ed him to
Sicilian waters, were what decided Garibaldi to go to the rescue.
Some, like Bixio and Bertani, warmly and persistently urged him to
accept the charge; others, like Sirtori, were convinced that the
undertaking was foredoomed, and that its only result would be the
death of their beloved captain: but this conviction did not lessen
their eagerness to share his perils when once he was resolved to go.

Like all born men of action, Garibaldi did not know what doubt was
after he came to a decision. From that moment his mental atmosphere
cleared; he saw the goal and went straight for it. In a surprisingly
short time the expedition was organised and ready to leave. 'Few and
good,' had been the rule laid down by Garibaldi for the enrolments; if
he had chosen he could have taken with him a much more numerous host.
When it was the day to start few they were (according to the most
recent computation the exact number was 1072 men), and they were
certainly good. The force was divided into seven companies, the first
entrusted to the ardent Nino Bixio, who acted in a general way as
second-in-command through both the Sicilian and Neapolitan campaigns,
and the seventh to Benedetto Cairoli, whose mother contributed a large
sum of money as well as three of her sons to the freeing of Southern
Italy. Sirtori, about whom there always clung something of the
priestly vocation for which he had been designed, was the head of the
staff; Tuerr (the Hungarian) was adjutant-general. The organisation was
identical with that of the Italian army 'to which we belong,' said
Garibaldi in his first order of the day.

One name is missing, that of Medici, who was left behind to take the
command of a projected movement in the Papal States. By whom this plan
was invented is not clear, but simultaneous operations in different
parts of the peninsula had been always a favourite design of the more
extreme members of the Party of Action, and Garibaldi probably yielded
to their advice. All that came of it was the entry into Umbria of
Zambianchi's small band of volunteers, which was promptly repulsed
over the frontier. Medici, therefore, remained inactive till after the
fall of Palermo; he headed the second expedition of 4,000 volunteers
which arrived in time to take part in the final Sicilian battles.

Garibaldi's political programme was the cry of the Hunters of the Alps
in 1859: _Italy and Victor Emmanuel._ Those who were strict
republicans at heart, wh