The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany Part 8

The cantons which entered into this concordat were Bern, Zurich, Luzern, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Aargau, and Thurgau. This league was considered by its opponents to be a violation of the Swiss Confederation, though the champions of it would probably have pleaded its purely defensive character. But the Roman Catholic party felt themselves justified in retaliation; and they formed, in November, 1832, an opposition league called the Sarnerbund. This Bund steadily set itself to oppose reform; but the men of Schwytz, who were at that time its leading spirits, did not confine themselves to argument, but invaded Luzern in 1833. Thereupon the Diet interfered, occupied Schwytz, and dissolved the Sarnerbund. The reforming party now began to spread their ideas, and the new University of Zurich, which was founded at this time, became a fresh centre of intellectual life. The fugitives from other countries gathered more and more to Switzerland, and the excitement roused in that country by Mazzini's expedition to Savoy led to the foundation of a society called Young Europe.

The great object to which the reforming party in Switzerland now devoted its attention was the breaking down of the authority of the clergy, and the placing education and marriage under the State instead of under the Church. Their scheme was embodied in fourteen articles which excited the indignation of the Roman Catholic cantons; on the appeal of the Roman Catholics to Gregory XVI., he declared these articles heretical; and a little later Louis Philippe intervened to prevent the canton of Bern from enforcing them in the Roman Catholic district of the Jura.

The struggle had now risen to great bitterness; and, at this period, the bitterness was much intensified by the domestic character of the quarrel. The Radical party and the Roman Catholic party struggled fiercely against each other in several of the cantons; and there were changes in the government, backwards and forwards, which temporarily affected the contest. The two changes, however, which were of a permanent character, and which had a vital effect on the destinies of Switzerland, were that which took place in 1838 in Bern and that in Luzern in 1841. Bern, though reckoned, on the whole, among the Liberal cantons, in consequence of its undoubted Protestantism, was yet under the control of a timid and moderate party. This may have arisen from the fact of its important position in the Confederation; for though Bern divided at this time with Luzern and Zurich the honour of being the meeting-place of the Diet, yet it seems to have a.s.sumed, even at this period, a certain superior and initiative tone.

Whether it was due to the sense of responsibility inspired by this position, or to some other cause, certain it is that the tone adopted by the Government of Bern in matters of foreign policy by no means satisfied the sterner Radicals of Switzerland. The proposal of Bern for an anti-revolutionary proclamation in 1830 had been defeated by the protest of Zurich; but when in 1838 Bern considered, not unfavourably, the demand for the expulsion of a refugee, the Radicals became furious.

This was one among many instances of that curious irony of history by which great principles have to be a.s.serted in defence of persons who are in themselves unworthy of protection; for the exile, whose surrender was now demanded by Louis Philippe, was Louis Napoleon Buonaparte, who had recently made his attempt on Strasburg. But the Radicals of Bern rightly felt that the principle of asylum was more important than the character of any particular refugee; and when Louis Napoleon left Switzerland to avoid being surrendered, the reforming party rose in indignation, and Bern became the centre of determined Radicalism from that time. The change in Luzern seems to have been due to an extension of the suffrage which threw the power more distinctly into the hands of the Roman Catholics, who were a majority in the canton; and thus Luzern became the centre of the Roman Catholic movement.

But before that change had taken place, new elements of bitterness had been introduced into the discussion. Neuhaus, the new leader of the Bern Government, had been chosen president of the Confederation; and he had used the troops of the Confederation to help the Aargau Protestants in suppressing the monasteries in that canton. The majority of the Swiss Diet had, however, been unwilling to support Neuhaus in this action, and had even condemned the suppression of the Aargau monasteries. The Aargau Protestants, however, had refused to yield, except as to the restoration of two very small monasteries. The feeling on both sides had now risen to its highest point, and on September 13th, 1843, the six cantons of Luzern, Uri, Schwytz, Unterwalden, Zug, and Freyburg formed the alliance known as the Sonderbund. They appealed to the old treaties on which the Confederation was founded, and maintained that even the terms of the Confederation fixed by the Treaty of Vienna had not been observed in the matter of the protection of the rights of the Roman Catholics.

