Chapter IX

"A nun of Sicily said to me:
'He must brother be to Saint Rosalie:
For there's a wild brilliancy beams in his eyes,
Sent down by his sister from Paradise.'"
_Dall'Ongaro's lines on Garibaldi._ T. D.

JOURNAL OF AN EYE-WITNESS CONTINUED—PALERMO AFTER THE
CAPTURE—GARIBALDI IN A DANGEROUS CRISIS—THE ARCHBISHOP
OF PALERMO AND MANY OF THE HEADS OF CONVENTS WITH
GARIBALDI—ADDRESS OF THE CORPORATION—INCIDENTS IN
PALERMO—GARIBALDI'S DECREE FOR POOR SOLDIERS AND THEIR
FAMILIES.

"THE taking of Palermo has had decidedly its effect on
the country around. There is no end of the _squadre_
which are approaching in all directions and hovering
about the Regii. As soon as these latter had left
Monreale, the insurgents in the neighborhood descended
to occupy it as well as San Martino. All about Piana and
Corleone they are swarming and skirmishing, so that the
column of 1,500 or 1,600 men which has been sent in that
direction is rather compromised. They hoped to destroy
Garibaldi and his partisans, and the fate they prepared
for them may await themselves.

"But while thus the general march of events is decidedly
favorable, I must say the Palermitans are scarcely up to
the mark. They are all well-intentioned, but they
are distressingly indolent, and want that general
coöperation which is most calculated to insure success.
There is no initiative or activity on their part, and
their sole occupation seems to be to invent and spread
rumors. Not a quarter of an hour passes without some
fellow or other coming in out of breath and announcing
the advance of the royal troops; now they are from one,
now from the other side. Above all, horses and cavalry
seem to be the nightmare of the Palermitans. They see
the solitary regiment of Neapolitan cavalry everywhere.
It is in vain that their noses are thrust against the
barricades with which the whole town is blocked up, they
_will_ see the cavalry. But, although they are thus
haunted by the royal troops, few seem to think that
they ought to do some thing for themselves—making
preparations for the defence of their houses and
streets, and being always ready to meet an attack. It
never occurs to them, as it did to the Lombards last
year, that it is their duty to think day and night how
to alleviate the sufferings of those who bleed in their
cause. It is not the want of will, but a deficiency in
acting otherwise than by order. The only thing which
they do spontaneously, is to cry "Evviva," and promenade
the streets, eager for news and gossip.

"The irregulars are decidedly improving. They are
getting a taste for barricade and street fighting; they
still blaze away their ammunition in a frantic manner,
but they are beginning to keep to their posts and even
to advance, if not too much exposed. This is our
advantage in these street fights; the longer they last,
the more they increase the confidence of the irregulars,
and destroy the discipline of the regular troops.

"Every hour brings new proofs of this in the shape of
prisoners and deserters from the Neapolitan forces.
With those taken in the hospitals, there must be above
1,000. There is an order from the general to treat
them well, and there is no animosity prevailing
against them, but so much the greater is that against
the _sbirri_ and '_compagni d'armi_,' a kind of local
police, who have committed great horrors. They are
picked out everywhere, and brought up in gangs of five
and six to the committee, trembling for their lives;
but only one of them has been killed hitherto, having
been taken in the act of firing at those who wanted to
arrest him.

"The ceasing of the bombardment, or rather the
diminishing of it, has brought people out into the
streets again."

GARIBALDI IN A DANGEROUS CRISIS.

"_May 29_—6 P.M.

"About 3 P.M. one of those panics suddenly broke out
again which occur every moment, and serve more than
anything else to demoralize the town and the _squadre_.
The steamers which had gone off yesterday came back, and
the rumor was that they were disembarking their troops
before the Porta dei Greci;—great running and movement,
great confusion, all caused by a column of dust on the
road running along the sea-shore. In the afternoon there
was some heavy firing, both toward the Piazza Reale and
on the left of it, where the Neapolitans have a bastion
which flanks the palace and is itself defended from the
Castello. All yesterday and to-day the object on that
side was to get possession of a cluster of houses, so as
to isolate that bastion, and force them out of this, as
from that of Sant' Agata. The town is too large, and
Garibaldi's immediate followers are too few to be sent
everywhere, and too precious to be exposed, except in
the greatest necessity. Thus it is the _squadre_ who
form the mass in most places.

