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

Foreign-office, March 18, 18,58.

Sir,—l have received your despatch of the 15th inst., in
reply to my despatch of the 13th inst., requesting to be
informed on what authority you said in your le:ter to
Count Cavotir of January 5, that her Majesty's Govern-
ment were disposed to object to the proceeding.; in regard
to the pursuit of the C'wlfari; and 1 have to state to you
that your explanation is unsatisfactory, and that Mr.
Erskine's conduct, in making so material an alteration in
the sense of your letter, without calling your attention to
it, is quite inexcusable, and so you will inform him, by niy
direction.-1 am, &c., LLILESJI CM%

In a letter fr3m the Maquis D'Azeglio to Lord
Blalmesbuty the Sardinian Government " request
the concurrence and, if need be, the co•operation of

the British Government to bring this important
stfair to a successful termination." In reply, Lord
Malmestury says he will take the matter into
considerations but he points out that Sir Junes Hud-

353

son has misunderstood the instructions he received
from Lord Clarendon. The Marquis D'Azeglio re-
plies that he does not consider himself in any way
authorized to make the slightest remark upon the
importance of a misunderstanding of this sort, of
which he received the first intimation from his Ex-
cellency in his interview the day before yesterday :
This importance can only be equalled by that which an
assertion so positive, coming from her Britannic Majesty's
representative, must have had in the councils of the Go-
vernment of the King. The opinions of the English
Government have too much weight with the Cabinet of
Turin not to have exercised an important influence upon
the deteaminstions taken at that Line.

But, on the other hand, the undersigned is persuaded
that he faithfully represents the sentiments of his Govern-
ment in affirming that, in a question of this importance,
facts ought to be taken into consideration rather than
documents; and in expressing once more the hope that,
in consequence of the documents which have thrown a
new light upon the capture of the Cagliari, and in conse-
quence of the legal arguments which clearly prove, in the
view of :he Cabinet of Turin, the right to question the
Neapolitan jurisdiction either to decide upon the capture
or to try the crew, that the inadvertency or mistake may
become a truth, and that the two Cabinets, relying upon
the same principles of international law, may act in con-
cert to demand that which is their due.

At all events, if abandoned to its own resourees, 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.

Tho correspondence between Sardinia and Naples
is extremely animated :
If it was believed, whether right or wrong, that there was
any cause of suspicion or just motive of coirplaint against
the captain or crew, such complaint should have been ad•
dressed to the Sardinian Government, or brought before
the Sardinian courts of law, who were alone competent to
hear and adjulicate them. The capture in open sea, and
in full peace between the Crowns of Sardinia and Sicily,
was a flagrant violation of the maritime lens ackn3wledged
by all nations, and from the observance of which no nation
has the power of excepting itself.

TO MB. LIONS.
Foreign-office, March 2.5.
Sir,—Her Majesty's Government have learnt with
much satisfaction the release of Watt and the removal of
Park from prison. 'you will therefore state to M. Carafe
that her Majesty's Government api reciate these acts of the
King of Naples as resulting from the friendly feeling
which his Majesty expresses towards her Majesty's Govern.
ment ; but, at the same time, you will state that they can-
not admit that the prima-facie evidence wt ich was pro-
duced, as far as it is at present known to her Majesty's
Government, could justify the prolonged conficement to
which these British subjects have been exposed, and from
which thry have so severely sufiered.
Her Majesty's Government still believe that the engi-
neers Watt and Park were entirely ignorant of the con-
spiracy to seize the Cagliari, and were throughout acting
under durance.—l am, itc., MALYESBURY.

THE EARL OF

The following gives the statement of Park as to
what took place at the time of the capture of the
Cagliari :

ACTING•CONSCL DIUBAR TO MR. LTO2:6.
Naples, March 24.
Sir,—Pursuant to the request contained in your letter
to me of yesterday's date, I beg leave to state that I ques-
tioned Park as to the exact details which followed the
lending at S•ipri, es well as what measures were there
taken by the master of the Cagliari steamer, and where
they first saw the Neapolitan frigates which subsequently
captured the Cagliari, and I have obtained from Path the
following statement, viz.:—That when the Cagliari arrived
at Sapri the individuals who formed the band of insurgent's
that had embarked at Genoa, with the exception of the
three chiefs, seeing the insufficient number of men that
they bad embarked at Ponza to carry out their revolutionary
plans, requested the master to take them to Sardinia,
or back to Genoa; that the master refused to do so, giving
as a reason that he had not coals sufficient for the voyage,
and must proceed to Naples for a supply ; that when all the
insurgents had landed, the master called the bona fide
passengers and crew together to consult as to what should
be done, and proposed that they should all proceed to
Naples to inform the Neapolitan Government of the
violence to which they had been subjected, and to inform,
as well, their own (Piedmontese ) authocities of all that
had occurred.

This proposal met with universal approbation ; and on
the night of the 28th of June, immediately after the land-
ing of the insurgents, they steered for Naples. At 8.30
J the 29th they first sighted the Ntapulitan frigates,
at which time the Cagliari was directed on the centre of the
Island of Capri. That the moment the frigates were dis-
cerned the master ordered the helm to be put down, and
altered his course so as to meet the frigates.

