CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 The Estate of 
 A. Henw Detweiler 
 
PKINTEDIHU S.A. 
 
 3 1924 028 273 682 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028273682 
 
VICTOR E M M A N U E L 
 
BUILDERS OF 
 UNITED ITALY 
 
 BY 
 
 RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND 
 
 WITH EIGHT PORTRAITS 
 
 NEW YOEK 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 1908 
 
Copyright, 1908, 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 
 
 Published, August, 1908 
 
 THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS 
 RAHWAY, N. J. 
 
To 
 
 That Spirit of Italy 
 
 Which Calls to Men in All Lands 
 
 Like the Charmed Voice of 
 
 Their Own History 
 
r I ^ HERE is no history more alternately des- 
 -*■ perate and hopeful than that of the scat- 
 tered Italian states in their efforts to form a 
 united nation. Many forces fuse in the progress 
 of such a popular movement, and each force has 
 its own particular spokesman or leader. The 
 prophet and the soldier, the poet and the states- 
 man, each gives his share of genius. Those men 
 who seemed to represent the most potent forces 
 in this history are included here. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Alfieei, the Poet .... 
 Manzoni, the Man of Letters . 
 globeeti, the philosopher 
 Manin, the " Father op Venice " 
 Mazzini, the Prophet . 
 Cavottr, the Statesman 
 Garibaidi, the Crusader 
 Victor Emmanuel, the King 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 63 
 87 
 125 
 165 
 223 
 283 
 
ALFIERI, THE POET 
 
 A LFIERI was more than a great poet, he was 
 ■*-^ the discoverer of a new national life in the 
 scattered states of Italy. Putting aside consid- 
 eration of his tragedies as literature, no student 
 of the eighteenth century can fail to appreciate 
 his influence over Italian thought. It was as 
 though a people who had forgotten their na- 
 tionality suddenly heard anew the stories of 
 their common folk-lore. The race of Dante, of 
 Petrarch, and of Tasso spoke again in the words 
 of Alfieri. 
 
 It was high time that disunited Italy should 
 find a poet's voice. There was no vigor, no resolu- 
 tion, no originality from Turin to Naples, peo- 
 ple of all classes were sunk in apathy. No won- 
 der that foreign lovers of mediaeval Italy turned 
 their eyes away from the seats of so much former 
 glory; there seemed little hope in a people given 
 over to trivial personal enjoyment. There was no 
 liberty of speech or action — sentiment, reason, pas- 
 sion were all measured by the grand-ducal yard- 
 stick. 
 
 At about the middle of this artificial eighteenth 
 century, in 1749, Vittorio Alfieri was born at Asti, 
 
2 ALFIERI 
 
 in Piedmont. His parents were of the upper rank 
 in the close social order of the small kingdom, 
 his father Antonio Alfieri, a man of independent 
 means, who, as one biographer has it, " had never 
 soiled his mind with ambition or his hands with 
 labor." His mother was the widow of the Mar- 
 quis of Cacherano, and had two daughters and a 
 son before she married Antonio Alfieri. After 
 the latter's death, which occurred when Vittorio 
 was scarcely a year old, she married again, and it 
 was this stepfather, the Chevalier Giacinto Alfieri 
 di Magliano, who stood in place of father to Vit- 
 torio and his sister, as well as to their older 
 half-brother and sisters. Although these other 
 children were near his own age the boy Vittorio 
 seems to have passed a lonely childhood, driven 
 into unusual solitude by the waywardness of his 
 nature. 
 
 While still a child, Alfieri was sent away to 
 the Academy of Turin, the first of those journeys 
 in which he was later to take such delight. He 
 cared little for books or study of any sort, he 
 was over-critical, and yet without the ambition 
 to perfect himself. He spent his time, as he says, 
 in his famous memoirs, in acquiring a profound 
 ignorance of whatever he was meant to learn ; and 
 he left the Academy not only with no knowledge 
 of what were termed the humanities, but with no 
 
THE POET 3 
 
 interest in any language, speaking a mixed jar- 
 gon of French and Piedmontese, and reading 
 practically nothing. Knowledge was held in small 
 esteem by aU classes at that particular time, and 
 the priests, who formed the teaching class, were at 
 small pains to spread a zeal for learning which 
 they did not share. Alfieri says, " We translated 
 the Lives of Cornehus Nepos ; but none of us, per- 
 haps not even the masters, knew who these men 
 were whose lives we translated, nor where was their 
 country, nor in what times they lived, nor under 
 what government, nor what any government was ! " 
 In spite of the extraordinary incapacity of his 
 teachers, Alfieri did succeed in learning something, 
 although he was always at great pains to decry 
 his early education. He learned sufficient Latin 
 to translate the Georgics of Virgil into his Italian 
 dialect, and he was fond of reading Goldoni and 
 Metastasio. A little later he passed into a more 
 advanced grade, where he met many foreign 
 youths who had been sent to Turin to study, and 
 where he was allowed some Hberty in choosing his 
 own course. He found as much fault with these 
 new conditions as with the old. " The reading of 
 many French romances," he says, " the constant 
 association with foreigners, and the want of all oc- 
 casion to speak Italian, or to hear it spoken, drove 
 from my head that small amount of wretched 
 
4 ALFIERI 
 
 Tuscan which I had contrived to put there in 
 those two or three years of burlesque study of 
 the humanities and asinine rhetoric." In place 
 of it he learned and read much French, then the 
 language of polite society. 
 
 In such aimless desultory fashion Alfieri passed 
 his boyhood. He hated all restraint, and was 
 continually getting into difficulties with the of- 
 ficers of the Academy. He had more money than 
 was good for him, and spent it in the wildest 
 extravagances whenever the opportunity off^ered. 
 He bade fair to become a more or less typical 
 member of the Piedmont nobility, perhaps a little 
 more of a free-thinker than most, and considerably 
 more restive. He chafed at the lack of freedom 
 allowed him at the Academy, and on the marriage 
 of his sister to the Count Giacinto Cumiana be- 
 sought her and the Count to use their influence 
 to have his scholar's bonds loosened. They suc- 
 ceeded, and Alfieri promptly took advantage of 
 his liberty to join in all the dissipations of the 
 capital, and to gratify his passion for riding. 
 In about a year he became the owner of a stable 
 of eight horses. When his older friends cautioned 
 the boy against his extravagance he answered that 
 he was his own master and intended to do as he 
 chose. 
 
 While still at the Academy the youth had 
 
^--z^ 
 
 A L F I E R I 
 
THE POET 
 
 sought a position in the army, but very short 
 service as ensign in a militia regiment proved to 
 him that he was as httle fond of military restraint 
 as of scholastic. He traveled to Genoa with two 
 boy friends and fell in love with their sister-in- 
 law, a vivacious brunette. He worshiped her 
 from a distance, becoming, as he writes in his 
 ardent Italian, " a victim to all the feelings which 
 Petrarch has so inimitably depicted . . . feel- 
 ings which few can comprehend, and which fewer 
 still ever experienced." On his return from Genoa 
 he considered himself a great traveler, and spoke 
 as such, only to be laughed at by the English, 
 French, and German boys who had been his class- 
 mates. Immediately he was seized with a . pas- 
 sion for travel. He was only seventeen years old, 
 and knew that he would not be permitted to travel 
 alone. Fortunately an EngKsh teacher was about 
 to set out with two scholars on a journey through 
 Italy, and was willing to have Alfieri join his 
 party. So strict was the court of that day that 
 the King's consent had to be obtained before the 
 youth could leave the country. Through his 
 brother-in-law's influence Alfieri obtained the royal 
 permission to go abroad. 
 
 The travels had been looked forward to with 
 the greatest excitement. When they were begun 
 Alfieri professed himself utterly bored by almost 
 
ALFIERI 
 
 everything he saw. As one of his biographers 
 says, " He was driven from place to place by a 
 demon of unrest, and was mainly concerned, after 
 reaching a city, in getting away from it as soon 
 as he could. He gives anecdotes enough in proof 
 of this, and he forgets nothing that can enhance 
 the surprise of his future literary greatness." 
 Whether this desire to surprise his readers is really 
 the keynote of the first years in his memoirs or 
 not, it would appear that the youth was about 
 as restless and turbulent-minded a creature as 
 could be met with. The further he traveled in 
 Italy the less he liked it ; he would not speak the 
 language or read the literature, he looked at an 
 autograph manuscript of Petrarch with supreme 
 indifference, and wished to be mistaken for a 
 Frenchman. Yet this boy was to become, in time, 
 the real reviver of ItaKan letters. 
 
 After a fortnight in Milan the party traveled 
 to Florence by way of Parma, Modena, and 
 Bologna. Neither people, buildings, views, pic- 
 tures, nor sculpture interested Vittorio; he no 
 sooner reached a city than he was eager to be post- 
 ing on. Even Florence, later to be his home, did 
 not attract him; the only object he found to ad- 
 mire in the city was Michael Angelo's tomb at 
 Santa Croce. He must have been the worst travel- 
 ing companion possible; he hurried his friends 
 
THE POET 
 
 from Florence to Rome, and finding nothing there 
 to interest him except St. Peter's, went on to 
 Naples. Naples was in the midst of a carnival, 
 and Alfieri plunged into its extravagances as 
 though to distract his thoughts from some brood- 
 ing melancholy. He was presented to the King, 
 went to all the baUs and operas, rode, gamed, 
 made one of the fastest set, and yet in the midst 
 of it all was discontented. He wanted to be alone, 
 and finally applied to the King of Piedmont 
 through his minister at Naples for permission to 
 travel by himself. His request was granted, and 
 at nineteen he set out to make what was then the 
 fashionable grand tour. He traveled in state, 
 with plenty of money, and a body servant, and with 
 letters of introduction to the various courts. 
 
 It so happened that Alfieri had met certain 
 French actors during a summer holiday, and 
 from talking with them he felt a desire to see 
 something of the French stage. He had no wish 
 to try his own skill at dramatic compositions — 
 indeed his only thought of an occupation at this" 
 time was that he should some day enter the diplo- 
 matic service — ^but he was anxious to see something 
 different from the absurdly conventional ItaUan 
 plays produced by the school which took its name 
 from Metastasio. He went first to Marseilles, 
 where he spent his time between the theater and 
 
ALFIERI 
 
 solitary musing on the seashore. Thence, after a 
 short stay, he journeyed to Paris, full of the keen- 
 est anticipations of finding pleasure in that famous 
 city. His memoirs tell us his feelings there. He 
 writes : " The mean and wretched buildings, the 
 contemptible ostentation displayed in a few houses 
 dignified with the pompous appellation of hotels 
 and palaces, the filthiness of the Gothic churches, 
 the truly vandal-Uke construction of the pubhc 
 theaters at that time, besides innumerable other 
 disagreeable objects, of which not the least dis- 
 gusting to me was the painted countenances of 
 many very ugly women, far outweighed in my 
 mind the beauty and elegance of the public walks 
 and gardens, the infinite variety of the carriages, 
 the lofty f a9ade of the Louvre, as well as the num- 
 ber of spectacles and entertainments of every 
 kind." Verily the young Alfieri was either the 
 hardest of all travelers to suit, or the older man, 
 looking back, wished to emphasize the perverse- 
 ness of his youth. 
 
 The Piedmontese Minister presented the young 
 traveler to Louis XV., concerning whom Alfieri 
 wrote, " He received with a cold and supercilious 
 air those who were presented to him, surveying 
 them from head to foot. It seemed as if on pre- 
 senting a dwarf to a giant he should view him 
 smiling, or perhaps say, ' Ah ! the httle animal ! ' 
 
THE POET 
 
 or if he remained silent his air and manner would 
 express the same derision." He was not at all at- 
 tracted by the French court, which he considered 
 very pompous, and was anxious to be out on the 
 highroads again, driving his post-horses. In 
 January, 1768, he crossed the channel and landed 
 at Dover, 
 
 England delighted him, he found London far 
 more to his taste than Paris, he was charmed 
 with the country, the large estates, the inns, the 
 roads, the horses, the people, all pleased him. He 
 was particularly struck with the absence of pov- 
 erty. For a time he even thought of setthng there 
 permanently, and years afterwards when he had 
 seen much of all the European countries he said 
 that Italy and England were the two he infinitely 
 preferred as residences. 
 
 But of the pleasures of London's fashionable 
 life the young wanderer soon tired, and for variety 
 turned coachman, and drove a friend with whom 
 he was staying through all the city streets, leav- 
 ing him wherever he wished, and waiting patiently 
 on the box for his return. " My amusements 
 through the course of the winter," he wrote, "con- 
 sisted in being on horseback during five or six 
 hours every morning, and in being seated on the 
 coach-box for two or three hours every evening, 
 whatever might be the state of the weather." His 
 
10 ALFIERI 
 
 tastes at this time were closely akin to those of 
 many of his English friends. 
 
 Finally he left London and went to Holland. 
 There he met Don Joseph d'Acunha, the Portu- 
 guese Ambassador, a man of considerable literary 
 taste, who induced him to read Machiavelli, and 
 first led him to think of trying his literary skill. 
 At The Hague he also fell deeply in love, and, quite 
 according to the fashionable custom of the time, 
 with a young married woman. For the moment 
 his fits of morbidness and continual unrest left 
 him, he contrived constantly to be with the woman 
 he loved, and even followed her and her husband 
 to Spa. A short time afterwards the husband 
 started for Switzerland, and the young wife re- 
 turned to The Hague. For ten days Alfieri was 
 constantly in her society, then came a message 
 from her husband bidding her follow him. She 
 wrote Alfieri a note saying farewell and sent it 
 to him through D'Acunha after she had left the 
 city. The youth was prostrated and with the 
 violence of his nature planned to kill himself. He 
 complained of illness and had himself bled. When 
 he was alone he tore off' the bandages with the 
 idea of bleeding to death. His faithful valet, 
 however, knew the pecuHar nature of his master, 
 and entered Alfieri's room. The bandages were 
 replaced, and the incident ended, although it was 
 
THE POET 11 
 
 long before the young man could recover from 
 the parting with his fair lady. He passed 
 through Belgium to Switzerland, and so on back 
 to Piedmont, stiU wrapped in recollections, and 
 unable to awaken any lasting interest. 
 
 Living with his sister, first in the country, and 
 later in Turin, a short term of peace succeeded in 
 Alfieri's life. He set himself to reading, and 
 studied with considerable care the popular French 
 authors, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire. 
 Plutarch, however, became his chief companion. 
 In one of the most characteristic pages of his 
 memoirs we find him writing, " The book of all 
 others which gave me most delight and beguiled 
 many of the tedious hours of winter, was Plutarch. 
 I perused five or six times the lives of Timoleon, 
 Cassar, Brutus, Pelopidas, and some others. I 
 wept, raved, and fell into such a transport of fury, 
 that if any one had been in the adjoining cham- 
 ber they must have pronounced me out of my 
 senses. Every time I came to any of the great 
 actions of those celebrated individuals, my agita- 
 tion was so extreme that I could not remain seated. 
 I was like one beside himself, and shed tears of 
 mingled grief and rage at having been born in 
 Piedmont and at a period and under a govern- 
 ment where it was impossible to conceive or exe- 
 cute any great design." Plutarch first set before 
 
12 ALFIERI 
 
 him vividly the contrast between the Italy of the 
 past and of his own day. As a result he became 
 dissatisfied with his own inability to win any high 
 distinction. 
 
 The winter of his twentieth year found Alfieri 
 still without any definite plans, now studying 
 astronomy, now considering a diplomatic career. 
 With spring he determined again to travel, and 
 in May set off for Vienna. The spirit of unrest 
 had given place to a brooding melancholy. In 
 this sense of the times being out of joint and him- 
 self without work to do was born the gradual 
 desire to write something different from and in a 
 more heroic strain than the rigorously conserva- 
 tive dramas of the day. He traveled with Mon- 
 taigne's Essays in his pockets, and Montaigne, 
 he says, first taught him to think. He still 
 found difficulty in reading Italian and much 
 preferred foreign authors to those of his own 
 land. 
 
 In Vienna Alfieri had a chance to meet the most 
 eminent of then living Italian authors, a man much 
 admired in his generation. The opportunity he 
 declined. " I had seen Metastasio," he says, " in the 
 gardens of Schonbrunn, perform the customary 
 genuflection to Maria Theresa in such a servile 
 and adulatory manner, that I, who had my head 
 stuffed with Plutarch, and who embellished every 
 
THE POET 13 
 
 theory, could not think of bmding myself, either 
 by the ties of familiarity or friendship, with a 
 poet who had sold himself to a despotism which I 
 so cordially detested." In BerUn he was presented 
 to Frederick the Great, and as he writes " men- 
 tally thanked Heaven I was not bom his slave. 
 Towards the middle of November I departed from 
 this Prussian encampment, which I regarded with 
 detestation and horror." 
 
 From Berlin the young man went to Denmark, 
 thence to Sweden, thence to Russia. He says, 
 " I approached Petersburg with a mind wound 
 up to an extraordinary pitch of anxiety and ex- 
 pectation. But alas! no sooner had I reached 
 tliis Asiatic assemblage of wooden huts, than 
 Rome, Genoa, Venice, and Florence rose to my 
 recollections, and I could not refrain from laugh- 
 ing. What I afterwards saw of this country 
 tended still more strongly to confirm my first im- 
 pression that it merited not to be seen. Every- 
 thing but their beards and their horses disgusted 
 me so much, that during the six weeks I remained 
 among these savages I wished not to become ac- 
 quainted with any one, nor even to see the two or 
 three youths with whom I had associated at Turin, 
 and who were descended from the first families 
 of the country. I took no measure to be presented 
 to the celebrated Autocratrix Catherine H., nor 
 
14 ALFIERI 
 
 did I even behold the countenance of a sovereign 
 who in our days has out-stripped fame." 
 
 A little later he was back in England, and now 
 again he fell in love, this time also with a mar- 
 ried woman of rank. With a truly Byronic au- 
 dacity he defied all the conventions, accompanied 
 the woman everywhere, and became a subject of 
 town scandal. Finally confronted by the husband, 
 he fought a duel with swords in a field near St. 
 James's Park, his left arm being in a sling at the 
 time as the result of a bit of too daring horse- 
 manship. Alfieri was sHghtly wounded, and the 
 husband declared himself satisfied. Shortly after 
 the latter sued for divorce, bringing the Italian's 
 name into the case. The newspapers took up the 
 scandal, and the matter became a cause celebre. 
 Alfieri was on the point of proposing marriage, 
 when the woman, by her own confessions, told him 
 that such a result was impossible. With his ardor 
 completely cooled and his mind given to the bit- 
 terest thoughts he left London, and after short 
 stays in The Hague and Paris journeyed into 
 Spain. 
 
 In Paris he had bought the best known Italian 
 authors and at this time commenced to read them, 
 although it was not until much later that he be- 
 gan to appreciate them at their real worth. He 
 did, however, carry them with him on his travels, 
 
THE POET 15 
 
 and gradually learned something at first hand 
 of that great galaxy, Dante, Tasso, Petrarch, 
 Ariosto, Boccaccio, and Machiavelli. His mind 
 was not yet ripe for any study, even as he traveled 
 in Spain he was still subject to those wild outbreaks 
 of despondency and passion which alternately 
 seemed to seize upon him. He became a creature 
 of chance whims, now he was ready to yield to the 
 quiet contentment of a suitable marriage, now 
 burning with rage against all the customs of so- 
 ciety. Morbid ideas continually pressed his foot- 
 steps. The atmosphere of a malevolent passion 
 seems almost always surrounding the great trage- 
 dies he later penned, and that atmosphere was gen- 
 erated by a nature which from earliest youth had 
 been extraordinarily violent. His temper was 
 wholly ungovernable. One evening in Madrid, as 
 Alfieri's faithful valet, the companion of all his 
 travels, was curling his hair, he accidentally pulled 
 it so sharply with the tongs that Alfieri winced. 
 Instantly he sprang from his chair, and seizing a 
 heavy candlestick, hurled it at the servant. It 
 struck the man on the temple, and instantly his 
 face was covered with blood. He rushed at his 
 master, but fortunately a young Spaniard who 
 was present came to the rescue, and separated 
 them. Immediately Alfieri was covered with 
 shame. " Had you killed me," he said to the man, 
 
16 ALFIERI 
 
 " you would have acted rightly. If you •wish, 
 kill me while I sleep to-night, for I deserve it." 
 The valet took no such reprisal, he had been with 
 his young master long enough to imderstand the 
 sudden outbursts of his temper, and was content 
 to keep the two blood-stained handkerchiefs that 
 had bandaged his head and show them occasionally 
 to AMeri as a reminder. 
 
 In Lisbon the traveler formed a close friend- 
 ship with the Abbot of Caluso, whom he called a 
 " true, hving Montaigne." The Abbot tried to 
 interest the young man in Hterature, induced him 
 to write some verses, and gave him the benefit of 
 his criticism. For a short time the interest in 
 poetry lasted, then it flagged, and again Alfieri 
 felt himself without any purpose. He decided to 
 return home, and in May, 1772, arrived at Turin. 
 
 Now he took a house for himself, furnished it 
 elaborately, and made it the headquarters of a 
 youthful society that sought amusement in various 
 forms. Some of them wrote, and Alfieri tried his 
 pen for their amusement, but soon tired of writ- 
 ing as a sport, and gave himself up to other 
 occupations. Continually searching for some- 
 thing to still his restlessness he again fell ia love, 
 this time with a woman of rank, some ten years 
 his senior, and of a most unenviable reputation. 
 He became absolutely her slave, worked himself 
 
THE POET 17 
 
 into frenzies on her account, would consider noth- 
 ing but the happiness of being with her. He fell 
 very ill, but when he recovered found himself as 
 much in love as ever. For two years he hved in 
 this state of obsession, tormented by self-reproach, 
 but unable to rid himself of his own yoke. 
 
 Finally he decided to quit Turin and break his 
 fetters. When he was only a short distance on the 
 road to Rome his resolution failed and he returned. 
 Again he resolved to leave the city for a year. 
 The year lasted eight days. He was thoroughly 
 ashamed, disHked being seen in Turin, but could 
 not keep away. He felt finally that he must take 
 one last stand or lose all self-respect and control 
 forever. He had his hair cut so short that he 
 dared not appear in society, and shut himself into 
 his house to read. He could not keep his thoughts 
 on the books, and tried composition. He wrote 
 a sonnet, and sent it to a friend, and received a 
 reply highly praising it. Then he remembered 
 that a year before as he sat watching by the sick 
 bed of the woman who had so charmed him he had 
 lightly outlined a tragedy on the life of Cleopatra, 
 taking his subject from tapestries that hung in 
 the room. He threw himself into the work of 
 writing that tragedy now, and found that inter- 
 est in it drove all other thoughts away. He wrote 
 rapidly, continually, only stopping when he was 
 
18 ALFIERI 
 
 completely tired. When those times came, still 
 frightened with the possibility of leaving the 
 house, he had himself tied into a chair. He only 
 allowed himself freedom when he knew he had won 
 self-control. By that time he had finished his 
 tragedy in blank verse called " Cleopatra," and 
 a short farce called " The Poets," the latter ridi- 
 cuHng the former. He sent them to a theater in 
 Turin, where they were produced on June 16, 
 1775, and met with success. The author did not 
 value either play highly himself, and sought to 
 have them withdrawn. He wrote later, compar- 
 ing these works with those of his contemporaries, 
 " The sole difference which existed between their 
 pieces and mine was that the former were produc- 
 tions of learned incapacity, whereas mine was the 
 premature offspring of ignorance, which promised 
 one day to become something." 
 
 His battle against what he considered a highly 
 unworthy infatuation had restored Alfieri's self- 
 respect and health, and out of this curious strug- 
 gle sprang his first real and lasting ambition. " K 
 devouring fire took possession of my soul," he says, 
 " I thirsted one day to become a deserving candi- 
 date for theatrical fame." The date of that 
 first performance marked a turning point, not only 
 for Alfieri, but for his country's literature. It was, 
 said the ItaHan critic, Paravia, " a day and a year 
 
THE POET 19 
 
 of eternal memory not only for the Turinese, but 
 for all Italians ; because it was, so to speak, the 
 dawn of the magnificent day which, thanks to 
 Alfieri, was to rise upon Italian tragedy." 
 
 The restless energy which had driven Alfieri 
 across the various European countries now con- 
 centrated in an all-pervading determination to be- 
 come a tragic poet. He launched into that effort 
 with the same unbounded ardor with which he had 
 so frequently before launched into love. He was 
 twenty-seven years of age when he seriously set 
 himself to work to acquire command of Italian so 
 that he might think in the language of his native 
 land rather than in that of France. He described 
 his resources as " a resolute, obstinate, and ungov- 
 ernable character, susceptible of the warmest af- 
 fections, among which, by an odd kind of a com- 
 bination, predominated the most ardent love, and 
 hatred approaching to madness against every spe- 
 cies of tyranny ; an imperfect and vague recollec- 
 tion of several French tragedies which I had seen 
 represented several years before, but which I had 
 then neither read nor studied ; a total ignorance of 
 dramatic rules, and an incapability of expressing 
 myself with elegance and precision in my own 
 language." 
 
 To accomplish his purpose Alfieri now began at 
 the very beginning and took up the study of 
 
20 ALFIERI 
 
 Italian grammar, and thence made a first-hand 
 acquaintance with all the best of the early Italian 
 writers. He would not allow himself any longer 
 to read French, and tried to break himself of the 
 habit of thinking in that tongue. He moved from 
 town into a smaU country village in order that 
 nothing might distract him. There he re-wrote for 
 the third time his tragedy of " Cleopatra," and 
 practised turning into Itahan verses the outlines 
 of two tragedies which he had recently written 
 in French. He pored over Tasso, Ariosto, 
 Petrarch, and Dante until he felt that he at last 
 really caught the full spirit of each author's 
 style, then he tried writing poetry of his own. 
 
 His ignorance of Latin continually vexed him, 
 and now he employed a teacher to begin over those 
 lessons he had so thoroughly disUked at school. 
 It was very hard work at first, but he would learn 
 what he now considered essential to his purpose, 
 and after three months' study of Horace he found 
 that he could read Latin. He took up the other 
 classics and translated some of them into modem 
 Italian for practice in their varied styles. 
 
 Turin was too near France to satisfy his new 
 passion for only the purest Italian and so he went 
 to Pisa, and thence to Florence. In the latter 
 city he found that his ideas were at last shaping 
 themselves in the rich and clear Italian he was 
 
THE POET 21 
 
 seeking, he wrote verses which critical friends pro- 
 nounced at last worthy of the name of poetry, 
 and planned several poetic tragedies. He had 
 worked hard and felt that he needed a Httle rest. 
 For this purpose he returned to Turin and had 
 the pleasure of entertaining his old friend the Ab- 
 bot of Caluso there. He, as well as other friends, 
 urged Alfieri to make hterature his field. He de- 
 cided that it was best for him to live in Tuscany, 
 and as he hated to have to ask royal permission 
 each year to allow him to remain away from Pied- 
 mont — as was the custom with the nobility — he 
 gave his estates at Asti to his sister, and contented 
 himself with half his former income. Then he 
 moved to Florence, which, except for intervals 
 spent at Rome and Naples, was for a considerable 
 time to be his home. 
 
 On his way to Florence Alfieri was obhged to 
 stop at Sarzana, where he chanced upon a copy 
 of Livy, and was so impressed with the story of 
 Virginia and Icihus that he immediately planned 
 a tragedy on the subject. Soon after he reached 
 Pisa, but there he did not dare stay, fearful that 
 he might be involved in a marriage with a young 
 g;irl whom he had met there before and with whom 
 he says that he had almost fallen in love. He 
 himself contrasts his feelings at that time with 
 those he had entertained when he had first thought 
 
22 ALFIERI 
 
 of marriage. " Eight years afterwards, my 
 travels through Europe, the love of glory, a pas- 
 sion for study, the necessity for preserving my 
 freedom, in order to speak and write the truth 
 without restraint — all these reasons powerfully 
 warned me that under a despotic government it is 
 sufficiently difficult even to live single, and that no 
 one who reflects deeply will either become a hus- 
 band or a father; thus I crossed the Arno and 
 arrived at Siena." 
 
 In Siena he met a company of strongly intel- 
 lectual people, and from one of these, a friend who 
 became a close confidant, he gained the idea of 
 writing a tragedy founded upon the conspiracy 
 of the Pazzi. Here he also wrote the first two 
 books of an essay upon Tyranny, which was 
 printed several years later. Thoroughly absorbed 
 in his literary work Alfieri moved to Florence at 
 the beginning of the winter, and took up his resi- 
 dence there. 
 
 At that time there were living in Florence, under 
 the titles of Count and Countess of Albany, 
 Charles Edward, " the Young Pretender " to the 
 English throne, and his wife. The latter, who had 
 been Louisa, Princess of Stolbergh, had been 
 married when nineteen to the Stuart prince, who 
 was considerably her elder. Charles Edward had 
 an unsavory reputation and knew more drunk than 
 
THE POET 23 
 
 sober moments. As a result the young Countess, 
 who was very beautiful and extremely fond of 
 the fine arts and of society, was the object of 
 much romantic pity. Wlien Alfieri came to Flor- 
 ence he found the entire city at the feet of the 
 Countess. Every one condemned the Count's quar- 
 relsome, tyrannical, Hbertine nature, every one 
 praised the Countess's sweet and sunny disposi- 
 tion. Friends oiFered to introduce Alfieri to the 
 star of Florence, but he declined on the ground 
 that he always shunned women who were the most 
 beautiful and most admired. He could not avoid, 
 however, seeing her in the park and at the thea- 
 ter, and the first sight of her was destined never 
 to be effaced. Thus he writes of her : " The first 
 impression she made on me was infinitely agree- 
 able. Large black eyes fuU of fire and gentleness, 
 joined to a fair complexion and flaxen hair, gave 
 to her beauty a brilliancy difficult to withstand. 
 Twenty-five years of age, possessing a taste for 
 letters and the fine arts, an amiable character, an 
 immense fortune, and placed in domestic circum- 
 stances of a very painful nature, how was it pos- 
 sible to escape where so many reasons existed for 
 loving? " 
 
 De Stendhal gives an accoimt of their first meet- 
 ing, which if inaccurate (it does not appear in Al- 
 fieri's memoirs) is at least characteristic of the 
 
24 ALFIERI 
 
 man. According to this story Alfieri was pre- 
 sented to the Countess in one of the galleries of 
 Florence, and noticed at the time that the lady 
 was much interested in a portrait on the walls of 
 Charles XII. She told the poet that she admired 
 the costume exceedingly. Two days later Alfieri 
 appeared in Florence dressed exactly hke the por- 
 trait of the Swedish King, and so presented himself 
 before the Countess. The act was quite in keeping 
 with the poet's nature. 
 
 Alfieri made a determined effort to fight against 
 the passion he had cause to fear, and made a hur- 
 ried journey to Rome. He could not stay there, 
 and returned to Florence, stopping at Siena to see 
 his friend Gandellini, to whom he spoke of the 
 Countess, and who did not counsel him against 
 giving way to the fascination. 
 
 On his return to Florence he acknowledged that 
 he was deeply in love. This love, however, he felt 
 ennobled him, and instead of causing him to give 
 up his work, continually inspired him to new liter- 
 ary heights. He wrote, " I soon perceived that the 
 object of my present attachment, far from imped- 
 ing my progress in the pursuit of useful knowl- 
 edge, or deranging my studies, like the frivolous 
 woman with whom I was formerly enamoured, 
 urged me on by her example to everything digni- 
 fied and praiseworthy. Having once learned to 
 
THE POET 25 
 
 know and appreciate so rare and valuable a friend, 
 I yielded myself up entirely to her influence." 
 From the commencement of this new affection, the 
 best and most lasting of his life, date the finest 
 works of his genius. 
 
 There had been long delays in settling Alfieri's 
 estate in Piedmont, and arranging that he might 
 live in Tuscany, but the presence of the Coun- 
 tess urged him imperatively to remain in Florence. 
 When the business arrangements were finally at 
 an end he found it would be necessary for him 
 tp curtail his former expensive style of living. 
 This he did, giving up his horses, all his servants, 
 except a valet and cook, and most of his personal 
 luxuries. Books were the only expense he indulged 
 in, he acquired gradually a very large and choice 
 library. He took a small house, and devoted him- 
 self to his dramas, seeing as much as he could in 
 leisure moments of the beautiful Countess. Dur- 
 ing these three quiet years he wrote his trage- 
 dies "Virginia," " Agemennone," "Don Garzia," 
 " Maria Stuarda," and " Oreste," a poem on the 
 death of Duke Alexander, killed by Lorenzino de' 
 Medici, had rewritten his drama of " Filippo," 
 and partly prepared the tragedies " Timoleone," 
 " Ottavia," and " Rosmunda." All of these works 
 are built on the classic Grecian model, and flame 
 with hatred of tyranny, and burn with civic vir- 
 
26 ALFIERI 
 
 tue. In that they show their kinship to the au- 
 thor's times. De Sanctis, always a brilliant critic, 
 says : " The situations that Alfieri has chosen in his 
 tragedies have a visible relation to the social state, 
 to the fears, and to the hopes of his own time. It 
 is always resistance to oppression, of man against 
 man, of people against tyrant. ... In the classi- 
 cism of Alfieri there is no positive side. It is an 
 ideal Rome and Greece, outside of time and space, 
 floating in the vague . . . which his contem- 
 poraries filled up with their own life." 
 
 At about the end of the dramatist's third year 
 of residence in Florence, the ill-treatment of the 
 Countess of Albany by her husband caused her 
 friends, and chief among them Alfieri, to plan for 
 her release from such servitude. To this end they 
 secured her entrance first into a convent at Flor- 
 ence, and then, with the consent of the Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany and the Count's own brother the 
 Cardinal of York, her removal to Rome. So 
 afraid were her friends lest the Count should 
 effect a rescue that they surrounded her carriage 
 with a body of horsemen as she left Florence, and 
 Alfieri rode on the coach box until she was well on 
 her road. 
 
 While the Countess had been in Florence, Alfieri 
 had worked assiduously there; now that she was 
 gone he found composition impossible, and after 
 
THE POET rt 
 
 a very short interval went to Naples, planning to 
 wait there until he should learn what the Coun- 
 tess would do. It was not long before it became 
 apparent that the courts of Europe had taken up 
 the wife's cause against her husband. The Pope 
 gave her a pension and approved of her taking 
 apartments in the house of her brother-in-law. 
 The court of France gave her the pension which 
 the Count had previously indignantly declined as 
 being insufficient for his position. Alfieri learned 
 at last that the Countess was living in entire in- 
 dependence of her husband, and after a further 
 stay of a month in Naples in order to avoid pos- 
 sible scandal he moved to Rome, and took up his 
 residence there. 
 
 With this new settled existence he began to write 
 again, and produced at this time " Saul," his four- 
 teenth tragedy, and one of his finest works. He 
 took infinite pains with all his dramas, planned 
 them again and again, wrote version after version, 
 and then selected the forms he preferred after care- 
 ful judgment, polished them line by line and word 
 by word until he was satisfied. He wished to try 
 the effect of his characters upon an audience, and 
 had himself acted, together with some of his friends, 
 his play of " Antigone." He found he had not 
 mistaken his ability as a dramatist. At about 
 the same time he published part of his works, 
 
28 ALFIERI 
 
 sending four dramas to the printer. Their pub- 
 Hcation excited immediate and flattering atten- 
 tion. His hfe in Rome was the most delightful 
 he had yet known. His house was a pleasant 
 villa near the Baths of Diocletian. Here he wrote 
 and studied in the morning. Later in the day he 
 went for long rides through the neighboring coun- 
 try, and the evenings he spent with the woman who 
 had become his chief inspiration. 
 
 In time, however, the poet's visits to the Coun- 
 tess became the subject of unfavorable comment, 
 and the Cardinal, her brother-in-law, brought the 
 matter to the attention of the Papal Court. Real- 
 izing the delicacy of the situation, Alfieri re- 
 luctantly decided that he must quit Rome, and in 
 May, 1783, he set out again as a wanderer, his 
 ambition lost, his life oflFering him no further 
 interests. 
 
 As in early youth he now took to rapid travel- 
 ing for solace, carrying on at the same time a 
 continual correspondence with the Countess. He 
 wrote a few sonnets, but found that his mind was 
 too unsettled to allow him to engage in any more 
 lengthy labors. He went to France, and then to 
 England, and in each country visited scenes which 
 the impetuosity of his youth had neglected. 
 Horses again made their appeal to him in London, 
 and he bought fourteen, " as many horses as he 
 
THE POET 29 
 
 had written tragedies," he states. With these 
 horses he soon returned to Turin, and made a short 
 visit to his mother, whom he had not seen for a long 
 time. When he left her he went to Piacenza, and 
 here he heard that the Countess had at last been 
 released from the restraint under which she had 
 lived at Rome, and that as her health was delicate 
 she had gone to Baden. He was in two minds as 
 to his course, the thought of possible calumny to 
 her bade him refrain from going to Baden at once, 
 and he tried to content himself in Siena with his 
 old friend Gandellini. The continual interchange 
 of letters gradually wore away his resolution, and 
 at last the time came when he could keep from her 
 no longer. August 4, 1784, he set out to join her 
 and within a fortnight felt his old joy return. 
 Immediately his thoughts grew fertile, he began 
 to write again as he had not done since he had 
 quitted her in Rome. There was no question but 
 that her presence acted as a continual inspiration 
 to his genius. 
 
 To this period of new happiness belonged the 
 dramas of " Agide," " Sofonisba," and " Mirra." 
 The plot of the latter came to him as he was read- 
 ing the speech of Mirra to her nurse in the " Meta- 
 morphoses " of Ovid, and was written in the first 
 heat of his emotion at the woman's words. He was 
 somewhat in doubt as to the success of a play 
 
30 ALFIERI 
 
 written on such a subject, but it was hailed as a 
 triumph at its first presentation some years later, 
 and made a remarkable impression on Byron and 
 on ]\Iadame de Stael, and was considered by most 
 critics as Ristori's finest impersonation. 
 
 After two months the Countess had to return to 
 Italy, and Alfieri's gloom at the separation was 
 further increased by the news of the death of his 
 friend GandelKni. He went to Siena, but found 
 that city lonely without his friend, and passed the 
 winter in Pisa. He did a great amount of read- 
 ing, repolished his later dramas, and prepared new 
 volumes of them for the press. When winter ended 
 he spent another two months of summer with the 
 Countess at Colmar, and then again they sepa- 
 rated. This time he resolved to work unremittingly, 
 and did so until his health failed and he had to 
 rest. At about the same time the Countess de- 
 cided to leave Italy permanently, and at length 
 Alfieri, towards the close of 1786, joined her and 
 went with her to Paris. He writes in his memoirs 
 of this journey into France, " This country which 
 had always proved extremely disagreeable to me, 
 as much on account of my own character, as the 
 manners of the people, now appeared a perfect 
 elysium." There are many glimpses to be had of 
 this new Kfe in the French capital. Montanari 
 recounts how the Marquis Pindemonte, himself a 
 
THE POET 31 
 
 dramatist, used each evening to take an omelette 
 souffle in the Countess's room, while Alfieri sat in 
 the chinmey corner sipping his chocolate. Under 
 such peaceful auspices the poet spent many months 
 in a critical preparation of aU his works for new 
 pubhcation. 
 
 In February, 1788, word reached the Countess 
 that her husband had died in Rome, and it would 
 appear that she was soon afterwards married to 
 Alfieri, although in the will of the latter she is re- 
 ferred to as the Countess of Albany and not as 
 his wife. His memoirs do not once speak of her 
 as his wife, but from the date of her husband's 
 death their life together was uninterrupted. It 
 is now generally assumed that they were privately 
 married about this time. 
 
 For three years the two lived quietly in Paris, 
 spending their summers and autumns at a new 
 home Alfieri had acquired in Alsace. During these 
 years he printed two editions of his works, super- 
 vised their sales, and wrote his remarkably enter- 
 taining memoirs, which were finished up to May, 
 1790. The end of the three years found Paris on 
 the brink of the great Revolution. 
 
 Alfieri saw the black clouds gathering on the 
 French horizon, but stayed on in the desire to com- 
 plete the printing of his works. He was in turn 
 amazed, alarmed, and disgusted at the succeeding 
 
S2 ALFIERI 
 
 events in the establishment of a repubHc. The 
 principles proclaimed by these so-called destroyers 
 of tyrants were not the principles of his own free- 
 dom-loving heart, nor those of any of his heroic 
 characters. He writes, " My heart was torn asun- 
 der on beholding the holy and sublime cause of 
 liberty betrayed by self-called philosophers, — so 
 much did I revolt at witnessing their ignorance, 
 their folly, and their crimes ; at beholding the 
 military power, and the insolence and licentious- 
 ness of the civilians stupidly made the basis of 
 what they termed political liberty, that I hence- 
 forth desired nothing more ardently than to leave 
 a country which, like a lunatic hospital, contained 
 only fools or incurables." 
 
 Circumstances, however, conspired to keep them 
 in Paris, the Countess was dependent upon France 
 for two-thirds of her income, Alfieri was finishing 
 the printing of his dramas. The hour came when 
 Alfieri determined that further delay would be more 
 than foolhardy, and so, on August 18, 1792, hav- 
 ing obtained passports with great difficulty, he 
 drove with the Countess to the city barrier. A 
 dramatic scene followed. The National Guards 
 found the passports correct, and would have let the 
 travelers pass, but at the same moment a crowd of 
 drunken revelers broke from a neighboring caba- 
 ret, and attracted by the well-laden carriage, pro- 
 
THE POET 33 
 
 ceeded to stop its passage, while they debated 
 whether they should stone it or set it on fire. The 
 Guards remonstrated, but the revelers complained 
 bitterly that people of wealth should leave the city. 
 Alfieri lost all prudence, and jumping from his 
 carriage, seized the passports from the man who 
 held them and, as he himself tells the incident, 
 " Full of disgust and rage, and not knowing at 
 the moment, or in my passion despising the im- 
 mense peril that attended us, I thrice shook my 
 passport in my hand and shouted at the top of my 
 voice, ' Look ! Listen ! Alfieri is my name ; Italian 
 and not French ; tall, lean, pale, red hair ; I am he ; 
 look at me ; I have my passport, and I have had it 
 legitimately from those who could give it ; we wish 
 to pass, and by Heaven, We will pass ! ' " 
 
 The crowd was surprised, and before they had 
 recovered Alfieri and the Countess had driven past 
 the barriers and were safely on their way. They 
 had left Paris none too soon. Two days later the 
 same authorities that had granted the passports 
 confiscated the horses, furniture, and books that 
 Alfieri had left behind in Paris and d^ilared both 
 the Countess and Alfieri refugee aristocrats. The 
 fact that they were both foreigners appeared to be 
 of no importance. It was well that they had gone. 
 The Countess was too illustrious a personage to 
 have escaped for long the fury of the fast-gather- 
 
Si ALFIERI 
 
 ing mob, and had she been lost Alfieri would have 
 shared her fate. 
 
 Florence thenceforth became the home of the 
 Countess and of Alfieri. He wrote desultorily, 
 commenting upon what he had seen in France, but 
 for the most part devoted himself to a study of 
 the classics. In 1795, when he was forty-six years 
 of age, he started to learn Greek, and was so fired 
 with the desire that in a short time he had added an 
 intimate knowledge of Homer, ^schylus, Soph- 
 ocles, and Euripides to that he already had of the 
 Latin authors. He was so much interested in the 
 " Alcestis " of Euripides that he wrote an orig- 
 inal drama based on the same theme. He was 
 described at this time as of a tall and commanding 
 figure, with a face of intelligence, and the look of 
 one born to command, rather than obey. His 
 forehead was broad and lofty ; his red hair fell 
 in thick masses around it. 
 
 The restless youth had changed to a methodical, 
 studious man, he arranged his day by rule, and 
 followed that rule exactly. Only one event dis- 
 turbed him, and that was the occupation of Flor- 
 ence by French troops. He had distrusted the 
 French while he lived among them, now when they 
 came to hold Florence in subjection his hatred of 
 tyranny bade him despise them. He refused to re- 
 ceive the call of the French general who, having 
 
THE POET 35 
 
 read his works, was anxious to meet him. On the 
 correspondence which passed between them in ref- 
 erence to this matter Alfieri wrote, " Dialogue be- 
 tween a lion in a cage, and his crocodile guardian." 
 
 When he had fled from France he had been com- 
 pelled to leave some of his printed works behind 
 him, and he was now in fear lest their appearance 
 and eager appeal for Hberty should seem to ally 
 him with the Revolutionary cause. Above all 
 things he condemned the French Revolution. To 
 avoid this possibility he now advertised in the Ital- 
 ian papers a disclaimer, warning the public 
 against any edition of his writings except such as 
 he himself issued. With this formal announce- 
 ment he had to be content. 
 
 Alfieri had determined to write no more trage- 
 dies, and turned to composition of comedies, of 
 which he had six nearly completed when his health 
 failed. He rested for a time and then resumed 
 his methodical hfe of study and work. He was 
 advised to give himself more recreation, but was 
 too obstinate to adopt any plan but his own. His 
 health gave way again, and neglecting the physi- 
 cian's advice, he tried to minister to his own illness. 
 Gradually he grew weaker, and on October 3, 
 1803, he died. He was buried in the Florentine 
 church of Santa Croce, and his monument, carved 
 by Canova, rises between the tombs of Michael 
 
36 ALFIERI 
 
 Angelo and Machiavelli. An inscription states 
 by whom the memorial was erected. " Louisa, 
 Princess of Stolbergh, Countess of Albany, to Vit- 
 torio Alfieri of Asti, 1810." In 1824) she was 
 buried in Santa Croce. 
 
 In his will Alfieri left everything to the Countess. 
 Their love had grown deeper with time. She 
 wrote to a friend, " You know, by experience, what 
 it is to lose a person with whom we have lived for 
 twenty-six years, who has never given us a moment 
 of displeasure, whom we have always adored, re- 
 spected, and venerated." Each, tormented alone, 
 had found happiness finally in their united life. 
 
 What was Alfieri's part in the growth of that 
 spirit which was preparing to set Italy free.? Why 
 did Mazzini later point him out as one of the great 
 sources of inspiration for his " Young Italy " .'' 
 We must remember that literature and the drama 
 are more closely related to Italian public opinion 
 than they are with us, that the appearance of a 
 new book or play is often a vital subject to a min- 
 istry. What the people read they felt, and it was 
 Alfieri who first showed them the immorality of 
 national servitude. One of his best critics has said 
 that when Alfieri first turned his glance toward the 
 Italian stage, it presented anything but a hopeful 
 aspect. " The degradation of a people enslaved 
 under a foreign yoke, and without political life, 
 
THE POET 37 
 
 could not fail to make itself felt in the theater as 
 in the more extended arena of public affairs. No 
 high effort of mind could be born amid such cir- 
 cumstances. A stage without authors soon ceases 
 to have actors. When actors and authors both 
 are wanting an audience will not easily be found. 
 Thus it was, thus it had been in Italy through 
 many troubled years. The opera, — the seductive, 
 but enervating opera, — carried to great perfec- 
 tion by Metastasio, was almost alone in possession 
 of the popular taste. . . . Alfieri's first thought 
 was to improve the taste of his countrymen, by 
 blending the amusement they were accustomed to 
 with something better. . . . Instead of attempt- 
 ing reform by easy stages, he determined to at- 
 tempt everything at once. ... It was something 
 more than an improvement of the stage that he at- 
 tempted; it was the improvement of his country- 
 men ; the regeneration of his country ! . . . 
 Throughout nearly aU his tragedies and his prose 
 works, the leading idea by which he was animated 
 stood plainly out. Several pieces he specially calls 
 tragedies of hberty. They well deserve the name. 
 He never tired in his denunciations of tyranny, in 
 his invectives against oppression. These were 
 themes upon which the more he spoke, the more 
 eloquent he became." 
 
 The dramas themselves, built in strict accord- 
 
ALFIERI 
 
 ance with the three unities of classic taste, may 
 seem strangely stiff and unemotional to us, but they 
 carried an immense appeal to the Italian of the 
 last century. They spoke a new voice and stirred 
 a new spirit in their hearers. The voice once heard, 
 the spirit once bom, the new idea grew rapidly. 
 Within a few years after Alfieri's death eighteen 
 editions of his works had passed through the press. 
 Two great theaters, one at Milan and one at Bo- 
 logna, were built by men eager to present his trag- 
 edies. The influence of his writings was tremen- 
 dous; the minds of ItaUans from Piedmont to 
 Sicily were stirred to a higher pitch than they had 
 been for many centuries. 
 
 Alfieri's character had many defects, at best his 
 life was unmoral, but having regard to the society 
 into which he was born and the early training he 
 received, more was scarcely to be looked for. He 
 was passionate, reckless, and untutored in all self- 
 control, yet he harnessed himself to a work which 
 possessed his fancy and in its service became the 
 devotee of study and control. Like his life his 
 writings lack peace and broad philosophy, but on 
 the other hand they gain from his peculiar nature 
 a certain domineering force. Giuseppe Arnaud in 
 his criticism on the patriotic poets of Italy says, 
 " Whoever should say that Alfieri's tragedies, in 
 spite of many eminent merits, were constructed on 
 
THE POET 39 
 
 a theory opposed to grand scenic effects and to one 
 of the two bases of tragedy, namely, compassion, 
 would certainly not say what was far from the 
 truth. And yet, with all this, Alfieri will still re- 
 main the dry, harsh blast which swept away the 
 noxious miasmas with which the Italian air was in- 
 fected. He will still remain that poet who aroused 
 his country from its dishonorable slumber, and in- 
 spired its heart with intolerance of servile condi- 
 tions and with regard for its dignity. Up to this 
 time we had bleated and he roared." 
 
 Let me only add the striking words of his fellow 
 countryman, the gifted poet-statesman Massimo 
 d'Azeglio. " In fact," he wrote, " one of the 
 merits of that proud heart was to have found 
 Italy Metastasian and left it AWerian; and his 
 first and greatest merit was, to my thinking, that 
 he discovered Italy, so to speak, as Columbus dis- 
 covered America, and initiated the idea of Italy as 
 a nation. I place this merit far beyond that of 
 his verses and his tragedies." 
 
 Alfieri reminded ItaHans that they had a native 
 voice. 
 
MANZONI, THE MAN OF LETTERS 
 
 T I^HE position of Manzoni in modern Italian life 
 -*■ and literature is doubly interesting, both be- 
 cause his work in poetry and the drama marks the 
 vital turning point in the historic battle of Classi- 
 cism with Romanticism, and because his romance 
 " I Promessi Sposi " is the greatest achievement in 
 all Italian letters in the field of the novel. Walter 
 Scott gave the country north of Tweed a history 
 in the " Waverley Novels," and Alessandro Man- 
 zoni's writing a little later, at a time when Scott's 
 work was a great factor in European literature, 
 gave Italy a history in the same sense. The in- 
 estimable service that the Waverley Novels did 
 Scotland " I Promessi Sposi " did the disrupted 
 states of Italy. 
 
 The spirit of the French Revolution was all- 
 engrossing, as subversive of the old religions, phi- 
 losophies, and literatures, as it was of the old poli- 
 tics. It represented the actual thoughts of the 
 men of that era, but it developed so rapidly and 
 fell into such excesses that its downfall was sudden 
 and complete. Then the reaction set in, which, as 
 De Sanctis in his history of the movement says, 
 40 
 
M A N Z O N I 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 41 
 
 was " as rapid and violent as the revolution. . . . 
 The white terror succeeded to the red." 
 
 The same critic goes on to show that there were 
 at this period two great philosophic principles, 
 materialism and skepticism, and that in opposition 
 to them there rose a spirituality which was carried 
 to the heights of idealism. This spirituality ap- 
 proached the mysticism of mediaeval days. " To 
 the right of nature," he says, " was opposed the 
 divine right, to popular sovereignty legitimacy, to 
 individual rights the State, to liberty authority 
 and order. The middle ages returned in triumph. 
 . . . Christianity, hitherto the target of all of- 
 fense, became the center of every philosophical 
 investigation, the banner of all social and religious 
 progress. . . . The criterions of art were 
 changed. There was a pagan art and a Christian 
 art, where highest expression was sought in the 
 Gothic, in the glooms, the mysteries, the vague, the 
 indefinite, in a beyond which was called the ideal, 
 in an inspiration towards the infinite, incapable 
 of fruition and therefore melancholy. . . . To 
 Voltaire and Rousseau succeeded Chateaubriand, 
 De Stael, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Lamennais. 
 And in 1815 appeared the Sacred Hymns of the 
 young Manzoni." 
 
 This spirit of ideahsm became the incentive for 
 the new school of Romance in literature and the 
 
42 MANZONI 
 
 drama, in contrast to the drab materialism of the 
 Revolutionary age. This school of Romance is 
 not, however, to be considered as diametrically op- 
 posed to the Classical School, for they had much in 
 common, and the contrast between them lay not so 
 much in the spirit which animated them as in the 
 strict regard of Classicism for the time-hallowed 
 unities of time, place, and action, and the willing- 
 ness of the Romantic School to sacrifice all these 
 for freedom of movement and effect. The new 
 school wished to find its poems in the experiences 
 of men of that day, to write its dramas about any 
 comedy or tragedy without regard to their classic 
 form, it wished freedom to grow as its own spirit 
 might dictate. In Germany and England great 
 Romanticists were ripening into power, Goethe and 
 Burger, Scott and Byron were being widely read 
 in Italy, and the dramas of both Schiller and 
 Shakespeare were continually translated and re- 
 produced in Italian verse. The restoration of the 
 Austrians and Bourbons after the Napoleonic 
 downfall made any chance to speak political truths 
 impossible, even in the half-veiled militant form 
 used earlier by Alfieri. The Romantic School 
 therefore, confined in its modern scope, turned 
 backward, became retrospective, and sought its 
 outlet in the glories of that mediaeval world which 
 had been so nearly akin in spirit to the modern 
 
THE MAN or LETTERS 43 
 
 sentiment. It turned from recent atheistic ten- 
 dencies to a mood of great devotion, from lax 
 morality to a high degree of upright conduct, from 
 the regard of liberty as the greatest good to that 
 of responsibility to mankind as the goal. Only 
 distantly and secondarily political, this Romantic 
 movement was first of all moral, and taught Ital- 
 ians that in order to be good citizens they must be 
 good men first. As in all literary history the 
 movement had a deep philosophic meaning, and 
 this sense of moral responsibility was at the base 
 of all Manzoni's great creative efforts. 
 
 First of all, then, the literary movement which 
 succeeded the Revolutionary era in Italy was ideal- 
 istic as compared with the materialism of the days 
 of the Napoleonic occupation, and secondly, it was 
 Romantic in contradistinction to the Classicism of 
 the earlier times. Greek and Roman themes for 
 artistic expression were abandoned for the stories 
 of national medievalism, the Papacy became the 
 center of its poetic aspiration, and its spirit, 
 though highly ardent, was far more truly modern 
 than that of Classicism had been. Our former 
 critic, De Sanctis, says that in this new movement 
 religion " is no longer a creed, it is an artistic 
 motive. . . . It is not enough that there are 
 saints, they must be beautiful: the Christian idea 
 returns as art. . . . Providence comes back to 
 
44 MANZONI 
 
 the world, the miracle reappears in story, hope and 
 prayer revive, the heart softens, it opens itself to 
 gentle influences. . . . Manzoni reconstructs 
 the ideal of the Christian Paradise and reconciles 
 it with the modem spirit. Mythology goes, the 
 classic remains ; the eighteenth century is denied, 
 its ideas prevail." 
 
