The extraordinary influence obtained by Kossuth through his paper

frightened Szechenyi, and, to even a greater degree, those whose

prejudices were shocked or ancient privileges and interests were

endangered by the democratic agitations for reform. Kossuth was attacked

in books, pamphlets, and newspapers, but he came out victorious from all

contests. In vain did Szechenyi himself, backed by his great authority

in the land, assail him, declaring that he did not object to Kossuth's

ideas, but that his manner and his tactics were reprehensible, and that

the latter were sure to lead to a revolution. The great mass of the

people felt instinctively that revolution had become a necessity and was

unavoidable if Hungary was to pass from the old mediaeval order to the

establishment of modern institutions and was to become a state where

equality before the law should be the ruling standard. The masses were

strengthened in this conviction by the unreasonable, short-sighted, and

violent policy pursued by the Government of Vienna, which obstructed the

slightest reforms in the ancient institutions and opposed every national

aspiration, and under whose protecting wing the reactionary elements of

the Upper House were constantly paralyzing the noblest and best efforts

made by the Lower House for the public weal, while the same Government

arbitrarily supported claims of the Catholic clergy, in flat

contradiction to the rights and liberties of the various denominations

inhabiting the country.

The Government, in its antipathy to the national movement, went even

further. It secretly incited the other nationalities, especially the

Croats, against the Hungarians, and thus planted the seeds from which

sprang the subsequent great civil war. In observing the dangerous

symptoms preceding the last-mentioned movement, and the bloody scenes

and fights provoked at every election by the hirelings of the

Government, in order to intimidate the adherents of reform, the friends

of progress became more and more convinced that the period of

moderation, such as preached by Szechenyi, had passed by, and must give

way to that resolute policy, advocated by Kossuth, which recoiled from

no consequences. Numerous magnates, all the chief leaders of the gentry

boasting of enlightenment and patriotism, and imbued with European

culture, rallied around Kossuth, until finally the public opinion of the

country and the enthusiasm of which he was the centre caused him to be

returned, in 1847, together with Count Louis Batthyanyi, as Deputy from

the foremost county of the country, the county of Pest.

During the first months of the Diet of 1847-1848, which was to raise

Hungary to the rank of those countries that proclaimed equal rights and

possessed a responsible parliamentary government, it differed very

little from the one preceding it. The opposition initiated great

reforms, as before, but there was no one who believed that their

realization was near at hand. Kossuth repeatedly addressed the House,

and soon convinced his audience that he was as irresistible an orator as

he had proved powerful as a writer. But there was nothing to indicate

that the country was on the eve of a great transformation.

The revolution of February, 1848, which broke out in Paris, changed, as

if by magic, the relative positions of Austria and Hungary. Metternich's

system of government, which was opposed to granting liberty to the

people, collapsed at once. The storm of popular indignation swept it

away like a house built of cards. At the first news of the occurrences

in Paris, Kossuth asked in the Lower House for the creation of a

responsible ministry. The motion was favorably received, but in the

Upper House it was rejected, the Government not being yet alive to the

real state of affairs, and still hoping by a system of negation to

frustrate the wishes of the people. But very soon the revolution reared

its head in Vienna itself, and the wishes of the Hungarian people,

uttered at Budapest, received thereby a new and powerful advocate.

At that time the Hungarian Diet still met at Presburg, but the two

sister-cities of Buda and Pest formed the real capital of the country

and were the centre of commerce, industry, science, and literature.

Michael Vorosmarty, the poet laureate of the nation, lived in Pest, and

there the twin stars of literature, Alexander Petofi and Maurice Jokai,

shone on the national horizon. Jokai, who is still living (1886) and

enjoys a world-wide fame as a novelist, and Petofi, the eminent poet,

who was destined to become the Tyrtaeus of his nation, were then both

young men, full of enthusiasm and intrepid energy, and teeming with

great ideas.

About these two gathered the other writers and youth of the University,

and all of them, helping one another, contrived, on hearing the news of

the sudden revolutions in Paris and Vienna, to enact in Budapest the

bloodless revolution of March 15, 1848, which obtained the liberty of

the press for the nation, and at the same time, in a solemn manifesto,

gave expression to the wishes of the Hungarians in the matter of reform.

The only act of violence these revolutionary heroes were guilty of was

the entering of a printing establishment, whose proprietor, afraid of

the Government, had refused to print the admirable poem of Petofi

entitled _Talpra Magyar_ ("Up, Magyar"), and doing the printing there

themselves. The first stanza of this poem, later the war-song of the

national movement, runs, in a literal translation, thus:

"Arise, O Magyar! thy country calls.

Here is the time, now or never.

Shall we be slaves or free?

That is the question--choose!

We swear by the God of the Magyars,

We swear, to be slaves no longer!"

This soul-stirring poem was improvised by Petofi under the inspiration

of the moment, and at the same establishment where it was first printed

was also printed a proclamation which contained twelve articles setting

forth the wishes of the people.

While the capital was resounding with the rejoicings and triumphant

shouts of her exulting inhabitants, the proper department of the

Government for the carrying through of these movements, the Diet,

assembled at Presburg, lost no time, and set to work with great energy

to reform the institutions of Hungary, constitutionally, and to put into

the form of law the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The

salutary legislation met now with no opposition, either from the Upper

House or from the court at Vienna, and in a short time the Diet passed

the celebrated acts of 1848, which, having received the royal sanction,

were proclaimed as laws on April 11th, at Presburg, amid the wildest

enthusiasm, in the presence of King Ferdinand V.

By these laws Hungary became a modern state, possessing a constitutional

government. The Government was vested in a ministry responsible to the

Parliament, all the inhabitants of the country were declared equal

before the law, the privileges of the nobility were abolished, the soil

was declared free, and the right of free worship accorded to all. The

institution of national guards was introduced, the utmost liberty of the

press was secured, Transylvania became a part of the mother-country--in

a word, the national and political condition of the country was

reorganized, in every particular, in harmony with the spirit, the

demands, and aspirations of our age. At the same time the men placed at

the head of the Government were such as possessed the fullest confidence

of the people. The first ministry was composed of the most distinguished

patriots. Count Louis Batthyanyi was the President; and acting in

conjunction with him were Francis Deak, as Minister of Justice; Count

Stephen Szechenyi, as Minister of Home Affairs; and Louis Kossuth, as

Minister of Finance.

The great mass of the people hailed with boundless enthusiasm the new

Government and the magnificent reforms. The transformation, however, had

been so sudden and unexpected, and the old aristocratic world, with all

its institutions and its ancient organization, had been swept away with

such vehement precipitation that even under ordinary circumstances, in

the absence of all opposition, the new ideas and tendencies could have

hardly entered into the political life of the nation without causing

some confusion and disorder. But, in addition to these natural

drawbacks, the new order of things had to contend with certain national

elements in the population, which, feeling themselves injured in their

real or imaginary interests, were bent on mischief, hoping to be able to

rob the nation, in the midst of the ensuing troubles, of the great

political prize she had won. Certain circles of the court and classes of

the people strove equally hard to surround with difficulties the

practical introduction of the Constitution of 1848.

The court and the standing army, the party of the soldier class, feared

that their commanding position would be impaired by the predominating

influence of the people. The non-Hungarian portion of the inhabitants,

choosing to ignore the fact that the new laws secured, without

distinction of nationality, equal rights to every citizen of the State,

were apprehensive lest the liberal constitution would benefit chiefly

the Hungarian element of the nation. They, therefore, encouraged by the

secret machinations of the Government of Vienna, took up arms, in order

to drag the country, which was preparing to take possession of her new

liberties, into a civil war. The Croatians, under the lead of Ban

Jellachich, and the Wallachs and Serbs, led by other imperial officers,

and yielding to their persuasions, rose in rebellion against Hungary,

and began to persecute, plunder, and murder the Hungarians living among

them.

Dreadful atrocities were committed in the southern and eastern portions

of Hungary, hundreds and hundreds of families were massacred in cold

blood, and entire villages and cities were deserted by their

inhabitants, just as had previously happened at the approach of the

Turks, and thousands were compelled to abandon their all to the rebels,

in order to escape with their bare lives. In the course of a few weeks,

the flames of rebellion had spread over a large part of the country, and

the Hungarian element, instead of enjoying the liberties won for the

whole nation after a bitter struggle of many decades, was under the sad

necessity of resorting to armed force in order to reëstablish the

internal peace. The Hungarians now had to prove on the battlefield and

in bloody engagements that they were worthy of liberty and capable of

defending it.

