THE CAGLIARI PAPERS: SARDINIA AND NAPLES.
THERE was one section of the Sardinian affair which we neces- sarily pretermitted in our notice last week. It was the portion which relates to the direct dispute between the Ministers of King Ferdinand and of King Victor Emmanuel. In such international litigation it might have been expected that the constitutional Government of Queen Victoria would have set the model of con- duct ; but unluckily it is not so. It is Sardinia who becomes the model ; it is she who on this occasion has played the part of England, and if she has not obtained the active cooperation of our Government, she must at least command the active sympathy of our countrymen. Indeed it wanted but a complete knowledge of the affair to arouse in England such a feeling as would have driven our Government forward to its duty ; but, as usual in these cases, the secrecies and delays of diplomacy have prevented the country from knowing what its official agents were at until it is almost too late.
We must, however, relate this episode in the history of the affair. Immediately after the seizure of the Cagliari, Signor Ca- rafa, the Neapolitan Minister, communicated to Count Gropello, the Sardinian Ambassador at Naples, the false intelligence that the vessel had been captured in the waters of Policastro, and con- sequently within the jurisdiction of King Ferdinand ; and this untruth prevented Count Cavour from demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the Cagliari. He confined himself to sending an unofficial request that the vessel and cargo should be restored to the owners, and the innocent crew and passengers liberated. The answer of Signor Carafa to this request was both insolent and menacing ; so much so, that the Sardinian Govern- ment sent orders directly to Count Gropello to return the note, with a request for its withdrawal ; instructing him in ease the Nea- politan Minister should refuse compliance, to quit Naples. This determined step had its immediate effect upon King Ferdinand : no sooner did Count Gropello assume a bold tone, than Signor Ca- rafa became quite pleasant and pliant ; and in the middle of Au- gust, at a time when new rigours of imprisonment were devised for the British engineers, all the Sardinian subjects who had been passengers on board the Cagliari were unconditionally liberated. Still Count Cavonr was far from being satisfied with this act of condescension ; he insisted on complete justice. The statement of the Commander of the Neapolitan frigate Tanctedi, as well as the address of the Advocate of the Intendancy of the Royal Navy before the Commissioner of Prizes and Wrecks, indisputably proved that Signor Carafe's first statement to the Sardinian Am bassador had been a tissue of falsehoods, and that far from being seized within the jurisdiction of King Ferdinand, the Caglian had been captured on the high seas, above thirty miles from Sa- lerno, and more than twelve miles from the nearest Neapolitan territory, the little island of Capri. The Count, therefore, again energetically demanded the restitution of the vessel, and the libe- ration of the whole crew. Unfortunately, he was not backed as he ought to have been by the British Government ; on the con- trary, our influence was dead against him. In his despatch of the 11th of November to Acting-Consul Barber, her Majesty's Secretary of Foreign Affairs is careful to remark, ihat the British Government " do not claim the release of these men," namely, Park and Watt ; and in his answer to Count Cavour's energetic note, demanding restitution of the vessel and release of the crew, Signor Carafa makes good use of this indirect support. " In questo affare, come PInghilterra stessa dichiarato, non si put:,
d
aver dritto richiedere altro the un giudizio sollecito, regolare, pubblico." "In this affair, as England herself has declared, there can be no right to require anything more than a speedy, regular, and public trial." And, of course, such a trial the Cagliari crew were to have from the Neapolitan Government,— a power already favourably known for " speedy, regular, and public " justice !
Nevertheless, the Sardinian Minister calmly persevered with his own course. In his despatch of the 24th of March, the Mar-
• quis d'Azeglio " once more expresses the hope " that " facts ought to be taken in consideration rather than documents," and that the " inadvertency or mistake" of the British Envoy at Turin " may become a truth." Eloquent in its very simplicity is the conclusion of this same despatch. " At all events, if abandoned to its own resources, the King's Government has fully decided to follow up this affair with the prudence and moderation which have characterized its acts hitherto, but also with the energy and firmness which the feeling of right and the national dignity inspire." If, as an illustrious person asserted, " consti- tutional government in Europe is on its trial," then verily, in this affair of the Cagliari the Sardinian Executive has victoriously undergone the ordeal. The steamer Cagliari, it is true, has not yet been restored to its lawful owners, but all the passengers and eleven of the crew were liberated more than six months ago, and the remaining prisoners are comparatively well treated ; whereas of the two British subjects, one was well nigh driven mad, and the other quite so. Such is the net result of the comparison be- tween the acts of a small but patriotic state and those of a great " power." Meanwhile, into what position has our own Government suffered itself to lapse towards Sardinia ? For if there has been a breach of duty through the neglect of the two British subjects who were so lawlessly and tyrannically detained in Naples, there has been a breach of duty also towards Sardinia, and through both towards this country. The right course for the British Minister was quite clear, and Lord Clarendon must have perceived that it was when he put the inquiry whether the Sardinian Government intended to ob- ject to tho proceedings of Naples in the case of the Cagliari. We do not for a moment mean to extenuate the conduct of Mr. Erskine, which was, as Lord Malmesbury has pronounced it to be, "in- excusable " ; yet his mistake is not incapable of explanation, nor does the exposure of it completely exonerate the British Govern- ment. It was a gross departure from duty to take upon himself the announcement that her Majesty's Government were disposed to object to the proceedings in the ease of the Cagliari ; yet what could be more natural than that an English gentleman, thoroughly acquainted with the whole affair, residing at Turin, distinctly perceiving the merits of the case, and peculiarly conscious of the highminded conduct pursued by Sardinia, should have supposed that her Majesty's Government must mean to object to the pro- ceedings,—must mean to be inviting the concurrence of the Sar- dinian Government in vindication of public law, national inde- pendence, and right? The note which was given to Mr. Erskine was in itself so imperfect as to cast an undue responsibility upon him ; but we have reason to doubt whether the veiled usages of the diplomatic service do not conceal habitually an amount of irregularity that might in some degree pal- liate the culpability of Mr. Erskine's conduct. But what was the political effect ? It was to make the Government of King Victor Emmanuel believe that the Government of Queen Victoria would sustain public law, defend British subjects, and in short, pursue that line of conduct which would be distinctly indicated by the duty of the Minister, the public opinion of our people' and the dictates of national duty. Count Cavour believed that the Eng- lish Government was going to do precisely that which he and the English people must have expected it to do ; of course his own conduct, as well as his King's conduct, was modified accordingly ; and it is a fact as remarkable as it is creditable to the honour and dignity of Sardinia, that the responsibility, which she has taken upon herself has not been cast back upon this country. The Mar- quis d'Azeglio has said, You ought not to leave us plantes la ; but Count Cavour has not said, You betrayed me into a course which I should not otherwise have taken, by a show of support which you do not give. He has rested his course on its own merits, and it has been repaid. But although Mr. Erskine's official superiors might justly censure, and even chastise him for his misconduct, undoubtedly the error of which he was guilty threw upon our Go- vernment an additional responsibility in the fulfilment of its duty ; and it is for this nation ratherthan Sardinia to enforce that moral responsibility. The affair is not yet closed; it has still a future, and the Minister for the time being still has his opportunity to retrieve the past.
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