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

But, however much Charles Albert's interests might suffer from his changeable policy, he always was helped out of his difficulties by the contrast between his questionable acts, and the unquestionable badness of some other prince. As the Papal Encyclical had come at the right moment to redeem the credit which he had lost by his slackness after the Battle of Goito, so the treachery of the King of Naples served, at this crisis, to throw, by force of contrast, a more favourable light on the ambitious proposals for the fusion of Lombardy with Piedmont. Ferdinand of Naples had reluctantly consented to join in the Italian war. The hearty dislike of Liberty, which he shared with the majority of the Bourbon family, combined with his special jealousy of Charles Albert to increase his desire to abandon this expedition. He feared that a Kingdom of North Italy would be the natural result of the war, even if the popular enthusiasm did not carry Charles Albert into schemes of greater aggrandizement; and he had a not unreasonable grievance against the King of Sardinia in the recent choice by the Sicilians of the Duke of Genoa as their King. The priests in Naples, unlike those in Lombardy and Venetia, were intriguing on behalf of Austria, and had circulated the rumour that St. Januarius was a friend to the Austrian Emperor. In spite of these intrigues, a Liberal majority had been returned to the Neapolitan Parliament; and the King, therefore, resolved to put still further limits on the power of that Parliament, by demanding of the members an oath which would have admitted Ferdinand's right to suppress the Sicilian movement, would have enforced the complete acceptance of the Roman Catholic faith, and would have prohibited any attempt to enlarge or reform the Constitution.

This oath the deputies refused; but in spite of the advice of his Ministers, the King resolved to insist upon it. Tumults arose in the city, and barricades were thrown up; but the deputies, while thanking the people for their zeal, urged them to remain quiet, and to pull down the barricades. Some of those who had taken part in the rising withdrew from the streets in consequence of this appeal; but others demanded that the royal troops, drawn up in the piazza of the palace, and near the church of San Francesco, should be withdrawn at the same time. The deputies went to wait upon the King; but whilst they were in conversation with him, they heard the first shots fired by the soldiers upon the crowd. Ferdinand then scornfully told the deputation to go home and consider themselves; "for the Day of Judgment is not far from you." He had one great advantage on his side. That degraded class, the Lazzaroni of Naples, had always been fanatical supporters of the King and St. Januarius; and it is even said, that, while the troops were firing on the people, Ferdinand was exclaiming to the Lazzaroni, "Go forward!" "Naples is yours!" While massacre and outrage were raging in the streets, the deputies sent a message to the French admiral, whose fleet was anchored in the Bay of Naples, to entreat him to intervene in the name of France. But he answered that he had been ordered not to interfere in the affairs of another people.

The deputies then passed a resolution, declaring that they would not suspend their sittings, unless compelled by brute force. An officer soon after came to disperse them; and, after a written protest, they yielded to this violence. Every liberty was shortly after crushed out; and, though, for about a month longer, a kind of spasmodic struggle went on and though, after a time, the Sicilians consented to send some help to the insurgents, the movements were too ill-organized to have any permanent strength; and the Government were able to suppress them by repeated massacres.

Ferdinand's coup d'état had taken place on May 15. In the meantime, the Neapolitan forces under Pepe had been slowly advancing through the Papal territory collecting volunteers as they went. The slowness of their march had been due in part to the suspicious attitude of the Pope, who feared that the King of Naples might seize on those territories, which had always been a bone of contention between Naples and Rome. Pepe therefore had not yet left the Papal territory, when he received orders to abandon the war, and to return to Naples. At the same time he was told that, if he did not wish to return, he might resign his command to General Statella. Pepe was resolved to advance; but it seemed doubtful how far his authority would outweigh that of the King, and of the subordinate officers who were on the King's side. The Bolognese, who had risen in March to drive out those Austrian troops which had lingered in Ferrara, and to expel the Duke from Modena, now rose to insist that Pepe should lead on his forces to Lombardy. Statella was compelled to fly from the city; and those soldiers who returned to Naples were followed by the curses of the Romagnoli. Several of the officers were willing to act with Pepe; and he passed the Po with two battalions of volunteers, one company of the regular forces, and some Lombards and Bolognese. But many of these deserted him even after he had crossed the Po; and by the time he reached Venice, there remained with him only one battalion of riflemen, whose officer had served under him in 1815. But, however poorly attended, Pepe was heartily welcomed by Manin, and was soon after made Commander-in-Chief of all the land forces of Venice. These were composed not only of Venetians and Neapolitans, but also of Lombards, Romans, and even Swiss. The Neapolitan admiral, too, at first refused to obey the orders of the King, and continued for a time to defend Venice on his own authority.

In the meantime, while the resources of the Lombard towns were being drained to support the designs of Charles Albert, he was devoting his energies to the siege of Peschiera. Radetzky, seeing that the weakest part of the Italian army was stationed near Mantua, resolved to march from Verona, which was the headquarters of the Austrians, attack the right wing of the Italian army near Mantua, drive it across the Mincio, and so march to the relief of Peschiera. At a comparatively short distance from Mantua he reached the small collection of scattered houses which formed the village of Curtatone. A band of 6,000 Tuscans, chiefly composed of University students, and commanded by their professors, were marching along the road which lies between Curtatone and Montanara, on their way to join the Piedmontese army at Goito. There were, at that time, open fields on both sides of the road stretching along in an unbroken plain; and no defences had been made; for when Radetzky, at the head of 20,000 men, came upon the Tuscan band, the latter were far from expecting any attack. General de Laugier, who was in command of the Tuscans, resolved to resist; and for six hours this gallant little troop held its own against the overwhelming forces of the Austrians. But superiority in numbers and training at last prevailed; and, fighting inch by inch, the Tuscans were driven back to Montanara, and were either killed or captured. The same "fanaticism" which Radetzky had observed in Milan, seemed to show itself here also; and as his officers marched the young prisoners before him after the battle, he exclaimed in scorn, "Did you take six hours to beat a handful of boys?"

