By means of Napoleon's treachery to the cause of liberty, which he had pretended to espouse on entering Italy, that unhappy country had been led to a ruin more deep and complete than any of the other of his victims; for she had been, more than any other, reduced to spiritual slavery, as well as temporal. The allies (with Protestant Prussia and England among them,) had restored the papacy along with monarchy and aristocracy; and yet the Italians were vilified as a degenerate race, and falsely accused of having brought their misfortunes upon themselves, by their ignorance, fanaticism and pusillanimity.
CHAPTER XVII.
CONDITION OF THE ITALIANS IN MONTEVIDEO, AND ELSEWHERE—MY WISHES AND DESIGNS FOR THEIR BENEFIT—IN COMMAND OF THE "CONSTITUCION"—AT MARTIN GARCIA—A BATTLE WITH THE ENEMY—PROVIDENTIAL RESULTS—PROCEED TO BAJADO—AT CERITO—ANOTHER FIGHT—CAVALLO-QUATTIA —LOW WATER—JOIN THE REPUBLICAN FLOTILLA—LABORS AND DIFFICULTIES.
There were many Italians in Montevideo, whose condition and feelings I soon learned to appreciate. They were regarded with scorn by many of the other foreign residents, especially the French, who were in much greater numbers, and seemed to take pleasure in humiliating my poor and injured countrymen.
This was not the first case, though one of the most marked and unrighteous, in which the wronged and suffering party were made to bear the reproach of those very traits of character displayed by their strong and false-hearted conquerors. In exile and poverty, under the bitter and hourly personal experience of their national misfortunes, and reproached by the world with having brought them upon themselves, the Italians in South America were depressed and disheartened by their gloomy recollections, their present sorrows and their cloudy future. Many of them were occupying themselves with such labors and business as they could find or invent, to obtain the means of subsistence, and laying the foundations of the fortunes which they have since accumulated by industry and economy; but few formed any sanguine expectations of gaining that distinction for military prowess, which the more numerous and vaunting Frenchmen around them then arrogated to themselves. I, however, ere long, began to indulge in more daring anticipations; and the sequel will show the results.
I resolved to find employment for some of them, and to raise the courage and hopes of all, and at the same time to prepare them for future service as soldiers in Italy, by bringing them into the service which was offered to myself. My progress and success will be seen in the following chapters.
On my entering the service of the Oriental Republic, I received the command of the sloop of war "Constitucion." The Oriental squadron was under the command of Colonel Cahe; the enemy under the orders of General Brown. Several battles had taken place, but with results of but little consequence. At the same time a man named Vidal was appointed Minister General of the Republic,—a person of unfortunate and despicable memory. One of his first and most fatal steps was, to gain the dislike of the squadron, which proved highly injurious to its condition, which had cost the Republic immense sums, and which, if it had been cherished as it might then have been, would have established a marked preëminence in the Rio de la Plata, but which was completely ruined, by selling the vessels at shamefully low prices.
I proceeded up the river with the vessels. We had an engagement with the batteries of Martin Garcia, which are situated near the confluence of the two great rivers Paraná and Uruguay, near which I had to pass, as there was no other channel for large vessels. I had several killed and wounded, and passed on. Among the dead was the brave Italian officer, Pocaroba, whose head was taken off by a cannon shot.