Italy and the Italians

Front matter

Hrom the Library of Professor Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield Beyueathed hy him to the Library of

Princeton Theoloyical Seminary ae Es: AR Z 2

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Preface

‘*T WISH that Italy and the Italians were at the bottom of the sea,’’ remarked a wealthy, intelligent, generous Christian gentleman of our country when the claim of Italian missions was presented to him; and though possibly annoyed at the call, and suffering slight indisposition, he seemed to express his real sentiment.

The murders and lynching in New Orleans were the occasion of many unkind and unjust judgments pronounced upon Italy and her people; those who uttered them being evidently not in accord with the noble saying of England’s greatest statesman, that he did not know how to draw up an indictment against an entire people.

We are spending the summer at Stazzema, a Tuscan hamlet of four hundred inhabitants, unknown to guide-book or tourist, and inaccessible to a carriage. The stone houses, steep and narrow pathways over the terraced hills, through chestnut forests, fields of maize, hemp and vines trellised on mulberry trees; the old women with distaffs, and little children tending sheep; and the peasants bearing on their heads heavy burdens of firewood, charcoal, or grain—all are as different as possible from every external thing in the Virginia neighborhood which gave us hospitality two years ago; but there are the same gentleness, good feeling, and kindness here as there; and this might be said of every other Italian _ village Known to me.

The Italians have a proverb that ‘‘all the world is a country.’’ There are good and bad everywhere. People of the same class do not differ, save superficially, the vii villas PREFACE world over. If our country and our people have the preeminence in certain directions, it is equally true that in some others Italy and the Italians bear away the palm. Italy with the gospel would be one of the best and happiest, as she already is the fairest, of earth’s lands.

Orators pleading for home missions have sometimes sought to magnify their cause by speaking of Italy and other countries of Continental Europe as effete and without a future.

Even if Italy had no future, which is the opposite of true, yet her present is very respectable, and her great past and the debt we owe her, entitles her to our affectionate and grateful reverence. Ere our country was discovered—discovered by an Italian—Italy was the tree whose fruit served for the regeneration of Europe. ‘‘In the work of the Renaissance,’’ says John Addington Symonds, ‘‘all the great nations of Europe shared, but it must never be forgotten that as a matter of history the true Renaissance began in Italy. It was there that the essential qualities which distinguish the modern from the ancient and medieval world were developed. Italy ‘created that new spiritual atmosphere of culture and of intellectual freedom which has been the life breath of the European races. As the Jews are called the chosen and peculiar people of divine revelation, so may the Italians be called the chosen and peculiar vessels of the prophecy of the Renaissance. In art, in scholarship, in.science, in the mediation between antique culture and the modern intellect, they took the lead, handing to Germany and France and England the restored humanities complete.”’ Each of these nations has since played its part well. ‘“‘ But if we return to the first origins of the Renaissance, we find that at a time when the rest of Europe was inert, Italy had already begun to organize the various elements of the modern spirit, and to set the fashion whereby the

PREFACE ix other great nations should learn and live.’’ ‘‘The reason why Italy took the lead in the Renaissance was that Italy possessed a language, a favorable climate, political freedom, and commercial prosperity at a time when other nations were still semi-barbarous.”’

Living in Italy for almost a quarter of a century, and enjoying good opportunities of knowing something of Italians of all classes and in every section, I feel it at once a pleasure and a duty to do what I can toward presenting them as they are before my countrymen. It also seems due from one who lives long abroad, especially in a land so interesting and in a most interesting period, to offer some fruit for the benefit of that large majority who in God’s providence do not sojourn in foreign countries.

To that ‘‘ honest fame’’ which Goldsmith aimed at, | do not profess indifference, especially as far as it includes the approval of my own people; but above all, I shall be glad if this volume may, however little and indirectly, promote the cause of Christian missions.

I have written sympathetically, for | love Italy and admire many traits of Italian character, but I have neither extenuated nor concealed aught necessary to a just estimate. So far from exhausting the subject, | have been obliged to leave unused much material, including facts and thoughts crowding upon me to the last moment of writing. The reader will pardon any apparent repetition due to the recurrence of a subject in a new connection.

