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Around him grouped themselves other seots ' The Alliance of the Just , ' and 'The Thieving Proletariat .... The secret societies extended from one end of the world to the other Mazzini presided over the whole r , " £ here also ^ t Geneva ) appeared Gioberti . Never did Democrat exert greater influence over his fellowcitizens . Following the example of Arnold of Brescia , he flattered the vices of the peopleand became its
glo-, rifier . His discourses and writings , destined to excite the enthusiasm of the Liberals , caused him to be imprisoned and proscribed . This ambitious abbe , the Thersitesof bad passions ( TAersite dea mauvaises passions ) , coveted the Supreme Pontificate . Although he was an ardent Carbonaro , he denied Young Italy ; for Mazzini , being his rival in renown , was to him an odious rival . He took refuge at Lausanne , because the cry was , ' Down with God ! ' Strauss corresponded with him
" Presided over by Mazzini , the secret societies continued their successful progress He summoned around him Polish adventurers , the wandering Jews of rebellion , Parisian barricaders , devoted to all social perturbation ; and entrusted them with the demoralization of Europe Communism was already dawning , and Socialism was about to follow . " Here the Vicomte d'Arlincourt brings into play certain secret tribunals of blood , the institution of which he attributes to Mazzini , and he enumerates a series of political assassinations caused by them , and for which Mazzini is in his opinion responsible , as well as for the three murders above alluded to , in the Cafe of Rodez in France . One of these murders , that of the Prefect of Police of Naples > took place in the year 1821 , when Mazzini was ten or twelve years old !
He recals the disturbances of 1831 in Bologna , Parma , and Modena , instigated by French agents of the Revolution of July ; but he is silent as to the frightful vengeance of those governments after their restoration . An amnesty was granted by Gregory the Sixteenth at the entreaty of France . Here the author continues : — " Meanwhile the citizen monarchy of Paris had gradually ceased to lavish its patriotic hand-graspings ; it no longer sang the Marseillaise on the balconies of its palace ; it had put an end to its democratic sjtnpathizings , and began to prefer an alliance with the kings of the earth to the vivats of the dwellers in the Jauxbourgs of Paris ; moreover it feared that in Italy , as well as in France , the right of insurrection might become so strong as to be the sole supreme authority .
" It therefore entered into negotiations with foreign powers on behalf of the Holy See , and a memorandum was presented to Gregory XVI ., in which the assistance of France and England were promised him , if he would make some modifications in his government , notably , the secularizing of his administration . " The Holy Father protested against this blow aimed at his temporal sovereignty : he nevertheless accepted some of the conditions imposed . Above three judges of civil and criminal matters , he consented to name two laymen , whose duty it was , in concert with the legates , to work for the well-being of the nation ; afterwards he promulgated a civil code , and a year later a criminal code .
" These measures , striking at the root of ancient abuses , wore of acknowledged utility . But did the disciples of Mazzini desire ameliorations and reforms ? No ; what they wanted was , that honours , riches , and authority should change aides , to their own advantage . What were their desires ? To demolish all , that they might seize all ; to ruin everything , that they might enrich themselves . What did it matter that the country should fall into ruin provided they ascended into power ! Revolt no longer having a pretext for keeping its sword drawn , spread abroad infamous libels , and attacked with the weapons of ridicule not only the rights of authority , but the dogmas of religion ; combined blasphemy and impiety , and at once insulted the sceptre and the tiara . " ... The Viscount here goes on to describe the process of Young Italy , the exceptional tribunals neede d by the Pope to keep that party within bounds , the expedition of the brothers Bandiera » nto Calabria , " long meditated by Mazzini's a . ne |) fcM / ' and the quickly suppressed revolts of tforh . Faonza , and Hiinini . . < m , fttir a l tbcHe disasters Mazzini said with a sigh , l he nation * are not yet ripe enough , they inunt ? i T ° , , (! , 'K ntened before they can free them-KelveN . " The Scientific Congresses , vast revolutionary propaganda , were founded by the " Prince 01 I'arnno , fir-tit born of the Roman revolutions , PjjiiRtriited with that idea of Mazzini ' s . " Among : "i the project imputed to Young Italy the follow-> K , d enounced by the Vicomte ri'Arlincourt , had " « n > r In-fore been attributed to it : —
... lrs '' y , promising Lombardy to Piedmont ' " , ? was the favourite dream of Charles Albert . St-u , J' ™ ""^ aggrandizement of the Roman V . ' ' I "'/ ansi of tuo countries separating it from tlie ' ° ,. ; . I ox i » t'ctation was of a nature to weduce "J " ! ^ government . t Int ! , ! i y > ofl (! rin K Sardinia to the K ing of Naples : B «| at might tempt tho Two Sicilies . " He goes on to lhe 1 > llln waa v « ry cleverly put in action . The
Scientific Congress began its operations ; openly professing the doctrines of young Italy a propos of the arts and sciences . Turin , Genoa , Milan , Florence , Naples , and other large cities in succession , received the apostles of the new faith . Every gate was opened to them . Gregory XVI . alone had the courage to keep his closed . He had discerned their object . " Justice is due to Gregory XVI . Alone , helpless , and without protection , he victoriously resisted the abettors of rebellions , under the most difficult circumstances .
