Chapter VII: Part 7

The fugitives had barely landed when they were surrounded by Austrian scouts. Anita became desperately ill, and was forced to hide with her husband in a cornfield, an old comrade of Garibaldi's in South America keeping watch over them. The general was beside himself with grief as he tended his rapidly failing wife. Ugo Bassi, afraid to stay with them lest his presence should lead to their discovery, was shortly captured by Austrians, and Ciceruacchio and the nine others were soon after taken prisoners. All but the orator and the priest were immediately shot. Bassi and Ciceruacchio were taken to Bologna, and there ordered executed by Bedini, the Papal Legate, a man of infamous memory, who commanded that Bassi be tortured before execution. The heroic priest must always stand forth as one of the rarest martyr-spirits produced by the great struggle for Italian liberty.

Garibaldi succeeded in finding some kind-hearted peasants who carried Anita to a cottage. Not long after she reached its shelter she died. The general, broken-hearted, was forced by the approach of Austrian soldiers to go to Ravenna, thence in disguise he went to Florence and finally to Genoa. Here he visited his mother and his three children, who had been left by Anita with their grandmother. His presence in Genoa was an embarrassment to the Government at Turin, and they courteously asked him to leave Italy. Instead of doing so he went to Sardinia, much to the uneasiness of the French, who wished him farther away. In this mountain island he lived a life, half that of a hermit, and half of a bandit, continually hunted as an outlaw, and finding entire safety only on the small island rock of Caprera. This tiny island, destined to become famous as his home, abounded in natural beauty of a wild and desolate type, and made a deep impression on the refugee, whose mind was always peculiarly open to the spell of majestic scenery.

Finally, to the great relief of both France and Piedmont, Garibaldi was induced to leave Sardinian territory. He went to Gibraltar, but was only allowed to stay twenty-four hours. No European country was anxious to harbor a man whose name had become a watchword for revolutionary zeal. Finding this to be the case the general sailed for New York, and spent about a year and a half engaged in making tallow candles in a small back street. He was not alone in his exile, the disturbing years of 1848 and 1849 had sent many a revolutionary exile across the seas, and at one time in New York Lamartine, Louis Blanc, Ledru Rollin, and three or four others almost equally prominent were supporting themselves there by manual labor.

When he left New York Garibaldi went again to South America, and became captain of a merchant vessel trading between Peru and Hong Kong. Again he returned to New York and commanded a trader flying the American flag but sailed by Italians, who like himself were awaiting a new tide in affairs before returning home. The many ups and downs of these roving years abounded with adventures, but even here Garibaldi's life was no more thrilling than when he was at the head of his irregular troops in Italy.

After four years of wandering he returned to Genoa, stopping for a short stay at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he was enthusiastically greeted by English admirers, and given a presentation sword. When he reached Genoa he found that his mother had died, and that his three children were living with his cousins. A few short trips at sea succeeded in earning him sufficient money to buy part of the little island of Caprera, of which he was so fond. Here he established himself to await events. Europe had grown more peaceful, but Garibaldi, hot-headed as he was, could see that Piedmont was slowly but surely widening the breach between herself and Austria. He began to look to Piedmont as the hope of Italy, and little by little to understand, especially when the small kingdom allied itself with France and England against Russia, that Piedmont meant Cavour, and that the latter was the match of any diplomatic strategist in Europe.

Garibaldi purchased half of the island of Caprera in 1855, and immediately took possession. Working with his own hands he built first a log hut and then a more pretentious villa, to which in time he brought his cousins, the Deideris, and his children, Theresita, who was rapidly becoming a very beautiful girl, and the boys Menotti and Ricciotti. The general called himself the "recluse of Caprera," and worked hard to cultivate a soil naturally barren and difficult. He was glad of the opportunity to rest after so many years of stirring action, and day by day grew more enamoured of the wild vegetation of his island home and the steep cliffs that bordered it against the sea. Often he had visitors from nearby Sardinia, simple enthusiastic folk who were delighted to look upon him as a national hero, and confidently expected that some day he would lead an Italian army to the greatest victories. In such patriarchal simplicity he spent the years until 1859, hearing from time to time news of Cavour's policies at Turin, always eager in hope that his sword might soon be drawn in conjunction with that of a national army.

Ten years of patient waiting and subtle diplomacy mark the decade between the siege of Rome and 1859. In that time Cavour, by the successive steps of the Crimean War, the Congress of Paris, and the secret Pact of Plombières, had succeeded in isolating Austria from the other Powers, and in allying Louis Napoleon with Piedmont. His next step was to prepare actively for war, and with this purpose he called Garibaldi to see him at Turin. Garibaldi went to the Minister's house, dressed in his usual campaign clothes, wearing a loose red blouse and broad-brimmed hat, and refused to give his name to the servant. On Cavour's hearing of the presence of such a disreputable appearing stranger, he said, "Let the poor devil in, he probably has some petition to ask of me."

The meeting was most amicable, Cavour asked Garibaldi to command the new volunteer army known as the "Hunters of the Alps," and Garibaldi was delighted to accept. Immediately he began recruiting his forces, and so spontaneous was the rising throughout northern and central Italy that by May of that year he was at the head of three regiments of infantry well-equipped for instant service. Austria was dismayed, and demanded that Cavour dismiss the men, but by what was probably the most fortunate coup in his whole career Cavour was able to appear willing to have peace, and yet force Austria to war. Napoleon stood by Piedmont, and in May, 1859, the campaign that was to redeem the inglorious field of Novara commenced.