The compromise to which the Diet had a.s.sented in the Aargau question, and their non-interference on behalf of some monasteries at Thurgau, excited a special protest from the Sonderbund, and they demanded that the Diet should set these things to rights. So far the Sonderbund could scarcely be logically condemned by those who had joined the Protestant Concordat of Seven in 1832. But the Roman Catholic cantons went on to say that, if their demands were rejected, they would consider that the principles of the Confederation were so completely violated that they would secede from it.

The formation of the Sonderbund excited their opponents; and it was declared that France, Austria, and the Pope were intriguing against Switzerland. The Jesuits, as usual, were supposed to be the centre of the intrigues; and the cry was raised that they ought to be expelled from the Confederation. Hitherto they had chiefly settled in Schwytz and Freyburg; but it was believed that if a cry rose against them they would become less safe in those cantons; and Luzern, as one of the three chief towns of the Confederation, was supposed to be a safer resting-place; therefore, on September 12th, 1844, the a.s.sembly of Luzern pa.s.sed a resolution inviting the Jesuits to settle in Luzern.

Strange to say, Bern and Zurich had somewhat changed places during this period; for while the indignation against the former Government of Bern, caused by their abandonment of the right of asylum, had produced a strong and permanent Radical feeling in that canton, the bitter hostility to Christianity shown by some of the leading Radicals of Zurich had, on the other hand, scandalized the more moderate Liberals, and produced a Government less keenly Radical than that which now ruled in Bern. At this crisis, unfortunately, the Government of Bern took a step which could scarcely have tended to the order and unity of Switzerland. They appointed a committee to attack the Jesuits, and organized volunteer regiments, which they despatched against Luzern. And the want of confidence in the central power, which had been proclaimed by the Sonderbund, seemed to be almost justified by the action of the Diet at their next meeting; for that body, while condemning the Bernese volunteers, refused to take any steps to hinder their march. The attack of the volunteers was, however, successfully repelled by Luzern; and the Sonderbund soon after proceeded to form a council of war for its own protection.

In the meantime, Metternich had become more and more alarmed at the progress of affairs in Switzerland. The defeat of the efforts of Austria and Sardinia to defend the Conservative cause in the Ticino, and the subsequent alliance between the Ticinese and Charles Albert, had strengthened the fears which had been previously aroused in the Austrian Government by the shelter given by the Swiss to the European Revolutionists. Even in 1845 Metternich had despatched troops to the frontier of Switzerland; he looked upon the struggle of the Catholic cantons as a means for carrying out his policy of weakening the union of Switzerland; and, through the help of Solaro della Margherita, he succeeded in rousing Charles Albert's sympathies for the cause of the Sonderbund. But to others he frankly said that he was not fighting in the least for the Jesuits--"They do not make us hot or cold;" and instead of resting his appeal to the Diet on so doubtful a ground, he earnestly entreated Louis Philippe to prevent the violent subst.i.tution of a unitary and propagandist government "for the cantonal government of Switzerland."

To say the truth, it was for the stability of Austrian government in Italy that Metternich was now alarmed; and Mentz had warned him that a strong and united government in Switzerland would be dangerous to Austria in Lombardy. When, then, the election of a Radical government by the canton of St. Gallen made the character of the coming Swiss Diet tolerably certain, Metternich thought that the time had come for decided action; and he desired that before the meeting of the Diet, Austria, France, Russia, and Prussia should declare that they would not suffer cantonal authority to be violated. England, however, Metternich well knew would be opposed to him. Ever since the recognition of Greek independence in 1830 Metternich had become aware that a statesman had arisen in England who, though inferior to Canning in width of sympathy and capacity for sudden and ready action, yet was Canning's equal in strength of will, and in the thorough grasp of the two convictions that Const.i.tutionalism was better than Despotism, and that Metternich was a dangerous politician who should always be opposed.

