The Marchese Gino CapponiSource: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 11 (May, 1875 -May, 1876), pp. 365-370Published by: American Academy of Arts & SciencesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20021492 .

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M?RCHESE GIKO CAPPONI. 365

and spirit of these lectures, may be obtained from a very faithful and

appreciative report of a portion of them published by Latour in three

volumes in 1836, under the title of Cours de Pathologie Laterne.

At the height of his fame, Andral was without question the grandest

professor in the Faculty at Paris, then the most renowned in the

world.

Andral married the daughter of the celebrated Royer-Collard, by

whom he had one son, Charles Guillaume Paul Andral, born June 13,

1828, now Vice-President of the Council of State, and an eminent

member of the French bar. In 1866, his wife becoming ill of a pain

ful and incurable disease, Andral gave up his extensive practice, his

professorship, and high scientific positions, and retired while in the

full possession of his physical and mental powers to Ch?teauvieux, her

family country-seat, there to devote himself entirely to her necessities

and comfort, ? a self-sacrifice worthy and characteristic of his affec

tionate nature, and well-known goodness of heart.

A few months after the death of his wife, Andral came up to Paris,

temporarily, to revisit the scenes of his former labors and triumphs.

In the chilly court of the Institute, he was seized with bronchitis, which

in a few days terminated his life. Thus he died, as he had always

wished, in his native city.

His obsequies were attended by distinguished statesmen, deputations

from the Institute, the Medical Faculty, and the Academies, a military

body-guard from the Legion of Honor (in which he was a Commander),

and a host of eminent associates and friends, who, to the number of

more than a thousand, in spite of a furious storm, overcrowded the

church of St. Pierre-de-Chaillot, in their earnest desire to pay him the

last tributes of affection and respect.

THE M?RCHESE GINO CAPPONI.

On the 5th of February, of the present year, Florence put on

mourning for her illustrious son, Gino Capponi. Clothed in the simple dress of a "

Brother of Mercy," his body lay for several hours of that

day exposed to public view in a hall on the ground floor of the palace of his family, and was thence followed to its last resting-place by min

isters, magistrates, senators, deputies, and persons specially deputed to represent the most eminent literary and artistic bodies of the

States. The telegraph brought messages of condolence to the Syndic

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366 M?RCHESE GINO CAPPONI.

of Florence from his brother syndics of other Italian cities, and the

King at Rome wrote to the M?rchese Farinola : ?

" I feel the most lively grief at the very bitter loss which Italy has

suffered this day in the death of Gino Capponi. I share fully in the

mourning of his family and of the country. "

Victor Emmanuel."

The honors then paid by men of all ranks and parties to "

l'ottimo

nostro Gino Capponi," as the Florentines loved to call him, were his

due. Last scion of an illustrious house, he was himself illustrious for

his virtues and his unselfish patriotism. Like his ancestors, many of

whom had taken part in public affairs, he always stood on the side of

?liberty and progress, feeling that nobility of race is only respectable

and respected in its possessor, when he recognizes that it obliges him

to make use of the prerogatives which belong to it for the common

advancement of all good and noble objects. Eminent as a wise and

far-sighted patriot, who knew how to act and speak at the right mo

ment, as well as to stand firm and be silent when deeds and words

would have retarded rather than advanced the cause which he had at

heart, being in short a wide-minded conservative and a genuine Re

publican, but in no sense a radical or an agitator, Gino Capponi passed

hopefully through the dark days which were Italy's portion from 1815

to 1848, kept a firm hand on the helm during the crisis which fol

lowed, and lived to see the increasing brightness of the new day which

has now fully dawned upon his beloved country. But not only was

he a true patriot, and as such beloved by all who had the good of Italy

at heart, he was also the friend and protector of such eminently patri

otic writers as Nicolini, Giusti, Gioberti, Balbo, and Leopardi, whose

pens were as sharp swords ever directed against the breasts of those

who sought to make the world believe that Italy was a land of the

dead ; a land having a glorious Past, whose echoes they would fain have

silenced, but which now contained nought but "

spectres and mum

mies." In "

La Terra dei Morti," a poem which Giuseppe Giusti, the

Tuscan satirist, dedicated to his friend Gino Capponi, he thus bitterly

designates his fellow-countrymen, crushed under Austrian rule, and

with words which sting cries out to them : " What do a dead people

care for history ? to you skeletons, what importeth to talk of liberty

and glory ? "

That the heart of Gino Capponi fully sympathized in

the poet's emotion is proved by the dedication of this burning page to

him ; and that the poet counted on his affection is shown in a poem,

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M?RCHESE GINO CAPPONI. 367

written years afterwards, when the dark cloud had passed away and

better days had come to Italy. "

