Sir,

No. 82.

Viscount Enfield to Mr. Littlewood.

Foreign Office, January 30, 1871. I AM directed by Earl Granville to acquaint you that information has been received by telegraph from Mr. Odo Russell that Mr. Worth will shortly be set at

liberty.

My Lord,

Mr. Littlewood to Earl Granville.-(Received February 4.)

110, Cannon Street, February 4, 1871.

I BEG to thank you for the information contained in Lord Enfield's letter of the 30th ultimo, that Mr. Frederick Gonner Worth will be released from custody shortly. At the present moment he is in prison at Cologne, having been tried by court-martial on the 19th January, and evidently found innocent, or not guilty, of any act of complicity against the German Government. Therefore, will your Lordship kindly inform me why Mr. Worth has been in prison nearly four months; upon what charges he has been tried, and why he is now detained in prison.

These questions I trust your Lordship will admit are very naturally put forward by Mr. Worth's relations and friends; so may I beg your reply thereto at the earliest possible date.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

HENRY BUCKNALL LITTLEWOOD.

No. 84.

Viscount Enfield to Mr. Littlewood.

Foreign Office, February 8, 1871.

Sir, I AM directed by Earl Granville to inform you, in reply to your letter of the 4th instant, that the proceedings of the court-martial at Cologne, by which Mr. Worth was tried, were secret, and that their nature and result have not yet been communicated to Her Majesty's Government, but that a Secretary to Her Majesty's Embassy at Berlin, who was sent specially to Cologne, has ascertained that he had, as was promised, every facility accorded to him for conducting his defence. Her Majesty's Government have no information to warrant them in assuming that he was acquitted of whatever charges were brought against him, nor do they as yet know whether his approaching liberation, which has been announced by Mr. Odo Russell, is owing to his acquittal by the court-martial or to an act of clemency on the part of the Emperor. The fact, however, of his being still detained in prison naturally leads to the inference that it is due to the latter cause.

I am, &c.

My Lord,

Mr. Littlewood to Earl Granville.-(Received February 9.)

110, Cannon Street, February 8, 1871.

I LÁST wrote you on the 4th instant, and am sorry to inform your Lordship that I am without a reply to that letter, more especially as continual inquiries are being made to me on the points I mention therein. May I ask the favour of your reply?

I am, &c.

(Signed)

HENRY BUCKNALL LITTLEWOOD.

No. 86.

My Lord,

Mr. Littlewood to Earl Granville.-(Received February 9.)

110, Cannon Street, February 9, 1871. THIS morning I received your reply to my letter of the 4th instant, for which I tender your Lordship my sincere thanks.

I shall be much obliged if your Lordship will have communicated to me the particulars of the charges against Mr. Worth, together with the result of the trial, 80 soon as they arrive, as I conclude from your letter that this information is only delayed for a time. I have, &c.

(Signed)

HENRY BUCKNALL LITTLEWOOD.

No. 87.

My Lord,

Lord A. Loftus to Earl Granville.-(Received February 10.)

Berlin, February 8, 1871.

I HAVE the honour to inclose to your Lordship herewith, in translation, copy of a letter I have received from M. Fischer, the advocate employed for the defence of Mr. Worth at Cologne, in answer to my inquiry as to the result of the trial.

M. Fischer states, that although he is unable to report the sentence passed on

Mr. Worth, he is of opinion that it is favourable to him.

I have requested M. Fischer to inform Her Majesty's Embassy of the sentence passed on Mr. Worth when officially made known.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

AUGUSTUS LOFTUS.

(Translation.)

Inclosure in No. 87.

M. Fischer to Lord A. Loftus.

WITH reference to your communication of the 4th instant, I have the honour to inform you that I have heard nothing officially regarding the result of the court-martial against Mr. Worth, for whom I have acted as Counsel, as I was obliged to leave the Court immediately after the defence; and the other persons engaged in the court-martial are not permitted to make any communication before the sentence has been confirmed. At the same time, I think, I may safely assume that the sentence, confirmation of which may very shortly be expected, is extremely favourable to Mr. Worth.

If the Embassy desires it, I will, on the confirmation of the sentence, immediately inform them of it.

My Lord,

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.-(Received February 13.)

Versailles, February 9, 1871.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's telegram of the 9th instant, instructing me to ascertain from Count Bismarck the result of Mr. Worth's trial, the charges preferred against him, and when he will be set at liberty.

I have never ceased to appeal to Count Bismarck in behalf of Mr. Worth, ever since I have been at Versailles; and I have obtained a promise that his life would be spared, and assurances that he would be pardoned by the King, and released after his trial was over. Beyond that, all my exertions have failed, to my deep regret.

The result of his trial does not appear to be yet known at head-quarters. The charges preferred against him are contained in the inclosed despatch from Count Bismarck to Baron Thile; but when he will be set at liberty I have not been able to ascertain.

After all I have done and failed in, during nearly three months, I am convinced that the only way left to obtain his release would be an appeal from Her Majesty the Queen to the Emperor of Germany.

I am, &c.

(Signed)

ODO RUSSELL.

Inclosure in No. 88.

Count Bismarck to Baron Thile.

Versailles, December 3, 1870.

(Translation.)

WITH reference to my communication of the 23rd of last month respecting the English prisoner Worth, I have the honour to communicate to your Excellency the following particulars, which have been supplied to me by the military authorities:

The British subject in question, inasmuch as he was captured in a balloon by which illicit correspondence, punishable in time of war, was forwarded, has brought upon himself, as well as the other passengers, the suspicion of being the bearer of such despatches.