 Manzoni stood first for that new movement 
 which opposed morality to license in national de- 
 velopment, secondly for the temper which derided 
 the classic limits of the three unities and held that 
 a purely national event was as suitable for the 
 purpose of artistic representation as the stories of 
 classic history. In addition to this he first 
 adopted that form of the Romantic spirit which 
 was rising so rapidly into use in England in the 
 novels of Walter Scott, in France in the writings of 
 Victor Hugo and Lamennais, and in Germany in 
 those of Goethe and Schiller, and gave Italy the 
 result in his great novel of ItaHan life and history. 
 For each of these reasons Manzoni represents a 
 force potent in upbuilding Italian character and 
 strengthening it at the time of Its great crisis. 
 Though he drew suggestions from abroad, he made 
 his work Italian, and thoroughly Italian. " If,' 
 says De Sanctis, " the Romantic School, by its 
 name, its ties, its studies, its impressions, was al- 
 lied to German traditions and French fashions, it 
 
 M 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 45 
 
 was at bottom Italian in accent, aspiration, form, 
 and motive. . . . Every one felt our hopes pal- 
 pitating under the mediaeval robe; the least allu- 
 sion, the remotest meanings, were caught by the 
 public, which was in the closest accord with the 
 writers. The middle ages were no longer treated 
 with historical and positive intention ; they became 
 the garments of our ideals, the transparent ex- 
 pression of our hopes." 
 
 Alessandro Manzoni was born in Milan, March 
 7, 1785, at about the time when Aliieri was accom- 
 plishing his greatest work. His father, Pietro 
 Manzoni, belonged to the nobility, and bore the 
 title of Count, a title which Alessandro, when 
 he inherited it at an early age, refused to adopt, 
 and continued to refuse to use during his whole 
 life. His mother was the daughter of Beccaria, 
 a man well known throughout Europe for his 
 studies of political economy and criminology, and 
 whose treatise entitled " Crimes and Punishments " 
 was greatly admired in the Voltairean circles of 
 France. Alessandro's mother was a remarkably 
 intelligent woman, with a fineness of nature which 
 was inherited by her son, and which kept him un- 
 spoiled and simple through a hfe unusually ac- 
 claimed and applauded. 
 
 His earliest youth was spent among the hills of 
 Galbiale, according to the custom of wealthy Lom- 
 
46 MANZONI 
 
 bard families, to send their children to the moun- 
 tains in order to give them rugged health. The 
 boy was in care of a woman who was successively 
 his nurse and governess, and who taught him to 
 read and stirred his interest in the legends and his- 
 tory of the neighboring countryside. When still 
 a small boy he was sent to the church college of the 
 Frati Lomaschi, education being then entirely in 
 charge of ecclesiastics. He seems to have been in 
 no wise an apt student, the close confinement, the 
 strict discipline, and the dry manner of teaching 
 subjects which were all of an eminently classical 
 nature combining to dull his spirits and interest. 
 Stories are current in Milan of Manzoni's inability 
 to learn, almost bordering on stupidity, but such 
 stories are popular of men who have later shown 
 great ability, and deserve little credence. Suffice 
 it that he showed no great aptitude for learning at 
 the school of the Frati Lomaschi, nor even later at 
 the CoUegio dei Nobili. At the latter he did, how- 
 ever, meet the poet Vincenzo Monti, a man well 
 known throughout Italy, who had had for patrons 
 the Cardinals Borghese and Braschi, a poet and 
 dramatist whose pen was too apt to serve the polit- 
 ical party in power, but who had achieved wide 
 popularity, and whose poems were praised by 
 critics as diverse-minded as Byron and Napoleon 
 Bonaparte. Monti met the young Manzoni when 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 47 
 
 he was on a visit to the college, and took an interest 
 in him. Alessandro admired the poet, and it was 
 perhaps this acquaintance which first actively in- 
 terested him in literature as a pursuit. The meet- 
 ing of the boy Walter Scott with Robert Burns is 
 a parallel in Scottish literary annals. 
 
 In 1805, when he was twenty, Alessandro's 
 father died and the youth left the CoUegio del 
 Nobih, and returned for a time to his mother. 
 After a period of home life he was sent to the Uni- 
 versity of Pavia, the best-known of Lombard 
 universities. His stay here was short. His 
 mother, now a widow for several years, was advised 
 to go to France for her health, and the close bonds 
 which united mother and son would not allow of 
 such a distant separation. Alessandro left the 
 University and went with his mother to Auteuil, 
 which was then a fashionable watering place where 
 the heau monde of French art and letters gathered. 
 Here and at Paris he met the leading thinkers of 
 the time, Volney, Cabanis, De Tracy, Fauriel, and 
 Condorcet, aU of whom were interested in the young 
 man as the grandson of Beccaria and because of 
 his own originaHty of thought. These men called 
 themselves idealogues, and claimed to have shaken 
 off all the conventions of the previous centuries. 
 As a student Manzoni had been an extremely lib- 
 eral Catholic, and was usually considered by strict 
 
48 MANZONI 
 
 critics a follower of Voltaire. At Paris and 
 Auteuil, however, he met so many men of the then 
 prevalent atheistic mode of thought that his own 
 interest in his family religion was quickened and 
 he emerged from his friendship with such men as 
 Cabanis and Condorcet a more pronounced church- 
 man than he had been before. It was characteris- 
 tic of him to cling tenaciously to those precedents 
 and standards which had so long survived in his 
 own country. His religion, however, was soon to 
 become more to him than a field for philosophic 
 speculation, for in 1810 he married Louise Hen- 
 riette Blondel, daughter of a banker of Geneva, 
 who, herself a convert from Protestantism to the 
 Church of Rome, became most ardent in the church 
 of her adoption. She soon brought Alessandro to 
 her own enthusiastic view, and from the date of his 
 marriage his philosophy never varied. Henriette 
 Manzoni possessed rare beauty, and was long re- 
 membered in Milan " for her fresh blond head, and 
 her blue eyes, her lovely eyes," and the youmg hus- 
 band was ideally happy with his bride. He had 
 by now determined to try his skill at composition, 
 and set himself as models the three men whose fame 
 was then at its height in Italy, Alfieri, Vincenzo 
 Monti, and Ugo Foscolo. 
 
 His bride had brought Manzoni a country seat 
 as well as considerable property, and so he settled 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 49 
 
 in the country and studied to perfect his style in 
 writing. His first works were a series of Sacred 
 Hymns, written directly under the influence of the 
 renewed reHgious faith attendant on his marriage. 
 These were published in 1815, and were at once 
 noticed as poems ahke remarkable for deep reli- 
 gious feeling and great beauty of expression. 
 Appearing as they did at a time when religion was 
 being bitterly assailed, churchmen looked upon the 
 young poet as a distinct acquisition to their forces. 
 Manzoni was not, however, even then a believer in 
 the temporal power of the Pope. He said to 
 Madame Colet, the author of " LTtalie des 
 Italiens," " I bow humbly to the Pope, and the 
 Church has no more respectful son ; but why con- 
 found the interests of earth and those of heaven .f* 
 The Roman people are right in asking their free- 
 dom — there are hours for nations, as for govern- 
 ments, in which they must occupy themselves, not 
 with what is convenient, but with what is just. Let 
 us lay hands boldly upon the temporal power, but 
 let us not touch the doctrine of the Church. The 
 one is as distinct from the other as the immortal 
 soul from the frail and mortal body. To behave 
 that the Church is attacked in taking away its 
 earthly possessions is a real heresy to every true 
 Christian." 
 
 This was the same view which Manzoni held 
 
50 MANZONI 
 
 throughout his Hfe, and which, stated in his quoted 
 words, gives the position taken by the most enlight- 
 ened men of the Nationahst party in those later 
 days when the question of the temporal power of 
 the Pope became vital for Italy. What the 
 Sacred Hymns showed was that Manzoni looked to 
 the Church as the center of all true aspiration and 
 rehgion rather than to philosophic theories as the 
 safeguard of morals. 
 
 His next production carried him a step further 
 in advance of his contemporaries, and marked him 
 as the leader of the Romantic School. In 1819 he 
 wrote his first tragedy, published the following 
 year under the title " II Conte di Carmagnola." 
 The subject-matter was the career of Caniiagnola, 
 a celebrated condottiere of the Middle Ages, and 
 the dramatic form was entirely distinct from that 
 classic construction which had so long tyrannized 
 over the drama. In an introduction he explains 
 his departure from the classic unities of time, 
 place, and action, and gives his reasons for believ- 
 ing that the dramatist should be free to choose his 
 own subject and to treat it in such fashion as shall 
 seem to him best to express his idea. The Eliza- 
 bethan dramatists had long before discarded the 
 law of the unities in England, and had carried 
 their plots over such courses of time and place as 
 they pleased, and so had Schiller in Germany, but 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 51 
 
 in Italy the law had been absolute from the time 
 of Tasso to that of Alfieri. Eight years after 
 Manzoni's " Carmagnola " appeared, Victor Hugo 
 brought on the great dramatic war in France with 
 his " Cromwell," and from the date of his ultimate 
 triumph in Paris dates the downfall of the Classi- 
 cists and the full glory of the Romanticists. 
 
 In Italy Manzoni's step was violently attacked 
 and defended. Conservatives opposed him, but 
 the younger element immediately acclaimed him as 
 their leader. The following year, 1821, he wrote 
 his great ode on the death of Napoleon, which had 
 occurred on May 5th, at St. Helena, and the news 
 of which had greatly affected all Europe. The 
 ode, entitled " II Cinque Maggio," was remarkable 
 for great dignity, a deep and profound estimate of 
 Napoleon's genius, and a tribute to his colossal 
 fame which even the French recognized as the 
 fittest expression of poetic power. The ode was 
 at once translated into German by Goethe, and 
 into EngKsh by Gladstone and the Earl of Derby. 
 It immediately placed him at the head of the new 
 school of continental poets. 
 
 Very soon afterwards, in 1822, Manzoni wrote 
 his second tragedy, " Adelchi," a drama of the war 
 between the Lombards and Charlemagne. It fol- 
 lowed the lines of the Carmagnola, repeating the 
 break from classical precedents, and establishing 
 
54 MANZONI 
 
 ated a tremendous impression. Scott said that it 
 was the greatest historical novel ever written, and 
 Goethe said, " It satisfies us Hke perfectly ripe 
 fruit." It was the first and greatest Italian ro- 
 mance, and it awakened an interest throughout 
 Europe in Italian history. The scene is laid in 
 Milan under the harsh Spanish rule of the Seven- 
 teenth Century, and the reader is carried through 
 the story of war and famine, and the great plague. 
 Its merits are hard to exaggerate, the beauty of its 
 descriptions and the accuracy of its history, the 
 intense interest of its characters, a galaxy that 
 embraces every walk of life, the truth of its philos- 
 ophy are equally remarkable. The universal feel- 
 ings of humanity pulse through its pages; as Dr. 
 Garnett says of it, " as a picture of human nature 
 the book is above criticism; it is just the fact, 
 neither more nor less." 
 
 Victor Hugo in " Les Miserables " wrote a book 
 which appealed to the innate democracy of man, 
 but Manzoni in " I Promessi Sposi " made the same 
 appeal without having recourse to the French- 
 man's use of the grotesque and gigantic. Through 
 the whole of the latter novel runs the note of a 
 profound sympathy with the poor and the unfor- 
 tunate, a note which is perhaps stronger in this 
 book than in any romance ever written. It is the 
 work of a great mind, fully alive to every sensibil- 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 55 
 
 ity and sympathy, accurate in its judgments, and 
 to which, in the ancient words, nothing human is 
 foreign. 
 
 Cardinal and priest, brigand and simple hero, 
 grande dame and the lovely girl whose hand prom- 
 ised in marriage gives part title to the book, are 
 each perfect in their way, and bring the char- 
 acteristics of a past century vividly before the 
 present. Goethe pointed out the too great prom- 
 inence of the historical element, but the very care- 
 ful attention paid by Manzoni to the accuracy of 
 his setting must add to the sense of reality which 
 he so completely gains. The novel was rapidly 
 translated into aU modern languages, and at once 
 created a school of historical novelists in Italy. 
 
 To us who have seen the romantic movement give 
 place in turn to that of realism, it is difficult to 
 understand what Scott and Hugo, Goethe and 
 Manzoni did for the men of the first quarter of the 
 Nineteenth Century. They made people feel as 
 they had not felt before the wide scope of exist- 
 ence and the importance of the individual. Litera- 
 ture had been a matter of form and convention, of 
 classic model, of purely aristocratic vision. The 
 new movement was part of that same impulse which 
 was demanding constitutions of kings and bring- 
 ing the middle classes into political prominence. It 
 was an awakening of public spirit which had slept 
 
56 MANZONI 
 
 soundly through several centuries. Voltaire and 
 Rousseau, Alfieri and Foscolo had sounded the first 
 notes of a new intellectual renaissance, and now 
 Hugo and Manzoni went further and stepped 
 boldly out from all classic restraints. 
 
 Although " I Promessi Sposi " is more widely 
 known and more highly regarded than any Italian 
 book, except the Divine Comedy of Dante, Man- 
 zoni's personality impressed itself but little upon 
 his age. He had not the fighting nature of Victor 
 Hugo, nor the mental unrest of Byron, two of his 
 great contemporaries. He preferred the retire- 
 ment of his farm to the excitements of Milan, and 
 although he was always an ardent advocate of 
 Italian unity and freedom he took but small part 
 in the great events that soon delivered Lombardy 
 from Austria. After the appearance of " I 
 Promessi Sposi " he wrote little more. " For- 
 merly," he said, " the muse came after me, now I 
 should have to go after her." His quiet life laid 
 him open to the charge of an indifferent patriot- 
 ism, but those who knew him best understood that 
 such an accusation was bitterly untrue. 
 
 When the Austrian government returned to 
 Milan the members of the Lombard nobility were 
 required to write their names in an official regis- 
 ter or forfeit their titles. Manzoni preferred to 
 lose liis claim as a patrician, and later refused a 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 57 
 
 decoration, saying that he had made a vow never 
 to wear any order of knighthood. He afterwards 
 offered the same excuse to Victor Emmanuel when 
 the latter wished to decorate him. He was elected 
 a Senator in 1860, when the first National Assembly 
 met, and went to Turin to take his seat, but soon 
 after retired to the privacy of his own home on 
 Lake Maggiore. Here he entertained many great 
 guests, among them Cavour and D'Azeglio, to 
 whom he was warmly attached. His life flowed on 
 an even current, the existence of a philosophic 
 spirit interested as an observer rather than as an 
 actor. 
 
 Henriette Manzoni died in 1833, and in 1837 he 
 married Teresa Borri, widow of Count Stampa. 
 He saw his children grow up about him and go to 
 take their places in the world. Gradually he saw 
 the cause of national freedom win its way, and the 
 King to whom he was so devoted unite the scattered 
 states under one crown. He saw the fall of the 
 temporal power of the Pope, and with it the con- 
 summation of his hopes. In 1873, at the age of 
 eighty-eight, he died, universally mourned and 
 revered. A Milanese journal said: "After the 
 confessor left the room Manzoni called his friends 
 and said to them, ' When I am dead, do what I did 
 every day ; pray for Italy — pray for the king and 
 his family — so good to me ! ' His country was the 
 
58 MANZONI 
 
 last thought of this great man dying, as in his 
 whole long life it had been his most vivid and con- 
 stant affection." 
 
 It was nearly fifty years since his last important 
 work had appeared, but during that long half 
 century of inactivity Manzoni's fame had grown 
 steadily. His romance had passed through one 
 hundred and eighteen editions in Italian alone. 
 Milan decreed him a state funeral, and representa- 
 tives of all European countries appeared at the old 
 Lombard capital with addresses from their sover- 
 eigns. It has been said that Manzoni's death 
 evoked a greater unanimity of sentiment than has 
 been called forth by that of any other great 
 author of modern times, except possibly by that 
 of Sir Walter Scott. Even those who had criti- 
 cised Manzoni had always spoken their opinions in 
 a spirit of reverence. He was regarded as the 
 great guiding figure in the course of the new na- 
 tional Hterature. 
 
 A singularly uneventful life for one of the great 
 builders of a nation, uneventful even for that of 
 a scholar or poet. Moreover the roll of his works 
 is small numerically, comprising his Sacred 
 Hymns, the two dramas, the Ode on Napoleon, the 
 single novel, and in addition only a few essays, the 
 " Innominata " or Column of Infamy, an historical 
 note to " I Promessi Sposi," an essay on the Ro- 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 59 
 
 mantic School, called " Letters on Romanticism," 
 and one entitled " Letters on the Unity of Time 
 and Place," the purpose of which was to show that 
 the unity of action is the only unity of importance 
 to the dramatist. The bulk of his work was not 
 great, but each expression of it was masterful in 
 its way, the Hymns true poetry as well as deep 
 religious sentiment, the Ode considered the finest 
 ode in all Italian poetry, the dramas pulsing with 
 life and feeling, the novel unsurpassed. These 
 were the literary values of his work, but these in 
 themselves would not account for Manzoni's in- 
 fluence on his times. He was a moral and poKtical 
 force, showing the men of his day that nations can 
 only hope for liberty and peace when the citizens 
 respect the law and virtue. A generation that 
 had lived through the French Revolution and the 
 Napoleonic era needed some one to lead them back 
 to moral sanity, and this was the greatest of Man- 
 zoni's works. 
 
 Like Gioberti, like D'Azeglio, like Victor Em- 
 manuel, Manzoni was a staunch Catholic as well as 
 a true Itahan. A close friend, Signor Bonghi, said 
 of him : " He had two faiths, one in the future of 
 Cathohcism, another in the future of Italy, and the 
 one, whatever was said, whatever happened, never 
 disturbed the other. In anxious moments, when 
 the harmony between the two was least visible, he 
 
60 MANZONI 
 
 expected it the most, and never allowed his faith in 
 one or the other to be shaken. Rome he wished 
 to be the abode of the King ; Rome he wished also 
 to be the abode of the Pope. Obedient to the Di- 
 vine Authority of the Pontificate, no one passed a 
 more correct judgment upon its civil character, or 
 defended with more firmness, when speaking upon 
 the subject, the right of the State." 
 
 That he was the poet of resignation, as Monnier 
 declared, is disproved by his dramas and his novel. 
 The martial lyrics of the plays burn with a spirit 
 only too evidently fired by the contemporary sub- 
 jection of Italy to Austria and France. Take for 
 example the first and last verses of one of the lyrics 
 in the Adelchi, as rendered into English by Miss 
 Ellen Clarke: 
 
 " From moss-covered ruin of edifice nameless, 
 From forests, from furnaces idle and flameless, 
 
 From furrows bedewed with the sweat of the slave, 
 A people dispersed doth arouse and awaken, 
 With senses all straining and pulses all shaken. 
 
 At a sound of strange clamor that swells like a wave. 
 
 In visages pallid, and eyes dim and shrouded, 
 
 As blinks the pale sun through a welkin beclouded. 
 
 The might of their fathers a moment is seen ; 
 In eye and in countenance doubtfully blending ; 
 The shame of the present seems dumbly contending 
 
 With pride in the thought of a past that hath been. 
 
THE MAN OF LETTERS 61 
 
 And deem ye, poor fools I that the need and the guerdon 
 That lured from afar were to lighten your burden. 
 
 Your wrongs to abolish, your fate to reverse ? 
 Go ! back to the wrecks of your palaces stately. 
 To the forges whose glow ye extinguished so lately. 
 
 To the field ye have tilled In the sweat of your curse ! 
 
 The victor and vanquished in amity knitted. 
 Have doubled the yoke to your shoulders refitted ; 
 
 One tyrant had quelled you, and now ye have twain : 
 They cast forth the lot for the serf and the cattle. 
 They throne on the sods that yet bleed from their battle, 
 
 And the soil and the hind are their servants again." 
 
 Could Manzoni have meant such words to speak 
 other than of the Austrians and Bourbons who 
 were grinding Italians into servitude? Could his 
 marvelous meter, which has been said in its " plung- 
 ing " to suggest a charge of horses, have been 
 meant other than to drive his countrymen to self 
 assertion? Manzoni was patriot as well as artist, 
 and read his times with no unskilful eye. When Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel visited Milan in 1859 he said that 
 he should like to meet the poet, and, when told that 
 the latter was ill, declared that he would go to him. 
 Manzoni, however, would not hear of this, and as 
 soon as he was able called upon the King. The 
 sovereign's marks of regard and respect over- 
 whelmed the poet. Later he said of the meeting, 
 " I see in the character of the King the intervention 
 of Providence. He is exactly the sovereign that 
 
62 MANZONI 
 
 circumstances require to accomplish the resurrec- 
 tion of Italy. He has rectitude, courage, incor- 
 ruptible honesty, and disinterestedness; he seeks 
 not glory or fortune for himself, but for his coun- 
 try. He is so simple, never caring to appear 
 great, that he does not meet the admiration of 
 those who seek to find in princes and heroes theatri- 
 cal actions and grandiloquent words. He is nat- 
 ural because he is true, and this makes his enemies 
 say that he is wanting in regal majesty. To 
 found Italian unity he has risked his throne, and 
 his life." 
 
 Manzoni's prophecies came true and he himself 
 had no small part in accomplishing that great end 
 towards which so many men of diverse forces 
 worked. As well as king and statesman, warrior 
 and prophet, the man of letters taught his people 
 how to find their independence. 
 
GIOBERTI, THE PHILOSOPHER 
 
 GIOBERTI'S signal gift to his countrymen 
 was his great book, " II Primato d' Italia," a 
 statement of the causes of Italy's early primacy 
 among European nations, and a philosophic theory 
 for her regeneration. Like Savonarola he flayed 
 the vices of his time and preached redemption 
 through Christian living, but, unlike the great 
 Era, he undertook to teach that the Church was no 
 less fitted to be the seat of statecraft than of re- 
 ligion. It was this that gained him the ear of 
 Rome as well as that of Piedmont, and made it 
 seem for a moment as though he had found the 
 solution of Italy's troubles. 
 
 The effect of the " Primato " was felt from Tu- 
 rin to Naples. " The book," said Minghetti, the 
 statesman of a later decade, " seemed to some an 
 extravagance, to others a revelation. The truth 
 is, that while many of its ideas were peculiar to the 
 author, and partook of his character, his studies, 
 and his profession, the substance of it responded 
 to a sentiment still undefined, but which had been 
 slowly developing in the minds of Italians. The 
 idea of nationahty had, in the previous years, 
 63 
 
64 GIOBERTI 
 
 spread far and wide through many channels, open 
 and secret, and the desire of a great and free coun- 
 try had taken possession of the majority of the 
 younger men ; but the methods hitherto employed 
 had proved so inefficient that weariness and dis- 
 gust had followed. Experience had proved that 
 conspiracies, secret societies, and partial insurrec- 
 tions were of no utility — that they made the gov- 
 ernments more severe, retarded civil progress, ar- 
 rested the increase of public prosperity, plunged 
 many families into misery, and did not even win 
 the approbation of civiHzed nations. 
 
 "The rumors of wars and of European insur- 
 rections which were circulated every spring time, 
 the mystic declamations of Mazzini in the name of 
 God and the people, ... all these things showed 
 that the time had come to try another method, 
 more serious, more practical, and surer. . . . 
 Gioberti, a Piedmontese exile for the sake of lib- 
 erty, had taken part in the earHest phases of 
 the " Giovine Italia " or had been in relation with 
 its chiefs, but had wearied of that pompous and 
 impotent society. His intellect had anticipated 
 that change which had been imperceptibly operat- 
 ing and now began to appear widely . . . but 
 obscurely in the consciousness of many men. This 
 opportuneness and coincidence of the ideas of the 
 author with the spirit of the day gave his book 
 
G 1 O n F K V 1 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 65 
 
 a special importance. . . . The purpose of the 
 book was to prove that Italy, although it had 
 lost all pohtical value for the outside world, con- 
 tained all the conditions of moral and political 
 revival, and that to effect this change there was 
 no need of revolutions, invasions, or imitations of 
 the foreigner, since political revival is limited to 
 three heads — unity, independence, and liberty — 
 the first two of which might be obtained by a con- 
 federation of the various states under the presi- 
 dency of the Pope, and the last by means of in- 
 ternal reforms in each state, effected by their re- 
 spective Princes without danger or diminution of 
 their real power." 
 
 Vincenzo Gioberti was born in Turin April 5, 
 1801, and was the only child of parents of very 
 moderate means. At an early age it was decided 
 that he should prepare for the priesthood, and his 
 education was entrusted to the fathers of the Ora- 
 tory in Turin. His nature was more conformable 
 to the teaching of churchmen than was that of 
 Alfieri or Manzoni, and whereas both the latter had 
 chafed under the discipline and mental training 
 of the Church schools the young Gioberti became 
 a thoughtful student. He differed from Mazzini, 
 a contemporary studying at Genoa, in that al- 
 though he early learned that the condition of his 
 country was wretched, his mind could only con- 
 
66 GIOBERTI 
 
 ceive of improvement by orderly and temperate 
 steps. He was a brilliant scholar, and during 
 the years of his training for the priesthood he 
 delved deep into the history of philosophy, and 
 studied closely the writings of the fathers and 
 doctors of the Roman Church. In 1825 he was 
 ordained a priest. 
 
 The young priest, a man of a serious and re- 
 flective mind, turned his attention to the aifairs 
 of his country, and gradually entered upon a 
 careful study of the literature of the day, and 
 the political theories that were then agitating 
 men's minds. He took part in scholastic discussions 
 of religious and political subjects, and in time 
 widened his acquaintance in Turin so that he came 
 in contact with the leaders of thought in the Sar- 
 dinian capital. As he met men and spoke his 
 thoughts more freely it came to be seen that he 
 was occupied above everything else with the prob- 
 lem of freeing Italy from the foreign overlords, 
 and this gradually marked him as a free-thinking 
 priest. At first, however, he did not incur the en- 
 mity of the clerical party, for, although his con- 
 ception of Italian freedom consisted in emancipa- 
 tion not alone from the arms of foreign masters, 
 but from all modes of thought which were alien to 
 the nation's genius, and detrimental to its national 
 authority, this authority was always associated in 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 67 
 
 his mind with the idea of Papal supremacy, but 
 a supremacy intellectual rather than political. 
 
 The reign of Charles Albert of Piedmont was 
 a continual battle between the conservative party 
 and the enlightened liberals. The leaders of the 
 conservatives were clerics, in large measure Jesuits, 
 who kept in close touch with the Court of Vienna, 
 realizing to the full that their aims and those 
 of Austria were to all intents identical, the main- 
 tenance of the status quo in Italy. The young 
 priest Gioberti was not long in incurring the hos- 
 tility of the Jesuits, because, although he sought 
 the ultimate supremacy of the Papal See, he de- 
 sired it as a moral rather than as a physical su- 
 premacy, and he most ardently hoped for the ex- 
 pulsion of the Austrians from Lombardy and the 
 absolute independence of Piedmont from Viennese 
 influence. His was, however, too brilliant a mind 
 to be denied, and, despite the efforts of the Court 
 party, Charles Albert, who was always cognizant 
 of the abilities of other men, soon after his ac- 
 cession to the throne in 1831 nominated the young 
 priest to be one of the royal chaplains. 
 
 As chaplain of the court Gioberti quickly as- 
 sumed prominence. His nature was open and 
 frank, he made friends easily, he wrote on ecclesias- 
 tical and political subjects, and his patriotism was 
 known to be unbounded. He soon had gathered a 
 
68 GIOBERTI 
 
 party about him, and his influence over the King 
 grew rapidly. Charles Albert's own views on Italian 
 policy were at that time almost identical with Gio- 
 berti's, he would have been glad to acknowledge 
 a confederation of Italian states under the presi- 
 dency of the Pope, provided the foreign prince- 
 lings could be disposed of without bloodshed. This, 
 however, the clerical party did not approve of, any 
 change being to their view revolutionary, and the 
 realization that the chaplain was gaining the pri- 
 vate ear of the King finally compelled them to 
 mark him for exile. 
 
 Aware of this disaffection in the Church party 
 at Turin, Gioberti in 1833 asked permission of 
 Charles Albert to resign his chaplaincy, but, be- 
 fore his request was granted he was suddenly ar- 
 rested one day while walking with a friend in the 
 pubHc gardens of the city, and placed in prison. 
 The influence of the clerical party was so all-pow- 
 erful in the Piedmont of that day that no attempt 
 to secure Gioberti's release was effective, and no 
 popular demonstration at such an outrage could 
 take place. He was given no trial, and his case 
 was the subject of no apparent judicial process. 
 After four months' imprisonment he was informed 
 that his banishment had been decreed, and he was 
 at once conducted to the frontier in charge of a 
 carabineer. At the same time his name was stricken 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 69 
 
 off the roll of the theological doctors of the Col- 
 lege of Turin. 
 
 Driven into exile because of his political opinions, 
 even as Mazzini was exiled as a suspect rather 
 than because of any proof against him, Gioberti 
 reached Paris in October, 1833. Like so many 
 other great Italians of that day he was destined 
 to spend many years away from his beloved coun- 
 try. Without friends, family, or money, his 
 career apparently ruined, his hopes shattered, Gio- 
 berti was to sound the depths of a courageous 
 man's despair. Mazzini took himself to London 
 to eke out a meager living as a teacher of Italian, 
 and with the same thought Gioberti went to Brus- 
 sels. Here he xmdertook to teach philosophy, 
 and finally obtained employment in assisting his 
 friend Gaggia in the management of a small col- 
 lege. All his leisure time he devoted to studying 
 and writing on philosophy, rising early, and work- 
 ing the better part of the night, and producing 
 work after work of great value in philosophic in- 
 qmry, all of which bore especially upon the needs 
 of his own countrymen. 
 
 His stay in Brussels, which lasted from 1834 to 
 1845, saw the production of his greatest books, 
 all deeply earnest, and each one causing in turn 
 the greatest interest and emotion in Italy. The 
 volume of his work was most remarkable, treatises 
 
70 GIOBERTI 
 
 appearing at short intervals, each one of which 
 would have sufficed to represent a lifetime's study. 
 His first work was the result of a friendship 
 formed in Brussels with a young fellow-exile, 
 Paolo Pallia, who on one occasion expressed to 
 Cioberti certain doubts as to the reality of revela- 
 tions and a future life. Gioberti at once com- 
 menced work upon his " La Teorica del Sovran- 
 naturale," which was finished and published in 
 1838. This was followed in 1839 and 1840 by 
 his three volumes called " Introduzione alio Studio 
 della Filosofia." In all these writings he stands 
 apart from his contemporary European philoso- 
 phers. Method of speculation is with him subjec- 
 tive and psychological. He adopts much from 
 Plato. Throughout all his writings reUgion is 
 synonomous with civiHzation, and he repeatedly 
 states that rehgion is the true and only expres- 
 sion of the idea in this life, and is one with the 
 real civiHzation of history. Civilization is the 
 means to perfection, of which religion is the 
 essence. 
 
 These strictly philosophic works were followed 
 by the essays " Del Bello " and " Del Buono," and 
 after a short interval by a magnificent exposure 
 of the Jesuit Order, " II Gesuita Moderno," and his 
 " Del Primato Morale e Civile degli Italiani," and 
 " Prolegomeni." 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 71 
 
 It was the " Primato " which gave the exiled 
 Gioberti his place as a great factor in the strug- 
 gle for Italian independence. His ideas seem 
 strangely archaic now, but they were compelling in 
 1846. He himself says : " I intend to show . . . 
 that Italy alone has the qualities required to be- 
 come the chief of nations, and that although to- 
 day she has almost completely lost that chief- 
 ship, it is in her power to recover it, and I will 
 state the most important conditions of that reno- 
 vation. ... As infant civilization was born be- 
 tween two rivers, so renewed and adult civiliza- 
 tion arose between two seas ; the former in fertile 
 Mesopotamia, whence it easily spread over Asia, 
 Africa and the west; the latter in Italy, which 
 divides the Tyrrhene and Adriatic seas, thus form- 
 ing the central promontory of Europe and placed 
 in a position to dominate the rest of the hemisphere. 
 ... In the Church there is neither Greek nor Bar- 
 barian, and all nations form a cosmopolitan soci- 
 ety, as all the tribes of Israel a single nation. But 
 as, in the Jewish nation, genealogy determined the 
 tenure of the hierarchy, and the sons of Levi re- 
 ceived the custody of the Law and the service of 
 the Temple, so in the Christian commonwealth the 
 division of the nations is in a manner involved in 
 the order of the Catholic Church. And, the 
 Church having a supreme head, we must recognize 
 
72 GIOBERTI 
 
 a moral pre-eminence where Heaven has estab- 
 lished its seat, and where nearer, quicker, more 
 immediate and more uninterrupted are the in- 
 breathings of its voice. This preeminence cer- 
 tainly does not transgress the natural order of 
 divine intentions, real and efficient in their work- 
 ing and in the obligations they impose. So that 
 the Italians, humanly speaking, are the Levites 
 of Christianity, having been chosen by Providence 
 to keep the Christian Pontificate, and to protect 
 with love, with veneration, and if necessary by 
 arms, the ark of the new covenant. . . . Let the 
 nations, then, turn their eyes to Italy, their an- 
 cient and loving mother, who holds the seeds of 
 their regeneration. Italy is the organ of the su- 
 preme reason and the royal and ideal word; the 
 fountain, rule and guardian of every other rea- 
 son and eloquence ; for there resides the Head 
 that rules, the Arm that moves, the Tongue that 
 commands and the Heart that animates Chris- 
 tianity at large. ... As Rome is the seat of 
 Christian wisdom. Piedmont is to-day the princi- 
 pal home of Italian military strength. Seated 
 on the slopes of the Alps, as a wedge between Aus- 
 tria and France, and as a guard to the peninsula, 
 of which it is the vestibule and peristyle, it is des- 
 tined to watch from its mountains, and crush in 
 its ravines, every foreign aggressor, compelling 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 73 
 
 its powerful neighbors to respect the common in- 
 dependence of Italy." 
 
 Such expression will suffice to show that Gio- 
 berti was in no sense a reliable prophet, but a 
 philosopher of deeply rehgious strain who was 
 seeking to reconcile the political freedom of Italy 
 with the suzerainty of the Pope. He dis- 
 countenanced aU plotting and conspiracy, both of 
 which were being advocated by Mazzini's appeals 
 to " Young Italy," and built his country out of 
 a confederation of states. Mazzini, impractical as 
 he was in many respects, did at least realize that 
 no such loosely joined federation could stand six 
 months, and insisted above all in actual political 
 hegemony of the states. 
 
 Gioberti's " Primato," deeply suggestive in it- 
 self to intellectual Italy, was given a remarkable 
 impetus by the election at about the same time 
 as its appearance of a new Pope. Pius IX., 
 elected to the papal chair in Jime, 1846, seemed the 
 very man to bring about the realization of Gio- 
 berti's hopes. As Cardinal jNIastai Ferreti he had 
 been immensely popular, and he was known as a 
 man of great amiabiHty, keenly interested in new 
 ideas, and ardent in the cause of Italian unity of 
 action. His first act was to proclaim a general 
 amnesty for political offenses, by which thousands 
 of prisoners who had spent years in Roman prisons. 
 
74. GIOBERTI 
 
 or abroad in exile, many ignorant of the charges 
 brought against them, were allowed to return to 
 family and friends. He visited the poor and su- 
 perintended the relief of the sick, even working 
 among the Jewish quarters of Rome. He favored 
 the construction of railroads, modified the re- 
 strictions of the press, and organized an advisory 
 council of leading citizens. Small wonder that a 
 world which had been used to the infinitely narrow- 
 minded reactionaries Leo XH. and Gregory XVI. 
 hailed Pius IX. as the regenerator of both church 
 and state. 
 
 To a large degree Pius and Gioberti had both 
 felt the same enthusiasms, and beheved in the same 
 principles, the cardinal one being that society was 
 to be reformed by the Roman Church, and the gov- 
 ernment of society vested in the Church as a court 
 of highest appeal. Diff^erent desires led the two 
 men to this conclusion, Gioberti hoping that re- 
 form would come by means of concessions by ar- 
 bitrary powers to the rights of the people, and 
 the Pope beheving that humanizing the form of 
 church government would strengthen its actual 
 power and increase the devotion of all nations to 
 the Holy See. History proved that neither Gio- 
 berti nor Pius IX. was correct, but the seeming 
 coincidence of their views increased the power of 
 each. Gioberti gained the support of the liberal 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 75 
 
 element in the Church, and the Pope gained the 
 adhesion of intellectual men throughout Italy. 
 
 The new Pope had read Gioberti's political writ- 
 ings, and had been deeply influenced by them. 
 The " Primato," issued at Brussels in 1842, had 
 been prohibited in aU the Italian states except 
 Piedmont, and this fact added immensely to its 
 weight with patriots. Charles Albert read it and 
 admired it greatly ; with the advent of Pius, he as 
 well as men so diverse as Mazzini, Garibaldi, and 
 D'AzegHo, looked for regeneration. Under the in- 
 fluence of this new spirit Charles Albert declared 
 an amnesty for all exiles in 1846, and the philoso- 
 pher-priest, after thirteen years of exile, was free 
 to return home. 
 
 Long exile had somewhat crushed the ardent 
 nature of the churchman, and he waited in Brus- 
 sels until he was assured by friends that his re- 
 turn to Turin would be popular. Learning that 
 his works, especially the " Primato " and the 
 " Gesuita Modemo," had made him a hero in the 
 eyes of patriots, he finally returned to Turin in 
 1848. His entrance into the capital on April 
 29 of that year was the occasion for the great- 
 est outburst of enthusiasm, a welcome intensified 
 by the thought that this man had been banished 
 for no other cause than the resentment of the hated 
 Jesuits. The city was decorated and illuminated 
 
76 GIOBERTI 
 
 in his honor, deputations waited upon him, the 
 King appointed him a Senator, but, as he had been 
 elected as deputy by both Turin and Genoa to 
 the Assembly of Representatives now to meet for 
 the first time under the new constitution, he chose 
 to sit in the lower house for Turin. 
 
 Invitations now poured in upon him from other 
 cities, and before the Assembly met he made a 
 tour of the states, commencing with Milan, and 
 finally reaching Rome. He had three interviews 
 with the Pope, and these meetings led him still fur- 
 ther to believe that Pius was the man who should 
 put his political philosophy into practice. He 
 found the Romans, who of all Italians had most 
 cause to hate the Jesuits, overjoyed with his work 
 describing the modern abuses of that order, and 
 anxious at all hazards that their new Pontiff 
 should follow the new spirit of liberahty. 
 
 While he was traveling and speaking publicly to 
 all the peoples the Assembly met in Turin, and 
 elected him its president. Count Balbo was Prime 
 Minister, and in the same Parliament sat many of 
 the younger element, including Cavour, and a 
 large liberal section headed by D'Azeglio. 
 
 Meanwhile there had occurred the memorable 
 battle-days of 1848, when the February revolution 
 in Paris set fire to the tinder that had been pre- 
 paring throughout Europe. The Milanese arose 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 77 
 
 and drove out the Austrian garrison, Venice pro- 
 claimed the republic under Daniel Manin, and the 
 cry of " a free Italy " rang from the Alps to 
 Sicily. Pius IX., who had already made serious 
 protest to Austria when in the preceding year 
 that Power had garrisoned Ferrara, prepared to 
 place himself actively at the head of the national 
 m.ovement, and in Piedmont Charles Albert took 
 the field and went to the aid of Lombardy. At the 
 close of 1848 Count Balbo resigned, and a new 
 ministry was formed, in which Gioberti held a seat. 
 Unfortunately Pius IX. lacked the courage of 
 his convictions, and when he heard that the Aus- 
 trians were winning back their lost fields in Lom- 
 bardy, his desire to send his troops to the aid of 
 Piedmont cooled. The conservative elements about 
 him gained his ear, and he replaced Mamiani, his 
 Prime Minister, a man who wished him to give 
 Rome a constitution, with Count Rossi, the French 
 Ambassador, a man of great ability, but ultra 
 conservative. In November, 1848, Rossi was as- 
 sassinated, and shortly afterward the violence of 
 the demands of the people convinced Pius that his 
 best course was temporary flight. Acting upon 
 this impulse on November 24, 1848, he escaped 
 from Rome to Gaeta. Italy was beginning to 
 see to what manner of man it had looked for 
 deliverance. 
 
78 GIOBERTI 
 
 From Gaeta the self -exiled Pontiff issued a for- 
 mal protest against the violence to which he stated 
 his people had subjected him, and by which means 
 alone his latest enactments had been extorted from 
 him, and declared all measures passed in Rome 
 during his absence null and void. 
 
 In Rome the brief Republic of Mazzini held 
 sway, and at Gaeta France and Austria sought to 
 cheer the Pope. Charles Albert, his hope of Papal 
 aid fading rapidly, attempted for a few months 
 to stem the tide of French and Austrian influence 
 over Pius. He tried to effect a reconciliation be- 
 tween the Holy Father and the Romans, and Gio- 
 berti wrote to the Pope, saying : " I hope the 
 Court of Gaeta is about to return to sentiments 
 more evangelical, more worthy of Pius IX. I 
 am sorry to have to say that the Court of Gaeta, 
 repudiating the doctrine of conciliation, and 
 adopting that of vengeance and blood, does not 
 seem to know that it is repudiating the maxims 
 of Christ, and putting in their stead those of Ma- 
 homet." In addition Gioberti did his best to gain 
 the Pope's concurrence in a plan for the formation 
 of an Italian federation of princes, but without 
 success. The bolt was shot, Pius had had his day 
 as popular idol, and having proven that Italy had 
 nothing to hope politically from the Pope, quickly 
 retroceded to the plane of the Bourbon Princes and 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 79 
 
 Grand Dukes. To Gioberti, who had hoped so 
 much from the spiritual and temporal power of 
 Rome, the disillusionment was terrific. 
 
 That he was a theorist rather than a practical 
 statesman he now showed conclusively by advo- 
 cating as minister at Turin that Piedmont should 
 anticipate the inevitable restoration of the rulers 
 of central Italy by the governments of Austria 
 and France by restoring them Itself. Had this 
 plan been adopted the House of Savoy would have 
 been irretrievably ruined in the eyes of patriotic 
 Italy, and the country left without any champion 
 of freedom. Fortunately his proposal met with 
 small favor. 
 
 The battle of Novara ended the struggles of 
 Charles Albert, and Victor Emmanuel, a man of 
 sterner make, came into control. A new ministry 
 was formed for the new King by General Delaunay, 
 who included Gioberti again in the cabinet, al- 
 though he held no portfolio. He was not in touch, 
 however, with the new elements of government, he 
 could not appreciate a statecraft that was In es- 
 sence radical, and after several disagreements he 
 was appointed on a nominal mission to Paris, which 
 in reality removed him from any part in the gov- 
 ernment at Turin. His best work had been done 
 in the service of Charles Albert, he was not in touch 
 with the coming policies of the adroit Cavour. 
 
80 GIOBERTI 
 
 The stirring years of 1848 and 1849 passed, the 
 dream of the Pope's leadership vanished, and the 
 yoke of the foreigner seemed to have settled as 
 heavily as ever upon the states of Italy. Again 
 exiles gathered in London and Paris, Mazzini re- 
 turned to his Enghsh fogs, and we find Gioberti 
 the confidant in Paris of many banished fellow- 
 countrymen. The Marquis Pallavicino, friend of 
 Manin and many other patriots, became his bosom 
 friend. He was ofi'ered a pension by his govern- 
 ment, but declined it, and devoted himself to writ- 
 ing. In 1851 he published his great work, the " Rin- 
 novamento Civile d' Italia," in which he pointed 
 out the mistakes made by Italians in 1848 and 
 1849, acknowledged his own blunders in poUtical 
 sagacity, and designated Piedmont as the leader 
 of a great national movement, which should ulti- 
 mately end in a regenerated Italy, with its cap- 
 ital in a lay and constitutional Rome. He had 
 met and talked with Cavour in Paris during the 
 preparation of this book, and he had had the per- 
 spicacity to predict that Cavour was the man who 
 should unite his land. The statesman was half 
 amused, half impressed by Gioberti's words, he 
 had always considered him a man who just failed 
 of being a great statesman because he was a vision- 
 ary, but he was profoundly impressed by the 
 grasp and depth of his new work. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 81 
 
 The " Rinnovamento " was indeed true proph- 
 ecy, the philosopher had at last seen the futility 
 of a political confederation of peoples under a re- 
 hgious head, he realized that Princes supported by 
 foreign Powers would never unite for any common 
 end. " Except the young sovereign who rules 
 Piedmont," he says in the " Rinnovamento," " I 
 see no one in Italy who could undertake our eman- 
 cipation. Instead of imitating Pius, Ferdinand, 
 and Leopold, who violated their sworn compacts, 
 he maintains his with religious observance — vulgar 
 praise in other times, but to-day not small, being 
 contrary to example." Victor Emmanuel, reading 
 the book, was as much impressed by it as Cavour 
 had been, and time and again repeated, " I will do 
 what Gioberti says." 
 
 Pius IX., still amiable, still suave, was kept in 
 Rome by French arms, and was solely occupied 
 in proving his own insufficiency as a temporal 
 ruler of any sort whatever. He had retracted all 
 his liberal acts, made friends with all his old foes, 
 and placed entire charge of state affairs in the 
 hands of that most unsavory of men, Cardinal An- 
 tonelli. Under him the Jesuits resumed their for- 
 mer activity, and soon had closed completely about 
 the Pope. Then it was that the works of Gio- 
 berti, the " Primato " and the " Prolegomeni," 
 which had once so greatly delighted the Pope, were 
 
82 GIOBERTI 
 
 placed upon the Index Expurgatorius and pub- 
 licly condemned by the Church. The action had 
 no other effect than to amuse the world ; Italy and 
 all friends of Italy had read and pondered the 
 great treatises, and drawn their own conclusions 
 from them irrespective of the wishes of the Roman 
 See. 
 
 Gioberti died in Paris October 16, 1852, just 
 as the new era in Italian affairs which he had 
 predicted in his last book was actually commenc- 
 ing with the advent of Cavour as Prime Minister 
 of Piedmont. 
 
 When we review Gioberti's work we find that it 
 was chiefly important as a stimulus to Italian 
 patriotic thought, as a threshing out of theories 
 and principles in preparation for a true realization 
 of national needs and hopes. That the philosophy, 
 in so far as it was political, of his " Primato " 
 failed to prove true when attempted in practice, 
 and must inevitably so have failed as we see now, 
 did not affect his influence over his own genera- 
 tion. That influence was one which contrasted 
 sharply with Mazzini's, Gioberti always preach- 
 ing orderly organization, Mazzini daring attempts 
 of many sorts, both ahke in the ardor of their 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 While Mazzini appealed to the mass, Gioberti 
 appealed to the scholars, the clergy, the think- 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 
 
 ing classes, and his appeal was patriotic as well 
 as intellectual. In his " Primato " he stirs his 
 countrymen to consider their country's place 
 among the nations. " While to the north," he 
 says, " there is a people numbering only twenty- 
 four millions who rule the sea, make Europe trem- 
 ble, own India, vanquish China and occupy the 
 best parts of Asia, Africa, America and Oceania, 
 what great things have we Italians done? What 
 are our manual and intellectual exploits? Where 
 are our fleets and our colonies? What rank do 
 our legates hold; what force do they wield; what 
 wise or authoritative influence do they exert in 
 foreign courts? What weight attaches to the 
 Italian name in the balance of European power? 
 Foreigners, indeed, know and still visit our coun- 
 try, but only for the purpose of enjoying the 
 changeless beauty of our skies and of looking upon 
 the ruins of our past. But what profits it to 
 speak of glory, riches, and power? Can Italy say 
 she has a place in the world? Can she boast of a 
 life of her own and of a political autonomy, when 
 > she is awed by the first insolent and ambitious up- 
 start who tramples her under foot and galls her 
 with his yoke? Who is there who shudders not 
 when he reflects that, disunited as we are, we must 
 be the prey of any assailant whatever, and that 
 we owe even that wretched fraction of independ- 
 
84 GIOBERTI 
 
 ence which charters and protocols still allow us 
 to the compassion of our neighbors? " Then he 
 concludes, " Although all this has come upon us 
 through our own fault; nevertheless, by the ex- 
 ercise of a little strength of will and determina- 
 tion, without upheavals or revolutions and without 
 perpetrating injustice, we can still be one of the 
 first races in the world." 
 
 With consummate skill he arranged a national 
 program in which the Pope, the Princes, the peo- 
 ple, even Austria, should have a part, and it was 
 scarcely to be wondered that inasmuch as each in- 
 terest was flattered each thought well of the pro- 
 gram. The clergy were no less delighted with the 
 eloquence of one of their own number than with 
 his teaching that religion and patriotism should 
 go hand in hand, those high in power felt that 
 their power would be left them under his theory, 
 and the people were stirred by his eloquence and 
 dreams of what Italy should become. As a re- 
 sult there arose what was known as the " Neo- 
 Guelph " party, which, harking back to the Mid- 
 dle Ages, sought to place the Pope at the head 
 of the national movement. And, by a beautiful 
 coincidence of history, just at that moment a new 
 Pontiff, one of that clergy which had so greatly 
 admired Gioberti's writings, ascended St. Peter's 
 throne. In these facts you have the cause of Gio- 
 
THE PHILOSOPHER 85 
 
 berti's commanding position in the early years of 
 the great struggle. 
 
 Unfortunately Gioberti's theories were dreams, 
 not even so practical as the aspirations of Maz- 
 zini's " Young Italy." He had failed utterly to 
 grasp the need of absolute administrative concen- 
 tration and did not accurately estimate the jeal- 
 ousies and prides of the petty Princes and the 
 churchmen. He believed that those forces which 
 had so long destroyed Italian unity could be made 
 to unite to restore it, he believed that the Roman 
 Church could exercise a wise temporal authority. 
 He looked back to the Middle Ages, and spoke 
 with some of Savonarola's words. He appealed 
 to his people's ancient love of art and letters, to the 
 glories of the medieval cities, to the world-wide 
 authority of Rome and St. Peter's. The appeal 
 stirred the imagination of the intellectual classes, 
 and drew the attention of other countries to the 
 fallen estate of Italy. Beyond that it could not 
 be effective; the needs of State and Church, of 
 Princes and people, had grown too unalterably op- 
 posed. Mazzini was far nearer right, a truer 
 teacher, a surer guide. 
 
 The time came when Gioberti recognized that 
 Italy's salvation lay in the strong hand, and this 
 he acknowledged in his last book. It is the truest 
 of all his political philosophies because he had then 
 
86 GIOBERTI 
 
 understood that the future belonged to men of such 
 abilities as were possessed by Cavour and Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel, and to a well-knit nation rather 
 than to a confraternity of ill-assorted states. 
 
 Yet for all its fallacies Gioberti's " Primato " 
 woke intellectual Italy from a sleep which had 
 lasted centuries, and made it consider the prob- 
 lem of its regeneration. 
 
MANIN, THE "FATHER OF VENICE" 
 
 rr^HE story of Venetian glory seemed closed 
 -*■ with the last years of the Eighteenth Cen- 
 tury. The proud Queen of the Adriatic had seen 
 her jewels stolen one by one, and had finally be- 
 come the toy of wanton powers. Venice was no 
 longer self-reliant, no longer coldly virtuous, her 
 grandeur had sunk into a memory, her civic honor 
 been bedimmed by gross corruption. " Venice 
 was," said the world, and France, parceling out 
 the conquests of the young Napoleon, handed Ve- 
 netia and the City of the Doges to Austria. There 
 was no opportunity for self-defense. Napoleon had 
 removed all military stores and confiscated the 
 Venetian fleet, the citizens buried the hon-banners 
 of Saint Mark beneath their churches, and silently 
 watched the Austrians enter. The last Doge, 
 aged and bent with years, fell senseless as he 
 opened his lips to swear allegiance to the House of 
 Hapsburg. Europe considered the fate of Venice 
 sealed. 
 
 Napoleon came and went, and men as well as 
 maps experienced gigantic changes, but still Venice 
 slept. She had become a part of the Austrian Em- 
 87 
 
88 MANIN 
 
 pire, a new generation grew up who had never 
 known Venice free, who only learned their city's 
 history by stealth. Among this new generation 
 was Daniel Manin, son of a Jew who had em- 
 braced Christianity and who had adopted the sur- 
 name of his noble patron the last Doge, according 
 to Venetian custom. So it happened that the last 
 free ruler of Venice and the man who was to raise 
 her from sleep bore the same name. There was 
 also transmitted to the boy the ancient hate of 
 Austria. 
 
 Born in 1804 Daniel Manin early showed a 
 strong love of learning, which was eagerly tended 
 by his father, a lawyer of some note. The father 
 taught his son the history of his city, he brought 
 him up to see the unjust practices of Napoleon 
 and of Austria, he kindled in him the passion for 
 liberty. The boy studied jurisprudence and the 
 growth of Venetian dialects, at fifteen he trans- 
 lated the apocryphal book of Enoch from the 
 Hebrew, at seventeen he became a Doctor of Laws, 
 and had translated Pothier's great French work 
 on Roman law before he was twenty-one. The year 
 he came of age he married, and a little later set- 
 tled in the small town of Maestra, which lies at 
 the entrance to the Lagoons, and started to prac- 
 tise his profession of advocate, which under Aus- 
 trian rule allowed him only to act in civil cases. 
 
M A N I N 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 89 
 
 and then merely in a consulting capacity and never 
 as a pleader in the courts. 
 
 Even in early youth his health was poor; al- 
 though his mind was unusually active and well- 
 balanced he was subject to frequent visitations of 
 great physical weariness which at times made it 
 impossible for him to accomplish anything. Later 
 in life he wrote, " The act of living, in a healthy 
 person, considered in itself, ought to be a pleasure ; 
 but to me from my very childhood, it has always 
 been a painful effort. I always feel weary." He 
 was frequently morbid just at the time when his 
 growing family required all his energy for sup- 
 port. 
 
 In person the young lawyer was rather strik- 
 ing, not tall, but spare, with unusually animated 
 blue eyes, thick chestnut hair, and features full of 
 changing expression, quick to show the temper of 
 his mind. For all his underlying weariness and 
 continued depression he often appeared gay and 
 cheerful on the surface; it was his nature to be 
 unselfish, and to turn a brave face towards the 
 world. 
 
 Working as an advocate Manin gave up his 
 spare hours to studying Venetian patois and to 
 planning how in time his city might loosen the 
 bonds of Austrian tyranny. As early as 1830, 
 when he was only twenty-six, he joined with three 
 
90 MANIN 
 
 close friends in a plot to seize the Venetian arsenal, 
 and drew up a proclamation intended to excite the 
 citizens. The movement throughout northern 
 Italy on which the friends relied failed to mate- 
 rialize, and the plan fell through. Fortunately 
 the authors of the proclamation were not discov- 
 ered, and Manin was permitted to continue his 
 profession. He did not believe in secret societies, 
 and would not join them; he devoted himself to 
 studying Austria's colonial weaknesses. 
 