The Government, which, by virtue of the new laws, had meanwhile

transferred its seat to Budapest, displayed extraordinary energy in the

face of the sad difficulties besetting it. As it was impossible to rely

upon the Austrian soldiers who were still in the country, it exerted

itself to create and to organize a national army. A portion of the

National Guard entered the national army under the name of _honveds_

("defenders of the country"), a name which became before long famous

throughout the civilized world for the brilliant military achievements

connected with it. The Hungarian soldiers garrisoning the Austrian

principalities hastened home, braving the greatest dangers, partly

accompanied by their officers and partly without them. The famous

Hungarian hussars, especially, returned in great number to offer their

services to their imperilled country. But all this proved insufficient,

and as soon as the National Assembly, elected under the new

constitution, met, Kossuth, who had been the life and soul of the

Government during this trying and critical period, called upon the

nation to raise large armies for the defence of the country.

The session of July 11th, during which Kossuth introduced in the House

of Representatives his motions relating to the subject, presented a

scene which beggars all description. Kossuth ascended the tribune pale

and haggard with illness, but the long-continued applause that greeted

him after the first few sentences soon gave him back his strength and

his marvellous oratorical power. When he had concluded his speech and

submitted to the House his request for two hundred thousand soldiers and

the necessary money, a momentary pause of deep silence ensued. Suddenly

Paul Nyary, the leader of the opposition, arose, and lifting his right

arm toward heaven, exclaimed: "We grant it!" The House was in a fever of

patriotic excitement; all the Deputies rose from their seats, shouting,

"We grant it; we grant it!" Kossuth, with tears in his eyes, bowed to

the representatives of the people and said, "You have risen like one

man, and I bow down before the greatness of the nation."

These sacrifices on the part of the country had become a matter of

urgent necessity. The Serb and Wallach insurrection assumed every day

larger proportions, while the Croats, under the leadership of

Jellachich, entered Hungarian territory with the fixed determination of

depriving the nation of her constitutional liberties. But the Hungarian

Government was already able to send an army against the Croatians, who

were marching on Budapest, plundering and laying waste everything before

them. They were surrounded by the Hungarian forces, and a part of their

army, nine thousand men strong, was compelled to lay down its arms,

while Jellachich, with his remaining forces, precipitately fled from the

country. The young Hungarian army had thus proved itself equal to the

task of repelling the attack of the Croats, but the recent events were

nevertheless fraught with the gravest consequences.

The news of the Croatian invasion filled the Hungarians with deep

anxiety, and the extraordinary excitement caused by it cast a permanent

cloud over the soul of that great and noble man, Count Szechenyi. The

mind of the great patriot who had initiated the national movement gave

way under the strain of the frightful rumors coming from the Croatian

frontier. He had been ailing for some time, and his nervousness

increased so greatly under the pressure of the great events following

one another in rapid succession, that when the news came that the enemy

had invaded the country he thought Hungary was lost. His despair

darkened his mind and he sought death in the waves of the Danube. His

family removed him to a private asylum near Vienna, where he recovered

his mental faculties, and even wrote several books. But he was never

entirely cured of his hallucination, and, exasperated by the vexations

he was subjected to by the Viennese Government, even in the asylum, the

great patriot put an end to his own life on April 8, 1860, by a

pistol-shot.

Jellachich's incursion had other important political consequences. The

attack on Hungary had been made by Jellachich in the name of the

Viennese Government, and the intimate connection between the domestic

disorders and the court of Vienna became more and more apparent. This

state of things rendered inevitable a struggle between Hungary and the

unconstitutional action of the court. The Austrian forces were arming

against Hungary on every side. Vienna, too, rose in rebellion against

the court, and now the Hungarians hastened to assist the revolutionists

in the Austrian capital. Unfortunately the young national army was not

ripe yet for so great a military enterprise, and Prince Windischgraetz,

having crushed the revolution in Vienna, invaded Hungary.

A last attempt was now made by the Hungarians to negotiate peace with

the court, but it failed, Windischgraetz being so elated with his

success that nothing short of unconditional submission on the part of

the country would satisfy him. To accept such terms would have been both

cowardly and suicidal, and the nation, therefore, driven to the sad

alternative of war, determined rather to perish gloriously than

pusillanimously to submit to be enslaved by the court. They followed the

lead of Kossuth, who was now at the head of the Government, while Gorgei

was the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army. The two names of

Kossuth and Gorgei soon constituted the glory of the nation. While these

two acted in harmony they achieved brilliant triumphs, but their

personal antagonism greatly contributed, at a subsequent period, to the

calamities of the country.

Windischgraetz took possession of Buda in January, 1849, thus compelling

Kossuth to transfer the seat of Government to Debreczin, while Gorgei

withdrew with his army to the northern part of Hungary; but the national

army fought victoriously against the Serbs and Wallachs, and the

situation of the Hungarians had, in the course of the winter, become

more favorable all over the country. The genius of Kossuth brought again

and again, as if by magic, fresh armies into the field, and he was

indefatigable in organizing the defence of the country. Distinguished

generals like Gorgei, Klapka, Damjanics, and Bem transformed the raw

recruits, in a wonderfully short time, into properly disciplined troops,

who were able to hold their own and bravely contend against the old and

tried imperial forces whom they put to flight at every point.

The fortunes of war changed in favor of the Hungarians in the latter

part of January, 1849. Klapka achieved the first triumph, which was

followed by the brilliant victory won by one of Gorgei's divisions

commanded by Guyon in the Battle of Branyiszko, and very soon the

Hungarian armies acted on the offensive at all points. In the course of

a few weeks they achieved, chiefly under Gorgei's leadership, great and

complete victories over the enemy near Szolnok, Hatvan, Bicske, Waitzen,

Isaszegh, Nagy Sarlo, and Komarom. Windischgraetz lost both the campaign

and his office as commander-in-chief.

Toward the close of the spring of 1849, after besieged Komorn had been

relieved by the Hungarians, and Bem had driven from Transylvania not

only the Austrians, but the Russians who had come to their assistance,

the country was almost freed from her enemies, and only two cities, Buda

and Temesvar, remained in the hands of the Austrians. The glorious

efforts made by the nation were attended at last by splendid successes,

and the civilized world spoke with sympathy and respect of the Hungarian

people, who had signally shown their ability to defend their liberties,

constitution, and national existence.

It should have been the mission of diplomacy, at this conjuncture, to

turn to advantage the recent military successes by negotiating an

honorable peace with the humbled dynasty, as had been done before in the

history of the country, after similar military achievements by the

ancient national leaders, Bocskay and Bethlen. Gorgei, at the head of

the army, was disposed to conclude peace. But the Hungarian Parliament

sitting in Debreczin, led by Kossuth and under the influence of the

recent victories, was determined to pursue a different course. The royal

house at Hapsburg, whose dynasty had ruled over Hungary for three

centuries, was declared to have forfeited its right to the throne by

instigating and bringing upon the country the calamities of a great war.

This act had a bad effect, especially on the army, tending also to

heighten the personal antagonism between Kossuth and Gorgei. But its

worst consequence was that it gave Russia a pretext for armed

intervention. The Emperor Francis Joseph entered into an alliance with

the Czar of Russia, the purpose of which was to reconquer seceded

Hungary and ultimately to crush her liberty.

One more brilliant victory was achieved by the Hungarian arms before the

fatal blow was aimed at the country. The fortress of Buda was taken

after a gallant assault, in the course of which the Austrian commandant

bombarded the defenceless city of Pest on the opposite bank of the

Danube, and thus the capital, too, was restored to the country. Yet

after this last glorious feat of war, good fortune deserted the national

banners. The grand heroic epoch was hastening to its tragic end. Two

hundred thousand Russians crossed the borders of Hungary, and were there

reënforced by sixty thousand to seventy thousand Austrians, whom the

Viennese Government had succeeded in collecting for a last great effort.

It was easy to foresee that the exhausted Hungarian army could not long

resist the superior numbers opposed to them. For months they continued

the gallant fight, and in one of these fierce engagements Petofi, the

beloved poet of the nation, lost his life; but in the month of August

the Russians had already succeeded in surrounding Gorgei's army. Gorgei,

who was now invested with the supreme power, perceiving that all further

effusion of blood was useless, surrendered, in the sight of the Russian

army, the sword he had so gloriously worn in many a battle, near

Vilagos, on August 13, 1849. The remaining Hungarian armies followed his

example, and either capitulated or disbanded. The brave army of the

_honveds_ was no more, and the gallant struggle for liberty was put an

end to by the Russian forces. Kossuth and many other Hungarians sought

refuge in Turkey.

