Garibaldi is expected. Gambon has gone to Corsica to meet him. He is to
be placed at the head of the National Guard. It is devoutly to be hoped
that he will not come.[31]
Firstly, because his presence at this moment would create new dangers;
and secondly, because this admirable and honoured man would compromise
his glory uselessly in our sorry discords. If I, an obscure citizen,
had the honour of being one of those to whom the liberator of Naples
lends an ear, I would go to him without hesitation, and, after having
bent before him as I would before some ancient hero arisen from his
glorious sepulchre, say to him,—“General, you have delivered your
country. At the head of a few hundred men you have won battles and
taken towns. Your name recalls the name of William Tell. Wherever there
were chains to rend and yokes to break, you were seen to hasten. Like
the warriors Hugo exalts in his _Légende des Siècles_, you have been
the champion of justice, the knight-errant of liberty. You appear to us
victorious in a distant vision, as in the realm of legend. For the
glory of our age in which heroes are wanting, it befits you to remain
that which you are. Continue afar off, so that you may continue great.
It is not that your glory is such that it can only be seen at a
distance, and loses when regarded, too nearly. Not so! But you would be
hampered amongst us. There is not space enough here for you to draw
your sword freely. We are adroit, strange, and complicated. You are
simple, and in that lies your greatness. We belong to our time, you
have the honour to be an anachronism. You would be useless to your
friends, destructive to yourself. What would you, a giant fighting with
the sword, do against dwarfs who have cannon? You are courageous, but
they are cunning, and would conquer you. For the sake of the nineteenth
century you must not be vanquished. Do not come; in your simplicity you
would be caught in the spider’s web of clever mediocrity, and your
grand efforts to tear yourself free would only be laughed at. Great
man, you would be treated like a pigmy.”
It is probable, however, that if I held such a discourse to General
Garibaldi, General Garibaldi would politely show me the door. Other and
more powerful counsellors have inspired him with different ideas.
Friendship dangerous indeed! How deeply painful is it that no man,
however intelligent or great, can clearly distinguish the line, where
the mission for which Heaven has endowed him ceases, and, disdaining
all celebrity foreign to his true glory, consent to remain such as
future ages will admire.[32]