§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYasked, the Under Secretary of State, What in- 1710 structions the Foreign Office had sent to Sir James Hudson respecting the case of the English ship Orwell, belonging to Messrs. Pearson, of Hull, which had suffered much damage at the hands of the Garibaldian Volunteers, for which compensation had not been made by the Italian Government? The case was this. In the month of August last, the Orwell was chartered at Genoa by Garibaldi to take 100 Volunteers to Sicily, the condition being that the owner should receive £5,000. It appeared that the agents of Garibaldi then seized the ship by force, and went out in her on a piratical cruize. The English Consul, on being informed of the circumstance, telegraphed to the Admiral, and the Orwell was consequently captured and carried to Malta. It was here found that her engines had been totally destroyed, and on application to Garibaldi for compensation a commission was appointed, which recommended that the claim should be paid at once. Since that time the King of Italy had assumed the liabilities of Garibaldi, and the claim was on the point of being settled when Cavour died. He (the Earl of Malmesbury) now asked what had been done in the matter by the Foreign Office?
LORD WODEHOUSEreplied that the Orwell had been, as stated by the noble Earl, seized by the Garibaldian Volunteers and recaptured by Her Majesty's ship Scylla; that Mr. Pearson, the owner, had applied to the Foreign Office; and that instructions had been given to Sir James Hudson to afford him all the assistance he could properly give. No accounts had been recently received of the position of the case; but if Mr. Pearson would write to the Foreign Office and state the present position of the affairs, his application would receive every attention; though he could not pledge the Government to interfere officially without a further consideration of the facts as they stood at present.