The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-05 00:00:00

The correspondence on the subject of the capture
of the Sardinian steamer has just been laid before
Parliament. It is formidable in amount, and the
greater portion merely confirms the intelligence we
have from time to time communicated in these
columns. There are two letters in the collection,
however, one that of Count Cavour (dated March
18th, 1858), in reply to a despatch of the Neapc•
litan Minister Carafe, the other that of the Marqu's
d'Azeglio to the Earl of M3lmesbury, dated March
24th, which we shall extract.
The first, after demolishing the Commander
Carafa's arguments to show the legality of the
capture, thus spiritedly concludes :
" This brief notice will convince the Commander
Carafe that the case has brought forward does not in the
least degree strengthen his argument; but that, on the
contrary, it demolishes it most completely.
" Summing up the facts thus far discussed, the Go-
vernment insists upon its former demands for the resti-
tution of.the Cagliari and the liberation of the individuals
on board the same, declining to take any account of the
asserted pending legal decisions, the cause from which
they are derived being an illegitimate one. It is of no
ooneequencre that Rubattino or Sitzia, the former the
owner of the vessel, and the latter its captain, have recrfe
M sed the jurisdiction of the. Prize Commission. The
rights contended for by the Sardinian Government are
international rights, founded upon the principles of
public order and sovereignty, which cannot possibly to
invalidated by the acts committed by one or more sub-
jects, especially under circumstances in which the latter
were deprived of liberty of action. Besides which, the
firm of Rubattino admitted, by its acts, the exception of
incompetency of the courts of the Kingdom of Naples,
nor does there exist any precise act of adhesion to the
said c' arts upon the question of the merits of the case.
"Equally useless it is to say that the foreigner is sub-
ject to the laws of the country in which he has committed
an offence. The competency which derives its
.efficacy,
on account of crime, implies the presence of the criminal
in the territory where he has rendered himself guilty ;
but where the delinquent is no longer to be found, the
territorial Sovereign can certainly require that the ac-
cused shall be tried by the tribunals of bis own country,
but has not the power of arresting him in the territory
of his native State. Now, the Cagliari, on the high ass,
was a fraction of the Piedmontese territory, and the
Neapolitan force bad no greater right to arrest there the
individuals who were embarked on board her, than it
had, bad they been overtaken in the port of Genoa, or
in the streets of Turin. The presence in Salereo of the
supposed guilty persona is the consesjesnce of a vt,lttion
of territory, and an illegal act does not originate any
right in the tribunal which is discussing the penal suit
Whence it follows, as I have already mentioned in niy
despatch of the 16'h of January, that the Neapolitan
courts of law may institute proceedings in contuatet,
against wharrslever they presume to have taken part in
the attempts at pooza and Sapri, without, however, the
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replying
Sicilian force being empowered to transgress the terri-
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an observation thrown out by Commander Carafe 414-
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a careful and regular trial, as England herself has de-
clared.
He

There is no necessity to inquire if Great Britain, so
vigilant and jealous a defender of tne persons and pro-
perly. of English subjects, is abort to make remon-
strances to the Sicilian Court respecting the two en-
gineers, illegally arrested on board the Cagliari, one of
whom, in consequence of the severities of his imprison-
ment, has lost hie sense in the most wretched manner.
"I know perfectly well that, is questions like the
present one, each State regulates lie conduct according
to the impression it has of its own rghts ; and I am also
aware that the British Government, in the official.and
written communications made to the Government of
Sardin;a, has considered the capture of the Cagliari upon
the same principles contended for by no, and has ex-
pressed a hope that the King's Government would
oppose so open a violation of the rights of nations.
"In this state of things i enjoin you to renew to the
Government of Naples the already preferred demand,
for the restitution of the vessel, together with the, entire
cargo, and, consequently of the crew and passengers
arrested on board her.
" Should the Neapolitan Government persist in this
unjustifiable refusal, his Majesty's Government will then
have to take such measures as the gravity of the case,
and the offended rights of the State, may require and
suggest.
" I beg you to read this despatch to his Excelleacy the
Commander Carafe, with whom you will also leave a
copy of the same.

(Signed) "C. Cevoun."
The note of the Marquis d'Azeglio is equally
notable for its spirit. The intimation that Sardinia
will pursue the course of justice even independent
of English policy, is an expression of national dig-
nity on the part of a weak state that may well
shame the more powerful, The letter runs thus :
"THE MARQUIS D'AZEOLIO TO THE EARL OP
A 1 ALMESBURT.
"23, Park-lane, March 24, 1858.
" The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minis-
ter Plenipotentiary of his Majesty the King of Sardinia,
has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note
which his Excellency the Earl of Malmesbury, her Bri-
tannic Maj tsty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, did him the honour to address him yesterday.
"In accordance with the desire which is therein ex-
pressed, he hastens to transmit to him the volume pub-
lished by the Neapolitan Government, entitled Snlla
Preda del Cagliari.'
" As he remarked to his Excellency, it was only on
the supposition that the volume had already been trans-
mitted from Naples, that it was Lot included among the
papers sent by the undersigned to the Foreign-office on
the 22d instant.
" In the note above mentionsd of yesterday's date,
his Excellency the Earl of Malmesbury communicates to
the undersigned some information relative to the note
addressed on the sth of January last, to the President of
the Council, by his Excellency her Britannic Majesty's
Minister at Turin. According: to this information the
essential part of this note is owing to an inadvertency
on the part of her Britannia Majesty's Secretary of
Legation.
" The undersigned does not consider himself in any
way authorised to make the slightest remark upon the
importance of a misunderstanding of this sort, of which
he received the first intimation from his Excellency in
his interview the day before yesterday. This importance
can only be equalled by that which an assertion so posi•
tive, coming from her Britannic Majesty's representative,
must have bad in the councils of the Government 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 determinations
taken at that time.
" But, on the other band, the undersigned is per-
suaded that he faithfully rJpresentc the sentiments of his
Government in affirming that, in a question of this im-
portance, 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 consequence of the legal arguments which clearly
prove, in the view of the 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 concert to demand that which is their due.
"At all events, if abandoned to its own resources, the
King's Government has fully decided to follow up this
affair with the prudence and moderation which have
chaaracterisecl its acts hitherto, but also with the energy