The Life of General Garibaldi

"The city is in immense confusion – crowded, picturesque, almost mad. Foreigners seem to outnumber the Neapolitans, and the red jacket every other colored cloth. Such a Babel is every public place that I imagine myself to be living some thousand years back – Englishmen just arrived, hob-nobbing with Italians, whose only common lingo is that of the fingers. Many of our countrymen came on Tuesday, and I watched some of them carrying on a most animated, though purely gesticulatory, conversation with Frenchmen yesterday morning."

After the peaceful and triumphal entry of Garibaldi into Naples, new rumors were put into circulation of a pretended disagreement between him and the King of Sardinia. These were most satisfactorily refuted by the measures which the victorious general adopted immediately afterward. On the 14th of July, he proclaimed the government of Victor Emanuel, placed all the ships of war and commerce, the arsenals and materials of marine, by decree, at the disposal of Sardinia, and put them into the hands of Admiral Persaro; the portfolio of the interior was confirmed to Liborio Romano, the only member of the late ministry who enjoyed the confidence of the people. The choice of Scialoia, who had already left Genoa to assume the ministry of finance, was very generally applauded. Two battalions of genuine Piedmontese Bersaglieri were landed from the Sardinian men-of-war, and took possession of the Darsena. Telegraphic orders were sent for two more Piedmontese regiments to garrison the Neapolitan forts. By taking the Neapolitan marine under its command, and occupying the strongholds, dockyards and arsenals about this place, the Sardinian government committed itself more openly to the annexation of these kingdoms than it ever dared to do in the case of Tuscany or Romagna last year. And all these measures were taken not only with the consent but by the express desire of Garibaldi, who certainly exhibited no apprehension that the king's government would interfere with his vast undertakings.

The extreme joy with which the news of Garibaldi's entrance into Naples was received by all classes and parties, from Messina to the Alps, can be best understood by those who know the detestation with which the oppression and vindictive cruelty of the late government were universally regarded. This feeling was greatly increased by the disappointment of the nation in all those hopes to which the death of Ferdinand had given birth, and the conviction that his successor was determined to tread in his father's steps rather than enter sincerely on any new course. When Francis II. ascended the throne, it was felt that a young monarch, above all, one educated as he had been, had every claim to public consideration, and very sincere hopes were for the time entertained, that he would cease to follow the beaten track of Bourbon perjury and despotism, and frankly identify himself with the wants and aspirations of his country. Possessing, through his mother, a considerable hold on the affections of his subjects, and succeeding a sovereign who was detested by his people, he had an excellent position, and by a judicious system of even moderate reforms, might have conciliated all parties and opposed a successful barrier to the tide of revolution that was soon to sweep over the landmarks of Italy.

The amnesty was followed by a "circular" which struck at its very root and replaced thousands under the surveillance of the police. Then came the infamous and illegal deportation to Capri of men who had never been put upon their trial, and upon whose liberation England had insisted, through her minister, in the strongest terms. A system was pursued that has been characterized as a perpetual violation of all law, and a practical denial of Christianity.

The general satisfaction felt by the people of Naples after Garibaldi's arrival amounted to enthusiasm. An Englishman, writing from that city on the 14th of July, thus described the aspect of the people:

