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
"Seven-league boots must be in fashion again, and Garibaldi must have a
pair. It was but yesterday he was at Faro; then we find him at Pezzo,
Tiriola, Nicastro, Paolo, until, by a series of gigantic strides, by
last reports he was at Campagna, the capital of one of the four
districts of Salerno. I shall expect at any hour to meet the great
dictator in the Toledo. His march has been a continual triumph—war in
its severer aspects he has not seen in the kingdom of Naples, but
wreathed with flowers scattering confections and weeping tears of
welcome and joy. Apart from a hatred of the Bourbons, Garibaldi is
worshipped as a demi-god, and I believe that the veriest reactionist in
the kingdom would sheathe his sword to look at him. It is hero-worship
which has smoothed the passage of the dictator rather than anything more
definite or settled in principle."
The priests, the same letter declared, were much connected with the two
last revolutionary attempts:
"For that of Prince Luigi (Count of Aquila), the vicars of some
parishes, just before the outbreak was to have occurred, placarded the
doors of the houses of their faithful followers with little bills, one
of which is in my possession, bearing this inscription:
"'Viva Jesu Christo!
Viva la Madonna Immacolata!
Viva San Francesco!'
"This was to protect those houses.
"Naples is in a state of the greatest excitement. It is one great heart
without a head, and the most singular contrasts present themselves at
every step. I left a scene of wild confusion in the Toledo late last
night, when the names only of Garibaldi and Victor Emanuel were heard,
and, going down to Santa Lucia, I found every house illuminated, torches
burning, and fagots borne by a crowd of rabble, a small bell tinkling,
and a priest bearing the host, surrounded by hundreds of devotees. They
stop, and the vast crowd fall upon their knees. Silence! not a sound was
heard, except the indistinct roar of voices from the Toledo. On the
walls close behind were the cannon of the Bourbons, and in the offing
the fleets of many nations, all brought out as distinctly as possible by
the gorgeous moonlight of our southern sky. What a host of conflicting
ideas were here brought into juxtaposition and contrast!
"Last night it was decided that the king should leave immediately; at
midnight it was deferred, but _only_ deferred. The throne has well nigh
fallen."
The following Address to the Clergy of the Kingdom was issued by the
Ecclesiastical Committee of Union:
"THE CLERGY OF THE KINGDOM.
"_Viva Italian Independence!_
"_Viva Victor Emanuel!_
"_Viva Giuseppe Garibaldi!_
"PROGRAMME.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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