The scene which Florence presented on Garibaldi's arrival must have
been a strange one, even for Florence. The population was wild for resistance to France, the King's Palace was hemmed in with troops, all the bridges and points of vantage were com- manded by artillery—the city, in fact, was in a state of siege— yet no one attempted to arrest Garibaldi. He visited the Home Office, addressed the people, promising them Rome, issued a procla- mation calling on every Italian to "do his duty," and then calmly betook himself by special train to Foligno, where he commenced war upon the Pope. Clearly either Government had ended in Italy, or the authorities did not really wish to arrest Garibaldi, and we imagine the latter is the correct solution. Cialdini was still pressing upon the King the necessity of marching on Rome, and to arrest Garibaldi would in that case have been absurd. It is by no means certain, either, that au order for his arrest would have been obeyed by the soldiers. They might have proclaimed him President instead.
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