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

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 3d have arrived. On
the previous day, Good Friday, the Queen and the
King, in accordance with the ancient custom of the
Spanish sovereigns, visited with great pomp several
churches. The Espana says that the alleged fusion
of the two branches of the royal family is a mystifi-
cation, and it turns its contemporaries into ridicule
for treating it seriously. Accord;ng to the Iberia,
Spain and England are to act as arbitrators ix
the difference which has arisen between Franc
and Portugal relative to the possession of the Congo
river on the western coast of Africa. Despatches
received by the Government from the Phillipine
Islands to the 10th Feb., Porto Rico to the 2d ult,
and from Cuba to the 12th ult., state that perfect
tranquillity prevailed in those colonies.

A lettEr from Belgrade of the 30th ult. in the
Cologne Gazette says :—" The news has been re-
ceived of the death in prison of Itaja Daganevitch,
one of the senators condemned by the prince. Yet
the latter declared yesterday to the Turkish com-
mis9ioner that all the prisoners were in good
health.

DIPLOMATIC MISIIANAGFAIENT.

(Front tite Tinzes.)

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 most 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 hasaiways eeen celebrated
for a nobler and more active ambition, or at least
for " not doing what is to be done" in a more
showy and original style. It not only will not
do what is to be done, but does the vete, opposite.
It industriously turns the ploughshare into the
sword, and makes a dagger out of a prunning-
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
account. It is not to be supposed that tht 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 csptaius, 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 leading spirits of the civilised
world, of course it must be for something. It
cannot 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
cr not as ho pleases, to have peace in his grasp,
and to be the legitimate 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 let iucipal State
of the New Wcrld—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 communica-
tions of the two countries. Mr. Crampten, at the
Court of Washington, was a very clever) and, they
say, a very amusing man, a very good talker, ant
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 send him, and being pressed
for time, under what circumstances we are not
informed, did not read the said document to the
end, and aceordtngly misundetsiood, or rather
never made himself acquainted with, his instruc-
tions. So, drawing or his own imagination for
what he conceived Lord Clarendon would
probably
say at the end of the despatch, he took an original
course of his own, and so rendered a qu. stiff n
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 servi( e with
,
almost awful character. From the nobleman who
presides in Downing-street to theyi:unges Secretary
of Legation, or most modest attache, let us all pray
for the perfect sanity, comfort, and especially the I

undisturbed leisure of these men. We shall not indeed
consult ether their own t astes or thenecessities of the
service by inst ailing them in quiet shrines and shady
graves, where they may pursue their own free
intelitatione It is their 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
red, that they may rise refreshed, and in time to
read their letters before they go out for the day.
Let tp, then, pray that they may generally—at
least, 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
'fraught note, and even the document itself
to which they have to append their important
signatures. If this be not always possible,
mty they at least be able to make up be-
fore they go to bed for the omissions of the
! Never did we adequately feel till now how
much we all depend upon persons of whom few of
us ever heard, and how the world hangs on their
humour, or such notions of duty as a long period
of service may chance to have left them.
Sir James Hudson and Mr. Erskine were sent to
Turin for the express purpose of communicating to
the Sa dinian 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 thing might
be 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,
let us see how the actual system has worked in
this instance. On the 29th of December Lord
Clan ition sent a despa• ch to Sir James Hudson,
instructing him to ask Count Cavour whether the
Sardinian Goverieeet meant to object to the pro-
cedings taken by the Neapelitan Government in
the case of the Cagliari, on the ground that the
Neapolitan vessels of war had no right to pursue
the Cagliari, and to capture her bsyond the Neapo-
litan territorial jurisdiction. This was a plain,
simple, and very natural request on the part of
the British Government, to know whether the Sara
dinien Government meant to act on a particular
ground, which Lord Clarendon proceeded to ex-
plein he considered a proper one, if it 'was justi-
fied by the facts of the case. This, however,
though stated with Lord Clarendoit's usual clear-
ness and vigour, Nas either above the int,lligence
of the minor officials of Turin, or seemed too mild
for their taste. Sir James Hudson, it is true,
dial his duty at first. He ordered and approved
a draught of a note to be sent to Count Cavour,
faithfully repeating the words of the despatch, and
asking Count Cavour whether the Sardinian Govern-
ment meant to of ject to the proceedings of the
Neapolitan Government on the ground particu-
larized. Mr. Erskine, however, having simply to
write out and despatch afair copy from this draught,
wholly ignored and omitted the question which
was its principal object, and substituted for it
no question at all, but an alleged piece of informa•
tioti which he was so good as to volunteer for
the benefit of the Sardinian Government.
" I have been instructed," he wrote, "to ao•
quaint your Excellency that her Majesty'a
Government are disposed to object to these pro-
ceedings, on the ground," &c. The change wag
from a question to a statement, from a question as
to the views of the Sardinian Government to a
statement compromising 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 on what
views the Sardinian Geverninent was actually pro-
ceeding. Mr. Erskine brought his despatch withthia
important and elaherate alteration—it was nobody
else's—to fir J. Hudson, who never read a line—the
alteration was in the very first sentence,—but simply
put hisnatee to the document, which remained with'
out challenge, doing all the mischief it could from
January sth to March tsth, nearly two month°
and a-half. Early last month, M. C evour showed
Mr. Eiskine's despatch to Lord Malinesburh
who immedia ely wrote to ask on whose authoritl
the supposititious statement had been made, and
elicited an explanation of the facts. Mr. Erskine
now expresses his deep regret that he had made "e
very material alteration in the wording of the first
parao-aph " admits what ho ought to have raid;
explains how he might possibly have fallen
into the " unfortunate blunder ; " suggest
what he might possibly have meant to WI
most dutifully exonerates his chief, and pleads on
his own part the difficulty of literally transcribia
a paper of his own composition. Lord Malmo•
.
bury very properly informs Sir James Hudson that
the explanation is unsatisfactory, and desires that
Mr. Erskine may be told that his conduct is quite
inexcusable.
Is it possible to suppose that such a thing could
ba done at all without being a matter of frequent
occurrence Mr. Erskine had licence enough, 1/
is evident, to do as he pleased. When a Minister
never looks at what he 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 composition," is under con;
f.tterable temptation to improve, to simplify and
invigorate the message which he is charged to
transmit. We can almost pardon a subaltern who
is ready to take responsibility, and see that the woo'„
does nut flag in his hands. Indeed, whether 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 an:
words to be a mere slip of the pen or of the
eqe
memory in the act of transcription. et
can readily suppose that Mr. Erskine thought
odd Lord Clarendon should first ask whether
Sardinian government were objectiugon this grout)
and then defended it, if the facts bore it out. It Nit
natural he ehould wish to simplify matters 1)1
assuming the objection at once, and leaving Sari
dinia to agree, if it liked. But this was not win's
Lord Clarendon said, and it certainly did 0„
accord with the respective positions of the tif"
Governments in the affair. In fact, Mr. Erskin°,
was for leading Sardinia, instead of suggestint
that simple co-operation and common underatau',
ing which Lord Clarendon most properly desire
But ere we safe when secretaries are encourages
to follow their own devices, sad when, for aug,lj
we know, scores of irritating and injudicious 4-?°,
spatches may be rambling in foreign chaneerird
that Downing-sheet never heard of ? Sir Jatn:,
Hudson is the responsible man. If the subaltel;
be visited with the punishment of a subaltern,
Chief ought to have his due. We cannot think rt
safe to leave either of them at Turin, espeeiali/
with no Minister at all with Naples, and only Mt'
Howard in Tuscany.