In a Letter to the Mayor of New York City, Lafayette Introduces an Italian Unification Patriot – “a zealous friend of liberty” – to His American Friends

Francesco Tadini was in exile from his native land and was visiting France, England and the United States to meet compatriots in those lands

 

Tadini would become the founder of the Italian Liberation Society in 1830

Francesco Tadini was an early Italian revolutionary and a friend to liberty. In February 1821 he went to Turin for the first time and settled here in the feverish days that preceded the insurrection of the Alessandria garrison. He took part in the failed attempt to bring the Queen’s dragoons to the side of the insurgents. During the subsequent mission to Alessandria, he helped provoke the insurrections of other garrisons, and from where, at the head of approximately two hundred of the king’s dragoons, three companies of the Genoa regiment and a group of confederates, they moved to Casale; then back to Vercelli, where the Constitution of Cadiz was proclaimed on March 13. From here the constitutional troops headed towards Novara. On March 13, 1821, Tadini managed to enter Turin thanks to the connivance of a guard captain and proclaimed the a Constitution. However, the Novara people’s support for the movement was poor and the revolutionists were forced to take up residence in a farmhouse until March 15, when the abdication of Vittorio Emanuele I was made known. On March 17, Tadini took part in a delegation sent to Turin to pay homage to the new sovereign; he then went to Alessandria and attended the council that decided the clash of Novara: but once he arrived there he could only witness the revolutionists defeat of April 8, 1821. Then, with the sentence of the Senate of Torino on March 2, 1822, Tadini was condemned to death. On February 16, 1823, he was arrested by the Italian authorities, sent to Calais, France, and on February 20, he was transported by England as an undesirable person. He would spend time in the lands of liberty, and would found the Italian Liberation Society on September 15, 1830.

Lafayette became acquainted with Tadini in France, and when Tadini expressed a desire to visit the United States – the land of liberty – Lafayette volunteered to introduce him to influential Americans. This is his letter of introduction.

Autograph letter signed, La Grange, October 12, 1826, to Philip Hone, Mayor of New York. “This letter will be delivered by Dr. Tadini, a very respectable Italian patriot who, after his proscription, has passed several years in France and in England. He is going to New York, Washington, and Lima. Dr. Tadini is a zealous friend of liberty. I have received from him proofs of confidence and attachment, and I beg leave to introduce him to you and our friends in New York. Most affectionately, Lafayette.” Lightly silked.