Above Komorn, the largest fortress in the country, alone the Hungarian

colors were still floating. General Klapka, its commandant, bravely

defended it, and continued to hold it for six weeks after the sad

catastrophe of Vilagos. The brave defender, seeing at last that further

resistance served no purpose, as the Hungarian army had ceased to exist,

and the whole country had passed into the hands of the Austrians,

capitulated upon the most honorable terms. This was the concluding act

of the heroic struggle of the Hungarian people, the brave attitude of

the garrison and their commander adding another bright page to the

honorable record of the military achievements of 1848 and 1849.

As soon as the Imperialists had obtained possession of Komorn, their

commander-in-chief, Baron Haynau, began to persecute the patriots, and

to commit the most cruel atrocities against them. Those who had taken

part in the national war were brought before a court-martial and

summarily executed. The bloody work of the executioner began on October

6th. Count Louis Batthyanyi was shot at Pest, and thirteen gallant

generals, belonging to Gorgei's army, met their deaths at Arad.

Wholesale massacres were committed throughout the country, until at last

the conscience of Europe rose up against these cruel butcheries, and the

court itself removed the sanguinary Baron from the scene of his inhuman

exploits. The best men in the country were thrown into prison, and

thousands of families had to mourn for dear ones who had fallen victims

to the implacable vindictiveness of the Austrian Government. Once more

the gloom of oppression settled upon the unhappy country.

Many of the patriots had accompanied Kossuth to Turkey or found a refuge

in other foreign countries, and for ten years a great number of

distinguished Hungarians were compelled to taste the bitterness of

exile. Kossuth himself went subsequently to England, and visited also

the United States. In the latter country he was enthusiastically

received by the great and free American people, who took delight in his

lofty eloquence. During the Crimean War, and the War of 1859 in Italy,

Kossuth and the Hungarian exiles were zealously laboring to free their

country, by foreign aid, from the thraldom of oppression. At last,

however, the Hungarian nation succeeded in reconquering, without any aid

from abroad, by her own exertions, her national and political rights,

and made her peace with the ruling dynasty. But the Hungarian exiles had

their full share in the work of reconciliation, for it was owing to

their exertions that the nations of Europe remembered that, in spite of

Vilagos, Hungary still existed, and that again, at home, the people of

Hungary were not permitted to lose their faith in a better and brighter

future.

Kossuth, the Nestor of the struggle for liberty, lives at present [1886]

in retirement in Turin, [Footnote: Kossuth died at Turin, Italy, March

20, 1894.--ED.] and, although separated from his people by diverging

political theories, his countrymen will forever cherish in him the great

genius who gave liberty to millions of the oppressed peasantry, and who

inscribed indelibly on the pages of the national legislation the

immortal principles of liberty and equality of rights.

(1848) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA, John S. Hittell

Before the time of the great gold discovery of 1848, the metal had been

found in California, but the mines from which it was taken were poor and

yielded small returns for years of working. The discovery in 1848

influenced the whole world, giving new life to trade and industry

everywhere. The first published report of gold in California appeared in

Hakluyt's account of Sir Francis Drake's visit to the coast in 1579. The

observations of Drake's men are supposed by some to have been made at a

point not far from San Francisco. The Hakluyt statement, however, is

disbelieved by many historians. The Spaniards and Mexicans who later

visited the coast are known to have found gold at many places, and

especially near the Colorado River, but they discovered no mines worth

working. Reports of great mineral wealth in California were repeated up

to the time of the American conquest, but they commanded little

confidence among mining experts.

Although gold was found in what is now San Diego County in 1828,

Alexander Forbes, the historian of California, wrote in 1835 that no

minerals of particular importance had been discovered in Upper

California, nor any ores of metals. About 1838 a gold placer was

discovered in the ca±on of San Francisquito, forty-five miles northwest

of Los Angeles, and this was the first California mine that produced any

considerable amount of metal. It was worked for ten years and then

abandoned for richer diggings in the Sacramento Valley. The average

yield for the ten years was probably about six thousand dollars. After

the return of the Wilkes exploring expedition of 1842, James D. Dana,

its mineralogist, mentioned places in California at which he had

observed or inferred the existence of gold. But his report led to no

gold-hunting, and had only a scientific interest.

The great discovery of 1848, and its world-wide effects, are described

in the following account by Hittell, which forms a part of Hubert H.

Bancroft's voluminous _History of the Pacific States_.

As Edmund Hammond Hargraves is the hero of the Australian, so is James

W. Marshall of the Californian, gold discovery. Before giving the

account of his discovery, however, I will quote the following passage

from a letter written on May 4, 1846, by Thomas O. Larkin, then United

States consul at Monterey, California, to James Buchanan, Secretary of

State:

"There is said to be black lead in the country of San Fernando, near San

Pedro [now Los Angeles County]. By washing the sand in a plate, any

person can obtain from one dollar to five dollars per day of gold that

brings seventeen dollars per ounce in Boston; the gold has been gathered

for two or three years, though but few have the patience to look for it.

On the southeast end of the island of Catalina there is a silver mine

from which silver has been extracted. There is no doubt but that gold,

silver, quick-silver, copper, lead, sulphur, and coal mines are to be

found all over California, and it is equally doubtful whether, under

their present owners, they will ever be worked."

James W. Marshall, in a letter dated January 28, 1856, and addressed to

Charles E. Pickett, gave the following account of the gold discovery:

"Toward the end of August, 1847, Captain Sutter and I formed a

copartnership to build and run a sawmill upon a site selected by myself

(since known as Coloma). We employed P.L. Weimer and family to remove

from the Fort (Sutter's Fort) to the mill-site, to cook and labor for

us. Nearly the first work done was the building of a double log cabin,

about half a mile from the mill-site. We commenced the mill about

Christmas. Some of the mill-hands wanted a cabin near the mill. This was

built, and I went to the Fort to superintend the construction of the

mill-irons, leaving orders to cut a narrow ditch where the race was to

be made. Upon my return, in January, 1848, I found the ditch cut as

directed, and those who were working on the same were doing so at a

great disadvantage, expending their labor upon the head of the race

instead of the foot.

"I immediately changed the course of things, and upon the 19th of the

same month of January discovered the gold near the lower end of the

race, about two hundred yards below the mill. William Scott was the

second man to see the metal. He was at work at a carpenter's bench near

the mill. I showed the gold to him. Alexander Stephens, James Brown,

Henry Bigler, and William Johnston were likewise working in front of the

mill, framing the upper story. They were called up next, and, of course,

saw the precious metal. P.L. Weimer and Charles Bennett were at the old

double log cabin (where Hastings and Company afterward kept a store).

"In the mean time we put in some wheat and peas, nearly five acres,

across the river. In February the Captain (Captain Sutter) came to the

mountains for the first time. Then we consummated a treaty with the

Indians, which had been previously negotiated. The tenor of this was

that we were to pay them two hundred dollars yearly in goods, at Yerba

Buena prices, for the joint possession and occupation of the land with

them; they agreeing not to kill our stock, viz., horses, cattle, hogs,

or sheep, nor burn the grass within the limits fixed by the treaty. At

the same time Captain Sutter, myself, and Isaac Humphrey entered into a

copartnership to dig gold. A short time afterward, P.L. Weimer moved

away from the mill, and was away two or three months, when he returned.

With all the events that subsequently occurred, you and the public are

well informed."

This is the most precise and is generally considered to be the most

correct account of the gold discovery. Other versions of the story have

been published, however, and the following, from an article published in

the Coloma _Argus_, in the latter part of the year 1855, is one of them.

The statement was evidently derived from Weimer, who lives at Coloma:

"That James W. Marshall picked up the first piece of gold is beyond

doubt. Peter L. Weimer, who resides in this place, states positively

that Marshall picked up the gold in his presence; they both saw it and

each spoke at the same time, 'What's that yellow stuff?' Marshall, being

a step in advance, picked it up. This first piece of gold is now in the

possession of Mrs. Weimer, and weighs six pennyweights eleven grains.

The piece was given to her by Marshall himself. The dam was finished

early in January, the frame for the mill also erected, and the flume and

bulkhead completed. It was at this time that Marshall and Weimer adopted

the plan of raising the gate during the night to wash out sand from the

mill-race, closing it during the day, when work would be continued with

shovels, etc.

"Early in February--the exact day is not remembered--in the morning,

after shutting off the water, Marshall and Weimer walked down the race

together to see what the water had accomplished during the night. Having

gone about twenty yards below the mill, they both saw the piece of gold

before mentioned, and Marshall picked it up. After an examination, the

gold was taken to the cabin of Weimer, and Mrs. Weimer instructed to

boil it in saleratus-water; but she, being engaged in making soap,

pitched the piece into the soap-kettle, where it was boiled all day and

all night. The following morning the strange piece of stuff was fished

out of the soap, all the brighter for the boiling.

