accession to the nation [July, 1808]. 'The august Napoleon,'
he said, 'had given him the kingdom of the two Sicilies.
Gratitude to the donor, and a desire to benefit his subjects,
would divide his heart.' … The commencement of Murat's reign
was felicitous; the English, however, occupied the island of
Capri, which, being placed at the opening of the gulf, is the
key of the bay of Naples. Their presence stimulated all who
were averse to the new government, intimidated its adherents,
and impeded the freedom of navigation, to the manifest injury
of commerce; besides, it was considered disgraceful, that one
of the Napoleonides should suffer an enemy so near, and that
enemy the English, who were at once so hated and so despised.
The indolence of Joseph had patiently suffered the disgrace;
but Joachim, a spirited soldier, was indignant at it, and he
thought it necessary to commence his reign by some important
enterprise. He armed therefore against Capri: Sir Hudson Lowe
was there in garrison with two regiments collected from all
the nations of Europe, and which were called the Royal
Corsican and the Royal Maltese. … A body of French and
Neapolitans were sent from Naples and Salerno, under the
command of General Lamarque, to reduce the island; and they
effected a landing, by means of ladders hung to the rocks by
iron hooks, and thus possessed themselves of Anacarpi, though
not without great difficulty, as the English resolutely
defended themselves. …
{1854}
The siege proceeded but slowly—succours of men and
ammunition reached the besieged from Sicily; but fortune
favoured the enemy, as an adverse wind drove the English out
to sea. The King, who superintended the operations from the
shore of Massa, having waited at the point of Campanella,
seizing the propitious moment, sent fresh squadrons in aid of
Lamarque, and the English, being already broken, and the forts
dismantled, now yielded to the conqueror. The Neapolitans were
highly gratified by the acquisition of Capri, and from that
event augured well of the new government. The kingdom of
Naples contained three classes of people—barons, republicans,
and populace. The barons willingly joined the party of the new
king, because they were pleased by the honours granted to
them, and they were not without hopes of recovering their
ancient privileges, or at least of acquiring new ones. … The
republicans were, on the contrary, inimical to Joachim, not
because he was a king, for they easily accommodated themselves
to royalty; but because his conduct in Tuscany, where he had
driven them forth or bound them in chains like malefactors,
had rendered him personally obnoxious to them. They were
moreover disgusted by his incredible vanity, which led him to
court and caress with the most zealous adulation every bearer
of a feudal title. … The populace, who cared no more for
Joachim than they had done for Joseph, would easily have
contented themselves with the new government, if it had
protected them from the oppressions of the barons, and had
procured for them quiet and abundance. But Joachim, wholly
intent on courting the nobles, neglected the people, who,
oppressed by the barons and soldiery, became alienated from
him. … The spirit of discontent was further increased by his
introduction of the conscription laws of France. … Joachim,
a soldier himself, permitted every thing to his soldiery; and
an insupportable military license was the result. Hence, also,
they became the sole support of his power, and it took no root
in the affections of the people. The insolence of the troops
continually augmented not only every desire, but every caprice
of the head of a regiment, nay, even of the inferior officers,
was to be complied with, as if they were the laws of the
realm; and whosoever even lamented his subjection to their
will was ill-treated and incurred some risk of being declared
an enemy to the King. … The discontents produced by the
enormities committed by the troops of Murat gave hopes to the
court of Palermo that its fortunes might be re-established in
the kingdom beyond the Faro. Meanwhile, the civil war raged in
Calabria; nor were the Abruzzi tranquil. In these disturbances
there were various factions in arms, and various objects were
pursued: some of those who fought against Joachim, and had
fought against Joseph, were adherents of Ferdinand,—others
were the partisans of a republican constitution. … The sect
of the Carbonari arose at this period."
_C. Botta,
Italy during the Consulate and Empire of Napoleon,
chapter 5._
"The most famous, the most widely disseminated, and the most
powerful of all the secret societies which sprang up in Italy
was that of the Carbonari, or Charcoal-makers. … The
Carbonari first began to attract attention in the Kingdom of
Naples about the year 1808. A Genoese named Maghella, who
burned with hatred of the French, is said to have initiated
several Neapolitans into a secret order whose purpose it was
to goad their countrymen into rebellion. They quitted Naples,
where Murat's vigilant policy kept too strict a watch on
conspirators, and retired to the Abruzzi, where in order to
disarm suspicion they pretended to be engaged in
charcoal-burning. As their numbers increased, agents were sent
to establish lodges in the principal towns. The Bourbon king,
shut up in Sicily, soon heard of them, and as he had not
hesitated at letting loose with English aid galley-prisoners,
or at encouraging brigands, to harass Murat, so he eagerly
connived with these conspirators in the hope of recovering his
throne. Murat, having striven for several years to suppress
the Carbonari, at last, when he found his power slipping from
him, reversed his policy towards them, and strove to
conciliate them. But it was too late: neither he nor they
could prevent the restoration of the Bourbons under the
protection of Austria. The sectaries who had hitherto
foolishly expected that, if the French could be expelled,
Ferdinand would grant them a Liberal government, were soon
cured of their delusion, and they now plotted against him as
sedulously as they had plotted against his predecessor. Their
membership increased to myriads; their lodges, starting up in
every village in the Kingdom of Naples, had relations with
branch-societies in all parts of the Peninsula: to the anxious
ears of European despots the name Carbonaro soon meant all
that was lawless and terrible; it meant anarchy, chaos,
assassination. But when we read the catechism, or confession
of faith, of the Carbonari we are surprised by the
reasonableness of their aims and tenets. The duties of the
individual Carbonaro were, 'to render to the Almighty the
worship due to Him; to serve the fatherland with zeal; to
reverence religion and laws; to fulfil the obligations of
nature and friendship; to be faithful to promises; to observe
silence, discretion, and charity; to cause harmony and good
morals to prevail; to conquer the passions and submit the
will; and to abhor the seven deadly sins.' The scope of the
Society was to disseminate instruction; to unite the different
classes of society under the bond of love; to impress a
national character on the people, and to interest them in the
preservation and defense of the fatherland and of religion; to
destroy by moral culture the source of crimes due to the
general depravity of mankind; to protect the weak and to raise
up the unfortunate. … It went still farther and asserted the
un-Catholic doctrine of liberty of conscience: 'to every
Carbonaro,' so reads one of its articles, 'belongs the natural
and unalterable right to worship the Almighty according to his
own intuition and understanding.' We must not be misled,
however, by these enlightened professions, into a wrong notion
of the real purposes of Carbonarism. Politics, in spite of a
rule forbidding political discussion, were the main business,
and ethics but the incidental concern of the conspirators.
They organized their Order under republican forms as if to
prefigure the ideal towards which they aspired. The Republic
was subdivided into provinces, each of which was controlled by
a grand lodge, that of Salerno being the 'parent.' There were
also four 'Tribes,' each having a council and holding an
annual diet.
{1855}
Each tribe had a Senate, which advised a House of
Representatives, and this framed the laws which a magistracy
executed. There were courts of the first instance, of appeal,
and of cessation, and no Carbonaro might bring suit in the
civil courts against a fellow member, unless he had first
failed to get redress in one of these. … The Carbonari
borrowed some of their rites from the Freemasons, with whom
indeed they were commonly reported to be in such close
relations that Freemasons who joined the 'Carbonic Republic'
were spared the formality of initiation; other parts of their
ceremonial they copied from the New Testament, with such
additions as the special objects of the order called for."
_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 2, chapter 4 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_P. Colletta,
History of the Kingdom of Naples,
book 7 (volume 2)._
_T. Frost,
Secret Societies of the European Revolution,
volume 1, chapter 5._
_General Sir H. Bunbury,
The Great War with France,
page 343, and after._
_The Chevalier O'Clery,
History of the Italian Revolution
chapter 3._
ITALY: A. D. 1809 (APRIL-MAY).
Renewed war of Austria with France.
Austrian advance and retreat.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1809 (JANUARY-JUNE).
ITALY: A. D. 1809 (MAY-JULY).
Annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
Removal of the Pope to Savona.
Rome declared to be a free and imperial city.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
ITALY: A. D. 1812.
Removal of the captive Pope to Fontainebleau.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814.
ITALY: A. D. 1812.
Participation in Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1812 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER), and after.
ITALY: A. D. 1813.
Participation in the war in Germany.
See GERMANY: A. D. 1813 (APRIL-MAY).
ITALY: A. D. 1814.
Desertion of Napoleon by Murat.
His treaty with the Allies.
Expulsion of the French from the Peninsula.
Murat, king of Naples, "foreseeing the downfall of the
Emperor, had attempted to procure from Napoleon, as the price
of his fidelity, the union under his own sceptre of all Italy
south of the Po; but, failing in this, he prepared to abandon
the cause of his benefactor. On the 11th January, 1814, he
concluded a treaty with the Allies, by which he was guaranteed
possession of Naples; and forthwith advancing on Rome with
20,000 men, occupied the second city in his brother-in-law's
empire (January 19); having previously published a flaming
proclamation, in which the perfidy and violence of the
imperial government were denounced in terms which came
strangely from a chief of the Revolution. … At the end of
December, 1813, Eugene had withdrawn to the Adige with 36,000
men, before Bellegarde and 50,000 Austrians; and he was
already taking measures for a further retreat, when the
proclamation of Murat, and his hostile advance, rendered such
a movement inevitable. He had accordingly fallen back to the
Mincio, when, finding himself threatened on the flank by a
British expedition from Sicily under Lord William Bentinck, he
determined on again advancing against Bellegarde, so as to rid
himself of one enemy before he encountered another. The two
armies, however, thus mutually acting on the offensive, passed
each other, and an irregular action at last ensued on the
Mincio (February 8), in which the advantage was rather with
the French, who made 1,500 prisoners, and drove Bellegarde
shortly after over the Mincio, about 3,000 being killed and
wounded on each side. But, in other quarters, affairs were
going rapidly to wreck. Verona surrendered to the Austrians on
the 14th, and Ancona to Murat on the 16th; and the desertion
of the Italians, unequal to the fatigues of a winter campaign,
was so great that the Viceroy was compelled to fall back to
the Po. Fouché, meanwhile, as governor of Rome, had concluded
a convention (February 20) with the Neapolitan generals for
the evacuation of Pisa, Leghorn, Florence, and other garrisons
of the French empire in Italy. A proclamation, however, by the
hereditary prince of Sicily, who had accompanied Bentinck from
Sicily, gave Murat such umbrage that he separated his troops
from the British, and commenced operations, with little
success, against Eugene on the Po, in which the remainder of
March passed away. Bentinck, having at length received
reinforcements from Catalonia, moved forward with 12,000 men,
and occupied Spezia on the 29th of March, and, driving the
French (April 8) from their position at Sestri, forced his way
through the mountains, and appeared on the 16th in front of
Genoa. On the 17th the forts and positions before the city
were stormed; and the garrison, seeing preparations made for a
bombardment, capitulated on the 18th, on condition of being
allowed to march out with the honours of war. Murat had by
this time recommenced vigorous operations, and after driving
the French (April 13) from the Taro, had forced the passage of
the Stura; but the news of Napoleon's fall put an end to
hostilities. By a convention with the Austrians, Venice,
Palma-Nuova, and the other fortresses still held by the
French, were surrendered; the whole of Lombardy was occupied
by the Germans; and in the first week of May the French troops
finally repassed the Alps."
_Epitome of Alison's History of Europe,
sections 775, and 807-808._
ITALY: A. D. 1814-1815.
Return of the Despots.
Restoration of Austrian tyranny in the North.
The Pope in Rome again.
