The Life of General Garibaldi

At length Count Cavour gave notice to the Pope, in the following letter to Cardinal Antonelli, that he must immediately decide on what course to pursue.

"Turin, Sept. 7.

"Eminence: The government of his majesty, the King of Sardinia, could not without serious regret see the formation and existence of the bodies of foreign mercenary troops in the pay of the Pontifical government. The organization of such corps not consisting, as in all civilized governments, of citizens of the country, but of men of all languages, nations and religions, deeply offends the public conscience of Italy and Europe. The want of discipline inherent to such troops, the inconsiderate conduct of their chiefs, the irritating menaces with which they pompously fill their proclamations, excite and maintain a highly dangerous ferment. The painful recollection of the massacre and pillage of Perugia is still alive among the inhabitants of the Marches and Umbria. This state of things, dangerous in itself, becomes still more so after the facts which have taken place in Sicily and in the kingdom of Naples. The presence of foreign troops, which insults the national feeling, and prevents the manifestation of the wishes of the people, will infallibly cause the extension of the movement to the neighboring provinces. The intimate connection between the inhabitants of the Marches and Umbria and those of the provinces annexed to the states of the king, and reasons of order and security in his own territory, lay his majesty's government under the necessity of applying, as far as in its power, an immediate remedy to such evils. King Victor Emanuel's conscience does not permit him to remain a passive spectator of the bloody repression with which the arms of the foreign mercenaries would extinguish every manifestation of national feeling in Italian blood. No government has the right of abandoning to the will and pleasure of a horde of soldiers of fortune, the property, the honor and lives of the inhabitants of a civilized country.

"For these reasons, after having applied to his majesty, the king, my august sovereign, for his orders, I have the honor of signifying to your eminence that the king's troops are charged to prevent, in the name of the rights of humanity, the Pontifical mercenary corps from repressing by violence the expression of the sentiments of the people of the Marches and Umbria. I have, moreover, the honor to invite your excellency, for the reasons above explained, to give immediate orders for the disbanding and dissolving of those corps, the existence of which is a menace to the peace of Italy.

"Trusting that your eminence will immediately communicate to me the measures taken by the government of his holiness in the matter, I have the honor of renewing to your eminence the expression of my high consideration.

"Cavour."

The following is the reply of Cardinal Antonelli:

"Rome, Sept. 11.

"Excellency: Without taking into account the manner in which your Excellency has thought proper to have your letter of the 7th inst. conveyed to me, I have directed my whole attention calmly upon the subject you lay before me in the name of your sovereign, and I cannot conceal from you that it has cost me an extraordinary effort to do so. The new principles of public law which you lay down in your letter, would be, indeed, sufficient to dispense me from giving any answer at all, they being so contrary to those which have constantly been acknowledged by all governments and nations. Nevertheless, feeling deeply the inculpations cast upon the government of his holiness, I cannot refrain from at once noticing the blame, as odious as it is unfounded and unjust, pronounced against the troops belonging to the Pontifical government, and I must add, that I find the pretension of denying the right belonging to the Pontifical government as well as to any other, of having foreign troops in its service, utterly unjustifiable. In fact, many governments of Europe have foreign troops in their pay. On that subject it may be expedient to observe that, owing to the character with which the Sovereign Pontiff is invested as the common father of all believers, he ought to be less subject to criticism than any other for receiving in the ranks of his troops all who come and offer themselves from the various parts of the Catholic world, for the defence of the Holy See, and of the States of the Church.

"Nothing is more false or insulting than to attribute to the Pontifical troops the disorders which have taken place in the states of the Holy See. There is no necessity for asking, for history has already enregistered whence came the troops who have violently constrained the will of the people, and the artifices which have been made use of for throwing into perturbation the greater part of Italy, and ruining all that was most inviolable and most sacred, both in right and in justice.

"As to the consequences which it has been sought to make weigh on the legitimate action of the troops of the Holy See, to put down the rebellion of Perugia, it would truly be more logical to throw that responsibility on those who, from abroad, have excited the revolt; and you know perfectly well, M. le Comte, where that outbreak was concerted, whence were derived money, arms and means of all kinds, and whence instructions and orders were sent to the insurgents.

