The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-12 00:00:00

GARIBALDI'S ARRIVAL IN LONDON

Leaving Freshwater at 6.30 yesterday morning, ;
driving through hamlets and villages, the entire
population of which were turned out to have a
farewell glimpse of Garibaldi ; after being inspected I
curiously and rejected disdainfully by group after
group of men, women, and childreu,who had heard of
the coming departure from Brooke, and who, taking
us for avant couriers, invest us momentarily with
a factitious interest, only to dash us (morally) to
the ground, we arrive at Cowes shortly before ten.
No flags were visible on the fleet of yachts sta-
tioned in the Medina, and but few to be seen
in the town, until we reach the pier. I
The General had been there on the preceding
Saturday, it was known that he would merely ,
hurry through, that it was the wish of many of his'
friends that he should be spared much excite-
Emit so early on the moruing of this eventful
Monday, and the Cowes people, obedient I
to requirements rather implied than expressed,
contented themselves with grouping quietly at
various points approaching the town. Running
the gauntlet of many a lorgnette, and invariably I
witnessing the same dissatisfied expression come!
over the faces of our inspectors, as soon as it is I
found we are not somebody other than ourselves,
we reach the place where the General is to
embark. Here are the first symptoms of the old
old story we have detailed from time to
time these ten days. Flags suspended from
one side to the other of the pier, fla4s from its
paying places, its wharves, its steamers ; people
congregating (though in small numbers) about
its gate, and a mingled air of patient waitiug and
eager expectancy pervading the whole. After
half-an hour or so, the carriages drive up,
and the General (in his silver-grey and red
poncho and the puce silk handkerchief),
Mr. and Mrs. Seely, Colonel and Mrs. Chambers,
and the rest of the party, step on board the steam
ship Mediu.. (placed at the disposal of Garibaldi by
the Southampton and Isle of Wight Mailboat Com-
pany, the whole of whose directorate are on deck to
receive their guests). A little confusion at the gate,
during which Mr. Seely himself certifies who are,
and who are not, to be admitted, some delay in
waiting for the luggage from Brooke, much shaking
hands with townspeople, who artfully row round to
the side of the steamer whereon the General stands,
many acknowledgments of the cheers on the pier,
and a particularly deep obeisance to a young lady
who waves with her own fair hands a large white
flag having a cross for its device, and we rapidly
bid good bye to the Isle of Wight. The company's
flag had been at the mast-head until the General
came on board, when his colours were hoisted, to
which a large foreign screw steamer (the funnels of
which are so short as to be all but imperceptible)
responds by manning its yards (four of its crew on
each yard), by lowering its own flag as we pass, and
by ringing vehemently at its ship's bells. We are
at some distance when all this occurs, and the
General anxiously tries to show his appreciation
by waving with red wrapped arm his cap to and
fro, as lie stands at his full height. Passing
the pretty little yacht Medea, decked out as
on Saturday in its brightest and most compli-
mentary hues, passing, too, immediately under
the stern of the Boscawen training ship, which
silently mans its yards with a clustering,
clinging crew of human ants, who wave cape,
make signs, and are as outwardly demonstrative as
it is possible to be, without breaking discipline by
indulgencetin cheers,and the chaplain of which, hat-
waving as heartily as the rest of them, receives a spe-
cial recognition from the general, we are soon bailing
the familiar Southampton pier, and are pointing out
to each other thegold chain of the Mayor as he comes
to meet our boat. It may be here noted that the
mute eloquence of the Boscawen's salute, its combi-
nation of open enthusiasm and manly self control,
formed one of the most touching tributes we have
seen paid to Garibaldi. Thoughtful men noted this
