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BRITISH REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SURVEILLANCE OF ITALIAN AFFAIRS, 1860–70*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2008

O. J. WRIGHT
O. J. WRIGHT*
Affiliation:
Kingston University
*
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames. Surrey, KT1 2EE[email protected]
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Abstract

During the nineteenth century the British consular service was often dismissed as an organization with purely commercial responsibilities. A succession of governments and diplomats insisted upon this notion, despite the fact that at certain times both relied very much on consular officials for information on foreign affairs. This dependence was especially evident in Italy during the decade after 1860, when British leaders had lent their moral and diplomatic support to the creation of the modern Italian state against considerable international opposition. During this period their desire not to see the achievement undone led them to maintain a close watch on Italian affairs. The contribution made in this area by the consular service, and the manner in which it was reorganized in response to Italian unification, show how such a role could take priority over its other functions. Although this state of affairs was no doubt exceptional on account of the remarkable level of British interest in the Unification of Italy, it nonetheless provides a clear demonstration of how the organization could be used under certain circumstances. The extent to which British consuls were used to monitor affairs in post-unification Italy also encourages reflection upon the widespread view that British foreign policy rejected interventionism in favour of isolation from European affairs during the 1860s.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 669 - 687
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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References

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2 See C. P. Brand, Italy and the English Romantics: the Italianate fashion in early nineteenth-century England (Cambridge, 1957); John Pemble, The Mediterranean passion: Victorians and Edwardians in the south (Oxford, 1987); Maura O'Connor, The romance of Italy and the English imagination (Basingstoke, 1998); Roderick Cavaliero, Italia romantica: English Romantics and Italian freedom (London, 2005); A. N. Wilson, The Victorians (London, 2002), pp. 84–92.

3 See Derek Beales, ‘Garibaldi in England: the politics of Italian enthusiasm’, in John A. Davis and Paul Ginsborg, eds., Society and politics in the age of the Risorgimento (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 184–216.

4 For example, see Beales, England and Italy; Mario Tedeschi, Francia e Inghilterra di fronte alla Questione Romana, 1859–1860 (Milan, 1978); Nicholas E. Carter, ‘Sir James Hudson, British diplomacy and the Italian question: February 1858 to June 1861’ (Ph.D. thesis, University of Wales Cardiff, 1993); Nick Carter, ‘Hudson, Malmesbury and Cavour: British diplomacy and the Italian question, February 1858 to June 1859’, Historical Journal, 40 (1997), pp. 389–413.

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6 Russell to Hudson, 14 Mar. 1862, The National Archives (hereafter TNA), FO 170/99.

7 See also Owain James Wright, ‘The information service: British diplomats and consuls in Italy, 1861–1870’ (Ph.D. thesis, Lancaster, 2005).

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28 Martin Clark, Modern Italy, 1871–1995 (2nd edn, London, 1996), p. 7.

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34 Hudson to Russell, 14 Mar. 1862, TNA, FO 45/22.

35 Macbean to Hudson, 20 July 1862 and 2 Aug. 1862, copies in Hudson to Russell, 2 Aug. 1862, TNA, FO 45/25; Gaggiotti to Hudson, 4 Aug. 1862, copy in Hudson to Russell, 8 Aug. 1862, TNA, FO 45/25.

36 Hudson to Russell, 7 Aug. 1862, TNA, FO 45/25.

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38 George Martin, The red shirt and the cross of savoy: the story of Italy's Risorgimento, 1748–1871 (London, 1969), p. 664.

39 Times, 17 July 1862.

40 Goodwin to Hudson, 6 July 1862, copy in Hudson to Russell, 12 July 1862, TNA, FO 45/24.

41 Paget to Stanley, by telegraph, 25 Oct. 1867, TNA, FO 45/108.

42 Paget to Stanley, 13 Oct. 1867, TNA, FO 45/107.

43 See Paget to Stanley, 16, 18, 19, and 20 Oct. 1867, TNA, FO 45/107.

44 Russell to Hudson, 17 Mar. 1862, TNA, FO 170/99; Russell to Hudson, 7 May 1862, TNA, FO 170/100.

45 Russell to Bloomfield, 5 Mar. 1861, in Noel Blakiston, ed., Il problema veneto e l'Europa, 1859–1866, ii: Inghilterra (Venice, 1966), p. 560.

