It happened that just then Paolo Panza appeared before the senate to protest his entire innocence of any part in the conspiracy which had been planned and executed under his very eyes, and the fathers knowing his temperate and conciliatory spirit appointed him with Nicolò Doria as a commission to ask peace.
Panza was authorized to offer pardon to Gerolamo and all the other conspirators and insurgents on condition of their retiring from the city. The count was at first irresolute. He had not pushed his attack at once upon the palace and was now falling back and fortifying himself at the gate of the Archi. The authority of his preceptor finally prevailed over his ambition and animosity, and he promised to withdraw his men from the city. The act of pardon was written and subscribed by Ambrogio Senarega chancellor of the senate and ran as follow:—
“The illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators of the most serene Republic of Genoa, considering that when sudden tumults occur in Republics nothing more conduces to the preservation of the state and the weal of the citizens than to destroy quickly both the causes and the means of such disorders, which grow more violent by being protracted; and Count Gio. Ludovico Fieschi having during the past night, when no one suspected his design, taken possession of two of the city gates as means for carrying on an insurrection against our authority; and this movement having created a tumult in our midst and many citizens having taken up arms in favour of the count to the great detriment of public order; and an attack having been made during this night upon the galleys of Prince Doria and most of the said galleys having been seized and disarmed and Signor Gianettino their captain killed; for these and many other persuasive and conclusive reasons believing it their duty to omit no means for restoring tranquility, and that the best way of making peace is to obtain possession of the gates without further bloodshed and to remove the insurgents outside the walls of the city; and being informed that these ends may be gained by granting a general pardon: Therefore in virtue of these our letters of grace, pardon and remission, granted under due form of ballot, the illustrious Signoria and magnificent procurators, supported by the will of a great part of the citizens who have come to this palace in the confusion of the night in order to aid in preserving the Republic, do herewith pardon free and absolve the said count Gerolamo Fieschi and all his brothers, together with every other citizen or inhabitant of this city or its jurisdiction and every foreigner of whatever rank quality or condition, for any and every crime, offence or license which they have committed in the rebellion raised this night by the said count, in taking the city gates, attacking the galleys and whatever else they have said or done with or without arms to give aid and comfort to this said plot, conspiracy or insurrection. And we declare that in whatever manner they may have been concerned in this conspiracy and whatever crimes, including high treason, they may have committed, none of them, either collectively or singly, shall be liable to question or trial, to confiscation of goods or personal harm. We intend that this pardon shall be universal and embrace every offence whatever, committed in executing the designs of the said Count Fieschi and we grant herewith the most complete pardon, remission and absolution.”
Count Gerolamo, trusting to the good faith of the Republic, spent a brief hour in Carignano and then set out with his followers for Montobbio, not wishing to depart from Italy lest the Dorias should assail his feuds. Ottobuono, Cornelio, Verrina, Sacco, Calcagno and other leaders of the conspiracy took a more prudent course and set sail on their galley for France. Mindful that a government rarely or never pardons treason, they removed themselves from its reach and took with them the prisoners they had captured at San Tommaso. When they arrived off the mouth of the Varo they set the captives at liberty; among them were Sebastiano Lercaro, Manfredi Centurione and Vincenzo Vaccari. By releasing these prisoners they deprived themselves of a guarranty which might have saved their lives at a later period. These conspirators were not the only persons who sailed from the port that morning.
The convicts and Turkish captives on board the Doria galleys had broken their chains and they resolved to avail themselves of the universal confusion to make their escape. The ships of Prince Doria, Antonio Doria and some other private persons were lying dismantled in the harbour. In the fury of the tumult the galleys of Andrea were plundered by the plebeians and by the slaves, and the latter collected with their booty on board the Capitana which had escaped the fury of the sack. There was a good reason for this exception.
This galley, formerly called the Temperanza, had been a Venitian vessel and the men of Barbary had captured her and four other triremes in 1539, near Corfu in the waters of Paxo, taking prisoner at the same time the Commandant Francesco Gritti.
Dragut Rais was so pleased with the sailing qualities and rich equipment of the Capitana that he made her his flag-ship. Gianettino Doria captured her in the engagement in which the corsair himself fell into our hands. On the night of the second of January the African prisoners to the number of three hundred or more threw themselves on board this galley, as a piece of their own property, and sailed out to sea. Though two galleons of Bernardino Mendozza, which were anchored in another part of the harbour and so escaped the pillage, were sent in chase at early dawn, the fugitives made good their flight and after a long voyage arrived safely in Algiers.
The Doria fleet suffered grave damages in that night pillage, the furniture and rigging being reduced to a mass of ruins. These disorders originated with the liberated slaves, and the bad example was followed by the convicts who afterwards carried confusion and alarm into the city. Many of the lowest class of the people penetrated into the foundries and shipyards of Doria, and what they could not carry away they threw into the sea. During the following days, the convicts were hunted out in every quarter of the city and taken back to their oars, and some of the equipments of the ships were recovered by the zealous efforts of Adamo Centurione whose pecuniary interests were united to those of Doria.
It is worth while to observe that the storm of this conspiracy broke over the ships of Andrea. The government issued a proclamation that whoever should have taken or should find anything belonging to the galleys of the prince, as arquebuses, pikes, halberds, visors, helmets, corselets, axes or any other arms or tool belonging to these vessels, should within three days consign them to the justices in the Riviera, or to the agents of Doria in Genoa, or deposit them in the churches of San Vito and Annunziata.
Our historians have neglected to describe one of the galleys of Doria which was a wonderful specimen of Genoese naval architecture. She was built by Doria in 1539 for the personal use of Charles V. in his expedition to Tunis, and surpassed all other galleys by fifteen palms in length and four palms in breadth[47]. She bore three standards of crimson damask, each twenty-three palms in length and beautifully embroidered in gold. The one in the midst had in the centre a star with golden rays and appropriate inscriptions; that at the stern bore the figure of an angel and the one on the prow a shield, a helmet and a sword. Besides, there were three flags at the poop also of damask and thirty palms in length, and another banner of white damask was embroidered with chalices, pontifical keys and red crosses, with fitting inscriptions. There were two flags of red damask bearing the imperial columns and the device—plus ultra—invented by the Milanese Marliano, physician to Charles V. and an excellent mathematician. The vessel also had twenty-four other flags of yellow damask and appropriate devices. The saloon was adorned with beautiful arabesques in blue and gold, and the sides were tapestried with cloth of gold and silver, hung so as to represent pavillioned domes. The castle on the poop was covered with exquisite carvings and there were two carpets for the deck, one of scarlet cloth for daily use and another, for state occasions, of crimson velvet and brocade of gold. The crew wore satin jackets. The gun carriages, rigging and other furniture were all in the most perfect style and finish of the naval art of that period. The slaves and convicts ruined all these splendid equipments and furniture.