WHAT IS THE HOUR ON THE WORLD'S CLOCK. cannot prevent the spread of enlightenment. They may try; but they will try in vain. Men will inquire; and they cannot inquire without ascertainingthey cannot ascertain without giving to the world the fruits of their labours. Consequently human progress is inevitable. exerts all his powers, and opens all his | human improvement; now they are imcapabilities of enjoyment, the other re- potent. Popes, cardinals, and emperors mains idle, and permits all his energies to sleep undeveloped. Which of these men really lives the most during the twenty-four hours? Most certainly the active man. Consequently life is not to be measured and estimated by the number of meals a man eats, or the number of motions his heart makes, but by the number of thoughts, feelings, and enjoyments, thought, felt, and realized. Some men exist sixty or seventy years, and then pass into their graves without scarcely having tasted real life. The birth-day, or the first day of a new year, to a man who values time by turning it to the best account, is looked upon with more concern than by another who passes through life with comparative indifference to his nature and his fate. The first day of the second half of a century, even if it were during the monotonous middle ages, would be hailed with inordinate feeling and delight. Well then, may the first day of the second half of the nineteenth century inspire unusual emotions and awake unusual reflections. Wonderful as has been discoverism; startling as have been the events, and rapid as has been the progress during the last half a century, it is quite likely that the coming half a century will be more distinguished than the past. The present has all the past to stand upon. The accumulated treasures of ages are at our feet. We possess in our libraries, in our ships, docks, railways, cities, electric telegraphs, in our civil institutions and social advantages, the products of the thought, ingenuity, and gain of our forefathers; but what is gained is but little compared to what hereafter will be won. There are more inventions to be made; the lamp of discovery has to illuminate many a chamber of nature that now remains dark. The daring genius of man has to push its way over many an untrodden portion of the universe; nature is still a mystery. The wisest know but little of her hidden secrets. But what an immeasurable stride has been made during the last fifty years. Never were any other fifty years characterised by so many brilliant exploits in the realms of science. Never did the Goddess of Progress put so many garlands of triumph on her brow in so short a period of time. Even the most hopeful and enthusiastic, fifty years ago, would have smiled with incredulity if one half that has taken place had been then prophesied to him. And what will be revealed during the, coming fifty years even the poet dare not imagine. Humanity at the present moment is like a man on a stream who cannot stand still. It is carried irresistibly onward by the might of its own impulses, efforts, and aspirations. The stream had its origin in God; it flows on, increasing in strength and majesty over an improving earth; and it can only lose itself in that universal sea, whose centre is the bosom of Eighteen hundred and fifty-one is ushered into being under the most favourable auspices. Well may the hopes of humanity at the present moment be buoyant. The principal peoples of the world are just now on fair vantage ground. They are reaping the rewards of the labours and struggles of scores of centuries. Every age and nation that has existed pours its treasures of thought and experience into the lap of the present. How admirably arranged for the happiness of man is the constitution of the universe! one of its laws is that man shall progress. Truths once given to the world never depart from it. Human progression is as necessary as the motion of the earth around the sun. I cannot forget that which I committed to my memory yesterday. I cannot open my eyes in a beautiful world without being instructed and charmed. I cannot prevent new thoughts being given to the world; I cannot destroy them when once given. Neither can any other man, or any combination of men. Kings and priests were at one time potent in resisting | God, from which it sprang. The first is the conclusion of the letter which he addressed to Messrs. de Tocqueville and de Falloux, ministers of France, in August, 1849, in reply to the falsehoods of the French Government regarding the disgraceful expedition to "You are ministers of France, gentlemen; I am only an exile. You have power, gold, armies, and multitudes of men dependent on your nod. I have only consolation in a few affections, and in this breath of heaven which speaks to me from the Alps of my country, and of which you, inexorable in persecution, as are all those who fear, may yet deprive me. Yet I would not exchange my fate with yours. I bear with me in exile the calm inspired by a pure conscience. I can fearlessly raise my eyes to those of other men without the dread of meeting any one who can say to me,' You have deliberately lied.' I have combated, and will combat again-without pause as without fear, wherever I may be, the wicked oppressors of my country-falsehood, in whatever shape she may clothe herself, and the powers which, like yours, rely upon maintaining or reinstating