"There is, consequently, reason for representing as calumnious all that has been said by a party hostile to the government of the Holy See, as to the conduct of its troops, and for declaring that the imputations cast on their chiefs by the authors of proclamations of a nature to excite dangerous ferments, are not less. Your excellency concludes your painful dispatch by inviting me, in the name of your sovereign, to immediately order the disarming and disbanding of the said troops. This invitation was accompanied by a sort of menace on the part of Piedmont in case of refusal, to prevent the action of said troops by means of the royal troops.

"This involves a quasi injunction which I willingly abstain from qualifying. The Holy See could only repel it with indignation, strong in its legitimate rights, and appealing to the law of nations, under the ægis of which Europe has hitherto lived, whatever violence the Holy See may be exposed to suffer, without having provoked it, and against which it is my duty now to protest energetically in the name of his holiness. With sentiments of consideration, I am, etc.,

"G. Cardinal Antonelli."

The occupation of the Roman States by the King of Sardinia was one of the most important and unexpected steps in the war, which soon followed the preceding announcement. The above note was sent by Count Cavour to Cardinal Antonelli, minister of the Pope, in compliance with the urgent demand of the people of Umbria and the Marches, in which the Sardinian government had demanded the immediate dismissal of the papal mercenaries, affirming that the presence of upward of 20,000 foreign troops in the centre of Italy was incompatible with the treaty of Villafranca. The note threatened that unless this demand should be agreed to in 24 hours, the Sardinian army would enter those territories. No reply was received within that time, and then Victor Emanuel issued the following proclamation:

"Soldiers: You enter the Marches and Umbria to restore civil order in their desolated cities, and to afford the people the opportunity of expressing their wishes. You have not to combat powerful armies, but to free unhappy Italian provinces from foreign bands of mercenaries. You go not to avenge the injuries done to me and to Italy, but to prevent the bursting forth of popular hatred and vengeance against misrule. You will teach, by your example, forgiveness of injuries, and Christian tolerance to him who in his folly has compared to Islamism our love for our country, Italy.

"At peace with all the great powers, and without any idea of provocation, I intend to remove from the centre of Italy a perpetual source of disturbance and discord. I desire to spare the seat of the head of the church, to whom I am ready, in accord with allied and friendly powers, to give all those guarantees for independence and security which his blind counsellors have vainly imagined they could obtain from the fanaticism of that mischievous party that conspires against my authority and the liberty of the nation.

"Soldiers; They accuse me of ambition! Yes! one ambition is mine – that of restoring to Italy the principles of moral order and of preserving Europe from the continual peril of revolution and of war.

"Victor Emanuel."

Before the middle of September, General Cialdini had taken the town of Pesaro, and captured twelve hundred of the German troops, being a portion of those bands of foreign soldiers, against the keeping of which France and Piedmont had so long protested, and the retaining of which was the chief ground of the war. Orvieto was also taken. Fossombrone had risen in insurrection, as Pesaro had done before Cialdini's arrival; but Fossombrone, being unsupported, had been reduced to obedience, by such savage punishment as had been suffered by Perugia.

The "London Times" remarked, on receiving this news, and in reviewing the manifesto of Victor Emanuel:

"We freely admit that nothing but the extremity of the evil could justify the step which Sardinia has taken, but we think that step is justified. The evil would not cure itself. For all these reasons, we think the King of Sardinia is entitled to the sympathy of Englishmen in the war in which he has engaged. We wish him cordially success, and that his success may be rapid as well as decisive."

The war, in fact, was begun by the rulers and their hired butchers against the people, before the Sardinian troops crossed the frontier. The presence of those troops was also an insult to Italy, as their express object was to oppose the movement in the free territories. The same writer added the following remarks:

"Then there is the intolerable oppression of the Pope's government. The best proof of that oppression is the fact that the Pope dares not trust his own subjects with arms, but places himself, like Dionysius of Syracuse, in the hands of foreign mercenaries. The spectacle of a people kept down by such means is an outrage on the civilization of the age, and a danger and menace for all the rest of Italy. Till some government be established in the centre of Italy, which can be maintained without ten thousand French troops to garrison the capital, and five and twenty thousand foreign mercenaries to sack insurgent towns, it is in vain to hope for peace."

