Victor Hugo Autograph Letter Signed: Republics and Italian Unity

  
Victor HUGO - Autograph letter signed - Republics and Italian unity. Hauteville House, Saturday, June 23 [1860]. Address on the back with postal markings. A beautiful letter from Victor Hugo, written at a time when the fall of empires and the birth of European republics were emerging.

The letter was written a few days after his speech in Jersey, a passionate plea in favor of the Republic, Italian unity, and Garibaldi, during which he foretold a “splendid vision, a free Italy! Where there was a geographical term, there is now a nation; where there was a corpse, there is now a soul; where there was a specter, there is now an archangel, the immense archangel of peoples. Italy communicates to the progress of the whole world the great joyful fever that belongs to its genius; and Europe will be electrified by this prodigious radiance.

”

He insists on the need to publish his speech in support of republican ideas and Italian unity: “Absolute cordiality is the basis of republican brotherhood. Besides, this concerns an interest greater than ourselves; it concerns the triumph of our ideas.” He anticipates the fear his speech creates among the ruling empires destined to disappear: “The Empire, by issuing a warning against my Jersey speech, has made a foolish mistake.

It reveals its secret and deep hatred of the Italian movement and its terror at the upheaval that is about to begin. Moreover, it foolishly makes itself my mouthpiece, and it doubles the impact of the speech.