So the 20th of June dawned, and the Queen’s ships in the harbour put forth all their bravery of flags in commemoration of her accession, which display was naturally interpreted by the Palermitans as a compliment to the Dictator, who had fixed that day for calling on the British, French and Sardinian admirals and on the captain of the United States frigate Iroquois.  With what honours the American captain received him is not recorded; for certain it was with cordial goodwill; of the others, Admiral Mundy treated him as on the previous occasion; the French admiral affected to consider him a ’simple monsieur’ who had unexpectedly come to call, whilst Admiral Persano, on board the Maria Adelaide, gave him a salute of nineteen guns, which formed a virtual recognition on the part of Piedmont of his assumption of the dictatorship.  Cavour had ordered Persano to act on his own responsibility as the exigencies of the hour demanded, and the admiral knew that these vague instructions assigned him a more vigorous policy than the other ministers would have agreed to officially.  His bold initiative was therefore justified.  As some severe words will have to be said of Persano in a later chapter, it is well to remark here that during his Sicilian command he behaved like a thorough patriot, although it was not in his power to render such great moral services to freedom as were undoubtedly rendered by Admiral Mundy, who at the same time acted with so much tact that his neutrality was not impugned, and he even won the equal personal gratitude of both parties.  On the other hand, the Austrian commodore, Baron von Wuellersdorf, succeeded in pleasing no one and no one pleased him.  He did not expect that the Garibaldians would lose much love to him, but he took it unkindly that the royalists fired at his boat with himself in it, and the Austrian flag at the stern.  In high dudgeon he related this grievance to his British colleague, who gently suggested that since Austria had always supported the Bourbon system of Government, it was hardly strange if the royalists were hurt at receiving neither assistance nor even sympathy from the Austrian squadron which witnessed their destruction.  The remark was acute; even Austria was, in fact, tired of the Bourbons of Naples; a portent of their not distant doom.  But it was not likely that the royalists should appreciate the phlegmatic attitude of their erewhile protectors.

The concluding military operations in Sicily presented a more arduous task than, in the first flush of success, might have been anticipated.  In the general panic, one, if one only, royalist officer, Colonel Del Bosco, turned round and stood at bay.  His spirited course was not far from undoing all that had been done.  Fortunately Garibaldi had received important reinforcements.  General Medici touched the Sicilian shores three days after the evacuation of Palermo with 3500 volunteers, well-armed and equipped out of the so-called ’Million