GARIBALDI.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue I, 14 November 1862, Page 4

GARIBALDI.

„ (From'ttieAA/Saturdqy Review.)

It is a great misfortune that a hero maid be a'foo*. With, ati ordinary cafor reasoning as a) basis for his and activeenergy, Gai-i- - greatest, of that

'*■' • - ■ ' > * * points of aY enemy. HiaHjudgment has sometimes reduced dangers to their true proportions, when cautious advisers would have reconfmended him to abstain from an impracticable enterprise. When he landed at Marsala, and when he afterwards marched oh Naples, the result showed that he had rightly estimated the resistance which he undertook to overcome. # The accident' of loyalty ov courage in a single regiment, or a capricious deviation on the part of the King, from the traditional cowardice of his family, might have batfled his conjectural calculations ; but the game was worth playing when the daring adventurer saw there was a chance of winning, and saw nothing else. It may be urged that in the execution of his -present projects he may once more disappoint expectation ; and, as it is uncertain whether he is aiming at Rome, at Hungary, or at Turkey, it is dfficult to estimate the probability of his success. It is not, however, as an imprudent leader, but as a perversely unconscious rebel, that he is meriting unqualified and universal censure.— The King's proclamation expresses the opinion of every sane politician when it declares that hostilities against foreign powers, undertaken without the authority of the government, . are acts of mutiny and civil war. Having made Italy one, by the annexation of Naples to Piedmont, Garibaldi now attempts to split it into two by setting up in ms own person a despotic independence of the Crown and the Parliament. Heappears to be incapable of understanding that a state is reduced to anarchy if even the greatest of subjects can overrule the policy of government. A direct attempt at revolution might be consistent with a devotion to national unity, but a claim to exercise individual discretion in questions of peace or war is incompatible with any intelligible form of loyalty. If Garibaldi were versed in ancient history, he would know lhat tyrants were private persons who relied on their popularity and military reputation to supersede the regular magistracy of the State. It was because they disregarded the law, and not because their power was necessarily misused, that the class of usurpers became so hateful to free populations, that their distinctive name has become hateful to posterity. la acknowledging the rightful existence of a Government whicli he at the same time refuses to obey. Garibaldi, if he is less criminal, is more illogical than Pisistralus or Dionysius. A defective reasoning faculty leaves a vacancy to be supplied hy some alien im- I pulse, and at present Mazzini, by means of his emissaries, thinks for Garibaldi. The passive hero, like the slave of the ring or of the lamp, impartially obeys the successive masters who have the luck or the skill to get possession of his intellect. Aladdin orders thegeniousto build araarvellous palace, and the edilice of the Italian Monarchy springs from the ground; but when the wicked magician, Mazzini, has the opportunity of commanding in his turn, the costly fabric is exposed to sudden and wanton destruction. It is much to be wished that the miraculous camp could once more be safely deposited on its shelf at Caprera. Katazzi knew its virtues, and took it down ; but he failed to keep it to himself. The King may, perhaps, by his personal intervention once more snatch it from the hands of his adversary. It is necessary that the Italian Government should prove to the world that it can maintain its supremacy at home, and it would be far more desirable that Garibaldi should be talked over than that his inchoate rebellion should be suppressed by force. His enlistments of troops for an unknown object are incompatible with order or with civilisation. If one general can go to war on his own account, a dozen rivals may claim the same privilege, and even without foreign intervention Italy may sink to the degraded condition of Mexico. Garibaldi bimselr, probably intends only to assail those whom he regards as the foreign enemies of his country; but the royal troops cannot allow him to march on Rome or on the Austrian provinces without a resistance which will be the commencement of a civil war. In conniving at the Sicilian expedition, the Government of Turin tried a dangerous experiment which cannot be converted into a precedent. A.ft.r *:'..- --landino-at Maraaia, the northern s;,mp a - ihlsers formed a part of the insurgent army, and the Piedmonteese Government was not then bound lo interfere for the protection of the Napoli tan throne. In a war for the possession of Rome or Venice it would be impossible to maintain even temporary and ostensible neutrality. The only enterprise which would not call for immediate interference would he an invasion of the Austrian provinces on the eastern side of the Adriatic. As the auxiliary of a Hungarian insurrection, Garibaldi would once mire became, as in Cicily, a private adventurer, without incurring at the^ same time the guilt of rebellion against his own government. There is no reason to suppose that such an expedition has been m ditated, or that itis practicable, but there would be a certain ingenuity in preparing an attack on Austria hy irrelevant vituperation of the Emperor of the French. The Italian Parliament is nearly unuanimous in rejecting the pretensions of a subject to place himself above the law. There can be little doubt that the sound part of the population, especially in the North, will approve the vigorous measures which have been adopted to suppress the nascent rebellion. Even in Sicily, the applause which greeted the insane speeches of the former Liberator has not, to any considerable extent, translated itself into overt acts. A few foolish young men have seized some muskets belonging to the National Guard, and Garibaldi has disgraced himself by visiting their encampment and sanctioning the outrage they had committed There is reasons to hope that by this time the insurgents have surrendered to the royal troops, and if their leader will take warning by the failure of his attempt, all parties will concur in allowing him a somewhat irregular impunity. In the course of a few weeks he has almost compensated his enemies for all the damage which they formerly suffered at his hands. The Papal Court would not have exchanged the Sicilian agitation for half a dozen Irish brigades, or for a fresh batch of promises of French support. Austria sees the Italian army employed in suppressing civil commotions instead of threatening the frontier ; and the dreaded enemy, who was thought lo have the secret of raising the population, is the object of suspicion and repression to the government which he lately served. Fven the Emperor of the French has acquired a new hold on Ratazzi and on Victor Em manuel ; and his worn-out Gxcuses for holding Rome are freshened up by the proof which has been afforded that the Italian government is not yet strong enough to defy anarchy and revolution. England alone, which has, with a steadfast cordiality, rejoicid in the growth of Italian independence, laments the partial disappointment of the hopes which rested in some^degree bh Garibaldi's loyalty. The attainment ; of ; Rome and 'Venice has been removed by his /criminal rashness to ;. an indefihate distance. His best officers, |j^dici»Sirtori; and Bixio, mourn over