The investigation which is about to be instituted against Worth on suspicion of spying and rendering secret services to the enemy will determine if he has been guilty of this offence or not. However, even if the above-mentioned suspicions regarding Worth should not be proved, if, for instance, illicit correspondence had not been found in the balloon, still his arrest and the judicial inquiry would have been justified, because he had spied out and crossed our outposts and positions in a manner which was beyond the control of the outposts, possibly with a view to make use of the information thus gained to our prejudice.

That such a proceeding cannot be tolerated by any Power at war requires no further explanation.

In order, however, to show the good-will of the Government towards a friendly Power, His Majesty has been pleased to command that the result of the inquiry respecting Worth should be communicated to him before the sentence is carried out, and the necessary instruction has been conveyed to the Governor of Cologne.

I request your Excellency to be so good as to bring the foregoing to the knowledge of Lord A. Loftus.

(Signed)

No. 89.

Earl Granville to Mr. Odo Russell.*

VON BISMARCK.

My Lord,

Foreign Office, February 16, 1871.

I HAVE instructed you this day by telegraph to use your utmost endeavours to procure information as to the nature of the charges upon which Mr. Worth was tried at Cologne, as to the character of the sentence that was passed upon him if, as may be presumed from his continued imprisonment, he was condemned, and as to the time at which he may be expected to be liberated.

Her Majesty's Government are informed that the trial was concluded and the papers respecting it sent to Versailles nearly a month since, and on the 29th ultimo you informed me by telegraph that he was shortly to be liberated. No efforts have since been spared to obtain information respecting him, but up to the present time no information has been received. His friends are naturally anxious as to his fate, and I must request you to press urgently for an answer on the points to which I have directed your attention, and to state that Her Majesty's Government are most desirous to be made acquainted with the circumstances attending the trial, and the results, in order that they may communicate them to the persons who are interested in him.

(Signed)

I am, &c.

GRANVILLE.

* A similar despatch was addressed to Lord A. Loftus.

No. 90.

(Telegraphic.)

Lord A. Loftus to Earl Granville.-(Received February 17.)

Berlin, February 17, 1871. M. DE THILE informed me last night that the Military Court at Cologne had acquitted Mr. Worth, and that he would be liberated at once, if he had not already been set at liberty.

No. 91.

(Telegraphic.)

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.—(Received February 17.)

Versailles, February 17, 1871. MR. WORTH will be set at liberty immediately, in accordance with orders which have been sent to that effect.

No. 92.

Viscount Enfield to Mr. Littlewood.

Sir,

Foreign Office, February 17, 1870. I AM directed by Earl Granville to inform you that a telegram has this day been received from Her Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin, in which he states that he has been officially informed by the Prussian Government that if Mr. Worth has not already been set at liberty he will be liberated immediately.

I am, &c.

P.S. Since the above was written a telegram has been received from Versailles, stating that orders had been sent for the immediate release of Mr. Worth.

No. 93.

E.

My Lord,

Mr. Littlewood to Earl Granville.-(Received February 18.)

110, Cannon Street, February 18, 1871. IT is now my pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's letter of yesterday's date, informing me that Mr. Frederick Gonner Worth is to be set at liberty immediately.

Permit me to thank Her Majesty's Government through you, and also your Lordship personally, for the interest taken in this case.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

HENRY BUCKNALL LITTLEWOOD.

No. 94.

My Lord,

Lord A. Loftus to Earl Granville.-(Received February 20.)

Berlin, February 17, 1871. ALMOST at the same time as I received your Lordship's telegram of yesterday evening I received a note from Baron Thile, of which I have the honour to inclose a translation, informing me in reply to my note of the 14th November last that Mr. Worth had been acquitted by the Military Court at Cologne, and that he would be liberated at once, if he had not been so already.

(Signed)

I have, &c.

AUGUSTUS LOFTUS.

(Translation.)

Inclosure in No. 94.

Baron Thile to Lord A. Loftus.

Berlin, February 16, 1871. THE Undersigned has the honour, in reply to his Excellency Lord Augustus Loftus' note of the 14th of December last, to inform him that the British subject Worth, who had left Paris in a balloon, has been acquitted by the Court-martial in Cologne, He will be at once set at liberty, if he has not already been so,

The Undersigned, &c.

(Telegraphic.)

Mr. Littlewood to Earl Granville.-(Received February 20.)

MR. WORTH is just liberated.

Brussels, February 20, 1871, 2 P.M.

No. 96.

My Lord,

Mr. Odo Russell to Earl Granville.-(Received February 23.)

Versailles, February 17, 1871.

I RECEIVED your Lordship's telegram of yesterday respecting Mr. Worth this morning, and was enabled a few hours later to report that orders had been sent to Germany to release him at once.

My despatch of the 9th instant contains all I have been able to ascertain in regard to the character of the charges brought against him,

The letter and documents found in the balloon in which he and his companions were captured are said to have been for the French Government and led to his trial; and it is generally believed that his French companions have already been shot. But all the exertions I have made to penetrate the mystery of their fate have hitherto proved unsuccessful.

Lord A. Loftus to Earl Granville.—(Received February 28.)

My Lord, Berlin, February 23, 1871. I HAVE the honour to inclose to your Lordship herewith copy of a letter in translation from Dr. Fischer, the advocate employed by Mr. Worth, at Cologne, informing me that he has been acquitted and was set at liberty on the 20th instant. I have, &c.

(Signed)

Inclosure in No. 97.

AUGUSTUS LOFTUS.

M. Fischer to Lord A. Loftus.

(Translation.)

Cologne, February 20, 1871.

THE Council of War which was called together to give judgment in the case of Mr. Worth having acquitted him, and the decision having yesterday been confirmed by the Governor-General, Von Falkenberg, Mr. Worth was to-day set at liberty. While hastening to notify this, I avail myself, &c.

(Signed)

FISCHER, Advocate.

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