Like all who have written of Italy, I have felt free to cull a flower wherever found, but to a large extent the book is the result of my own observation and experience, and, such as it is, not only possesses a certain originality, but, as a whole, covers ground not occupied by any other book known to me. While seeking to give due credit x | PREFACE for material borrowed, sometimes quotation marks, in abridging, may have dropped out. Many volumes consulted and cited are mentioned in the text. I own my indebtedness in writing the first two chapters to Mr. Probyn’s ‘History of Italy’’; to ‘‘The Liberation of Italy,’? by Countess Cesaresco Martinengo; to the ‘‘ Letters of Count Cavour,’’ and the files of ‘‘La Nuova Antologia’’ (Italy’s chief review). For the contemporary history I owe much to Corsi’s new work, ‘‘ /talia, 1870- 1895,’’ while many of the facts are described from the daily press and from my own observation. My chief authorities for the account of the earlier evangelization are the excellent ‘‘ Storia dei Valdesi’’ of Prof. Comba, and a valuable manuscript written at my request by Sig. Oscar Cocorda. A few facts have been gleaned from Coldstream’s ‘‘ Institutions of Italy.’’

Finally, a word is necessary as to those for whom this book is intended. Certainly it is not for persons well acquainted with Italy, her land, history, institutions, literature, and people. Let all such understand that my modest volume is not for them. Leaving out these, there remains a large class, including many of the cultured and the traveled, to whom it may appeal. It has been written without sectarian bias and in the intervals of mission work, and despite frail health. It is as it is and as such is submitted to the gentle reader’s kindly judgment.

CEB al:

ROME, ITALY, July 16, 1897.

Contents

Uri Abyss DYNASTY. CONSTITUTION, EIC, cos) moc. 49 Bem eRO Meto70! 1 O 1806.84 ss oe oe eek a eA O7 V. A RUN THROUGH ITALY eee eT Nereis GS Oe LL Vas U Nel HROUGH ITALY (Continued, Gay 5 ln 147 VieOME toate. en Par een ee reer fe SO ee von te tae Gana a? Vali RAITL SEAN D CUSTOMS hig teers oe ; Saewecrti 5 6g 26D PXGU HES HOMER: Ginotnonnere. a oton 2 Ee er CNTR, ws OSE X. THE ARMY, INDUSTRIES, LOTTERY, EMIGRATION, VERE Shy AW a ace Ean le a oa nc ga nt ae 307 Xl LANGUAGE; LITERATURE: PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. ..; ° 327 XII. THE STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF ROMANISM,

XII.

Eneraved by Geo May |Powell, Philadelphia

II

HE history of Piedmont is henceforth almost the history of Italy’s struggle for independence. The first difficulty confronting the young king came from his own parliament, which refused to accept the peace he had made with Austria, so that it was twice necessary to dissolve the House and appeal to the electors. In Genoa the dissatisfaction expressed itself in disorder, requiring to be quelled by arms, which was done with equal promptness and prudence. During this trying time the sovereign showed fine tact, feeling as averse as his subjects possibly could to the peace imposed, and therefore sympathizing with them, yet on the other hand insisting firmly on submission to the inevitable. Then and afterward he was given to understand by Austria that if he would rule absolutely, his realm would be enlarged and other things would be done in his favor, but such offers could only fill with indignation the honest king who had sworn to observe the constitution.

That article of the Statuto which guaranteed religious toleration was now further strengthened by an enactment of Parliament to the effect that every citizen not convicted of crime should be eligible to. any civil, legal, or military office. Thus was Piedmont in the matter of religious liberty ahead of England, the latter country at that time requiring a person elected to Parliament to swear on the faith of a Christian before taking his seat, so that certain ones who could not conscientiously do _ this were refused membership in spite of their election. Another reform was the abolishing of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases, thus placing ecclesiastics on the same footing as other citizens. This law aroused the hostility of the papal authorities to such a degree that when, soon after, Santa Rosa, the minister of commerce, died, he was refused the sacrament and absolution, a revenge truly diabolical, since it meant, from the papal point of view, nothing less than consigning him to perdition.