Far from being a pitiless tyrant , he forgave much ; too much perhaps . He has been reproached with neglecting to correct certain abases of the pontifical government , and not having sufficiently favoured the industrial movement of the period ; but how is it possible to improve administrative organization , attend to the necessities of commerce , and work at the progress of the arts , where factions are constantly agitating ; where social order is daily called in question ? He may have made mistakes , no doubt , but he was able to repress disorder , and remained firm on his throne .
" Gregory XVI . died on the 1 st of June , 1846 . " The secret societies uttered a first cry of delight . Mazzini , whom the Abbe Gioberti afterwards pointed out in his writings as the greatest enemy of Italy , at this moment saw the dawn of his future glory . The revolutions of Rome , Naples , Palermo , Florence , Milan , Parma , Modena , and Venice were about to break forth in succession . The great movement of Italy was preparing . Anarchy was about to step forth ; and its strides were those of a giant . " And it is thus that the Vicomte d'Arlincourt pretends to write the history of Italian Revolutions ! The facts are too grossly falsified , the calumnies too glaring , worn out , and disproved , to deserve any serious refutation .
Gioberti is no Arnold of Brescia , no atheist , no carbonaro—nor has he ever coveted the Supreme Pontificate . Mazzini is neither an atheist , nor a socialist ; neither a communist , nor a murderer . Mazzini , a man of genius , eloquence , self-sacrifice , and extreme honesty , has devoted his entire life to the liberty of his country . The Pandemonium which , previous to 1848 , excited the Italian Peoples to revolt , was not around Mazzini , but around the King of Naples , Gregory XVI ., and Radetzky .
The revolution of Sicily , which was the first to break out , and which triumphed without Polish adventurers and Parisian barricaders , not having been republican and—what modern writers call unitaire , was openly reproved by Mazzini ; it was against the advice of himself and his party that the union into a kingdom with Piedmont was proclaimed almost unanimously in Lombardy and the Venetian territory ; and at Naples , a very feeble republican party only showed itself after positive proof of the Grand Duke ' s and the King ' s treachery .
It was at Rome alone that Mazzini ' s principles triumphed ; but that was less because they were Mazzini ' s principles than because they were the only ones possible at Rome . A republic has always been the only mode of government at Rome whenever the government of the Popes has fallen . Unity would have found no opposition at Rome , because Rome , according to Mazzini , was to become the political centre of all Italy : she would have lost nothing , but gained much , by it .
At the present time , it is quite clear that , to attribute the Italian Revolutions to Mazzini , in an old and ridiculous commonplace . Yet that commonplace is very convenient for historians like the Vicomte d'Arlincourt , because it Naves them the trouble of seeking to discover their true onuses . These consist only in the barbarous despotism of the Princes themselves who reign in Italy . The King of Naples , who commanded and in cool blood witnessed the fulfilment of the massacres of the 15 th of May—that traitor to his oath , whom neither the absolutions of Pius IX . nor the pen of any writer ran wave from the execration of the whole world—is a model of virtues to the Vicomte d'Arlincourt : — " lie has expressive eyes and affectionate smiles . . . . He haa the affable and royal simplicity of a worthy grandson of Saint Louis lie hnaa bouudlcKn love for and devotion to bin country . His heart in nt » ^ cnorouH uh it is upright ; and his conscience it * free from reproach " Tliis Bourbon , ho calumniated , is oik ; of tin- noblest characters of the period . I have witnesaed incontestable proofs of bin paternal goodnesH and rare virtueH . "
After this pitiful counterfeit of tho King of Naples , and the impudent and numerous calumnies which tho name book contains against the most honourable characters who took part in the Italian Revolutions , no one can qucNtion the shameful bargain which imiHt have originated it . h'ltulie Itouge must be regarded as a libel , not as a literary work ; and , un a libej , it Iiuh to our knowledge been attacked , and will bo ho HKuitt , before tlu : French tribunals , by some of thoMc honourable men whom it has most cruelly and impudently
calumniated , such as the Prince of Canino and the Baron d'Ondes Reggio , one of the Sicilian ex-Ministers . ( See three letters from the latter to M . d'Arlincourt , in the Croce di Savoja , November , 1850 . ) But libels , however gross , are eagerly devoured by that " Party of Order " which quietly assumes the monopoly of morality , and the book has already reached its sixth edition .