"With little resistance, Northern Italy was taken from the
French. Had it been otherwise, had Murat and Beauharnais
joined their forces, they might have long held the Austrians
in check, perhaps even have made a descent on Vienna; and
although this might not have hindered the ultimate overthrow
of Napoleon, yet it must have compelled the Allies, at the day
of settlement, to respect the wishes of the Italians. But
disunited, and deluded into the belief that they were partners
in a war of liberation, the Italians woke up to find that they
had escaped from the talons of the French eagle, only to be
caught in the clutch of the two-headed monstrosity of Austria.
They were to be used, in the language of Joseph De Maistre,
like coins, wherewith the Allies paid their debts. This was
plain enough when the people of the just-destroyed Kingdom of
Italy prepared to choose a ruler for themselves: one party
favored Beauharnais, another wished an Austrian prince, a
third an Italian, but all agreed in demanding independence.
Austria quickly informed them that they were her subjects, and
that their affairs would be decided at Vienna. Thus, almost
without striking a blow, and without a suspicion of the lot
awaiting them, the Northern Italians fell back under the
domination of Austria. In the spring and early summer of 1814
the exiled princelings returned: Victor Emanuel I. from his
savage refuge in Sardinia to Turin; Ferdinand III. from
Würzburg to Florence; Pius VII. from his confinement at
Fontainebleau and Savona to Rome.
See PAPACY: A. D. 1808-1814;
{1856}
Francis IV. to Modena. Other aspirants anxiously waited for
the Congress of Vienna to bestow upon them the remaining
provinces. The Congress … dragged on into the spring of the
following year. … In Lombardy and Venetia, Metternich soon
organized a thoroughly Austrian administration. The government
of the two provinces was separate, that of Lombardy being
centred at Milan, that of Venetia at Venice; but over all was
placed an Austrian archduke as Viceroy. Each district had its
civil and military tribunals, but the men who composed these
being appointees of the viceroy or his deputies, their
subservience could usually be reckoned upon. The trials were
secret, a provision which, especially in political cases, made
convictions easy. … Feudal privileges, which had been
abolished by the French, could be recovered by doing homage to
the Emperor and by paying specific taxes. In some respects
there was an improvement in the general administration, but in
others the deterioration was manifest. … Art, science, and
literature were patronized, and they throve as potted plants
thrive under the care of a gardener who cuts off every new
shoot at a certain height. … We may liken the people of the
Austro-Italian provinces to those Florentine revelers who, at
the time of the plague, tried to drive away their terror by
telling each other the merry stories reported by Boccaccio.
The plague which penetrated every corner of Lombardy and
Venetia was the Austrian police. Stealthy, but sure, its
unseen presence was dreaded in palace and hovel, in church,
tribunal, and closet. … Every police-office was crammed with
records of the daily habits of each citizen, of his visitors,
his relatives, his casual conversations,—even his style of
dress and diet were set down. … Such was the Metternichian
system of police and espionage that counteracted every mild
law and every attempt to lessen the repugnance of the
Italians. They were not to be deceived by blandishments:
Lombardy was a prison, Venetia was a prison, and they were all
captives, although they seemed to move about unshackled to
their work or pleasure."
_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 2, chapter 2 (volume 1)._
See, also,
VIENNA, THE CONGRESS OF;
AUSTRIA: A. D. 1815-1846;
and HOLY ALLIANCE.
ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1815.
Murat's attempt to head a national movement.
His failure, downfall and death.
Restoration of the Bourbons at Naples.
"Wild as was the attempt in which, after Napoleon's return
from Elba, the King of Naples lost his crown, we must yet
judge of it both by his own character and the circumstances in
which he was placed. … In the autumn of 1813 communications
took place at Milan between Murat and the leaders of the
secret societies which were then attempting to organise
Italian patriotism in arms. In 1814, when the restoration of
Austrian rule in Lombardy so cruelly disappointed the national
hopes, these communications were renewed. The King of Naples
was assured that he needed but to raise the standard of
Italian independence to rally round him thousands and tens of
thousands of volunteers. … These calculations … were
readily adopted by the rash and vain-glorious monarch to whom
they were presented. … His proud spirit chafed and fretted
under the consciousness that he had turned upon Napoleon, and
the mortification of finding himself deserted by those in
reliance upon whose faith this sacrifice had been made. The
events in France had taken him by surprise. In joining the
alliance against Napoleon he had not calculated on the
deposition of the emperor, still less had he dreamed of the
destruction of the empire. … He bitterly reproached his own
conduct for having lent himself to such results. … When his
mind was agitated with these mingled feelings, the
intelligence reached him that Napoleon had actually left Elba,
on that enterprise in which he staked everything upon
regaining the imperial throne of France. It came to him direct
from Napoleon. … He foresaw that the armies of the allied
powers would be engaged in a gigantic struggle with the
efforts which Napoleon would be sure to make. Under such
circumstances, he fancied Italy an easy conquest; once master
of this he became a power with whom, in the conflict of
nations, any of the contending parties could only be too happy
to treat. He determined to place himself at the head of
Italian nationality, and strike one daring blow for the
chieftainship of the nation. … His ministers, his friends,
the French generals, even his queen, Napoleon's sister,
dissuaded him from such a course. … But with an obstinacy by
which the vacillating appear sometimes to attempt to atone for
habitual indecision, he persevered in spite of all advice. …
He issued a proclamation and ordered his troops to cross the
Papal frontier. … The Pope appointed a regency and retired,
accompanied by most of the cardinals, to Florence. … On the
30th of March his [Murat's] troops attacked the Austrian
forces at Cesena. The Germans were driven, without offering
much resistance, from the town. On the evening of that day he
issued from Rimini his proclamation to the Italian people,
which was against Austria a declaration of war. … A
declaration of war on the part of Austria immediately
followed. … The whole of the Italian army of Austria was
ordered at once to march upon Naples; and a treaty was
concluded with Ferdinand, by which Austria engaged to use all
her endeavours to recover for him his Neapolitan dominions.
… The army which Murat led northward, instead of numbering
80,000 as he represented in his proclamation, certainly never
exceeded 34,000. … Nearly 60,000 Austrians defended the
banks of the Po. … On the 10th of April, the troops of
Murat, under the command of General Pepe, were driven back by
the Austrians, who now in their turn advanced. … A retreat
to the frontiers of Naples was unanimously resolved on. This
retreat was one that had all the disasters without any of the
redeeming glories of war. … At last, as they approached the
confines of the Neapolitan kingdom, an engagement which took
place between Macerata and Tolentino, on the 4th of May, ended
in a total and ignominious rout. … At Macerata most of the
troops broke up into a disorganised rabble, and with
difficulty Murat led to Capua a small remnant of an army, that
could hardly be said to be defeated, because they were worsted
without anything that deserves to be called a fight.
{1857}
From Capua, on the 12th of May, the king sent to Naples a
proclamation granting a free constitution. To conceal the fact
that this was wrung from him only in distress, he resorted to
the miserable subterfuge of ante-dating it from Rimini, on the
30th of March." On the evening of the 18th of May, Murat
entered Naples quietly on foot, and had his last interview
with his queen and children. A British squadron was already in
the harbor. The next night he slipped away to the island of
Ischia, and thence to Frejus, while Queen Caroline remained to
discharge the last duties of sovereignty. On the 20th Naples
was surrendered to the Austrians, and the ex-queen took refuge
on an English vessel to escape from a threatening mob of the
lazzaroni. She was conveyed to Trieste, where the Austrian
emperor had offered her an asylum. The restored Bourbon king,
Ferdinand, made his entry into the capital on the 17th of
June. Meantime, Murat, in France, had offered his services to
Napoleon and they had been declined. After Waterloo, he
escaped to Corsica, whence, in the following October, he made
a foolhardy attempt to recover his kingdom, landing with a few
followers at Pizzo, on the Neapolitan coast, expecting a
rising of the people to welcome his return. But the rising
that occurred was hostile instead of friendly. The party was
quickly overpowered, Murat taken prisoner and delivered to
Ferdinand's officers. He was summarily tried by court martial
and shot, October 13, 1815.
_I. Butt,
History of Italy,
volume 2, chapters 10-11._
ALSO IN:
_P. Colletta,
History of Naples,
book 7, chapter 5,
and book 8, chapter 1 (volume 2)._
ITALY: A. D. 1820-1821.
Revolutionary insurrections in Naples and Sicily.
Perjury and duplicity of the king.
The revolt crushed by Austrian troops.
Abortive insurrection in Piedmont.
Its end at Novara.
Abdication of Victor Emmanuel I.
Accession of Charles Felix.
"In the last days of February, 1820, a revolution broke out in
Spain. The object of its leaders was to restore the
Constitution of 1812, which had been suppressed on the return
of the Bourbons to the throne. … The Revolution proved
successful, and for a short time the Spaniards obtained
possession of a democratic Constitution. Their success stirred
up the ardour of the Liberal party in the kingdom of the two
Sicilies, and before many weeks were over a revolutionary
movement occurred at Naples. The insurrection originated with
the army under the command of General Pepé, and it is worthy
of note that the movement was not directed against the
reigning dynasty, and was not, even nominally, associated with
any demand for national unity. All the insurgents asked for
was the establishment of a Constitution similar to that then
existing in Spain. After a very brief and feeble resistance,
the King yielded to the demands of the military conspirators,
who were strongly supported by popular feeling. On the 1st of
October, a Parliament of the Neapolitan kingdom was opened by
His Majesty Francis the First, who then and there took a
solemn oath to observe the Constitution, and even went out of
his way to profess his profound attachment for the principles
on which the new Government was based. General Pepé thereupon
resigned the Dictatorship he had assumed, and constitutional
liberty was deemed to have been finally established in
Southern Italy by a bloodless revolution. The rising on the
mainland was followed after a brief interval by a popular
insurrection in Sicily. The main object, however, of the
Sicilian Constitutionalists was to bring about a legislative
separation between the island and the kingdom of Naples
proper. … The Sicilian insurrection afforded Francis I. the
pretext he had looked for, from the commencement, for
overthrowing the Constitution to which he had personally
plighted his faith. The Allied Sovereigns took alarm at the
outbreak of the revolutionary spirit in Sicily, and a Congress
of the Great Powers was convoked at Laibach [see VERONA, THE
CONGRESS OF] to consider what steps required to be taken for
the protection of social order in the kingdom of Naples. …
By the Neapolitan Constitution the Sovereign was not at
liberty to leave the kingdom without the consent of the
Parliament. This consent was only given, after much
hesitation, in reliance upon the reiterated assurances of the
King, both publicly and privately, that his one object in
attending the Congress was to avert, if possible, a foreign
intervention. His Majesty also pledged himself most solemnly
not to sanction any change in the Constitution to which he had
sworn allegiance, and … he promised further that he would
not be a party to any reprisals being inflicted upon his
subjects for the part they might have taken in the
establishment of Constitutional liberty. As soon, however, as
Francis the First had arrived at Laibach, he yielded without a
protest to the alleged necessity for a foreign occupation of
his kingdom, with the avowed object of putting down the
Constitution. Without any delay being given, the Austrian
regiments crossed the frontier, preceded by a manifesto from
the King, calling upon his faithful subjects to receive the
army of occupation not as enemies, but as friends. … The
national troops, under General Pepé, were defeated with ease
by the Austrians, who in the course of a few weeks effected,
almost without opposition, the military occupation of the
whole kingdom [February-March, 1821]. Forthwith reprisals
commenced in grim earnest. On the plea that the resistance
offered by the Constitutionalists to the invading army
constituted an act of high treason, the King declared himself
absolved from all promises he had given previously to his
departure. A reign of terror was set on foot. … Signor Botta
thus sums up the net result of the punishments inflicted after
the return of the King in the Neapolitan provinces alone.