Palmerston, indeed, had not accomplished any such brilliant stroke of foreign policy as the breaking up of the Holy Alliance, or the defeat of Absolutism in Portugal, and had only played a late and subordinate part in the Greek question. But he had helped to save Belgium from the clutches both of France and Holland. He had uttered as decided a protest as was, perhaps, possible to him, against the Frankfort Decrees. And he had recently intimated plainly his opinion about the annexation of Cracow. The occupation of Ferrara had not at that time taken place; but Palmerston's utterance about the Treaty of Vienna on the Po had sufficiently indicated to Metternich the line which English feeling was taking with regard to Italian policy. But, though certain of the hostility of Palmerston, Metternich fully hoped to counterbalance that danger by securing France to his side. With Guizot he had long been on terms of cordial friends.h.i.+p; and each had sympathized with the other in various points of their political career. But, unfortunately for Metternich, in the Italian question Guizot had not seemed entirely sympathetic with Austria; for the Lombard exile, Pellegrino Rossi, who was now French amba.s.sador at Rome, was the special friend and _protege_ of Guizot; and as it was primarily for the sake of Austrian rule in Italy that Metternich cared about the Swiss question, he might find that here, too, French opinion did not coincide with Austrian.

It soon appeared that Louis Philippe shrank from an alliance with Austria. He declared that any declaration by the four Powers, instead of hindering any outburst in Switzerland might hasten it; and Guizot was directed to propose that, instead of a common action by the four Powers, Austria should undertake alone the defence of the Sonderbund, France merely occupying some position in the territory of the Confederation. Metternich, however, remembered that during the intervention in the Papal States, in 1831-2, a French general had seized on Ancona, and had attempted a demonstration there, at first of a Republican character, and throughout entirely anti-Austrian. And he feared that, if he consented to Guizot's proposal, the French Radicals might turn the occupation of Swiss territory to their advantage.

While France and Austria were thus wasting their time in wrangling, the Swiss Diet met. Ochsenbein, an even more energetic man than Neuhaus, had been chosen President of the Confederation; and on the 20th July, 1847, the Diet had declared that the Sonderbund was incompatible with the Treaty of Confederation. This was speedily followed by the dismissal from the service of the Confederation of all those who held office in the cantons of the Sonderbund; and finally, in September, the Diet decreed that the a.s.semblies of Luzern, Schwytz, Freyburg, and Valais should be invited to expel the Jesuits from their territory. The Sonderbund probably felt that a direct military resistance to the whole forces of the Diet would be hopeless, and therefore they resolved to make a separate attack on some of the smaller cantons. With this view they prepared to march their troops from Luzern against Aargau, which they considered one of the centres of Protestant tyranny; and about the same time the canton of Uri resolved to invade the Ticino. In both these cases the Sonderbund hoped to rouse a popular insurrection on their side, but in this they were singularly mistaken.

Previously to 1815 Uri had exercised a special authority over Ticino, and had used it to thrust in German officials in place of Italian. The Treaty of Vienna had secured Ticino from these tyrannies; but the Ticinese remembered them, and resented this new invasion. The troops of Uri were indeed able to gain one or two successes; but the people of Ticino rose against them, and, after a short, sharp struggle, succeeded in driving them out of the canton. The expedition to Aargau proved equally unsuccessful, and, in the meantime, the Federal Diet was organizing its forces under the command of General Dufour, a Genevese.

They resolved that Freyburg, as the nearest of the Sonderbund cantons to Bern, and as geographically separated off from its allies, should be the first object of attack; and on November 7, Rilliet, the commander of the first division of the Federal forces, issued the following order of the day to his troops:--

"You are the first Federal troops who have entered the Freyburg territory. Your bearing at this moment will give the tone to the whole division. Consider that you are entering on a Federal territory, that you are marching against members of the Federation, who for centuries have been your friends, and will be so again. Consider that they are rather misled than guilty. Consider that they are neighbours, and that you ought to be fighting under the same flag. Therefore be moderate; refute the slanders of those who are driving them on. Listen not to false rumours, nor to foolish provocations to violence. Listen only to your leaders, and leave to your opponents the responsibility of having fired the first shot against the Federal flag. Soldiers! I rely on you as on myself; and do you trust in G.o.d, who marches before the flag of good, right, and honour."