46 Hudson to Russell, 25 Mar. 1862, TNA, FO 45/22.

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48 Ivan Scott, The Roman question and the powers, 1848–1865 (The Hague, 1969), pp. 223–52; Frank J. Coppa, The origins of the Italian wars of independence (London and New York, NY, 1992), p. 115.

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50 Elliot to Clarendon, 3 May 1866, TNA, FO 45/86.

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53 Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

54 Bonham to Elliot, 26 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

55 Macbean to Elliot, 27 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

56 Gaggiotti to Elliot, 26 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

57 Harry Hearder, Italy in the Age of Risorgimento, 1790–1870 (London and New York, NY, 1983), pp. 53–4.

58 Brown to Elliot, 26 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

59 Craig to Elliot, 3 Oct. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

60 Goodwin to Elliot, 27 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

61 Rickards to Elliot, 24 Sept. 1864, extract in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

62 Rickards to Elliot, 26 Sept. 1864, copy in Elliot to Russell, 4 Oct. 1864, TNA, FO 45/59.

63 See Giancarlo Sorgia, ed., La Sardegna nel 1848: la polemica sulla ‘fusione’ (Cagliari, 1968); Francesco Floris, Storia della Sardegna (3rd edn, Rome, 2004), pp. 483–6.

64 William Craig, ‘The island of Sardinia absolute and constitutional briefly compared’, 22 Oct. 1861, in Hudson to Russell, 2 Nov. 1861, TNA, FO 45/9. Craig recorded Russell's original request as dated from 29 Apr. 1861.

65 Goodwin to Hudson, 3 Oct. 1861, copy in Hudson to Russell, 11 Oct. 1861, TNA, FO 45/9.

66 See Colnaghi's enclosure in Paget to Clarendon, 22 Feb. 1870, TNA, FO45/161.

67 Hudson to Russell, 30 Mar. 1861, TNA, FO 45/5.

68 Elliot to Russell, 18 Mar. 1864, TNA, FO 45/56.

69 Bonham to Paget, 2 Feb. 1869, copy included in Paget to Clarendon, 4 Feb. 1869, TNA, FO 45/139.

70 Lucy Riall, Sicily and the Unification of Italy: liberal policy and local power, 1859–1866 (Oxford, 1998), pp. 198–9.

71 Ibid., pp. 204–5.

72 John Goodwin, ‘Seven days of disturbance in Palermo’, 9 Oct. 1866, copy in Elliot to Stanley, 13 Oct. 1866, TNA, FO 45/90.

73 Elliot to Stanley, 22 Sept. 1866, TNA, FO 45/89.

74 Lionel Sackville West, ‘Remarks upon the consular service in Italy’, in Hudson to Russell, 1 July 1862, TNA, FO 45/24.

75 See Report of the select committee on consular establishment, Parliamentary Papers (hereafter PP) 1835 vi; Report from the select committee on consular service and appointments, PP 1857–8 viii; Report of the select committee on the diplomatic and consular services, PP 1872 vii.

76 Platt, ‘The role of the consular service in overseas trade, 1825–1914’, p. 497.

77 For each side of the argument see Jackson, Reflections on the commerce of the Mediterranean, p. 41, and Tuson, The British consul's manual, pp. 6–7.

