UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES Life & Writings of '^Joseph Mazzini IN SIX VOLS. VOL L— AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL & POLITICAL. ' LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JOSEPH MAZZINI VOL. I. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL A NEW EDITION LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1890 [All rights re served] T)Gr M4-AI v. I PREFACE. When requested to preface the Edition of my political and literary writings with a history of my life, I declined the undertaking, and I still persist in my refusal. The rare joys and many sorrows of my private life are of no moment save to the few whom I love and who love me with deep individual affection. What public life I have had is all sum- med up and contained in my writings, and how far those writings may have influenced present events, is a question to be judged by the public, not by me. Indifferent, from the inborn tendency of my mind, to that empty clamour which men call fame ; and despising, from natural pride and a quiet con- science, the many calumnies which have darkened my path through life ; — convinced, even unto faith, that the duty of our earthly existence is to forget self in the aim prescribed to us by our individual 191008 vi Preface. faculties and the necessities of the times ; — I have kept no record of dates, made no biographical notes, and preserved no copies of letters. But even had I jealously preserved such, I should not now have the courage to use them. In the face of the re-awakening of that people to whom alone God has as yet granted the privilege, in each great epoch of its own existence, of trans- forming Europe — all individual biography appears as insignificant as a taper lighted in the presence of the rising sun. I shall, however, intersperse these pages with such records of the events I have witnessed, and the men I have known, as may serve for the better understanding of the European movement during the last third of a century ; and add such personal recollections as may best explain the cause and purpose of these writings, and are identified with the progress and development of those events which at the present day assure of the triumph of the two principal elements of the coming epoch : the People, and Nationality. My voice has often been the voice of the multi- tudes, the expression of the collective thought of Preface. vii our youth who have been the initiators of the future. Whatever value my writings may have will be the value of a historical document, and hence the relation of any circumstance that tends to confirm their truth, and prove their intimate connection with the true tendencies of Italy, may — sooner or later — be of use. Possibly, by inquiring into the sources and origin of the Italian movement, my fellow-country- men will more readily understand the errors and shortcomings of the present day. Joseph Mazzini. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Preface • Autobiographical Notes (1861) . . . • - 1 Letter to Charles Albert (183 1 ) .... Note to a French edition (1847) .... Autobiographical Notes continued ( 1 86 1 ) . General Instructions for the Members of Young Italy (1S31) Autobiographical Notes continued (1861) . Manifesto of Young Italy (183 1 ) .... 4 Essay on the Causes which have hitherto impeded the development of Liberty in Italy (1832) Thoughts addressed to the Poets of the 19th century (1832) The Writers of Young Italy to their Countrymen (1832 Note on the Organisation of Young Italy (1861) . Autobiographical Notes continued (1861) Thoughts addressed to the Priests of Italy upon the Evangelical Letter of Gregory XVI. (1834) . On the Unity of Italy (186 1) ..... Autobiographical Notes continued (1861) Appendix — Rules for the Conduct of Guerilla Bands (1S32) PAGE V 1-57 57-60 61-63 63-96 96-113 113-117 117-128 128-138 139-153 155-174 174-190 190-245 245-266 267-309 309-368 369-378 N.B. — The figures within brackets denote the dates of the writings comprised in this volume. Atitobiographical & Political. ONE Sunday in April i 821, while I was yet a boy, I was walking in the Strada Nuova of Genoa with my mother, and an old friend of our family named Andrea Gambini. The Piedmontese insurrection had just been crushed ; partly by Austria, partly through treachery, and partly through the weakness of its leaders. The revolutionists, seeking safety by sea, had flocked to Genoa, and, finding themselves dis- tressed for means, they went about seeking help to enable them to cross into Spain, where the revolu- tion was yet triumphant. The greater number of them were crowded in S. Pier d'Arena, awaiting a chance to embark ; but not a few had contrived to enter the city one by one, and I used to search them out from amongst our own people, detecting them either by their general appearance, by some peculiarity of dress, by their warlike air, or by the signs of a deep and silent sorrow on their faces. The population were singularly moved. Some VOL. I. B r 2 Life & Writings of Mazzini : of the boldest had proposed to the leaders of the insurrection — Santarosa and Ansaldi, I think — to concentrate themselves in, and take possession of the city, and organize a new resistance ; but Genoa was found to be deprived of all means of success- ful defence ; the fortresses were without artillery, and the leaders had rejected the proposition, telling them to preserve themselves for a better fate. Presently we were stopped and addressed by a tall black-bearded man, with a severe and energetic countenance, and a fiery glance that I have never since forgotten. He held out a white handker- chief towards us, merely saying, For the refugees of Italy. My mother and friend dropped some money into the handkerchief, and he turned from us to put the same request to others. I after- wards learned his name. He was one Rini, a captain in the National Guard, which had been instituted at the commencement of the movement. He accompanied those for whom he had thus con- stituted himself collector, and, I believe, died — as so many of ours have perished — for the cause of liberty in Spain. That day was the first in which a confused idea presented itself to my mind — I will not say of country or of liberty — but an idea that we Italians cotcld and therefore ought to struggle for the liberty of our country. I had already been un- consciously educated in the worship of equality by Autobiographical cf Political. 3 the democratic principles of my parents, whose bearing towards high or low was ever the same. Whatever the position of the individual, they sim- ply regarded the man, and sought only the honest man. And my own natural aspirations towards liberty were fostered by constantly hearing my father and the friend already mentioned speak of the recent republican era in France ; by the study of the works of Livy and Tacitus, which my Latin master had given me to translate ; and by certain old French newspapers, which I discovered half- hidden behind my father's medical books. Amongst these last were some numbers of the Chronique du Mo is, a Girondist publication belonging to the first period of the French Revolution. But the idea of an existing wrong in my own country, against which it was a duty to struggle, and the thought that I too must bear my part in that struggle, flashed before my mind on that day for the first time, never again to leave me. The remembrance of those refugees, many of whom became my friends in after life, pursued me where - ever I went by day, and mingled with my dreams by night. I would have given I know not what to follow them. I began collecting names and facts, and studied, as best I might, the records of that heroic struggle, seeking to f 'thorn the causes of its failure. They had been betrayed and abandoned by 4 Life c? Writings of Mazzini : those who had sworn to concentrate every effort in the movement ; the new kin;;* had invoked the aid of Austria ; part of the Piedmontese troops had even preceded the Austrians at Novara ; and the leaders had allowed themselves to be over- whelmed at the first encounter, without making an effort to resist. All the details I succeeded in collecting led me to think that they might have conquered, if all of them had done their duty ; — then why not renew the attempt ? This idea ever took stronger possession of my soul, and my spirit was crushed by the impos- sibility I then felt of even conceiving by what means to reduce it to action. Upon the benches of the university (in those days there existed a course of Be tics Lettres, preparatory to the courses of law and medicine, to which even the very young were admitted), in the midst of the noisy tumul- tuous life of the students around me, I was sombre and absorbed, and appeared like one suddenly grown old. I childishly determined to dress always in black, fancying myself in mourning for my country. Jacopo Ortis happened to fall into my hands at this time, and the reading of it be- came a passion with me. I learned it by heart. Matters went so far that my poor mother became terrified lest I should commit suicide. By degrees a calmer state of mind succeeded * Carlo Felice. Autobiographical & Political. 5 this first tempest of feeling. The friendship I formed with the young Ruffinis — a friendship which, both towards them and their sacred mother, better deserved the name of love — tended to re- concile me with life, and afforded a relief to the inward passion that consumed me. Con- versing with them of literature, of the intel- lectual resurrection of Italy, and upon philosophico- religious questions, and the formation of small associations (which proved a prelude to the great) for the purpose of smuggling books prohibited by the police, I perceived an opening — even though on a small scale — towards action, and that brought peace to my mind. A little circle of chosen friends, aspiring towards a better state of things, began to gather round me. Of all who formed that nucleus — the memory of which yet lives in my heart like the record of a promise unfulfilled — none save Federico Campanella (now member of the Provisional Committee for Rome and Venice in Palermo) still remain to combat for the old programme. Some are dead, some have deserted ; and others, though still faithful to the idea, have sunk into inertia. They were to me at that time a group of Pleiads, and a salvation to my tormented spirit. I was no longer alone. I have said that I do not intend to write my life, and I therefore pass on to the year 6 Life àf Writings of Mazzini : [827. Towards the end of the preceding year, I think, I had written my first literary article, and boldly sent it to the Antologia of Florence, which, naturally enough, did not insert it ; and I had myself forgotten it till I perceived it in the Sub- alpino, where it had been inserted by N. Tom- maseo. The subject was Dante, whom during the years 1821 to 1827 I had learned to venerate, not only as a poet, but as the father of our nation. In 1827 the literary war between the classicist and romantic schools was raging fiercely. It was a war between the supporters of a literary despotism, dating its origin and authority two thousand years back, and those who sought to emancipate themselves from its tyranny, in the name of their own individual inspiration. We young men were all Romanticists. But it seemed to me that few, if any, had penetrated into the true heart of the question. The first school, composed of Roman Arcadians and Delia Cruscan academicians, professors, and pedants, persisted in producing cold, laborious imitations, without life, spirit, or purpose; the second, founding their new literature on no other basis than individual fancy, lost themselves in fantastic mediaeval legends, unfelt hymns to the Virgin, and unreal metrical despair, or any other whim of the passing hour which might present A utobiographical & Political. 7 itself to their minds ; intolerant of every tyranny, but ignorant also of the sacredness of the law which governs art as well as every other thing. And it is a part of this law, that all true art must either sum up and express the life of a clos- ing epoch, or announce and proclaim the life of the epoch destined to succeed it. True art is not the caprice of this or that individual — it is a solemn page either of history or of prophecy ; and when — as always in Dante, and occasionally in Byron — it combines and harmonizes this double mission, it reaches the highest summit of power. Now, amongst us Italians, no other than the prophetic form of art was possible. For three centuries we had been deprived of all spon- taneous individual life, and our existence had been that of forgetful slaves, deriving all things from the foreigner. Art therefore could only arise again amongst us to inscribe a maledictory epitaph upon those three centuries, and sing the canticle of the future. But to do this, it was necessary to interrogate the slumbering, latent, and unconscious life of our people ; to lay the hand upon the half-frozen- heart of the nation ; to count its rare pulsations, and reverently learn therefrom the purpose and duty of Italian genius. The special bias and tendency of individual S Life & Writings of Mazzini : inspiration required to be nourished by the aspira- tion of the collective life of Italy ; even as flowers, the poetry of earth, derive their separate variety of tint and beauty from a soil which is common to all. But the collective life of Italy was uncertain and indefinite ; it lacked a centre, oneness of ideal, and all regular and organized mode of manifes- tation. Art, therefore, could only reveal itself among us by fits, in isolated and volcanic outbursts. It was incapable of revealing itself in regular and progressive development, similar to the gra- dual evolution of vegetable life in the new world, wherein the separate trees continue to mingle their branches, until they form the gigantic unity of the forest. Without a country, and without liberty, we might, perhaps, produce some prophets of art, but no vital art. Therefore it was better for us to consecrate our lives to the solution of the problem — Arc zac to have a country'? and turn at once to the political question. If we were successful, the art of Italy would bloom and flourish over our graves. Such thoughts as these — which certainly pre- sented themselves to the great intellect and patriotism of Manzoni — for they occasionally tran -pire in the choruses of his tragedies and Autobiogi'ciphical & Political. 9 other passages of his writings, though restrained by the overweening gentleness of his nature, and the fatal resignation taught by Catholicism — were in those days the thoughts of the few. The literati of that period were neither citizens nor patriots ; and were completely governed by the false French doctrine of art for arts sake. Tom- maseo and Montani alone represented these nobler views, in the fruitful and fostering school of criti- cism taught in their Antologia. The ideas awakened in April 1821 were still burning within me, and determined my renuncia- tion of the career of literature for the more direct path of political action. And this was my first great sacrifice. A thousand visions of historical dramas and romances floated before my mental eye — artistic images that caressed my spirit, as visions of gentle maidens soothe the soul of the lonely-hearted. The natural bias of my mind was very different from that which has been forced upon me by the times in which I have lived, and the shame of our degra- dation. But in those days the path of action was closed, and the literary question appeared to me to offer a means of disclosing it sooner or later. A little journal of mercantile advertisements was published in Genoa by one Ponthenier, who was also the editor. It was called the Indicatore io Life & Writings of Mazzini : Genovese. I persuaded the publisher to admit ad- vertisements of books for sale, accompanied by a few lines to describe and define their subject. These lines I undertook to write; and this was the commencement of my career as a critic. Little by little the advertisements swelled into articles. The government, which slumbered like the country, either did not heed or did not observe them. The Indicatore became gradually trans- formed into a literary journal. The articles which made their appearance in it were collected and re- printed at Lugano many years afterwards, under the title of Scritti Letterari dim Italiano Vivente. They have no intrinsic value ; but they serve to show the purpose with which I and a few friends then wrote, and how we understood the question of Romanticism. The literary controversy was soon converted into a political question ; the alteration of a word here and there would have sufficed to render it openly such. It was but a miniature warfare, a skirmish between the riflemen of the two camps. Literary independence was, in our eyes, the first step towards a very different species of independ- ence, and signified an appeal to the youth of the country to infuse some of their own new life into the latent hidden life, fermenting deep down in the heart of Italy. We knew that this endeavour to unite these two elements would be opposed by a Autobiographical & Political. 1 1 double tyranny, foreign and domestic ; and we knew that they would rebel against it. The government did at last read and become incensed at our writings ; and when, flushed with success, we announced to our readers, at the end of the first year, our intention of enlarging our journal, it was extinguished by a governmental veto. But these slight articles, full of youthful vigour and impulse, and the daring purpose they revealed, had obtained for me a certain amount of fame in Genoa. A reproof which I wrote to Carlo Botta — an historian of aristocratic tendencies, and devoid of all intellectual philosophy, but whose style, occa- sionally affecting the gravity of a Tacitus, and an Alficrian indignation against the foreigner, had fascinated our young men — gained me the ac- quaintance of the writers of the Antologia of Florence, men who were Italians at heart, though the majority of them were timid. Two articles on Guerrazzi's drama, the Bianchi e Neri, written by Elia Benza, a young man of high feeling and powerful intellect, which were rendered sterile in later life by too great a tendency to analysis and love of the comforts of domestic life, obtained for us the correspondence of Guerrazzi. Guerrazzi had already written not only that drama but the Battaglia di Benevento. Never- 12 Life éf Writings of Mazzini : tlieless, so great was the distance between province and province in those days, that his name was unknown to us. The drama of the Bianchi c Ner\ which we met with by mere chance, despite a cer. tain strangeness of form, and the absolute want of all harmony in the verses, yet revealed the suffer- ings of a powerful intellect, full of Italian pride. I answered his letter; and this was the commence- ment of a correspondence between us — at that time fraternal and enthusiastic — as to the creation of a better future. When the Sardinian Government suppressed the Indicatore Genovese, the union between us and the knot of young men who surrounded Guerrazzi had increased so far as to suggest the idea of con- tinuing our publication in Leghorn, under the title of the Indicatore Livornese. The political purpose of our writings was re- vealed more openly — almost indeed without disguise — in this second journal, to which Guerrazzi, Carlo Bini, and myself, were the chief contributors. We wrote of Foscolo, to whom, apart from all his other merits, the Italians owe eternal reverence from the fact of his having been the first, both in word and deed, to restore literature to its true patriotic mission in the person of the writer. We wrote of the Esule, a poem by Pietro Giannone, then himself in exile — a man of incor- ruptible fidelity, whom I afterwards learned to Atitobiographical & Political. 13 know and esteem ; and of Giovanni Berchet, copies of whose poems, magnificent in Italian ire, were transcribed and multiplied by us students, and whom I was afterwards destined to see, in 1848, lost and degraded among the moderate patricians and courtiers of royalty in Milan. We became so daring that by the end of the year even the slumbering Tuscan Government ordered us to cease publication. We did cease to publish, but these two journals had by that time collected together a certain number of young men, full of vigorous life, that needed an outlet and manifestation ; we had succeeded in touching chords that had long lain mute in the minds of our countrymen ; and, what was of far more im- portance, we had proved to the young men of Italy that our governments were deliberately adverse to all progress, and that liberty was impossible until they were overthrown. In the midst of all this literary warfare I never forgot my own purpose ; and I continued to look around me, to discover men capable of attempting an enterprise. Whispers were rife amongst us of a revival of Carbonarism. I watched, questioned, and searched on every side, until at last a friend of mine — a certain Torre — confessed to me that he was a member of the sect, or, as it was called in those days, the Order, and offered me initiation. 14 Life & Writings of Mazzini: I accepted. While studying the events of 1820 and 1821, I had learned much of Carbonarism, and I did not much admire the complex symbolism, the hier- archical mysteries, nor the political faith — or rather the absence of all political faith — I discovered in that institution. But I was at that time unable to attempt to form any association of my own ; and in the Carbonari I found a body of men in whom — however inferior they were to the idea they represented — thought and action, faith and works, were identical. Here were men who, defying alike excommunication and capital punish- ment, had the persistent energy ever to perse- vere, and to weave a fresh web each time the old one was broken. And this was enough to induce me to join my name and my labours to theirs. And now that my hair is grey, I still believe that next to the capacity of rightly leading, the greatest merit consists in knowing how and when to follow. I speak, of course, of following those who lead towards good. Those young men — too numerous in Italy, as elsewhere — who hold them- selves aloof from all collective association or organized party, out of respect for their own individuality, are generally the first to succumb, and that in the most servile manner, to any strongly-organized governing power. Autobiographical & Political. 1 5 Reverence for righteous and true authority, freely recognised and accepted, is the best safe- guard against authority false or usurped. I therefore agreed to join the Carbonari. I was conducted one evening to a house near S. Giorgio, where, after ascending to the topmost story, I found the person by whom I was to be initiated. This person was — as I afterwards learned — a certain Raimondo Doria, half Corsican half Spaniard, a man already advanced in years, and of a forbidding countenance. He informed me, with much solemnity, that the persecutions of the government, and the caution and prudence required in order to reach the aim, rendered numerous assemblies impossible ; and that I should therefore be spared certain ordeals, ceremonies, and symbolical rites. He questioned me as to my readiness to act, and to obey the instructions which would be transmitted to me from time to time, and to sacrifice myself, if necessary, for the good of the Order. Then, after desiring me to kneel, he unsheathed a dagger, and recited the formula of oath admini- stered to the initiated of the first or lowest rank ; causing me to repeat it after him. He then com- municated to me two or three signs by which to recognise the brethren, and dismissed me. I was a Carbonaro. On leaving, I tormented the friend who was io Life éf Writings of Mazzini : waiting for me as to the aim, the men, the work to be done — but in vain. We were to be silent, to obey, and to slowly deserve and receive con- fidence. He congratulated me on the fact that circumstances had spared me the tremendous ordeals usually undergone ; and seeing me smile at this, he asked me, severely, what I should have done if I had been required, as others had been, to fire off a pistol in my own ear, which had previously been loaded before my eyes. I re- plied that I. should have refused, telling the initiators that either there was some valve in the interior of the pistol into which the bullet fell — in which case the affair was a farce unworthy of both of us — or the bullet had really remained in the stock ; and in that case it struck me as some- what absurd to call upon a man to fight for his country, and make it his first duty to blow out the few brains God had vouchsafed to him. In my own mind I reflected with surprise and distrust that the oath which had been administered to me was a mere formula of obedience, contain- ing nothing as to the aim to be reached, and that my initiator had not said a single word about federalism or unity, republic or monarchy. It was war to the government, nothing more. The contribution required from each member to the funds of the Order was twenty francs at the time of initiation, besides a monthly subscription Autobiographical & Political. 1 7 of five francs. This was a heavy tax upon a student like me, yet I thought it a good thing. It is a great sin to collect money from others for a bad purpose, but it is a still greater sin to recoil from pecuniary sacrifice when the probabilities are in favour of thereby aiding a good cause. One of the saddest signs of the all-pervading and deep-rooted egotism of the present day is the fact that men will argue and discuss about a franc ; and they who willingly throw away large sums to procure comforts or enjoyments — for the most part rather imaginary than real — the very men who should be ready to coin their very blood to create a country, or found true liberty, will bewail the impossibility of frequent sacrifice, and peril life, honour, the dignity of their own souls, and the souls of their brother-men, rather than unloosen the strings of their purse. The early Christians frequently cast their whole riches at the feet of their priests for the benefit of the poorer brethren, merely reserving for themselves the bare necessaries of existence. Amongst us it is a gigantic, an Utopian enterprise, to find among twenty-five millions of men who all prate of liberty, one million ready to bestow a single franc each for the emancipation of Venetia. The first had faith ; we have only opinions. Not long after this, I was initiated into the second rank of the Order with power to affiliate VOL I. C 1 8 Life & Writings of Mazzini : others. I became acquainted with two or three Carbonari ; amongst others one Passano, said to be a high dignitary of the Order, who had formerly been French Consul at Ancona. He was an old man full of life and energy, but more busy about small political intrigues and petty artifices than any manly or logical endeavour towards achieving the purpose of the Institution. For my part, I was still in complete ignorance of their doings and of their programme ; and I began to suspect that in fact they did nothing. They always spoke of Italy as a nation disin- herited of all power to act, as something less than a secondary appendix to others. They professed themselves cosmopolitans. Cosmopolitanism is a beautiful word, if it be understood to mean liberty for all men ; but every lever requires a fulcrum, and while I had been accustomed to seek for that fulcrum in Italy itself, I found the Carbonari looked for it in Paris. The struggle between the French Opposition and the monarchy of Charles X. was just then at its height, both in and out of the Chamber ; and nothing was talked of among the Carbonari but Guizot, Berthe, Lafayette, and the Hatite Vente at Paris. I could not but remember that we Italians had given the institution of Carbonarism to France. I was commissioned to write a species of Autobiographical & Political. 19 memorandum in French — I do not now remember to whom addressed — in favour of the liberty of Spain, and setting forth the illegality as well as the ill effects of the Bourbon intervention of 1823. I shrugged my shoulders, and wrote it. This done, I took advantage of the powers conferred upon me, and occupied myself in affiliating other students. I foresaw a time when we might be sufficiently strong in numbers to form a compact nucleus among ourselves, and infuse a little new life into the decayed body of the Order. In the meantime, while awaiting the moment for doing better, we continued our skirmishes against those whom we termed the monarchists of literature. It was at this time that I wrote the article Upon an European Literature, which forms a part of this edition, and which, after long dis- cussions and much correspondence, was inserted into the Antologia of Florence. At last, on the evident approach of the tempest in France, our leaders began to rouse themselves into a semblance of activity. I was commissioned to start for Tuscany, and implant Carbonarism there. This mission was a more serious matter to me than they supposed. All the habits of my family — from which I had never sought nor desired to emancipate myself — were utterly contrary to this excursion, and almost precluded the possibility of obtaining the funds necessary to put it in exe- 20 Life & Writings of Mazzini : cution. After long hesitation, however, I decided that I would undertake the mission. Stating that I was going for a few days to Arenzano, on a visit to a student there with whom my family was acquainted, I obtained a small sum of money upon various pretexts from my good mother, and pre- pared to depart. The day before I started — I mention this cir- cumstance to show how ignoble a pass Carbonarism had then reached — I was desired to be on the Ponte della Mercanzia at midnight. There I found several of the young men I had enrolled. They had been ordered there like me, without knowing wherefore. After we had waited there a long time, Doria appeared, accompanied by two others whom we did not know, and who remained wrapped up to the eyes in their cloaks, and as mute as spectres. Our hearts bounded within us at the thought and hope of action. Having arranged us in a circle, Doria began a discourse directed at me, about the culpability of certain words of blame of the Order uttered by inexpert and imprudent young men ; and, pointing to the two cloaked individuals, he told us that they were about to start on the morrow for Bologna, in order to stab a Carbonaro there, for having spoken against the chiefs ; for that the Order no sooner discovered rebels than it crushed. Autobiographical £? Political. 21 tJicm. This was an answer to some of my com- plaints betrayed by some zealous member of the Order. I remember even now the thrill of anger that ran through me at this stupid threat. In the first impulse of this indignation, I sent word that I refused to go to Tuscany ; and that the Order was quite welcome to crush me. However, when I was a little calmer, having been admonished by some of my friends that I was thus unconsciously sacrificing the cause of my country to my own offended individuality, I changed my mind, and started for Tuscany, leav- ing a letter to reassure my family. In Leghorn I founded a Vente, and enrolled several Tuscans, and some of other provinces ; amongst others I remember Camillo d'Adda, a Lombard, a pupil of Romagnosi, who had just left an Austrian prison, and Marliani, who died some years later defending Bologna from the Austrians. I entrusted the rest to Carlo Bini, a young man of pure and noble soul, which he had preserved un- contaminated throughout a life passed amid the rude and quarrelsome popolani of Venezia.* His was a mind of great intellectual power ; but shut up, as it had been, in mercantile pursuits, and ren- dered indolent by a profound scepticism — not in matters of principle, but as to the men and events of his own day — that power only revealed itself * A quarter of Leghorn so called. 22 Life & Writings of Mazzini : by fits. An extraordinary moral rectitude, and an immense capacity of sacrifice — all the more meri- torious in one without faith or hope in its results — were a part of his very nature. He laughed with me at all the forms and sym- bolism of Carbonarism, but he believed, as I did, in the immense importance of organizing ourselves in some shape or other for action. We travelled, together to Montepulciano, where Guerrazzi was then confined, for the offence of having recited a few solemn pages in praise of a brave Italian soldier, Cosimo Delfante ; so terrified were the wretched governments of that day at the revival of any memories calculated to make us think less meanly of ourselves. They would have abolished history itself had it been in their power. I saw Guerrazzi. He was then writing the Assedio di Firenze, and he read the introductory chapter to us. The blood rushed to his face as he read, and he bathed his head with water to calm himself. He had much personal pride, and the paltry persecution at which he should only have smiled filled his soul with anger. But he had also a strong feeling for his country, for the records of her past greatness, and the promise of her future destiny ; and he struck me as one who, however much he might swerve from the true path, had both too much Italian and too much individual pride, ever A ii tobiographica I <2f Politica I. 23 to degrade himself by any ignoble action, or com- promise with those whom he felt to be beneath him. He was without faith. His extremely powerful imagination urged him to great things, but his intellect, nurtured by the study of Macchiavelli and the men of the past — rather than led by a prevision of the man of the future — was irresolute, and threw him back upon mere analysis, and a sort of moral anatomy, powerful to explain death and its causes, but impotent to create or organize life. There were — so to speak — two antagonistic beings in Guerrazzi, each of whom was victorious in turn ; but the connecting link was wanting — wanting also that moral harmony which can only spring from an earnest religious belief, or an over- flowing impulse of the heart. I sought in vain in Guerrazzi for a glimpse of that loving nature which shone in the eyes of Carlo Bini, as — deeply moved by his reading of those magnificent pages which all the youth of Italy know by heart — he gazed upon the author with an expression resembling that of a mother, wholly absorbed in the thought of his sufferings. At that period we were receiving from time to time the historical and philosophical lectures of Guizot and Cousin ; and we always looked forward to their coming with anxiety, for they were based on that doctrine of progress — then newly revived 24 Life & Writings of Mazzini : — which is the germ of the religion of the future, and which we could not then foresee would be allowed to stop short so miserably with the organ- ization of the Bourgeoisie and the charter of Louis Philippe. I had imbibed that doctrine in Dante's Delia Monarchia — a book little read, and invariably misunderstood — and I spoke to Guerrazzi with warmth and enthusiasm of these lectures ; of the law of progress given by God to his creatures, and the glorious future which must sooner or later result from their knowledge of and obedience to that law. Guerrazzi smiled — a smile half sad half epi- grammatic — and it impressed me at the moment as painfully as if I had even then foreseen all the dangers which menaced that privileged intelligence; so much so, indeed, that I left him without speak- ing openly on the subject which had been the principal object of my visit, and commissioned Bini to do so for me. Yet, nevertheless, I admired in him one blessed with great powers and a noble pride, which appeared to me, as I said, a security for the future. We formed a friendship at that time, that was afterwards to be broken, but not through fault of mine. When I returned to Genoa, I found much ill humour existing among the high dignitaries of Autobiographical & Political. 