The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-13 00:00:00

SICILY.
-.-

(mow A comucaroirezirr.)
TURIN, Jon' 9.
A regular direct communication between Genoa
and Palermo being now established we get correct
information about everything that is going on in
the island. Garibaldi is the idol of the islanders ;
they look upon him as (next to Santa Rosalie)
their patron saint ; still he feels that the heroic
portion of his enterprise is not the most difficult.
When he arrived he found the insurrection nearly
subdued ; the sack of Carini had frightened the
armed bands, who when they saw the small number
of the Italian heroes lost all confidence of success.
Up to the day of Calatafimi they scarcely stirred, but
the victory gained against Landes division,
3,200 strong, and placed in the most advents-
geona positions, changed at once the spirit of
the inhabitants, and thousands and thousands of
rnantel led by country squires Booked to Gari-
baldi's victorious flag. Their desultorry mode of
warfare did of course little harm to the Neapoli-
tans, but the continuous report of their fowling
pieces, the noise, and we may say, omnipresence of
the " imuadre," deceived the garrison of Palermo
about Garibaldi's real strength. Alarmed by day
and night, and strongly attacked by the Dictator's
heroes, they capitulated, but during all the time
of the embarkation Garibaldi found the pre-
sence of the insurgents so necessary that they
were paid four tari, about eighteenpence, a day,
whilst his Italian volunteers, who had to
bear the brunt of the battle, received but
three. During the same time a government
had to be established. It was quite natural that Ga-
ribaldi should form it from among the Sicilian refu-
gees who lied accompanied him from Geuoa, and taken
part in the desperate battles of Calatafimi and
Palermo, and not from among the moderate aristo-
cracy of the ialand,' who, though detesting the
Neapolitans, kept a prudent and safe neutrality
during the struggle, not to jeopardise their large
estates, sending only some obscure cousin or younger
son with the squadron to Garibaldi. After the
victory, however, the landed interest claimed its
share in the administration, so much the more,
since Crispi, the Dictator's chief Secretary of
State, his old companion at Como and in Sicily,
paid no regard to the aristocratic feeling's of the
islanders. Another difficulty was the desire of the
Sicilians to see all the misgovernment and malad-
ministration of the island at once reformed, but
altogether in their sense, without levelling or dis-
turbing the traditional institutions. The financial
question, too, was very thorny. Whoever wishes
to be free meat pay either in blood or money ; and,
since Garibaldi looks upon the conquest of Sicily
only as upon the stepping-stone to the complete
unity of Italy, he thought at once of the creation
of a strong army, and insisted upon conscription
and a regular levy of men, procrastinating at the
same time the final annexation of the island,
which would supersede his dictatorial powers,
and place the Sicilian question at the merry
of European diplomacy. The landed interest,
on the other hand, desired the immediate annexa-
tion, thus to get out of the state and dangers of
rebellion, and to be placed under the protection and
regular administration of King Victor Emmanuel.
La Farina, the cunning politician of Count Cavan's
school, who had arrived at Palermo as soon as there
was no longer any danger to go to Sicily, encouraged
these views, which were embodied in an address of
the municipality of Palermo to the Dictator, just
when he had sMenened his administration by
the conservative Prinm Torrearsa and Baron
Pisani. Garibakii, in his frank and open way, re-
plied to the deputation, that he could not share their
views, and menet defer the annexation to the time when
he might be able to transfer the war to the Conti-
nent. Upon this Torrearm and Pisani gave their
dimintion, and Crispi had some of the conservatives
arrested who had threatened a popular rising. But
the peoples, turbulent and impatient, began to
shout, " Down with the ministers ; long live
the Dictator." Garibaldi saw now that he had to
yield, or else to be accused that instead of liber-
ating he had conquered Sicily, and therefore in-
vited the municipality to propose those men in
whom they believe ,the nation placed the greatest
confidence. The list was soon presented to him,
and the Dictator expressing his wish to see Crispi

[B6O.

among the ministwii; the deputation put down Ms
name with the Ifigitificant remark, "at the expressed
desire of the Dictator." Ganbaldi's answer was
of course that he did not wish to have them
governed by any man in whom they placed no oonfi-
dence, and he instantly struck out Crispi's name. Thus
the new ministry was constituted altogether out of
municipal Sicilian elements, Orsini alone being left
from among the exiles in his postof Minister of War.
Even a monk is among them, the Father Laloggia,
as Minister of Education and Public Worship ; but
he is of a somewhat different stamp from the monks
of the Continent ; he had shouldered a rifle during
the storming of Palermo, and was foremost among
the assailants. The new administration lost no
time in preparing the decree for organising the
universal suffrage about the annexation and for the
election of a local parliament. This measure coin-
cided in time withtlis publication of the constitution
at Naples, which proved even to Garibaldi that
whatever be his ulterior designs, not a moment was
to be lost in placing Sicily under the administra-
tion of King Victor Emmanuel. Having thus ar-
ranged the administration, we may in a very few
days hear of his military progress. Being
e,OOO