'About a thousand persons were condemned to death, imprisoned,
or exiled. Infinitely greater was the number of officers and
officials who were deprived of their posts by the
Commissioners of Investigation.' … The establishment of
Constitutional Government in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
and the resolution adopted at the instigation of Austria, by
the Congress of Laibach, to suppress the Neapolitan
Constitution by armed force, produced a profound effect
throughout Italy, and especially in Sardinia. The fact that
internal reforms were incompatible with the ascendency of
Austria in the Peninsula was brought home to the popular mind,
and, for the first time in the history of Italy, the desire
for civil liberty became identified with the national aversion
to foreign rule.
{1858}
In Piedmont there was a powerful Constitutional party,
composed chiefly of professional men, and a strong military
caste, aristocratic by birth and conviction, but opposed on
national grounds to the domination of Austria over Italy.
These two parties coalesced for a time upon the common
platform of Constitutional Reform and war with Austria; and
the result was the abortive rising of 1821. The insurrection,
however, though directed against the established Government,
had about it nothing of an anti-dynastic, or even of a
revolutionary character. On the contrary, the leaders of the
revolt professed, and probably with sincerity, that they were
carrying out the true wishes of their Sovereign. Their theory
was, that Victor Emmanuel I. was only compelled to adhere to
the Holy Alliance by considerations of foreign policy, and
that, if his hands were forced, he would welcome any
opportunity of severing himself from all complicity with
Austria. Acting on this belief, they determined to proclaim
the Constitution by a sort of coup d' état, and then, after
having declared war on Austria, to invade Lombardy, and thus
create a diversion in favour of the Neapolitans. It is certain
that Victor Emmanuel I. gave no sanction to, and was not even
cognisant of, this mad enterprise. … The troubles and
calamities of his early life had exhausted his energy; and his
one desire was to live at peace at home and abroad. On the
other hand, it is certain that Charles Albert [prince of
Savoy-Carignan, heir presumptive to the throne of Sardinia]
was in communication with the leaders of the insurrection,
though how far he was privy to their actual designs has never
yet been clearly ascertained. The insurrection broke out just
about the time when the Austrian troops were approaching the
Neapolitan frontiers. … The insurrection gained head
rapidly, and the example of Alexandria was followed by the
garrison of Turin. Pressure was brought to bear upon Victor
Emmanuel I., and he was led to believe that the only means of
averting civil war was to grant the Constitution. The
pressure, however, overshot its mark. On the one hand, the
King felt that he could not possibly withstand the demand for
a Constitution at the cost of having to order the regiments
which had remained loyal to fire upon the insurgents. On the
other hand, he did not feel justified in granting the
Constitution without the sanction of his brother and
[immediate] heir. In order, therefore, to escape from this
dilemma, his Majesty abdicated suddenly in favour of Charles
Felix [his brother]. As, however, the new Sovereign happened
to be residing at Modena, at the Court of his brother-in-law,
the Prince of Savoy-Carignan was appointed Regent until such
time as Charles Felix could return to the capital. Immediately
upon his abdication, Victor Emmanuel quitted Turin, and
Charles Albert was left in supreme authority as Regent of the
State. Within twelve hours of his accession to power, the
Regent proclaimed the Spanish Constitution as the fundamental
law of Piedmont. … The probability is … that Charles
Albert, or rather his advisers, were anxious to tie the hands
of the new Sovereign. They calculated that Charles Felix, who
was no longer young, and who was known to be bitterly hostile
to all Liberal theories of Government, would abdicate sooner
than accept the Crown of a Constitutional kingdom. This
calculation proved erroneous. … As soon as his Majesty
learned the news of what had occurred in his absence, he
issued a manifesto [March, 1821], declaring all the reforms
granted under the Regency to be null and void, describing the
authors of the Constitution as rebels, and avowing his
intention, in the case of necessity, of calling upon the
Allied Powers to assist him in restoring the legitimate
authority of the Crown. Meanwhile, he refused to accept the
throne till the restoration of order had given Victor Emmanuel
full freedom to reconsider the propriety of abdication. This
manifesto was followed by the immediate advance of an Austrian
corps d'armée to the frontier stream of the Ticino, as well as
by the announcement that the Russian Government had ordered an
army of 100,000 men to set out on their march towards Italy,
with the avowed object of restoring order in the Peninsula.
The population of Piedmont recognised at once, with their
practical good sense, that any effective resistance was out of
the question. … The courage of the insurgents gave way in
view of the obstacles which they had to encounter, and the
last blow was dealt to their cause by the sudden defection of
the Prince Regent. … Unable either to face his coadjutors in
the Constitutional pronunciamento, or to assume the
responsibility of an open conflict with the legitimate
Sovereign, the Regent left Turin secretly [March 21, 1821],
without giving any notice of his intended departure, and, on
arriving at Novara, formally resigned his short-lived power.
The leaders, however, of the insurrection had committed
themselves too deeply to follow the example of the Regent. A
Provisional Government was established at Turin, and it was
determined to march upon Novara, in the hope that the troops
collected there would fraternise with the insurgents. As soon
as it was known that the insurgents were advancing in force
from Turin, the Austrians, under General Bübner, crossed the
Ticino, and effected a junction with the Royal troops. When
the insurgents reached Novara, they suddenly found themselves
confronted, not by their own fellow-countrymen, but by an
Austrian army. A panic ensued, and the insurrectionary force
suffered a disastrous, though, fortunately, a comparatively
bloodless, defeat. After this disaster the insurrection was
virtually at an end. … The Austrians, with the consent of
Charles Felix, occupied the principal fortresses of Piedmont.
The old order of things was restored, and, upon Victor
Emmanuel's formal refusal to withdraw his abdication, Charles
Felix assumed the title of King of Sardinia. As soon as
military resistance had ceased, the insurrection was put down
with a strong hand."
_E. Dicey,
Victor Emmanuel,
chapters 3-4._
"Henceforth the issue could not be misunderstood. The conflict
was not simply between the Neapolitans and their Bourbon king,
or between the Piedmontese and Charles Felix, but between
Italian Liberalism and European Absolutism. Santarosa and Pepé
cried out in their disappointment that the just cause would
have won had their timid colleagues been more daring, had
promises but been kept; we, however, see clearly that though
the struggle might have been prolonged, the result would have
been unchanged. Piedmont and Naples, had each of their
citizens been a hero, could not have overcome the Holy
Alliance [see HOLY ALLIANCE], which was their real antagonist.
{1859}
The revolutionists had not directly attacked the Holy
Alliance; they had not thrown down the gauntlet to Austria;
they had simply insisted that they had a right to
constitutional government; and Austria, more keen-witted than
they, had seen that to suffer a constitution at Naples or
Turin would be to acknowledge the injustice of those
principles by which the Holy Alliance had decreed that Europe
should be repressed to the end of time. So when the Carbonari
aimed at Ferdinand they struck Austria, and Austria struck
back a deadly blow. … But Austria and the Reactionists were
not content with simple victory; treating the revolution as a
crime, they at once proceeded to take vengeance. …
Ferdinand, the perjured Neapolitan king, tarried behind in
Florence, whilst the Austrians went down into his kingdom. …
But as soon as Ferdinand was assured that the Austrian
regiments were masters of Naples, he sent for that Prince of
Canosa whom he had been forced unwillingly to dismiss on
account of his outrageous cruelty five years before, and
deputed to him the task of restoring genuine Bourbon tyranny
in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A better agent of
vindictive wrath than Canosa could not have been found; he was
troubled by no humane compunctions, nor by doubts as to the
justice of his fierce measures; to him, as to Torquemada,
persecution was a compound of duty and pleasure. … The right
of assembling, no matter for what purpose, being denied, the
universities, schools, and lyceums had to close; proscription
lists were hurriedly drawn up, and they contained not only the
names of those who had been prominent in the recent rising,
but also of all who had incurred suspicion for any political
acts as far back as 1793. … Houses were searched without
warrant; seals were broken open; some of the revelations of
the confessional were not sacred. The church-bells tolled
incessantly for victims led to execution. To strike deeper
terror, Canosa revived the barbarous torture of scourging in
public. … How many victims actually suffered during this
reign of terror we cannot tell. Canosa's list of the
proscribed had, it is said, more than four thousand names. The
prisons were choked with persons begging for trial; the
galleys of Pantelleria, Procida, and the Ponza Islands swarmed
with victims condemned for life; the scaffolds, erected in the
public squares of the chief towns, were daily occupied. … At
length, when his deputies had terrorized the country into
apparent submission, and when the Austrian regiments made it
safe for him to travel, Ferdinand quitted Florence and
returned to Naples. … In Sicily the revolution smouldered
and spluttered for years, in spite of remorseless efforts to
stamp it out; on the mainland, robberies and brigandage, and
outbreaks now political and now criminal, proved how delusive
was a security based on oppression and lies. Amid these
conditions Ferdinand passed the later years of his infamous
reign. … In Piedmont the retaliation was as effectual as in
Naples, but less blood was shed there. Della Torre took
command of the kingdom in the name of Charles Felix. …
Seventy-three officers were condemned to death, one hundred
and five to the galleys; but as nearly all of them had
escaped, they were hanged in effigy; only two, Lieutenant
Lanari and Captain Garelli, were executed. The property of the
condemned was sequestrated, their families were tormented, and
the commission, not content with sentencing those who had
taken an active part in the revolution, cashiered two hundred
and twenty-one officers who, while holding aloof from
Santarosa, had refused to join Della Torre at Novara and fight
against their countrymen. … The King … had soon reason to
learn the truth of a former epigram of his, 'Austria is a
bird-lime which you cannot wash off your fingers when you have
once touched it'; for Austria soon showed that her motive in
bolstering falling monarchs on their shaky thrones was not
simply philanthropic nor disinterested. General Bubna, on
taking possession of Alessandria, sent the keys of that
fortress to Emperor Francis, in order, he said,—and we wonder
whether there was no sarcasm in his voice,—in order to give
Charles Felix 'the pleasure of receiving them back from the
Emperor's hand.' 'Although I found this a very poor joke,'
wrote Charles Felix to his brother, 'I dissembled.' How,
indeed, could he do otherwise? … Charles Felix had in truth
become but the vassal of the hereditary enemy of his line, and
that not by conquest, but by his own invitation."
_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 2, chapter 7 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_P. Colletta,
History of Naples,
books 9-10 (volume 2)._
_A. Gallenga,
History of Piedmont,
volume 3, chapter 6._
_R. H. Wrightson,
History of Modern Italy,
chapters 2-3, and 6._
ITALY: A. D. 1820-1822.
The Congresses of Troppau, Laybach and Verona.
See VERONA, THE CONGRESS OF.
ITALY: A. D. 1830-1832.
Revolt in Modena, Parma, and the Papal States,
suppressed by Austrian troops.
"The Revolution of 1830 [in France] made a natural impression
in a country which had many evils to complain of and which had
so lately been connected with France. The duke of Modena,
Francis IV., sought to make use of the liberal movement to
extend his rule over northern Italy. But at the last moment he
was terrified by threats from Vienna, turned against his
fellow-conspirators, and imprisoned them (February 3, 1831).
The people, however, were so alienated by his treachery that
he fled with his prisoners to seek safety in Austrian
territory. A provisional government was formed, and Modena was
declared a free state. Meanwhile the election of a new pope,
Gregory XVI., gave occasion for a rising in the papal states.
Bologna took the lead in throwing off its allegiance to Rome,
and in a few weeks its example was followed by the whole of
Romagna, Umbria, and the Marches. The two sons of Louis
Bonaparte, the late king of Holland, hastened to join the
insurgents, but the elder died at Forli (17 March), and thus
an eventful career was opened to the younger brother, the
future Napoleon III. Parma revolted against Maria Louisa, who
followed the example of the duke of Modena and fled to
Austria. The success of the movement, however, was very
short-lived. Austrian troops marched to the assistance of the
papacy, the rebellion was put down by force, and the exiled
rulers were restored. Louis Philippe, on whom the insurgents
had relied, had no sympathy with a movement in which members
of the Bonaparte family were engaged. But a temporary revival
of the insurrection brought the Austrians back to Romagna, and
a great outcry was raised in France against the king.
