of Caprera, with a view to spending whatmoney he had got together during his voyages on the

Real ly Caprera was common land under the mun ici

pality of La Maddalena, but by length of occupationthe Lucini fami ly had become entitled to i t, subject tothe municipal rights of turn ing animals thereon for

pasturage. Early in 185 5 , Garibaldi’s purchase was

completed with both the mun icipal ity and the owner,and henceforth onthe payment of one-hal f of theisland became his and his heirs’ for ever. Mr. Col l ins,an Englishman resident at La Maddalena, owned theother hal f , which he used for pasturage. Garibald i neverwas onvery friendly terms with his neighbour ; thei rrespect ive cows and pigs would stray into each other’sdemesne,and caused some rather angry disputes betweenthe two, and some sport for young Menotti, who took topel ting Mr. Col lins's cattle and driving them off his

father’s land.

Just before Garibald i's visit to England in 1864 , Mr.Collins died, and his widow was prepared to sell theremaining hal f of her right in Caprera ; so Garibald i

’sEnglish f riends, after some considerable squabbl ingamongst themselves, raised the re quisite sum, of whichMrs. Schwabe contributed the largest share , and in theautumn of that year the title deeds of the whole of

Caprera reposed securely inGeneral Garibald i’s strongbox. This second hal f , however, was placed in thehands of a trustee, namely, Menotti Garibald i , bound toact always 10 accordance with the wishes o f his father.Garibaldi was of opinio

nthat the harbour of LaMad


the French . who would immensely l ike to add Sard iniato their other domin ions for this very reason . Moreover,Caprera is rich in gran ite ; the Pantheon at Rome wasbui lt of stone fetched f rom thence, and so was part of

the P isan Cathed ral , and other celebrated build ings. In1870, a contract was entered into for supplying Romewith some of i t, for the improvements going on i n theE ternal City, but the negotiations to a great measurefell through, and the Garibald i fam ily got but l i ttlemoney therefrom.

Good roads have been made upon the island underthe General ’s own supervision he made everyone workat them,and if,as of late years, too i l l to assist himsel f , hewould sit ona bit of rock, watch ing his fami ly employed ,for fear any of them should shirk their duty. Sometimes,if time was pressing, he would order d inner to be brough ton a bul lock-waggon , to prevent delay.

. One day somemasonic brethren came to Caprera on a deputation fromtheir lodge ; they found al l the islanders at work on theirroads and wal ls ; laughingly the General handed themimplements, saying, Youshal l have masonry enoughbefore you leave Caprera. ’

There is one steep hi l l of gran ite which rises aloft inCaprera ; it is cal led Telamone,‘and isagood sti ff cl imb,almost worthy of the notice of a member of the AlpineClub. but when the summit is reached the view is gorgeons , ove r the numerous rocky islets ly ing around . asif for giants' stepping-stones between the islands of

Sard in ia and Corsica. The snow-capped peaks of loftyMonte Rotondo meet the eye on the side of Corsica,whi lst the rugged grandeur of Sardin ia, from its proximity ,

can be scanned easily wi th a glass : and thenonewonders with Garibald i that so much evi l canex ist inso lovely a spot for Sard in ia, with its eternal feuds and

‘ Inthe Sardiniandialect Telamooemeam‘

p-cdm’



even for sugar-canes, and pools of water here and thereto quicken vegetation .

Passing thence into the stables, we find a good ly arrayo f animals. Shortly after the Sici l ian campaign theGeneral could boast of some very fair specimens of

horse-flesh : Marsala, a charger sent to himby a Sicilianpatriot ; Said , by the Pasha of Egypt, and Borbone .

the horse from whose back Menotti Garibald i had pulledthe rider at the siege of Reggio . There were severaldonkeys, too, in the yard, rejoicing in the grand namesof Pio Nono, Francis Joseph, and Louis Napoleon . Oneday poor Pio Nono strayed from the Garibaldian precincts, and had his tai l bi tten o ff by some wi ld cattleon the hi ll . Crestfal len and tai l less, the Pope

's namesakereturned to his stal l , and not a few were the jokes crackedon the occasion not compl imen tary to the high priestin the Vati can .

Cows, too, Garibaldi had in su fficient number for hisfam ily requirements , as wel l as sheep ; but there is anox ious herb cal led feralawhich grows amongst theherbage at Caprera, and proves fatal to the cattle, if theai lment produced thereby is not very ski l ful ly treatedyet in the early spring time there is no more del iciousvegetable sent to table than this f emIa, almost excel lingasparagus in its flavour.Garibald i ’s potatoe beds, however, were h is pride.

\Vhen he could get it, he l iked noth ing better than a disho f his owngrowth , baked onthe embers with his ownhands ; but th is treat was a rare one, for potatoes didnot thrive as the planter wished.

When Garibald i fi rst took Up his residence at Caprerahis cousins the Deideris went to keep house for him. Old

Deidori had been a merchant in N ice, and had put together a tidy l ittle fortune. The old couple had no chil

GARIBALDI A 7~ CAPR IE‘

RA. 99

d ren of their own, and so determined to adopt TheresitaGaribald i as their chi ld , for Anita

’s daughter was growi ng up fai r and comely amongst the wilds of Caprera

,

amusing hersel f alternately between feeding the an imalsinthe farm-yard , gal loping over the turf with her father,or exercising her fingers on the sol itary piano whichgraced the island .

I n the early days at Caprera,the household arrange

ments were very simple. There was the General ’s ownroom , wi th a cord hung across i t, to which was hunghis wardrobe of red shi rts , drawers, and trousers, so thathe might change his clothes whenever he had a mind soto do . There was the bed , and a wretched poor one i twas, on which Garibald i slept, over which was hanging inan ebony frame a lock of Anita's hai r. There was l ikewise a picture of his mother, and a few other portraits

also his famous sword , and that of the brave La Tourd

'

Auvergne.

Then there was the flag-room , contain ing trophiesof war, the standard of Montevideo, and others ; alsothe General ’s l ibrary, which consisted of many treatiseson the art of war and navigation, Shakspeare, Byron ,and some natural phi losophy works of German f reethinkers, besides the Ethics of Plutarch

,D i scourses o f

Bossuet, and the Fables of La Fontaine.M iss Theresi ta had her own room , and also the

Deideris. whilst the family met on al l such importantoccasions as meals in the kitchen, where the humbleboard was spread . But al l this was much altered whenthe second wing was added ; then the General hadplenty of room for his guests, and for his grandchildren

and their parents, for Garibald i’

s chi ldren were fond of

paying long visits to their il lustrious father, when theiravocat ions on the mainland would permit.

‘ nz

too LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

Garibald i's house wasnow more than ever conspicuousfor the presents he has f rom time to time rece ived , f romEngl ish and other f riends : chai rs, tables, farming imple~ments, and other things, amongst which we may men tiona sword presented by his admirers in Melbourne,with ani l luminated book contain ing the names of the subscribers.

On the golden hi l t is the figure of I taly arisen : herchains are broken loose, and she is brandishing alof t thesword of Spartacus and cleaving asunder the coi ls of aserpent ; on the guard whi ch protects the hand is ad iamond star of I taly the scabbard is of green velvet.Many were the i l lustrious guests, of all nations , who

have partaken of a simple meal at the board of Garibald i. I tal ian statesmen, I tal ian officers were constantlyto be found there. One day a deputation came fromthe King, impressed wi th the general opin ion , which theclergy love to spread, that Garibald i was an unai lturedman

,scarce able to read and write. H is secre tary for

the time being showed them the letters he had beenwrit ing. Surely,

’ said the strangers,

‘Garibald i can‘tread these whereat the secretary, with a joke in view,

replied , ‘Oh dear no, we only show them to h im as amatter o f form , and then he puts his signature to them.

’

Garibald i was in the garden at the time, so his secre tarywent to fetch h im and told him the opin ion his guestshad of him so up came Garibaldi blustering awayin a vulgar I tal ian dialect, whi lst his guests treated himfamiliarly, boasting of their acquirements

, and talkinga good deal about their knowledge o f German andmathematics. Having adroitly led them into errorsi n a truly strategical way, Garibaldi turned round andexplai ned to his astonished l isteners their mistakes influent German. ‘

rmgiorym toldme byan eye-witnmfor whose vcraeily l can

vouch.


l oz LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI .

fel ici tate the General on his escape . Civic authorities.sold iers, marines, women , boys, al l landed on the island .

and rushed up the slope to the General'

s house, al l eagerto express their thank fulness that so great a l i fe had beenspared to them and to I taly.

Though the recluse l ived at Caprera far from theagitations of the world and in an atmosphere o f com

plete mental repose, he did not al low himsel f a momento f real idleness. Letters by the dozen were brought tohim by every mail , requiring immed iate answers a fewspecimens o f which have beengiven to us by Col .Vecchj,who acted for a short time as his secretary. One morninga large packet was brought over from La Maddalena bvthe mai l-boat ; one l etter was from a priest o f Foggia.who declared I taly to be possessed , and proposed thatGaribald i should exorcise the demon with fire and sword.and drive out Luci fer’s own representative the Pope,with his legion of demons in the shape of the Card inals.There was another from a Frenchman , the inventor o f anew kind of arti l lery,which was to blow up hal faa-mil l iono f men at a time. This was placed at Garibald i ‘s disposal on the sole agreement that it was never to be usedagainst his owncountrymen . Then there would invariably be several notes from the fair sex ; some des iring an autograph, others a lock of hai r ; others statingtheir admiration for Garibald i nay, even some whowould declare for him the tender passionof love. Toal l these latter letters Garibald i endeavoured to answerhimsel f , graceful ly and pretti ly, as was his wont ; forCari.bald i was an admi rer of the fai r, and deemed i t wel l toplease them when just a l i ttle bit o f a letter could givethem so much satisfaction.Apart from his more immed iate insu lar pursu its, Geri.

baldi was always very busy i n his phi lanthropic under

GAR IBALDI AT CAPRERA. 103

takings, especial ly among his neighbours the Sards,wherealmost heathen darkness reigned supreme. Schools forchi ldren have under his superintendence been set on footi n La Maddalena, to which the parents sent their o lfspring in such crowds that it was di fficult to find aecommodationfor them al l . At Garibald i ’s suggestion subscriptions on a considerable scale were got up in England, with a view to Open ing schools on the Sard in ianmainland . Agents were establ ished in many towns

,and

everything looked most promising for their success inthis educational measure ; but this sum of money

,some

how or another d id not carry out the wishes of the subscribers, some o f whom complain that i t was fri ttered

els that they did not intend, before reach

o f Caprera has beenconsiderably changed .

social ly, during late years. Theresita was0, who, when at his father-innsiderable influence. Moreover .nested no longer to superintend

household , and accordingly took thei r deatruth Stephen Canz io has great authorityibaldi, l ike a good father-in-law,

can refusehis clear, strapping daughter tomay wish. And then Theresita

ad chi ldren in this island retreat, for

to be provided f rom Tuscany ; forhersel f too delicate to perform the

at which the General wasrefused to have Francescathrew a book at anybody’sowever, Theresi ta cried and

unti l Francesca one day arrived fromthe recl use's roof, from which she was

104 OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

not destined to depart agai n in a hurry. Garibald iby degrees began to l ike the nurse, and to be less iratewith Theresi ta for her fol ly in introducing such a creatureinto the Garibaldian establ ishment ; and if i t had notbeen for that unfortunate affair up in the Lakes in1859,Francesca would have been Signora Garibald i manyyears before she could boast of that name.Four at least of Theresita’s children ought to turn out

wonderful patriots if there is anyth ing ina name. Thereis Mamilie, called after a soldier-poet ki l led at the siegeof Rome there is Anzani , cal led after Garibald i

'

s SouthAmerican f riend ; then there is a Lincoln , whwe namerecal ls the President of the Un ited States ; and last,and decidedly least

,comes l i ttle Brown Canz io, called

after an American ‘martyr ’ i n the cause o f fre edom.

Such was the household at Caprera, strange as the islandon wh ich it was found , partly savage, partly grotesque.of which the General was the cen tre of al l things aridnow he has passed away, that romantic halo whi ch hassurrounded th is wild Sard in ian island since he boughthalf of i t in 18 55 will d isappear.


to6 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI.

same time he uttered his never-ceasi ng protest o f distrust inFrance. This was the commencement o f oneo f Garibald i ’s most celebrated campaigns, which wonfor him the admiration o f Europe and made him the

idol o f I taly.

Now the Chasseurs of the Alps were col lected inthis way. Eager volunteers flocked into Piedmont f romal l states o f the Pen insula, and throughout I taly com~mittees ‘were formed by the instrumental i ty of the Marquis Giorgio Pal lavicin i with a central office at Turin.

Their agents,going about in the capacity o f hawkersand

so forth, gave eager youths scraps of paper. which actedas a sort of pass for them when they crossed the f rontier.These young men formed themselves in to bands o f

twenty or thi rty at a fixed date and at a fixed spot, andwere placed under efficient gu ides, who conducted themover the Alps or Apennines to Turin or Genoa, whencethey were drafted into the regular army. or formedvolunteer bands, such as the cambim’m’

of Genoa, whowore grey coats with green facings. The arrangemento f these troops was given to Garibaldi and his fol lowers,amongst whom Med ici greatly d istinguished himsel f.By the end o f Apri l Garibald i found himsel f i n com

mand of no less than three fine regiments o f i n fantry .

with Cosenz, a Neapol itan , Med ici , whom we first metin Montevideo, and Arduino, as their off icers ; to thesewere added a few guides and Genoese sharpshootersfrom amongst the best famil ies of Genoa, M ilmt, andBologna. Large additions were made to the number ofthese volunteers.as they entered Lombardy, by M ilanese.Austria.meanwhile, lost temper at these armamen ts,andrequested Cavour to dismiss them. This was just whatthe I tal ian ministe r wanted . He decl ined to do so, andAustria took the initiative in the war.

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1859. 107

Garibald i organ ised his staf f at Biella, a mountaintown on the Cerra. It was composed of many o f his

S outh American friends, who had distingu ished themselves at Salto 5 . Anton io and in other engagements,o f officers who had fought under him in1849 , and someP iedmontese, of whom Marquis Trecch i and GeneralCorte had both made their name in the Sard in ian arti l leryin 1848. Colonel Corrano was another, a Neapol i tan ,who had left his post in King Bomba’s army after thatworthy monarch had abandoned his consti tution of 1848 .

On May the 6th Garibald i lef t Biel la for Casale, andonthe 8th successf ul ly bapti sed his troops with fi re in afew skirmishes. But amongst the older generals of theregular army, Cialdin i , La Marmora, and others, jealousyagainst Garibald i was ri fe. They chose to throw ob»

stacies inhis way at every turn . H is suppl ies were notforwarded , he rece ived orders for marches and countermarches, which greatly provoked the freethinking leaderof gueril la bands. I t was there fore wi th un feigned joythat Garibaldi received permission from the King toquit the regular army, and to make war wi th his rac~

a’

atori where and when he pleased, for, having beenappointed Di ctator by a decree of the PiedmonteseChamber, the King had ful l right so to do, and VictorEmmanuel accompan ied this permission with a smile,and added .“Go where youl ike, do what you l ike ; If eel only one regret, that I am not able to fol low you .

’

Infive hours after receiving th is permission Garibald imat the head of his men . No more

.slow marches, nomore inaction now for him , but a séries of bril l iantexplo i ts, conceived as only Garibald i wi th his braverybordering on recklessness could conceive them , and!M dumbfounded the Austrians wi th their very

the evening of May the 9th Garibaldi reachedVerrua, and having taken his precautions for the n ightagainst surprise, retired to rest for the fi rst time at hisease, while around the glowing camp fi res sat his menbivouack ing in open ai r, chatting, dosing, and smoking.the very picture to revive in Garibald i those wildAmerican associations of f reedom of action unhamperedby the d iscipl ine of war. Night and day for the nextfortn ight he kept up continued skirm ishes with the Croatbands, at one time in the mountains, at another time onthe plains ; and at length on the even ing of the l t,

he to al l appearances settl ed himsel f down at Arena,ordered provisions and lodgings, and let everybodybel ieve he was going to stay there for an indefiniteperiod . But in the dead of n ight he left this town forthe Tici no : the Rubicon, as it has been cal led , o f I tal ianf reedom , where at Castelletto, Simonetta, the bravecommander of Garibald i’s guides had, at considerablerisk. col lected a sufficient quanti ty of boats to transportthe l i ttle army to the Lombard bank .

On arriving in Lombard territory Garibaldi issuedthe fol lowing proclamation to the inhabitants : ‘Toarms,then Bondage must cease ! He who can seize a rifleand does not is a trai tor ! I taly with her childrenun itedwil l know how to reconquer the rank whi ch Providencehas assigned her amongst nations.’

I n the face of a powerful Austrian army, on May the23rd, the Garibaldr

’m’

made their entry into yams: duringa heavy storm , and General Urban , the Austrian commander, was threatening an immed iate attack. Yet th isd id not deter the population f rom pouring forth in enthusiastic crowds to meet their l iberators. Every housewas opened , every table spread, to treat the newlyarrived friends. They had but li ttle time for feasting.


no LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

valuable. But more o f this extraordinary female apparitionwhen the campaign is over.Garibald i quickly perceived that Urban

's obj ect wasto cut o ff his approach to Como, so in spi te o f thestrength of the Austrians, who nearly trebled his own

forces between Como and Camerlata, he determinedon an attack. The admitted did their work wel l, withfixed bayonets, up the hi l l , and carried San Fermo aftera hard contest, in which the Styrian battal ions firsthesitated, then swerved , and final ly were drive n back.Al lowing them no rest, Garibald i pursued the Aus

trians right into Como, and drove them hel ter-skelterthrough th is town , unti l they di sappeared en ti rely, ingreat di sorder, on the road to Monza. This secondvictory was of more importance even than Varese

, for

U rban was obl iged to leave behind him ammunition andcommissariat carriages, which proved useful to theGaribald ians, since their own Government was so laxi n supplying them wi th the sinews of war.Since leaving Verrua, Garibaldi had heard but l i ttle

of the progress of the al l ies. So, anxious to get someintel ligence, he went the first thing to the te legraph officeat Como,and sending a message in Urban

’

s name toMilan, received for answer that as yet the al l ies had takenno activemeasures. Como was wi ld with del ight. andone of those ovations attended the Garibaldr

'm’

whichbecame so commonplace an occurrence in the nextcampaign. After forti fying the place to the best of hisabil i ty

,Garibald i sent a strong company to Leoco under

Captain Ferrari to prevent any attempt onthe part ofU rban to recover his lost position , and then returnedhimsel f to Varese inall haste, abandoning the siege of

Laveno, for he heard that General Urban was marching

on that town, believing Garibaldi to be far away and the

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1859. 1 1 :

town without protection. At the gates of Varese hesent into say that the town must pay a war indemnityo f f rancs or submit to be sacked by the

C roats.At dawn , however, Garibald i appeared on the hi l ls

near the celebrated shrine of the Madonna on MonteSacro

,looking down on the Austrian li nes ; a spot

visited by every tourist to Varese, with i ts fourteenl ittle chapels and i ts gorgeous views over seven lakesand end less Alps. The advance guard of Garibaldi ’sarmy occupied the Vil la Medici, and was under thecommand of the officer of that name.By this rapid manmuwe, Garibaldi had unwittingly

put himsel f i nto a most dangerous position , which noone can praise himfor, however much they may extolhis skilfulness in extricating himself . General Urbanwas so confident of having the W M in a trap, thatonJune the 4th he telegraphed to M ilan saying thatat last he had succeeded in surround ing Garibald i,andhoped to have him dead or al ive be fore the day was

out : in fact, the Garibaldr'm'

were repulsed on the firstattack they made, and were driven back entirely ontheVilla Med ici, which, lucki ly for them , afforded everyfaci l i ty for barricades. During the day, pal isades wereerected by the mm'

atori al l round the grounds, whilst

the Austrians looked on complacently, al l the betterpleased to think that their enemy was going to re

main in the trap, and could be reduced without much

Garibaldi managed to get a telegram sent to ‘ theal l ied army,

’ saying : I am obl iged to fal l back on yousend the cavalry to support my backward movements.

’

He knew full well there were no caval ry or al l ied troopsanywhere near, and that his telegram would assured ly


fal l into Urban ’s hands, and convince himthat hisprey was determ ined to wai t till assistance came up.Further, to induce Urban to bel ieve that he real lymeant to hold his ground , Garibald i as n ight came onmade a great d isplay of bivouac fi res, and ordered hismen to march up and down before them. Towardsdusk a most propitious storm came on— l ightn ing flashed

,

and thunder te-echoed through the Alps, accompaniedby torrents of rain which increased the darkness o f then ight. Taking advantage of this natural assistance .

Garibald i stole quietly away with al l his forces,passing

unobserved close to the Austri an l ines,and by ravines

and mountain paths reached Como, just as Urban.inthe morning, was med itating an attack on the Vil laMed ici.We must admit this to be one of the many strokes

of luck which attended Garibaldi through l i fe : he hadcommitted a grievous strategical error, which nothi ngcould have remedied save the propitious storm , and hisown ready wit in avail ing himsel f of i t. Undoubtedly,i n most cases, his ready wit was enti rely the cause of

his success ; he was an excel lent mathematic ian , hecould study al l possible combinations of strategy withfacility, and then he never hesitated , wh ich was perhapsas instrumental as anything in conducing to a goodresul t. Yet at Varese he was out of his reckon ings. foronce, and the

‘caarz

’

aton’

dell: Agar nearly met with ani nglorious end. But if he fai led in th is attempt to rel ieveVarese

,he had plenty of opportun i ties for retrieving his

character as a great ski rmisher before the campaignwasat an end .

Meanwhile the al l ies had begun to act : Montebellohadbeen won ; the Austrians had been routed at Magenta;and the seat of war was being new pushed farther into


1 14 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI .

presence of Garibald i in the town , would have beencaptured onentering the station, had they not receivedtimely warn ing just about a mile from the town . 5 0

great was their surprise, that, instead of ordering thedriver to reverse his engine, with one accord Croatsalighted from the carriages, and reti red with al l speed ontheir own legs.On June the r1th Garibald i set out for Brescia, with

the Austrians only two miles ahead o f him; but theyl i tt le dreamt that he was in no way supported by themain army— it was just one of those unconventionalpieces of effrontery by which Garibald i often achievedhis ends. The Brescians, a brave race of people, whohad more cause to hate the Austrians than most I tal iancities— for they had been so crushed by them after therebel l ion in 1849 , that even the Austri an general , PrinceThurn and Tax is , bequeathed the whole of his propertyto the famil ies who had su ffered from his barbari tyreceived Garibald i with the usual enthusiasm. Let theglorious I talo-French armies, in delivering you fromyour enemies, find youworthy of your l ibe rators,

’ proclaimed the General onentering the town. And withright goodwil l the population set to work to constructbarricades, and to organ ise themselves into volunteercorps

,i n case the Austrians should return .

But Brescia was not to su ffer from thei r return. The

Austrians had now other work found for them to do.and were fast reti ring towards the M incio.

On the evening of June the 12th, Garibald i receivedorders from head-quarters to march on to the river Ch iese.i n pursui t of the retreating Austrians, and to occupyLonato. Al though it was late inthe even ing, he set ofat once

,and pitched his M p at Sant

' Eufemia, fourmiles from Brescia Four regiments of Sard inianlancers,

rm; CAMPAIGN or 1859. 115

and two horse batteries under General Sambuy were tobe sent to his assistance, but wi th the usual d ilatorinessthe Sardi nian company never came up Garibald i

,how

ever, i ntent onperforming at least a part of his commission , marched on Tre Ponti, and having vigorouslyassaulted the Austrians six times

,succeeded in making

them abandon three important positions.Colonel Tiirr, anardent Garibaldian , comes before

'

our notice here for the first time. H is career had been acurious one. He hailed from Hungary

,whence he was

driven af ter the Rebel l ion of 1848 . He arrived too lateto assist Garibaldi in the siege of Rome, and wanderedabout Europe watching for an Opportunity to organ iseanother expedition agai nst Austria. In 1854 , he volunteered for the Crimea, but was one day recogn ised andarrested by the Austrians at Bucharest. His trial wastedious , his imprisonment most wretched . Day after dayhe expected to hear of his condemnation to death, butat last came the joy ful news, that owing to the intervention of England, under whose banner he was lighting atthe t ime of his arrest, his sentence was only ban ishmentso Tiirr l ived on to fight many a battle against theAustrians by Garibaldi ’s side. At this engagement ofthe Tre Ponti he somewhat compromised the safety ofhi s corps by being too anxious to attack the oppressorso f his country .

This victory of the Three Bridges was but an unsatis facto ry afi

'

air. The cam'

atari had sustained greatlosses but as the Sardin ians never came up to aid them ,

Garibald i was constrained to fal l back on the main army ,where he immediately received orders to march byVobano to the Lake of Garda

,with a view to commenc

ing operations inthe Valtelline.

just at this time Louis Napoleon had in h is m ind the1 2

1 16 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

peace of Vil laf ranca : he disl iked the presence of thevolunteers, with whom he was most unpopul ar ; andfurthermore their determined attacks on the Austrians,their lawless nature, and their lawless leader made themvery unpleasant neighbours for the al l ied troops duringsuch a contingency.

Hence it was suggested that the passes of the Stel vioand Tonale might be menaced by the Germans, and thatGari baldi had better be sent thither ; the object real lybeing to prevent Garibald i from carrying out a plan hehad inh is head of crossing the Lake Garda

, of tak ingto the Veronese mountains, and of carrying the war in tothe val ley of the Adige.

Louis Napoleon wished to stop onthe Mincio.

On June the 26th, accordingly, Garibald i lefl Salo tomarch into the mountain fastnesses, where he would beconveniently out of the way during impending events

.

He steamed up Lake Como, having crossed the moun tainf rom Lecco, and starting f rom Col ico reached Sond riowi th his volunteers. Bormio, after a bril l iant attack, fel li nto his hands and what Austrians there were to meethim fel l back into the Tyrol . In short, from the beginn ing o f july to the peace of Vil lafranca

,the campaign

of the Garibald ians in the Valtelline was a successiono f wel l-conducted operations. Here the General was inh is true element, surrounded by toweringmountains andrushing streams but the chief point gained by th iscampaignwas the fact that in these mountain engagements, Medici, Bix io, Cosenz, Corte, Chiass i , Missori .and others were trained for the great drama which wasto take place in the fol lowing year in Sicily and inNaples.So much was the skil l of the Garibaldians appro

ciated evenby their enemies, that when Corte went to



hands. Napoleon had not freed Italy f rom the Alps tothe Adriatic, but he gave out that in prospect of the

i n view, sieges instead of battles,with the

Quadrilateral in front o f them , and the Prussians showing signs o f activi ty, he did not feel j ustified in con

Cavour resigned on the spot, and a con ference tookplace at Zurich. The negotiators of the peace o f Vil laf ranca,

’ however, says Massari ,‘‘ seemed to think that

they had only to declare that Leopold of Lorraineshould go to Florence, Francis d

’

Este to Modena,the

Duchess of Bourbon to Parma, and the Pope's legates to

Bologna, Ferrara, Forll and Ravenna. But the inhabitan ts had quite d i fferent views on the subject. ’

Baron Ricasol i and Farin i took the lead respectivelyin Tuscany and the Emil ia, i n maintain ing the l ibertyof appointing their ownsovereign ; and it was resolvedby a general Parl iament, that the inhabitants o f these

districts wished to become citizens of I taly, and subjectsof Victor Emmanuel.To this arrangement Napoleon was most averse ; he

wished undoubtedly, by a l ittle d iplomacy, to carve outof them a kingdom for his cousin Prince Napoleon butun fortunately for him , the age of map-making againstthe will of the people was gone by inI taly.

To take up the management of this del icate a ffai r.Cavour was cal led again to the head of af fai rs, andhaving recovered his indignation about Vill af ranca, hedetermined to hand le the business of Central I taly asnone but himsel f could do.

So Garibald i addressed h is troops hopeful ly inthefollowing strain Whatever may be the march of ex isting circumstances, I tali ans must nei ther lay aside their

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1859. 1 19

arms, nor be discouraged . They ought, onthe contrary,to increase in number intheir ranks, to testi fy to Europethat, guided by their King, Victor Emmanuel , they areready to face again the vicissi tudes of war, whatevertheymay be. Perhaps at the moment we least expecti t, the signal of alarm may again be sounded.

’ And afew days after this he was sent to Tuscany to organ isethe armies o f the Centre.Wherever he went— to Florence

,to Bologna

, to

Rimin i -his reception was most enthusiastic ; but General s La Marmaraand Fanti grew jealous of this unsettledspiri t, and furthermore it was thought not unl ikely thatGaribald i had some notion of col lecting what forces hecould , and crossing over into the Roman States, fromwhence the Papal Swiss were deserting the Holy Army.

’

To facilitate the plan , Garibaldi publ ished a thri l lingaddress to the ‘Noble Sons of Helvetia !’ ‘GallantSwiss i ’ he said ,

‘ i nstead of marching against us , weexpect youto join our ranks !’ But France remonstrated, and towards the close of the year orders weresen t to dismiss the volunteers f rom Central I taly, toserve in their own provinces. As many as o f

rough Modena. This was insult numberi.

Secondly, General Fanti obtai ned the suppression ofi n Bologna, at which place Gariander-in-chief ; orders were sent to

was used to suppress him ,

resignation . All these factsenuating many an act of in

inafter-lif e. No doubt, under a conci l iathe talents of Garibald i might have beengreater account, and an old age of rabid

animosity to any kind of governmenspared to him and to his f riendswas the chammonof an armed wi l lwhen I taly wanted no armed wi l l only diplomacy comj ust then assist her, and of th is Cavour was the essence;As P rince Mettern ich said : D iplomacy is dying out inEurope ; there is only one diplomatist lef t, and he isagainst us. ’

Two domestic events cal l for our notice i n our hero’sl i fe this year : one was his marriage to that Amazonwhom we saw in his camp at Varese at the beginning ofthis chapter, and to which event al lus ion was made inthe Introduct ion .

