It is in the very
unreflectiveness of his generosity that he is great. There has not been,
I am assured, for many years back, any very close or intimate friendship
between these two men; but it was quite enough that Mazzini was in
trouble and difficulty, to rally to his side that brave-hearted
comrade who never deserted his wounded. Nor is there in all Garibaldi's
character anything finer or more exalted than the steadfast adherence he
has ever shown to his early friendships. No flatteries of the great--no
blandishments of courts and courtiers--none of those seductive
influences which are so apt to weave themselves into a man's nature when
surrounded by continual homage and admiration--not any of these have
corrupted that pure and simple heart; and there is not a presence
so exalted, nor a scene of splendour so imposing, as could prevent
Garibaldi from recognising with eager delight any the very humblest
companion that ever shared hardship and danger beside him.

To have achieved his successes, a man must of necessity have rallied
around him many besides enthusiasts of the cause; he must have recruited
amongst men of broken fortunes--reckless, lawless fellows, who accepted
the buccaneer's life as a means of wiping off old scores with that old
world "that would have none of them." It was not amidst the orderly, the
soberly-trained, and well-to-do that he could seek for followers. And
what praise is too great for him who could so inspire this mass, heaving
with passion as it was, with his own noble sentiments, and make them
feel that the work before them--a nation's regeneration--was a task too
high and too holy to be accomplished by unclean hands? Can any eulogy
exaggerate the services of a man who could so magnetise his fellow-men
as to associate them at once with his nobility of soul, and elevate them
to a standard little short of his own? That he _did_ do this we have the
proof. Pillage was almost unknown amongst the Garibaldians; and these
famished, ill-clad, shoeless men marched on from battle to battle
with scarcely an instance of crime that called for the interference of
military law.

Where is the General who could boast of doing as much? Where is the
leader who could be bold enough to give such a pledge for his followers?
Is there an army in Europe--in the world--for whom as much could be
said?

All honour, therefore, to the man--not whose example only, but whose
very contact suggests high intent and noble ac