FOOTNOTES
[36] [The bombardment lasted from 5:30 A.M. to 10:30 A.M., the white flag being hoisted at 10:10. Reports of the losses vary greatly, Cadorna admitting 32 killed and 143 wounded on his side, though the estimates ranged as high as 2,000; but Beauffort[g] thinks this a manifest exaggeration. According to O’Clery[h] the pontifical troops lost 16 killed and 53 wounded.]
[37] [Few dates in modern European history equal in significance that of September 20th, 1870, when the Italian troops under General Cadorna took possession of Rome in the name of the Italian nation, and completed at one stroke both the work of the Risorgimento and the destruction of the temporal power of the Roman pontiff.[d]]
[38] [O’Clery,[h] however, calls the plebiscite a “disgraceful farce,” comparing it with that by which Napoleon III secured his vote. He points out that in Rome, where several thousands took arms for the pope, only 46 voted for him. Beauffort[g] says that one foreign sculptor voted 22 times without being challenged, and that whole bands went from urn to urn.]
[39] [“The dream of his life was accomplished, and in a manner most flattering to a monarch’s pride. Yet this rose was not without its thorn either. To be all sweetness he should have had Pio Nono’s blessing, and be crowned, like Charlemagne, by the hands of the venerable pontiff in that city of glorious memories where he was henceforth to reign. But he grasped the rose, thorn and all, with the memorable exclamation, ‘A Roma ci siamo e ci resteremo!’”—Godkin.[i]]
Street in Pompeii, Present Time
Villa Nazionale, Naples