Garibaldi

Everything that exists has its origin in the past. It is therefore quite essential, before touching upon the events of any remarkable man's life, that we should take a retrospective glance at the circumstances in which his career originated.

I purpose, then, to give here a rapid preliminary sketch of the prominent events that occurred in Italy, and especially in Piedmont —Garibaldi's native soil— between the years 1820 and 1834, before introducing him to the reader to tell his story in his own words: observing that his narrative will commence from this latter date.

The course of the wars which followed the outbreak of the great French Revolution had sent into banishment, in the island of Sardinia, two princes, who, on emerging from their protracted exile at the close of the war, were no longer young. These two princes, who were brothers, were the last surviving male representatives of the direct line of the Dukes of Savoy. One was Victor Emmanuel, and the other Charles Felix, each of whom was destined to ascend the throne of the newly-constituted kingdom of Sardinia.

The younger branch of this house was then represented by Charles Albert, Prince de Carignan, who in 1823 served as a grenadier in the French army during the Spanish campaign, and on which occasion he greatly distinguished himself by his personal courage, particularly at the attack of the Trocadero.

King Victor-Emmanuel I., on ascending the throne, had pledged his word to the allied sovereigns not to make, under any circumstances whatever, the least concession to his people —a condition to which he was probably indebted for the gift of his crown. That, however, which was easy to promise in 1815, became, as we shall see, somewhat difficult to perform in 1821.

In 1820, Carbonarism had begun to spread throughout Italy. In a former work of mine, entitled Joseph Balsamo, which, although but a romance, contains in it much of reality, will be found a sketch of the history of the " Illuminati," and of Freemasonry. These two powerful antagonists to despotic royalty, whose device was the three initial letters "L. P. D." i.e., Lilia Pedibus Distruc, played a part of some importance in the French Revolution. Almost all the Jacobins, and a large proportion of the Cordeliers, were freemasons, while Philip Egalite held the high office of "Grand Orient" in the craft.

Napoleon affected to take freemasonry under his protection; but under this pretence he managed to divert it from its proper aim: in short, he bent it to his own purposes, and turned it into an instrument of despotism. It was not the first time that chains had been forged from sword-blades. Joseph Bonaparte was a Grand Master of the order; Cambaceres, Grand Assistant-Master; and Murat, second Grand Assistant-Master. The Empress Josephine being at Strasburg in 1805, presided at the festival of the adoption of the Free Knights of Paris; and about this time Eugene de Beauharnais was elected "Venerable" of the lodge of St. Eugene of Paris. When he was afterwards in Italy as Viceroy, the "Grand Orient" of Milan named him "Master and Sovereign Commander of the Supreme Council of the 32nd degree" the greatest honour attainable under the statutes of the order.

Bernadotte also was a mason; his sou, Prince Oscar, was Grand Master of the Swedish lodge; moreover, in the different lodges of Paris were successively initiated, Alexander, Duke of Wurtemburg, Prince Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, and even the Persian ambassador, Askeri Khan; the President of the Senate, Count de Lacepede, presided as " Grand Orient of France," having for his officers of honour Generals Kellermann, Massena, and Soult. Princes, ministers, marshals, officers, magistrates, all, indeed, who were remarkable from their glorious career or eminent from their position, were ambitious of being admitted as brethren. Women even wished to have their lodges: this notion was adopted by Mesdames de Calignan, de Girardin, de Narbonne, and many other ladies of great houses; but one only amongst them was actually received into the craft, and she not as a "sister," but as a "brother." That was no other than the famous Xaintrailles, to whom the First Consul had given the brevet of a chef d'escadron (major of cavalry)1.

But it was not in France alone that freemasonry nourished at that period. The King of Sweden, in 1811, instituted the, civil order of masonry. Frederick William III, King of Prussia, had towards the end of the month of July, in the year 1800, sanctioned by edict the constitution of the grand lodge of Berlin. The Prince of Wales continued to preside over the order in England until he became Kegent in 1813. And, in the month of February of the year 1814, the King of Holland, Frederick William, declared himself Protector of the order, and permitted the Prince-royal, his son, to accept the title of "Honorary Venerable" of the lodge of William Frederick of Amsterdam.

