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

No. 2.

SIR HENRY BIILWER TO THE EARL OF HALMESBURY.
(RECEIVED JUNE 25.)
Florence, Jane 18, 1852.
My Lord,—After receiving your Lordship's commu-
nications of the 29th of May, relative to the arrange-
ment that had been made by Mr. Scarlett, I had a long
interview with the Duke of Casigliano. The Duke ex-
pressed himself exceedingly surprised and pained at the
reopening of an affair which, he said, he deemed closed,
inasmuch as it had been settled on the basis of a note
which he had received from her Majesty's charge
d'affaires, and that it had been subsequently defended by
your Lordship in Parliament. He then continued to
say that the opinion of the council was against any fur-
ther concessions.
My first duty seemed to mo to convince the Duke of
Casigliano that the conduct of her Majesty's Government
had been perfectly straightforward; that Mr. Scarlett
had not only exceeded his instructions, but had unfortu-
nately acted in opposition to them; and that when your
Lordship paused an opinion upon this affair it was upon
the impertect impression thereof which had been pro-
duced by Mr. Barron's first communication of the 9th;
and in order to establish such conviction I read to the
Duke passages of your Lordships communication to me
of the 21st, of Mr. Barron's letter of the 9th of May,
and other such papers as seemed to me to bear upon
this point. I then told the Duke that, after the strong
and continued expression of an opinion which her Ma-
jesty's Government held—viz., that the Government of
Tuscany was responsible for all acts done in Tuscany,
it was impossible for your Lordship to receive any re-
paration which did not clearly admit this principle. I
then read to the Duke the whole of your Lordship's dis-
patch of the 29th May, and after I had promised to send
him a copy of the same, and to write to him a note re-
petting the substance of the principal arguments I had
used in conversation, we separated, the Duke having
shown throughout this conversation a very conciliatory
spirit, but an apparent belief that we had entered upon
a negotiation which it would be very difficult to conduct
to a happy issue,
My next care was to furnish the Duke of Casigliano
with a copy of your Lordship's dispatch of the 29th of
May, according to my promise, which I did in a note,
of which I here enclose a copy, and which repeated
almost verbatim the remarks I had previously made in
conversation.
I deemed it advisable to commence that note by fore-
stalling the arguments which might otherwi-e be again
used against re-opening the discussion, by frankly ad-
mitting the facts that bad taken place, and which might
have justified the belief that Mr. Scarlett's settlement
had the sanction of her Majesty's Government, and then
explaining the real position in which that affair stood.
The rest of my note is addressed to the main object
I had in view, and which I naturally desired to place
before the Tuscan Government in such a manner as
would best vindicate our rights, and least shock its
susceptibilities.
This note, I may venture to say, produced a consider-
able and favourable impression; I deemed it, however,
well to inform the Tuscan Minister, at the same time,
though not officially, that I should only await his reply
till Wednesday morning.
I will not trouble your Lordship by entering into
further details as to the different meetings and conversa-
tions which took place between myself and the Duke in
the interval; but on Wednesday I received a note, which
I could not consider as altogether unsatisfactory, but
which, at the same time, did not seem to me expressed
sufficiently clearly to place beyond all doubt the position
in which Tuscany considered herself placed with respect
to foreign subjects in certain exceptional cases; respect-
ingvrhich cases, as I deemed the main point of my ne-
gotiation to be involved therein, I conceived that the
language used (though of course I could not dictate
the precise words) should be free from all ambiguity
that might seem intentional.
Theee objections on my part were considered by the
Tuscan Government, and submitted to the Grand Duke;
and the final result seas the document as it now stands,
and which I deem it my duty to receive and submit to
your Lordship.
The difficulties I
have had to Overcome were:t—.o
enter
1. The inducing the Tuscan Government
anew into the discussion of a business which it had been
summoned to conclude in a particular manner by
,her
Majesty's late chsrg6 d'affaires, and had concluded in
that manner.
2. The inducing of the Tuscan government to recog-
_
nize as null, and of no more effect than if they had
never existed, the aforesaid proposal of Mr. Scarlett, and
the correspondence which ensued in consequence of that
prop )sal,
3. The inducing the said government to make a satis-
factory amende in an ample expression of regret for
Mr. Mether's misfortune—an amende. however, which I
must only in justice say it was perfectly willing to ren-
der; and
4. I had under very disadvantageous circumstances to
Procure from the government of Tuscany the recogni.ion d
of a principle which up to the
admitting,
att
tet
iDn
gu,kaen'sd pre-
senthad note it had always rank fromate
d
indeed declared it could not admit.
All this I have at last done; and taking the whole
tenor of the correspondence which I forward to
your
Lordship into consideration, I think it may be accepted
r
us satisfactory.
I have not deemed it wise to humble or humiliate this
state unnecessarily. It seems to me our policy, on the
contrary, to sustain and encourage its just pride and
independence, to which, indeed, many of our arguments
throughout this affair have been addressed. But, on the
other hand, I have deemed it wise to uphold unflinch-
ingly that opinion which we set out by professing, and
thus to leave no doubt as to the firmness of our conduct
on any important principle which may hereafter be at
issue. I have, &c.,
(Signed) H. L. BIILWEIt.