The recluse, at the period where we renew our story, was on the
mainland, whither he had been called by his friends. He had left his
rocky abode to fulfill a duty towards Italy, to which he had ever
dedicated his life. He had forced himself to undertake a pilgrimage,
setting out from the Venetian territory, his end being not only to
influence the political elections, but to sow the germs of emancipated
spirit and conscience, which alone can restore Italy to her first state
of manly greatness, and enable her people to throw off their bonds,
discountenancing utterly that idolatrous and false church called papal,
and living upon the truths of a real and vital religion. For with the
priests human brotherhood is impossible, since the papist condemns to
everlasting flames every member of the human family who refuses belief
in the Pope's supremacy. In like manner the Dervish or Turkish priest
condemns eternally every believer in Christianity, and you can not walk
safely in the streets of Constantinople or Canton because your life is
in danger from these fanatics. In short, priests and bigots are pretty
much alike all over the world, while the greatest and most sanguinary of
conflicts have always been fomented by them.
Take, as an example, the Crimean war, where one hundred and fifty
thousand men perished, while enormous treasures were swallowed up by the
contest. The commencement of the quarrel was on account of the church
named the Holy Sepulchre, and to decide whether a papistical or a Greek
priest should take precedence there. This dispute was brought before the
Emperors of France and Russia, and the result was war--England and Italy
taking part in the enormous butchery consequent thereon.
England is at the present day in perpetual anxiety with regard to the
state of Ireland, largely caused by the priests; and may God spare the
world from an insurrection in the United States, where, in a population
of thirty-three millions, nearly half are Roman Catholics, a large
proportion of them Irish, who, under the dictatorship of a bishop,
divide the country, and are always plotting for political supremacy.
In Venice the greater part of the population swore to follow General
Garibaldi to the death, yet the day after the same crowd congregated in
those shops where religious trinkets and "indulgences" in God's name are
sold for money, and where idolatry in the guise of Christianity erects
vain and lying images. Such are the Venetians, and such are they likely
to remain under priestly superstition and political corruption.
With regard to representation, the great body of the Italian people are
excluded from the elective franchise. Out of a population of more than
twenty-five millions there are only four million five hundred thousand
voters. Every voter must be twenty-five years of age, and must be able
to read and write. As to the latter, the power of signing his name is
deemed sufficient, but he must also contribute an annual sum of not less
than forty francs, which must be paid in direct taxation to the state or
province (the province answering to the English county); the municipal
rates are not taken into account. Graduates of universities, members
of learned societies, military and civil _employes_, either upon
active service or half-pay, professional men, schoolmasters, notaries,
solicitors, druggists, licensed veterinary surgeons, agents of change,
and all persons living in a house, or having a shop, magazine, or
workshop, are entitled to a vote, provided the rental is, in communes
containing a population of less than two thousand five hundred
inhabitants, two hundred francs; in communes containing a population
of from two thousand five hundred to ten thousand inhabitants, three
hundred francs; and in communes containing a population of over ten
thousand inhabitants, four hundred francs.
But the power which the Government has of unduly influencing such of the
voters as are not in its own immediate employ is enormous, by means of
the chief officer in every town, called the syndic, who is appointed by
the Government, and removable at its pleasure. This officer, under pain
of dismissal, recommends to the voters for election any candidate
that the Government desires to have elected, and lamentable as is the
financial state of the country, millions of francs were placed at the
disposal of the syndics for the purpose of corruption in the spring of
the year 1867. If a town wants a branch railway to the main line,
the election of the Government candidate will always insure the
accomplishment of its wishes on this point.
The whole host of Government officials, including the police, actively
interfere in aid of the ministerial candidate. Schoolmasters and others
will be dismissed from their posts if they give a refractory vote; and
workmen for the same reason are discharged. Official addresses have been
known to be openly published, desiring the people not to vote for the
opposition candidates; and there are instances of papers on the day
of election being withheld from those voters who might prove to be too
independent. Therefore it was with a view to reforming these abuses that
General Garibaldi, in addressing the municipality of Palma, said, "Let
the new Chambers be impressed with the necessity of reorganizing the
administration, and if the Government, to tempt them, returns to its
evil ways, then ill betide it." We do not intend following the General's
steps as he proceeded from town to town, enthusiastically received by
the multitude, who, joyous at the sight of the "man of the people,"
applauded his doctrine of non-submission to foreign dominion and
humiliation, and above all echoed his plain denunciations of that
clerical infamy and that immoral understanding which exists between the
Papacy and those of the unworthy men who misgovern Italy.
As it may be supposed, the priests attacked the General, and accused him
far and wide of being an atheist. This false and foolish charge led
to his making the following address before twenty thousand people at
Padua:-
"It is in vain that my enemies try to make me out an atheist. I believe
in God. I am of the religion of Christ, not of the religion of the
Popes. I do not admit any intermediary between God and man. Priests have
merely thrust themselves in, in order to make a trade of religion. They
are the enemies of true religion, liberty, and progress; they are the
original cause of our slavery and degradation, and in order to subjugate
the souls of Italians, they have called in foreigners to enchain their
bodies. The foreigners we have expelled, now we must expel those mitred
and tonsured traitors who summoned them. The people must be taught that
it is not enough to have a free country, but that they must learn to
exercise the rights and perform the duties of free men. Duty! duty! that
is the word. Our people must learn their duties to their families, their
duties to their country, their duties to humanity."
Garibaldi proceeded next to the university of Padua; and there, standing
before the statue of Galileo, he uncovered his head, saying, "Who,
remembering Galileo, his genius and his life, the torture inflicted upon
him, the martyrdom he suffered--he, I say, who, remembering this, does
not despise the priests of Rome, is not worthy to be called a man or an
Italian."
The interests of commerce having always had a place in the heart
of General Garibaldi, he delivered the following address to the
Representatives of the Chambers of Commerce for Vicenza:--"Italy's
future depends in great part on you. Our wars against the foreigners
are, I hope, nearly at an end. Italy is united, is independent; you can
make her prosperous. There is nothing necessary to the maintenance of
the human race that we can not produce; and with such raw material as we
have, what can we not manufacture? Our people have a mania for foreign
goods; they like to wear foreign stuffs, to drink foreign wines, but let
them once be persuaded that our own are as good, and they will be glad
to adopt them; and foreign nations will receive our' merchandise, our
manufactures, as eagerly as we now seek for theirs. But progress
of every kind is difficult with the priests, and human brotherhood
impossible."