THE ADVANCE FROM REGGIO.
Professor Forli was silent until he and Frank had passed out through the
gate of the castle, then he took a long breath.
"The air of freedom," he said, "is no different from that I have
breathed daily on the walls there, for well-nigh three years, and yet it
seems different. It is a comfort that my prison lay in this fair spot,
and not in some place where I could see but little beyond the walls.
Often and often have I thanked God that it was so, and that, even as a
free man and with the world before me, I could see no more lovely scene
than this. There was change, too: there was the passage of the ships; I
used to wonder where each was sailing; and about the passengers, and how
hopefully many of these were going abroad to strange countries in search
of fortunes, and how few were returning with their hopes fully
satisfied. I smiled sometimes to think of the struggle for wealth and
advancement going on in the world round me, while I had no need to think
of the future; but my needs, always, as you know, few and simple, were
ministered to; and though cut off from converse with all around me, I
had the best company in the world in my cell. How thankful I was that my
memory was so good--that I could discourse with the great men of the
world, could talk with Plato and argue with Demosthenes; could discuss
old age with Cicero, or travel with either Homer or Virgil; visit the
Inferno with Dante, or the Heavens with Milton; knew by heart many of
the masterpieces of Shakespeare and Goethe, and could laugh over the fun
of Terence and Plutarch: it was a grand company."
So the professor continued to talk until they reached the shore. Frank
was not called upon to speak. The professor was talking to himself
rather than to him, continuing the habit of which the officer of the
prison had spoken. As yet his brain was working in its old groove. Once
on the strand, he stood silently gazing for two or three minutes, then
he passed his hand across his forehead, and with an evident effort broke
the chain of his thoughts and turned to Frank.
"Strange talk, no doubt you are thinking, Frank, for a man so suddenly
and unexpectedly released from a living grave; but you see, lad, that
the body can be emancipated more quickly than the mind from its bonds,
and I am as one awaking from a deep sleep and still wondering whether it
is I myself, and how I came to be here, and what has happened to me. I
fear that it will be some time before I can quite shake off my dreams.
Now, lad, once more tell me about my wife and your mother. But no, you
have told me that they are well. You have said naught of your father,
save that he is not here. Where is he? and how is he?"
"I can answer neither question, grandfather. He, like you, has been lost
to us; he disappeared a few months after you did, and we were led to
believe that he was killed."
The professor was himself again in an instant. The mood that had
dominated him was shaken off, and he was keen, sharp, and alert again,
as Frank remembered him.
"He is lost?" he repeated: "you heard that he was killed? How was it?
tell me everything. In the early days of my imprisonment, when I thought
of many things outside the walls of my gaol, one thing troubled me more
than others. My wife had her daughter; no harm would come to her, save
the first grief at my loss and the slow process of hope dying out. My
daughter had everything that a woman could wish to make her happy; but
your father, I knew him so well, he would not rest when the days passed
and no news of me came--he would move heaven and earth to find me; and a
man in this country who dares to enquire after a political prisoner
incurs no small danger. Is it so that he was missing? Tell me all, and
spare no detail; we have the rest of the day before us. We will sit down
on this seat. Now begin."
Frank told, at length, how, on the news of the professor's
disappearance, his father had interested the English government in the
matter, and how to all enquiries made the government of Naples had
replied that they knew nothing whatever concerning his disappearance;
and how, at last, he himself started with an order obtained from Naples
for him to search all the prisons of southern Italy.
"It was just like him; it was noble and chivalrous," the professor said;
"but he should have known better. An Englishman unacquainted with Italy
might have believed that with such an order he might safely search for
one who he suspected was lying in a Neapolitan prison, but your father
should have known better. Notice would assuredly be sent before he
arrived; and had he come here, for example, I should a week before have
been carried away up into the mountains, till he had gone. He would
have been shown the register of prisoners, he would not have found my
name among them, he would have been told that no such person as he
described had ever been confined here,--it was hopeless. But go on with
your story."
Frank told how his father had visited several prisons, and how he wrote
letters, exposing their horrors, that had appeared in the English
papers, and had created an immense impression throughout the country.
"It was mad of him," the professor murmured; "noble, but mad."
Then Frank told how the news came of his being carried off by brigands,
of the steps that had been taken, of the evidence of the courier who saw
him fall, and of some of his effects being found in the hut on the
mountain when this was captured and the brigand chief killed, of the
report given by one of the prisoners that his father had died and been
buried shortly after he was taken there, and of the vain search that had
been made for his body.
