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the foreign intervention which would destroy it , it would be ready to erase the temporal power of the Pope . In 1849 , the same . We abolished it by decree ; it was the same thing repeated—with this difference , that the decree in 1831 was only accepted , without positive signs , while in 1849 the decree passed amid the unanimous applause of the revolutionary republican assembly . That is Italian opinion : If , therefore , the question concerned onlv the temporal power of the Pope , I would now have
answered it . But that is not all . Were -it all , I would say this : that were the Pope limited to his own forces , were Austrian and French interventions forbidden , the Pope woald not await the decrees of insurrectionary powers ; he would anticipate and run away in 24 hours . We want , however , more . I do not quarrel only with the papacy as a temporal power . We have higher , holier aims . We say that the Pope is no Pope at all . A Pope , as priest , father , is to lead—to infuse life into a nation- — to direct that life outwards to action . We maintain that
the Pope is not such a man : that he is not a spiritual power ; and , this further , that he has no consciousness of being a spiritual power , that the Pope is not only a man without any legitimate right , but also that he is an impostor—an impostor who knows nothing but that he has no mission still to fulfil on earth . That is the question ¦ wi th us : we aim at the destruction , at the abolition of the papacy , both as a spiritual power , and as a temporal p ower . However soon or late that the thing be fulfilled , it will be fulfilled extremely peacefully and easil y upon a successful—and not impeded by foreign
intervention—insurrection . That , I say , as belonging to the national party . The Pope gone away is gone-actually—not spiritually , solely , but physically . The Pope is no Pope any more . The Pope being gone , it would become the necessity for us , and for the whole of Italy , to do what I shall call , feel the pulse of humanity as to our religious question . As we should do in political , so should we do in religious matters—ascertain' the general opinion by a general assembly . We should summon , bo far as the resolution goes , the clergy ; not only the clergy , but all others , laymen , who have studied the religious question : and we should know from them the state of feeling and opinion , as to religiosity . We should have the actual transformations effected in the
Catholic belief by time , we would have a council by the side of the constitutional assembly . We should have universal suffrage , and we should know not what is the individual religious belief , but what is the collective belief of the majority . The verdict of the nation will be , as I said in the beginning , that the Pope is a corpse , that there is no power of guidance in it , that we want to be guided by the wisest and the best ; and that we find that the Pope is neither one-nor the other . We shall then have done our
part . Italy would have legitimately declared that thus stood religious matters ; her verdict would be that the papacy had become exhausted , had fulfilled its mission—for it once had a mission—and having some three centuries since , it had nothing now to do—no more than the lies and the phantoms of to-day . ^ Europe would give the answer ; but as far as Italy would be concerned , on Italy obtaining the freedom granted to other nations of declaring her opinions , she would have proclaimed what would be the death-warrant to the papacy , as temporal and spiritual . " ( Loud cheers . )
Mr . Stansfeld requested M . Mazzini to favour his friends on this occasion with the reasons which urged the national party of Italy to rely in the future of that country upon a united republic , rather than upon a federalization under an hereditarily monarchical reform . M . Mazzini : This question is often put to me . Plenty of people sympathise with our cause , but put a sort of sorrowful protest against our declaring ourselves republicans . I will answer now , as I invariably answer those who speak to me so . Wo do declaro ourselves republicans because wo are republicans ; and wo are republicans mainly , not only but mainly , because we are Italians . The first point needs
no long explanation with such persons as you are . We are bound to tell our beliefs . And in political affairs not loss than in others , truth seems requisite , and is not to be overlooked . Every man aspir ing to a great revolution in his own country , is bound to say I want such and such—is bound to say whore the people he is to transform must go . The frank avowal of the aim is the half , at least , of the guarantee of tho success . It is quite clear that " without the truth , or what I believe to bo the truth , inscribed on my flag , I have no right at all to say to a nation— " Stand up and conquer , and die , if need , ' 'because it would bo a sort of crime to provoke a nation to do so , without making them know decidedly that there is somo truth to be conq uered . It is quite clear , too , that tho attempts wo havo
