After the Rome of the Emperors, after the Rome of the Popes, will come the Rome of the People.  The Rome of the People is arisen; do not salute with applauses, but let us rejoice together!  I cannot promise anything for myself, except concurrence in all you shall do for the good of Rome, of Italy, of mankind.  Perhaps we shall have to pass through great crises; perhaps we shall have to fight a sacred battle against the only enemy that threatens us,—­Austria.  We will fight it, and we will conquer.  I hope, please God, that foreigners may not be able to say any more that which so many of them repeat to-day, speaking of our affairs,—­that the light which, comes from Rome is only an ignis fatuus wandering among the tombs.  The world shall see that it is a starry light, eternal, pure, and resplendent as those we look up to in the heavens!”

On a later day he spoke more fully of the difficulties that threaten at home the young republic, and said:—­

“Let us not hear of Right, of Left, of Centre; these terms express the three powers in a constitutional monarchy; for us they have no meaning; the only divisions for us are of Republicans or non-Republicans,—­or of sincere men and temporizing men.  Let us not hear so much of the Republicans of to-day and of yesterday; I am a Republican of twenty years’ standing.  Entertaining such hopes for Italy, when many excellent, many sincere men held them as Utopian, shall I denounce these men because they are now convinced of their practicability?”

This last I quote from memory.  In hearing the gentle tone of remonstrance with those of more petty mind, or influenced by the passions of the partisan, I was forcibly reminded of the parable by Jesus, of the vineyard and the discontent of the laborers that those who came at the eleventh hour “received also a penny.”  Mazzini also is content that all should fare alike as brethren, if only they will come into the vineyard.  He is not an orator, but the simple conversational tone of his address is in refreshing contrast with the boyish rhetoric and academic swell common to Italian speakers in the present unfledged state.  As they have freer use of the power of debate, they will become more simple and manly.  The speech of Mazzini is laden with thought,—­it goes straight to the mark by the shortest path, and moves without effort, from the irresistible impression of deep conviction and fidelity in the speaker.  Mazzini is a man of genius, an elevated thinker; but the most powerful and first impression from his presence must always be of the religion of his soul, of his virtue, both in the modern and antique sense of that word.

If clearness of right, if energy, if indefatigable perseverance, can steer the ship through this dangerous pass, it will be done.  He said, “We will conquer”; whether Rome will, this time, is not to me certain, but such men as Mazzini conquer always,—­conquer in defeat.  Yet Heaven grant that no more blood, no more corruption of priestly government, be for Italy.  It could only be for once more, for the strength, of her present impulse would not fail to triumph at last; but even one more trial seems too intolerably much, when I think of the holocaust of the broken hearts, baffled lives, that must attend it.