"Discussion now commenced, and all expressed the opinion that perhaps

the yellow substance might be gold. Little was said on the subject; but

everyone each morning searched in the race for more, and every day found

several small scales. The Indians also picked up many small thin pieces,

and carried them always to Mrs. Weimer. About three weeks after the

first piece was obtained, Marshall took the fine gold, amounting to

between two and three ounces, and went to San Francisco to have the

strange metal tested. On his return he informed Weimer that the stuff

was gold.

"All hands now began to search for the 'root of all evil.' Shortly

after, Captain Sutter came to Coloma, and he and Marshall assembled the

Indians and bought of them a large tract of country about Coloma, in

exchange for a lot of beads and a few cotton handkerchiefs. They, under

color of this Indian title, required one-third of all the gold dug on

their domain, and collected at this rate until the fall of 1848, when a

mining party from Oregon declined paying 'tithes' as they called it.

"During February, 1848, Marshall and Weimer went down the river to

Mormon Island, and there found scales of gold on the rocks. Some weeks

later they sent Mr. Henderson, Sydney Willis and Mr. Fifield, Mormons,

down there to dig, telling them that that place was better than Coloma.

These were the first miners at Mormon Island."

Marshall was a man of an active, enthusiastic mind, and he at once

attached great importance to his discovery. His ideas, however, were

vague; he knew nothing about gold-mining; he did not know how to take

advantage of what he had found. Only an experienced gold-miner could

understand the importance of the discovery and make it of practical

value to all the world. That gold-miner, fortunately, was near at hand;

his name was Isaac Humphrey. He was residing in the town of San

Francisco, in the month of February, when a Mr. Bennett, one of the

party employed at Marshall's mill, went down to that place with some of

the dust to have it tested; for it was still a matter of doubt whether

this yellow metal really was gold. Bennett told his errand to a friend

whom he met in San Francisco, and this friend introduced him to

Humphrey, who had been a gold-miner in Georgia, and was therefore

competent to pass an opinion.

Humphrey looked at the dust, pronounced it gold at the first glance, and

expressed a belief that the diggings must be rich. He made inquiries

about the place where the gold was found, and subsequent inquiries about

the trustworthiness of Mr. Bennett, and on March 7th he was at the mill.

He tried to induce several of his friends in San Francisco to go with

him; they all thought his expedition a foolish one, and he had to go

alone. He found that there was some talk about the gold, and persons

would occasionally go about looking for pieces of it; but no one was

engaged in mining, and the work of the mill was going on as usual. On

the 8th he went out prospecting with a pan, and satisfied himself that

the country in that vicinity was rich in gold. He then made a rocker and

commenced the business of washing gold, and thus began the business of

mining in California.

Others saw how he did it, followed his example, found that the work was

profitable, and abandoned all other occupations. The news of their

success spread; people flocked to the place, learned how to use the

rocker, discovered new diggings, and in the course of a few months the

country had been overturned by a social and industrial revolution.

Mr. Humphrey had not been at work more than three or four days before a

Frenchman, called Baptiste, who had been a gold-miner in Mexico for many

years, came to the mill, and he agreed with Humphrey that California was

very rich in gold. He, too, went to work, and, being an excellent

prospector, he was of great service in teaching the newcomers the

principles of prospecting and mining for gold--principles not abstruse,

yet not likely to suggest themselves at first thought to men entirely

ignorant of the business. Baptiste had been employed by Captain Sutter

to saw lumber with a whipsaw, and had been at work for two years at a

place, since called Weber, about ten miles eastward from Coloma. When he

saw the diggings at the latter place, he at once said there were rich

mines where he had been sawing, and he expressed surprise that it had

never occurred to him before, so experienced in gold-mining as he was;

but he afterward said it had been so ordered by Providence, that the

gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of

the Americans.

About the middle of March, P.B. Reading, an American, now a prominent

and wealthy citizen of the State, then the owner of a large ranch on the

western bank of the Sacramento River, near where it issues from the

mountains, came to Coloma, and after looking about at the diggings, said

that if similarity in the appearance of the country could be taken as a

guide there must be gold in the hills near his ranch; and he went off,

declaring his intention to go back and make an examination of them. John

Bidwell, another American, now a wealthy and influential citizen, then

residing on his ranch on the bank of Feather River, came to Coloma about

a week later, and he said there must be gold near his ranch, and he went

off with expressions similar to those used by Reading. In a few weeks

news came that Reading had found diggings near Clear Creek, at the head

of the Sacramento Valley, and was at work there with his Indians; and

not long after, it was reported that Bidwell was at work with his

Indians on a rich bar of Feather River, since called "Bidwell's Bar."

Although Bennett had arrived at San Francisco in February with some of

the dust, the editors of the town--for two papers were published in the

place at the time--did not hear of the discovery till some weeks later.

The first published notice of the gold appeared in the _Californian_

(published in San Francisco) on March 15th, as follows: "In the newly

made raceway of the sawmill recently erected by Captain Sutter, on the

American Fork, gold has been found in considerable quantities. One

person brought thirty dollars' worth to New Helvetia, gathered there in

a short time. California, no doubt, is rich in mineral wealth; great

chances here for scientific capitalists. Gold has been found in almost

every part of the country."

Three days later the _California Star_, the rival paper, gave the

following account of the discovery: "We were informed a few days since

that a very valuable silver-mine was situated in the vicinity of this

place, and, again, that its locality was known. Mines of quicksilver are

being found all over the country. Gold has been discovered in the

northern Sacramento districts, about forty miles above Sutter's Fort.

Rich mines of copper are said to exist north of these bays."

Although these articles were written two months after the discovery, it

is evident that the editors had heard only vague rumors, and attached

little importance to them. The _Star_ of March 25th says: "So great is

the quantity of gold taken from the new mine recently found at New

Helvetia that it has become an article of traffic in that vicinity."

None of the gold had been seen in San Francisco; but at Sutter's Fort

men had begun to buy and sell with it.

The next number of the _Star_, bearing date April 1, 1848, contained an

article several columns long, written by Doctor V.J. Fourgeaud, on the

resources of California. He devoted about a column to the minerals, and

in the course of his remarks said: "It would be utterly impossible at

present to make a correct estimate of the mineral wealth of California.

Popular attention has been but lately directed to it. But the

discoveries that have already been made will warrant us in the assertion

that California is one of the richest mineral countries in the world.

Gold, silver, quicksilver, iron, copper, lead, sulphur, saltpetre, and

other mines of great value have already been found. We saw a few days

ago a beautiful specimen of gold from the mine newly discovered on the

American Fork. From all accounts the mine is immensely rich, and already

we learn the gold from it collected at random and without any trouble

has become an article of trade at the upper settlements. This precious

metal abounds in this country. We have heard of several other newly

discovered mines of gold, but as these reports are not yet authenticated

we shall pass over them. However, it is well known that there is a

placer of gold a few miles from Los Angeles, and another on the San

Joaquin."

It was not until more than three months after Marshall's discovery that

the San Francisco papers stated that gold-mining had become a regular

and profitable business in the new placers. The _Californian_ of April

26th said: "From a gentleman just from the gold region we learn that

many new discoveries of gold have very recently been made, and it is

fully ascertained that a large extent of country abounds with that

precious mineral. Seven men, with picks and spades, gathered one

thousand six hundred dollars worth in fifteen days. Many persons are

settling on the lands with the view of holding preëmptions, but as yet

every person takes the right to gather all he can without any regard to

claims. The largest piece yet found is worth six dollars."

The news spread, men came from all the settled parts of the territory,

and as they came they went to work mining, and gradually they moved

farther and farther from Coloma, and before the rainy reason had

commenced (in December) miners were washing rich auriferous dirt all

along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, from the Feather to the

Tuolumne River, a distance of one hundred fifty miles; and also over a

space of about fifteen miles square, near the place now known as the

town of Shasta, in the Coast Mountains, at the head of the Sacramento

Valley. The whole country had been turned topsy-turvy; towns had been

deserted, or left only to the women and children; fields had been left

unreaped; herds of cattle went without anyone to care for them. But

gold-mining, which had become the great interest of the country, was not

neglected. The people learned rapidly and worked hard.

In the latter part of 1848 adventurers began to arrive from Oregon, the

Sandwich Islands, and Mexico. The winter found the miners with very

little preparation, but most of them were accustomed to a rough manner

of life in the Western wilds, and they considered their large profits an

abundant compensation for their privations and hardships. The weather

was so mild in December and January that they could work almost as well

as in the summer, and the rain gave them facilities for washing such as

they could not have in the dry season.

