affairs, and almost always as an opponent of the existing government.
Even when his old friend and comrade-in-arms, Benedetto Cairoli, fourth
of the famous brothers, became Prime Minister, he was not content with
his policies. He embarrassed the government by continually writing
ultra-radical letters to the newspapers. Two or three times more he
appeared in public, became again an active figure when his son-in-law
Canzio was arrested at a turbulent meeting in Genoa, and resigned his
seat in the National Chambers. He was, however, too worn out physically
to make further dangerous expeditions, and was persuaded to leave the
more active part to younger men. In 1882 he died at Caprera.
Neither the character nor the achievements of Garibaldi are difficult
to estimate. His character was simple, he was ingenuously frank and
open-minded, absolutely sincere, warm-hearted, and forgiving to a fault.
His whole career is filled with instances in which his generosity was
traded on, notably the case of his second marriage. He was always
frugal, unostentatious, unselfish, never did a breath of public scandal
sully his name. Although he had many opportunities to gain wealth he
was always poor. During the last days of his life he enjoyed a pension
from the government, but the most of that was given to his children or
dispensed in charity.
Given this true, straightforward nature, we find that from his boyhood
he had above everything desired a free united Italy, with Rome as
its capital. The name Rome never failed to thrill him. So long as
the master-hand of Cavour was ready to guide him Garibaldi proceeded
gloriously forward, the crusader who could lead men into battle and fill
them with a great enthusiasm. Cavour could fight against the Mazzinian
theories of a republic, he had to fight hard to keep the soldier in
the straight path, particularly in those early days in Naples, but he
succeeded, and saw Garibaldi proudly deliver Naples and Sicily into the
care of his King. How great was Cavour's steering hand we find in later
years; without that powerful mind to control him, Garibaldi fell under
the influence of many different types of men, and his simple confiding
nature found it easy to trust each seeming friend in turn. The very
virtue of his nature acted against him then, he became a tool for men
to use, his great name a flag for any new quixotic idea. It was only
when he was fighting that he was his own commander, at other times he
was ever ready to sink his own opinions in those of others. The latter
part of his life was therefore continually stormy, he had not the art to
weather varying changes in national sentiment.
Almost as easy to estimate as his character were his achievements. They
were superlatively great for Italy. Nobody can tell whether Cavour's
diplomacy alone would ever have won the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Garibaldi started from Genoa on an expedition that seemed doomed
to disaster, but which, successfully begun, carried all opposition
before it. It is true that the army of Francis II. was poor, and that
the battles, with the exception of Calatafimi in Sicily, are not to
be classed as great conflicts, but Garibaldi did much more than win
battles, he roused the people to a pitch of fighting spirit they had
never known before. The fame of the Thousand spread across Europe, and
with it rose European admiration and interest in the Italian cause.
Foreigners joined his army, and when the great general met Victor
Emmanuel and gave over the two crowns he had won the eyes of the whole
world were focused on the sovereign and the hero. The glory of that
expedition could not fade, whatever Garibaldi did later could not efface
the memory of those great days; even the governments that found him
rebelling against the laws and treaties they had made could not but
thrill at the recollection of the days of 1860 and 1861. The red shirt
became an oriflamme to lovers of liberty in all lands, the Garibaldian
hymn set hearts to dancing with pride and exultation, the simple soldier
with his dramatic effects of life and bearing became an Italian national
hero with all the mythical charm of a Cid Campeador or a William Tell.
He will take a place in Italian legendary history that was empty until
his day.
This atmosphere of romance that surrounded him was of his nature. He
wrote two books, one, "The Rule of the Monk," which appeared after his
imprisonment at Varignano, the other, "The Thousand," after the Vosges
campaign. They were both extravagant, artificial, as wildly eventful
as any novels ever penned. Yet in a sense they catch the flavor of
his own career. When he describes the monks he pictures them as they
actually seemed to him, agents of the power which had so hounded him
after the siege of Rome, and which had executed his friend Ugo Bassi.
