ABSTRACT
In January, 1858, Orsini, the Italian conspirator, threw a bomb at the Emperor Napoleon in Paris, killing eight people and wounding 150, but missing altogether both Napoleon and the Empress. A letter from Orsini appealing to the Emperor to give liberty to twenty-five millions of people was read at his trial; it was printed in all the French newspapers, and by Napoleon’s own request in the Piedmontese Official Gazette. The historian to-day is able to see how completely Gladstone’s view of the spirit and character of the proceedings was shared by the two men who most of all disliked Parnell in his Cabinet. The Cabinet had to consider whether, if this committee was held, they should produce all the letters that had passed at the time. Harcourt was so self-confident that he upheld his own favourable view of the resident magistrates against Gladstone, though Gladstone could quote against him the opinion both of Spencer and Forster.