Garibaldi's great reputation caused friction between him and the officers of the regular army, and he who had been used to the greatest freedom of action found himself seriously hampered by directions from headquarters. He hailed with delight King Victor Emmanuel's permission to separate from the regular army and fight as he pleased, accompanied as it was with the King's remark, "Go where you like, do what you like; I feel only one regret, that I am not able to follow you."

The resulting campaign showed the great guerilla warrior at his best. As with the Neapolitans in 1849, so with the Croats in 1859, Garibaldi was credited with superhuman powers. At times the success attending his sheer effrontery seemed almost to justify such a conclusion. Time and again he placed himself in positions so desperate that it was only his quickness of wit in seizing at a possible chance that saved him. Had he failed he would have been rated as a bungler, but as he succeeded the desperation of each chance served only to magnify his strategy. He was a remarkable mathematician, able to estimate all possible combinations adroitly and quickly, he never despaired, and never hesitated when he had decided on a plan. As a result the "Hunters of the Alps," or _Garibaldini_, as the volunteers were called, hung on the Austrian troops all through Lombardy and the Lake country, driving them from town after town by sudden assaults, continually tricking much larger forces by clever misrepresentations of their own strength. Garibaldi entered Lombard territory and took Varese. After defeating the Austrians near there in the battle of Malnate he swept up to Cavallesca, near Como, and, attacking a much larger force than his own, drove the enemy through Como towards Monza. Como received the Hunters with open arms, Garibaldi telegraphed to Milan, using the Austrian General's name, and so gained information of the Allies. Soon afterwards he stationed his advance guard at the Villa Medici, looking down over lake after lake, and with a panoramic view of the Alps. Here the Austrians thought to surround him, but by means of sending false messages planned to fall into the enemy's hands, and by taking advantage of a heavy storm at night, he succeeded in escaping them and regaining Como.

Meanwhile the regular army was winning victories, Montebello, Magenta, Solferino, and San Martino were falling to the glory of French and Italian arms. The Austrians were steadily being driven back, Garibaldi left Como and took Bergamo, then Brescia. As he advanced the men of the land he crossed joined his army, Brescia set to work to fortify its walls at his command. He was ordered to follow the Austrians, and pursued them to Tre Ponti, which he won, although at such a cost he was obliged to fall back on the main army.

Napoleon the Third had no intention of winning too many victories for Italy, nor of allowing the Garibaldian troops to gain unseemly power. The plans of the general were therefore interfered with, his recruits diverted into other channels, and the Hunters sent into the passes of the Stelvio on the pretext of preventing an attack from Germany, but in reality to prevent Garibaldi from crossing Lake Garda and gaining the valley of the Adige and the Veronese mountains. The general obeyed, and conducted a markedly successful campaign near Sondrio and Bormio, finding himself in his true element among the Alps.

Then came the stupefying news that Napoleon had made the peace of Villafranca. The rage of the _Garibaldini_ knew no bounds, their general hurried to Victor Emmanuel's camp to tender his resignation. The King would not accept it. "Italy still requires the legions you command," he said, "you must remain!" Garibaldi returned to his troops, his hatred for Louis Napoleon more intense than ever, but convinced that the peace only marked a short pause in the great forward movement.

Too much credit cannot be given Victor Emmanuel for his resolution at this time. Bitterly disappointed as he must have been at such an abrupt end to a campaign that had promised to open Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic, he yet managed to hide his chagrin, and held Garibaldi, even as he a little later induced Cavour to resume the post which he had in a burst of rage resigned. Fortunately also the formal statement of the peace-makers that the Princes should be restored to their thrones in Florence, Modena, and Parma, and the Pope's legates at Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, and Ravenna was simply a statement, the people of those cities had quite different views. They had tasted of liberty and of the victories of a national army, and one city after another announced that it would have no more of its foreign rulers, that its people wished to become citizens of Italy and subjects of Victor Emmanuel. Garibaldi heard this and was convinced that it no longer lay in the power of his arch enemy, Louis Napoleon, to keep Italians separated. "Whatever may be the march of existing circumstances," he said to his men, "Italians must neither lay aside their arms, nor be discouraged. They ought on the contrary to increase in number in their ranks, to testify to Europe that, guided by their King, Victor Emmanuel, they are ready to face again the vicissitudes of war, whatever they may be. Perhaps at the moment we least expect it the signal of alarm may again be sounded!"

He was sent into central Italy, and at Florence, at Bologna, at Rimini, he had only to appear to have volunteers crowd about him. Napoleon learned of this and remonstrated to the government at Turin, which attempted to check the ardor of its great general, and yet keep him for further use. It was a time when Cavour's skill was taxed to the uttermost to avoid a break either with the French or with the Garibaldians.

The news of Cavour's decision to cede Savoy and Nice to France, a decision only reached when it became evident that it was the price Napoleon demanded for allowing central Italy to unite with Piedmont, came like a thunder clap to Garibaldi. Born in Nice he declared that the act made him "a stranger in his own country." He was immediately returned to Parliament for Nice and bitterly attacked Cavour's policy in the Chamber. He spoke at length, claiming that the cession was both an infraction of the original charter by which Nice had become a part of the Sardinian kingdom, and a violation of the fundamental law of nationality. Cavour, however, carried the Parliament with him, and Garibaldi left for Nice to take farewell of it, for he refused to remain there and become a citizen of France. He was disgusted with the compromises of diplomacy. "I have nothing to do with men or political parties," he declared, "my country, and nothing but my country, is my object."

