The Liberation of Italy, 1815-1870 Part 21

A new epoch has begun which need not detain the chronicler of Italian Liberation. The prose of possession succeeds the poetry of desire.

Nothing, however, can lessen the greatness of the achievement. With regard to the future, it may be allowable to recall the superst.i.tion which, like so many other seemingly meaningless beliefs, becomes full of meaning when read according to the spirit: that a house stands long if its foundations be watered with the blood of sacrifice. No work of man was ever watered with a purer blood than the restoration of Italy to the ranks of living nations. And the last word of this book shall be Hope.