PROGRESS OF THE CRUSADE.

17

their lives to their country; they will shed their last drop of blood for it, seeking no other reward than that of a pure conscience.

"Italy and Victor Emmanuel!' that was our battle-cry when we crossed the Ticino; it will resound into the very depths of Etna.

"As this prophetic battle-cry re-echoes from the hills of Italy to the Tarpeian Mount, the tottering throne of tyranny will fall to pieces, and the whole country will rise like one

man.

"To arms, then! Let us by one blow put an end to our chronic misfortunes. Let us show the world that this is truly the land once trodden by the great Roman race.

"G. GARIBALDI."

It is not wholly impossible but that the bitter cup he had swallowed regarding Savoy and Nice may have influenced him in espousing this most congenial dis

traction.

No sooner had Garibaldi unpacked his red shirt, than the whole of North Italy responded: it was the one thing needful to give direction to an impulse which was panting for a leader. Subscriptions were opened all over Italy; men came forward by thousands; transport was the only hitch. And it was wisely determined that the first expedition should be composed only of tried men, leaving the others to come after as transport might become available.

On the 5th of May Garibaldi and his followers embarked, to the number of 1067, on board two steam

B

ers, the "Lombardo" and "Piemonte," a little to the eastward of Genoa, leaving behind a letter to Bertani, constituting him his agent, and requesting him to forward the reinforcements.* Bixio, who last year was a lieutenant-colonel in the army of Central Italy, had undertaken the more immediate task of organising the expedition, and directed the 1107 chosen volunteers to assemble, part at Foce, part at Quarto, on the beach opposite the villa Spinola, at nine o'clock on the evening of the 5th; at the same time he took sixty of these volunteers round to the port of Genoa, and seized the two steamers "Lombardo" and " Piemonte,"

*"GENOA, May 5.

"My dear Bertani,-As I am once more about to take a share in the events which are to decide the destinies of the country, I leave the ensuing directions with you :

"To collect all the means you may obtain, to aid us in our enterprise; to give the Italians to understand that if we receive proper assistance Italy will be made in a short time, and with little cost; but that a few barren subscriptions will not acquit them of their duty; that that part of Italy which is free to-day should have, not 100,000, but 500,000 men under arms, the latter number being by no means out of proportion with the population; that it is a proportion attained even by States which have not their independence to secure by conquest. Let Italy have such an army, and she will have no need of foreign masters, sure to eat her up piecemeal under the pretence of freeing her; that wherever there are Italians fighting against their oppressors, there all brave men should be sent, supplying them with means for the journey; that the Sicilian insurrection should be aided, not in Sicily alone, but wherever her enemies may be met.

"I never advised this Sicilian movement; but, since these brethren of ours are fighting, I deemed it my duty to go to their rescue.

"Our war-cry will always be, Italy and Victor Emmanuel!' I hope even at this juncture the Italian banner will be borne out unscathed. Yours affectionately,

"G. GARIBALDI."

DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION.

19

both belonging to the Compagnia Rubattino. Of course they were paid for, but they were carried off in this way for the sake of not embarrassing the company or Government. Owing to some accident in the engineering department, they did not arrive off the Foce until three o'clock on the morning of the 6th, when they found the volunteers waiting in boats, where they had been for four hours. Other boats were there with coals, provisions, and arms. the latter delayed the departure considerably. It was finally accomplished at 9 A.M., but even then, forty of the volunteers, who were to have brought up a considerable quantity of arms from Camogli, a few miles further east, were left behind.

The time occupied in taking in

The "Lombardo," much the largest steamer of the two, had 707 volunteers on board, and was under the command of Bixio. The "Piemonte," with 360 men, contained Garibaldi himself.

On the 7th the expedition touched at Telamone, on the limits of the Tuscan confine, for provisions and munitions, which Garibaldi demanded in the name of the King, from the fort of Orbitello, and which Giorgini the commandant supplied; for this he was subsequently tried by court-martial.

Here the expedition landed, and was organised into eight companies; but Zambianchi, who commanded the eighth, marched off with sixty men to invade the

20

ORGANISATION OF THE VOLUNTEERS.

Roman States, it is said in direct opposition to GariWhether this was so or not, he fell into

baldi's orders.

the arms of Pimodan on the 19th May, at Valentino. The following was the

"ORGANISATION OF THE CORPS.

"Giuseppe Sirtori, Chief of the Staff; Crespi Manin, Calvino, Majocchi, Graziotti, Borchetta, Bruzzisi.

66

Türr, first Aide-de-camp of the General; Cenni, Montanari, Bandi, Stagnetti.

"Giovanni Basso, Secretary to the General.

"COMMANDERS OF COMPANIES.

"Nino Bixio, commander of 1st company; Orsini, 2d; Stocco, 3d; La Massa, 4th; Anfossi, 5th; Carini, 6th; Cairoli, 7th.

"This organisation is the same as that of the Italian army to which we belong, and the rank given to merit rather than interest is that already achieved on other battle-fields.

"G. GARIBALDI."

To his more immediate followers he issued the fol

lowing order of the day:

·

SAN STEFANO.

21

27

"ON BOARD THE 'PIEMONTE,' May 1860.

"ORDER OF THE DAY.

"CORPS OF THE CHASSEURS OF THE ALPS.

"The mission of this corps will be, as it always has been, based upon complete self-denial for the regeneration of the common country. The brave Chasseurs have served, and will serve, their country with the devotion and discipline of the best military corps, without any other hope, without any other pretension, than that of a stainless conscience.

"No rank, no honour, no recompense, is held out to these braves; when the danger is past they will return to quiet, domestic life; but, when the hour of battle strikes, Italy sees them again in the first ranks cheerfully volunteering to shed their blood for her. The war-cry of the Chasseurs of the Alps is the same that resounded a year since on the shores of the Ticino-Italy and Victor Emmanuel !'and this cry will strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Italy."

On the afternoon of the 8th, having embarked four cannon and a considerable amount of ammunition, the expedition started for S. Stefano, where it stopped a short time for fuel, and finally took its departure the same night for Sicily, steering in the direction of Cagliari, hoping thereby to avoid the Neapolitan cruisers, and seize a favourable opportunity to land on the western shores of Sicily, where the insurgents were

more numerous.

The subsequent proclamations were also distributed throughout Italy by the various committees :