The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-24

| loSO-<i' anu hkhln IN lSt6ls IL was Just atte
the latter date. however. when conspiracy
: through repeated failures, had become dis
> credited. that there arose a leader SO strone
and unselnsh. 80 patient, Jealous aud mag
netic. that by him, II by any one. conspira
cy might be guided to victory This leader
the great conspirator, was Joseph Mazzini. one
OF the half dozen supreme influences In Euro.
pean politics during the century now drawing
to close-a man whose career will interest
posterity rs long rs It is concerned at all In
our epoch OF transition. As Metternich wa the
high priest ofthe old regime. SO Mazzini was
tho prophet Of a social order moro Just. free
and spiritual than any the world has known.
He was an idealist who would hold no parley
with temporiZers. an enthusiast whom hall
concessions could not beguile. and so he camc
to be decried as n fanatic or a visionary. The
distinguishing feature OF Mr.. Thayer's portrait
OF Maz2ini Is the careful discrimination Of
what he aspired to do from what he actually
accomplished What he proposed was clearly
unrealiZable at tho time when he proposed
It, and 1t Is for the future to answer
whether society, when 1t shall have advanced
far beyond its present condition. will conform
to the -Mazzinian pattern. The historian of
the period between 1881 and 1S49 has for the
most part to see in Mazzn the man OF action
fighting for a definite and INN late end 1t
is all the more necessary to remember that
behind the man OF action was always the
idealist to whom the fnct achieved seemed
| mean in comparison with the splendor OF his
| aspiration.
Mazzini was born In Genoa in 1903 His
| father was lawyer OF repute: his mother a
| woman OF ten ierness and Intelligence whose
| influence over her son was deep and lasting.
for he was 80 frail boy that he had to be kept
| at home. where his physical weakness con-
duced to precocious intellectual growth. He
read and thought beyond his years. and he
| had an almost feminine organization of
nerves and emotions. One day. in his
| twelfth year. when he aud his mother
| were alking-it was just after the collapse OF
| the Revolution OF 1S21-"n tall. black bearded
| man. with severe and energetic counte-
nance" approached and held out q white
handkerchief. merely saying. For the refu-
| gees OF ITALY" The request burned into tho
boys soul. THAT day." he wrote long after
ward was the first in which confused idea
presented itself in my mind. will not say of
country or liberty. but an idea that we Ital-
ians could. and therefore ought. to struggle
for the liberty of our country" His health
having improved. he entered the university
to fit himself for his fathers profession but
from the outset, In the midst of the tumultuous
student life. he was sombre and absorbed. ap-
pearing like one suddenly grown old. Re
formed the childish yet significant resolve
to dress always in black. as though he were in
mourning for his country. To the law he gave
only perfunctory attention: he neglected
his lectures to read Dante. and. for time. felt
within him the desire to win renown in liter
AZURE. But he soon became convinced that
political. not literary or artistic achievement,
was the duty OF italian genius. and he wrote
articles which. although ostensibly only criti-
cisms OF books were more and more impreE-
mated with his political ideas. He joined the
Carbonari. though suspecting that. under
their complex symbolism and hierarchical
mysteries. they concealed fatal lack Of har-
mony. decision. and faith. Having under
taken a secret mission'to Tuscany. he was be-
trayed to the police and incarcerated In
the fortress OF Savona. His Imprisonment
at Savona seems to have been to MAJ
zini what the years concealment In the |
Wartzburg had been to Luther period for
determination whereby he classified tho |
motives which had hitherto led him. and de.
duced from them the creed which he was to |
profess through life. Analysing the political |
and social doctrines OF the Italian reformer. |
Mr.. Thayer traces them to moral source.
Throughout and above all;words Mazzinl &C.
knowledged one supreme unity. to correspond
to which. he argued, there must be unity
among mankind. The human race. he said
although distributed among so many people,
various in hue and intelligence and faith. is
yet interpenetrated by a common humanity.
The differences Of feature and belief are only
external. as OF vessels large or small, crooked
or upright. on which diverse forms have been
modelled. or patterns painted. but all contain
ing In greater or smaller quantities the same
holy water. Scanning history. Mazzini
discerned that the past had sufficed to
evoke the individual from the brute,
shapeless mass: here and there in different
pIs nd fau- l.
be the wonder and example OF their fellows:
but in his view. the purpose OF creation is not
attained in the development OF few supreme
men who live isolated from the multitude and
often at their.expense 1t is the sum OF all the
individuals and not the value OF particular
unit to enhance which progress strains Pass
ing to details, Mazzini pointed out that the
French Revolution was the assertion of indi-
vidualism. which hereditary despots and priv
LEGGED aristocrats had for centuries ignored or
striven to repress. But he insisted that in
dividualism is only corner stone on which
true civilization. q society at once Just and
enlightened. is to be raised. Above the rights
OF man are the duties OF man. which bind
the individual to the community. and teach
him that his private welfare depends upon
the general we'll being and that he best serves
himself who serves his fellows best Thus we
rise from the plano Of mere legality. which is
selfish and only Jealous for its own. to the
sphere OF morals. where the individual re-
nounces his partial good for the sake OF that
general ard inclusive good wherein. il he but
ook deep enough. he shall see his own real
prosperity. This Maz2in held to be as true
or nations as for each individual citizen:
since nation is only q larger family. and. in
he same way that all the families OF a city
make W. that city. so all the nations OF the
'arth make up the human race. Hitherto.
here has been enmity among them; many
lave not yet reached the level Of LEGAL
Y; none has adopted morality to be :
1ors I: nevertheless. the solidarity OF the race
,annot be denied. though. as yot. we Recognizes !
i chiefly by negative signs We perceive that ]
when one nation Injuries another whether by E
war or by commercial selishness. all are in,
ured; the gain that comes from unjust vic =
Dry Is elusive: the robber has his gold but Mt {
he eYpense of integrity: the robbed is de- !