The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-02

ficm him. envy Memories, or "The
Legend of the Camica Rosa, when re-
lated by the General. would have deservedly
attracted millions of readers. 1t would have
been we'll for Garibaldi had he never read the
volumes of Victor Hugo and Guerrazzi, espe-
cially those of the latter, whom the author of
"Clelia" has followed only too faithfully in
his curses against tyrants, and in his impre-
cations against priests. 1t is probable that
4 one will read any future novels of Gen
eral Garibaldi except his own volunteers, for
whom alone they seem to be adapted. The
General has done everything he could to re-
strict the circle of his readers. He calls the
Italian Government ''always hypocritical"
and always perverse;" he constantly insults
the Italian army; he gives to Jews the oppro-
brioUs epithets of ''vagabonds and usurers;
and he declares that he would like to see the
churches sacked, even at the risk of causing
the destruction of some masterpiece of art.
In the "Cantoni," Garibaldi seems to exhaust
all his vocabulary in violent abuse of the
priesthood the priest is "a vampire, a fox,
a reptile, viper, a hyena, an insect, a goat,
o serpent, or a wolf; in fact, the priest is
represented as constituting in himself at least
half of large geological collection. But even
this does not satisfy the Generals the priest
according to him, is "a pest, cryptogamous
animal, the slave of the demon, an assassin,
GA enemy of Italy, an enemy of the human
race, buffoon, master of all deceit O real
secret police, the solid pedestal of despotism,
the Quintessence of the horrid ministry of
hell, besides a number of appellations which
we purposely omit. In the ''Cantoni,"
Signor de Gubernatis says, there is no novel
or fiction whatever; to call it a novel is a
mere pretense; the real aim is too apparent,
which is to vent imprecations on the Govern
ment and the priesthood. He says that the
Generals brain seems like a ship without q
compass; it strikes against every rock and
every shore, for the good pilot is wanting
the goddess Reason, whom the General names
indeed, but to whom he is SO little devoted as
to offend her in almost every page. The
author of ''Clelia" and of ''Cantoni' has belied
the apparent simplicity of his character; he
has followed the perfdious advice of his
fatterers, and SO sinks under the weight
of his and their imprudence. If the
General would rise again in the
estimation of the world, he must not con-
tinue TO write as he has done lately. His
hymns to women (and these, it should be
noted, are only in honor of young women) do
not remove the unpleasant impression which
is created by his incessant imprecations
against that part of Italy which is not exclu-
sively Garibaldian. These hymns struggle to
each a poetical elevation, but they are
weighed down by sheer monomaniacal excla-
nations There are few beautiful pages in
the 'Cantoni;" and these are those in which
the General, forgetting to speak of himself,
pays tribute of honor to some one of his
brave companions in arms. Signor de GU
bernatis concludes by saying, 81 would rather
have broken my pen than have been obliged
to write such painful words of the man of our
affections; but 1 would rather become dumb
than not raise an alarm against writings
which, recommended by revered name, can
destroy in one single day all the good which
in whole years hard work thousands of
poor teachers have achieved in our popular
schools"