on the journey to the island a week or so ago, and
if the cultivation of generous sympathies, and the
perfection of self command, are the ends of educa-
tion, assuredly the youth on board the Boscawen
are highly educated indeed. We had left Cowes
about half-past ten, and after a run of some
fifty minutes (during which the directors' hos-
pitality is duly appreciated, the General sending
for Pietro directly he is himself below), we land at
Southampton. Hurrying to the station, we pass
through several offices and ante-rooms, all of
which are lined with well-dressed people wait-
ing for a farewell peep of the General.
Now do the guns of the town give forth a right
royal salute ; now does the special train, certain
carriages of which are gorgeously decorated with
laurels and the Garibaldian colours, receive such of
its passengers as are not accompanying the General
from the pier to the station ; now is there • short
delay, caused, we are told (erroneously), by the
presentation of an address from the Mayor of
Winchester ; and now does a pleasant, albeit
peculiar, sound fall upon the ear. When the
popular candidate at the Eatanswill election
went through certain rites with the wives and
children of the electors, his agent astonished
Mr. Pickwick by the ecstatic excitement with which
he uttered " He's kissing them all round '." We
cannot, as veracious chroniclers, make the
same assertion ; for the writer was comfortably
seated in his carriage at this stage, and it was
the laughter-compelling, crush-suggesting sounds
evoked by this decidedly popular ceremony, what-
ever it may have been, which induced him to ask
why we were waiting, and what it was all about
" You're not to start till 12, and the're a'nearly
a'kisaiu' of him to death," was the answer made
me, and as sincere and ardent admirers of General
Garibaldi, I hope for his sake and in his interest
that the news was true. Next does the platform
become gradually thronged, and we remark many of
the now familiar faces of the town-council amongst
our fellow-passengers. Mr. and Mrs. Seely, Colo-
nel and Mrs. Chambers, and the Mayor of South-
ampton occupy one compartment with the General,
and to the music of " Hats off ! Now then, cheer !"
we glide out of the station punctually at 12. A
momentary stoppage a few yards from the plat-
form, during which the "seem off," headed by
Mr. Arthur Andrews, come forward to exchange a
few more last words with their particular friends,
or to obtain another peep at the General, and we
are fairly on our way. Moderating our speed at
Bishopstoke, but scarcely sufficiently to give the
comparatively few people assembled there an op-
portunity of greeting or even recognising Garibaldi,
we stop first at Winchester where an address is
presented' to the General. Eminently hearty, and
decidedly enthusiastic as was the feeling dis-
played, its expression would have been
more dignified had it been regulated with
some approach to order. At one time the pres-
sure on the carriages seemed almost dangerous, and
though crawling on the stomach underneath a rail-
way train, on the mere chauce of obtaining a better
peep at one of its occupants, denotes energy and
perseverance, it is apt to give those who witness
the feat some awkward qualms as to its immunity
from danger. Mr. Walters, the mayor, struggled
bravely against the obtrusive sympathy of his
friends, but, as it seemed to us, with but moderate
result. Neither the persuasions of the church
(largely represented on this platform), nor the
volunteer officers, who were in full uniform, nor the
awful presence of the mace itself, sufficed to
moderate the eagerness of those who perhaps felt
this to be their first and only chance of being face
to face with Garibaldi We see the Hon. Ralph
Dutton. one of the directors, and Mr. Godson, the
superintendent of the line; but it is only for
an instant, and they speedily merge into the
struggling mass composed of the men and women
of Winchester. These gentlemen travelled
with this train as a special compliment to
Garibaldi, and the smart and apparently quite
bran new embroidered uniform and pure white

