The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-12-02 00:00:00

FATHER GAVAZZI'S THIRD LECTURE.

' The venerable Padre delivered his third oration last
evening, in the Concert-hall, to a very crowded audience.
' Every part of the house was thronged to suffocation;
and when the learned Padre made his appearance he was
received with a loud and tremendous burst of enthusiasm.
The Rev. DAVID JAMES, who occupied the chair,
said he would now discharge himself of his promise made
that morning, and give them a brief sketch of the life of
Gavazzi. He would at once proceed to say that the illus-
trious and venerable priest before them was distinguished
as an orator and a patriot ;—that he was a martyr to
liberty ;—that his triumphs and glory were only equal to the
high destiny of his mission—one sanctioned by religion, and
ennobled by patriotism.—(Loud cheers ) Under the despotic
reign of Gregory the Sixteenth, his mighty voice was hushed,
and that inspired eloquence which swayed a mighty army, and
flung a mighty enthusiasm almost divine into its ranks, was
nowhere to be heard. No sooner did freedom and liberty ap-
pear in the horizon, no sooner did his noble heart throb be-
neath the influence of an Italian sun, than the tire of his
brilliant genius and unpurchasable spirit lit up and threw
a halo of inspiration over all within the circle of his influence.
Gavazzi,—the second of 20 children, was born at Bologna, and
if despotism in Europe could have read the star which presided
at his birth, it would have strangled him in the cradle. His
acute and precocious talents recommended him to a professor-
ship in Naples, from whence he was sent to Livorno. From
the chair lie ascended to the " Tribune," and then ail Italy
resounded with the fame of his eloquence. Ills preaching
attracted all, he preached Christ—not the crucifix—the bible
and not the superstitious mummeries of home, and for this the
Jesuits never forgave him. (Cheers.) 'file infamous and
debased Gregory died, he departed to that unfathomable world
beyond the grave, and Gavazzi was free, and Pie Nono ascended
the throne of the Citsars. And then an illusion Caine over
the Italian spirit. The soul of Italy again lived, and drew in-
spiration as it were from the tombs of Camilii and Scipio, and
was blessed, as poor Italy thought, by the presiding genius of
the Vatican. But history was explained and justified—no
dependence could be placed on the Italian priest. Freedom,
civil and religious, was again to be immolated—it was to again
expire in the meshes of sacerdotal despotism. But Gavazzi was
destined to tie its avenging angel. He got his mission; his
sermon at Serregallia chartered his destiny; and popular en-
thusiasm dared—made the sanctuary to express its appreciation
of the patriot priest. But an eloquence like Gavazzi s—a sin-
cerity so true, could not be tolerated ; and the despotic Pius
condemned him to silence. However, that mighty genius could
not be silenced; and on the memorable day, 22d January, 1848,
when Italy was in mourning, and wizen her patriotism was
within the sanctuary, dressed in mourning, and weeping o'er
the butchery of its noble confreres, slaughtered by the Croats
at Milan and Mantua,—then Gavazzi ascended the pulpit, and
in accents of thundering eloquence, in sentences of inspired
grandeur, denounced vengeance on the Haynaus and Radetskis,
and for that Gavazzi was sent to prison. But the mighty voice
of Italy demanded his freedom, and 11;s prison doe-
before the imperial fiat of a mighty p€opie. He was one
free: and well it was for Pie Nono th.f.

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