The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

350 THE EARLE FAMILY [Eighth
as he was informed, in the soft, Italian language, he might " repose."
An improvised military counsel heard his case and released him
before night-fall ; not, however, until he had had time to recall the
history of his surroundings, and to remember that he was within a
stone's throw of the Palace of the Doges, the Lion's Mouth, the Bridge
of Sighs, and the prison in which Silvio Pellico had wasted so many
of his years. As he travelled on foot he was generally taken to be a
German, a people then hated by the Italians ; and hence, at Padua
and several other places he was arrested on the suspicion that he was
a German spy. He was, however, always speedily liberated. At
Naples, in the open square near the royal palace, he was among the
crowd between the opposing forces, when the battle, unexpectedly
hastened, began. The non-combatants forced an entrance into the
neighboring stores, where for hours the cries of the combatants, the
incessant discharge of musketry and of cannon, and the groans of the
wounded and dying were horribly audible. Bomba triumphed, but
only to await his Nemesis in Garibaldi. But it was in Paris, during
the week of terrific slaughter already mentioned, that he encountered
the greatest personal dangers. A narrative of the occurrences would
require more space than can here be granted ;
but twice in the course
of that eventful week he was placed in positions where life or death
appeared to depend upon the mere hazard of a die, with, if possible,
the probabilities of the result against him.
Soon after his return from Europe, and about the beginning of the
year 1849, he began the practice of law in Philadelphia, and has con-
tinued it to the present time, with a degree of success of which he
has no reason to complain. The decease of his father, in the sum-
mer of 1S49, undoubtedly hastened that success, by bringing to him
patronage otherwise unobtainable ; and his knowledge of the German
language, acquired chiefly during his tour in Europe, soon gave him
many clients from the large Germanic population of his native city.
In 1862, he took into business partnership his brother-in-law, Richard
P. White ; and recently the number of partners has been increased
by the addition of George H. Earle, Jr., and Thomas White, sons,
respectively, of the original members of the firm.
From boyhood he was an abolitionist, and for ten years before his
reception at the Bar he had taken an active part in the cause of antislavery
in Philadelphia and the surrounding country. Like some
others engaged in that cause, he had had his meetings broken up,