Annexation of Nice and Savoy--Garibaldi's protest--A desperate venture--
Calatafimi--Catania--Melazzo--Entry into Naples--Gaeta--The British
Contingent--Departure from England--Desertion--Arrival in Naples--_Colonel_
"Long Shot"--Major H----'s imaginary regiment--Dispersion of the British
Contingent.
On April 1st, 1860, of all days in the year, was consummated the
annexation of Nice and Savoy to France. Napoleon III. had liberated
Lombardy from the Austrian yoke, and handed it over to Victor Emmanuel.
As the "honest broker," he required his fee, and, much against the will
of the majority of the inhabitants, Nice and Savoy became French
territory. Certainly a _plébiscite_ was taken on the question, but the
whole affair was "managed," and the birthplace of one of modern Italy's
greatest men was handed over to France.
Giuseppe Garibaldi loudly protested against the annexation, and never
forgave it.
For some time during the early spring of 1860, the Sicilians had been in
a state of intermittent rebellion against Ferdinand King of
Naples--Bombina. At the end of April, Garibaldi determined to make a
strenuous effort to aid the patriot insurgents, and collected around
him several of his old companions in arms, among whom were Nino Brixio,
Colonel Turr, the Hungarian, Count Teletri, and Sistari. With these were
a number of brave men who had survived the siege of Rome, and the
slaughter by General Oudinot's troops. In three days after determining
on action, everything was prepared for one of the most daring and
hairbreadth expeditions of modern times. Supplies of arms and stores
were procured and held ready at different points of the coast near
Genoa; several steamers were "arranged for" (it was stated, at the time
they were seized); and on the night of Saturday, May 5th, some two
thousand stern and resolute volunteers of all classes of society, and
all ages from sixteen to sixty, including about two hundred of the best
marksmen of the Società del Tiro Nazionale of Genoa, were on board the
steamers, _Piedmonti_ and _Lombardo_, belonging to the Genoese Rubatino
Navigation Company, and _La Sardigna_. The embarkation, which took place
at Foco and other places on the coast, was witnessed by five thousand
spectators, who wished the brave fellows God-speed. The Sardinian
Government, _sub rosâ_, was fully cognizant of the whole affair, but
dared not give it either countenance or recognition of any sort.
Shortness of time alone prevented Garibaldi going to the king who was at
Bologna, and telling him of his plans.
The _Piedmonti_ was under the command of Garibaldi himself, and Nino
Brixio took charge of the _Lombardo_. Both were experienced sailors. It
was generally rumoured that they intended landing on the coast of the
Roman States, and the _Piedmonti_ did call at Telemone for water, as the
vessel that carried her store had been seized. From Telemone Garibaldi
addressed a letter to Signor Barline, which served as the
_pronunciamento_ of his expedition and intentions, _i.e._ to free Italy
from the Bourbons. On May 7th the vessels and their gallant crews,
recovered from the effects of the very stormy passage from Genoa, set
forth again; and on the 11th the whole party disembarked at Marsala, in
the teeth of two Neapolitan frigates, who opened fire on them just as
the last boat was leaving the _Piedmonti_, which vessel they afterwards
_gallantly_ captured, there being no one on board! The _Lombardo_ was
sunk by the Neapolitan guns, and the other vessels made off as best they
could, after landing their men. The whole took place in full view of
Admiral Mundy and the officers and men of the British fleet.
No sooner were the Garibaldians landed than they marched on to
Calatafimi, quite unfettered in their movements by any superabundance of
baggage. Here they at once attacked and defeated the royal troops, four
times their number, and, raising the whole country on their route,
pushed on towards Palermo. At the battle of Calatafimi, Menotti
Garibaldi, the son of the general, received his first wound.