In September, 1848, the first rumors of the gold discovery began to

reach New York; in October they attracted attention; in November people

looked with interest for new reports; in December the news gained

general credence and a great excitement arose. Preparations were made

for a migration to California by somebody in nearly every town in the

United States. The great body of the emigrants went either across the

plains with ox or mule teams or round Cape Horn in sailing-vessels. A

few took passage in the steamer by way of Panama.

Not fewer than one hundred thousand men, representing in their nativity

every State in the Union, went to California that year. Of these, twenty

thousand crossed the continent by way of the South Pass; and nearly all

of them started from the Missouri River between Independence and St.

Joseph, in the month of May. They formed an army; in daytime their

trains filled up the roads for miles, and at night their camp-fires

glittered in every direction about the places blessed with grass and

water. The excitement continued from 1850 to 1853; emigrants continued

to come by land and sea, from Europe and America, and in the last named

year from China also. In 1854 the migration fell off, and since that

time until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad California

received the chief accessions to her white population by the Panama

steamers.

The whole world felt a beneficent influence from the great gold yield of

the Sacramento Basin. Labor rose in value, and industry was stimulated

from St. Louis to Constantinople. The news, however, was not welcome to

all classes. Many of the capitalists feared that gold would soon be so

abundant as to be worthless, and European statesmen feared the power to

be gained by the arrogant and turbulent democracy of the New World.

The author of a book entitled _Notes on the Gold District_, published in

London in 1853, thus speaks of the fears excited in Europe on the first

great influx of gold from the Californian mines: "Among the many

extraordinary incidents connected with the Californian discoveries was

the alarm communicated to many classes and which was not confined to

individuals but invaded governments. The first announcement spread

alarm; but as the cargoes of gold rose from one hundred thousand dollars

to one million dollars, bankers and financiers began seriously to

prepare for an expected crisis. In England and the United States the

panic was confined to a few; but on the Continent of Europe every

government, rich or poor, thought it needful to make provision against

the threatened evils. An immediate alteration in prices was looked for;

money was to become so abundant that all ordinary commodities were to

rise, but more especially the proportion between gold and silver was to

be disturbed, some thinking that the latter might become the dearer

metal. The Governments of France, Holland, and Russia, in particular,

turned their attention to the monetary question, and in 1850 the

Government of Holland availed themselves of a law, which had not before

been put in operation, to take immediate steps for selling off the gold

in the Bank of Amsterdam, at what they supposed to be the highest

prices, and to stock themselves with silver.

"Palladium, which is likewise a superior white metal, was held more

firmly, and expectations were entertained that it would become available

for plating. The stock, however, was small. The silver operation was

carried on concurrent with a supply of bullion to Russia for a loan, a

demand for silver in Austria, and for shipment to India, and it did

really produce an effect on the silver market, which many mistook for

the influence of Californian gold. The particular way in which the

Netherlands operations were carried on was especially calculated to

produce the greatest disturbance of prices. The ten-florin pieces were

sent to Paris, coined there into Napoleons, and silver five-franc pieces

drawn out in their place.

"At Paris the premium on gold in a few months fell from nearly 2 per

cent. to a discount, and at Hamburg a like fall took place. In London,

the great silver market, silver rose, between the autumn and the new

year, from five shillings per ounce to five shillings one and

five-eighths pence per ounce, and Mexican dollars from four shillings

ten and one-half pence to four shillings eleven and five-eighths pence

per ounce; nor did prices recover until toward the end of the year 1851,

when the fall was as sudden as the rise."

In the spring of 1849 Reading crossed the Coast Range with a party of

his Indians, and discovered rich diggings in the valley of the Trinity.

In the summer of the same year Colonel Frémont discovered the mines on

his ranch, in the valley of the Mariposa.

(1849) RISE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, Jessie White Mario

When "Young Italy," the association of republican agitators led by

Giuseppe Mazzini, began its activities (about 1834), hatred of the

Austrian government, which ruled in several of the Italian States, was

kept alive through this determined organization. Aspirations for liberty

and self-government were requickened. The endeavors of the reforming

Pope, Pius IX (1846), to harmonize his policy with the aims of this

party, in order to promote a confederation of the Italian States under

papal supremacy, at first seemed to promise the dawn of a new era. Soon

after the outbreak of the revolution of 1848 in France, revolt against

the Austrian power began in various parts of Italy. The Austrian troops

were driven out of Lombardy; Venice compelled the Austrian forces in her

territory to surrender, and became a free republic; in a short time

Italy appeared to have delivered herself from the rule of Austria; but

almost immediately the foreign power began to regain its ascendency, and

this, through the events here related, was fully recovered.

After the flight of Pius IX from Rome (November, 1848), Mazzini and his

followers pursued their own course. A constituent assembly was summoned,

and on February 5, 1849, it declared the temporal power of the Pope

abolished. The Italian soldier who now becomes the chief figure of this

movement has enjoyed a popular renown unsurpassed by that of any of his

countrymen. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a sailor's son, was born in Nice, July

4, 1807. In youth he went to sea. In 1834 he took part with Mazzini in

the Young Italy demonstrations, and for aiding in an attempt to seize

Genoa he was condemned to death. Escaping to South America, he won

distinction as a guerilla leader and a privateer in the service of the

Rio Grande rebels against Brazil. After further military adventures in

South America, he returned to Italy, and in 1847 offered his services to

Pope Pius IX, but they were not accepted. In 1848 he received

indifferent treatment at the hands of Charles Albert of Sardinia, who

was besieging the Austrians in Mantua. After the failure of Charles

Albert, Garibaldi collected his own followers and acted against the

Austrians with such effect as to bring him into prominence in the ranks

of Italian patriots. The following account of the siege and defence of

Rome, which admiringly presents him to view, is from the author's

supplement to Garibaldi's _Autobiography_, and is a valuable

contribution to the history of the events in which he was so

conspicuous.

Of the many sublime pages traced in the blood of Italian patriots, the

sublimest in our eyes is that of the defence of Rome. No writer of

genius has yet been inspired to narrate the heroic deeds enacted, the

pain, privation, anguish, borne joyfully to save "that city of the

Italian soul" from desecration by the foreigner. Mazzini's beloved

disciple, Mameli, the soldier-poet, died with the flower of the student

youth; the survivors, exiled, dispersed, heartbroken, or intent only on

preparing for the next campaign, have left us but fugitive records,

partial episodes, or dull military chronicles. Margaret Fuller Ossoli,

competent by love and genius to be the historian and who had collected

the materials day by day, lived the life of the combatants hour by hour,

was wrecked with "Ossoli, Angelo" and her manuscript, in sight of her

native shore.

From details that reached him Garibaldi always maintained that there was

a priest among the wreckers who secured and destroyed the treasure!

Guerrazzi's _Siege of Rome_ is inferior to all his other writings. The

entry of the Italian army into Rome by the breach in Porta Pia has cast

the grand defence of 1849 into the background of rash attempts and

futile failures. In these brief pages we give merely the outline of the

drama in which Garibaldi was one of the leading actors. The men who

desired a republic did not exist as a party in Rome previous to the

flight of the Pope. But there existed a strong national anti-Austrian

party, who, as they had worshipped Pio Nono (Pius IX) when he "blessed

Italy" and the banners that the Romans bore upward to the "Holy War,"

now execrated him inasmuch as he had withdrawn his sanction to that war

and had blessed the Croats and the Austrians who were butchering the

Italians in the north. Convinced of the impossibility of favoring the

independence and unity of Italy, and remaining at the same time the

supreme head of the Universal Church, Pio Nono fled for protection to

the King of Naples; there he declined to accept from the King of

Piedmont his repeated offers of protection or mediation, and appealed to

Austria alone to restore him pope-king absolute in Rome. Very soon

afterward the Archduke of Tuscany revoked the Constituent Assembly which

he had granted, and followed the saintly example of the Holy Father, so

that Tuscany and Rome were alike left sheep without a shepherd.

In the Roman States an appeal was made to universal suffrage, and the

people sent up deputies, known chiefly for their honesty and bravery, to

decide on the form of government, to assist Piedmont in her second war

against Austria. When the Constituent Assembly met to decide on the form

of government, Mamiani warned them that only two rulers were possible in

Rome--the Pope or Cola di Rienzi; the Papacy or the Republic.

Garibaldi, who had organized his legion at Rieti, was elected member of

the Constituent Assembly, and on February 7th put in his appearance and

in language more soldierlike than parliamentary urged the immediate

proclamation of the republic. But the debate was carried on with all due

respect for the "rights of the minority."

Finally, on February 9th, of the one hundred fifty-four Deputies

present, all but five voted for the downfall of the temporal power of

the Pope, all but eleven for the proclamation of the republic. These,

with the exception of General Garibaldi and General Ferrari, were all

Romans. G. Filopanti, who undertook to explain the state of affairs to

the Roman people, won shouts of applause by his concluding words, "We

are no longer mere Romans, but Italians."