 The first step which brought him seriously to 
 the notice of the government was his work on be- 
 half of the Italian bankers who were associated 
 with some Germans in bmlding a railway between 
 Venice and Milan. There had been a disagreement 
 as to the route of the railway, and the Austrian 
 viceroy had sided with the Germans. Manin was 
 engaged to represent the Itahan bankers, and con- 
 ducted his side of the case with great sldll. The 
 Austrian government finally concluded the matter 
 by arbitrarily dissolving the Italian Railways As- 
 sociation. The case had however shown Manin 
 a possible mode of attacking the foreign despotism, 
 finding flaws in its laws and concentrating on 
 such weaknesses until eventually its whole fabric 
 was loosened. He did not beKeve that any sudden 
 local revolution could succeed, he saw only the loss 
 of valuable lives thereby, but he did believe that 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 91 
 
 the way for some later far-sweeping rising might 
 be paved by consecutive breaches in the enemy's 
 legal walls. This opinion was the result of his 
 evenly-balanced, deliberate judgment; he could at 
 times, as he was to show later, throw himself pas- 
 sionately into a cause, without regard to conse- 
 quences, but his nature was not that of the ardent 
 revolutionary; he relied on cool, sober judgments, 
 and was not readily led from them by illusions. In 
 his notes we find him writing, " Against disorder 
 I feel a repulsion not only of reason but of in- 
 stinct, the same as I feel against everything con- 
 trary to the laws of harmony, a deformed face, a 
 discordant sound." 
 
 His advocacy of the Italian bankers brought 
 Manin before the Venetian pubhc, he was recog- 
 nized as an able speaker with a deep knowledge of 
 law. He spoke before the Venetian Athenasum 
 on the obligation of thinkers to inspire and stimu- 
 late men of action. The subject gave him a chance 
 to draw attention to the present lethargy of 
 Venice and to urge consideration of new ideas af- 
 fecting trade and commerce. He hoped to unite 
 northern Italians through the new principle of 
 free trade. Fortunately Cobden, the great Eng- 
 lish advocate of free trade, was travehng in 
 Italy; he visited Venice and met Manin and some 
 of the other Venetian leaders of opinion just as 
 
92 MANIN 
 
 he had met Cavour at Turin and Massimo d'Azeg- 
 lio at Genoa. 
 
 Various small events gave the lawyer a chance 
 to speak publicly to his fellow-citizens. At the 
 Scientific Congress which met in September, 1847, 
 he was appointed a connnissioner to investigate the 
 charitable institutions of Venice, and in doing this 
 work he came upon the case of a poor infirm work- 
 man who had placed a placard upon a public wall 
 complaining that the government had left him 
 to starve, and for which action had been placed 
 in a lunatic asylum. Manin reported the case and 
 wrote, " The physicians acknowledge the man is 
 sane ; but they dare not set him at liberty, fearing 
 it would be contrary to the views of the police and 
 government. For my part, I have a better opinion 
 of the government and the police. I do not admit 
 that they create madmen by decrees. If Pado- 
 vini is culpable there are the laws." Count Palffy, 
 the Governor, was very much vexed. " We must 
 release Padovini from the madhouse," he said, " and 
 put Manin in his place." 
 
 About the same time Count Jablouski, a relation 
 of the Venetian Governor, wrote a paper urging 
 the ItaHans to become resigned. In reply Manin 
 set down his thoughts in a page which seems to 
 sum up his whole purpose, a wonderful expres- 
 sion of his philosophy. It was not pubHshed at 
 
THE "FATHER OF VENICE" 93 
 
 that time, but was later found among his papers. 
 It read: 
 
 '' It is the fashion to preach resignation. 
 " I distinguish two kinds of resignation ; the 
 one virtuous and manly; the other cowardly, and 
 worthy only of fools. 
 
 " The strong man, when overcome by misfor- 
 tune, seeks the means of remedying it. Does he find 
 any.'' In spite of difficulties, he applies himself 
 to the task, excited, cheerful, and vigorous, fuU 
 of energy and pertinacity. It is only when he is 
 certain that no remedy exists, that he becomes 
 resigned. This is manly resignation. 
 
 " The coward, when misfortune overtakes him, 
 allows himself to be cast down, and seeks no means 
 of remedying it. However spontaneous and easy 
 relief may present itself to his mind, he attempts 
 nothing, he wishes neither to trouble nor expose 
 himself — he is resigned: this is the resignation of 
 the fool. 
 
 " Therefore, resignation is virtuous and manly 
 under evils manifestly without remedy; it is cow- 
 ardly and stupid when we can in any way free our- 
 selves from these evils. 
 
 " In the individual, resignation may often be vir- 
 tuous ; in a nation it is perhaps never so, for the 
 misfortunes of a nation are seldom irremediable. 
 
 " To overcome the misfortunes of a nation, we 
 
94 MANIN 
 
 can employ the whole intellectual, moral, and phys- 
 ical power of all its citizens ; and if the generation 
 which commences the generous task does not suc- 
 ceed in accomplishing it, other generations follow, 
 who will attain success ; for nations never die. 
 
 " This is the reason why those who advise resig- 
 nation to nations, advise cowardice, and the nations 
 which become resigned are cowards." 
 
 Therein lies the whole wisdom of Manin's polit- 
 ical philosophy, and also that of many of the earlier 
 Italian patriots. How could Austria hope to keep 
 such men forever in subjection.'' 
 
 Manin's avowed purpose was to show again and 
 again that the Austrians were not obeying the laws 
 which they had themselves given to the subject 
 provinces. One of the methods of Austrian admin- 
 istrative rule was the use of supposedly representa- 
 tive councils called the Central and Provincial 
 Congregations, which were designed to communi- 
 cate the wishes of the people of Venice and Lom- 
 bardy in the form of petitions to the Imperial 
 council, and which had failed lamentably to use 
 even that meager power. On December 9, 1847, 
 Nazari, a deputy to the Lombard Congregation, 
 moved that the grievances of the country be rep- 
 resented to the Imperial government. Not a sin- 
 gle Venetian deputy followed his lead, but Manin, 
 as a private individual, signed a petition to the 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 95 
 
 Venetian Congregation calling upon them to speak 
 for the people. His comments were brief but vig- 
 orous. " The Congregations," he said, " have 
 never been the interpreters of our wants or wishes 
 — their silence has arisen from a fear of displeas- 
 ing the government; but this fear is unjust, and 
 injurious: for it is unjust and injurious to sup- 
 pose that the government has granted to this king- 
 dom a derisory national representation, that it 
 deceived, and still deceives, this country and Eu- 
 rope, in making laws which it does not wish to be 
 observed, and in prosecuting and punishing those 
 who intend observing them." The Venetians were 
 delighted with the petition, they were beginning to 
 feel the first thrills of a new civic hfe. On Decem- 
 ber 30, Manin and Tommaseo, a brilliant poet and 
 public-spirited citizen, drew up another address 
 which in bold terms denounced the Austrian censor- 
 ship of the press contrary to a specific clause in the 
 law of 1815. All the members of the Ateneo, the 
 literary club of Venice, signed the petition that 
 went with the address. 
 
 The Austrians failed to see in the unrest that 
 appeared throughout Italy at the close of 1847 
 more than a series of local and widely-separated 
 disturbances, and made small eifort to appease any 
 of the leaders. For their part in preparing the 
 Venetian petition Manin and Tommaseo were ar- 
 
96 MANIN 
 
 rested and thrown into prison on January 18, 
 1848, charged with high treason. The temper 
 of the newly-aroused people was uncertain, on the 
 morning after the arrest the streets of Venice 
 were seen blossoming with signs ominous to peace 
 and Austrian supremacy, " Viva 1' Italia ! " " Viva 
 Manin e Tommaseo ! " and " Morte ai Tedeschi ! " 
 
 From the date of his imprisonment Manin un- 
 derwent many sufferings, one of the chief being his 
 inability longer to help in nursing a daughter to 
 whom he was passionately devoted and who was 
 suffering from a tedious and most painful nervous 
 disease. At almost the same time his younger 
 sister, who was ill in Trevisa, died from the shock 
 of hearing of his imprisonment. He had been able 
 to save very little for dark days, now that they 
 were come he could do nothing to tide his little 
 household through them. Outwardly he was calm 
 and strong of will, inwardly he was tormented by 
 a hundred fears. Yet he could write from prison 
 to his brave wife, saying, " If you continue to be 
 strong and courageous, these will be the happiest 
 days of my life. . . . You will find a few pieces 
 of gold in one drawer, a little silver in another. 
 ... If this affair lasts long, we must think of 
 providing for you in some way. Love one another, 
 my angels : be resigned, that is sufficient." 
 
 A vaHant attempt was made by Teresa Manin to 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 97 
 
 secure her husband's release on bail, the authori- 
 ties put her off continually, and finally the Direc- 
 tor-General replied that he did not believe himself 
 authorized to accede to her request. This final re- 
 ply caused an outburst of popular indignation. 
 The Venetians dressed themselves in mourning, and 
 with heads bared filed slowly before the windows 
 of the prison on the Riva dei Schiavoni, where 
 Manin and Tommaseo were confined. As long as 
 he remained in prison the other advocates united 
 in caring for Manin's legal practice, and high- 
 spirited friends among all classes insisted on pro- 
 viding his family with all necessities. He him- 
 self hoped to be able to support them by reprint- 
 ing a small treatise on Venetian jurisprudence, 
 but permission to advertise its sale was denied him 
 by the government. A Httle later, however, Aus- 
 trian permissions became no longer necessary, and 
 Manin's family lived on the proceeds of the sale 
 of this work and on the small legacy left to him 
 by his sister. He had little time to think of self- 
 support when he became dictator. 
 
 The ancient spirit of Venice was slowly rising as 
 day after day news came that men throughout 
 Italy were turning on their despots. The Nico- 
 letti and the Castellani, the two historic factions of 
 the people, the blacks and the reds, renounced their 
 ancient feud and took a common secret oath to 
 
98 MANIN 
 
 war only with Austria until Venice was free. The 
 young nobles resigned their Austrian offices and 
 ranks, they had heard what the nobility of Milan 
 were accomplishing. The examination into the 
 charges against Manin and Tommaseo continued, 
 although nothing illegal could be proved against 
 them there was a prospect of their arbitrary re- 
 moval out of Venice and to that prison of Spiel- 
 berg where the careers of so many gifted ItaHan 
 patriots had ended. Manin heard that the French 
 had driven their King from his throne, he won- 
 dered what eiFect the growing tumult of that revo- 
 lution year would have on Venice. He did not have 
 to wait long to learn. The flames of revolt had 
 spread across Europe even to Vienna, Mettemich 
 had fled from the city in peril of his life, the Aus- 
 trian throne was tottering. Manin saw what was 
 coming, and made his plans even while he was in 
 prison to secure Venice against anarchy. 
 
 On the morning of March 17, 1848, the Vene- 
 tians hastened to the dock to learn the latest news 
 of Vienna from the Trieste packet. A French mer- 
 chant on board called to the gondoliers the news, 
 " A Constitution at Vienna ! The Recognition of 
 Italian Independence ! A Free Press ! A National 
 Guard ! " The words were sufficient, the people 
 rushed to the Governor's palace and demanded the 
 immediate release of Manin and Tonmiaseo. The 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 99 
 
 Governor wavered, declaimed, finally yielded, say- 
 ing, " I do what I ought not to do." The peo- 
 ple swept to the prison, and beating down the 
 doors, discovered the two captives. " You are 
 free ! " the leaders shouted. Manin still chose to 
 follow the usage of law, and asked to see the war- 
 rant for his release. It was produced, and then 
 he and his fellow captive were led forth from the 
 dreary cells with loud acclaims of joy. Manin was 
 raised in a chair, and so carried to the great 
 Square of St. Mark's, the scene of so many triumphs 
 in Venetian history. The yellow and black flag of 
 Austria had in some mysterious fashion fluttered 
 down from the ancient flag-staves that guard the 
 square and in its place floated the red, white, and 
 green emblem. " Speak ! " cried the people, and 
 Manin, pale, infirm, and gaunt from prison life, 
 rose and spoke with his remarkably persuasive 
 voice. He said he did not know to what great 
 events he owed his freedom, but could see clearly 
 that nationality and patriotic fire had grown won- 
 derfully during the past few months. " But for- 
 get not, I beg," he implored, " that true and last- 
 ing liberty can only rest on order, and that you 
 must make yourselves the emulous guardians of 
 order if you would show that you are worthy to be 
 free." He paused a moment, then added, " Yet 
 there are times pointed out to us by Providence 
 
100 MANIN 
 
 when insurrection becomes not only a right, but a 
 duty." 
 
 Manin returned home, already intent on plans to 
 regulate the new order of things. Towards night 
 the great bell in the Ducal Chapel sounded the 
 warning note, the people rushed to the Piazza to 
 find a battalion of Croats tearing down the Italian 
 tricolor, the people resisted, the soldiers cleared the 
 square with a bayonet charge, but the Venetians 
 had tasted triumph too fully to be dismayed. Some 
 of them went to Manin and asked him to lead them 
 against the Croats. "This is not the way," he 
 answered, " we must have a civic guard." He sent 
 a messenger to the Governor. " Tell him that to- 
 day his life was in my hands, and that I preached 
 order, not vengeance; and now, in the interest of 
 his own life as well as of order, he must at once 
 organize a civic guard." 
 
 Again Count PalfFy hesitated and put off the de- 
 mand from day to day. He sent messengers to 
 the Viceroy at Verona, and the latter telegraphed 
 him permission to enroll two hundred citizens. 
 Three thousand at once took arms and called on 
 Manin to give them his commands. " Let all who 
 will not absolutely obey me depart," he said, but 
 no one left. At last Venice again had an army of 
 her own. 
 
 There was no immediate bloodshed. The leading 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 101 
 
 citizens conferred as to what course Venice should 
 take if the revolution in Vienna succeeded. Some 
 were for joining the kingdom of Charles Albert, 
 some for uniting with Lombardy, some for an Aus- 
 trian ruler under a constitution. Manin scattered 
 their diverse views, he told them that their im- 
 mediate need was freedom, that their city must 
 actually be in their own charge before considering 
 her destiny. Rumors came that the city was about 
 to be bombarded, there was danger both from the 
 arsenal and from the sea, and on the night of 
 March 21 Manin laid his plans before the chief 
 patriots and told them that they must seize the 
 arsenal. " The people of Venice," he said, " can 
 only understand one cry, ' Let the Republic live ! " 
 Still the others hesitated ; one said, " The people 
 are incapable of sacrifices ! " " You do not know 
 them," cried Manin. " I know them ; that is my 
 sole merit, you will see ! " 
 
 Newcomers arrived, and still Manin, worn with 
 argument, pressed his opinion. He finished, saying, 
 "We must have the RepubHc, and join with it 
 Saint Mark. The RepubUc and Saint Mark will 
 echo in Dalmatia." 
 
 " Viva San Marco ! " came an answering cry. 
 " It is the only one, the rallying cry of Venice ! " 
 The conference agreed ; Manin sent for the com- 
 mander-in-chief of the civic guard. " The city 
 
102 MANIN 
 
 is threatened with bombardment," he said. " I 
 wish to take the arsenal at all hazards. You must 
 make me commander-in-chief for a day. Form the 
 six battalions into two brigades, and give me their 
 captains for eight hours." The general, astounded 
 at the advocate's demand, left without making a 
 reply. Manin sent to the other commanders mak- 
 ing the same demand. One by one they refused, 
 claiming that the project was too wild. 
 
 Meanwhile the soldiers at the arsenal were in 
 mutiny and had killed the second officer in com- 
 mand ; there was danger of the spirit of anarchy 
 spreading. At the same time the last of the com- 
 manders, Major Olivieri, placed his single bat- 
 talion at Manin's command. The advocate seized 
 his sword, called his son, a boy of sixteen, to fol- 
 low him, and put himself at the head of the two 
 hundred guards. The little band marched on the 
 arsenal and forced the commander to surrender; 
 almost before the Austrian officers knew what had 
 happened the Venetians were distributing the mili- 
 tary stores among the people. At the moment of 
 taking the arsenal Manin had sent word to call 
 the whole people into St. Mark's Square. He 
 found the ancient banner, the winged lion, and rais- 
 ing it from the dust where it had lain for fifty 
 years he unfurled it before his company and led 
 them back across the Piazzetta into the great 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 103 
 
 square. He had told the people he would meet 
 them there at noon ; now he stood before them, bear- 
 ing the emblem that proclaimed that Venice had 
 risen from her lengthy slumbers. He spoke to the 
 assembled city. " Venetians, we are free ! And we 
 are so without the shedding of blood, either our 
 own, or our brothers', for to me all men are broth- 
 ers. But when the old government is overturned, 
 the new must take its place ; the best now seems to 
 me to be the RepubHc which speaks of our past 
 glory and adds the Uberty of modern times. But 
 by this we shall not separate from our Italian 
 brothers, but rather form one of those centers 
 destined to aid in fusing our Italy into one people. 
 Live the Republic! Live liberty! Live Saint 
 Mark!" 
 
 The civic guards swore to defend with their lives 
 the new Repubhc and its founder, the aged wept, 
 the young embraced, all raised their hands in grati- 
 tude to heaven. The people reveled in noble de- 
 lirium of joy. Venice looked upon Manin as its 
 deliverer; the citizens did not know the physical 
 anguish he had undergone. Pathetic are the 
 words of his little daughter Emilia as she heard 
 her father proclaimed. " I ought," she wrote, " to 
 be filled with ineffable gladness, but a weight con- 
 tinually presses my heart." 
 
 Manin had scarcely closed his eyes for five days 
 
104 MANIN 
 
 and nights. As soon as the people would release 
 him now he went home utterly exhausted: he said 
 to his friends, " Leave me at least this night to 
 rest, or I shall die." 
 
 The Austrian authorities saw that resistance 
 would be of little avail, their own forces were too 
 small and too much in sympathy with the people's 
 cause to give them a sense of any real power on 
 which to rely, and accordingly the Governor ac- 
 ceded to the terms imposed upon him. All foreign 
 troops were to be removed, the forts and all mili- 
 tary stores surrendered, the government trans- 
 ferred to the charge of a Committee of Venetian 
 citizens. The demands were sweeping, the Aus- 
 trian government later regarded the Venetian cap- 
 itulation as the most humiliating they suffered 
 in the revolutionary year of 1848. 
 
 That same night the provisional government an- 
 nounced to the people the terms of the Austrian 
 capitulation, and the citizens were amazed to find 
 that neither the name of Manin nor of Tommaseo 
 was included in the new government. They made 
 their dissatisfaction so apparent that friends went 
 to see Manin to beg him to send some message to 
 the people. He dictated the following lines from 
 his bed : " Venetians ! I know that you love me, 
 and, in the name of that love, I ask you to conduct 
 yourselves, during the legitimate manifestation of 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 105 
 
 your joy, with that dignity which belongs to men 
 worthy of being free. Your friend, Manin." 
 
 The people heard the message and quietly dis- 
 persed. Next day the provisional government 
 found that the new Republic would only have the 
 one man at its head, and so they asked Manin to 
 form a government. He did so immediately, tak- 
 ing for himself the Presidency of the Council and 
 Foreign Affairs. He composed his government of 
 men of different classes and different religions, all 
 Venetians were assured of perfect equality in their 
 new state. The patriarch blessed the standard of 
 the Republic, and the commander of the fleet read 
 the hst of the ministry to the people. The read- 
 ing was broken by constant cries of " Viva Manin ! 
 President of the Republic ! " 
 
 Thus Venice became free after fifty years of 
 bondage. It was now Manin's concern to see that 
 she was kept free. He recognized how slight were 
 her resources, and he became at once an eager 
 adherent of French intervention in northern Italy. 
 Charles Albert of Piedmont and Mazzini were both 
 acclaiming an Italy won by the Italians, but Manin 
 foresaw, what Cavour was later to recognize, that 
 foreign allies were absolutely essential. 
 
 France, however, was in a most unsettled condi- 
 tion, her ministers did not wish to see a strong 
 state of upper Italy on their southern borders ; 
 
106 MANIN 
 
 they were already longing to annex Savoy, and yet 
 as good republicans they felt themselves bound to 
 aid the revolted states against Austrian tyranny. 
 Manin made overtures for an alliance, at first 
 merely feeling his way, but as the summer pro- 
 gressed, and the need grew more and more appar- 
 ent, by definite overtures. The French Consul at 
 Venice was most hopeful. He said to Manin, " It 
 is well known that the sympathy of France, when 
 she possesses liberty of action, is never without re- 
 sults." In reply Manin said that he hoped " that 
 the united eff^orts of the different Itahan states, 
 the ardor which animates the people of the Penin- 
 sula, wiU suffice to expel the enemy ; if not, we shall 
 have recourse to the generosity of France. Mean- 
 while, we should be glad to see at once some French 
 vessels in the Adriatic, and I beg that you wiU 
 lose no time in communicating our wishes to the 
 foreign ministry." 
 
 Manin wished to convene a popular assembly as 
 soon after he assumed office as possible, and on 
 June 3 such a deliberative body met, its members 
 having been elected by universal suffrage from 
 Venice and the free districts of the Dogado. 
 Their first important task was to decide whether 
 they would join with Lombardy in union under 
 Piedmont's King. Manin believed that the decision 
 as to such a step ought to be deferred until the war 
 
THE "FATHER OF VENICE" 107 
 
 was ended, but a strong party opposed his opinion. 
 His partisans entered into a bitter fight with the 
 opposition, for a time it looked as though the split 
 in the Assembly would lead to civil war. Manin 
 rose and implored those who were his friends to 
 place no further obstacles in the path of fusion. 
 Moved by his passionate appeal for harmony the 
 Assembly passed the act of fusion with few nega- 
 tive votes, and at the same time resolved that 
 " Daniel Manin had deserved well of his country." 
 He spoke again, saying, " While the foreigner is 
 still in Italy, for God's sake let there be no more 
 talk of parties. When we are rid of him we will 
 discuss these matters among ourselves as brothers. 
 This is the only recompense I ask of you." 
 
 The Assembly elected Manin head of the new 
 ministry, but he declined on the ground that he had 
 always been a republican and would feel out of 
 place as a royal minister. In addition his health 
 demanded that he seek some rest. 
 
 The new Venetian ministry lasted until August 
 7, when the Royal Commissioners assumed office. 
 Unfortunately Charles Albert was already being 
 beaten back in Lombardy, and on August 9 signed 
 the armistice of Salasco, by which all claims to 
 Venice were renounced. When word came to the 
 city the Venetians were dumbfounded, then mad 
 with indignation. Finally they rushed to Manin's 
 
108 MANIN 
 
 house, calling for him and denouncing the Royal 
 Commissioners. Manin told the excited people 
 that he would stake his head upon the Commission- 
 ers' patriotism. He went to see them and then ad- 
 dressed the citizens again. " The day after to- 
 morrow," he said, " the Assembly will meet to ap- 
 point a new government. For these forty-eight 
 hours I govern." The people dispersed, satisfied 
 now that their idol was at their head again. The 
 Assembly when it met wished to make Manin dic- 
 tator, but he pleaded his ignorance of military 
 matters, and a triumvirate was formed, made up of 
 Admiral Graziani, Colonel Calvedalis, and himself. 
 Just when it seemed as though France was finally 
 deciding to come to the aid of northern Italy, 
 England intervened and proposed a plan of joint 
 mediation. To add to this obstacle Charles Albert 
 declared that Italy would act for herself, and the 
 chances of Venice winning a foreign ally were re- 
 duced to practically nothing. Italians from Na- 
 ples to Piedmont were showing themselves to be 
 individual heroes, but their efforts were ineffectual 
 without a general leader. The Romans were ham- 
 pered by the inaction of the Pope. Pius IX. had 
 promised great things in the cause of national in- 
 dependence, but when the German Cardinals told 
 him that in case he declared war against Austria 
 he would forfeit their allegiance his enthusiasm 
 
THE "FATHER OF VENICE" 109 
 
 waned. The Austrian general, Radetzky, was 
 slowly winning back the fields lost in Lombardy, 
 Vicenza fell, then Milan, and Austria felt herself 
 strong enough to declare a blockade of Venice. As 
 the summer of 1848 ended it became clear that 
 Venice would be left to herself, that the tide of 
 revolution in the other states was already ebbing, 
 and that Piedmont had shot her bolt. Manin still 
 hoped that some ally would succor the small city 
 in her war against the great empire, but whether 
 an ally should come or not he was determined that 
 Venice should set an example of resistance that 
 would show Europe how well freedom was deserved. 
 The city, in its state of siege, stood in the great- 
 est need of money. Manin had only to ask, and all 
 classes brought forth their savings, their heir- 
 looms, whatever they had of value, to give to the 
 cause. The old aristocracy, the boys in the street, 
 every one who loved Venice, made their sacrifices 
 gladly, reverently. Private citizens clothed many 
 of the soldiers, palaces were given for pubHc uses, 
 Manin gave all his family plate and would accept 
 no salary; General Pepe, the aged commander-in- 
 chief, gave a picture by Leonardo da Vinci that 
 was his dearest possession. No one thought of 
 his own need, all thought solely of keeping Venice 
 free. If she returned to bondage they cared little 
 what became of them. 
 
110 MANIN 
 
 Ugo Bassi, the heroic priest who was later to 
 fight with Mazzini on the walls of Rome, and still 
 later to die at the hands of Austrian executioners, 
 preached daily to the Venetians. There was no 
 lack of noble spirits who recalled to them the 
 great glories of the past. But above and beyond 
 all the others the people loved Manin, they had 
 come to link his name indissolubly with that of 
 their city, he was their father, they his devoted 
 children. If ever a man merited such devotion it 
 was Manin. With the cares of his city weighing 
 perpetually on his mind, planning, advising, en- 
 couraging, he fought the ravages of disease that 
 crippled his resources, and spent the nights watch- 
 ing by the bedside of his sick child. At one time, 
 in November, there was fear for his life, and 
 Venice shook with apprehension. He recovered and 
 took up the burden of government with his mar- 
 velous stoic calm. 
 
 In spite of the fact that the city was besieged 
 and money scarce, Venice was characteristically 
 buoyant. The theater, the Fenice, was crowded; 
 fetes and carnivals, always patriotically fervent, 
 were of daily occurrence; processions, music, all 
 that appealed to the eye and the ear and the 
 Imagination fed the Venetian love of glory. Their 
 city was free, and the people awakened the echoes 
 of that great life which had been theirs before 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 111 
 
 captivity, they forgot so far as they could that 
 they had ever slumbered. On the morning of No- 
 vember 17 Mass was celebrated in memory of all 
 the martyrs to Italian liberty, and that same 
 night the entire city was thrilled by a wonder- 
 ful display of the Aurora Borealis which set the 
 snow-caps of the Alps vividly before their eyes. 
 They lived on faith, and hope, and trust in Daniel 
 Manin, and found propitious omens with sea- 
 dweUers' skill. 
 
 In December some Roman volunteers left Venice 
 to join their fellow citizens, and with them went 
 Ugo Bassi. He bade Manin a touching farewell, 
 foreseeing what lay before both his own city and 
 Venice. He had venerated the Pope who had held 
 out such noble hopes to all Italians, but he could do 
 so no more, and in his place put the hero of 
 Venice. As he left the city he kissed the stone 
 plate on Manin's door, saying, " Next to God and 
 Italy, before the Pope — Manin." 
 
 The Assembly which heid voted for fusion with 
 Piedmont was dissolved, and a new one elected. 
 Manin was determined that his government should 
 have the fullest power over the city. He deemed 
 this essential to any hopes of ultimate success. 
 Some members of the Assembly disagreed with 
 him, and advocated restriction. " It is not a 
 question of power," replied Manin, " but of saving 
 
112 MANIN 
 
 the country. If we are to be hampered on every 
 turn by forms and Hmitations, we cannot act with 
 the promptitude and vigor needful for the preser- 
 vation of pubHc order (I beg pardon of who- 
 ever the expression may offend), and our defense 
 depends more upon that than upon the force of 
 arms." 
 
 The people got wind of the fact that certain 
 of the Assembly were jealous of Manin's power, 
 and they marched to the Ducal Palace. Manin 
 spoke and dispersed them, but again and again 
 they gathered, making various demonstrations of 
 their trust in him. At length he heard that they 
 had devised a plan to march into the Council 
 Hall and coerce the Deputies who wanted to fetter 
 their " caro Manin." Fearful of civic strife Manin 
 called his son, and standing alone with him, sword 
 in hand, at the door of the Palace, told the peo- 
 ple that they could only enter after killing father 
 and son. He bade them go quietly home, and they 
 obeyed. That night he issued a proclamation. 
 " Brothers, you have caused me great pain to- 
 day. To show your affection for me you have 
 risen in tumult, yet you know how I hate tumult 
 ... as you say you love me, I entreat you to 
 show it by your actions. . . . To-morrow let there 
 be no shouting, no meetings. Remain at home. 
 Trust in the government and the Assembly, who 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 113 
 
 regard your welfare as dearer to them than life." 
 He was always the father speaking to his children. 
 
 The Assembly listened to the advice of its wisest 
 members, and abandoning all dissension, chose 
 Manin as President of the Republic, giving him 
 complete power both as to internal administration 
 and as to relations with foreign states. Manin 
 spoke in reply : " In accepting the charge which 
 this Assembly has entrusted to me, I am con- 
 scious of committing an act of insensate boldness. 
 I accept it. But in order that my good name, and, 
 what is of more importance, your good name and 
 that of Venice, may not be tarnished through this 
 transaction, it behooves that I should be seconded 
 and sustained in my arduous undertaking by your 
 co-operation, confidence, and affection. We have 
 been strong, respected, eulogized, up till now, be- 
 cause we have been united. I ask of you virtues 
 which, if they are not romantic, are at all events 
 of great practical utility. I ask of you patience, 
 prudence, perseverance. With these, and with con- 
 cord, love, and faith, all things are overcome." 
 
 Charles Albert again took the field and for a 
 brief interval the Austrians were repulsed. Brescia 
 made a heroic stand, and the Venetians heard the 
 news of the little city's courage with shouts of 
 acclamation and an added determination to fight 
 Austria tP the uttermost. The Venetian fleet was 
 
114 MANIN 
 
 kept in constant readiness, the troops slept with 
 their arms, there was only the one thought, to 
 keep the lion-flag of St. Mark flying from the 
 pili. 
 
 Then on March 28, 1849, came letters from 
 Turin telling of the utter defeat of Novara and of 
 Charles Albert's abdication in favor of his son. 
 
 The first eff^ect of the news on Venice was ab- 
 solute stupefaction, then a wild rush to the Square 
 of St. Mark's. A tremendous crowd called, as 
 usual in its troubles, for its " father, Manin ! " 
 Said a foreigner who was a witness of the scene, 
 " The faith of Venice in this man was inconceivable, 
 complete, and absolute. He had never deceived, 
 never abused it. The people seemed to attribute to 
 him omnipotence and omniscience, and believed him 
 capable of guarding Venice from every peril, and 
 of rescuing her from every calamity." 
 
 The President appeared on the Palace balcony. 
 He said that he had not yet received official con- 
 firmation of the news from Turin, but his sad 
 expression and his few words showed his belief that 
 the news might prove only too true. Venice passed 
 a night of bitterest gloom, more hopeless even than 
 in the later days when Austrian bombs exploded 
 in the streets. Three similar days followed, and 
 then came official confirmation of the news. Lom- 
 bardy was Austrian once more. 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 115 
 
 The city withstood the shock, and took up its 
 life of outward cheer and hope. On April 25, 
 St. Mark's Day, there was a grand festa, and 
 Manin spoke. " Who holds out wins," he declared. 
 " We have held out, and we shall win. Long 
 live St. Mark! This cry, that the seas rang with 
 in old days, we must raise again. Europe looks 
 on, and will praise. We must, we ought to win. 
 To the Sea! To the Sea! To the Sea!" There 
 was tremendous thrill in his magnetic voice, 
 in his deep blue eyes, in the glow of his pallid face ; 
 Venice cried aloud with eager hope. 
 
 With this spring of 1849 came the great days. 
 When the Assembly had voted to resist Austria 
 at all costs, the people adopted a red ribbon as 
 their emblem. A historian of that time says: 
 " From the top of the Campanile of St. Mark, far 
 above the domes, the roofs, and the spires of the pal- 
 ace and the basilica, beside the golden angel that 
 seemed to watch over the city, they planted a 
 huge red banner, which stood out Kke a spot of 
 blood against the azure sky, which was seen by 
 the enemy's fleet afar off in the Adriatic, and by 
 their army on the distant mainland. It defied them 
 both, and announced to them that Venice would 
 fight to the last drop of blood." 
 
 Placards were fixed to every wall, at the comer 
 of every street. They read : " Venice resists ! 
 
116 MANIN 
 
 Church plate, women's golden ornaments, bronze 
 bells, copper cooking utensils, the iron of the 
 enemy's cannon balls — all will be useful. Anything 
 rather than the Croats ! " 
 
 Night and day workmen had been building ships, 
 now the Httle fleet fought through the lagunes as 
 had the great fleets of the olden days. The land 
 forces held the shore batteries, and these forces 
 were composed of all the city. One artillery com- 
 pany, famous as the Bandiera-Moro, was made up 
 of the patrician youth of Venice, who, with their 
 ancient love of splendor, wore velvet tunics, gray 
 scarves, and caps with plumes. When the bitter 
 fight came at Fort Malghera they held their guns 
 heroically, fresh men leaping to replace the dead, 
 cheering for Venice as the bombs fell among them, 
 firing and eating and carrying off the wounded 
 under a devastating fusillade. Venice thirsted for 
 glory, and she won it; there are no more stirring 
 tales in history than that of the brief defense of 
 the new-born Republic. 
 
 In July came continual bombardment, and 
 with it cholera, and the seeds of sedition spread 
 by Austrian spies. Manin feared civil dissension, 
 he heard grumblers in the streets. No one dared 
 accuse the man, whom the Assembly had chosen 
 absolute dictator, of any wavering or treasonable 
 thought, but some raised cries beneath his win- 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 117 
 
 dows in the Piazzetta. The Dictator appeared 
 suddenly before them. " Venetians," he cried, " is 
 this worthy of you? You are not the people, 
 you are only an insignificant faction. Never will 
 I accede to the caprices of a mob ! My acts shall 
 be guided solely by the representatives of the 
 people, assembled in their Congress. I will al- 
 ways speak the truth to you, even should muskets 
 be leveled at my breast, and daggers be pointed 
 at my heart. And now go home, all of you — go 
 home!" 
 
 His words swayed even that rebellious crowd, 
 and they cheered him. For the time sedition was 
 silent, but the people were losing hope. They were 
 a mere handful battling with the forces of an em- 
 pire. Manin saw that all he could do was to in- 
 sure that his people died as heroes. 
 
 The city was the prey of famine, pestilence, and 
 fire when on August 13 she held her last festa. 
 The Dictator spoke to the troops in the Square 
 of St. Mark's. His words rang like a clarion 
 call. " A people that have done and suffered as 
 our people have done and suffered cannot die. 
 The day shall come when a splendid destiny will be 
 your guerdon. What time will bring that day.? 
 This rests with God. We have sown the good 
 seed: it will take root in good soil. ... If it 
 be not ours to ward off these calamities, it is ours 
 
118 MANIN 
 
 to maintain inviolate the honor of the city. . . . 
 One single day that sees Venice not worthy of her- 
 self, and all that she has done will be lost and 
 forgotten." He asked them if they had still their 
 confidence in him, if not he would resign the leader- 
 ship to another. The Square shook with the thun- 
 der of the soldiers' " Yes ! " He went on : " Your 
 indomitable love saddens me, and makes me feel 
 yet more how this people suffer! On my mental 
 and bodily faculties you must not count, but count 
 always on my great, tender, undying affection. 
 And come what may, say, ' This man was misled : ' 
 but do not ever say, ' This man misled us.' I have 
 deceived no one. I have never spread illusions 
 which were not my own. I have never said I 
 hoped when I had no hope." 
 
 As he finished speaking he staggered, and was 
 barely able to get to the Council Chamber. There 
 his physical weakness overmastered him. " Such 
 a people," he cried brokenly, " for such a people 
 to be obhged to surrender ! " 
 
 Nevertheless each hour now brought home the 
 conviction that the strength of Venice was ebbing 
 rapidly. Flames and the plague and the unremit- 
 ting Austrian attack were bringing the proud city 
 to her knees. Manin could only hope that he 
 might at the last make honorable terms of sur- 
 render, he would not sacrifice aU their heroic ef- 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 119 
 
 forts to the desire for instant peace. On August 
 18 the people gathered in St. Mark's Square, beg- 
 ging for some word of their President's plans. 
 He came out before them. " Venetians," he said, 
 " I have already told you frankly that our situa- 
 tion is a grave one, but if it be grave it is not 
 desperate to the degree of reducing us to cowardice 
 . . . it is an infamy to suppose that Venice would 
 ask of me to do what was infamous ; and if she 
 should ask it this one sacrifice I would not make 
 — even for Venice." 
 
 Some one in the throng cried, " We are hungry ! " 
 
 " Let him who is hungry stand forth ! " an- 
 swered Manin. 
 
 " None of us," cried the devoted people. " We 
 are Italians ! Long live Manin ! " 
 
 Five days later the city was torn by conflict- 
 ing rumors of mutiny and surrender. Manin had 
 not yet succeeded in winning the terms he wanted 
 from the Austrians. When the people called for 
 him he came out on the balcony as he had so often 
 done before. He spoke a few words, and then a 
 sudden pain seized him and he fell fainting into a 
 chair. A little later he reappeared and cried to 
 the cheering people, " Let those who are true Vene- 
 tians patrol the city to-night with me." Then he 
 took his sword, and at the head of a great con- 
 course, marched to the section of the city where 
 
120 MANIN 
 
 the mutineers had gathered. Shots were fired. 
 Manin stepped forward. " If you wish my hfe, 
 take it ! " he said. The mutineers were silenced. 
 
 The following day, August 24, 1849, the city 
 capitulated, the stock of provisions having been 
 absolutely exhausted that same day. The terms 
 were honorable, such Venetians soldiers as had been 
 in the Austrian service were to leave Venice. Forty 
 civilians, headed by Manin, were to leave. The 
 powers of government were temporarily lodged in 
 the municipality. 
 
 That same day Manin left the Doge's Palace for 
 his own small house. All day the people passed 
 before the door, saying, " Here lives our poor 
 father ! How much he has suffered for us ! " He 
 was too absolutely worn out to see any one. At 
 midnight he with his wife and son and invalid small 
 daughter went on board the French steamer 
 Pluton. All but one of them were taking their 
 last farewell of Venice. 
 
 The municipality, knowing that their great 
 leader was penniless, had gathered a small sum of 
 money and forced him to accept it before he left. 
 He felt that the other exiles were in as great 
 need of it as he, and so quietly distributed it 
 among them through friends on the various ships 
 that were bearing the exiles away. He had 
 thought of the people as his children for so long 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE » 121 
 
 a time that he had still to take the care of them 
 upon himself. 
 
 The little family of four felt that it was fare- 
 well as they watched the palaces and churches, 
 towers and pillars of the City of the Lagunes 
 drop beneath the horizon. The view of Venice 
 from the sea, incomparably beautiful, must have 
 been unspeakably sad to Manin's eyes. 
 
 When they arrived at Marseilles the devoted wife 
 fell ill of cholera, and, worn out with tlie long 
 siege, was powerless to resist. She had written 
 on leaving Venice, " All is over, all is lost save 
 honor ! I am going to a foreign land, where I 
 shall hear a language not my own. jMv beautiful 
 language, I shall never hear it again ; never more !" 
 She died soon after reacliing Marseilles. 
 
 Manin took his two children with him to Paris, 
 and gave liimself up to nursmg the little girl, who 
 was the 'S'ictim of a continual nervous disorder. 
 The daughter and father were united by a bond of 
 love that was wonderfully strong and spiritual, 
 they seemed to understand each other always with- 
 out words. He kept a little note-book record of 
 her illness as an aid to tlie physicians, and after 
 his death the book was found with the touching 
 inscription on the cover, " Alia mia Santa I\Iar- 
 tire." Her desire to comfort her father sus- 
 tained her for some vears, she knew that she had 
 
122 MANIN 
 
 become to him in a spiritual manner the living im- 
 age of his unhappy country. She struggled with 
 all the heroism of a remarkable character to hide 
 her sufferings from him even as he sought to hide 
 from her the anguish her illness caused him. 
 Daniel and Emilia Manin were worthy to be 
 father and daughter, both were heroic souls. In 
 1854< Emilia died, her last words, " My darling 
 Venice, I shall never see you again ! " 
 
 Manin and his son stayed on in the French 
 capital, the father giving lessons in Italian for 
 support. He had harbored no resentment against 
 France for her failure to come to the aid of Venice, 
 he felt that the French people were near kin 
 to his own. He welcomed all Italians or sympa- 
 thizers with Italy, he predicted that eventually the 
 entire peninsula would be one in freedom. He met 
 Cavour in Paris and talked long about Venice with 
 him, he was gradually becoming convinced that 
 Piedmont could and would lead the other states 
 to victory. His study was hung with portraits 
 of the most dissimilar characters, all one in interest 
 for his country, Charles Albert opposite to Maz- 
 zini. Garibaldi opposite Gioberti, Montanelli near 
 D'Azeglio. He wrote articles on Italy for the 
 papers and traveled in England to arouse Brit- 
 ish interest in his cause. It was a great day when 
 he saw the Italian tri-color flying beside the French 
 
THE " FATHER OF VENICE " 123 
 
 and English flags to show that Piedmont had 
 joined the allies in the Crimean war. " In serving 
 under the tri-colored flag of Italian redemption," 
 he wrote, " the soldiers who fight in the Crimea 
 are not the soldiers of the Piedmontese province, 
 but the soldiers of Italy." He understood the 
 boldness of Cavour's great diplomatic stroke and 
 gave Piedmont the credit she deserved in becoming 
 the first envoy of a great nation. 
 
 While his strength lasted ]Manin worked in the 
 cause, but finally he was overcome by physical suf- 
 ferings. He wrote in June, 1857, to his friend the 
 Marquis PaUavicino, " A month's rest in the coun- 
 try has not calmed the fever of my poor brain. 
 All work, aU meditation, is utterly impossible to 
 me. Not only cannot I think about serious things, 
 but I am not able to give my mind to the most 
 unimportant matters. This wiU explain my si- 
 lence. I lose patience and hope. My painful and 
 useless life becomes intolerable. I ardently desire 
 the end. Farewell." The physical weariness with 
 which he had battled all his Hfe was at last over- 
 powering him. He still beheved tliat his prin- 
 ciples would ultimately conquer, but knew that he 
 should not see Venice freed. September 22, 1857, 
 he died, at the age of fifty-three years. 
 
 August 30, 1849, Radetzky and the Austrians 
 had entered Venice, replaced the Lion banner of 
 
124 :manin 
 
 St. Mark with the yellow and black flag of Aus- 
 tria, and had expected to see the pleasure-loving 
 city sink back into its former quiescent indolence. 
 What they expected did not come to pass. Instead 
 for seventeen years Venice mourned its lost hberty 
 and hved only in the thought of that day when 
 it should rise again and finally. There was no 
 shame in this subjection, no happy compromise. 
 This was Manin's achievement, he had made his 
 people worthy to be free. That was the purpose 
 of his heroic struggle, the lesson of his life. 
 
 July 5, 1866, the yellow and black flag of 
 Austria fell from the pili, and October 18 of that 
 same year the red, white, and green flag of united 
 Italy greeted a free Venice. There was one wish 
 in the people's heart, that only their " dear father 
 Manin " might have hved to see that glorious day. 
 
 The remains of Manin, his wife and daughter, 
 Ue now close to the Church of St. Mark, his statue 
 looks down upon the people in the square be- 
 fore his house even as he so often stood on the 
 Palace balcony to speak to them in the days of 
 1849. AE through Venice there are reminders 
 of him, and he has taken his place among the 
 great heroes of that historic city — himself her 
 greatest hero, her sincerest patriot. The simple 
 advocate, the great President, the " dear father " 
 of the Venetian people. 
 
MAZZINI, THE PROPHET 
 
 OOME men become legendary during their own 
 ^^ lives. Their personalities have a certain de- 
 tachment from the rest of the world so that com- 
 mon standards have no value as applied to them. 
 They are poets or seers or philosophers, and often 
 their mystic quality is of little use to the great 
 mass of men, and is only to be appreciated by the 
 few. Sometimes the whole world understands them. 
 •IVrazzini had become a legend to the people of 
 Europe long before his death, but a legend that 
 carried the strongest personal appeal to every 
 republican heart. You have only to dip into let- 
 ters of the time to realize how close he came to 
 millions of thinkers throughout Europe. 
 
 It would be interesting to consider the force of 
 popular legend in a national movement, to weigh 
 sentiment against statesmanship and military 
 prowess. The land of Dante and of Savonarola 
 would be an especially fertile field for such in- 
 quiry, among no people has the prophet been held 
 of higher value than with the Italians. To-day 
 we find them turning to their dramatists and novel- 
 ists for help in the solution of new social prob- 
 135 
 
126 MAZZINI 
 
 lems just as Mazzini and the youth of his day 
 looked to Alfieri for political guidance. There is 
 no doubt that Mazzini believed it was his destiny 
 to be a poet, and that throughout his whole hfe 
 he looked forward to the day when Italy should be 
 united and free, and he could turn to the work of 
 writing her dramas. 
 
 Literary feuds play so little part in Anglo- 
 Saxon history that we find it difficult to understand 
 the importance of their place in Latin countries. 
 Italy a century ago was the battle-groimd of the 
 Romanticists and Classicists. The Classicists be- 
 lieved in a certain smug cloistered virtue, a policy 
 of non-resistance, and the contemplation of past 
 glories. It was the ambition of the Romanticists 
 " to give Italians an original national literature, 
 not one that is as a soiuid of passing music to 
 tickle the ear and die, but one that will interpret 
 to them their aspirations, their ideas, their needs, 
 their social movement." Alfieri had been preach- 
 ing resistance to Austrian tyranny through his 
 dramas, the boy Mazzini first looked to him as a 
 poHtical saviour of Italy. He wrote, " these lit- 
 erary disputes are bound up with all that is im- 
 portant in social and civil hfe," and again " the 
 legislation and literature of a people always ad- 
 vance on parallel lines." " Young Italy " first 
 hoped to win freedom through its literature. 
 
M A Z Z I \ I 
 
THE PROPHET 127 
 
 The ill-fated Carbonari rebellion of 1821 sent 
 many Piedmontese patriots flying through Genoa 
 to Spain. Giuseppe Mazzini, then sixteen years of 
 age, walking from church one Sunday morning in 
 Genoa in company with his mother, was stopped 
 by a tall, gaunt-featured, black-eyed man who 
 held out his hat asking alms for " the refugees 
 of Italy." The scene made a tremendous impres- 
 sion on the youth's mind, for the first time he felt 
 that the cause of freedom was not a scholastic 
 subject, but one demanding the height of sacri- 
 fice. He set himself to study the causes of the 
 failure of past uprisings, and at the same time 
 dedicated himself to the work of teaching his coun- 
 trymen how they might succeed. 
 
 The French Revolution had failed because it 
 had taught men only a knowledge of their rights, 
 without any conception of their duties. Men had 
 not learned the law of self-restraint, and their ideal 
 was the greatest personal liberty rather than the 
 greatest personal obligation to their fellow-men. 
 The revolutionists of Europe had a philosophy, but 
 no religion, /^he first great discovery that Maz- 
 zini made was that if Italy were ever to be united, 
 his countrymen must be fired with faith in their 
 own God-given destinies. They must make of their 
 cause a religion, they must learn, in his words, 
 that Italy " had a strength within her, that was 
 
128 MAZZINI 
 
 arbiter of facts, mightier than destiny itself." At 
 the start he offered his countrymen two arguments 
 for action, the one that this land of theirs had 
 twice ruled the world, that she who had given Chris- 
 tianity and the Renaissance to Europe had yet 
 to send forth " the gospel of humanity." He 
 wrote : " Italy has been called a graveyard ; but 
 a graveyard peopled by our mighty dead is nearer 
 life than a land that teems with living weaklings 
 and braggarts ; " he showed Italians " the vision 
 of their country, radiant, purified by suff^ering, 
 moving as an angel of light among the nations 
 that thought her dead." Such words rang like 
 an inspiration, but Mazzini, studying the men with 
 whom he had to work, knew that such inspira- 
 tion was not enough. They struck the note of 
 glory, but all revolutionists had heard that note; 
 what was needed was the call to self-sacrifice. 
 With this fundamental need firmly fixed in his 
 mind Mazzini gave what spare hours fell to the 
 lot of a young Italian lawyer to the work of 
 writing to the independent journals. At first he 
 leaned to the side of caution, realizing how strict 
 was the censorship of the Italian press, but grad- 
 ually he contrived to slip bolder and more inflam- 
 matory messages into circulation under the censor's 
 nose. He spoke of a new party that should arise in 
 a short time, and called it " Young Italy," he ex- 
 
THE PROPHET 129 
 
 pressed deep sympathy with pohtical exiles, he 
 turned his literary criticisms into studies of na- 
 tional development. Ultimately one of the papers 
 for which he wrote, the " Indicatore Livornese," 
 became too daring, and was ended by the authori- 
 ties. Mazzini then aimed higher, and gained 
 credit with the " Antologia," the Edinburgh Re- 
 view of Italy, by a series of articles on the his- 
 torical drama. 
 
 Meanwhile he was still studying the problem of 
 giving a new religion to the youth of Italy. He 
 had joined the Society of the Carbonari, and was 
 learning that the plots and counter-plots of an un- 
 wieldy secret society would accomplish no good 
 end. There was too much ritual, too little effort. 
 The Carbonari had no definite plan, they were en- 
 tirely at the mercy of any chance leader of disaf- 
 fection, each member only knew one or two other 
 members. Of a sudden the Revolution of July in 
 France fired liberals throughout Europe, Mazzini 
 and his young friends in Genoa immediately be- 
 gan active preparations for a military uprising. 
 Lead was being cast into bullets when the police 
 of Genoa intervened and Mazzini was placed under 
 arrest. He had been suspected of revolutionary 
 sentiments for some time. The Governor of Genoa 
 told Giuseppe's father that he considered the son 
 " was gifted with some talent, and too fond of 
 
130 MAZZINI 
 
 walking by himself at night absorbed in thought. 
 What on earth has he at his age to think about? 
 We don't hke young people thinking without our 
 knowing the subject of their thoughts." 
 
 Mazzini was taken to the fortress of Savona, 
 and there imprisoned to await his trial. The 
 commander of the fortress allowed the young 
 prisoner to keep his Bible, Tacitus, and Byron. 
 From these hours of solitary confinement sprang 
 the youth's passionate regard for the English poet, 
 a man whose writings he later vehemently held 
 were only to be classed with Dante as an inspiration 
 to Italians. 
 
 The government could prove nothing definite 
 against him, but he was thought too dangerous a 
 man to be at large, and so was finally given his 
 choice between nominal imprisonment in a small 
 town and exile. France was throbbing with a new 
 democracy, Paris was the center of revolutionary 
 propaganda, and so Mazzini chose exile there. 
 Early in 1831 he parted from his family at Sa- 
 vona and started north. He felt that he had come 
 to the parting of the ways, and that henceforth 
 his life was to be absolutely given to the cause. 
 For the first time he saw the Alps, and his nature, 
 always strongly susceptible to heroic scenery, was 
 deeply stirred. He watched the sunrise from 
 Mont Cenis and wrote, "The first ray of light trem- 
 
THE PROPHET 131 
 
 bling on the horizon, vague and pale, like a 
 timid, uncertain hope, then the long line of fire 
 cutting the blue heaven, firm and decided as a 
 promise ; " here was the poet soul free at last to 
 speak its message. 
 
 With the date of this first exile begins Maz- 
 zini's call to " Young Italy." He had recog- 
 nized that his countrymen must waken to a new 
 religion, that their souls must be touched rather 
 than their ambitions. The youth of Italy would 
 feel the call more strongly than the middle-aged. 
 " Place," he said, " the young at the head of the 
 insurgent masses ; you do not know what strength 
 is latent in those young bands, what magic influ- 
 ence the voice of the young has on the crowd ; you 
 will find in them a host of apostles for the new re- 
 ligion. But youth lives on movement, grows great 
 in enthusiasm and faith. Consecrate them with a 
 lofty mission, inflame them with emulation and 
 praise; spread through their ranks the word of 
 fire, the word of inspiration; speak to them of 
 country, of glory, of power, of great memories." 
 " All great national movements," he wrote later, 
 " begin with the unknown men of the people, with- 
 out influence except for the faith and will that 
 counts not time or difficulties." Mazzini was not 
 diffident with regard to his own youthful powers, 
 nor was Cavour, five years Mazzini's junior, who 
 
132 MAZZINI 
 
 wrote to a friend at this time prophesying that he 
 would one morning wake up Prime Minister of 
 Italy. 
 
 The most important feature of " Young Italy " 
 was its religion, the Carbonari had had none. Men 
 were now told that they had a mission given them 
 by God, and that what had been before a mere 
 personal right had become a sacred duty. /The 
 second feature was the liberation of the poor, a 
 need which all former revolutionists had seemed to 
 overlook. The French Revolution had had no such 
 substructure, the poets and dramatists had ideal- 
 ized national rather than social liberty, but Maz- 
 zini saw that the time had come for a further step, 
 that Austria was not the only enemy his people 
 had to fear. He wrote, " I see the people pass be- 
 fore my eyes in the livery of wretchedness and po- 
 litical subjection, ragged and hungry, painfully 
 gathering the crumbs that wealth tosses insult- 
 ingly to it, or lost and wandering in riot and the 
 intoxication of a brutish, angry, savage joy; and 
 I remember that these brutahzed faces bear the 
 finger-print of God, the mark of the same mission 
 as my own. I lift myself to the vision of the future 
 and behold the people rising in its majesty, 
 brothers in one faith, one bond of equality and 
 love, one ideal of citizen virtue that ever grows in 
 beauty and might; the people of the future, un- 
 
THE PROPHET 133 
 
 spoilt by luxury, ungoaded by wretchedness, awed 
 by the consciousness of its rights and duties, and 
 in the presence of that vision my heart beats with 
 anguish for the present and glorying for the fu- 
 ture." Mazzini gave " Young Italy " as its 
 watchword " God and the People." 
 
 There can be no question but that " Young 
 Italy " was strong where the Carbonari had been 
 weak, but both movements had of necessity many 
 of the same defects. Government espionage forced 
 the new movement Hke its predecessors to choose 
 the devious courses of a secret society. The rest- 
 lessness of the age caused the new movement to 
 take each fitful start as a momentous signal. The 
 strength of Austria was not underestimated, but 
 the weakness of the disunited Italian states was. 
 Diplomacy was disregarded; it was only many 
 years later that Mazzini the prophet learned the 
 value of Cavour the statesman. *' Young Italy " 
 was launched in a troublous sea, destined to en- 
 counter many storms, but fated ultimately to 
 spread abroad the seeds of the hope that was to 
 awaken republicans throughout all European 
 countries. 
 
 Mazzini no sooner arrived in Lyons than he 
 found himself in the center of plots. The French 
 government, still fresh from the days of July, was 
 in two minds ; first they aided a band of Italian 
 
134 MAZZINI 
 
 refugees who were planning a raid into Savoy, 
 then they faced about and scattered the con- 
 spirators. Another plan was for a trip to Cor- 
 sica, there to gather arms to aid the insurgents in 
 Romagna, but the funds for this attempt were 
 lacking. Mazzini gave up immediate action for 
 the moment, and locating at Marseilles started 
 with a few youthful friends to organize his great 
 concerted movement. They had nothing but 
 youth and audacity. A contemporary (probably 
 Enrico Mayer) described Mazzini at this time as 
 " about 5 feet 8 inches high, and slightly made ; 
 he was dressed in black Genoa velvet, with a large 
 ' republican ' hat ; his long, curling black hair, 
 which fell upon his shoulders, the extreme freshness 
 of his clear olive complexion, the chiseled deHcacy 
 of his regular and beautiful features, aided by his 
 very youthful look and sweetness and openness of 
 expression, would have made his appearance al- 
 most too feminine, if it had not been for his noble 
 forehead, the power of firmness and decision that 
 was mingled with their gaiety and sweetness in 
 the bright flashes of his dark eyes and in the 
 varying expression of his mouth, together with 
 his small and beautiful mustachios and beard. 
 Altogether he was at that time the most beautiful 
 being, male or female, that I had ever seen, and 
 I have not since seen his equal." 
 