"I do not know Naples now, so changed is its aspect. Faces that I have not seen for twelve years appear in every street and square. They have come from foreign exile; from confinement in some frontier town or village; from some voluntary lurking place, the retirement to which was their only security from persecution; from the prison and the bagnio; all have met together again, by hundreds and thousands, in the capital of what was once the two Sicilies. Revolution is said to turn the dregs uppermost; yet the appearance and manner of those who now appear on the scene contradict the common proverb. In their very attitude, there is an air of self-respect and independence to which I have long been a stranger. I do not see the assumption or the swagger of the overbearing, or the timidity of the man who leaves his friend, and walks on before, because a spy is coming, or whispers and looks over his shoulder for fear that such a person is listening. No; all this has passed away, and I meet erect, independent men. My life here has brought me, too, into frequent intercourse with them; and, accustomed as I have been to the trivialities and the nullities rendered at first necessary, and afterward habitual, by despotism, I have been astonished at the new tone of thought and conversation. The Neapolitans now reason and talk like men, and there is a degree of self-restraint about them which is in the highest degree creditable after the sufferings to which they have been so long exposed. It is clear that the intellect of the country has for years been out of it, or in seclusion, or in imprisonment. Nor is this to be wondered at, when ignorance was rewarded and learning discouraged by those twins of darkness, the sovereign and the clergy, and the only hopes of the Bourbons and the Vatican depend upon brutalizing the national mind. Ferdinand II. it was who interrupted a father describing the acquirements of his son by saying, 'Better he had a stone round his neck, and be thrown into the sea;' and it was a priest who held a high public office, who checked a person indulging in a similar style of speaking by saying that it would be well for the rising generation to be 'little asses and little saints.' These times are, however, passing away; heaven grant that the light of freedom and intelligence may not dazzle the as yet unaccustomed vision of the natives.

"We have likenesses of Victor Emanuel and of Garibaldi in every shop window, and multitudes crowd around them to admire; in short, there is at present a furia for the Re Galantuomo and the Hero of Sicily."

The prisons of the police were thus described by the same writer:

"I yesterday saw some of them. Several members of the commission appointed to close them – themselves once prisoners here – accompanied me. A grated door led down to an ante-chamber, which was lighted only through these bars. Stone walls, stone floor – stone everywhere, except the ground, which was covered over with burnt fragments of books, that had been taken in domiciliary visits and destroyed here. 'Here one breathes,' said a pardoned prisoner; 'but bring a light,' he said to a jailer, and we descended from this twilight room into another which received the reflection of the twilight through a hole in the door. It was small and of stone – nothing but stone – and on the right I observed a stone bed three feet high from the ground, with an elevation of stone called a pillow. A door is opened and leads into another room, where no twilight, no reflected twilight, nor a ray of light nor a breath of air can penetrate. 'I was imprisoned here,' said one of my conductors. I looked at him as if expecting to find that he was turned into a brute beast, for it was a den for a wild animal, not a chamber for a Christian man, in a country teeming with Christ's ministers, and where the holy Apostolic Catholic religion is the only one permitted to be professed. In some parts a man could not stand upright, so that there he lay in Stygian darkness, without any change of air, 'and on bare ground,' said my friend, 'unless he could afford to pay an extortionate price for a mattress, to a licensed spy and denouncer, who drove a good trade in human misery.' 'Let us leave this den,' I said, and so we groped back into the chamber where the reflection of twilight penetrated. 'Take care,' cried the jailer, as I stumbled over a mountain of old books and papers. On the opposite side was another criminale about eleven by five palms, where five or six persons were at times confined. The smell of the prison was insufferable. Now mark, who were the men confined in these places not fit for beasts? Not condemned criminals; no! but men arrested on suspicion and waiting for an order for their committal – men of rank and education accustomed to the comforts of a home."

The following passages from a letter written at Florence, are very appropriate in this place:

"The ministry appointed by the Dictator is a liberal but moderate one. Garibaldi is in earnest in his devotion to the King of Sardinia, and in his determination to unite Italy under his rule. It is to be hoped that he will, as soon as may be, commence the work of raising the Neapolitan people out of some of the absurd superstitions which have always kept them in ignorance, and made them the serfs of juggling priests. He has not yet countenanced, by his presence at the operation, the ridiculous juggle of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Januarius, which is held in such high esteem by the Neapolitans, that all the conquerors of the city have heretofore been obliged to respect it. Saint Januarius, according to tradition, was exposed to be devoured by lions in the amphitheatre of Pozzuoli, when the animals, instead of devouring him, prostrated themselves before him, and immediately became tame. So many persons were converted to Christianity by this miracle, that the saint was ordered to be decapitated, which was done at Solfatara, in the year 305, and the body was buried at Pozzuoli, until the time of Constantine, when it was removed by St. Severus, the Bishop of Naples, and deposited in the church of St. Gennaro. When this removal was made, the woman who is said to have collected the blood at the time of the execution, took it in two small bottles to St. Severus, in whose hands it is said to have immediately melted. After undergoing several removals, the body of the saint was brought back to Naples in 1497, and deposited with great pomp in the cathedral, and the phials containing the blood secured in a tabernacle kept securely locked with two keys, one of which is kept by the archbishop and the other by the municipal authorities. Twice a year, and at other times, on extraordinary occasions, the phials are brought out, and the clots of dried blood, by some chemical process which has been secretly preserved among the priesthood and handed down for four centuries, made to liquefy and run in the phials. Can a people appreciate and derive much benefit from free institutions so long as they permit their senses to be cheated by such a palpable swindle as this?

