THE ITALIAN IDEOLOGUE.
lif MAZZINI has many of the higher qualities of a po- 17.1. litical prophet and saint, but he lacks the highest of them all. He is angry, like Jonah, because his prophecy has not been fulfilled to the letter,—because his own words have helped to prepare a better path for Italy than that which those words marked out. He has no satisfaction in the blessings which Providence showers upon Italy, because they have been bestowed through the agency of a King whom he disliked and a Minister whom he had constantly reproached and condemned. He has none of that humility which accepts gracefully the mortification of a lower place when it had hoped for a higher. There is a story that St. Philip Neri, when deputed by the Pope to test the inspira- tion of an ecstatica, on arriving at the convent where she dwelt, at once threw her the dirty boots to clean, in which he had ridden from Rome, and on her proud rejection of the menial task, quietly betook himself back to Rome and re- ported that her inspiration was spurious because she had no humility. An analogous test has been applied to M. Mazzini's political saintliness, and we fear that the result has proved equally unsatisfactory. Possessed with the letter rather than the spirit of the gospel which he has so long been preaching to Italy, he resents the method of Providence, and scorns the humble task by which his disinterestedness would be best proved. He cannot accept the situation. He cannot bend before the free manifestation of the national mind. He carps at the King, showers reproaches on the admi- nistration, and, in fact, does all that in him lies to weaken the natural organ of the national strength. Sincerely as we appreciate H. Mazzini's many noble personal qualities, we can scarcely help disputing that he is a good Italian citizen. We do not wish to see him suppress his convictions as to the true policy of the Government. All the constitutional pres- sure that he can bring to bear on them is fair enough. But we do say that it is a grave and fatal error, or something worse than an error, to throw out doubts of the purity of the Cabinet, to cast scorn on the administration, and to weaken that public confidence in it which can alone give it real re- presentative force. Suppose that his suspicions are true. Suppose Ricasoli is lukewarm, Cialdini indifferent, and Della Revere cowardly : still how can he do aught but harm by urging these things on a nation which has made up its mind that these men shall hold the reins of state ? He can draw off a certain small proportion of public confidence, and he can do no more ; and what will be the effect of this ? that while the actual administration thereby loses something of strength and popularity and self-possession, there is no hope, however remote, of his being able to set up one that would please him any better. He sacrifices something of the actual power of Italy for absolutely no equivalent—for the barren and egotistic pleasure of criticism and protest. Is this a part worthy of any patriotic mind ? Is it not clear that a party which can do something to cripple, but nothing to sup- plant, the power at the helm, ought to be absolutely passive in any moment of tempest ? H. Mazzini, however, thinks differently. He does not hesitate to disseminate in all directions his distrust of the Administration, and implicitly even of the King, as the fol- lowing language (which has not been challenged by him as an incorrect interpretation of his letter) seems to us to prove conclusively : "Do not, therefore, attribute to us, in order to screen yourselves, the desertions caused by the detestable administration of the army, and the avarice with which the soldier is now treated, whom you will to-morrow, perhaps, call upon to preserve with his blood your persons and your property. Nobody possessing the shadow of good sense and of modesty will believe you. If the King could ever believe you, he would demonstrate that he is destined rather to be the victim of imprudent flatterers than the chief of a people who merit esteem and confidence. . . . We do not con- spire at present except for the unity of the country—for its deliverance from all foreign element—to force the Monarchy to live a true Italian life, and to accomplish its duty, if that be possible. Those men conspire, and more certainly than is believed, against the Monarchy who, while protesting against the desire to arrive at Venice and at Rome, maintain the army in a state of impotency to support manfully the negotiations, or to translate them, if necessary, into a me- nace." Now, we maintain that the man who would write this at a moment like the present, however high his personal virtues, is a mischief and a danger to his country, in that he cannot see that in perilous times it is far more important for a nation to secure unanimous following than even brilliant leading. The man who cannot accept frankly a political situa- tion which be has no power to subvert, who must ever be kicking against the pricks, even when the national will and confidence has been unmistakably declared, is no fit leader for a political society, however small.
And this is not the worst. M. Mazzini has himself trans- ]ated for us his own language concerning military desertions. "Desertion," he says, "from inert ranks to the spot where action saves the country may in some very rare cases meet with our approbation, and ought to meet at least with indul- gence from all." It is bard for us to believe that a patriot of any kind can have penned these words. He tells us in the very same letter, "The army is the gem of Italy. He who would endeavour to dissolve it is the enemy of Italy." And yet he does not attempt to conceal his approbation of a course which would ruin the best army in Europe in a week. M. Mazzini has so long waged war against the prin- ciple of authority that he has forgotten what an army means. If soldiers are to be encouraged to choose where they will serve, and to rush to the frontier when their officers assign them their places in the interior, all Italy will soon be in a worse state than Naples.
We cannot and will not believe that true patriotism is yet materially weakened in M. Mazzini's heart. But his case is one of the most painful illustrations we have yet met with, of the pernicious effect of political misfortune co-operating with clique-worship on a naturally noble nature. He has fallen into the whining temper of querulent dissent. He has lost the power of giving up his own wishes for the very nation to whose service be has dedicated his life. Prosperity and popularity have their great dangers, and adversity and unpopularity have equally great dangers. The former lap men in selfish ease, the latter sour and petrify them. But perhaps neither the one nor the others are so dangerous as that mixture of adversity with popularity which is involved in the career of an exiled patriot leader. His followers flatter his vanity and his prejudices, his misfortunes embitter his mind, and the ostensible nobility of martyrdom hides the truth even from himself. M. Mazzini is probably heartily con- vinced that love of Italy burns as brightly in his breast now as at the first dawn of his career. Yet impartial observers, even while allowing for all the unfortunate influences to which he has been exposed, cannot but mourn for the shadows which are gathering thick on his political con- science. He has still great influence among the workmen in Italy ; he has deserved to have great influence, for he was the apostle of national unity when even Cavour thought it a dream. But he is now, perhaps, its most dangerous enemy. And no one who has watched his recent career, who has marked the jealousy of his conduct towards the Sardinian Government, who has noticed that when all Europe was weeping for Cavour, the organs of his party either spoke with ungenerous bitterness or did not speak at all, and who now sees him doing his best to shake the authority of the Government and the discipline of the army, can help griev- ing that the egotism of sectarian leadership should have the power to sully thus grievously the pure patriotism of so noble a mind.
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