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General de Failly's official report to the Minister at War

on the incidents of Mentana quite bear out this view. He says he lost only two soldiers killed and 36 wounded, though the Pontifical Army suffered more severely ; but the Garibaldians lost 600 killed, a proportional number of wounded, and 1,600 prisoners. He adds this significant remark, "Our soldiers proved, from the very onset, despite their natural vivacity, that they possess that cool- ness and sang-froid necessary to make the most of all that can be expected from the precision and well-regulated rapidity of our new weapon." This was the point which worried the Marshals, who know very well that a French soldier has one fault—he cannot endure to wait his enemy's arrival.

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