The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-03 00:00:00

THE CONSPIRACY AT GENOA.

The indictment or statement of facts alleged
against the persons accused of participation in the
conspiracy and attack upon the Diamante fort at
Genoa on the night of the 29th of June has just
been published, and their trial will commence im-
mediately. The Chamber of Accusations in .the
Genoa Court of Appeal having examined the evi-
dence tendered by Signor Galiani, the Deputy-
Advocate Fiscal, in support of the prosecution, has
found true bills, under article 185 of the Penal Code,
against 40 persons in custody, including Francesco
Savi, the editor of the Italia del Popolo ; Giovanni
Prina, Agostino Marchese, Francesco or Bartolomeo
Dernartini, Ferdinand° Deoberti, and others, as well
as against 21 persons termed "contumacious" because
they have not surrendered, amongst whom are
Giuseppe or Giacomo Mazzini, Antonio Mosti,
Luigo Stallo, Francesco Daneri, Angelo Mangini,
Giambattista Armellino, Luigi Roggero, Lastrico,
Pittaluga, Tassaro, Cisareto, and others. They are
charged with " having, by their direction and insti-
gati_in, as well as by overt acts, taken part in the
conspiracy which was attempted to be carried into
effect on the night of the 29th of June last in this
city, and having with that object held secret con-
sultations and meetings, prepared arms and muni-
tions of war, and formed bands of armed men, some
of whom invaded the Diamante fort, barbarously
slaying the sergeant in charge of that post, the aim
of which attempt was to alter and destroy the legiti-
mate government of the stets, and to constitute
another government in its stead."
The narrative comprised in the atto cl'accusa is of
great length, and details very minutely the events
which were made sufficiently notorious at the time.
The indictment begins by observing that the "re-
volutionary party, which has since 1848 made such
obstinate and deplorable efforts to overturn all
existing thrones and to disturb all social institutions
and authorities, still persist in its designs, does not
believe in the constitutions granted by kings, and
declares that monarchy is impotent, and that the
republic is necessary to realise Italian independence,
treecloin, and unity. By the influence of these
principles, which have for some time been set
forth in almost every sheet of the journal Italia del
Popolo, and repeatedly asserted in the meetings
of the national rifle clubs, and the working men's
associations, the conspiracy was got up, which by
the vigilance of the authorities, was repressed
in its very first outbreak, on toe night of
the 29th June." Some unusual movements had
been noticed during that day. In the evening
people collected together in the quarter of Pie, in
the passage leading to the Treasury, and in the
street of Vallechiara. t half-past ten o'clock the
electric telegraph wire between Genoa and Turin
was cut asunder. Several persons of suspicious
appearance, armed with daggers and cartridges,
were arrested in the night. Towards two in the
morning, arms and munitions of war were dis-
covered, stored in three magazines, in the street of

Vallechiara' and traces of a meeting having re-
cently been held there were observed at these places.
The same night an attempt was made to invade the
Sperone fort ; the Diamante fort was invaded, and
the sergeant in command there was killed. On the
following days other seizures of arms and warlike
stores were made at different spots in Genoa and
the neighbourhood. Some houses were searched,
and various persons apprehended who had been
pointed out as participating in this design.
" Giuseppe Mazzini, whose name figures in every
conspiracy in Italy for some years past, is indicated
as the chief of the insurrectionary party, the prin-
cipel seat of which is in London, and the affiliated
members of which are distinguished by the name of
Mazzinians. That he excited and directed the con-
spiracy, or rather the attempt in question," says
the indictment, " results from various letters of his,
and from the articles published by him in the
Italia del Popolo, in July, Angust, and Septtna-
her, 1857, entitled, The Situation.' It is clear,
moreover, that he was at Genoa six months
previous to the events above narrated, and again on
the very day they occurred, and also at other
periods in June and July last." He, was at
Genoa, it appears, as late as the 28th of July,
and it was he who really conducted the
Da/in del Popolo, the editor, Savi, being merely his
agent. The indictment further alleges that, on the
26th of April, Savi and Mato attended a meeting
of the National Rifle Club at Serravalle, where
acclamations were bestowed on "Mazzini and the
European Republic," and it was urged that " the
hour of conflict was approaching, and that they
should not des pis 3 the use of the dagger, since ever y
means was lawful for the liberation of the country."