THE PROPHET 135 
 
 Mazzini was proud of these early days when he 
 looked back upon them later. He wrote, " We had 
 no office, no helpers. All day, and a great part of 
 the night, we were buried in our work, writing ar- 
 ticles and letters, getting information from trav- 
 elers, enlisting seamen, folding papers, fasten- 
 ing envelopes, dividing our time between literary 
 and manual work. La Cecilia was compositor; 
 Lamberti corrected the proofs ; another of us 
 made himself literally porter, to save the expense 
 of distributing papers. We lived as equals and 
 brothers ; we had but one thought, one hope, 
 one ideal to reverence. The foreign republicans 
 loved and admired us for our tenacity and un- 
 flagging industry; we were often in real want, 
 but we were light-hearted in a way, and smiling 
 because we believed in the future." It was Maz- 
 zini's period of boundless hope. 
 
 Much of this hope throbbed through the litera- 
 ture that the small Marseilles press scattered 
 throughout Europe, men were in such a state of 
 unrest that the burning words became to them a 
 prophetic writing on the wall. In a hundred ways 
 the contraband pamphlets were smuggled across 
 frontiers, all classes sent assurances of support 
 and aid to the young men in Marseilles, every- 
 where lodges of " Young Italy " were started, 
 and local editors scattered Mazzini's doctrines 
 
136 MAZZINI 
 
 through their immediate territories. Priests, at- 
 tracted by the strong religious tenor, professional 
 and business men, many of the nobility even joined 
 the new movement. / Garibaldi, a young officer in 
 the Genoese merchant service, Gioberti, then a 
 teacher at Vercelli, Ruffini, and his fellow-con- 
 spirators working under the very shadow of de- 
 struction at Genoa, enrolled under the new stand- 
 ard of " God and the People." The old members 
 of the Carbonari, the followers of Buonarotti and 
 his " veri Italiani " j oined the ranks, within two 
 years " Young Italy " counted its members by the 
 tens of thousands. Not since the era of the great 
 Crusades had there been any simultaneous rising 
 to compare with it. 
 
 All men who hoped for the coming of a united 
 Italy looked towards Piedmont as the state by 
 which the first step must be taken. Piedmont had 
 great military traditions. It supported an effi- 
 cient army, it was so situated that it held the key 
 of entrance into Lombardy, and had the Alps and 
 the Apennines as a base of retreat. In Piedmont 
 there was moreover an intense national feeling, 
 the House of Savoy was deeply rooted in the af- 
 fections of the people, and almost alone among the 
 Italian sovereignties that House was practically 
 indigenous to the soil. In Charles Albert Pied- 
 mont had just received a king who was an in- 
 
THE PROPHET 137 
 
 tense nationalist, to whom the name of " Itaha " 
 was sacred, and who, at certain times, seems to 
 have felt that he was destined to drive the for- 
 eigner beyond the Alps. He was no liberal, both 
 his nature and his priestly advisers counseled him 
 against revolutionary measures, he had not the 
 sanguine temper of the leader, he was more the 
 theorist than the actor. Yet with all his tem- 
 peramental defects the men of the new generation 
 looked on him as a possible saviour, he had 
 given countenance to the Carbonari in his youth, 
 and had led the conspirators of 1821 to believe 
 that he would side with them in any war for Lom- 
 bard independence. He had not given such aid as 
 they expected, but he was still the one sovereign to 
 whom " Young Italy " could look with any meas- 
 ure of hope. Mazzini was never an ardent believer 
 in monarchies, but now, when his new party was 
 growing with tremendous leaps and bounds, he felt 
 that even the leadership of a king was better than 
 no leadership at all. He was ready at this time to 
 sacrifice republicanism for nationalism ; how far 
 he would then have followed a monarchy, if suc- 
 cessful, is a difficult question to decide. He was so 
 much in earnest that he could not always critically 
 balance the means and the end. 
 
 Early in 1831 Mazzini published his famous 
 letter to Charles Albert. It was the cry of a 
 
138 MAZZINI 
 
 prophet to a later generation. He pointed out 
 that the King of Piedmont needed no aid from 
 Austria or France. " There is a crown more bril- 
 hant and sublime than that of Piedmont, a crown 
 that waits the man who dares to think of it, who 
 dedicates his life to winning it, and scorns to dull 
 the splendor with thoughts of petty tyranny. 
 Sire, have you ever cast an eagle glance upon this 
 Italy, so fair with nature's smile, crowned by 
 twenty centuries of noble memory, the land of 
 genius, strong in the infinite resources that only 
 want a common purpose, girt round with barriers 
 so impregnable, tha,t it needs but a firm will and 
 a few brave breasts to shelter it from foreign in- 
 sult.? Place yourself at the head of the nation, 
 write on your flag, ' Union, Liberty, Independence.' 
 Free Italy from the barbarian, build up the fu- 
 ture, be the Napoleon of Italian freedom. Do this 
 and we wiU gather round you, we will give our 
 lives for you, we will bring the little states of Italy 
 under your flag. Your safety lies on the sword's 
 point, draw it and throw away the scabbard. But 
 remember, if you do it not, others will do it without 
 you and against you." 
 
 Charles Albert had moments of heroism, but 
 they were only too often followed by moments of 
 overwhelming caution. If he ever read Mazzini's 
 letter he must have thrilled at the call to save a 
 
THE PROPHET 139 
 
 country he loved with the whole ardor of his na- 
 ture. After that first thrill had passed he must 
 have realized that the time to take such a supreme 
 step had not come, or that he had not the will to 
 lead it. Once harboring such a doubt the King be- 
 came a battle-ground for advisers, and when the 
 short fight for control of the King's mind was won, 
 the reactionaries proved themselves the victors. 
 The unfortunate King allowed others to act 
 against his better judgment; when the fire of re- 
 volt next blazed up in Piedmont the government 
 turned a savage face towards the conspirators. 
 The little band of revolutionists was hounded with- 
 out mercy, terror reigned in Genoa, and the only 
 choice off'ered the rebels was between betrayal of 
 their friends and execution. Jacopo Ruffini, one 
 of Mazzini's dearest boyhood friends, killed him- 
 self in prison when oifered such an alternative. 
 The pendulum swung back, gaining momentum 
 thereby for its coming flight. " Ideas," wrote 
 Mazzini, " ripen quickly when nourished by the 
 blood of martyrs." 
 
 At twenty-eight Mazzini found himself an out- 
 cast, hunted at last from France as he had been 
 before from Italy, living in the closest conceal- 
 ment in Switzerland, all his hopes tumbhng about 
 him. He tried to organize a band of raiders who 
 should enter Savoy from the Swiss frontier; they 
 
140 MAZZINI 
 
 were disrupted by treachery and distrust before 
 the first shot was fired. Mazzini's health broke 
 under the endless strain, there were nights when 
 he never went to bed, days when he had to lie con- 
 cealed in a goatherd's hut. At times he seemed 
 to find his only consolation in the white- 
 capped mountains, them he passionately wor- 
 shiped, the Alps were always nearest to him after 
 Italy. He had very few friends, almost no books ; 
 there were no presses now to speak his words to 
 the young hearts of Europe, only occasionally 
 word came to him that his great idea was grow- 
 ing in the outer world. 
 
 In those dark days in Switzerland Mazzini suf- 
 fered most from the thought that he had entailed 
 all his family and friends in his vain sacrifice. 
 His boyhood confidants were dead or in exile, fam- 
 ilies he loved were scattered over many countries, 
 the few women he knew well were left solitary in 
 their homes. The woman he loved he felt he could 
 not ask to marry him, he had no home to give her, 
 and scarcely knew whether his next day's food 
 would be forthcoming. He wrote to a friend, " I 
 wanted to do good, but I have always done harm 
 to everybody, and the thought grows and grows 
 until I think I shall go mad. Sometimes I fancy 
 I am hated by those I love most." In all his let- 
 ters of this period we catch the note of a spirit 
 
THE PROPHET 141 
 
 torn between pity for sufferings he thinks him- 
 self to have caused, and the stern sense of a duty 
 given him by God. They are wonderful letters, 
 the thoughts of a man who could put no limits to 
 his own self-sacrifice nor value too highly the sac- 
 rifices of others. In one letter he wrote : " I think 
 over it from morning to night, and ask pardon of 
 my God for having been a conspirator; not that 
 I in the least repent the reasons for it, or recant 
 a single one of my beliefs, which were and are and 
 will be a religion to me, but because I ought to 
 have seen that there are times when a believer 
 should only sacrifice himself to his belief. I have 
 sacrificed everybody." 
 
 A great heroic spirit was trying to justify, not 
 its own aims, but the sorrows it had brought upon 
 others. Mazzini could never have seemed hard 
 and cold, but in those dark days in Switzerland, 
 and in those later to come in London, the gentle, 
 humble spirit of him was pre-eminent. He loved 
 friendship, home life, the arts; he had met his 
 ideal woman; and yet each and every joy life had 
 to offer him he gave up on the altar of his duty. 
 " Duty," he said, " an arid, bare religion, which 
 does not save my heart a single atom of unhappi- 
 ness, but still the only one that can save me from 
 suicide ; " and again he wrote, " When a man has 
 once said to himself in all seriousness of thought 
 
142 MAZZINI 
 
 and feeling, I believe in liberty and country and 
 humanity, he is bound to fight for liberty and 
 country and humanity — fight while life lasts, 
 fight always, fight with every weapon, face all 
 from death to ridicule, face hatred and contempt, 
 work on because it is his duty, and for no other 
 reason." 
 
 In 1837 Mazzini gave up the heights of 
 Switzerland for the fogs of London, moved large- 
 ly to this change by the fact that in England he 
 need no longer live in hiding. He did not look for- 
 ward with any eagerness to life in England ; if the 
 English cared little what political beliefs refugees 
 brought with them, they were not the people to 
 flame with interest in a cause. Byron, Mazzini 
 considered more Italian than English ; he could not 
 conceive of poetry as stirring the British blood. 
 He took cheap lodgings, and set himself to writ- 
 ing for support, finding time to keep up his cor- 
 respondence with members of " Young Italy " 
 scattered over Europe, and also time to look after 
 such Italians in London as were in greater 
 straits than he. The Rufiini family were with 
 him for a time, then misunderstandings separated 
 them, and the last tie that bound him to Genoa was 
 gone. He lived the pathetic life of a literary 
 hack, spending his days working in the British 
 Museum, and his nights writing in his own small 
 
THE PROPHET 143 
 
 room. The one charm he found about London was 
 its fog. " The whole city," he wrote, " seems under 
 a kind of spell, and reminds me of the witches' 
 scene in Macbeth or the Brocksberg or the Witch 
 of Endor. The passers-by look like ghosts — one 
 feels almost a ghost oneself." 
 
 The lack of money oppressed him sorely; he 
 would give to every Italian who begged of him on 
 the score of universal brotherhood, gradually his 
 few possessions went their way to the pawnshop. 
 He said that he needed only a place to write and a 
 few pennies to buy cigars. Then by one of those 
 curious chances of fate he met the Carlyles, and 
 his life became a little less cramped and lonely, al- 
 though perhaps more tempestuous. There are a 
 score of accounts of evenings Mazzini spent with 
 these new friends, the one of whom he admired as 
 a great thinker, the other as a truly noble woman. 
 In time Carlyle tried the gentle Italian sorely ; 
 the story goes that the philosopher would rage at 
 all human institutions with the violence of a hur- 
 ricane and then turn to his guest with the words, 
 " You have not succeeded yet because you have 
 talked too much." We can picture the boisterous, 
 stormy Englishman thundering at those ideals 
 which the sensitive, passionate ItaKan was trying 
 to defend. It speaks well for Mazzini that he 
 said of Carlyle, " He is good, good, good ; and 
 
144 MAZZINI 
 
 still, I think in spite of his great reputation, un- 
 happy." Carlyle's estimate of Mazzini was that 
 he was " by nature a little lyrical poet." This op- 
 position of ideas did not, however, keep him from 
 defending his Italian friend when others attacked 
 him. The London Times saw fit to speak sUght- 
 ingly of Mazzini, and Carlyle wrote the editors in 
 noble indignation. " Whatever I may think of his 
 practical insight and skiU in worldly affairs," he 
 said, " I can with great freedom testify to all men 
 that he, if I have ever seen such, is a man of 
 genius and virtue, a man of sterling veracity, hu- 
 manity, and nobleness of mind, one of those rare 
 men, numerable, unfortunately, but as units in this 
 world, who are worthy to be called martyr souls ; 
 who in silence, piously in their daily life, under- 
 stand and practise what is meant by that." These 
 were glowing words, and thrilled Mazzini as he 
 read them. They were a tribute to Carlyle's jus- 
 tice, but it is doubtful if he ever really understood 
 the Itahan. He would have found it difficult to 
 discover a prophet living in lodgings so near to 
 his own house. 
 
 Gradually Mazzini made other English friends, 
 and he worked his way into the pages of the best 
 reviews. In time also his political efforts were re- 
 vived ; he never let any temporary interest dim his 
 goal. He started a society of Italian workmen in 
 
THE PROPHET 145 
 
 London, and edited a paper for them, and opened 
 an evening school where poor Italian boys were 
 taught to read and write and learn something of 
 Italian history. This school was very near his 
 heart, he was always devoted to children. 
 
 During Mazzini's exiled years in London, 
 " Young Italy " had spread over Europe, and 
 through countless secret channels was gradually 
 making its strength felt. Outside circumstances 
 were needed to bring its forces to a head, but 
 there was no doubt that Mazzini's words had called 
 a power into being that must in time inevitably 
 come to a life and death struggle with the Aus- 
 trians. It is difficult to point out the exact minor 
 causes of each fluctuation in Italian opinion, it is 
 certain that the new popular literature called 
 readers to take account of the words of Dante, 
 and that the more they read the great poet the 
 more they longed for liberty from the foreigner. 
 Charles Albert, it was felt, was again dreaming 
 of heroic measures, and something of the old, al- 
 most legendary faith in the house of Savoy as a 
 national deliverer, re-awakened. Manzoni and 
 Gioberti were prophesying a great Catholic re- 
 vival, and the election of Pius the Ninth seemed 
 for the moment to justify the hope. The half- 
 pitiful words of Pius, " They want to make a Na- 
 poleon of me who am only a poor country parson," 
 
146 MAZZINI 
 
 was a more correct estimate of the Pontiff than 
 the glowing words of his contemporaries ; he was 
 no more in accord with the spirit of his time than 
 was Metternich. Still his election marked the 
 swing of the pendulum in the liberal direction, and 
 " Young Italy " was quick to take notice of such a 
 fact. 
 
 The year 1848 was remarkable for concerted 
 social movements throughout Europe. In France 
 the Second Republic overthrew the monarchy, and 
 throughout the Italian states an electric current 
 shocked the people into revolution. Leghorn re- 
 volted and made Guerrazzi its chief, Milan fell 
 easy victim to the Tobacco rioters, Sicily sent its 
 Bourbon king flying, and Naples wrested a pop- 
 ular constitution from the greedy hand of Ferdi- 
 nand. Piedmont and Tuscany followed soon, de- 
 manded and obtained constitutions, and the 
 Pope, alarmed at the sudden spread of hberalism, 
 granted a constitution to Rome. The moment 
 seemed ripe to throw off' the Austrian overlords. 
 
 There are few more tangled histories than the 
 record of the next few months in Italy. It is a 
 drama filled with heroic figures, but one through 
 which runs the current of continual misunder- 
 standings. Was Italy to be a kingdom or a re- 
 public.'' Was the Pope a menace or a help.? Was 
 French aid to be courted or rejected.'' These 
 
TPIE PROPHET 147 
 
 were only a few of the questions on which men 
 split. The one glorious fact was the burning 
 patriotic ardor of Italians in each state from 
 Sicily to Savoy, their actual belief in the re- 
 ligion of duty Mazzini had been preaching to 
 them. 
 
 Word came to Milan that there was revolution 
 in Vienna, and the Five Days drove the Austrian 
 garrison from their stronghold. Como, Brescia, 
 Venice, all the northern cities that had so long 
 loathed the white-coated overlords, won freedom; 
 Metternich's puppet-princes of Modena and 
 Parma fled. Piedmont declared war, Tuscany de- 
 clared war, volunteers of all ranks and ages 
 poured from Umbria to help the northern armies. 
 Mazzini, hearing the news in London, sped to 
 Milan, and was received as the prophet of the 
 new day. Italy had its prophet, but the states- 
 man and the soldier were not yet recognized. 
 
 The new provisional government in Milan had 
 no fixed policy, Charles Albert's advisers still 
 clogged his steps, the volunteers were ready, but 
 they had neither the arms nor the training to 
 compete with the war-worn Austrians. While 
 there was discussion and dissension in Lombardy, 
 the enemy recuperated and returned to besiege the 
 cities they had lost. By July the ItaHan army 
 was driven into Milan, there the spirit of the 
 
14.8 MAZZINI 
 
 earlier Five Days revived, but victory appeared 
 hopeless, and finally Charles Albert, torn and dis- 
 tracted, surrendered the city. Mazzini passed to 
 Lugano, thence to Leghorn, thence to Florence ; in 
 each city the situation was practically the same, 
 the people were aflame with devotion to Italy, 
 the leaders had as many plans as there were 
 men. 
 
 Rome had driven out the Pope and proclaimed 
 the Republic. The call of Rome was the call di- 
 rect to Mazzini's soul, he turned there to find a 
 solution of all difficulties. Simultaneously the 
 newly formed Roman Assembly turned to him, 
 and bade him welcome as a citizen of Rome. He 
 believed that Dante's vision and his own were 
 coming true, and hurried to the Eternal City. 
 His first work there was to raise ten thousand 
 troops and send them north. They had scarcely 
 started when the crushing news of the defeat at 
 Novara stunned all patriots. Rome had to look 
 to herself, and made Mazzini Triumvir and prac- 
 tically dictator of the city. 
 
 The little Roman Republic of 184<9 had an in- 
 spiring history. Mazzini had written and spoken, 
 now it became his turn to act. He was set at the 
 head of a city from which its spiritual as well as 
 its temporal head had fled. Priests and protest- 
 ing laymen were all about him, it would have been 
 
THE PROPHET 14,9 
 
 easy for him to scorn the power that scoffed at 
 him. He did not, he himself doubted the strength 
 of the Cathohc Church to survive, he dreamed of 
 a new church which should speak to the world 
 from the seven hills of Rome, but he would not 
 take a single step to destroy one man's religion. 
 More than that he made it his special duty to see 
 that the priests were not disturbed in their work. 
 He wanted the RepubHc to be based on the love of 
 God. He hoped that the Church would aid the 
 Italian cause for the love of man. He would 
 allow the Pope to reign as spiritual Prince, 
 if he would only be content with his own noble 
 sphere. 
 
 Rome won back something of its historic ardor 
 under Mazzini's call. The Republic was planned 
 on lines of great proportions, steps were actually 
 taken to make it a republic wherein each man had 
 a worthy share. The foundations were laid with 
 the greatest patience and zeal, the Triumvir gave 
 the last ounce of his strength to building truly, 
 he lived as he had always lived, for others, and 
 took nothing for himself. Margaret Fuller said 
 that at this time his face, haggard and worn, 
 seemed to her " more divine than ever." The 
 poorest citizen could find him as readily as the 
 richest, he was the same to all, he gave away his 
 small salary of office as entirely as in his London 
 
150 MAZZINI 
 
 days he had dispersed his earnings. If ever man's 
 rule was noble, if ever it was spiritual, that of 
 Rome's Triumvir was, in the weeks when he faced 
 treachery both from without and within. 
 
 It is scarcely possible that Mazzini could have 
 expected his city to stand against the armies that 
 were marching towards it. At most he could only 
 hope to show the Romans of what great self-sacri- 
 fice they were capable. He probably hoped that 
 the Republic would convince Italians that the 
 spirit of " Young Italy " was not a mere 
 prophet's dream. That he did ; he could not fight 
 Austria and France single-handed. 
 
 Louis Napoleon had evolved one of his great 
 ideas, he would win both the French army and the 
 French clergy by a strategic move. He sent 
 Oudinot into Italy, blinding the Romans with 
 various subtleties, waiting until the propitious 
 hour to strike. The Romans understood, the As- 
 sembly voted to resist to the end, and Garibaldi 
 led the troops to their first victory. De Lesseps 
 was appointed peace negotiator for the French, 
 and he and Mazzini met, and for a time it 
 seemed as though there might be a reconcihation. 
 Mazzini strove with the greatest tact and pa- 
 tience to win the French, but De Lesseps was 
 nothing more than Napoleon's dupe, and as soon 
 as Garibaldi had advanced to meet the Neapolitan 
 
THE PROPHET 151 
 
 king's army, Napoleon removed his envoy and 
 showed his hand. 
 
 The truce had been virtually agreed on when 
 Oudinot suddenly attacked and placed Rome in 
 a state of siege. For almost a month the citi- 
 zens fought with unfailing courage. Mazzini, 
 Garibaldi, Mameli, the martyr war-poet, Bassi, 
 the great preacher, republicans and royahsts, 
 princes and peasants, all within Rome's walls 
 fought for freedom from the foreigner. There 
 could be but one end, and it came when starvation 
 and losses had weakened the defenders so that 
 they could no longer hold their posts. Mazzini 
 would have fought hand-to-hand in the streets, 
 the army was with him, but the Assembly voted 
 to surrender. The besiegers entered, Garibaldi 
 led his Three Thousand in their great retreat, 
 Mazzini stayed on in Rome uttering such protest 
 as he could, unharmed by the French troops who 
 dared not touch him, through knowledge of the 
 people's love for him. 
 
 The downfall of the Republic must have been a 
 terrible blow to Mazzini, probable as it is that he 
 foresaw the city could not long last by itself. 
 Physical force and treachery had overwhelmed 
 the noblest concepts of government. Temporary 
 disappointment, however, could not dull his spirit, 
 the prophet of United Italy proved himself a true 
 
152 MAZZINI 
 
 prophet. He went on with his work, at first in 
 Switzerland, then again driven away by foreign 
 influence, in London. 
 
 He took up his life there, much older, much 
 more worn and scarred, but with the same in- 
 domitable spirit. " His face in repose," wrote a 
 contemporary of this time, " was grave, even sad, 
 but it lit up with a smile of wonderful sweetness 
 as he greeted a friend with a pressure rather than 
 a shake of the thin hand," and again his piercing 
 black eyes were described as " of luminous depth, 
 full of sadness, tenderness and courage, of purity 
 and fire, readily flashing into indignation or 
 humor, always with the latent expression of ex- 
 haustless resolution." His pictures are familiar, 
 the high straight forehead, the strong nose, the 
 curving lips, the scant gray, then almost white, 
 mustache and beard, the high-buttoned frock 
 coat and the silk handkerchief wound like a stock 
 about his throat. 
 
 London had grown kinder to him than at first, 
 he had many good friends, and he could under- 
 stand better the English point of view. He lodged 
 as humbly as before, and again took up his 
 writing, his correspondence, and his ceaseless care 
 for his poor countrymen. One of his best bi- 
 ographers gives us this sketch of him, a picture 
 that portrays the man, " in his small room, 
 
THE PROPHET 153 
 
 every piece of furniture littered with books and 
 papers, the air thick with smoke of cheap Swiss 
 cigars (except when friends sent Havanas), bright- 
 ened only by his tame canaries and carefully- 
 tended plants, he was generally writing at his desk 
 until evening, always with more work in hand than 
 he could cope with, carrying on the usual mass of 
 correspondence, writing articles for his Italian 
 papers, raising public funds with infinite labor, 
 stirring his English friends to help the cause, find- 
 ing money and work for the poor refugees, or or- 
 ganizing concerts in their interest." With what 
 infinite reverence must the men he helped have 
 looked on him! 
 
 The prophet is not a statesman ; he can show 
 the road, but rarely follow it. Mazzini's life had 
 reached its climax when as Triumvir he had 
 started to practise his own precepts, his work had 
 been to scatter seed for the crop which other men 
 should reap at harvest. He could not under- 
 stand the dissimulations of diplomacy, he could 
 not tolerate compromise, he could not now sacrifice 
 his dreams of a repubhc for liberty and union. 
 These qualities were not in his character; if they 
 had been he could not have led men's minds by his 
 words and actions ; he could not be both a prophet 
 and an opportunist; the need of the former was 
 passing, and that of the latter at hand. 
 
154 MAZZINI 
 
 Few men understood the twists and turns of 
 Cavour's policy as Prime Minister of Piedmont, 
 and Mazzini not at all. After the battle of No- 
 vara Charles Albert had abdicated in favor of his 
 son Victor Emmanuel, and a new order had come 
 to pass in Piedmont. Cavour had a definite goal, 
 the unity of Italy under the leadership of his 
 king; and he never forgot that goal. To win it, 
 he realized that he needed more than the raw vol- 
 unteer forces of 1848, more than mere enthusiasm, 
 no matter how heroic ; he needed efficient troops, 
 he needed a foreign ally, he needed a moment when 
 Austria should be at a disadvantage, above all he 
 needed one leader instead of a dozen to determine 
 on any action. To accomplish these ends he gave 
 republicans Httle sympathy, and centered the na- 
 tional movement about his king, he treated with 
 Louis Napoleon, and did his utmost to win his 
 favor, he discountenanced secret half -prepared re- 
 volts against the Austrians, he drilled and multi- 
 plied the troops, and harbored the finances. At all 
 these measures Mazzini instinctively revolted; he 
 wanted a republic, he loathed Napoleon as the 
 betrayer of Rome, he was ever eager for any sin- 
 cere demonstration against Austria. He only 
 learned half-truths in London, but those half- 
 truths did not inspire him to trust Cavour. 
 Neither of these men understood the other; to 
 
THE PROPHET 155 
 
 Cavour Mazzini was the fanatic who would destroy 
 any cause by lack of temperance, to Mazzini Ca- 
 vour was the aristocrat who would inflict upon 
 the poor of Italy simply a new yoke in place of 
 the old. They could not work together, and so 
 Mazzini publicly denounced Cavour, and the lat- 
 ter declared Mazzini an exile from his home. 
 
 Meantime, while Piedmont was playing a wary 
 game, and all the Italian states were making 
 ready for the next great attempt, Mazzini took 
 part in two small insurrections, one near Como, 
 and the other at Genoa, both of which failed dis- 
 astrously. The latter was the more serious, the 
 government was tired of these perennial conspir- 
 acies, and denounced the revolt as anarchistic. 
 Mazzini and five other leaders were sentenced to 
 death, and many to long terms of imprisonment. 
 Mazzini hid in the house of the Marquis Pareto, 
 and was undiscovered, although the police made a 
 prolonged search for him. It is said that Mazzini 
 himself, dressed as a footman, opened the door to 
 the officer, who recognized him as an old school- 
 mate, and had mercy. Some days later he es- 
 caped from the house, undisguised, walking arm- 
 in-arm with a lady of Genoa, and reaching a car- 
 riage, was driven to Quarto, and thence went to 
 England. There were many curious turns and 
 twists in this conspiracy in which both conspira- 
 
156 MAZZINI 
 
 tors and government were working for the same 
 great end, but with widely different means, and 
 with avowed enmity between them. 
 
 It was not long until Cavour and Napoleon met 
 at Plombieres and made their famous compact, 
 after that events hastened forward. By the 
 spring of 1859 Cavour had prepared both royal- 
 ists and republicans for war. With his ally he 
 felt that the Italian cause must now triumph, and 
 at a given signal the conflict began. The Princes 
 were driven from Tuscany, Romagna, Parma, and 
 Modena, and all those states declared for Victor 
 Emmanuel. Much as Mazzini hated Cavour's 
 French ally, he could no longer stay his enthu- 
 siasm. He saw unity at last almost come, after 
 Solferino he declared that the Austrian domina- 
 tion was at an end. Without warning Napoleon 
 met the Emperor Francis Joseph at ViUafranca 
 and betrayed the cause. He abandoned Venetia 
 to Austria, and central Italy to the Bourbon 
 Princes. Cavour, wild with indignation, spoke his 
 feelings and resigned, the Italians were again left 
 to their own divided efforts. 
 
 Mazzini, his fears of Napoleon now justified, 
 went to Florence and declared that the people of 
 central Italy must stake all for their briefly-won 
 freedom, he gave up his republican protests, and 
 advocated annexation with Piedmont so they might 
 
THE PROPHET 157 
 
 have unity. He wrote to friends in Sicily and 
 Rome, he begged Garibaldi to lead his troops into 
 Umbria. All this time he had to live virtually in 
 hiding, the ban against him had not been raised, 
 and the thought that he, whose every emotion was 
 for Italy, should not be trusted at all among his 
 countrymen galled him to the quick. He wrote: 
 " To be a prisoner among our own people is too 
 much to bear." 
 
 Gradually the troubled situation cleared, Ca- 
 vour returned to power, and by temporizing held 
 both the French support and the enthusiasm of 
 the native troops; Mazzini still advocated imme- 
 diate warfare, Cavour waited, and in the end the 
 latter's policy was proved correct. In the inter- 
 v£l1 the disheartened Mazzini had gone back to 
 England, and again, on hearing that Garibafdi 
 and his famous legion had started for Sicily, re- 
 turned in haste to Genoa, f There followed Gari- 
 baldi's victories, then the Piedmontese declaration 
 of war against the Pope, then only Rome and 
 Venice were lacking to the cause. Mazzini went 
 to Naples to be nearer the heart of the struggle; 
 he urged the Neapolitans to demand a constitu- 
 tion, and they, filled with the one thought of unity, 
 berated him as a republican. His friends urged 
 him to leave the city. " Even against your wish," 
 said one of them, " you divide us." He could not 
 
158 MAZZINI 
 
 leave Italy at that hour of her fate, but he felt 
 that he was cruelly misunderstood. He wrote, " I 
 am worn out morally and physically; for myself 
 the only really good thing would be to have unity 
 achieved quickly through Garibaldi, and one year, 
 before dying, of Walham Green or Eastbourne, 
 long silences, a few affectionate words to smooth 
 the ways, plenty of sea-gulls, and sad dozing." 
 
 Some of those things he was to know, for during 
 the next few years he lived again in England, 
 writing and reading, and continually engaged in 
 plans for the final capture of Venetia and Rome. 
 Victor Emmanuel, Garibaldi, and Mazzini were 
 each devising means to gain this long-hoped-for 
 end, but the position and pecuhar characteristics 
 of each made co-operation almost impossible. The 
 wise Cavour had been succeeded by vacillating 
 ministers who were a continual drag upon the 
 King, Garibaldi would not consent to adopting any 
 of Mazzini's suggestions (the latter once said that 
 " if Garibaldi has to choose between two proposals, 
 he is sure to accept the one that isn't mine "), and 
 Mazzini found it ever difficult to sacrifice his re- 
 publican ideals to the needs of the moment. Ulti- 
 mately, however, the Italian troops, this time with 
 the aid of Prussia, recommenced war with Austria 
 to win Venetia, Istria, and the Tyrol. The spirit 
 of 1866 was not the spirit of 1860, the myth- 
 
THE PROPHET 159 
 
 ical valor of . the Garibaldian army seemed to 
 have evaporated in the passes of the Tyrol. 
 Prussia won, but Italy met defeat at Custozza. 
 Again Napoleon took a hand in the country's 
 destiny. To the surprise of Europe, he inter- 
 vened and stated that Austria had oflFered to cede 
 Venetia to him, and that he would give it to Italy 
 if the latter would come to an immediate agree- 
 ment for peace. There seemed little else to be 
 done, and Mazzini saw the campaign, that had 
 begun in the highest hopes of complete national 
 independence, end in the acceptance of the gift of 
 a single province from the foreigner. 
 
 Thenceforth Mazzini's work lost all accord with 
 that of the monarchy. He had not lost his faith 
 in the great destiny of Italy, but he despaired of 
 seeing that destiny fulfilled as he might wish 
 within his lifetime. Forty thousand persons 
 signed the petition for his amnesty, he was elected 
 again and again by Messina as its deputy, but the 
 party of the Moderates would not have him in the 
 Chamber. Continued opposition made his fame 
 only the greater among the people, he assumed the 
 proportions of a national myth, to many he had 
 become an actual demi-god. Secretly he traveled 
 about Italy, working, with an energy altogether 
 disproportionate to his strength, in the cause of a 
 republic. He had many followers in Genoa, and 
 
160 MAZZINI 
 
 one of them has left a picture of Mazzini's en- 
 trance to a meeting. " A low knock was heard at 
 the door, and there he was in body and soul, the 
 great magician, who struck the fancy of the peo- 
 ple like a mythical hero. Our hearts leaped, and 
 we went reverently to meet that great soul. He 
 advanced with a child's frank courtesy and a 
 divine smile, shaking hands like an Englishman, 
 and addressing each of us by name, as if our 
 names were written on our foreheads. He was 
 not disguised; he wore cloth shoes, and a capote, 
 and with his middle, upright stature, he looked like 
 a philosopher straight from his stu(Jy, who never 
 dreamed of troubling any police in the world." 
 
 He found time to write his remarkable treatise 
 on religion, " From the Council to God," while he 
 prepared plans for a new revolution. This time 
 he intended to land in Sicily. The attempt was 
 foolhardy, he was arrested at Palermo, and con- 
 fined at Gaeta, where the Bourbons had not long 
 before made their last stand. Almost forty years 
 before, at the outset of his career, he had watched 
 the Mediterranean from his prison at Savona, now 
 he watched the same deep blue sea from Gaeta. 
 Pie wrote here, " The nights are very beautiful ; 
 the stars shine with a luster one sees only in Italy. 
 I love them like sisters, and link them to the future 
 in a thousand ways. If I could choose I should 
 
THE PROPHET 161 
 
 like to live in almost absolute solitude, working at 
 my historical book or at some other, just from a 
 feeling of duty, and only wishing to see for a 
 moment, now and then, some one I did not know, 
 some poor woman that I could help, some working- 
 men I could advise, the doves of Zurich, and 
 nothing else." 
 
 Rome fell, and Mazzini's captivity came to an 
 end. He passed through the city where twenty- 
 one years before he had been Triumvir, and, seek- 
 ing to avoid all popular demonstrations, went to 
 Genoa. There he fell ill, and his failing strength 
 made successive attacks more and more frequent. 
 He traveled a Httle more, and then in March, 
 1872, died at a friend's house in Pisa. He had 
 lived to see Italy united, but in a very different 
 manner from that of which he had dreamed. 
 
 To the republicans of Europe, Mazzini's voice 
 was that of a great prophet for half the Nine- 
 teenth Century, to the Italians he was the voice of 
 Italy itself. /He was the precursor of unity, of 
 independence, of courageous self-denial, without 
 him Cavour might have planned in vain, and Gari- 
 baldi been no more than an inconspicuous lieu- 
 tenant. He had the two greatest of gifts, an ideal 
 and the faith that knows no defeat, yet he was not 
 simply the idealist nor the devotee, for he could 
 stir other men to action through his own belief. 
 
162 MAZZINI 
 
 A friend, comparing him with Kossuth, said: 
 " Now I write of him who seems to my judgment 
 to be, like Saul, above all his fellows . . . the one 
 man needed excitement to stir his spirit . . . the 
 soul of the other was as an inner lamp shining 
 through him always. The strength of Mazzini's 
 personal influence lay here. You could not doubt 
 his glance." 
 
 There was a certain kinship between Mazzini 
 and Lincoln, simplicity and a boundless love of the 
 weak and the oppressed was the keynote of both 
 lives. Both were emancipators, but both were infi- 
 nitely more, men whose whole lives bore eloquent 
 testimony of their noble spirits. Lincoln loved 
 men as Mazzini loved them, Mazzini and Lincoln 
 both knew the suffering that comes from being 
 continually misunderstood. When Lincoln was 
 assassinated, the great Italian envied the man who 
 had died knowing that his life's cause had been 
 accomplished. 
 
 Throughout one of the most tangled and turbu- 
 lent epochs of history, Mazzini's ideals never 
 changed ; the principles of " Young Italy " were 
 the principles of his Triumvirate and of his 
 prison life at Gaeta. He was for a United Italy 
 and a republic. At times he could postpone the 
 latter aim for the former, but never disregard it. 
 And what he was for Italy, he was for the whole 
 
THE PROPHET 163 
 
 world. He insisted on the brotherhood of nations, 
 on the paramount duty of all nations toward hu- 
 manity. Whosoever, he believed, separates fami- 
 lies from families, and nations from nations, 
 divides what God meant to be indissoluble. He 
 looked to Italy to show the other nations how to 
 live in freedom and equahty, and to Rome to pro- 
 nounce a new and greater religion of majestic 
 tolerance. Had Italy been freed early in his 
 career, he must have become a great rehgious 
 teacher ; even as it was, his power was that of an 
 apostle, and his appeal to the soul as well as to 
 the mind. Men who knew him loved him as some- 
 thing finer than themselves, a man closer to God, 
 one of His disciples. 
 
 His personal life was one long record of self- 
 sacrifice, his home, his family, his love, his com- 
 fort, even the most meager necessities of life were 
 given to the cause, nothing was too much for him 
 to do, nothing too trivial for him to undertake, 
 could he help his country or one of his countrymen 
 an iota thereby. He could appreciate other men's 
 happiness and in a way share it with them ; he knew 
 little or nothing of envy, vanity, or malice; he 
 would let any leader have the glory of helping 
 Italy, so long as the result was gained. More 
 than that, he could bear the continual undervalua- 
 tion of the English among whom he lived, he could 
 
164 MAZZINI 
 
 read what Carlyle wrote, " Of Italian democracies 
 and Young Italy's sorrows, of extraneous Aus- 
 trian emperors in Milan, or poor old chimerical 
 Popes in Bologna, I know nothing and desire to 
 know nothing," and yet continue Carlyle's friend ; 
 he could bear the sting of having his name coupled 
 with every attempt at assassination, when there 
 were few things he abhorred more than secret vio- 
 lence. His idea of duty was so high, and had so 
 absorbed all the petty spirits of his nature, that 
 he could endure anything for that cause, and 
 indeed embraced eagerly whatever came to him 
 under that banner. 
 
 The great authority on heroes says of the hero 
 as prophet : " The great man was always as 
 lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited 
 for him like fuel, and then they too would flame." 
 So the world had waited for Giuseppe Mazzini. 
 Other men bore much and labored much for the 
 sake of a united fatherland, but none other gave 
 such lightning to their world. The prophet may 
 not actually lay the stones of history, but he 
 breathes the spirit of life into the builders. He is 
 mankind's greatest friend and hope, who points 
 out the road human souls would take. Mazzini 
 stands with Dante and Savonarola as the third 
 great prophet of Italian history who spoke with a 
 world voice. 
 
CAVOUR, THE STATESMAN 
 
 /FAVOUR planned united Italy; his career is 
 ^^ a shining example of what may be done by 
 a man with one definite purpose to which he ad- 
 heres without digression. Just as Disraeli seems 
 from his early manhood to have aimed at becoming 
 Prime Minister of England so Cavour appears to 
 have aimed at the union of Italy under the leader- 
 ship of Piedmont. There were a thousand and 
 one points at which he could have turned aside, a 
 dozen times when a brilliant temporary success 
 was held before him, but he preferred to sacrifice 
 no atom of energy or influence which might in 
 time help in his fundamental purpose. He pre- 
 ferred obscurity to the danger of being too well 
 known, and the coldness of contemporaries to the 
 burden of relations with them which might tend to 
 shackle his own independence. He read his time 
 and countrymen with extraordinary accuracy, and 
 foresaw that what was left of the old regime was 
 tottering and that to attempt to bolster it up was 
 absurd. He preferred to let the old conventions of 
 a departed feudalism go their way in peace while 
 he prepared himself for the day when the new state- 
 craft should be recognized. 
 165 
 
166 CAVOUR 
 
 The Piedmont of 1810, the year of Cavour's 
 birth, was singularly mediaeval. The militant 
 strength and daring of the small states of the 
 Middle Ages had departed, but the point of view 
 remained. The aristocracy was narrow, bigoted, 
 and overbearing, they were intolerant of the new 
 discoveries of science and the useful arts, they de- 
 voted themselves exclusively to the trivial enter- 
 tainments of the Eighteenth Century. Napoleon 
 spread above them like a storm cloud; they 
 wrapped themselves as well as they could in their 
 ancestral cloaks and waited, confident that the 
 gale could not last long. The majority of them 
 could not believe that the French Revolution was 
 more than an accident, but there were a few, and 
 those almost entirely men and women who had lived 
 abroad, who saw further. One of these latter was 
 Cavour's grandmother, the Marquise Philippine di 
 Cavour, from whom he seems to have inherited his 
 breadth of view. 
 
 The family of Benso belonged to the old no- 
 bility of Piedmont, and in time came into pos- 
 session of the fief of Santena and the fastness of 
 Cavour in the province of Pignerolo. A member 
 of the family who became distinguished for mili- 
 tary services was made Marquis of Cavour by 
 Charles Emmanuel III., and the eldest son of 
 Marquis Benso di Cavour married Philippine, 
 
C A V O U R 
 
THE STATESMAN 167 
 
 daughter of the Marquis de Sales, a girl brought 
 up in a chateau on the Lake of Annecy. The Mar- 
 quise Philippine immediately became the controll- 
 ing factor in the Cavour household; she strove to 
 lighten the heavy somberness of her husband's 
 family in Turin, and at the trying time of the 
 French occupation sold much of the family plate 
 and furnishings, and finally certain priceless re- 
 ligious relics, in order to provide for her son, a 
 boy of sixteen, when he was ordered to join Gen- 
 eral Berthier's corps of the French army. Later 
 she was commanded to become one of the household 
 of the Princess Camillo Borghese, sister of Napo- 
 leon, and wife of his governor of Piedmont, who, 
 better known as Pauline Bonaparte, figures as one 
 of the most beautiful as well as one of the liveliest 
 women of that age. The Marquise Philippine 
 acquitted herself so well and so graciously that the 
 Princess became one of her staunchest friends, and 
 with the Prince acted as sponsor at the christening 
 of the Marquise's second grandchild, Camille di 
 Cavour. The Marquise's son, Michele Benso, had 
 married Adele, daughter of the Count de Sellon of 
 Geneva, and had two sons, Gustave and Camille. 
 Michele Benso had profited greatly by his mother's 
 tact, but he was still the unbending reactionary in 
 nature. So was his eldest son Gustave. It was 
 the younger boy who received the adaptable genius 
 
168 CAVOUR 
 
 of the Marquise Philippine, and who seems to have 
 been best able to appreciate her. On one occasion 
 he said to her, " Marina " ( a Piedmontese term 
 for grandmother), "we get on capitally, you and 
 I; you were always a httle bit of a Jacobin." 
 When, as the boy grew older, his family and 
 friends reproached him with being a fanatical 
 liberal, he turned to the Marquise, confident that 
 she understood him. Cavour had few confidants 
 during his whole life, few friends from whom he 
 drew inspiration, but his grandmother had so 
 trained him in the light of her own self-reliant 
 spirit that he rarely seems to have felt the need 
 of any outside aid. 
 
 The feudal system had scant respect foryounger 
 sons. Gustave was carefully educated for his 
 proud position, Camille was largely left to grow 
 up by chance. He was sent to the Military Acad- 
 emy at Turin, and became a page at the court of 
 Charles Albert. With both the social and mili- 
 tary life about him he found himself out of tem- 
 per, his views were too liberal for the narrowness 
 he met on every hand, he was hoping for events 
 which most of his companions could only have 
 regarded at that time as tragedies. His restless- 
 ness was noted, and he was sent to the lonely 
 Alpine fortress of Bard. There the soul-weary- 
 ing inertia of the military life of a small state 
 
THE STATESMAN 169 
 
 grew to typify to him the condition of his land. 
 At the age of twenty-one, he wrote to the Count 
 de Sellon, " The Italians need regeneration ; their 
 morale, which was completely corrupted under the 
 ignoble dominion of Spaniards and Austrians, re- 
 gained a Httle energy under the French regime, 
 and the ardent youth of the country sighs for a 
 nationaHty, but to break entirely with the past, to 
 be born anew to a better state, great efforts are 
 necessary and sacrifices of all kinds must remould 
 the Italian character. An Italian war would be 
 a sure pledge that we were going to become again 
 a nation, that we were rising from the mud in 
 which we have been trampled for so many cen- 
 turies." 
 
 Such ideas found no sympathy at the court of 
 Piedmont, and Cavour, confident that the army 
 could ofi'er him no opportunity to use his talents, 
 resigned his commission, and induced his father to 
 buy him a small estate at Leri. There, in the 
 middle of the rice-fields of Piedmont, Cavour set- 
 tled down to the life of a farmer, experimenting 
 with new steam machinery, canal irrigation, arti- 
 ficial fertilizers, studying books on government 
 and agriculture, seeing something of his country 
 neighbors, waiting for the gradual breakdown of 
 the old regime. His family were quite content to 
 let him vegetate on his far-off estate, he had no 
 
170 CAVOUR 
 
 position in the family household in Turin, his 
 father and brother were busy with details of court 
 life, and after the death of his grandmother his 
 combined family regarded him as lacking in nor- 
 mal balance. Without becoming actually melan- 
 choly the youth was continually dejected, he saw 
 no place waiting to be filled by him, he wished that 
 he had been born into another nation, and sighed, 
 " Ah ! if I were an Englishman, by this time I 
 should be something, and my name would not be 
 wholly unknown ! " Yet, indifferent as he seemed 
 to comradeship, he had at this time one strong 
 friend, a woman of high birth, " L'Inconnue," as 
 he called her in his journal. She summoned him 
 to her at Turin, and he obeyed her call; she was 
 unhappy and ardently patriotic, with the visions 
 of Mazzini, he admired her and was filled with 
 remorse at the thought of a love so constant and 
 disinterested. They corresponded for over a 
 3'^ear, and then Cavour's ardor faded. He had 
 never been in love with her, but she had loved him 
 devotedly. A few years later she died, and left 
 him a last letter ending, " the woman who loved 
 you is dead. . . . No one ever loved you as she 
 did, no one ! For, O Camille, you never fathomed 
 the extent of her love." She had at least suc- 
 ceeded in drawing him out of his lonely despair; 
 platonic as his regard for her seems to have been. 
 
THE STATESMAN 171 
 
 it was the nearest approach to love that entered 
 his life. 
 
 For fifteen years Cavour lived as a farmer at 
 Leri, breaking the monotony of that existence by 
 occasional visits to England and France. The 
 former country always exerted great influence 
 over him; he considered the life of the English 
 country gentleman the ideal existence; he was a 
 great admirer of Pitt and Sir Robert Peel (and 
 said of Peel that he was " the statesman who more 
 than any other had the instinct of the necessity of 
 the moment," words prophetic of his own career !), 
 and was always a reader of Shakespeare, who 
 among all writers he held had the deepest insight 
 into the human heart. In Paris Cavour saw much 
 of society through the influence of his French rela- 
 tions, and made the most of his opportunity to 
 study the young rising men. He was frequently 
 blamed by the men and women he met for leading 
 such an aimless life, and was urged to enter the 
 fields of literature or diplomacy. For the former 
 he said he had no taste, for the latter he was too 
 much out of sympathy with the government of his 
 own country, and he could not enter the service of 
 any other. He had the reputation of being a man 
 of great wit and intelligence, gifted with gay and 
 winning manners, interested to a certain extent in 
 all concerns of the day, but unwilling to sacrifice 
 
172 CAVOUR 
 
 himself to a constant devotion to any one pursuit. 
 The women of the leading salons found his light 
 hair, blue eyes, and happy temper charming, the 
 men of the time valued his keen insight into con- 
 temporary questions. He played cards frequently 
 for high stakes, but never allowed himself to be- 
 come an habitual gambler. Later in life it is said 
 that he indulged in playing for high stakes with 
 politicians in order to gain an insight into their 
 characters. His visits to Paris undoubtedly 
 taught him much concerning the men with whom 
 he was later to have so much to do, and his stays 
 in England showed him the strength of Parlia- 
 mentary government. He took vivid impressions 
 back with him to Leri, and used his mental energy 
 in adapting English ideas on agriculture to the 
 needs of his farm. 
 
 With the governing world of Piedmont Cavour 
 was undeniably unpopular. The antiquated lead- 
 ers of public life considered him perilously liberal, 
 and no party or clique found him really in accord 
 with its views. He had written some articles for 
 foreign newspapers, and had openly advocated the 
 need of railways in Italy, but such of his country- 
 men as undertook to learn his views held him a 
 dangerous fanatic. Singularly enough, without 
 having made any attempt to place himself before 
 the public, he was an object of popular distrust. 
 
THE STATESMAN 173 
 
 He counted this rather an item in his favor, he was 
 in no wise indebted to any man or any cause. He 
 preferred to wait until the day of petty reaction- 
 aries should give place to serious popular move- 
 ments, and by 1847 he saw that such a crisis was 
 not far distant. Charles Albert, by nature always 
 an enigma, was moving forward faster than his 
 government, and was suspected of strong indepen- 
 dent tendencies. 
 
 Charles Albert would have loomed larger in his- 
 tory if he had been born into either an earlier or 
 a later age. He was not the man to direct a 
 political crisis, he would have done well as the 
 magnanimous sovereign of an Eighteenth Century 
 state or as the intellectual head of a constitutional 
 nation, but it was his misfortune to lack those vig- 
 orous robust qualities which Italians later found 
 in his son. He was an ardent patriot, he ear- 
 nestly desired to free the Italian states from foreign 
 rule, he was zealous that Piedmont should lead in 
 such a cause, but he was continually afraid that 
 independence would lead directly to popular hb- 
 erty under a constitution. " I desire as much as 
 you do," he said to Roberto d'Azeglio, "the en- 
 franchisement of Italy, and it is for that reason, 
 remember well, that I will never give a constitution 
 to my people." His advisers, who were largely 
 clericals, and almost always reactionaries, lost no 
 
174 CAVOUR 
 
 chance to impress upon his mind the impossibility 
 of the consummation he desired. Start the new 
 order, they said, and no man knows how far it will 
 go. He was in fear of loosing a spirit which he 
 could never cage. Yet his honest desire for na- 
 tional independence made him hearken at times to 
 more liberal voices. In one of these moments he 
 revoked the censorship of the press. 
 
 Cavour, primed with the history of England, 
 saw what a free press meant, and instantly left his 
 retirement at Leri to seize the golden opportunity. 
 He founded a newspaper and gave it a name des- 
 tined to stand for the whole movement towards 
 nationalism, " II Risorgimento." The prospectus 
 of the paper stated its aims as independence, 
 union between the Princes and the people, and 
 reforms. Cavour was now prepared to speak his 
 mind. 
 
 He did not have long to wait. The people of 
 Genoa announced that they were preparing to 
 send a committee to the capital to ask for the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits and the organization of a 
 national guard. The principal editors of Turin 
 met to consider what stand they should take in 
 reference to these demands. The suggestion to 
 support the Genoese petitions was meeting with 
 general approval when Cavour rose to speak. His 
 words fell like a bomb, he said that the demands 
 
THE STATESMAN 175 
 
 were far too small, that the only prudence lay in 
 asking for much more. The statement was the 
 keynote to aU his later statecraft. " Of what 
 use," he asked, " are reforms which have nothing 
 definite, and lead to nothing? Where is the good 
 of asking for that which, whether granted or not, 
 equally disturbs the State, and weakens the moral 
 authority of the government? Since the govern- 
 ment can no longer be maintained on its former 
 basis, let us ask for a constitution, and substitute 
 for that basis another more conformable to the 
 spirit of the times, and to the progress of civiliza- 
 tion. Let us do this before it is too late, and be- 
 fore the authority which keeps society together is 
 dissolved by popular clamor." 
 
 Cavour's proposal precipitated a violent con- 
 test. Both moderates and liberals thought that 
 he was asking far too much ; Valerio, the leader of 
 the better element, declared that in asking for a 
 constitution the meeting went far beyond the 
 wishes of the people. The meeting broke up with- 
 out reaching a decision, but the reports of it scat- 
 tered with lightning-like rapidity. Valerio ridi- 
 culed the proposal to his friends and called Cavour 
 an aper of English customs. He said, " Don't you 
 know my Lord Camille.? — the greatest reactionist 
 of the kingdom ; the greatest enemy of the revolu- 
 tion, an Anglomane of the purest breed." Cavour 
 
176 CAVOUR 
 
 was nicknamed " Milord Camillo " and " Milord 
 Risorgimento," he was continually asked if he de- 
 sired to erect an English House of Lords. 
 
 The ridicule passed, but the suggestion re- 
 mained. Charles Albert heard of Cavour's speech 
 to the editors, and he had already lived through 
 the first two months of that electrifying year 
 of 1848. Constitution-making was in the air, 
 Louis Philippe was falling, the little Italian 
 Princes were throwing promises to their waking 
 people. He hesitated, he was under a secret 
 pledge to continue the government of his country 
 in the same form in which it had come to him, he 
 thought seriously of abdicating, but his son, 
 Victor Emmanuel, opposed the idea vigorously. 
 Finally, after much anxious thought and many 
 family consultations, he decided to grant a consti- 
 tution, and the famous Statute was given to the 
 Sardinian kingdom. It is interesting to note that 
 fifty years later the King's grandson celebrated 
 the date of the promulgation of what was to be- 
 come the charter of Italian independence. 
 
 Raised temporarily to a pinnacle of popular 
 applause, the fickle gusts of an excitable pubKc 
 opinion soon blew Cavour down to his former 
 standing. No one really agreed with his opinions, 
 to the moderates he was still alarmingly auda- 
 cious, to the liberals too deeply imbued with the 
 
THE STATESMAN 177 
 
 spirit of English aristocracy. He stood for elec- 
 tion under the new constitution at Turin, and was 
 defeated; shortly afterwards, however, he was 
 elected to fill an unexpected vacancy. Count 
 Balbo, the first Prime Minister under the constitu- 
 tion, and Cavour's co-editor of the Risorgimento, 
 did not ask him to join the cabinet, and openly 
 expressed his disapproval of his fellow- journalist's 
 ideas. The truth of the matter was that men were 
 afraid of Cavour, they distrusted him partly be- 
 cause they did not understand him, and partly 
 because it was only too evident that if he were 
 given the chance he would drive the car of state 
 to suit himself. 
 
 The new cabinet had no sooner assumed office 
 than Milan revolted against the Austrians. 
 Charles Albert hesitated, he was heart and soul 
 with the Milanese, but England and Russia both 
 warned him against war with Austria. His cabi- 
 net was divided, half feared to stake too much, 
 half were for wagering all. Cavour printed hot 
 words in the Risorgimento : " We, men of calm 
 minds, accustomed to listen more to the dictates of 
 reason than to the impulses of the heart, after de- 
 liberately weighing each word we utter, are bound 
 in conscience to declare that only one path is open 
 to the nation, the government, the King : war, im- 
 mediate war ! " The evening of the day of publi- 
 
178 CAVOUR 
 
 cation the King decided on war, and Piedmont 
 rushed to the aid of newly-arisen Lombardy. 
 
