Venice

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

The truth was better than this. All Italy was rebellious at the fate of Venice; and at Milan, least of all, was she forgotten. No settlement was desired that did not give freedom to Venice. Every Italian in reality wished but one thing,—a united, a single Italy. In the new Parliament, in October, 1860, Cavour spoke of the union of Venice to the rest of Italy as a fact that must soon be accomplished; and we have trustworthy proof that neither the successful Garibaldi in the quiet of Caprera, nor the king amid his cares at Turin, was forgetful of Venice and Rome. In the midst of the exacting duties of these days, when a new government was to be organized and established, and that government was weighed down with debt, with brigandage, and with many other evils of a more subtle nature, which taxed the wisdom and forbearance of the king and his ministers, their thoughts were often fixed upon the injustice to Venice; and the only methods by which she could be freed—war or negotiation—were discussed with untiring interest, and there was constantly growing a determination to force a solution of the Venetian and Roman questions.

However, it was not until 1866 that the real struggle came. To the call for soldiers the most satisfactory responses were made. They came from all classes, from the most aristocratic families, as well as the middle and lower classes; and the Italian army soon numbered about two hundred thousand men. The Venetians had contributed fourteen thousand men before this; and when the call for volunteers was made, many more succeeded in passing the frontier and joining the army.

On the 24th of June the Austrians were triumphant at Custoza; but the Prussian allies of Italy, on the 5th of July, so defeated the Austrians at Sadowa, that through the French emperor an offer was made to restore Venetia to Italy. The final treaty was not concluded between Austria and Italy until Oct. 3, 1866; and meantime, in a naval battle off Lissa, the Italians had suffered a most mortifying defeat, under such circumstances as deprived Admiral Persano of his rank, and dismissed him from the service.

Three days after the treaty was signed, the troops of Italy were received in Venice with an enthusiasm which was only exceeded by that of the reception of Victor Emmanuel himself a month later. Now acknowledged as King of Italy by all other governments, with the iron crown of Lombardy and the famous quadrilateral peacefully in his possession, he had but one thing more to gain,—the submission of Rome,—before he could proclaim the unification of Italy; and this was sure to come, as it did but four years later.

In 1873 the Emperor of Austria invited the King of Italy to Vienna on the occasion of the Great Exhibition. The invitation was most courteously given and as courteously accepted; and two years later the Emperor Francis Joseph proposed to return the visit of Victor Emmanuel, and suggested Venice as the city in which they should meet.

One must reflect for a moment on the meaning of such a visit to Venice. It was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniele Manin: "The day will come in which Italy, reconstituted as a nation, will be the first friend of Austria." This great patriot believed that freedom and right must triumph over despotism and wrong. But one month before the visit of the Austrian Emperor the statue of Manin had been inaugurated with splendid ceremonies, and the most heartfelt tributes to his honor paid by the Venetians whom he had served so faithfully. His remains had been brought from Paris, in 1868, and deposited in a temporary tomb in the Cathedral of San Marco, the only interment there for more than three centuries. The church of S. Paterniano was taken down, and the statue of Manin erected on the site near the red house in which he had lived; and the campo is now called by the name of the patriot instead of that of the saint.

It was on the 5th of April, 1875, that a procession of gondolas, all in gala dress, passed up the Grand Canal. The most magnificent of all these hundreds of boats bore the King of Italy and his guest, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. The whole city demonstrated its good will in every possible way; and when the two sovereigns landed at the Piazzetta, there was a great demonstration of welcome. The bands played alternately the national airs of the two countries, and in every possible way the people strove to express the fact that the hostility against Austria which had so long reigned at Venice, was absolutely a thing of the past. Victor Emmanuel was so much gratified by the conduct of the Venetians on this occasion that he frequently referred to it as a proof of the nobility of a people who could so soon forget and forgive all that Venice had suffered in the long years of her bondage under the Austrian rule.

From these beginnings, which we have so cursorily considered, in little more than a quarter of a century, the Italy we now know has arisen.