that had gone before. In some sense, indeed, his work may be called incomplete, since he sank, like Moses, on the threshold of the promised land, yet so clearly had he marked out the road to be pursued, that the Joshua who caught the emblems of command as they dropped from his dying hand, can scarcely win greater glory than by steadily executing his plans, the triumph of the living being itself a new tribute to the memory of the dead. Could we divest ourselves of personal feelings, we might recognize a poetical appositeness in the death of Cavour ensuing immediately after the first celebration of the fête for the national unity of Italythat darling object for which he had lived and toiled-just as the army, which his genius had roused after the crushing field of Novara, by pointing the way which conducted it to the regenerative baptism of blood on the Tchernaya, at Palestro, and Castelfidardo, had consecrated those triumphs by receiving a new name; so that the first occasion on which the banners inscribed "Armata Italiana" were borne in public, was at the funeral of the very man to whom that designation was mainly owing: never could he have been mourned over with such tenderness and unanimity as at that peculiar moment. It was, however, the singular characteristic of Count de Cavour to inspire attachment, no less than admiration, and as all earthly affection is proverbially selfish, those who at any time had the privilege of approaching him, can not but share in the passionate, and, as it were, personal grief of the Italian people, at the loss of their 66 Papa Camillo," as the great statesman was affectionately termed, and feel that they would fain have seen his days prolonged, albeit at the expense of dramatic propriety. But he is gone to the bourn whence none ever return, and that lamentation may not be altogether in vain, it is well, before the rapid current of passing events sweeps us too far away, to cast a tributary flower of respect on the lowly tomb of Santèna, and seek to garner up the moral lesson which we can not fail to derive from considering the life and character of one in whom a great state recognizes a founder and a creator.

CAMILLO BENSO, COUNT DE CAVOUR, was born at Turin on the tenth of August, 1810, the second son of au ancient and illustrious race, tracing back its pedigree far into the dark ages, when we find it

already in possession of the fiefs of Chieri, which, acquired about 1150, are still owned by the family, and accordingly its then head, the Marquis Michael Joseph, was a thorough representative of the haughty and bigoted aristocracy of Piedmont, (so much so that the memory of the father for a long while cast a doubtful shadow over the liberal opinions of the son,) while his wife sprang from the no less noble Genevese house of Sellon. Though born at the very zenith of the first French Empire, the future statesman was scarcely more than an infant when the sudden extinction of that splendid meteor brought back from the island of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel I., with all the antiquated religious, political, and legislative institutions of old Piedmont in his train, and therefore, after having received the first rudiments of education at the hands of the Jesuits, he was consigned, in 1820, to the military college of Turin, whence he issued after some years as the page of King Carlo Felice, the last prince of the elder line of the House of Savoy. Such an education would scarcely have seemed fitted to develop the powers of an incipient journalist and liberal minister; but it was the orthodox training for a young noble of old Piedmont, where every member of the aristocracy held himself bound to pass at least some years in the military service of the state, at a time when all advancement depended on the personal pleasure of the sovereign, and the old Marquis looked to nothing beyond. His son, however, seems to have given early indications of his tendency to depart from the common course; for it is recorded that his vivacity and independence of spirit caused no little scandal at the stiff Court of Turin, where he seems to have played the part of Cherubino in Beaumarchais' comedy, while the distinguished Professor Plana already cited him as the best of his mathematical pupils. however, found the position of a courtier so uncongenial, that at the age of eighteen. he was glad to exchange it for that of a lieutenant in a regiment of engineers quartered at Genoa.

He,

Though so young, he had already attained such proficiency in his professional studies, that he was soon employed in making surveys of the passes of the Alps and Apennines, and it is a singular coïnci dence that one of the earliest public employments of the stateman, who, toward

the close of his career, was destined to fix the political frontiers of his country at the natural mountain boundary, should have been the drawing-up of plans for the construction of a fort intended to guard the road from Genoa to Nice. But neither military pursuits, nor the pleasures of his age and society, which Count de Cavour never ceased to enjoy with the keenest relish, sufficed to absorb all the activity of his restless mind. French had been the language of his infancy, and to his death was more familiar to him than even Italian. While still a youth he made himself master of English, which he both spoke and wrote with remarkable facility, and became deeply engaged in the study of Adam Smith and other works bearing on political economy, finance, or the political institutions of our country; so that it is no exaggeration if we date from this early period his deep-rooted admiration and attachment for England. The politics of the day also excited his earnest attention, and while he watched the progress of the English Reform Bill with the liveliest interest, he was already beginning to meditate on the fortunes of Italy. Genoa was then the scene of the first ef forts and conspiracies of Mazzini, and though the practical genius of the young Cavour preserved him from the fond belief that the liberty and unity of Italy could be achieved by underground plots and secret machinations, that illusion which has led astray so many noble spirits, wasting, or even worse, talents that might otherwise have been of the greatest service, his liberal opinions were too manifest for him not to incur the displeasure of the authorities, and in 1832, some un guarded expressions consigned him as a punishment to the gloomy garrison of Fort du Bard, in the valley of Aosta.

