of
the water that separated hospitable England from the realm of the French
Emperor and his ever-watchful police.

The world was mistaken. Mazzini may have hatched plots and prepared
_coups_; indeed, to do so was his daily task, and sometimes when I asked
him: "Eh bien, comment ca va? Qu'est ce que vous faites?" he would
pleasantly answer: "Je conspire"; but in this case we knew that he could
not have had any communication with Orsini. What had happened between
them had led to an irreparable breach. During one of Mazzini's secret
visits to the Continent, his friend Sir James Stansfeld, then Mr.
Stansfeld, had undertaken to open his letters for him, and to forward
what he deemed desirable. Among others a letter from Orsini thus came
into his hands, which contained the vilest accusations against two most
deservedly respected ladies, friends both of Mr. Stansfeld and of
Mazzini. The indignant answer with which the former met the slander led
in true Continental fashion to a challenge from Orsini, which, it is
needless to say, was treated with contempt. Mazzini, to whom woman was
ever an ideal to be looked up to and revered, was deeply incensed. He
never met Orsini after the incident, and he never forgave him the libels
he had penned.

Alluding to these circumstances, I asked him why he did not publicly
contradict the reports that accused him of complicity; knowing, as I
did, that they were untrue, I wondered that he did not repudiate the
charge. To that he answered: "It matters nothing, or rather it is well
the world should believe me implicated. I never protest. Europe needs a
bugbear, a watchword that threatens, a name that makes itself feared.
The few syllables that go to make up my name will serve the purpose as
well as any others."

Mr. Stansfeld was one of his earliest friends. He has often told me how
great was the personal influence Mazzini exercised over him. "What could
be loftier," he writes, "than his conception of duty as the standard of
life for nations and individuals alike, and of right as a consequence of
duty fulfilled. His earnestness and eloquence fascinated me from the
first, and many young men of that time have had their after-lives
elevated by his living example."

There were two associations of which all the most active members were
young men, Mr. Stansfeld amongst the number: "The People's International
League," and "The Society of the Friends of Italy;" the latter
especially exercising conside