Page 79 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1849 CAMPAIGN 77

had been swollen to 400 men by recent aggregations, and the Cavalrymen of
Upper Rhine, a small cavalry corps (40 men) established almost entirely at his
expense by the Bolognese Angelo Masina who had bravely led them during
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the first campaign of independence, and on the 28 , at the head of 521 men
(including 32 officers and 40 lancers) advanced on Forlì, where he offered his
services to the Roman Government. He then moved to Cesena and, on the
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night of December 8 , resolved to act without delay and set off to Rome
with Masina.
Once in Rome, after 23 years of absence, he briefly met with the minis-
ters of Home Affairs and War, and then he visited again the Capitol and the
Coliseum, and, as if it were his first time there, his heart was filled with admi-
ration and reverence: «..people who live among these wonders – he said on
that occasion – cannot forget that they are free and great». But he resolutely
refused to be led in procession to the Capitol, when he received this invita-
tion by the people’s Council. That monument, he said, was too important to
be climbed without a reason, and he added: «When the day comes of our lib-
eration, I will personally invite you, Romans, to come with me to the Capitol
and give thanks to Italy’s God!».
In the meantime, Garibaldi’s legion had moved to Rimini and then
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Cattolica; here, on December 17 , they received the order to march on
Rome without delay. Through Fano and then Fossombrone, Cagli and
Nocera Umbra, they arrived in Foligno, where they entered on the morning
of the 22 nd ; they were joined by Garibaldi who had come to Rome the same
day. Twenty-four hours before, in Terni, he had received a dispatch of the
Minister of War, Pompeo di Campello, who, after a lot of prevarication, final-
ly informed him that the Roman State had engaged him and his army corps;
he however requested that for the time being the legion had to immediately
withdraw to Porto San Gorgio, on the Adriatic sea, so that «there they could
be duly organised».
This strange decision of the Roman government had been influenced
more by rumours of dubious authenticity, rather than by actual facts:
Garibaldi was about to receive the dictatorship, his legion had decided to
reach the Capital on forced march, his soldiers demonstrated a lack of disci-
pline and intemperance. These feelings of mistrust and fear were so rooted in
the Government that Garibaldi’s departure from Rome was urged; then
thanks to the fruitful intervention of Francesco Dall’Ongaro, one of