his delusion, and warn their country m eh against cotnplicty with his designs. The regret of all his friends, the exultation of all the enemies of his country, ought' to rouse him at last to the true character of his present counsellors., -1 The enemies of freedom and of right can, scarcely be blamed if they improve the' occasion by showing that the conqueror of Sicily is now in arms against the { governnient of .Victor Emmanuel. The practical force of their argument will be dependent'-oh the Extent and contiuance of the disturbances, which will, it may be hoped.be suppressed without an actual collision. Some equivalent for the loss of Garibaldi's services may be furnished by the experimental proof that the Government can defy evert the most formidable competitor. If Garibaldi can be safely coerced there will be litte reason to fear the malignant activity of Mazzini. The whole transaction illustrates the imbecile inco herence of modern revolutionary doctrines* Garibaldi's prompters belong to the faction which attempted to detach Genoa from Piedmont at a time when Florence and Naples, Modena, Parma, and Bologna still belonged: to anti-national dynasties. Under the idle pretext of a proposed march upon Rome, they now desire to alienate the nation and the army from their allegiance to Victor Emmanuel. Preference of a particular form of government to national independence is the worst species of treason ; and it is characteristic of Garibaldi that, although he is an accomplice in the Republican conspiracy, he has never understood the nature of his acts, nor has he repudiated his allegiance to the Crown. The few Sicilians who have joined the insurgent cause may in some degree be excusable for twisting in the leader to whom they owe their emancipation ; and when the agitation is effectually suppressed Garibaldi himself may be pardoned, because he is Garibaldi.