foremost citizens to Victor Emmanuel to ask for immediate annexation
to the Italian kingdom. It was a glorious day when the red, white, and
green flag was raised in Saint Mark's Square, and the Venetian heroes,
exiled with their great leader, Daniel Manin, almost two decades
earlier, could return to breathe the air of their beloved home. Victor
Emmanuel received the citizens of Venice at Turin, and answered their
eager desire with stirring words. "Citizens of Venice," so ran his
answer, "this is the most beautiful day of my life. It is now nineteen
years since my father proclaimed from this city the war of national
independence. To-day, his birthday, you, gentlemen, bring me the
evidence of the popular will of the Venetian provinces, which we now
unite to the great Italian nation, declaring as an accomplished fact
the desire of my august parent. You confirm by this solemn act that
which Venetia did in 1848, and which she maintained with such admirable
constancy and self-abnegation. Let me here pay a tribute to those brave
men who with their blood, and with sacrifices of every sort, kept
undiminished faith to their country and to her destinies. With this day
shall disappear from the Peninsula every vestige of foreign domination.
Italy is made, if not completed; it now rests with the Italians to make
her great and prosperous.
"Gentlemen, the Iron Crown is also restored in this solemn day to Italy.
But above this crown I place that which to me is dearer--the crown of my
people's love."
November 7, 1866, the King made his formal entry into that most
beautiful of the rare group of Italy's cities, and the one which had
belonged most absolutely to the foreigner.
Rome alone now remained outside the nation, and it was plainly only
a matter of time before Pius IX. would have to submit to his evident
destiny. The French had kept their agreement, and were leaving Rome, the
call of the Romans to Victor Emmanuel to come and free them grew ever
louder, and the wish of the Italian people grew daily more pronounced.
It was Victor Emmanuel himself who would not force the Church's hand, he
was content to wait, knowing how events were gradually shaping, and this
patience of his in the end proved its wisdom.
There were others, however, who would not wait, and these were the
Garibaldians. When the Romans found that the King would not draw sword
to free them, they turned to the crusader whose hand was always on his
sword hilt at the call of Rome. He heard the call now, took the field
again, and placed his King a second time in the same unenviable position.
One ministry resigned, no statesman seemed competent to cope with the
situation which Garibaldi was bringing on his country, the King saw
Italy on the brink of civil war, and was at the same time fearful lest
the French troops return and destroy the volunteers. It was the most
trying time in his career as King of Italy.
Garibaldi was arrested, imprisoned at Caprera, escaped, and joined the
now rapidly increasing volunteers in the country about Rome. He met with
success at the battle of Monte Rotondo, but a few days later found his
army opposed at Mentana by French troops which Napoleon had hurriedly
sent to protect the Papal temporal power. The French were armed with
the new chassepot gun, and the Garibaldians were defeated with terrible
loss. They could not renew the unequal struggle, and the brief campaign
came to an untimely end.
Victor Emmanuel was heart-broken at the news of the frightful havoc
at Mentana and the Garibaldian losses. "Ah, those chassepots!" he
exclaimed. "They have mortally wounded my heart as father and king. I
feel as if the balls had torn my flesh. It is one of the greatest griefs
that I have ever known in all my life."
After the short campaign the reckless patriot Garibaldi was again
imprisoned, but soon released. He had proved a tremendous problem to
all the successors of Cavour. He returned to Caprera, and gradually
the agitation of the Roman question subsided into its former slow and
diplomatic course.
The Crown Prince Humbert, who was twenty-four years old, was now married
to his first cousin the Princess Margherita, daughter of the Duke of
Genoa, and the marriage proved immensely popular, for the Princess
possessed unusual charm, and as soon as she was known, was beloved by
the people. The King's second son, Amadeus, soon to be offered the crown
of Spain, had already married the daughter of the Prince della Cisterna,
the head of an old and devotedly loyal Piedmont family. In the year 1869
Victor Emmanuel, who had been seized with a severe fever in his villa
near Pisa, married the Countess Mirafiore, according to the rites of the
Church.
