ITALIAN UNITY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1087, 28 March 1911, Page 5

ITALIAN UNITY.

JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS. A GREAT NATIONAL FESTIVAL By Teleeraph-Press Association-Oopyrleht (Rec. Mnrcli 27, 10.10 p.m.) Rome, March 27. Salvoes of cannon at midnight ushered in the festival in celebration of the jubilee of Italian unity, '111© utmost animation was displayed. In tho clubs and cafes patriotic demonstrations were held, and cheers were given for Italy and Rome. The National Anthem was played, and many houses were illuminated, Tho Senate yesterday adopted a unanimous address of homage to tho King, in which it was stated that tho virtues of the monarch had made the dynasty ono with tho people. Tho address added that the devotion of the country to tho dynasty, which was formerly based only on sentiment and principle, had now become a tradition. FIFTY YEAES OF INDEPENDENCE. Tho year 1911 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the kingdom of Italy. On March 14, 1861, it was proclaimed to the world by the Parliament assembled at Turin that Italy, after fourteen hundred years of disunion, had becomo a nnited and sovereign Power. Venice', to be sure, though she had given richly of her blood and. treasure to bring about 'the consummation, was still under the Austrian yoke; and tho Roman States, politically in tho ;last stages .of decrepitude, were to bo upheld by French bayonets for nine moro years. But every true patriot knew that Rome and Venice could not long remain unnaturally outside the union. These fifty years of independenco and union, now to be commemorated, were preceded by another fifty years of selfsacrifice and devotion, of struggle and seeming failure. Until within a few years of final victory, slys a recent writer even the most sanguine hardly dared hope for success. These efforts were seconded and illuminated by the genius of, great men. Mazzini, Gioberti, Garibaldi, d'Azeglio, and Victor Emmanuel II were in tho front rank of their times; while Cavour, the author of Italian unity, was, according to some authoritative historians and publicists, the greatest constructive statesman of the nineteenth century. No country, therefore,' has a better reason than Italy for- celebrating her birth, and certainly none is so well provided with means for making such a celebration memorable. _ There is shortly to be opened a great international esliibitioii, which will be in two parts, ona modern and industrial, at Turin, for three hundred years the seat of tho dukes of Savoy and kings of Sardinia, and from 1861 to 18G4 the first capital of tho kingdom of Italv; the other part, artistic, historical, and archaeological, will be held at Rome, which has been since' 1870 the capital. •