Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

148
Nìck Carter
iato a system of Government, the Bourbon regime had been regarded with undisguised hostility by English statesmen. In 1855, prominent English politìcians and diplomats had even been involved in a desperate (and ulti-mately unsuccessful) enterprise to liberate prisoners from the Neapolitan island of San Stefano. In 1856, Lord Clarendon, the Whig Foreign Secre-tary, had demanded that the Neapolitan government introduce reforms and grant an amnesty for politicai prisoners. When Ferdinand II refused to bow to English pressure, Clarendon, in conjunction with the French govern­ment, had threatened an allied naval demonstration in the Bay of Naples. Anglo-French differences, however, had eventually restricted the protest to the severing of diplomane relations with Naples. The outeome signalled a victory for Ferdinand II and a humiliation for Clarendon.2)
In 1857, Clarendon inirìally adopted a relatively low-key approach at Naples in regard to Watt and Park, merely seeking to ensure proper treat­ment for the two men, while pointing out that they were probably igno-rant of the objects for which that vessel was used.3) However, he soon be-gan to take a more forthright line in the engineers defence, prompted by reports of bad prison fare, that Watt was seriously ili, that the Neapolitan authorities refused to allow the English Acting Consul at Naples (Barbar) to visit the engineers, and that Park had attempted suicide. Clarendon wrote to Barbar at the end of October, voicing his concerns:
if you are allowed to see Park and Watt [...] ask them most particularly about the treatment they have received, and "whether they have been in any way tortured or subjected to bodily pain or suffering [...] teli them that the English Government has its eye upon them, and will take care that no injusti.ee is done to them.4)
When Barbar reported back that he was stili being denied access to Watt and Park, Clarendon took the unusual step (given that no formai diplomatic relations existed between England and Naples) of writing di-rectry to the Neapolitan Foreign Minister, Carafa. In his letter, Clarendon expressed his regret at the deplorable delay which has characterised legai proceedings and the prohibition exercised on Watt and Park communicating with friends or the English consul .9 If access to the prisoners was not immediately granted, Clarendon warned, the conclusion would be drawn that a deliberate act of hostility against Britain was intended. Emanuele
?) R, SHANNON, Gìadsìone, Voi. I, London, 1982, pp. 315-316; R. ROMEO, Cavour e il suo tempo (1854-1861), Voi. Ili, Bari, 1984, pp. 294-296.
3) Hammond (Permancnt Under Secretary to the Foreign Office) to Barbar, 24 July 1857, Corrisponderne respectì/ig the Cagliari** Parliamentary Blue Book, (1858), p. 4.
) Clarendon to Barbar, 29 October 1857, ita, p. 26.
5) Clarendon to Carafa, 14 November 1857, riv, pp. 36-37.