Two other incidents of the campaign of 1859 must be mentioned, the one Garibaldi's visit to Anita's grave near Ravenna, the scene of those bitter days immediately after the fall of Rome, to which he now returned as a conqueror. The other was his marriage at Como during his fighting in the Lakes to Giuseppina Raymondi, the adventurous daughter of the Marquis Raymondi, who persuaded the general that she was deeply in love with him, in order that marriage might shield her sadly tarnished name. Garibaldi would not hear of the marriage at first, and declared that since Anita's death his heart was withered. The Marquis answered, "It is with freedom, and with Italian unity that my daughter is enamoured, and with you as the embodiment of it in Italy." The general could not withstand that appeal, and consented to the marriage. The depths of the treachery were revealed to him immediately afterwards, and he left his new wife at once. It was years, however, before he was granted a divorce from her.

Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi each played an important part in the next act of the great drama of Italy, but Garibaldi unquestionably held the center of the stage. The act was the famous expedition of the Thousand to Sicily, a performance foolhardy and rash in the extreme, which was, however, destined to bring to a speedy fruition the long-deferred hopes of all Italians patriots. Mazzini's part was to prepare the field, he had early chosen Sicily as a most favorable scene for revolutionary action, and had sent agents to smuggle arms into the island, to hold meetings and generally to arouse the people. Cavour's part was to play the double game of protesting against the expedition in the eyes of the Powers, and of aiding it as best he could secretly. He foresaw the risks that would beset it, and the even greater risk to his King of having such a dictator as Garibaldi win many victories, yet he could not absolutely prevent a scheme devised in all patriotic fervor. He gave public orders to the Sardinian admiral to capture Garibaldi and bring him back, but with a secret message which the admiral rightly understood as meaning that Cavour wished no such event to happen. In much the same manner the British ambassador at Turin, Sir James Hudson, and the British fleet in the Mediterranean, although ostensibly strictly neutral, contrived not to embarrass Garibaldi, and the fleet even went so far as to appear inadvertently between the Neapolitan ships and those that bore the Thousand, thereby preventing what might have been an untimely cannonade. Though few in official places therefore openly countenanced the expedition, many hoped that it would succeed. Under such circumstances the general sailed from Genoa on May 5, 1860, with some 1067 picked men, many recruited from the "Hunters of the Alps," henceforth to be known as the "Mille," and destined to make one of the greatest expeditions in history, and eventually to give two crowns to the house of Savoy.

It was an historic day when the "great filibuster," as Garibaldi was called, sailed from Genoa. Parents, wives, and children bade the Thousand a tearful farewell in the rocky bay of Quarto, where to-day a marble star upon the cliff commemorates the event. At Talamone they landed to seize some arms and to send a force of one hundred men into the Papal States to incite rebellion. Then they set sail fairly out to sea, and Garibaldi and his chiefs planned the Sicilian campaign. May 11 the two shiploads reached Marsala, hotly pursued by Neapolitan cruisers. The Thousand took possession of the town, the general issued glowing proclamations to the citizens, and quickly recruited a corps of over a thousand Sicilian scouts. From Marsala they went to Salemi, a march triumphantly acclaimed by monks, priests, women, and children who lined the roads, and with Sicilian impetuosity were carried away by the sudden appearance of an Italian army. At Salemi Garibaldi issued this pronunciamento: "Garibaldi, commander-in-chief of the national forces in Sicily, on the invitation of the principal citizens, and on the deliberation of the free communes of the island, considering that in time of war it is necessary that the civil and military power should be united in one person, assumes, in the name of Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, the Dictatorship in Sicily."

The first battle was fought in the heart of the mountains, at Calatafimi, where numbers of ancient ruins gave Garibaldi opportunity to use his skill in irregular fighting. The battle lasted three hours, both Garibaldi's son Menotti, and the son of Daniel Manin of Venice, were wounded; in the end the conflict was a victory for the Thousand. The Neapolitans fell back on Palermo, and Garibaldi planned to take the Sicilian capital.

Throughout the campaign the officers of the King of Naples showed the same sublime incompetence which characterized their sovereign. Palermo should have been easy to defend, and with this knowledge, and misled by Garibaldi's tactics into believing him in retreat, the Neapolitan general gave a great dinner at the capital and proceeded to forget the war altogether. As a result, by a remarkably swift march, Garibaldi appeared at the gates of Palermo, carried them, swept through street after street of the city, and drove the enemy into the castle and palace. For a few days the city was laid waste by bombs from the two latter positions, and from the fleet in the harbor, then the Neapolitan general asked for an armistice, which eventually ended in the evacuation of Sicily, except at Messina and a few forts, by the army of the King of Naples. As most of the soldiers were Austrians, they left without any deep regret, in fact with almost as much rejoicing as though they had been victors. Free from the foreigners, Palermo gave itself up to rejoicing, men and women donned red shirts and acclaimed Garibaldi as a second Cincinnatus and new Washington. All relics of the former rulers were destroyed, Sicily felt itself at last free to join the other states of Italy. Immediately Cavour sent agents to urge annexation to Piedmont, but Garibaldi was not yet ready for that step. He planned to win Naples and Rome before he gave over his independent dictatorship.