I t was just one o f those disgraceful domestic d isaste rsto which Garibald i through l i fe has been exposed. Dis

covering her d ishonour atat Como

,he refused to see h

she was del ivered of a sowas one of Garibaldi ’s greatest f riends, and tof riend he neglected to have the circumstancesin the Gazette. I t was not until Garibald i

'

sdivorce case, several years later,became known . The treacherousf rom I taly by the consent of society,refused to see him . I n after years heexpedi tion into Poland , where he fel l intoand died a prisoner i n a Russian jai l .Luckily for Garibaldi the marriage

place : by Austrian law,

stances,a divorce was

however, the Signorinahave remained Garibald1 s propertyunpart. 50 curiously forgiving and



N ice was Garibald i ’s birthplace. Victor Emmanuel wasthe most tractable of the two, however.

‘Afher givingmy daughter to France,

’ he said , jocosely, they may aswel l take the crad le. ’ But Garibald i stormed wi th ragewhen he heard of this act, wh ich made him a ‘ strangerinhis own country ;

’ and a very busy anxious time i t wasfor Cavour when the Chambers met in Apri l to discuss

Garibaldi was returned as member for Nice j ust oneweek before the annexation was signed. Nice voted forhim as representing their I tal ian interests

,and in so

doing entered a protest against being annexed to France :it was d i fferent with Savoy, where al l their interests.manners, and language were Freach—they ac cepted thechange with pleasure.On Apri l the sth, the first d iscussion on Garibaldi’s

motion against the annexation took place , and Gari‘

bald i came to do stout battle for his native town.At the best of times he was no orator

,and in the

atmosphere of d iplomacy which reignedCavour’s parl iament, Garibaldi felt somewhaAfter sitting for hours unmoved in hi

past four in the afternoon , he shouted in hibetter known on the field of battle than inHouse— the formal ‘domndo Iapamla.

’

daggers at Cavour. He then begged leavethe d iscussion then before thea question to Cavour : after soto the formality of Garibaldi ’s questiHouse, and voted against. So the pooragain to resume his si lence.At length , onApri l the 12th, Garibal

formed himsel f better onthe subject of

nus CAMPAIGN OF 1359.

stitutiom, whi ch said that no sale or barter of any parto f the State can take place wi thout the consent of

Parl iament ; ’ and added that if Nice and Savoy werere leased from their al legiance they had the right of

choo sing what Sovereign they pleased . He then proceeded to give a sketch of how these provinces hadcome to belong to Sard in ia, and denounced the treatyof se ss ion of March the 24th, both as an in fraction of

the old charter of Nice, and a violation of the right ofnational i ty.

These were unpalatable words for Cavour. He hadno doubt won for I taly, at the expense of a singlec i ty and a few Alpine rocks

,the finest provinces she

possessed , but he nevertheless was aware of havingacted in an arbitrary way. His reply shows his view of

the case : The true ground for i t is that the treaty isan i n tegral part of our pol icy, the logical and inevitableconsequences of a past pol icy, and an absolute necessi tyfo r the carrying out of th is pol icy in the future.’

Cavour had a majority that day of 196 , and Garibald ile ft for Nice the fol lowing morn ing, to take leave of i t,for he re fused to become French, he re fused to becomea General of Division in the French army -as the treatystipulated for preservation of rank and pay for officers inthe Sard in ian army.

‘ I have nothing to do with menor pol i tical parties ; my coun try, and noth ing but mycoun try, is my object,

’

said Garibald i . Wel l for himwould i t have been if he had stuck to th is rule. Hewould have died a much greater man .


CHAPTER VI I.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN .

AFTER a visit in the winter of 18 50- 1 to Naples,

Mr. Gladstone wrote his opin ions upon the Neapol itanGovernment to Lord Aberdeen . As is his wont, Mr.Gladstone reduced the state of affai rs to threems

Firstly, that the Government was an outrage on religion,civi l isation , human ity and decency ; Secondly, thati ts practices were rapidly working a Republ ic ; andThirdly, as a member of the Conservative party inoneof the great famil ies o f European nations, I amcon»

pelled to remember that that party stands in virtual andreal , though perhaps unconscious, al l iance with al l theestablished Governmen ts of Europe, and that, accordingto the measure o f i ts influence, they su ffer more or iesmoral detriment f rom its reverses, and derive strengthand encouragement from its successes.

‘

Adducing arguments f rom real observation, Mr. Gladstone f rom his then Conservative point of view provedthe wretched state o f the Two Sicilies. There he foundiniquities rival l ing the more recently celebrated Bulgarian atroci ties—prisons ful l o f state prisoners left formonths in the vi lest condi tion , without so much as thesemblance o f a trial—everything, i n fact, revolting to

human nature ; and al l th is, says Mr. Gladstone, wasaided and abetted by the priesthood, who tanght in


m6 LIFE OF GI USEPPE GARIBALDI.

strangely enough, these three menhad but few ideas incommon , and none of them l iked or put any confidencein the other.Mazzin i in 18 59 sent N iccolo Fabrizzi to S icily to

organ ise secret commissions. Arms were smuggled intoPalermo ; meetings were held at the convent of LaGancia,but a traitor betrayed them , and the incipient revo l utionwas n ipped in the bud. Nothing daunted . Mazzi ni inthe fol lowing sp

'

ring sent Rosol ino P i lo and G iovanniCorrao

,two ex i led Sici l ian patriots, to keep the flame

al ive. Alone those two men landed on the island,and

Garibaldi himsel f tel ls us that these two men ‘ can justlycal l themselves the precursors of the thousand : we

found them in Sici ly after a fearful journey, busy pro

pagating doctrines o f f reedom and urging the bravesons o f Mount E tna to rise, wi th the promise of promptsuccours from the continent.’ P i lo fel l i n an encounternear Renne, before the capture of Palermo, havi ng thatvery day been raised to the rank o f Colonel in theGaribald ian army.

A committee was formed in Geneva for collectingfunds, but Mazzini , f rom the reports sent him by hisSici l ian agents, considered the time was not yet ripe foran outbreak. Nevertheless, though discouraging Garibald i f rom undertaking his enterprise j ust then , Muziniass isted him , when once started , i n every way i n hispower, and when the expedition succeeded, he strove.though too late, to get the wi eld ing of the newly established power into his ownhands. But Garibald i andMazzin i were never on the best of terms, and whenCavour came forward to take the lead inevea auini

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SICILIAN CAMPAIGN. 127

conspicuous bit the other hand , i t is absurd to con

this wi ld Itai ianwar-horse, and if, for the nonce at least,he had lost control over him, yet, by wd1c10u§lyf g11M1ngthe chariot of IEI

'

Eifl fi domTromrom"dangerous coll isions,Cavour was able to reach sa fely the desi red goal , at a

pace, oertainly, and by a road of which his wildest fancieshad never dreamed. For Cavour’s ownopin ion onthe

to quote his own words : Let usourselves, let us have a strong army at our

(1, and then we can turn our eyes towardsVenetiaand the South , and Rome wil l fol low.

’ By thiswe . cansee how l ittle sympathy Cavour was l ikel y

“

tofeel for a rash enterprise conducted only by a thousand

When the expedi tion started Cavour sent AdmiralFermo after it, with an ostensive portfol io, to capture

to watch him closely, and, if possible, to assist his underto deal ing wi thed more or less

ofmen: would have beenfatal to the exped ition—fatal


I ndignation was f reely expressed by nearly everyCourt : the Neapol i tan M in ister described Garibaldi‘sdescent on Sici ly as an act of savage piracy perpetratedon a f riendly state.’ On his tour through Europe toprotest, angry notes poured in f rom Vienna, Berl in , andSt. Petersburg, whilst the republ icans of the North ofI taly accused Cavour of endeavouring to thwart theexpedition . A l ittle later on Cavour wrote to h is agent,La Farina, i n Sici ly :

Tmin, yum19, 1860—1 have received your letters of the 12th and 14th, and I wil l preserve themas historic documents . Persano wi l l give you al l theaid he can wi thout comprom ising our standard. Itwould be a great thing if Garibaldi could pass intoCalabria. Here things do not go badly. The diplomatists do not molest us too much now : Russiamade a fearful hubbub ; Prussia less. The Parl iamenthas much sense. I awai t your letters with impatience.-CAvoua.

’

From th is we can gather what a turmoi l he hadpassed through. Without doubt his great support duringthis trying period was the attitude of England , and thefavour with which our ambassador, Sir J ames Hudson,at Turin looked upon the I tal ian movement.At the commencement, our Government held rather

aloof. They feared that France might be brought toacquiesce in the Sicil ian movemen t by the oes ionof

Sardin ia or Genoa, as N ice and Savoy had been cededfor Tuscany the year before ; but when satisfied on thispoint

,Lord John Russel l open ly espoused Garibaldi

'scause. He wrote to Sir james Hudson , quoting Vettelthe eminent j uri st : For when a people from good remsons take up arms against an oppressor, i t is but anact of justice and generosity to assist bravemeninthe



Austria smarting under the sting of Magen ta andSol ferino could not sti r, Prussia and Russia were too farof f to care much Hence diplomacy f rom without grewmore favourable to I taly : but wi thin there was the

Mazz in ian idea ’ to combat—revolution and destruction in I taly. Of a truth, Cavour

'

s task at that timewas not an easy one.Having thus glanced at the external influences at

work,we shal l be more able to follow our “great

filibuster ’ i n his career, and behold him in th is theproudest and best period of his chequered l i fe.When the campaign i n the Lakes was over, Garibaldi

had ominously told hismm’

atori'

dell: A lp; to be inreadiness. He knew he could depend upon them , fromtheir eagerness at the time to continue action . So armsand men were quietly col lected , inaccordance with Garibaldi's programme, at the Villa Spinola, at Quarto nearGenoa

,i n Apri l 1860, where Colonel Vecchj l ived , who

readily placed his house at Garibaldi 's disposal, togetherwi th his services for superintending the preparations.The Government greatly impeded th is col lect ion of

arms by seizing them when they came under their immediate notice however, by May the sth. the Gene ral and

chosen men , chiefly f rom amongst themarble":known to the world as the famous mille,’ were preparedto start : 4 20 of them were sons of gentlemen

, welleducated . There was T iirr in read iness, the threeremain ing sons of the widow Cairol i , who broughtthem hersel f, and begged for them the place by theGeneral ’s side which thei r fal len brother had held

,and

l ikewise she brought a wel l-l ined purse which she placedat the d isposal o f the expedition. There too was N inoBix io

,who as a youth had raised himself f rom a low

station in l i fe by industry, had served as a sailor onan

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SICILIAN CAMFA101V. 131

Engl ish man-of-war, and was early imbued wi th theopinio ns o f Mazzin i and Young I taly , he had one dayi n 1847 dared to stop the horses of Charles Albert’scarriage. and said ,

‘Only cross the Ticino,and we wil l

al l be with you .

’ He had passed much o f his time,like Garibald i , wandering over the globe, and was ineve ry way a copy of Garibald i on a less bri l l iant scale.

ex ile, Tuckory. was there, whosee from his bi rth, i n 1828 , to hisin th is year : fighti ng everywhere,

Kars, in theby

a lawyer, lpl it preferred the sword toLa Masa, a Sicilian exile,

of later pol itical fame,

al l left

one to

very submissive and compl imentary.say

we succeed . I shal l be proud to adornyour majesty with a new, and perhaps its

the sole condition that you wi l lrs from handing it over to foreigners

,

This was aCavour, who wel l knew thehis way in endeavouring to

hot-blooded patriot Garibald i's secondDr. Bertan i, with final instructions as toion of rein forcements, and supplies to beh im ; and Bertan i made a capital agent, for

iplomatist, and had unboundedi . though not over-popular wi thTurin.were l in ing the shores of the

8 3

132 L IFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

Mediterraneanon MaLme 4th, f rom Genoa all the wayto Nervi , some in smal l boats, some encamping on therocks in their red shirts, and with but meagre kits.The General , aware that no time must be lost i n starting

, or else h is exped ition must fal l through , set off

i nto the harbour of Genoa, and seized upon two of theRubattino

‘

steamers—the Fremonte and the Lméardo.which, by the way, he paid for, and the Rubattini eversince have been most devoted Garibaldini, and wil l

carry the General, his family, or any goods for himtoor f rom Caprera free of charge, even to this day.

So the brave thousand ’ embarked . I t was a touchi ng sight, i ndeed , i n that rocky bay at Quarto, wherethey left the shore by detachments in boats. Many ofthose who came to bid their friends farewell were so

carried away by enthusiasm , that they too insisted onbeing taken on board to fight their country’s battles.Wives and mothers were there encouraging thei r huso

bands and sons, though the tears nearly dimmed thelustre that shone in their eyes : and now a small whitemarble star has been put up on this steep craggy rock .

commemorating with graceful words the departu re of

this brave band .

5 0 hasty had been the final orders for departure .

that forty who were coming up f rom Camogli,with

arms and ammunition , were le ft behind .

At Talamone they landed to possess themselves o fsome arms, which the Governor of the fort deemed itexped ient to give up, for which he received a severereprimand from Cavour—as was necessary for appearance’ sake. And from this place Garibald i sent adetachment of 100 men, under Colonel Zambianchi, tomake a diversion in the Roman States

,to post placards

in Pontifical towns, exhorting to rebell ion, and to be


134 LIFE or GI USEPPE GARIBALDI.

Iei ther

,and dare not shout ‘Viva Garibald i !’ for fear

those Neapol itans in the bay might hear ; so they weresilent,and gave their l iberators but a cold reception.peeping at them through closed windows, and askingone another what this meant.Garibaldi was not slow, however, to in form them

that he meant business. He issued two proclamationswithout delay—one to the people o f Sici ly, the other tothe Neapol itan army— inthe following words.

(I ) Sici l ians ! I have brought you a body of bravemen , who have hastened to reply to the heroic cry of

Sici ly. We, the survivors of the battles of Lombardy,are with you. Al l we ask is the freedom o f our l and :if we are uni ted , the work wi ll be short and easy. To

arms,then ! he who does not snatch up a weapon is a

traitor to his country ; want of arms is no excuse ; weshal l get muskets, but for the present any weapon wil ldo in the hands of a brave man . The mun icipalitieswi l l provide for the chi ldren, women , and old men de

prived of their support. To arms, al l o f you ! Sicilyshal l once more teach the world how a country can bef reed from its oppressors by the powerful wi l l of anunited people—G . GAR IBALDL

’

(2) Foreign insolence reigns over I tal ian ground ,

i n consequence of I tal ian discord. But on that daywhen the sons of the Samnites and Martii, un ited withtheir brethren o f Sici ly, shal l join the I tal ians of theNorth—onthat day, our nation, of which you form thefinest part, shal l reassert its ancient posi tion as pre~

eminent among the nations of Europe. I , an I tal iansold ier, on ly aspi re to see you drawn up side by sidewith these soldiers of Varese and San Martino, inorder join tly to fight against the enemies of I taly.

G . Gummy

C O .VM ENCEMEN T OF 77 15 S ICILIAN CAAIPAIGN . 135

C rispi and La Masa were then deputed to organ iseacorps of Sicilians, which soon amounted to men

,

who made excel lent scouts. and assisted material ly inthe campaign . These as they were cal led

,

w ere a wild, lawless set. Witness them after the fal lo f Alcamo, collecting the Neapol itan dead in a fieldfor the dogs to eat, and then standing round the whi le,gloating on the scene, for fear some chari table personmight wish to bury them . Garibaldi, when he came up,gave orders that this orgy should be stopped forthwi th ,and proper burial given to the remains. ‘Doubtless

,

Garibaldi is right,’ growled a pira

’

otlo,“but he knows

not what we have su ffered f rom this cursed race.’

The march from Marsala to Salemi was the fi rsto f the many triumphal processions which graced thiscampaign . Monks, priests, women , chi ldren escortedthem , and , whenonce out o f hearing of the Neapol i tans,wi ld ly did thei r part o f cheering, inwhich the Sici l iansd i sti ngui shed themselves more than in anything elseduring this campaign .

At Salem i , thinking it now necessary to take up adefinite position in ' the government of affairs, Garibald ii ssued the fol lowing add ress Garibaldi

,commander

in-chief o f the national forces in Sici ly, on the invi tationof the principal ci tizens, and on the del iberation of thef ree communes of the is land

,considering that in time of

war i t isnecessary that the civil and mil itary powersshould be uni ted in one person , assumes, in the name ofV ictor Emmanuel, King of I taly, the D ictatorship inS icily.

’

The necessity of winn ing the fi rst encounter, however smal l, was felt keen ly by Garibald i and h is band ,and Calatafimi, where they came into col l ision with theINeapolitans for the first time, was wel l su ited for that


gueri l la warfare inwhich Garibald i especial ly ex celled.

It is situated inthe heart of the mountai ns where threeroads meet f rom Palermo, Marsal a. and Drapan i moreI over as abounding inmassive ruins of Saracenic, Spanishand Norman origin—wel l-adapted for skirmishes, i t gave

method of outflanking an enemy byrs the battle lasted : Menotti

and the son of the Venetian Man in were bothand the flag worked for Garibald i by theMontevideo was lost to himfor a time :theless, the resul t was entirely successfu lvaders, and gave Garibald i the prestige thatand which never once flagged up to theVoltumo.

’Father Pantaleone came forward at Calatafimi as

Garibald i ’s own espec ial priest, and by a spi ritual coupdemainrel ieved the. General from the i l l eff ects of thePope’s bul l of excommunication amongst the superstitious Sicil ians, whose great difficul ty was the subjectof rel igion . He induced Garibald i to go to the parishchurch to o ffer up thanks for the vi ctory, and met himat the threshold o f the bui ld ing, with all his robes on,and wi th the Sacrament in his hand. Pantal eone, inhis way, was a brave member of the Church mil itant ;during the subsequen t fighting at Palermo, he wasalways to the fore, wield ing a heavythe air, which had a magic eff ect onbrandished over their heads in the thick of the fight.A fter thei r repul se at Calatafimi, the Neapol itans

fel l backobject of the caSicil ian capi tal. Noth ing could be easierthan Palermo : two roads only lead to it,


3s LIFE or cwsap ps GARIBALDI.

'

ast enough. But before their final emancipation thePalermitans had a severe ordeal to go throughFrom the ships, f rom the castle, and from the royal

ialace, the Neapol i tans now began to pour forth theirwhole supply of bombs. The effects of th is bombardment are wel l told by Admiral Mundy.

‘A wholedistrict, Engl ish yards in length by 100 wide, isin ashes ; fami l ies have been burnt al ive, with the

bu ild ings, while the atrocities of the Royal troops havebeen f rightful . I n other parts, convents , churches, andisolated edifices have been crushed by the shel ls

,

of which were thrown into the city f rom the ci tadel ,and about 200 f rom the ships o f war, besides grape,can ister, and round shot. The conduct of GeneralGaribald i

,both duri ng the hosti l i ties and since their

suspension , has been noble and generous.’

This happened on May the 27th, and after th is tender farewel l to thei r fel low-cit izens, General Lanza, theNeapol itan commander, penned a letter to ou r fi l ibuster.now addressed as H is Excel lency, General Garibaldi ,

’

begging courteouslyfor an interview on Admiral Mundy's

ship the Hannibal. Stormy though the interview was,General Lanza could but give continued armistices

,until

he received news f rom Naples, and then , onJ une the6th, the armistice became a defin ite convention, by whichthe Neapol itans agreed to evacuate al l Sicily, except Mes»

sina,Milazzo, and a few other forts During the progress

of th is treaty,Garibaldi had not been idle. He had strenuously urged the Palermitans to place their towninafitting state o f siege ; and when General Letizia cameone day f rom the Neapol i tan head-quarters to hold aninterview with Garibaldi before leaving for Naples, he

.was witness to the fact of priests and women wo rkinghard at barricades, and of monks with crucifix es in their

COMMENCEMENT OF THE S ICILIAN CAMPAIGN. 139

hands exhorting the inhabitants to work hard , and wasable to tel l Francis I I . that al l was nearly lost for h im

Thus, on June the 6th, the sold iers of the Bourbon ,l ight-hearted , they say, set out on board the transportsthat were to bear them for ever from Palermo, singingto the music of a band

,and playing high stakes for the

pi les o f booty they had stolen f rom the Palermi tans,more l ike an army return ing from victory than disgrace ;but they were chiefly Austrian hirel ings

, and glad to getaway with a minimum o f fighting.

On this same day in Palermo the sight was almostl ud icrous. Every available pickaxe, spade, and shovelwas demanded by the municipal ity for the destructionof the hated ci tadel down by the fort ; and with suchhearty goodwi l l d id the ci tizens volunteer for this pleasi ng task , that the bearers of pickaxes and spades couldhardly move an inch for the crush. So the municipal i tyhad to organ ise them for the work in relays, that thedemol i tion might be more easi ly accompl ished .

The ci ty became not a l i tt le disorganised, so soonas their old rulers were gone ; everybody who had apri vate spi te against his neighbour denounced him as aBourbon spy . Many scenes o f misery were enacted inth is way, and many innocent victims came to an unt imely end at the hands of an easi ly infuriated crowd .

Garibaldi had much to do to re-establ ish order, and d idnot do it without making some conspicuous examwes.

Meanwhil e, Cavour was not id le. On hearing of thesuc cess of Garibald i, he sent his agent Farina, who, inconj unction with Admiral Persano

,was to clamour for the

immed iate annexation of Sici ly to P iedmont ; and ruinedPalermo was one day adorned with blue bi l ls, broughtinbales from Turin, on which was read We wish for

140 LIFE or GIUSEPPE 04 3mmannexation to the consti tutional k ingdom of VictorEmmanuel. ’ This was the point onwhich Cavour andGaribald i disagreed ; the latter would hear of no annexationunti l he had accompl ished his end to give upeach point as he gained it, would , he thought. be prejudicial to his ulterior motives on Naples andSo

,omnipotent for the time in Sici ly, Dictator

chased Farina from the island , and made hisproceed ing eastwards.Cavour now saw that his next step must

force, not of diplomacy, if he wishedonward progress in checkfind Victor Emmanuel ’s army marching to meet himonthe Volturno lest a too rapid marchinvolve the expedi tion inan outbreakD ictator though he was, Garibald i

at the royal palace in Palermo, and wthe viceroy’s servan ts.o f nothing but soup,a day, washed down by nothingtoo, on a hard bed , and frowned ahim Your Excel lency.

’ For he l ihe says i n his ‘Treatedthis point, he (Garibaldi) became suddenlyleney , a title which he had always despised ,the symbols o f imbeci le human pride. ’

The fol lowing is an inventory of thewardrobe.

‘One oldrelic of the campaign o f th

grey trousers, an old fel t hat, two red shirts, a few

pockethandkerchiefs, two necktiesvolver

,and a purse usual ly without

The addition of troops under Medwelcome to Garibaldi before leaving Palermo


142 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI.

few ; for by degrees the townsfolk, after the fi rst blushof victory was over, craved for annex ation to P i edmont.that order and commerce might again be restored andGaribaldi had to explain to them that he had come tofight for I taly and not for Sici ly alone, and un ti l Italyis entirely un ited and free nothing can be done for i ndividual parts of i t. ’ Now that they were themselves free.the Pal ermitans were tired of going in exci ted proces¢

sions to churches, of dressing up Bourbon statues withgrotesque ox -heads, horns and al l , and kicking themabout the streets ; they did not wish to be the bas is ofan operation , and did not see why their money shouldbe spent it buying ships and ammunition

,and their

church bel ls turned into cannon-bal ls. Mankind is

selfish , and the Palermitans were an example o f thistruism .

On J uly the 17th, Garibald i was summoned f rom histroublesome task of organ ising Palermo, by a telegramf rom Medici

,who announced the concentrati ng o f Nea

pol i tan forces near M ilazzo.

With this we begin the second era in the campaignof the Two Sicilies. Garibald i had now establ ished hisname as a victorious general the madman ’s freak hadso far succeeded, despite the prognostications of il l fromal l sides. Even from our standpoint o f impartialfi'

,i t

must be admitted that we are about to accompag r areal ly great man on his way to Naples.At Palermo it was Garibald i

'

s sad ofl‘ice to burymany of his brave ‘ thousand ,

' who had fal len in thesiege. Tilckory fel l fighting val iantly at the Term in iGate

,with a severe wound in his knee ; he succumbed

some days af terwards, and Garibald i honoured his

memory by giving his name to the first Bonrbonic

COJIJIENCEMEN T OF THE SICILIAIVCAAIP .

Young Adol fo Azz i, too, after l ingeringweeks after Calatafimi, died inthe hospital athe was a brave fel low,

and had done his duty \

d ied with these words on his l ips : ‘Viva GzEcco Garibald i ! Courage, to the barricades

LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

CHAPTER VII I.

FROM PALERMO TO NAPLES.

ON the evening o f july the 17th, Garibaldi left Palermo,with his rein forcements and ammun ition under MajorsCorte and Medici , onboard the Cir) : of Aberdeen, forMilazzo.

As they passed by Admiral Persano and the P iedmontese squadron the shouts o f ‘Viva Garibaldi l

’

‘Viva Vittorio Emmanuele l ’ echoed across the waters,showing clearly the interest taken in the expedition bythe I tal ians of the north. In fact, wi thout thei r presence here

,there is l i ttle doubt that Garib ald i would

have fallen into the hands of the Neapol itans. Whothen can say that the Piedmontese Governmen t threwevery obstacle in the General

’s way ? I t is a favouritecry o f the ultra-republ ican party, as con ferring morehonour ontheir hero.

$5

‘ General Bosco, who commanded the Neapol i tanforces now assembled at M ilazzo, was the only one of

the Bourbonic generals who real ly meant fighting ; hehad an exceedingly strong position , and his troops werethe pick of the army, nearly al l riflcmen, orderly, welldril led and equipped .

Garibaldi’

s army, on the contrary, was most hetero~

geneous. There was the Engl ish brigade,attached to



what dirty, so he took it off , washed it ina brook , hungi t onthe bushes

,ate his lunch of bread , fruit and water.

smoked a cigar al l the while wi th his back bare, and toal l appearances wrapt in silen t contemplation o f thed rying of his rosy garment.A fter lunch was over, and his toi lette completed.

Qmaribaldi proceeded to attack the narrow isthmus whichjoined the promontory to themainland and thus whenthey found themselves outfianked,

the Neapol i tans beata hasty retreat to their fortress , on which a Neapol itanship, the Veloce, which had now joined the popularside, opened so eff ectual a fire that General Bosco wasconstrained to capitulate the very next day.

Through a fi le of ‘ ragged Garibaldians,’ as he had

himsel f contemptuously termed them but a few daysbefore, Bosco, a proud , commanding-looking man— j ustthe one to feel the indign ity most keen ly—and histroops passed down to the transports, which were toconvey to the mainl and the last o f the Neapol itans whowere l ikely to make any show of resistance to theonward stream o f conquest i n Sicily. They were

Lal lowed , i ndeed , to have the honours of war. whichconsisted in carrying their arms wi th them . They le ftthe fortress in a deplorable state, having spiked eighteenof the heavy guns, and having laid a train to the

principal magazine wi th a l ighted match in it, whichfortunately discovered in time, or else Garibald i

and his fol lowers would have been hurled into theai r. Bosco den ied al l knowledge of th is d ishonourable act, and made a pretence o f trying to discoverthe culpri ts , who, we need not say. easi ly evadeddetection .

As for the rest the place was in a state of the

greatest fi lth, dead horses and men lyi ng putrid inthe

FR OM PALERM O TO NAPI ES . 147

midsummer sun every wel l was unusable— no wonderBosco did not hold out long.

For his bravery on th is day, Peard received therank of Colonel . Our Engl ish press talked much atth is time about him ; some papers would have it thathe was a bloodthi rsty wretch , who, unable to gratifyhis taste for murder in England , had gone to Sici ly :others gloried in him as a lmro who had home the wholebrunt of the exped ition , not even second to Garibald i .He was in reality a quiet Corn ish gentleman , whohai led f rom Penquite, and had l ived much in I taly,where his anger was aroused at the effects of badgovernment, and of cruelties in official departments o fwhich he had been wi tness. So he joined Garibaldi, in18 59, as a volunteer. I n England he has been knownas Garibaldi 's Engl ishman ,

’ though, if what the Generalsays about his conduct in the campaign of 1866 againstthe Austrians be true, i t is evident that Garibald i wouldhave preferred to see his name coupled with someother of his many ardent Angl ican fol lowers— ColonelChambers, for instance, who acted as his secretary fora time, l ived at Caprera with him , and has spent aneno rmous amount of money on Garibald i and Garibaldianideas.The apathy of the Sici l ians throughout th is struggle

for thei r l iberty is most remarkable. Not a person o f

posi tion,with the exception of the Marquis Fardel la,

did anything for Garibald i ; their subsc ription l ist d idnot amount to more than But the clergy,curiously enough, did al l they could for the insurrection those miserable. pleasure-lovi ng priests, abused byGaribald i onevery possible occasion, d id more for himinS icily than the masses for whom he fought.

At Milazzo, for example, the fighting population is

us LIFE or GIUSEPPE GAR IBALDI.

estimated at men . The Milazzesi furn ished nota volunteer for ei ther Garibaldi or Bosco ; they decamped , bag and baggage, for the country, as soonas arumour of war reached them ; hardly couldmambe found for the wounded , and a few ci tizens who didremai n refused them so much as a glass of water. Thefair dames of Sicily, to whom Garibaldimany pretty compl iments, provided not a sor a thread of Mamie. The very doctor o f the placepacked up

,and went o ff with his pil ls and h is nosu'ums.

