Page 227 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

FROM THE STRAITS TO THE VOLTURNO 225

So the days went by one after the other, and no decision was taken by
Francis II, who moved from one thought to another without making up his
mind. Nor was the last King of the Two Sicilies a man to follow the advice
repeatedly suggested by the French minister and by General Pianell: to leave
the capital, put himself at the head of the army, of those troops that were still
loyal to him, and personally face the enemy, challenge his fate and die on the
battlefield, indeed a dignified death for a sovereign.
Already some months earlier, Francis II had rejected the wise suggestion
of his uncle, the Count of Siracuse, who exhorted him to reconquer the souls
of his subjects by granting the reforms that the times imperiously demanded
and, even, to release his subjects from any obligations of obedience so that
they could freely choose their way and their future. And on August 20 th the
minister of home affairs Liborio Romano wrote a long letter to the King in
which he exposed, plainly and with no reticence, the situation created by
external and internal causes and stated that if the revolt had not yet broken
out in the streets of Naples that was due only to the presence of the King and
to the fact that everyone was uncertain and divided between hope and fear.
The minister admonished that the events were following swiftly one
another and that the situation was very serious “... we have to face the fact
that Italy that is rushing along the path of revolution hoisting the Savoy flag:
this means that insurgents are supported in name and arms by a really well
ordered government represented by the oldest Italian dynasty”. How can all
this be stopped? With a navy «in full routing?”, with an army “that had bro-
ken all bonds of discipline and hierarchy?”.
A victory obtained by spilling brotherly blood, on the other hand, would
have raised the general indignation and alienated forever the souls of all sub-
jects. It was necessary for the sovereign to leave the city, appointing a provi-
sional government, and, after advocating the judgment of Europe, would
await «for time and God’s justice to restore trust and make his legitimate
rights triumph».
At about the end of August, between Eboli, Salerno and Avellino, about
40,000 men had been gathered, mostly foreigners, determined as it seemed
to oppose in every way the advance of Garibaldi’s soldiers and it seemed, for
a moment, that Francis II who in those days had gone to meet his troops, was
set on entering the fight at their head. But dispelling all hopes, the sudden
news spread that Avellino had risen and that the main body of Garibaldi’s
army had joined the Türr Division, landed in Sapri on September 2 nd , and
was advancing through cheering crowds.