78 Platt, The Cinderella service, pp. 15, 31, 37.

79 Ibid., pp. 49, 51.

80 Noel Blakiston, Inglesi e Italiani nel Risorgimento (Catania, 1973), p. 43.

81 Hudson to Russell, 4 Oct. 1862, RP, TNA, PRO 30/22/69.

82 Blakiston, ed., The Roman question, p. xix.

83 Sackville West's ‘Remarks upon the consular service in Italy’, in Hudson to Russell, 1 July 1862, TNA, FO 45/24.

84 For Russell's role, see Blakiston, ed., The Roman question; Urbach, Bismarck's favourite Englishman, pp. 34–9.

85 Platt, The Cinderella service, p. 18.

86 Otway had held high diplomatic posts in Spain and Mexico; Foreign office list (London, Jan. 1861), p. 119.

87 Hammond (for Russell) to Reynolds, 11 Oct. 1861, copy included in Reynolds to Hudson, 14 Oct. 1861, TNA, FO 167/125.

88 Platt, The Cinderella service, p. 61.

89 See A. Scirocco, L'Italia del Risorgimento, 1800–1860 (Bologna, 1990), pp. 315–66.

90 Roger Absalom, Italy since 1800: a nation in the balance? (London and New York, NY, 1995), p. 47.

91 John Dickie, ‘Stereotypes of the Italian south’, in R. Lumley and J. Morris, eds., The new history of the Italian south: the Mezzogiorno revisited (Exeter, 1997), 122.

92 Nelson Moe, The view from Vesuvius: Italian culture and the southern question (Berkeley, CA, 2002), pp. 162–8.

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99 Foreign Office list (Jan. 1861), p. 81.

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104 Proby was appointed on 1 May 1863 and remained in office until the Italian government was moved to Florence in 1865. Foreign Office list (Jan. 1870), p. 150.

105 Gianni Toniolo, An economic history of liberal Italy, 1850–1918 (London and New York, NY, 1990), p. 58.

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107 Elliot to Russell, 27 Apr. 1865, TNA, FO 45/71.

108 The salary was set at £500 per annum, with an expenses allowance of £150. Foreign Office list (Jan. 1870), p. 197.

109 H. G. Elliot, Some revolutions and other diplomatic experiences (London, 1922), pp. 171–9.

110 Elliot to Russell, by telegraph, 2 Jan. 1862; Elliot to Russell, 6 Jan. 1865, TNA, FO 45/70.

111 Elliot to Russell, 9 Feb. 1865, RP, TNA, PRO 30/22/70.

112 Elliot to Russell, 26 Apr. 1865, RP, TNA, PRO 30/22/70.

113 Elliot to Clarendon, 21 Feb. 1866, TNA, FO 45/85.

114 Elliot to Murray, 21 Feb. 1866, TNA, FO 45/85.

115 Foreign Office list (Jan. 1870), p. 118.

116 Russell to Colnaghi, draft copy, 31 Aug. 1865, TNA, FO 45/76.

117 Ernle Bradford, Mediterranean: portrait of a sea (London, 2000), pp. 510–13.

118 See Justus B. Mugaju, ‘Anglo-Italian relations, 1846–1849: a study of British policy and attitudes towards Italy during the revolutionary years’ (Ph.D. thesis, Bristol, 1976); Evelyn Ashley, The life and correspondence of Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston, ii (London, 1879), p. 425; Elliot, Some revolutions, pp. 4–5.

119 Ronald Marshall, Massimo D'Azeglio: an artist in politics, 1798–1866 (London, 1966), p. 199.

120 Among many examples, see Russell to Hudson, 21 Jan. 1861, TNA, FO 167/122 and Clarendon to Elliot, 12 Mar. 1866, in Blakiston, ed., Il problema veneto, pp. 784–5.

121 See Donald Southgate, ‘The most English minister …’ The policies and politics of Palmerston (London and New York, NY, 1966); M. E. Chamberlain, British foreign policy in the age of Palmerston (London, 1984); John Charmley, ‘Palmerston: “Artful Old Dodger” or “Babe of Grace”?’, in T. G. Otte, ed., The makers of British foreign policy: from Pitt to Thatcher (Basingstoke, 2002).

122 Wilbur Devereux Jones, Lord Derby and Victorian conservatism (Oxford, 1956), pp. 278–9.

123 Muriel E. Chamberlain, ‘Pax Britannica’? British foreign policy, 1789–1914 (London and New York, NY, 1988), pp. 123–7; Kenneth Bourne, The foreign policy of Victorian England (Oxford, 1970), pp. 81–123; K. Theodore Hoppen, The mid-Victorian generation, 1846–1886 (Oxford, 1998), pp. 221–36.

124 Paul Kennedy, The rise and fall of British naval mastery (London, 2001), p. 181; Charmley, ‘Palmerston’, pp. 92–4.