"But if detestation for young Bomba and his government have been heightened by his flight, how much more grandly than ever Garibaldi looms up in the light of a brave, noble, disinterested, patriotic man. Three months from the day when he left Genoa with a handful of adventurers, denounced as a filibuster and a pirate by the lovers of legitimacy and tyranny, he enters Naples with but five of his staff, knowing that his deeds had made him a home in the hearts of the people there, who welcome him as their angel of deliverance. Naples lights up with joy – the free flag of Italy waves from her windows, her long oppressed citizens shout exultingly, and crown the hero with wreaths of laurel, and fill his ears with glad cries of 'Long live Garibaldi.' Well does he deserve them. Five marvellous stages mark the progress of the hero, Marsala, Palermo, Malazzo, Reggio, and Naples, all passed over in the short space of three months – and this has been all the time which Garibaldi required, supported as he was by the national sentiment, to overthrow a monarchy deemed immovable, which, not four years since, defied France and England, and which in the face of the naval preparations of the two greatest powers of the world, had determined to persevere in its resistance. Such triumphs, such ovations, would have turned the brain of a weaker or more ambitious man, and Garibaldi has given the lie to those adherents of tyranny who have charged him with personal ambition, by immediately, upon taking possession of the capital of the Two Sicilies, proclaiming the territory and himself under the reign and rule of Victor Emanuel. In future ages, when the deeds of the Cæsars and the Alexanders and the Napoleons shall be appreciated as they deserve, according to their merits, how high above them all will rise the memory of the two greatest of the world's heroes, of the two men whose personal ambition was merged and forgotten in the welfare of their country, of two men worthy to stand ever side by side and hand in hand – Washington and Garibaldi."

CHAPTER XVII

"Thou, Æneas' nurse, Caieta, gav'st thy name,In dying, to our shores, with deathless fame;Thy name the place shall keep, thy bones shall guard,In great Hesperia, if that be reward." Virgil's Æneid, Book vii. T. D.THE GOOD ORDER IN NAPLES – ITS CAUSES – GARIBALDI VISITS PALERMO – RETURNS – THE KING AND HIS ARMY AT GAETA AND CAPUA – DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF GAETA AND CAPUA – PRESENT CONDITION OF GAETA

In what a peculiar, unexpected, and unaccountable condition must the minds of the citizens of Naples have been before and after the arrival of Garibaldi! Whoever has visited that city, as thousands of our countrymen have done, and, while admiring the celebrated climate and scenery, observed the poverty, ignorance, superstition, and idleness of the mass of the people, especially the Lazzaroni – seventy thousand of whom, it has often been asserted, have no home or shelter, or certain means of subsistence – must have been ready to believe that scenes of lawless violence might be excited there with great facility, and that riots might occur if the government were weakened even for a moment. How strong and general, then, must have been the salutary influences at work to preserve peace and order in that population of nearly a million, under the circumstances which have been reviewed! What could possibly have secured such results but the faithful care of wise and good men? The patriotic committee must have been successful in their efforts to enlighten people of all classes, and to instill patriotic sentiments into the hearts even of the Lazzaroni themselves; and they and the rulers must have been well acquainted with the effects which had thus been produced, or they would never have suffered, much less invited, Garibaldi to enter Naples as he did, with only a few unarmed friends, and meet with so peaceful and kind a reception.

