The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-12
ITALY.

~
ing his name, has thought 1t necessary to issue
the following manifesto, containing contrary
counsels to those embodied in the spurious
dOcument:--
know not what you may intend TO do under
the present circumstances, but know what you
ought to do, aud take upon myself to tell you
this; first from a sense OF my duty as an Italian
and Roman citiZen-since in days glorious for
your city il pleased you to make me such;
second, because the mOnarcbical party have
lately endeavored 10 impose upon you as mine
o stupid letter preaching patience to you,
had stPmatZing as "imprudent" the glO-
rious deeds of Rome in lS49. Some among
you may possibly have believed in the reality OF
that .orgery, and it is important to me that you
should know that I-Once the Triumvir OF
Rome, and now grey-headed but not grey-souled
have ever preserved uncontamiuate the faith
which We, then united and strong in will, an
nounced 10 ally from the Capitol. j know not
what unforeseen situation you may be placed in
by the tCrtuous tactics OF the Government of the
Kingdom of Italy, and their plots with French
or Papal agents, and trust you will act with
dignity in any case; but address you
now, taking the Franco Italico Convention
as the basis upon which to judge your
positiUu. In the face of that Convention,
which binds the Italian Government neither
to promote nor tolerate any attempt against the
temporal power of the Pope, and to maintain
Florence ae the capital of Italy, you have before
you two solemn duties-the first towards Rome,
and towards yourselves who bear her sacred
name; the second towards Italy and Europe. II
lgnoble horde, the refuse of other lands, and
drive them out. An accusation circulates
against you-why should 1 conceal this from
ou?-an accusation which has been fire.
quently repeated by the English and French
press. The strange patience with which for
eighteen long years you have endured the
presence of the foreigner within your
walls, without single manly protest. has been
aCCeI ted as a proof OF the submission of a people
shrink ng from danger, and has given color 10
the falsehood that Rome was de ended in 1S49
by Italians nom other parts of the peninsula.
| was witness OF your condnct In those days,
and therefore | have declared, and do declare
the assertion falsehood l know ali the many
influences that have been brought to bear upon
you in order to induce the strange patience of
which have spoken; and among them cannot
forget the peculiar and difficult position
created for you by the Italian monarchy in
allyng itself with France. But if now. freed
from that false position you should still persistm
yielding TO those enervating influences; if you
do not now hasten to show that it was not the
power of your enemies. but the fact that they
were of the nation which Italy denominated her
ally, and which had fought with her at Solfe-
rino and MAGENTA that res strained you-you will
give confirmation to the ignoble accusation.
Now, Romans must mott will not say be cow
ards-they must not even be suspected of cow
ardice. What should be the cry with which you
rise to arms What your programme? You an
sWered this question eighteen years ago. You
have not now to choose you have chosen.
On the 9th of February, lS49-then free and
legally represented-you unanimously de-
clarcd yours the cry that gave your fore
fathers their greatness, and you summed up the
programme OF Rome in the word 'Republic,n
That programme, accepted with enthusiasm by
all the provinces then belonging to Rome, was
sealed by the blood of the best among you
during the two months of that heroic struggle
in Rome, Bologna, and Ancona. On the 2d of
July the free expression OF your will aud OF your
right was put down by brute force That obsta-
Gle is now removed. The manifestation of your
will recommences at the point where it was
interrupted. Your eternal right revives. BY
rising now you are what you were on the 9th
of neutrality-suspicious. and your own mas
ters On the Sd OF July, one day after the
entrance of the French, the Roman people,
in the face of its enemies once more raised
its hand in affirmation of Its faith; the Repub-
lcan Constitution was read aloud to the multi
tude from the CAPITOL The foreign flag was
interposed to veil from Italy the hand that held
the pact aloft. That veil is rent asunder, and
the hand of the Roman people reappears raised
on high. This is the programme pointed out to
you by logic, honor, conscience, and duty
towards the past and TO the future. You are
bound, before all things, TO reassert yourselves,
your own life, your own power. That done,
you will act as God and the sense of your ma
iional duty inspire. First exist; then dispose
of yourselves. Then, and then only, when
! your vote will not be as the blind, mute, and
! hurried suff1aee which inaugurated the Bona
partist tyranny, and consigned Nice to France
! when that vote may go forth solemn,
deliberate, powerful in collective inspiration
! and enlightened by the counsels of your best
! men in free discussion of your own position
| ana lnaJ OF lLaly-yOu VIII ueclde Wnetner
Rome ought TO give herself, like secondary
! city, and dsinherited of all life of her own, TO
| a monarchy already doomed, a monarchy
! proved impotent and incapable Of all noble
! action-a monarchy which has accepted Venice
! as an aims from the foreigner, and would
| inscnbe LISA and Custozza upon the Capitol
or whether the tradition, glorious beyond all
others, of her past, and that mission which has
| twice given moral and material unity to the
| world, do not call her to q part nobler
worhier, and more fruitful of glory to the
| nation. In the meantime assert your
! selVes-ass Rome. They who give you other
! counsel-theY who urge yoa serVely to subject
| and submerge yourself, without free, collective
and mature deliberaton, in the existing fact do
| but dishonOI Rome without serving Italy. Do
| not accuse me, in speaking thus, of contradict
. ing the counsels gave TO other Italian cities IN
| the past. When, in 1859 and 1860, counseled
! annexation for the south of Italy, the material
| unity OF our country-opposed to all the designs
! of Bonaparte-did not exist. All Italy had
agreed-no matter whether wisely or MOTTO
give monarchy the benefit of the experiment as
TO the possibility of identifying its interests with
those of the country at large. Moreover, the
cities to Whlch-in reverence for the sovereignty
of the popular will gave that advice bore not
then l urged the election of assemblies Instead
OF the ptebiscite so that the annexation might
be accomplished under the sanction of a COM
pact securing the true liberty and honor of the
future nation. My advice was unheeded, and
now these provinces repent having given them
selves so blindly. But the state OF things in
which ] address you, Romans, is radically
different. The material unity of Italy is hence
forth irrevocably founded, nor can it be delayed
or endangered by your decision. The important
question now is, not whether you be united TO
Italy upon this or that day. but that you be so in
manner worthy OF Rome, tending to eleva' g
the destiny of Italy and to promote that moral
unity which yet tunaccomphshed, and which the
IL nI.s