CHAPTER LVIII. ROME
Ok the second of December, the despot of the Seine, the false Emperor,the enemy of all liberty, and the great ally of all tyrants, afterseventeen years of unrighteous rule, pretended, with the same hypocrisywith which he kept her enslaved, to liberate the Niobe of nations, theold metropolis of the world--the ruler, the martyr, the glory of theearth.
He carried on the work of Divine vengeance. Attila, at the head of hisferocious tribes, had conquered Rome, destroyed her, and exterminatedher people. Was not this God's justice?
"Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed!"
The ancient Romans ruled the world by subjugating the remotest nations,pillaging and breaking them down. Slavery, misery, and ruin, theirministers, compelled the nations of the earth to submit to theirtyrants.
The successor of the Attilas, not less a robber than they, threwhimself on an easy prey, and his false heart beat with joy when heclutched the victim. Yet even this action was but a caricature of theactions of the Attilas who have punished Rome. To accomplish greatdeeds, even of the evil sort, there must be great hearts, and he has aheart both little and cowardly. In all he does, we can see he intends toimitate his uncle; but the want of genius and energy makes the attempta failure. Attila conquered, and made a pile of ruins of the proudvictress-city. The modern Attila, in a Jesuit guise, did not destroy,did not ruin, because he considered the prey as his own property.
Afterwards, enfeebled by advancing years and luxury, his throne shakento its foundation, he renewed his sinister undertakings in America,where he attempted to deal a death-blow to the sanctuary of the world'sliberty--the great Republic--by building an Austrian empire at hergates.
And the Italian Government has accepted the bidding of the falseEmperor, acting as the _sbirro_ of the Vatican, to hinder the Romansfrom liberating themselves, obliging them to submit to the government ofthe Holy Office, to deny to Italy her capital, though proclaimed by herparliament.
We firmly believe that a more cowardly Government than the Italian cannot be found in ancient or modern history. It must be accepted as thefate of humanity to find ever side by side with so much good so muchevil, humiliation, and wickedness. We say side by side, because it cannot be denied that the unity of Italy is a marvel of good accomplished,in spite of all the efforts made by rulers and selfish factions to holdback this unfortunate country, by impoverishing and perverting it, andby every means of depredation and deception.
But what a Government! Can, indeed, this agency of corruption be calleda Government? And the unhappy people! what are they? Half of them boughtover to hold the other half in bondage and in misery.
Hail, brave Mexicans! We envy your valor and constancy in freeing yourland from the mercenaries of despotism! Accept, gallant descendants ofColumbus, from your Italian brethren, congratulations on your redeemedliberty! On you was to be imposed a like tyranny, and you swept it away,as a noble and free river sweeps away impurity.
We alone--talkative, presumptuous, vain, boasting of glory, liberty,greatness--are yet enchained!--blindfolded, freeing ourselves withwords, but unfit to accomplish by deeds that political reconstructionwhich alone would give us the right to sit down beside the other freenations. Trembling before the despotism of an unrighteous foreigntyrant, we dare not, for fear of him, walk about in our own homes, tellthe world we are our own masters, or tear from our wrists the fetterswhich he has fixed there; and, more humiliating and degrading still,he has left the prey, which the indignation of the world forbade hisappropriating, and has said, "Keep her, cowards; become cut-throats inmy stead; but beware of meddling with my will!"
Oh, Rome! Thou who art truly "the only one!" Rome the eternal! Onceabove all human greatness! And now--now, how degraded! Thy resurrectionmust yet be a catastrophe, and a revolution, to shake the rest of theworld!
Rule of the Monk; Or, Rome in the Nineteenth Century Page 59
