These suspicions do not appear to have been borne out, inasmuch as Mr. Harwood was set at liberty and his papers restored to him. He is known to the conductors of the "Morning Chronicle" as a gentleman of respectability, whose sentiments have always been moderate, and who, during the war in Hungary, employed his pen in defence of the Austrian Government. It is not probable, therefore, that any legitimate ground for the arrest and seizure of papers existed. For the detention of Mr. Harwood in a very filthy prison without food, there could not possibly be any justification. It would be satisfactory to find that the agent of police most in fault has been dismissed. For while Her Majesty's Government cannot doubt the disposition of the Emperor of Austria and his Ministers to do justice to British subjects, the subordinate officers are, unhappily, too much in the habit of exercising with harshness and wanton oppression the power placed in their hands. The Earl of Westmorland. I am, &c. J. RUSSELL. No. 7.-The Earl of Westmorland to Lord J. Russell.—(Rec. Jan. 9.) I RECEIVED Count Buol's note on the subject of Mr. Harwood only just in time to forward it for your Lordship's consideration by the last courier. I have since then taken occasion to renew the subject with Count Buol, and I have reiterated to him the strong feeling of reprobation with which I could not but view the conduct of the Austrian police towards that gentleman. I told him that I considered it needless to expatiate on the humiliation which was inflicted on a man of liberal education by being subjected to such violence as that he had met with; and I strongly represented to him the impression which such conduct was calculated to make on the feelings of your Lordship and on the public generally in England; stating, also, that I could not but call upon him to give some fresh proofs of the disapprobation with which the conduct of the police had been viewed by him, and of his entire disapproval of it. Count Buol agreed with me in the general views I expressed on this subject, and he reiterated all the strong assurances of concern and regret of which he had made use in the note he had transmitted to me. He called my attention to the profound regret expressed by General Kempen on this subject, and to the fact that the Austrian police authorities had, in the strongest and most efficient manner, marked their thorough disapprobation of the treatment to which Mr. Harwood had been subjected, by causing the agent who had been guilty of it to be punished by imprisonment, after having been severely reprimanded. In alluding to the separate Ministry to which these police affairs belonged, Count Buol said he could not himself do more than request me to convey to Mr. Harwood his assurance that, during his resi dence in Vienna, while he obeyed the laws and regulations of the country, he would extend to him every assistance and protection in his power. Count Buol concluded by authorizing me to convey to your Lordship these his reiterated expressions of disapprobation and regret, and by saying that he did not know in what manner he could more strongly mark his reprobation of this affair than by assuring your Lordship of the deep annoyance it had occasioned him, and by stating that he had caused the strictest orders to be given to the police authorities for the future regulation of their conduct, and the protection of the English residents throughout the empire. My desire, in the discussions I have had upon this subject, has been to obtain an explanation and apology for the injury inflicted on a man against whom no charge had been proved, and security for his future protection, as long as he conformed to the laws and regulations of the country; and my further object has been to obtain the punishment of the police officer who was guilty of the offence. Your Lordship will judge how far these objects have been attained. I have, &c. WESTMORLAND. Lord J. Russell. No.8.-The Earl of Westmorland to Lord J. Russell.—(Rec. Jan. 15.) MY LORD, Vienna, January 11, 1853. IMMEDIATELY upon the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 8th instant relating to the arrest of Mr. Harwood, I waited upon Count Buol, and having read the despatch to him, I most particularly directed his attention to that part of it in which your Lordship (after stating the satisfaction you had received from Count Buol's assurances of his desire to see justice done to a British subject) remarks that it had not been so satisfactory to learn that the arrest of Mr. Harwood was considered justifiable on the grounds of great suspicion of mischievous correspondence and obnoxious connexion with certain members of the revolutionary parties in England. Count Buol stated at once that nothing was found in Mr. Harwood's papers to criminate him (the best proof of which was, that after their examination no charge had been brought against him), and that the remarks of the chief of the police in reply to his (Count Buol's) very strong representations, had been directed to the Law of the State of Siege, which authorizes the arrest of an individual upon suspicion, but did not in any way imply that the suspicions in this case had been well-founded. I can assure your Lordship that upon this occasion, as in all my former interviews with Count Buol, I have expressed myself in the strongest terms upon the outrage itself, and upon the necessity of the severe punishment of the agent employed. Upon this point, in reply to the expression of your Lordship's wish that the agent most in fault had been dismissed, Count Buol remarked that, the offender having already suffered the severe punishment to which he was condemned, he thought it would be impossible to renew it in a different shape; but I have obtained from him a distinct statement that if, after the strict orders which have been given, any fresh instance of such conduct towards English subjects should occur, he would be the first to acknowledge that dismissal, or a punishment even severer, ought to be inflicted. He assures me that the most stringent orders have been given to prevent the repetition of any such occurrence, and he hopes your Lordship will recognize in this measure the anxious desire the Government had shown for the protection of British subjects, and that you will derive from it the certain conviction of the disposition of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and of his Ministry to do justice to our countrymen, and to visit with severe punishment any persons under their authority who may in future act improperly towards them. I replied to Count Buol that I would report these observations and declarations for your Lordship's consideration and decision; but that, looking to the shameful treatment to which an innocent person had been subjected, I could not but think that the punishment of the agent who had been guilty of it, in the manner suggested by your Lordship, would most justly have followed the commission of his offence. I have, &c. Lord J. Russell. WESTMORLAND. No. 9.