To the Freyburger Rilliet appealed to receive the Federal troops as brothers and friends, and as obeying the G.o.d whom Protestants and Catholics alike wors.h.i.+p. "Lay down your arms," he said, "not before us, but before our flag, which is yours also."

These appeals were not without result. At one of the first towns at which the Federal troops arrived in the canton of Freyburg, the townsfolk threw off the authority of the Cantonal Boards, raised the Federal flag, and admitted the Federal troops. Two slight skirmishes took place after this between the Federal forces and those of the canton; but the former were easily victorious. On November 12 the Federal troops appeared before the town of Freyburg; and on the 14th it was surrendered to them. Large numbers of the citizens received them with cries of "Long live the Confederates! Down with the Sonderbund! Down with the Jesuits!"

The leaders of the Sonderbund at Luzern were startled at this sudden collapse, and resolved to apply for foreign help; and it was on November 15, 1847, that the descendants of Reding and Winkelried appealed to the descendants of Leopold of Hapsburg for help against their fellow-confederates.

Metternich would gladly have intervened; and he hastened to a.s.sure the Sonderbund that the Emperor of Austria considered their cause a just one. Still, however, he desired the co-operation of France; but Guizot hesitated, and when Palmerston announced that any demonstration in favour of the Sonderbund would be met by a counter-demonstration by England on the side of the Federal Diet, the French Government distinctly refused to have any share in intervention.

In the meantime the Sonderbund was rapidly breaking down. The Protestant party had gained the upper hand in the little canton of Zug, and persuaded the Government to surrender to the Diet even before the Federal troops had appeared in the canton. The occupation of Zug was speedily followed by a march to Luzern. On November 23 the Federal troops encountered the forces of Luzern and drove them back after a sharp fight. On the following day the War Council of the Sonderbund fled from Luzern and the Federal troops entered it. After this defeat there was no further serious resistance; by November 29 the last canton of the Sonderbund had surrendered to the Diet, and on December 7 the Diet pa.s.sed a formal resolution refusing to admit any mediation from the Great Powers. So ended the Sonderbund war; and whatever harshness the Diet and the Protestant cantons may have shown in the earlier part of the struggle towards their Catholic neighbours, they had at least consistently upheld the principle of national independence, and by their vigour and determination they had saved the unity of Switzerland and defeated Metternich.

Nor were these the only defeats which the ruler of Europe sustained in the year 1847. In Germany, too, there were signs that the old system was giving way. Metternich, indeed, had hoped that the King of Prussia had been about to abandon the policy which he had followed from 1840 to 1843; for in 1846 a meeting had taken place between Metternich and the King in which Frederick William had shown signs of alarm at the popular movement. But this change of feeling had been only temporary, for an event had occurred soon after which had given a new impulse to German national feeling, and re-awakened thereby the popular sympathies of the King of Prussia.

On July 8, 1846, the King of Denmark, Christian VIII., issued a proclamation in which he declared that he should consider the provinces of his Crown as forming one sole and same State. This was felt to be undoubtedly aimed at the independence of Schleswig-Holstein.

That Duchy had, since the middle of the fifteenth century, been recognized as a separate province, of which the King of Denmark was duke (till that time Schleswig had been a fief of Denmark and Holstein of Germany). In the seventeenth century a practically absolute Government had been established in Denmark; but in 1830 the liberties of that country had been restored, and soon after a cry had arisen from some of the Radical party at Copenhagen in favour of the conquest of Schleswig.

But the object of the popular party and that of the King were entirely unlike; the Democratic party desiring to a.s.sert what they considered a national principle by the separation of Schleswig from Holstein and its absorption in Denmark; the King wis.h.i.+ng to absorb Schleswig-Holstein whole into the Danish dominions, without consideration for anything but selfish aggrandizement. As a compromise between his own aims and those of the people of Copenhagen, Christian, in 1831, conceded separate a.s.semblies to Holstein and Schleswig; but he had followed this up by steadily trying to Danize the Duchies. Danish officers were introduced into their army and navy, even into their private s.h.i.+ps; Danish teachers were appointed in the University of Kiel; the liberty of the Press was continually interfered with, and arms were removed from the forts of Schleswig-Holstein to Copenhagen. Thus it became evident that the proclamation of July, 1846, was merely another step towards the complete denationalization of the Duchies.

