Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

England, Piedmont, and the Cagliari affair 155
toute mention qui pourrait en étre faite.25) Cavour duly instructed Azeglio to act on Harding's advice. Azeglio enlisted the services of the renowned lawyer, Robert Phillimore, to work on the case Azeglio also asked Cavour for a copy of Hudson's extrèmement important note of 5 January.2
The situation then by the end of February 1858 was extremely com-plex. Clarendon, who had inìrially supported the grounds upon which Piedmont now based its own case against Naples, appeared ready to defer on most points to Engjish legai opinion. Harding, the Queen's Advocate, although opposed to English intervention on legai grounds, was willing to see the Whig government severely embarrassed over the issue if at ali pos-sible. Cavour, armed with Harding's instructions and in possession of Hud-son's note of 5 January was certainly well positioned to make Hfe highly uncomfortable for any English administration. As it was, the Whigs were spared The Whig government fell from office (26 February) to be replaced by a Tory administration headed by Lord Derby, with Lord Malmesbury as Foreign Secretary.
It is difficult to imagine a worse rime, as regards the Cagliari affair, for Malmesbury to have entered the Foreign Office. Harding's advice to the Piedmontese, which had been designed to cause Whig embarrassment, was now set to cause Malmesbury and the Tories maximum discomfiture. In early March, Phillimore gave his opinion on the Cagliari affair to Azeglio, who made sure that it quickly found its way into the pages of The Times.21) Phillimore's verdict, based upon documentation including Hudson's note of 5 January (Phillimore actually referred to it in his report) completely vindi-cated the judgement reached by the Piedmontese Commission two months earlier. According to Phillimore, the legality or illegality of the captare of the Cagliari was a question of international law, since the shìp was captured on the high seas. Under international law, the captare by one State of a vessel of another State, while that vessel was on the high seas, was permis-sible only if that vessel was a pira te shìp, or if the two States were at war with each other. Since the Cagliari was not a pirate ship, and Piedmont and Naples were not at war, the seizure was entirely illegai . Phillimore con-cluded: justly may Sardinia, in her resistance, look for the support and co-
25) E. d'Azeglio to Cavour, 15 February 1858, ivi, pp. 187-188.
Cavour to E. d'Azeglio, 19 February 1858, tifi, p. 188; E. d'Azeglio to Cavour, 19 February 1858, ibidem.
27) Although Azeglio was not directly responsible for the publicarion of Phìllirnorc's opinion, he had shown the despatch to Lord Shafìesbury who had then given it to Delane, the editor of Tht Timts. Azeglio thought le résultat fut excellent Non seulemcnt le Times, mais Ics autres journaux, se sentant appuyes par Phillimore, prirent un ton beaucoup plus décide en notre faveur. E. d'Azeglio, undated, ivi, n. 1, p. 196.