The scene now changes to Milazzo. Thither Garibaldi's army, composed of the Thousand, of many Palermitans, of an English brigade, and of Hungarians, Frenchmen, Italians of all ranks, all drawn to the great general whose fame had now spread from end to end of Europe, proceeded. There was hard fighting at Milazzo, but in time the city fell, and Messina lay practically open to the invaders. A few more days and Garibaldi was encamped there, resting and recuperating after the entire liberation of Sicily.

It is no exaggeration to say that fortune had showered her richest gifts on Garibaldi during this campaign. In a few short weeks he had driven all the Neapolitan forces out of the island with little loss of life to his own men, had come into possession of money, arms, boats, stores of all kinds, had increased his army to some 25,000 men, had become the idol of all Sicily, to whom the red shirt became the proudest badge of man or woman, had so thoroughly frightened King Francis II. that he was unwilling to join his own army of defense, and had so completely aroused Italy that from each town young and old poured forth to make their way to his invincible standard. Through it all, he, whom fortune was doing everything to spoil, remained as simple, as unmindful of personal comfort or aggrandizement, as in his early days. He was at his best when he won Sicily and planned his march on Naples, it was unfortunate that the warrior should ever have attempted to become the statesman.

Garibaldi's army remained at Messina for twenty-three days. During part of that time the general was engaged in assuring the Sardinian government that he had no interest in a revolutionary expedition which was attempting to march into the Papal States. The rest of the time was given to perfecting his plans for a descent on Calabria.

August 19 the first detachment of the army sailed from Taormina in the _Torino_ and the _Franklin_. The Neapolitan fleet was led into the belief that the embarkation would be at Messina, and by this ruse the ships succeeded in crossing to the mainland unmolested. They landed at Melito, and early the next morning Garibaldi prepared to march on Reggio. Again speed stood him in good stead. The new Army of the South, as the Thousand with its recruits was now called, took the Neapolitan general by surprise. At two in the morning Garibaldi's army marched into the city to find the garrison asleep. The Neapolitan soldiers, thoroughly alarmed at the appearance of the devil, as they named Garibaldi, so suddenly among them, paid no heed to their officers and rushed to a nearby fortress. There severe fighting occurred during the afternoon and night, but finally the stronghold capitulated, and the Garibaldians had won an important base on the mainland. He sent to Messina for the remainder of his troops, and on August 22 began that celebrated "promenade militaire" from Reggio to Naples, which bore little resemblance to warfare, as the enemy fled as fast as he approached, and the countrymen, as well as deserters from the army of Naples, flocked to join his march.

Matters had now come to such a pass that it was only necessary for Garibaldi to appear before a town for it to capitulate; at Villa San Giovanni, Garibaldi with a few hundred men back of him, ordered 12,000 Neapolitans to surrender, and they immediately did so. Again at Soveria he ordered 1500 of the enemy to surrender and was obeyed. It was enough for a red shirt to appear to cause the enemy to fly or surrender, at certain parts of the march the Neapolitan soldiers walked side by side with the Garibaldians. Town after town welcomed the great general as the Liberator, as a second John the Baptist. Both natives and Austrians looked upon him with religious awe. He had only to appear to be surrounded with ecstatic multitudes, his scouts had merely to say that Garibaldi was coming to send the enemy flying in all haste. In one case it was enough to telegraph he was near the town of Salerno, the defenders immediately decamped.

The road to Naples lay open, the citizens of that easily-excited capital were fairly beside themselves in eagerness to welcome the Liberator. The general left Salerno by train on September 7, but as far as speed was concerned he might almost as well have walked. The people of all the towns on the route, Torre del Greco, Resina, Portici, turned out, covered the railroad tracks, boarded the train, climbed on the engine, shouting with joy, singing the Garibaldi hymn, frantic with enthusiasm as they hailed the man who they believed brought with him the millennium.

In Naples it was the same, there was no end to the uproar, to the enthusiasm, to the adulation. Every one wore red, every one cheered, even the troops of King Francis, who had retired to the castle and fortress, could not resist the enthusiasm, and flung up their caps and cheered for Garibaldi.

Naples had no government, Garibaldi appointed a temporary governor, and issued a proclamation glowing with patriotic fervor.

"People of Naples--

"It is with feelings of the profoundest respect and love that I present myself before you in this center of a noble and long-suffering people, whom four centuries of tyranny have not been able to humiliate, and whose spirit could never be broken by a ruthless despotism. The first necessity of Italy is harmony and social order, without which the unity of Italy is impossible. This day Providence has conferred that blessing upon you, and has made me its minister. The same Providence has also given you Victor Emmanuel, whom from this moment I will designate the father of our country.

"The model of all sovereigns, he will impress upon his posterity the duty that they owe to a people, who have with so much enthusiasm chosen him for their king. You are supported by the clergy, who, conscious of their true mission, have with patriotic ardor and truly Christian conduct, braved the gravest dangers of battle at the head of our Italian soldiers. The good Monks of La Gancia, and the noble-hearted priests of the Neapolitan continent have one and all assisted us in the good fight.

"I repeat that harmony is the one essential thing for Italy, and let us freely forgive those who, having disagreed with us, are now repentant, and are willing to contribute their mite to build up the monument of our national glory.