{1860}
To satisfy public opinion, Louis Philippe sent a French force
to seize Ancona (February 22, 1832), but it was a very
harmless demonstration, and had been explained beforehand to
the papal government. In Naples and Sardinia no disturbances
took place. Ferdinand II. succeeded his father Francis I. on
the Neapolitan throne in 1830, and satisfied the people by
introducing a more moderate system of government. Charles
Albert became king of Sardinia on the death of Charles Felix
(27 April, 1831), and found himself in a difficult position
between Austria, which had good reason to mistrust him, and
the liberal party, which he had betrayed."
_R. Lodge,
History of Modern Europe,
chapter 25._
ALSO IN:
_L. G. Farini,
The Roman State, 1815-1850,
volume 1, chapters 3-5._
ITALY: A. D. 1831-1848.
The Mission of Mazzini, the Revolutionist.
Young Italy.
"The Revolution of 1830, ineffectual as it seemed to its
promoters, was yet most significant. It failed in Italy and
Poland, in Spain and Portugal; it created a mongrel monarchy,
neither Absolute nor Constitutional, in France; only in
Belgium did it attain its immediate purpose. Nevertheless, if
we look beneath the surface, we see that it was one of those
epoch-marking events of which we can say, 'Things cannot be
again what until just now they were.' … The late risings in
the Duchies and Legations had brought no comfort to the
conspirators, but had taught them, on the contrary, how
ineffectual, how hopeless was the method of the secret
societies. After more than fifteen years they had not gained
an inch; they had only learned that their rulers would concede
nothing, and that Austria, their great adversary, had staked
her existence on maintaining thraldom in Italy. Innumerable
small outbursts and three revolutions had ended in the death
of hundreds and in the imprisonment or proscription of
thousands of victims. … Just when conspiracy, through
repeated failures, was thus discredited, there arose a leader
so strong and unselfish, so magnetic and patient and zealous,
that by him, if by anyone, conspiracy might be guided to
victory. This leader, the Great Conspirator, was Joseph
Mazzini, one of the half dozen supreme influences in European
politics during the nineteenth century, whose career will
interest posterity as long as it is concerned at all in our
epoch of transition. For just as Metternich was the High
Priest of the Old Regime, so Mazzini was the Prophet of a
Social Order, more just, more free, more spiritual than any
the world has known. He was an Idealist who would hold no
parley with temporizers, an enthusiast whom half-concessions
could not beguile: and so he came to be decried as a fanatic
or a visionary. … Mazzini joined the Carbonari, not without
suspecting that, under their complex symbolism and
hierarchical mysteries they concealed a fatal lack of harmony,
decision, and faith. … As he became better acquainted with
Carbonarism, his conviction grew stronger that no permanent
good could be achieved by it. … The open propaganda of his
Republican and Unitarian doctrines was of course impossible;
it must be carried on by a secret organization. But he was
disgusted with the existing secret societies: they lacked
harmony, they lacked faith, they had no distinct purpose;
their Masonic mummeries were childish and farcical. …
Therefore, Mazzini would have none of them; he would organize
a new secret society, and call it 'Young Italy,' whose
principles should be plainly understood by every one of its
members. It was to be composed of men under forty, in order to
secure the most energetic and disinterested members, and to
avoid the influence of older men, who, trained by the past
generation, were not in touch with the aspirations and needs
of the new. It was to awaken the People, the bone and sinew of
the nation; whereas the earlier sects had relied too much on
the upper and middle classes, whose traditions and interests
were either too aristocratic or too commercial. Roman
Catholicism had ceased to be spiritual; it no longer purified
and uplifted the hearts of the Italians. … Young Italy
aimed, therefore, to substitute for the mediæval dogmas and
patent idolatries of Rome a religion based on Reason, and so
simple as to be within the comprehension of the humblest
peasant. … The doctrines of the new sect spread, but since
secret societies give the census-taker no account of their
membership, we cannot cite figures to illustrate the growth of
Young Italy. Contrary to Mazzini's expectations, it was
recruited, not so much from the People, as from the Middle
Class, the professional men, and the tradesmen." In 1831
Mazzini was forced into exile, at Marseilles, from which city
he planned an invasion of Savoy. The project was discovered,
and the Sardinian government revenged itself cruelly upon the
patriots within its reach. "In a few weeks, eleven alleged
conspirators had been executed, many more had been sentenced
to the galleys, and others, who had escaped; were condemned in
contumacy. Among the men who fled into exile at this time were
… Vincent Gioberti and Joseph Garibaldi. … To an
enthusiast less determined than Mazzini, this calamity would
have been a check; to him, however, it was a spur. Instead of
abandoning the expedition against Savoy, he worked with might
and main to hurry it on. … One column, in which were fifty
Italians and twice as many Poles, … was to enter Savoy by
way of Annemasse. A second column had orders to push on from
Nyon; a third, starting from Lyons, was to march towards
Chambéry. Mazzini, with a musket on his shoulder, accompanied
the first party. To his surprise, the peasants showed no
enthusiasm when the tricolor flag was unfurled and the
invaders shouted 'God and People! Liberty and the Republic!'
before them. At length some carabineers and a platoon of
troops appeared. A few shots were fired. Mazzini fainted; his
comrades dispersed across the Swiss border, taking him with
them. … His enemies attributed his fainting to cowardice; he
himself explained it as the result of many nights of
sleeplessness, of great fatigue, fever and cold. … To all
but the few concerned in it, this first venture of Young Italy
seemed a farce, the disproportion between its aim and its
achievement was so enormous, and Mazzini's personal collapse
was so ignominious. Nevertheless, Italian conspiracy had now
and henceforth that head for lack of which it had so long
floundered amid vague and contradictory purposes. The young
Idealist had been beaten in his first encounter with obdurate
Reality, but he was not discouraged. … Now began in earnest
that 'apostolate' of his, which he laid down only at his
death.
{1861}
Young Italy was established beyond the chance of being
destroyed by an abortive expedition; Young Poland, Young
Hungary, Young Europe itself, sprang up after the Mazzinian
pattern; the Liberals and revolutionists of the Continent felt
that their cause was international, and in their affliction
they fraternized. No one could draw so fair and reasonable a
Utopia for them as Mazzini drew; no one could so fire them
with a sense of duty, with hope, with energy. He became the
mainspring of the whole machine—truly an infernal machine to
the autocrats—of European conspiracy. The redemption of Italy
was always his nearest aim, but his generous principle reached
out over other nations, for in the world that he prophesied
every people must be free. Proscribed in Piedmont, expelled
from Switzerland, denied lodging in France, he took refuge in
London, there to direct, amid poverty and heartache, the whole
vast scheme of plots. His bread he earned by writing critical
and literary essays for the English reviews,—he quickly
mastered the English language so as to use it with remarkable
vigor,—and all his leisure he devoted to the preparation of
political tracts, and to correspondence with numberless
confederates. … He was the consulting physician for all the
revolutionary practitioners of Europe. Those who were not his
partisans disparaged his influence, asserting that he was only
a man of words; but the best proof of his power lies in the
anxiety he caused monarchs and cabinets, and in the
precautions they took to guard against him. … Mazzini and
Metternich! For nearly twenty years they were the antipodes of
European politics. One in his London garret, poor, despised,
yet indomitable and sleepless, sending his influence like an
electric current through all barriers to revivify the heart of
Italy and of Liberal Europe; the other in his Vienna palace,
haughty, famous, equally alert and cunning, … shedding over
Italy and over Europe his upas-doctrines of torpor and decay!"
_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 3, chapter 1 (volume 1)._
ALSO IN:
_W. L. Garrison,
Joseph Mazzini,
chapters 2-5._
_J. Mazzini,
Collected Works,
volume 1._
ITALY: A. D. 1848.
Expulsion of Jesuits.
See JESUITS: A. D. 1769-1871.
ITALY: A. D. 1848-1849.
Insurrection and revolution throughout the peninsula.
French occupation of Rome.
Triumph of King "Bomba" in Naples and Sicily.
Disastrous war of Sardinia with Austria.
Lombardy and Venice enslaved anew.
"The revolution of 1831, which affected the States of the
Church, Modena, and Parma, had been suppressed, like the still
earlier rebellions in Naples and Piedmont, by Austrian
intervention. … Hence, all the hatred of the Italians was
directed against foreign rule, as the only obstacle to the
freedom and unity of the peninsula. … The secret societies,
and the exiles in communication with them—especially Joseph
Mazzini, who issued his commands from London—took care that
the national spirit should not be buried beneath material
interests, but should remain ever wakeful. Singularly, the
first encouragement came from" Rome. "Pope Gregory XVI., …
had died June 1st, 1846, and been succeeded by the
fifty-four-year-old Cardinal Count Mastai Ferretti, who took
the name of Pius IX. If the pious world which visited him was
charmed by the amiability and clemency of its new head, the
cardinals were dismayed at the reforms which this new head
would fain introduce in the States of the Church and in all
Italy. He published an amnesty for all political offences;
permitted the exiles to return with impunity; allowed the
Press freer scope; threw open the highest civil offices to
laymen; summoned from the notables of the provinces a council
of state, which was to propose reforms; bestowed a liberal
municipal constitution on the city of Rome; and endeavored to
bring about an Italian confederation. … After the French
revolution of 1848 he granted a constitution. There was a
first chamber, to be named by the Pope, and a second chamber,
to be elected by the people, while the irresponsible college
of cardinals formed a sort of privy council. A new era
appeared to be dawning. The old-world capital, Rome, once the
mistress of the nations, still the mistress of all Roman
Catholic hearts, was to become the central point of Italy. …
But when the flames of war broke out in the north [see below],
and the fate of Italy was about to be decided between Sardinia
and Austria on the old battle fields of Lombardy, the Romans
demanded from the Pope a declaration of war against Austria,
and the despatch of Roman troops to join Charles Albert's
army. Pius rejected their demands as unsuited to his papal
office, and so broke with the men of the extreme party. … In
this time of agitation Pius thought that in Count Pellegrino
Rossi, of Carrara, … he had found the right man to carry out
a policy of moderate liberalism, and on the 17th of September,
1848, he set him at the head of a new ministry. The anarchists
… could not forgive Rossi for grasping the reins with a firm
hand." On the 15th of November, as he alighted from his
carriage at the door of the Chambers, he was stabbed in the
neck by an assassin, and died on the spot. He was about, when
murdered, to open the Chambers with a speech, in which he
intended "to promise abolition of the rule of the cardinals
and introduction of a lay government, and to insist upon
Italy's independence and unity. … The next day an armed
crowd appeared before the Quirinal and attacked the guard,
which consisted of Swiss mercenaries, some of the bullets
flying into the Pope's antechamber. He had to accept a radical
ministry and dismiss the Swiss troops. … Pius fled in
disguise from Rome to Gaeta, November 24th, and sought shelter
with the King of Naples. Mazzini and his party had free scope.
A constitutional convention was summoned, which declared the
temporal power of the Pope abolished (February 5th, 1849), and
Rome a republic. To them attached itself Tuscany. Grand-duke
Leopold II. had granted a constitution, February 17th, 1848,
but nevertheless the republican-minded ministry of Guerrazzi
compelled him to join the Pope at Gaeta, February 21st, 1849.
The republic was then proclaimed in Tuscany and union with
Rome resolved upon." But Louis Napoleon, President of the
French republic, intervened. "Marshal Oudinot was despatched
with 8,000 men. He landed in Civita Vecchia, April 26th, 1849,
and appeared before the walls of Rome on the 30th, expecting
to take the city without any trouble. But … after a fight of
several hours, he had to retreat to Civita Vecchia with a loss
of 700 men.