When he writes of "The Thousand" he shows his followers as men capable
of any heroism, and the expedition becomes one series of marvellous
adventures. He saw that intensely dramatic side of the struggle, and he
became the symbol of that dramatic element in the eyes of the world. His
country needed that symbol, the glory of a crusader was as essential to
Italian redemption as the soul-stirring fanaticism of a Mazzini, the
statecraft of a Cavour, or the kingship of a Victor Emmanuel. He was
the living personification of the great fight for liberty; that was his
contribution to the cause.
VICTOR EMMANUEL, THE KING
Few royal families in Europe possess as proud a record as the House
of Savoy. Legend carries their race as Princes back to 998, when an
exiled noble of Saxon birth settled in Burgundy, and ultimately built
a family stronghold at the pass of Moriana on the frontier of Savoy.
This prince was known as Humbert of the White Hand. He was followed by
a series of fighting, ambitious, able descendants, who gradually carved
for themselves the Dukedom of Savoy, and married into the most powerful
of contemporary royal families. Their small state was so centrally
placed that it early became a storm-center, and for centuries the Dukes
were famous as warrior-adventurers, fighting now under the banner of
the Empire, now under that of Spain or of France. Happily the Dukes of
Savoy shared little of the tyrannical natures of their neighbors, they
were not altogether saintly, but they were surprisingly merciful and
just in an age famous for cruel bigotry. Emmanuel Philibert, better
known as "Testa di Ferro," or "Head of Iron," one of the most popular of
Piedmont's heroes, became a great favorite with the Emperor Charles V.,
was a general of renown, and secured firm possession of his Savoy lands.
From his time the position of the family became more assured.
In 1703, Victor Amadeus, fifteenth Duke of Savoy, assumed the title
of King of Sicily, as a result of a treaty following his defense of
Turin and overturning of the Bourbon power in Italy. Shortly thereafter
Sicily was exchanged for Sardinia and certain territories adjoining his
frontiers, and the title of the head of the house of Savoy became King
of Sardinia.
Victor Emmanuel I. of Sardinia, who succeeded his brother Charles
Emmanuel IV., was a brave, thoroughly good-hearted man, whose nature
was, however, absolutely mediæval. He was much under the influence of
Austria, to whose Emperor he had given a promise that he would never
grant his people a free constitution. He finally abdicated in favor of
his brother Charles Felix, a man of a much narrower nature, who did all
in his power to check the free-thinking sentiments rapidly spreading
through his people as a result of the Revolution in France. When he
died in 1831 the elder branch of the House of Savoy came to an end,
but fortunately there was a distantly related younger branch, known as
the Princes of Carignano and Savoy. The seventh Prince of this line,
Charles Albert, born in 1798, had married a daughter of the Grand Duke
of Tuscany, and had been a great favorite with Victor Emmanuel I. On the
death of that King he had acted for a short time as regent for Charles
Felix, and had then served in the war between France and Spain, winning
a great reputation for bravery. When Charles Felix died he succeeded him
as King of Sardinia in 1831.
Charles Albert was one of the most interesting characters of the early
Nineteenth Century, a man of the noblest character, burning with the
desire to free Italy from the foreigner, but always suspicious that he
was not the man to do it. This suspicion was continually played upon by
the clerical party at the court of Turin, and with the result that the
King, as firm a Roman Catholic as his ancestors, and by nature devout
almost to mysticism, was the continual battle-field of the warring
sentiments of love of liberty and love of the Church. During the reign
of Victor Emmanuel I. the liberal party in Piedmont looked upon Charles
Albert as their natural leader. He often spoke of his desire to see
Italy united, and made little concealment of his hostility to Austria
and the Bourbon princes. Yet, when he was actually invited to lead the
Piedmont "Federates" as they were called, whose object was simply the
confederation of Italy, he could not make up his mind to accept. As
Santa Rosa, the leader of the party, said, "He both would, and would
not."
Victor Emmanuel I., bound by his promise to the house of Austria, had
yet seen that his people were bent on reforms, and rather than break
his word and grant a constitution he had abdicated in favor of Charles
Felix. Immediately the liberals had besieged the regent, Charles Albert,
with petitions and a show of force which could not be denied. He had
then proclaimed the constitution, accompanying it with this declaration:
"Our respect and submission to his majesty Charles Felix, to whom the
throne belongs, would have hindered us making any fundamental change in
the laws of the realm until the sovereign's intentions were known; but
as the force of circumstances is manifest, and we desire to render to
the new King his people safe, uninjured, and happy, and not in a civil
war, having maturely considered everything, and with the advice of our
council, we have decided, in the hope that his majesty, moved by the
same considerations, will give his approval, that the constitution of
Spain shall be promulgated."
