The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany / With Some Examination of the Previous Thirty-three Years

by C. Edmund Maurice

On the 21st the Genio Militare, one of the chief barracks of the city, was attacked by the insurgents. The struggle was continued for some time with great fierceness on either side; but at last a cripple, named Pasquale Sottocorni, came halting up on his crutch and set fire to the gate; then the defenders, unable to hold out any longer, surrendered to the people. This day was also memorable for the capture of Radetzky's palace, and in it of the wonderful sword with which he had threatened to exterminate the Milanese.

In the meantime the other towns of Lombardy had been hastening to send help to their capital. At Como, immediately on the arrival of the news of the Viennese success, bands had collected with lighted torches, crying, "Long live Italy! Long live independence!" The guards were redoubled, but refused to act. The people surrounded the Town Council House, demanding a Civic Guard, which was quickly granted; in a short time Como was free, and the soldiers of Como were on their march to Milan. It was on March 18 that the news of the Milanese rising reached Bergamo; and the people at once rose, crying, "Long live Milan!" and "Death to the Germans!" The Archduke Sigismund, who was in the town, was compelled by the people to hold back his troops, while a Capuchin monk led the citizens to Milan. In Brescia the rising seems to have been almost simultaneous with that of Milan. The first attack was made on the Jesuits; but religious hostility was quickly merged in a desire for national independence, and the cry soon rose for a civic guard. Prince Schwarzenberg, who was in command of the terrible fortress which frowns upon Brescia, hoped easily to overawe the city. But the people gathered in the Piazza Vecchia, and after a fierce struggle, drove back the soldiers. Schwarzenberg was compelled to yield to the demands of the people; the municipal authorities in vain endeavoured to hinder the movement; and in a short time many of the Brescians had united with the country folk of the neighbouring district and were marching to Milan. At Cremona about 4,000 soldiers had laid down their arms before the citizens had attacked them.

In the meantime Augusto Anfossi had been dangerously wounded, and was obliged to abandon the defence; but his place was taken by Luciano Manara, a youth of twenty-four, who led the attack on the Porta Tosa, on the east side of Milan. Arms had now been freely distributed among the insurgents, and a professor of mathematics from Pavia superintended the fortifications and assisted Manara in the attack. For five hours the assault continued, Manara rushing forward at the head of his forces and effecting wonders with his own hand. Recruits from the country districts co-operated from outside the city with the Milanese insurgents within. At last the gate was set on fire, the position was captured, and the name of Porta Tosa was soon afterwards changed to that of Porta Vittoria. The Austrian soldiers had now become heartily tired of the struggle. Radetzky had arranged his troops in so careless a manner that he was unable to supply them properly with food, and sixty Croats surrendered from hunger. Radetzky was now convinced of the uselessness of continuing the struggle; and, though he had just before been threatening to bombard the city, he now decided to abandon it. So, on the evening of the 22nd of March, the glorious Five Days of Milan were brought to an end by the retreat of the Austrians from the city.

This rising had for the time being freed the greater part of Lombardy; but there was yet another Italian city under the Austrian rule, which was achieving its own independence in a somewhat different way. The risings in Vienna, Berlin, Prague, and Milan, though they produced many acts of heroism, and some of wise forethought, did not call to the front any man of first-rate political capacity, nor could they be said to centre in any one commanding figure. In Venice, on the other hand, the movement centred from first to last in one man. The imprisonment of Daniel Manin had been the point of interest to Venetians, the typical instance of their grievances; and more than one circumstance tended to strengthen this feeling. Manin's sister had died from the shock of hearing of her brother's arrest; and his wife had organized a petition for his release which had been signed by the Podestà of Venice and ninety-nine other persons of well-known character. His own legal ability had enabled Manin to dwell more forcibly on the points of illegality in his arrest. But when he and his friends urged his claim to be either tried or set free, the authorities pleaded that they could not release him until they heard from Vienna. This answer must have tended still more to mark him out as a victim of that centralizing force which was endeavouring to crush out Italian feeling; while the fact of his descent from the last Doge of Venice added a touch of historic sentiment to the other points of interest in his case. Manin's arrest had been quickly followed by that of Tommaseo, and in any talk among the patriots of Venice the discussion of these arrests was sure to arise.

