1861 | Page 8

Naples, May 1861

The events of the last days require us to stop and reflect on who we are.

We are a rich, thriving and prosperous people. Thanks to the Bourbons we can talk about railways, universities, shipyards, abbeys, widespread prosperity. Of course, we are not perfect, but neither do we want to make the Savoy appear. And how do they want us to appear? Like a people that is not worth of owning an identity!

According to the Piemontese, it is up to them to build a national identity and they are doing that in the worst way, using armies and weapons to occupy all the regions of the “boot”.

Garibaldi and his volunteer soldiers, commanded by the Savoy (in particular by Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour), occupied Naples to annex it to Piedmont as they did with Sicily on the 14th of May.

Not even the general geopolitical conditions should be underestimated, such as the ambiguous but precious help of Napoleon's France, the benevolent neutrality of England, the Austrian and Bourbon diplomatic isolation.

We are left alone by everyone, even by our Bourbons! The day before Garibaldi arrived in Naples, Federico II di Borbone left Naples hiding in Gaeta.

Without even the help of the Bourbon troops, who is responsible for the defense of our Naples, Calabria, Basilicata, Molise, Puglia?

Dear fellow citizens, do not be afraid of this: it seems that in the absence of a military defense, citizens would take the reins of the uprising, led by Carmine Cracco, Ninco Nanco and Giuseppe Caruso. We can only rely on the heroic deeds of individual citizens!

Our sources claim that the north would like to start an industrialization policy, following England, France and Germany. The problem is that in order to do so, they would miss the money and hope to collect them here in our “poor” area! A real injustice. At the moment, they are only hypotheses; if it is true, our great-grandchildren will read it on the history books, so it will be up to them to claim our true identity and to do justice to our people left alone in misery.

by CIERVO VINCENZO 5 B SIA

The truth behind Garibaldi's deeds