{1862}
A few days later the Neapolitan army, which was to attack the
rebels from the south, was defeated at Velletri; and the
Spanish troops, the third in the league against the red
republic, prudently avoided a battle. But Oudinot received
considerable re-enforcements, and on June 3d he advanced
against Rome for the second time, with 35,000 men, while the
force in the city consisted of about 19,000, mostly volunteers
and national guards. In spite of the bravery of Garibaldi and
the volunteers, into whom he breathed his spirit, Rome had to
capitulate, after a long and bloody struggle, owing to the
superiority of the French artillery. On the 4th of July
Oudinot entered the silent capital. Garibaldi, Mazzini, and
their followers fled. … Pius, for whose nerves the Roman
atmosphere was still too strong, did not return until the 4th
of April, 1850. His ardor for reform was cooled. … In the
Legations they had to protect themselves by Austrian bayonets,
and in Rome and Civita Vecchia by French. This lasted in the
Legations until 1859, and in Rome and Civita Vecchia until
1866 and 1870. Simultaneously with Rome the south of Italy had
entered into the movement so characteristic of the year 1848.
The scenes of 1820 and 1821 were repeated." The Sicilians
again demanded independence; expelled the Neapolitan garrison
from Palermo; refused to accept a constitution proffered by
King Ferdinand II., which created a united parliament for
Naples and Sicily; voted in a Sicilian parliament the
perpetual exclusion of the Bourbon dynasty from the throne,
and offered the crown of Sicily to a son of the king of
Sardinia, who declined the gift. In Naples, Ferdinand yielded
at first to the storm, and sent, under compulsion, a force of
13,000 Neapolitan troops, commanded by the old revolutionist,
General Pepé, to join the Sardinians against Austria. This was
in April, 1848. A month later he crushed the revolution with
his Swiss mercenaries, recalled his army from northern Italy,
and was master, again, in his capital and his peninsular
kingdom. The following summer he landed 8,000 troops in
Sicily; his army bombarded and stormed Messina in September;
defeated the insurgents at the foot of Mount Etna; took
Catania by storm in April, 1849, and entered Palermo, after a
short bombardment, on the 17th of May, having gained for its
master the nickname of "King Bomba." "He ordered a general
disarmament, and established an oppressive military rule over
the whole island; and there was no more talk of parliament and
constitution. All these struggles in central and southern
Italy stood in close connection with the events of 1848 and
1849 in upper Italy. … In the north the struggle was to
shake off the Austrian yoke. … During the month of January,
1848, there was constant friction between the citizens and the
military in Milan and the university cities of Pavia and
Padua. … March 18th, Milan rose. All classes took part in
the fight; and the eighty-two-year-old field-marshal Count
Joseph Radetzky … was obliged, after a street fight of two
days, to draw his troops out of the city, call up as quickly
as possible the garrisons of the neighboring cities, and take
up his position in the famous Quadrilateral, between
Peschiera, Verona, Legnano, and Mantua. March 22d, Venice,
where Count Zichy commanded, was lost for the Austrians," who
yielded without resistance, releasing their political
prisoners, one of whom, the celebrated Daniel Manin, a
Venetian lawyer, took his place at the head of a provisional
government. "Other cities followed the lead of Venice. The
little duchies of Modena and Parma could hold out no longer;
Dukes Francis and Charles fled to Austria, and provisional
governments sprung up behind them. Like Naples, the duchies
and Tuscany also sent their troops across the Po to help the
Sardinians in the decisive struggle. The hopes of all Italy
were centred on Sardinia and its king. … Charles Albert,
called to the aid of Lombardy, entered Milan to win for
himself the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom and the hegemony of
Italy. He presented himself as the liberator of the peninsula,
but it was not a part for which he was qualified by his
antecedents. … He was a brave soldier, but a poor captain.
… His opponent, Radetzky, was old, but his spirit was still
young and fresh. … Radetzky received re-enforcements from
Austria, and on the 6th of May repelled the attack of the
Sardinian king south-west of Verona [at Santa Lucia]. May
29th, he carried the intrenchments at Cartatone; but as the
Sardinians were victorious at Goito and took Peschiera, while
Garibaldi with his Alpine rangers threatened the Austrian
rear, he had to desist from further advances, and limit his
operations to the recapture of Vicenza and the other cities of
the Venetian main-land. In the mean time the Austrian court,
chiefly at the instigation of the British embassy, had opened
negotiations with the Lombards, and offered them their
independence on condition of their assuming a considerable
share of the public debt, and concluding a favorable
commercial treaty with Austria. But, as the Lombards felt sure
of acquiring their freedom more cheaply, they did not accept
the proposition. Radetzky was now in a position to assume an
active offensive. He won a brilliant victory at Custozza, July
25th. The Sardinians attempted to make a stand at Goito and
again at Volta, but were driven back, and Radetzky advanced on
Milan. Charles Albert had to evacuate the city," and on the
9th of August he concluded an armistice, withdrawing his
troops from Lombardy and the duchies. But in the following
March (1849) he was persuaded to renew the war, and he placed
his army under the command of the Polish general Chrzanowski.
It was the intention of the Sardinians to advance again into
Lombardy, but they had no opportunity. "Radetzky crossed the
Ticino, and in a four days' campaign on Sardinian soil
defeated the foe so completely—March 21st at Mortara, and
March 23d at Novara—that there could be no more thought of a
renewal of the struggle. … Charles Albert, who had vainly
sought death upon the battle-field, was weary of his throne
and his life. In the night of March 23d, at Novara, he laid
down the crown and declared his eldest son king of Sardinia,
under the title of Victor Emmanuel II. He hoped that the
latter would obtain a more favorable peace from the Austrians.
… Then, saying farewell to his wife by letter, attended by
but two servants, he travelled through France and Spain to
Portugal. He died at Oporto, July 26th, 1849, of repeated
strokes of apoplexy." After long negotiations, the new king
concluded a treaty of peace with Austria on the 6th of August.
"Sardinia retained its boundaries intact, and paid 75,000,000
lire as indemnity. The false report of a Sardinian victory at
Novara had caused the population of Brescia to fall upon the
Austrian garrison and drive them into the citadel.
{1863}
General Haynau hastened thither with 4,000 men well provided
with artillery. The city was bombarded, and on the 1st of
April it was reoccupied, after a fearful street fight, in
which even women took part; but Haynau stained his name by
inhuman cruelties, especially toward the gentler sex. Venice
was not able to hold out much longer. It had at first attached
itself to Sardinia, but after the defeat of the Sardinians the
republic was proclaimed. Without the city, in Haynau's camp,
swamp fever raged; within, hunger and cholera. On the news of
the capitulation of Hungary, August 22d, it surrendered, and
the heads of the revolution, Manin and Pepe, went into exile.
All Italy was again brought under its old masters."
_W. Müller,
Political History of Recent Times,
section 16._
The siege of Venice, "reckoning from April 2, when the
Assembly voted to resist at any cost, lasted 146 days; but the
blockade by land began on June 18, 1848, when the Austrians
first occupied Mestre. During the twenty-one weeks of actual
siege, 900 Venetian troops were killed, and probably 7,000 or
8,000 were at different times on the sick-list. Of the
Austrians, 1,200 were killed in engagements, 8,000 succumbed
to fevers and cholera, and as many more were in the hospitals:
80,000 projectiles were fired from the Venetian batteries;
from the Austrian, more than 120,000. During the seventeen
months of her independence, Venice raised sixty million
francs, exclusive of patriotic donations in plate and
chattels. When Gorzkowsky came to examine the accounts of the
defunct government he exclaimed, 'I did not believe that such
Republican dogs were such honest men.' With the fate of Venice
was quenched the last of the fires of liberty which the
Revolution had kindled throughout Europe in 1848. Her people,
whom the world had come to look down upon as degenerate,—mere
trinket-makers and gondoliers,—had proved themselves second
to none in heroism, superior to all in stability. At Venice,
from first to last, we have had to record no excesses, no
fickle changes, no slipping down of power from level to level
till it sank in the mire of anarchy. She had her demagogues
and her passions, but she would be the slave of neither; and
in nothing did she show her character more worthily than in
recognizing Manin and making him her leader. He repaid her
trust by absolute fidelity. I can discover no public act of
his to which you can impute any other motive than solicitude
for her welfare. The common people loved him as a father,
revered him as a patron saint; the upper classes, the
soldiers, the politicians, whatever may have been the
preferences of individuals or the ambition of cliques, felt
that he was indispensable, and gave him wider and wider
authority as danger increased. … The little lawyer, with the
large, careworn face and blue eyes, had redeemed Venice from
her long shame of decadence and servitude. But Europe would
not suffer his work to stand; Europe preferred that Austria
rather than freedom should rule at Venice. At daybreak on
August 28 a mournful throng of the common people collected
before Manin's house in Piazza San Paterniano. 'Here is our
good father, poor dear fellow,' they were heard to say. 'He
has endured so much for us. May God bless him!' They escorted
him and his family to the shore, whence he embarked on the
French ship Pluton, for he was among the forty prominent
Venetians whom the Austrians condemned to banishment. At six
o'clock the Pluton weighed anchor and passed through the
winding channel of the lagune, out into the Adriatic. Long
before the Austrian banners were hoisted that morning on the
flagstaffs of St. Mark's, Venice, with her fair towers and
glittering domes, had vanished forever from her Great
Defender's sight. Outwardly, the Revolutionary Movement had
failed; in France it had resulted in a spurious Republic, soon
to become a tinsel Empire; elsewhere, there was not even a
make-believe success to hide, if but for a while, the failure.
In Italy, except in Piedmont, Reaction had full play. Bomba
filled his Neapolitan and Sicilian prisons with political
victims, and demonstrated again that the Bourbon government
was a negation of God. Pius IX., having loitered at Naples
with his Paragon of Virtue until April, 1850, returned to
Rome, to be henceforth now the puppet and now the accomplice
of Cardinal Antonelli in every scheme for oppressing his
subjects, and for resisting Liberal tendencies. He held his
temporal sovereignty through the kindness of the Bonapartist
charlatan in France; it was fated that he should lose it
forever when that charlatan lost his Empire. In Tuscany,
Leopold thanked Austria for permitting him to rule over a
people the intelligent part of which despised him. In Modena,
the Duke was but an Austrian deputy sheriff. Lombardy and
Venetia were again the prey of the double-beaked eagle of
Hapsburg. Only in Piedmont did Constitutionalism and liberty
survive to become, under an honest king and a wise minister,
the ark of Italy's redemption."
_W. R. Thayer,
The Dawn of Italian Independence,
book 5, chapter 6 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_W. E. Gladstone,
Gleanings of Past Years,
volume 4, chapters 1-4._
_L. C. Farini,
The Roman State from 1815 to 1850,
books 2-7 (volumes 1-4)._
_H. Martin,
Daniel Manin and Venice in 1848-49._
_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
period 2 (volumes 1-2)._
_L. Mariotti,
Italy in 1848_.
_E. A. V.,
Joseph Mazzini,
chapters 4-5._
_The Chevalier O'Clery,
History of the Italian Revolution,
chapters 6-7._
ITALY: A. D. 1855.
Sardinia in the alliance of the Crimean War against Russia.
See RUSSIA: A. D. 1854-1856.
ITALY: A. D. 1856-1859.
Austro-Italy before Europe in the Congress of Paris.
Alliance of France with Sardinia.
War with Austria.
Emancipation of Lombardy.
Peace of Villa-franca.
"The year 1856 brought an armistice between the contending
powers [in the Crimea—see RUSSIA: A. D. 1853-1854 to
1854-1856], followed by the Congress of Paris, which settled
the terms of peace. At that Congress Count Cavour and the
Marquis Villamarina represented their country side by side
with the envoys of the great European States. The Prime
Minister of Piedmont, while taking his part in the
re-establishment of the general peace with a skill and tact
which won him the favour of his brother plenipotentiaries,
never lost sight of the further object he had in view, namely,
that of laying before the Congress the condition of Italy. …
His efforts were rewarded with success.