At the return of the Bourbons to France, Marshal Bournonville begged Louis XVIII. to place the fraternity under the protection of a member of his family; but Louis XVIII, whose memory was tenacious, had not forgotten the active part which masonry had taken in the catastrophe of 1793; so he refused compliance with the request, by stating that he never would allow a member of his family to form part of any secret society whatever.

In Italy, masonry fell to the ground together with French domination; but in its place, after a time, Carbonarism began to appear, and this association seemed to have taken up the performance of the task which masonry had abandoned —that of furthering the cause of political emancipation.

Two other sects took the same direction, viz., that of "The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Congregation" and that of "The Consistorial Society."

The members of the "Congregation" wore as a badge of recognition a cord of straw-coloured silk with five knots. Its members, in the inferior degrees, professed nothing but acts of piety and benevolence; as to the secrets of the sect—known only to the higher degrees—they were not allowed to be uttered where there were more than two present; all conference ceasing on the appearance of a third person. The pass word of the Congregationalists was Eleuteria, signifying Liberty; the secret word was Ode, that is to say, Independence.

This sect, which originated in France among the neocatholics, and included among its members several of our best and most steadfast republicans, had crossed the Alps, passed into Piedmont, and thence into Lombardy; there it obtained but few proselytes, and was soon rooted out by Austrian emissaries, who contrived to lay their hands at Genoa on the diplomas granted to the various members on their initiation, as well as the statutes, and a key to the secret signs of recognition.

The "Consistorial Society" directed its efforts chiefly against Austria; at its head figured those princes of Italy who were unconnected with the house of Habsburg, and its president was Cardinal Gonsalvi; the only prince of Austrian connection who was not excluded from it was the Duke of Modena. Thence ensued, when the existence of this league was publicly known, the terrible persecution of the patriots by this prince; he had to earn forgiveness from Austria for his desertion of her, and nothing less than the blood of Menotti, his associate in the conspiracy, sufficed to make his peace with that Power.

The Consistorialists aimed at wresting from Francis II. all his Italian dominions, in order to share them among themselves. The Pope, besides his own territory of Rome and the Romagna, was to have possession of Tuscany for his share; the Isle of Elba and the Marches were to be bestowed on the King of Naples; Parma, Placentia, and a part of Lombardy, with the title of king, on the Duke of Modena; Massa, Carrara, and Lucca, were to be given to the King of Sardinia; and lastly, the Emperor Alexander, who, from his aversion to Austria, favoured these secret designs, was to have either Ancona, Civita Vecchia, or Genoa as a Russian foothold in the Mediterranean.

Thus, without consulting national feelings, or the natural territorial limits of different States, this league coolly resolved on sharing souls among themselves as Arabs do with a captured flock after a razzia; and that right which belongs to the humblest creature upon the soil of Europe to choose his own master, and to take service only where it suited him, that right was to be refused to national communities.

Fortunately, one only of all these projects —that which was undertaken by the Carbonari, and one that was not irreconcilable with divine precepts— had a fair chance of being accomplished.

Carbonarism had made its way to, and was thriving vigorously in the Romagna; it had united itself to the sect of the Guelphs, the central point of which was at Ancona, and it looked for support to Bonapartism.

Lucien Bonaparte was raised to the degree of "Grand Light;" and, in its secret meetings, resolutions were passed, declaring the necessity that existed for wresting power from the hands of the priests; the name of Brutus was invoked, and the associates went to work to prepare the minds of thinking men for a republic.

In the night of the 24th of June, 1819, the movement thus prepared broke out; but it came to the fatal issue so common to first attempts of this kind. Every new faith, religious or political, which is to have apostles and zealous disciples, first requires martyrs. Five Carbonari were shot, and others condemned for life to the galleys; while some, deemed less guilty, were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress.

After this catastrophe, the sect, having learnt prudence, changed its name, and took that of the " Latin Society."

