With the forces of Garibaldi now on the mainland and advancing on Naples, the Count of Syracuse, uncle to King Ferdinand of Naples, wrote to his beleaguered nephew and recommended that he follow the example of the Duchess of Palma who the year before had "released her subjects from their allegiance and left them to be arbiters of their own destiny." Ferdinand refused but was powerless to stop Garibaldi's advance and was driven from his capital on September 8, 1860. (By John Osborne)