There now came to the front the ablest man modern Italy has produced as well as the most important factor in accomplishing her freedom and unity, Count Camillo Cavour. He was born August 10, 1810, and was by his father destined and educated for military life, from which, however, he turned away when free. He made several journeys to England and was a great admirer of English institutions and was equally removed in his convictions from a fixed conservatism and radicalism. In youth when suffering some penalty for his liberal opinions, he predicted: ‘‘I shall make my way, and in my dreams I see myself already minister of Italy.’’ As editor and as member of Parliament, he powerfully supported the cause of constitutional reform. Some natural disadvantages there were to contend with, for nct only was he ungainly and homely in person, but his voice was harsh and grating, and his speech, in Italian, slow and hesitating. But over these he triumphed by his strong intellect, sound sense, keen dialectics, moral courage, and indomitable will. It is interesting in reading the parliamentary proceedings to observe how be was baited by men whose names are preserved now only from their opposition to him, as the fly in the amber. He was quick at repartee. When taunted by one of the deputies with his devotion to England and English institutions, calling him ‘‘Milord Camillo,’’ he replied promptly, ‘‘ The taunt comes from one whose name has never reached England.’’ He never married, though he

THE MAKING OF ITALY Zp had pleasant friendships and liked to converse and correspond with clever, cultured women. He loved the country and country life, took great interest in his farm, introducing and recommending to his neighbors the most improved agricultural methods and machinery ; thus he had, as suggested by the author of ‘‘ Rab and his Friends,”’ an extra line of rails on which to shunt his mind now and then and so rest it. But more and more public affairs engrossed him, and ultimately the palace of the ministry became his home.

When he succeeded Santa Rosa, Victor Emmanuel, who knew men, said with a smile to Massimo d’ Azeglio, then president of the Cabinet, ‘‘ Look out what you are doing ; Cavour will soon be master of you all.’’ In fact, soon after, indirectly because an agreement could not be had with the pope on the laws concerning civil and ecclesiastical relations, despite every effort, Massimo D’Azeglio resigned, and both Count Balbo and M. de Revel failing to form a ministry, Cavour became Prime Minister at the head of a strong and liberal government. He reformed the finances of the country in view of the heavy war debt, and carried out practically his free trade principles even when, as in the case of France, his course was not reciprocated. He promoted intercommunication by railways and common roads, projecting and promoting the Mont Cenis tunnel. Ecclesiastical reforms were continued by the establishment of civil marriage and the partial abolition of mendicant orders. But misunderstood and hated as he was by the clericals, he was the farthest removed from an atheist, and secured from a priest, who was his personal friend, the promise to administer the sacrament to him in his last - hours, being a Catholic as well as a Liberal, which involved no contradiction whatever according to his famous saying, ‘‘ A free Church in a free State.”’

Among the books which had been written concerning the condition of Italy and the remedies therefor, was one by Cesar Balbo, entitled ‘‘ Hopes ’’ ; but because it took a true, if somewhat dark, view of the situation, it was by some nicknamed “ Resignation,’’ and by others, “Despair.’’ It contained, however, one remarkable prevision, that relief would come from movements in Europe and especially in Eastern Europe. Cavour had determined to plead before Europe the cause of Italy, and he now saw in the Crimean War, then imminent, his opportunity. Believing in the righteousness of the cause espoused by the Western Powers, he proposed to send troops in their aid, to which Victor Emmanuel at once consented, saying that if he could not go himself, he would send his brother. Sundry difficulties were to be surmounted, but at length Piedmont was admitted as an equal ally of England and France, and eighteen thousand men, under General La Marmora, were sent to the seat of war, who by the part they played and the qualities they showed won the admiration of friend and foe. No doubt many of them felt that though so far away, they were fighting for Italy.

In the meantime, the brave Piedmontese king was sorely afflicted in his own house, losing in a single month his mother, his wife, and his only brother, that brother the duke of Genoa, whom he had destined to head the Piedmontese troops in the Crimea; and added to all was the insistence of the priests that these bereavements were so many judgments from God for his treatment of the papacy, an insistence possibly not unsupported by his own fears; but whatever his sufferings, he did not flinch in his duty and declined, when offered, the resignation of Cavour.

