The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-19 00:00:00

The Weather—Sun Office, March 19, 1864,

THERMOMETER.
This dayZat Two o'clock

Barometer-30.05.
Wind—East; light breeze, and very fine.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1864.

Lord PAL3IERSTON, apparently, will• insist upon
bearing the whole brunt of it—meaning, that is,

the whole of the disgrace consequent upon this hor-
rible scandal about Mr. STANSFELD and M. MAz

ZINI. It is about the most mistaken act of fancied

chivalry that perhaps ever was heard of. How-
ever, Lord PALMERSTON will have it so to be—and,
therefore, so be it. Ha has 'chosen his bed—

and he must lie upon it. Mr. STANSFZLD,

it appears, did tender his resignation,
as, indeed, it was only decent and proper that

he should have done. The Prime Minister him-

self tells us, indeed, tells the House of Commons last
evening, that Mr. STANSFELD so tendered it. But
—upon his own deliberate responsibility—the vete-
ran leader of the Government declined to avail him-

self of the proffered resignation. "My answer
was," said Lord PALMERSTON last evening, "that I

did Lot wish him to take that step, that I wished
him not to do so, and if any responsibility attaches
to that decision," said thenoble lord, in conclusion,

" I am perfectly willing to take the responsibility
upon myself." Whereupon there were loud Minis-

serial cheers. It sounds chivalrous. It seems almost

a fine, plucky thing for the old man to have done.
We believe it, however, to be the greatest mistake
of his whole public life. It is worse than a crime
—it is (we repeat it) a mistake. It will be a very
long while indeed, not only before Lord PAL-

MERSTON, the oldest, and Mr. STANSFELD, the
youngest among all the members of the Adminis-
tration, but before the whole of the Administration
generally, as a body, are likely to hear the last of it.

It will stick to the Cabinet as worse than a burr, it
will cling to them like a taint. It will militate
against their popularity and poison their reputation.
The public will not easily lose the recollection of Mr.

STANSFELD'S shameful panegyric upon a suborner
of assassins, upon the man who gave the I,ooof. and
the dagger with the lapis lazuli handle to MARRIOTI,

otherwise GALENGA—that moral dagger which was
to have effected the murder of King CHARLES
ALBERT. Englishmen generally are not likely

either to lose the remembrance of the fact that
the accuracy of the astounding accusation made by
the Procureur-imperial, was distinctly admitted by
Mr. STANSFELD upon severe cross-questioning,
when at the very last he found it utterly
impossible to escape from the reluctant
acknowledgment—that letters intended for MAZ-
ZINI were sent through the post to, and received at
Mr. STANSFELD'S private residence, 35, Tharloe-
square, letters directed to MAZZINI under the name
of Fiore, otherwise, in plain English, " Flower 1"
Thanks to this member of the English House of
Commons, thanks to this member of the British
Government, MAIIINI was (as the Procureur Im-
perial had said quite accurately) enabled
to keep up his communications with his

infamous correspondents. When the right hon
gentleman the Leader of the Opposition was re
ferring the night before last to this indisputable fact
to this admitted and clearly demonstrated truth
Mr, STANSFELD himself rashly interjected the
inquiry (with a sort of indignation in his very
manner of putting it)—" What Correspondents?"
He had far better have held his peace. For—what
was the instant reply of Mr. DISRAELI—upon
the spur of the moment—suddenly, when thus
interrupted ? " What correspondents exclaimed
the member for Bucks. "You know them better
than I do, I suppose. (Loud cheers.) ' What
correspondents P' says the hon. member for Halifax.
Why, the assassins of Europe. (Cheers.) What
correspondents ?' says the hon. member for Hali•
fax? Why, the advocates of anarchy throughout
the Continent. (Renewed cheers.) What cor-
respondents ?' says the bon. member for Halifax.
Why, the men who point their poniards at the
breast of our ally." (Continued cheering.) Yet
it is of a man, like MAZZINI, who (during ali
these years that Mr. STANSFELD has known him so
intimately) has been cherishing precisely that class
of correspondents, that the member for Halifax
can have the consummate hardihood to speak
in terms of eulogium the most extravagant and
audacious! And not only was it thus with the
member for Halifax, bat it was thus, the night
before last, with that peerless patriot the member
for Birmingham, and with that highly moral and
conscientious statesman the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. Speaking of this amiable MAZZINI,
him of the "lapis lazuli" dagger (we beg par-
don of the " moral" dagger) the adviser of
GRECO and GALENG A Mr. BRIGHT had
the astounding effrontery to speak as
follows :—" I believe," he said, " there is no man
acquainted with MAZZINI who will not say that so
far as can ba divined from his character, from per-
sonal association with him, he is a man of profound
devotion—[An hon. Member—' To the dagger ']—
it may be not to the principles of the hon. gentleman
who speaks [Principles ! Mr. BRIGHT means
Daggers!l bat to the principle of the unity and
independence of Italy. Moreover, every man
who has associated with him will admit he
is a man of powerful and fascinating cha-
racter, that he obtains over those with whom
he associates a singular influence (-very singular!]
—and that there are few persons who have ever
been acquainted with him personally who would
not, apart from these special questions we are now
discussing—[An Hon. Member—' Of the dagger']
(cheers)—express for him the highest esteem and
admiration. (" Oh, oh.") And well, indeed, might
some voices exclaim with horror in the British House
of Commons at observations so entirely opposed
to all our notions of right feeling or even of deco-
rum ! But—while Mr. BRIGHT could talk thus
mealy-mouthed about AlAzzisti-of-the-Daggers
Mr. GLADSTONE could actually talk of the same
Notorious Conspirator thus :—" I am bound
to say that I never knew one of those
men (he is speaking of those whom he has
been accustomed to look upon as authorities in
Italian politics) who did not regard MAZZINI as
a person of great talents and a man of perfect
truth and integrity. That is an important paint
in the present discussion [very !] and therefore,
until the contrary is shown to be the case, I shall
assume that 111. illazzini is to he believed onhis word!,
Bravo ! Mr. GLADSTONE, there is nothing like
sticking to it—just as Mr. STANSFELD, " the
youngest" of oar Administrators (the ingenuous
youth!)
sticks it—just es Lord PALMERSTON,
" the oldest" of them (old enough we should have
thought to know better!) sticks to it, And so—as'
the upshot of it all—a sort of a dreadful Mezzinian
flavour clings somehow to the Administration.

It is very satisfactory that the Messrs. LAIRD
should have published their correspondence with
the Government. It was e. very extra rdinary pro-
ceedinn on the part of the Ministe:•s to refuse to
produce the papers themselves; bat really they seem
to think that it is the beet thing ney :An do to