ing the food which was sent to me from home. With this I wrote upon my linen when I sent it back to be washed; and thus I was able to warn my friends to destroy certain papers which might have endangered the Tuscan cousins. I learned that others had been arrested at the same time that I was - Passano, Torre, Morelli (an advocate), and Doria (a bookseller), besides one or two others unknown to us; none, however, of those whom I had affiliated. The governor of Genoa at that time was a certain Venanson. When asked by my father of what I was accused, he replied that the time had not arrived for answering that question, but that I was a young man of talent, very fond of solitary walks by night, and habitually silent as to the subject of my meditations, and that the government was not fond of young men of talent, the subject of whose musings was unknown to it. One night I was suddenly awakened by two carabineers, who desired me to get up immediately and follow them. I imagined this was merely in order to subject me to another examination; but when they told me to take my cloak with me, I perceived I was to leave the barracks. I then asked whither we were going, but they replied that they were not permitted to tell me. I thought of my mother, knowing well that if she should hear the next day of my disappearance, she would imagine the worst; and I resolutely declared I would not stir (unless compelled by force) without being allowed to send a letter to my family. After long hesitation, and much consultation with their officer, they consented. I wrote a few lines to my mother, telling her that I was leaving the barracks, but that there was no cause for alarm, and then followed my new masters. At the door stood a sedan-chair ready for me, which they closed upon me as soon as I entered it. As soon as we stopped, I heard the sound of horses' feet, indicative of a longer journey, and then the unexpected sound of my father's voice bidding me be of good cheer. I know not how he had heard of my departure, nor learned the time and place; but I well remember the brutality with which the carabineers sought to drive him away, and their thrusting me out of the sedan-chair and into the carriage, so that I was hardly able even to press his hand, as well as the furious manner in which they rushed up to identify a youth who was standing near smoking, and who nodded to me. This was Agostino Ruffini, one of that family who were to me more like brothers than friends. He died some years since, leaving a lasting memory behind him, not only amongst us Italians, but also among the Scotch, who knew him in exile, and had learned to admire the qualities of his heart, the serious character of his intellect, and the unstained integrity of his soul. We were then in front of the prison of St. Andrea, from whence they brought a man wrapped up to the eyes, whom they desired to enter the same carriage with me. Two carabineers got in after him, each armed with a musket, and then we started. In the prisoner I soon recognized Passano; one of the carabineers was the unknown spy of the "Lion Rouge." We were taken to the fortress of Savona, on the Western Riviera, and immediately separated. As our arrival was unexpected, there was no cell ready 1 Carriages were scarcely ever used in the interior of the city of Genoa in that day. for me. I was left in a dark passage, where I received a visit from the governor (De Mari), an old man of seventy, who, after preaching me a long sermon on the many nights I had wasted in culpable societies and meetings, and the wholesome quiet I should find in the fortress, answered my request for a cigar by saying that he would write to the governor of Genoa to know if such a thing could be permitted. This little incident drew from me, after he left me, the first tears I had shed since my imprisonment; tears of rage at feeling myself so utterly in the power of beings I despised. In about an hour's time I was confined in my cell. It was at the top of the fortress, and looked upon the sea, which was a comfort to me. The sea and sky – two symbols of the infinite, and, except the Alps, the sublimest things in nature- were before me whenever I approached my little grated window. The earth beneath was invisible to me; but when the wind blew in my direction I could hear the voices of the fishermen. During the first month I had no books, but afterwards, through the courtesy of the new governor, Cavalier Fontana, who, fortunately for me, replaced De Mari, - I obtained a Bible, a Tacitus, and a Byron. My prison companion was a lucherino,1 a little bird very capable of attachment, and full of pretty ways, of which I was excessively fond. The only human beings I saw were the sergeant Antonietti, my kindly jailer; the officer or guard for the day, who appeared at the door for an instant in order to note his prisoner; Caterina, the Piedmontese woman who brought me my dinner; and Cavalier 1 A greenfinch. Fontana. Antonietti invariably asked me every evening, with imperturbable gravity, if I had any orders to give; to which I as invariably replied, Yes, a carriage for Genoa. Fontana, an old soldier, was not without Italian feeling; but he was profoundly convinced that the aim of the Carbonari was plunder, the abolition of all religion, the guillotine erected in the public squares, etc.; and feeling compassion for such errors in a youth like me, he endeavored to recall me into the right path by kindness, even going to the point of transgressing his instructions so far as to invite me to drink coffee in the evening with him and his wife, a graceful little woman, related - I forget in what degree to Alexander Manzoni. Meanwhile, through the medium of my friends in Genoa, I continued to exhaust every effort to strike a spark of true life from Carbonarism. Every ten days I received a letter from my mother, unsealed, of course, and previously examined by the agents of the government. This letter I was permitted to answer, on condition of my writing the answer in the presence of Antonietti, and handing it to him unsealed. But these precautions in no way prevented the execution of the plan of correspondence I had previously agreed upon with my friends, namely, to construct the sentences in such a manner that the first letters of every alternate word should form the only words of real interest to them; and these, for better precaution, were in Latin. My friends therefore dictated to my mother the first seven or eight lines of her letter; and I, for my part, had no lack of time to compose and learn by heart the phrases containing my answer. In this way I contrived to tell my friends to seek interviews with many Carbonari of my acquaintance, all of whom, however, proved to be terror-struck, and repulsed both my friends and their proposals. Thus also I learned the news of the Polish insurrection, which, with youthful imprudence, I allowed myself the pleasure of announcing to Fontana, who but a few hours before had assured me that all was tranquil in Europe. He must surely have been confirmed in his belief that we had dealings with the devil. However, the silly terror shown by the Carbonari in that important moment, my own long meditations on the logical consequences of the absence of all fixed belief or faith in that association, and even a ridiculous scene I had with Passano, whom I met in the corridor while our cells were being cleaned, and who answered my whispered communication: "I have means of correspondence, give me some names," by instantly investing me with the powers of the highest rank, and then tapping me on the head in order to confer upon me, I know not what indispensable masonic dignity, -all confirmed me in the conviction I had acquired some months before, that Carbonarism was, in fact, dead, and that, instead of wasting time and energy in the endeavor to galvanize a corpse, it would be better to address myself to the living, and seek to found a new edifice upon a new basis.1 It was during these months of imprisonment that I conceived the plan of the association of Young Italy (La Giovina Italia). I meditated deeply upon the principles upon which to base the organization of the party, the aim and purpose of its labors, which I intended should be publicly declared, the method of its formation, the individuals to be selected to aid 1 See Appendix B. - |