Part 19 (2/2)

Thus equipped he proved an admirable model; he sat, or rather stood, with untiring energy, dictating, as it were, the character of the picture, and enabling me to put every touch from nature; posing for those nervous, sensitive hands of his, for the coat and the black velvet waistcoat b.u.t.toned up to the chin--he never showed a trace of white collar or cuff--and for the long Venetian gold chain, the only slender line of light I could introduce in the sombre figure. He was indeed, I felt, a subject to stir up an artist, and to sharpen whatever of wits he might have at the end of his brush.

From Mazzini I first heard of the new enterprise Garibaldi had embarked on in August 1862. He had once more left Caprera, and had crossed over to Calabria with the avowed intention of driving the French garrison from Rome. Mazzini was most emphatic in his condemnation of the scheme, and used strong and uncomplimentary language in censuring the action of his colleague. ”But the die is cast,” he said, ”and under the circ.u.mstances I cannot do otherwise than give instructions to all our groups and societies to support him.”

How disastrously the expedition ended we all remember. It was denounced as treasonable by the Italian Government in a royal proclamation, and Garibaldi was wounded at Aspromonte in an encounter with troops sent to stop his advance. Great and spontaneous was the outburst of sympathy in England for the hero of Marsala. A small group of his friends arranged, at a cost of 1000, to send out an English surgeon, Mr. Partridge, to attend him. It was not by him, however, but by the eminent French surgeon Nelaton that the bullet was found and extracted.

More than once Mazzini's impulsiveness, not to say navete, struck me.

Thus one day he rushed breathlessly into my studio, with the words, ”Have you heard the news? We are going to have Rome and Venice.” I forget what particular news he alluded to, but remember pulling him up with unwarrantable audacity. ”At what o'clock?” I asked. ”Ah,” he answered, ”go on, go on. I am too well accustomed to jeers and epigrams to mind.” I humbly apologised for my disrespectful retort, uttered on the spur of the moment; but to do so seemed scarcely necessary, for the lion evidently did not mind my taking liberties with his tail; and presently, when I said, ”Well, if not at what o'clock, tell me in how much time you will have Rome and Venice,” he answered, ”Within a twelvemonth. You will see.” I made a note of this date, but never reminded him of the incident. In his enthusiasm he had been over-sanguine. ”Id fere credunt quod volunt,” says Caesar in his ”De Bello Gallico” (”they readily believe what they wish”), and Mazzini was the man of faith and aspirations. Four years were yet to elapse before Venice was liberated, and eight before the Italians gained possession of Rome.

One of the subjects on which he felt strongly was that of compulsory insurance. I cannot remember that he favoured any particular scheme, but he was wedded to the principle that no man has a right to become a pauper, and that he should be compelled by law to save a fraction of his earnings, to be entrusted to the State. In old age he should be able to draw upon a fund thus const.i.tuted, and in doing so he would be under no greater obligation to the State than any man is to the banker with whom he has opened an account.

Some little notes which I received from him mostly refer to the sittings for his portrait. On one occasion I must have written that I was again conspiring against his peace, and wanted him to make an appointment. In allusion to this he answers, addressing me as ”Mon cher conspirateur.”

On another occasion I had put that I was one of the several tyrants who were clamouring for his head, to which his answer commenced, ”Mon cher tyran.” That autograph I always particularly prized, the juxtaposition of the words ”Dear” and ”Tyrant” in Mazzini's handwriting being, I believe, unique. In my alb.u.m he quotes Goethe, ”Im Ganzen, Guten, Wahren resolut zu leben,” words that strike one as the appropriate motto for the man who ever sought to live resolutely for all that is good and true. His quotation, however, was not quite correct, for he had subst.i.tuted, characteristically perhaps, the ”True” for the ”Beautiful.”

Some letters addressed to his friend, Allessandro Cicognani, which have recently come into my possession, are characteristic. He writes:--

”FRATELLO MIO,--La vostra lettera mi e giunta carissima; ora tanto piu che io sento il bisogno di riannodare intelligenze coi buoni della citta di Romagna e stava cercandone i modi; dopo tre anni d'agitazione nelle quali abbiamo lasciato fare perche l'esperimento fosse intero e i fatti parla.s.sero, noi ci troviamo a un dipresso la donde eravamo part.i.ti, colla Lombardia rioccupata, coi principi piu o meno proclivi a retrocedere.

