Austrian Triumphs And Discomfiture

( Originally Published Early 1900's )

FROM A.D. 1848 TO A. D. 1860

ALL Italy, now, from the Tyrolese Alps to the southern shores of Sicily, was in a blaze of insurrection. Venice and Lombardy were in arms. The king of Sardinia, leading the hosts of freedom, was strongly intrenched on the banks of the Mincio. A large body of volunteers, from the papal states, asking no permission of the pope, marched and joined them. The tumult in Rome was fearful, the populace sur-rounding the palace, and demanding that war should be declared by the papal government against Austria, and in favor of Italian independence. This sentiment was so universal, with the soldiers as well as the civilians, that the pope was compelled to yield. The grand duke of Tuscany followed in the same line, issuing a proclamation in which he promised his subjects representative institutions.

The Austrian army was concentrated upon the Adige, about twenty-five miles east of the Mincio. From all parts of Italy volunteers were crowding to the banners of Charles Albert. From all the fortresses of Austria, the veteran le• gions of the emperor were hastening down to swell the imperial ranks marshaled beneath the walls of Verona. It would be uninteresting to follow the incidents of the campaign which ensued, through sanguinary skirmishes, weary maneuvers, and bloody battles. Armies nearly one hundred and thirty thousand strong, on either side, struggled month after month, with almost equal success. The Italians were enthusiastic, young volunteers; the Austrians, veteran soldiers. Venetian Lombardy was finally regained by the Austrians. As the imperial banner was again unfurled from the battlements of Milan, the Austrian field marshal announced, in an order of the day, " There is no longer an enemy on Lombard ground." The anguish and dismay of the Italians were dreadful. The king of Sardinia, thoroughly disabled, withdrew from the conflict, agreeing to an armistice of six weeks, to negotiate for peace.

Still there were a few Italians, who, with the energies of despair, resolved to persevere in the struggle against the overwhelming power of Austria. Mazzini, an illustrious leader of the patriots, issued a proclamation, saying, "The war of the kings has terminated; that of the people is about to commence." Garibaldi, another hero of indomitable courage, was gathering volunteers at Genoa. The British government had not regarded with any sympathy this movement of the Italians to regain their independence. Alison expresses their views in saying that the British government, " which had from the outset disapproved of the treacherous advantage taken by the Piedmontese government of the revolution at Milan, and earnestly dissuaded from the war, was now earnest in its endeavors to mediate between the contending parties."

Italy was swept by the Austrians in all directions ; Garibaldi was driven into the Alps, and Austrian sway was established. Still all Italy was in a ferment; and it was evident that there was a lull only in the storm; that it had not ceased. Charles Albert, in the pathetic proclamation he issued, said :

" The throbs of my heart were ever for Italian independence; but Italy has not yet shown to the world that she conquer alone."

The clamor in Rome, for reform, was so loud and threatening, that the pope, in the disguise of a servant, on the box of the Bavarian minister's carriage, escaped from his capital, and threw himself on the rotection of the king of Naples.

Hungary had now commenced a struggle to escape from Austrian thraldom. This reinspired the hopes of Italy, and especially of the Piedmontese. The cry of the people was so earnest for the renewal of the war, that Charles Albert, the king, said to the British and French ministers :

" I must either declare war or abdicate the crown, and see a republic established."

On the twentieth of March, 1849, the war was renewed. The Austrians, eighty thousand strong, crossed the Ticino, and entered Piedmont. The two hosts met at Novara. In a terrific battle the Piedmontese were vanquished, and there was witnessed one of war's wildest scenes of horror and woe. Charles Albert had refused to accede to those terms of subjection to Austria which the emperor demanded, and hence the renewal of the war. Like Napoleon at Waterloo, Charles Albert, at Novara, sought in vain for some ball to pierce his heart; but there was none for him. As he was led from the field of confusion, dismay, and death, he said to General Durando :

"This is my last day. I have sacrificed myself to the Italian cause. For it I have exposed my life, that of my children, and my throne. I have failed in my object. I am aware that I am individually the sole obstacle to a peace, now become necessary to the state. I could not bring myself to sign it. Since I in vain sought death, I will give myself up as a last sacrifice to my country. I lay down the crown and abdicate in favor of my son, the duke of Savoy."