"And was this tale believed?" Signor Forli exclaimed, leaping to his
feet. "No Italian would for a moment have thought it true--at least,
none who had the misfortune to be born under the Neapolitan rule. Surely
my wife never believed it?"
"In her heart I know now that she did not," Frank said, "but she kept
her doubts to herself for the sake of my mother. She thought that it was
far better that she should believe that father was dead than that she
should believe him buried in one of the foul prisons he had described."
"She was right--she was right," the professor said: "it was certainly
better. And your mother--did she lose hope?"
"She told me that she would not allow herself to believe that he might
still be alive, and I believe that she and the signora never said one
word on the subject to each other until just before I started." He then
related how the courier had been brought over, how he had been installed
in the house in Cadogan Place, and how no suspicion of his being a spy
had been entertained until after the receipt of Garibaldi's letter, and
how they were convinced at last that he had overheard all the
arrangements made for his leaving for Italy.
"And you are alive, Frank, to tell me this! By what miracle did you
escape from the net that was thrown around you?"
This part of the story was also told.
"It was well arranged and bravely carried through, Frank. So you took up
the mission which had cost your father either his life or his liberty?
It was a great undertaking for a lad, and I wonder indeed that your
mother, after the losses she had suffered, permitted you to enter upon
it. Well, contrary to all human anticipations, you have succeeded in one
half of it, and you will, I trust, succeed in the other. What seemed
hardly possible--that you should enter the castle of Reggio as one of
its conquerors, and so have free access to the secrets of its
prison--has been accomplished; and if Garibaldi succeeds in carrying his
arms farther, and other prison doors are opened, we may yet find your
father. What you have told me has explained what has hitherto been a
puzzle to me: why I should have been treated as a special prisoner, and
kept in solitary confinement. Now I understand it. England had taken the
matter up; and as the government of Naples had denied all knowledge of
me, it was necessary that neither any prisoner, who, perhaps, some day
might be liberated, nor any prison official should know me, and be able
to report my existence to the British representative. You may be sure
that, had your father come here, and examined every prisoner and
official, privately, he would have obtained no intelligence of me.
Giuseppe Borani would not have been here, he would have been removed,
and none would dream that he was the prisoner for whom search was made.
And now tell me briefly about this expedition of Garibaldi. Is all
Europe at war, that he has managed to bring an army here?"
"First of all, grandfather, I must tell you what happened last year."
He then related the incidents of the war of 1859, whereby France and
Sardinia united and wrested Milan and Lombardy from the Austrians; the
brilliant achievements of the Garibaldians; the disappointment felt by
Italy at Nice and a part of Savoy being handed over to Napoleon as the
price of the services that he had rendered; how Bologna and Florence,
Palma, Ferrara, Forli, and Ravenna, had all expelled their rulers and
united themselves with Sardinia; and how, Garibaldi having been badly
treated and his volunteers disbanded, he himself had retired
disappointed and hurt to Caprera.
Then he related briefly the secret gathering of the expedition; the
obstacles thrown in its way; its successful landing in Sicily, and the
events that had terminated with the expulsion of the Neapolitan forces
from the island.
"Garibaldi began with but a thousand men," he said in conclusion. "He is
now at the head of twenty thousand, and it will grow every hour; for we
have news of risings throughout southern Calabria. If a thousand
sufficed for the conquest of Sicily, twenty thousand will surely be
sufficient for that of the mainland. The easy capture of this place will
strike terror into the enemy, and raise the enthusiasm of the troops and
the Calabrians to the utmost. Garibaldi has but four thousand men with
him now; but by this time to-morrow ten thousand at least will have
crossed, and I think it is possible that we shall reach Naples without
having to fight another battle. At any rate, one pitched battle should
be enough to free all Southern Italy. The Papal States will come next,
and then, as Garibaldi hopes, Venice; though this will be a far more
serious affair, for the Austrians are very different foes from the
Neapolitans, and have the advantage of tremendously strong
fortifications, which could only be taken by siege operations with heavy
artillery, and certainly could not be accomplished by troops like
Garibaldi's.
"Now about my father. Supposing him to be alive, where do you think he
would most probably be imprisoned?"
