The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-07-10
Garibaldi's Children.

The difficulties that may beset the chill
dren Of Garibaldi in the settlement Of his
estate after his death are being discussed
by the Italian journals, which, with their
usual fondness for hyperbole, describe the
heroic General as father whose children
are not bis own, and husband without
wife. Garibaldi has six children.
They are the offspring of three women,
with only two of whom he has lived, yet
strangely, it was only to the woman with
whom he had never cohabited that he
was married At the time of his contest
against the Dictator Rosas in La Plata he
met woman Of Brazilian birth called
Annita She was married, but, falling in
love with the adventurer, she left her
husband, and after accompanying Carl
baldi through his most perilous experi>
ences in South America, she followed him
to Europe. She was the mother Of Carl
baldi's eldest three children, Menotti,
Riciett and Nine. Canzio. She died in
the forest Of Ravenna when Garibaldi was
fleeing from Rome, after tine arrival there
of the French troops in IS49. Ten years
later, at the time of his campaign in Lom-
hardy, Garibaldi met the youthful daugh-
ter of the Marquis Basmondi. When the
Italian troops moved away from Como,
her fathers home, she determined to fol-
low her lover. She went after him on
horseback, and her father went after her.
When the Marquis found her she told
him she had conceived for Garibaldi a
passion she could not govern. Garibaldi
was informed Of this declaration, and, as
he was pleased with the girl, he married
her. The marriage ceremony was little
more than over when the young woman
informed her husband that she loved his
aide-de-camp, Confrini, that there were
a good reason why he should be her hus-
band, and that she had lied to her father
when she told him she loved Garibaldi,
because she was afraid to tell him she
loved Confrimi, to whom, she felt certain,
he would never let her be married. Carl
baidi solved the difficulty thus raised by
leaving his young wife at once. He is
said by some never to have seen her
again. Others assert that several years
later she called on him and mplored him
to take her as his wife in fact. A few
months after her marriage to him she
gave berth to a child, now living, of whom
Signor Confirm was the real father.
When the veteran revoldtionist retired to
Capera, after the s.rngvle OF Aspromonte,
his daughter MnA ssn.,o, accompanied
him. AS she wac ue .,-. eve of accouch-
ment, she took with s,t nurse named
Francesca. This w.n,an cared tenderly
for Garibald in his sickness. One morn
ing he summoned his daughter and sid
to her, "You must get another nurse for
your infant. From this day forward Fran
cesca will be one of the family, and will
cat with us" A very short time later Fran
cesca became a mother. She has since
had Two children. One of her children
is dead. The others-Menlioa and Celia
are now in Rome with Garibaldi and
Francesca. These two being illegi,matc,
and the offspring OF Annila being illegiti.
mate, the Italian journals contemplate
with interest the fact that Garibladi's only
lawful child is the offspring of the daugh-
ter of Marquis Basmondi, with whom he
never cohaUited.