The unhappy monarch retired to Nice, where, enveloped in the gloom of the most bitter disappointments, he soon died. Victor Emannuel IL, the present king of Sardinia, ascended the throne. It was necessary for him to accede to almost any terms of peace which might be proposed ; for a triumph-ant army of Austrians, already in possession of one of the most powerful fortresses of his realm, was prepared to sweep his territories in all directions. Austria was inexorable. She demanded fifty millions of dollars in cash, permission to garrison the Sardinian territory, between the Ticino and the Sesia, with Austrian troops ; the mutual occupancy, with the Piedmontese, of the fortresses of Alessandria, and the disbanding of nearly all the Piedmontese troops. The king was compelled to submit to these terms, slightly modified, while the people were in almost a frenzy of rage and despair.

The ruin of the popular party in Piedmont, was the signal for its overthrow all over Italy. Sicily was swept as with a billow of blood, and the infamous Ferdinand II. regained his whole territory. Mazzini and Garibaldi were still, however, at the head of formidable insurrectionary forces, and after having performed prodigies of valor, driven from post to post, they had retreated to Rome, where they had been joined by the remnants of the revolutionary bands. Under these circumstances it was evident that Austria would immediately take possession of Rome, and, with the aid of Naples, restore the pope to his throne, and thus attain supremacy over the whole peninsula. France was alarmed at this vast increase of a power, in heart as hostile to French as to Italian liberty. Taking advantage of an invitation addressed to the cabinets of Paris, St. Petersburg, Naples, and Berlin, to cooperate for the restoration of the temporal power of the pope, France seat an army of twenty-eight thousand men and ninety pieces of cannon, under General Oudinot, and after a short siege, which the defenders conducted with great heroism, took possession of the city. It was impossible that Rome should remain independent. The only question to be decided was, whether France should be dominant within its walls, or sur-render Rome, with all the rest of the Italian peninsula, to the Austrians.

Garibaldi, with five thousand men, escaped from the city by night. Austrian columns pursued him through the mountains of Tuscany. His force was soon disbanded. His wife, who had nobly shared all his dangers, expired of exhaustion in one of the passes of the mountains. After many hair-breadth escapes and much suffering, he reached Genoa, and embarked for America. The government of the pope was thus reinstated over the papal states.

The only state in Italy which now maintained even .a semblance of independence was Sardinia. This kingdom enjoyed a representative legislature; and, with steady current, all its measures were flowing in the direction of popular rights. England, apprehensive of the intervention of France in behalf of the Italians, which would greatly strengthen the power of the new French emperor, by giving him all Italy as an ally, urged Austria to abandon her Lombardo-Venetian kingdom to independence; allowing it to select its own sovereign; the Italian kingdom only paying an annual tax to Austria of five millions of dollars. This would deprive France of all excuse for intervention. But Austria would not listen to the proposal. With an eagle eye the Austrian emperor watched Sardinia, fully conscious that a free constitutional state, existing so near his kingdoms, was a constant protest against his tyranny, and tended continually to excite his subjects to revolt. It soon became evident that Sardinia must be brought into subjection to Austria, and her free institutions abolished, or Venetian Lombardy would strike again for freedom. Austria commenced her menace by multiplying her military resources, and strengthening her fortresses on the Sardinian frontier. Large masses of men, under the ablest generals, were poured into Italy. Sardinia, taking the alarm, began also to arm. Austria ordered Sardinia to disband the corps she was raising, and to place her army on a peace footing. Sardinia replied:

" Austria, which increases its army on our frontiers, and threatens to invade our territory, because liberty here reigns with order, because the cries of suffering, of oppressed Italy here finds a hearing, Austria dares to intimate to us, armed only in defense, that we are to lay down our arms, and put ourselves in her power."

