Pontifical frontier. Nor did the wily monarch confine himself to words. He
acted as he could act so well. Garibaldi was sent to his island, Caprera;
but only in order to escape from it at the opportune moment, through the
seven vessels by which he was guarded. An order for his arrest was then
issued. Active search was made for him at Genoa, at Turin, everywhere
except at Florence, where he harangued the people in the most public
places, even under the windows of the King's palace. Later, when it was
undertaken to arrest him at Florence, it so happened that he had started
by a special train for the Roman frontier, together with a complete staff.
(M107) The telegraph was put in requisition in order to turn back the
train. But, possibly through the fault of a disobedient employee, the
telegraph failed to accomplish its purpose. The Italian government
neglected not to hold an investigation in regard to this matter, and swore
that the guilty party, if found out, would be punished. What more could be
desired? Was not France satisfied with much less than this in 1860? Whilst
diplomacy was thus playing its _role_, Garibaldi and his myrmidons were
penetrating on all sides at once the Pontifical territory. Twenty-seven
gensd'armes, who guarded the small town of Aquapendente, were surprised by
two hundred and fifty Garibaldians, who, on being re-inforced by another
band, marched thence on Ischia, Valentano and Canino, pillaging the public
chests, sacking the convents and churches, prudently retiring as often as
they met Pontifical forces in any considerable numbers. Eighty-five
Zouaves, or soldiers of the line, having rashly pursued them at Bagnorea,
and attacked them with the bayonet, were repulsed with loss. It could not
well have been otherwise, considering the great disparity of numbers.
Garibaldi shouted victory, in his usual emphatic style: "Hail to the
victors of Aquapendente and Bagnorea! The foreign mercenaries have fled
before the valiant champions of Italian liberty. Those braggarts who
thirsted for blood have experienced the noble generosity of their brave
conquerors. As to you, priests, who know so well how to burn, torture and
imprison; you who drink, with hyena-like delight, in the cup of your
deceit, the blood of the liberators; we pardon you, and, together with
you, that butcher soldiery, the pestilent scum of a faithless faction."

The conquerors, however, were driven from their easy conquests before they
receive