The life of great hero Giuseppe Garibaldi - 11th Part

It is impossible for these men to remain in the Republic, the Austrians also impose strict conditions to their exit; for Garibaldi they are unacceptable. His wife Anita, who joined him in Rome on June 26 and has chosen to follow in his fight, dressed as a man, falls ill. Nevertheless, with 200 men, he decided to join Venice still resisting the Austrian army.

On August 2, 1849, Garibaldi seizes, in Cesenatico, 13 fishing boats to reach with his men, who fell Venice on July 22. On August 3, during the attack of an Austrian brigantine, eight boats fell to the Austrians, 162 legionnaires were captured, a number is executed. Garibaldi docks in one of the islands in the lagoon of Comacchio. The health status of Anita worsened, they join a fisherman's cottage, where she died on August 4 and is buried there.

 The same night he hit the road to reach the Kingdom of Sardinia. After a long journey, September 5, he reached Chiavari, Liguria.

La Marmora, special commissioner in Genoa in the kingdom of Sardinia, anxious to make politically harmless Garibaldi, had him arrested. Authorities inform him that they want him to leave the territory, which he accepts after realizing in Nice with his family. On 16 September he sailed for Tunis who refuses, then Cagliari, the archipelago of La Maddalena, before reaching Gibraltar, November 14, at Tangier. He resumed writing his memoirs, begun at La Maddalena and after a few months, June 27, 1850, he moved to New York hoping to resume his duties as a seaman. Until March 1851, he worked in the factory of candles of Antonio Meucci, known for inventing the telephone before Alexander Graham Bell. He leaves for Peru to engage as a captain in the Navy and traveling the world. In January 1852, he obtained citizenship and the Peruvian vessel command Carmen, with whom he went to China and then sell the guano he went to Manila and Australia. In January 1853 he is in Lima and back in Boston on September 6 and then to New York where he is stepping down as captain because of a financial disagreement with the owner. His mother died March 20, 1852.

January 16, 1854, Garibaldi,  sailed from Baltimore. He arrived in London on February 11 where he met Mazzini. Mazzini has in mind to send Garibaldi in Sicily he feels ready for insurrection. However Garibaldi does not intend to get involved in an adventure compromised from the outset, and wishes to endorse his action by recognized authorities. In February 1854 he told the Russian revolutionary Alexander Herzen, exiled in London, as against an organized army and equipped like that of France or Austria,  an army well equipped is  required, as he gives his support Kingdom of Sardinia.On May 6, Garibaldi sails  from Newcastle to Genoa. The disagreement between Mazzini and Garibaldi is made public by the press and it ends up taking his distance.

Back to Italy, he moved to Nice before buying, in December 1855, half of the island of Caprera (Sardinia island in the archipelago of Maddalena) for the price of 35,000 lire from the inheritance he received after the death of his brother Felice. He began building a house with friends, then he resumed his seafaring. He commanded a ship Sardinian, Salvatore. In 1857 he moved to Caprera, where he is a farmer, blacksmith and farmer, with olive trees and vineyards.


 In 1865, his admirers will buy the rest of the island.

... to be continued...

The life of Giuseppe Garibaldi - 10th Part

On December 12th, 1848, Giuseppe Garibaldi enters in Rome while his legion of volunteers came to be stationed at Rieti. Garibaldi was politically active: on the  21st of   January 1849, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly of the future Republic which is organized around a triumvirate with Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi, who arrives in Rome on March 6.On February 8, 1849, the Roman Republic was proclaimed.

The other major event of March is the resumption of fighting against the Austrians by Charles Albert and the Austrian victory at Novara (22-23 March 1849) that seals the final defeat of the Piedmontese, the return to those borders of before the conflict started and the abandonment of Milan.

Pope Pius IX called for international help: Austria, France, Spain and Naples give an answer to his call. Louis Napoleon, anxious to gain the support of French Catholics, reserves to himself the honor of restoring the Pope and, on April 25, 7000 men commanded by General Oudinot landed at Civitavecchia. Garibaldi, who was appointed brigadier general of the Roman Republic shows to be the most brilliant general of the Roman army. He defeats the French on April 30 but he does not use his victory, by order of Mazzini and for political reasons, what he strongly criticized after the landing of new French troops. This is the first confrontation between the two men and from  then Garibaldi will start keeping his distance against the man he calls his "master."

On May 9, Garibaldi triumphantly confronts the Neapolitans before returning to Rome because of Oudinot's movements . French forces are increased to 30,000 men, he can then animate the resistance due to the disproportion of forces. He faces the well trained and equipped French troops but  resists only a month, from June 3 to July 2, in fierce fighting in which many of his friends fall: Emilio Morosini, Luciano Manara, Andrea Aguyar. He becomes fiercely anticlerical because of the position of the clergy, mostly loyal to the pope that support the French and Austrians.

