§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURY:Before I sit down I will take this opportunity of asking the noble Earl another Question, 116 of which I have given him notice—namely, whether he has received any information respecting the assassination at Pisa of an English gentleman named Dr. M'Carthy, who appears to have been stabbed in his own house by an Italian porter, the murderer making his escape through the alleged gross negligence and indifference of the police authorities?
§ EARL RUSSELL:In the first place I must say that Her Majesty's Government are fully sensible of the support which was given them by the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby) when he spoke on the first night of the Session in regard to the conduct we have pursued in relation to the United States. It certainly does give a great additional weight to the course taken by this country when all political parties agree in supporting the line of policy adopted by the Government, and the British nation must derive great confidence from a knowledge of that fact. Nothing could be more fair and candid than the course followed on Thursday night by the noble Earl. As to this question of the blockade, it is as the noble Earl says, one of very great importance, and I will not presume to enter at this moment into so grave a discussion. I gave orders early in the contest that Admiral Milne should furnish Her Majesty's Government with every information in his power, and I also sent to our consuls at the different ports with a view to obtain every information from them. When the blockade was first mentioned to me by Mr. Adams, I stated to him the difficulty which the United Stales Government would experience in maintaining a blockade over 3,000 miles of coast. Mr. Adams's reply was, that there were but seven ports which could admit large vessels, and which it would be necessary to blockade, and that therefore the difficulty was not so great as it at first sight appeared. With respect to the allegation that a very large number of vessels have eluded the blockade, I asked Mr. Mason myself what was the tonnage of those vessels to which reference was made; and to that question he was unable to give me an answer. But the noble Earl will see that that is a matter of very great importance, because those seven ports are connected by numerous creeks with other and minor ports, and small vessels run in and out of those creeks, carrying very small cargoes, and can hardly, from their insignificant character, he regarded as breaking the blockade. Before the meeting of Parliament 117 I gave instructions that the various papers connected with this subject should be collected together. That has now been done, the papers have been printed, and they will very shortly be delivered to your Lordships by Her Majesty's command. With out, then, pronouncing any judgment on this question, I must repeat that it is one of the utmost importance. On the one hand, if we said that anything that was called a blockade, however ineffective, should he held to be a legal blockade—or, on the other hand, if we were to incur the danger of a dispute with the United States without having the clearest and strongest ground for it—in either case a great evil would be produced. I therefore trust that your Lordships will reserve your judgments until you see all the evidence.
The noble Earl has asked me a question with respect to the dreadful murder which has taken place at Pisa. The British residents in Tuscany have made a representation as to the negligence of the authorities and the inadequacy of the means of detecting and punishing crime in Pisa. That representation was sent to Turin, to the Prime Minister, Baron Ricasoli, who promised to take it into consideration, with a view to devising such measures as may render the police more effective in that district. With respect to the arrest of the assassin and bringing him to justice, the report made by the consul is, that the first proceedings have been more speedy than is usual in that country. But. it appears that these porters are generally a very ill-disciplined and violent class of men, that crime is rife among them, and that the British residents in Florence have complained of the great want of some regular tariff of charges by which disputes, such as gave rise to this murder, might be prevented. This has been represented to the authorities, and I trust that a better state of things will before long be established in Pisa.
§ EARL GRANVILLE:I cannot allow the remarks of the noble Earl who spoke last but one to pass without making some observation upon them. The other day the noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Derby) referring to the Declaration adopted at the Conference of Paris in 1856 in relation to the inviolability of enemy's goods in neutral ships, said that that Declaration, although it bad not been embodied in a treaty, was still morally and honourably binding on all the Governments which had agreed to it. Now, that 118 view of the matter is entirely the view which is taken by Her Majesty's Government; and I stated the other evening that in the event of war that Declaration would be fully binding on those Powers which had assented to it. Now, the noble Earl who spoke last but one (the Earl of Malmesbury) on this subject has expressed not only his disapprobation of the Declaration, but, what is a very different thing, his conviction that in the case of war Her Majesty's Government would he induced to disregard its obligatory nature. Now, I think that such a belief going forth as the opinion of one of your Lordships who has occupied the position of Foreign Secretary in this country may have such an injurious effect on the minds of foreign Powers that I put it to the noble Earl himself whether he will not now modify what may have been the hasty expression which escaped him.
§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURY:What I intended to say was, that supposing a great country like England or France, after a desperate war, driven to the last extremity, and struggling with another Power for its very existence, I do not believe that either a warlike people like the French, or a nation of the same spirit as our own, would be restrained by the paper declaration made at Paris in 1856; that the law of self-preservation would overrule all other feelings, and that the nation would take any step which they thought proper for saving themselves and the country from the extreme danger and desperate condition in which they might be placed.
§ EARL GRANVILLE:I was sorry to hear such observations from the noble Earl, and I sincerely hope and trust that this country will never be reduced to such an extremity as will lead her to disregard any obligation which is morally and honourably binding upon her.
§ EARL RUSSELL:I certainly have expressed the opinion that I did not quite approve the Declaration made at Paris; but, at the same time, I said that once it had been entered into it ought to be respected.