Metternich was in a difficult position. On the one hand he was bound by the Treaty of Vienna to a.s.sert the rights of Austria to protect Holstein as a member of the German Confederation; on the other hand he knew that by so doing he was strengthening that German national feeling which he so much dreaded. "In the University of Heidelberg,"

wrote Metternich, "in the munic.i.p.al councils of German towns, in the gatherings of professors and of choral societies, the cry is being raised for the Fatherland." The professors of Heidelberg had sent a special address to the Holsteiners, and it was clear on every side that German sentiment was rising to boiling point. Under these circ.u.mstances Metternich tried to steer between the dangers of encouraging popular feeling and that of neglecting to a.s.sert the legal influence of Austria. Finally, he persuaded the Federal Diet, on September 17, 1846, to pa.s.s two resolutions--First, that, apart from his letter of July 8, the King of Denmark should respect all the rights which he had promised to respect in a private letter of August 22; but, secondly, that, "while the Confederation pays just honour to the patriotic sentiments shown on this occasion by the Confederated German States, it regrets the pa.s.sionate accusations and irritations which were produced by this circ.u.mstance."

So for the moment Metternich hoped to stave off the natural results of this outburst of popular feeling. But he could not prevent the effect which that outburst would produce on the more impressionable character of the King of Prussia. One of those who had had much opportunity of observing that king remarked that whoever was a favourite with him for the time and managed to indulge his fancies had the game in his own hands; and the Ministers who then enjoyed the confidence of Frederick William were eager to encourage him in complying with the popular feeling. So, in spite of Metternich's warnings, the King of Prussia, in January, 1847, had summoned to Berlin the representatives of all the Provincial Estates to discuss affairs. "The King," said Princess Metternich, "has promulgated this Const.i.tution without force and without virtue, which is nothing to-day, but which to-morrow may change into thunder and destroy the Kingdom."

But the concessions which the King of Prussia was making only embodied a feeling which was stirring in various parts of Germany. A terrible famine in Silesia was quickening the desire of the poorer cla.s.ses for some change in their condition; the booksellers and literary men were uttering various demands for freedom of the Press; and when a meeting of the Baden Liberals at Offenburg tried to formulate these demands, the organizers of the meeting were threatened with a prosecution which never took place.

Such, then, was Metternich's position towards the close of 1847; discredited as a champion of legality by the annexation of Cracow, looked on with suspicion by many orthodox Catholics in consequence of his attempt on Ferrara, his power as a ruler and his reputation as a diplomatist alike weakened by the result of the Sonderbund war. The result of these various failures was seen in the att.i.tude both of kings and peoples. The King of Prussia was breaking loose from Metternich's control; France was suspicious and England hostile; Charles Albert was a.s.suming more and more an att.i.tude of defiance to Austria; the Pope was drifting gradually into the position of a champion of Italian Liberty; German national feeling, which Metternich had hoped to stamp out in 1834, was bubbling up into new life under the triple influence of the Schleswig-Holstein question, the King of Prussia's reforms, and the growing Liberalism of Saxony and Baden; while Hungary, which had seemed hopelessly divided, was gradually solidifying into opposition to Austrian rule. Such were the chief points in the spectacle which presented itself to Metternich as he looked upon Europe. Yet he was far indeed from thinking of yielding in the struggle, or of abandoning in the slightest degree his faith in his great system. He was still prepared to crush Switzerland and Charles Albert, to lead back the Pope and the King of Prussia into wiser courses, to quench the spirit of German enthusiasm, to wear out Hungarian opposition, to recover the friends.h.i.+p of France, and to defy the enmity of England. Such results seemed still possible when, in an Italian island to which Metternich had not recently given much attention, there first broke out that revolutionary fire which, under judicious guidance, was to spread over Europe and overthrow the system of Metternich.

