The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1918-11-21
THE STORY OF ITALY
For Several Centuries Italy Was Not Country in
Either Political or Sentimental Sense

Selected

sembly of the citizens. A consti-
tuition was prepared which laid the
foundation for career of great
political and commercial grandeur.
At one time Venice held nominal
sway over more than one third of
the old Roman empire. Her feet
conquered Constantinople and held
that city for half a century. Its
record is one of the marvels of his
tory. Pisa, Genoa, Tuscany, and
Lombardy also established re-
publican form of government.
With the .crusades these maritime
republics we're greatly enriched by
the commerce that arose. Pisa
became a city of palaces in which
lived her rich and powerful mobiles.
But the boasted love of liberty,
meant a liberty to encroach upon
and trample upon others. They
wished to be the only masters.
Thus, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa
were almost constantly engaged in
implacable warfare against each
other. For half a century Genoa
and Venice were engaged in one
incessant battle. Each grasped
power only to WELD it for his own
selfish interest and aggrandize-
ment. The oppressed of today
might be the oppressors of tomor-
row. In the end the cities retained
only the empty forms of a republic.
1t shows that republics may be-
come despotic as we'll as empires.
For a while the country became
a field of exploitation for all man.
ner of foreign adventures and
marauders-French, Spanish, and
Austrian. The duchies and prin-
cipalities were seized and ruled by
aliens, while the native princes
who were left upon their thrones
were incapable of looking after
their own defense. Italy was a
paradise for the nobility and clergy,
but it was certainly place of tor
ment for the peasantry, who toiled
and sweated for a bare subsistence.
The Papal States occupied Gen.
trail Italy, and they we're no better
than the others. Decayed and de-
bauched mobiles occupied the edi-
fees of Rome, those majestic
monuments of ancient grandeur.
From these fortresses they sailed
forth with their retainers upon
deeds of the darkest iniquity. In
the middle of the fourteenth CEN
tury Rome was falling into decay.
The seat of the Pope had been
transferred to Avignon, France,
but was transferred back to Rome.
Many of the Popes were not fitted
for that position. One of them,
Urban vi, was so notorious that
the cardinals declared the Holy
Spirit had made a mistake in his
election and the election was de.
clared null and void.
The fifteenth century dawned
upon Italy in clouds and gloom.
Tyrants were upon the thrones,
republicanism was only a name,
the popery had fallen into utter
contempt. For a while there were
three persons claiming the Office.
War. treachery, murder, rapine,
crime, filled the air everywhere.
The struggles of the Popes DESC
lated much of Europe. The gloom
is frightened a little by Lorenzo
de Medici, who became Pope Leo
x, and by the rule of the Medici
in Florence the beginning of the
end of the anarchy that had pre-.
vailed had come. At this time
France, Spain, England, and Aus
tria arose and became powerful
states. But Italy remained broken
up into fragments for several cen.
turies more. They would not
unite, and it was only by union
that independence could be pre-
served. This made possible the
foreign rule over most of them