New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-14
KING TO VISIT SARDINIA
Island Neglected by Its Rulers
for Centuries.

,,-,-r,eh+ 1910 By the Brentwood Company
nc King of Italy will leave Rome at the
- ,f next week on board q man-of-war,
,.or,s for Palermo. in order to take part IN
-, celebration of the emancipation of the
,-,e,,d lust fifty years ago from Bourbon
-,e when Caribaldi and his Thousand land
- a MARSHA, and, after defeating the
.-oo-s Of King Francis at Calstaflmi, TOOK
-,.,ern1o by storm and assumed the dicta-
.,-srip of the island in the name of King
VICTOR Emmanuel II Of Sardinia The king
--i1 be accompanied to Palermo by the
7,-e,,ier several ministers and the chief
~ his military household and provision mas
re-, made for the transportation. free Of
.,s- 10 Palermo Of certain number OF
eous+o-s and Deputies, as well as of all
=, survivors Of the Thousand of Marsha
only the authentic survivors will be thus
.as+e5 as the guests Of the government. IL
mention this it is because three or four
IS ago the attention OF the present King
- Italy was by mere chance attracted 10
- @sc- that the original Thousand, instead
: decreasing as time went on, had in
.-esse5 fortvfold. and that there were in
7ao- more than forty thousand alleged vet
lang drawing pensions from the italian
...S,,rz- as survivors Of Garibaldi's band
=. -,a one Thousand of MARSHA. If the
r,s1ia- government was paying pensions 10
"a. Thousand of MARSHA II was because
,,e Italians have always been disposed 10
regard IN the light Of national heroes this
I'D n one thousand followers who accom-
named Garibaldi TO Sicily just fifty years
900 landing with him at Marsha. Indeed.
filev we're looked upon as important factors
-, tl-e creation Of United Italy, and as such
7,,erirfnR provision being made for their wei
fare By the state.
When the present King found TO what
.,+er+ The national exchequer was being
-oh,ed fv bogus veterans he instituted
searching investigation. which revealed the
fact that in 1907 there were exactly 2SS
authentic survivors of the Thousand of Mar
ss1a stTl in existence and entitled TO draw
PENSIONS as such. in lieu OF more than
1ortv thousand. and. thanks to this discov-
o.. The treasury was relieved of very
large annual outlay
an the termination of the festivities in
Sicily, the King will proceed with only a
small suite TO visit the island of Sardinia,
where he has never been since his acoes-
SION % the throne just ten years ago. In
esct. 7 cannot recall that any one of his
predecessors on the throne as King Of italy.
or as King Of Sardinia, has ever visited the
refuge there from Napoleon from 1902
i-rril 1913 Indeed. II is the most neglected
,,o-tior of Italy. although wonderfully rich
In mineral wealth, which is exploited in q
ridiculously inadequate manner. There are
ulen1y Of traces of the mining industry and
enterprise Of the Phoenicians. the Egyptians
and the Carthaginians. who in turn owned
Tie island which subsequently was in the
possession Of the Romans. the Vandals I'M
der Genseric, the Goths, the Genoese and
The Pisans
In 1875 the Pope gave Sardinia TO the
King Of Aragon and for the next three
centuries or SO Sardinia was a Spanish
province BY the treaty OF Utrecht, in 17l3,
II WAS ceded TO the House of Austria,
which in 1z20 persuaded Victor Amadeus.
Duke Of Savoy, who had received Sicily by
the treaty of Utrecht 10 exchange the
crown of that island for that Of Sardinia.
From that time on the Dukes Of Savoy
bore the title Of Kings Of Sardinia, until
Victor Emmanuel II became, just fifty
Years ago, King OF Italy
Let me add that the first Of the Savoy
Kings of Sardinia was married to Princess
Mary Of Orleans, whose mother was the
daughter of the i'll fated King Charles
Of England. The first Savoy Queen Of Sar-
diria was therefore the legitimate heireSs
20 the British throne on the death of Queen
Anne and the exclusion of the Pretender-
Indeed the descent Of Victor Emmanuel
III. now King of Italy. from the Stuart
kings Of England is, through his ances-
rrese the first Savoy Queen of Sardinia,
i,ss remote than that Of King George
..f