The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-10 00:00:00

JOSEPH MAZZINI.

A Dumfries contemporary, present at the recent ban-
quet given to the Republican refugees in London, gives
the following description of the Italian patriot, Mazzini:—
" My principal motive in going was to see the great
Roman tribune, for, though a native of Genoa, Rome
is the centre of his soul, the mistress of all his affec-
tions, and in her annals his name is now for ever writ
—Joseph Mazzini. I knew that for twenty years he
has been the idol cf the Italian patriots, the chief and
prophet of Young Italy;' and I knew too the exalted
respect which is entertained for him by many of the
most eminent and excellent cf our countrymen; and
no leader in the late revolutions could be once com-
pared to him, in the display of political genius, of ad-
ministrative talent, and true Roman fortitude and mag-
nanimity. Whatever may be his future destiny, his
three months' defence and government of the Roman
Republic (once more under the sun !) will be aye re-
membered in the calendar.' It was generally thought
in the meeting that Mazzini was not present, but that
he was still in Switzerland. But one of the speakers in
the course of the evening, pointed to him in au obscure
corner of the room, and hails d him as pater patrice,
when the whole assembled mass, as if a whirlwind had
swept over them, started up, and sealed the all
hail with a burst of a❑thusiasm and triumph
such as I never saw equalled. The subject of all this ac-
clamation se:•med disconcerted by it; it was a scene
alien to his feelings. He rose very unwillingly, bowed
hurriedly. and sat down in his corner again with evident
precipitation, and a desire to escape from this universal
attenion. But the company were rowed, and there
could be no more peace till he came forward and ad-
dressed them. It was maniE44 that although, for
his great and devoutly cherished purposes, he must
mingle in such meetings and associations, the mere
clamour, and blaze, and ovations, were irksome to him,
nis almost austere looks and deprecating gestures
seemed to ssy, ' Bawl not thus, hut hold up your breath
for the day of action.' Here, then, stands the Roman
tribune before us. 0 Time! 0 ev, r-struggling spirit!
0 mortal circumstances ever crushing and shrivelling
ideal iubpiration. I w hat ravages he can make, in the
fl'ght of a few years, upon us poor creatures—on the
outa a7d mask of the man. How altered is this Joseph
Misr-with now before us, from what he appears in the
fallowing vivid description of him twenty years ago,
when ho was fresh twenty-one, yet even then an exile
from Italy for his liberal opinions, and living in Mar-
seilles. Thus saiih the narrator:—" I went into the
rifle ground, and, looking round, saw a young man lean-
ing on his rifle, watching the shooters, and waiting for
his turn. He was about five feet eight inches high, and
slightly made; he was dressed in black Genoa velvet,
with the large republican hat; his long curling black
hair, which fell upon his shoulders, the extreme
freshness of his clear olive complexion, the chiselled
delicacy of his regular and beautiful features, aided by
his very youthful look, and sweetness and openness of
expression, would have made his appearance almost too
feminine, if it had not been for his noble forehead, the
power of firmness and decision that was mingled with
their gaiety and sweetness in the bright flashes of his
dark eyes, and in the varying expression of his mouth,
together with his small and beautiful moustachios and
beard. Altogether he was at that time the most beau-
tiful being, male or female, that I had ever seen, and I
have not since seen his equal. I had read what he bad
published, I had heard of what he had done and suf-
fered, and the moment I saw him, I knew it could
he no other than Joseph Mazzini.' His figure is still
slighter than in those days, as if worn out by vigils
and labours, and the multitude of pressing anxieties.
The noble forehead is still there, even more intense and
concentrated in the expression now stamped upon it.
His black curling locks are now cropped, and thin and
prematurely grey. The eye is dark and bright; but the
youthful sparkle and flash and mere sensuous gaiety
are gone. The whole countenance, though placid and
calm, and benign, wears a deep and settled solemnity.
There is no dejection in it, no sullenness, no misery, for
when was ever such a man soured or desponding?
No, no!

' More thought than woe is in his dusky face.
I never saw a face what I would call so quintessential,
so free of all trace of temper or disposition, or any con-
ventional peculiarity. It seems as if he bad passed
through a furnace, and all had been cleared off but the
expression of intellect and devoted purpose. There be
stood, wan, weak, and shattered as he is, in head, look,
bearing, and sentiment, a very Roman—inspired by all
the different impulses of the Roman spirit—a mixture
of the antique severity of a Brutus, with the modern
and gorgeous visions of power, and freedom, and
greatness, which Dante has taught all Italian minds
instinctively to associate with that Eternal City.'
Poor Pio Nono, fat, soft, and oily, he can never stand
against • • this man should his Austrian or Gallic backers
fail him some fine morning. He may keep the footman's
coat and cocked hat ready on a pin in the Vatican; who
knows, they may again be needed?
" Mazzini's speaking was a great contrast to the pre-
ceding orations, or, indeed to any orations usually delivered.
He was not like a man making a speech, as it is termed,
but like a man who had something serious to settle
with us on the spot, and u-ed words, simply because
there are no other means of human communi-
cation. He was as brief, sententious, rilA rapid, and
his manner as sharp and abrupt, as if he had been in-
diting a bulletin on the walls of Rome, when Oudinot
was tavouring him with a shower of balls and shells.
The grand characteristic of Isis speaking was its reality,
every word had its meaning, every meaning must be
made an action. He was not there to raphsodise about
' chains of slavery, withering blasts of tyranny, sun-
shine of liberty,' and other stock properties of the mere
stage orator. He has n mission. He was amongst
the first to adopt that term, so expressive, though How
somewhat staled by custom. Ho has a work in hand,
not his own, in any spiritual sense, but a work for all
humanity, iu which all men are alike interested. Would
the races represented in that, assembly join him in exe-
cuting the same ? He compressed the whole of this
great purpose into one closing problem, Instead of the
Emperor, she Public Good, instead of the Pope, God.' "