At this very time, the association was spreading its doctrines in Lombardy, and extending its ramifications into the other States of Italy. In the midst of a ball given at Rovigo by Count Porgia, the Austrian government caused several persons to be arrested, and on the following day declared every one who should be affiliated to Carbonarism, as guilty of high treason. But the place where the movement was most active, and made the greatest progress, was Naples. Coletta affirms in his History that the members of the Society in that kingdom amounted to the enormous number of six hundred and forty-two thousand; and, according to a document in the Aulic Chancery, that number is even below the mark. The number of the Carbonari, says this paper, amounts to more than eight hundred thousand in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and neither the efforts of the police, nor any other vigilance, can check its unceasing growth; it would therefore be useless to expect to extirpate it altogether.

During the progress of this movement at Naples, political discontent was spreading in Spain, where Riego, another martyr—who left behind him a death-song which has since become a chant of victory,— raised, in January, 1820, the banner of liberty. So great was his success, in the first instance, that Ferdinand VII. issued a decree declaring that, as the will of the people had so decidedly manifested itself, he, the king, had resolved to swear to the constitution originally proclaimed by the Cortes in 1812; his consent to which had been hitherto refused.

The release of political prisoners furnished the materials for a new ministry in Spain. Ferdinand I. of Naples, as an Infante of Spain, although himself an absolute sovereign at home, was compelled to swear obedience to the Spanish constitution. The event produced a shock like that of an earthquake in Calabria, in the "Capitanate," and Salerno. The Neapolitan government, weak, undecided, and suspicious, decreed a few reforms, utterly inadequate to check General Pepe's efforts in carrying out his revolutionary project, as was proved by the result, which led to the creation of a provisional government, and to the restoration of a chamber of representatives such as had been established at Naples in 1798.

Some time after this, the Piedmontese revolution broke out. On the morning of the 10th of March, captain Count Palma summoned the regiment of Genoa, to arms, raising the cry of: "The King and the Spanish constitution!" The next day, a provisional government was created in the name of the "Kingdom of Italy," and it proceeded to declare war against Austria.

Thus, it happened, that the revolutionary movement, which had originated at Ancona, reached Naples, and made its way to Turin. Three volcanoes were thus opened in Italy, without reckoning that of Spain, and Lombardy was in a state of agitation enclosed within a triple line of combustion.

King Victor Emmanuel I., it will be remembered, had pledged his word to the Holy Alliance not to make any concession to his people. So when the crisis arrived, in order to remain faithful to his promise, this monarch promptly abdicated in favour of his brother Charles-Felix, then at Modena; naming as Regent the Prince de Carignan, afterwards King Charles-Albert.

This abdication of a prince who really possessed an Italian heart, in favour of his brother, thoroughly devoted to Austria, was indeed a great misfortune for the patriots. Santa Rosa, one of the first promoters of the revolutionary movement, speaking of this event, was thus led to exclaim: "Oh that fatal night of the 13th of March, 1821, so fatal to my country, and which has cast such a gloom on us all; which has struck down so many swords raised in defence of our right, which has crushed so many fondly cherished hopes! Under Victor-Emmanuel the nationality of Piedmont was maintained: the country was identified with the king, it was personified in his loyal heart, and thus while effecting the revolution, we cheerfully exclaimed: 'Courage! he will perhaps one day pardon us for having made him king over six millions of Italians!'"

But it was far otherwise with Charles-Felix: his kingdom sunk again beneath the sway of Austria, and all had to be begun again.

Hope, however, was not quite extinguished. On the 11th of March, the Prince de Carignan, displaying himself before the people in a balcony, amidst immense acclamations, proclaimed as Regent the adoption of the constitution of Spain in Piedmont.

This event at an after period was looked upon as very remarkable: for Charles-Albert as King, was destined at a future day to belie his words as the Prince de Carignan. Having thus briefly glanced at the fact of the constitution having been proclaimed viva voce, we will now give the translated text of the proclamation itself, as it was placarded upon the walls of Turin:—

"In the difficult position in which we are placed, it is impossible for us to eon fine ourselves within the narrow limits of our office as Regent; the respect and the obedience we owe to his Majesty Charles-Felix, to whom the throne has devolved, should suffice to counsel us to abstain from making any change in the fundamental laws of the kingdom, or at least to temporize until we know what are the intentions of our new sovereign; but, as the imperious nature of circumstances is manifest, and as, on the other hand, we hold it to be our duty to deliver into the hands of the new king an orderly, united, and happy people, and not one torn and divided by the factions of civil war, we have in consequence, after deliberate consideration, decided, in accordance with the advice of our council, and in the full reliance that his Majesty, actuated by similar considerations, will crown our deliberation with his sovereign approval: we have decided, we say, that the constitution of Spain shall be promulgated and observed as the law of the State, under the modifications which, by mutual agreement, shall be introduced by the king and the national assembly."

