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
"All these decrees have a history attached to them, which, if narrated,
would tell of sufferings and persecutions almost incredible. They are
admirable, and in themselves amount to a beneficial revolution; but the
better and the more sweeping the changes that are introduced, the
greater the necessity for some established government.
"His majesty, Francis II. has already formed his ministry, and placed at
the head of it Gen. Cotruffiano; and among his colleagues are Caselli,
Ulloa—not the general—and Canofari, all of the legal profession.
"MM. Maniscalchi, father and son, notorious for having been the most
active agents of the late king's tyranny at Palermo, were arrested on
the 7th, at Caserta, and taken under escort to Naples."
Another letter, written on the same day, gave the following additional
particulars:
"Troops are continually coming in and marching to the frontier. The
Piedmontese admiral, with another steam frigate and the ex-Neapolitan
ships, is in the harbor.
"I hear the sound of cracked trumpets, and, looking out, see the first
ranks of a Garibaldi division coming down the Santa Lucia. I am struck
by the youthful appearance of some, certainly not more than twelve, or
at the furthest fourteen years old—fair, pretty-looking boys, who might
have had a satchel instead of a knapsack on their backs. There were,
however, some glorious-looking fellows, and all, whether men or boys,
seemed to be animated by a spirit little known to the Neapolitan troops.
The latter were a sect to defend a vile political creed, and inflict
chastisement on those who opposed it; but the former are banded together
to assert the sacred rights of liberty. I saw it in their march; there
was an elasticity about it which denoted what was passing within. I
cannot say much for their uniforms; they were very dirty, out of order,
and irregular, and I have no doubt but that so eminent a general officer
as Ferdinand II. would have been much scandalized; but they were
evidently working men, had an object in view, and were not going to
fight for money. I have seen hundreds of them about the town to-day;
they are billeted about in the hotels and lodging-houses, while the
Piedmontese troops are in Castel-Ovo.
"The city is in immense confusion—crowded, picturesque, almost mad.
Foreigners seem to outnumber the Neapolitans, and the red jacket every
other colored cloth. Such a Babel is every public place that I imagine
myself to be living some thousand years back—Englishmen just arrived,
hob-nobbing with Italians, whose only common lingo is that of the
fingers. Many of our countrymen came on Tuesday, and I watched some of
them carrying on a most animated, though purely gesticulatory,
conversation with Frenchmen yesterday morning."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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. — John Shaqi
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