had in Italy , which havo been anonymous , which have not been accompanied by p ositive p ledges , have failed . In 1821 wo had a revolution in Piedmont and in NaploB ; and tho common aim was tho independence of Italy . Tho Carbonari Association led tho people , and believed they could direct thorn without a defineapolitical creed . People of every description , of every Hect , of every system , flocked to , and woro accepted in the ranks ; for the future was , all vague , 'and all meant the overthrow of th ' o existing state of eocioty . Tho revolution took place . Hut tho next day the doubts arose . Ono man had boon 'lighting for a French
constitution ; anpthor for a Spaninh constitution ; another for a republic , and for unity } and another for unity and federalism . Thus when tho battle whs to be fought there woro no troops ; and in thirty days , thoroforo , Austria could intervene , and destroyed tho revolution . In 1848 , wo saw tho eamo . Tho people did not boliovo in Charles Albert or in Piua tho Ninth . Bu | : tho loaders of tho pcoplo refused to explain thoir crood . Thoy said , " Novor mind , wo shall conquor through tho religious power of tho Popo , und through tho arsonals of tho slaves of tho King ; and in the end , when wo havo used , wo will ovorthrow thorn . " The result ; was tho overthrow of Milan and tho Battlo of
Novaro . It was the same in France in 1830 . The republicans meaning a republic talked only of the charter ; and in the end a new nionarchy easily sprang up ; -which " produced the demoralization of France for eighteen years See what we did at Rome and Venice . Our avowal-was distinct . We had on our flags , " 0 od and the people , " The people knew that they were fighting for what they believed to be the truth . » There was , then , no Novaro . It was a fall ; but it was a glorious fall ; and it was a precedent for the next victory . ( Cheers ) . But you wish to know why we can fight for God and the people only through a ' republic . The question is : Are there the elements of royalty in Italy ? Government is not a simple theory to be mdiscriminately applied . It is a varying fact , the effect of causes varyinggrowing out of distinct national elements .
, To ascertain the best government for Italy , we must find what are the elements at work in Italy . There has been no royal and no aristocratical elements in Italy . We have had persons calUng themselves kings , and persons styling themselves dukes , and barons , and counts . But the aristocracy has not been there as a compact body , with , its own class , aims , and ambitions , as in England , doing good , though perhaps unwillingly , but still being an element in the whole society . There has been no royalty giving to Italy the centralization , and the unity , and the relief from feudalism , which royalty has given in France . Our nobles , our Orsinis and Colonnas , have been robbers , making war on one another ; and our kings have been the results of foreiem conquest—still amone us , indeed , but as
viceroys , attesting their origin by depending op . foreign aid . We Lave no traditions of monarchy or aristocracy that , as Italians , we can rejoice in . We have glories only in the people , past and present . All our great , battles , from the Lombard League to these actual days , have been fought , not by nobles nor kings , but by the people . Our great names are names from the people , beloved ^ by the people—Dante , Michael Angelo , Cola di Rienzi , Masaniello . Italy has three courses—no more—to take in the future : To accept a sacred league of independence between all the kings ; to accept unity with one predominant king ; or to proclaim the nation , the people , the collective man . The league of princes would be impossible . Would the King of Naples and the Grand-Duke of
Tuscany , the Kingf of Piedmont and the Pope , join together ? It is impossible , because the princes know that the result of such a league would be the exaltation of one of them over the rest * In 1848 such a league was commenced ; and-when it was seen that the ; King of Piedmont would become possessed of Xombardy as his reward , the other princes withdrew the troops we had obliged them to send . Gioberti proposed such a league ; and no more may it be talked of in Italy . Well , can we create the one man we want—a Napoleon in skill and a Washington in virtues ? Are we to wait till God , or Providence , or chance , sends the man to vis ? Such a man being sent would not , after alii serve for us ; for he would know he would be but leading to the speedy abolition of
