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

  I. THE FAMILY OF GENERAL GARIBALDI.

  THE family of General Garibaldi was formerly one of the wealthiest inNice, and was connected with the following curious annual ceremony. Inremote times the Saracen soldiery in the service of Turkey invaded Nice.They were already in the town, when a woman rushed from her houseand killed the standard-bearer, seized the standard, and rallied theNizards, who in the end were victorious. In remembrance of this event,La Place Napoleon, called before the French occupation La Place de laVictoire, was, until the year 1860, the annual scene of a very curiouscustom. A representative of the woman was placed on one side of thesquare, while fireworks were let off from the church opposite, oneparticular firework being aimed so as to reach the hand of the woman.The grandfather of General Garibaldi received from the town of Nice theprivilege of being the person to let off this particular firework,and the father and eldest brother of the General succeeded to thisprivilege, which was declared to be hereditary in their family.

  He was born at Nice on the 22d of July, 1807. His father, DominiqueGaribaldi, was born at Chiavari, about seventy miles from Genoa. Hismother was a lady named Rosa Raginndo. He had three brothers, the lastof whom died the day of the battle of Biccia, 1866. The General wasdestined from his birth for the priesthood, and from the age of threeyears had a private tutor named Father Giovanni, who resided in thehouse. According to his own account he did not make any very greatprogress under this gentleman, and he has conceived the idea that it isbetter for a tutor to come in for a few hours a day, or for a childto go to school, returning home in the evening, as in this manner thebenefit of home influence remains, and the benefit of the mothers love(of which he speaks so much) would be secured, and undue familiarity andresult of constant intercourse be avoided. From the instructions of M.Arena--whose classes he attended for some hours in the day--hederived great benefit; and whatever fault he may find with his earlyinstruction, the result is that he speaks Italian, the Nizard andGenoese dialects, the Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects, the Milaneseand Turinese--all of them differing from the pure Italian, and from eachother, as much as Welsh does from English. He speaks and writes Latin,ancient and modern Greek, French, Spanish, English, and Portuguese, andcan decipher newspapers published in the various dialects on the banksof the Danube. He is a good mathematician, and possesses a knowledgeof both ancient and modern history, whilst his knowledge of music isconsiderable.

  There have been many "autobiographies" written of the General with whichhe has very little acquaintance. Many of the stories related of himare not, however, without foundation. It is true that when he was abouteight years old, whilst playing on the banks of the Var, he saw an oldwasherwoman fall into the river, and instantly threw himself into thewater, and from his skill in swimming, which he had acquired in infancy,he was enabled to save her life.

  At the time of the birth of the General, Nice belonged, as now, toFrance, and during his childhood the Nizard language was spoken by theservants, and the Genoese by the family. In society and in publicFrench only was spoken. It was the same in the schools, and theGeneral received his education entirely in French; and it was solelyin compliance with the entreaties of his elder brother Angelo that herequested M. Arena to teach him Italian; and it is to the instructionsof that gentleman that he owes his present facility in both speaking andwriting it. The parents of the General were both strict Roman Catholics,and being, as we have before stated, intended for the priesthood, he waseducated in every ordinance of the Church of Rome. It was probably theover-severity of this education which gave him his detestation of thepriestly career; at any rate, it is certain that he in the most positiveterms refused to enter it, and even attempted to run away to Genoa toavoid it. The profession of the law was afterwards proposed, but withultimately no better success; and finally his parents yielded to hisentreaties, and permitted him to go to sea, which he did in a brigantinecalled "La Costanza," the captain being Angelo Pesanti.

  The first notice we have in the page of history of the name "Garibaldi"occurs in the annals of the eighth century. According to one of thehistorians of that time, among the chiefs of Alaric's horde a Garibaldicommanded a "squadra." From this we may infer that the familyoriginally came from the plains of Hungary. The next notice we have ofthe name occurs in the history of the city of Turin, in the reign ofAuberto I. Garibaldi, Duke of Turin, was the chief counsellor of thisking. Being a bad, unprincipled, and ambitious man, he conspired againsthis sovereign, caused his assassination, and seized the regal power.However, the semi-independent princes of Piedmont deposed him, andcaused him to be put to death. The next trace we find of this family isamong the records of the republic of Genoa. Johannes Garibaldi commandeda fleet of galleys in the wars between the Genoese and Pisans, andgreatly distinguished himself in an engagement off the coast of Tuscany.The family after this flourished in Genoa, always taking the popularpart, till at last they became so powerful that they were enrolled amongthe nobility of the republic, and their name is found in the GoldenBook. As evidence of their importance, we still find in Genoa thePiazza, Palazzo, and Strado dei Garibaldi. The descendants of the elderbranch are represented now by the March ese Garibaldi, member of theSub-Alpine Parliament. The younger branch transferred itself (timeuncertain) to the vicinity of Chiavari, where they formed a colony bythemselves in one of the valleys of the mountains of the Ri-vieri,where still may be found the Village dei Garibaldi, and remains of thestronghold which they occupied in those times. An old inscriptionis still seen on the tower, commemorating its building by one of theearlier Garibaldis. Three generations ago one of the cadets settled inNice, and his lineal descendant is the present General Garibaldi.

  Sir Bernard Burke applied to General Garibaldi, through Mr. Chambers,for information respecting his family, with the view of placing it inhis work, "The Vicissitudes of Families." "What matter is it," answeredthe General, "whence I came? Say to Sir Bernard Burke that I representthe people; they are my family."