Thus ended this bloodless revolution; there was no disorder of any kind, which was due to the young men belonging to the principal families of Florence, such as Corsini, Incontri, Farinola, and others, using their influence with the people to calm and direct them. Indeed, so quiet was everything that my daughters walked about the streets, as did most ladies, to see what was going on; the only visible signs of the revolution throughout the whole day were bands of young men with tri-coloured flags and cockades shouting national songs at the top of their voices. As I have said already, we took our usual drive to the Cascine after dinner, and went to the theatre in the evening; the streets were perfectly quiet, and next morning the people were at work as usual. Sir James Scarlett was our minister, and had a reception the evening after these events, where we heard many predictions of evil which never were fulfilled. The least of these was the occupation of Florence by a victorious Austrian army. The Tuscan archdukes precluded all chance of a restoration by joining the Austrian army, and being present at the battle of Solferino. At Florence a provisional government was formed with Bettino Ricasoli at its head; a parliament assembled three times in the Sala dei Cinquecento, in the Palazzo Vecchio, and voted with unanimity the expulsion of the House of Lorraine, and the annexation of Tuscany to the kingdom of Italy. In the meantime the French and Italian arms were victorious in Lombardy. As, however, it is not my intention to give an historical account of the revolution of 1859, but merely to jot down such circumstances as came under my own immediate notice, I shall not enter into any particulars regarding the well-known campaign which ended in the cession of Milan and Lombardy to Italy.

We were keenly interested in the alliance between the Emperor Napoleon and the King of Italy, in hopes the Quadrilateral would be taken, and Venice added to the Italian States. We had a map of Northern Italy spread on a table, and from day to day we marked the positions of the different headquarters with coloured-headed pins. I can hardly describe our indignation when all at once peace was signed at Villafranca, and Napoleon received Nice and Savoy in recompense for his aid, which were given up to him without regard to the will of the people. When the peace was announced in Tuscany it caused great consternation and disgust; the people were in the greatest excitement, fearing that those rulers so obnoxious to them might by this treaty be again forced upon them; and it required the firm hand of Ricasoli to calm the people, and induce the King to accept the annexation which had been voted without one dissentient voice.

Baron Ricasoli had naturally many enemies amongst the Codini, or retrograde party. Hand-grenades were thrown against the door of his house, as also at those of other ministers, but without doing harm. One evening my daughters were dressing to go to a ball that was to take place at the Palazzo delle Crocelle, close to us, in a street parallel to ours, when we were startled by a loud explosion. An attempt had been made to throw a shell into the ball-room, which had happily failed. The streets were immediately lined with soldiers, and the ball, which was given by the Ministers, as far as I recollect, took place.

When the war broke out, a large body of French troops, commanded by Prince Jerôme Napoleon, came to Florence, and were bivouacked in the Cascine. The people in the streets welcomed them as deliverers from the Austrians, whose occupation of Tuscany, when first we came to reside in Florence, was such a bitter mortification to them, and one of the causes of the unpopularity of the Grand Duke, whom they never forgave for calling in the Austrian troops after 1848. The French camp was a very pretty sight; some of the soldiers playing at games, some mending their clothes, or else cooking. They were not very particular as to what they ate, for one of my daughters saw a soldier skin a rat and put it into his soup-kettle.

We were invited by the Marchesa Lajatico, with whom we were very intimate, to go and see the entry of Victor Emmanuel into Florence from the balcony of the Casa Corsini in the Piazza del Prato, where she resides. The King was received with acclamation: never was anything like the enthusiasm. Flowers were showered down from every window, and the streets were decorated with a taste peculiar to the Italians.

I think the following extracts from letters written by my mother during the year 1859 and the following, ever memorable in Italian history, may not be unwelcome to the reader. My mother took the keenest interest in all that occurred. Owing to the liberal opinions she had held from her youth, and to which she was ever constant, all her sympathies were with the Italian cause, and she rejoiced at every step which tended to unite all Italy in one kingdom. She lived to see this great revolution accomplished by the entry of Victor Emmanuel into Rome as King of Italy; a consummation believed by most politicians to be a wild dream of poets and hot-headed patriots, but now realised and accepted as a matter of course. My mother had always firm faith in this result, and it was with inexpressible pleasure she watched its completion. Our intimacy with the leading politicians both in Tuscany and Piedmont naturally added to our interest. Ricasoli, Menabrea, Peruzzi, Minghetti, &c., we knew intimately, as well as Camillo Cavour, the greatest statesman Italy ever produced. No one who did not witness it can imagine the grief and consternation his death occasioned, and of which my mother writes in a letter dated June 19th, 1861.

FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE TO W. GREIG, ESQ.

Florence, May 5th, 1859.
My dearest W.,

Your letter of the 28th would have made me laugh heartily were we not annoyed that you should have suffered such uneasiness on our account; the panic in England is ridiculous and most unfounded. The whole affair has been conducted with perfect unanimity and tranquillity, so that there has been no one to fight with. The Austrians are concentrated in Lombardy, and not in Tuscany, nor is there any one thing to disturb the perfect peace and quietness which prevail over the whole country; not a soul thinks of leaving Florence. You do the greatest injustice to the Tuscans. From first to last not a person has been insulted, not a cry raised against anyone; even the obnoxious ministers were allowed to go to their country houses without a word of insult, and troops were sent with the Grand Duke to escort him and his family to the frontier. Martha and Mary went all through the town the morning of the revolution, which was exactly like a common festa, and we found the tranquillity as great when we drove through the streets in the afternoon. The same quiet still prevails, the people are at their usual employments, the theatres and private receptions go on as usual, and the provisional government is excellent. Everyone knew of the revolution long before it took place and the quietness with which it was to be conducted. I am grieved at the tone of English politics; and trust, for the honour of the country and humanity, that we do not intend to make war upon France and Sardinia. It would be a disgrace and everlasting stigma to make a crusade against the oppressed, being ourselves free. The people here have behaved splendidly, and we rejoice that we have been here to witness such noble conduct. No nation ever made such progress as the Tuscans have done since the year '48. Not a word of republicanism, it has never been named. All they want is a constitutional government, and this they are quietly settling....