FOOTNOTE:

[7] I feel that some explanation is needed for the rejection of what was once one of the most deeply-rooted traditions among all Liberals who interested themselves in the politics of this period. I must, therefore, state that my chief authority for my account of the paralysis of the Austrian Government in the Galician insurrection, and their consequent innocence of any organized ma.s.sacre, is Dr. Herbst, the well-known leader of the German Liberals in the Austrian Reichstag, who was in Galicia at the time of the insurrection.

CHAPTER VI.

FIRST MUTTERINGS OF THE STORM. SEPTEMBER, 1847-MARCH, 1848.

State of Naples and Sicily under Ferdinand II.--The birds and the King.--The conspiracy.--The September rising and its results.--Christmas in Naples.--The 12th of January in Palermo.--The insurrection spreads to Naples.--The first Const.i.tution of 1848.--The effect in Rome--in Tuscany--in Genoa.--The editors of Turin.--"Voleva e non voleva."--The government of Milan.--The Milanese view of their rulers.--Count Gabrio Casati--Ficquelmont.--The "Panem et Circenses"

policy.--Giambattista Nazari--His speech in the Congregation.--Its effect.--Rainieri and Spaur on Nazari.--The grievances of different parts of Lombardy.--Condition of Venetia.--Charles Bonaparte in Venice.--Daniele Manin.--Niccolo Tommaseo.--Manin's programme.--Moncenigo's treachery.--Manin's imprisonment.--The tobacco ma.s.sacres at Milan.--Their effect.--Metternich's programme of Italian reform.--"Viva il sangue Palermitano!"--The "Administrators" in Hungary.--The programme of Kossuth and Deak.--The Const.i.tutional victories in Hungary.--State of Vienna.--The division of cla.s.ses.--The ruling trio.--Effect of Ferdinand's accession in Vienna.--The "Lese-Verein."--Hye-Andrian.--Kuranda and Schuselka.--The German movement in Vienna considered morally.--The Archduke John's toast.--The relations between rich and poor.--The anti-Jesuit feeling.--The illegal soup-kitchen.--The "Professional"

opposition.--Die Sibyllinische Bucher.--"The Austrian has no fatherland."--The censors.h.i.+p.--Metternich's policy in Switzerland--in Lombardy.

The failure of the struggles for liberty in Naples and Sicily in 1821 had not prevented continual abortive insurrections from breaking out after that period; and, while these attempts produced no immediate results except the strengthening of tyranny, they were yet gradually teaching Sicilians and Neapolitans the two great lessons of confidence in each other and distrust of the Bourbons. Francis had succeeded to Ferdinand I., and Ferdinand II. again to Francis; and, unless there were some slight variety in the forms of cruelty and tyranny, the change of kings may be said to have brought no change to the peoples whom they governed. Corruption and espionage prevailed both in Naples and Sicily. The only perceptible distinction between those two countries was that the clergy exercised rather more tyranny in Naples, while in Sicily robbery and brigandage were more rife. The Bourbons, like the Hapsburgs, sought to keep alive the disunion between the different races of their subjects, thus hoping to increase their own power; and so Sicilian Ministers were brought to govern Naples, and Neapolitan commissioners sent to Sicily. The desire for reform awakened by the accession of Pius IX. was a bond between all the different countries of Italy, and the King of Naples recognized this by suppressing all newspapers in his dominions that praised Pius IX.

But Ferdinand was not to be left altogether without warning before the blow against his power was actually struck. In June, 1847, he paid a visit to Sicily to inspect the military defences of the island. In visiting Messina he found several statues of himself, but the ears of all of them had been stopped up. The King was alarmed; for, whether he understood or not this significant practical joke, he saw at least that some insult was intended. Perhaps he was able to accept the explanation of his courtiers that "the birds had chosen the ears of the royal statues to build their nests in." At Palermo he received another hint as to the nature of the birds who had paid this homage to royalty, for there he was met by a pet.i.tion for freedom of the Press.

He angrily rejected this request, and refused to make any inquiry into the growing misery of the Sicilians. More soldiers and stronger forts, he considered, were the only needs of the country.