25 the Order. I was desired to give no account of my mission to Doria, who was shortly afterwards ordered to leave the city for a time, as a punish- ment for I know not what offence. But happen- ing one day to leave the house at daybreak, on my way to a country villa (at Bavari) where my mother was, I met him by the way, and alluded to the fact. I do not know whence he came at that hour, but I know that he was then in great anger, hatching vengeance against the Order, its designs, and the newly-affiliated members. The French insurrection of July 1830 broke out. Our leaders began to bestir themselves some- what, but with no definite purpose, as they were awaiting liberty from Louis Philippe. We young men betook ourselves to casting bullets, and making all preparations for the con- flict which we hailed in our imaginations as certain and decisive. I do not remember the exact date, but it was soon after the three days of Paris, that I received an order to go at a certain hour to the Lion Rouge, an hotel than existing in the Salita S. Siro, where I should find a certain Major Cottin, either of Nice or Savoy, who was already in- itiated into the first rank, and whom I was to affiliate in the second. We young men were treated by our leaders like mere machines, and it would have been quite 2 6 Life & Writings of Mazzini : useless to ask why I was selected for this office, rather than some member personally known to the Major. I therefore accepted the commission. However, before I went — impressed by I know not what presentiment — I agreed upon a method of secret correspondence with the Ruffinis, who were intimate with my mother, through the medium of the family letters, in case of possible imprison- ment ; and this foresight proved useful. I went to the hotel on the appointed day. In one of the rooms I passed through I saw Passano, who affected not to recognise me. I asked for Cottin, and was shown in to him. He was a small man with a wandering eye, which did not please me. He was not in uniform, and he spoke French. As soon as I had made known to him by the usual signs that I was a brother — or as it was then called, a cousin — of the Order, I said to him that he must of course be aware of the object of my visit. Having led me into his bedroom, he knelt down, and I, drawing a sword from my stick, agreeably to the prescribed form, was just begin- ning to make him repeat the oath, when a little window cut in the wall by the side of the bed suddenly opened, and an unknown face presented itself thereat. The unknown looked hard at me, and then closed the window. Autobiographical & Political. 27 Cottin begged of me not to be uneasy, assur- ing me it was only his confidential servant, and begging me to excuse his having forgotten to bolt the little window. When the initiation was completed, the major said he was about to start in a few days for Nice, where he should be able to do a great deal among the military ; but that he had a treacherous memory, and would therefore be glad if I would give him the formula of initia- tion in writing. I refused, saying it was contrary to my habits to write suoli things, but that he was at liberty to do so at my dictation. He wrote, and I then took leave of him, feel- ing much dissatisfied with the affair. The unknown — as I afterwards learned — was a police agent in disguise. A few days later I was in the hands of the police. At the moment when the Sbirri seized me, I had matter enough for three condemnations upon me : rifle-bullets ; a letter in cipher from Bini ; a history of the three days of July, printed on tri- coloured paper ; the formula of the oath for the second rank of Carbonari ; and, moreover (for I was arrested in the act of leaving the house), a sword-stick. I succeeded in getting rid of every- thing. They had all the inclination, but not sufficient capacity for tyranny. The long per- quisition made in our house led to no dangerous discoveries. 2 8 Life & Writings of Mazzini : Nevertheless, although the commissioner (Prato- longo) was so doubtful as to send again for orders, I was taken to the barracks of the carabineers in Piazza Sarzano. There I was examined by an old commissioner, who, after interrogating and trying me in all possible ways, at length, wearied and irritated by my coolness, and hoping to overwhelm me by proving to me that I had been betrayed, told me that on such a day, at such an hour, I had initiated a certain Major Cottiti into the second rank of Carbonarism. I felt a slight shudder run through me, but I suppressed it, and said it was impossible to refute a mere invention, and that if it were so, they had better confront me with this Major Cottin. He was never produced. When he agreed to play the part of informer {Agente Provocatore), he had stipulated that he was in no way to be brought forward at the trial. I remained for some days in the barracks, exposed to the sneers and witticisms of the carabineers — the most literary of whom presented me to the others as a new edition of Jacopo Ortis — and contriving to correspond with my friends through the help of a little pencil I had found between my teeth when eating the food which was sent to me from home. With this I wrote upon my linen when I sent it back to be Autobiographical £f Political. 29 washed ; and thus I was able to warn my friends to destroy certain papers which might have endangered the Tuscan cousins. I learned that others had been arrested at the same time that I was — Passano, Torre, Morelli (an advocate), and Doria (a bookseller), besides one or two others unknown to us ; none, however, of those whom I had affiliated. The governor of Genoa at that time was a certain Venanson. When asked by my father of what I was accused, he replied that the time had not arrived for answering that question, but that I was a young man of talent, very fond of solitary walks by night, and habitually silent as to the subject of my meditations, and that the govern- ment was not fond of young men of talent, the subject of whose musings was unknown to it. One night I was suddenly awakened by two carabineers, who desired me to get up immediately and follow them. I imagined this was merely in order to subject me to another examination ; but when they told me to take my cloak with me, I perceived I was to leave the barracks. I then asked whither we were going, but they replied that they were not permitted to tell me. I thought of my mother, knowing well that if she should hear the next day of my disappearance, she would imagine the worst ; and I resolutely declared I would not stir (unless compelled by 30 Life & Writings of Mazzini: force) without being allowed to send a letter to my family. After long hesitation, and much con- sultation with their officer, they consented. I wrote a few lines to my mother, telling her that I was leaving the barracks, but that there was no cause for alarm, and then followed my new masters. At the door stood a sedan-chair ready for me, which they closed upon me as soon as I entered it. As soon as we stopped, I heard the sound of horses' feet, indicative of a longer journey,* and then the unexpected sound of my father's voice bidding me be of good cheer. I know not how he had heard of my departure, nor learned the time and place; but I well remem- ber the brutality with which the carabineers sought to drive him away, and their thrusting me out of the sedan-chair and into the carriage, so that I was hardly able even to press his hand, as well as the furious manner in which they rushed up to identify a youth who was standing near smoking, and who nodded to me. This was Agostino Ruf- fini, one of that family who were to me more like brothers than friends. He died some years since, leaving a lasting memory behind him, not only amongst us Italians, but also among the Scotch who knew him in exile, and had learned to admire the qualities of his heart, the serious character of * Carriages were scarcely ever used in the interior of the city of Genoa in that day. A a to olograph ica I & Po litica I. 31 his intellect, and the unstained integrity of his soul. We were then in front of the prison of St. Andrea, from whence they brought a man wrapped up to the eyes, whom they desired to enter the same carriage with me. Two carabineers got in after him, each armed with a musket, and then we started. In the prisoner I soon recognised Passano ; one of the carabineers was the unknown spy of the Lion Rouge. We were taken to the fortress of Savona, on the Western Riviera, and immediately separated. As our arrival was unexpected, there was no cell ready for me. I was left in a dark passage, where I received a visit from the governor (De Mari), an old man of seventy, who, after preaching me a long sermon on the many nights I had wasted in cul- pable societies and meetings, and the wholesome quiet I should find in the fortress, answered my request for a cigar by saying that he would write to the governor of Genoa to know if such a thing could be permitted. This little incident drew from me — after he left me — the first tears I had shed since my imprisonment ; tears of rage at feeling myself so utterly in the power of beings I despised. In about an hour's time I was confined in my cell. It was at the top of the fortress, and looked upon the sea, which was a comfort to me. The sea and sky — two symbols of the infinite, and ex- 32 Life& Writings of Mazzini : cept the Alps, the sublimest things in nature — were before me whenever I approached my little grated window. The earth beneath was invisible to me ; but when the wind blew in my direction I could hear the voices of the fishermen. During the first month I had no books, but afterwards, through the courtesy of the new gov- ernor, Cavalier Fontana — who, fortunately for me, replaced De Mari — I obtained a Bible, a Tacitus, and a Byron. My prison companion was a lucherino,* a little bird very capable of attachment, and full of pretty ways, of which I was excessively fond. The only human beings I saw were the serjeant Antonietti, my kindly jailer ; the officer or guard for the day, who appeared at the door for an instant in order to note his prisoner ; Caterina, the Piedmontese woman who brought me my dinner ; and Cavalier Fontana. Antonietti in- variably asked me every evening, with impertur- bable gravity, if I had any orders to give ; to which I as invariably replied, Yes, a carriage for Genoa. Fontana, an old soldier, was not without Italian feeling ; but he was profoundly convinced that the aim of the Carbonari was plunder, the abolition of all religion, the guillotine erected in the public squares, etc. ; and feeling compassion for such errors in a youth like me, he endeavoured to recai * A greenfinch. AiitobiograpJiical & Political. 33 me into the right path by kindness, even going to the point of transgressing his instructions so far as to invite me to drink coffee in the evening with him and his wife, a graceful little woman related — I forget in what degree — to Alexander Manzoni. Meanwhile, through the medium of my friends in Genoa, I continued to exhaust every effort to strike a spark of true life from Carbonarism. Every ten days I received a letter from my mother, unsealed, of course, and previously examined by the agents of the government. This letter I was permitted to answer, on condition of my writing the answer in the presence of Antonietti, and handing it to him unsealed. But these precau- tions in no way prevented the execution of the plan of correspondence I had previously agreed upon with my friends — viz., to construct the sen- tences in such a manner that the first letters of every alternate word should form the only words of real interest to them ; and these, for better pre- caution, were in Latin. My friends therefore dictated to my mother the first seven or eight lines of her letter ; and I, for my part, had no lack of time to compose and learn by heart the phrases containing my answer. In this way I contrived to tell my friends to seek interviews with many Carbonari of my ac- quaintance, all of whom, however, proved to be terror-struck, and repulsed both my friends and VOL. I. D 34 Life£f Writings of Mazzini : their proposals. Thus also I learned the news of the Polish insurrection, which, with youthful im- prudence, I allowed myself the pleasure of an- nouncing to Fontana, who but a few hours before had assured me that all was tranquil in Europe. He must surely have been confirmed in his belief that we had dealings with the devil. However, the silly terror shown by the Car- bonari in that important moment, my own long meditations on the logical consequences of the ab- sence of all fixed belief or faith in that association, and even a ridiculous scene I had with Passano, whom I met in the corridor while our cells were being cleaned, and who answered my whispered communication : " / have means of correspondence, give me some names" by instantly investing me with the powers of the highest tank, and then tapping me on the head in order to confer upon me I know not what indispensable masonic dignity — all confirmed me in the conviction I had acquired some months before, that Carbonarism was in fact dead, and that, instead of wasting time and energy in the endeavour to galvanize a corpse, it would be better to address myself to the living, and seek to found a new edifice upon a new basis. It was during these months of imprisonment that I conceived the plan of the association of Young Italy {La Giovina Italia). I meditated deeply upon the principles upon which to base the Atitobiographical & Political. OD organization of the party, the aim and purpose of its labours — which I intended should be publicly declared — the method of its formation, the indi- viduals to be selected to aid me in its creation, and the possibility of linking its operations with those of the existing revolutionary elements of Europe. We were few in number, young in years, and of limited means and influence ; but I believed the whole problem to consist in appealing to the true instincts and tendencies of the Italian heart, mute at that time, but revealed to us both by history and our own previsions of the future. Our strength must lie in our right appreciation of what those instincts and tendencies really were. All great national enterprises have ever been originated by men of the people, whose sole strength lay in that power of faith and of will, which neither counts obstacles nor measures time. Men of means and influence follow after, either to support and carry on the movement created by the first, or, as too often happens, to divert it from its original aim. It is unnecessary here to relate the process of thought by which, after deep study both of the history and the intimate social constitution of our country, I was led to prefix Unity and the Re- public, as the aim of the proposed association. Many of the writings reproduced in this edition are upon that subject o 6 Life£f Writings of Mazzini I may, however, state that I was not influenced by any mere political conception, nor idea of elevating the condition of the single people whom I saw thus dismembered, degraded, and oppressed ; the parent thought of my every design was a pre- sentiment that regenerated Italy was destined to arise the initiatrix of a new life, and a new and powerful Unity to all the nations of Europe. Even at that time, in spite of the fascination exercised over my mind by the fervid words in which France at that day asserted her right of leadership amid the general silence, the idea was dimly stirring within me to which I gave expres- sion six years later — the sense of a void, a want in Europe. I felt that authority — true righteous and holy authority — the search after which, whether con- scious or not, is in fact the secret of our human life, and which is only irrationally denied by those who confound it with its false semblance or shadow, and imagine they have abolished God himself, when they have but abolished an idol ; — I felt that authority had vanished, and become extinct in Europe ; and that for this reason no power of initiative existed in any of the peoples of Europe. The labours, studies, and sorrows of my life have not only justified and confirmed this idea, but have transformed it into a. faith. And if ever — though I may not think it — I should live to see Autobiographical & Political. 37 Italy One, and to pass one year of solitude in some corner of my own land, or of this land where I now write, and which affection has rendered a second country to me, I shall endeavour to deve- lope and reduce the consequences which flow from this idea, and are of far greater importance than most men believe. At that time even the immature conception in- spired me with a mighty hope that flashed before my spirit like a star. I saw regenerate Italy be- coming at one bound the missionary of a religion of progress and fraternity, far grander and vaster than that she gave to humanity in the past. The worship of Rome was a part of my being. The great Unity, the One Life of the world, had twice been elaborated within her walls. Other peoples — their brief mission fulfilled — disappeared for ever. To none save to her had it been given twice to guide and direct the world. There, life was eternal, death unknown. There, upon the vestiges of an epoch of civilization anterior to the Grecian, which had had its seat in Italy, and which the historical science of the future will show to have had a far wider external influenoe than the learned of our own day imagine — the Rome of the Republic, concluded by the Caesars, had arisen to consign the former world to oblivion, and borne her eagles over the known world, carrying with them the idea of right, the source of liberty. 191008 Life & Writings of Mazzini In later days, while men were mourning over her as the sepulchre of the living, she had again arisen, greater than before, and at once constituted herself, through her Popes — as venerable once as abject now — the accepted centre of a new Unity, elevating the law from earth to heaven, and sub- stituting to the idea of right an idea of duty — a duty common to all men, and therefore source of their equality. Why should not a new Rome, the Rome of the Italian people — portents of whose coming I deemed I saw — arise to create a third and still vaster unity; to link together and harmonize earth and heaven, right and duty ; and utter, not to individuals but to peoples, the great word Associa- tion — to make known to free men and equals their mission here below ? Such were my thoughts in my little cell at Savona in the intervals that elapsed between the nightly question of Antonietti and the attempts made to convert me by Cavalier Fontana ; and I think the same thoughts still, on broader grounds and with maturer logic, in the little room, no larger than that cell, wherein I write these lines. And during life they have brought upon me the title of Utopist and madman, together with such frequent disenchantments and outrage as have often caused me — while yet some hopes of individual life yearned within me — to look back with longing and Autobiographical àr Political. 39 regret to my cell at Savona between sea and sky, and far from the contact of men. The future will declare whether my thoughts were visionary or prophetic. At present, the revival of Italy, directed as it is by immoral mate- rialists, appears to condemn my belief. But that which is death to other nations is only sleep to ours. Meanwhile, the immediate result of these ideas was to convince me that the labour to be under- taken was not merely a political, but above all a moral work ; not negative, but religious ; not founded upon any theory of self-interest, or well- being, but upon principles and upon duty. During the first months of my university life my mind had been somewhat tainted by the doc- trines of the foreign materialist school ; but the study of history and the intuition of conscience — the only tests of truth — soon led me back to the spiritualism of our Italian fathers. The duty of judging me had been handed over to a committee of senators at Turin ; their names, with the exception of one (Gromo), I forget. The promise given to Cottin reduced the evidence against me to that of the carabineer who had seen me in his room with a drawn sword in my hand ; while, on the other side, my own assertions coun- terbalanced his. It was clear, therefore, that I should be acquitted, and henceforth have a fair 40 Life & Writings of Mazzmi : field opened before me wherein to begin my un- dertaking. I was, in fact, acquitted by the Senate. However, the governor, Venanson, who was detested in Genoa, and returned hate for hate, irritated by what he considered an affront, and fearful of being accused of calumny by the people if I were set free, hastened to throw himself at the feet of his most clement majesty, Carlo Felice, assuring him that, from evidence known only to himself, he was certain that I was both guilty and dangerous. The Most Clement, touched by the governor's clamorous distress, trampled alike on my individual rights, the sentence of my judges, and the mute anguish of my parents, and sent to inform me that I must renounce all hope of being permitted to remain in Genoa, Turin, or any other large city, or even any part of the Ligunan coast, and select a place of residence in one of the little towns in the interior, Asti, Acqui, Casales, etc., or be sent into exile for an indefinite period, the duration of which must depend upon the royal pleasure and my own conduct. The news of the choice thus offered was brought to me by my father, who came to Savona in order to spare me the last annoyance of being conducted back to Genoa by gensd'armes, since the decree of the Most Clement further added that I was not to be allowed to see any but my nearest relations. Autobiographical & Political. 41 Passano, in consideration of his being by birth a Corsican, and having served as French Consul at Ancona, had been liberated some time before this, and was then freely walking the streets of Savona. It is the old policy of every monarchical government in Italy, that, while hating France in their hearts, they flatter, serve, and seek to pro- pitiate her by every means in their power. The insurrection of the centre of Italy had broken out a short time before my liberation (February 183 1). In Genoa I learned that the Italian exiles were crowding to the frontier, encouraged both by assistance given and hopes held out by the new Government of France. Had I gone to one of the smaller towns of Piedmont, unknown amongst the unknown, I should have been condemned to utter uselessness by the constant surveillance of the police, and liable to be again imprisoned on the slightest suspicion. I therefore chose exile, which restored me to liberty, and which I then imagined would be of very short duration. I parted from my family, telling my father — whom I was destined never to see again — to be of good cheer, as my absence would only be an affair of some days. I went through Savoy, which moderate* liberty * The supporters of the Piedmontese monarchical system in Italy chose for themselves the appellation of the Moderate Party. 42 Life & Writings of Mazzini : had not yet converted into a part of France, pass- ing over Mount Cenis to Geneva. Thence I was to proceed to France ; and my mother's care had already arranged that my uncle, who had long resided in that country, should be my travelling companion. I went to see the historian of our republics, Sismondi, to whom I had an introduction from his friend Bianca Milesi Moion. Both he and his wife (Jessie Macintosh, a Scotch lady) received me with more than courtesy. Sismondi was then working at his " History of France." He was amiable, singularly modest, simple and affable in manner, and Italian at heart. He questioned me with anxious affection as to the state of things in Italy. He asked after Man- zoni — whose romance he admired above all his other works — and the few other writers whose works gave signs of reviving intellectual life amongst us. He deplored the tendency he observed in the Italians to follow the doctrines of the eighteenth century, but explained it by the neces- sities of a state of struggle. His own opinions were not so liberal as I had expected ; his intel- lectual grasp did not go beyond the theory of rights, and its only logical consequence — liberty. Moreover, his personal friendship for the leaders of the doctrinaire school — Cousin, Guizot, and Ville- main — evidently clouded his judgment both of men Atitobiographical & Political. 43 and things. From the tendency of the teachings of those men — whose aim neither he nor I sus- pected at that time — from a mistaken and exclu- sive worship of liberty, and from the position and characteristics of his own Switzerland, he had become imbued with federalism, which he preached as the ideal of political organization to the many Italian exiles by whom he was surrounded, and who all drew their ideas and inspiration from his lips. There was not a single man among them who dreamed of the possibility or even the desira- bility of unity. Sismondi introduced me to Pellegrino Rossi at the Literary Club, who contented himself with pointing out to me an individual seated in a corner as a supposed spy. I felt an indescribable sense of discouragement steal over me on obtaining a nearer view of those exiles whom until then I had admired as the re- presentatives of the hidden heart of Italy. France was everything in their eyes ; and politics — as I judged from their conversation — the management, diplomatic calculation, and science of opportune compromises, in which neither belief nor morality had any part. Whilst I was taking leave of Sismondi, and inquiring if I could do anything for him in Paris, a Lombard exile, who had always listened atten- tively when I spoke, but never till then addressed 44 Life & Writings of Mazzini : himself to me, whispered that if I was desirous of action, I should go to Lyons and make myself known to the Italians who frequented the Caffé della Fenice there. I turned to him with real gratitude, asking his name. It was Giacomo Ciani, condemned to death by Austria in 1821. At Lyons I found a spark of true life among the Italians. The greater number of the exiles collected there, as well as those daily arriving, were military men. I met many of those whom I had seen ten years before wandering in the streets of Genoa with all the bitterness of disappointment in their looks, and who had since caused the Italian name to be respected in battle while defending the cause of liberty in Spain or Greece. I Saw, too, Borso de' Carminati, the officer who threw himself between the soldiery and the people assem- bled in Piazzi Banchi, when the order was given to fire upon them. He was an officer of great promise, who afterwards rose to the highest mili- tary honours in Spain, and who would have lived to bear a great name in Italy, if his irritable, im- prudent nature, intolerant of all deception, had not led him, through hatred to Espartero, to join an émeute which cost him both life and reputation. I saw, too, Carlo Bianco, afterwards my friend, of whom I shall have to speak again ; Voarino, a cavalry officer ; Tedeschi, and others, all of them Piedmontese and republicans ; although the ma- Autobiographical & Political. 45 jority of the exiles assembled there were constitu- tional monarchists, not from conviction, but simply because France was monarchical. They had all flocked to Lyons in order to join in an invasion of Savoy, which was then being organized by a committee, amongst whom I re- collect General Regis, a certain Pisani, and one Fecchini. The expedition already numbered about 2000 Italians, and a certain number of French workmen. They had money in abundance ; for their mon- archical programme, and the general belief that the French Government encouraged the movement, had brought together numbers of exiles belonging to the wealthier classes — nobles, princes, and men of all shades of opinion. Their preparations were publicly carried on ; the Italian tricoloured flag was twined with that of France in the Caffé della Fenice ; the depots of arms were known ; and the committee was in communication with the Prefect of Lyons. Similar scenes were taking place at the same time on the Spanish frontier. Louis Philippe had not yet been recognised by the despotic mon- archs ; and he was seeking to obtain their recog- nition by frightening them, and rendering it a necessity. Even as Cavour — thirty years later — said to the plenipotentiaries of Paris, either reforms or 46 Lifc£f Writings of Mazzini: revolution ; so did the new monarchy of France say to the hesitating kings, cither recognition of the younger branch of the Bourdons, or a revolution- ary war. It was the third royal betrayal I had seen enacted under my own eyes in Italian matters. The first was the shameful flight of the Carbonaro conspirator prince, Charles Albert, to the camp of the enemy. The second was that of Francis IV., Duke of Modena, who, after encouraging and pro- tecting the insurrection organized in his name by poor Ciro Menotti, attacked and seized him in the very moment of the rising, and dragged him along with him in his flight to Mantua, to hang him as soon as Austria furnished him with the means of returning to his dukedom. I was hastening one day to the Caffè della Fenice, my mind full of the hope of immediate action, when I saw the people crowding to read a printed notice from the government, which was pasted upon the walls. It was a severe proclama- tion against the Italian enterprise, an intimation to the exiles to disband, and a brutal threat of punishing with the utmost rigour of the criminal law any persons who should venture to compromise France with other governments by violating the frontiers of friendly powers. This proclamation was dated from the office of the Prefect. I found the committee completely crushed and Autobiographical éf Political. 47 overwhelmed. The banners had all disappeared, and a great number of arms had been sequestrated. Old General Regis was in tears, and the other exiles were cursing both the betrayal and betrayer — the sterile vengeance reserved for those who, in their country's cause, put their trust in others rather than in themselves. Some few, either magnanimously or obstinately credulous, persisted in declaring that the Re Gala?itaomo, Louis Philippe, could never intend thus to delude the hopes of the liberals ; and they hinted that the wary and cautious government only adopted this course for the purpose of avoid- ing all appearance of co-operation, but did not really mean to prevent the expedition. I ventured to suggest that the problem should be solved at once, by sending a small body of armed men — putting as many as possible of the French work- men among them — upon the road to Savoy, as the advance-guard of the expedition. This was done, and they were immediately stopped by a body of cavalry, and compelled to disband. The first to disperse were the Frenchmen, to whom the officer addressed a discourse upon their duty to their own country, and the necessity of leaving all enterprises for purposes of liberation in the hands of the government. The expedition was thus rendered impossible. A refugee-hunt now began ; many were taken, 48 Life& Writings of Mazzini. and conveyed, hand-cuffed, to Calais, whence they were embarked for England. In the midst of the confusion of imprisonments, flights, threats, and despair, Borso confided to me that he and a few other republicans intended starting that night for Corsica, thence to carry arms and assistance to the insurrection of the centre, which had not yet been put down ; and he asked if I would accompany them. I accepted at once, concealing my sudden determination from my uncle, for whom I left a few lines, telling him not to be alarmed on my account, and requesting him to keep silence for a few days with my family. In the diligence which conveyed us to Mar- seilles, I found Bianco, Voarino, Tedeschi, a certain Zuppo — a Neapolitan if I am not mistaken — and others whom I now forget. We continued to travel almost without stopping to Marseilles, and from Marseilles to Toulon ; thence in a Neapolitan merchant vessel, across the most tempestuous sea I ever beheld, to Bastia. There, with all the delight of one who returns to his native land, I felt myself once more upon Italian soil. I know not what the persistent system of corruption pursued by France, and the culpable neglect of the Italian Government, may have made of Corsica since then ; but at that time ( 1 8 3 1 ) the island was truly Italian, not only in climate, scenery, and language, but in generous patriotism. Autobiographical £f Political. 49 France was only encamped there. With the exception of Bastia and Aiaccio, where the em- ploye class was favourable to its paymaster, every man both felt and declared himself an Italian, watched the movement of the centre with a beat- ing heart, and aspired to see the island re-united to the great mother. The whole of the centre of Corsica — over which I made a short tour in company with Antonio Benci, one of the Tuscan contributors to the Antologia, who had fled from threatened perse- cution to Corsica — regarded the French as enemies. The rough but worthy mountaineers, almost all of whom were well armed, were then talking and thinking of nothing else but of crossing over to fight in the Romagna, and they hailed us as leaders. Faithful, hospitable, and independent in character ; jealous of their women to excess ; tenacious of equality, suspicious of foreigners — but only so long as they feared offence to their own dignity, and ready to fraternise at once with any one offering them his hand as from man to man, instead of assuming the air of the civilised man addressing the savage ; revengeful, but bravely so, and always ready to risk their own life for their revenge — I have ever remembered the Corsicans of the centre with a sense of affection, and of hope that they may not long remain divided from us. VOL. I. E 5 aawi l; -r-r t t " i : ~ : " -. . - : - _ ii- — ; : — : - : ; i - ; ~y : _ : ? t: - - - i - : - - - _ ; "~ -~~ ~r_ ~ ~I ^ ~ _; - : ii -±:t in.i_-:u_-;- ic_ry ::' -z v i ■ . l._ : i. ii.-.. -- - -..; - - ■ .; __ —— - — ■ ■ ----- . -- - - . . 1 e : T . ~ ■ . — e r: i zìi- zz ~ — j L . " : =h:_ :: :r:r_^r; jit :. t:-_t1 -_ .r srr a! - ; . =. — :_r : - [ B ] : .:.-., : - : ] ". : - : : S6 Life & Writings of Mazzini -. the sovereignty and right of the nation ; none to call the people to arms ; none to organize the elections ; none to incite or encourage the neigh- bouring provinces of Italy to rise. Fear was visible in their every decree. The revolution was made to appear a thing accepted rather than asserted and proclaimed. The Provisional Governments of Parma and Modena declared that the people had been placed in the necessity of forming a new government by the fact of the princes having abandoned their states without establishing any. The Government of Bologna stated that it had been formed in consequence of the declaration of Monsignor Clarelli, the Pro-legate, announcing his determination of entirely renouncing the admini- stration of political affairs, which had rendered it urgent to prevent anarchy. And even when the success and internal security of the revolution demanded a bolder language, the government, which had succeeded in concentrating the general direction of the move- ment in its own hands, had not the courage to appeal to the eternal rights of every people, but went to work to deduce the right of Bologna to liberty from the local tradition of a compact signed in 1447 between Bologna and Pope Nicholas V. ; and a long, pedantic, and ignoble piece of writing, dated the 25 th February, was Autobiographical & Political. Sy published by the President Vicini, commenting, attorney-fashion, upon that tradition.* In Parma the leadership of the National Guard was offered to a certain Fedeli. He refused to accept it without permission from the duchess. The government allowed him to request that permission, and was repaid for its folly by his forming a retrograde conspiracy. At a later period, and when their finances were almost ex- hausted, they passed a decree ordering that the payment of the salaries of the employes of the banished court should be continued. During the fermentation produced by the rising of Central Italy in Naples, in Piedmont, and on every side, while all were anxiously awaiting in- spiration from the central focus wherein the insur- rection had been first kindled, the decree of the I ith February coldly announced that " Bologna did * The government was composed of the Marquis Francesco Bevilacqua, Count Carlo Pepoli, Count Alessandro Agucchi, Count Cesare Bianchetti, Professor F. Orioli, the Advocate Giovanni Vicini, Professor Antonio Silvani, and the Advocate Antonio Zanolini. Towards the end of the revolution, and at the time of the capitulation, it was somewhat altered. Vicini was President of the Council ; Silvani, Minister of Justice ; Count Ludovico Sturani, of Finance ; Count Terenzio Mamiani della Rovere, of the interior; Orioli, of public instruction ; Dr. Gio. Battista Sarti, of Police ; General Armandi of War ; and Bianchetti, of Foreign Affairs. Some of these men still form a part of the group of busybodies who are misgoverning the Italian movements for the third time at the present day. 88 Lifegf Writings of Mazzini : not intend to interrupt her friendly relations with other states, nor to permit the smallest violation of their territories ; hoping that, in return, no in- tervention to her disadvantage would take place, as she had no intention of being drawn into action unless in self-defence." By this act the Centre abdicated all initiative, and separated her cause from the cause of Italy. All men of mere reaction — too numerous a class amongst us — indignantly gave up the thought of action elsewhere. The class of old-fashioned conspirators, who would diplomatize on the edge of the grave, ima- gining that this cowardly renunciation of duty on the part of the government concealed some great mystery of political art, whispered, " Keep quiet ; they would never do this if they were not certain of French aid." This unlimited confidence in everything bear- ing the outward semblance of calculation and tactics, and this constant distrust of all enthusiasm, energy, and simultaneous action — three things which sum up the whole science of revolution — was then, as it is now, the mortal disease of Italy. We wait, study, and follow circumstances ; we neither seek to dominate nor create them. We honour with the name of prudence that which is, in act, merely mediocrity of intellect. The discouraging manner in which the Lorn- Autobiographical & Political. 