The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-01 00:00:00

T

British subject!, the British Government must hold the
Tusc,na G.tvernment Co be solely responsible.
" The violence again it Mr. Mather, which is still un-
atoned for, is at present the most important of those
citnitss to whichl have alluded. * * And
her Llajest-v's Government feel it their duty to instruct
you not to remit in any manner the principle upon
whieh their last demands are made?
1 flatt,A. myself thst alter this exposition of the spirit
in which her Majesty's Secretary of State has on all
occasions framed the instructions given by him to the
different agents employed with reference to this affair,
it will appear to your Excellency sufficiently evident
that only one idea has prevailed in her Majesty's Go-
vernment concerning it.
But vrnen- her Majesty's Secretary of State for Fo-
reign Affairs first received information of the arrange-
ment that had been cted by Mr. Searl.3tt, it was in a
portfya of a dispatch from Mr. Barron, acting during
the illne,s Mc. Scarlet!, which dispatch was dated the
9th of May ; nod in order that the impression which
Mr. atrrott's communication was calculated to produce
may be luny appreciated by your Excellency, I will
here transcribe it:—
" I have the honour to acquaint your Lordship, by the
desire of Mr. Scarlett, with the following important
facts. The STatord anti Mather cases may be consi-
dered as settled. These two questions were the subj,et
of an interview between Mr. bcarlett and the Duke of
Casigliano on the sth instant. It was then intimated to
Mr. Scarlett by the Tuscan Minister that an indemnity
of 1,000 lisancesconi (or 2221: 45.) would be offered to '
Mr. Maher. Mr. Scerlett's reply was, that that sum
was far inferior to that which he was instructed to
and that one c:indition alone would induce him
tcs accept it—v;z., the immediate release of the Messrs.
Stratford. His Excellency answered, that the Grand
Duke intended to redeem the pledge given by his Minis-

ters on that head, but that it was yet too soon.
The matter stood in this position till the 7th, when
the Duke addressed to Hr. Scarlett a confidential letter,
informing him that his Imperial and Royal Highness
the Grand Duke, yielding to his noble impulses, and
making use of his Royal prerogative, consents to the
commutation of the Messrs. Siratforda' penalty into per-
petual banishment from his sta'es.' Mr. Scarlett has de-
sired me to express to the Tuscan Minister his satisfac-
tion at this arrangement, and to report the same to your
Lordship. The presence at Leghorn of her Majesty's
steam-vrssel Growler, Comm alder Stoddart, offers an
opportunity for the immediate removal from Tuscany of
the Messrs. Stratford. I shall immediately communicate
with Commander Stoddart and with the Tuscan Govern-
ment for that purpose.
" With ref. rence to Mr. Mather's claim, Mr. Scarlett
has thought hinsseffjustified, after much consideration,
iu accepting the composition offered. Although it is not
so much as could bp desired for Mr. Mather, it is as
much as could possibly be obtained by negotiation."
Your Excellency will immediately see, on reading the
above (which is the precise c,,py of Mr. Barron's words),
that the idea which it naturally carried with it was that
the Tuscan Government had proposed to Mr. Scarlett a
pecuniary compensation, end that he had accepted such
compensation, from which, as nothing was said as to the
manner in which such arrangement had been effected, it
was naturally to be inferred that the compensation in
question had been proposed and accepted according to
the principles on which Mr. Scarlett had been in-
structed to apply for it. The question of amount was
the only one alluded to by Mr. Barron as having given
rise to any difficulty, and a reason was assigned for ac-
cepting a less amount than her Majesty's Government
had instructed Mr. Scarlett to accept, that reason being
the liberation of the Messrs. Stratford; a motive which
showed at leapt an earnest and laudable desire on the part
of Mr. Scarlett to put an end to all difficulties between
her Majesty's Government and that of his Imperial and
Royal Hiettness.
On these grounds her Majesty's Government were
prepared to accept and defend, and did accept and de-
fend, Mr. Scsrlett's arrang( ment, considering that the
brardedt: oias ;
gthiveeiar a proof of their re-
desire to atone for
gTruestcaatn
whath Governmenta doece
that occurrence, and of their recognition of the principle
that BrcituirlenaTajects were, when residing in Tuscany,
under the protec-ion of the Government of Tuscany,
which held itself responsible for their lair treatment.
But when a second dispatch arrived from Mr. Barron,
containing copies of a correspondence that had passed
between our Excellency and her Majesty's chargé
d'affaires, they perceived that the arrangement as
explained by that correspondence, was directly the re-
verse in principle of that which they had previously
imagined it to be.

A proposition had come from Mr. Scarlett, and not
from your Excellency, and that proposition commenced
by placing altogether out of discussion the main point
wnich her Maj,-sty's Government did insist and always
had insisted upon. It was, therefore, utterly impossible
any longer to accept or defend an arrangement which
had hitherto been accepted and defended precisely for
reasons which did not apply to it.
The demand which her Majesty's Government has up
to this time made, and which it now makes on the Tus-
can Government, for satisfaction with respect to the
case of Mr. Mather, is founded on the right that every
government has to expect that its subjects will have
impartial justice done to them within the territory of a
friendly state by the government of thst state.
The administration of such justice is generally confi-
ded by governments to their legal tribnnals; but when a
government closes such tribunals, it takes upon itself
those functions, as far as foreign nations are concerned,
with which such tribunals were invested.