"Lastly, we must make it apparent to all that, while we respect the houses of other people, we are determined to be masters in our own house, whether the powers of the earth like it or not.--G. Garibaldi."

No sooner was the need for actual warfare at an end than countless difficulties arose in the liberated city. Garibaldi was no disciplinarian, he had always entrusted all harsh measures to others, he refused to harbor suspicion or ill-will, his nature was patient and simple and confiding. His sole concern was to drive the foreigners out of Italy, beyond that he had few plans. But as soon as Naples was free scores of theorists in government arose. Mazzini appeared, and his followers tried to win Garibaldi over to their ideal republic, the clerical party had another plan, the secret societies still another, and the brigands who infested the country about Naples were already intriguing for the return of the Bourbons, who had allowed them free sway. Cavour sent his agents hurrying to Naples to keep the people quiet and to urge them to advocate immediate annexation with Piedmont. He had, however, a more difficult task on his hands at the same time. He feared that Garibaldi would immediately march on Rome, and Cavour knew that the Papal question could not be settled in any such summary fashion. Napoleon would immediately intervene, and the Army of the South would find itself fighting France. That was his great fear, and to prevent the event if possible he sent the Army of Piedmont, of Lombardy, of Tuscany south at the double quick. Victor Emmanuel must meet Garibaldi before the latter crossed the Volturno if trouble with France were to be avoided.

Garibaldi, however, cared very little for diplomacy, his object was to take Rome with all speed, and he refused to heed Cavour's agents. Fortunately Francis II. of Naples finally decided to make a stand, and so detained Garibaldi until the northern army could arrive. Mazzini had said to Garibaldi, "If you are not on your way towards Rome or Venice before three weeks are over, your initiative will be at an end." The prophecy, like so many of Mazzini's, proved true. Garibaldi had to fight several battles on the Volturno and besiege Capua before he could turn towards Rome, and by that time Victor Emmanuel had reached the scene of action.

The last battles were the hardest fought of the campaign, but were ultimately won by the Army of the South. Capua held out a little longer, but finally fell, and Francis II. took himself safely to Gaeta.

On October 10 Garibaldi had called for a popular vote in the Two Sicilies for or against their annexation to Piedmont. The vote was overwhelmingly for annexation. Garibaldi issued a final proclamation, ending, "Italy one (as the metropolis has wisely determined she shall be), under the King, _galantuomo_, who is the symbol of our regeneration, and the prosperity of our country." He met the King, and handed over to him his dictatorship of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily. This moment, which was the climax of his great expedition, was the proudest of his career.

The general was still eager for an immediate march on Rome, but the King would not have it. It was arranged that the Army of the South should be incorporated with the royal army, and Garibaldi left Naples for Caprera. He borrowed $100 to pay certain debts, and in the same meager state in which he had set out he returned to his rock of Caprera to wait until he should be needed.

At Caprera the general, now become the most romantic figure in Europe, received countless deputations of admirers from all nations. For a short time he was content to resume his farm labors, but the thought of Rome loomed ever larger in his mind. He had not the gift of patience now, he was convinced that his army of volunteers could fight and overcome both France and Austria. The delays of Cavour's policy irritated him, and finally he went in April, 1861, to the Parliament at Turin to speak his mind. He made a violent attack on Cavour, to which the latter would not reply in kind. A few days later the two men met at the King's request and pretended a reconciliation. Garibaldi could not appreciate Cavour's temperate statecraft, Cavour realized that Garibaldi was becoming the most difficult problem Italy had to face. Unfortunately for Garibaldi, and doubly unfortunately for Italy, Cavour was failing in strength, and only a short time after the scene in Turin the great Minister died. If he had lived Italy would have been spared much that followed.

Garibaldi returned to Caprera and watched from afar the policies of the new premiers, first Ricasoli, then Rattazzi. The latter was always suspected of French leanings, and the extremists were bitterly opposed to him. He was a brilliant man, fated to meet disasters, as day after day passed he found that the Garibaldian problem called ever louder for solution. He saw that Genoa, Sicily, and Naples were hotbeds of turbulence, he knew that the people of the last-named city had made a god of Garibaldi, had built altars to him, and were imploring him to lead them against the Pope, he knew that even in the Eternal City hundreds were calling to him to deliver them. Yet Rattazzi also knew that the problem of the temporal power of the Pope was one of concern to all Europe, and that Italy was not ready to fight both France and Austria. His final solution was this, one which must not be judged too harshly when all the circumstances are considered, to encourage Garibaldi to start a popular campaign against the Pope, and then send the royal army to arrest him as fomenting civil strife. The plan succeeded. In the spring of 1862 Garibaldi could restrain his eagerness no longer. He announced to his delighted followers that he would lead them to Rome. He was given to understand the government would not actively interfere. So, two years after his first expedition, we find him again arriving triumphantly in Sicily, again we find men of all classes flocking to him, again by strategy he crossed the straits to Calabria and took up his northward march. He had not gone far when he found that the royal army was marching against him. He became convinced of this when he bivouacked on the famous hill of Aspromonte and saw the royal general, Pallavicini, camped opposite him. The next day he tried to lead his soldiers past the other army, but they were stopped by the regular troops. Both generals affirmed that they gave no orders to fire, but nevertheless shots were exchanged, and both Garibaldi and his son Menotti were wounded. A truce was agreed upon, and the volunteers were placed under the charge of the royal army. Garibaldi became a state prisoner, perhaps the most difficult prisoner any government ever had to take upon its hands. All Italy was devoted to him, but found that it could not control him. The government had been placed in the most embarrassing situation conceivable, it had been obliged to disarm the man who had just given the King two crowns. Aspromonte remains one of the most unfortunate events in the great battle for Italian unity, but it was in a large measure inevitable. Cavour might have contrived an escape from it, but Garibaldi was too big a problem for his successors to handle diplomatically.

