15

: at night. Wllten G.nenJ Pacheco y Obes, at that time Wez Minister,

.

laamed this &n, he eent hls .Aide-de-camp to him (aa he hlmeelf tella u)
with a sum of twenty pounds. Garillaldi accepted halt' thia amount for
the most p:reesing

of his family, and begged that the other lWf
should be givm1 to a widow whoae D&me he mentioned. "She needs it.
more than I do," he said. What commentary on our partcould heighten
the splendour •Of such an action P

The kindly feeliogs the inhabitants of all ranks entertaiaed for him,
the confidence the government placed in him. and tae claims he had
created by his constant efforts during the war, were never considered by
Garibaldito co,nstitute any title to pereou.l recompense ; thus the pardon
of a conspirator or the liberty of a captive waa the only favOIU' he wu
willing to solioit. The memorable soldier and memorable sailor, was soon
about to leave the country rendered ao illustrious by his prowess ; but
one laurel wu1 wanting for his glorious .orown, and he determined to pluck
it. On the 8th February, 184.8, in the plain of St. Anthony, at the Topera
di &m Veaczll.l:io, Garibaldi displayed such boldness and courage that the
Ita.lian.name, even now, has a dear and revered sound in the ears of the
Montevideans.

Since the period that Garibaldi had le£1; Piedmont, great events had
taken place in. Italy. The most extraordinary was the election in Jane,
184.6, of a Pope, sa.id to be liberal, two words which have .in all times.
passed 88 incomp&tible, .and will, doubtlessly, remain so to all eternity.
Garibaldi, ho,rever, momentarily ahared the general illusion, and the new
pontiff seeml!d to him destined to become the regenerator of Italy.
Avezani, one of his most intimate friends, entertained the same hopes, and
they therewrote in concert to the Papal Nuncio at Bio Janeiro, " If
arms, not unaccustomed to warfare, can be useful to hia Holiness, wo
offer them wiUingly io the man who knows so well how to aid the Church
and our country sinmltaneously. Provided that it be for the progreas of
the work of redemption commenced by Pio Nono, we shall consider our­
selves privileired ifwe can seal our devotion with our blood." This letter
of Garibaldi deserves attention, for it proves that, in his eyes, the libera­
tion of Italy is above all question of men or political and :religious senti­
menta. During the last contest, some persons felt surprised that he, the
republican, oifered his sword to a king to fight Austria : the offer waa not'
new, 88 we shall presently see; and, in any case, there waa no caaae for
surprise, as, believing in a Pope inclined to regenerate his country,
Garibaldi had formerly offered to enrol himself beneath the papa

banner.

The Nuncio probably knew in what Pio Nono'a boasted patriotism
would result ; and he had no desire to see in his Holiness' army men,
who, wben the hour of reaction came, would have proved a great embar­
raasment. Hence, he sent Garibaldi a flattering but evasive answer, in
which stated that he had forwarded the letter to Rome. It was notin
GaribaMi's nature to remain inactive, and long before any answer could
be recei1red from Rome, he had left; South America. The warlike tone
of the Italian papers, the in1lamed language of private letters, showed
him that his r.ountry was on the eve of a great :O.ational uprising, preached
by the priests and monks as a new crusade, and to which the Pope him­
self was supposed to be favorable. This was more than sufficient to
rekindle the hopes of so many generous men whom the loss of liberty
and hatred of foreign rule had sent into exile. The Italians, established
at Monto Video, determined on starting at once, and a subscription was
promptly raised. A. Genoese, Stefano Antonini, sent Garibaldi £2000 ;

several others exceeded that sum ; he received considerable amounts from
Leghorn and Genoa, so that he was soon enabled to equip one hundred
horsemen , chosen from the bravest of his legion, and provide for their
passage to Italy. He then freighted a vessel, L'Eaperan::a, his chief
conditiOIIL being that it should hoist the Italian tricolor.

The corps of volunteers was placed under Garibaldi's command. The
valorous phalanx claimed its share in the perils of the war of indepen­
dence, whose speedy outbreak everything announced. But the Monte
Videan government saw with great dislike the departure of a man who
had done it such serv ices, and whose assistance might still be so
useful to it. The foreign merchants, on their side, could not make up
their minds to the loss of such a powerful protector. The incredible
efforts made to keep him produced delays on delays. In nin did Gari­
baldi try to remove the obstacles, but they grew up incessantly around
him. He became desperate, and at each loss of time was heard to exclaim,
"we shall arrive too late, when there will be nothing left for us to do."
But all the tricks and intrigues were eventually foiled, and in April, 1818,
the expedition, consisting of about one hundred men, was enabled to set
sail. In the following month of June the little band and their chief dis­
embarked at Nice.

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