Evening POST

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 50, 27 August 1932, Page 12

Evening POST

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1932,

GARIBALDI AND NAPOLEON

Referring to the celebrations of die fiftieth anniversary of the death of Garibaldi arranged for the 2nd June, the Milan correspondent of "The Times" reported that there were still four survivors of the famous Thousand with whom he marched in May, 1860, from Marsala to Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and within two months made himself master of the island.^ On this statement "The Times" commented editorially as follows:— There must be many elderly persons in England who remember the tumultuous days of Garibaldi's visit to London in _ 1864. , Probably no foreigner ever enjoyed such a reception. It was more than a regal entry, though it may be a little difficult now to believe in the possibilities of such fervour. In describing Garibaldi's welcome in London as "more than a regal entry" "The Times" is borrowing a phrase from Lord Morley, who in his "Life of Gladstone" has given us a memorable description of the great occasion, of which he was probably an eye-witness. The strong sympathies of the British people with the Italians in their struggle for liberty and. unity had ensured this romantic figure a great reception from the moment of his landing at Southampton on the 3rd April, 1864. Though the visit was of course unofficial it was not without the possibility of diplomatic difficulties for the Government, but while the Government deliberated, the populacej as Morley says, "took the thing into their own hands." , London, he continues, has seldom beheld a spectacle more extraordinary or more moving. The hero in the red snirt ana blue-grey cloak long associa*ea in. the popular niindwith so many thrilling stories of which they had been told, drove from the railway at Vaushall ,to Stafford House, the noblest of ths private palaces of the capital, aniid vast continuous multitudes, blocking roadways, filling windows, lining every parapet and roof with eager gazers. For five hours Garibaldi passed on amid tumultuous waves of passionate curiosity, delight, enthusiasm. And this more than regal entry was the arrival not of some loved prince or triumphant captain of our own, but of a foreigner and the deliverer •of a foreign people. Some were drawn, by his daring as a fighter, and by the picturesque figure as of a .hero of antique mould; many by sight of the sworn foe of giant Pope; but what fired _the hearts of most was the thought' of him as the soldier who bore the sword of human freedom. The western world' was in one of its generous moments. In those days there • were idealists; democracy was conscious of common interests and common brotherhood; a liberal Europe was then a force and not a dream. The impression thus made by Garibaldi upon the popular imagination may be supplemented "by the testimony of. the greatest of Liberal statesmen based upon a closer acquaintance. For more than ten years Gladstone had been cooperating with Garibaldi in the cause of Italian unity, but they had never met before. We who then saw Garibaldi for the first time, said Gladstone on tho 2nd June, 1883, can many of us never forget the marvellous effect produced upon all minds by the simple nobility of his demeanour, by, his manners ana his acts. . . . Besides his splendid integrity and his wide and universal sympathies, besides that seductive simplicity of manner which never departed from him, and that inborn and native grace which seemed to attend all his actions, I would almost select from every other quality this, which was in apparent contrast but real harmony in Garibaldi—the union of the most profound and tender humanity with his fiery valour. In these days of a morbid pacifism which is apt to blame the soldier for what is really the work of the politician, a story told by Garibaldi to Gladstone which may be said to prove that this brilliant soldier was at heart a pacifist is worth repeatnlo- _ When Garibaldi was a schoolboy in Genoa it was a great military post, and the constant parades and military display with bands and flags were a great attraction to his mates, but he never went to one. It struck me then, he said, as a matter of pain and horror that it should be necessary that one portion of mankind should be set aside- to have fo- their profession, the business of destroying others. This common detestation of war naturally increased Gladstone's admiration for one whom he described as "a most singularly simple, disinterested, and heroic character, who I had achieved great things for Italy, for liberty well-understood, and even for mankind." But Gladstone's intense admiration for Garibaldi did not prevent him from seeing the delicate problems that the visit raised for the Government of which he was a member. I do not know what persons in ofßce aro to do with him, he wrote to Palmerston about a week before Garibaldi arrived, but you will lead, and we shall follow suit. Neither Viscount Palmerston, however, nor his Foreign Secretary, Earl

Russell, seems to have been as much concerned about the matter as the Chancellor of the Exchequer. They both entertained Garibaldi, but at the same time they were both at some pains to convince a vigilant critic at Windsor that all was well. Morley mentions a rumour that Queen Victoria had declared herself "for the j first time half ashamed of being the [head of a nation capable of such j follies." The publication of her I correspondence has since proved that | rumour was not far from the mark, for the following letter was included |in it: — Windsor Castle, 13th April, 1864.— ... The Queen much regrets the extravagant excitement respecting Garibaldi, which shows little dignity and discrimination in the nation, and is not very flattering to others who aro similarly received. The Queen fears that_ the Government may find Garibaldi's views and convictions no little cause of inconvenience with foreign Governments hereafter, and trusts they will be cautious in what they do for him in their official capacity. 'Brave and honest though he is, he has ever been a revolutionist leader. The Queen's censure presents a striking contrast to the enthusiasm of the nation, and it is of special injterest to note that one of her subjects who must be taken to have been hit by it, since he had visited I Garibaldi, was the Prince of Wales. But, as usual, her advice was wise, and since Garibaldi can- ! celled the engagements he had made for speeches in thirty towns and left [the country sooner than he had in- ! tended, we may reasonably infer that lit was also effective. j It was doubtless the French Government that Queen Victoria had particularly in view when she spoke of the foreign complications that might arise from the .idolising of Garibaldi. Among the "strange agents of liberty and progress" who had worked for the emancipation of Italy Morley gives a high place to Napoleon, 111, head of the most corrupt and essentially worthless Government that a great nation ever chose or endured . . . heir of some of the political brain and all tho contempt for scruple of his uncle, the mighty soldier of whom Talleyrand said that he was immorality incarnate. In the war against Austria in 1859 he had rendered the Italian cause an invaluable service by helping to defeat its most formidable enemy. Two years later the whole of Italy was united under Victor Emmanuel except Rome and Venice, but it was largely through the hostility of France that the inclusion of Rome, without which, as Castelar said Italy was "a headless body,", was delayed for nine years. If the final triumph of the cause may nevertheless be assigned to Napoleon 111, it was through an undesigned and involuntary service. Outmanoeuvred .by Bismarck into the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and outgeneralled by Moltke and his staff, he concluded a series of defeats, by surrendering at Sedan with an army of 80,000 men on the 2nd September. Under these conditions there were no French troops to spare to fight the battles of the Papacy, and the troops of Victor Emmanuel made a bloodless entry into Rome on the 20th September, 1870. ..' The two greatest achievements in unification of our time—the conversion of Italy and Germany from geographical v expressions into great nations—may be said to have been consummated by Napoleon the Little when he lost the Battle of Sedan.