Giuseppe Garibaldi: “If the Neapolitans respect these 3,600 Sicilian exiles going home, we may thank the stars and stripes under which we…”

I was enlisted in a new and hazardous enterprize, and, for the first time, turned a helm for the ocean with a warlike flag flying over my head—the flag of a republic—the Republic of Rio Grande.

She knew me when I was in misfortune; and her interest in me, stronger than any merit of my own, conquered her for me, and united us for ever.

The Rome which I had painted in my imagination, no longer existed.

Although certainly not superstitious, often, amidst the most arduous scenes of my tumultuous life, when I have passed unharmed through the breakers of the ocean, or the hail-storms of battle, she has seemed present with me.