If, therefore, the Government of Tuscany make a tem-
porary arrangement ouch as that which it has made, re-
ceiving the aid of Austrian troops on the understanding
that they are not to be subject to Tuscan law, that Go-
vernment, if any offence is committed against British
subjects by AuArian troops, is bound to administer that
justice towards the aggrieved party which such party
cannot obtain from a court of law.

To suppose anything else is either to suppose that the
subjects or citizens of friendly states are, in such cases
to have no redress at all (a conclusion which is absurd),
or it is to suppose alit, for offences committed within his
Imperial and Royal Highness's dominions they are to
seek for satisfaction from a foreign power; which would
be to establish as a fact that there is a foreign power in
Tuscany which other nations are to consider as superior
to the authority of the Grand Dake himself; and that
ry
would of necessity prevent Great Britain from any longer
recognising in the Grand Duke that independent se e-
reignty which it has hitherto fully recognised.
The satisfaction which her Majesty's Government, in
conformity with these opinions, originally
sought, was an
itnailY
award of money to the party injures, because it deemed
that it was more fair to him to seek that sort of repara-
tion which would affect him personally, and which a court
of law would probably have granted to him. But as
Mr. Mather has now declined receiving any Pecuniary
compensation, her Majesty's Government feel at liberty
to place their demand in another shape; and I am in-
structed, Mr. Scarlett'a note of the 6th May being, as I
have explained, disavoeed, to require that your Ex-
cellency's note of the 10th May should bo withdrawn,
and Mr. Scarlett's reply thereto cancelled; and further-
more, that the Government of his Imperial and Royal
Highness should convey to that of her Majesty an ample
expression of regret at the violence inflicted upon Mr.
E. Mather, and an assurance that there was nothing in
such violence which is to he considered in the slightest
degree as - a manifestation of disrespect towards the
Qaeen of Great Britain or the British nation; and
fluidly, that your Excellency, in the name of the Tuscan
Government, should clearly recognise the principle, that
'the Government of Tuscany, whose duty it is to protect
British subjects in Tuscany, is responsible for any acts
of violence committed upon such subjects within the
Tuscan territory, whoever the persons committing the
said acts of violence may be; and thst the executive au-
thority is bound to make due atonement for the same,
when such atonement cannot be sought for through the
legal tribunals.
sir, it must always be a
demand upon a friendly Government,
matter of. regret to me to
pyon the
relations
ahnadvettsor mcsiakielyanu
ill
Government of Tuscany, with
which my own Government
evnatluheads maintained for so many
years such intimate.
; but. such re-
gretmaiesipeatlY diminished
Government, in
y t hien the s present
e
claim from your Ezcell
rationintshtaantc.heewr
now instructing me to ency that
countrymen, has reality
required 't
country, and the safety
o
satisfaction which it deemis due to the honour
of the Tuscan Government
and according to the dignity
rtquired nothing which it is my
not clearly in the interesty
to grant ; for though there may be inconveniences T
scan at-
tachedGovern-
meat to the responsibility which the u
that those inconveniences may be somewhat increasedow
is thus requested unequivocally to assume, and
by the temporary and peculiar position in whichn
stands with respect to the Austrian force employed at
this time in Tuscany, such inconveniences are nothing in
comparison with the honour and advantage which at-
tach to the frank assumption of all the attributes of that
independence
of every which it is the first pride and interest
prince and people to possess and pre-
serve unimpaired; and perhaps your Excellency will
allow me to express a belief that her Majesty's Govern-
ment is only giving
a new proof of its sincere amity
towards this state, and of its high respect for the illus-
trious Prince who rules over it, when it shows a jealous
scti as to Tuscany abandoning in any degree
that position which it has hitherto so honourably main-
tained. I flatter myself that this persuasion will have
its due weight with one who can so well appreciate the
position of Tuscany and the relation of Tuscany with
other nations, and that your Excellency will afford me
your friendly and enlightened aid in bringing this negoe
a happy and suitable dation, so long pending, to
termi-
nation.

.iztjreusetyte,
But I am obliged to announce to your
rExcedllentocygrtbanalt
should the Tuscan Government not
be
sdemay to require,
t
the reparation which I have been i
iss from
am then ordered to withdraw her
the Court of Tuscany; and my instruction,ion
furthermore
enjoin me not to continuo this negotiation fur
more than
a very few days.
As the name of her; Majesty's late charge d'affaire
has been so frequently mentioned in this note, I s
can-
not conclude it without giving myself the satisfac-
tion of stating that which I know your Excellency will
hear with similar sati±faction—viz., that though_ 1,,,r
Majesty's Government has found itself under the necei-i-
-sity of disavowing the arrangement made by Mr. Sear-
lett in its name, still it fatly recognises the zeal and
ability which this gentleman has displayed on a variety
of other ditneult and trying occasions, and attributes
the involuntary error he hero fell into to the effects cf
that violent indi.:posilion under which, at the date of
his letter of the 6th May, he bad already began to suffer.
I avail, &c.,
(Signed)

E. L. BULWER.

(Translation.)

Florence, June 16, 1852.
M. 1© Ministre,—The note dated the 11th inspant,
wt i"h Your Exeoilency has asidres.Hl to me (Lclosiug
0 ipy of the dispatch which you have received from Lord
3141meaburY, relative to the Mather affair, which dis-