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BENDELl / s ANTEDILUVIAN HISTORY . The Antediluvian Rittory and Narrative of the Flood ; as set forth in the early portion of the Book of Genesi * . Critically examined and explained by the Reverend E . D . Kendell , of Preston . James Hodson , Portujjal-Btreet It has become a commonplace to cite Galileo , but we are forced into it . The Church tried to put him down , but finding Science too strong for her she yielded with a bad grace . Then commenced that gigantic system of compromise which was the sanctuary into which affrighted dogmas fled , and which has managed to preserve the Church even in spite of the vast conquests daily made by Science . It became as clear as evidence that the Scriptures
set forth a cosmogony which was absurdly false ; and how a book , claiming to be the word of God himself , could contain false explanations of the commonest phenomena , naturally became a terrible puzzle to those who , having made up their minds beyond appeal that it was the word of God , tried to reconcile its statements with the statements of Science . An ingenious answer was soon found . We believe the originator was Giordano Bruno , whom an ungrateful Church , nevertheless , roasted for maintaining the dreadful heresy of an infinity of worlds ! Giordano Bruno we say was the first ; and his very ingenious speculation—the parent of ail modern " reconciliations" —mav be found in the
fourth dialogue of his Cena de le Ceneri ( see vol . i ., p . 172 sq . of his Italian works in Wagner ' s edition , Leipsig , 1830 ) , wherein he says that the Bible was a moral revelation , not a course of physical philosophy ; and that in matters of science it addressed itself to the understandings of the Jews : " speaking as the vulgar spoke . " This , as we said , is ingenious , and nicely saves —• or seems to save—the credit of the Scriptures without impugning Science : it has accordingly been assimilated by theology , and has entered the minds of men who never heard of the unhappy Neapolitan , its author . Among others it has reached the Reverend E . D . Rendell , and he has written an earnest and skilful book on that text . He
completely shatters the whole account in Genesis , and not only proclaims it false philosophy , but openly repudiates ail such miserable compromises as those which quibbling on words try to make Moses and Science agree . If the Scripture is incorrect in its cosmogony , Mr . Rendell insists upon the old notions being forthwith abolished : — " For instance , how difficult is it to concrive that Eve was really made from a rib taken from Adam during a deep sleep induced upon him for the purpose ; — that u tree ; could produce the knowledge of good and evil;—that a serpent was capable of speech , and rtusoned so successfully with the woman as to induce her to violate the command of ( ioil !
" Moreover , in the , fourth chapter there is an indication of the existence of another race of men besides thoso described as tho descendants cf Ailun , and who are popularly regarded as the first progenitors of the human race . When Cain went forth fiwu the . face of the Lord , it . is sniij that a mark was ' set upon him , lest , any finding him should slay him . At that , peiiod , Cain wan the only . surviving descendant « if Adam , who with his mother , Kve , made only three then in existence . Why then art a mark upon him to prevent other ** from slaying him , if there were no other persona than his father or mother to perpetrate the deed ? Surely , the circumstance of imposiiw a mark for such a purpose , plainly indicates to
historical criticism the existence of another race beanies that of Adam . There is . also , another fact , leading to the name conclusion , related in the Name chapter . Cain i . s described to have posses « ed a wife ; but theie is no intimation of her oriu > iu ; h « - also had a Mm , and built a city in the laud of Noil ; which circumstance plainly indicates that a number of pcr . sons must , have been there collected , tb . it some of tlietri must have been acquainted with the arts , and many of them industriou . ily employed in erecting reotiiied habitations . Further on it in related
that the sons of ( Jod , who ; ii < : commonly uuth-rMood to have been angels , or at le . ist . being * of koihu superior nature , fell in love , with the daughters of men , « u < l thereby originated u . progfny that was mighty and valiant . We are also informed thai , the ordinary period of human life extended over several hundred yvnrn , and that the Lord repented that lie had made man upon the earth . These , and miny other statcinenlH which could , bu easily selected , forbid lx » ll » ncience and criticism to appionch them , if they arc to be received au real and . credible history . '
hlnewhere hi ; nuys : ¦ - - " It hub evidently the n « 'iuus of ( lie people in thowo tiuit-h to expriisu so . m : fuels in f .-iblc . T ) , c fablti < , how ever , have lemained , from tht ir ij « ving acquired a per-
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Feb . 22 , 1851 . ] tEte . fctafter * 119
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 22, 1851, page 179, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1871/page/15/
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