But Charles Felix, when he came to Turin, would have none of this
constitution, and Charles Albert left Piedmont under the shadow of his
kinsman's displeasure. When a few years later he himself ascended the
throne the popular idea of him as an advocate of liberalism was still
current, and it was this idea which led Mazzini to write to the new
sovereign that remarkable letter on behalf of "Young Italy," commencing,
"All Italy waits for one word--one only--to make herself yours." But
Charles Albert was at that crucial moment under priestly influence,
and he paid no heed to the letter, as a result of which the growing
Mazzinian party, which might have been attached to the interests of the
House of Savoy, became strongly republican.
The Jesuits at Turin, secret agents of the Austrian government, did
their utmost to frighten the King with gross misrepresentations as to
the liberals. When new conspiracies broke out in 1833 Charles Albert
was influenced to punish the rebels severely. Gradually the popular
idea concerning the King changed, and those who had thought to find
in him an emancipator became slowly convinced that he was as rigid a
reactionary as any of his predecessors. So the poor King, really ardent
in his country's cause, played upon by his courtiers and the insidious
clericals, watched his chances of leading Italy against Austria
gradually dwindle.
Some men, however, still believed that Charles Albert was the only
present hope for Italy, and chief among these men was Massimo
d'Azeglio. He was a man of keen insight and high character, and had
traveled through all the states of Italy studying the forces making
towards nationality. At the end of his travels he had an audience of
Charles Albert at Turin, and reported what he had found. His estimate
of the King was justified by the reply Charles Albert made to him. "Let
those gentlemen know," said the King, "that for the present they must
remain quiet; but when the time comes, let them be certain that my life,
the lives of my sons, my arms, my treasures--all shall be freely spent
in the Italian cause."
Then came the election of Pius IX. to the throne of Saint Peter, and
a great wave of enthusiasm swept through the liberal party throughout
Italy. Pius was a great advance on the narrow, mediæval-minded Leo XII.
and Gregory XVI., who had preceded him. The Romans felt new hope, and
with each month the great enthusiasm spread until it culminated in the
sudden Lombard expulsion of the Austrians from Milan. Charles Albert
must have seen the signs that preceded the eventful years of 1848 and
1849. He had decided to grant a constitution to his people, whether
Austria liked it or not, and on February 7, 1848, proclaimed the famous
_Statuto_. Events hurried, a short time and Lombardy and Venice were
in arms and Piedmont determined on supporting them. Charles Albert,
and his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, threw themselves utterly into the
national cause.
On March 14, 1820, the Prince Victor Emmanuel was born in the
Carignano Palace at Turin, his father being then simply the Prince of
Savoy-Carignano. With the accession of Charles Felix the family moved
to a villa near Florence, and there the young Prince spent his early
boyhood. His younger brother, Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, was born in
1822. After the reconciliation between Charles Felix and the Prince of
Carignano the latter took up his residence in the castle of Racconigi,
in Piedmont. When Prince Victor was eleven years old his father came
to the throne, and thenceforth the young Prince lived in Turin. He and
his brother were inseparable, although widely different in temperament,
Victor enthusiastic, impulsive, overflowing with animal spirits,
Ferdinand more prudent, calm, and thoughtful, strongly resembling his
father.
Charles Albert devoted the greatest care to the education and military
training of his sons, and both fully repaid his care. Victor Emmanuel,
Duke of Savoy, was not a great student, but he was keenly interested in
everything that pertained to government, sympathetic, observant, deeply
imbued with the desire to see Italy free and Piedmont the leader in
that cause. His manners were essentially frank and cordial, his whole
bearing inspired confidence. At twenty-one he was of middle height,
powerfully built, with features strong, rather than handsome, a curling
mustache adding to the military aspect of his face. At twenty-two he
sought the hand of his first cousin, Maria Adelaide, daughter of the
Austrian Archduke Ranieri, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venice, and of Charles
Albert's only sister. The chief objection to the marriage was the fact
that the Princess Adelaide was partly Austrian, but Victor overcame this
objection, and the marriage took place in 1842. It was not long before
the young Princess had become the idol of Piedmont through her many
gifts of charm.
