Page 74 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

72 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

his own by far. So he ordered the retreat and started to withdraw at 11pm.
After restoring order among his troops, having treated the wounded as best
they could and put some of them on horseback, he went out of Morazzone
in deathlike silence and took a small path not watched by the enemy, at the
south-western end of the village. The path crossed the valley and sloped
towards the Varese Lake, where it bordered its northern shore. The priest of
the village was their guide up to Lissago. But, despite all their caution, the
column broke and Garibaldi had to go a good part of the way back himself
to try and reorganize it, but all his efforts were useless. 70 volunteers
remained with him and headed for the Swiss border. They reached
Busimpiano, on Lake Lugano, very late at night on August 27, crossed the
lake on a few boats and disembarked on Swiss soil, in Agno. Almost all the
other volunteers, from 4 to 500, subsequently reached Switzerland and also
the sick and wounded were able to take refuge behind the Swiss border.
That was the end of Garibaldi's exploit in 1848.
The events narrated above must be seen as background to describe the
character of this man, this soldier, this patriot in that tumultuous period of
our national history.
We tried to extrapolate, from the thoughts he expressed in his memoirs,
letters and proclamations, the signs of his character and temperament, and,
as far as we could, to explain the reasons that drove him from his early con-
fidence to disappointment, doubt, discouragement, indignation and even-
tually to the daring decision of a war action against one of the best armies in
Europe - emboldened by its recent victories - despite the fact that the King
opposed this idea and voiced his opposition to him through a royal prince
and despite also the opposition expressed against it by many patriots.
Garibaldi launched himself into this daring undertaking, as he would do
again in 1860, without hesitation or weakness; he was driven only by his
instinctive reaction and his brave temperament, for he could not tolerate the
agony of a peace that he saw as shameful acquiescence to the dominance of
their enemies; he decided to fight to prove to the Italians that a handful of
men could challenge even an army, if they believed that victory was possible
and their souls were led by high thoughts and ready to make sacrifices and
hazardous undertakings; finally, he did it because he felt he was not an ordi-
nary man, he felt he possessed the spiritual stamina to face the worst aspects
of a war: the unknown and the unexpected. This was his prevailing military