"There is no saying. That he is alive, I feel confident--unless, indeed,
he died in prison from the effect of the wound given him when he was
captured. That he did not die when in the hands of the brigands, we may
take to be certain, for his grave must in that case have been
discovered. He must have been handed over to a party of police sent to
fetch him by previous agreement with the brigands, and would have been
confined in some place considered especially secure from search. I
should fancy that he is probably in Naples itself,--there are several
large prisons there. Then there would be the advantage that, if the
British government had insisted upon a commission of their own officers
searching these prisons, he could be removed secretly from one to
another, so that before the one in which he was confined could be
examined, he would have been taken to another, which had been previously
searched.
"His case was a more serious one than mine. Although I was a naturalised
British subject, I had gone of my own free will to Italy, in the vain
belief that I should be unmolested after so long an absence; and
probably there would have been no stir in the matter had not your father
taken it up so hotly, and by the influence he possessed obtained
permission to search the dungeons. But, as I said, his case was a far
more serious one. He went out backed by the influence of the British
government; he was assisted by the British legation; he held the order
of the Neapolitan government for admission to all prisons. Thus, had it
been found that he had, in spite of their own so-called safe-conduct,
been seized and imprisoned, the British fleet would have been in the Bay
of Naples in a very short time--especially as his letters, as you tell
me, created so much feeling throughout the country. Therefore it would
be an almost vital question for the government to maintain the story
they had framed, and to conceal the fact that, all the time they were
asserting that he had been captured and killed by the brigands, he was
in one of their own prisons.
"I may say frankly that they would unhesitatingly have had him killed,
perhaps starved to death in a cell, were it not that they would have put
it in the power of some official or other to betray them: a discovery
that would have meant the fall of the government, possibly the
dethronement of the king. Had he been an Italian, he would assuredly
have been murdered, for it would not have paid any prison official to
betray them; whereas, being an Englishman of distinction, in whose fate
the British government had actively interested itself, any man who knew
the facts could have obtained a reward of a very large amount indeed for
giving information. That is the sole reason, Frank, that leads me to
believe that he may still be alive. He was doubtless imprisoned under
another name, just as I was; but at least it would be known to the men
that attended upon him that he was an Englishman, and these could
scarcely have avoided suspecting that he was the man about whom such a
stir had taken place. The government had already incurred a tremendous
risk by his seizure; but this would have been far greater had foul means
been used to get rid of him in prison.
"In the former case, should by any extraordinary chance his existence
have become known to the British legation, they would have framed some
deliberate lie to account for their ignorance of his being Captain
Percival. They might, for instance, assert that he had been taken
prisoner in the mountains, with a party of brigands; that his assertions
that he was an Englishman had been wholly disbelieved, for he would
naturally have spoken in Italian, and his Italian was so good that any
assertions he made that he was an Englishman would have been wholly
discredited. That is merely a rough guess at the story they might have
invented, for probably it would have been much more plausible; but,
however plausible, it would not have received the slightest credit had
it been found that he had been foully done to death.
"It is difficult, Frank, when one is discussing the probable actions of
men without heart, honour, or principle, and in deadly fear of
discovery, to determine what course they would be likely to take in any
particular circumstances. Now, the first thing that I have to do is to
cross to Messina, and to telegraph and afterwards to write to my wife.
Can I telegraph?"
"Yes, but not direct: the regular line is that which crosses the straits
to this town and then goes up through Italy. That, of course, we have
not been able to use, and could not use it now. All messages have been
sent by the line from Cape Passaro to Malta, and thence through Sardinia
and Corsica to Spezzia. You can send a message by that. There will be no
difficulty in getting a boat across the straits. You see the war-ships
have steamed away. As soon as the castle was taken they found that their
anchorage was within range of its guns. They fired a few shots into the
town when the castle was bombarding it, and then retired. I believe that
all through the men of the navy have been very reluctant to act against
us, except, of course, at Palermo."
"Then I will go at once. It is strange to me to be able to say I will
go."
"Very well, grandfather. Of course you have no money, but I can supply
you with as much as you like. I have plenty of funds. I can't say where
you will find me when you come back, but you will only have to enquire
where Garibaldi himself is: I am sure to be with him."
"I shall stay a couple of days there. After that hard pallet and prison
fare I cannot resist the temptation of a comfortable bed, a
well-furnished room, and a civilised meal, especially as I am not likely
to find any of these things on the way to Naples."
"By the way, I should think you could telegraph from here," Frank said.
"Garibaldi sent off a message to Messina directly the castle was taken."
"Then let us do so by all means."
