and, but sought a home in
Piedmont, a Constitutional State, which allowed him an obscure but
peaceful retreat in his hermitage at Caprera, an island rock on the
Sardinian coast near the Maddalena, and conveyed to him a hint that
the time might soon come in which his country's cause would summon him
from retirement. And, truly, four years later (1859) the destinies of
Italy were nearing their fulfilment. France and Piedmont took the
field against Austria. Garibaldi, leaving his island home, was met and
highly welcomed by Victor Emmanuel, to whom he swore fealty as the
only hope of Italy. He now took the command of the Chasseurs des
Alpes, aided the royal army in its defence of the territory previous
to the arrival of its great French auxiliary, and, following in the
upper region a line parallel to that kept in the plain by the conquest
of Palestro, Magenta, and Solferino, beat the Austrians at Varese and
San Fermo, bewildered his adversary Urban, by the rashness of his
movements on the mountains above Como, advanced upon Bergamo and
Brescia, and pushed on to the Valtellina up to the very summit of the
Stelvia Pass. Here the peace of Villafranca put an end to the
struggle, and Garibaldi, afflicted by the arthritic pains to which he
was a martyr all his life, travelled for a few days' rest to Tuscany
and Genoa.

At Genoa, during the autumn and winter, Garibaldi, hospitably
entertained by his friend Augusto Vecchi outside the city, busied
himself with that expedition of "the Thousand" which made one state of
the south and north of Italy. He embarked on May 11, 1860, at Genoa,
landed in Sicily, at Marsala, beat the Neapolitans at Calatafimi,
followed up his success to Palermo, and, aided by the insurgent city,
compelled the garrison to surrender. He again routed the Bourbon
troops at Milazzo, and had soon the whole island at his discretion
with the exception of the citadel of Messina. He then crossed over
into Calabria, and, almost without firing a shot, drove the Neapolitan
king's troops before him all over the mainland, compelled the king to
abandon the strong pass of La Cava and to withdraw his forces from
his capital, where Garibaldi, with only a few of his staff, made his
triumphal entry on September 7, 1860.

After a few days' rest Garibaldi followed the disheartened king to
Capua, obtained new signal successes on the Volturno, at Santa Maria,
and Caserta; but would probably have been unable to accomplish the
enterp