INSURRECTION OF GENOA xli 



first La Marmora and Garibaldi, he had varying degrees of 

 sympathy and praise : perhaps highest for the King, whose good 

 sense and temper filled him with respect perhaps least for 

 Garibaldi, whom he loved but yet mistrusted. 



But this is to look forward : these were the days not of Victor 

 Emanuel but of Charles Albert ; and it was on Charles Albert 

 that mother and son had now fixed their eyes as on the sword- 

 bearer of Italy. On Fleeming's sixteenth birthday, they were, 

 the mother writes, ' in great anxiety for news from the army. 

 You can have no idea what it is to live in a country where such 

 a struggle is going on. The interest is one that absorbs all 

 others. We eat, drink, and sleep to the noise of drums and 

 musketry. You would enjoy and almost admire Fleeming's 

 enthusiasm and earnestness and courage, I may say for we 

 are among the small minority of English who side with the 

 Italians. The other day, at dinner at the Consul's, boy as he is, 

 and in spite of my admonitions, Fleeming defended the Italian 

 cause, and so well that he " tripped up the heels of his adversary " 

 simply from being well-informed on the subject and honest. 

 He is as true as steel, and for no one will he bend right or 

 left. ... Do not fancy him a Bobadil,' she adds, * he is only 

 a very true, candid boy. I am so glad he remains in all respects 

 but information a great child.' 



If this letter is correctly dated, the cause was already lost Thelnsur- 

 and the King had already abdicated when these lines were written. Genoa. 

 No sooner did the news reach Genoa, than there began ' tumul- 

 tuous movements ; ' and the Jenkins received hints it would be 

 wise to leave the city. But they had friends and interests ; 

 even the captain had English officers to keep him company, for 

 Lord Hardwicke's ship, the Vengeance, lay in port ; and suppos- 

 ing the danger to be real, I cannot but suspect the whole 

 family of a divided purpose, prudence being possibly weaker 

 than curiosity. Stay, at least, they did, and thus rounded 

 their experience of the revolutionary year. On Sunday, April 1, 

 Fleeming and the captain went for a ramble beyond the walls, 

 leaving Aunt Anna and Mrs. Jenkin to walk on the bastions 

 with some friends. On the way back, this party turned 