89 bard deputies were received in 1821 induced them to renounce the idea of action ; but had they had the courage to act, that discouragement would have been overcome. The Government of Bologna, trusting solely in the promises of foreign governments, gave up all idea, not only of offence, but of defence. The plan of organizing a militia was rejected. The fortifications of Ancona were not rebuilt. The suggestions of Zucchi — who, on his arrival in Bologna, ordered the formation of six regiments of infantry and two of cavalry — were opposed. The idea repeatedly suggested by Sercognani, of a de- cisive enterprise upon Rome, where symptoms of insurrection had manifested themselves on the 1 2 th, was repulsed. Neither the minister Armandi,* nor any of the others, were capable of comprehending the power and significance of an Italian banner floating from the Capitol. The murmurs of the Italian youth were quieted by repeated promises which were never fulfilled ; the stern voice of the press was silenced by * A certain Baron de Stoelting of Westphalia, belonging to the household of the Prince of Montforte (Jerome Buonaparte), had been sent to Armandi to persuade him to respect the promise made by that prince to Cardinal Bernetti that Rome should not be attacked. The interview took place at Ancona. Stoelting also had with him a letter from the Austrian ambassador Count Lutzow. The Buona- partes were as fatal to us then as they have ever been. 90 Life & Writings of Mazzini : the edict of the 12th February, "decreeing a penalty of fine or imprisonment to the sellers of any writings likely to injure the existing peaceful and friendly relations with foreign go- vernments." And, as an inevitable consequence of its cowardly policy, the miserable Provisional Govern- ment was abandoned and betrayed by all. The French Government did not even deign a reply to Count Bianchetti, who was sent to Florence to interrogate the ambassadors of France and Austria, whilst it continued to maintain a friendly corre- spondence with the court of Rome. Count St. Aulaire, the envoy of France to Rome, avoided the route of Bologna, and all contact with its Pro- visional Government. Austria added insult to outrage by declaring her intention to invade Parma and Modena, solely in virtue of I know not what treaty of reversion, promising, however, that Bologna should be re- spected if she behaved well. The invasion of Parma, Modena, and Reggio, took place, and on the 6th of March the Provi- sional Government of Bologna declared — " The affairs of the Modenese are no concern of ours ; non-intervention is a law for us, as well as for our neighbours ; and none of us have any business to mix ourselves up with the affairs of the states on our frontiers." Autobiographical & Political. 91 They also ordered that all "foreigners present- ing themselves on their frontier should be dis- armed and sent back ;" and 700 Modenese foreigners, headed by Zucchi, were compelled to pass through Bologna as prisoners. The Austrian occupation of Ferrara followed upon that of Modena and Parma. Ferrara was a member of the united provinces, and as such had sent deputies to Bologna. Nevertheless, the government merely announced the fact to the citizens without comment. The Precursore (the organ of the government) of the 1 2th maintained that the principle of non- intervention had not been violated, because the treaties of Vienna conceded to Austria the right to hold a garrison in Ferrara ; and two envoys of the government, Conti and Brunetti, had brought assurances from Bertheim, at Ferrara, that the Austrians would not advance any farther. A pontifical regency was established in Fer- rara, and the Bolognese Government then main- tained that there was no necessary connection be- tween the acts of the Papacy and those of Austria. The Austrians presented themselves at the gates of Bologna on the 20th, and the govern- ment, after giving orders that all should remain quiet, and that the National Guard should main- tain order, the sole object of its institution, retired to Ancona. There, on the 2 5 th March — two days 92 Life& Writings of Mazzini: after they had abdicated all power by the election of a Triumvirate — they capitulated to Cardinal Benvenuti, praying for an amnesty. The request was signed by all the members of the government, except Carlo Pepoli, who was absent* The conditions of the capitulation were violated, as was to be expected, and it was annulled on the 5th April by the Pope. The edicts of the 14th and 30th condemned alike the leaders, accom- plices, and approvers. And, as it is the habit of Governments to insult the fallen, Louis Philippe announced to the Chamber, in his speech of the 23d June, that he had obtained from the Pope a complete amnesty for the insurgents. Meanwhile, the legitimate masters of the Italians violated the neutrality of the seas by cap- turing the vessel which was conveying Zucchi and about 70 others into exile, and conducting them prisoners to Venice, besides publishing such decrees as the following : — "Whensoever, either through denunciations or secret testimony (the authors of which will never be compromised by being con- fronted with the accused or otherwise), we shall * Terenzio Mamiani withdrew his name from the published act of the 26th. But I have had in my hands the original act of the 25th, mislaid with other papers by the President, Vicini, in his rapid flight. It was sent to me by Guerrazzi. The name of Terenzio Mamiani appears at the foot of the act, unaccompanied by any pro- test or sign of disapprobation. Autobiographical & Political. 93 obtain the moral certainty of a crime committed, instead of making known the informer, we shall content ourselves, as a measure of police, with condemning the guilty person to an extraordinary punishment, milder than customary, but to which will invariably be added the penalty of exile!' — {Decree of the Duke of Modena, April 8, 1832.) From studying the ill-fated movements of 1820-21 and 1 83 1, I learned what errors it would be necessary to avoid in future. The greater number of Italians — who did not pause to dis- tinguish between the events themselves and the men who attempted to control them — derived from these insurrections only a lesson of profound discouragement. To me they simply brought the conviction that success was a problem of direction, nothing more. Others opined that the blame 1 bestowed upon the directors of the movements, ought to fall upon the whole country. The mere fact that such men rather than others had risen to power, was considered very generally to be the result of a vice inherent in the condition of Italy ; and as giving an average — so to speak — of the Italian revolutionary power. I merely regarded that choice as a fault of logic, easily to be reme- died. That error was the error only too prevalent at the present day — that of entrusting the govern- 94 Life & Writings of Mazzini : ment of the Insurrection to those who had had no share in making it. The people and the youth of Italy have always yielded the reins of direction to the first man claiming the right to hold them with any show of authority. This may be traced to a well-meant but over-strained desire of legality, and an honour- able though exaggerated fear of being accused of anarchy or ambition ; to a traditionary habit, useful only in a normal state of things, of trusting to men of advanced age, or local influence ; and to their absolute inexperience of the nature and deve- lopment of great revolutions. The preliminary conspiracy and the revolution have always been represented by two distinct classes of men. The first were thrust aside as soon as all obstacles were overthrown, and the others then entered the arena the day after, to direct the development of an idea not their own, a design they had not matured, the elements and difficulties of which they had never studied, and in the enthusiasm and sacrifices of which they had had no share. Thus in Piedmont, in 1821, the development of the revolutionary idea was confided to men who, like Dal Pozzo, 4 ' Villamarina, and Guber- * Dal Pozzo, when driven into exile in 1821, obtained permis- sion to return by selling his pen to Austria. See his pamphlet On /■'it- Happiness the Italians viight and ought to derive from Austrian Government. Autobiographical & Political. 07 natis, had been entire strangers to the preliminary conspiracy. Thus, in Bologna, they had accepted as mem- bers of their Provisional Government men who were approved by the government overthrown ; men whose title to office was derived from an edict of Monsignore Clarelli. Thus the councils of commercial administration, having assumed the name of civil congresses, had declared themselves the legal representatives of the people, and without a shadow of right proceeded to elect the provisional authorities. Now, the majority in these councils was com- posed of grey-headed men, educated under the old system of ideas, distrustful of the young, and still under the influence of the terror inspired by the excesses of the French Revolution. Their liberalism was like that of the party called moderate in Italy at the present day; weak and fear- ful ; capable of a timid legal opposition on points of detail, but never going back to first principles. They naturally elected men similarly con- stituted, descendants of the old families, professors, advocates with many clients, but all of them men disinherited alike of the enthusiasm, energy, or intellect necessary to achieve revolutions. Our young men, trustful and inexperienced, gave way. They forgot the immense difference between the wants of a free and of an enslaved 94 Life & Writings of Mazzini : people, and the improbability that the same men who had represented the individual and municipal interests of the last, should be fitted to represent the political and national interests of the first. From these and other reflections which will be developed in the following writings, I at last de- termined to obey my own instincts ; and I founded the Association of Young Italy (La Giovine Italia), with the following statutes for its basis. General Instructions for the Members of YOUNG ITALY. Liberty — Equality — Humanity — Independence — Unity. Section I. Young Italy is a brotherhood of Italians who believe in a law of Progress and Duty, and are convinced that Italy is destined to become one nation — convinced also that she possesses sufficient strength within herself to become one, and that the ill success of her former efforts is to be attri- buted not to the weakness, but to the misdirection of the revolutionary elements within her — that the secret of force lies in constancy and unity of effort. They join this association in the firm intent of consecrating both thought and action to Autobiographical & Political. 97 the great aim of re-constituting Italy as one independent sovereign nation of free men and equals. Section 2. By Italy we understand — 1, Continental and peninsular Italy, bounded on the north by the upper circle of the Alps, on the south by the sea, on the west by the mouths of the Varo, and on the east by Trieste ; 2, The islands proved Italian by the language of the inhabitants, and destined, under a special administrative organization, to form a part of the Italian political unity. By the Nation we understand the universality of Italians bound together by a common Pact, and governed by the same laws. Section 3. Basis of the A ssociation. The security, emcacity, and rapid progress of an association, are always in proportion to the determination, clearness, and precision of its aim. The strength of an association lies, not in the numerical cypher of the elements of which it is composed, but in the homogeneousness of those elements ; in the perfect concordance of its mem- bers as to the path to be followed, and the certainty that the moment of action will find them ranged in a compact phalanx, strong in VOL. I. H 98 Lifc& Writings of Mazzini: reciprocal trust, and bound together by unity of will, beneath a common banner. Revolutionary associations, which admit hetero- geneous elements into their ranks, and possess no definite programme, may remain united in apparent harmony during the work of destruction ; but will inevitably prove impotent to direct the movement the day after, and be undermined by discords all the more dangerous, in proportion as the necessities of the time call for unity of action and of aim. A principle implies a method : or, in other words, as the aim is, so must the means be. So long as the true practical aim of a revo- lution remains uncertain, so long will the means adopted to promote or consolidate it remain futile and uncertain also. The revolution will proceed without faith : and hence its progress will be wavering and weak The history of the past has proved this. Whosoever would assume the position of ini- tiator in the transformation of a nation — whether individual or association — must know clearly to what the proposed changes are to lead. Whoso- ever would presume to call the people to arms, must be prepared to tell them wherefore. Who- soever would undertake a work of regeneration, must have afait/i ; if he have it not, he can but create émeutes, nothing more, and become the author of an anarchy he is neither able to remedy Autobiographical & Political. 99 nor overcome. For, indeed, no whole nation ever rises to battle in ignorance of the aim to be achieved by victory. For these reasons the members of Young Italy make known to their fellow-countrymen, without reserve, the programme in the name of which they intend to combat. The aim of the association is revolution ; but its labours will be essentially educational, both before and after the day of revolution ; and it therefore declares the principles upon which the national education should be conducted, and from which alone Italy may hope for safety and re- generation. By preaching exclusively that which it believes to be truth, the association performs a work of duty, not of usurpation. By inculcating before the hour of action by what steps the Italians must achieve their aim, by raising its flag in the sight of Italy, and calling upon all those who believe it to be the flag of national regeneration, to organize themselves be- neath its folds — the association does not seek to substitute that flag for the banner of the future nation. When once the nation herself shall be free, and able to exercise that right of sovereignty which is hers alone, she will raise her own banner, and make known her revered and unchallenged ioo Life & Writings of Mazzini : will as to the principle and the fundamental law of her existence. Young Italy is Republican and Unitarian. Republican — because theoretically every nation is destined, by the law of God and humanity, to form a free and equal community of brothers; and the republican is the only form of government that insures this future. Because all true sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, the sole progressive and continuous interpreter of the supreme moral law. Because, whatever be the form of privilege that constitutes the apex of the social edifice, its tend- ency is to spread among the other classes, and by undermining the equality of the citizens, to endanger the liberty of the country. Because, when the sovereignty is recognised as existing not in the whole body, but in several dis- tinct powers, the path to usurpation is laid open, and the struggle for supremacy between these powers is inevitable ; distrust and organized hostility take the place of harmony, which is society's law of life. Because the monarchical element being in- capable of sustaining itself alone by the side of the popular element, it necessarily involves the existence of the intermediate element of an aris- tocracy — the source of inequality and corruption to the whole nation. A utobiographical & Political. i o i Because both history and the nature of things teach us that elective monarchy tends to generate anarchy ; and hereditary monarchy tends to gen- erate despotism. Because, when monarchy is not — as in the middle ages — based upon the belief now extinct in right divine, it becomes too weak to be a bond of unity and authority in the state. Because the inevitable tendency of the series of progressive transformations taking place in Europe, is towards the enthronement of the re- publican principle, and because the inauguration of the monarchical principle in Italy would carry along with it the necessity of a new revolution shortly after. Young Italy is republican, because practically there are no monarchical elements in Italy. We have no powerful and respected aristocracy to take the intermediate place between the throne and the people; we have no dynasty of Italian princes possessing any tradition either of glory or of important services rendered to the development of the nation, and commanding the affection and sympathy of the various states. Because our Italian tradition is essentially republican ; our great memories are republican ; the whole history of our national progress is re- publican ; whereas the introduction of monarchy amongst us was coeval with our decay, and con- 102 Life& Writings of Mazzini : summated our ruin by its constant servility to the foreigner, and antagonism to the people, as well as to the unity of the nation. Because, while the populations of the various Italian States would cheerfully unite in the name of a principle which could give no umbrage to local ambition, they would not willingly submit to be governed by a man — the offspring of one of those states ; and their several pretensions would necessarily tend to federalism. Because, if monarchy were once set up as the aim of the Italian insurrection, it would, by a logical necessity, draw along with it all the obligations of the monarchical system ; concessions to foreign courts ; trust in and respect for diplo- macy, and the repression of that popular element by which alone our salvation can be achieved ; and, by entrusting the supreme authority to monar- chists, whose interest it would be to betray us, we should infallibly ruin the insurrection. Because the characteristics successively assum- ed by the late Italian movements have proved our actual republican tendency. Because, before you can induce a whole people to rise, it is necessary to place before them an aim, appealing directly and in an intelligible manner to their own advantage, and their own rights. Because, doomed as we are to have all our governments opposed to the work of our regenera- Autobiographical & Political. 103 tion, both from cowardice and from system, we are compelled either to stand alone in the arena, or to appeal to the sympathy of the people by raising the banner of the people, and invoking their aid in the name of that principle which dominates every revolutionary manifestation in Europe at the present day. Young Italy is Unitarian — Because, without unity, there is no true nation. Because without unity, there is no real strength; and Italy, surrounded as she is by powerful, united, and jealous nations, has need of strength before all things. Because federalism, by reducing her to the political impotence of Switzerland, would neces- sarily place her under the influence of one of the neighbouring nations. Because federalism, by reviving the local rivalries now extinct, would throw Italy back upon the middle ages. Because federalism would divide the great national arena into a number of smaller arenae ; and, by thus opening a path for every paltry am- bition, become a source of aristocracy. Because federalism, by destroying the unity of the great Italian family, would strike at the root of the great mission Italy is destined to accom- plish towards humanity. Because Europe is undergoing a progressive io4 Life & Writings of Mazzini : scries of transformations, which are gradually and irresistibly guiding European society to form itself into vast and united masses. Because the entire work of internal civilization in Italy will be seen, if rightly studied, to have been tending for ages to the formation of unity. Because all the objections raised against the unitarian system do but apply, in fact, to a sys- tem of administrative centralization and despo- tism, which has really nothing in common with unity. National unity, as understood by Young Italy, does not imply the despotism of any, but the association and concord of all. The life inherent in each locality is sacred. Young Italy would have the administrative organization designed upon a broad basis of religious respect for the liberty of each commune, but the political organi- zation, destined to represent the nation in Europe, should be one and central. Without unity of religious belief, and unity of social pact ; without unity of civil, political, and penal legislation, there is no true nation. These principles, which are the basis of the association, and their immediate consequences, set forth in the publications of the association, form the creed of Young Italy ; and the society only admits as members those who accept and believe in this creed. Autobiographical & Politicai. 105 The minor applications of these principles, and the numerous secondary questions of political organization arising therefrom, are, and will con- tinue to be, the object of the society's most serious consideration. Upon these questions, to which it invites the earnest attention of its members, the society is ready to admit and examine every diversity of opinion. The association will publish articles from time to time upon each of the above-mentioned prin- ciples, and the more important questions arising from them, viewing them from the height of that law of progress which governs the life of humanity, and our national Italian tradition. The general principles held by the members of Young Italy, in common with men of other nations, and those herein indicated having special regard to Italy, will be evolved and popularly explained by the initiators to the initiated, and by the ini- tiated, as far as possible, to the generality of Italians. Both initiators and initiated must never forget that the moral application of every principle is the first and the most essential ; that without morality there is no true citizen ; that the first step towards the achievement of a holy enterprise is the purification of the soul by virtue ; that, where the daily life of the individual is not in har- io6 Life & Writings of Mazzini : mony with the principles he preaches, the inculca- tion of those principles is an infamous profanation and hypocrisy ; that it is only by virtue that the members of Young Italy can win over others to their belief ; that if we do not show ourselves far superior to those who deny our principles, we are but miserable sectarians ; and that Young Italy must be neither a sect nor a party, but a faith and an apostolate. As the precursors of Italian regeneration, it is our duty to lay the first stone of its religion. Scclioii 4. The means by which Young Italy proposes to reach its aim are — education and insurrection, to be adopted simultaneously, and made to har- monize with each other. Education must ever be directed to teach by l/~ example, word, and pen, the necessity of insurrec- tion. Insurrection, whenever it can be realised, must be so conducted as to render it a means of national education. Education, though of necessity secret in Italy, will be public out of Italy. The members of Young Italy will aid in collect- ing and maintaining a fund for the expenses of the printing and diffusion of the works of the association. Autobiographical & Political. 107 The mission of the Italian exiles is to consti- tute an apostolate. The instructions and intelligence indispensable as preparatory to action will be secret, both in Italy and abroad. The character of the insurrection must be national ; the programme of the insurrection must contain the germ of the programme of future Italian nationality. Wheresoever the initiative of insurrection shall take place, the flag raised, and the aim proposed, will be Italian. That aim being the formation of a nation, the insurrection will act in the name of the nation, and rely upon the people, hitherto neglected, for its support. That aim being the conquest of the whole of Italy, in whatever province the insur- rection may arise, its operations with regard to other provinces will be conducted on a principle of invasion and expansion the most energetic, and the broadest possible. Desirous of regaining for Italy her rightful influence among the peoples, and her true place in their sympathy and affection, the insurrection will so direct its action as to prove the identity of her cause with theirs. Convinced that Italy is strong enough to free herself without external help ; that, in order to found a nationality, it is necessary that the feel- ing and consciousness of nationality should exist; ioS Life& Writings of Mazzini : and that it can never be created by any revolution, however triumphant, if achieved by foreign arms ; convinced, moreover, that every insurrection that looks abroad for assistance, must remain depend- ent upon the state of things abroad, and can there- fore never be certain of victory ; — Young Italy is determined that while it will ever be ready to profit by the favourable course of events abroad, it will neither allow the character of the insurrection nor the choice of the moment to be governed by them. Young Italy is aware that revolutionary Europe awaits a signal, and that this signal may be given by Italy as well as by any other nation. It knows that the ground it proposes to tread is virgin soil; and the experiment untried. Foregone insurrec- tions have relied upon the forces supplied by one class alone, and not upon the strength of the whole nation. The one thing wanting to twenty millions of Italians, desirous of emancipating themselves, is not power, but faith. Young Italy will endeavour to inspire this faith, — first by its teachings, and afterwards by an energetic initiative. Young Italy draws a distinction between the period of insurrection, and that of revolution. The revolution begins as soon as the insurrection is triumphant. Autobiographical & Political. 109 Therefore, the period which may elapse be- tween the first initiative and the complete libera- tion of the Italian soil, will be governed by a provisional dictatorial power, concentrated in the hands of a small number of men. The soil once free, every authority will bow down before the National Council, the sole source of authority in the State. Insurrection — by means of guerrilla bands — is the true method of warfare for all nations desirous of emancipating themselves from a foreign yoke. This method of warfare supplies the want — in- evitable at the commencement of the insurrection — of a regular army ; it calls the greatest number of elements into the field, and yet may be sus- tained by the smallest number. It forms the military education of the people, and consecrates every foot of the native soil by the memory of some warlike deed. Guerrilla warfare opens a field of activity for every local capacity ; forces the enemy into an unaccustomed method of battle ; avoids the evil consequences of a great defeat ; secures the national war from the risk of treason, and has the advantage of not confining it within any defined and determinate basis of operations. It is invin- cible, indestructible. The regular army, recruited with all possible solicitude, and organized with all possible care, i io Life & Writings of Mazzini : will complete the work begun by the war of in- surrection. Aii the members of Young Italy will exert themselves to diffuse these principles of insurrec- tion. The association will clevelope them more fully in its writings, and explain from time to time the ideas and organization which should govern the period of insurrection. Section 5. All the members of Young Italy will pay into the treasury of the Society a monthly contribu- tion of 50 centimes. Those whose position en- ables them to do so will bind themselves to pay a monthly contribution of a larger amount. Section 6. The colours of Young Italy are white, red, and green. The banner of young Italy will display these colours, and bear on the one side the words — Liberty, Equality, Humatiity ; and on the other — Unity, hidependence. Section 7. Each member will, upon his initiation into the association of Young Italy, pronounce the follow- ing form of oath, in the presence of the initiator: — In the name of God and of Italy — Autobiographical & Political* 1 1 1 In_jthe_name x>f all the martyrs of the holy Italian cause who have fallen beneath foreign and domestic tyranny — By the duties which bind me to the land wherein God has placed me, and to the brothers whom God has given me — By the love — innate in all men — I bear to the country that gave my mother birth, and will be the home of my children — By the hatred — innate in all men — I bear to evil, injustice, usurpation, and arbitrary rule — By the blush that rises to my brow when I stand before the citizens of other lands, to know that I have no rights of citizenship, no country, and no national flag — By the aspiration that thrills my soul towards that liberty for which it was created, and is impo- tent to exert ; towards the good it was created to strive after, and is impotent to achieve in the silence and isolation of slavery — By the memory of our former greatness, and the sense of our present degradation — By the tears of Italian mothers for their sons dead on the scaffold, in prison, or in exile — By the sufferings of the millions — I, A. B.— Believing in the mission entrusted by God to Italy, and the duty of every Italian to strive to attempt its fulfilment — ii2 Life àf Writings of Mazzini : Convinced that where God has ordained that a nation shall be, he has given the requisite power to create it ; that the people are the depositaries of that power, and that in its right direction for the people, and by the people, lies the secret of victory — Convinced that virtue consists in action and sacrifice, and strength in union and constancy of purpose — I give my name to Young Italy, an association of men holding the same faith, and swear — To dedicate myself wholly and for ever to the endeavour with them to constitute Italy one free, independent, republica?t nation. To promote by every means in my power — whether by written or spoken word, or by action — the education of my Italian brothers towards the aim of Young Italy ; towards association, the sole means of its accomplishment, and to virtue, which alone can render the conquest lasting — To abstain from enrolling myself in any other association from this time forth — To obey all the instructions, in conformity with the spirit of Young Italy, given me by those who represent with me the union of my Italian brothers ; and to keep the secret of these instruc- tions, even at the cost of my life — To assist my brothers of the association both by action and counsel — Autobiographical àf Political. 1 1 3 NOW AND FOR EVER. This do I swear, invoking upon my head the wrath of God, the abhorrence of man, and the infamy of the perjurer, if I ever betray the whole or a part of this my oath. I was the first to take the oath. Many of those who swore it then or since, are now courtiers, busy members of moderate societies, timid servants of the Buonapartist policy, and persecutors or calumniators of their former brethren. They may hate me as one who recalls to them the faith they swore to and betrayed, but they cannot quote a single fact showing that I have ever been false to my oath. I believe in the sacredness of those principles, and in their future triumph, now as I did then. I have lived, I live, and I shall die, a Repub- lican, bearing witness to my faith to the last. Should they attempt to exculpate themselves by asserting that I too, in these later years, have striven and do strive to realise unity even under a monarchical flag, I have only to refer them to those lines in the statutes of Young Italy, which declare that the Association does not seek to substi- tute its own flag for the banner of the nation . . . When the Nation herself shall be free . . . she will proclaim her revered and unchallenged will, etc. etc. VOL. I. I ii4 Lifeg? Writings of Mazzini : The people of Italy are led astray by a delu- sion at the present day, a delusion which has induced them to substitute material unity for moral unity and their own regeneration. Not so I. I bow my head sorrowfully to the sovereignty of the national will, but monarchy will never number me among its servants or followers. The future will declare whether my faith is founded upon truth or no. Let the statutes in like manner serve as an answer to the hundreds of accusations cast upon me at a later period by spies like De la Hodde, or madmen like D'Arlincourt, and so frequently quoted with delight by writers of the moderate party who know them to be false. By suppressing the condemnations to death decreed by all anterior secret societies, and substi- tuting at the outset the theory of duty for the erroneous foreign theory of rights, as the basis of our labours ; by prefixing a definite programme as our supreme rule of action, and thus affording a test by which every member might try the instructions submitted to him ; by resolutely deny- ing the necessity of a foreign initiative, and declaring that the association, while maintaining inviolable secresy as to its labours towards insur- rection, would unfold and develop its principles by means of the press — I entirely separated the new brotherhood from all the old secret societies, Autobiographical & Political. 1 1 5 from their tyranny of invisible chiefs, ignoble blind obedience, empty symbolism, multiple hierarchy, and spirit of revenge. Young Italy closed the period of political sects, and initiated that of Educational Associations. It is true that afterwards7~when the rirst~period of our activity was concluded, several associations sprung up in Calabria and elsewhere, independent of the central association, which, while they assumed the then popular name of Young Italy, founded statutes in accordance with the special customs of their own province, or the personal tendency of their founders, in some respects differing from our own. But unless this occurred where circumstances forbade all contact with us, we always insisted upon their adopting our fundamental rules. And they who attempt to throw the responsibility oi such deviations upon us, resemble those anti- republicans who seek to render the republican principle responsible for the reign of terror in 1793, or those anti-monarchists who would render monarchy responsible for the assassinations of 1 8 1 5 in the south of France. Excesses have been com- mitted by all parties in every national movement, for which neither the parties themselves nor th? movement are rendered responsible by men of good faith. I placed myself at the head of the movement:, 1 1 6 Life£f Writings of Mazzini : because the conception being mine, it was natural that I should work it out, and because I knew myself possessed of the indefatigable activity and determination of will required to develope it, and regarded unity of direction as indispensable. But the programme which was destined to be the soul of the association was public, nor could I have deviated from it in the smallest degree without the other members being aware of my error and reproving me. Moreover I was sur- rounded by and accessible at all hours to members who were my personal friends, and ready freely to use the rights of friendship. It was in fact a fraternal collective work, in which the privilege of the director was that of incurring the largest share of the obloquy, opposi- tion, and persecution, that fell upon all. True to my idea of initiating our double mission, public and secret, educational and insur- rectional — whilst I laboured assiduously, as will be seen, in the formation of committees of the as- sociation throughout all Italy — I hastened to print the Manifesto of Young Italy, a scries of articles upon tJie political, moral, and literary position of Italy, with a view to her regeneration. .Pecuniary means we had none. I economised is far an 3 was possible upon the quarterly allowance sent rre ie by m y family. My friends were all exues without means. But we risked the attempt, Autobiographical & Political. 