“Believe me ever
“Your attached friend,
“W. E. Gladstone.”
Three years afterwards—on the 12th of March, 1868—Victor Emmanuel confirmed the proposed appointment, and on the 22nd of April following made Panizzi a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy. A letter, dated April 15th, to Mrs. Haywood, refers to this subject:—
“It is more than three years that I am offered to be made a Senator in Italy, it is a great honour. I begged to be excused, and I only accepted it when it was offered by the present Minister Menabrea, a man of honour and character. The offer came after the Mentana affair, that is at the time that poor Italy was most unfairly run down by everybody. I did not think I ought to shrink from doing what I could for my native country at such a moment, and had I not been taken ill as I was, I should have gone at once to take my seat.”
The last words refer to an attack which, in January, 1868, reached a climax so severe that his life was despaired of by his medical advisers. His friends were unremitting in their attentions; amongst them may be specially named Mr. Winter Jones, Mr. Newton, Sir James Lacaita, and Mr. C. Cannon. The sufferer rallied, and when he had attained sufficient strength went for a short time to Hastings, the air of which watering-place greatly benefited him.
This illness must not be dismissed from notice without placing before our readers a most characteristic extract from a “Memorandum” which speaks for itself:—
“31, Bloomsbury Square,
April 14, 1868.
“It having come to my knowledge that during my last illness a priest, who had never been called in by me or by my orders, pushed himself into my house, when he was with great difficulty hindered from forcing himself into my bedroom, where I was lying very ill, he alleging that he had been sent by some nameless or unknown person; in order to prevent so vile and so impudent an attempt from being successful if repeated, I warmly beseech my medical attendants, as well as my true friends, and I order my servants to forbid by all means in their power any person not sent for by me, or not known as one whose visit I should like to receive, from having access to my presence, were he unfortunately admitted into the house.”