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, after
seventeen years of unrighteous rule, pretended, with the same hypocrisy
with which he kept her enslaved, to liberate the Niobe of nations, the
old metropolis of the world--the ruler, the martyr, the glory of the
earth.
He carried on the work of Divine vengeance. Attila, at the head of his
ferocious tribes, had conquered Rome, destroyed her, and exterminated
her 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, their
ministers, compelled the nations of the earth to submit to their
tyrants.
The successor of the Attilas, not less a robber than they, threw
himself on an easy prey, and his false heart beat with joy when he
clutched the victim. Yet even this action was but a caricature of the
actions of the Attilas who have punished Rome. To accomplish great
deeds, even of the evil sort, there must be great hearts, and he has a
heart both little and cowardly. In all he does, we can see he intends to
imitate his uncle; but the want of genius and energy makes the attempt
a failure. Attila conquered, and made a pile of ruins of the proud
victress-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 shaken
to its foundation, he renewed his sinister undertakings in America,
where he attempted to deal a death-blow to the sanctuary of the world's
liberty--the great Republic--by building an Austrian empire at her
gates.
And the Italian Government has accepted the bidding of the false
Emperor, acting as the _sbirro_ of the Vatican, to hinder the Romans
from liberating themselves, obliging them to submit to the government of
the Holy Office, to deny to Italy her capital, though proclaimed by her
parliament.
We firmly believe that a more cowardly Government than the Italian can
not be found in ancient or modern history. It must be accepted as the
fate of humanity to find ever side by side with so much good so much
evil, humiliation, and wickedness. We say side by side, because it can
not 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 hold
back this unfortunate country, by impoverishing and perverting it, and
by every means of depredation and deception.
But what a Government! Can, indeed, this agency of corruption be called
a Government? And the unhappy people! what are they? Half of them bought
over to hold the other half in bondage and in misery.
Hail, brave Mexicans! We envy your valor and constancy in freeing your
land from the mercenaries of despotism! Accept, gallant descendants of
Columbus, from your Italian brethren, congratulations on your redeemed
liberty! 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 with
words, but unfit to accomplish by deeds that political reconstruction
which alone would give us the right to sit down beside the other free
nations. Trembling before the despotism of an unrighteous foreign
tyrant, we dare not, for fear of him, walk about in our own homes, tell
the world we are our own masters, or tear from our wrists the fetters
which he has fixed there; and, more humiliating and degrading still,
he has left the prey, which the indignation of the world forbade his
appropriating, and has said, "Keep her, cowards; become cut-throats in
my stead; but beware of meddling with my will!"
Oh, Rome! Thou who art truly "the only one!" Rome the eternal! Once
above all human greatness! And now--now, how degraded! Thy resurrection
must yet be a catastrophe, and a revolution, to shake the rest of the
world!