In the year 1842 it was Panizzi’s desire, after twenty years’ absence, to visit his native country, and the attempts he made to do so, and the ready assistance which the English Government afforded him may be easily estimated from the following official letters:—
I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th of April last, requesting the assistance of Her Majesty’s Government to obtain a promise from the Modenese Government that, in the event of your visiting the Austrian dominions, they would not require the Austrian authorities to deliver you over to those of Modena; and I am to inform you, in reply, that the Modenese Government have given to the Government of Her Majesty the assurance that they will not demand your surrender from the Austrian authorities, reserving, however, to themselves the power of requiring your removal in the event of your forming suspicious relations with Modenese subjects.
I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to inform you that Prince Metternich has assured Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Vienna that you are at liberty to prosecute your travels in the Austrian empire without incurring the danger either of being delivered up to the Modenese Government, or of meeting with any molestation on the part of the Austrian authorities.
These documents sufficiently prove the opinion entertained of Panizzi in this country, and the facilities provided for the adoption of the course he had planned for the attainment of the wish he had at heart; but by a subsequent letter from the Foreign Office, dated 26th October, 1842, we can conclusively prove that he was unable to accomplish his object, for in this official document we read that a “Note Verbale” had been delivered to Her Majesty’s representative at Vienna, to allow the applicant to prosecute his travels under certain conditions—conditions which the circumstances at that expiration of time most probably made him feel unwilling to comply with. The following is the letter in question:—
“With reference to Viscount Canning’s letter of the 19th of July last, informing you that you were at liberty to prosecute your travels in the Austrian dominions for the purpose of visiting the great libraries of Austria, I am directed by the Earl of Aberdeen to transmit to you a copy of a “_Note Verbale_,” which has been delivered to Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Vienna relative to the conditions under which you will be permitted to enter the Austrian dominions.