VIII. 1547. BOOK against the vengeance which they deserve. They will now feel the blow before they suspect any hostile hand to be nigh. Let us then sally forth, that we may deliver our country by one generous effort, almost unaccompanied with danger, and certain of success. These words, uttered with that irresistible fervour which animates the mind when roused by great objects, made the desired impression on the audience. Fie:co's vassals, ready to execute whatever their master should command, received his discourse with a murmur of applause. To many, whose fortunes were desperate, the licence and confusion of an insurrection afforded an agreeable prospect. Those of higher rank, and more virtuous sentiments, durst not discover the surprise or horror with which they were struck at the proposal of an enterprise no less unexpected than atrocious; as each of them imagined the other to be in the secret of the conspiracy, and saw himself sur、 rounded by persons who waited only a signal from their leader to perpetrate the greatest crime. With one voice then all applauded, or feigned to applaud, the undertaking. His inter Fiesco having thus fixed and encouraged his associates, view with before he gave them his last order, he hastened for a monient to the apartment of his wife, a lady of the noble house of Cibo, whom he loved with tender affection, and whose beauty and virtue rendered her worthy of his love. The noise of the armed men who crowded the court and pace, having long before this reached her ears, she concluded some hazardous enterprise to be in hand, and she trembled for her husband. He found her in all the anguish of uncertainty and fear; and, as it was now impossible to keep his design concealed, he informed her of what he had undertaken. The prospect of a scene so fun of horror as well as danger completed her agony ; and, foreboding immediately in her mind the fatal issue of it, she endeavoured, by her tears, her entreaties, and her despair, to divert him from his purpose. Fiesco, after trying in vain to sooth and to inspire her with hope, broke from a situation into which an excess of tenderness had unwarily seduced him, though it could not shake his resolution. Farewell,' he cried, as he quitted the apartment, you shall either never see me more, or you shall behold to-morrow every thing in Genoa subject to your power.' BOOK VIII. As soon as he rejoined his companions, he allotted each They at his proper station; some were appointed to assault and city. seize the different gates of the city; some to make themselves masters of the principal streets or places of strength. Fiesco reserved for himself the attack of the harbour, where Doria's galleys were laid up, as the post of chief importance, and of greatest danger. It was now midnight, and the citizens slept in the security of peace, when this band of conspirators, numerous, desperate, and well armed, rushed out to execute their plan. They surprised some of the gates without meeting with any resistance; they got possession of others, after a sharp conflict with the soldiers on guard. Verrina, with the galley which had been fitted out against the Turks, blocked up the mouth of the Darsena, or little harbour where Doria's fleet lay. All possibility of escape being cut off by this precaution, when Fiesco attempted to enter the galleys from the shore, to which they were made fast, they were. in no condition to make resistance, as they were not only unrigged and disarmed, but had no crew on board, except the slaves chained to the oar. Every quarter of the city was now filled with noise and tumult, all the streets resounding with the cry of Fiesco and liberty. At that name, so popular and beloved, many of the lower rank took arms and joined the conspirators. The nobles and partisans of the aristocracy, astonished or affrighted, shut the gates of their houses, and thought of nothing but of securing them from pillage. At last the noise excited by this scene of violence and confusion reached the palace of Doria: Giannetino started immediately from his bed, and imagining that it was occasioned by some mutiny among the sailors, rushed out with a few attendants, and VIII. 1547. BOOK hurried towards the harbour. The gate of St Thomas, through which he had to pass was already in possession of the conspirators, who, the moment he appeared, fell upon him with the utmost fury, and murdered him on the spot. The same must have been the fate of the elder Doria, if Jerome de Fiesco had executed his brother's plan, and had proceeded immediately to attack him in his palace; but he, from the sordid consideration of preventing its being plundered amidst the confusion, having forbid his followers to advance, Andrew got intelligence of his nephew's death, as well as of his own danger, and, mounting on horseback, saved himself by flight. Amidst this general consternation, a few senators had the courage to assemble in the palace of the republic". At first, some of the most daring among them attempted to rally the scattered soldiers, and to attack a body of the conspirators; but, being repulsed with loss, all agreed that nothing now remained but to treat with the party which seemed to be irresistible. Deputies were accordingly sent to learn of Fiesco what were the concessions with which he would be satisfied, or rather, to