giuseppe mazzini, whom englishmen know as joseph mazzini, was born in genoa, june 22, 1805, and died in pisa, march 10, 1872. he spent the greater part of forty years of his marvellous life in london. * some incidents of his english career, known to me, may increase or confirm the public impression of him.
* first in devonshire street, queen square; in chelsea; in
brompton; in earlier years in penury. where he had command
of a sitting-room, birds were flying about. uncaged freedom
was to mazzini the emblem of liberty.
never strong from youth, abstemious, oft from privation, and always from principle, he was as thin as dumas describes richelieu. arbitrary imprisonment, which twice befel him, and many years of voluntary confinement, imposed upon himself by necessity of concealment—living and working in a small room, whence it was dangerous for him to emerge by day or by night—were inevitably enervating. when he first came to london in 1837, he brought with him three exiles, who depended upon his earnings for subsistence. the slender income supplied him by his mother might have sufficed for his few wants,* but aid for others and the ceaseless cost of the propaganda of italian independence, to which he devoted himself, had to be provided by writing for reviews. at times cherished souvenirs had to be pledged, and visits to money-lenders had to be made.
* of mazzini's great abstemiousness it was written later in
life:
"a cheaper world no one can know,
where he who laughs grows fat;
man wants but little here below—
mazzini less than that."
it was the knowledge all his countrymen had that he sought nothing for himself, never spared himself in toil or peril, that was the source of his influence. he wrote: "we follow a path strewn with sacrifices and with sorrows." but all the tragedies of his experience we never knew until years after his death, when his incomparable "love letters" were published in the nineteenth century, no. 219, may, 1895.
he appeared to others to have "the complexion of a student," the air of one who waited and listened. as meredith said, it was not "until you meet his large, penetrating, dark eyes, that you were drawn suddenly among a thousand whirring wheels of a capacious, keen, and vigorous intellect."
mr. bolton king has published a notable book on the great italian, containing more incidents in his career than any other english writer has collected. i confine myself mainly to those within my knowledge.
when anything had to be done, in my power to do, i was at his command. i had numerous letters from him. his errorless manuscript had the appearance of greek writing. two letters "t" and "s," such as no other man formed, were the signs of his hand and interpreters of his words. of all the communications i ever received from him or saw, none had date or address, save one letter which had both. many sought for conversation, if by chance they were near him, or by letter, or interview—for ends of their own. but no one elicited any information he did not intend to give. his mind was a fortress into which no man could enter, unless he opened the door.
kossuth astonished us by his knowledge of english, but he knew little of the english people. louis blanc knew much; but mazzini knew more than any foreigner i have conversed with. mazzini made no mistake about us. he understood the english better than they understood themselves—their frankness, truth, courage, impulse, pride, passions, prejudice, inconsistency, and limitation of view. mazzini knew them all.
his address to the republicans of the united states (november, 1855) is an example of his knowledge of nations, whose characteristics were as familiar to him as those of individuals are to their associates, or as parties are known to politicians in their own country. there may be seen his wise way of looking all round an argument in stating it. no man of a nature so intense had so vigilant an outside mind.
he knew theories as he knew men, and he saw the theories as they would be in action. there was no analysis so masterly of the popular schools—political and socialist—as that which mazzini contributed to the people's journal, his criticisms of the writings of carlyle, published in the westminster review, explained the excellencies and the pernicious tendencies—political and moral—of carlyle's writing, which no other critic ever did. but mazzini wrote upon art, music, literature, poetry, and the drama. to this day the public think of him merely as a political writer—a sort of italian cobbett with a genius for conspiracy.
the list of his works fills nearly ten pages of the catalogue of the british museum.
under other circumstances his pen would have brought him ample subsistence, if not affluence. much was written without payment, as a means of obtaining attention to italy. it was thus he won his first friends in england.
