Rassegna storica del Risorgimento

156 Nick Carter
operatìon of every independent State, and especially of every maririme State.28) Armed with Phillimore's opinion, Azeglio made a formai request (10 March) to Malmesbury for English cooperation in the Cagliari affair. In addition, Azeglio communicated to Malmesbury the note of 5 January.29)
Malmesbury, whose opinion of Azeglio had never been high,30) was not impressed by the presumptuous manner of the Piedmontese represen-tative. Even more disagreeable to Malmesbury, however, was the news of a significant note signed by Hudson in January. No record of any such note could be found in the Foreign Office files, for the simple reason that Hud­son had always pretended that no note had ever existed. Malmesbury wrote to Hudson on 13 March demanding a copy of the letter and an explanation of its contenti You will state [...] on what authority you say [...] that "Her Majesty's Government are disposed to object to the Neapolitan proceed-ings".31) Malmesbury already suspected that he and the English govern-ment had been the victims of Piedmontese trickery. He wrote in his diary for 13 March that Piedmont had not only known of Pisacane's expedition from the beginning, but it had sought ali along to provoke a war [with Naples] either through the seizure of the ship or from the attack thus in-tended.32)
Malmesbury's low opinion of Piedmont was matched by Azeglio's own contempt for the Tories lack-lustre performance in the House of Commons when the Cagliari question was debated on 12 March. Criticising the government for its timid and embarrassed attitude, Azeglio wrote to Cavour:
H est aussi fort à regretter que l'on s'obstine icd à temporiser jusqu'a ce qu'une sentence soit prononcée admettant jusqu'a un certain point la légalité de la sentence, et rendant tout redxessement ensuite beaucoup plus difficile.
Opinion of Dr Phillimorc, inclosure in Lyons to Malmesbury, 4 May 1858, Furtòer Correspondence respectìng the Cagliari, Padiamentary Blue Book (1858), p. 96. Cavour con-Isìdered PhiUimorc's opinion to be excellent. À Pappili de ce travati remarquable, nous avons préparé une seconde note au Gouvemement napolitain. Certe note nous la commu-niquerons officiellement au Gouvemement anglais, en réclamant son concours et son appui. Cavour to E. d'Azeglio, 15 March 1858, Cavour e /Inghilterra cit, II 0, p. 195.
*) GlARRizzo, Ri/agoni cit, p. 199.
m) Malmesbury wrote to Hudson (3 March 1858): There is a delicate point you must touch upon and you bave the less difficulty because I said something about it to him [Ca­vour] in 1856 when I was at Turin. It is the intimacy of his representative with a certain family whìch is naturally in oppositìon [...], Malmesbury to Hudson, 3 March 1858, Hamp­shire Record Office (HRO), Malmesbury Papera (MP), 9M73/54.
31) Malmesbury to Hudson, 13 March 1858, Correspondence respecttng the .Cagliari*, p. 118.
32) Malmesbury, diary entry, 13 March 1858, Memoirs of an ex-Minister, London, 1885, p. 424.