panizzi and austria; policy of palmerston; mr ellice; scotch sabbath; mr gladstone on tasso; panizzi and thomas carlyle.
panizzi’s correspondence with the sketches drawn from it and from that of the society with which he was connected, will now be continued, for from these is to be derived his private opinion on various subjects, and no doubt can possibly be suggested as to this course furnishing irrefragable proofs of his real sentiments. miscellaneous as are the matters of which these letters of panizzi treat, it is not surprising, considering the disturbed and eventful state of this period, that a large proportion of them relate to politics, to which he was so irrepressibly addicted. the following to mr haywood and lord rutherfurd, contain the comments of an acute observer of the unsettled state of government and of affairs in general in this country and in the east immediately before and after the crimean war. it is to be wished that, in addition to skill and vigilance, the credit of impartiality could also be ascribed to panizzi. the fact is, however, that, so deep was his dislike to austria (scarcely to be wondered at), that it strongly 331tinctured his political views of affairs both at home and abroad. it will be observed also that he was less of a true prophet than a keen observer.
herein, too, he gives his opinion of the policy of lord palmerston and other statesmen, showing very decided and biassed views of the course they would probably adopt, and venturing on surmises which, as events have proved, were not well grounded. they, however, are valuable, not only as clear expositions of his views on the subject, but as specimens of his open and undisguised style of writing, without fear or favour, when his own political ideas required elucidation:—
“b. m., july 25, 1853.
“my dear haywood,
here there is nothing new. there will be no war, as the emperor of russia will gain something. he never meant to get all he asked, now, at once, and will make a merit of his moderation. in five or six years hence we shall have another row, and he will get something more—and so on till he will get all he wishes. time will come when england will repent her supineness. you think that to keep at peace ‘co?te que co?te’ is the high road to prosperity: i think it is ruin. i am reminded of the debtor who will not look at the state of his affairs boldly, and pay off: he goes on accumulating compound interest, till at last he finds himself ruined past redemption.”
yours, &c., &c.,
a. panizzi.”
“august 15, 1853.
“my dear rutherfurd,
“... i agree with you as to the deplorable state of affairs, both at home and abroad. the government, beaten regularly twice a day, is brought into contempt. lord 332palmerston has fallen very much in public opinion; his escapade last christmas has done him very great harm. he is considered by all his friends the very worst home secretary that ever was. as to foreign affairs, things are bad. the allied powers are at the feet of austria, who will never make war on russia except the infamy is submitted to by france and england guaranteeing austria all her dominions. i hope that england will not join in it, but i think france will do it, and the guarantee of france is the important one. here liberals are at a discount....”
ever thine,
a. panizzi.”
“september 12, 1853.
“my dear rutherfurd,
... i told lord john, lord clarendon, granville, lansdowne, and palmerston, that austria would never make war against russia, now they have allowed her to make herself the mistress of the situation, as the french say, and to seize two of her best provinces of her ally, who had by his own individual exertions driven the enemies from it. that is what they call backing their friends—austria will take russia’s side if england and france mean to press her too hard, in case they are victorious; should they be beaten, still worse. delay is everything to russia, and that has been gained for her by austria, who sees that turkey must fall to pieces, and has meanwhile got a share of the inheritance of the dying man before he dies.
ever yours,
a. panizzi.”
to the right honourable edward ellice (whose name is familiar to all), who was an intimate friend of panizzi, and to whose son, the lately deceased mr. edward ellice, we are much indebted for the documents placed at our disposal. we find a 333letter on the same subject, written on the 4th of december, 1854:—
edward ellice
“my dear ellice,
i see there is a so-called treaty of alliance signed at vienna. you will see it is merely to say that next spring austria will take counsel with her new allies as to the best mode of enforcing what is not yet settled. she now will more than ever embarrass france and england, and prevent them from making war in the only way that such a war should be made. my dear friend, i am as good an englishman as you are, so far as attachment to this country goes, and i feel confident that the government are mistaken, and go to ruin the country as fast as they can. all these delays and weaknesses give all the advantage to the enemies of england, and austria is among the foremost ... and yet the greatest confidence is expressed in her future conduct, because it is assumed that it is her interest to join england and france; as if people acted always as they ought, and as if it was quite clear that she has more to fear from russia and her system of government, and ultra-legitimist principles, than from two revolutionary governments like england and france. i have no patience with such reasoning.
ever yours,
a. panizzi.”
here follows a terse little note, written in the true panizzi style. whether the ass mentioned in his comment on a piece of scotch sabbatarianism was, in the common acceptation of the term, “hired,” may be questioned. but we can testify, from our own personal experience, to the peculiar tyranny exercised on the unfortunate inhabitants of glasgow, and which 334falls most heavily on innocent sojourners in that cheerful city:—
“november 25, 1854.