1 1 7 trusting in the future, and in the voluntary sub- scriptions that would reach us should our principles be accepted. The Manifesto was issued — if I remember rightly — about the end of 183 I. The first number of our journal followed shortly after. Manifesto of Young Italy. If we thought that a journal, issued by wander- ing exiled Italians, whom fate has cast among a foreign people, their hearts fed by rage and grief, and unconsoled save by a hope, was to prove but a barren expression of protest and lament, we should be silent. Too much time has hitherto been spent in words amongst us, too little in acts; and were we simply to regard the suggestions of our individual tendencies, silence would appear the fittest reply to undeserved calumny and overwhelming mis- fortune ; the silence of the indignant soul burning for the moment of solemn justification. But in consideration of the actual state of things, and the desire expressed by our Italian brothers, we feel it a duty to disregard our indi- vidual inclinations for the sake of the general good. We feel it urgent to speak out frankly and 1 1 8 Life& Writings of Mazzini: freely, and to address some words of severe truth to our fellow-countrymen, and to those peoples who have witnessed our misfortune. Great revolutions arc the work rather of principles than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, and afterwards in the material sphere. Bayonets are truly powerful only when they assert or maintain a right ; the rights and duties of society spring from a profound moral sense which has taken root in the majority. Blind brute force may create victors, victims, and martyrs; but tyranny results from its triumph, whether it crown the brow of prince or tribune, if achieved in an- tagonism to the will of the majority. Principles alone, when diffused and propagated amongst the peoples, manifest their right to liberty, and by creating the desire and need of it, invest mere force with the vigour and justice of law. Truth is one. The principles of which it is composed are multiple. The human intellect cannot embrace them all at one grasp, nor having comprehended them, can it organise and combine them all in one intelligible, limited, and absolute form. Men of great genius and large heart sow the seeds of a new degree of progress in the world, but they bear fruit only after many years, and through the labours of many men. Aìitobiographical ér* Political. 1 19 The education of humanity does not proceed by fits and starts. The beliefs of humanity are the result of a long and patient application of principles, the study of details, and the comparison of causes with facts and events. A journal therefore, a gradual, successive, and progressive labour of wide and vast proportions, the work of many men agreed in a definite aim, which rejects no fact, but observes them all in their true order and various bearings, tracing in each the action of the immutable first principles of things, appears to be the method of popular in- struction most in harmony with the impatient rapidity and multiplicity of events in our own day. In Italy, as in every country aspiring towards a new life, there is a clash of opposing elements, of passions assuming every variety of form, and of desires tending in fact towards one sole aim, but through modifications almost infinite. There are many men in Italy full of lofty and indignant hatred to the foreigner, who shout for liberty simply because it is the foreigner who withholds it. There are others, having at heart the union of Italy before all things, who would gladly unite her divided children under any strong will, whether of native or foreign tyrant. Others again, fearful of all violent commotions. I20 Life éf Writings of 'Mazzini : and doubtful of the possibility of suddenly sub- duing the shock of private interests, and the jealousies of different provinces, shrink from the idea of absolute union, and are ready to accept any new partition diminishing the number of sections into which the country is divided. Few appear to understand that a fatal necessity will impede all true progress in Italy, until every effort at emancipation shall proceed upon the three inseparable bases of unity, liberty, and independence. But the number of those who do understand it is daily increasing, and this conviction will rapidly absorb every other variety of opinion. Love of country, abhorrence of Austria, and a burning desire to throw off her yoke, are passions now universally diffused, and the compromises incul- cated by fear, or a mistaken notion of tactics and diplomacy, will be abandoned, and vanish before the majesty of the national will. In this respect, therefore, the question may be regarded as lying between tyranny driven to its last and most desperate struggle, and those resolved to bravely dare its overthrow. The question as to the means by which to reach our aim, and convert the insurrection into a lasting and fruitful victory, is by no means so simple. There is a class of men of civic ability and in- fluence who imagine that revolutions are to be Autobiographical & Political. 1 2 1 conducted with diplomatic caution and reserve, in- stead of the energy of an irrevocable faith and will. They admit our principles, but reject their conse- quences ; deplore extreme evils, yet shrink from extreme remedies, and would attempt to lead the peoples to liberty with the same cunning and arti- fice adopted by tyranny to enslave them. Born and educated at a time when the con- science of a free man was a thing almost unknown in Italy, they have no faith in the power of a people rising in the name of their rights, their past glories, their very existence. They have no faith in enthusiasm, nor indeed in aught beyond the calculations of that diplomacy by which we have a thousand times been bought and sold, and the foreign bayonets by which we have been a thou- sand times betrayed. They know nothing of the elements of re- generation that have been fermenting for the last half century in Italy, nor of that yearning after better things which is the heart's desire of our masses at the present day. They do not understand that, after many cen- turies of slavery, a nation can only be regenerated through virtue, or through death. They do not understand that twenty-six millions of men, strong in a good cause and an inflexible will, are invincible. They do not believe in the possibility of unit- 122 Life& Writings of Mazzini : ing them in a single aim and purpose. But have they ever earnestly attempted this ? Have they shown themselves ready to die for this ? Have they ever proclaimed an Italian crusade ? Have they ever taught the people that there is but one path to salvation ; that a movement made in their cause must be upheld and sustained by themselves ; that war is inevitable — desperate and determined war that knows no truce save in victory or the grave ? No ; they have either stood aloof, dismayed by the greatness of the enterprise, or advanced doubt- fully and timidly, as if the glorious path they trod were the path of illegality or crime. They deluded the people by teaching them to hope in the observance of principles deduced from the records of Congresses or Cabinets ; extin- guished the ardour of those ready for fruitful sacri- fice, by promises of foreign aid ; and wasted in inertia, or in discussions about laws they knew not how to defend, the time which should have been wholly devoted to energetic action or to battle. Afterwards, when deceived in their calculations and betrayed by diplomacy ; with the enemy at their gates, and terror in their hearts ; when the sole method of noble expiation left them was to die at their post — they shrank even from that, and fled. Now, they deny all power of faith in the nation — they who never sought to kindle it by example Autobiographical & Political. 123 — and scoff at the enthusiasm they extinguished by their cowardice and hesitation. Peace be with them, however, for their errors sprang from weakness rather than baseness ; but what right have they to assume the direction of an enterprise they are incapable of grasping or conceiving in its vastness and unity ? In the progress of revolutions, however, every error committed serves as a step towards truth. Late events have been a better lesson to the rising generation than whole volumes of theories, and we affirm that the events of 1821 have consummated and concluded the separation of Young Italy from the men of the past. Perhaps this last example, wherein the solemn oath sworn over the corpses of 7000 of their countrymen was converted into a compact of in- famy and delusion, was needed to convince the Italians that God and fortune protect the brave ; that victory lies at their sword's point, and not in artifices of protocols. Perhaps the lessons of ten centuries, and the dying curses of their vanquished fathers, were in- sufficient to convince the people that they may not look for liberty at the hands of the foreigner — perhaps the spectacle of the perjury of free men who had themselves arisen against a perjurer but six months before, as well as the miseries of exile, scorn, and persecution, were yet wanting. 124 Life & Writings of Mazzini : But now, in this nineteenth century, Italy does know that unity of enterprise is a condition with- out which there is no salvation ; that all true revolution is a declaration of war unto death between two principles — that the fate of Italy must be decided upon the plains of Lombardy, and that peace may only be signed beyond the Alps. Italy does know that there is no true war with- out the masses ; that the secret of raising the masses lies in the hands of those who show them- selves ready to fight and conquer at their head ; that new circumstances call for new men — men untrammelled by old habits and systems, with souls virgin of interest or greed, and in whom the Idea is incarnate ; that the secret of power is faith ; that true virtue is sacrifice, and true policy to be and to prove one's self strong. Young Italy knows these things. It feels the greatness of its mission, and will fulfil it. We swear it by the thousands of victims that have fallen during the last ten years to prove that per- secutions do not crush, but fortify conviction ; we swear it by the human soul that aspires to pro- gress ; by the youthful combatants of Rimini ; by the blood of the martyrs of Modena. There is a whole religion in that blood ; no power can exterminate the seed of liberty when it has germinated in the blood of brave men. Our Autobiographical & Political. 125 religion of to-day is still that of martyrdom ; to- morrow it will be the religion of victory. And for us, the young — for us who are be- lievers in the same creed — it is a duty to further the sacred cause by every means in our power. Since circumstances forbid us the use of arms, we will write. The ideas and aspirations now scattered and disseminated among our ranks require to be organ- ized and reduced to a system. This new and powerful element of life, which is urging young Italy towards her regeneration, has need of purifi- cation from every servile habit, from every un- worthy affection. And we, with the help of the Italians, will undertake this task, and strive to make ourselves the true interpreters of the various desires, suffer- ings, and aspirations that constitute the Italy of the nineteenth century. It is our intention to publish, within certain determinate forms and conditions, a series of writings tending towards the aim, and governed by the principles we have indicated. We shall not abstain from philosophical or literary subjects. Unity is intellect's first law. The reformation of a people rests upon no sure foundation unless based upon agreement in religious belief, and upon the harmonious union of the complex sum of human faculties, and the 126 Life& Writings of Mazzini : office of literature, when viewed as a moral priest- hood, is to give form and expression to the principles of truth ; as such, it is a powerful engine of civilisation. Italy being our chief object, we shall not en- large upon foreign politics or events in Europe, except in so far as may promote the education of the Italians, or tend to heap infamy upon the oppressors of mankind, and to strengthen and draw closer those bonds of sympathy which should bind the freemen of all nations in one sole brother- hood of hope and action. There is a voice that cries unto us : The religion of humanity is love. Wheresoever two hearts throb to the same impulse, wheresoever two souls commune in virtue, there is a country. Nor will we deny the noblest aspiration of our epoch, the aspiration towards the universal association of good men. But the blood still flowing from the wounds caused by trust in the foreigner must not too soon be forgotten. The last cry of the betrayed yet interposes between us and the nations by which we have been sold, neglected, or despised. Pardon is the virtue of victory. Love demands equality, both of power and esteem. While we repudiate alike the assistance and the pity of foreign nations, we shall aid in en- lightening the European mind, by showing the Autobiographical & Political. 127 Italians as they really are ; neither blind, nor cowardly, but unfortunate ; and by so doing lay the foundations of future friendship upon mutual esteem. Italy is not known. Vanity, thoughtlessness, and the necessity of seeking excuses for crimes committed towards her, have all contributed to misrepresent facts, passions, habits, and customs. We will uncover our wounds, and show to foreign nations our blood flowing as the price of that peace for which we have been sacrificed by the fears of diplomatists ; we will declare the duties of other nations towards us, and unveil the falsehoods by which we have been overcome. We will drag forth from the prisons and the darkness of despotism, documentary evidence of our wrongs, our sorrows, and our virtues. We will descend into the dust of our sepulchres, and display the bones of our martyrs and the names of our unknown great in the eyes of foreign nations ; mute witnesses of our sufferings, our constancy, and their guilty indifference. A cry of fearful anguish goes up from those ruins upon which Europe gazes in cold indifference, forgetful that they have twice shed the light of liberty and civilization upon her. We have given ear unto that cry, and we will repeat it to Europe until she learn the greatness of the wrong done ; we will say unto the peoples, 128 Lifeàf Writings of Mazzini : such are the souls you have bought and sold ; such is the land you have condemned to isolation and eternal slavery ! The first articles written by Mazzini in the journal "Young Italy," entitled, Of Young Italy, Romagna, La Voce della Verità, being of in- terest either exclusively Italian or temporary, are not of a nature to interest the English reader. After these follow two long and elaborate arti- cles, Upon the causes which have hitherto impeded the development of liberty in Italy. They contain a careful review of the causes of the failure of the various insurrections which had taken place during the twenty years preceding the commencement of Mazzini's political career , failures which he attri- butes to the errors and incapacity of the leaders, not to any want of bravery or patriotism in the people. The tendency of these insurrections was always national at the outset ; the instinct of the people prompted them in every instance to raise the Italian banner, and to aspire, if not to unity, at least to the union of all the states into which the common country was divided into an Italian league to drive the foreigner from their native soil. The fault was throughout in the misdirection of the popular movements. Men strong in faith and power of sacrifice were wanting. The leaders were incapable of interpreting the inarticulate Autobiographical & Po liticai. 129 aspiration of the multitude, of incarnating it in themselves, and daring death for its realisation. They had ever been deficient in daring, and had no faith either in themselves or in the people. This led them to put their trust in foreign powers and in diplomacy, by which they had been inva- riably abandoned or betrayed. The consequence of the failure of so many insurrections so nobly and heroically begun, had been a sense of discouragement and despair, which had taken possession of the Italian mind, and pro- duced that inertia from which it was the duty of all believers in the great mission assigned by God to Italy to endeavour to rouse their countrymen at every cost. The leaders of the revolution to come must put their trust in the nation, and call the people to arms, remembering that the secret of revolutionary success lies in attack. Insurrection and war are synonymous in a country governed by foreign bayonets ; and since war cannot be avoided, it should be begun in such wise as to render peace or truce impossible till the Italian soil is free. " Beware that if the first beat of the drum be not echoed by the tocsin from our steeples, if the pitched battle be not aided by the barricade, you will fail." Another cause of failure is shown to be the want of all fixed and organised belief in the VOL. 1. K 130 Life & Writings of Mazzini : leaders. " To overthrow the present state of things — to burst asunder the chains that bind the nation — in this all agree. But beyond this point the)- stop short, hesitating and uncertain, as if their mission were ended." ..... " This rage tor destruction, without attempting to found or build up ; this death-cry raised against the present, without a single word being uttered to announce the life of the future ; this inconstancy of doctrine and of ruling purpose, which has so often exposei.1 the men of liberty to be stigmat- i ed as anarchists, is one of the characteristics of our century — a century of transition, of struggle, and of warfare between the elements constituting society." But it is the solemn duty of those who break the chains of humanity, and bid it advance, to illumine its onward path. " We stand between ast and the future : and if we would aid the i lopment of civilization, we must lay the foundations of the las: with the ruins of the first," '• If we would em of men, it is our solemn duty to lead them, like M ses ithin s ght of the] en though it be our it in ::d from epoch of the epoch of cmnipotent upon Autobiographical & Political. 1 3 1 the earth he treads. " Revolutions must be made by the people, and for the people. This is our Word ; it sums up our whole doctrine ; it is our science, our religion, our heart's affection. It is the secret of our every thought and act, the pur- pose of our watches, the dream of our nights. . . . "The history of the progressive development of the popular element throughout eighteen centuries of warfare and vicissitude has yet to be written ; and he who should write it worthily would reduce the European enigma to its most simple expression, and cause humanity to ascend a step on the scale of progress, by revealing the true meaning of the strife which has hitherto held its generations divided, and will continue to divide them so long as the men of liberty persist in departing from the true line of policy, in search of systems of compro- mise and impossible conciliation." " The war betzveen the individual and the universal, bctzveen the fractionary and the uni- tarian system, between PRIVILEGE and the PEOPLE, is the soul of all revolutions, the formula of the history of eighteen centuries. " Dominion and servitude, the Patrician and Plebeian, aristocracy and the people, feudality and Catholicism in the early days of the Church, and Catholicism and the Reformation in her later days, despotism and liberty — all are but different aspects of the one great contest, various expressions of the 132 Life & Writings of Mazzini: two opposing principles which still strive for the dominion of the universe — Privilege and the People. "But privilege is in its last agonies at the present day; while the people have ever maintained a progressive and ascending movement, until, hav- ing found their symbol in the convention, they stood erect in the presence of their Creator, solemnly bore witness to His existence, and deriving, like Moses, the tablet of their rights and duties from Him, reduced the universe to the two terms — God and the People. " God and the People ! such is the programme of the future. " God and the People ! such also is our pro- gramme ; and we will maintain it with all the energy and courage a deep-rooted conviction can give. "But if we raise the cry of War to the foreigner, without inscribing any word expressive of the rights, regeneration, and the civil and material advantage of the masses on the reverse of our flag, will the masses be with us ? " Let us beware of seeking to found our future upon an illusion. " Whole nations do not rise to battle at the present day at the mere sight of a flag of war. The people are groaning beneath oppression ; trampled under foot and impoverished by tyranny; A utobiographical & Political. 1 3 3 and against tyranny they are ready to rise. But all tyranny is odious, whether foreign or domestic. " The masses understand the word liberty better than they do that of independence. Moreover, while the Austrian uniform is abhorred by the Lombard, because the substance, gold, and men of Lombardy are drawn to swell the granaries, treasury, and armies of Austria ; the Genoese, Piedmontese, Tuscan, or Neapolitan, feels no Austrian yoke upon his neck. The baton of Mettermeli does in fact govern and direct all the petty tyrants of Italy; but that is a cabinet secret, and the masses know nothing of cabinets. " The Barbarian for the mass of the people is he who imposes a tax upon the light that shines above him, and upon the air he breathes ; the barbarian is the custom-house officer who impedes his freedom of commerce and traffic ; the barbarian is he who insolently violates his individual liberty ; the barbarian is the spy who watches over him even in the hours when he seeks forgetfulness from the misery that surrounds him. " In the thousand oppressions, the endless vexa- tions, and the relentless scorn of an insolent power and an abhorred aristocracy, lie the griefs of our masses ; and they who would rouse the people to action must speak to them of these. 134 Life& Writings of Mazzini: After indicating the moral and material advan- tages to be unfolded to the people as the result of national independence and liberty, Mazzini con- tinues : " Then, tell them of our great memories ; speak to them of I 746, of Massaniello. Tell them of the battles of Paris, Brussels, and Warsaw ; of their barricades, pikes, and scythes. Say to them, ' It rests with you to emulate these deeds, and arise in giant strength. God will be with you ; God is with the oppressed ! ' And when you see a gleam of light illumine the brow, and hear the beating of the great heart of the people throbbing like the pulse of the sea, then rush to the van, point to the plains of Lombardy, and say : ' There stand the men who perpetuate your slavery? Show them the Alps, and cry, ' These are oicr true frontier — War to Austria /' " The People ! the People ! We return to the old Italian cry. It is the cry of the age, the cry of the millions eager to advance — the cry of the new epoch that gains upon us apace. " All hail to the people ! for they are the elect of God, chosen by him to fulfil his law of uni- versal love, association, and emancipation." The tendency of this doctrine that the future revolution must be made by the people, and for the people, is directly republican. The adoption of the formula, God and the People, as the programme of the society of Young Italy, also clearly indicates Autobiographical & Political. 1 3 5 that the social mission undertaken by that associa- tion will be the republican education of the Italian people. Mazzini frankly avows his belief that the unity and independence of Italy can only be per- manently assured under a republican form of government. He quotes the words uttered by Napoleon at St. Helena ; In forty years Europe will be either Republican or Cossack ; and believes that the pro- gress of the popular element in Europe is gradually tending to the verification — of course after a more lengthened period than that named by the Emperor — of the prophecy. Europe has tried every possible form of monarchy without finding rest in any : the mon- archy of right divine ; monarchy by the right of the strongest ; and monarchy, as it has been called, by the right of the people. Louis XIV. summed up and exhausted the first, and Charles X., who endeavoured to revive the dead formula, only escaped losing his head upon the scaffold, from the fact that the times had become milder, and the nation more secure of her own strength. Napoleon exhausted and con- sumed the second, and the experiment of consti- tutional monarchy in France has proved it capable neither of retrogression nor advance. The example of England alone has caused the constitutional form of government to be viewed 136 Life of Writings of Mazzini: with favour by other nations ; but there were special positive and practical reasons — which Mazzini enumerates at some length— rendering that form of government suitable to her, as there are special, positive, and practical reasons render- ing it unsuitable to Italy. There is not a single one of her petty tyrant princes able to unite the suffrages of twenty-six millions of Italians, divided and dismembered for ages, and crush out the old leaven of that provincial spirit not yet extinct, and which, if rekindled, would become a source of extreme danger to unity. " There is not one of these princes who has not signed a compact with Austria in the blood of his subjects. Not one whose past life is not a violent and insurmountable barrier between him and the future of his people." But every difference, every jealousy between province and province, would disappear before the enthronement of a great principle. " A principle is common to all ; its triumph is the triumph of all ; the consent it represents is the consent of all, and can excite no jealously and no rivalry ; but a man, sprung from one sole province, though sustained perhaps by the vanity if not by the affection of that province, would be abhorred in every other." Moreover, the Italian people is both by tradì- Autobiographical & Political. 137 tion and by instinct, republican. Royalty is only known to the Italian people by their terrible experience of regal proscriptions — those of old in Naples ; of still later date in Piedmont and Lom- bards; those of central Italy, ordered by the Duke and Canosa ; and those still more atrocious of Cesena and Forlì, executed by papal bravos, in the name of the Pope, and under the papal blessing. But the word republic sounds to the Italian people as the definition of their rights and the programme of liberal institutions. There is a con- fused memory in the people that in the days when they were prosperous at home and powerful abroad, the word republic was inscribed upon their banner. Mazzini accounts for the fear and repugnance which the word republic too frequently inspires, by the horrible excesses of the reign of terror in France, during what was not in fact a republic, but the attempt to create one — a republican war. They tremble at the name, not at the thing. If they would calmly consider the conditions of this form of government, few would refuse to accept them. " A Republic {respublica, or the thing of the people) is the national government in the hands of the nation itself. " It is a government by laws which are the true expression of the national will, in which the sovereignty of the nation is recognised as the ijS Life & Writings of Mazzini: ruling principle of every act, the centre and source of all power. " It is a state unity in which every interest Js represented according to its numerical strength ; in which, all privilege is denied by law, and the merit or demerit of the act is the sole rule., by which rewards or punishments are dealt out ; '-in which all taxes, imposts, tributes, and every restriction upon art or industry are reduced to the minimum amount, because the-Vtexpenses, exigencies, and numbers of the administrators of the government are upon the most economical scale possible ; in which the' tendency of the institutions is chiefly towards the benefit of the most numerous and poorest class ; in which the principle of association is evermore developed, and the path of indefinite progress laid open by the general diffusion of in- struction, and the abolition of every stationary element, and every form of immobility ; finally, in which the entire society, united in strong, calm, happy, and solemn concord, shall be even as a temple erected upon this earth to virtue, liberty, progressive civilization, and the moral law ; over the portals of which temple will be inscribed — The People to their God." The next articles written by Mazzini in Young Italy are a few lines, entitled Persecuzione, upon some of the atrocities of the Neapolitan Govern- A utobiographical & Political. 1 3 9 ment ; and Thoughts, addressed to the Poets of the nineteenth century, bearing an epigraph taken from Lord Byron's Journal, " What is poetry? The consciousness of a past world, and a world to come." The article is suggested by the death of the Duke of Reichstadt, and the silence of the poets of the day upon that event — although the brief life of that prince presents two moments of sub- lime poetry thus sketched by the author : — "It was the 20th of March 181 1, and Paris awakened to the sound of the cannon. "Paris in those days was an idea, a name, a man. " The banner of France was a name ; the minds of men were ruled by a name, which had taken root in the heart of the people, to whom it was synonymous with honour and glory. The multitude that thronged the streets were burning with impatience, agitated by desire and hope. " They listened eagerly, counting the guns as if the destinies of the whole nation hung upon the last; and when that last — the hundred-and-first — had boomed upon the ear of the expectant people, it was followed by an universal shout of applause and exultation — " Glory to the elect of Victory ! Joy and repose to France ! A son is bom unto her chief! " And he, the Chief, stood by the side of that cradle, hailed and saluted by millions of men, radiant and crlorified as after one of his great 140 Life & Writings of Mazzini : victories ; triumphing in spirit over the future, as he had triumphed in battle over the present. " One-and-twenty years had elapsed. It was the 2d of July 1832. " A youth, dressed in the Austrian uniform, upon whose brow were traced the lines of deep thought, and the torment of an idea, lay dying at Schcenbrun, worn out and crushed by the weight of a name that might not be borne in base rest with impunity. " A world was in the brain of the dying man, but around him all was solitude. They who watched his last sigh spoke not his country's language. The banner that waved before his eyes was not that which had floated in triumph at his father's bidding, even over the land where he expired. " It was the infant of the 20th of March ; the child born to empire, now neglected and a prisoner; he whose first cry had been hailed by millions. The reflex of a glory that will not die was upon him ; but its gleam was sad, pale, and silent as the memory of an irrevocable past. The dying man was chilled by that ray. Visions of the future — of fame, of empire, of crowns lost and won — rushed tumultuously upon his brain at that solemn moment, only to sink again a burning weight upon his heart. " No consolation from without, no echo to the A iitobiographical & Political. 1 4 1 war-cry which burst in delirium from his lips. The son of the powerful and great died unknown ; and the last rays of the epoch his father had con- sumed were extinguished with him. "Those were two moments of sublime poetry, comprehending and summing up two poetic epochs. " The first the poetry of action, sensation, and joy, glorious and brilliant in power and life as the noonday sun ; the other, the poetry of inward meditation, grave, sad, and silent as the sun that sets. The poetry of confidence and victory, and the poetry of ruin ; the poetry of the present, and the poetry of the past ; a ray of the glory of Marengo, the Pyramids, Wagram, and Austerlitz ; and the memory of Moscow, Waterloo, and St. Helena ; the hymn, and the elegy ; the poetry of life, and the poetry of death. " Why this indifference of the peoples to the death of the sole representative of a system the banner of which had been followed by all Europe ? Why this silence of the poets upon the vanishing of this star, upon the disappearance of a great idea taking flight from the world for ever ? Wherefore this indifference to the loss of this type of in- dividual greatness before which two centuries for an instant bowed down ? " The greatest living French poet was unable 142 Life & Writings of Mazzini: to string together two really poetical ideas upon this subject. Journalists looked about them to see if they could make political capital of this death. They did their best to curse and lament, but they only succeeded in being cold and mediocre. Their lines showed no vestige of reat passion, no sign even of the remembrance of power- ful enthusiasm, or genuine grief. Perhaps the only feeling really revealed in their writings is one of wonder to find that they are not moved as they expected to be. " Only one-and-twenty years divided that cradle and that tomb. " But those few years had witnessed events for which in former times the lapse of a century would have been insufficient. " One year after the first date saw the flight from Russia, and a year later the reaction of the popular element began in Germany. The next saw Napoleon at Elba. Then came the miraculous return, the throne raised up again through the favour of the trusting multitudes, to be abandoned at the first news of fresh delusions. Then came Waterloo and St. Helena. After these the Spanish revolution, the insurrection of Greece, the Italian insurrections, the three days of Paris, the days of Brussels and of Warsaw ; dynasties cast down ; kings wandering exiles throughout Europe ; the aristocratic principle struck to the heart even in Autobiographical cf Political. 143 England, and the revolutionary ferment penetrat- ing into Germany. " And poets were silent over the sepulchre of young Napoleon, because they felt within them that it behoved them to strike new chords, because the flood of events in those one-and-twenty years had overwhelmed all individual names, and ideas of mere conquest and glory ; because the epoch of individuality had been replaced by the epoch of the peoples, the era of principles, the sovereignty of right. " Poets were silent, because when generations descend into the arena, individuals disappear; because the past and present henceforth are naught, the future is everything — the threatening, persistant sublime future — object of every thought, desire of every heart ; the future, rapid, vast, and powerful both to destroy and create ; advancing moment by moment like mountain lava, arousing extinct peoples, uniting divided races, proceeding by masses, and making individuals the mere stepping-stones to their ascent. " This future is Humanity. " The world of individuality, the world of the middle ages, is exhausted and consumed. The modern era, the social world, is now in the dawn of its development. And genius is possessed by the consciousness of this cornino; world. 144 Life& Writings of Mazzini: " Napoleon and Byron represented, summed up, and concluded the epoch of individuality. The one, monarch of the kingdom of battle ; the other, monarch of the realm of imagination. The poetry of action and the poetry of thought " To see the first scouring Europe with the code in one hand, and the sword in the other ; disregarding or crushing the differences between the peoples, and imposing the same reforms and the same chains on each ; transforming the poli- tical condition of each, and fusing them all into a new unity ; one might fancy him a man inspired by the genius of civilization to become the uncon- scious apostle of European equality, the preparer of the future, as he was the Attila of the past. " One might fancy that, in order securely to lay the foundations of the epoch of association, it was necessary that the peoples should be pre- viously constrained into an enforced unity ; and that he had been destined to initiate a new grade of civilization by teaching the peoples that even as they had borne a common slavery, so were the)' destined to tread together a common path of liberty and emancipation. .... " The time came when the peoples began to feel their strength, when Europe comprehended that she could advance alone. . . . The mission of Napoleon was at an end on the day when the mission of the peoples began. .... Autobiographical £? Political. 