varo, on the intelligence received of the defection of General de la Tour. General Ciravegna was directed to support General Bellotti with his forces and with his influence, and to take the command of a body of troops of Novaro. General Bussolino was sent to Verceil to co-operate with Ansaldi, whom the Minister charged with the command of Alexandria. General Ison, commanding the troops at Genoa, was at the same time charged with the command of the division in room of Count Desgeneys.

The whole of these dispositions sufficiently show that the design of the minister was promptly to assemble all the disposable forces on the frontiers of Lombardy, in order to get the start of the enemy in commencing the war, being the only way which might present a chance of success, and make a diversion in favor of the Neapolitans, whose first reverses were already known, but who were still believed to be vigorously determined to maintain the war. By these measures, Savoy was almost entirely drained of troops, and the Constitutional party remained there, deprived of its principal force, by the removal of the regiment of Alexandria, devoted to the glory of its country; but Santa-Rosa thought it his duty to sacrifice this grave consideration to the pressing necessity of acting on the Italian frontier. I know not whether he acted wisely; but that which appears clear to every honest man is, that the Constitutional chiefs had no kind of intelligence with the enemies of the Bourbon Government, that they were strangers to the troubles of Grenoble, as well as to every other revolutionary movement in France. Had they wished to connect the Piedmontese revolution with the troubles of France, would they have delivered Savoy to the Count Andezeno? I defy any reply to this, any fact which can be alleged to contradict what I have now established.

As for the rest, the Minister of War did not flatter himself that his orders would be executed on all points. He gave them in a very positive manner, and they were received without any apparent hesitation; but he had not forgotten that the execution of them might be prevented, eluded, or retarded by the governors and chiefs of the army whom the Regent had left in office, notwithstanding their known opposition to constitutional royalty. He did not expect, however, to find the first examples of such conduct in Bellotti, Ciravegna, and Bussolino; he did not believe these three general officers capable of betraying or abandoning their country, at the very instant in which its destiny depended in a great measure on their courageous devotion, Bellotti, a Pied

Gifflenga had retired to his country-seat, not far from Verceil, from whence he afterwards repaired to Novaro, very near the epoch at which Charles Albert set out from Turin

montese, and an ancient general of brigade in the service of Italy, and proscribed by the Austrian government, had been drawn from his retreat by the Constitutional government, and named MajorGeneral: the desertion of the Prince of Carignan was followed by his own. He made no answer to the dispatches of Santa-Rosa, held himself, during several days in an almost doubtful position, and finished by submitting himself entirely to the orders of Count de la Tour. Ciravegna, whose constitutional spirit was strongly displayed on the 13th of March, and who continued to make a great deal of noise in his speeches, refused to obey the reiterated' orders of the minister, made an evasive reply, appeared for some time to hesitate between his duties towards his country, and the care of his fortune, and finished like Bellotti, only with a little more remorse. Bussolino did not fulfil his mission, and disappeared. It may easily be conceived what influence the conduct of these three men produced on the events, and on public opinion, and how much easier it enabled the Count de la Tour to execute his designs.

The Prince of Carignan did not put himself at the head of the counter-revolution ; he acted wrong. Why not finish a treason so well begun, and rapidly destroy a work which originated under his auspices, and was undertaken at his signal? He brought sufficient forces to Count de la Tour, to have entitled him to take the command, and it only required a very steady attitude to remove the hatred and mistrust which he had inspired among the servants of absolute royalty assembled at Novaro. But this feeble and unfortunate Prince knew not even how to take the sole resolution which might save him from a moral and political annihilation. He passed the Tesino, that river which he had so often promised to cross at the head of an army, in order to commence the Italian war; he passed it as a deserter on his way to an Austrian governor! The Count Bubna, amidst the forms of that politeness, the shades of which he so well knew, poured down humiliations upon him they were only the prelude to those which awaited him at Modena. The King, who had already dismissed the court of the Prince, refused to see him, and Charles Albert set out for Florence.

He received, during his journey from Turin to Novaro, a dispatch from the junta, who complained of having been abandoned, and demanded instructions from him as Regent of the kingdom. The Prince replied that he renounced the Regency, submitted himself without restriction to the orders of the King, and that he pledged himself to the junta to do as much for it. Thus returned

"There is the King of Italy!" said Count Bubna to his officers-showing to them the Prince of Carignan, who was obliged to hear, and to suffer, such contumely.

to the principles of passive obedience, Charles Albert flattered himself, perhaps, that he would not find at Modena so lively a remembrance of his anterior conduct. Was he then unacquainted with the new King and his Court?

At the same time that the Prince of Carignan announced to the junta his renunciation of the Regency, the Count de la Tour sent an officer to the Count Santa-Rosa with the declaration of Charles Felix, and an order, in the King's name, to remit the port-folio of the Minister of War and Marine, to the Chevalier de l'Escarène, Adjutant General, and chief clerk of the Bureaus, under the last Minister of Victor Emmanuel. Santa-Rosa simply replied, that he would obey the orders of his Majesty, and eagerly quit the Ministry, as soon as the King should find himself in a state fully to express his will. He at the same time remitted to the officer of Count de la Tour, his order of the day of the 23d March, and gave him the intelligence of the Revolution of Genoa.

This Revolution, or rather this strong popular commotion, in which the Genoese showed themselves worthy of their former liberty, and happy era of their republic, burst forth on the 23d of March.

nan.

