We cannot recall any occasion on which more sympathy has
been felt for any foreign nation than that which the British people are now feeling for the Italians. Most Britons have a warm corner in their hearts for Italy and the Italians and the land which stands for beauty in all the arts. Thus the sense of pity has been stirred by a personal feeling intense in degree and intimate in kind. The fund opened by the Lord Mayor, though started only so short a time, has already reached a sum of £15,000. That all the help which we and the other nations of the world can give will be needed we have no doubt. A huge population has been rendered helpless, and must for a long time be dependent upon external aid. Whether it will be possible or advisable to rebuild Messina and Reggio we do not know, but we fear that many of the villages must remain ruins. Though the earthquake has from one point of view exhibited with terrible force the weakness, helplessness, and baseness of human nature, it has happily also, and in stronger degree, shown the better side, and proved, in Sir Thomas Browne's words, that man is indeed "a noble animal." The King and Queen of Italy have led the way, and from all sides come stories of the devotion shown by the Italian soldiers and sailors to whom the work of rescue has been chiefly entrusted, and who have been well supported by the British, French, German, and Russian bluejackets.
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