“my dear rutherfurd,
i see the cabs and omnibuses of glasgow do not ply on sundays. was not the donkey on which jesus christ entered jerusalem on palm sunday a hired ass? and if he went about on a hired donkey, why should not the glasgow people be allowed to ride in omnibuses or hired cabs on sundays?”
the next letter we shall quote is from mr. gladstone:—
“hawarden, december 17, 1855.
“my dear panizzi,
i entirely feel, upon a recent deliberate re-perusal, tasso’s right to stand in the very restricted class of the great epic writers. it is true that in that class he seems to me to stand immediately below homer, but i should boldly say the same of virgil.
his own life and fortunes are indeed deeply moving.
yours, &c., &c.,
w. e. gladstone.”
with all due deference to so great an authority, and fully agreeing with his estimate of tasso, the position assigned by mr. gladstone to virgil is scarcely doing justice to the chief of the latin poets. panizzi, in a letter to mr. gladstone, says:—“i shall be happy, you may be sure, to read what you say on tasso, who is, no doubt, greatly below homer, but not so much below virgil as people affect to say.”
it is true that virgil laboured under one unfortunate disadvantage; the language in which he wrote is certainly less fitted, in point of simplicity 335and sublimity, as a vehicle for epic poetry than the greek.
it will not detract from the miscellaneous character of the information promised in this chapter to subjoin a few extracts from a correspondence which took place between panizzi and mr. thomas carlyle, who was not one of those who were entirely satisfied with the defective reading-room at the british museum, which preceded the present splendid building, soon to be described. full of sad experiences of the manifold inconveniences of the former, he pardonably, but erroneously, imagined that it might be possible to obtain some more private and more comfortable spot wherein to pursue his studies at the museum. in his endeavours to attain this end, however, he was not altogether successful.
on the 11th of april, 1853, the eminent historian addressed a letter to panizzi, which he answered, we fear, in terms somewhat too severe, so much so, that we purposely avoid making public anything which was simply the fruit of former quarrels; be that as it may, the correspondence was submitted to the trustees four days afterwards, together with a report in which panizzi stated that he knew of no private room, nor of any quieter corner in all the library for the purpose of study, than the reading-room; but even if he did, he did not think that in a public library, supported at the national expense for public use, any person should enjoy advantages and facilities denied to the generality. better accommodation was, undoubtedly, desirable for readers—for them all—but not for any especial individual, leaving others to 336fare as well or as ill as they might. on may 7th the trustees approved of panizzi’s conduct.
not altogether content with this decision, mr. carlyle seems to have made an attempt to enlist on his behalf the interest of lady ashburton, and, through her, that of lord clarendon. the result of this attempt will be gathered from the following letter, addressed to the latter:—
“august 10, 1853.
“i heartily wish it were in my power to do what lady ashburton requests. the following statement will show your lordship how i am placed. mr. carlyle wrote to me asking what lady ashburton asks. i informed him that there was no private-room whatever in the library which could be assigned to him, and that the quietest place for study was the reading-room. i moreover pointed out to him how invidious it would be in a public place to favour anyone—however great his merits or strong my desire to serve him.... i know that individual trustees have been applied to; i know that they have mentioned the subject to their colleagues; and i have myself submitted mr. carlyle’s letter and my answer to the trustees, who have approved of what i have done, and who have declined to accede to similar applications. your lordship, i am sure, will see that it is impossible for me to depart from the rule under such circumstances....”
let us, however, say no more about this unpleasant affair, and look upon it as another example of the unbending, unswerving nature of panizzi in all matters of duty; for although he was, doubtless, 337impressed with the great deserts of the applicant for relief and especial accommodation, on this occasion he saw no reason for laying himself open to a charge of favouritism, or, under any pretence, being a party to conceding to one reader, however great his merits, that which would undoubtedly be denied to another.
