Rule of the Monk; Or, Rome in the Nineteenth CenturyGaribaldi, Giuseppe
History
Rule of the Monk; Or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century
Garibaldi, Giuseppe
Italian fiction -- Translations into English; Rome (Italy) -- History -- 1798-1870 -- Fiction
"'All defense is henceforth impossible,' replied I, 'unless we are
resolved to make Rome another Saragossa.' On the 9th of February I
proposed a military dictatorship, that alone was able to place on foot
a hundred thousand armed men. The living elements still subsisted; they
were to be sought for, and they would have been found in one courageous
man. If I had been attended to, the Roman eagle would again have made
its eyrie upon the towers of the Capitol; and with my brave men--and my
brave men know how to die, it is pretty well seen--I might have changed
the face of Italy. But there is no remedy for that which is done. Let
us view with head erect the conflagration of which we no longer are the
masters. Let us take with us from Rome all of the volunteer army who are
willing to follow us. Where we shall be, Rome will be. I pledge myself
to nothing; but all that my men can do that I will do; and whilst it
takes refuge in us our country shall not die."
In the end the following order was issued:-
"The Roman Republic, in the name of God and the People. The Roman
Constituent Assembly discontinues a defense which has become impossible.
It has its post. The Triumvirate are charged with the execution of the
present decree."
NOTE 5.
An attempt has recently been made to give to the so-called Moderate
party the merit of planning a United Italy. Mr. Stansfield, one of the
Lords of the Admiralty, whose recent efforts to reform his department
have already earned for him the gratitude of the English people, says:
"Italy has already accomplished of her unity so much that no policy save
that of an absolute completion of the task is any longer to be dreamed
of or suggested, and considering, too, how predominantly the credit and
the practical fruits of that success have, in the opinion of the world
and in the possession of power, inured to the benefit of the Moderate
party, it would seem natural to imagine that they too must have had the
unity of their country long in view, and that they can have differed
only from the National party as to the policy best adapted to the
attainment of a common object; and yet I believe the acceptance of the
idea of Italian unity, as an object of practical statesmanship, by the
leaders of the Moderate party, must be admitted to be of a very recent
date. I will go back to Gioberti, who was the founder of that party. In
the Sardinian Chambers on the 10th of February, 1849, on the eve of the
short campaign which ended in the defeat of Novara, Gioberti said:
'I consider the unity of Italy a chimera; we must be content with its
union. And if you look to the writings, the speeches, the acts of all
the leading men of the Moderate party until a very recent period, you
will find them all, without exception, not only not propounding or
advocating unity, or directed to its accomplishment, but explicitly
directed to a different solution. You will find the proof of what I
say in Balbo's 'Hopes of Italy;' in Durando's 'Essay on Italian
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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