“As to the Italians themselves, there is too much softness in Piedmont on the part of the Government; the King is the only man who dares; his Ministers are miserable little bureaucrats. We must have a change there, and Cavour must come back; and this is what our Ministers wish. The people of central Italy, who have given themselves up so heartily to Piedmont, are tired of the prudence of the King’s Government, which does nothing for them, and there is great fear that they may break loose, and, taking the matter in their hands, rush on the Pope’s soldiers or the Rubicon, whom they will rout to a certainty. The whole of the Umbria and the Marches will rise at once; they have been quite ready to do so for two months past, and it is with difficulty they are kept quiet. If they rise, and the soldiers of central Italy (Garibaldi is to lead them) rush in, you may be certain that the kingdom of Naples will be in a flame. Garibaldi with ten thousand men, Romagnuoli, will conquer the whole kingdom down to Reggio. The proclamations of Garibaldi, which you will have seen two days ago in the papers, are ominous. In Italy I did my best to keep him quiet, and so did other friends; but I now see he is taking the _mord aux dents_, and no wonder. The King of Sardinia has sent for him, but as he is no longer in his service it is thought he may, under some pretext or other, respectfully decline the summons. A revolution at Naples, or its invasion by Garibaldi, would just now be very disagreeable to the English Government, as the question of change of government, both in the kingdom of Naples proper and in Sicily, might be brought on the tapis, and then you easily foresee a great imbroglio—greater than any that has hitherto taken place, as far as English interests are concerned.” “I understand the ministers are quite united with each other, and all pleased with Lord Palmerston, of whom Mr. Gibson has spoken to a friend of mine not long ago. Lord Palmerston and Lord John are particularly united together; this I know from the latter. Gladstone, I am also told, runs quite straight. The Court is quite Austrian, and, were it not for fear of this trio, would probably try the Tories again. There is a conspiracy of crinolines in favour of the Duchess of Parma, the Empress of the French, and the Queen of Spain. The latter wanted to send ten thousand men to assist the Pope, but France and England have put a veto on that.” This may be fitly succeeded by two more letters from Panizzi to Mr. Ellice. To each reader’s judgment and discretion may fairly be left the decision whether the historical parallel in the second of these is thoroughly correct, and whether either Elizabeth or Cromwell had much notion of religious liberalism, or defended Protestantism on the ground of its being the liberal religion. “B. M., January 4th, 1860.