Curiously romantic was the appearance of the Bayof Milazzo, ful l of terrified ci tizens in fi shi ng boats, withtheir household gods around them , crouching beneaththe wing of any foreign man-o f-war which chance d tobe anchored near, whilst the beach, at a respectabled istance from the combatants. representedencampment ; and then , when al lthe craft which carried Bosco andbeneath the horizon , these brave sons ofas Garibald i now and again cal led them intions and speeches, returned home shoutingbald i l ‘Viva La Libertal ’The night after the battle of Milazzo.

said to have spent in the porch ofcentre of the Marina, with his headsurrounded by his faith ful men. D

found himthere, sleeping the sleep ofhis jug of water and a loaf by hi

tel lthe cen tre of Sici ly with Tiirr’s d iactive work. I t is probably one ofromances we owe to the flowingnovel ist, for the Engl ish Consulplaced his house at Garibald i ’s d

'



Royal troops. Such was the result of M ilazzo . and suchwas the convention which enabled Garibddi to form abasis for his further triumphs in Naples.I t

°

is pardonable if the inhabitants of Mg sinaweresomewhat scared at the approach of Garibald i. Theyhad su ff ered terribly in the aff air of 1

heard what had just happened at Paon the Easter Sunday before this, thebel ieving a storm was coming, had got upin the town , with a view to making a mistration, when twelve men were kil ledof those who could afford to be absentup country. For a month before th

'

l iberating army, the shops had al l been shut,wel l-nigh deserted and when on j une the 23shot told of the approach o f Garibald i, theand dismay were fearful .The richer famil ies hurried with al l speed

foreign merchant ships carrying bundles of

valuables in their hands ; even an ord inarywould pay as much as 1 51. a day for thesquatti ng on a vessel , whilst those of thewho could afford it, were glad to finda fishing-smack, leaving their wives andencamped onthe shore as far f rom thestrength would permi t them to drag th

and their household treasures.But with the exception of th

two houses by the Neapol i tans

Messina sui n person , there was a great dharbour of tricoloured flags ; even

FR OM PALERM O TO NAPLES. 15 1

memwho are f ound ih sueh numbers at Messinahaderected broomsticks above theirmasts to exaltas highas possible the Piedmontese colou rs.

Now that we have re ached Messina, we must tarryawhile to glance at the political aspect of affai rs. Francis I I. of Naples, after i nef fectual fighti ng in Sicily, andine ff ectual d iplomacy throughout Eur0pe, determ inedon a final appeal to Victor Emmanuel. I n the previousyear. Cavour, in hismaster’s name, had offered him anal liance ; and Victor Emmanuel had begged himto makeh imsel f I tal ian, and join in the war against Austria.‘ I know not what is meant by I tal ian independence,

‘

repl ied Francis. Now his tone was somewhat al tered .

He was but a timid young man, and il l fi tted for actioni n an emergency ; for example, one day his PrimeM in ister, Liborio, gave himthe fol lowing piece of adv ice : Put yoursel f at the head of your tr00ps, andmarch in to Calabria. ’ ‘No,

’ timidly retorted KingFrancis, that we wi l l do after our first success.

’ Alas,’

says Admiral Mundy, not to put himself at the head of

his faithful soldiers, who would have fought gallantlyfo r the House and Dynasty ! What an opportunitylost for the youngest sovereign in Europe to havemade himself a name never to have been forgotten inEurope l

'

The Count of Syracuse, the king’s uncle, who hadbeen ban ished for marrying an Engl ish wi fe

,and for the

breach of other traditions of his house,vainly wrote to

exhort his obdurate nephew to yield to the course of

events ; he now permanently took up his abode at theSardinian Court, having abandoned any further h0pe o f

Now when this last envoy came Cavour could butsay it was boo late. A grand dinner was givento the

‘L ‘

15: LIFE 01? GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

plenipotenti aries at Turin ,all honour was shownto themand Victor Emmanuel poli tely let them know that evenif hewished to stem the popular current at th is junctme,it was not inhis power to do so. Nevertheless he wrote

a long letter to Garibald i onthe subject, asking himtocontent himsel f with Sici ly for the presen t, and not tocross over to the main land. The letter was brought tohimwhen at Messina by Count Litta, who was closelyfol lowed by Bertan i, who, fearing the ef fect i t mighthave on the General , came to apply a Republican coun~

ter-irritant to urge him to go on.

Garibaldi , as might be expected, decl ined to complywith the wishes o f his sovereign . What cared he ifNapoleonwas grumbl ing and Austria storming ? He feltable now to conquer the whole of Europe with h is redshirts behind him, and with Bertan i to send him moreSo Garibald i wrote in reply his own views o f hismission.which he said no king could change.’ This answer wascouched in the best terms of devotion and respect thata pointblank refusal would admit of , and ran as follows My mission is too noble to relinquish. I havesworn to I taly to accomplish it my programme remainsthe same. I shal l not sheathe my sword til l VictorEmmanuel is king of al l Italy.

’

When Garibald i was regularly established in the

royal pdace at Messina, the inhabitants beganto returnf rom their aquatic and other retreats to give himthewelcome they durst not dream of while Neapol itanswere near, and to do the part of cheeri ng, for which the

Sici l ians had become so celebrated.

Yet even in liberated Sicily there was a nest of discontent. At Bronte, just under the slopes of MountEtna, a communist rising took place, a sort of N ihilisticcon federation made up ch iefly of brigands, who looked


154 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE CARIBALB I.

and kept his crucifix hanging by his side. UndoubtedlyPantaleone had more influence over them, for he hadbeen very brave both at Calatafimi and M ilawo, whereasFather Gavazzi had only come in at the end of the

fighting ; and then Pantaleone, instead of the customarymumbl ing benediction at the end o f his sermon , wouldgive three cheers for Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel.and three cheers for the Holy Madonna too, whoseautograph letter the Messinesi pro fess to have , andwhose worship they were not prepared to give up justthen , however much Garibald i might wish it, and however much Gavazzi might expose the fol l ies of theRoman superstition.

By this time Garibald i found himself at the head ofmen. He had a capi tal supply of Enfield rifla.

which he owed to the energy of Colonel Colt in faithful ly executing his orders ln England , andmuskets were now stowed away at Messina ready foruse in Calabria. Yet many to this day will tell ushow Garibaldi, with on ly men , ill-armed and inred shirts, made his way from Marsala to Naples, ignoring the fact that the thousand were mere ly those whoencountered the peri ls of the deep ; for no sooner hadthey set foot on the shores of Sicily, than their rankswere increased by a never-ceasing flow of volunteersf rom every quarter of Europe. Then again their enemies were chiefly mercenaries, il l-paid and discontented,and furthermore Garibald i nevermet any very overwhelming force of Neapoli tans. At the same time, thelatter were badly generalled, and were without any planof action, and if the numerical force of the Napolitankingdomwas inround numbers 80,000, but few of themever fired a shot or drew asword indefience of the

dynasty they werc paid to support. We have but to

FROM PALERM O TO NAPLES. 155

look back upon the events of the Roman camIJaign in1849 to see how utterly rotten was the state o f thekingdom, and to real ise how easy it was for a fewhandsful of determ ined men to turn the tide of revol tagainst the Bourbons. Undoubtedly the enterprise of thethousand was bravely conceived and bravely carriedout ; but it was no mi racle as I tal ians wil l have usbel ieve I t has many paral lels i n history.

Whilst at Messina the appearance o f the red-shirtedarmy was exceedingly quai nt oolour seemed to be theobject of the volunteers. The Garibaldians properand the Sicil ian recrui ts never deviated from the magicmm. roam, but the Genoese wore blue, which contrasted wel l wi th their more bri l l iant comrades as theysauntered, smoked , and chatted in l i ttle groups alongthe Marina. No oflicer, from Garibald i downwards, gotmore than two francs a day, and the privates only got afew miserable soldi. Garibald i, they say, gave awaymost of his i n chari ty, and though more money came inf rom I‘alermo, about th is time, Garibaldi would alwayshave it spent in the purchase of fresh ammunition

,

steamers,and so forth . From a deserted city,Messina

was now metamorphosed in to a barrack ; every even ingbands played on

'

the strand, and ill uminations l it upthe haunts of Scyl la and Charybd is, whilst the statuesof King Bomba and h is son encountered the same fateof destructionand ridicule they had met with at

Garibald i took up his residence at the Faro atMessina, having left the royal palace on account of theapplause he received, and the f requency wi th which he

had to leave his f rugal meals for the balcony, to bowand make pretty speeches. The l ighthouse contained abedroom with two stools, and a couch for the Dictator.

tsé LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

I t was si tuated at the end of a promontory, and was anexcellent point of observation for the strai ts and the

One morn ing Major M issori and 200 picked menwere chosen to go over to the coast of Calabria toexam ine the lay of the land, to ascertain the posi tion theBourbons were taking up, and furthermore to incite theCalabresi to join in the revolt. Major M issori andAlberto Mario were the two commanders of the expe

d ition , and great was the struggle amongst the volun~teers for the honour of being selected to join i n thisrather hazardous adventure. One would plead his

wound in 18 59 , another his bravery in the presen t cam.

paign, and a third his intimate acquaintance wi th the

country one and all were ready to go, and the scene of

selection for the requ ired 200was a touching one i ndeed.and one of excel lent augury for the rest of the cammign.

There was a somewhat unpleasant suspense on the

Marina at Messina,unti l M issori's safetywas assured by

the l ighting of beacon fi res on the hill s o f Aspromonteaccord ing to preconceived arrangement. Some li ttletime passed before he was able to reach the appoi n tedspot, and though his landing was safely managed , yet hewas unable to eff ect much unti l joined by the rest o f theforces.Now

,however

,after Missori s successful landing.

a. and in the face of the imminent arrival of Garibaldi onthe mainland

,Francis I I . and his ministers at Naples

became fearful ly perturbed in their minds. Addedto al l this, there was the failure of the embassy to

Turin,and the flat refusal of Garibaldi to obey the

injunctions o f his sovereign. I t was easy to see, fromthe course events were taking, that so soonas Garibald i set foot on the mainland, the three Calabrias and


1 58 LIFE OF Gl l/SEPPE GARIBALDI.

object ? It was rumoured amongst ex cited knots onthe quays at one and the same time that he was atSalerno

,at Naples, at Caprera, Sardinia, and Palermo.

As a matter of fact, Garibaldi, before beginning thesecond , and which seemed at first sight the mostarduous part of his campaign, thought i t necessary toget together all his troops.Five thousand volunteers had been col lec ted by

Dr. Bertani i n Genoa, and this wo rthy gentleman sawfit onhis own responsib i l i ty to commence a diversion inthe Pontifical States, and to act agai nst GeneralLamoriciere. Now Cavour had not the slightest intent ion of letting this take place, so the expediti on underColonel Pianciani was stopped by the Sard in iansquadron in the Gul f of Oranges on the coast of theisland of Sard inia, and Marquis Trecchi , inwhose stepsBertan i rapidly fol lowed, was sent to Messina to in formGaribald i, that should these troops invade the Pontifical States, they would have to fight both against theFrench and the P iedmontese.Garibald i , on receiving this intel l igence, set o ff with

all speed to the Gul f of Oranges, and assured the Sardicgovernment that the troops should return immed iatelywi th him to Messi na, which they accord ingly did.

Dur ing the hasty fl ight f rom the seat o f war, Garibaldimanaged to steal a few quiet hours at his island home

,

wh ich lay not far distant from the Gul f of Oranges.

A hearty reception was given him by the Deideris, andthe inhabitants of La Maddalena stared at him withgreater admirationthan ever, being as he was just thenthe talk of al l I taly.

Immediately on retu rning to Messina, where his

advent was greeted with great delight by his tmOps,

G aribald i set about completing his plans for the pro

jected descent on the coast of Calabria.The troops which Garibald i chose to take with him

inthe first landing on the coast were formed o f NinoB ixio

'

s brigade (2,500 strong), volunteers selectedf rom the newly arr ived troops under Colonel Pianciani,and Eberhart

’s brigade, contain ing 700 i n al l . Orderswere given to two steamers, the Franklinand the Twine,of Garibaldi

’s squadron , to be in readiness to conveythemac ross the straits ; for by this time, whether bypu rchase. or by desert ion from Naples, or by voluntary

eontribution, Garibald i had got together quite a tidy

All the Neapol i tans had by this time evacuated theisland , and even the forts which had been left to themby the convention , with a view to concen trate al l theirforces on the mainland . I t is said that the Neapol i tanarmy might have mustered if the mil itary organ isationof Naples had been anything l ike proper ; but itwas not

,and those that were got together were desper

ately af raid of th is gueri l la style of warfare, so new tothem, and a sort of mysterious horror pervaded thosewho were not over en thusiastic in the cause for whichthey were to fight

OnAugust the 17th, i n the afternoon , the two abovementioned steamers were anchored off Taorm ina

,where

the embarkation of the troops was to take place,and on

the following day, about noon , the General arrived inperson, and hurried on the work, so that by eleveno'clock that evening everything was in readiness for astart at the fi rst appearance of dawn .

Meanwhile, twelve mi les away to the north, thesmoke from the Neapol itan squadron was gently waf tedhy the stil l night breeze, whilst those onboard were in


l utter ignorance of the Garibaldian movements ; for atMessina ships were always kept in read iness for embarkation, as if i t was f rom thence, and not from Taormina.that Garibald i pmposed to start, and two d iversionswere made from Messina, and another f rom Cape Faro,which en ti rely d istracted the attention of the Neapol itansf rom what was going on at Taormina.The TW ine and the Frankl in, when laden with

thei r cargo of human flesh , were a sight to behold, halo

warks,paddle boxes, rigging. al l swarming with troops.

During the passage across, the Franklinsprang a leak.at the stopping of which Garibald i personally presided.as behoved a commander acc ustomed to the mysteriesof the deep and under the General

'

s d irection the shipput safely into shore at Mel ito, rather farther south thanshe intended , but they had not calculated on the forceof the current.The Torino was not so fortunate. She ran aground

ona sand-bank , and there was some di fficul ty in landingthe troops, for the Neapol i tans were by thi s time amusedto the fact that Garibald i was crossing over the straits :however, they managed to clear off just in time, thoughthree men were ki l led in an attempt to save the strandedvessel . By four o

’

clock, everyone was landed f rombothvmls, and the hulk of the Torino was handed ove r tothe Neapolitans, who made a bonfi re of i t.M issori and his band were under orders—for orde rs

were constantly carried across the straits by the fishermen—to work down towards Capo d’

Armi, f romthemountains, in order to co-operate in the siege of Reggio :but he was unable to eff ect a junction with the mainbody, as they had landed so much farther south thanwas originally intended .

When once landed, however, Garibaldi began to



f rom his enemy so soon for, since the en tire p0pulatiaof the district sided wi th Garibald i, he was qu ite unahkto get any in formation as to the approach o f the invad

he, too, was sleeping quietly ,when,at twi n the morn ing, the advance guard o f the Garis entered the town without even so much as

being fired.

ere was a strong fort, too, down by the short.whither the Neapol itan soldiers rushed pel l-mel l ,as soonas the contest began , invoking their patron sai nts,andhearkeni ng to no command o f thei r officers. The Garibaldians pursued them hotly, cl imbing after them lih

cats into the fortress, only giving them time to lay downtheir arms, and crave for mercy.

Sti l l , however, there was the castle to be attached.which commanded the whole town , whilst the Neapol i tan General , Briganti , was advancing timorously fromVil la San Giovann i to the ass istance of his col league ;but finding the Garibald ians al ready in possession of

the town, and of the fort by the sea, he hasti ly beataretreat, and left General Galotti to his own dev i ces .About midday a vigorous attack on this stronghold

was decided upon,and severe fighting conti nued throughthe afternoon , and far into the n ight. For once theNeapol itans o ff ered a brave resistance : each po int waskeenly contested , and not unti l the morn ing d id Galottideem it necessary to give way. He had done his dutybetter than most of King Francis's generals, and his menhad fought bravely, but Garibaldi, by one of his everlasting outflanking movements, proved too much forh im .

There were some derisive reports current amongstthe Garibald ians that General Galotti had given as hisexcuse for capitulating, that he had sworn to his wife not

PALERM O T0 NAPLES . 163

attempt at preservingbeen his reasons, i t is

know that about sunset on Augustrs of Reggio embarked on a French

mercantile steamer for Naples, leaving in the hands ofthe victorious Garibald ians, arms, ammunition , and baggage, consisting o f twenty-six heavy

°

guns and field

pieces, 500 stand o f arms, and a quanti ty of coal , provisions, horses, and mules.Thus was accomplished the fi rst stroke of business

i n the second act of the drama of the Two S icilies. Abas is of Operations had been gained on the mainland .

able to organ ise his forces ; to getMessina the residue o f his tr00ps , and toon the fol lowing morn ing

,August the 22nd.

promenade militaire, a progress which hadf the elements of a recru iting march than ofand which found him , be fore many dayswith in the wal ls of the city of Naples.

i 64 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI .

CHAPTER IX.

THE CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN .

ANY tourist who h ires a carriage at Reggio, and drivesas fast as possible from that place to Naples, can forma good opin ion of what Garibald i

'

s march throughthe Calabrias was like. Starting as we have seen fromMel ito

,he began it on foot then , havinggot some horses

at Reggio, he advanced more rapidly. At length theGeneral wi th a few of his staff got a carriage and pomhorses, so as to accelerate their speed , and f rom Salernoto the capi tal he wound up this march by taking to therai lway.

H is volunteer bands trudged after him as best theycould in a long straggling l ine. marching side by sidewith d isarmed and disheartened Bourbon sold iers whomtheir leader had overcome by his more presence wherever he passed .

At Vil la San Giovann i, a few hours' march f rom

Reggio, Garibald i , and a few hundred men whom he hadtaken with him. commanded Neapol i tans to laydown thei r arms, and were obeyed . When he reachedSoveria, a few days

' march farther on, his fol lowers haddwindled downto his mere sta ff, consisti ng o f a body ofabout fi fty indifi

'

erently mounted officers, at whose headhe dictated his own terms of surrender to of his

enemy. Such were the main featu res of th ismarch. No



thei r arms and return ing peaceably home, Garibald i wasreceived by a most enthusiastic crowd , who yel l ed loudlyi n the General ’s ears, Ecco r

'

l normremade Gad

Ckn’

sto f nay. even many persons persuaded themselvesthat Garibald i was the brother of the Redeemer, or elsea second John the Baptist come to pave the way for aM i l lenn ium.

By way of securing extra populari ty in th i s d istrict.Garibald i changed his wideawake for a Calabrian sugarloaf hat. Nothing could equal the intense en thusiasmo f these warm-blooded chi ldren of the South. AtStocco the General was obl iged to go through an ordealo f kissing and hugging from the women , which wouldhave exhausted a less powerful frame ; and ever andanon a stray baby would be cast into the carriage atthe imminent peri l of its existence, to receive a kiss andbenediction from the Liberator.Most of the war correspondents of th is

were at their wit'

s end for battle news and slanwhich to decorate thei r letters.Bourbons disappeared l ike frogs into a marsh before the

conquerors they told long yarn

of the inhabitants , and the good food bestowed on them.

But not one scrap of nto recount from Reggio toagainst Garibald i and hiconquered by the magicsweet sound of unknownof Jericho pales be fore thJust af ter leaving So

countryman , Colonel Pfrom a vineyard , where we wi ll hope herisking his precious l i fe by furtively tasti

THE CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN. 167

i n the midst o f in fantry,“caval ry, and arti l lery of

the royal troops. Unabashed , he orders them to surrender, sayi ng that the Garibaldians were close behindand on being conducted to the general ’s head-quarters

,

he received thei r submission i n as dignified manner ashe could.

‘Without a doubt,’ says Captain Forbes

,a

more pi ti ful sight never was than that o f an armyplanted in a ditch, without a rear or advance guard , ora single sentry

,or picket, capitu lating to the first hand

ful of men that came up, wi thout knowing to whom ,

save that they thought Garibald i was near.’

At various places Colonel Peard would personateGaribaldi,whomhe strongly resembled for example, atEbol i he made himsel f out to be the General

,and con

stituted his compan ions his aides-de-camp and secretary, and ordered the National Guard to take mil itarypossession of the town

,and to post a strong picket about

two miles out on the Salerno road . The town wasbri l l iantly i l luminated , and Peard bowed profusely to thebel lowing crowd f rom his balcony, whilst he receivedladies in thei r best dresses

,j udges, and mun icipal

authori ties with the gravest face moreover, he got holdof the telegraph wires at Auletta, and despatched amessage to Naples as if he were the clerk, saying Garibaldi was at hand, and thereby caused the hurriedevacuation of Salerno by the royal troops.Pantaleone, too, crafty priest mi l itant that he was ,

was doing a l ittle business of a l ike nature in Naples ;acting as a spy to find out how the land lay, i n thempac ity of a doctor

,and at Salerno as a sai lor, in which

latter place be induced th i rty Austrians to abandon thecause of the Bourbons for the moderate sum of a dol lara head , and the value of thei r arms.I n short, Salerno was evacuated wi thout a blow ;


Peard’

s jud icious man ipulation of the tel egraph wiressent men and thirty guns in rapid re treat to thecapital , and when the genuine Garibaldi drove into thetown, he went up to our countryman and shoutedEww

'

w Garibaldi"wi th a roar of l aughter.

On September the 7th, 1860, the hal f-past n ine trainleft Salerno as usual for the capi tal . I t contai ned someunusual passengers that day, namely Garibaldi , Ge neralCosenz, and thirteen Engl ish. But, before we as istat the welcome of the conquering hero i n the capitalof the Two Sicilies, let us see what had beengoingon therein for the last few days, and also the movements o f the Court of Turin, whose time for actionhad now come.Cavour was natu ral ly alarmed at the growi ng pape

larity of the General , fearing that the guidance of eventswould be taken enti rely out o f the hands of the monoarchical party, and thrown into those of Mazzi n i

,with

whom Garibald i had formerly been so much implicated.So Cavour appealed to the Parl iament, and the dutifulParl iament voted for immediate annexation . The question was twofold : Firstly, would Garibaldi l isten to thevote of the Parl iament ? ' I count largely,

’ wrote Cavour,‘onGaribaldi ’s loyal spiri t, generous i nstincts , and the

great affection he nourishes for the King ;’ whi lst Mazzini

wrote, disdain ing any influence over the General’

3 movements, saying,

‘ Garibald i is no man ’s instrument ; 1know no more of his plans than a new-born in fant '

Secondly, would Napoleon , who sti l l held the leadingstrings in I taly, and more especial ly so in Cavour's estimation , acquiesce in the P iedmontese army taking thelead in the national causeHour by hour Cavour had to measure hispolicy with

that of the Mazzin ian idea i n Sici ly : he congratulated


17o LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR/8 111.01.

He wrote to King Francis Il .'

s adviser, Liborio Romano.at the same time l iberal agent i n ord inary to the newideas

,reminding him how Farin i had handed over the

Emil ia,and Ricasol i had presented Tuscany to the

Constitutional King. So convinced , moreove r, wasCavour of the necessity of action, that he openly toldVictor Emmanuel he must ei ther go and march onNaples or else go and break h is head against Austriaand the Quadri lateral ,

’ with a view to free ing Venice.and d rawing Garibaldi away f rom that dangerous RomeAt the same time the P iedmontese ambassador at

the Neapol itan Court, the Marquis Vi lla Marina, wasinstructed to offer King Francis terms for an al liancewi th Sard in ia, which he knew the King would neveraccept : namely, to give up al l f riendly commun ications

with Austria, to join Sardin ia in compell ing the Pope toadopt a national pol icy, and to abandon Sici ly.

On September the l st, at Turin , Cavour received adeputation of respectable ci tizens from the Marches, bqging for freedom. Cavour smiled blandly upon them.and told them that troops were already under marchingorders for the frontier.Francis I I ., meanwhile, i n his capital , was anything

but com fortable. He knew of Liborio’s treachery, butwas unable to combat it ; his army was not to be trusted.

So the young king and his court determined onbeatinga hasty retreat to the castle of Gaeta, and making justone final struggle onthe banks of the Volturno.

Liborio wrote for him to his dear subjects o f Napletthe proclamation , ful l of glowing expressions of hopeand constancy, which ended thus : as the descendantofa dynasty which has reigned over this continent for 126

years,af ter having preserved i t from the horrors of a long

viceroyalty. the afi'

ections of my heartare here ; I am a

THE CLOSE OF THE CAMPAION 173

Neapol i tan , and could not without bi tter gfie the 80°C!

words of farewe l l to my most cl early beloved pmy fellow-ci tizens. Let not an excessinfor

fo r my dynasty be made a pretext for disturbance."4 58~This last mandate of their sovereign the faithfo

people obeyed only too wel l. With scarcely a soul to bidhimadieu , am idst the sul len refusal of his navy to followhim, the last King of Naples steamed away on a Spanishship on his way to Gaeta.Three hours before his sovereign 's departure, Liborio ,

the author of the above proclamation , was author, too,o f

a telegram to Garibaldi in these words : ‘To the Invi ncible D ictator of the Two S icilies. Naples expectsyou with anxiety to confide to you her future destin ies.Entirely yours, LIBOR IO ROMANO.

’

The 9 .30 train left Salerno, as we have seen but itsprogress was slow : the vast populations o f Torre delGreco , Resina. and Portici turned out, covered the l ines,cl imbed on the train

,and even crowded the engine.

Then again the trai n moved slowly on , whi lst the peopleranalong the l ines ina state of f rantic joy,and gradual ly,at a snai l ’s pace, for fear of crush ing some enthusiast,the carriages conveying the invading army entered theNeapol i tan terminus.I nside the station some order was maintained by

the pol ice, but outside the scene baffled al l power ofdescription : horses and carriages, apparently pi led oneabove -the other, wi th masses of human beings pi led onthe top of them ; lad ies covered wi th the Sard iniancolours, onfoot, onhorseback, on donkeys, nearly crushedto pieces ; swarms of lazzaroni with a bit o f red somewhere ; rival committees with rival flags, inextricablymixed up. With al l this there was the d in of drumsand trumpets, a perfect pandemon ium o f brass instru

day Khra ncis’suoops threw up theirapqand cried,

Naples was now without a government. CosenaabeingaNeapolitan, was deputed to try and form one,whilst Garibaldi busied himself inwriting his proclaim.

tion , which was as fol l owsPeople of Naples,I t is with feelings of the profoundest re spect ed

love that I presentmyself before youinthis oentre ofanoble and long-suf fering people, whom four centuriesoftyranny have not been able to humi l iate, and whose spirflcould never be broken by a ruthless despoti sm. The fire

necessity of I taly is harmony and social order,without

which the un ity of Italy'

is impossible. This day Providence has conferred that blessing uponyou,and hasmackme its minister. The same Providence has also givenyouVictor Emmanuel, whom from this moment I will dingnate the father of our country.

‘The model of al l sovereigns, he wil l impress uponhis posteri ty the duty that they owe to a people, who

have wi th so much enthusiasm ehmen himfor theirk ing. Youare supported by the clergy, who, consciouso f their true mission,have,with patriotic ardour and trulyChristian conduct, braved the gravest dangers of battleat the head of our I tal ian sold iers The goodmonks ofLa Gancia,‘ and the noble-hearted priests of the R espo



never left him at this juncture, decided to support Cris-ai

until Rome was added to the other conquesm.However much we may admire Garibald i i n this 1“

l ike yoking a sickly old rotten body to a vigorous youthThe Neapolitan provinces were a century behi nd Piedmont in civi l isation, i n weal th, in roads, i n education.

sel f-government. Even now the Two S icilies, whichrequire three times the administrative pol ice and mili e

bute a third of the revenue, or furnish a tenth of the

pol itical capacity and activi ty of the rest. I taly,as a

whole, must su ffer for generations the penal ty of th

romantic exploit of Garibald i.Garibald i himself had ample experience of the

character of the Neapolitans during h is smy amongstnot a single Garibald ian was received into a privathouse, when sick and wounded were lying on thestones of the jesui ts

’ Col lege, the church of which hadbeen turned into a hospital. Even the nu rses would

their scan ty food for their ownmBut we have left Garibald i during this d igre ss ion in

the m idst of all the excitement of his glorious reception.As evening approached Garibald i grew tired , yet the

crowd before the Palazzo d'Angri show d no signs of

abating i ts en thusiasm . 0 l i was

and said aThe D ictator is asleep, please do not disturb

THE CLOSE OF CAMPAIGN. 17 5

the Chiaja, and l ike a pack of merry chi ldren j ust let outof schoo l, they began to shout again, and made the n ightai r rev echo with thei r yel ls.

Cavour‘

s agents. meanwhile, were hard at work tryingto bring about the immediate annexation , and to dissuade Garibald i f rom his mad project of proceeding onhis way to Rome. Admiral Persano got our Admi ral

Mundy to use al l his in fl uence with Garibald i in th isdirec tion ; for since the day when Mundy befriended

himat Palermo, the Engl ish adm iral had become acl ose f riend of Garibald i, and was one of the fi rst topay him a vis it af ter his victorious entry into Naples.A meeti ng was arranged on board H .M .S . Hannibal

between Mr. E l l iot, the Engl i sh ambassador, and Garibald i. Bertan i came with the General , and showed intense disgust when not al lowed to be presen t at thein terview, and made to wai t outside but he needed notto be af raid, for, says Admiral Mundy, ‘ the tone of

the General was throughout that of an enthusiast,who

had determ ined to risk al l on the prosecution of his ideaof I tal i an un ity ; he was evidently not to be swayed byany d ictates of prudence. ’

Duri ng his stayat Naples, Garibald i wisely put himsel f i n close in tercourse with the people. The grand festaof the P ious Grotto, on September the 8th, was held wi thun usual magnificence. Garibald i went to church in themorning,as meekly as any good Cathol ic could wish. I nthe afternoon . fan tastically dressed crowds l ined thestreets. through which a procession , consi sting of hundreds of the best-looking damsels of Naples, dressed inthe costumes of ancient days, when excess of draperywas not required, and formed into voluptuous tableauxonthe taps of triumphal cars, were drawn down the ViaToledo . Men and boys were al so ingreat request that


day to be dressed i n any sort of garmen t w ith swordsspears, and flaw , whilst the dregs of the populacecheered around. I n the evening Garibaldi went to the

theatre, and there received a grand ovation.

