BRIGANDAGE IN NAPLES. No. II.
THE expedition of Bois was the first practical action taken by the cosmopolitan Legitimist coalition which in the summer of 1861 voluntarily came forward to carry on the cause of Royalist movement in Naples, when King Francis began to declare himself not rich enough to fight his own battle. Borjes embarked with a regular commission from King Francis, and detailed instructions issued in his name by General Clary. These are dated Marseilles, 5th July., and are very explicit in the orders for the general's con- duct. It is from Calabria, under the date of the 22nd September, that Borjes writes to General Clary an account of his adventures. Malta was the point where he embarked his band—the number of which is not given in the letter; that evidently does not contain his official report. It was the 11th September that he had set sail, and on the 13th, having got hopelessly becalmed near Branealeone, he resolved to land, contrary to his origmal plans. It is evident that he had with him a mere handful of Spanish followers. Upon this lonely shore, without a guide or any known friend, Bonds set out at haphazard, when a shepherd gave information which directed him to the hamlet of Precacore, where about twenty peasants joined the band. The Piedmontese, however, were soon on the alert, so Borjes made off to join a brigand chief, Mittica, which the assistance of the prior of a convent enabled him to do. Here Borjes learned to know the character of the Royalists whom be was destined to find. Mittica looked on him with suspicion, "taking us to be foes ; in fact, he told me so distinctly, adding, that he would not put him- self under my orders till after the first fight. For three days I was, therefore, kept a prisoner, as also my officers." A fight did soon come about, which Borjes declares to .have ended unfavourably merely through the fault of Mittica. "I was followed only by my officers," are his words. Hungry, and forsaken by Mittica and his band, who disappeared no one knew whither, Borjes threw himself into the woods, making towards the mountains of the &la. It
must, indeed, be allowed, that the bearing of his handful of men all through their really bitter privations was that of truly gallant
partizans. There was no traitor amongst them, and to the last they followed their unbending leader with singular devotion. It is at the moment when Borjes reached Serrastretta, at the foot of the Sila, that the diary begins, on the 22nd of September, just as his letter comes to an end. In striking into the wild country in the interior Bo* was actuated. by the hope of bringing to his standard those bands of guerillas whom rumour represented to be swarming there. Over and over again these men marched for days together through unbeaten tracks with only a few hours' sleep to refresh themselves, and with but a morsel of bread for their food ; always exposed to be overtaken and surrounded by pursuers, whom only the most reckless daring and really surpassing vigour contrived to elude. On the 25th Borjes found a man to whom he gave money to fet,ch some bread and wine ; but, instead, he brought a column of Piedmontese soldiers, the sight of whom " obliged them to get away in the greatest haste." On the 27th Borjds had reached the mountains of Gallopaue. " There I made a halt, for my men were exhausted with hunger and fatigue." But a patrol was before long espied, so that "without guide and through the forest I went on towards the north, until worn out with fatigue, and ground down by hunger, I found myself on a little hill called Castagna di Macchia. Full of anxiety and perplexity I no longer knew where to go, or what to do; but as Providence always watches over its children, at the prayers no doubt of the Holy Virgin, it caused a shepherd to appear, who approached us, and said that he would give all of us food and lodging. Had Heaven not granted us this grace we should have been lost." This entry is characteristic of the kind of devout superstition which buoyed up this true Spaniard throughout his desperate enterprise. On the 29th September (having remained under the care of the friendly shepherd), Box* received a communication from the agent of Prince Bisignano, a Royalist, asking him to prove his identity, and soon after they met, when the agent "saluted me with great courtesy, and immediately gave orders to collect men." But the alarm was at once given to the neighbouring authorities, and Bei* had to skulk about in the forest in the vain hope of the reinforcements to Tie procured by the agent's influence. On the 2nd October he writes : "8 A.M. I am told all the troops in Cosenza went out yesterday to fall upon us, but having learnt on the way that one of our bands had worsted a detachment of the enemy, these troops had changed their direction. I don't know what truth there may be in this, but it is a fact that in spite of all my agents I have been unable to find one band of Royalists in the field. . . . I have everywhere found affection for the principles of monarchy amounting to fanaticism, but unfortunately accompanied by a para- lyzing fear. . . . The rich, with few exceptions, are ill-disposed everywhere, and therefore much detested by the bulk of the people:" At last, on the 5th October, Leonardo Baccaro, chief of a band, came to a conference where BoijeS tried "to see if anything could be doiie in a royalist sense ; but his answer, as of many others, is a negative one. I asked him why, and his reply was in accordance with that of the others. Let the King come with a small force, and the country will rise like one man; without that there is nothing to hope for. And I believe the same."
