Luigi Villari

“ When the news of the revolt of the Milanese against the Austrians, known as the Five Days, reached Turin on the 19th of March, Cavour felt that the time for Piedmont to act with energy had come, and advocated war against Austria. “After deliberately weighing each word,” he wrote, “we are bound in conscience to declare that only one path is open to the nation, the government, and the king: war, immediate war!” ”

“ The Serbians played a valiant part in the attack at the centre, but the outstanding feature of their action was their magnificent and fantastic march towards the Fatherland, regardless of the impervious mountain ranges, extending one behind the other across the line of advance, almost without food, with few munitions and practically no equipment. Inspired by patriotic enthusiasm which was a religious faith, they drove the enemy from height to height, from valley to valley, without troubling to see if they were followed by their supplies, which, in fact, never came up with them. ”

“ The revolution in Milan and Vienna aroused a fever of patriotic enthusiasm in Tuscany, where war against Austria was demanded; Leopold, giving way to popular pressure, sent a force of regulars and volunteers to co-operate with Piedmont in the Lombard campaign. His speech on their departure was uncompromisingly Italian and Liberal. “Soldiers,” he said, “the holy cause of Italian freedom is being decided to-day on the fields of Lombardy. Already the citizens of Milan have purchased their liberty with their blood and with a heroism of which history offers few examples. ”

“ A white patch at the foot of the mountain is Monastir itself, and behind it we can make out other terrible peaks—Hill 1248, the Tzervena Stena, the Peristeri, and all the mighty barrier which separates Macedonia from Albania. To the extreme right is another wild sea of mountains, peaks and rocks extending to the Vardar—the area of the Serbian Army. Thus the whole of the western half of the Macedonian front is spread out before us like a topographical chart. ”

“ But Savonarola indignantly spurned the offer, replying to it from the pulpit with the prophetic words: “No hat will I have but that of a martyr, reddened with my own blood.” So long as King Charles remained in Italy Alexander’s concern for his own safety prevented vigorous measures against the friar. But no Borgia ever forgot an enemy. He bided his time, and the transformation of sceptical Florence into an austerely Christian republic claiming the Saviour as its head only increased his resolve to crush the man who had wrought this marvel. ”

“ FOR the next hundred years Ragusa remains under Hungarian protection, but bound by ties so shadowy that for all practical purposes she may be regarded as an independent State. During this period, however, she feels the weight of Turkish power more and more, and her tribute to the Porte goes on increasing, until it reaches the maximum limit of 12,500 ducats. But in spite of this ever-present danger she continues to grow in wealth, splendour, and importance, and to carry out her mission as a haven of refuge and a bulwark of Christianity and civilisation. ”

“ But he well knew that although Piedmont must be made as efficient as possible from the military point of view, it could not defeat Austria single-handed. He would have preferred an alliance with Great Britain, who would never demand territorial compensation; but although British sympathies were wholly Italian, the government was desperately anxious to avoid war. From Napoleon more was to be hoped, for the emperor still preserved some of his revolutionary instincts, while the insecurity of his situation at home made him eager to gain popularity by winning military glory abroad ”

“ The magnificent exploit of your gallant troops, who, in spite of the desperate resistance of the enemy and their infernal fire, in spite of the enormous difficulties of the ground, yesterday, with irresistible dash, captured Hill 1050 by assault, has filled me with admiration; the two columns of your heroic 162nd Infantry Regiment have covered themselves with glory, inscribing a new and splendid page in the annals of the Italian Army, which are already so glorious. Under your high leadership your officers and men have given brilliant proof of their great valour. ”

“ Leopold of Tuscany was a well-meaning, not unkindly man, and fonder of his subjects than were the other Italian despots, but he was weak, and too closely bound by family ties and Habsburg traditions ever to become a real Liberal. Had he not joined the conclave of autocrats at Gaeta, and, above all, had he not summoned Austrian assistance while denying that he had done so, in 1849, he might yet have preserved his throne, and even changed the whole course of Italian history. ”

“ During his residence in Rome he had acquired a love for art and music, and he now determined to become a painter, to the horror of his family, who belonged to the stiff and narrow Piedmontese aristocracy. His father reluctantly consented, and Massimo settled in Rome, devoting himself to art. He led an abstemious life, maintaining himself by his painting for several years. But he was constantly meditating on the political state of Italy. ”

“ Few cities present such a perfect picture of a mediæval fortress, and few form so fair a picture—this cluster of fine buildings on steep precipitous rocks rising sheer up out of the azure sea, with the exquisite purple hues of the Dalmatian mountains in the background, and the bright patches of rich vegetation all around. Rarely does one see so admirable a combination of strength and beauty. ”

“ I deeply regret with you the death of all the dear and gallant comrades-in-arms who have so heroically fallen on the soil of my Fatherland, and I bow my head with the most profound respect before their sublime self-sacrifice, before their proud contempt of death in the struggle for the Great Common Cause. If you have had to abandon temporarily the positions occupied, it is a material loss easy to make good with troops such as yours. ”

“ Cesare could find no allies, and it seemed as though all Italy was about to turn against the hated family, when the French king promised help, and this was enough to frighten the confederates into coming to terms. Most of them had shown very little political or military skill, and several were ready to betray each other. But Cesare, while trusting no one, proved a match for them all. During his operations in northern Romagna, Vitelli, Oliverotto, Paolo Orsini, and the duke of Gravina, to show their repentance, seized Senigallia, which still held for the duke of Urbino, in his name. ”

“ A new Power now makes its appearance as a factor in the history of Europe, the Ottoman Turks, who were destined in the space of two centuries to conquer the whole of the Balkan peninsula, a large part of Dalmatia, and nearly the whole of Hungary, humbling that kingdom to the dust. The Serbs and other South Slavonic peoples by their civil wars and mutual jealousies prepared the way for their greatest enemy and that of all Christendom. ”

“ We complain now that our interests in the East are not sufficiently recognized and respected, but how could we have claimed recognition and respect for them if we had had no share at all in the Macedonian campaign? Above all, what would have been our prestige among the Balkan peoples if the latter had seen the victorious troops of France, Britain, Serbia and even Greece marching past, and not those of Italy? Our victory in Italy would not have sufficed to affirm our position among the Balkan peoples if they had not seen us take part in the victory won in their own homelands. ”