habitants, whom they could not think of leaving subjected either to the caprice of a foreign Power, or to the domination of any party whatsoever not approved by the majority.

Some small preparations for a defence had been made in Cività Vecchia, at the time when the intelligence of the French expedition designed by Cavaignac arrived in Rome. A Giunta of Public Safety was established, and a Committee appointed to fortify the port and defend it against assault from whatever quarter; the garrison was reinforced, and the population encouraged to resist. More effective preparations were hindered by lack of money and arms, and, yet more, of wise counsel and regulated authority; for the military arrangements, placed under a Board, had, as was natural, reached a degree of irregularity and confusion even greater than in time past. After the affair of Genoa, Avezzana, a refugee and outlaw, had repaired to Rome: where the Triumvirs named him minister. He was brave, and warm in the sentiment of nationality, but he had neither the talent nor the experience requisite for the War department, so that his assistance was not of the use which the Romans anticipated from him, and from each new Minister of War. This must be recorded to his credit, that he showed himself not only a man of probity and good conduct, but of an even-mindedness and self-controul, hardly to be expected from one who came forth vanquished out of the midst of civil discord and conflict still in glow. Of this he gave proof when just arrived in Rome:

for, when his prowess and the revolt of Genoa were magnified as among the glories of Italy, he publicly deplored, in a sad and lowly tone, the strifes of brethren, and that unhappy attempt.

It became known in Rome, on the 24th of April, that the French Assembly had authorised the Government to dispatch troops into the Roman States: but the majority stood firm in the persuasion, that they would come neither immediately nor as foes; and Mazzini himself said in Parliament, that perhaps their aim might be to hinder the intervention of Austria, and to defend the Roman territory: and closed with a declaration, that in the meantime the Republic ought to give fresh assurances to France, and to the other Catholic Powers, of her wish to furnish guarantees for the full and free exercise of the Pope's spiritual authority. But the same day, at nine in the morning, the steam-frigate Panamà, Captain Dubois, arrived in the harbour of Cività Vecchia: and landed M. Latour d'Auvergne, Secretary of Legation, M. Espivent, Aidede-camp to General Oudinot, and M. Durand de Villers, Adjutant to General Regnaud St. Jean d'Angely; who presented themselves to President Mannucci, and delivered to him the following letter from General Oudinot.

"Mr. Governor,

"The Government of the French Republic, with sincere good will to the population of these States, and anxious to put a period to the state of things under which they have groaned for several months, and to facilitate the establishment of another, alike secured from the anarchy of these last times, and from the inveterate abuses which, before the ele

vation of Pius IX., desolated the States of the Church, has resolved on dispatching to Cività Vecchia a body of troops, of which it has intrusted me with the command.

"I request you to give the proper instructions, so that the troops, when directly after arriving they proceed to land in conformity which the orders I have received, may be entertained and lodged as befits allies drawn to your country by motives so friendly.

"Accept, Mr. Governor, the assurance of my very particular esteem.

"OUDINOT Di Reggio,

"General Commanding in Chief, and Representative of the People."

The President asked fourteen hours' time to reply, which sufficed for sending intelligence to Rome and getting orders thence. But as M. Espivent persisted in requiring that the French immediately on arriving should be amicably received, he threatened to resist, and convened the Municipality, the Chamber of Commerce, and the principal officers, that they might hear from the French Envoys an oral statement of their intentions. And when M. Espivent had handed to them for perusal a Proclamation of General Oudinot, which disclosed the intention to restore the Papal Government, the meeting indignantly gave vent to bitter complaints and appeared to be resolved upon resistance. Thereupon Espivent, in the manner of a crafty diplomatist more than of a straightforward soldier, set about allaying their resentment, and plying their minds to his purpose, by giving them to understand that France was an ally and a friend: that the electoral assemblies should choose whatever

form of government they might prefer; that France was intent upon the accomplishment of the public wishes. And he left in writing this assurance.

"Declaration of the Expeditionary Corps of the Mediterranean to the Governor of Cività Vecchia.

"The Government of the French Republic, animated by liberal views, declares itself bound to respect the wish of the majority of the population of the Roman States, and that it is. only come in the character of a friend, with no aim beyond that of maintaining its legitimate influence here. It is determined to impose no form of government on the population of these States, which they do not themselves desire.

"As respects the Governor of Cività Vecchia, he will be retained in all his functions, and the French Government will make provision for the increase of charge, to result from the increased labour which the Expeditionary Corps will bring upon him. All articles, and all the requisitions necessary for its support, shall be paid for in ready money.

"Cività Vecchia, April 24. 1849.

"The Major of Cavalry and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief.

"ESPIVENT."

When this Declaration had been printed and published, the Municipality and the Chamber of Commerce leaned to pacific counsels, and resolved that the town should not resist the debarcation of the French troops. Mannucci, however, wrote to General Oudinot that he would be governed, not by that determination, but by such orders as he might receive from Rome: and in the evening he caused the mouths of the harbour to be closed and the drawbridges to be hoisted after which he admitted into the city the

battalion of sharp-shooters under Lieutenant-Colonel Melara, and made all the officers of the garrison engage on their honour to obey the orders of the civil power.

At midnight of the 24th, the Assembly at Rome, excited by the news of the impending danger, held a sitting, and, conjointly with the Triumvirs, determined upon the following Protest.

"The Roman Assembly, deeply moved by the menace of invading the territory of the Republic, and aware that this invasion, neither provoked by the proceedings of the Republic in its foreign relations, nor prefaced by any communication from the Government of France, being also an incentive to anarchy in a country tranquil, orderly, and resting in the consciousness of its rights and in the concord of its inhabitants, is alike in violation of the law of nations, of the engagements taken by the French people in their Constitution, and of the ties of brotherhood which ought naturally to connect the two Republics, protests, in the name of God and of the people, against the said unexpected invasion, declares its fixed resolution to resist, and throws upon France the responsibility for all the consequences."

The Minister Rusconi and the Deputy Pescantini set out for Cività Vecchia, to present this remonstrance to General Oudinot.

In the meantime, however, the population of the place, cajoled by Espivent, had begun to raise a cry for peace and on learning that the President had convened the military officers to execute the orders of resistance that had come from Rome, it became so