ile abstaining from preaching the republic
till the struggle was over, would have stopped short at the first word
_Italy_. But Garibaldi told Rosalino Pilo, who was of this way of
thinking, that either he marched in the King's name or he did not
march at all. This was the condition of his acceptance, because he
esteemed it the condition on which hung the success of the enterprise,
nay more, the existence of an united Italy.

The Thousand embarked at Quarto, near Genoa, during the night of the
5th of May on the two merchant vessels, the _Piemonte_ and _Lombardo_,
which, with the complicity of their patriotic owner, R. Rubattino, had
been sequestered for the use of the expedition. On hearing of
Garibaldi's departure, Cavour ordered Admiral Persano, whose squadron
lay in the gulf of Cagliari, to arrest the expedition if the steamers
entered any Sardinian port, but to let it go free if they were
encountered on the high seas. Persano asked Cavour what he was to do
if by stress of storms Garibaldi were forced to come into port? The
answer was that 'the Ministry' decided for his arrest, which Persano
rightly interpreted to mean that Cavour had decided the contrary. He
resolved, therefore, not to stop him under any circumstances, but the
case did not occur, for the fairest of May weather favoured the
voyage, and six days after the start the men were quietly landed at
Marsala without let or hindrance from the two Neapolitan warships
which arrived almost at the same time as the _Piemonte_ and
_Lombardo_, an inconceivable stroke of good fortune which, like the
eventful march that was to follow, seems to belong far more to romance
than to history.

On the day before, the British gunboat _Intrepid_ (Captain Marryat),
and the steam vessel _Argus_, had cast anchor in the harbour of
Marsala. Their presence was again and again spoken of by Garibaldi as
the key to the mystery of why he was not attacked. No matter how it
was done--it may have been a mere accident--but it can hardly be
doubted that the English men-of-war did practically cover the landing
of the Thousand. Lord John Russell denied emphatically to the House of
Commons that they were sent there for the purpose, as to this day is
believed by some grateful Italians, and by every Clerical writer who
handles the subject. The British Government had early information of
Italian revolutionary doings, just then, through Sir James Hudson, who
was in communication with men of all shad