The year 1870 saw Napoleon drawn into the war with Prussia which was
to cost him his crown. The French troops could no longer remain abroad
to support the Pope and were withdrawn from Italy. Although Napoleon
had sacrificed his alliance with Victor Emmanuel the latter would even
now have gone to his aid, but his ministers would not permit him to
take such a step. The rapid disasters that befell French arms and the
surrender of the Emperor at Sedan caused the Romans to make another
appeal to Victor Emmanuel to come to their aid before they should be
altogether abandoned. The time was now ripe when the appeal could be
answered. A message containing the King's resolution was sent to the
provisional government at Paris, which replied that it had no power now
to oppose Italy. Yet, even now, before sending his troops to Rome, the
King tried again to effect some pacific adjustment with the Pope, and
it was only when the latter showed again his unaltered determination to
insist on the temporal power of the Church that the Italian army crossed
the Papal frontier.
September 20, 1870, is the date on which the temporal power of the
Roman Church, after many centuries of vicissitudes, came to an end. The
Pope, although eighty years old, determined on final resistance, and
the invading army was met at the Leonine Gate with fire from the city
bastions. The fight did not last long, the foreign ambassadors in Rome
entreated the Pope to capitulate, but he would not do so until he heard
that the royal army was actually within the city. Then a white flag was
raised on Saint Peter's, and an hour later the last Papal Zouaves were
surrendering their arms. All Rome rushed to the Capitol and burst into
ecstatic acclaim as the Italian tri-color was flung out to the breezes
from the palace. The fortress of Saint Angelo was opened and scores
of political prisoners released. Meanwhile the Pope and the Cardinals
withdrew into the Vatican, and proclaimed to the world that they were
kept there as prisoners against their will. A popular vote of the Romans
was taken and resulted overwhelmingly in favor of union with the Kingdom.
The long struggle which had begun for Victor Emmanuel on that far-off
day of Novara, was ended. To Piedmont had been added Lombardy, Tuscany,
Emilia, the Papal States, Sicily, Naples, Venetia, and now Rome. The vow
of the King was accomplished, Italy was complete. The last Parliament in
Florence met December 5, 1870, and the King in opening it said, "With
Rome the capital of Italy I have fulfilled my promise, and crowned the
undertaking which twenty-three years ago was initiated by my great
father. As a king and as a son, I feel in my heart a solemn joy in
saluting here assembled the representatives of our beloved country, and
in pronouncing these words--Italy is free and one. Now it depends on us
to make her free and happy."
Florence had rejoiced at being the capital of Italy, but now she
surrendered that proud position to Rome, which all Italians felt must
be the capital of the new nation. The King had no wish to offend the
Pope, indeed he and his ministers were untiring in their efforts to
effect a reconciliation with the head of the Church, and the public
entry into Rome was delayed for almost nine months. Meanwhile the King
had entered the city privately at a time when the Tiber had flooded
its banks and caused much distress, and had done all that he could to
relieve the needs of the poor and homeless. On June 2, 1871, Victor
Emmanuel made his formal entry into his new capital, and took possession
of the Quirinal. On November 27 of that same year the first Parliament
representing united Italy met.
A little earlier Spain, rid of Isabella, and in the hands of a
provisional government, sought a king from Italy, and found one in
Victor Emmanuel's son, Amadeus, who went to Madrid, and reigned there
for a few troubled years, until another revolution released him from a
position which he had never sought or desired.
For seven years Victor Emmanuel reigned in Rome, and they were years of
great strides in progress and in national unity. He visited foreign
sovereigns, and they in turn visited him; in 1873 he went to Vienna
as the guest of the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph, and in 1876 the
latter visited him at Venice. The King of Italy, always open-hearted and
simple by nature, was glad to forget the days when Austria had ruled in
Italy, and to form ties of friendship between the Houses of Savoy and of
Hapsburg, ties which Francis Joseph was equally glad to make.
The Pope continued publicly to resent the presence of the King in Rome,
but privately he stated his admiration for him. Pius IX. was two men
in one, delightful as a private character, but narrow and bigoted in
his public views. He still held to his claim to temporal power over the
States of the Church, but gradually the claim ceased to be other than an
echo of history.
In those seven years between 1871 and 1878 the King knit his people
together, met Garibaldi, now the arch republican, and brought him to
terms of reason, concerned himself with scores of plans for bettering
the material welfare of his people, draining the Campagna, tunneling
Mont Cenis and the St. Gothard, and building up commerce with the East.
He was always the idol of his people, the Rè Galantuomo, in whatever
part of the country he visited. On January 9, 1878, he died, being
fifty-eight years of age, and having reigned twenty-nine years.
