The count received Pier Luca at his house in Vialata with every mark of affection, and lent a willing ear to his suggestions; but fearing that France would wish to reduce Genoa to the condition of a French province, he resolved to ascertain the views of the ministers of that power, and to obtain pledges for the security of popular liberty.
He entrusted this negotiation to Gian Francesco, (called Gagnino) Gonzaga of the family of the dukes of Sabbione, a brave soldier, hostile to the empire. With his uncle Frederick he had fought against Cæsar at Parma, and later as a colonel of the Florentines in the celebrated siege of Florence. Being an open partisan of the French, he was banished from his native land.
Gonzaga presented himself before the French council of state, and reminded the ministers of the many services which the Fieschi family had rendered to the French crown; he showed clearly that the only means of driving the Spaniards from Lombardy, was to destroy the communication with their other Italian states: and the first step to this end would be to remove from power in Genoa the faction of the Dorias. Fieschi, he added, could accomplish this more easily than any other person, and he would attempt the enterprise if France would encourage his efforts, and promise not to lay violent hands on the Republic.
Doria had many enemies in Paris. Though the Chancellor Du Prat was dead and the constable Montmorency was fallen, yet the animosities awakened by Doria in that court were not buried. Delfino still remembered that Doria had taken Genoa from the dominion of France and he meditated vengeance.
The count of San Polo had not forgotten that Andrea caused his defeat and captivity at the battle of Landriano, by informing the Spaniards of the difficulties he was encountering in his retreat. Cardinal Tournon was unable to pardon Doria for throwing many obstacles in his way when he went to Rome to attend the conclave assembled to elect a successor to Clement VIII. Admiral Annebaut hoped to command the army to be sent for the conquest of Lombardy as soon as the revolution should break out in Genoa.
Thus all the ministers, actuated at once by personal and political motives, favoured the plans of Fieschi. Gonzaga was welcomed with delight and obtained a solemn promise that the crown of France would renounce all pretensions to the government of Genoa. He was also empowered to make use of the French troops in Piedmont in garrison at Turin, Moncalieri, Savigliano and Pinerolo; and to select in the port of Toulon such ships as might be adapted to serve the purposes of Fieschi.
This negotiation, securing the coöperation of France without compromising the independence of the country, is highly creditable to Gianluigi and shows the keenness of his political vision which forecast all the dangers and complications of foreign assistance. Perhaps he listened too hopefully to these promises of foreign succour; but if French diplomatists then deceived him, he afterwards showed that he lacked neither courage nor will to undertake his revolution without their coöperation.
France was at that time prodigal of flattery to Italy. She drew from us her luxury, her arts and the embellishments of her life; perhaps also her vices which she repaid to us with usury. She had apparently no schemes for the overthrow of the Italians, and sincerely, though not disinterestedly, sought our emancipation from the Spanish power. We are indebted to her for restraining Cæsar from destroying among us even the name of liberty; and this explains why our Republics, our people and our first intellects were so friendly to France. Whatever secret designs she may have cherished, she promoted popular franchises in Italy. She encouraged agriculture and commerce, and in war for the most part abstained from pillage and carnage, so that the people butchered by the Spaniards cried out, “Would that the French were here to liberate us from these miscreants!”
Some tell us that the Count, besides the aid promised, received an annual sum from France and that he was also salaried by Cæsar. But we have never found any credible testimony for such statements, and the authors seem to have spun them out of their own fancies or received them upon the faith of partisan writers. They should be consigned to that mass of idle rumours or malevolent slanders which we have set aside. Of similar cloth is the fable of the journey of Ottobuono, brother of Gianluigi, to Paris, and also to Rome to ask justice for a grave injury inflicted upon him by Gianettino.
In the mean while, Gianluigi lost no opportunity of making partisans. The times were propitious. The Duke of Piacenza, wishing to restrain the license of the nobles published a proclamation requiring them to reside in the city. This command offended not a few who were feudatories, but not subjects, of the duke. Among these were the Borromeo of Milan, who possessed Guardasone in the province of Parma, and the Fieschi who held Calestano. Gianluigi sent a message to the duke asking that the order might be revoked in his favour. His request was granted, and he went in person, ostensibly to thank the duke and render him homage as his feudatory, but in reality to treat for the purchase of the Farnesian galleys, a measure recommended by Pier Luca as necessary to the contemplated revolution.