The Life of General Garibaldi

CHAPTER IX

"The taking of Palermo has had decidedly its effect on the country around. There is no end of the squadre which are approaching in all directions and hovering about the Regii. As soon as these latter had left Monreale, the insurgents in the neighborhood descended to occupy it as well as San Martino. All about Piana and Corleone they are swarming and skirmishing, so that the column of 1,500 or 1,600 men which has been sent in that direction is rather compromised. They hoped to destroy Garibaldi and his partisans, and the fate they prepared for them may await themselves.

"But while thus the general march of events is decidedly favorable, I must say the Palermitans are scarcely up to the mark. They are all well-intentioned, but they are distressingly indolent, and want that general coöperation which is most calculated to insure success. There is no initiative or activity on their part, and their sole occupation seems to be to invent and spread rumors. Not a quarter of an hour passes without some fellow or other coming in out of breath and announcing the advance of the royal troops; now they are from one, now from the other side. Above all, horses and cavalry seem to be the nightmare of the Palermitans. They see the solitary regiment of Neapolitan cavalry everywhere. It is in vain that their noses are thrust against the barricades with which the whole town is blocked up, they will see the cavalry. But, although they are thus haunted by the royal troops, few seem to think that they ought to do some thing for themselves – making preparations for the defence of their houses and streets, and being always ready to meet an attack. It never occurs to them, as it did to the Lombards last year, that it is their duty to think day and night how to alleviate the sufferings of those who bleed in their cause. It is not the want of will, but a deficiency in acting otherwise than by order. The only thing which they do spontaneously, is to cry "Evviva," and promenade the streets, eager for news and gossip.

"The irregulars are decidedly improving. They are getting a taste for barricade and street fighting; they still blaze away their ammunition in a frantic manner, but they are beginning to keep to their posts and even to advance, if not too much exposed. This is our advantage in these street fights; the longer they last, the more they increase the confidence of the irregulars, and destroy the discipline of the regular troops.

"Every hour brings new proofs of this in the shape of prisoners and deserters from the Neapolitan forces. With those taken in the hospitals, there must be above 1,000. There is an order from the general to treat them well, and there is no animosity prevailing against them, but so much the greater is that against the sbirri and 'compagni d'armi,' a kind of local police, who have committed great horrors. They are picked out everywhere, and brought up in gangs of five and six to the committee, trembling for their lives; but only one of them has been killed hitherto, having been taken in the act of firing at those who wanted to arrest him.

"The ceasing of the bombardment, or rather the diminishing of it, has brought people out into the streets again."

"About 3 P.M. one of those panics suddenly broke out again which occur every moment, and serve more than anything else to demoralize the town and the squadre. The steamers which had gone off yesterday came back, and the rumor was that they were disembarking their troops before the Porta dei Greci; – great running and movement, great confusion, all caused by a column of dust on the road running along the sea-shore. In the afternoon there was some heavy firing, both toward the Piazza Reale and on the left of it, where the Neapolitans have a bastion which flanks the palace and is itself defended from the Castello. All yesterday and to-day the object on that side was to get possession of a cluster of houses, so as to isolate that bastion, and force them out of this, as from that of Sant' Agata. The town is too large, and Garibaldi's immediate followers are too few to be sent everywhere, and too precious to be exposed, except in the greatest necessity. Thus it is the squadre who form the mass in most places.

"The Archbishop of Palermo, and many heads of religious orders, paid a visit to Garibaldi, and returned, delighted with the simplicity and modesty of his bearing. Garibaldi finds himself more at home with the Sicilian clergy than with any other, because it has never made common cause with tyranny, or lost the manly virtues of the citizen. 'It was worth while to come to Sicily,' he said, 'if only to find out that there is still an Italian clergy.' Garibaldi, on the other hand, must contrast favorably in their eyes with the Neapolitan generals who have profaned their churches and plundered them of their sacred vessels, as General Clary did at the sack of Catania, in the confident expectation that the Pope would absolve him as he absolved the Swiss, who, in sacking Perugia, laid ecclesiastical as well as lay property under contribution."

"A deputation of the municipality of Palermo presented an address to Garibaldi, expressing its thanks to the liberator of Sicily. The address contains the resolution that the Porta Termini, by which the forces of Garibaldi entered, is to be called henceforth Porta Garibaldi, and the Piazza Vecchia the Piazza di Vittorio Emmanuell. A statue has been likewise decreed to Garibaldi. It is to be erected by subscription.