General Cialdini approached Ancona, and a naval squadron was to coöperate. The battle of Castelfidaro was fought on the 18th of September, when Lieut. General Cialdini was furiously attacked by General Lamoricière, with eleven thousand men and one hundred and forty cannon. Four thousand other papal troops made a sortie from Ancona, to support the latter. The contest was short but bloody. Many of the wounded papists used their daggers against the Piedmontese, who went to assist them. The results, said Cialdini's report, were as follows:

"The junction of Lamoricière's forces with Ancona has been prevented; we have taken six hundred prisoners, among whom are more than thirty officers, some of them of high rank; we have taken six guns, among others those given by Charles Albert to the Pope in 1848, one standard, and numerous ammunition wagons, etc. All the wounded, including General Pimodan, who led the attacking column, are in our hands, and a great number of killed."

General Cialdini conceded the honors of war to this corps, and officers and men were allowed to return to their homes.

General Lamoricière, accompanied by a few horsemen, fled from the field of battle on the 18th, and, following the road by the sea through the defiles of Conero, succeeded in reaching Ancona. All the prisoners and troops were indignant at his conduct. Nothing remained of Lamoricière's army except the troops shut up in Ancona; all the rest were in the hands of the royal troops, with the exception of two thousand men dispersed in the mountains. The Sardinian government offered to the English government to set all the Irish prisoners at liberty. The latter sent a courteous reply, leaving it entirely to the Sardinian government to take such resolutions as it might deem most suitable. The Sardinian government ordered the release of all Frenchmen taken prisoners from Lamoricière.

"The mercenary army of General Lamoricière (as the "London Times" remarked) was the last hope of the Pope. Lamoricière, whom the last accounts had described as seeking a junction with the Royalist Neapolitan troops, and threatening a southward movement upon the Garibaldians, had appeared suddenly before Ancona. Cialdini accepted the offered battle, and the event has been that the African general was totally and entirely routed. Those bands, from whom so much was expected, seem to be of no avail whatever against the Sardinian soldiers. This fire-eating and pious soldado, who had fulminated such dreadful threats, and who was known to have done such strong deeds among the Arabs, has really done nothing in Italy which might not have been done by one of the College of Cardinals. With eleven thousand men, and the vigorous aid of the garrison of Ancona, he has simply marched up to a signal defeat."

Ancona was soon after besieged, blockaded, bombarded, and captured. The Sardinian navy and army displayed great skill as well as discipline and courage in this operation. The particulars of this must be omitted, as well as most others connected with the march of Victor Emanuel on his triumphant course toward Naples.

The city of Spoleto was besieged and soon taken. The besieged had three guns, two on a platform above, overlooking the town, and one below, placed in an embrasure on the left of the outer gate of the enceinte, so as to command the road leading up to it. They were iron guns of no great range, but still serviceable. The smallest of the three, in the embrasure by the gate, was the only one that did any execution.

The Piedmontese arrived at Spoleto in the morning. They were between two thousand and three thousand strong, and had one battery of field artillery, consisting of six guns. The fact is, that the whole thing was a farce; there was very little attack, and still less defence. The report of the commandant of Spoleto is an enormous exaggeration.

The Piedmontese, on their part, did not press the siege with much vigor. The Italians were positively disaffected, and threatened their foreign comrades to blow up the powder magazine if they did not give in. Most of the Irish asked nothing better than to escape from the service and from the country, and the rest of the garrison – the motley crew of German, French, Swiss, and Belgians – they were few in number and of little worth. The whole loss of the Piedmontese was, according to the evidence afterward obtained, under one hundred men. The loss of the garrison is stated at three killed and ten wounded.

Nothing, certainly, says a visitor, could be more complete or miserable than the failure and break-down of the Irish contingent to the Pope's harlequin army. It would be very unjust, however, to consider this to be in any degree a stain on the gallant Irish nation, whose impetuous courage and many excellent military qualities, every one must recognize and admire. The same ignominious disasters might, and no doubt would, have fallen to the lot of any body of men, no matter of what nation, similarly recruited, and deceived, and neglected, and sent into the field without the training and education which make the soldier. The shame falls not on Ireland, but on those who insnared unwilling recruits to prop a bad cause.

