106 



MAZZINI 



and with such an intensity of conviction. tlmt his 

 word- kindled in tin- heart* of those tlmt reail 

 them tin- eiitliti-i.i-m to do anil dare all things. 

 Though by nature frank. O|H>II, ami Imlil, no man 

 perhaps learned to understand hctti-i I lie tortuous 

 art of secret conspiracy. He was driven to adopt 

 this underground inethiMl of warfare hv tin- power 

 and vigilance and unscrupulous character of the 

 eii-'inii In 1 contended against, and the close and 

 united front they presented to every revolutionary 

 amault. In 1HA4 lie organised an invasion of 

 Savoy, whirli failed ignominiotisly. chiellv thiough 

 the liikewarmness, if not treachery, of the soldier 

 placed at it- head. The next two rears Ma//ini 

 pent in Switzerland, incessantly active, extending 

 bu organisation throughout Italy, instigating hU 

 -. mill i MM. -ii i.i in-iirrcction. and scattering broad- 

 out through Europe the bursting set- Is of repub- 

 lican revolt. In the year of the Savov fiasco he 

 drew np, at Bern, for Young Europe i.e. Young 

 Italy, ^ oung Germany, and Young Poland united 

 the Part uf Fraternity, a code of abstract doc- 

 trine* dictating to humanity a faith and rules of 

 life. Being in the last days of 1836 banished 

 from Switzerland, he found a refuse in London. 

 Although for some years (1841-48) he struggled 

 hard against poverty, he nevertheless contrived 

 to help his poorer, ignorant countrymen, the 

 organ- hoy* of London, by gathering them round 

 him in night-classes and teaching them and 

 civilising them. In 1844 he charged the English 

 government witli opening his letters, and com- 

 municating their content* to the rulers in Italy, 

 and made good his accusation. This raised a 

 great storm of indignation throughout the country, 

 and drew from Carlyle a spirited testimonial to 

 Mazzini in The Times. Sir James Graham, the 

 1 1 'Hue Secretary', even felt constrained to a|>ologine 

 in the Howie of Commons for having publicly 

 repeats) the calumnies of his cm- mies. 



On the outbreak of the Lombard revolt in 1848 

 Mazzini hastened to throw himself into the thick 

 of the struggle. The king of Sardinia sought to 

 win him over by the promise to make him lir-t 

 minister in the new Piedmoittcse-I^imluird state, 

 and to grant him an large a share as be might desire 

 in the framing of aconstitution for it. Hut Ma/./inis 

 aims w en- not of personal ambition, and he would IM- 

 no party to the aggrandisement of the dynasty of 

 y at the e\|x-nse. or to the detriment, of a 

 unite<l Italy. After Milan capitulati-d, he tried 

 with Garibaldi to keep the war alive in the valleys 

 of the Alps; hut. when he saw that all was over in 

 l/iinliardy . he made his way to Tuscany. Leghorn 

 receive.) him with wild enthusiaMn on 8th February 



1849, the tiny In-fore the repllblir was liroclaimcd at 

 Koine, and elccte<l him hei ileputv to the republican 

 MM>mbly in the papal city. Onflftfa March May/.ini. 

 s.itli. ami Aniifllini were a|>|Kiinte<l IL triumvirate 

 with dietetartel ixiwe,. ; they chose us their mono 



I and the People.' Itiit on '.'"itli Al.ril the 

 French iirrived In-fore the city to reinstate the |>o|.e, 

 and after a tough ttnuslo were admitted within 

 tin- wall*. Tln republic fell, and the triumvirs 

 indignantly m|fMd on the laM ilay of .lune. 



mi made bis way luick to London. Not how 

 ever to ret : In- planned the attempted ri-ii. 