"Garibaldi answered the deputation by one of those heart-stirring speeches that he knows how to make, reminding them that all was not done, and that every effort must be concentrated to complete the work. He gave them good advice about their duty to organize the people; that there was but one choice between the Neapolitans and a general armament; that Sicily could only be free as part of Italy. He told them that they ought to work for this, but that the time for annexation had not come. It would lead to foreign interference, which ought to be avoided. When the time came, he would be the first to lead in this matter, to which he had devoted his life. Cheering and an enthusiastic expression of thorough confidence was the answer."

Thus it was that Garibaldi, after a brief career, marked by wonderful success at every step, entered Palermo by the eastern gates, and between daybreak and ten o'clock in the morning, had possession of the greater part of the city.

The Neapolitans were driven into a number of strong positions round the royal palace, to the southwest of the town, and to the northwest toward the Mole, their line of retreat, and, not being able to do anything more, the ships opened their fire, always the last remedy. Almost all the civilized nations had representatives of their fleets on the spot to witness and approve by their presence this noble proceeding – English, French, American, Sardinian, Austrian – none of them were wanting; nay, they anchored in a way which might not hinder the movements of the brave Neapolitan fleet.

The young King of Naples, though only twenty-three years old, has shown so much of the spirit of his father, recently deceased, that he has been justly named Bomba Junior, or the young Bomb-shell. When the landing of Garibaldi produced the first fit of terror at Naples, the youthful Bourbon sent to his brave fleet concentrated in the Bay of Palermo the order to bombard his faithful Palermitans, and reduce their town to ashes if they should dare to rise against his paternal authority. The Palermitans had been treated once already in this paternal manner by the illustrious father of the present sovereign, who figures in history as King Bomba, for having given these souvenirs of his love to every large town of his kingdom.

During the latter part of the fighting between Garibaldi's troops and those of the king, when the latter were nearly driven from the streets of Palermo, the ammunition of the picciotti (or little boys, as the patriot recruits were called) was exhausted at that point, one party of them fell back in one of the streets, and thus allowed the royalists to shut in a street of houses in which another party of them was still holding out.

Garibaldi was at dinner when the news arrived. There had been so many rumors of an advance of the Neapolitans during the day, that the first impression was that this was merely another of those wild rumors; but Captain Niva, who brought it, was one of the Garibaldians, and there could be no doubt about its truth. Garibaldi jumped up from his chair, saying, "Well, then, I suppose I must go there myself." He saw it was one of those moments when the chief must be at the head of his troops to restore their confidence. He went downstairs, and took with him whatever troops he found on the road to that exposed point, and proceeded to retake the lost ground.

"His presence (wrote a person who was in the city at the time), not only soon checked the advance of the royalists, but made them likewise lose the advantage they had gained a moment before. With that marvellous ascendency which he exercises over those around him, he succeeded in a short time in making the picciotti fight, and even in animating the population which had remained in the houses."

In spite of the urgent entreaties of his followers not to expose himself, he remained in the open street, without any shelter, haranguing and encouraging the men; the enemy seeing this, issued out from the houses and from behind the barricade. One of the picciotti was shot through the head just before Garibaldi, who, seeing him falling, held him up for a moment; and Colonel Turr, at his side, got a ricochet ball against his leg as he took hold of the general and dragged him by main force under shelter. But the effect was produced. One rush brought the party close enough to throw one of Orsini's shells, which prostrated seven or eight men. The bugler, who is always at Garibaldi's side, sounded the charge, and the Neapolitans ran. The sound of this bugle seems to act formidably on the nerves of the Neapolitan troops; they know they have to do with Garibaldi's men, and at Calata Fimi they ran before even the charge took place.

Royal troops were disembarked in the night of the 29th of May, went out of the Castello toward the Mole, and then by a circuit, rejoined the troops on the other side, anxious to hold their ground in and about the royal palace, rather than to make an attack on the town.

The news from the country could not have been better. Everywhere the people were rising and the troops withdrawing. On the evening of the 23d, General Alfan di Heisia abandoned Girgenti. As soon as the troops left, the population hoisted the Italian flag. A committee was formed, and a national guard. The cries were, as everywhere else, "Viva l'Italia," "Viva Vittorio Emmanuele," and "Viva Garibaldi." The civil authorities were respected, and although the prisoners, two hundred in number, were let out, no disturbance occurred. The whole province there, as everywhere else, followed the example, rising, instituting a committee, and arming itself. The province of Catania rose, with the exception of the town, which was still held by the military, as well as that of Trapani. And all this occurred before the taking of Palermo.

"Joseph Garibaldi,

"In virtue of the power conferred on him, decrees:

"Art. 1. – Whoever shall have fought for the country shall have a certain quota of land from the communal national domain, to be divided by law among the citizens of the commune. In case of the death of a soldier, this right shall belong to his heirs.

