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Untitled Article
On the death of Alessandro , a strong party arose , the seeds Of which bad always existed , and advocated a pure form of Republicanism . Forgetting in their zeal , that for such an object the purest elements only caa be effectual , and that any depravity in its organization will scarcely enable it to endure even for a few years ; they elected
Lorenzino as their chief and the representative of their principles , saluting him with the patriotic appellation of a Second Brutus . A greater contrast between two men , in motives , as in general character , could < not easily have been found . This latter opinion appears to have been entertained , not only by the majority of the people , but of the most eminent and enlightened among ; their leaders *
The Senate of Florence , not deceived by the pretended patriotism of this licentious assassin , even though supported by the high-minded and really republican . Filtppo Strozzi , declared , by a large majority , that the claim of
Lorenzino , the hereditary heir to the Dukedom * should be set aside in consequence of the crime he had perpetrated , and of his general depravity of character ; and Guicciardini , the historian , then proposed that Cosmo , the son of Giovanni de' Medici , the descendant of another branch of the family ,
and next in succession , should be elevated to the sovereignty . At the age of eighteen , in defiance of the danger of the proceeding , and notwithstanding the remonstrances of his mother , Cosmo left his home , and hastening to the city , presented himself before the Senate and addressed them
in an ^ eloquent speech , having been highly educated , and possessing great presence of mind and grace of manner as of form ; He ? was duly elected to the Dukedom , by the same anomalous title as that of Alessandro : namely , Chief , or Duke ; 6 f the Florentine Republic .
It is ? not becoming in a learned and accomplished historian / like M . de Sismondi , to suffer his private feelings and opinions to overpower all sense of impartial justice , far less to oppose and invert authentic facts . Whatever sympathy may be entertained with the pure Republican principles of M , de Sismondi , every one who carefully compares his account of Cosmo the Great , with the works of ) elder historians , must perceive the undue and
unauthorised estimate he has rendered . He constantly speaks of Cosmo as " this usurper ! " Does he mean—and it he does , with what consistency—that legitimacy means hereditary birth-right ^ or primogeniture oaly , and in defiance of popular opinion ; and that such legitimacy is not to < be set aside , even where the hereditary owner is a libertine and assassin ? Moreover , touching , this fine point
Untitled Article
238 Cosm&di * Medici .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 1, 1837, page 238, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1830/page/48/
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