The wounded general was taken by slow conveyances to Scylla, and thence to the fort of Varignano in the Gulf of Spezia. The wound was painful, it was difficult to locate the bullet, for a long time he was obliged to keep to his bed and postpone further political action. His illness, however, gave his friends a golden opportunity to show their devotion; women of all ranks fought for the chance to nurse the hero, delegations from England, from Germany, from all parts of Italy made pilgrimages to his prison, the hotels at Spezia, the nearest town to the fortress, were continually crowded by Garibaldi worshipers. It seemed that what he had suffered at Aspromonte had actually canonized him in the eyes of the world.

His imprisonment could not last long; October 5, 1862, the government declared an amnesty covering all participators in the late expedition against Rome except those soldiers who had left the regular army to join the volunteers. Garibaldi was now moved to Spezia, thence after a time to Pisa. Each city he passed greeted him tumultuously; in Pisa, the night of his arrival, the Garibaldi hymn was cheered so loudly at the theater that the manager abandoned the play and had nothing but the hymn rendered all the evening, which pleased the audience greatly. At Pisa the bullet was extracted from Garibaldi's foot, and his recovery became more rapid. On December 20 he started for Caprera, giving a chance for Leghorn to welcome him as he embarked for his island home. Once there he found the rest of which he was so much in need, although visitors continually besieged his little farm. The kindly instincts of his nature showed in full flower, he gave whatever his children or his friends asked of him, sacrificing his own comforts continually for their sake, and continually being imposed upon. He wrote to the patriots suffering in Poland and Denmark, and wished that he might go to aid them. Wherever men were in trouble he sympathized, he could even find it in his heart to contribute to the poor of Austria.

There were friends of the national cause who feared that the affair of Aspromonte had injured Garibaldi's prestige, and to revive it in full glory they planned his triumphal visit to England in the spring of 1863. Garibaldi had always admired the English, and there was no question but that the people of England had always zealously sided with Italy against France and Austria, no matter how strongly their government might feel that diplomacy required a middle course. The general went from Caprera to Southampton, and thence to London, acclaimed by thousands, who rivaled the warm-spirited Neapolitans in their heights of enthusiasm. The modest, benign-faced warrior was fêted as a national deliverer, the streets of London rang with his hymn, women adopted the famous red Garibaldi shirt as the latest fashion, aristocrats and working people fought for the opportunity of entertaining him. Before he could take up his northern tour, however, it was announced that he was overtired and would have to leave the country for rest. His physicians denied this, and it appears as most probable that Louis Napoleon was so much displeased and even alarmed at the popular acclaim given the general that he made his wish known to Lord Palmerston that the guest leave English shores. Again Garibaldi proved a serious burden to diplomacy, his very fame made him the more difficult to deal with. So rather than cause further international trouble the general bade England an affectionate farewell and returned to Caprera.

The campaign of 1866, which won Venetia for the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel, is not a glorious page in Italian history. Venice was freed from Austria's rule because the Prussians won the battles of Sadowa and Königgratz. What victories Italy won fell to the score of the volunteers fighting with Garibaldi in the Lakes rather than to the regular army of the new nation. From the date of the Liberator's return from England up to the spring of 1866 he lived in comparative quiet, spending most of his time at Caprera, and only making occasional visits to the mainland. Meanwhile events were rapidly showing that Prussia and Austria must soon fight for the supremacy in Germany, and Victor Emmanuel concluded an alliance with Berlin. Then, in May, 1866, Garibaldi was asked by the Italian Minister of War to take command of the volunteer forces. He accepted gladly, and, as so often before, the news that he was about to take the field was sufficient to gather innumerable patriots about him. Unfortunately the generals of the regular army were again jealous of Garibaldi, and continual obstacles were placed in his way, even his own officers speedily formed cliques and wrought dissension in his command. He was ordered to attack Austria from Como, and so through the Lakes rather than from Hungary as he would have preferred.

Yet, with all these obstacles the campaign started at Como with much of the old spirit. Again the veterans of 1859 and 1860, many of the famous Thousand, many who had fought at Messala and on the Volturno, gathered, clad in red shirts, on the banks of Lake Como, and raised the Garibaldi hymn. Scores of enthusiastic Englishmen could not keep away from the Lakes, an Englishwoman and her husband followed the general all through the campaign, carrying a cooking-stove and store of provisions for their idol. But notwithstanding all the enthusiasm the efforts to dislodge the enemy were not very successful. The Austrians were not as easily frightened or defeated as had been the soldiers of the King of Naples, and the people of the Tyrol did not rise and join Garibaldi's ranks as had the Sicilians and Calabrians. The commissariat service was wretched, time and again the troops bivouacked without shelter or food, conflicting orders were given, and but for their remarkable light-heartedness and faith in their general the men would have been in very bad shape for any manner of combat. On the first day of real fighting, at Rocca d'Anfo, Garibaldi was wounded in the thigh, and after that had to direct operations from a carriage. Nevertheless, he lost nothing of his confidence, and planned his successive moves through the mountains and lakes with his old skill in this form of irregular warfare.

