Part 35 (1/2)
”Villa Pamfili, 12 June, 1849, 5 P.M.”
He was in fact at Villa Santucci, much farther out, but could not be content without falsifying his date as well as all his statements.
”PROCLAMATION.
”Inhabitants of Rome,--We did not come to bring you war. We came to sustain among you order, with liberty. The intentions of our government have been misunderstood. The labors of the siege have conducted us under your walls. Till now we have wished only occasionally to answer the fire of your batteries. We approach these last moments, when the necessities of war burst out in terrible calamities. Spare them to a city fall of so many glorious memories.
”If you persist in repelling us, on you alone will fall the responsibility of irreparable disasters.”
The following are the answers of the various functionaries to whom this letter was sent:--
ANSWER OF THE a.s.sEMBLY.
”General,--The Roman Const.i.tutional a.s.sembly informs you, in reply to your despatch of yesterday, that, having concluded a convention from the 31st of May, 1849, with M. de Lesseps, Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, a convention which we confirmed soon after your protest, it must consider that convention obligatory for both parties, and indeed a safeguard of the rights of nations, until it has been ratified or declined by the government of France. Therefore the a.s.sembly must regard as a violation of that convention every hostile act of the French army since the above-named 31st of May, and all others that shall take place before the resolution of your government can be made known, and before the expiration of the time agreed upon for the armistice. You demand, General, an answer correspondent to the intentions and power of France. Nothing could be more conformable with the intentions and power of France than to cease a flagrant violation of the rights of nations.
”Whatever may be the results of such violation, the people of Rome are not responsible for them. Rome is strong in its right, and decided to maintain tire conventions which attach it to your nation; only it finds itself constrained by the necessity of self-defence to repel unjust aggressions.
”Accept, &c., for the a.s.sembly,
”The President, GALLETTI.
”Secretaries, FABRETTI, PANNACCHI, COCCHI.”
”ANSWER OF THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE NATIONAL GUARD.
”General,--The treaty, of which we await the ratification, a.s.sures this tranquil city from every disaster.
”The National Guard, destined to maintain order, has the duty of seconding the resolutions of the government; willingly and zealously it fulfils this duty, not caring for annoyance and fatigue.
”The National Guard showed very lately, when it escorted the prisoners sent back to you, its sympathy for France, but it shows also on every occasion a supreme regard for its own dignity, for the honor of Rome.
”Any misfortune to the capital of the Catholic world, to the monumental city, must be attributed not to the pacific citizens constrained to defend themselves, but solely to its aggressors.
”Accept, &c.
”STURBINETTI,
_General of the National Guard, Representative of the People_”.
ANSWER OF THE GENERALISSIMO.
”Citizen General,--A fatality leads to conflict between the armies of two republics, whom a better destiny would have invited to combat against their common enemy; for the enemies of the one cannot fail to be also enemies of the other.
”We are not deceived, and shall combat by every means in our power whoever a.s.sails our inst.i.tutions, for only the brave are worthy to stand before the French soldiers.
”Reflecting that there is a state of life worse than death, if the war you wage should put us in that state, it will be better to close our eyes for ever than to see the interminable oppressions of oar country.
”I wish you well, and desire fraternity.