Italian journalist and revolutionary (1815-1863). 2 autograph letters signed. Turin. 8vo. Together 4 pp. on bifolia.
$ 1,930 / 1.800 €
(87239/BN57690)
Historically significant letters by the president of the "Società nazionale italiana" to the Italian revolutionary and member of the society, Livio Zambeccari, just months before Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand. The earlier letter, written on the first of January 1860, is a fervent call to action against Angelo Brofferio's democratic unification society "Liberi Comizi". The comitia were founded in 1859 with the goal of uniting the left and liberal factions in Turin and strengthening the government of Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora and Urbano Rattazzi in order to prevent a new premiership of Camillo Benso di Cavour.
On 31 December 1859, Garibaldi accepted the presidency of the "Liberi Comizi" under the condition that they changed their name to "Nazione Armata" - a huge symbolic victory for Brofferio. The "Società nazionale italiana" was in support of Cavour and thus in direct opposition to the "Liberi Comizi". In the letter, La Farina accuses Brofferio of "burying the national question and with it Cavour" and of instrumentalizing Garibaldi, with hints at his fraught relationship with Cavour and La Farina: "When public opinion was rising with great energy, they looked for a name that would serve as a lightning rod, and they took that of Garibaldi. They surround and deceive Garibaldi, detach him from me, seemingly based on a bit of resentment for my conduct in Bologna, exploit his resentment for the governments of central Italy, and induce him to resign from the presidency of the Società italiana and to accept the presidency of the Free Comitia, which assumes the sufficiently ridiculous name of Nazione Armata! [...]" (transl.). Despite Brofferio's coup, La Farina sees the public on their side, ridiculing the "Liberi Comizi" and the "Stendardo Italiano", wherein Brofferio had published several articles: "The country is completely with us and will show it in the next election: the entire press of liberal opinion, the Gazzetta del Popolo, except for the famous Stendardo, are with us [...]. To slander Cavour, to call yourself Nazione Armata, deify Garibaldi, and make the panegyric of La Marmora, wanting the entire nation to take up arms and shake hands with the minister who disarms Piedmont!" Nevertheless, Giuseppe La Farina calls on Zambeccari to "double his usual zeal for the national cause" and to inform the local president of the Società italiana in Bologna, Rinaldo Simonetti. - On 21 January 1860, the weakened government of La Marmora resigned and Cavour was called to the premiership. Despite this important success, the second letter from 23 February 1860 strikes a similar tone. La Farina expresses his sorrow as Zambeccari had lost his bid for the election of the Bologna communal council. His main concern, however, is the Società, probably in the context of a conflict with Giuseppe Mazzini's "Partito d'Azione" that was also competing for Garibaldi's endorsement: "In our Society at least the various liberals have to close ranks and the fatal ancient divisions of moderates and fanatics must disappear. But not everyone understands this truth; every day I should like to gnaw at my liver seeing my words wasted, and the project of concord ruined, for which I have spent my life day and night [...]". La Farina informs Zambeccari that Carlo Michele Buscalioni, the secretary of the Società Italiana, had been charged with settling the affair and thanks him for being a loyal member of the society. - On stationery of the "Società nazionale italiana". With recipient's notes in ink. Traces of folds; the letter from 1 January somewhat brittle along the folds of the second leaf, with tears slightly affecting the text and some browning..