The actual military operations were of no permanent importance, the volunteers were sent down the beautiful Lake of Como to Lecco accompanied by a fleet of private boats filled with admiring friends. From Lecco they went to Bergamo and thence to Brescia, and then for a time their headquarters were at Salò, on the Lake of Garda. An eye-witness contrasts their informal style of marching with that of the regulars: "Some of them were lying at full length on bullock wagons, with their rifles decorated with roses at their sides, others were trudging sturdily along in the loosest manner, smoking, with their shirts open, and their rugs rolled across their bodies."

When Garibaldi had completed his plans for marching north he received word from General La Marmora to take Lonato, and turned there from Salò. The Austrians withdrew before the Italian advance, and the latter army was free to enter the Trentino. Their first step in this direction was to take the rocky fort of Rocca d'Anfo, and after that they marched on Darzo, which was the scene of much fighting, and then on to the fort of Ampola. On July 16 the volunteers dragged their cannon into position on the mountains, and on the 17th the real attack began. Ampola capitulated, and the march to Riva began through the Ledro valley. At a village near Bizecca they were attacked early in the morning. The Austrians opened fire from the village houses. Chiassi, one of Garibaldi's veterans, was killed, and for a time the volunteers made little headway. Garibaldi's two sons and his son-in-law Canzio did their utmost to encourage the men behind them, and gradually what had threatened to be a rout was turned into a victory. Bizecca was immediately captured, and the troops had started their march to Lardaro when news came that an armistice was being arranged, and orders were brought to Garibaldi bidding him leave the Trentino.

The Italian army had met with a reverse at the battle of Custozza, but fortunately their Prussian allies had already won the two great victories of Königgratz and Sadowa and were in a position to dictate terms to Austria. The oft-fought-over Venetian provinces became at last part of the kingdom of Italy. Venice was added to her sister cities, which now only lacked Rome. The Tyrol, however, was left with Austria, and so Garibaldi viewed the peace with disappointment. He was confident that his volunteers could have won it, and found this another instance of the mistakes of statesmanship.

As after the expedition of the Thousand, so after the campaign in the Lakes, Garibaldi found that he could not rest quietly with Rome in Papal hands. Italy was bound by agreement with France to leave Pius IX. in temporary possession of the Eternal City, but Garibaldi cared little or nothing for his country's obligations. He showed in a hundred ways that he was unwilling that the kingdom should have rest or a chance to recuperate until the city on the Tiber was won, and so again in 1867, as in 1862, he became a tremendously difficult problem to the government, the seat of which had been moved from Turin to Florence, and of which Rattazzi was again the head.

As soon as the French left Rome a number of revolutionary societies commenced operations in that city, and Garibaldi was asked to act in conjunction with them. He made an electioneering tour in the spring of 1867, and was received at Venice, at Verona, and at Legnano with a veneration that partook of religious awe. He was elected deputy in the new Parliament from four districts. He next appeared at the meeting of the Universal Peace Congress at Geneva, and spoke against the priesthood, denouncing the Papacy with his accustomed ardor. He then returned to Italy and in a fiery speech at the Villa Cairoli called on his countrymen to march on Rome. He started for the Papal frontier, and the volunteers collected about him so rapidly that Rattazzi was again obliged to arrange for his arrest. At Sinalunga he was taken prisoner, and conveyed to Alessandria, and there arrangements were made to take him to his home at Caprera and keep him virtually imprisoned there. Unfortunately Garibaldi could not be kept quiet; even when his island was guarded by four steamers and a frigate he managed to send appeals to the mainland and keep the revolutionary party alert. Other leaders were attacking Rome by now, Nicotera was advancing from Naples, Menotti Garibaldi was waging guerilla warfare near Tivoli, the brothers Cairoli--name famous in Italian annals--made their daring attack at the Vigna Glori. Pius IX. and his Secretary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, were not having a pleasant time in Rome. Barracks were blown up, bombs were discovered, petitions were presented from his subjects urging him to call in the army of Victor Emmanuel.

Meanwhile Garibaldi planned and executed his daring escape from Caprera. He pretended to be ill, and then one dark night set off in a small boat for Sardinia. He lay hidden until he could get horses to take him to Porta Prudenza, and from there sailed with his son-in-law Canzio to the mainland. A day or two later he was brazenly haranguing the people from the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence. The government learned that they could not control him, and now concluded to repeat the tactics of Aspromonte, and allow him to bring about his own destruction.

At Terni Garibaldi began active campaigning. He met his troops, and planned an immediate attack on the town of Monte Rotondo, which crowns a hill overlooking the Tiber and the roads to Rome. The hill town was hotly defended, but the volunteers finally took it. From there, after a short stay, Garibaldi moved his army, now numbering 15,000 men, on towards the Ponte della Mentana, some four and a half miles from Rome. It is said that an agreement had been made by which the Papal governor of the castle of St. Angelo was to surrender his post for a sum of money, and that this sum was raised by Garibaldi's English friends, but through treachery was not properly used. This occasioned some delay, and by that time French troops had been landed and were marching to the aid of their allies, the Papal guards.