With all Europe looking on, amazed at the sheer audacity of the deed,
Garibaldi showed himself as prudent and as skilful as he was bold. His
red-shirted army, daily increasing in numbers, made one of the most
wonderful forced flank marches on record, pushing the way along mere
goat-tracks over the mountains, and with such rapidity that General
Lanzi, the commandant of the royal army in Palermo, was awakened in the
middle of the night to hear that the dreaded Garibaldians, whom he
supposed to be at least twenty miles away, were actually forcing their
way into the city, and driving the soldiers of Bombina before them.
Being driven out of Palermo, Lanzi shelled the city from the forts, in
spite of the remonstrances of Admiral Mundy, who had moved the British
fleet round the coast to watch proceedings. Outside Palermo, at a place
called Catania, Garibaldi engaged and defeated the royal army so badly
that General Lanzi was fain to ask the aid of the British admiral, to
negociate terms between himself and the filibuster Garibaldi, for his
withdrawal from, and surrender of, Palermo to the national army. Had it
not been for the generosity of an American captain, who supplied the
red-shirts with ammunition, they would have exhausted their last
cartridge before the battle of Catania was half over.
Garibaldi was not the man to remain idle one moment, and after
establishing a provisional government at Palermo, and recruiting his
small forces, he set out towards Messina, and again attacked the Royal
army at Melazzo, on July 24. Here was one of the severest struggles of
the war. Melazzo was a hard-fought battle, but victory remained with
the patriots, and the result placed Messina in the hands of Garibaldi,
and with it the whole of the fair island of Sicily. It was at the battle
of Melazzo that, watching some English sailors, who had obtained leave
from their ships and volunteered their services in the cause of freedom,
and were very skilfully managing some pieces of artillery, the idea
occurred to Garibaldi and some of his staff, to invite the services of
England by the formation of a volunteer legion.
Shortly after the news reached London of the battle of Melazzo, agents
were at work enrolling volunteers to join the standard of Garibaldi--no
longer the revolutionary fillibuster, but the victorious general.
When at Messina, Garibaldi received a letter from Victor Emmanuel,
forbidding him to make any attempt to cross the Straits of Messina, and
carry the war on to the mainland; but he heeded it not, or, what is
perhaps most probable, he read between the lines, that having succeeded
so far, greatly to the surprise of all the wiseacres among European
diplomatists, he was to follow up his good fortune, and "go ahead." He
did so, and, in spite of the Neapolitan fleet being in the Straits to
prevent his passage, he crossed in the night and landed at Melita August
20th, and at once commenced the task of driving out the detested Bombina
from his kingdom.
In informing his Government of the fact, Admiral Mundy, who had brought
the British fleet to Messina, said, "If the royal troops are staunch, he
must be annihilated in a week." But he knew neither the rottenness of
the Neapolitan government nor the terror with which the red-shirted
Garibaldians were regarded by the royal troops; for with scarcely any
fighting the victorious Garibaldi advanced, driving the king's army
before him like sheep, and entered Naples, on the 7th of September.
His progress from Messina to Naples was unlike any military advance
recorded in history. The Bombini government was paralyzed. The king sent
to him, and offered fifty millions of francs and the surrender of the
whole Neapolitan navy, if he would halt his men and stop the invasion.
He knew little of the man who had sworn never to sheath his sword till
Victor Emmanuel was King of Italy!
Ferdinand remained in Naples while Garibaldi and General Coyenzi entered
it in an open carriage, followed by the chief officers of his staff. The
air was rent with the shouts of the people, who thronged in thousands to
hail their deliverer. The Neapolitan police--the hated Sbirri--looked on
in sullen silence. The guns of the fortress of St. Elmo commanded the
road by which the cavalcade advanced, and were all loaded, the gunners
standing ready with lighted fuses waiting for the word to fire. The
order was given to clear the streets with grape shot, but the
artillerymen stood amazed at the sight of the approaching carriage, in
which Garibaldi stood erect, with his hand on his breast, giving orders
to the coachmen to drive slower and slower, in a voice that was heard
above all the din of the "vivas" of the populace. Three times the
officers gave the word to fire; but the gunners were now under the
actual majestic influence of Garibaldi's noble patriotism and
unflinching courage, and, throwing down their matches, they flung their
caps into the air, and joined the people in their cries of "Viva
Garibaldi! Viva Italia!"