145 " Then began his defeats — the velocity of his decline and downfall, more rapid and tremendous even than the ascent had been. It was as if he had been doomed suddenly to vanish, in order to re- move an obstacle to the movement of the genera- tions. " He withdrew to consume himself away in the midst of the Atlantic, as if the individual principle symbolized in him had been condemned to with- draw from Europe to make room for the invading popular principle in its advance. " The second, the Napoleon of poetry 7 , arose at the same time. Created by nature deeply to feel and identify himself with the first sublime image offered to his sight, he gazed around upon the world, and found it not. " Religion was no more. An altar was yet standing, but broken and profaned ; a temple silent and destitute of all noble and elevating emotion, and converted into the fortress of despotism ; in it a neglected cross. Around him a world given up to materialism, which had descended from the ranks of philosophical opinion to the mud of prac- tical egotism, and the relics of a superstition which had become deformed and ridiculous, since the pro- gress of civilization had forbidden it to be cruel. " Cant was all that was left in England, frivolity in France, and inertia in Italy. " No generous sympathy, no pure enthusiasm ; VOL. I. L 146 Life & Writings of Mazzini : liberty a divinity proscribed, and only worshipped in secret by a few great souls. No religion, no earnest desire, no aspiration visible in the masses. " Whence could the soul of Byron draw inspira- tion ? where find a symbol for the immense poetry that burned within him ? " Despairing of the world around him, he took refuge in his own heart, and dived into the inmost depths of his own soul. In it, indeed, was a whole world, a volcano, a chaos of raging and tumultuous passions ; a cry of war against society, such as tyranny had made it ; against religion, such as the Pope and the craft of priests had made it ; and against mankind as he saw them, isolated, degraded, and deformed. He hearkened to the cry of his soul, and hurled it forth, a malediction against crea- tion, repeated in a thousand tones, hut ever with the same intensity and energy. " The result was a form of poetry purely indi- vidual, all of individual sensation and images ; a poetry having no basis in humanity, nor in any universal faith ; a poetry over which, with all its infinity of accessories drawn from nature and the material world, there broods the image of Prome- theus, bound down to earth, and cursing the earth ; an image of individual will striving to substitute itself by violence for the universal will, and universal right. . . . " Napoleon fell. Byron fell. The tombs of St. Autobiographical cjf Political. 147 Helena and Missolungi contain the relics of an entire world. After Napoleon, who shall attempt an European despotism, seek to dominate the peoples by conquest, and substitute his own for the idea of civilization ? After Byron — after his "Corsair," "Lara," and "Manfred" — who, without servile imitation, may attempt the creation of special individual types, separate and distinct from the social world around them ? . . " Adieu to Napoleon— adieu to his strong and unique will, to his domination over the nations, to his capacity of concentration, to the power of that nod, which, like a sign from the antique Jove, roused millions of men to action. Adieu to his military despotism, and the glory of the battle-field unsanctified by an idea of civil welfare ; adieu to the worship of names. The time is coming when the peoples shall live their own life. The sole idea now fruitful and powerful in Europe, is the idea of national liberty ; the worship of principle has begun. " Adieu to Byron — adieu to his titanic images, to his types of individuality at strife with pursuing Fate, to his sublime but blasphemous cry that the world is a desert, humanity condemned to wither in dust and ashes, sorrow and suffering the law of the universe. " The world is no desert ; a word of liberty has peopled it with warriors, the new epoch slowly but 148 Life & Writings of Mazzini : triumphantly reveals itself to the poetic eye ; sor- row and suffering will long remain — will ever be the destiny, the element of individuals — but they will not ever be borne in useless and blasphemous soli- tude. The individual to whom life is a curse may at least lose it nobly in the battles of country and liberty; and humanity will arise in greater grandeur and solemnity from the tombs of those who, half a century ago, might have died suicides, and now die martyrs. " The life of the peoples, and the hymn of the martyr, — such are the two elements of all poetry that aspires to live beyond the day." " An opinion has lately arisen in France, and thence been spread abroad, that poetry is extinct ; that fancy, imagination, and enthusiasm all are dead ; and that prose, political calculation, and questions of mere material interest, have penetrated and invaded all things. This opinion has been echoed by an entire intellectual school ; a cry of woe has gone forth, denying alike hope, principle, and morality. " This school groans over the universe, murmurs a death-song among ruins, and calls the living to Heaven, to Heaven ! as if all moral and material beauty had fled the earth ; as if mankind had no other duty left than that of preparing for death. " In reading these writers, a feeling of desolation Autobiographical & Political. 149 is instilled into the heart, a sense of the cold breath of the tomb, a bitterness against all human things, a delusion so deeply felt as to render the soul barren, and condemn it to inertia. The Despair and die of Shakespeare appears to be the motto of this school, which was created and nourished by- some ten verses of Byron ; and which, though at one period romantic, revolutionary, and useful, has now become retrograde, and noxious both to litera- ture and civilization. . . . " In their most apparently religious pages there yet lurks a scepticism, a desolating sense of doubt. You feel that a blasphemy is trembling upon the lip that murmurs a prayer. There is no religion : it is a moral anarchy, uncertainty, and distrust, as of men wandering in a void themselves have created. " For us, who have faith in the destinies of humanity, who believe in the duty of sacrifice, and the noble mission of man ; in a religion whose centre is the fatherland, and whose circumference embraces the whole earth ; a religion, the three terms of which are liberty, equality, humanity — there is poetry in every epoch. There is poetry in every land wherein a cry is uttered protesting against violated rights ; where the groan of the oppressed is not impotent and unheard ; where martyrdom numbers its apostles, and liberty her soldiers. Poetry exists in all things ; it is the solar 150 Lifc^ Writings of Mazzini : ray that shines upon and mingles with every object, it is the power of harmony that lies dormant in the harp, until touched by an awakening hand. " There is an element of poetry in every human heart, if the breath of generous passion do but awaken it ; and certainly it is not in an epoch of transition, like our own, that such inspiration will fail. " But poetry advances with the age, and with the progress of events. Poetry is life, motion, the central fire of action, the star that illumines the path of the future, the column of fire leading the advance of the peoples across the desert. Poetry is enthusiasm, with wings of fire ; it is the angel of high thoughts, that inspires us with the power of sacrifice No, poetry is not dead; poetry is immortal as the eternal springs of love and liberty whence it draws its inspiration Poetry has forsaken ancient Europe to animate the young and lovely Europe of the peoples. It has fled like the swallow from the crumbling edifice, its former home, in search of a brighter world and purer sky. It has abandoned the solitary regal throne for the vast arena of the peoples, for the ranks of the martyrs for their country, for the scaffold of the citizen, for the prison of the hero betrayed. " The poetry of the modern era shone upon the republican armies of the Convention, when, spite of internal strife, spite of terror, spite of poverty, no Autobiographical & Political. 1 5 1 less than fourteen armies rushed barefooted and in ragged uniform to the frontier, with the cry of liberty upon their lips ; their sole earthly possession their country's cockade upon their caps, their bayonets, and their invincible faith. " The poetry of the modern era has joined the guerrilleros of Spain, inspiring with its own enthu- siasm those mountaineers whose constancy van- quished the flower of Napoleon's army ; it sounded from hill to hill in the songs that roused the men of the people against their foreign oppressors. " The poetry of the modern era overflowed all Germany, assuming the form and sanctity of a re- ligion amid those bands of students. who gladly abandoned their universities and their homes for the camp, and marched to battle to the songs of Korner and of Arndt. " Think you that a poetry inaugurated by deeds such as these at its birth can expire ere it has reached maturity ? Would you compare the poor pale poetry of the individual — a poetry of externals, a poetry that lives and dies within the narrow circle of a palace, a chapel, or an ancient house — to this grand social poetry, solemn, calm, and faithful ; re- cognizing God alone in heaven, and the people on earth ? "What ! shall the poets of the nineteenth century sing the Duke of Reichstadt, or the child Bordeaux ; 152 Life& Writings of Mazzini: and none arise to sing Poland, that sacred and sub- lime Poland, whose groans are echoing along the path to Siberia ? " Have they no hymn for the thousands of exiles who, as if impelled by fate to an European Con- gress, have met to join hands in France, and lay the foundations of the future alliance of the peoples in the common sorrow ? " This yearning of the human mind towards an indefinite progress ; this force that urges the gene- rations onwards towards the future ; this impulse of universal association ; this banner of young Europe waving on every side ; this varied, multi- form, endless warfare everywhere going on against tyranny ; this cry of the nations arising from the dust to reclaim their rights, and call their rulers to account for the injustice and oppression of ages ; this crumbling of ancient dynasties at the breath of the people ; this anathema upon old creeds ; this restless search after new ; this youthful Europe springing from the old, like the moth from the chrysalis ; this glowing life arising in the midst of death, this world in resurrection ; — is not this poetry ? " It may be that to-morrow a new genius will arise radiant in hope and faith, serene as the future that awaits the human race, ardent as the thirst for AutobiograpJiical & Political. 153 action that urges the generations onward, to sing the canticle of humanity, the hymn of resurrec- tion, the holy names of love, liberty, and progress. And then will poetry, the consciousness of a world to come, enter upon its third period, the loveliest and vastest ; because in it will be harmonized the ruling principles of things, landmarks in the progress of intellect : God — Man — Humanity. " Poets, brethren of the eagle, why look behind ? . . . Look around and before you. An European people awaits you. . . . Look on high, and be the prophets of the future. . . . Above all things, look to the future, and to the people. . . . " Poets, fellow-countrymen, prepare for us the song of battle ; and may it long survive the youths who will sound it in the face of the Austrian." After the Thoughts addressed to the Poets of the Nineteenth Century, Mazzini's next publications in the Journal Young Italy were Guerrazzi's Oration upon Cosimo Delfantc, accompanied by a few pages of preface, and several short articles entitled, On the Brotherhood of the Peoples ; The German Tribune; The Alliance of the Pre neh and Gervian Peoples ; Young Italy to the People of Germany and the L iberals of France. These were followed by a correspondence be- tween himself and Sismondi — published at the sug- gestion of the historian — to whom Mazzini had 154 Life& Writings of Mazzini. written, sending him the first numbers of his jour- nal, and requesting his co-operation. Sismondi answered, expressing great interest in the undertaking, suggesting certain subjects he con- sidered it desirable to treat, and promising to con- tribute ; only requiring, before giving his name, two things to be guaranteed by the editor — 1st, That the journal should not assume an attitude of hos- tility to the government of the country wherein its writers had found an asylum ; and 2d, That none of the doctrines promulgated should be such as to wound the religious sentiment of the peoples. Mazzini replied that it was not their intention to occupy themselves with the French political questions of the day, and adds : " I promise you that we shall not attack the religious sentiment of the peoples. Blessed with that sentiment myself, I believe that the attempt to destroy it would be to sow the seeds of anarchy, by depriving mankind of all unity, of all faith in one sole principle, and all consciousness of a common origin and aim." In his second letter Sismondi undertakes to write for the journal — declares himself a republican in prin- ciple, and especially a republican as regards Italy. He afterwards forwarded a long article against the principle of universal suffrage, which Mazzini did not consider it judicious to publish, and which appeared to him " inconsistent with Sismondi's pro- fessed preference for the republican form of go- Autobiographical & Political. 1 5 5 vernment, of which the suffrage of all the citizens is an elementary basis. As Sismondi himself had said in one of his letters, we republicans might be compelled to bow to facts and opinions not of our own creation, and accept — from reverence to the idea of unity — a more restricted form of liberty. But no one could foresee any probability of such facts at that day, and to theorize about their pos- sibility appeared to me worse than useless." Mazzini's next article, The Writers of" Young Italy" to their Fellow- Countrymen, bears the epigraph — " Ora e sempre, Fais ce que dot's, advienne que pour r a" In it he reviews and answers the various objec- tions raised against " Young Italy" by other parties, declares the principles that govern the labours of the association, and the motives that guide them in their choice of means. " Friends and enemies, we desire to know and to be known by them all." Young Italy has, he says, been accused of having, by the adoption of the denominations Old and Young Italy, divided the country into two camps, and separated two elements, which, had they worked together, might have been the salvation of Italy ; but which, while divided, will create new in- ternal dissensions. Young Italy has also been accused of endanger- ing the Italian cause by offering alliance with 156 Life & Writings of Mazzini : foreign peoples, and of running after the illusion of an European future, instead of confining itself ex- clusively to the practical Italian question. The association should abandon all discussion of ab- stract principles, and occupy itself exclusively with the actual material and positive interests of the country. All the rest may better be postponed, to be discussed when once the independence of Italy from foreign rule shall have been accomplished. 1' In answering these objections, Mazzini declares that, if there be rational reason to believe the asso- ciation capable of serving the material and practical interests of the country, it is precisely because its labours are governed and directed by a doctrine susceptible of application to the entire series of national political phenomena, and derived from one sole ruling principle. M " Unity is the law of the physical as well as of the moral world Where there exists no authority derived from a ruling rational principle, to which all the accidents and occurrences of social life maybe referred, a conflict of individual opinions is sure to arise, in which force will of necessity be- come the sole arbitrator, and the path to despotism arili thus be thrown open The natural impulse of every social body is to harmonize the various forces of which it is composed. All strife or dissonance between these forces is an indication of disease. Autobiographical £f Political. 157 " Every revolution is an attempt to co-ordinate the springs of social progress, an attempt to obtain recognition for an hitherto neglected element, and to procure for that element its rightful place in the constitution of the power that governs the national edifice. " Now this impulse towards harmony, and the creation of a system, are one and the same thing. " A principle, its legitimate consequences, and their exact application to a given aim, are the com- ponent parts of a doctrine." The members of "Young Italy" believe that " every man really desirous of promoting the work of emancipation is bound to study the elements of emancipation already existing, the method of appli- cation adapted to turn them to the best account, and the grounds upon which to establish the new political edifice." " Merely to shout liberty, without reflecting what it is intended the word should imply, is the instinct of the oppressed slave — no more. " It is impossible to realise a great aim by con- fining ourselves to a vague sentiment of reaction, and an indefinite idea of war against every obstacle in our way. Liberty thus understood will lead us to martyrdom, not victory. " We are unwilling to worship a hidden and 158 Life& Writings of Mazzini : unknown God. We desire first to know, and then to adore him. We are willing to offer ourselves up as a sacrifice, if need be ; but upon the altar of our own choice, and in the worship of a rational and positive religion." It is therefore necessary clearly to define the aim for which the Italians propose to rise. " What is it we want ? " We demand to exist. We demand a name. We desire to make our country powerful and re- spected, free and happy. .... " In other words, we demand independence, unify, and liberty, for ourselves and for our fellow-country- men. " There are no differences of opinion as to the first. All are agreed in the cry of Out with the foreigner? There were differences as to unity, but Mazzini considered them such as might easily be overcome. Some preferred the federal form to the unitarian ; but this distinction created, he believed, no serious elements of discord. All were agreed that unity implied superior force, and was therefore desirable, if possible. The disputed point was its possibility, or the greater or less lapse of time that would be necessary to overcome the obstacles arising out of provincial jealousies and dissensions. But the different interpretations given to the word liberty by the various parties in Italy did Autobiographical & Political. 159 create a serious obstacle to harmonious action. Some believed a constitutional monarchy, with a citizen king, to be the form of government most conducive to liberty ; others opined for a foreign prince belonging to some ancient and powerful dynasty ; others proposed electing the most suc- cessful soldier ; while many held that true liberty was only possible under a republican form of government. Minor questions were also agitated on every side : the various methods of applying the elective principle — the question of one or more Houses of Representatives — the amount of power to be in- trusted to the judicial authorities, etc. ; and these dissensions were carried on in the face of the enemy, who took advantage of them to overcome each party separately, and in turn. " In the midst of this chaos of conflicting opinions, it has been said : Let us leave all these questions to be decided by the people when restored to their rightful power. Since none dissent upon the ques- tion of independence, let every one rally round that, as an escape from these difficulties. " This proposal, however, is a proof of weakness, and we are determined not to be weak. Young Italy does not wish to escape from difficulties, but to overcome them." " Such a mode of starting upon an enterprise, i6o Life éf Writings of Mazzini : and shouting, forward, without knowing whither, appears to us unworthy of men who seek their own regeneration, and that of others." " Moreover, the people desire independence as a pledge of liberty." A whole nation cannot be induced to arise in revolution merely to destroy. The people will not expend their blood, treasure, and substance, at the risk of substituting a new to an old form of oppres- sion. "The secret of moving the multitudes lies in addressing them with a brief, clear, and complete programme." The idea of leaving the question of the choice of a form of government to be decided by the people after the insurrection, reveals new difficulties when practically considered. " Either the will of the people must be irregularly expressed by popular tumult ; and in that case the most artful or successful condottiere will become their elect : or you must summon them to the solemn expression of their will through the medium of regularly elected popular assemblies ; and in that case you virtually decide the question by this first adoption of the republican form." The experiment of leaving all these questions undecided until after the success of the insurrection was tried by the Carbonari, and it signally failed. The original evil of internal dissensions revealed A utobiographical & Political. 1 6 1 itself in double force the day after the insurrection, precisely at the moment when union and concord were most urgent and indispensable. " Different aims require different means. They who desire to found a constitutional monarchy must adopt a method distinct from that of men seeking to found a republic. Differing principles necessarily produce different consequences " The First Law of every Revolution is to know what you would have. " The method of obtaining what you would have will be the second consideration, naturally flowing out of this first law. " It was therefore necessary that we should make choice of a symbol, a faith, and an aim, from among the many presented to us. " We have chosen the republican symbol. "The many reasons which decided us in this choice — the few immutable principles of which the republican form, of government is a logical con- sequence ; the impossibility of reconciling true liberty and the dogma of equality with monarchy ; the many treacheries of princes (the last betrayal never to be cancelled) ; the difficulty of extinguish- ing provincial rivalries in the name of one man ; the fact that we possess no man of sufficient fame, virtue, and genius, to direct the regeneration of Italy ; the power of republican memories over our people ; the necessity of convincing a people so VOL. I. M IÓ2 Life& Writings of Mazzini : often sold and betrayed, that they who seek to lead them are labouring for their good ; the absence amongst us of many of the necessary elements of monarchy ; the desire of cutting short all questions in one single revolution ; — all these are matters not within the scope of the present article. . . . " Our present object is clearly to state our principles, and their consequences." The errors committed in former revolutions are next passed in review, and proved to have been the necessary and logical consequences of the adoption of the monarchical principle as the directing power of revolution. The fact of placing a king at the head of the social edifice created the necessity of seeking the support and approval of foreign monarchies; placed the question of peace and war, the choice of minis- ters, etc., in the hands of the king; and rendered it necessary to avoid calling the popular element into the arena. Hence the command of the army was placed in the hands of men either unfit to lead, or suspected of treason towards the revolution. Hence, also, the attempt to conduct a revolution with the arts and intrigues of diplomacy. The adoption of the republican symbol will necessitate the adoption of a different mode of action. " Therefore, while raising on high the banner of Autobiographical & Political. 163 the people, we shall repose our best hopes in them. We shall teach them their rights. We shall oppose no barrier to their action, but endeavour to direct it for good ; and use our every effort to promote a truly popular, national, guerrilla war, against which, when universal and determined, no enemy can long resist. " Therefore we shall do everything in our power to destroy privilege, to teach the dogma of equality as a religion, and to fuse and confound the various existing classes into a great national unity. " Therefore we shall not seek the alliance of kings, nor delude ourselves with any idea of main- taining our liberty by diplomatic arts or treaties : we shall not ask our salvation as an alms from the protocols of conferences, or promises of cabinets ; for we well know that by arising in the name of the republic, we are entering upon an irrevocable and irreconcilable war with the principle dominating all the actual governments of Europe. We know that revolutions are only to be ratified at the bayonet's point. We are of the people, and we will treat with the peoples. They will understand us." " We have inscribed the device ' Young Italy ' upon our tricoloured banner, because it is in fact the banner of rising and regenerate Italy." 164 Life & Writings of Mazzini : " To those who would restrain the aspiration of the multitudes towards a social revolution within the limits of a narrow reform ; to those who seek to make the ruins of an old caste, privilege, or aristocracy, the stepping-stone to a new ; to those who, after the sad unanswerable evidence of past experience, persist in preaching hereditary mon- archy, striving to induce the masses to rush to martyrdom only that they may lay the foundations of a new tyranny upon their corpses ; to those who, while they shout for the abolition of all political privilege and inequaliW, yet place the dogma of privilege and inequality at the summit of their constitution, symbolized in the person of an in- violable monarch, an hereditary chamber, and an elective class ; to those who pretend to overthrow a principle while preserving its consequences, or to reveal a principle, and reject its consequences ; to those who arrogate to themselves the right to alter the destiny of a people, yet tremble before the face of death, danger, and the people ; to those who imagine they can transform a state without calling into action all the motive forces offered by the state ; to those who would have twenty-six millions of Italians rise in revolution without knowing where- fore ; to those who boast themselves so exclusively Italian as to abhor everything foreign, however ex- cellent, while they watch over and found their every hope upon the combinations of foreign cabinets, Autobiographical & Political. 165 invoke foreign aid in their country's cause, and declare every attempt made with her own native forces imprudent ; to those who admit the right to political liberty, yet deny the right to philosophical, literary, and religious liberty ; — to those, and only to those — to whatsoever age, condition, or province they belong — do we give the name of Old Italy ; for they are men of the past, and intellectually dangerous. " From these, but only from these, do we, Young Italy — men of progress, of the future, and of inde- pendence — to whatsoever age, condition, or pro- vince, we belong — declare ourselves separate and ap_arLfor_ever. " Liberty in all things and for all men. " Equality of social and political rights and duties. "Association of all the peoples, and of all free men in one mission of progress embracing the wJiole cf Humanity. " Such is our symbol, our intent, our enterprise. " Let him who can teach us a better, come for- ward. It is his duty to proclaim it. " Let him who knows none better, become our associate and brother. " Let those who will do neither, stand aloof in their inutility ; but let them not presume to preach silence or inertness to us." i66 Life & Writings of Mazzini : " The People. " This is our principle ; the basis of the social pyramid ; our point of reunion ; the collective Being to whom we refer whenever we think or speak of Italian revolution or regeneration. " By the people we mean the universality of the men composing the nation. " Mere multitudes, unless directed by a common principle, associated in a common aim, and governed by equal laws, do not constitute a nation. The word nation represents unity ; unity of principles, of aim, and of rights, alone can transform a multitude of men into a homogeneous whole, a nation. " A mass or multitude of men is only rightly to be considered a nation when the principle, the aim, and the rights purporting to constitute them such, are founded upon bases that are permanent. " The principle in which they believe must be both inviolable and progressive, so that it may neither be destroyed by time nor human caprice. " The aim must be a moral aim, for every ma- terial aim is, in its veryjiature, finite, and therefore incapable of constituting a basis of perpetual union. " Their rights must be deduced from the eternal rights of our human nature, the only rights which may not be cancelled by the lapse of ages. " Unity of principles can only be conceived as A utobiographica I & Politica I. 167 free and spontaneous ; it may not be imposed by violence or artifice. " The aim common to all individuals is their own improvement ; the organized development of their own faculties. " The aim of the nation is the progressive deve- lopment and activity of all the social forces. " Association is the means by which to achieve this aim." "True association can only exist amongst equals in rights and duties. " Wheresoever unity of rights is not the universal law, castes, dominion, privilege, Helotism, and de- pendence will continue to exist : there can be neither equality nor liberty, nor association, which is based upon free will." " Equality, liberty, and association ; these three elements constitute the true nation. " The nation is the universality of the citizens speaking the same tongue, and associated in equality of civil and political rights, in the pursuit of a common aim — the progressive development, improvement, and free exercise of all the social forces. " The first consequence of association, and of the equality of the associates, is — " That no family, and no individual, may assume 1 68 Life£f Writings of Mazzini : the exclusive dominion over the whole or a portion of the social forces, or the exclusive direction of their activity. "The second consequence of association, and of the equality of the associates, is — " That no class, and no individual, without a direct mandate from the nation, may assume the adminis- tration of the social forces, or their activity. " Hence follows the abolition of every hereditary privilege. " Hence all the individuals composing the govern- mental hierarchy are the delegated servants of the nation, their mandate revocable by the nation ; and not invested with right, office, or power, per se, but by the nation. " The Nation is the sole Sovereign. " All power not issuing from the nation is usurped. " Every individual who oversteps the powers with which he has been invested by the nation, is an unfaithful servant. " The nation alone possesses the inviolable right of choosing her own institutions, and of improving or altering them when no longer in accordance with her wants, and with the progress of the social intellect. " But as the whole nation cannot meet in assembly to discuss and decree its institutions, it acts by means of delegation ; elects a certain num- Atitobiog7'aphical & Political. 169 ber of men in whom it has confidence, and deputes them to receive the expression of the national wants and the national will, and to represent and consti- tute that will in the form of law. " The will of the Nation, expressed by Delegates chosen by the Nation to repre- sent it, will be Law to her Citizens. " The Nation being one, the National Representation must be one. The unity of the first involves the unity of the second. " The vast association of the nation includes all the social elements and all the social forces. A truly national system of representation must there- fore be the expression of the will of all these ele- ments, and of all these forces. " Whenever a single one of these forces is neglected, there exists no national representation, and the tendency and desire of that force to be represented will create the necessity of radical change. Hence strife and revolution take the place of tranquil and pacific progress." " National representation is not founded upon any description of property qualification, but upon the basis of the population. The vote of every citizen is required to consti- tute a truly national representation. The man who does not exercise the right of election in any form is no longer a citizen. The pact of association is 170 Life & Writings of Mazzi?zi : broken in regard to him by the fact that it has not included the expression of his will, and every law is therefore to him tyrannous. " The objection to universal suffrage, arising from inequality of capacity or education, will be met by a double system of election, in which the electors, having first been chosen by universal suffrage, will proceed to elect the representatives. " The representatives of the nation will be paid by the nation, and every other public office will be forbidden them during the exercise of their repre- sentative functions. " The number of representatives to be as large as possible. A great obstacle is thus offered to corruption. The decrease of liberty in France has always corresponded to the diminution in the num- ber of deputies. " The electors, when gathered together, perform the functions of the nation. The power of the nation is unlimited, and hence all restrictions placed upon the exercise of this power, in the choice of representatives, are opposed to the principle of national sovereignty. " When thus formed with due circumspection, the representation of the nation is inviolable ; it is intrusted to the care and protection of the nation. Its mission and duties are a direct consequence of the definition of the social aim. " The development, progressive improvement, Autobiographical <5r Political. 171 and activity of the social forces, is, as we have said, the law of the nation, and the basis upon which association is founded. "The administration, direction, and improve- ment of these social forces in their application to the general good, is the business of the repre- sentatives of the nation. Severe guardians of political equality, they are bound to direct the institutions successively established towards the progress of social equality. " Hence a large portion of their care and attention will be directed to the amelioration of the condition of the most numerous and suffering classes. "All laws relative to inheritance, wills, and donations, will be so framed as to prevent the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few hands, and the concentration of property in a few families. " The aim of all legislation will be to establish a principle of retribution in proportion to the services rendered to the state. " The system of taxation will be so organized as to exempt the first necessaries of life from impost, while all taxes on superfluities will be proportionate and progressive. "The right of every man to be judged by his equals, the origin of trial by jury, will be established. "It will be the duty of the representatives of the nation/ as guardians of liberty, to reconcile the 172 Life& Writings of Mazzini : greatest possible amount of individual independence, with the greatest possible amount of national prosperity. " Hence security of personal liberty, all offences against which will be severely punished. " Hence liberty of conscience will be inviolable, and all religious questions will be left to the arbitra- tion of individual judgment and belief. " Hence the freedom of the press will be secure and complete. " But the nation aspires to the progressive im- provement of its own vast association. It is bent not only on preserving, but on augmenting its social forces. Its representatives will therefore con- stantly direct their glance to the future, advancing from the formula of the present, in search of the higher degree of civilization destined to be realised by the epoch. " Hence liberty of association will be made law, and the education of the public mind will be aided by every possible means, and above all by an organ- ized system of elementary education, universally applied. " Hence intellectual superiority, combined with private virtue and civil morality, will determine the selection of governmental officials and adminis- trators. " Hence the improvement and reform of the criminal will be the basis of the penal code. Autobiographical & Political. 173 " Hence the foundation of public libraries, journals, universities, and rewards, will be promoted. " The establishment of these — the fundamentary bases of a free and well organized state — developed, organized, and reduced to a system, will, we believe, prepare the way for that future progress we desire for Italy ; and any government called to power by the voice of the people, must frankly endeavour to realise these aims ere we can hail it with confidence and joy. " We shall bow the head and accept any form of government chosen by universal suffrage, because it is the duty of individual opinion to give way be- fore the voice of the nation ; but if these principles be not the foundation of that government, we shall do so with deep sorrow to see how human weakness and temptation yet stand between the peoples and their future, and create the constant necessity of new revolutions, more violent in proportion as they are long delayed. " Our answer is now complete. Our intentions known to all who may choose to judge them. Young Italy will proceed upon its way, secure as the Italian future, indestructible as the thought of liberty which gave it birth. " Young Italy will endure, because in harmony with the idea of epoch ; and neither governmental persecution, nor the suspicion of individuals, can stifle the aspiration of the youth of Italy. 