In conclusion, an extract from a letter of Lord Shrewsbury’s, after Panizzi’s return, may possibly be read with interest:—
“Palermo, December 28th, 1851.
“Dear Mr. Panizzi,
... What a blessed thing it is that the Coup d’Etat answered so beautifully, and did not place you in the dilemma of either making an immense detour, or of journeying in the midst of those robbers and assassins, the Socialists and Rouges Republicans. One sees now why it was that Kossuth was so anxious to return in the Spring, and what sort of connection our friend Palmerston has made in his chivalrous efforts in endeavouring to promote the cause of national freedom in those nations that stood in need of it! Lamartine did not use a more revolutionary phraseology in his first address to the French Republic, when he announced that the Treaties of 1815 had ceased to exist, and that France “proclaimed herself the intellectual and cordial ally of every right, of every progress, of every legitimate developement of the institutions of nations which wish to live on the same principle as herself.”
Verily those two letters of Esterhazy and Battyani came most seasonably to blow out the Kossuth Bubble, and scatter it to the winds, shewing what an empty notion it was that Kossuth was working for the regeneration of Hungary! I never questioned the honesty or patriotic intentions of our illustrious Foreign Secretary, or that he ever fancied he was not pursuing the best and wisest policy. But it is now clear that he and Lamartine are men of the same school, and that their principles, when attempted to be carried into action under untoward circumstances, and at unseasonable times, will end in disappointment to those who profess them, and in infinite mischief to those in whose favour they are evoked. To no country will this apply more aptly than to that beauteous region from which you are just returned. Her hour is not yet come. She is wholly unfit for the change from Absolute to Constitutional liberty. She has no materials within herself for the new edifice. The Law of 19 in Sicily, and the Code Napoléon in her Continental States, have so utterly deranged the mechanism of her old feudal construction, and uprooted the foundations on which any solid structure could be raised, that it is as clear as it is in France that Socialism and Red Republicanism would turn up instead of a Limited Monarchy the moment you had set the elements at work. Nor had Louis Napoléon a better cause to shew for dissolving the National Assembly than had Ferdinand for sending his Chamber to their homes, and stopping them in the same wild and unprincipled career. One can only, therefore, now legitimately work for her social, not for her political regeneration. Municipal privileges are the only liberties, a good administration of the Law is the only phase of which she is susceptible. Any efforts you may make in these directions may tend to good, and if you and Palmerston will steadily pursue that object only, and by means suitable to their end, you may effect much for the happiness of the people, as well as for the security of the Throne.
Very truly yours, &c.,
Shrewsbury.”
