General Menabrea has resigned his post as Italian Ambas- sador
in Paris, on account of domestic misfortunes, and M. de Blowitz seizes the occasion to reveal a bit of secret history. In 1867, it appears, Napoleon III., irritated by Garibaldi's threats against Rome, had decided to sever Naples and part of the Pontifical States from Italy, and had, in an autograph letter to Victor Emanuel, informed him of his intention. The letter is textually given. The King, intensely excited, asked advice from General Menabrea, then at the head of an ad interim Ministry, and the General advised him to risk all by arresting Garibaldi in the midst of his Volunteers, and then plainly defying the Emperor of the French. Victor Emanuel accepted the advice, Garibaldi submitted, and the King informed Napoleon of the fact in a letter ending in these proud words :—" God save the Kingdom from any disruption ! But if such an attempt were made, patriotism is sufficiently strong among us, from the King to the humblest Italian, for the last drop of our blood to be shed before that sacrilege be accomplished." As Napoleon was well aware that, had he seized Naples, the Carbonari would have executed him, he was, we fancy, trying to " bluff " the King ; but the successful audacity of General Menabrea's counsel was none the less to his credit as a statesman with the nerve to run a great risk for an adequate end.
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