The translator of the preceding pages applied to General Garibaldi, while in New York, to write an account of the Roman Republic; and afterwards requested several of the most intelligent Italian exiles here to perform the task. They all declined, partly for the want of leisure, being all engaged in daily business for their own support. They, however, furnished valuable communications, some of which were embodied in "_The Roman Republic of 1849_." The following pages are chiefly occupied by official documents, which have been collected and translated for this work, in order to present an authentic documentary history of the great events in which General Garibaldi performed conspicuous parts, through the momentous struggle for liberty in Rome, in the year 1849. GARIBALDI'S RETURN TO ITALY FROM SOUTH AMERICA, IN 1848. The following brief outline of General Garibaldi's movements, after the period terminating with the close of his "Autobiography," and previous to the first French attack on Rome, on the 30th of April, 1849, has been furnished for publication here by Dr. G. Gajani, now a citizen of New York, and then a member of the Roman Constituent Assembly, the author of that highly interesting and instructive work, "The Roman Exile." In 1848, when the news of the Italian revolution reached Montevideo, General Garibaldi gathered his Italian friends and sailed for Italy. They had arrived in sight of Nice (the native city of Garibaldi), when Colonel Anzani, the most intimate friend of Garibaldi, breathed his last. Colonel Anzani was consumptive, and the emotion excited by seeing Italy again proved too powerful for him. Garibaldi with his friends proceeded to the field of battle in Lombardy, and offered his services to King Charles Albert, who received him coolly. A few days after, the king was defeated, and signed an armistice with the Austrians. Garibaldi was not included in that armistice, and did not choose to lay down his arms. Pursued by the Austrians, he fought several skirmishes at Como, Varese, Laveno, and other places; but his troops, being overwhelmed by numbers, disbanded, and he retired into Switzerland—and, after much suffering, finally made good his retreat across the Po, into the Papal State, in October, 1848. General Zucchi, the Minister of War of the Pope, happened to be at Bologna, and wrote to Count Rossi, Secretary of State of Pius IX., that Zucchi had ordered two Swiss regiments (which were at the service of the Pope) to march against Garibaldi, who was then at Ravenna, and "throw him and his followers _into the sea_"—meaning, probably, to compel them to embark. But, before this order was executed, the Pope had fled from Rome, and the popular government which undertook to govern the State, enrolled Garibaldi and his followers, and gave him a commission to increase his band, and protect the eastern boundaries of the Roman State against the King of Naples.