“... I have just seen our good Prince. I shall copy those portions of your letter relating to Poerio, and will send them to old Fortunato. But, fearing they might never reach the King, I will also send them to our friend the Marquis del Vasto, who has constant opportunities of seeing his Majesty.... Rely upon it, I shall do all I can ... what a pity Mr. Gladstone had not himself gone to the King; but now I hope he will wait to see if any good comes from this before naming the subject in Parliament. The Prince of Satriano says you may make what use you will of the enclosed MS.; he wishes it to be known, and would not object even to its publication; though, as he is preparing an elaborate work in detail, it would perhaps be better only to show it privately, certainly to Mr. Gladstone. I have left both open for the Prince of Castelcicala....”
In a letter from Mr. Gladstone to Panizzi a fair estimate is given of Lord Shrewsbury’s letters, and the general line of argument pursued by him.
“July 7th, 1851.
“Lord Shrewsbury’s letter really comes to nothing, so far as the issues raised by me are concerned. Meanwhile, the time is nearly exhausted, and next week I must absolutely print unless I learn that something good has been done, which may be an effective premise of more. It is an ugly and painful controversy, but I cannot help it....”
To Lord Shrewsbury’s advice contained in his letter of the 12th of June, asking Panizzi to come and see, and judge for himself, he replied, at once accepting the invitation:—
“July 14th, 1851.
“... Now I am ready. I have scraped together £100 for the purpose. I am ready to start on the 1st of September, and to go with your Lordship, in your presence and with your concurrence, verify all the statements made by Mr. Gladstone. If your Lordship and I find that they are unfounded, I shall publish the fact to the world; if they are well grounded, I shall respectfully beg of your Lordship to endeavour to convince the Neapolitan Government of the injustice of their proceedings. It is superfluous to say that this is to be kept between your Lordship and myself entirely at present, or else the enquiry would be nugatory, and our end, that of discovering the truth, in justice to the Government as well as to the victims—defeated. I wish nothing but the truth to come out. Let us, therefore, do our best to find it out. It is worth the trouble. I can dedicate to this the above sum and two months—September and October....”
To this Lord Shrewsbury replied, giving his opinion and advice as to the most effective way of carrying out the proposed plan, and excusing himself from personal participation:—
“July 25, 1851.
“I think your best plan will be to ask an audience of the King at once, and speak to him frankly on the matter. He will, I doubt not, listen to you, and give you the facilities you desire; but the object of your audience must not be known beforehand, or it may be thwarted. I have only one acquaintance at Naples—the Marquis del Vasto ... through him I think I could ensure you an audience of the King, but neither must know the precise object. I never was presented to the King in my life, though he has been extremely kind to us. I could not meet you at Naples for several reasons—that it always disagrees with me, &c., &c. You might open your audience with the King as the bearer of Mr. Gladstone’s statement, which, I should think, he would never otherwise see. I hear it has been sent to Naples; but if only to the Minister, the King will probably never see it. He listened most patiently to Baillie Cochrane, and is, I have good reason to believe, most anxious to learn the truth, which others may be as anxious to conceal from him.”