It will be remembered that in 1859 the outbreak of the war of the Italian liberation took place. Garibaldi--the Knight of the Red Shirt--though he had settled down as a farmer on the island of Caprera, was summoned by Cavour to fight for Victor Emmanuel. He and his _Chasseurs des Alpes_ went into Central Italy as chief in command, and helped to complete the annexation of the Sardinian territories. It was in August, 1860, that he made his military promenade through Naples. During the next few years he was longing to march on Rome, but he also wished to foment the rebellion in Hungary, and not to let it come to nothing. "10 Circus Road, St. John's Wood, "London, N.W. "_10th Nov._, 1860. "My dear Nicholson, "I believe I have never so much as written from Wales or Clifton to you, to denote that I was not killed on the rail. In old days I suppose that every distant journey demanded this kind of 'receipt' from a traveller; but we now travel too much to make it natural. I am reading the Book of Proverbs in Arabic, in order to work myself up in the vocabulary of morals, and am pleased to find that I know nearly all the words, although the exact _form_ of some is new to me. * * * * * "We may now congratulate one another on the 'definitive' fact of a constitutional King of United Italy. Louis Napoleon, in consenting to it, appears to me to have surpassed the limits not only of ordinary kings, but of ordinary statesmen. I find that even able and temperate French writers, such as Eugene Forçat, are shocked at it.... Louis Napoleon's ... enemies outside have been Germany, Spain, Russia, Austria, Naples, and the Papacy, and inside, all the Catholic clergy and the politicians.... Do you see Garibaldi's renewed solemn promise that his flag shall be joined to the Hungarian in effecting their liberation from Austria? What I hear and _know_ of Lord Palmerston's intrigues against Hungary and _threats to Sardinia_ if she dares to assist Hungary ... fills me with indignation and no small alarm. No doubt all that intrigue can do is now employed to induce Austria to _sell_ Venetia, not in order to benefit Italy (though to this they have no objection), but in gratuitous enmity to Hungary, which (Lord Palmerston says) the English Government _will not permit_ to be separated from Austria. This I _know_ he avowed to the Sardinian Ambassador, and sent the English fleet into the Adriatic as a demonstration. Happily the war is now likely to be deferred till Parliament meets, and our ministry may be severely checked in time. I trust we are only at the beginning of magnificent results in Europe and in North America.... "Your true friend, "Francis W. Newman."