September the l gth, too, is a great day at Naples, onwhich some blood of St. Januarius, the patron saint of thetown . is accustomed to turn f rom its ordi nary state ofcongelation into a rich, heal thy fluid , provided the saintbe satisfied with the government of the town. During thBourbon rule the blood had never fai led to go through thischange Now,

’ said the priests, ‘ i t wi l l not do so ; thesaint wi l l d irect us by his si lence to restore our dynasty}Great was the suspense felt by the pious Neapoli tans

on th is morn ing, when , lo l three hours before the accustomed time. salvos of artil lery announced to the re joicingcrowd that the wonderful change had taken place. andthat St. Januarius, in his eagerness to recognise the

government of the D ic tator, had anticipated the customary hour for the mystery to take place. Scepticsdeclare, and doubtless wi th reason on their s ide, thatSt. Giuseppe Garibald i, or some of his saintly stafl: knewr

more about this ci rcumstance than St. J anuarius.This, for the time, had the e ff ect of keeping the

priests quiet, and of exal ting to the highest pitch thelove of the masses for the Liberator.Further to compl icate the d i fficul ties of the Govern

ment,there appeared at this time in Naples an unwel

come visitor in the shape of Mazz i n i. Undoubted ly he

had as good right to be there, and share some of the

tri umphs,as anyone, for had not the whole scheme been

original ly of his planning ? Had not his agen ts started therevolutioni n Sici ly and had not his partisans beenhandat work in Naples, and paved the way for Garibaldiiseasy en trance ? and had he no t f rom time to time sent out



his kingdom for ever. He thus obliged Garibaldi totake to fighting again , which was much mo re inhis waythan poli tics, and also gave Victor Emmanuel and the

Sard inian army time to conquer at Caste lfidardo , andmarch into the Neapol itan States, before Garibaldi wasonhis way to Rome.Mazzin i had told Garibald i If youare not on your

way towards Rome or Venice before three weeks areover, your in i tiative wi ll be at an end .

’ Mazz ini wasright Garibald i ’s tenure of office as D ictator was drawi ng to a close.The last acts in th is campaign , the battles onthe

Volturno and the siege of Capua, are the best knownincidents of i t in England , for thi ther he was followedby crowds of Engl ish volunteers, eager to try theirprowess in ki l l ing Neapol itans, as being a more excit

i ng autumn amusement than shooting pheasan ts andpartridges at home.The dri l l ing of his army and the arrangement of

squadrons had not been one of the least of Garibald i'scares since his arrival at Naples. The Calabrian regiments were now strong ; the con tingent f rom Besilicataamounted to under Corte ; f rom al l partstroops and volunteers poured in , so that by themiddle ofSeptember Garibald i had an army of to occupythe positions before Capua, whereas Francis 11. hadabout men and some caval ry encammd on thenorthern bank of the Vol turno.

With the object of avoid ing further host i l i ties inNaples if possible,Garibald i issued the fol lowing addressto the soldiers of King Francis’3 army .

If you do not disdain Garibald i for your companion


misfortune of your land . I taly, trampling on the f ragments of her chains, points to the north : the path of

honour is towards the last lurking place of tyrants. Ipromise nothing more than to make you fight.G. Gammon}Lucki ly for I taly the sold iers of King Francis were

for once obl ivious to the terrors of Garibald i, and d isdained to join his ranks a European war, wi th CentralI taly for i ts theatre, was thereby avoided.Garibald i had by th is time establ ished his camp at

Caserta, and his first care was so to d istribute his forcesas to prevent any attack f rom the Royal ists, and at thesame time to be able to cross the Volturno, and assumethe of fensive. The two extreme wings of Francis

’

s armyleaned on one side on the Med iterranean , and on theother on the Apenn ines, while behind them about thi rtym iles was the strong fortress of Gaeta. Whilst at Caserta, Garibald i was perfectly i nvaded by foreign tourists,chiefly Engl ish, of both sexes, who gathered around thehero , and waylaid himat the rai lway stations onhisalmost dai ly visits to Naples,whither he went to look afterhis troops,and to talk pol i ti cs. Inshort, he strove to beeverywhere and doing everyth ing at the same time . O f

the Engl ish legion Colonel Peard , of Sici l ian fame, wasappointed to the command , much to the chagrin of

others who thought themselves better qual ified , both byposition and mil itary attainments , for that honour.I n his early encounters with the Royal ists Garibald imet with a sl ight rebufl'

at Cajazzo, not sufficient, however, to form any very considerable difl

'

erence in h is

prograinme. The Neapol i tans made the best of i t, however, and tried to draw Garibaldi i nto a battle on theplain, knowing the advantage they would have over himin this kind of warfare. For days there was nothing

'nz


more serious than l ight skirmishing, which generallyended i n favour of the Garibaldians.

On October the tst was fought the battle o f the Vel

turno. I t began early in the morn ing, and the Garibaldians, unti l the arri val of their leader, forwhom Bixio hadtelegraphed in al l haste, were driven back along the line.The advance guard of the Garibald ians consisted of onlyabout men , and the Neapol i tans were nowpressi ng on to the attack with over three times theirnumber. For some hours they held their ground betweenSan Tamaro and St. Angelo, unti l a reserve o f

came up, when the Neapoli tans were routed on allsides.Such was the end of the last army which could rea

'

st

the invaders. King Francis now fel l back onhis citadelof Gaeta, and Garibald i was face to face with the armyo f King Victor Emmanuel .Let us trace the action of the P iedmontese since their

start for the South. Inhis order of the day VictorEmmanuel said ‘ I wi l l respect the Head o f the Church.to whom I am always mdy to give, if i n accordancewith the wi l l of al l ied and f riendly powers, al l thoseguaran tees of independence and securi ty which his bl indcounci l lors have in vain prom ised himfrom the

fanaticism of a mal ignant fact ion .

’

When Napoleon had given his ambiguous amt

at Chamber-y to Victor Emmanuel 's present step. thetemporal power of the Papacy was virtually at an end.

General Ciald in i met the Papal troopsatCastelfidardo.and wonan easy victory ; Ancona soon fel l into theirhands, and the royal march towards the Volturno wasalmost a counterpart of Garibald i's f rom the SouthBefore, however, meeting wi th the General, King VictorEmmanuel issued the fo l lowing address


( 8d LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARM ALDI .

Before th is i nterview, on October the roth. Garibaldi.i n his D ictatorial capac i ty , had called uponthe inhabitants of the Two Sicilies to vote for or against themo

nexationof Naples and Sici ly to P iedmon t, though fromAdmiral Mundy’s account the voting was not exactlyaccording to our notions of the bal lot. He tel ls us thathe watched the progress of the election at Naples andon ly three seemed to hesi tate whi lst he was present ed» .after a few moments' reflection , fished up a No yetasthey had to give up their papers every negative votewas

known . The result of this pol l was, i n Naples, ‘Yes.'

No,’ I n Sici ly,

‘Yes,

’

No', 667 .

The day before Victor Emmanuel 's entry intoNaples, Garibald i issued the fol lowing proclamation tnthe citizens of Naples : ‘Tmmw Victor Emmanuel.the elect of the nation , wi l l break down the frontierwhich has divided us for so many centuries from the rest

of the country, and , l isten ing to the unan imous voice ofthis brave people, wil l appear amongst us. Let usworthily receive him who is sent by Providence. andscatter in his path . as the pledge of our redemptionandour aff ection, the flowers of concord, to himso grateful.to us so necessary. No more pol iti cal colours, no moreparties, no more discards ! I taly one (as the metro pol ishas wisely determ ined she shall be) under the King.galamuom, who is the symbol o f our regeneration, andthe prosperity of our country.

—G . GAN BALDL'

The remainder of the war, as far as Francis II. wasconcerned . was a mere farce : he could only cul led his

scattered forces on the Garigl iano, lean ing the while onGaeta as his last support. if not to save his kingdom.

at least to retrieve his honour. A fter the battle of theVol turno Capua was abandoned al l but the form. into


which a few thousand men were thrown to prevent aj u nction , if possible, between Garibaldi and the P iedmontese. The subsequent mil itary Operations conductedby Ciald in i onthe Garigl iano were one continuous victory unti l Francis finally shut himsel f up in Gaeta, andthe siege began . Then Capua

,after a bombardment of

fo rty-eight hours, surrendered to General Della RoccaonNovember the and.

The task of Garibald i was vi rtual ly at an end , whenhe surrendered his D ictatorship One more duty, however. he had to perform, namely, that o f d istributingmedals to his deserving followers. At this ceremony hespoke as fol lows

,with great vehemence against the

Pope —‘ I am a Christian , as you are, yes, I am of thatrel igion which has broken the bonds of slavery, and hasproc laimed the freedom of men . The Pope , whooppresses h is subjects, and is an enemy o f Ital ianindependence, is no Christian ; he den ies the very

pri nciples of Christiani ty ; he is Antichrist.’ One of

the recipients of medals on this memorable day was aboy not yet thirteen , who had come unscathed throughMarsala, Calatafimi , and the Vol turno. Garibald i ’s voicefaltered as he took leave of them al l there was scarcely

one of the brave fel lows who did not shed tears on the

occasion .

Victor Emmanuel,the newly chosen king, final ly

entemd the city of Naples onNovember the 7th. I t wasa gloomy day, and the people cheered far more lustily forGaribaldi than they did for their King— ir was not ahappy augury for the future. They drove together to

the cathedral to do their homage to the blood of

baldi inaplored the King to dM Cavour and PMfromhis wundh and to allow himtomarch onkone :at which requestVictor Emanuel is said to have been

much inoensed,and to have replied,‘ I v ill not dismiss

myministers and you shal l not go to R ome.

’

Be this

as i tmay, henceforth there arose an W he

tween Garibaldi and the oonfi tutional party, and thecheering of the people ,always loudest for the Generaltended to increase this feeling. That very eveningatthe theab e aseat bad beenpanfor Gan

'

baldi by the

side of the royal one, when just before the entertain”commenced a lackey came forward and removed itThe murmur of discontent had hardly subsided beforeVictor Emmanuel came in ; the severity of his look as

compared with Garibald i’s ben ignsmile was not calcwlated to arouse feelings of a ff ection inhis new subjects.Garibald i ’s conduct at th is juncture was admirable.

When ample revenge was inhis power, when by liftmgafinger he could have raised a revolution i n the South.he quietly and unostentatiously quitted the scenes of histriumph for his island home.

V However much Victor Emmanuel and the cause herepresented may be admired, nothing can excuse histreatment of Garibald i on his entrance into thekingdom which the General had wonfor him. He promised to review the volunteers, but did not keep his

word, countenancing thereby the jthemtr00ps against the irregularhe al lowed some domestic scandals to take precedence ofstate a ffairs, and thus was some hours late inarrivingm


too late, at Cajazzo and onthe Volturno, showsus whatmight have beendone earl ier in the campaign. If we

al low ourse lves to consider these po ints, we shall bebetter able to understand how bitterly disappo inted thehero-worshippers have beeninthe succeeding events of

Garibaldi ’s career.

CHAPTER X.

ASPROMONTE.

I is at Capre ra tillmg his bamni ng to the echo of the waves. After so

much ex cimment, after smh idol isation, how could hethe stol id admiration o f the old

g adoran'onof his neighbours of

LaMaddalena ? I n n estic feli ci ty the General couldnew hope to excel he had set his chi ldren too bad anM ple by hal f ,and few chi ldrenever showed the wantof amother’s care and good home discipl ine more thanMenot ti, R icciotti , and ThemitaGaribald i .During the Sici l ian campaign , Menotti , having come

have seen,the warriortells us that

for him , and that heat of a gay Lothario. Ric

i le had been entrusted to the charge of

f riends, and at this time was at school ine was lame , and was under medical advicerather a wild sort of boy and a great torwould throw his crutches down stai rs towho heard the clatter into the bel ief thatg after them but more of him anon.

frequently these good islanders had dis


tinguished visitors ; Engl ish noblemen i nl ike moths around this insular candle, patriots frowevery corner of the globe flocked thi ther as to theirshrine, and Garibald i gave them all a welcome in hisown friend ly way, and would enrol them al l in hisgangs for road-making. One day with great del ight theGeneral succeeded in making two Prussian officers do

stone-carrying until their backs ached again .

Not the least welcome visi tor to this island homewas Garibald i ’s old companion in arms, General Tun.

who came with a present from the King to Miss Theresita.which gladdened the heart of that fai r though stalwartdamsel : i t was a handsome d iamond neck lace of

surpassing value, the like o f which Miss Theresitabadnever seen before. The King had chosen this way ofremuneration , knowing Garibaldi

’s antipathy at thattime to receive a gif t of money ; for i t now becameknown that the daughter of Garibald i was about tobestow her hand on Captain Canzio

,one of the su rvivors

o f ‘ the thousand ’

of Sicil ian fame, the son o f a we llto-do house decorator in Genoa, who in his day hadadorned the vi l la at Pegl i for the Marquis Pal lavicini.which every visi tor goes to see , marvell ing at its labyrinths, i ts aquatic surprises, and its false tombs.

Theresita Garibald i was handsome and strong ; shecould climb the rocks o f Caprera wi th anyman, andreach the summit fi rst ; she, like her father, can boastof a l ist of people she has saved f rom watery gramShe had considerable musical talents too, and over therocks of Caprera were of ten heard the strains of The

resita's piano, the only one on this deserted is land.She could superi ntend her father

‘s dairy, and knewmuch about farming general ly. Altogether, Garibaldi

'

s


190 ups or azvsgpps GARIBALDI .

with‘

the idea that in the spring of 186 1 I taly must havea millionof patriots under arms.’

No one, no, not even Garibald i , felt more keenly thenecessity of having Rome for the capi tal of I taly thmd id Cavour, whose life, alas for I taly, was now drawirgnear to its close. ‘Rome, gentlemen ,

’ spoke Cavourinthe Assembly, unites all the histori cal , intel lectual.and moral qual i ties which are required to form the

capital of a great nation .

’ But he recogn ised the iapossibil ity o f going to Rome and Venice with an armyof Red Shirts ; i t was Garibald i alone who entertainedthe thought that the legions of France and Austriacould be knocked over as the Neapol itans had beenbya few bravemen, if only they had justi ce on thei r side.Naples, too, was a serious point for Cavour just now.

Every element of anarchy accumulated under awretchedgovernment was now bursting forth. A poli tical cloakwas given to brigandage by the defenders of the fal lennfg

'iim. And then there was the Army of the South.Garibald i's own , which General Fanti , the war m inister.ref used to recogn ise in the interests of his army and inthe interests of diplomacy such an army could not bepermitted to hover over the Roman f rontier with Garibald i notso far o ff eager to lead i t across.The Garibaldian generals who had proved worthy of

their rank were made officers in the I talian army ;namely, Nino Bixio, Cosenz , Med ici, and others ; butGaribaldi considered he had been trifled wi th by the

Government, that the King's promise had been broken,

and he was natural ly very wroth. To a Milanese deputation,which waited upon him at Caprera,he stated, Forthe holy redemption of this land I rely onthe roqhhands of menof my stamp rather thanonthe lyingpromises of false politicians.’ And to aGenoese deputa

ASPR OM ONTE. 19 :

tion he cal led Cavour’s government one o f cowards, andsaid that the Chambers were an assembly of lackeys

,

and that the King was hurrying to destruction underthe guidance of unworthy counsellors. To some Engl ish friends he said , D iplomacy wil l be perfectly pol iteto us if we have men under arms and ready tofight this wil l be the best seconding o f the Parliamentary dec laration that Rome should be our capital .I n short, Garibald i

’s object was to get the I tal iannation armed and to defy the world . He represented thearmed wil l o f Italy at a time when I taly required restand diplomacy. How unable she was to take up aposi tion of this kind was evinced five years later

,when

the I tal ian d isasters were the only ones experienced bythe al l ies in their campaign against Austria. Nothingcan prove to us more clearly than this how Quixoticwere Garibald i ’s schemes

,and how prudent was Cavour’s

pol i cy in this year.Thencame Garibald i ’s appearance in the Chambers

o f Turin , and the angry sess ion in which he played soconspicuous a part. He arrived early in Apri l at thePi edmontese capital ,but was too i l l from rheumatic fever

for some days to take his seat in the Assembly,and

when he did so on the 18th, i n his red shirt andAmerican pour/w, the excitement was terrible. He wasescorted from his hotel by his volunteers, who had comein crowds to Turin, and whose cause he was now aboutto plead.

An eye-witness gives us the fol lowing account ‘of thescene But alas the actor (Garibaldi) did not knowhis part he had scarcely pronounced a few words whenhis memory fai led ; his phrases became incoherent andmeaningless ; he looked in vain, with his eyes aided by

M . D’Ideville

’

s”M oira.

192 LIFE or GIUSEPPE

an enormous glass , on the notes wh ich he held in hishand

,for the thread of his ideas. Two of h is acolyte:

The left of the Assembly, the Garibald ian deputies, weregroan ing under the deplorable e ffect produced bytheir chief , when al l of a sudden, abandoning the par»

liamentary forms which visibly put him out, Garibaldipushed away angri ly and bluntly the notes which layheaped upon the table, and spoke extempore.The aspect of the scene was now changed. I t had

been rid iculous and pain ful it now became tragical . Itwas thenthat, addressing himself with threaten ing voiceand gesture to the ministerial bench , he declared that itwould be for ever impossible for himto clasp the handof the man who had sold his country to the foreigner.or to al ly himsel f with a government whose cold andmischievous hand was trying to foment a f ratric idal war.Cavour restrained himsel f with an effort

,and made

no al lusion in his reply to the accusations o f Garibaldi

Genoese deputation,he answered in these words

A calumny onone of the members of this Assemblyhas been ci rculated ; he is accused of having utteredwords unworthy of every honest man. I know thisman ; I know how dear to him is his country. I knowthe sacrifices he has made. As for me, I dare assert ithere ; i t appears to me impossible that the od iouswords attributed to himshould have fal len f rom his lips.

For wbg ,great as he may be. would dare in his pride

to assign himsel f i n our coun try a place apart ? Whowould dare to claim for himsel f the monopoly of devoted .


194 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GAR/BAw t.

Garibald i in reference

Garibaldi and Cavour.once more with General Ciald in i ,lately been onanything but friendlrently at peace with al l men , and medbut peace, he returned to Caprera afterstormy experience of parl iamentary l i fe.But changes were imminen t in the Cabinet

Cavour breathed his last, regretted by all , andwhen his guid ing hand was most required .

had l ived .’ said Victor Emmanuel , we

in Rome in six months. ’ However this might butbeen

,i t is probable that if Cavour had l ived , Victor

Emmanuel ’s reign would not have had the blot ofAspromonte upon it.Baron Ricasol i held office for some l itt le time nib

Cavour’

s death , and then Baron Ratazzisplendid disasters ’—the man of Novara

, Aspromonh,Mentana , consented to form a Cabinet. He had beennoted for his patrioti sm since 1846 , but had alwaysbeen opposed to Cavour, until 1852, when Cavour brokewith d’

Azeglio, and formed his celebrated W’

with Ratazzi. He had married a granddaughter of

Luc ien Buonaparte’

s, Madame de Solms, and was

thoroughly French in his incl inations hence his Ministry was f rom the fi rst unpopular with I ta lians, anddoubly so with the Garibald ians—and f rom CapreratheGeneral growled angri ly from time to time, as he always

celebrated the ann iversary of their f reedom and of Geri»

hald i ’s entrance into their town : the wild enthusimalmost equal led that of the previous year. The letter.

ASPR OM ONTE. 195

or rather l i tany, which the people of Naples penned toGaribaldi on this occasion

,describes better than any

other words the hot enthusiasm of these Southern folk.

I t ran as fol lows‘The people of Naples to their Garibaldi . Every

day, every hour, every moment, we bless thee, dearJoseph

,our father ! You reign in our hearts ! Our

chi ld ren have learned your name,and mingle it with

thei r prayers ; you are the father of our people. Quitealone , without regarding weari ness or di fficulties,withoutth inking of any interest of your own, you have shed forus your generous blood . Our h0pe in you is etemal,asi s our gratitude

,and wi l l be handed down from si re

to son ti l l the end of time. May the breezes bear toCaprera the echo o f our acclamations. Viva GaribaldiThe festival was one surpri sing outburst of joy and

gl adness. ‘To Rome ! ’ was echoed from.

mouth tomouth ; and , says the

‘Times ’ correspondent,Laying

aside al l party feel ing, I veri ly bel ieve that the Southwould rise enmasse to follow Garibaldi .’Caprera meanwhile was assuming an aspect of com

fort, if not of prosperi ty : farming implements, presents ofal l kinds

,poured in f rom America and other countries .

Even the generous heart o f Garibaldi forgave his

Austrian enemies in this quiet retreat, for one daywhen some visitors brought him presents he considered

too good for him , he begged them to sel l them in behal fof the d istressed in Austria ; by which meansf rancs was sent to them.

The year 1862 was to be a busy one for our General ,far bus ier than the last. I n January he accepted thepresidency of the Rifle Association in Genoa, and, on sodoing, told them to make preparations for a nationalarmament ; for the moment was fast approaching when

0 z

196 are or GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

they would have tovalour. I n Naples an unquiet state o fthe form of a vast demonstrat ion , sowhere Father Pantaleone again woundsermon by singing the Garibald i hymn ,three cheers for the Madonna, as in Sicilspring Garibald i left his herm itage for a tourI taly. Genoa received himwith the usualtions of bunting, cheering, and unboundedAt Cremona, as he enteredpol itan so ld iers stopped the way— they prostrated them»selves before h im as the l iberator of thei r country.They wished to drag his carriage for himas he left, Mth is Garibald i would not allow. The crowd wu cmwith del ight.On Garibald i 3 birthday, May the sth, inNaples, they

went so far as to erect al tars to h im, as though he were ;divin ity, and candles were arranged around his statuesi n testimony of thei r adoration. Doorways and windowswere il lumined by colossal statues in transparency, andat the theatre that even ing the hymn of Garibaldi wascal led for so often that the orchestra sank f rom fatigueNo wonder the Government fel t concerned at the movements of th is mammoth subject amongst them,

whosereceptions far exceeded the King

’s in bri lliancy andenthusiasm .

There was, indeed , about Garibald i a sound moralinstinct in everything he said and did. Whilst his theorieswere of the vaguest and most unsatisfactory kind, hsalways contrived to say the right th ing at the rightplace ; as for example, i n consti tutional Parma, he saidhis republ ican principles were expressed in his devotionto Victor Emmanuel. Like Joan of Arc

,Garibald i had

put a crownonhis sovereign’s head

,and

,l ike the Maid


198 use OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

ming with much ardour but wi th l i ttle sense, inwhich besaid : ‘The ashes of Rome, the ashes of her unhappysons have been buried , but these ashes are so impregnatewith l i fe as to be able to regenerate the world. Rome,the mother o f I talian grandeur. Rome ! Rome !who is not urged by thy very name to take up armsfor thy del iverance ? who feels not thus has not deserved the tender embrace of a mother, or the ardentkiss of a lover. Such an one has only to restore a baseheart to its original clay. Lad ies, I am with you todeath ’

With such un restrainable material to deal with,Ratazzi and the King had but one course to pursue—acourse which by the l ight thrown upon the transactionby recent d isclosures is now well known in Italy.

Garibaldi was to be encouraged secretly to march onRome—encouraged as he had been two years be fore byCavour, during his Sici l ian campaign ; and then, whenhe had been led to compromise himsel f ind irectly, bewas to be taken prisoner as a rebel . Such is the secreto f the story of Aspromonte. I t was not an honourableaff air, by any means : doubtless Cavour would have hadsome other loophole to escape by but a weak M inistry,surrounded by pitfal ls on al l s ides, had no straightforward course to pursue.Beyond a doubt, all this mischief for I taly lay inthe

French occupation of Rome. The temporal power of thePope was an old-world story, i ndeed, but it must needsdie its own natural death, when supported

.

by suchpowers as France and Austria. This is j ust what Gari'

bald i could not, or would not, take in ; and, moreover.he could not see that when a subject, however powerful.acts in d irect opposition to the wi ll of the Governmentlaw qy appointed by the wil l of the people, he reduces

ASPROM ONTE. 199

that country to a state of anarchy, which must be putdown by laws ; hence Garibald i fel l easily into the trapwhich had been set for him by Rata lai.Mazz in i , on his part, disclaimed al l participation in

G aribald i ’s scheme against Rome. Writing to a f riendi n G lasgow, Mr. John McAdam, about this time, hesaid It is perfectly true that

,in spite of the calumnies

o f the ‘Times,’

for eighteen months I have been endeavouring to persuade Garibald i that we ought tod i rect our efforts towards Ven ice ; however, the die isnow cast. ’

Victor Emmanuel is said to have written an autograph letter to Garibald i to induce him to go to Rome

,

saying that he, the king, could not, for fear of excitingthe Roman Cathol ic world be this so or not

,Garibald i

received proofs that support would be given ampleenough to justify his undertaking the expedition .

At Palermo, Garibald i tarried for a few days, whereit was general ly known what the object of his visit was.He wen t about i n publ ic with the two young princes

,

Vic tor Emmanuel 's sons officers in the army asked himto d inner, and paid him every attention ; the greatestenthusiasm was allowed to be demonstrated withoutche ck, whilst Ratazzi favoured in every way possible theembarkation o f troops for the South . Our ‘Times ’ correspondent said I n Sici ly, especial ly, the conduct of themi l i tary and civi l authori ties is to be exp lained only onthe supposition that they were convinced that secretlythe Government was supporting the movement.’ Andthen Katatai—when the General was compromised ,when he was surrounded by ardent and wil ling volunteers—turned round , sent anarmy, put the king forward,

and stopped Garibaldi. I t was, indeed , an ingenious

plan, inmany ways justified by the emergency, but not

zoo LIFE OF GIUSEPPE 6 .4 1?l

a plan such as a liberal~minded M inister would butadopted .

I t is needless to describe Garibald i's triumphalmrdr

through Sici ly : how the i nhabitants of Cataniawouldhave him within thei r wal ls, i n sp i te o f orders to thecon trary from the Governor ; deputations of merchantswai ted on him there to congratulate him, but at thesame time to beg him to proceed , for they feared a

coll ision between the royal and volunteer troops wid fmtheir town , which would be injurious to thei r trade.

I n three weeks,’ wrote Menotti Garibaldi to a friend

i n Liverpool,‘we shal l be in Rome. ’

Garibald i during these times in all his proclamtions, gave out that he was going to l iba-ate Rome inaccordance with the decree of the plebiscite in 1849

which had placed him at the head of affairs in the

Eternal City as D ictator, when in the last extremitiesof their memorable siege. This, of course, was but apretext for that Provisional Government had done thiswhen inextremis, without an appeal to themaple ; andthen thirteen years had elapsed , and changes o f everykind had occurred since then in the Pontifical Government. Surely he might as well have alleged that he wasonhis road to avenge the death of Ce sar, or to freethe Romans from the atrocities of Nero.Whilst Garibald i had his head-quarters at Catania.

many of the regulars deserted to his side,until his

troops gradual ly assumed the appearance of a considerable army : but then there was the d i fficulty of crossiqthe strai ts to be considered the events concern ing whichwere almost as romantic as those of two years before.

There was a French frigate in the harbourof Catania.the Marie Adelaide ; and a French steamer, called LlGc

‘nl ral Abba/arri ; also an I tal ian steamer, called II



for taking Garibald i i n Calabriawas much the simplest.and would save the chance of injuring the man-ohmif resistance was made.On landing at Mel i to Garibald i issued h is procltum

tion to the people of South I taly as foll ows, rnwhich

he stated‘ I bow before the majesty of Victor Emmanuel, king

elect of the nation , but I am hosti le to a m i nistry whichhas nothing in i t I tal ian but the name the liveryof a foreign master wil l never be a ti tle o f honour andesteem for any minister of ours.’

General Ciald ini , on hearing of Garibald i’s landingat

Mel ito, lost no time in laying his plan of operations. lie

d irected Generals Revel and Vialardi to occupy the

narrow isthmus of Tiriolo, between N icastro and Catamzaro

,a strong position , which , if wel l guarded , would

e ffectual ly cut off the extreme pen insul a o f Calabriafrom the rest of I taly. Thus, having completely shutGaribald i up, he gave orders for three royal cruisers toply about the straits to prevent his re-embarking, and hethen col lected a considerable force at Reggio, at the headof which he put Pal lavicini , with orders to look out forGaribald i, and press upon him , so as to drive him towardsthe d ivisions of Revel and Vialardi onthe isthmus,andwhenever they came up with h im to attack h im ‘anywhere and anyhow,

’ unless he consented to an uncondi

tional surrender.Garibaldi had landed with about men, but he

forced them to such laborious marches that he had onlywith him when the event of the 29th happened.

A few casual ski rm ishes convinced him that he had todo with a resolute res istance. I n fact here for the

first time he real ised that the Government in tendedreal ly to oppose his progress ; so he pi tched his camp

ASPROM ONTE. 203

on the evening of the 28th, onthe brow o f the far-famedhi ll of Aspromonte, ona plateau overlooking the sea,w i th a wood behind , which connected it with a highridge of the Apennines, and would afl

'

ord ample shelterfor his tr00ps. Themenwere encamped alfresco undercover of this wood, whilst Garibaldi occupied one of twowoodmen’s huts which were onthe plateau , and gave thespot the name of I t was wet and gloomy,the rain put out the bivouac fires, every rag on thei rbacks was soaked , and they had no prov isions wi ththem ; so the posi tion of the volunteers was far fromenviable.Nex t morn ing the General was going to d ivide his

forces with the view to letting one-half at least get pastthe royal tr00ps, but Pallavicin i had encamped not faroff , with only a narrow streamlet and slope between histroops and Garibaldi , so he was upon them before theycould carry out this manoeuvre. The two forces werenow f ace to face, and fromthis poin t the two accountsof the affai r begin to di ffer. Garibald i gave strict ordersnot to fire, he walked forward alone to meet the royal istwith his grey cloak lined wi th red thrown across h isshoulder. I tal ian telegrams and reports speak of a sharpcontest between the two armies, of much bravery on bothsides, especial ly on that of the royal ists certain it isthat there were others wounded onboth sides besidesGaribald i and Menotti , and in thei r report the Garibaldiangenerals tel l us, unhappi ly some inexperiencedyouths were unable to control themselves at the spectacleof this terrible game, so new to them , and returned a fewil l-directed shots, which but too truly caused blood toflow the General from his post, erect amidst a th ickshower of bal ls, repeated the cry,

“Do not fi re At thatmoment two bal ls struck him one, a spent shel l , on the

204 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GA

left th igh, another, inful l force, on the instep of the rightfoot. Garibald i, at the time he was wounded, notonly remained standing, but drew himsel f up majestically?On the other hand, the royal ists tel l us We ulvanced to the attack we were received with rifle shotsthe fight began a column o f the royal troops turned thel eft flank of the Garibald ians, and threatened theminthe rear— the volunteers were '

routed.