The king left the city and fled to Gaeta, and, having collected what
troops he could, returned to Volturino, the whole of his army amounting
to thirty thousand men. He had not long to wait before Garibaldi, who
had been proclaimed Dictator in Naples, attacked him with about five
thousand really fighting men, and a herd of Neapolitans who were of no
earthly use. The king made most desperate efforts to crush the
red-shirts, who fought as only men can fight who do so for country and
liberty. After seeing many of his best men fall, and among them some of
his dearest friends, and passing through many personal dangers--for he
was ever in the hottest part of the battle--Garibaldi drove the royal
troops back, and they never stopped or showed face again till they were
safe within the lines of Gaeta, where, after making a decent show of
resistance, and standing a siege by the troops of Victor Emmanuel, they
surrendered, and the Bourbon dynasty disappeared from Italian soil for
ever.
The whole campaign, from the landing at Marsala to the last defeat of
the Neapolitan army at Volturino, occupied but 122 days, in which time a
mere handful of determined patriots, who were regarded as banditti at
the outset of the undertaking, and who were at no time decently supplied
with what are deemed by military men the ordinary and necessary
equipments for warfare, beat a well-organized army in four regular
engagements, besides innumerable skirmishes, and conquered a kingdom.
History records how nobly Garibaldi acted, and how scurvily he was
treated. On October 24th, having handed over to Victor Emmanuel the
kingdom of the two Sicilies, and made him King of Italy, he retired from
Naples, to his island home at Caprera, and, after having at his command
the treasury of Naples, was compelled to borrow £20 from a friend to
defray his private expenses, and embarked with less than twenty francs
in his pocket.
No wonder every Italian glories in the name of Garibaldi! Such men are
few and far between.
I have mentioned the formation of a British volunteer legion. Probably
there have been few more mismanaged affairs than this British
contingent, from the first conception of it on the field of Melazzo to
the disbandment of the remnants of it after the surrender of Gaeta.
In the summer of 1860, a gentleman, calling himself Major S----,
appeared in London, as the accredited agent for the formation of the
British Garibaldian Legion. An office was opened in Salisbury Street,
Strand, for the enrolment of volunteers, and a committee having been
formed, met daily in a room over the shop where a gentleman, better
known among Free-thinkers as Iconoclast, sold his own and other
unorthodox books of a similar character in Fleet Street. Here a Captain
de R---- became the practical man, while a Major H---- assumed the
character of the dashing dragoon officer. A legal opinion was obtained
as to the best way of evading the several Acts of Parliament bearing on
the points of foreign enlistment and equipment of armed forces in time
of peace.[G]
The great volunteer movement having sprung into existence during the
previous year, there was a vast amount of military ardour floating about
among young men of all classes, and recruits offered themselves faster
than funds were subscribed for their equipment.
