The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-08 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 3d have arrived. Oi
the previous day, Good Friday, the Qui-en and the
King, in accordance with the ancient custom of the
Spanish sovereigns, visited with great poinp save' at
churches. The Espana says that the allege:l fusion
of the two branches cf the royal family is a mys'ili
catton, and it turns its contemporaries into r,dicult
for trewing it seriQusly. Accord rig to the Iberia,
SFain and England are to act as arbitrators in
the difnrenco which has ari-en bet Neun Franc
and Portugal retrtivo to the pos-tession of th Oubgo
river on the western coast of Afr.ca. Desparch.:s
received by the Government from he Pnillipino
Islands to the 10th Feb., Porto Rico to the 2d ult,
and from Cuba to the 12th ult., state that pet feet
tranquillity prevailed in those colonies.

A letter from Belgrade of the 30th ult. in the
Cologne Gazette says :—" The news has b3en re-
ceived of the death in prison of Ettlja Daganovit,ch,
one of the senators condemn, dby the prince. Yet
later declared ye,terday to the Turkish cona-
mis3ioner that all the prisoners were in good
healt4,

DIPLOMATIC MISAIANAGEHENT.

(Prom. th,c Times.)

It is a general belief that the working of the
Circumlocution Office is entirely or mainly obstruc-
tive, and that the ingenuity of its functionaries
is simply employed in finding out how things are
not to be done, and how the moat urgent necessities
and the most fervid impulses may be brought to a
standstill. That, however, is only a partial view
of the system. There is at least one departmentof
this famous institution in which the numerous offi-
cers employed are not content with the vulgar am-
bition of doing nothing at all, and presenting
simply a cold shoulder, or a neat form of denial, to
the unfortunate man who wants something to be
done. The Foreign Office hasalways teen celebrated
for a nobler and more active ambition, or at least
for "not doing what is to be dune" in a. more
showy.and original style. It not only will not
.do what is to be done, but does the very opposite.
It industriously turns the ploughshare into the
Sword, and makes a dagger out of a pruunieg-
hook. Lord Melbourne used to say that there
would be peace for ever if we could only shut
up the Foreign Office ; and we have certainly
lived to see Ambassadors and Ministers descend-
ing in right diplomatic succession from the
sacred heralds of antiquity, getting up wars, de-
claring them, and carrying them on upon their own
acc,unt.- It is not to be supposed that tilt se gentle-
men ever really consider it their mission to involve
nations in quarrels and plunge them into wars.
There is a speciAl service for that department, ad-
mirably conducted by spirited captains, high poli-
tical writers, philosophical assassins, self-consti-
tuted peacemakers and regenerators of the human
species. But where a host of able and excellent
officials is dispersed over the world, stationed
in large cities, and brought into immediate con-
tact with the leaiing spirits of the civilised
world, of course it must be for something. It
cinnot be for letting things alone. Such an in-
stitution must operate energetically and demonstra-
tively, so as to astonish, if not always to please, the
natives. If peace is its wish, then peace must be
maintained in a striking and effective manner, so
that people shall all admit the diplomatist to be
indeed a man of peace, to be able to preserve peace
or not as he pleases, to have peace in his grasp, ;
and to be the legitim=ate object, or at least channel,
of supplication when the prayer of the peoples is
for peace

It is not very long since we had an instance of
a Minister whose duty it was at the pi iucipal State
of the New World—always on the most jealous
and fidg ty terms with us, their progenitors and
cousins—to avert collision, to smooth over
differences, and at least to take care there should
be no misunderstanding in the official comcoun ca-
tions of the two countries. Mr. Crampton, at the
Court of Washington, was a very clever, and, they
say, a very amusing man,
a very good talker, an:
all that is wanted at a London dinner party. This
admirable gentleman, however, having received a
despatch which Lord Clarendon had taken the
pains to draw up and seud him, and being pressed
for time, under what circumstances we are not
informed, did not read the said document to tin
end, and accordingly misunders ood, or rather
never made himself acquainted with, his instruc
tions. So, drawing ors his own imagination for
what he conceived Lord Clarendon would probably
say at the end of 'the despatch, ho took an original
course of his own, end so rendered a giv stiun
already complicated absolutely in oluble. We are
• now presented, however, with a much bolder speci-
men of the same sort of treatment, and one calcu-
lated to invest the whole diplomatic service wit!' a
almost awful character'. From the nobleman who
presides in Downing-street to the y tungest Secretary
of Legation, or moat modest attache, let 113 all pray
for the perfect sanity, comfort, and especially the

undisturbed loisure of these men. We shall not indeed
e thertheir own tistes or theneeessit es of the

service by ins ailing them in quiet shady
groves, where tto may pursue their own free
meditations. It is thAr business to go into the
world to talk, to write, and to act. So let us at
least pray that they may all have a good night's
re,t, that they way rise refreshed, and in time to .
read their letters More they go out for the day.
Let u 4, then, pray ghat they may gener,lly—at
le ,st, when a crisis is expected, and a little cloud
is on the horizon—return home in time to do a
little business, to give an order, to read a
draught note, and even the document itself
to which they have to append their important
signatures. If this be not always possible,
ally they at least be able to make up be-
fore they go to bed for the omissions of the
day ! Never did we adequately feel till now how
ouch we all depend upon persons of whom few of
us ever heard, and the world hangs on their
humour, or such notions of duty as a long period
of service may chance to have left them.
Sir Jam ,s Hud.-4on and Mr. Erskine were sent to
Turin for the express purpose of communicating to
the Sa cl4ran Court the views and wishes of the
British Foreign Secretary, and supplying him with