’

The facts are evident Neither party intended to fight.but some stray shots having been exchanged ,

Garibaldi.and his son Menotti , who happened both to be considerably to the front, came in for the benefit of them . The

rest may be put down to the exaggeration inseparablef rom war.Succumbing at length to the effect of his wound,Gui.

bald i fel l , and his nearest friends rushing forward , placedhim and his son Menotti underatree . The sturdy hero of

two worlds complacently pul led forth a cigar out of his

pocket, and smoked it, whi lst he inquired o f the surgeonwho was dressing his wound, if he thought amputationwould be necessary. Twenty m inutes later he had anaud ience wi th Pal lavicin i , who treated him with greatrespectfand assured the General that this was the mostm iserable day o f his l i fe.The fol lowing is an extract f rom the lette r of a

Garibald ian officer who was present at the timeWhen the General received the bullet he was passing

along our front, ordering the men not to fi re. I saw asl ight shiver pass through his body, he took two or threesteps, and then began to stagger. We ran to him,

holdi ng him up ; he was regard less of his suff erings. Raising his cap i n the air, he cried Vivaf Italic ! ” I hadhis poor foot resting onmy th igh ; he cal led out to hisassailants,and asked them what they were doing with


206 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR/BALD].

CHAPTER XI.

TIIE WOUNDED GAR IBALDI.

THE wounded hero of I taly was a great responsibilityfor the Government. H is popularity was if anything in.

creased by Aspromonte yet now that he was a prisonerthere was no one strong enough to arouse the nationcollectively towards any revolutionary demonstrationAs he lay under the tree at Aspromonte with his sonMenotti by his side, Garibald i knew that for the present

his plans were at an end. Rome would not be free forsome time to come.The wound was very serious, the bal l was deeply

seated , and could not be extracted ; in fact, untilDr. Nelaton discovered its presence some weeks later.they were not even sure that there was a bal l in thewound at al l ; every time an attempt was made to fathomthe depth of his wound Garibald i fainted , but neveruttered a groan .

Towards evening the General's staff made a l itter onwhich to remove their chief, and conducted himto a hutwhere some wounded lay but he flatly refused to passthe n ight there he wished to be alone. So a journey inthe dark had to be undertakenover a rugged road

,until

they brought him to the hut of Pastore Vicen te , where,two years before , he had hal ted for a while onhisvictorious march onNaples. Here water was applied

THE WOUNDED GARIBALDI. 207

to his wound , and some broth of goat‘s flesh to his inner

man , and then at dawn they left for Scyl la, making hima canopy o f laurels over his l i tter to screen the sun .

At Scyl la Garibaldi was put onboard II Ducaa'iGenet/a, and was parted from a portion of his sta ff , whole ft himwith cries of To Rome ! to Rome l ’ On boardship Garibald i tel ls us his treatment was ‘most courtecus and considerate,

’ and o f his captor,Colonel Pal la

vicin i, he wrote during his voyage : he conducted himsel f as a gal lant and intel l igent officer in al l his mil itarymovements, and he has not been wanting in respect orcourtesy towards me and my people.’ But some of theopen ing phrases in this letter were less restrained

,and

he closed wi th a vehement attack on the Government ;for publ ishing which the ed itor of the

‘D i ri tto ’ was sub

jeeted to a fine of f rancs, and eighteen months’

imprisonment.

II Dama'z‘ Genevabore Garibald i to his prison inthe Gul f of Spezzia at the fort of Varignano on reaching th is place he was told no preparations had beenmade for him , and he must wait onboard twenty-fourhours longer. During this time the inhabitants of

Spezziacrowded round the ship wi th presents of f ru itand such like ; and as he landed women flocked aroundhim, kissi ng any portion of his raiment they could gethold o f . To these he remarked, as he passed by ,Pati ence, my chi ldren ; hope for better things ; Garibald i is not dead yet. '

Certain ly the Government was to blame for havingmade no preparations whatsoever for him the room wasdamp , the paper hung in masses from the wall, no l int,no bandage was at hand the commonest prisoner of ahostile nation would have had cause to complain if

treated like the Ital ian patriot. Any deficiency, however,


onthe part of the Government, when Garibaldi’s straitsbecame known , was amply compensated for by the

almost overwhelming atten tion of his f riends. Ladiesfought for the post of honour near his bedside ; they oontended for the pleasing task o f making h im his brothLady No. I asserts that she sat up al l n ight tomake thlssoup, taking care that it should be ex tra fine and clear.and then lady No. 2 tel ls us that beyond al l doubt withher ownhands she poured it al l out of the window.

believing lady No. 1 to be an Austrian spy bent onpoison ing the General . Engl ish , German , I tal ian , thesefair ones fawned upon the brave, and amongst them allGaribald i was lucky if he got any soup at al l.An old woman and her daughter of humble station

i n l i fe came al l the way f rom Reading, having seen inthe paper that the sound of an Engl ish voice did the

General good . They wished to be al lowed to nurse him.but this was impossib le ; and as they could speak noother language but their own and had exhausted theirmoney, i t was found necessary to send them wi th anescort to Florence, af ter they had enjoyed a few momentsof rapture in the presence of the invalid,and had posses edthemselves of a lock of hai r and a genuine autograph.Doctors, too, l eft their practice—amongst others

Dr. Frandina of Chiavari, and Dr. Partridge of Londonto come and attend upon him , fondly hoping that tocure Garibaldi would win for them world-wide fameHotel-keepers at Spezzia were radiant, they had not aroom to spare al l the time the General was a prisoneratVarignano.

One of Garibald i s fi rst visitors was Widow Cairoli.of whose three remain ing sons one was wounded andanother a prisoner l ike the General. One day afterdinner, forgetting Widow Cairoli

’

s bereavement, Gari



passed many sleepless n ights, during which the l igatureand plasters had to be removed , without giving himany sensible rel ief ; and at length, onOctober the sth,1862, came the amnesty in the fo l lowing words His

Majesty this day has signed the decree o f amnesty to allthe authors or accompl ices of the late acts and attemptsat rebel l ion which have taken place in the southern pmvinces of the kingdom , absolving them f rom the consequences, personal or otherwise, which m ight attach tothemthrough the course of j ustice. All the desertersfrom the land or sea service are actual ly excepted fromthe action of th is amnesty, which to-morrow wil l bepublished in the London Gazette.“Thiswas certainlya prudent step on the part of the Governmen t

,and the

rejoicing was universal when Garibald i made it knownthat he would avai l himsel f of i t. There were thosewho exhorted h im to remain a prisoner and to abide atrial ; but the knowledge of the men huddled to»

gether in cel ls, and the fact that his ownheal th was smhas to require rest and absence of excitement, determinedhim to accept it, though he grieved much over those whohad joined him from the regular troops.Garibaldi was thus at l iberty to move from his prison

to Spezzia, where apartments were lent to him at theH6tel de Milan . Some dredging boats, belonging to

an Engl ish company, occupied in clearing out the bar»

bour of Spezzia, dai ly carried the galley slaves fromVarignano to thei r work on the island o f PalmariaOne of these was lent to Garibaldi, and , gaily declced

out wi th bunting and flags, towed the General in hisboat to Spezzia. He recl ined onan iron bed which hadbeen sent to him by a friend from England.

The shore was l ined with spectators, but there was nopubl ic demonstration. Some people accoun ted for this

THE W OUNDED GAR IBALDI. 2 1 1

by saying that Garibaldi ’s popularity was on the wane,

others that in his weak state his physicians had deemedit advisable to ask the crowd to remain mute. Thosewho witnessed his departure and his reception at P isawould be convinced that the latter was the case.Spezzia was now doubly busy with Garibald i in its

m idst. Every one who could tried to get a gl impse athim , as he lay enjoying the view from his windowover the enchanting bay, laid on his i ron couch ; andsome go so far as to assert that a hole was bored in hisbedroom door through which he could be contemplatedwi thout causing him any disturbance.

The sai lors from the men-of-war in the harbour cameto see him whenever they had an opportunity

,and the

whole of this busy port, the modern naval arsenal o fI taly, echoed from morning to n ight wi th the Garibald ihymn and other patriotic lays.On October the 27th, seventeen doctors met in con

sultationover Garibaldi , and were of opin ion that amputationwould not be necessary, which was rather a blowto the ultra-Republ icans

,who thought that if amputa

tion took place, the General would be sooner able totake the head of a rising they had planned in Venetia .

All the doctors,however

,agreed in recommending h is

removal to the mi lder cl imate of P i sa.On November the 7th, rather before it was intended ,

a steamer was telegraphed for f rom Genoa. Garibald i ,havi ng heard that the Government, who owned thehouse where he lodged , had given notice to the hotelkeeper to quit for harbouring the i l lustrious rebel underhis roof , would not be detained a day longer. So the

Monastic” arrived from Genoa in hot haste, but i nspite of the shortness of the notice everyth ing had beendone to beau ti fy the ship. I n fact, the gi ld ing was sti l l

P 2

LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAM E/QED].

wet when the General went on board , and the enthusio

astic captai n had employed fi f ty add i tional workmenbesides the crew onthe way f rom Genoa.To avoid a demonstration at Leghorn, the General

d isembarked at the mouth o f the Arno,and was towedi n a boat to P isa. Nevertheless the (“appointedLivomese made the best of i t, and cheered Garibaldi'sl uggage and his suite most enthusiastical ly.

The good sai lors of the M om-alien had brougllwith them a lot o f plates in the hopes that the Generalwould use them all. Great was their chagri n when theyfound that he had only used one and a kn i fe and fork;so, to humour them a bit, GarflJaldi goodnaturedlyvouchsafed to touch al l the crockery which was nearhim

,so that some merit might be thereby attached to

i t,which would make it worth the sai lors’ while to con»

vey their treasures home.The inhabitants o f P i sa received Garibald i with

great warmth , and had a marble slab put up on the spotwhere he landed to commemorate how, wounded atAspromonte, Garibald i came to recover health at Pisa

'

Next morn ing the Government sent some carbineers todestroy the slab, but another was perm itted to remainwhich omitted the objectionable al lus ion to Aspromonte.

That evening at the P i san theatre, the hymn of Garibaldiwas encored so frequently that the manager cameforward to ask if the audience wished for that andnothing else ; so they yelled for i t again , and nothing butthe hymn was played for the remainder of the evening.

Duri ng Garibald i ’s stay at P i sa the bal l was extractedf rom his foot, thanks to the combined ski l l of Dr. Nelatonf rom Paris, who discovered its local i ty , and of Dr. Zanetti,who, usi ng the instrument pro vided by Dr. Nelaton,final ly succeeded in drawing it out. This h ow almost


2 14 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR /BALI”.

Though the ball was out of his foohand'

though hemight be termed convalescent, yet the mild atmosphereof P i sa

,and the excitement incident onseeing peopie.

rendered it advisable that he should return to Caprera‘ I would rather face the Austrian army than my dinnerany day,

’ constantly said Garibddi to his attendants,andwhilst this lasted his doctors knew he could not gainstrength.

On the 20th of December Garibald i started on hisway for Caprera. At half-past two inthemorning someof his P isan volunteers presented themselves at the dooro f his hotel and carried the General gen tly down to hisboat on the Arno. The whole lengthof the Pisan Lnng

’

Arno was bri l l iantly i l lumined with Bengal lights ; thewhole scene was weird and picturesque in the extrerne.l ike an echo of old Pi sa’s grandeur in the far distantages. As he passed downthe townby the watery way,the effect was indescribable menand boys threw themselves into the water to bid himfarewell , and th is factalone is sufficient to show their enthusiasm , as I talians donot patronise this element much in the winter months.The cunn ing Livornese rowers went but slowly.

hoping not to reach their city before break of day,wberea splendid reception was being prepared for our hero.

Boats, windows , bridges, canals, roads, everything andeverywhere, seemed al ive wi th human beings. No onecould suppose that day that peep le

'

s love for the hero dthe Two Sicilies had in any .way abated ; and as thewounded man was raised wi th some difl‘iculty, owing tothe roughness of the sea, onboard the steamer Smhe kissed h is hand intoken of farewel l to the shouts ofthe almost f rantic crowd, and was borne over the wavesto his isl and-home, we fear not a wiser man , as eventswill unfold afierthis somewhat tragic excursionof his tothe mainland.

THE WOUNDED GAR IBALDI. 2 15

The affair of Aspromonte had given a final blow tothe Ratazz i min istry, never indeed very popular, butnow entirely shaken by their conduct to Garibaldi .Now that the untameable old l ion was for the timelaid aside, noth ing but his past glorious services wasremembered , nobody for a moment thought that hisfutile attemmon Rome had been in any way rash orinconsiderate Signor M inghetti now came forward ,and Italy had a season of rest for a year, which she

much required.

Nothing more eventful d isturbed the convalescenceof the recluse at Caprera than from time to time alament as to his inabi l i ty to be active in the cause of

Poland.

‘Would that I could actively d isplay thegreat sympathy with which your holy cause inspires me,’he wrote to a Pol ish prisoner inRussian hands ; ‘ butalas ! I must remain inactive.’ Medical men andvisito rs of al l descriptions wen t backwards and forwardsto Caprera ; the l ittle town of La Maddalena perfectly

swarmed with foreigners of al l nations. And so this

the ann iversary of Aspromonte occurred,

himsel f implored his friends to get up notion. The bitterness of feel ing on both sidesgradual ly subsiding, and if 600 men wereprison for the affai r of Aspromonte— the

from the regular army to join the

got thei r deserts for leaving theto maintain ; yet the imprison

nwas a source of continual d istress towho sent for their use any spare cash he

I

2 16 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR/BALD].

CHAPTER XI I.

exemp ts vrsrr ro enemaNo wonder England has beenfond of Garibald i, apartfromal l the heroic romanoe which has attended hiscareer, apart from his life long struggle to free his

oountxy fromatyranny such as we know little of fl or

Garibald i , inhis wri tings and in his speeches , has neverceased to shower downuponus compliments verypleasing to our vanity.

‘What is there perfect inthisworld ? ’

writa Garibald i.‘ ‘The English nation is byno means exempt from imperfections, yet the Englishare the only people who can be compared with the

ancien t Romans. They have laid the grand foundat ions of a new ideal of humanity, erect, inflexib le.majestic, free : obeying no masters but the laws whichthey themselves have made : no kings but those whomthey themselves control. England has become ame

tuary, an inviolable refuge for the fugi tive andWnate of other nations. ’

Years before he wrote this, when at Newcastle, hesaid : England is a great and powerful nation, independent of auxi l iary aid, foremost in human progres ,

enemy to despotism , the only safe refuge of the exile,f riend of the oppressed .

’

' fl e M e A/m.



the whole aff air was pol iti cal , the object being to exciteaddi tional interest in England for the cause of ItafianUnity—the emancipation o f Rome and Vance—firstlyon the part of the Garibald ian party, who rightly considered that Garibaldi had lost prestige at Aspromonte.and therefore they urged their hero to go to England.where a good reception i t was thought would set himupagain— and second ly on Garibald i’s ownprivate part, totry if i t were possible to arouse some feel ing in favouro f poor, crushed l ittle Denmark, then writhi ng in herl ast dying agony. The efl

'

ects, too, were pol it ical ,as wasevi nced by the scare of the Government at the objett ion raised to his presence amongst us by the FrenchEmperor ; but the resul t, as far as Garibald i and hefriends were concerned , was a fai lure.Social ly, Garibald i

’s visit was a grand success. Itgave rich and poor, aristocrat and plebeian , an OppOf '

tunity of showing their mutual admiration of a manwho had done so much for his country ; it gave the

upper class an Opportunity of proving to the lower thatEngland , at least, was not hampered by those feelingso f exclusive caste, and consc ious of thei r integrity andpatriotism , they were able to open their houses to the

demagogue wi thout fear of bei ng compromised.

To enter into the detai ls of plots and carom-plum.angry correspondence, and jealousies, which took placebetween Garibald i 's f riends in England before it wasfinal ly settled how he should come andshould lodge, would not interest us muchusual , had but l ittle voice in the matter :had given his consent to visit our shores,led by the hand , shown to the people.away again— l ike Farini’s Zulus, or a fatLord Palmerston,who then held the

HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND .

ment, was doubtful about this visit. He admired theGeneral’s bravery

,he was sorry for him in his affl iction

at Varignano— so much so that he sent himthe ironbedstead on which the General was carried about—butas far as pol itics went

,Lord Palmerston was afraid of

him . He knew the General would never l i ft a finger todisturb England, but he knew that there were thosewho would make his coming an opportunity for ademocratical demonstration ; moreover, Garibaldi hadintroduced in I taly an element of insubordination to aconstitutional monarchy, which was not pleasant forany Prime Min ister to behold and lastly,Garibald i wasthe avowed enemy of Napoleon

,whom Lord Palmerston

wanted just then to concil iate.So Lord Palmerston wavered when pressed by the

f riends of Garibaldi to give his consent to the visi t— first

giving it, and then withdrawing it, and final ly w ishingthe whole affair to be put of f for another year. How

ever, Garibaldi had some very determined friends whosettled that he should come to England that very spring— even if i t was without the consent of Lord Palmerston .

So Lord Palmerston was constrained to put a boldface on the affair

,though he bel ieved Garibaldi to be

Mazzin i’s agent,which

,by the way, was very far f rom

being the case, as he hated Mazz in i , and only tolerated

him as being a prime mover in the unity of I taly. OnMay the 8th, i n the previous year, Lord Palmerstonhad done the General ample justice— speak ing out inParl iament very much the sentiments of the Engl ishpeople at that time. He al luded to the magic powerwhich Garibaldi exercised over Naples, to the splendid

gif t with which he had presented Victor Emmanuel ,and , at the same time. he made some remarks about theinfluence of the French in I taly which were not compl i


mentary.

‘ I n Rome, there is a French garrison ; underi ts shelter, there ex ists a committee of 200,

whosepractice i t is to organ ise a band of murderers—thescum and dregs of every nation—and send them forthinto the Neapol i tan territory to commit every atrocity!This impl ied Palmerston's convict ion that the Frenchwere the real causes of I tal ian brigandage.So Lord Palmerston began to acquiesce : and the

General ’s Engl ish f riends who flitted around h im atCaprera, and who eagerly expected him in England.were rad iant. The whole affair had to be kept a greusecret, for there was some fear that if the proposed ex .

cursionshould reach the ears o f the Ital ian Government,they would put a stop to i t, ei ther by a formal requestto the English Government, or by preventing Garibaldif rom leaving Caprera. When al l arrangements werecompleted , the General left Caprera one bright morn ingin March

,onhis way to Malta, where the P. and 0

steamer, the RM , carried him, by way of G ibraltar.to England - for though it was represented to himthatthe French route would be the simplest, he repl ied .

Garibald i ’s feet can never tread French soi l. ’

Happy those who were return ing f rom their Easterntravels—they had a real lion on their ship this time. andten whole days to stare at him to their hearts’ contentGaribald i was frugal as ever on board. I n spite of themany courses brought before his notice by the ship‘sbil l of fare, he invariably partook of but one, eatinghearti ly of that unti l he was satisfied, and washing itdown with a mug of beer. or a glass of water.The even ing before reaching England , the passengers

on board the R ipon entertained their fellow-tunnelat abanquet by way of preparing himfor the receptions that were in store for him . After dinner,W



feint to withdraw, though wi thout avai l. Always afavouri te with the fai r sex , he was now qui te theirchampion of the hour ; which fact the mi ll i ners werenot slow to recognise in the establ ishment o f the farfamed Garibaldi Shi rt, as the rage for the com ing seasonOn leaving the pier, Garibald i entered the Mayor's

carriage drawn by four greys, and drove to the Mayor’sresidence

,am idst crowded thoroughfares, though it was

Sunday,and rain ing to boot. Next morn ing, Southamp

ton was exceed ing gay, I tal ian and Bri tish flags beinggaily intertwined . Before anyone el se was up, Garibaldiwas prepared for business, and disposed of deputationsfrom the Bristol and Newcastle working men 's con»mittees before break fast, after which meal many of the

Southampton worth ies brought thei r wives to be presented.

Then came the Town Hal l reception , and an overwhelming welcome ; i n answer to which Garibaldi madea l ittle speech, in somewhat broken Engl i sh , but highlycompl imentary to his hosts, which del ighted themextremely.

In spite of a meeti ng at Southampton with Mr.Odger i n the chair, which voted that Garibaldi wasbeing worked upon by sin ister influences to isolate him~sel f as much as possible from the working classes,Garibald i carried out his i ntention of visit ing Mr. Seelyat his residence in the Isle of Wight, driving straightf rom the Guild Hal l reception to the Royal P ier

, fromwhence he embarked .

The gayness of the scene in the Southampton waterswas most strik ing. Both piers and the shore were linedwi th Spectators : the vessels produced all their weal th offlags, whilst steamers, small boats. and every imaginablespec ies of l ight craft, came as near the Sand i” , on

H IS VISIT T0 ENGLAND. 223

which Garibald i was, as was compatible with safety,and at the landing-stage a number of people wereassembled, who insisted on shaking hands with him.

What did old General Rosas, his quondam antagonisti n South America, think of al l this ? Was he amongstthe crowd who shook hands with the General Probablyhe did not leave his com fortable house at Southamptonduring those two days ; if he had, his reception wouldnot have been a cordial one.

From Cowes, Mr. Seely drove his i l lustrious guestto his res idence at Brook House, by some un frequentedroads ; thinking that the General had had enough o f

receptions and applauses, and would be glad to seenought but a few stray milkmaids and yokels whochanced to have the good luck to be passing that way

for Garibald i had not yet recovered his Aspromontewo und, walked with a stick, and required care : in fact,one of the ostensible objects of his visit to England wasto consult an eminen t London surgeon onhis case.

Mr. and Mrs. Tennyson cal led upon him one day, and

the Poet Laureate struck up quite a friendship wi ththe I tal ian hero, each planting an oak tree on eitherside o f Mr. Seely

’s avenue ; and in spite of the inCletuency o f the weather, the visi t passed off greatly tothe satis faction of both host and guest.On Friday, the General returned the Poet Laureates

visit, and, at Mrs. Tennyson’

s request, planted a Well ingtonia on the grounds. On Monday, he quitted Mr.Seely’s hospi table roof for the great event of his Englishvisit

, his reception inour metropol is.At Southampton station hundreds of lad ies were

assembled , dressed in bright colours inwhich red pre


dominated , and made an avenue for the General to wall:down f rom the refreshment room to the trai n , which hadbeen special ly provided by the South Western RailwayCompany

,and was decked with flags, laurels, and flowers

emblematical of the hero. With difficul ty the trainmoved from the platform at and Garibaldi wasembarked on his road to London .

At Winchester the train came to a standsti l l , and theMayor offered Garibald i an address at the door of hiscarriage, whi lst a band playing the Conqueri ng Hero

'

could hardly be heard for the perpetual applause. Onreaching the great goods station just outside Vauxhall,the scene became almost bewildering in the i ntens ity of

its excitemen t. Deafen ing shouts issued f rom a perfectsea of human beings, piled onrai lway trucks, id le locomotives

,and on the roofs of adjacent houses ; everywhere

arose huge obel isks of Englishmen , al l eager to catch agl impse at our hero. Slowly plodding on i ts way,

thetrain at length reached Nine E lms Junction , wherepeople had been standing, with the patience which nonebut an Engl ish crowd would show, from n ine o

’clockin the morn ing, bent onseeing the l ion of the day.

At an early hour in the morn ing the various soc ietieswho were to take a part in the procession had met attheir respective lodges, and in tak ing up their posi tiononthe Wandsworth Road , afforded objects o f cri ticismfor the crowd . There were the members of the Southwark Temperance Society, Foresters, Odd Fel lows.Temperance Sons of Phcenix , every imaginable societyof a l ike nature was represented , each accompanied by itsband . There too , was, the Polish legion 500 strong. whoal l wore Garibald ian colours, and touchingly made upfor their want of a band by strenuously singing theirfavouri te air, Poland is not yet forlorn.

’



and people were almost exasperated who had beenwaiti ng al l the afternoon to get a glance at the hero Itwas l ike some romantic dream of wild excitement, thisentry into London. Nowhere but in London could thel ike have been seen bel ls were clanging, people cheeriqand thronging, bun ting flying, club windows crowded,asif every Bri ton was a Garibald ian. Certainly we are awonderful nation for enthusiasm

,much as we may laugh

at the crowds in I taly, Naples, and Sicily, and alludedisparagingly to their hot southern blood ; ours, when

more

in Englandto bravery,London told Europe again

,what she

that Engl ish sympathies were with I taly,the French and Austrian masters of

Venice.A correspondent of the ‘Siecle ’ relating th

says : I must con fess that I d id not knpeople : I speak of the real horny-handedby the heat of the forge or of the sun.what ardent sympathy there is ior what treasures of admiration for l iberty are hiddenunder that calmand almost cold exterior o f the Englishpeopls

’

This wonderful procession f rom N ine E lms to StaffordHouse owed i ts entire magn ificence to the crowd which

H IS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 227

soc ieties and their hands and their banners soon fel l in todisorder, and were no longer heeded in the least afterGaribald i had passed them .

Thus was Garibaldi welcomed in London al l the wayto the entrance o f the palatial residence of the Duke of

Sutherland at Sta ff ord House. He had made his host’sfriendship at Caprera, which the Duke had visited in hisyacht shortly after Aspromonte, and so pleasing was therust ic fel ic ity o f the island-home to the Engl ish mi ll ionaire onthe one hand , and so grateful was the sympathyexpressed for the wounded warrior on the other

,that a

friendsh ip was cemented between the two.

The day after his arrival in London Garibald i spentsomewhat quietly. Not ti l l m idday d id he come forth togratif y the expectan t crowd outside Sta fford House

,and

then drove to Lord Palmerston's residence, where hespent an hour in col loquy with the Prime Min ister

,before

prmeding to the house o f the Dowager Duchess of

Sutherland at Chiswick. On their way the Duke drovehis guest through Hyde Park,where a gay scene awaitedthem. Lucki ly it was a lovely day, and Rotten Row,

te eming with carriages and fair horsewomen, presentedto the I tal ian hero. The progress througho f carriages was slow, just as that of the

Queenmight be, and when they came out at Queen’s

Gate affairs were pretty much the same in fact al l theroad to Chiswick was densely packed with spectators.Her Grace had s ummoned a distinguished assemblageto meet the General , including Earl Russel l , who hadspoken up for Garibald i so wel l in the old Sici l ian days

,

and whom Garibald i was del ighted to meet , and thankpersonally . Before leaving Chiswick Garibaldi, at the

Q 2


Duchess's request, planted a cedar onher lawn,and thin

the first day’s entertainment was brought to a closeA witty Frenchman , M . Assolant, gives us anidu

o f what our neighbours across the Channel thought ofGaribaldi ’s reception in London . He came to England,

‘

said he, in the ‘Courier duD imanche,’ ‘ to get the surplus

o f the balance o f the Chancel lor of the Exchequer forhis mil l ion muskets with which to establ ish I tal ian freedom hal f a mil l ion people came to look at GiuseppeGaribald i, who in his own country is but a pardonedrebel , and has no birth or title. I t is a curious fact

,andone only to be seen in a country l ike Engl and,

thatassociations of workmen could conduct a revolutionaryhero through a capi tal thronged with their ownelmand yet not exci te a fear in the mind of any pol iticianthat danger might ensue ; at the same time Garibaldiwil l get plenty of plum-pudding, turtle~soup,

and sand'

wiches,but no money for his muskets. ’

I n this latter statement M . Assolant was right. Fromfi rst to last Garibald i ’s visit was one long cheer ; he wasa veri table n ine days’ wonder ; but beyond good wishes.and addresses from every imaginable town that couldsqueeze in a word edgeways, Gari baldi got only a fewhandsful o f presents from his immediate admirers,andwhen he made his second rash attempt on Rome in1 867 he found England no more incl ined to help himthan if he had remained quietly at home.One of the numerous addresses rece ived by Gari

baldi at Stafford House is worthy of remark, as in

stancing his pecul iar faci l ity for givi ng an appro priateanswer. I t was f rom the workmen of St. Pancras

.andexpressed , as usual . i n terms of glowing admirationGaribald i answered it as fol lows : ‘Ah l I have a happyrecol lection of St. Pancras . I know St. Pancras l



always the General 's favourites,and he leftabronze laurelwreath over the tombas his tribute of afl

'

ection to thisexiled I tal ian .

A visit to Bed ford was a great success,the obied

being to see the works of the Midland Railway Company.and to inspect a model English farm , stock and homestead , wi th aview to further development of his islandrock and then , in the evening, he dined with SirAnton io Panizz i , the wel l-known l ibrarianof the BritishMuseum , who i n 1823 had left his home at Modemto

escape the fate which befell C iro Menottikindred spiri ts in 1834.

