The Sun.
London, England, 1858-02-26 00:00:00

'TIE SUN, LONDON, FnIDAY EVENING, FFBRTTAR,Y 26, 1553

THE AFFAIR OF THE CAGLIARI,

rae kdioxing is a cvy of t 11,.) despatch .direct-d
to Count Gropallo, Sardiaiau Minister to the Court
of Naples, on the capture of the Cagliari, dated
January 16, 1858 :
" Signor Conte—As soon as I received intelligence of
the affair of Ponza and Sapri, I basted to convey
through you to the Neapolitan Cabinet the deep indig•
nation felt by the Government of the KJug, at this c! L-
aurie? attempt against the security of a frien‘i:y- State.
" Tue events in question are sufficiently known, so
that it will bs.ersonh to retrace them summarily in this
despatch.
" On the evening of the 25th of Jane, last year, the
Sardinian steamboat Cagliari, belonging to Rubattino
and Co., sailed from Genoa fog its periodical destination
of Cagliari (Sardinian island) and Tunis.
"After a few hours 25 out of 32 passengers attacked
the captain, turned him out of his command, made
themselves masters of the ship, and, intrusting the helm
to one of their party, sailed to Posse.
" There having set at liberty 400 prisoners they sailed
in their company to Sapri, where they set at liberty
Captain Sitzia and his vessel. As soon as Sitzia re-
covered his free action by the cessation of the violence
exercised upon him he sailed towards Naples with the
intention of informing the authorities of what had hap-
pened. In the course of the voyage two Neapolitan men
of war, the Tancredi and the Ettore Fieratnosca, cap-
tured the steamboat and carried her to Naples. There
she was sequestered and the crew and passengers ar-
rested and brought before the Criminal Court.
" In your despatch of July 4 (No. 41) you informed
that Commendatore Carafe, when acquainting you with
this capture, added that the Cagliari had been seized in
the waters of Policastro ; and in thesame despatch Sot
stated that the Director of the Navy had told you that
the ship was still in that place. These circumstance--
that is to key, the capture of the ship on the spot where
the landing of the rebels took place, and in waters where
the Neapolitan Government could exercise its jurisdic-
tion—prevented me from remonstrating against the act
of the Neapolitan men-rl-war. For this reason I merely
interposed my individual request for the speedy resto.
ration of the ship and cargo to its proprietors, and for
the liberation of the innocent crew and passengers.
Afterwards, when Commendatore Carafa, both
through you and his Majeaty's Charge d'Affaires at Turin,
brought to my notice that the Neapolitan courts had been
called to decide the question, and that the ordinary
means of reason and justice would be applied to the case
without delay, I made no further remonstrance, relying
on the assurances and loyalty of the Sicilian Cabinet.
"The prohibition of all intercourse either with Capt.
Sitzia or the other Piedmontese subjects kept in strict
confinement—a prohibition which extended to yourself
as well as our consul, in spite of reiterated applications
—excluded his Majesty's Government from the surest and
simplest means of clearing up the facts, and from taking
the necessary resolutions on this grave matter.
" Meanwhile it came to our knowledge, on reliable,
though unofficial authority, that the Cagliari had been
seized on the high seas, and after the captain had resumed
his command of the vessel on the cessation of the violence
exercised by the conspirators. As on this hypothesis the
question was substantially changed, I was in daily ex-
p of spontaneous explanations on the part of the
Neapolitan Government, when the documents comma-
nic.ated to you by Commendatore Carafe, on 'Dec. 1, re-
moved all doubts on the subject.
"In fact, the account of the capture drawn up by the
commander of the Tancredi, and the speech of the coun-
eel of the Admiralty to the commission of prize and
wreck officially prove that the Cagliari was seized about
30 miles from Salerno and 12 from the small creeks of
Capri. It is also proved that the violent occupation of
the vessel by the rebels had ceased, and that none of
them remained on board; that Captain Sitzia, having re.
sumed the command of the ship, was by his own decla-
ration making for Naples, with a view to inform the
Sardinian Consul and the Neapolitan authorities of the
violence exercised towards him an i of the attempts of tee
rebels. Under these circumstances, and in the presence
of these facts, legally proved and admitted his Majesty's
Government feels itself bound to request fro n the Nea-
politan Cabinet certain explanations, which have become
necessary, and a course of proceeding in conformity with
the most settled rules of international right.
"The Cagliari was seized on the high seas—that is to
say, on that free sea which is possessed by no one, and
over which no one has jurisdiction. From this point of
view the illegality of the capture cannot be disputed. It
could not be justified on the principle of public right,
unless on proof that the Cagliari was a pirate. Now, the
Cagliari had a regular captain, patent of nationality, ship
papers, and was not engaged in any act of piracy. It had
sailed from Genoa on its passage-to Cagliari and Tunis,
according to public advertisement. Its voyages took
place at fixed periodical days • in point of fact it was the
Royal mail packet between the continent and the Isle of
Sardinia. The captain was, therefore, en regle, and the
capture of the vessel could not be justified by the uni-
versally admitted principle that subjects pirates to the
jurisdiction of all nations.