On the 17th of September, Garibaldi made a flying visit to Palermo, in the Neapolitan steamer Electrica. His arrival was entirely unexpected; but, on his way from the landing to the palace, he was recognized by the crowd, who followed and assembled beneath the palace windows. He made his appearance on the balcony, and addressed them in these words:

"People of Palermo, with whom I have shared fatigues, perils and glory, I am once more among you. Your memory is dear to me, and whatever part of the world I may be in, I will always think of you.

"Those who wished to urge you to a speedy annexation, were putting you in the wrong path. If I had followed their advice, I should not have crossed the Straits and restored seven millions of men to Italy.

"They would have prostrated us at the feet of diplomacy, which would have bound us hand and foot. There would have been brothers beyond the Vulturnus, with chains on their ankles. People of Palermo, I thank you in the name of Italy for your resistance. I love Italy and Victor Emanuel; no one is a greater friend than myself of Victor Emanuel, the representative of Italy. You despised their counsels, and I thank you for it, you invincible people of the barricades."

The following proclamation was issued by Garibaldi to the inhabitants of Palermo:

"The people of Palermo, who showed no fear in face of those who bombarded their city, have shown themselves recently equally regardless of fear in face of corrupt men, who want to lead them astray.

"They have spoken to you of annexation, as if any one was more fervent than myself for the regeneration of Italy; but their object was to serve personal interests, and you replied like a people who felt its own dignity, and placed confidence in the sacred and unviolated programme which I proclaimed – 'Italy and Victor Emanuel.'

"At Rome, people of Palermo, we will proclaim the kingdom of Italy, and there only will be sanctified the great family-bond between free men and those who are still slaves of the same country.

"At Palermo annexation was demanded, that I might not pass the Straits; at Naples it is demanded that I may not cross the Volturno. But as long as there are chains to be broken in Italy, I will follow my course or bury my bones there.

"I leave you Mordini, as pro-Dictator, and certainly he will show himself worthy of you and of Italy. I have yet to thank you, as well as the brave national militia, for the faith you have placed in me and in the destinies of our country.

"Garibaldi.

"Palermo, Sept. 17, 1860."

The following proclamation was addressed to the Palermitans a few days before:

"Near to you, or far from you, brave people of Palermo, I am with you, and with you for all my life!

"Bonds of affection, community of fatigue, of danger, of glory, bind me to you with indissoluble ties; moved from the very depths of my soul, with my conscience as Italian, I know that you will not doubt my words. I separated myself from you for the common cause, and I left you another self – Depretis! Depretis is confided by me to the good people of the capital of Sicily; and, more than my representative, he is the representative of the holy national idea, 'Italy and Victor Emanuel.' Depretis will announce to the dear people of Sicily the day of the annexation of the island to the rest of free Italy. But it is Depretis who must determine – faithful to my mission and to the interest of Italy – the fortunate epoch. The miserable beings who talk to you of annexation to-day, people of Sicily, are the same who a month ago spoke to you and stirred you up; I ask them, people, if I had condescended to their individual littlenesses, could I have continued to fight for Italy – could I have sent you this day my salutation of love from the beautiful capital of the Southern Italian continent? Well, then, noble people, to the cowards who hid themselves when you fought in the barricades of Palermo for the liberties of Italy, you will say, from your Garibaldi, that the annexation and the kingdom of King Victor Emanuel we will proclaim quickly; but there, on the heights of the Quirinal, when Italy shall count her sons in one family, and receive all as free men in her illustrious bosom, and bless them.

"G. Garibaldi."

