education. The elder brother being
delicate, had been ordered south as the winter approached. In this
search after health they had a desire, at the same time, to acquire in
the country a knowledge of the language of Italy, and of the art for
which that land is celebrated. They had already spent two or three
months at Nice, and in November had moved down to Genoa, and then on to
Florence, where they meant to reside for the winter; at which place
the injury and insult were inflicted. On the 29th of December Earl
Granville, the foreign minister of England, in writing to the Honourable
P. C. Scarlett, the _charge d'affaires_ at Florence, thus speaks of
these young Englishmen, and the outrage:*--

* From No. 3 Despatch, in Official Documents.

"The story of the young men is so candidly told, and they appear, from
the tenor of another letter which has been shown to me, to be such
well-conditioned and inoffensive persons, that I cannot question the
truth of their statement, or entertain any doubt that a cowardly and
cruel injury has been inflicted on the elder of them." The following are
the facts of the case as detailed by the young gentleman himself to M.
Salvagnoli, the distinguished Tuscan lawyer, and which were afterwards
confirmed, in every point, by the evidence of Italian and French
witnesses who saw the deed committed.

STATEMENT OF MR. ERSKINE MATHER TO M. SALVAGNOLI.*

* From 2 in No. 13, Official Papers

On the 29th of December, 1851, my brother and I set out to go and
breakfast at a _cafe_ in the Piazza del Duomo.

Passing by the Piazza San Marco we stopped to look at the band of the
regiment, and other soldiers standing about; after waiting three or four
minutes we passed on, leaving them still there. When we arrived about
the middle of the Via Langa we again heard the music, and, as they were
marching the same way, we walked on their right hand nearly to the end
of the Via Martelli. That street being very narrow, as you are aware,
and at this time rendered more so by a carriage passing along, as our
_cafe_ was on the other side we were obliged to cross between the band
and the guard, where they had left a space of about forty or fifty feet,
and many other persons were crossing at the same time. While walking arm
in arm with my brother I suddenly received a violent blow on my back,
making me turn short round. I then perceived that it was given by the
officer in advance of the guard, who hel