Sardinia had applied, in this great emergency, to France for sympathy and aid. Louis Napoleon, conscious that Sardinia was the only kingdom in Europe in cordial sympathy with the French empire, and the only one to which he could look for alliance in case there should be another coalition of the European powers against the rights of the French people to choose their own form of government, informed Austria, through his ambassador in Vienna, that he could not look with indifference upon the invasion of Sardinia by the Austrian troops. Regardless of this menace, Austria accumulated two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers upon the frontiers of Sardinia ; and then ordered them to cross the Ticino and march directly for Turin.

Louis Napoleon was prepared for the emergence. He issued the following manifesto :

" Austria in causing her army to enter the territories of the king of Sardinia, our ally, declares war against us. She thus violates treaties and justice, and menaces our frontiers. All the great powers protested against this aggression. Piedmont, having accepted the conditions which ought to have insured peace, one asks what can be the reason of this sudden invasion ? Is it that Austria has brought matters to this extremity, that she must either rule up to the Alps, or Italy must be free to the shores of the Adriatic ; for in this country every corner of territory which remains independent endangers her power ?

" Hitherto moderation has been the rule of my conduct. Let France arm, and resolutely tell Europe, .1 desire not conquest ; but I desire firmly to maintain my national and traditional policy. I observe the treaties, on condition that no one shall violate them against me. I respect the territories and rights of neutral powers, but I boldly avow my sympathies with a people whose history is mingled with my own, and who groan under foreign oppression.'

" France has shown her hatred of anarchy. She has been pleased to give me a power strong enough to reduce into nonentity the abettors of disorder, and the incorrigible members of those old factions, whom one incessantly sees con-federating with our enemies ; but she has not, for all that, abdicated her task of civilization. Her natural allies have always been those who desire the improvement of the human race, and when she draws the sword, it is not to dominate but to liberate. The object of this war, then, is to restore Italy to herself, not to impose upon her a change of masters; and we shall then have upon our frontiers a friendly people, who will owe to us their independence.

" We do not go into Italy to foment disorder, or to disturb the power of the holy father, whom we have replaced upon his throne, but to remove from him this foreign pressure, which weighs upon the whole peninsula, and to help to establish there order, based upon legitimate, satisfied interests. We are going, then, to seek upon this classic ground, illustrated by so many victories, the footsteps of our fathers. God grant that we may be worthy of them ! I am going soon to place myself at the head of the army."

Two hundred thousand French troops were immediately on the march. They were received with unbounded enthusiasm in Sardinia. On the tenth of May, 1859, Napoleon left Paris. He embarked at Marseilles and arrived at Genoa at two o'clock in the afternoon of the twelfth of May. No language can de-scribe the enthusiasm of his reception. On the twentieth the advance corps of the French and Austrians met at Montebello The Austrians were routed and driven back again. Again on the thirtieth strong divisions of the two armies met at Palestro. Again, after a series of terrific conflicts, the French and Sardinians triumphed. The Austrians were repulsed with great slaughter, and were driven across the Ticino, out of the territory of Sardinia. The French and Sardinians pursued them. Again the Austrians made a stand upon the fields of Magenta. The Austrians had here collected all their resources upon a line of battle nearly thirty miles in extent. The battle which ensued on the fourth of June, was one of the most dreadful which has ever afflicted humanity. Forty thousand men were either killed or wounded during this long day of conflict, in which all the modern enginery of war were called into action. On the twenty-fourth of June, the French again overtook the Austrians on the field of Solferino.

The Austrians were again beaten. Sullenly Francis Joseph retreated into the heart of the Venetian territory ; am' threw his army into the renowned fortresses, which for age€ Austria had been rearing upon those subjugated plains. It was clear to every mind that France was now in military array sufficient to capture those fortresses, and thus drive the Austrians out of Italy. But instead of this, Louis Napoleon proposed terms of peace, and the war was closed by the treaty of Villafranca.

