roved impossible. When Garibaldi crossed the straits of Messina
the Neapolitan government fell, and he entered Naples in triumph. But
there was still danger that he might be subsequently defeated, for the
Neapolitan army was still a force in being, and Cavour feared, moreover,
that, although Garibaldi himself had always loyally acted in the king of
Italy's name, the red republicans around him might lead him to commit
some imprudence and plunge the country into anarchy. The cession of
Nice, Garibaldi's birthplace, had made an impassable gulf between the
two men, and neither quite trusted the other. Cavour also feared that
Garibaldi might invade the papal states, which would have led to further
international complications. In any case, Rome must not be touched for
the present, since Napoleon was pledged to protect the pope; but as the
latter had made large armaments, and his forces, consisting largely of
brigands and foreigners under the French general Lamoriciere, were in a
menacing attitude on the frontier, Cavour decided on the momentous step
of annexing the papal states with the exception of the Roman province.
The Italian army crossed the frontier from Romagna on the 11th of
September, whereupon every power, except Great Britain and Sweden,
withdrew its minister from Turin. But the troops advanced and were
everywhere received with open arms by the people; Ancona was taken,
Lamoriciere was defeated and captured at the battle of Castelfidardo,
and on the 20th King Victor marched into the Neapolitan kingdom. On the
1st of October Garibaldi defeated the Neapolitan troops on the Volturno,
and Gaeta alone, where King Francis of Naples had retired, still held
out.

New difficulties with Garibaldi arose, for he would not resign his
dictatorship of the southern provinces, and wished to march on Rome.
Cavour had to use all his tact to restrain him and at the same time not
to appear ungrateful. He refused to act despotically, but he summoned
parliament to vote on the annexation, which it did on the 11th. Two days
later Garibaldi magnanimously gave in to the nation's will and handed
his conquests over to King Victor as a free gift. Gaeta was invested,
and after a siege prolonged through the action of Napoleon, who for some
reason unknown kept his fleet before the town, preventing any attack by
sea until England induced him to withdraw it, the garrison surrendered
on the 13th of February, and King Francis retired to Rome. Parliame