The old figure of speech 'in the fulness of time' embodies a truth toooften forgotten. History knows nothing of spontaneous generation; thechain of cause and effect is unbroken, and however modest be the scale onwhich an historical work is cast, the reader has a right to ask that itshould give him some idea, not only of what happened, but of why ithappened. A catalogue of dates and names is as meaningless as thephotograph of a crowd. In the following retrospect, I have attempted totrace the principal factors that worked towards Italian unity. TheLiberation of Italy is a cycle waiting to be turned into an epic.
In other words, it presents the appearance of a series of detachedepisodes, but the parts have an intimate connection with the whole, which,as time wears on, will constantly emerge into plainer light. Every yearbrings with it the