the reign of privilege upon corruption, upon blind force, and upon the negation of the progress of the peoples. But I have fought with loyal arms; never have I sullied myself by calumny, or degraded myself by using the word assassin against one unknown to me, and who was, perhaps, better than myself. THE desire to learn as much as we can of the details of the personal history of great men is universal, and is by no means always to be stigmatised as vulgar curiosity. In proportion as men who stand prominently forward on the platform of the world are great-Rome. It is as follows:not only by power of intellect, correctness of judgment, practical tact, and force of will, but also by elevation of sentiment, largeness of heart, and beauty of character-so do they gain more and more power and authority, as teachers and as examples, by being more completely and more intimately known; and if we turn to the stories of those who have most powerfully moved the world, we shall, perhaps, find that their present hold over us depends even more upon such personal and individual traits of character as we are acquainted with, than upon anything they have done in a public or representative manner. It is for reasons such as these that we have undertaken to say something to the readers of the Public Good of the man Joseph Mazzini, and to add something to, and probably also somewhat to correct the idea they may have already formed of the indefatigable conspirator, the political philosopher, the literary critic, the Triumvir, and the orator. On any other ground we should feel that we had no right to make public that which is in its nature private, and which the person most nearly concerned in it would always leave so. It is a very rare thing for Mazzini either to write or to speak of himself: he never does so except for a high public purpose, or in the restricted circle of his most intimate friends; and nothing could be more Let us mingle pity with our detestaabsolutely opposed to his whole nature tion for the men whose unprincipled than that minutely developed self-display conduct has called down upon them words by which some other illustrious men like these: we cannot believe but that, have made confidants of the whole read-case-hardened diplomatists as they are, ing public, becoming avowedly the heroes of their own tale. We remember only two passages in the whole of Mazzini's writings in which he refers to his own personal history, and they are both so beautiful that our readers will thank us for quoting them in illustration of ar meaning. "God save you, gentlemen, from dying in exile, because you have no such consciousness with which to console yourselves." their hearts must have sunk within them when they first read this noble condemnation, and they must have felt that their vanquished enemy was, in fact, their judge, and, in comparison with theirs, was occupying an enviable position. The other passage to which we alluded, is an Article "On the Encyclica of Pope JOSEPH MAZZINI. Pius IX. Thoughts addressed to the Priests of Italy." In the course of which he says, "He who addresses you in the name of his brothers can say to you: Examine my life; you will not be able to find therein a single act which contradicts the faith I inculcate: examine all that I have written during the last twenty years; you will not be able to find therein a single line breathing irreligion or materialism. As the interpreter of many of my brethren, I declared, from the time that my mind opened to the Italian thought, that a separation had long existed between the religious and the political idea, between the Church and humanity; that this separation was fatal; that without a faith no good thing was possible, neither a society of brethren, nor a true and peaceful liberty, nor a country, nor any efficacious transformation of the corrupt element in which we live; that it was necessary, at every cost, to reunite earth to heaven, our earthly life to the conception of eternal life, man to God, his father and teacher. And now I add, that the hour is at hand; that the time is ripe; that materialism is conquered; that the want of religious life is universally felt; and that, through you alone, through your obstinacy in upholding a falling edifice, in supporting the Church, though adverse to the inevitable progress of humanity, men are living in doubt, religion is exiled from their souls, and, in spite of all we can do, times of discord and works of blood are being prepared, for which you will be responsible before God and men." Happy would it be for other countries besides Italy, and for other religious systems besides that of Rome, if such thoughts as these could find their way deep into the hearts of their priestly supporters. 