The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1918. THE ANNIVERSARY OF JOSEPH MAZZINI

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 235, 22 June 1918, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1918. THE ANNIVERSARY OF JOSEPH MAZZINI

Throughout Italy to-day multitudes will gratefully celebrate the anniversary of one of the makers of.modern , Italy, whose life was a contagion of goodness and whose writings are a. Valuable legacy to Italy and to tho world. Juno 22 is the natal clay of Joseph Mazzini, the greatest of the heroes of the Italian Risorc/imcnto and a world-tyido prophet. Britain and her Allies arc engaged in a> lifc-and-death conflict on behalf of downtrodden small-nations and for the sacredness of solemn covenants, and Joseph Mazzini's life was one long sacrifice on behalf of those sacred principles for which the soldiers of the Allies arc dying to-day. The Italy of the childhood of Mazzini was simply a "geographical expression"; it was made up of a series of petty kingdoms directly or indirectly under 'the iron rule of the Austrian Hapsbuiig despots. The Austrian bayonet was everywhere terrorising the people and ever reminding them that they were in the power of -a tyrant. As Mazzini grew up the moral, intellectual, social, and political degradation of the people burdened his spirit. As he studied history he saw thu great glory of Italy, and a desire- to labour for the "resurrection" of Italy bepan to burn as a five ,in bis bones. He tried to study medicine, and then he studied law, but in neither of these pursuits could ho find his life's mission. He had great intellectual gifts, and he could have risen easily to fame in the world of medicine or of law, but an altogether different mission was marked out for him. He must labour for the.liberation, unity, and independ-, enco of bis beloved Italy and the "emancipation" of his country from the- Austrian despot. Of the conditions then existing he wrote: "Misfortune, suffering, protest,' individual sacrifice, have reached their climax. The cup is full. Oppression is everywhere like the air we breathe." The sorrows of tho people became his. sorrows. As a student he dressed in black, because he mourucd for his country, and ho continued thus to dress through life. He soon became an object of suspicion to the hirelings of Austria, and in trying to carry out some secret service he was trapped by spies and flung into prison. His enemies , could formulate no charge against him, and untried and uncondemned lie spent long, J weary months in the prison of Savona. Mazzini discovered his life's task in his prison, cell.

With no books save a Bible, a Byron, and a Tacitus, the call came to him to be the prophet of the crusade for the independence of Italy; and his whole life of sacrifk'o was a response to that call. In his- cell Iγ planned the "Young Italy" Society, with its weapons of education and insurrection. He realised that.a political reform-to be real-must be a moral reform! His motto was "God and the People"; his mission to Italy was "Unity and Independence," and for ?.!L- peoples "liberty, Equality, .and-..Humanity." The Italy that- rose .to unity-and /independence.'.in,.. ,1870.,. when the people of the;:city : of-Rome' welcomed the entrance of King'Yictok Emmanuel, was largely. th:>. fruit of Mazzini's suffering and toil. It was in # 1830 that Mazzini, freed from prison, began to obey the call to his life's task.; He sent letters and appeals on_ behalf of his "Young Italy" . Society all over Italy, and its membership grew and branches sprang' up. Garibaldi, was one. of the young men thus won. J/lazzini found a home for his propaganda first in Krance, then in Switzerland, and then in London. He-.organiscd,' ho travelled, he spoke, but above all he wrote, and his writings were half battles, "forin Italy he kindled the fire of patriotism into a bright flame, and in England and America ho won tens, of; thousands to tho cause of -Italian independence. When lie landed in London he was almost without a 'friend, and tho English language was strange to him. He speedily . mastered the language, and in the course of time got_ access to commanding English reviews, and thus found money for his mission. Men of letters and politicians got to know, him and to admire him. Carlyle, when Mazzini was assailed, wrote of him as one of those rare men worthy to be called "martyr souls." Ho made a powerful impression on some of our English poets. George Mei;edith glorifies him as one of the heroes of tho Risoryimcitto:

Wβ think of those Who bled the breath of life info her frame: O.ivomy Jfazzini, Garibaldi, three— Her brain, her soul, her sword—and set her free. . ■ Meredith accurately rets forth the distinctive mission of'Mazziiti. He was the "soul" of the crusade for national unity and independence. There was a moral grandeur about the man that" impressed those who knew him. To Mils. Hamilton King, the author of the Disciples, iie was the "ideal patriot, hero, saint," and the responsive note in her own miad. Swinburne sings of him as Th.i. fair, clear, supreme spirit beyond . stain, . Pure as the depths of Pain, High as .the head of Suffering, and

secure ... As all things that endure. In London he sold the clothes from his own back to provide food for his fcllow-cxiles, and he toiled at night to educate the poor Italian beggar boya who made their living on the streets of London. His lite was a series of moving pictures. He directed the campaign for Italian unity from London, but he was ever Hying to places that needed special help. At one time we soe him marching alongside of Garibaldi, and at another we see him as Dictator of the short-lived Human-Republic of 1848. tic lived tol see one- petty kingdom lifter another join the movement for union. The form of government he aimed at was republican, and union under a monarchy was a partial failure of his plans. But when the end of his day came and his dust Ms laid in Genoa, the place of his birth, in 1872,' the Italian Parliament declared him to be a "model of self-denial and whu dedicated hi:,' whole life for the cause of his country's l\;dom.".

That the Italy of to-day is fighting for her "unredeemed lands" ami for the safety, peace, and freedom of the world is, in part, tho fruit of M.azzini's message on patriotism, tlu ty,. and ■ sclf-sacr iGcc. Italy, after 1870, began slowly and surely to backslide.'in morals, and in politics. She became enmeshed in an alliance

with her uld enemy Austria- and her sham friend Germany. Such an unnatural and an unholy alliance was sheer treason to all .the- principles for which Mazziki, G-akibaldi, and Cavoub fought for. Dis. Dillon, in his informing book Why Italy Went lu War, describes the moral descent of Italy and how Germany was controlling the political and industrial life of the land. For some time before 191-1 Italy was ruled oy Giolotti, a kind of Tammany boss, who carried out Germany's schemes in the Italian Parliament. Italy began to awake to her peril. In spite of Giolotti, Italy became neutral,' and would not fight on the side of Austria and Germany., This was the length the Cabinet would go, but as time passed the crimes of Germany on land and sea and her defiance of all law, human and Divine, aroused the Italian people. Neutrality in the' face of these crimes was too much for a people nurtured on the principles of Mazzini, and the cries went through the land, "War ! war ! ov a Republic! Death to Giolotti!" The King and Cabinet obeyed the 'mandate,of . the people. Giolotti fled in terror. Italy took sides with the Allies in this world-wide war for honour and freedom. Why she did so may well be told in words written by Mazzini as -far back as 1852: "Evil is done daily in Europe; we will not tolerate its triumph. We will no longer give Cain's answer to God, Who made us free. AVc will not allow foreign armies to suppress the asni rations we hold sacred, the ideas which may. enlighten us. Let every people be free to live their own life? To maintain this liberty we are ready to intervene by word of mouth—if need be by the sword." Italy today, gallantly breasting the flood of Austrian invasion, and striking mighty blows for the redemption of her invaded territory and in order that justice may reign in the world, is moved and upheld by the spirit of Mazzini. While that spirit lives she, will never know defeat. This war' to her is a "second resurrection."