The Italian and international press follow the actions of Garibaldi:   the British newspaper The Times, sends a special envoy who does not hide his admiration for Garibaldi.

With the end of the Roman Republic, Garibaldi refuses the proposal of the Ambassador of the United States to board an American ship and left the city, with 4,700 men he harangued with shouts of "Who Loves Italy follow me! "With the intention of bringing the war in Umbria, Marche and Tuscany. A number of supporters went into exile in Uruguay, where the war is still, with the complicity of the Uruguayan consul in Genoa. Surrounded by the armies of different nations, Garibaldi crossed the Apennines and must show trick to avoid a direct confrontation. Pursued by the troops of Field Marshal of Aspre Constantine, with only 1,500 men, he takes refuge in the Republic of San Marino, July 31, after having laid down their arms, and declared himself a refugee. He acknowledges that "the Roman war for Italian independence is over."

...to be continued...

The life of great hero Giuseppe Garibaldi - 9th Part

3) The Roman republic and the death of Anita with his second exile (1849-1858)

On 23 June 1848, after 14 years of absence, Garibaldi lands in Nice with his companions war has already begun.
 On 29th of the same month he leaves Nice for Genoa with 150 volunteers. Garibaldi, whose reputation has preceded his coming, offers his sword to the King of Sardinia, while repeating that he is a Republican, anxious at first to fight against the Austrians. Charles Albert was challenged by Democrats who suspect him of wanting to annex the Milanese State, and have not committed when the Austrians were driven out.



When Garibaldi, which has always kept in touch with the Italian patriots, learns the changes taking place in Italy, inauguration of liberal Pope Pius IX, insurgency in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, he is so anxious to get back to Italy, especially as peace seems imminent in Montevideo. He leaves the Italian legion in the hands of Antonio Susin.

In January 1848, Anita returned to Nice with his children followed by Garibaldi in April along with 63 companions while initially 150 men were to follow.

In the late nineteenth century, Montevideo has six streets in the name of the hero and the country has at least five monuments. July 4, 1907, the centenary of the birth of Garibaldi, President José Batlle y Ordóñez decreed a national holiday commemoration in front of 40,000 people. On June 2, 1882, five days before the death of the hero, the Círculo Legionarios Garibaldinos  is created which still exists as an association.

Europe experienced during the year 1848, a series of revolutions by which the people demand more freedom, and is known as the springtime of the peoples. It begins in France and gave birth to the Second Republic, extends to Germany, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Austria. States of the Italian peninsula, the Papal States, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Sardinia Kingdom of Piedmont are engaged in constitutional reforms. Milan at the "Five Days of Milan", known to turn his insurgent movement against the Austrian Empire which then directs the Lombard-Venetian kingdom created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. King Charles Albert of Sardinia, were initially supported by some states of the peninsula, taking up the cause of the Milanese state and declares war on Austria.

On 5th of July  our hero goes to  Roverbella  near Mantua, to offer himself as a volunteer with the King Charles Albert, who receives him without enthusiasm and refuses to see him fight alongside the regular army. Garibaldi goes to the provisional government of Milan that made him a General and where  he finds Mazzini. Although there have been exchanges of mail, the atmosphere of the game is cold, the two men are on divergent paths; Mazzini aims unitary republican revolution, Garibaldi wishing to free themselves from Austrian has chosen to put aside, temporarily, the Republican ideas.

Garibaldi must join Brescia with the legion which he organized and which he calls "Battaglione Italiano della Morte" (Italian Battalion of Death) when takes place theCustoza's defeat of Piedmont,   on 25 July. On 9 August 1848, an armistice was concluded between Austria and Piedmont, that Garibaldi violently reproached Charles Albert.

Garibaldi refuses to stop fighting despite the king's order and called on the youth: "Italy needs you ... Hasten, concentrate around me." It gets a little success over the Austrians who decide to destroy them, he must also renounce to face of Austrian power. On August 27, Garibaldi goes to Switzerland and then to France to join Nice. On Harsh, commander of the second Austrian army composed of 20,000 men, is impressed enough to praise him during a meeting with an Italian magistrate, "the man who would powerfully served your cause, you did not recognize: He's Garibaldi. "

In September, Garibaldi was elected Member of Parliament for the college of Cicagna, near Chiavari, he joined Genoa on 26 after passing through various locations throughout the reception was enthusiastic. It follows a period of uncertainty: where to intervene? He decides to join Sicily, changes his mind, and thinks to resist returning to Venice  but when he is on his way, he is informed of  the departure of Pope Pius IX to Gaeta,  and decided to join Rome. Indeed, after having supported the Milanese's, Pius IX turns around and points his troops, causing anger among Italian patriots.