"The Archbishop of Palermo, and many heads of religious
orders, paid a visit to Garibaldi, and returned,
delighted with the simplicity and modesty of his
bearing. Garibaldi finds himself more at home with the
Sicilian clergy than with any other, because it has
never made common cause with tyranny, or lost the manly
virtues of the citizen. 'It was worth while to come to
Sicily,' he said, 'if only to find out that there is
still an Italian clergy.' Garibaldi, on the other
hand, must contrast favorably in their eyes with the
Neapolitan generals who have profaned their churches and
plundered them of their sacred vessels, as General Clary
did at the sack of Catania, in the confident expectation
that the Pope would absolve him as he absolved the
Swiss, who, in sacking Perugia, laid ecclesiastical as
well as lay property under contribution."

ADDRESS OF THE PALERMO CORPORATION TO GARIBALDI.

"A deputation of the municipality of Palermo presented
an address to Garibaldi, expressing its thanks to the
liberator of Sicily. The address contains the resolution
that the Porta Termini, by which the forces of Garibaldi
entered, is to be called henceforth Porta Garibaldi, and
the Piazza Vecchia the Piazza di Vittorio Emmanuell. A
statue has been likewise decreed to Garibaldi. It is to
be erected by subscription.

"Garibaldi answered the deputation by one of those
heart-stirring speeches that he knows how to make,
reminding them that all was not done, and that every
effort must be concentrated to complete the work. He
gave them good advice about their duty to organize the
people; that there was but one choice between the
Neapolitans and a general armament; that Sicily could
only be free as part of Italy. He told them that they
ought to work for this, but that the time for annexation
had not come. It would lead to foreign interference,
which ought to be avoided. When the time came, he would
be the first to lead in this matter, to which he
had devoted his life. Cheering and an enthusiastic
expression of thorough confidence was the answer."

Thus it was that Garibaldi, after a brief career, marked by wonderful success at every step, entered Palermo by the eastern gates, and between daybreak and ten o'clock in the morning, had possession of the greater part of the city.

The Neapolitans were driven into a number of strong positions round the royal palace, to the southwest of the town, and to the northwest toward the Mole, their line of retreat, and, not being able to do anything more, the ships opened their fire, always the last remedy. Almost all the civilized nations had representatives of their fleets on the spot to witness and approve by their presence this noble proceeding—English, French, American, Sardinian, Austrian—none of them were wanting; nay, they anchored in a way which might not hinder the movements of the brave Neapolitan fleet.

The young King of Naples, though only twenty-three years old, has shown so much of the spirit of his father, recently deceased, that he has been justly named Bomba Junior, or the young Bomb-shell. When the landing of Garibaldi produced the first fit of terror at Naples, the youthful Bourbon sent to his brave fleet concentrated in the Bay of Palermo the order to bombard his faithful Palermitans, and reduce their town to ashes if they should dare to rise against his paternal authority. The Palermitans had been treated once already in this paternal manner by the illustrious father of the present sovereign, who figures in history as King Bomba, for having given these souvenirs of his love to every large town of his kingdom.

During the latter part of the fighting between Garibaldi's troops and those of the king, when the latter were nearly driven from the streets of Palermo, the ammunition of the _picciotti_ (or little boys, as the patriot recruits were called) was exhausted at that point, one party of them fell back in one of the streets, and thus allowed the royalists to shut in a street of houses in which another party of them was still holding out.

