MAZZINI, Giuseppe, Italian patriot: b. Genoa, 22 June 1805; d. Pisa, 10 March 1872. He studied law at the University of Genoa and practised his profession for a time, but the strong Liberal opinions he had imbibed as a child and his conviction that the oppressed con dition of his country under Austrian rule called for men of action and public spirit, and that a noble course lay open before anyone who would give himself up, heart and soul, to the work of reforming her, led him to devote him self to a political career. In his ardent aspira tions for the national unity of Italy, it seemed to him that her deliverance from foreign tyranny was to be achieved only by a return to the republican glories of ancient times. His pa triotic enthusiasm in this direction was fostered by his early studies, which developed in him a passionate idea of the glories of a republic, and by the success which he had achieved in literature while still little more than a youth. In 1827 appeared his maiden essay, 'Dell' Amor Patrio di Dante,) which was published in a Liberal journal, the Subalpino. This led him to contribute under the mask of literary crit iques other historical, philosophical and critical papers to the Antologia of Florence and the Indicatore Genovese. But the authorities, per ceiving that the periodical literature of Italy was becoming far too strongly tainted with ad vanced Liberal opinions, suppressed these jour nals, and hoped, no doubt, thereby to have silenced their writers also. About 1830 Maz zini became an active member of the Carbonari, and this affiliation was the introductory step to his subsequent political life; he was active, able, bold and impetuous, and he soon rose into a position which gave him great influence in the councils of that secret society. While on a mission for the society he was betrayed by a Piedmontese spy, arrested and detained for six months as a prisoner in the fortress of Savona. On his release he went to Marseilles, France, to escape the police surveillance imposed on him in Italy. Here he organized the society of La Giovine Italia (Young Italy), and estab lished under that same title a journal to advo cate his views; the purpose of the society was to liberate Italy and establish a national gov ernment, Mazzini desiring a republic. It was about this time, too, that he addressed to Charles Albert of Sardinia the celebrated letter which drew down on him a sentence of perpetual banishment from his native country.
He took active part in the organization of an insurrection of which Genoa was to be the centre, but the plot was discovered and failed. For his share in it Mazzini was sentenced to death in the Sardinian courts. He then went to Switzerland, where he organized another conspiracy for the invasion of Savoy (1834), which also failed. In 1837 he quitted Switzer land and took up his abode in London, where he kept in correspondence with the revolution ary leaders on the Continent, was recognized as the head of the Young Italy party, and in stigated several insurrections, which were un successful. After the insurrection in Milan in 1848 he again went to Italy, was chosen a mem ber of the Tuscan provisional government in February 1849, and in the following month, when Rome was proclaimed a republic, he was chosen first of the triumvirs. He was the main spring of the defense of Rome against the French, and on the surrender of that city in June Mazzini escaped to Lausanne, Switzer land. At this time he addressed to M. de Tocqueville and other French statesmen some most hitter and reproachful letters on the high handed policy pursued by France. Finding his continental residence too hot for him he re turned to London, not, however, with any idea of abandoning his long-cherished hopes for Italian unity. Later he had a hand in the un successful uprisings at Mantua (1852), in Milan (1853) and in Piedmont (1857), being in Italy for a short time in 1857. He assisted also in organizing the expeditions led by Garibaldi in 1860, 1862 and 1867. An ardent Republican, he refused to take his seat in the Italian Parlia ment under the monarchy, though repeatedly elected from Messina, as a protest against the uncanceled sentence of death against him. In 1866 this sentence was formally rescinded; in 1868 he suffered from a serious illness, the effects of which left him in impaired health. In 1870 he was arrested at Gaeta under charge of conspiracy with Garibaldi and imprisoned for two months, being released after the occu pation of Rome by the Italians. He was ac corded a public funeral by the Italian govern ment.