Instructions on this point may indeed be expected by every packet, and I flatter myself that the principle of humanity which prompts this appeal will be responded to with corresponding desire on the part of the Neapolitan Government to arrest the desolating consequences of a war continued in such a reciprocal spirit of I have, &c. rancour. Lord Napier. W. PARKER. (Inclosure 7.)-Lord Napier to Prince Cariati. Naples, September 10, 1848. THE Undersigned, &c. had the honour to address to his Excellency the Prince of Cariati, &c., on the 29th ultimo, a note, in which the Undersigned ventured to submit to his Excellency the expediency of treating with the Government at Palermo, under the concerted mediation of Great Britain and France, before having recourse to the last expedient of sending forth an armament to reduce the Sicilians by force of arms. The Undersigned has not received any reply to those amicable proposals, but he has been the witness of a powerful expedition directed against that nation, and he has this morning been informed in detail of the occupation of Messina by the Royal troops. The operations of the Neapolitan forces were by the testimony of the officers of Her Britannic Majesty's navy, spectators of that cruel scene, not effected without the exercise of severities very rare and never justifiable, above all in civil warfare; while the spirit of resistance developed by the Messinese and their allies was of a character so desperate and savage as to induce the apprehension that the prosecution of the present hostilities between the army of His Majesty the King and the Sicilian population is more likely to entail a long train of calamities involving a useless devastation and sacrifice of human life, than to effect any political sentiment based upon conditions and sentiments pregnant with durable concord and common prosperity. The contemplation of this unhappy alternative, either the prolonged and unsuccessful efforts of the Royal troops to accomplish the subjugation of an infuriated people, or the scarcely less miserable result of the unconditional and hollow submission of that people to a Government which, they would seize the first occasion to overturn, has produced such a deep impression on the mind of the Commander-in-chief of Her Britannic Majesty's naval forces as well as on the Undersigned, that they are unwilling to dismiss all hopes of an accommodation between the parties at issue, founded on their mutual interests and those benevolent dispositions by which both must surely be inspired at heart. The Undersigned will therefore once more respectfully but earnestly entreat the Government of His Sicilian Majesty to attempt the way of negotiation, and to send orders for the cessation of active hostilities, with the view of establishing an armistice binding equally on the contending forces until the resolution of the Cabinets of Great Britain and France can be ascertained; and so profoundly is the expediency of this course felt by the Undersigned and ViceAdmiral Sir William Parker, that the latter in the accompanying communication has intimated his intention in a contingency which the Undersigned can scarcely contemplate, to employ his authority in imposing a temporary suspension of arms, believing that by doing so he would consult the permanent welfare of the Neapolitan Government and the advancement of that general peace in Europe which is menaced by the shock of so many unprecedented and conflicting passions. The Undersigned, &c. Prince Cariati. NAPIER. No. 31.-Lord Napier to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. September 18.) (Extract.) Naples, September 10, 1848.. THE unexpected and spontaneous resolution embraced by Admiral Baudin placed us in a momentary perplexity from which we have not been able to issue without committing Her Majesty's Legation and Her Majesty's naval forces to a course of policy scarcely, perhaps, reconcileable with strict principle, very possibly averse to your Lordship's inclinations, but as it appears to me imperative, considering the pressure of circumstances and our double relations towards France and Sicily. I never advised the arrest of the Neapolitan expedition, though I certainly witnessed its departure with concern; and had the hostilities been prefaced by some offer of specific terms of a nature however little plausible, or even prosecuted with that respect for life and property usual in civilized warfare, the royal forces might have proceeded to the reduction of the island without question or obstacle on the part of Her Majesty's Legation or Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker. But the Neapolitans have brought themselves into their present dilemma by a method of war so barbarous as even to astonish the experience and rouse the veteran sensibilities of Admiral Baudin; and your Lordship will observe that Sir William Parker is not less deeply moved by the useless sufferings inflicted on the inhabitants of Messina. Were I to add to the official narrative of Captain Robb the particulars of atrocity credibly reported to have been committed on either side, your Lordship would recognize a deplorable analogy between the late events and the ferocious rancour of the wars of liberty and revolution in Spain. The consequences contingent on a prosecution of hostilities. which had at an early period acquired so dark a complexion might well be thought to justify that modified intervention involved in a compulsory armistice, and if the previous policy of the British Government in parallel cases, and the tutelary authority benevolently exercised by the Great Powers of Europe in composing the dissensions of their less powerful allies, seem to sanction such a measure, its adoption in the present case was recommended by the ancient claims which the people of Sicily may surely be allowed to possess on the sympathies and succour of Great Britain. What the Neapolitan Government may think fit to answer I do not venture to predict. Prince Cariati seemed to labour under considerable exasperation, but I will endeavour to employ the conciliatory influence of Count Chreptowitch in shaping the counsels of the Neapolitan Cabinet to the only reasonable solution in their present emergency, namely, the acceptance of an armistice and the calm discussion of the proposals your Lordship may resolve upon in concert with the Government of France. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. SIR, NAPIER. No. 32. Mr. Addington to the Secretary to the Admiralty. Foreign Office, September 20, 1848. I AM directed by Viscount Palmerston to request that you will inform the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that he has approved a note addressed by Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Naples to the Neapolitan Government, urging them to order an immediate cessation of hostilities, and inclosing a letter which he had received from Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, intimating that Sir William intended, if necessary, to support this advice by the employment of force. I am, &c. The Secretary to the Admialty. H. U. ADDINGTON. No. 33.-Lord Napier to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. September 21.) (Extract.) Naples, September 12, 1848. COUNT CHREPTOWITCH, at my earnest request, waited upon the King yesterday morning, and offered His Majesty the strongest advice to forward telegraphic orders for the suspension of hostilities in Sicily. His Excellency urged the expediency of such a measure by all the arguments which could be adduced from the domestic condition of the Neapolitan Government, from the attitude maintained by Sicily, the relations and policy of the different European Cabinets, and His Majesty's own personal dignity and interests. The King requested time for reflection, but appeared to attach a greater importance to the abstract right and justice of his cause in [1850-51.] 3 G persevering in the reduction of Sicily than a calm and politic review of his position at the present moment would seem to justify. His Majesty was bent on considering the subject in its simplest and narrowest proportions, without any collateral reference to the sympathies and declarations of foreign countries or the elements of agitation and disorder which the continuation of the war might stimulate in his own dominions and in the other States of Italy. Count Chreptowitch entreated the King to regard this momentous question in a larger sense, and his Excellency was the better enabled to do so by having repeatedly spoken in a similar sense before the resolution of the French Commander-in-chief had been declared. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. NAPIER. No. 31.-Lord Napier to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. September 21.) I HAVE the honour to inclose herewith copy of a note which I have this morning received from his Excellency the Prince of Cariati, in reply to the combined representation of Vice-Admiral Parker and myself, forwarded in my despatch to your Lordship of the 10th instant. Prince Cariati casts some doubt upon the accuracy of the reports of the officers of Her Majesty's squadron and that of France, respecting the barbarity practised by the Neapolitan forces at Messina, and declares that until the receipt of detailed official intelligence he cannot return a conclusive reply to our remonstrances. The Prince also alleges that any measures which Sir William Parker may embrace in carrying out his views for the pacification of Sicily will be hostile to your Lordship's wishes, and he claims for the Neapolitan Government that freedom from foreign intervention and constraint which is due to an independent State. As there appears to be no useful aim in the prolongation of an official correspondence with the Neapolitan Government upon this subject, I have simply acknowledged the receipt of his Excellency's communication and imparted it to the Commander-in-chief. I had, however, informed Prince Cariati in a previous conversation on the evening of the 10th instant, that whatever may have been the alleged opinions of your Lordship as related by Prince Castelcicala, and conveyed to me by the Neapolitan Government, I could not accept such intelligence as an absolute rule for my guidance in the absence of direct instructions; and I stated to his Excellency that if those reports were to have had any influence in shaping my resolutions they ought to have been previously imparted to me in reply to my letter of the 29th ultimo, which was left unanswered. Nor did I conceal from Prince Cariati that my position was now entirely changed, and that I reserved to myself in conjunction with Sir William Parker a full liberty of unfettered action until your Lordship's will could be ascertained. Her Majesty's ship Superb proceeded to Palermo yesterday, with orders to impede the landing of any Neapolitan force at that capital; and I believe that further instructions in a similar sense will be forwarded by Her Majesty's steam-frigate Sidon in the course of this afternoon. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. I have, &c. (Inclosure 1.)-Prince Cariati to Lord Napier. NAPIER. (Translation.) Naples, September 11, 1848. THE Undersigned, &c. has received the note of Lord Napier, &c. inclosing copy of an official letter from Vice-Admiral Parker, in which after narrating the circumstances attending the taking of Messina by the Royal troops, they both invite the King's Government to conclude an armistice with the Sicilians, until the determination of the Cabinets of Great Britain and France upon the subject should be known, and to attempt afresh the method of negotiation. As the Undersigned has reason to believe, that the reports which have given rise to the suggestions and observations of the Chargé d'Affaires are somewhat exaggerated, as indeed has been frequently the case with respect to the occurrences which during the last 8 months have afflicted Sicily, he will wait for the official reports from the Commander of the expedition to Messina, which must ere long reach the King's Government, before giving a suitable reply to the said note; and this delay becomes the more necessary, inasmuch as it appears from the telegraphic report which arrived yesterday and of which copy is inclosed, that the population is returning into the city, and that order is being rapidly re-established. The Undersigned at the same time declares to Lord Napier, that whatever may be the measures which Vice-Admiral Parker may adopt for the purpose of embarrassing the plans of the King's Government, in manifest violation of the rights of a free and independent Sovereign, and that consideration which is due to a friendly Power, those measures must necessarily be considered as spontaneous on his part, and not in accordance with the intentions of the British Government, because Lord Palmerston has repeatedly assured the King's Minister in London, and especially on the occasion of the interview he had with him on the 4th of last August, that the Government of Her Britannic Majesty would oppose no kind of obstacle in the way of the military expedition which this Government was preparing for the purpose of re-establishing order and tranquillity in Sicily and of freeing her from the yoke of a band of evil-disposed persons, who, although few in numbers, yet by their |