This sentence sums up the sentiments of all: of Garibaldi, who, after

recording his vote, returned to his troops at Rieti and drew up an

admirable plan for attacking the Austrians bent on subjugating the Roman

Provinces and for carrying revolution into the Kingdom of Naples; of

Mazzini, who, so far from having imposed on the Romans a republic by the

force of his tyrannical will, was--during its proclamation--in Tuscany,

striving to induce Guerrazzi and his fellow-triumvirs to unite with Rome

and organize a strong army for the renewal of the Lombard War.

True, the Romans, mindful of all they owed to the great apostle of

Italian unity and independence, proclaimed him Roman citizen on February

12th, and on the 25th of the same month the Roman people, with nine

thousand votes, elected him member of the Constituent Assembly; but it

was not until March 5th that he entered Rome, when, in one of his most

splendid speeches, rising above parties and politics, he called upon the

"Rome of the People" to send up combatants against Austria, the only

enemy that then menaced Italy.

Suiting the action to the word, he induced the Assembly to nominate a

commission for the thorough organization of the army; and ten thousand

men had quitted Rome and were marching up to the frontier to place

themselves at the orders of Piedmont, when, alas! their march was

arrested by the news of the total defeat at Novara, of the abdication of

Charles Albert and the reinauguration of Austrian rule in Lombardy.

Genoa, whose generous inhabitants arose in protest against the

disastrous but inevitable treaty of peace, was bombarded and reduced to

submission by La Marmora; and now, while to Rome and to Venice flocked

all the volunteers who preferred death to submission, the new Holy

Alliance of Continental Europe took for its watchword: "The restoration

of the Pope; the extinction of the two Republics of Venice and of Rome."

Austria crossed the Po and occupied Ferrara, marching thence on Bologna;

the Neapolitan troops from the south marched upward to the Roman

frontier; even Spain sent her contingent to Fiumicino. But only when it

was known that the French Republic had voted an expedition, with the

specious object of guaranteeing the independence of the supreme Pontiff,

did the Romans and their rulers realize that the existence of Rome and

her newborn liberties was seriously menaced. Garibaldi wrote from Rieti,

in April, an enthusiastic letter worth recording here:

"BROTHER MAZZINI: I feel that I must write you one line with my own

hand. May Providence sustain you in your brilliant but arduous career

[Mazzini had just been elected, with Armellini and Saffi, Triumvir of

Rome], and may you be enabled to carry out all the noble designs in your

mind for the welfare of our country. Remember that Rieti is full of your

brethren in the faith, and that immutably yours is

"JOSEPH GARIBALDI."

At the same time he sent a plan, proposing to march along the Via

Emilia, to collect arms and volunteers, proclaim the levy in mass, and

with a division stationed in the Bolognese territory, operate in the

duchies, unite Tuscan, Ligurian, and Piedmontese forces, and once more

assail the Austrians. But the news of Piedmont defeated, Genoa bombarded

and vanquished, convinced him that it would be difficult to re-arouse

the disheartened population of Northern Italy. Hence he next proposed to

cross the Neapolitan frontier, fling himself upon the royal troops, and

seize the Abruzzi. A sensible project this, to take the offensive

against the Pope's defenders. But before the Triumvirate could come to a

definite decision, it was known that the French troops, by a disgraceful

stratagem, had landed and taken possession of Civita Vecchia, General

Oudinot entwining the French flag with the Roman tricolor and assuring

the Romans that they only came to secure perfect freedom for the people

to effect a reconciliation with Pius IX.

But the people had no desire for such reconciliation; the Assembly

decreed that Rome should have no garrison but the National Roman Guard:

that if the Republic were invaded by force, the invaders by force should

be repelled. A commission of barricades established, the people flocked

to erect and remained to man them. The National Guard summoned by

Mazzini all answered, "Present," and served enthusiastically throughout

the siege; all the troops dispersed in the Provinces were summoned to

the capital, and Garibaldi and his volunteers marched into the city amid

the acclamations of the populace, too thankful to welcome them to demur

at the strange appearance they presented.

Now that Garibaldi's military and naval genius is fully recognized, and

the extraordinary fascination he exercised over officers and men, the

enthusiasm with which he filled whole populations whom others failed to

stir, are undisputed, many historians and critics have expressed their

astonishment that he was not made at once commander-in-chief of the

Roman forces, and have blamed the Triumvirate for having failed to

recognize in the hero of Montevideo the good genius of Rome. Such

critics must be simply ignorant of the actual condition of Rome and her

Government. There existed, in the first place, the regular Roman army,

which would have served under none save regular generals; then there was

the Lombard battalion under Manara, whose members, after fifteen months

of regular campaigning, were thoroughly drilled and disciplined, who

insisted on retaining the cross of Savoy on their belts, and, until

their prowess made them the idols of the Romans, were nicknamed the

"corps of aristocrats."

Little did they imagine, when they kept aloof from the legion, that

before three months were over their young hero chief would resign his

command of them to assume the delicate post of head of Garibaldi's

staff. Carlo Pisacane--educated in the military college of the

Nunziatella, who had served as captain in the foreign legion in Algiers,

destined later to become the pioneer of Garibaldi and his "Thousand" and

to lose his life in the attempt--while recognizing Garibaldi's prowess

and talents as a guerilla chief, in his military history of 1849,

severely criticises his tactics, and blames his sending up "a handful of

boys against masses of the enemy" and censures, unhesitatingly, "his

indiscipline at Velletri." One of the Deputies of the Roman Constituent

wrote to the Triumvirate begging them to "Send Garibaldi with his motley

crew to a terrible spot, called For del Diavolo, between Civita Vecchia

and Rome; on no account to allow them to enter the city, as they are

quite too disorderly."

Now, they had committed no "disorders" save that of carrying off the

mules and horses of the convents; but when we think of the wild, free,

peril-scorning life led in the backwoods of America, of how they

recognized no law save their commander's orders, how little used he had

been to receive command from any, it will be easily understood how this

wild, tanned, quaintly dressed band filled the inhabitants of the towns

through which they passed with terror and dismay. Garibaldi's violent

tirades against priests and priestcraft; the liberation of a gang of

miscreants arrested by order of the Roman Government, had not

prepossessed men of order and of discipline in his favor; and although

personal contact dispelled all unfavorable prepossessions, one sees how

impossible it was for Mazzini to place him in the position which he

would himself have assigned to him.

Garibaldi altered in nothing his South American modes of warfare. He and

his staff, in red shirts and ponchos, with hats of every form and color,

no distinctions of rank or military accoutrements, rode on their

American saddles, which when unrolled served each as a small tent. When

their troops halted and the soldiers piled their arms, the General and

all his staff attended each to the wants of his own horse, then to

securing provisions for their men. When these were not at hand, the

officers, springing on their barebacked horses, lasso on wrists, dashed

full speed along the Campagna, till oxen, sheep, pigs, kids, or poultry

in sufficient quantities were secured and paid for; then, dividing their

spoil among the companies, officers and men fell to killing, quartering,

and roasting before huge fires in the open air.

Garibaldi, when no battle was raging or danger near--if in the city,

selected some lofty belfry-tower; if in the country, climbed the

loftiest peak; and, with brief minutes of repose under his saddle-tent,

literally lived on horseback, posting his own pickets, making his own

observations, sometimes passing hours in perfect silence, scanning the

most distant and minute objects through his telescope. Ever a man of the

fewest words, a look, a gesture, a brief sentence sufficed to convey his

orders to his officers. When his trumpet signalled departure, the lassos

served to catch the horses grazing in the fields, the men fell into

order and marched, none knowing nor caring whither, save to follow their

chief. Councils of war he never held; he ordered, and was implicitly

obeyed. To his original legion were added some of the finest and bravest

of the Lombard volunteers, who had learned his worth "after the

armistice"; while boys from ten to fourteen, who were his pride and

delight, formed his "band of hope."

To-day for an act of courage a man would be raised from the ranks, and,

sword in hand, command his company; but woe to him if he failed in

shouldering a musket or brandishing a bayonet at need. To onlookers this

legion, composed at first of but one thousand men, seemed a wild, unruly

set; but this was not the case. Drunkenness and insubordination were

unknown among the ranks. Woe to a soldier who wronged a civilian. Three

were shot for petty theft during the brief Roman campaign. Still, while

Garibaldi felt within himself his own superiority to those around,

Mazzini, who also felt it, might as well have proposed an Indian chief

to command the Roman Army as this man, whom, in later years, no soldier

in Europe but would have been proud to call _dux_.