The government of, Genoa had received orders direct from Charles Felix, and probably knew the intentions of Prince CarigThe counter Revolution took place on the 21st of March, the declaration from Modena was affixed, and it was announced to the Genoese that the Prince Carignan had obeyed it. The calmness with which the Genoese people had received the news of the events of Alexandria, and of Turin, deceived Count Desgeneys, a man in other respects of very great judgment, and so far endeared to the Genoese, by his simple and popular manners and love of justice; but when he undertook to overthrow constitutional liberty, it was not at Genoa that he could succeed-Genoa, which has always loved royalty, but which detested absolute power. Count Desgeneys had the advantage on the 21st, the Genoese youth were restrained by force of arms; on the 22d, the two parties were in presence of each other; on the 23d, the Genoese people rose to arms;' a part of the garrison joined them: the rest would not, or dared not to act a contrary part. It was then seen what was the spirit of the new Italian Revolutions: an enraged

The arrival of a courier, who left Turin on the 21st, announced that the capital was peaceably Constitutional, and that the Prince Carignan in the exercise of the Regency, pushed the Genoese to the last degree of exasperation. They no longer regarded their governor but as the perfidious chief of the counter-revolution. Count Desgeneys, who had announced nothing but the truth respecting Charles Albert, but who could not clear himself from the reproaches of falsehood and imposture, as he had only re

people went to the doors of the Government palace, and advanced into the interior court; Count Desgeneys descended and presented himself to the multitude; but he had nearly suffered for his temerity; the popular fever was terrible, and the first victim might have been the fore-runner of torrents of blood; the Genoese youth, as prudent as they were devoted to liberty, were not dismayed by this fury: they served as a rampart to the unfortunate old man. ALthough they were not sufficiently fortunate to preserve him from all insult, they at least saved his life; students became his guard, and the house of a simple citizen his asylum.

A commission of the Government was established with the consent even of Count Desgeneys; it was presided by Count Ison, who commenced a correspondence with the junta of Turin. A numerous national guard was promptly organised, in such a manner as to guaranty the utility of its services. Never did a people display an attitude more worthy of confidence.

This event rendered some courage to the junta, and restored the hopes of the people. Our situation was improving; the camp of Alexandria was reinforced, after the movements of the troops which I have already mentioned.'-The soldiers of the provincial contingents arrived in numbers at the depôts of their brigades; the provinces, although at first terrified by the departure of the Prince of Carignan, testified their attachment to the Constitution. Nevertheless the southern part of Piedmont was still kept under subjection by the Chevalier Rovero de San-Severino, governor of Coni, a man strongly pronounced against the Constitutional system; the Royal Carbineers obeyed the counter-revolutionary spirit of their chiefs, favored in all points the enemies of liberty, and assembling in great numbers at Turin, menaced the safety of the junta, and of the Ministers.

In the midst of all these dangers and difficulties, the Constitutional Government, having survived the desertion of its chief, by the firmness of some individuals, would have been able to save the country, had not the mortal blow come from a distance.

Unfortunate Italy! whilst one of thy celebrated cities hoisted thy standard, that people which had opened the gates of liberty; that people whose parliament had given such great examples of courage; that people which had nine months to prepare itself for war; which had sworn to bury itself under the ruins of its country; that peo

ceived verbal communications, was very near falling a victim to the false measures and levity of the Prince.

There were only the Chasseur Guards, a regiment entirely recruited in Sardinia, who refused to obey, protesting they would take no part in the interior events of Piedmont. The Governor of Nice sent the declaration of the officers of this corps to the Minister of War.

ple had ceased to exist, it is no more! I know not whether history will entirely rend asunder the veil which covers such deplorable events. True it is, that after great calamities, people always complain of great treasons; but here the traitors are not all concealed : there are some who blush not for having delivered up their country to chains and to opprobrium. The one tranquilly considers the effects of his deep hypocrisy, in expectation that he will enjoy the fruits of it in his turn; the other already possesses the price which has been paid to him for having covered his fine name with infamy: they are then sure that Vesuvius will no longer vomit burning lava from her crater!

When the news from Naples arrived at Turin, we refused to put faith in them. Never were misfortunes so great, or so incredible; but from the moment that it was no longer permitted to doubt, the consternation became general, and no one can yet discover any means of salvation for the cause of Italy.

It was at this epoch that Count Mocenigo, the Russian minister at Turin, made pacific overtures to the Chevalier Dalpozzo and the Abbé Marentini. These overtures were not made in the name of his Sovereign, but of his own accord, nevertheless assuring the two individuals, that they might reckon on the interest of the Emperor Alexander, regarding the happy pacification of Piedmont. The conditions proposed by the Count Mocenigo consisted in the assurance that the Austrians would not set foot on our territory, and in an entire and complete amnesty; he, at the same time, gave the hope of the concession of a statute which would guaranty the interests of society.

This project was communicated to the junta: after having maturely deliberated upon it, they made a declaration by which they accepted the intervention of the Russian minister, and his plan of pacification, in warmly insisting on a concession of a political statute, as the only mode of ensuring the peace and the happiness of Piedmont. This declaration was signed by all the members of the junta, and by the minister of the interior. The Abbé Marentini was directed to repair to Alexandria, to communicate the negociation to the Constitutional chiefs, and engage them to accede to it.

The minister of war did not oppose these measures. Ever since the fall of the Constitutional government of Naples, the situation of affairs, in his opinion, had totally changed: he sincerely desired a pacification which might preserve his country from the odious presence of an Austrian army, and obtain for it an internal amelioration and the guarantee of its duration. He thought even that, at this price, the Constitutional chiefs ought to renounce, for their own part, the promised amnesty, and banish themselves voluntarily