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1 - Opening Mazzini’s Mail

Sir James Graham and the Post Office

from Part I - Public Scandals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2022

Michael Wheeler
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
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Summary

The scandal associated with the opening of Giuseppe Mazzini’s private letters by the Post Office, on the orders of the government, fuelled a series of debates in the cockpit of the House of Commons. Those outside the House relied upon press reports on the debates for information, reports that included accounts of private letters and secret dispatches being brandished as evidence by both the home secretary, Sir James Graham, and his opponents. Two open letters to newspaper editors – Carlyle’s of June 1844 and Mazzini’s of February 1845 – were influential in their commentary upon the central themes of political honour and public morality. And Sir James Graham, leading statesman and devout evangelical, was humiliated when the ‘Grahamizing’ of letters became a craze, encouraged by Punch. But the general public remained on the outside, looking in upon the parliamentary hurly-burly.

Type
Chapter
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The Year That Shaped the Victorian Age
Lives, Loves and Letters of 1845
, pp. 21 - 48
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Opening Mazzini’s Mail
  • Michael Wheeler, University of Southampton
  • Book: The Year That Shaped the Victorian Age
  • Online publication: 08 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009268868.004
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  • Opening Mazzini’s Mail
  • Michael Wheeler, University of Southampton
  • Book: The Year That Shaped the Victorian Age
  • Online publication: 08 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009268868.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Opening Mazzini’s Mail
  • Michael Wheeler, University of Southampton
  • Book: The Year That Shaped the Victorian Age
  • Online publication: 08 December 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009268868.004
Available formats
×