LIFE OF GA.BIBALDI.
mlly his men. if he fancied he saw a trace of discouragement, and
exposing himself continually where the showef of bullets was the
tk1ek:esi;, he did not cease to display that bravery of which he had already
given athousand proofs, and which has become proverbial. The only
fault found with the Guerillero was that he did not on the first day evince
that strategical skill so absoh1tely necessary in presence of adversaries sa
dangerous as the French.
Instructed by experience, Garibaldi, on the following day, modified Iris
plan of attack. Not wishing to expose uselessly the lives of his bravest
soldiers, who would assuredly be the first to fall .in a hand-to.hand
encounter, he determined to restrict himself to repeated sallies, and
harass thQ besiegers by a constant canniJ!lade from the walls. 'l'he firing
was, however, speedily checked by the French artillery, and the vigilance
of the F'rench rendered the sorties ineffectual The result was that the
en€my daily gained ground.
Up to this periOd, the resistance of the Romans was chiefly intended
to gain time, so that the Freneh Government might be enabled to accept
the arrn.ngement made with their plenipotentiary. But the arrival of
By a letter addressed tO the Chancelliar of the French Embassy, and
which the latter transmitted to Mazzini, the new Envoy declared that
his Government disavowed all participation fu the convention ratified by
by M. de Lesseps, because he had been deprived of his full powers three
days before he signed it. The news of the refusal to ratify, with the
circum s tances that preceded it, so irritated the Romans that they
resolve d to prolong the resistance, though it was generally admitted th&t
so soon as the French had formed a practicable breach, and established a
battery on the wiills, all would he lost. This took place on the night of
June 21. The Roman oflcer, going on his rounds, was surrounded near
the Gat e of St. Pancrazio and made prisoner. Where he had left his
soldiers half an hour before, the enemy were now posted, occupying the
ev e nt was surrounded by an inextricable misery. The t errified sentries
declared that the French had made their appearance from underground ;
others 11tated that they hall discovered a secret gate leading from the
bottom of the wall into the City. Suspicions of treason were not
wantin@ : to heighten the general discouragement-all w&s terror and
doubt. On the same night another bastion fell into the hands of the
French ; but not vritho11t an obstinate resistance, Garibaldi being pre
sent among the combatant1, having hurried up at the first cry of danger. u.
1 zedbyGooglc