They went at once to the telegraph office, and from there the professor
sent the following message: "Dearest wife, Frank has found and released
me. Am well and in good health. Shall write fully this evening. Shall
accompany him and aid in his search for Leonard. Love to
Muriel.--FORLI."
Having handed this in, they went down to the shore again, and had no
difficulty in hiring a boat. Frank took twenty sovereigns from his belt.
"You will want all this, grandfather, for indeed you must have an
entirely new fit-out."
"I suppose I must. There has not been much wear-and-tear in clothes, but
three years is a long time for a single suit to last, and I have lately
had some uneasiness as to what I should do when these things no longer
hung together; and I certainly felt a repugnance to asking for a prison
suit. I must decidedly go and get some clothes fit to be seen in before
I present myself at an hotel. No respectable house would take me in as I
am."
"Will you have more, sir? I can let you have fifty if you would like
it."
"No, my boy, I don't want to be encumbered with luggage. A suit besides
that I shall wear, and a change of underclothes, will suffice. These can
be carried in a small hand-bag, and whether we walk, or ride, I can take
it with me."
After seeing Signor Forli off, Frank returned to the castle.
"Where is the professor?" Garibaldi asked, when he reported himself as
ready for duty.
"I have just seen him off to Messina, general. He is sorely in need of
clothes, and he wants to write a long letter home, and he could scarcely
find a quiet room where he could do so in Reggio. He will rejoin us as
we advance."
"That is the wisest thing he could do; for although he looks wonderfully
well, he can hardly be capable of standing much fatigue after taking no
exercise for three years. He will have a great deal to learn as to what
has taken place since he has been here, for I don't suppose the
prisoners heard a whisper of the great changes in Northern Italy."
"I told him in a few words, sir, but I had no time to give him any
details."
At Reggio twenty-six guns, five hundred muskets, and a large quantity of
coal, ammunition, provisions, horses, and mules were captured. On the
following morning, Major Nullo and the Guides with a battalion were
thrown out towards San Giovanni. There was no other forward movement.
The general was occupied in receiving deputations from many towns and
villages, and there were arrangements to be made for the transport of
such stores and ammunition as were likely to be required. The
Garibaldians had crossed in large numbers. Cosenz and Medici, with a
considerable portion of their commands, were already over, and the
former had gone up into the hills. The next morning Garibaldi with two
thousand men and six captured field-pieces moved forward. It was
possible that they would meet with opposition at San Giovanni, and they
had scarcely started when a messenger arrived from Nullo. Believing from
the reports of the countrymen that the Neapolitans were retiring, he had
ridden on with six of the Guides, till to his astonishment, at a bridge
crossing a ravine close to that town, he came upon two squadrons of
Neapolitan Lancers. With great presence of mind, he and his men had
drawn their revolvers and summoned the officers in command to surrender.
"Surrender to whom?" the latter asked.
"To Garibaldi: he is ready to attack at once, if you refuse."
"I will take you to the general," the officer said.
To him Nullo repeated his command.
"I have no objection to confer with Garibaldi himself," the general
said, "and will go with you to him."
"I cannot take you," Nullo said: "my instructions are simply to demand
your surrender; but I will go myself and inform him of your readiness to
meet him. In the meantime, I demand that you withdraw your lancers from
the bridge, which must be considered as the boundary between the two
forces. You can leave two men on your side, and I will leave two on
mine."
To this the general agreed; and posting two of his men at the bridge,
another was sent back to beg Garibaldi to hurry up the troops.
Messengers went backward and forward between General Melendis and
Garibaldi, who was marching forward with all haste. But, as the terms
the latter laid down were that the troops should give up their arms and
then be allowed to march away, no agreement was arrived at, and the
Neapolitans evacuated the town and took up a very strong position on the
hill-side above it. They were two thousand five hundred strong, with
five guns. In the evening Garibaldi with two thousand men arrived near
the place, and sending forward two companies to the bridge, made a
circuit through the hills, and took up a position above and somewhat in
rear of the Neapolitans. A messenger was sent to Cosenz, who was
seventeen miles away, ordering him to start at once, and, if possible,
arrive in the morning. A body of Calabrian peasantry undertook to watch
the enemy, and the Garibaldians, wrapping themselves in their blankets,
lay down for the night.
Before daybreak they were on their feet, and moved down the hill. The
enemy opened fire with shell, but only two or three men fell, and the
fire was not returned. On arrival at a spot where they were sheltered
from the fire, Garibaldi sent in a messenger with a flag of truce,
renewing the offer of terms. The Neapolitans shot the bearer of the flag
as he approached them, but afterwards offered to treat. Garibaldi,
however, greatly angered at this violation of the laws of war, replied
at first that he would now accept nothing but unconditional surrender.