5 simple; in one word, so human as heso calculated to confirm the faith that man is indeed the son of God, and created in His image. To understand the nature of his writings, and their teachings, and to appreciate their value, an outline of his life is necessary; and, in so far as it is necessary, it is as follows: He was born at Genoa in the year 1809. His father, who died in 1848, previous to the breaking out of the revoÎution at Milan, was a physician of some eminence and a medical professor in the University of Genoa. He was the only son, but he had two sisters, one of whom is still living with his mother at Genoa. His father intended him to follow the profession of the law, and he studied for that purpose at the University. He was not long, however, before he conceived a strong aversion to that subject, and every hour of study that was at his own command he devoted to more genial pursuits, and thus early acquired an extensive and accurate acquaintance with the philosophy, history, and literature, not only of his own country, but also of France, Germany, and England. Before he was one-and-twenty he had published, in several periodicals, articles professedly of a literary and critical nature, which were so remarkable for vigour, and originality of thought, and eloquence of language, and which also breathed so much the spirit of liberty and independence, that they attracted a very general notoriety, and one that was full of danger to their author in a country where loyalty and truth were incompatible virtues. At that time the old Italian Carbonazium was in full force; and Mazzini, in common with almost every young Italian who possessed any patriotic feelings, joined its ranks. This very remarkable conspiracy has been described and judged by Mazzini, in a paper which he con It is, then, in the hope of adding something to his influence over our countrymen and countrywomen, and thus per-tributed to the "People's Journal." in haps contributing towards the sound cause of human emancipation and education, to which his life is devoted, that we are anxious to say what we know of Mazzini, and to endeavour to justify our estimation of him as the greatest and best of living men. For such we deem him. We have known no other man so pure, so powerful, so good, and withal so 1847, to which we shall have occasion hereafter to refer; at present it is only necessary to state, that he quickly perceived that it was, and ever must remain, powerless to regenerate Italy; inasmuch as its only common bond was hatred of the systems of tyranny in actual power from one end of the Peninsula to the other; and its only practical rule was one of blind obedience to whatever the present time increasing in power commands were issued by its invisible and in glory, Mazzini remaining its and unknown leaders. It was powerful, representative, its expounder, and its so long as it was only a conspiracy; it was leader. Its motto was visible in 1848. well-calculated to produce a violent and on the banners of the Lombard volunsuccessful insurrection; but, from the teers, whose bravery and constancy moment of its success, it must become amidst the most tremendous trials, and powerless. It could not consolidate a under the cruelest neglect and even revolution; it was utterly unfitted to treachery, has alone rescued the Lombard educate or to organize a people, and for name from the contempt and condem the simple reason, that it possessed no nation to which the weakness, folly, and common bond of principles; it had no bad faith of her nobles, who found the creed, no faith, no banner, no watchword: provisional government of Milan, and Mazzini therefore speedily ceased to the incapacity and want of determination have any active connexion with it. of Charles Albert and his courtly generals who led the brave Piedmontese army, would otherwise have doomed it. The same faith upheld, and the same banner fioated over the brave Venetians, during the trials of their long siege, which proved that they could steadily support, as well as daringly confront, the horrors of war, and which showed to Europe that if in general the people of Venice are now one of the most degraded of populations, it is not because they are in themselves incapable of being anything better. But even beyond their exemplifications of what the Italians are capable of when treated as free men, and called upon to show themselves Before he left College, however, he took part in a popular emeute, which was speedily suppressed, and, so far as he was concerned, resulted only in an imprisonment of a few days. It is, however, interesting as having been the first open declaration of that war to the foreign oppressors of his country, which he has never since ceased to urge, and which he has, by his teachings, turned into a means of moral and spiritual regeneration, as well as of political emancipation for his countrymen. Perceiving the defects of Carbonarism, Mazzini determined to found a new National Association,-secret in its nature, of course, for its object was free-worthy of their own faith, was the dedom in an enslaved country,-the members of which should be united by a common devotion to a religious and political creed, which should assert truth, as well as deny falsehood; which should be destructive only in order to become constructive, and whose laws should derive their sanction, not from the mere will of its own executive, but from the sphere of principles, raising those whom they controlled into the character of soldiers of order, at the same time that they were conspirators for liberty, looking for support and consolation, not in dreams of vengeance and material well-being, but in their devotion to duty, as children of God working out His will. He named this new association "La Giovine Italia ;" "Young Italy." Its faith was that of democracy: its motto "Dio e Popolo," "God and the People.' It met the wants of the country, and quickly gathered around itself all that was best, bravest, and noblest of the Italian people, and