 The story of that campaign is briefly told, 
 great confidence, heroic sacrifices, a few victorious 
 battles, and then the re-enforcement of Radetsky's 
 army and the retreat to Milan. Sardinia had 
 brave soldiers, but no great generals, the victories 
 were not followed up as Napoleon had done on the 
 same fields. At the battle of Goito Cavour's 
 nephew, Augusto di Cavour, a boy of twenty, was 
 killed. On his body was found a last letter from 
 his uncle encouraging him to do his duty ; the blow 
 was a terrible one for Cavour; he had predicted 
 the noblest future for Augusto. It is said that he 
 ever afterward kept the shot-riddled uniform of 
 the boy in a glass case in his bedroom, a relic and 
 reminder of heroism. 
 
 The war soon came to the tragic climax of No- 
 vara, the ministers were perpetually undecided, 
 men were thinking more of the possible results of 
 independence than of the fact itself. There were 
 a thousand theorists, a thousand phrase-makers, 
 and in the midst of them all the King, alternately 
 hopeful and despairing, heroic in his devotion, but 
 confident that he should never weld Italy together. 
 Cavour had not been re-elected to the Parliament 
 of this crucial time, he was outside the battle 
 proper, striving to direct public sentiment through 
 
THE STATESMAN 179 
 
 his paper, and watching and studying the strength 
 and weakness of the cause. The battle of Novara 
 ended the war, Charles Albert abdicated, and 
 Victor Emmanuel came to the Sardinian throne. 
 The natures of father and son were almost diamet- 
 rically opposed, the new King was the born leader, 
 his people could not doubt the temper of his reso- 
 lution, and it was upon that implicit trust that Ca- 
 vour, determined on one and only one adviser, was 
 to build a state that should be firm and enduring. 
 In a sense failure had cleared the field for greater 
 achievement as success could never have done. 
 
 The new King, having sworn allegiance to the 
 constitution, cast about him for a prime minister 
 who could bring order out of seeming chaos, and 
 chose Massimo d'Azeglio, then and for long 
 afterwards the best beloved man in Piedmont. 
 D'Azeglio was a painter, a poet, a warrior, and an 
 accomplished man of the world, devoted to his 
 country, liberal without being radical. He was 
 the one man to restore popular confidence in the 
 Sardinian kingdom, Cavour was glad that the 
 King's favor had faUen on such a man, and, know- 
 ing that his own assistance at that time would only 
 serve to embarrass the new Premier, he retired to 
 the leisure he enjoyed so thoroughly on his farm at 
 Leri. Here he rested and recovered some of the 
 confidence which had been shaken by the imfor- 
 
180 CAVOUR 
 
 tunate trend of events. He was by nature opti- 
 mistic, and knew the value of gradual development, 
 the hours he spent in farming he considered most 
 valuably employed. A friend described him about 
 this time as having a very fresh-colored complex- 
 ion, and blue eyes, which although still exceedingly 
 bright, had a changeful expression. He was 
 stout, but not ungainly as he became later. He 
 stooped slightly, but when he stopped to speak to 
 any one held himself erect in an attentive attitude. 
 His forehead, large and solid, gave strength to a 
 face which was not distinguished by striking fea- 
 tures ; on either side of his mouth, which was rather 
 cold and contained, were two lines which, by 
 trembling or contracting, gave the only sign of 
 any emotion to an observer. His voice was low, 
 and not remarkably inspiring, he never had the 
 orator's fluent tongue with which to sway his 
 auditors. He was always courteous and at his 
 ease, easily approachable and interested in what- 
 ever might be said to him. He belonged to the 
 class of statesmen who tell very little of their 
 thoughts. When he visited Manzoni on Lake 
 Maggiore, and the latter poured out to him his 
 dreams of a united Italy, which as he said he 
 usually kept to himself for secret fear of being 
 thought a madman, Cavour answered simply by 
 rubbing his hands, and with a slow smile saying, 
 
THE STATESMAN 181 
 
 " We shall do something." The act and the words 
 bespoke his character. 
 
 Cavour's holiday in the country was not to last 
 long, the King dissolved his first Parliament, and 
 in the second Cavour was re-elected to his former 
 seat. Now for the first time he made his real 
 power felt in the Chamber, on the question of the 
 abohtion of those special courts which had for- 
 merly existed for the trial of ecclesiastic offenders 
 against the common law. The struggle between 
 the clericals and liberals was bitter. Cavour 
 spoke on March 7, 1850, and advocated strong 
 measures. He was not anxious to force the 
 Church into a position hostile to the State, but he 
 feared peace purchased at a heavy sacrifice. He 
 knew that reforms must be full and sweeping if 
 they were to stem the rising tide of European dis- 
 content. The wisest statesmen were those who, 
 like Lord Grey and Sir Robert Peel in England, 
 had granted fully when they recognized the tem- 
 per of the time. Revolutions were only to be 
 stayed by real reforms. If real reforms were 
 granted, the government of Piedmont, he con- 
 cluded, would not only be strong among its own 
 people, but " gathering to itself all the living 
 forces in Italy, it would be in a position to lead our 
 mother-country to those high destinies whereunto 
 she is called." 
 
182 CAVOUR 
 
 It was the first speech which had thrilled with 
 hope since the lamentable downfall of Novara. 
 The audience in the galleries caught the prophetic 
 note and cheered it to the echo. The ministers 
 were eager to shake hands with the speaker. The 
 people were stirred, although not yet convinced 
 that Cavour was what he seemed to be, but public 
 men throughout Italy recognized that here was a 
 strong man with potent forces soon to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Soon after the passage of the bill Cavour had 
 advocated, one of D'Azeglio's ministers, Count 
 Pietro di Santa Rosa, died. Immediate pressure 
 was brought to bear to make Cavour his successor, 
 but for a long time D'Azeglio, although friendly 
 to Cavour, hesitated to take such an extremist into 
 his cabinet. Finally he offered Cavour the post 
 of Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. Ca- 
 vour accepted, but only after making certain 
 terms, one of which was that a certain minister 
 whom he considered over-timorous should be asked 
 to resign. D'Azeglio agreed, though with ill 
 grace, and in consequence was shortly after told 
 by the King, " Don't you see that this man will 
 turn you all out? " 
 
 On taking office Cavour gave up his connection 
 with the Risorgimento, a paper which he considered 
 had helped the liberal projects immeasurably. As 
 
THE STATESMAN 183 
 
 Minister of Commerce he negotiated trade treaties 
 with England, France, and Belgium. He took to 
 work so readily that very shortly he was made 
 Minister of Marine in addition to his original post. 
 Gradually he won his way to the leadership in 
 Parliament, speaking for himself rather than for 
 the cabinet, and having small regard for the pro- 
 fessed opinions of his own or any other party. 
 When a deputy would ask him for information in 
 the Chamber he would state his own opinion, and 
 where that differed from opinions already expressed 
 by his colleagues he would make his favorite reply, 
 that he spoke " less as a minister than as a poli- 
 tician." 
 
 Cavour's many-sided nature rapidly showed it- 
 self in his stand on religious and educational meas- 
 ures, on trade and commerce, on theories of 
 government and practical applications. There 
 seemed to be no field with which he was not con- 
 versant, and which he could not straighten of 
 tangles less thoughtful ministers had made. In 
 April, 1851, he became Minister of Finance, hav- 
 ing insisted that Nigra, his predecessor, should 
 resign if he were to remain. The Minister of 
 Pubhc Instruction had a disagreement with 
 Cavour, and was replaced by one of the latter's 
 friends, Farini, the Romagnol exile, a strong na- 
 tionalist writer. These changes greatly strength- 
 
184 CAVOUR 
 
 ened Cavour's position and were all in line with his 
 policy of making Piedmont a strong constitutional 
 state, its people imbued with the thought of leader- 
 ship in any struggle for Italian unity. Abroad he 
 was endeavoring in every way to excite interest in 
 Italian conditions, he was an enthusiastic admirer 
 of Mr. Gladstone, he studied Louis Napoleon's 
 giant strides to power, not for their effect upon 
 liberty, but in search of indications that the new 
 French regime would listen to the voice of Victor 
 Emmanuel. He had come to realize that foreign 
 aid was essential to ultimate victory, and looked to 
 France as the most probable ally. That this ally 
 was likely to appear in the garb of a political ad- 
 venturer did not disturb him ; as he said, " Frank- 
 lin sought the help of the most despotic monarch 
 in Europe." 
 
 To insure that when Piedmont should succeed in 
 enlisting foreign aid the country might be con- 
 solidated and ready, Cavour planned a great 
 stroke, to combine his own party in Parliament 
 with that of the Moderate Liberals, or Left Center, 
 as it was called. None of the four parties was 
 sufficiently strong in itself to insure any perma- 
 nent success, but a combination of the two Center 
 parties would allow for plans of certain durability. 
 Rattazzi, probably the most brilliant speaker in the 
 House, and a man of much popularity, was leader 
 
THE STATESMAN 185 
 
 of the Left Center, and to him Cavour broached 
 his plans. The alliance was concluded in Jan- 
 uary, 1852, and kept a secret for some time. 
 Finally, in a debate on a bill aimed to moderate 
 newspaper attacks on foreign sovereigns, the min- 
 istry was violently attacked, and Rattazzi an- 
 nounced his compact with Cavour by stating that 
 he intended generally to support the ministry in 
 the present session unless there should be some de- 
 cided change in its policy. Cavour, speaking in 
 reply, acknowledged the alliance between the two 
 parties. 
 
 D'Azeglio and the other ministers had been kept 
 in the dark, and were as much surprised as was 
 the general public. Cavour had feared that a dis- 
 cussion of the wisdom of such an alliance might 
 have ended in disagreement, and he was determined 
 that the plan should be put through. That seems 
 to have been the only excuse for keeping the plan 
 secret from his colleagues. The Prime Minister 
 was highly indignant, but would not disown 
 Cavour's act; he merely intimated to him that he 
 would never sit in the same cabinet with Rattazzi. 
 Shortly afterward Cavour lent his support to 
 electing Rattazzi President of the Chamber. 
 D'Azeglio was again indignant, and Cavour felt 
 that it was best that he should leave the ministry. 
 He resigned, and was followed by all the other 
 
186 CAVOUR 
 
 ministers. Their act, however, was purely a mat- 
 ter of sentiment, and the King commanded them 
 to remain at their posts. Cavour endorsed this 
 command, he saw no reason why D'Azegho's minis- 
 try should not continue for a time without him. 
 He parted on the best of terms with the Premier, 
 and in order that his presence might cause no em- 
 barrassment to the reconstructed ministry started 
 on a journey to France and England. 
 
 This trip abroad came at a most opportune 
 time. It gave Cavour a chance to meet French 
 and English statesmen and learn their views of his 
 policy of allying Rattazzi's party with his own in 
 order to obtain a working majority. He knew 
 that Rattazzi was generally regarded as a reckless 
 revolutionary, but he found that the necessity of 
 using his aid was generally acknowledged. Cavour 
 talked with the leaders of each party in England ; 
 he found Lord Palmerston then as always his ar- 
 dent friend and admirer. Palmerston saw that the 
 overthrow of the Italian tyrannies must depend 
 upon the home strength of the Sardinian govern- 
 ment, and that if that government were once firmly 
 established on a constitutional basis it could not 
 be long before Austria would be driven out of 
 Italy. Palmerston promised Cavour the moral 
 support of England, and the Italian left London 
 delighted at what he had learned there; 
 
THE STATESMAN 187 
 
 In Paris Cavour met Thiers, who bade him be of 
 good courage, and the Prince President. To the 
 latter he devoted much time, and succeeded in 
 making a deep impression upon the astute Napo- 
 leon. " Whether we like it or not," the Italian 
 wrote from Paris, " our destinies depend on 
 France ; we must be her partner in the great game 
 which win be played sooner or later in Europe." 
 In the French capital Cavour found several lead- 
 ers of Italian life who were living in exile; he 
 visited Daniel Manin, the great Venetian, the idol 
 of his city, and learned from him something of 
 Venetian hopes. He also saw the many-sided Gio- 
 berti, " the same child of genius, who would have 
 been a great man had he had common-sense," said 
 Cavour, the man who had once dreamt of a free 
 Italy under the leadership of a great liberal Pope, 
 and who was now in a book about to be published 
 to show his gift of prescience by fixing on Cavour 
 as the one man who understood the essentials of 
 the new Italian civilization. 
 
 D'AzegHo was facing a ministerial crisis when 
 Cavour returned to his home, and, ill with the 
 wound he had received in the last war, besought 
 the King to let him retire from oiBce. He sug- 
 gested that Victor Emmanuel summon Cavour, 
 " who," he wrote at this time, " you know is dia- 
 bolically active, and fit in body and soul, and then. 
 
188 CAVOUR 
 
 he enjoys it so much ! " The King asked Cavour 
 to form a ministry, naming certain restrictions, 
 the chief one being to come to a friendly agree- 
 ment with the Pope on the matter of civil mar- 
 riage, but Cavour felt that to do this would be to 
 start his work under a handicap. He suggested 
 Count Balbo as Premier, but the latter had too 
 small a following, and the King, judging that his 
 country needed the strong hand of Cavour at the 
 helm more than the friendship of Rome, asked him 
 to form his cabinet without imposing any condi- 
 tions whatever. 
 
 So came into existence what was to be known in 
 Italian history as the " Gran Ministero," the first 
 in which Cavour was openly to proclaim his plans. 
 It is curious to note that even now, when he had 
 become the most considerable figure in Piedmont, 
 he was not generally popular. The King did not 
 altogether like him, the public men could not even 
 now understand him, the people scarcely knew the 
 real man at all. What King, public men, and 
 people did know was that Cavour was a man of 
 tremendous force, and a man destined to lead other 
 men. At this time there commenced to grow up in 
 Piedmont that blind faith in Cavour which later 
 assumed such great proportions that the people 
 felt that he must have his own way no matter what 
 they might think of it, because Cavour's way 
 
THE STATESMAN 189 
 
 meant victory, no matter how little they might 
 anticipate it. 
 
 Cavour chose to be President of the Council and 
 Minister of Finance, and at once set to work to 
 increase the resources of the country. The his- 
 tory of his work at this time is that of an adminis- 
 trator preparing with scrupulous care each detail 
 against a coming need. He strengthened fortifi- 
 cations, he allowed La Marmora a free hand in the 
 development of the army, he completed the railway 
 system, he used all possible means to stimulate in- 
 dustry and increase agricultural output. He 
 instituted new taxes, cut down the salt tax, and 
 introduced certain free-trade measures. He fol- 
 lowed a definite plan of preparation, regardless of 
 popular opinion, which at one time turned so 
 fiercely against him on the ground that he was a 
 monopolist who was robbing the poor of bread, 
 that his Hfe was in danger at the hands of a 
 mob. 
 
 Cavour had one concern, to strengthen the cen- 
 tral government of his country, and he labored for 
 that with Httle regard for other things. He was 
 accused, particularly after Rattazzi had joined his 
 cabinet, of seeking to win certain constituencies by 
 promises of local aid if they would return his can- 
 didate. He understood too well the imcertain 
 temper of the people to take any unnecessary 
 
190 CAVOUR 
 
 risks, he knew that the work he was doing was 
 essential for Italian independence, and he was will- 
 ing to obtain his support as best he could. What 
 concerned him was the fact of support, not the 
 reason. His ultimate purpose required that the 
 country be kept at peace until it should have 
 reached full strength, and for this end Cavour 
 tried to make friends with Austria, dissembling his 
 real feelings as cleverly as he could, and sought 
 confidence and friendly offices. To this end he 
 discountenanced Mazzini's attempt at revolution 
 in Milan in February, 1853; he knew that condi- 
 tions were not ready for success ; he regarded 
 Mazzini's faith in blind outbreaks of the people as 
 a deterrent factor in his preparation for ultimate 
 success. 
 
 Western Europe was making ready for war in 
 the Crimea, England and France were aligning 
 themselves against Russia. Cavour felt what was 
 coming, and conceived a step of marvelous daring. 
 With his old belief in the prudence of audacity he 
 determined to join Sardinia to France and Eng- 
 land, to stake the future of his little kingdom on 
 an alliance with the two great western Powers. He 
 felt that Sardinia must now step forward as a 
 nation or retire to the great group of little princi- 
 palities. He could not tell what position Austria 
 would take, but he resolved no matter how that 
 
THE STATESMAN 191 
 
 country might side, to cast his lot with the west. 
 When one recalls the size of Victor Emmanuel's 
 kingdom and its resources Cavour's audacity be- 
 comes well-nigh inconceivable. When his inten- 
 tion was made known to the people they gaped in 
 amazement, after these years of preparation why 
 should they hazard all on a purely foreign war, 
 why leave their borders unguarded to the Aus- 
 trians.? Cavour stood firm and unshaken, Victor 
 Emmanuel, trusting to his minister's star of 
 destiny, stood by him, the people stormed, pro- 
 tested, besought, but all without avail. Cavour 
 had decided that it was time to act, and so it must 
 be time, the people had learned that there was 
 no use in arguing with him, what he must do he 
 must, they became fatalists under his colossal will. 
 A demand of a guarantee of certain restrictions 
 against Austria was sought by Cavour's ministry, 
 but the western Powers would not give it. Eng- 
 land and France would both be glad to have Sar- 
 dinia as an ally, but would make no promises of 
 future help. The Sardinian Foreign Minister re- 
 signed when the attempt to obtain a guarantee 
 failed. Cavour offered the position to D'Azeglio, 
 but he declined it, and so, on January 10, 1855, 
 Cavour assumed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs 
 himself, and on the same day signed the agreement 
 binding Sardinia to an oflPensive and defensive alii- 
 
192 CAVOUR 
 
 ance with France and England. It was the first 
 step towards making Italy again a world power. 
 
 Cavour had decided to show Europe that an 
 Italian government could live under a liberal con- 
 stitution, and that an Italian army could fight. 
 He believed that both Lord Palmerston and the 
 French Emperor were convinced of the former 
 fact ; he was now anxious to convince them of the 
 latter. As matters fell out Austria remained 
 neutral, and the allies opposed Russia alone. Na- 
 poleon, thirsting for glory for French arms, was 
 little disposed to give the Sardinian forces a 
 chance, and wished to keep them as a reserve at 
 Constantinople. It required the greatest diplo- 
 macy on Cavour's part to obtain opportunities for 
 his troops, but when he did they more than justi- 
 fied him. Their spirit and powers of endurance 
 were admirable, they seemed consciously to feel 
 that they were being made ready for a greater and 
 more sacred combat. In August the Piedmontese 
 troops won a victory on the Tchernaia, Turin was 
 delighted, and Cavour felt that his great step was 
 being justified. The King wrote to General La 
 Marmora, " Next year we shall have war where we 
 had it before." 
 
 It was at this time that Victor Emmanuel visited 
 England and France. Cavour accompanied him, 
 and, as always, made a close study of opinions in 
 
THE STATESMAN 193 
 
 both those countries. He found Queen Victoria 
 and Prince Albert deeply interested in Italian 
 affairs, and strongly favorable to Piedmont's 
 hopes. Napoleon, he found, was determined to 
 end the war in the Crimea. 
 
 In February, 1856, peace was declared. Aus- 
 tria, which had remained neutral, was apparently 
 the greatest gainer by the war. At home the Sar- 
 dinian government had been seriously disturbed 
 over the question of suppression of the religious 
 houses, a measure which Cavour and a majority 
 of the people favored, but which the King was 
 very loath to accept. After the Chamber of 
 Deputies had passed the measure by an overwhelm- 
 ing majority, and it was being considered by the 
 Senate, two ecclesiastics wrote to the King, prom- 
 ising to pay into the national treasury the sum 
 the government expected to realize from the sup- 
 pressions. Victor Emmanuel, who was an ardent 
 Churchman, conceived that this would be a most 
 satisfactory settlement of the whole matter, and 
 suggested to Cavour that he agree. Cavour saw 
 the impossibility of compromise at that hour, and 
 declined, offering at the same time his resignation. 
 The King, who was never quite at his ease with 
 Cavour, and who thought he was now in a posi- 
 tion to dispense with his services, accepted the 
 resignation. 
 
igj' CAVOUR 
 
 When the people heard of the proposed com- 
 promise they were brought to an angry crisis, and 
 for a moment it looked as though all the past care- 
 ful efforts to establish a stable government might 
 go for nothing. Then D'Azegho, with rare cour- 
 age, wrote to the King, and pointed out the dan- 
 gers that lay in his new course. He entreated him 
 not to aUgn himself with the reactionaries, he 
 pointed out how such a step had caused the down- 
 fall of both Stuart and Bourbon thrones. The 
 people desired the measure, it was too late now to 
 withdraw it from the Senate, ^'ictor Emmanuel 
 heeded the words of his old counselor, recalled 
 Cavour to office, and allowed the bill, practically 
 as at first presented, to become law. This was the 
 next great step in the progress towards a united 
 Italy. 
 
 At the time of his last visit to Paris Cavour had 
 been asked by Napoleon to submit a note of what 
 France could do for Italy. This Cavour now pre- 
 pared, asking little at this time, the main object 
 being the Austrian evacuation of Bologna. Cavour 
 found himself in a very difficult position, the war 
 had closed before Austria had been drawn into it, 
 and Sardinia was not in a sufficiently strong posi- 
 tion to make many requests. Both the King and 
 Cavour had confidently hoped that Austria would 
 be forced to side with Russia. Now it was ex- 
 
THE STATES:MAN 195 
 
 trenidy doubtful what decisions the coming Con- 
 gress of Paris would make, and Cavour had been 
 privately given to understand that the Sardinian 
 tuvoy to the Congress would only be allowed to 
 attend those sessions which concerned Sardinia, 
 and not to take his place with the envoys of the 
 great Powers. He was exceedingly anxious that 
 D'Azeglio should attend, but the latter refused 
 point-blank when he learned of the subservient 
 position he would in aU probability have to take. 
 Under these circumstances Cavour saw no alter- 
 native but to STO himself, and so with considerable 
 misgiving he set out for Paris, intent on observing 
 and plaiuiing rather than on asking favoR that 
 might be unceremoniously refused. 
 
 The Congress of Paris of 1S56 produced results 
 far different from those the various plenipoten- 
 tiaries intended. Austria came to Paris in the 
 enriable position of the great European peace- 
 maker, she left as tyrannical upholder of the old 
 regime. Cavour came as the representative of a 
 small state with interests far inferior to those of 
 the other nations, he left as the moral champion of 
 the much abused peninsula of Italy. Austria 
 actually conceded no territory and Sardinia 
 gained none, but Austria was discredited in the 
 eves of England and France, and Sardinia more 
 than justified. Cavour achieved a great moral 
 
196 CAVOUR 
 
 victory, perhaps the greatest result any statesman 
 can gain from a treaty of peace. He did not take 
 a very prominent part in the actual meetings, he 
 was very reserved, a good listener, a courteous and 
 always affable companion. He was loyal to both 
 his English and his French allies, he won over the 
 Russian Count Orloff, and contrived to keep on 
 good terms with the Austrian Count Buol, whom he 
 had formerly known at Turin. He waited with 
 indomitable patience until the major matters of 
 the Congress had been discussed and disposed of, 
 then he addressed a note to the English and 
 French envoys inquiring into the rights of Austria 
 to remain in occupation of the Roman Legations. 
 The question was most important, it struck at the 
 discussion of the temporal power of the Pope, inas- 
 much as that power in Romagna was dependent 
 upon Austrian support. Moreover it gave notice 
 that Sardinia was concerning itself with the 
 affairs of the other Italian states. 
 
 Cavour had other projects, he was anxious to 
 reunite Parma and Modena with Piedmont, he was 
 eager to have their Lombard estates returned to 
 those Italians concerned in the last revolt against 
 Austria. He planned and plotted to accomplish 
 both these ends, and waited. The treaty of peace 
 was signed on March 30, and then the French 
 President of the Congress, Count Walewski, called 
 
THE STATESMAN 197 
 
 another session by order of the Emperor. This 
 session was to deal with the Austrian and French 
 occupation of Naples. The difficulty with regard 
 to Cavour's original note was that in questioning 
 Austria's right to uphold the Pope in Romagna it 
 also questioned France's right to occupy Rome for 
 the same purpose. Cavour spoke on the Austrian 
 occupation, but passed over the French. It seems, 
 however, that Napoleon, who had originally taken 
 Rome to please the clerical party, was now willing 
 to withdraw from Rome if he could do so without 
 offending that party, and at the same time cause 
 Austria to withdraw. Lord Clarendon, the Brit- 
 ish plenipotentiary, urged the withdrawal of both 
 Powers, which he claimed stood on the same foot- 
 ing. He objected to both occupations as disturb- 
 ing to the balance of power, he denounced the gov- 
 ernment of the King of Naples, he found occasion 
 to say what the most ardent Italian would have 
 liked to say, and his unreserved ardor gained 
 added force from the caution of Cavour. The 
 effect of the Englishman's speech was striking, he 
 put into words all Cavour's contentions, and left 
 the Italian in the enviable position of having de- 
 manded nothing, but of having all the claims of 
 justice on his side. The Austrian envoy was in- 
 dignant, and the session adjourned without tangi- 
 ble result. The impression left upon every one's 
 
198 CAVOUR 
 
 mind, however, was that Sardinia had championed 
 Italy against Austria, and that it intended to pre- 
 pare to make its championship more definite than 
 by diplomatic notes. 
 
 Cavour returned to Turin with the satisfaction 
 of having placed Italy's wrongs openly before the 
 world. The redress of these wrongs was now mat- 
 ter for European consideration, no longer the 
 mere object of secret society plots. Patriots in 
 aU the Italian states were quick to reahze this, 
 they saw that at last their national rights had 
 been forced into attention, Cavour's note had ce- 
 mented all their local causes. There were still 
 many in Piedmont who did not understand his 
 policy, and many who would have preferred his 
 winning of a single duchy to Sardinia rather than 
 urging the withdrawal of Austria from the Papal 
 States, but in spite of these doubters the great 
 majority acclaimed his cause, and felt that, 
 whether they understood him or not, he was the 
 one man who could lead them to deliverance. On 
 his return his policy became more clear, he was 
 aiming at an Italian nation under one king, he was 
 looking far ahead, and the other great nationalists 
 who had been puzzled by his conflicting declara- 
 tions in the past saw that his goal was theirs. The 
 goal had unquestionably been in his thoughts 
 throughout all his political career, now he came 
 
THE STATESMAN 199 
 
 out frankly, no longer simply Prime Minister of 
 Sardinia, but spokesman for Italy. 
 
 War must come as the next step. Cavour now 
 for the first time took account of the practical use 
 to be made of those great waves of popular feel- 
 ing that were continually recurring, those heroic 
 forces Mazzini had been calling into being. He 
 met Garibaldi, and found that he was a great prac- 
 tical man, likely to be of infinite value to the 
 country. He went among the people and studied 
 how their enthusiasms could be turned to best ac- 
 count, he planned with leaders of earlier revolts 
 and convinced them that he was simply patient 
 until the time came to strike, no more a reactionary 
 than they. 
 
 In addition to the Foreign Ofiice Cavour as- 
 sumed the Ministry of Finance. He was unwilling 
 to trust too much to other men, he was anxious to 
 know exactly how all the affairs of the nation 
 stood. The army he knew was rapidly improving, 
 he studied how he might increase the finances with- 
 out imposing too heavy taxes. He moved the 
 arsenal from Genoa to Spezia, he insisted on com- 
 pleting the tunneling of Mont Cenis, and all these 
 steps showed that he was concerned now with the 
 affairs of the whole peninsula rather than with the 
 guidance of one small state. As one of his politi- 
 cal opponents said of him in detraction at this 
 
200 CAVOUR 
 
 time, " the Prime Minister had all Italy in view, 
 and was preparing for the future kingdom." He 
 had made himself practically the entire govern- 
 ment, from King to peasant all classes followed 
 him with a blind faith in his triumphant destiny as 
 a leader. Still he waited, preparing for the hour 
 to strike. 
 
 On the evening of January 14, 1858, Felice 
 Orsini, a Romagnol revolutionist, attempted to 
 assassinate the French Emperor with a bomb as he 
 was driving to the opera. It was expected that 
 this act would cause a bitter estrangement between 
 France and Italy, but, although for a short time 
 there was a considerable diplomatic interchange of 
 notes, the ultimate result was quite the reverse. 
 We must remember that the wrongs under which 
 Italy labored were in reality always on Napoleon's 
 mind, that he sincerely desired to free and reunite 
 the Italian nation, although at times his ideas of 
 expediency made him appear more of an enemy 
 than a friend. As a young man he had himself 
 been a revolutionary, probably at one time a mem- 
 ber of the Carbonari, he had thrilled long ago at 
 Mazzini's call, and he was an ardent nationalist. 
 When he heard Orsini's last words to him, " Free 
 my country, and the blessings of twenty-five mil- 
 lion Italians will go with you ! " he knew that it 
 was not hatred of himself, but the desire in some 
 
THE STATESMAN 201 
 
 way to bring about Italian independence that had 
 inspired the assassin. The words and acts of Na- 
 poleon wind in and out of this story of Italian 
 liberation in a manner only too often difficult to 
 reconcile, but it would seem that his interest was 
 in reality sincere, and that he wished to help Italy 
 as much as he could without jeopardizing the in- 
 terests of France. 
 
 Events began to march, certain ideas were ex- 
 changed between influential persons at Paris and 
 Turin; in June Dr. Conneau, an intimate of the 
 Emperor, happened to visit Turin, and saw Victor 
 Emmanuel and Cavour. It was stated that Napo- 
 leon intended to make a private visit to Plom- 
 bieres. Shortly after Cavour announced that his 
 health required a change of scene and that he 
 should go away into the mountains. By a strange 
 coincidence he also went to Plombieres. Napoleon 
 saw him, they spent two days closeted together; 
 when Cavour left the two men understood each 
 other. The details of what was known as the Pact 
 of Plombieres are not positive, the understanding 
 appears to have been that a rising in Massa and 
 Carrara should give a pretext for a war to expel 
 the Austrians. After such expulsion the country 
 in the valley of the Po, the Roman Legations, and 
 the Ancona Marches were to be united in a king- 
 dom of Upper Italy. Savoy was to be given 
 
202 CAVOUR 
 
 to France, possession of Nice was left unset- 
 tled, Victor Emmanuel's daughter, the Princess 
 Clotilde, was to be given in marriage to Prince 
 Napoleon. 
 
 Napoleon had shown his interest in Italy, but 
 Cavour left Plombiferes fully alive to the fact that 
 actual help was still far distant. Austria would 
 be hard to defeat, and Cavour did not wish France 
 to provide all the forces for war. He already 
 foresaw that it might be difficult to insure 
 France's withdrawal after victory. Furthermore 
 he realized that England, to which he was always 
 looking, was well content with the present peaceful 
 situation of affairs, and would regard any offen- 
 sive step by France or Sardinia as unwarrantable. 
 He saw that Prussia and Russia held the same 
 view. No country wanted war except his own, 
 and possibly France, provided it could be made to 
 appear that Austria and not France was the at- 
 tacking party. It seemed very certain that Aus- 
 tria would stand much before putting herself in 
 the false position of wantonly opening war. 
 Again Cavour had to be patient and plan how 
 Austria might be made to take that step. 
 
 While he waited Cavour organized a volunteer 
 Italian army under the name of the Hunters of 
 the Alps, he laid campaign plans with Garibaldi, 
 he knit all the patriots of Italy into one common 
 
THE STATESMAN 203 
 
 cause. Even the old conservative leaders came 
 over to him, D'Azeglio wrote him, " To-day it is 
 no longer a question of discussing your policy, but 
 of making it succeed." The King supported him 
 magnificently, Cavour found that his hardest work 
 now was to hold King and people back. Still he 
 would not open war, he knew too well that he must 
 have the support of other countries than his own. 
 
 At the New Year's Day reception in Paris, 
 1859, Napoleon made his famous comment to the 
 Austrian Ambassador, " I regret that relations be- 
 tween us are so strained ; tell your sovereign, how- 
 ever, that my sentiments for him are still the 
 same." The words created a sensation, no one was 
 certain what lay back of them in the French Em- 
 peror's mind. Cavour heard them and they gave 
 him hope. When the time came for Victor Em- 
 manuel to open Parliament Cavour prepared the 
 speech from the Throne with the greatest care and 
 had a copy submitted in advance to Napoleon. 
 Napoleon strengthened it, and Victor Emmanuel 
 changed it still further for the better. When the 
 King read it the effect upon his hearers was that 
 of a call to arms in an heroic cause. " If Pied- 
 mont, small in territory, yet counts for something 
 in the councils of Europe, it is because it is great 
 by reason of the ideas it represents and the sym- 
 pathies it inspires. This position doubtless creates 
 
204 CAVOUR 
 
 for us many dangers ; nevertheless, while respect- 
 ing treaties, we cannot remain insensible to the cry 
 of grief that reaches us from so many parts of 
 Italy." The European Powers saw that the old 
 treaties of 1815 were in imminent danger. None 
 of them reahzed who had in reality penned these 
 words. 
 
 Cavour was now at one of the great crises of his 
 life work, and bending every effort to secure Na- 
 poleon's consent to a definite treaty. He succeeded 
 in that the Emperor, delighted at the marriage of 
 Prince Napoleon to a princess of one of the oldest 
 houses in Europe, directed the bridegroom to sign 
 an agreement obligating France to come to Pied- 
 mont's aid should the latter nation be subjected to 
 any overt act of aggression on the part of Aus- 
 tria. This agreement was intended to be kept al- 
 together secret, but rumors that a treaty had been 
 signed crept abroad. Cavour now waited for Aus- 
 tria's aggressive act, and sought to gain national 
 loans at home, and to arouse interest on Piedmont's 
 behalf abroad. The English government would 
 not enthuse over Italian wrongs, they were zealous 
 to maintain the present footing, but Cavour main- 
 tained his diplomatic suavity and kept the English 
 friendship against the day when he might need it 
 against France. 
 
 The spring of 1859 saw the natural crisis rap- 
 
THE STATESMAN 205 
 
 idly approaching, Mazzini's world forces again 
 ready to break loose. Into Piedmont swarmed the 
 youth of all northern Italy, girt with sword and 
 gun, palpitant for strife. The government could 
 not hold the rising tide much longer. Cavour ex- 
 claimed, " They may throw me into the Po, but I 
 will not stop it ! " And yet he had to wait. Aus- 
 tria must first act on the offensive. The last week 
 of Lent came and Cavour stood face to face with 
 the climax that was to make or mar his plans. 
 
 The story of those two weeks is tremendously 
 dramatic. The Russian government proposed a 
 Congress of the Powers at Paris to adjust the dis- 
 ordered state of Italy. England and Prussia 
 agreed, Austria accepted subject to the two con- 
 ditions that Piedmont should disarm and that she 
 should be excluded from the Congress. The French 
 Minister, Count Walewski, said for Napoleon that 
 France could not plunge into war on Piedmont's 
 account, and that Piedmont was not entitled to a 
 voice in the Congress. Napoleon seemed to have 
 listened to the counsels of the Empress and his 
 ministers, who were opposed to war, and Cavour 
 found himself without a spokesman. It was a 
 black hour when he wrote to the Emperor that 
 Italy was desperate; in reply he was called to 
 Paris. He saw Napoleon, but obtained no promise 
 of help. He threatened that Victor Emmanuel 
 
206 CAVOUR 
 
 would abdicate, he himself go to America and pub- 
 lish all the correspondence between Napoleon and 
 himself. He used every entreaty, but to no effect. 
 He returned to Turin, where he was met with the 
 wildest demonstrations of regard. 
 
 Now England made a suggestion, the govern- 
 ment proposed that all the Italian states should 
 be admitted to the proposed Congress, and that 
 Austria as well as Piedmont should disarm. The 
 French government considered this a happy pro- 
 posal, and wrote to Cavour strongly recommend- 
 ing consent. The Minister understood what the 
 disbanding of all his volunteers, the reduction of 
 his army, would mean to Italy, but he saw no 
 choice but to submit. All the Powers were against 
 him, either course seemed to presage absolute de- 
 feat. On April 17 he sent a note agreeing to the 
 disarming, and gave himself up to despair. His- 
 tory says that he was on the point of conunitting 
 suicide, and was only saved by a devoted friend 
 who pleaded with him. At the end of a long 
 stormy scene Cavour controlled himself. " Be tran- 
 quil; we will face it together," he said. 
 
 Fortune changed ; the very day on which Ca- 
 vour submitted, the Austrian government replied 
 slightingly to the English proposal and stated 
 that Austria would itself call upon Piedmont to 
 disarm. It was an error of the first magnitude, 
 
THE STATESMAN 207 
 
 the act of aggression for which Cavour had so 
 long waited. At the time Austria was probably 
 ignorant of Napoleon's secret agreement with 
 Piedmont, and. also that Cavour had consented to 
 disarm. The fact of Piedmont's submission to the 
 wishes of France and England, and Austria's ar- 
 bitrary note, revolutionized the situation. Pied- 
 mont was saved by a marvelous turn of fortune. 
 
 April 25, while the Piedmont Chamber was con- 
 ferring absolute powers on the King, Cavour was 
 handed a note, on which was written : " They are 
 here. I have seen them." " They " meant the 
 Austrian envoys. Cavour left the Chamber, say- 
 ing, " It is the last Piedmontese parliament which 
 has just ended; next year we will open the first 
 Italian parliament." He met the envoys and read 
 their message, the Sardinian army to be put on a 
 peace footing, the Italian volunteers to be dis- 
 banded; an answer, yes or no, to be given within 
 three days. If that answer is unsatisfactory to 
 Austria a resort to arms. 
 
 Cavour accepted the three days allowed him in 
 order to push his preparations, then he replied to 
 the Austrian note, saying that Piedmont had 
 agreed to the English proposals with the assent 
 of Prussia, Russia, and France, and that he had 
 nothing further to add. He took leave of the Aus- 
 trian envoys courteously, and then, radiantly 
 
208 CAVOUR 
 
 happy, joined his colleagues, saying, " The die is 
 cast." Fortune had stood by him and had placed 
 Piedmont in the most enviable position he could 
 have wished. He had staked everything on his ac- 
 quiescing, with scarcely one chance of success, 
 but that chance had come and he had won. 
 
 The war opened with the victory of the allies 
 at Magenta, Milan was free, and at Solferino the 
 Italians and French gained Lombardy. The Sar- 
 dinian army won its spurs gloriously. Cavour, 
 who had sent La Marmora to lead the troops, and 
 had himself become Minister of War, showed the 
 greatest skill in attending to his army's commis- 
 sariat. At the same time he was watching the rest 
 of Italy, Parma and Modena returned to the old 
 alliance of 1848, and Cavour sent special commis- 
 sioners to control them. He was anxious that all 
 the states should unite. He was constantly afraid 
 that one of the Powers would step in and seize 
 Tuscany. He kept his eye on Florence and sup- 
 ported the efficient dictatorship of Ricasoli. 
 
 Mazzini had prophesied to Cavour some months 
 earlier : " You will be in the camp in some corner 
 of Lombardy when the peace which betrays Venice 
 will be signed without your knowledge." That 
 was exactly what happened. On July 6 Napoleon 
 opened negotiations at Villafranca with Austria 
 for peace. Perhaps he had learned that the French 
 
THE STATESMAN 209 
 
 people were no longer enthusiastic over the war 
 and wished to devote himself to his own defense, 
 perhaps he saw that victories were building up a 
 stronger Italy than he cared to have, perhaps he 
 feared a possible intervention by Prussia. His 
 whole conduct towards Italy was one of most per- 
 plexing changes, certain it is that he now delib- 
 erately threw away all the advantages of victory 
 and made every loyal Italian his enemy. Had he 
 been more of a statesman he would have foreseen 
 the consequences of his acts. The terms of the 
 peace were that Venice should be left to Austria, 
 Modena, Tuscany, and Romagna given back to 
 their petty Princes, the Pope made president of a 
 league in which Austria was to be a party. It 
 was the basest betrayal of Italian hopes. Cavour 
 was absolutely prostrated, he saw all his wonderful 
 plans shattered beyond redemption, he saw him- 
 self totally dishonored in the sight of the people 
 he had led into war. He rushed to the camp of 
 Victor Emmanuel and advised him either to abdi- 
 cate or fight on alone. In that moment the King 
 rose superior to his great Minister, he decided to 
 sign the treaty and to wait. Victor Emmanuel, 
 more bitterly disappointed than on the battlefield 
 of Novara, showed that he was as great a states- 
 man as he was a leader of his people. 
 
 Cavour thought of plunging into battle in the 
 
210 CAVOUR 
 
 hope of being killed, he thought of joining Maz- 
 zini in extreme revolutionary measures, but mean- 
 while until a new ministry could be formed he was 
 compelled to continue his government at Turin. 
 It became his duty to notify the commissioners he 
 had appointed for Florence, Parma, and Modena 
 to abandon those charges, and he did so, but wrote 
 them privately to stay where they were. Farini 
 wrote him from Modena that he should treat the 
 returning Duke as an enemy of Italy, and Cavour 
 replied, " The Minister is dead ; the friend ap- 
 plauds your decision." He had thrown off his old 
 mask of diplomacy and become for the moment 
 one with the revolutionaries. 
 
 Succeeded by Rattazzi as Prime Minister, Ca- 
 vour went to stay for a short period of rest with 
 his relatives in Switzerland. He expected to see 
 Napoleon seize Savoy and Nice, although he had 
 not performed his part in the Pact of Plombieres. 
 Again Napoleon surprised him, he returned to 
 Paris without pressing any claim to new territory. 
 Meanwhile the people of central Italy were asking 
 for union with Piedmont, and all the Powers were 
 much concerned with their disposition, particularly 
 England, which under the ministry of Lord Pal- 
 merston, an old and warm friend of Cavour, was 
 now commencing openly to champion Italian inde- 
 pendence. Palmerston did not trust Napoleon and 
 
THE STATESMAN 211 
 
 regretted that the only Italian statesman whom he 
 considered able to cope with the French was out 
 of office. The British Premier wrote at this time, 
 " They talk a great deal in Paris of Cavour's in- 
 trigues. This seems to me unjust. If they mean 
 that he has worked for the aggrandisement and 
 for the emancipation of Italy from foreign yoke 
 and Austrian domination, this is true, and he will 
 be called a patriot in history. The means he has 
 employed may be good or bad. I do not know 
 what they have been, but the object in view is, I 
 am sure, the good of Italy. The people of the 
 Duchies have as much right to change their sov- 
 ereigns as the English people, or the French, or 
 the Belgian, or the Swedish." 
 
 Napoleon still had five divisions of his army in 
 Lombardy and his attitude toward the annexation 
 of the central states was most important. No 
 one knew exactly what that attitude was. He told 
 the Piedmontese that he could not allow the union 
 of Tuscany, but at the same time he told Austrian 
 and Papal sympathizers that he was too deeply 
 attached to the principle of Italian independence 
 to allow him to make war on the nationalists. 
 Rattazzi did not know which course to adopt, al- 
 though the King was quite willing to risk every- 
 thing in succoring Tuscany. Then Napoleon 
 suddenly proposed another of his Paris Congresses 
 
212 CAVOUR 
 
 to settle the difficulty, and Piedmont turned to 
 Cavour to speak its claims. 
 
 The Congress never met, but Cavour's appoint- 
 ment as envoy and the zealous support of the Eng- 
 lish government caused the downfall of the minis- 
 try, and in January, 1860, Cavour again took 
 command of the state. His policy now was plain, 
 " Let the people of central Italy declare them- 
 selves what they want," he said, " and we will 
 stand by their decisions, come what may." The 
 people of central Italy wanted union and Cavour 
 turned again to see what Napoleon would do. 
 What he would do was gradually becoming plainer. 
 He would only sell his assent to the annexation of 
 the states in return for Savoy and Nice. They 
 were the old stakes of the Pact of Plombi^res, and 
 Cavour had to decide whether they should go. 
 
 His decision to sacrifice Savoy and Nice for the 
 peaceful annexation of central Italy has been 
 the most bitterly criticised act in Cavour's life. It 
 can never be determined whether the sacrifice was 
 absolutely essential, or whether in time Italy might 
 not have been united without that step. In that 
 day the judgment of the best-informed was that 
 Napoleon would have sent his army into Tuscany 
 unless his desire was met. Cavour had only agreed 
 to consider the sacrifice at Plombieres because he 
 was willing to go to any length to secure Italy 
 
THE STATESMAN 21 S 
 
 from foreign domination. He was willing to pay 
 the same price now although he realized what the 
 cost would be to his name. The King had given 
 his daughter as the price of the French alliance. 
 He sadly agreed to the further sacrifice. Both 
 Victor Emmanuel and Cavour were looking to- 
 wards their ultimate goal. 
 
 It was a tremendous responsibility. Napoleon 
 insisted that the treaty should be secret and should 
 not be submitted to the Piedmont Parliament. He 
 knew that England would be indignant when the 
 news became known. So Cavour was forced to 
 keep the decision secret and to prepare to shoulder 
 by himself all the wrath of his people. On March 
 24<, 1860, after hours of consideration, Cavour 
 signed. Then he prepared to summon a Parlia- 
 ment which might as he foresaw indict him on a 
 charge of high treason for his unconstitutional 
 act. 
 
 The Parliament which for the first time repre- 
 sented Piedmont, Lombardy, Parma, Modena, and 
 Romagna, met on April 2. Guerrazzi made a most 
 bitter attack on the ministry, in which he Hkened 
 Cavour to the Earl of Clarendon under Charles the 
 Second, " hard towards the King, truculent to 
 Parliament, who thought in his pride that he could 
 do anything." Cavour replied with a stinging 
 description of the men with whom he had had to 
 
214 CAVOUR 
 
 contend, and avowed his complete responsibility 
 for the treaty. A large majority of the Parlia- 
 ment voted with him, but it was a severe test of his 
 power and popularity. Garibaldi, born in Nice, 
 never forgave him, many of his countrymen con- 
 sidered his act absolutely unwarrantable, a mon- 
 strous piece of base ingratitude ; he himself knew 
 the price he had paid only too well, but he be- 
 lieved that it was a price he was forced to pay if 
 Italy were ever to be free. 
 
 The next step in the dramatic history followed 
 almost immediately, and although it took place 
 without the open approval of Cavour there is no 
 question but that he was secretly hoping for its 
 success. The King of Naples and Sicily was in 
 hard straits, his people were now continually 
 fomenting revolutions, Austria no longer came to 
 his aid as she had formerly. The feeling through- 
 out Europe was so general that Francis II. stood 
 on the edge of the precipice that on April 16 
 Victor Emmanuel wrote him and told him that his 
 only hope of safety lay in granting his subjects 
 an immediate constitution. Francis, like a true 
 Bourbon, postponed action until it was too late. 
 Meantime northern revolutionists were waking to 
 the idea of sending an expedition south to free 
 Sicily, and Garibaldi's name was on every tongue. 
 Cavour did not wish Garibaldi to go, he knew the 
 
THE STATESMAN 215 
 
 tremendous odds against his succeeding, and he 
 reaHzed that in case of success serious difficulties 
 must at once arise. He was tempted to keep Gari- 
 baldi at home by force, but the King would not 
 listen to such action. On May 5 Garibaldi and 
 his famous Legion sailed from Quarto, and with 
 their sailing an accomplished fact Cavour gave 
 them such help as he could. 
 
 Good fortune tended on Garibaldi and the 
 Thousand, they made their landing on the Sicilian 
 coast and swept the royal troops before them. The 
 English fleet did not actually aid them, but were 
 not sorry for their happy progress. The rest of 
 the world looked on and wondered if this sudden 
 attack on southern Italy was £inother of Cavour's 
 coups. Most observers considered that it was. 
 The King of Naples said that Garibaldi was a 
 blind; behind him was ranged Piedmont, intent 
 on the fall of his dynasty. 
 
 Garibaldi was hailed at Palermo as dictator 
 and his victory over Sicily was complete. He had 
 always acted in Victor Emmanuel's name, but 
 Cavour feared that his followers were too deeply 
 imbued with Mazzini's republican ideas to be eager 
 to join with Piedmont. He was mistaken, he did 
 not then altogether understand Garibaldi, and he 
 never did entire justice to Mazzini's principles. 
 
 If the European Powers had protested, Gari- 
 
216 CAVOUR 
 
 baldi could not have crossed to the mainland,-but 
 England would not accept Napoleon's proposal to 
 intervene, and Naples was left to itself. Cavour 
 understood that the Kingdom of Francis must fall, 
 and only hoped that it might be by diplomacy 
 rather than at the hands of Garibaldi's troops. 
 His plans to this end failed. Garibaldi reached 
 Calabria and began his triumphal march to Na- 
 ples. He had become a name with which to con- 
 jure all classes of the people, victory over every 
 evil must follow his footsteps, the Kingdom of 
 Naples, wretchedly weak, fell before him. Gari- 
 baldi became a hero throughout Europe, it was 
 now Cavour's task to treat diplomatically with 
 such a victorious force. 
 
 In order that Garibaldi might not attempt to 
 sweep north through Papal territory Cavour de- 
 termined to send the army of northern Italy down 
 into Umbria and the Marches of Ancona. It was 
 a direct defiance of the temporal power of the 
 Pope, but all discerning men had seen that the step 
 must soon come. Moreover it was the desire now 
 of practically all Italy to be united, the flood had 
 swept so far that they would be content with noth- 
 ing but the whole peninsula. Again Europe made 
 no effectual protest. Napoleon was as usual unde- 
 termined. Lord Palmerston eager for Italy's suc- 
 cess. Ancona fell, and Victor Emmanuel marched 
 
THE STATESMAN 217 
 
 on into Neapolitan territory, delivering the last 
 central provinces from Austrian influence. The 
 Austrian government did not declare war, per- 
 haps they realized at last that the world was 
 moving forward, not backward, and that they had 
 had their day. 
 
 Garibaldi's last victory occurred on the Vol- 
 turno on October 1. The royal forces and the vic- 
 torious Legion had practically met. Cavour was 
 strongly tempted to declare Victor Emmanuel dic- 
 tator, but his belief in constitutional methods tri- 
 umphed. He would not bedim one ray of Gari- 
 baldi's glory, but he wanted to cement the consti- 
 tutional monarchy. Disputes arose between the 
 royal generals and the revolutionists, Cavour in- 
 sisted that the Garibaldian troops should be honor- 
 ably treated. He knew that Garibaldi had not 
 forgiven him for the sacrifice of Nice, but he could 
 place higher his own admiration for the hero. 
 " Garibaldi," he wrote to the King, " has become 
 my most violent enemy, but I desire for the good of 
 Italy, and the honor of your Majesty, that he 
 should retire entirely satisfied." 
 
 Tremendous popular influences were at work to 
 have a dictator appointed to govern southern 
 Italy for at least a year. Cavour might have con- 
 sented to the popular acclaim for Garibaldi, or 
 have compelled the appointment of one of his own 
 
218 CAVOUR 
 
 party. He did neither, instead he appealed to the 
 Parliament. He introduced a bill authorizing the 
 Government to accept the immediate annexation of 
 such provinces of central and southern Italy as 
 expressed by universal suffrage their desire to be- 
 come a part of the constitutional Kingdom of 
 Victor Emmanuel. Parliament passed this bill on 
 October 11. It was still in doubt whether the 
 Garibaldians would agree. On October 13 Gari- 
 baldi called his followers together, and declared 
 that if the people voted for annexation they should 
 have it. Then he issued the order that " the two 
 Sicilies form an integral part of Italy, one and 
 indivisible under the constitutional King, Victor 
 Emmanuel, and his successors." He had made 
 the King a present of his conquests. It is proba- 
 ble that Cavour had truly estimated Garibaldi's 
 depths of patriotism. 
 
 Napoleon still kept his troops at Gaeta, but was 
 finally brought to see that the conflict could only 
 end in the one way. The French fleet withdrew, 
 and the city surrendered February 13, 1861. 
 Francis II. went into exile. Rome still held out, 
 but Cavour was determined that the Pope's tem- 
 poral power must end and that city become the 
 capital of the new kingdom. A general election 
 to the new Parliament took place, and the returns 
 showed a large majority pledged to Cavour's 
 
THE STATESMAN 219 
 
 views. When the new Chamber met their first act 
 was to vote Victor Emmanuel's assumption of the 
 title of King of Italy. It had been proposed by 
 some that the title be King of the Italians, but 
 Cavour insisted that only King of Italy spoke of 
 the accomplished fact of the new nation. 
 
 On March 25, 1861, Cavour stated in Parlia- 
 ment that Italy must have Rome as its capital, but 
 on the distinct understanding that this act should 
 in no sense denote the servitude of the Church. He 
 proclaimed a free church in a free state as the 
 solution of the historic problem, events had shown 
 that a power which could only be sustained by 
 means of foreign support was not destined to last. 
 Parhament voted for Rome as the capital, and 
 Cavour opened negotiations with the Vatican. He 
 found argument there vain, and turned to France 
 in the hope of securing an ally who could concili- 
 ate the Pope. Meanwhile he was busied with the 
 disposition of Garibaldi's troops, which were per- 
 sistently disregarded by the regular army. Gari- 
 baldi was indignant and stated in Parliament that 
 Cavour was " driving the country into civil war." 
 Cavour, stung by the words, nevertheless held his 
 peace and replied calmly. The breach between the 
 two men was made up, they met as friends a little 
 later at the King's desire. 
 
 In May, 1861, it was seen that Cavour was 
 
220 CAVOUR 
 
 ailing, he had worked too hard and given himself 
 no chance to rest. The last day he sat in Parlia- 
 ment he fell ill with fever, and from that he never 
 recovered. Unto the very end he was deep in plans 
 for the new nation ; on June 6 he died. 
 
 The tale of the birth of the Italian nation reads 
 like a romance, barrier after barrier, seemingly 
 insurmountable, fell at the touch of a wand, and 
 the wand was ever in Cavour's hand. Mazzini had 
 breathed a new hope into Italy, Victor Emmanuel 
 had given a noble leader to the cause. Garibaldi 
 had fought and conquered, but it was Cavour who 
 had so fused their efforts that they led to the single 
 goal. He was always the Italian first, the Minis- 
 ter of Piedmont afterwards. In history he will 
 figure as a great patriot, in his lifetime he 
 was recognized throughout Europe as the great 
 statesman. 
 
 It is reported that Metternich in his old age 
 said, " There is only one diplomatist in Europe, 
 but he is against us ; it is M. de Cavour." Pahner- 
 ston always recognized him as the one man who 
 could unite his country and foil Napoleon, Bis- 
 marck studied him as a pattern for his own later 
 efforts, and Napoleon, his lifelong ally and oppo- 
 nent, conceded that Cavour alone impressed him 
 as a genius of the first rank in statecraft. His 
 contemporaries could not always understand him, 
 
THE STATESMAN 221 
 
 he had so often to give up the immediate advan- 
 tage for the future gain, he had to wear his mask 
 so frequently even among his own people that men 
 grew to believe he preferred the circuitous to the 
 straight path. From the vantage point of a later 
 day it is possible to see how frail was the skiff he 
 navigated and how perilous the seas. It was so 
 easy for the Powers of Europe, secure themselves, 
 to prefer peace to any fresh disturbance. What 
 did the welfare of a few small states matter to 
 them? Italy was chronically misgoverned. Ca- 
 vour had to take each forward step in fear that he 
 might call down upon Piedmont the avalanche of 
 Europe ; his one ally, the French Emperor, was as 
 stable as quicksilver, never two days the same. It 
 almost passes belief that Cavour did manage to 
 sail his skiff into port, he could only have done it 
 by alternate patience and audacity. 
 
