The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-06-09 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE ON GARIBALDI.

In London, on Saturday, a marble tablet com-
memorative of General Garibaldi's visit to this country
and of his entertainment by the Duke of Sutherland
was formally unveiled in Stafford-house, when among
those invited to view the interesting ceremony by the
Duke and Duchess of Sutherland were Mr. and Mrs.
Gladstone, the Duke and Duchess of Leinster, the
Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Victoria Ashley, Lord
Houghton, Lord Kinnaird, Mr. Seeley, M.P., the
Hon. James Russell Lowell, American Minister, &c.
The host and hostess and their visitors having
assembled in the ante-room to the suite of apartments
on the south side of the house, the tablet being placed
over the entrance door of this room,

Signor C. de Tivoli explained that on the death of
Garibaldi a committee of Italians resident in London
was formed, and it was decided to cast a bronze me-
morial wreath to be sent to Rome and placed on the
monument which would be raised by the nation. It
had also been resolved, with the permission of the
Duke of Sutherland, to commemorate the General's
visit to England in 1861 by placing a tablet in Stafford-
house, where he had been most hospitably enter-
tained.

• Dr. Leone Levi, speaking on the 'events of Gari-
baldi's visit to London, remarked that many sovereigns
had visited this hospitable soil, but no sovereign, no
one, however high in station, from any foreign State,
ever evoked such a spontaneous popular ovation as was
accorded to Garibaldi. After alluding to the princely
hospitality shown to General Garibaldi by the Duke
and Duchess of Sutherland, he remarked that the
practice of affixing tablets to the houses in which die-
tinguished men were born or had dwelt was a very
ancient one in Italy and had been introduced with
singular advantage in England, thus reminding us
that here in London lived Franklin and Handel,
Faraday and Peter the Great. They thanked his
Grace for enabling them to record in like manner that
in Stafford House in 1864 dwelt Garibaldi. In the
name of the Italian Committee he then requested her
Grace the Duchess on that, the first anniversary of the
General's death, to unveil the tablet.

The Duchess of Sutherland then stepped forward
and, drawing aside the national Italian flag, displayed
the white marble tablet containing a profile portrait
of Garabaldi with appropriate inscription. -
The Duke of Sutherland having replied to the Com-
mittee, concluded by wishing prosperity to a happy
and united Italy. (Cheers.)

Mr. Gladstone, who was warmly cheered, said,—
I take upon myself at your request the office of
representing for the moment those who, as Eng-
lish friends, take part in this ceremonial, this
celebration, and who likewise took part in scenes
of many years ago. I plead guilty to a profound
interest in and affection for that country, which
began more than fifty years ageenpon my earliest visit
to Italy, and which I think will only grow warmer and
warmer until I die. This is, I think, to all who are
present, but especially to those who recollect the
visit of General Garibaldi, an occasion of exceeding
interest, and it brings back to our memory scenes
which cannot, indeed, be repeated, but which cannot
be forgotten. (Hear, hear.) The Persons who took
part in the proceedings of that period have, many of
them, been removed from us in the course of nature,
but they have not departed without leaving behind
them the tendereet, the fondest, and the most inefface-
able recollections; and there is one name to which your
Grace has referred which is absolutely inseparable from
this palatial residence, and which is, also, I believe,
enshrined in the recollection of all Italians—the name
of the late Duchess of Satherland. (Hear, hear.)
I may bear testimony which your Grace could not bear,
and say that not in Italy itself was there a heart
that heat mere truly or more warmly for the welfare
and happiness of that country than the heart of
Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland. Your Grace, we
naturally reflect upon the deep interest which she
showed at that time, in complete harmony with your.
self, in General Garibaldi as the representative of the
national cause—at first as the representative of the
national cause alone, but upon nearer acquaintance
with him likewise on the ground of his own personal
merits and attractions. (Hear, hear.) It was in your
Grace's power, and you did not hesitate to avail
yourself of the opportunity, to confer a great public
service by the exercise of a splendid private laospi-
tality, and the double character of that transac-
tion will, I think, always be remembered in con-
nexion with your Grace's name. (Cheers.) But
the remembrance of General Garibaldi dwells with
all who recollect the transactions of that day,
and I congratulate you Italian gentlemen upon
having had associated with your great national move-
ment a man to whom so extraordinary an historical
interest attaches. In the address which has been pre-
sented to the Duke of Sutherland, you have touched
upon many points of General ,Garibaldre character.
We, who then saw him fer the first time, many of us,
can nevet forget the marvellous effect produced
upon all minds by the simple nobility of his de-
meanour, by his manners and his acts. One might
say much upon the character of Garibaldi, but there
is one point which I will venture to illustrate by
recalling part of a conversation I had the pleasure
of holding with him under the roof of a great
Italian patriot, who seemed to give his whole heart
to England, but who never removed any part of
it from Italy—l mean the late Sir Antonio Panizzi.
I had the pleasure of dining in a small party, at
which, I think, your Grace was also present, under
the roof of Panizai, and that evening and its
conversation brought out with singular vividness what
is perhaps the most interesting of all the interesting
points in she character of General Garibaldi. Besides
his splendid integrity, besides his wide and universal
sympathies, besides that seductive simplicity of
manner which never departed from him, besidem that
inborn and native grape whih seem,* to attend all
his actions, I would almost select from every otber
quality this, which was in apparent contrast but in
real harmony in Garibaldi—the unien of the most pro-
found and tender humanity with his fiery valour.
(Cheers). Now, at that dinner at Sir Antonio
Panizzi's to General Garibaldi I had the pleasure
of sitting by him, and he conversed very freely\vith
me. An.l I remember he told a story in these
words :—"When I was a boy," he said, "I was
at echool in Genoa." Of Course, I am rendering
it in English. "it was towards the close of the
great French Revolution. Genoa was a great military
post—a large garrison always in the town, constant
parades and military display, with bands and flags
that were beyond everything attractive to the school-
bop. All my schoolfellows used to run here and
there all over the town to see if they could get sight of
one of those military parades and exhibitions. I
never went to one. It struck me then as a matter of
pain and horror that it should be necessary that ena
portion of mankind should be set aside to have for
their profession the business of destroying others."
Well, now I will not comment upon that tale, but
when one considers what Garibaldi was, what he
was in the field of battle, how fear never for
a moment any more than cruelty found a lodg-
ment in that heroic breaat, is it not a wonderful
tale, and le it not trail/ intereating to trace up the
man from the boy and to find that even in the thought-
less hours of childheod that sympathy with man-
kind which governed his whole existence found such a
peculiar and interesting form of expression? His name
is, indeed, illustrious; it remains inseparably aseociated
with the not less illuStrloue narne'of the great Cavour,
and these two names are again associated with the
name which has been so honourably mentioned to•dav
—the name of Victor Emmanuel. (Cheers.) And I
may say these three together form for you Italians a
tricolour as brilliant, as ever fresh, and I hope as
enduring, for many and many generations, as tbqt
national flag which now waves gver a United' Italy.
(Cheers.)

On Saturday the first anniversEry of Garibaldi's
death was commemorated throughout Italy with great
demonstrations of mourning. At Rome a bust of the
hero was unveiled at the Capitol in the morning by
the Syndic. Later in the day it was visited by a large
procession of workmen's associations and old cam•
paigners in their world•fnmous red shirts.

At Milan the municipality uncovered a tablet at the
Garibaldi gate, while at Palermo there was a great
popular demonstration, the theatres and shops were
closed, and the town was hung with mourning flags,