THE MISSION TO ROME. 107 



As I stated to the Council, the Government was so 

 far from intending to attack Rome with our troops, 

 and was so anxious to follow a conciliatory course, 

 that M. Drouyn de Lhuys himself introduced me in 

 his own drawing-room to the envoy of the Roman 

 Republic, Signor Accursi, a member of the Con- 

 stituent Assembly, who had recently been Minister 

 of the Interior under the Triumvirate. He proposed 

 that we should travel together to Toulon, a sugges- 

 tion which I deemed it inadvisable to accept. It was 

 then agreed that he should go to Toulon alone and 

 embark upon the first vessel sailing for Civita Yecchia. 

 Finally, during the last few days of my stay in 

 Rome, I received a visit from an Italian who brought 

 me a note in M. Drouyn de Lhuys's own handwriting, 

 because, the note said, he was a friend of Mazzini and 

 might help to effect a settlement. In order to let the 

 Council of State know what impressions I had derived 

 during the early part of my sojourn at Rome, and of 

 the view, fully justified by events, which I took of the 

 situation, I read to them extracts from my journal 

 kept from day to day. One of these extracts, dated 

 May 15 19, contained the following passage : 



"The city is in arms, barricades and defensive 

 works are being erected in all directions. The re- 

 sistance will be a very general one. The English 

 Consul, who has resided in Rome for thirty years, has 

 shown me his despatches to Loid Palmerston. He is 

 of the same opinion as myself. 