This, then, is the result which Carbonarism had obtained five years after its establishment in Italy; first, the recognition of a constitution in Spain; next, a constitution at Naples; and finally, the proclamation of a constitution in Piedmont.

But the latter, the last born of the three, was doomed to be the first stifled.

Instead of returning to Genoa or Milan, instead of approving of, and consolidating, the liberal measures proclaimed by the Prince de Carignan, King Charles-Felix issued, on the 3rd of the following April, the following edict:—

i; The duty of every faithful subject being to submit willingly to the order of things which he finds established by God, and by the exercise of the sovereign authority, I declare that, holding from the Almighty alone, it is for xis to choose the means we judge most suitable to effect good, and that we shall consequently no longer consider it becoming on the part of a faithful subject to murmur at the measures we may think necessary to take; we hereby publicly declare, therefore, as a rule of conduct for every one, that we shall only consider those as faithful subjects who will immediately submit to our authority; and to such submission on their part our return to our States will be made subordinate."

At the very time that King Charles-Felix was issuing this edict, so lamentably characterized by blind folly and willfulness, he appointed a military commission charged with the duty of inquiring into the alleged offences of treason, rebellion, and insubordination that had been committed. Fortunately the principal offenders, including among them names now regarded as glorious in Piedmont, had already effected their escape.

The commission named by Charles-Felix lost no time in doing its work. Kings have been known to want executioners, but never judges. This military tribunal in five months tried a hundred and seventy-eight persons, of whom seventy-three were condemned to death and confiscation of property, and the rest to imprisonment and the galleys.

Of those condemned to death, sixty were pronounced "contumacious," for not surrendering themselves, and were hung in effigy.

It is worth while to name a few of these men, the intended victims of that besotted principle of absolute power which, since the days of Tarquin, has ever aimed its shafts at the noblest and most intelligent spirits. Comprised in the list are to be found the names of Lieutenant Pavia, Lieutenant Ansaldi, the physician Ratazzi, the engineer Appiani, the advocate Dossena, the advocate Luzzi, Captain Baronis, Count Bianco, Colonel Regis, Major Santa-Rosa, Captain Lesio, Colonel Casaglio, Major Collegno, Captain Radice, Colonel Morezzo, Prince della Cisterna, Captain Ferraso, Captain Pachiarotti, the advocate Marochetti, sub-lieutenant Anzzana, the advocate Ravina, and others. In all, there were six superior officers, thirty secondary officers, five physicians, ten advocates, and one prince; all remarkable for the gifts of intelligence, integrity, and social virtue.

Two had been arrested and executed; these were a lieutenant of carabineers, John Baptist Lanari, and Captain Giacomo Garelli. The execution of the one took place on the 2nd of July; of the other, on the 25th of August.

One of the most guilty of all was unquestionably Charles-Albert. He had proclaimed the constitution in plain out-spoken terms, certainly not qualified with the reservation that the measure was conditional on the king's approval, as his partisans have chosen to represent. What can be plainer than these words, which we give in the original?

Nella fiducia che sua maesta il re mosso d'al istesse considerazioni, sara per rivestire questa delibera-zione delta sua sovrana approvizaone; la constituzione di Spagna SARA PROMULGATA E OSSERVATA COME LEGGE DELLO STATO2.

