A friend and admirer of that great man, while viewing, years before his arrival, from the upper end of the grand avenue, this garden and the adjacent "English garden" (which alone is three miles in circuit), and seeing the campagna stretching to Naples, with her noble bay beyond, thirty miles wide, marked by its islands on the west and Vesuvius on the east, exclaimed: "Oh! this land is worthy of better masters!" The response to this wish has been recently fulfilled in a most unexpected manner, by placing the two Sicilies in the power of the Dictator, and giving him that splendid palace for his head-quarters during the war in earnest, which he has so successfully waged against the tyrannical Bourbon, in one of the last of his strongholds. Late in September was fought the battle of Caserta, which forced the royal army to retire across the Volturno, to the fortress and batteries of Capua. THE BATTLE OF VOLTURNO Was fought on the 1st of October, 1860, and was the greatest, for the number of troops engaged, in which Garibaldi ever took part. Both armies knew that Victor Emanuel was approaching at the head of the Sardinian army, which passed so victoriously through the papal territories, and was unopposed in those of Naples; and, while it was the policy of Garibaldi to wait for his coming before fighting, it was that of the royalists to gain a victory, if possible, before the arrival of his powerful reinforcement. The Neapolitan generals had, therefore, brought together all their available forces, and supplied the losses caused by sickness and desertion. The heights of Sant' Angelo and Bosco di San Vito form a long range, reaching from the northwest of Caserta toward the river Volturno, two miles northeast of Capua, passing to the left of the plain of Santa Maria. This range descends precipitously to the rapid and narrow Volturno, leaving room only for the road toward the Scafa di Carazzo. It commands the country around and has much brushwood, while there are many trees on the plain. Garibaldi often examined this ground; and he erected several batteries to sweep the road on the opposite bank; dug a trench near the shore to cover riflemen, and brought barges from Naples to cross with if necessary. There he stationed several corps of troops. The left flank and communication with Santa Maria were rather exposed. On the right the position was pretty well guarded by the ground and the troops. The positions formed a semicircle of nearly thirty miles along the hills to Limatola by the river's course, and then curving back. Along the chord of this arc, nearly ten miles long, lie Santa Maria, Caserta and Maddaloni.