Borjes now resolved to force his way across the mountains into Basilicata, where he hoped to find a better state of things for his purpose. It was a tremendous undertaking. On the 9th October he writes : "The night has been horrible ; never have I suffered so much morally and physically." "Marching, and jumping countless ditches, many of them very deep, one of us fell into one with his weapons and baggage, losing his gun, which we had to fish out. One man with his feet all sore, threw himself on the ground, and asked for death; another took off his shoes, believing he could walk better unshod ; a third slung his gun across his Shoulders, and took two sticks to lean on. I am suffering like these, but my heart does not fail me. I try to communicate my own confidence. . . . Cheered on, the men gather fire, and I make them do wonders. He who can't walk is dragged along as well as can be, and thus without murmur, without -bread or water, we reach an olive wood, where we spend the day of the 9th." At fast, the 12th, they got into Basili- cata, "after ten and a half hours' marching through detestable roads. Yesterday we were without bread, and thus had to make our way fasting." Already Bodes began to think his purpose hopeless, and meditate making his way to Rome, "our strength is lessening, and my own sickness is growing. Little food, and that almost always unhealthy, destroys even the most robust. However, I shall march on as long as I can; should God, however, will for me to suc- cumb, then I shall band these notes over to Capdeville, for I am anxious this writing should reach his Majesty, that he may know, I died without regretting the life, which I could have the honour of losing in serving the cause of Legitimacy." And on these men struggled, cheered by their unflagging chief, with a spirit that really partook of gallantry. At last, on the 19th October, accounts were brought in that, at a dis- tance of about eight miles, there were a thousand Royalists, under the orders of Crocco Donatelli. "I decide upon seuding to him Capdeville with a letter, and escorted by two soldiers, to see whether we can come to an understanding, which I doubt, since I observe that there is the most serious disorder." Capdeville's re- ception was not the most cordial, and Crocco, instead of meeting Borjes, sent the latter a message to come to him. The band was smaller than represented, and the chief absent. It was not till the next night that he came, and then his first visit was to his paramour, "whom he keeps in a neighbouring forest, to the great scandal of many." Nor was the result of the conference, when it came about, particularly satisfactory. Crocco showed no disposition to regard Borje,s' patent, and, in the end, declined coming to any decision before "the arrival of a French general, who is in Potenza, and is to come to-morrow night." The French general turned out to be a man of the name of De Langlois, whose presence here is extremely curious, for he is an individual well known in Rome, and an intimate attendant at the court of King Francis. He came the 23rd October with "three officers, giving himself out for a gene- ral, and behaving himself like an idiot." When his presumption passed all bounds, Borjes "called him aside and charged him to show his instructions. He answered that he had none in writing, and then his pride was pulled down." Both of these men, Lan- glois and Crocco, had motives of their own, which made them ill disposed to submit to Borj6s' authority. For several days Borjes, to his despair, saw himself utterly unable to get them to do anything. "If I admit any organization," was Crocco's remark, `I shall be no more anything; while we stay in the woods I am all in all, as no one knows them better than myself; but once 'in the field this will be no longer the case." At last Borjes' dogged perseverance succeeded so far as to persuade them to advance, but from that moment his diary is full of genuine lamentations over the horrors committed by his companions, and which he found himself powerless to stay. The things which occurred, he writes on the 9th November, "would be matter for amazement were it not that the chief and his satellites are the greatest scoundrels I ever knew." For several weeks they now contrived to march about, falling upon villages and towns left defenceless by the advance of the troops in an opposite direction, each success being attended with outrage. At Trevigno, Crocco,Langlois, and Serravalle committed " deeds of the greatest violence." Salandra was "sacked ;" while Crocco himself shot down a citizen of repute. Even where the po- pulation, with the priests at their head, welcomed these brigands, they would not bridle their love for outrage. "At Grassano we got quarters for our men, and then our chiefs go to rob where they like." These successes increased the band to 700 men—" very well armed," but, for all that, Borjes found it impossible to get his companions to act like soldiers against an enemy. On the 19th Novem- ber a foolish attempt to seize the strong town of Avigliano failed, Crocco having, as usual, disappeared as soon as fighting began. Next day "Ninco Nanco, Donato, and another officer came to tell me that. Crocco had left us. I called together the officers to ask them what they intend to do, assuring them of my resolution to go on to the end, if they would persist