On receiving the letter which informed him of the return of King Charles-Felix, the Prince de Carignan hastened to Modena; but the King refused to receive him, and the Duke sent him an order to quit his States. The Prince then retired to the court of the Grand-duke of Tuscany at Florence. It was now no longer the question whether Charles-Albert should be simply an exile, or in temporary disgrace: nothing less than the loss of the throne of Piedmont was involved. So at least it then appeared; for a report was spread about that Charles-Felix intended to bequeath the crown after his death to the Duke of Modena; and that the latter, who had missed the throne through the disgrace incurred by the Italian Princes in conspiring against Austria, would at length gain the object of his anxious desires.

The Prince de Carignan now confided the serious nature of his position to the Count de la Maisonfort, French Minister at Florence, and the latter immediately wrote to Louis XVIII. in the following terms:—" In order to dispossess the Prince de Carignan of his inheritance, it is contemplated to call to the throne the Duchess of Modena, the eldest daughter of King Victor. This off-hand proceeding of driving the House of Savoy from a throne it had founded—this ingratitude, so characteristic of the age in which we live,—cannot be shared or encouraged by the head of a house that has been no less than eighteen times allied to it. Such a policy cannot be that of the French Government, which has, moreover, the right of insisting on the complete independence of the sovereign who holds the key of Italy."

Louis XVIII. was of the same opinion as his Minister; he wrote to the Prince de Carignan, offering him a refuge at the Court of France. This was tantamount to assuring him: "You have nothing to fear. I take your interests into my hands; I will not permit any one but yourself to be King of Piedmont." In fact, Louis, who had granted a charter to his own people, could hardly deem it a crime in a Prince to have promised a constitution to his future subjects, although the act was disavowed by the then reigning sovereign.

But it was highly necessary that the Prince de Carignan should make the amende honorable towards the Holy Alliance for the offence he had committed.

Of the three Constitutions—the issue, as we have seen, of Carbonarism—one, that of Piedmont, had been stifled at its birth, by the hands of the new King himself, Charles-Felix; another, that of Naples, had been trodden down by the Austrian invasion; the third, the only surviving one, that of Spain, was about to be annulled through French intervention. The Prince de Carignan, who had proclaimed the Spanish Constitution at Turin, as a fitting amende must now obey the summons to go and combat the same Spanish Constitution at Madrid. This draught he must indeed have found bitter to swallow; but if his cordial reception at Paris was worth the endurance of a mass or two, to secure such a prize as the crown of Piedmont was surely worth a dose of physic. So the Prince de Carignan went out to fight, and contrived to conceal his mortification under the long hair of a grenadier's cap; he served through the Spanish campaign, and was one of the conquerors of the Trocadero3. Eventually, on the death of Charles-Felix, on the 27 th of April, 1831, the Prince de Carignan succeeded him with scarcely any impediment, as King Charles-Albert.

Austria would have preferred seeing her Archduke of Modena in his place, and therefore did not conceal her vexation at his elevation, and spitefully characterized the new sovereign to his brother kings as a Carbonaro; while to the Carbonari she caused him to be reviled as a traitor. This was a perversion of truth in both cases. Charles-Albert was not a Carbonaro; and the very terms and style of the proclamation in which he promulgated the Constitution show that he must have issued that proclamation under restraint and compulsion. Neither was Charles-Albert a traitor. He had entered into no personal engagement; he was simply playing the part of a prince ambitious of some day becoming a king. The disgrace of having gone forth to aid in the suppression of the same Constitution in Spain which he had not long before proclaimed at Turin, was considered to have been effaced by the courage he displayed as a simple grenadier; the soldier, in fact, had absolved the prince.

On his accession, Del Pozzo wrote to him from his exile in London in these words:—"Middle terms and incomplete measures are of no use, and make no progress in politics; PIEDMONT NEEDS AND WILL HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL KING."