 Cavour did not live to see Rome or Venice be- 
 come part of the Kingdom, but it was his work 
 that made those later triumphs possible. He had 
 foreseen their coming, he had a genius for fore- 
 sight, even in the early days when he seemed speak- 
 ing only for Piedmont he was planning for Italy. 
 But in his planning for the great goal he never 
 forgot to make certain of each step, his diplomacy 
 was a logical sequence of accepted opportuni- 
 ties, he believed in taking the straight path if that 
 
222 CAVOUR 
 
 were possible, if not in circling the obstacle that 
 blocked his way. 
 
 The story is told that when the wife of the Rus- 
 sian Minister at Turin was shopping in that city 
 the clerk suddenly left her and ran to the door. 
 When he returned he said, " I saw Count Cavour 
 passing, and wishing to know how our affairs are 
 going on, I wanted to see how he looked. He looks 
 in good spirits, so everything is going right." The 
 story illustrates how, after Cavour had once taken 
 the helm, the people of Piedmont trusted him, 
 growing more and more confident that he would 
 lead them aright although they could not always 
 see the logic of his steps. Few statesmen have re- 
 ceived more complete allegiance from a people than 
 Cavour ultimately won, but no statesman ever de- 
 served the gratitude of his countrymen more un- 
 reservedly. 
 
GARIBALDI, THE CRUSADER 
 
 T^ THEN Mazzini had stirred men's minds to 
 » » fever-heat in the great cause of Italian Ub- 
 erty, and Cavour had so manipulated events that 
 political progress was possible, came Garibaldi, to 
 lead with all the fire of a crusader the new race 
 of Itahan patriots. He was a hero of legends as 
 soon as he took the field. He cannot be compared 
 to any modern general, nor his army to any other 
 army of recent centuries ; he was the personal hero 
 whose red shirt and slouch hat became symbols 
 of hberty, and whose name was sufficient to work 
 miracles of faith. ^ Many a Calabrian peasant con- 
 fidently expected the millennium to follow in Gari- 
 baldi's footsteps, and this faith, spreading as all 
 great popular emotions do, swept him and his 
 ragged volunteers to victory after victory that a 
 less legendary but vastly more experienced general 
 never would have known. He was always the pure- 
 hearted crusader with the single goal. 
 
 Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in Nice in the year 
 
 1807, two years the junior of Mazzini, three years 
 
 the senior of Cavour. His parents, who were in 
 
 very modest circumstances, wished him to enter the 
 
 883 
 
224 GARIBALDI 
 
 priesthood, but his nature was too adventurous to 
 suit him for the religious hfe. Even as a boy he 
 craved action and wanted to share his father's life 
 on the sea. Father and grandfather had been 
 sailors, and the boy Giuseppe could not be kept 
 from boats. Realizing this inheritance, the father 
 took him with him on his voyages. His second 
 voyage was made to Rome, and the sight of that 
 city stirred the boy to the foundations of his na- 
 ture. Years later he wrote of this first boyhood 
 impression, " Rome, which I had before admired 
 and thought of frequently, I ever since have loved. 
 It has been dear to me beyond all things. I not 
 only admired her for her former power and the 
 remains of antiquity, but even the smallest thing 
 connected with her was precious to me." 
 
 Very early, on a voyage to Russia, a young 
 Ligurian mate told the youth something of the 
 plans of the scattered Italian patriots, and, once 
 conscious that there was a movement on foot to 
 liberate his beloved country. Garibaldi sought all 
 people and writings which could enlighten him on 
 that score. ^ Thus he came almost immediately un- 
 der the influence of Mazzini's work and joined his 
 new movement of " Young Italy." From the mo- 
 ment of this association his life held the single pur- 
 pose, he was ready to make any sacrifice in this 
 cause. In 1834 he joined in the ill-fated expedi- 
 
GARIBALDI 
 
THE CRUSADER 225 
 
 tion to Savoy, and as a consequence found himself 
 on February 5, of that year, flying from Genoa as 
 a prescript. A few days later he learned from 
 a newspaper that he had been condemned to death 
 by the government. Shortly afterwards he sailed 
 from Marseilles for Brazil. 
 
 /For the next fourteen years Garibaldi led the 
 life of a guerilla leader, fighting the battles of 
 Montevideo, and taking a chief part in the in- 
 numerable wars for independence which served to 
 keep the South American states in constant up- 
 heaval during the first half of the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury. /The various states were full of French, 
 Spanish, and ItaHan adventurers, and Garibaldi 
 contrived, with that intuitive insight into charac- 
 ter which was one of the chief characteristics of his 
 genius, to choose certain of the Italians who were 
 as intense partisans of liberty as he, and form 
 them into a legion, destined to be the nucleus of 
 that famous Italian " Legion " which was later to 
 win its victories on the other side of the world. The 
 South American adventures of the yoUng general 
 read like a story from the romantic pages of a 
 novelist, they are a perpetual record of battles, 
 sieges, and alarms. Through their turbulent 
 course Garibaldi learned experience of rough, ir- 
 regular fighting, which was later to prove invalu- 
 able. To add to the romance of these years Garj- 
 
226 GARIBALDI 
 
 baldi met at a small town in the district of La- 
 guna, in Brazil, the woman who so charmed him 
 at first sight that he immediately wooed her and 
 won her for his wife, the dearly beloved Anita who 
 accompanied him afterwards on all his military 
 expeditions, both by land and sea, and proved her- 
 self the equal of any of his men in devotion and 
 the most intrepid courage in the face of extreme 
 peril. 
 
 In 1847 Pius IX., the new Pontiff, stirred all 
 Italian patriots with the brave words he uttered 
 in behalf of a new and free Italy. To men who 
 had waited long for a leader who should unite all 
 the small states the Pope appeared as a real de- 
 liverer, and for a few short months he did indeed 
 stand at the head of a movement closely allied to 
 the Guelphic policies of the Middle Ages. / The 
 news of the Pope's caU to all Italians reached 
 Garibaldi and his friends in Montevideo, and im- 
 mediately the former and his friend. Colonel An- 
 zani, wrote to Pius IX. tendering him their alle- 
 giance, and offering the assistance of their swords. 
 Lines throughout the letter show the self-abne- 
 gating, single-hearted devotion of Garibaldi to 
 Italy's cause, the one sacred service of his life. 
 " If then to-day our arms, which are not strangers 
 to fighting, are acceptable to your Holiness, we 
 need not say how willingly we shall offer them in 
 
THE CRUSADER 227 
 
 the service of one who has done so much for our 
 country and our church. We shall count our- 
 selves happy if we can but come to aid Pius IX. 
 in his work of redemption. . . . We shall consider 
 ourselves privileged if we are allowed to show our 
 devotedness by offering our blood." Unfortu- 
 nately the Pope was not made of the same heroic 
 fiber as the South American soldier. No answer 
 was made to the letter, but Garibaldi was so eager 
 to be on the scene of action and learn conditions 
 for himself that he immediately sailed, although 
 still under sentence of death, for Italy with fifty 
 members of his Legion. 
 
 They landed at Nice on June 24, 1848. Al- 
 ready they had learned at Alicante the stirring 
 events of that memorable spring, and were burn- 
 ing to take the field against the Austrlans. / The 
 leader and his handful of men hastened to Lom- 
 bardy to offer their services to the Sardinian King, 
 Charles Albert. The King received the offer very 
 coldly, but, his ardor undaunted, Garibaldi pushed 
 on to Milan. The latter city had learned of his 
 many battles in South America and hailed him 
 with great enthusiasm. From the country volun- 
 teers came pouring to his standard, and in an in- 
 credibly short time at least 30,000 men had joined 
 the remnant of the legion. They were most of 
 them wild with the desire to drive the Austrians 
 
228 GARIBALDI 
 
 from Lombardy. / Charles Albert was defeated 
 and signed an armistice by which Milan was given 
 back to the Empire, but the Garibaldian army 
 paid no heed to the formal terms of peace, and 
 continued a guerilla warfare wherever white- 
 coated Austrians were to be found. 
 
 An eye-witness, Giulio Dandolo, thus describes 
 the appearance of Garibaldi's troops : " Picture 
 to yourself," he says, " an incongruous assem- 
 blage of individuals of all descriptions, boys of 
 twelve or fourteen, veteran soldiers attracted by 
 the fame of the celebrated chieftain of Montevideo, 
 some stimulated by ambition, others seeking for 
 impunity and license in the confusion of war, yet 
 so restrained by the inflexibile severity of their 
 leader that courage and daring alone could find a 
 vent, whilst more lawless passions were curbed be- 
 neath his wiU. The general and his staff all rode 
 on American saddles, wore scarlet blouses, with 
 hats of every possible form, without distinction of 
 any kind, or pretension to military ornament. . . . 
 Garibaldi, if the encampment was far from the 
 scene of danger, would stretch himself under his 
 tent; If on the contrary the enemy were near at 
 hand he remained constantly on horseback giving 
 orders and visiting the outposts. Often disguised 
 as a peasant, he risked his own safety in daring 
 reconnaissances, but most frequently, seated on 
 
THE CRUSADER 229 
 
 some commanding elevation, he would pass whole 
 hours examining the surrounding country with his 
 telescope. When the general's trumpet gave the 
 signal to prepare for departure lassoes secured the 
 horses which had been left to graze in the mea- 
 dows. The order of march was always arranged 
 on the preceding day, and the corps set out with- 
 out so much as knowing where the evening would 
 find them. Owing to this patriarchal simplicity, 
 pushed sometimes too far, Garibaldi appeared 
 more like the chief of a tribe of Indians than a 
 general, but at the approach of danger and in the 
 heat of combat, his presence of mind was admi- 
 rable; and then by the astonishing rapidity of his 
 movements he made up in a great measure for his 
 deficiency in those qualities which are generally 
 supposed to be absolutely essential to a military 
 commander." 
 
 Speed and audacity constituted the two main 
 elements of the leader's tactics. One day when 
 on Lake Maggiore Garibaldi managed to take 
 two Austrian steamers by surprise, and placing 
 1500 men upon them, suddenly appeared at Luino. 
 From there he planned an attack on 10,000 Aus- 
 trians encamped nearby, but news of his inten- 
 tions reached the enemy, and he was obliged to 
 scatter his small force in a skilfully contrived re- 
 treat. The actual result of such a campaign was 
 
230 GARIBALDI 
 
 small, but the extreme skill of his sudden advances 
 and retreats won him a European prestige as a 
 master of light warfare, and continually brought 
 soldiers to his standard. When the regular armies 
 ceased fighting ardent patriots turned to Gari- 
 baldi as the last remaining hope. 
 
 While in Switzerland he was seized with marsh 
 fever and became dangerously iU. When he re- 
 covered he joined his family at Nice and there 
 spent the autumn. Charles Albert had by now 
 repented his cold treatment of the young man's of- 
 fer of service and tendered him a high rank in 
 the Sardinian army. Garibaldi, however, wished 
 more immediate action than such a position of- 
 fered, and had moreover been fired with hope at 
 the reports of Daniel Manin's heroic defense of 
 Venice against the Austrians. He determined to 
 go to Venice, and started with two hundred and 
 fifty volunteer companions. At Ravenna he 
 learned of the revolution at Rome, and then, as 
 always in his life, could not resist the call of 
 the Eternal City. He changed his course to- 
 wards Rome, and as he traveled his followers in- 
 creased to 1500 men. With this band he ap- 
 proached the city, which had been deserted by 
 that Pope of noble impulses but timid resolution to 
 whom Garibaldi had written offering his services 
 the previous year. 
 
THE CRUSADER 231 
 
 Pius IX. executed a complete volte-face. Ter- 
 rified at the assassination of his Prime Minister 
 Rossi, and worked on by his clerical ministers of 
 State and foreign diplomatists, he withdrew the 
 liberal concessions he had just granted his Roman 
 subjects, declared the notoriously vicious King 
 Bomba of Naples a model monarch and fled to 
 Gaeta, leaving Rome to the revolutionists. /At 
 the same time Mazzini the arch idealist appeared 
 among them, and he and Garibaldi, both hailed as 
 pre-eminent leaders in their respective fields, were 
 elected members of the new Roman Assembly, 
 f Mazzini was in charge of the civil government, 
 Garibaldi of the army now rapidly gathering from 
 all parts of Italy. He took his position on 
 the frontier menaced by the Neapolitan army, and 
 fortified the stronghold of Rieti. 
 
 Meanwhile in northern Italy Charles Albert had 
 again taken the field, had lost the battle of 
 Novara, and had abdicated. The Roman Repub- 
 lic immediately found itself beset by great Euro- 
 pean Powers, Austria, Spain, and Naples, eager 
 to restore the Pontiff' and teach his audacious sub- 
 jects a salutary lesson. As Manin in Venice, so 
 Mazzini in Rome looked to France for succor, or 
 at least to uphold the policy of non-intervention. 
 Did not the constitution of the then existing 
 French Republic specifically state that that nation 
 
234 GARIBALDI 
 
 appearance of his red-shlrted troops. They were 
 convinced that Garibaldi was the devil, for they 
 found that even holy silver bullets failed to strike 
 him down. 
 
 Fearing lest the French might attack Rome in 
 his absence Garibaldi now returned there, making 
 a rapid retreat and passing within two miles of 
 the enemy. De Lesseps and the Triumvirs were 
 still conferring. / Then for some unaccountable 
 reason a Colonel Roselli was placed over Gari- 
 baldi's head, and the famous commander, prob- 
 ably the victim of malicious envy, was only second 
 in command. He did not complain. " Some of 
 my friends," he wrote characteristically, " urged 
 me not to accept a secondary position, under a 
 man who, only the day before, was my inferior, but 
 I confess these questions of self-love never yet 
 troubled me; whoever gives me a chance of fight- 
 ing, if only as a common soldier, against the 
 enemy of my country, him will I thank." 
 
 The army of King Bomba now rallied, and took 
 certain strongholds on the road to Rome. /Gari- 
 baldi was sent out to dislodge them, and met and 
 put to flight a large Neapolitan column near Vel- 
 letri. The latter took refuge in that city, but 
 when the Roman volunteers made a reconnaissance 
 of the place in the morning they found the army 
 had fled panic-stricken during the night. Again 
 
THE CRUSADER 235 
 
 the name of Garibaldi and the magic of his red 
 shirt, or famous " camicia rossa," had been too 
 much for them. The only credit the Neapolitan 
 general could contrive to take to himself was a 
 statement in the official report of the extraordi- 
 nary rapidity and safety of his retreat. 
 
 A few days later General Roselli ordered Gari- 
 baldi to carry the war into Neapolitan territory, 
 and he had proceeded along the ancient Samnite 
 road as far as the banks of the Volturno when 
 messengers called him in all haste back to Rome to 
 be present at the final negotiations with the 
 French. /He returned to Rome on May 24, to be 
 hailed again as the invincible defender of the 
 Republic. 
 
 The French Commissioner De Lesseps signed 
 certain agreements with the Roman Assembly and 
 then referred these agreements to General Oudi- 
 not for ratification. The General, however, had 
 by this time received his long-desired re-enforce- 
 ments, and, stating that De Lesseps had exceeded 
 his authority, prepared for an immediate attack. 
 He said, however, that he would postpone the 
 actual assault until Monday, June 4, but did 
 actually commence operations on Sunday the 3d, 
 taking the Romans oiF their guard and capturing 
 the outposts and the Ponte Molle. 
 
 So soon as the treacherous attapk was known 
 
236 GARIBALDI 
 
 the bells of the Capitol gave the alarm, and Gari- 
 baldi's Legion, together with the Lombard volun- 
 teers, rushed to the defense. The fighting in the 
 entire circuit of the city's walls was desperate, 
 but the soldiers of the Legion were no longer op- 
 posed to Austrians or superstitious Neapolitans, 
 but to veteran French troops, so numerous that 
 losses meant little to them. Nevertheless the city 
 held out while De Lesseps pleaded for the terms 
 of his agreement at Paris. - Garibaldi tried every 
 device to dislodge the French batteries which were 
 shattering the Roman walls, but all to no avail. 
 It was clear that the siege would be only a matter 
 of days before news came that the French gov- 
 ernment disavowed any part in the agreement 
 signed by De Lesseps. Mazzini still urged resist- 
 ance to the end, but the disparity in forces was 
 so overwhelming that Garibaldi could not agree 
 with him. This difference of opinion tended to 
 widen still further the gulf which already existed 
 between the theorist and the soldier. 
 / On June 21 the French succeeded in planting 
 a battery within the city walls, and from that time 
 the work of destruction progressed more rapidly. 
 The defense was intensely dramatic, demagogues 
 mixing with the purest natured patriots, the pop- 
 ular orator Ciceruacchio, with bloody shirt and 
 sword, pouring forth his burning words on the 
 
THE CRUSADER 287 
 
 spirit of ancient Roman independence, Ugo Bassi, 
 the monk, going about among the dying, holding 
 the crucifix before their eyes, utterly regardless 
 of the storm of bullets all around him. It was a 
 noble defense, but it could have only one end, and 
 so finally on June 30, at the advice of Garibaldi, 
 who appeared before the Triumvirs, his clothing 
 shot into ribbons, the Government issued the order 
 that " The Roman Republic in the name of God 
 and the people gives up a defense which has become 
 impossible." 
 
 On that same day the Triumvirs resigned, and 
 the Assembly appointed Garibaldi dictator. For 
 a few days negotiations looking to an armistice 
 were conducted between the French and the Roman 
 lines. Finally, on July 3, the negotiations came 
 to an end. Garibaldi called the troops into the 
 great square before St. Peter's. " Soldiers ! " he 
 declared, " that which I have to offer you is this ; 
 hunger, thirst, cold, heat; no pay, no barracks, 
 no rations, but frequent alarms, forced marches, 
 charges at the point of the bayonet. Whoever 
 loves our country and glory may follow me!" 
 About four thousand men instantly volunteered, 
 and at almost the same hour when the French en- 
 tered the city the little Legion left, taking the 
 road to Tivoli, with the purpose of gaining the 
 broken Tuscan mountain country. The leader's 
 
238 GARIBALDI 
 
 devoted wife Anita went with him, as patiently 
 his companion in adventures in Italy as in her 
 native South America. 
 
 The Papal banner was flung from the Castle 
 of St. Angelo, and the Roman Republic came to 
 an end. Its story is almost as eventful, almost 
 as heroic as Manin's defense of the Venetian Re- 
 public during practically the same time. In both 
 cases the cities fell, but as Manin at Venice so 
 Mazzini and Garibaldi at Rome had taught their 
 people that they were capable of the greatest sac- 
 rifies in the cause of that liberty of which all 
 Italy was dreaming. 
 
 Long pages would be needed to tell of the excite- 
 ments and dangers which befell Garibaldi and 
 his army as they threaded their way northward, 
 their ultimate .destination Venice, which had not 
 yet surrendered. The French and Austrians were 
 always at their heels, and the troop must inevi- 
 tably have been captured but for the masterly 
 skill of the general in such guerilla warfare. 
 Swift night marches, daytime lying in wait, 
 sudden attacks and equally sudden retreats, 
 served to carry them gradually away from Rome. 
 They left Orvieto one hour before the French 
 troops entered. Thence the route lay by Arezzo 
 and Montepulciano to the little republic of San 
 Marino, close to Rimini. By this time the army 
 
THE CRUSADER 239 
 
 was sadly reduced in size and strength, the Aus- 
 trians were pressing close upon their heels, and 
 Garibaldi saw that escape could only lie in scat- 
 tering his men. He released all the volunteers, 
 bidding them farewell, reminding them that it was 
 better to die than to live as slaves to the foreigner. 
 
 The Austrians threatened an immediate attack 
 on San Marino, and Garibaldi with a few com- 
 panions fled secretly at night. Anita, although 
 utterly worn out by illness, would not leave him. 
 The little band reached the port of Cesenatico 
 and embarked on the Adriatic in thirteen small 
 boats. The Austrian fire forced nine of the boats 
 to surrender, the remaining four, in one of which 
 was the general, his wife, Ciceruacchio, the 
 Roman orator, and the priest Ugo Bassi, suc- 
 ceeded in escaping and landing near the mouth 
 of the Po. 
 
 The fugitives had barely landed when they 
 were surrounded by Austrian scouts. Anita be- 
 came desperately ill, and was forced to hide with 
 her husband in a cornfield, an old comrade of 
 Garibaldi's in South America keeping watch over 
 them. The general was beside himself with grief 
 as he tended his rapidly failing wife. Ugo Bassi, 
 afraid to stay with them lest his presence should 
 lead to their discovery, was shortly captured by 
 Austrians, and Ciceruacchio and the nine others 
 
240 GARIBALDI 
 
 were soon after taken prisoners. All but the ora- 
 tor and the priest were immediately shot. Bassi 
 and Ciceruacchio were taken to Bologna, and 
 there ordered executed by Bedini, the Papal Le- 
 gate, a man of infamous memory, who commanded 
 that Bassi be tortured before execution. The 
 heroic priest must always stand forth as one of 
 the rarest martyr-spirits produced by the great 
 struggle for Italian liberty. 
 
 Garibaldi succeeded in finding some kind- 
 hearted peasants who carried Anita to a cottage. 
 Not long after she reached its shelter she died. 
 The general, broken-hearted, was forced by the 
 approach of Austrian soldiers to go to Ra- 
 venna, thence in disguise he went to Florence and 
 finally to Genoa. Here he visited his mother and 
 his three children, who had been left by Anita 
 with their grandmother. His presence in Genoa 
 was an embarrassment to the Government at 
 Turin, and they courteously asked him to leave 
 Italy. Instead of doing so he went to Sardinia, 
 much to the uneasiness of the French, who wished 
 him farther away./ In this mountain island he 
 lived a life, half that of a hermit, and half of a 
 bandit, continually hunted as an outlaw, and find- 
 ing entire safety only on the small island rock of 
 Caprera. This tiny island, destined to become 
 famous as his home, abounded in natural beauty 
 
THE CRUSADER 241 
 
 of a wild and desolate type, and made a deep im- 
 pression on the refugee, whose mind was always 
 peculiarly open to the spell of majestic scenery. 
 
 Finally, to the great relief of both France and 
 Piedmont, Garibaldi W£is induced to leave Sardin- 
 ian territory. He went to Gibraltar, but was only 
 allowed to stay twenty-four hours. No European 
 country was anxious to harbor a man whose name 
 had become a watchword for revolutionary zeal. 
 Finding this to be the case the general sailed for 
 New York, and spent about a year and a half 
 engaged In making tallow candles in a small back 
 street. He was not alone in his exile, the disturb- 
 ing years of 1848 and 184!9 had sent many a 
 revolutionary exile across the seas, and at one time 
 in New York Lamartine, Louis Blanc, Ledru Rol- 
 lin, and three or four others almost equally prom- 
 inent were supporting themselves there by manual 
 labor. 
 
 When he left New York Garibaldi went again 
 to South America, and became captain of a mer- 
 chant vessel trading between Peru and Hong 
 Kong. Again he returned to New York and com- 
 manded a trader flying the American flag but 
 sailed by Italians, who like himself were awaiting 
 a new tide in affairs before returning home. / The 
 many ups and downs of these roving years 
 abounded with adventures, but even here Gari- 
 
242 GARIBALDI 
 
 baldi's life was no more thrilling than when he 
 was at the head of his irregular troops in Italy. 
 
 After four years of wandering he returned to 
 Genoa, stopping for a short stay at Newcastle-on- 
 Tyne, where he was enthusiastically greeted by 
 English admirers, and given a presentation 
 sword. When he reached Genoa he found that 
 his mother had died, and that his three children 
 were living with his cousins. A few short trips at 
 sea succeeded in earning him sufficient money to 
 buy part of the lit Lie island of Caprera, of which 
 he was so fond. Here he established himself to 
 await events. Europe had grown mbre peaceful, 
 but Garibaldi, hot-headed as he was, could see 
 that Piedmont was slowly but surely widening the 
 breach between herself and Austria. He began 
 to look to Piedmont as the hope of Italy, and little 
 by little to understand, especially when the small 
 kingdom allied itself with France and England 
 against Russia, that Piedmont meant Cavour, and 
 that the latter was the match of any diplomatic 
 strategist in Europe. 
 
 Garibaldi purchased half of the island of Cap- 
 rera in 1855, and immediately took possession. 
 Working with his own hands he built first a log 
 hut and then a more pretentious villa, to which 
 in time he brought his cousins, the Deideris, and 
 his children, Theresita, who was rapidly becom- 
 
THE CRUSADER MS 
 
 iug a very beautiful girl, and the boys Menotti 
 and Ricciotti. The general called himself the 
 " recluse of Caprera," and worked hard to culti- 
 vate a soil naturally barren and difBcult. He was 
 glad of the opportunity to rest after so many 
 years of stirring action, and day by day grew 
 more enamoured of the wild vegetation of his 
 island home and the steep cliiFs that bordered it 
 against the sea. Often he had visitors from near- 
 by Sardinia, simple enthusiastic folk who were 
 delighted to look upon him as a national hero, and 
 confidently expected that some day he would lead 
 an Italian army to the greatest victories. In such 
 patriarchal simplicity he spent the years until 
 1859, hearing frora time to time news of Cavour's 
 policies at Turin, always eager in hope that his 
 sword might soon be drawn in conjunction with 
 that of a national army. 
 
 . Ten years of patient waiting and subtle diplo- 
 macy mark the decade between the siege of Rome 
 and 1859. In that time Cavour, by the succes- 
 sive steps of the Crimean War, the Congress of 
 Paris, and the secret Pact of Plombieres, had suc- 
 ceeded in isolating Austria from the other Powers, 
 and in allying Louis Napoleon with Piedmont. 
 His next step was to prepare actively for war, 
 and with this purpose he called Garibaldi to see 
 him at Turin. Garibaldi went to the Minister's 
 
24.4 GARIBALDI 
 
 house, dressed in his usual campaign clothes, wear- 
 ing a loose red blouse and broad-brimmed hat, and 
 refused to give his name to the servant. On Ca- 
 vour's hearing of the presence of such a disrepu- 
 table appearing stranger, he said, " Let the poor 
 devil in, he probably has some petition to ask of 
 me." 
 
 The meeting was most amicable, Cavour asked 
 Garibaldi to command the new volunteer army 
 known as the " Hunters of the Alps," and Gari- 
 baldi was delighted to accept. Immediately he 
 began recruiting his forces, and so spontaneous 
 was the rising throughout northern and central 
 Italy that by May of that year he was at the 
 head of three regiments of infantry well-equipped 
 for instant service. Austria was dismayed, and 
 demanded that Cavour dismiss the men, but by 
 what was probably the most fortunate coup in his 
 whole career Cavour was able to appear willing 
 to have peace, and yet force Austria to war. 
 Napoleon stood by Piedmont, and in May, 1869, 
 the campaign that was to redeem the inglorious 
 field of Novara commenced. 
 
 Garibaldi's great reputation caused friction 
 between him and the officers of the regular army, 
 and he who had been used to the greatest freedom 
 of action found himself seriously hampered by 
 directions from headquarters. He hailed with de- 
 
THE CRUSADER 24.5 
 
 light King Victor Emmanuel's permission to sepa- 
 rate from the regular army and fight as he 
 pleased, accompanied as it was with the King's 
 remark, "Go where you Hke, do what you like; 
 I feel only one regret, that I am not able to fol- 
 low you." 
 
 The resulting campaign showed the great guer- 
 illa warrior at his best. As with the Neapolitans 
 in 1849, so with the Croats in 1859, Garibaldi 
 was credited with superhuman powers. At times 
 the success attending his sheer effrontery seemed 
 almost to justify such a conclusion. Time and 
 again he placed himself in positions so desperate 
 that it was only his quickness of wit in seizing at 
 a possible chance that saved him. Had he failed 
 he would have been rated as a bungler, but as he 
 succeeded the desperation of each chance served 
 only to magnify his strategy. He was a remark- 
 able mathematician, able to estimate all possible 
 combinations adroitly and quickly, he never de- 
 spaired, and never hesitated when he had decided 
 on a plan. As a result the " Hunters of the 
 Alps," or Garibaldini, as the volunteers were called, 
 hung on the Austrian troops all through Lom- 
 bardy and the Lake country, driving them from 
 town after town by sudden assaults, continually 
 tricking much larger forces by clever misrep- 
 resentations of their own strength. Garibaldi en- 
 
246 GARIBALDI 
 
 tered Lombard territory and took Varese. After 
 defeating the Austrians near there in the battle of 
 Malnate he swept up to Cavallesca, near Como, 
 and, attacking a much larger force than his own, 
 drove the enemy through Como towards Monza. 
 Como received the Hunters with open arms, Gari- 
 baldi telegraphed to Milan, using the Austrian 
 General's name, and so gained information of the 
 Allies. Soon afterwards he stationed his advance 
 guard at the Villa Medici, looking down over lake 
 after lake, and with a panoramic view of the Alps. 
 Here the Austrians thought to surround him, but 
 by means of sending false messages planned to fall 
 into the enemy's hands, and by taking advantage 
 of a heavy storm at night, he succeeded in escaping 
 them and regaining Como. 
 
 Meanwhile the regular army was winning vic- 
 tories, Montebello, Magenta, Solferino, and San 
 Martino were falling to the glory of French and 
 ItaKan arms. ,, The Austrians were steadily being 
 driven back. Garibaldi left Como and took Ber- 
 gamo, then Brescia. As he advanced the men of 
 the land he crossed joined his army, Brescia set to 
 work to fortify its walls at his command. He was 
 ordered to follow the Austrians, and pursued them 
 to Tre Ponti, which he won, although at such a 
 cost he was obliged to fall back on the main army. 
 / Napoleon the Third had no intention of winning 
 
THE CRUSADER 247 
 
 too many victories for Italy, nor of allowing the 
 Garibaldian troops to gain unseemly power. The 
 plans of the general were therefore interfered with, 
 his recruits diverted into other channels, and the 
 Hunters sent into the passes of the Stelvio on the 
 pretext of preventing an attack from Germany, 
 but in reality to prevent Garibaldi from crossing 
 Lake Garda and gaining the valley of the Adige 
 and the Veronese mountains. The general obeyed, 
 and conducted a markedly successful campaign 
 near Sondrio and Bormio, finding himself in his 
 true element among the Alps. 
 /'Then came the stupefying news that Napoleon 
 had made the peace of Villafranca. The rage of 
 the Garibaldini knew no bounds, their general 
 hurried to Victor Emmanuel's camp to tender his 
 resignation. The King would not accept it. 
 " Italy still requires the legions you command," he 
 said, " you must remain ! " Garibaldi returned to 
 his troops, his hatred for Louis Napoleon more 
 intense than ever, but convinced that the peace 
 only marked a short pause in the great forward 
 movement. 
 
 Too much credit cannot be given Victor Em- 
 manuel for his resolution at this time. /Bitterly 
 disappointed as he must have been at such an 
 abrupt end to a campaign that had promised to 
 open Italy from the Alps to the Adriatic, he yet 
 
248 GARIBALDI 
 
 managed to hide his chagrin, and held Garibaldi, 
 even as he a little later induced Cavour to resume 
 the post which he had in a burst of rage resigned. 
 Fortunately also the formal statement of the 
 peace-makers that the Princes should be restored 
 to their thrones in Florence, Modena, and Parma, 
 and the Pope's legates at Bologna, Ferrara, Forli, 
 and Ravenna was simply a statement, the people 
 of those cities had quite different views. They 
 had tasted of liberty and of the victories of a 
 national army, ^^ and one city after another an- 
 nounced that it would have no more of its 
 foreign rulers, that its people wished to become 
 citizens of Italy and subjects of Victor Emmanuel. 
 Garibaldi heard this and was convinced that it no 
 longer lay in the power of his arch enemy, Louis 
 Napoleon, to keep Italians separated. " What- 
 ever may be the march of existing circumstances," 
 he said to his men, " Italians must neither lay aside 
 their arms, nor be discouraged. They ought on 
 the contrary to increase in number in their ranks, 
 to testify to Europe that, guided by their King, 
 Victor Emmanuel, they are ready to face again the 
 vicissitudes of war, whatever they may be. Per- 
 haps at the moment we least expect it the signal of 
 alarm may again be sounded ! " 
 
 He was sent into central Italy, and at Florence, 
 at Bologna, at Rimini, he had only to appear to 
 
THE CRUSADER 249 
 
 have volunteers crowd about him. Napoleon 
 learned of this and remonstrated to the govern- 
 ment at Turin, which attempted to check the ardor 
 of its great general, and yet keep him for further 
 use. It was a time when Cavour's skill was taxed 
 to the uttermost to avoid a break either with the 
 French or with the Garibaldians. 
 
 The news of Cavour's decision to cede Savoy 
 and Nice to France, a decision only reached when 
 it became evident that it was the price Napoleon 
 demanded for allowing central Italy to unite with 
 Piedmont, came like a thunder clap to Garibaldi. 
 Born in Nice he declared that the act made him " a 
 stranger in his own country." He was immedi- 
 ately returned to Parliament for Nice and bitterly 
 attacked Cavour's policy in the Chamber. He 
 spoke at length, claiming that the cession was both 
 an infraction of the original charter by which 
 Nice had become a part of the Sardinian kingdom, 
 and a violation of the fundamental law of nation- 
 ality. Cavour, however, carried the Parliament 
 with him, and Garibaldi left for Nice to take fare- 
 well of it, for he refused to remain there and be- 
 come a citizen of France. He was disgusted with 
 the compromises of diplomacy. " I have nothing 
 to do with men or political parties," he declared, 
 " my country, and nothing but my country, is my 
 object." 
 
250 GARIBALDI 
 
 Two other incidents of the campaign of 1859 
 must be mentioned, the one Garibaldi's visit to 
 Anita's grave near Ravenna, the scene of those 
 bitter days immediately after the fall of Rome, 
 to which he now returned as a conqueror. The 
 other was his marriage at Como during his fight- 
 ing in the Lakes to Giuseppina Raymondi, the 
 adventurous daughter of the Marquis Raymondi, 
 who persuaded the general that she was deeply in 
 love with him, in order that marriage might shield 
 her sadly tarnished name. Garibaldi would not 
 hear of the marriage at first, and declared that 
 since Anita's death his heart was withered. The 
 Marquis answered, " It is with freedom, and with 
 Italian unity that my daughter is enamoured, and 
 with you as the embodiment of it in Italy." The 
 general could not withstand that appeal, and con- 
 sented to the marriage. The depths of the treach- 
 ery were revealed to him immediately afterwards, 
 and he left his new wife at once. It was years, 
 however, before he was granted a divorce from her. 
 ' Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi each played an 
 important part in the next act of the great drama 
 of Italy, but Garibaldi unquestionably held the 
 center of the stage. / The act was the famous 
 expedition of the Thousand to Sicily, a perform- 
 ance foolhardy and rash in the extreme, which was, 
 however, destined to bring to a speedy fruition the 
 
THE CRUSADER 251 
 
 long-deferred hopes of all Italians patriots. / Maz- 
 zini's part was to prepare the field, he had early 
 chosen Sicily as a most favorable scene for revolu- 
 tionary action, and had sent agents to smuggle 
 arms into the island, to hold meetings and gen- 
 erally to arouse the people. /Cavour's part was to 
 play the double game of protesting against the 
 expedition in the eyes of the Powers, and of aiding 
 it as best he could secretly. He foresaw the risks 
 that would beset it, and the even greater risk to 
 his Kiag of having such a dictator as Garibaldi 
 win many victories, yet he could not absolutely 
 prevent a scheme devised in all patriotic fervor. 
 He gave public orders to the Sardinian admiral to 
 capture Garibaldi and bring him back, but with 
 a secret message which the admiral rightly under- 
 stood as meaning that Cavour wished no such 
 event to happen. In much the same manner the 
 British ambassador at Turin, Sir James Hudson, 
 and the British fleet in the Mediterranean, al- 
 though ostensibly strictly neutral, contrived not 
 to embarrass Garibaldi, and the fleet even went so 
 far as to appear inadvertently between the Nea- 
 politan ships and those that bore the Thousand, 
 thereby preventing what might have been an un- 
 timely cannonade. , Though few in oiScial places 
 therefore openly countenanced the expedition, 
 many hoped that it would succeed. Under such 
 
262 GARIBALDI 
 
 circumstances the general sailed from Genoa on 
 May 5, 1860, with some 1067 picked men, many 
 recruited from the " Hunters of the Alps," hence- 
 forth to be known as the " Mille," and destined to 
 make one of the greatest expeditions in history, 
 and eventually to give two crowns to the house of 
 Savoy. 
 
 It was an historic day when the " great fili- 
 buster," as Garibaldi was called, sailed from 
 Genoa. Parents, wives, and children bade the 
 Thousand a tearful farewell in the rocky bay of 
 Quarto, where to-day a marble star upon the cliif 
 commemorates the event. At Talamone they 
 landed to seize some arms and to send a force of 
 one hundred men into the Papal States to incite 
 rebellion. Then they set sail fairly out to sea, and 
 Garibaldi and his chiefs planned the SiciHan cam- 
 paign. /May 11 the two shiploads reached Mar- 
 sala, hotly pursued by Neapolitan cruisers. The 
 Thousand took possession of the town, the general 
 issued glowing proclamations to the citizens, and 
 quickly recruited a corps of over a thousand 
 Sicihan scouts. .' From Marsala they went to 
 Salemi, a march triumphantly acclaimed by 
 monks, priests, women, and children who lined the 
 roads, and with Sicilian impetuosity were carried 
 away by the sudden appearance of an Italian 
 army. At Salemi Garibaldi issued this pronun- 
 
THE CRUSADER 253 
 
 ciamento : " Garibaldi, commander-in-chief of the 
 national forces in Sicily, on the invitation of the 
 principal citizens, and on the deliberation of the 
 free communes of the island, considering that in 
 time of war it is necessary that the civil and mili- 
 ■ tary power should be united in one person, as- 
 sumes, in the name of Victor Emmanuel, King of 
 Italy, the Dictatorship in Sicily." 
 
 The first battle was fought in the heart of the 
 mountains, at Calatafimi, where numbers of ancient 
 rflins gave Garibaldi opportunity to use his skill 
 in irrep^nlar fir-^iting. The battle lasted three 
 hours, both Garibaldi's son Menotti, and the son 
 of Daniel Manin of Venice, were wounded; in the 
 end the conflict was a victory for the Thousand. 
 The Neapolitans fell back on Palermo, and Gari- 
 baldi planned to take the Sicilian capital. 
 
 Throughout the campaign the officers of the 
 King of Naples showed the same subKme incompe- 
 tence which characterized their sovereign. Palermo 
 should have been easy to defend, and with this 
 knowledge, and misled by Garibaldi's tactics into 
 believing him in retreat, the Neapolitan general 
 gave a great dinner at the capital and proceeded 
 to forget the war altogether. As a result, by a re- 
 markably swift march, Garibaldi appeared at the 
 gates of Palermo, carried them, swept through 
 street after street of the city, and drove the enemy 
 
254. GARIBALDI 
 
 into the castle and palace. For a few days the 
 city was laid waste by bombs from the two latter 
 positions, and from the fleet in the harbor, then 
 the Neapolitan general asked for an armistice, 
 which eventually ended in the evacuation of Sicily, 
 except at Messina and a few forts, by the army 
 of the King of Naples. As most of the soldiers 
 were Austrians, they left without any deep regret, 
 in fact with almost as much rejoicing as though 
 they had been victors. Free from the foreigners, 
 Palermo gave itself up to rejoicing, men and 
 women donned red shirts and acclaimed Garibaldi 
 as a second Cincinnatus and new Washington. All 
 relics of the former rulers were destroyed, Sicily 
 felt itself at last free to join the other states of 
 Italy. Immediately Cavour sent agents to urge' 
 annexation to Piedmont, but Garibaldi was not 
 yet ready for that step. He planned to win Na- 
 ples and Rome before he gave over his independent 
 dictatorship. 
 
 The scene now changes to Milazzo. Thither 
 Garibaldi's army, composed of the Thousand, of 
 many Palermitans, of an English brigade, and of 
 Hungarians, Frenchmen, Italians of all ranks, aU 
 drawn to the great general whose fame had now 
 spread from end to end of Europe, proceeded. 
 There was hard fighting at Milazzo, but in time 
 the city fell, and Messina lay practically open to 
 
THE CRUSADER 255 
 
 the invaders. A few more days and Garibaldi 
 was encamped there, resting and recuperating 
 after the entire liberation of Sicily. 
 
 It is no exaggeration to say that fortune had 
 showered her richest gifts on Garibaldi during this 
 campaign. In a few short weeks he had driven all 
 the Neapolitan forces out of the island with httle 
 loss of life to his own men, had come into possession 
 of money, arms, boats, stores of all kinds, had 
 increased his army to some 25,000 men, had be- 
 come the idol of all Sicily, to whom the red shirt 
 became the proudest badge of man or woman, had 
 so thoroughly frightened King Francis II. that he 
 was unwilling to join his own army of defense, and 
 had so completely aroused Italy that from each 
 town young and old poured forth to make their 
 way to his invincible standard. Through it all, 
 he, whom fortune was doing everything to spoil, 
 remained as simple, as unmindful of personal com- 
 fort or aggrandizement, as in his early days. He 
 was at his best when he won Sicily and planned 
 his march on Naples, it was unfortunate that the 
 warrior should ever have attempted to become the 
 statesman. 
 
 Garibaldi's army remained at Messina for twen- 
 ty-three days. During part of that time the 
 general was engaged in assuring the Sardinian 
 goverpment that he hfid no interest in a revolu- 
 
256 GARIBALDI 
 
 tionary expedition which was attempting to march 
 into the Papal States. The rest of the time was 
 given to perfecting his plans for a descent on 
 Calabria. 
 
 August 19 the first detachment of the army 
 sailed from Taormina in the Torino and the 
 Franklin. The Neapolitan fleet was led into the 
 belief that the embarkation would be at Messina, 
 and by this ruse the ships succeeded in crossing to 
 the mainland unmolested. , They landed at Melito, 
 and early the next morning Garibaldi prepared 
 to march on Reggio. Again speed stood him in 
 good stead. The new Army of the South, as the 
 Thousand with its recruits was now called, took 
 the Neapolitan general by surprise. At two in the 
 morning Garibaldi's army marched into the city to 
 find the garrison asleep. The Neapolitan soldiers, 
 thoroughly alarmed at the appearance of the devil, 
 as they named Garibaldi, so suddenly among them, 
 paid no heed to their officers and rushed to a 
 nearby fortress. There severe fighting occurred 
 during the afternoon and night, but finally the 
 stronghold capitulated, and the jGaribaldians had 
 won an important base on the mainland. He sent 
 to Messina for the remainder of his troops, and 
 on August 22 began that celebrated " promenade 
 militaire " from Reggio to Naples, which bore 
 little resemblance to warfare, as the enemy fled 
 
THE CRUSADER 257 
 
 as fast as he approached, and the countrymen, as 
 well as deserters from the army of Naples, flocked 
 to join his march. 
 
 y Matters had now come to such a pass that it was 
 only necessary for Garibaldi to appear before a 
 town for it to capitulate ; 1 at Villa San Giovanni, 
 Garibaldi with a few hundred men back of him, 
 ordered 12,000 NeapoUtans to surrender, and they 
 immediately did so. Again at Soveria he ordered 
 1500 of the enemy to surrender and was obeyed. 
 It was enough for a red shirt to appear to cause 
 the enemy to fly or surrender, at certain parts of 
 the march the Neapolitan soldiers walked side by 
 side with the Garibaldians./ Town after town 
 welcomed the great general as the Liberator, as a 
 second John the Baptist. Both natives and Aus- 
 trians looked upon him with religious awe. | He 
 had only to appear to be surrounded with ecstatic 
 multitudes, his scouts had merely to say that Gari- 
 baldi was coming to send the enemy flying in all 
 haste. In one case it was enough to telegraph 
 he was near the town of Salerno, the defenders 
 immediately decamped. 
 
 The road to Naples lay open, the citizens of that 
 easily-excited capital were fairly beside themselves 
 in eagerness to welcome the Liberator. The gen- 
 eral left Salerno by train on September 7, but as 
 far as speed was concerned he might almost as well 
 
258 GARIBALDI 
 
 have walked. The people of all the towns on the 
 route, Torre del Greco, Resina, Portici, turned 
 out, covered the railroad tracks, boarded the train, 
 climbed on the engine, shouting with joy, singing 
 the Garibaldi hymn, frantic with enthusiasm as 
 they hailed the man who they believed brought with 
 him the millennium. 
 
 /In Naples it was the same, there was no end to 
 the uproar, to the enthusiasm, to the adulation. 
 Every one wore red, every one cheered, even the 
 troops of King Francis, who had retired to the 
 castle and fortress, could not resist the enthusiasm, 
 and flung up their caps and cheered for Garibaldi. 
 Naples had no government. Garibaldi appointed 
 a temporary governor, and issued a proclamation 
 glowing with patriotic fervor. 
 
 " People of Naples — 
 
 " It is with feelings of the profoundest respect 
 and love that I present myself before you in this 
 center of a noble and long-suffering people, whom 
 four centuries of tyranny have not been able to 
 humiliate, and whose spirit could never be broken 
 by a ruthless despotism. The first necessity of 
 Italy is harmony and social order!, without which 
 the unity of Italy is impossible. This day Prov- 
 idence has conferred that blessing upon you, and 
 has m^de me its minister. The same Providence 
 
THE CRUSADER 259 
 
 has also given you Victor Emmanuel, whom from 
 this moment I will designate the father of our 
 country. 
 
 " The model of all sovereigns, he will impress 
 upon his posterity the duty that they owe to a 
 people, who have with so much enthusiasm chosen 
 him for their king. You are supported by the 
 clergy, who, conscious of their true mission, have 
 with patriotic ardor and truly Christian conduct, 
 braved the gravest dangers of battle at the head 
 of our Itahan soldiers. The good Monks of La 
 Gancia, and the noble-hearted priests of the Nea- 
 politan continent have one and all assisted us in 
 the good fight. 
 
 " I repeat that harmony is the one essential 
 thing for Italy, and let us freely forgive those 
 who, having disagreed with us, are now repentant, 
 and are willing to contribute their mite to build 
 up the monument of our national glory. 
 
 " Lastly, we must make it apparent to all that, 
 while we respect the houses of other people, we are 
 determined to be masters in our own house, 
 whether the powers of the earth like it or not. — G. 
 Garibaldi." 
 
 No sooner was the need for actual warfare at an 
 end than countless difficulties arose in the liberated 
 city. Garibaldi was no disciplinarian, he had al- 
 
260 GARIBALDI 
 
 ways entrusted all harsh measures to others, he 
 refused to harbor suspicion or ill-will, his nature 
 was patient and simple and confiding. His sole 
 concern was to drive the foreigners out of Italy, 
 beyond that he had few plans. But as soon as 
 Naples was free scores of theorists in government 
 arose. Mazzini appeared, and his followers tried 
 to win Garibaldi over to their ideal republic, the 
 clerical party had another plan, the secret socie- 
 ties still another, and the brigands who infested 
 the country about Naples were already intriguing 
 for the return of the Bourbons, who had allowed 
 them free sway. Cavour sent his agents hurry- 
 ing to Naples to keep the people quiet and to urge 
 them to advocate immediate annexation with Pied- 
 mont. He had, however, a more difficult task on 
 his hands at the same time. He feared that Gari- 
 baldi would immediately march on Rome, and 
 Cavour knew that the Papal question could not be 
 settled in any such summary fashion. Napoleon 
 would immediately intervene, and the Army of the 
 South would find itself fighting France. That 
 was his great fear, and to prevent the event if 
 possible he sent the Army of Piedmont, of Lom- 
 bardy, of Tuscany south at the double quick. Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel must meet Garibaldi before the lat- 
 ter crossed the Volturno if trouble with France 
 were to be avoided. 
 
THE CRUSADER 261 
 
 Garibaldi, however, cared very little for diplo- 
 macy, his object was to take Rome with all speed, 
 and he refused to heed Cavour's agents. For- 
 tunately Francis II. of Naples finally decided to 
 make a stand, and so detained Garibaldi until the 
 northern army could arrive. Mazzini had said to 
 Garibaldi, " If you are not on your way towards 
 Rome or Venice before three weeks are over, your 
 initiative will be at an end." The prophecy, like 
 so many of Mazzini's, proved true. Garibaldi had 
 to fight several battles on the Volturno and be- 
 siege Capua before he could turn towards Rome, 
 and by that time Victor Emmanuel had reached 
 the scene of action. 
 
 The last battles were the hardest fought of the 
 campaign, but were ultimately won by the Army 
 of the South. Capua held out a little longer, but 
 finally fell, and Francis II. took himself safely to 
 Gaeta. 
 
 - On October 10 Garibaldi had called for a pop- 
 ular vote in the Two Sicilies for or against their 
 annexation to Piedmont. The vote was over- 
 whelmingly for annexation. Garibaldi issued a 
 final proclamation, ending, " Italy one ( as the 
 metropolis has wisely determined she shall be), 
 under the King, galantuomo, who is the symbol of 
 our regeneration, and the prosperity of our coun- 
 try." He met the King, and handed over to him 
 
262 GARIBALDI 
 
 his dictatorship of the kingdom of Naples and 
 Sicily. This moment, which was the climax of 
 his great expedition, was the proudest of his 
 career. 
 
 The general was still eager for an immediate 
 march on Rome, but the King would not have it. 
 It was arranged that the Army of the South 
 should be incorporated with the royal army, and 
 Garibaldi left Naples for Caprera. He borrowed 
 $100 to pay certain debts, and in the same meager 
 state in which he had set out he returned to his 
 rock of Caprera to wait until he should be needed. 
 
 At Caprera the general, now become the most 
 romantic figure in Europe, received countless dep- 
 utations of admirers from all nations. For a short 
 time he was content to resume his farm labors, but 
 the thought of Rome loomed ever larger in his 
 mind. He had not the gift of patience now, he 
 was convinced that his army of volunteers could 
 fight and overcome both France and Austria. The 
 delays of Cavour's policy irritated him, and finally 
 he went in April, 1861, to the Parliament at Turin 
 to speak his mind. He made a violent attack on 
 Cavour, to which the latter would not reply in 
 kind. A few days later the two men met at the 
 King's request and pretended a reconciliation. 
 Garibaldi could not appreciate Cavour's temperate 
 statecraft, Cavour realized that Garibaldi was 
 
THE CRUSADER 
 
 becoming the most difficult problem Italy had to 
 face. Unfortunately for Garibaldi, and doubly 
 unfortunately for Italy, Cavour was failing In 
 strength, and only a short time after the scene in 
 Turin the great Minister died. If he had lived 
 Italy would have been spared much that followed. 
 Garibaldi returned to Caprera and watched 
 from afar the policies of the new premiers, first 
 RicasoH, then Rattazzi. The latter was always 
 suspected of French leanings, and the extremists 
 were bitterly opposed to him. He was a brilliant 
 man, fated to meet disasters, as day after day 
 passed he found that the Garibaldian problem 
 called ever louder for solution. He saw that 
 Genoa, Sicily, and Naples were hotbeds of turbu- 
 lence, he knew that the people of the last-named 
 city had made a god of Garibaldi, had built altars 
 to him, and were imploring him to lead them 
 against the Pope, he knew that even in the Eternal 
 City hundreds were calling to him to deliver them. 
 Yet Rattazzi also knew that the problem of the 
 temporal power of the Pope was one of concern 
 to all Europe, and that Italy was not ready to 
 fight both France and Austria. / His final solu- 
 tion was this, one which must not be judged too 
 harshly when all the circumstances are considered, 
 to encourage Garibaldi to start a popular cam- 
 paign against the Pope, and then send the royal 
 
264 GARIBALDI 
 
 army to arrest him as fomenting civil strife. The 
 plan succeeded. In the spring of 1862 Garibaldi 
 could restrain his eagerness no longer. He an- 
 nounced to his delighted followers that he would 
 lead them to Rome. He was given to under- 
 stand the government would not actively interfere. 
 So, two years after his first expedition, we find him 
 again arriving triumphantly in Sicily, again we 
 find men of all classes flocking to him, again by 
 strategy he crossed the straits to Calabria and 
 took up his northward march. He had not gone 
 far when he found that the royal army was march- 
 ing against him. He became convinced of this 
 when he bivouacked on the famous hill of Aspro- 
 monte and saw the royal general, Pallavicini, 
 camped opposite him. The next day he tried to 
 lead his soldiers past the other army, but they 
 were stopped by the regular troops. Both gen- 
 erals affirmed that they gave no orders to fire, but 
 nevertheless shots were exchanged, and both Gari- 
 baldi and his son Menotti were wounded. A truce 
 was agreed upon, and the volunteers were placed 
 under the charge of the royal army. Garibaldi 
 became a state prisoner, perhaps the most difficult 
 prisoner any government ever had to take upon 
 its hands. All Italy was devoted to him, but 
 found that it could not control him. The govern- 
 ment had been placed in the most embarrassing 
 
THE CRUSADER 265 
 
 situation conceivable, it had been obliged to dis- 
 arm the man who had just given the King two 
 crowns. Aspromonte remains one of the most un- 
 fortunate events in the great battle for Italian 
 unity, but it was in a large measure inevitable. 
 Cavour might have contrived an escape from it, 
 but Garibaldi was too big a problem for his suc- 
 cessors to handle diplomatically. 
 
 The womided general was taken by slow con- 
 veyances to Scylla, and thence to the fort of 
 Varignano in the Gulf of Spezia. The wound 
 was painful, it was diiBcult to locate the bullet, 
 for a long time he was obliged to keep to his bed 
 and postpone further political action. His illness, 
 however, gave his friends a golden opportunity 
 to show their devotion ; women of all ranks fought 
 for the chance to nurse the hero, delegations from 
 England, from Germany, from aU parts of Italy 
 made pilgrimages to his prison, the hotels at 
 Spezia, the nearest town to the fortress, were 
 continually crowded by Garibaldi worshipers. It 
 seemed that what he had suffered at Aspromonte 
 had actually canonized him in the eyes of the 
 world. 
 
 His imprisonment could not last long; October 
 5, 1862, the government declared an amnesty 
 covering all participators in the late expedition 
 against Rome except those soldiers who had left 
 
266 GARIBALDI 
 
 the regular army to join the volunteers. Garibaldi 
 was now moved to Spezia, thence after a time to 
 Pisa. Each city he passed greeted him tumultu- 
 ously; in Pisa, the night of his arrival, the Gari- 
 baldi hymn was cheered so loudly at the theater 
 that the manager abandoned the play and had 
 nothing but the hymn rendered all the evening, 
 which pleased the audience greatly. At Pisa the 
 bullet was extracted from Garibaldi's foot, and 
 his recovery became more rapid. On December 
 20 he started for Caprera, giving a chance for 
 Leghorn to welcome him as he embarked for his 
 island home. Once there he found the rest of which 
 he was so much in need, although visitors con- 
 tinually besieged his little farm. The kindly in- 
 stincts of his nature showed in full flower, he gave 
 whatever his children or his friends asked of him, 
 sacrificing his own comforts continually for their 
 sake, and continually being imposed upon. He 
 wrote to the patriots suff'ering in Poland and Den- 
 mark, and wished that he might go to aid them. 
 Wherever men were in trouble he sympathized, he 
 could even find it in his heart to contribute to the 
 poor of Austria. '' 
 
 There were friends of the national cause who 
 feared that the aflPair of Aspromonte had injured 
 Garibaldi's prestige, and to revive it in full glory 
 they planned his triumphal visit to England in 
 
THE CRUSADER 267 
 
 the spring of 1863. , Garibaldi had always ad- 
 mired the English, and there was no question but 
 that the people of England had always zealously 
 sided with Italy against France and Austria, no 
 matter how strongly their government might feel 
 that diplomacy required a middle course. The 
 general went from Caprera to Southampton, and 
 thence to London, acclaimed by thousands, who 
 rivaled the warm-spirited Neapolitans in their 
 heights of enthusiasm. ,f The modest, benign-faced 
 warrior was feted as a national deliverer, the 
 streets of London rang with his hymn, women 
 adopted the famous red Garibaldi shirt as the 
 latest fashion, aristocrats and working people 
 fought for the opportunity of entertaining him. 
 Before he could take up his northern tour, how- 
 ever, it was announced that he was overtired and 
 would have to leave the country for rest. His 
 physicians denied this, and it appears as most 
 probable that Louis Napoleon was so much dis- 
 pleased and even alarmed at the popular acclaim 
 given the general that he made his wish known to 
 Lord Palmerston that the guest leave English 
 shores. | Again Garibaldi proved a serious burden 
 to diploiiiacy, his very fame made him the more 
 difficult to deal witli. } So rather than cause further 
 international trouble the general bade England an 
 affectionate farewell and returned to Caprera. 
 