That from the time the frigates were seen until they
were met by the Cagliari about one hour and a quarter had
imaged. That when the master went on board the frigate
Tancredi the Cagliari was distant about ten miles from

Sepri.
Nothing particular nassed with respect to Park himself.
I beg leave to add that, accompanying my despatch of
the 2nd inst., I had the honour to transmit to the Secretary
of State a book ptfolished by the counsel for the defence of
the Cagliari, terniPd " Difesa del Cagliari," which coutsios
all the facts u well as a map &bowing the exact spot where
the Cagliari was eaptured.—l have, Sc.,
IL. J. BAJukaajl,

rTlOtgi

►m'7."'

354

BANQUET AT THE MANSION-HOUSE.

HER Majesty's Ministers were entertained on Mon-
day last at a grand banquet by the Lord Mayor.
Nearly three hundred guests were present on the
occasion, among whom were his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge, the Marquis of Salisbury, the
Earl of Hardwicke, the Earl and Countess or Derby
and Lady Emma Stanley, the Lord Chancellor and
Lady Chelmsford, the Right Hon. the Chancellor of
the Exchequer and Mrs. Disraeli, Lord Henry Len •
nox, the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.,
&c. The banquet, which was served in the Egyptian-
ball, was of the most superb character. After the loving-
cup had gone round, and the usual loyal and other
toasts had been drunk, the Duke of Cambridge rose
to return thanks for the army. His Royal Highness
impressed upon his hearers the necessity of a great
power like England maintaining both ber army and
navy in the " highest state of efficiency ":

Don't let us suppose that it is necessary to be extrava-
gant. Extravagance is not desirable nor even advanta-
geous ; but the efficiency of its military and naval estab•
lishmenta is an imperative necessity for the safety of any
great empire ; and as long as England wishes to remain
that proud, that glorious country which we now rejoice to
think it is, let us never forget, even in moments of peace,
that the united services of the army and navy deserve to
be maintained in the satisfactory condition in which, I am
happy to sad•, they now are.
The LORD MAYOR, in an appropriate speech,
having proposed the health of " Lord Derby and her
Majesty's inisters,"

Lord DERBY, amidst loud and long•continued
cheers, rose and said :

My Lord Mayor, my lords, ladies, and gentlemen,—l
rise for the purpose of returning to you, in my own name
and in that of my colleagues, our grateful and sincere
acknowledgments for the honour which you have just con-
ferred upon us, for the too complimentary terms in which
yonr lordship nas been pleased to propose the toast, and
for the very flattering manner in which it has been received
by this distinguished assembly.

I am well aware, my Lord Mayor, that for the greatest
portion of that reception I and my colleagues are not so
much indebted to any personal merits of our own as to the
position which by the favour of the Crown we at present
occupy. I believe it is inherent in the British character
that every man who for the time being is charged with the
arduous task of conducting the affairs of this great country
is certain to meet with respectful consideration in any
meetia; of his fellow-countrymen, and that from no un•
worthy motive, front no unseemly deference to mere tem-
porary authority or station, but from more generous and
more honourable feelings. Those who have been at all
connected wi'h public life know well that, although here
and there certain political questions may cross the path of
a public man, and render his course somewhat different
from his predecessors' or his successors', yet with regard to
nine-tenths, I may even say 99-hundredths, of the business
which comes before him, the duties to be performed by the
Minister are precisely the same, whether he be Whig, or
Tory, or Radical. There are to be made the same sacri-
fices of time, of toil, of study, of domestic comfort, of
private happiness, too often of health, and sometimes even
of life itself. There are to be encountered all the °Wavy
and misrepresentation of political opponents, and some-

. ..
times the dissatisfaction of disappointed fi iends. ( A laugh.)
And against OA.; labour and all these sufferings the emolu-
ments or the advantages of office would be a poor return
indeed if they were not sweetened and aided by the appro-
bation and esteem of our fellow-countrymen. (Cheers.)

My Lord Mayor, i know that upon occasions like the
present it would be most unseemly to enter upon any sub-
ject of political controversy, or to raise any question which
valid excite any political feeling, and if I in the slightest
degree deviate from the wholesome rule and refer to one
topic of public interest, it is because that topic is, or, at
least, ought to be, removed beyond the pale of antagonistic
principles, and also is a question of the deepest importance
to this great centre of the commerce of the world. It is a
subject towards which public attention has recently been
directed with an intensity of interest which forms a striking
()entreat with the apathy with which it was regarded in
former times. I need hardly say, my Lord Mayor, that I
allude to that great empire which has been referred to by
the illustrious duke who last addressed. yen. and to our so-
cial and political relations with that mighty dependency our
Indian empire. The formation of that empire is a history
unparalleled in the annals of the world. It is a circumstance
that reflects the highest credit upon the energy, the ability
and the vigour of our countrymen that in the space of little
more than a hundred years a company of English mer-
chants, setting forth upon the peaceful occupations of com-
merce, should so far have extended their power as to have
established a permanent influence over a population ex.
e !cling by tenfold that of their native country, and over
dominions bearing a still larger proportion to the narrow
circumference of these little islands. That they should
have so created such a power and established such an em-
pire speaks volumes for the energy and the enterprise of
those by whom during that comparatively brief period the
affairs of that great empire have been conducted. (Cheers.)
And let me say here that, although undoubtedly in the
earlier portion of its history, and, perhaps, even at some
later periods, there may have been acts committed with re-
gard to India which will not bear the strictest examination
according to tha severe rules of political morality, yet upon
the whole there never was a Government which for so
lengthened a period displayed so much power, so much
ability, made so admirable a choice of its servants,—who
in their turn exhibited such distinguished talents,—or

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