THE REMOVAL OF SIR JAMES HUDSON.
ITALY is mourning, and England ashamed, but an Elliot has one more place. Since the death of Cavour no event has so profoundly disheartened Italians as the removal of Sir James Hudson from the British Ministry at Turin, which was announced the moment the rising of Parliament made the announcement safe. Journals of all politics and complexions, from the Perseveranza, the Milanese Morning Post, to the Gazzetta del Popolo, all deplore the event as one of the most serious mis- fortunes which could have befallen Italy. The Ministry are equally moved, the King feels as he feels few things not con- nected with battle or pleasure, and the English in Italy are flooding London with letters in which the accustomed queru- lousness of exiles is softened by a feeling of personal loss and sadness. Sir James Hudson deserved this regret, and more, and from Englishmen as well as Italians. Minister of Great Britain at Turin for thirteen years, he has been for that time the ardent upholder of the cause of Italian unity and of alliance with England as the sine pal non without which that great object could never be secured. Arriving in the worst years of the reaction, when Cavour, still not absolute, was toiling painfully to knit together the muscles of Pied- mont, and fit her for the part she was ultimately to play, Sir James Hudson appreciated the marvellous power concealed by the insouciant manner and pleasure-loving face of the great Piedmontese. The personal friend of Cavour, the trusted ally of the King, it was, however, the events of 1860 which brought out Sir James Hudson's full power. He had taken an interest in the character of Napoleon greater even than that taken by Cavour ; had studied him as deeply, and had arrived, it is said, at nearly the same conclusion. Coolly and calmly he pitted himself against the ablest Sovereign of the age, the "one capable man in Europe—capable of anything," and like Lord Stratford de Redclyffe at Therapia, the ambassador de- feated the autocrat. It was mainly owing to Sir James Hudson's judgment, to his knowledge of Napoleon's character, his certainty that Europe could not tolerate a French occupa- tion of Italy, that the peace of Villafranca was nullified, the Roman States annexed, and the Revolution, for the moment triumphant in the South, absorbed among the forces of the Italian monarchy. That achievement completed, a still greater one remained to be carried through. Sir James Hudson, Italianissimo in polities as far as Italy was concerned, was before all things an English Minister, anxious for the exten- sion of that indefinable but irresistible power which members of Parliament describe as "the influence of Great Britain." The French envoys aspired at Turin to a sway not widely different from that which British residents exercise at Gwalior or Hydrabad. They issued orders, and they had some right to issue them. Their master had freed Italy from the Austrian, and still held the Italian capital ; their country had -sent an army to Milan, and a fleet to Gaeta ; their chief in Paris was ready, if need were, to launch armies to undo Napo- leon's work. Sir James Hudson represented a country which had. given to Italy only moral sympathy, which was debarred by its Protestantism from a vote on the question of Rome, which it was known would not fight except in defence of its own most obvious interests or the European equilibrium. There was much chance of a French army appearing at Bologna, there was little or none of an English fleet defend- ing the bay of Genoa. It was under these disadvantageous circumstances that Sir James Hudson faced the French agents, and so completely defeated them that the Parisian press screamed in wrath and surprise alike against Italian " ingratitude " and the " perfidy " of Great Britain. The Foreign Office found itself as powerful in Italy as if its fleets had obtained Italian independence, and Englishmen were received throughout the Peninsula as men who simply from their tongue were assumed to be close friends of the new regime. So great became the personal influence of Sir James that Italian Ministers turned to him in any apparently insoluble perplexity, and his opinion on the choice of a Premier was as operative as that of a great Parliamen- tary leader is at home. This ascendancy was always employed for two really identical ends—the substantial inde- pendence of Italy in fact and rank and diplomacy, and the influence of Great Britain. The Italians valuing his good- will for these reasons above that of any other diplomatist, valued it also for another and more local cause. One of their main difficulties as well as of their sources of strength is the character of the King. Victor Emmanuel, Sovereign by in- stinct as well as by accident, is not so easily guided as his enemies choose to represent. He is often led away by favourites, but he has the annoying habit, not unfre- quently found in monarchs, of distrusting in dangerous crises the motives of his own parasites, and when so moved, he invariably sought the advice of his trust- worthy English friend. Twice, at least, he has taken it, when his subjects had begun to fear, and Italians in the north learned to regard "Sir Hudson" as the good genius of their King.
The dismay with which the news of his removal has been received may therefore be imagined, and so may the contempt with which an essentially democratic people have learnt that he is to be succeeded by the brother-in-law in whose favour Lord Russell tried to remove him fully two years ago. "As the son of Lord Minto," says the Perseveranza, of which the Foreign Secretary is the chief shareholder, with the gentle Italian scorn, "and the brother-in-law of Lord Russell, it would be contrary to English usages if Mr. Elliott were not qualified." Earl Russell obviously agrees, for during the past two years he has made incessant efforts to open a vacancy at Turin, offering Sir James, we are bound in justice to add, various high positions —including, as report says, Constantinople—but offering theta so repeatedly and with so obvious a desire to remove their object, that Sir James, wearied and fretted beyond en- durance, at last resigned in disgust. Of course, in Italy a widely different reason has been assigned for the change. Sir James Hudson, it is there announced, has passed the period of service when he can claim his pension, and therefore retires—an excellent reason. Only, as Sir James is in his fullest vigour, and as it is perfectly well known that Sir James did not desire to go, and as he is even now not about to abandon Italy, that excuse does not receive the reverential attention Earl Russell's well-wishers will desire. Another reason will, in all probability, be assigned in Parliament. Sir James Hudson's new position since 1861 has been accompanied by a very small increase of salary, the ex- penses of living in Turin have risen to an enormous figure— rent alone being tripled—and it is possible that some question of allowances may have arisen between the Minister whose only wealth is the love of all Italians and the respect of all liberal Englishmen, and the Foreign Office. A son of Lord Mints need not care about house-rent, and to put a rela- liberal Englishmen, and the Foreign Office. A son of Lord Mints need not care about house-rent, and to put a rela- tive in the post he desires, while securing an apparent economy, is a double achievement of which any Minis- ter belonging to the great Houses might be proud. What is the friendship of Italy compared with a saving of 500/. a year, and the luxury of getting rid of a too able plebeian. And so with questions of the last importance afoot, M. de Sartiges playing the satrap at Turin, the Emperor asking for contingents, Rome organizing permanent conspiracy, Napoleon's lieutenant intriguing for the Premiership, and the party of action half doubtful if its hour has not arrived, Great Britain and Italy lose their best counsellor in Turin, in order that one more member of the governing class may be made happy with one more place. Parliament rose on the 28th July; on the 7th August Sir James Hudson lv.d quitted Turin a private individual, and before a question can be asked of the Foreign Secretary, or the disgust .of the English people be made effective, Italy will be committed to a new alliance.
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