Garibaldi was at dinner when the news arrived. There had been so many rumors of an advance of the Neapolitans during the day, that the first impression was that this was merely another of those wild rumors; but Captain Niva, who brought it, was one of the Garibaldians, and there could be no doubt about its truth. Garibaldi jumped up from his chair, saying, "Well, then, I suppose I must go there myself." He saw it was one of those moments when the chief must be at the head of his troops to restore their confidence. He went downstairs, and took with him whatever troops he found on the road to that exposed point, and proceeded to retake the lost ground.

"His presence (wrote a person who was in the city at the time), not only soon checked the advance of the royalists, but made them likewise lose the advantage they had gained a moment before. With that marvellous ascendency which he exercises over those around him, he succeeded in a short time in making the _picciotti_ fight, and even in animating the population which had remained in the houses."

In spite of the urgent entreaties of his followers not to expose himself, he remained in the open street, without any shelter, haranguing and encouraging the men; the enemy seeing this, issued out from the houses and from behind the barricade. One of the _picciotti_ was shot through the head just before Garibaldi, who, seeing him falling, held him up for a moment; and Colonel Turr, at his side, got a ricochet ball against his leg as he took hold of the general and dragged him by main force under shelter. But the effect was produced. One rush brought the party close enough to throw one of Orsini's shells, which prostrated seven or eight men. The bugler, who is always at Garibaldi's side, sounded the charge, and the Neapolitans ran. The sound of this bugle seems to act formidably on the nerves of the Neapolitan troops; they know they have to do with Garibaldi's men, and at Calata Fimi they ran before even the charge took place.

Royal troops were disembarked in the night of the 29th of May, went out of the Castello toward the Mole, and then by a circuit, rejoined the troops on the other side, anxious to hold their ground in and about the royal palace, rather than to make an attack on the town.

The news from the country could not have been better. Everywhere the people were rising and the troops withdrawing. On the evening of the 23d, General Alfan di Heisia abandoned Girgenti. As soon as the troops left, the population hoisted the Italian flag. A committee was formed, and a national guard. The cries were, as everywhere else, "_Viva l'Italia_," "_Viva Vittorio Emmanuele_," and "_Viva Garibaldi_." The civil authorities were respected, and although the prisoners, two hundred in number, were let out, no disturbance occurred. The whole province there, as everywhere else, followed the example, rising, instituting a committee, and arming itself. The province of Catania rose, with the exception of the town, which was still held by the military, as well as that of Trapani. And all this occurred before the taking of Palermo.

GARIBALDI'S PROCLAMATION IN PALERMO, AS DICTATOR, JUNE 2.

"_Italy and Victor Emanuel!_

"JOSEPH GARIBALDI,

"Commander-in-Chief of the national forces in Italy,

"In virtue of the power conferred on him, decrees:

"Art. 1.—Whoever shall have fought for the country shall
have a certain quota of land from the communal national
domain, to be divided by law among the citizens of the
commune. In case of the death of a soldier, this right
shall belong to his heirs.

"Art. 2.—The said quota shall be equal to that which
shall be established for all heads of poor families not
proprietors, and said quotas shall be drawn by lot. If,
however, the lands of the commune are more than
sufficient for the wants of the population, the soldiers
and their heirs shall receive a quota double that of
other participants.

"Art. 3.—Where the communes shall not have a domain of
their own, they shall be supplied with lands belonging
to the domain of the state or the crown.

"Art. 4.—The Secretary of State shall be charged with
the execution of this decree.

"The Dictator, GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI.
"Secretary of State—(Signed)—FRANCESCO CRISPI.

"PALERMO, _June 2, 1860_."

This is a characteristic act of Garibaldi, in whom sympathy and compassion for the poor, weak, and defenceless, form the basis of his character, and have ever given the impulse to his great enterprises, his perseverance, dauntless heroism, splendid successes, and disinterested rejection of honors and rewards. (See these traits, as displayed in childhood, on pages 14 and 15 of this volume, and recorded by his own pen.) Oh, when shall we see such principles ruling our legislators and our citizens? When will they rule in the early education of our families? When all our mothers and fathers are more like Garibaldi's!

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