Perugia, which was the scene of an inhuman butchery last year, committed by some of the horde of foreign wretches who formed the Pope's army, was now held by about three thousand of them, who made a strong resistance. The garrison had raised barricades in all parts of the town, and occupied the houses, from which they fired upon the Sardinians. Every street was the scene of a conflict; but the assistance afforded to General Fanti by the inhabitants made the struggle much shorter than it would otherwise have been. A considerable portion of the Pontifical carbineers contrived to escape out of the town – the others retired to the citadel, which could not hold out long. Toward evening the fort capitulated, and the whole of the garrison, consisting of 1,600 men, were made prisoners, as well as General Schmidt, who commanded them. He was the worthy chief of the adventurers whom the Italians so cordially detested. Switzerland refused to acknowledge him. He was one of the heroes of that impious war of the Sonderbund, which caused much bloodshed in the Swiss cantons. He was subsequently exiled.

Victor Emanuel's address to the people of Southern Italy, dated at Ancona, October 9th, 1860, concludes thus:

"People of Southern Europe: My troops are advancing among you to establish order. I do not come to impose upon you my will, but to cause yours to be respected. You will be able to manifest it freely. Providence, which protects just causes, will inspire the vote which you will deposit in the urn. Whatever be the gravity of events, I wait tranquilly the judgment of civilized Europe and that of history, because I have the consciousness of having fulfilled my duty as king and Italian. In Europe my policy will not be useless in reconciling the progress of the people with the stability of monarchies. In Italy I know that I terminate the era of revolutions.

"Victor Emanuel."Farini.

"Given at Ancona, Oct. 9, 1860."

In the middle of October Victor Emanuel entered from the north the kingdom of Naples, which Garibaldi had now won for him, though by expressly disobeying him, as we have before seen. The Piedmontese army, approaching by two columns, was now drawing, as a writer remarked, "the iron circle, out of which there is no outlet. One column has already passed Foggia on its way to Benevento and the Upper Volturno; it has landed at Manfredonia, and is making its way through the plains of the Capitanata. The other, under the personal command of the king himself, has landed at Giulia, and has pushed forward to Pescara, whence a branch leads into the main road from the north through the Abruzzi into the rear of Capua.

"As for the Piedmontese troops landed at Naples, they have already taken up their position in line. It was high time, for the fatiguing service, in the heavy autumnal rains, with the cold winds, the heavy dews, and chilly mornings, was fast thinning the ranks. For the most part in the open air, or with but indifferent huts, constructed of branches and straw, without camp fires at night, and with continual alarms, it was a wonder that these young volunteers could resist as they did."

CHAPTER XX

"Our Tricolor, not as in days that are gone,Shows Italia disjoin'd, but united in one;The White is the Alps, our volcanos the Red,And the Green the rich fields over Lombardy spread,". Dall' Ongaro. T. D.THE PRESENT POSITION OF THINGS – DOUBTS RESPECTING GARIBALDI – DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CAMP AT CAPUA – ENGLAND DECLARES FOR VICTOR EMANUEL – GARIBALDI'S PROCLAMATIONS – MEETING OF GARIBALDI AND VICTOR EMANUEL

And now the short but momentous drama of the year was drawing rapidly toward its close. Whatever opinions may be entertained respecting the original intentions of Louis Napoleon, Victor Emanuel, or their counsellors, or the period when they were expected to come to their accomplishment, it seems certain that the steps taken by them not only hastened the epoch, but secured its success. The world may perhaps never know what part was performed by individuals in plans and councils, nor be able to judge of their comparative merits or abilities. But of Garibaldi we have much better opportunity to form our opinion, and on most points there is little room for doubt or misapprehension. One question still remained to be solved to those who had not attentively observed his career in former times; and some, probably, expected to see him ultimately break the promise which he had made, to resign his power and possessions to Victor Emanuel; while more, it is natural to believe, expected to see him claim a high reward, or at least to accept such splendid honors and permanent powers as the King of Sardinia would, of course, be ready to bestow. Anxious fears were expressed, and eager inquiries were made, by many well-wishers of Italy and admirers of her hero, especially about the epoch at which we have arrived.