" The Cagliari was not, as the counsel of the Neapoli-
tan Admiralty seems to argue, an enemy to the State; it
belonged to a friendly Power, by whose flag it was pro-
tected. The fact that forcible possession bad been taken
of her by the passengers, and retained for some time,
and that she bad then become the instrument of a wrong-
ful aggression, could not create that state of war which
does only exist between two recognised governmentß.
The mad inroad of Ponza and Sapri was the act of a
handful of conspirators engaged in a desperate enterprise,
and it would be an abuse of the legal import of terms to
compare and confound such attempt, of which it is im-
possible to say whether the madness or the guilt is
greater, with a legalised state of public war, in order to
found on it the resulting right of prize. This would be
the first time in which a band .of conspirators and crimi-
nals has been recognised as investel with the prerogative
of a belligerent Power.
" The attempt of Ponza and Sapri was a
.crime of
rebellion and robbery ; it was an ordinary crime, to the
trial of which the rules of the ordinary criminal law
ought to be applied, and in which the principles of
public right cannot be appealed to in the absence of all
foundation for such appeal.
" So far as we are concerned, moreover, the criminal
fact was at an end. The vessel had no rebels en board ;
it was under the command of its lawful captain ; its
national flag ought to have secured for it protection,
immunities, and privileges of the sea.
"Admitting the right of the Neapolitan frigates to
search the Cagliari or any other ship, although under
a friendly flag, it was their duty to release the vessel
the moment they recognised the genuineness of its
nationality and its character.

" The iicconnt of the capture, the detention of Capt.
Sitzia on board the Tancredi, the taking the steamer in
tow, her transfer to Naples and sequestration, the arrest
and detention of the captain, crew, and passengers, are
acts which are contrary to the principle, of public inter-
national right in the intercourse of friendly Powers.
Neither the Government of his Sardinia's Majesty nor
any other will ever acknowledge in a man of war the
right of capturing a merchantman, except when the ves-
sel is caught in the very act of piracy, which was not
the case with the Cagliari.
"From the facts and principles hereuntofore stated
and reasoned upon it is clear that the Government of
his Majesty feels itself bound and has the right to claim
the restoration of the Cagliari, and the liberation of
the persons who were arrested on board of her, what-
ever may be the legal proceedings commenced to their
prejudice.

The capture on the high seas of a ship belongirg
to a friendly Power being illegal, all the consequences
which flow from that fact are invalid. The proceeding,
therefore, already taken at Salerno against the accused
above referred to cannot be followed up except contu-
maciously (in contuntacia), if the Neapolitan judges
think proper so to proceed.
"I beg you to communicate to Commendatore Carafa
the above, and to express to him at the same time my
fall confidence that all the circumstances of this unhappy
affair being now cleared up, the Government of his Sici-
lian Majesty will yield to the just demand of the Pied-
montese Government, and with this view will give proper
directions for the release of the ship and cargo, and for
the handing over of the prisoner, whose presence in this
kingdom is required for proceedings now pending before
our Admiralty, according to the penal regulations of the
navy.

"-Yon will, Signor Conte, read and deliver a copy of
this despatch to Commendatore Carafa.
"I have the honour, Icc.,
" A.VOUR."

THE LATE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OP

THE FRENCH EMPEROR.

The following letter has been addressed by
Joseph Mazzini to the editor of the Times :

Sir,—lu the Acts d'Accusation against Orsini and
others I find that Orsini, " being appointed in 1849
a commissioner extraordinary at° Ancona, commit-
ted excesses which led to his condemnation for
robbery with violence, &c."
_ Orsini was chosen by me, and appointed by the
Roman Triumvirate, to go and repress at any cost
political murders which a small nucleus of mis-
guided men were perpetrating in Ancona. He
reached that town on the 21st of April, 1849, and '
fulfilled in a few days, with uncommon zeal and
energy, the task with which ho had been intrusted.
• Not a single murder took place in Ancona since
his appearance. His conduct was unanimously
praised. His language was worthy of his mission*.
• The proofs may bo seen in the official documents
published by himself-in a very interesting pani-
phlett, in a tract " on Terrorism" fromthe Society
of the Friends of Italy, and in your own Parlia-
mentary correspondence of the year 1849.
The Acte d'Accusation declares that Orsini was
in 1855 " arrested at Vienna, and suspected of
having plotted the death of the Austrian Emperor."
Orsini was arrested at Hermansta,dt, in Hungary,
and never suspected of such a design. Not a sin-
gle question iu the trial he underwent at Mantua
bears the slightest reference to it.

Whateveropinion of Orsini may 130 entertained
by those who frantically appeal to heaven and earth
against the attempted murder of a tyrant, and do
quietly witness, without a single word of indigna-
tion the lasting murder of a whole people in Rome,
none has the right of taxing Orsini with dishonesty,
theft, and concussion. The agents of Louis Napo-
leon ought to be contented with beheading his ene-
mies, without calumniating them.

e" Republic means humanity, not cruelty ; liberty,
not tyranny ; order, not anarchy ; he who thinks other-
wise murders the Republic."—Orsini's proclamation, April
27, 1849.

± Mon;orio e Doonmenti intorno al Govorno defli Re.
Pubk kipint, di folio Q pi, Tiyzi, 1850.