The general was obliged to retreat temporarily to Monte Rotondo, and there he issued a public address. He relied on the fact that the Roman Republic of 1849 had made him a Roman general. After rehearsing the facts of the Italian government's position he said, "Then will I let the world know that I alone, a Roman general, with full power, elected by the universal suffrage of the only legal government in Rome, the Republic, have the right to maintain myself armed in this, the territory under my jurisdiction; and then if these my volunteers, champions of liberty and Italian unity, wish to have Rome as the capital of Italy, fulfilling the vote of Parliament and of the nation, they must not put down their arms until Italy shall have acquired liberty of conscience and worship, built upon the ruin of Jesuitism, and until the soldiers of tyrants shall be banished from our land."

The French had now joined the Papal army, and the Italian troops were massing in Garibaldi's rear. On November 3 he started towards Tivoli, but had to fall back on Mentana, and there occurred the battle which decided the fate of the expedition. The volunteers fought with the greatest courage and enthusiasm, but their arms were no match for the new chassepots of the French. Garibaldi had to fall back on Monte Rotondo, and there, on discovering that his men had scarcely a cartridge left, he was forced to order a further retreat. The expedition was at an end, the volunteers were disbanded, and Garibaldi took train to Florence. There he was arrested and conveyed a prisoner to the fort of Varignano.

The battle of Mentana had cost many Italian lives. Victor Emmanuel was deeply grieved and had a message sent to the French Emperor: "The last events have suffocated every remembrance of gratitude in the heart of Italy. It is no longer in the power of the government to maintain an alliance with France, the chassepot gun at Mentana has given it a fatal blow." The battle therefore had the result of severing the tacit alliance between Italy and France, and henceforth the problem of Roman occupation became simpler to the King's government.

In 1870 the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war compelled Napoleon to defend his own borders, and no longer to support a Papal government in a foreign land. When the French and Germans were fighting the question of the temporal power of the Church was quietly settled, with almost no fighting and little outside attention, by the entrance of the King of Italy into Rome. At last Italy was united. Garibaldi had nothing to do with this final occupation, for which he had laid plans since his early South American days.

When Napoleon was eliminated from French politics Garibaldi could no longer restrain his ardor for the republican government. He took sword, and left Caprera to volunteer for service with France. He was given command of the army of the Vosges, and his campaign against the Prussians at Autun and Dijon was at least as successful as that of the regular French generals. The Prussians were too strong, the Army of the East gave way before them, and Garibaldi's brief campaign was at an end. After the peace he was elected deputy from Paris, Dijon, and Nice, but was not allowed to sit in the Assembly on the ground that he was a foreigner. He received the official thanks of the French government and returned home.

There remained a somewhat turbulent old age for Garibaldi. Italy was united and rapidly growing stronger under the happy influence of continued peace. Garibaldi, however, could not remain quiet, and when he appeared in public he was publicly worshiped and privately feared. He became more and more ardently a republican as time went on, and his republicanism was only too apt to take the color of the last man with whom he had talked. He was not an able original thinker, and except in military manoeuvers had always been too much inclined to lean on the advice of others.

In the elections of 1874 the general was chosen by several districts, among others the city of Rome, to sit in the Senate. He made a triumphal progress from Caprera to the capital, and when he was sworn in as a Senator the members forgot all past and present difficulties and cheered to the echo the man who had led the Thousand from Genoa to Naples. He went to the Quirinal to see the King, a sovereign whom he had ardently admired since the time when he had first seen him in battle. A little later we find him a member of a committee with the King and Prince Torlonia to divert the course of the Tiber and improve the Campagna.

Meanwhile at Caprera Francesca, the devoted woman who had first gone there to nurse Garibaldi's daughter, had taken Anita's position, and become the mother of the general's youngest children, Manlio and Clelia. In 1880 the Court of Appeal at Rome declared Garibaldi's marriage to Giuseppina Raymondi, the adventuress who had taken advantage of him long before, null and void. Fortunately the marriage had been contracted under Austrian and not Italian jurisdiction. Had it been otherwise the annulment would not have been allowed. Immediately on receipt of the news Garibaldi and Francesca were married. At Caprera Garibaldi lived like an island prince, continually receiving visits and presents from admirers of all nations.

Yet, for all his domestic happiness, the old warrior would mix in public affairs, and almost always as an opponent of the existing government. Even when his old friend and comrade-in-arms, Benedetto Cairoli, fourth of the famous brothers, became Prime Minister, he was not content with his policies. He embarrassed the government by continually writing ultra-radical letters to the newspapers. Two or three times more he appeared in public, became again an active figure when his son-in-law Canzio was arrested at a turbulent meeting in Genoa, and resigned his seat in the National Chambers. He was, however, too worn out physically to make further dangerous expeditions, and was persuaded to leave the more active part to younger men. In 1882 he died at Caprera.

Neither the character nor the achievements of Garibaldi are difficult to estimate. His character was simple, he was ingenuously frank and open-minded, absolutely sincere, warm-hearted, and forgiving to a fault. His whole career is filled with instances in which his generosity was traded on, notably the case of his second marriage. He was always frugal, unostentatious, unselfish, never did a breath of public scandal sully his name. Although he had many opportunities to gain wealth he was always poor. During the last days of his life he enjoyed a pension from the government, but the most of that was given to his children or dispensed in charity.