The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-19 00:00:00

SYMPATHY WITH GARIBALDI.

Last evening a public meeting was held at the
Whittington Club, to express sympathy with Gari-
baldi and to protest against the French occupation
of Rome. There were not fewer than 500 persons
present.

Mr. NICHOIAY, of Oxford-strE et, was called to
the chair, and after a few preliminary remarks ob-
served that it was with great pleasure, mingled
with great regret, that they met there that even-
ing—pleasure at the unanimous burst of feeling
which the numerous assemblage before him indi-
cated ; regret on account of the position in which
the hero of one hundred fights was at present
placed. (Hear, hear.) Garibaldi!—(the mention
of the name was received with repeated rounds of
applause accompanied with a few hisses—Garibaldi!
every true Englishman—every lover of his country,
approved of all that he had done. (Cheers.) Gari-
baldi had attempted to do that which sooner or later
must yet be done to make Rome the capital of Italy.
(Cheers.) They would not allude to Venice at pre-
sent—Garibaldi and Rome were alone the subjects
for discussion that evening. (Hear.) If Garibaldi
had been successful they would have gloried in that
success, as they had done when he rescued Sicily
and Naples from the tyranny of the Bourbon, and
when only a few Eng ishmen were found craven
enough to stigmatise him as a rash adventurer.
But if he had not been rash, what would have
been the condition of Italy now ? (Hear.) The
present, he was happy to say, was the first of a
series of meetings, all of which, he had no doubt,
would be equally enthusiastic. He congratulated
the country, and he congratulated the working men
especially, that they had come forward so nobly to
express their sympathy, and he could assure them
!bat the expression of their ardent and honest feel-
ing would compensate Garibaldi for the coldness of
the whole host of the aristocracy. (Hear.) He was
glad that through their instrumentality en Reglibh
surgeon had been sent uut to see that Garibaldi was
properly treated, and he was delighted at the almost
spontaneous expression of sympathy on the part of
Lord Palmerston, who, the moment he heard that
the English medical man had gone out, telegraphed
to the Government of Turi❑ to afford him every
facility to attend the invalid. (Cheers.)
Mr. WASHINGTON ILKS submitted the fol-
lowing resolution:—" That this meeting desires to
express its deep personal sympathy with General
Garibaldi in his misfortune, and to convey to the
illustrious prisoner of Spezzia a hope that when the
state of his health permits he will honour the metro-
polis of Great Britain with a visit; and to assure
him that in this free country he will receive from
all classes the hospitality to which his exalted cha-
racter entitles him." A telegram received that
morning from Mr. Peter Alfred Taylor, the member
for Leicester, who was at Spezzia, announced that
Mr. Partridge, the surgeon, reported as to the
wound of Garibaldi that the rifle ball had not
entered, but struck the outside bone of the ankle—
adding that there was no inflammation, and that the
healing process was going on favourably. Mr.
Wilks eloquently defended Garibaldi from The in-
sinuations made against him in some quarters that
he was a mere adventurer and disturber of order,
observing that his adventurous career had never
been stained with crime, nor had he ever ventured
to abuse public confidence and win a cause by per-
jury and bloodshed like the imperial tyrant who was
the main author of his present sufferings. If
Garibaldi had disturbed order, it was be-
cause that order was oppression. Garibaldi
had done more than Cromwell or Washing-
ton, and had given liberty to more millions of men
than either of them. He w a thevietim of intrigue,
but it was not the intrigue of Mazzini, as some had
asserted, for no man was less an intriguer than
Mazzini. The intriguing to which Garibaldi had
succumbed was that of the imperial plotter and of
Victor Emmanuel, who, by his conduct in this
matter, had rendered kingship contemptible, and
the intriguing of Ratazzi.
_ _

Mr. BRADLAGH seconded the resolution in a very
violent harangue, denouncing the Emperor of the
French, the King of Italy, Ratuzzi, the Pope, and
the priesthood. He rejoiced that the men of
France were beginning to speak, and the tp.vA of
the Tuileries was beginning to quake.
Mr. W. AUSTEN supported the proposition. HO
attributed all the difficulties of Italy, the war with
Russia, and all the difficulties and complications of
our foreign policy, to secret diplomacy, which pie-
vented the voice of the English peoplj being heard,
and having its due weight on the continent.
The resolution was carrisd unanimously, and
with loud cheers.

The CHAIRMAN having announced that a collec-
tion would be made at the doors to meet the ex-

penses,

Mr. MALLIsoN moved, "That this meeting con-
siders the sieg''.; and occupation of Rome 13 years
ago was ar, international outrage, for which the
only e7.cuses put forward were false pretences—
(c;lF,ers)—that many solemn pledges for the evacua-
t,.on of the Eternal City have since been made by
the Government of Louis Napoleon and scandalously
broken—(hear, hear)—that while Rome is ruled,
as at present, by a corrupt priestly administration,
resting for support upon a material force lent for
that purpose by a foreign despotism, Italian unity
is impossible, the thought and energies of the
1 Italian people are cramped and limited, and the
peace of Europe is constantly endangered." (Cheers )
In protesting against the French occupation of
Rome they were upholding the principle of non-
intervention, and drawing attention to the treachery
which had marked the first occupation of Rome by
the French army, and all the subsequent circum-
stances which had attended its continuance. He
argued that it was one of the most flagrant instances
of forced and unjustifiable intervention on record.
But if that intervention was a disgrace to France,
it was a shame to England, for England might
have prevented it at the first, or put an end to it
at any moment by a simple but decided expression
of opinion on the part of the British Government.
Mr. BEAL sez,,onded the resolution, remarking
that if the people insisted upon our Government en-
tering upon strong and earnest negotiation with
the French Emperor to put an end to the occupa-
tiont
of Rome, and made their doing so the e
condi-
tion of support at the next general election,
French troops would be at once withdrawn. Heh
held that the occupation of Rome by the French
was a continued menace to the peace of Europe, and
on that ground it was the direct interest of
to i.i tEng-
land and all the other powers to put an end
He acknowledged the services of
the Mortaing Advertiser, and a portioni
I o t
of
the heTcihmeeasp,
press, but condemned the vacillation
denounced whick one day praised and another
toDaily News,
Gari-
baldi as a madman and an adventurer. He also
be metropolitan mem-
, complained of the absence °dfriecommended the elec-
bers from the meeting, and the question with their
tors to make this
elusion of all others.
representatives to the
also
question
carried unanimously.
This resolution woo,. A7.r.
TAYLOR, seconded by
On the resolutionrsecret, y to the Garibaldi fund, it was
That a petition be drawn up by
Mr. WATTS,
this meeting
then resolved: That
whose auspices
"praying
and signed by the chairman on
the committee, under
pr that_ her. Majesty's principal
has been eon
its behalf,
Secretary, of State for Foreign Affairs will call on
the
al' of the French to redeem his frequent
prO ;i ;es to
o that effect, by forthwith evacuating
Borne.
Mr. TAYLOR added that the Lord Mayor bad
agreed to call a meeting on the subject at Guildhall,
and to preside over it, provided a requisition were
presented to him signed by a sufficient number of
the citizens of London.
The usual compliment to the chairman concluded
the proceedings.