Garibaldi has always been humane and sympathizing, and especially with his own suffering soldiers. Of this there are proofs in the preceding pages. Few men ever knew as well as he how to make the unfortunate feel that they were compassionated. The following is an account of one of his visits to the hospitals of Palermo, from the letter of one of our own countrymen, who had offered his services as a surgeon early in the Sicilian war:

"One of the most moving sights it has been my lot to witness, was Garibaldi's visit here the other morning. As he entered the different wards, it seemed as though an electric shock had been communicated to all the inmates; after the first joyful cry: 'E lui! E Garibaldi! E il Generale!" a dead silence prevailed; all eyes were fixed upon him as he passed from bed to bed, taking the thin, wasted hands in his, or pressing his own upon many a feverish brow, making each patient feel that he was his general's favorite son, and that from him he might expect all that a father's tenderness could give. All his own men were known to him; he called them by their names, remembered where and how they were wounded, promoted this one, promised honorable employment to others disabled for military service, granting permission to others to go home, and providing them with ample means. When he came to the Sicilians, he inquired kindly into their wants and condition; ordered that the pay of one should be doubled, that another should be pensioned, and so on. But perhaps the most interesting scene of all was his visit to the Neapolitan ward, where we have eleven wounded prisoners, who have petitioned to enter our ranks. After being told that they were wounded at Calata Fimi, he said, 'Then you are brave men, truly! You have been misled; taught to look on us as enemies. I am fortunate to have you for my soldiers and for brothers.' Those men, strong and stalwart as they were, wept like little children, and in Garibaldi's eyes were tears; none could help weeping, and one felt why it is that he is so loved, so idolized by all. When the emotion had a little passed, they tried to kiss his hands; he snatched them away. 'No, no!' he said, 'no more Eccellenza; no more kissing of hands; that is servile. We are Italians – brothers – we are equals!'"

On Garibaldi's return to Naples, he had soon to turn his attention from the city toward the strongholds to which the poor king had retired, in the northwestern extremity of his late kingdom. The only territory now remaining to him of "the Two Sicilies," was the remarkable promontory of Gaeta and the adjacent range of mountainous and hilly country, extending southwesterly a few miles, near the frontier of the Pope's dominions, and along the courses of the rivers Volturno and Garigliano, to the heights of Capua. Gaeta and Capua have long been strong fortresses, and have known, at different periods, the hard fate of war. In Gaeta the present pope found a refuge, when he fled from Rome in 1848; thence were sent the calls to his spiritual subjects in all countries, to make contributions of "Peter's pence," and the demands on "Catholic powers," to reinstate the "Gentle Shepherd" in his sheepfold – by force of arms. That call was answered by four monarchs; one of whom, the savage father of the now fugitive King of Naples, had his armies, too, routed by the now victorious Garibaldi; and another, Louis Napoleon, after having his advance of 8,000 men driven back by the same hero, at the point of the bayonet, afterward, by false faith and overwhelming numbers, took the city by fraud and bombshells, and, on one pretext and another, has held it to the present time. He, however, has recently done so much for Italy, and seems resolved to do so much more, that her friends gladly indulge the hope, that he will continue a course quite the opposite of that which history was compelled to record nearly twelve years ago, and which posterity will ever be compelled emphatically to condemn.

A description of Gaeta, Capua, and Caserta will be necessary to many readers, before a connected account is given of the important military events which took place in that remarkable vicinity in October and November, 1860.

The traveller who leaves Naples for Rome, soon joins the route taken by the Apostle Paul from Puteoli. He first crosses the Campagna di Lavoro (country of labor), formerly called by the Romans, the Campania Felix (happy country), and now covered with countless fields, pastures, gardens and forests of vineyards. At the distance of about twenty miles, he reaches the foot of the bare mountain range above mentioned, where are seen the ruins of ancient Capua; and after winding among eminences – among scenes desolate compared with those he has seen – and crossing the Volturno and the Garigliano, he stops at Castello or Mola di Gaeta. From the windows or terrace of the post-house he looks out through a garden of flowers and orange-trees, upon a fine bay, several miles across, the shores of which, low and curving round on the right, extend to a high, round mountain opposite, where a city is seen at its foot, and the zigzag walls and batteries of a mighty fortress on its sides and summit. That is Gaeta.

When seen and sketched by the writer, not a ship or boat lay on the noble bay, and there was scarcely a sign of life on the land. Cicero's tomb (if tradition may be trusted) is one of the large square masses of brick-work, overgrown with ivy, which stand near the road beyond the hotel; for on his way to Gaeta was the great Roman orator assassinated, by command of the treacherous Octavius.