himself and the substitution of thei people m his giving the people victory over his fellow kings . Let us learn by the lessons of the past . Charles Albert was presented as the needed man . The people had fought at Brescia , at Milan , and at Venice , arid we were free of the Austrians , except the Austrians who had fled to their fortresses . The King of Piedmont stepped in to lead , and we were doomed . The people were rejected . The volunteers and the Swiss were rejected . The people lost their enthusiasm . But we could havo created a popular army and have begun again , after Novaro , if the king lad not returned to Milan , instead of going his own road , and forced his affected faith on us . He then deserted us ; and the battle was lost on one side , without having been begun on
the other . That would be repeated each time we had a king at our head . Tho republic , then , is not only a theory , a faith , but a necessity to us . Our beautiful republican traditions start with Dante , fighting for republican Florence , at CampoMino , and Michael . Angelo fi g hting for besieged Florence on tho height of Samminiato against Charles V . and Clement VIII . ; and we see all that Italy has dono has been done by republican Italians . But I say to you , Englishmen , do not give us your sympathies on conditions . Do not ask us whothor wo are republicans or monarchists . Rely upon us , that what wo , tho majority of Italians , shall do , shall not bo done wrong by us . We can do no wrong to humanity if wo listen to the voice of God through our consciences and through our national traditions .
After some further conversation , and a short speech from Mr , -David Masson , the secretary to tho society , tho meeting separated .
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JOSEPH MAZZINI AND FRENCH SOCIALISM . We havo received the following letter from MM . Bianchi , Louis Blanc , Cabot , Lnndolphe , Jules Lcroux , Pierre' Leroux , Mnlarmot , Naduud , Wasbenster , — -five of whom wore Representatives of tho people in the last National Assembly : — ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Srn , —Wo . oro awaro of tho sympathies of tho Leader for M . Mnzzini . But wo also know well tho lovo of justice that distinguishes your journal aboTO all others . An article by M . Mazzini , containing unjust attacks against a moat important ; fraction of tho democratic party , has boon publiflhca in a Bel g ian paper , ami eagerly reproduced by all tho organs of tho reaction in Prance . This artiolc having reached London , and having como to tho knowlodgo of a certain number of socialist republicans , thoy havo felt tho painful necessity of replying thoroto . Thoy would liavo boon glad to pasB it over in Biloncc , if only to spare to tho world tho spectacle of intestine divisions so fatal to us all , especially under the present ciroumstancos . Unhappily , tho hope of avoiding tho oxposuro was
forbidden by the immense publicity given to an affnoi , afflicting as it was unexpected : TThey w ^ re £ 5 M compelled to speak , wl \ theb fellow-SeS whS signatures are jsubscnbed they committed the cha ^ e of presenting , in their collective name , an united reblv We do not ask you , sir , to ^ take part in this dispute- w « only ask you to put the pubhern a position to determhie with whom reason , justice , and right , reside . ^^
MAZZINI S LETTEB . " The Nation of Brussels publishes the jfollo \\ 'ing circular from M . Joseph Mazzini to the revolutioriarv committees of Europe : — - "What ought to be at present the mot cPordre—th& rallying cry of parties ? All is comprised in one word —• action—action , one European , incessant , logical , bold and universal . Mere talkers have destroyed France ; and thev ¦ will destroy Europe , if a holy reaction is not got un against them . Thanks to such persons , we are now ia the time of the Lower Empire . By dint of di scussing the future , we have abandoned the present to the first comer . By dint of substituting , each his little sect , his little system , his little organization of humanity , for the great religion of democracy , for the common faith for
, the association of power to make a conquest of the position , we have thrown disorganization into the ranks . The sacred phalanx which ought to press forward always as a single man , drawing closer together at each martyr ' s death , has become an assemblage of free corps , a veritable camp of Wallenstein , minus the genius of the master . At the hour of attack it fell to pieces on the right and on the left , and was found scattered about in little detachments , everywhere except in the heart of the place . The enemy was one discussing nothing , but acting always , and it is not by arguing on the best means of cutting and clipping human kind to a fixed standard that the foe can be
