PARIS: April 19, 1849.
LORD,
'Monsieur Drouyn De Lhuys has more than once expressed to me his conviction that during the late troubles at Genoa that City was in great part saved from pillage and destruction by the energetic attitude assumed by the British Naval Force in that port. The Minister read to me extracts both from Monsieur Bois le Conte and from Monsieur Léon Favre the French Consul at Genoa, stating that there were moments when the lives and properties of the peaceable inhabitants would have been in great danger but for the dread inspired by the position taken up by H.M.S. Vengeance and the efficient support given by Lord Hardwicke to the Consular Authorities. Monsieur Drouyn De Lhuys said there had been no distinction whatever between the two Commanders of the two nations except inasmuch as the British Naval Force at that time in the Port of Genoa was of so much more commanding a character.
'I am, &c.,
'(Signed) NORMANBY.'
* * * * *
Extracts from 'An Episode of Italian Unification' by General Alfonso la
Marmora.
'Lord Hardwicke conducted himself to me like the honourable man that he is, expert in dealing with men and circumstances. He did not propose unacceptable conditions to me; indeed, he charged himself with the task of persuading the Municipality to submit to the conditions which I might impose, for the welfare of Genoa itself, and the permanent re-establishment of order.
'On the 9th another complication developed. I have said that the English Captain placed his ship opposite the docks to prevent the liberation of the convicts. Avezzana allowed two days to pass without protesting against this menace: then he addressed to the aforesaid commander a letter of truly radical insolence, ordering him to vacate the harbour before 6 P.M. and declaring that if by that hour he were not gone he should be sunk by the batteries of the people, and so teach the Queen of Great Britain that it did not suffice to entrust her men-of-war to men of high lineage unless they were also men of judgment.
'Lord Hardwicke, like a man of sense and good feeling, contented himself with acknowledging the receipt of the insulting letter, being determined not to stir a finger to leave his drawn position.