Rule of the Monk; Or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century by Giuseppe Garibaldi

  CHAPTER L. THE PILGRIMAGE

  The recluse, at the period where we renew our story, was on themainland, whither he had been called by his friends. He had left hisrocky abode to fulfill a duty towards Italy, to which he had everdedicated his life. He had forced himself to undertake a pilgrimage,setting out from the Venetian territory, his end being not only toinfluence the political elections, but to sow the germs of emancipatedspirit and conscience, which alone can restore Italy to her first stateof manly greatness, and enable her people to throw off their bonds,discountenancing utterly that idolatrous and false church called papal,and living upon the truths of a real and vital religion. For with thepriests human brotherhood is impossible, since the papist condemns toeverlasting flames every member of the human family who refuses beliefin the Pope's supremacy. In like manner the Dervish or Turkish priestcondemns eternally every believer in Christianity, and you can not walksafely in the streets of Constantinople or Canton because your life isin danger from these fanatics. In short, priests and bigots are prettymuch alike all over the world, while the greatest and most sanguinary ofconflicts have always been fomented by them.

  Take, as an example, the Crimean war, where one hundred and fiftythousand men perished, while enormous treasures were swallowed up by thecontest. The commencement of the quarrel was on account of the churchnamed the Holy Sepulchre, and to decide whether a papistical or a Greekpriest should take precedence there. This dispute was brought before theEmperors of France and Russia, and the result was war--England and Italytaking part in the enormous butchery consequent thereon.

  England is at the present day in perpetual anxiety with regard to thestate of Ireland, largely caused by the priests; and may God spare theworld from an insurrection in the United States, where, in a populationof thirty-three millions, nearly half are Roman Catholics, a largeproportion of them Irish, who, under the dictatorship of a bishop,divide the country, and are always plotting for political supremacy.

  In Venice the greater part of the population swore to follow GeneralGaribaldi to the death, yet the day after the same crowd congregated inthose shops where religious trinkets and "indulgences" in God's name aresold for money, and where idolatry in the guise of Christianity erectsvain and lying images. Such are the Venetians, and such are they likelyto remain under priestly superstition and political corruption.

  With regard to representation, the great body of the Italian people areexcluded from the elective franchise. Out of a population of more thantwenty-five millions there are only four million five hundred thousandvoters. Every voter must be twenty-five years of age, and must be ableto read and write. As to the latter, the power of signing his name isdeemed sufficient, but he must also contribute an annual sum of not lessthan forty francs, which must be paid in direct taxation to the state orprovince (the province answering to the English county); the municipalrates are not taken into account. Graduates of universities, membersof learned societies, military and civil _employes_, either uponactive service or half-pay, professional men, schoolmasters, notaries,solicitors, druggists, licensed veterinary surgeons, agents of change,and all persons living in a house, or having a shop, magazine, orworkshop, are entitled to a vote, provided the rental is, in communescontaining a population of less than two thousand five hundredinhabitants, two hundred francs; in communes containing a populationof from two thousand five hundred to ten thousand inhabitants, threehundred francs; and in communes containing a population of over tenthousand inhabitants, four hundred francs.

  But the power which the Government has of unduly influencing such of thevoters as are not in its own immediate employ is enormous, by means ofthe chief officer in every town, called the syndic, who is appointed bythe Government, and removable at its pleasure. This officer, under painof dismissal, recommends to the voters for election any candidatethat the Government desires to have elected, and lamentable as is thefinancial state of the country, millions of francs were placed at thedisposal of the syndics for the purpose of corruption in the spring ofthe year 1867. If a town wants a branch railway to the main line,the election of the Government candidate will always insure theaccomplishment of its wishes on this point.

  The whole host of Government officials, including the police, activelyinterfere in aid of the ministerial candidate. Schoolmasters and otherswill be dismissed from their posts if they give a refractory vote; andworkmen for the same reason are discharged. Official addresses have beenknown to be openly published, desiring the people not to vote for theopposition candidates; and there are instances of papers on the dayof election being withheld from those voters who might prove to be tooindependent. Therefore it was with a view to reforming these abuses thatGeneral Garibaldi, in addressing the municipality of Palma, said, "Letthe new Chambers be impressed with the necessity of reorganizing theadministration, and if the Government, to tempt them, returns to itsevil ways, then ill betide it." We do not intend following the General'ssteps as he proceeded from town to town, enthusiastically received bythe multitude, who, joyous at the sight of the "man of the people,"applauded his doctrine of non-submission to foreign dominion andhumiliation, and above all echoed his plain denunciations of thatclerical infamy and that immoral understanding which exists between thePapacy and those of the unworthy men who misgovern Italy.

  As it may be supposed, the priests attacked the General, and accused himfar and wide of being an atheist. This false and foolish charge ledto his making the following address before twenty thousand people atPadua:-

  "It is in vain that my enemies try to make me out an atheist. I believein God. I am of the religion of Christ, not of the religion of thePopes. I do not admit any intermediary between God and man. Priests havemerely thrust themselves in, in order to make a trade of religion. Theyare the enemies of true religion, liberty, and progress; they are theoriginal cause of our slavery and degradation, and in order to subjugatethe souls of Italians, they have called in foreigners to enchain theirbodies. The foreigners we have expelled, now we must expel those mitredand tonsured traitors who summoned them. The people must be taught thatit is not enough to have a free country, but that they must learn toexercise the rights and perform the duties of free men. Duty! duty! thatis the word. Our people must learn their duties to their families, theirduties to their country, their duties to humanity."

  Garibaldi proceeded next to the university of Padua; and there, standingbefore the statue of Galileo, he uncovered his head, saying, "Who,remembering Galileo, his genius and his life, the torture inflicted uponhim, the martyrdom he suffered--he, I say, who, remembering this, doesnot despise the priests of Rome, is not worthy to be called a man or anItalian."

  The interests of commerce having always had a place in the heartof General Garibaldi, he delivered the following address to theRepresentatives of the Chambers of Commerce for Vicenza:--"Italy'sfuture depends in great part on you. Our wars against the foreignersare, I hope, nearly at an end. Italy is united, is independent; you canmake her prosperous. There is nothing necessary to the maintenance ofthe human race that we can not produce; and with such raw material as wehave, what can we not manufacture? Our people have a mania for foreigngoods; they like to wear foreign stuffs, to drink foreign wines, but letthem once be persuaded that our own are as good, and they will be gladto adopt them; and foreign nations will receive our' merchandise, ourmanufactures, as eagerly as we now seek for theirs. But progressof every kind is difficult with the priests, and human brotherhoodimpossible."