UNE FAMILLE ITALIENNE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2281, 15 April 1868, Page 3

UNE FAMILLE ITALIENNE.

Under the above designation the Sieck publishes the following most striking nurrative " Tlicy were two sisters; one had two sons, and the other five. They were daughters of a Councillor of State of the former kingdom of Sardinia, by name Count Bocco. One of the sisters, of a lofty nature and great qualities, married a professor of reputation belonging to the University of Pa via, Cairoli, who in 1848 devoted a large portion of his fortune to the support of the national cause, was elected by his fellow citizens Podesta of Pavia, and died of grief at the disaster of Novaro. The husband of Madame Cairoli had given to his country his property and his labours; the five sons gave their blood, one after the other, as they grew up, and as the occasion arrived. The eldest, Benedetto, an advocate, and since become colonel, enrolled at the ago of eighteen as a common soldier in the Lombard Legion, and was wounded a firat time in 1848, before Peschiera. From tlmt period lie was always one of the first to take up arms for the same cause, and he attached himself inviolably to the fortunes of Garibaldi. In the great expedition to Sicily, in 1860, lie was one of the seven leaders of the Thousand. Although ho received at the capture of Palermo, a wound from which he has never thoroughly recovered, and although almost invalided, lie nevertheless tonk an active part, as major-general of Garibaldi's corps, in that campaign in the Tyrol which in the eyes of enlightened man, perhaps honours the Liberator of Naples more than his more striking successes. Benedetto Cairoli is now one of the most distinguished members of the Left in

the Florence Chamber of Deputies. The second of the five brothers, Ernesto, who commenced, like the eldest, the study of the law, enrolled himself in his turn, among the volunteers of 1859. At Varese he waa the first of Garibaldi's followers who paid for victory with their lives. He fell, struck to the heart and in the head, by two Austrian bullets. The third brother, Luigi, an engineer, a young man who shewed great aptitude for the mathematical seicncos, was not at first one of the Thousand; but he soon left the mother whom he adored, and a young lady he was about to be married to, in order to join his eldest brother in the campaign of Sicily and Naples. He died from the fatigues nf a forced march under the sun of Calabria. The fourth son, Rnrico, had studied medicine with brilliant success, a career in which his father had acquired a great reputation ; four of these brothers were intended for civil professions, and like the ancients, they saw in war only a sacrifice to their country, not a means of livelihood. He left in 1859 with thii Chasseurs of the Alps, in whose ranks, as we have said, one of ln's brothers met his death at Varese, In 1860, he was one of the Thousand, under his brother Benedetto. He was severely wounded at the side of the latter, and at the same time as he, at the capture of Palermo. Recovered from the wound, he obtained the rank of major in that campaign, and, like Benedetto, acquired in the highest degree the esteem and friendship of Garibaldi, and bee ime one of the most intrepid lieutenents, a3 the Univers itself has recently said in relating the events of the late engagement. Enrico Cairoli had pushed on with seventy volunteers, as far as the gates of Rome, and there, while about to penetrate into the Eternal city, and surrounded by a body of Pontifical Zouaves, he fought with his companions until they were all killed, wounded, or made prisoners. He was among those who died; his youngest brother, Giovanni, was wounded, hit by two balls, which, however, failed to kill him. This fifth of the sons of Cairoli had attained, notwithstanding his extreme youth, the rank of captain of artillery in the Italian army, which position he resigned to follow Enrieo among the volunteers. Up to within a few days back nothing had been heard of the fate of Giovanni Cairoli. His eldest brother, the only one of the five that is not now either dead or a prisoner, has not been able to learn or discover anything respecting him. What is certain is, that this mother of sorrows, who is wailing at Belgirata, close by the tombs of her three other children, is as yet ignorant as to whether her youngest is recovering or ha j died in the Roman hospital. This woman, with bleeding heart but soul immoveable, still lives, under all these blows, like the mother of the Gracchi. Her sister, Madame Cavallini, weaker and more fortunate, did not survive the loss of her two sons, who lived and died like their cousins. One was killed last year at Custozza, and the other died during the same campaign in the Garibaldinn ranks in the Tyrol. This iscertainly a most brilliant instance of devotedness, but still only one among many of what is to be met with in Italian families. We have encountered in Milan society more than one mother in mourning for sons whom she had not only allowed to go, hut had sent to the field of battle,