arrived in Florence, unhappily, too late for the great fete of the
12th of September, in honor of the grant of a National Guard. But
I wept at the mere recital of the events of that day, which, if it
should lead to no important results, must still be hallowed for ever
in the memory of Italy, for the great and beautiful emotions that
flooded the hearts of her children. The National Guard is hailed with
no undue joy by Italians, as the earnest of progress, the first step
toward truly national institutions and a representation of the people.
Gratitude has done its natural work in their hearts; it has made
them better. Some days before the fete were passed in reconciling
all strifes, composing all differences between cities, districts, and
individuals. They wished to drop all petty, all local differences, to
wash away all stains, to bathe and prepare for a new great covenant of
brotherly love, where each should act for the good of all. On that day
they all embraced in sign of this,--strangers, foes, all exchanged the
kiss of faith and love; they exchanged banners, as a token that they
would fight for, would animate, one another. All was done in that
beautiful poetic manner peculiar to this artist people; but it was the
spirit, so great and tender, that melts my heart to think of. It was
the spirit of true religion,--such, my Country! as, welling freshly
from some great hearts in thy early hours, won for thee all of value
that thou canst call thy own, whose groundwork is the assertion, still
sublime though thou hast not been true to it, that all men have equal
rights, and that these are _birth_-rights, derived from God alone.

I rejoice to say that the Americans took their share on this occasion,
and that Greenough--one of the few Americans who, living in Italy,
takes the pains to know whether it is alive or dead, who penetrates
beyond the cheats of tradesmen and the cunning of a mob corrupted
by centuries of slavery, to know the real mind, the vital blood, of
Italy--took a leading part. I am sorry to say that a large portion of
my countrymen here take the same slothful and prejudiced view as the
English, and, after many years' sojourn, betray entire ignorance of
Italian literature and Italian life, beyond what is attainable in a
month's passage through the thoroughfares. However, they did show,
this time, a becoming spirit, and erected the American eagle where
its cry ought to be heard from afar,--where a nation is striving