An armistice was however granted, to enable the general to communicate
with General Braganti. This afforded time, too, for Cosenz to arrive
from Salerno, and for Bixio, whose brigade had remained at Reggio, to
bring up some guns; these were posted so as to entirely cut the
Neapolitan line of retreat.
At five o'clock Garibaldi sent an order to the Neapolitans to lay down
their arms within a quarter of an hour, or he would advance. Their
general, seeing that he could not now hope to be reinforced, and that he
was completely surrounded, assented to the demand. His soldiers piled
their arms and soon fraternised with the Garibaldians, many of them
showing unconcealed pleasure that they had not been called upon to
oppose those who had come to free their country. The greater portion of
them threw away their accoutrements, and even their caps, and then
dispersed, a few starting to join the main force under Viarli, the
greater portion scattering to their homes. The fort by the water's edge
below the town had also surrendered.
This was an important capture, as it possessed several heavy guns; and
these, with those of Faro on the opposite shore, commanded the Straits,
consequently the Neapolitan ships could not pass on their way up towards
Naples, but were forced to retire through the other end and to make
their way entirely round the island, thus leaving the passage between
Messina and the mainland entirely open. At daybreak Garibaldi started at
the head of Cosenz's column for Alta-fiumara, which the first party of
Garibaldians that landed had failed to capture. This, after a short
parley, surrendered on the same terms as those granted the day before,
and the men, throwing away their shakoes and knapsacks, started for
their various homes. Three miles farther, the castle of Scylla
surrendered, the national guard of the town having taken up arms and
declared for Garibaldi as soon as they heard that he was coming. Bagnara
had also been evacuated, Viarli having withdrawn with his force and
marched to Monteleone.
A halt was made here. The strictest orders had been given by Garibaldi
against plundering or in any way giving cause for hostility among the
peasantry. Sentries were posted, and one of the soldiers found stealing
grapes was shot--an example which prevented any repetition of the
offence.
That evening Frank, who was down on the shore, watching the men from
Messina being landed from several steamers, saw Signor Forli.
"It is lucky indeed that I was down here," he said, "for every house in
the town is full of troops, and you might have searched all night
without finding me. It is quite useless to look for a bed now, and,
indeed, the houses are so crowded that I had made up my mind to sleep
here, and I should recommend you to do the same. I see you have got a
blanket with you. It will be much cooler and more pleasant than
indoors."
"I will do so gladly, Frank. It will be a fresh luxury for me to see the
stars overhead as I lie, and the sand is quite as soft as any of these
Italians beds are likely to be."
Frank had indeed slept out every night since the Garibaldians first
landed. It saved the trouble of endeavouring to find accommodation, and
enabled him to have a swim every morning to refresh him for his day's
work.
Day after day the Garibaldians marched on without encountering
resistance. It was indeed a procession rather than a military advance.
The country was lovely, the weather superb. At each village they were
saluted by numbers of the country people, who had come down to greet
them. They were all armed, and numbers of them joined the Garibaldians.
They were, for the most part, of fine physique, with handsome faces, and
the women of this coast were famous for their beauty. The Greek element
was still predominant, and in many of the villages no other language was
spoken. In the towns, the national guard were drawn up to receive their
deliverers with all honour, and the inhabitants of all classes vied with
each other in their hospitality. Frank had been unable to buy a horse,
but had succeeded in purchasing a donkey, on which the professor sat
placidly smoking as they went along, with one marching column or
another. Cosenz's division generally led the way, followed by those of
Medici and Ebers, while Bixio followed in the rear, his division having
already had their share of glory in Sicily and at Reggio.
The main Neapolitan army, retiring from Monteleone, passed through each
town only a few hours ahead of the Garibaldians. The people reported
that great insubordination existed among them. General Braganti had been
shot by his own men at Bagnara; the other generals were accused by their
men of treachery, and great numbers of these had deserted; and the
Garibaldians felt that if they could but overtake the retreating foe
victory was certain. Orders had been sent round by Garibaldi to all the
villagers that the men were to meet him at Maida; and leaving the army
at two o'clock in the morning, he, with a few of his staff, rode across
the mountain to that town. The Calabrians, eager to fight, had obeyed
the order, but with some disappointment; for had they been left to
themselves they would have occupied the terrible gorges through which
the retreating Neapolitans would have to pass, and taking their posts
among inaccessible hills, would have almost annihilated them. But
Garibaldi was on all occasions most anxious to prevent bloodshed, and
would never fight unless his foes forced him to do so; and it was for
this reason that he had ordered the Calabrians to meet him at Maida,
thereby preventing them from occupying the pass.