gloves of the stalwart handsome guard t
suspect that the ootupany had not only soh

004
CDS

of the best-looking and most geniaaisir its servants,
but had presented him with a epee& attire whertts
to figure on this memorable occasion. We step
some 50 yards from the Windhoek* Station its emit
the mayor, who iu his scarlet robe has been received
into Garibaldi's carriage, there to read his address.
Where he sat, or how he accomplished the
feat, it is difficult to guess. It is trying to
read • formal document in public at all,
whether from • dais, a chair, or a rostrum.
It must also be trying to find yourself located iu a
railway carriage, every seat of which is fully occu-
pied, some of the occupants being ladies. But the
combination of trial is surely reached when, muni-
cipal robes and all, you find yourself among a party
of strangers, to one of whom you bear a special and
peculiar mission. It may have been that the
address was read at the platform in spite of the
crowd, and that the after interview was of a purely
social character. We have only to record that on all
heads being put out of window to ascertain the
[ cause of stoppage' we saw his worship picking
his way on the line between our train and a row of
empty trucks, and that we concluded that the
crowd bad so interfered with his elocution as to
compel him to seek a temporary retreat. At
Woking we have another stoppage, and one
very stout farmer, balancing himself on a
; small hillock in the outskirts of the
I sown, stands upon one leg, throws up his
hat, gives the General a hip hip, and is supremely if
solitarily happy. Later on, when we are in the
station itself, two trains are shunted (it is said) for
ours to pass. A lady in down train has evidently Lad
secret and occult official information, for she pro-
duces • carefully culled, and tastefully arranged
bouquet, which, poising carefully, she throws, or
rather attempts to throw, into the General's lap.
Now does her train whiz rapidly off, and now do
we observe John, the rail way porter, grin from ear to
ear, as he picks up and shows said bouquet to his
fellow-offioers, and hint incontinently as to the effect
it may produce in other than martial minds. We
were sorry for the Kingston and Wimbledon
people, but there was no help for it. We rattled
by them merrily to keep our appointment in
London, and though each of the platforms
was moderately crowded, and though we heard
their cheers vaguely, and saw them waving hands
like misty fantoecini, the whole thing was too rapid
for Garibaldi to be really recognised. Now, as indeed
they have done all along the road, do the small
gardens of the detached and semi-detached villas,
the houses fax away from neighbours, furnish their
one or two hat and handkerchief wavers, and so
contribute their mite to the welcome being
given. The children of the Patriotic School are
marshalled on its lawn, and we hope (as no doubt
has been done) that the scope and origin of the
building are explained to the General. Not so the
Freemasons' girls, who look, as it seems half fur-
tively, over their railings, and who have not appa-
rently beet even told to don their best attire in
honour of the day. Passing by railway servants,
who are waving laurel branches until they resemble
Macbeth's enemies at Dunsinane, noting that
the denser and denser crowds become on
the various fields and waste grounds, all
denote our proximity to London, we are drawn
up, and soon follow the General into the highly-
decorated goods-shed, which has been converted
into a temporary triumphal hall for his reception.
No sooner was the writer of this account in the
yard outside' after the address-presenting and the ,
departure of Garibaldi, than he was bailed by Signor
Basso, who bad by some mischance beeu left out of
the carriages, and who good-naturedly said it was
quite impossible to find room for all. He piloted
the latter, together with some ladies, to a convey-
ance, and then set about securing one for him-
self. Mr. John Richardson, of the reception
committee (who is by no means to be confounded
with Captain Richardson, of Southampton) gave us
a seat in his, and learning from his fellow-com-
mitteeman, Mr. Taylor, that the General (whoa,
be it always remembered, not a teetotaller) had
just spoken of temperance societies as "excellent
institutions," we pass into the road with the Duke
of Sutherland's carriage, containing General Gari-
baldi, following immediately after those of the
reception committee. Gradually another and
another carriage creeps in, and we have at length
to say, in reply to anxious inqniries, that he is
seven, and not five carriages behind. We advance
to eight, nine, and ten, and at last think it better
to say "about twelve." At Westminster-bridge
we see, or think we see, the Sutherland
and the postillions, and as we progress upCharing-
cross and Pall-mall, we gain some popularity by
the readiness with which we answer questions, and
inform our street friends of the whereabouts of the
general and of the short time they will have to
wait, All this time we keep remarking to each
other on the extreme calmness of the crowd behind.
They are orderly, gond-tempered, polite, but surely
very very quiet. "It's the lesson we've impressed
upon them," explains a gentleman on our right.
"It's looked on as a trial day for the working-
classes, and they're afraid of being called noisy,"
remarks another on our left, and with these ex-
planations we are fain to be content. Still, we
cannot understand how they can let Garibaldi go
by without cheering more than they do, soon being
set down in St. James's-street the writer walks
back to Pall-mall, to note for himself
the precise behaviour of the crowd as the General
passes. He waits there for some time, he sees not
twelve, but many times twelve, carriages pass by ;
he notes the impurtability of the policeman, who
drives one of her Majesty's vans in the procession's
rear, a procession of ribboned wands is seen, and
finally there it merely a [crowd of pedestrians.
Nobody can make it out, except the present writer.
' Be knows all about it, and dispenses his informa-
tion, it is to be feared, in a somewhat patrouising
way. He last saw Garibaldi's carriage by the
Houses of Parlianieut, the conveyance in which be
sat was only twelve behind him then, and he, the
speaker, is morally certain, that for some reason
' yet to be explained, the general has been taken
round by the park, and is now comfortably located
in Stafford-house. After this thesis has been
iterated a few times, and proved to be correct by
indisputable logic, after many people have been
persuaded to give up their seats, and many others
have been ridiculed for their persistent folly in
keeping theirs after the detachment we have named
• has been fully rested and refreshed, and just as it
is petulantly repeating its " matter of fact, not of
opinion," as to the impossibility of Garibaldi
now to a particularly obstinate young man, who
having paid two shillings for a stand is determined
' to have his money's worth, there comes a
mighty roar as of a deluge suddenly let forth, then
another, and another, and immediately afterwards
the General's carriage stops the way. It was very
humiliating, and sufficiently extraordinary, but we
had been leading a solemn procession, in the
utmost ignorance as to the whereabouts of the man
whom we had assembled to honour, and had uncon-
I sciously left Garibaldi so far behind as to think
11 cheering absent, when it was only inaudible.
• During the evening we met by chance Signors
I j Menotti and Guerzoni, who both expressed them-
selves highly gratified by the truly grand demon-
: I stzation of the day.