It was not long ere an answer to these statements was attempted by the Neapolitan Government, under the title Rassegna degli Errori e delle Fallacie pubblicate dal Sig. Gladstone, &c, &c. This brochure evinced an ingenuity of sophistical argument, to say the least of it, only worthy of such a cause. Before any authorized reply to it appeared, it had been skilfully and sufficiently answered by an anonymous author in a pamphlet entitled:—A Detailed Exposure of the Apology put forth by the Neapolitan Government, in reply to the Charges of Mr. Gladstone, under the title of Rassegna, &c., &c. (1852). London. Mr. Gladstone’s own answer, entitled, An Examination of The Official Reply of the Neapolitan Government, was published soon afterwards. In this the writer grants the utmost limits of concession to his opponents; whatever rests not on manifestly sufficient evidence, nay, on moral certainty, he retracts: whatever even seems to require modification, he unhesitatingly modifies; but, modification and retraction notwithstanding, it must be acknowledged that the case stands much as it was. To quote the author’s own words:—“I believe that, for my own vindication, I might without any new publication have relied in perfect safety upon the verdict already given by the public opinion and announced by the press of Europe. The arrow has shot deep into the mark, and cannot be dislodged.”
Judging from a letter of Mr. Gladstone’s to Panizzi, it may be concluded that the latter had much to do with the publication of these famous letters:—
“October 6th, 1849.
“My dear Panizzi,
“... You and I have, I think, been looking with much the same feeling at what has been passing; in Rome. I am no great revolutionist elsewhere; but I am persuaded that the civil Government of three millions of people ought not to be carried on only by priests, and a real representative system giving the community the power of the purse, is the best, and, so far as I can see, ought to be accepted or endured.
Always very sincerely yours,
W. E. Gladstone.”