When the news of the rising of Milan on March 18, 1848, came to Turin
the Duke of Savoy was filled with joy. The King and his ministers were
deliberating with deep concern the position that Piedmont should adopt,
but the young Prince was concerned only with taking the field against
Austria. He had that pure love for the dangers of war which had been
such a marked characteristic of his ancestors, and which had made the
House of Savoy famous during the Middle Ages. The biographer Massari
wrote of him later, "Without using a profusion of words, it is enough
to say that under the canvas or in the battle-field he showed himself
worthy of his race. He who knows the story of the Savoy dynasty knows
that there is no higher eulogium than this."
He was given a command in the troops that were hurried to the aid of
Lombardy, and fought his first battle at Santa Lucia on May 6th. He
was conspicuous for courage, and in addition to his personal power
of inspiring his soldiers with enthusiasm, proved himself a careful
general. At Goito, where the Austrians took the troops of Piedmont by
surprise, the Duke of Savoy converted a retreat into a desperate attack
by throwing himself before the troops and calling on them to save the
honor of Savoy. He was wounded in the thigh, but fought on, and at
length had the satisfaction of reporting to his father that Piedmont had
won the day. He was awarded a medal for valor on the field of action,
but he valued more the wound which he had won in fighting for Italy.
The fortunes of war soon brought a change. The other states of Italy
did not come to the aid of Lombardy as Charles Albert had been given
assurances that they would. Pius IX. had placed an army in the field
to prevent Austrian outrages on his frontiers, but had given them
orders not to attack the enemy. The King of Naples had declared his
intention of siding with the other Italian states, but by deceit and
treachery kept his army too far from the scene of action to be of any
use. The Venetians were fully occupied with their revolution at home,
the Lombards had already begun to determine what they would do when they
were free, and Piedmont was left practically alone to fight the rapidly
reviving army of Austria.
One more victory was won at Staffola, but the next day the Piedmontese
were attacked again and defeated at Custozza. The King was advised to
retreat across the Po to Piacenza, but instead felt that his duty called
him to Milan. He entered that city, but his army, worn out, and attacked
by a much superior force, could not defend the Lombard capital, and he
was forced to capitulate. The Milanese were not grateful, they bitterly
assailed the King for what they called his treachery, and he escaped
from the city through the aid of a young officer, later the General La
Marmora.
Still the unfortunate King would not abandon the war, although he
saw the hopelessness of the situation, left as he was to fight
single-handed. March 20, 1849, the fighting recommenced, and lasted for
three days. At Martara the pick of the Piedmontese army were destroyed.
When Charles Albert heard the news he realized that he was destined to
utter defeat. Yet he took up the march to Novara, stoical as became his
race. The battle of Novara, fought March 23, 1849, marked the end. The
Piedmontese fought heroically, the Duke of Savoy led his men time and
again to the attack, his younger brother, the Duke of Genoa, had three
horses killed under him, but bravery could not overcome the disparity in
strength. An armistice was asked for, but the terms of Marshal Radetsky
were too hard to accept. The King said to his generals, "Gentlemen,
we cannot accept these conditions. Is it possible that we can resume
hostilities?" The answer was a unanimous "no." Then the unfortunate King
laid down the burdens of his too heavy office in these touching words:
"From eighteen years till now I have always made every effort possible
for the benefit of the people. I am deeply afflicted to see that my
hopes have failed, not so much for my own sake as for the country's.
I have not been able to find death on the field of battle, as I had
desired; perhaps my existence is now the only obstacle to obtaining from
the enemy reasonable terms, and since there remains no further means
of continuing hostilities, I abdicate this moment, in favor of my son
Vittorio, in the hope that, renewing negotiations with Radetsky, the
new King may obtain better conditions, and procure for the country an
advantageous peace. Behold your King!"
