 | Lady Layard’s Journal Go to a Date Search the Journal |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |
19 September 1904 — Ca’ Capello, Venice | |
Monday. 19th [September 1904]. Not a soul to be seen on the Canal—no police anywhere & no troops. It is said today that the Socialist leaders have made a bargain with the Prefect—if the town is put into their hands & a general strike is allowed by the Govt they then would undertake to promise that law & order should not be disturbed! I went out in the morning with Mr Hailstone & Mary—the rest having gone to lunch with Mr Ho. Brown. Every shop was shut—the streets were paraded by men coming out & singing revolutionary songs of meetings. They did not trouble others who were going along only once they said to me “Abasso la Borghesia”– Another group said “mente colozione”– This because they allowed no food to be sold. My cook went out 3 times very early this morning & brought small quantities of meat home in her pocket. Those who knew of the prohibition of the strikers to sell food had laid in provisions yesterday—but we had not known it. The streets were not very full—many being afraid to go out of their houses. Even the milk wh was being carried for the sick to the Civil Hospital was seized by the rioters & thrown into the Canal. Those who had been out to lunch with Mr Brown returned. At 4 Prof. Malagola came to fetch us & we went by the Rialto the whole party to take a walk to see what was going on. We found bands of strikers coming out of their last meeting at S. Provolo singing & shouting in great excitement as they had just decided the orders of their committee. A band crossed the Piazza & immediately a large printed placard was fixed on a boarding which everyone tried to read as it would say when the revolution was to end. The gas workers were to resume work at 6 P.M. The gondoliers at 4 A.M. The rest of the workmen tomorrow morning. There was a shout of satisfaction. Then in another corner of the Square a socialist order was raised on another man’s shoulders & addressed the mob. He congratulated them on their splendid victory & having proved that they were the real masters of the city & recommended them to be good & quiet & happy. About this time 2 piequets of marines went thro’ the Square to relieve the guards in different parts of the city where they are hid– The crowd followed them in wonder—& as soon as they were out of the square began to hoot & shout at them. There was no very great crowd in Piazza. The gas lamps were kept blazing all day in order to waste the gas & cut out as soon as it got dark so as to leave the city in darkness– Inscriptions had been written in huge letters all over the pavement in black paint such as “W lo sciopero generale,” & “The Prince is baptized in the blood of the people” “A basso Gioletti assassino”. There were groups of strikers & a few foreigners– Every now & then came a procession of travellers carrying their own bags walking to the station anxious to get away. The big Austrian Lloyd steamer was lying opposite the Piazzetta & sending their own boats to fetch passengers from the shores—poor ladies were struggling with their packets, followed by a crowd laughing & jeering. Some not daring & others scorning to help them. The poor things were hot & frightened & must have breathed more freely when once they were on the boat. We walked home by the Iron bridge accompanying the old Genl de Horsey who was also walking about to see what was going on. He told me that yesterday when his gondola got down to the Railway station where there was a mob assembled he was howled at & insulted for being out in gondola—that he rose & addressed the mob telling them that they were “vegliacchi, cobardi e stupide” for insulting an old man of 80 who had only one arm—& that they at once were silent. On his way back home he was also stopped by a 4 oared boat & ordered instantly home at wh he asked them how they dared interfere with his boat & they at once asked pardon & said it was “un sbaglio.” It only shows that with a little firmness the whole affair might have been stopped. I looked in to the Curtis to enquire how they were & then got home about 6.30. It was getting dark—the streets were emptying—no lamps were lighted in the streets– Those that had been flaring all day were put out by boys sent to do so– After dinner we stood in the Belvedere and looked out on the silent city—not a boat, not a light, not a sound of voices to be heard. There was no electric light but luckily we had a few lamps & a little petroleum in the house so were not in utter darkness. At midnight the electric light, by permission of the socialists was again turned on. | |
|
Previous Entry
|
Following Entry
| |