ed with the republican rulers of Palermo or with the patriots
of Corleone; but whichever may have been the case, it clearly exhibits
the preponderance in those early days of the municipal tendency, and
the exchange of feudal relations for the federal union of communities,
the banner under which the revolution spread itself throughout the
entire island. The assembled people of Palermo, with one voice,
accepted the terms, and by their desire, on the 3d of April, they were
sworn to on the Gospels by the captains and counsellors of the city,
with the deputies of Corleone, and officially registered among the
public acts; Palermo binding herself, moreover, to assist her ally in
the destruction of the strong fortress of Calata Mauro.

Meanwhile, one Boniface, elected captain of the people of Corleone,
went forth with three thousand men to scour the surrounding country.
The royal farms were plundered and devastated; the herds, which had
been carefully fattened for the army of the East, were confiscated to
the service of the Sicilian revolution; the castles of the French were
stormed, their houses sacked, and the massacre so ruthless that,
according to Saba Malaspina, it seemed as if every man either had the
death of a father, son, or brother to revenge, or firmly believed that
the slaughter of a Frenchman was an act well pleasing to God. Thus, in
a very few days, the movement propagated itself many miles around
owing to the similarity of sentiments, the force of example, and the
energy of the insurgents. In many places it assumed a character which
must be inexplicable to those who, in spite of all that has been
already stated, would persist in regarding these tumultuous outbreaks
as the result of conspiracy; while the people showed the utmost
readiness to put the foreigners to the sword, yet they feared to
disown the name of King Charles. Their hesitation lasted but a few
days, for they were carried away by the impulse of universal feeling
and by the strength of the rebels; so that all, by degrees, declared
themselves elected chiefs to lead their forces against the French, and
captains of the people whom they sent to the capital, the fame of
whose example had roused their courage, and which was now the centre
of all their confidence, of all their hopes.

This first nucleus of the representatives of the nation being thus
assembled in Palermo, they became imbued with the same valor which in
one short night had raised a popular t