THE FIGHT AT ASPROMONTE

It was in vain. The Garibaldians were already in the field, and having crossed from Sicily, were marching through Calabria with ever-increasing forces and the cry of ‘ Rome or death ’ on their lips. Victor Emmanuel had now no choice left him but to put down rébellion by force of arms. General Cialdini’s painful duty it was to lead the royal troops on this occasion. He encountered the Garibaldians at Aspromonte, in Calabria, and on their refusing to surrender to the king, a fight ensued in which the volunteers were of course defeated, and their officers arrested. Garibaldi, with a bail in his foot, from the effects of which he has never recovered, was carried a State prisoner to Piedmont, where the best surgeons in the kingdom were sent to his aid ; but ail their efforts to relieve him only inflicted more intense agony on the sufferer, and it was a year before the lead was extracted from the wound.

This unhappy épisode was a bitter grief to Victor Emmanuel. It was his pride that he was the free choice of the Italian people, that he had never drawn his sword but against the enemies of his country, and though the Garibaldians were ail in the wrong, still they were his subjects, and the thought that Italian blood should hâve been shed by his soldiers afHicted him deeply. Above ail he felt the misfortune of the gallant chief, who had done so much for the Italian cause, and for whom he had such a warm regard. But there was no help for it. The national existence was at stake if he allowed his authority to be defied by this ill-advised volunteer movement.

Aspromonte gave a final blow to the Ratazzi

ministry. Never very popular, it w<is utterly shaken by the reaction in favour of Garibaldi. Now that the danger was passed, and the untamable old lion hors de combat, his rash inconsiderateness, his violation of the laws, were overlooked, and only his past glorious services remembered. There were fierce debates on the subject, and the ministry found it expédient to send in their résignation, suggesting a dissolution of Parliament. The king did not approve of the dissolution, and preferred to accept the résignation of the Ratazzi cabinet. After a good deal of worry and consultation, the king decided to call Luigi Carlo Farini to office. The ijame of this enlightened and liberal statesman, who had ruled the Emilian provinces as dictator so ably during the interregnum, was a guarantee for a good administration. Unhappily his health obliged him to retire very soon from public life, and he was. succeeded by Minghetti. On the whole this first year without Cavour had been a very trying one to Victor Emmanuel.

In the beginning of 1863 the Minghetti ministry turned their attention to the hnancial affairs of the State. Several bills relative to taxation were laid before the Parliament, and permission asked to contract a loan. When authority had been granted by both Houses, the king thus expressed his gratification.

Victor Emmanuel to Signor Minghetti.

Dear Minghetti, — I thank you again for your work with regard to the loan, in my own name and that of the

THE KING’S speech TO PARLIAMENT. 89

nation. May the accomplishment of this act be the forerunner of great events, and conduct us to the completion of Italian glory. You know how this glory has been the dream of my whole life — how it . comprises ail my aspirations. Firm in the faith, with a fearless and tranquil heart, I await it — and we shall attain it.

As soon as I return to Turin I shall send for you. Meantime I press your hand with ail my heart

Your most affectionate

Victor Emmanuel.

The Parliament met on May 23. The speech from the throne did not contain any remarkable statement. We transcribe the opening paragraphs : —

Gentlemen Senators, — Gentlemen Deputies, — In dpening this new session as King of Italy, I am glad to thank you for so much work done during the past two years. You confirmed the right of the nation to its complété unity. This right I shall maintain inviolable. The parliamentary labours were hardly begun when Providence snatched from us the illustrious man who was my able coadjutor in the arduous enterprise of our régénération. This grief was mine, and equal to mine was the grief of ail Italy for our loss.

The marriage of my daughter with the young King of Portugal, while strengthenlng a bénéficiai alliance between two free States, has shown me, now

as aiways, that the joys of my house are shared by the nation.

These two paragraphs were composed by Victor Emmanuel and written in his own hand. Signor Minghetti bas preserved the speech as a precious relie of his Gran Rè.

Meantime the Roman question remained in abeyance — to the great détriment of the nation, for it kept Central and Southern Italy in a State of fermentation which the government could not long hold in check. The Bourbon intrigues at Rome, encouraging brigandage in the Two Sicilies, destroyed ail security of life and property, and impeded foreigners from visiting the country. The Emperor of the French, occupying the false position of champion of Italian independence and protector of the temporal power of the Pope, would not do anything, nor let the Italian Government do anything, towards settling the momentous question.

Just at this time an incident occurred which came near exhausting Victor Emmanuel’s patience and causing a rupture with France. Four ruffians having committed ‘deeds of violence, blood, and rapine,’ in Naples, escaped to Rome, where they found a safe asylum, and from thence went on board a French vessel at Civita Vecchia, bound for Marseilles. The Prefect of Genoa, Marquis Gualterio, being aware of this, conceived the bold idea of seizing these félons on his own responsibility. In so doing he knew he was violating a treaty, and he expected to be disovvned by his own government