Since the days of Petrarch," he

writes in the letter prefixed to it, "

the poetic law has been recognized that the public is the proper confidant of the rhymer's affections. No

one who knows that you are the only one to whom I have recourse in

all which passes between myself and me (? tra me

erne'), will wonder at

this public confession which I send you ; and to those who do not know

it, I have wished to say in verse what bonds unite us." These bonds,

be it said, were never severed until the 31st of March, 1850, when

Giusti, who had for months been the guest of his illustrious friend, ex

pired at the Palazzo Capponi, and was thence carried to his grave in

the church of San Miniato. Himself an author of no mean repute, the

sympathies of men of letters centred round Gino Capponi. They had

none of that jealousy of him, which too often divides the craft, but for

half a century were in the habit of looking up to him as " a perma

nent minister of literature." In him they found a wise adviser and an

influential friend, sympathetic, kind, hospitable, and generous. A short

abstract of the chief events of his life founded on Count Passerini's

biographical notice in Litta's Famiglie Celebri, as published in "

La

Nazione," will suffice to show how nobly he filled the triple role of

patriot, patron, and friend.

Son of the M?rchese Pier Roberto and the Marchesa Maria Mad

dalena Frescobaldi, Gino Alessandro Giuseppe Gasparo Capponi was

born at Florence, on the 14th of September, 1792. At the age of

seven, when the Grand Duke Ferdinand III. was driven out of Tus

cany by the invading French, he left his native city with his parents ;

and during four years of exile, as also after his return home, pursued his

studies under the best masters until 1813, when he was sent to France

as one of a deputation charged to offer aid and assistance from the City of Florence to the Emperor Napoleon, whose power and prestige had

received a rude shock in the Russian campaign aud by the disastrous

battle of Leipsic. In recognition of his services on this important

mission, he was appointed Chamberlain to the Grand Duke, an office

which did not prevent him from visiting France, Germany, and Eng

land, for the purpose of completing his education, and of gaining that

valuable experience of men and things, which he was to turn to good account in after life. On his return to Italy, he immediately assumed

the position to which his birth, his talents, and his virtues entitled

him. Every good enterprise found in him a ready helper ; and through

the interest which he took in the opening of schools, savings banks, and infant asylums, he did much to advance the cause of morality and

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368 M?RCHESE GINO CAPPONI.

civilization among his countrymen. Regarding the press as a most

valuable agency to this end, his pen was never idle. He was one of

the founders of the "

Antolog?a," a paper which he enriched with

many valuable articles ; as also of the "

Archivio Storico Italiano," a

periodical filled with Italian chronicles and documents of the greatest

historical interest. History had great attractions for him, and his

private library contained many valuable manuscripts and rare books,

of which he himself compiled and published a catalogue. The volume

of historical documents, which he published in 1838, and "

Le Istorie

di Giovanni Cavalcanti," which followed it two years later, together

with many numerous and important newspaper articles, gave him a

literary reputation which was acknowledged, not only by the four

learned societies of Florence, the Crusca, the Georgofili, the Ateneo,

and the Colombaria, but also by the most celebrated Transalpine

Academies, all of which desired to enroll him among their members.

To one not cognizant of the condition of Italy, during the years which

began at Campo Formio and ended at Novara, it is difficult to realize

the tact, prudence, and discretion required of a man who, like the

M?rchese Gino Capponi, had the best interests of Italy at heart, and

desired to serve them. To be a liberal, and the friend of liberals, was

to be an object of suspicion ; and although the position of Tuscany was

then far better than that of Lombardy, the Roman States, or the

Kingdom of Naples, it was a task of no small difficulty to aid in steer

ing the ship of reform through the numberless shoals and quicksands

which beset her path, without running her aground and aggravating the dangers of her position. The great object in view was to form

a national resolve that liberty should be achieved, and to strengthen

the national character, so that, when that result was brought about,

it should not degenerate into license. Like Napoleon III., who was

always on the eve of

" crowning the edifice," to use his favorite ex

pression, the Grand Duke was wont to dangle projects of reform

before the eyes of his subjects. His government professed to be lib

eral, and proposed to institute advanced reforms in the State ; but it

wished to take its own time, and did not care to have the task taken

out of its hand by spirits impatient of a long delayed result. Thus it

happened that, when Gino Capponi and his friends asked to be allowed

to print a journal which was intended to direct public opinion in the

right direction, permission was refused by the Minister, on the ground

that the government desired to be itself the initiator of even greater

reforms than those which they projected. The pressure of outside

events at last became so great, that, late in the year 1847, Capponi

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MAECHESE GINO CAPPONI. 369

was invited by the Grand Duke to form one of a committee charged to propose a form of representative government suited to the needs of

Tuscany. This Commission instituted a Council of State, in which

Capponi, who was elected Senator, was called upon to take a seat ; and

when, after the events of 1848, a new ministry was to be constituted,

he was charged to form it, and to become its President. During the

short time that he retained this office, he gave proof of his great ability and judgment. The acts of his government were directed towards the

founding of liberal institutions, the furthering of the war of independ

ence, and the confederation of the Italian princes, that they might

represent Italian nationality as a principle and an accomplished fact.

