All wars were bad, but if they could not be evaded it was less extravagant to be ready than to rush to arms unprepared.
Ulmanis, confined on the steamer " Saratov " at Libau, had no fighting force at his disposal, and his attempts to call the population to arms were opposed as pro-Bolshevik manoeuvres.
But the Sienese people, being called to arms by the council of fifteen, made a most determined resistance, routed the imperial troops, captured the standard, and confined the emperor in the Salimbeni palace.
Italy, Piero de' Medici, encouraged by the league, enlisted a number of mercenaries and marched on Florence, but the citizens, fired by Savonarola's enthusiasm, flew to arms and prepared for an energetic resistance; owing to Piero's incapacity and the exhaustion of his funds the expedition came to nothing.
To the " call to arms " of 1861 Grant promptly responded.
