ocrat as he did on better acquaintance, but
being a warm friend of man myself, I was not sorry. Garibaldi was
the beginning and ending of his political faith, as he is with every
enthusiastic Italian. The honest soul's conception of all concrete
evil was brought forth in two words, of odd enough application. In
Europe, and Italy more particularly, true men have suffered chiefly
from this form of evil, and the captain evidently could conceive of
no other cause of suffering anywhere. We were talking of the American
war, and when the captain had asked the usual question, "_Quando
finira mai questa guerra_?" and I had responded as usual, "_Ah, ci
vuol pazienza_!" the captain gave a heavy sigh, and turning his head
pensively aside, plucked his grapes from the cluster a moment in
silence.
Then he said: "You Americans are in the habit of attributing this war
to slavery. The cause is not sufficient."
I ventured to demur and explain. "No," said the captain, "the cause is
not sufficient. We Italians know the only cause which could produce a
war like this."
I was naturally anxious to be instructed in the Italian theory, hoping
it might be profounder than the English notion that we were fighting
about tariffs.
The captain frowned, looked at me carefully, and then said:--
"In this world there is but one cause of mischief--the Jesuits."
III.
The first night out, from Genoa to Leghorn, was bad enough, but that
which succeeded our departure from the latter port was by far the
worst of the three we spent in our voyage to Naples. How we envied the
happy people who went ashore at Leghorn! I think we even envied the
bones of the Venetians, Pisans, and Genoese who met and slew each
other in the long-forgotten sea-fights, and sank too deeply through
the waves to be stirred by their restless tumult. Every one has
heard tell of how cross and treacherous a sea the Mediterranean is in
winter, and my own belief is, that he who has merely been sea-sick on
the Atlantic should give the Mediterranean a trial before professing
to have suffered every thing of which human nature is capable. Our
steamer was clean enough and staunch enough, but she was not large--no
bigger, I thought, than a gondola, that night as the waves tossed her
to and fro, till unwinged things took flight all through her cabins
and over her decks. My berth was placed transversely instead of
lengthwise with the boat,--an ingenious arrangement to heighten
sea-sick
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