at the head of an - arMy of 26,b.
men, he cannot keep them long u ..n the re-
sources of an island which, acco • • to the
census of 1868 has only about 1,200,111 inhabi-
tants. Hisfriend and companion, the Hungarian
General Tun? arrived here on Friday. The
King sent his aide-de-camp to the railway station
to receive him, and had on Saturday a
long private interview with him, during
which he bestowed the order of St. Maurice
and Limn) upon the young and gallant General of
Garibaldi's creation. To-day he sees Count Cavour
and General Fanti, and goes to-morrow to the
waters of Aix lee Bains to restore his shattered
health, since his wounds which he got at the
battle of San Fermo were not yet completely healed
when he again set out with Garibaldi for Sicily.
It seems that he has a mission from the Dictator,
but its purport has not transpired. So much is
certain, that he requested the release of Colonel
Giorgini, the commander of the fort Orbitello, who,
on the Bth of May, upon the request of Turr, had
given four cannons and the ammunition to Gari-
baldi's expedition. Giorgini refused at first to
yield to Turr—though the latter pretended that
the King had encouraged the expedition—end at
last said he could not do it, since he risked to be
imprisoned and tried by a court-martial.
" What is your risk," replied Tarr, "if you
compare it with ours 1 You may indeed be arrested,
you may be dismissed ; but we—we risk to be
attacked at sea by the Neapolitan cruisers, with no
other alternative than either to blow our ship up
and to die in the wreck, or to rot in Neapolitan
dungeons. We risk to find Sicily subdued and to
be hunted down in the mountains like wild besets.
Even in the best case we must face the Neapolitan
army—one thousand men against twenty thousand ;
and if you refuse our request, we must do it
without artillery and without sufficient ammu-
nition." _ _ _

"You are right," said Giorgini, " I give you the
four field-pieces and ammunition, and report it to
the minister, to be arrested at once."
Turr took the field-pieces: Giorgini was arrested ;
but now that Turr has received the knighthood for
his services he insists that the man without whose
goodwill the whole enterprise might have failed,
shall be acquitted.
Garibaldi and his followers have learned a curious
lesson in Sicily. Hating Roman catholic priests,
and little oaring for aristocracy, they were at once
brought into contact with a people who love their
priests ; they found monks who were patriots,
bishops and archbishops who bless the arms of the
insurgents, and an aristooracy which, residing
among its tenants, wields an influence not to be
despised or even ignored. With all his democratic
tastes, Garibaldi had to consent that a dictatorial
guard should be formed consisting of about 200
men, the privates among them bearing the rank of
lieutenants, and the officers a corresponding higher
rank. Since he would not allow any exception to
be made in the law about the conscription, this was
the only way to get the young dukes, princes, mar-
quises and counts into the army ; they are not yet
accustomed, as in Frame or Sardinia, to stand in
the same ranks as privates with the sons of the
peasants ; proud of their old Norman blood they
do not bow to French ideas of equality. If it is
really true that Marzini ie in Sicily he will soon
find that the island is completely hostile to his ideas.
It was the despotically levelling tendencies of the
Neapolitan Bourbons that drove Sicily into rebel-
lion, and democratic levelling is equally iniaccept-
able to the descendants of the Norman conquerors.

The following letter has been published as har-
ing been addressed by Baron Pisani to General
Garibaldi, in reference to his retirement from the
Sicilian ministry :
Monsieur le aeneral,—l profoundly regret, at a Mani so
decisive for Sicily, having to separate from you, in whose
courage we all feel so much confidence and hope ; but your
reply to the Civic Council of Palermo, who, thinking to
anticipate your intentions, presented to you, perhaps un-
seasonably, an address which you refund, compels me io-
dividnally to renounce a position which is, besides, too
onerous for me. I have had the honour of laying before
you the reasons that have determined me to this renun.
entice, and you hare deigned to receive them with courtesy,
although they are, to a certain degree, opposed to your
views expressed by you with military candour. It is not
necessary, therefore, to revert to them. Still I would wish
all my fellow-citizens to undeniand that the difference of
our opinions has not separated me from you, that our views
are similar, and that we both look forward to the 'enlaced
—the freedom of entire Italy ; and that we differ in nothing
unless it be the choice el the read to be punned. You,
with your great soul and elevated spirit, despise all the
obstacles on the road. You take your bold flight, and seek
to arrive at once at your lofty object ; I, in in littlenne,
full of apprehension at the difficulties I see, think it more
prudent to proceed step by step, to finish what bas been
so well commeueed, and then pass onward to other enter-
prises: that is to say, to aggrandise the kingdom of Italy
little by little, by annexing the provinces which have
succeeded in shattering their fetters and recovering their
independence, and with the forces thus added to the good
muse to await the opportunity of coming to the rescue of
then provinces thatstillsuffertheweight of slavery. Raving
made this declaration, nothing remains for nie but to recom-
mend to you our dear and persecuted Sicily. Decide her
destiny, I conjure you. Do not leave her a prey to the
factions that may arise, to insidious snares, or to the open
violence of the abhorred Bourbons. Remember that in car-
rying your brave army and the terror of your name into the
kingdom of Naples inopportunely you may perhaps be
doing the work of those whom you esteem the least, and
who will adroitly profit by your eudeavows. Let Sicily be
your country. Love, as you know how to love, that mother
by adoption, who is not unworthy of so illustrious a won.—
Accept, Monsieur le Clinical, dm, Baron