The following letter from Victor Emanuel to Garibaldi, and the reply, brief as they are, are two of the most important documents connected with the war, and, indeed, with the lives of their two distinguished writers. It is a most impressive truth, and must ever be regarded as a proof of Garibaldi's sound judgment, independence, resolution and impregnable firmness, in a great and glorious cause, at an epoch of his career when nothing else gave the right turn to the results then pending. On which side the "statesmanship" then lay, when the king wrote such a veto, with Cavour sitting at his right hand, and Garibaldi disobeyed it, standing alone, the world can determine, both now and hereafter. LETTER FROM VICTOR EMANUEL TO GARIBALDI. "DEAR GENERAL: You know that when you started for Sicily you did not have my approbation. To-day, considering the gravity of existing circumstances, I decide upon giving you a warning, being aware of the sincerity of your sentiments for me. "In order to put an end to a war between Italians and Italians, I counsel you to renounce the idea of passing with your valorous troops to the Neapolitan mainland, provided that the King of Naples consents to evacuate the whole of the island, and to leave the Sicilians free to deliberate upon and to settle their destinies. "I would reserve to myself full liberty of action relative to Sicily in the event of the King of Naples being unable to accept this condition. General, follow my advice, and you will see that it is useful to Italy, whose power of augmenting her merits you would facilitate by showing to Europe that even as she knows how to conquer, so does she know how to make a good use of her victory." Garibaldi replied to the king as follows: SIRE: Your majesty knows the high esteem and the devotion which I feel toward your majesty; but such is the present state of things in Italy, that, at the present moment, I cannot obey your majesty's injunctions, much as I should like it. I am called for and urged on by the people of Naples. I have tried in vain, with what influence I had, to restrain them, feeling, as I do, that a more favorable moment would be desirable. But if I should now hesitate, I should endanger the cause of Italy, and not fulfill my duty as an Italian. May your majesty, therefore, permit me this time not to obey! As soon as I shall have done with the task imposed upon me by the wishes of the people, who groan under the tyranny of the Neapolitan Bourbon, I shall lay down my sword at your majesty's feet, and shall obey your majesty for the remainder of my lifetime. "GARIBALDI." The letter is dated Milazzo, the 27th of July. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XII.