3-008-921 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Garibaldi at Varignano - from a drawing by M. Beaucé, 1862. 'Regardless of personal advancement, regardless of personal friendships and positions of power and influence, [Garibaldi] has never had in view any other purpose than the happiness (through the liberation and union) of his fellow-countrymen, still only attainable by the complete consolidation of Italian unity, the cause for which he has become "the Prisoner of Italy"...the Italian Government, after a considerable interval of painful hesitation, came to a resolution concerning the "rebel" prisoner. The majority of the Cabinet was in favour of an amnesty; but Generals La Marmora and Cialdini...outweighed the more noble sentiments of their opponents, and...the illustrious Liberator of Naples and the Two Sicilies, the real founder of Italian unity, is to appear as a criminal before a court of assize...Happily, at the time we write the reports as to the state of the "prisoner's" wounds - the wounds inflicted by men with Italian blood also in their veins - are most favourable...The enthusiastic demonstrations taking place in different parts of Great Britain sufficiently prove the interest felt in this country on Italian affairs in general, and especially towards "The Prisoner of Italy".' From "Illustrated London News", 1862.