Another morning was devoted to the inMessrs. Barclay and Perkins’ Brewery atAt eight o'clock i n thethe en trance, and was ction to himsel f , throughworks, throwing broadcast prettyblandly at the decorated vats.The two receptions at the

perhaps the cu lm inating points of Garibald iday was for the public in general , the othersively for the work ing men . On the first ofbald i received a presenI talians in London,another was given

carry them with them to Rome and Ven ice .

heroic,—the Garibaldi hymn , the nItalic , and others ; and never didglass palace re-echo with such wildchorus of Arditi

’

s LaGaribaldianwith,

HIS VISIT TO ENGLAND. 231

O Garibaldi, nostro salvator,Te seguiremo al campo del' onor

Il sol di liberti ,

Al l’armi, all ’armi, andiamo l

The audience at th is juncture with one accord rose,

and remained standing, turned towards the hero of theo ccasion, during the remainder of the piece, and when

this was ended the voices of the multitude found scope .

Men and women , artistes and conductor, joined in oneove rpowering demonstration of enthusiastic applause tothat quie t demure-looking man, who sat there in a sortof glad yet quiet wonder.On the fol lowing Monday, the people

’s day,there

was a repetition o f the cheering and crowds,but no

music ,and i t was tame compared with the Satu rday’s

ente rtainment, though Garibald i’s speech was a neat

very creditable to him in every way,

the one thing he had been struck withng else was the order of a Bri tish crowd .

kept in check by a dozen pol icemen,

icemen ; and when I speak of Engtake ofi

'

my hat (sui ting the action to

no ‘

gmdarmes or mow/lard:cannot l ive in its f ree ai r. Do

how this great fact is brought about ? I wi l lI t is because the Engl ish people love thei r

ri l the 20th General Garibald i was presentedof the City of London

, onwhich occaon the preceding days was

A visi t to Cl i fdenHouse onthe Thames,and

see the Home Park at Windsor, were aecomdue course . At the latter the farmers wishedhimw i th a steam plough, but reflecting how

232 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GM IBALDI.

useless th is would be on the thin coati ng of soil inCaprera, he refused it.Then came the sudden in formation one day

,which

cast a blank over the provinces and the Northern townswhere Garibald i was deeply engaged for endless visitsthat the General was going o ff again di rectly to Caprerawithout carrying out his programme. I t was a terribleblow to them , and men began asking the whys andthe wherefores of such a sudden change.

I t was noised abroad that Garibald i had come toconsult a physician with regard to his wound ,

and thatphysician deemed it necessary that he should retirt

gracefully from the provincial fatigues yet nobody couldsee that he looked much the worse. On Monday moming appeared a letter in the papers f rom Dr. Partridgestating that he was doing well , and on the same day.almost before Dr. Partridge's ink wasdry , Mr. Fergussonannounced that Garibald i was suf fering from the effectsof his tour, and required rest. That same eveningDr. Basi le, the General

's I tal ian physician , wrote a flatcontradict ion , saying that Garibald i could go throughhis programme safely and happily,

’ and people naturallyfound i t hard to bel ieve that he who had survived the

dangers of endless campaigns shou ld die ‘of a rose in

aromatic pain .

’

When questioned in Parl iament as to the currentopin ion that Napoleon had demanded Garibaldi ’s dismissal , Lord Palmerston evasively answered that hebel ieved Garibald i to be overdone wi th fatigue, andstated that Napoleon had told Lord Clarendon that theGeneral

'

s reception had been a credit to England, and

that he was much pleased wi th i t ; but the French offic ialjournal , onheari ng o f this, in formed us that Napoleonhad said no such thing.



deputations, i n numbers that would have been trying evento the most vigorous ; and when asked to do a portion ofhis provincial tour, as much as his time would admit, herepl ied , No, i t must be al l or none.

’ So on the Fridayfol lowing Mr. Gladstone’s visit, Garibaldi had h is boxespacked , and found himsel f on his way toCornwall , where he proposed taking a hurrih is old f riend Colonel Peard.

From this place he issued his address topeople, thanking them for their reception obreathing sentiments of a ffection and respect for our ihstitutions and our character, and just gently remindingus that Italy was not yet so happy and so f ree. ‘On

quitting this hospitable shore I can no longer conceal thesecret wish of my heart in recommend ing the cause of

oppressed peoples to the most generous and sagaciouso f nations. ’ Here was the secret of Garibald i ’3 visit toEngland. Had he succeeded Thus far, seemingly, hehad not

,but he had recovered his name and prestige,

and the I tal ians were prouder than ever ofpatriot, who had been received in Englandroyal ovation .

’

The Duke of Sutherland’s yacht lay oh'

the Cornwal l coast. I t was a drizz l ing coldthe one on which he had landed at Sontha

Garibaldi took leave of his Engl ish f riends.accompanied him to Caprera, and thence toGaribald i went to take some mineral water baths, andthe Neapol i tans were just as glad to see him as theywere four years before. Thousands left Naples dai ly toget a gl impse of him , and the love ly bay was al ive withboats.Garibaldi would not receive a purse from his Engo

l ish f riends. They wished to subscribe a sumofmoney,

which, if invested, would secure himfrom want for therest of his days ; yet, notwithstanding, he gladly acceptedthe yacht Osprey , which they offered him, for the oldG eneral loved to skim along the blue waters of the

inland sea, and there it lay for awhile at Caprera, until ,as is the fate with most toys, the General got tired of i t,and went out to sea in it less and less ; i t was even

tually so ld to the I tal ian Government,and Prince

Amadeo , Ducad’

Aosta, went several trips of pleasuretherein .


CHAPTER XI I I.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE LAKES.

IT has been very hard for I tal ians to realise the

man,who marched al l the way from Marsal a to Naples

in 1860, only got a few leagues on his way from the

Austrian frontier to Vienna in 1866, and that their hem,

after al l , was much as other generals. when he had tocontend with troops worth fighting with The theatreof his operations this year was covered by eight geogra

phical square leagues si tuated between the Cafi'

aro, Riva.and the upper course of the Chiese. I n this speec h:i ndeed contrived to fight—well , say twenty bloody battles.though none but Bizeccais worthy of the name whensuch affai rs as Sadowa and Kon iggratz were go ing oni n Germany, and doing far more for I talian uni ty thananyth ing Garibald i could do.

I t was nothingastonishing,either,to the sober-mindedthat Garibald i 's campaign in the Lakes was amatfiasco. He was himsel f, to start with, enfeebled inhealth.and got badly wounded at the first serious encounter, sothat his personal influence was greatly wanting inmanyemergencies ; and though the volunteer corps had beenformed by the express order of the Government—for thepapular feel ing was such that they darednot do other'



l i fe she lost on this war as wasted, for the same resultscould have been obtained by diplomacy without itSurely General La Marmora and Cialdin i were to blamefor this, and ought to have known better the capabil itiesof their forces beforehand .

Garibaldi got a poli te request, whilst at Caprera,from the M inister of War

,i n May

,to command the

volunteers, which he answered thus I accept withreal gratitude the disposition proceeding from yourministry

,and approved by H is Majesty

,with respect to

the volunteer corps, and am grateful for the confidenceshown me in entrusting me with the command o f them.

’

Accord ingly the pirate of Caprera,’ as a Venetian

paper,sti l l favourable to kaiserism , cal led him , soon set

o f? by way of Genoa to join his troops who were gathering rapidly in Como, and people left the haunts of

kaiserism,f rom the shores of the Adriatic

,in boatloads

to join him.

The General himsel f would have preferred to openhis attack elsewhere

,by way of Udine, or Hungary—an

old theory of Mazz in i ’s, by the way, and moreover, onewhich Bismarck would have preferred ; for the PrussianM inister wrote to La Marmora, saying how sorry he wasthat the Ital ians were attacking the Austrians in theQuadri lateral , leaving them to choose

,their ownfield ofaction

,as it were, instead of making a diversion in Hun

gary or elsewhere,where the discontented Magyars wouldhave been only too glad to aid the invaders.But La Marmora thought otherwise

, and Garibaldifound himself at the head of twenty battal ions

,with

orders to make the best of his way by the mountainval leys to Trent.Como is a quaint old town with i ts m inarets and

arcades, stretchi ng down to the shores of the Lake,

m5 CAMPAIGN IN THE LAKES. 239

mysterious in i ts wind ings ; and when inundated withR ed Shi rts, who dodged in and out of the arcades , andwandered down i ts narrow al leys, i t looked doubly

picturesque. Many of the volunteers were mere recruitso f the rawest material—students, clerks, and arti sans,amongst whom were interspersed a good number whohad something to tel l youo f the affairs of

’

59 and'

60.

They most o f them had money in their pockets, smokedvigorously but drank l ittle. and as they were well behaved ,the inhabitants of Como did not much object to thei rguests. If Garibald i himsel f had been out for a row onthe lake, the strand was covered wi th them ,

the arcadeswould disgorge hundreds of them , and amidst heartsti rringmiva: and the Garibald i hymn , they would cond uc t him to his quarters at a handsome private house atthe bottom of the main street, in front of wh ich hal f-adozen Red Shirts were perpetual ly drawn up.

As in the Sicil ian and other campaigns,the Gari

bald i no of the Lakes was not burdened with muchluggage. Over his red shirt, salterwise, he had a cloak ,great coat, macintosh twisted tightly into a rol l , andtied at both ends. Secured to a belt round his waistwas his cartouche box ; pendant to a ‘ frog ’ was hisbayonet ; over his shoulders too he sometimes had awoode n canteen , or a sandwich-box strapped,oral iquorflask, or some trifl ing luxuries in the way of socks

,

needl es, and threads, pocket-handkerchiefs, matches, andcigars, bestowed in one of those leathern pouches withbrazen clasps.

them ti l l they wore their fingers out, at M ilan . All ofthese were addressed to ‘La Commissions fimmr’nibMk Camia'

e Ram, M ilauo,’ notices of which i nsti tu tion

240 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GAR /EALD I.

were posted up at the corners o f every street and thtnames o f the donors were publi shed in the journal!Men of the best fami l ies, f rom M ilan and elsewhere,hastened to join Garibald i ’s ranks : to the reluctant asati rical letter, accompanied by a toy, would be sent bythe fair ones. Even the Commissioner for the I tal ianDepartment o f the French Exhibi tion deserted his postto join Garibaldi, and not content wi th leaving the

honour of fighting to the male sex alone,a gi rl of sever»

teen , named Marietti Giul ian i, enl isted at Como underthe name of Antonio Delfiore.

Them’

wndémwho joined th is army o f Red Shirtswere extremely picturesque in their costume. A pair eibaggy trousers was partially hidden by askirt, above which appeared one of the red shiround the middle wi th a bel t ; a jaunty l ilong tassel , and hai r kn itted up quite shortwore a formidable-looking stiletto at thei r gio ff any Garibald ians whose addresses m ightmarked.The army set o ff from Como

vicin i, who was in command of the

monte,and Santa Rosa, who had been

jai ler at Varignano,were then in commandevidently entertained no animosity onththe landing stage at Como the scene wasperfect shower o f roses was hurledbalconies and windows, the l i ttle lake

wi th flags and colouring, and ontheirthe other arm o f the Lake Como. a perfect flotillaofprivate boats accompan ied them , al though the first signsof a midsummer

's dawn were only just lighting up thepeaks of the mountains.Garibald i onthe occasion gave his usual thrilling



is closed until further notice.’ With consummate good

humour the volunteers accepted their pod tionof starvat ion

,saying that as long as the lake was not dried in

they would at least have plenty of water to drink ; andthere they were huddled toge ther in conven ts, grannies.and barns, without so much comfort or food as anordinary wel l-to-do pig ex pects in its sty.

Their arms were o f the wo rst, they were wretchedlyshod and clad , many having nothing but drawers and ashirt no caval ry, and but few guides and this was thearmy wh ich was expected to make its way to Vienna byway of the Tyrol .The opening passages in the campaign for the Gari

baldians were unevent ful but satis factory. They had aski rmish on the bridge over the Cafl

'

aro , j ust on the

borders of the Trentino, with some Austrian volunteersstuden ts of the Vienna Un iversity, whom they (how

back , ki l l ing a few, and f rom thence Garibald i sent onan advance guard as far as Storo. His troops no'numbered volunteers, of al l classes and al l languages, and the great difliculty he experienced was toget rid o f bad characters, who took advantage of the

Opportunity to flock in crowds to his standard. Of

these as many as were sent away in the spaceo f a few days.Then Garibaldi, j ust as his plans were matured for

marching northward into the mountains, got a te legramfrom LaMarmora tel l ing him to occupy Lonato

,about

ten miles from the Lake of Garda. where the Austrianswere threatening so the General addressed his volunteersaccord ingly, tell ing them that when they had driven thesecular enemy from their l and, then, and not till then.might they go home and reap the rewards of the have.

He recal led his advance guards from Store , and at three

THE CAM PAIGN IN THE LAKES . 243

i n the morn ing o f the 27thGaribaldi left Salofor Lonato,abandon ing the position he had taken up o f watchingthe mountain passes by which the Austrians m ightdebouch into I taly.

I n the face of the Garibaldians echeloned on theheights around Lonato, the Austrians abandoned theirattack on Desenzano

,and withdrew into Peschiera thus

leaving Garibaldi free to return to Saloand recommencehis Operations on the Trentino. By th is time the volumteer force had grown far too large for its purpose. A lightwel l-trained gueri l la force of about hal f the size wouldhave been far more useful amongst these hi l ls butwhenan army of over volunteers, badly clad , badlydri l led , and badly fed, was centred at a wretched placel ike Salo, never very productive in the way o f eatablesand drinkables at the best o f times, the condition of

a ffai rs was deplorable. The unthoughtf ul inhabitants ofSoahad not expected the retu rn of the Garibaldians—atal l events, not so soon— and when they turned up againafter an absence of only eight and forty hours

,everybody

in the place was dumbfoundered .

With the beginn ing of J uly the operations of theGaribald ians commenced. To re-enter the Trentino wasGaribald i ’s first object

,and to do this i t was necessary

to drive the enemy from Monte Suelo. The Austriansoccupied the slopes of the mountains in detachments

,i n

al l numbering about men , and the volunteers didnot quite l ike having to chargeup-hi l l with their bayonetin face of the enemy’s fire. Garibald i , however, urgedthem onuntil they gained one height after the otherand inthe n ight after their engagement the Austriansabandoned their position . Rocca d ’ An fo is a solitaryfortal ice at the base of the Cafl

'

aro pass,about twenty

five mi les from Salo, buil t on Monte Suelo, which risesR 2.


above the vil lage of Anfo, and bestrides the Call'

aro ;i t is picturesquely si tuated indeed , l ik e a Rhine form.

with curtains loop-holed for musketry extending inobl ique l ines all the way from the water’s edge up toaheight of at least 800 feet above the level of the road.

This was a pri ze for Garibald i but on th is fi rst day'

s

contest of any real importance in the campaign (Julythe and), Garibald i was wounded , not so sl ightly assome wil l say

,for the chief doctor o f the vol unteer stafl

'

describes the General as su ffering f rom ‘ a perforatingwound by a smal l bal l at the upper ex trem ity of the

left th igh and i t was necessary for him to l ie up fora few days, and for the rest of the campaignto drive ina carriage, by whi ch means much of his pemonal ihfluence and ubiqui ty was lost to his tr00ps.On the day fol lowing the capture o f Rocca d'Anfo

was fought the battle of Kon iggratz , which decided theresult o f the war, whilst Garibald i and his illo c ladmenwere struggl ing in the Alps in endeavours wh ich couldresult in nothing.

Two roads, one north-west and the other north-eastlead f rom the Caf’faro to Trent they formed a fortifiedtriangle, at the vertex of which rises the castle of

Toblino ,on the eastern the fort o f Lardaro , on the south

the fort o f Ampola, and near Riva the fort of Teodosio ;and al l these positions the Austrians were prepared tocontest tooth and nai l with the Garibaldians.A fter the sh

'

air of Rocca d ’An fo, Garibald i marched onJ uly the sth to Darzo, which place was hotly contested :and onJuly the t8th a final attack was made with theassistance o f some field-pieces caref ul ly disposed byGeri.

bald i , who himsel f watched the attack f rom his carriageThe reward of this action was the recovery and occupation of Storo. which had been taken by the Austrians


246 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR /BALD) :

attack on Ampola. The head-quarters at Storo werehighly picturesque. Many a tourist in the I talian lakeswil l remember how the vi l l age is bui lt at the entrance ofa gorge, nestl ing under rocks rising almost perpon~

dicularly from the val ley which leads down to the

miniature lake of Idro. Leaving the vi l lage onone side,the road leads up through the gorge to Tiarno, the valeo f Led ro. and R iva ; on the other side it takesawesterlysweep, conducti ng through Cond ino to the Trentinecapital, where Garibaldi was supposed to be purposingto form a junctionwi th the royal forces after their intended victories i n Venetia.General Kuhn was in command of the Austrians,

and kept up continual sal l ies f rom Val d' Ampola, andfrom the Chiese val ley, so that onJuly the l 6th Austriancharmer

,owing to the neglect of a Garibald ian officer.

appearedj ust over Storo, and peppered the Generalshouse in the vil lage, and considerably al armed the

i nhabitants. Garibald i was out at the timereconnaissance in the d irection o f Ampola

,a

retu rn was greeted with a warm fi re from thebut escaped wonderft amongst a showerwhich fel l around him . At length thecompel led to retreat, and the vil lage of

i n peace.Garibald i s headquarters were anything

rions. He purposely employed Austrians into d ispel the feel ings of d isl ike which werehis name, and had it not been for theColonel and Mrs . Chambers

,the General

had but l i ttle in hiscare of his i nner man , admin isteringcacy that could be found in thiscorner of the world

,whi lst his troops

THE CAM PAIGN IN THE LAKES. 247

wretched cond i tion,as thei r commissariat department

was stil l at Lonato some fi fty miles away,and every

Garibald ian was not fol lowed , l ike thei r General, by akind lady with a cooking apparatus.

OnJuly the 16th ,Garibald i commenced his operationson the fortress of Ampola. With great exert ions thevolunteers dragged up the rocky sides of the mountainsgreat cannon ,which were placed in commanding positionsunder Garibald i ’s d irection , whilst Spinazzi was entrustedwi th the command of the forces from Gargnano

,with

di rections to occupy Monte Nota ; but owing to theirwant of knowledge o f the roads, their want o f arms, andthe loss of the food that was stolen from them on theEmacs, they were in a sorry state , and at the close of

the carnpaignSpinazzi was had 'up before a court-martial , though the fault lay with the ' Government i n notbeing more careful to supply him with the sinews of war.Garibald i sent Major Enrico Cai roli, the indefati

gable‘

sonof the widow (who by the way had sent Garibaldi an elegantly embroidered

.

red shi rt for thiscampaign

,i n the pocket o f which was placed a photo

graph o f the General ’s mother, re-produced secretly f romone which he keeps in his room at Caprera) , in the deadof n ight to occupy Monte Giovo, which was onthe northo f Ampola. This order Cairol i carried out to the letter,and thereby not only go t a commanding posi tion overAmpola

,but also a

‘

bird ’s-eye view over the Val le del laG iudiciariaand the

‘

Ledro val ley.

On July the I 7th,Garibald i commenced the attack on

Ampola he threw something l ike shells into theplace

,without much execution , however ; yet after this

rr'mbombo of two days, as the I tal ians expressively puti t, the commander saw fi t to capitu late on the l gth, onwhich day at l l o'clock in the morn ing, a whi te table

which was on the high road to k iva. Neverthela it

themerits ot' the great work of liberationwhich Garibaldi was w rying out for them. Never onoe did theyrise against their so—oalled AustrianW Whmbydoing so Garibaldi’s way would have been far easier;themere fact that they allowed ahandfinl of GermamI tal ian papers might talk o f the i nhabitants of theTyrol as

‘ intox icated with their first taste of f reedomfor cen turies,

’ they would have much pre ferred beinglef t alone under the rule o f those ' hated foreignm’

The Austrians took care. moreover, to keep alive theloyal ty of the Tyro lese to their causqby spreading inthevillageswhich they evacuated reports to the efl

'

ect that theGaribald ians were savage hordes, who had no respect forthe ri tes of Christian burial , and who especially del ightedin the mutilation of the dead ; they said they wereatheists, satyrs, and cann ibal s, who went abou t desecrati ng altars, ou traging women , and eating childrenof

tender years So convinced were the inhabitants ofthese remote mountain vi l lages of the truth of this, that


2 50

been more onthey enteredaand everythin

f ronted by anstrong. Thethe gay comers a withering fi reinto con fusion . Somehow theyorder, fi ring the whi le, but attheir brave leader, was struck by ahe fel l thus into the hands of the estate, and was robbed o f his watchhour and a hal f later his dead bodya bayonet charge conductedbrought to Garibald i, who exclaimed withd ied as he l ived, a hero ; i t is a beautifu lend .

’

Chiassi had led a romantic l i fe as an II n ’

48 he was a soldier, then adeputy for parl iament al l i n turn ,years had been l inked with GariChiassi ,

’ says Garibaldi , i n hisone o f those who combine thecitizen , and a consummate warrior, witha virgin .

’

To remedy this d isaster, MenottiGaribaldi came bravely to the fore, whihimsel f sat in his carriage urgingin-law Canz io too d istinguished hregular family (Merit i t was urgingone which gladdened the heart of thThis week’s fighti ng has been aptlyweek in the Tyrol. ’ He had caAmpola, he had had the best o f anCond ino, and was about to execute his

THE CAM PAIGN IN THE LAKES. 2 5 :

Bizecca, from which now poured forth shoals of Austriansto take advantage of the repulse of Chiassi , and thissal ly seemed even to threaten the recovery of Tiarno.

I t was with the greatest di fficu lty that the Garibald ifami ly ,with the assistance of some brave young officers ,could get their men to fight ; officers and gu ides weregal loping to and fro shouting, encouraging, and exhorting. I t was a sti rring scene, and one which cost theGaribald ians dear. The Red Shirts d isapproved of theAustrian fi re ; they began by retiring before the attack .

Garibald i from his carriage looked daggers at them , andexclaimed Send this canaglia to their duty,

’ almostbeamwith anger, whilst al l around the bugles never

to utter their futi le orders to advance.

At length two compan ies o f picked men were sentround towards the hi l l-tOps which overlooked Bizecca,and Major Dogliotti took up a position on a grassy slopeto the right of the vi l lage, and together they commenced

adiagonal fire across the val ley on the vi l lage, which arrested the advance of the foe ; and al l th is took place amid

beauty of the Val d i Led ro. a Spot whereburn ing vi l lages and the din of arms had

beenunknown before , and contrasted strangely with theuty that ranged beyond the narrow limits

the rout of the mo rn ing was being turnedby the steady advance o f the Bersag

Dogliotti’

s battery.

length prevai led upon to

ppeal of their leader they made a rusho f Blzeccawith the bayonet. I t wasbattle ended.

of the ground concealed some o f thets incident on such a contest, and the

2 52

Austrianbut leftlay deadthe th ickthey had taken shelter. Thelast occupied a dozen hours ; and betweenwounded , the Garibald ians had lost well overmen .

Menotti and Ricciotti disti nguishedsons worthy of thei r warlike father ; butl ittle avail. With the capture o f

part of Garibald i ’s campaign was afew remain ing days before the armisti cehimsel f i n occupying positions which wouldadvance on Riva, and moreover ensure hisattacked from the Chiese val ley.

The number of o fficers who fel l onBizeccawas considerable, for they had to

selves to unusual dangers, and theirunithem out to the

manded a detachment, was woundhad he been condemned to deathCanzio

, the General’s son-in-law,

begged him to seek atook to occupy the plaBut i t was in vain that

been saturated with Ital iancapture o f Bizecca, when tmarch

'

onLardaro. the possessionput Riva into thei r hands, newsarmisti ce, and orders forGaribaldi toThe Garibaldian hospitals in this

d isgrace to a civi l ised nation . I t w


2 54 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR /BAEO I.

i nstead of trying to make up thei r losses. quietlyretreated and al lowed the Austrians to reap the fullbenefits of their victory.

I t is sm’d that Napoleo n I I I . suggested that it mightbe more useful for I taly not to make war with too muchvigour, not wishing Austria to be beaten so thoroughlyas she was at Sadowa. Whether he did say this

, or

whether it was invented as a cover for I tal ian d isgrace.or not, they certain ly did make war with next to novigour at al l , and did next to no service to thei r al l ies.

‘ If ever I lose my senm.

’ said Garibald i inhisexasperation ,

‘ i t wi l l be in this campaign and in hislater deal ings in the Tyrol Garibald i evinced evidentsigns of losing them , as he done at Aspromonte.and as he was going to do next year at Mentana ; forduring the suspension of hosti li ties, pending the peace,a curious offer was made to him by one o f his guides,who said he had an uncle at T e

st, and that he had had

some conversation with Prince Napoleon,and with

Visconti-Venosta at Fermra, and that their joint opinionwas that it would be highly convenient if Garibald i wereto send some hundreds of his vo lunteers, d isguised aspeasants , into the Trentino to start a gueri l la warfare.and to excite a revolution in the Tyrol against Austria

.

and that this would have a wonderful effect on theimpending negotiations for peace wi th a view doobtain ing the Southern Tyrol for I taly.

Now this was just an exped ition after.Garibaldi

’sown heart, lawless, unrestrained. To command a packof virtuous band its,

’ was rather romantic accord ing to

his way of th i nking. Lucki ly the plan came too late.

and peace was decided upon before he had an opportunity of exposing his men to be hung as bandits

,if

captured, on gibbets by the roadside.

THE CAM PAIGN IN THE LAKES . 2 5 5

Garibald i now wisely decided to return to Capreraw i thout so much as taking his seat in the Chambersat Florence to protest against the terms of peace ; hismi l i tary prestige was rather dissipated by the l ittle hehad done

,or

,more properly speaking, been al lowed to

do for his country. His last order of the day to hisvolunteers was one of those pleasant exhortations tothat disinterestedness of which he himsel f has given usso many examples. ‘The volunteers have done theirduty

,

’ he proclaimed ;‘ such consciousness is the only

reward to which their patriotic hearts can aspire.

’

Though Italy now got for hersel f the LombardoVenetian territory, i t was not in accordance w ith Garibaldi’s notion of affairs ; he was incl ined to look uponthe whole of this campaign , and rightly so

,in the l ight

o f a national disgrace. These feel ings he thus expressesin his Rule of the Monk .

’ She, Venice, emerges fromforeigndomin ion, not through her ownacts, but by thecourage of others. Oh ! if only her l iberty had beenwon by the valour of her brethren ! But no, she wasredeemed by foreign swords. Sadowa

,the glory of

Prussia, f reed Venice, and the I tal ian nation asks novei l to hide this dishonour.

’

2 56 LIFE OF GIL-'SEPPE GAR /EALD I.

CHAPTER XIV.

MENTANA.

THE year I867 was a right busy one for

G aribald i . I n it he exercised al l his energies, politicaland strategical , to accompl ish the wish o f his life, theannihilation of the temporal power of the Pope

,and in

o f trying to make Rome the capital o f I taly,we

cannot forget that Garibaldi, in pursuing his desire setatdefiance the authori ty of his country and his king

,dis

regarded the wi l l of a parl iament elected by a su ff rage

as the convention o f September 1864 required. Hence

this convention , to return to Rome and protect thehierarchy from the attack of Gari bald i.


2 58 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

and kissing him on both checks,‘ at that time it was

impossible to rob me, for I had nothing to lose.’

At Verona, outside the Porta Nuova, thousands ofpeople met Garibaldi , singing hosannahs to their patriotl iberator

,and begged him to baptise a child , which he

accord ingly did , using the fol lowing words :‘ I baptist

thee in the name of God, and of the legislator JesusMayest thou become an apostle of tru th ! Love thyneighbour, assist the un fortunate, be strong to combatthe tyrants o f the conscience and of the body ; be worthyof the brave Chiassi , whose name I give to theeAdieu l ’ And then would Garibald i goad the crowd tofury by speaking of the newly elected Deputies ashaving amongst them ‘ the partisans o f l iberticideprojects, the satell ites of fal len dynasties.

’

At Legnano a large crowd assembled and add ressedhim with cries of Viva Garibaldi, the son o f God .

’

He

would chide them gently, and bid them be less pointedlyenthusiastic in their expressions, as the priests and the

Roman Cathol ic papers were sure to take these up as ahandle against him.

The resul t o f th is elect ioneering tour was thatGaribald i was elected deputy for four difl

'

erent placesfor the new Parl iament.I n March, the Centre of Insurrection, a body ofmen

i n Florence, proposed to Garibald i to cal l himnlf‘ General of the Roman Republic.’ This he agred to

do. Then at Rome there was formed a Centre of End»

gratin, a body of men who corresponded with exi ledpatriots, and who quarrel led wi th another body , cal ledtheNational Assembly , about the ways and means of action.

This quarrel Garibald i tried hard to appease,but it was

not until j uly that matters were put to rights, and the

two Roman revolutionary societies formed themselves

MENTANA . 2 59

into one under the ti tle of the R omanNational Union.

But they sti l l continued to fight amongst themselvesabout actions they hoped to bring about. They boughtarms and buried them , but thereby spoi lt them withrust, and Garibald i soon real ised how l ittle assistance hemust expect in his plans from the RomansEveryone was aston ished when Garibald i (1

sudden ly f rom the scenes in I taly and turnedUni versal Peace Congress then being heldAs an apostle of peace, they ex pected helonger strive to embroi l affairs i n Rome. However, hesoon undeceived them by speaking vehemently againstthe priesthood , rather to the dismay of those who hadgone thi ther simply to advocate peace. H is receptionwas magnificent. He went straight to the CongressHall , where he put before the vote o f the Assemblya series of prepositions, the pith of which was contained i n N umber the 6th, The Papacy is declared tohave fal len. ’

Sti ll intent on Rome, he returned to I taly, and thereat the vi ll a Cai rol i, i n Belgi rate, he cal led the I tal ians toarms

,to march on Rome, Speaking in heated terms from

the balcony of a window as fol lows We must go toRome to clear out that den of vipers, to make soapsudsand scour out and wipe off that black stai n for withoutall th is cleansing our nation wil l never be itsel f , and ifthis I taly of ours does not occupy the place it ought

,

it is on account of that black race of priests,a worse

plague than the cholera morbus.’

