Untitled article | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 22, 1867

The Italian Uprising.

A YEAR ago, when the perfect unity for which Italy had agitated and fought for years appeared to be suddenly attained, French intervention patched up a hasty peace which relieved Italy of the presence of all foreign troops, but which, unfortunately, acknowledged the temporal power of the Pope in Rome, and bound King Victor Emanuel to protect the Papal States from invasion by the party which had elevated him to the throne, and whose rallying cry had always been “Italian unity.” At the moment when that unity was practically attained, when Italy, garrisoning the Quadrilateral, was virtually in possession of Rome, Victor Emanuel, either over-politic or false to his party and people, abandoned their cause, and Rome has since been ruled by the Pope. The party which had elevated Victor Emanuel to power naturally murmured at this apparent treachery. Their first protest against the treaty was the election of Garibaldi to Parliament from half the provinces of the kingdom; and the old enthusiastic agitator on taking his seat, at once became the leader of the opposition party. In the first session he made strong efforts to annul the treaty of 1866, but in vain; and he and his party have now resorted to more violent action.

For some months past it has been known that Garibaldi was planning and preparing a descent upon Rome by force of arms in the hands of the volunteers who formerly followed him; and on September 22 he gave the signal for the uprising which Italy and the world are now witnessing. Garibaldi is more enthusiastic than cautious, more principled than polite, and his plans were arranged and his campaign begun with a great deal more of boldness and a great deal less of secrecy than was advisable or necessary. The consequences were that his plans became known; the Pope appealed to France and all Catholic Europe for protection; Napoleon reminded Victor Emanuel of the treaty of 1866, and the Italian monarch had no alternative but to arrest and confine Garibaldi, and thus bring the invasion of the Papal dominions to an abrupt conclusion. The arrest of the leader and the obstruction to the schemes of the “party of action” created a profound sensation in Italy; angry growls and fierce cries were heard from all parts of the kingdom; and Victor Emanuel was glad to release Garibaldi from prison without insisting on his parole, and send him to his quiet home in Caprera.

But it seems that the people of the Papal States were deep in the plans of Garibaldi, that they have long been ripe for action, that Garibaldi had at once arranged an invasion and provided for a revolt, and that though the organized invasion has failed the more secretly planned revolt has not. No sooner had the signal been sounded than the subjects of the Pope rose in revolt, and, taking possession of a portion of the Province of Viterbo, awaited the coming of Garibaldi and his volunteers. The leader has not appeared, and is forced to confine himself to words of encouragement published from his guarded home in Caprera; but it is more than probable that many of his men are across the frontier of Viterbo, and were engaged with the insurgents in the first battle with the Papal troops, which took place near Bagnorea, in Viterbo, on October 3. Under what leadership they are serving does not appear, but the fact that their first engagement was an undisputed victory argues favorably for the early occupation of Rome.—Harper’s Weekly.