Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/513

 LANGUAGE.] ITALY 491 end- to the difficulty, Italy lost her greatest statesman at this juncture. On the 5th of June 1861, Cavour died with the words &quot; A free church in a free state &quot; upon his lips. The last months of his life had been given to planning the peaceable acquisition of Rome by treaty with the pope and Louis Napoleon. &amp;gt;le- What remains of Italian history between 1861 and 1870 )f may be briefly told. Ricasoli formed a conservative Gov ernment after Cavour s death, and Rattazzi led the oppo sition. Garibaldi, who vowed never to rest till Rome and Venice had been liberated, headed the party of action. In 1862 he raised a volunteer army and invaded Sicily. Louis Napoleon regarded this as a menace to Rome, and ordered Rattazzi, who was now in power, to check his progress. Cialdini marched to Reggio, where the royal troops were defeated by the volunteers on the 28th of September 1862. Next day Garibaldi was attacked and beaten at Aspro- monte by General Pallavicini. He retired, wounded, to Caprera, whence he published his defence. The blame was seen to lie with Rattazzi, who had thought to follow Cavour s policy of masterly inaction without first settling with France. The sympathy of Europe with Italy was so great after this disaster that in September 1864 Louis Napaleon agreed to a gradual withdrawal of French troops from Rome, provided Italy respected what remained of the pope s temporal power. By the same convention Florence became the capital. This was a good step in advance to ward? the annexation of Rome. In 1866 the Austro- Prussian war gave a new opportunity to the Italians. They entered into alliance with Prussia, and marched au army across the Mincio. The defeats of Custozza, Monte Suello, and Lissa deprived the Italian troops of any claim to military or naval glory in this war. But the Prussian victory of Koniggratz secured the main objects for which they fought. Venice, with the Quadrilateral, was joined to the Italian kingdom, while Austria kept her Istrian and Dalmatian provinces. In accordance with the September convention, Louis Napoleon withdrew his garrison from Rome in 1866. This event inflamed the party of action. Mazzini called upon the people to seize the Eternal City; and Garibaldi in 1867 declared his resolve to take Rome or die. Rattazzi, who was again in power, once more attempted the policy which had failed him in 1862. He ignored the obligation which bound Vittorio Emmanuele to defend the papal frontiers, and he hoped that France would tolerate a volunteer inva sion. He was mistaken. Louis Napoleon interfered, and the Italian cabinet was forced to discountenance the further proceedings of the volunteers. Disturbances occurred in Rome, and Garibaldi gained a victory at Monte Rotondo. Meanwhile the king appealed to the Italians to preserve hia honour, and the emperor sent a new garrison to Rome. Garibaldi s volunteers surrendered at Mentana, on the 4th of November, to the French and papal troops ; and, while the general was retiring to Caprera, lie was arrested by order of the Italian Government at Figline. But the end was now not distant. When the victory of Sedan overthrew the French empire Vittorio in September 1870, Jules Favre declared the September convention to be at an end ; Vittorio Emmanuele was re- leased from his obligations, and on the 20th he entered p, ome. Rome, which now became his capital. Pius IX. was allowed to retain the Vatican with its dependencies, the church of Sta Maria Maggiore, and Castel Gandolfo on the Alban hill. The state voted him a munificent income, and he was left in peace to play the part of a persecuted prisoner. Thus ended the emancipation of Italy ; nor did the events of the following ten years alter the situa tion created by the king s occupation of Rome in 1870. Vittorio Emmanuele died and was succeeded by his son Umberto in 1878. Pius IX. died the same year, and was succeeded by Leo XIII. The history of Italy during this period has been confined to internal affairs. Bibliography. Ik is difficult to indicate in a short space the most important sources of Italian as distinguished from imperial or ecclesi astical history. Muratori s great collection of Rcrum Italicarum Scriptores, in combination with his Disscrtationcs, the chronicles and other historical material published in the Archivio Storico Italiano, and the works of these detached annalists of whom the Villani are the most notable take the first rank. Next may be mentioned Muratori s Annali d ltalia, together with Guicciardini s Storia d Italia, and its continuation by Carlo Botta. Troya s Storia d ltalia del Medic Evo and Sismondi s Republiqucs Italicnnes form perhaps the most valuable modern contributions to the history of the whole peninsula. Ferrari s Rivoluzioni d ltalia deserves special notice, as a work of singular vigour, though of less scientific value ; and Cesare Balbo s Sommario presents the main outlines of the subject with brevity and clearness. With regard to the history of separate provinces, it may suffice to notice the Storia Fiorcntina of Machiavelli and Corio s Storia di Milano, Capponi s Storia ddla RcpiMlica di Fircnzc, Colletta s History of Nairtes, Romanin s History of Venice, Amari s Musulmani di Sicilia, and the Stadt Rom of Gregorovins. From the point of view of papal history, Von Ranke s History of the Popes is distinguished for exact insight into one epoch of Italian development. From the point of view of biography, Von Reumont s Lorenzo de 1 Medici and Yillari s Savonarola and Machiavelli are equally instructive. From the point of view of general culture Burckhardt s Cullur der Renaissance in Italien, Quinet s Revolutions d ltalie, and J. A. Symonds s Renaissance in Italy, 5 vola., may prove of service. No compre hensive work can be indicated for the history of Italy during the present century, though Reuehlin s Gcschichte Italicns, Treitschke s Essay on Cavour. and Massari s Life of Cavour supply important materials. (J. A. S. ) PART III. LANGUAGE. The Italian language is the language of culture in the whole of the present kingdom of Italy, in some parts of Switzerland (the canton of Ticino and part of the Grisohs), in some parts of the Austrian territory (the districts of Trent and Gorz, Istria along with Trieste, and the Dalmatian coast), and in the islands of Corsica and Malta. In the Ionian Islands, likewise, in the maritime cities of the Levant, in Egypt, and more particularly in Tunis, this literary language is extensively maintained through the numerous Italian colonies and the ancient traditions of trade. The Italian language has its native seat and living source in Middle Italy, or more precisely Tuscany and indeed Florence. For real linguistic unity is far from existing in Italy : in some respects the variety is less in others more observable than in other countries which equally boast a political and literary unity. Thus, for example, Italy affords no linguistic contrast so violent as that presented by Great Britain with its English dialects alongside of the Celtic dialects of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or by France with the French dialects alongside of the Celtic dialects of Brittany, not to speak of the Basque of the Pyrenees and other heterogeneous elements. The presence of not a few Slavs stretching into the district of Udine (Friuli), of Albanian, Greek, and Slav settlers in the southern provinces, with the Catalans of Alghero (Sardinia), a few Germans at Monte Rosa, and a remnant or two of other comparatively modern immigrations is not sufficient to produce any such strong contrast in the conditions of the national speech. But, on the other hand, the Neo-Latin dialects which live on side by side in Itnly differ from each other much more markedly than, for example, the English dialects or the Spanish ; and it must be added that, in Upper Italy especially, the familiar use