The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-14 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 1864.

There are several circumstances in connection
with GARIBALDI'S reception in this country, that
will, we doubt not, be observed with particular
interest on the European continent. Some of these
incidents will have an especial interest for our
neighbours at Paris, and will probably be borne
there very vividly in their remembrance. It
can hardly fail to be a matter of some interest,
for example, in the French capital, when it
is remarked that among those who have de-
lighted to honour GARIBALDI by personally accept-
ing an invitation to meet him at Chiswick was
the Earl of CLARENDON, the very statesman-
diplomatist who is understood to have but just now
accepted one of the most subordinate posts in the
Cabinet, simply in order that, as a member of the
Cabinet, he may go to Paris upon a conciliatory
mission of the utmost delicacy—a diplomatic
mission extraordinary (not to say very extra-
ordinary)—intermediately between the British and
the French Governments. By way of an ingenious
preliminary to which, the Parisian gobemouche will
say, with a sarcastic shrug of the shoulderst—he
Earl of CLARENDON, immediately before starting
from Paris, is among those who are hand and glove
with General GARIBALDI at Chiswick. That that
renowned adventurer is publicly welcomed in this
country by the chiefs of both the great political
parties—the leaders of her Majesty's Opposition and
the leaders of her Majesty's Government de-
prives the demonstration accompanying his arrival
in this country, as we took occasion to remark on y
the evening botore last, altogether deprives this
very extraordinary manifestation in his favour of
any sinister significance whatsoever. Yet—gene
rally throughout the continental capitals, and more
particularly in Paris—it is tolerably certain to be
matter of remark (with all sorts of conjectures there-
upon) that General GARIBALDI, within the few
days which have elapsed since his arrival in this
country on board the Ripon, has had personal
interviews with three or four individuals
whose names have got somehow of late
to be brought into rather awkward association.
Two of these names, the world over, are illustrious.
One of the other names, on the contrary, has only
become known to Europe—solely, and that, too, but
very recently—in connexion with a great public
scandal. Another of these names has been notorious
throughout Christendom during the last quarter of
a century as that of the Arch-Conspirator of the Age
—as that of the propounder of the Theory of the
Dagger, nay, we accept his own construction
of the phrase, and put it as he wishes it to
be put henceforth—the propounder of the
Theory of the Moral Dagger. The man who him-
self acknowledges to have given another person 1,000
francs and a dagger—not a moral dagger—not an
air-drawn dagger like that glittering before the
eyes of MACBETH—but a veritable dagger with a
handle made of lapis lazuli, to the end that the re■
cipient of the dagger and of the 1,000 francs should
go and commit the despicable crime of assassina-
tion ! The continued association of these widely
contrasting names and reputations, we cannot
but regard as a matter for profound regret.
The direct association of some of them in a
flagrant placard displayed upon the walls and
hoardings of Westminster, on Monday, we have
already taken occasion to reprobate. And now,
while we still consider that the participation of the
Great Chiefs of Party, the direct and personal par-
ticipation of those great Chiefs of Party, in the
welcoming of GARIBALDI to England, deprives the
ovation accorded to GARIBALDI of any appearance
of a sinister significance, we cannot but feel
conscious that cynical observers abroad (forgetful
of the free air breathed here alike by every inha-
bitant and by every comer) will be putting all
kinds of constructions upon the mere circumstance
of the iuterviews referred to—will be associating
those interviews with each other, when, in point of
fact, they have no imaginable connection with each
other whatever. Here, again, it is—as we have said
already in regard to the ovation of GARIBALDI in
England, more particularly in regard to his won-
derful reception in London—here, again, it
is distinctly a personal matter—not a poli-
tical matter, but a personal matter entirely and
exclusively. As it is in regard to these public
demonstrations in favour of GARIBALDI—so now
is it precisely in regard to these private inter-
views of GARIBALDI'B, with one or another among
his old friends or new acquaintances. It is
simply and purely in this personal light
that they should be regarded from Paris, and, in
fact, from the continent generally—these recant in.
terviews of GARIBALDI'S. His interview in the Isle
of Wight with M. MAZZINI—his interview of a quar-
ter of an hour with our veteran Premier, Lord PAL-
MERSTON, in Cambridge House—his private inter
view at Chesham-place with Earl RUSSELL, the
Foreign Secretary—his interview at Thurloe-square
with Mr. STANSFELD, ea-Junior Lord of the Ad-
miralty ! Foreign observers, it is to be feared,
by reason of the late Parliamentary scandals
will (all England knows how erroneously)
be coupling these totally distinct incidents, marking
GARIBALDI'S sojourn in England, together. Let
them, however, disabuse their minds at once and for
ever of any such preposterous notions. Let them
be quite certain of this, that these names and inci-
dents have, in this way, the merest superficial asso-
ciation—that they have no conceivable connection,
and therefore no political significance whatever—
that, in a word, they are purely personal matters,
affecting General GARIBALDI individually.

A Government defeat nowadays is no unusual
occurrence. Time was when such an event con-
vulsed the whole system of politics, and excited the
attention of all concerned whether in a near or re-
mote manner. We live in other days, and the
Ministerial hangers-on can now aver, with perfect
truth, that a change has come over the spirit of
their dream. It is one thing to sustain a reverse of
fortune at night, and another to treat the matter as
one of any consequence next morning. On Tues-
day, however, there wai evidently nausual mortifi-