{1864}
On the 30th March, 1856, the treaty of peace was signed, and
on the 8th April Count Walewski called the attention of the
members of the Congress to the state of Italy. … Count Buol,
the Austrian plenipotentiary, would not admit that the
Congress had any right to deal with the Italian question at
all; he declined courteously, but firmly, to discuss the
matter. … But although Austria refused to entertain the
question, the fact remained that the condition of Italy now
stood condemned, not by revolutionary chiefs, nor by the
rulers of Piedmont alone, but by the envoys of some of the
leading powers of Europe speaking officially in the name of
their respective sovereigns. It was in truth a great
diplomatic victory for Italy. … No one in Europe was more
thoroughly convinced than Napoleon III. that the discontent of
Italy and the plots of a section of Italians had their origin
in the despotism which annihilated all national life in the
Peninsula with the single exception of Piedmont. He felt
keenly, also, how false, was his own position at Rome. …
France upheld the Pope as a temporal sovereign, but,
nevertheless, the latter ruled in a manner which pleased
Austria and which displeased France. … Count Cavour went
privately to meet the French Emperor at Plombières in July,
1858. During that interview it was arranged that France should
ally herself actively with Piedmont against Austria. … The
first public indication of the attitude taken up by France
with regard to Austria and Italy was given on the 1st January,
1859, when Napoleon III. received the diplomatic corps at the
Tuileries. Addressing Baron Hubner, the Austrian Ambassador,
the French Emperor said: 'I regret that the relations between
us are bad; tell your sovereign, however, that my sentiments
towards him are not changed.' … The ties which united France
to Piedmont were strengthened by the marriage, in the end of
January, 1859, of the Princess Clotilde, the eldest daughter
of Victor Emmanuel, with Prince Napoleon, the first cousin of
the French Emperor. … An agreement was made by which the
Emperor Napoleon promised to give armed assistance to Piedmont
if she were attacked by Austria. The result, in case the
allies were successful, was to be the formation of a northern
kingdom of Italy. … Both Austria and Piedmont increased
their armaments and raised loans in preparation for war. Men
of all ranks and conditions of life flocked to Turin from the
other States of Italy to join the Piedmontese army, or enrol
themselves among the volunteers of Garibaldi, who had hastened
to offer his services to the king against Austria. …
Meanwhile, diplomacy made continual efforts to avert war. …
The idea of a European Congress was started. … Then came the
proposition of a general disarmament by way of staying the
warlike preparations, which were taking ever enlarged
proportions. On the 18th April, 1859, the Cabinet of Turin
agreed to the principle of disarmament at the special request
of England and France, on the condition that Piedmont took her
seat at the Congress. The Cabinet of Vienna had made no reply
to this proposition. Then suddenly it addressed, on the 23rd
April, an ultimatum to the Cabinet of Turin demanding the
instant disarmament of Piedmont, to which a categorical reply
was asked for within three days. At the expiration of the
three days Count Cavour, who was delighted at this hasty step
of his opponent, remitted to Baron Kellerberg, the Austrian
envoy, a refusal to comply with the request made. War was now
inevitable. Victor Emmanuel addressed a stirring proclamation
to his army on the 27th April, and two days afterwards another
to the people of his own kingdom and to the people of Italy.
… On the 30th April some French troops arrived at Turin. On
the 13th May Napoleon III. disembarked at Genoa. … Although
the Austrian armies proceeded to cross the Ticino and invade
the Piedmontese territory, they failed to make a decisive
march on Turin. Had Count Giúlay, the Austrian commander, done
so without hesitation, he might well have reached the capital
of Piedmont before the French had arrived in sufficient force
to enable the little Piedmontese army to arrest the invasion.
As it was, the opportunity was lost never to occur again. In
the first engagements at Montebello and Palestro [May 20, 30
and 31] the advantage rested decidedly with the allies. … On
the 4th June the French fought the battle of Magenta, which
ended, though not without a hard struggle, in the defeat of
the Austrians. On the 8th the Emperor Napoleon and King Victor
Emmanuel entered Milan, where they were received with a
welcome as sincere as it was enthusiastic. The rich Lombard
capital hastened to recognise the king as its sovereign. While
there he met in person, Garibaldi, who was in command of the
volunteer corps, whose members had flocked from all parts of
Italy to carry on under his command the war in the mountainous
districts of the north against Austria. … The allied troops
pursued their march onwards towards the River Mincio, upon
whose banks two of the fortresses of the famous Quadrilateral
are situated. On the 24th June they encountered the Austrian
army at Solferino and San Martino. French, Piedmontese, and
Austrians, fought with courage and determination. Nor was it
until after ten or eleven hours of hard fighting that the
allies forced their enemy to retreat and took possession of
the positions he had occupied in the morning. While victory
thus crowned the efforts of France and Piedmont in battle,
events of no little importance were taking place in Italy.
Ferdinand II. of Naples died on the 22nd May, just after he
had received the news of the successes of the allies at
Montebello and Palestro. He was succeeded by his son, Francis
II. … Count Salmour was at once despatched by the
Piedmontese Government … with the offer of a full and fair
alliance between Turin and Naples. The offer was rejected.
Francis determined to follow his father's example of
absolutism at home while giving all his influence to Austria.
Thus it was that the young Neapolitan king sowed, and as he
sowed so he reaped. Leopold, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, had in
April refused the proffered alliance of Piedmont. … Finally
he left Florence and took refuge in the Austrian camp. A
provisional Government was formed, which placed the Tuscan
forces at the disposal of Victor Emmanuel. This change was
effected in a few hours without bloodshed or violence. The
Duchess of Parma went away to Switzerland with her young son,
Duke Robert. Francis Duke of Modena betook himself, with what
treasures he had time to lay his hands on, to the more
congenial atmosphere of the head-quarters of the Austrian
army. … 'The deputations which hastened from Tuscany, Parma,
and Modena, to offer their allegiance to Victor Emmanuel, were
received without difficulty. It was agreed that their complete
annexation should be deferred until after the conclusion of
peace.
{1865}
In the meanwhile the Piedmontese Government was to assume the
responsibility of maintaining order and providing for military
action. … The French and Piedmontese armies had won the
battle of Solferino, and driven the enemy across the Mincio;
their fleets were off the lagoons of Venice, and were even
visible from the lofty Campanile of St. Mark. Italy was
throbbing with a movement of national life daily gathering
volume and force. Europe was impatiently expecting the next
move. It took the unexpected form of an armistice, which the
Emperor of the French proposed, on his sole responsibility, to
the Emperor Francis Joseph on the 8th July. On the 12th the
preliminaries of peace were signed at Villafranca. Victor
Emmanuel was opposed to this act of his ally, but was unable
to prevent it. The Italians were bitterly disappointed, and
their anger was only too faithfully represented by Cavour
himself. He hastened to the headquarters of the king,
denounced in vehement language the whole proceeding, advised
his majesty not to sign the armistice, not to accept Lombardy
[see below], and to withdraw his troops from the Mincio to the
Ticino. But Victor Emmanuel, though sympathising with the
feelings of Italy and of his Minister, took a wiser and more
judicious course than the one thus recommended. He accepted
Cavour's resignation and signed the armistice, appending to
his signature these words:—'J'accepte pour ce qui me
concerne.' He reserved his liberty of action for the future
and refused to pledge himself to anything more than a
cessation of hostilities."
_J. W. Probyn,
Italy from 1815 to 1890,
chapters 9-10._
ALSO IN:
_C. Bossoli,
The War in Italy._
_C. de Mazade,
Life of Count Cavour,
chapters 2-5._
_C. Arrivabene,
Italy under Victor Emmanuel,
chapters 1-13 (volume 1)._
_C. Adams,
Great Campaigns, 1796-1870,
pages 271-340._
_L. Kossuth,
Memories of My Exile._
_Countess E. M. Cesaresco,
Italian Characters in the Epoch of Unification._
[Image: Two maps of Italy, A. D. 1815 to 1859, and 1861.]
ITALY: A. D. 1859-1861.
The Treaty of Zurich and its practical negation.
Annexation of Central Italy to Sardinia by Plebiscite.
Revolution in Sicily and Naples.
Garibaldi's great campaign of liberation.
The Sardinian army in the Papal States.
The new Kingdom of Italy proclaimed.
"The treaty concluded at Zurich in November [1859] between the
ambassadors of France, Austria, and Sardinia substantially
ratified the preliminaries arranged at Villafranca. Lombardy
passed to the king of Sardinia; Venetia was retained by
Austria. The rulers of Modena and Parma were to be restored,
the papal power again established in the Legations, while the
various states of the peninsula, excepting Sardinia and the
Two Sicilies, were to form a confederation under the
leadership of the Pope. According to the terms of the treaty
Lombardy was the only state directly benefited by the war. …
The people of central Italy showed no inclination to resume
the old régime. They maintained their position firmly and
consistently, despite the decisions of the Zurich Congress,
the advice of the French emperor, and the threatening attitude
of Naples and Rome. … The year closed without definite
action, leaving the provisional governments in control. In
fact, matters were simply drifting, and it seemed imperative
to take some vigorous measures to terminate so abnormal a
condition of affairs. Finally the project of a European
congress was suggested. There was but one opinion as to who
should represent Italy in such an event. … Cavour …
returned to the head of affairs in January. This event was
simultaneous with the removal of M. Walewski at Paris and a
change in the policy of the French government. The emperor no
longer advised the central Italians to accept the return of
their rulers. His influence at Rome was exercised to induce
the Pope to allow his subjects in the Legations to have their
will. … The scheme of a European congress was abandoned.
With France at his back to neutralize Austria, Cavour had
nothing to fear. … He suggested to the emperor that the
central Italians be allowed to settle their fate by
plebiscite. This method was to a certain extent a craze with
the emperor, … and Cavour was not surprised at the
affirmative reply he received to his proposal. The elections
took place in March, and by an overwhelming majority the
people of Parma, Modena, Tuscany, and the Legations declared
for annexation to Sardinia. Austria protested, but could do no
more in the face of England and France. Naples followed the
Austrian example, while almost simultaneously with the news of
the elections there arrived at Turin the papal excommunication
for Victor Emmanuel and his subjects. On the 2d of April the
king opened the new parliament and addressed himself to the
representatives of 12,000,000 Italians. The natural enthusiasm
attending the session was seriously dampened by the royal
announcement that, subject to the approval of their citizens
and the ratification of parliament, Nice and Savoy were to be
returned to France. It was, in fact, the concluding
installment of the price arranged at Plombières to be paid for
the French troops in the campaign of the previous year. …
General Garibaldi, who sat in the parliament for Nice, was
especially prominent in the angry debates that followed. …
When the transfer had been ratified he withdrew to a humble
retreat in the island of Caprera. … But the excitement over
the loss of Nice and Savoy was soon diminished by the
startling intelligence which arrived of rebellion in the
Neapolitan dominions. Naples was mutinous, while in Sicily,
Palermo and Messina were in open revolt. Garibaldi's time had
come. Leaving Caprera, he made for Piedmont, and hastily
organized a band of volunteers to assist in the popular
movement. On the night of May 6, with about a thousand
enthusiastic spirits, he embarked from the coast near Genoa in
two steamers and sailed for Sicily. Cavour in the mean time
winked at this extraordinary performance. He dispatched
Admiral Persano with a squadron ostensibly to intercept the
expedition, but in reality 'to navigate between it and the
hostile Neapolitan fleet.' On the 11th Garibaldi landed safely
at Marsala under the sleepy guns of a Neapolitan man-of-war.