After an armistice between the contending powers, a congress was held in Paris to settle the terms of peace. Count Cavour and the Marquis Villamarina represented Piedmont. Cavour communicated privately to the various envoys his views concerning Italy, and after the treaty of peace was signed (March 30, 1856), the case of Italy was considered. Cavour was heard, and the official representatives of the powers of Europe, save Austria’s envoy, who declined to discuss the subject, strongly condemned the state of things in Italy as abnormal, wrong, dangerous. Thus did Cavour win a great diplomatic victory for Italy. It was an incidental advantage of his policy that Russia, hitherto ignoring and apparently despising Piedmont, now became cordial. But, as hitherto, yet more than ever, Cavour was now between two fires at home, and had to reckon both with the revolutionary and with the reactionary parties. Consummate skill and tact gained him here also substantial success, while he conducted so ably negotiations with foreign powers as to call forth from Prince Metternich, who had himself been thought a prince in diplomacy, the high but deserved tribute: ‘‘ Diplomacy is passing away ; there is now only one diplomatist in Europe, and unfortunately he is against us, M. de Cavour.”’

There was soon fresh occasion for both diplomacy and statesmanship. The attempt* of Orsini, an Italian who had suffered in Austrian prisons, to assassinate Louis Napoleon, who had lately by a coup d’état become emperor and absolute monarch of France, naturally produced great excitement among Continental rulers, and it was sought to exercise a pressure upon Piedmont. The king sent by the hands of one of his generals a kind yet very dignified letter to Louis Napoleon in which, after expressing sympathy, he let it be understood, as on another occasion, that he was master in his own house and would not suffer dictation. At the suggestion of Cavour, a law was passed visiting with further penalties those conspiring against foreign sovereigns, and he took occasion, while protesting against Italian despotism, to show how alien were political assassinations to the genius and spirit of Piedmont. He and his king really knew but two ways of attaining their ends, peaceful diplomacy and open war. What appeared so full of danger to Italy, having been thus wisely met, seemed to issue for her good; at any rate, there was soon a private meeting” at Piombiéres between Count Cavour and the French emperor, in which the latter pledged France as an ally against Austria. A few months later, the tie between France and Piedmont was further strengthened by the marriage of the Princess Clotilda, eldest daughter of Victor Emmanuel, to Prince Napoleon, cousin of the emperor.

The year 1859 brought great events. In opening Parliament Victor Emmanuel used these significant words: ‘“ While | respect treaties, | am not insensible to the cry of pain which from so many parts of Italy is raised toward me.’’ His address was received by the two chambers with enthusiastic cries of ‘‘Long live the king,’’? and the exiles who had found a refuge in Turin wept for joy, already acclaiming him as their king. Austria precipitated the inevitable war by demanding that Piedmont within three days agree to disarmament. Quite other than disarming, preparations for war were pressed forward; the flower of Italian youth from all parts hastened to Piedmont, while Garibaldi, in full accord with the government, formed a corps of five thousand men, known as ‘‘ Hunters of the Alps.’’ The campaign was sharp but short, the first blow being struck at Montebello on May 20, and the last on June 24, and it included, besides several minor but not unimportant engagements, three great battles, in all of which the allies were victorious. At Magenta the Austrians lost twenty thousand men. The battles of Solferino and San Martino were fought on the same day, the last of the campaign, the emperor leading the French at Solferino, while Victor Emmanuel at the head of his troops assailed the heights of San Martino and routed the enemy with the bayonet. The Austrians lost that day twenty-five thousand men besides nine thousand prisoners.*

1]t was on this fateful day that the following incident occurred: A soldier in the Austrian ranks, mortally wounded, having appealed to his slayer to hear him, stated that he was a Venetian and had been forced into the enemy’s ranks, but that he had never fired a shot against his countrymen, which the condition of his musket confirmed, that he rejoiced at least to die by Italian hands since he could not die for Italy, and begged to be stripped of the hated uniform, and buried with the Italian dead. Mrs. Browning wrote on the incident this poem:

‘In the ranks of the Austrian you found him; He died with his face to you all: Yet bury him here where around him, You honor your bravest that fall.

“Venetian, fair-featured, and slender, He lies shot to death in his youth, With a smile on his lips over-tender

For any mere soldier’s dead mouth.

‘*No stranger, and yet nota traitor!

