s! each state could not boast free government.

{185}

Italians, eating the bread of slaves, felt that they were in bondage to
Vienna. Metternich had determined they should know no master but
himself, and all attempts to rebel were closely watched by spies. The
police force allowed nothing to be printed or spoken against the
government that was strong to condemn disorder. There were ardent
souls longing to fight for the cause of Italy and Liberty. There were
secret societies resolving desperate measures. There was discontent
everywhere to war with Metternich's distrust of social progress.

The sufferings of rebel leaders moved the compassion of Giuseppe
Mazzini, the son of a clever physician in the town of Genoa. He was
only a boy when he was accosted by a refugee, whose wild countenance
told a story of cruelty and oppression. From that moment, he realized
the degradation of Italy and chose the colour of mourning for his
clothes; he began to study the heroic struggles which had made martyrs
of his countrymen in late years, and he began to form visionary
projects which led him from the study of literature--his first
sacrifice. He had aspired to a literary career, and renounced it to
throw himself into the duties he owed to countrymen and country.

In 1827, Mazzini joined the Carbonari, or Charcoalmen, a society which
worked in different countries with one aim--opposition to the despot
and the legitimist. The young man of twenty-two was impressed, no
doubt, by the solemn oath of initiation which he had to take over a
bared dagger, but he soon had to acknowledge that the efforts of the
Carbonari were doomed to dismal failure. Membership was confined too
much to the professional class, and there were too few appeals to the
youth of Italy. Treachery was {186} rife among the different sections
of the wide-spreading organization. It was easy for a man to be
condemned on vague suspicions. When Mazzini was arrested, he had to be
acquitted of the charge of conspiracy because it was impossible to find
two witnesses, but general disapproval was expressed of his mode of
life. The governor of Genoa spoke very harshly of the student's habit
of walking about at night in thoughtful silence. "What on earth has
he, at his age, to think about?" he demanded angrily. "We don't like
young people thinking without our knowing the subjects of their
thoughts."

The "glorious days of July," 1830, freed the French from a monarc