174 Life & Writings of Mazzini : " If any should now ask of us whence we derive our mandate, we will answer in the words of men bound to us by the double bond of similarity of aim, and of misfortune * " ' We derive our mandate from the purity of our convictions, from the faith and moral force we feel within us, in thus constituting ourselves the defenders of the rights and liberties of the immense majority. Whosoever speaks in tJie name of tlie rights of man, derives his authority and mandate from the eternal rights of nature. . . . " ' We will receive the confirmation of our mandate from those peoples who have done the most to harmon- ize the progress of their own country with that of humanity ; who combine sanctity of principle and respect for the rights of man with the love they bear to their own country, and seek to regain her national existence by these means alone!" Strange to say, the objections raised against us generally sprang from the belief which had taken root among the men of past insurrections, and the semi-enlightened classes of the Peninsula — that unity was an impossible Utopia, and contrary to the historical tendencies of the Italians. Facts have now decided this question between me and these opponents. But at that time, when the opinion against unity was almost universal * Manifesto of the Polish Democratic Society, May 1832. Autobiographical £f Political. 175 among the so-called educated classes ; when all the governments of Europe supported the theory of Mettermeli that Italy was a mere geographical expression; when the men most noted for their republican principles, revolutionary aims, and anta- gonism to existing treaties, were all partizans of Federalism, as the only possible form of national existence for us Italians ; — the causes of doubt and distrust were numerous indeed. Armand Carrell, and the writers of the National, hinted at the advantages of a confederation in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Buonarroti, and the conspirators grouped around him, were theoretically favourable to the unity of nations ; but their unal- terable conviction that no people ought to attempt to move before France should have led the way, rendered their theory illusory, and threatened to crush it in the germ. The truth is that throughout the whole of that period of European agitation, all intuition of the future was wanting. The aim of the agitation was liberty above all things. Few understood that lasting liberty can only be achieved and maintained in Europe by strong and compact nations, equally balanced in power, and therefore not liable to be driven to the necessity of seeking a protecting alliance by guilty concessions ; or led astray by the hope of assistance in territorial 176 Life & Writings of Mazzini : questions, to the point of seeking to ally their liberty with despotism. Few understood that the association of the nations to promote the organized and peaceful progress of humanity which they invoked, was only possible on the condition that those nations should first have a real and recognised existence. The compulsory conjunction of different races, utterly devoid of that unity of faith and moral aim in which true nationality consists, does not in fact constitute a nation. The division of Europe, sanc- tioned in the treaties of 181 5, by the excess of power given to some states, produced a consequent weakness in others, and placed them in the necessity of leaning upon some one of the great powers, no matter upon what terms, for support ; while the germs of internal dissension that division had implanted in the heart of every people had created an insurmountable barrier to the normal and secure development of liberty. To reconstruct the map of Europe, then, in ac- cordance with the special mission assigned to each people by their geographical, ethnographical, and his- torical conditions, was the first step necessary for all. I believed that the question of the nationalities was destined to give its name to the century, and restore to Europe that power of initiative for good, which had ceased, on the conclusion of the past epoch, by the fall of Napoleon. Autobiographical & Political. i 77 But such foreshadowings of the future were seen by few. Hence the question of unity — with me supreme over every other — was not generally held to be important, and the apparent obstacles in the way of its solution easily induced the liberals to neglect it. In France, the instinct of domination which exists, not among the masses, but among the en- lightened class, was then, as ever, favourable to any plan or theory tending to surround strong and united France with free but weak confederations. I, however, considered it of more importance, in order to verify my own conception, to ascertain the true instinct of the masses and the youth of Italy, than to obtain the approval of the half-enlightened either in my own or other countries. I occupied my time, therefore, between the writing of one article and another, in founding and spreading my secret association. I sent statutes, instructions, suggestions of every description, to those young friends I had left behind in Genoa and Leghorn. There, thanks to the brothers Ruffini in Genoa, and to Bini and Guerrazzi in Leg- horn, the first congregations were established. It was thus we denominated our nuclei of direction, choosing our title from the memories of Pontida. The organization was as simple and as free from symbolism as it was possible to make it. Rejecting the interminable hierarchy of Carbon- VOL. I. N 178 Life & Writings of Mazzini : arism, the institution had only two grades of rank — the Initiators and the Initiated. Those were chosen as Initiators, who, to their devotion to the principles of the association, added sufficient intelligence and prudence to justify their being permitted to select new members. The simply Initiated were not empowered to affiliate. A central committee existed abroad, whose duties consisted in holding aloft, as it were, the flag of the association, forging as many links as possible between the Italian and foreign democratic element, and generally directing and superintend- ing the working of the association. There were also native committees established in the chief towns of the more important provinces, who managed the practical details, correspondence, etc.; a director or organizer of the initiators in each city, and groups of members, unequal in number, but each headed by an initiator. Such was the framework of Young Italy. The correspondence passed first from the ini- tiated to the initiators, then through each of these, singly, to the director ; through the director to the congregation of his district ; and from the congrega- tion to the central committee. All masonic signs of recognition were abolished as dangerous. A watchword, a piece of paper pre- viously cut into a certain shape, and a certain fashion of giving the hand, were used to accredit /* A u tobiograph ica I & Politica I. 179 the messengers sent from the central to the pro- vincial committees, and vice versa; and these signs were changed every three months. Each member was required to bind himself to a monthly contribution according to his means. Two-thirds of the money thus collected was re- tained in the provincial treasuries ; one-third was paid in, or, more correctly speaking, ought to have been paid in, to the treasury of the central com- mittee, to provide for the expenses of the general organization. It was calculated that the expenses of printing would be defrayed by the sale of the writings. The symbol of the association was a sprig of cypress, in memory of our martyrs. Its motto, Ora e sempre, now and for ever, indicated the constancy indispensable for our enterprise. The banner of Young Italy, composed of the three Italian colours, bore on the one side the words, Liberty, Equality, Humanity ; and on the other Unity and Independence. The first indicated the international mission of Italy ; the second, the national. From the first moment of its existence, God and Humanity was adopted as the formula of the association, with regard to its external relations ; while God and the PEOPLE was that chosen in its relations to our own country. From these two principles, which are in fact the i8o Life & Writings of Mazzini . application of one sole principle to two different spheres, the association deduced its whole religious, social, political, and individual faith. Young Italy was the first among the political associations of that day which endeavoured to com- prehend all the various manifestations of national life in one sole conception, and to direct and govern them all from the height of a religious principle — the mission confided by the Creator to his creature — towards one sole aim, the emancipa- tion of our country and its brotherhood with free nations. The instructions which, in that first period of the association, I continued to impart to the various committees and directors, as well as the other young Italians with whom I came in contact, were both moral and political. The following is a summary of the bearing of the moral instructions : — " We are not only conspirators, but believers. " We aspire to be not only revolutionists ; but, so far as we may, regenerators. " Our problem is, above all things, a problem of national education. Arms and insurrection are merely the means without which, in the position of our country, it is impossible to solve that problem. But we will only use bayonets on the condition that they have ideas at their points. " It were of little import to destroy, if we had A ittobiograpkical & Political. 181 not the hope of building up something better ; of little use to write duty and right upon a fragment of paper, if we had not the firm determination and the faith that we can engrave them upon men's hearts. " Our fathers neglected to do this, therefore it is our duty ever to bear it in mind. It is not enough to persuade the various states of Italy to rise in insurrection. What we have to do is to create a nation. " It is our religious conviction that Italy has not consumed her life in this world. She is yet des- tined to introduce new elements in the progressive development of humanity, and to live a third life. Our object is to endeavour to initiate this life. " Materialism can generate no political doctrine but that of individuality — a doctrine useful, perhaps, if supported by force, in securing the exercise of some personal rights, but impotent to found nation- ality or association ; both of which require faith in our unity of origin, of tendency, and of aim. We reject it. " We must endeavour to take up the thread of the Italian philosophy of the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries ; to carry on its tradition of synthesis and spirituality ; to rekindle a strong and earnest faith ; and, by re-awakening the conscious- ness of the great deeds of their nation in the hearts of the Italians, to inspire them with the courage, 1 82 Life & Writings of Mazzini : power of sacrifice, constancy, and concord, necessary for our great work." The political instructions declared : — " The most logical party is ever the strongest. Do not be satisfied with inspiring a mere spirit of rebellion in your followers, nor an uncertain inde- finite declaration of liberalism. Ask of each man in what he believes, and only accept as members those whose convictions are the same as our own. Put your trust, not so much in the number, as in the unity of your forces. " Ours is an experiment upon the Italian people. We may resign ourselves to the possibility of seeing our hopes betrayed, but we may not risk the danger of seeing discord arise in the camp the day after action. " You have to elevate a new banner, and you must seek its supporters among the young, who are capable of enthusiasm, energy, and sacrifice. Tell them the whole truth. Let them know all as to our aim and intent. We can then rely upon them if they accept it. " The great error of the past has been that of intrusting the fate of the country to individuals rather than to principles. " Combat this error, and preach faith, not in names, but in the people, in our rights, and in God. " Teach your followers that they must choose their leaders among men who seek their inspiration Autobiographical & Political. 183 from revolution, not from the previous order \>i things. Lay bare all the errors committed in 1831, and do not conceal the faults of the leaders. " Repeat incessantly that the salvation of Italy lies in her people. The lever of the people is action, continuous action ; action ever renewed, without allowing one's self to be overcome or disheartened by first defeats. " Avoid compromises. They are almost always immoral, as well as dangerous. " Do not deceive yourselves with any idea of the possibility of avoiding war, a war both bloody and inexorable, with Austria. Seek rather, as soon as you feel you are strong enough, to promote it. Revolutionary war should always take the offen- sive. By being the first to attack, you inspire your enemies with terror, and your friends with courage and confidence. " Hope nothing from foreign governments. They will never be really willing to aid you until you have shown that you are strong enough to conquer without them. " Put no trust in diplomacy, but disconcert its intrigues by beginning the struggle, and by pub- licity in all things. " Never rise in any other name than that of Italy, and of all Italy. If you gain your first battle in the name of a principle, and with your own forces alone, it will give you the position of 184 Life& Writings of Mazzini : initiators among the peoples, and you will have them for companions in the second. And should you fall, you will at least have helped to educate your countrymen, and leave behind you a pro- gramme to direct the generation to come." Many of those who were in contact with me at that time are still living, and can bear witness that the above is the true tenor of my instructions. The experiment succeeded. The soi-disaut thinkers of that day were confuted by the people. Committees were rapidly constituted in the principal cities of Tuscany. In Genoa, the brothers Ruffini, Campanella, Benza, and the few others who accepted the task of spreading the association, were all very young men — unknown, and without fortune, or other means of acquiring influence. And yet, nevertheless, from student to student, from youth to youth, the confraternity extended itself with unexpected rapidity. Our first publica- tions supplied the want of personal influence. All who read them joined us. It was a victory of ideas substituted to the power of names, or the fascina- tions of mystery. Our ideas met with an echo, and evidently responded to the aspirations hitherto dormant or unconscious in the hearts of our Italian youth. And this was enough to encourage us, and to point out to us those duties, which, to say the truth, each and all of that little body of precursors, A utobiograph ica I cf Politica I. 185 as far as labour and sacrifice were concerned, most truly fulfilled. With the exception of the St. Simonians, in whom at that very time the mere semblance of a religion was powerful enough to inspire greater capacity of self-sacrifice than could be found in all the merely political democratic societies put together ; I never saw — I declare this from a sense of duty towards the dead, and towards those who are still living, almost unknown, and careless of fame — I never saw any nucleus of young men so devoted, capable of such strong mutual affection, such pure enthusiasm, and such readiness in daily, hourly toil, as were those who then laboured with me. We were, Lamberti, Usiglio, Lustrini, G. B. Ruffini, and five or six others, almost all Modenese; alone, without any office, without subalterns, im- mersed in labour the whole of the day, and the greater part of the night ; writing articles and letters, seeing travellers, affiliating the Italian sailors, folding our printed articles, tying up bundles, alternating between intellectual labour and the routine of working men. La Cecilia, at that time sincere and good, worked as compositor ; Lamberti, as corrector of the press ; and another took upon himself the duties of porter, to save the expense of the carriage of our publica- tions. 1 86 Life & Writings of Mazzini ; We lived together, true equals and brothers ; brothers in one sole hope and ideal ; loved and ad- mired for our tenacity of purpose and industry by foreign republicans. Very often — for we had only our own little funds wherewith to meet every ex- pense — we were reduced to the extreme of poverty, but we were always cheerful, with the smile of faith in the future upon our lips. Those two years, from 1831 to 1833, were two years of young life of such pure and glad devoted- ness as I could wish the coming generation to know. We were assailed by enemies sufficiently deter- mined, and underwent many dangers, as I shall have occasion to show. But it was a warfare waged against us by known and avowed foes. The mis- erable petty warfare of ingratitude, suspicion, and calumny among our own countrymen, too often even among our own party ; the unmerited deser- tion of former friends ; nay, the desertion of our banner itself, not from conviction, but from weak- ness, offended vanity, or worse, by nearly the whole of the generation that had sworn fidelity to it with us, had not then occurred — I will not say to wither or deflower our souls — but to teach the few amongst us who remained firm, La violenta e disperata pace* and the stern lesson of labour uncomforted by any individual hope, urged on by duty — cold, drear, in- * The forced and desperate calm. — Dante. A utobiographical éf Political. 187 exorable duty alone. God save those who come after us from this. The method of smuggling our papers into Italy was a vital question for our association. A youth named Montanari, who travelled to and fro on the Neapolitan steamers, as agent for the Steamboat Company, and who afterwards died of cholera in the south of France, and certain others employed upon the French steamers, served us admirably. Before the irritation of the governments against us had risen to fury, we found it sufficient to write upon the packets of papers intended for Genoa the address of some unsuspected commercial house at Leghorn, and upon those for Leghorn an address at Civita Vecchia, and so on. By these means the scrutiny of the police and custom-house officers of the place where the steamer first touched was avoided. The packet remained on board in the custody of the person to whom we had entrusted it, until one of our correspondents, to whom pre- vious notice had been given, could find means to go upon the steamer, receive it, and conceal it about his person. But when the attention of the authorities had been thoroughly roused ; when large rewards were offered for the seizure of any of our papers, and tremendous punishments threatened to all who should in any way aid their introduction into Italy ; when Charles Albert issued edicts signed by the 1 8 8 Life & Writings of Mazzini : ministers Caccia, Pensa, Barbaroux, and Lascarène, condemning those guilty of non-denunciation to a fine and two years of imprisonment, promising to the informer secrecy and half the fine ; — then began the duel between us and the ignoble governments of Italy — a duel which cost us great labour and ex- pense, but in which fortune was upon our side. We now sent our papers inside barrels of pumice-stone, and even of pitch, which we filled ourselves in a little warehouse we had hired for the purpose. Ten or twelve of these barrels were despatched by means of commission-agents igno- rant of their contents, and addressed to others equally in the dark, in the various towns to which we wanted to send. One of our associates always presented himself shortly after their arrival as a purchaser, taking care to select a barrel bearing a number already indicated to him by us, as contain- ing our enclosures. I cite this as one of the thousand artifices to which we had recourse. We were also assisted in our smuggling by French republicans, and above all by the sailors of the Italian merchant navy, who were as good then as they are now, and towards whom much of our educational activity had been directed. Foremost among the best of these were the men of Lerici ; and I remember one of them still with admiration and affection — a certain Ambrogio Giaropello, an Autobiographical & Political. 189 excellent type of the Italian popolano, who lost his ship and all he possessed through carrying two hun- dred muskets to the Ligurian coast for us, and who, nevertheless, remained a true and devoted friend to me. I believe he is still living in Marseilles, and I could wish these lines might meet his eye. I am sure he would be glad to know himself so remem- bered by me. But I have never met with either ingratitude or forgetfulness among the men of the people in Italy. Unable to put a stop to the diffusion of our writings in Italy, the Italian Governments addressed themselves to the Government of France in order to stifle our voice in Marseilles ; and the French Government having now been recognised by all the others, and having therefore no longer any occasion to seek to alarm the despots of Europe, complied with their request. But I shall have again to speak of the system of persecution commenced against us, and of our conduct during that persecution. Suffice it here to say that it was unable to impede the progress of our undertaking. The association rapidly spread from Genoa along the two Riviere. Our committees were multiplied. Secret and tolerably secure means of communica- tion were found even with the Neapolitan frontier. Frequent travellers were dispatched from one province to another, in order to convey our in- 190 Life & Writings of Mazzini : structions, and keep up the ardour of the affi- liated. The anxiety to obtain our writings was such that the number of copies we were able to send was quite insufficient to supplythe demand. Clandestine presses were established in various parts of Italy to reproduce our works, and issue short similar publi- cations inspired by local circumstances. Young Italy, thus everywhere hailed and received with enthusiasm, became in less than one year the dominant association throughout the whole of Italy. It was the triumph of Principles. The bare fact that in so short a space of time a handful of young men, themselves sprung from the people, unknown, without means, and openly opposed to the doctrines of all those men of standing and influence who had hitherto possessed the confidence of the people and directed the popular movement, should find them- selves thus rapidly at the head of an association sufficiently powerful to concentrate against it the alarmed persecution of seven governments, is, I think, in itself enough to show that the banner they had raised was the banner of truth. Whilst I and my young friends were labouring to raise the Italian mind to the idea of a national war and republican life, the monarchy and bour- geoise aristocracy in France were falsifying the character and tendencies of the revolution of July, A utobiographical & Political. 1 9 1 and leading it away from the goal indicated by the generous instincts of the people who accomplished it. France was already being drawn into that circle of paltry imitations, destined fatally to reduce her to a pigmy caricature of her first republic and empire. The persecution set on foot against us by the government of Louis Philippe, was only one among many proofs of their abhorrence of every description of new life or new organization in Europe. To me, the incapacity of the French to advance appeared, as I have said, to be a historical necessity. The people that sums up and concludes one entire epoch, is never chosen to initiate the epoch destined to succeed it. Now France, in her great revolution, had summed up the whole moral and intellectual work elaborated by Europe with regard to the individual, throughout the evolution of the poly- theistic and Christian synthesis ; and reduced it to a practical formula. She was not capable of giving, nor was it her part to give the world the programme of the new epoch, the vital principle of which epoch, though as yet undefined, is association. As the development of the Christian synthesis had necessitated a territorial re-arrangement, achieved in part by Rome, and in part by the northern in- vasions ; so does the new synthesis call for a new and improved partition of Europe, in order to pre- pare the ground for its development. 192 Life & Writings of AI azzini: It is necessary that such a partition should be based upon the special mission assigned to each separate people, ascertained from the numerous indications offered by their geographical position, language, traditions, and the prominent faculties and instincts of the masses, which are at once the origin and the consecration of the question of nationality — a question eminently religious ; because nationality alone can prepare the way, by the association of the various powers and abilities of Europe, for the majestic development of the synthesis represented by the sacred word PROGRESS, substituted for the dogma of direct revelation. The initiative of the European movement at the present day therefore belongs, not to France, whose nationality is an accomplished fact, but to those peoples whose task it is to constitute their nation- ality, and to that one among them which shall prove itself most ready and determined to combat both for itself and for others. I held these opinions at that time, and three years later I published them* But although the historic law forbade the on- ward march of France at that time, it was in her own power to avoid going back. She might have remained for a long period without taking any initiative, as England and Switzerland have done, * " De l'initiative Révolutionaire," published in the Revue Re~ publicaine, 1S35. Autobiographical & Political. 193 but also without setting an example of indecorous servility and retrogression. And as the causes which led her to pursue the wrong path are similar to those which impede the fulfilment of our own destiny at the present day, it may be useful to notice them here, to give the Italians an opportunity of learning by experience the lesson long taught by reason in vain. Two grave errors were committed by the revo- lution of 1830. The first was in starting from the old imperfect theory of rights, instead of the theory of a social duty. The second was that of substituting one programme for another during the period of the struggle, from a false idea of tactics ; and hence of confiding the direction of the move- ment to men who had neither fought, suffered, nor conquered for the true aim of the insurrection. And these are our own errors at the present day. The first idea of the movement of 1830 was republican, and after the despotism of the first Napoleon, no movement against the monarchy of the Bourbons could rationally be other than re- publican. Carbonarism in France, presided over in the Vente Suprème by Bazard, had spread in every direction, had become united with the Amis de la Vérité and other associations, and was republican. With one or two exceptions, all the martyrs, citizen or military, who fell in the various attempts at action, were republican. The youth of the colleges, VOL. I. O 194 Life & Writings of Mazzini : amongst whom the preparatory work had been initiated, and who afterwards became the soul of the movement, were republican. So also were the working classes, who achieved the triumph of the revolution in arms. Not a single man of the real church militant who had prepared the movement (if we except a few friends of Manuel) dreamed of the Orleanist branch of the dynasty then. But, misunderstanding and confounding as they did two epochs radically distinct ; convinced that the first revolution had initiated a new epoch, in- stead of having merely concluded the past ; resolved to maintain the traditions of that revolution, militant France recognised no other doctrine than that sum- med up by the revolutionary assemblies in their declaration of the rights of man. Though following instinctively the voice of duty in their actions, they failed to derive from it any settled faith to serve as a test for those seeking to join their party, and a pledge both of their constancy and of the univer- sality of the aim. They forgot that the mere theory of rights, applied to a society composed of elements so various and unequal, both in capacity and edu- cation, must of necessity tend to maintain it frac- tional and divided. Each fraction would be satis- fied with obtaining the free exercise of its own rights, and would neglect the rights of others immediately afterwards. The idea of right is not general and uniform at A lUobiographical & Political. 195 any given period ; it implies a knowledge or con- sciousness of the right demanded, and the moral possibility of exercising it. This consciousness and this possibility necessarily differ where social posi- tion and education are different. It is only the idea of duty, which, being derived from the height of a religious mission, enjoins upon all to create such consciousness and such possibility, where they do not already exist, and confounds all distinction of classes, by embracing every class in a work which may neither be neglected nor inter- rupted without guilt. They who raise no banner but that of rights may be willing to extend those rights so long as the struggle is undecided, in order to gather around them a larger number of elements ; but the tumult of battle once ended, the voice that inclines man to repose will make itself strongly heard, and the constant temptations of egotism will suggest to the class placed by victory in the first position, that the exercise of their own rights will be more secure in proportion as their domination is ex- clusive, and protected against the encroachments of others. Moreover, the doctrine of rights is essentially a doctrine of opposition ; and it is the tendency of all doctrines of opposition to admit too readily any element, or accept any compromise which appears likely to accelerate their victory, although the ulti- 196 Life & Writings of Mazzini : mate result of so doing is to weaken, transform, or dissolve the victory thus obtained. For many years a sect of men had existed in France, who, as far as action, conspiracy, or danger were concerned, had ever held aloof from the camp of combatants, but who were united with them in the desire of overthrowing the retrograde supporters of Right Divine. These men were baptized by the people — I believe from their lack of any real doctrine — by the name of the Doctrinaires. They called themselves by the absurd and hypocritical name of Moderates — a name adopted now by our Italian copyists of every evil thing in France ; as if there could exist moderation in the choice between good and evil, the truth and falsehood, advance and retrogression. The history of the sect may be traced back as far as the first Committee of the Constitution,* formed in the National Assembly during the great Revolution. Their programme — more or less openly avowed — was a monarchy, tempered by the intervention of two legislative chambers, to be composed of the nobility and wealthy bour- geoisie ; the people being excluded. The power and influence of the nobility having been weakened by the natural course of things, the principal element of this sect was the bour- * Mounier, Malouet, Lally Tollendal, Necker, Talleyrand, Mont- morin, and many others. Atttobiographical & Political. 197 geoisie; and their leaders at that day were Broglie, Royer Collard, Guizot, Cousin, Thiers, Rossi, Odillon Barrot, Dupin, Sebastiani, Casimir Perier, etc. Lafayette, a man weak by nature, was a re- publican in belief, although a monarchist in all the acts of his life. The friendship of Washington, an honesty above suspicion, and a series of peculiar circumstances, had given him a reputation greater than his deserts. He handed over the people's victory to this sect in 1830, thus affording new proof of the fact, that every revolution that identifies its own destiny with that of an indivi- dual — be he who or what he may — unconsciously prepares the way for its own ruin. The vagueness and generality of their own formulae, their adoption of many phrases borrowed from our party, as well as their personal friend- ship with many of the boldest of its members, afforded, or appeared to afford, good grounds for hoping that neither vanity nor lust of power would induce them to betray the cause. And their unceasing legal opposition did in fact prepare the way for the desired revolution, by forcing the monarchy to extreme measures of repression. The more advanced party decided to admit these men into their ranks, in order to increase their own importance ; and they preached them up as men who were prepared, if once in power, to satisfy all 198 Life & Writings of Mazzini : the aspirations and demands of the party of the future, provided their strength and universality should have been proved by the fact of action. But by admitting them into their ranks, the advanced party accepted at the same time their tendency to compromise, their Jesuitical reservation and reticence, their fatal tactics of opportunity, and their hypocritical cry of Vive la Cliartc — a cry well adapted to be used as a weapon in their legal battles in the Chamber of Deputies, but calculated to lead the people astray from the true aim, when substituted to their own honest cry of Vive la Revolution. And when the moment of revolution came, that hypocritical cry, and the weakness of Lafayette combined, did in fact open the way for the Moderates, and enable them to take the direction of it into their own hands, and dwindle its results to a mere revision of the Charter, and substitution of the younger for the elder branch of the Bourbons. The same spirit of legality which had presided over the hypocritical parliamentary struggle foi fifteen years, induced Lafayette to entrust the destinies of the revolution to the keeping of the 221 members of the opposition, who, in their turn, yielded them up to Louis Philippe. Thus, in spite of the tardy protests of those who had fought the battles of the revolution, they im- A utobiograph tea I & Po litica I. 199 provised what they called by the absurd and lying name of the republican monarchy ; as if the words Monarchy and Republic did not represent two forms of government essentially and radically opposed. Events are under the inexorable dominion of logic. Every violation of faith in principles carries along with it certain and inevitable con- sequences of strife and suffering which none may prevent. When this inevitable moment of struggle arrived, the Moderates — that is to say, the repre- sentatives of the bourgeoisie — deliberately separated themselves from the people whose aid they had im- plored while it was essential to their own triumph. Their defection was shamelessly open, and forms one of the ugliest pages of the history of France ; for two-thirds of the intellect of the country are implicated in its disgrace. All those who remained faithful to the republican ideal were treated as destructive demagogues ; the working men as a dangerous element only to be held in check by the necessity of mechanical labour and a state of dependence upon the capitalists, and to be ex- cluded from all public life by being deprived' of all political rights. A little later, a member of the ministry compared them to the barbarians who invaded Rome. I well remember the mute astonishment and grief with which, still young in years and feelings, 200 Life& Writings of Mazzini : we witnessed that spectacle of moral dissolution. But a few years before we had regarded these very- men as the standard-bearers of the party whose aim was the regeneration of Europe. From their writings, their speeches, and their eloquent lectures, delivered to the youth of France in 1828-29, and read by us with affection and admiration, we had drawn alike inspiration and the courage to dare. We had transcribed their pages, and passed them from one to another, swearing fidelity to the prin- ciples they contained. And now every day brought us fresh news of some solemn betrayal of those sacred principles uttered by the same lips ; every day our hearts were wounded by a fresh delusion ; every day we saw yet another of those idols to whom we had burned our heart's incense, fall from his pedestal. It was Cousin, the restorer of philosophical dis- cipline, the fervid apostle of a progress knowing no limits save those of time itself, who, speaking of the revolution, declared, that three days had in no tvay changed the face of things. It was Guizot who said, the best form of government was that least liked by the people. And a third — one who had twenty times accused the government of Charles X. of servile egotism — endeavoured to justify their abandonment of the cause of the peoples by solemnly uttering the im- Autobiographical cf Political. 