Why did not the French persevere and drive the Austrians out of Italy ? The following are the reasons assigned. After the battles of Magenta and Solferino, Louis Napoleon rode over the field where forty thousand men had been struck down in every form of mutilation and death. He was utterly overwhelmed by the aspect of misery before him. His most experienced engineers stated, that though the conquest of the famous quadrilateral fortresses in Venetia could surely be effected, it would require the lives of at least fifty thousand French soldiers, and probably still more of the Austrians. Surrounded by the dying and the dead, and with their groans filling his ears, such a vision appalled the mind of the emperor of France.

Again ; monarchical Europe contemplated with apprehen sion this triumph of the French arms. It was affirmed that France sought only to gain Italy for herself, and that this great addition to the power of the empire would endanger the rest of Europe. Prussia, especially, with most of the German states, threatened to join Austria, should Louis Napoleon push his victories any farther. Neither could it be concealed that the British government shared in these apprehensions, and was in sympathy with those great powers which menaced Napoleon. The emperor of France was, consequently, compelled to arrest the march of his victorious columns, or to see all Europe embroiled in the most dreadful war which earth has ever witnessed.

The danger for despotic Europe was indeed imminent. The people of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany had risen as one man, expelled their rulers, and placed themselves under the dictatorship of Victor Emanuel. The Neapolitan kingdom and the papal states were intensely excited, the people forming secret societies, arming and filling the air with menaces. The young men, by hundreds, were flocking to join the ranks of the Sardinians. The Hungarians were elate with hope, and even the Poles dreamed that the hour of their redemption was at hand. Every despotic throne in Europe was trembling. In hot haste a coalition of the great monarchies was being formed, to arrest the progress of free institutions. There was no alternative for Louis Napoleon but to go on and embroil all Europe in war, the results of which no human wisdom could foresee; or to heed these menaces, and to stop where he was, having rescued Sardinia and liberated Lombardy.

With frankness quite unusual in diplomacy, he stated these reasons, obvious to every eye, and consented to the peace of Villafranca. He affected no concealment of his sympathy for all those who were struggling for constitutional government, and regretted that the Venetians could not be freed from foreign domination, as well as the Lombardians. In his boyhood he had fought on the plains of Italy for Italian independence; and in that struggle his only brother had fallen in exhaustion and death. His sympathies and his political interests were alike enlisted in behalf of Italian freedom. And though the Italians, regarding simply their own wants, were bitterly disappointed by the peace of Villafranca, they recognized fully the debt of gratitude they owed Louis Napoleon But for his strong arm Sardinia would have been crushed; and the chains of Austrian despotism would have been riveted anew upon Italy. No other monarch was willing to send a regiment or a ship to aid the Sardinians. Impartial history must declare that Louis Napoleon has been the liberator of Italy.

Some condemn Louis Napoleon with great severity for not completing the expulsion of the Austrians from Italy Others render to him the tribute of gratitude and veneration for what he has achieved, and equally applaud his conduct for stopping when he did, thus saving France from a war against combined Europe. And there are others who reproach France alike for the carnage of Magenta and Solferino, and also for not pressing on to the still more dreadful carnage which must have been experienced beneath the walls of the quadrilateral fortresses of Venetia, and which must have caused all Europe to run red with blood.

The intervention of France rescued Sardinia from entire subjugation by Austria ; liberated Lombardy from the Austrian sway, and so enlarged the kingdom of Sardinia by the addition of Lombardy, Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, as to render it capable, in its own strength, of resisting all future encroachments of the Austrian court. The territory of Sardinia, by these annexations, is doubled, and its population more than doubled, being increased from five millions to eleven millions. The very substantial nucleus is thus formed for the concentration of regenerated Italy into one great constitutional monarchy, which shall take its stand amidst the leading powers of the earth.

