"To arms all!—all!—and the oppressors, the supremely powerful, shall be turned into dust."
Garibaldi embarked in the small steamer, Washington, for his island, and was so eager to be once more in retirement, that he cast off the hawser with his own hands.
The following account of his arrival at Caprera we translate from a letter dated:
"Milan, Nov. 16, 1860.
"By the return of the steamer Washington to Naples, we have received direct news from the Island of Caprera, where Garibaldi has established his winter quarters. As soon as he placed his foot on shore in the island, the dictator felt himself free as from an incubus weighing on his mind and heart. As Garibaldi never could remain inactive under so seductive a sky, like Victor Emanuel, he is in his element only when in the field of battle, or hunting among rocks. In fact, he speaks of the re-conquest of his own individual liberty, which he wishes to divide with his three war-horses, which, when he had first stepped on the sand on the island, he unbridled and left free among the fields.
"But a pleasing surprise came, on his arrival, to enliven the mind of the Italian hero. The modest cottage which had served him as an abode the past year, during his absence had been changed for a handsome and elegant casino. The avenues were well marked out, and, instead of the nakedness of the ground, the wild and uncultivated aspect in which he had last seen it, he observed marks of recent cultivation, plantations of trees and hedges, well arranged, convenient and well-made roads.
"Garibaldi, full of wonder, went about trying to imagine and divine what magical hand could have made so great a change. He even almost began to doubt whether it was the Island of Caprera. Entering the house, and looking about in every part, he found in the centre a rich and commodious hall, and, supported from the wall, a large and beautiful portrait. It was one of Victor Emanuel!"
The following is from a letter of the Rev. J. Newman, dated "Naples, November, 1860:"
AN INTERVIEW WITH GARIBALDI.
It was my good fortune to have an interview with General Garibaldi, in the royal palace at Caserta, a day or two before his departure. When I arrived at the palace, the dictator was in the king's garden, sitting for his photograph—a pretty Italian lady acting as artist. General Turr, and the other officers of his staff, were present; also the wife of the mayor of Palermo, and two other ladies. As in ordinary cases, the artist had great difficulty in arranging the general's head and hands, but still more in getting him to keep them arranged, according to order. And after the picture was finished, he was the first to look at it, which he jocosely pronounced good. He then walked with one of his staff, and again with the mayor's wife, through the broad avenues of the garden, and finally strolled off alone, with his arms thrown behind and his head inclined forward, like one in deep reflection.