In Venice, too, the same kinds of demonstrations of popular feeling took place during January and February which had shown themselves in Milan. Whenever German music was performed in public all the Italians left the place. Men went about in black gloves; women refused to appear in gala costume at public ceremonies; and even those who went to the theatre attended there not so much for the sake of the performance as to applaud passages about a betrayed country, or to get up cheers for the Neapolitan Constitution.

Such was the state of feeling when, on March 16, a boat arrived from Trieste, bringing news from Vienna. The chief informant brought with him the fragments of a portrait of Metternich which had been torn to pieces as a symbol of his fall. Then the Venetians rose and demanded the release of Manin and Tommaseo. The Governor referred the petitioners to the criminal court; but the crowd resolved to take matters into their own hands, and broke into the prison to rescue the two leaders. Manin, however, refused to leave the prison until the president of the tribunal had signed the order for his release. The president readily complied with this request; and Manin and Tommaseo were carried home on the shoulders of the people. The Venetians then proceeded to attack the fortress; the Croat soldiers rushed out to repel them, and succeeded in driving them back. But the next day there was a new gathering in the streets. Palffy, the Military Governor of Venice, appealed to Manin to preserve order; but Manin replied that he could only do so if a civic guard were granted, and if the soldiers were recalled to their barracks. The head of the police remonstrated against the proposal for the Civic Guard, and asked that it should, at any rate, be placed under his authority. Thereupon Manin seized his gun and said that if the police interfered with the Civic Guard he would himself head a revolt. Palffy was a Hungarian, and so was Zichy, the Civil Governor of Venice; and neither of them were disposed to push matters to extremities. Although, therefore, Palffy was at first inclined to make difficulties, and to appeal to the Governor of Lombardy for orders, he yielded at last, and the municipal authorities began to organize the Civic Guard.

But the fears of the Venetians were not yet over. Marinovich, the Governor of the Castle, was a hard man, who had irritated the workmen of the arsenal against him; and the authorities had persuaded him to resign his command and to leave Venice. But, on March 22, while Manin and his friends were deliberating on the next step to be taken, a messenger came to announce to them that Marinovich had suddenly returned to the arsenal, and had there been attacked and killed by the workmen. Thereupon Manin at once decided that the Civic Guard should be sent to seize the arsenal. The Admiral Martini tried to offer opposition; but Manin succeeded in entering with some of the guard, and then rang the workmen's bell and demanded arms for the workmen of the arsenal. It was well for the Venetians at this time that there was so great a hostility between Magyars and Croats. On a previous day, the Croats had desired to fire on the unarmed crowd; but a Hungarian officer, named Winckler, had thrown himself in their way, and had declared that they should fire first at him. When the news came of Marinovich's death, Zichy proposed that the Croats should act with the Civic Guard; but the Croat soldiers refused, desiring instead to bombard the town. This latter proposition, however, was defeated, not only by the Hungarian officers, but by many of the soldiers; for the garrison contained many Italians, who seized this opportunity for joining the cause of their countrymen. During the confusion that arose from this division of opinion, the head of the Civic Guard went to Palffy to demand that the defence of the town should be placed in the hands of the citizens. Palffy hesitated; but, in the meantime, Manin was proclaiming the Venetian Republic in the Piazza of San Marco. Palffy consented to resign his authority to Zichy, and by 6.30 p.m. Zichy had signed the evacuation of Venice by the Austrian troops.

Palffy now desired to leave Venice as soon as possible. The chief of the Civic Guard tried to prevent his escape; but Manin trusted to Palffy's honour, and allowed him and some of his followers to depart in a steamer which was to stop at Pola with despatches, ordering the recall of the Venetian fleet which was stationed there. But no sooner was Palffy safely out of Venice than he compelled the captain to change his course, to sail to Trieste, and to surrender to the Austrian authorities. Of course, Manin had made a mistake in trusting so implicitly to the honour of an enemy. Perhaps we should thank God that there are people who are capable of those mistakes. Manin, at least, does not seem to have changed his line of conduct in consequence; for when, a few days later, a steamer full of Austrian private citizens came near Venice, and the Venetians wished to go out to attack them, Manin prevented them from doing so, saying, "Let us leave such conduct to Metternich."