dislodged . The time has come to speak the truth plainly to pur friends . They have done all the evil possible to the best of causes ; they would have killed it by excess of love and want of intelligence , if it were not immortal . I accuse the Socialists , and in particular the leaders , of haying falsified , mutilated , diminished our grand idea , by imprisoning bur law , common foir all , within absolute systems which usurp at the same time power over the liberty of the individual , over the sovereignty of the country , and over the continuity of progress . 1 accuse them of having aimed , in the name of their paltry individuality , at giving positive solutions to the problem of human ' . 'life , before tfiat life vfas able to manifest itself in the plenitude of its capacity under the action , of those great electric currents ,
produce , atafixedtime , from their weak or diseased brains , an organization which cannot issue except from the cooperation of all the human faculties in action , and of having substituted their solitary Jfor the collective I " of Europe —of having spoken in the name of St . Simon , Fourier , Cabet , or any other , there , where the point was to destroy the revealing agents for the profit of the continued revelation , and to inscribe over the front of the temple , ' God is God , and humanity is his prophet ! ' For having forgotten action—for having said , what France owes to Europe is the solution of the organization of labour '—for having slighted the voice of such of her children as called
on all the dissentient parties to organize themselves on a common ground to bear the brunt of battle , France has arrived ; by Rome , at the shame of December 2 . The whole of democratic Europe must now aid France in recovering her position , as she formerly aided Europe . She must above all advance—advance constantly—advance alone , to foreo France to join her . The movement of France depends at present on the movement of Europe ; the movement ot Tessino and the insurrection of Sicily preceded the Republic of 1848 . The European initiative at present belongs , to the first people which ehall rise , not in tho name of a local interest , but of a European princip le . Should France do bo , may God and humanity bless France ! Should she not do so , lot others do" so ! God has no chosen people . them
Father of all , ho is with all who are ready to sacrifice - selves for the commonweal . From tho alliance of nations must spring tho initiative ; and there is not at tho present time a single nation which , in spontaneously rushing into the arena , or , in nobly resisting , cannot raise the two-thirds of Europe . The day in which the democracy militant shall havo a government , ' an impost , a cqmmon ground , a plan , an ensemble of operations , it will / have conquered . Until then , let it resign itself to M . deTMaupas , Schwarzonberg , and Radetzky ; lot it resign itself to shame , to tho rod , to transportation , and to tho gibbet ; and let it ana its compensation in tho poruBal of tho political novels wnicn its Utopian dreamora are always ready to write—thoy ao not cost much trouble to bo written . „ " Josbph Mazzini .
" March , 1852 . BEM . Y . To press forward against the common foe with an unflW p . ^" ing and , if it may bo , an united impulse , for the sake ot tno public good ; to sacrifice personal difllikce , selUsn protonsionfl , potty ambitions , potty jealousies , petty gruages , paltry rancours ; to beware ( as of a mischievous ioiiy j oj treating-as enemies after tho defeat those whom wo Jia " welcomed as comrades during the combat ;—such jb w » v tho Socialists boliovo to bo , in tho present juncture , *«» dutyofovory true Republican . _ ' . .. ,. -i . « , « . tho liattlo -w »«
For a man who , up to tho very day of , allied with tho Socialists , violently to attack tho SocialiBts on tho day after that battlo has been lost ; to ttmw u » them , tho oppressed , tho hatred duo to their oppressors , and in tho very heart of tho party , to fan tho 'lrt m 0 ™ diucords whioh a common disaster might well J »» vo ° * tinffuiahod : and all this by recriminations devoid . m justico , and incapable of usefulness , without a V * ° ™* without an excuse s thus to stir up a civil war among follow exiles in proscription , and <*> minff lo ft voice , w «« » had Wthorto givon itaolf out aB one of our owiywitii w » odious concert of onathomos in which tho people fl onomi ^
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290 tHE LEADER , [^
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Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1852, page 290, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1928/page/6/
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