this war were made the substantial beginnings from which a new Italian nationality was to be realized.  Italian unity was not the object of Napoleon III in his alliance with Italy against Austria, but he did much to advance its prospects.  He even promised the complete liberation of Italy, but this promise he failed to fulfil, to the great disappointment of Italian statesmen.  Napoleon wished to see an Italian confederation, with the Pope at its head, but this plan was rejected.

Sicily and Naples, in Southern Italy, were still governed by a Bourbon prince.  It was necessary to get rid of him, but Victor Emmanuel did not desire another war.  The matter was decided through the action of Garibaldi, whose first step toward ending the last remnant of Bourbon rule in Italy was a bold descend upon Sicily.  This movement he made against the wishes of Cavour and in furtherance of the plans of “Young Italy.”  His own account of his landing at Marsala and of the Battle of Calatafimi—­regarded by him as one of the most memorable in his military experience—­is as characteristic of Garibaldi the man and writer as were his exploits characteristic of Garibaldi the soldier.

The events that quickly followed Garibaldi’s descent upon Sicily marked the beginning of a new era in Italian history.  After his victory at Calatafimi Garibaldi moved toward Palermo, the capital.  On May 24th the Bourbon troops of Francis II, king of the Two Sicilies, marched out of the city to meet him.  By shrewd tactics Garibaldi outmaneuvre them.  On the 26th he marched on Palermo with about three thousand men, and attacked the city on the 27th.  The battle was a confused struggle of military and civilians, many citizens of Palermo, armed with “daggers, knives, spits, and iron instruments of any kind,” taking part, in favor of Garibaldi, in the street-fighting that accompanied the more regular conflict.  The city fell through revolt of the people and defection of the King’s troops rather than by the assaults of Garibaldi’s men, “twenty thousand soldiers of despotism” capitulating “before a handful of citizens” self-devoted in the cause of freedom.

By June 6th Garibaldi had complete possession of Palermo; other successes in his famous campaign of liberation followed rapidly; and his final triumph was achieved in the later events so eloquently described by Probyn, the historian of Italy’s progress through her most important transformations in the nineteenth century.

GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

As we approached the western coast of Sicily we began to discover sailing-vessels and steamers.  On the roadstead of Marsala two men-of-war were anchored, which turned out to be English.  Having decided on landing at Marsala, we approached that port, and reached it about noon.  On entering the harbor we found it full of merchant-vessels of different nations.  Fortune had indeed favored us and so guided our expedition that we could not have arrived at a more propitious moment.  The Bourbon cruisers had left the harbor of Marsala that morning, sailing eastward, while we were arriving from the west; indeed, they were still in sight toward Cape San Marco as we entered, so that by the time they came within cannon-shot we had already landed all the men out of the Piemonte and were beginning to debark those on board the Lombardo.