ITALY. 



389 



and deprecated further discussion as inexpedi- 

 ent. A warm debate followed, and the speeches 

 condemning the Papacy and protesting against 

 the French intervention at Borne were loudly 

 cheered by the members of the Chamber and 

 the public in the galleries. Signer Oorrenti 

 proposed the following motion : " The Cham- 

 ber, fully concurring in the censure passed by 

 the Government upon 'the acts of the Papacy, 

 passes to the order of the day." The first 

 part of this motion was unanimously approved, 

 and the Chamber then passed to the order of 

 the day by 147 votes against 119. 



On February 13th the representatives of the 

 Italian and Swiss Governments signed the final 

 protocol of the treaty establishing the frontier 

 line between the province of the Yaltelhine 

 and the Canton Grisons. On February 21st a 

 treaty was concluded with Switzerland con- 

 cerning the church property of the diocese 

 of Como. On March 29th the Chamber of 

 Deputies ratified the commercial treaties which 

 had been concluded with China, Japan, and 

 Uruguay. On June 25th an agreement was 

 concluded in accordance with the 23d article 

 of the Austro-Italian treaty of the 3d of Octo- 

 ber, 1866, for the restitution of the private 

 property of the Archduke Francis, ex-Duke 

 of Modena, on the condition of the restitution 

 to Italy of the precious objects belonging to 

 the duchy of Modena which were conveyed 

 into Austria. On July 15th a convention was 

 signed for restitution to Italy of the manu- 

 scripts removed by the Austrians from Venice. 

 On August 7th a new treaty was signed be- 

 tween Italy and Spain for the extradition of 

 criminals. The final protocol of the Franco- 

 Italian convention of the 7th December, 1866, 

 relative to Italy's share of the Pontifical debt, 

 was signed on the 31st July, 1868, and, accord- 

 ing to its provisions, Italy's share of the per- 

 petual debt of the Eoman States is fixed at 

 7,333,000 francs, and her share of the redeem- 

 able debt at 10,689,000 francs. All questions 

 which may arise on the subject dealt with by 

 the convention are to be settled by the inter- 

 mediary of the French Government. 



Joseph Mazzini, in 1868, published another 

 letter on the state of Italy, in which he com- 

 ments in severe terms as follows:, 



After having reared, at an immense cost of blood 

 and treasure, the great edifice of national indepen- 

 dence, after having proclaimed to the four corners of 

 the earth that Kome was to crown the building, 

 what, I ask, does Italy do at the very time when 

 of all_ others Jit behooved her to give a proof of 

 the_ faith that is in her, and of the firmness of the 

 national resolve? In opposition to the unanimous 

 will of the nation, and to the declarations which all 

 Europe had greeted with applause, an intruding 

 voice is raised, the voice of the French Emperor, a 

 voice of prohibition, unjustifiable, unprovoked, arbi- 

 trary, insolent, and without the excuse even ofper- 

 sonal interest. What then takes place? King, 

 ministers, and Parliament tremble at the sound of 

 that voice, accept the prohibition, and acknowledge 

 its utterer as their undisputed lord and master. 



Choose for yourselves another capital ! cries this for- 

 eigner ; and they choose another. Put down Gari- 

 baldi by force of arms ! and they put him down. 

 Defend, against Italy and on behalf of the Pope, what 

 you have declared to be Italian ground 1 and they 

 undertake to defend it. Back from that frontier ! 

 and they go back. Then, as if in act of solemn de- 

 fiance, and to close the door of the future, a French 

 minister rises in his place, and says before all Eu- 

 rope, " Italy shall never have Kome, for France wills 

 it so," and King, ministers, and Parliament in Italy 

 listen in silence. The country does not shake off its 

 sluggish apathy, and quietly brooks the insult. Is 

 there a more shameful page than this in the history 

 of nations? * * * * * In an army which 

 counts among its highest grades the names of Bixio, 

 Medici, Consenz ? and Cialdini, not a single officer 

 broke his sword in two ; that in a Chamber in which 

 are sitting men like Bertani, Cairoli, Nicotera, Mi- 

 celi, Asproni, Fabrizi, Morelli, Pianciani, and Tamaio, 

 not twenty, not ten, could be found with the courage 

 to demand the instant evacuation of the French 

 troops, and, in case of need, to renounce their man- 

 date. And here I quote the taunt flung by Ugo Foscolo 

 in the teeth of my countrymen half a century ago : 

 " A nation that uses its name as a theme for arro- 

 gance and not as an incentive to courage, a nation 

 that whimpers over its servile state, but dares not 

 rise to put an end to it, gives an excuse to its neigh- 

 bors to deride its frivolity, to humble its pride, and 

 to seize upon its wealth, adding its name to that of 

 the herd of conquered peoples. Such a nation, () 

 Italians, is yours 1 Be slaves, therefore ? and hold 

 your peace." The last movement against Eome 

 was premature, and therefore doomed to fail, and 

 all similar attempts in future are to be deprecated. 

 Such futile efforts can lead to nothing but a useless 

 sacrifice of precious lives, and all who yield to the 

 temptation of promoting or taking part in rash ad- 

 ventures, will prove that they love their own am- 

 bition better than their country or Eome. The work 

 of _silent preparation must be begun anew, under the 

 guidance of a single name and with a clearly-defined 

 line of action, excluding the cooperation of all who 

 refuse their unreserved adhesion to the entire pro- 

 gramme of the party, although, after the object in 

 view shall have been attained, their alliance need no 

 longer* be repulsed. 



Garibaldi's public addresses on the state of 

 Italy are not more cheerful. In a letter to the 

 Bolognese, dated July 29, 1868, he says : 



The degrading existence to which a handful of 

 wretches who misgoverned it have consigned our 

 brave country affects me as it does you. If last year 

 the Italians understood me, I should have been able, 

 with you, to rescue her from her misery and degra- 

 dation. But, unfortunately, by the side of the 

 mighty heroes of our time, whose blood has been 

 shed in a hundred battle-fields without seeking for 

 any other reward than that of fighting for Italy, 

 there is always a mass of rabble and doctrinaires 

 who, traitors, under the pretext of ^principle and 

 purism, abandoned their companions in the hour of 

 danger. Our people, without abandoning the labor 

 which preserves the body, think of freeing their 

 mind; for what kind of liberty is to be expected 

 from a nation which every day falls down at the feet 

 of priests, the pedestals of every tyranny, and the 

 soldiers of the most atrocious or Italy's tyrants? I 

 shall believe that our people mean freedom when I 

 see St. Peter's turned into an asylum for the indi- 

 gent when I see the phial of St. Januarius broken 

 on the tonsured head of the ludicrous sorcerer. 

 Come what will. I shall die unhappy if. on the day 

 when you fight for Italy's liberty whicn I hope will 

 be soon I cannot follow you, at least in an ambu- 

 lance. 