It was a question anxiously discussed, whether it were better that regenerated Italy should consist of a confederation of independent states, somewhat after the model of Germany, or of a consolidated kingdom like that of France. The French government took the ground that this question was to be left entirely to the decision of the Italian people, without any foreign interference. Thus far the decision has been emphatically in favor of consolidation and unity. The question of confederated states, or a united government, was submitted to the popular vote of the duchies of Tuscany, Modena, Parma, and the papal province of Romagna, where the people had expelled their Austrian rulers. Every male beyond the age of twenty-one was allowed to vote.

In Tuscany the vote stood three hundred and sixty-six thousand five hundred and seventy-one for united Italy, and fourteen thousand nine hundred and twenty-five for a confederacy of states. In Romagna there were two hundred thousand six hundred and fifty-nine for annexation, and two hundred and twenty-four for a separate kingdom. Four-fifths of the people of these states voted for annexation to Sardinia, under Victor Emanuel, as one kingdom. When the result of this vote was presented to the Sardinian monarch, he said :

"I accept the solemn vote, and henceforth will be proud to call them my people. In uniting to my ancestral provinces, not only the states of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma, but also the Romagna, which has already separated itself from the papal government, I do not intend to fail in my deep devotedness to the head of the church."

The provinces of Savoy and Nice both lie on the French side of the Alps. Their inhabitants speak the French language, and are, in character, as well as in graphical position, French rather than Italians. The formidable barrier of the Alps separates them from Italy. The narrow stream of the Guier, spanned by the bridge Beauvoisin, separates the plains of Savoy from the plains of France. The question was submitted to these people with which nation they would prefer to be incorporated. With great unanimity they chose France.

That the sympathies of the British government. in this conflict, was with the Austrians, is as undeniable as that the sympathies of the people were with the Sardinians. In the celebrated speech made by Kossuth in the London tavern, May twentieth, 1859, the Lord Mayor being in the chair, he said :

" Now, my lord, I do not remember to have heard of one single official or semi-official declaration which has left the impression on my mind, that, if her majesty's government were not to remain neutral, they would side with Sardinia and France against Austria. But I have heard of many declarations, forcibly leading to the inference, that the alternative was either neutrality or the support of Austria.

" We have been told that if a French fleet should enter the Adriatic, it might be the interest of England to oppose it. We have been told, on high authority too, that if Trieste were to be attacked, it might be the interest of England to defend it. Nay, the inspired ministerial candidate for the West Riding of Yorkshire, even told the electors that it might be the interest of England to protect Venice. From what? Of course from the great misfortune of getting emancipated from Austria. Thus, turn it as we may, the alternative is this—either England remains neutral, or else she will be brought to support Austria."

Had England cooperated with France, Austria might have been definitely expelled from Italy, and the long hoped for Italian nationality established. But the British government not only refused to cooperate, but menaced France, with both fleet and army, if she pursued the discomfited Austrians into Venetia. Had England then been in sympathy with Sardinia, the Italian question might have been settled. It is now unsettled. It must recur again and again, until Italy is emancipated from Austrian domination. The thorough humiliation of Austria, by expulsion from Italy, would have opened the door for Hungarian emancipation. One can not; without emotion, read Kossuth's imploring cry, that the British government would not interpose in behalf of Austria :

" I love," exclaims the noble Hungarian, " my fatherland more than myself; more than anything on earth. And in spired by this love, I ask one boon—only one boon from England ; and that is that she should not support Austria. England has not interfered for liberty; let her not interfere for the worst of despotisms—that of Austria."

The cabinet of St. James turned a deaf ear to this cry. The armies of France and Sardinia were arrested in their career of liberation. Venetians and Hungarians, plunged in despair, still gnawed their chains.

