Notwithstanding this, three-fourths of the volunteers were still on the
quay when the Bourbons began firing on them with shells and
grape-shot--happily, without injury to anyone. The Piemonte, abandoned
by us, was carried off by the enemy, who left the Lombardo, which had
grounded on a sand-bank.
The population of Marsala, thunderstruck at this unexpected event,
received us pretty well, all things considered. The common people,
indeed, were delighted; the magnates welcomed us under protest. I
thought all this very natural. Those who are accustomed to calculate
everything at so much per cent, are not likely to be reassured by the
sight of a few desperadoes, who wish to ameliorate a corrupt society by
eradicating from it the cancer of privilege and falsehood, especially
when these desperadoes, few as they are, and with neither
three-hundred-pounders nor ironclads, fling themselves against a power
believed to be gigantic, like that of the Bourbon.
Men of high rank--that is, the privileged class--before risking anything
in an enterprise wish to assure themselves which way the wind of fortune
blows and where the large battalions are; and then the victorious force
may be certain of finding them compliant, cordial, and even enthusiastic
if need be.
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