The entreaties of the son and the generals were useless, Charles Albert
was determined. He knew that his dream of liberating Italy was over,
that he was not the man for the great work. That night he set out with
one companion for Oporto in Portugal, there to live obscurely while his
son took up the heavy burden of rebuilding Piedmont's hopes.
Victor Emmanuel came to the throne at a distressing moment, but from
the first he showed the true metal of his nature. His father had been a
dreamer, a theorist, alternating between eagerness to press forward and
the desire to retain what he already had. His character, although fine,
was not robust. The young King, however, was essentially robust-natured,
the very type of man above all others needed at this particular crisis.
He faced Marshal Radetsky fearlessly, and, when the Austrian general
insisted on the same terms demanded of his father, including the
immediate expulsion of all Italian exiles from the state of Piedmont,
replied, "Sooner than subscribe to such conditions I would lose a
hundred crowns. What my father has sworn I will maintain. If you wish a
war to the death, be it so! I will call my nation to arms once more, and
you will see what Piedmont is capable of in a general rising. If I must
fall, it shall be without shame. My house knows the road of exile, but
not of dishonor."
Finally an armistice was concluded. The King of Sardinia was to disband
all the military corps composed of Lombards, Poles, Hungarians, and
other foreign peoples, retaining only those who chose to remain his
subjects permanently; a heavy war indemnity was to be paid to Austria,
half the fortress of Alessandria was to be given up to Austria, and her
troops were to be allowed to occupy Piedmontese territory between the
rivers Po, Sesia, and Ticino. It was a hard bargain that Austria drove.
Victor Emmanuel returned to his capital to find many of its citizens
disaffected by the appeals of the republican party. All Turin was in
despair over the sad termination of a campaign that had promised so
much. The King, the Queen, and their two sons, Humbert, aged five,
and Amadeus, aged four, were received with the coldest regard as they
appeared in public. The King issued this proclamation to his people:
"Citizens,--Untoward events and the will of my most venerated parent
have called me, long before my time, to the throne of my ancestors.
The circumstances under which I hold the reins of government are such
that nothing but the most perfect concord in all will enable me, and
then with difficulty, to fulfil my only desire, the salvation of our
common country. The destines of nations are matured in the designs of
Providence, but man owes to his country all the service he is capable
of, and in this debt we have not failed. Now all our efforts must be
to maintain our honor untarnished, to heal the wounds of our country,
to consolidate our constitutional institutions. To this undertaking I
conjure all my people, to it I will pledge myself by a solemn oath,
and I await from the nation the exchange of help, affection, and
confidence.--Victor Emmanuel."
On March 29 the new King took the oath to the constitution which had so
recently been granted by his father. General Delaunay formed the new
ministry, which almost immediately decided to dissolve Parliament and
call a general election. Meanwhile Victor Emmanuel was wholly engaged
with the peace negotiations, and tried to enlist the influence of
England and France in Sardinia's behalf. The Delaunay ministry divided
on the terms of peace, and the King was in despair as to whom he
should call upon as steersman in such troubled seas. He finally turned
to Massimo d'Azeglio, who was suffering from a wound he had received
at Vicenza, and who had little taste at any time for the burdens of
premiership. He found it impossible, however, to refuse his young
sovereign at this hour. He accepted the post, although reluctantly.
Fortunately the views of the King and those of D'Azeglio coincided on
almost all matters. The King was charmed with D'Azeglio's polish and
talents in so many diverse lines; the Minister, much older than the
King, was delighted with Victor Emmanuel's frank enthusiasms. It was he
who gave the King his proudest title. One day he remarked, "There have
been so few honest kings in the world that it would be a splendid thing
to begin the series." "And am I to play the part of that honest king?"
asked Victor Emmanuel. "Your majesty has sworn to the constitution," was
the answer, "and has taken thought not alone of Piedmont, but of all
Italy. Let us continue in this path, and hold that a king as well as a
private individual has only one word, and must stand by that."
"That," replied the King, "seems easy to me."
"Behold then," said D'Azeglio, "we have the Rè galantuomo!"
And "Rè galantuomo" was the name Victor Emmanuel wrote in the register
of the Turin census, and the title his people were most glad to give him.