Frank, as one of his aides-de-camp, rode with him, the professor
preferring to move forward at the more comfortable pace of the marching
column. Ordering the Calabrians to follow, Garibaldi went on from Maida
to Tyrola, situated on the backbone of the Apennines, and commanding a
view of the sea on either hand. Arriving there, he found that the
Neapolitans were but a mile ahead. He therefore halted for an hour, and
then rode seven miles farther to Samprotro, where he saw the rearguard
of the enemy not more than half a mile ahead. Leaving a few armed
peasants to watch them, Garibaldi and his staff went quietly to bed. In
the morning they again started in pursuit, at the head of two thousand
Calabrians. The peasants brought in news that the enemy had halted at a
village seven miles ahead, and were endeavouring to obtain food. The
Calabrians, when they approached the place, were sent forward as
skirmishers; the head of Cosenz's column was now but a short distance
in the rear. Colonel Peard, who had ridden with Garibaldi, was in
advance, with three Calabrians, when, at a turn of the road, he came
upon seven thousand infantry, cavalry, and artillery, huddled together
without any appearance of regularity.
He rode up at once to the nearest officers, and called upon them to
surrender. They took him to Ghio, their general, who, saying to Peard
that it was not customary to talk so loud before the soldiers, asked him
to step aside; and on being told that he was surrounded, and had no
choice between surrendering and being annihilated, he agreed at once to
send an officer to Garibaldi. While the officer was absent, the
disposition of the troops manifested itself: many of them at once threw
down their arms and accoutrements and started on the road, or made their
way up the hill. In a few minutes the officer returned with Garibaldi's
conditions, which were surrender and disarmament, when the troops would
be allowed to leave, on their promise not to serve again. In an hour
there was not a Neapolitan left in the place; and the Garibaldians, who
had marched thirty miles that day, halted to allow the rest of the
troops to come up.
There was, indeed, no further occasion for haste. It was morally certain
that no battle would be fought before they reached Naples. The
Neapolitan troops were hopelessly dispirited, and the greater part would
gladly have thrown away their arms and returned to their homes; the
minority, who were still faithful to their oath, were bitterly
humiliated at the manner in which large bodies of men had surrendered
without striking a blow, and at the way in which the main force fled, as
hastily as if it had suffered a disgraceful defeat, at the approach of
the Garibaldians. Already Naples was almost in a state of insurrection;
and in the other towns the whole populace had risen, and the Neapolitan
authorities were powerless.
"It is wonderful," Signor Forli, who arrived on the following morning,
said to Frank, "that the Calabrians should have remained passive for a
couple of centuries under the rule of a people so much inferior to
themselves. That Sicily should do so, I am not surprised. Its population
is not to be compared in physique with these grand fellows. Among the
mountains of Sicily, no doubt, there may be a finer type of people than
those of the plains and sea-coast; but, as you have told me, although as
pleased as a crowd of children at a new game, they did little to aid
Garibaldi to free them, and Messina once taken, the number that enlisted
with him was small indeed. Here the population have joined to a man; and
what splendid men they are! Had they all risen together before, there
would have been no need for a Garibaldi. What could an army, however
numerous, of the frivolous population of Naples have done against them?
"There are hundreds of passes and ravines. We have ourselves marched
through a score that might have been held by a handful of determined men
against an army. I believe that it is the fear of cannon rather than of
soldiers that has enabled a decaying power, like that of Naples, to
maintain its hold. Cannon would be useful in a mountainous country for
those who have to defend the passes, but it is of little avail to an
invader: it is notorious that, even on the plains, vastly more men are
killed by bullets than by shell. One thing that no doubt has kept the
Calabrians from rising, as a body, is that blood feuds exist among them,
as in Corsica. The number of crosses that you have seen by the roadside
mark the number of the victims of these quarrels. Each little village
stands apart from the rest, and there has been no centre round which the
country could gather. There has been, in fact, a community of interest,
but no community of feeling; and the consequence is, risings have been
always partial, and there has been nothing like one determined effort by
all Calabria to win its freedom."