§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYsaid, he wished to put a Question to the noble Lord the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs with reference to a great outrage committed in the port of Leghorn last year on the master and mate of the English yacht Medina. When he was himself at the Foreign Office a complaint was made to the Department on this subject, accompanied by a request that he would ask for redress from the Tuscan Government. The application was made, but very soon afterwards the revolution took place, and the Grand Duke was deposed. In consequence, he supposed, of the confusion which followed, the appointment of the Provisional Government and the events that occurred in Italy, the case had not been attended to; but he had been applied to again from Leghorn by an English gentleman high in the service of Her Majesty, who stated that great feeling had been excited on this matter. He therefore begged to ask the noble Lord opposite what Her Majesty's Government had done in the case of the Medina, and whether there was any chance of redress being afforded by the Sardinian Government, whose authority had now been established in Tuscany?
LORD WODEHOUSEsaid, it was quite true, as the noble Earl had stated, that a great outrage had been committed by the police at the port of Leghorn on the master and mate of the Medina. Application had been made for compensation to the Tuscan Government, but the matter was suspended in consequence of the revolution. When Her Majesty's present Ministry came into office the application was renewed to the Provisional Government at Florence, who expressed their readiness to compensate the master and mate for the injuries they had sustained. The amount of that compensation was to be settled in this, country; and the master and mate, having been examined by two medical men, one of them appointed by Her Majesty's Government and the other by the Tuscan Consul, a report was sent to Florence. The compensation which would satisfy the parties was £1,000 for the master and £750 for the mate; and they had reason to believe that the Provisional Tuscan Government was willing to pay those sums. A further delay had, however, intervened, in consequence of the subsequent events which 1871 took place in Italy. After the annexation to Sardinia the matter was referred to the Sardinian Government with a view to complete and carry into effect the intention of the Provisional Government. He assured his noble Friend that in the very distressing circumstances of the case he regretted as much as anybody could the delay which had taken place, but there was every reason to believe that the claims would be shortly discharged by the Sardinian Government.