Yet at this very time an insurrection was preparing of a far more dangerous character than the spasmodic outbursts in Messina and Calabria which had disturbed the repose, but scarcely endangered the throne, of Ferdinand's predecessors. The Sicilians and Neapolitans had now learned to act together, and planned a simultaneous rising in Calabria and Sicily. The revolutionists were to march upon the nearest fortified places, and eventually to seize Naples, where they were to proclaim the Unity of Italy. According as circ.u.mstances guided them, they were either to compel the King to accept the Const.i.tution, to depose him in favour of his son, to choose a new dynasty, or, if necessary, to proclaim a Republic; but in any case they were to a.s.sert the unity and independence of Italy.

Some hint of an approaching outbreak seems to have reached the ears of the King or his Ministers; for in August two artillery officers and some other citizens were arrested in Palermo. "But," says La Farina, the Sicilian historian, "nothing could be discovered, since the Sicilians knew better than any nation how to stand firm in preserving silence in all tortures: an ancient virtue not yet destroyed by modern corruption."

The miserable local jealousies which had hindered the former struggles for liberty had for a time disappeared; but there was still in this conspiracy, as in every other, the natural division between the impetuous and the prudent, between the party of speedy action and the party of delay. And while the fiery spirits of Messina and Calabria were eager for an immediate rising, the citizens of the two capitals, Palermo and Naples, were in favour of slower action. At Messina, therefore, the first outbreak took place. On September 1 some officers met at an inn in that town to celebrate the promotion of one of their generals by a dinner. The conspirators seized this opportunity for an outbreak, and surrounded the inn as if from mere curiosity; but when sufficient numbers had gathered they suddenly unfurled the tricolour flag and raised the cries of "Viva Italia!" "Viva Pio Nono!" "Viva la Cost.i.tuzione!" The officers at last became alarmed, and, rus.h.i.+ng out, summoned the soldiers and ordered them to fire. They hesitated to obey, and listened to the appeal of the conspirators, who urged their common cause and the duty of Neapolitans and Sicilians to stand together against their common oppressor. Discipline, however, proved stronger than patriotism; the soldiers fired, and several Sicilians fell, amongst them Giovanni Grillo, the youth who had played the part of the birds in stopping the ears of the King's statues.

The insurgents retreated; but a shoemaker named Sciva, who was at work near the scene of action, left his shop and rushed forward to rally them; and a priest named Kriny also fought gallantly in their ranks.

The movement, however, had been too hastily organized; the insurgents were either forced to fly or were arrested on the spot, and Sciva, the shoemaker, was condemned to death. The authorities, indeed, hoped to persuade him to save his life by betraying his friends; but he refused, even on the scaffold, to accept a pardon on such terms, and died bravely. Kriny, as a priest, had his sentence commuted from death to imprisonment. Grillo died of his wounds.

Desperate efforts were made by the Government to obtain information as to the details of this conspiracy. Three hundred ducats were offered to anyone who would kill the chief conspirators; a thousand to anyone who would arrest them. But, though the leaders of the insurrection were hidden in the houses of very poor men, no one could be found to betray them, even for the sake of so large a reward. Even where the Government had made sure of their prey, it sometimes slipped through their hands. One of the insurgents was brought wounded to a house, and his hiding-place was discovered and surrounded by soldiers; but, by a false alarm, the guards were frightened away and the wounded man conveyed elsewhere. The owner of the second place of refuge was arrested, but the fugitive was again enabled to escape. His wound brought on fever, and he remained hidden for fifteen days without food, sucking the end of a sheet for nourishment; he was then so exhausted that his friends thought him dead and carried him to a church; but he revived, and was at last s.h.i.+pped to Ma.r.s.eilles, where he recovered.

A people so vigorous and determined were obviously not far from freedom. The heroism of the Sicilians had strengthened the courage of the Neapolitans; and on Christmas Day the latter rose to the cry of "Evviva Palermo!" This demonstration, however, was only the forerunner of the Revolution; for it was still from Sicily that the first successful action was to come. So little did the Sicilians care to conceal their intentions that a pamphlet was circulated fixing January 12 as the day for the actual rising. The police, thinking that they would be able easily to suppress the movement, began to make arrests; but their efforts were in vain.