The ultra-Republ ican party tried to d issuade him

from his undertaking ; they thought the presence of aking in the E ternal City l ittle better than that o f a pope.

The Union i n Rome, the secret societies, al l were for arepetition of 1849—namely, to leave the Pope free as the

8 2


head o f the Church , whil st they establ ished a Republicwhich should spread i ts fangs over the rest of Italy fromthe fountai n-head o f Rome Yet as Garibaldi’s expedition became more imminent

,the Roman Unionbecame

more amenable to his plans. On the 22nd of September,they issued an address which spoke of their wi l l ingnessto acquiesce, if not actively, to participate in i t. Troopsnow began to col lect f rom al l sides as Garibaldi appreached the Roman frontier.Meanwhile, the Ital ian Minister, Ratazzi, watched

anxiously the course which events were tak ing,and

final ly decided upon arresting this insubord inate subjectat Sinalunga. Garibaldi had planned to take h is volumteers to seize Viterbo, whi lst N icotera was to surpriseVilletri from the side of Naples , and Menotti Garibaldiwas to possess himsel f of Monte Rotondo, i n the veryheart of the Pontifical States.The Pope and his M in ister, Cardinal Antonell i , d id

not mani fest the alarm that might have been expectedof them under such circumstances. A story wentaround that the Pope, when a hospital nurse complained to him o f the approach of Garibaldi, reprovedher thus : ‘0 woman o f l i ttle faith , know you not.Heaven never sends two plagues at once ? we have thecholera, i t is not in the course of things that we shal lhave Garibald i.’ Probably this sage prophecy o f his wasfounded on the knowledge of Garibaldi’s intended arrest.The n ight before this event Garibaldi was en tertained

at a banquet by the Synd ic and Municipal Secretary ofSinalunga, who al l the whi le had the order for thearrest in their pockets. On the fol lowing morni ng, atfour o’clock, the General was roused from his sleep, andhurriedly taken off without so much as a hat on hishead , and his toilette very incomplete, to the train



Meanwhile, the volunteers grew more formidable intheir operations day by day. There was N icoterl .advancing from the Neapol i tan frontie r ; there was

Acerbi,at Orvieto ; there was Menotti Garibaldi at

Rieti . Everywhere the Papalini were discomfitcd;at Acquapendente, at Vi terbo, and from his headquarters at Nerola, Menott i carried on a gueri l la warfare worthy o f his father, even threaten ing the town ofTivol i

,within a few miles of Rome.

During the absence of Garibald i , several notableepisodes occurred in the campaign . There was the

brave defence of the ‘Valenti n i dai ry,’ by Bernardi of

Siena, and then there was the attempt onRome by thebrothers Enrico and Giovann i Cairol i, worthy of beingcl assed with the heroic episodes of antiqui ty. Out ofthe most val iant of the volunteers, Enrico Cairoli chosesixty men to join him in an expedi tion the obje ct ofwhich was to in troduce arms into the Etern al City bymeans o f boats on the Tiber. I n his order of the day.Cairol i told his men that the undertaking was more thandi fficult and dangerous, i t is desperate : yet I hape to domy duty and if I fai l , every one of you is at l iberty toblow out my brains, and I wi l l do the same by you.

’

A fter overcoming several danger‘

i, the brave bandleft their boats for thi n which he disposedhOping the while thatto his assistance. Noinstead of them pouredthe Antibes legion , wiPapal troops. Cairol iwas abortive, but deterFew escaped al i ve, and the vineyardthei r blood . Enrico and Giovanni

MENTANA. 263

t ing bravely to the last : Enrico, mortally wounded ,Giovann i, dangerously. The dying Enrico was despatched brutally before his brother

’s eyes, and Giovann iwas removed to the horrors of a Papal prison . Sowidow Cairol i lost a second son in the cause : a thi rd ,

Benedetto, is wel l known to-day in the I tal ian pol iticalworld

,as a Prime Minister of repute, and as the man

who saved his sovereign ’s l ife, in November 1878, fromthe assassin 's kn i fe, at the risk of his own .

On the 22nd of this month, a great fright awaitedthe y Father inRome. H is barracks of the Serristoriwere b owninto the ai r, and fif ty of hisZouaves perishedin the ruins a mine, too, was discovered under the bar

anOrsin i bomb was thrown intoNo wonder, then, that Pius IX .

ttentively to Card inal Antonel l i ,of leaving Rome for

his deterlar feel ing

,

the Romans presented him with a petitioncitizens, entreating him to cal l Victor

’

s army into Rome, not a word would he hearaid he was determ ined to hold hi s

2 5th, there was the contest in therastavere, where forty revolutionistsassembl ing, making of the place a

therei n Orsin iexplosive materials, for the purposesOne day the Papal Zouaves caughtat their work, and laid siege to the

woman , Signora Arquati by name, who hadand son amongst the forty, distinguishedrushing from room to room, supplying the


men with ammunition, throughout the whole o f thisfearful contest. She fel l , at length, transfixed by aZouave bayonet : on the spot where she d ied, her husband and son

,later on , erected a marble monument to

her memory. And now, every 2 5th of October, atNo. 97, Via della Lungaretta, i n Trastavere , the anniversary of this event, the curious may find the housedraped in black damask, out of the m idst of whichappears the white bust of Signora Arquati, surroundedby flowers and laurel wreaths.Garibald i al l this whi le was med itating his escape

from Caprera.In the fortress of Alessandria, he had promised , at

whatever hazard, to join hi s troops near Rome ; but it wasd ifficult for him to fulfi l th is promise, as an exped it ionhe took one day to La Maddalena with his daughterTheresita proved to him , for his boat was fired at, as awarning to him not to attempt to leave his island prison.The escape f rom Caprera may certain ly be coun ted

as not least amongst the many exciting episodes inGaribaldi’s l i fe. He pretended to be il l for some days ,appearing not even to the inmates of his house : andthen, on October the 14th,

taking advantage of a mistysky and dark n ight

,he set off for the l ittle bay of Stagna

rel lo, with Fruscianti and another of his fai thfu l f riends.There he found a l i ttle ski ff awai ting him— one of thosef rail barks which are used for duck-shooting in theseparts—and al l alone, with oars and helm to manage, heset out into the raging sea. A fter a perilous crossingo f the strait, he reached the point of Moneta, onthe

island of La Maddalena : there he lay concealed inthehouse of Mrs. Coll ins ti ll the fol lowing n ight, when ahorse was provided for him to take him to the point ofthe island nearest Sardin ia.


266

Roman question,the I tal ians wisely

look on and leave events to shapeagreed to al low Garibaldi

,as at Aspromonte

,to proceed

to his destruction.So from the balcony in the P iazza Santa Maria No

vel la, Garibald i was al lowed to say what he l iked aboutthe Pope, and about his proposed campaign .

Be fore leaving Florence , Garibaldi embraced Benedetto Cairol i, whose brothers were then marching onRome

,saying, at the same time :

‘ O f al l the riskyand dangerous enterprises that I have undertaken inmy l i fe, the most arduous, and the most beauti fu l, andthat o f which I am the proudest, is my escape fromCaprera.’

At the very same time that Garibald i was leavingFlorence by train for Tern i, to join his son Menotti,the French f rigate, the Passepartout, entered Civi taVecchia

,with the first instalment of assistance for the

Pope.

With the exception o f two cannon , excel lent forfestive occasions, but of l ittle use in war, Garibaldi

’svolunteers possessed but l ittle in the way of warl ikematerial ; and as for ambulances, there was not a pretence o f any.

His forces were just drawn up into bfurther organisation than this : no signone company f rom the other : no onf rom the men . There

,were just 7

i n so many hats of black, white,fel t. Their cloaks and clothes were ofdescription : they were badly shodve tted i nto a cloak, and fastened byf requent sight : and the soldiers knew theirby the fact that they carried the branch of a

MENTANA. 267

of a sword : whilst mules , with rope brid les, and assesfromthe Sabine vil lages, fol lowed by the peasantowners for fear of losing them, formed the bulk of their

On reach ing Temi, Garibald i set about organisinghis bands, and preparing them as best he could for

marchi ng direct on Passo Corese. They were dividedintwo columns ; with one he took the high road , andthe other he sent round by the hil ls ; and they wereboth to meet before Monte Rotondo.

This town crowns a hi l l overlooking the Tibervalley. I t is open on the east, but shut in on thewest by a sol id wall and rock : i n the centre of thetown is the palace of Pri nce P iombino, with a towerfrom which Rome and the val ley form a del ightfu lpanorama. The possessor of Monte Rotondo commandsboth roads lead ing to Rome—the one over the PonteSalario. and the other over the Ponte Nomentano.

An attack was led by the vanguard on the easterngate by Colonel Frigesy and Ricciott i Garibald i ; theythundered wi th their weapons at the gate, crying, Open ,we are I tal ians but receivi ng no response , they set fi reto i t, and rushed in through the flames. Fighting inchby inch , they at last wonsome of the houses near thegate, and when towards evening Garibald i came up wi threi n forcements, they succeeded in carrying the placebefore daybreak , and Garibald i found himsel f comfortably housed inPri nce Piombino’

s palace,looking down

on his beloved Rome ; better quarters indeed than aconf essional inwhich he had snatched a few moments’

repose onthe previous even ing.

Here. as elsewhere, the Garibald ians were not overcaref ul to respect rel igious edifices or the rel igious feeling: which were so strong in the vicin ity of Rome ; for


you would occasional ly see a loveiy Madonna’s head,

crown and all,with some of her tawdry ti nsel still hang

i ng to it,held aloft on the bayonet of a soldier. They

were quartered inthe convent of Saint Mary Magdalen.and sad havoc they made of the place, for the pix andlarge gi l t lamp were broken, and an am , a chal ice.and chasuble were carried o ff . The priest on ly managedto save his consecrated wafers by putt ing them intohis pocket.Garibald i was severe on the perpetrators of theseand

other atrocities, and had seven of the worst of themshot in the piazza of Monte RotondoFor twenty-seven hours the fight i n Monte Rotondo

had l asted , and then they had but l ittle time al lowed themfor rest, for General Kantzler sent f rom Rome a body of

papalr'm'

,who attacked the station of Monte Rotondo,andbayonetted with unheard-o f barbarity some Garibaldianwounded who were in the waiti ng room. However, theywere soon repulsed, and Garibaldi addressed his volun~

teers that evening from the Prince’s palace Yes. alsoin the Roman Campagna my volun teers have equalledtheir glorious Calatafimi. Storms, nakedness, fastings.almost unbel ievable, al l have fai led to shake theirbri l l ian t spiri t. ’ Many Zohave prisoners were takenatMonte Rotondo, and amongst them were discoveredseveral fanatical priests who had doffed the cassock tofight the battles of thei r cause.Three days after this, with h is forces now made up to

and sl ightly better provided wi th arms. Garibaldimarched on to the Zechinelia, a large farmhouse abouta mile d istant f rom the Ponte del la Mentana

, and onlyfour miles and a hal f f rom Rome. On theirapproachthe enemy crossed the bridges, blowi ng up one, andmining the other.


270 LIFE or GIUSEPPE 0.4 191mthis sumthe key of R ome was to be handed over to the

General.On the very day that this was to take place. thc

governor was removed f rom his post, and the Frenchmarched up from Civita Vecchia. Treachery was sus

pected,and what that treachery was the reader has

learnt in the Introduction .

Now when this open ing was cut o ff , Garibaldi resolved to retreat from his position by the Mentambridge—aretreat which seemed uncalled for tomany ofthe volunteers, and no less than threw downtheirarms and deserted his cause. This retreat was an incident of evi l augury in Garibald i

’

s career. I t showedthat h is mil i taryprestige was gone. He had no longerthat irresistible charm over his men which compel ledthem to do his bidding. Moreover, the Mazz inianparty

,who looked with di sfavour on the expedition

because their chief disl iked i t, began to spread sinisterreports among the Garibald ian forces, urging themrather to hasten to Florence and assaul t the King inthe P i tt i Palace, and set up the Republ ican flag beforegoing to dethrone the Pope.So Garibald i beat a retreat onMonte Rotondo, sad

in heart, and with only few fol lowers compared with thelarge army with which he had left it On Novemberthe l st, he held a meeting in the palace, at wh ich werepresent Menotti and Ricciott i,Canz io, Bertan i,and others,and that day he spoke out to his men from the balmy,warmly exhorting them to remember the object of thecampaign , and reminding them that if they were opposedto the wi ll of their country, at all events in his and theirown estimation their cause was a just one.As an. address issued to his volunteers gives us

Garibald i ’s own opin ion as to them mof the

MENTANA. 27 :

we wi l l give it here. ‘The Government ofas invaded the Roman territory, already wonprecious blood from the enemies of I taly we

ought to receive our brothers in arms with love, and aid

them in driving out of Rome the mercenary sustainersof tyranny ; but if base deeds, the continuation of thevile Convention of September, i n mean consort withJes ui tism , shal l urge us to lay down our arms in obed ienceto the order of December the 2nd, then wil l I let theworld know, that I alone, a Roman general, with ful l

power, elected by the universal su ffrage of the only legalGovernment in Rome, the Republ ic, have the right tomaintain mysel f armed in this, the territory under myiurisdiction; and then if these my volunteers, championsof liberty and I tal ian unity, wish to have Rome as thecapi tal of I taly, fulfi l l ing the vote of Parl iament and of

the nation, they must not put down their arms unti l I talyshall have acquired liberty of conscience and worship

,

buil t uponthe ruin of Jesuitism , and unti l the sold iers oftyrants shal l be ban ished f rom our land .

’

With I tal ian tr00ps behind , of whose plans he wasunaware, with Papal troops be fore him,with a mysteriousexpectation of aid coming from France, with his ownmen more or less disafi'ected, Garibald i felt that hemust not delay at Monte Rotondo, much as he enjoyedthe Pri nce of Piombino’

s palace and the lovely viewover Michel Angelo

's cupola, but that he must hasten

to action if anything was to be done. He determinedto set oil at once for Tivol i . ‘As if presaging some

Guerzoni, ‘Garibald i went downstai rs inmanner

,whistl ing an old Monte

ing to invoke good auguries f romfor his success. Then he got on

silently before

27 : LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

the scattered battal ions on the Mentana road , as if hewished by this enthusiastic pace to reanimate the firstfad ing confidence of his men.

'

A column consisting of i nfantry , two fieldguns

,and two small er guns, and one squadron of cavalry.

commenced its march at 1 1 o'clock on November the 3rd.onthe road to Tivol i . When they had proceeded a milebeyond Mentana. the vanguard was suddenly attacked.and had to fal l back on Mentana, so as to form the

battal ions in l ine of battle. Having recove red fromtheir first su rprise, the General was able to rally hisforces

,and to te-take the positions they had lost ; and

then,just as the Papal forces were retreati ng on the

way to Rome, the French regiments, which thus far hadbeen hidden behind the hills, out-flanked Garibald i onthe left.Mentana is but a small vi l lage with massive houses

oneither side of a single street. I t is buil t i n a hollow.

between two hi l locks onthe right and left. At first Garibald i thought the French were some o f the An tibeslegion, but the rapid and murderous fire o f the chasepots

,now handseled by the French against the ill-cladand

i l l-armed Garibaldians, soon proved that they hadmoreform idable foes to contend with. But inspite of everything the Garibd dians made a brave resistance. Theyflung themselves onthe French with the fury o f despair.four or five times. Some haystacks in the centre of thefight were taken and re-taken. Desperate stories aretold of the valour o f some of these raw recru i ts onthisday : how they rushed on the enemy with booth andnai l if their arms fai led them ; how one man bit apiece outof a Frenchman ’s cheek, wh ich he preserved inspiri ts of wine afterwards, and gai ly showed as a trophy

to his friends, saying that he was keeping it for next


274 LIFE UF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.

Napoleon,some with fl int locks, some even were Minis

rifles.No wonder they could make but poor way

against the chassepots o f the French and then Menotti.i n his order of the day before crossing the frontier, gaveout

,

‘ I cannot march, I have no shoes ; I cannot standsti l l because I have nothing to cover my men ; I cannotfight because I have no ammunition. ’ And so faintandhungry were the men af ter their fight at Men tana, whichlasted from mid-day unti l hal f-past five in the evening.that on their retreat to Monte Rotondo, they made themselves broth of the herbs by the roadside.Two hours after Garibald i's departure f rom Passo

Corese, the French occupied Monte Rotondo without a

The conduct o f the I tal ian Government duri ng thist ime now requires our notice. The army underCiald in i occupied several points in the Papal territory.and care ful ly took care to

'

throw every imped iment inthe way o f Suppl ies and ammuni tion reach ing the volunteers. When the Papal and French forces combined inattacking Garibald i at Mentana, the Ital i an army keptaloo f, bel ieving with reason that to join openly in theaffai r would be an exceed ingly unpopular ac tion ontheir part th roughout al l I taly nevertheless, they werequite prepared to receive Garibald i whenhe reached thefrontier, and to take him prisoner. I n fact, the whole ofthe pol icy of the Florentine Government reads very l ikea repeti tion o f the Aspromonte afl

'

air five years be fore.

Ratazzi, on both occasions, was at the head of a ff airs.On both occasions he played a double game

,unable to

curb this i nsubord inate subject. On both occasions helet him pass on to h is owndestruction.As for the King himsel f , he was much grieved at the

s laughte r of his subjects at Mentana. Ah l those

MENTANA. 27 5

chassepots have mortal ly wounded my heart, as father,and as king,

’ he said ; ‘ i t is one of the greatest grie fst hat I have ever known inmy li fe.’

Nevertheless, the afl'

air of Mentana had done somegood for I taly ; i t had shattered the threads of thatpol icy which made Italy cringingly cl ing to France .

The Marquis Pepol i , at the request o f the King, wroteas fol lows to the French emperor : The last events havesuffocated every remembrance of gratitude in the heartof I taly. I t is no longer in the power of the Government to maintain the al l iance with France. The chassepot gunat Men tana has given it a mortal blow.

’

I t was onthe morn ing of November the 4 th, when

the so lately vi ctorious troops of Garibald i , gloomy andsilent, marched out o f the gate of Monte Rotondo

,sti l l

showing signs of the fi re by which they had won it.The arrangements for receiving the wounded Gari

baldians i n the Eternal City had merited un iversalblame. They were brought in by cartloads to the sound

of jubi lant songs, i n which shoals o f priests took part ;they say, too, that the Holy Father was present to witness the en try of his prisoners. A few weeks later aneye-witness describes to us the scene in one of the wards

of the hospital thus : The atmosphere of the long roomis putrid ; i ts few windows are never Opened , and thegreater part of the beds have neither been changed normade since the su fferers were laid down upon them two

months ago. The sole ventilation that is obtained is

due first,to the fact that the apartment has no cei l ing

and next,to the I tal ian habit o f never shutting a door

and as the crowded carts poured in with their prisoners,and Card inal Antonel l i was asked where they should be

put, for the prisons were wel l-n igh ful l , he repl ied At

all events, we have the catacombs l ef t.’

T 2

276 LIFE or GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI .

One day, November the nth, the Pope visited theGaribald ians in the hospi tal : young Giovann i Cairoliwas amongst them, now convalescent. The Pope, with abenign smi le, addressed to him a few words o f consola~

tion ; but Cairol i, sti l l heart-wrung by hi s brother'

s

death in the Vigna Glori , repl ied in tones of bitterreproach

,tel l ing the Pontifl

'

some hard and unpalatablet ruths. Afterwards, we are told, Cairol i sen t to apologise, regrett ing that his grief had wrung such strongl anguage from his mouth.

On reaching Passo Corese,Garibald i consigned his

arms to Colonel Rava, committed to General Fabrizithe care of reconducting the volunteers to their homes.and handed over the care of his ambulance to Dr. Emil ioCiprian i and then set off by special train to Florence,with the view of return ing to Caprera. At the stationof Frigline the train was stopped by a battal ion of

Berraglz’

rn'

, and Camozzi, l ieutenant-colonel of somecarabineers, stepped forward and begged Garibald i tocome and have a few words with him inprivate : whenGaribald i lent forward his head , he whispered in his

‘ I have the order to arrest you .

‘ But,

’

expostulated Garibaldi , quite loud, ‘ I am a deputy of Parl iament, and an American citizen , too : youare arrestingme without taking me in open crime, or transgressiono f the laws. I fought as General of the Roman Re

publ ic, delegated by the Constituen t Assembly torepresent it in the terri tory of my ownjurisdicti on.andwhen I came to the confines o f I taly I put downmyarms. I have committed no act hosti le to the State.and I declare that youshal l not arrest me ex cept byforce, and by dragging me f rom my place in thiscarriage. ’

Camozzi telegraphed at once the resul t of this


278 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR IBALD].

together the possessions of Victor Emmanuel in thePeninsula. If only Garibald i could have seen this asothers saw i t, he would have saved much preciousblood, much precious gold, and endless anx iety to hiscountry.

CHAPTER XV.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE VOSGES .

WELL, the Eternal City was won, as al l the worldknows—without any assistance from Garibald i , withoutdisturbing the pol i tical aspect of Europe, and wi th theleast possible amount of fighting—during the FrancoPrussian War of 1870.

The 2nd of October found Victor Emmanuel at theQuiri nal ; and the Recluse of Caprera had been rest

less all the summer, at the sound of the din of arms,luving in the previous September positively determ inedto buckle his sword once more on to his worn-out oldbody—worn out by f requent attacks of rheumatism

,

which had drawn and contorted the once stalwartframe.Violent, now, i n his writings, his speeches , and his

thoughts, we can hardly recognise in Garibald i thepatriotic hero who had given to his sovereign the crownof two kingdoms, who had declared that, by a republ iche meant that government which gives the people thegreatest poss ible national prosperity ; I do not carewhe ther at the head of such a government there be aking or a president.’ Now he writes as fol lows of theKing of Prussia and the victorious Germans : ‘ BlackTool of Tyranny, your empire comes. the empire of the

' T ‘


funeral pile. Your favourite period , the M iddle Ages.again appears. Your fal len hero of Sedan comes again.with Satan ’s smi le upon his l ips. Youturn your viper

’seyes to the new Emperor, sull ied with blood and tortu re. The exasperation of the proud inhabi tan ts of theRepubl ic has risen to a pitch. I hope, however. thatEurope, and the whole world, wil l recogn ise the upright and magnanimous conduct of the sons of theRepubl ic, and wil l take note of the bestial demeanourand in famy of the sold iers of the despot. ’

I n short,Garibald i had now passed beyond the

most glorious period of his l i fe : he was no longer themoderate, high-minded man he had been ; he was asrabid a hater of anything whi ch had governmen t for itsobject, as the proverbial I rishman, who on reachirg acountry asked what the government was ;

‘ for, whatever it is,

’ added he, I am agin i t.’

Garibaldi was restless at Caprera al l that autumnA fter Sedan . and after the declaration of the FrenchRepubl ic, he was happy : his tradi tional enemy, Napoleon, was degraded f rom his high estate. At one time,he determined to go to France to aid her dying struggles ;at another time, he determined not to go,and took uph is pen to address the world . The fol low i ng is acopyof what went the round of the Engl ish journals

MY DEAR Hams—I shall not go to France,and.l ike you, I am an avowed partisan of peace ; nevertheless, I would fain see England—which, more thananyother country in the world

, is the classic land of peacetake the in itiative in the format ion of a world-wideAreopagus, and thus put an end to those savagemassacres. with which at th is moment Central Europe iscursed . I have sent the fol lowing ideas to BerlinandStockholm, and I now enclose you ampy of themgin


— induced Garibaldi, whointentions declared to Mr.h is departure to France ; for

,

’ said he,looked upon France as an enemy

,but

was Napoleon , and not France, that I hhe is gone, I look upon Republ icansecond country, to which I am ready toremains of me. ’

The Ital ian -Government looked jealous]haldi ’s offer. They thoughtN ice, as aparty hadpeace, inwel l as ofi n i ts enthusiasm , wrote :

‘We wil l restore himbeloved Nice.’ But the I tal ian Government letthinking that to stop him would be to incurd isapproval , and that if he did go, he wouldable to do but l ittannounced to thethe General had landed atto the civi l authorities there : Faites aGaribald i unereceptionsplendide z

’ and, in con formity wi th this request, aRoyal salute was given to this avowed kinghater by the cannon of the forts.On September the 8th, Garibald i was conducted by

special train to Tours, at the expense of the Government. He arrived just as Gambetta was making hisescape from Paris, by bal loon . The poor Archbishop ofTours held up his hands in dismay,when he heard of theGeneral ’s arrival , and said to h is secretary : ‘ I thoughtthat D ivine Providence had heaped the last measure ofhumil iation upon our country, but I am deceived therehas been reserved for i t the supreme humiliation of

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE VOSGES. 283

seeing Garibald i arrive here, giving himsel f the missionof saving Francc.

’ When the Archbishop uttered thesewords, he expressed the sentiments of nearly the wholeo f the French peogle : they cord ial ly detested Garibaldi’s arrival—except the ex treme Republ icans, and afew lunatics who thought that the Prussians would be

put to fl ight l ike the Neapol i tans, by the very name ofGaribald i and the colour of his shi rt.The Government was in a perplexing pred icament.

They wished to conci liate the clerical party by makingLou is Napoleon responsible for the evacuation of Rome ;and here, i n the midst of them , was the verymanwhowas the avowed champion of Rome for I taly. Theywished , too, to keep the radicals and the clergy in something l ike accord ; and if Garibald i was sent home abouthis busi ness , the rad icals would be furious.Gambetta was not -very wel l pleased to see the

General , when he descended from the skies, but, perforce, he must appear to welcome him so he of feredhimthe command of two or three hundred volunteers,who we re assembled at Chambery.

Garibald i was most indignant at such a sl ight, andh iked of return ing home. Gambetta grew alarmed atthis, fearing the effect on the radicals ; so he summonedthe “Grand Patriote,’ as he pol itely called him ,

andofl

'

a'

ed himthe command of al l the free bod ies in theVosges district, f rom Strasburg to Paris, and a brigadeof the Gard: M obile.

Fortified with this permission, the General left ToursonOctober 13th , to establish his head-quarters at Dele,where he arrived on the 14th, just af ter General Cambrieis had been defeated in the defi le of the Vosges

,

and had retreated to Besancon wi th men , thusabandoning the French Thermopylas, so to speak.

284 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALD I.

Garibald i s friends wished to persuade Gambetta toappoint him to the command of the Eastern Army butthe President, fearing, as he said,

‘ the complain ts of

both mil i tary and clergy al ike,’ dared not do it. So

the General was modestly content with forming fourbrigades, one of which was commanded by Menotti,consisting of men ; the second, of byRicciott i the third , men

,by Bossak, a Pol ish

patriot and the fourth, of by B elpech .

The formation of this army at Dble was a curioussight . Veritable beggars poured into the town , most ofthem with a view to getti ng uniforms, which were dulyprovided for themby Garibald i ’s orders, but at theexpense of the town . The chapel o f the CommunalCol lege o f Arc was given to them as barracks , and ahorrid mess they made o f i t, too : ‘dirtying the confessionals, and piercing the pictures wi th their swords.

’

And here began that system of pi l laging the churchesand desecrating everyth ing they came across, whichwas the great disgrace of Garibaldi ’s troops i n thiscampaign . Much of the robbery and pi l lagi ng wasdone, without the General

’s knowledge,by his avaricious

insubordinates : his quarter-master, General Bordone,we are told

,in a legal process which took place after

the war,had been convicted several times for di sregard

o f mmand 11mm, and has paid several fines imposedby the courts before this,

’ and numerous journals tell usthat

,before the war, he was only a poor chemist in

Avignon,but that he returned with a great deal of

l uggage,and f rom time to time gladdened the heart of

his dear wi fe in Avignon by sending her boxes withperquisites he had made during the campaign.By this man Garibaldi was completely governed

duri ng the whole campaign . A queer lot they were.


286 LIFE OF GIUSEPPE GAR lBALDI.

attention to the battle that was going on betweenGeneral Cambriels and the Germans at Bar-le-duc onOctober the 22nd, though Pri nce Wil l iam o f Baden wasnot metres f rom Mamay, where the BrigadeBossak was.The plan o f this campaign of the East real ly was to

consist in Garibald i’s coveri ng and masking the passage

o f the Army of the Loi re. under General Bourbaki, fromthe Val ley of the Loire to the Val ley o f the Saone ; andthen that, as soon as this force had occupied Vesoul andLure, the volunteer General should pass behind andgo into the Vosges mountains, where he could use hisgueri l lero talents to the best advantage. Autun. Dbl:and D ijon form a scalene triangle

, the vertex of whichis D ijon. This triangle was the theatre assigned forGan

'

baldi’s manoeuvres in France.The General , when at length prepared to act, cow

templated a reconnaissan ce f rom Autun , whither he hadremoved his head-quarters, on Chat i l lon-sur-Seine, to suroprise the enemy on one of the great routes which lead fromAlsace to Paris, and entrusted the bold undertaking toRicciotti his son , givi ng him minute instructions for hisgu idance wri tten with his ownhand. I t real ly was rathera bri l l iant undertak ing, and the success of i t redoundedgreatly to the cred it of R icciotti Garibald i ,who apparentlyi nheri ted his father’s talen ts for an enterprise o f the kind.After a hurried march of three days he reached

Solieu, arriving on November the 18th at Culmiero le-seq

where he learnt that a large force of Germans were to hislef t. and that another body had cut o ff his retreat ontheright. During the n ight, when none were expecting it.be divided his forces into two bands, who were to makea simul taneous attack on the enemy. Amused from Msleep by the sudden onset, the Germans beat a retreat

TH E CAMPAIGN IN THE VOSGES . 287

The battle in the town was desperate,as the reti ring

forces fought step by step, losi ng in the encounter 130men, and leaving 170 prisoners and their standard intheir enemy’s hands. In the vast efforts of the twocon tending nations, of course this was but as a drop of

water in the ocean , yet it nevertheless is worthy o f note,

as a pleasing episode as far as Garibald i is concernedand when Ricciott i returned to his father’s camp he wasreceived with open arms and appointed to the rank of

Major on the spot.During their stay at Autun the motley fol lowers of

the General disgraced themselves by most unwarrantableattacks upon the clergy of the town . Autun was a perfeet hotbed of priests, containing n ine convents andcountless churches, and Garibald i had taken advantageof this state of affairs to turn them al l into barracks.The Dai ly News ’ correspondent tel ls us how he foundthe cathedral occupied by 350 franc tireurs, one of

whom was smoking a pipe and reading the Petit Journal Upon the high al tar. And then there was thepil laging of the archbishop’s palace, a most disgracefula ff ai r, certain ly undertaken w i thout Garibald i

’s orders,

but nevertheless giving an opportunity to the clergy forabusing him soundly.

