It was the combined efforts of three men that freed Southern Italy from the yoke,—­Mazzini, who opened the drama by recognizing in Sicily a fitting field of action; Cavour, by his diplomatic intrigues; and Garibaldi, by his bold and even rash enterprises.  The patriotism of these three men is universally conceded; but they held one another in distrust and dislike, although in different ways they worked for the same end.  Mazzini wanted to see a republican form of government established throughout Italy, which Cavour regarded as chimerical.  Garibaldi did not care what government was established, provided Italy was free and united.  Cavour, though he disapproved the rashness of Garibaldi, was willing to make use of him provided he was not intrusted with too high a command.  Moreover, there were mutual jealousies, each party wishing to get the supreme direction of affairs.

The first step was taken in 1860 by Garibaldi, in his usual fashion.  Having gathered about a thousand men, he set sail from Genoa to take part in the Sicilian revolution.  Cavour, when he heard of the expedition, or rather raid, led by Garibaldi upon Sicily in aid of the insurrectionists, ostensibly opposed it, and sent an admiral to capture him and bring him back to Turin; but secretly he favored it.  The government of Turin held aloof from the expedition out of regard to foreign Powers, who were indignant that the peace of Europe should be disturbed by a military adventurer,—­in their eyes, half-bandit and half-sailor.  Lord John Russell, however, in England, gave his encouragement and assistance by the directions given to Admiral Mundy, who interposed his ships between the Neapolitan cruisers and the soldiers of Garibaldi, then marching on the coast.  France remained neutral; Austria had been crippled; and Prussia and Russia were too distant to care much about a matter which did not affect them.

So, with his troop of well-selected men, Garibaldi succeeded in landing on the Sicilian shores.  He at once issued his manifesto to the people, and soon had the satisfaction to see his forces increased.  He first came in contact with the Neapolitan troops among the mountains at Calatafimi, and defeated them, so that they retired to Palermo.  The capital of Sicily could have been easily defended; but, aided by a popular uprising, Garibaldi was soon master of the city, and took up his quarters in the royal palace as Dictator of Sicily, where he lived very quietly, astonishing the viceroy’s servants by his plain dinners of soup and vegetables without wine.  His wardrobe was then composed “of two pairs of gray trousers, an old felt hat, two red shirts, and a few pocket-handkerchiefs.”

On the 17th of July, 1860, Garibaldi left Palermo, and embarked for Milazzo, on the northwest coast of Sicily, where he gained another victory, which opened to him the city of Messina.  The Neapolitan government deemed all further resistance on the island of Sicily useless, and recalled its troops for the defence of Naples.  At Messina, Garibaldi was joined by Father Gavazzi, the finest orator of Italy, who had seceded from the Romish Church, and who threw his whole soul into the cause of Italian independence.  Garibaldi now had a force of twenty-five thousand men under his orders, and prepared to invade the peninsula.