wers), to prevent those
letters from being opened, while at the same time he knew nothing of
their contents. The incident was used by Disraeli to make an attack on
the Palmerston Government, for containing in its ranks so dangerous a
man as Stansfeld--a man actually engaged in sheltering a conspirator,
and "the great promoter of assassination," as he was pleased to call
Mazzini. Bright made a strong speech, defending Stansfeld and Mazzini,
and declaring that Disraeli himself had justified regicide, as he had in
the "Revolutionary Epic." Stansfeld also spoke, saying that he was
proud of the intimate friendship of Mazzini, and denying that the great
patriot could be properly described in the scurrilous language Disraeli
had used.

It was in consequence of this incident that Mr. Stansfeld resigned
office, "perfectly satisfied," he says in a letter on the subject, "in
being able by so doing, to reconcile the duties of private friendship
with my obligations to the Government, of which I was the youngest
member." In his long and honourable career, whether as Mr. or Sir James,
Stansfeld was always a good knight and true, labouring with the zeal of
the reformer and the foresight of the statesman. In Mazzini he admired
not only the patriot who served his own country with passionate
devotion, but the teacher who, seeing far beyond the narrow limits of
each separate nation, could realise the ideal of international unity,
and foreshadow a future, in which the aim of statesmanship among free
nations would no longer be to perpetuate the weakness of others, but "to
secure the amelioration of all, and the progress of each, for the
benefit of all the others."

Thus impressed with the solidarity of nations, and the community of
their interests, Stansfeld at all times advocated the cause of
international unity and the establishment of tribunals of arbitration;
and, if a powerful figure-head was wanted to represent those causes, be
it to preside over a meeting or to introduce a deputation to the prime
minister, we looked to Sir James as the man round whom the best and most
influential politicians would rally, and whom they would cordially
support, confident as they were both of his strength and of his
discretion.

From the arena of politics, national and international, to the four
walls of my little studio is an abrupt transition; but with the name of
Mazzini as a connecting link, it needs no apology. So I make straight
for Cadogan Gar