Nothing daunted by such strong and keen weapons of argument, Lord Shrewsbury returns to the charge with a supply of counter-ammunition in the shape of a worthless pamphlet, written by one Mr. Macfarlane, and termed, in unconscious irony, the “Cause of Order.”
“Palermo, June 12th, 1851.
“Dear Mr. Panizzi,
I send you an interesting little brochure, which, I trust, will serve to show that Mr. Gladstone has been mystified. Rely upon it, the Government of Naples, whatever imperfections it may have (and what Government is without them?) is by no means deserving of the censures which have been so liberally and so unjustly cast upon it by a certain class of writers, and still more, and with far greater effect, by a certain class of speakers and talkers.
Macfarlane’s statements, in his ‘Glance at Revolutionized Italy,’ and in his appendix, I am convinced, are by no means too favourable. The absurd, ridiculous, superficial, and notoriously false facts and figures of Mr. Whiteside will never counteract the solid truth of the rival, and more experienced, and far more talented tourist....”
The remainder of this letter is hardly worth quoting. Arguments, or assertions, are repeated, and there is much discussion on “the havoc, crime, and plunder” of the “Glorious Revolution,” on the previous fulness of municipal coffers and general prosperity of the country; on the progress of all works of commerce and agriculture, the making of new roads and harbours, the lightness of taxation, &c. There was “no grievance except old Maio’s slack hand over the demagogues. Had there been a Satriano or a Pronio there had been no Revolution, nor even a serious thought of it.”
The statements of the English Blue Books are stigmatised as a mass of error and bad faith.
The extreme prolixity of Lord Shrewsbury’s letters, and the weariness of the “damnable iteration” in which they abound, render it difficult, and indeed unnecessary, to present them in their entirety. In fact, so much of Panizzi’s portion of the correspondence, as is set out in full, gives all that is wanted of his opponent’s argument and of the answer to it. Lord Shrewsbury harps much on Sicily (out of which he comparatively rarely ventures) in his defence of the Government of King Ferdinand. Slightly oblivious of the fact that it is despotism that has reduced the Southern Italians to the state in which he finds them, he decides that such despotism should be perpetuated as the only form of Government which suits those it has created. To attempt to improve by absurd and iniquitous revolution, to interfere with the well-settled and satisfactory state of things here described by Lord Shrewsbury, and with the benevolent régime which had so ordered matters, would be reprehensible in the last degree. Meanwhile nothing can exceed the contempt with which the writer speaks of the almost too happy people of this too happily governed Kingdom; prefacing his notice by advising those who have rashly maligned the King and his Government to come over, and see and judge for themselves:—
“Let any one come here and read the official documents, and hear and see the lamentable history of a period which will ever be a blot upon our national honour and honesty, (for we violated every principle of international law,) he will imbibe very different notions of both the King and the Government which too many of us have been so unjustly and inveterately maligning. The people of these countries are no more fit for liberty than cats and dogs. They know not what it is, or how to use it, nor are there materials to guarantee its due exercise even if they understood it better. Large and free municipal privileges, such as they really have, with a good Governmental administration, and a strong hand to repress crime, is all that they are suited for, and all that they ought or do desire.... In the meanwhile, read Macfarlane, and sip in wisdom and instruction from his sprightly stream.... You look to his facts and assertions and the authorities upon which they rest, and believe that both you and Mr. Gladstone and Sir W. Molesworth have all been mystified, even more so than the readers of the Blue Books.”
No apology, we feel sure, is needed for the introduction in this correspondence of such letters from Mr. Gladstone as reached Panizzi during its continuance, and bear on the subject matter. A passage in the following epistle will remind the reader of the contrast between revolutions in more than one foreign country, and the manner in which such movements have happily been hitherto dealt with in England:—