Again, it must not be forgotten that the grounds on which France

explained her interference was the imposition by "foreigners" of a

republic on the Roman people, desirous only to receive the Pope with

open arms; that Austria, Piedmont, and the Ultramontane faction in

England represented the Roman States as handed over to the demagogues,

to the riffraff of European revolutionists. Hence the absolute necessity

that presented itself to the minds of the Triumvirs for filling the

civil and military offices as far as possible with citizens of Rome or

the Roman States. Unfortunately, no capable Roman commander-in-chief

existed. Rosselli was chosen as the least incapable; but throughout,

Garibaldi was regarded as the soul, the genius of the defence.

A very short time had sufficed for Mazzini and the Romans to come to so

perfect an understanding that no exercise of authority, no police force,

was necessary to keep order in the city, as the French, English, and

American residents, and as the respective consuls repeatedly affirmed in

public and in private letters. Oudinot too had warning from his own

consul, from his own friends within the city, of all the preparations,

of the resolute determination of the inhabitants, of the known valor of

many of the combatants in past campaigns; yet to all such remonstrances

he answered with French impertinence, "_Les Italiens ne se battent

pas_," and clearly he had imbued his officers with this belief. At dawn

on April 30th, starting from Castel di Guido, leaving their knapsacks at

Magnianella, the officers in white gloves and sheathed swords advanced

on Rome, taking the road to Porta Cavallaggieri, sending sharpshooters

through the woodlands on the right, the Chasseurs de Vincennes on the

heights to the left. Avezzana, war minister, from the top of the cupola

of San Pietro in Montori, on seeing the first sentinel advance, gave the

signal for the ringing of the tocsin, which brought the entire populace

to the walls, the Roman matrons clustering there to encourage their

husbands, sons, and brothers to the fight.

When the army arrived within a hundred seventy yards from the wall, the

artillerymen from the bastions of San Marto fired their first salute, to

which the Chasseurs de Vincennes responded so well that the Roman

Narducci, Major Pallini, and several of his men fell mortally wounded at

their guns. Finding themselves under a cross-fire from the walls and

from the Vatican, the enemy placed a counter-battery, which did deadly

mischief to the besieged, who lost at once six officers, numerous

soldiers, and had a cannon dismounted to boot. Not the slightest

confusion occurred; women and boys carried off the wounded; fresh

soldiers took the place of the fallen; compelling Oudinot to summon both

his brigades and plant two other pieces of cannon. But he now had to

cope with an enemy whom Frenchmen in Montevideo envied and calumniated;

who to himself and his followers was as yet an unknown quantity.

Garibaldi, who had had but two days to organize his men and take up

position, had at once perceived the importance of the scattered

buildings outside the gates, and occupied them all--villas, woods, and

the walls surrounding them. As the enemy fell back from the first

assault, he flung his men upon them as stones from a sling. At the head

of the first company was Captain Montaldi, who in a short time was

crippled with nineteen bullets, yet still fought on his knees with his

broken sword; and only when the French retreated did his men carry him

dead from the field. As fought his company, so fought all under the eyes

of Garibaldi, who directed the fight from Villa Pamphilli. Then

summoning his reserve, himself heading the students who had never seen

fire but who had given each to the other the consign, "If I attempt to

run away, shoot me through the head," he led them into the open field,

and there gave them their first lesson to the cry of, "To the bayonet!

to the bayonet!"--a lesson oft repeated since, a cry never after raised

in vain. Numbers of his best officers and soldiers fell, but never a

halt or panic made a pause in that eventful charge, until in full open

fight the French were compelled to retreat, leaving Garibaldi absolute

master of the field.

Numbers of the French were killed and wounded, others hid themselves in

the woods and vineyards round; a general retreat ensued, while a portion

continued the fire to protect it. The guns had to be carried off by

hand, as four horses had been killed; and at this retreat up to Castel

di Guido, General Oudinot was forced to assist in person. Summing up his

losses, he found that he had left four hundred dead upon the field; five

hundred thirty wounded, and two hundred sixty prisoners. He had,

besides, the glory of depriving the Roman Republic of two hundred

fourteen killed and wounded, twenty-five officers among them, and of

carrying off one prisoner, Ugo Bassi, the chaplain, who had remained

behind to assist a dying man, his only weapon being the cross, of which

the French were the knightly protectors.

Garibaldi's first thought was naturally to pursue the fugitives to

Castel di Guido, to Pali, and Civita Vecchia; "To drive them," in his

own forcible language, "back to their ships or into the sea." For this

he demanded strong reënforcements of fresh troops. But the Government of

Rome--believing that it sufficed for Republican France to know that

Republican Rome did not desire the return of the Pope; that it was not

governed by a faction--was resolved unanimously to resist all invasion;

decided against pursuit; sent back the French prisoners to the French

camp; accorded Oudinot's demand for an armistice, and entered into

negotiations with the French plenipotentiary, Ferdinand de Lesseps, for

the evacuation of the Roman territory.

The refusal was never forgotten, never forgiven by Garibaldi, and has

always been a "burning question" between the exclusive partisans of

Mazzini and Garibaldi, in whose eyes to scotch and not to kill the snake

was the essence of unwisdom. It is also maintained by many Garibaldians

that an out-and-out victory could not have been concealed from the

French Assembly as the President and his accomplices did manage to

conceal the affair of April 30th, and that had the people and the army

in France known what a humiliation had been inflicted on their comrades

they would have insisted on the recall of Oudinot, and that thus the

President's own position would have been endangered. On the other hand,

Mazzini's partisans say, granting--what remains unproven--that Garibaldi

could have succeeded in driving every Frenchman back to his ships or

into the sea, there can be no doubt that Louis Napoleon, bent on

restoring the Pope and thus gaining the clergy to his side, would have

sent reënforcements upon reënforcements, until Rome should be

vanquished.

The disputants must agree to differ on this point, though all surely

must allow that it was necessary that the small forces at the disposal

of the Republic should be husbanded for the repulse of others besides

France, who claimed to be defenders of the Pope--Austria, the King of

Naples, and even Spain! And, in fact, a Neapolitan army, with the King

at their head, had crossed the Roman frontier, and had taken up

positions at Albano and Frascati, whence Garibaldi was sent to oust

them, the Lombard brigade being added to his legion. This Neapolitan

king-hunt formed one of the characteristic episodes of the Roman

campaign. Garibaldi usually lodged his men in convents, to the terror

and horror of their inmates, sending them thence to reconnoitre the

enemy's positions, and harass them by deeds of daredevil courage.

The King was indeed at Albano, whence from Palestrina Garibaldi marched

to the attack; which would probably have been successful had he not been

suddenly summoned back to Rome, as the movements of the French were by

no means reassuring. However, a fresh truce being proclaimed, General

Rosselli, with Garibaldi under his orders, was sent out again in full

force against the Neapolitans. Not a wise arrangement this, as the

volunteers and the regulars--unless at different posts within the

city--had not yet united in harmonious action. Garibaldi, sent by

Rosselli merely to explore the enemy's movements, finding that they were

retreating from Albano, gave battle to a strong column about two miles

from Velletri without giving time to Rosselli to come up with the main

body.

So the Neapolitans got into Velletri, barricaded themselves there, and,

escaping during the night by the southern gate, recrossed the Neapolitan

frontier, the King foremost in the van. Rosselli and the regulars

complained loudly that this disobedience to orders had prevented them

from making the King of Naples prisoner, the Garibaldians maintaining on

their side that this would have been effected had the regulars thought

less about their rations and come to the rescue when first they heard

the distant shots. Messengers sent by the generals to the Triumvirate

bore the complaints of each. Rosselli was recalled, and Garibaldi left

with full liberty of action. But when the French Government disavowed

their envoy-extraordinary--the patriotic, able, straightforward De

Lesseps--instructing Oudinot to enter Rome by fair means or by foul,

sending enormous reënforcements, promising to follow up with the entire

French army if necessary, what could they do but recall Garibaldi with

all possible despatch? Was it not a proof of their confidence in him?

Moreover, on Garibaldi's return to Rome, Mazzini made a last effort to

induce him to unburden his mind, at least to himself, by asking him in

writing to tell him frankly what were his wishes. Here is the laconic

answer, characteristic of the writer; frank and unabashed as the round,

clear handwriting of the original, from which we copy:

"ROME, June 2d, 1849.

"MAZZINI: Since you ask me what I wish, I will tell you. Here I cannot

avail anything for the good of the Republic, save in two ways: as

dictator with unlimited plenary powers, or as a simple soldier. Choose!

"Unchangingly yours,

"GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI."