it has gone on up to fence of Rome, by a people who had been demoralised by centuries of priestly misrule, with their fortifications in a state of dilapidation, yet extending over a space that required a force of 50,000 at least, properly to garrison it, having only 10,000, and those inadequately supplied with the materials of war, yet for three months keeping at bay an army of 30.000 picked French troops, who had on their side all the chances of men of bad faith dealing with men of good faith, but who after their first repulse never dared again to meet their victims in close fight, but confined themselves to engineering and artillery operations; different portions of the Roman territory also being at the same time occupied by three other foreign armies. It is only the events of 1848-9 that have established beyond dispute the soundness of judgment displayed by Mazzini in his organization of Young Italy; but those who knew him, and something also of the materials he had to deal with, did not need this brilliant though ders will be much interested in the melancholy vindication; it is, however, following extract from a letter, written a a very striking proof of his extraordinary genius, that the scheme which then resulted in these European events, was conceived and realised in its foundation by him thirty years ago, when he was a youth at college. It is not always that the genius and zeal which can win the admiration of a people are supported by the fortitude that is required to justify their lasting confidence. It was not long before Mazzini was put to the test. In 1830 he was arrested on suspicion of being connected with the Carbonari, by the orders of Charles Albert, who as crown prince had himself been the leader of the Carbonari. He was examined by the authorities at Genoa, who were however unable to prove anything against him; they therefore applied for orders to Turin, and by the king's command, instead of being set at liberty, Mazzini was transferred to the fortress of Savona, where he was confined for six months, without being brought to trial, or having any further accusation brought against him. At the end of that time, and still without even the form of a trial, he was condemned to perpetual banishment, but previous to his leaving his country, he was allowed as a favour to have an interview of three hours with his mother. From that day he has lived an exile and a wanderer on the face of the earth; he has never dwelt in the same house with any member of his family; he possessed no country, until the Romans taking advantage of their brief period of freedom, made him a Roman citizen, honouring themselves in honouring him. That sentence of banishment stamped him as a patriot; and while it condemned him to a life of labours and sufferings, that have left upon him their ineffaceable impressions, yet, we may be sure it tended to raise and confirm his devotedness and his faith, and did something to mature those powers and that character which now, while they command our admiring homage, win at the same time our reverence and our love. At this point of his career, and before we follow him into his exile, and see the effect of the proceedings which were intended to render him powerless, our rea few weeks ago, by a friend who has been lately visiting Madame Mazzini. "I went to her the day of my arrival, my impatience would not keep cool. He had so often described to me the place, that, though you know it is a little difficult to find, I went straight to it as if I had known it all my life. I need not tell you what a beautiful old woman she is, nor how like her son; but, as you did not, I believe, see very much of her, I fancy you can hardly know how superior she is intellectually, and how strong and noble, as well as tender in character. After I have sat with her, as I sometimes do for long hours, listening to her description of her most unhappy life, and all her trials so nobly and quietly borne, when I see how she has been sustained through sorrows that most women must have sunk under, by her love and admiration for him, her perfect belief in his mission, and her strong religious faith in the future, of her country, I feel for her a veneration equalling what I feel for him, of whom she is indeed the worthy mother. It is beautiful to watch the changes in her very expressive face, as she talks of his duties and his country, and looks at one with an earnestness almost amounting to sternness, or changes to talk with such tenderness of his boyhood, of his playfu.ness, and affection, and attachment to home, and to her; of how he was adored by all who knew him, and of his gentleness and tenderness of disposition; of how she never heard a word of unkindness from him to any human being. 'He seemed,' she said yesterday, 'so entirely made for love and honour, that sometimes, even now, I cannot believe he has gone from me, and become the hero I know him to be; and I can almost expect to see him come in, as he used in the morning, to bring me flowers, or to sing to me of an evening alone, when all the other young men of his age were running about the town, playing billiards, going to cafés or theatres.' His sister has been to me to-day, and has been talking in the same strain; she says she first saw his love of justice and equality manifest itself when quite a boy, by the manner in which he used to endeavour always |