Opening the text

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.Fagan, Louis

History

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

Name: The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.
Author: Fagan, Louis

Fagan, Louis

Panizzi, Anthony, Sir, 1797-1879

Believe me,
                                              Sincerely yours,
                                                   W. E. GLADSTONE.”

                                     “11, Downing Street,
                                                   Whitehall,
                                                      Nov. 27, 1860.

  “My dear Panizzi,

          I return the letter you sent me. It was, I think, quite
  capable of a good construction on Nov. 4, when it was written; and
  the writer tells us he had then learned that Ferdinand, evidently
  meaning Francis, was about to use the French Fleet as a means of
  escape. By this time he must have pretty well unlearned that piece
  of knowledge, and the character of the act, I think, stands out
  such as I described it yesterday. I impute no Machiavelism, or ism
  of any other kind. What I have been saying to every one all this
  year has been, _Give the Emperor’s acts a fair construction_; but
  a fair construction of _these_ acts unhappily lends to them a
  rather foul aspect. I entirely withhold even now my belief from
  any such notions as those which you describe in your last page,
  and I do not take these false strokes of policy as indications of
  a plot extending far beyond them. They may be due to uncertainty,
  and to apprehensions of the future Italy; such as are, however,
  quite unworthy of a country so able and so certain to hold its own
  as France. But they are alike deductions from the glory it has
  won, evils in themselves, menaces to the general peace, and
  sources of mistrust _here_, such that as far as they go make it
  impossible to deny that the feeling is legitimate.

  As to my interest in Italy, I wish it could be one-tenth part as
  useful as it is true. She has been to me for the last eighteen
  months a principal cause, not only of joy and satisfaction, but
  even of the desire for political existence.

                                   Yours sincerely,
                                                   W. E. GLADSTONE.”

The substance of these two letters was forthwith communicated as
follows by Panizzi to Mérimée:—

                                        “B. M., 29th November, 1860.

  “... Shortly after my return I informed Mr. Gladstone of my having
  had the honour of conversing with His Majesty, and told Mr.
  Gladstone of the great interest with which the Emperor spoke of
  him. This gentleman was much pleased with what I told him, but was
  of opinion that certain actions had been unjustly judged, and felt
  confident of the loyalty of the Emperor; and, notwithstanding the
  conduct of General Goyon at Viterbo, and of Admiral Barbier de
  Tinan at Gaeta, he still adheres to his former opinions.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.Fagan, Louis

History

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

Fagan, Louis

Panizzi, Anthony, Sir, 1797-1879

Believe me,
                                              Sincerely yours,
                                                   W. E. GLADSTONE.”

                                     “11, Downing Street,
                                                   Whitehall,
                                                      Nov. 27, 1860.

  “My dear Panizzi,

          I return the letter you sent me. It was, I think, quite
  capable of a good construction on Nov. 4, when it was written; and
  the writer tells us he had then learned that Ferdinand, evidently
  meaning Francis, was about to use the French Fleet as a means of
  escape. By this time he must have pretty well unlearned that piece
  of knowledge, and the character of the act, I think, stands out
  such as I described it yesterday. I impute no Machiavelism, or ism
  of any other kind. What I have been saying to every one all this
  year has been, _Give the Emperor’s acts a fair construction_; but
  a fair construction of _these_ acts unhappily lends to them a
  rather foul aspect. I entirely withhold even now my belief from
  any such notions as those which you describe in your last page,
  and I do not take these false strokes of policy as indications of
  a plot extending far beyond them. They may be due to uncertainty,
  and to apprehensions of the future Italy; such as are, however,
  quite unworthy of a country so able and so certain to hold its own
  as France. But they are alike deductions from the glory it has
  won, evils in themselves, menaces to the general peace, and
  sources of mistrust _here_, such that as far as they go make it
  impossible to deny that the feeling is legitimate.

  As to my interest in Italy, I wish it could be one-tenth part as
  useful as it is true. She has been to me for the last eighteen
  months a principal cause, not only of joy and satisfaction, but
  even of the desire for political existence.

                                   Yours sincerely,
                                                   W. E. GLADSTONE.”

The substance of these two letters was forthwith communicated as
follows by Panizzi to Mérimée:—

                                        “B. M., 29th November, 1860.

  “... Shortly after my return I informed Mr. Gladstone of my having
  had the honour of conversing with His Majesty, and told Mr.
  Gladstone of the great interest with which the Emperor spoke of
  him. This gentleman was much pleased with what I told him, but was
  of opinion that certain actions had been unjustly judged, and felt
  confident of the loyalty of the Emperor; and, notwithstanding the
  conduct of General Goyon at Viterbo, and of Admiral Barbier de
  Tinan at Gaeta, he still adheres to his former opinions.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 2 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.

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