inces of Umbria, the Marches,
Naples, and Sicily, which came to present to him officially the result
of the plebiscite by which the inhabitants of those provinces declared
their wish to be united to the rest of the King's dominions and so form
a single Kingdom of Italy.

Many other receptions there were of societies belonging to several ranks
and classes of men. Particularly impressive was the welcome given to the
deputation which came from the Senate and Chamber at Turin in honor of
so great an event as the union of Southern with Northern Italy under the
constitutional rule of one sovereign. On December 1st Victor Emmanuel
embarked for Palermo, where he was received with an enthusiasm at least
as great as that which marked his arrival in Naples. In the capital of
Sicily all orders of citizens pressed forward to pay him their willing
homage.

These great results were not, however, achieved without difficulty, for
there was considerable diversity of opinion and not a little jealousy
between those that surrounded Garibaldi and those that followed the lead
of Cavour in Parliament and in the country. Nor can it be denied that
faults and mistakes may fairly be laid to the charge of both those
parties, despite their sincere attachment to the cause of their common
fatherland. A mistake was made by Garibaldi himself when he wished to
postpone the immediate annexation of the Southern Provinces to the
Northern Kingdom, and asked to be named Dictator of Naples for two years
by Victor Emmanuel, whom he further requested to dismiss Cavour and his
actual advisers.

The King rightly refused to agree to a course so subversive of all
constitutional proceedings and liberties. He could not even entertain
the idea of dismissing ministers at the request of any citizen, however
illustrious, or however great the services he had rendered his country.
It was for the national representatives alone to decide to what minister
the King should give his confidence, and what course should be taken as
to the annexation of Naples and Sicily. Garibaldi's good sense and
honesty of purpose led him to give in to the King's judgment. Victor
Emmanuel took the right view of the course to be pursued in this matter,
just as he had taken the right view of the course to be pursued at the
moment of the Peace of Villafranca. In the one case he showed himself
wiser than Cavour, and in the other wiser than Garibaldi. The
single-minded patriotism of the latter, and