The siege of Capua was pressed. A Scotch gentleman, who had visited Garibaldi's camp and hospitals, thus wrote on the 6th of October:

"Let any man go to the hospital – what cruel wounds, what horrific sights! and how cheerfully some of the sufferers bear their troubles. We have heard much of the noble way in which our English heroes in the Crimea conducted themselves. Truly many of the common soldiers of this patriot army might take rank beside them. Again, as to the officers. If Garibaldi has thought it advisable to break some of their swords, how many instances can be cited of a heroism in others which cannot be surpassed. There is a young Sicilian nobleman, Baron de Cozzo, commonly termed 'The Flower of Sicily,' and beloved by Garibaldi as a son, now lying cruelly wounded and suffering in the hospital of Caserta. He had fought untouched all through the campaign, from Palermo to Capua. He was in the thick of the battle of the 12th at Capua, and was still unhurt, but he observed a private of his company in the front struck down wounded; he returned, put the man on his back, and was carrying him off, when he received his own wound, and such a one as will most probably render him a painful cripple the rest of his days, if, indeed, he survives it. Hundreds of wounded men, and many others mere boys, came into Naples yesterday, after the battle; and we must reflect how many more must have fought bravely to render such an account.

"Yesterday morning, Captains Smelt and Davidson started early for the batteries situate on the hills of St. Angelo. On arriving at the camp at the base of the hill, they joined Lieutenant Cowper, of Major Pietuni's brigade, and proceeded to the batteries where the guns had been put into position in order to prevent the royalist army from getting round to Caserta, as they had previously succeeded in doing. On gaining the summit of the hill they perceived a body of artillery with a couple of guns advancing from the right of Cajazzo, with some cavalry on the left. The officers having been granted the use of the guns, opened fire upon the enemy as they gradually approached. Although the first trial shots fell somewhat short, they had the effect of checking the artillery. The cavalry, however, advanced notwithstanding, when another shell fell in amongst them, and sent them flying. Captains Davidson, Smith, and Cowper, finding that they were now making tolerably good practice, and seeing a house on the other side of the river where there appeared to be something stirring, they dropped a shell right into the centre of the said mansion, and out came the contents like so many bees disturbed in their hive.

"We started this morning for Santa Maria. The havoc amongst the avenues of trees on the roads shows how severe the contest must have been.

"The view of the field of operations from the top of Mount St. Angelo toward Capua, is most commanding. Garibaldi, in a round black hat turned up at the rim, and in a light brown cloak, lined with Rob Roy tartan, was coming down the hill with his staff, and we joined in. He held a sort of standing council at the bottom of the hill with one or two officers who met him, but he spoke so low, that only those quite close to him could hear a word. We then returned to Caserta with Colonel Peard, Major Wortley, Captains Sarsfield and Davidson."

An American gentleman who visited the camp before Capua, and the Palace of Caserta in October, thus spoke of them in a letter:

"In company with two English gentlemen and Madame S., of Naples, I visited the camp before Capua. As we drove down the road leading to the River Volturno, we reached the extreme point where the road turned round the base of St. Angelo, when a sentinel stopped us, saying, 'You are in great danger from the batteries from the other side, which command the entire road you have just come down, and they have been firing upon us this morning.' We at once halted, and sent our carriage back, and under the conduct of one of Garibaldi's men, ascended the mountain till we reached the summit of the rising ground, and had a good view of Capua and its defences. While thus standing at gaze, aided by glasses, a gun was fired from a small battery we had not before observed on the side of the opposite mountain. In an instant the ball flew over our heads, and chanced to fall in the camp beyond, near a group of officers, and killed a horse. With this notice to quit, we descended and reached the road of St. Angelo, just as Garibaldi and his staff were ascending, and soon saw him standing alone on the highest point, scanning the enemy's position with his glass. One of his aids who had joined us, and who was known to Madame S., said it was the general's custom to remain for hours upon the mountain; so we were compelled to give up all hope of seeing him. As we were walking toward the place where our carriage was, we were addressed by an English gentleman, such a one as we have in our minds when we hear the song sung of 'The fine old English gentleman, all of the olden time.' His dress and bearing were alike the type of a landed gentleman out of the agricultural counties. He begged us to avoid the road, as we were within the range of the enemy's guns. Thanking him for his kindness we left him, and among our guesses we thought he must be no other than Colonel Praed, who is to command the English contingent – a regiment of men just arrived, and who had been that day sent forward as far as the king's palace at Caserta.