 Manlna (IxV.',. Milan ils.VI . Genoa (lN. r >7), and 

 I-4-ghom (IV.Ti. Meanwhile in London he had 

 founded, along with Ko.-iilh and iVdru Kollin, the 

 Kurt. |wan \ .iciation. and with tliein issued in 



mlN-r lt.V> il rei.iibli.-aii manifesto. The 

 S.N-I.-H ,,f ||,,. Kriend- at Italy wiu. m^ani-cd nUiiit. 

 thi- lime in Kngland. In IH.V.I Ma//ini condemni-d 

 theallianoo I'iedmont b/ul ma<lewiih Na|>leon III.: 

 and the mwion of Savoy and .Nice to France not only 



! hi. prophetic warning, but Idled him (anil 

 Garibaldi) with the patriot's sorrowful indignation 



lie -up|Nirt<-d Garibaldi in his expedition against 

 SiciK and Naples with all his influence and all 

 his resources ; and when Piedmont stepped in to 

 n-ap the fruito of the soldier's heioic exertions, and 

 even scattered his followers and took him prisoner 

 at AxprMiioiite (1862), Ma//ini broke finally with 

 the monarchical party. The king repl ied to 

 hix fulminant by again parsing sentence of de.-uli 

 u|Hin him the third time. But this did not deter 

 him from .stigmatising the Convention of Septeiiilier 

 (see ITALY) as a base compromise. In 1866-67 

 M' imi in protest elected him ite deputy to the 

 Italian parliament four times in succession. Two 

 years later he was again expelled from Switzer- 

 land, and in the following year (1870) was 

 arrested 'at sea, whilst on his way to Sicily, ami 

 carried prisoner to Gaeta. After l>eing detained 

 two months he was set at liberty. He settled at 

 Lugano, but died at Pisa, 10th March 1872, and was 

 buried in his native city, mourned by the entire 

 nation he had done so much to create. 



Although from one point of view a Utopian 

 idealist and political dreamer, the apostle of the 

 new democratic evangel, and from another jioiiit of 

 view a restless demagogue. H dark conspirator, and 

 disturber of the peace of Europe. Mazzini must be 

 acknowledged by both parties alike to have IK-CM 

 a man of immense energy and resource, and of 

 great organising power, who unquestionably had 

 the full courage of his convictions, and was con- 

 sistent and thoroughly sincere and disinterested in 

 his aims. His temperament and the constitution 

 of his mind made him feel impatience and scorn of 

 the modi-tales, the calm, cautious watchers and 

 waiters for opportunities. He was averse to nib. 

 tiling advantage after advantage, and had no sym- 

 pathy for the compromises and half-measures of 

 statesmen and diplomatists. His was the spirit 

 that bums the bridges behind it. stakes all on one 

 critical throw, and put* forth all its energy to 

 bring about a decisive and final result. Cavour 

 wa- of an opposite teiniH-rament : he was essen- 

 tially the cautious, calculating statesman. Hence 

 the fundamental antagonism Ix-twccn the two 

 men. Cavour was a man of aristocratic birth and 

 training, and the levelling dix-trines of the new 

 republicanism were in the highest degree repug- 

 nant to him. No wonder then that he disliked 

 M:i//ini. the ardent apostle of cijiialitv. train nity. 

 and humanity, the uncompromising enthusiast of 

 action. Ami no wonder too thai Ma/./ini failed 

 to sympathise with the methods of ( 'avour : lie saw 

 in them no ruling principle beyond advantaging 

 the House of Savoy, no di-siie to labour for the 

 peonlc. no plan, no promise for their progress, and 

 nothing like faith in their future. Nevertheless, 

 on more than one critical occasion |.i> abstained 

 from embarrassing the Sardinian go\ eminent, <-\ m 

 when he did not approve of il- proceedings. His 

 own ability to govern is hc-i evidenced in his sue 

 nl organisation of the dilheult forces of seciet 

 Insurrection; his brief tenure of ollice at Home 

 was IH-SI-I by so many untoward conditions a- to 

 effectually preclude him from .showing his real 

 mettle. Mazzini has lieen called the prophet of 

 Italian unity . Garibaldi it knight -errant, and 

 favour the riveter of the Imlts that finally united 

 the ilixj,,-lii ,ni in bra ; of the nation together. Per- 

 haps it would IK- more correct to say that Ma^ini 

 prepared the soil, sowed the seed, and fost-ered the 

 growing plant*, that Garibaldi did the work of 

 gathering in the ripe fruit, but it was Cavour who 

 gained the final advantage of the harv - 



All Mazzini's writings are, like Heine's, desultory 

 in character, some few literary and critical, but 

 most of them political, germane to the questions 

 of the hour. Hi- longest productions are On the 

 fiulirt of Man, a noble outline of ethical theory, 