”e tempo che ci dichiariamo in faccia all'Europa inetti a essere liberi, o che cominciamo ad agire da per noi. Noi vogliamo _cacciare lo straniero d' Italia_, e vogliamo _che il paese intero decida liberamente delle proprie sorti_. Guerra dunque e cost.i.tuente. Se vi e chi dissenta da quegli due punti, merita condanna da ogni Italiano che ama il Paese. Non si tratta piu di un part.i.to o dell' altro, si tratta di esistere come n.a.z.ione e di riconoscere nella n.a.z.ione la sovranita. In questi limiti noi vogliamo stare, al di qua noi non diamo ormai piu tregua ad alcuno.

”Questa posizione che noi repubblicani abbiamo presa io la esprimer nettamente in un opuscolo, che escira fra cinque o sei giorni e che vorrei mandarvi; vogliate indicarmi il modo piu conveniente e se io debba via via scrivere al vostro o ad altro indirizzo. Su quel terreno intanto e necessario che rapidamente ci organizziamo per l'azione concentrata a raggiungere il doppio intento. Io vi mander tra due giorni una circolare della nostra Giunta centrale contenente appunto le norme d'organizzazione generale che dovremmo dare uniforme a quanti consentano in quella bandiera. Voi farete il meglio che potrete.

”Vi suppongo in contatto con Malioni ed amici. Fra qualche giorno giungera tra voi un amico mio, Lauri di Forli col quale desidero vi teniate in perfetto accordo.

”Addio, possiam noi far davvero un ultimo sforzo che levi il Paese da questa vergognosissima via di ciarle di progetti impossibili e di transazione fra il fianciullesco ed il gesuitico, che ci fanno parere decrepiti all' Europa quando si tratta di ringiovanire ed iniziare una nuova era di vita!--Amate il vostro,

”GIUSEPPE MAZZINI.

”FRONTIERA LOMBARDA,

_15 Novembre 1849_.”

_Translation_.

”MY BROTHER,--Your letter received was most welcome, all the more so, as I feel the want of putting myself once more in communication with the good friends of the cities of the Romagna, and I was seeking for the best means of doing so. After three years of agitation, during which we have let things take their course in order to allow the experiment to be complete, and facts to speak for themselves, we find ourselves about at the point from which we started, with Lombardy re-occupied and the princes more or less inclined to retrogression. It is time that in the sight of Europe we should either openly avow ourselves incapable of being free, or that we should begin to act for ourselves. We are resolved to _drive the foreigner from Italy_, and to let the whole country be the free arbiter of its own destiny.

”This means war. If there is any one who dissents from these two points he deserves the condemnation of every Italian who loves his country. It is no longer a question of one party or another; it is a question of existing as a nation, and of recognising the sovereignty of the nation. Within these limits we will stand; beyond them we will henceforth concede no truce to any one.

”The position which we Republicans have thus taken I shall define in unequivocal terms in a pamphlet which will appear in five or six days, and which I should like to send you. Please let me know which is the best way of doing so, and whether I should for the present write to your address or to another. In the meanwhile it is, however, necessary that we should rapidly organise in order to attain by concentrated action the two objects in view. I shall send you in two days a circular issued by our Central Giunta, containing definite instructions for general organisation, which must be made uniform for all those who rally round this banner. You will do the best you can.

”I take it that you are in touch with Melioni and friends. In a few days you will receive the visit of a friend of mine, Lauri di Forli, with whom I wish you to hold yourself in perfect agreement.

”Good-bye. May we in full earnest make a final effort that shall lead the country out of that most disgraceful rut of useless chatter of impossible schemes and of compromises between the childish and the jesuitical, that make us appear decrepit in the eyes of Europe when we speak of regeneration and of the introduction of a new era in our lives. Love me.--Yours,

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI.

”LOMBARD FRONTIER,

_Nov. 15, 1849_.”

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