201 pious words — The blood of France should be shed for France alone. Another announced the downfall of heroic Poland, by saying, Order reigns in Warsaw. Some of these men declared that the formula of each for himself was the basis of all political doctrine ; others cut short all hope of any amelior- ation of the condition of the poorer classes, by inaugurating their economical science with another formula — a translation of the political onejust quoted — that of laisscz faire. Others again separated the principle from the fact, the spirit from its material manifestation, and disinherited society of all belief by declaring that the laze is atheist /* Thiers denied Armand Carrel, and all those with whom he had fought the battles of liberty in the National ; Barthelemy sold the pen with which he had written the Nemesis to the minister who paid his debts. Ah ! who can say what germs of egotism were sown in the hearts of the young generation by these evil examples ! The image of many a youth, then good, and devoted to the cause of truth, passes before me now like a pale phantom of the first years of my political life. Weak, and accustomed to seek in- spiration from the outward and external, rather than to derive it from within, I saw them assailed * Sebastiani, Casimir Perier, Odillon Barrot. 202 Life& Writings of Mazzini: by delusion and discouragement at that time, — I saw them waver in their faith, slacken in affection, and enter unconsciously upon the path that leads to inert misanthropy on the one hand, and, on the other, to that hideous form of egotism which drapes itself in I know not what experimental semi -science, which they term ■practical. We held on, because ours was a religious faith, and not the mere reaction of rights denied, or desire of prevailing in our turn over the rulers of the day ; we held on, but the light of that trust and confidence that strengthens the soul to labour was quenched for ever within us. It is true that we then said to one another, with Italian pride, Our countrymen will be better than these men arc. But even from that illusion I was doomed to stand, with sorrow — corrected. Were they in fact traitors ? Did these deserters from our banner yield to the suggestions of vulgar egotism, and the lust of power, which they hoped to acquire more rapidly and completely as adher- ents of the monarchy ? Some of them were no doubt corrupt and despicable even to that point. But the majority simply yielded to the logical consequences of a false doctrine — a doctrine which we Italians have not as yet studied with sufficient gravity and attention. Their philosophy was not the philosophy of the future. Self was its starting-point, and self Autobiographical & Political. 203 the goal. Teaching as it did the sovereignty of the individual, it was impossible it should rise to the idea of a supreme duty governing all the acts of life. In politics they had not gone beyond the theory of rights — a theory which, destitute of all deep faith in collective man, necessarily led to their formula of " each for himself." Their whole history and tradition dated from this doctrine, which — when carefully sifted and examined — results in the justification of the stronger individuality, and, consequently, of the powers that be. Royer Collard had secretly conspired against the scope and aim of the great revolution ; and he boasted of this. Sebastiani had written to General Venegas, in 1809, preaching the "duty of blind unlimited obedience to power, and to their august master Napoleon, the greatest of heroes and the most powerful of monarchs ;" and in 1 8 1 4 and 1 8 1 5 he had conspired to the ruin of the same august master. Cousin had mingled in the conspiracies of the Carbonari ; yet, nevertheless, he declared to the youth of France, in 1829, "A superior authority has cut short all these questions, and pronounced a judgment against the eighteenth century, from which there is no appeal. . . . The dawn of 204 Life& Writings of Mazzini : the nineteenth century is the Charter which Europe owes to France, and France to the noble dynasty at her head." Guizot had written the preamble of the Lot Montesquieu in 1814 against the freedom of the press, and followed the fugitive monarchy to Ghent. Afterwards, at the time of the Villéle ministry, he had joined the republican society Aide toi, and spoken eloquently upon the inviol- able freedom of the writer, and the independence of government officials. Such were they all — flatterers of power one day and of the people the next; but always worshippers of any powerful fact, or of anything that appeared likely to become such. In order to perceive this worship of the fact in these men, it is enough to read with attention Theirs's History of the Revolution — by which, how- ever, he acquired so great reputation among the youth of that day — and observe how he admires in that revolution, not the victory of eternal right, but the grandeur of a gigantic fact, and bows down with equal reverence before the audacity of the Montagne of the eighteenth Fructidor and the eighteenth Brumaire. It is enough to observe how — forgetting that the corruption of the Republic began with the Directory; forgetting the monarchical tendencies of the Club of Clichy; forgetting the germs of Autobiographical & Politicai. 205 military and bourgeoisie aristocracy already appar- ent, and the idea of the power of one nation then substituted to the idea of emancipation of all; but struck with the strength of France abroad — Lj exalts the period when France was mistress of the whole extent of territory between the Rhine and the Pyrenees, from the Alps to the sea; when the arms of Spain and Holland were united with hers, atid half Europe was at the feet of the Directory. And again, when speaking of the changes intro- duced into the cisalpine constitution through the instrumentality of a simple envoy é from Paris, Trouvé, he rashly adds : But the manner was of little moment; it woidd have been absurd if France, the crcatrix of those Republics, had not exerted her authority to govern them according to her own will and pleasure. And in order to judge how little the people had to expect from that school, it is enough to remember the lines written in the Journal des Dc'bats, the organ of the Doctrinaires, while the struggle was at its height. Strengthen the salutary dominion of the bourgeoisie, ever the friend of order and repose; for who are in fact the sufferers from the law of primogeniture ? the bourgeoisie, who have pro perty to divide among their children, and not the people, who possess nothing. Who are injured by the three per cent ? the bourgeoisie. Who by the censorship ? the bourgeoisie, who desire to read 2o6 Life & Writings of Mazzini : and to think freely, and not the people, zvlio have no time to think of anything but maintaining their existence by incessant labour. But the youth of that day were rash and thoughtless. Enamoured of certain periods in those multiple lives, and fascinated by the idea of concentrating the greatest possible number of intellectual elements around the cause of liberty, they forgot that no good or useful revolution is possible without morality ; and that the union of heterogeneous elements, though possible after a victory, is certain to be fatal if attempted before the victory is achieved. They too, in virtue of their doctrine, were worshippers of fact. Thiers had said, that in forming a judgment upon public matters, everything depends upon the point of view taken, and the position of the person judging. Guizot had written that it is an error to take up one's position outside the victorious camp; any power that docs so is false to itself, and betrays its own nature. It is ■madness to separate one's self from the side of power, when that power assumes the character of a necessity. Why did the youth of France forget those words? The victorious camp in 1S30 was the camp of the bourgeoisie. How then could they hope that the Moderates would join the camp of the people? How could they expect them to Autobiographical & Political. 207 deduce consequences adverse to the tendency of their own doctrines, and rush into the ranks of duty and martyrdom, to realise an aim vaster than their own ; when by stopping short they attained liberty, power, and wealth for themselves, added to the satisfaction of their pride in the logical results of their own narrow doctrine ? We betrayed ourselves even more than we were betrayed by them. Every political system, when carefully analysed, will be found to be derived from a system of philosophy. Ideas precede and generate facts. The necessity of harmonizing theory and practice is as much a law in politics as in any other thing. Xo system of practice can be effectually destroyed, without overcoming or converting the belief upon which it is based. Every true revolution is a programme ; and derived from a new, general, positive, and organic principle. The first thing necessary is to accept that principle. Its development must then be confided to men who are believers in it, and emancipated from every tie or connection with any principle of an opposite nature. Generally speaking, the reverse of this is done. The people entrust the destinies of their revolu- tions to men influential either by position or name, who have always represented opposite aims, and have merely joined the ranks of the combatants 2o8 Life & Writings of Mazzini : from reaction against a power by which they were oppressed or despised. Hence follow the inevitable consequences of delusion — violent irritation and new warfare be- tween the conflicting elements, anarchy, and civil war. The irritation of the French people against the men whom, through a political error, they had accepted as leaders, and who naturally betrayed their hopes, created the germs of an unjust and impotent sectarian socialism, which, from the terror inspired by its doctrines in the majority of the nation, resulted at a later period in the de- plorable experiment of the empire. Similar errors threaten our rising Italy with similar consequences ; and it is for this reason that I speak at some length of this period of French history, which I believe to have been hitherto misunderstood. The authors of the revolution of 1 830, by starting from a false calculation of opportunity, and denying in practice the potent initiative of a principle they professed in theory ; by accepting from men of a different belief a method of warfare which, instead of driving the enemy upon new and unknown ground, sought to defeat them upon their own ; by invoking, as a mere matter of strategy, a Charter in which they did not believe, and a monarchical Pact they were resolved to overthrow — followed the example of the opposition Autobiographical & Political. 209 in those Jesuitical and immoral artifices which they had themselves designated as the fifteen years farce. By so doing — although without intending it — they substituted a war of names for a war of things ; led the national mind in a false direction, destroyed all sense of dignity in individuals, and of right in the masses ; and restrained the spirit of the revolution within the narrow compass of a document altogether unequal to the necessities of the times. They introduced disloyalty into the holy battle of progress, and prepared the way for the system of corruption realised by Louis Philippe. The Revolutionist — as I understand the word — has a creed, a faith ; the Reactionist has none. He has instincts, passions, often generous in their origin, but easily deviated or corrupted by dis- appointments, or the seductions of power, so soon as years have cooled his enthusiasm and his youthful blood. The Revolutionist is he to whom observation has shown the existence of a grave social grievance or immorality — to whom intelli- gence has shown a remedy — and to whom the voice of conscience, enlightened by a religious conception of the human mission here below, has revealed the inexorable duty of devoting himself to the application of the remedy, and extirpation of the evil. VOL. I. P 2 io Life & Writings of Mazzini : The reactionist is one urged by a sentiment of rebellion against injustice — innate in minds gifted with any power — and very often by the pain and irritation consequent on being unable to assume his true place in the social order ; to seek to better his own condition, with the help of all who suffer under similar distress. The revolutionist will pursue his forward march, whatever his individual position, so long as the evil endures ; the reactionist will probably stop short as soon as the injustice shall cease with regard to himself, or as soon as the overthrow of the power attacked shall have satisfied his self-love, and miti- gated the sense of rebellion within him. The revolutionist may be mistaken as to the remedy to be applied : he may anticipate too much from the immediate future, and substitute his indi- vidual intuition to the common sense of the masses ; but he will produce no grave disorder in society. If his conception be premature, and meet with no echo, he will perish in the struggle almost alone ; while the reactionist, careful to excite all the war- like and active passions of the multitude and of the young, and to leave the solution of the pro- blem uncertain, so as to allow each man the hope of seeing his own adopted, will always meet with a powerful response to his appeal. The aim of the one is always to found ; that of the other is to destroy. The first is a man Autobiographical of Political. 2 1 1 of progress ; the second of opposition. The first argues from, and seeks to enthrone, a laze ; the second from a fact, and ends in the consecration of force. With the first, it is a question of principle : he states his purpose frankly, proceeds in a straight line, neglects what are called tactics, renounces many elements of success, trusting in the power of truth ; commits a thousand petty errors, but redeems them all by the enunciation of certain general maxims, sooner or later of use. With the reactionist details are everything : he understands to perfection that analysis which de- composes and dissolves ; in his hands every ques- tion becomes a question of men, and every war a skirmish. His eloquence is lively, supple, and occasionally brilliant ; while the revolutionist, often monotonous and dry, is always logical. He may fail to achieve his aim, but if he reach it once, it is for ever ; while the victories of the reactionist, though sometimes splendid, are never durable. The first invokes duty, the second right. A strong religious leaning influences the acts of the first, even when, through an intellectual contra- diction, he professes the reverse : the second is irreligious and materialist even when he proffers the name of God ; with him the present always tops the future, and material interest takes precedence of moral progress. 212 Life& Writings of Mazzini: The men of the first class, accustomed to will- ing sacrifice, labour less for the generation that lives around them, than for the generations to come ; the triumph of the ideas they cast upon the world is slow, but infallible and decisive : the men of the second class often win victories for their contemporaries, but their children will enjoy none of the fruits. The first are the prophets of humanity, the second are the mere agitators of mankind ; and bitter repentance ever awaits the people that commits its destinies into their hands. I now resume the historical summary of my life. The ministerial decree, by which, in order to please the despotic governments of Italy, I was exiled from France, was issued in August 1832. It was very important to me to continue the pub- lication of our writings in Marseilles, where I had organized a system of communication with Italy. I therefore decided not to obey ; but I concealed myself, in order to allow it to be supposed I had departed. The exiles of all nations were at that time relegated in the departments, and allowed a wretched pittance, in virtue of which they were submitted to special laws, resembling the laws against the suspected in the old revolution, and afterwards against the class known as the WatcJied- over (Attendibili) in the south of Italy. Autobiographical £f Political. 2 1 3 I accepted no subsidy from the government, and I forwarded the following protest to the Tribune, a republican organ of that day : — - " In the presence of an exceptional system, wherein the rights of individual liberty and domi- cile are infringed by an unjust law still more unjustly applied ; wherein accusation, judgment, and condemnation, all emanate from one and the same power, and no possibility is allowed of de- fence ; wherein the eye meets naught but examples of tyranny and submission on every side ; — it is the duty of every man possessing a sense of dig- nity openly to protest. " The object of such protest is not an useless attempt at defence, nor desire of awaking sym- pathy in those who are suffering under the same evils. It is the necessity felt of holding up to infamy a power which abuses its strength, and of making the crimes of the government known to the country wherein the injustice is committed ; of adding yet another to the many documents which will, sooner or later, decide the people to condemn those by whom it is dishonoured and betrayed. " For these reasons I do protest. " The newspapers have published the order sent to me by the French Ministry, and the mo- tives upon which that order is founded. " I am accused of conspiring for the emanci- 2 14 Life ò 3 Writings of Mazzini : pation of my country, and of seeking to rouse the Italians to that aim by my letters and printed publications. " I am accused of maintaining a correspond- ence with a Republican Committee in Paris, and of having — I, an Italian, resident in Marseilles, and without means or connections — held danger- ous communication with the combatants of the Cloister of St. Mery. " I shall certainly not shrink from assuming the responsibility of the first accusation. If the endeavour to spread useful truths in my own country, through the medium of the press, be con- spiracy, I do conspire. If to exhort my fellow- countrymen not to slumber in slavery, but rather to perish in the struggle against it ; to lie in wait for, and to seize the first opportunity of gaining a country, and a national government, be con- spiracy, I do conspire. " It is the duty of every man to conspire for the honour and salvation of his brother man, and no government assuming the title of liberal has a right to treat the man who fulfils this sacred duty as a criminal. These are principles which none but the men of the State of Siege' 1 ' will deny. * Paris was placed in a state of siege, in consequence of the in- surrection of the 5 th and 6th June, on the occasion of the funeral of General Lamarque. Autobiographical & Political. 2 1 5 " But what proofs are there of the second accu- sation ? "The ministerial dispatches quote certain pas- sages from certain sequestrated letters, which they affirm to have been written by me to friends in the interior. "These letters are stated by the Ministry to contain revelations as to the affair of the 5 th and 6th June. They are said to declare that the in- cidents of those two days have done no injury to the Republican party in France ; that the move- ment failed simply because those patriots from the provinces who were to have gone to Paris failed to keep their word ; that another insurrec- tion is being prepared, and will take place at no remote period ; that the throne of Louis Philippe is undermined on every side ; and, finally, that the Re- publican Committee of Paris is about to send five or six emissaries to Italy in order to co-organize and co-operate with the party of liberty tin re. "Where are these letters? In Paris? Were they sequestrated by the French Government ? Have they ever been communicated to the accused ? Is there anything in my conduct, in my acts, or in my correspondence, tending to confirm the assertion that these letters were written by me ? " No. The quotations made from these letters were made by the Sardinian police, and the origi- nals are stated to be in their archives. The 2i6 Life& Writings of Mazzini : French minister only quotes extracts, and those on the testimony of others. But he believes that these statements are deserving of credence. Why ? How ? Does the French police possess one single indication of my having conspired against the Government of France ? Have I ever been found guilty of rebellion, or detected in the insurrection- ary ranks ? " While such is the position of things, what course can I pursue ? " It is possible to demonstrate the falsehood of a special and definite assertion. It is not possible to demonstrate the falsehood of a general assertion, that may embrace the acts or thoughts of a whole life. It is not possible to defend one's self against an accusation unsupported by any description of evidence. " I demanded to have these ministerial letters communicated to me, and was refused. Nothing therefore was left for me to do but to deny the facts, and I did so. I denied the existence in any letter of mine of the lines printed in italics, which are the only lines implying an understand- ing between me and the French Republican party. The rest are mere observations and expressions of opinion, upon which no act of accusation could be founded. " I said these things in a letter written to the minister, dated the 1st August. I denied the Autobiographical & Po liticai '. 2 1 7 existence of the lines quoted, and defied the French and Sardinian police to prove them. I de- manded an inquiry. I demanded to be tried and judged. " The minister did not condescend to answer me. The Prefect of Marseilles, who had promised me to await the reply of M. de Montalivet, sud- denly sent me a second order to depart, and I was compelled to submit. " Such are the facts. " Men in power, what is it you hope? that your shameful submission to the pretensions of the Holy Alliance will cause us to betray our duty to our country, or that your incessant persecutions may at last dishearten and weary us of the sacred idea of liberty, which you betrayed on your accession to power ? Think you that this succes- sion of arbitrary acts will enable you to succeed in the retrograde mission you have assumed, that you will sow the seeds of suspicion and distrust in those amongst whom the bond of fraternity is daily increasing in strength ; or do you desire to arouse a spirit of reaction in the patriots of other lands against that France, the fulfilment of whose mission you alone interrupt ? " Or do you hope, in your abject cowardice, to cancel the brand of infamy on your brow, by chasing away the men whom you urged to the brink of the abyss, to forsake them in the moment 2 1 8 Life & Writings of Mazzini : of danger — men whose presence in France is a bitter reproof and perennial remorse to you Ì Believe it not. That brand of shame will never be cancelled ; it is deepened every day of your rule, every day that the voice of an exile is lifted up to curse you, and to cry aloud unto you : " Go on ! You have torn from us liberty-, country, and the very means of existence ; now take from us the power of free sp* ; take from us the very air that wafts to us the perfumed breath of our own land ; take from the exile his last comfort left, the right to gaze over the far sea, and whisper to himself, T/iere lies Italy. Go on ! go on from one humiliation to another; drag yourselves at the feet of Tzar, Pope, or Mettermeli ; implore them to grant you yet a few days of existence, and offer them in exchange, now the liberty, and now the head of a patriot. Go on ! proceed yet further upon the path leading to ruin through dishonour. It is well for the interest and salvation of the peoples, that you should reveal, in all its hideous nudity, a system of baseness and deceit unequalled in Europe. It is well for the triumph of the sacred cause, that you should demonstrate by your own acts the impossibility of all alliance between the cause of the peoples and the cause of kings. " But when the measure shall be full ; when the tocsin of the peoples shall sound the hour ot Autobiographical £f Political. 2 1 9 liberty ; when France in arms shall ask of you, What use have you made of the power zvith which I entrusted you ? — then woe unto you ! Peoples and kings will alike repudiate and reject you. " You consigned your unsuspecting and de- fenceless country to the snares of despots. You heaped dishonour upon her. You have impeded the progress of universal association. You have cast the liberties of the peoples into the jaws of the Holy Alliance. Through you, the noble impulse given to the spirit of fraternity by the days of July has been interrupted ; the souls of men have been poisoned ; and the hearts of the good have been darkened by distrust. " And when the victims of your diplomacy, of your treacherous protocols, appeared like spectres before you and demanded an asylum, you over- whelmed them with outrage, and drove them forth ; effacing from your code the inviolable rights of misfortune and the duties of hospitality. " As for us — men of action, a minority con- secrated by misfortune, and sentinels on the outposts of revolution — we bade solemn farewell to all the joys and comforts of existence on the day when we swore fidelity to the cause of the oppressed. Our hearts are unstained by anger and injurious suspicion. The governing faction has nothing in common with the peoples, who suffer like ourselves. Let us be united, and close 220 Life & Writings of Mazzini : up our ranks. The hour of justice will arrive for all. Joseph Mazzini."* As was to be expected, the persecution in- creased after this protest. Irritated by our per- sistence, and incessantly urged by the agents of the Italian Governments, the French minister tried every means in his power in order to suppress the journal Young Italy. He threatened several of our compositors and others, whom he supposed contributors, with expulsion ; sought to intimidate the publisher by means of sequestration ; and redoubled his researches in the hope of taking me. On our side we sustained the struggle manfully. We employed French workmen in the place of those who had been driven away. A citizen of Marseilles, Victor Vian, became gerani, or re- sponsible editor ; our contributors distributed themselves in the villages near our centre of operations, and we contrived to despatch the copies secretly as soon as printed. And then began for me the life I have led for twenty years out of thirty — a life of voluntary imprisonment within the four walls of a little room. They failed to discover me. The means by which I eluded their search ; the double spies who, for a trifling sum of money, performed the same service for the prefect and for me — send- * Translated from La Tribune, 20th September 1832. Autobiographical & Political. 221 ing me immediately copies of every order issued by the authorities against me ; the comic man- ner in which when my asylum was at last dis- covered, I succeeded in persuading the prefect to send me away quietly under the escort of his own agents, in order to avoid all scandal and disturbance, and in substituting and sending to Geneva in my place a friend who bore a personal resemblance to me, whilst I walked quietly through the whole row of police-officers dressed in the uniform of a national guard ; — it were useless to relate in these pages, written not for the satisfaction of the curiosity of the idle reader, but simply to furnish such historical information or examples as may be of service to my country. Suffice it to say that I remained for a whole year at Marseilles, writing, correcting proofs, correspond- ing, and even at midnight holding interviews with any members of the National party who came from Italy, and some of the leaders of the Republican party in France. At this period an atrocious calumny was cir- culated against me, which may be regarded as the commencement of that disloyal warfare of unproved and unfounded accusations, and insinuations im- possible to confute ; of suspicions stated in one journal for the purpose of being made a handle of by another ; of Jesuitical conjectures as to motives 222 Life & Writings of Mazzini : and intentions ; and of detached phrases published without the context, and so mutilated or twisted as to make them appear to express a meaning different from that intended by the writer. This mode of warfare was taught by the police of Louis Philippe* to the agents of all our petty tyrants in Italy, and has been systematically carried on by the historians, men in office, anonymous gazetteers, scribblers of pamphlets, aspirants to office or pen- sion, spies and traffickers of the Moderates all over Italy, who have pursued our steps for the last thirty years as carrion crows follow an army. The method of these assailants is to strike in the flank or rear, rarely in front, and in that case anonymously. Even yet they snarl and yelp over my every act, real or invented ; and even yet they succeed with the credulous, or with those who, from a sense of their own impotence, abhor all who act — as the owl abhors the light of day — in representing and stigmatizing me as a communist, sectarian socialist, terrorist, and man of blood ; an intolerant, exclusive, ambitious, and cowardly conspirator. Such are the accusations that have been heaped upon me, who have published a confutation of the * While these pages have been passing through the press, the late disgraceful scenes in our House of Commons have shown that this disloyal mode of warfare is not confined to the Moderates of Italy; and in this, as in the former case, the weapons used were fur- nished by the French police. — Translator's Note. Autobiographical àf Political. 223 socialist sects, one by one ; who have written of the French reign of terror as the crime of men inspired by their own fears ; who, regardless even of the disapproval of those dearest to me, have ever sacrificed the inculcation of my own belief to every hope or chance of creating Italy by other means, lending my willing aid in silence to those most adverse to me, so long as they would but act ; who, careless of every personal thing, have clasped the hands that have written false and mortal accusa- tions against myself the moment I saw them raised to labour for liberty, and have calmly encountered every personal peril, while they who accused me never even dreamed of dangers more terrible than that of incurring the displeasure of their masters. Such are the weapons, and such the warfare, of the basely wicked and cruel ; for, not content with the persecution of those who dissent from them, they seek to wound alike the soul and honour of their adversary. It is the war of cowards, for it is fought without peril, and beneath the shield of power ; it silences defence by violence, and takes advantage even of the disdainful silence of the accused to give force to the calumny. It is a war fatal in its consequences to those peoples who do not put an end to it; for their very existence is menaced by the introduction of this gnawing worm of immorality that gradually eats away all honour abroad, and all manly vigour of action at home. 224 Life & Writings of Mazzini : It is for this reason that I have spoken, and shall again have to speak upon the subject. The calumny to which I allude accused me of assassination, or worse — of the still greater crime of issuing an order of assassination. The French Government, irritated at being unable to discover me, imagined that by accusing me of a crime, they might deprive me of the esteem and affection to which I owed shelter. They therefore obtained from a police agent a pretended historical document, to which the forger had affixed my name, and inserted it — though well aware of its falsehood — in the Moniteur. On the 20th October, a certain Emiliani had been attacked and wounded (not mortally) in the streets of Rodez, in the department of l'Aveyron, by some Italian exiles. The men who wounded him were sentenced to five years' imprisonment ; and shortly after this sentence, on the 31st May 1833, Emiliani, and a certain Lazzareschi, who was in company with him at a caffé, were both of them mortally wounded by a young exile of 1 83 1, named Gavioli. Both of the men assassinated were, as I after- wards learned, spies of the Duke of Modena. At the time of the perpetration of the crime, I had never even heard of their existence, and their aggressors were equally unknown to me. A short time after the first attack, the Journal A utobiographical & Political. 225 des Avcyrons had prepared the way for the accu- sation against me, in a manner which called forth the following protest from me : — " To the Editor of the Tribune. "Sir, — The Journal des Avcyrons, of the 27 th October, in speaking of the crime recently com- mitted in Rodez — the wounding of a certain Emiliani, formerly groom of the Duke of Modena — thus expresses itself: — " ' The information collected by the prefect in- duces him to believe that the Italian assailants of the unfortunate Emiliani are mere instruments used by the leaders of the party calling itself Young Italy, to rid themselves of those among their com- patriots who refuse obedience to their statutes.' " If the journalist means by these words to allude to the body of men, bound together in a certain political creed, which they believe to be the sole faith capable of regenerating their country, and of which the principles are developed in the monthly publication known as Young Italy, I am the director of that publication, and one of the leaders of that party. As such, I consider that I have a right to answer the accusation in the name of the party to which I belong. " I solemnly give the lie to the journalist, and to all those who choose to repeat the accusation. " I defy anyone to produce a shadow of proof VOL. I. Q 2 26 Life & Writings of Mazzini ; of this shameless assertion made against men at least as honourable as the journalist of l'Aveyron — men whose misfortunes alone should be a sufficient protection against calumny. " I will add that the idea of a party proposing to exterminate all those not obeying its statutes is an absurdity such as, perhaps, no man in France — except the journalist of l'Aveyron — would utter. " Young Italy has no instruments. It only admits into its ranks free men who freely accept its principles. Its members are not sworn to destroy any but Austrians, when the time shall come. " This is my answer. " As to what the journalist is pleased to add about scenes which French customs reject, and which never could be nationalized in France, it is unworthy a reply. Every Frenchman who thinks before he writes, knows that street assaults are not the speciality of any nation, and that crimes repugnant to the customs of the people are com- mitted in all countries. " The assassins of Ramus and Delpech are surely on a par with those of Emiliani.* — I am, sir, yours, MAZZINI. " 30th October 1832." * From La Tribune, iSth November 1832. A utobiographical & Political. 227 In 1833, as I have already stated, the Moni- teitv published the sentence of a secret tribunal, condemning Emiliani and Lazzareschi to death, and several others to different punishments, with my name and that of La Cecilia affixed as presi- dent and secretary of the tribunal. The artifice was ill contrived. The dates did not even correspond with the possibility of reality. The Italian, in which the sentence was written, was full of grammatical errors/" which it was certainly not my habit to commit. * The following is the text of the sentence as reported in the Moniteur. Let the reader judge for himself. "On the evening of the 15th of this current month, at 10 p.m., the Head of the Society, the members being then assembled, ordered the secretar}' io publish a letter in which a sentence emanating from the tribunal of Marseilles was registered against Emiliani, Scuriatti, Lazzareschi, and Andriani. The papers of the process, sent to us by the president in Rodez, having been examined, the result is that they are proved guilty. 