The Press.
London, England, 1858-04-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS, APRIL

THE CASE OF THE " CAGLIARI."

THE official correspondence relative to the Cagliari
has been published. It is of great length, and con-
tains every letter that has passed between the three
Governments of England, Sardinia, and Naples on
the subject. The opinions of the late law officers of
the Crown upon the legality of the seizure, and as to
whether Watt and Park could be bound by the
voluntary surrender of the captain, as well as the
instructions given by Lord Malmesbury to Mr. Lyons,
are all printed. But the most important section of
the correspon lence relates to an important mistake
made by Sir James liaison in signing a despatch to
the Sardinian Government, the words of which had
in error been altered from those of the original draft
by Mr. Erskine, the Secretary of Legation. Lord
Clarendon, it appears, had instructed Sir James
Hudson to ascertain the views of the Sardinian
Government upon the point of the capture of the
Cagliari, and it appears that Mr. Erskine so altered
the original sentence as to convey to the Sardinian
Government the notion that her Majesty's Govern-
ment " objected "to the capture. The following
form the most important letters in this portion of the
correspondence :

THE E►RL OF 31 \LIIESBURY TO SIR J. HUDSON.

Foreign•ofce, March 13th, 1k.58.

I have to instruct you to send ininiedirely a copy of
your letter to M. Cavour, of the sth of January, respecting
the Cagliari. We only know of its existence from the
Minister of Sardinia here, who gave us a copy three days
ago. You will state at the same time on what authority
you say in it that " her Majesty's Government are dis-
posed to object to the Neapolitan proceedings in regard to
the pursuit and capture of the vessel."
slit J. HUDSON TO THE EARL OF MALMESBURY.
(Received March 18th.)
Turin, March 15, 1858.
My Lord,—With reference to your lordship's despatch,
instructing me to report on whose authority I have said
that " her Majesty's Government are disposed to object
to the proceedings in regard to the pursuit of the Cagliari,"
I have the honour to state that, upon the receipt of Lord
Clarendon'a despatch of December '26, 1857, I made a
minute upon it for the Chancery of this Legation, to the
effect that its substance should be embodied in a note,
requesting to know whether the Sardinian Government
was prepared to object to the capture of the Cagliari, on
the grounds stated in that despatch, and I have the
honour to inclose herewith a copy of the draft of that note,
as filed in the archi►es of this mission, which draft I ap-
proved, and sent back to the Chancery to be 2opied.
Upon receiving your lordship's orders to state on whose
authority I said that her Majesty's Government were pre-
pared to object, &c., I referred to the draft, and found that
I had not said so. I consequently went to the Sardinian
Foreign-office, and requested permission to see the original
note I hail sent in to the Sardinian Government, a copy
of which I have the honout herewith to inclose.
Upon perceiving the difference which exists between
the draft of the note and the note itself, I called upon
the gentleman who copied the latter from my signature to
account fur the discrepancy between the two, and I have the
honour to inclose the statement which he has male to me.
With regard to my own negligence in this matter, for of
course I sin responsible, I have to state that it has not
been my habit to compare the notes I sign when I have
once approved the drafts with ►he drafts themselves, and
hence arose the error in question.
My reason for not instructing the Chancery to send to
the Foreign-office a copy of my note to the Count de
Cavour was that I considered it unnecessary to encumber
the despatch with useless matter, as the note was (intended
to have been) a mere transcript of the terms of the de-
•patch.—l have, Sc., _

(Signed) JAMES HUDSON.
DR FT OF NOTE FROM SIR J. HUDSON TO COUNT CAVOUS.
Turin, Jan. 5, 1858.
Sir,—Her Majesty's Government having had under
their consideration the proceedings taken by the Neapolitan
Government in the case of the Cagliari steamer, with
reference to the detention of two British subjects found on
board that vessel, I have been instructed to ask yonr Es
cellency whether the Sardinian Government mean to
object, ftc. (See despatch of December 29, )807.)