Speeches were delivered at similar meetings in the
Teatro Diurno at Genoa, and at Chiavari, of the
same purport. The working men's associations as
well as the rifle clubs were used to gain proselytes
for the insurrectionary party ; and at tho meetings
of these associations, especially those held in the
Strada della Maddalena, the necessity of setting up
the republic was openly spoken of. " Preceded, '
says the indictment, " by the prodigal encomiums
of the Italia del Popolo, a young Englishwoman
bad arrived at Genoa from London. She st tted
nerself to have come to Italy for literary studies,
and she surrounded herself, meantime, with work-
men and the leading members of this association,
while she lodged in the house of the hattf-r, Luigi
Roggero, who was one of them. She was intt o-
duced at the banquet held by the workmen at the
villa Montebruno, in Marassi ; she repeatedly went
to the above-mentioned place of meeting in the
Strada della Maddalena, and there spoke expressly
of a republic." A letter written by Mangini to
Miss Jessie Meriton White, which was found in
the house of Car'o Pisacane, is relied upon as evi-
dence that even after the unsuccessful attempt of the
29th of June, " the party" did not forego their de-
signs ; but the contents of this letters do not appear.
It is stated th tt Mies White received money on ac-
count of the subscription opened by Savi t purchase
10,000 muskets to be supplied to the first Italian
State which should rise in insurrection ; and on the
9th June the accused Luigi Stallo paid her 1,000
lire on this account. It is alleged that this fund,
together with the monthly subscriptions paid by
the initiated, was really employed in providing
arms and warlike stores ; that an apartment was
hired at Albaro, near the city, where bullets were
cast secretly ; that Luigi Stallo was employed in
purchasing muskets, and that the other prisoners
on several occasions in April, May, and J une, as-
sisted to convey them by sea and land them at cer-
tain points along the coast. A minute account is
given of the stores discovered in a coach-home oc-
cupied by Luigi Stallo, and at several other places
in the city, and in a cave on Monte Portofino.
There were a great number of muskets and rifles,
pistols, bayonets, daggers, and cartridges; quanti-
ties of gunpowder, shot and shell ; pickaxes, barn-
leers, and other tools. Together with these, in a
house in the suburb of Pre, was found the paper on
which was written the following :—" Courage
The first houses and families which you are to plan
der in the street of Pre will be those of the Peragallo
family, being the richest proprietors, spies and
cruel enemies of liberty. Sack and fire ! Courage I"
One of the places where these things were found
was a house hired by Demartini, on behalf of Man-
gini, adjoining the prison of St. Andra, to which,
it is alleged, the conspirators might easily
have gained access by means of the mattocks and
other instruments found there. Powder was found
in sufficient quantities to blow open the gates
of the public buildings or even to blow them up.
The indictment then specifies several places in the
city where the conspirators on. the evening of the
29th June, met and were mustered by their leaders.
At one place in Santa Brigida there were more than
200 persons assembled at 10 o'clock ; the door was
kept by an armed man, who would not lot any one
go out : and they were told that they were to at-
tack the artillery quarters at the Spirito Santo.
