Cesare Battisti and the Trentino
onstrations in Italy as well as abroad. This year, some time before the victory of the Piave, more than nine thousand refugees from Trentino signed an address to H. M., the King of Italy, the occasion being the second anniversary, of the martyrdom of Cesare Battisti, in which they expressed their assurance that the great hope of the martyr would soon be an accomplished fact, declaring themselves prepared for any sacrifice.
In Trentino itself, despite the suspicious vigilance of Austria, Battisti's cult soon spread. Effigies of the hero so often found sewed in the garments of the people, between the cloth and the lining, bear witness to this.
Among the expressions of sympathy extended in this saddest of occurrences by notable people, I want to quote Dr. Osusky, now a representative in London of the Czecho-Slovak republic:
"Battisti was sentenced and hanged as a traitor, which he was not, having been staunchly faithful until death to Italy, his true country. If the Austro-Germans and Magyars, by way of a smashing defeat, could in the future become new human creatures, they would bless the memory of Battisti, who spent the best of his strength to save Italian blood from the Austrian tyrants and to stop them from their continuous sins against Providence and humanity."
Allow me also to quote a distinguished American woman, Mrs. Vera B. Whitehouse, director of the American Bureau on Public Information in Berne. She writes: "Let me, a simple citizen of the United States, express to the Italians my heartfelt sympathy on this occasion of the anniversary of their great patriot's death, who was so horribly murdered because guilty of believing in the principles of liberty and justice for which our countries are fighting, for which he worked and fought. With the inspiration that comes from his death, let us strive to obtain with quicker, redoubled exertion the only possible solution — victory over despotism."
With the murder of Cesare Battisti Austria thought to have entirely broken the fighting spirit of the Italian irredenti. Quite