Thousands of stories are told of Victor Emmanuel's frankness and
independence, of his love of mixing with his people, and doing little
acts of kindness and charity. He was a great hunter, never happier than
when in the Alps, free as the meanest goatherd, and forgetful of all
his cares. He had a most magnetic personality, a certain ruggedness of
character that led men to trust him implicitly and follow him without
debate. He was the very man for his time, a leader who could accomplish
what Charles Albert could never have done, because he was first and
foremost a fighter and never the scholastic theorist. Grouped about
him were men of the greatest ability and devotion, such patriots as
D'Azeglio, Cavour, La Marmora, who could do for him what they could
never have done for his father, because Victor Emmanuel knew when to
give others a free rein, and having once given them that rein, did not
immediately jerk them back. He understood the delicate position of a
constitutional sovereign almost by instinct, time and again he might
have forced his wish upon his country, but he understood that it was
Parliament and not he that should be supreme. Yet, on the other hand, he
did not shirk responsibility, he was ready to assume any burden which
would aid in delivering Italy from foreign domination.
Events in the lives of nations, such as the union of the disordered
states of Italy, are greater than any man, but often such events seem
to await the coming of a certain man who shall collect within himself
the spirit of his time, and personify its impulse in his nature. Reading
this history, one feels as though the men of the Peninsula had waited
the coming of a King of Piedmont who should throw everything he had
into the common cause, and, without counting any cost or pain, fight to
the goal. When such a man came, then and then only, could the forces
that were preparing reach their full growth and opportunity, then and
then only could Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour put into operation the
energies for which they severally stood.
In Italy to-day the memory of Victor Emmanuel meets one on every hand,
it was his fortunate fate to rise to every opportunity, and to grow in
his people's affection with each step he took.
INDEX
"Adelchi," appearance of, 51;
stanzas from, 60, 61
Albany, Count and Countess of, 22
Alfieri, Vittorio, 1-39;
birth and parentage, 1, 2;
education, 2, 3;
early travels, 5-7;
opinion of Paris, 8;
travels in England, 9, 14;
travels in Holland, 10;
in Vienna and Berlin, 12, 13;
travels in Russia, 13;
in Spain, 14, 15;
first plays, 17, 18;
moves to Florence, 20-22;
meeting with the Countess of Albany, 23, 24;
"Virginia," "Agemennone," "Don Garzia," "Maria Stuarda," "Oreste,"
"Filippo," "Timoleone," "Ottavia," "Rosmunda," 25;
in Rome, 27, 28;
"Saul," "Antigone," 27;
later travels, 28;
"Agide," "Sofonisba," "Mirra," 29;
life in Paris, 30, 31;
memoirs, 31;
French Revolution, 31-33;
French occupation of Florence, 34;
comedies, 35;
death, 35;
influence on Italy, 36-39
Amadeus, King of Spain, 340
America, Garibaldi in, 225, 241
Arnaud, Giuseppe, quoted (of Alfieri), 38
Aspromonte, 264, 329
Balbo, Count, 177
Bandiera-Moro, The, 116
Bassi, Ugo, in Venice, 110, 111;
tribute to Manin, 111;
at siege of Rome, 237;
death of, 240
Beccaria, treatise on "Crimes and Punishments," 45
Benso, family of, 166
Bonghi, quoted (of Manzoni), 59
Caprera, Island of, 240, 242
Carbonari, The, 127, 129, 133
Carlyle, Thomas, and Mazzini, 143, 144
Castellani, The Nicoletti and, 97
Cavour, Camille di, 165-222;
birth, youth, and education, 167-169;
life as a farmer at Leri, 169;
travels in England and France, 171, 172;
founds "Il Risorgimento," 174;
speech to the editors, 174, 175;
election to Parliament, 177;
campaign of 1848-49, 177-179;
personal appearance, 180;
member of D'Azeglio's cabinet, 182;
the "Connubio" with Rattazzi, 184, 185;