Marchese and Capurro invited some other men into'
a beershop in the Piazza dell'Acquaverde, where
they were treated with liquor and promised they
should be taken to a house of entertainment. The
men, however, discovering that they were not al-
lowed to go away, complained to Marchese, who
the told them that they were wanted to fight, and
that daggers should be given them. About 100
persons met in the wireroorn adjoining the shop
of Luigi .Roggero, the hatter, (in whose house
Miss White lodged). There were some chests or
boxes containing arms there. They had food and
wine given them ; a man with a poniard watched at
the door, and they were told that the insurrection
was imminent, and that the signal would bot given
by the explosion of a mine. About malnig
bthey
were taken to Castelletto, whore the
distribution
of arms commenced ; but this w"interrupted
na house
sud-
denly by an order for their dispersion. I
at tan Pantaleo, just outside the city walls, to-
wards the Sperone fort, about forty men assembled/
who issued forth, having piecee of cloth tied about
their feet, armed with g
uns, sabres, and daggers,
and carrying ladders
(e
avl rope-ladders, with which
r
the walls of the fort, but
upon being hatleue
they cam© clesdtui
y a sentinel instantly took flight.
Some pieces of wood, forming ladders suitable for
climbing the walls of' the fort, were next day found I
under a quantityo
f hay in the house of San Pan-
taleo just alluded to, which had been hired by the
prisoner Tassato, a saddler. Papers were found,
showing him to have been in conference with Maz-
zini, in London, as early as Sept., 1855, and he is
said to have been one of the most intimate associates
of the English lady. Armellino is alleged to have
made the ladders intended for this assault on the
Sperone fort. The attempt to surprise Diamante
fort was otherwise contrived. The two brothers
Pittaluga, Casareto, and Lastrico, had struck up
an acquaintance, some time before, with the keeper
of the guardhouse at that fortress, and were fre- ,
quettly in the habit- of chatting with him and the

soldiers on guard. On this night Casareto, Las-
trico, Deoberti, and another named Sanguineti,
went up to the Diamante fort. The others were
told by Casareto that Mazzini at length, after 18
months' delay, had given orders for action. These
men being joined by Ignazio Pittaluga and one
Noli, began to eat and drink with the soldiers.
Casareto went out and returned with a bottle of
wine, which is supposed to have been " craftily
qualified," and of which all the soldiers drank.
Meanwhile, Pittaluga amused the sentinel, whilst
Lastrico, from the walls of the fort, signalled to an
armed band who were lurking outside, and called
on them to enter the fort, saying that all the sol-
diers were intoxicated. They came in and began to
cry, "Evviva la Repubblica, "Evviva la Savoie,"
" Evviva l'ltalia." The keeper of the guardhouse
was desired by Pittaluga to surrender, saying that
he (Pittaluga) was now in command, and that a
provisional goverement was established at Genea.
The sergeant alone offered any resistance, and
was killed by a musket shot in the face. The sol-
diers were then locked up in one room, and the
guardroom keeper in another; the cannon was made
ready for battl-, and a note was written and sent to
the city, announcing the result, and declaring that
the Sperone fort, must by that time be likewise in
the hands of the insurgents. However, at break of
day, since their messengers did not return from the
city, and the red flag was not seen hoisted on the
Sperone forte, they evacuated the Diarnante fort,
leaving behind them their own flea, with muskets
and daggers. During the same night sever al other
persons were stopped in the streets, in small parties
of two or three together, some of whom carried
daggers and other weapons, whilst some had papers,
printed in London, of " Instructions for the forma-
tion of the Party of Action," with engravings re-
presenting the Neapolitan " Cuffs di Silenzio. ' A
variety of other circumstances are specified in the
indictment, showing the frequent intercourse and
concert of the prisoners with each other, and their
constant attendance, for some time previoua to the
29th Juno, at the meetings, held under different
pretext., at whicli inflammatory discourse was
heard. It appears that Pittaluga and Lastrico, who
used to practise in the shooting galleries of the So-
cieta del Trio Nazionale, were accustomed to say
that by the skill so acquired they hoped one day to
win for the people their liberties, to get rid of the
police, the taxes, and the greedy drones of the com-
munity ; and to effect a revolution better organised
than that of 1811 had been. Most of the prisoners
seem to have been artisans, or men of the working
class.