They had done right, he said, to let the King of Spain live, for it was
not a question of taking the crown of Spain off his head, but to put an
end to the oppression of the people by his covetous ministers. They must
not rest till they had obtained this; but to obtain it, it was necessary
above all things to procure themselves arms, and, by the choice of a
leader, to give union and steadiness to their undertaking. They all
agreed with him, and that very same night they followed his advice and
provided themselves with arms. They stormed the shops of the
sword-cutlers, and took possession of five pieces of light artillery
belonging to the proprietor of a ship, and even during this first night
the name of Masaniello passed from mouth to mouth.
The morning came, but it brought neither assistance nor repose. When the
day dawned there was a beating of drums, a ringing of bells, and country
people pouring in from all sides. The discontented vassals of the barons
in the neighborhood, the banditti, and vagabonds of all kinds increased
the masses of the populace of the capital, who were augmented by troops
of horrible women, and children more than half naked, making the most
dreadful uproar. Arms of all kinds were in the hands of the insurgents;
some of them made use of household and agricultural implements both for
attack and defence. Unfortunately, various powder-magazines fell into
their hands.
At Little Molo they stormed a house in which ammunition had been placed;
it caught fire and blew up; about forty persons were killed and double
the number wounded, most of them severely. The exasperation only
increased. It was soon observed that it was not blind fury alone which
conducted the rebellion--clever management was evident. The Count of
Monterey had given the people a sort of military constitution, as he
divided them into companies according to the quarters of the town, which
resembled those _Hermandades_ which the Archbishop of Tortosa, afterward
Pope Adrian VI, formed in the time of Charles V in Spain, and that
afterward caused an insurrection of the Communeros. This practice in the
forms of war was now of use to the insurgents, and when on the second
morning some of the working classes and mechanics, and persons indeed
that belonged to a higher class of citizens, joined themselves to the
actual mob, thinking to obtain a better government in consequence of the
insurrection, the danger increased. The two principal leaders were
Domenico Perrone, formerly a captain of sbirri, and Masaniello, whom the
people about the market-place and the Lavinaro and its vicinity had
chosen: but Giulio Genuino conducted the whole affair by his counsel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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