Again, Garibaldi disapproved the conduct of Mazzini and the Triumvirate

because they refused to allow any acts of violence against religion or

the professors of religion. They had abolished the Inquisition, and used

the edifice to house the people driven from their homes by the siege;

had invited and aided monks and nuns to return to their homes and to

lead the life of citizens. But they had not allowed the confessionals to

be burned in the public market-place. A wretch named Zambianchi, who

ill-treated some inoffending priests, was severely punished "for thus

dishonoring the Republic and humanity." Moreover, the Easter ceremonies

were celebrated as usual; the Triumvirate and the Assembly stood among

the people in the church and in the square to receive the blessing from

the outer balcony of St. Peter's.

All this gave umbrage to Garibaldi, but no hypocrisy and much wisdom

inspired these acts. In the first place, the Triumvirate, and especially

Mazzini, the most religious man we have ever known, were well aware

that, while the temporal power of the papacy might be destroyed by fire

and sword, the spiritual power of the Roman Catholic hierarchy could be

extinguished only in the name of a moral law recognized and accepted as

being higher and more authoritative than any other intermediary between

God and the people--they knew that ideas can be vanquished only by

ideas. Again, as the responsible heads of the Roman Republic, the

Triumvirs were wisely careful not to offend the hearts and consciences

of Catholics abroad. Finally, the very fact that, with four armies at

their gates, life, its feasts and fasts, its workdays and holidays,

could go on as usual, was one highly calculated to strengthen the

Romans' faith in and affection for the new Government. No crimes were

committed; the people came to the Triumvirs as children to their

fathers, and--for Italians a very remarkable thing--they not only paid

down current taxes, but they paid up arrears.

From Garibaldi's brief account, it would almost seem that the

Triumvirate and the Assembly surrendered Rome before absolute necessity

constrained them so to do. He does not tell us how, when the French had

actually entered Rome by the breach, he alone of all the civil and

military commanders refused to head the troops to attack the invaders in

possession. He gave his own reasons, very wise ones it seems to us, in

writing many years later, but in his _Memoirs_ he seems to have

forgotten them. The terrible tidings that the seventh bastion and the

curtain uniting it to the sixth had fallen into the hands of the French

spread through the city. The Triumvirate had the tocsins rung. All the

houses were opened at that sound; in the twinkling of an eye all the

inhabitants were in the streets. General Rosselli and the Minister of

War, all the officers of the staff, Mazzini himself, came to the

Janiculum.

"The people in arms massed around us," writes Garibaldi in a short

record of the siege of Rome, "clamored to drive the French off the

walls. General Rosselli and the Minister of War consented. I opposed the

attempt. I feared the confusion into which our troops would have been

thrown by those new combatants and their irregular movements, the panic

that would be likely by night to seize on troops unaccustomed to fire,

and which actually had assailed our bravest ones on the night of the

16th. I insisted on waiting for the daylight."

He here narrates the daring but unsuccessful attempt of the Lombard

students, who flung themselves on the assailants, and who had gained the

terrace of Casa Barberini, and continues: "But at daylight I had counted

the forces with which we had to contend. I realized that another June 3d

would bereave me of half of the youths left to me, whom I loved as my

sons. I had not the least hope of dislodging the French from their

positions, hence only a useless butchery could have ensued. Rome was

doomed, but after a marvellous and a splendid defence. The fall of Rome,

after such a siege, was the triumph of democracy in Europe. The idea of

preserving four or five thousand devoted combatants who knew me, who

would answer at any time to my call, prevailed. I ordered the retreat,

promising that at five in the evening they should again advance; but I

resolved that no assault should be made."

From this and other writings of Garibaldi it is clear that from the

night of June 21st he considered any further attempt to prevent the

French from entering Rome as worse than useless--that hence he refused

to lead the remnants of his army "to butchery" on the breach. How, then,

was it possible for Mazzini to have retarded the catastrophe

indefinitely, and reserved to Rome "the glory of falling last," _i.e._,

after Venice and Hungary?

Mazzini, beside himself with grief that the armed people had not been

allowed to rush on to the bastions and drive the French from the walls,

wrote a reproachful letter to Manara, then chief of Garibaldi's staff,

and this patriot here seems to have kept the peace, as on the 25th we

find a friendly letter from Garibaldi to the Triumvirate in which he

proposes to leave Manara in Rome, and to conduct, himself, a

considerable number of his men out of Rome to take up position between

the French and Civita Vecchia, to harass them in the rear. And on the

same day, evidently after a meeting and the acceptance by Mazzini of

Garibaldi's project, the latter writes:

"June 26th, 8 P.M.

"MAZZINI: I propose, therefore (_dunque_), to go out to-morrow evening.

Send me to-morrow morning the chief who is to assume the command here.

Order the general-in-chief to prepare one hundred fifty mounted

dragoons, who, with the fifty lancers, will make up two hundred horse. I

shall take eight hundred of the legion, and to-morrow shall send them to

change their shirts [_i.e._, doff their 'red' for 'gray']. Answer at

once, and keep the plan a profound secret."

The attempt was not made, probably because it was impossible to march

out secretly from any gate, and Manara writes from Villa Spada, 1 P.M.

on the same day:

"CITIZEN TRIUMVIR: I have received your letter. I am somewhat better and

at my post. I have spoken with Pisacane [chief of Rosselli's staff]; we

are perfectly agreed. Both animated by the same spirit, it is impossible

for petty jealousies to come between us. Be assured of this. I have

begged General Garibaldi to return to San Pancrazio, so as not to

deprive that post at this moment of his legion and his efficacious

power. He promises me that before dawn all will be here. Everything is

quiet.

"MANARA."

This was Manara's last letter to Mazzini; at that same Villa Spada the

yearned-for bullet pierced his heroic heart. Manara died as the

barbarians entered Rome.

And here, to all appearances, is Garibaldi's last letter written in Rome

to Mazzini:

"We have retaken our positions outside San Pancrazio. Let General

Rosselli send me orders; this is now no time for change. Yours,

"G. GARIBALDI."

No time for anything but one last desperate onslaught at the point of

the bayonet, Garibaldi in the foremost ranks with sword unsheathed,

while Medici from Villa Savorelli renewed the wonders of the Vascello.

Twice the assailants were driven back to their second lines; thrice they

returned in overpowering numbers; but, gaining the gate, they were

received with volleys of musketry from the barricades at the ingress to

Villa Spada and Savorelli. There fell the flower of the Lombards; boys

of the "band of hope"; Garibaldi's giant negro, faithful, brave Anghiar;

six hundred added to the three thousand four hundred corpses on which

the soldiers of _La Grande Nation_ reconstructed the throne of the

supreme Pontiff, and guarded it with their bayonets until the sword of

their self-chosen master fell from his trembling hands at Sedan.

(1849) LIVINGSTONE'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES, David Livinstone and Thomas

Hughes

Although Africa, the second largest grand division of the earth, has

figured in history from ancient times, still it has been rightly named,

and until recently was called with good reason, the "Dark Continent."

But though it has been thus designated, as the least known of the

world's grand divisions, the progress of discovery and settlement is

rapidly dispelling the ignorance and mystery to which the designation

was due. The ancient seats of African civilization were confined to the

northern parts of the continent. The Phoenicians are said to have

circumnavigated Africa as early as the seventh century before Christ. In

the middle of the fifteenth century of the present era the Portuguese

explored much of the coastline, and in 1497 Vasco da Gama doubled the

Cape of Good Hope. But no modern explorations of the interior are known

to have been made until the latter part of the eighteenth century. Since

James Bruce, the Scottish traveller, explored the Nile Valley in 1768,

more than thirty others have distinguished themselves by their

discoveries on the African continent.

None of Livingstone's predecessors equalled the achievements of this

Scottish missionary and explorer, who combined with his zeal in the

cause of religion and humanity a spirit of investigation and adventure

that made him also the servant of science, the "advance-agent" of

discovery, settlement, and civilization. These are at last bringing the

"Dark Continent" into the light of a new day that begins to dawn in the

remotest corners of the earth.

David Livingstone was born near Glasgow, Scotland, March 19, 1813, and

he died in Central Africa April 30, 1873. After he had been admitted to

the medical profession and had studied theology, he decided to join

Robert Moffat, the celebrated missionary, in Africa. Livingstone arrived

at Cape Town in 1840, and soon moved toward the interior. He spent

sixteen years in Africa, engaged in medical and missionary labors and in

making his famous and most useful explorations of the country. His own

account of the beginnings of his work, taken from his _Missionary

Travels_, shows the sincere and simple spirit of the man, and his

natural powers of observation and description are seen in his own story

of his first important discovery, that of Lake Ngami. The narrative of

Thomas Hughes, the well-known English author, whose favorite subjects

were manly men and their characteristic deeds, follows the explorer on

the first of his famous journeys in the Zambesi Basin.