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

The Theory of the Dagger,

Sir Francis Head presents his compliments to
the Editor of The Sun, and requests he will be
pleased to permit the insertion, in his columns, of
the following letter :
To JAMES STANSFELD, ESQ., M.P.

Sir,—ln a pamphlet entitled " On the Theory of
the Dagger," published in London by M. Mazzini,
he—after pointing out to the regicides of Europe,
" The dagger you can shape from your workmen's
files"—bestowed upon all instruments of that de-
scription, and upon the uses thereof, the following
benediction :

"From the dagger of the Vespers to the stone of Belilla
and the knife of Palafox, blessed be in your hands every
weapon that can destroy the enemy, and set you free
. Sacred was the dagger which Harmodius enriched
with roses. Sacred was the dagger of Brutus. Sacred the
stiletto of the Sicilian who began the Vespers."
In a letter published by the same writer demon.
strating the practical use of the dagger, he de-
lineated the following scene between himself and a
young man, Antonio Gallenge, introduced to him
as " one who was bent upon doing a lofty deed"
(the assassination of Charles Albert, King of Sardi-
nia, and whom he, therefore, not only considered
but (without shame or repugnance) described as one
of those beings whom

"Providence from time to time lets loose upon earth, to
teach despots that the limit of their power rests in the hand
of one single man,"

On proceeding to business, " I asked him," pub-
lishes M. Mazzini, " what he required of me."
Gallenga replied, "A passport and a little money."
"I gave him a thousand francs." Subsequently,
on the day of the intended assassination being noti-
fied to Mazzini, and on his being asked, in addition
to the blood money, to supply the weapon to effect
it, he described the interior of his studio as fol-
lows

"A poniard with a lapis lazuli handle, a gift which I
cherished much, was on the table. I pointed to that.
Sciandra took it and went away."

Finally, in the limes of the 14th of January last
this loathsome murderer, as if to bestow upon the
world the last finishing touch to his self-executed
and self-admired horrid photograph (which at least
in this instance may truly be designated " justice
without mercy"), described his accomplice Greco,
the intended assassin of our generous ally the
Emperor of the French, as "an enthusiastic
patriot."

Nov, sir, after having had the opportunity, first,
of reflecting on the published opinions, or rather
confessions, of Joseph Mazzini, and secondly, of
associating and confidentially con versing with him
thereupon for nearly 18 years (during a consi-
derable portion of which he actually lived under
your roof), you not only, in private life, openly
and deliberately commemorated your admiration
of his principles and practice by imposing upon
your only child the name of a man designated by
your own colleague, Eirl Russell, " the assassin
Mazzini," but en becoming one of the lords of her
Majesty's Admiralty you consented secretly to
assist him and his accomplices, not by furnishing
the poniard which (as you well know) he was ever
eager to supply, but by giving to these miscreants
the cloak and dark-lanthorn use of your house for
the ill-famed purpose of circulating letters addressed
—as you have boasted as well confessed—to false
names.

At the trial of Greco, on the Procureur-General
of France, with calm dignity, stating—without a
single word of offence, or even of complaint—that,
upon referring to the London Directory, to ascer-
tain the owner of the house, 35, Thtirloe.square,
from which the hired assassin of his Sovereign was
to obtain money—
" it is not without sadness that I recognise the name of
a member of Parliament of England, who already had been,
in 1837, appointed to be the banker of the Tibaldi conspi-
racy against the Emperor's life,"

Instead of instantly standing up (as you were
sagely advised to do by the 7imes),
"To disentangle your name, and the name of the coun-
try, the House of Commons, and the Government from the
odious connection into which they had unfortunately been
brought,"

you not only rose to magnify the name and laud
the principles of Mazzini; but, sad to say, another
member of her Majesty's Government deemed it
advisable to declare—

" That the most prompt and dignified way of vindicating
the honour of the country was to treat the accusation of the
Procureur-General with the contempt it deserved I"

" Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,"
the House of Commons, in a moment of political
delirium, irrationally negatived the inoffensive, self-
evident, and, to the French
people, conciliating
affirmation—

"That the statement of the Procureur-General on the
trial of Greco, implicating a member of that house, and of
her Majesty's Government, in the plot for the assassination
of our ally the Emperor of the French, deserves the serious
cowideration of the house." _

In its admirabTe- COMMents on this lamentable and
most extraordinary negation, which, logically, is
almost tantamount to a vote of confidence in
Mazzini,
"We are really unable," wrote the Tiiites, "to under-
stand the obliquity of natural feeling which still restrains
Mr. Stansfeld from expressing his deepest regret to the
House of Commons, the Government, and the country, for
having given occasion to their being placed in such an un-
pleasant position in the eyes of the French people; and to
the Emperor of the French for having made it possible that
anything connected with him could be turned to such an
infamous purpose. IVe regret very much that the Govern-
ment, in their determination to defend a colleague, have not
taken a more generous view of their relation to the Emperor
of the French in the matter."

In the story book of the sayings and doings of
the Anglo-Saxon race, the few facts which almost
without comment I have just recited will always be
a painful chapter to read.

England has had dark pages enough in her