SSG GEN 
demanding that the GenoeTe fhonid deliver np the mar- 
quifate, they entered into a defenfive alliance witli 
France, Spain, and Naples; and, in 1745, declared war 
againft: tlie king of Sardinia. The king of Sardinia made 
himtelt mafter of great part of the (late ; feveral Genoefe 
ports were bcmibarded by an Englidi fleet ; and, by 
their afliilance, the imperialifts became mailers of Ge¬ 
noa.—Atter the city luid been thus conquered by tlie 
Andrians, Botta, the general of the emprefs queen’s 
forces, had, by his infblent menaces, Co terrified the 
fenate and nobles, that thefe d.idardly grandees re- 
folved to refign the whole republic into his hands, and 
to throw themfelves on his mercy. Adorno alone, wlio 
commanded the Genoefe troops in Savona, behaved 
with becoming fpirit; he declared that lie was deter¬ 
mined CO defend tlie place to the lad extremity ; and 
that he had made a will, by which he had dedined 
all his fortune to the relief of the widows and children 
ot thofe ot his countrymen v/ho might be (lain during 
the fiege. To the meirengers fent by the ad'righted 
lenate to command him to refign the town'to the Aus¬ 
trians, he anfiVered, “ that he had been entrnded with 
the defence ot it by a free republic, and would not obey 
the orders of an enjlaved republic to refign it.” Accord¬ 
ingly he fudained a fiege and blockade of three months. 
The rapacity of the Andrians in the mean time was in- 
fatiable, and they added the mod intolerable cruelty to 
their exceflive extortions. There were, however, in 
Genoa forty thouland men, who were neither nobles nor 
fenators : but whofe condudl deferved a more honour¬ 
able title than any which kings and fenates can exclu- 
fively bedow. 'I'he Andrians were about to carry oft' 
the cannon, in order to employ them againd the allies 
of the republic ; which excited the iitmod indignation : 
■—during tliis operation, an officer happened to drike a 
Genoefe, who did not obey bis orders with fufficient 
alacrity ; the Genoefe indantly dabbed him to the heart: 
this was the fignal for a general onfet; the people at¬ 
tacked the Andrians with dones, which were the only 
weapons they then had : but they foon procured other 
arms, notwithdanding theattempt of the doge .and fenate 
to prevent them. Botta, the imperial general, was mad 
with rage : “ Shall the Andrians, (he cried,) who drove 
the F rench out off taly, tremble before a Genoefe mob? ” 
Yet this Genoefe mob in 1747, defeated tltem repeatedly, 
dew feveral thoufands of them, made four thoufand 
prifoners, and at length drove them entirely out of the 
city. Its tranquillity, after this warfare, was perma¬ 
nently reftored by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 
1748. 
T. he ancient nobility confided of twenty-eight families, 
and were tfiofe whom Andrew Doria, in 1528, feparated 
from all the red,, and declared only capable of holding 
the chief offices and dignity of doge or duke ; all the 
t)tlier inhabitants of Genoa being reduced by him to the 
dais ot commoners. After that time it was found ne- 
celfary to create other nobility. The nobility of Genoa 
as a commercial republic, were always allowed to keep 
inanufaftures of velvet, filk, and cloth; to farm the 
duties, and to have diares in merchant velTels; but all 
ether bufinefs and handy.crafts were forbidden. The 
form of government in this republic has always been 
arilfocratic. The chief was called doge, or duke, to 
which dignity no perfon was promoted till he was fifty 
years of age, and had for fifteen years left off all trade or 
occupation not confident with nobility. Every two years 
a new doge was chofen ; and the former incapacitated 
during five years to hold again the fame pod. However, 
he had a procurator’s office affigned him, and a penfion 
of five hundred feudi for life. The fleet of this repub¬ 
lic, anciently fo celebrated for its victories over the 
Saracens, Pifanefe, Venetians, Spaniards, and Turks, 
and for continuing a confiderable time maders of Sar¬ 
dinia, Malta, Majorca, Minorca, Candia, Cyprus, and 
jHany other places in and near the Mediterranean and 
3 
O A. 