Italy now consisted of essentially four portions. There is Sardinia, free and independent, with a government founded upon the basis of equal rights for all men, and leading for ward nobly in the cause of education and all national improvements. The eyes of all Italians are now directed to this state, as the nucleus around which Italy is to rally in the organization of one great constitutional monarchy. In a letter from Father Gavazzi, dated August fourth, 1860, he says :

" We fight now for the sole purpose of uniting all Italy under the constitutional scepter of Victor Emanuel. Let Englishmen repudiate the idea that there it anything republican in the present movement ; since even the most ardent advocates of republicanism, have sacrificed their views to the great cause of our independence, unity, and constitutional liberties. Be sure that if there is no intervention in our sightings, we shall arrive to crown in the capital our dear Victor Emanuel, as the constitutional king of one Italy."

Venetia remained in the hands of Austria. France was compelled to leave her there, notwithstanding the expressed wish of the emperor, that "Italy might be free to the Adriatic." The anguish of disappointment which the Venetians felt, in being thus abandoned to their enemies, after the emancipation of their brethren of Lombardy, can never be told. This anguish, so intense, would not admit of repose. The Venetians were watching for an opportunity to strike again for freedom. When that hour should come, it could not be doubted that their brethren of Lombardy and Piedmont, now in such cordial sympathy with them, would rush to their aid.

The pope was truly a " sick man." Europe had outgrown the temporal papacy. The papal government, like the Turkish, was rapidly crumbling to pieces. It had no vital energies of its own. The moment the foreign troops should abandon the "eternal city," the temporal sway of the pope would cease. Whether the inhabitants of the Papal States were sufficiently intelligent to lay aside local prejudices in favor of united Italy, time alone could tell. But the current of events was now manifestly in that direction.

There remained only the kingdom of Naples. Ferdinand II. had died a few months before, universally execrated. He had acquired the sobriquet of Bomba, from the eagerness and mercilessness with which he bombarded the insurgent cries of his empire. Francis II., who succeeded him, had not developed a single good quality; while, on the other hand, he had secured the contempt and detestation, not only of his own subjects, but of all Europe. Modern Christendom has witnessed no government so unmitigatedly bad as that of Naples. The history of the kingdom for the last half century is but the history of its insurrections, - of the desperate struggles of a people goaded to madness.

It would require a volume to record the insurrections which have agitated the island of Sicily during the last half century. Four times within that period have the Sicilians made the most heroic efforts to throw off the yoke of the king of Naples. In 1848, the populace rose in Palermo. Ten thousand peasants crowded into the city to join them. Even the priests and the capuchins from the convents blessed the banners of the patriots, distributing among them arms and ammunition. Messina and all the other large towns speedily united in the movement. The Neapolitan troops were driven from all the central points. A provisional government was formed, headed by Ruggiero Settimo, a distinguished military officer, and by the duke of Serra di Falco, an illustrious scholar and antiquary.

Lord Minto was then in Italy on a mission from the British government. He endeavored to mediate between the contending parties; and induced the king to make important concessions to his revolted subjects. But the Sicilians, familiar with the perfidy of the king of Naples, refused to listen to his terms, though Lord Palmerston urged them to do so.

"Sicily," said Lord Palmerston, " though a fine island, full of natural resources, and inhabited by a highly gifted people, is, nevertheless, not large enough to be, in the present state of the world, a really independent country; and. were it entirely separated from Naples, it would run the risk of becoming an object of contest for foreign influence, and of sinking at last into the condition of satellite to some of the more powerful states of Europe."

The Sicilians, urged by England, at last consented to accept the constitution, and parliamentary representation proffered by the king. They, however, insisted upon the condition that the Neapolitan troops should be withdrawn from the island. To this the king refused his consent, declaring that the English were only intriguing to secure the island for them-selves, and that it was necessary to keep an army in Sicily to guard against the English. The Sicilian parliament, summoned by the provisional government was in session, when the tidings came of the overthrow of Louis Philippe, and of the establishment of the French republic. The parliament, with enthusiam, decreed the deposition of Ferdinand, of Bourbon, England promptly recognized the independence of Sicily, and advised the election of the duke of Genoa, a Sardinian prince, to the throne.