the "Gran Ministero," 188;
policies, 189;
alliance with England and France, 190, 191;
resignation as Premier and recall, 193, 194;
Congress of Paris of 1856, 195-198;
Pact of Plombières, 201;
crisis of 1859, 204-208;
war of 1859, 208;
treaty of Villafranca, 208, 209;
cession of Savoy and Nice, 212-214;
views on Garibaldi's expedition, 214;
sends Royal army south, 216;
"A Free Church in a Free State," 219;
death, 220;
his statesmanship, 220-222;
reliance of the people, 222;
relations with Mazzini, 154, 155, 215
Cavour, Marquise Philippine di, 166-168
Charles Albert, character of, 136-139, 173-174, 285;
as regent, 286;
reign of, 67, 286-288;
abdication of, 293, 294;
and Gioberti, 67, 68;
Mazzini's letter to, 137, 138
Charles Felix, King of Sardinia, 284, 286
Ciceruacchio, 236, 239, 240
Clarendon, Lord, at Congress of Paris, 197
Classicists and Romanticists, 41-44, 126
Cobden, visit to Venice, 91
Congregations, Central and Provincial, 94
"Connubio," The, 184, 185
Crimean War, 190-192
Dandolo, Giulio, quoted (of Garibaldi's troops), 228, 229
D'Azeglio, Massimo, 179;
and Charles Albert, 287, 288;
ministry of, 182, 185, 187, 296;
character of, 332;
death of, 332;
quoted (of Alfieri), 39
De Lesseps, Ferdinand, at Rome, 150, 235
De Sanctis, quoted (of Alfieri), 26;
(of the reaction from the French Revolution), 40;
(of the Romantic movement), 41, 43, 44
Emmanuel Philibert, of Savoy, 283
Farini, 183, 318, 320, 329
"Father of Venice, The," 87-124
"Five Days of Milan, The," 147
French Revolution, failure of, 40, 127;
Alfieri and the, 31-33
Gaeta, Mazzini at, 160
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 223-282;
birth and boyhood, 223, 224;
life in South America, 225, 226;
offer to serve Pius IX., 226, 227;
campaign of 1848, 227-230;
defense of Rome, 231-237;
retreat of the Legion, 237-239;
death of Anita, 240;
leaves Italy, 241;
purchase of Caprera, 242;
commands the "Hunters of the Alps," 244;
campaign of 1859, 244-247;
attacks Cavour, 249;
expedition to Sicily, 214-216, 250-255;
victories in Calabria, 256;
capture of Naples, 257, 258;
returns to Caprera, 262;
march on Rome, and Aspromonte, 264;
triumphal visit to England, 266, 267;
campaign of 1866, 267-271;
plans to take Rome, Mentana, 273-275;
serves France against Prussia, 276;
old age and death, 277-279;
estimate of character and achievements, 279-282
Garibaldi, Anita, 226, 239, 240
Garibaldi, Francesca, 278
Garibaldi, Menotti, 253, 264, 273
Garibaldian army, description of, 228, 229, 270
Gioberti, Vincenzo, 63-86;
birth and education, 65, 66;
priesthood, 66;
chaplain to Charles Albert, 67;
arrest and exile, 68, 69;
life in Brussels, 69, 70;
"La Teorica del Sovran-naturale," 70;
"Introduzione della Filosofia," 70;
other writings, 70;
"Il Gesuita Moderno," 70;
"Il Primato d'Italia," 70-73, 83, 84;
returns to Piedmont, 75;
revolutions of 1848, 76, 77;
letter to Pius IX., 78;
"Rinnovamento Civile d'Italia," 80, 81;
death, 82;
comparison of, with Mazzini, 82
"Gran Ministero," The, 188
Guerrazzi, attack on Cavour, 213
Howells, William Dean, quoted (of Manzoni's dramas), 52, 53
Hugo, Victor, and the Romantic movement, 54
Humbert, Prince, marriage of, 337
"Hunters of the Alps," The, 202, 244
"I Promessi Sposi," appearance of, 53;
opinions of, 54;
compared with "Les Miserables," 54
"Il Risorgimento," the newspaper, 174, 182
Kossuth, Mazzini compared with, 161
La Marmora, Alfonso, 292, 304, 332
Lincoln, Mazzini compared with, 162
Magenta, battle of, 313
Manin, Daniel, 87-124;
birth and education, 88;
professional work, 90, 91;
views on national resignation, 92-94;
arrest and imprisonment, 95-99;
triumphal release, 98, 99;
forms a Venetian government, 105;
member of the Triumvirate, 108;
president of the Republic, 113;
Dictator, 116;
departure from Venice, 120;
life in Paris, 121, 122;
death, 123;
results of his work, 124
Manin, Emilia, 103, 121, 122