1st, Of having propagated certain infamous writ- ings against our sacred society ; 2d, as partizans of the infamous Papal Government, of which they have correspondence that tends to overthrow our designs against the sacred cause of liberty. The Fiscal Authority, after the most mature reflection, and from the results of the process, in virtue of the article 22, unanimously con- demns Emiliani and Scuriatti to death. As to Lazzareschi and Andriani, from the want of sufficient proof, they are condemned to be flogged with rods, and their own tribunals are entrusted with the business of condemning them to the galleys, ad vitam, immediately upon their return to their country (as famous thieves and cheats). The president of Rodez is moreover ordered to select four individuals as executors of the said sentence, to be accomplished imprescriptibly 228 Life & Writings of Mazzini : I again protested, in the National, in the following terms : — " Sir, — The Moniteur of the 7th June contains a pretended statement of facts relative to the assassination committed in Rodez — of facts said to have preceded and accompanied that sad affair — in which it is affirmed that the death of Emiliani and Lazzareschi was the result of a sentence pronounced against them by a secret tribunal sitting in Marseilles, and belonging to the society of Young Italy. The Moniteur quotes the sen- tence at full length, and appends my name to it as President of the Tribunal. " That I should have been driven out of France — where I was living independently, and remote from any depot* — without either cause or defence, and merely at the arbitrary will of a minister, is an act that will not surprise any one on the part of a corrupt and corrupting govern- ment, which has already played the perjurer on the Pyrenees, the police-agent at Ancona, the within the period of twenty days, and every one of the select who shall refuse, shall be killed ipso facto. "Given in .Marseilles in presence of the Supreme Tribunal, this evening, at 12 P.M., 15th December 1S32. "Mazzini, President. " Cecilia, Agent.'''' * The Italian exiles receiving relief from the French Government were compelled to live with a certain distance from the depots, or centres, whence the funds were distributed. Autobiographical & Political. 229 informer at Frankfort, and the persecutor in the name and for the benefit of the Holy Alliance, wheresoever it encountered the noble pride, of an independent soul opposing a manful spirit of endurance to the pressure of misfortune. The war between us patriots and that Government is a war unto death. " But that, after having wounded the adversary, they should thus seek to poison the wound ; that, having discharged against him every arrow in the quiver of persecution, they should attack him with the shaft of calumny ; that, having bereft him of liberty, comfort, and repose, they should seek to deprive him of honour itself — is an amount of baseness we never expected to find even in the authors of the State of Siege. I will not waste time by pointing out all the contradictions abound- ing in that artful and absurd composition. It is false in every particular, from the date of my exile, which took place in August, and not after November 1832, down to the pretended sentence attributed to Marseilles, while the act itself quotes the authority of a letter from Marseilles, addressed I know not to what place ; from the assertion that the proceedings against the supposed authors of the first wounds of Emiliani resulted in a con- demnation to five years of imprisonment, while in fact those proceedings terminated in an uncondi- tional acquittal ; down to the declaration of the 230 Life& Writings of Mazzini: minister that the sentence was communicated to him in January 1833, although the process — begun in October, and continued over the whole of January — makes no mention thereof. " The accusation springs from too low a source for me to stoop to defend myself from it. But I shall call the Moniteur to account through the medium of the Legal tribunals, for the audacity with which it has dared to subscribe that document with the name of an honest man, free from every thought of evil. " I shall demand to know how they dare, with- out other evidence than the copy of a document of whose authenticity they have no proof, to stig- matize me as an assassin. " Meanwhile, however, many persons have vo- luntarily assumed my defence; and they have a right to expect me to deny the charge. " Therefore I do deny it. " I solemnly deny the statement, the sentence, the whole matter. " I give the lie to the semi-official Monitciir, and to the Government. "And I defy the Government, its agents, or the foreign police who fabricated the calumny, to prove a single one of their assertions against me, to produce the original of the sentence and my signature, or to discover a single line of mine that could induce a belief as to the possibility of Atitobiographical & Political. 23 1 such an act on my part. — Have the goodness to insert, sir, etc. Joseph Mazzini." The Moniteur was silent. The original was never produced. Concealed as I then was in Marseilles, and unable to appear in person, or to give legal power to another to represent me, I could not at that time commence proceedings for defamation. However, the judicial authorities solved the problem in another manner. The judgment of the Supreme Court of l'Aveyron decided that the crime was the result of a quarrel, and perpe- trated without premeditation* Some years later (I think in 1840), Gisquet, who had been Prefect of Police in 1833, when writing his Memoirs, and thinking only of the money value of the melodramatic incidents intro- duced, reproduced the accusation. I cited him before the tribunals, and he there declared his conviction that I was an honest man, and incap- able of crime, and the tribunal pronounced sen- tence accordingly."!* * Sentence was passed on the 30th November 1S33, and Gavioli was condemed to the galleys. La Cecilia continued to live openly in France, and was never even interrogated on the subject. + In the sentence pronounced by the Tribunale Correctionelle de Paris, in April 1841, it is stated, that as from general report, and the statement even of Gisquet himself, it was evident that I was an 232 Life & Writings of Mazzini : At a later period, in 1 845, an English minister, Sir James Graham,* who had dared to revive this calumny, was compelled, by the information he received from the magistrates of l'Aveyron, to publicly ask my pardon in the House of Parlia- ment. Nevertheless, from that first calumny, con- tinually repeated for many years afterwards, both honest man, incapable of crime, the document in the Moniteur, quoted by Gisquet in his Memoirs, evidently referred to another Mazzini ! * In answer to a question put by the honourable member for Kilmarnock (Mr. Bouverie), on the 8th May 1S45, Sir James Graham said, " I am bound to state to the honourable member for Kilmarnock, and to the House, that the account I received yesterday, resting upon the statements of the judge who tried Gavioli, and the public prose- cutor, in answer to the enquiries made at my request, are explicit, full, and direct, that in that trial no evidence whatever was produced which inculpates Mr. Mazzini in the case. I am bound, therefore, to state, that if I had known at the time I made the original state- ment, the facts of the trial ; much more, if I had known what was the impression of the judge and the public prosecutor — who, I con- ceive, are the best authorities in this matter — so far from making that statement, I should have religiotcsly abstained from doing so. By the statement I then made, a public injury was inflicted on Mr. Maz- zini, and therefore, now knowing the facts I have just detailed to the House, and which were unknown to me then, I think it due to Mr. Mazzini, to make the only and best reparation in my power, which is, that the statement I have now made shall be as public as my former statement. I can only add that I hope this explanation will be satisfactory." — Vide the Times of the 9th May 1845. — Transla- tor's Note. Autobiographical & Politica/. 233 in newspapers and in anonymous libels, and read by men, who, living under despotic governments, had no means of seeing the official documents by which it was refuted, the idea was spread abroad, and slowly became a conviction in many minds, that I was a man of dark and bloody vengeance, and that the statutes of Young Italy contained tremendous laws against those of its members who violated their oaths, and all who dissented from its doctrines. I abhor — and all those who know me well know that I abhor — bloodshed, and every species of terror erected into a system, as remedies equally ferocious, unjust, and inefficacious against evils that can only be cured by the diffusion of liberal ideas. I believe that all ideas of vengeance or expiation, as the basis of a penal code, are im- moral and useless, whether applied by individuals or by society. The only sort of warfare I admit — and even that only as a sad necessity — is an open war waged against the brute force that violates human duty and human right, except in one sole case, of which I shall have to speak hereafter. Young Italy, when repudiating the vindictive formulae and customs of Carbonarism, abolished all threats of death against traitors. That society had only one code of laws or statutes, emanating from its centre of direction. That code the reader 234 Life & Writings of Mazzini : may judge for himself, as it forms a part of the present edition. From time to time, however, I added certain moral elucidations to those statutes, which I shall now transcribe here; and from these rules we never departed. To all those who proposed to us the destruction of spies or traitors, we replied : Let the Judas be made known ; the infamy will be punishment enough. All that has been published about us by writers of unsound mind like D'Arlincourt and Cretineau Toly, or by hired libellists like Bréval and La Hodde, is false. It is, of course, possible that certain local modifications of our statutes may have been im- provised and introduced among small fractions of the association without our knowledge ; but who would judge Catholicism from the oaths of the Sanfedists ? It is possible that some small nucleus of the association may have passed a decree condemning deserters and traitors to death; but would any honest man lay the assassination of Prina to the account of the monarchical insti- tution ? The following are the elucidations added to our statutes in 1833 : — " The aim of Young Italy is twofold. It seeks to gather together the youth of Italy, in whom her true strength consists, under the influence of Autobiographical óf Political. 235 leaders of truly revolutionary principles, in order that when any movement shall take place, they may not yield up the reins into the hands of the first who arise to seize them ; and it purposes to bring about the union — through the medium of their leaders and representatives — of all the various societies existing in Italy, having for their aim the unity, independence, and liberty of the country. "The attainment of the first of these objects is entrusted to all the members of Young Italy, in proportion to their rank and position in the society. " The second is reserved to the Central Con- gress and to the Provincial Congresses under its direction. " Moral and Political Principles of the Association. " The world is governed by one sole moral law — the law of Progress. " Man is created for great destinies. The aim for which he is created is the full, free, and organ- ized development of all his faculties. " The means given to man wherewith to achieve this aim, is association with his fellows. "The peoples will only reach the highest point of development of which they are capable, when 236 Lifcàf Writings of Mazzini : they are united in a single bond, and uniform direc- tion regulated by these principles. " Young Italy, therefore, recognises the universal association of the peoples as the ultimate aim of the endeavours of all free men. It recognises and inculcates the brotherhood of the peoples by every means in its power. " However, in order that the peoples may ad- vance together in harmony upon the path of their common improvement, it is necessary they should start from a common basis of equality. Before they can become members of the great association, it is necessary that they should have a separate existence, name, and power. " Every people is therefore bound to constitute itself a nation before it occupy itself with the question of humanity. " There exists no true nation without unity. " No permanent and stable unity is possible without independence. Despots, whose object is to diminish the power of the peoples, ever seek their dismemberment. " There can be no independence without liberty. " For a people to watch over their independence, it is necessary they should be free ; free men and free peoples alone can judge of the means of pre- serving their independence ; they alone have suffi- cient interest in its preservation to be ready to Autobiographical & Political. 237 sacrifice themselves for it, and they alone are bound to do so. "The aim of Young Italy is then to achieve the unity, independence, and liberty of Italy. " Where power is hereditary, and in the hands of one man, no lasting liberty is possible. " The tendency of power is towards increase and concentration. " Where power is hereditary, the acquisitions of the first are to the advantage of the second. Hereditary power destroys all remembrance of a popular origin in its possessor. Hereditary in- terests naturally intervene between the ruler and the interests of the nation. This generates a state of strife, which ultimately necessitates a revolution. The aim of every nation that rises in revolution should be to put as speedy an end as possible to that revolution ; and the only means of doing so effectually, is to close up every avenue through which the struggle appears likely to be renewed. " Revolutions are made by the people, and for the people. In order to induce the people earnestly to desire revolution, it is necessary to convince them that it is made for their benefit. " In order to create this conviction, it is neces- sary first to teach them their rights, and then offer them revolution as the means of obtaining the free exercise of those rights. " Consequently, the aim proposed to be achieved 238 Life & Writings of Mazzini : by the revolution, must be the inauguration of a popular system ; a system, the programme of which is the amelioration of the condition of the most numerous and poorest class ; a system which calls all the citizens to the free exercise and development of their faculties, and to the manage- ment of their own affairs ; a system based upon equality, and which establishes the government upon the elective principle, broadly understood, and organized and applied in the simplest and least costly manner. " This system is the republican. " Young Italy is unitarian and republican. " In religion the object of the society is to promote the establishment of a good parochial system, and the suppression of all clerical aris- tocracy. " The general aim of the society is the abolition of all privilege not derived under the eternal law of the application of individual capacity to the general good ; the gradual diminution of the class compelled to sell their labour, and the class of buyers of labour ; in other words to facilitate the approach and ultimate fusion of all classes, and constitute the people ; to obtain the greatest possible development of individual faculties, and a system of legislation adapted to the wants of the people, and calculated to promote the unceasing progress of national education. Autobiographical éf Political. 239 "However, until the first step towards revolution — independence — be achieved, Young Italy re- cognises the duty of concentrating every effort upon that sole aim. Until the soil of Italy be freed from the foreigner, the one object of the society will be to procure arms, and to preach war by every means in its power. " Having thus made their declaration of duties, and declaration of rights, they will defer the attempt to achieve them until the country be free. " Meanwhile, during the period of insurrection, they advocate one central dictatorial power, com- posed of a single deputy from each province,"" * Let this passage serve as an answer to the accusation periodi- cally cast upon me by writers belonging to the moderate party, of having aimed at a personal dictatorship. Shortly afterwards, in 1833, on publishing an article by Buonar- roti, Upon the Government of a People during the period of Insur- rection for Liberty, signed Camillo, in a number of Young Italy, I protested against a paragraph advocating an individual dictatorship, in the following note : — ' ' We agree with all the views put forth in this article, except that which admits of individual dictatorship, among the forms of revolu- tionary government. " We dissent from this view, because, although the nature of the governing power required during the period of insurrection is essen- tially different from the form of government to be adopted after victory, there are two conditions which it is absolutely requisite that it should fulfil. The first is that it should avoid all resemblance to the nature of the power overthrown ; the second, that it should con- tain the germ at least of the form of government intended to be substituted for that power. Both of these conditions exclude the dominion of one man, and indicate the dominion of the majority. 2 4P Lifeàf Writings of Mazzini : assembled in permanent congress, responsible on the expiration of their mandate, and watched over in the exercise of their functions by public opinion, and by Young Italy, then converted into a national association. The first duties of this power would be the regulation of all matters connected with the press, criminal justice, supply, and administration, " Because, although the revolutionary power ought to be com- posed of the most virtuous and gifted in heart and intellect, and it is unadvisable to summon parliaments or numerous assemblies in moments where the governmental acts and decrees are required to succeed one another with the rapidity of military movements ; we believe, nevertheless, that the governing power should contain one representative of every insurgent province of Italy. " Because the dictatorship of a single individual may become dangerous in the highest degree among a people accustomed to the degrading influences of servitude. " Because, until the day arrive when a truly national government, the issue of free and universal suffrage, shall be formed, an element of distrust will always exist among a people striving for emancipation ; and the concentration of all the revolutionary forces in the hands of one man would render every description of guarantee illusory. "Because, in Italy, as in all enslaved countries, there exist no elements by which to judge and select the man possessed of sufficient virtue, energy, constancy, and knowledge ot men and things, to enable him worthily to govern and direct the destiny cf twenty-six millions of men. He could only be proved worthy by the experience of many years of vicissitude, during which he had passed uncontami- nated througli those trials and situations most calculated to corrupt ; and during that period of trial the insurrection would require a government and an administration. " Should the idea of an individual dictatorship be generally accepted, it might place the supreme power, perhaps a crown, at the disposal of the first soldier favoured by fortune in battle." A utobiographical & Political. 24 1 — no more. Commissions to be created in the meantime, whose duty it would be to mature a scheme of political and civil legislation, for the consideration of the National Congress, to be assembled at Rome, as soon as the country should be free. "All compact or agreement with the enemy upon Italian soil forbidden ; the defence of the cities entrusted to the citizens, armed and mobilized for the purpose, and organized in guerrilla bands for the purpose of harassing the enemy and serving as auxiliaries to the regular army. " First, arms and victory ; then laws and consti- tution. Such are the principles to be preached by Young Italy. The means by which the society proposes to realise them are — arms and moral edu- cation. " To obtain the first Young Italy conspires. To diffuse the second the society publishes articles, newspapers, etc. " The members of Young Italy write and con- spire, but they are well aware that the regeneration of Italy can only be achieved by a truly Italian revolution. Consequently they disapprove of all partial movements, the only result of which would be the aggravation of her position. " The insurrection of a people must be achieved by their own forces. No true or lasting liberty can be given by the foreigner. The members of VOL. I. R 242 Life& Writings of Mazzini : Young Italy will endeavour to profit by foreign movements, but will not found their hopes upon them. " All the members of the association are com- missioned to diffuse these general rules. "Organization of the Association. " One Central Congress. " One Provincial Congress in every province of Italy. " One Organizer in every city " Proselyting Confederates, or Propagandists. " Simple Confederates. " The central congress elects the provincial congresses, transmits the general instructions, main- tains order among them, and communicates to them the necessary signs of recognition. It pro- vides for the printing and diffusion of the publica- tions of the society, forms the general plan of operations, and sums up and centralizes ; without exercising any tyrannical rule over the labours of the association. "Each provincial congress directs the most im- portant affairs and operations of the society in its own province : it selects the signs of recognition for the provincial members, and transmits to them the instructions of the central congress, forwarding A utobiographical & Political. 243 to it in return a monthly report of the progress of the association in its province, the material means collected, and the state of opinion in the different localities, with observations as to the measures required to be taken. " The organizer of each city, selected by the pro- vincial congress, will send a monthly record of the work done in that city to the provincial congress ; the subjects of his correspondence with the pro- vincial congress being nearly identical with those of the correspondence of the provincial with the central congress. "The propagandists will be elected by the organizer and the provincial congress, who will select men possessing both head and heart. Their duties will be to initiate the simple confederates, and direct them according to their instructions. Each of them will correspond with the organizer of his own city — the subjects of his correspondence being similar to those of the organizer himself with the provincial congress. They will transmit to him a monthly record of their labours, and com- municate to their subalterns the instructions they receive from him. " The simple confederates will be chosen by the propagandist among men of good character, but not of sufficient intelligence to be trusted to affiliate others. They will be under the direction of the propagandist by whom they have been 244 Life & Writings of Mazzini : affiliated, and will communicate to him any infor- mation they may possess or observations they make, etc. They will diffuse the principles of the association, and hold themselves ready for action. " Each member has a nom-de-gnerre by which he will be known in the society. " The aim of the association is to extend itself. In order to do this it must address itself, especially among the popular classes, to the young — to those who have grown up among the aspirations and shared the tendencies of the age. " Each member able to do so, will provide him- self with a rifle or musket, and fifty cartouches. Those who cannot obtain them for themselves will have them provided by the provincial congress. " Every member whose position enables him to do so, will, upon his initiation, contribute a certain sum to the funds of the association, to be continued monthly. " These contributions, transmitted from time to time to the provincial congress, will be employed by them for the expenses of the association, except a certain fraction thereof, which will be handed over to the central congress for the expenses of travellers, printing, the purchase of arms, etc. " The amount of these contributions and their expenditure, cases of exemption from such pay- ments, forms of initiation, and all such secondary matters, will be left to the provincial congress. Autobiographical & Political. 245 " The central congress repudiates all excessive surveillance or dominion, and only desires to impose its authority so far as is absolutely necessary to preserve unity and community of action in the movement. " The association has two orders of signs. The first only to be used by the provincial congresses, and travellers in their communications with the central congress, and chosen by the last. The second, to be used by the provincial members, will be chosen by the provincial congresses, and com- municated to the central congress. " These signs will be altered every three months, or oftener if required. By this means, if the signs used by one province should be discovered by the police, the signs used by the others will remain unknown and secure." The above " instructions " were followed, in the journal of Young Italy, by a short article in memory of Enrichetta Castiglioni, a Venetian lady, who died a martyr to the cause of Italian liberty, in an Austrian prison ; and by a paper of some length Upon the Encyclical Letter of Gregory XVI.; Thoughts addressed to the Priests of Italy. After commenting upon the absolute indifference with which that papal manifesto was received, even in Italy, Mazzini says : — 246 Lifeàf Wì'itings of Mazzini : " That indifferent silence is in itself a sentence of death passed upon an element of moral power, which for twelve centuries had constituted the unity of Europe, and which Europe now rejects. . . . The Papacy is extinct, and Catholicism is a corpse. " And the Pope knows this ; he has an in- stinctive sense of the destiny of the papacy. He himself raises the cry of ruin, irreparable ruin, in this encyclical letter to the bishops ; which letter is, to any one capable of understanding its true sig- nificance, more eloquent than all the works ever written to predict the ruin we now behold in con- summation. "Read the encyclical letter: — 'Such a period of sects, of conspiracies, of dangers to the Holy See, as the present, was never witnessed. The links of unity fall asunder day by day. New doctrines are preached in the colleges and in the academies. The Catholic faith is openly assailed. The evil is widely spread. The press everywhere disseminates doctrines hostile to the ancient dogma. A curse is upon the face of the earth. Salvation is no longer to be looked for from the intercession of the Virgin and Apostles ; or, more correctly, from the bayonets of princes.' " So says the encyclical letter." "A last chance had, however, been given to Autobiographical & Political. 247 Catholicism. The ideas of Lamennais, could they have been adopted by the papacy, might have delayed its ruin for a while, and the one really important point in the encyclical letter is its condemnation of the only school from which it might rationally have derived support. "The theory of Lamennais rejected the testi- mony of our human senses, conscience, sentiments, and reason. All these were treated by him as naught, because they were all against him. " ' There exists a sovereign and supreme law, alike the sole basis of duty, and restriction upon power. "'This law is of God — is God. " ' The church is the sole depositary and inter- preter of the supreme law. " ' The church exists by and resides in its chief. The power of the church, the spiritual power, is in the hands of the Pope. The Pope is the organ of the law of laws. He is God upon earth. "'Therefore, every man, every sect, that with- draws from the Catholic Church and the Pope, every church assuming to derive its right other- where than from that of the Roman Church, is re- bellious.' " " Such were the fundamental propositions of Lamennais. " Now, even if we admit the first and second, 248 Life£f Writings of Mazzini : the third yet remains unconnected, isolated, and independent of the others. Between it and them there is a void, and that void is an abyss. " The church exists by its chief ; resides in its chief ; every power the church possesses is pos- sessed through its chief. These are phrases exactly summing up that theory of absolutism, against which Europe has revolted. " The one question now agitated on every side — whether in politics, religion, philosophy, or literature, etc. — is precisely whether the depositary and interpreter of the supreme law shall be one man gifted with incontrovertible power ; or shall exist in all citizens, all believers, all philosophers, and all writers ; inothervvords,inthe freely-expressed will of the majority of each and all of these. " Lamennais was therefore compelled to demon- strate that the church was upheld by the first of these doctrines, and that the power of the church must of necessity be concentrated in one man ; and these things he sought to prove by the argu- ment of authority — an argument in contradiction with the other fundamental points ; for where the human senses, reason, and conscience, are naught, authority — which should be derived from the united testimony of all these sources of belief — is also naught. " According to him, authority — universal testi- mony — both inspires and legitimates belief. Autobiographical & Political. 24c " Authority must be one, permanent, and uni- versal. " The Christian religion, as manifested by the church, forms this authority. " But how and where is the church one ? " Not in the people of believers, who neither meet together, deliberate, nor vote. " Nor in their pastors, who do not act in com- mon, nor assemble in fraternal discussion to deter- mine upon the moral government of the people. " Not in the council, which is not permanent. Not in the Pope and council ; because, should a difference of opinion arise, there is none to arbitrate between them, and unity would be destroyed. " Authority therefore resides in the Pope alone. " So said Lamennais, and there is no form of power existing, however infamous, which this argu- ment would not tend to legitimate. The unity of a state despotically governed cannot reside in the people whose suffrage is never asked ; nor in any national representation, for none exists ; nor in any form of representation and the king, because they might disagree. The unity of the state, then, re- sides in the king. " This argument would suit Don Miguel, the Duke of Modena, or the Bey of Tunis ; but the day will come when the people will answer — " Since the constitution of the unity of the state in your person has become odious and tyrannical, 250 Life & Writings of Mazzini ; we choose to overthrow your throne, and to consti- tute the unity of the state in ourselves ; and should they succeed in so doing, who could prove their authority illegitimate ? " In the system of Lamennais, the question of fact is manifestly substituted to the question of right. His argument ultimately reduces itself to this, and let priests judge if this be a stable founda- tion on which to build up the power of the Pope. " Every fact is in its nature mutable ; and if the fact which supports the papacy to-day should condemn it to destruction to-morrow, it would have but itself to blame. " From the weakness of this argument — which, though it in reality proves nothing, is, nevertheless, the very last the defenders of the papacy have left — I deduce the actual consummation of the ruin it is hoped to avert. " And both Lamennais and the Pope perceived that the fact to which they appealed was in danger of being cancelled by the irresistible advance of another fact. Authority is about to be transferred from the papacy to the people ; and the transfer once complete, what hope or argument will be left to the papacy ? " Both the Pope and Lamennais have felt the necessity of a remedy, but the remedy chosen by each is different. " The Pope, true to the despot nature, sought to Autobiographical & Political. 251 destroy the tree in the very root. He solemnly repudiated the argument of Lamennais in his encyclical letter, without perceiving that he had nought to substitute in its place. " Lamennais, a mere individual, and member of the people, was convinced that no mere stroke of the papal pen was sufficient to cancel the gigantic fact of popular authority. He gazed upon the device resplendent upon the banner of the people, and inscribed God and Liberty upon his own. Then, as if desirous of persuading the peoples that these words were inspired by the head of the church, he presented that banner to the aged Pope, that he might raise it on high as a token of reconciliation. " And the blood-stained finger of the aged Pope cancelled the word of peace, and wrote thereon, God and Tyranny. " But the finger of no Pope can cancel the word liberty from the heart whereon it has been traced by God. " Thus, from the encyclical letter, from the A venir* and from the past theories and present silence of Lamennais, and from the whole of this petty warfare, two consequences maybe deduced: — "The first : That Lamennais, by attempting to reconcile Catholicism with liberty; — and the Pope, by crying anathema upon his doctrine ; — have both of them recognised the fact that no durable autho- * The newspaper edited by Lamennais. 252 Li/e & Writings of Mazzini : rity is henceforth possible, unless upheld by liberty. " The second : That liberty and the Pope are in direct contradiction, and opposed to each other. " Now, in this question between liberty and the Pope, which is destined to be victorious ? " The world is athirst for unity, and the banner that leads to unity will be victorious. " Authority alone, or, in other words, universal consent, can constitute unity. Where this consent is not, there is anarchy." Mazzini then draws a picture of the state of Europe, to prove that unity has abandoned Catholi- cism and the papacy. True belief is extinct in Europe. Habit, indifference, irony, or negation, alone remain, even in countries still professing the Catholic faith ; while one half of Europe has reso- lutely shaken it off. Catholicism is extinct through the inferiority of the Popes to their mission. It is extinct because humanity has pronounced itself free, and none may again reduce it to slavery. " Human progress, equality, and association; — this is the generative idea and dominating neces- sity of all revolutions " And in this solemn progress of the peoples — ■ in this hymn of departure raised by the nations advancing towards the unknown lands of the social Autobiographical & Poli timi. 253 world — one voice is wanting, one element holds itself aloof. "It is the voice of the priest, the element of the clergy. " In all countries, but even more in Italy than elsewhere, the priesthood, carried away by an in- comprehensible passion, deny the gospel, and uplift those hands, which should only be raised to bless, in malediction of the people urged onwards by the breath of God. " The priesthood, forgetful of the days when their mission was the protection of the people against the arbitrary rule of the feudal lords and the tyranny of the empire, have become the satel- lites of power — bowing down before it, and cringing to the foreigner who, but a few centuries since, trembled at the voice of Julius II. They play the part of subaltern persecutors and spies, in the defence of a fleeting shadow — the spectre of a power condemned by God and man. " Solitary and apart, they rage against the development of the precepts it was once their mis- sion to teach — of the rights eternal in the hearts of all men, and in their own. " The priesthood preach ignorance in the name of the God of truth ; and abject submission in the name of the God of battles. They storm against the irreligion, incredulity, and wickedness of an epoch which, like all great revolutionary epochs, is 254 Life & Writings of Mazzini : essentially religious ; against those who, strong in virtue and self-sacrifice, seek to elevate the creature from the dust in the name of the Creator, and restore to man the consciousness of his origin and of his mission ; and against enterprises having for their aim the destruction of the anarchy produced by tyranny, and the union of humanity in the name of the spirit of love. "To us this matters little. Humanity will not cease its onward course because a handful of mis- guided men persist in refusing to advance with it, and remaining lost among ruins. Humanity will not stop short because unaccompanied by the deposi- taries of the ancient creed. The religious idea exists in and for humanity, for humanity alone knows the aim towards which it is advancing. Humanity alone hears the voice bidding it pursue that aim, and is the sole possessor of the secret that unites its various races. " ' Religion in its own essence — is one, eternal, and immutable as God himself; but in its external form and development, it is governed by the law of time, which is the law of mankind. Like man, like the human species, religion is born, undergoes growth and change, is apparently consumed by its own progress, grows old, dies, and is born again of its own ashes. And in this perpetual vicissitude, in this alternate mechanism of life and death, it is purified, elevated, and generalized; constantly bear- Autobiographical