They were hunted down in the mountains and forests, assaulted and vanquished in the castles, and pursued with such fury that even to those who had escaped from the hands of the Sicilians life became a burden; and from the most impregnable fortresses, from the remotest hiding-places, they gave themselves up into the hands of the people who summoned them to die.  Some even precipitated themselves from the towers of their strongholds.  A very few, aided either by fortune or by their own valor, escaped with their lives, but were despoiled of everything, and these sought refuge in Messina.  But the fate of William Porcelet merits especial remembrance.  He was Lord or Governor of Calatafimi, and, amid the unbridled iniquity of his countrymen, was distinguished for justice and humanity.  On the day of vengeance, in the full flush of its triumph and fury, the Palermitan host appeared at Calatafimi, and not only spared the life of William and of his family, but treated him with distinguished honor and sent him back to Provence—­a fact which goes to prove, that for the excesses committed by the people, ample provocation had not been wanting.

Meanwhile the great object toward which every effort was directed was to gain over Messina to the cause of the revolution, for all comprehended the importance of her situation, of her seaport, and of the powerful and wealthy city herself—­obviously marked out as the key-stone of the war—­as well as the pressing necessity of obtaining her alliance or of making a desperate effort to subdue her by force of arms.  Negotiations were therefore commenced.  Of those which were private and the most efficacious no record has been handed down to us; but of those publicly conducted, a letter is still extant, dated from Palermo, the 13th of April, and despatched by messengers to Messina, which begins thus:  “The Palermitans to the noble citizens of the illustrious city of Messina, bondsmen under Pharaoh in dust and mire—­greeting, and deliverance from the servile yoke by the arm of liberty.

“Rise!” continues the epistle.  “Rise, O daughter of Zion, and reassert thy former strength; ... cease thy lamentations, which only awaken contempt; take thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and unbind the fetters from thy neck.”  It proceeds to speak of Charles as a Nero, a wolf, a lion, and a ferocious dragon; then reverting to Messina, it exclaims:  “The voice of God says to thee, ‘Take up thy bed and walk!’ for thou art whole.”  And again it exhorts her citizens “to struggle with the old serpent, and, being regenerate, like new-born babes to suck the milk of liberty, to seek justice, and to fly from calamity and ignominy.”