no one could say of mazzini that he was a foreigner and did not understand us, or that the case he put was defective through not understanding our language. the saturday review, which agreed with nobody, said, on reading mazzini's "letter to louis napoleon," which was written in english, "the man can write." the finest state papers seen in europe for generations were those which mazzini, when a triumvir in rome, wrote—notably those to de tocqueville. de tocqueville had a great name for political literature, but his icy mystifications melted away under mazzini's fiery pen of principle, passion, and truth. this wandering, homeless, penniless, obscure refugee was a match for kings.
some day a publisher of insight will bring out a cheap edition of the five volumes of his works, issued by s. king and co., 1867, and "dedicated to the working classes" by p. a. taylor, which cost him ￡500, few then caring for them. mrs. emilie ashurst venturi was the translator of the five volumes, which were all revised by mazzini. the reader therefore can trust the text.
mazzini did me the honour of presenting to me his volume on the "duties of man," with this inscription of reserve: "to my friend, g. j. holyoake, with a very faint hope." words delicate, self-respecting and suggestive. it was hard for me, with my convictions, to accept his great formula, "god and the people." it was a great regret to me that i could not use the words. they were honest on the lips of mazzini. but i had seen that in human danger providence procrastinates. no peril stirs it, no prayer quickens its action. men perish as they supplicate. in danger the people must trust in themselves.
thinking as i did, i could not say or pretend otherwise.
mazzini one day said to me, "a public man is often bound by his past. his repute for opinions he has maintained act as a restraint upon avowing others of a converse nature." this feeling never had influence over me. any one who has convictions ought to maintain a consistency between what he believes, and what he says and does. but to maintain to-day the opinions of former years, when you have ceased to feel them true, is a false, foolish, even a criminal consistency. to conceal the change, if it concerns others to know it, is dishonest if it is misleading any persons you may have influenced. the test, to me, of the truth of any view i hold, is that, i can state it and dare the judgment of others to confute it. had i new views—theistical or otherwise—that i could avow with this confidence, i should have the same pleasure in stating them as i ever had in stating my former ones. when i look back upon opinions i published long years ago, i am surprised at the continuity of conviction which, without care or thought on my part, has remained with me. in stating my opinions i have made many changes. schiller truly says that "toleration is only possible to men of large information." as i came to know more i have been more considerate towards the views, or errors, or mistakes of others, and have striven to be more accurate in my own statement of them, and more fair towards adversaries. that is all. mazzini understood this, and did not regard as perversity the prohibition of conscience.
in his letter to daniel manin, which i published in 1856, mazzini described as a "quibble" the use of the word "unification" instead of "unity." "unification" is not a bad thing in itself, though very different from unity. to put forth unification as a substitute for unity was forsaking unity. it was a change of front, but not "quibbling." the government of italy were advised to contrive local amelioration, as a means of impeding, if not undermining, claims for national freedom. mazzini condemned manin for concurring in this. all english insurgent parties have shown similar animosity against amelioration of evil, lest it diverted attention from absolute redress. yet it is a great responsibility to continue the full evil in all its sharpness and obstructiveness, on the grounds that its abatement is an impediment to larger relief. every argument for amelioration is a confession that those who object to injustice are right what is to prevent reformers continuing their demand for all that is necessary, when some of the evil is admitted and abated? paramount among agitators as i think mazzini, it is a duty to admit that he was not errorless. high example renders an error serious.
the press being free in england, there needed no conspiracy here. an engraved card, still hanging in a little frame in many a weaver's and miner's house in the north of england, was issued at a shilling each on behalf of funds for european freedom, signed by mazzini for italy, kossuth for hungary, and worcell for poland. when editing the reasoner i received one morning a letter from mazzini, dated 15, radnor street, king's road, chelsea, june 12, 1852. this was the only one of mazzini's letters bearing an address and date i ever saw, as i have said. it began:—
"my dear sir,—you have once, for the taxes on knowledge question, collected a very large sum by dint of sixpences. could you not do the same, if your conscience approved the scheme, for the shilling subscription [then proposed for european freedom]? i have never made any appeal for material help to the english public, but once the scheme is started, i cannot conceal that i feel a great interest in its success. a supreme struggle will take place between right and might, and any additional strength imparted to militant democracy at this time is not to be despised. still, the moral motive is even more powerful with me. the scheme is known in italy, and will be known in hungary, and it would be extremely important for me to be able to tell my countrymen that it has not proved a failure.