"Art. 2. – The said quota shall be equal to that which shall be established for all heads of poor families not proprietors, and said quotas shall be drawn by lot. If, however, the lands of the commune are more than sufficient for the wants of the population, the soldiers and their heirs shall receive a quota double that of other participants.

"Art. 3. – Where the communes shall not have a domain of their own, they shall be supplied with lands belonging to the domain of the state or the crown.

"Art. 4. – The Secretary of State shall be charged with the execution of this decree.

"Palermo, June 2, 1860."

This is a characteristic act of Garibaldi, in whom sympathy and compassion for the poor, weak, and defenceless, form the basis of his character, and have ever given the impulse to his great enterprises, his perseverance, dauntless heroism, splendid successes, and disinterested rejection of honors and rewards. (See these traits, as displayed in childhood, on pages 14 and 15 of this volume, and recorded by his own pen.) Oh, when shall we see such principles ruling our legislators and our citizens? When will they rule in the early education of our families? When all our mothers and fathers are more like Garibaldi's!

CHAPTER X

"There are some good priests in Italy, but so few, that we call them Mosche Bianche (White Flies)." —Adventures of Rinaldo.

As soon as Garibaldi landed and went a little way into the interior, all the most influential members of the aristocracy, as well as the free communities, asked him to assume the dictatorship in the name of Victor Emanuel, king of Italy, and the command in chief of the national army.

The first thing, of course, was to organize the military forces. Until then it was an affair of volunteers, who collected round one or another influential man of their town or district, all independent of each other, and remaining together or going home, as they pleased. A decree of the 19th May, from Salemi, instituted a militia, to which all belong from 17 to 50; those from 17 to 30 for active service in the field all over the country; those from 30 to 40 in their provinces, and those from 40 to 50 in their communes. The officers for the active army are named by the commander-in-chief, on the proposal of the commanders of the battalions; those of the second and third categories, only liable to local service, are chosen by the men themselves. But it is rather difficult to act up to this decree under the circumstances. Still, the thing in and about Palermo made progress. The squadre were now regularly paid, and probably they could not be kept together if they were not. They are called "Cacciatori del Etna" (Hunters of Etna).

The Sicilian patriots received pay, while the enthusiastic North Italians, who came to help, had not received a farthing, and did not expect to receive anything.

The native militia wore their brown fustian suit, which is generally worn all over the country, and is so alike that it made a very good uniform.

Not two months after the last disarmament took place, it was astonishing what a quantity of guns seemed to be still in the country. They were, for the most part, short guns, looking rather like old-fashioned single-barrelled fowling pieces than muskets. Most of them were percussion, however, and only a few with the old flint-lock. The longing for arms was extraordinary.

It might be said of Sicily, at that time, as was said of Piedmont in central Italy about the same time, by a writer in Turin:

"There is no pen able to describe, nor imagination strong enough to conceive, the nature of the present Italian movement. It is a nation in the struggles of its second birth. Half the youth of the towns are under arms; young boys of 12 or 13 break their parents' hearts by declaring themselves, every one of them, irrevocably bent on becoming soldiers. There are fourteen universities, and at least four times as many lyceums in the North Italy kingdom, and all of them are virtually closed, for nearly all the students, and many of the professors, are under arms. Those scholars whom mature age unfits for warlike purposes, either sit in parliament, or go out to Palermo to lend a hand to the provisional Italian government. They are everywhere organizing themselves into committees, instituting clubs, or 'circoli,' and other political associations, inundating the country with an evanescent but not inefficient press. There is a universal migration and transmigration. Venetia and the Marches pour into the Emilia and Lombardy. The freed provinces muster up volunteers for Sicily. From Sicily ghost-like or corpse-like state prisoners – the victims of Bourbon tyranny, the remnants of the wholesale batches of 1844 and 1848, the old, long-forgotten companions of the Bandiera, the friends of Poerio, the adventurers of the ill-fated Pisacane's expedition – creep forth from the battered doors of their prison, stretch their long-numbed limbs in the sun, gasp in their first inhalations of free air; then they embark for Genoa, where the warm sympathy of an applauding multitude awaiting them at their landing greets their ears, still stunned with the yells and curses of the fellow galley-slaves they have left behind. Such a sudden and universal swarming and blending together of the long-severed tribes of the same race the world never witnessed. Under the Turin porticoes you hear the pure, sharp Tuscan, the rich, drawling Roman, the lisping Venetian, the close ringing Neapolitan, as often as the harsh, guttural, vernacular Piedmontese."