Archipelago, and even of the Black fea, tlie Crimea, 
and other parts, has fora number of years pad been re¬ 
duced to only (ix gallies. 
In the fubfequent hidory of this rejiublic, nothing 
particular occurs till the commencement of the French 
revolution, and the invafion of Italy by the armies of 
that republic. Upon this occalion, the French made 
the drieded promifes to obfei ve the refpect due to the 
(overeignty of Genoa, on its own territory ; and they 
were kept, accordingly, on this occafion, to the parti¬ 
cular fatisfatlion of the Genoefe, who were exceedingly 
foiicitous to preferve tlieir neutrality in the midd of 
h'odiiities whicli it was not in their power to remove 
from their neighbourhood. The mafs of the inhabi- 
bitants of Genoa, however, vva?, in 1794, inclined to tlie 
French fydem, but the nobles contintied inveterate to 
democratical principles. In the didricts fituated along 
the mountainous country, bordering upon the territo¬ 
ries of Genoa, numbers of banditti infeded the roads ; 
and W'ere privately encouraged by the Audrian cmilTa- 
ries at Genoa, whofe refidence in that city was drongly 
fufpedted to be connived at by fome leading men in the 
Genoefe government. Thefe fufpicions, and the re¬ 
pugnance of the nobles to favour popular notions, pre¬ 
vented a cordial corrcfpondence from fubllfting between 
this date and the French republic. 
As the nobility of Genoa exercifed the fiipreme fway, 
they were judly apprehenlive that the French, if fuc- 
cefsful, W'ould dedroy the aridocracy, and erect a go¬ 
vernment entirely democratical. From that motive, 
they oppofed the projects of the French, by every im¬ 
pediment they could polfibly throw in their way ; but 
the torrent of that irrefillible fortune, which attended 
the triumphant arms of France, overwhelmed Genoa in 
common with the reft of Italy. The majoiity of the 
people w'ere defirous of a popular government. Feuds 
had, of courfe, arifen amongd them and the depend¬ 
ents of the nobility. A defperate fray took place be¬ 
twixt both parties, (hortly after the ligning of the pre¬ 
liminaries of peace between theemperor and the French. 
Elated by that event, the republican party raifed a vio¬ 
lent commotion in the city, and proceeded to open force, 
in fupport of their pretenfions : but many of them were 
killed, and the infurredtion was fuppreffed. As their 
principal leaders had fallen, their projedls were confi- 
dered as at an end, and they were treated with exceflive 
feverity. Determined, however, not to yield, they ap¬ 
plied to Bonaparte for proteftion. This was readily 
granted, and the French having taken poflTeflion of the 
city, the enemies to the ariftocracy could no longer, 
W'ith fafety, be oppofed. Their opponents yielded, and, 
in 1797, agreed to the eftablilhment of a commonwealth, 
under the name of the Ligurian republic, on the principle 
of a perfedt equality of rank and privileges among all 
the claflTes of fociety. The French lyftem of legifiatiop 
took place in every refpedt; and the territory of Genoa 
was divided into communes and municipalities, in imi¬ 
tation of France. 
Owing to the fuccefifes of the Auftro-Ruflians, Ge¬ 
noa and its fmall territory were the only pofleflions re¬ 
maining to France, in Italy, at the clofe of the year 1799. 
In the following year, Genoa was the head quarters of 
the French, commanded by Malfena, who, on the 5th 
of April, was fuddenly furprifed by the appearance of 
an Englilli fleet, under lord Keith, in the gulf, oft' the 
city, which was foon blockaded in form ; while, on the 
other hand, the army of the imperial general Melas, 
approached clofely to it by land. The Auftrians im¬ 
mediately made a general attack on the French army. 
The French were driven as far back as Ruha, which 
they entered in the evening. 
Though forced to retire, the French, with much bra¬ 
very ,^ defended the city till the 15th of May, when the 
Englifli fleet began to bombard Genoa every night. 
The populace, particularly the women, ran about the 
ftreets, 