"ever faithfully yours,
"joseph mazzini."
i explained to the readers of the reasoner the great service they might render to european freedom at that time by a shilling subscription from each. very soon we received 4,000 shillings. later (august 3, 1852) mazzini, writing from chelsea, said:—
"my dear sir,—i have still to thank you for the noble appeal you have inserted in the reasoner in favour of the shilling subscription in aid of european freedom. my friend giovanni peggotti, fearing that physical and moral torture might weaken his determination and extort from him some revelations, has hung himself in his dungeon at milan, with his own cravat. state trials are about being initiated by military commissions, and general benedek, the man who directed the wholesale gallician butcheries, is to preside over them. at forli, under popish rule, enforced by austrian bayonets, four working men have been shot as guilty of having defended themselves against the aggression of some government agents. the town was fined in a heavy sum, because on that mournful day many of the inhabitants left it, and the theatres were empty in the evening.
"faithfully yours,
"joseph mazzini."
people of england have mostly forgotten now what italians had to suffer when their necks were under the ferocious heel of austria.
in a short time i collected a further 5,000 shillings, making 9,000 in all, and i had the pleasure of sending to mazzini a cheque for ￡450.*
* the expenses of collection i defrayed myself.
a shilling subscription had been previously proposed mainly at the instigation of w. j. linton, which bore the names of joseph cowen, george dawson, dr. frederic lees, george serle phillips, c. d. collet, t. s. duncombe, m.p., viscount goderich, m.p. (now marquis of ripon), s. m. hawks, austin holyoake, g. j. holyoake, thornton hunt, douglas jerrold, david masson, edward miall, m.p., professor newman, james stansfeld, m.p. some of these names are interesting to recall now. but it was not until mazzini asked me to make an appeal in the reasoner that response came. its success then was owing to the influence of mazzini's great name. workmen in mill and mine gave because he wished it.
i published weill's "great war of the peasants," the first and only english translation, in aid of the war in italy. the object was to create confidence in the struggle of the italian peasantry to free their country, and to give reasons for subscriptions from english working men to aid their italian brethren. madame venturi made the translation, on mazzini's suggestion, for the secular world, in which i published it.
in 1855 wishing to publish certain papers of 'azzini s, i wrote asking him to permit me to do so, when he replied in the most remarkable letter i received from him:
"dear sir,—you are welcome to any writing or fragment of mine which you may wish to reprint in the reasoner. thought, according to me, is, as soon as publicly uttered, the property of all, not an individual one. in this special case, it is with true pleasure that i give the consentment you ask for. the deep esteem i entertain for your personal character, for your sincere love of truth, perseverance, and nobly tolerant habits, makes me wish to do more; and time and events allowing, i shall.
"we pursue the same end—progressive improvement, association, transformation of the corrupted medium in which we are now living, overthrow of all idolatries, shams, lies, and conventionalities. we both want man to be not the poor, passive, cowardly, phantasmagoric unreality of the actual time, thinking in one way and acting in another; bending to power which he hates and despises, carrying empty popish, or thirty-nine article formulas on his brow and none within; but a fragment of the living truth, a real individual being linked to collective humanity, the bold seeker of things to come; the gentle, mild, loving, yet firm, uncompromising, inexorable apostle of all that is just and heroic—the priest, the poet, and the prophet. we widely differ as to the how and why. i do dimly believe that all we are now struggling, hoping, discussing, and fighting for, is a religious question. we want a new intellect of life; we long to tear off one more veil from the ideal, and to realise as much as we can of it; we thirst after a deeper knowledge of what we are and of the why we are. we want a new heaven and a new earth. we may not all be now conscious of this, but the whole history of mankind bears witness to the inseparable union of these terms. the clouds which are now floating between our heads and god's sky will soon vanish and a bright sun shine on high. we may have to pull down the despot, the arbitrary dispenser of grace and damnation, but it will only be to make room for the father and educator.