268 GARIBALDI 
 
 ,/The campaign of 1866, which won Venetia for 
 the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel, is not a glorious 
 page in Italian history. Venice was freed from 
 Austria's rule because the Prussians won the bat- 
 tles of Sadowa and Koniggratz. ; 'What victories 
 Italy won fell to the score of the volunteers fight- 
 ing with Garibaldi in the Lakes rather than to 
 the regular army of the new nation.jj 'From the 
 date of the Liberator's return from England up 
 to the spring of 1866 he lived in comparative 
 quiet, spending most of his time at Caprera, and 
 only making occasional visits to the mainland. 
 Meanwhile events were rapidly showing that Prus- 
 sia and Austria must soon fight for the supremacy 
 in Germany, and Victor Emmanuel concluded an 
 alliance with Berlin. ^ Then, in May, 1866, Gari- 
 baldi was asked by the Italian Minister of War to 
 take command of the volunteer forces. He ac- 
 cepted gladly, and, as so often before, the news 
 that he was about to take the field was sufiicient to 
 gather innumerable patriots about him. Unfor- 
 tunately the generals of the regular army were 
 again jealous of Garibaldi, and continual obstacles 
 were placed in his way, even his own officers speed- 
 ily formed cliques and wrought dissension in his 
 command. He was ordered to attack Austria from 
 Como, and so through the Lakes rather than from 
 Hungary as he would have preferred. 
 
THE CRUSADER 269 
 
 Yet, with all these obstacles the campaign 
 started at Coirio with much of the old spirit. Again 
 the veterans of 1859 and I860, many of the 
 famous Thousand, many who had fought at Mes- 
 sala and on the Volturno, gathered, clad in red 
 shirts, on the banks of Lake Como, and raised the 
 Garibaldi hymn. Scores of enthusiastic English- 
 men could not keep away from the Lakes, an Eng- 
 lishwoman and her husband followed the general 
 all through the campaign, carrying a cooking- 
 stove and store of provisions for their idol. But 
 notwithstanding all the enthusiasm the efforts to 
 dislodge the enemy were not very successful. / The 
 Austrians were not as easily frightened or de- 
 feated as had been the soldiers of the King of 
 Naples, and the people of the Tyrol did not rise 
 and join Garibaldi's ranks as had the Sicilians 
 and Calabrians. The commissariat service was 
 wretched, time and again the troops bivouacked 
 without shelter or food, conflicting orders were 
 given, and but for their remarkable light-hearted- 
 ness and faith in their general the men would have 
 been in very bad shape for any manner of combat. 
 On the first day of real fighting, at Rocca d'Anfo, 
 Garibaldi was wounded in the thigh, and after that 
 had to direct operations from a carriage. Never- 
 theless, he lost nothing of his confidence, and 
 planned his successive moves through the moun- 
 
270 GARIBALDI 
 
 tains and lakes with his old skill in this form of 
 irregular warfare. 
 
 The actual military operations were of no per- 
 manent importance, the volunteers were sent down 
 the beautiful Lake of Como to Lecco accompanied 
 by a fleet of private boats filled with admiring 
 friends. From Lecco they went to Bergamo and 
 thence to Brescia, and then for a time their head- 
 quarters were at Salo, on the Lake of Garda. An 
 eye-witness contrasts their informal style of 
 marching with that of the regulars : " Some of 
 them were lying at full length on bullock wagons, 
 with their rifles decorated with roses at their sides, 
 others were trudging sturdily along in the loosest 
 manner, smoking, with their shirts open, and their 
 rugs rolled across their bodies." 
 
 When Garibaldi had completed his plans for 
 marching north he received word from General 
 La Marmora to take Lonato, and turned there from 
 Salo. The Austrians withdrew before the Italian 
 advance, and the latter army was free to enter the 
 Trentino. Their first step in this direction was to 
 take the rocky fort of Rocca d'Anfo, and after 
 that they marched on Darzo, which was the scene 
 of much fighting, and then on to the fort of Am- 
 pola. On July 16 the volunteers dragged their 
 cannon into position on the mountains, and on the 
 17th the real attack began. Ampola capitulated, 
 
THE CRUSADER 271 
 
 and the march to Riva began through the Ledro 
 valley. At a village near Bizecca they were at- 
 tacked early in the morning. The Austrians opened 
 fire from the village houses. Chiassi, one of Gari- 
 baldi's veterans, was killed, and for a time the 
 volunteers made little headway. Garibaldi's two 
 sons and his son-in-law Canzio did their utmost to 
 encourage the men behind them, and gradually 
 what had threatened to be a rout was turned into 
 a victory. Bizecca was immediately captured, and 
 the troops had started their march to Lardaro 
 when news came that an armistice was being ar- 
 ranged, and orders were brought to Garibaldi bid- 
 ding him leave the Trentino. 
 
 The Itahan army had met with a reverse at the 
 battle of Custozza, but fortunately their Prussian 
 allies had already won the two great victories of 
 Koniggratz and Sadowa and were in a position to 
 dictate terms to Austria. The oft-fought-over 
 Venetian provinces became at last part of the king- 
 dom of Italy. Venice was added to her sister cities, 
 which now only lacked Rome. The Tyrol, how- 
 ever, was left with Austria, and so Garibaldi 
 viewed the peace with disappointment. He was 
 confident that his volunteers could have won it, and 
 found this another instance of the mistakes of 
 statesmanship. 
 
 As after the expedition of the Thousand, so 
 
272 GARIBALDI 
 
 after the campaign in the Lakes, Garibaldi found 
 that he could not rest quietly with Rome in Papal 
 hands. Italy was bound by agreement with 
 France to leave Pius IX. in temporary possession 
 of the Eternal City, but Garibaldi cared little or 
 nothing for his country's obligations. He showed 
 in a hundred ways that he was unwilling that the 
 kingdom should have rest or a chance to recuperate 
 until the city on the Tiber was won, and so again 
 in 1867, as in 1862, he became a tremendously 
 difficult problem to the government^ the seat of 
 which had been moved from Turin to Florence, 
 and of which Rattazzi was again the head. 
 
 As soon as the French left Rome a number of 
 revolutionary societies commenced operations in 
 that city, and Garibaldi was asked to act in con- 
 junction with them. He made an electioneering 
 tour in the spring of 1867, and was received at 
 Venice, at Verona, and at Legnano with a venera- 
 tion that partook of religious awe. He was elected 
 deputy in the new Parliament from four districts. 
 He next appeared at the meeting of the Universal 
 Peace Congress at Geneva, and spoke against the 
 priesthood, denouncing the Papacy with his ac- 
 customed ardor. He then returned to Italy and 
 in a fiery speech at the Villa Cairoli called on his 
 countrymen to march on Rome. He started for 
 the Papal frontier, and the volunteers collected 
 
THE CRUSADER 273 
 
 about him so rapidly that Rattazzi was again 
 obliged to arrange for his arrest. At Sinalunga 
 he was taken prisoner, and conveyed to Alessan- 
 dria, and there arrangements were made to take 
 him to his home at Caprera and keep him virtually 
 imprisoned there. Unfortunately Garibaldi could 
 not be kept quiet ; even when his island was guarded 
 by four steamers and a frigate he managed to send 
 appeals to the mainland and keep the revolution- 
 ary party alert. Other leaders were attacking 
 Rome by now, Nicotera was advancing from 
 Naples, Menotti Garibaldi was waging guerilla 
 warfare near Tivoli, the brothers Cairoli — name 
 famous in ItaHan annals — made their daring at- 
 tack at the Vigna Glori. Pius IX. and his Secre- 
 tary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, were not having 
 a pleasant time in Rome. Barracks were blown up, 
 bombs were discovered, petitions were presented 
 from his subjects urging him to call in the army of 
 Victor Emmanuel. 
 
 Meanwhile Garibaldi planned and executed his 
 daring escape from Caprera. He pretended to be 
 ill, and then one dark night set off in a small boat 
 for Sardinia. He lay hidden until he could get 
 horses to take him to Porta Prudenza, and from 
 there sailed with his son-in-law Canzio to the main- 
 land. A day or two later he was brazenly har- 
 anguing the people from the Loggia dei Lanzi in 
 
274 GARIBALDI 
 
 Florence. The government learned that they 
 could not control him, and now concluded to repeat 
 the tactics of Aspromonte, and allow him to bring 
 about his own destruction. 
 
 At Terni Garibaldi began active campaigning. 
 He met his troops, and planned an immediate at- 
 tack on the town of Monte Rotondo, which crowns 
 a hill overlooking the Tiber and the roads to Rome. 
 The hiU town was hotly defended, but the volun- 
 teers finally took it. From there, after a short 
 stay. Garibaldi moved his army, now numbering 
 15,000 men, on towards the Ponte della Mentana, 
 some four and a half miles from Rome. It is said 
 that an agreement had been made by which the 
 Papal governor of the castle of St. Angelo was to 
 surrender his post for a sum of money, and that 
 this sum was raised by Garibaldi's English friends, 
 but through treachery was not properly used. 
 This occasioned some delay, and by that time 
 French troops had been landed and were marching 
 to the aid of their allies, the Papal guards. 
 
 The general was obliged to retreat temporarily 
 to Monte Rotondo, and there he issued a public 
 address. He relied on the fact that the Roman 
 Republic of 1849 had made him a Roman general. 
 After rehearsing the facts of the Italian govern- 
 ment's position he said, " Then will I let the world 
 know that I alone, a Roman general, with full 
 
THE CRUSADER 275 
 
 power, elected by the universal suffrage of the only 
 legal government in Rome, the Republic, have the 
 right to maintain myself armed in this, the ter- 
 ritory under my jurisdiction; and then if these 
 my volunteers, champions of liberty and Italian 
 unity, wish to have Rome as the capital of Italy, 
 fulfilling the vote of Parliament and of the nation, 
 they must not put down their arms until Italy 
 shall have acquired liberty of conscience and wor- 
 ship, built upon the ruin of Jesuitism, and until 
 the soldiers of tyrants shall be banished from our 
 land." 
 
 The French had now joined the Papal army, 
 and the Italian troops were massing in Garibaldi's 
 rear. On November 3 he started towards Tivoli, but 
 had to fall back on Mentana, and there occurred 
 the battle which decided the fate of the expedition. 
 The volunteers fought with the greatest courage 
 and enthusiasm, but their arms were no match for 
 the new chassepots of the French. Garibaldi had 
 to fall back on Monte Rotondo, and there, on dis- 
 covering that his men had scarcely a cartridge 
 left, he was forced to order a further retreat. The 
 expedition was at an end, the volunteers were dis- 
 banded, and Garibaldi took train to Florence. 
 There he was arrested and conveyed a prisoner to 
 the fort of Varignano. • 
 
 The battle of Mentana had cost many Italian 
 
276 GARIBALDI 
 
 lives. Victor Emmanuel was deeply grieved and 
 had a message sent to the French Emperor : " The 
 last events have suffocated every remembrance of 
 gratitude in the heart of Italy. It is no longer in 
 the power of the government to maintain an alli- 
 ance with France, the chassepot gun at Mentana 
 has given it a fatal blow." The battle therefore 
 had the result of severing the tacit alliance be- 
 tween Italy and France, and henceforth the prob- 
 lem of Roman occupation became simpler to the 
 King's government. 
 
 In 1870 the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian 
 war compelled Napoleon to defend his own borders, 
 and no longer to support a Papal government in 
 a foreign land. When the French and Germans 
 were fighting the question of the temporal power 
 of the Church was quietly settled, with almost no 
 fighting and little outside attention, by the en- 
 trance of the King of Italy into Rome. At last 
 Italy was united. Garibaldi had nothing to do 
 with this final occupation, for which he had laid 
 plans since his early South American days. 
 
 When Napoleon was eliminated from French 
 politics Garibaldi could no longer restrain his 
 ardor for the republican government. He took 
 sword, and left Caprera to volunteer for service 
 with France. He was given command of the army 
 of the Vosges, and his campaign against the Prus- 
 
THE CRUSADER 277 
 
 sians at Autun and Dijon was at least as success- 
 ful as that of the regular French generals. The 
 Prussians were too strong, the Army of the East 
 gave way before them, and Garibaldi's brief cam- 
 paign was at an end. After the peace he was 
 elected deputy from Paris, Dijon, and Nice, but 
 was not allowed to sit in the Assembly on the 
 ground that he was a foreigner. He received the 
 official thanks of the French government and re- 
 turned home. 
 
 There remained a somewhat turbulent old age 
 for Garibaldi. Italy was united and rapidly 
 growing stronger under the happy influence of 
 continued peace. Garibaldi, however, could not 
 remain quiet, and when he appeared in public he 
 was publicly worshiped and privately feared. He 
 became more and more ardently a republican as 
 time went on, and his repubKcanism was only too 
 apt to take the color of the last man with whom 
 he had talked. He was not an able original 
 thinker, and except in military manoeuvers had al- 
 ways been too much inclined to lean on the advice 
 of others. 
 
 In the elections of 1874 the general was chosen 
 by several districts, among others the city of Rome, 
 to sit in the Senate. ] He made a triumphal prog- 
 ress from Caprera to the capital, and when he 
 was sworn in as a Senator the members forgot all 
 
278 GARIBALDI 
 
 past and present difficulties and cheered to the 
 echo the man who had led the Thousand from 
 Genoa to Naples. He went to the Quirinal to see 
 the King, a sovereign whom he had ardently ad- 
 mired since the time when he had first seen him in 
 battle. A little later we find him a member of a 
 committee with the King and Prince Torlonia to 
 divert the course of the Tiber and improve the 
 Campagna. 
 
 Meanwhile at Caprera Francesca, the devoted 
 woman who had first gone there to nurse Gari- 
 baldi's daughter, had taken Anita's position, and 
 become the mother of the general's youngest chil- 
 dren, Manho and Cleha. In 1880 the Court of 
 Appeal at Rome declared Garibaldi's marriage to 
 Giuseppina Raymondi, the adventuress who had 
 taken advantage of him long before, null and void. 
 Fortunately the marriage had been contracted 
 under Austrian and not Italian jurisdiction. Had 
 it been otherwise the annulment would not have 
 been allowed. Immediately on receipt of the news 
 Garibaldi and Francesca were married. At Cap- 
 rera Garibaldi lived like an island prince, continu- 
 ally receiving visits and presents from admirers 
 of all nations. 
 
 Yet, for all his domestic happiness, the old war- 
 rior would mix in public aifairs, and almost al- 
 ways as an opponent of the existing government. 
 
THE CRUSADER 279 
 
 Even when his old friend and comrade-in-arms, 
 Benedetto Cairoli, fourth of the famous brothers, 
 became Prime Minister, he was not content with 
 his pohcies. He embarrassed the government by 
 continually writing ultra-radical letters to the 
 newspapers. Two or three times more he appeared 
 in public, became again an active figure when his 
 son-in-law Canzio was arrested at a turbulent 
 meeting in Genoa, and resigned his seat in the . 
 National Chambers. He was, however, too worn 
 out physically to make further dangerous expedi- 
 tions, and was persuaded to leave the more active 
 part to younger men. In 1882 he died at Caprera. 
 
 Neither the character nor the achievements of 
 Garibaldi are difficult to estimate. His character 
 was simple, he was ingenuously frank and open- 
 minded, absolutely sincere, warm-hearted, and 
 forgiving to a fault. His whole career is filled 
 with instances in which his generosity was traded 
 on, notably the case of his second marriage. He 
 was always frugal, unostentatious, unselfish, never 
 did a breath of public scandal sully his name. Al- 
 though he had many opportunities to gain wealth 
 he was always poor. During the last days of his 
 life he enjoyed a pension from the government, 
 but the most of that was given to his children or 
 dispensed in charity. 
 
 Given this true, straightforward nature, we 
 
280 GARIBALDI 
 
 find that from his boyhood he had above every- 
 thing desired a free united Italy, with Rome as its 
 capital. The name Rome never failed to thrill 
 him. So long as the master-hand of Cavour was 
 ready to guide him Garibaldi proceeded gloriously 
 forward, the crusader who could lead men into 
 battle and fill them with a great enthusiasm. 
 Cavour could fight against the Mazzinian theories 
 of a republic, he had to fight hard to keep the 
 soldier in the straight path, particularly in those 
 early days in Naples, but he succeeded, and saw 
 Garibaldi proudly deliver Naples and Sicily into 
 the care of his King. How great was Cavour's 
 steering hand we find in later years ; without that 
 powerful mind to control him, Garibaldi fell under 
 the influence of many different types of men, and 
 his simple confiding nature found it easy to trust 
 each seeming friend in turn. The very virtue of his 
 nature acted against him then, he became a tool 
 for men to use, his great name a flag for any new 
 quixotic idea. It was only when he was fighting 
 that he was his own commander, at other times he 
 was ever ready to sink his own opinions in those 
 of others. The latter part of his life was there- 
 fore continually stormy, he had not the art to 
 weather varying changes in national sentiment. 
 
 Almost as easy to estimate as his character were 
 his achievements. They were superlatively great 
 
THE CRUSADER 281 
 
 for Italy. Nobody can tell whether Cavour's 
 diplomacy alone would ever have won the Kingdom 
 of the Two Sicilies. Garibaldi started from Genoa 
 on an expedition that seemed doomed to disaster, 
 but which, successfully begun, carried all opposi- 
 tion before it. It is true that the army of Francis 
 II. was poor, and that the battles, with the excep- 
 tion of Calatafimi in Sicily, are not to be classed 
 as great conflicts, but Garibaldi did much more 
 than win battles, he roused the people to a pitch 
 of fighting spirit they had never known before. 
 The fame of the Thousand spread across Europe, 
 and with it rose European admiration and interest 
 in the Italian cause. Foreigners joined his army, 
 and when the great general met Victor Emmanuel 
 and gave over the two crowns he had won the eyes 
 of the whole world were focused on the sovereign 
 and the hero. The glory of that expedition could 
 not fade, whatever Garibaldi did later could not 
 eff'ace the memory of those great days ; even 
 the governments that found him rebelling against 
 the laws and treaties they had made could not but 
 thrill at the recollection of the days of 1860 and 
 1861. The red shirt became an oriflamme to lovers 
 of liberty in all lands, the Garibaldian hymn set 
 hearts to dancing with pride and exultation, the 
 simple soldier with his dramatic effects of life and 
 bearing became an Italian national hero with all 
 
282 GARIBALDI 
 
 the mythical charm of a Cid Campeador or a Wil- 
 liam Tell. He will take a place in Italian legen- 
 dary history that was empty until his day. 
 
 This atmosphere of romance that surrounded 
 him was of his nature. He wrote two books, one, 
 " The Rule of the Monk," which appeared after 
 his imprisonment at Varignano, the other, " The 
 Thousand," after the Vosges campaign. They 
 were both extravagant, artificial, as wildly event- 
 ful as any novels ever penned. Yet in a sense they 
 catch the flavor of his own career. When he de- 
 scribes the monks he pictures them as they actually 
 seemed to him, agents of the power which had so 
 hounded him after the siege of Rome, and which 
 had executed his friend Ugo Bassi. When he 
 writes of " The Thousand " he shows his followers 
 as men capable of any heroism, and the expedition 
 becomes one series of marvellous adventures. He 
 saw that intensely dramatic side of the struggle, 
 and he became the symbol of that dramatic element 
 in the eyes of the world. His country needed that 
 symbol, the glory of a crusader was as essential 
 to Italian redemption as the soul-stirring fanati- 
 cism of a Mazzini, the statecraft of a Cavour, or 
 the kingship of a Victor Emmanuel. He was the 
 living personification of the great fight for liberty; 
 that was his contribution to the cause. 
 
VICTOR EMMANUEL, THE KING 
 
 FEW royeil families in Europe possess as proud 
 a record as the House of Savoy. Legend car- 
 ries their race as Princes back to 998, when an ex- 
 iled noble of Saxon birth settled in Burgundy, and 
 ultimately built a family stronghold at the pass 
 of Moriana on the frontier of Savoy. This prince 
 was known as Humbert of the White Hand. He 
 was followed by a series of fighting, ambitious, able 
 descendants, who gradually carved for themselves 
 the Dukedom of Savoy, and married into the most 
 powerful of contemporary royal families. Their 
 small state was so centrally placed that it early 
 became a storm-center, and for centuries the Dukes 
 were famous as warrior-adventurers, fighting now 
 under the banner of the Empire, now under that 
 of Spain or of France. Happily the Dukes of 
 Savoy shared little of the tyrannical natures of 
 their neighbors, they were not altogether saintly, 
 but they were surprisingly merciful and just in an 
 age famous for cruel bigotry. Emmanuel Phili- 
 bert, better known as " Testa di Ferro," or " Head 
 of Iron," one of the most popular of Piedmont's 
 heroes, became a great favorite with the Emperor 
 283 
 
284 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Charles V., was a general of renown, and secured 
 firm possession of his Savoy lands. From his time 
 the position of the family became more assured. 
 
 In 1703, Victor Amadeus, fifteenth Duke of 
 Savoy, assumed the title of King of Sicily, as a 
 result of a treaty following his defense of Turin 
 and overturning of the Bourbon power in Italy. 
 Shortly thereafter Sicily was exchanged for Sar- 
 dinia and certain territories adjoining his fron- 
 tiers, and the title of the head of the house of 
 Savoy became King of Sardinia. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel I. of Sardinia, who succeeded 
 his brother Charles Emmanuel IV., was a brave, 
 thoroughly good-hearted man, whose nature was, 
 however, absolutely medieval. He was much under 
 the influence of Austria, to whose Emperor he had 
 given a promise that he would never grant his 
 people a free constitution. He finally abdicated 
 in favor of his brother Charles Felix, a man of a 
 much narrower nature, who did all in his power to 
 check the free- thinking sentiments rapidly spread- 
 ing through his people as a result of the Revolu- 
 tion in France. W^hen he died in 1831 the elder 
 branch of the House of Savoy came to an end, but 
 fortunately there was a distantly related younger 
 branch, known as the Princes of Carignano and 
 Savoy. The seventh Prince of this line, Charles 
 Albert, born in 1798, had married a daughter of 
 
THE KING 285 
 
 the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and had been a great 
 favorite with Victor Emmanuel I. On the death 
 of that King he had acted for a short time as 
 regent for Charles Felix, and had then served in 
 the war between France and Spain, winning a 
 great reputation for bravery. When Charles 
 Felix died he succeeded him as King of Sardinia in 
 1831. 
 
 Charles Albert was one of the most interesting 
 characters of the early Nineteenth Century, a man 
 of the noblest character, burning with the desire 
 to free Italy from the foreigner, but always sus- 
 picious that he was not the man to do it. This 
 suspicion was continually played upon by the cler- 
 ical party at the court of Turin, and with the re- 
 sult that the King, as firm a Roman Catholic as 
 his ancestors, and by nature devout almost to mys- 
 ticism, was the continual battle-field of the warring 
 sentiments of love of liberty and love of the Church. 
 During the reign of Victor Emmanuel I. the lib- 
 eral party in Piedmont looked upon Charles Albert 
 as their natural leader. He often spoke of his de- 
 sire to see Italy united, and made little concealment 
 of his hostility to Austria and the Bourbon princes. 
 Yet, when he was actually invited to lead the Pied- 
 mont " Federates " as they were called, whose ob- 
 ject was simply the confederation of Italy, he 
 could not make up his mind to accept. As Santa 
 
286 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Rosa, the leader of the party, said, " He both 
 would, and would not." 
 
 Victor Emmanuel I., bound by his promise to 
 the house of Austria, had yet seen that his people 
 were bent on reforms, and rather than break his 
 word and grant a constitution he had abdicated 
 in favor of Charles Felix. Immediately the hb- 
 erals had besieged the regent, Charles Albert,with 
 petitions and a show of force which could not be 
 denied. He had then proclaimed the constitution, 
 accompanying it with this declaration : " Our 
 respect and submission to his majesty Charles 
 Felix, to whom the throne belongs, would have 
 hindered us making any fundamental change in 
 the laws of the realm until the sovereign's inten- 
 tions were known; but as the force of circum- 
 stances is manifest, and we desire to render to the 
 new King his people safe, uninjured, and happy, 
 and not in a civil war, having maturely considered 
 everything, and with the advice of our council, we 
 have decided, in the hope that his majesty, moved 
 by the same considerations, will give his approval, 
 that the constitution of Spain shall be promul- 
 gated." 
 
 But Charles Felix, when he came to Turin, 
 would have none of this constitution, and Charles 
 Albert left Piedmont under the shadow of his kins- 
 man's displeasure. When a few years later he 
 
THE KING 287 
 
 himself ascended the throne the popular idea of 
 him as an advocate of liberalism was stiU current, 
 and it was this idea which led Mazzini to write to 
 the new sovereign that remarkable letter on behalf 
 of " Young Italy," commencing, " All Italy waits 
 for one word — one only — to make herself yours." 
 But Charles Albert was at that crucial mo- 
 ment under priestly influence, and he paid no 
 heed to the letter, as a result of which the growing 
 Mazzinian party, which might have been attached 
 to the interests of the House of Savoy, became 
 strongly republican. 
 
 The Jesuits at Turin, secret agents of the Aus- 
 trian government, did their utmost to frighten 
 the King with gross misrepresentations as to the 
 liberals. When new conspiracies broke out in 1833 
 Charles Albert was influenced to punish the rebels 
 severely. Gradually the popular idea concerning 
 the King changed, and those who had thought to 
 find in him an emancipator became slowly con- 
 vinced that he was as rigid a reactionary as any 
 of his predecessors. So the poor King, really 
 ardent in his country's cause, played upon by his 
 courtiers and the insidious clericals, watched his 
 chances of leading Italy against Austria grad- 
 ually dwindle. 
 
 Some men, however, still believed that Charles 
 Albert was the only present hope for Italy, and 
 
288 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 chief among these men was Massimo d'Azeglio. He 
 was a man of keen insight and high character, and 
 had traveled through all the states of Italy study- 
 ing the forces making towards nationality. At 
 the end of his travels he had an audience of 
 Charles Albert at Turin, and reported what he 
 had found. His estimate of the King was justified 
 by the reply Charles Albert made to him. " Let 
 those gentlemen know," said the King, " that for 
 the present they must remain quiet; but when the 
 time comes, let them be certain that my hfe, the 
 lives of my sons, my arms, my treasures — all shaU 
 be freely spent in the Italian cause." 
 
 Then came the election of Piux IX. to the throne 
 of Saint Peter, and a great wave of enthusiasm 
 swept through the liberal party throughout Italy. 
 Pius was a great advance on the narrow, mediaeval- 
 minded Leo XII. and Gregory XVL, who had pre- 
 ceded him. The Romans felt new hope, and with 
 each month the great enthusiasm spread until it 
 culminated in the sudden Lombard expulsion of 
 the Austrians from Milan. Charles Albert must 
 have seen the signs that preceded the eventful 
 years of 1848 and 1849. He had decided to grant 
 a constitution to his people, whether Austria liked 
 it or not, and on February 7, 1848, proclaimed the 
 famous Statuto. Events hurried, a short time and 
 Lombardy and Venice were in arms and Piedmont 
 
THE KING 289 
 
 determined on supporting them. Charles Albert, 
 and his eldest son, Victor Emmanuel, threw them- 
 selves utterly into the national cause. 
 
 On March li, 1820, the Prince Victor Emman- 
 uel was born in the Carignano Palace at Turin, 
 his father being then simply the Prince of Savoy- 
 Carignano. With the accession of Charles FeUx 
 the family moved to a villa near Florence, and 
 there the young Prince spent his early boyhood. 
 His younger brother, Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, 
 was born in 1822. After the reconciliation be- 
 tween Charles Felix and the Prince of Carignano 
 the latter took up his residence in the castle of 
 Racconigi, in Piedmont. When Prince Victor was 
 eleven years old his father came to the throne, and 
 thenceforth the young Prince lived in Turin. He 
 and his brother were inseparable, although widely 
 different in temperament, Victor enthusiastic, im- 
 pulsive, overflowing with animal spirits, Ferdinand 
 more prudent, calm, and thoughtful, strongly re- 
 sembling his father. 
 
 Charles Albert devoted the greatest care to the 
 education and military training of his sons, and 
 both fully repaid his care. Victor Emmanuel, 
 Duke of Savoy, was not a great student, but he 
 was keenly interested in everything that pertained 
 to government, sympathetic, observant, deeply im- 
 bued with the desire to see Italy free and Piedmont 
 
290 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 the leader in that cause. His manners were essen- 
 tially frank and cordial, his whole bearing inspired 
 confidence. At twenty-one he was of middle 
 height, powerfully built, with features strong, 
 rather than handsome, a curling mustache adding 
 to the military aspect of his face. At twenty-two 
 he sought the hand of his first cousin, Maria Ade- 
 laide, daughter of the Austrian Archduke Ranieri, 
 Viceroy of Lombardy- Venice, and of Charles Al- 
 bert's only sister. The chief objection to the mar- 
 riage was the fact that the Princess Adelaide was 
 partly Austrian, but Victor overcame this objec- 
 tion, and the marriage took place in 1842. It was 
 not long before the young Princess had become 
 the idol of Piedmont through her many gifts of 
 charm. 
 
 When the news of the rising of Milan on March 
 18, 1848, came to Turin the Duke of Savoy was 
 filled with joy. The King and his ministers were 
 deliberating with deep concern the position that 
 Piedmont should adopt, but the young Prince was 
 concerned only with taking the field against Aus- 
 tria. He had that pure love for the dangers of 
 war which had been such a marked characteristic 
 of his ancestors, and which had made the House of 
 Savoy famous during the Middle Ages. The biog- 
 rapher Massari wrote of him later, " Without 
 using a profusion of words, it is enough to say 
 
THE KING 291 
 
 that under the canvas or in the battle-field he 
 showed himself worthy of his race. He who knows 
 the story of the Savoy dynasty knows that there 
 is no higher eulogium than this." 
 
 He was given a command in the troops that were 
 hurried to the aid of Lombardy, and fought his 
 first battle at Santa Lucia on May 6th. He was 
 conspicuous for courage, and in addition to his 
 personal power of inspiring his soldiers with en- 
 thusiasm, proved himself a careful general. At 
 Goito, where the Austrians took the troops of Pied- 
 mont by surprise, the Duke of Savoy converted 
 a retreat into a desperate attack by throwing him- 
 self before the troops and calling on them to save 
 the honor of Savoy. He was wounded in the thigh, 
 but fought on, and at length had the satisfaction 
 of reporting to his father that Piedmont had won 
 the day. He was awarded a medal for valor on 
 the field of action, but he valued more the wound 
 which he had won in fighting for Italy. 
 
 The fortunes of war soon brought a change. 
 The other states of Italy did not come to the aid 
 of Lombardy as Charles Albert had been given 
 assurances that they would. Pius IX. had placed 
 an army in the field to prevent Austrian outrages 
 on his frontiers, but had given them orders not to 
 attack the enemy. The King of Naples had de- 
 clared his intention of siding with the other Italian 
 
292 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 states, but by deceit and treachery kept his army 
 too far from the scene of action to be of any use. 
 The Venetians were fully occupied with their revo- 
 lution at home, the Lombards had already begun 
 to determine what they would do when they were 
 free, and Piedmont was left practically alone to 
 fight the rapidly reviving army of Austria. 
 
 One more victory was won at StafFola, but the 
 next day the Piedmontese were attacked again and 
 defeated at Custozza. The King was advised to 
 retreat across the Po to Piacenza, but instead felt 
 that his duty called him to Milan. He entered 
 that city, but his army, worn out, and attacked 
 by a much superior force, could not defend the 
 Lombard capital, and he was forced to capitulate. 
 The Milanese were not grateful, they bitterly as- 
 sailed the King for what they called his treachery, 
 and he escaped from the city through the aid of 
 a young officer, later the General La Marmora. 
 
 Still the unfortunate King would not abandon 
 the war, although he saw the hopelessness of the 
 situation, left as he was to fight single-handed. 
 March 20, 1849, the fighting recommenced, and 
 lasted for three days. At Martara the pick of the 
 Piedmontese army were destroyed. When Charles 
 Albert heard the news he realized that he was 
 destined to utter defeat. Yet he took up the march 
 to Novara, stoical as became his race. The battle 
 
THE KING 293 
 
 of Novara, fought March 23, 1849, marked the 
 end. The Piedmontese fought heroically, the 
 Duke of Savoy led his men time and again to the 
 attack, his younger brother, the Duke of Genoa, 
 had three horses kiUed under him, but bravery 
 could not overcome the disparity in strength. An 
 armistice was asked for, but the terms of Marshal 
 Radetsky were too hard to accept. The King said 
 to his generals, " Gentlemen, we cannot accept 
 these conditions. Is it passible that we can re- 
 sume hostilities .'' " The answer was a unanimous 
 " no." Then the unfortunate King laid down the 
 burdens of his too heavy office in these touching 
 words : " From eighteen years till now I have al- 
 ways made every effort possible for the benefit of 
 the people. I am deeply afflicted to see that my 
 hopes have failed, not so much for my own sake 
 as for the country's. I have not been able to find 
 death on the field of battle, as I had desired ; per- 
 haps my existence is now the only obstacle to ob- 
 taining from the enemy reasonable terms, and 
 since there remains no further means of continuing 
 hostiKties, I abdicate this moment, in favor of my 
 son Vittorio, in the hope that, renewing negotia- 
 tions with Radetsky, the new King may obtain 
 better conditions, and procure for the country an 
 advantageous peace. Behold your King ! " 
 
 The entreaties of the son and the generals were 
 
294 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 useless, Charles Albert was determined. He knew 
 that his dream of Hberating Italy was over, that 
 he was not the man for the great work. That 
 night he set out with one companion for Oporto 
 in Portugal, there to Mve obscurely while his son 
 took up the heavy burden of rebuilding Piedmont's 
 hopes. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel came to the throne at a dis- 
 tressing moment, but from the first he showed the 
 true metal of his nature. His father had been a 
 dreamer, a theorist, alternating between eagerness 
 to press forward and the desire to retain what he 
 already had. His character, although fine, was 
 not robust. The young King, however, was essen- 
 tially robust-natured, the very type of man above 
 all others needed at this particular crisis. He 
 faced Marshal Radetsky fearlessly, and, when the 
 Austrian general insisted on the same terms de- 
 manded of his father, including the immediate ex- 
 pulsion of all Italian exiles from the state of Pied- 
 mont, replied, " Sooner than subscribe to such 
 conditions I would lose a hundred crowns. What 
 my father has sworn I will maintain. If you wish 
 a war to the death, be it so ! I will call my nation 
 to arms once more, and you will see what Piedmont 
 is capable of in a general rising. If I must fall, 
 it shall be without shame. My house knows the 
 road of exile, but not of dishonor." 
 
THE KING 295 
 
 Finally an armistice was concluded. The King 
 of Sardinia was to disband all the military corps 
 composed of Lombards, Poles, Hungarians, and 
 other foreign peoples, retaining only those who 
 chose to remain his subjects permanently; a heavy 
 war indemnity was to be paid to Austria, half the 
 fortress of Alessandria was to be given up to Aus- 
 tria, and her troops were to be allowed to occupy 
 Piedmontese territory between the rivers Po, Sesia, 
 and Ticino. It was a hard bargain that Austria 
 drove. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel returned to his capital to find 
 many of its citizens disaffected by the appeals of 
 the republican party. All Turin was in despair 
 over the sad termination of a campaign that had 
 promised so much. The King, the Queen, and 
 their two sons, Humbert, aged five, and Amadeus, 
 aged four, were received with the coldest regard 
 as they appeared in public. The King issued this 
 proclamation to his people : " Citizens, — Unto- 
 ward events and the will of my most venerated 
 parent have called me, long before my time, to the 
 throne of my ancestors. The circumstances under 
 which I hold the reins of government are such that 
 nothing but the most perfect concord in all will 
 enable me, and then with difficulty, to fulfil my 
 only desire, the salvation of our common country. 
 The destines of nations are matured in the de- 
 
296 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 signs of Providence, but man owes to his country 
 all the service he is capable of, and in this debt we 
 have not failed. Now all our efforts must be to 
 maintain our honor untarnished, to heal the 
 wounds of our country, to consolidate our consti- 
 tutional institutions. To this undertaking I con- 
 jure all my people, to it I will pledge myself by a 
 solemn oath, and I await from the nation the ex- 
 change of help, affection, and confidence. — ^Victor 
 Emmanuel." 
 
 On March 29 the new King took the oath to 
 the constitution which had so recently been granted 
 by his father. General Delaunay formed the new 
 ministry, which almost immediately decided to dis- 
 solve Parliament and call a general election. Mean- 
 while Victor Emmanuel was wholly engaged with 
 the peace negotiations, and tried to enlist the in- 
 fluence of England and France in Sardinia's be- 
 half. The Delaunay ministry divided on the terms 
 of peace, and the King was in despair as to whom 
 he should call upon as steersman in such troubled 
 seas. He finally turned to Massimo d'Azeglio, who 
 was suffering from a wound he had received at 
 Vicenza, and who had little taste at any time for 
 the burdens of premiership. He found it impos- 
 sible, however, to refuse his young sovereign at 
 this hour. He accepted the post, although reluct- 
 antly. Fortunately the views of the King and 
 
THE KING 297 
 
 those of D'Azeglio coincided on almost all matters. 
 The King was charmed with D'Azeglio's polish and 
 talents in so many diverse lines ; the Minister, much 
 older than the King, was delighted with Victor 
 Emmanuel's frank enthusiasms. It was he who 
 gave the King his proudest title. One day he 
 remarked, " There have been so few honest kings 
 in the world that it would be a splendid thing to 
 begin the series." " And am I to play the part 
 of that honest king.? " asked Victor Emmanuel. 
 " Your majesty has sworn to the constitution," 
 was the answer, " and has taken thought not alone 
 of Piedmont, but of all Italy. Let us continue in 
 this path, and hold that a king as well as a private 
 individual has only one word, and must stand by 
 that." 
 
 " That," replied the King, " seems easy to me." 
 
 " Behold then," said D'Azeglio, " we have the 
 Re galantuomo ! " 
 
 And " Re galantuomo " was the name Victor 
 Enmianuel wrote in the register of the Turin cen- 
 sus, and the title his people were most glad to give 
 him. 
 
 The first months were very troubled, the second 
 Assembly was captious, and continually in opposi- 
 tion to the King and his ministers. There were 
 too many hot-headed representatives of Mazzini's 
 " Young Italy," which, as D'Azeglio said, " Being 
 
298 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 young cannot be expected to have much sense, and 
 certainly has Httle." The King fell ill of a fever, 
 and for a time it seemed possible he might not re- 
 cover and that the country would have to endure 
 a regency during his son's minority. Most prov- 
 identially for Italy he did recover, and shortly 
 after the National Assembly was again dissolved, 
 and a popular appeal made to the people. The 
 King issued a royal proclamation which was 
 heeded by the electors, and as a result of which 
 more moderate men were sent to the succeeding 
 Parliament. 
 
 The new government boldly took up the ques- 
 tion of whether the clergy were entitled to special 
 ecclesiastical tribunals under the constitution to 
 which Victor Emmanuel had just sworn. The min- 
 isters proposed to do away with such courts as 
 unconstitutional. Immediately the bishops were 
 up in arms, and a conflict between State and 
 Church began. The King was besought by his 
 mother not to oppose the Church, to be a true son 
 of the Church as his ancestors had been, but Victor 
 Emmanuel, although always grieved at the need 
 to oppose the clergy, stood by his ministers. The 
 Church courts were abolished, and the people, long 
 tired of ecclesiastical overlorddom, acclaimed King 
 and ministry as true lovers of liberty. 
 
 This firm stand of the new government imme- 
 
THE KING 299 
 
 diately caused the greatest ill-will on the part of 
 the Catholic Church, an ill-will which was shown 
 in a multitude of ways. A member of the ministry, 
 the Cavalier Santa Rosa, a devout Roman Cath- 
 olic, became very ill, and asked his confessor to 
 administer the sacrament to him. The priest was 
 forbidden to do this at the express command of 
 the bishop, and although every effort was made 
 by Santa Rosa's friends to obtain for him what 
 he wished, not only did the bishop remain obdurate, 
 but the curate in attendance actually insulted the 
 dying man until he was forced to leave the house. 
 Santa Rosa died without having received the sacra- 
 ment, and the history of the event inflamed the 
 minds of Piedmont more than ever against the 
 narrowness of the Church. The oifending bishop 
 was imprisoned, and an exchange of notes followed 
 between Victor Emmanuel and the Pope. The lat- 
 ter complained of the freedom of speech allowed 
 by the Sardinian King to his people, and in reply 
 D'Azeglio issued a pamphlet setting forth his 
 views of the unwarranted assumption of civil au- 
 thority by the Church. The death of Santa Rosa 
 left a vacancy in the ministry which D'Azeglio 
 filled by inviting the Count Camille Cavour to take 
 the portfolio of Agriculture and Commerce. It 
 was known that the new man was bold and original, 
 but not even D'Azeglio realized what a commanding 
 
300 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 spirit he had invited into his official family. The 
 King alone seems to have gauged Cavour correctly. 
 " Take care," he said to D'Azeglio, " this Cavour 
 will rule you all, he will dispose of you; he must 
 become Prime Minister." Fortunate it was for 
 Italy that the King's prediction was to be ful- 
 fiUed. 
 
 Meanwhile Victor Emmanuel, the only constitu- 
 tional sovereign in Italy, was bitterly assailed by 
 the Bourbon rulers. Ferdinand, King of Naples, 
 once more secure upon his throne, lost no oppor- 
 tunity to express his disapproval of a king who 
 was both a nationalist and a liberal. There was 
 continual friction between Turin and Vienna, 
 largely because of the outspoken views of the 
 Piedmontese press with regard to the Austrian 
 treatment of Lombardy. The European Powers, 
 with the exception of England, looked upon Pied- 
 mont as an unruly child continually making 
 trouble. England alone was sincerely friendly to 
 the House of Savoy, and keenly interested in Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel's hopes for a united country. 
 
 New troubles arose between the Papacy and 
 Piedmont over the latter's advocacy of a civil mar- 
 riage law. D'Azeglio and Cavour disagreed, and 
 the ministry resigned. The King asked D'Azeglio 
 to form a new Cabinet, leaving out Cavour, whom, 
 he said, " we will want later, but not yet." The 
 
THE KING 301 
 
 new ministry was formed, but only a few months 
 later D'Azeglio, harassed by the trouble with 
 Rome, and still suffering from his old wound, re- 
 signed, and advised the King to summon Cavour. 
 Victor Emmanuel hesitated, fearing that Cavour 
 would push matters forward too fast. When 
 finally approached, Cavour said that he could not 
 take oiBce in view of the Church's exorbitant de- 
 mands, but he at last consented. The King had 
 relegated his personal desire not to antagonize 
 the clergy farther, to his conviction that his coun- 
 try needed a strong hand at the helm, and, the 
 decision once made, trusted his new minister 
 completely. 
 
 There were many difficulties to be met. Austria 
 accused Piedmont of fostering the small revolts 
 which were continually breaking out in Lombardy, 
 the war indemnity — eighty million francs — was 
 heavy and had to be raised by new taxation which 
 was of course universally unpopular. Both at 
 home and abroad the time was trying, but Victor 
 Emmanuel found that in Cavour he had a man 
 who was not afraid of unpopularity, who knew the 
 art of steering between the radicals and the con- 
 servatives, and who could make use of the pol- 
 iticians of all the different schools. In ParHament 
 he could more than hold his own with any opponent, 
 in his management of foreign affairs he already 
 
302 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 showed that extraordinary diplomatic skill which 
 at no late day was to win him the reputation of 
 the first statesman in Europe. Both King and 
 Minister were imperious by nature, but both 
 also wise enough to sink their individual wills when 
 they realized that the cause which they had so 
 much at heart required it of them. So events led 
 to the outbreak of the Crimean War. 
 
 The steps which led up to Sardinia's alliance 
 with England and France against Russia belong 
 to the story of Cavour's diplomacy. Sufficient it 
 is to say here that Victor Emmanuel was heartily 
 in favor of the alliance, and would, if he could, 
 have proceeded to it by more direct means than 
 Cavour deemed essential. The King was anxious 
 to redeem the glory of Piedmont's arms, but the 
 Minister, with his cabinet opposed to him on the 
 ground that the war was a purely foreign one, had 
 to consider popular sentiment. Finally, however, 
 Cavour gave the word that the treaty might be 
 signed In safety, and the King, his mind made up 
 long in advance, set his name to the important 
 document that was to send his army to foreign 
 battle-fields. The instance was one in which Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel's firmness of purpose aided and 
 abetted Cavour's diplomacy. Dabormida resigned 
 as Foreign Minister, and Cavour immediately took 
 his post. 
 
THE KING 303 
 
 At the same time the King had heavy burdens 
 to bear in his immediate family. His mother, to 
 whom he was devoted, died, bidding him stand fast 
 by the conservative traditions of his father. His 
 wife, the beautiful Queen Adelaide, died shortly 
 afterwards, and the King lost an adviser who had 
 always counseled him wisely and helpfully, and 
 whom he had worshiped as an ideal wife and 
 mother of his sons. Less than a month later his 
 brother Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa, died, a man 
 intensely high-spirited and brave, the constant 
 companion of Victor Emmanuel's youth. No won- 
 der that the King felt that he was left solitary. 
 He had small time to give to his feelings, however. 
 " They tell me," he said, " that God has struck 
 me with a judgment, and has torn from me my 
 mother, my wife, and my brother, because I con- 
 sented to those laws, and they threaten me with 
 greater punishments. But do they not know that 
 a sovereign who wishes to secure his own happiness 
 in the other world ought to labor for the happi- 
 ness of his people on this earth? " 
 
 There were more trials immediately in store. 
 The Church owned more than a tenth part of the 
 landed property of Piedmont, and the religious 
 houses were extravagantly wealthy. The govern- 
 ment, planning reforms, decided that some modi- 
 fication of this condition must be made, and so 
 
804 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Rattazzi, then Minister of Grace and Justice, 
 introduced his bill for the suppression of certain 
 of the religious houses and other similar reforms. 
 Immediately the bishops and the conservatives 
 were up in arms, and Victor Emmanuel had to 
 bear the brunt of an attack which proclaimed him 
 an infidel, an enemy of religion, and which pre- 
 dicted the direst punishments to him should he 
 persist in his course. The ministry were firm, 
 however, and the people were with them. Certain 
 bishops offered to pay over the amount which 
 would be derived from the suppression of the 
 religious houses, and the offer was tempting to 
 the King, who could not forget his mother's 
 wishes, and the close ties that bound his house to 
 Rome. A breach with his ministers followed, and 
 the King sought counsel of his own subjects and 
 of the French and English envoys. All advised 
 him to trust the decision to Cavour. Finally he 
 did so, and the Rattazzi measure, somewhat modi- 
 fied, became law. 
 
 The Sardinian army meantime was winning vic- 
 tories in the Crimea, and La Marmora was prov- 
 ing himself a match for the great generals of the 
 allied Powers. The thought of his troops was the 
 King's one solace at this time, which was so trying 
 to him both personally and politically. He was 
 passionately fond of military glory, and would 
 
THE KING 305 
 
 have preferred the opportunity to lead his soldiers 
 to any gift fortune could have bestowed. The 
 soldiers knew this, the people were growing more 
 and more attached to their " Rfe galantuomo," and 
 the King, always quickly touched by the affection 
 of his people, grew stronger in his resolve never to 
 dim their hopes of him. He said of his uncle, the 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was ruling accord- 
 ing to the accepted code of an Austrian Prince, 
 " How could he, by his own act, sacrifice the affec- 
 tions of his people? If I reigned over not a little 
 state like Piedmont, but over an empire vast as 
 America, and had to do what he has done to 
 preserve the little throne of Tuscany, I would 
 not hesitate a moment, I would renounce the 
 empire." 
 
 In order that France and England might learn 
 to know the true Victor Emmanuel from the false 
 one created by the slanders of the clerical party, 
 the King, accompanied by Cavour and D'Azeglio, 
 in December, 1855, visited Paris and London. In 
 both cities he was warmly greeted, and made much 
 of, and as he was about to leave the French capital 
 Napoleon asked the significant question, " What 
 can I do for Italy ? " England gave the King the 
 welcome she has always in store for the hero who 
 is fighting despotic claims, and the brief visit gave 
 the statesmen and people the opportunity to show 
 
306 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 openly the warmth of their regard for Italy. Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel and Cavour were both known to 
 have great admiration for the EngUsh govern- 
 ment, and a liking for Enghsh characteristics 
 which was common to most leading Italians of the 
 time. December 11 the King returned to Turin, 
 to be welcomed by his people with the warmest ex- 
 pressions of affectionate regard. 
 
 The fall of Sebastopol brought the war in the 
 Crimea to a close, and led to the Congress at Paris 
 in 1856. The result of that Congress was one of 
 the signal triumphs of Cavour. He succeeded in 
 introducing a general discussion of Itahan affairs, 
 and in placing Victor Emmanuel in the position of 
 champion of all the subject Italian states, a posi- 
 tion which, once so publicly assumed, he never 
 afterwards gave over. The King showed the 
 deepest gratitude to his great Minister on the lat- 
 ter's return from the Congress, and realized that 
 through his diplomacy affairs were rapidly being 
 shaped towards a new conclusion of strength with 
 Austria. Soon afterwards the Sardinian army re- 
 turned from the Crimea, and the King welcomed 
 them home as heroes who had yet greater triumphs 
 in store for them, and linked the general who had 
 led them, Alfonzo La Marmora, with Cavour as 
 the two chief agents in his rising hopes. 
 
 King and Minister had many obstacles to over- 
 
THE KING 307 
 
 come during those years of waiting that were more 
 difficult to surmount successfully than actual bat- 
 tles of armies or statesmen. Austria and the 
 Church lost no opportunity to direct public senti- 
 ment against Sardinia, the revolutionary element, 
 led by men whose fiery ardor never cooled, were 
 continually urging the government at Turin to 
 attack the Austrians in Lombardy, the other states 
 were turbulent and continually in trouble with 
 their Princes, and the people looked to Victor 
 Emmanuel as their preserver and the Princes upon 
 him as their arch enemy. Moreover at this time 
 England, doubtful of French sincerity, entered 
 into an alliance with Austria, and shortly after 
 the Italian, Felice Orsini, made an attempt on the 
 life of Louis Napoleon. Fortunately neither event 
 had as disastrous results to Piedmont's hopes as 
 many predicted, the Anglo-Austrian alliance 
 proved lukewarm, and Orsini's appeal to Napoleon 
 to succor Italy touched a responsive chord in the 
 French Emperor's heart. 
 
 As the ten years' armistice with Austria drew 
 to a close, Victor Emmanuel found reason to be- 
 lieve that the day was not far distant when he 
 should have his chance to redeem Novara. Napo- 
 leon and Cavour had reached a tacit agreement in 
 July, 1858, at Plombieres. When Parliament 
 opened in 1859 the King made his memorable 
 
308 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 speech from the throne, including in it the words 
 long and carefully considered by Cavour, " While 
 we respect treaties, we are not insensible to the 
 cry of anguish that comes up to us from many 
 parts of Italy." The words " grido di dolore," 
 cry of anguish, became famous forthwith. An 
 eye-witness of the scene, the Neapolitan Massari, 
 thus describes it : " At every period the speech 
 was interrupted by clamorous applause, and cries 
 of ' Viva il Re ! ' But when he came to the words 
 grido di dolore, there was an enthusiasm quite in- 
 describable. Senators, deputies, spectators, all 
 sprang to their feet with a bound, and broke into 
 passionate acclamations. The ministers of France, 
 Russia, Prussia, and England were utterly aston- 
 ished and carried away by the marvelous spec- 
 tacle. The face of the Ambassador of Naples was 
 covered with a gloomy pallor. We poor exiles did 
 not even attempt to wipe away the tears that 
 flowed copiously, unrestrainedly from our eyes, as 
 we frantically clapped our hands in applause of 
 that King who had remembered our sorrows, who 
 had promised us a country. Before the victories, 
 the plebiscites, and the annexations conferred on 
 him the crown of Italy, he reigned in our hearts ; 
 he was our King ! " 
 
 The speech was like a war-cry to patriots 
 throughout Italy, and no sooner were its tidings 
 
THE KING 809 
 
 known than men of all ranks flocked to Piedmont, 
 weapons in hand, in order to be ready when the 
 great hour should strike. Meantime Victor Em- 
 manuel had to make two sacrifices as the price of 
 French alliance in case of an Austrian war, he had 
 to consent to the marriage of his daughter 
 Clotilde, then about sixteen, with the French 
 Emperor's cousin, Prince Napoleon Jerome, a man 
 more than twice her age. The King was very 
 loath to agree to the marriage, it required the 
 strongest of Cavour's arguments to induce him to 
 consent. Finally, however, he did. " You have 
 convinced me of the political reasons which render 
 this marriage useful and necessary to our cause. 
 I yield to your arguments, but I make a sacrifice in 
 so doing. My consent is subject to the condition 
 that my daughter gives hers freely." Having 
 won over the father, Cavour succeeded in winning 
 over the daughter, and the marriage was solem- 
 nized on January 29, 1859. 
 
 The second sacrifice to France, one which was 
 considered at this time but not made until later, 
 was the cession of Nice and Savoy. This was a 
 hard concession for the King to make, for Savoy 
 was the first home of his family, and linked by the 
 closest ties to the traditions of his house. He was 
 willing, however, to make even this sacrifice for the 
 liberation of northern Italy, all he wanted now was 
 
310 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 the chance to loose his soldiers and place himself 
 at their head. Still his advisers counseled pa- 
 tience. " We must wait, sire," said General Neil. 
 " I have been waiting for ten years, general," was 
 the King's reply. 
 
 Fortunately for the King's spirits, he was not 
 to be forced to wait much longer. A European 
 Congress for the adjustment of Italian difficulties 
 was planned, and the notes of the various govern- 
 ments in reference thereto gave Cavour the chance 
 he wanted. He insisted that Sardinia should be 
 admitted to the Congress on an equal footing with 
 the Powers, but this Austria opposed. The Court 
 of Vienna insisted that Sardinia should only be 
 allowed to treat of the question of disarmament. 
 Then Austria insisted that Sardinia be made to 
 disarm immediately. This would have caused the 
 gravest setback to Piedmont's hopes, but when 
 England came forward with the suggestion that 
 Austria as well as Sardinia disarm, the King at 
 Turin and his minister felt that they must consent. 
 Fortune favored them, they had no sooner agreed 
 to the English proposals than Austrian envoys ar- 
 rived at Turin with an ultimatum, immediate dis- 
 armament or war, a decision to be given in three 
 days. Thus Austria became the aggressor, and 
 Napoleon's promise to aid Piedmont in such case 
 fell due. 
 