Though alien the cloth on his breast, Underneath it how seldom a greater Young heart has a shot sent to rest!

Suddenly it was known that the Emperor Louis Napoleon, having privately met the Emperor of Austria at Villafranca (moved by the terrible scene of Solferino, it is said), had on the twelfth of July agreed on the preliminaries of peace which later was concluded. The Italians, including the Piedmontese, were bitterly disappointed. Cavour represented the general feeling when he indignantly protested against the action of Napoleon and urged Victor Emmanuel to repudiate it. But the king saw that he had no choice, and accepted the resignation of his great minister, who this time was less wise than

~

‘*By your enemy tortured and goaded To march with them, stand in their file, His musket (see!) never was loaded— He facing your guns with that smile.

‘*As orphans yearn on their mothers, He yearned to your patriot bands— ‘Let me die for one Italy, brothers, If not in your ranks, by your hands.

‘““* Aim straightly, fire steadily ; spare me A ball in the body, which may Deliver my heart here and tear me This badge of the Austrian away.’

**So thought he, so died he this morning. ' What then? Many others have died.

Aye, but easy for men to die scorning The death stroke, who fought side by side;

**One tricolor floating above them ; Struck down ’mid triumphant acclaims Of an Italy rescued to love them; And brazen the brass with their names.

‘But he without witness or honor, Mixed, shared in his country’s regard, With the tyrants who march in upon her— Died faithful and passive: ’twas hard.

‘“°?Twas sublime. Ina cruel restriction Cut off from the guerdon of sons,

With most filial obedience, conviction,

His soul kissed the lips of her guns.

‘* That moves you? Nay, grudge not to show it, While digging a grave for him here.

The others who died, says our poet, Have glory; let him have a tear.”

usual and less wise than the king. But if all that had been hoped for was not gained, much certainly was ‘gained: Lombardy at once, a little later and indirectly, Parma, Modena, Bologna, and Tuscany becoming an integral part of the kingdom of Piedmont in accordance with the popular will expressed by vote. Alas, that the queen of the Adriatic must yet for a season wear the fetters of Austria! In every Venetian home there was mourning for the death of near kindred. Not only had the emperor of France seemed somewhat faithless in the matter of peace, but he showed a certain unwillingness for Central Italy to enjoy the fruits of victory ; perhaps, indeed, it would not have done so but for the skill of Cavour, who in the meantime, clearly in obedience to public sentiment, had again become prime minister. | C

When on the second of April, 1860, parliament met in Turin, it was no more Piedmontese or Sardinian, but an Italian parliament, representing a population of eleven millions. Seeing Piedmont thus increased, the French emperor demanded for equipoise, and as compensation for his aid, the provinces of Savoy and Nice. The sacrifice was made on the condition, afterward fulfilled, that the peoples of these provinces should agree to the arrangement. It was bitter to Victor Emmanuel to surrender the cradle of his race and Garibaldi was indignant with Cavour at the abandonment of Nice; but it is a great thing to know both when to hold and when to let go, and the great statesman was a master at both. He and the king, despite violent protests on the part of a few, were amply sustained in the measure by a large majority of parliament. On the whole, the gain to Italy had been great, and events justified the shrewd prevision of Guizot: ‘‘There are two men upon whom the eyes of Europe are fixed, the Emperor Napoleon and M. de Cavour. The game is being played. I back M. de Cavour.”’

Moved by the success in Northern Italy, the Sicilians, ever bearing badly a foreign yoke, made a movement toward freedom, which it was vainly sought to suffocate in blood. Provisional governments were formed in various places, but the Bourbons had an army of fifty thousand soldiers on the ground and her warships girdled the island to prevent help from without. But help anda great deliverer were soon to come.

At the suggestion, it is stated, of Francesco Crispi, Garibaldi with one thousand men,' on the fifth of May, 1860, sailed from Quarto near Genoa, in two ships named respectively ‘‘ Lombardy ”’ and ‘‘ Piedmont,’’ and on the twelfth of the same month landed at Marsala.

1The Sardinian government not only winked at the expedition of ‘‘The Thousand,’’ but provided indirectly for their protection.

