When the rebellion broke out in Rome the Pope fled to Gaeta, and put himself under the protection of the King of Naples.  A Constituent Assembly was called, in which both Mazzini and Garibaldi sat as members.  Garibaldi was intrusted with the defence of the city; a triumvirate was formed—­of which Mazzini was the inspiring leader—­to administer affairs, and the temporal government of the Pope was decreed by the Assembly to be at an end.

Meanwhile, Louis Napoleon, then President of the French Republic, against all his antecedents, sided against the Liberals, and sent General Oudinot with a large army to restore the papal power at Rome.  This general was at first defeated, but, on the arrival of reinforcements, he gradually gained possession of the city.  The resistance was valiant but useless.  In vain Mazzini promised assistance; in vain Garibaldi, in his red shirt and cap, defended the ramparts.  On the 21st of June the French effected a breach in the city wall and planted their batteries, and on the 30th of June they made their final assault.  Further resistance became hopeless; and Garibaldi, at the head of four thousand fugitives, leaving the city as the French entered it, again became a wanderer.

He first made his way to Tuscany, but at Arezzo found the gates closed against him.  Hotly pursued by Austrian troops he crossed the Apennines, and sought the shelter of the little republic of San Marino, the authorities of which, in fear of the Austrians, refused him the refuge he sought, but in full sympathy with his cause connived at his escape.  As Venice still held out under Manin, Garibaldi made his way to the Adriatic,—­accompanied by his wife, the faithful Anita, about to become a mother,—­where he and some of his followers embarked in some fishing-boats and reached the mouth of the Po, still hounded by the Austrians.  He and his sick wife and a few followers were obliged to hide in cornfields, among rocks, and in caverns.  On the shores of the Adriatic Anita expired in the arms of her husband, who, still hunted, contrived to reach Ravenna, where for a while he was hidden by friends.

It was now useless to proceed to Venice, at this time in the last gasp of her struggle; so Garibaldi made his way to Spezzia, on the Gulf of Genoa, with a single companion-in-arms, but learned that Florence was not prepared for rebellion.  The government of Turin, fearing to allow so troublesome a guest to remain at Genoa, held him for a while in honorable captivity, but permitted him to visit his aged mother and his three children at Nice.  On his return to Genoa, the government politely requested him to leave Italy.  He passed over to the island of Sardinia, still hunted and half a bandit, wandering over the mountains, and, when hard pressed, retiring to the small island-rock of Caprera.