The Express.
London, England, 1863-01-16 00:00:00

MENLITEIL OF FOREIGN ♦FFAIE9.

" Rome, Dec. 27.

"M. Minister,—l hasten to send you the infor-
mation which I have received, and whioh I have
reason to believe is correct, concerning the propo-
ration recently made to the Holy See by Lord
Russell to put the island of Malta at the disposal
of the Pope, in the case of his consenting, as Eng-
land advised him to do, to give up Rome to Italy.
" In the course of the summer Mr. Odo Russell,
who was about to take leave, solicited an audience
of the Pope. Admitted to the audience, Mr. Rus-
sell pleaded as usual, but ie decorous terms,
the cause of Italian unity, for the success of which,
be said, his government entertained the most
ardent desire. At the moment of his taking
leave of his Holiness, when he was already
upon the threshold of the cabinet, the Holy
Father addressed to him, it seems, without
attaching to them the least importance, these
words, Adieu, dear Mr. Russell ; who knows if
one day I shall not be forced to go to you to ask
for hospitality 1' At these words, Mr. Russell
immediately returned into the cabinet of the Holy
Father, to ask him if he indeed feared that he
should be compelled to quit Rome ; and if, in that
case, he would really be disposed to go to England.
The Pope very quickly reassured Mr. Russell by
adding that be was ignorant of the trials which
Providence reserved for him ; but that for the
moment he had no apprehension, and did not at
all dream of removing from Rome. Mr. Odo
Russell, who doubtless reported this conversation
to his government, giving it, perhaps, more import-
ant* than it really possessed, was immediately, we
are assured, summoned to London by telegraph.
On his return to Rome, in the month of November
last, Mr. Odo Russell went to Cardinal Antonelli,
and gave him a note in which Lord Russell,
after having supported the cause of Italian unity
and the right of Italy to possess Rome, advised
the Pope to quit the Eternal City, and announced
that in case the Holy Father were disposed
to follow this advice, the English Mediter-
ranean fleet would be placed at his see-
ROO to convey him either to Francs or
to Spain, or to Malta, where a palace would be
put at his disposal, and where he could wait freely
till Italy bad pronounced in relation to his sove-
reignty. Mr. Odo Russell, in presenting the note
of his government to his Holiness's Secretary of
State, authorised him to make confidentially such
nee of it as he might think fit. The cardinal has-
tened to reply that he bad no use to make of it,
seeing that the Pope did not dream the least in the
world of quitting Rome. The intention of
his eminence was even, we are assured,
to maintain complete silence in this matter, so as
not to give to the proceeding of Mr. Odo Russell
an importance which it did not possess. But
it soon became known at the Vatican, as
Mr. Odo Russell himself spoke of it to
One of the diplomatic employes accredited to the
Holy See. Matters remained there, however, and
Cardinal Antonelli regarded the incident as termi-
nated, when, according to what has been told to
me, Mr. Odo Russell again presented himself to
his eminence on the occasion of the Christmas
fêtes, and informed him that he had received a
private letter from Lord Russell, in which that
minister expressed his lively regret at seeing that
the Pope was not disposed for the moment to air.
cept his propositions, adding that he had reasons to
believe that his Holiness would in a very short
time find himself under the necessity of profiting
by them. Cardinal Antonelli abstained from mak-
ing any reply to this new communication.
(Signed) "Panics DE Ls Toua D'Arve.aoss."

The following despatches throw light upon the
relations between the new Italian ministry and the
French government :

"THE MINISTER or TRANCE AT TURIN TO. THE