“For my own part, I am quite prepared, and so, I am sure, are all my colleagues, to accept the responsibility of selecting Mr. Panizzi, because I do not believe a better choice could have been made. The hon. gentleman has alluded to the fact of Mr. Panizzi being a foreigner, but that has been no unusual case in the British Museum.” _Mr._ (now Sir Austen H.) _Layard_, “... he was very much astonished to hear his honourable friend object to Mr. Panizzi on the ground of his being a foreigner, because that was an objection which ought not to come from that, the Liberal, side of the House.” _Mr. Disraeli_ (now Lord Beaconsfield), “... had no hesitation in saying that, if the Trustees had not appointed Mr. Panizzi to the vacancy when it occurred, as the reward for his long and meritorious services, and of the intelligent qualities which he had displayed, they would have acted with great injustice, they would have inflicted a discouragement on the public service, and they would have been no longer entitled to the commendation and confidence of that House.” _Lord John Russell_, “... he really thought that we had become more liberal than that.... He thought that the appointment of Mr. Panizzi had been fully vindicated by the Speaker, and he trusted that there would be no further opposition to the vote.” _Mr. Monckton Milnes_ said, in conclusion, “he should be glad to hear that the appointment was confirmed by public opinion, and justified by the conduct of Mr. Panizzi himself.” The documents already quoted, are, we trust, sufficient to fulfil the conditions required; but we surely ought to be more enlightened than to coincide with the opinions of the early Romans, who, as Cicero informs us, regarded the words _peregrinus_ and _inimicus_ as synonymous: (off. 1 xii. 38). _Hostis enim apud maiores nostros is dicebatur quem nunc ‘peregrinum’ dicimus._ Be this as it may, it is pleasing to record that those who knew Panizzi best did not regard or treat him as _inimicus_. This chapter may be fitly concluded with the subjoined copy of a testimonial as satisfactory and as well-merited as any man ever received. It is in the handwriting and signed by Mr. W. R. Hamilton, a Trustee of the British Museum. “The Standing Committee of the Trustees of the British Museum think it their duty to address to the Government of Her Majesty, in the form of a minute to be communicated to the First Lord Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Treasury, the following representation in favour of Mr. Antonio Panizzi, who for many years filled the office of Keeper of the Printed Books in this Institution, and was lately selected Principal Librarian in the same Establishment:—