Manzoni, Alessandro, 40-62;
birth and parentage, 45;
youth and education, 45-47;
stay in France, 47;
religious views, 48, 49;
marriage, 48;
"Sacred Hymns," 49;
view of Pope's temporal power, 49;
"Il Conte di Carmagnola," 50;
"Il Cinque Maggio," 51;
"Adelchi," 51;
"I Promessi Sposi," 53-55;
personality, 56;
old age and death, 57;
position, 44, 59;
miscellaneous writings, 58, 59
Manzoni, Henriette, 48
Mazzini, Giuseppe, 125-164;
youth, 127;
early writings, 128, 129;
arrest and imprisonment, 129, 130;
"Young Italy," 131-133;
life in Switzerland and London, 139-145;
returns to Italy, 147;
Triumvir of Rome, 148-151;
in London, 152, 153;
personal appearance, 152;
in Italy, 155;
disagreement with the monarchy, 155-157;
appearance in Genoa, 159;
plans to take Sicily, 160;
confinement at Gaeta, 160, 161;
death, 161;
position in his century, 161;
spirit of self-sacrifice, 163
Mentana, 275, 336
"Mille," expedition of the, 250-256
Minghetti, 329;
quoted (of Gioberti), 63-65
Monti, Vincenzo, 46
Naples, welcome to Garibaldi, 258
Napoleon, Manzoni's Ode on Death of, 51
Napoleon III, 150, 200, 312, 315
Nazari, 94
Neo-Guelph party, 84
Nice, cession of, 212-214, 249, 309, 320
Nicoletti and Castellani, The, 97
Novara, battle of, 292, 293
Orsini, Felice, 200
Palermo, capture of, 253, 254
Palffy, Count, 92, 99, 100
Palmerston, Lord, views on Italy, 186, 210, 211
Paravia, quoted (of Alfieri), 18, 19
Paris, Congress of, in 1856, 195-198
Piedmont, its mediævalism, 166
Pius IX., accession of, 73, 145;
Garibaldi's letter to, 226, 227;
flight from Rome of, 77
Plombières, Pact of, 201
"Primato d'Italia, II," 70-73, 83, 84;
quoted from, 71-73, 83, 84
"Promessi Sposi, I," 53, 54
Rattazzi, 184, 185, 210, 263,317, 328
Raymondi, Giuseppina, 250
Ricasoli, 318, 320, 328
"Risorgimento, Il," the newspaper, 174, 182
Roman Republic, The, 148-151, 233-237;
Garibaldi's part in, 231-237;
manifesto of, 232
Romanticists and Classicists, 41-44, 126
Rome, taken by Victor Emmanuel, 338, 339;
capital moved to, 340
Salasco, armistice of, 107
San Martino, battle of, 314, 315
Santa Rosa, 299
Sardinia, Kingdom of, 284
Savoy, history of house of, 283, 284;
cession of, 212-214, 309, 320
Sicily, Garibaldi's campaign in, 252-255
Solferino, battle of, 314, 315
Statute, the Sardinian, 176
Tommaseo, 95
Turin, removal of capital from, 331, 332
Unities, law of the three, 50
Valerio, attacks on Cavour, 175
Venice, the "Father of Venice," 87-124;
under Austrian rule, 87;
siege of, 109-120;
capitulation of, 120;
union with Italian kingdom, 334, 335
Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, 284
Victor Emmanuel I., of Italy, 283-343;
ancestry, 283, 284;
birth, youth, and education, 289;
marriage, 290;
first battles, 291;
becomes king, 293, 294;
difficulties with the Church, 298, 299;
marriage of his daughter, 309;
speech from the throne in 1859, 203;
war with Austria in 1859, 311-315;
treaty of Villafranca, 315-317;
union of northern and central states, 318-321;
marches to meet Garibaldi, 323-325;
Naples and Sicily united to his crown, 324, 325;
proclaimed King of Italy, 325;
moves his capital to Florence, 331;
campaign of 1866, 333, 334;
Venetia united to the kingdom, 334, 335;
entry into Rome, 338-340;
King of United Italy, 341;
death, 342;
fitness for his work, 342-343;
Gioberti's opinion of, 81;
Manzoni's opinion of, 61, 62
Villafranca, treaty of, 208, 317
"Young Italy," 126, 128, 131-133, 135, 136, 145, 146
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Transcriber's Note
Obvious printer errors, inconsistent hyphenation, spelling and
punctuation have been fixed. Content has been left as found. Some
examples of incosistencies are noted below.
Radetsky versus Radetzky
tricolor versus tri-color
D'Acunha versus d'Acunha
D'Azeglio versus d'Azeglio
preeminence versus pre-eminence
End of Project Gutenberg's Builders of United Italy, by Rupert Sargent Holland