 He appoints prime minister Pellegrino Rossi but he's assassinated on November 15, paving the way for the riot, the flight of the Pope and the proclamation of the Roman Republic.

... to be continued...

The life of Giuseppe Garibaldi- 8th Part

Garibaldi is divided between land and sea operations, he reconstructs a flotilla to the head of which he succeeded, in April 1842, to prevent vessels from Brown to occupy the Isla de Ratas, in the Bay of Montevideo.

In April 1843, he returned to Montevideo.  Garibaldi will organize and lead a group of volunteers called the Legión Italiana (Italian Legion), which is at the service of the Government of Montevideo, the Gobierno de la Defensa (Government of Defence). They are all inexperienced men, in need  to be trained, paled in the initial fighting.  They are more experienced at the Combate of Tres Cruces (Three Crosses of battle), November 17, 1843, near Montevideo.

Much of the defenders are foreigners, mainly French (2500 men) and Italian (500 to 700 men), in 6500 only 800 are Uruguayan defenders.

The Italian legion, like Garibaldi, wear the red shirt, garment originally designed for slaughterhouse workers in Argentina. This red shirt is an essential element of Garibaldi's myth, but many of them, nevertheless, wear the gauchos' hat and the poncho of the pampas.

He links with the Masonic lodges earned him, in 1844, being admitted at "Friends of the Country", which depends on the Grand Orient of France.

To defend the interests of their nationals, the French and the English are asking Argentines to withdraw and when they refused, they block the port Buceo and seized the Argentine fleet. Brown returns to civilian life. Relations between the three nations harden, allowing Montevideo, with the support of its allies, to loosen the stranglehold of the blockade.

In April 1845, Garibaldi embarked on a new fleet of twenty ships and 900 men, the Allies landed to occupy and plunder Colonia del Sacramento with the participation of French and British fleets.

On February 8, 1846, in the territory of Salto, near the San Antonio River, a tributary of the Rio Uruguay, Garibaldi and his Italian Legion  fight against superior forces of the Confederacy, which they inflict heavy losses and are able to withdraw after losing about a third of their workforce. The implications of this are an  immense victory he obtained the status of heroes, his fame became international and the Italian press says his feat. He gives up fame and money, the land that promised Bento Gonçalvo him, to see yet is that the waiting beyond the ocean,  leaves certain and known for unknown, safety for the adventure, to ease the hardships!

In leaving America on the boat Esperance Garibaldi is seized by a spiritual fever, longing for Italy, he knows still dominated by foreigners and shared, as we have already described. It makes me rethink the immortal words that Dante  told to Ulysses in Canto 23 of the Inferno:

"0 my companions, who have arrived in the seas of the West, having braved so many dangers, and who have, like me, only a short time to survive!  Do not refuse, walking against the run of the sun, the noble satisfaction of seeing people of the deprived hemisphere; consider your human essence: you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge! "

...to be continued...

Life of Giuseppe Garibaldi - Seventh Part

Garibaldi first settles down in Rio de Janeiro, hosted by the small community of Italian exiles and emigrants. With one of these friends, Mr. Rossetti, he embraced a    commercial activity, but the two are not meant for trade and business.

 During this time he chooses to spread revolutionary sentiments among his compatriots, and remains in contact with activists in Europe, Mazzini and his correspondents Ghiglione Antonio and Luigi Canessa.

Garibaldi becomes president of the cell Giovine Italia on the South American continent. It also adheres to the Masonic Lodge Asilo de Vertud.

 It must be said that our hero is now certain a smart man but he did not love so much frames and intrigues of politics or the Masonic meetings where  discussions and  dissertations, were a wasting of time in the evanescence! Thus he adheres to the masonry, because he believes in his ideals but he was born for action that follows the thought, not thinking to the  infinity!

 After September 1835, Bento Gonçalves da Silva proclaims the Republic Riograndense (1836), Garibaldi was ready to fight for the ideals and humanitarian, on May 4, 1837, he received a letter of mark from the government of Rio Grande do Sul, rebel to the authority of the Empire of Brazil.

He defies an empire with his boat named Mazzini. On April 11, 1838, he pushes down a battalion of the Brazilian Imperial Army (Battle of Galpon Xarqueada) and takes part in the next general Davi Canabarro the capture of the port of Laguna, the provincial capital of Santa Caterina, (25 July 1839), which facilitates the creation of the Republic or Republic Catarinense Juliana.

On November 15, the imperial army reconquered the city and the Republicans reappear on the heights where the fighting takes place with varying degrees of success. Garibaldi is involved for the first time in a fight exclusively terrestrial, near Forquillas: he attacks with his sailors and forced his enemies to retreat.

