ROME SUEZ PANAMA. 1 3 7 



indubitably be carried out. However, as all had been 

 settled for my going, I asked at head-quarters for an 

 officer to accompany me, and Commandant Espivent, 

 who has recently been general in command at Marseilles, 

 came with me in an open carriage. I proposed that 

 we should each take two pistols, and that my servant, 

 who rode in the rumble, should also carry two pistols 

 to keep off those who might try to get up behind, as 

 the men who use daggers are very afraid of firearms. 

 I was therefore pretty sure that by acting boldly we 

 should get through the crowd without any mishap. 

 When we reached the Piazza di Spagna the horse of 

 the gendarme who was riding in front of us stumbled, 

 but fortunately did not fall. A petition had been 

 presented to him calling upon the army to rise in 

 rebellion, and he was imprudent enough to tear it up 

 and throw it in the face of the public. The crowd 

 then surged up to the carriage, but when they caught 

 sight of my pistols they drew back. In this way our 

 carriage reached the Hotel d'Allemagne, and we all 

 three walked backwards into the hotel so as to keep 

 our faces to the crowd. 



I resumed my negotiations with Mazzini, who seemed 

 disposed to carry them out loyally ; but I afterwards 

 learnt that a Frenchman, who had accompanied Louis 

 Napoleon in the Boulogne and Strasburg expeditions, 

 was exciting him against the French army, and had 

 advised him, in response to the present of an ambu- 

 lance which we had made, to send our soldiers a number 



