Italy. 2 July 1848

Supplement
Italy.
No. 32, 2 July 1848.
Neue Rheinische Zeitung.
* Modena, 20 June. The provisional government has had to abdicate and make way for another. Long unpopular, particularly on account of some members known to be friends of the Jesuits, it gave the immediate occasion for its overthrow by the arrest of a popular citizen. The entire National Guard declared against that provisional government. Yesterday afternoon at 3 o’clock a proclamation of the municipal authority announced the names of the persons elected as members of the new provisional government.
* Venice, 22 June. The President of the Republic (Manin) has issued the following proclamation: “Venetians, whatever the further events of war may be; the sea is ours, our city and our lagoons are sufficiently fortified and, as you know, impregnable. All that is required on your side is confidence, concord, order and calm.” The Austrians attacked the Fort of Malghera, but had to retreat with losses. Pepe, in a letter published by means of the press, has explained what means the government in Naples employed, shortly after 15 May, to induce him and his troops to turn back, but how he, for his part, did everything possible to keep as many soldiers as possible loyal to the Italian cause and to lead them across the Po against the Austrians.
* Rome, 20 June. In the first chamber (Alto Consiglio) yesterday the same resolutions (commendation of the Roman and reward of the Swiss combatants at Vicenza and energetic prosecution of the war) which the deputies had adopted were passed amid the enthusiasm of the galleries. The speech delivered on this occasion by Minister Mamiani provoked a veritable storm of applause, and the enthusiasm generated within the chamber soon spread outside, so that Mamiani, on his way home, was accompanied by an immense crowd with jubilant cheers and festive evvivas all the way to his residence.
* Nice, 21 June. General Garibaldi arrived here with 85 men of his legion. They are all picked troops. The general declared that he was ready to sacrifice the last drop of blood for the cause of Italy. From all sides volunteers are streaming in to march with him to Lombardy.
* Genoa, 22 June. Public tranquillity was considerably disturbed here yesterday evening. The occasion was as follows: A Jesuit, Father Gastaldi, arrived on Monday from the island of Sardinia with a false passport, which he had obtained free of charge from the police, and in disguise. He was recognised and arrested; in his trunk he had the uniform of a citizens’ guard. A large crowd assembled and wanted this agent of the reactionary party to be handed over to popular justice. The general alarm was sounded, and it was with difficulty that the civic guard succeeded in calming the people.
* From Upper Italy. Throughout the Venetian territory, as far as the Austrians have occupied it, the citizens’ guard has been dissolved and the population disarmed. Radetzky has sequestrated all the possessions of fugitive Italians. Pepe, who has received from the provisional government of Venice the supreme command of all the forces of the republic, has arrived in Venice with 6,000 Neapolitans, etc. Rovigo has likewise had to surrender to the Austrians. They may triumph for some time yet; but their joy will not last long.
= Naples, 19 June. It is asserted that the troops returning from Upper Italy have been disarmed by the Abruzzesi. The two committees of public safety in Cosenza and Catanzaro are displaying incredible energy; the two Calabrias already have 30,000 men under arms. By the beginning of July the total forces of the insurgents will certainly amount to 60,000 men. In Aquila the intendant, Mariano D’Ayala, popular throughout the province, indignant at a secret ministerial circular ordering all officials to use every means to secure the election of royalist deputies, has openly declared against the government, published that circular in print, and called upon the inhabitants of the Abruzzi to rise en masse and overthrow the infamous government. His bombarding Majesty wants to have Messina shelled once again; for that reason 2 French warships have departed thither, with instructions not to tolerate a further shelling – this high and most sublime pleasure – but to intervene energetically in such an event. Demoralisation among the troops is making rapid strides; the soldiers are now the real commanders; they obey at most the non-commissioned officers. The second grenadier regiment of the royal bodyguard, which particularly distinguished itself on 15 May by plundering houses and committing rapes, received its colonel these days with the cry: Abbasso! Abbasso! (Down! Down!). Had he not immediately withdrawn and kept himself hidden since, his death would have been certain. The reason was that he sought to maintain discipline and had, in a narrow circle, censured the savage deeds of his regiment on 15 May. In Cosenza the official journal of the insurgents is appearing under the title: “L’Italiano di Calabria”.