Conspiracy Surrounding Garibaldi's Departure, 1864

Description:Many letters and newspaper cuttings relating to Garibaldi’s visit suggest that there was controversy over Garibaldi shortening his stay in England and returning home to Italy sooner than planned. This controversy centred on confusion over why Garibaldi had chosen to cut short his visit to England. The confusion fuelled speculation which culminated in the concoction of numerous conspiracy theories.

One notable anonymous letter includes a news cutting which appeared in the Birmingham Post, Wednesday 27th April 1864 relating to Garibaldi’s sudden departure from England. The anonymous letter which accompanies this cutting states ‘my Lord Duke, there are some cases in which anonymous letters are pardonable and this is certainly one of these cases’. The writer explains that the purpose of her letter is in giving the Duke ‘information of a most false and injurious invention lending to disgrace and degrade your Grace’s noble name’. The writer states ‘although no one in the higher classes would for a single moment be mis-led by such a fabrication still among the middle and lower classes there doubtless will be many to believe and condemn’.

The accompanying newspaper cutting, entitled ‘The Real Cause of Garibaldi’s Departure: His Threatened Assassination’ accuses the Duke of being behind a plot to assassinate Garibaldi. The cutting is of a letter sent to the Birmingham Post by someone who signs their name ‘Notyep’, who the letter identifies as ‘Peyton’. Peyton writes that:

‘One night last week about the midnight hour, the Duke of Sutherland might have been seen stealthily to descend the staircase of Stafford House attired in dressing gown and slippers, he opened the street door and admitted a man! A man dressed in a cloak and slouched hat, and conducted him to the bedside of Garibaldi. The assassin produced a poisoned dagger and a piece of paper, (on which was written the “Farewell” which afterwards appeared in the Times,) and said “Man of the people, Enemy of the Aristocracy sign this or die!!! Garibaldi considering the loss his country would suffer by his death, signed, and also gave a promise to quit England at once’.

The Sutherland Papers include a variety of letters concerning Garibaldi’s visit to England, both celebratory and vitriolic. In addition to the wealth of correspondence relating to his stay in England, the newspaper accounts of Garibaldi’s public reception and of the Duke’s involvement in his visit tell us a great deal about contemporary perceptions of Garibaldi and of British political policy.