During this period, its mistress Manuela Ferreira de Paula, niece of Bento Gonçalves da Silva, in which he renounces due to the difference in social status.

In 1839, while he is in Laguna, he met Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro, barely 18 years old. A romance is born between two young men while Anita is already married to Manuel de Aguiar Durante. She abandons Manual to follow Giuseppe and they married in 1842 after the death of first husband.

In 1841, not seeing a rapid conclusion to the war, and at the request of Francesco Anzani, an exiled Lombard, with whom he befriends and who wants his presence in Uruguay, Garibaldi and his family leave, with permission of Gonçalves, Rio Grande for Montevideo where many foreigners, especially French and Italian.

There, the war between the Uruguayan president Manuel Oribe, who was overthrown but is supported by the government of Buenos Aires of Juan Manuel de Rosas, and the new government headed by General Fructuoso Rivera moved to Montevideo, which has the support Brazil, French and British fleets, and Argentine "unitary" (Partido unitario, liberal-leaning). Declared in December 1838, the war called World War lasted from 1839 to 1851.

Based in Montevideo, Garibaldi teaches mathematics.

The fleet of the Argentine Confederation operates under the command of Admiral William Brown from England, while that Montevideo is under the command of Commodore John Coe of American origin.

The government of Montevideo appealed to Garibaldi.

In Rio de la Plata, the Argentine navy is trying to block the port of Montevideo. On August 16, 1842 a naval battle takes place on the Paraná River near the town of Costa Brava. The vessels commanded by Garibaldi fought by the forces of Brown which means in ships and men are superior. After suffering heavy losses, Garibaldi fire his ships to prevent them falling into the hands of Brown, he managed to take shelter with the surviving crew.

The same year, Garibaldi married Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro, whom he met in 1839 and whom he had four children: Domenico Menotti, Rosita, who died in infancy.

...to be continued...

The life of Giuseppe Garibaldi- Sixth Part

2) The first exile after the sentence to death (1835-1848);

Before continuing with our history,  ladies gentlemen, we must briefly describe the situation of Brazil and  South America when Garibaldi arrives in Rio de Janeiro. He reigns in 1835 in Brazil e throughout South America a great tension because of the wars of independences and intestine.

After the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, the South American colonies engage in a process of independence that ends with the defeat of Spain. Vice-royalties are divided into a series of independent republics including cisplatin's  Province, the Argentine Confederation, Paraguay.
Regarding Brazil, after the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon, the royal family (who descended from a collateral branch of the Capetins, so this is a millennial dynasty begun by Charlemagne) went into exile in Rio de Janeiro and the colony is elevated to a kingdom. John  The VIth returned to Lisbon because of the liberal revolution of 1820 while his son Pierre became regent of Brazil. In 1822 he became emperor of Brazil under the name of Peter the First. In 1831, he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Peter the  IInd, to travel to Portugal to restore his daughter to Lisbon usurped by the younger brother of the Emperor Michael I.

Peter II, however, is still a minor (age of majority is set for December 2, 1843).

 Although the Liberals, were able  to make passing a law lowering the age of the majority of Peter II from eighteen to fourteen) a regency was set up but his authority shows its limits. Brazil wins aal three international conflicts (the Plate war, Uruguayan War and the war against Paraguay).

 Believing that granting greater autonomy to provincial and local governments should calm the growing dissent, the General Assembly adopted in 1834 a constitutional amendment called Ato Adicional (Additional Act) which increases their powers. Instead of ending the chaos, this amendment only adds the ambitions and local rivalries. Violence erupts across the country. Political parties of all stripes seek by all means to direct the provincial and municipal governments, and each party took power in a province is also trying to take control of the entire electoral and political system. Parties who lost the election  raise and try to take power by force, causing several revolts, like the war of Farrapos, Cabanagem and Balaiada.

This is the situation that finds our hero in 1835 when he arrives in Rio de Janeiro.

The European dimension that Garibaldi had reached in his lifetime is also expressed in a total and sincere Masonic commitment. Giuseppe Garibaldi, Grand Master of virtually all Italian, persuasions entered the service of Freemasonry and became the figurehead of the secular and anticlerical Italy. In this he was truly the first Mason in Italy, and beyond, a strong supporter of European and universal Masonic ideals.

That's why he is naturally a fight for people who fight for their leisure. We can say that Garibaldi is a son of his time: the ideals of Enlightenment, the Napoleonic revolutional breath, the secrets of Masonry, the desires of freedom and  independency of all peoples in the world, anti-clericalism, applications, liberal instances is all that is meant and he is a close fight for all those who seek and fight for liberty!

...to be continued...