312 Mary Somerville. 



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 con- 

 tain orders for the bombardment of the town. This 

 the officers refused to do, after which the troops 

 j oined 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 im- 

 mediate 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 Diplo- 

 matique, drove round the walls from Palazzo Pitti to 

 Porta San Gallo unmolested amid a silent crowd, and 