But the "handful of boys" had done their work; for, when Radetzky once more marched across the bridge at Goito, with his prisoners, he found Charles Albert at the head of his forces ready to receive him. The fight was fierce; the King and his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, were both wounded; but at the close of the day, a new battalion dashed forward and compelled the Austrians to retreat. The day before this battle, while the Tuscans were still fighting between Curtatone and Montanara, the fortress of Peschiera had surrendered to Charles Albert; and while he was still exulting over his triumph, there had come to him the news that the Lombard plebiscite had been decided in favour of the fusion with Piedmont.

But it was not without much bitterness that it had been so decided. Mazzini's protest against the proposal of the fusion had been temperate and reasonable; but it had been sufficient to attract the attention of the enemies of Italy; and, while Gioberti had come to Milan to arouse sympathy with the movement for the fusion, a Jew named Urbino (who was unknown to the Republican leaders in Milan) was taking advantage of the differences of opinion to stir up riots against the Provisional Government. On May 28 (the day before the actual closing of the poll) an anonymous placard appeared, calling on the National Guard and the people to meet in the Piazza San Fedele, in front of the office of the Provisional Government. A deputation of the National Guard was about to demand the deposition of its captain; and the crowd which gathered in the Piazza San Fedele mixed itself up with the deputation. One of the agitators named Romani, demanded the convocation of a Constituent Assembly and denounced the proposed vote of fusion. Many even in the crowd opposed Romani; and the President, by promises of further security for personal freedom, was able to disperse them. The next day, however, they gathered again, with cries against the Piedmontese, and broke into the civic palace. The students heard of the disturbance, and rushed to the rescue of the Provisional Government. Casati had at first been panic struck; but he now gathered courage, and tried to address the people. Urbino attempted to drown his voice by shouting that the Government had resigned; and he exhibited a list of a new Government, composed of some of the leading Republicans in Milan. Casati snatched the list from his hand, and tore it in pieces. Many voices in the crowd denounced Urbino, and the rioters were speedily arrested or dispersed.

The unreality of this demonstration, as an exhibition of any popular feeling, was clear from every circumstance connected with it. The innocence of the Republican leaders might be gathered from a stern protest against the proceedings issued by Mazzini directly after; and the real source of the agitation might not unfairly be inferred from the cries of "Viva Radetzky," which broke out from some of the less cautious agitators. But the Provisional Government either was, or seemed to be, alarmed about the possible consequences of the riot of May 29; and Cernuschi, who had been the first to propose the deputation to O'Donnell which had preceded the struggle of the Five Days, and who had fought gallantly during that struggle, was arrested at midnight on the very night of the riot, and sent to prison. He was soon after set free, from want of any evidence against him; but the bitterness which his arrest had caused against the Provisional Government did not so soon come to an end.

This quarrel between the two sections of the national party in Milan tended to strengthen the power of Charles Albert. Casati had originally felt little sympathy for the Piedmontese aristocracy; but his growing distrust of Milanese feeling strengthened the effect produced by the victory at Goito, and the capture of Peschiera, and induced him to rest his hopes for the success of the struggle against Austria solely on Charles Albert, and the Sardinian army. And while the divisions in Milan strengthened Charles Albert's power in Lombardy, the weakness of the cities of Venetia, though due to a large extent to the previous vacillation of Charles Albert, was yet compelling them more and more to appeal to him as the recognised leader of the most important Italian force in the North of Italy. This tendency had been resisted by Daniel Manin, who was strongly opposed to the fusion of Venetia with Piedmont; and when he found that Charles Albert was unwilling to help the Venetians on any other terms, he had been disposed to turn for help rather to France than to Piedmont. But the prestige of Charles Albert's victories in Lombardy were attracting Vicenza and Padua to the scheme of fusion; and nothing but the proof that Venice could save Vicenza could counteract this tendency. Manin and Tommaseo felt so much the importance of this point, that they even left Venice for a few days to go to the help of Vicenza; and the coldness of Charles Albert towards the defence might, if Vicenza had held out, have worked in favour of Manin's views. But Radetzky also saw the importance of this siege, and resolved to lead the attack in person. He appeared before the city on June 9, and on the following day succeeded, after a fierce struggle, in occupying the heights which surrounded it. The defence speedily became hopeless; and, though Durando was afterwards blamed for the surrender, and even suspected of treason, there seems little reason to suppose that the town could have obtained better terms than those which were now granted it, if it had attempted a longer resistance. The garrison was allowed to go out with arms and baggage; the lives and property of the inhabitants were to be safe; and a full amnesty was to be granted for the past; the garrison only binding themselves not to bear arms for three months. The fall of Vicenza seemed to mark the crisis of the struggle in Venetia. Padua, Treviso, and Palmanuova rapidly fell into the hands of the Austrians; and the citizens of Venice now began to believe that, so far from being able to defend the freedom of their countrymen, they could only hope to secure their own freedom by surrendering themselves to Charles Albert.

It was while this feeling was at its height, that the Venetian Assembly met on the 3rd of July. Manin recapitulated the circumstances of the war. He had failed to obtain even recognition for his Government from the French Republic. He admitted the growth of the feeling in favour of the fusion; and he advised his Republican friends to suppress for a time the assertion of their special political creed, and to accept the fusion as their only hope of safety. Tommaseo, indeed, protested against the proposal; but Manin's influence, assisted by the growing sense of weakness, prevailed; and on July 4, the representatives of Venetia by 127 votes against six declared their province united to Piedmont. Manin, however, resigned his office, as being unable to act as Minister under a Monarchical Government.