{

c 2

. /"'

- "" I

Dig i t iZ ed Goog e

LIFB OF G.llliB.lLDI.

it was resolved that a final halt should be made. Garibaldi, hastening by
forced marches to the help ofthe capital, had reached Monza, only fifteen
miles from Milan, when he received news of the armistice concluded in
August 9th, 184.8, between Charles Albert and the Austrians. Disdain­
ing to l:1y down his arms without a blow struck, the bold warrior refused
to consider the Italian cause irretrievably lost. He threw himself into the
mountains round the Lago Maggiore, and prepared to harass the enemy
.ever a considerable extent of country, hoping, not unreaaonably, that, ifhe
succeeded in prolonging the war, the disbanded Lombard& would collect
around him, and supply a powerfuJ force for more important operations.

Two small Austrian steamers were surprised on the lake. Garibaldi
put aboard them 1,500 men, and suddenly appeared at Luino, then occu­
pied by a considerable body of the enemy. Having drawn them from
this position, he succeeded, by a rapid and clever night manoeuvre, in
reaching l\Iorazzone, another small town, whence he proposed attacking
General d"Aspr.S, who waa encamped with 16,000 men a short distance off.
The gained wind, and 5,000 Austrians with artillery were detached
to oper11te against Morazzone. The besieged sustained the attack for
eleven hours without giving way, but daybreak revealed the crushing
superiority and powerful resources of the assailants. Not wishing to
subject the inhabitants to the horrors of an as11ault, and aa
division was advancing to intercept his retrt1at, Garibaldi determined to
evacuate the town. Dispersing his men in small corps, and orderingw
them to march on Piedmont, while· a certain number deceived the enemy
aa to hi11 intentions, by keeping up a sustained fire along the front, the
Guerillero succeeded, an exhausting and dangerous retreat, in
reassembling his eolunm at Arona, on the Piedmonteae shores of Lago
Maggiore.

And here is the occasion to call attention to the fertility of Garibaldi's
special genius. During the last war, the Guerillero manoeuvred in the
same country as he did eleven years ago. The Austrians knew the
country as well aa himself, if not better ; not an inch of ground was
unknown to their chief. Hence it would appear as if the experience of
the past would have protected them from any surprise. But where and
when did this inexhaustible mind repeat ita schemes P or who ever knew
on the eve what Garibaldi would do on the morrow P He surprised the
enemy i:n 18:>9 aa he did ten years before, and we may be sure that if
another campaign commences the Austrians will be just aa much
astonished.

To supply the most pressing wants of his comrades, who were without