in their engagement : Bosco spoke, and spoke well; but another officer said, the soldiers would not follow us if commanded by Spanish officers ; and that besides I was appointed merely to the command in Basilicata ; -which explained to me the whole intrigue. Still, I made all my officers resign their appointment, to prove to the band that we serve from love, and not from self-interest. During this meet- ing Langlois stood aside, but watching the -upshot." The end was that Lan,,lois became invested with the chief command. Crocco, meanwhile, had again turned up, but evidently bent upon merely, savinc,r. himself. The Piedrnontese forces were now closing in upon the band; and on the 23rd November a fight took place, where Crocco and Ninco Nanco at once fled "at full gallop," and Langlois' only thought was "to save himself from the enemy's bullet." Pursued, the band reached Ricigliano, "where the most unheard-of disorders happened, the particulars of which I will not give, so thoroughly horrible are they," and on the 26th forced their way into Pescopagano, where they were next day menaced with being hopelessly shut in. Crocco did nothing and Borj‘s therefore went to urge the immediate necessity of making the best of their way into the mountains while there still was time. Crocco refused to allow this. In vain Borjes spoke and stormed. The pre- cious moments slipped away, until at last confusion spread through the band, and without order as without command they seem instinctively about nightfall to have made their way towards the forest, "where, at mid-day of the 28th, we halted in the midst of the wood without bread, and the band dispersed. It was a harrowing scene ; Crocco collected his old robber friends, and handed over to them his recent associates. The other soldiers are disarmed by force ; they take from them all their rifles and percussion cap guns. Some soldiers fly, others begin to weep. They beg to be allowed to serve for a morsel of bread; we want no pay, they say ; but these assassins are without pity. . . All this was con- certed, but it was hidden with great miming. Some soldiers came weeping, and kissed my hand, saymg, 'Come -back with a small force, and you will always find as ready to follow you." Thus ended vir- tually the ill-starred expedition upon which Borj6s allowed himself to be sent. The entries in his diary after this date are few and mere notes. With his own Spanish followers he struck, on the 29th November, into a northerly direction, with the resolution to try and reach Rome. What hair-breadth adventures now befel him and his twenty-four companions between that date and the 8th of December, when near Tagliacozzo, after a desperate resistance, they fell into the hands of the Piedmontese, we shall never know in full. It certainly is a rare instance of daring, this ride of four- and-twenty desperate men through the kingdom of Naples, across unknown wilds and athwart a country swarming with pursuers. On the 4th December they were seen on a plain called Di Cinque Miglie, near Avezzano. The road led through Surcola, occupied by a detachment of National Guards. At ten at night Borjes boldly rode past the main guard. " ' Who goes there?'
cried the sentinel. Buoni amici !' was the answer, and Borjes passed with his men." At the next village Borj6s replied to a challenge by passing off himself and his men as chesnxi pickers, returning from the mountains. He now thought himself safe, being
within a few miles from the frontier, and gave his exhausted com- panions some hours' sleep—that led to their destruction. The alarm had been given, and early in the morning of the 8th December, they were surprised in a farm-house, and taken after a desperate fight. As is well known, Borj6s was shot. To the last moment he bore himself like a soldier. During the way to Tagliacor.zo "he spoke little, and smoked cigarettes." To the lieutenant Borjes said, "I was on my road to King Francis, to tell him that he has none but scoundrels and wretches to defend him." Major Franchini did all he could to obtain revelations ; but the Spaniards remained dumb, and preserved a haughty attitude. "You may thank God," said Borj6s, "that I started this morning an hour too late, otherwise I should have got into the Roman States and would have come with new bands to break up Victor EmanuePs kingdom." All confessed in a chapel, and then were led to the place of execution. "Our last hour is come," cried Borj6s, "let us die like brave men." Then he kissed his fellow. countrymen, begged the riflemen to aim straight, knelt down with his comrades, and chanted a Spanish hymn. Thus died a man for whom it was impossible not to feel a personal respect. He seems to have been the very type of a devoted and gallant partizan. Our principles are certainly not his principles, and our sympathies are very far from being in favour of his cause ; but that need not blind us to the honourable qualities of the individual. Had Francis 11. many followers in his own country of this stamp, then, indeed, his party would be a formidable one. But as it Is, this history of Borjes' career in these truthful notes is the most crushing refutation of any such notion, and the revelations here made are truly precious facts of a kind to carry conviction into every quarter that can be at all reached by it.
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