THE KING 311 
 
 A refusal to accept the Austrian terms was 
 given to the envoys, and on April 23 the Sar- 
 dinian Parliament ordered that the troops start 
 for Lombardy and confided the supreme command 
 to Victor Emmanuel. He issued a royal procla- 
 mation, commencing, " Austria assails us with a 
 powerful army, which, while simulating a desire 
 for peace, she had collected for our injury in the 
 unhappy provinces subject to her domination," 
 and concluding, " We confide in God and in our 
 concord ; we confide in the valor of the Italian sol- 
 diers, in the alliance of the noble French nation; 
 we confide in the justice of public opinion. I 
 have no other ambition than to be the first soldier 
 of Italian Independence. Viva 1' Italia! — ^Victor 
 Emmanuel." 
 
 " Italy shall be ! " Victor Emannuel had sworn 
 on the field of Novara ten years before ; now, with 
 all the ardor restrained during those long years of 
 waiting, he flamed to make his promise true. He 
 was an heroic figure as he reviewed his troops at 
 Alessandria, he was some king of the Middle Ages 
 to whom horse and arms were incomparably dearer 
 than pomp and ease at home. He said that he 
 should lead his troops in battle, and he did, 
 proving himself so absolutely reckless of safety 
 that both generals and soldiers were constantly 
 alarmed. Yet it was that same wild recklessness 
 
S12 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 of his which made his soldiers fight as they did; 
 they saw that their King was never afraid to face 
 what he commanded them to face. 
 
 The French Emperor landed at Genoa May 13, 
 1859, amid loud Italian plaudits, and the two sov- 
 ereigns set out together for the field of war. Na- 
 poleon the Third had many shortcomings, and 
 Italians scarcely knew whether to bless or curse 
 him in those years when he played so large a part 
 in their history, but he did have the art of inspir- 
 ing warm and lasting friendships, and Victor 
 Emmanuel, whose nature was always open to ad- 
 miration for those about him, had known him but 
 a short time before he gave him the deepest and 
 sincerest personal trust. 
 
 The war opened auspiciously for Piedmont, the 
 people of Lombardy were all in arms. Garibaldi 
 was waging irregular warfare through the Lakes 
 with his band of volunteers called the " Hunters of 
 the Alps," and the allied Italian and French 
 armies carried oiF their first battles with the Aus- 
 trians. May 20 was fought the battle of Monte- 
 bello, and shortly afterwards the battle of Pales- 
 tro, long drawn out, but ultimately victorious for 
 the allies. On the last day of the battle it seemed 
 that the Austrians must win ; the Italian troops, 
 fighting desperately and falling in numbers, were 
 almost outflanked and surrounded when the French 
 
THE KING 313 
 
 Zouaves suddenly appeared, and with terrific fire 
 drove the Austrians back and seized their cannon. 
 Victor Emmanuel led the furious charge that fol- 
 lowed, and was so impetuous that both Italians 
 and Zouaves were continually alarmed lest he 
 should be cut off from them. When the battle 
 ended the Zouaves elected King Victor their cap- 
 tain, declaring that he was the first of all true 
 Zouaves because he would not listen to reason. 
 
 On June 4 the great battle of Magenta was won 
 by the allies, and the memory of Novara was oblit- 
 erated in this overwhelming triumph which freed 
 Lombardy from Austria. Immediately a Lom- 
 bard delegation came to the King of Sardinia and 
 ofi'ered him the fealty of their state and asked for 
 its union with Piedmont. Thus came the first new 
 state into united Italy. 
 
 On June 8 the allies entered Milan, the Lom- 
 bard capital, and celebrated their victories with 
 a splendid service at the cathedral. Meanwhile 
 news arrived of a French victory at Malegnano, 
 and of Garibaldi's daring movements among the 
 Alps. The Lombards were beside themselves with 
 delight, the Austrians, so long their overlords, 
 had at last withdrawn across the Mincio into Vene- 
 tia. Victor Emmanuel issued a proclamation in 
 Milan on June 9 in which occurred the stirring 
 words of praise for his ally so often quoted, " The 
 
314 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Emperor of the French, our generous ally, worthy 
 of the name and genius of Napoleon, putting him- 
 self at the head of the heroic army of that great 
 nation, wishes to liberate Italy from the Alps to 
 the Adriatic. In a rivalry of sacrifices you will 
 second these magnanimous proposals on the field of 
 battle, you will show yourselves worthy of the des- 
 tinies to which Italy is now called after so many 
 centuries of suffering." 
 
 In Milan the King first met Garibaldi, whose 
 reputation for striking audacity and no less re- 
 markable simplicity had made a strong appeal to a 
 sovereign who could appreciate those qualities. 
 Here their friendship began, a mutual admiration 
 which was to be the strongest link to bind the gen- 
 eral, growing yearly more and more a republican, 
 to the future Kingdom of Italy. 
 
 Austria was now ready for a new attack, and 
 appeared suddenly in front of the allied armies. 
 The latter met them, and fought on June 24 the 
 great battle called Solferino by the French, and 
 San Martino by the Italians. San Martino is the 
 name of a hill which commands the roads to the 
 Lake of Garda. The Piedmontese had held it at 
 first, but were dislodged by the Austrians. Then 
 re-enforcements arrived, and the height was re- 
 taken, but at great cost. The King sent an officer 
 to the general in command, saying, " Our alKes are 
 
THE KING 315 
 
 winning a great battle at Solferino; it is the 
 King's wish that his soldiers should win one at 
 San Martino." " Say to the King that his orders 
 shall be executed," replied General MoUard. The 
 King succeeded in capturing Sonato, and then 
 went to the defense of San Martino, which was 
 finally won after most desperate fighting. The 
 Italians had equaled the proud record of their 
 allies on that day. Between them the two armies 
 had driven the Austrians completely out of Lom- 
 bardy. That night it did not seem unlikely that 
 a few more weeks would indeed see Italy free from 
 the Alps to the Adriatic, and Venice united to her 
 sister cities of the north. 
 
 Napoleon, having met with the most unqualified 
 success in Italy, suddenly stopped short, and pro- 
 ceeded, almost as though panic-stricken, to ask 
 Austria for an armistice, as though he were the 
 vanquished, not the victor. Both Italians and 
 Frenchmen heard of this determination of the Em- 
 peror first with incredulity, then with amazement, 
 then with indignation. Victor Emmanuel did his 
 utmost to induce his ally to change his intention, 
 but Napoleon was obdurate. Then the King, who 
 realized to the full what a crushing blow this step 
 would be to the soaring hopes of the Italian cities, 
 resigned himself to the situation as best he could. 
 " Poor Italy ! " he said to the French Emperor. 
 
316 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 " Whatever shall be your Majesty's decision I shall 
 always feel grateful for what you have done for 
 Italian independence, and you may count on me 
 as a friend." It must have been hard for a king 
 who saw his victorious army checked in mid-career 
 to have spoken such dignified words. 
 
 Other men did not take Napoleon's action with 
 any such restraint. The men of the provinces who 
 had seen themselves almost free of the yoke they so 
 deeply hated were indescribably bitter at this out- 
 come, Garibaldi and his volunteers felt themselves 
 confirmed in that antipathy to Napoleon they had 
 been at small pains to conceal, and the general was 
 only calmed by the personal appeal of his King. 
 But the effect was most disastrous upon Cavour, 
 who had labored to bring about this war as no 
 other man in Italy had done, and who now believed 
 that the tremendous efforts of his life had gone 
 for nothing. He had shouldered tremendous re- 
 sponsibility, now he felt the disaster overwhelm- 
 ingly. He hurried to the King's camp, and mak- 
 ing small effort to conceal his anger, denounced 
 the Emperor and counseled the King to refuse to 
 accept Lombardy under the terms of peace. Posi- 
 tions were reversed, for the moment Victor Em- 
 manuel was the calm statesman looking to the 
 future, Cavour the man of fiery impulse who would 
 accept no compromise. The meeting was long and 
 
THE KING 317 
 
 difficult, and when Cavour left, having placed his 
 resignation in the King's hands, there was a deep 
 breach between the two men. Cavour returned to 
 Turin, " in the space of three days grown older 
 by many years." 
 
 The Treaty of Villafranca was signed July 12, 
 1859, and by it Lombardy was joined to Piedmont. 
 The Cavour ministry only held office until their 
 successors could be appointed. Rattazzi at last 
 agreed to accept the helm. 
 
 The high contracting parties to the treaty had 
 thought that they could dispose of the small Italian 
 states as they pleased, and return them to the 
 dominion of their Grand Dukes and Princes by a 
 stroke of the pen. It proved, however, quite other- 
 wise. Modena, Parma, the provinces of Bologna, 
 Ferrara, Umbria, Perugia, and the Marches, had 
 been too near freedom to suffer the peaceful return 
 of their old overlords. State after state had sent 
 deputations to the Sardinian King during the war 
 asking for annexation to Piedmont, and some of 
 them had provisional governments with Piedmont- 
 ese deputies at their head. The ministry at Turin 
 gave orders in pursuance of the terms of peace 
 withdrawing the royal commissioners, but the men 
 in charge felt that they could not abandon their 
 posts and leave the people in a state bordering on 
 anarchy, and the people stated decisively that they 
 
318 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 would not allow their fugitive Princes to return. 
 So the Treaty of Villafranca was not as effective 
 as its makers had intended it to be. 
 
 The central Italian states proceeded to take 
 aif airs into their own hands, and sent envoys to the 
 different courts of Europe to represent the true 
 conditions in their respective cities and their 
 ardent desire for annexation to Piedmont. In 
 Florence Ricasoli, in Modena Farini took positive 
 stands, and led in the calling of an Assembly of all 
 the smaller states, which resolved that they would 
 become subjects of the Sardinian King. Deputa- 
 tation after deputation came to the King at 
 Turin, composed of the best known men of the 
 states, and besought him to accept their allegiance. 
 It was a difficult position for the King. He could 
 not refuse requests so ardently made, and which 
 represented the dearest wish of people he had so 
 often declared he would protect, yet he could not 
 easily accept in view of the position of Austria and 
 France. He welcomed the envoys warmly, enter- 
 tained them at his capital, and spoke to them 
 freely, assuring them of the warmth of his desires 
 and asking them to be patient only a little time 
 longer. In November, 1859, the Powers saw that 
 a conference must meet to consider this problem 
 of Italy. Piedmont looked about for the man to 
 speak her voice, and only one man was thought of. 
 
THE KING 319 
 
 The King had felt Cavour's anger deeply, and 
 could hardly find it in him to call him out of his 
 retirement. He saw, however, that any Congress 
 would be useless without the great statesman, and 
 so he finally consented, and nominated him as first 
 Sardinian plenipotentiary. 
 
 Although the King could bring himself to ap- 
 point Cavour, the Rattazzi ministry were unwilling 
 to have him act, and it seemed as though no com- 
 promise could be effected. Cavour was asked to 
 put his conditions of acceptance in writing, and 
 by chance happened to dictate them to Sir James 
 Hudson, the British Minister at Turin, with whom 
 he was staying. When the conditions were re- 
 ceived by the cabinet the ministers did not favor 
 them, and La Marmora, discovering them to be in 
 Sir James Hudson's handwriting, was offended at 
 what he chose to consider foreign interference, 
 and resigned. The cabinet, never very strong, 
 could not stand, and the King at once pocketed his 
 last dislike, and summoned Cavour to form a new 
 ministry. This the Count consented to do. 
 
 The Pope was much alarmed at the condition 
 of the Papal States and began publicly to de- 
 nounce Victor Emmanuel for encouraging both 
 those and the other states in their desire for an- 
 nexation. The correspondence between Pope and 
 King was most remarkable, always dignified, and 
 
320 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 on the King's part breathing the desire for recon- 
 ciliation, but on the Pope's indignant and alarm- 
 ing. The proposed European Congress did not 
 meet, and as month after month passed events 
 showed that the central states would have their 
 way. At length these states took a formal vote in 
 popular assemblies, and declared unanimously for 
 annexation with Piedmont. The King could with- 
 stand them no longer, and the annexation was 
 agreed to. Immediately Pius IX. issued a bull of 
 excommunication against Victor Emmanuel, his 
 ministers, soldiers, and subjects, and proclaimed 
 him no better than a sacrilegious robber. This 
 act, formerly so terrifying, had no effect, the peo- 
 ple had made up their minds, and in the spring of 
 1860 the King received Farini, Dictator of Emilia, 
 and Ricasoli, Dictator of Tuscany, and accepted 
 from them the allegiance of central Italy. 
 
 That France might take no untoward step at 
 sight of a kingdom growing so rapidly on her 
 southern border Victor Emmanuel had to make the 
 second concession to Napoleon, and cede Savoy and 
 Nice. It was a bitter step for the head of the 
 House of Savoy to take, but he felt that the need 
 of Italy required it of him, and, as with every 
 other sacrifice that need required of him, he met it 
 resolutely. Not so Garibaldi, who saw his birth- 
 place given to a foreign Power ; he never forgave 
 
THE KING 321 
 
 Cavour that act, and it widened the gulf already 
 separating them. 
 
 The new Parliament met on April 2, I860, 
 numbering among its members the greatest names 
 of Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Emilia. 
 Ricasoli, Farini, Capponi, Manzoni, Mamiani, 
 Poerio, all had seats. The King, in his speech 
 from the throne, dwelt upon the accession of cen- 
 tral Italy, and briefly but with infinite pathos 
 stated that he had made a treaty for the reunion 
 of Savoy and Nice to France. Then he called his 
 hearers' minds to the work that lay before them. 
 " In turning our attention," he concluded, " to 
 the new ordering of affairs, not seeking in old 
 parties other than the memory of the services ren- 
 dered to the common cause, we invite all sincere 
 opinions to a noble emulation that we may attain 
 the grand end of the greatness of the country. It 
 is no longer the Italy of the Romans, nor that of 
 the Middle Ages ; it must no longer be the battle- 
 field of ambitious foreigners, but it must be rather 
 the Italy of the Italians." 
 
 How many patriots had voiced that cry " the 
 Italy of the Italians " through the long centuries 
 when Goth and Vandal, Guelph and Ghibelline, 
 Pope and Emperor, France and Austria, had 
 striven to gain the upper hand in the Peninsula ! 
 
 Soon after Parliament opened the King made a 
 
322 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 tour of his new possessions, and was hailed in each 
 city as deliverer. The joy of the people in the 
 thought that at last they had an Italian prince in 
 place of the fickle, foreign-bred Bourbons, was 
 wonderful to behold : " At last we are eleven mil- 
 lion Italians ! " was their proud cry. Florence 
 received the King with decorations of every fash- 
 ion, arches of triumph, houses draped with the tri- 
 color and rich brocades, streets carpeted with 
 laurels, a rain of roses as he rode from the rail- 
 way station to the Palazzo Vecchio. The greatest 
 men of Tuscany, poets, artists, musicians, 
 scholars, came to greet him, and with one accord 
 proclaimed him the hero who had brought to frui- 
 tion the dreams of their lives. His visit to 
 Florence was a memorable one. 
 
 We must now glance for a moment at the re- 
 markable events which General Garibaldi was 
 bringing to pass in Sicily and Calabria. The ex- 
 pedition of the Thousand had started from Genoa, 
 openly disavowed by that astute diplomat Cavour, 
 secretly encouraged by him. The hero of the 
 magic Red Shirt had swept over Sicily and crossed 
 thence to the mainland. Men of all classes were 
 speeding from every part of Italy to fight under 
 such a glorious leader, the triumphal march from 
 Reggio to Naples had begun, and the troops of 
 Francis II. of Naples were proving how very little 
 
THE KING 323 
 
 they had the interest of their sovereign's cause at 
 heart. But with Garibaldi in possession of Naples 
 serious questions arose. The victorious general 
 wished to march immediately on Rome, and to hold 
 the dictatorship of southern Italy until he could 
 unite it in one gift to Victor Emmanuel. It was 
 an heroic desire, worthy of its great inventor, but 
 Victor Emmanuel and Cavour both realized that 
 a march on Rome at that time meant the active 
 intervention of French troops, and that a pro- 
 longed dictatorship might give the republican ele- 
 ment an opportunity to change Garibaldi's plans 
 and destroy the hope of national unity. There 
 were numbers of Mazzinians in Naples and Cavour 
 feared their influence over the great crusader. He 
 appealed to Parliament, and it voted for the imme- 
 diate annexation of Naples and Sicily. Then the 
 royal army was sent at the double quick to meet 
 Garibaldi before he should start for Rome. When 
 the army was well on its march Cavour gave this 
 note to the foreign ambassadors in explanation: 
 " If we do not arrive on the Volturno before Gari- 
 baldi arrives at Cattolica, the monarchy is lost — 
 Italy remains a prey to revolution." 
 
 The King led the royal army south and the 
 progress through the Papal States was one con- 
 tinual triumph; General Cialdini met the Papal 
 army at Castelfidardo and defeated them, soon 
 
324. VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 after he took Ancona, and Victor Emmanuel was 
 in possession of Umbria, the Marches, and Peru- 
 gia, all taken as Cavour diplomatically explained, 
 to save Italy from revolution. 
 
 Garibaldi generously acquiesced in the decision 
 of the Parliament at Turin, and prepared to sur- 
 render his conquests to the King. As Victor Em- 
 manuel started from Ancona on the last stage of 
 his progress to Naples he issued an address to the 
 people of southern Italy, which concluded, " My 
 troops advance among you to maintain order; I 
 do not come to impose my will upon you, but to see 
 that yours is respected. You will be able to mani- 
 fest it freely. That Providence which protects 
 just causes will guide the vote which you will place 
 upon the urn. Whatever be the gravity of the 
 events which may arise, I await tranquilly the 
 judgment of civilized Europe and of history, be- 
 cause I have the consciousness of having fulfilled 
 my duty as King and as an Italian. In Europe 
 my policy perhaps will not be without effect in 
 helping to reconcile the progress of the people with 
 the stability of the monarchy. In Italy I know 
 that I close the era of revolutions." 
 
 Outside of Naples the King at the head of his 
 troops was met by Garibaldi, riding with some of 
 his red-shirted officers. Garibaldi saluted Victor 
 Emmanuel as " King of Italy," and the King 
 
THE KING 325 
 
 thanked him with simple words. Then they 
 clasped hands and rode side by side towards the 
 capital, which the general was giving to the King. 
 Each of the men was then and always, even in the 
 dismal days of Aspromonte and Mentana, a warm 
 admirer of the other. November 7, 1860, Victor 
 Emmanuel entered Naples, which was given over 
 to triumphal acclamations of King and general. 
 They reigned side by side as popular idols for some 
 days, and then Garibaldi, refusing all gifts and 
 honors, returned to his island of Caprera, and 
 Victor Emmanuel soon afterwards returned to his 
 capital of Turin. 
 
 The last strongholds of the Bourbons in Italy 
 fell early in the new year, and the nation lacked 
 only Rome and Venetia for completion. A new 
 Parliament was called at Turin to mark the transi- 
 tion from the Kingdom of Sardinia to the King- 
 dom of Italy. Representatives of all the new prov- 
 inces appeared, and Parliament was opened on 
 February 18, 1861. The King, in his speech 
 from the throne, reviewed the great events of the 
 past year, and declared that the valor of the great 
 mediaeval cities of Italy had been shown to survive 
 in the sons of the modern kingdom. He was pro- 
 claimed the sovereign by the title of Victor Em- 
 manuel II., by the Grace of God and by the will of 
 the nation. King of Italy. He chose that his pred- 
 
326 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 ecessor of the same name should bear the title of 
 the first Victor Emmanuel, but he was only King 
 of Sardinia, and this sovereign was in fact Victor 
 Emmanuel the First of Italy. 
 
 Cavour decided to resign and so allow the new 
 King the opportunity to appoint a new Premier. 
 The will of the King had occasionally clashed with 
 the will of the statesman, and the former now hesi- 
 tated in the matter of choosing his new Prime 
 Minister. He conferred with the leaders of the 
 various provinces, and found them all in one ac- 
 cord, Cavour must be the first minister of Italy. 
 He was invited to form a new ministry, and agreed 
 to do so. Attacked at home by Garibaldi and 
 those who wished to take Rome by the sword, and 
 vilified abroad by Papal emissaries, the great Min- 
 ister heeded neither party, but proceeded quietly 
 to lay his plans for the ultimate acquisition of 
 Rome as the national capital. As always, he be- 
 lieved in alternating audacity with patience, and 
 believed that this was the time for the exercise of 
 the latter virtue. 
 
 Unfortunately for the course of Italian history, 
 Cavour's labors to induce the Catholic world to 
 have faith in his belief that a free church in a free 
 state was best for civilization were brought to a 
 close that spring. He died June 6, 1861, having 
 worked so hard in Parliament that he had brought 
 
THE KING 327 
 
 upon himself a violent fever. The King had 
 visited him on June 5, and the sick man had roused 
 sufficiently to speak to him. " Ah, Maesta ! " 
 murmured the man, to whom Victor Emmanuel 
 represented the central figure of his career. At 
 Cavour's death Victor Emmanuel was prostrated. 
 " Better for Italy if it were I who had died ! " he 
 exclaimed, with full consciousness that it had been 
 Cavour who alone of all Italians had possessed the 
 greatness of intellect to raise the throne of Pied- 
 mont to an equality among the Powers. 
 
 All Italians felt that their greatest guide was 
 lost to them in Cavour's death. Only at this time 
 did they fully realize how monumental had been 
 his force of character, how simple and endearing 
 his nature. For years he had silently shouldered 
 burdens of inestimable weight, and followed his 
 course in the face of attack both at home and 
 abroad. Massimo d'Azeglio wrote to Farini, 
 " Poor Cavour. It is only now I know how much I 
 loved him. I am no longer good for anything, but 
 I have prayed to heaven for our country, and a 
 gleam of comfort has come to me. If God will He 
 can save Italy even without Cavour." There were 
 many men in Italy who felt that only by miracle 
 now could their fragile ship be brought safely into 
 port. 
 
 From the date of Cavour's death Victor Em- 
 
S28 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 manuel gave more personal concern to the foreign 
 affairs of his country, he felt that his responsibili- 
 ties had tremendously increased. Ricasoli, who 
 had been dictator of Florence, became Prime Min- 
 ister. England and France had acknowledged 
 the new Kingdom of Italy, and now Prussia and 
 Russia did likewise. A marriage was arranged 
 between Victor Emmanuel's youngest daughter 
 Maria Pia and the King of Portugal, and the 
 various countries of Europe all turned with a new 
 interest to the romantic history of the fast-spread- 
 ing House of Savoy. 
 
 The burdens that Cavour had borne so long soon 
 proved too heavy for his successor Ricasoli, and 
 after nine months' service he resigned his office. 
 Rattazzi, Cavour's old ally in the early days of 
 Victor Emmanuel's reign, succeeded him as Prime 
 Minister. He it was who now had to face the in- 
 creasing complications of the Roman question 
 brought about by the determination of Garibaldi 
 and the ardent spirits of " Young Italy " to take 
 the Papal capital by storm. Cavour had been 
 able, in part at least, to prevent friction between 
 the regular army and the Garibaldians, and to 
 guide the impulsive general. Whether he could 
 have prevented Garibaldi from embarking again 
 from Sicily, this time headed for Rome, no one 
 can say. Rattazzi found the task beyond him. 
 
THE KING 329 
 
 In midsummer of 1862 Garibaldi and his vol- 
 unteers crossed from Sicily and took up their 
 march through Calabria with the motto of their 
 endeavor, " Rome or death." The Italian gov- 
 ernment felt that the advance must be stopped at 
 all costs, or they would be involved in foreign war- 
 fare. General Cialdini was sent to oppose Gari- 
 baldi, and did so at Aspromonte, where, after a 
 very short resistance, the volunteers surrendered. 
 Unfortunately Garibaldi was wounded in the foot, 
 and the illness that followed was long and trying 
 both to the general and to the Italian government. 
 The wounded hero was honized and acclaimed, and 
 treated more like a martyr than an insurgent. 
 The King was bitterly grieved at the tragedy of 
 Aspromonte, and the necessity of taking prisoner 
 a man who had labored so valiantly for Italian 
 freedom. 
 
 The Rattazzi Ministry could not withstand the 
 loss of popular support after Aspromonte, and re- 
 signed. Farini, who had been dictator of Emilia 
 in the days following the last Austrian war, suc- 
 ceeded Rattazzi as Premier, but he in turn was 
 soon forced by ill-health to surrender the control. 
 Minghetti then became Prime Minister. Mean- 
 time the Roman question was as far from being 
 settled as ever ; Napoleon, protesting that he was 
 the friend of Italian independence, yet in the same 
 
330 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 breath insisting on the temporal dominion of the 
 Pope, proving an insurmountable obstacle. For- 
 tunately for Italy the time was to come when 
 Napoleon's attention would be wholly directed else- 
 where. In these days of indecision and waiting 
 Victor Emmanuel traveled extensively through all 
 parts of the kingdom, and was everywhere greeted 
 with the warmest evidence of gratitude and affec- 
 tion. Itahans were not used to a sovereign who 
 was glad to meet all classes of his people, and not 
 afraid to hear their views of his government. His 
 fearlessness, his devotion, his bonhomie all endeared 
 him to the people, and the Re Galantuomo became 
 indeed a very honest king to all men who had only 
 known Austrian and clerical governors. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel expected that Venice would be 
 added to the Kingdom of Italy before Rome was, 
 but the immediate annexation of neither seemed 
 probable. The French government became grad- 
 ually more conciliatory, but the changes were very 
 gradual. Napoleon foresaw that Rome must in- 
 evitably become Italy's capital, and the French 
 minister, Druyn de Lhuys, said, " Of course in 
 the end you will go to Rome. But it is important 
 that between our evacuation and your going there, 
 such an interval of time elapse as to prevent people 
 establishing any connection between the two facts ; 
 France must not have any responsibility." Napo- 
 
THE KING 331 
 
 leon proposed that the Italian capital be moved 
 from Turin to a southern and more central city, 
 and the Minghetti Ministry accepted the sugges- 
 tion and proposed to the King that the seat of 
 government be transferred to Florence. The 
 thought of leaving Turin, for so many centuries 
 the home of his family, caused Victor Emmanuel 
 the greatest distress. " You know I am a true 
 Turinese," he said, " and no one can understand 
 what a wrench it is to my heart to think that I 
 must abandon this city where I have so many affec- 
 tions, where there is such a feeling of fidelity to 
 my family, where the bones of my fathers and all 
 my dear ones repose." It appeared, however, that 
 the change must be made if the advantages of the 
 new agreement with France, according to which 
 the French troops were to evacuate Rome in two 
 years, were to be obtained. " Since the cession of 
 Savoy and Nice," said the King, " no public event 
 has cost me such bitter regret. If I were not per- 
 suaded that this sacrifice is necessary to the unity 
 of Italy I would refuse." 
 
 Turin, when it heard of the determination of 
 the government, gave itself over to consternation 
 of the wildest type. The Minghetti Ministry had 
 to resign, and even the beloved King was not spared 
 open demonstration of his people's disapproval. 
 He summoned General La Marmora to become 
 
332 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Premier, and the new minister carried the change 
 through in spite of Turinese disapproval. The 
 change was made early in 1865, and Florence wel- 
 comed the King with every tribute of honor. It 
 was some time, however, before Victor Emmanuel 
 could forget the injustice done him by the people 
 of his own city, although they later proved their 
 regret for their unkind treatment by asking for- 
 giveness and celebrating his visits to them with 
 unwonted joy. 
 
 Early in 1866 the King's third son. Otto, Duke 
 of Monferrat, who had long been an invalid, died, 
 and at very nearly the same time died that remark- 
 able man, Massimo d'Azeglio. From the days of 
 his early youth the King had relied on the counsels 
 and wise judgment of this man, who was alter- 
 nately artist, poet, statesman, soldier, and who 
 had the gift of making friends to a greater degree 
 than any Italian in public life. He had sacrificed 
 his own interests time and again at the request of 
 his King or of Cavour, he had traveled through- 
 out Italy studying conditions in the days of 
 Charles Albert, and recording them in his books, 
 he had been honored by almost all the sovereigns 
 of Europe as a man of the noblest character and 
 highest talents. His death was a great loss to 
 Italy. 
 
 The clouds of war were gathering abroad in 
 
THE KING 
 
 that same year. Prussia and Austria were quar- 
 reling, and the Italian government concluded an 
 alliance with Prussia on April 8, 1866. Austria, 
 realizing that she would have sufficient difficulty in 
 holding her own against Prussia without having to 
 guard against her southern neighbor also, made 
 overtures through Napoleon agreeing to cede 
 Venetia to Italy if that country would dissolve its 
 alliance with Prussia. The temptation was 
 strong, but the King and his Prime Minister re- 
 fused to break their engagements, and on June 20, 
 1866, declared war against Austria. Victor Em- 
 manuel appointed his cousin Regent, and took com- 
 mand of his troops. The two young Princes, 
 Humbert and Amadeus, went with him. 
 
 On that same field of Custozza, where the Ital- 
 ians had lost in 1849, the armies met, and after a 
 long and bloody battle the army of Italy was 
 again worsted. At the same time the Italian fleet 
 was beaten at Lissa in the Adriatic. Even Gari- 
 baldi's volunteers in the Lakes were not meeting 
 with their former successes, and the campaign 
 would have been disastrous to Italian hopes had 
 not their ally, Prussia, forced Austria to imme- 
 diate terms by the two great victories of Konig- 
 gratz and Sadowa. An armistice followed, and 
 Napoleon, to whom Austria ceded Venetia, gave 
 that province to Italy with the approval of Prus- 
 
334, VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 sia. The Italians were dejected by their losses, 
 but at least Venice was finally free from the 
 foreigner. 
 
 The beautiful city of the Adriatic was no sooner 
 free than she sent her foremost citizens to Victor 
 Emmanuel to ask for immediate annexation to the 
 Itahan kingdom. It was a glorious day when the 
 red, white, and green flag was raised in Saint 
 Mark's Square, and the Venetian heroes, exiled 
 with their great leader, Daniel Manin, almost two 
 decades earlier, could return to breathe the air 
 of their beloved home. Victor Emmanuel received 
 the citizens of Venice at Turin, and answered their 
 eager desire with stirring words. " Citizens of 
 Venice," so ran his answer, " this is the most beau- 
 tiful day of my life. It is now nineteen years 
 since my father proclaimed from this city the war 
 of national independence. To-day, his birthday, 
 you, gentlemen, bring me the evidence of the popu- 
 lar will of the Venetian provinces, which we now 
 unite to the great Italian nation, declaring as an 
 accomplished fact the desire of my august parent. 
 You confirm by this solemn act that which Venetia 
 did in 1848, and which she maintained with such 
 admirable constancy and self-abnegation. Let 
 me here pay a tribute to those brave men who with 
 their blood, and with sacrifices of every sort, kept 
 undiminished faith to their country and to her 
 
THE KING 335 
 
 destinies. With this day shall disappear from the 
 Peninsula every vestige of foreign domination. 
 Italy is made, if not completed; it now rests 
 with the Italians to make her great and pros- 
 perous. 
 
 " Gentlemen, the Iron Crown is also restored in 
 this solemn day to Italy. But above this crown I 
 place that which to me is dearer — the crown of my 
 people's love." 
 
 November 7, 1866, the King made his formal 
 entry into that most beautiful of the rare group 
 of Italy's cities, and the one which had belonged 
 most absolutely to the foreigner. 
 
 Rome alone now remained outside the nation, 
 and it was plainly only a matter of time before 
 Pius IX. would have to submit to his evident des- 
 tiny. The French had kept their agreement, and 
 were leaving Rome, the call of the Romans to Vic- 
 tor Emmanuel to come and free them grew ever 
 louder, and the wish of the Italian people grew 
 daily more pronounced. It was Victor Emmanuel 
 himself who would not force the Church's hand, 
 he was content to wait, knowing how events were 
 gradually shaping, and this patience of his in the 
 end proved its wisdom. 
 
 There were others, however, who would not wait, 
 and these were the Garibaldians. When the 
 Romans found that the King would not draw 
 
336 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 sword to free them, they turned to the crusader 
 whose hand was always on his sword hilt at the call 
 of Rome. He heard the call now, took the field 
 again, and placed his King a second time in the 
 same unenviable position. 
 
 One ministry resigned, no statesman seemed 
 competent to cope with the situation which Gari- 
 baldi was bringing on his country, the King saw 
 Italy on the brink of civil war, and was at the same 
 time fearful lest the French troops return and 
 destroy the volunteers. It was the most trying 
 time in his career as King of Italy. 
 
 Garibaldi was arrested, imprisoned at Caprera, 
 escaped, and joined the now rapidly increasing 
 volunteers in the country about Rome. He met 
 with success at the battle of Monte Rotondo, but a 
 few days later found his army opposed at Men- 
 tana by French troops which Napoleon had hur- 
 riedly sent to protect the Papal temporal power. 
 The French were armed with the new chassepot 
 gun, and the Garibaldians were defeated with ter- 
 rible loss. They could not renew the unequal 
 struggle, and the brief campaign came to an un- 
 timely end. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel was heart-broken at the news 
 of the frightful havoc at Mentana and the Gari- 
 baldian losses. " Ah, those chassepots ! " he ex- 
 claimed. " They have mortally wounded my heart 
 
THE KING 
 
 as father and king. I feel as if the balls had torn 
 my flesh. It is one of the greatest griefs that I 
 have ever known in all my life." 
 
 After the short campaign the reckless patriot 
 Garibaldi was again imprisoned, but soon released. 
 He had proved a tremendous problem to all the 
 successors of Cavour. He returned to Caprera, 
 and gradually the agitation of the Roman ques- 
 tion subsided into its former slow and diplomatic 
 course. 
 
 The Crown Prince Humbert, who was twenty- 
 four years old, was now married to his first cousin 
 the Princess Margherita, daughter of the Duke of 
 Genoa, and the marriage proved immensely popu- 
 lar, for the Princess possessed unusual charm, and 
 as soon as she was known, was beloved by the 
 people. The King's second son, Amadeus, soon 
 to be offered the crown of Spain, had already mar- 
 ried the daughter of the Prince della Cisterna, the 
 head of an old and devotedly loyal Piedmont fam- 
 ily. In the year 1869 Victor Emmanuel, who had 
 been seized with a severe fever in his villa near 
 Pisa, married the Countess Mirafiore, according 
 to the rites of the Church. 
 
 The year 1870 saw Napoleon drawn into the 
 war with Prussia which was to cost him his crown. 
 The French troops could no longer remain abroad 
 to support the Pope and were withdrawn from 
 
338 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 Italy. Although Napoleon had sacrificed his 
 alliance with Victor Emmanuel the latter would 
 even now have gone to his aid, but his ministers 
 would not permit him to take such a step. The 
 rapid disasters that befell French arms and the 
 surrender of the Emperor at Sedan caused the 
 Romans to make another appeal to Victor Em- 
 manuel to come to their aid before they should be 
 altogether abandoned. The time was now ripe 
 when the appeal could be answered. A message 
 containing the King's resolution was sent to the 
 provisional government at Paris, which replied 
 that it had no power now to oppose Italy. Yet, 
 even now, before sending his troops to Rome, the 
 King tried again to effect some pacific adjustment 
 with the Pope, and it was only when the latter 
 showed again his unaltered determination to insist 
 on the temporal power of the Church that the 
 Italian army crossed the Papal frontier. 
 
 September 20, 1870, is the date on which the 
 temporal power of the Roman Church, after many 
 centuries of vicissitudes, came to an end. The 
 Pope, although eighty years old, determined on 
 final resistance, and the invading army was met 
 at the Leonine Gate with fire from the city bas- 
 tions. The fight did not last long, the foreign 
 ambassadors in Rome entreated the Pope to 
 capitulate, but he would not do so until he heard 
 
THE KING 339 
 
 that the royal army was actually within the city. 
 Then a white flag was raised on Saint Peter's, and 
 an hour later the last Papal Zouaves were surren- 
 dering their arms. All Rome rushed to the Capi- 
 tol and burst into ecstatic acclaim as the Italian 
 tri-color was flung out to the breezes from the 
 palace. The fortress of Saint Angelo was opened 
 and scores of political prisoners released. Mean- 
 while the Pope and the Cardinals withdrew into 
 the Vatican, and proclaimed to the world that they 
 were kept there as prisoners against their will. A 
 popular vote of the Romans was taken and re- 
 sulted overwhelmingly in favor of union with the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The long struggle which had begun for Victor 
 Emmanuel on that far-ofi' day of Novara, was 
 ended. To Piedmont had been added Lombardy, 
 Tuscany, Emilia, the Papal States, Sicily, Naples, 
 Venetia, and now Rome. The vow of the King 
 was accomplished, Italy was complete. The last 
 Parliament in Florence met December 5, 1870, and 
 the King in opening it said, " With Rome the cap- 
 ital of Italy I have fulfilled my promise, and 
 crowned the undertaking which twenty-three 
 years ago was initiated by my great father. As 
 a king and as a son, I feel in my heart a solemn 
 joy in saluting here assembled the representatives 
 of our beloved country, and in pronouncing these 
 
340 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 words — ^Italy is free and one. Now it depends on 
 us to make her free and happy." 
 
 Florence had rejoiced at being the capital of 
 Italy, but now she surrendered that proud posi- 
 tion to Rome, which all Italians felt must be the 
 capital of the new nation. The King had no wish 
 to offend the Pope, indeed he and his ministers 
 were untiring in their efforts to effect a reconcilia- 
 tion with the head of the Church, and the public 
 entry into Rome was delayed for almost nine 
 months. Meanwhile the King had entered the city 
 privately at a time when the Tiber had flooded its 
 banks and caused much distress, and had done all 
 that he could to relieve the needs of the poor and 
 homeless. On June 2, 1871, Victor Emmanuel 
 made his formal entry into his new capital, and 
 took possession of the Quirinal. On November 27 
 of that same year the first Parhament represent- 
 ing united Italy met. 
 
 A httle earlier Spain, rid of Isabella, and in the 
 hands of a provisional government, sought a king 
 from Italy, and found one in Victor Emmanuel's 
 son, Amadeus, who went to Madrid, and reigned 
 there for a few troubled years, until another revo- 
 lution released him from a position which he had 
 never sought or desired. 
 
 For seven years Victor Emmanuel reigned in 
 Rome, and they were years of great strides in 
 
THE KING 841 
 
 progress and in national unity. He visited for- 
 eign sovereigns, and they in turn visited him; in 
 1873 he went to Vienna as the guest of the Aus- 
 trian Emperor Francis Joseph, and in 1876 the 
 latter visited him at Venice. The King of Italy, 
 always open-hearted and simple by nature, was 
 glad to forget the days when Austria had ruled 
 in Italy, and to form ties of friendship between 
 the Houses of Savoy and of Hapsburg, ties which 
 Francis Joseph was equally glad to make. 
 
 The Pope continued publicly to resent the pres- 
 ence of the King in Rome, but privately he stated 
 his admiration for him. Pius IX. was two men in 
 one, delightful as a private character, but narrow 
 and bigoted in his public views. He stiU held to 
 his claim to temporal power over the States of 
 the Church, but gradually the claim ceased to be 
 other than an echo of history. 
 
 In those seven years between 1871 and 1878 
 the King knit his people together, met Garibaldi, 
 now the arch republican, and brought him to terms 
 of reason, concerned himself with scores of plans 
 for bettering the material welfare of his people, 
 draining the Campagna, tunneling Mont Cenis 
 and the St. Gothard, and building up commerce 
 with the East. He was always the idol of his 
 people, the R& Galantuomo, in whatever part of 
 the country he visited. On January 9, 1878, he 
 
342 VICTOR EMMANUEL 
 
 died, being fifty-eight years of age, and having 
 reigned twenty-nine years. 
 
 Thousands of stories are told of Victor Em- 
 manuel's frankness and independence, of his love 
 of mixing with his people, and doing little acts of 
 kindness and charity. He was a great hunter, 
 never happier than when in the Alps, free as the 
 meanest goatherd, and forgetful of all his cares. 
 He had a most magnetic personality, a certain 
 ruggedness of character that led men to trust 
 him implicitly and follow him without debate. He 
 was the very man for his time, a leader who could 
 accomplish what Charles Albert could never have 
 done, because he was first and foremost a fighter 
 and never the scholastic theorist. Grouped about 
 him were men of the greatest ability and devotion, 
 such patriots as D'Azeglio, Cavour, La Marmora, 
 who could do for him what they could never have 
 done for his father, because Victor Emmanuel 
 knew when to give others a free rein, and having 
 once given them that rein, did not immediately 
 jerk them back. He understood the delicate po- 
 sition of a constitutional sovereign almost by in- 
 stinct, time and again he might have forced his 
 wish upon his country, but he understood that it 
 was Parliament and not he that should be supreme. 
 Yet, on the other hand, he did not shirk respon- 
 sibility, he was ready to assume any burden which 
 
THE KING 343 
 
 would aid in delivering Italy from foreign dom- 
 ination. 
 
 Events in the lives of nations, such as the union 
 of the disordered states of Italy, are greater than 
 any man, but often such events seem to await the 
 coming of a certain man who shall collect within 
 himself the spirit of his time, and personify its 
 impulse in his nature. Reading this history, one 
 feels as though the men of the Peninsula had waited 
 the coming of a King of Piedmont who should 
 throw everything he had into the common cause, 
 and, without counting any cost or pain, fight to 
 the goal. When such a man came, then and then 
 only, could the forces that were preparing reach 
 their full growth and opportunity, then and then 
 only could Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour put 
 into operation the energies for which they sev- 
 erally stood. 
 
 In Italy to-day the memory of Victor Emmanuel 
 meets one on every hand, it was his fortunate fate 
 to rise to every opportunity, and to grow in his 
 people's affection with each step he took. 
 
INDEX 
 
 " Adelchi," appearance of, 
 51; stanzas from, 60, 61 
 
 Albany, Count and Countess 
 of, 23 
 
 Alfieri, Vittorio, 1-39; birth 
 and parentage, 1, 2; edu- 
 cation, 2, 3; early travels, 
 S-7; opinion of Paris, 8; 
 travels in England, 9, 14; 
 travels in Holland, 10; in 
 Vienna and Berlin, 13, 13; 
 travels in Russia, 13; in 
 Spain, 14, 15; first plays, 
 17, 18; moves to Florence, 
 30-22; meeting with the 
 Countess of Albany, 33, 
 34; " Virginia," " Agemen- 
 none," " Don Garzia," 
 " Maria Stuarda," " Or- 
 este," "Filippo," "Timo- 
 leone," " Ottavia," " Ros- 
 munda," 25; in Rome, 27, 
 28; "Saul," "Antigone," 
 37; later travels, 28; 
 "Agide," "Sofonisba," 
 "Mirra," 29; life in Paris, 
 30, 31; memoirs, 31; 
 French Revolution, 31-33; 
 French occupation of 
 Florence, 34; comedies, 
 35; death, 35; influence on 
 Italy, 36-39 
 
 Amadeus, King of Spain, 
 340 
 
 America, Garibaldi in, 235, 
 241 
 
 Arnaud, Giuseppe, quoted 
 (of Alfieri), 38 
 
 Aspromonte, 264, 339 
 
 Balbo, Count, 177 
 Bandiera-Moro, The, 116 
 Bassi, Ugo, in Venice, 110, 
 111; tribute to Manin, 
 111; at siege of Rome, 
 237; death of, 240 
 Beccaria, treatise on 
 " Crimes and Punish- 
 ments," 45 
 Benso, family of, 166 
 Bonghi, quoted (of Man- 
 zoni), 59 
 
 Caprera, Island of, 240, 243 
 Carbonari, The, 127, 139, 133 
 Carlyle, Thomas, and Maz- 
 
 zini, 143, 144 
 Castellani, The Nicoletti 
 
 and, 97 
 Cavour, CamUle di, 165-233; 
 birth, youth, and educa- 
 tion, 167-169; life as a 
 farmer at Leri, 169; 
 travels in England and 
 France, 171, 172; founds 
 "II Risorgimento," 174; 
 speech to the editors, 174, 
 175; election to Parlia- 
 ment, 177; campaign of 
 1848-49, 177-179; personal 
 appearance, 180 ; mem- 
 ber of D'Azeglio's cabinet, 
 183; the "Connubio" with 
 Rattazzi, 184, 185; the 
 "Gran Ministero," 188; 
 policies, 189; alliance with 
 England and France, 190, 
 191; resignation as Pre- 
 mier and recall, 193, 194; 
 
 345 
 
INDEX 
 
 Congress of Paris of 1856^ 
 195-198; Pact of Plom- 
 biferes, 201; crisis of 1859, 
 204-308; war of 1859, 308; 
 treaty of Villafranca, 208, 
 209; cession of Savoy and 
 Nice, 312-214; views on 
 Garibaldi's expedition, 214; 
 sends Royal army south, 
 216; " A Free Church in a 
 Free State," 219; death, 
 220 ; his statesmanship, 
 220-222; reliance of the 
 people, 222; relations with 
 Mazzini, 154, 155, 315 ■• 
 
 Cavour, Marquise Philippine 
 di, 166-168 
 
 Charles Albert, character of, 
 136-139, 173-174, 285; as 
 regent, 286; reign of, 67, 
 286-288; abdication of, 
 293, 294; and Gioberti, 67, 
 68; Mazzini's letter to, 137, 
 138 
 
 Charles Felix, King of Sar- 
 dinia, 284, 286 
 
 Ciceruacchio, 236, 339, 240 
 
 Clarendon, Lord, at Con- 
 gress of Paris, 197 
 
 Classicists and Romanticists, 
 41-44, 126 
 
 Cobden, visit to Venice, 91 
 
 Congregations, Central and 
 Provincial, 94 
 
 " Connubio," The, 184, 185 
 
 Crimean War, 190-192 
 
 Dandolo, Giulio, quoted (of 
 Garibaldi's troops), 228, 
 229 
 
 D'Azeglio, Massimo, 179 ; 
 and Charles Albert, 287, 
 288; ministry of, 182, 185, 
 187, 296; character of, 
 332; death of, 332; quoted 
 (of Alfieri), 39 
 
 De Lesseps, Ferdinand, at 
 Rome, 150, 235 
 
 De Sanctis, quoted (of Al- 
 fieri), 26; (of the reaction 
 from the French Revolu- 
 tion), 40; (of the Roman- 
 tic movement), 41, 43, 44 
 
 Emmanuel Philibert, of 
 Savoy, 283 
 
 Farini, 183, 318, 320, 329 
 "Father of Venice, The," 
 
 87-124 
 " Five Days of Milan, The," 
 
 147 
 French Revolution, failure 
 
 of, 40, 127; Alfieri and 
 
 the, 31-33 
 
 Gaeta, Mazzini at, 160 
 Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 223- 
 282; birth and boyhood, 
 223, 224; life in South 
 America, 225, 226; offer to 
 serve Pius IX,, 226, 227; 
 campaign of 1848, 227- 
 230; defense of Rome, 
 231-237; retreat of the 
 Legion, 237-239; death of 
 Anita, 240; leaves Italy, 
 241 ; purchase of Caprera, 
 242 ; commands the 
 "Hunters of the Alps," 
 244; campaign of 1859, 
 244-247; attacks Cavour, 
 249; expedition to Sicily, 
 314-216, 350-255; victories 
 in Calabria, 256; capture 
 of Naples, 357, 258; re- 
 turns to Caprera, 263; 
 march on Rome, and As- 
 promonte, 264; triumphal 
 visit to England, 366, 267; 
 campaign of 1S66, 267- 
 
INDEX 
 
 347 
 
 371; plans to take Rome, 
 Mentana, 373-375; serves 
 France against Prussia, 
 276; old age and death, 
 277-279; estimate of char- 
 acter and achievements, 
 279-283 
 
 Garibaldi, Anita, 326, 239, 
 240 
 
 Garibaldi, Francesca, 278 
 
 Garibaldi, Menotti, 253, 264, 
 273 
 
 Garibaldian army, descrip- 
 tion of, 228, 239, 270 
 
 Gioberti, Vincenzo, 63-86; 
 birth and education, 65, 
 66; priesthood, 66; chap- 
 lain to Charles Albert, 67 ; 
 arrest and exile, 68, 69; 
 life in Brussels, 69, 70; 
 " La Teorica del Sovran- 
 naturale," 70; " Introdu- 
 zione della Filosofia," 70; 
 other writings, 70; "II 
 Gesuita Moderno," 70; " II 
 Primato d' ItaUa," 70-73, 
 83, 84; returns to Pied- 
 mont, 75; revolutions of 
 1848, 76, 77; letter to Pius 
 IX., 78 ; " Rinnovamento 
 Civile d' ItaUa," 80, 81; 
 death, 83; comparison of, 
 with Mazzini, 83 
 
 "Gran Ministero," The, 188 
 
 Guerrazzi, attack on Cavour, 
 313 
 
 Howells, William Dean, 
 quoted (of Manzoni's 
 dramas), 53, 53 
 
 Hugo, Victor, and the Ro- 
 mantic movement, 54 
 
 Humbert, Prince, marriage 
 of, 337 
 
 " Hunters of the Alps," The, 
 202, 244 
 
 " I Promessi Sposi," appear- 
 ance of, 53; opinions of, 
 54; compared with "Les 
 Miserables," 54 
 
 " II Risorgimento," the news- 
 paper, 174, 182 
 
 Kossuth, Mazzini compared 
 with, 161 
 
 La Marmora, Alfonso, 293, 
 
 303, 333 
 Lincoln, Maazini compared 
 
 with, 162 
 
 Magenta, battle of, 313 
 Manin, Daniel, 87-134; birth 
 and education, 88; pro- 
 fessional work, 90, 91; 
 views on national resigna- 
 tion, 92-94; arrest and im- 
 prisonment, 95-99 ; tri- 
 umphal release, 98, 99; 
 forms a Venetian govern- 
 ment, 105; member of the 
 Triumvirate, 108 ; presi- 
 dent of the Republic, 113; 
 Dictator, 116; departure 
 from Venice, 130; life in 
 Paris, 131, 133; death, 
 133; results of his work, 
 124 
 Manin, Emilia, 103, 121, 133 
 Manzoni, Alessandro, 40-63; 
 birth and parentage, 45; 
 youth and education, 45- 
 47; stay in France, 47; re- 
 ligious views, 48, 49; mar- 
 riage, 48; "Sacred 
 Hymns," 49; view of 
 Pope's temporal power, 
 49; "II Conte di Carmag- 
 nola," 50; "II Cinque 
 Maggio," 51 ; " Adelchi," 
 51 ; "I Promessi Sposi," 
 53-55; personality, 56; old 
 
348 
 
 INDEX 
 
 age and death, 57; posi- 
 tion, 44, 59; miscellaneous 
 writings, 58, 59 
 
 Manzoni, Henriette, 48 
 
 Mazzini, Giuseppe, 125-164; 
 youth, 127; early writings, 
 128, 129; arrest and im- 
 prisonment, 129, 130; 
 "Young Italy," 131-133; 
 life in Switzerland and 
 London, 139-145; returns 
 to Italy, 147; Triumvir of 
 Rome, 148-151 ; in London, 
 152, 163; personal appear- 
 ance, 152; in Italy, 155; 
 disagreement with the 
 monarchy, 155-157 ; ap- 
 pearance in Genoa, 159; 
 plans to take Sicily, 160; 
 confinement at Gaeta, 160, 
 161 ; death, 161 ; position 
 in his century, 161; spirit 
 of self-sacrifice, 163 
 
 Mentana, 275, 336 
 
 " Mille," expedition of the, 
 250-256 
 
 Minghetti, 329; quoted (of 
 Gioberti), 63-65 
 
 Monti, Vincenzo, 46 
 
 Naples, welcome to Gari- 
 baldi, 258 
 
 Napoleon, Manzoni's Ode on 
 Death of, 51 
 
 Napoleon III., 150, 200, 312, 
 315 
 
 Nazari, 94 
 
 Neo-Guelph party, 84 
 
 Nice, cession of, 212-214, 
 249, 309, 320 
 
 Nicoletti and Castellani, 
 The, 97 
 
 Novara, battle of, 292, 393 
 
 Orsini, Felice, 200 
 
 Palermo, capture of, 253, 
 
 954 
 Palffy, Count, 92, 99, 100 
 Palmerston, Lord, views on 
 
 Italy, 186, 210, 211 
 Paravia, quoted (of Alfieri), 
 
 18, 19 
 Paris, Congress of, in 1856, 
 
 195-198 
 Piedmont, its mediaevalism, 
 
 166 
 Pius IX., accession of, 73, 
 
 145; Garibaldi's letter to, 
 
 226, 227; flight from 
 
 Rome of, 77 
 Plombiferes, Pact of, 201 
 "Primato d' Italia, II," 70- 
 
 73, 83, 84; quoted from, 
 
 71-73, 83, 84 
 " Promessi Sposi, I," 53, 54 
 
 Rattazzi, 184, 185, 210, 263, 
 317, 328 
 
 Raymondi, Giuseppina, 250 
 
 Ricasoli, 318, 320, 328 
 
 " Risorgimento, II," the 
 newspaper, 174, 182 
 
 Roman Republic, The, 148- 
 151, 233-237; Garibaldi's 
 part in, 231-237; mani- 
 festo of, 232 
 
 Romanticists and Classicists, 
 41-44, 126 
 
 Rome, talten by Victor Em- 
 manuel, 338, 339; capital 
 moved to, 340 
 
 Salasco, armistice of, 107 
 San Martino, battle of, 314, 
 
 315 
 Santa Rosa, 299 
 Sardinia, Kingdom of, 284 
 Savoy, history of house of, 
 
 283, 284; cession of, 212- 
 
 214, 309, 320 
 
INDEX 
 
 349 
 
 Sicily, Garibaldi's campaign 
 
 in, 262-255 
 Solferinb, battle of, 314, 315 
 Statute, the Sardinian, 176 
 
 Tommaseo, 95' 
 
 Turin, removal of capital 
 from, 331, 332 
 
 Unities, law of the three, 50 
 
 Valerio, attacks on Cavour, 
 175 
 
 Venice, the "Father of 
 Venice," 87-124; under 
 Austrian rule, 87 ; siege of, 
 109-130; capitulation of, 
 120; union with Italian 
 kingdom, 334, 335 
 
 Victor Amadeus, Duke of 
 Savoy, 284 
 
 Victor Emmanuel I., of 
 Italy, 283-343; ancestry, 
 283, 284; birth, youth, and 
 education, 289; marriage, 
 290; iirst battles, 291; be- 
 comes king, 293, 294; diffi- 
 culties with the Church, 
 
 298, 299; marriage of his 
 daughter, 309 ; speech 
 from the throne in 1859, 
 203; war with Austria in 
 1859, 311-315; treaty of 
 Villaf ranca, 315-317 ; union 
 of northern and central 
 states, 318-321 ; marches to 
 meet Garibaldi, 323-325; 
 Naples and Sicily united 
 to his crown, 324, 325; 
 proclaimed King of Italy, 
 325; moves his capital to 
 Florence, 331 ; campaign 
 of 1866, 333, 334; Venetia 
 united to the kingdom, 
 334, 335; entry into Rome, 
 338-340; King of United 
 Italy, 341; death, 342; fit- 
 ness for his work, 342-343 ; 
 Gioberti's opinion of, 81; 
 Manzoni's opinion of, 61, 
 62 
 Villafranca, treaty of, 208, 
 317 
 
 "Young Italy," 126, 128, 
 131-133, 135, 136, 145, 146 
 
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