Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

152
Nick Carter
ject to the Neapolitan procedures, Erskine's note contained the additional statement: Her Majest/s Government are disposed to object to those pro-ceedings. Hudson had signed the altered note, apparently without re-reading ÌL
Hudson was soon made aware of the change by Cavour when, later on 5 January, the two men met to discuss the Cagliari case. Domenico Carutti, a senior officiai in the Piedmontese Foreign Ministry, and secretary of the Piedmontese legai commission which was currendy investigating the Cagliari affair, noted what took place at the meeting:
Cavour, incontrato Hudson, si congratulò con lui dell'identico apprezza­mento dei due governi, e della conseguente comunanza della loro azione a Napoli. Hudson fece le sue riserve. Cavour replicò che niuna ne esisteva nella nota del 5 gennaio. Cercata la minuta, confrontatala colla comunicazione ufficiale, apparvero le aggiunte e le modificazioni da Erskine [...] A tale scoperta, i due valentuomini stet­tero sopra pensiero, poiché potea andare di mezzo il sig. Erskine [...] e da ultimo convennero di non far uso del documento se non per provata necessità.17)
Hudson, when he reported the details of the meeting to Clarendon, made no mention of a written note to Cavour. According to Hudson, Ca­vour had simply said that his opinion was identical with that of Her Maj-esty's Government.18) Cavour himself, carerai to avoid any direct reference to the note of 5 January, addressed a suitably ambiguous formai answer to Clarendon on 8 January. L'avis d'un Cabinet aussi éclairé at aussi compé-tent en matière de droit maritime, Cavour wrote, ne peut qu'avoir un grand prix à nos yeux et exercer une grande autorité sur la decision du point dont il s'agir .19)
Soon after, the Piedmontese Commission, of which Carutti had been a member, ruled that the capture of the Cagliari was illegal, given that the act of seizure had taken place in intemational waters. Ali consequences deriving from that event were, therefore, invalid. Cavour immediately demanded of Naples the liberation of the vessel, the cargo and the crew (16 January). Cavour also wrote to Emanuele d'Azeglio at London:
Si la saisie du Cagliari est illegale, la détention des mécaniciens anglais l'est également C'est ce qui me fait esperer que i'Angleterre joindra ses instances aux
17> GIUSEPPE GIARRIZZO (ed.), Le Relazioni Diplomatiche fra la Gran Bretagna e il Regno di Sardegna, Rome, 1962, voi. VI, n. 1, p. 161.
M) Hudson to Clarendon, 5 January 1858, ivi, p. 159.
l9> Cavour to Hudson, 8 January 1858 (indosure in Hudson to Clarendon, 8 January 1858), /w, p. 161.