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A SERIES OF INSURRECTIONS 43
improvise
Another group would enter the arsenal, the doors of
which would be opened by two non-commissioned officers,
and take possession of the arms and ammunition,
carrying them to the Church of Santa Annunziata, where
all the guns should be stored. At certain places in the
city material was already gathered with which to
barricades. One hundred republicans had promised
to take part in the movement, not as a group, but individually.
On the 7th copies of the proclamation of the
Italian Committee for the Social Revolution were distributed
throughout the city, calling the masses to arms
and urging the soldiers
to make common cause with the
people. During the nights of the 7th and 8th, groups
from Bologna assembled at the appointed places of meeting
outside the walls, but the Romagna comrades did not
come, or at least came in very small numbers. Those
from Imola were surrounded in their march, some being
arrested and others being forced to retreat. At dawn
the insurgents who had gathered under the walls of Bologna
dispersed, some taking refuge in the mountains.
Bakounin had been alone during the night, and became
convinced that the insurrection had failed. He was trying
to make up his mind to commit suicide, when his
friend, Silvio, arrived and told him that all was not lost
and that perhaps other attempts might yet be made. The
following day Bakounin was removed to another retreat
of greater safety, as numerous arrests had been made at
Bologna, Imola, Romagna, the Marches, as well as in
Florence, Rome, and other parts of Italy.
About the same time a conspiracy similar to that undertaken
at Bologna was launched by Enrico Malatesta
and some friends in Apulia. A heavy chest of guns had
been dispatched from Tarentum to a station in the province
of Bari, from which it was carried on a cart to the