The Express.
London, England, 1859-05-05 00:00:00

TO 7111 =ROA OP TXI 11P11111.

Sllk—Perhaps the following extract from a pri-
vate letter just received from an English lady resi-
dent in Florence may be interesting to your readers.
It acoorda entirely with your own atwounts.—
I am, &c., P. F. B.

"FLORENCX, Aran, 28.
" I fear newspaper accounts may arrive and
make you unnecessarily anxious about ma, bat
there is no ground for fear. On the contrary, the
movement of yesterday is one of which Italy may
be proud; a movement of force, not of violence,
of earnestnees, not of fury. The Grand
Duke, being an Austrian by family and in sympathy,
would consent only to a neutrality of the troops here
in the cause of Piedmont. These troope—teu thou-
sand men—being Tuscans and Italians, fraternised
and agreed with the people that this neutral submis-
sion to Austrian foreign power could not and should
not be. The result was a demonstration, magnificent
in its unity, in which, with one voice, on one day,
the people and the troops asserted their freedom.
The Grand Duke was forced either to consent to
oppose Austria, or to abdicate. He preferred the
latter, and yesterday escaped with all his family,
ministers, and generals.
" This is a movement that has been organised
quietly for a long time, and by the best men of Italy.
It has broken oat, not only in Florence, but, as I dare
say you by this time know, in Rome, Bologna, the
small towns of Tuscany, &c. It wu a grand day,
which I think it a privilege to have seen! The Hake,
in endeavouring to reduce to discipline the troops,
had, it is said, declared that the first soldier that
made a declaration of revolt should be shot. Bat
the united hearts of men are not to be
silenced by one foreigner. The troops and
the people, sure of one another, met at
the great fortress yesterday morning, and hoisted
the tricolour. Imagine the sun shining, the bands
playing, soldiers and people replying to one another
from the heights of the fortress with patriotism,
courage, and cheers, yet no violence, not a drop of blood
shed, not a shot fired, not an insolent word through-
, out the whole of Florence—imagine organised bands
of thirty or fifty men coming marching in from
all parts of the country with the tricolour banner;
almost every man, woman, and child with the colour
on their shoulders; from the houses streamers of
silk proclaiming the same story; there was not a
voice against ! Poor sick soldiers in the hospitals
were carried to the open window, with bright eyes
lighting up their pallid faces, and with feeble cheers
and gestures making one with the rest. All yester-
day was passed in the assertion of this principle.
Placards were posted at all hours of the day in the
streets, enabling all to comprehend the movement.
The Podesta takes the government for the moment
with three other gentlemen. Order was begged for,
and earnestly granted by every person in Florence;
and today all are at their usual occupations. The
Austrian general is gone, but the appel was *panda
for the soldiers last nigh., and every man answered
with the same regularity as when obedience was
servitude. Last night the streets were thronged,
for who would remain indifferently in the house at
such a time? but no quarrels. The thing is too
true, universal and profound for petty riots.