their views and wishes in return. It has some-
times been suggested that the whole thin, might
ho done more expeditiously and with less
chance of mistake by a direct transmission of let-
ters to and fro between the two Courts. That,
however, is a very undiplomatic opinion, and on
he present occasion we leave it to its fate. Yet,
t us see how the actual system has worked in
this instance. On the 291; of December Lord
Clar n on sent a de,pa.ch to Sir James Hudson,
instruc;iog him to ask Count Cavour whether the
Sardinian Goverment meant to object to the pro-
oedings taken by the Neap( Irian Government in
the case of the Cagliari, on the ground that the
Neapolitan vessels (f war had no right to pursue
the Cagliari, and to capture her b3yond. the Neapo-
litan territorial jurisdiction. This was a plain,
and very natural request on the part of

the'British Gov:rnment, kt;ow whether tile Sar-
diniAn Government mean to act on a particular
ground, which Lord Clarendon proceeded to ex-
pl do he considered a proper one, if it was justi-
fied by the facts of the else. This, however,
11,,ugh stated with Lord t larendon's usual clear-
ress awl vigour •as ether above the intgligence
of the minor olticials of Turin, or seemed too mild
for their taste. Sir James Huds at, it is true,
did his duty at first. He ordered and approved
a di aught of a note to be sent to Count Cavour,
f:,ithtully repeating the words of the despatch, and
Asking Counc Cavour whether tie Sardinian Govern-
ment meant to object to the proceedings of the
Neapolitan Government on the ground particu-
larized. Mr. Erskine, however, having simply to
write out aid despatch afair copy from this draught,
wholly ignorel and omitted the question which
was its principal object, and substituted for it

.
no ques'Aon at all, but an alleged piece of informa-
tion which he was so good as to volunteer for
the benefit of the Sardinian Government.
" I have been instructed," he wrote, "to an-
_

quaint your Excellency that her Majesty's
Government are disposed to object to these pro-
ceedings, on the ground," asc. The change was
from a question to a statement, from a question as
to the views of the Sardinian Government to a
statement ccyiiproinising the views of our own. It
supposed the Sardinian Government to take the
initiative from us, instead of deferring a final ex-
pression of our own views till we had learnt 011 what
views the Sardinian (I,,verrinaent was actually pro-
ceeding. Mr. Erskine brought his despatch withthis
important and Blab, rate alteration—it was nobody
else's—to J. Hudson, who never read aline—the
alteration was in the very first sent ence,—bu t simply
put hisname to the document, whichremained with-
out challenge, doing all the mischief it could from
January sth to March 15th, nearly two months
and a-half. Early last month, M. Cavour showed
Mr. Eiskine's despatch to Lord Malmesbury,
who immediately wrote to ask on whose authority
the supposititious statement had been made, and
elicited an explanation of the facts. Mr. Erskine
now expresses his deep regret that he had made "a
very material alteration in the wording of the first
para,zraph ; " admits what he ought to have said ;
explains how he might possibly have fallen
into the " unfortunate blunder ; " suggests
what he might possibly have meant to say,
most dutifully exonerates his chief, and pleads on
his own part the difficulty of literally transcribing
a paper of his own composition. Lord Malmes-
bury very properly informs Sir James Hudson that
the explauation is unsatisfactory, and desires that
Mr. KrAliine may be told that his conduct is quite
in xcus,,blc.
Is it possible to suppose that such a thing could
be done at all without bring a matter of frequent
occurrence ? Mr. Ext.:l6lle had licence enough, it
is evident, to do as lie pleased. When a Minister
never looks at what lie signs, a clever, industrious,
and ambitious secretary, desirous to act with proper
energy, and ready to persuade himself that the de-
spatch was "his own compesiiion," is under con-
Ailerable temptation to improve, to simplify and
invrgorate the message which lie is charged to
transmit. We can almost pardon a subaltern who
is ready to take responsibility, and see that the work
does not flag in his hands. Indeed, wheiber Mr.
Erskine desires it or not, this is almost the only
account possible in his case, as the alteration
is rather too material both in matter and
words to be a mere slip of the pen or of the
memory in the act of transcription. We
can readily suppose that Mr. Erskine thought it
odd Lord Clarendon should first ask whether the
Sardinian goversment were objectingon this ground
and then defended it, if the facts bore it out. It was
natural he should wish to simplify matters by
assuming the objection at once, and leaving Sar-
dinia, to agree, if it liked. But this was not what
Lord Clarendon said, and it certainly did not
accord with the re,pective positions of the two
Governments in the affair. In fact, Mr. Erskine
was for leading Sardinia, instead of suggesting
that simple co-operation and common understand-
ing which Lord Clarendon most properly desired.
But are we safe when secretaries are encouraged
to follow their own devices, and when, for aught
we know, scores of irri•ating and injudicious de-
spatches may be rambling in foreign chanceries
that Downing-s reet never heard of ? Sir James
Hudson is the responsible man. If the subaltern
b -visited with the punishment of a subaltern, the
Chief ought to have his due. We cannot think it
safe to low° either of them at Turin, especially
with no Minister at all with Naples, and only Mr.
Howard in Tuscany.