La Farina, who afterwards became a member of the Sicilian a.s.sembly, gives the following account of the rising:--

"On the night that preceded the 12th January, 1848, the streets of Palermo were silent and deserted; but in the houses the citizens were wakeful, agitated by fears and hopes. At the dawning of the new day the soldiers were in arms in fortified places and in their own quarters; some battalions of infantry and gensdarmes occupied the public places of the prefecture of police and of the royal palace, where the General De Majo, the Lieutenant of the King, General Vial, Commandant of the Piazza, and other royal officers, were a.s.sembled in council. The cannons of Castellamare were drawn out for a festival, for it was the birthday of Ferdinand II., and the roads were extraordinarily full of people; all were waiting for the conspirators to appear, for the sign to be given, for the first cry to break out, when Buscerni, a bold and ready youth, weary of delay, raised on high a musket that he had held concealed, and cried resolutely, 'To arms! To arms!' Then Pasquale Miloro came out armed into the street of the Centorinari; the abbot Ragona and the priest Venuti exhorted the people to rise in the name of G.o.d. There ran up to them, in arms, the advocate Tacona, Giuseppe Oddo, Prince Grammonte, Baron Bivona, Lo Cascio, Pasquale Bruno, Francesco Ciaccio, Giancinto Carini, Amodei, Enea, and a few others.

Giuseppe La Masa bound to a stick a white pocket-handkerchief, a red one, and a green ribbon, and waved the three Italian colours. Santa Astorina went about distributing tricolour ribbons and c.o.c.kades."

"At the sight of the arms, and of the small number of those who bore them, the crowd grew thin and dispersed; the shops were closed, and the few eager men remained alone. A few of the unarmed remained with them to divide the honour and perils of the attack; and among these, distinguished by the loftiness of their mind and remarkable probity, were Vincenzo Errante and the Baron Casimiro Pisani. They were not disheartened; they stood firm and bold in their resolve; the bells of the Church of Orsola sounded an alarm, those of the Convent of the Gangia answered them; the Revolution had become irrevocable. Small bands were forming themselves here and there. They had neither rules, orders, nor plans; they did not barricade the streets; they did not make trenches, as is usual in other cities; they did not make head in any one position; troops of children preceded them, dancing and singing; they drew near to the troops, watched their motions and acts, and returned to warn the insurgents even while the blood was dropping from the blows that they had received. One band of the insurgents put to flight a military patrol in the street of the Albergava; others had the same fortune in the Raffadale street, at the church of San Gaetano, near the gate of St. Antonino, in the street of Calderari, and in other places. Thus pa.s.sed the whole day; two of the insurgents, among whom was L'Amodei, were dead, and ten soldiers; the wounded were more numerous. The insurgents withdrew within the Piazza of Fiera Vecchia, which since the morning had been the centre of the movements and the seat of a committee formed of the first insurgents. There were not more than fifty who had firearms; a company of infantry would have been sufficient to disperse them; but the soldiers remained immovable in the positions which they had taken up, because, remembering the year '20, they had determined not to advance into the populous quarters of the city. To this it is necessary to add that all the houses were lighted for the festival, and that the balconies of the windows were crowded with men, women, and children, who all clapped their hands and gave loud Vivas to Italy, the Sicilian Const.i.tution, and Pio Nono; a spontaneous, unexpected, and universal agreement of the people which made the rulers lose their heads and the soldiers their hearts. In the night the insurgents were recruited from the country districts and the neighbouring communes. The first to arrive were sixty countrymen from Villabate; then others from Misilmeri and from other places. By the next day Fiera Vecchia contained about 300 men armed with guns, and as many more armed with scythes, billhooks, knives, spits, and those iron tools which the popular fury changes into arms. The fortress of Castellamare bombarded the city; the artillery of the royal palace was dragged along the Ca.s.sero; but the insurgents attacked, stormed, and destroyed the police commissariats and made themselves masters of the military hospital of San Francesco Saverio; the soldiers who remained prisoners were embraced as brothers, and provided with every accommodation which they needed."

Brilliant as these successes sound, the victory was not yet complete; and to diplomatists, at any rate, the result seemed still uncertain.