El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-15
, > F > ? ? > = E 8 r ?
GARIBALDI IN SICILY.
May Is, 1850.
(By Rev. Thomas b. Gregory.l

- IFTY ONE years ago-May 14-f5
- 1S6O-Garibaldi and the Thou
= sand" landed at Harsals. Sicily
IN what seemed to many to be the
Quixotic attempt to conquer that his
toric island for Victor Emmanuel.
The Sandman king was in real
quandary. He wanted Sicily. he had
from many Sicilians who believed in
the national cause; and yet he knew
right well that he could not venture
on another war for his own aggrand-
izegnent without alternating Europe and
risking a quarrel with France, which,
in his straitened circumstances. he
was not prepared to DO But the red
shirted patriot was now solving the
difficulty for him. He was actually on
Sicilian soil, with the little army that
was prepared to attempt anything
that Garibaldi might command.
Proclaiming himself dictator in the
name of Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi
buckled down to business with the fire
and energy that always characterized
him, and in two months the "Quixotic'
enterprise was transformed into solid
reality. Defeating the Neapolitans at
Cs-lata Fimi on May Is, he stormed Pa
/ lerrno on June s, captured Messina
June 20, and by his victory at Melazzo
July 20, secured the convention by
which the Neapolitans agreed to get
out of Sicily.
, Then with the speed anu eorce born
Of his wonderful enthusiasm, Garibaldi
crossed the Straits of Messina and
landed at Rhegium, from which point
he marched straight TO Naples, meet
ing with very little. resistance from
the Neapolitans, who were cowed at
the news Of what he had done in
Sicily.
Resting his tired soldiers for few
weeks, Garibaldi took the field again,
and at Volturno gave the forces of
king Francis terrible beating. IT
was soon after the victory of volturno
that Garibaldi, in his historic red shirt,
bareheaded and blackened with perspi-
ration and dust, met Victor Emman-
uel. King Of Ita1y," said the hero, as
he proudly saluted his sovereign; TO
which the king, with evident feeling,
replied: IT thank you"
A little later, November 7, Victor
Emmanuel entered Naples as king, and
Garibaldi resigned his dictatorship and
retired to his beloved Caprera- TO be
close to the beautiful nature that he
AOfSu next 10 the liberty OF the 1Idl1dn
people. He lived to see a united Italy,
with the Eternal City as its capital:
and he doubtless found his souls high
est happiness in the consciousness of
the fact that he had done as much as
any other living man toward bringing
1t about. So early as 1861 the great
Cavour wrote to Berlin, I'VE are Italy"
a proud bit of correspondence that
could never have been penned but
for what Garibaldi did.
1t is no wonder that this mans mem
DRY is immortal. Garibaldi, being hu-
man, had his faults, but they were
faults of the head and not of the
heart. It is yet to be proved that
near the heart of Garibaldi there ever
came the impulse that was selfish or
unmanly. Brave as a lion, simple and
generous as a little child, and abso-
lutely above all mercenary or dishon-
orable dealings, it is not strange that
not only his own countrymen, but
the world, should take such loving
interest in the story of his life.