e Chamber.
The case for the volunteers was opened, and this is worthy of note, by
Baron Ricasoli, aristocrat and conservative. Afterwards Garibaldi got
up--at first he tried to make out the statistics and particulars which
he had on paper, but blinded by passion and by fever, he threw down
his notes and launched into a fierce invective against 'the man who
had made him a foreigner in his own birthplace and the government
which was driving the country straight into civil war.' At the words
'civil war' Cavour sprang to his feet, unwontedly moved, and uttered
some expressions of protest, which were lost in the general uproar.
When this was quieted, Garibaldi finished his speech in a moderate
tone, and then General Bixio rose to make that noble appeal to concord
which, had he done nothing else for Italy, should be a lasting title
to her gratitude. 'I am one of those,' he said, 'who believe in the
sacredness of the thoughts which have guided General Garibaldi, but
I am also one of those who have faith in the patriotism of Count
Cavour. In God's holy name let us make an Italy superior to the
strife of parties.' He might not be making a parliamentary speech,
he added, but he would give his children and his life to see peace
established--words flowing so plainly from his honest heart that
savage indeed would have been the enmity which, for the time, at
least, was not quelled. Cavour grasped the olive branch at once; all
his momentary ire vanished. He made excuses for his adversary; from
the grief which he had felt himself when he advised the King to cede
Savoy and Nice, he could understand the general's resentment. He had
always been, he said in general terms, a friend to the volunteers.
What he did not even remotely suggest was the dissension which existed
between himself and his military colleague on the subject of the
Garibaldians. The least hint would have gained for Cavour any amount
of applause and popularity; but he preferred to bear all the blame
rather than bring the national army into disfavour. Garibaldi replied
'that he had never doubted the Count's patriotism;' but at the end of
the three days' debate he declared himself dissatisfied with the
Ministerial assurances touching the volunteers in particular and the
country's armaments as a whole. As Cavour left the Chamber after the
final night's sitting, he remarked to a friend--all his fine
equanimity returned: 'And yet, and yet, when the time comes for war, I
shall t