On the 14th he was at Salemi, where he issued the following
proclamation: 'Garibaldi, commander-in-chief of the national
forces in Sicily, on the invitation of the principal citizens,
and on the deliberation of the free communes of the island,
considering that in times of war it is necessary that the
civil and military powers should be united in one person,
assumes in the name of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, the
Dictatorship in Sicily.'" On the 26th Garibaldi attacked
Palermo; on the 6th of June he was in possession of the city
and citadel; on the 25th of July Messina was surrendered to him.
{1866}
"Perhaps the excitement at Turin during these days was second
only to that which animated the great Sicilian cities. The
guns of Bomba's fleet at Palermo were no more active than the
diplomatic artillery which the courts of Central Europe
trained upon the government at Turin. … Cavour's position at
this time was a trying, delicate, and from some points of view
a questionable one. He had publicly expressed regret for
Garibaldi's expedition, while privately he encouraged it. …
Cavour's desire to see Garibaldi in Calabria was changed, a
little later. La Farina was at Palermo in behalf of the
Sardinian government, to induce Garibaldi to consent to the
immediate annexation of Sicily to the new Italian kingdom.
This Garibaldi declined to do, preferring to wait until he
could lay the entire Neapolitan realm and Rome as well at the
feet of Victor Emmanuel. This altered the aspect of affairs.
It was evident that Garibaldi was getting headstrong. It was
Cavour's constant solicitude to keep the Italian question in
such a shape as to allow no foreign power a pretext for
interference. Garibaldi's design against Rome garrisoned by
French troops would be almost certain to bring on foreign
complications and ruin the cause of Italian unity." On the
19th of August, Garibaldi crossed his army from Sicily to the
mainland and advanced on Naples. "On the evening of September
6 the king embarked on a Spanish ship, and leaving his
mutinous navy at anchor in the bay, quit forever those
beautiful shores which his race had too long defiled. On the
morning of September 7 Garibaldi was at Salerno; before night
he had reached Naples, and its teeming thousands had run mad.
… The Neapolitan fleet went over en masse to Garibaldi, and
by him was placed under the orders of the Sardinian admiral.
The Garibaldian troops came swarming into the city, some by
land and others by sea. … Francis II. had shut himself up in
the fortress of Gaeta with the remnants of his army, holding
the line of the Volturno. … At Turin the state of unrest
continued. Garibaldi's presence at Naples was attended with
grave perils. Of course his designs upon Rome formed the
principal danger, but his conspicuous inability as an
organizer was one of scarcely less gravity. … Sardinian
troops had become a necessity of the situation. … There was
no time to lose. There could be no difficulty in finding an
excuse to enter papal territory. The inhabitants of Umbria and
the Marches, who had never ceased to appeal for annexation to
the new kingdom, were suppressed by an army of foreign
mercenaries that the Pope had mustered beneath his banner. …
Cavour had interceded in vain with the Vatican to alter its
course toward its disaffected subjects. At last, on September
7, the day Garibaldi entered Naples, he sent the royal
ultimatum to Cardinal Antonelli at Rome. … On the 11th the
unfavorable reply of Antonelli was received, and the same day
the Sardinian troops crossed the papal frontier. … Every
European power except England, which expressed open
satisfaction, protested against this action. There was an
imposing flight of ambassadors from Turin, and an ominous
commotion all along the diplomatic horizon. Cavour had not
moved, however, without a secret understanding with Napoleon.
… The Sardinian army advanced rapidly in two columns.
General Fanti seized Perugia and Spoleto, while Cialdini on
the east of the Apennines utterly destroyed the main papal
army under the French general Lamoricière at Castelfidardo
[September 17]. Lamoricière with a few followers gained
Ancona, but finding that town covered by the guns of the
Sardinian fleet, he was compelled to surrender. 'The
pontifical mercenary corps' became a thing of the past, Cavour
could turn his whole attention to Naples. He had obtained from
parliament an enthusiastic permission to receive, if tendered,
the allegiance of the Two Sicilies. The army was ordered
across the Neapolitan frontier, and the king left for Ancona
to take command. In the mean time on October 1 Garibaldi had
inflicted another severe defeat to the royal Neapolitan army
on the Volturno. The Sardinian advance was wholly unimpeded.
… On November 7 the king entered Naples, and on the
following day was waited upon by a deputation to announce the
result of the election that Garibaldi had previously decreed.
'Sire,' said their spokesman, 'The Neapolitan people,
assembled in Comitia, by an immense majority have proclaimed
you their king.' … Then followed an event so sublime as to
be without parallel in these times of selfish ambition.
Garibaldi bade farewell to his faithful followers, and,
refusing all rewards, passed again to his quiet home in
Caprera. … The people of Umbria and the Marches followed the
lead of Naples in declaring themselves subjects of Victor
Emmanuel. Except for the patrimony of St. Peter surrounding
the city of Rome and the Austrian province of Venetia, Italy
was united under the tricolor. While Garibaldi returned to his
humble life, Cavour went to Turin to resume his labors. … On
the 18th of February, 1861, the first national parliament
representing the north and south met at Turin. Five days
before, the last stronghold of Francis II. had capitulated,
and the enthusiasm ran high. The kingdom of Italy was
proclaimed, and the king confirmed as 'Victor Emmanuel II., by
the grace of God and the will of the nation King of Italy.'
… The work was almost done. The scheme that a few years
before would have provoked a smile in any diplomatic circle in
Europe had been perfected almost to the capstone. But the man
who had conceived the plan and carried it through its darkest
days was, not destined to witness its final consummation.
Cavour was giving way. On May 29 he was stricken down with a
violent illness." On June 6 he died. "To Mazzini belongs the
credit of keeping alive the spirit of patriotism; Garibaldi is
entitled to the admiration of the world as the pure patriot
who fired men's souls; but Cavour was greater than either, and
Mazzini and Garibaldi were but humble instruments in his
magnificent plan of Italian regeneration."
_H. Murdock,
The Reconstruction of Europe,
chapter 13._
ALSO IN:
_C. de Mazade,
Life of Count Cavour,
chapters 5-7._
_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
3d period (volume 2)._
_E. Dicey,
Victor Emmanuel,
chapters 27-34._
_E. About,
The Roman Question._
_The Chevalier O'Clery,
The Making of Italy,
chapters 7-12._
{1867}
ITALY: A. D. 1862-1866.
The Roman question and the Venetian question.
Impatience of the nation.
Collision of Garibaldi with the government.
Alliance with Prussia.
War with Austria.
Liberation and annexation of Venetia.
"The new ministry was formed by Baron Ricasoli. … In the
month of July, Russia and Prussia followed the example of
England and France, and acknowledged Italian unity. … Baron
Ricasoli only held office about nine months; not feeling equal
to the difficulties he had to encounter, he resigned in March,
1862, and Signor Ratazzi was empowered to form a new ministry.
… The volunteer troops had become a source of serious
embarrassment to the government. … It was found disagreeable
and dangerous to have two standing armies under separate heads
and a separate discipline, and it was proposed to amalgamate
the Garibaldians with the royal troops. Endless disagreements
arose out of this question. … As soon as this question was
in a manner accommodated, a more serious one arose. The
central provinces lost all patience in waiting so long for a
peaceful solution of the Roman question. The leaders of the
Young Italy party became more warlike in their language, and
excited the peasantry to riotous proceedings, which the
government had to put down forcibly, and this disagreeable
fact helped to make the Ratazzi ministry unpopular.
Garibaldi's name had been used as an incentive to those
disturbances, and now the hot-headed general embarked for
Sicily, to take the command of a troop who were bound for the
Eternal City, resolved to cut with the sword the Gordian knot
of the Roman question. The government used energetic measures
to maintain its dignity, and not allow an irregular warfare to
be carried on without its sanction. The times were difficult,
no doubt, and the ministry had a hard road to tread. … The
Garibaldians were already in the field, and having crossed
from Sicily, were marching through Calabria with
ever-increasing forces and the cry of 'Rome or death' on their
lips. Victor Emmanuel had now no choice left him but to put
down rebellion by force of arms. General Cialdini's painful
duty it was to lead the royal troops on this occasion. He
encountered the Garibaldians at Aspromonte, in Calabria, and
on their refusing to surrender to the king, a fight ensued in
which the volunteers were of course defeated, and their
officers arrested. Garibaldi, with a ball in his foot, from
the effects of which he has never recovered, was carried a
state prisoner to Piedmont. … This unhappy episode was a
bitter grief to Victor Emmanuel. … Aspromonte gave a final
blow to the Ratazzi ministry. Never very popular, it was
utterly shaken by the reaction in favour of Garibaldi. …
After a good deal of worry and consultation, the king decided
to call Luigi Carlo Farini to office. … Unhappily his health
obliged him to retire very soon from public life, and he was
succeeded by Minghetti. On the whole this first year without
Cavour had been a very trying one to Victor Emmanuel. …
Meantime the Roman question remained in abeyance—to the great
detriment of the nation, for it kept Central and Southern
Italy in a state of fermentation which the government could
not long hold in check. The Bourbon intrigues at Rome,
encouraging brigandage in the Two Sicilies, destroyed all
security of life and property, and impeded foreigners from
visiting the country. The Emperor of the French, occupying the
false position of champion of Italian independence and
protector of the temporal power of the Pope, would not do
anything, nor let the Italian Government do anything, towards
settling the momentous question. … Victor Emmanuel, who had
his eye on Venice all the time, having a fixed impression that
if it could be recovered he would find less difficulty in
getting rid of the foreign occupation in Rome, now adopted
energetic measures to bring about a settlement of this
Venetian question, urging the English Government to use its
influence with Austria to induce her to accept some compromise
and surrender the Italian province peaceably. … Meantime the
Italian Government continued to invite the French to withdraw
their forces from the Roman States, and leave the Pope face to
face with his own subjects without the aid of foreign
bayonets. This the emperor, fearing to offend the papal party,
could not make up his mind to do. But to make the road to Rome
easier for the Italians, he proposed a transfer of the capital
from Turin to some more southern town, Florence or Naples—he
did not care which. The French minister, M. Drouyn de Lhuys,
said:—'Of course in the end you will go to Rome. But it is
important that between our evacuation and your going there,
such an interval of time and such a series of events should
elapse as to prevent people establishing any connection
between the two facts. France must not have any
responsibility.' … The king accepted the conditions, which
provided that the French were to evacuate Rome in two years,
and fixed on Florence as the residence of the court. … On
November 18, 1860, the first Parliament was opened in
Florence. … The quarrel between Austria and Prussia [see
GERMANY: A. D. 1861-1866] was growing all this time, and Italy
proposed an alliance defensive and offensive with the latter
power. … The treaty was concluded April 8, 1866. When this
fact became known, Austria, on the brink of war with Prussia,
began to think that she must rid herself in some way of the
worry of the Italians on her southern frontier, in order to be
free to combat her powerful northern enemy. The cabinet of
Vienna did not apply directly to the cabinet of Florence, but
to that arbiter of the destinies of nations, Napoleon III.,
proposing to cede Venetia on condition that the Italian
government should detach itself from the Prussian alliance.
… After an ineffectual attempt to accommodate matters by a
congress, war was declared against Austria, on June 20, 1866,
and La Marmora, having appointed Ricasoli as his deputy at the
head of the council, led the army northwards. … Victor
Emmanuel appointed his cousin regent, and carried his sons
along with him to the seat of war. … The forces of Austria
were led by the able and experienced commander, the Archduke
Albert, who had distinguished himself at Novara. On the
ill-omened field of Custozza, where the Italians had been
defeated in 1849, the opposing armies met [June 24]; and both
being in good condition, well disciplined and brave, there was
fought a prolonged and bloody battle, in which the Italians
were worsted, but not routed. … On July 20 the Italian navy
suffered an overwhelming defeat at Lissa in the Adriatic, and
these two great misfortunes plunged Victor Emmanuel into the
deepest grief. He felt disabled from continuing the war: all
the sacrifice of life had been in vain: national unity was as
far off as ever. … Meantime the Prussian arms were
everywhere victorious over Austria, and about ten days after
the battle of Custozza it was announced in the Moniteur that
Austria had asked the Emperor Napoleon's mediation, offering
to cede him Venice, and that he was making over that province
to the King of Italy.
