tened to
join as volunteers. The most sanguine long hoped that the Grand Duke
might remember that he was an Italian prince rather than an Austrian
archduke, and would send his troops to join the Italian cause; but his
dynasty was doomed, and he blindly chose the losing side. At last the
Austrians crossed the Mincio, and the war fairly broke out, France
coming to the assistance of Piedmont. The enthusiasm of the Tuscans
could then no longer be restrained, and on the 27th April 1859, crowds
of people assembled on the Piazza dell' Indipendenza, and raised the
tri-coloured flag. The government, who, the day before, had warning of
what was impending, had sent sealed orders to the forts of Belvedere and
del Basso, which, when opened on the eventful morning, were found to
contain orders for the bombardment of the town. This the officers
refused to do, after which the troops joined the popular cause. When
this order became generally known, as it soon did, it proved the last
blow to the dynasty, although the most eminent and respected Liberals
used their best efforts during the whole of the 27th to restore harmony
between the Grand Duke and the people. They advised his immediate
abdication in favour of his son, the Archduke Ferdinand, the
proclamation of the Constitution, and of course insisted on the
immediate alliance with Piedmont as their principal condition. It was
already too late! All was of no avail, and in the evening, whilst we
were as usual at the Cascine, the whole Imperial family, accompanied by
the Austrian minister, and escorted by several of the Corps
Diplomatique, drove round the walls from Palazzo Pitti to Porta San
Gallo unmolested amid a silent crowd, and crossing the frontier on the
Bologna road, bade farewell for ever to Tuscany. The obnoxious ministers
were also permitted to retire unnoticed to their country houses.

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 ou