REPUBLICANISM.
(To EDITOR or THE '" SPECTATOR."1 Sie,—Mr. Atkins's collier would doubtless regard with the utmost respect the opinion of a Republican like Garibaldi on the above. subject. Here it is, as given by Lord Redesdale in his Memories:— "Garibaldi talked a great deal about England, for which he entertained a sincere admiration and affection. He asked many questions about the various people he had known there--ques- tions which he felt that he could put to me more discreetly than to the Duke (of Sutherland), for many of his friends had been among the Duke's nearest relations—his mother, his brothers and sisters. Suddenly he turned round and said : 'Is it true— is it possible that it can be true—that there are actually in England people who are desirous of abolishing the existing order of things by setting up a Republic in the place of your Monarchy?' I said that there certainly were a few people who seemed to think that to do away with the Monarchy and the aristocracy, and to set up a Republic was the panacea for all human ills. `They must be fools! ' he said, and then went on very earnestly : ' Why, in England you have the finest form of government in the' world—a Republic of which the President rules by the will of the people, and, being hereditary, depends upon no political cry of the moment. With you, by virtue of this' hereditary principle, there is not the continual danger of some one saying "Ote-toi de lh que je m'y mette "—and so no perpetual risk of upheavals. I only wish that I could see Italy blessed with such a Republic : then I should be quite content.'" —I am, Sir, &c., RALPH RICHARDSON. 29 Eglinton Crescent, Edinburgh.
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