-Lord J. Russell to the Earl of Westmorland. MY LORD, Foreign Office, January 18, 1853. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch of the 11th instant, reporting what passed between Count Buol and yourself on the subject of the arrest of Mr. Harwood, I have to inform you that Her Majesty's Government approve the language held by your Lordship on that occasion. Your Lordship will readily perceive, that although possibly a man may be arrested on a suspicion totally groundless, a subsequent imprisonment without any the slightest cause is a grave delinquency. I am, &c. The Earl of Westmorland. J. RUSSELL. P.S.-I should be glad to be informed what was the amount of the "severe punishment" of the police officer to which Count Buol alludes. How long was he imprisoned, and in what place? J.R. No. 10.-The Earl of Westmorland to Lord J. Russell.—(Rec.Jan. 31.) MY LORD, Vienna, January 25, 1853. IN acknowledging the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of the 18th instant, I beg to express the satisfaction with which I have received the approval by Her Majesty's Government of the language I have held on the occasion of Mr. Harwood's arrest and imprisonment in this capital. As I have observed statements in the newspapers as to my communications with Mr. Harwood which are far from being correct, I think it right to explain to your Lordship what those communications were. I first learnt the treatment which Mr. Harwood had met with on my arrival here, on the evening of the 23rd of December. The next morning I sent my son, Mr. Julian Fane, to call upon him, to express in my name how deeply I regretted the conduct of the authorities from which he had suffered, and my desire to obtain for him all the reparation which I felt was due to him; and I also directed Mr. Fane to say, that I should be happy to receive him whenever he would call upon me. In consequence, Mr. Harwood called upon me on the following day, the 25th, when I informed him that I had already brought his case before Count Buol; that I had found him anxious to afford the desired satisfaction, and engaged in the necessary inquiries and references; and that I hoped before another day elapsed to receive the result. I informed Mr. Harwood of my anxiety to serve him, and that I should always be ready to receive him if he had any communication to make to me. Late on the 26th, I received the note from Count Buol, which I immediately transmitted to your Lordship; and on the following day, having requested Mr. Harwood to call upon me, I informed him of the receipt of that note, and of its transmission to your Lordship; and I communicated to him, from a copy of the translation which I had upon my table, the strong disapprobation which Count Buol expressed of the treatment Mr. Harwood had met with, the profound regret expressed by the Minister of Police, General Kempen, and the punishment of the police agent by reprimand and imprisonment; and I delivered the message with which Count Buol had charged me, to assure Mr. Harwood that as long as he remained in Vienna, and conformed himself to the laws of the country, he might rely upon his protection and assistance. Mr. Harwood expressed his thanks both for the communication and for the assurances I had given of my own sympathy, and he quitted me with the most cordial expressions of his reliance on the aid and interest I had promised him. I was, therefore, considerably suprised to see that this gentleman, in his reports to the "Morning Chronicle," characterized his interviews with me as unsatisfactory, and represented me as an easy diplomatist, who showed no desire to interest himself in his cause;" and although my despatches fully prove the interest and diligence with which I exerted myself in Mr. Harwood's behalf, and consequently render it very unlikely that I should have shown him neglect at interviews which I had myself invited, I have thought it better to state shortly to your Lordship what did pass between Mr. Harwood and myself. In reply to the inquiry made by your Lordship in the postscript to your despatch of the 18th instant, I learn from Count Buol that the punishment of the police-officer who was guilty of the maltreatment of Mr. Harwood was a severe reprimand, a warning as to bis future conduct, and an incarceration of 10 days in the prison of this town. I have, &c. Lord J. Russell. WESTMORLAND. CORRESPONDENCE respecting the Religious Privileges of Foreigners Resident or Travelling in Spain.-December, 1852.* No. 1.-Article of Royal Spanish Decree of November 17, 1852. (Received from Mr. Otway, December 1.) (Translation.) ART. XXV. No foreigner shall be able to profess in Spain any other religion than the Catholic Apostolic Roman religion. No. 2.-The Earl of Malmesbury to Lord Howden. MY LORD, Foreign Office, December 20, 1852. I HAVE to call your Lordship's attention to Article XXV of the Royal Decree of the 17th of November last. This Article is contained in the 3rd chapter of that Decree, which regulates the civil conditions of foreigners resident or travelling in Spain, and their rights and obligations, and provides that no foreigner shall be allowed to profess in Spain any other religion than the Catholic Apostolical and Roman religion. Your Lordship will take an early opportunity of asking the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, verbally, what meaning is intended to be conveyed by the word "profess" as used in this official document; and whether it is thereby intended to deprive foreign residents and travellers of any privilege or right in regard to matters of religion which they have hitherto been permitted to enjoy. I am, Lord Howden. &c. * Laid before Parliament, 1853. MALMESBURY. |