Ferdinand, in a rage, sent an army of twenty-four thou-sand men to reduce the island. Messina, after a frightful bombardment, was taken by storm. City after city was thus bombarded and taken ; and the scene of horror and cruelty became so revolting, that the English and French admirals imperatively demanded a cessation of hostilities, and inter-posed so effectually that Ferdinand was compelled to grant the island a separate legislature, though he garrisoned it strongly with mercenary troops. Then, utterly regardless of his pledge, he treated the island as a conquered province, and reestablished, in all its rigor, the ancient despotism. The promised constitution was thrown aside; new burdens were imposed ; fifteen hundred patriots were either shot or immured in dungeons; a police, composed of the vilest of mankind was instituted, from whom accusation was deemed proof of guilt, and no man was safe. Thus, under the form of law, the most atrocious crimes which ever sullied any government were daily committed.

This state of things existed but little more than a year, when, stun to madness, on the twenty-seventh of January, 1850, the citizens of Palermo again grasped their arms. They were shot down without mercy. Awful vengeance was taken by the king, and again the Sicilians, with their fetters riveted anew, bowed down beneath the yoke.

"It is a strange and touching fact," remarks a lady traveling in Italy, " that every peasant's song is in the minor key One never hears an exception; and their voices are so sonorous, subdued, and patient, that the sound comes forth like that of a soul complaining to itself of something it is deter mined to bear,"

On the eleventh of May, 1860, the heroic Garibaldi, who, on the plains of Lombardy, had performed deeds of romantic valor in the war for Sardinian independence, landed on the shores of Sicily. With two small steamers, under the Sardinian flag, he entered the harbor of Marsala, on the extreme western coast of the island. Quietly fourteen hundred men, well armed, stepped from their boats upon the beach, and, forming into line, marched unresisted into the town. Garibaldi immediately raised the banner of Sicilian independence, and in the name of Victor Emanuel, " King of Italy," took possession of the island.

The people of Sicily, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, rushed to the standard of the liberator. The next morning, at five o'clock, Garibaldi marched in the direction of Palermo, where there was a royalist fleet, and also a strong garrison of royalist troops. The mountaineers and the peasantry rallied around him so rapidly that he soon found himself at the bead of an army four thousand strong. On the fifteenth of May he encountered thirty-five hundred royalist troops sent to oppose him. Garibaldi fell upon them impetuously. They broke and fled. He pursued them to Palermo, and on the twenty-seventh took the city by storm. All the energies of war were called into requisition, in this short, bloody, decisive battle. The populace of Palermo, within the walls, joined their friends without, hurling down upon the royalists, from the roofs of houses, furniture, and missiles of every kind. The city was compelled to capitulate, and Garibaldi remained master of Palermo.

The patriots, with accumulated numbers, marched upon Messina. The troops of Francis II., did not venture to await their attack, but abandoned the island, and retired to the main land.

Sicily was now free. Garibaldi, with his heroic army of patriots, was about to land on the Neapolitan shores. The king trembled in the midst of the mercenary bayonets with which he was surrounded. Thousands of the Neapolitans were anxiously waiting the arrival of the liberators, to join their standards.

The patriots of the Papal States were impatient, and could scarcely be restrained as they grasped their arms and listened to the blast of Garibaldi's bugles. The eyes of all Europe and America were turned to Italy. The popular sympathies all over the world were with the Italian patriots.

After many severe conflicts, Garibaldi, on the 8th of September, 1860, at the head of his staff, entered Naples in triumph. The whole population rose en masse to welcome him. His army of thirty thousand troops followed him in easy marches, everywhere welcomed by the most hearty ac-claim of the Neapolitan population.

The king, Francis II., upon the approach of Garibaldi, fled, taking with him thirty thousand mercenary troops, to Gaëta, a seaport about sixty miles north-west of Naples. Nearly the whole Neapolitan fleet, with an immense amount of military stores, and a large quantity of money in the treasury, fell into the hands of Garibaldi. He immediately organized a provisional government, and proclaimed Victor Emanuel king of Italy.