CHAPTER XXXI. GASPARO
The history of the Papacy is a history of brigands. From the mediaevalperiod robbers have been paid by that weak and demoralizing Governmentto keep Italy in a state of ferment and internal war; and at this veryday it makes use of thieves to hold her in thraldom and hinder herregeneration. I repeat, then, that the history of, the Papacy is ahistory of brigands.
Whoever visited Civita Vecchia in 1849 must have heard of Gasparo, thefamous leader of a band of brigands, a relative of the Cardinal A------.
Indeed, many persons paid a visit to that city simply for the purpose ofbeholding so extraordinary a man.
Gasparo, at the head of his band, had long defied the PontificalGovernment, and sustained many encounters with the gendarmes and regulartroops, whom he almost invariably defeated and put to flight.
Failing to capture the brigand by force of arms, the Government hadrecourse to stratagem. As I have already stated, Gasparo was relatedto a cardinal, one of the most powerful at Court; and as they were bothnatives of S------, where many of their mutual relations resided, theserelations were made use of by the Government to act as mediators betweenit and the brigand, to whom it made several splendid offers.
Gasparo, putting faith in the promises made by his kinspeople at theinstance of the Government, disbanded his men, but was then shamefullybetrayed, arrested, and taken in chains to the prison in Civita Vecchia,where he was found during the Republican period in 1849.
Prince T------, the brother of Irene, having obtained some clue throughthe shepherds, whose description of a beautiful dweller in the forestleft little doubt upon his mind as to her identity, consulted with theCardinal A------, and determined at any cost to recover his sister.
Although backed by the Government, and authorized to make use of theregiment which he commanded, the Prince, from his ignorance of the manyhidden recesses in the forest, did not feel at all certain of success,and in his dilemma applied to the Cardinal to secure for him theservices of the prisoner Gasparo, his relative, as a guide.
"It is a good thought," said the Cardinal. "Gasparo is better acquaintedwith every inch of the forest than we are with the streets of Rome.Besides, they say that such are his olfactory powers, that by taking ahandful of grass, and smelling at it, even at midnight, he could tellyou what portion of the forest you were in. He is old now, it is true;but he has courage enough still to face even the devil himself."
When Gasparo heard he was to be conducted to Rome he gave himself upfor lost, and said to himself, "Better were it to die at once, for Iam tired of this miserable existence, only then I should go to my graveunrevenged for the treachery and injury I have suffered at the hands ofthese villainous priests."
Two squads of gendarmes, one on foot and the other mounted, conductedthis formidable brigand from Civita Vecchia to Rome. The Governmentwould have preferred moving him at night, but darkness would havefacilitated his rescue, which it feared some of his old companions mightattempt if they heard of his journey. It was therefore decided Gasparoshould travel by day, and the road was thronged by so dense a multitude,who pressed forward to gaze at the celebrated chieftain, that theprogress of the Pope could scarcely have attracted greater numbers.
Arrived in Rome, Gasparo was afterwards introduced into the presence ofhis relative, Cardinal A------, and the Prince T------, who, withmany words and promises of a large reward in gold, to all appearanceprevailed upon him to assist them to destroy the bands of "libertines"by which the forest was infested.
Rejoicing in such a chance of escape and opportunity for revenge uponhis persecutors, Gasparo affected to be delighted at the proposition,and consented to it with much apparent pleasure.
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