Lamoriciere advanced against Cialdini with his motley
troops, but was quickly defeated, and on the following day was
besieged in the fortress of Ancona. On the 29th he and the
garrison surrendered as prisoners of war. On the 9th of October
Victor Emmanuel arrived and took command. There was no longer a
papal army to oppose him, and the march southward proceeded
without a check.
The object of the king in assuming the chief command was to
complete the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, in conjunction
with Garibaldi. For though Garibaldi had entered the capital in
triumph, the progress on the line of the Volturno had been slow;
and the expectation that the Neapolitan army would go over to the
invaders in a mass had not been realized. The great majority of
the troops remained faithful to the flag, so that Garibaldi,
although his irregular bands amounted to more than 25,000 men,
could not hope to drive away King Francis, or to take the
fortresses of Capua and Gaeta, without the help of Sardinia.
Against the diplomatic statesman Cavour, who fostered no
illusions, and saw the conditions of affairs in its true light,
the simple, honest Garibaldi cherished a deep aversion. He could
never forgive Cavour for having given up Nice, Garibaldi's native
town, to the French.
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