{1868}
Italy could not accept it without the consent of her ally
Prussia; and while negotiations were going forward on the
subject, the brief seven weeks' campaign was brought to a
conclusion by the great victory of Sadowa, and on July 26 the
preliminaries of peace were signed by the Austrian and
Prussian plenipotentiaries. … Venice was restored to Italy
by the Emperor of France, with the approval of Prussia. There
was a sting in the thought that it was not wrung from the
talons of the Austrian eagle by the valour of Italian arms,
but by the force of diplomacy; still it was a delightful fact
that Venice was free, with the tricolour waving on St. Mark's.
The Italian soil was delivered from foreign occupation. … As
soon as the treaty was signed at Vienna, October 2, the
Venetian Assemblies unanimously elected Victor Emmanuel with
acclamations, and begged for immediate annexation to the
Kingdom of Italy. On November 4, in the city of Turin, Victor
Emmanuel received the deputation which came to proffer him the
homage of the inhabitants of Venetia. … On November 7 Victor
Emmanuel made a solemn entry into the most beautiful, and,
after Rome, the most interesting city of the Italian
peninsula. … Hot upon the settlement of the Venetian
question, came the discussion of that of Rome, which after the
evacuation of the French troops [November, 1866] seemed more
complicated than ever. The Catholic powers were now anxious to
accommodate the quarrel between Italy and the Pope, and they
offered to guarantee him his income and his independence if he
would reconcile himself to the national will. But Pius IX. was
immovable in his determination to oppose it to the last."
_G. S. Godkin,
Life of Victor Emmanuel II.,
chapters 23-25 (volume 2)._
ALSO IN:
_J. W. Probyn,
Italy from 1815 to 1890,
chapter 11._
_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
4th period, chapter 1 (volume 2),
and volume 3, chapter 8._
ITALY: A. D. 1867-1870.
Settlement of the Roman question.
Defeat of Garibaldi at Mentana.
Rome in the possession of the king of Italy.
Progress made by diplomacy in the settlement of the Roman
question "was too slow for Garibaldi. He had once more fallen
under the influence of the extreme republicans, and in 1867 he
declared that he would delay no longer in planting the
republican banner on the Vatican. Between these hot-headed and
fanatical republicans on the one side, the Italian
Ultramontanes on another, and the French Emperor on the third,
the position of Victor Emmanuel was anything but enviable. In
the autumn of 1867 Garibaldi was suddenly arrested by the
Government, but released on condition that he would remain
quietly at Caprera. But meanwhile the volunteers under Menotti
Garibaldi (the great chief's son) had advanced into the Papal
States. The old warrior was burning to be with them. On the
14th of October he effected his escape from Caprera, and
managed eventually to join his son in the Romagna. Together
they advanced on Rome, and won, after tremendous fighting, the
great victory at Monte Rotundo. Meanwhile an army of
occupation sent by the Government from Florence had crossed
the Roman frontier, and a French force had landed on the
coast. Garibaldi's position was already critical, but his
resolution was unbroken. 'The Government of Florence,' he
said, in a proclamation to the volunteers, 'has invaded the
Roman territory, already won by us with precious blood from
the enemies of Italy; we ought to receive our brothers in arms
with love, and aid them in driving out of Rome the mercenary
sustainers of tyranny; but if base deeds, the continuation of
the vile convention of September, in mean consort with
Jesuitism, shall urge us to lay down our arms in obedience to
the order of the 2d December, then will I let the world know
that I alone, a Roman general, with full power, elected by the
universal suffrage of the only legal Government in Rome, that
of the republic, have the right to maintain myself in arms in
this the territory subject to my jurisdiction; and then, if
any of these my volunteers, champions of liberty and Italian
unity, wish to have Rome as the capital of Italy, fulfilling
the vote of parliament and the nation, they must not put down
their arms until Italy shall have acquired liberty of
conscience and worship, built upon the ruin of Jesuitism, and
until the soldiers of tyrants shall be banished from our
land.' The position taken up by Garibaldi is perfectly
intelligible. Rome we must have, if possible, by legal
process, in conjunction with the royal arms'; but if they will
stand aside, even if they will oppose, none the less Rome must
be annexed to Italy. Unfortunately Garibaldi had left out of
account the French force despatched by Napoleon III. to defend
the Temporal dominions of the Pope, a force which even at this
moment was advancing to the attack. The two armies met near
the little village of Mentana, ill matched in every respect.
The volunteers, numerous indeed but ill disciplined and badly
armed, brought together, held together simply by the magic of
a name, the French, admirably disciplined, armed with the
fatal chassepots, fighting the battle of their ancient Church.
The Garibaldians were terribly defeated. Victor Emmanuel
grieved bitterly, like a true, warm-hearted father for the
fate of his misguided but generous-hearted sons. … To the
Emperor of the French he wrote an ardent appeal begging him to
break with the Clericals and put himself at the head of the
Liberal party in Europe, at the same time warning him that the
old feeling of gratitude towards the French in Italy had quite
disappeared. 'The late events have suffocated every
remembrance of gratitude in the heart of Italy. It is no
longer in the power of the Government to maintain the alliance
with France. The chassepot gun at Mentana has given it a
mortal blow.' At the same time the rebels were visited with
condign punishment. Garibaldi himself was arrested, but after
a brief imprisonment at Varignano was permitted to retire once
more to Caprera. A prisoner so big as Garibaldi is always an
embarrassment to gaolers. But the last act in the great drama
… was near at hand. In 1870 the Franco-German War broke out.
The contest, involving as it did the most momentous
consequences, was as brief as it was decisive. The French, of
course, could no longer maintain their position as champions
of the Temporal power. Once more, therefore, the King of Italy
attempted, with all the earnestness and with all the
tenderness at his command, to induce the Pope to come to terms
and accept the position, at once dignified and independent,
which the Italian Government was anxious to secure to him. …
{1869}
But the Pope still unflinchingly adhered to the position he
had taken up. … A feint of resistance was made, but on the
20th of September (1870) the royal troops entered Rome, and
the Tricolour was mounted on the palace of the Capitol. So
soon as might be a plebiscite was taken. The numbers are
significant—for the King, 40,788, for the Pope, 46. But
though the work was thus accomplished in the autumn of 1870,
it was not until 2d June 1871 that the King made his triumphal
entry into the capital of Italy."
_J. A. R. Marriott,
The Makers of Modern Italy,
pages 72-76._
ALSO IN:
_G. Garibaldi,
Autobiography,
volume 3, chapters 8-9._
_G. S. Godkin,
Life of Victor Emmanuel,
chapter 32 (volume 2)._
ITALY: A. D. 1870-1894.
The tasks and burdens of the United Nation.
Military and colonial ambitions.
The Triple Alliance.
"Italy now [In 1870] stood before the world as a nation of
twenty-five million inhabitants, her frontiers well defined,
her needs very evident. Nevertheless, if her national
existence was to be more than a name, she must have discipline
in self-government, and she must as quickly as possible
acquire the tools and methods of the civilization prevailing
among those nations into whose company her victories had
raised her. Two thirds of her people lagged behind the Western
world not only in material inventions, but in education and
civic training. Railroads and telegraphs, the wider
application of steam to industries, schools, courts, the
police, had all to be provided, and provided quickly.
Improvements which England and France had added gradually and
paid for gradually, Italy had to organize and pay for in a few
years. Hence a levying of heavy taxes, and exorbitant
borrowing from the future in the public debt. Not only this,
but ancient traditions, the memories of feuds between town and
town, had to be obliterated; the people had to be made truly
one people, so that Venetians, or Neapolitans, or Sicilians
should each feel that they were first of all Italians.
National uniformity must supplant provincial peculiarity;
there must be one language, one code of laws, one common
interest; in a word, the new nation must be Italianized. The
ease and rapidity with which the Italians have progressed in
all these respects have no parallel in modern times. Though
immense the undertaking, they have, in performing it, revealed
an adaptability to new conditions, a power of transformation
which are among the most remarkable characteristics of their
race, and the strongest proofs that ruin will not now engulf
them. Only a race incapable of readjusting itself need
despair. Happy had Italy been if, undistracted by temptation,
she had pursued the plain course before her; still happy, had
she resisted such temptation. But nations, like individuals,
are not made all of one piece: they, too, acknowledge the
better reason, but follow the worse; they, too, through pride
or vanity or passion, often forfeit the winnings from years of
toil. … Italy was recognized as a great power by her
neighbors, and she willingly persuaded herself that it was her
duty to do what they did. In this civilized age, the first
requisite of a great power is a large standing army. … A
large standing army being the first condition of ranking among
the great powers, Italy set about preparing one. … Perhaps
more than any other European nation she was excusable in
desiring to show that her citizens could become soldiers, for
she had been taunted time out of mind with her effeminacy, her
cowardice. It might be argued, too, that she received a larger
dividend in indirect compensation for her capital invested in
the army than her neighbors received from theirs. Uniform
military service helped to blot out provincial lines and to
Italianize all sections; it also furnished rudimentary
education to the vast body of illiterate conscripts. These
ends might have been reached at far less cost by direct and
natural means; but this fact should not lessen the credit due
to the Italian military system for furthering them. Tradition,
example, national sensitiveness, all conspired in this way to
persuade Italy to saddle an immense army on her back. … One
evidence of being a 'great power,' according to the political
standard of the time, consists in ability to establish
colonies, or at least a protectorate, in distant lands;
therefore Italian Jingoes goaded their government on to plant
the Italian flag in Africa. France was already mistress of
Algiers; Spain held a lien on Morocco; Italy could accordingly
do no less than spread her influence over Tunis. For a few
years Italy complacently imagined that she was as good as her
rivals in the possession of a foreign dependency. Then a
sudden recrudescence of Jingoism in France caused the French
to occupy Tunis. The Italians were very angry; but when they
sounded the situation, they realized that it would be folly to
go to war over it. … Not warned by this experience, Italy, a
few years later, plunged yet more deeply into the uncertain
policy of colonization. England and France having fallen out
over the control of Egypt, then England, having virtually made
the Khedive her vassal, suggested that it would be a very fine
thing for Italy to establish a colony far down on the coast of
the Red Sea, whence she could command the trade of Abyssinia.
Italian Jingoes jumped at the suggestion, and for ten years
the red-white-and-green flag has waved over Massaua. But the
good that Italy has derived from this acquisition has yet to
appear. … Equally slow have they been to learn that their
partnership in the Triple Alliance [see TRIPLE ALLIANCE] has
entailed upon them sacrifices out of all proportion to the
benefits. To associate on apparently even terms with Germany
and Austria was doubtless gratifying to national vanity, …
but who can show that Italy has been more secure from attack
since she entered that league than she was before? … For the
sake … of a delusive honor,—the honor of posing as the
partner of the arbiters of Europe,—Italy has, since 1882,
seen her army and her debt increase, and her resources
proportionately diminish. None of her ministers has had the
courage to suggest quitting a ruinous policy; on the contrary,
they have sought hither and thither to find means to
perpetuate it without actually breaking the country's back.
… Yet not on this account shall we despair of a country
which, in spite of folly, has achieved much against great
odds, and which has shown a wonderful capacity for sloughing
off her past. Hardship itself, though it be the penalty of
error, may, by restricting her ability to go astray, lead her
back to the path of reason."
_W. R. Thayer,
Some Causes of the Italian Crisis
(Atlantic, April, 1894)._
See, also, IRREDENTISTS.
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