"ever faithfully yours,
"joseph mazzini."
another incident has instruction in it, still necessary and worth remembering in the political world. in 1872 i found in the boston globe, then edited by edin ballou, a circumstantial story by the constitutional of that day, setting forth that sir james hudson, our minister at turin, begged cavour to accord an interview to an english gentleman. when cavour received him, he was surprised by the boldness, lucidity, depth, and perspicacity of his english visitor, and told him that if he (cavour) had a countryman of like quality, he would resign the presidency of the council in favour of him, whereupon the "englishman" handed cavour his card bearing the name of joseph mazzini, much to his astonishment.
there are seven things fatal to the truth of this story received and circulated throughout europe without question:—
1. sir james hudson could never have introduced to the italian minister a person as an englishman, whom sir james knew to be an italian.
2. nor was mazzini a man who would be a party to such an artifice.
3. cavour would have known mazzini the moment he saw him.
4. mazzini's italian was such as only an italian could speak, and cavour would know it.
5. mazzini's republican and propagandist plans were as well known to cavour as cobden's were to peel; and mazzini's strategy of conspiracy was so repugnant to cavour, that he must have considered his visitor a wild idealist, and must have become mad himself to be willing to resign his position in mazzini's favour.
6. cavour could not have procured his visitor's appointment in his place if he had resigned.
7. mazzini could not have offered cavour his card, for the reason that he never carried one. as in turin he would be in hourly danger of arrest, he was not likely to carry about with him an engraved identification of himself.
nevertheless, the pall mall gazette of that day (in whose hands it was then i forget) published this crass fiction without questioning it.
the reader will rightly think that these are the incredible fictions of a bygone time, but he will conclude wrongly if he thinks they have ceased.
lately, not a nameless but a known and responsible person, one sir edward hertslet, k.c.b., a foreign office official, published a volume in which he related that in 1848 (the 10th of april year, when no political historian was sane) a stranger called at the foreign office to inquire for letters for him from abroad. a colleague of sir edward's suggested that he should inquire at the home office. the strange gentleman replied indignantly, "i will not go to the home office. my name is mazzini." this answer sir edward put in quotation marks, as though it was really said. sir edward has been in the diplomatic service. he has been a foreign office librarian, and is a k.c.b., yet for more than fifty years he has kept this astounding story by him, reserved it, cherished it, never suspected it, nor inquired into its truth.
mazzini was not a man to give his name to a youth (as sir edward was then) at the foreign office. he never went there. it is doubtful whether any letter ever came to england bearing his name. he was known among his friends as mr. flower or mr. silva. when the late william rathbone greg wished to see him, he neither knew his name nor where he resided, and his son percy—who was then writing for a journal of which i was editor—was asked to obtain from me an introduction, and it was only to oblige me that mazzini consented to see mr. w. r. greg. sir james graham never opened any letter addressed to mazzini, for none ever came. he opened letters of other persons, as every foreign secretary before him and since has done, in which might be enclosed a communication for mazzini. was it conceivable that the foreign office, then known to secretly open mazzini's letters, would be chosen by the italian exile as a receiving house for his letters, and have communications sent to its care, and addressed in his name? was it conceivable that mazzini would go there and announce himself when the foreign office was acting as a spy upon his proceedings in the interest of foreign governments? this authenticated foreign office story would be too extravagant for a "penny dreadful," yet not too extravagant, in sir edward hertslet's mind, to be believable by the official world now, and was sent or found its way to foreign embassies and legations for their delectation and information. yet sir edward was not known as a writer of romance, or novels, or theological works, nor a poet, or other dealer in imaginary matters. his book was widely reviewed in england, and nowhere questioned save in the sun during my term of editorship in 1902.
mazzini preached the doctrine of association in england when it had no other teacher. much more may be said of him—but sir james stansfeld is dead, and madame venturi and peter alfred taylor. only jessie white mario and professor masson remain who knew mazzini well. but this chapter may give the public a better conception than has prevailed of mazzini's career in england.