Events impossible to control, jealousies not to be appeased, and the

increased strength of those who would not be content with such a

measure of law-abiding liberty as the Capponi ministry favored,

brought about its downfall after a few months ; but, if it did not reap the laurels of success, it carried with it in defeat the respect of honest

men, who recognized that it had striven to conciliate liberty and order, and to keep down those disorderly elements which now got the upper hand and threatened to shipwreck both. In the provisional govern

ment, which was constituted in February, 1848, after the flight of the

Grand Duke, Capponi took no part, feeling that the wisest course was

to bide his time. This came in 1849, when constitutional government was restored by the people and the Priors of the Commune, who, on

assuming the reins of government, called Capponi, with other distin

guished citizens, to assist them in their difficult task. One month

later the Commission resigned its powers into the hands of the Count

Luigi Serristori, who had been nominated by the Grand Duke as his

commissioner with full powers, and Capponi then retired^ into private life. He continued however, to use his influence with the govern

ment to satisfy the legitimate demands of the people ; and, had his

advice been listened to, the resolution of April, 1859, which put an

end to the rule of the Austro-Lorraine dynasty in Tuscany for ever,

might have been averted or delayed. Although Capponi was one of

those who had nourished the vain belief that the government of the

Grand Duke could be brought into harmony with the aspirations of

the country, and therefore may be classed with those who are popu

larly known as " Codini," he frankly accepted the situation ; and, being

above all things anxious to bring about that state of affairs most favor

able to the unity of Italy, he took his seat in the Tuscan Assembly, and with his colleagues voted the perpetual exclusion of the Austro

Lorraine family from power, and that union of Tuscany to the Sub

voL. xi. (n. s. hi.) 24

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370 CHARLES-FRAN?OIS-MARIE, COMTE DE EEMUSAT.

alpine kingdom, which was soon after consummated by the never-to

be-forgotten entrance of King Victor Emmanuel into Florence. He

could not see, as others did, those streets strewn with flowers, those

houses draped with banners and tapestries, that King of a United

Italy, who, riding on a white charger,

came with an endless crowd of

willing subjects, to add one more jewel to his crown ; for since 1844 he

had been blind. But his ears were open to the sounds of rejoicing,

and no heart of all those which swelled with emotion on that day to

think that Italy was no longer

" a geographical expression," but a

country one and indivisible, beat more loyally than his, or responded

more warmly to the calls of that memorable occasion. With it his

connection with political events ceased. During the remainder of his

life, he occupied himself with literary labors, and by the publication of

his "

History of the Florentine Republic," a year before his death,

brought them to a noble termination. For many years, as he says in

his preface to this work, it had from time to time engaged his atten

tion, but owing to frequent interruptions it was not completed until

its author had attained the age of eighty. With what conscientious

ness he labored to make it a faithful record of events, and why he did

so, he himself tells us in this same preface, in these simple words :

" Once that I had undertaken it, it seemed to me to be the duty of an

honest man to labor at it with the utmost diligence, and to give it my

best thoughts, because a history carelessly written is often a false his

tory, or, in other words, a lie. Wherefore, for all the shortcomings of

this book, I have no other excuse to offer to the reader but this very

plausible one, that I was unable to make it better than it is."

CHAKLES-FRAN?OIS-MARIE, COMTE DE E?MUSAT.

Charles-Fran?ois-Marie, Comte de B?m?sat, died on the 6th

of June, 1875. He was born on the 14th of March, 1797, and had thus

nearly reached his seventy-eighth year. He was the son of Count de

R?musat, a chamberlain of the first Napoleon, who married a niece

of the Count de Vergennes, an intimate friend of the Empress Jose

phine. Some of his early years were thus passed at St. Cloud, where

his father was Pr?fet of the Palace. He was educated at the Lyc?e

Napol?on, and was there distinguished for his scholarship. He began

early to write in the journals and periodicals, and always on the

liberal side. In 1830, he took bold ground, with M. Thiers, against

the ordinances of M. Polignac, which cost Charles X. his throne.

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