submit to whatever terms he should please to prescribe. Cause of carriage. But by this time Fiesco, with whom they were emtheir mis powered to negociate, was no more. Just as he was about to leave the harbour, where every thing had succeeded to his wish, that he might join his victorious companions, he heard some extraordinary uproar on board the admiral galley. Alarmed at the noise, and fearing that the slaves might break their chains, and overpower his associates, he ran thither; but, the plank which reached from the shore to the vessel happening to overturn, he fell into the sea, whilst he hurried forward too precipitately; being loaded with heavy armour, he sunk to the bottom, and perished in the very moment when he must have taken full possession of every thing that his ambitious heart could desire. Verrina was the first who discovered this fatal accident, and, foreseeing at once all its consequences, a Il palazza della Signoria. concealed it, with the utmost industry, from every one but a few leaders of the conspiracy; nor was it difficult, amidst the darkness and confusion of the night, to have kept it secret, until a treaty with the senators should have put the city in the power of the conspirators. All their hopes of this were disconcerted by the imprudence of Jerome Fiesco; who, when the deputies of the senate inquired for his brother, the count of Lavagna, that they might make their proposal to him, replied, with a childish vanity, I am now the only person to whom that title belongs, and with me you must treat.' These words discovered, as well to his friends as to his enemies, what had happened, and made the impression which might have been expected upon both. The deputies, encouraged by this event, the only one which could occasion such a sudden revolution as might turn to their advantage, assumed instantly, with admirable presence of mind, a new tone suitable to the change in their circumstances, and made high demands. While they endeavoured to gain time by protracting the negociation, the rest of the senators were busy in assembling their partizans, and in forming a body capable of defending the palace of the republic. On the other hand, the conspirators, astonished at the death of a man whom they adored and trusted, and placing no confidence in Jerome, a giddy youth, felt their courage die away and their arms fall from their hands. That profound and amazing secrecy with which the conspiracy had been concerted, and which had contributed hitherto so much to its success, proved now the chief cause of its miscarriage. The leader was gone; the greater part of those who acted under him knew not his confidants, and were strangers to the object at which he aimed. There was no person among them whose authority or abilities entitled him to assume Fiesco's place, or to finish his plan; after having lost the spirit which animated it, life and activity deserted the whole body. Many of the conspirators withdrew to their houses, hoping that, amidst the darkness of the night, they had passed BOOK VII. 1547 VIII. BOOK unobserved, and might remain unknown; others sought for safety by a timely retreat; and, before break of day, most of them fled with precipitation from a city, which, but a few hours before, was ready to acknowledge them 1547 lity re as masters. Tranquil Next morning every thing was quiet in Genoa; not an established enemy was to be seen; few marks of the violence of the in Genoa. former night appeared, the conspirators having conducted their enterprise with more noise than bloodshed, and gained all their advantages by surprise, rather than by force of arms. Towards evening, Andrew Doria returned to the city, being met by all the inhabitants, who received him with acclamations of joy. Though the disgrace as well as danger of the preceding night were fresh in his mind, and the mangled body of his kinsman still before his eyes, such was his moderation as well as magnanimity, that the decree issued by the senate against the conspirators did not exceed that just measure of severity which was requisite for the support of government, and was dictated neither by the violence of resentment nor the rancour of revenge *. The empe ed at this b After taking the necessary precautions for preventing rer alarm the flame, which was now so happily extinguished, from conspiracy, breaking out anew, the first care of the senate was to send an ambassador to the emperor, to give him a particular detail of what had happened, and to beg his assistance towards the reduction of Montobbio, a strong fort on the hereditary estate of the Fiesci, in which Jerome had shut himself up. Charles was no less alarmed than astonished at an event so strange and unexpected. He could not b Thuan. 93. Sigonii Vita Andrea Doriæ, 1196. La Conjuration du Compte de Fiesque, par Cardin. de Retz. Adriani Istoria, lib. vi, 369. 883. Folietæ Conjuratio Jo. Lud. Fiesci, ap. Græv. Thes. Ital. i, It is remarkable, that Cardinal de Retz, at the age of eighteen, composed a history of this conspiracy, containing such a discovery of his admiration of Fiesco and his enterprise, as render it not surprising that a minister, so jealous and discerning as Richelieu, should be led, by the perusal of it, to predict the turbulent and dangerous spirit of that young ecclesiastic. Mem. de Retz, tom. i, p. 13. |