Another patriot thus wrote to him anonymously: —" Place yourself at the head of the nation; write upon your banner, UNION, LIBERTY, INDEPENDENCE. Declare yourself to be at once the avenger and interpreter of popular rights. Entitle yourself the 'Regenerator of Italy'; deliver her from the yoke of barbarians; be an architect in constructing the future; give a name to an age, found an era which shall date from yourself. Be the Napoleon of Italian liberty. Throw down your glove, with the name of Italy attached to it, in the face of Austria; that old name will accomplish prodigies; invoke with it all that is great or generous in our Peninsula. An ardent, high-spirited youth, stimulated by the two passions which go to make heroes— vengeance and glory—has fed for a long time upon one thought, and only sighs for the arrival of the moment for putting it in action. Call it 'to arms;' place the eities and fortresses under the guard of the citizens; and thus freed from all other eare but that of conquering, give it the right impulse. Draw around you all those whom fame has proclaimed high in intelligence, brave in spirit, free from self-interest, exempt from paltry ambition. Inspire, in short, confidence in the multitude, by effaeing all doubts as to your intentions, and by invoking the aid of all free men. Sire, I must tell you this plain truth; free men are eagerly awaiting your reply in the shape of aetion; but whatever your course may be, remember that posterity will proclaim you to be either the first of men in Italy, or the last of her tyrants. Take your choice."

That which makes kings truly the favoured of heaven is that it is to them such letters are written; if King Charles-Albert had followed the advice of his anonymous correspondent, he would to a certainty have commenced by striking a blow similar to that of Goito; and had he done so he would probably not have sealed his fate at Novara. But Charles-Albert thought otherwise, and threw the letter into the fire; so instead of taking the broad road to fame lying open before him, he chose to pursue the narrow path of a tortuous and disastrous policy. From that moment it became evident that the King of Sardinia was divorced from Young Italy.

Young Italy! it was about this period that these words were first uttered. The party so styled was then composed of Joseph Mazzini, the indefatigable promoter of Italian unity, upon whose head Italy at first placed the laurel crown of triumph, and now ungratefully mocks with a crown of thorns. Joseph Mazzini, scarcely known at that period but by a few patriotic publications, persecuted by the police of Milan, had taken refuge at Marseilles, where he first began to prepare for the herculean labours undertaken by him, by disseminating, amidst innumerable difficulties and obstructions, the numbers of his journal, Young Italy, through Piedmont4.

The Piedmontese nobles and priests who had taken possession of Charles-Albert's mind, trembled at hearing the alarm-bell of public opinion. During the two years that they had entrenched themselves at court, they had been able to test the extent of their power; nevertheless, they well knew Charles-Albert's eager thirst for popularity; and that, however well he might ostensibly be in harmony with Austria, they dreaded, he might some day be aroused, if not by the call of freedom, at least by the promptings of ambition.

It was generally believed that Charles-Albert in some of those feverish nights which kings are said to pass, must have dreamt of such a theme as the throne of united Italy. Now, to so glorious a crown it was not possible for him to aspire without giving a helping hand to revolution. The throne of Italy was not in the nomination of kings, but of peoples. It was therefore thought necessary by his priestly advisers to place a barrier between him and the patriots. One day an assassin, wearing a judge's cap, arose, and pronounced these words: "It is time to let him taste blood."

That same day, King Charles-Albert was informed that a great plot was being hatched in the army, the object of which was to dethrone him. The alleged facts were hardly credible, and the perils were exaggerated; every endeavour to excite alarm in his mind was resorted to, in order to implant there implacable resentments which were to be called into action on the pretence of saving the monarchy.

By means of reiterated falsehood, unfounded calumnies, and frequent denunciations of the accused parties, a craving for blood was skilfully awakened in the royal breast. An extraordinary criminal commission was formed at Turin, to put in force all the punishments known to the criminal law of Piedmont.

A violation of the penal code was forthwith resorted to by a decision of the commission: viz., that all parties accused, civil and military, should be amenable to the jurisdiction of a council of war.

With what little scruple this step was determined on the following circumstance will show:—

An officer who was seated on the bench as a judge, in the council of inquiry, was about to interrogate a lawyer upon some principles of criminal jurisprudence, when the lawyer replied that the first basis ot all law, the first rule of every code was, that " a military council of inquiry, if challenged to show its authority, must admit its incompetency to try citizens."

"It is impossible for us to do that," rejoined the officer, "for the general has issued an order authorizing us to assert that we arc competent."

So the general's order was allowed for once to serve as the basis of the law—the authoritative rule of the code.

The first victim whose blood stained the purple robe of the new king was Corporal Tamburelli, who was condemned to be shot in the back, for having committed the crime of reading the columns of Young Italy to his soldiers.

