The Life of General Garibaldi: Translated from his private papers; with the history of his splendid exploits in Rome, Lombardy, Sicily and Naples, to the present time.Garibaldi, Giuseppe
History
The Life of General Garibaldi: Translated from his private papers; with the history of his splendid exploits in Rome, Lombardy, Sicily and Naples, to the present time.
Garibaldi, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 1807-1882
My clothes were at last so reduced, that I
was all but naked, and so I have passed four summers and winters, pacing
up and down my narrow chamber.
"'I will show you my prison-dress,' said he; and going out, returned in
a few moments. He might have stood as a model for Lazarus risen from the
tomb. The lower part of his body was covered with a thin pair of linen
drawers, nothing more. On his feet was a pair of shoes, with soles and
upper leather all in holes. He had no shirt, but over the upper part of
his body, was thrown a rag, something like a common kitchen-towel, one
corner of which he had placed on his head, as the long elfin locks which
had not been cut, for many years hung down over his neck and shoulders.
He appeared more like a brute than a Christian man. 'See this rag,' said
he, 'how I have botched it. This was my dress, and so clad, I paced up
and down my solitary den.'
"There is much that Casanova reports of himself that I do not repeat,
for it is so mysterious that I require further evidence of its
correctness. There can, however, be no doubt of his sufferings and
imprisonment in Naples. It has long been whispered about here that an
unknown individual was lying in the prisons of San Francisco, but
nothing was known of him. He was one of the mysteries of the dungeon,
and even now there is much to unravel. Who is he?—what secret motives
led to his double confinement here and in Rome?—why was he transferred
from the hands of a Christian cardinal to the mercies of De Spagnoli?
What he said I report, and time must unravel his story; but the world
will know how to appreciate the influence of a priesthood under whose
eye such enormities have been committed."
In Naples, on the 26th of June, assemblages of the population commenced.
The populace shouted "GARIBALDI forever!" "Annexation forever!" "Death
to the police!" The following day a panic took place; the police were
maltreated, and disappeared as soon as the same cries were raised by the
populace.
The king had twice sent Signor Aquila to Baron Brenier, and had promised
to make a strict investigation.
On the 28th of June all the police stations were pillaged in open day;
forty of the agents were surprised, and either killed or wounded. The
archives were burnt. The spoils were carried about in triumph by the
populace.
The king had arrived at Naples, and had ordered the immediate formation
of a national guard.
A proclamation was issued, prohibiting seditious shouts, and
recommending the military to disperse assemblages of the population with
moderation.
As the successes of Garibaldi in Calabria became known in the city of
Naples, and his unimpeded advance toward that capital, the excitement
daily increased. A letter, dated there on the 5th of September, said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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