'It was admirably done, an excellent dinner very well served indeed. The room was decorated with the Queen's arms and naval trophies, together with two Bands of music. When the Queen's health was drunk at 9 o'clock, the ship was brilliantly illuminated, the yards manned and she fired a royal salute. The whole gave great satisfaction here, the heads of the revolt, the Conqueror and Mediator dined together, and La Marmora gave as his toast, "Success to the City of Genoa."' So it was a day of shaking hands and conviviality under the shade of the British flag. It was not until August 6, 1849, that a treaty of peace between Piedmont and Austria was finally settled; by its terms the Piedmontese had to pay a war indemnity of 75,000,000 francs. The National Parliament, however, hesitated to ratify the treaty, and the King was obliged to dissolve Parliament and make a personal appeal to the country. The result was satisfactory and the treaty received the necessary ratification. Piedmont was not in a condition to renew hostilities with so powerful a foe as Austria, and for the moment had to play a waiting game. In the meantime the King, in spite of the reactionary spirit which was abroad, honourably maintained the liberties of the country, and in the courageous appeal to his people he gave a pledge of his intentions. 'The liberties of the country run no risk of being imperilled through the dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, for they are protected by the venerated memory of my father, King Charles Albert; they are entrusted to the honour of the House of Savoy; they are guarded by the solemnity of my own oath: who would dare to have any fear for them?' The liberty which was now firmly rooted in Piedmont gave umbrage to the other states of Italy, especially in Naples, where Ferdinand II established a tyranny. It was at this time that Mr. Gladstone, after having visited Naples, published his famous letters to Lord Aberdeen summing up the position as 'The negation of God created into a system of government.' Under the influence of Cavour, Piedmont became the centre of the movement for Italian unity and Garibaldi took for his watchword, 'Italy and Victor Emmanuel.' Every endeavour was made by the leaders of the Italian movement to interest Europe in their cause. Much had been done in this direction at the Paris Congress of 1856. Piedmont had taken part in the Crimean War by contributing 15,000 men to the allied army. Napoleon was known to be sympathetic to the Italian cause, and in 1859, on Austria calling on Piedmont to disarm, war was declared.