The second was Lieutenant Tolla, declared guilty of having seditious books in his possession, and for not having denounced the plot while aware of its existence. Like Tamburelli, he was shot from behind. This was an ingenious invention of the Piedmontese magistracy to assimilate in some degree the punishment of being shot with that of death by the gallows. It was not sufficient to kill, it was thought desirable to couple death with dishonour. On the 15th of June were also shot in this manner, Serjeant Miglio, Giuseppe Biglia, and Antonio Gavolli.

All these men died with exemplary courage. Jacopo Ruffini was confined in the tower of Genoa. Every means was resorted to to subdue his spirit: want of food, want of sleep. He felt that he was growing weaker, not only physically but morally, and resolved not to wait till death should overtake him in a dishonouring shape. Fearing he should not retain strength to inflict self-destruction on the day fixed for his execution, he unfastened a blade of iron from the door of his prison, sharpened it, and with this cut his throat. But in his dying throes, he contrived to write with the tip of his finger, moistened with his blood, on the wall—"I leave by this my last testament my vengeance to Italy."

When his gaoler entered his cell on the following morning, he found him dead.

Other victims soon followed: Luciano, Piacenza, and Louis Turffs, at Genoa; Domenico Ferrari, Giuseppe Menardi, Giuseppe Bigano, Amandi Costa, Giovanni Marini, at Alessandria—were all shot like the others.

Then came the turn of Andrea Vochieri. One of those condemned at Alessandria who survived the long tortures of Fenestrelle has, in his memoirs, left an account of the last days of this patriot.

"They began," said he, speaking of himself, " by taking away my books, a Bible, a collection of Christian prayers, and another religious book; they then placed irons on my feet, and led me to another dungeon, more loathsome than the first, with double-barred windows and double-locked doors; this dungeon adjoined that of poor Vochieri, and some ill-stopped chinks allowed me to get a glimpse of his prison by the aid of a faint light, which filtered through some small opening in his cell. He was lying upon a miserable bench with his feet manacled, while two guards stood beside him, sabre in hand; a functionary, armed with a gun, also guarded the door. An awful silence prevailed in this dismal dungeon; the soldiers seemed more under the dominion of terror than the prisoner himself. From time to time, two Capuchins came to see him and exhort him. I had him thus before my eyes for a whole week, without being able to refrain from looking at him, in spite of the pain it gave me. At length, one day, they carried him away, and led him to death."

But something remains to be told which his neighbouring prisoner was not enabled to relate, for he could not know it. Vochieri was led to death by the longest road; this passed before his own house, in which were then residing his sister, his wife, and his two children, and it was expected that the sight of all he loved in the world would shake his resolution, and that he would then be induced to make some important revelations. But these attempts were unavailing: smiling sadly, he exclaimed—

"They have forgotten there is something in the world I love better than sister, wife, or children: that is Italy, 'Viva l'Italia!'"

Then turning towards the galley-slave guards, who instead of soldiers were ordered to shoot him, he pronounced the single word "March!"

A quarter of an hour after, he fell pierced by six balls.

Charles-Albert had now become one of the family of sovereigns in the Holy Alliance; and, like the Pope, like the King of Naples, like Francis IV., and like Ferdinand VII., his hands too were stained with the blood of his people.

There was, at that time living at Nice, his native place, a young man, who, after seeing all this blood flow, resolved to take an oath to consecrate his life to the worship of that liberty for which so many martyrs had fallen. This young man, then twenty-six years of age, was Joseph Garibaldi.

But we must now let him speak for himself, and relate the marvellous events of his adventurous existence.

ALEX. DUMAS.

1Giuseppe la Farina, Storia d'Italia.

2 "In full reliance that his Majesty the King, actuated by considerations similar to our own, will crown our deliberations with his sovereign approval, we have decided that the Constitution of Spain shall be promulgated and observed as the law of the State."

3 At an audience the editor of this memoir had with Charles-Albert in 1840, the King took some pleasure in displaying his grenadier's sabre and the epaulettes of red wool which he had worn in the Spanish campaign.

4 Brofferio, Histoire du Piemont.