About ten or twelve hundred young men of all classes enrolled themselves
in the legion, and officers of more or less experience were not wanting
to command them. An offer was made to take the whole force out to Naples
in a large screw steamer, the _Circassian_, which had formerly been
employed in the Transatlantic service, and belonged to an eminent Greek
firm. The offer was, to take the regiment out to Naples, and to feed and
provide the men with all necessaries, on exactly the same scale and
manner as English troops had been accommodated on board vessels that had
taken out the army to suppress the Indian Mutiny. Captain de R----, the
practical man on the committee, advocated the acceptance of this offered
contract, but there were other influences at work. Commissions were
offered, and "_pickings_" were to be obtained if the men were sent out
at a cheaper rate in another way, and the consequence was that, instead
of the whole force going together in one large vessel, with ample and
comfortable accommodation, they were sent out in two parties, in two
miserable little vessels totally unfitted for such work, and quite
incapable of berthing more than half the number packed on board. The
first ship to start was a small screw boat, re-christened for the
occasion the _Melazzo_, after the late Garibaldian victory. The men were
huddled on board anyhow at Thames Haven, in the night. No sooner had she
got to sea than discomfort begat discontent. There were only
sleeping-berths for half the number on board, and consequently the poor
volunteers had to take it in turns to sleep; it was turn out one lot,
and turn in the other. The vessel called at Plymouth, and a large number
of passengers left her, some to find their way out on their "own hook,"
and join the force in Italy; and others, having had enough of such
discomfort, deserted altogether. The remainder sailed on board the
paddle-steamer _London_, a vessel quite as unsuited for the purpose as
the _Melazzo_. The men assembled at midnight at Fenchurch Street
station, making the surrounding neighbourhood echo again with their
patriotic songs, and a special train took them down to Southend, where
the _London_ was lying. Arrived on board, a very unseemly dispute arose
between some of the officers, resulting in Captain de R---- turning
Major H---- out of the ship. The _London_ did not call anywhere going
down Channel, strict orders having been given to her captain not to do
so, in consequence of the number of desertions from the _Melazzo_.
However, on touching at Gibraltar, several of the men had experienced
discomfort enough, and some of those who had the means of reaching home
left the ship there.
Arrived at Naples, a greater mistake than any that had yet occurred took
place. The regiment, when assembled together, mustered about eight
hundred very presentable young soldiers, well fitted in every way to
give a good account of themselves, and such as any English officer would
have been proud to lead into action. The question was, who would be the
lucky English officer to whom the command would be given?
During the campaign of 1859, when the united French and Italian armies
wrested Lombardy from the Austrians, Garibaldi had commanded a body of
men who did excellent service, and obtained great renown as the
Chasseurs des Alps--men who were now fighting with him in Sicily.
Wherever Garibaldi went he was accompanied by an eccentric Englishman
who was an excellent long shot with the rifle, and whose delight it was
to "_pot_" off Austrians at incredible distances. He became famous for
his skill in picking off Austrian officers, and was known as
"Garibaldi's Englishman." When success attended Garibaldi's expedition
to Sicily, his long-shooting Englishman joined him, and when the English
volunteers were ready to leave Naples and take the field at the siege of
Gaeta, _Colonel_ "Long Shot" was placed in command--a man of execrable
temper, and totally unfitted in every way to command anything, let alone
a body of half-drilled, high-spirited young Englishmen. About the same
time Major S---- was placed under arrest, and accused of having kept
irregular accounts of the regimental monies that had passed through his
hands.
Arrived at the front, the British legion were neglected in every way by
the Italian troops. The Garibaldians were treated badly enough, but the
Englishmen fared worse, and, being dependent upon the Italian
commissariat, they came badly off. They were pushed well to the front to
do the fighting, and did what little there was to do with credit to
themselves and their country, but when supplies were wanted they were
almost ignored.
Major H----, who had been turned ashore from the _London_, found his way
to Naples, where, in the most resplendent of uniforms, he figured at the
_cafés_ and _casinos_ as colonel and commander-in-chief of an imaginary
regiment of cavalry, which never reached more than himself and his
orderly. After rendering himself the laughing-stock of all Naples, and
giving rise to much unfavourable comment upon Englishmen in general,
and himself in particular, he disappeared from Naples, and went no one
knows where, leaving behind as mementoes of the celebrated cavalry
regiment various unpaid accounts.
After the fall of Gaeta, and the end of the war, the remains of this
unfortunate British legion melted away, leaving many of their comrades
behind, either having died in hospital or fallen beneath the enemy's
fire.
Among the ranks of the British Legion was a young artist, who has since
done good service for some of our illustrated papers in depicting battle
scenes all over Europe. Mr. Vizitelli was that artist who received a
wound in front of Gaeta, and who is one of the unfortunate band that
accompanied Hicks Pascha to the Soudan, and about whose fate much
anxiety now exists.
[G] See Appendix.