'There have been, of course, a number of similar and even more revolting crimes committed, but I shall not speak of this more. General La Marmora has shot all his men that have taken the lead in plunder or rapine, and imprisoned the remainder, and I hope and believe that nothing of this sort now goes on.
'In this state of affairs I next morning went to visit General Asarta, having previously called at the ducal palace to see his wife and children. I got access to them, but found her carefully guarded, and, in fact, a hostage in the hands of the mob for the conduct of her husband. It was a painful interview, the manner of her guards towards her was in my presence respectful, but cold and severe; she and her children have escaped all personal injury but have been plundered of all they possess.
'I was met at the gate of the arsenal by Captain Cortener, an artillery man that I knew, in tears; from him I learnt the disgraceful surrender of the troops, and that the General with 5000 men was to evacuate the town in 24 hours. I found the General had lost his head, he hardly knew me, and so I rendered him the last service in Genoa, that of sending a carriage to take him the first stage to Turin, leaving his wife and three daughters in the hands of General Avezzana, the head of the revolt.
'Every preparation was now made by the Municipality and National Guards for the defence of the place against the King's Forces, approaching under the command of a young and energetic General. I amused myself with visiting all their posts, and observed that in the affairs of war, there were very few among them who knew anything about it.
'Great importance was given to barricades—the word seemed to be ominous of security—they reconstructed them now, building them of the fine paving stones of the Place, with sand filled between the stones. They had embrasures in them in which they mounted one or two heavy pieces of ordnance; but all this time they were neglecting the forts and walls of the town—their real defence; and I saw what would happen, and it did happen, viz. that the town wall was carried easily by escalade.
'The man now holding the military command was one General Avezzana, a Piedmontese, of low origin I should think; he was an adventurer, had been concerned in former revolutionary affairs in Italy, and had about twenty years ago gone to America, where he married a Miss Plowden, an Irish emigrant in New York. He seems, between the two avocations of a military and a commercial life, to have made some money. Last year when Italy and France began this revolutionary concord, he, loving troubled waters, came over to Genoa and by some means got the King of Sardinia to give him the appointment of General of the Guardia Civica of Genoa, a force of nearly 10,000 men of all arms, having cavalry and artillery included in the force. This force included the noble, the shop-keeper, and the small trader, and even people having no stake in the town beyond the occupation of a lodging. It was under the orders, constitutionally, of the Crown in the first place, and then of the Mayor, or Syndic, and his council.
'Genoa now stood alone with its own Government and its own army, at war with its legitimate Monarch the King of Sardinia. They hoisted the Sardinian flag nevertheless, but without the Royal Arms in the centre.
'In addition to this force there were in the town persons who had been by degrees arriving for a long time past, people who form the Guardia Mobile of Italy, and have gone from town to town exciting discontent, about 2000 in number of all nations, under officers French and Poles. In addition, about 30,000 muskets with ammunition in abundance had fallen into the hands of the Genoese on the taking of the arsenal, so that women and boys were armed. This was the state of things early on the morning of the 3rd of April; during the 2nd, a Provisional Government had been formed for the Duchy of Genoa and the Genoese flag paraded through the streets. This Government consisted of Albertini, a scoundrel and a blackguard, Reta, and Avezzana.
'I contemplated the state of things with deep interest. On the afternoon of the 3rd, as I was walking slowly from post to post towards the Porta della Lanterna I heard the crack of a musket, followed by eight or nine in rapid succession; there was great stir in the streets immediately and the generale was beat, and the tocsin began to sound. I passed on rapidly towards the Porta della Lanterna from which point the firing had now become rapid, and meeting a man who had received a musket ball flesh wound, I asked him the news; he said that La Marmora's bersaglieri or light troops, had got over the wall.
'I now turned back towards the town and was much questioned at the first barricade by the people; when I told them that General La Marmora had got into the suburb, there was a universal flight from the barricade, which made me laugh exceedingly, and did not give me a very high opinion of the valour of the Genoese insurrectionary troops, but it was only the first panic, and they recovered from it.