It was on this occasion that he wrote the following letter to a lady of Turin, who had condoled with him on his misfortune: "Je vous remercie, madame la marquise, pour l'intérêt que vous prenez à ma disgrace; mais croyez le bien, je ferai tout de même ma carrière. J'ai beaucoup d'ambition, une ambition énorme, et lorsque je serai ministre, j'espère que je la justifierai, puis que dans mes rêves je me vois déjà ministre du Royaume l'Italie.-C. CAVOUR." A singular prescience this, in a lieutenant of engineers of twenty-two, undergoing punishment for his liberal opinions, which in an officer, were then considered an of

fense little short of high treason, especially if we consider the state of Italy, the movements of the Duchies, and Romagna trampled down by a foreign soldiery, Naples apathetic, Austria more powerful than ever, and Charles Albert of Sardinia, the only sovereign who could be suspected of even national tendencies, withheld from all manifestation of them by engagements to his predecessor which seemed to fetter his very soul. It is little less singular that, when shortly afterward, having resigned his commission in the army, Count de Cavour wished to visit Lombardy, the Austrian police should have absolutely denied him leave to enter that province, and though this refusal was rescinded shortly afterward, an order was given to watch him as a most dangerous enemy, and to note the houses in Milan which he visited, and the persons with whom he associated.

In 1835, Count de Cavour left Italy for the first time, and during the seven years he spent abroad, resided alternately in Switzerland, France, and England. The last was the country of his preference; and had the future been unvailed before him, he could scarcely have prepared himself for his great destiny as parliamentary leader and constitutional minister more judiciously, than by the assiduity and eagerness with which he followed the debates of the House of Commons, and studied every social, agricultural, and financial subject that his quick spirit of observation brought under his notice. His views on all these points formed the matter of various pamphlets, in which he first developed his talents as a writer; that on the state and prospects of Ireland, in which we may trace the germination of his ideas on legal resistance to oppression and parliamentary warfare, may be especially cited as one of the most appreciative and remarkable productions on English affairs which ever flowed from a foreign pen, and when Count de Cavour returned home in 1842, it was to apply practically the lessons he had learned abroad.

Times had changed for the better in the course of ten years, and though the field of political action was still closed, the activity of a thoughtful lover of his country might find vent in other directions. Count de Cavour was one of the original founders of the Societá Agraria, (agricultural society,) intended as a means of developing the material resources of Pied

mont, and he soon became chief editor of the journal of the society, in which he energetically combated (thirty-first August, 1843,) a scheme for establishing model farms under the immediate direction of the government, for even thus early he had embraced the belief that the best guarantee for the progress of a people, is the liberty of initiative. The death of his father having by this time put him in possession of a considerable fortune and large landed estates, he began practically to essay the theories he propounded at Turin, employing as much eloquence and earnestness to persuade his bailiff of the merits of an improved plow, or a new breed of pigs, as he afterward devoted to inducing the chambers to adopt some political plan of unparalleled boldness; for it was characteristic of the man to throw himself heart and soul into the prosecution of any idea that seized hold of him, and while no scheme was too vast for his intelligence, no detail seemed too small to engross his whole attention. Every thought that passed through his mind was either flung aside or grew rapidly into a conviction, which, with a natural expansiveness that has often been charged against him as a tendency to despotism, he eagerly sought to impress on all around him. Nor did these occupations suffice. More from love of excitement than any other motive, he entered on a series of bold speculations (only to be relinquished, suddenly and finally, the day he was appointed a minister of the Crown,) which proved generally successful, much to the surprise of his less venturesome and somewhat commonplace elder brother, who watched his proceedings with affectionate dread lest he should involve himself in difficulties; he made plans for railroads, and was an active promoter of infant schools, and other attempts to improve education.

Five years thus passed away; till, toward the end of 1847, deeming that the time for more direct efforts had at length come, he set up the Risorgimento, a paper of moderate and constitutional liberal views, destined to exert no inconsiderable influence, in conjunction with his friends, Counts Balbo and Santa Rosa, Buoncompagni, and Azeglio, himself assuming the office of chief writer and responsible editor. Events were now rapidly maturing to a crisis; the liberalism displayed by Pius IX. at the commencement of his reign, had acted like a spark igniting a

train of gunpowder; the Italian party every where raised its head; and in the first days of 1848 the liberals of Piedmont met to consider the course they should pursue. The majority, including the most violent democrats, were in favor of asking for reforms, when Count de Cavour suddenly advocated the demand for a constitution. "Give us but the liberty of speech and writing," he exclaimed," and all else will speedily follow." A petition was drawn up in accordance with this view, which, though never formally presented to the King, and now long since forgotten, then weighed heavily in the scale favorable to the grant of the Statuto, and when, a few weeks later, a commission was appointed to frame an electoral law, Count de Cavour became one of its principal members. Experience and the extraordinary extension of the State have since then caused many modifications to be introduced; but the essential clauses of the law now in force are still those originally adopted at his suggestion.

We may pass rapidly over the events of the next two years, important though they were, as foreign to our subject, for Count de Cavour exercised no direct influence upon them. Nevertheless he speedily made himself remarked by the singularly independent and original attitude he assumed in the first Sardinian chamber, where he sat as deputy for the college of Turin, which, save for one short interval, he continued to represent till his death, and took his place in the center. Holding aloof from all factions, his conduct was ever that of one who felt in himself the strength to form a party of his own, and to take upon his own shoulders all the responsibility of power. Thus, though denounced as a renegade by those with whom birth and education would naturally have connected him, and in spite of his having been one of the first to proclaim the necessity of war to the knife with Aus tria, the left soon perceived who was their most formidable antagonist, and the extreme democrats vowed against him that deadly hatred which, kept down during the latter years of his life by dread of his sharp sarcasm and unfailing logic, alone dared to break forth in indecent exultation over his tomb. The force of those weapons was not then known, and Count de Cavour found himself the butt of unceasing attacks both in the press and the chamber, where, when the arguments of