Ricciotti Garibaldi himsel f tel ls us that finding thepriests everywhere caball ing against him inhis own ranksas spies and informants for the Germans, Garibald i tooka step which was attended wi th much risk and anxiety.

He arrested several priests, tried and convicted them of

treasonable communications with the Germans, and suspending over them the sentence of death, made themmarch wi th his forces handcu ffed and degraded for fourdays:

Vidc Mr. Whalley, M .P. , onPublic Affairs, PM mugb fima,

March 4, 1871.


Some men got up a report that arms which the archbishop was unwi l l ing to give up, were concealed inthepalace ; so a company o f Garibaldians, fi fty in number,set o ff to the episcopal residence, entered by a window,

and proceeded straight to the archbishop’s chamber,the door o f which they forced open . Twelve sold iersentered the room where the venerable prelate was asleepin bed

,and sword in hand , searched high and low.

behind the curtains, and under the bed , for the supposedarms

,which it is needless to say they did not find

,while

their comrades wandered through the other rooms,taking whatever pleased them,and did not leave ti l l fouro’clock in the morn ing ; even the archbishop

’s watchand his crozier, which was in the adjo ini ng chapel , weremissing, as also the seal o f the see.Next morn ing Garibald i apologi sed for this intrusion,

but resti tution was impossible ; so it may be imagined inwhat repute the Garibaldians were inthe Roman Cathol iccity o f Autun .

The General was next commissioned to protectD1jon from the enemy who menaced i t. The Germansmade their way without much di ff iculty to Calant, avillage near D ijon , where they were bravely but unsuccessful ly attacked by the Garibaldians. The Garibald ifami ly did their best to get their men to act, but theFrench irregu lar M obile: were seized wi th pan ic at thefi rst sight of the German vanguard . Garibaldi vainlyendeavoured to arrest their fli ght by d ismoun ting fromhis carriage and singing the Marseil laise,

’ but,say the

I tal ian accounts, i t was impossible to make the Fre nd »men advance. I n their fl ight they even used theirbayonets against thei r I tal ian comrades, dragging fromhis horse Menott i who was urging them to meet thePrussian fi re.


290

his troops, and two days af ter this Garibald iattacked at D ijon , and only just succeededthe enemy at bay so he proves h is wisdom iing off men to protect Bourbaki ’s lef t.On January the 20th

,the Prussians

of D ijon , and proceeded on the morrowi th men , includ ing some exceltroops. Garibald i had from to 1

i n D ijon to oppose them .

was su ffering much f rom rh

more than get into hisaction , whi lst he gavethere al l that day, (1

furiously ; the Prussians beingthe two fol lowing days the fightardour ; but, at length , Garibaldifield

,and the Prussians retreated .

The mobil ised troops hadowing to their inferior arms

,but some of

conducted themselves l ike old soldiers . Thegade, under Ricciotti Garibaldi , again d istitsd f by its valour, and possessed itsel f o f a flag‘ the first, the only one, alas ! which was won from theenemy in this war.’

On their return to D1jon , i n the evening, they werereceived with transports, and the inhi n volunteering to form barricades or in makiselves useful in any other way Garibald i mightA telegram sent by Garibald i to his

Signora Theresita Canz io, after this event, ran as followsVigorously attacked by the enemy, who have beenobl iged to retire after twelve hours of combat. TheArmy o f the Vosges has again

,once more

,worked wel l

for the Republ ic.’ Bossak, the ex i led Pole, was killed

7715 CAMPAIGN IN THE VOSGES. 29 1

duri ng this engagement. O f him Garibald i tragicallysaid : This Leon idas of modern times wil l i n future bewanting to the democracy o f the earth.

’

This was the last act of this miserable campaign inwhich General Garibald i took any active part ; for therest, he got no thing but censure from the Commissioners of Parl iamentary inqui ry in the conclusion of

their account of the Army of the East to the NationalAssembly, in which due al lowances must be made forthe exaggerations of the French, and thei r desi re tomake any scape-goat bear their ownshortcomings. If

General Garibald i had been a French general , we shouldhave been constrained to ask of you that this report

,

and the proofs which justify it, should be sent by theAssembly to the Min ister of War, with a view to ascottain ing if General Garibald i ought not to be broughtup before a court-martial to answer for his conduct inhaving abandoned del iberately, and without contest, theposi tions which he was commissioned to defend, havingthereby caused the loss of one of the French armies ,

and brought about a d isaster which can only be compared to the d isaster of Sedan and Metz. ’

Such were the thanks Garibaldi received f rom theCommissioners for mix ing himsel f up inother people’squarrels.At the forthcoming elections af ter the peace, how

ever, the inhabitants of three towns—Nice, Dijon , andParis

,al l thought necessary to elect him as their deputy.

Accord ingly, the General set o ff to Bordeaux , where itwas decided that, as a stranger, he could not sit. So hewrote a letter, renouncing his seat. which was read onFebruary the 13th

‘As a last duty to this Republ ic.

I have come to Bordeaux , where sit the represen tativesof the country, but I renounce the office with wh ich

' 0 2


I have been honoured by several Departments : ’ andthen he went to Caprera, af ter a final farewell to hissold iers of the Vosges, as follows

To THE BRAVE ARMY or THE VosoEs,— I leave

youwith grief, my bravemen, but am driven to do soby pressing circumstances. Return to your hearths

,

and relate to your famil ies the labours, the fatigues , thecombats

,which we have together sustained in the holy

cause of the Republ ic . Tel l them , above all , that youhave a leader who has loved you like sons , and lef t youwi th pride. Aure‘voir, under happ ier circumstances.

’

A compl imentary letter was sent to the General ,however, by the Min isters at Bordeaux, to the fol lowingefl

'

ect.

GENERAL,— The Min ister has sent in your letter,i n which you resign the command of the Army of theVosges. In accepting that resignation, i t is the dutyo f the Government to thank you, in the name of thecountry, and to express i ts regret. France wil l notforget, General , that you have fought gloriously withher chi ldren in defence o f her territory and for theRepubl ican cause. Accept our cordial and fraternalgreeting. JuLEs SIMON. GARNIER PAGES.

LE FLO, Min ister of War.ARAGO . PELLETAN .

’

Later on , Garibaldi was returned as a Deputy forAlgeria ; on which occasion a violent d iscussion tookplace as to the val idity of his election , being a foreigner.

Locroy said :‘General Garibaldi became French on

the field of battle. ’ Victor Hugo said : ‘Not a King,not a State—no one came forward to help France

, who

had done so much for Europe—only one man.

'

Uponwhich, i ron ical applause interrupted the orator. ‘Wel l,

’

con tinued he, no Powers interposed , but a man came



CHAPTER XVI .

LATTER DAYS.

FOR the hero of Marsala and Naples one would fainrecount an old age o f repose and honour. Everyonewould have forgiven to Generalment at Aspromonte and Mentana,tent to bury the violent sentimentsamongst the rocks of Caprera ; but iinabi l ity to fight with his sword ,ardour for fighting withweapon

, for the last tento undo any good he mand to make himsel f

O f course, therework

,against which ,

ral was not l ikely to contend, since i

was easily swayed by those aroundthe paralysed form o f the old I taflocked

,of late years, men of the

cratical principles, eager to make useevery agitation against government, atGaribaldi, in short, was the man

turmoi l and transi tion ; and now that theseplace to a period of peace, or, as

'

he wouldignomin ious indolence,

’ he has retired to his

LA 77 5 1? DA VS . 295

and the murmurings of the old lion of Caprera have notbeenworthy of the warrior.Yet there have been gleams of sunshine in this

Otherwise dark period : and one of these was in187 5 ,

when he presented himself in Rome to take his seat asDeputy : for i n the elections of 1874 he had been chosenl’y Sevenal electoral colleges to represen t them , and oneOf these was the Roman consti tuency. Garibaldi wasStill the idol of I taly

,f rom the throne to the cottage ;

Italians worshipped himbut they did not know whatto do with him . His majori ty in Rome was a feebleone, for prudent men would say : We adore Garibald i,but we do not want himfor our Deputy.

’

Yet Garibald i was returned as member,and was on

his way to Rome.I t was natural ly expected that he would come as

the champion of democratic and anti-clerical principles,

mad that if he did take the oath of al legiance to hissovereign , he would declare, l ike Caralotti, that he lookedupon it as ‘ a mere farce

,and in no way binding upon

him.

’

On landing at Civita Vecchia, the inhabitants turnedout at two in the morning to greet him Horsemenrode by his carriage, reckless adventurers clambered onthe roof of the rai lway carriage, on chance of being ableto s ee the edge of his cap through the lamp-holes.He reached the capital on January the 24th and thosebystanders who had not seen him for some years werestruck with sympathy at h is appearance—crippled ashe was by gout and rheumatism , his hands drawn back ,his face somewhat attenuated, his beard grizzled, his

aspect that of a confi rmed invalid, who was obl iged touse crutches and the strong armof his sonMcnotti to

296

Yet as of old there was the red shircloak ; there was the pleasant smi le, l itknown row of white teeth

,which told of

habits, and un impaired digestive organs, andof the Eternal City were as mad as ever overand cheered himl usti ly on his way to

Costanzi, f rom the balcony of which hedent, laconic speech.

‘Do you wish me toyou ? Well then , I am very pleased to seenow go home. Be Romans in everything

,

patriotism and i n order.’

Garibaldi i n R ome was true to hisurged by a restless longing for action , 3sudden and strong impulses

,sti l l prone

toward suggestions, almost always out inand reasoni ngs, sti l l ready to leafi rst advice that came when heLucki ly for I taly

,and for himsel f

,

fel l i n wi ththe last of the four brothers, nowand his i nfluence over Garibald i was towards loyal tyand patriotism . Moreover, the warrior-king, VictorEmmanuel , was there too

,and whenever Garibaldi

found himself near the sovereign who had ‘drawn hissword for I taly,

’ he felt that loyal ty which was wontto grow cold in his d istant island rekindle i n hisbreast.There was much exci tement in the Senate House

on the day when Garibald i took his seat. The Right

felt nervous as to the issue of events they sat quiet ashe en tered and al lowed the Left to do the cheeringAmongst the latter Garibald i, supported as he en teredby two friends, took his seat.

‘ Thc third had died of typhus fever.



Public Works, Signor Spaventa, went to see this work.and awarded the Prince a gold medal. The Pri nce nowpersuaded Garibald i to assist him in fu rther works.Victor Emmanuel , General Garibaldi , and Prince Torlonia formed a curious Triumvirate

,the object of whose

sitti ngs was the question of diverting the course of the

Tiber, and improving thereby the san itary and agricultural conditions of the Campagna.There was to be a canal thi rty ki lometres long and

100 metres wide. lead ing f rom the Ponte Molle i n Rometo the Port of Fiumiano near Ostia, after the fashion ofM . de Lesseps’ achievement at Suez ; the flat countryaround was to be raised by what was dug out theref rom the land was to be drained into i t, and laid outfor cultivation , and colon ised by an agricul tural andmarine population : al l this was to be done at the costo f aboutBut how was poor I taly to spend so much money on

a sanitary idea The Minister of War wanted the

money to bui ld forts with ; the M in ister of Marinewanted it for his ironclads ; and if the Chambers diddecide on the adoption of Garibald i’s scheme, the executionof i t was indefin i tely postponed , and everyone knowswhat that means in I taly. Minghetti, the Prime M inister, promised to hurry it on one day, and thendrew backthe next, unti l General Garibaldi got very angry at theneglect of this project of his old age, and was not sparing of abuse onthe Min istry for their conduct.The gi ft of offered by the Ital ian Government

to Garibald i—was it ever received or not ? This wil l bea question the answer o f which wi l l perhaps be hiddenforever from sight. At all events, af ter this date he wasi n receipt of the tidy income 0f 2

,0001. a year fromthc

LATTER DA YS . :9 9

Government, which at Caprera he would have found ithard to spend had i t not been for the faci l ity his familydisplay in spending it for him.

I t was con trary to the principles of the old hero of

the Two Sicilies to take money : he had left his cam

pm'gns with anempty pocket, and at length he recei vedState money only on the strenuous urging of his family,adding by way of excuse, that he was now glad to havea little money in his pocket to spend on the Tiberscheme. and other chari table works.This was not the only aspect in which Garibaldi was

changed. I n sketching scenes of his later life, AlbertoMario , the ed itor of the

‘Lega di Democraz ia,

’ puts wordsinto the mouth of the old General which prove that hehe cast to the windsall the principles which he professedof yore. The speech is as fol lows : As forme, I consider

prophets and revealers of rel igion to be those men of

genius who have d iscovered the eternal laws of natureCopern icus, who realised the motion of the earth Gal i~

b,who demonstrated the same Kepler, who measured

the orbits of the planets, &c. Your Bible made thesunstand stil l . For me there exist three infinitesthatof space, that of time, that o f matter. As for priests ,they are injurious from the doctrines they preach ; Ispeak of priests o f al l rel igions. ’ Garibald i , far fromrefuting this, wrote to thank Mario for his ‘beautifulvolume onhis l i fe.’ So we may presume that these arethe latte r-day principles of the man who once professedhis entire adherence to Christianity. One of his l acon ic

letters o f 1880 i l lustrates this. I t was as fol lows .

‘ Dear f riends,—Man has created God, not God man .

Yours ever,GAR IBALDI. ’

Af ter Victor Emmanuel’s death Garibd di got a


polite invi tation to the funeral , which he decl i ned on theplea of i l l-heal th, but sent Menotti as his represen tative,and with the Opening o f the new reignGaribald i’s lettersbecome more pointedly extravagant in their d emocratictendency. I t was curious to see the influence exercisedby the blu ff old King over his wayward subject, an ln~

fluence which when removed carried with i t to the graveal l that remained of Garibald i

'

s respect for the House ofSavoy. But of pol itics we wi l l speak more in duetime.We must now pay another visit to Caprera, and see

the inval id at home once more, before his bones, orrather his ashes, are mingled with the island noclmfor

Garibald i was a warm advocate for cremation, as he toldus in a letter to Bizzoni not long ago. I t was writtenonthe occasion when the municipal ity of Florence hadrefused burial in the cemetery of S. Min iato to theremains of Cuneo, whom Garibald i had knownwe ll inMontevideo, who had been a great mover in the variousrevolutions of I taly, and who died in 1875. I t is notenough,

’ writes Garibald i, ‘ for those wretches to forceservi l i ty onthe l i ving, they wish , too, the slavery of

corpses. I wi l l write to Florence, and if the cremationSociety wi l l honour the corpse of my friend, as they didthat of Kel ler, and as I hope they wil l honour mine, theashes shal l receive the hospi tal ity of my sarcophagus atCaprera. ’

But Onegl ia, the birth-place of Cuneo, solved thedi fficulty. The townspeople consented to bury the

unburnt corpse, and the voyage to Caprera wasspared to it.Many al terations have taken place at Caprera since

we paid it a visit, just after the arrival of nurse Fran~cesca to provide for the nourishment of a little Caneio



amongst them the old inval id, in quite a regal way ; andyet the Queen of Caprera was but a poor countrygi rl before her visit to the island associated her for theremainder of his days with the lord thereof .On January the 14 th , 1880, arrived good news at

Caprera. The Court o f Appeal at Rome had annul ledthe sen tence of the Civi l Tribunal at Turin ; the marriage o f Giuseppe Garibald i and Giuseppina Raimondiwas declared null and void on grounds that an Austriancould al lege

,but an I tal ian could not

,and for this once

Garibald i ’s inveterate enemies, the Austrians, did hima good turn , for he had been married , as we haveseen

,at Como

,before their jurisdiction in that town

was at an end .

Ten days af ter the receipt of th is i ntel l igenceFrancesca had her trow seauready, the General donnedhis best clothes, and sat in his smartest bath-chair, whilstTheresi ta and her husband hurried f rom Genoa to assistat the nuptials. Menotti and his wife who came f romRome

,and a few of the General ’s oldest fri ends were

invited, such as Fazzari , Froscinanti, Sgaral lino,more as

witnesses than as guests .At twelve o’clock on the appointed day (j anuary the

e4th) Signor Bargone, Syndic o f La Maddalen a, crossedover to the island , and before this func tionary GiuseppeGaribald i and Francesca were civi l ly un ited . Clelia andManl io acted the parts of bridesmaid and best man totheir parents. Francesca wore a white si lk dress alladorned wi th orange-blossoms , and the General , morehi larious and serene than he had been for many a day

,

sat in his bath-chair dressed in a white pone/w,and with

a scarlet handkerch ief round his neck, and a white onecast over his poor d istorted hands When asked to

describe himself ,he answere<\ gawk“. m o f the agri.

LAme DA vs. 303

cu l tural profession ,’and as such he was entered in the

register. After the ceremony, the happy pair and theirfriends had a repast spread for them ; many heal thswere drunk , and many toasts were given.and while theymt at the meal , telegrams of congratulation poured inf rom al l s ides, includ ing one from the King o f I taly.

Thenceforward ,with every compromising doubt removed ,Signora Francesca felt hersel f Queen indeed , and herfirst subject was no other than her paralysed lord and

So much for the home at Caprera, during theselatter days. Though the office may be an unpleasantone, we cannot pass over in si lence the Garibald iancorrespondence of the last few years

,and his violent

attacks on the Government, which he had sworn to re

spect so few years ago. I tal ian , French, and Engl ish

papers have teemed wi th them : at one time, scarce aday passed without something appearing in the papersof the Pen insula from Garibald i ’s pen, but latterly theyhave given up publ ishing them for very shame ; andItalians mourn over thei r idol , and the l ine he has takenup during his decl ining years.A far more grateful task would it have been to

terminate his career with a description of the Achil leslike shield which the Sici l ians subscribed for, and presented to him. I t was ci rcular, and on the spot where

the ancient boss was placed , a shel l , meant to represent

Caprera, bore the head of Garibald i , inthe act of com

mand, whi le before him the enemies of I taly were seeninflight ; and on the surface were inscribed the nameso f his numerous battles , and the name of Rosolino Pi lo,the precursor o f the Thousand . I t was one of thoseshields about which Homer could have sung ; and weturnwith regret from the contanplationof i t to the

304 LIFE OF 6 1USEPPE GARIBALDI.

very unHomeric language with which Garibaldi inhelatter days deluged the papers.To Garibaldi ’s thinking , I taly was ‘miserable interv

nal ly,and humiliated abroad,

’ on account of themenwho misgovern this unhappy country and he himself.by way of improving matters, tried to emhroil thiscountry not only incivil , but infore ignwar. There wasthe affair of Trent and Trieste Our Eastern N ice andSavoy

,

’ as Garibald i playful ly cal led them . two bits ofI tal ian soi l , ‘ unredeemed from Austrian tyranny,

’ asthey said . Garibaldi was foremost of the war party onthis occasion.

'The Apostle of Peace,’ as he sty led hi msel f , in

many of his letters. by way of bringing about thisdesired end , attacked the Depretis Min istry, for theirpusi l lanimity in not fighting Austria. On November the3oth , 1877 , he writes :

‘J ust as the spurge wi l l never hearcherries, so a Ministry headed by Depretis wi l l neverventure to make those swaggering Austrians understand that, in the present times, conquests made bythe sword are no longer legi timate.

’ And then, perhaps, after a day or two, we find a letter f rom himexhorting every nation to put down the sword, andadvocating international arbitration as the panaceaforevery dispute.Garibald i never could bel ieve thatanygood could come

out of Austria. If they were tyrannical in their dealingswith I taly in 184 8 , thirty years of humil iation had nowserved to show them the error of their ways. ‘Theyare as bad as the Turks ,

’ wrote Garibaldi, urging hiscountrymen to arm onbehal f of I tal ians still inboothage ;

’ yet Trent and Trieste are much happier underAustri an rule than ever they could expect to be underI tal ian . Trieste, for i nstance, wou ld saher like Venice,



curious production for the old warrior hero. For ourpart

,

’ he writes,

‘we are not wanting in men o f power,who are capable of organ ising, under the auspices of

l iberty and justice, an opposition to the overbearingl imits of despotism and l ies. We would have an AntiD iplomatic Congress

,presided over by Victor Hugo, at

Paris. ’ I n short, Victor Hugo and Garibald i coveredeach other with compl iments, and made out, to theirmutual satisfaction

,that there were no greater men

l iving than themselves.Never,

’ wrote Garibald i, ‘wil l un iversal peace beestabl ished , unti l , to use the words of Louis Blane,mankind shal l have no moremasters.Again , at the Voltaire Centenary,Garibald i regretted

much his inabil ity to go to Paris, owing to his health :he sent as his deputy Signor Stefanoni, and wroteVol tai re was not only a l iberal philosopher, he was oneo f the greatest precursors of that revolution which,throughout the whole of Europe, has broken the obstacleso f feudal ism . Voltai re began the work

,and we must

complete i t. ’

Long letters from Garibald i, profi'

ering advice to theGovernment, caused the greatest embarrassment to hisfriend Cairol i. These letters were printed at length inthe democratic papers, and tended to strengthen thoseelements of disunion throughout I taly, whi ch have prevented the newly-un ited kingdom from ever havi ng ini ts Chamber o f Deputies a large working majori ty, wi thwhich salutary schemes for the consol idation of thecountry could be carried out.

One of these letters of advice f rom Caprera runsas fol lows : ‘Worthy o f the I tal ian Parliament, andof the Cairoli M inistry, would be the three followingsubjects .

»

LA 77 5 1? DA vs. 307

1. The nation to be armed .

2 . One general tax.

3. The priests to the mattock .

’

The impossibi l i ty of carrying out any one of thesereforms with a feeble majori ty, never occurred to Garibald i j ust as it never seemed to have occurred to himthat, without money, war could not be carried onagainst

One day, early in 1879 , Garibald i pronounced hisi n ten tion of going to Rome, regardless of a sharpattack of i l lness from which he was su ff ering at thetime, and regardless o f a storm which was blowing ; sohe set off from Caprera, and reached the Eternal City.

T he young King greeted him , his f riends greeted him

yet for a long time no one knew why Garibald i had undertaken this voyage. But Alberto Mario knew and so didthe world, when Garibald i

’s Mani festo came out, and theDemocratic League,

’ under his presidency,was noised

abroad. This man ifesto was a bold one to set up underthe very eyes of the King, and no wonder W annerw ere employed to pul l the notices down whenever theysaw them. I t was decidedly a relief to the Governmentw hen Garibald i fel l i l l at Albano ; and other domestic

affairs, and the progress o f his divorce, occupied his

attention at this time not a l ittle.We have now reached the year 1880, and the latest

episodes in the pol i tical career of our hero. At theM azzin i demonstration in Genoa, Stefano Canz io ,G aribald i’s son-in-law, had been seen very near a red

flag, and some authorities even thought that they had

distinguished his voice in crying, VivalaR epubb/imAt al l events , no less a person than General StefanoCanz io found himself i nside the prison of S. Andrea i nGenoa, and condemned to stay there for three months.

' xa


On hearing this Garibaldi was furious , and determined , feeble as he was, once more to make the best ofhis way to the Continent, to obl ige the Government todeliver his dear son-ino law from his durance vile

, for

getting entirely that Canz io had been found gui l ty bythe law of his country for the breach of the same.Against his old friend, Benedetto Cairol i, he level led

the bi tterest attacks, speaking o f him as the Bayard of

the century,’ and cal l ing him ‘ a footman who had

thrown of f the mask .

’ One letter,indeed , was so rabid

that his f riends prudently kept it from'

publication, atleast

,so said the papers, who were deprived of the spicy

morsel,and at this time even Garibald i’s most intimate

f riends wondered in thei r own minds at the read inesswith which he could cast his former idols into the dust.He wrote an angry letter to his consti tuents resign

ing his seat in the Chambers, saying, ‘ I can no longerhave mysel f counted amongst the legislators . of acountry where l iberty is trampled upon , and the lawsare only used to guarantee the l iberty of the Jesuits,and enemies of I taly.

’ Menotti Garibald i fol lowed hisfather’s example, and sent in his resignation too ; butthe good people of Rome pressed the father and sontoremain in their service, and accordingly their resignations were withdrawn .

Commenting on Garibald i s conduct in this af fair,the Nazz

'

one sagely remarks : ‘ I t is most fortunate forGeneral Garibald i that he does not l ive in one of thoseancient republ ics which are the ideal and the aspirationo f so many ignorant and ingenuous minds. He may hesure that, if he did , his utterances and acts would nothe su f fered with impunity to awaken the clamour whichthey do under this prosaic and wel l-assured consti

rational monarchy .

’



he lay in the window on a couch, il l um ined by a fewlamps and candles behind him, and electric l ight outside

,so that al l might see his emaciated f rame . To

those who cheered him, he waved h is hand , with a sick ly,tired gesture.On the 7th, when recovered f rom his fatigues,accom

panied by al l his family, he vis ited Canz io i n prison.

He was drawn there in a bath-chai r, and remained aquarter of an hour in colloquy with his son-i ndaw,

embracing him again and again , and copiously sheddingtears, for what reason none could tel l. Some sl ightstreet brawl was the on ly result of this expedi tion,andthencame the news that the Government had grantedan amnesty to Canzio, and those impl icated in theaffair.So all was quiet, and Garibaldi

’s object was gained.if h is object had been merely that of getting Canzio outof his comfortable quarters in the prison of 5 . AndreaDuring his stay in Genoa, Garibaldi received end

less deputations. To the working-men’s associationof

Bologna, who sent their deputies, he spoke of universal suff rage as the surest cure for pol itical woes, andgave them this advice : ‘Agitate peaceful ly, but ener

getically, and you wil l have it.’ Then came a deputation

f rom the Romagna of a l ike nature. Fi fty of the thou~

sand of Marsala paid him their respects, embraced him,and shed tears, until at length, worn out by all thisexci tement, the General set off for S. Dam iano d‘

Asti

on October the 24th i n a carriage lent himby the royalfamily.

There was some talk of his going on to Paris thisautumn to visit his dear friend Victor Hugo, whom he

had worshipped with a blind idolatry for the last fewyears. Accord ing to the plan laid down , the whole

LATTER DA 119. 311

Garibald i family were to lodge with Henri Rochefort,and to have al l the furn iture exactly reproduced f romCaprera, so that they m ight feel perfectly at home, andBlanqui wrote him a most flattering letter, which tookup a whole column in the newspaper, and ventured ,amongst other things

,this bold assertion If youwere

to come, General , to Paris, enthusiasm would raisethe people before you, al l France .would proclaim youas the leader of whom she has been in want, and whowould have given her victory.

’ But Signora Garibald idid not l ike to go so far from home, and expose herhusband to influences which might become more powerful than her own

,and , moreover, she was busy just then

o ver a certain house at Asti, which would be a more

p leasant residence for a young widow than the wi lds ofC aprera.So the Paris scheme was abandoned but at M ilan

they were determined to have him for the open ing of amonument to those who had fal len at Mentana—amonument subscnhed for by the democratic partyas a protestagainst a subscription then on foot for a monument inthat ci ty to Napoleon I I I .I t was a wet day, and but a tame afl

'

air. Garibfl dicame, and when he had waved his handkerchief, themonument was uncovered to the tune of the Garibald ihymn . Canz io on . the occasion attacked the Government with the vehemence of a man who had lately beenastate prisoner

,and then a crown of oak was placed on

the top, and the ceremony was concluded.

The visit to Milan was a repetition of that to GenoaDeputations poured in f rom al l sides, and the inval idhe ro was fatigued to death, and then the day beforehis departure there was a congress held in the theatre,the object of which was to advocate universal su ffrage.

31 : ups or GIUSEPPE GAR/RAM ].

Worn out by what he had gone through, Garibaldi couldnot appear in person , but his wife and l ittl e Manlio,aged eight, occupied prom inent positions on the stage,close to a bust of Garibaldi , covered wi th garl ands, andsurmounted by flags.Menotti was there, and Canzio too, also Rochefort,

Blanqui, and the rifl'

-raff of the Paris Commune. Theseworthy people got very angry wi th one another duringthe course of the debate, and the congress d id but l ittletowards advancing the cause of universal suff rage.

Shortly af ter Garibald i and his family set off for

Alassio,where a house had been kindly placed at his

d isposal for the winter. Early spring found himagainYet Italyhas been, after al l, a country in the heart of

which exist two elements diametrical ly opposed to

each other, the happy fusion of which can be the onlyhope for a genuine unity. These are the Papists, the

paobm'

,as they are cal led , and the ultra-rad icals, whose

respective heads l ived at the Vatican and at CapreraThere was the subtle weaponof the con fessional everavai lable to the former,and as long as the latter continued their rai l ings against themthe breach widened.

A story that went the round of the I tal ian papers a shorttime ago i l lustrates this feel ing. A priest was visiting asick man , i n whose room he saw a plaster bust of Geribaldi : this he seized and dashed to the ground , shatter

inval id for the future d ispensed with the services of the

priest ; no wonder Garibald i increased h is vehemence inhis nex t letter against his foes inthe cassock,and wrote,


The Life Giuseppe Garibaldi - Forgotten Books

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