By rapid marches the Stonewall Jackson of Italy beat the Bourbon troops in detail. The Neapolitan king, alarmed, offered a constitution and confederacy with Piedmont. But it was too late, his subjects by painful experiences having learned the worthlessness of a Bourbon’s word, and Garibaldi was marching on Naples. Francis II. did not wait to meet him, but fled with his court to the fortresses of Capua and Gaeta, so that Garibaldi entered Naples in triumph, yet not without danger, for there were troops ready to fire on him; but as he approached them in his carriage, he ordered, ‘‘ Drive slower, slower, slower still,’’ and then stood up in the carriage, so that the opposing soldiers were won and changing their minds did not fire, but saluted instead. The people of Naples loved and revered him and walking by his lodging after he had retired, would tread lightly and say with hushed voices: ‘‘// Dittatore dorme’’ (The Dictator is sleeping).

In the meantime the Marches and Umbria appealed to Victor Emmanuel, who having interceded with the pope for them, but in vain, ordered his army to enter these States, which was promptly done, the pontifical troops being easily routed. The king of Italy had tried to dissuade Garibaldi from trying to free the two Sicilies, lest foreign jealousy be aroused, but Garibaldi had felt that the work must be done and consequences looked to later. Victor Emmanuel was now assuming the same responsibility, and, in fact, Russia, Prussia, and Austria protested against his action, and Louis Napoleon blamed it, while the pope hurled his excommunications upon all who had entered his territory. On the other hand, England fully approved of the king’s course, and providentially the disapproving powers had reasons for not doing more than protest.

‘“‘On the second of October, 1860, Cavour asked parliament for full power to annex the new provinces of Central and Southern Italy, if they desired it.’’ This was voted almost unanimously, and at Cavour’s request the king put himself at the head of his army now about to effect a junction with Garibaldi. Francis II., wishing to strike one more blow for his crown, aided from the fortress of Capua, attacked the volunteer troops and made a brave fight on the Volturno, during the first and second of October, but was beaten, and knowing that he could not stand against the united armies, returned to Gaeta with the bulk of his troops, leaving four thousand in Capua. On the first day of the battle, the Garibaldians suffered the loss in killed and wounded of one-tenth of their number. This battle on the river Volturno was the ereatest and bloodiest of their many fights for the cause of freedom.

On the twenty-sixth of October, near Teano, Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel met. The former, lifting his cap, cried ‘‘ Hail to the King of Italy.’’ The king replied, ‘“ Thanks,” stadding, ‘SHow. are, “you, = Garibaldi s ‘OWell, andayour majesty? <2 “Veryawell.. -lnessoldiers of both leaders shouted ‘‘Long live the king.” Garibaldi now claimed the honor of assaulting Capua, but Victor Emmanuel said, ‘‘ No, your troops are worn, mine are fresh,’’ and so it was to the royal army that the fortress capitulated on the second of November. On the seventh the king of Italy entered Naples, where he was welcomed with exuberant joy. Equally enthusiastic was his reception in Palermo. At first, Garibaldi wished to delay for two years the union of Naples and Sicily with the rest of Italy, remaining himself the dictator of these provinces which his prowess had liberated. No doubt his motive was noble, but the plan was not wise, and he yielded to the king’s judgment in the matter. He also made a request which one cannot think of without regret, that Victor Emmanuel should dismiss Cavour and the rest of the cabinet—a request to which, of course, a constitutional king could not listen for a moment. Let us rather think how this son of the people having won a kingdom laid it at the feet of Italy’s sovereign, and declining a dukedom and the collar of the Annunziata, which makes one cousin to the king, retired impoverished to his island till again needed.

Gaeta, a sort of Gibraltar, and the citadels of Messina and of Civitella del Tronto remained to be taken. This effected, every province save Rome and Venice was redeemed, and by popular vote was become a part of the kingdom of Victor Emmanuel. It was a time of jubilee when on the eighteenth of February, 1861, a new parliament met, and the representatives and senators of these provinces took their seats. Though there was a new ministry, Cavour was still at its head. There was need of him, for the new state of things brought many new and important problems requiring to be solved, evils to be dealt with, and difficulties, chiefly financial, to be met and overcome. He proposed to accomplish everything through constitutional liberty, and in a constitutional liberal way.