The Life of General Garibaldi / Translated from his private papers; with the history of his splendid exploits in Rome, Lombardy, Sicily and Naples, to the present time.

by Giuseppe Garibaldi

The course of policy recently adopted by Sardinia had now been made known by what was deemed a semi-official announcement by a Turin gazette, under the direction of Cavour. It was this: that the cabinet of Turin, in placing itself in the position of the representative of Italian nationality, had a right to reproach Austria for not having given to Venetia, either a separate government or an Italian army. This violation of the treaty of Villafranca had very naturally disquieted the Sardinian government, which, however, had no intention of provoking an imprudent war. On the contrary, it desired to prevent this, and demanded to this end, the dismissal of the foreign hordes which had been united by General Lamoricière. "It cannot be permitted," says the paper in question, "that Italy should be made the camping ground of twenty-five thousand foreign mercenaries, who entertain toward the Italians feelings of hatred and aversion." The Sardinian government cannot look on with indifference at the renewal of the massacres of Perugia. It owes protection to the populations of Umbria and the Marches, who are subjected to a military dictation which they hate, and it is better for the government to take the responsibility of energetic measures, which will be too late if it waits for the attack. Such was the substance of the article written while the people of Umbria and the Marches were in a state of insurrection. For, before that time, the following accounts had been received from different parts of the Pope's dominions. At Fano, Sinigaglia and Ancona, the government of Pius IX. were in serious danger. The last-named town in particular, which had revolted, and had been brought back to obedience rather by stratagem than by force, was said to be the centre of agitation and the hotbed of revolutionary incendiarism. A correspondence had just been discovered which compromised a great number of persons. Many had been arrested. It was connected with a conspiracy, the ramifications of which were said to be so widespread, and included men so high placed in society, that the authorities admitted that they were incapable of guarding against the storm without the assistance of an armed force. Advocates, officials, private individuals, and even a certain number of Roman officers, were compromised in the affair, but no general arrest could be attempted for fear of leading to a most dangerous collision. The mass of the people only waited as a signal the arrest of some eminent personages to rise in insurrection, and the police were well aware that a large depot of arms existed, but they were ignorant of the spot. Such was the situation of Ancona, which, it would appear, regulated the movements of the towns on the coast of the Adriatic, such as Sinigaglia, Fano and Pesaro, and of those in the interior, as Osimo, Loretto and Recanati, and as far as Macerata. In this state of things the Roman government had just ordered troops to proceed by forced marches on Ancona from Pesaro, Perugia and Rome.

At length Count Cavour gave notice to the Pope, in the following letter to Cardinal Antonelli, that he must immediately decide on what course to pursue.

"Turin, Sept. 7.

"Eminence: The government of his majesty, the King of Sardinia, could not without serious regret see the formation and existence of the bodies of foreign mercenary troops in the pay of the Pontifical government. The organization of such corps not consisting, as in all civilized governments, of citizens of the country, but of men of all languages, nations and religions, deeply offends the public conscience of Italy and Europe. The want of discipline inherent to such troops, the inconsiderate conduct of their chiefs, the irritating menaces with which they pompously fill their proclamations, excite and maintain a highly dangerous ferment. The painful recollection of the massacre and pillage of Perugia is still alive among the inhabitants of the Marches and Umbria. This state of things, dangerous in itself, becomes still more so after the facts which have taken place in Sicily and in the kingdom of Naples. The presence of foreign troops, which insults the national feeling, and prevents the manifestation of the wishes of the people, will infallibly cause the extension of the movement to the neighboring provinces. The intimate connection between the inhabitants of the Marches and Umbria and those of the provinces annexed to the states of the king, and reasons of order and security in his own territory, lay his majesty's government under the necessity of applying, as far as in its power, an immediate remedy to such evils. King Victor Emanuel's conscience does not permit him to remain a passive spectator of the bloody repression with which the arms of the foreign mercenaries would extinguish every manifestation of national feeling in Italian blood. No government has the right of abandoning to the will and pleasure of a horde of soldiers of fortune, the property, the honor and lives of the inhabitants of a civilized country.

"For these reasons, after having applied to his majesty, the king, my august sovereign, for his orders, I have the honor of signifying to your eminence that the king's troops are charged to prevent, in the name of the rights of humanity, the Pontifical mercenary corps from repressing by violence the expression of the sentiments of the people of the Marches and Umbria. I have, moreover, the honor to invite your excellency, for the reasons above explained, to give immediate orders for the disbanding and dissolving of those corps, the existence of which is a menace to the peace of Italy.

"Trusting that your eminence will immediately communicate to me the measures taken by the government of his holiness in the matter, I have the honor of renewing to your eminence the expression of my high consideration.

"Cavour."

The following is the reply of Cardinal Antonelli:

"Rome, Sept. 11.

"Excellency: Without taking into account the manner in which your Excellency has thought proper to have your letter of the 7th inst. conveyed to me, I have directed my whole attention calmly upon the subject you lay before me in the name of your sovereign, and I cannot conceal from you that it has cost me an extraordinary effort to do so. The new principles of public law which you lay down in your letter, would be, indeed, sufficient to dispense me from giving any answer at all, they being so contrary to those which have constantly been acknowledged by all governments and nations. Nevertheless, feeling deeply the inculpations cast upon the government of his holiness, I cannot refrain from at once noticing the blame, as odious as it is unfounded and unjust, pronounced against the troops belonging to the Pontifical government, and I must add, that I find the pretension of denying the right belonging to the Pontifical government as well as to any other, of having foreign troops in its service, utterly unjustifiable. In fact, many governments of Europe have foreign troops in their pay. On that subject it may be expedient to observe that, owing to the character with which the Sovereign Pontiff is invested as the common father of all believers, he ought to be less subject to criticism than any other for receiving in the ranks of his troops all who come and offer themselves from the various parts of the Catholic world, for the defence of the Holy See, and of the States of the Church.